Hey everyone, Fang here. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, Term paper in History is killing my butt. But, as promised, here you go!
(Kakashi's an F-ing hot man and don't you forget it.) Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.
When I woke up, The first thing I saw was Kakashi's blue shirt. He was still lying next to me, his hand on my own, sleeping soundly. He looked so peaceful, his hair still unruly as last night.
Resisting the urge to run my fingers through it, I crawled out from the warmth of the blankets, and over Kakashi to get out of bed. I tried not to wake him, and I think I succeeded in that since he did not wake up. Stepping across the floor silently, I shut the door to his room, and ran down the stairs to the living room. The house was completely silent; it looked like no one was awake yet. I spotted a suitcase now lying on the small brown table that wasn't there the night before. I walked over to that suitcase and undid the clasps, lifting open the top as it squeaked. Inside was pretty much my entire wardrobe, and a few of my picture, and one pair of sandals. I let out a sigh. Looks like I wasn't going anywhere for a while.
Wait a second…I owned two pairs of sandals…where was my other pair? I shut the suitcase and ran up to the bathroom via the stairs. I tripped a few time over my overly long pant legs, but got there without much trouble. Remembering that people were still sleeping a little late, I slammed the door open with quite a bit of force. There was my shoe on the floor where I had left it the night before. I sat on the edge of the tub and slid and buckled it onto my foot. I wiggled my toes in it, trying to remember where my other one was.
A tingle of chill shot through my bare foot, and a flash of memory swept through my head. I hopped off the tub and creaked downstairs towards the front door. I heard a few doors opening, and my heart jumped as Hatake=san, I suspected, was getting up. I ran to the suitcase, opened it up, and dug through the top of the suitcase. My hand cut on a sharp edge, and I moved my hand to the side to grasp the handle. I pulled it out.
A strangely shaped three-pronged kunai was in my hand, and I smiled. Leaving the rest of the stuff behind, I ran to the front door as footsteps sounded on the stirs. Not caring who heard me now, I swung the door open and ran out into the road, one shoe on, the kunai in my hand. I heard a pounding behind me, but didn't look behind. Breathing hard, I forced my legs harder, the sharp rocks digging into my foot. The sound behind me didn't let up either.
I moved the kunai to my right hand and remember the small cut where I grabbed it in the suitcase. I looked at the blood, and glanced back at the kunai's handle. Wrapped around it was a piece of paper with kanji written on it. I smeared the blood onto that kanji, and took my finger and sucked the rest of the blood off of it. I skidded to a stop by a large tree and turned around. It was not Hatake-san who had been following me. It was Kakashi. He was running at me with reckless abandon, his hair flying everywhere. But it was too late. I could feel the pull of the jutsu before he would be able to reach me. I heard his cry of my name before the scene in front of me was replaced by my room.
The paper on the kunai held a jutsu unique to my family, who specialize in instantaneous teleportation. My brother, Minato, was so far one of the best at it. He had given me two kunais and asked me to take one with me whenever I traveled. These kunais allowed me to perform a modified version of this teleportation. I would be transported from one kunai to the net with just a bit of blood. I kept the other kunai in my room on my shelf, and I was at present moment standing right next to it. I grabbed the kunai and ran to the doorway into the hall.
There was my shoe. It was in the middle of the hallway about halfway down. I ran to it, reached down and picked it up.
As I looked at its blue surface, I noticed darker stains splattered randomly over the shoe. Blood. I grasped the shoe tighter in my left hand, the kunai in my right. I let the images of the night before flood though me without remorse of them ever happening. I hugged the shoe to my chest, and stood up, making to turn back to my room when a door creaked behind me, slow and whining. I paused, my heart rate speeding up exponentially. I shifted the kunai in my hand and whipped around, the kunai zipping from my hand and into the wall with a crunch of plaster and wood. No one was there.
I blinked. I could have sworn….never mind.
The door next to my kunai stuck in the wall had been slightly opened. I walked towards it, whispering to myself that not for the life of me was I going down there. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the throwing blade and jerked it out. Plaster bits fell in a cloud of snow-white dust to the floor. I wiped the powder off the blade with my sleeve, and then while shaking THAT off; I bumped against the door, opening it a little more. The same creaking sound sent shivers up my spine. I turned around to face the open door to the stairs. I knew I should be going back before Hatake-san or anyone else got angry with me, but something in my heart made my hand push open the door.
I stepped down the stairs, one hand on the railing, the stairs complaining under my feet. My other hand searched for the light switch while my feet sought not to trip once I got to the bottom. In the dark, I finally found it, but when I flicked it once, no light came on. Once, twice more, still no light. I finally gave up and moved into the hallway to the right, heading toward the living room. The room where I was my parents…
I couldn't stop myself from opening that last door.
I braced myself for another gruesome sight, but it never came. The entire room was empty of any human except fro myself, living or dead. Blue chakra strands covered the outside door, "CAUTION" written all over it. Three outlines of the same chakra were on the floor and the left wall. I reached my hand out and lightly touched the azul strand closest to me on the wall. If fogged up as my hand passed though it, and when I drew away, it snapped back into place with a sizzle of energy.
The design on the wall made of the chakra showed the outline of a head-less body. I glanced at the floor: the other two outlines portrayed one more body, grotesquely twisted, and that missing head right next to it. The blood covering the furniture, the walls and the floor had dried. The only light other than the glowing chakra strings was from the front window to the right, the only one that had not yet been boarded up.
I was so very small in this familiar, yet unknown place covered in blood. This wasn't what I remembered. Even thinking about how my parents had died, I couldn't conjure up a single tear; something in me told me it would be of no use. As I walked and tiptoed through the room, I knew I could never go back to the way it used to be. Even if I tore down the shutters, the light could not destroy the impending darkness in my heart.
A whoosh of air blew against my side, and I felt something war crash into me. I fell to the floor, and whatever bumped me fell right on top. My kunai was knocked out of my hand on impact, and I heard the clattering of metal skid across the floor. The next thing I knew, I was looking at Kakashi's shirt pressing down on my face.
"Kazuri? I found you! What are you doing here? What is this place? How-"
"Mmrh mrg omf megh." I muffled.
"What?"
"MMRH MRG OMF MEGH!"
"Oh…Sorry."
He hastily moved off of me, and I could breathe again. After gulping in a few lungfuls, I pushed myself into s sitting position. And when Kakashi offered his hand, I took it and let him pull me up to a stand. I stood there, eyes on the ground while he eyed me top to bottom.
"What were you doing here?" he finally asked. I bent down and picked up my shoe which had flown out of my grasp in the fall.
"I needed to get my shoe." I said simply.
"Yeah, sure. My father would have gotten it for you, there's no reason for you to come here. Is this your house? That wall scroll says 'Namikaze', so I'm assuming- HEY! Don't put it on now, it's bloodstained!"
I was sitting on our couch, stapping on my shoe and Kakashi came rushing over.
"Look, wait until we clean it, and-"
"NO!" I almost yelled at him. He stopped in his tracks, confused.
"No." I said a bit calmer. I snapped the last clasp and stood up.
"I don't want to. It's fine the way it is."
Kakashi was looking at me as if I had gone slightly insane, but said nothing. I walked slowly over to the middle of the room, and stared at the chakra blocked door.
"You're right though. This is my house. Or…It should be."
I stepped to where I dropped the kunai, straight into the outline of my father's body. As I passed through the chakra, I felt the chill of something disturbing and unnamed shoot though my body. I shivered involuntarily. I bent down and grabbed the kunai.
"I don't recognize it anymore. It's dark now." I said to him.
"Everything is." I murmured. Kakashi took a step towards me, but I ignored him.
"Did you know I can't remember even them like I used to? I can't see them smiling, or laughing, or even alive anymore. They're just lying there."
I smirked.
"Why am I even here? I have no one left. What can somebody like me do now? I'm useless. Maybe….this was a sign that I shouldn't even exist."
Kakashi grabbed my arm fiercely and yanked me out of the chakra outline. He whipped me around and grasped my arms to my sides.
"Don't say that. Don't say anything more." He murmured almost viciously. I smiled sadly.
"I'm alone."
"No, You're not!" Kakashi's grip tightened on my arms, his endless eyes smoldering with fire. "Look around you! Yes, your parents are gone, and I'm sorry for that. I really am. But in this world, you still have people who care about you and are here!"
"Really? Like who?" I almost snarled. Kakashi looked at me with incredulity.
"Your brother!"
My eyes flew open. Minato. My brother. Minato. Pictures of him instantaneously flashed though my head unbidden. Minato messing with my hair. Minato helping me secretly toss the baby doll my mom had given me in the trash. Minato swinging me around. Minato holding me when my favorite pet died. Minato laughing. Minato hugging me, Minato with that stupid way-too-happy-for-his-own-good grin on his face that I loved so much. He was my rock, now the one constant left in my life. I could feel Kakashi looking at me, looking at my wide, disbelieving eyes.
"I…forgot? But how….Nato-nii…"
Kakashi didn't say anything. I stared into his eyes again, this time with more light than the first dozen times.
"I…I forgot…..Kakashi…"
"Yeah. Don't do that again, alright? You scared me."
He finally let my arms go. I shook my head a few more time, still clearing away the fog of grief. Kakashi had taken a few step back, glancing around.
"Soooooo…..How do we get out of here now? I used that kunai before, but I think it only works with your blood."
I found my voice again.
"You figured out how it works? Only the Namikaze can use these kunais, you're right."
I stepped right in front of him and pricked my hand again with the kunai.
"Grab onto me."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
He touched my arm again, but with much less ferocity and much more gentleness. I wrapped my bleeding hand around the kanji, and in a spinning ride, we were once again transported to the large tree. Kakashi-kun looked surprised, but barely.
"I'm going to really have to get used to that."
I couldn't help myself. I laughed for probably the first time since that night. Kakashi's eyes crinkled upwards as he smiled, his teeth gleaming in the bright sunlight. It felt a weight lifted from my shoulders, and in the simplest sense of words, it was ok to be alive again.
"Kazuri-chan! Your brother's here to see you!"
My heart jumped and I dropped the kunai on the ground next to it's brother. I made to run, but a voice stopped me.
"Kazuri?"
I turned to see Kakashi, his hands in his pockets and looking down at his feet, his hair bent on his head even more so.
"I'm here too."
Those few simple words. I almost teared up again, and to cover the, I glomped him right where he stood, knocking he and I back against the tree. I hugged him fiercely, and he laughed.
"Thank you, Kakashi."
He looked up at me and smiled wryly.
"For what?"
I grinned from ear to ear at this boy I barely knew, yet felt I had know all my life.
"For everything."
PREVIEW
"Huh?"
"I'm enrolling you two into the Academy this year."
...This was going to be GREAT...
AUTHOR'S COMMENTS
...I promised action in this chapter last time, didn't I...Whoops.
Well, you're getting it next chapter.
I have a lot of fun writing this chapter. No, This story is going to go on for a very long time, and yes, I know how i'm going to end it. There just weren't issues addressed in earlier chapters that I needed to get out, so that's what this chapter is for.
I'm trying not to make Kazuri like every other OC out there, and if i'm not doing a good job, TELL ME! Flame me, burn me, freeze me in complaints, I don't care! Just tell me if i'm doing a good job or a bad job.. I appreciate both!
OH YEah!
Tettsui, thanks for that. Yeah, I don't think it matters how accurate it is anyway. I try to make kakashi nice...It's his personality... I'm glad you're liking Minato, he's my tied-for-third favorite character.
C YALL LATER!
-Fang