Angel on Earth
AN: I've been gone for a while... Haven't written at all lately and I had this plot bunny in my head for months, so I finally grabbed my macbook and said to myself - Carrie, get so effing work done.
So here is the first chapter - tell me if it's worth pursuing.
Chapter One
Home is where the heart is. But a new home means you left part of your heart behind.
There was something about Konoha in the spring. The sakura trees, the happy faces, the people walking past you in slow motion. It's not too hot, so people aren't distressed or anxious all the time. It's not cold, so people don't look too serious and distant.
She'd missed it. Coming back hadn't been a hard choice. Her training in the mountains with Eku-sensei was over, so she had to come back to the village she'd grown up in – at least to see her family.
Shiro Tenshi was not a typical kunoichi. You couldn't look at her and say, she was a ninja for sure. She looked so… harmless. She was short, very pretty, with a round dimpled face (a fact she didn't like a lot). She wasn't skinny, but sexy in a subtle way. Her braided long brown hair reached her waist and long, blunt, straight cut bangs covered her forehead.
Straight cut bangs don't look very good on round-faced girls, Kanari, Tenshi's friend always said. But there was a reason for her bangs. Her eyes. They were silver. Not gray, not white (like the Hyuga's) but silver: that glistening, metallic color. And they glow in the dark: like a cat's.
The bangs managed to take the attention off the eyes.
But most people still stare. Tenshi was wearing her usual grey kimono with her family's symbol on the back, a white feather. So ironic.
"Oi! Oi! Lady!"
It took a while for Tenshi to understand whom the boy was calling out to. She turned on her delicate flats and eyed the blond blue-eyed boy, running in her direction.
"Yes? Can I help you?"
The kid seemed completely flabbergasted. At first, because Tenshi was so polite, and then because of her eyes.
"Hey, kiddo." Tenshi chuckled faintly and sweetly at the boy's shocked expression. "What is it?"
"Hum, oh." He suddenly blushed at the realization he'd been staring at the older woman. "Huh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I was told to escort some kunoichi to the Hokage. A woman with a feather symbol on her back: I take it that's you?"
She nodded. A guide? Really? Does Tsunade really think that necessary? And, wait, Uzumaki Naruto? Tenshi snorted, what the hell is she trying to do?
"I'm sorry to ask," Tenshi began, walking side by side with the boy. "How old are you?"
"I'm already thirteen! Huh… can I ask you a question too?"
Tenshi grimaced. Whenever people asked her that, it meant they wanted to ask about her eyes. Or about other things that always managed to make her uncomfortable.
But that boy reminded her so much of… well.
"Go ahead." She put out a smile.
"What's your name?"
She sighed. Thank God. "Tenshi. From the Shiro clan."
"Never heard of them." Naruto stated absentmindedly. Then he realized how rude he had been. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok. People rarely know the Shiro clan. You don't have to be sorry, I love honesty." Tenshi tapped his head gently in affection. Look wise; he looks more and more like him. But personality wise… it's her. And he's thirteen, so it really is her son. A sweet kid… the last time I saw him from a distance, he was starting at the academy.
Naruto looked, again, stunned. But then he slowly made a big smile. "You sure are nice to me… you're Tane-sama!"
Tenshi laughed at this funny and lighthearted comment. "Thank you. I think you and I are going to get along very well, Naruto…"
The boy didn't respond because, just then, he saw a group of three people waving and walking over to them, making the two stop in our tracks. Tenshi recognized only two of them, even thought she only knew one.
"Kakashi-sensei! Sakura-chan!" Naruto greated them happily. "And Sasuke." He made a face.
The girl: Sakura, supposed Tenshi, made a stern look at Naruto. "We have practice now! What are you doing?"
"Err, I have to escort Tane-sama to Tsunade-baachan's office. I'm just a little late." Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment.
"I'll say: Kakashi-sensei was earlier than you, baka!"
"Tane-sama? Do you have to give everyone a pet name, Naruto?" Kakashi finally looked up from his orange book at Tenshi. He remained staring at her, finally recognizing the girl, slight surprise in his eyes. "Tenshi."
"Sempai, nice to see you again."
The three children were very silent, as they heard their sensei being adressed in such a way.
"I thought you were working with Eku. He said something about cooperation with ANBU and other joonin from outside of Konohagakure." Kakashi kept his book.
"Yes, we were cooperating with them, keeping tabs on certain, people, villages, missions… but a lot of the time, I was training with Eku-sensei. Just trying to make my chakra control as perfect as possible. You know." Tenshi ended with a knowing tone.
Kakashi nodded, silent, as if pondering something. "Ok, you three go back to our training spot and wait for me."
Naruto complained "I have to take Tane-sama to Tsunade-baachan's office!"
"I'll do that, Naruto." Kakashi waived them off, beginning to walk in the direction Tenshi was going before.
Both of them walked and waited in silence until the kids weren't eavesdropping on them anymore to talk.
"I take it you figured out who Naruto is, by now." Kakashi began speaking first.
"Straight off the bat, sempai." she smiled a little, wondering: had he decided to teach them because of Naruto's relation to her? Had she entered his mind at all while making the decision to take them on?
He also did behind his mask. "It's very strange that you're his cousin."
"I'm his distant cousin, sempai. His mother was my cousin, and he doesn't even know who she is, much less who I am." Tenshi said sadly. "I can't drop a bomb like that on that poor boy."
"He's stronger than he looks," stated Kakashi with resolution.
"I don't doubt it. I just don't want to burthen the boy more than he already is."
He nodded and she wondered again, it's too much of a coincidence. Did he do it for me?
Both were silent for a while, even though they were both filled with questions about the other.
"Are you still living alone? No girlfriend… wife?" Tenshi gave in first, being the more talkative of the two. "Not even a roommate?"
"No." Kakashi was very short with his answers. But he finally saw a chance to ask his own question. "Did the training go well?"
"Well enough. Eko-sensei said I was ready… as ready as I'll ever be." Tenshi said all this with a smile, even though it was something that pained her and all the people who cared about her.
Kakashi held open the door for her as they entered the building where the Hokage's office was. They walked in silence, just relishing in each other's presence until they reached the door to the office.
They didn't open it though. They just stood there.
"This is where we part. Welcome back to this hellhole." Kakashi said, blankly.
Tenshi knew him well. "I'll take that as an 'I'm glad you're back'."
Kakashi's eyes were very suddenly kind looking, but his voice was ironic and annoyed. "Try adding 'Good luck' to that too, while you're at it."
Tenshi nodded "I suppose I've been missed as well."
"You could say that." Kakashi smiled behind his mask.
"All joking aside, sempai, what happened back then, before I left… we were young. At least I was very young. And I thank destiny every day that we didn't have to feel the full consequences of our actions. I thought it better to just set that straight."
Kakashi was emotionless for a minute before agreeing. "It was immature to let something like that distract us from what was agreeable to a shinobi."
Ouch. Tenshi felt that sting more than it should have. She thought six years would be enough to forget him; in fact, it was part of the reason Eku-sensei had asked if she wanted to train away from the village.
She had gotten involved with an ANBU captain, and that was dangerous for a sixteen-year-old who had problems of her own. And, as much as Kakashi tried to protect her from his job at the time: he was not superman.
He turned away, not showing a bit of emotion and Tenshi sighed, thinking that maybe, one day, he'd let her see the real him again.