Konoha Weekend
Every ninja needs a break, especially the Yajukage. Kakashi Hatake had gotten away from his responsibilities in the Hidden Daemon Village and got time to take his student and adoptive daughter, the three-tailed fox daemon that preferred to be called Puppy, with him to Konoha. He got the have the weekend to just get away and visit some old friends and he welcomed the down time more than his colleagues could imagine. As for Puppy, she was excited cause it was her second time going to Konoha and she missed seeing all the friendly faces of her "father's" good friends and former students. Once they got in the village, they got everything unpacked in the Hatake home and settled in long enough to realize that if they stayed at home for too long, everyone was going to find them and invade the house whether Kakashi wanted them to or not. It'd be easier if they went to visit everyone now. The silver-haired Shinobi gently pushed the restless fox out the door only to see her run quickly towards the direction of the academy. Past the academy were the courtyard and the Hokage tower, where everyone was waiting for them.
Everyone that knew Kakashi, including Team 7, was excited to see him since he last came. And that was about a year ago. They also welcomed Puppy back to the village and got to chat with her and get her comfortable around all the adults. Puppy became good friends with Shikamaru, the more laid back out of the entire group. Her other friend that was within her age bracket was Uchuu, the son of Captain Yamato and Ayame, that very nice woman at the Ichiraku Ramen that she pays a visit to here and there. She also got to know a bit more about Gai, after hearing so much about him. In their first encounter, she didn't like how Gai kept trying to convince her that he was better than Kakashi. So whenever Gai was around, she did her best to fake a smile and move on to the next group.
While Puppy got herself settled with the others, Kakashi made his way up the tower to the Hokage's office to do his usual debriefing with Tsunade and Naruto. Even though Naruto was in charge, the blonde rookie still kept the Godaime Hokage in the background for educational reasons. And even though Kakashi was now a Kage in his own village, he was still a Shinobi of the Leaf. He had to follow through with his usual reports, especially if anything new in his village could help out the Leaf. But at the end of the meet, Naruto always had to pull his teacher and family-figure aside and make small talk. After finding out that their fathers were like brothers to each other, they both felt it was right to try and establish that family-type relationship Minato and Sakumo had started. They tried to be like cousins as well as friends.
The problem was, now that Naruto was a married man and was plainspoken by nature, he had to ask Kakashi when it going to be his time to find himself a wife.
"Don't start Naruto." Kakashi said with a sigh.
"Oh come on." Naruto chuckled. "I know you've got plenty of time with that outstanding longevity of yours, but you aren't getting any younger either. And I have to admit, all those years of watching you read those Icha-Icha books from the Pervy Sage and how girls could flock to you, I could've sworn you were a 'busy guy' that at some point you were going to give in and settle down. I was betting on after the Forth Great Ninja War or after I became Hokage. Neither timeframe happened. So come on man, what's holding ya back?"
"I have other responsibilities." Kakashi said in an attempt to defend himself. Having Naruto think he was a womanizer was somewhat demeaning, but at 43 years of age, most people would naturally assume he'd at least taken a few women into his bed. All of them are surprised when they find he's remained pure. "And I may not be a wolf, nor a wolf daemon, but I admire the 'mate for life' belief. I'm not in the world's biggest hurry to settle down or bang every girl that flirts with me. I'm glad for you and Hinata, but I haven't found my mate yet. Finding someone isn't easy either when I have a village to protect and a student to teach."
"Yeah, a student that you ended up adopting." Naruto said bluntly with his arms crossed behind his head.
"I have a soft spot for her, okay? She kinda needed that parental figure in her life, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to step up to that position."
"All because she called you "Daddy" by accident when she was 5?" Naruto asked trying to hold back a laugh. When Kakashi didn't show any signs of denying it by the look in his eyes, Naruto's laugh exploded hard enough that it had to have hurt.
"And you wonder why people like Sakura and Tsunade want to pound you into the ground like a metal rod..." Kakashi murmured flatly, and walked past the laughing ninja. "Kids can be your soft spot if you like them. Trust me, Naruto. In fact, I can see you having a little girl of your own that'll have you wrapped around her finger someday. And when you're in a similar moment of weakness, I'll be laughing at you for revenge."
Naruto's laugh resided to giggles as he followed Kakashi down to the front entrance of the Hokage tower. "You know, I don't blame you if you do. But do you suppose I could handle a daughter? With my abrasive personality, I'm afraid I'll end up with a spoiled princess, or even a stubborn brat if it's a boy or a girl."
"Well considering that you know you're abrasive, it just means you'll know what to expect if they start showing signs of being your exact replica."
"Very funny, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto groaned. "Hinata wants to have kids, but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I don't really want to say yes though either. It wouldn't be right. That's one thing I don't want to jump into without knowing what I'm up against."
"You're young, no sense in rushing." Kakashi said. When Naruto went to speak again, Kakashi cut him short. "Okay, so how did we start talking about kids?"
The blonde was very quiet as they stepped down from the final few stairs and he held onto the doorknob as he thought about it. "I haven't the slightest clue. I just wanted to ask if you got hitched yet."
Kakashi laughed softly and shook his head. "No, I haven't found somebody yet."
"I could've sworn you were smitten with somebody just last year. What happened to that?"
When Kakashi didn't say anything, Naruto just grinned and opened the door to head back out the rest of the gang. The silver-haired Shinobi just followed behind.
They walked out with their professional game faces on and found other topics of conversation, mostly about what was new in their lives. After playing some quick catch-up and everyone had gone off topic, the fox girl tugged on Kakashi's vest a little to get his attention.
"This may come as a big surprise… but… are we gonna go to get some food? I'm hungry." Puppy said with a guilty smile on her face.
"Soon. Just wait a little bit, okay?" Kakashi said, only to turn his attention to Gai on the other side of the courtyard giving his little 'Power of Youth' thumbs-up to a very hormonal and intolerant Sakura. That wasn't going to go over well.
When things looked like they could make their escape, they both got up and walked out the courtyard gates, heading past the academy and deciding to walk around. Puppy found this her opportunity for him to buy her lunch while they took their well-deserved vacation. She liked the scenery in the village and wanted to wonder off as well. But she didn't know the place yet, so she stayed close to Kakashi like a good obedient daughter and a respectable student.
It is such a nice place. Puppy thought. And it's peaceful too.
Puppy noticed the Ichiraku Ramen Bar and she waved at Kakashi as she darted over to the shop and started looking at the menu. Luckily for her, Uchuu's mother, Ayame was at the counter today; someone that was a girl and could understand her, finally. It wasn't that Puppy didn't like the guys and the girls in the Rookie Eleven were okay, but being a girl, she wished she could have more than just the Yajukage's assistant and the occasional Hinata when she comes to send documents here and there. Kakashi gave up and strolled over to the bar and gave a friendly nod to Ayame. She didn't eat as much today, so Kakashi didn't have to pay a ton of money. Not that he minded, that just means he won't go broke on this weekend trip.
When they left Kakashi said, "The Ramen wasn't as good as the Ramen in Akuma huh?"
Puppy, surprised that he figured it out, nodded in shame. "Tastes weird. Still tastes like Ramen, but a bit… dirtier."
Kakashi chuckled. "That's because the Ramen here isn't as rich tasting as the Ramen in Akuma. The Hidden Daemon is more mineralized, therefore the food made and grown seems 'cleaner' compared to anywhere else. Remember that."
Puppy sighed and leaned on Kakashi very briefly before wandering away again as they walked. They walked around the town and Kakashi took her to the places she wanted to check out, but while she kept her eyes on the places, Kakashi had his gaze out on the mountains. There was someone he knew here, an old friend one could say. Boy he wouldn't give to talk to this old friend since it had been almost a year since they spoke.
When the sun began to set, they went back to the academy for a dinner that the kunoichi of the Rookie 11 had made for the group in welcoming Kakashi and Puppy for their stay. After dinner, Tsunade began to ask Kakashi questions about work; Naruto had to remind her that this was Kakashi's vacation, and when she apologized, the Hatake sighed and just let her give him the news. It was always to Naruto's confusion and frustration, since he was Hokage now and had been for ten years.
So why is Tsunade-baachan giving him all the information? That's my job now. The blonde thought to himself with one quick huff.
Dinner wound down and everyone was sipping on sake and engaged in conversation once again. This gave Puppy the opportunity to get up and try to leave undetected.
"Koinu…" Kakashi said softly, yet very sternly.
Puppy stopped dead in her tracks. Whenever Kakashi said her real name, it was never a good sign. "Yes, Tou-san?" she asked respectfully.
"Where do you think you are going?"
"I'd like check out the village in the dark, if that's okay with you." Puppy replied.
He took a minute before answering. "Well I think so..." Kakashi said. "Are you planning to be out in that?" He noted to the orange kimono with yellow leaf prints she was wearing with its short skirt bottom. He hated that she never wore pants to go with the kimono; he also disliked the collar sliding off her shoulders and almost showing her strapless bra underneath, but no matter how many times he pulled the collar back up, it kept sliding back down. He could never find the time or the right person to fix that, nor could he get the girl to properly wear the kimono.
As Tsunade chuckled at Kakashi's worries, Puppy made a red face and replied. "Since when do you worry about me wearing this? Of course not, I'm slipping into something that is a bit more comfortable."
Kakashi rolled his eyes with a smirk under his mask as he turned his attention back to Tsunade once the fox bolted out of the room.
She went back to the house and slipped into an ANBU uniform. She had no mask cause it was just an outfit to move around in. She just also liked the ANBU uniform that Kakashi gave her since it was now too small and seemed to fit her well. It was her outfit for the night because it was easy to wear and the armor would keep her fairly safe from any sneak attack.
Once she was comfortable, she grabbed her music player and headed outside. Her green eyes flashed a bit as they adjusted to the darkness with nothing but a few streetlights and the full moon as her true light. She turned on her music and turned it up a bit as she walked around town and admired how the moon made almost everything glow.
Her white wolf tail moved with her footsteps, the black tip making a small wagging motion, as she walked in the darkness. She had felt a little edgy tonight, just rubbing her head and running her fingers through her dark red hair for a while until she looked up at the sky and saw the moon.
"Damn. Already that time." The girl mumbled to herself, with her wolf ears flattening. Full moons were her worst nightmare, mostly.
You know it's my time to play… Came a sly voice in her head. Then it made a chilling whisper as the voice finished its sentence. … Akumi.
From far away, the man kept dashing through the trees and running at full speed as fast as his body could let him. He was running around in search for his sister, this redhead like himself with her white wolf features having black tips at the ends. Sweat started to form on his face and chest as he began to head closer to the streets of Konoha. He looked up to see the full moon had become visible through the night clouds and became deeply worried.
This is not good at all. He thought. The blood in her is awakening. I need to get to onee-san before something bad happens.
As he got further into town, he spotted Akumi and saw her features grow. Her hair was changing to a more violent red, her aura becoming black. The signs of the vampire blood inside were awakening as the moon grew stronger in the night. His eyes widened and he ran faster. "Onee-san!" he cried, hoping she would hear. "Onee-san!"
Akumi didn't hear him. She looked up and saw a girl with three foxtails and was dressed in an ANBU uniform with earpieces clipped in her fox ears… she was alone under the moonlight. Her ears twitched, as she got closer to the girl, curious as to why those three tails looked oddly familiar. Her brother ran even faster so he could be able to grab her fast before she was able to hurt anyone.
As the tension became clear, Puppy felt something weird… another aura. No, two; there is another one in the distance. Both of their auras were gray, which meant whoever was behind her were Ainoko, hybrids of different daemon blood. But she could sense that the one closest to her… their gray aura started to have a touch of black; not a good sign. If she remembered right, black meant vampire. Her fox ears went straight up and she turned around to see a wolf girl walking towards her. She looked a bit familiar, but it was dark out and she didn't want to risk getting herself in danger, so Puppy pulled a small tanto out from its scabbard strapped to her waist and prepared for an attack. Puppy waited very patiently to see if this wolf would make a move. This person was so close to stepping into the moonlight; maybe Puppy could see their face and know just who it is. But before the wolf could get towards her, the other Ainoko knocked her down, back into the darkness.
"No Onee-san! Control yourself!" He said growled as softly as he could to the girl.
Puppy watched as the girl slowly fainted, still in the dark where her features were hidden from her eyes. If it weren't for the streetlights messing with her night vision, she might've seen, but she didn't trust herself. Puppy didn't trust this man either, since he just tackled the wolf down, so she still readied. The daemon noticed that she was uncomfortable about this new situation that had suddenly arisen, so he tried to lighten the situation by stepping into the area of the streetlight and gave a very friendly smile.
The violet eyes that he had were kind and generous, his hair red, but it was blood red, unlike the bright cherry red common in the Uzumaki clan. He wore fingerless gloves very similar to Kakashi's, yellow baggy jeans, and a large green scarf was tucked in them, draping around his left shoulder and the whole left half of his body. It wasn't much in the way of a t-shirt, but the cloth exposed the large scar starting at the top of his right shoulder and sliding right down into his hip, the end of the scar hidden by the jeans. A burn shaped like a star was plain to see right between his collarbones. He looked like a charmer the way he smiled softly and sweetly, but Puppy still held her ground.
"My apologies about this." He said to the fox. "I hope we didn't cause any worry in you. I should be more polite too. I'm Damien Hirogatsu."
Puppy lowered her sword as she took this all in. "N-no… no worry." Even though she said it, she was a bit edgy due to how fast this was all coming at her. "Nice to meet you, I guess… Damien. I am Puppy Hatake."