Hey! Here's Chapter 8! Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. I only own Lark, Jiro, Mika any other character that isn't mentioned in the anime or manga.
Both Kakashi and I were silent on our way back to the Hokage building. I was silent because I was a bit nervous, but who wouldn't be? I mean, I was a criminal in her village; I could've—should've—been killed at any moment.
Before we entered the building, I stepped in front of Kakashi. The masked jounin stopped in his tracks and gave me a confused look. At first I didn't look at Kakashi, as if I was a shy little girl.
"What is it, Lark?" asked Kakashi. I was silent; I didn't really know why I'd stopped him in the first place. Maybe I was just trying to delay the visit to the Hokage. Though, it might be because the last time I went to the Hokage's office with Kakashi, eight years ago, it wasn't the most pleasant visit and I wouldn't mind forgetting about it.
"Lark? Are you alright?" Kakashi questioned with a hint of concern in his voice. My head snapped up and I looked Kakashi straight in the eye. Again, I was silent, but it didn't last long.
"I'm fine," I giggled, but Kakashi didn't seem to buy it.
"Well, if you're fine, then why did you stop me?" asked Kakashi. I started to play with my fingers, trying to find a reason as to why I stopped him.
"Ummm… Do you know why the Hokage wants us?" I replied.
"That's why you stopped me? You could have just asked while we were walking," stated the masked ninja. Quickly, I looked down and started thinking of something else to say.
"I guess I could have…" I began. Kakashi waited for me to finish, but I never did.
"Are you nervous to be going to the Hokage's office?" accused Kakashi. I didn't look up at the jounin, fearing that if I did, my eyes would betray me.
"No. It's just been so long," I mumbled. It turned out, I should have been worried about my voice betraying me, because when I spoke you could hear the nervousness in it.
"Lark. It isn't going to be like the last time we were there together," informed Kakashi. I still didn't look him in the eye.
"I-I know," I stuttered. Kakashi sighed and placed his hand on my head.
"Then don't get so worked up," said Kakashi. He then began to walk into the Hokage's building.
I followed behind him till we reached the double doors of the Hokage's office. As I was about to step forward to open the door, Kakashi stooped down to me. I gave the masked jounin a puzzled look.
"You stay out here for a minute. I need to talk to the Hokage about something first," Kakashi told me. I still had the confused look.
"But she wants to see both of us right? Why can't you talk to her in front of me?" I questioned.
"No reason. While you're out here, you should try and settle your nerves," he answered. My confused gaze turned into a glare as I stuck my tongue out at the silver haired man. Kakashi chuckled and continued to enter the office. I, on the other hand, stood outside the doors and waited to be called in.
As I stood waiting, a few people would walk by and give me strange looks. I ignored them all, not caring whether they liked me or not. After a few minutes, I heard two sets of feet coming my way. They stopped near me, but I didn't look up. Soon after they stopped, one of the two continued to walk on. The other person seemed to be coming towards me.
"Hello, I don't think I've ever seen you here before," began the person. I glanced up through my bangs and saw a man a bit older then myself. This man wore the standard shinobi outfit for Konoha, and had a bandage running over the bridge of his nose. He had long, spiky black hair, a goatee and dark eyes.
"I'm Kotetsu Hagane. What's your name?" the man introduced himself flawlessly. I didn't respond for a moment. I was a bit surprised he was talking to me, since the village didn't seem too friendly so far, but I supposed there were a few people who were.
"My name's Lark. It's nice to meet you, Kotetsu," I greeted, leaving out my last name for personal safety. Kotetsu smiled and continued talking.
"So you're new here? How are you liking Konoha?" he questioned. I thought for a moment, not sure if to tell him whether I had lived here or not.
"Well, I've been here before. Though, it has been awhile," I giggled. The smile on Kotetsu's face seemed to widen a bit at my answer.
"Oh. Well if you want, I can show you around later," offered the spiky haired man. It wasn't difficult to tell that Kotetsu was trying to flirt with me, so I thought I'd mess around a bit and play the dumb blonde.
"That would be so nice! Thank you!" I exclaimed, adding a little giggle in there to make it seem that I was interested. I heard footsteps coming towards the door from inside the Hokage's office as Kotetsu's smile widened once again.
"I'm glad to help. So, how about we meet around four in front of th-," though before he could finish, the door opened and revealed a slightly peeved Kakashi.
"H-hello Kakashi-san," stuttered a surprised Kotetsu. I knew Kakashi had heard our little conversation and by the looks of it, he didn't seemed to pleased.
"I'm sorry, but Lark has other plans. So, she can't go with you tonight," rudely responded Kakashi. Kotetsu looked a bit frightened of the masked ninja as he looked back at me.
"Maybe some other time then. I'll see you later," quickly said Kotetsu. The spiky haired man then started to walk away as fast as his two feet could take him. I giggled slightly at the sight as Kakashi gave me a small glare.
"What was that?" asked Kakashi. I stopped giggling and looked up at the jounin.
"What was what?" I questioned innocently, though fully aware of what Kakashi meant. The silver haired man just sighed and shook his head. He then waved for me to follow him inside the office.
Once inside we both stood in front of the Hokage's desk where Tsunade was sitting. She wasn't glaring at me like the last time we met, but there was still some hatred in her gaze. Well it's a start, I guessed.
"Now Lark, I've heard that you've been behaving yourself and for that I'm glad," said Tsunade. I gave Kakashi a quick, sideways glance, I was surprised he didn't tell her about those small incidents I had with that villager and him.
"Anyway, I don't really want to talk to you about how you're behaving," started the Hokage. She took a moment of silence before beginning to speak again.
"I want to talk to you two about the arrangement between the Hatake and Mayumi families," finished Tsunade. I stared at her confused and then gave Kakashi the same look. But when I looked over at the jounin, I saw shock written all over his face.
"What arrangement?" I asked, clearly confused. Though, it was Tsunade who seemed confused now.
"The arrangement that your fathers made when they and the Third were still alive," informed Tsunade. My eyes widened in realization, when I remembered what the arrangement was.
"And why do we need to talk about that?" I asked. Tsunade's confused look went away and she sighed.
"Well, Lark, if you remember, you went M.I.A. before you turned sixteen and when you turned sixteen you and Kakashi were supposed to wed," explained Tsunade. I glared slightly at the Hokage, not caring if it was disrespectful or whatever.
"I know that, but why do we have to talk about it? I'm twenty-five, not sixteen," I sassed. The Hokage didn't seem too pleased with my blunt reply, but ignored it.
"That's exactly why we have to talk about it. You two didn't get married at the time that was set, so now we have to work something else out," said Tsunade. I didn't like the sound of this.
"Now that Lark is back in the village, I believe that you and Kakashi should now marry to please your fathers' wishes," began Tsunade as she started to explain her decision. Both Kakashi and I stayed silent with worry all over our faces.
"Before either of you say anything, the reason the arrangement is still active is because you two are. Since there are remaining heirs to the Hatake and Mayumi clans, this engagement is still in effect," explained Tsunade. Still, Kakashi and I were silent.
"It doesn't matter if Lark is a criminal, the arrange marriage still stands. I think you to should marry. Both your parents and the Third agreed that this was best for both your clans. So I believe that in 2 months time you to should be married," finished the Hokage. There was silence for a few moments before I decided to break it.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. Tsunade gave me a stern look as she began to respond to my outburst.
"I am not kidding you, Lark. Both you and Kakashi were to be married long ago, but since you left you two will be wed to carry out the plan," snarled Tsunade. My gaze hardened and I turned to look at Kakashi. The masked jounin wasn't showing any emotion; he looked calm, not angry at all. I couldn't understand how he could be so fucking calm about this. Our lives were being decided for us and he didn't seem to care.
"I am not marrying him," I growled finally. This caused Tsunade to glare at me even harder.
"You will, Lark, and there is nothing you can do about it," hissed Tsunade. Not happy at all, I decided to protest even further.
"There is no way in Hell that I'm going to marry someone with the Sharingan!" I yelled. This caused Tsunade and Kakashi to look at me in shock. Before they could say anything, I turned on my heel and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind me. I ignored the orders from the Hokage to go back. I couldn't stay there for any longer or I would really lose it.
"Stupid Kakashi, standing there all calm and cool. Acting like nothing was going on," I mumbled to myself. I stomped out of the Hokage building in a big rush, and continued to walk, not particularly caring where my feet took me. I wasn't too surprised no one came after me. It wasn't like I could get away from any of the shinobi, and Kakashi could've easily caught up with me by now.
"Hey Lark!" called someone familiar, breaking me from my silent cursing. I looked towards the person and saw Naruto along with Yamato, Sakura and five people I didn't know. Putting on a realistic smile, I walked towards the excited blonde.
"Hello Naruto. Are you going somewhere?" I asked when I saw that Naruto had on a backpack. The blonde nodded in excitement.
"Yeah! We're going on a mission. Though it's a stupid D-ranked one. We have to go find grave robbers," sulked Naruto. I giggled at the now not-so-excited Naruto.
"Well at least it's a mission," I replied. Naruto smiled at me, but then glanced around with a bit of confusion.
"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" asked the blonde. I thought for a moment. Everyone here most likely knew that I was under Kakashi care and by the glares I was getting from everyone besides Naruto, Yamato and a really pale kid, I could safely say that they didn't trust me.
"Um… Well, Kakashi had to do something and he wouldn't let me go with him so…" I badly lied. I figured such a terrible lie was pointless, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Really? Huh. I wonder what he had to do?" wondered Naruto. I stared at the kid a bit dumbfounded, as did everyone else. I couldn't believe he thought I was telling the truth. A five-year-old could see through that lie.
"You're Lark Mayumi right?" asked the pale kid from before. The boy had a smile on his face, but it was obviously fake.
"What's it to you Pastey?" I hissed. The boy kept the fake smile as he continued to introduce himself.
"I'm Sai. I've heard something about you," replied Sai. I didn't smile or anything at the kid. He just sent off a weird vibe and I didn't like it.
"Well, I bet they weren't good things," I murmured. Sai chuckled to himself, seeming amused by my statement.
"We should get going," said Sakura. Everyone looked towards her and nodded. Naruto waved goodbye to me as he ran off with Sakura and Sai, Yamato trailing behind them. Just as I was about to leave, one of the four who remained stopped me.
"It's been a while hasn't it, Lark?" chuckled Asuma, who I remembered from eight years ago with a nostalgic smile.
"It has Asuma! I see that you haven't given up your smoking habit," I teased. Asuma shook his head in amusement.
"Asuma-sensei, do you know her?" asked a girl with long blonde hair in a ponytail. The other two members, who I assumed were Asuma's male students, nodded with the girl's question.
"Yes, we knew each other from when Lark was here before," answered Asuma. The three teens nodded, but didn't say anything.
"I should be going as well. Kakashi's probably look for me right now," I mumbled. Asuma nodded and waved as I walk away from the group.
I was close to the training grounds where Kakashi and I had been with Naruto earlier. As I was about to take a step into the beginning of the clearing, I heard an all-too-familiar voice call out.
"Lark!" yelled Kakashi. I ignored his calls and continued walking. My pace picked up a bit when I heard him getting closer. It was no use though; I knew Kakashi would catch up with me in no time, so there was no point in walking any faster.
"Lark, will you stop walking!" hissed Kakashi. He grabbed my arm and yanked me to a stop. Not looking at him, I tore my arm away and kept walking.
"Lark!" shouted Kakashi.
"Leave me alone!" I yelled back. Though, Kakashi didn't listen as he had appeared in front of me, making me stop.
"Will you just listen?" pleaded Kakashi. Crossing my arms, I stood there with my eyebrows raised and waited for Kakashi to start talking.
"What was all that back there? You had no reason to get angry like that," scolded Kakashi. I turned my face from the masked jounin and gave a small huff.
"Are you going to tell me? Or are we going to stand here in silence?" Questioned Kakashi. I answered with nothing, letting Kakashi know that I wasn't about to talk.
"Fine. I'll stand here until you feel like talking," sighed Kakashi.
It felt like an hour had passed since Kakashi had caught up with me. Not a word was uttered in this time, and the silence was slowly gathering under my skin. I didn't want to talk, but I knew Kakashi wouldn't let me go until I said something. The sun had nearly set and it was going to get dark soon. I was hungry and tired, so I decided to speak.
"You really want to know why I got so mad?" I asked. Kakashi jumped slightly, surprised that I'd actually spoken.
"Yes," answered Kakashi as he slowly nodded his head. Sighing, I thought about how I should start without yelling.
There you go! Hope you liked it. Please review! Bye Bye!
