Into The Past

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Chapter Nine
Breaking Inside

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When she woke up, it was abruptly and to the sound of Coushander tripping. Her eyes flung wide open.

"What was that?" she wondered.

Then, there was a cry of pain. Taylor jumped out of her bed and dashed out of her room and down to the living room.

"Coushander?!" she exclaimed, seeing him lying on the floor. "Coushander, are you okay?! What happened?"

She jumped down and crouched beside the elder. The man let out a pained groan and Taylor tried to help him to his feet, or the couch at the very least.

"Gah!" he winced. "Ow..."

"Are you okay? What happened?" she repeated.

"I don't know," he used as an answer for both questions. "I was just walking around and something knocked me down."

"Knocked you...down?" Taylor helped him onto the couch. "Coushander, what hurts? Perhaps I can do something."

"I hit my head."

Those words nearly sent panic through the already worried child.

"I'll get an ice pack then," she rose to her feet and walked into the kitchen and searched for a washcloth and some ice. "Knocked you...down?" she repeated.

"Yes," Coushander put his hand on his head. "I'm pretty sure that's what it was."

"But no one else other than you and I live here," Taylor raised an eyebrow. "And we don't have any guests...do we?"

"No, and you're right," Coushander agreed.

"Are you sure you didn't just— " She caught a glance of something out the window and whipped her head to see. She saw it, but then she blinked and it was gone. What was that? Deciding to ignore it, she continued. "Just tripped over your own feet?"

"No," the elder groaned. "I didn't."

Taylor wrapped the cloth around the ice and brought it over to him.

"Here, put this on your head," she suggested. "I don't think there's many outside signs of a concussion, but I'd treat it like one so don't go to sleep for a few hours."

"How do you know this?" Coushander inquired. "I don't think you mentioned you were a medic ninja."

"Well, I'm not a medical nin. When you're as clumsy as I am, you learn a few things from your doctor...and unfortunately mine is also the Hokage," she explained, giggling nervously. "But, yeah. That's how I know this. I suppose there's an upside to being clumsy..."

Reluctantly, Coushander did what she said and held it to his head where it hurt and Taylor smiled.

"If you want me to, I'll cook supper tonight?" she suggested.

"As long as you don't put so much salt in whatever you make this time," the elder cautioned.

"Oh, sorry. I will try to refrain from that this time," Taylor grinned.

"Good."

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Sakumo allowed another day for Kakashi to recover a bit more to go talk to Tsunade. When he came back home, he immediately woke up his son. Kakashi woke with a start after his father prodded at his shoulder lightly.

"Huh?" he opened his eyes.

"Kakashi," Sakumo whispered softly.

"Dad?" Kakashi groaned softly, looking outside. "What is it?

"I have access to the jutsu scrolls from Tsunade. I asked if we could glance through to make a lesson for your students, Naruto and Sakura. Yes, I did lie. Also, I told Kiiro and she offered to help us glance through to find the jutsu Taylor was talking about. Grab a scroll or two and a brush and lets go!"

Sakumo jumped up and dashed downstairs. Kakashi stared at his door fame and sighed. I'll do anything for my daughter, he thought, sitting up. Shakily, he then stood up and glanced around his room for a scroll and a brush. Once he found the two, he started down to the kitchen where Sakumo stood in wait for him.

"Ikouyo," Sakumo insisted. "Let's get Kiiro."

"Right," Kakashi followed his father out.

"Are you sure you can't wait another day?" Taylor whispered. "You guys should wait another day, Daddy is still sick!"

"They can't hear you, and it's already too late..." Saru sighed.

"Let's follow them then," Taylor suggested. "I must be there to make sure Daddy is okay!"

"Alright then," Saru acknowledged.

"And if they need me to talk to them then I can go into their bodies and let the other know, who will then proceed to tell the one that was unconscious what I said," Taylor insisted.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Saru questioned. "You know how much it hurts to do it."

"Yeah, but I don't care. If I can talk to Grandpa or Daddy then I'll be okay," Taylor assured.

"Alright, if you say so. You go."

Smiling, she followed Sakumo and Kakashi with her uncle.

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Taylor did what she could to help Kakashi stand as he walked alongside Sakumo and Kiiro in the snow. Sakumo knew she was following them, so at one point he actually asked her to body jump her father.

"What?!" Kakashi looked at his father like he was insane. "Why?"

"Because you're tired. I think she might be able to help you walk a bit better if she was in your body," Sakumo explained. "You might not lag behind so bad..."

"Taylor's with us?" Kiiro looked at them. "Really?"

"Her ghost. Her ghost is the reason we know where and when she is," Sakumo explained. "She's prolly somewhere close..."

"I'm right behind you, Grandpa," Taylor muttered. "But hey, I can work with body jumping Dad."

"Taylor, you don't want to do it too much," Saru warned.

"Why not?"

"Because...Just don't do it too much, you could harm yourself."

"Alright...But I'm gonna body jump dad anyways. Grandpa does have a point. They probably won't have to stop so often if I'm in his body and being stubborn and running with them," Taylor grinned. "Please?"

"Alright, but don't do it very often. Okay?"

"Right!" Taylor grinned.

"Well? Taylor?" Sakumo looked around. "Want to body jump your dad?"

"I can't believe you're doing this Dad," Kakashi muttered.

"Oh you'll be okay!" Sakumo smiled. "I wasn't hurt. I mean, I was panicked but I was okay. Actually, it gives you a bit of a rest, now that I think about it..."

Taylor put her hand on her dad's shoulder and let herself fall into him.

"You'll be fine. I promise, Dad," Taylor whispered before she fell.

Suddenly, she looked up and Sakumo and Kiiro tilted their heads.

"Kakashi?" they both asked.

She looked at them and then smiled kindly.

"No, Taylor." Her father's voice was hoarse, and it felt weird trying to speak through the hoarseness. She rubbed her throat. "Daddy's got a sore throat, making his voice hoarse. That sucks."

Sakumo smiled big.

"Taylor!"

"Grandpa," she smiled back. "Hi, I took over Daddy's body."

"Haha, I see that..." Sakumo chuckled.

"I can't do it for long, though. Once we get there, sorry Daddy'll be back because Uncle Saru doesn't want me to do this," Taylor sighed.

"Uncle...Saru?" Sakumo looked at her funny.

"Your dad's brother, Ryouma Hatake. You didn't know him because he was dead. I got to know him because I...well, apparently I can see ghosts, his in particular."

"Oh...I see..." Sakumo put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's hurry..."

Taylor nodded and followed.

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Once they got there, Taylor let Kakashi take over his own body again and just watched them with Saru.

Without a doubt, Kakashi and Sakumo were full of determination. As soon as they got to where the jutsu scrolls were held, the three of them grabbed two scrolls each and sat down with a candle in front of them.

"Remember," Sakumo said. "We are only focusing on finding time travel jutsu. Nothing else. Am I clear?"

"Yes Father," Kakashi agreed.

"Yes Sakumo-Kun," Kiiro agreed.

"Alright," Sakumo gave a look of pure determination. Kakashi returned the look.

They all began reading the scrolls while the ghost of Taylor sat with her back to them. She was looking back retrospectively at how she had gotten killed in the first place. It wasn't at all her fault, either. But somehow, she felt it was.

It was a cold day, and she, Dalzen, and Coushander were heading to the Winter Festival, held inside the village, so Taylor couldn't miss it. Her house was in the forest, so they were not protected by the wall that surrounded the Leaf. They were open for an attack from some dumb ninja who thought they could make it into the village. Suddenly, as they walked, they were attacked. Out of no where, Coushander was pushed down into the ground by what appeared to be the same ninja that sent Taylor into the past. She grabbed the elder by his robe before he could fall and she pulled him to his feet.

"What the hell?" she yelled at the attacker.

"What the hell was that for?!" Coushander yelled.

"What was my grandfather doing to you?" Taylor asked, narrowing her eyes like Coushander would. "How rude of you to shove someone who wasn't doing anything to you..."

"You took that girl in," the ginger said pointing at Coushander first, then pointing at Taylor. "I never intended for him to ever meet you or take you in! I wanted to you to die a lonely death, without your beloved father or grandfather. I wanted to destroy their lives. I wanted to make your grandfather kill himself again, and your father go rogue."

"Well guess what? Your plan failed," Taylor growled.

Her great-grandfather took a moment to think about what the guy said at the very end there.

"Wait, Sakumo committed suicide?" Coushander shot a glance at Taylor. Her eyes were wide in surprise when she realized what the man said.

"Not that I know of," she whispered.

"They are getting in my way of killing you!" the ginger continued. "And destroying the Hatake family. My vengeance on the one and only Kakashi Hatake!"

"You're going to lose," Dalzen clenched his teeth. "There's no way in hell either of us are going to let you harm this innocent girl, or tear her family apart."

"Oh really?" The ginger snapped his fingers and his team jumped down from the trees. "We'll take her and kill her by force if we have to."

They were trapped. Dalzen, Coushander, and Taylor looked around them. Four ninjas were trapping them. What could they do? Dalzen didn't have to think. He attempted to put them all in a genjutsu, but he'd never tried to slip four people at once into a genjutsu before, really. And even trying to get one of those guys into a genjutsu was impossible. It was like they were immune to the jutsu. He shook his head quickly.

"Dalzen, do something!" Coushander exclaimed.

"I'm trying!" he exclaimed. He thought for a moment.

"Taylor, I'm going to ask you to get off my back right now because I can't do this and hold you up at the same time."

Taylor nodded and climbed down, stumbling backwards into Coushander's arms. The elder held her up.

"I can stand," she grumbled. "At least allow me that."

Coushander sighed and nodded. "Of course..." He let go of her, but he didn't take his hand away from her shoulder. That was assurance for him that no one was going to hurt her.

Dalzen put his hands together and slammed his hand down into the earth and causing a bit of earth to bounce up as a distraction. The ninja were of course, distracted with the earth jutsu.

"You two, run back! Now!"

"But Dalzen-Sensei!" Taylor cried. "I want to help!"

"No, you need to rest," Dalzen ordered quickly. "You're gonna have to sit this fight out. Now go!"

"I won't!" Taylor exclaimed. Calmly, she continued, "It doesn't look like you can do much. They are immune to your genjutsu, aren't they?"

"Yes and you need to rest," Dalzen said, pushing them away. "You guys need to—"

"I'm staying." Defiantly, Taylor put her foot down and folded her arms under her chest, narrowing her eyes. "And helping. There's nothing you can do about it."

Dalzen didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes said, "Damn you are as stubborn as a brick wall." Yeah, that she most definitely was.

"Fine." Mentally, the man threw his arms up in defeat. He gave up. There was just not enough time to argue with Taylor and she did have an unfortunate point.

"Coushander, go back and bring me the scythe. I can fight using that. Don't worry, the blood can come off, you just gotta bleach the blades and scrub them real hard," Taylor said quickly. "Now! Hurry, hurry!"

Taylor looked over her shoulder at Sakumo, who cried out in pain.

"Ah! Goddamn it!" he shouted, holding forehead. "Oh...ow..."

"Wha- What's wrong?!" Kakashi exclaimed.

Sakumo trembled slightly.

"My head...," he mumbled. "It is hurting like hell."

"Sakumo," Kiiro started. "Lay down and rest if you have to. Your son and I will be fine on our own."

"Are you guys sure?" Sakumo asked.

Kiiro and Kakashi nodded.

"Of course," they said in unison.

"Alright..." Sakumo glanced around for a place to rest. Taylor looked back at her hands but Sakumo laid down beside her so he wasn't in their way at all. Taylor's ghost gently put her hand on her grandfather's cheek, wanting to feel his comforting warmth. She couldn't feel anything with her sense of touch, everything was numbed. She hated being numb, she wanted to feel. She longed to feel the warmth and the cold, despite her actually disliking the cold.

Without thinking, Coushander ran back as fast as he could to get the scythe. That left Dalzen and Taylor to defend themselves. Coushander, you better hurry, she thought, then moving to stand back-to-back with Dalzen. The little girl had her right hand out, kinda gripping the air with it, and she held her right wrist with her left hand. This was the stance her father had taught her for his own move; raikiri. They were both ready to fight back; one with ninjustu and the other with taijutsu.

It was awhile before Coushander returned with the scythe, and he was running as fast as he could to her. Beside him, his only son Sakumo.

"Taylor! Heads up!" he yelled because he was still rather far from her and he needed her to hear that. She looked at Cou and he tossed her the scythe. She caught it by the handle and whacked the grass ninja in the face. The ninja fell back and then went at her with all his force using his knife. She went to block the attack with Cou's scythe but she was a mere second off, causing the ninja to cut her right arm where she had a scar from the last fight. She made a pained cry and then went and sliced the ninja's arm back. Sakumo jumped in.

"Leave Inoue alone!" Sakumo cried.

The opponent looked at the kid. He wasn't much bigger than Taylor was, but he still had that recognizable silver hair only of the Hatake clan. That had to be the girl's grandfather as a kid.

"Listen up kid," the opponent crouched down in front of Sakumo and placed the flat part of the kunai knife under his chin, the point poking his throat. "Leave this girl alone, she's my business. If you get in my way of killing her, I will kill you too."

"Sakumotsu!" Coushander grabbed the boy from behind but Sakumo slapped Coushander's hand away, staring intently at the bad guy.

"Sakumo," Coushander grabbed his shoulder again and pulled him back. "It's not worth it. Let the two fight."

Sakumo pouted underneath the cloud of indigo.

"Damn, I was just trying to help..." the kid mumbled.

"Yeah and I don't want you to get killed," Coushander defended, only he didn't state his reasons for why.

"Fine."

The opponent stood up and walked over to Taylor, who stood bravely awaiting the final round of the fight. Soon after the man came to a halt in front of Taylor, the two shinobi went at each other's throats. It wasn't long before Taylor sliced the opposing ninja's head off with the scythe and at the same time, her opponent slit her throat. Taylor fell backwards, clutching her throat. Blood began rushing from the wound on her throat and Coushander and Dalzen dashed over to her side. Dalzen caught her before she hit the ground, just like he did when they first met, and crouched down on the ground with her. Coughing up blood, tears began to form in her eyes.

"Coushander?" she managed to say, much to her surprise.

Coushander knelt down beside her while Dalzen summoned Hoshu and wrote sloppily on a piece of paper Taylor had in her pocket and used a pencil that she had on her person.

"Hoshu, take this to Kano," he commanded his summon, handing him the note.

Hoshu gave a curt nod and took the note and flew off with it. Taylor's eyes were heavy and tears kept streaming down her cheek and Dalzen tried to comfort the little girl by wiping them away. She coughed up more blood.

"Kano should be here in less than four minutes," he assured. "Everything should be fine then. Don't cry."

"I-I-It hurts," she managed to say. Again, it was a surprise to her. "T-To b-b-breathe."

"Then just breathe shallowly, it might help a bit," Coushander suggested.

Taylor gasped for breath and coughed up more blood, getting blood on the elder's robe. He took no notice to it. Sakumo watched and wondered why they were so worried about the strange girl.

"Stay with us," both he and Dalzen pleaded the girl.

Taylor clenched her teeth and laid her head against Dalzen's chest.

"Dalzen...," she whined softly. "Coushander...I can't..."

Before she could finish, she took in one last breath and stopped all together, her blue eyes grew dark and lifeless and she closed them. Coushander and Dalzen gasped and both panicked. Sakumo stared at them like they were insane (well, that is sorta the truth though) and just left.

"Shit!" Dalzen exclaimed, looking around. "Where's Kano?!"

"I'm right here!" Kano dropped from a tree behind them. "Coushander, back."

Coushander stood up and let Kano sit in his place and she began trying to heal Taylor. She was too late. After five minutes, she had to give up.

"I was too late," she whispered sadly. "I couldn't save her. I'm sorry."

Dalzen and Coushander didn't know what to say. It wasn't her fault, that's for sure, everything happened so quickly. Dalzen held Taylor in his arms for a few minutes, clinging onto hope that Taylor was going to wake up at any moment and hug them. But, she didn't. Coushander was at a loss for words, and was also clinging onto hope that she'll wake up. After ten minutes, they gave up and took her to the morgue. A few days later, she was buried and only Coushander, Dalzen, Kano, and Nidaime payed their respects to the twelve-year-old Hatake from the future. Taylor, in her ghost form, was forced to watch alongside Saru-Shin. This was when she finally came to the realization that she was in fact dead. For the first two days, she was in a complete daze, unable to talk and could barely walk. Saru had to lead her around while she was dazed. Then, that very day as she watched the funeral, she snapped out of it and realized she was dead. She gripped Saru's hand tightly for the first time in a few days and he looked down at her. Ghostly tears made their way from her eyes down to her gently rounded chin and then dripping down onto her shirt. It was painful to watch.

"I'm...really dead..." she choked out as she watched them, then looking at Saru. "I'm dead?"

Saru nodded, slightly sad himself.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

Taylor started crying.

"Why'd I have to die?" she cried. "What will become of Daddy and Grandpa when they find out I'm dead?!"

"Taylor, this is your chance to help lead them to the past," Saru-Shin consoled. "You'll get to see yourself get born and then twelve years later go into the past, and then you'll lead them to you before this actually becomes permanent, and before the timeline as we knew would become ever-so-twisted."

"R-Really?"

"Yes, really," Saru smiled softly and wiped away the tears. "Don't cry these useless tears. You will be once again reunited with your father and grandfather."

From then on, she watched as her grandfather grew up, her great-grandfather die, then her father grow up to be the man he was, her grandfather commit suicide, her grandfather suddenly being brought back to life, and then watched as she was born. But, she wasn't reborn in her own body. And she watched as she grew up the same exact way she did. Everything her other self did was something she did, even wearing the same exact clothes. She drew and wrote. It was her, exactly. And she even watched as herself got lost in the past, but she couldn't go with. She was stuck in the present time, unaffected by most jutsus. Her only purpose was to get her father to try and get her back as soon as possible. Taylor sighed softly and looked over her shoulder at Kakashi and Kiiro.

Kakashi opened the scroll and sighed.

"Will we find that jutsu?" he coughed.

"We should be able to," Kiiro assured. "Give it some time Kakashi..."

Sakumo was still laying beside Taylor and he could see her ghost.

"Taylor..." he whispered. "Taylor, is that you?"

She looked at him and nodded.

"Grandpa? You can see me?"

"I can see you sweetie." He smiled tiredly at her.

"Grandpa..." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I want to tell you everything I saw that I haven't already told y'all, but I can't... I don't know how long you'll be able to see and hear me."

Sakumo nodded.

"It's fine," he whispered, touching her cheek with his hand and wiping away the tears. "You don't have to tell me, I can already see what you've gone through..."

They stared at each other softly, Sakumo smiling reassuringly.

And for a moment, Sakumo had his strange granddaughter back. Everything felt normal and Taylor didn't feel so dead.

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After two days of nonstop snow, the storm began to dissipate. By noon of that same day, the storm was gone and a blanket of snow, about a foot and a half high, was left in its wake. Taylor looked up from her notebook and then stood up to have a closer look. Silently, she walked over to the window and she glanced outside and was stunned by all the snow.

"Whoa," she murmured in surprise. "That's a lot of snow. What the heck? That's seriously not normal."

"You're right," Saru agreed. "I wonder what's up with the weather."

"Yeah? I know right? I mean, it was seventy the other day and then it dropped back down to like the low twenties," Taylor opened her window to feel the air. Her hand was out the window for about three minutes before she yanked her arm back. "GAH! That's as cold as a freezer!" She slammed her window shut. "Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold."

Quickly, she rubbed her hands together.

"Man it's cold!"

Sighing, she sat back down at her desk and continued writing, then laying her head down for a moment to give herself a bit of a rest. It wasn't long before Coushander called her out for supper.

"Taylor?" he knocked softly on the door. "Taylor?

"Huh?" She lifted her head from her little desk and looked at Cou with a soft groan as she stretched.

"Supper?"

Taylor stretched her hands in front of her and rubbed her eyes afterwards.

"Alright..."

Drowsily, she pushed herself to stand up and she walked out to Coushander, then following him to the kitchen.

"Were you asleep?" Cou asked.

"Kinda... sorta... yeah," Taylor mumbled with a slight nod.

The eldest chuckled a bit.

"I see."

Taylor rubbed her eyes roughly.

"So tired..."

Coushander glanced over his shoulder at her.

"You can go back to bed after we eat," he promised softly.

"Alright."

She made her bowl of ramen and sat down at the table.

"Didn't you sleep at all last night?" Coushander asked, realizing how tired she was.

Taylor thought back to what time she'd gone to bed the night before.

"I went to sleep at one and woke up at eight..." she told. "So yes and no..."

Taylor slurped up her ramen noodles from her chopsticks and sighed.

"What in the world were you up doing till one in the morning?" he asked.

"Writing and I was also drawing you," she nearly lied. It wasn't exactly a lie because she did hang outside the elder's room and drew him while he slept. At the same time, she drew Saru. But before she drew him, Saru kept pestering her to draw his little brother with bunny ears; he even posed behind Coushander and did the bunny ears with his fingers.

"It took forever for you to draw him because you kept arguing with me about the bunny ears," Saru insisted. "I still think you should'a done it."

I doubt Coushander would agree with you Uncle Saru, Taylor thought bitterly. And boy, you guys sound like my characters. Except Kenta isn't much like Cou except that they both feel awful about their brothers' deaths.

Despite wanting to tell Saru that Coushander would probably disagree, Taylor didn't say anything and didn't acknowledge he said anything. Wise choice, Saru thought. I should've not said anything to her but, I really can't help it.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Cou," she apologized, folding her arms. "I shouldn't stay up late like that...I just...I wanted to draw something. It kept me up until I finally drew something...and well, that something was you, asleep..."

She looked at him and thought he didn't believe her, so she jumped up and dashed to her room and returned to the kitchen with her sketchbook. With a bit of reluctance, Taylor handed it to him. Coushander glanced over it. He was startled by the picture and the question formed in his head: did he really have a big head?

"Really now? My head is bigger than my body?" the elder asked.

'What?!" Taylor looked and laughed, shaking her head. "No, Grandpa Coushander. Not really!"

She giggled.

"Don't you know that in real life your head isn't competing with your shoulders for width? That's a chibi of you. Chibis are supposed to be cute and have big heads and small bodies. They're not proportionate."

Taylor glanced up and then looked back at him. "It's a... style of manga. As I just said a few moments ago, in real life your head doesn't compete with your shoulders for width. Everything is proportionate. With chibis, everything is out of proportion. Big eyes, big head, itty-bitty body, prolly big hands and feet depending on who's drawing the chibi. With me, I try to keep the hands and feet normal-ish."

"Chibi," Coushander repeated the term slowly, glancing back at the drawing. He nodded, seeing how the drawing makes sense. He's only seen the more realistic drawings she's done, not the seriously adorable ones.

"Now, if I were to draw myself in this style, since I'm a girl I'd have to reduce my waist and torso so much that I couldn't have lungs, but with drawing guys you don't have to do that," she continued, then looking at her great-grandfather worriedly. "Oh goodness, I must be boring you with stuff on art... Gomen nasai."

Coushander shook his head.

"It's fine...," he said, handing the girl her sketchbook back.

Taylor took her sketchbook, sat it down beside her, and sat down, going back to eating her ramen. She finished her ramen and sighed.

"I'm just gonna get out of your hair now," she said, taking the bowl to the sink. "Sumimasen."

She bowed and took her sketchbook into her room and closed the door behind her. Sighing, she sat down on her bed and stared out the window. The storm was completely gone for now, but the snow was so high that there was no way in hell Dalzen would be able to get to them if he wanted. And no way for them to get out if they needed. Taylor thought for a moment. Would Coushander be fine with me clearing the pathway? Does he even have a shovel? The little girl slid her door open.

"Grandpa Coushander?" she called. "Do we have a shovel?"

"Yes," the elder replied. "Why? What do you need it for?"

Taylor dashed into her room and slipped her gloves on and slid into her black jacket, then she dashed out to the living room and slipped into her sandals.

"What are you going to do?" her great-grandfather asked.

"It's in the work shed?"

"Yes."

Taylor dashed to the back door and opened it. Her great-grandfather repeated himself.

"To clear the snow off the path," she groaned. "What if we need to get into the village for an emergency? Like, I pass out for whatever reason that only the gods know?"

"But aren't you still recovering from a little while ago when you fought Dalzen?" Cou asked. "I know you were really worn out from that."

"I don't care," Taylor shrugged stubbornly. "I always clear the path after a snowstorm, even if I'm in a ton of pain. I'm stubborn, yes I know."

Coushander didn't want her to hurt herself even more because only God knows how many times she's tripped over her own feet or walked into the table during her stay so far. But, he couldn't disagree with her. If something happened and they needed to get out of the house, how would they get past the snow without a path cleared?

"Fine," he agreed with much reluctance. "But, I will check on you every thirty minutes. Am I clear?"

Taylor grinned.

"Of course," she agreed.

"And you better not catch another cold," he added shortly.

"Eh, knowing my luck, it'll happen anyway," Taylor assumed with a wry chuckle.

Taylor dashed outside and forced her way to the tool shed. Thankfully, it wasn't too far from the house. Taylor opened the door and walked in. Her whole body was shaking from the cold, but she tried to control the shivering, which she can't do very well. Then, she sneezed. Gonna catch another cold, either which way Grandpa Coushander, she thought. And I can handle a cold.

Taylor turned on the light and grabbed the shovel. Then, she turned it back out and hauled the shovel over her shoulder and headed back to the house. She walked out to the front and started clearing a path to the village.

Just like he'd promised, Coushander opened the front door and peered outside to check on Taylor, who'd almost cleared three feet of snow.

"How're you doing?" he asked with a bit of caution so he wouldn't startle the girl.

She reached behind her and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright..."

But Coushander didn't move. Taylor stabbed the shovel into the snow and lifted the shovel up shakily, then glanced over her shoulder with a disconcerting smile.

"I'm fine," she assured softly.

"Alright... If you say so," her great-grandfather muttered.

Taylor looked back and continued working. Coushander was sure that something was off, but if there was something wrong wouldn't Taylor tell him? He nodded, but there was some doubt, some uncertainty to that nod. Silently and wearily, he closed the door. Maybe when he goes to check on her again, she'll tell him that she's exhausted and needs to stop.

Another thirty minutes flew by and Taylor had cleared nearly twelve feet away from the house and was still shoveling. Coushander opened the door and frowned. The child was pushing herself a bit too hard.

"You should perhaps take a break!" Cou called out to her. She looked over her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she responded. But even then, she couldn't believe her own lie. She kinda glanced out of the corner of her eye at the snow and then turned her head back to look at the snow.

Coushander let out a heavy sigh.

"What if I tell you I'm not suggesting you take a break, but ordering you to take one?"

Taylor stopped and stood straight.

"Then I'm not going to disobey you," she informed him.

"Good. Now, come inside and warm up," the eldest Hatake commanded the younger Hatake.

"Yessir!"

Taylor sighed a bit as she tried controlling her breathing.

"So cold," she whispered. "I'm so tired... Thank the gods Coushander came out when he did, otherwise I wouldn't have the strength to stop myself from going overboard. I would pass out."

"You should go in now before you do pass out," Saru suggested. "You were working yourself too hard. I mean, you didn't sleep much last night so you ought to be exhausted."

She nodded, then tried to pick up the shovel only to realize what little strength she had left. Coushander sighed heavily and slipped his sandals on. Silently, he walked out and down the path that Taylor had cleared so far.

"Taylor," he started with a sigh. "Is something the matter?"

She handed him the shovel.

"Can you carry that back?" she asked timidly.

"Of course," Coushander agreed, taking the shovel from her. "And I'm going to take that as a, 'I need to go inside and rest for a few hours'."

Taylor nodded.

"Y-Yeah...," she murmured.

"If you still want to tomorrow, you can come back out in the evening and continue. But, for now I'd feel better if you rested. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," Taylor mumbled softly with a soft sneeze.

"And, I'm so going to make you drink the medicine," Coushander grumbled softly.

"Fine." There was no point in arguing with her great-grandfather. He was going to make her cower in fear and give up like he did the first day. It was no wonder to Taylor where Sakumo got his rather scary looks from.

Coushander silently led Taylor to the house and leaned the shovel against the house, then they went in and kicked their sandals off. The eldest closed the door after Taylor was inside and his gaze fell down to the girl.

"Go to your room," he ordered. "I'll be there with your medicine — mmm never mind that, you need a warm bath from sweating out in that cold weather don't you? Warm up first, you must be extremely cold. Change into some clean clothes so you're not sleeping in —"

"Coushander!" Taylor groaned. "Stop it!"

"What?" The elder raised an eyebrow. "Stop what?"

She sighed heavily, exhaling from her mouth into her hands. She sniffled.

"I'll take a hot shower, I'll take the medicine and make myself some of that tea I got in town before the storm," she promised. "You just don't..."

She shook her head. Don't have to act so much like Grandpa, she thought, storming to the bathroom.

"What did I do wrong?" Coushander called out to the girl, who ignored him as she went into the bathroom. Just don't what, Coushander wondered.

After her thirty-minute shower, she dried herself off and felt lost and scared for a moment as she thought about her father and grandfather.

"I want my daddy," she whined softly as she wrapped her towel around her chest.

The poor girl began to wonder when she will get home, if at all.

"Dad, where are you?" she wondered out loud in a whisper. "Help me...none of this is right...I'm screwing up the timeline; what if I'm hurting you and grandpa and I don't even realize it?! Please...help me..."

"Taylor, are you okay?" Coushander asked, knocking on the door softly on the door, having heard her soft whispers.

She wiped away a stray tear.

"I'm fine," she lied. "A-okay."

.

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