Time passed and it was soon time for our wedding. It seemed that Chihiro was really interested in marrying Kyoko. Both were chunin kunoichi. Their potential children in the clan could go pretty far if they wanted to be kunoichi as well. When he came up to me to gloat about the official betrothal announcement, I got the sneaking suspicion he was only doing it to get back at me for being able to marry myself. I looked at him and smiled. "Kyoko is a very pretty woman. You're lucky to have her. Make sure to keep her safe." I said. He scoffed and said "Of course I will! You don't even have to say that to me. Putting on the nice act is so fucking annoying, Nagisa!" Keisuke was there and said "I don't know what you mean, Chihiro-san. Nagisa-chan has always been nice. He puts all of his comrades first and is willing to serve the clan when asked by the elders." He liked calling me Nagisa-chan because of the fact I was 17 before doing the coming of age ceremony. Light ribbing between friends was fine. I also called him Hoshino to get him to cringe. We were both on the cusp of moving out the shed.
From the reports of the building company, the houses would be done a week before the wedding. It was only 11 days away. I would really miss rooming with him. Both of our ninja headbands were still blank. To really join their clan we had to contribute real blood to their cause. On the birth of our first children we would be officially part of the clan. Until then, we were still retainers. We were called in by the elders again the next day. The mayor of the town was up in arms about the blue haired members of the refugee camp again. Apparently, they were gathering weapons and patrolling their camp very aggressively. They would not let any of the town guards in to see what was going on there. That was the obvious conclusion after rejecting their request to enter and settle in the town. The mayor wanted us to deal with it. However, they also wanted us to bring a samurai with us in the camp. That was a big ask, so the elders once again passed the buck off to their loyal retainers. I accepted the mission. It was better than dicking around the village doing nothing for another week. Keisuke also agreed.
We got to the down using a ninja's pace, so it only took a single day. We got ushered into the mayors office. We bowed as it was the proper thing to do. He reiterated the paranoid fears that he had. "I need you to go there and see the intentions they have for the town. I will not have threats on our doorstep! If push comes to shove, we will eliminate them all." he declared. All we could do was nod. He cleared his throat as he saw the blank look on our faces. It was then that he introduced the samurai to us. I was pleased to see that it was a fresh one straight from his clan. Hopefully we could get along. His name was Kenji Hinode. The Hinode Clan was dedicated to keeping the land safe. It had been going on for 7 generations. Kirume Clan could only boast 3 generations. The founder and his younger siblings were still alive and only just grandparents. Not much in comparison. The only marriages planed were Keisuke, Chihiro and mine. Once we had children that partook in the coming of age ceremonies for ninja, we could claim a fourth generation. It was now time to go out and see the camps.
