A huge thank you to Nyodrite for listening to all my ramblings and for writing her amazing stories, especially To Be a Father and Beyond the Rainbow, that inspired me to write not only this piece, but also inspired many other story ideas that will hopefully be posted in the near future.
Kakashi didn't know who her father was, she never asked, yet here she was, standing in the Hokage's office with the Sandaime in front of her and her teacher behind, with a hand on her shoulder like a supportive statue (which was really only made her feel more uneasy because really, that man made her skin tingle pleasantly when he just stood near her for some odd reason), about to find out the answer to that very question. The young ninja had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.
Kakashi knew her mother had a drunken one-night stand during a post-successful mission with some off her comrades roughly seven years ago which resulted in the silver-haired girl's conception. Or the "garden being fertilized" as her mother had put it. Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder if her mother even truly remembered the man, a thought that she always quickly shook off when she saw the far off look in her mother's dark eyes when the women recalled that night. A look of a love that would haunt her for the rest of her life never to be put to rest.
"'Kashi-chan?"
The sound of her name, which seemed to echo around the room, made her facial muscles twitch a bit in surprise. As she glanced up at the man beside her, one of her pigtails swayed slightly, briefly blocking her sight. (Her mother had always loved to see to see her daughters hair in pigtails, she said they looked like long silver, floppy dog ears. That Kakashi would always be her favorite puppy as she pet her daughter's head. The young girl felt her stomach twist.) The hand on her shoulder gave a light squeeze.
"Kashi-chan, are you okay?"
"Don't call me that." She mumbled sullenly, neither confirming or denying if she was, in fact, okay. In truth, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to sob that it wasn't fair, that she want's her mother back, that she is sorry her mother brought shame to the village and she will do her best to restore the honor of the Hatake name in the White Fang's place. She wanted to screech that she certainly doesn't want to know who her father is. But that would be childish and Kakashi did not have time to be childish - she was a ninja.
Before anyone could say anything more the door bust open with a loud bang akin to that of an exploding tag. In came Kushina smugly dragging a vaguely familiar, white-haired man by the ear behind her. Normally, Kakashi would have scoffed at such a scene. The man looked ridiculous bent over nearly double and whining like a disciplined toddler, but she was too busy trying to keep the nervous apprehension from visibly showing.
"I found him, dattebane!" The fiery woman exclaimed, twisting the ear in her grasp and giving one more harsh tug before releasing him, allowing him to stand upright.
"Ouch," the man groused, rubbing his abused, and startlingly bright red ear, his back making a load crack as he straightened from his bent position. He was enormously tall, easily dwarfing everyone in the room and probably nearly all the citizens of Konoha too, outside of the Akimichi clan. "For somebody as beautiful and delicate looking as you, you're almost as violent as Tsunade."
Kushina punched him in the gut. "I can't believe you'd say that in front of Kashi-chan, 'ttebane!"
"Kashi-chan?" The sound of the girl's horrid, in her opinion, nickname was wheezed out as the long, spiky-haired ninja gripped his stomach. Once he deemed that none of his internal organs had, in fact, been raptured, his dark eyes looked down at the little child standing next to his prized student. His gazed narrowed, zeroing in on her masked face like he was trying to recall exactly where he had seen her before. Kakashi wondered briefly if his head would combust from thinking to hard.
After several long seconds he finally spoke again, "Sakumo's brat?"
Kakashi flinched a little in shock. She had been told that she looked a lot like the White Fang, but she had expected him to recognize her as Minato-sensei's student, not her mother's child. She didn't remember seeing this man around either, yet something still itched at the back of her mind when she looked at him. It gave her a similar feeling to that of a mosquito crawling around on her skin, annoying and irritating in it's persistence.
Minato sounded just as surprised as Kakashi felt. "You recognize her Jiraiya-sensei?"
Kakashi blinked when she heard the man's name and the title of sensei leave her own sensei's lips. This man was one of the three legendary sannin? Her father - for why else would he be called here? - was the Toad Sage himself. Konoha's very own notorious, self-proclaimed super pervert was her father! Her mind felt like it was trying to navigate through a foggy swamp, so it took her a couple of seconds to realize Minato-sensei was still talking.
"I mean, I know I have talked to you about my student, but I didn't think you were still close enough to Hatake-sama to be able to identify her daughter. You haven't even really been back to the village much since Kashi-chan was born."
Jiraiya looked at the blonde as if he were questioning his status as a prodigy. "The girl looks near identical to her mother and who could forget a face that hot." He turned to Kakashi, "you're going to be quite the beau-"
Kushina punched him in the gut again.
The Hokage, who had been eerily silent until this point, content to just watch the scene unfolding before him, coughed quietly to get everyone's attention. They all turned to face their village leader, ready to hear the news he was about to drop upon his student, well, except said student who was still trying desperately to get some air to return to his lungs. "You were all summoned here today in regard's to Sakumo's suicide."
He was trying to be as gentle as he could about the topic, but Kakashi still felt a pang in her heart. She slammed it down.
"What do you mean Sensei?" Jiraiya said, finally getting enough oxygen back to speak. "It's been a month since then, did something happen? Did Sakumo-chan not really commit seppuku?"
He sounded hopeful to that idea, that his friend had not really taken her own life. That she had not given up. That hope was to soon be crushed.
"No, a note was found in Sakumo's office recently," the Hokage stated, picking the piece of paper up from his desk and handing out to Jiraiya whom reached out to take it. "This note contained some rather surprising, and perhaps sensitive, information about young Kakashi-chan here and yourself. If you would please read it aloud."
The Toad Sage glanced quickly to Kakashi before he gave his old sensei a strange look. The oldest man in the room just nodded, prompting the other to begin reading. The white-haired man did so.
"Jiraya," the young girl tightened her hand into fist, her body going rigid as the man's rumbly voice filled the room, reading the the last words her mother had left behind. Words she knew would alter both their lives. She wasn't ready for this, but the white-haired man continued despite her unease. "You are probably going to hate me for keeping this from you, at times I hate myself for not telling you all those years ago, but this is something I thought you should know in light of what I am about to do. I can only pray that you consider the result of this secret as precious and irreplaceable as I have. Jiraiya you're a…" The man's voice grew softer before trailing off in shock. He continued to gaze at the letter trying to take everything in with as much scrutiny as he would his favorite porn magazine.
"Congratulations Jiraya, you're a father." The Sandaime said staring at his frozen pupil over steepled fingers.
The room was left in a heavy silence. Kakashi thought she literally feel it pushing down on her, squashing her. That is until Kushina decided to pierce through it with the bluntness she was famous for.
"Aaaaawkward."
Meh, there are probably a ton of flaws with this and for that I apologize, but I still hope you were all able to enjoy this mesh of words. Some of, if not most of, the dialogue was definitely stilted, still I really had fun writing this story and I hope to improve in the future. Thank you so much for reading!
