[img]https://i.imgur.com/cAVzuL2.png [/img]

Tsubaki had barely stepped off the VTOL when the pen he'd been chewing burst, ink flooding his mouth.

He really hoped that wasn't an omen.

Looking around in frustration, he took a deep breath to calm himself down, realising immediately that this was a mistake as air more disgusting than the ink in his mouth entered his lungs, causing him to sputter and cough.

"Izuku Akiyama?" A voice asked, and he looked up to see a large man looking down at him.

"Yep, that's me." He said to the man. "What's up?"

"I'm here to bring you to your hotel room. Follow me, please."

"Ah, right, good." Tsubaki said, catching his breath. "Ok then, you carry these, and I'll carry the Wok."

And then he dropped two heavy bags of pots, pans, and other cooking equipment into the mans hands before lifting up a wok almost larger than himself and strapping it to his back. In response, the man looked surprised, and even slightly indignant.

"Hey, don't give me that look." Tsubaki said, lightly knocking the mans leg with his staff. "We've gotta get these out of the rain before they rust, and if that happens, they'll be useless, and if [i]that[/i] happens, I won't be able to cook anything with them, and then its just a slippery slope to everyone losing morale and everything collapsing in on itself. Are you ready to be remembered as the guy who caused the expedition to the new world to fail?"

Startled, the man hesitantly shook his head, and Tsubaki nodded, smile back on his face.

"Alright, good, now lets run. It's probably already started to rust while I said all that."

And then he dashed off, the man carrying the bags quickly following.

[hr]

The next day, Tsubaki entered the amphitheater in the absolute [i]worst[/i] state to attend a meeting. He'd barely gotten any sleep the night before, a sinking feeling in his gut keeping him awake the entire time. The fact that he couldn't use anything to replace a cigarette while trying to sleep without the risk of choking only caused this feeling to grow, leaving him dreading the next day without any understanding of why.

Of course, the fact that he'd apparently been placed into a squad didn't really help. He'd been under the impression he was just being sent as the expedition chef, and that he probably wouldn't even have to reveal himself as a shinobi! But, it didn't look like complaining about it would do much at this point, so he just sighed and picked a seat. Once he was sitting, he brought a little cylinder of rolled up paper to his mouth, calming down almost immediately as the cigarette substitute found its place in his mouth.

Honestly, what was he even worried about? So what if the shinobi on the expedition found out he was one of them? Half the ninja in Kumo knew that already! And it's not like he'd probably know any members of the expedition anyway, so there was no reason to worry that his past would be exposed either!

So naturally, just as this thought passed through his head, he caught sight of a very familiar blonde head a few rows ahead of him, nearly choking on the paper in his surprise.

What the hell?! Was that really… No! No way it was her, that would be [i]too[/i] much of a coincidence…

And then the head turned to talk to the masked man next to her, and sure enough, it was exactly the same as he remembered, down to that stupid, confident grin.

"Sen…" He sighed under his breath. "Of course it had to be Se-"

And then he cut himself off, making a point to look bored again.

After all, from what he remembered, she'd probably pick it up with those damned super senses of hers…

Turning away, he looked around the room for any other possible members of his squad, and totally not sighing again in frustration as he realised that, yes, he was going to have to do proper shinobi work. It was just a little thing, not worth worrying about. Worry about something bigger, like the fact that you've gotta try and represent Kumo in a good light, and try to get the shinobi from the Empire to actually [i]like[/i] them again, and is that Nagi Shinriky-"

Another coughing fit exploded from his lungs, as he tried to hide the [i]utter, pants-shitting terror[/i] he felt when he saw her enter the amphitheater.

He still had nightmares about that woman, more than a few of them from way back when he was still an imperial genin, and, you know, not a missing nin who ran away and ended up working for their designated worst enemy…

And now she was on the expedition, and he'd have to survive in a not-very-crowded environment with her, and [i]ohgodwhatifshewasinhissquad?[/i]