Disclaimer.
Remember the "extreme A/U" warning, m'ka y? If you're going to give me advice on how names work and how things really are, please say it nicely? I'm brand-new (in a way) to this series of characters... Please review - let me know how I did? Never written Naruto-verse stuff before. . .
Oh. Please ignore any typos; FF. net has been messing with my docs, and it's driving me crazy. I tried to fix all of them, but I think I missed a few.
Thanks for reading.
Outside a certain pink-haired woman's small little house, there stood a man, drenched to the bone as the rain fell in sheets on top of him and the rest of the woodland. Water mingled with blood and grime on his body, creating a small puddle at his feet, but he didn't move. He remained still and silent, save for his shallow, raspy intakes of breath. The wound she had sustained during his last mission were forgotten as his eye s studied the small, two-story home. It sat in the corner of this small, little hunting village - almost far enough away to be considered the outskirts of it. It was covered with dead leaves and twigs, and weeds choked the grounds, going up to his knees.
Hatake Kakashi had his one eyes trained on the house, studying it carefully for any sign of movement - for an indication that she knew that he was standing outs ide her home in the middle of the night . She hadn't seen him in four years, but he'd dropped in several times since she had gone and left her mother's house.
It wasn't like he was worried about her. He knew she could take care of herself - but she'd retired, and only at age twenty-four. That was pretty young, especially since the only reason why she had re tired in the first place was because of the small face of a silver-haired boy staring right back at him out of the first story window.
Every time he dropped by, this kid - Aki o - seemed to look more and more like him. His hair was the same, his bone-structure was the same, his build was the same - but he was short for a four year old. He had quick, slender fingers were not his - they belonged to the mother. The height did, too.
But those eyes…
They were almost exactly like his. The left one was covered, just like his was - probably because of the -
No.
He hadn't seen it the last time he'd dropped by. The eye wasn't covered then.
This sent a spike of concern through him as his visible eye narrowed.
To his surprise, Akio waved at him.
Kakashi blinked for a moment, and then nodded back. He had his mother's eyes, and he thought he could see himself mirrored in them. He hoped he wouldn't turn out exactly how he had, but he could see himself plainly enough, and wondered if that a good thing.
He watched carefully as the small boy pulled down his mask, revealing two normal eyes - two, beautiful eyes t and a grin that was definitely Sakura's was spread over his face.
At times like this, he wondered how in the world that Akio hadn't woken his mot her up by creeping down the stairs just wave at the father that Sakura thought he would never meet - ever. It wasn't like she didn't want him to see his son - she thought he didn't know. And he knew that she had no idea how to tell him. Bu t he didn't mind that. He'd known she'd been scared – terrified. That was why she had fled – retired – from Konoha, to this tiny little village.
He'd known since the day that she had left the village.
He watched, carefully, trying to keep his ragged breaths quiet – he didn't want to wake Sakura. Someday, he might want to, but tonight wasn't the night to make his presence known. But his side throbbed from the wounds he had sustained, and he knew that if he walked his left leg would be weakened, and he didn't need to worry her either. A worried and/or angry Sakura wasn't what he needed – or wanted at the moment.
Well, actually, see her was appealing, but she couldn't know that he knew just yet. That might be bad idea – and she just might try to kill him, seeing as how he had trained her for the later part of her youth. And she knew how to kill – kill if she needed to. If she thought that he was here or even suspected, she just might try to kill him in fear of him wanting to hurt her son. But he was not here to hurt Sakura, or Akio.
He just wanted to see them.
Usually, he visited to only see one of them, and usually, it was only Akio he wished to glimpse before returning to his beloved home. This time, he wanted to see her too. Sakura was, after all, the mother of Akio – the mother of his child.
He watched carefully as Akio jumped over the open windowsill, beckoning Kakashi out of the rain with his hand, his grin never leaving his face as Kakashi carefully, and slowly, stepped onto the sheltered porch. He knew he was making a mess – blood and grime were running off of him – but he didn't really care.
"Are you hurt?" Akio asked him, his eyes narrowing immediately, his grin vanishing. He was observant—so much more than Kakashi had expected from a boy whose mother was not sending him to the academy. He doubted she would ever take him back there. Someday, though, he knew that she might go back by herself, or allow him to go once he was older. But he couldn't see her – willingly – taking him back to where everyone was waiting for her return. She didn't want to go back – she was ashamed, somewhat, and the judgment that awaited her would go towards her son. The jounin could understand that much.
"It's nothing." It really wasn't; he'd suffered much worse over the years. But it still hurt.
"How are you?" Kakashi asked, kneeling carefully on his injured knee, reaching out and ruffling the hair that was so much like his own.
Akio grinned at him, his father's wounds forgotten for the time being. Thankfully, he wasn't as observant as his mother. At least he still got to be a child.
Even though he knew that Sakura was training him by herself.
"I'm good – and I know what you're going to ask!" Akio grinned, somehow managing to keep his voice down. He seemed extremely happy. He seemed to be the only thing to make his mother smile – running away probably had taken a toll on her.
"Oh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"You're going to ask how Mother is doing," Akio's grin faltered a tiny bit, and that caused Kakashi to frown.
"I am going to ask. How is she doing?"
The second's hesitation was all he needed before the words even came out of the child's mouth. "She's doing great!"
"Is she now?" Kakashi's eyes drifted away from the boy in front of him to the house's front door – which was always kept lock. They probably hadn't ever used it, with Sakura being the ninja was. He didn't consider her retired – only a mother.
The mother to his child.
Kakashi knew he couldn't stay. The boy was a good liar – or, at least he was becoming a good liar. That was something he hadn't really expected Sakura to encourage, but she was the only parent Akio had ever known – well, that was what Sakura knew. They were expecting him home – soon – and he'd gotten lucky, by getting here quickly enough to see Akio.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi sighed heavily, not even trying to fool the child. The child saw his eyes narrowed, and he slouched a little.
"Mother says she's fine," Akio said dutifully. He knew that he wouldn't want to reveal anything troubling to his father. That might not go over so well with Sakura if he decided to check up on her just to see what was the matter.
He also knew that Akio wouldn't tell him what was the matter. He was that loyal to his mother. He should be glad, Kakashi thought, for having a mother like her.
But he knew that she'd told her son not to tell anyone anything.
Kakashi snorted. This seemed to confuse Akio a little bit, but the boy did not inquire about it. He merely looked expectantly at his father, waiting for him to say something.
Well, some things hadn't changed.
Sakura was now obviously not fine.
As much as he wanted to stay and find out what was wrong with her, he stood, knowing he had to leave sooner rather than later. He had another to mission to get to. But at least he got to see Akio.
"Next time I stop by," he said, "I'll want to talk to your mother." He was having trouble remembering what Sakura looked like – but maybe that was just exhaustion, sleep deprivation, blood loss, and stress. Or maybe it was because he hadn't dropped by just to see her and her alone.
He voted for both of those options.
"About what?" Akio gave him a narrowed-eyed glare – the same look Kakashi was giving him – which made him smile. Damn. He was getting good at that luck. Niether knew, however, that seeing that look – so identical to Kakashi – pained Sakura, because she had the idea implanted in her mind that she could never, ever tell him in fear of –
What could she possibly fear from him?
Well, lots of things, naturally, but really… he understood.
Well, maybe if he wasn't one of the best jounin Sakura knew he would be utterly furious with her for not telling him. But he knew when to drop by unseen, he knew he had to be patient, he knew he had to understand her reasoning for her decisions and indecisions as well. He knew her well enough to know that he would have to reveal what he knew of her 'situation' soon. Or else she would probably follow him around the country with some sort of blunt object in her hand, because he had been spying on them all this time and hadn't even bothered to say hello.
With Sakura's fading face in his tired mind's eye, he stood, ruffling Akio's hair.
Suddenly, a thought struck him as he stepped away from the child.
"What's your name mean?" he asked, out of curiosity.
Akio thought a moment, and then he brightened.
"It means 'hero'. Mother said she gave me that name because of you."
Surprise, surprise.
Turning, he ran off as fast as he could into the woodland, soon using whatever chakra he had left to become invisible to any wandering eye, his plan still in mind, even though he was now ready to just skip the 'welcome home, give us your report' routine and simply go home, and sleep. He could go to the hospital in the morning, once he'd gotten some rest. He knew that if he had actually said 'goodbye' he would have had more trouble leaving than he already did. At least next time, he would hopefully be more alert and ready to fight if Sakura chose to come at him with something.
Yes, that sounded like a good plan.
Next time, he would see her.
Even though Sakura just might try to kill Kakashi before he got the chance to say 'hello'.