Chapter 5
“You are now strictly forbidden to use the Cloak and the Touch of Blindness in any combat situation. The only time you’ll be able to use it will be when I personally allow you to use it against Kakashi-san during a spare in a controlled environment. I hope you know that this decision is made purely for your safety, Nora-chan. If an enemy learns that you have these jutsus, you’ll be heavily targeted.” An apologetic smile hetchs on the Third Hokage face.
“I understand.” You direct your gaze towards your sensei on your right. Kakashi is leaning back against the window, his face blank.
“Of course he doesn’t care. Stupid of me for expecting something of him.” An annoyed scoff leaves your lips.
“May I be excused, Hokage-sama? I have other things to do.” It takes all your might for you to not tell him to fuck off. “I hate this man. For God's sake, who let him be a Hokage. Everyone would have been better than him.”
“Yes, you can go. Have a nice day kid.” You storm out of the office, pissed by how the events turn out. You wait for a few minutes outside the building, assuming Kakashi would’ve followed you, but he didn’t.
You walk around the village until you stumble across a park. You lay in the grass and look at the clouds. The chilly autumn air brushing your face. You close your eyes and take a deep inhale.
The days since then flew by, but Kakashi has been nowhere to be seen since that day in the office. Even if you don’t want to admit it, you miss seeing him around. Even though the both of you were never really close,but afterall you didn’t have a team so you were never really close to anyone else. Only being with your sensei gives you somewhat of a feeling of having a team.
The cold weather of mid-December made it hard, but you trained non-stop. Everyday you ran and sparred with a tree until your legs gave out. You also helped Naruto with his taijutsu a lot in the meantime and he quickly improved.
Right now, you are walking around the village, because you want to buy a christmas present for Naruto and maybe also one for Kakashi. You come across a jewelry store not so far from your apartment. Necklaces, bracelets and earrings everywhere, but one necklace specifically catches your attention.
It's a simple gold chain with an “N” as a pendant. Not too feminine, but not too masculine either. Simply perfect.
A few hours passed by as you roamed in the streets, but you still didn’t have Kakashi’s gift. At this point, you wonder if you’ll find one at all.
The weapons store you’re in right now is pretty small, but very cozy. The swords section is filled with every type of blade you can imagine of; swords that only a samurai uses and even sabers.
“Are you looking for something specific?” An old lady asks, probably the owner you guess.
“Well not really. I’m looking for a gift, I think a long blade sword will suit the best, but I’m not really an expert in those things.” You laugh awkwardly.
“Well, I can help you with that. The person is a male or a female?”
“A male, he’s something like 25 years-old.”
“Then you had a good instinct to go with a katana. Usually teenagers and females are more adept with lighter and shorter blades. Anyways, which chakra nature does he possess?”
“Well he can use all of them, but his main one is lighting.”
The elder woman looks at you curiously, almost as if you are mad. “All of them?”
You shrug. “Yeah. Does Hatake Kakashi ring a bell?”
“Oh! You should’ve told me earlier sweetie. I was a great friend of his parents a long time ago. Come with me.” You follow the lady at the back of the store. She reaches for a rectangular box that sits on the highest shelf of a dresser. She blows the dust off and slowly opens the box. A long katana rests in the box with a red case next to it.
It's beautiful. The handle is covered with hand-drawn designs and the blade is perfect, without even a scratch.
“This katana is specifically made for lighting chakra. It takes less than the quarter of the lighting chakra that it would take to infuse a normal blade. It’s also made of one of the hardest materials you could find on the market.”
“It’s absolutely magnificent, but I surely can’t afford it. I’m really sorry, but I will need to recline the offer-” The lady puts her hand on your shoulder.
“There’s no need to. I give it to you. I’m sure your sensei will love it and that he will make good use of it.” She gives you a kind smile and pushes the box your way.
“Are you sure? I’m sure it costs a fortune.”
“Yes, now take it, it’s yours."
“Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say…”
“Really, it’s fine. Now go, I have other customers.” She gives you a wink, as you exit the little store with a quick wave. “I hope he will like it…”
You dropped both of the presents back at your apartment and placed both of your gifts under the Touch of Blindness so no one will find them. You knock on the door of the Hokage’s office.
“Yes?” You push the door open and you stick your head in the rrom.
“Nora-chan? What are you doing here? Is something going on?” The older man looks at you with worry written all over the face.
“No, nothing bad is going on. I actually have a favor to ask you…” You hide your fidgeting hands behind your back.
“What can I do for you kid?”
“Well, I haven’t seen Kakashi-sensei since...well what happened like a month ago and well I’m sure that he’s very busy and he has a lot of missions and all, but I wondered if the next time you see him, you could tell him that I would like to meet up with him on Christmas. I bought him a present and you know I want to give it to him in person. The thing is that I feel like he’s avoiding me and I know that you will see him in the upcoming week. So, he won’t be able to avoid you and I will really, like really, appreciate it if you could tell him to meet me on training ground 7 at noon on Christmas.” You look at him with pleading eyes.
“I will tell him, don’t worry.” You let a relieved sigh out of your mouth. “But on one condition”
“Yes?”
“I want to know what you bought for him.” He says with a teasing smile. You resume what the lady told you and you flash an unsure smile to the older man in front of you.
“I’m convinced that he will love it. He doesn’t get gifts a lot, so it’ll mean a great deal to him.”
“Thanks. I will get going if I want to be home when Naruto does. Bye!” You close the door behind you, relieved that the Hokage accepted.
The next week pretty much consists of doing D-rank missions, pretty boring if you ask me. Every corner of the streets is decorated with colorful ornaments and the landscape is covered by the white blanket that the snowy days left behind.
You wake up when you feel someone hovering over you. You grab the stranger's right arm, you flip them over on the bed and you straddle them. Restricting their mouvements.
“Nee-chan?! What are you doing, it’s me!” Naruto screams and struggles under you.
“Shit, sorry little brother. Don’t sneak up on me next time, I could have hurt you! Anyways, why did you wake me up?”
“Are you kidding me? It’s Christmas, you know!” Naruto jumps around the room.
“Calm down, would you? Do you want my gift right now or later?” You say with a big grin plastered on your face.
“Did you just say gift? But I didn’t buy you one...” You ruffle his hair.
“Silly, you don’t need to give something back to me. I don’t really care if I receive gifts or not.” You reassure him, but the sad expression on his face is still there.
“If I would’ve known before, I would’ve got you one…”
“Now, now, it’s Christmas. It’s a happy day. Stop moping around. Do you want my gift or not?” You reach under your bed for the two small boxes.
“Close your eyes and put your hand out.” You quickly undone the Touch of Blindness and put one of the little boxes in his hand. “Okay, you can open it.”He looks at the box curiously as he carefully opens it.
“Nora..” He looks at you with stars in his eyes. “I love it!”
“I hope you do.” You giggle. You open the second box with the same necklace inside. “I got one for myself too and I infused yours with my chakra. Soon, I will be going on C or B-ranked missions, so I won’t always be there. This necklace will remind you that wherever I am, I will always be with you-” The second you finish your sentence, Naruto jumps in your arms. Hugging you so tight, that at this rate he would probably crush your bones.
“Thank you so much nee-chan. I love you” He mumbles, face pressed in your shirt.
“Love you too Ruto. Now can you let me go? You’re suffocating me .” You laugh as he lets go of you. “Let me dress up properly and I will cook breakfast, deal?”
“Yeah!” He hurries out of the room while you laugh.
“I’m glad I put a coat on, it’s freezing out there.” Training ground 7 is empty as usual at this hour since most people are having lunch. You look at the sky as snowflakes danced in the wind.
“I hope he will show up…” When you arrived, it was already past one. You knew that there was no point to arrive in time if Kakashi wouldn’t.
An hour pass and still no sign of him. The hour transformed in two, and it went on. Five hours passed when you finally felt a presence next to you.
“Took you long enough.” You give him a bored look, but deep down he really hurt you.
“Honestly, I don’t even know why I keep trying. We both know that you figured out that I really wanted to meet you today. I asked the goddamn Hokage for help and you still made me wait 5 hours!” You undone the jutsu on the box before you throw it at him.
“Happy fucking Christmas Kakashi-sensei.” You turn on your heels. “Hope you like your gift.” You walk away.
“I don’t know why I thought that he would have tried to be there in time.”
“Wait.” You stop in your tracks and you look over your shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” Your eyes widen when you see sincerity in his eye. “You don’t want to see my reaction when I open your gift?” He laughs awkwardly, probably trying to lighten the mood. He sits on the ground and pats the ground beside him, in a way to say ‘sit with me'. You hesitate, but you give in. Walking slowly, you sit in front of him.
“So, are you going to open it? Or are we going to be here until tomorrow?” You say with a smirk. He rolls his eye, but you can see his signature smile forming beneath his mask. He slowly opens the box and his eyes widen when he sees the weapon. He looks back at you as you simply smile.
“The designs on the handle are hand-made. The metal used is one of the strongest you could find. Also, it’s made so that lighting chakra circulated easier in the blade than it usually does so it uses almost no chakra. You won't find another katana like this one in the whole world, it's unique. I thought that it would be useful since your main chakra nature is lighting.”
“Nora, thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.” You scratch the back of your neck nervously, still smiling sheepishly. “Naruto’s waiting for me. And goddamn, I swear I never saw him so excited.” You laugh at your own joke, trying to do small talk.
“So, see you here at six tomorrow…” It sounds more like a question than an affirmation to be honest.
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” Kakashi is still staring at the blade, amazed.
“I swear if you’re late tomorrow, I'm going to beat your ass.” You smirk as he laughs, but you give him a look saying ‘I’m serious’.
“That went better than I thought, well if you don't mention the five hours I spent freezing my ass off…”