…Saikai Story- Reunion story…
Chapter two;
Beginning story
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A small hand appeared from the folds of the blanket, and grasped the finger of the copper-haired man. He chuckled.
"She is beautiful, is she not?" He asked his companion, gazing fondly at his daughter. Hatake nodded, his face soft as he watched his friend tenderly holding the month-old child. Wisps of pale pink hair were visible on the baby's head, an unusual hair color that had been inherited from her mother. "Her name is Sakura… Haruno Sakura…" Hatake and Haruno sat silently, both men looking at the baby in Haruno's arms.
"You waited a long time to have another child." Hatake said finally, his voice hesitant and quiet. The copper-haired man stiffened at his words. Hatake winced. He should have known the subject was still painful for the other man. He was about to speak, to apologize for bringing up painful memories, when Haruno spoke.
"…… I didn't think I could bear losing another child." He said, his head lowered, as if wholly absorbed in his sleeping daughter. Hatake sighed heavily.
Haruno's first child had been born a year or so before his own. Exceptionally bright, Haruno's son had moved to the rank of Chuunin quickly. War had still been raging, and Haruno's son had been sent out on a team mission.
They were ambushed and killed on their return trip to Konoha.
Hatake had watched his best friend since childhood go through a nightmare that had nearly broken him. The scars from that loss were still evident in Haruno. He talked less, and there were permanent lines on the once smooth skin of his face.
It was only in the past few years that Haruno had begun smiling again. The white-haired man cleared his throat.
"The war is nearly over."
"So it seems," Haruno replied, his gaze still on his daughter. "And I am glad for it." The copper-haired man raised his head, and looked at Hatake. "I do not want my daughter to live in a time full of blood and death. Better that she does not have to experience the life we have lived for the past twenty years."
"Yes." Hatake said simply, thinking of his own son.
The two sat for a while in silence, one man holding his precious burden gently, the other watching them, but not really seeing them.
The white-haired man finally stirred.
"Let us hope, then, that the war ends soon." Hatake said quietly.
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A bird chirped lazily, breaking the calm silence that three people were currently languishing in. They sat, undisturbed and silent, on a wooden bench on the bridge overlooking a narrow, but deep and fast moving stream. It had been their meeting place for years, and old habits died hard.
Nearby, the sounds of running feet reached disinterested ears, and the laughter of children playing in the newly fallen snow was heard. A petite girl, sitting on the ground, slowly exhaled loudly, watching her breath mist in the cool air, eyelids lowered over her bright eyes. A cloud passed over the sun, abruptly cutting off the warmth. Two heads lifted in startled unison at the sudden movement beside them.
"That's it. I'm leaving." The dark-haired boy stated, rising to his feet. A golden-haired boy, slightly shorter than the other, pushed himself into a standing position and started after the dark-haired one, leaving the girl beside him to watch the unfolding scene uncertainly.
"Hold on a second, Sasuke!" He said angrily. "You can't just leave-"
"Can't I?" Sasuke cut in, not bothering to stop or to look back. "It's been three hours, Naruto… I doubt Iruka-sensei's coming."
Naruto watched the dark-haired boy walk away from him with irritation. He turned to the girl behind him.
"Sakura-Chan… do something!" He complained. The girl didn't move.
"You've known Sasuke-kun for quite a while now, Naruto-kun… Probably longer than I've known him." She sighed. "You can't stop him from doing what he wants… you should know that by now." Sakura said patiently. She glanced at the departing Sasuke out of the corner of her eye with a thoughtful frown.
He had always been one to do what he wanted. Ever since the team had met four years ago, Sasuke had always been the solitary one… the one who seemed to be always shrouded by an inscrutable darkness that was only vaguely comprehensible to the other two members of his team. Given his past, his cynical, detached demeanor towards life was understandable.
He had not always been this way. Sakura's frown faded into a softer look.
When he had been in the ninja academy with the others, many years ago, the shadows surrounding him now had been invisible to everyone, including Sasuke himself. A sweet, innocent boy…
Back then, Sakura had seen a shy, somewhat self-conscious but still ambitious boy; a simple boy who dreamt of emerging from his elite brother's shadow and being acknowledged for his own genius.
Now, he looked neither backwards or to the sides, even for an instant.
He had no need to.
The past followed him and carved out his future for him; he lived in the past-- for the past. He was fated to be chained for the rest of his life.
He had no foreseeable future besides his past; even Sasuke probably saw this. But he still dogmatically clung to life in order to fulfill his own prophecy that had been born from the deaths of his clansmen.
Sakura had once been almost obsessed with the handsome boy who surpassed all others in every way. He was everything she was not, and therefore, she idolized him. She had fallen in love with the romanticism of his situation, seeing him as a tragic hero figure.
She had failed to see the hollow remnants of a formerly vibrant person.
Maturing over time, her keen eyes had finally spotted what they had refused to see for most of her childhood. Loving a person who didn't have the capacity for love would only cause her more pain.
To believe that one day her unwavering dedication to him would be enough to erase his past was an illusion that she could no longer live in.
He didn't want her, and she was finally starting to realize, that loving was not an emotion Sasuke could feel- not until he could release his hatred…
And so… Sakura had gradually allowed her glorified vision of Sasuke to dissipate, until she had finally seen the lonely, unhappy boy he really was, despite his cold exterior.
Sakura turned away from the dark-haired boy, and focused on something else, uncomfortable with the sudden air of solemnity that gripped her. Naruto was talking to her in a loud voice, unaware that she had been spacing out.
"I'm sure that Iruka-Sensei told us to be here two hours ago!" Naruto complained. "So I really don't get why he's not here!"
"Iruka-sensei has never been this late before…" A vision of her bed, soft, warm, alluring, and comfortable, loomed into mind. "Maybe I should leave too…" Sakura mused. Naruto, only half-listening, interrupted her with a loud exclamation as he looked past the girl, blue eyes wide with surprise.
"Now, what's this about leaving?" A new voice said smoothly from behind Sakura. The girl started, hastily clambering up and stumbling backwards towards Naruto in alarm. Naruto's brow furrowed as he and Sakura stared at the stranger before them.
"……" Sakura blinked, subconsciously noting Naruto doing the same.
The man paid them scant attention, his gaze straying over to the still visible boy a couple meters away. His head swiveled back to face them;
"That boy there… is he your teammate…?" He questioned in an unhurried manner. Naruto scowled.
"You mean Sasuke?" Naruto saw the stranger nod. The blond boy turned and shouted in a loud voice to catch Sasuke's attention. "OI! SASUKE!" Sakura winced at the shrill yelling that had not changed noticeably since the day the team had first met. And they had met a little over three years ago.
Sasuke's keen ears heard Naruto's not exactly undetectable shouts with little difficulty, and vaguely annoyed, he stopped and turned to see what the idiot was shouting about. His eyes caught on an unfamiliar figure, crouched on top of the bridge railing.
'That's… not Iruka-sensei…' He thought, his dark brows slightly lowered. The dark-haired boy's eyes moved to Naruto, who was now gesturing for Sasuke to return to the bridge and join them.
Sasuke hesitated, then trudged reluctantly back to his group, eyeing the stranger with veiled suspicion. The other two waited in silence as the dark-haired boy walked towards them. He finally reached them and halted, still staring at the man.
Iruka's students and the new man before them studied each other, the silence broken only by the sounds of the village near them.
Sakura took in the stranger's appearance. Green jounin vest and uniform… silver (was he an old man…?) and rather untidy hair, and strangest of all, a black fabric face mask, hiding the lower portion of his face from view. His Hitai-ate was tilted at a lazy angle, drooping over his left eye (or right, depending on which way you looked at it). A dark eye, not dissimilar to a certain dark-haired boys' on her team, was visible, though the heavy eyelid above the said eye gave the impression of disinterest and boredom.
All in all, despite the fact that his face was obscured by the black mask, he didn't seem like an exceptionally remarkable person.
(A.N: The parentheses that interrupt some of the sentences are Sakura's thoughts, and this chapter is, so far, mostly from her side, though the other members will come in here and there… hope that helped…)
Sasuke spoke abruptly, eyebrows drawn together.
"Who are you?" He asked, his tone cautious but still sharp. Almost all the words that left his mouth inevitably ended up sounding brusque and cold. It was simply the way he had become. The man's only visible feature, his one eye, regarded them pleasantly (or was that condescension lurking in that dark eye of his?).
"Are you team seven?" He asked, ignoring Sasuke's question. "Trained by a teacher by the name of Umino Iruka?" Sakura cocked her head. That didn't sound like the voice of an old man. Maybe he wasn't as old as she originally thought.
Sasuke answered for the group.
"Yeah." He said shortly. "Now who the hell are you?" He asked, irritation lacing his voice. Unexpectedly, the stranger didn't seem to take offense at Sasuke's rude tone. Instead, he smiled. Or rather, his visible eye behaved as other normal eyes do when people smile or laugh. Sasuke's eyebrow rose at the palpable waves of humor coming from the man.
"Nobody of consequence, really…" he said, still smiling.
"Nobody of consequence…" Sasuke repeated, skeptical. "Then why are you here?"
"Aa… as to that, I'll be your teacher until Iruka gets back." He replied calmly. Sakura and Naruto exchanged startled glances. Naruto turned quickly to the man.
"What do you mean you'll be our teacher? For how long? Did something happen to Iruka-sensei?" The blond asked, visibly upset. The man in front of the team, appeared to think for a moment.
"I don't know how long… depends on how long his, uh, mission takes." He said, shrugging his shoulders. The jounin's eyes moved briefly to the girl, who had a stricken look on her face. Following his lead, the other two turned to Sakura.
"…Did… Iruka-sensei… was he… recruited for the war…?" She asked in a small voice. Naruto's eyes widened when the jounin in front of them nodded after a moment's hesitation.
"What? Iruka-sensei… in the war… why… he……" Naruto's voice trailed off, as he simply stared at the masked man, lost for words.
"Don't worry… he's not on a dangerous mission… I don't know the full details, but he's only serving as a temporary for the messenger unit." The man lied smoothly. Their faces relaxed slightly at this, though the dark-haired boy's eyes still regarded him with some suspicion. The man suppressed a grim smile. If only Iruka's mission was as simple as the lie he had just told. In truth, Iruka's mission was much more dangerous than that. But what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
The silver-haired mancleared his throat.
"I've heard about you three from Iruka… but since it seems like I'll be your teacher until god-knows-when," Thejounin paused, and tugged his hitai-ate further down. "Let's start with introductions," He finished. Three pairs of eyes stared at him.
"……" The silver-haired man coughed lightly. "Right. I'm Hatake Kakashi, jounin."
There was a brief silence. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anything more, the blond boy gave an exasperated sigh and exchanged looks with the girl next to him.
"Another Sasuke… just what we need…" He muttered. Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose slightly, his ears catching the faint mumble coming from the boy. '……Should I have said more…?' Kakashi thought to himself. He shrugged it off and fixed his gaze on the blond boy, who happened to be nearest to him. Sakura, noticing the direction of his gaze, nudged Naruto gently.
The others were startled when he gave a strident, enthusiastic shout.
"OK!" The other three winced in unison. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, chuunin, age fifteen turning sixteen soon, future hokage of Konohagakure, best ninja of my year-"
"Liar." Sasuke said in an undertone. Naruto continued as if he hadn't heard the other boy.
"- and the one who will beat Sasuke!" Naruto finished with a grin. Kakashi smiled slightly, his eyes resting on the blond boy. 'I see…' Kakashi pulled once again at his hitai-ate. 'So that's Naruto…' A single face rose up in his mind, a face that he had come to know well. 'Amazing how similar they look…' The jounin studied the blond for a while: Blond hair, neither short nor long, an open and affable expression, and a mischievous grin. This was the troublemaker that Iruka had warned him about… 'He doesn't seem like anything I can't handle.' Kakashi's gaze turned to the other boy, who was staring coolly at him.
"And you?" Kakashi prompted.
"Uchiha Sasuke, chuunin." Sasuke said shortly, holding Kakashi's gaze without wavering. Kakashi's eyes flickered imperceptibly. 'An Uchiha… that explains the Uchiha clan crest I saw on his shirt.' The boy had all the Japanese aristocratic characteristics; Raven black hair, skin so pale that it looked like it had never seen the sun, well-defined facial features, and a neutral, unrevealing expression.
Kakashi gave a slight frown, when he realized that the boy was trying to stare him down. 'What is it with Uchihas and pride…?' He wondered briefly. He turned away from the dark-haired Uchiha, quite aware that his actions were being watched and evaluated critically by the boy.
"And you?" Kakashi said, fully directing his attention towards the girl for the first time. His brow furrowed slightly as he studied her. Pink hair of a delicate shade, pale skin, and green eyes reminiscent of spring… He felt like he had seen her before somewhere, but he couldn't quite grasp the memory.
"I'm Haruno Sakura… chuunin… age fifteen…" She said hesitantly. Kakashi stared at her. Haruno… the name sounded familiar. Wasn't she the one that Tsunade was training as a medic-nin? And… he could swear he had heard the name from somewhere else…
Kakashi cleared his throat, waving away the vague, half-formed thoughts in his head.
"My my… the future hokage, an Uchiha genius, and Tsunade's apprentice…" He drawled. The girl flushed, though Sasuke didn't seem quite so pleased. Naruto didn't seem to know what to make of his words. "Quite a responsibility I've got on my hands…" Kakashi slid from the bridge railing to the ground with catlike grace.
Sasuke watched the man's movements closely. The hunched shoulders and half-closed eyelids gave their new 'teacher' a fairly convincing image of being a lazy, lackluster, lethargic male, but Sasuke's sharp eyes saw far more than his teammates.
Despite his slouched posture, the man had been on the narrow bridge railing with perfect balance, and he hadn't even touched his hands or knees to the railing to steady himself once. Not that Sasuke was impressed by this. The man had been three hours late, looked like all he did was sleep, and wore a face mask that conveniently hid his face.
The hitai-ate on his forehead was no guarantee that the man was actually who he proclaimed he was. Ninjutsu or Genjutsu could easily fool the average human mind. Sasuke watched as Kakashi turned to face them, hands still stuffed into his pockets, and shoulders still somewhat slumped.
"I'm going to take you three to some training grounds," Kakashi's visible eye regarded them languidly. "You might have been there, you might not have…" He shrugged. "Doesn't really matter."
Naruto and Sakura exchanged interested glances.
"You're going to start training us today, Sensei?" Sakura asked curiously. The silver-haired man glanced at her.
"Maybe." He said carelessly. He abruptly turned to the left, taking the path leading towards the forest and started off. Naruto scratched his head.
"Gee, for a lazy looking guy, he moves pretty fast…" He said aloud.
"Well… I guess we better follow him…" Sakura said, looking at Sasuke and Naruto. Kakashi was moving further and further away from them, apparently not knowing or caring that he was leaving them behind.
Naruto quickly ran after the man, followed by Sakura. Kakashi glanced at them over his shoulder.
"Hmm? So you decided to follow me after all?" He said casually to Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke trailed behind the others as Kakashi led the group into the forest. "Not that I care whether or not you do." Kakashi smiled to himself at the indignant protests coming from the blond boy. "I mean, less work for me if you guys didn't want to work with me, right?"
The silver-haired man led them deeper into the forest, passing other training grounds and the occasional groups who were training in the forest, in spite of the cold.
"How much further?" Naruto asked.
"Tired already?" Kakashi asked, turning to look at the blond.
"No!" Naruto scowled. "But are you just taking us on a walk, or actually planning to train us someday soon?"
"Hmm? Did you say something, Naruno?" Kakashi said absently. Sakura and Naruto exchanged confused looks.
"Na… runo…?" Sakura repeated hesitantly.
"Isn't that his name?" Kakashi asked, scanning their surroundings. After a moment, he turned towards the right and trudged along a faintly visible path.
"My name is Naruto!" The blond said loudly, irritation lacing his voice. "Naruto, got that? I can't believe this guy… supposed to be our teacher, when he can't even get names straight…" Naruto scowled, glaring at Kakashi.
"And I'm Haruno… Haruno Sakura…" Sakura said, laying a gentle hand on Naruto's arm. Naruto gave a loud grumble, but his scowl faded somewhat.
Kakashi gave an absent-minded nod.
"Right… Uzumaki, Haruno, Uchiha…" He said, stepping carefully over a loose rock on the path. "I'll try not to forget your names…" He came to a sudden halt. "Hm…" His head swiveled to the sides, as he studied the surroundings. "…… I think we went too far…" He mumbled. Kakashi's eye latched onto a peculiar looking tree, a dead tree with a hole in its trunk, and nearly no branches. "Ah! There it is!"
"Are we going the right way?" Sakura asked anxiously.
"Yeah… sorry… I haven't been this way in a-"
"Why you?"
Kakashi glanced back at the dark-haired boy. He was surprised the Uchiha hadn't spoken before now. He was certainly more laconic than a certain Uchiha that he himself had known in his childhood.
"…… Why me? Hmm… that's kind of a broad question… mind being a little more specific?" Kakashi asked, hopping nimbly over a tree trunk that had fallen conveniently across the path.
"Iruka mentioned you a couple times, but he never said that you were a teacher." Sasuke said shortly. Kakashi's eyebrow rose slightly. 'Iruka? Just Iruka? No honorific?' Kakashi chanced a small glance back at the dark-haired Uchiha, and encountered the relentless stare again. 'Geez… what an insolent guy…'
"I'm not a teacher. I told you, I'm just filling in." Kakashi said easily.
"So why'd he choose you instead of one of the other teachers?" Sasuke asked, brows slightly lowered. Kakashi slowed down and finally came to a halt. All three looked around. A large clearing, the thin snow unmarred by any human footsteps, greeted them. A couple trees were scattered sparsely throughout the clearing. A stream ran through the very middle, and rocks of all sizes littered the ground, their surfaces covered by a light dusting of snow.
Kakashi turned and directly faced them for the first time.
"Is it that you can't trust me, Uchiha?" He asked smilingly. Sasuke didn't waver.
"You can't be too careful nowadays." Sasuke said, his dark eyes staring at Kakashi. Sakura and Naruto stood uncertainly in between.
"Or is it that you don't think me worthy of being your teacher?" Kakashi continued.
"Maybe it is." Sasuke's eyes moved to him teammates, who were staring at the pair of them. "If you think I'm such a fool that I'd blindly trust an unknown ninja, you're wrong." Sasuke said, his dark eyes moving back to Kakashi's face.
Sakura's eyes shifted down and she stifled a gasp. A kunai was in Sasuke's hand, concealed in the shadow and folds created by his dark shirt. Naruto, who had already noticed the kunai, unobtrusively took Sakura's elbow and tugged her backwards, out of Sasuke's range of motion, on the pretense of pointing out a crow that had landed a couple meters away.
"So you're implying that I'm not who I say I am?" Kakashi asked, his head cocked slightly to the side. Without warning, Sasuke swiftly raised his arm and flung the kunai at the man with deadly accuracy.
A sudden scream rang out, startling a flock of birds into flight. The dark-haired boy's head snapped up, immediately on the alert for anything out of the ordinary.
"SASUKE...! BEHIND YOU!" Sasuke turned, his eyes widening in alarm.
"……!"
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(Author's notes:)
Geez! This chapter took me seven pages! I meant to keep it shorter, but it was impossible to find an ending point for this chapter! (So sorry about the cliff hanger… but have fun guessing what will happen next!)
Thanks for all those who read, and for those who left reviews. (HINT HINT: LEAVE REVIEWS BEHIND, MAKE ME HAPPY! REVIEWS LET ME KNOW WHETHER OR NOT PEOPLE ARE READING MY STORIES!)
To Mineko …. I forget the name.. anyways, thank you for pointing out that winter in a fire country is strange. I wasn't sure whether or not to add the fact that it was winter, but it'll come more into play later. I think..
Updates depend on how quickly I can get a new computer... my current one isn't working well. And even if I get a new computer, I don't know how to set up the internet... looks like chapters will be on hold for a while... T.T