I'm back from the dead. Have a tiny bit of Catalyze
“I said, Isn’t that right, Captain Yamato?”
He blinked a few times before donning a polite, though tight, smile, “Yamato, at your service, interim captain of Sakura’s team. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Giving you a stiff, deep bow, “I would be very grateful for a tour.”
“Men when they’re hungry, am I right?” Sakura gave a too-long laugh, and you nodded slowly in turn, eyes lingering for another moment at the man beside her as his expression teetered between overwhelmingly tense and something more mild.
“You honor me,” You finally said, “I would be more than happy to give you a tour.”
Rule number 2: If a shinobi asks something of you, you will accommodate them. To tell a shinobi “no” is to endanger your own life, and the lives of those most precious to you.
Friends were a special case, but even then, your mother had chastised you for denying Shion anything after he had begun wearing that headband… even her own direct orders. Sometimes it had felt like a blessing when you needed to get out of the house, blaming it on Shion or another shinobi, “They stopped me on the street and told me to come with them, I wanted to get home right after school, really I did.” “Shion asked me to teach him how to navigate by the stars, you know he’s a genin now.”
As an adult, you knew better.
You never knew who would handle being denied with grace, or who would make sure a “freak accident” happened to you. Shion you could deny on occasion, as you had grown up together, but it was not a habit to cultivate with strangers. Even haggling prices needed to be done with a level of tact you had never quite mastered. Matsuda Hideo did, and you were ever grateful for him.