It had been a couple of months since her first ANBU mission and since then her life has pretty much worked around a stable routine. She was still going to the academy every day to help Iruka and even learn about the history of the Hidden leaf village, she helped Naruto with his homework. Sparred with Sasuke, continued to train with Hinata on the weekends, however, she was still having trouble with her medical ninjutsu training. Lucy didn't know why but she just couldn't weave her chakra through other people's bodies, she knew where everything was and how it worked but her chakra just wasn't cooperating.
Not to mention that Lucy still hasn't made any progress in her magic deficiency problem, no matter how hard the Hokage and Ibiki tried, they didn't know how to help because they don't know how to detect other nano. It frustrated Lucy to no end and Kakashi was getting suspicious about what she's been working on. While Lucy had never lied to him she had used the excuse 'it's just something from my past,' or 'it involves my spirits,' too many times and Kakashi was getting annoyed with the constant avoidance of the questions.
Currently, Lucy was sitting in front of the Hokage, she had just finished reporting back to him from her latest ANBU mission. They were all related to Itachi in some way, so she hardly had to go on missions.
"Lucy, I've heard that you're having trouble with your medical ninjutsu training," the Hokage said after she finished giving her report,
"Ahh yeah, I'm not sure why though," Lucy said as she started to look embarrassed and rubbed the back of her neck,
"Well I know someone who's a medical ninjutsu master, unfortunately, I don't know where she is at the moment," Lord Hokage said and Lucy looked at him annoyed,
"And you're only telling me this now because?" Lucy asked sarcastically,
"Well, you seemed to be doing well on your own so I didn't think it to be necessary. Now though, you seem to be having trouble," Lord Hokage replied to her, "I have some of her information for you here, if you would like to you can try to find her," at this Lucy looked at the Hokage in shock,
"You mean, leave the village for awhile?" She asked him unsure,
"That is of course, only if you want to," he said and Lucy hesitated,
'How long would I be gone for? How would I even begin to look?' Lucy thought to herself in concern, 'but I would be learning medical ninjutsu from a master, with this I can finally get my hands on the Hyuga clan scrolls. I could heal people while on missions,' she reasoned with herself,
"If you're concerned with being gone for too long, you could always come back to report in. I will be sending you a special mission every now and then so make sure to take your uniform with you. Should you decide to go," the Hokage explains,
"Can I have a few days to think about this?" She asked him and the Hokage nodded his head,
"I would like your decision by the end of the week," with that Lucy got up and bowed before leaving. She walked through the village lost in thought, travelling could be a good thing for her. Gather information about this world and maybe find others to teach her somethings before her medical training. Lucy shivered suddenly and pulled her cloak around her tighter, it was mid to late December and the winter breeze was brisk.
Lucy walked through the door of Kakashi's place and headed towards the kitchen to make herself hot chocolate to warm herself up.
"Oh Lucy you're back," Kakashi said as he looked up from his disgusting book,
"Yeah, I just came back from the Hokage office,"
"What did you do this time?" Was Kakashi's blunt reply and she scowled at him,
"What makes you think I did something?" Her tone was sharp and cutting,
"Did you?"
"No, he was proposing an opportunity to me," she replied and Kakashi looked up from the book that he had turned his attention to,
"What type of opportunity?"
"One that could help me with my medical ninjutsu training,"
"That's great, what is it?" Kakashi asked lightly and Lucy paused,
"To train under a medical ninjutsu master," she said calmly,
"Isn't that great though, why aren't you more excited?"
"They're not in the village,"
"Then how are you supposed to train with them?" Came Kakashi's reply and Lucy turned her head to look at him, "Oh," Kakashi whispered in realisation, "Absolutely not," he said calmly before turning back to his book,
"Excuse me?" Lucy yelled out in shock,
"You are not leaving this village alone to travel with complete strangers,"
"You don't get to decide that Kakashi," Lucy yelled at him and continued before he could get a word in edgewise, "this is a great opportunity, training under a master, I may never get a chance like this again. If I'm going to go and find her then I need to leave before the Hokage loses contact with her again," she tried to reason with him,
"Lucy, you are eight years old. You aren't leaving this village alone," Kakashi yelled as he stood up,
"We both know that my age is of no importance, I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for years," Lucy yelled back, raising her voice to match his volume,
"You will do as I say, Lucy, this is not up for discussion," he said tensely and gave her his famous glare that would have scared anybody else,
"You are not my father, you don't get to make my decision's for me," she yelled back and turned to storm up to her room, completely missing the look on Kakashi's face. Lucy was sitting on her bed glaring at her bedspread when she suddenly heard the front door slam shut, the noise echoed throughout the house and shook the walls. Lucy flinched, she's seen Kakashi angry before but he's never been one for dramatics, she's always the one slamming doors and throwing things. Lucy looked back down at her bed sadly before turning into her side and trying to fall asleep.
With Kakashi
Kakashi was currently sitting at a table in a bar nursing a drink.
"Oh Kakashi, it's not like you to be in a place like this," he heard from behind him and turned around, he saw Asuma, Gai and surprisingly Ibiki were behind him. Asuma continued, "What are you doing here? You get dumped or something?" He said chuckling but stopped when he didn't see Kakashi humouring him, "Don't tell me you actually got dumped, I didn't even know you were seeing anybody," he said startled and Gai started to dramatically cry, yelling something about Kakashi never telling him anything, while Ibiki just stood there
"I'm not seeing anyone," Kakashi said exasperated, "Just got into a fight with Lucy," he groaned out,
"Should have known, considering Lucy is the only female in your life," Asuma said laughing, "So what was it about this time? Did Pakkun rip something of hers up or did you get another book in the 'make out' series?" He continued with amusement,
"Neither, Lucy wants to leave the village," he said simply and both Asuma and Gai stared at him in shock but Ibiki didn't look surprised at all,
"What do you mean she wants to leave?" They shouted in unison and the people around them turned to look at them,
"She told me that the Hokage gave her permission to leave to train,"
"Oh, for a second I thought you meant permanently," Asuma sighed out in relief, "why did you guys fight though?"
"I said that she couldn't," was all Kakashi said, Asuma groaned and Gai looked at his rival with pity,
"Let me guess she yelled at you, telling you that you don't have a say and you got angry and yelled back," Asuma said,
"Kind of,"
"You know that she's right Kakashi, you may be her guardian but it's not exactly official. You haven't adopted her or anything, if the Hokage gives her permission she can do as she likes," Ibiki said, knowing that it would irritate Kakashi, "besides this is a great opportunity for her. Training under a master medical user," Ibiki said and Kakashi stiffened before he turned to face him,
"You knew?" Kakashi asked him and Ibiki nodded his head,
"I did, in fact, I suggested it," he said and Kakashi grew angry,
"Why would you do that?" He yelled at Ibiki and both Asuma and Gai looked at him in shock,
"Because she can take care of herself, besides she'll be with a healer, no place safer for someone like Lucy," Ibiki said a matter of factly,
"She's a little girl who has no place being out in the world alone,"
"She has already been in the world alone, she's gone through more than what either you or I have combined. Why can't you see that she's a strong shinobi of the leaf?" Ibiki asked sternly, finally getting annoyed by the way Kakashi treats Lucy like she's a toddler. Kakashi fell silent not really knowing how to respond to that,
"There's something else isn't there? I mean you guys have had fights like this before and you've never resorted to drinking," Asuma pointed out and Kakashi looked back towards his drink,
"It's nothing," he grumbled and took a large gulp of the drink,
"If it was really nothing you wouldn't be here," Gai said,
"It really is nothing, I don't even know why I'm so affected by it," Kakashi sighed as he went back to nursing his drink,
"She told you that you weren't her father didn't she?" Ibiki guessed since it was the only thing that really got him so worked up lately and Kakashi's silence was all he needed to know the answer, "if you hate it so much, why don't you change it?" He suggested and Kakashi looked up at him agitated,
"I can't just suddenly become her father,"
"Why not? Just go pick up the adoption papers from the Hokage office, I doubt he would be opposed to the idea," Ibiki said like it was no big deal,
"I can't just go and make that decision on my own, besides if I show up now with the adoption papers she'd think it would only be to keep her in the village,"
"So then wait until she comes back from her training," Asuma suggested,
"Like I said I can't just go and make that decision on my own, besides I don't want to force her to look at me as a father figure,"
"Then don't adopt her as your daughter, adopt her as your sister," Gai spoke up and all three men turned to look at him,
"I'd never thought I would say this but that's really smart, Gai," Asuma said laughing and Gai smiled a toothy grin and stuck up his thumb for a moment before pausing with a frown,
"Look I don't know, what do I know about kids?" Kakashi grumbled,
"This isn't about just any kid though, this is about Lucy and don't tell her I told you this but she would be more likely to listen to you if you adopted her. To her it would be similar to creating a contract with her spirits, remember how she went on about the promise that's made between them," Ibiki said and Asuma and Gai looked at each other confused,
"She does take promises very seriously, one time I promised to make her the best strawberry smoothie that's she's ever tasted and she made me practice until it was true," Kakashi said amused at the memory, "Look I should probably go," he said and placed money down next to his unfinished drink before leaving.
Once he made it home he went to check on Lucy and saw her sleeping. She was turned onto her side facing away from the door on top of her covers. Kakashi quietly walked around her bed so he could see her and became worried when he saw it scrunched up in pain. He saw her mouth move and learned to hear what she was saying,
"Natsu," he heard her mumbled and then let out a whimper,
'Why would she be dreaming about summer?' (Natsu: means summer in Japanese) Kakashi thought to himself as he continued to stare worriedly down at Lucy, "Lucy, wake up. It's just a dream," he said as he shook her awake,
"Natsu," Lucy gasped as she sat up and looked around, she had been dreaming about the dragon cry mission that Team Natsu had gone on before the war between Alveraz and Fiore took place. Lucy let out a deep breath as she realised where she was and looked at Kakashi in confusion, "what's going on?" She asked him quietly,
"Can we talk about this afternoon?" Kakashi asked her,
"Now?" Lucy questioned as she looked around her room to find it dark, Kakashi turned the lamp on her bedside table on and sat next to her, "this can't wait until morning?"
"I need to say this Lucy," Kakashi said and took a deep breath, "I know I don't have a say in your decisions and I know that I'm not your dad or anything," Lucy Looked down as he said this,
"When I said that I just meant," she started but Kakashi interrupted her before she could finish,
"I know what you meant and you're right. I'm not your father and I don't have a say in your life. You're just such a worry Lucy, I mean you tripped over the air this morning," Kakashi stated and Lucy looked up at him with a tick mark on her forehead,
"I hope you have a point,"
"I'm just saying that I'm worried about you, trouble just seems to follow you everywhere you go," Kakashi said in a defeated tone,
"I'm going to be fine, I have to check in with the Hokage every few months anyway and I've already decided that if I don't find this medical ninjutsu master in a few months after I leave then I'll come back for a few weeks before trying again. I wouldn't just leave for years," Lucy said, "I know what it's like to be left behind," she whispered and Nastu's brief letter to her before the guild disbanded came to her mind before she shook the thought away. "I'm going to be okay, I always have my spirits and tigers with me,"
Kakashi reluctantly nodded his head, "I still don't like it but okay, you'll check in with me as well when you visit the Hokage right?"
"Always, now how am I going to beak this to Naruto?" Lucy asked him sheepishly.
Time Skip
"You're leaving?" Naruto shouted at her and everyone looked over at them. They were currently having lunch in the classroom, it was too cold to play outside today.
"Only for a little while, I'm going to be training in medical ninjutsu and my dojutsu," Lucy said and nervously rubbed behind her head, "Don't worry I won't be gone long and I'll send you letters all of the time,"
"When do you leave?" Naruto asked her quietly,
"The day after New Years, I wanted to spend the holidays with everyone before I left," Lucy said and Naruto nodded his head sadly,
"You're leaving?" Lucy heard a whisper from behind her and saw Sasuke standing behind them,
"Yeah, I'm going to find a medical ninjutsu master to train under for a while, don't know how long I'll be gone for exactly but I'll check in every few months," she explained to him but he still wore his blank expression,
"Hmm," at his response Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead and smacked him upside his head with her notebook,
"Use your words," she said sternly,
"Don't hit Sasuke like he's a fly," Lucy heard a shrill voice say and turned to see Sakura standing there with her fists raised,
"Anyway, I'll come and see you every now and again, I promise," Lucy said as she turned back to Sasuke and he nodded before going back to his seat. Lucy sweatdropped as she turned back around to face Naruto,
"How did you become friends with that guy again?" Naruto asked with a frown on his face, "I don't know how you can stand him, he's so full of himself," he continued,
"Yes he maybe kind of obnoxious but he's still my friend and I expect you to at least act polite while you're around him. In front of me at least so it looks like I'm not picking sides," Lucy said to him,
"Fine," he grumbled and finished scoffing his lunch that Lucy brought in for him.
Time Skip
"You're l-leaving Lucy-sensei?" Hinata asked her straight after the academy got let out, she had a sad look on her face,
"Yes but don't worry I've put together this scroll for you for your training. Each stage will only appear if you've completed the one before it, the stages will mainly be how many exercises or stretches you have to do per day but some of it will be things like chakra control or taijutsu training. If you need any help I'll be coming back to the village every few months so make sure to write down any questions that you come up with," Lucy explained as she handed Hinata a scroll,
"Th-thank you Lucy-sensei, I-I'll work h-hard and make you p-proud," Hinata said with determination,
"You already have Hinata," she said back to her warmly and gave her a hug before walking towards Kakashi's place, leaving the determined yet shy girl watching her walk away.
Time Skip
It was Christmas Eve and all of the Jonin's had gotten together for a drink,
"Kakashi, I didn't expect to see you here. You never show up to these things," yelled Anko as Kakashi walked through the door of the bar,
"Lucy made me come, the academy students are having a get together at the barbecue place down the road and Lucy was excited because they were doing Secret Santa. She said that she wouldn't be able to have fun if I was quote 'wallowing in self-pity,' unquote," Kakashi said sarcastically and rolled his one visible eye, the rest of the Jonins laughed,
"She has you wrapped around her pretty little finger doesn't she?" Asuma said from his seat beside Kurenai who was giggling,
"Ahaha yeah, that girl could make you do almost anything," Anko said and raised her sake glass, Kakashi only sighed and took a seat at the end of the table before turning his gaze to his book.
With Lucy
Lucy was currently sitting in between Naruto and Sasuke, the latter of which she had to physically drag out to the barbecue restaurant,
"Okay, so who's going first?" Lucy asked excitedly and clapped her hands together, "remember this is only secret Santa if any of you have any other gifts to give you will have to do it after we've eaten," she said while turning to look of Sasuke's fangirls who turned away whistling innocently. Lucy sighed and turned her gaze back towards everyone,
"I'll go," Naruto shouted excitedly as he jumped up in the air, "I picked Hinata for my secret Santa," he said as he handed Hinata an envelope, said the girl was looking like a bright red tomato. As Naruto said all of this Shikamaru looked pointedly at Lucy who avoided his gaze, she may or may not have rigged Naruto's choice of names when they were picking from the hat a week ago.
Hinata opened it up to find a ramen coupon inside and Lucy facepalmed herself but Hinata blushed and thanked him for it. After that one after another gave their gifts to the person they picked out of the hat.
Hinata gave Shikamaru a glass shoji board and set. Shikamaru gave Shino a history book about bugs. Shino got Choji a discount at an all you can eat buffet. Choji gave Ino a bag of his favourite flavoured chips, which she yelled at him for. Ino gave Kiba a bouquet of Germaniums which meant stupidity. Kiba gave Sakura a hair comb that had a kunai switchblade in it. Sakura gave Lucy a charm in the shape of a cherry blossom. Lucy gave Sasuke a handmade kunai set made specifically for his hand size and Sasuke gave Naruto a voucher for the local supermarket albeit reluctantly.
Shikamaru also looked pointedly at Lucy when Sasuke gave Naruto his gift, for which she again looked away from him.
"Now we can eat," Lucy said excitedly as the waiter came and placed everyone's orders in front of them.
Time Skip
On Christmas morning Lucy had woken up and made her way downstairs to make breakfast for herself and Kakashi but was surprised to see him already in the kitchen, "morning Lucy, Merry Christmas,"
"Merry Christmas, you're cooking breakfast?" Lucy asked him,
"Actually I think I'm burning breakfast," he said with uncertainty,
"You really should only cook what you know Kakashi. You know you suck at anything new," Lucy said as she came up beside him and tried to see if anything could be salvaged,
"Well excuse me," he said under his breath as he moved aside and let Lucy take over, "So how long until you leave?" He asked they hadn't talked about her training trip since the last time a couple of weeks ago,
"Straight after New Years," Lucy replied as she tipped whatever used to be in the frying pan into the bin, "I'll check in after three months of travelling, if I haven't found her by then I'll stay for a few weeks," she continued as she started making pancakes,
"That's good, do you have everything prepared?"
"Yes, besides Virgo would know if I was forgetting something," Lucy waved off Kakashi's concerns.
"Just let me know if you need anything," Kakashi said as he started reading the morning newspaper,
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said as she went back to cooking.
Later that day
Lucy was running around the Village trying to find everyone that she had gotten gifts for, she didn't want to bring all of them yesterday when she met up with everyone from the academy. First, she went to Shikamaru's place and dropped off his present, it was a guide to astronomy since he looked really interested whenever she talked about the constellations with him and Choji.
Next, she went to Hinata's and dropped off a necklace that had a yin and yang symbol with the Kanji for 'kindness' engraved on the back. Then she went to Choji's to give him a book of recipes from earth land. After that,t, she went and gave Shino a spiders egg that she had found a couple of days ago and asked him to take care of it. Then she went to Kiba's and gave him a pair of ear muffs that looked like dogs ears as a joke, she also gave Akamaru a dog bone. After that,t, she went to Sasuke's place and he caught her sneaking in,
"What are you doing here Lucy?" He drawled out bored,
"I just came to give this to you, Merry Christmas," Lucy said and handed him a small package, confused he took it,
"Didn't you give me something yesterday?" He asked,
"That was for secret Santa silly, this is for Christmas," she said to him happily, "well open it then," she said to him impatiently
"Hmm," he said and Lucy got a tick mark on her forehead but let it go as he started to open his present, inside was a photo of them together after a day of training. They were both covered with bruises and dirt but Lucy was laughing while he was turned away from her pouting because he lost again. None of Lucy's bruises was even made by him they had all been her own doing from training earlier that day, "thank you," he mumbled out and Lucy giggled,
"Okay well I have to make a couple more stops so I'll see you later," she said as she jumped out of his open window,
"She could've just used the front door," Sasuke said to himself.
Lucy was whistling as she walked through the village, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. Walking towards Naruto's place she climbed through the window and immediately started cleaning up the apartment. As she did whenever she was here, she was in the middle of throwing out old milk when Naruto came through the door,
"Ah, Lucy Merry Christmas," he yelled out loud and hugged her tight, it had become a regular occurrence to see her in his apartment unexpectedly. Not unlike how Natsu used to always sneak into Lucy's place back on earth land, however, Lucy didn't just help herself to Naruto's food, unlike the pyro-maniac she was so fond of.
"Merry Christmas Naruto," she said and they sat down on Naruto's newly made bed to exchange gifts, Lucy opened hers first.
On the inside of the small package was a very familiar kunai with the constellation of Aquarius engraved into the hilt, Lucy's eyes watered at the sight of the kunai that looked identical to the one that was in Axal's shop. "Naruto, where did you get this?" She asked him quietly,
"Why? Do you not like it? I can get you something else," he said melancholy,
"No, no it's wonderful, it's just that I think I've seen it before," she said to him,
"Hmm I don't know how you could've, a civilian traveller sold it to me when he was passing through the village. I told him about you and he gave this to me half price," he exclaimed excitedly, while Lucy had mixed emotions about this new revelation.
"What did he look like?"
"Let's see, he was quite large, had white, grey hair and stubble on his chin. He also looked like he was trying to take a crap whenever he talked," Naruto said giggling when he finished explaining. Lucy swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat,
"Did he have a tattoo on his shoulder at all, looked like opened jaws?" She asked him, remembering that Axal had been apart of a service similar to the ANBU during his ninja days,
"I don't know he had them covered, why are you asking so many questions? Do you know him?" Naruto asked her and Lucy just shook her head no, but didn't know if she was trying to convince Naruto or herself,
"No, I don't think so anyway," Lucy took a deep breath and shook her head before pulling out a small package and giving it to Naruto, inside was a key, similar to one of Lucy's summoning keys, "if you ever need me just call for me like I would with one of my spirits. I have one that connects to it, it will tell me how to locate you or vice versa. I won't tell you how I don't want to confuse you but it will. This way no matter how far apart we may be, we are always connected," Lucy explained to him, knowing that he was anxious about her leaving. Naruto looked like he was tearing up however and sniffed really loudly to stop himself from crying, making Lucy giggle at his attempts before she hugged him.
Later that day
Lucy finally got back to Kakashi's place after spending hours with Naruto. Collapsing onto the couch on top of Kakashi's outstretched legs she groaned loudly,
"So, how was your day?" Kakashi sang out in a smug voice and he got a groan from Lucy in return, chuckling slightly he snapped his book shut and looked down at her. Lucy was face down on his legs, with her own hanging off of the couch and on the floor. "Come on sit up properly Lucy," Kakashi said and pulled up Lucy's legs onto the couch, she rolled over so that she was facing the ceiling with a worried look on her face, "what's with the look? It's Christmas," Kakashi asked her and Lucy sighed before she sat up,
"Naruto said something that concerned me today," she said thinking back to the kunai that he gave her, pulling it out she showed it to Kakashi,
"This is beautifully made, very similar to how you make weapons," Kakashi said as he inspected it,
"It was a gift from Naruto, he said that he told a civilian traveller about me and he sold it to him for half price," she whispered,
"What's so concerning about that?" Kakashi frowned at her,
"Because this kunai was made by my previous sensei, Axal," Lucy said and Kakashi's eyes widened,
"Are you sure? Maybe it's just a replica?" Kakashi asked her unsure but Lucy shook her head,
"I would know this kunai anywhere, he told me that it used to be a part of a set before his store got robbed and this was the last one left. I was always looking at it whenever I cleaned the store. The metal is the same, the weight the texture, it's all identical," Lucy said as she started to panic,
"Okay, it's okay, everything's going to be fine," Kakashi said as he pulled her into him after placing the kunai on his coffee table, "tomorrow why don't we take it to TI to have it checked for curses or seals to make sure that you can use it. Who knows maybe it was a parting gift or something," he said soothingly and while Lucy didn't really believe it she nodded her head anyway.
"Why do these things always happen to me?" Lucy whined out loud and Kakashi laughed.
New years eve
It was finally New Year's Eve and Lucy had dragged Kakashi out to the festival, Lucy was wearing a Kimono that Virgo had designed and Lucy made Kakashi wear a Yukata but he still had his regular mask on and forehead protector. Lucy was eating a stick of dango and was dragging Kakashi around by his hand to all of the stalls.
"Let's try this, no wait that one first, ooh later can we do this," Lucy rambled on as they walked past every stall and Kakashi sighed out heavily, knowing that he was going to be exhausted the next day. "Ooh Kakashi I want to try this one," Lucy pulled Kakashi up to one of those mallet strength tests and gave the guy running the game the required amount of yen. Lucy smiled as she lifted the mallet up above her head ready to force it down onto the target but before she could she underestimated the weight of the mallet and fell over backwards. Lying on the ground dazed, "ouch," she whispered to herself,
"What just happened?" Kakashi asked her as he grabbed the mallet that Lucy was still holding onto and lifted both it and her into the air, "Lucy I've seen you create craters in the ground," Kakashi said sceptically,
"Yea with chakra or Taurus's abilities, I forgot that I'm not that strong on my own," she said sheepishly as she let go of the mallet and Kakashi sweatdropped at her,
"Alright I'll do it," he said and lifted the mallet up with both of his hands and brought it down onto the target with a lot of speed. The puck shot up from the target and made its way up, however it didn't stop and the belled ended up slitting in half, "oops," Kakashi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head, the guy manning the game stared in amazement at the damage before glaring at Kakashi mumbling something about 'damned ninja,' Lucy was holding a hand up to her mouth trying to stop herself from giggling.
"Here," the man that ran the game growled out before he pushed a stuffed toy into Kakashi's arms forcefully before walking off to write a complaint to the Hokage. Lucy was still laughing at Kakashi as he handed her the toy, it turned out to be a small red dragon and it made her want to cry. Shaking herself out of her thoughts she smiled up at Kakashi in amusement,
"Thanks, but maybe you shouldn't play any more of those types of games," she said giggling and Kakashi looked away slightly embarrassed, "come on, let's go get something to eat," she said and grabbed Kakashi's hand before dragging him to every stall that had a strawberry flavoured option.
After a few more hours Kakashi finally had enough of walking around, "Lucy, can't we just go home already?" He groaned out as Lucy was just about to drag him to another game, she looked at the ground sadly,
"I suppose this isn't very fun for you," she said and fiddled with one of the many toys that she had gotten as prizes from games, some Kakashi had won and others she did, "Sorry, come on let's go home," she said and started walking in the direction of Kakashi's house. Kakashi frowned as he watched Lucy walk home in front of him, it was weird considering the entire night she rarely let go of his hand and now she was acting like she didn't even know him.
Once they got home Lucy went into the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate and then went into the lounge room to read a scroll on human anatomy, meanwhile, Kakashi was wondering what he did to get the silent treatment.
"Lucy, are you okay?" He asked her hesitantly,
"I'm okay, why do you ask?" She replied shortly,
"Well, you haven't said a word to me since we left the festival, nor have you looked me in the eye. I was just wondering if I did something?" He said unsure,
"You haven't done anything wrong Kakashi," Lucy answered honestly,
"Well I must have done something because you're upset with me," he said in amusement as he sat down beside her on the couch. Lucy sighed and closed her eyes,
"No you haven't, I'm just being silly," she took a deep breath and opened her eyes to continue reading the scroll,
"If you're sure but you can tell me anything, okay," he said to her and placed a hand on her head, she nodded her head yes.
"To get my mind off of things, can I tell you a story Kakashi?" Lucy asked him as she looked up,
"I guess so," he said confused, Lucy smiled at him and began,
"In a land far, far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore," Lucy started with a smile and continued to tell Kakashi about Earth Land the same way she told Naruto. While Kakashi sat there listening intently with a look of confusion constantly in his one visible eye.
Time Skip
It was the day after New Years and Lucy was at the village gates, she was wearing a black cloak with a hood, combat boots with kunai knives slipped into them, black durable leggings, a ninja pouch on her left thigh and her key pouch on her right hip that now had her seals inside. Underneath the cloak attached to the middle of her back was her fixed ANBU mask so that she could complete missions the Hokage would send her throughout her trip. Lucy wore black fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows that had extra shuriken stored inside, her forehead protector was still wrapped around her right wrist but her guild mark was well hidden. Her left shoulder was wrapped in a bandage to hide her new ANBU tattoo, she was wearing a dark blue, sleeveless, high collar, shirt with a mesh shirt underneath for extra padding. Lucy had a small travel backpack on her back with the bare essentials, because Virgo had stored away all of her clothes, food and camping supplies.
Naruto was currently clinging to her refusing to let go while the Jonins that Lucy had gotten to know plus Sasuke were all sweatdropping at the sight, besides from Gai who was being physically held back from doing the same thing by Kakashi.
"Get off of her you knucklehead," Sasuke said annoyed after about ten minutes of him blubbering non-stop, shoving Naruto to the ground and out of his way Sasuke turned to face Lucy, "here," he said as he shoved a scroll into her hands while looking away,
"Sasuke you didn't have to get me anything you know," Lucy said with gratitude,
"It's just a basic fire jutsu scroll, you said that you didn't know how to perform and so I thought it could be useful," he grumbled out while still looking away, while the Jonins were now all looking at them with interest,
"Aww thank,s, Sasuke but are you sure I can take this one? It has your clans crest on it," Lucy asked him and the Jonins all looked surprised at this information,
"It's fine, I already know it anyway," he waved off her concerns, and Lucy shrugged before asking Virgo to store it for her. Hugging Sasuke quickly Lucy then moved onto the Jonins to say a quick goodbye, turning towards Kakashi, she didn't know what to say.
"I-I'll see you in three months," she finally managed to get out and Kakashi looked slightly disappointed before nodded his head,
"Yeah, three months," he sighed out and everyone, including Naruto, facepalmed at their goodbye, Lucy started to walk away before she ran back and gave Kakashi a hug before turning and walking away for real. Kakashi started walking back to his place with a small smile on his face.
Watching Lucy walk away Asuma turned towards the youngest Uchiha, "do you really know what it means to give a family scroll to someone to keep?" He asked him and Sasuke nodded his head,
"Of course I do I'm not stupid like that knucklehead," he said annoyed, "from this point onwards, whether Lucy knows it or not, she is an honorary Uchiha," he said out loud.
Lucy had been travelling from town to town for almost two months now and during that time she had only been able to do one fire style ninjutsu. It was proving harder than she thought to learn, although it made sense considering water style came so easily to her. Other than training in the fire style ninjutsu Lucy had been working in her chakra reserves and dojutsu training, although the latter was harder to make progress in because she didn't have the Hyuga scrolls as of yet. However, she did know her limits, Lucy could now keep her dojutsu activated for an hour while fighting, it was more difficult to keep them active while she was using medical ninjutsu though, having to constantly keep a steady pace in both her eyes and her hands was taxing and felt unnatural.
Looking for this Lady Tsunade was proving to be more difficult then what she thought, it didn't matter how many bars or casinos she went to, she only ever caught a whisper about this Legendary Sucker that always passed through losing their money. During this time the Hokage hadn't sent her any missions though he did send her a letter last month, giving her a brief update on how Naruto and everyone else was doing. However, today when she got a letter from Lord Third it was different, the eagle that gave her the letter wouldn't leave and the message was strange, it read,
My Dear Granddaughter,
I apologise for this sudden request but I would like to see you, you never come to visit me anymore. I do not know how far away you may be nor do I know how long it will take to for you to receive this letter but I would like you to send me a letter back using the eagle. Once the eagle has returned to me with your response I expect to see you within two weeks, my dear.
I miss you my little Fairy.
Love Grandpa.
'Well that's subtle,' Lucy thought to herself sarcastically as she started to write out her response,
Dear Grandpa,
It has been a while, hasn't it? I suppose I could come and visit you for a short while, by the way how are your riddles going? I seem to remember that you were quite bad at them. I will be arriving at the earliest possible convenience, please have my favourite drink ready for me.
With love your Grandaughter.
Lucy smirked as she rolled up the paper and gave it to the eagle. Watching it fly away Lucy then proceeded to pull out her map of the five nations and called out Pyxis, once the cute little compass appeared at her side he immediately faced north and Lucy giggle at him,
"Hey Pyxis, I was wondering if you could mark where I am on this map?" She asked him and Pyxis looked at the map before spinning his arrow around rapidly before placing his arrow inside of a forest just past the land of lightning, "thanks Pyxis you can go back now," after the little compass made his exit Lucy started to think, "How am I going to get back to the village in two or so weeks?" She mumbled out whole placing a hand on her chin, she then bit her thumb before proceeding to make a series of hand signs before slamming her hand onto the ground, "summoning Jutsu," she yelled out and all but one of her tigers made an appearance.
"Hey everyone," Lucy waved out before she was pushed to the ground by the brand new cubs and they started licking her face, "Okay, okay," Lucy squealed out while laughing, once she got them off of her she held the smallest one in her arms as she stood up, "So who out of everyone is the fastest?" Lucy asked as she looked around at everyone and suddenly one of the cubs started jumping up and down signalling that he was the fastest, Lucy chuckled before patting his head, "I'm sorry cub, I mean one that can carry me," she said soothingly and the cub looked down dejected, one of the larger cubs came forward and introduced himself,
"I am the fastest, My designation is unknown, I am in human terms in my mid-teen years," he said in a deep, slightly scratchy voice. Lucy looked saddened that he didn't have a name,
"Umm who else here doesn't have a name?" Lucy asked concerned and almost all of the tigers except for the cubs raised their tails in the air. "Okay we'll have to sort that out once I get back to the village, for now you can decide for yourselves what you would like to be called," Lucy announced and all of her summonses went back to wherever they resided except for the young tiger that spoke before, "how long do you think it'll take to get to the Hidden Leaf village?"
"I can get there in between 12-20 days depending on break times and if you want to travel at night," he answered her,
"How long can you go until you're exhausted and how long does it take you to recover?"
"I can run for 8 hours straight and I would need about 2 hours to recover completely, I can run for 4 hours at double to speed with chakra but it would take 4 hours to recover completely," he explained and Lucy smiled at him,
"That's perfect, we could travel during the day then take a 2-hour break to recover and eat before heading off again at full speed before we stop for the night," Lucy said as her tiger bent down in order for her to climb up and then they were off.
Over the next two or so weeks they began a routine, in the morning they would travel non-stop and then stop for a break, Lucy would call Virgo out for food and Lucy would guard her tiger who still hadn't chosen a name for himself while he rested. Then he would run with chakra for 4 more hours before dropping down in exhaustion, while he slept Lucy kept watch four hours later they would begin walking until the sun rose and then Lucy would get to sleep on her tiger as he ran for eight hours. On this routine, it took them about 16-ish days to get to the village give or take a couple of hours. Before they reached the village gates Lucy put on her ANBU uniform as the letter mentioned her alias, Lucy wasn't too sure that this is what it meant but you can never be too careful. Telling her tiger to go back and pick a name for himself before she called him out again before heading off to the Hokage tower. The guards at the gate only needing to look at her tattoo to let her in.
Once she made it to the tower she jumped through the window and kneeled down, "Ahh Miss Fairy, it's nice to know that you made it here on time," Lord Third said to her gently and she lifted her head to see both him and the elders in the room. Lucy internally grumbled not wanting to deal with the elders at this point in time. "Not to worry my dear, it's nothing too important but I would like to set up a private meeting with you and Ibiki tomorrow if you don't mind, after that you may stay for as long as you like," he said and Lucy nodded her head before she lept out if the open window.
Walking around the town still in her ANBU uniform, "I wonder who I should see first," she whispered to herself, "Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata should be at the academy right about now so I could go pick them up and we could all go out for ramen, but who do I see in the meantime?" Lucy wondered out loud and she decided to look for people around town first before she dropped into Kakashi's unannounced, "I could use a smoothie," she whispered to herself as she walked towards the dango shop, they also did sweet drinks there.
Walking into the little Cafe like store she was now wearing her usual attire, having asked Virgo to silently give her an outfit to change into. Lucy was now wearing her usual combat boots but now she wore a white short skirt that reached her mid thighs and dark blue over the knee socks that she could hide her kunai in, a belt that held her ninja pouch, on her right arm she wore a dark blue sleeve that hid her guild mark and her forehead protector tied it in place on her upper arm. Her shirt was sleeveless and a high collar button down also in dark blue. Her long blonde hair was up in two ponytails that reached to her lower back. Sitting down on a stool she ordered herself a strawberry smoothie and waited patiently, "Lucy," she heard a familiar voice squeal out and was suddenly wrapped up in sleeveless arms,
"Anko, it's nice to see you again," Lucy chocked out as she was being hugged to death,
"How long have you been in the village? How long are you going to stay? Have you seen anyone else yet?" Anko questioned her as she let go of the young girl,
"I just got back today, I might stay for a week or two before I go off again and I haven't seen anyone else yet," Lucy answered all Anko's questions while smiling,
"Oh, so you haven't seen Kakashi yet?" Anko asked her and Lucy looked at her confused,
"No, I didn't want to drop by unannounced, what if he was busy?" Lucy questioned,
"It's just out of everyone here I thought you would go to see him first," Anko said as she took a seat beside her,
"Well like I said I didn't want to just drop in," Lucy said and frowned slightly, "why would you think that I would go and see Kakashi first?" Lucy questioned, after all, Kakashi wasn't the only person that Lucy spoke with on a regular basis,
"I just thought that you two were attached at the hip that's all,"
"We are not, I do plenty of things without him," Lucy said,
"Oh I know you do things without him but he doesn't really do anything without you," Anko said and Lucy looked at her in concern,
"That's not really true is it, I mean Kakashi does have friends right?" Lucy asked,
"Well, he does but unless someone can force him to leave his house for anything other than a mission we don't really see him. The only ones who are willing to try so hard are you and Gai, well all you really have to do is ask, he can't really refuse you," Anko said chuckling and Lucy frowned as she started to sip at the smoothie that was placed down in front of her. Anko saw Lucy's look at tried to make her feel better, "Ah, you know Kakashi, I'm sure he's really fine with it. After all its not like we don't invite him to things he just chooses not to come," she said but it didn't really help,
"How many times have you seen him since I left?" Lucy questioned,
"Once about two weeks after you left, I think Gai challenged him to something," Anko said in thought and Lucy grew even more concerned,
'Only once in over two months,' Lucy thought to herself, "do you know where he is?" She asked,
"If he's not at his place when he's at the memorial stone or on a mission," Anko said and Lucy placed her money on the counter before leaving the small Cafe. Lucy made her way to the memorial stone first, on her way she waved to several people that greeted her excitedly.
Walking towards the memorial stone Lucy saw Kakashi with his back turned towards her, "I hope you've eaten today," she said when she was a few feet away from him,
"I'll eat later Lucy," Kakashi said but then tensed up and turned around, Lucy smiled at him with her eyes closed,
"Hey, how have you been?" She asked him,
"Lucy," Kakashi whispered and Lucy opened her eyes with a pout on her face,
"What, no hug?" She asked him as she puffed up her cheeks, "and here I came to find you after Anko told me you might be here," turning her face away from him while Kakashi looked at her with amused eyes,
"Just come here Lucy," Kakashi said laughing and she turned back to look at him with a smile before running towards him for a hug,
"How have you been?" She asked him, her voice muffled by his Jonin vest,
"I've been fine, how's training going? Have you found Lady Tsunade yet?" He asked her and she pulled away pouting again,
"No, no matter how many bars or casinos I go to no one has ever heard of her. People just keep telling me about this Legendary Sucker that passes through," she grumbled out and rolled her eyes while Kakashi sweatdropped,
"Lucy, that is Lady Tsunade," he said to her and Lucy froze,
"What? You mean that I've been one town behind her this entire time?" She yelled,
"I guess so," he said to her while wincing at her volume level. Lucy felt like she was about to pull her hair put,
"This sucks, I've been walking around for over two months not making any progress with my medical ninjutsu and only being able to create one fire style ninjutsu and if I had just picked up the pace I could have been actually learning something?" She screeched out, her face turning red,
"Lucy, tone it down will you?" Kakashi asked her while he put his finger in his ear,
"Sorry, this is just done frustrating, maybe I should leave straight after my talk with Lord Hokage tomorrow," Lucy thought out loud as she placed a hand on her chin,
"There's no hurry, you know where she is now. Look it's Friday, so why don't you at least stay for the weekend," Kakashi told her, "Don't you want to sleep in an actual bed for once?"
"Oh please, Aries wool is way more comfortable than any bed but I guess I could use a hot shower, I only get one of those a week," she said, "the rest of the time is using a river while Virgo and a couple of my tigers stand guard," Lucy finished and took Kakashi's hand and started pulling him back into town, "So have I missed anything?" She asked and on their way back to Kakashi's place they talked about the last two months.
Time Skip
Lucy was skipping towards Iruka's classroom with a smile on her face, excited to see Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke, not that she actually had much to tell them. Knocking on the classroom door Iruka opened it to see Lucy smiling up at him,
"Ah Lucy, come in," he said happily and moved aside to allow her in the classroom,
"Lucy," she heard Naruto yell out and she saw him jump out of his seat, he was flying towards her when she leaned to the side to avoid his impact,
"So you're back," Sasuke said as he walked up to her looking bored,
"Just for the weekend," Lucy said and she thought she saw the disappointment in his eyes before it was replaced by boredom yet again so she shook it off. Lucy walked towards Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him for a few seconds before letting go, "It's nice to see you again Sasuke," she smiled at him,
"Hmm," he responded to her and Lucy hit him upside the head still smiling at him,
"Use words Sasuke,"
"Ouch," she heard him whisper as she turned back to Naruto who was now pouting angrily from his place on the floor with a big bump on his head,
"Hello Naruto, how are you?" She asked him and he turned from her whole poking her his nose in the air, to be honest, it just made him look more childish, "Naruto?" Lucy prodded again and he turned from her even more, "well I guess I'll just ask Sasuke to go get ramen with me after the academy," she said slyly and turned around to cling to Sasuke's arm, all of his fangirls were glaring daggers at her a while Sasuke blushed slightly before going back to his bored expression.
Naruto immediately turned around and clung to Lucy's legs, "oh hello Lucy I didn't see you there," he said, "now let's go get ramen," he continued and Sasuke sweatdropped,
'What an idiot,' he thought to himself,
"Wait until after class besides I want to invite Hinata as well," Lucy said and broke Sasuke out of his thoughts,
"You're friends with Hinata?" Naruto asked her confused,
"Yea, in fact, we train together on the weekends," Lucy said honestly,
"That's so cool, so Hinata is like really strong?" Naruto asked Lucy excitedly,
"Yeah you bet, Hinata may not be good at confrontation but she's an excellent fighter," Lucy said, meanwhile at the back if the classroom Hinata was blushing bright red and hiding behind her hands.
Time Skip
Lucy was sitting in a soundproof room with Ibiki and Lord Hokage, "So what do we need to discuss?" Lucy asked them cautiously,
"It's about this Earth land you come from, I was wondering if there was anything there that we might be able to replicate to help with your magic deficiency problem?" He asked her and Lucy looked down,
"Well there are potions and elixirs that are used to replenish magic energy, there are also magic replenishment mages who use enchantments or spells to restore magic power. Medical magic can also be a good substitute, I know a terrific young healer who specialises I healing magic and she can restore someone's stamina, although she cannot perform self-restoration. Crux and I have looked into all of these possibilities but the problem remains the same, there isn't enough ethernano being produced in this atmosphere, unless I can create a synthetic version, able to turn chakra into ethernano or become able to store ethernano away then I'm afraid that solving this problem just isn't possible," Lucy said slightly dejected,
"I see, one of the reasons I sent you to look for Lady Tsunade is because she has a seal placed on herself that stores away chakra, now I know you have something similar underneath your collarbone but I believe that yours is unfinished and unrefined. If you studied under Lady Tsunade maybe you could adjust her seal and be able to use it for ethernano," Lord Third explained and Lucy placed a hand on her chin in thought,
"It could work but I would need to be in a place that had a higher density of ethernano, I guess I can look for that while I'm travelling and in the meantime try to find a way to preserve the magic I have," Lucy said to herself,
"Also have you found a way to contact your friends there dear?" The Hokage asked her and she looked down in disappointment,
"No I haven't, if I just had the key that brought me here I might've been able to make a connection by now but I'm pretty sure it got lost back on earth land," Lucy sighed out,
"Well Ibiki and I have an idea for that, there is this ancient sealing technique that can connect someone to another person or even an inanimate object, however, it requires that sentimental value is placed on the person or thing. This technique was deemed forbidden because had started to be used to bind people as slaves to another but before it was used like that it had been to connect people using a mind link or a way of communicating through objects, we have been trying to find more information on it for you but it has become illegal to even have in libraries anymore," the Hokage explained and Lucy began to look excited about the possibility of talking to her friends at FairyTail again.
"That's brilliant, you know there's a couple type of magic very similar to sealing techniques, the ones I know most about were solid script and letter magic. The solid script could turn almost any word into a solid form such as fire or earth, or it could re-write ancient runes or letter magic. Letter magic could set up barriers or traps, once you step into a trap you have to follow the rules of the runes to get out of it. Both are very effective for support of defensive techniques, they rely on the user's mind and creativity," Lucy explained, "of course that's not all they're capable of but that's the idea behind it, I spent a lot of time with these magic users, I learnt a couple of things from them, I'm sure I can modify it to what I need," she finished and asked if they had anything else to discuss to which the Hokage responded with a no and Ibiki walked her out if the soundproof room.
"So how has training been Kid?" Ibiki asked as they walked out of the Hokage tower,
"Terrible," she groaned out, "I've hardly made any progress and I just found out that my future teacher has only been one town ahead of me this entire time," she whined out, still frustrated. Ibiki chuckled slightly before patting her head,
"Don't worry when you do find her and you start training with her I'd bet you wished you stayed one town behind," he said and Lucy sweatdropped,
"Gee thanks," Lucy said before laughing and walking back to Kakashi's place.
Time Skip
"Do you really have to leave so soon?" Kakashi said as he saw Lucy pack,
"Yes, I wasted two whole months being one step behind, I've already wasted enough time catching up with everyone," Lucy said with determination,
"I get that this is important to you but ever since you came back from the Hokage you've been more restless than usual to leave," Kakashi said hesitantly, "did something happen? Does it have to do with that kunai knife that Naruto gave you for Christmas? Because I said that it was completely safe,"
"No, it's just Lady Tsunade has a special technique that would help me with some research that I'm doing, I just want to start that's all," Lucy sighed,
"What research?" He asked her
"Just involving my spirits," she replied back and waved off his curiosity, Kakashi was frustrated though,
"Yeah I've heard that before," he said before leaving her room, Lucy looked at his retreating back and sighed. She didn't want to tell him about her past, it's not just a matter of presenting proof anymore. In the time that Lucy has gotten to know Kakashi, she's learnt that he's afraid to make connections with people because of the loss he's experienced previously. If she told him that she was going to leave one day, he would probably ignore her existence to make it easier on himself. Lucy didn't want to lose him like that, at least not yet. She knew that it was selfish but she was slowly breaking inside, with each passing day with no progress of making it back to fairytail, she didn't want to lose someone that had become a constant presence in her life. Someone who would listen while she cried or put bandages on her wounds, no offence to Ibiki, Naruto or Sasuke but they don't exactly know how to comfort someone without making it worse and while Kakashi may not be very good at it he at least knows when to stop talking.
Shaking herself from her thoughts Lucy finished packing her bag for when she leaves tomorrow morning. Solving her magic power problem is at the top of her list of things to do, next thing would be to make a connection with Fairytail.
Time Skip
Lucy was at the gates to leave for the second time, a new mission from the Hokage in her ninja pouch and everyone was saying goodbye to her once again, well, almost everyone.
"Where's Kakashi? I thought out of everyone he'd be here," Asuma asked and Kurenai glared at him for his lack of sensitivity, Lucy looked down slightly before smiling up at everyone,
"Who knows, I mean this is Kakashi he's usually late isn't he?" She said brightly even though she felt like crying. Gai shook his head and moved to give Lucy a hug,
"I'm sure that he is just late," he whispered to her but Lucy shook her head,
"Not this time," she whispered back to him and stepped back as he let go, she was still smiling brightly, however, "well I have to go if I want to catch up to Lady Tsunade," she said and bit her thumb to summon one of her tigers,
"M'Lady," he said in his familiar deep voice,
"Just Lucy is fine, have you found a name for yourself yet?" She asked him and he thought for a moment,
"I have," he said and she got excited,
"Well, what is it?" She asked him,
"The Slasher," he said plainly and Lucy sweatdropped while everyone else laughed,
"What about just Slash?" She asked him reluctantly and he nodded his head,
"Very well, shall we go?" He asked her and she nodded,
"We're not in such a rush this time do feel free to take a break whenever you want," she said as she got onto his back and he started running in the direction of the land of lightning. As soon as Lucy was out of sight Gai turned around and started walking away,
"Hold on Gai, I thought we were all going to grab a drink before leaving for our missions," Asuma called out to him and Gai turned around angrily to face him,
"I have to say something to Kakashi first," he said seriously before he started walking again,
"Should one of us stop him? He seemed really angry," Kurenai said her tone full of worry,
"No but I do think one of us should follow him in case it gets out of hand," Anko spoke up, "to be honest I would also like a word with him but Gai would get through to Kakashi more than the rest of us," she continues and everyone nodded their heads,
"I'll go," Yamato said and silently followed Gai to Kakashi's house,
"Come on, let's go wait for them at the bar," Asuma sighed out and they all started walking in the direction of the town.
Gai arrived at Kakashi's place and didn't even bother to knock before pushing his way through the front door, "Kakashi," he yelled out,
"What is it now Gai?" He heard Kakashi's voice from the living room, walking inside he saw Kakashi lazily laying on the couch reading like he usually would and this made Gai angry,
"Lucy just left," he said to him and was hoping for some kind of reaction but all Kakashi did be turn a page in his book,
"What does that have to do with me?" Kakashi asked and Gai looked surprised,
"Are you saying it doesn't have anything to do with you?"
"Why would it?" After that it was silent for a few minutes, Gai was trying to wrap his brain around whatever was happening,
"What the hell happened between you two?" He yelled out and startled Kakashi, "You two have been attached at the hip since the moment she moved in and you say that her leaving has nothing to do with you?" Kakashi slammed his book closed and moved to get off of the couch,
"It's none of your business Gai,"
"It is my business, especially when Lucy looked like she was about to burst into tears just before," at this Kakashi had nothing to say he just looked down at the ground, "What happened?" He asked and Kakashi took a deep breath before deciding to tell him about what happened that morning.
Flashback
"Kakashi stop, I'm just not ready to tell you. I will one day but not today, please just drop it for now," Lucy tried to tell him calmly,
"I won't drop it, why can't I know? Ibiki knows," Kakashi said sternly and Lucy sighed out, tired of this argument,
"I told you he guessed and I filled in the blanks, more or less," she grumbled the last part under her, "I'm just not ready to tell yet, " She continued, "this isn't exactly something that is easily explained, nor is it something someone can process easily either, I don't want to drop a bomb on you just before I leave," Lucy explained to him, although that wasn't the only reason she wasn't telling him it does play a part,
"That still doesn't explain why you haven't told me before or how Ibiki guessed in the first place," Kakashi growled out, he was getting sick and tired of the same excuses. Why is it so hard for her to tell him, she's told him about her childhood and about her time with Orochimaru. How could this part of her past be worse than that?
"Please Kakashi, I promise you I will tell you when I'm ready but not today please I want to leave on good terms," Lucy pleaded but Kakashi had, had enough of the same thing,
"How can I trust you if you don't trust me?" Kakashi asked her and Lucy's eyes widened before they narrowed in anger,
"This isn't about trust, this is about you being nosy. I don't force you to tell me things about you're past and I know that there's still a lot I don't know so why is it so important for you to know mine? Why is it so different for me?" She yelled out,
"Because I'm not an outsider," he yelled out to her and got in her face, Lucy's eyes widened in shock at his statement but Kakashi either didn't notice or didn't care as he stood up and out of her face before walking away.
Lucy turned her face to the floor and her bangs covered her eyes, "I didn't think that mattered to you," she said tonelessly before walking towards the door and gently closing it behind her, silently asking Virgo to pack up all of her stuff from the room that she had been using at Kakashi's place and to store it away.
Flashback end
Gai suddenly punched Kakashi in the face, "I can't believe you," he yelled as Kakashi landed on the floor,
"What the hell was that for?" Kakashi yelled out looking confused and rubbing his left cheek, he looked up to see Gai staring at him in anger,
"Lucy would never push you to tell her something you weren't ready to tell, she even refuses to hear it from others and to say that she is an outsider," Gai yelled at him and Kakashi just sat there, looking at Gai in slight surprise, "she proudly wears Konoha's forehead protector, showing everyone that she is a kunoichi of the leaf. It doesn't matter that she wasn't born here and you know that," he continued to yell and at this Kakashi looked down, "but we both know that what really bothers you is that Ibiki has a connection with her that you don't, your jealousy has gotten out of control," at this Kakashi looked up in shock once again,
"Jealous, of what? Ibiki?"
"Yes, Ibiki knows something about Lucy that you don't and it angers you. I mean why wouldn't it, you only spend every free second you have with Lucy, you went against orders for her and you've comforted her when she's cried or been scared, why would Ibiki know something about her that you don't?" Gai explained to Kakashi, "it hurt you, to see that she trusted someone that wasn't you with an intimate part of her past so you lashed out and hurt her back," Gai continued as if he was speaking to a child, "this is the same as leaving a comrade behind," he growled out and walked away from the shocked Kakashi, who looked down after a few minutes feeling foolish.
Time Skip
Lucy and Slash had been travelling for about a month now and we're slowly catching up to Lady Tsunade during this time they had been combining some jutsus for some emergency attacking techniques. Slash was one of the tigers that didn't mind fighting. Most of the others just wanted to deliver messages or transfer objects, some of them chose to be trackers or to be called upon in emergencies. Slash was probably the only one that wouldn't mind fighting on a regular basis, he also seems to have a bad habit of showing up whenever he likes just like some of her celestial spirits. Lucy took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as she looked at the beautiful April sky, the cold weather has finally passed and spring had settled in.
"Miss Lucy, it's time to go, Lady Tsunade is in the next town. Don't you want to catch her before she moves again?" Asked Slash as he came upon his summoner relaxing, he didn't want to disturb her since this is the first in a long time that she's looked so happy but they really did have to get moving. Slash noticed that his summoner usually had a far-off look about her, she was always thinking, analysing, calculating her next move. Honestly, she looked exhausted, he knew that she was hiding something important from him and the rest of her tiger summons but he didn't pry, it wasn't his place and she seemed to be getting a decent amount of sleep still.
"Alright, let's go learn some medical ninjutsu, finally," Lucy announced, she stood up and started stretching before hopping onto Slash's back and they started running towards her soon to be instructor.
Time Skip
Lucy was currently trying to sneak into the Casino, nobody would allow her in without a guardian no matter what she said. Finally Lucy had, had enough and decided to use something that she never thought she would,
"Sexy Jutsu," she shouted and transformed herself into her older looking self in the clothes she wore at the bar in Stella to steal the ring from Zash, "won't you let me in boys?" She asked them sweetly before sending them a wink. Both of their faces turned bright red and their eyes were bulging, one of them got a bloody nose and the other passed out. Lucy slipped by the other since he seemed to not be able to move and transformed back onto her childlike body. She shuddered to herself, "I'm never gonna tell Naruto that his stupid jutsu worked," she grumbled and continued on her way.
Inside Lucy looked around trying to find someone that matched the description the Hokage gave her but it wasn't until a slot machine got thrown across the room followed by alcohol-induced yelling, walking towards it Lucy found a very skinny woman with short hair cradling a pig and a very drunk blonde women that had generous curves, Lucy's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Excuse me are you Lady Tsunade?" Lucy asked as she walked up to them both,
"Who wants to know?" The blonde lady grumbled put and hiccupped at the end,
"My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'm trying to learn medical ninjutsu, Lord Third said that you may be able to help me," she explained and bowed slightly before looking up at the blonde medic,
"I might be but why should I help a brat such as yourself?" She grumbled out still drunk,
"M'Lady, shouldn't you at least give her a trial? Don't just dismiss this," the skinny brown haired woman said,
"Mind your business Shizune," Tsunade growled out, "Well why should I?" She asked Lucy again. Lucy frowned as she stared at the blonde woman who seemed to be nothing like a medic,
"Because I want to learn, do I need another reason? What reason did you have to learn?" She challenged and Shizune took a small step back but Tsunade got into Lucy's face and Lucy could smell the Sake on her breath,
"That is of no concern to you," she said,
"Look I can see that you've had a troubled past, however, I do not care about that, I want to learn medical ninjutsu to help the people I have left. Can you help me or not?" Lucy questioned her and when she was met with silence she tsked and started to make her way out of the casino. "Let's go, Slash, there's nothing for us here," she said once she got outside and jumped onto her tiger summons, he nodded his head and started to make his way out of the town. Stopping just outside of the town under a large tree to rest under for the night,
"What now Miss Lucy?" Slash asked her as he lay down underneath the tree,
"I guess we'll travel for a couple more months, maybe try to find another teacher," she said, she didn't want to go back to the village at the moment. The way she left things with Kakashi, she didn't know where that left things between them. It's not like she knew how to describe their relationship before but she always looked at and cared for him like she would a member of Fairytail. Sighing Lucy told Slash that she was going to go train for a while and walked off into the clearing that was nearby.
Taking a deep breath before focusing her chakra into her eyes, Lucy started to look around, with her dojutsu she could see through objects and further distances. However, if she focused on something she could see inside the object or person, like muscles and blood vessels or water moving through plants but it wasn't like a Byakugan. The Byakugan could see the chakra network inside a person's body and have almost 360 vision, this allowed them to do jutsus that can block or unblock a person's chakra flow and avoid and counter attacks from almost all directions. Lucy's dojutsu seemed incomplete compared to that.
Looking over towards a wilting plant Lucy reached over and placed her hand on top of it, her hand started to glow a faded green colour and she started to slowly pour chakra into the plant. Once the plant looked healthy enough she took her hand away and smiled, "if only humans were so easy to heal," she grumbled to herself in frustration before letting her dojutsu deactivate, still frustrated she added chakra into her hand and swung it down towards the ground. Releasing the chakra on impact and jumped away from the ground that had started to split apart, "I may have overdone it," she whispered to herself as she looked at the damage, "I hope I don't get blamed for this," unknown to Lucy though someone had been watching her the whole time.
Time Skip
Lucy slowly opened her eyes and sat up from where she was laying down and found that she was once again using Slash as a pillow. Stroking his short, sleek fur softly she smiled as she heard him purr. Giggling to herself, Lucy continued to stroke him until he snapped out of it once he realised what she was doing.
"Miss Lucy I don't think that that is appropriate, you know that if you do that my guard is let down," he said seriously,
"Honestly Slash, you don't have to be on guard all of the time. You should let yourself relax a little," Lucy said and tried to scratch him behind his ears but he shook his head,
"You are my summoner it is my job to protect you," hearing this Lucy frowned,
"You're not just my summons you know, you're also my friend, I think of all my summons as my family," Lucy said soothingly but didn't move to pat him again,
"Excuse me?" someone called from behind them and they turned around to see the skinny brown-haired woman from yesterday,
"Your name was Shizune right?" Lucy asked as she stood up while Slash moved slightly in front of her,
"yes, I've come to see if you still want to learn medical ninjutsu?" Shizune asked Lucy and when she hesitantly nodded Shizune continued, "I also know medical ninjutsu and while I'm nowhere near as good as Lady Tsunade but I could still teach you,"
"Why would you do that though? Aren't you travelling with Lady Tsunade?" Lucy started questioning,
"Yes but that doesn't mean you can't travel with us, I know that may not seem appealing to you but I guess that all depends on how much you want to learn Medical Ninjutsu," Shizune said to her with an amused expression, "I'm sure Lady Tsunade won't mind too much, provided that she doesn't have to provide for you," She continued to explain to Lucy, "so what do you say?" Shizune asked Lucy and Lucy looked at Slash before hesitantly nodding in agreement.
Lucy and Slash were walking behind Shizune as she leads them back to the inn that Tsunade and herself were staying in, last night when Shizune found Lucy and saw what she did to the plant and then use a mimicry technique of Tsunade's fighting style she knew that Tsunade would eventually agree to teach her. Shizune could only take her so far and she thought it would be good for Tsunade to teach someone. To be reminded of why she learnt medical ninjutsu in the first place.
Time Skip
Lucy had been learning from Shizune for about a month now and her and Tsunade still don't see eye to eye. They fight like cats and dogs, it's even worse when Tsunade's drunk, she goes off on a tangent always saying that Lucy was just a brat that doesn't have what it takes to learn medical ninjutsu and Lucy was starting to believe her. She was still having trouble healing humans, she worked perfectly with plants and animals but for some reason, she just could fully heal people. Nothing larger than a wound that needed stitches, so for the moment Shizune was teaching her about poisons and antidotes. Which came in handy, now Lucy always carried around basic herbs on her person and stored away antidotes and remedies that were easy to make. At this moment though, Tsunade was off on another one of her tangents,
"Why do you even bother? You're not even trying are you?" She slurred out and Lucy was trying her best to ignore her as she read another human anatomy scroll, "I mean you probably don't even have anyone left to heal anyway," at this Lucy stood up abruptly and knocked over her chair that she had been sitting on,
"M'Lady," Shizune yelled out to try and stop her from talking,
"I'm going out for awhile Miss Shizune," Lucy whispered quietly and walked out of the door of the room they had purchased for the next three days.
Once Lucy was out the door Shizune turned to Tsunade in disapproval, "You took it too far this time, you need to apologise," she said and left no room for argument,
"Why though, she's just some brat that's mooching off of us, I bet that's the only reason she's here," Tsunade grumbled, Shizune had, had enough of the way Tsunade talks about her student though,
"Actually she's the only reason we can afford this room," Tsunade looked like she was starting to sober up as Shizune continued to talk, "did you know that she paid off your gambling debts in the last village we were in? Yeah, she took up cleaning jobs around the village to pay it off and despite what you may believe Lucy actually works really hard at her medical training. Every morning and every night she reads anatomy scrolls even though she has them memorised by now, she trains with plants and animals nonstop overworking her chakra until she passes out," Shizune continued to ramble, not even noticing that Tsunade had left the room by this point.
Tsunade was walking around the village thinking about what she said to Lucy before a loud crack snapped her out of it. Walking towards the direction of the noise she came to a clearing and found Lucy standing in the middle of a crater with glowing gold eyes. Lucy was breathing heavily and tiredly, she has never taken out her frustrations in a violent way before coming to this world and it's becoming more of a frequent need.
"Did you do this?" Asked an annoyingly familiar voice from behind Lucy and she turned to see Lady Tsunade standing there surprised,
"Yes," was Lucy's short reply, her eyes were still glowing and she saw the insides of Tsunade's body. Lady Tsunade's liver seemed to be repairing itself, "how do you do it?" Lucy asked her and Tsunade looked at her confused, "how is your body repairing itself?" She emphasised,
"How can you tell?" Tsunade challenged,
"I asked first," was Lucy's childish retaliation,
"Constant flow of chakra, it also keeps my appearance the same as my youth," Tsunade explained,
"My dojutsu allows me to see the insides of a person in great detail, your liver is currently being healed," Tsunade was greatly surprised at this and intrigued, if Lucy were to overcome her barrier in medical ninjutsu then it would be very likely that she would surpass even herself.
"Come back here tomorrow at dawn," was all Tsunade said before walking back to the inn.
Time Skip
The next morning Tsunade was watching Lucy as she healed a dead fish, "Your chakra is different from anyone else I have ever seen, that's probably why it's difficult to heal people, their bodies are rejecting the foreign chakra," Tsunade said as she watched Lucy closely, she didn't know why she hadn't noticed this before. Lucy obviously wasn't a normal kunoichi, her chakra had a faint golden hue behind it. When Lucy focused her chakra and created a large concentration there was always a gold outline around the blue/green, "Lucy do you come from a clan of some sort?" Tsunade asked her,
"No, to my knowledge I'm the first in my family to become a shinobi," Lucy said, this wasn't the first time someone had asked her this. The Hokage and Kakashi had both asked her the same question, along with many others. Tsunade had a thoughtful look on her face,
"I might know if a way to separate your foreign chakra to the regular chakra inside of your body but I might need to research it a bit more, for now just meditate in place of your medical training and continue to memorise your anatomy scrolls," Tsunade commanded and Lucy nodded before going into her meditative state that Capricorn taught her.
It wasn't until three weeks later that Tsunade actually found something that could help Lucy,
"This is a seal that should be able to separate the two different chakra reserves that are flowing throughout your body, you'll still be able to use both so don't worry about that but it'll be like you have two chakra pools. It might be hard to distinguish between the two but with more training, you should hear it," Tsunade explained as she drew on Lucy with chalk,
"Any risks I need to know about?" Lucy asked,
"Not ones that concern your life," was Tsunade's vague reply before she activated the seal. Not waiting for Lucy to ask another question, Lucy clenched her mouth shut and was grinding her teeth together to stop screaming. The pain was almost unbearable, it was like someone was peeling her skin away but stopped just before it ripped itself away from her body. The last thing Lucy saw was Tsunade leaning over her before she passed out.