What Are You Up To?

[ PAST ]

When Rae said that they'll be learning the Tree-Walking exercise, she didn't mention anything about running, or jumping, or anything other than WALKING! It started out like any normal day for Zen and Karin; wake up, eat, then train. Then, a group of genin team was there; all curious and patiently waiting.

It turns out that Rae had sent in a request for an assist and right now, three teenagers are added to their pair. Yamamoto Kenji, a tall teen with large brown eyes, easy grin, and wearing a loose-fitting blue shirt and grey pants, held one of his teammates from decking another teammate. Sato Gin, a shorter teen than Yamamoto, glared his grey eyes at their last teammate. His arms crossed over his brown sleeveless jacket as Yamamoto kept a firm grip on his hood, he also wore cream-colored pants and inner shirt to match his jacket. Ito Masato stood ways away from his teammates as his sharp black eyes study the two kids they'll assist in training. He wore a loose-fitting black short-sleeved jacket and black shorts.

Nakamura Kyoko is the Jounin Sensei of the three teens. She is in her late 20′s and wore the standard purple flak jacket of Takigakure over a matching lavender shinobi shirt and pants. She has black hair, dark brown eyes, and a pretty face. She conversed quietly with Rae and every few seconds, the younger female's hand would gesture at the field or at some other things while keeping a close eye on the kids.

"Zen! Karin!" Rae finally called, once they were done discussing.

"Kenji! Gin! Masato!" Kyoko also called to her students.

The five kids converged around the two older females and their activity was finally laid out for them.

"Nakamura-san had informed me that you three had recently started on chakra manipulation?" Rae addressed the trio of males in the group and all three nodded in confirmation. "So our activity right now is to enhance your mastery on it using the game of 'Tag' "

"In this game," the older female cut in before protests were voiced. "Instead of just running around anywhere you want, you would be putting your training into use. Until we tell you to stop, you lot would only be walking sideways or upside-down"

"Buildings, trees, or whatever" Rae grinned. "Just as long as you don't walk upright"

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Zen was quick to voice her thoughts with Karin nodding vigorously behind her. "We just learned tree walking today!"

"It'll be fine~" Rae sing-songed. "Trust me, it'll be fun!"

"She finally lost her mind" Zen muttered to her friend in horror.

"Rae-nee..." Karin looked up at her with horrified eyes but said woman only grinned wider.

"Short stick would be 'it' " Nakamura said as she held out a cylindrical container with sticks on it.

The three genin reached out for their chosen stick without complaints and the two kids reluctantly followed.

"Please go easy on us" Zen muttered, defeated. "We're still 6, you know"

"Stop guilt-tripping them" Rae sighed, her grin dimming.

"It's because you're pitting us against guys twice our age!" Zen barked in annoyance.

"It's because I trust you'd win!" Rae said dramatically which Zen rolled her eyes at. Rae then held up her hand, curiously inspecting her nails. "And Shibuki made a bet that you wouldn't win"

Hearing that last bit, Zen stared at her, horrified.

"Don't make me lose another 5,000 ryo" Rae gave a closed-eyes smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving her charges completely bewildered.

"Did she really just paid 5,000 ryo for this mission just to earn another 5,000 ryo from Shibuki-sama?" Sato Gin asked, stunned and unnerved. His feelings were mirrored by his team when even Nakamura-sensei stared, stupefied, at the spot Rae had just been a moment ago.

"Karin..." Zen looked ready to murder someone as she reached out for a stick, "I don't think we can afford to lose 10,000 ryo in one sitting"

"I don't want to eat any more sweet potatoes until her next payday" Karin said as she reached out to the last stick, determined.

They all pulled and in an instant, they were sticking sideways to their own trees. Black eyes narrowed as he dropped the short stick with red paint at the bottom tip. He won't go easy on them. Not on his friends or the kids.

"START!"

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[ FUTURE ]

It was in the dead of the night that Kakashi found himself standing in front of a familiar door. He couldn't sleep, as usual. Tonight's dream was not kind to him. And no matter how tired he is, he couldn't go back to sleep. And now, here he is, standing in front of Zen's apartment. The keys for it weighed heavily in his hand.

The sound of soft footfalls on the concrete floor drew him out of his thoughts. Looking at the direction of the sound, Kakashi waited for the approaching person to appear in his vision; only to sigh at the familiar raven head.

"Sasuke"

"Sensei," said teen greeted back and stood beside the silver head quietly. He doesn't question why his sensei is there or why they were only standing there.

"I'm surprised you know where this place is" Kakashi finally said after a while.

"Naruto said that she used to rent in the same building as him" Kakashi nodded in confirmation. Looking away, Sasuke disregarded his previous line of thought as he instead said, "I noticed your chakra signature nearby so I came to check it out"

"Just tell him you couldn't sleep" A new voice joined in and a familiar blond appeared in the hallway. "You've been walking around the village in the dead of the night and sticking to the shadows like a creep"

"Naruto" Kakashi was surprised. For someone so loud, Naruto could be so quiet that it's sometimes unnerving.

"Oi, Sai! Captain Yamato!" Naruto frowned at the far corner of the hallway. "You can come out now, you know"

The two new members of Team 7 dropped down from where they were hiding and solemnly approached the three. They were tasked to keep an eye on Sasuke ever since he came back to the village.

"This looks like a team rendevous" Kakashi jokes and reached out to unlock the door with the key he was provided with. A spare key was given to him by Zen herself for safekeeping when she first got the apartment.

But when he twisted the key, he found no resistance.

"It's unlocked?" Kakashi voiced his surprise and then reached out to open the door. The first thing he was expecting was to see someone else inside, but there was no one. The lights were off and the air smells like dust. Reaching out to where he remembered the switch was located, he flicked it on. Thick, undisturbed dust gathered everywhere but the most concerning about the place was that it was bare of any personalization. The plethora of books Kakashi remembered Zen owned were nowhere to be seen. The bookshelf was bare of its usual contents and the walls were stripped off of their usual decor.

"It's clean" Naruto was bewildered. He knew as well as the rest of the team (except Sasuke) just how messy this apartment had been on a regular basis. One by one, they entered the apartment.

"Look at this" Yamato called out from the far side of the living room. He was standing in front of numerous boxes. They were labeled accordingly: Sealing Department, Orphanage, Library, Hospital, For Disposal and the last one...

"For Returns?" Naruto read out, confused. Separating the said box from the rest, he opened it curiously. The first thing they saw was a parchment of high-quality paper that Sai immediately recognized. He watched as Naruto took the folded thick paper and carefully unraveled it. True to his suspicion, the parchment was the painting he gifted her. He remembered her hanging that painting here in the sitting room by the couch.

He ignored the looks given to him as he studied the other contents of the box. He recognized some of them being similar gifts to their only female teammate. He turned to the other box labeled "For Disposal" and took it away from the pile. Unceremoniously opening it, he was greeted by dozens of papers and notebooks.

"She really was prepared to not return, huh?" A new voice said, startling them. Looking at the source, they saw Shikamaru leaning by the doorframe with the rest of the Konoha 11 outside.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I was just about to take a night stroll when this lot appeared outside my house" Shikamaru jerked a thumb, pointing at their friends. Said friends only greeted in their own (albeit suppressed) ways.

"I think Zen wanted to return our gifts", Sai said as he took the painting from Naruto's hands and sealed it in a storage seal.

"Of course she does" Shikamaru sighed as he entered the apartment after their friends. He looked around and was unsurprised at the bareness of it. "Her workroom had been the same"

For a moment, no one really moved, just converging on the said box that contained the things they gave her as a gift. Staring at it sadly. Then Ino knelt down before it, taking out the things she remembered giving her best friend. Small trinkets she bought on missions outside the village as souvenirs. When she was done, she sealed it away on a scroll and stood up.

Choji didn't really give her anything to keep as a memento, because he preferred giving her consumables like chips or anything food-related. So he stepped back to stand beside Ino and Shikamaru.

Hinata was next to approach the box. She knelt down beside it similarly with Ino and took three things from the pile. An empty wooden jar of salve, a simple keychain of a cat, and a simple gemmed hairpin. She was thankful that the jar was empty. It meant that Zen had used it. When she was done, she placed them inside her ninja pouch. When she was done, she stood up and went to the back to let the others take their turns.

Kiba was quick to take the dog whistle inside the box and the small plush toy of a grey dog. Then he stood beside Hinata at the back.

Shino was just as quick, albeit more sedately than his teammate. He retrieved a single item of a small crystalized dead female kikaichu. Understandably, his friends looked at him in confusion, so he explained.

"Why, you ask?" He said, "It is because she refused to give it back after the Chunin Exams where I used my bugs when we were against each other during the Finals. When the Kikaichu died, she went to see me and said she wanted it crystalized"

Then he went to stand beside his teammates.

Tenten was next to crouch down before the box. She took a pristine black box. For a moment, she hesitated before opening it. Between the kunai-shaped molds were a couple of pictures. One of them was the day Tenten gave the gift to their friend as a birthday present. The picture was focused on Zen's surprised face as she stared at the opened box of personalized kunai set. Tenten herself was beside the celebrant with an excited look on her face as she waited for Zen to try them out. The next picture was of Zen tackling Tenten midair for a teary hug. The next one had been when they fell to the ground with Zen still hugging the life of her. The last picture was of Team Gai with Zen in the middle, smiling genuinely at the camera while holding out her right hand in a V-sign. This one was when they were newly promoted to Chunin and Zen suggested to commemorate it with pictures. She had taken one for each team since hers weren't available at the time.

Nobody commented on it when they heard Tenten sniffle as she stood up and went to the back.

Lee was the next to come forward. There was a familiar green cloth in the box and when Lee took it out, nobody was surprised at what it was. It was a green spandex similar to what he and Gai were wearing. He also took out a pair of worn-out heavy duty hand grippers. Similarly, nobody said anything when they heard him sniffle as he shuffled to the back.

Neji came forward next; not really expecting to see anything he might take back. Then he spotted a familiar article of clothing. It was a dull blue shirt he used to wear underneath his beige jacket when he was still a genin. He remembered lending it to her. Though he didn't remember her returning it, he didn't really mind. Seems like he'd be taking it back. Silently, he stood beside his still-sniffling teammates.

Nobody came up next after that. They looked at the members of Team Seven to see why they aren't taking anything, only to see them looking at Shikamaru who was staring at the box labeled "For Disposal"

Feeling the eyes staring at him, Shikamaru turned his gaze back at them.

"I didn't really give her anything," He said with a shrug before staring back at the box.

"Really?" It was Sasuke who asked. His mismatched eyes staring inside the previous box. "That's your jacket, isn't it?"

Confused, Shikamaru stepped forward with a frown. Then surprise hit him when indeed, true to Sasuke's inquiry, it was his jacket. To be specific, it was the one he had used when he was still a genin. How did she get that?

Taking the said jacket, he noticed that it was washed and carefully mended. And when he thought that it was all he'd take, his eyes caught sight of a pair of familiar stud earrings. It was a simple pair of black circle studs similar to what he's wearing. He bought it in Takumi Village during a lull in their mission. Zen had asked what it felt like to get an ear piercing and that's when he noticed that she didn't have one. He remembered offering to do it with the stud he just bought but she refused, stared at him in horror, and stayed as far away from him for the rest of the mission. He now remembered giving it to her after reporting back to the Hokage, telling her that if she didn't want him to do it, she could ask Ino instead. He never saw her wear it, so of course, it would be here in the box. With a sigh, he took it too before approaching the other open box he'd been eyeing the whole time.

The seal draft on top of the pile of papers was one he recognized her making during one of their missions. She took all shifts of night watch duty just to work on it. When she attempted to take another set of watch duty the next night, he finally put his foot down and ordered her as their squad leader to hit the sleeping bag. She was knocked out within seconds and she never got to finish the draft because she had another idea to mull over.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Naruto speak.

"Really, sensei?" The blond hero asked his sheepish silver-haired sensei in a deadpan. "You gave Zen a copy of Icha-Icha?"

"That was you?" Shikamaru couldn't stop the question from escaping him. But then amended quietly to himself, "Of course it was him. Who else would dare give it to her anyway?"

There was a dry chuckle from Tenten as she wiped a stray tear away. "I remember seeing Zen reading that during the Chunin Exams"

The others chuckled too in remembrance.

"She didn't want to give away that she knows Fuinjutsu or medicine so instead of reading any of her textbooks, she whipped that book out," Ino said quietly, remembering the horror she felt when she recognized the book her friend shamelessly took out. Her horrified scream had caught many of the participants' eyes (including their friends) and it probably had helped Zen a lot with her strategy. Many non-Konohan participants had underestimated her for that simple stunt.

And then something caught her eye. In Sasuke's hands was a familiar handkerchief that Zen always used. She always believed that the stitched "S" on the corner of the fabric had meant that it was Sakura's.

When no one else seemed to make another move or talk, Shikamaru crouched down before the box he'd been inspecting. He riffled through the papers and noticed they were the seals Zen had been working on before the war broke out. He didn't recognize all of them or what they are for but he saw her work on them before with diligence.

Shikamaru doesn't get it. If Zen was really as prepared as he thought she was then why does this box labeled "For Disposal" even here when she could've disposed of it herself. Did she hesitate to dispose of it herself? But if she did, what was so important that she'd hesitate?

"Shika?" Ino called out to her silent friend. Shikamaru had that intense look on his face he usually only wore when he's thinking deeply. "What's wrong?"

All of the other people in the apartment turned to him in confusion and suddenly, he felt conflicted. There are many scenarios that could happen if he told them his thoughts and not one of them was a positive probability.

So he stood up, hefted the box in his arms, and told them in his usual bored voice. "I'll take this with me" Before Naruto could protest, Shikamaru cut him off. "These are only drafts she had already discarded. I want to study them since I recognized most of them as ideas she had already confided with me before"

And that wasn't a complete bullshit.

It took a few more minutes before Kakashi nodded in consent.

"If we're done here, then I'd take my leave", He said before exiting the apartment. He was just out the door when he shunshin-ed back to the Nara Clan Compound. He immediately entered the main house and swiftly went to his room.

Sleep eluded him that night as he carefully sifted through the piles of papers, trying to find a clue why Zen didn't discard this pile herself.