Authors note
Well here it I; the last chapter that took forever to write! I hope this is a good enough ending to this story.
I don't own Naruto of course
The next morning after she and Kakashi had been discharged from the hospital, Haru opened her eyes when she heard a noise outside of her bedroom door. She silently got out of bed and crept through the door. There sat her sensei, dressed in his black mourning clothes, eating breakfast. "Kakashi sensei?" she whispered.
He waved his bandaged hand in response, his eyes focused on his food and book, as usual.
"Why are you up so early? It's still dark outside." She asked, sitting across from him.
"I should ask you the same thing. You never are awake this early." He said, reaching for the milk.
"You woke me up. You really should try to be quieter in the mornings." She said, laughing. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question."
"I'm just doing what I normally do every day. You're normally asleep so I guess you didn't know that I get up this early. I've got some things to think over." He smiled and got up, putting the food away. "You should go back to bed."
"No, I'm awake now! Can I come with you?" he looked up, surprised, and nodded.
"Get dressed and we will go." She nodded and ran to her room to get her black mourning clothes on.
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Haru and Kakashi walked across Konoha in silence. The faintest rays of sunlight were just starting to illuminate the horizon. They crossed paths with a few ninja, exchanging hellos. Finally, they reached their destination, and were both surprised to find it already occupied.
The occupant was kneeling in front of the memorial stone with his head buried in his hands at the foot of it. Haru felt tears come to her eyes when she saw his shoulders shake with sobs.
Flashback
Haru ran through the trees, looking behind her to see if anyone was following her. "Looks like I got away." She said, relieved.
Suddenly, she ran right into someone, who let out a yell as they tumbled to the ground."What in the-"the boy yelled from under Haru, but before he could say anything else, Haru put her hand over his mouth.
"Shh! Do you want Kakashi sensei to hear us? At the rate we are going we will never get those bells." She whispered, suddenly realizing she was sitting on top of him. "Sorry, Asuma."
She kneeled on the ground next to him and he sat up, chuckling. "It's okay. You surprised me. I was just thinking of a plan to get the bells. Kakashi sensei made this so troublesome."
"Of course. You probably have about 100 possible scenarios in your head right now." She said, laughing.
He looked at her and smiled. "No, I don't have 100 possible scenarios. I have 200 and counting."
"Right. How stupid of me. So what's your plan?" Haru asked, looking around to make sure no one heard them.
"Well, it would be easier to explain if Yuki was here. He is part of it too." Asuma said, looking around.
Right on cue, the blonde ninja came running out of the trees, ramming into the two other chunin. He turned around and joined their little group after Asuma waved him over.
"Alright guys, here's the plan..."
Flashback Over
Haru slowly walked over to her friend, kneeling down next to him. She looked down at his crying figure, then up at the stone in front of her. She saw many names of fallen shinobi, but one that stood out to her was the one directly in front of her eyes, the newest name carved on the stone. Asuma Nara. Her hand reached out and traced the name over and over again. She felt movement beside her and saw Yuki move into a sitting position, wiping his eyes. "You shouldn't see me like this. I'm sorry. I know Shinobi don't cry."
Kakashi walked toward his students with a smile behind his mask. "Don't say you're sorry, Yuki. In these situations, it is okay to show your feelings. Trust me; I've been through the same thing you two are going through more than once. My whole team is on that stone."
His two students looked up at him. Yuki sniffed and spoke. "I didn't know that. Your whole team…?"
Kakashi nodded. "Obito, Rin, Yondaime Hokage, and now Asuma are all on this stone. I hoped that you two wouldn't ever have to lose a teammate like I did. Not to mention that it was all my fault that he died. If I would have told Sasuke the information… " He put his head down and lifted his hand to his face, trying to hide the tears that flowed out of both eyes.
"Nothing would have changed. Sasuke must have had this planned out the second he got a hold of you. You did the right thing by not saying a thing and staying true to the village." Yuki said, but Kakashi didn't put his hand down.
Yuki turned to Haru, who looked back at her friend's name on the stone. Tears flowed out of her eyes and she felt Yuki's hand on her shoulder. She turned around and he took her into his arms, crying with her.
Flashback
Kakashi looked around the tree and smiled. "There they are." He thought to himself. "I wonder what they are scheming about?"
He jumped out and ran toward them, causing them to scatter in three different directions. Yuki lunged at him with two shadow clones. "Naruto taught him well." Kakashi thought, linking knives with the real Yuki while the others attacked from above. He leaped over the boy and kicked the two clones, getting rid of them. He landed behind Yuki, right in front of a more-than-ready Haru.
"You guys are giving me no time to read my book!" he complained, battling with Haru while keeping a good look out for the other two.
Suddenly, as he stepped backwards to avoid a knife, his whole body stopped. He tried to move but his arms and legs wouldn't respond. His eyes looked downward and he saw that he was standing in a shadow. "Dammit!"
Haru, Yuki, and Asuma, who had stepped out from behind a tree, stood smirking in front of him. "Haru, get them!"
Haru ran forward and grabbed the bells, tossing one to Asuma, who let go of his shadow jutsu. He held it for a moment, then looked and Yuki and threw it at him. "There, you fought him more than I did. You deserve to get a bell."
Yuki stared at the bell in his hands. "Are you sure, Asuma?"
The ponytailed boy nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. I don't want to have to carry around that troublesome thing. Keep it!"
Kakashi stood dumbfounded. This was the first time any of his teams had displayed teamwork this great, or even sacrificed anything, especially a bell.
He smiled, letting his one showing eye close. "Well, it looks like you three actually grasped the concept of this test. None of the others did until I told them what it was. Teamwork. You three, for genin, showed excellent teamwork and skills. I guess that means…" he paused to look at his students tired, but eager faces. "You pass!"
Flashback over
After a while, Kakashi lifted his head to find that the sun was almost over their heads. They had been at the memorial stone longer than he had meant to be. He walked toward his students. "Hey guys, sorry to say this but we have to leave right now. We are already late to the funeral."
They jumped up immediately and walked to stand in front of him. "Kakashi sensei, you always make us late!" Yuki complained, starting to walk towards the village.
"Yuki, wait up! You're walking too fast!" Haru yelled, running to catch up with him.
Kakashi couldn't help but smile as he got out his book and walked behind them. Even with Asuma gone, they were still a team.
You might have noticed that this chapter was twice the size of the other ones. Go out with a bang! I was going to write the actual funeral, but this chapter couldn't be too sad. Please review! Tell me what you thought about it and just anything else. I'm going to be starting another story soon too. The first chapter should be up sometime this week.
Review!!