Verrrry long chapter, because I needed to get a lot out of the way. Only three or four more to go, hurrah!

And yes, I felt the cliche at the end was necessary.

Chapter 22: Momo

Jiraiya was becoming nostalgic again.

"This tunnel here," he told Tenten, running his fingers luxuriously through his silvery, dreadlocked beard, "reminds me most direly of the time I spent an entire week living inside the hollowed out tentacle of a giant squid."

"Kraken?" She smiled distractedly, trying to find a good foothold in the coarsely hewn tunnel.

"Nah." Tenten nearly slipped on a slick patch of glistening black moss; Jiraiya reached out and grabbed her by the collar, hoisting her easily to her feet. The lantern in her hand swung wildly and the warm circle of light it cast was flung from side to side, illuminating brief glimpses of terracotta earth and the occasional exposed root. "Much smaller. A cousin o' hers thrice removed, I believe."

"And is that on her mother's or father's side?"

"Alas, my giant squid family tree has been getting rather rusty and I cannot quite remember."

"Quite understandable," she reassured him, dusting herself off and grinning when she heard Shino's snort a few paces behind.

Everything so far had gone according to plan. An hour before nightfall, as the last gleams of sunlight were spilling slowly under the horizon, the three of them with Neji had left Ino and Chouji by the entrance to wade through the rising tide, already swamping the cavern waist high, to clamber several feet into the tunnel. After a short uphill hike that took them safely above the water level, the path had levelled off somewhat into another smaller and thankfully much dryer cavern, where they had spent the night. At exactly two a.m., according to Neji's gold pocket watch, they had resumed their journey for the Aburame compound.

The tunnel proved to be rather difficult to navigate, twisting and turning in a generally westward direction. Occasionally it split into minor branches that led to dead ends and sometimes to a skeleton or two, in post mortem postures that suggested starvation, thirst or diarrhoea. After a while Neji had decided to scout ahead in order to conserve time and sanity, taking one of the two lanterns they shared between them.

"Now, starfish ancestry, on the other hand, jus' happens to be an expertise o' mine," Jiraiya continued wisely, wagging a crooked finger at Tenten. "I can definitely tell you a good bit 'bout their history. It's all about immigration problems, immigration problems, nuthin' but immigration problems."

"Really," she replied dryly. "Your knowledge is certainly very extensive, Jirai-"

"Quiet!" They both froze when Shino suddenly darted past them to bar their way, stretching out an arm in warning. The Aburame pressed a hand against the wall of the tunnel, crumbling moist earth between his fingers and sniffing it carefully. He hesitated briefly, before slipping forwards and out of the perimeter of light.

"Shino?" Tenten whispered cautiously. "What's wrong?"

A few seconds later a hand re-emerged into view, beckoning them to follow. Tenten frowned, half covering the lantern to mute its glow. They continued on silently for a minute or so, perturbed and literally in the dark as to his purpose.

"Shino," Tenten whispered again, groping almost blindly forwards and hoping that he wasn't too far ahead, "What's happening? Why-"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

Tenten actually jumped back at Shino's enraged growl, reeling in shock as it echoed past them in decibels never before heard from the man. "Shino!...You shouted!"

Jiraiya snarled and leaped forwards while brandishing a cutlass, Tenten close at his heels. The tunnel veered sharply to the right; they kicked dirt high into the air as they sprinted around the corner, and proceeded to stumble dramatically to a halt at the sight of Shino glaring furiously at one dumbfounded ex-captain of the Konohan Navy. Their gaze slid slowly from the first man to the other, then fixing onto what appeared to be one end of an enormous worm comfortably dominating the background – Oh, my, Tenten thought dazedly – before finally resting on the sword that Neji was currently brandishing valiantly at said worm.

Ah. She winced.

"Shiver me timbers," Jiraiya whistled bemusedly. "Didn't your ma tell you never to hurt buggies when there's an Aburame around? You're in one hell o' a scrape now, son."

Tenten was staring in awe at the giant worm but still found the presence of mind to elbow him discreetly. "Not helping."

"LOWER YOUR SWORD THIS INSTANT," Shino thundered. Neji stiffened indignantly but allowed his sword to fall slowly to his side, though his grip never loosened.

"What is the matter with you?" he demanded perplexedly, "Do you want us all to be eaten alive?"

"SHE'S ON A DIET." Shino eyed Neji with clear exasperation, gesturing towards the worm. "OBVIOUSLY."

"Aye," Jiraiya agreed, trying and failing to stifle his chuckling, "Obviously."

As if to prove his point, Shino strode purposefully past Neji, heading straight towards the giant head. Neji's lantern on the ground lit him up eerily as he reached out an arm to lightly pet the worm, almost caressing it as its pale pink flesh expanded and contracted softly, wetly.

"Fool," Neji growled, lunging forwards to his defence, "get back here, Aburame!" He cursed loudly when the worm suddenly began to move, slowly rearing up off the floor.

"She won't eat us," Shino told him sternly, and actually gave a small smile when the worm, much to the surprise of their audience, began to nuzzle affectionately against his hand. "See?"

A long pause.

"Aye." Tenten smiled. Jiraiya stroked his beard benignly.

Neji looked a little distastefully at the thin coating of slime that now covered Shino's fingers. That really cannot be hygienic.

After a respectful duration of time had passed, wherein the three allowed Shino and the worm to bask in their mutual affection, Tenten coughed lightly. "Shino?"

He turned to look at them calmly. "Get on."

"Pardon?" Neji raised an elegant eyebrow.

"You heard me. We'll get there much quicker – and safer – if we ride."

"Sir, you are out of your mind," Neji began, but broke off when Tenten hastily grabbed him by the hand and pulled him forwards.

"Come on, Neji," she urged him, smiling brightly up at the Hyuuga. "Shino knows what he's doing, I'm sure."

Neji blinked; looked down at the smaller, calloused hand currently wrapped tightly around his; sighed, traced his thumb gently across her knuckles and manfully resigned himself to the fact that they were about to travel by worm.

"Here, let me help you," he told her gruffly, sheathing his blade and shrugging out of his shirt so she could have something relatively dry to sit on. Tenten bit back a smile as Neji hoisted her onto his shoulders and sat her carefully onto the creature's ridged back, though she let her fingers trail teasingly across the nape of his neck and down his throat as she settled herself down. Even in the dark of the tunnel she could discern the blush that immediately reddened his face.

The worm was surprisingly comfortable to sit on, if rather moist. Neji found himself sinking a little disturbingly into the soft flesh but soon figured that he could balance quite well by digging his legs against its sides and grabbing onto each individual, enormous segment as the worm undulated forwards at an alarmingly rapid pace. The vast majority of the worm's length still stretched into the darkness before them; close up it exuded the faint scent of rust and wet sandalwood. Shino got on last, at the very tip, and after a light tap and a few gentle murmurs had managed to set them shooting forwards, their heads barely grazing the tunnel ceiling as they lurched violently up and down, to the right and the left – "Starboard, three seconds!" Jiraiya would roar from his position in front, and they'd barely have time to brace themselves before the abrupt change in momentum flung them all to one side, careening around the more difficult, acute turns that the worm manoeuvred with a blind, sleek efficiency. The light from their lanterns gleamed briefly across jagged rock beds and what looked to be the remnants of other giant insects: an antennae sticking out here, a decomposing beetle leg there, discoloured scorpion claws raking down through the ceiling; once they passed an enormous, gaping hole, crusted with fresh earth, from where the worm had evidently burrowed into the Aburame tunnel.

A dull crack; Neji heard a loud groan come from Jiraiya, before he hollered back: "Oy, get ya heads down!...Damned plant."

"For the love of-" He immediately ducked as a thick protruding root came hurtling towards them from above, missing the top of his head by less than an inch. A dusty tendril lashed against his temple. His eyes were watering from the headwind. A few breathless seconds later Tenten shakily clambered back into an upright position and turned to glance at him, grinning widely, with her hair loosening from her buns and eyes bright, a bit of worm slime on her cheek.

"Isn't this fun, Neji?" she asked loudly, and despite the insanity, the danger and utter lack of hygiene of their situation he found himself smiling back, thinking: this is not so bad after all.

"So this is it, eh?" Jiraiya peered critically at the spiderwebs lacing the small, unassuming iron door cut into the blunt end of the tunnel. It was more squared than rectangular, not tall enough for a grown man to walk through without ducking his head. A soft layer of coppery dust muted its paintwork, but tellingly the hinges were well oiled. A simple latch kept it closed.

Shino came up from behind. "Yes. If I remember correctly, it should lead straight to the second library." The group had left the worm a few paces behind after having, at his insistence, gingerly petted it as thanks. (They had taken a full ten minutes to walk past the worm itself to its other end. Neji's initial guess had been right; it was definitely much longer than a hundred feet.)

"I didn't know you could speak worm," Neji said, managing to sound like he was making dignified dinner party small talk even when his trousers were moist with slime. The Aburame shrugged modestly.

"It's not difficult once you grasp the basics."

Tenten looked impressed. "Think you can teach me later, Shino? I'll let you off cleaning duty for a month." She grinned playfully, a quick flash of the canines. "Neji can take your shifts instead."

"Tenten." Neji's tone was one of long suffering, but a small, arrogant smirk was playing on his lips when he leaned down fluidly to murmur in her ear: "Only if you clean me off afterwards."

It was Tenten's turn to blush. "I….I didn't know you could suggest such a thing, Hyuuga Neji," she declared with mock outrage.

He hadn't know that he could, either; Neji was currently looking rather scandalized by that automatic, uninhibited, most improper tease he himself had let slip without thinking. It was Tenten, he decided. Tenten was the cause of his insanity. Tenten made him willing to swab her decks with the shirt off his back, made him want to kiss her on a rocky beach covered with mussels, take her hand when others weren't watching, ride an oversized worm, suggest indecent activities to try out in private…….

"Thas a good line, son. Terribly suave." Jiraiya patted his shoulder in a fatherly manner, eyes twinkling. "I'll be sure ta put that in somewhere in me next novel."

Neji winced. "………Let's go on."

"Yes, let's," said Shino hastily, who had been looking both amused and uncomfortable at their exchange. He stepped forwards to press his ear against the door, one hand resting on the iron frame, fingertips gathering dust. A moment later he glanced back at them, shaking his head seriously.

"I can't hear anything," he told them.

"T'is an iron door, 'course you can't," Jiraiya snorted. Shino ignored him.

"There shouldn't be anyone inside, at any rate, not at this time of the morning." He paused, looking at Tenten. "I'll go in first."

"Aye." She nodded. "Be careful, Shino."

He slid open the latch, swinging the door open noiselessly to reveal a short, narrow passage, the end of which was covered by what appeared to be thick cloth. Faint light glowed warmly through the green fabric, casting a pale square on the dirt floor. Shino stepped inside and shuffled through, half crouching; when he got to the end he carefully pushed aside the cloth to peer into the room. The others caught a brief glimpse of a richly furnished interior. Then Shino looked back, nodded once, and slipped inside. They followed him in single file.

The library was a large room with a low ceiling, lit reasonably well with oil lamps perched in little niches in the walls. As Shino had explained back at the Academy, it only contained the documents produced by the Aburame clan in their role as the official chroniclers of government activity; rows upon rows of thick, leather bound tomes gathered dust on the shelves, alongside government issued proclamations, stacks of letters, glass cases filled with official seals. A few heavy tomes lay open on ornate, low tables, revealing long pages painstakingly inked with dates and statistics and names of those long dead. Neji examined an archive of exportation from the major cities of the Empire, running a finger along its ridged spine.

A look back at where they had come from revealed that the secret passageway was hidden by a large tapestry on the wall, one of many that were hung around the room. They depicted political maps of the known world decade by decade: the first one, behind which they had emerged, was faded with age and showed the Konohan empire in its first stage as the Kingdom of Konoha, beset by warlords on all sides; in the next it had expanded towards the Mist Federation to the north and the Republic of Wind in the north-east ; yet another showed the disintegration of the Han Kingdom to the east, prey to the violent civil war that had sent refugees scattered across the continents, including Tenten and her family. The newest one represented the countries as their borders currently stood.

"They're beautiful," Tenten murmured in a low voice.

"I'm telling ya," Jiraiya muttered, "none o' this is anyway near as useful as a thorough knowledge o' starfish history. Not if you be a proper seafarin' man, I'm telling ya."

Shino was striding through the shelves towards the exit. "We should go."

"Are you leaving already?"

A stranger's voice, raspy and bemused and carrying evident interest. They started, taken by surprise; the room had definitely appeared empty when they entered. Instinct kicked in. Neji and Shino immediately unsheathed their swords, directing them at the darkened section of the room from where, behind a tall shelf bristling with books, a long shadow was slowly unfolding across the floor. Jiraiya's hand rested carefully on his scabbard. Tenten silently slid a pair of scythes from her belt.

"Avast! Come out and show yourself," she demanded.

"Patience, my dear girl. The damp air has worsened my arthritis these past few weeks." A walking stick emerged; then, slowly, a very tall, very thin old man hobbled out, smiling at them benevolently. He was dressed in an outdated uniform of a government official, his head nearly bald save for a few wisps of white by his temples. He stopped a few feet before them. "Don't worry, I am alone. Put down your weapons now, if you please. And a very good morning to you all." He nodded politely at Neji, Tenten and Jiraiya. "My name is Aburame Masaru. Pleased to meet you." Then he finally turned to Shino, his smile widening: "Welcome back, Shino."

"You know me." Shino's face was expressionless, but the tightened grip on his sword betrayed his surprise.

"Indeed." The man tilted his head aristocratically, still smiling. "You used to play with my own grandson, I believe. It has been a long time since I last saw you – ten years, twelve years, no? But I recognized you the moment you came in. You look exactly like your father." A thoughtful pause. "Except Shibi has that absolutely preposterous moustache going on, of course. You are very wise not to grow yours. Much less creepy looking."

Shino was silent. Tenten glanced at Neji. He grew it for a while, she mouthed. Definitely creepy looking.

"What d'ya want?" Jiraiya asked gruffly, eyeing the man with suspicion.

"What do I want?" he echoed, eyebrows raising elegantly, placing both hands on his walking stick. Although he was responding to Jiraiya, his gaze remained firmly fixed on Shino. "I would think that the better question is: what do you want?"

Neji frowned. "Do not play games with us, sir. Remain quiet and let us on our way, and I promise that you will be unhurt."

"Hmmm…….a Hyuuga, I see. I'm surprised to see that you've brought one along. And all of you dressed as…….sailors? Pirates?" Masaru slowly limped towards Shino as he spoke, casually brushing aside his sword. Then he muttered, in a low voice so that none but the other Aburame could hear: "Is that what became of you, then, after you helped the Uzumaki escape?" He shook his head musingly. "And you're back even now, to save him a second time."

Shino gave him a hard look. "You know he is Uzumaki?"

"Of course," Masaru replied loftily. "I recognized him as well, when they brought him in yesterday with the other prisoners. The younger ones don't know him at all, of course, but those from my generation and rank? We know. We know everything." A pause. "We liked his father."

"…….Did you."

"Indeed. But tell me, Shino: is he worth it? His son, I mean. The heir. Is he really worth risking your life twice this way?"

"Yes." Shino's face was perfectly blank. Masaru scrutinized him carefully, rubbing his thumb across the curved handle of his walking stick in contemplation.

"Very well." He leaned back, raising his voice so the others could hear. "It appears you four are having quite the grand adventure. I heartily approve. I like it immensely when young people show some vivacity and go off on adventures." He glanced at Jiraiya's unimpressed expression and amended smoothly, "And you, my dear sir. Being of a similar age and quite the infirm, I respect your willingness to traipse around with these young folks. Very inspiring. Unfortunately, I cannot enjoy your company any longer. My wife is going to think I fell asleep in here again."

"Ya think we're just gonna to let ye walk away?" Jiraiya looked at him scornfully.

"Naturally. I am only going on my customary stroll before bed. It's quite a nice night underground, isn't it, but what uncommonly salty air we're having in here. You came in from the coast, yes?" He made his way nonchalantly to the tapestry, lifting it up to peer into the tunnel. "Ah, it's Monatrice Wilhemina Ursuline Alessandra Antoinette the Third. Good to see her again, very good!"

"Who?" Neji sounded lost.

"The beautiful lady just out there. We call her Momo for short. She's gotten much thinner, dear me."

"Yes, that's what I told her. She's on a diet," Shino added gravely.

"Oh dear. I suppose her husband's been playing around again." Masaru shook his head. "Well, I really must be off." He began hobbling back towards the exit. Jiraiya moved to bar his way, but he simply went around the pirate unperturbedly. Tenten put a hand on Jiraiya's elbow, holding him back with a thoughtful expression. "Night time strolls before bed are really very beneficial for one's health, you know. Very relaxing and good for circulation. So good, in fact, that I think I just might invite the two sentries standing outside the prison - situated most conveniently right below this library - to join me for the night. I'm sure they'll enjoy it as well. It's half an hour before the guard changes but they shouldn't be too worried about leaving their posts a bit early, especially as they're quite conscious of my arthritic condition. And by the time I reach them there will be only fifteen minutes left, anyway; the damp weather has really quite irritated my joints these few days, dear oh dear."

He paused at the door. "Unfortunately, I don't think I could invite the guards inside the prison as well. It'd be quite improper to request an entourage of more than two, wouldn't it? Oh well. Those four will have to wait their turn."

"We can't trust him," Jiraiya muttered, glaring down at Tenten. "Let me at 'im, lass."

"And if I just so happen to be attacked by roaming pirates – although I'm positive that wouldn't happen here," Masaru interrupted smoothly, "I know those two sentries will arrive in a second if I call very loudly."

"Be gone with you, Aburame Masaru," Tenten ordered. "Go before I change my mind and mince you into fodder for the sharks." To Jiraiya and the others she explained tersely: "There's nothing else we can do. If he's lying we'll end up fighting; if we hurt him we'll end up fighting anyway. We might as well trust his offer for now."

"Very cleverly said, my dear girl, very cleverly said indeed. Well, goodnight, all of you. Good night, Shino. I hope this won't be the last time I see you." And with that Masaru left the room.

"He's lyin'," Jiraiya said flatly. "Why was he in here at this hour? What's goin' for him in betrayin' his own clan?"

Shino stiffened. Tenten let out a deep, shuddering breath. "I know. I knew from the start, instinct burned like hell fire when he spoke. At his pace, I'm guessing we have ten, fifteen minutes before the guards come."

"Eh? An' you let the lily-liver'd scalawag go?"

"She was right to do so," Neji spoke up calmly, already moving further back into the room and starting to examine the archives. "We wouldn't have been any better off threatening him a moment ago. Now, instead, he thinks that he's got us fooled and trapped in here." He slid a book out, a Compilation of Reports by the Governor of East Konoha on Peasant Uprisings, flipping through the pages with mild interest. Then he looked up, meeting Tenten's gaze. "We can ambush them when they come. That's what you were thinking, yes?"

"Aye." She smiled wanly.

"Bah. I swear we coulda just skewered 'im and be done with it," Jiraiya muttered sulkily.

"I'm only worried that he'll bring more reinforcements than we can handle," Shino said quietly, "if the corridor outside is filled with soldiers we'd find it near impossible to even get to the prison entrance."

"Then we won't use the corridor." Tenten grinned. "The prison is directly below us, right?" To their collective surprise she suddenly reached down the front of her shirt.

"What are you doing?" Neji was horrified, darting in front of Shino and Jiraiya to block her from their view.

"I kept this sweet lil' baby here," she told him proudly, looking extremely pleased with herself as she drew out a thin stick of dynamite from her cleavage. "Best explosive I got. We can just blow a good sized chunk out of the floor and break in that way." Smirking at him, she slid the stick back inside. "I have another one, just in case." She didn't mention where that one was situated. Neji swallowed and tore his gaze away.

"Preposterous woman," he muttered thickly.

Tenten chuckled, but then quickly sobered. "We'll hide in the two corners closest to the door," she told them decisively. "That way they'll go further into the room when they don't see us, and we can attack them from behind. Shino, Jiraiya, you take your positions behind the couch there, under the painting. Neji and I will stay behind those bookshelves."

She wandered over now to inspect her corner, sliding into the triangular niche fenced off by a diagonal wall of shelving and peering through the gaps in the rows of books, adjusting a few where they exposed too much to view. Neji joined her cautiously, tugging out the nearby tapestry to hide their entrance.

"These things are pretty hefty," she mused aloud, throwing one experimentally up and down in her hand, "we might as well use them as missiles when the soldiers come. What is this? Cleaning Arrangements in the Royal Konohan Navy, Book XII. How truly fascinating." Neji eyed her gloomily. Tenten gave him a pitying glance. "Is this the sort of stuff they educated you on, Neji? Well, never mind; a lot of things are explained now." She patted him on the shoulder with genuine sympathy. Neji twitched.

"I'll have you know –" he began dignifiedly, but Tenten had already moved off, choosing another book and giggling away at the sombre title embossed onto its leather cover. To his discomfort the entire shelf hiding them from view seemed to be dedicated to records on the Konohan Navy, his recent ex-employer.

"Look, Neji," Tenten suddenly whispered excitedly, thrusting an opened book at him and pointing to a section of what appeared to be a chronological log of Navy exploits. "1603, August the second: Small pirate crew spotted off the southernmost tip of the nautical border with the Mist Federation. Captain, simply identified as one "Jiraiya" of foreign origin, appeared to be carousing with four blonde and full figured women on deck. Commanding Officer on duty: Hyuuga M."

Neji snorted.

"And then here, this entry – 1605, February the tenth: Man believed to be the fugitive pirate captain Jiraiya spotted fleeing makeshift campsite on northern coast during immigration patrol. Inspection suggests that he had been living inside a roughly hollowed out squid tentacle stolen from the nearby giant squid processing workshops. Commanding Officer on duty: Uchiha H."

"Well, that sounds familiar," he muttered. Tenten looked like she was trying hard not to burst out laughing. Neji smiled at her expression. "There's another one," he pointed out. "1606, December the fourth: Exchanged cannon shots with Jiraiya and fatally damaged pirate ship. Not captured; crewmember later claimed to see him swimming amongst a passing school of Sunanese pink jellyfish. Commanding Officer on duty: Hyuuga T."

"Sweet lord." Tenten shook her head. "I thought he had just been feeding us tall stories the entire time. Is there more?"

"Not in this book." Neji scanned over the next few pages. "Perhaps in another one."

"Aye. Let's see what else we can find." Tenten was evidently intrigued, sliding another book out and rifling through its contents.

"Hn……" Neji, interested despite himself, selected another tome from the shelf and searched for any new mentions of Jiraiya. Nothing. He tried another one: nothing. The last official record on the pirate seemed to have been the one dated the December of 1606. He took a fourth book out, a relatively slim volume titled Illegal Immigrants and Foreign Pirate Crews: Records and Statistics. The pages were yellowed and well thumbed, perhaps by some avid Aburame historian; the spine creaked quietly when he flipped open the cover to scan down the contents page.

A moment later Tenten bumped her elbow against his, looking up from the book she had been perusing herself. "Hey, look at this – it's not on Jiraiya but – Neji?" She blinked at him, pausing. Neji was rooted to the spot, staring down at the page before him with an unreadable expression on his face. He was gripping the book very tightly between his fingers; at the sound of Tenten's voice his hands began to shake almost imperceptibly. "Neji……are you alright?" Tenten placed a hand gingerly on his wrist, looking carefully up at him. "What's wrong?"

Wordlessly, reluctantly, he tilted the book so that she could read the opened pages.

"What is it?" She skimmed through the lines of neat, precise handwriting, too anxious and confused to fully process the letters and numbers that swarmed across her vision. It was a log, like the first book they had found containing entries on Jiraiya, except the subject was different; this one mostly charted the practical application of the various immigration policies adopted by the Konohan government as they changed over the years, specifically centring on the treatment of illegal immigrants.

1625, March the sixteenth: Two more ships of Han refugees found to the east of the Straits, raising this month's total to five. Continued increase expected as the civil war in the HanKingdom reaches final stages.

Her lips parted softly; suddenly her heart was beating too fast, a hard thud thud thud behind her ribs. She continued reading.

The ships were dealt with accordingly. No survivors. Commanding Officer on duty: Tanaka E.

"Neji," she said hollowly. "Neji, I-" She broke off.

Tenten traced a finger down the page, stopping whenever Han refugees were mentioned. Fishing boat found off south-west coast. Refugees already dead. Three ships captured attempting to enter estuary of the YanRiver. Burned. No survivors save for five males released back to the Han as warning. Two ships found in shallow waters. All refugees executed.

And then, finally, she reached the last entry on the page that concerned refugees from the Han. She read it; closed her eyes, breathed out deeply; opened her eyes and read it again.

One ship, found heading for shore near Bay of Sharks. Cannon shots fired but refugees protected by passing pirate crew, led by man later identified as the pirate Shiranui G. Pirates eventually fought off, although they took one of the Han on board: a young girl, approximate age nine or ten. Refugee ship forced aground, all surviving members executed. Commanding Officer on duty:

Tenten bit her lip.

Hyuuga H.