Spring was late this year. It was April 13th and the cherry trees were finally blossoming. There weren't many cherry trees in Konoha anyway, since Hashimara trees took most of the space. However, for Hana, it was still an important symbol. She was growing up with the return of the cherry blossoms and this year in particular was her eighteenth birthday. She was considered an adult since she became chuunin, at thirteen years old, but was still deprived of her right to become clan head until that day… today. She was pretty sure that in any other clan that would have meant some kind of fancy ceremony but not with the Inuzuka. Her mom had made a nice lunch for her, thumped her on the back and congratulated her. As soon as Kiba had come back from the Academy and gave her his gift (a pot of Calendula bought on the way home, probably with the help of the Yamanaka girl in his class after he realized this morning that yes her birthday was today and he had nothing for her; geez, that boy…), Tsume had sent her to get hella drunk until dawn (her words).
Hana had eaten dinner with a few friends in a nice restaurant where she had savored some delicious tsukune, her favorite food. After that, she had absolutely no intention to do as her mother said but she wasn't in a hurry to go back home either. One of her friend, Kurenai, was in a festive mood too and Hana made the mistake of admitting she never went to a bar before. That's how she ended up going to the "best one in Konoha."
It was a nice place with warm lightning, wood furniture and beautiful calligraphies hanging from the walls. This izakaya was upscale but not excessively so. Most clients were renowned shinobi, jounin or tokubetsu jounin. In a corner she caught sight of the Jounin Commander and his friends of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio.
Kurenai and Hana sat at the bar and enjoyed their first drink while reminiscing their first mission together, the one that had started their friendship. It had been one of the first missions Hana had done without her genin team after she had been promoted to chuunin. She had been nervous (even if her pride wouldn't have allowed her to admit it) and Kurenai had been a godsend. With their two teammates being misogynistic assholes, the ladies had stuck together. Without her, Hana probably would have bit her tongue to not lash out at a superior (for a rookie, that wouldn't have gone well at all).
"To female solidarity." They toasted with a smile.
"Does this mean an interruption is unwelcome?"
They turned around to see the three men that had just entered. Hana hid a smile behind her glass when she recognized the one coming up to Kurenai.
"Hello ladies," Asuma greeted them, with a polite nod for Hana that she returned dutifully.
"Don't be daft Asuma, we're just cursing misogynistic assholes."
"I... am not sure I want to know. However I heard that congratulations were in order?"
Kurenai's smile widened and she nodded happily. "You won't be able to pull rank on me anymore!"
"Well done, Jounin Yuuhi Kurenai," Shiranui Genma drawled with a smirk. "I won't even bother asking you if you're on the jounin sensei list yet. I heard you already had the paperwork filled before the Hokage even gave you your promotion."
Kurenai blushed but recovered quickly, brushing her hair away with poise. Her determination to become jounin to have a genin team was well known and she didn't hide it.
"I won't confirm or deny. But I'm not only here to celebrate my promotion, it's Hana's eighteenth birthday!"
Hana rolled her eyes at the change of subject but received the well wishes with a smile.
"Want to join us at a table, ladies?" Asuma offered. "Your next drinks are on us for the occasion."
They agreed readily and the small group went to the back, obviously familiar with the establishment. Hana sat next to Kurenai. She leaned down to greet Namiashi Raidou, pleased that at least he wasn't frowning at her (progress!). When she turned around, she was surprised to find Kakashi on her other side. He stared at her serenely, as if he had always been there, before he gave her one of his eye smile.
"Kakashi, you're late," Asuma noted casually. He waved a hand to stop his excuses. "We're paying for the ladies' drinks. It's Hana-san's birthday."
"Is that so? Happy birthday then Hana-san," he nodded at her before glancing at his new equal with a hint of mischievousness, "and Kurenai thank you for taking one team of brats out of our hands." He caught the paper umbrella she sent at his head and twirled it between his fingers.
"Thank you for saving one team from idiot men without any sense of pedagogy," Hana quipped.
The two women clinked their glasses with a conniving smile and finished their drink as a waiter came by to take their new order.
As the evening went on, Hana noticed without surprise that she was a little out of her depth. She was the youngest and the only one still being a chuunin out of the group. Still, they went out of their way to include her from time to time and make her feel welcome so she listened and drank peacefully. By her side, Kakashi rarely added to the conversation unless he was directly addressed. He even had his book open. It didn't seem to surprise anyone.
For a few minutes, Hana amused herself by observing Kurenai and Asuma. They were sitting side by side, leaning towards each other sometimes and seeming perfectly at ease. As old genin teammates, that wasn't surprising. Hana was more interested in trying to notice any sign of a budding romance. She knew her friend was hoping for one since the former member of the Twelve Guardian had come back (apparently, he had gain greater maturity and attractiveness, which… well… yeah, she was willing to believe it, he was certainly handsome).
A whiff of a familiar scent distracted her from her observation at the same time as a soft touch nudged her left side. She looked down to see one of the Haimaru brothers.
"What are you doing here, boy?" She whispered.
"Alpha has a mission at dawn. She retracts her order. You aren't allowed to drink too much. You have to make breakfast for Pup," Hai carefully explained.
Hana restrained herself from facepalming. Her mother cared a bit too much about her alleged Inuzuka tradition to get completely hammered on their eighteenth birthday.
"As if that was going to happen," she muttered.
"Coming to tell you was less work than trying to explain that to Alpha," Hai replied with a shrug.
A brief chuckle made them look up to Kakashi. With their attention on him, the jounin offered his hand to Hai, letting him nuzzle his fingers before he petted his head. "It seems like you're speaking better and better Hai."
"Dad says a clan heir's ninken have to be able to talk well to any human. I'm not allowed to speak any other way until Dad's satisfied." He added a small whine and his tail stopped wagging despite the petting.
"You're doing well," Kakashi assured him.
"He has a tendency to bark curses at people he doesn't like in the middle of his sentences. It's a little bit distracting… even if mum thinks it's hilarious, some Hyuuga obviously thought otherwise," Hana noted with a smirk. She thought it was funny too but she couldn't say so else Hai took liberties. As clan heir of a laid-back clan like the Inuzuka she had leeway but it wasn't infinite.
"I'm disappointed that I can't understand those curses," Kakashi noted.
Since he seemed interested, Hana proceeded to tell him the story of Haimaru against the Hyuuga, helped by Hai's barking at the right times and several expressive hand gestures. She was pretty pleased with herself when she heard him chuckle a few times.
As she went to drink the rest of her sake at the story's end, she was surprised to find everyone else attention on her and Kakashi.
"The dogs… hell, guys, the fucking dogs! How didn't we think of that?" Genma muttered around his senbon.
"What?" Hana asked, mystified.
Genma waved to Kakashi. "That's the more focused I've seen him in… ever. We tried everything and in the end… Porn and dogs. That's it, that's what makes him tick."
"Maa, Genma, maybe I'm just more interested in feminine company," Kakashi replied, suddenly hidden by the book he had put down for a few minutes.
"Yeah, no, we tried that, remember?"
"Don't remind me," Raidou grumbled sourly.
Puzzled, Hana looked to her friend for some help in dealing with this and found herself under the intense observation of red eyes and a curious, analytical Sarutobi. Kurenai beamed suddenly. "Did I ever introduce you to Maito Gai, Hana? He's on a mission right now but…"
"We're out. See ya!"
Before Hana could realize that Kakashi was including her in his goodbye, the jounin had lifted her on his shoulder and shunshined out of the bar. When he stopped several streets further, she pinched his leg.
"What the hell, Kakashi-san?"
"That was for your own good Hana-san," he told her as he put her back on her feet. "You don't want to be left with them when they're in a meddlesome mood, believe me."
She glared at him with her hands on her hips. She was pretty sure she was missing some subtext here but being carried away like that was not her idea of a good exit. Kakashi seemed pretty jittery however and she felt like his friends may have pushed him a little too far so she didn't protest more.
"Fine," she sighed, "but I'm not going back home yet. It's not even midnight, if mum catches me I wouldn't hear the end of it about being too well-behaved and so on and so forth."
"Is that a recurrent problem?" He asked, amused.
"More than you think. Come on, let's go on the Hokage monument, I want to see the moon from there."
"As you wish, birthday girl."
"Damn right," she concluded, satisfied he wasn't leaving her alone.
They turned as Hai reached them and stopped with his forepaws on Hana's feet, tongue hanging out. "Kidnapping is bad. Mistress is ours," he told Kakashi.
Hana laughed softly and ruffled his fur. "Did we miss anything back there?"
"The one who is trying to kill himself with his weapon thinks it's hilarious that Silver took you with him. The one with marks on his face groaned that you haven't paid."
"Oh, that's right!" Hana quickly looked through her pockets for some bills and nudged Kakashi for him to do the same. "Bring them this please, Hai. We're going on the Hokage monument now."
"But don't tell them that," Kakashi added quickly.
"Got it!"
Left alone, Hana and Kakashi silently walked to the path leading up the cliff. As soon as they left the buildings behind them, there were no lights along the way and the moon was too faint to be reliable. Kakashi took out a lamp from his flak jacket's pockets and carefully angled it to illuminate both of their way. It was a hard path with stairs of wood, earth and stone. Going up wasn't meant to be easy: to watch over the village by the Hokages' side had to be earned. They could have reached the peak by climbing the rock but chakra control was trickier after alcohol consumption, added to that the obscurity and the complexity of the cliff's layout… there were no better recipes for accidently defacing the Hokages.
Once on the top, Hana walked to the cliff's edge, just above the Shodaime's head, and breathed in the nocturnal scent lengthily, raising her arms above her head and bathing in the moonlight. Here, it was quiet and pure. She could see Konoha's lights in the middle of the Hashimara trees. The tower was the only distinctive building. The view was worth the effort. It was humbling and calming.
Kakashi sat down against a tree and she went to join him.
"How old are you?" He asked suddenly.
"Hm? Eighteen."
He nodded and brandished his book in front of him. Hana laughed softly and leaned toward him to catch a glance of the pages. "Can you read anything?" He had turned off the lamp and the crescent moon was in front of them after all.
"Aah… No," he replied, deadpan, before shutting his book.
Hana laughed a bit more freely, shaking her head with fondness. "I can be quiet even without the excuse of reading, you know."
He tilted his head before nodding. "I know."
Quiet he wanted so quiet they were. The night was cool and Hana was glad that the red cheongsam she had chosen for her special evening had long sleeves. Though, now that she was thinking about it, she probably shouldn't have sat down on the ground with such a delicate dress. Ah, damn, she wasn't used to it. The Haimaru brothers weren't the only ones needing to work for her title of clan heir… even if, with her mother as clan head, no-one was expecting her to have manners as gracious as a Hyuuga (thank Kami for small mercies).
Thinking of them… she could hear her three ninken running along the path. Ma was the first one to reach them. He sprawled on her feet and stretched his neck for a congratulatory pat.
"Well done boy, you're still the fastest."
The other two gave up the race to play with each other until Ma yipped at them. "Come. Mistress is cold." Hai and Ru flanked her closely to warm her up.
"Silver should have warmed her. Silver's a bad mate," Ru mumbled.
Hana smacked him on the head. "What the hell, Ru?"
The ninken flattened his ears and lowered his head but none of them took back his words. Hana rolled her eyes and hoped that Kakashi would ignore it – he would have heard it, his hearing was as good as hers.
"Maa," he said, dashing her hope, "seems like it will be a common misconception."
"What do you mean?" She asked, baffled.
"I predict matchmaking attempts in the future."
"Because of what Shiranui-san said?"
He hummed in agreement. Playing with a strand of hair, Hana pondered over the situation. From what she knew, Hatake Kakashi had been in ANBU for years – it was an open secret, really, when your reputation grew and yet you were never seen in casual missions, covert was becoming more or less obvious, but as long as his codename was still a secret she supposed that no-one really care. Considering he was seen a lot more often in the village and on casual missions for two years, he had left the covert corps then. How long was he an ANBU? At least five years, probably more, maybe even ten years… it was huge. Most people died before then. For those who left the corps, coming back to a more casual life, with time for hobbies, friends and family… it had to be hard. Yes, she could see why his friends were trying to meddle. This being said, even the best intentions could be detrimental.
She remembered their conversation in January with the analogy about traumatized dogs. She couldn't help but wonder if the way he had been this evening, quiet but not alone, was in any way related to what she had advised that day. This may be a little too self-centred of her though.
"Is it something you would consider? A relationship? I mean, in general."
He snorted. "I'm not really prime boyfriend material."
She shrugged. "That's for the other half of your relationship to decide. Not everyone expect the same things from a partner. But do you want one? A partner?" Expecting him to bolt any second now, Hana wondered if it was really wise, trying to push when he was tolerating her. She might put their friendship at risk… but it was too late to back off.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because… if you don't want one, I can speak to Kurenai, she'd make the others back off."
"Kurenai loves romance."
"You wouldn't be the first to refuse companionship you know. She might not like it but she would respect that. Everyone should respect that."
In the darkness, she could see his face turned toward her, his eye half closed, but he was even harder to read than usual. "One-night stands are easier."
She blinked. "Well, if you say so, but I don't think your friends are worried about your sexual needs."
"Tsk. Such a shame." He turned away.
Ah, well, she had tried. "As you wish then; you're on your own."
"Maa, I'd say you'll be the first to suffer."
"Uh? Why?"
oOo
"Hana-san, it's an honor to meet you! I'm Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!"
Gaping at the sight of the man giving her a thumbs-up and a blinding smile, Hana took a step back and glanced at Kurenai, wide-eyed.
"Gai is Kakashi's best friend, even if he'll never admit it," the woman calmly explained.
"My eternal rival likes to be hip and cool! It moves me to hear he found a kindred soul for his canine passion in you, Hana-san! Your youthful friendship should be nurtured and aroused!"
Hana watched warily as Gai raised his fist to his tearing eyes. She used this small respite to mouth at Kurenai: "What the hell?!"
"Gai, tell her why we're here."
"Absolutely! Hana-san, it pains me to admit that my eternal rival has eluded me since my return. I would be extremely grateful if you and your most youthful ninken could help me to find him!"
She smirked slowly. "It would be my pleasure." The asshole had to pay for not warning her. "Haimaru, hunt!" The brothers immediately ran towards Kakashi's usual haunts to catch a trail and Gai followed them, screaming about canine youth or something of the same nature. Hands on her hips, Hana glared at Kurenai and repeated: "What the hell?"
The jounin shrugged casually. "You'd have met him sooner or later. I'm doing you a favor by channeling his energy."
"Right," Hana drawled, "a favor that entails me being dragged to see Kakashi-san from time to time."
"That's not a problem, right? You like Kakashi," Kurenai stated with a small smile.
"Uhuh. How is Asuma?" Hana asked with the same conniving little smile.
"Quite well, thank you. I'll see you later."
Hana spluttered as Kurenai dissolved in flower petals, annoyed that her friend hadn't been bothered by her question. Were they… were they finally dating? Urgh, stupid jounin trying to mess with her head!
It had been two weeks since her birthday. Kakashi had left her on the Hokage monument with a cheery "see ya" without explaining why Hana would be the first victim of his friends' matchmaking attempts. Now she could see why. Which reminded her…
She ran after the Haimaru brothers. They had stopped in front of one of the most popular onsen, far from the mixed one she tended to use. "Uh?"
Hai shrugged. "The trail stops here. Green went inside. Since he didn't came out, Silver is probably there too. Green thought it was smart because they never go there."
"Yeah and I can't strangle him in there," Hana grumbled, crossing her arms with displeasure.
She was resigning herself to leave when Kakashi suddenly came out and caught Hana by the arm, dragging her away.
"What…?"
"I left Gai with a kage bunshin. No thanks for bringing him here."
"I wouldn't have if you had warned me in advance. You shouldn't sic him on unsuspecting people, Kakashi-san. Payback was due!"
"Maa, Hana-chan, are you upset with me?"
How could he use puppy eyes with only one eye visible while dragging her along? That was completely unfair… and not very effective.
She rolled her eyes before a thought came to mind. "I'll forgive you if you help me train."
"Train?"
"I finally fulfill the medical requirements to be field medic but now I have to prove I can hold my own in a combat situation while defending any injured person in my care."
"Maa, I suppose I could help… but I won't go easy on you."
"Neither would an enemy. Well… sometimes they do when they want to capture medic-nin for their own need but I don't fancy being kidnapped and forced to heal enemies. So… just keep in mind I have a shift at the hospital tomorrow morning, I need to be in working order by then."
She did well to specify this or their session would probably have ended with her fainting instead of getting a piggyback ride to her house. Entirely spent, she barely stopped herself from faceplanting in Kakashi's silver hair, her eyes closing of their own accord. "I didn't think someone could be a worse taskmaster than mum, I'm sorry for doubting you."
He had summoned several of his own ninken too, which meant that the Haimaru brothers were just as tired as she was and limping along. Without Bull, Ru would have already fallen in the ditch a few times.
Kakashi chuckled softly. "You did well," he said simply, as stingy with compliments as Tsume was.
They reached Hana's house at the same time as Kiba came back from the Academy. Having just taken off his shoes, the boy stared wide-eyed. "Oy! What's wrong with you nee-chan?"
"Training with a jounin. It's deadly. Just wait and see when you'll be a genin. Think mum's trainings every single day," Hana mumbled. Having given up the fight against gravity, her chin was resting on Kakashi's head. His hair was thick and surprisingly soft for such a spiky hairdo.
"A jounin?" Kiba stared at Kakashi defiantly.
"Who else could take off his shoes without dropping me?" Hana mumbled. "Stop staring Kiba, it's rude. Kakashi-san, the rude one is my little brother, Kiba, and the cute one is Akamaru. Kiba, Akamaru, this is Hatake Kakashi, jounin, and somewhere behind there must be some of his summons… Bull, at least, I think."
"Yo," Kakashi said, putting his shoes away without missing a beat before walking towards the bedrooms.
"Oh, Kiba, I'll probably go to sleep right away so have some noodles for tonight if mum comes back late and feed Haimaru for me too, okay? Love you little bro." She waved (or try to) before pointing to her bedroom for Kakashi.
He let her down, barely catching her before she fell heavily and helped her to lie down on her bed.
"Thanks Kakashi-san, I appreciate it," she mumbled as her eyes closed.
"You're welcome. Sleep well, Hana-chan," he replied as he pushed away some strands of hair, the tip of his fingers brushing her skin softly.
As she quickly fell asleep, unconsciously chasing the contact, she didn't see Kiba staring from the doorway and as such she didn't realize that Kakashi was teasing her little brother.
Kakashi thought that the academy student's sputtering was quite hilarious, nearly as fun as teasing Tenzou. He shunshined away to avoid any arguments but distractedly brushed his fingers against each other, noting that Hana had really soft skin.
Tsukune = chicken meatball most often cooked yakitori style (skewered, with sauce)
Izakaya = drinking establishment that serves food to accompany the drinks
To see what a cheongsam looks like, I recommend googling it. It's a chinese dress but it has been seen in Naruto's world and I thought that a kimono would be too formal for an Inuzuka.
Thank you to all reviewers and especially to andealie, your review was really sweet! I'm so glad you all like this.
