Yay, Ninja Taboo is finally done! Thanks for all the hardwork NeverLookBackSamurai~ Now I can post!
"First of all…Kakashi's not your dad." Riku spoke softly from behind Daisuke as she hugged him lightly in her lap. She could feel his heart thumping against in him, hearing it quite clearly as well.
"B-but…he told me they loved each other and got married and…!" Daisuke began panicking in his mind, the words that he heard feeling like a big blow to the face.
"Shh…" Riku let out quietly, "I'm not done yet. He's not your dad, but they did love each very much. Kakashi even told me he was going to propose to her once, but he was never brave enough." She paused for a little, waiting for Daisuke to calm from his mini panic attack, before turning him so he sat in her lap sideways, cradled in her arms with his head leaning against her chest. "He even bought the ring and showed me the day he got it. It was just so tempting, so I stole it from him. You should've seen him." She said with a small smile, looking down at Daisuke who watched her with curious eyes. "He chased me all around the village, up the Hokage Monument, everywhere. I finally gave it back to him in front of your mother, but I think she was too distracted by Kakashi to even realize what it was."
She noticed the corners of his mouth twitch up into a small smile, continuing on with the lighter notes of the story, hoping to drag out the ending for a little. "Anyway, besides being his 'soul mate', she was also my student, partner, and best friend."
Daisuke's head turned up when he heard 'student', surprised. "You trained my mom?"
"Yeah, we were the same age and in the same classes, but I became a jonin a few years before her, so instead of joining the usual genin teams, she asked the Hokage for special permission to be my student. She probably thought I'd be easier on her than all the other scarier looking teachers."
"Were you?"
Riku chuckled, "No way. I was a harder teacher than all the others combined."
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"Naruto!" The door of the office in the Hokage Manor flew open, rebounding off the back wall and further denting the depression in the plaster.
"Oh come on! Even as Hokage, I still don't get a respective title!" The spiked blonde spun away from the large pan of windows overlooking the entire village in his large leather chair to face the two jonin's charging in at full speed. They finally managed to stop in their mad dash by slamming their hands into the edge of the large desk, pushing the document covered piece of furniture a good inch back. "What are you two doing here this early in the morning anyway? I just got here!"
They both took a few deep breaths before Genma's words slurred out in a wheeze. "Daisuke and Riku went out to train yesterday afternoon and they aren't back! We think the Akatsuki got to them again!" He took another long breath and let it out quickly, his head bent down in exhaustion.
"WHAT?!" The sixth Hokage jumped out of his chair, nearly toppling a precariously balanced pile of books and mission scrolls. He pulled off his standard Kage hat and scratched his head, an all new level stacked on top of his everlasting stress of running a village. "We can't let them keep them for any longer, especially after how close they got to the secret last time. I would go help…" Naruto sighed and replaced his hat, matting down his hair. "But if they do come and attack, I'll have to be here to protect everyone. Plus, having the Kyuubi in the same room as them isn't exactly a good plan either."
Genma and Kakashi both turned from Naruto to look at each other, nodding as they knew what the other was thinking. "Then we'll head off now." Kakashi said briskly before the two of them vanished in a combined cloud of smoke.
"What's the point of having that door…?" Naruto muttered as he waved the smoke away from him with a notebook.
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"So what was she like?"
"Well…" Riku sighed accompanied by a 'hmm' as she tried to think of words. "She was really beautiful. The kind that guys do double-takes at, but because of Kakashi, no one dared to go near her, so instead they settled for me." She laughed lightly and decided there really wasn't a good way to describe how her best friend looked so her hand dug through her hip pouch until it found its target.
Daisuke's eyes followed her hand as it pulled out from behind her, seeing a white piece of paper folded in half. He realized it was really a photograph as her fingers smoothed it open on her lap and stared through the dim light of the room at the picture. His gaze ran over the two women who looked like they had just left their teen years behind laughing in front of a background of greenery. Their arms were crossed over each other's shoulders and they were leaning as if they were trying to push the other over. He could see one was a rich brunette while the other had shining raven hair, seeing some familiarity in the latter. "Is that you?"
"Uh huh." Riku nodded and stared at the picture with him, still feeling the throb in her heart that had faded from the deep aching over time. She handed Daisuke the picture and saw him run his thumb over the girl whom her younger self had her arms over. "That's her. Fujiwara Katsuki."
"Fujiwara Katsuki…" Daisuke muttered to himself, liking the sound of it coming from him. "So where is she now…?" He looked up at her with hopeful eyes, something that made her heart break.
"A bit after she became a jonin, we were training at our usual spot and after smacking Kakashi for…anyway, we went to the dango shop that you love so much and met up with the boys. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion to the side and we saw the Akatsuki coming into Konoha, two of them being Sasori and Deidara. They were some of the top shinobi in the bingo book and after fighting with all we had, we ended up getting kidnapped into this very room." She could see his eyes beginning to wander around them, getting so much more meaning out of it than he had mere seconds ago.
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Kakashi landed at the large double doors of the village from who knows where, right next to Genma. They both had large camp style backpacks stuffed with things from minutes of random tossing and filling. Naruto was there as well to see them off.
"Here you go. A few weeks ago, our ANBU team discovered the possible location of the Akatsuki's hideout. I think it'll be better than looking around aimlessly." Naruto handed his former sensei a tightly bound scroll with a paper seal. "Well, I won't keep you guys." With that said, he began his way back to Hokage Manor, deciding on a stroll rather than making more smoke with transporting.
Kakashi slipped the scroll into one of the many pockets on the breast of his flak jacket and snapped it shut before the two dashed off out the open doors down the long path away from the village.
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"They had erased our memories and made us forget everything. Our past, Konoha… the ones we loved. After a little while, both of us accidently fell in love with our kidnappers. Big mistake, huh? The jutsu wore down after we served them for about a month and we managed to escape, but because of Deidara, Katsuki decided to go back with him and joined the Akatsuki for him, and that's where you come into the picture."
"My…my real dad is…from the Akatsuki…?! AND my mom?!?!" Riku could see him beginning to shake in alarm again and paused in the story, rubbing his arm lightly. "But, does that mean…I'm one of them too? Am I a bad shinobi?" His hands gripped the front of her haori as he gritted his teeth in distress.
"No, no! He was a member, but that has nothing to do with you. Listen, in the end, she quit the entire organization, so you don't have to worry about it. Ok?" She placed a light kiss on his head and hugged him close. Her stomach turned nervously as she thought about the ending. What face will he make? What will go through his head?
He gave a sigh tinted with little relief, his hands on her coat not slackening in the least. "Then…she's fine? She's not with the bad guys anymore. Right?"
"No, she's not. She's…not with anyone."
"Then where is she?"
"About two years after she left, the Akatsuki decided to invade Konoha and they all came. The entire thing forced me to fight her and to stop her, Kakashi interfered, and Deidara threw his special exploding clay at him."
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"How long will this take?" Genma shouted over the roaring whistles of the wind as the two sailed through the trees across the thick branches. They were both breathing hard from speeding through the Fire Country with all their strength, their ninja endurance slowly withering down from the lack of sleep and worry.
Kakashi stopped abruptly on a branch that looked like a whole other tree protruding from the main trunk that was already enormous. Genma whizzed by but jerked his head back, stunned by the masked man's sudden halt. He rebounded off the branch a few down from Kakashi's position and flew back, landing next to his partner. Kakashi unclipped the latch to his scroll pouch and his hand caught the map as it slipped out smoothly. He bit his thumb and let a little drop of blood seep out before running his finger pad across the paper seal on the scroll, watching the crimson liquid seep in. He looked on and a moment later, the very words vanished. He pulled off the sheet, undid the cord, and spread out the map. The two took a seat on the rough bark and Kakashi laid the chart in between them.
"I think we're around here right now." His index tapped at a spot about an inch from the edge of the forest that took up most of the map. "And the hideout is here." His index hovered over to the west, almost to the other side of the forest. "About…three days?"
Genma knitted his eyebrows together and rubbed his eyes, aggravated as his thoughts pulled all the worst case scenarios that could be happening to Riku and Daisuke into one. "Sitting here isn't helping anyone!" He scrambled to his feet and bolted through the forest once again, leaving a perplexed Kakashi in his wake. Kakashi swiftly rolled up the map and followed after at his top speed.
I hope this is almost as acceptable as NLBS's writing. -grin- We have very different styles so please enjoy this as much as you can. Both of us would appreciate reviews too!