"Daddy daddy! I saw a baby bird fly after his mommy and…daddy?" three-year-old Koyuki stopped a few feet from the entrance of the living room at seeing her father's feet peeking through the doorway. She got closer to the entrance, a sudden feeling of weariness settling over her as she called her father again. Her father still didn't move so she walked further in only to stop and stare with horrified eyes at the scene in front of her. Her father was laying on his side, eyes facing the side tables that had family pictures, eyes that were slightly unfocused and gave a slow blink when Koyuki let out a scared whimper before moving towards him. The most terrifying part however, was the blood pooling under him and spreading on the wooden floor.
"Daddy?" The young child repeated in a small and frightened voice. Her father moved a hand that she noticed was also covered with blood, wrist slit and still flowing with blood. He reached towards her and Koyuki moved to him until her little feet stepped on the blood and soaked her light blue socks along with her knees as she kneeled in front of her father. He placed a hand over her cheek and wiped away the tears that began to fall.
"I'm..sorry….so sorry my…little one…" her father said in a hoarse voice.
"Daddy you hurt," she replied as she saw the puddle of blood had grown more. "I need to get nii-san-"
"It's…too late love…tell Kashi…I'm sorry…I disappointed him…" he gave a wet cough and blood splattered on Koyuki's cheek.
"Daddy please…don't go to sleep! No!" She shook her father's shirt as her eyes blurred with more tears. Her father's eyes had gone glassy and his breathing was almost nonexistent as he looked at her one last time; though to him he wasn't looking at his daughter but his wife and she was looking at him with sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Kiyoko, my love…. I'm …..sorry…" his voice drifted off as the last of his breath left him and the hand that had been cradling her cheek went slack and fell to the floor. Koyuki shook her father's clothes more insistently, but this time her father didn't respond and kept looking at her with glassy eyes. Why were his eyes glassy he should be looking at her with bright eyes just like he always does when he brings flowers from mom's garden, why wasn't he moving!?
"Daddy….daddy move…please move, DADDY!" She started screaming, her voice getting higher and louder as she begged her dad to wake up. She was then aware that someone was grabbing at her and she began to fight it, telling whoever it was to help her daddy because he was hurt.
"Koyuki wake up! You're dreaming it's ok." She kept struggling and fighting whoever was holding her, she kicked out her leg and whoever held her cursed as she got them in the ribs though their hold on her didn't loosen. They held her by the arms and gave her a firm shake before snapping at her.
"KOYUKI WAKE UP!" She opened her eyes with a cry of terror and struggled against the arms that had wrapped around her in order to stop her from falling off her bed. She begged whoever was holding her to let go but the arm held her tighter while she cried and whimpered, images of her father in a pool of his own blood still flashing through her mind.
"Shhh, shhh, it's ok Koyuki. I got you little sis I got you." They said in a soothing voice as she continued to sob. She slowly started becoming aware of her surroundings and noticed she was in her room, her window was opened and the moon was still high in the sky so it was still late in the night. She took a deep breath and the scent of the musk, pine, and just a hint of wet dog filled her nose.
"Kakashi Nii-san?" She asked in a small voice and her brother shushed her again before stroking her hair.
"I'm here Koyuki, it's going to be ok." Her brother assured her until she calmed down. Kakashi stopped stroking her hair but kept his arms around her.
"I had that dream again…" She whispered.
"I know," he replied with sigh "It's the anniversary today." It was the seven-year anniversary of their father's death and every year Koyuki would always relive the day she found her father in a pool of his own blood and bleeding on the floor. Kakashi would always be woken up by the terrified screams of his little sister, thrashing on the bed with tears running down her cheeks as she pleaded her father to wake up. If he was honest he'd rather have nightmares about the death of his teammates than see his sister suffer like that, especially since he hadn't been there for her and their mother when it happened. His hold on her tightened for a few more minutes before he let go and looked toward the clock.
5:30 am...she won't go back to sleep after this so we might as well get up now. Kakashi thought with a sigh as he looked over to the window where the light of dawn filtered through the curtains. Since neither had the appetite for breakfast after the nightmare they simply showered, got dressed and headed to the Yamanaka flower shop. Fortunately, it was still early and the amount of people walking around starting their day were few. Kakashi and Koyuki were able to take comfort in the silence until they got to the shop where a girl about Koyuki's age was arranging flowers and organizing the flower displays outside the shop. The girl looked up and a big smile spread through her lips at the sight of them.
"Koyuki-chan! Kakashi-san, good morning!" Kakashi's eyes crinkled slightly in a small smile that was covered by his ever-present mask while Koyuki simply gave a slight twitch of her lips.
"Morning Ino, we're here to pick up the usual." Ino's big smiled slipped into a softer one at Koyuki's words, remembering what today was before she nodded and rushed inside. It was only a few seconds that she came back with a small bouquet of snapdragon and statice in a white wrap.
"Will I see you at the academy later today?" she asked as Koyuki took the flowers and Kakashi handed Ino the money.
"Ah," was her only reply before turning around and walking away, her brother give Ino a small nod and then following her.
It didn't take too long to get to the cemetery to their father's grave and lay the flowers on the small pot over his grave. They burned incense and simply stood next to each other, hands in their pockets and giving an air of nonchalance while on the inside there was a swirl of emotions, though each different to the Hatake siblings. Koyuki kept replaying in her mind how her mother had found her crying hysterically over her father's body when she had returned home from meeting with the Hokage; the devastated but resigned look on her mother's face when she had seen her husband's lifeless body...as if she had already known he was planning on taking his life. Kakashi's hands clenched in his pockets as he remembered coming home from a long mission only for anbu to escort him directly to the Hokage's office and see his mother dressed in black and his baby sister starting to cry hysterically the moment she saw him. She had lunged her tiny body at him, clinging to his anbu gear and mumbling over and over he's sorry, he said he was sorry, please don't hate him he said he loved you and that he was sorry. Their mother had started crying again and the Hokage had to lower his large hat to hide the tears that threatened to spill at the youngest Hatake's pleas.
Kakashi couldn't help the swell of resentment and anger he felt towards his father every time they came to the cemetery. Hadn't his father told him to protect his baby sister so she wouldn't go through the same hardships Kakashi himself had gone through as a child?! What a hypocrite to spew all that and then take his own life in front of his daughter's eyes. His father was the catalyst that set all the misery that followed after his death, the almost kidnapping of his sister at age 6, the death of their mother and almost losing his sister to- Kakashi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to keep his chakra from spiking any further in anger as Koyuki glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. She had gotten better at reading his moods just by sensing his chakra and today had been no exception, she sent him a mildly reproachful look to which he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. They stood there again in silence, letting time disappear from their minds before the sound of a crow broke the spell and they looked around. The sun had risen higher in the sky and Koyuki knew she would have to get going soon if she was going to make it to the academy for her kunoichi class.
"I'm going to get going..." she said in a low voice. Kakashi simply placed his hand on top of her head and his eyes crinkled a bit in a small smile. "Are you going to visit Obito and Rin?"
"Ah, I have a meeting with Asuma and Genma after." he replied and Koyuki scoffed before playfully slapping his hand of her head.
"Try not to be too late nii-san." Kakashi's only response was an affirmative hum before Koyuki walked away.
"Today class we're going to be gathering medicinal plants, I want you to gather any plants you think are for healing and find them in the textbook provided. If you can't find them bring them to me and I shall help you identify them. I want you to then sketch them in your notebook and label them correctly along with their uses in both medicine and for attacking an enemy. You have the entire class time, please use your time wisely." the kunoichi instructor assigned before heading over to a smaller and younger group of girls to give them their own assignment.
Koyuki instantly turned her back on the class who turned to each other, no doubt to gossip, and headed to the large field that had a variety of weed, and flower like plants with her book bag in hand. Right away she identified some of the easier plants, chamomile, lavender, parsley, peppermint, rosemary, and thyme. Most of these she knew were either used for culinary purposes, oils –lavender- or for teas –chamomile, peppermint, and rosemary- and then-
"Oh, hello pretty." she whispered with excitement as she kneeled down to grab the leaves of a Bella Donna.
"You really shouldn't sound so happy about finding a poisonous plant." an amused voiced sounded from behind her. She turned her head and saw Ino looking at her with hands on her hips, eyebrow raised.
"We're ninja Ino, bella donna is one of the most poisonous plants. It can be used to put someone in a coma or kill them depending on the dosage. Did you know that eating around 10 pounds of almond is just as bad as taking a small amount of bella donna?"
"I'll make sure to measure my almonds ratio properly." Ino dryly replied. Koyuki shrugged as she collected some leaves and began sketching the plants along with writing information while Ino began collecting plants as well.
"Why can't we pick the other types of flowers," Ino murmured "like roses, and daisies."
"If you want to work with pretty flowers than just go work at the flower shop Ino." she snarked back and received a glare for her troubles.
"Why are you even taking this class anyways, don't you have a sensei to teach you all this?" Ino asked her for the hundredth time since she started taking the class back when Ino had started the academy and she had joined their kunoichi class.
"My sensei is my brother and he thought it would be a good idea for me to interact with kids my age." she mumbled.
"Well, not much of a success is it?" Ino teased and Koyuki gave her an affronted look.
"What it's not my fault you guys are more interested in hair products and boys! We're supposed to train to be ninjas not find a husband, that's what civilian school is for."
"You can do both!" Ino argued and to prove her point Koyuki motioned to the rest of their kunoichi group who was meandering about but most of them were actually just talking and giggling. Ino scrunched her nose. "Good point."
"Ino!" both girls turned their heads to see a pink hair girl with green eyes rushing to her, arms loaded with a small bundle of plants. Koyuki had never really talked with the pink haired girl, mostly hanging out with Ino when she wasn't interacting with her other group of friends. She had seen the girl follow her around like a lost duckling since they started the academy but Koyuki still preferred to keep her distance, the girl was just as bad as Ino when it came to gossip and fangirling over a boy they would bring up a lot during class.
"Whelp, that's my cue," Koyuki said, closing her notebook and grabbing her plants.
"Oh, come on, you have to interact with other girls besides me." Ino laughed.
"The day most of them become competent like you then I'll think about it." she replied and smirked when she heard Ino stutter.
"Wha-What?! Com-Co-Competent?! I'll show you competent you homeschooled brat!" Ino snapped back while Koyuki just walked away with a laugh, not looking at the pink girl who gave her a curious look as she passed her.
So here's the first chapter, I actually wanted to start with a little background for Koyuki and Kakashi as well as one of the first ppl she meets. It's short I know but because of limited time and me fleshing it out as I write they'll be kinda small but I promise they will get a bit longer as I fix things. If you've read the original version you know the first chapter just starts off very randomly and some friendships are already established so I'll spend at least two or three chapters establishing these before we get to the first original chapter. For new readers, WELCOME! Unless you want spoilers and be horrified by my writing I suggest you stop here and wait until I upload the new chapter but feel free to still ask me anything in the review or just PM me your opinions are very much welcome.