Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own Legend of the Five Rings. No financial gain is made from this. This is for entertainment purposes only.
As water that filters through the cracks of a wall, making its way with its incessant drop, she made her way in through Kakashi's strongly built defenses, that wall he had built to detach himself from the cruelty of the world.
It didn't happen overnight and she saw the seasons change slowly as she achieved the first conversations, the first smiles, the first moments of comfortable silence.
It was not all her merit. Kakashi had been assigned to watch over Kushina, a mission he could not share with her, but that she eventually figured out. This retreat from the violence of their world seemed to appease his mind for a while, and to give him a new positive purpose.
And things changed greatly from that day on that she dared to ask for a favor:
"Orochimaru sensei has said that he thinks we are prepared for our chūnin exams..." she said, making her rock bounce eleven times on the calm river surface. Spring was dressing the riverbank with colors and the weather was nice enough to be out until late.
He chose the right size and shape, and his pebble bounced fourteen times, the same years he would be once most of summer would pass by. "It is time."
She snorted and her hands wriggled in nervousness, so she hid them amongst the wet grass. "I was thinking... well, maybe we could train together-"
"I don't have time," he interrupted.
"It's okay. Maybe you can help me when you are off duty..."
He pondered. It was true that he would go rusty if he did not train more; he did not want to confess that he itched for some action.
"Okay," he said, suddenly standing up and dusting off his pants.
"Okay?" she repeated, big eyes looking up to him.
"Yeah, let's go. If you don't start soon you will never be ready. Do you want to be a genin the rest of your life or what?"
She smiled and followed after him.
Spring passed them in a blur in which they rekindled an old friendship through hard work and discipline.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
They had been lying in the grass, watching the few clouds in the sky move without urgency, with a calmness that seemed to come back to their lives. They were tired, for they had been training for the last two hours; Kakashi was a strict teacher and gave her no rest. He sat up at her words.
He knew what she meant, but he still asked, "What do you mean?"
She sat up next to him and moved her arm to lift it to his face, to peel off the head protector covering his eye, but stopped midway. She was careful now, she did not want him to shy again from her. "Your eye. Can I see it?"
He paused. "For what?"
Oh, how she hated his stupid defensive questions. For what? Curiosity? Worry? Closeness? What did she know? She had heard so many stories about it by now...
To her surprise, with a single movement, he lifted the band and opened both his eyes. He heard the soft gasp that escaped her pink lips. He tried to read her reaction.
"What do you see?" she asked.
"Everything," he answered.
With a gentleness he did not recognise in her, she lowered slowly his headband, put it back over his eye and whispered, "thank you."
The end of spring settled a new anxiety in her chest: her exams were in summer and she felt unprepared. She was not as praised as Anko, she was still behind in her Matsu training and she felt she did not see Kakashi enough. These fears translated into a dangerous frustration.
"That's all you have learnt these last years?" Kakashi teased her with no other intention than to rile her up, to annoy her as he used to when they were kids. They were sparring like they had been doing the past two months, taking up his time when he was not watching over Kushina.
But for no particular reason, as important things happen sometimes, she saw red this time, let herself be taken over by that fury, that fire that now also burned deep in her gut. Matsu Airi sensei had spoken long about it, but Sumi felt it now for the first time. It was a rage that consumed her logic. She saw the kunai coming her way, but chose not to avoid it. With an indescribable horror he saw how his hand, the one holding the kunai, got tinted crimson as the weapon embedded in her right shoulder. Flashbacks clouded his vision, terrible nightmares that still haunted him at night. A similar situation, another face, a broken promise...
In his distress he did not see Sumi pull out the kunai and throw a powerful kick his way that sent him flying backwards against a tree. Since when was she so strong? With a speed unlike her, she was soon in front of him, ready to throw another punch his way. Since when was she so fast?
He evaded in time, but she managed to chase after him and he had to block a few hits before to realize that he had to shake off bad memories to not lose. And maybe something else...
He moved away his headband and relied on his sharingan to get a grasp of his situation. Yes, there was no doubt, her chakra, her speed, her strength... they had increased. He needed time to think. He used a body replacement technique to leave the open battlefield.
As he recollected his thoughts, calmed his breath, a deep growl interrupted his pause and he saw before the inevitable the orange flicker of the eyes of the tiger that turned around the tree he used as a resting spot.
On her side, Sumi had jumped over all the rules Airi had repeated her over and over; she might have actually back flipped over them. She had used a technique she did not master, she used it against a friend, she had lost herself in the sweet frenzy that only asked for more, and now, she no longer saw right from wrong, as Airi had said it could happen.
Her eyes scanned the riverbank, the trees, for a sign of Kakashi when a whistling sound next to her ear announced the kunai, and she jumped in time to avoid the flames of the explosive it carried, just as Kakashi had expected she would. As she was forced to fall to the ground, she felt the stones grip at her ankles and she knew he was there. Using her own Earth release, she hit the grass to open a small chasm that traveled towards him, that opened the ground under his feet. She punched her way out of his trap, almost unfeeling the crack in her knuckles, the warmth of the blood.
She ran to him, seeking that moment of unbalance, of surprise, that could be vital in a real battle, and aimed her kunai to his head. He grabbed her wrist with a strong hand and played his last card. He called her name.
The kunai fell.
His hand dropped. So did hers.
She took a few steps back, looked at her hands.
He watched her, unseeing.
She fled.
Spring left.
Summer arrived. And they had not spoken since.
Her exam was in two days and Kibo had told her to rest; it would made her no good to keep on training until exhaustion, she would need energy for the days to come. But under the August afternoon, the heat felt suffocating at home, despite her light dress. So she had decided to walk to the riverbank, take off her sandals and cool her feet under the moving water. It soothed her spirit and she closed her eyes in reflection, trying to escape from the regrets that replayed in her mind when she did not master it.
A soft breeze blew away some thin strands from her braid and they caressed her face. Her skin had now a healthy golden hue, witness to the hours spent outside. A shadow settled over her head and she opened her eyes to search for clouds in the sky. Finding none in the clear blue open, she turned around.
"Happy birthday," he said and placed the gift, wrapped in a paper with cute dog drawings, next to her hand.
She took the gift, surprised, but heard him leaving and called after, "Kakashi! Wait!"
He stopped. "It is just some useful things for your exam," he confessed before she could barely start to unwrap it.
Indeed, she found a small pouch with every basic item a ninja would need: kunai, shuriken, scrolls...
"Thank you," she muttered and he made to leave again, but she spoke up, "and I am sorry." He paused. "For everything." He nodded and left.
She smiled.
He spent around a month without seeing her. Kushina was by then big as a balloon and he secretly worried she might explode and deflate. He felt a presence arriving at the roof from where he observed, clad in his ANBU outfit, but put back in its pouch his kunai when he distinguished the approaching figure.
And before he could think of a smart remark, her arms flew around his neck and she hugged him in glee.
"I'm on duty," he complained and she let go of him. He took off his mask and hood.
"I am a chūnin, Kakashi," she announced. "I am a chūnin."
He laughed softly at her merriment. She could not hold herself from jumping and spinning around. It was contagious.
Her excitement died out and she just smiled at him and said, "thank you. I have got you this," she added, rummaging in her bag.
She pulled out a gift wrapped in paper with little cat drawings, but he raised his hands. "You don't have to."
She pushed it into his chest, for stubborn, and because she was sure he had forgotten. "Happy birthday."
And he had.
He opened it and found a book titled 'A new hope'. "Thank you," he said and sat back in the roof. She was going to leave, but he then asked, "So how was it?"
She beamed and sat next to him, fidgeting with excitement. "Well, first, I had not slept a minute the night before... I arrived feeling drained, and there was already everybody there and-oh, wait, did I tell you about the shoe? I have to..."