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.
He was trying to shake Guy off, the last following him down the street with his usual flare, enthusiastically asking him for a match or something. He knew Sumi would be finished by now with her lessons in the Matsu dojo and he hoped to grab some dinner together or maybe just sit and talk. He was departing on a mission tomorrow and he would not have the time to see her before it if not now.
A strange feeling permeated the air and a worry grew in his heart. It was confirmed once they saw the Kyuubi appear. Young shinobi were led away, to the outskirts.
"I will be back," he told Guy quickly before to disappear.
Kakashi knew well the village and he quickly reached the Matsu district. As he had feared, chaos reigned; women of all ages grabbed at their weapons or carried away their injured. Several buildings had been reduced to rubble after the pass of the demon and his eyes searched frantically the crowd.
Luckily for him, the ebony hair stuck out in the sea of yellow manes and he ran to Sumi. She seemed upset and she screamed at a woman of elegant beauty.
"Go now!" Matsu Kibo ordered again. Her naginata in one hand and her lioness behind her, she looked like a warrior princess from a novel.
"I won't leave you all! I will fight with my friends, with the pride!" Sumi pleaded. Haruki was tense by her side.
Both women, fire in their eyes, argued in front of a crumbled statue that would have represented once the glory of a true leader.
"Sumi," he said and both stared at him, the same golden almond eyes only different by a few well-placed wrinkles and dark long eyelashes.
"You must be Kakashi," the older woman said and she put Sumi's hand in his. "Take her away," she commanded. "Run!"
And he did, pulling with him the crying girl, pulling stronger when he felt her push back, taking her away from an apparent doom, selfishly. "The Hokage told us to meet at the base," he said at some point, more to convince himself that he was doing the right thing than her.
But when they arrived to where the others had already been gathered, he found bitterly that it all had been a ruse to keep them out of the battle. Kurenai expressed Sumi's and others' discontent loudly, with harsh words, but her father was stoic. They were now the future of the village and as such they would sit back and watch it burn.
Kakashi could feel Sumi fuming next to him and the tension in the air was palpable. He wondered if she was mad at him, if she would forgive him. He knew she would probably not, but would she learn to live with it?
Excruciating hours passed slowly and at some point Sumi left his side to sit with Anko and Haruki, although the girls did not speak.
When the battle was over and much was lost, the barrier was dropped and Sumi left without a word. He went back home. He would take an hour off before to mourn, now such a familiar thing to do in his life. At least, for another day, he would not have to mourn her. He had done the right thing, no?
The day was still not upon them, although he doubted the Sun would dare to make an appearance under such desolation, when the ceremony was held. Konoha's citizens wore once again black to honor their loss, those that died heroically and those that just died, but that still would be remembered.
He felt a pain sadly familiar for a such a young boy and as he did the first time he lost his dad, he waited loneliness to cry for whom had treated him as a son. And when people started to leave, he looked for her from afar. He saw her waiting, her long hair loose, running down her back like black silk, her eyes red, but not a tear present - ninjas do not cry. She waited that her mother and her sisters left, as they finished their farewells, before to say herself goodbye to her sister Akemi. Her portrait was next to the heroes of Konoha that had sacrificed their lives; a lonely flower next to it to represent her craft. It was a pretty picture, where she smiled brightly next to her son, together, as they had perished that night.
Her family left and Kibo nudged her to go forward. Sumi knelt in front of the little altar and closed her eyes in a one-sided conversation. Then, she kissed the tips of her fingers and placed them in the portrait.
A long-time conversation rung in her ears...
Akemi smiled. "I think you will make a great kunoichi."
Sumi's face lighted up. "I will. So that I can protect your baby. My friend Kakashi says ninjas are here to protect the villagers, but I will protect Akemi's baby the most."
That historical night, not only great ninjas were lost, but also dreams, hopes and innocence.
When Kibo and Sumi reached the Matsu district, reconstruction work had already started. The clan leader's house had been partially brought down, but it had more room than Kibo and Sumi could use.
"Go help the villagers rebuild their homes, make sure they have a shelter over their heads," Kibo ordered the workers as they approached. They nodded their understanding and set off. Then Kibo walked to where the shrine to Matsu had been, now just pieces of marble amongst which one could identify a finger or part of her mask. A woman already stood in front of the mess and they joined her.
Matsu Sachio glared at the mess, her hands, those gifted hands, clasped tightly behind her back. "A grandmother should not bury her granddaughter." Sumi remembered the gentle Kikuko that had patched her in a war that seemed dreams away.
"She died with honor and brought great glory to our house," Kibo answered.
The elder turned to them and Sumi saw the hate, such a strong feeling that she felt like running away. "Not all daughters of Matsu were conceded that favor last night. Seems like the roar of the pride missed a voice," she spat pointedly and Sumi cowered, her eyes down.
Kibo's voice was paused, but with that vigor that left no doubt of her authority, even over age and experience. "Sometimes Matsu's will is less than obvious to those that do not watch carefully."
Madam Sachio huffed. "Matsu is no longer with us. She did stay to fight and here she stands. Rubble and dust. An advice from someone that lost it all, Kibo. Do not fall under the habits of the solitary tiger. Remember, he is too selfish and that makes him pride less."
Kibo placed a hand in Sumi's shoulder. "Measure your words, Sachio. I understand your grief and I think you will find things clearer after a rest."
Sachio, her golden eyes dulled by the years, glared at her leader and left, the wooden cane helping her impeded step.
"Do not let her words affect your heart, Sumi," Kibo suddenly said, stepping down and searching between the stones for something. "Sachio lives anchored in a different time, she has lived many wars and seen many conflicts, she values the old ways too much..." Her hands finally pulled something out, a candle, but kept rummaging. "It is a tragedy when the pride loses a daughter, but Matsu also sent a lot of her sisters to their deaths, we just don't remember that, - we choose not to - cause she is our hero." The second candle joined the first and Kibo tried to set them straight. "And sometimes, people need more a hero than a leader, more than victory, more than peace." She pulled out a set of matchsticks and lighted the candles. The walls of the shrine devastated, the lights danced with the fresh October breeze. "At times like this, hatred and resentment serve to nothing. We must look ahead and use the fallen stones to build something even bigger, stronger." She bowed, turned and pinched Sumi's cheek. Then she said with a sad smile, "That is Matsu's will." She rounded Sumi and left. "Now it is time to build."
To build or destroy, to lose or win from such situation... was it really just a choice?
Sumi helped the next days with the reconstruction. Such a menial task helped her forget the glances thrown her way, the pain of the loss, the betrayal... As Kibo had said, with every stone she placed, she felt recover, she would build her walls taller this time, stronger.
"You look upset, Sumi," Kibo observed over dinner.
"It's nothing," the girl waved a hand, picking at the vegetables in her pancake.
Kibo paused, took a sip from her liquor, read between the lines and filled the blanks. "How is your friend Kakashi?"
Sumi's chopstick almost fell from her hand. "What? Why?"
Kibo smiled for a fraction. "Well, he lost his sensei. He must feel sad."
"I-I don't know," Sumi admitted. Although this time, she wondered who had ignored whom.
"You know, maybe he can come over one day for dinner," Kibo proposed nonchalantly and saw Sumi blush. Kibo wanted to laugh but refrained, scared it might anger her.
"I don't know... he doesn't like much these things..."
"You can ask, we have nothing to lose."