Tomoko sends me home right after, telling me there is nothing for me to do, but accept it and be on my guard. Its a high possibility that my father knows the truth about the beast inside of me. I try to enjoy the rest of the festival, but the days were spent in training and the nights were filled with paranoia. All I could think about was the book, about me, about the village’s safety. And selfishly enough about Kakashi’s safety.
The festival goes and the bright lights of the lanterns are replaced with the stars. Kakashi has taken noticed of my change of attitude, he tries to support me, but he knows there is not much he can do for me. But the thought helps me, he wants to help and that is what counts.
“You’re still thinking about it aren’t you? The book, the Akatsuki. You can’t be certain that they even got it,” Kakashi says one morning. He knew I didn’t get any sleep the night before. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t worried. How could I not, my mother died the moment I was born, she couldn’t live to be a threat. Her book didn’t exist, and her name wasn’t in my father’s book either. She couldn’t put me in danger, but my father, he knows. I’m almost certain that he knows about the beast.
“Who else could it have been? Orochimaru?”
“Maybe it was your own father, maybe he just wanted his own history hidden from everyone else,” Kakashi says.
“Ya maybe that was it.” I rub the tiredness from my face. If it really was Orochimaru then he knows things that even I don’t know, and he has another excuse to attack the hidden leaf village. Either way both were dangerous, and I would have a very hard time taking them on. If it was my father then maybe it won’t be so bad. He hasn’t sent any of his men for me, not even when I am on mission which I would expect. Perhaps he has given up on me and just wants to rid himself of the world around him.
But my fear was in not knowing out of the three options, who knows maybe someone has been watching me from afar. There was just no way of knowing, and slowly I could feel myself go insane. I have to find out. I didn’t even hear Kakashi call me until he had his face right in front of my face.
“yes?” I ask. Kakashi stays there, looking at me trying to look for something.
“I’m sorry,” he says softly. I pull back just a bit.
“Why are you sorry for?”
“If I was stronger and more skilled than maybe I could track down who ever took that book, and ended this problem. Then you could breathe and take it easy while you train. There are just too many things that you have to worry for, and I said that I will shoulder the burden with you, but so far I haven’t been doing such a great job. I”m sorry for not being strong enough,” He sighs. He was disappointed in himself, something in me falls.
“No, No, you have it all wrong. You’ve been more than plenty, I don’t need a super strong and demanding person. You’re all I need. You’ve been shouldering my burdens the moment you took me in, how could I asked more from you. Just being next to me relaxes me, just laughing, or cooking with you makes me forget about my troubles. You’ve taught me so many things that I have forgotten to do. I’ve learned to be human again because I went through hardship and you held my hand through it all. You’re strong and skilled, I know you are,” I tell him. He shouldn’t blame it on himself.
Kakashi smiles beneath that mask of his. He gives me a warming hug, telling me that everything was going to be okay. That he would kill anyone who tried to come after me, and I believed him. I knew that next to him was the safest place for me right now. The knock on my door pulls us apart. It was Kakashi who smiled, and told me to go answer it. I felt that he knew who was on the other side.
I open the door to see a crowd of people standing outside the door. Eri, Rokuro, Asuma, Kurenai, Sai, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru stood there. I noticed that all of them had something in their hands, Eri held balloons, even Rokuro was smiling, he put his differences with Kakashi aside hopefully. I turn to see Kakashi leaning on the wall, his hands in his pockets, smiling.
“I invited them over. We haven’t had time to celebrate your promotion, so I thought I invite your closest friends over for a little party,” Kakashi says.
Asuma brings the sake. Kurenai brings the cake. Hinata made dumplings. Kiba brought the games. Rokuro brought the non alcoholic drinks. Ino brought me a bouquet of large yellow tulips. They were one of my favorite flowers. Sai and Sakura told me that their bags were presents. I hold the door for them as they filed in, a smile on my face that could not be faltered. Kakashi did this for me, he must have wanted to keep my mind off of things.
I let Kiba set the games in the living room as the rest find the kitchen to set their things. The small lobby has never been so full of shoes before. Akamaru sat next to the couch, obediently getting out of the way for the others to find their way into the living room. With so many people it made the living room look so small.
But being gentlemen, the boys let the girls have a seat in the sofas.
“Alright lets get this party started with some games,” Kiba says. I watch as he takes out the board games and stack of cards from his bag.
“Those aren’t games adults pla,” I hear Asuma say. The adults in the room laugh, Kurenai elbows him to no elaborate as Kiba asks why.
“Lets play charades. We can all play,” Hinata offers. Everyone but Asuma agrees to join, to my surprise Sai and Kakashi don’t join Asuma. I help Kakashi move the center table to make some room. Kiba is first.
Kiba begins with licking his paws, and then making the motion of fangs clawing the air.
“A cat!” Ino yells. That is when Akamaru barks. It sends the whole room into a fit of laughter. Just the word cat get Akamaru riles up. Ino wins and Kiba sits on the floor. We played for an hour, Kakashi pretended to be an old man, Sai tried to act like an angry teenager. After a while we gave up and he said he was imitating Sakura, which got him a bonk on the head. We ate the delicious food they brought, Eri and I talked with the girls about the baby. Ino and Sakura were especially fond over the thought of a baby. The men were in the kitchen, Asuma sipped on sake.
“You’re just a kid, no way you’re drinking sake,” I hear him tell Kiba. I see that even Rokuro and Kakashi exchange a few words. Though I am not sure if they are opinions or insults from here. Kiba comes into the living room pouting, and saying that he wanted to play cards. This game Asuma participated in. I didn’t know what type of card game they were playing, so I watched. To my surprise Eri threw in some money and decided that they were playing for money. Hinata even contributed, small amounts, but she said she always played with her mother when she had a chance.
I watch with Kakashi as my friends play cards.
“Thank you for doing this,” I tell him. Kakashi wraps his arm around my shoulder.
“It was nothing. I’m glad to see you smile again. If this is all it takes then I’ll invite them over more often,” he says. I know he likes his privacy and silence, so for him to sacrifice it was touching. He does small things for me, things that are much more important to me than being strong.
“What!” I hear Kiba yell. I see the others have laid down their cards.
“No way! Hinata you have to be cheating! She’s using her byakugan,” Kiba says again. I laugh, so Hinata won the earnings in this round, who would have guessed that she was so good at cards.
“I would never cheat, if you want you can have the money, I don’t like playing for money,” She says timidly.
“Kiba she won fair and square, stop being a sore loser. She’s keeping the money, that is what makes the game more fun,” Sakura buts in. Kiba reshuffles the card deck, and they start another round. By the third game, Eri stops playing, and Hinata has won all three games, and Kiba is set on the fact that his teammate has been cheating. In the end Hinata promised to buy him a treat with the money she won.
“Shall we cut the cake?” Kurenai asks me. I nod, it was getting a bit late, and I’m sure they had other things to do. Everyone follows me to the kitchen, something I didn’t expect.
Kakashi seats me on a chair as everyone else gathers around me. That was when it was hard to maintain the tears that were rising from my eyes, but I didn’t want to miss a moment of this, so I held them in.
“Congratulations, Kiyoko on your promotion. We all expect great things to happen for you in the future, so keep doing what you are doing,” Eri tells me, but I had a feeling she was speaking for everyone here. Kakashi hands me the knife and I cut pieces for everyone.
“Lets open the gifts Sakura and Sai brought, I want to see them,” Eri says. Sakura brings the gift bags to the kitchen, handing me her’s first. I reach in to find what looks like a hairpin, but it was crystal and beautiful.
"I saw it and I thought it would look great with your purple kimono," Sakura smiles. It would look very beautiful with the kimono. I thank her, and Sai gives me his present from him. I had a feeling I knew what it was when I grabbed it. I pulled out a painting, a painting of the colorful lanterns.
“I didn’t know what to give you so Kakashi gave me the idea. He said you loved the lanterns, so I painted you one so you can always look at them,” Sai says. I turn to see Kakashi looking embarrassed.
“ You weren’t supposed to tell her that I gave you the idea,” Kakashi tells him. I thank Sai. Kakashi disappears into his room before coming back with his own little gift bag. He’s too thoughtful.
“I couldn’t not get you something,” Kakashi says and hands me the bag. I take his present out of the bag. It was a box, I open it to see a necklace. It was a thin chain, but not too thin so that it can survive my ninja life. It had a bronze leaf hanging. Symbolizing the leaf village. I couldn’t stop smiling, he really doesn’t know when to stop. He’s always giving me and comforting me. Asuma is slapping Kakashi’s back as I get up to hug him. Right now I didn’t care if we were in front of people.
“Thank you,” I tell him in his ear. Kakashi grabs the necklace and clips it around my neck. I will never take it off, well other than bathing time and for sleep, but other than those times I want to wear forever. The party ends after the gifts, Eri and Rokuro stay to help clean up, the others had other things to do, but I was grateful for them coming over. I was even more grateful that Kakashi and Rokuro weren’t at each other’s necks while they were gathering the plates and bringing them to Eri and I in the kitchen.
“I’m really proud of you Kiyoko. You’ve accomplished so much and had so many troubles that I don’t even know what I would have done. And you’ve had to go through most of it alone.” Eri says. I was taken back when she began to cry. I rub my dry hand on her back, she told me that she was really emotional these past couple days, these must be some of her fits. Rokuro comes in after hearing his wife cry. Eri dries her hands before she engulfs me in her arms, I let her cry on my shoulder, my happiness shouldn’t be something anyone cries over.
“Eri, are you doing okay? If you're tired we could go home,” Rokuro says as he quickly comes to her aid. She shakes her head.
“I’m fine. just thinking about everything Kiyoko has gone through, and even I was part of her rough past. You don’t know how sorry I am,” she cries. I feel a small smile take over my face. I squeeze back.
“Its all in the past. Its fine really,” I reassure her. Kakashi takes her position of washing the plates and cups. Eri decides that they’ll leave after she cleans herself up. She was looking a bit tired. Once they leave, the party has gone, but the effect stayed with me. The balloons that Eri brought were in a corner in the living room. Hinata left her dumplings here along with the chocolate cake Kurenai brought. Kakashi was just about to finish the dishes when I walk back into the kitchen. I touch the leaf around my necklace. Something in me changed when Kakashi clipped it around my neck. I felt more of something. An emotion I have never experienced. Something comes over me and I wrap my arms around Kakashi, I hear the plate land in the sink. He turns his head to see just what has come over me, but I held on tight.
“Thank you for the necklace, its beautiful,” I say into his shoulder. Kakashi’s dry hands cover my own. The necklace presses between us. Kakashi turns to face me in my arms, looking at me. He lowers his mask, and I know just what happens next. I lean in to meet his lips, they were warmer than the last time. I can taste the dumplings from his lips, and I bet my lips taste like chocolate cake. I thought he would pull away because of the sweet taste, but I felt my body being pulled closer to him. The only reason why we pull away is for air.
Three more days go by, but I still don’t sleep so deeply like before. I just got back from Shikkotsu Forest, Sage Moriko taught me a barrier-like jutsu. She tells me to try it out, maybe it will relieve the tension. I get Kakashi to tag along, I need someone to look out for me, in case someone is around. I don’t want anyone to see my wood technique. We make our way over the walls, and continue out for a few hundred meters away from the village walls. Sage Moriko has taught me to grow trees around the village, all of them are connected by their roots, and they are connected to me in a sense. She said that I will be able to feel strange chakra as soon as they cross my trees. I start on the edge of the path, making them path width between every tree. Kakashi followed, keeping eyes and ears out for me. It wasn’t hard to connect the trees, I was just unsure that I will be able to sense the whole circle.
It takes me half an hour to get the complete the barrier-like jutsu.
“No one was around, so I think your secret is safe,”Kakashi says.
“Does it work?” Kakashi asks right after.
“How about you walk through the trees, unless they fly over then I think I will be able to sense anything,” I tell him. Kakashi obeys, he walks through the trees, and I immediately see the chakra in my head. Its going to take some time to get used to this, but now at least I know who or what is coming. I nod, it works for sure. I had a feeling that they were coming, whoever it was, but I wasn’t going to be taken by surprised. Whos ever it was, I’ll destroy them.
[Reviews - 130]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: Here is another chapter! I hope you guys like it. A bit of a filler, but they must happen.
Chapter end notes: thanks for reading. let me know who you think took her father's book. ;)
Until next chapter