Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. The only characters I claim are Harumi and her family.
The Next Morning
Walking Masahiro to school the next day was routine by this point, which was a good thing because Harumi was still hurt from her training this morning. Shikaku-oji got in a lucky shot and the ribs that she healed last night were back to being injured. Not fractured or broke, but it still hurt. Sparing with her Oji and his team was always fun, they always kept her on her toes. Sadly they didn't get a chance to spar as often as she wished, one or two were always on missions. However it was better than the once a month she was able to do when it came to her own team. Sadly they were all busy with their own stuff now, her with the hospital, Katsu was busy with ANBU and Tamotsu was busy at the academy. With a mental note to invite her teammates over for tea or dinner one day soon, Harumi nodded absently to people as they passed. Masahiro was already firmly in a conversation with Naruto.
The boys were in their usual position on either side of her, with Kakashi taking up the rear guard. Although he was reading a book, Harumi had since figured out that the inattention was all an act and Kakashi was ready to move in a moment's notice. Shaking her head, she finally focused on the conversation happening around her.
"We should do something fun while you stay with us," Masahiro whispered.
"Oh? Do you have a plan?" Naruto asked.
"Well not a plan, but an idea," came the reply.
"What is it?"
Glancing up and seeing that they were the focus of Harumi's gaze, Masahiro gave a big innocent smile, "Oh you know, just a silly idea. We can talk later."
Harumi laughed, "Because that wasn't suspicious at all."
Both boys shrugged and smiled. Thankfully for Harumi, they arrived at the academy. Before they could run away, Harumi grabbed a shoulder of each boy, "I will be here to pick you up after school, do not wander away."
"Yes, Nee-chan," came the reply from the little boys. Harumi smiled at Naruto calling her big sister. Waving as they ran into the building, Harumi watched as they disappeared inside, into the care of the teacher. Glancing around for Tamotsu and failing to find him, she turned and saw that Kakashi had put his book away and was patiently waiting for her.
"It is time," he told her, and Harumi couldn't help the slight queasiness that settled into the pit of her stomach.
"Lead the way," she replied, and readied herself to jump onto the rooftops. However she was shocked when Kakashi walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder, before she could say anything Kakashi shunshined them straight to the Hokage's office. Used to the slight disorientation from the shunshin, she had to school her features to not show the shock at arriving inside the Hokage's office, because one DOES NOT just show up in the middle of the Hokage's office! That shock was nothing compared to the shock at the people in the room. Shikaku-oji was there, along with two ANBU along with the Hokage. Why didn't Shikaku-oji say anything this morning?
"Nice to see you on time Kakashi-kun," Lord Hokage said dryly.
"I couldn't let Harumi-san stress herself more than she already was," came the muffled reply.
Harumi turned to glare at Kakashi, "I am not.." she stopped herself before she finished the lie and just glared at him, but her fingers twitching gave away her desire to smack him over the head like she did her siblings.
Shikaku and Lord Hokage saw the movement and both smiled for different reasons. Shikaku because his niece was standing up for herself in the face of one of the most dangerous shinobi in Konoha. Hokage because he took this as a sign that Harumi was giving Kakashi something he hadn't had in a very long time, a family.
"Harumi-kun, please sit down. I have much to tell you. I do not need to tell you that what I am about to tell you is considered a S-rank mission and is not to be discussed with anyone outside this room, if it must be discussed at all."
Harumi sat down in the chair next to her uncle and nodded to show that she had indeed heard the Hokage.
"Good. Now you are aware that the jinchūriki known as Naruto Uzumaki has recently been place into the care of Kakashi Hatake," pausing to see her nod again, Hokage continued. "What you are not aware of is that Naruto was placed there because approximately four months ago, Naruto was viciously attacked to the point where he was almost dead. If he were not found when he was, then he surely would have died."
Harumi felt herself grow very still, someone tried to hurt, no to kill Naruto? The little boy who played pranks with her brother? The little boy who played in her back garden and ate dinner at her table last night. Suddenly Kakashi's behavior made so much more sense. Someone tried to kill Naruto and she threatened the same thing just last night. Granted she was threatening in play, but still, Kakashi would not have seen it that way.
"Since you will be taking care of Naruto for the next couple weeks, it is important for you to understand what is going on. In addition to the attempted murder, the threat has not been eliminated, in fact we are not sure where the threat is from. You will need to increase your security measures in your house. There will be an ANBU following Naruto and by extension, you, until Kakashi returns. If you feel you need extra security, Shikaku had offered you space in the Nara compound."
Harumi turned to look at her uncle, who nodded, "Only if you feel you need it, or would like the extra help. Your aunt would love for you to be closer to us, she worries," he shrugged as if that explained it all. Which, in a way it did, because her aunt was very protective of family. Even if she was pushy.
"Hm," Harumi replied, acknowledging that she heard her uncle.
"Kakashi can give you specifics when it comes to the day to day dealings with Naruto, however you need to be aware that he has had nightmares about the attack, so you will need to be able to deal with them. While the boy has not gotten too violent, Kakashi's words, you will need to be able to handle the situation. Do you understand the situation and accept this mission, Shimizu-san?"
Harumi took a minute to get her thoughts in order, "The mission is to protect Naruto Uzumaki from an unknown assailant?"
"In addition to the friendship and female leadership you have been providing, yes, your mission is to keep Naruto safe until Kakashi Hatake is able to take over again."
"Is there a danger to my siblings?"
"No threat has been revealed."
Harumi nodded, "I accept this mission, however I will not risk the safety of my siblings, if they become threatened.."
"You bring everyone to the compound," Shikaku interrupted.
Harumi looked at him, trying to gauge just what he was trying to say.
"You have a large family full of shinobi, we can help you. Hideaki and Maiko are both shinobi who can help to defend Naruto if needed. However, since they are not to know the threat, they can only react. It makes sense to come to the compound. We can always invent a need to get everyone out of the house, such as repairs needed or something."
Harumi nodded.
"Good," Hokage said, clapping his hands together, "Kakashi quickly inform Harumi about Naruto's nightmares and then you and Cat need to leave."
Kakashi waved Harumi over to where he was standing at the far end of the office, while Shikaku, the Hokage and the two ANBU stood around the desk discussing something, probably dividing up the watch Naruto mission.
"For the most part, I just pull Naruto into my bed when his nightmares get bad. He seems to respond well to just not being alone."
Harumi nodded, "Masahiro is the same."
Kakashi tilted his head and stared at her, "Did something happen last night?"
Harumi waved her hand, "Nothing much, Masahiro had an old nightmare last night. One he hadn't had since our parents died. However, it is only natural that he would after yesterday."
Kakashi frowned, "Is he okay?"
"Absolutely, he does the same thing whenever Hideaki or Maiko return from a mission hurt. It is something he needs to figure out on his own. As shinobi, we get hurt it is something we do." Wincing slightly as she took a deep breath, Harumi focused on the man in front of her.
"Are your ribs still hurting you?"
Harumi waved the concern away, "My ribs are fine."
"Then why are you being very careful with your movements?"
Harumi shrugged, "I did some sparing with my uncle and his team and Shikaku-oji got a lucky hit in."
"Why didn't you heal yourself after yesterday?"
"I did heal myself yesterday, this is new." Harumi said firmly.
"Why did you need to heal yourself yesterday?"
Harumi turned and saw that she and Kakashi were the focus of four pairs of eyes.
Harumi smiled, "Naruto and Masahiro decided that they wanted to do an impromptu ambush on me last night. Hideaki and Maiko decided to help. So it was four against me and I didn't make it out unscathed." Knowing that she told the truth, no one would suspect that she was holding back some vital information.
"Why didn't you say anything this morning?"
"I healed myself last night and woke up just fine. Unfortunately for me, you managed to kick right where my fracture was not fully knitted together." Seeing him frown, Harumi continued, "This is not the first time I have trained with an injury, nor will it be my last," Harumi shrugged.
"You are a medic, you should heal yourself so that you can do your job!" Shikaku snapped.
"I am not on mission, I am safe in the village. I did do my job, the fracture was knit together, but because I was not planning on having to run or do any great physical feats today, I didn't use my chakra to complete the healing," tilting her head a little as she turned to face her uncle, "It almost sounds like you are questioning my abilities, Uncle. I am sure that wasn't your intention," her voice dropping to a threatening level.
"I am not questioning your ability, Harumi-chan," Shikaku quickly replied, "but if you are to help Naruto, then you will need to be in top form."
"Well since I had no idea that I would be on a mission today, I didn't think there was a need for a full healing, after all, it is just some extra pressure on a small fracture."
"You know better now though, right?" The Hokage broke into the argument.
"Yes, Lord Hokage, I will fully heal myself as soon as we are finished here."
The Hokage waved his hand, "I think we are finished here my dear. You go ahead and get that fracture taken care of."
Bowing to the Hokage, Harumi walked to leave from the door this time when Kakashi called her name. Turning to look over at him, she reflexively caught the scroll tossed at her. "Naruto's things. If he needs anything else, while I am gone, he can get inside my apartment."
Nodding she turned to look at the group of men standing around the Hokage's desk, "Safe journey, Kakashi."
As the door closed, Shikaku turned to look at Kakashi, "What happened last night?"
Kakashi shrugged, "It is as Harumi said."
"Harumi-chan would not fracture her ribs during an impromptu ambush."
"I was the decoy, Shikaku. I didn't see what the kids did, I just did my part." Not wanting to say anything more, he turned to the Hokage, "In the information you gave me, it says that Harumi's genin team has an ANBU member on it. I would like to request that he be part of the surveillance team on Naruto. Having someone familiar to her, might help Harumi."
"By the definition, Harumi is not to know who the ANBU detail is, however I see no harm in that. Also if cover needs to be blown, then it is perfectly reasonable that her old teammate would stop in to talk to her or help out with the friend of her youngest brother."
Kakashi nodded, "If there is nothing else, then I will be leaving. I am supposed to be meeting with Cat in a little bit."
"Dismissed."
With a sharp salute, Kakashi disappeared with a flash of smoke. Appearing in his apartment Kakashi opened his wardrobe and started to pull out his ANBU armor, complete with his captain's mask. He pulled them out of his storage scroll early this morning, to air out the uniform and to inspect the armor to ensure that nothing was damaged. Kakashi quickly put on the standard black pants and sleeveless shirt, the he put on the black leg wraps, his weapons pouch, the gloves and his flack vest. Then he placed the armguards on and finally the sword he always had on his back. Putting his mask on and tucking a storage scroll into one of the many hidden pockets, Kakashi was ready. With one last look around, Kakashi jumped out of his window and headed towards where he was meeting Itachi. This was going to be an easy mission, well not easy, but less dangerous than some of the other missions he had been on in the past.
It wasn't an assassination, or even to steal information from someone. It was just a get someplace and listen to the people around them. A simple mission to gather some information.
AN:This is a shorter chapter, but it was necessary to end it there, because the next part doesn't leave a good place to end, and really I just wanted to post something this week. With NaNoWriMo in a couple weeks, I am working hard to get some chapters written so I can focus on my NaNo (which is a Gaara/OC fic, incidentally) during November but still keep to a regular upload schedule.
For those wondering about the part Kakashi and Naruto is going to play in this, they are a large part of this story. We are coming to the point where the perspective starts to switch from Harumi to Kakashi. I will admit that Harumi is much easier to write for me because I have extra freedom to throw her into any situation and not worry about if her reaction will be too OOC. The next chapter has more of Team Ro in it, so please look out for it sooner rather than later *fingers crossed*