Chapter 28

Kakashi and Inari reached the island and were carefully moving about it, trying to avoid any possible ambush.

"How much further is the signal?" asked Inari, hoping that the answer would be something like 'behind that rock'. More than Kiyoshi, Inari was a defensive fighter, sneaking around and looking for dangerous things was not his style.

To Inari's surprise, Kakashi answered "behind that rock," pointing in the direction of a boulder near a ledge.

The two of them cautiously walked around each side of the boulder, only to be met by sharp blades at their throats, their owners hanging off the boulder above them. "Hey Kakashi!" yelled Kiyoshi, "Hikari, it's alright, this is Kakashi and Inari, they're friends." both of the blades were lowered, the two teens jumped down, and Inari sighed in relief.

After everything was settled, Hikari started observing the ninja that she heard so much about "So you're Kakashi? Not as good as I'd hoped, according to Kiyoshi, sneaking up on you would be impossible. Maybe there's a first time for everything."

A voice came from behind the two teens "I see I was introduced, and I hope you believe Kiyoshi next time." as the Kakashi in front of them turned into a log and fell down to the ground.

Hikari quickly turned to look at the source of the voice, finding Kakashi lazily sitting on the boulder, reading a book. "Whoa."

Kiyoshi turned to the stunned Hikari and smiled "I told you so. He isn't a pushover, even now, what you see before you is a clone."

Kakashi smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Coming out from behind a tree. "You definitely are the master at meditation, Kiyoshi." said the copy ninja

Kiyoshi became displeased, turning away from the tree to look at the boulder again, "Kakashi-sama, please stop cloning yourself."

The masked ninja peeked out from behind the rock as his clone at the tree also disappeared. "Very nice, you got to teach me how to do that sometime."

Inari and Hikari were watching this battle of confusion from the side. "Is it over?" asked Inari

Hikari was stunned, she had seen a professional ninja at work, but Kakashi's deception skills were on a completely different level. What was even more amazing was that Kiyoshi was able to see past the copy ninja's skills, it seemed as if to Kiyoshi this was nothing more than finding an elephant behind a palm tree. "I can't be too sure," replied the girl.

Kiyoshi was getting pissed off, "Kakashi, I don't have time for your petty tricks, I want to spend some time with Hikari."

Kakashi stepped out from behind the boulder along with a clone and said, "Fine, I'll give this round to you." After which the clone disappeared and the real Kakashi turned to Hikari, "So, is Kiyoshi going to introduce us?"

Kiyoshi walked up to the girl, put his hand around her shoulder and said, "This is Hikari, the best person that ever happened to me."

Hikari slightly blushed at the introduction, "We met on the pirate ship."

Hikari's explanation answered Kakashi's next question, the one where he was going to ask if they found out about the pirates. Instead he asked, "You were a hostage there?" Kiyoshi burst out laughing. The masked ninja looked back and forth between the two teens in front of him, "What? Did I say something funny?"

After Kiyoshi finished laughing, he explained, "She's the captain of the five pirate ships."

Kakashi was surprised, the silly looking girl before him was the leader of many brigades of pirates. "I see." he nodded, rubbing his chin. "Kiyoshi, tell me this. How many have you had today?"

Hikari became insulted, "Kiyoshi didn't drink today, and for that matter he won't need to drink as long as I'm around."

Kakashi's impression of the girl changed from tamed to dangerous. "I better not mess with these two, or she'll kill me," thought Kakashi upon feeling Hikari's stare fixed upon him. "Alright, I believe you." Hikari calmed down when Kiyoshi kissed her on the cheek; changed back to the soft loving girl she was before. "I didn't ask before, but are you two going out?"

Kiyoshi turned to Kakashi and yelled sarcastically "Nooo, whatever gave you THAT idea."

Hikari giggled, "Yes, we're going out, is there a problem?"

Kakashi hesitated from telling all that he knows about Kiyoshi, but the blonde enlightened him "She knows more about me than you do. Even the kind of thing that will make you want to stay the hell away from me, and definitely kick me out of Konoha."

Kakashi was surprised by this comment, but didn't want to get into the discussion. He hadn't slept in two days and wanted some rest, "Where's Naruto and Hinata?"

"They're at my hideout, probably sleeping." replied Hikari

Kakashi sighed at the word 'sleep', "May I have some?"

"Sleep? Sure." answered Hikari, leading the group to the cave. Upon arrival to the invisible entrance, she said, "Here we are."

Kakashi and Inari looked at eachother, "And where are we?" asked Kakashi

"My cave." replied the girl, walking towards a mountainside, and disappearing into it.

Inari became freaked out "What is this? Where did she go?"

Kiyoshi didn't feel like explaining, so he grabbed the two guys by the hands and ran into the cave. Inari was terrified, he didn't feel like running into a wall, but to his surprise, instead of an impact, they ran into a cozy apartment-like residence. "Wow," he said looking around, "but I got to say, the place looked bigger on the outside," joked the kid.

"Inari, you're comparing this cave to a mountain," said Naruto coming out from his room with the notebook that Kiyoshi gave him.

Kiyoshi, seeing this, said, "I see you've been doing some thinking."

Kakashi ignored all this, went into Naruto's room, and fell asleep. The four kids followed his silent actions with their eyes and turned away after they were completed. Hikari started "There's six of us, and I don't know how any of you fight. It seems some of you aren't familiar with each other's styles."

Inari agreed on this more than the other two, "so what do you suggest?"

"I suggest we have an all-out sparring session tomorrow, but let's go to sleep for now." everyone agreed and went to their assigned by Hikari bedrooms.

The next day everybody but Naruto and Kiyoshi slept in. The two teens couldn't sleep at all; their worries were keeping them up all night. When the time said six-thirty, Naruto decided to get up to wander the hideout. When he walked out of the room, he saw Kiyoshi sitting in the living room.

"Hey Kiyoshi, what's up." said Naruto coming to sit next to the teen.

Kiyoshi lazily turned his head to look at Naruto "Nothing, just thinking over some things."

"Want to talk?"

"No, I don't discuss things like this. But this is the kind of thing that makes me afraid for Hikari's life."

"Protect her with your life" suggested Naruto

Kiyoshi looked down in disappointment, "I can't protect her. Just by being with me she's in danger."

Naruto thought about it, "Does she know about this?"

"Yes, but she still doesn't want to leave me."

"Then the decision is made. As soon as you told her, the decision was no longer yours." explained Naruto

A tear brewed in Kiyoshi's eye, "I never should have joined your village." whispered the blonde.

Naruto didn't understand why Kiyoshi would say something like this. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I met Hikari." Kiyoshi looked back at Naruto "for a very good reason, I swore myself to a solitary life. Now, for the selfish reason of being lonely, I put everyone in danger."

Naruto looked Kiyoshi in the eye, "Is there somebody hunting you?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, "I hope it's nothing, but if something bad happens to any of you, I'll hold myself responsible for as long as I live."

Naruto leaned back, this conversation wasn't going anywhere. No matter which direction it went in, there would always be a dead end, Kiyoshi wouldn't say what was bothering him. "Kiyoshi, you ARE living a solitary life."

Kiyoshi smiled, "When did you become so philosophical?"

A grin crept across Naruto's face "I learn from the best."

"Alright. Now tell me why you're not asleep."

"I'm afraid of what'll happen if I tell Hinata about the thing inside me," said Naruto

Kiyoshi found this understandable, "Afraid of life?"

Naruto looked up at the blonde before him, "What?"

Kiyoshi arched his back, leaning on his knees. "There are three main fears. The first one is the fear of life," said Kiyoshi keeping count of the fears on his fingers, "the second one is the fear of death," continued Kiyoshi, putting a second finger up. "And the third one," Kiyoshi looked up at Naruto, "is the fear of admitting that you have either of the first two."

Naruto was thinking about this, "So basically three fears; life, death, and denial?"

"Sure, if it'll help you keep track." replied Kiyoshi. "The third one, denial, is the easiest to overcome, because everyone is naturally born with all of them, and admitting is all you have to do."

Naruto nodded to indicate that he was following along. "Then..."

"The other two, are a lot harder, because in order to overcome them, you have to do more than admit that you're afraid. But..." Kiyoshi smiled "once you overcome one, you can easily overcome the other."

Naruto didn't understand the last part "what do you mean?"

Kiyoshi rephrased it using a different example "In order to have a good death, you have to have a life that's worth remembering."

This, Naruto understood. "Where are you going with all of this?"

"You're afraid of life," replied Kiyoshi, "This is very evident, because you very well know that it's better to tell Hinata now, than leave it in the freezer for her to find out later."

Naruto agreed, life is full of scary things, life is scary in itself, but in order to dominate it, you have to tackle it head on.