Four: Something


Kakashi registered that the young woman was still behind him, but was too caught up with his own inner demons to see anything beyond a slab of hewn rock. He hadn't meant to bring her here, to lay witness to his greatest shame, even if she had no knowledge of it.

But the irony...

...one shame meeting the other.

It was cruel.

And he deserved every second of it.

He pulled himself roughly from thoughts of self-loathing, pocketing his gloved hands and slumping forward into his habitual slouch.

Then he turned his dark gaze to the woman who'd finally made it to his side.

Her eyes were puffy, he noted, her features tired as she cast a long stare over the names chiseled into stone.

Had she been crying?

Understandable, given the circumstances. Still, he'd hoped to get through this without random bouts of hormonal tears.

He opened his mouth to say… something, when –

"I'm leaving." She beat him to it.

Wait. That wasn't right. Shouldn't she be-

"Konoha, I mean. I was planning to leave before..." She gestured vaguely between the two of them.

She paused, feet digging into the green grass. Her expression was calm, too calm.

Kakashi's gaze sharpened. He observed the way she held her self, tensed for something unpleasant. The subtle way her hands curled in fists, chin lifted in defiance. Legs spread, shoulders back. Even her gaze was unnervingly direct.

She had already made her choice, he realized, and this... this was just a courtesy.

And somehow, that made him inexplicably angry.

He lifted a hand to absently tug open a vest pocket, fingers tracing along the orange edge of the slim book placed there. He didn't remove it though, and that in itself was telling.

He picked her apart, analyzing. Worn, but well kept clothes: poor but frugal. The smell of soap and mineral water, a scent common in public bathing houses. A trace of something dry, musty. He watched as an involuntary shiver came across her, goose bumps rising on her exposed skin. Skin that was only slightly tanned, perhaps from time spent more indoors than out. But she was still talking, nervousness creeping into her voice from his prolonged silence. "You don't have to decide now-"

"-I could help." He interjected, coolly.

Her jaw clenched, the faintest hint of a glare entering her eyes.

"I don't want your money."

Ah, so that's what it is.

Kakashi decided to change tactics. He shifted to better face her, leaving the memorial stone at his back.

"Why do you want to leave Konoha?"

She shrugged, glancing away quickly. He took note of the slight hitch in her breath, his head tilting like an inquisitive dog.

"When Sound attacked, my home was destroyed." The rough alto of her voice was matter-of-fact, flat even. It didn't match the significance of her words. "I'm living in temporary housing. I figured I'd try to get my feet back under me."

She looked back up then, waiting, but he didn't reply.

Her brown eyes rolled after yet another moment of awkward silence, a frustrated huff exploding out of her, features twisting in a scowl.

Kakashi's mouth twitched as he observed these little traces of anxiety, and he couldn't help but taunt her further with a single raised brow.

A rough, exasperated sigh left her, expressive eyes closing in resignation. They opened to fix him in an unimpressed stare.

"Look," she said pointedly, "this was a mistake. We both didn't mean for this to happen, and I'm trying to fix it."

"It's as much my mistake as it is yours." Kakashi quipped back at her. Her resulting eye spasm would have been amusing if the situation had been any different.

The woman rubbed her face, nose wrinkling as she let out a pained groan. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Because I want proof."

He didn't need proof. The scent was there. Slightly different, but still his.

No. He needed time. Time to think, to plan.

Why was she being so difficult?

"I'm leaving in two weeks." The young woman said firmly, running a hand through her wild hair. Her fingers got stuck in the tangles as she tried to smooth them out. "I just need to get my paperwork in order. I'll get the tests done, too. You have until then to figure out what you want."

Kakashi felt his features tightening against his will, jaw clenching at her audacity. Didn't she realize that if he decided he wanted... this, there was no way the Treaty of Clans would allow her to leave? Not with his blood, his legacy, growing within her..!

She wasn't looking at him, gazing instead at the scar riddled training posts of area seven. Her hands, fidgeting in her hair, stilled as she gave up on the strands, flinging them over her shoulder. The wind pushed them back into her face and she tucked them behind her ear with an irritated huff.

Kakashi shifted onto the balls of his feet, fighting back an incredulous, biting comment.

"If I need you for the tests, I'll stop by again. You can contact me at the Village Hot springs. I work at the bathhouse there."

...Or perhaps she did realize and was...giving...him...a way out?

Why?

She nodded absently, more to herself that him, and turned around, making to walk away-

-but he stopped her with a casual touch to her arm.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he let his hand drop, visible eye crinkling in a practiced smile. "Maa, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Anna." The foreign word fell naturally from her lips, lips that lifted in an awkward smile.

Her head dipped in another bow and she was off, loud civilian footsteps marking her as she skirted around the corner.

Kakashi frowned, visible eye closing in a slow blink.

That was an incredibly... one-sided conversation.

The girl, woman, Anna-

She was hiding something.

And it had nothing to do with their... predicament.

He straightened, rolling out the kinks in his shoulders and neck.

Two weeks though...

More than enough time to find out what.


AN: So, this chapter was ridiculously difficult for a variety of reasons, the first and most important of which is that I just couldn't seem to get the point of this chapter across. It kept on eluding me. So I settled for the nearest thing. Second, is that I absolutely hate writing dialogue. It always sounds stunted to me, which is why I try to keep things as simple as possible. This inability of mine then compounded with the fact that conversations of this nature would be difficult for anyone, let alone an emotionally stunted child-soldier, and well… yeah. Yuppie for awkward conversations. The last reason: I was asked to provide, well… More. Of everything. Chapter length, descriptions, emotion. I did try to add more, but this chapter was a whirlwind anyway, so we'll see.

Review Please!

~Delgodess