"Kakashi, you know just as well as I do that this wasn't your fault," Harune sighed desperately, reaching out to take his hand, but she stopped when he turned his back to her in a fit of anger and frustration.
"How could you possibly look me in the eye and say that Sasuke going rogue wasn't my fault?! All I needed to do was keep closer tabs on my team, on him, and this all could have been prevented. You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson. It just goes to show I didn't understand either of them at all," Kakashi spat bitterly.
They were in the hospital, awaiting news from Tsunade about Naruto's condition. Harune had just arrived in Konoha after having spent the majority of the last 3 or so years away on recon missions involving the Akatsuki, working in tandem with Jiraiya, though no one knew about this latter detail save the Hokage, and, for his own peace of mind concerning the whereabouts of his girlfriend, Kakashi. Needless to say, the 25-year-old jonin had expected a much warmer welcome from her partner, but when Genma told her that Kakashi was in the hospital, she immediately knew that this wouldn't be the case.
Initially under the impression that Kakashi was in the hospital as a patient, Harune felt a rush of relief when she found him sitting on the hallway bench, though she glanced at the sign glowing red above the OR he was waiting at with his face in his hands.
"What happened to Naruto?" Harune asked quietly, sensing the hyperactive genin's rather muted presence through the door. Kakashi's silence led Harune to assume the worst, and immediately she infused enough chakra to scan the entire village.
"Kakashi, where's Sasuke?" she asked, unable to locate the last Uchiha's chakra signature. A chill shot down her spine as she remembered the events of the Chuunin Exams, the last time she was in the village.
Kakashi stood up abruptly, and in the brief moment he looked at her, Harune could see the red in his natural eye.
"I fucked up," he muttered, unable to hold Harune's gaze. "Again."
"Orochimaru has him, doesn't he?" Harune whispered, though she didn't need a response. When she had learned that Sasuke had been branded with the criminal Sannin's curse mark, she knew it was only a matter of time before the dark Uchiha would be manipulated into deserting the Leaf in search of enough power to match his vengeful heart. In an effort to prevent her former master from getting his hands on Sasuke, Harune took it upon herself to hunt down Orochimaru and put an end to him for good, but the bastard was clever and too good at staying off the grid.
"Kakashi, you know just as well as I do that this wasn't your fault."
"How could you possibly look me in the eye and say that Sasuke going rogue wasn't my fault?! All I needed to do was keep closer tabs on my team, on him, and this all could have been prevented. You'd think by now I would have learned my lesson. It just goes to show I didn't understand either of them at all."
By 'them', Harune knew Kakashi was referring to Sasuke and his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, whom he had mentored during his years in ANBU. No one but Harune was aware of how much guilt Kakashi shouldered following the massacre of the Uchiha clan and Itachi's defection. Even back then, Kakashi felt it was his duty to guide the child prodigy as he grew to become one of Konoha's finest shinobi, something Kakashi himself had never had the luxury of when he was young. The Copy-Nin had taken Itachi's betrayal of the Leaf and of his brethren personally, finding that even after spending three years working closely with the young Uchiha, he never really did understand him.
So when the Sandaime assigned Uchiha Sasuke to Team 7, Kakashi took this as a second chance, and he swore to himself that he would, under no circumstances, fail the boy. And yet, somehow, again, he managed to fuck up and let Sasuke run away to Orochimaru. He tried to help him, oh god he tried; he trained Sasuke personally to ensure that the boy wouldn't feel neglected, he entrusted him with the jutsu he created, he taught him about teamwork and even he spoke of his own past in an attempt to calm the storm welling in the dark teen's heart, but clearly none of it was enough to stop him. This was on him, no matter what anyone, namely Harune, said.
"So, Kakashi? Do you accept?" Tsunade's question tore Kakashi from his thoughts. She had just finished asking him to take Konoha's newest citizen, Mayou, as his student.
"Gomenasai, Hokage-sama, but I cannot accept," Kakashi replied, much to Tsunade's surprise.
"Nani?" she exclaimed, daring her subordinate to deny her request again.
"I am already Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke's sensei," the masked jonin explained calmly.
"Naruto is going to train with Jiraiya, Sakura has begun medical ninjutsu training under my watch, and Sasuke is…" Tsunade trailed off. As expected, the last remaining member of the Uchiha clan was a touchy subject for many people, Kakashi included. Immediately she realized that the jonin was in fact still very emotionally attached to his pupils, even with the team seemingly disbanding.
"You're right," she said, rethinking her request. Despite the permanently deadpan expression on his face, she could clearly see that Kakashi was not ready to dedicate himself to another student. It was in his best interest for her to keep sending him out on regular missions and keep him in his comfort zone until everything settled down.
"I do have someone I could recommend, though," Kakashi suggested.
The Akatsuki would be staying low for the next 2-3 years, according to Jiraiya. During that time, he would be taking Naruto under his wing and train him so that he could protect himself from the inevitable assault the criminal organization was planning on the Kyuubi.
"That means you can get some rest, Harune. Take it easy and hang around the village for once. It'll do both you and Kakashi a world of good," Jiraiya's voice played back in Kamineko Harune's head. She grimaced when she remembered the wink that followed the perverted sage's last comment, and frowned as she re-processed the information her superior had given her.
Ever since she had returned to Konoha eight years ago, Harune's main purpose was to gather as much information as she could on the mysterious criminal organization she had once been a part of, and to ultimately dissolve it. What was she going to do now that she was forced to patiently wait for them to become active again?
'Patience' wasn't something she was very good at.
She inhaled deeply as the summer breeze brushed her face and blew her long, dark hair back.
"Yo," Kakashi's voice startled her, causing her to jump and slide off her perch on the stone head of the Yondaime Hokage. "Harune!" Kakashi called after her, peering down the side of Hokage Rock.
"Teme!" Harune shouted, climbing back up the Yondaime's face and glaring daggers at Kakashi.
"How did you not sense me?" the Copy-Nin defended himself, keeping ample distance between himself and the hot-headed Kamineko.
"I wasn't infusing chakra, dumbass! I was meditating; you don't just sneak up behind someone like that and expect them not to get startled!"
Kakashi almost pointed out that she should have been able to pick up on his scent with her heightened sense of smell, but quickly decided against it when another breeze waved past; it was blowing against him, which is why Harune hadn't caught it.
"Gomen, gomen, Haru-chan," he finally apologized, deciding it was safe to close the space between them when Harune unclenched her fists and her lips curved upward into the tiniest of smiles.
"I missed you," was her response, and she let him pull her into a hug. There was nothing in the world that compared to how Harune felt when she was with Kakashi, and having been apart from him for so long only amplified the sense of euphoria she got whenever she reunited with him.
"I'm sorry you came back in the middle of such a mess," Kakashi apologized. He felt guilty for having been so caught up in Sasuke's defection when Harune returned and worried that she felt cast off to the side.
"Don't be, Kashi-kun, this all had to happen at once anyway. It's all part of some big, fucked-up master plan," Harune replied solemnly. "God is cruel."
"I'm not religious," Kakashi stated idly, and Harune nuzzled further into the crook of his neck. She sometimes wished she hadn't been raised to believe in some almighty power. Granted, it gave her a scapegoat whenever things beyond her control went awry, but because of it she had always felt an underlying resentment for the world and the pain it harbored. People like Kakashi, who saw no point in even humouring the notion of a greater being, took the world as it was, but when shit hit the fan, they found no one but themselves to blame for it. Harune still had to decide which was better.
"So, Kashi, what made you come all the way up here and nearly scare me to my death?" she asked, pulling away just enough to look up at him, keeping her arms wrapped around his neck. She vaguely wondered if anyone had actually noticed their public displays of affection high up in plain view on Hokage Rock.
"Maybe I just wanted to see you," Kakashi said playfully in her ear in response, his grip around her waist growing tighter. His voice made her shiver slightly with pleasure.
"Well, if you just wanted to see me, you'd already have me in your apartment up against the wall, half-naked," Harune hummed, and Kakashi could hear the mischievous smirk in her tone. Kami, she drove him crazy, but she was right, and if it wasn't for the Hokage's request to see her — damn that demanding old woman right now — Kakashi really would have shunshined the both of them back to his apartment right then.
"I hate that you're always right," Kakashi muttered, pulling away and putting a good distance between them as he shoved the ever-growing hunger for his girlfriend to the very back of his mind. "Tsunade wants to see you."
"Why?" Harune asked, looking down onto the Academy building that housed the Hokage's office. At this, Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, but didn't answer. "What did you do?" Harune groaned, jumping down into the village without waiting for a reply.
Harune couldn't stop herself from bursting into laughter. This had to be some kind of joke.
"Me? A jonin sensei? Tsunade-sama, this is the kind of thing I would expect from Jiraiya-sama, not you," she snorted. Tsunade did not look at all amused.
Maa, leave it to Harune to laugh directly at the Hokage's face, Kakashi sighed internally. The woman had no respect for her superiors, though Kakashi couldn't really blame her; Harune had been manipulated and used her entire life by figures of the highest authority. It was only natural for her to innately lack respect for anyone who merely had the potential to turn against her and use her against her will, no matter how unlikely it may be.
"This is no joke, Harune. You may not be aware of this, seeing as you returned to the village not too long ago, however Konoha has been hosting a young girl that Rock Lee had found injured in a forest not too far from here. Her name is Mayou. As it turns out, she is an orphan with no tie to a village. In addition, she is a skilled taijutsu user with adequate survival skills. We discovered she has tremendous chakra potential that has been left untamed. Until now, she hasn't had any personal contact with ninja, so she was completely unaware of it. I've offered her a chance to become a part of Konoha and to train as a ninja under our supervision. She has accepted. I need an experienced ninja who can be her sensei and teach her all she needs to know to become a proper shinobi," Tsunade explained.
"Doesn't that seem a little, off, to you, Godaime?" Harune questioned, mulling over the briefing. "A skilled taijutsu user with no obvious nin or genjutsu abilities, but with a solid amount of chakra?"
"I've done my research, and I have deemed that Mayou can be trusted," Tsunade barked, irritated by the fact the Harune obviously didn't believe that she had already considered that the situation could be suspicious. Harune didn't look convinced.
"Why me?" she continued, momentarily dropping Mayou's questionable abilities, or lack thereof. At this, Tsunade glanced at Kakashi.
"Jiraiya has updated me on Akatsuki's movements. Along with your findings, it seems as though we don't need to concern ourselves with them for the time being, which means you need a new mission— oh don't look so disappointed, this will be good for you," the Godaime said crossly.
"I'm not good with kids," Harune countered, clearly unwilling to take on a student, but Tsunade was not having it.
"Don't bullshit me, Kamineko. The genin here adore you, Naruto always talks about his Harune-nee-chan and how she's almost as cool as Iruka-sensei because instead of taking him out to Ichiraku ramen, she does the next best thing and makes it home-made just for him. Yamanaka Ino has come up to me multiple times since the Chuunin Exams asking if I had a medicine that would promote hair growth because 'she wants to show Haru-nee-chan how long it is, just like hers'. And Tenten's skills in tool-handling stemmed from your training, when she was still at the Academy. So don't tell me you're not good with kids," she snapped.
"It's creepy that you know all that, Godaime-sama," Harune grumbled, though the memories of her young protogés back when she was tied down to the village put a smile to her face. "Fine," she finally agreed, not that she had much of a choice to begin with. "I'll take this Mayou kid and see where this goes."