Ah! Hello there! I humbly welcome you to the first chapter of this new story. I'm pretty sure I don't need to start a new story, but I currently find myself in an increasingly stressful and depressing situation, and I thought 'Hey, isn't that a good idea?', so here I am, flowing feelings onto paper (metaphorically speaking). Despite this I am a rather happy person so don't worry if this will be something you'll read and then want to curl up into a corner and cry, I'm not that type of writer. I simply invite you along for a ride, whether you enjoy it is up to you, and you won't offend me if you don't. I threw around some ideas, and this my friends, is the product. Please enjoy, and have a nice day.
Disclaimer: I own nothing other than a few paperclips and some pocket lint ...
Rating: T for language
Summary: Intro
"Our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet events of life rather than on the nature of those events themselves."
- Wilhelm von Humboldt
taptaptaptaptap ... click, taptap ... click click tap ...
Repetitive tapping noises, an occasional pause of silent contemplation, some more taps, a quick slurp punctuated with more rapid tapping. Occasionally a soft-spoken curse was uttered.
These were the only sounds I was focused on as I stared at my laptop, busy tapping away on the small keyboard, taking only a moment to hastily sip hot tea from a tacky green disposable paper mug. I frowned at the e-mail in front of me. Quickly opening up a new e-mail document I hastily typed away a polite reply. I hate being polite, but people always get offended when you speak the truth, and I wasn't in the mood to get chewed out by the chief because I hurt someone's delicate feelings.
"Ne, what idiot decides that it's a good idea to get revenge on his ex-girlfriend by breaking into her house to only 'talk' to her, then calls the police when said ex-girlfriend beats the shit out of you, and claims that it's her fault?"
"Gah! Darn it Kakashi, I told you to stop doing that!" I nearly jumped out of my chair as I heard his voice suddenly in my ear. I swiveled around in my chair, glaring at my partner. He just sat there, face in front of mine, smiling under that mask. I narrowed my eyes further, then darted out my hand to smack him.
"Ow! Why are you always so aggressive Jimmy?" Kakashi whined as he rubbed his head.
"Why are you always so annoying 'Kashi?" I retorted as I swiveled back around, finishing the rest of our report. Asuma would be on both of our cases if we didn't finish our report on time, not to mention I really didn't want to stay after work as our asses were chewed and spit out if Chief Fugaku got his hands on us.
I quickly finished tapping away on my keyboard, before I saved all the information and sent it underway for viewing and processing. I sighed as I leaned back in my chair, tired after having to deal with idiots all day long.
As I opened my eyes, there he was again, standing over me, smiling ...
"Are you going to the hospital after work?" Kakashi questioned me as I scooted my chair into him, causing him to take a few steps back. He retaliated by grabbing the corner of my chair and spinning it, and I pulled my knees onto the chair to keep from accidentally kicking him or damaging something else.
"I had planned on it, why? Got a hate date or something Kashi?" I asked as I my chair slowed down, conveniently stopping with me facing Kakashi.
"Hah, no. I was just wondering if you wanted to go together. Why, are you jealous of letting some other woman put their hands on me other than you? " Kakashi laughed as he answered and he quickly ruffled my hair, causing the short blonde hair to stick up. I gave him the finger before answering.
"Yeah you betcha. I love every minute I spend touching you as I'm forced to administer first aid to your bleeding ass!" I carefully patted down my hair before standing up and throwing my jacket over my uniform. I grabbed my car keys and powered my laptop off before shoving it into its case and swinging it over my shoulder.
"That was one time! Why do you keep bringing it up!" Kakashi whined as he also got his stuff together before joining me as we walked to the elevator.
"Because seeing the oh so famous Kakashi Hatake laying on the ground with blood pouring from his butt cheek is something that no one will ever forget, especially not me." I answered cheerfully as I pushed the button to the elevator. We stood side by side as we waited for the elevator to come up.
"T'was merely a flesh wound! But really, it wasn't that bad. Barely worth mentioning really." Kakashi pouted.
"That's not what you said at the time. "Oooh, my ass! I've been shot in the ass!". If you weren't bleeding I probably would've laughed. But, let it never be said that James Namikaze never cared for her beloved partner." He'd never get me to admit it, but when I saw him laying on the ground, blood seeping out, I was the most terrified I had ever been, even if it was funny.
"Hmph, why I was shackled with such a spiteful woman I'll never guess." Kakashi mumbled out. The elevator finally dinged and I was surprised as I saw who stepped out.
"Minato! Why aren't you at the hospital with Kushina?" I gushed out as I saw my older brother step out.
He looked as equally surprised, but smiled as he saw me. He walked closer and gave my hair a ruffle. Why do they always touch my hair! Stop touching my hair, it's really not that big of a deal!
"Ah, she waved me off and told me she wasn't going to go into labor anytime soon, and promptly threatened to castrate me if I didn't leave the room and stop smothering her with my 'mother hen attitude'. " Minato curled his fingers to air quote the last bit.
"That doesn't explain why the mayor of this city suddenly decided to pay a visit to the lowly police department. Have you come to grace us with your presence oh almighty one? Should I bow down and kiss your feet?" I grabbed his hand and pressed kisses against it before he managed to wiggle it out of my grasp, and swiftly cuffed my head. I gave a squeak of pain and grasped the back of my head, sticking out my lower lip at him.
"Kashi! Do something!" I whined at my partner. He held up his hands in surrender.
"I refuse to get in between this insanity known as the Namikaze siblings." Kakashi defended his actions as he left me pitted against my brother.
"Hmph, I always have time to put my subordinate's in their rightful place. But really I'm just here to check in with Fugaku. Strictly off the record, things have been a bit quiet lately. It's starting to make my nose twitch." Minato frowned at whatever he was thinking about. Shoving my own fears aside I scoffed.
"God forbid your nose twitch Minny. Just be sure to leave some room in your brain for the rest of us, I'd hate to be forgotten in that huge empty space between your ears." I poked him in the forehead, emphasizing my claim.
He hmphed as he swatted my hand away. "Whatever James, just be sure to keep your eyes open. Never know what you might find." I stepped forward and gave my brother a hug.
"Me and Kashi are going to stop by the apartment and grab some things before heading over to see Kushina. Should I bring Hot Fuzz over?" I asked as I let him go and stepped away.
Minato rolled his eyes. "Might as well. I'm sure she'd love to watch that movie, for the millionth time."
We said our farewells and Kakashi and I finally left the department drove to our apartment.
Kakashi and I had been friends since we were kids, our parents having been in the same social circle. When we turned eighteen and graduated high school we quickly moved out and decided to share an apartment, splitting the bills of living. We turned in our paperwork for the police academy on the same day, and now at the age of twenty-two and having graduated with honors from the academy, bigger salaries, shining recommendations within the department despite our inexperience and young age, and a seemingly bright future ahead of us, the topic of separating just never became an issue. We were best friends, and I was ok with that.
We dashed into our apartment trying to beat the rain that had suddenly poured from the sky as we were driving. We laughed as we entered our different rooms and changed into our regular clothes. I threw on some jeans and a black turtleneck, tied my old pink sneakers, and threw on a leather jacket. I walked into the living room and flipped through our DVDs.
"Looking for Hot Fuzz?" I glanced behind me to see Kakashi casually holding the desired disk.
"Why yes, yes I am." I walked over and stretched my hand for it, when he quickly moved the disk out of the way.
"Kashi." I whined, and the battle began. He dodged all my attempts at grabbing the disk, and we were both laughing, but I had backed him onto the couch. I moved suddenly and put my foot behind his, jerking it towards me and effectively tripping him, but he wrapped his free arm around me and we both crashed into our couch, sending it skidding back a few inches. I let out an 'oomph' as I fell onto his chest, but was able to grab the disk and hold it closely to me.
"Ha! I win." I chirped brightly as I lifted my head to look at him. He raised an eyebrow and scoffed, before shoving me off of him and onto the hard wood floor, gaining a squeak of protest from me.
"You're so mean Kashi! I pouted as I picked myself off the ground. He waved his hand dismissively at me. I walked into the kitchen and pulled a mug with a lid from the pantry.
"What're you making?" Kakashi asked he took a seat at the kitchen bar.
"White tea for Kushina. She can't have too much caffeine so it's the safest stuff I have right now. Besides, I buy good tea! She's probably moping she can't have coffee, but this should cheer her up. Plus I picked up a bag of snickerdoodles from the bakery yesterday, so they should still be somewhat fresh. I think she'll be glad to just not have Minato hovering for a few hours. "
After I finished making the cup of tea and grabbed the bag of cookies, we made our way back out, this time to the hospital.
I knocked on Kushina's door waiting until I heard a boisterous 'Come in!'. I smiled as I walked in.
"Jamie! Oh it's good to see you!" Kushina explained and she spread her arms wide, beckoning me for a hug.
"Hah, I come here almost every day Kushi! You'd think you'd grow tired of me." I set my items down on the table beside her bed before bending down and being embraced. For a pregnant woman, she still hugs the breath out of me.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Kakashi grumbled as he stood on the other side of Kushina's bed. Kushina laughed and gave him a hug also.
"What I meant was it's good to see you without Minato here suffocating me. You'd think with as worried as he acts, that he's the one having to go through labor soon." I laughed at her bluntness. "Minato aside, what'd you bring me?" Kushina asked excitedly, knowing I'd brought her goodies.
"Welllll, since I knew you were in the mood for some good action and comedy, I brought your favorite." She gave a delighted squeal and I presented her the DVD. "Hot Fuzz!"
When Minato had announced that he was serious about Kushina, I had invited the happy couple over. What he didn't know was I was putting her through the paces. No future sister-in-law of mine was going to have a dead sense of humor, so I decided that a good movie to test the funny bone of the newcomer was one of my favorite British comedies, Hot Fuzz. Minato was appalled at my movie section, but Kushina seemed genuinely interested. By the end of the movie we were both in stitches from having laughed and talked throughout the entire movie, and I gave Kushina my seal of approval. She also was excited that I had made ramen for dinner, and I knew then and there that she really was the one for Minato as she noisily and messily slurped up noodles and he just sat there and made googly eyes at her, not minding the table manners.
So it was a tradition that when either one of us was going through a rough patch of life, that we would sit down and watch Hot Fuzz and just have fun.
"I also brought a mug of white tea, and a baggy of snickerdoodles!" Kushina gave another squeal and attacked me with another hug. After spending an hour or so with her it was around nine, so we decided it was time for us to leave. Bidding our farewells, we drove back to the apartment.
After eating dinner I started rinsing our plates and putting them in the dishwasher. Kakashi was picking any other trash up in the kitchen. Our nightly ritual always involved cleaning. We were both too busy to do any heavy duty cleaning, but we needed to keep our apartment clean to be able to function properly, so we made an effort every night to do a little bit of cleaning, an effective strategy in keeping the place from becoming completely messy and disorganized. This was also the time I used to think over the day's event, and this is usually when we talked about whatever we needed to.
I thought back on my brother's words and found myself picking out the truth. Konoha had been relatively quiet the past few months, a blessing for such a huge city. The biggest thing we had done recently was bust a few illegal arms dealers, but that was drab in comparison to the things that had happened to the city in previous years. A growing sense of discomfort filled me, and I wondered if we should be on active look out. Turning around I leaned on the counter and looked at Kakashi.
"Kashi, do you think what Minny said was true? Should we worried?"
Kakashi stilled for a moment before sighing.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I think there's some truth behind his words, but I don't think it's anything to get paranoid over. But Minato is right, we need to keep our eyes open, if something is wrong, we can't afford to be caught off guard." Kakashi walked over next to me, and pulled me into a side hug, a wordless gesture of comfort. I sighed and let my head lean against his shoulder.
"I hope you're right."