"We've got to do this!" Sasuke yelled in agreement. He rushed the clone and threw a handful of ninja stars. They were deflected by the blade, so Sasuke jumped above Zabuza with a kunai in his hand. He was easily grabbed by the neck mid-air and tossed aside.
"Sasuke!" Kokoro yelled.
"He got Sasuke," Naruto said in fear. Kokoro looked at him and she bit her lip. Shakily, Naruto looked at the jounin from his position on the ground and shied away from him. He was shaking so bad and tried to get away. He stopped when he used his injured hand to get up and gasped. Then, a determined look entered his eyes. He rushed the clone, too, and was immediately thrown away.
"What are you thinking charging him by yourself!" Kokoro yelled. "You can't rush into things, remember?"
He was forgetting everything she had taught him when they had sparred together. It was a habit he had to break or else he was going to get seriously hurt one day.
Naruto groaned in pain and slowly got up. In his hand was his hitai-ate. Kokoro gasped and realized what he had actually tried to do. She didn't know if he was just stupid or stupidly determined. The headband must be very important to him if he was willing to sacrifice his life for it. He tied it back around his forehead and grinned in determination.
"All right, Sasuke. Listen up. Can you hear me?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, I hear you," Sasuke replied.
"I've got a plan," Naruto declared.
"So you're finally thinking about teamwork, huh?" Sasuke asked a bit haughty.
"Let's go wild!" Naruto shouted. Kokoro didn't know what this plan was or if he even factored her into it, but she was going to do her best to help.
"What are you doing? I told you to run!" Kakashi yelled. "Your mission isn't to show how brave you are. It's to save the bridge builder. Stay on mission!"
"I guess this all happened because of me," Tazuna spoke up. The three genin looked at him in surprise. "Do what you have to do."
They nodded and placed all of their attention on Zabuza. Kokoro inched closer to Tazuna, gaining Zabuza's attention for a split second before Naruto and Sasuke went into motion. Sasuke was intercepted by Zabuza, who hit Sasuke in the gut. The Uchiha fell to the ground and groaned in pain when Zabuza slammed his elbow down into his stomach. The jounin stomped his foot down on Sasuke and applied pressure.
"You're nothing," he said.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out. About twenty shadow clones appeared and surrounded Zabuza. The clones attacked Zabuza and gave Sasuke a chance to get away. However, the clones couldn't hold the rogue-nin down and he threw them all off of him. Naruto dug into his backpack and pulled out a shuriken. He yelled Sasuke's name and threw the weapon to him. Sasuke caught it and smirked.
Sasuke jumped and threw the shuriken at the real Zabuza. He caught it but didn't register the second one heading his way. When he did, he jumped over it. Kokoro smirked. The second shuriken turned into Naruto, who threw a kunai at the rogue ninja.
Among the chaos, Kokoro created a water clone and ordered it forward while she stayed back to protect the bridge builder. Zabuza caught the kunai Naruto threw at him with a nefarious grin. Seeing her chance, Kokoro's clone snuck up behind and propelled the enemy forward with a kick to the back. He was forced to dispel his water jutsu, allowing Kakashi to escape. Angry, he punched the water clone and tried throwing the shuriken he caught at Naruto, but Kakashi stopped him with his forearm.
"Naruto, that was an excellent plan," he praised the blond. Naruto laughed from his position in the water. Kakashi flicked the shuriken away and the two separated, creating distance between them. Zabuza started performing signs for his jutsu, but Kakashi mirrored his actions.
Kokoro's back prickled and straightened as she felt a presence behind her. She inched closer to Tazuna and discreetly turned her head. She didn't see anyone, but she still kept up her guard. Zabuza was powerful, yes, but any rogue ninja who traveled alone was a dumb one.
Kakashi finally got the upper hand when he performed a water jutsu before Zabuza got the chance. Zabuza was swept up in the water and thrown against a tree. Four kunai were thrown at him and stuck him to the tree. There was no escaping.
"Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked exhaustedly. His head hung low and a shadow covered his eyes.
"Yeah. This is your final battle," the silver-haired jounin replied. Suddenly, two senbon attached themselves to Zabuza's neck. The rogue ninja fell over. Kokoro glanced around frantically and saw a masked ninja with long brown hair standing on a tree branch behind her. She stiffened and quickly got into a defensive position. Judging by the four squiggles on their mask, they were a Mist-nin.
"You were right. It was his last battle," a feminine voice rang out. Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse and confirmed that he was dead. Then he stared at the mysterious figure overhead.
"Thank you," the Mist-nin said. "I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down."
"By your mask, I see that you're a hunter ninja from the Mist Village," Kakashi deduced.
"You're well informed," the Mist-nin said.
"A hunter!" Naruto yelled and sprung into a defensive position.
"A hunter is a ninja that hunts down rogue ninjas and eliminates them so they don't reveal any of the village's secrets," Kokoro told him. Her hold on her kunai did not loosen. Why didn't the hunter-nin step in before? What were they waiting for?
"He's not our enemy, Naruto," Kakashi said. He walked up to the blond as the genin ranted about how easily the tracker took down Zabuza. Kakashi planted his hand on Naruto's head in comfort and said, "In this world, there are kids younger than you yet stronger than me."
The hunter disappeared in a whirlwind and appeared next to Zabuza.
"Your struggle is over. I will now deal with the dead remains. There are a lot of secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands," the hunter said. "Please excuse me."
When they disappeared, Kakashi pulled his headband back over his Sharingan and finally relaxed. Naruto threw a tantrum while Kokoro walked over to her dad and hit him. Kakashi rubbed his arm in pain and grimaced.
"I don't care how inexperienced we are,'' Kokoro said. "If you tell us to leave you again, I will hurt you!"
"My apologies, Koko," Kakashi said awkwardly.
Kokoro thought about all that transpired. What were the chances that Zabuza just happened to stumble upon them? Very slim. Also, he told them he was after the bridge builder, so he must have been hired by someone. Her mind immediately went to Gato and she clenched her fists. The lengths people went to do horrible things angered her.
There was another thing, however, that bothered her: the hunter-nin. When she was younger, she had read a book about hunter-nin and the protocol the hunter just used versus the protocol in the book was completely different. She could chalk the differences up as different villages having different rules; but, still, the hunter should have at least made sure Zabuza was dead.
"Alright, let's get going," Kakashi said. He took two steps before he fell to the ground in exhaustion.
"Dad!" Kokoro yelled. She rushed to his side and shook him. He didn't respond, so she checked his pulse. Thankfully, he was still alive. He must have passed out due to exhaustion, Kokoro thought. She scowled and looked at her teammates.
"We need to carry him. Can one of you help me out?" she asked. She started picking him up and sighed in relief when someone helped her. Sasuke nodded at her and took Kakashi's lower half.
"Naruto, you're going to have to be our lookout for now," Kokoro told him. "If something's out of place, make sure you let us know. We won't be able to help if our hands are full."
"Roger!" Naruto yelled.
"Tazuna," she addressed the bridge builder, "please walk in between us."
He nodded his head and followed Naruto. Sasuke and Kokoro took up the back. Kokoro lost her grip on her dad and he slipped a bit before she regained it. She cursed and silently complained about having to carry him the rest of the way. Maybe she should have left him.
Dear Gaara,
I hung out with Shikamaru and Choji the other day. Dad and Choji's dad had to go on a mission, so Choji and I stayed at Shikamaru's house for a couple of days. Shikamaru kept trying to get us to play Shogi, but I suck at it and refused to play after losing twice. Choji indulged him but stopped playing after a handful of rounds.
After that, we were allowed to go to the park. We played tag for a little bit but got bored really quickly. I swung on the swings while Shikamaru laid on top of the monkey bars and Choji sat at the top of the slide, afterward. Thankfully, no one else was at the park, so we didn't have to move out of their way.
I think the best part about going over Shikamaru's house was seeing him interact with his mom. I've never gotten to do that and it was nice seeing it. He acted annoyed with her a lot, but I could tell he was happy with her nagging. I went to sleep thinking about how my mom would interact with me. Would she nag me a lot like Shika's mom, or would she let me do whatever? Would we be as close as me and my dad are, or would we butt heads?
You understand. That feeling of missing something you never had, I mean. A lot of people in the village don't have two parents. Well, a lot of the ninja in the village don't have two parents. I guess it's something a lot of people have in common. I only see villagers with complete families. Will it be like that when I'm older? I'm too young right now, but I think a lot about my children growing up without both parents. I don't want that for them.
I'm going to get strong so that they never lose me, and I'll marry someone who's strong so they never lose their dad either.
Kokoro
When Kakashi woke up, he was greeted by a woman with long dark hair. He was laying on a cot with his head on a pillow and a blanket thrown over him.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I've been better," he replied. "It'll be a week before I can move normally."
He tried sitting up, but the woman gestured for him to lay down.
"It's better if you don't move, so just lie down," she said. Then she sucked her teeth and continued, "You nearly gave your poor daughter a heart attack."
"That's right!" Kokoro yelled. She walked into the room and immediately glared at him. He leaned farther back against the pillow and shied away from her glance.
"You overdid it!" she scolded him.
"I know," he sighed out.
"Look! Sensei's alright!" Naruto yelled as he, Sasuke, and Tazuna entered the room.
"Thank you for taking down that guy," Tazuna said cheerfully. "We'll be safe for a while."
Kokoro grimaced and gave her dad a look. She kneeled beside his bed and checked him over before she said, "There was something weird with that hunter-nin."
"A shinobi's body contains many secrets. It is a hunter's job to keep the village's secrets safe. If a ninja betrays their village, the hunter hunts them down, eliminates them, and obliterates every trace of them. That's their specialty. They deal with the body immediately, so there's no room for error," Kakashi said.
"Exactly," Kokoro said as she snapped her fingers. "He should have dealt with Zabuza right then and there, but instead he took him somewhere."
"And think of the weapon he used to take down Zabuza," Kakashi prompted them.
"Throwing needles," Sasuke said in astonishment. "No way."
"None of it adds up," Kokoro said.
"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked. "What is the meaning of this?"
"To put it simply, Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi informed them. Naruto and Tazuna gasped.
"But you checked him yourself!" Naruto protested.
"His heart did stop, but that was just a temporary state to stimulate death," Kakashi deduced. "The weapons the hunter-nin used are called senbon. They can pierce a person's skin deeply, but they rarely kill unless they hit a vital organ."
"And Zabuza was hit in the neck," Kokoro added, "which means the hunter-nin wasn't aiming to kill him."
"Causing the heart to stop while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them," Kakashi explained. "The hunter-nin carried Zabuza away, even though Zabuza was heavy, and the hunter-nin used senbon, a non-lethal weapon. It's safe to say that we can conclude the hunter-nin was trying to save him."
"You're overthinking this, aren't you?" Tazuna asked worriedly.
"Hesitation leads to disaster," Kakashi said. "It's better to be prepared."
"If you didn't get him last time, how are you going to get him this time?" Tazuna asked.
"These three will be undergoing a little last-minute training," Kakashi informed them.
"Sensei, how can you train us if you're still injured, dattebayo?" Naruto asked. Kakashi laughed sinisterly. Kokoro bonked him on the head and yelled, "Stop being so dramatic!"
"You'll love the training I have for you," Kakashi said, ignoring the slight ache in his head.
A.N.
The letters to Gaara are not in a specific timeline. Also, only like two more chapters before Koko sees him again! \(^o^)/
I'm only including things I think would help Kokoro's character development, so if some things are missing or distorted, you know why.
