Kou: Wow! It Really Is You!!

The Land of Water's border, Mist Harbor.

Though this port on the border of the Land of Water was shrouded in sea fog all year round, it was still bustling.

The docks were packed with fishing boats and merchant ships of every size. Their masts stood like a forest, and their sails appeared and vanished in the mist.

Fishermen shouted as they carried basket after basket of fresh fish onto the docks. Vendors set up stalls along the slick stone streets, and the salty tang of the sea filled the air.

The harbor was alive with its own distinctive clamor.

As an important hub connecting the Land of Water to the mainland, Mist Harbor held a crucial place in the economy.

It was one of the few prosperous regions in the Land of Water, and a place where all kinds of people mingled.

In a place like this, a woman dressed inconspicuously shouldn't have drawn attention.

But with Mei Terumi standing there, something always felt off. It wasn't that her disguise wasn't good enough; it was that the aura she was born with was impossible to hide.

She wore a dark gray cloak, its hood pulled low to conceal most of her face.

Her long reddish-brown hair was tied up on top of her head and tucked inside the hood, with only a few wisps falling beside her ears.

Mei Terumi wore no makeup, yet her skin still seemed to glow with its own pale radiance.

Head bowed and hands in her pockets, she huddled in the shadow of a dockside pillar like a wary cat.

She glanced at the watch on her wrist. The hands on its face were steadily ticking forward.

Ten fifty-eight. Fifty-nine.

Mei Terumi's brows drew tighter and tighter.

Her face, hidden beneath the shadow of her hood, had grown so dark it seemed ready to drip.

That guy... Is he really a ninja?

She grumbled to herself, her thoughts full of unconcealed doubt:

Doesn't he have any sense of time? This is an extremely important mission!

Was it really the right choice to entrust such an important mission to that guy?

Could she really trust that bastard who'd critiqued her on the battlefield and thought he was so cool?

For the first time in her life, Mei Terumi deeply doubted a decision she'd made.

Fifty-eight seconds. Fifty-nine...

She suppressed her irritation and fixed her green eyes on the watch face.

Sixty seconds.

"Waiting for someone, beautiful?"

A flamboyant yet magnetic voice suddenly spoke beside her ear.

It was close, delivered in a lazy, roguish drawl. It sounded like a pick-up line, or maybe a tease.

"Wah!!"

Startled by the sudden voice, Mei Terumi let out a cry.

Her body stiffened, and her green eyes shrank to pinpricks.

By a ninja's instinct, her hands had already darted out of her pockets. Her fingers rapidly formed Hand Seals, and chakra surged wildly through her body!

"Easy, beautiful, easy!!"

The magnetic voice sounded again, this time soothingly.

A slender hand reached out in front of her, palm down, making a gesture to tell her to take it easy.

"This is a crowded area. With a low-key outfit like that, you probably don't want to cause a commotion, right?"

The voice paused, taking on a playful edge.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're the client for my mission, aren't you?

For the sake of our mission, why don't you calm down?"

Mei Terumi froze, staring in disbelief at the man who had suddenly appeared before her.

What?! How is my overreaction anything but your fault? You hid your presence and suddenly appeared to scare me! And now you're the one telling me to calm down?!

Her anger flared from the depths of her heart, burning her cheeks hot.

But years of ninja discipline helped her force the anger down, leaving only eyes as cold as ice.

This man's ability to hide himself...

She studied the casually smiling man, a hint of wariness flickering in her green eyes.

I couldn't sense him at all, even though I'm from the Mist Village. That's terrifying...

He was strong. This guy was incredibly strong!!

She'd briefly fought him on the battlefield before, and she knew he was powerful.

But back then, at least she'd been able to react the moment he made a move.

Now he stood right in front of her, close enough to touch, and she hadn't sensed him at all...

Mei Terumi felt a deep sense of caution, but on the surface she remained composed.

She raised her head and studied the "old acquaintance" she hadn't seen in years.

The instant she got a good look at him, her face darkened.

The man was Uchiha Kou.

He now wore his long black hair tied into a little ponytail at the back of his head, with a few stray locks over his forehead. They gave his handsome face a hint of unruliness and roguish charm.

His features were delicate, his profile well-defined, his nose straight, and his lips slightly upturned in a brazen smirk.

By any measure, he was a handsome young man, the most eye-catching guy in the crowd.

But what made Mei Terumi's vision go black was his outfit.

He wore a white shirt, its collar wide open to reveal his sharply defined collarbones and a small patch of muscular chest.

Over it, he had on an open dark jacket made of fine material, though he wore it so loosely it looked like he'd just thrown it on.

He wore shorts that ended at his knees, leaving his sturdy calves bare.

On his feet were pink flip-flops with a floral pattern.

Mei Terumi's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

Did this look like someone who'd come to carry out a mission? He looked like he was on vacation!

What ninja wore flip-flops while undertaking an S-rank mission?! (Jiraiya: Hey, hey, hey!!)

She took a deep breath and swallowed the blood that was practically about to spurt from her mouth.

Mei Terumi glared at Uchiha Kou, forcing down her anger as she lowered her voice until only the two of them could hear:

"Are you... going to explain that eye-catching outfit, and why you're so late?"

Her voice trembled with anger.

"I've been waiting here for an hour!"

Kou looked at Mei Terumi, who was flushed with rage. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were full of amusement.

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he barely managed to keep from laughing.

He then put on a thoughtful expression, furrowing his brows and rubbing his chin as if contemplating some great question of life:

"Sorry."

"I just lost my way in life."

"...You got lost?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Kou nodded without the slightest shame.

"Who do you think you're fooling?!"

Mei Terumi's voice shot up, then quickly dropped again.

She pointed to the ketchup still at the corner of Kou's mouth, her beautiful face full of unconcealed anger.

"You clearly spent your time eating and drinking here, then showed up right at the last minute!!"

"Hey, hey, beautiful, that's going too far, isn't it?"

Kou spread his hands with an innocent look. Behind his sunglasses, though, his eyes were full of amusement.

"How can you slander me out of nowhere? This stuff at the corner of my mouth is actually blood—"

"Burp~~"

A loud belch escaped his throat.

The air froze in that instant.

Mei Terumi stared at him expressionlessly.

Kou awkwardly rubbed his stomach.

He coughed, then straightened his back and spoke with a solemn expression:

"Ahem. Beautiful, I think you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"At the end of the day, we're just a client and a contractor meeting for the first time.

I may have cut it close, but I still arrived at the agreed time. You have no grounds to criticize me.

Please respect my boundaries and don't get involved in matters unrelated to the mission."

Mei Terumi's eyes widened. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

The expression on her beautiful face shifted from anger to shock, then from shock to disbelief.

"You... I...!"

She didn't even know how to describe what she was feeling.

How can someone be this shameless? Is this guy even human?!

No, wait...

Her eyes narrowed suddenly.

Did he just say... we were meeting for the first time?

Mei Terumi stared at Uchiha Kou without expression, her green eyes utterly cold.

"You... don't recognize me?"

Kou put on a bewildered look, his handsome face full of innocence.

"Of course I recognize you. Haven't I been calling you 'beautiful' this whole time?"

As he spoke, he looked Mei Terumi up and down.

The corners of his mouth lifted as he stated with certainty:

"You're tall and have a big butt! Mm! My type.

And you're really beautiful. You're definitely a beauty."

His words were quite rude, but he sounded utterly sincere, as if he were voicing a heartfelt admiration.

Veins bulged on Mei Terumi's forehead.

Her voice could no longer hide her anger. She glared at Kou and growled through gritted teeth:

"I'm Mei Terumi!! Don't tell me you've forgotten that name!!"

"Huh?! You? Mei Terumi? I don't believe you."

Mei Terumi stared at him, stunned.

He immediately denied it, his voice full of unconcealed doubt.

"That Mei Terumi has a pretty face, but she's a short little thing with a flat chest!!"

Kou spoke with complete conviction:

"With the kind of nutrition that crappy Mist Village can provide, you expect me to believe she could grow up looking like you?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!!"

Mei Terumi lowered her head.

Her body trembled with anger, and her bangs obscured most of her green eyes.

Her hands clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.

"Ah..."

Her voice was quiet.

"You really haven't changed at all..."

Mei Terumi abruptly raised her head, her green eyes blazing with fury.

"You dare insult the Mist Village..."

"...Uh-oh?"

Kou thought grimly:

Damn, I think I've taken the joke too far...

"I'll kill you!!"

Mei Terumi's voice was low, but her killing intent was unmistakable.

Her fingers had already begun forming Hand Seals, and chakra surged wildly through her body. Her beautiful face was set with determination.

Looking at Mei Terumi's thoroughly flushed face, Kou seemed to see her as a girl again, glaring fiercely at him with a red face in the woods near Konoha's border.

The same anger, the same gritted teeth, the same... irresistible urge to tease her.

"Wow! It really is you!!"

Kou's voice suddenly rose, full of the joy of a long-awaited reunion.

Mei Terumi froze.

Her fingers were still poised in a Hand Seal, but the heat of the moment had passed, and she could no longer summon her chakra.

She looked at the man whose expression changed faster than the pages of a book, and the corner of her mouth twitched hard.

Under Kou's "astonished" words, their "heartwarming" reunion came to an end...