Chapter Two
I sat at the bar in my club and threw back drink after drink hoping to ease so of the pain, both physically and emotionally. A whiff of Storm's chakra passed close to me and I shot off the barstool and followed it through the crowd to the elevator.
He was in his ANBU uniform and covered in blood and cuts as he waited impatiently. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around him carefully. I felt him slump a little and shake with sobs behind his ANBU panther mask. I pushed him into the elevator and turned him around to face me and I moved his mask to the side of his head. I wiped at the tears cascading down his face.
He looked terrible. His skin was dry and sore and he had huge, dark rings under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't had a good meal in weeks. I let a sad smile grace my face as I watched him wipe at the tears with the back of his loose fists like a small child. The elevator reached his apartment and I led him inside to the bathroom.
I started a bath as I peeled of his uniform and weapons and set him into the bath. I left for a few seconds to throw his uniform into the washing machine and grabbed some clothes from his apartment quickly before I returned to him. I sat on the closed toilet seat and scrubbed his hair with shampoo and washed it away with a cup.
I helped him dry off and get dressed and led him to his bed and placed him under the covers. Not wanting a repeat of last time, I sat next to him until he fell asleep as I kept running my hand through his black hair. I moved into the lounge and watched some stupid soapy on television at that moment. Getting bored with it very quickly, I turned it off and sat in my meditative sleep pose until the sun rose again.
When I woke up, I stretched and moved to the kitchen to made some butternut soup that was already mixed up and all I had to do was cook it and smash it up. I watched the sun rise through the window as I waited for the soup to cook. I finally served it all liquidised and took two bowls to Storms room where he was on his stomach and hugging a pillow as his tears still fell from him with his face buried in the pillow. I placed the bowls on his bedside table and sat next to him and rubbed his back in soothing circles as he turned his head to look to the side with eyes that were focused far away.
"How can you stand this?" He asked in a very rough voice.
"I can't but you guys were twins and have been together forever so I do not share the same pain as you do right now." I replied.
"What is your pain like?" He asked sadly with a little sob.
"The seal has turned into a constant irritation and I felt his last few moments here on this planet as if they were my own so I think that I came to piece with it easier because of my experience. He wasn't scared as he passed on but faced it head on with the same determination he did everything." I said with a weak voice. His body began to shake under my hand and he turned his face into his pillow, as I rubbed his back.
He stopped shaking and eventually sat up as I passed him the cool soup. We ate in silence as we finished it hungrily. Protein bars just couldn't beat real food. I took the bowls and cleaned them in the sink when I felt Storm moving around the house. I turned around to see that he wasn't in mission clothes and I was happy that he came to his senses.
"Will you be okay on your own today?" I asked as I walked up to him and hugged him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Do what you need to do." He said with a small smile when he pulled back. I continued out the apartment and up to mine. I immediately felt a presence in my apartment before the doors opened. I formed a kunai from my blood and walked into my apartment carefully.
It was lucky that I was weak as Minato dodged my well-aimed kunai and stood up straight again and grinned. I pouted with disappointment that I missed my mark. I walked over to the kunai in the wall and absorbed it back into my blood stream.
"How the hell did you get in here?" I asked with surprise as I faced him.
"There is a single and very simple weak spot in your design and I'm not going to tell you what it is." He said as he lay the rest of my ANBU uniform and weapons on the dining room table. I rolled my eyes.
"Well as long as you don't tell anyone else about it… That's how you got me some new clothes." I said with realisation and smirked, "They don't call you a genius for nothing."
"That is true. How are you doing?" He asked as he sat at the table, I followed and sat down to.
"I think that I've come to terms with it. And my seal only feels like a bruise now." I said, leaning back gently. He smiled gently and then started to grin.
"I completed the first part of the jutsu." He said excitedly. I sat forward with wide eyes and gripped the table and waited and grinned like an idiot. He held his palm up as blue chakra formed a spiralling ball in his palm. The chakra was so compacted that it would definitely cause some major damage if it hit something. I continued to stare at it and activated my sharingan to study it further.
"What's it called?" I asked as I studied the randomly spinning chakra.
"Rasengan, spiralling ball." He said as he dispelled the jutsu. I switched my eyes back and we grinned at each other.
"That is epic." I said with malice. His grin just widened.
"Yeah, I'm trying to get my wind nature involved in the technique too but that's going to take a lot of time, patients and chakra. Now onto my next interest, your teleportation." He said with seriousness.
"You cannot copy a demonic technique." I complained and leaned back gently again as I crossed my arms.
"No, I don't want to copy it just use it as inspiration." He said with puppy eyes which was no fair as I gave in and leaned forward again and placed my elbows on the table and rested my face into my palms.
"Fine. What do you want to know?" I asked with a defeated sigh.
"You said that if you concentrate on a presence and that place, that you are pulled to it, can you explain this further?" He asked. I scrunched my face up as I thought about it.
"Well as long as I'm familiar with that person and I can vaguely see the place and it's not to far away then yes, I can 'teleport' to it. It's not like I can just pick a presence in Mizu and go, I actually need the visualization of that specific area." I tried to explain, Minato nodded as his face ran with thoughts.
"So, the presence is almost like a beacon of some sort and the place is like a medium of where you want to be." He said with hand explanations. My lip quirked up at this.
"I guess you could say that." I said with a slight grin.
"Well then, that's all the information I need." He said as thoughts continued to run in his mind.
"Good for you, now leave, you're trespassing." I said with a serious face and a grin as Minato slipped out somehow. I continued on to the shower and rested for the rest of the day.
I was sent to the border a few days later after an attack from Iwa. I chased them out with the remaining shinobi and managed to re-secure the border within a year. I was returning back to Konoha to take a well-deserved rest but there was something bugging me at the back of my mind that I couldn't shake for the whole trip back.
I ran through the village towards the Hokage's tower when an over powering smell of blood hit my nose. I changed directions immediately and carefully made my way towards the smell, looking for signs of enemies or intruders. The smell came from a run down house. My blood went cold when I realised…
It was the Hatake residence.
I swallowed hard as I opened the door to the run down and dark house. I pushed some more chakra to my demon eyes so they blazed red and I could see clearly. The smell got stronger and stronger towards the study as I crept though to the room and my eyes widened in disbelief.
Sakumo was lying in a pool of blood, his blood. His tanto was sticking out of the right side of his abdomen. Seppuku. He wore the white robes as well as the death poem was in his blood. I fell to my knees at the sight and continued to stare at the body in horror when I heard sniffling and instantly was snapped back to reality and began to look around for the sound.
Looking behind Sakumo's back, lay Kakashi bundled up to the corpse, my eyes widened further. He was lying in the blood with his father's dead body as his only lifeline. I stood up quickly and moved carefully around the body and blood towards the boy.
"Kakashi, you need to let go." I ordered as I got on my haunches next to him. He looked up at me with eyes shining pure fear and hurt but also a few unidentifiable emotions hidden. I clutched at my head as a fuzzy memory pushed through a seal behind my eyelids. I opened my eyes again and forced the memory back, now was not the time. I grabbed his hands and pulled them out of his father's robes, I continued to pull him away quickly as he registered what I was doing.
"NO! FATHER!" He shouted and kicked at me as I held him by his wrists off the floor. I put him onto his feet and quickly placed my hands on his hips before he could escape, I turned him around and embraced him.
"I'm so sorry Kashi." I whispered as the child clung to me. I was crouched down as he held me around my shoulders with clenched fists and cried. I sliced my thumb across my canine tooth and performed one-handed seals and summoned three messenger dragons, the size of my palms.
"Go to Hiruzen, Jiraiya and Minato quickly and bring them here straight away." I ordered and they took off. I picked Kakashi up and placed him on my hip as I carried him to the lounge, switched on a light and sat with Kakashi in my lap as he continued to cry. I keep forgetting that he is only seven years old. I rocked him back and forth until he fell asleep. Hiruzen and Minato came rushing through the door and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw us, and the blood still glistening off of both of us.
"Go to the study." I said in an emotionless whisper and they moved towards the room. Minato came out a second later, as pale as a sheet and sat down next to me and put his head in his hands.
"I didn't know it was this bad. I should have listened to Kakashi." Minato cried into his hands but my thoughts instantly turned to anger.
"You knew about this?" I growled through clenched teeth at him as I eyed him.
"Yes… Kind of?… I don't know…." Minato said confused with a sigh, not lifting his head. Hiruzen walked in the room and sat in the armchair, defeated as he began to rub tiredly at his eyes.
"What the hell happened while I was gone?" I ordered in a stone cold and strong voice through my clenched teeth.
"The villagers and shinobi have been voicing and displaying their hatred towards the disgraced Hatake Sakumo. His skills suddenly dropped last month. There was nothing I could do." Hiruzen said, closing his eyes in defeat.
"What the fuck?! That is bullshit Hiruzen, and you know it. How did classified information like that leak through so easily? There was no reason to disgrace him after failing such a mission." I demanded as I slammed my hand down on the couch next to me in anger making Minato and Hiruzen jump at my killing intent towards them. I felt the ANBU guards stiffen and ready themselves. I watched Hiruzens face sadden with two words.
"Danzo and the Council." I calmed my killing intent and I was shaking with rage as I took a breath to steady my anger and closed my eyes before opening them again levelly.
"Don't touch me." I looked at Minato through the corner of my eye when he tried to put a hand on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and put my nose into the mop of silver hair that was streaked with red and breathed in deeply at the scent. My shaking stopped and I raised my head again and opened my now dull red eyes.
"What now?" I asked sadly at Hiruzen.
"I will arrange everything to do with the body and his assets to be frozen and given to Kakashi when he is older. As for Kakashi…" Hiruzen said sadly, looking at the sleeping boy on my lap.
"I will take him for now." I said, feeling very protective of him at that moment.
"I'll help as will Kushina." Minato said.
"Where is Jiraiya?" I asked the third dragon sitting on Hiruzens shoulder.
"He has gone on his travels, you may send a letter with this dragon you are referring to." Hiruzen spoke up to protect the now cowering dragon. I nodded my head.
"You better write the letter Hiruzen and send it with Cynder." I nodded to the dragon. I stood up with Kakashi still on my hip and motioned for Minato to follow. I walked past the medics running for the study and draped my dragon skin half skirt over Kakashi's shoulders with my tail to keep him warm and feeling safe. I walked to Kakashi's room and waited for Minato to enter.
"Grab him some clothes to wear for the next few days." I ordered him, he got to work quickly. As he was running around I saw the wolf toy I gave to Kakashi years ago and held it with my tail as Minato told me he was ready.
We walked silently to my apartment and showed Minato where he could put Kakashi's things and I placed the toy on my bedside table. I carried the sleeping boy to the bathroom and peeled off his clothes as a shallow bath ran. I placed him into the water carefully as his eyes fluttered open tiredly.
"It's okay, I'm right here with you." I said, running a cloth over his skin. He sniffed and nodded tiredly. I finished cleaning him and placed him into a large, warm and fuzzy dark blue towel and sat him on the toilet seat as I dressed him again in new clothes Minato bought through for me.
I got into the shower, leaving him on the toilet seat, closed the curtain and quickly undressed and cleaned quickly. I wrapped myself in my purple towel and got out. I picked up Kakashi again and carried him to my bed and tucked him. Minato sat patiently quiet on the stool by my mirror and watched Kakashi sleep. I grabbed some clothes and returned to the bathroom and dressed. I returned to my room and noted the rings under Minato's eyes.
"You can either go home or sleep on the couch." I offered.
"Thanks, I'll take the couch." He mumbled tiredly. I nodded and went to my cupboard and fished out some pillows and blankets and handed them to Minato as he walked out. I closed my door and got under the blankets with Kakashi. He instantly moved to me and cuddled in to my side. I turned slightly and fell asleep with the boy.
I woke up with Kakashi still in my arms, sleeping. I smiled sadly at him and brushed a hand across his forehead and pushed back his hair back a little and pulled him closer to me for a brief second before I pried myself away from him and stood in my room's doorway and saw Minato cooking breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast, and sausages. I smiled as I watched, leaning against the doorway with my arms crossed and my legs crossed. He was humming a tune and swaying his hips to it. I smiled but turned around quickly to see Kakashi sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. I walked over and sat with him on the bed, facing him
"What am I doing here?" He asked.
"Do you remember last night?" I asked and watched his face. He stared blankly for a second before his eyes widened and he forced back a sob.
"Don't hold it back. It's not good for you." I said as I took his hand into mine and continued to watch his face. His eyes glazed over suddenly and it scared me.
"I'm fine, Sonea. Please can you get me my mask." He asked, all of a sudden, emotionless. I placed a hand over my mouth with shock as I realised what he was doing to himself, he was locking his heart away and becoming emotionless.
"Please, don't do this to yourself." I pleaded weakly through the shock.
"Shinobi rule number twenty-five; a shinobi must never show emotions." He replied looking into my eyes and taking his hand back and getting up and putting his mask on.
"Minato!" I cried . He came rushing into the room and had a small conversation with Kakashi before Kakashi left the room. I put my head into my hand. Minato had walked in and held me in a comforting hug for a while before returning to Kakashi in the kitchen and telling me to join them.
I went to the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water and put on my emotionless self. I returned to the kitchen and sat down with Minato and Kakashi to eat breakfast. We ate and chatted for a while as I cleaned the dishes. I kept eying Minato and he had a look in his eye every time he looked at Kakashi almost like… disaprovement and sadness. I finished up quickly as Kakashi went for a shower, I dropped my guard and fell into the chair and held my head in my hands
"Are you okay Sonea?" Minato asked, as he reached across the table and pulled my hands away from my face.
"I didn't want another child to go through what I have." I said raising my head up and holding Minato's hands. "I lost my mother at the age of two, my clan was massacred at age three and the last time I saw my father was at the age of five. I was dumped onto the Rikudo after that and I did exactly what Kakashi has done to himself now." I said sadly as I let my head fall back and looked at the ceiling.
"How did you break out of it?" Minato asked rubbing circles with his thumb on the back of my hand. I looked at him sadly and shook my head.
"I never did. I've just adapted with it to let people see what they want to protect myself and others." I closed my eyes tiredly.
"It doesn't seem like that right now." Minato said with conviction.
"What do you mean?" I asked, opening my eyes to studying his blue eyes.
"You're trying to save him from himself, that is not something someone like that would do for someone else." Minato said with conviction.
"You don't understand." I said emotionless.
"What don't I understand?" Minato snapped back quickly, taking his hands away.
"The showers free." Kakashi said coming back into the room, dressed with his mask on. I closed my eyes, shook my head and stood up with a small sigh and headed for the shower.
I stood under the hot water, replaying the scene in my mind. I leaned a hand against the wall and let the water cascade over me.
'What was I talking about? I don't even know what I was talking about not understanding. Why is Kakashi so important to me and so familiar? I need to see Sora again, he always can give me advice and comfort me.' I decided in my thoughts. I got out the shower and returned to the silent kitchen.
"Let's go and see the Hokage." I said, leading them out.