Chapter Four:
The Third Hokage
"Geez Kakashi, what did you do, scare the kid senseless?"
Erin frowned slightly as she lay there with her eyes shut, halfway in between sleep and wakefulness. That voice sounded familiar… why couldn't she place where she had heard it before?
"… she's not a kid, Iruka. When I made a comment about how old she was, she nearly took my head off. According to her, she's not too much younger than you."
Both of the people talking were men, and the one that had just spoken sounded a little irritated. The person who had spoken first, Iruka, made a disbelieving noise.
"Yeah right. How old did she say that she was?"
"Nineteen."
Iruka was silent for a few moments, and Erin was just about to drift back off to sleep when he suddenly spoke again.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"No. As far as I could tell, she wasn't lying. She apparently doesn't like it when people mistake her for being younger than she really is, seeing as she started yelling at me in another language after I told her that I thought that she was fourteen or fifteen," Kakashi stated dryly. "From what I could tell, some of it sounded pretty foul."
Iruka gave a low whistle of astonishment, and Erin heard him sit down in the chair next to her bedside with a slight 'creak'.
"So she speaks another language then? Do you know what it is?"
"Iruka, I don't even know this girl's name or where she came from. The nurses showed me what was in her pockets, and she doesn't have so much as a scrap of identification on her. Not to mention the fact that it was a language that I've only heard used when someone was trying to curse me to the darkest depths of hell."
"Well maybe we can get that person in here to translate."
"Not likely."
"Why, were they an enemy nin?"
"No, Konoha shinobi."
"Then why not?"
"They're dead."
"Oh." There was a hesitant pause before Iruka spoke again. "So, you don't know her name?"
"No, I was too busy trying to track her down to get a name."
"I do."
"What?" Kakashi asked incredulously.
"I know her name," Iruka said somewhat smugly. "She told me that her name was 'Erin' when she was in the Ichiraku ramen shop. And she mentioned that her father was from a country called 'Ireland'."
There was a sharp intake of breath from the older shinobi before he finally spoke again. "Ireland you said? I think I've heard of that country."
"From who?"
"A friend of mine. Ironically, it was the same one who used the language that this girl did. Apparently the people who live there don't often leave, so as a result it's practically hidden. The only way one can actually find it is if they already know where it is."
"Sounds kind of suspicious if you ask me," Iruka commented dryly. Kakashi sighed, and Erin could tell that he sounded pretty tired. It was getting harder for her to fall back asleep… maybe she should wake up soon.
"You know, you could stop lying there with your eyes closed and pretending to be asleep," a voice said right in her ear, and Erin bolted upright with a yelp as she simultaneously twisted away from Kakashi, who was standing right next to her bed. Unfortunately, she also managed to fall out of her hospital bed for the second time that day with a loud 'thump'.
"Oww…" she groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, her entire right side stinging from where she had landed on it. The nineteen-year old ignored Iruka sitting in a chair not three feet away from her as she stood up and glared at Kakashi, rubbing her right arm absent-mindedly as she did so.
"Do you just enjoy scaring the hell out of me or something?" she gritted out angrily. The Jounin just shrugged as he looked back at her intently.
"You fell out of bed all on your own," he pointed out. "I did nothing to help you with that."
"Wise arse," Erin growled darkly, and then winced at the slight accent that crept into her voice. Nineteen years of spending almost every summer at her grandmother's house in Killiney had definitely rubbed off on her, unfortunately. It had without a doubt had a noticeable effect on her vocabulary.
"What was that?" Kakashi asked, and Erin let out a heartfelt groan as she reached up and massaged the bridge of her nose. She did not need this right now.
"I said 'wise ass'," she shot back irritably as she shut her eyes and leaned up against the hospital bed that she had been using. "Didn't you hear me the first time?"
"Actually, the first time it sounded to me like you said 'arse' instead of 'ass'," the Jounin said cheerfully, and Erin fought the urge to smack her forehead against the closest wall. There was just something about this guy that annoyed the ever-living hell out of her.
"Are you always this annoying, or am I just an exception?" she growled as she glared daggers at Kakashi, who didn't seem at all bothered by the acidic tone in her voice.
"That would depend solely upon who you ask."
"Okay, it's official," Erin groaned as she sat back down on the bed and buried her head in her hands. "I'm in hell."
Kakashi arched an eyebrow at the teenager's statement. "And what makes you say that?"
"Because every time that I've woken up within the past twenty-four hours, you've been around, and something bad has always happened after that," the nineteen-year old spat out in obvious irritation as she looked at the Jounin angrily and jabbed an accusing finger in his direction. "Not to mention the fact that all it takes is one smart-ass comment from you to tick me off. I've never met anyone so annoying in my entire life, and I have two brothers!!"
Iruka snickered slightly at the teenager's comment, while Kakashi just rolled his eyes in response. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
"So you're blaming me for your problems right now?"
"No, I'm blaming you for making me doubt my own sanity! The only way I could possibly explain half of what's happened to me is that I'm losing my mind!"
Kakashi gave Erin a questioning look before he realized what she was talking about. He smiled as he leaned up against the wall by the door. "Oh, you're talking about when I did Kage Bunshin back by the stairwell. Are you saying that you don't believe that that happened?"
Erin made a low noise of irritation in the back of her throat as she shot a murderous glare at the older man. "No, what I'm saying is that it was probably a hallucination. I've had 'em before when I've been sick, so it's not an uncommon occurrence. Besides, I don't believe a single ounce of the crap that you've fed me so far, since there's no solid proof to back up your story. So until you can give me physical evidence that supports your statement, I'm gonna stick to the philosophy of 'If I can, see it, and I can touch it, then it's real' for now."
"So, are you saying that you'd like me to prove that what happened earlier was real?" Kakashi asked as he smiled at the teenager. Erin twitched slightly at his statement, but quickly put a lid on her unease.
"No thanks. I think I've had enough fun for today," she grumbled sarcastically, and Iruka arched an eyebrow as he looked over at Kakashi.
"Okay, I take that back; you were right," he told the Jounin. Erin stared over at the dark-haired man for a few moments with a deadpan expression on her face before she spoke. She felt kind of embarrassed because she had just now noticed that he was in the room.
"Aren't you the guy who was at the ramen shop?" she asked hesitantly, and Iruka nodded in response.
"Yeah. Anyway, from what I've heard, you caused quite a ruckus the other day," the Chuunin remarked as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "That amazes me, seeing as you looked pretty peaky even then. So, how long did it take for Kakashi to catch you?"
"Huh?"
Erin missed Kakashi silently making the throat-slicing motion behind her as she stared at Iruka incredulously. The Academy instructor got the not-so-subtle hit immediately, and changed his question.
"What I meant was, umm…" Iruka paused as the nineteen-year old arched an eyebrow and regarded him coolly.
"As far as I know, no one caught me," she stated simply, although there was no mistaking the slight hint of irritation hidden in her voice. "The last thing I remember is falling asleep out in the middle of the woods, and even that's a little fuzzy."
The two shinobi exchanged looks, and Kakashi shrugged slightly at Iruka's questioning gaze. Erin's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she looked back and forth between the two men.
"There's something going on that you two aren't telling me, isn't there?" she accused before she fixed Kakashi with a mistrustful glare. "You never did tell me how exactly you found me and brought me here."
The Copy Ninja actually looked somewhat nervous as he regarded the teenager.
'Damn, she's pretty perceptive,' herealized as he schooled his features into his usual neutral mask. 'Somehow, I doubt that she's going to buy the suggestion that I just ran across her by accident.'
"You left quite a trail going into the woods," he stated nonchalantly. "Anyone could have followed it. Anyways, when I found you unconscious underneath a large tree, I saw that you were seriously ill, and brought you here to receive medical treatment before reporting to the Hokage. That's it."
Erin stared at Kakashi for several moments before she sighed and started to rub her temple with her right hand.
"This is insane," she muttered as she closed her eyes. "I'm getting a headache just thinking about how all of this could even be possible."
"And why's that?" Iruka asked. "Even a Genin could probably have tracked you down, so it would have been a piece of cake for a Jounin or any other well-trained ninja."
The nineteen-year old twitched slightly at the Chuunin's statement, and Kakashi gave a wry grin under his mask. It looked like she was still stubbornly denying the fact that ninjas existed.
"I could always do Kage Bunshin again if you still don't believe in ninjas," he offered mischievously, and Erin actually flinched at his comment.
"No thank you," she muttered as she looked away from the Jounin. Iruka arched an eyebrow incredulously as he looked over at Kakashi.
"She doesn't believe that ninjas exist?" the Academy instructor asked skeptically, shock evident in his voice. "That's ridiculous! Even average people outside of here now about Konoha and the other hidden villages! They even know about the Hokage! How can someone not believe that they exist?!"
"Umm… for your information, I'm sitting right here," the teen commented dryly with a roll of her eyes. "Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room."
The two shinobi ignored her comment as they continued to talk.
"It's possible that someone went through a great deal of trouble to make sure that she led a sheltered life," Kakashi offered. "I've heard that many wealthy families pay to have tutors come and educate their children at home, so most of them don't get a taste of the outside world until they've reached adulthood."
Erin gave a muffled snort as she looked over at the silver-haired ninja.
"You think that I've been home-schooled, is that what you're saying?" she asked dubiously before she burst out laughing. "Oh, that's funny! I've been in the public school system since the age of five, and you two think that I've had a private tutor!!"
Both men sweatdropped as they looked at the still-chuckling teenager as she straightened up and wiped away a tear that had formed in her eyes.
"Well, at least she's not being confrontational anymore," Iruka muttered quietly, and Kakashi nodded in agreement. Erin didn't notice their whispered conversation, seeing as she was still trying to figure out where they had come up with the idea that she had been tutored, and the two men were at least six feet away from each other.
"So, who or what is the Hokage?" she asked suddenly, and Kakashi arched an eyebrow as he stared at the teenager. Why was he not surprised that she didn't know this?
"The Hokage is the leader of our village, and one of the best ninja in the region," Iruka stated as he automatically slipped into 'teacher' mode. "He is one of the Five Shadows, and on equal footing with the Lord of the Land of Fire!"
"…that still doesn't explain anything to me. I understood squat of what you just said," Erin grumbled before her expression became thoughtful and she looked over at Kakashi. "Wait a sec… didn't one of you mention that your 'Hokage' or whatever wanted to see me when you went after me at the ramen shop?"
"That would have been Asuma," Kakashi corrected automatically as he fixed the teenager with a pensive look. "And I believe that since you know our names, it would be good manners for you to tell us yours."
Erin arched an eyebrow slightly before she gave a soft sigh. "Like I told Iruka earlier, it's Erin Cody."
"Come again?" the Jounin asked as he snapped out of his slight daze, which was partially due to a combination of the lack of sleep, and just his usual attitude. Erin rolled her eyes as she gave a slightly exasperated sigh
"I said, my name's Erin. Er-rin, two syllables, not that hard to remember."
"Thank you," Kakashi said with a sly smile, although Erin couldn't see it; he couldn't resist needling the teen a little more. "I wasn't entirely paying attention the first time, so I didn't catch the first part of your name. I could have sworn that you said that your name was 'Cody'."
Erin twitched at the barb, and her hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles went completely white as she shot a death glare at the Jounin.
"All stressed out and no one to choke," she growled darkly as she looked away from the silver-haired man and stared straight ahead at the wall in front of her. Kakashi arched an eyebrow at her statement, and smirked slightly underneath his mask.
"Was that a threat?" he asked innocently, and the glare that he received in response was almost capable of melting the flesh off of his face.
"No, with you it's more like a promise," Erin hissed venomously as she turned away again, still refusing to look at the older man. It was all she could do not to throw something at him, but she privately doubted that it would actually hit him.
"You know, for someone who claims to be nineteen years old, you act awfully immature."
"Go to hell."
"Didn't we already go over this conversation this morning?"
"Sod off."
"Now then, what's all this?" a different voice asked suddenly, and Erin jumped slightly as she turned around to see an elderly man standing in the doorway. At first, she thought that she was looking at somebody's grandfather, at least until she spotted the two obviously armed guards standing behind him. That, and the long red and white robes that he was wearing indicated that he was someone important.
"Lord Hokage!" Iruka and Kakashi both exclaimed, with the former jumping up out of his chair. Erin arched an eyebrow at this bit of information; she had been expecting someone a little younger, although the old man did seem to have an aura of leadership surrounding him. The Hokage nodded in acknowledgment at both men before he focused his attention onto the confused teenager sitting in the hospital bed.
"So, this is the one who caused all that ruckus the other day, hm?" he asked as he looked over at Kakashi, who nodded briefly in affirmation.
"Yes sir."
The Hokage tilted up the brim of the large white hat that he wore and looked at Erin pensively.
"Perhaps, my dear, you could assist us in giving us your name and where you're from, and then we'll try to explain what's going on," the elderly man stated with a smile. "You have questions in your eyes, and you seem to be a little frustrated. I can only apologize if we've frightened you."
Erin blinked in surprise; whatever she had been expecting, this definitely wasn't it. She sighed a bit before she launched into a brief narrative for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day… or since she'd gotten there for that matter.
"Well, my name's Erin Cody, and I just turned nineteen in October," she started before she paused momentarily. A slight feeling of unease came over her as she contemplated whether or not this was really wise, and then shrugged it off; if she wanted any answers, she needed to swallow her pride and give out some information first. "Right now, I'm a student planning on majoring in Biology at University of Portland, in Portland, Oregon. I'm currently living on campus in the dorms with my roommate Jess, but I'm from the town of Kittawake, which is a three-hour drive away from Portland."
The Hokage arched his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at the teenager for several moments, while Iruka and Kakashi exchanged speculative glances behind his back. This was the most information that they had gotten out of the girl combined.
"Hmm, and where is this 'Portland' located?" the Third asked gently, and Erin frowned slightly in confusion. "Allow me to elaborate; is it located in the Land of Wave, the Land of Mist, or in some other territory?"
"Well, it rains a lot in Oregon, but I've never heard it be called anything like that," the nineteen-year old admitted with a shrug. "It is on the Pacific coast of the United States though, if that's what you're asking."
All she received in response was blank looks from all the adults in the room. Erin looked at all three men incredulously, her hazel eyes barely flickering over towards the two Anbu guards that stood just outside the door to her room, before she finally voiced her disbelief.
"You don't know where the United States is?" she asked dubiously, and when nobody answered her question, she groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
The Hokage frowned slightly as he regarded the teenager intently for a few moments before he approached her and gently placed a wrinkled hand on her forehead.
"Hold still for a moment; I just want to make sure of something," he said reassuringly as Erin opened her mouth right before she was blown away by a barrage of images, all of them her own memories.
Cars rushing past on a freeway… walking through the mall with her friends… her first driving lesson… working on her final essay for English… the day her parents came home with Keith from the hospital… holding her mother's hand as they entered Disneyland for the first time… looking at possible collages on the internet at home with her parents… running after Tyler as he and some of his friends left her behind on their bikes…sitting through her History final… her first day of middle school… when she first moved into her dorm… the time she beat the snot out of some sixth-graders harassing Keith… making friends with Patrick in second grade… her sixteenth birthday… her father handing a tiny German Shepherd puppy to her that would latter become Cuchulainn… meeting Jess for the first time… sitting in computer lab joking around with Patrick and some of her other friends… her first day of high school… getting her learner's permit… staring ahead at her English professor during an incredibly boring lecture… high-school graduation… applying for different scholarships… walking out of her History classroom after the final exam and passing out… the end of her conversation with Nanashi…
Then as suddenly as it had started, the images that had all been shuffled through vanished, and a flash of blindingly white light exploded beneath her eyelids. The teenager flinched as she instinctively jerked away from the Hokage's hand, and for one split second, she heard what sounded like Nanashi swearing foully in the very back of her mind.
Erin opened her eyes and stared incredulously at the elderly man in front of her, her body shaking slightly. Who was this man, and how had he managed to just shuffle through the contents of her mind like flipping through a book? Just when she had opened her mouth to ask what the hell had just happened, the Hokage turned around and said something to Iruka that sounded like absolute gibberish to her.
"What the-?" she gasped, and immediately attracted everyone's attention to her. Kakashi arched an eyebrow as he peered intently at her, while Iruka just gaped open-mouthed at her.
"Kimi wa dare?" he finally asked, and Erin stared at him uncomprehendingly.
"I honestly did not understand a word you just said," she stated seriously, and started to get nervous when the frowns on all three of the men's faces deepened. Erin looked first at the Hokage, and then at Kakashi, before she realized that something was definitely wrong.
"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" she asked anxiously, and Kakashi responded with yet another long string of gibberish. The nineteen-year old frowned as she moved from her sitting position on the hospital bed, and swung her legs over the edge so she could stand up.
"If you guys are doing this to be funny, I'm so not laughing, so just knock it off al- AARGHH!!" Erin stopped in mid-sentence as a shrieking pain lanced through her head, and she immediately slid off the edge of the bed and crumpled to her knees as her hands automatically went up and clutched at the sides of her aching skull.
The teenager swore foully in Gaelic through gritted teeth as she tried to force her way through the excruciating agony that seemed to be bound and determined to consume her very being. It felt as though some homicidal psychopath had taken up residence inside of her head and was now determinedly jabbing repeatedly at her brain with a rusty pitchfork, giggling insanely all the while. This was the migraine from hell!! It almost felt like her head was going to split wide open, except that it would probably be a relief if it did.
Erin was so deeply entrenched in her own personal hell-hole, that she didn't notice the pained whimper that somehow unwillingly emerged from her throat, nor did she notice that Kakashi had swiftly crossed the room from where he had been standing by the door and was now kneeling in front of her. She had her eyes clenched shut, and was almost to the point of tears when suddenly two callused hands wrapped around her own and gently pulled them away from her head, where her fingernails had been digging deep into her scalp. Startled, the nineteen-year old looked up and stared at the Jounin in front of her through a pained haze.
"Daijobu des ka?" Kakashi asked softly, a faint trace of worry evident in his dark eye. Erin could barely think straight as she struggled against the fiery agony that was coursing through her head, and now starting to make its way throughout the rest of her body. It was all she could do just to manage to get out two words.
"It… hurts…" she whimpered, and even though Kakashi didn't seem to understand what she was saying, he immediately released both of her hands and rapidly formed a series of symbols with his hands before a pale green glow enveloped them and he pressed his palms against her head.
Almost immediately, the shrieking pain vanished, and Kakashi rocked back onto his heels just as Iruka growled out a question.
"Baka janai ka? Kakashi, you could've gotten her killed!!" the Academy instructor snarled as he glared at the Jounin. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for someone who isn't a trained med nin to perform medical ninjutsu?!"
Erin blinked as she looked over at Iruka, her hazel eyes wide. The first part of his question had been complete gibberish to her, but the rest she had actually understood. What in the world was going on?
"We didn't exactly have time for that, if you didn't notice," the Jounin replied tersely as he glared over his shoulder at the younger man. "Or did you not notice the fact that she was practically whimpering in pain?"
The nineteen-year old gave a weary sigh as she slumped backwards against the side of the bed and tried to ignore the rapidly escalating argument that was taking place in front of her. Her migraine from hell had vanished almost completely, but she still had a bad headache, and Iruka and Kakashi's barbed insults being flung back and forth did nothing to help.
"You shouldn't have taken a risk like that!! What would've happened if something had gone wrong?!"
"Well nothing did go wrong, so we don't need to worry about that, do we?"
"You don't know that for certain! How do you know that she isn't mute now or something like that?! You may have permanently damaged her for life!!"
"All I did was stop whatever was causing her pain!"
"How do you-!"
WHAM!!!
Iruka found himself cut off as an accurately thrown metal bedpan hit the wall not two inches from his face, and he slowly looked over at the irate teen that was currently giving him the evil eye, while Kakashi stiffened up for a second before he turned around as well.
"Both of you, just shut the hell up!!" Erin snarled as she looked up at the two men and glared at them furiously. "Unless you want me to get up and kick both of your sorry asses straight into the next millennia, I highly suggest that you stop shouting, because it's not solving anything!!!"
The two shinobi stared at her wide-eyed as the teenager slowly got to her feet, while the Hokage chuckled slightly at the event that had just taken place.
"It is never wise to make a woman angry," he advised sagely, and Erin let out a low sigh in response.
"I just wanted them to shut up before my headache got worse. It's not nearly as bad as it was earlier, but that doesn't mean that I need a shouting match going on two feet away from me," she grumbled as she sat down on the edge of the bed and rested her right hand on her forehead. After several seconds of stunned silence, Kakashi approached the nineteen-year old and looked at her intently.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, and Erin looked up at him and arched an eyebrow wryly.
"Better, now that I don't have the mother of all migraines trying to smash my skull apart," she remarked dryly before she frowned slightly. "What the hell happened anyways? One minute I was able to understand everything that you all were saying, and then it all turned into gibberish! And then when that headache happened…"
The teenager failed to repress a shudder that coursed throughout her entire body as she slowly reached up and wiped away the sweat that beaded on her forehead. She hadn't noticed that she had been sweating until now. Between what had just happened, and her already having the flu, she didn't know how much more of this she could take. And she definitely didn't want to collapse again.
"You're the one who started babbling away in another language," the Jounin stated slowly, and Erin scowled at him in response.
"No I didn't," she muttered rebelliously. The Copy Nin arched an eyebrow at her defiant tone before he spoke.
"Prove me wrong then."
"I've been speaking English the entire time, except for the few times when I've grumbled something in Gaelic," she shot back. Kakashi's lone eye widened slightly as he stared at her for several seconds before he finally responded.
"You say that you've been speaking… this English for the entire time," he murmured thoughtfully as he looked over at the Hokage. "That's odd, seeing as you've been speaking almost flawless Japanese from the moment that we've met you."
Erin's eyes widened to an almost impossible degree as her head snapped up and she gawked incredulously at the silver-haired ninja standing in front of her.
"W-what?!" she yelped, causing Iruka to jump slightly and Kakashi to wince as her voice rose up a couple octaves. "That's impossible! I don't even know a single word of Japanese, so how can I be speaking it fluently?!! The only languages that I speak that well are English and Gaelic!!"
"You obviously must know it if you are speaking it," the Jounin pointed out calmly, and received a dirty glare from the teen as she crossed her arms over her chest and made a low noise in the back of her throat.
"Like hell I do," she growled. "You know what I think? I think that you three are all feeding me a giant crock of crap and screwing with my head for kicks."
Kakashi arched an eyebrow as he regarded the fuming girl calmly. "Is that so?"
"Yes. And you know what, I've had enough of this," Erin hissed, her greenish eyes narrowed dangerously before her tone became laced with obvious contempt. "Surprise, surprise. Now if you gentlemen would excuse me, I'm going to go locate a payphone and call my roommate so she can come and sign the release forms so I can get the hell out of this insane asylum."
With this statement, the nineteen-year old stalked over towards the door, only to have Kakashi suddenly step out in front of her.
"I don't think so," he stated calmly, fixing the teen with an authoritative look. "Do you recall what happened the last time you tried to leave the room, or did your short-term memory get shot when you passed out?"
"The only reason I passed out in the first place is because you're an ass," the girl muttered as she shot a glare up at the taller man before she tried to shove her way past him, reaching out for the doorknob with one hand just as the Jounin swiftly grabbed her wrist. Erin's eyes widened before she attempted to wrench her hand from the older man's grip, panic flooding through her system.
"Let go of me!!"
"Not until you decide to act rationally," Kakashi stated calmly as he eyed the teenager lazily. Her eyes narrowed dangerously before she snarled out something that sounded far less than flattering to the other occupants in the room.
"Imigh sa diabhal!"
The Jounin let out a world-weary sigh as he rolled his sole visible eye upwards, silently wondering what kami he had offended to deserve this.
"Well then, you leave me no choice."
"Huh-?" Erin managed to utter before she found herself unceremoniously flung over the Copy Nin's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and immediately let out an indignant squeal as she started to squirm about in his grip. "Put me down!!"
"I don't think so," Kakashi said with a slight chuckle as he held the teen in a way that made it hard for her to really land any hits on him. "You know, you sure are light for someone your age."
This resulted in a foul curse from the nineteen-year old before she purposely drove her elbow right into the back of the shinobi's neck, causing him to wince slightly before her jostled her to get her to stop squirming.
"Now now, no need to get so nasty," the Jounin said calmly before he easily tossed Erin back onto her hospital bed, much to the amusement of the Hokage and Iruka. The teen let out a low, wordless snarl of outrage as she seized the first thing she could get her hands on, in this case it was her pillow, before she flung it at the Copy Nin as hard as she could.
Kakashi just stepped out of the way of the projectile as it thudded harmlessly against the wall before he looked over at the nineteen-year old and arched an eyebrow meaningfully, as if to say 'is that the best you can do?'. Unsurprisingly, Erin looked like she was about to commit a very violent murder as she glared daggers at the Jounin before she looked away from him and forced herself to take several deep breaths, trying to calm down.
"Are you done now?" he asked cheerfully, and promptly received another muttered profanity in response, as well as the 'middle finger salute'. Iruka gave a slightly nervous laugh as he looked away from the scene, while the Hokage seemed to be trying to hide a slight smirk.
"Well now, if you're finished," the Sandaime began calmly, and Erin looked over at the elderly man before she flushed a bright shade of red and gave a muttered apology as she ducked her head down. She had been so angry at Kakashi's taunting that she had forgotten that there was anyone else there with them.
"As I was about to say before we all found ourselves off-track, this is all quite interesting," the Hokage muttered as he stroked his white goatee thoughtfully. "Coupled with what I saw about your life earlier, this new information presents a very puzzling picture."
"What do you mean by that?" Erin asked hesitantly, missing the puzzled look that flashed across Kakashi's face as he and Iruka also directed their attentions over to the Third. The elderly man gave a sigh as he pulled up the chair that Iruka abandoned earlier and sat in it before he looked over at the two Anbu standing just outside the small hospital room in the hallway.
"Please close the door," he ordered, and the moment that the door was shut, he immediately fixed the two ninja and Erin with an intense gaze. "What I am about to talk about does not leave this room, understood? And if it is mentioned, it is only in the company of myself or either of you in a private setting. No one else is to know of this."
"And why is that?" Iruka asked curiously in spite of himself, a thoughtful frown making its way across his face.
"Because this information is S-classed," the older man stated seriously. Understanding flashed across Kakashi's face for one brief moment before he schooled his features back into his usual mask.
"Yes sir," Erin muttered softly, although she was confused about the extreme secrecy. Iruka and Kakashi just nodded in agreement. The Hokage appeared pensive as he stared at the teenager for several moments before he finally spoke.
"You, young lady, are not from around here, are you?" he asked, looking directly at Erin. "In fact, I don't even think that you are from any of the surrounding countries."
Erin swallowed nervously, and her hands clenched as she stared in shock at the Third Hokage while Iruka gaped wordlessly at the older man.
"Lord Hokage, what are you suggesting then …?" Iruka began, only to trail off as though he didn't want to actually voice his opinion. The older shinobi arched an eyebrow before he let out a slow sigh.
"You mentioned earlier to Iruka that your father was from another country, did you not?" the elderly man asked suddenly, and Erin was barely able to bite down on her lip in time before she could say something stupid. She frowned slightly before she answered, momentarily allowing her curiosity to get the better of her.
"Yeah, I did. Why?"
"Could you please tell us the name of your father's homeland, just so that I can make sure that the information I received was correct?"
At this point the teenager became a little unnerved as she looked at the man with wide eyes, a flicker of barely hidden fear flashing beneath the surface of her mossy orbs. She pursed her lips together in a flat line, worry evident on her face before she let out a long sigh of defeat, knowing that there was no way for her to get out of this mess other than answer the questions she was asked.
"My dad's from Ireland, and so is a good portion of my mom's family too," she stated softly, and noted with detached interest that Kakashi immediately straightened up at her words before his lone eye narrowed slightly.
"Really. And how did you manage that?"
Erin arched an eyebrow as she shot a dirty look in the silver-haired ninja's direction, before she decided to continue her answer and ignore the current pain in her ass.
"Because my great-grandparents on my mom's side emigrated from Ireland when my grandma was a little girl, and when she grew up she married my grandpa, and since they loved each other very much, they had a couple of kids, including my mom. And then, when my mom grew up, she met my dad on a trip back to Ireland to visit some extended family on her side, they fell in love, and then they got married and had three kids, me and my two brothers respectively," the nineteen-year old explained in a tone that was dripping with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes upwards in obvious irritation. "Is minic a gheibhean beal oscailt diog dunta, amadán."
The two other ninja in the room blinked in surprise at the teen's sudden switching of languages as she spouted off what sounded like a line of gibberish, while Kakashi didn't even look the least bit phased.
"You know, in most cultures it's considered quite rude to call someone an idiot in another language other than the one they speak," he stated calmly, and Erin damn near choked on her own air as she gawked up at the lanky Jounin as he gave her yet another one of his annoying eye smiles.
"What the…?" she began before she cut herself off, not wanting to let the desired expletive fall from her lips. "How the hell do you know that?"
Kakashi smiled at her again, and Erin suddenly had an epiphany as her eyes narrowed dangerously, and a sneaking suspicion formed in the back of her mind.
"Na dean maggadh fum," the teenager hissed, bristling like a pissed-off cat as she glared at the silver-haired shinobi before she switched back to English… or whatever the hell she was speaking now. "You fucking understand Gaelic."
"A bit," the Copy Nin finally admitted as he continued to smile. "I knew someone who came from Ireland, and they had the same habit as you of insulting me in Gaelic until they turned blue in the face. It's hard not to pick up a few things when you spend a couple of years listening to someone say the same things."
Erin stared at the older man for several long moments, her expression one of utter incredulity as she opened and shut her mouth wordlessly, while the Sandaime looked over at Kakashi, comprehension in his brown eyes. He arched an eyebrow meaningfully, and the Copy Nin nodded once in agreement. The teenager didn't notice the silent exchange between the two men as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just been told, at least until something dawned upon her.
"Wait a second here, you're saying that you've heard of Ireland, and even knew someone that came from there… but you've never even heard of the United States? What kind of fucked-up logic is that?"
Silence reigned in the room for several minutes before the silver-haired Jounin let out a long, weary sigh.
"So tell me, is it just a cultural trait for all people hailing from that land to be as blunt as possible?" Kakashi asked dryly as he arched an eyebrow challengingly, giving Erin cause to shoot him a filthy look before she averted her gaze and crossed her arms over her chest, obviously refusing to reply.
Sarutobi sighed as he placed a hand over his face, looking upwards as though he was asking for divine intervention. He recalled a similar scene between two younger shinobi several years ago, and briefly wondered if he should use the same tactic to break up the argument as he had then. After a moment of deliberation, the Third decided that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to fling a kunai in between an upset shinobi and a jumpy civilian, even if it would make him feel better.
Glancing over at Iruka, who also looked exasperated with the situation, the Hokage cleared his throat loudly, interrupting the glaring match between Kakashi and Erin, before he continued with what he had been saying earlier.
"Then there is the fact with your chakra," he remarked calmly. "Not only is it almost impossibly constricted, but it also appears as though it has never been used."
The nineteen-year old's eyes widened slightly as understanding hit her, and she looked up at the Sandaime as she remembered a comment made to her earlier.
"The other day, in the woods after I first woke up… that guy who tried to kill me… Itachi… he made some comment about how my chakra was constricted," Erin began as a puzzled expression crossed her face. "But what I don't understand is what the heck is chakra… and how can either of you see it?"
"Chakra is the energy that a shinobi uses to perform ninjutsu of any form, and are drawn from both the mind and the body. However, ninjas are not the only ones who possess chakra, seeing as every single thing on this earth holds within it at least a faint trace of chakra within it, for without chakra, there is no life. The chakra of a ninja is more developed and holds greater potential for use than the chakra of a civilian," Sarutobi explained gently. "Most of the time, it either requires years of practice or the possession of an eye Kekkei Genkai to spot chakra, especially when it is as constricted as yours is."
"Kekkei… Genkai…?" Erin asked in obvious confusion as she slowly sounded out the unfamiliar word, a pale eyebrow arched questioningly.
"Bloodline limit," Kakashi broke in suddenly as he fixed his lone eye on the puzzled teenager. "It's a genetic trait that's passed down among a specific family or clan. The abilities vary from clan to clan, but those that possess a Kekkei Genkai most often come from some of the most prestigious shinobi families known."
The Copy Ninja paused for a second as he looked over at the Hokage, who nodded in affirmation, before he slowly reached up and pushed up the corner of his forehead protector that concealed his left eye. For one brief moment, Erin caught sight of a long thin scar running from above his eyebrow go straight down the middle of Kakashi's closed eyelid and stopping just at his cheekbone. The nineteen-year old didn't have time to ponder this however, seeing as it was at that moment that the Jounin opened his eye, revealing a blood-red iris and a small pupil with three black commas spinning around it.
"Shit!!" Erin yelped as she scooted backwards several inches, her eyes wide with fright. Kakashi let out a sigh as he rolled his mismatched eyes upwards and shook his head slightly.
"I'm not that scary," he remarked dryly as he crossed his arms over his chest and fixed the teen with a wry look. 'Sheesh, she's almost as excitable as Naruto.'
Erin stared at him wide-eyed for several seconds before she was finally able to form a coherent sentence, and even then it didn't escape the Jounin's notice that she was trembling slightly.
"I-if that's a 'bloodline limit' or whatever you people called it, then that means that you're…" she trailed off apprehensively as all of the blood drained out of her face at the thought of what her statement meant.
"Related to Itachi?" Kakashi finished with a snort. "Most certainly not. I have absolutely no blood ties to him whatsoever. The last surviving member of the Uchiha clan is his younger brother."
"Last surviving member?" Erin asked hesitantly, and the Jounin nodded.
"Itachi Uchiha is classified as an S-class missing nin from Konohagure for the sole reason that he slew his entire clan in cold blood to, as he put it, test his potential," Kakashi stated seriously as he fixed the teen with a penetrating stare. "Now are you aware of the severity of your encounter with him that you mentioned earlier?"
The nineteen-year old, by this point, was as white as a sheet and trembling slightly as she stared straight ahead at the silver-haired ninja. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and groaned as she buried her head in her hands.
"Great, so not only was the guy a nutjob, but now I find out that he's a homicidal psychopath as well. This just keeps getting better and better," she muttered shakily, although there was no mistaking the heavy sarcasm in her voice. Kakashi arched an eyebrow as he pulled down the left corner of his forehead protector over his scarred eye.
"Are you always like this?" he asked, and Erin looked up at him and gave the older man a wane smile.
"Not always," she said as a distant look entered her eyes. "Most of the time, it's only when I'm really nervous."
"So you're scared right now?"
"Scared was me in the alleyway the other day. Right now, I'm terrified."
"Why?" Kakashi couldn't resist asking. He couldn't believe that the same girl that had been giving him such a hard time earlier would actually admit to being scared. Erin snapped out of her slight daze and arched an eyebrow at the ninja before she rolled her eyes half-heartedly.
"Let's see… I just found out that I'm in some other country that's never heard of the good old US of A, and that I had a potentially fatal encounter with a psychopath who probably would've killed me if I hadn't caught him by surprise before I did the smart thing and ran like hell," the teen remarked dryly. "What part of that wouldn't scare a normal person?"
Kakashi made a small noise of understanding while Iruka just looked thoughtful at her statement.
"Speaking of which, just how did you escape from Itachi?" the Chuunin asked. "He's an S-class missing nin that's listed in the section of the bingo book that only Anbu black ops get to look at."
The Hokage stifled what sounded like a snort at this question; he knew exactly how the teen had escaped from the elder Uchiha's grasp. Erin became somewhat embarrassed as she refused to look at any of the three men in the room and nervously rubbed the back of her head.
"Umm… I don't really want to talk about it," she muttered. Kakashi arched an eyebrow questioningly as he looked at the nineteen-year old.
"And why is that?"
"Look, all I did was a basic self-defense move that my dad told me to use if someone was ever trying to hurt me," Erin mumbled as she turned even redder. "It was hardly anything fancy, so it's not a big deal."
"If it's not a 'big deal', then why won't you tell us about it?" the Copy Nin asked slyly, and Erin silently cursed at the older man's reasoning. She had walked right into that one.
"…"
"Well?"
"… I have my reasons."
"And those are?"
"None of your damn business."
Kakashi stared at the girl for a long time before he finally spoke, and when he did, he noticed that her right eye had developed a slight twitch.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're telling me is that you, a nineteen-year old girl with absolutely no training as a shinobi, escaped unscathed from an S-class criminal, and you refuse to tell us how," the Jounin stated coolly as he fixed the teen with a penetrating stare. "Even if it is a 'basic self-defense' move, it may prove to be useful at another time."
Erin frowned as she mentally cursed herself for her stupidity. She knew that she had to tell them how she had escaped now. Someone was obviously making sure that she was slowly humiliated during this entire escapade that she was currently wrapped up in.
"Well?" Kakashi drawled meaningfully, and the nineteen-year old suddenly found herself with the strong desire to bang her head repeatedly against the closest available wall.
"I kneed him in the nuts," she muttered faintly, looking down on the ground and trying not to think about that fact that she was telling three adult men this particular tidbit of information.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that," Kakashi said smugly.
"Look, all I did was knee the psychotic bastard in the balls, okay?" Erin snapped as she glared angrily at the Jounin. "And I definitely didn't escape unscathed. He freakin' grabbed me by the throat and slammed me up against a tree before he tried to strangle me! I have a bruise that goes all the way up my damn spine thanks to him! Now can you guess why I didn't want to talk about it, dumbass?"
Kakashi's lone eye widened slightly at the sudden hostility in the teenager's tone, as well as the insult thrown at him at the end of her statement. Fear was coming off her in waves, and every muscle was tightened in anticipation of some form of retaliation. The Jounin examined the teen in front of him for a few moments before he realized the reason behind her sudden aggressive behavior; she was still scared of him, especially since he had revealed his Sharingan, and remembering her encounter with Itachi had only served to frighten her even more. Not to mention the fact that she was probably already painfully aware of how weak her body was from being so ill.
Apparently, the Hokage had arrived to this conclusion as well, seeing as he stood up and started to make his towards that door.
"Iruka, I think that we've taxed our visitor a little too much," he stated kindly as he gave a half-bow in Erin's direction. The teenager hesitated for a second before she returned the gesture, and the elderly man smiled at her.
"Once you are well enough to be released, I'll look into arranging a place for you to stay until you can find your way home," Sarutobi added. "I hope that you get well soon, Erin Cody."
"Thank you, sir," the nineteen-year old said softly. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow once again at the girl's change in attitude and contemplated asking whether or not it was 'that time of the month' before he silently decided that he didn't want to have to deal with an irate teenager for the rest of the day. He had been dumb enough to ask that question once, and only once; the resulting reaction from the woman that he had sarcastically made the remark to was still engraved into his memory.
The Jounin was suddenly snapped out of his silent revere by the Third Hokage talking to him.
"Kakashi, may I speak to you for a moment out into the hallway?" the Third asked calmly, and the twenty-six-year old followed him out into the hall, where the Hokage motioned the two Anbu away before he shut the door behind him, preventing Erin from hearing any of their conversation.
"What is it?" Kakashi wondered as he looked at the leader of his village intently. Sarutobi seemed pensive as he pulled his pipe out of his pocket and slipped it into his mouth, but did not light it.
"Did you sense it?" he asked suddenly, and the Copy Nin immediately realized what the older man was talking about.
"The foreign chakra signature inside her?" Kakashi realized. "Yes, I saw its presence. It's very faint though, almost as though it belongs to something long gone from this world. Put next to Erin's chakra, it's practically nothing more than a small speck in comparison, almost impossible to notice."
"But still, I believe that it might be cause for concern," the Third muttered as he chewed on the tip of his pipe. "When I was going through her memories, I caught a brief flash of what seemed to be a dream of her talking with a boy who seemed to be a shinobi from Konoha. It was after that memory that Erin jerked away, and we seemed to suddenly develop a gap in communication."
"Do you think that they are connected then?" Kakashi asked quizzically, and the Hokage nodded in response.
"Yes, and I find it incredibly odd that a teenage girl mysteriously shows up the day after the Chuunin exams start, and speaks a language that both of us have have only ever heard from one person," Sarutobi muttered thoughtfully. "Also, the boy in her dream concerns me. I have the feeling that I've seen him before, and I cannot recall when or where. There is the distinct possibility that he may be trying to manipulate her, or he may be a medium used to give the illusion that whoever is using him is friendly."
The Jounin frowned pensively as he cast a sideways glance over at the closed door off to his right that hid the temperamental nineteen-year old inside from view.
"So, what should I do?" he finally asked, and the Hokage let out a long sigh before he responded.
"Just keep an eye on her for a few days until she's well again. Try not to frighten her too much, and answer any questions that she may have about here. Who knows; she may tell us herself about how she came to be here, and how she's connected to the boy," the Third suggested as he gave the silver-haired ninja a small smile. "I think that once she's calmed down, she'll be much more reasonable to deal with."
And with that parting comment, the Third Hokage turned around and left with his two Anbu guards trailing behind him, leaving behind one very confused Copy Nin.
Kakashi groaned as he ran a hand through his messy silver hair and stared at the wooden door in front of him. So much for the faint hope that the Hokage would assign another ninja to watch Erin while he went back to his apartment and got some much-needed sleep.
There was just something about the teen that set him on edge, and he couldn't name it to save his life.
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Erin, on the other hand, was just as confused as Kakashi was as she sat in her bed and stared pensively at the wall ahead of her. The way that headache from Hell had just popped up from out of nowhere confused the ever-living heck out of her, and she wanted to know what had caused it. Before the teenager could do anything, the door opened and Kakashi stepped back into the room. Erin blinked in surprise as she directed her attention over to the weary Jounin, who looked far less than enthusiastic to be in her company.
"Umm… are you okay?" she asked hesitantly, and Kakashi just briefly glanced over at her before he sank down in the chair by her bedside.
"What do you think?"
Erin flinched at the older man's tone, and realized that she probably deserved it. She hadn't exactly been polite to him since she had woken up in the hospital, to put not too fine a point on it. Not to mention the fact that he looked downright exhausted.
"Listen, I just want to say that… I'm sorry about how I acted earlier," she admitted, looking down at her hands. "I've been acting like a brat, and I have to honestly admit to the fact that part of it is because I'm scared senseless right now, but that still isn't an excuse. This isn't exactly a situation that I would have ever expected to happen to me."
Kakashi arched an eyebrow at the nineteen-year old's statement, although she didn't see it, seeing as she was currently staring at her hands as she nervously clenched them together.
"Is that an apology?" he asked as a weary grin spread underneath his mask.
"Duh," Erin responded as she rolled her eyes up slightly, easily catching the slightly teasing note in the twenty-six-year old's voice. Nineteen years of living with an older brother had trained her to notice sarcasm in any sentence. Kakashi looked over at her for a several moments before he leaned back in his chair and pulled a bright orange book out of the pouch that he wore attached to his hip.
"Apology accepted," he said as he flipped the book open to the page he had left off on. Erin inspected the cover in interest for several seconds before she gave a frustrated sigh and leaned back against her pillows. All of a sudden, an idea hit her, and the teenager immediately straightened up as she fixed the man in front of her with a curious gaze.
"Umm… hey, Kakashi, what does 'Nanashi' mean?"
The Jounin arched an eyebrow as he lowered his book so that he could see the nineteen-year old better.
"It means 'no name'," he answered lazily, although Erin could tell that he was curious about her question. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I-" Erin didn't get any further than that, seeing as she suddenly burst into a very violent coughing fit. The teenager almost fell over as she clapped a hand over her mouth; it felt like she was coughing a lung out!
Kakashi immediately reached over and filled a glass of water from the pitcher that a nurse had left on the bedside table before he handed it to the girl, who nodded her thanks as she slowly sipped the liquid, and gradually the coughing faded. Erin winced as she gingerly held her throat, which now felt like someone had rubbed sandpaper down it.
"Owww…" she said hoarsely before she took another drink of water in an attempt to sooth her sore throat. "That hurt."
"You sounded like you were about to cough something up," the Jounin remarked dryly as he eyed her speculatively. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, now that I'm not trying to hack up a lung," the nineteen-year old muttered as she took yet another drink of water. She stared thoughtfully at the clear liquid inside her glass for a few moments before she realized what had just taken place. Just when she had been about to make a comment about where she had heard the name 'Nanashi', she had started coughing.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who was behind her little coughing fit.
'Oh, I am so going to kill him,' the teenager growled mentally as a frown crossed her face. Nobody, no matter who they were or how powerful they were, pulled this kind of crap with her and lived to tell the tale.
Erin sighed as she slumped back onto her pillow and set her cup down on the bedside table, looking at the vessel speculatively. This looked like this was going to be a long and frustrating experience.
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Well, here's the fourth chapter, and I hope that everyone likes it. I know that I've updated this story really fast so far, but unfortunately school's starting back up again for me, so that's going to slow things down a lot.
Sorry about that…
Anyways, I seem to be getting pretty good reviews so far. Most people seem to like 'LOTROL' a lot, and don't think that it's run of the mill. That's good, especially since I read a lot of Naruto fanfics before I even came up with some of the ideas so I knew what to do and what not to do. Come to think of it, I did the same thing before I started 'What One May Never See' too. By the way, Killiney is a town in Dublin County, Ireland. It's a little remote, but within driving distance of some of the larger cities in the area.
Yay for well-thought-out plotlines and original scenarios!! But sometimes it's fun to take a common cliché and not only add on a new and realistic twist to it, but make it better too. That, and I just love to torture my characters.
And I have a lot of embarrassing stuff that I'm going to do to Erin later on. (Smirks) Well, enough of my insanity; let's move on to the reviews!
Reviews:
Kiren: I'm glad that you think so. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as you have the others.
Silverpaws: I could easily imagine that happening too. I mean, Kakashi can't keep his guard up all the time, and sooner or later he's going to get surprised by something.
Liah Cauthon: Yes, Gaelic. My friend, who is a total Kakashi fangirl and keeps insisting that he belongs to her, suggested that Kakashi say something back to Erin in Gaelic, but that's almost impossible to do. The only people who know Gaelic live in Ireland and Scotland, so there's no feasible way that Kakashi could know it. As you can see, I've changed that a bit now.
TheCrazyScotswomanOfDOOM: Patrick was one of Erin's best friends, if you couldn't tell from her little flashback incident. His story and what happened to him will come into play later on, and it plays a very important part in how Erin tends to act now.
ChibiEd: My character's first name is 'Erin', not 'Cody'; 'Cody' is her last name, but I'm glad that you like my story so far. Yeah, the whole 'fall into another world and know everything about the main characters' line gets pretty boring after a while. This is exactly why I try to avoid it as much as possible.
rockleefan: Hmm… maybe… (Grins evilly) Who Nanashi really is will be revealed in later chapters, but for right now, all he will serve to do is annoy Erin. If Kakashi gets on her nerves, then Nanashi gets on her nerves even more. Although the fact that he tends to pop up at very inopportune moments doesn't really help matters at all.
The Crazy Evil Akatsuki Neko: Well, it's been a little over a month now, but yeah, I'm relatively new to the Naruto anime. I checked out your profile, and when I got to the funny quotes taken from stories that you've read, I thought 'Hey, that paragraph sounds familiar…' I laughed so hard when I saw that. I never thought that something I wrote would be put on a person's profile because they thought that it was funny. You really made my day when I saw that!
Lady Renyel of Arella: You never really know until you try. I'm glad that you like my stuff though. Thank you!
FirstFaith: Dry humor is my specialty, as well as sarcasm. And I hate clichés… they must die, because that is where Mary-Sues come from. Wow, dude, you're nineteen and your name is seriously Erin?! Umm… that's gonna be a little weird if your physical description matches my character's, but that's pretty cool too.
bookgrl: I'm glad that you like my story. No need to bow, but I do want to win the lottery, the internet and the world… hmm, if that happened, I might be able to actually own 'Naruto'! Now that would rock. And Kakashi would be all mine… (Smirks)
Japanese Phrases:
Kimi wa dare – Who are you?
Baka janai ka? – Are you stupid?
Daijobu des ka? – Are you okay?
Gaelic Phrases:
Imigh sa diabhal! – Go to hell!
Is minic a gheibhean beal oscailt diog dunta, amadán. - An open mouth often catches a closed fist, idiot.
Na dean maggadh fum – Do not mock me