"Even you might be surprised at the number of secrets I've got filed away never to see the light of day," Ginta agreed with a laugh, tapping the side of his skull with two fingers in a sort of bastard salute. "So don't worry, yours are as safe as if they were stored in the Hokage's vault of forbidden scrolls. Not that psych is likely to interview me about you. Although they might interview you about me someday, but if you can tell 'em anything they don't already know... Well, that will be when you're ready to take over Shiratori's or Oita-san's job, right? And by then I'll be Arakaki."

A hawk flew overhead, high enough to be little more than a dark winged shape against the bright sky. Ginta's eyes tracked it, unthinkingly calculating whether it might be a messenger bird and where it might be going. Conscious thought was still directed at what Hiro'd just said.

"Come on, I want to show you something," he said abruptly, sliding his crutches under his arms and swinging to his feet. The path to the upper garden where the breeding ponds lay was steep and narrow, and harder to negotiate on crutches than the lower garden had been, but Ginta didn't hesitate. When he got to the shallow breeding pools, he stopped and looked at Hiro, then down at the pond, where a magnificent silver and black koi swam lazily over to investigate their arrival. Gliding silently out from under a slab of stone came a second fish, muted brown in the shadows.

"See her?" Ginta asked, pointing at the darker fish. "Wait until she comes into the sun." He edged closer to the pond, balanced on one crutch and and dipped the other into the water, luring both fish closer. As sunlight hit them, both koi looked suddenly metal plated: bright platinum and dull copper. "You might think she was just a boring brown carp, but you'd be wrong. Even though she's not all that exciting to look at, she's really special. She's gonna be the key to me breeding an all-silver. All her offspring are really valuable, too. The Hokage has two of her fry in his private garden. Grandfather gave her to me when I was little. I named her Dango, because she reminded me of the color of sweet soy sauce."

He glanced at Hiro out of the side of his eye, then down at the fish again, and smiled.