11/25/07

Faulty Stories

Kakashi Hatake: Konoha High School: 2156

A foot tapped impatiently on the too-white floor, as the owner frowned behind his mask.

Kakashi checked his watch, then looked at the ceiling, then at the floor, then at the door directly across from him. Itachi had sent him off to enroll Naruto into school.

He didn't see why; Orochimaru could just tap a few keys and then he'd have the boy back under his fist in a heartbeat . Even if they were using an alias.

Itsuki Uchiha, why would they give that name to Naruto? Kakashi had stared at Itachi when he'd thrown it out, thinking that it was a very peculiar name to choose. Then again, Naruto wasn't going to be pretending to be Kakashi's long-lost younger brother. Which was also a faulty story, but hey, if it worked, then they had less to worry about.

"Kakashi Hatake, Shizune will see you now."

Kakashi looked up and blinked at the small girl who was standing in front of him. She was wearing a rather short lavender skirt and tight purple blouse, with a long sleeved white shirt underneath. Her shoes were shined to perfection and her socks barely covered her ankles, leaving her legs largely exposed. He knew it was the uniform, but really, who thought them up? Perverts?

He gave her a small nod, tearing his blank gaze away from her, and strode into the office confidently. It was plain, with blue walls and a desk in the center of the room, two chairs in front of it. There were a few potted plants and a picture of a happy looking family behind the desk.

Shizune was standing in front of it, gazing at it sadly. Kakashi watched as she reached forward and lovingly ran her finger along the glass, over the face of a blonde girl with a happy smile.

He cleared his throat, feeling slightly awkward. The principal immediately withdrew her hand and turned her head, blinking when she saw him.

"Kakashi? What are you doing here?"

He frowned. "Have we met?"

Shizune seemed thrown by that, but she regained her composure quickly. Her faced easily morphed into an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I suppose not. I just know you from... around." she said vaguely. After a second she shook her head and her smile turned genuine. "I've read a few of your articles. I have to say that you're a very opinionated man, but well learned, if your writing is anything to go by."

"Most people don't agree," he said dryly, reaching under his coat and pulling out a small chip, "but I'm not here to discuss that, I'm here to enroll a student."

Shizune blinked again. She reached out to push a button on her desk, disguised as a paper weight. A small whir sounded and a monitor came up from where her name plate sat at the right.

Kakashi handed her the chip and watched with slight anxiety as she inserted it into a small slot on the side of the monitor. A screen came up and he politely looked away as she pressed in a password.

He heard a small gasp and, fearing the worst, he looked back at the screen and saw that it was just Naruto's picture, along with all of the necessary information that the school would need.

"A problem?" Kakashi asked when he noticed that Shizune was simply staring blankly at the screen.

She seemed to mentally shake herself before replying. "No, he just looks a little familiar is all. Itsuki Uchiha, huh?" the principal sounded amused, "any relation to Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered. Here came the harder parts of the fabricated story. "He's the long-lost brother."

Shizune turned and gave him a puzzled frown. "Long-lost brother? The one Mikoto was pregnant with when she died?"

Kakashi felt warning bells go off, but he ignored them, instead opting to go the easy course. "Who's Mikoto?"

"Oh..." Shizune trailed off, looking back at the screen. She tapped a few buttons, starting to go through "Itsuki's" files. "No one, I often get Mikoto Lee mixed up with Kagura Uchiha, they looked so alike, you know?"

He didn't, but decided to nod anyway.

A few minutes later, Shizune turned off the monitor, taking the chip out and handing it back to Kakashi with an amused smile back on her face.

"Everything seems to be in order. Because of his home-school education, Itsuki will have to take a test to determine his placement here, but other than that, I don't see why we can't take him in. He will be going home every night, so we don't have to worry about dorm room and his lunch will be provided by Itachi, I'm assuming, so that's taken care of." The woman stood and reached out. Kakashi took her hand and shook once.

"Is that all?" he asked, ready to get back to Itachi's house to check on Naruto.

Shizune's smile turned into a grin. "If he become's a troublemaker here, I'm sorry to say that Itsuki will have to consider going back to home-schooling. I will not tolerate brats in my school."

Kakashi nodded to show that he understood. "If that's all you need, then I will be leaving now."

Shizune gave a dismissive wave. "He's expected on Monday. His uniform will be delivered tomorrow and the cost will be taken out of Itachi's account."

She closed the door once Kakashi was in the hall.

He stood there, feeling confused, but relieved. Itachi's side of the story was holding up well so far, but whether or not Naruto would be able to stick to it was yet to be seen.

If he ever woke up.

"Excuse me? But have you seen a necklace around here?"

Kakashi looked down, noticing that the small girl from before was still in the hall, on her hands and knees... in front of him... dangerously close.

He felt the color rise to his cheeks as he sidestepped her, looking away. What the hell was with the skimpy uniform? If he ever found who designed them, he'd kill them and then feed them to his dogs.

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't." he said in response to her question. She looked crestfallen.

"My father gave it to me, if he finds out I lost it, he'll kill me." she groaned. She got back to her feet as she spoke, dusting her skirt as she gave him a curious glance. "You're Kakashi Hatake, right?"

Why does everyone know me all of a sudden? He thought, exasperated, even as he nodded and smiled at her. "I am."

She smiled widely and stuck out her hand. "I'm Yukina, Shizune's assistant. Most of the time, anyway. I'm year ten," she added as an afterthought, "I've read most of your stuff, and I've gotta say it's full of the most intelligent things I've ever seen! How you explained the difference between believing and knowing and all of that stuff about how our government is corrupt and-"

"I never said our government was corrupt," he interrupted, getting the feeling that if she was allowed to go on, she'd never stop, "I have to get going now. It was nice to meet you, Yukina."

She ignored him, falling in stride with his steps. "You don't have say something to imply it. You were clearly talking about the Head Researcher at Konoha Facility and how he's so obviously controlling Konoha in general and that we should just make him Hokage to get it over with," she paused, thinking, "Oh, and you said he looks like, quote 'a pedophile with a snake's smile'."

Kakashi stopped walking, startled. "You caught that?"

Yukina, obviously pleased, flashed him her brightest smile. "Yeah! All you had to do was take every last word of every paragraph, rearrange it in order from the longest paragraph to the shortest and then knock off the s's. Not very complicated, Kakashi."

He peered at her with renewed interest. "Yukina, I have to say that I'm honestly pleased to meet you, but I have to get home now."

She looked crestfallen again. "Will you come back?"

He blinked. "If I ever have a reason."

She bristled. "I'm reason enough, Hatake! I don't get to have intelligent conversation's often, you know." she crossed her arms, thinking that she had made her point.

Kakashi couldn't help but be reminded of Naruto. He thought they would either get along just fine or clash greatly. Either way, here was someone to keep him company.

"You can talk to Sasuke Uchiha, he's a smart enough boy." he said carelessly. If she was looking for intelligent, then Sasuke was perfect.

Yukina, rather than looking surprised or even embarrassed at the thought of talking to Sasuke, looked horrified. "Uchiha? Are you kidding? He's so arrogant! And stuck up! And he's creepy quiet!"

"You're being redundant," he said, relieved at the sight of the double doors. The doors leading to Safety from this girl and her chatter. "It was nice meeting you, Yukina, but I have to get back to tending to some important matters."

"Now who's being redundant," she muttered darkly, stopping as Kakashi pushed open the doors.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into the sunlight. The man quickly ran down the steps and jumped into the first cab he saw, giving Itachi's address and leaning back when it started to move. Guilt forced him into looking back and Kakashi saw that Yukina had left, probably back to wherever she was supposed to be in the first place.

He sank back into his seat, finally free to think about their plans so far. All they had come up with Naruto's name and little background information while the boy was unconscious. They hadn't even started to plan his role in bringing down Orochimaru.

That was what everything was about, they knew. Orochimaru's downfall.

Kakashi slid his money into the slot and got out of the cab, looking up at the Uchiha Mansion. He wasn't impressed, but he figured Itachi liked the room it offered.

He quickly ascended the steps leading to the front door, not caring that they made loud banging noises as he shut them. He knew that Itachi had taken Naruto to the infirmary of the house, which was through dining room, to the right door, to the left, across the hall.

Kakashi checked these places off as he hurried through the rooms, practically kicking down the door when he reached it.

He needn't have rushed, he saw, as Naruto was still out, laying on the one cot in the room. He was breathing steadily, moaning every now and then. Exactly as they had left him that morning.

"Next time you're in a rush, please remember to close the doors behind you."

Kakashi turned, not surprised to see that he hadn't noticed Itachi sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. The elder Uchiha was holding a book in his lap, looking through it with detached interest. He didn't bother to look up as he spoke to Kakashi.

"I'd also appreciate it if you didn't make so much noise when you run around my house."

Kakashi smiled and sat down in the chair he had occupied only an hour ago, before Itachi had become irritated with trying to find out what was wrong with Naruto and had sent him out to enroll the kid.

"The principal accepted him in. He's going to start on Monday and his uniform should be here tomorrow. The charge is coming out of your pockets."

Itachi sighed and put the book aside. "She didn't ask questions?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, she just looked through the information we put together."

"I was expecting problems, but as long as she doesn't have reason to suspect him of anything, then he should be able to get through school however long we need him to."

"That's what I was going to ask you about before you kicked me out," Kakashi started, leaning forward in his chair and turning serious. "There's no way Naruto will be able to last in school for more than a few weeks, if that."

"So what's the question?"

Kakashi frowned. "How are we going to get him out of it? School's these days don't let go of students easily, they need reasons, not just us coming in and taking him out."

Itachi smiled thinly. "I thought about it while you were gone and there was only one way I could think of."

"And what's that?"

"We're going to have to kill him."

Kakashi slumped into his chair, running a hand down his face, feeling exasperated again.

Really, Itachi could be so dramatic.

Well, it's been ahwile, eh? Sorry. School again. Anyway, this chapter wasn't edited, but, like with all other chapters, I shall go back and correct them whenever I have the time.
The Sasuke thing has been resolved, I think. People are leaning toward side-char, so I'm going that route and they seem to like just these three POV's. I'll see if I can stick with that, though it'll probably switch later.
Oh, and, believe it or not, Yukina is NOT an OC. Feel free to guess who she is, but I don't plan on telling anytime soon. Or ever...
As always, hope you Enjoyed!

-Slaughter