29.
Two days later and Kakashi left on a mission. A day after that and Inari was called to answer a similar call from Yamagichi Kimiko (who still persisted in dogging her steps). This time however unlike the previous nine now even Kimiko (who had in Inari's opinion a strange desire for violence and therefore an eagerness for the bigger, more challenging missions) seemed subdued. Inari waited patiently and steadily outside the Hokage's office while Kimiko drummed her fingers along the wall she was leaning against.
As a Jounin Inari had far more access to confidential information than her Chunin partner, so Kimiko's uneasiness could only signify that she had felt some disturbances along that network of gossiping contacts she possessed. Although 80% of these rumours tended to prove untruthful Inari was well aware that myths were habitually born from facts and Kimiko's new reluctance to receive a mission could only herald bad omens.
"The Hokage will see you now," the ANBU at the doors spoke.
Inari nodded and waited for Kimiko's customary 'about time' but when none came flashed her teammate a glance from the corner of her eye. Kimiko looked like she was preparing for a beating.
The third Hokage welcomed them both and as soon as they were seated his expression grew grave and his fingers tied together and steepled raised up by the elbows on his desk, an action which Inari had come to understand meant 'listen I am about to tell you something important.'
"Ordinarily I would have given this mission to a lower ranked ANBU team," the Hokage launched immediately in, "but I believe so far you both have proved your capabilities as a team and this mission is of a somewhat personal nature to one of you."
He was speaking the truth on the first part. Although Kimiko's behaviour around Inari bordered on relentless blood hounding outside of missions inside missions Kimiko had managed to work past whatever it was about Inari that bothered her. As a Jounin Inari was more skilled at tactics but didn't necessarily focus on the personal relationships between her teammates as she was accustomed to bouncing from mission to mission with new team after new team. Kimiko and Inari however had come to an unspoken understanding regarding missions; the Hokage had been insightful when pairing them as their approaches to combat and their skills complimented the other. The second part though? Inari's eyes flicked towards Kimiko and she was shocked by the genuine concern she felt. If this mission was personal to the older woman it would explain why Kimiko was acting like there was already a proverbial axe hanging above her head.
"The target is an ex-Jounin by the name of Kota Kohaku."
Something inside Inari stopped.
"He left this village seventeen years ago now, massacring his team and the team occupying them as he did so. There have been reports of his appearance over the years but none were verified and the teams who filed them were reported missing a week afterward. However, this time he has been stated to have made an appearance on the borders of the Land of Water."
The Hokage pulled several photographs from his desk drawer and spread them across the oak.
"The Chunin who photographed these and filled the report has already been reported missing."
"Sensei?"
Inari stood before Hikaru but the gap between them felt massive. Kota Hikaru was lost somewhere in the stars he was watching and Inari could not pull him back. She had awoken to relieve Hikaru of his watch but when the lean slope of Hikaru's figure came into view, one arm hanging over one raised knee an inky smudge on the canopy of the night sky that purpled at the edges and bore too many stars to count she had paused.
"Ah, Inari," Hikaru spoke and his voice was not his yet it was. It was still rich and smooth but there was something unbearably and beautifully sorrowful about it that made her just stand there watching the shadowy profile of her mentor.
"Do you know why I choose you Inari?"
Inari shook her head. The stillness and her sense of her being pulled into something deeper, something Inari could not truly comprehend was stifling and it involved her vain, arrogant, amusing and inspiring sensei. She knew Kota Hikaru was not a man readily loved but Inari loved him deeply all the same. He had chosen her to become his protégée and if Inari had ever known what it was to have a father she was sure that it would be similar to this.
"You said to me once that you did all this because you made a promise to Konoha that you would repay them for all they have given you," Hikaru turned to Inari and Inari saw his open eyes for the first time, silver like coins at the bottom of the lake and swirling with the same motion inside her chest.
Hikaru spoke quietly, "I have broken too many promises Inari."
Inari stared down at the picture of the man the Hokage had placed beforeher, blurred through motion and only the profile of his face caught from an angle but there was no denying the cat-like features and two silver eyes.
"Inari of the Mirror Sword."
Inari did not turn to face Kimiko but Kimiko still caught the almost invisible twitch of her shoulders that suggested she had heard her after all. Inari had not spoken since they left the Hokage's office but Kimiko could hardly put that down to any sadness or anxiety her team mate felt about the upcoming mission considering Inari rarely spoke at all. They and an ANBU member who was using the name Tenzo were currently travelling at a walking pace; all three had been disguised as musicians and ferried along with a band of performers. Inari had wrapped Kagami in cloth until it resembled a carefully packaged instrument and seeing her in the meagre yet colourful clothes of a travelling musician rather than her usual elegant kimono and body armour was somewhat disconcerting. The ANBU Tenzo was also dressed like Inari, his complexion and deep brunette hair made it easier to pass him off as Kimiko's younger brother. The boy could only be about thirteen or fourteen and the fact he'd made ANBU at such a young age made Kimiko more than a little wary around him. Still after months of digging up everything she could on Inari she wasn't going to forgo the best part.
"In the Land of Water, they call you Inari of the Mirror Sword," Kimiko repeated keeping a monotonous tone and pitch that would suggest to any of the travelling band that passed them that she and Inari were merely discussing the weather.
Inari for her part made no reply.
Kimiko had seen Inari whisper those same words on that first mission but twice in total over every battle they'd gone through. Tenzo walked between them one hand in Inari's grip, the other in Kimiko's. The peace he radiated was more akin to Inari and although the Hokage had supplied Kimiko with pills that changed the colour of her eyes to the same pinhole black as his (it was less conspicuous than pupil-less gold) meant that Kimiko and Tenzo appeared physically related, something about his manner and temperament was too similar to Inari's.
"I did a lot of jobs in that place," Inari replied keeping her words vague and therefore none too suspicious or incriminating.
'Unlike me,' Kimiko could kick herself, 'God Inari pisses me off because she's always pointing out the gap between us.'
"It's not unusual that I'd pick up a nickname, I wouldn't be the first right?" Inari's act was completely false and utterly convincing for anyone who did not previously know her, but then again she had reached the rank of Jounin this couldn't by far be the first covert mission she had undergone.
"Are they talking about…your instrument?" Kimiko questioned.
Inari nodded.
Kimiko accepted her silence for a minute before her eagerness got the better of her, "Soooo, what's the deal with you and your instrument. You carry it with you everywhere, I've never you seen you without it and that, er...song you perform isn't like any song I've ever seen?"
Inari said nothing but Kimiko caught the way her fingers twitched towards Kagami, Inari gripping her sword was often an action that seemed to comfort her.
"It's..." Inari began in a quiet voice, "it's complicated."
Kimiko wasn't usually one to be pleased by a substandard answer (something poor Inuzaki Akira knew all too well) but something about the way Inari had answered her stopped Kimiko continuing her line of questioning…for the moment.
When they reached the small settlement on the edge of Water Country, the rain hadn't let up instead growing thicker until the raindrops were the size of thumb prints.
'And it's so damn cold,' Kimiko huffed. She rubbed at her arms and stamped her feet in an attempt to get some heat circulating around her numb fingers and toes. Inari had already gone to try and dredge up some information on this Kota Kohaku.
'What is she thinking?' Kimiko stared into the mist that seemed to perpetually surround the Land of Water, 'how is she feeling?'
Kohaku had to be some relation of Inari's old sensei she'd seen it on Inari's face when the Hokage had delivered the news. What was Kohaku to her, what had he been to her sensei? Kimiko blew into her hands. And how would Inari react? The questions weren't asked for the sake of curiosity this time but concern.
"The target has holed himself up in a collection of ruins five miles from here," Inari said. She, Kimiko and Tenzo were currently huddled around the maps Inari had unfolded at the centre of the circular, hide tent. The tiny fire to their left filled the tiny space with the smoky scent of wood burning and did little to banish the cold creeping in from the night outside.
"Some of the villagers have been offering him food. They believe he is a ghost of one of the dead shinobi from their village," Inari continued.
"I don't understand why are you telling us this?" Kimiko frowned.
"It suggests that the target has been basing himself here for some time," Tenzo answered.
Inari nodded, "he must be skilled to have concealed his chakra from patrols for this long. He also has the advantage of knowing the environment and it's likely considering his previous class that he has already devised strategies for such an occasion."
"So what you're saying is we're fighting him in a massive death trap?" Kimiko scowled.
"The area isn't massive," Kimiko smiled playfully to herself, "but in essence, yes."
"Why can't we just lure him out like we usually do?"
"Kota Hikaru is an ex-jounin class shinobi it's highly unlikely he'd be willing to relinquish the environmental advantage just to fight us and if his actions have proved anything it's that he doesn't appear to have any goals in mind so we hardly classify as objects he has to remove. The only way he's going to bother with us is if we challenge him directly," Inari explained.
"I still don't like this," Kimiko grimaced.
Inari was silent.
"We'll move in the morning, for now rest," she finally said and Kimiko did exactly that.
Inari gripped Kimiko, keeping Tenzo locked in place between her front and Kimiko's back, as Sadao whirled through the heavy fall of rain. The sky was the dark grey of Inari's eyes; Sadao a mere silver fleck through the veil of rain as the skies emptied their fill like a fisherman empties his catch back into the ocean. Below them was a crater with water filling the bottom until it resembled a bowl. Ruins bore their heads towards the sky, towers split open with huge grey stones spilling out. A crumbling temple was hunkered down near the far wall, its limping sides casting an ominous shadow on the surface of the water.
"Sadao-sama, can you get any closer and remain out of sight?" Kimiko asked. Her eyes had taken on the wide black pupils of her summon and she too was scanning the scene with an advanced eyesight that was much sharper than Inari's.
"I can," Sadao replied and whirled lower but still circled the scene from a distance.
Kimiko squinted then smirked.
"I've got him," Kimiko called across to Inari.
Inari followed the line of Kimiko's finger towards a flat surface of stone, likely once the top of a platform that, was tilted diagonally and surrounding in each of its four corners by piles of wreckage. On one of those heaps Inari could just make out the splotch that Kimiko had been referring to.
Kota Kohaku.
Inari nodded, "I'll go."
Kimiko tried to spin in her seat but Inari's grip stopped her leaving only the brunette's head to whip round, long, thin ponytail curling like a ribbon in the wind.
"You can't go alone!" Kimiko yelled.
"I don't intend to," Inari smiled, "you're here aren't you?"
Kimiko's face convulsed with a mixture of anger and a worry that Inari had not expected.
"He is the son and former pupil of my sensei," Inari spoke, eyes trailing across to the figure perched amongst the rubble, "and Hikaru-sensei's greatest regret. The damage he is capable of is mine to take."
"It's not! It's your sensei's! What concern is it of yours that his son turned out to be a heartless bastard? Your sensei should fight him, not us if it means that much to him!"
"Hikaru-sensei will be fighting him."
Kimiko's face twisted with confusion.
"But you just said...I don't understand," Kimiko breathed.
"It's complicated," Inari smiled softly then it was gone, the impassive mask slipping into place, "fly low, keep your presence disguised with Genjutsu and whatever you do do not get too close to him."
"Inari, hey Inari!"
Kimiko reached to grasp Inari's arm as the younger woman slipped bonelessly from the side.
"Inari wait! I don't like this!" Kimiko yelled as Inari fell like the raindrops surrounding her towards the earth.
a/n:
The first thing I'd like to say is thank you, seriously THANK YOU. I was having a really crappy day yesterday worrying about work and just seeing your reviews and favourites and follows just made me feel so much better, so once again thank you :)
So Inari vs. Kohaku. Hikaru's favourite student vs. his son. Excited? The next chapter will just be the entire fight so if you're not keen on that kind of thing sorry but I need it really for the plot which I'll say now is going to be different to the original Naruto plot line because of some of these characters, that's all I'm going to say ;) Ah, sorry about the spelling again -.- I always put it through this online spell checker thingy but it only tells me if the words are spelt wrong not the grammar so I'm going to have to make a habit of checking through twice before I upload a chapter. On regards to some of the questions, 1)sorry I didn't address this one earlier but I'm not sure about a Hikaru and Inari time chapters yet, it's not that I don't think they're a good idea and a lot of you reacted positively to their relationship but ah, I dunno it's just like Hikaru still pops up a lot in Inari's thoughts so it feels like he's not really forgotten and I don't want to ruin it by writing a really bad one shot y'know?
2)And change the rating to M? You fifthly little readers ;P Same reason as before I don't want to ruin it by writing a sex scene that goes into a disgusting level of detail (I've read some those before on FF and they were almost enough to make me swear celibacy) but I'll see where it goes and give it a try then if it doesn't turn out sounding like a porno I'll put it up, sorry not much else I can. Though I have to say Kakashi in the shower mmmm *wipes drool away* I was tempted to send Inari in and help him...wash himself if you know what I mean ;D It's likely I'll have to put it up to M soon anyway because it's starting to get violent and when the big baddie makes his entrance it's not exactly rainbows and butterflies.
3) Okay, last question and a few people have mentioned this. Yes Inari does talk to Kakashi about the fight (though talk is a bit of an understatement) but not immediately I wanted their relationship to be threading back together again before that happens because then its likely to hurt them both more (sadistic I know :3 ) but don't worry she's not forgotten but I just don't see her as the type to start an argument because she's so calm (most of the time) so she'll need that little push to get her started.
Thanks for reading
