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I'm Hanjin Tatsumaki.

And whatever it was, I didn't do it.

...well, this is odd. Miss Mizukage's actually in a not-killing-people mood, which is certainly good. But that's the calm before the storm. Or something.

I stretched out on the floor, where the floorboards met the wall, and closed my eyes, listening intently on the conversation. So she's got relatives? Wonderful. All we need is a bunch of sake-wasted old nutcases roaming the streets with a cane and a death wish apiece. God, I had to choose the Mist Village, right? No showing up at Leaf or something, where the people were actually normal and stuff.

Well... at least they had beds here. Try finding a bed in, quite literally, the middle of nowhere, and you'll see what I mean.

Uh... what was that? I immediately ducked into a corner as a rather flustered lady walked through the door with... more sake, great. JUST what the Kage needed, another freakin' drink. Jeez, she's been at it for a couple days now. This is ridiculous.

My mind wanders as I try to keep track of the conversation and my thought process at the same time. When am I going to get my first mission, anyways? It's been a few weeks now, and I've got a job... but I need to DO something. I get bored. So sue me.

Ah, me and my boredom... recipe for disaster.

"...Is Papa's collar givin' ya trouble 'gain, Auntie?" Haruka stated with an astounding lack of surprise. Apparently the Yukikage's familial relations weren't unknown to Haruka. She hardly even seemed concerned for her aunt. She sighed. "Papa said if ya tried ta take it off, I should hit ya, so if ya fought back he can have a reason ta hit ya 'imself," she nodded her head as though she were actually considering it, "But if it's really interferrin' that much, Ah guess it can't be helped."

The conclusion? Keichii Shiro really hadn't changed much.

"Yaaright. I'll do it." She said. Hopefully, doing this would make things at least a little better for her situation with Shouta. No doubt, he was furious- but he was more the passive-agressive type. Which, in his case, could be just as frightening as Suijin's straight-out-agressive-style somehow! Even when he was physically injuring nurses and medics who stepped out of line he had this clam face that, as impassive as it was, shot daggers at you that made you feel awful! It was terrifying!
The Mizukage cuckled at Haru's comment, then stood and bit her left thumb, drawing blood. She rubbed her thumb into her palm to activate the summoning tattoo. She put at little chakra into it as she could. There was a poof of smoke and when it cleared, one of the small grunts wiggled in her palm. The electric eel was as small as could be, so it didn't hurt much to hold it- but she didn't want to give it the chance to rip out a giant shock on her! "HOLD STILL!" she yelled, chucking the eel at Rakutsu's neck. Hopefully she wouldn't chicken out and move. If it hit, it would wrap right over where the shock collar was and send out a small shock. Unfortunately- since they didn't really know just how weak or strong this would be, it would succeed in short circuting it, but Rakutsu would also feel a small frikkin painful shock. But nothing to do any real damage.

I'm Hanjin Tatsumaki.

And whatever it was, I didn't do it.

What the LIVING HELL was going on in there? I heard shouting and a poof of smoke, probably from a summoning, then the sound of someone getting hit by a Lightning Jutsu... uuuurgh. That's gonna hurt.

What the hell had that crazy Suijin-kage been drinking, anyways? Fermented sake juice with crazy mushrooms? Sheesh. Crazy.

I slowly got off the cround and into a crawling position, and crept away towards the exit, down the long hallway. Whatever was going on inside there, I had no wish to be a part of it. It sounded painful, for crying out loud.

_I'm Hanjin Tatsumaki.

And whatever it was, I didn't do it.

__I don't know what the hell that was... but I guess it's over. I think. I stop creeping frantically down the hall and turn back. The Kitagawa guards have stopped cringing with sympathetic pain, and now they're laughing... which is good, I guess. I walked back to the office room as if I had just arrived, and the guards didn't seem to have noticed the difference.

I peeked into the room. A girl was lying on the ground, breathing a bit heavily, as if s**t-scared of something that wasn't there any more. Suijin-dono was laughing evilly (as usual), and Shouta looks a little pained and guilty. I grin and step in as if this was completely normal. Which it was. For the Mist Village.

"Mizukage-dono, you called?" I bowed respectfully and hoped that nothing woulg get thrown at me... nothing that I couldn't block or dodge, anyways. "I'm here for that Special Team you requested..." I kept my gaze low.

I was a bit of a misfit, really. I had only come two weeks ago and I had already assimilated into the community (if you could call a bunch of crazy drunk/homicidal people a community), but I was always a bit aloof; if not my rather recent arrival (and the state of said arrival), then the fact that I was a Wind-based shinobi in the land of Water. My fighting style differed greatly from everyone else's here... and it was a bit of an ostracizing factor when it came to the smoothness of conversations and stuff. This mission would prove that I could really be one of them, I guess... had to thank Kage-dono for that one.

Haruka blinked. Her expression was caught somewhere between surprised and blank. She'd been smiling as Rakutsu did her silly dance after getting that collar off, but this was the first she heard of her aunt leaving.

"Y-You didn't tell me..?"

Haruka wasn't even trying to smile now. Rakutsu, her aunt, waited until now to say she was moving? Sure, she could understand not wanting to tell her father; he'd gone so far as to put a shock collar on Rakutsu to keep her from leaving, but Haruka?

Haruka didn't have many friends, as sweet and cheerful as she was, and after her mother died, well, she'd sort of latched onto Rakutsu. She was even her sensei!

"Ah... didn' even know you hated Snow that much..." she said slowly without emotion. How could she have been so stupid to not notice her own aunt didn't want to be in Snow!?

It was the click of the door opening that broke Haruka out of her stupor. She turned quickly to see who it was--a Mist ninja. Apparently he'd been summoned by the Mizukage. She smiled.

"Ah! Howdy! Haha, I hope we ain't gettin' in yer way here..." she turned between the newcomer and Suijin. She threw another smile at Rakutsu. It seemed a little sad, but otherwise normal.

(No first person? gonk )

"ASDFGHJKL OKAY AAAAAAUUUUGH!!!" Hanjin kinda screamed the words, and sprinted out of the room in speed not thought humanly possible, leaving only the taste of a licked spoon and a few fluttering papers behind him.