"Ah?", Yugito's expression was blank; she had no idea what the other's words meant.
Aoba stroked her soft, fluffy cat ears and began to explain again.
"Whether it was Samui's brother attacking us, or you all coming to Konoha to carry out your plan, it was all because the Fourth Raikage gave the orders."
"After you were captured by Konoha, he could have paid a little and ransomed you back, but he chose not to give up the village's interests. At the same time, fearing Konoha's strength, he decisively chose to abandon you."
"A Raikage who claims to value comrades, yet for the sake of benefits chose to abandon his comrades. Isn't that a betrayal of you?"
"If the one who was captured was Killer Bee, what do you think he would have chosen to do?"
After saying this string of words, Aoba stopped speaking and released the grip on her cheek, quietly waiting for Yugito's reaction.
"This… I… Lord Raikage… he…", Yugito's mouth opened and closed, opened and closed again; she stammered for a long time and couldn't force out a single complete sentence.
Her reason told her Aoba was probably trying to trick her, but her emotions couldn't help sinking into the words he spoke.
They had followed the Raikage's orders to act, to carry out a mission.
But the result was that they became prisoners, and the Raikage could have rescued them; at worst it would have led to war with Konoha. Yet he treated them like roadside trash and abandoned them.
If Killer Bee had been the one captured, the Raikage would probably have taken whatever steps necessary, even if it meant mutual destruction, to bring his brother back.
Yugito felt like an unwanted Cat.
Her whole body wilted, only the tears kept flowing.
Aoba sighed softly.
"Yugito, ninjas are like this. It's a profession without a past and without sight of the future. Living to carry out others' orders, and when the crucial moment comes they'll be abandoned. If you're willing to stay here, I will never abandon you."
Hearing that, Yugito looked up at him in surprise; tears still streamed down her face.
Aoba gently wiped her tears away with soft movements.
"Do you have family left in the Hidden Cloud Village?"
Yugito shook her head, "I was a jinchuriki from childhood, my birth mother passed away long ago. In the Cloud there were only Samui and Mabui as my friends."
Aoba hadn't expected such a thing; no, he hadn't expected Yugito's childhood to have been so hard.
"In that case, since you really can't go back to the Cloud, and Samui and Mabui are also in Konoha, why not reconsider my earlier proposal?"
Yugito paused, ground her teeth and said, "I'm not going to be your maid for life, you bastard, you only bully me."
"Is that so?"
Aoba pinched her face in mock displeasure, "Yugito, frankly, you've been in Konoha so long, have I really hurt you?"
Yugito was speechless. If she thought about it, he indeed hadn't truly harmed her. Hesitating a long time, she finally found one unreasonable complaint.
"You always make me wear weird clothes, and make me wear cat ears."
"Compared to actions like releasing the tailed beast in Konoha, making you wear a maid outfit and cat ears, is that really excessive?"
Aoba's tone grew a bit sterner, which made Yugito shrink back, unable to retort.
He went on, "If this had happened in another village, with what you did, they might have ripped the tailed beast out of your belly on the spot, you'd be a corpse."
"Right now I only reinforced the seal inside you a bit; I didn't even use harsh interrogation. Isn't that proof that I haven't treated you badly?"
Yugito pressed her lips together.
Although she didn't want to admit it, Aoba had indeed treated them relatively well.
Given what they had done in Konoha, any outcome wouldn't be surprising. Even turning into ninja tools wouldn't be out of the question.
But Aoba hadn't done that. Though he liked to make her wear strange clothes, he had never actually laid hands on her improperly.
"Tha… thank you!"
Yugito blurted out a reflexive thanks.
"What did you just say?", Aoba raised an eyebrow, pretending not to have heard.
Yugito pressed her lips together and pretended she hadn't said anything.
"Then will you reconsider my original offer?", Aoba was used to her stubbornness by now.
There would always be a time when her mouth would soften.
Yugito hesitated a moment, her gaze evasive, "I… I don't want to."
Aoba put on a stern face again.
"Yugito, you must understand: when you leave Konoha in twenty years, if the Hidden Cloud Village learns of your activities here, they will inevitably treat you as traitors and then the whole ninja world will hunt you down."
"Konoha is the only place that can accept you. Even if you once wronged Konoha, Konoha is willing to forgive and give you a second chance."
"I… I know. I won't leave Konoha. B-but can I stop being a maid?"
Yugito's expression was bitter, she didn't want to be a maid forever.
Aoba blinked and asked, "Do you want to become a woman instead?"
"Of course not!"
The Cat reacted again, "I just don't want to always wear this kind of outfit. I want to wear other pretty clothes too."
Aoba smiled, "Well then, you only need to wear that at home; when you go out you can wear whatever you like."
"Really?"
"Of course."
He answered with a smile, but suddenly reached out and touched her abdomen.
"What… what are you doing?"
Sensing Aoba's action, Yugito's body stiffened reflexively; her voice trembled.
This guy just said he wouldn't hurt her, was he about to go beast-mode?
She couldn't use chakra now, so she couldn't resist; she could only be at his mercy.
'Damn it!'
For some reason, she felt strangely lacking in resistance.
Aoba didn't say anything. His fingers had already undone the buttons at her lower abdomen, his hand pressed against the smooth, delicate skin.
The next moment, a restless chakra suddenly burst out from Yugito's body; she sprang up from Aoba's lap and landed a short distance away.
"Huh?"
Yugito looked at the chakra surrounding her in surprise.
["Wahhh! I can see outside again!"]
A whimpering voice suddenly sounded from deep within Yugito's heart.
Yugito recognized that voice perfectly. Because for a long time in the past, only that voice had been with her.
"Matatabi?"
["Yugito? Oh thank goodness, Yugito, I can finally speak to you again, wahhh, you don't know how I've been all this time, wahhh!"]
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