Chapter 4
Itachi stroked Choko's head, her golden hair forming a halo around the pillow she slept on.
"Choko?" He shook her a little bit. "Choko?" One of her eyes opened, a hint of turquoise shining through. "Choko, listen to me." She yawned and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve while Itachi tried to restrain himself from exclaiming how cute she was; that would just make her embarrassed. "Choko, I'm going to go teach. When you wake up, take a shower and change into the pajamas in the closet. I left medicine on the counter because you still have bit of a fever, so take that when you wake up. I also have a sandwich in the refrigerator, so make sure to eat as much of that as you can, alright?" She nodded and Itachi drew the covers around her again, giving her one last pat on the head.
Just as he was about the leave the house, Itachi heard the pitter-patter of bare feet down the hallway. The next thing he knew, the tiny girl was hugging him around the waist.
"Come back soon," she said sleepily and yawned. Itachi smiled gently and fixed a stray piece of wavy hair.
"Yeah. I'll be back soon, kiddo."
Itachi was extremely busy at school. Not only did he have to register himself officially as Choko's guardian, but he also had to inform the school of it, and that meant a whole stack of paper work.
"At least I know what those poor mothers go through now," he sighed as he completed the last sheet in the stack. Just as he was about to stand to check his students' questions, there was a flamboyant knock on the door. Itachi crossed over to the other side of the classroom and turned the knob.
"Ichi-kun!" He immediately slammed the door on S's face, raising a wave of giggling from the students. "Ichi-kun, that hurt!" he heard from outside the door.
"Quiet, Momo, I'm teaching!"
"I told you not to use that name!"
"And I told you to stop barging in during class."
"Ichi-kun!"
"Momo." By this time, the entire class was laughing at the exchange. A sound of dissatisfaction floated in from outside.
"And even when I ran all the way over here to tell you the bad news!" The class immediately became silent and Itachi crossed over to the door again.
"What bad news?" he asked softly, opening the door."
"You know how you asked me to check on her?" S responded, keeping his voice equally low, "Well, she's not there."
"Did you check all the rooms?"
"You think I'm stupid?"
"Don't make me answer that question honestly." Itachi walked back into the classroom and grabbed his backpack. "Self-study for the rest of the period! Have a nice day!" He walked out, leaving the students chattering behind him.
Usually, the road back to his house was ten minutes if he walked, but if he sprinted, it was two.
"Choko!" he called out as soon as he had opened the door. "Choko! Where are you?" There was no response, and he quickly went through all the rooms. "Choko?" When he heard the front door open and close, he quickly went to the hall. "Choko?"
"Yes, Sensei?" As soon as she saw Itachi's flushed face, her eyes widened. "What's wron — oww!" She rubbed the spot on her forehead that Itachi had flicked as hard as he could. "What was that for?"
"When you leave," he said slowly and clearly, holding her shoulders, "you write a note on where you are going, why, and for how long. Do you understand?"
"O-okay," she stammered, her eyes still wide. He let go of her shoulders and collapsed in a chair, sighing. At the sight of her frightened eyes, he reached up and ruffled her hair. "A-are you still mad, then?" The corners of his mouth turned up the slightest bit.
"No. I wasn't mad in the first place. Just worried. I ran here from school as soon as Momo told me you weren't here."
"You don't look like you ran here. You aren't even breathing hard." He waved his hand vaguely.
"I'm physically fit. Let's leave it at that. Now, where were you?"
"I was… running…"
"…Running, huh?"
"Yep," she said, avoiding his eyes.
"Running where?"
"Just… up and down this street."
"Huh. Weird how we didn't run into each other." When she didn't answer, he sighed again and stood up, looking at his watch.
"Well, let's go shopping, since class is pretty much over."
"Shopping?" Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at her excitement.
"Yeah, shopping. Let's get you clothes, shoes… what else to girls need? Tampons and things." He raised an eyebrow when she wouldn't meet his eyes. "I thought you would be embarrassed with this type of thing, not depressed."
"I… haven't… gotten my period yet."
There was a silence.
"Do you know why?" Her eyes shifted to the left, while Itachi's eyes narrowed.
"Probably because I don't eat much."
"Huh. Interesting." Itachi took a step towards Choko. "By the way kiddo, how did you pay your rent for the apartment?" She stepped back with every step he took forward.
"I-I had s-some money saved…" she trailed off when her back hit the wall, her eyes impossibly wide, the sea-foam color shining through. His dangerous aura poured off him in waves, and his eyes took a slight reddish tint.
Then, suddenly, almost impossibly, he was gone, reappearing on the other side of the room.
"I don't like liars." He didn't turn around to face her. "I think all lies will hurt in the end. But if you think it's important to keep that secret you're hiding from me, fine. "I'll let you keep it. But it doesn't mean I'm not going to try my best to find out." Itachi opened the door. "Come on. Let's go."
The shopping trip was a subdued one. At the beginning, Itachi had said, "Get whatever you want. I'll pay for everything." The ride back home was also quiet. However, Itachi found himself thinking about many things and taking sidelong glances at the sleeping girl.
Tomorrow, he though, we'll have pancakes for breakfast. Maybe rice balls will be good for lunch. I'll have to go shopping for ingredients for dinner. Automatically, his brain made a list of things he needed to buy and the best place to get them, and filed the information away for later. I'm glad she has good taste, he thought, his eyes glimpsing the pile of bags in the back. I'm not sure what I would have done if she insisted on buying miniskirts.
The car smoothly pulled up to the driveway and rumbled to a stop, a calm silence filling the air. Itachi made several trips to carry the bags into the apartment, carrying Choko last into her bedroom and tucking her in. She stirred sleepily and smiled faintly, making Itachi smile, too. And in this comfortable silence, he went to bed.
The brief burst of an alarm clock and a soft curse snapped him out of a vague dream. There was a silence, and he heard the creaking of floorboards. A door opened and closed and silence washed in again.
"Fuck!" Itachi burst from his bed and pulled on his jeans, shirt and jacket. Grabbing Choko's new jacket, he ran outside, just as he saw a ghostly figure disappearing around the corner.
It seemed like there were more twists and turns than Itachi remembered there being in the day. He steadily gained on her, occasionally glimpsing an emerald dress or golden hair. Finally, he turned to find her streaking down a long stretch of alleyway. But before he could pursue her, two beefy bodyguards with huge knives stepped in front of him.
"I'm sorry, sir," one of them said politely, "but I can't let you pass this point unless you're a member."
"What kind of establishment steals away high school girls in the middle of the night?" he snarled, seething in anger. The bodyguard's polite smile dropped off his face when he heard Itachi's tone.
"What are you doing chasing after high school girls in the middle of the night?" he sneered.
"I am her guardian." The bodyguards involuntarily stepped back when they heard his words and saw his eyes slowly tinting wine-red. But they straightened at did their best to look intimidating.
"I'm sorry, sir, but in that case, we most certainly can't let you pa—" Both bodyguards started violently when they realized he wasn't in front of them anymore. They whirled around when they heard footsteps behind them and saw Itachi leaping down the alleyway and straight through the door.
He gasped for breath when he reached the inner hall of the building, but pressed onward. There was a roar of male voices and cheering, which spiked his anger levels even higher.
"I swear to Jashin, if she's stripping—"
"Stripping?" said a voice behind him, "Why would anybody in here be stripping? This isn't a strip club." The voice was comfortingly familiar, and Itachi turned to find himself face-to-face with a shorter, white-haired male with a scar running through one eye.
"Kakashi-sensei?" The white-haired man smiled, though it was barely noticeable under the mask that covered the lower half of his face.
"I thought it was you. I haven't seen you in—" Itachi cut him off.
"Sensei, I have no time. Look, do you have a girl here? Her name is Choko and she has hair like liquid gold." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Liquid gold?" Kakashi chuckled, but turned serious again. "You shouldn't use her real name so freely here."
"What's her ring name?"
"Second Drizzle." Itachi experienced a wave of nausea at the sound of the familiar name.
"Does anyone… connect—"
"Only a couple of old-timers. But they know enough to keep their mouths shut." Kakashi looked at his former student with a mixture of pity and sadness.
"She's your student?" Itachi asked quietly, trying not to throw up.
"Yes."
"Did you have students before her?"
"Yes."
"What happened to those students?" Kakashi made a motion. Itachi nodded.
"Ah. I see." There was a quiet lull, a moment of respectful silence.
"Welcome back, kid." Kakashi finally said, starting to lead his way to the ring, "After ten years, you finally decided to visit."
She was beautiful.
That's the thought that he was hit with as soon as he walked into the main room and saw Choko on the circular raised platform. The deep, emerald kimono brought out the color of sea in her eyes. Her golden hair was tied up in a traditional bun, decorated with glittering ornamental butterflies. The crowd roared for her and she bowed deeply in their direction.
"Who's her opponent?" Itachi managed to say.
"It's Hornet."
"He's still in?"
"After you left, he had no more competition, so he rose in rank." Just then, a bulky man with ugly buckteeth and a butterfly ring on his pointer finger climbed on stage. The crowd cheered even louder for him. He flexed his muscles and smiled, his face twisting into an ugly grimace.
"She's going to get killed!" Itachi exclaimed, frightened. Kakashi merely shrugged.
"Not quite." Chimes rang, signaling the beginning of the fight. Hornet whipped out two long daggers and immediately lunged for Choko. Itachi was about to cry out when she did something that made his jaw drop.
She vanished.
Suddenly, Hornet bellowed out and took a few steps forward, clutching his back. She appeared behind him, her hands holding three butterfly knives. There was blood dripping from one of them.
She was juggling them. One knife after the other soared into the air in the unmistakable performer's pattern.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" she cried, smiling, her white teeth glinting. Itachi could tell it was forced. "Boys and girls! It's drizzling outside, so step inside my circus tent!" She took a jaunty step forward, effortlessly juggling the knives, often them behind her back. "Let me show you what true fear—" she disappeared again, "—is!"
"She's not as strong as you." Choko threw a knife into the air and Hornet tracked it for a brief second. But in that spilt second, she leapt behind him, slashed, jumped clear, and caught the falling knife, continuing the juggling pattern. Once again, the crowd thundered at the invisible action. Only Kakashi and Itachi, who knew the technique of misdirection, could see it and even then, barely. "But she has one hell of a misdirection technique."
There was now an X carved on Hornet's back. Six minutes later, there were two more cuts, making the shape of an hourglass on its side.
"She's not cutting deep enough," Itachi murmured, "she won't win!"
"The rules have been changed in response to the skyrocketing death rates," Kakashi responded, "You are no longer required to fight to the death, if you can slash your opponents six times without receiving a single scratch yourself, on the basis that you overpower your opponent."
Another cut appeared on Hornets back, making actions start to become erratically desperate.
"What is it called?"
"Formally, it's called the Overpowering Prevention Rule. But nobody really used it. And then, she," he nodded at the flashing figure of the young girl, "took it and made the rule her own. People started to call it the Butterfly's Touch."
The chimes rang, and Itachi could clearly see the blood running down the gouges on Hornet's back, a sideways hourglass with two lines running through the middle of it.
A butterfly.
The crowd cheered and Choko bowed low, smiling her forced smile again. But the crowd was screaming next, pointing to the knife Hornet held flashing over her.
Warm blood gushed over her fingers as Hornet went flying off the platform onto the ground, knocking him unconscious. Over the uproar of the crowd, Choko could hear the low voice.
"Do you feel that?" Itachi pressed her hands tighter into the wound on his side, letting her feel the blood spurting out of the cut. "That's what it feels like when your hurt someone." She tried struggling, but he held her firmly to him. "It hurts so much more when it's someone you love, doesn't it?"
"I don't love you!" she burst out, struggling in earnest now, "I don't love anyone!" He did not let go.
"Then I'll make you love me! Within a year, I'll make you love me. In exchange, don't you dare step into this ring again!" She struggled more violently.
"Shut up and let me go! Why do you even care?"
"BECAUSE I'M YOUR GUARDIAN!" he screamed, cupping her face with both hands. As soon as he took the pressure off his wound, it started to surge blood again. "BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU WALKING DOWN THE ROAD I TRIED SO HARD TO QUIT!
"DO YOU THINK TAKING CARE OF A MINOR ISN'T EXPENSIVE?" She was crying. "ONCE YOU REALIZE, YOU'RE JUST GOING TO DUMP ME SOMEWHERE! SO THEN WHAT? I'M JUST GOING TO BE PENNILESS AND HELPLESS LIKE THE FIRST TIME? HELL NO!"
"I TOLD YOU I'D PAY FOR EVERYTHING!"
"THAT ISN'T THE POINT! THE POINT IS THAT I'M PREPARING FOR WHEN YOU LEAVE ME!" Itachi stared into her wide eyes, the tears still dropping steadily.
"I won't," he finally said quietly. After screaming, the quiet words were almost deafening. "I won't leave you. I won't leave you like they did. I don't know how to prove it to you. I'll do anything if you believe it, okay? I won't leave you." And he was hugging her, rocking her, whispering into her hair. "I won't leave you, I promise. I won't leave you. I won't leave."
Kakashi stepped up to them.
"I really don't want to ruin this, but both of you kids need to come into the back. I need to stitch big kid up and we need to continue the fights."
"Why are you sitting out here?" Choko flinched when Itachi sat beside her.
"I… didn't want to see you get the stitches…" She felt a coat being placed around her shoulders.
"You forgot this at home." The sun was just starting to rise, staining the world pink and orange. "By the way, I forbid you to come here again."
"Why won't you let me help pay—"
"Because as a teacher, a guardian, as a goddamn human being, it hurts me to see a kid work at night just to eat." He placed a hand on her head roughly. "You only have one childhood. Don't ruin it with things like this." She scowled and turned to him.
"How do you even know Kakashi-sensei?"
"Old people know each other."
"You're not even than old!"
"Thanks. Love you, too." She winced almost imperceptibly. "You haven't heard that often, huh?"
"I don't remember my parents saying it. And Kakashi-sensei is… not the epitome of affection." There was a brief silence, only interrupted by the first birdsong of the morning.
"I love you."
"You don't have to—"
"I love you. Get used to it."
"Whatever." Choko looked out of the corner of her eyes to Itachi's tired face. The rings under his eyes almost looked like bruises. "I'm sorry." He glanced towards her briefly, one corner of his mouth lifting.
"It's fine. You're a strange little girl, but I'm an eccentric guardian, so it evens out."
She mumbled something under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing!" Choko blushed when Itachi grinned.
"Did you just say you love it when I speak English?"
"No!" With one sweep of his arm, he dragged her by her waist next to him, tickling her.
"Does the little girl want me to tell her I love her in English?"
"Ahahahahaha! Stop! It tickles!"
"I'll stop if you tell me you love me."
"I-I love you! Ahahahaha!"
"In English!" His voice sung with the melody of the request.
"I love you!" He grinned wider and stood up, swinging her onto his back.
"I love you, too, my little girl."
"Sensei! Let me down!"
"I love you, my gorgeous little girl." She turned red all the way up to her ears and scowled.
"S-stop it!" He simply smiled again and started walking to the house. His quiet footsteps echoed in the still Saturday morning. The fog of their breaths lightly misted over their heads, carrying into the sky only to disappear into the slowly brightening blue.
"The truth is, I'm terrified of these fights." Choko was not sure if she had heard him correctly.
"Sensei, I—"
"IN ENGLISH!" His voice regained its composure, "I'm sorry, but in English, my little girl. Please." She was shocked into silence, but slowly nuzzled her mouth to the side of his head. Not being able to see his face, she closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the sound of his voice.
"Why are you frightened, Sensei?" He silently took a trembling breath.
"These fights are so impersonal, child. You don't know who you're going to kill until you do. And, Darling, you're so guilty afterwards. But during that time of killing, you lose that sense of guiltiness. So you kill more and more and before you know it…" his voice was shaky, "you've eaten up everything around you, little one." He tried to speak, but failed, his words dying at his lips.
"Sensei—"
"ENGLISH!" She was silent again. "It's forbidden to speak English in that ring, because it's a purely Japanese sport. Even though rich businessmen from other countries bid on it, Japan will always own it. English is my only way out of it. It is my escape. I don't know any other way to pretend that the ring doesn't exist."
He carefully walked up the steps in front of their apartment complex and opened their front door. Not sure if she was sleeping, he set her down on her bed, but was surprised when her grip around his shoulders tightened.
"Can we just stay like this until I fall asleep? I promise it won't take long." Itachi nuzzled back into her head.
"Of course." Their breathing naturally synchronized and Itachi could feel the rise and fall of her chest. In a different part of the apartment, the refrigerator turned on, humming away into the stillness. Every time she breathed, a warm peach-scented cloud of air would glide across his cheek.
"I love it when you speak English, Sensei." A few seconds later, her grip on his shoulders relaxed and her breathing deepened.
She had fallen asleep.