Into The Past
.
.
Chapter Twelve
Hope
.
Coushander come in around eleven that morning with breakfast.
"Try to eat as much as you can," he told her softly.
"Yes, Coushander." Obediently, Taylor took the bowl and chopsticks from Coushander and nodded. "I'll try."
"Good."
Coushander bowed slightly and left the room, leaving Saru-Shin in there with her. For awhile, Taylor sat in bed in silence, eating her ramen slowly with her eyes half closed and with a slightly aloof expression on her pale face.
"You must be tired," Saru told her sarcastically.
"Damn right I'm tired," Taylor agreed, staring at the wall as if she were in a staring contest with it. "Uhg, I can't believe it still hurts to move."
"Well, if you hadn't done what you did you wouldn't be sick and hurting all over still," Saru reminded.
"Dammit, stop reminding me already!" Taylor snapped.
Saru-Shin jumped back from her sudden exclamation.
"I'm sorry," Saru frowned.
"No, I'm sorry," Taylor apologized, slurping her ramen noodles up from her chopsticks. "I'm not feeling well, I'm stuck in bed...it's no wonder I'm irritated, mostly with myself."
"Sorry," Saru sighed. "But it's your own fault."
"I know," Taylor acknowledged, listening out for Cou's footsteps. "Next time he comes in, I'll try to convince him to take me to the winter festival tomorrow."
"Good luck," Saru wished.
"Yeah really."
Taylor sighed heavily and slurped up more ramen noodles. A few minutes later, Coushander walked in to check on her. Before he could speak, Taylor looked up and immediately began persuading him.
"Grandpa Coushander," she started. "Can you take me to the winter festival tomorrow? Please?"
The elder looked at her, raising an eyebrow and then narrowing his eyes at her. Before he could speak, Taylor folded her arms and returned his look. Somehow, Coushander knew this was not going to be an easy argument.
"No."
"Please Coushander?"
Coushander took in a deep breath as he pondered it.
"No."
"I don't want to miss it... I've never missed a festival in the Leaf. Please?" she begged. "I promise to stay in bed as soon as we get home tomorrow!"
"How are you going to even walk there?" he asked. "I'm not carrying you."
"Dalzen?" Taylor asked, suddenly aware that he seriously was not going to let her walk. "Perhaps he can carry me on his back?"
"Even if he agreed to carry you, what about your fever?" Coushander knew Dalzen wouldn't like the idea of carrying a sick kid, one with a fever especially, on his back. Unless if it was his own though.
"I'll take the medicine and hope I'm better in the morning. If not, then I have a scarf I can use to keep my mouth and nose covered."
Taylor stood on her knees and put her hands together in a pleading motion.
"I'm not as sick as I was the other day!"
She looked down sadly.
"Oh please, Coushander, let me go..."
For a moment there, Taylor almost sounded like Matsuko. The elder flinched at the way she sounded and Taylor caught it, but said nothing. Coushander gave into it because the tone of her voice was a painful tone to him.
"Fine, fine," Coushander groaned in irritation. He was irritated by the fact that Taylor was able to persuade him to let her go to the festival. "You win, Taylor."
Taylor bounced up on her knees and hugged him.
"Thank you!"
Slightly surprised, the elder himself gave in and returned the hug. He couldn't not hug her back, she would be sad if he didn't return the hug.
"You're welcome...now...rest!"
"Yessir," Taylor acknowledged, letting go and laying back down on her bed before Coushander whacked her upside her head. Now, she knew he wouldn't do that to her, it didn't seem like he would ever do that to anyone, but for her it was motivation to not push her luck.
Good, thought both Coushander and Saru-Shin. Then, the great-grandfather's attention turned to the nightstand, where Taylor sat her bowl down not too soon after he got into the room.
"Done with your ramen?" he asked.
She glanced over and nodded.
"Yes sir."
Coushander picked up the bowl and glanced over at Taylor uneasily. Then, he left her room in a hurry. Taylor noticed the pain in the elder's eyes and looked over towards Saru-Shin.
"I remind him of Matsuko-obaasan, don't I?" she asked.
"Sorta. You're not quite like Matty, but the tone of your voice reminded him of her."
Taylor looked down, feeling bad.
"Oh..." She sighed and laid down on her bed. "Uncle Saru, how come Coushander is the way he is?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Saru-Shin looked at Taylor curiously.
"Why's he so bitter some days?"
"Because...well if you lost your older brother and your wife, you'd be bitter too. Well, if you get what I meant..."
Taylor nodded.
"Yeah...I get it..."
She sighed a bit.
"But, he isn't bitter towards you, don't forget that. He might be lost in thought sometimes and when he gets snapped out, he's a bit upset because usually he's thinking about us, but when you're around he's nice to you. He tries to push his bitterness aside. Although, I think it's because you're nice to him and you've got a pretty fragile personality and because you're family, he doesn't want to hurt you."
"Oh..."
Saru smiled.
"Just be glad he isn't bitter towards you," he told her. "You would honestly hate to be the one he's bitter towards."
"I can imagine..."
.
Kakashi wrote a note to his daughter as he at his miso that morning and he only balled up a note twice. This doesn't make sense, Kakashi thought the first time. Nope, this was starting to head into Icha Icha territory, he thought the second time. Taylor's not old enough for that kind of stuff. Sakumo watched as he ate and wrote.
"So after breakfast, we're going to send this note, whenever the hell you finish it, and Taylor's Nyanko-Sensei back into the past where she is?" Sakumo asked.
Kakashi nodded.
"How do we know it worked?" his father asked.
"Taylor will tell us, somehow," Kakashi explained. "She said if your father — or whoever gets it and knows her — gets it to her, Taylor will be relieved. When we find out if it'd worked, then we'll get ready and use the jutsu on ourselves."
He finished his miso off and finished writing his note to his dearest daughter. Aha! Third time's the charm, every bloody time...
"Alright, let's do this and hope it goes to someone who knows her," he hoped.
"If there was anyone other than Dad that would know about Taylor... I think it would be Dalzen-Sensei and... Oh what's her face... Keiko? Kano? I think that was her name... and Nidaime, if Taylor didn't shy away from him like she did when first meeting Tsunade," Sakumo chuckled at the thought of Taylor shying away like she usually did around strangers. He chuckled even more at the thought of her shying away from his father.
"Heheh, yeah," Kakashi chuckled.
Sakumo took the note and pinned it to the Nyanko-Sensei doll and wrote on the front; To Taylor from Grandpa Sakumotsu and Daddy. He thought hopefully to himself as he began the complicated jutsu, please get to someone who knows them. Once the doll disappeared from sight, Kakashi thought, we're coming to get you sweetheart. You'll be home again, where you belong.
.
Dalzen was staring out the window, thinking about something when all of a sudden, he heard a soft thump on his kitchen table. Startled, Dalzen jumped slightly. Then, his attention went from the window to the table. He was pretty sure he wasn't imagining things because he saw something strange sitting on it. What he heard was a doll being dropped on the table. The doll itself was small, about the size of his hand. Give or take a few centimeters though. It was a lucky cat; mostly white with half of the top of its head and the top of his back was orange, while the other half was a warm grey. He wore a red collar with a small bell and had red markings on either side of its eyes. Pinned to its side was a neatly folded paper with something written on the outside of it. Dalzen walked over and picked the little doll up off the table and read the front. This is for Taylor; from... Grandpa Sakumotsu and Daddy...Dalzen gasped slightly, finding it rather bewildering. Sakumo found a jutsu to get her back, didn't he? That's why the doll is there. But, how did it get to him? He automatically assumed that the jutsu would sometimes not get you to the place you want so that's how it ended up there. Sending the doll was Sakumo and his son's way of assuring Taylor; that they were going to be there anytime now.
He knew he had to get the doll to Taylor and he looked out the window. For the most part, the snow had been cleared so it was possible to walk through the village. But, was there still two feet of snow over in Coushander's neck of the woods? Perhaps, he thought. It's worth a shot to find out.
Dalzen layered up a bit, seeing as how it was only 32.2 degrees outside. That was barely above the freezing point of water. He wrapped his scarf around his neck and zipped up his vest all the way. Without a second thought, he slid the lucky cat doll under his jacket to conceal it. People would wonder what the hell was going through his head if they saw the doll in his hands. He was not a little kid, nor was he a little girl that played with dolls. Dalzen didn't like the idea of walking through the village, heading out towards Coushander's house, holding the doll in his hand. It would be rather awkward if someone, especially someone he knew like Kano or say, Takato, asked what he was doing with a lucky cat doll. He wouldn't know what to do and he would be terribly embarrassed when he was caught!
Silently, Dalzen wrote a quick note and left it on the table and left. Then, he began his trek to Coushander's house.
.
Taylor wrote silently in the notebook Coushander had bought her; a pale-sage, leather cover notebook. Her eyes were focused on the page, but she felt too tired to write. She'd almost considered sleeping but then she got more ideas and began writing again. It was on and off throughout the morning. But by lunchtime, that was all changed.
There was a knock at the door, and the elder looked up.
"Coming."
Slowly, he rose to his feet and stumbled towards the door. He grabbed the door knob and twisted it, allowing the door to open. The man was surprised by who was at the door. It was Dalzen, and he wasn't there to take Taylor out of his hair for a few hours either.
"Dalzen?" he grunted with surprise. "What on earth are you doing here? You haven't been here for awhile to get her..."
"Well, it's been a bit chaotic, what with all the snow and icy temperatures..." Dalzen explained. "I haven't been able to come by and get her. And then Sakumo's been bugging me to train him." He laughed. "I sure hope Taylor hasn't been that bothersome to you, Coushander."
"She hasn't been, in all actuality," the elder admitted. "She's been...pretty quiet and withdrawn."
He shook his head.
"So, what do you need?"
"May I see Taylor? I have something that she probably would want," Dalzen said in a low voice.
The elder nodded.
"Yes, yes. Of course," he beckoned him to come inside. "Come on in, she's in bed. I haven't really let her out of bed, maybe a few times other than her going to the bathroom when she needs to."
"Do I want to guess why she's in bed?" Dalzen kicked off his sandals and took them inside, setting them down beside Taylor and Coushander's sandals.
"Ah, she'd been clearing that path and she exhausted herself into passing out. She's also sick, but I guess I can't say I didn't see it coming considering this is the time of year people are most likely to get sick."
"Mm..."
Silently, he followed Coushander to the girl's room. She's a quiet child, so before they saw her they both thought she was asleep. When they saw her hunched over her notebook, it was clear she was awake. Although, it partially looked like her eyes were closed. At least from where they were standing. Dalzen knocked on the open door softly.
"Taylor?"
The little girl glanced up with her blue eyes.
"Dalzen?"
"Afternoon, Taylor," he greeted.
"Dalzen? What on earth are you doing here? I mean, you can't take me out to train cause I'm sick."
"I'm not here to take you out to train."
The man walked inside the room and pulled out the lucky cat doll from his vest.
"I think you'll want this," he told her, handing the doll to her.
Taylor sat her notebook and pen down. Then, she stood up on her knees and faced Dalzen, taking the doll from him gingerly. She examined the doll until she came across a sign that it was hers; the tear at Nyanko-Sensei's neck. My Nyanko-Sensei!
"Huh? This is...my Nyanko-Sensei...where did you get him from? Natsume Yuujinchou doesn't even exist in this time!"
"Look at his side," Dalzen replied. "You'll find the answer to that question there."
She held it and felt something pinned to its side and flipped the doll to its side so she could see what it was. "A note?" She unpinned it and unfolded it and Dalzen and Coushander couldn't help but look over her shoulder. She read the note in her head, but she could hear Kakashi reading it to her.
"My dearest Taylor,
It's me, Daddy. If we're sending this right and you're reading this right now, we know exactly where you are and how to get you back. It may take a few hours depending on if we send ourselves to the right place, but this is assurance for you in case you're scared. Alright?" Slowly Taylor's voice came back in her mind as she read. "Please don't fret my dear, Grandpa and I are on our way. Give us a few hours or more though, we don't know if this is going to work the way we want it to.
Love you,
- Daddy and Grandpa"
Taylor looked up.
"Daddy...and Grandpa... They're coming!" She smiled big.
Coushander and Dalzen exchanged concerned glances for a moment. Before Dalzen could look back at the child, she threw her arms around him. He nearly jumped backwards in surprise from the quick movement from Taylor.
"Thanks for bringing me the doll, Dalzen," she thanked him with happy tears.
He stared at her like she was insane.
"It's nothing," he replied softly.
"Oh and Dalzen...could you...I mean...would you carry me around tomorrow at the Winter Festival? Coushander says if you can do that then I can go."
"Why do you need to be — "
"It was really bad, her exhausting herself," Coushander explained. "Let's just say, I think she learned her lesson. But, she begged me to let her go yesterday, as long as you were up for it."
Dalzen sighed and pondered for a moment.
"I guess I can...," he told them. "I have nothing better to do tomorrow. What time?"
"Noon...so...twelve?"
"Noon it is for tomorrow," he said, looking at Coushander, who nodded curtly at his friend.
"Alright then," Dalzen pushed the girl gently off of him. "I guess my work here is done for the day. I'll get going now."
Coushander and Taylor nodded.
"Alright."
"See you tomorrow then..." Dalzen said, letting slip a wry smile and then walking out. Coushander followed him but once he was gone, he walked back to Taylor.
"So your father and grandfather could be here at any moment...?" Coushander wondered.
"A few hours or so," Taylor shrugged. "But if Dad meant to send Nyanko here, but instead it got to Dalzen, who knows what'll happen when they try to send themselves? I mean, they could end up sending themselves to Suna for Christ's sake! If that happens though... it may take hours to get here."
She looked down.
"So I'm going to the festival anyway," she smiled. "Don't worry, I doubt they'll mind it... Grandpa — at least — is patient."
Coushander nodded.
"Alright, if you say so..."
"Trust me, I know your Sakumotsu (well, the older Sakumo...). I lived with him all twelve years I've been alive." She gave him a little wink at the end.
The man looked at the girl and gave a wry chuckle.
"I guess you've got a point."
.
The little girl's ghost was hit with the memory an hour later. She was just staring at her feet quietly waiting for the note to get there when she remembered Dalzen handing Nyanko-Sensei over to her and reading the note.
"Yes! It worked," she whispered after she realized what the memory was.
"It did?" Saru asked.
"Yeah!" She hopped off her bed.
"Go tell 'em!"
"I'm about to."
Excitedly, she dashed out of her room and down the hall to the kitchen.
"Guys! It worked!" she exclaimed, jumping into the kitchen. To her disappointment, neither of them could hear her. "Dad? Grandpa?"
Neither one of them looked up and Taylor sighed.
"God darn it," she groaned. "Where's a notebook and a pen?"
"In your room," Saru told her. "But I don't know if you can use it like you want to."
"Don't bloody care right now!" She dashed back to her room and tried to pick up the pen off her desk. "Got the pen. Let's see if I still know how to write."
"I don't know how you can forget how to write," Saru mumbled.
"Well, you haven't written in nearly 100 years, so..."
"True..."
Taylor put the pen down on the page and started writing.
Dad! Grandpa! Go now! I've got the note and Nyanko-Sensei!
She tore the page out and when she went to take it out of the room, it fell out of her hands.
"Gah! Crap!" She bent down and tried to pick it back up. "Dammit! I can't pick it up."
"Man, you are not having any luck today are you?" Saru asked.
"Not really..." Taylor sighed. "I should calm myself a bit, maybe that's what my issue is..."
"Yeah, calm down a bit," Saru agreed. "You do seem over-excited."
Taylor sighed.
"All the damn time," she grumbled. "I always get over-excited."
"Calm down," Saru smiled, helping her to her bed. "Just calm down."
Taylor hung her head.
"Saru..."
"Sorry, I'm trying to help you Taylor-Chan."
"It's...okay..."
She sighed and looked towards the hall where she dropped the note. Maybe it was best just left there for now.
.
Kakashi stood up from the table a little after noon to go to his room, but as he walked down the hall he caught sight of a sheet of paper — obviously torn out of a notebook — by his daughter's room. Curiously, he bent down and picked it up.
"Huh?"
There was a note on it and Kakashi read it.
"That's great to know, Taylor!" he thanked her. "Dad!"
"What, Kakashi?"
"She got our note."
"That's great. Go get dressed and ready. I'll do that in just...a second."
"Right..."
He dashed into his room and changed as fast as he could into his gear: his mask, his vest, forehead protector, shuriken pouch, weapons pouch, glove. Only thing he needed was sanity. Wait...you can't find sanity, not here at the very least. The man didn't bother with his book. He had a feeling that they were fighting... Whoever sent her in the past and killed his little girl and was terrorizing his daughter's spirit, was probably waiting by the house in the past, waiting for the right moment to strike. The very thought of seeing his daughter dead sent chills down his back, and made his stomach churn a bit. He's seen many dead people before, killed someone too, but it's all part of the job. But, this is his daughter; no matter how much control he has over himself, when it comes to Taylor, well... He'll freak out, at the very least. Become a raging psychopath at the most. Freaking out was one of the rarest states to see Kakashi in. So rare, in fact, that he's never really freaked out before. Though, he did freak out once at the age of seven, but even then, he was seven. Any seven-year-old would freak out at the sight of their father dead on the ground, blood pooled around him.
Kakashi bit his bottom lip. No, she won't be dead when you find her, he assured himself. She'll be a-okay and she'll run up to you and hug you tightly, like aways.
The questions about his grandfather began running through his head. What was his grandfather like? Was he a sardonic asshole like Dr. House from that show Taylor would watch on occasion? Or was he kind yet irritating at times? Did he ignore those who didn't match him intellectually? Was he even intellectual? When he went back into the living room, he didn't even ask his father. Kakashi knew he would find out sooner or later when they find him.
Sakumo stood tall, all ready to go. He wore his standard Konoha uniform and his gloves and his forehead protector like he was still a shinobi. The grandfather even wore his sabre holster which had his sabre — it was a new one he had made for him when Taylor was still an infant, so it was a good twelve years old, just like her — in it. Damned if he wasn't ready.
"Ready to go, Kakashi?"
"How about you summon the dogs?" he suggested. "At least Natsu and Fuyu..."
Sakumo nodded.
"It's better to be safe than sorry," Kakashi said.
"It's a good idea, Kakashi." Sakumo cut his thumb and summoned his and Taylor's dogs, Natsu and Fuyu. They were mostly his, although he occasionally questioned it.
Natsu and Fuyu both appeared in front of him and looked rather surprised.
"We know where she is," Sakumo started.
"Really? Where?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Whoa, calm down Natsu..." Kakashi said.
"She's in the past — in my past — and I have the jutsu to get her." Sakumo clenched his teeth as he awaited Natsu's reply.
"That's great! Are we... going now?"
Sakumo nodded. "Damn right we're going now."
Natsu jumped up in excitement. "Great!"
Fuyu stared at Natsu and narrowed her eyes — "You're such a weirdo, Natsu."
Natsu chuckled nervously and said, "Oh come on, this is Taylor we're talking about. Who wouldn't get excited over her?"
Everyone just stared at him.
"Yeah...you're somethin' else aren't you, Natsu?" Sakumo commented softly.
Natsu looked down in embarrassment.
"Let's just go..."
Sakumo put his hands together and began doing the hand signs. On the last hand sign, they all were whisked away, back into Sakumo's past. Taylor's ghost leaned against the wall and sighed when they were all gone.
"What will happen to me when they bring me back?" she asked her uncle.
Saru-Shin shrugged. "Who knows? You might go back into your body and retain your memory of the past forty something years. You might forget it all. We just have to wait and see what happens..."
Taylor nodded.
"Alright...but I don't wanna forget Coushander and Dalzen or you," she told him.
"Aww, really?" Saru smiled.
She nodded.
"Yeah!"
"Aww, I suppose that's good," he blushed a little, looking up towards the ceiling. "You're so sweet."
.
.
