Kakashi-kun, come here... Please. This is the last of my chakra. Don't think that this is just your mind... I don't know where I am...
Kakashi stopped suddenly, rooting himself to the tree branch, his teammates flying past him. What the hell was...?
Kakashi-kun, goddammit. I'm dying I think. I can't see.
"Oh, h... hello, little bird..." Kimi laughed breathlessly. "Like... thebitchwho... stabbed me... Hey, wanna do something for me, little bird?" Kimi slurred, grinning to show teeth covered in blood. She closed her eyes and patiently focused her chakra to her left one - the one arm that worked. The bird hopped foward on the ground until it reached Kimi's outstretched hand, climbling carefully onto her index finger. Kimi smiled gently, letting the chakra flow painfully slowly to her finger and crawl up the bird's body to its head, attempting to control the bird. "Go get that boy for me, alright? I'll love you very much if you do..." Kimi turned her head back to stare at the sky as the bird flew from her finger. There was no assurance that the bird had understood the command, but it was all she could hope for. "Bye bye, little bird."
"Kakashi-san?" The mednin had returned to find the young jounin and stood uncertainly beside him. "Do you see someone?"
"I... think so." Kakashi searched desperately for Kimi's chakra, but found nothing; She said she used the last of her chakra... How the fuck do I find her?
"Kakashi-san," the mednin repeated, irritated at the young jounin, who wouldn't respond. Kakashi looked down at the tree branch he stood on. Fuck, come on. There's got to be some way-
No more chakra, Shi-kun - look for the bird. Kakashi's head shot up at her voice, searching wildy for a bird anywhere.
"Kimi?" Kakashi's voice stung my ears and interrupted what I figured would be my last thoughts. I nodded vigorously, against my better judgement, in order to shake the mask from my face. "Fuck, Kimi! What the fuck are you doing out here?"
I grinned at him, pretending we were back in Konoha and I'd gotten caught stealing his ramen again. "Hey, Shi-kun. I'm just playing ANBU. What're you doing?" He ignored me and spoke to the mednin beside him too quickly for me to follow. I shook again as I held in a hacking cough. "Oi d-don't... Where's the bird?" Kakashi still ignored me as he grabbedthe bandages from around his leg, pressing them tightly to my stomach. I felt nausea flood over me and I was forced to turn my head away from him in order to vomit mostly blood.
"Don't worry, Kimi-chan..." Kakashi murmured, sounding distant. I let myself relax as the mednin's chakra flowed through my wounds hastily. "No, no - don't close your eyes."
"Hey, Kakashi-kun! What're you doing?" Kimi leaned against the railing of the small bridge I stood on, staring at me with ever-curious eyes.
"Aren't you supposed to be training with Minato-sensei today?" I didn't want her to leave, per say, but her presense had a sort of awkward touch lately. Her attempts to annoy me had gone unnoticed and her teasing words were left hanging in the air while I continued to think instead of listen.
"Kimi-chan! Don't you dare fucking close your eyes," I growled, grabbing her hand to touch it to her cold cheek.
"Well, I was, but he told me to see where you were instead. He's under some weird stress lately so training's been a little difficult." I turned to face her, my left eye struggling to focus in the bright sunlight. "I really like how your eyes look. You look so..." She turned her head, trying to think of the word. "... mature. Somehow like your dad." I grimaced beneath my mask. She was still talking like that. Like she fucking knew something.
I sighed inwardly. Minato had told me that she'd met my dad - among dozens of other well-known ninja - and really did know what she was talking about, but I couldn't help my anger that came about whenever she spoke of him casually.
I laughed darkly; "Kimi-chan, if you close your eyes, I'll win, you know." There was a silence as the mednin continued. "I'll win because you won't be able to say that you're better than me anymore - I'll probably even get to finally eat some ramen in peace." The silence ripped into me as my mind reeled at the possiblities of Kimi's not coming back home with me.
"Tch... Like you'll ever be better than me, Shi-kun."
"Whatever..."
"Oh, come on, Kakashi-kun - I know you don't like to admit to it, but your dad was a hero. And so are you." I looked up at her from where I stared at the ground. "You saved Obito by letting some of him live through you." She smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Not to mention you're an amazing ninja."
"Your breathing sounds kind of like the wind, Shi-kun." Kimi's head fell to one side, her face nuzzling into my arm as I carried her carefully. "I think of... a meadow, you know? The one Minato-senpai found me in. He... was like a god, you know? Or an angel..." Her expression fell into one of thoughtfullness. "I was so scared. I didn't know what was going to happen... Did the bird tell you?" I was surprised by her sudden change of subject.
"Kind of. I heard it chirping and I heard you talking to something."
"It was a sparrow." I nodded. Somehow it was expected that she was talking to animals. She was currently on a medication the mednin, Yakuze, had given her to numb the pain. "I named him Iruka-chan!" I shook my head.
"You're strange, Kimi-chan."
"Hey."
Silence.
The boy looked around before staring up at me from his lunch. "Hey! Why're you alone?" He looked around again. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! Why're you alone?"
"Uhm... I don't know."
"What's your name?"
The boy looked confused. "Why are you talking to me? You don't even go here, do you?"
I huffed. Minato had let me out of training early and I decided to hang out at the academy before finding Kakashi, and I'd discovered a boy with a long scar across his face sitting alone. "No, I don't. Now, what's your name?"
"Umino Iruka..." He looked hesitant. "What's... your name?"
"I'm SaitÅ Kimi." I smiled at him as I dropped myself on the wooden bench beside him. "May I call you Iruka-kun?"
"Yeah, I guess... Kimi-chan?" I nodded. "Sorry - how old are you? You look kind of young to have a hitai-ate..."
"I'm nine." Iruka looked taken aback, but I ignored it. "I've never been to the academy. What's it like?"
"How do you that if you've never even gone to the academy?!" Iruka had set aside his food in order to talk more animatedly.
"Well, I've lived with Namikaze Minato since I was about three, so he's trained me and I got my hitai-ate when I was five and I've been a jounin for a few weeks." Iruka was red for some reason. He looked like he'd been slapped in the face as he took in my words.
"You were trained by the Yellow Flash? That's amazing. I..." Iruka looked away at the trees that surrounded us. I nudged him as he fell silent, trying to get him to continue.
"What's wrong?"
He sighed; "I could never be a jounin. I mean, I'm already twelve - you've got me beat by seven years."
"What do you mean! I'm just a cheater, probably!" I shouted, surprising him again, defending him instead of myself. "I'm just some weird prodigy kid! You look like you've been in a fight or two, though. How'd you get that scar, anyway?"
He shrugged, his depressed expression taking over his features again. "It's been there for a long time. I got in a fight."
"That's awesome! I really like it, Ruki-kun. It looks like something a ninja should have." He couldn't supress his laughter at my words.
"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard, Kimi-chan." We sat for a moment before I piped up.
"Want to come train with me?"
"I've got to go back to class so-"
"I'll get you excused! Come on - this is way more important. I'll teach you to walk on the water!" I grabbed Iruka's arm and dragged him into the trees towards the pond.
"Alright, look - you have to focus your chakra into your feet so that, when the water meets it, the chakra keeps you above the water. The water doesn't even touch your feet."
Iruka looked miffed for a moment. He was soaked, having fallen in several times before. "I know, but it's not that easy to just focus your chakra. Why do you think I'm failing?"
"You're failing?!" I shook my head in disapproval. "We'll fix that, Ruki-kun. Look, come stand next to me. Now, close your eyes and imagine your chakra flowing in a whirlpool in your heart. Now run your fingers through the whirlpool and lead the water to your feet until you feel like you're floating on the ground." I opened one eye and grinned as Iruka's feet began to glow a faint blue. "You'll have to imagine your steps as movements of your chakra as waves. You have to make sure to keep moving your chakra down to your feet so that you don't fall in... Ruki-kun, you're doing it!"
Iruka's eyes snapped open and he looked down at his feet. He grinned as he found himself standing on the calm water. "Holy crap! This is awesome!"
"So you said that you're failing?" I asked softly. His face fell for a moment.
"Yeah..."
"Well let's fix that now. What do you suck at?" He laughed again at my blatancey, making me smile.
"I suck at clones... I suck at balance... I suck at pretty much everything."
"Let's start with something fun. How about elemental fusion!"
"Do what?!"
Iruka fell to the ground in exhaustion before the sun had even fallen completely. I smiled at him as I marveled at the attempt of an earth clone he'd done. The dirt behind him had risen and swirled to form a stunted version of the boy before he gave up. "You're amazing! See, you shouldn't be failing! Only someone awesome could have made this much of an earth clone in just one day." There was a breathless laugh from the boy before a calm, Ahem, came from behind me. Iruka and I turned to stare up at Minato and some angry-looking ninja beside him.
"Kimi-chan, what are you doing?" Minato asked, an eyebrow arched in amusement.
"I'm teaching my new friend how to not fail." The ninja beside Minato scoffed.
"Oh please - Umino Iruka has just been spending his time in the academy drawing stupid pictures and ignoring me."
"Not true," I defending, refraining from sticking my tongue out at the man. "In just a few hours, I've taught him to walk on water, make a perfect clone, transform into a fish, and," I paused to turn and point at the earth clone, "he's gotten really far on earth cloning!"
Minato stumbled over his words as he lay his hands on my shoulders, turning me away from Iruka and towards the man; "We're very sorry about Umino-kun's absense. We... Look, just... don't talk about this, please. Umino-kun," he said, facing Iruka calmly, "thank you for watching over Kimi-chan for the afternoon. I hope she hasn't caused too much... something. Goodbye." There was a flash of green and we stood suddenly just outside the forest, close to town. "You shouldn't be showing off to kids, Kimi-chan."
"Showing off?!" I huffed, grabbing Minato's arm to keep him from walking. "Why can't I just help people like you do? I was just trying to show Iruka-kun that it's not that hard to learn new things!"
"Kimi-chan... you're supposed to be a village secret. It's bad enough that my team knows about you, but now you're going and showing earth clones to academy students. I made an agreement with the hokage when you came here that you would stay low and only go out on special missions. You can't-"
"Stop it, Namikaze-san!" I shouted. Minato looked shocked for a moment at my abrupt change in honorifics. "I didn't chose to be a fucking freak! Why don't you just go back to your Kushina-san! You've been around her so much lately - can't you just forget about me for a little while?!"
Minato looked truly saddened by my words and I looked down, abashed. "You know I love you, Kimi-chan. You're an amazing ninja and my daughter in every regard. Kushina-san is also an amazing ninja and I love her just as much."
"No, I didn't mean to-"
"I know, Kimi-chan. It's alright. I know it's hard to adjust to having someone new in the house lately. Just think, though - soon you'll have a brother and a mother. We'll be a family like you said you've always wanted." Minato kneeled down to look into my face as tears formed in my eyes. "We can take you and the baby to the festivals and you can go on fewer missions so that you can have a real childhood. I've always wanted a real family for you, Kimi-chan."
I love my father, Namikaze Minato, more than anyone. He is the angel of my hell and the world to my nothingness. He's the father I never truly knew and the brother I'd always heard of.