Special thanks to the one and only Amaterasu for her help in this chapter (and where SC will lead on the whole) ^_^
Hope you like the developments!
Storm Cloud – Chapter 02 – My Poor, Ugly, Lovely Daughter – Season 2
Izuru watched carefully from his position from between the leaves as the young girl skipped jovially along the path, her attention apparently drawn by nothing other than the squirrel that was hopping haltingly in front of her; the child couldn't have been more than about five and her clothes left a lot to be desired: she wore faded dark blue boys' shorts – the hems of which had fallen and were thoroughly frayed – and her t-shirt was sickly green covered in orange and yellow swirls as well as muddy stains which showed she had no compunction about dirt.
The man moved silently as he readjusted his position to strike, she hesitated for a moment, lifting her eyes to the surrounding foliage, the man halted his movements as the child rose again to full height, allowing the stick she'd been holding (and using to poke a small puddle) to fall to the ground as her sandaled feet widened their stance slightly; Izuru smiled to himself and leapt from his hiding place, he landed two feet away from the child, allowing her a moment or two to react before he aimed a kick towards her.
The small, grubby child easily managed to raise an arm to block the kick as she returned with her own, wasting barely a second before she followed up with a punch to his chin; the man was faster for both his muscle memory and years of experience as his long arm easily wound around her waist and he pulled her to his side, safely out of range of any of her kicks or punches. Before a further move could be made, however, a sudden voice drew both their attentions,
"Are you two fighting?" Riika stood just to the side of the enormous deciduous tree, her arms folded over her chest; both of the faces in front of her turned from surprise to slight guilt,
"Ah, hahah! Riika, my dear, of course we're not just 'fighting' –"
"It's training!" The young child piped up, an enthusiastic smile jumping to her face at the sight of her mother, despite her still rather undignified position clasped at her father's side,
"Right," Izuru nodded in agreement with his only child, Riika sighed and dramatically rolled her eyes,
"Well, would it be too much trouble to call you both in for dinner? And maybe a bath?" The elder kunicohi's eyes focused on her daughter who shrank away at the prospect of such a horrible fate, Izuru apparently shared Eiko's feeling as he pulled her around to his chest, grasping her in both his arms and turning away slightly, as if protecting her from something mortifying,
"How dare you suggest such a terrible thing!" He cried dramatically as Eiko giggled in delight,
"It might be horrifying, but you know our agreement, Eiko, to wash at least once when we move to a new place,"
"Aww," Eiko complained with a voice so pathetic it only held it power over long years of perfection,
"Hey, it's not so bad – we'll go home and eat dinner, you have your bath, then I'll show you the hand seals to some new jutsu before bed, how about that?"
"Yea!" Eiko half-shouted in response, raising her hands above her head, Izuru grinned as he set his daughter back down to walk under her own steam, as they walked over to join Riika; Izuru met his wife with a kiss and a hug before they turned back to walk through the short barrier of trees that lead back onto the main path towards Konoha; Eiko still ran on ahead as Izuru smoothed a hand down her back – a simple, but powerful gesture that his love for his wife was just as much as his daughter.
For the first time in a long time, Urushima Riika felt utterly safe and secure in their new home of Konohagakure.
Kakashi didn't feel any need to hide his yawn as he walked back into his room, pulling his overshirt off and tossing it aside to his loosely assigned corner of the room he'd designated 'laundry'. He reached up to untie his haitai-ate from his head as glaned over at Sakura, already curled up under his shuriken pattened kakebuton [duvet], with a sly smile on her face as she sat up slightly, to watch him undress,
"You know, I don't perform so well under pressure," He began, an easy smile finding it'd way to his face, which was still unobscured by his mask which'd he'd pulled down to brush his teeth before bed and had felt no need to reposition since,
"I thought that was when you performed best, being a world-class ninja and all," She shrugged from her now propped-up position on her elbow, grinning more,
"Well…maybe you have a point – am I being too boring?" He raised an eyebrow as his elbows pulled parallel with his forehead as part of the process of tugging his shirt over his head – he offered his girlfriend a quick, suggestive grin before chucking it over his his laundry corner. Just as moved to sit on the edge of his futon, he found himself looking back over to Sakura, her pale skin illuminated by the lamp-light on his bedside table, even as his hands found and began to wound around the bandages at his shins, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.
He might well have already been back in the village for a day, but he still felt as though he hadn't seen her in weeks; Sakura reached out to smooth a hand over his back as he coiled up his bandages and set them aside doing his best to resist his urge to grin like a giddy child at feeling the affection she had for him. He rose again to his feet, ubuttoning his trousers and slipping them off completely, he settled himself under the kakebuton and curled his arms around his girlfriend, his met her lips with own quickly and gladly.
They'd managed to spend an entire, uninterrupted day together – Kakashi writing his report up and Sakura helping him to organise what he would and wouldn't share with Tsunade from his parents' stores; it almost hadn't occurred to Kakashi at just how much time they'd spent together until Sakura started yawning and it was pitch black outside. They'd eaten dinner together and shared a bottle of Saké, the atmosphere easy and relaxed as such that Kakashi had never really known, it would have frightened him if didn't put him so much at ease to be with her in such a setting.
He smoothed his hands gently up her back as he pressed kisses to her shoulder, not entirely sure what felt better – Sakura pressed against him, her hands running over his own bare skin, or how his own hands felt rubbing over her smooth back. He loved the ease and pleasant sleepiness he felt with her, Sakura apparently agreeing as she pressed her lips to his again, it was languid and gentle – telling Kakashi that she still wanted to be around him and hadn't yet tired of his presence. Their relationship was something of a novelty to him, but it had given him an immense sense of security and comfort he's hadn't been aware he'd been missing.
Riika sat on he wooden bench in the centre of the park, lifting her head back to enjoy the warm sun as she finished off the last bite of her lunch; it was a rare moment of peace between managing an independent teenage daughter and her fears for her husband sent on increasingly dangerous missions as his heath deteriorated quicker than he could eat his dinner – war had been galloping ever closer and she knew well that there would not be many opportunities to breath so deeply with out defending from an enemy shuriken again so soon.
As she looked up to the azure sky, dappled lightly by the many, innocent little clouds drifting past, she heard a young, feminine giggle – it's innocence and joyfulness brought an instinctive smile to the kuniochi's face – as difficult an experience as it had been raising her first and only child, she'd found it to be deceptively rewarding. Eiko, for all of her natural childishness had renewed the same carefree sense and liberation to Riika as she shared in her child's development and experiences; still, the woman blinked for a moment as it suddenly occurred to her that she recognised that specific laughter – and it belonged to the subject of her recent thoughts: Eiko.
She sprang up, to look around as she quickly caught a glimpse of her fourteen year old daughter and a young, dark haired boy sat next to her on the grass. Riika darted slightly closer, wanting to steal a glance at the young pair, party curious about what sort of boy the damn-near arrogantly self-assured young woman would choose to associate herself with, as well as said young boy's conduct around Eiko when unaware of being observed by an adult.
"Give it here, damnit!" The young boy hissed under his breath whilst grabbing for the scroll Eiko was holding high up away from him,
"Idiot, what's the point? You know hardly any of the older names for jutsus," Eiko justified herself as she slapped her hand onto the boy's face, effectively shoving him away as she unflipped the scroll in her other hand and turned her attention to it. The boy, frowning, moved himself closer to her looking over her shoulder,
"Whoa! This is a really good scroll you stole – it says all about the Sharingan!"
"What, what does it say?"
"Says something about a Man…gek…kyo sharingan and a Rinne…gan…" She looked back over to the boy a light frown playing on her face; he shook his head slightly, apparently just as ignorant of what it meant. Riika felt herself involuntarily tense as she grasped the implications of what the two had done – having stolen one of the sacred scrolls of the Uchiha and discovered a number of its secrets. There was a very real possibility that there was an Uchiha reporting back on this incident and both Eiko and the boy would turn up dead in the less than twelve hours' time.
"Turn on your sharingan, Teruo, does it say anything else?" The boy frowned as his gifted eyes flashed to life and the three tomoe between them began to twirl, hypnotically. Riika's brain was darting about all over the place as she tried to concot some means of protecting her daughter; she ignored their words for a little bit as she got up and planned on wandering around to spring out of the bushes upon them. She could tell Eiko that Izuru was back or that there'd been some word on him and she should jump up to follow.
Surprising herself, she almost didn't care that Eiko had abetted a theft or that she was stealing secrets: she just needed to get her out of the scene of the crime. She leapt out ad skidded to a halt in front of the two teens, they hastily stuffed the scroll out of sight, but not nearly quick enough from trained Jounin eyes. The boy's sharingan were even slower to fade and a dead give away as to their dishonest dealings.
"Eiko! You've gotta come with me now – there's been some news on your father," Riika snapped more than she meant to, but it seemed to add an impetus to her words which the girl grasped and hesitated for barely a moment before leaping to her feet and her face finally displaying the shock she'd already registered, Riika darted away as she heard Eiko half-yell a goodbye in passing to her friend and quickly caught up; as the elder lead them back to their apartment, the younger piped up,
"Aren't we going to Hokage-sama? Why are we going home?" They landed on the small balcony as she spoke and Riika, not yet bothering to answer, ushered her inside and quickly closed and locked the door,
"Eiko, I don't care that you stole a scroll, but you are not to discuss with anyone – not even that boy – that you had access to that scroll or what you read in it. Understand?" Eiko's eyes darted to the side momentarily,
"But what about Otou-san [father]?"
"I lied, he's still on a recon mission, you know there'd be no word," Riika dismissed,
"Wh-what?"
"I overheard you talking about that scroll…for the love of Kami-sama, Eiko, how can you be so stupid?" Riika snarled with greater venom that she'd ever used on her daughter who – admittedly full of the arrogance of youth – was still a deceptively sensitive child, and easily responded to the depth of her mother's vehemence,
"I…I didn't…"
"Don't deny it, I heard you and I saw you…Eiko you don't grasp how serious this is – if the Uchiha realise you had any involvement whatsoever they will kill you. You've unearthed some of their deepest and most jealously guarded secrets – the Uchiha are ruthless in their protection of them. You will be killed if they even think you know something to do with that scroll!" Eiko took half a step back as Riika spat as loudly as she dared, "If any Uchiha approach you, Eiko, you are to behave completely as normal! Do not give any indication that you've done something wrong! They will even try to kill you if you even look suspicious. Got it?"
"Wh…I don't…"
"Eiko, I know you aren't this stupid – tell me that you understand what I've just told you,"
"Yes, I do, but…"
"You cannot ever reveal this information to anybody – not Otou-san, not that boy you were with or Kim-sensei. No one, ever!" Riika took a deep breath, her anger and fear having subsided long enough for her common sense to return, "I can't over-emphasise how desperate this situation is – anyone could have seen or heard you out there in such a public place – like I did…I just happened to be in the vicinity and over heard you. Eiko, please, promise me you will keep everything about what you've seen in that scroll to yourself! Don't tell me, don't tell anyone!" Riika had no idea what kind of desperate expression was on her face, but it must have been truly severe for Eiko to look so taken aback,
"I…I won't, Okaa-san, I won't say anything,"
"Thank Kami-sama," Riika flung her arms around her daughter's shoulders, "I'm terrified, Eiko, you've put yourself in so much danger! Just…please, don't even talk to that boy – what was his name? Teru? Don't even speak to him for the next day or so, but when you see him next, make sure he understands how dangerous it is for you both, okay?" Riika spoke into her daughter's hair more than anything, but the weak nod she received in response was enough for Riika to be sure her only child had understood the danger.
Even now, the Uchiha were obviously restless – they were moody and bordered on blatant disrespect for a fresh Sandime – something was brewing deep within the Uchiha clan. It was a sort of discontent…a restlessness that just didn't quite fit in with the heart of what Konoha was. Riika's intuition gnawed at her, but she still couldn't see, or even guess, at what might be lying in wait down the road for the infamous red-eyed clan forged deep in war.
"She's still under?" Sakura asked, her eyes focused on the stressed-looking comatose Riika,
"Yea, her body seems fine – aside from the wounds that are still healing – I can't quite explain it…aside from her age, maybe it was just too much," Tsunade shrugged from her position leaning against the door frame, Sakura shook her head, not taking her eyes off the elderly woman,
"No, Riika's not that weak…and if it had really been too much, she'd be dead," Unbeknownst to the young kuniochi, her mentor smiled wryly,
"You know, given how much you still bitch to me about her interfering with your life and your relationship with her grandson, you seem to have a strange respect for her," That was all it took for Sakura to whip her head around to half glare at the current Hokage, before remembering her impetuousness and controlling her expression, despite the fact Tsunade could only grin in response; Sakura let it go with nothing by a sigh of irritation,
"She's still Kakashi's grandmother…the only family he has left," Tsunade didn't verbally respond, but raised her eyebrows slightly in an expression that, had Sakura been looking, would have told the younger kuniochi that she didn't entirely agree with her assertion. Still, the pink haired jounin's hand glowing with green medicinal chakra reached out to Riika'a forehead, as the chakra flowed through her systems; the young kuniochi frowned, something about Riika's cells bothered her – as though there was some strange familiarity – but nothing to do with the fact Riika was a blood relative of Kakashi's.
Strangely enough, it brought Sakura right back to her time in Kumo – the thing that was off, yet somehow familiar about the comatose elderly kuniochi and the younger froze on the spot as it hit her just what she was recognizing.
"T-Tsunade-sama…" Sakura ceased before re-initalising her chakra flow through Riika instead of finishing her sentence,
"What is it?" The incumbent Hokage stood up from her slouched posture against the door frame as she heard the disquiet in her former student's voice,
"I…I think Riika is infected with the virus…I can feel it in her system,"
"What the hell? Sakura, you better be telling me the truth–"
"Tsunade-sama, I am, I'd know the feeling anywhere – it's exactly the same as those I examined in Kumo – and Pakkun when he'd been infected after the vial fell on him, but she hasn't had any symptoms, right? She was only brought in because of the injuries inflicted upon her by Kazuko…"
"Of course, Sakura, does she definitely carry the virus? Did you encounter any 'carriers' in Kumogakure?" The Hokage appeared by her former apprentice's side, the frown on her face deepening by the second,
"No…but I didn't think there were any carriers, I was so swamped and there were so many outbreaks that directly followed reports of the infected having contacted them that it didn't occur to me to look for anything other than a cure for the infection I could treat. I have no frame of reference, but I definitely recognise the markers for the virus, only her being a carrier would explain why she is asymptomatic,"
"I've read your reports and I trust your judgement on this matter, but…I don't understand the connection, the events which lead us and Kumo to the virus on top of the discovery that it had been engineered – does this mean that the same faction are still at work? Mutating the virus or is this something it's been able to do on its own?" Sakura breathed a low sigh out, worrying about the implications of the virus that had been allowed to spread unchecked, possibly, in an uncaring Kumo;
"I'm not sure, but I think it may mean Kumo aren't keeping a control of the virus – but even so, who could Riika have come into contact with, other than when she was still living in Iwa? We weren't aware of any outbreaks there…Not to mention the fact that Riika moved back here not long after Kakashi and his team left for their mission."
Sakura took a deep breath, disliking her thoughts as she verbalised them: "We'd heard no report of the virus in Iwa, but if Rock and Cloud were in alliance..."
"I know…" Tsunade sighed, "I'll quarantine her and speak to all staff that have had contact with her, Sakura, you'll need to check over Raidou, Genma and Kakashi, to see if its possible they too are carriers," Sakura breathed deeply as she acknowledged the weight of the Godaime's words, she'd already moved to the small sink in the room to wash her hands before preparing to leave,
"I'll go and see them now,"
"Sakura, I think you might have to take a mission up to Iwa to see if we can track down what's going on with this virus – and if there are any more carriers," Sakura pursed her lips disliking the prospect of having to spend any time in Iwa,
"I know,"
"I'll look into it and let you know as soon as I've pulled together a plan…we cannot just sit on this even if it means visiting Iwagakure,"
"I know." Was all Sakura would say, but the prospect of what the Hokage was proposing, combined with the possibility of Kakashi's being infected made her sick to her stomach.
…
Sakura didn't bother to knock as nearly tore the fusuma paper in her hurry to let herself into his house, she called out, swiftly checking the kitchen for any sign of him,
"Kakashi?"
"In here," He called out from him study, he'd turned around on his zabuton to face her as she marched into the room, almost skidding to her knees in front of him before unzipping his flack jacket and pushing it off his shoulders, whilst he didn't protest, he started bemused at her,
"You seem in a big hurry, last night wasn't enough I take it?" He queried, not yet grasping the severity of her worry,
"I need to examine you,"
"I thought you said playing doctor would make you too much of a pervert to work at the hospital," He asked again, as she lifted up his shirt to press her hands to his chest,
"Idiot, I've just examined Riika and found that she's a carrier of the virus!" She exclaimed, her eyes meeting Kakashi's and allowing him to finally see the extent of her alarm,
"She what? I didn't think there were any carriers,"
"I know, but she's definitely carrying the illness, but just not showing symptoms, I need to check you over to see if you're a carrier too," She spoke so quickly, it took him a moment to decipher what she was saying, he breathed in deeply, but remained quiet, allowing her to work without interruption. His mind whirred as he thought over the possibilities and consequences of the little snippet of information he had just learned, as the minutes passed, he grew increasingly worried despite the warmth of her chakra radiating through him.
"Sakura!" Kakashi had to nearly shout to get his girlfriend's attention, so intently was she concentrating on chasing her chakra through his cells, but he could take the silence no longer,
"What?" She nearly snapped, not looking up from her hand on his chest, "What is it?" She asked a second time, a little more gently. Kakashi placed his hands either side of her head,
"Please calm down, Sakura, I'm not sick,"
"You might not feel sick, but you were undoubtedly exposed to the illness – you remember what happened with Pakkun? And if Riika is a carrier then we might all have been infected…who knows when it could suddenly become active? We'd have an epidemic in Konoha, who knows who it might kill?" Kakashi sighed slightly as he looked over
He'd spent less of the day with her than he would have liked, but even so, Kakashi could easily see the stress on her, she looked a little panicked in the way he had only seen when she was desperately trying to rescue a patient from the needy fingers of death. He might have known better than to disturb her when in this state, but he could feel how her chakra had become almost chaotic as it coursed through his system. That made Kakashi more nervous than any news that he might be a carrier or infected with the viral agent. He inched forwards slowly, his knees brushing the outside of hers as his hands found her sides,
"You're panicking, this isn't like you, Sakura. There must be something else," He kept his voice low and gentle, something that tended to bank the fires of her temper – when he timed it right, of course –
"No, it's just…what if you've had the illness all along and I've been just overlooking it? I couldn't…" She didn't look at him, thought he wished she would,
"What opportunity have you had to spot it, even if you knew what you were looking for? It's not like you've been giving me a physical every month…well, unless you count a certain sort and thank god it more often," He could see a light twitch which told of the smile she was trying to hide, he took this as a sign she was warming a little and he moved his hands to her back, shifting himself closer still. Finally his overly stubborn girlfriend lifted her gaze to meed his, her green eyes weren't worried or teary as he'd begun to half expect, but it was rather a more uncertain expression, something that suggested she wasn't sure what option to take.
"Talk to me, I can't help you if I don't understand the whole story," He rubbed his fingers lightly over her shoulder blades feeling her seem to tense more,
"I don't know what's going to happen now, if there's another outbreak of virus in Konoha we'll be completely blindsided, clearly Iwa…or Kumo or both are still planning something, Kazuko's capture has told us that much…but what if we hadn't detected her? What if things had just gone on as usual and the virus resurfaced? What if I wasn't here to help? To help you? If you…" She trailed off but Kakashi caught her drift,
"Sakura, not every eventuality can be predicted or countered ahead of time, being shinobi means we–"
"I don't need a lecture on how be a ninja, damnit! I need to know how I'm supposed to focus on my job when all of my thoughts turn to you and how I'm supposed to take care of you when things like this happen!" Sakura's outburst surprised them both equally, she immediately dipped her head, as if having shared too much information; Kakashi himself was taken aback, no one he could remember had ever said such a thing to him – and whilst the subtext of her words struck him, he couldn't bring himself to think of it further. His hand clenched involuntarily as he brought them up, his hesitation momentarily as it found the side of her face, stroking her hair lightly,
"Sakura, you don't have to…take care of me," Even as the silver haired jounin spoke the words, he couldn't quite help the clipped quality to them – he couldn't even lie to himself about liking the idea;
"Can't help it," She muttered into her collar, before turning her head around to look at everything but the man opposite her, as her eyes drifted over the domineering tansu against the wall, she spoke further, "I'm so worried Kakashi, I feel like I'm more worried than I should be – I haven't felt this anxious since my first attempt at the Chuunin selection exam…I've been slacking off these past few months – after the war ended, since we've been together I've been so relaxed,"
"Way to make it sound like such a bad thing," She smiled a little at his retort,
"Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that…really…you make me happy and frankly, that's scary to me…I…just don't really know what I'm supposed to do,"
"You don't have to do anything, Sakura, " He breathed, aware that they were clearly reaching some pivotal moment, "All I can tell you is that you make me immensely happy when you're around, whatever I can do to help you, just tell me and I'll do it,"
"...I have to go back to Iwa, to search for any further carriers and how the virus got to Rock," She spoke more to his chest, her eyes darting away from his again, her hands still glowing with chakra and pressed against him,
"I'll go with you,"
"It's not for you to decide, it's Tsunade-sama's decision," Her rebuttal might have been valid, but there was no force behind her words,
"I've been to Iwa the most recently as a Taichou [Captain], it would make the most sense to send me,"
"She know's we're involved," Kakashi couldn't help but find himself frowning at how negative Sakura sounded at the world 'involved' as though it were something dirty, to be ashamed of.
"Since she took the time to tease us about being married before we had even gotten involved, I doubt she really had any issue with it,"
"Still…you'd distract me the worst,"
"And I could protect you the best," His shoulders slumped slightly, as she pulled her hands away from him, his shirt falling back to its original, though now wrinkled, position, "Am I infected?"
She took a deep breath, "I checked three times, you're a carrier too," She leant forwards to rest her head on his chest as his arms encircled themselves around her back, dragging her as close to him as he could "I don't want to go to Iwa, but I agree with Tsunade that this virus has to be eradicated; if we have any chance of doing so then we have to take it," Kakashi didn't reply to her as he rested his chin against her head, "I have to find some way to crush this damn virus, I can't let it kill any more people, I can't let it kill you,"
"You've saved people who've become infected before,"
"I can't be around you every second,"
"I'm resilient, I'd wait for you," She felt him shrug, but his near indifference made her tense with worry. He rubbed his hands over her back a little more, deviously sensitive to her mood,
"Kakashi?"
"Hmm..?" He murmured his answer, unwilling to break the relaxing silence between them after the panic had cooled,
"I think I'm in love with you," At her rather abrupt words, his eye snapped open in surprise,
"What?" She tensed slightly as he leaned back, his expression still one searching for answers,
"I…I do, I love being with you, everything is so comfortable and I always look forward to seeing you…I'm sorry, I don't know if you're ready to hear this, but…" Kakashi relaxed slightly, his shoulders lowering as his hand rose to pull down his mask, his mouth was slightly open and held the tiniest hint of a smile ghosting them – still not giving Sakura any sort of definitive answer.
"I hadn't thought I needed to hear you say that, but now I've heard it, I…" He trailed off and pressed his lips to hears urgently, Sakura responding almost instinctively, although the kiss was intense, he broke away quickly,
"I love you, I love you Sakura," They kissed more deeply again, the kuniochi both assured and excited as they pulled away and Kakashi pressed little kisses down her neck as she tightened her grasp around his shoulders; the absorbing silence ruined as the silver-haired lover muttered more to himself, though causing the kuniochi to laugh,
"I'd been wondering why I'd been feeling so weird around you lately…I thought I was just getting old."
"We know she had some involvement with that scroll," The piercingly dark eyes of the Uchiha stared at Riika unwaveringly, the equally obsidian hair barely waved in the slight breeze that interrupted the tense moment. The immigrant kuniochi barely raised an eyebrow,
"Really? How exactly do you 'know' that my daughter did anything? When was she supposed to have even seen this scroll?"
"She stole it,"
"My daughter is no theif, unless you have tangible evidence of any wrong-doing then I'll happily listen, until then I will report any further harassment against me, my husband or my daughter to the Sandaime," With that, Riika stepped around and darted away from the Uchiha – a dangerous move to turn her back on one, particularly one who suspected her, but Riika had cultivated her years of experience and schooled her expression into one of utter nonchalance and ignorance.
Damn Eiko for so carelessly discarding her friendship with Uchiha Teruo – she'd urged her daughter to keep herself on good terms with the boy with whom she'd stolen one of the Uchiha's most secret scrolls with. Teruo had been becoming more and more indoctrinated into the clan mentality – which had understandably infuriated the free spirited Eiko, but the still immature teenager hadn't considered that without good reason for Teruo not to do so, he would most likely pin all of the blame on her should the clan elders query him about the scroll they had stolen several months before hand.
Riika was suspicious as to why it had taken them this long to start asking questions and casting aspersions, but as it had turned out, the elders had been absorbed in a funeral which had so presented the two children with an opportunity – and Teruo's resistance to clan tradition had meant that he'd had little opening with which to incriminate his former friend.
The kuniochi had never been a particular believer in luck or divine intervention, but there had definitely been something at work that day protecting Eiko from the eyes of the Uchiha.
Riika had a frustrating wait for her daughter to return from her last gennin mission before she attempted the Chuunin selection exam – Izuru tried to comfort her, but his ideas of what to do with Eiko differed greatly from her own,
"She should keep the knowledge she read in that scroll, it could be immensely valuable – incredibly so. To just want to hide it away in her psyche is a result of fear and doesn't allow for the potential knowledge she possess to be put to its full use,"
"The Uchiha are a clan gifted with genjutsu-"
"That doesn't mean they can see inside her brain, Riika,"
"But they can trick her into revealing everything she knows! They wouldn't hesitate to render her unable to tell anyone anything – if they decided to keep her alive,"
"The Third would never allow that to happen,"
"The Uchiha are the police and the most secretive clan in Konoha – the Hokage has only so much control over them," Izuru sighed heavily, sweeping a hand through his shaggy hair, the silence over them thick with worry and uncertainty;
"I could teach Eiko how to mask her knowledge – how to hide it from even herself with meditation that has proven itself against the strongest serums and jutsus,"
"It's a forbidden technique, Izuru – it might be an Iwa one, but there's no guarantee she'd even be capable of learning it," Riika sighed, taking a seat on the zabuton next to her husband,
"Have some faith, Riika, she isn't stupid and we'll make sure she understands the implications of not learning this technique. I'll have plenty of time whilst I'm still off missions for the time being," He smiled gently as his wife came around to the idea, albeit rather begrudgingly, she rubbed a hand over his,
"She'll hate it,"
"Children hate everything until they've done it – especially learning," He offered nonchalantly, Izuru had always been so calm in stressful situations and had never yet failed to help diffuse Riika's worrying nature.
And she'd been having a lot more to worry about in recent months - from her daughter's thievery to her husband's deteriorating health. She didn't want to think about how she could cope without him.
..
.
A/n - don't hate me! I know it's been forever since my last update (but having had no leave since Christmas, I've had my hands full :O)
Oh and Iwa, you bastards! ~shakes fist in anger~