Chapter 12
Another one! I keep writing and writing and writing – must be my new playlist:D
And the copious amounts of free time that I’m allowing myself this (long) weekend before I need to get a tad more serious again.
“Let’s please never do that again,” Sakura says, even as she keeps stealing admiring glances back at the Great Naruto Bridge as it gets smaller in the distance. “For the next ten years, D-rank all the way please.”
“Well, it all turned out all right, didn’t it?” Haku quips up. Sakura looks warily back at him. It’s true that they fought side by side at the end, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he was the enemy before that. Without Hisana, Haku could have very well killed anyone arrogant enough to come at him. And after watching him actually fight, Sakura seems more than aware of that.
“That’s right!” Naruto crows. “We’re pretty awesome after all, right Sensei?” Kakashi crinkles his eye at the boy but pointedly doesn’t say anything. Of course the entire thing completely goes over Naruto’s head; Sakura’s, not so much.
“Sensei?” she whines, as if hoping the jounin would nip Naruto’s delusions in the bud.
“We’ll see,” he hedges, eye suddenly shifty.
“It’s nice of you to accompany us this far,” Hisana finally says, watching in amusement how Naruto keeps yelling for more C-rank missions while Sakura desperately tries to smother him in the crook of her elbow.
“Ah – it’s the least I can do,” Haku demurs. “Apologies again for the trouble we caused. It really was nothing personal. Gato is a terrible human being.” She nods; it’s true. Zabuza fortunately opted to stay at the village, where he’s grudgingly being fussed over by grateful villagers. Hisana is not so secretly glad for it. She’s mostly fine with Haku –because she knows that he’s supposed to be a good person – but his master is an entirely different story. Zabuza, while loyal to Kiri in his own way, is not a good person. She doesn’t want to be around him any longer than absolutely necessary.
“This is where I leave you.” The bridge has long since disappeared behind the trees, together with most of the sun. Haku scans the path ahead carefully. “The last of Gato’s men should have scattered by now; your way home will be very quiet, I think.” He bows to them, which makes team 7 hasten to copy him.
“Thank you very much!” they chorus politely. Hisana snorts at them. Why can’t they be this well-behaved with people who aren’t complete strangers? Like with the grocery lady who still glares at them because Sasuke called her granddaughter a little idiot. Hisana waves half-heartedly, not all that sad to see the strange boy go. They tried to kill each other not three days ago; she’s allowed to be a bit creeped out still, isn’t she?
But Haku is either unaware or above the creep-factor. He smiles winsomely at her. “Hisana-san, I hope we’ll see each other again too. I’m very determined to get the recipe for those soldier pills.”
“Forget it,” she tells him plainly. He laughs, undeterred, before turning to bid his good-byes to the children.
“Oi,” Kakashi quips up from behind. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you gave him the good ones while I had to choke down the evil Nara pills.”
“That happens to people who get on my nerves, Senpai.” He goggles at her.
“You need to sort out your priorities. Also, how rude.”
“Are you kidding? ‘Kakashi of the ridiculous nicknames’ – if there’s someone rude here it’s you! Don’t you think I’ve forgotten about-“ Naruto’s ridiculous giggles fortunately stop her from laying into her former teacher in front of his students. “Never mind,” she trails off, feeling vaguely awkward. Some other time maybe.
They leave Haku behind, the mood unusually light. Naruto steals a glance backwards at the still waving missing-nin and then sidles up to her.
“I still think,” he says quietly, “that he’s way too pretty.” Hisana digs her fingers into his hair and laughs.
“Super pretty,” she agrees.
As it turns out, the aftermath of their little misadventure is almost worse than the actual mission itself.
In the manga it was mostly the Hokage who despaired about it, followed by a worried Iruka. It was never expanded on, however, what fallout Kakashi would face. But as it turns out, as his teammate it’s very hard to ignore. ‘Wrong decision,’ she hears more than once. ‘They’re just children.’
‘Far too dangerous.’
‘Reckless.’
‘… no pity.’
It’s all crap, of course. He cares for his team, no matter how much he likes to pretend otherwise sometimes. Everyone worth their salt knows that. What also stings about it is HIsana’s conviction that if Tenzo had answered his call, the reactions would have been vastly different. But she’s still young. No matter how skilled she may be, far too many ninja still see her age and think ‘average’; good, but not that good. If someone put her in a ring with Genma or even Hana, she doesn’t need three guesses to know who they’d bet on, despite their equal rank.
The name ‘Hatake’ catches her attention from the other side of the room, even before she can feel their eyes on her. “Next one who thinks too loudly will get introduced to my fist,” she tells Tenzo, just loudly enough for everyone at headquarters to overhear.
“Don’t let it get to you,” he advises tiredly. “Give it a week or two and they’ll have found something more interesting.” She knows this is no more than a minor annoyance to their team leader, but she’s also more than aware of the parallels that easily get drawn between him and his father. This hits uncomfortably close to home.
“I fucking hope so,” is Shiki’s grouchy comment. There’s a cup of coffee clutched in her hands, the steam rising up into her tired face. “You and your weird senpai have been the only topic for days. Do you know how many people I’ve had to reprimand? Six. That’s way too much paperwork for me.”
“You need to get out of that office,” Hisana advises. “You think you’re a desk ninja because it’s less effort, but we all know that’s not true. You’d rather run all day than argue with petty officials.” The Nara makes a noncommittal noise.
“You just want to draft me into your insane missions.” She hesitates. “Though at this point I’m not sure if I wouldn’t prefer that. Scary.”
“Still don’t need you,” Hisana sing-songs. “Go ahead, leave your friends to struggle alone. We don’t mind.” To her annoyance Shiki and Tenzo exchange pointed looks. She can’t exactly read what they’re saying, but there’s definitely exasperation involved. “You’re both assholes,” she decides grumpily when they simultaneously roll their eyes at her. “I’m going home. At least Sasuke loves me. I think.”
Her cousin is, in fact, another problem. Hisana knows that her genjutsu scared the bejeezus out of him – that much was obvious. He’s been skittish around her since and every once in a while she catches him staring at her with a strange expression. For now she’s content to watch him inch his way into another one of their Serious Conversations, but if he doesn’t hurry it up, she’ll have to break something; preferably over his head.
Hisana was fully prepared for him to be weirded out by the illusion. It shocked the Sharingan out of him, after all. But now it seems to bother him to an extent where he appears to have summarily forgotten about another traumatizing incident – his first kill.
Sakura insists that he behaves completely normally as soon as Hisana herself is out of sight, only to become twitchy again when she returns, and he has none of the problems she herself faced afterwards: no moments of unexplained panic, no crisis over his own moral character, no sudden hesitation in hitting his teammates.
He’s made for killing, some wary, distrustful part of her thinks and Hisana can’t quite dismiss the notion. He might be. But quite a few ninja are, and she knows by now that this doesn’t mean he’s incapable of caring. And no matter his ethics, this can be enough.
In any case, Sasuke is more receptive to her words when he decides by himself that he’s ready to listen, not before that. If she feels the occasional urge to kick him for taking so long, well, that’s nobody’s business but her own.
“God, it’s a good thing I’m never having children,” Anko sneers, waving over a wary looking waitress for more tea. “So much trouble for so little blood. So the kid got a bit of a shock – he’ll get over it.”
“I agree,” Hisana deadpans. “It’s a good thing you’re never having children.” The other kunoichi takes a half-hearted swipe at her before collapsing back onto her seat.
“You ready for the Exam?” the tokujou asks her slyly, nails tapping against the table with every word. “Excited?” Hisana shrugs. Ready? Mostly. Excited? Maybe. So much time has passed that her horror of the invasion has faded a little. Or maybe ninja life in general has numbed her. Mostly she just wants it to start already so she can get it over with. No matter how tall Orochimaru’s shadow looms over her, the Chuunin Exams are not actually the climax of the story. It’s the start, not the end, and she wants to get going already.
She pokes at her dango, easily getting lost in the way the tacky sauce sticks to her finger. “Everyone ready with the preparations by now?”
“Mostly,” Anko hums. “Didn’t really care enough to ask, but if they aren’t, Ibiki will ride their asses until they are. Next week’s the deadline. Hana finished the waivers yesterday … we’re good. So sit back and watch the show.”
‘The show’, Hisana assumes, means Yamanaka Inozabu and Inuzuka Shippo trying and failing to wrangle the local inns into accepting a couple dozen of foreign ninja. The latter has come crying to Hana several times by now, partly to complain about his stupid partner, partly because he genuinely seems to fear Ibiki enough to hide behind the clan heiress. In turn, Hisana is well enough acquainted with Inozabu to know he’s doing the very same thing with Inoichi.
Fact is, they’re both idiots and Ibiki will kill them because there’s no way they’ll get anything done until next week.
“They should have let the Hyuuga handle that,” she muses. “People are more likely to listen to them.”
“Because they’re scary-ass fuckers.”
“Because they look trustworthy,” she corrects. “Nobody takes an Inuzuka seriously, and Inozabu is a goof.”
“I think you overestimate that clan,” the older woman tuts. “Nobody thinks they’re trustworthy. Powerful, yes, so people kiss their asses. But since your clan … uh … rapidly downsized, they’re also the most ninja-y of ninjas. That’s not always a good thing.” True enough, she guesses. Anko stuffs the last of her dango into her mouth, sauce dribbling on the table. “Well,” she says, brandishing the empty stick at Hisana. “It’s not our problem. All that’s left to do is wait it out now.”
There’s a pot of soup standing in their kitchen that Hisana didn’t put there. A quick sniff reveals it as something definitely beyond Sasuke’s ability. But who leaves food in their apartment, instead of stealing it? Definitely not team 7, and Tenzo’s abilities are exhausted with a couple of sandwiches. There’s a piece of paper tucked under the pot though and when Hisana pulls it out, the Aburame symbol glares back at he – she winces. Shizuha. They haven’t seen each other for a while with Hisana darting back and forth between Anko and Kakashi, and this is pretty broad a hint to come visit already.
“Breaking and entering,” she drawls, “you used to be more subtle, Shizurin.”
Despite the bitter annoyance the gesture conveys, she’s just a little grateful for the food when Sasuke’s footsteps come into hearing range. There’s no way she’s going to cook anything today.
“Hisa-nee,” he calls out unexpectedly before even closing the door. “There’s a Chuunin Exam in Konoha.” She snorts.
“Yeah, I know.” She closes the pot and shuffles into the living room instead. Sasuke is holding registration in his hands, half folded and close to his chest, as if prepared to defend it from her. “Calm down, I already suspected.”
“And you’re … ok with it.” It’s not really a question, and more an observation. He still looks suspicious, but less ready to fight her.
“I think Kakashi-senpai is insane, but I get why you guys impressed him. I’m not going to stop you. How are your eyes?”
He flashes his Sharingan at her. Hisana walks up to him to have a closer look. Sasuke gained control of it so quickly it’s impressive. But he’s Itachi’s brother, she keeps reminding herself. There’s no shortage of genius going around in that gene pool. Hisana herself in turn struggled quite a bit more. Damn that Shisui for hogging all the talent, she thinks wistfully.
Up close it’s easier to see the difference between her cousin’s eyes and her own. Just like they aren’t the exact same shade of black, their Sharingan also differ slightly. Her eyes are a dark, rusty color; almost more brown than red. Sasuke’s are a brighter, fiery red. In his left eye a singular tomoe spins lazily, two in his right. Just like hers used to be. She grins at him.
“Off,” she commands, feeling a little nostalgic, and immediately they fizzle out into Sasuke’s usual black. “I think you’re better prepared than most other genin this year. You’ll be fine.” Or at least he would have been, if Orochimaru could have kept his nose out of their business.
‘Are you ok?’ she wants to ask, because he’s looking at her weirdly again, but she bites her tongue. “What is it?” she asks instead, tone deliberately light. For a moment it almost looks as if he wants to answer her, brows furrowing in thought, but then he only shakes his head.
“It’s nothing. Are you going to be there?”
“Oh, I’ll be there all right. What did the others say?”
A smirk tugs at Sasuke’s mouth, the serious mood all but gone now. “The dobe was ecstatic, of course. He was yelling about beating the others and making chuunin before Inuzuka. He’s celebrating with Iruka-sensei. Sakura is anxious. She doesn’t think we’re prepared enough, so she whined a lot and then went to the library.” He rolls his eyes. “Together those two would almost make a half competent ninja.”
She pinches him. “Be nice. You’re not much better, you know. At least Sakura is preparing; you and Naruto both went right home to eat and brag.” He scowls at her, but it’s half-hearted.
She drapes her arm around him, feeling a little more settled than before, even though technically nothing’s been resolved. “You know I’m here, right?” she can’t help but tack on a little belatedly. “Whatever it is. I’m not going anywhere.” He nods slowly against her shoulder, looking unconcerned.
“I know.”
BTW: don't be surprised by the changed user name; I got fed up with mine for various reasons.