Notes:Hello lovelies!
It's your impatient author again! :'D
I've got chapter 28 all ready for you. Once again, this hasn't been beta read, so please excuse any mistakes you may find.
A big thanks to lostindetails for helping me out with some brilliant ideas! :'D
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 28: A Shocking RevelationHermione closed the door, her smile still on her lips. She wondered what it would actually look like, seeing him without the mask. Seeing it on Teddy's face was not at all the same as it would be seeing it for herself. Teddy still had the face of an infant and he wasn't able yet to change it into someone older. She could definitely imagine though. In all honesty, she wasn't blind. He was, obviously, very athletic and that combines with a face like that? The thought alone got her knees weak. Oh shit, she wasn't developing a crush on him, was she?
"You're back soon. Did something happen?" Inoichi said as she walked into the living room. "Did something good happen?" He said with a knowing smile as he looked at her.
"Oh, I- yeah, sort of," she said with a small smile. "I ran into Kakashi-san."
Inoichi hummed at that, "I figured as much, since I felt him appear just now."
"Yes, we- I ran into him at the bar and we kind of got talking and decided to go somewhere else, to speak in private." She looked away as she saw Inoichi raise his eyebrows at that, a smirk forming on his lips. "It wasn't like that." She rushed to explain, putting her hands up in defense. "We just talked. And we had a good conversation. It's- I think we're getting better at it."
"What about Genma-san?" She knew that was coming, she thought as a small blush appeared on her cheeks. She had left with Genma and arrived back home with Kakashi after all. Man, what must he be thinking of her? That wasn't a good impression at all, was it?
"He wasn't too happy about that." She confessed. "Which I understand. But it's not like he would get it. I mean, not really. He doesn't know about the bond, so how could he? I can only imagine how confusing this must be for him, though."
"Hm, yeah, I reckon it would be. I'm sure he'll be fine though. Speaking of the bond... Wouldn't it help if someone assisted you with the research? I know this information comes mostly from your, well, world. But I definitely think it could help you along." He suggested.
Hermione looked at him in surprise. He had a point, it would help if someone would be able to assist her with the research. Honestly, she never thought to ask. In all these years, she was the one that did the research, she was the girl with the books. Always has been. The times she had asked either Harry or Ron to help her, it was a disaster. But then, who would be able to help her?
She knew there weren't a lot of people that spoke the language here. From what she understood, only the higher level shinobi spoke English, and even then not all of them spoke it. Also, it would have to be someone who already knew about the bond. The list was incredibly small. Hermione knew the Hokage wouldn't be able to help, obviously. He wouldn't have the time. Inoichi wouldn't be able to do so either, already taking time off of his normal duties. Kakashi? That's a disaster waiting to happen. Also, she remembered he wasn't fluent in reading English, which would definitely be needed. So, then.. Who?
"I'd love to get some help... but, who would be able to help, Inoichi-san? The ones who know about the bond won't be able to." She shook her head. This would never work. There wasn't anybody who would be able to help.
"I have a friend-"
"A friend? Inoichi-san, with all due respect, I can't just-
"Hermione-san, please let me finish." Inoichi responded with a stern voice. Hermione softly apologised, looking at her lap. "He's a good friend. I trust him with my life and I know for a fact that he is able to help."
"I- Okay. I mean, you probably- I trust your opinion, Inoichi-san."
Inoichi stood up and walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder before kneeling down in front of her. "How about this. I'll arrange a meeting with him, he owes me a favor anyway. The guy's pretty smart too, so he would be more than happy to answer any questions you have." He said with a sly grin.
Catching on to Inoichi's mood, she replied with a cheeky grin, "I'll be sure to bring my notebook, then."
Kakashi appeared in front of the bar. Once again he found himself looking inside, watching his friends. After he had dropped Hermione off, he had a small debate with himself on whether or not to return to the bar. He wouldn't mind a drink, to deal with Hermione's newest way to- No, do not go there. But really, he didn't feel like walking into a bar full of patrons who were no doubt gossiping about him.
Through the window, he saw Genma look up, meeting his gaze. Man, he looked pissed. He probably should talk to him about what happened. This would no doubt fuck up their team dynamics if they didn't talk it out. He signalled the senbon-user to follow him, walking away, expecting Genma to follow. He'd better follow, Kakashi thought. At the end of the day, he was still his captain.
He made his way to a more secluded part of Konoha, close to his home. Kakashi got more annoyed with every second that passed that he didn't feel Genma following him. Oh, he better come or there would be hell to pay. He ended up at the far side of the training grounds. The whole way there, he felt his anger rise more and more. Was he really defying his order by not showing up?
Kakashi stopped in the middle of the grounds, looking up at the sky, letting out a sigh. This was one of his preferred training grounds. It was secluded, and there was no light pollution. It didn't mean there was no light at all at this time of night. The stars did their job well enough. It wasn't bright, but visible enough for him to see everything.
By the time Genma did decide to show up, Kakashi had been waiting for at least fifteen minutes. He knew the moment Genma had arrived at the edge of the grounds. He took his sweet time walking through all the other fields before arriving at the one Kakashi was waiting. Genma lingered a moment at the edge, before slowly making his way to him.
It didn't take Kakashi long to realise that Genma hadn't come alone. He glanced past the senbon-user to see both Yugao and Shisui standing at the edge of the field, watching them. He broadened his senses to see if Tenzou was there as well, but he couldn't sense his kohai. Not that that meant anything. He was usually just lingering around without anyone knowing, having the Hashirama-cells was quite a perk in that case.
Kakashi turned to Genma, deciding to ignore the other two for now. He looked at him but stayed silent, already annoyed at having to wait as long as he had. Genma now stood in front of him, moving his senbon between his teeth, Kakashi knew Genma wasn't one to get anxious, but no doubt he was wary of where this conversation would lead.
"Boss?"
Kakashi looked up to the sky once again, this time to think about how to address his thoughts. Genma had been incredibly protective of Hermione, to the point where Genma had even made her promise not to leave with him. He wasn't sure what to think of it, only knew that it made him angry. Kakashi knew he was protective of her as well, but he also knew that had to do with their bond.
Kakashi was aware that if whatever was going on between them stayed unresolved it could easily screw up their teamwork, if it hadn't already. And while he hadn't made the best choices lately, he needed Genma to understand that didn't mean he was compromised. He was still perfectly able to handle the missions. He was still perfectly able to lead.
Really what he wanted to know is if he would still be able to count on his team. In turn, he wanted them to know they could still count on him. That whatever was happening with him and Hermione was not something that would interfere with his work.
"Why did you think it was a good idea to bring Hermione-san to Yamanai kizu tonight?"
"Really, Boss? That's what you want to talk about?"
"Honestly, Genma. If you're that concerned for her safety, to the point you make her promise not to leave with me, why the hell did you bring her?" He said, looking his subordinate straight in the eye.
He watched as Genma folded his arms, clearly annoyed. That was fine with Kakashi, though. He was just as annoyed with him.
"I wanted her to have a fun night out. Besides, I didn't think you'd be there, since you never show up when there's a party, not even your own." Genma shrugged. "And by the way, how the hell did you manage to get her to leave with you?"
Kakashi smirked at that. Was he jealous of Kakashi? It would seem so. "I asked her, she said yes. It wasn't all that hard. And it wasn't like you were paying any attention to her, it took you ages to arrive. Makes me wonder why you even bothered asking her out, obviously you don't care that much. Was she just another challenge for you?"
In a split second Genma had his hand curled around Kakashi's vest, pulling Kakashi towards him. Kakashi had his own hand wrapped around Genma's wrist straight away. "I don't care? I was trying to protect her. From you. And fuck you for suggesting I asked her out as a challenge."
"I suggest you let go of me, Shiranui." Kakashi's voice was flat, void of any emotion when he spoke. "Now."
"Oh, you gonna order me around, while off duty? That's a dick move, captain. Man, I have absolutely no idea what she sees in you." It was quite clear Genma had been having a good time at the party, even without Hermione. This close to him, he could smell the alcohol on his breath. Kakashi hadn't had that much to drink, yet Genma clearly had.
"It'd do you some good to listen for once." Kakashi retorted angrily, deciding not to respond to his comment regarding Hermione. Truthfully, he didn't think she thought of him like that. And if she did, he agreed with Genma. He had no idea what she could possibly see in him.
Kakashi had barely finished his sentence, when Genma took a swing at him. Afterwards, Kakashi would claim that he let Genma take the hit, but in truth he hadn't seen it coming. Not expecting the senbon-user to resort to this.
While Kakashi barely had anything to drink, he had been on edge the entire day. So much had happened and maybe having this conversation hadn't been the best idea. It would've been better to have this talk when both men were sober. As soon as he took the hit, however, his adrenaline kicked in, switching to fight mode automatically. His chakra came to life, softly thrumming under his skin.
As he fell to the ground, he managed to kick his legs out, tackling Genma to the ground as well. The second his back hit the ground, he jumped up by using one of his hands to push him back up, diving towards Genma. He sensed Shisui rush towards them, Yugao following his lead. Before the pair reached them, he managed to get a hit in as well, punching Genma so hard he split his lip.
He vaguely felt someone else appearing, not paying attention to whoever was stupid enough to try and intervene with this. It turned out, he should have paid attention. He definitely should have. Not a second later, right when he aimed his fist towards Genma's jaw once again, he was blasted backwards. A faint call of a woman's voice registered in his brain, making him wonder what had actually happened.
He groaned as he landed on his back, several feet away from where he had been standing not a moment ago. His senses were still on alert, however, feeling Genma get up and trying to attack him. He got close, before another, now more clear, "Stupefy" sent his subordinate flying as well. Hermione… She was here? Why? How?
"What the?" Was heard as both Shisui and Yugao stopped near Kakashi and Genma. "Yamanaka-san?" Shisui sounded confused by the arrival of Inoichi, who had apparently been the one to have taken Hermione with him.
Kakashi slowly sat up again, whatever she had blasted at him slowly wearing off. It took him a lot more effort to do so than he'd like to admit. Being on the other side of that wand of hers, suddenly made him appreciate her abilities a lot more. His gaze locked onto hers, and boy did she look pissed. It was then when he realised the anger he was feeling in that moment came from her.
"You bloody idiots!" She yelled at them as she stomped towards them. "You're acting like children! What the hell were you thinking? I was worried sick!"Worried? Why would she be- oh. Oh. Shit. Yeah, he was totally to blame for this. Realisation set in as he thought about what she must've felt coming from him. The atmosphere changed with every word she angrily yelled at them, it somehow became heavier, just like it did when he was charging his Raikiri.
"Do you see that?" He heard Shisui ask Yugao in wonder, while pointing at Hermione. "Her hair-oof!" Yugao hit him in the ribs and hissed to stop pointing his finger.
Kakashi shifted his gaze towards her hair, immediately noticing what had caught the Uchiha's attention. Her hair was no longer braided and was very… static, almost as if it was dancing in the air. Kakashi could almost taste electricity as well, he even felt his chakra responding to it. He'd never had anything like that happen before.
"Well?" She stood before both him and Genma with her hands on her hips and… he wasn't sure what to say. He knew one wrong word could no doubt set her off again. Glancing to his right, he noticed Genma struggling with the same problem, not wanting to piss her off even more. And honestly, what was he supposed to say? None of his teammates, save Tenzou, knew about the bond. And Tenzou wasn't even here, was he? Damn it.
He noticed Genma open his mouth, no doubt ready to apologise, but he wasn't the reason she was here, was she? Kakashi slowly stood up, taking a step towards her while still feeling the effects of whatever she had fired at him and said, "what are you doing here?" Catching the attention of Hermione, but also Genma and Inoichi. He knew Shisui and Yugao wouldn't understand what was being said, but they could read his body language, so they could guess he was annoyed. Planning on apologising next, he got distracted by her hair. Seeing it up close was even more interesting. "Also, uh, your hair-" he tried to say, but was quickly interrupted by a very pissed off witch.
Hermione was sitting on the couch chatting with Inoichi about her day when she felt it. There was a burst of anger and then something she couldn't describe. She had never felt anything like it, but it was suffocating.
"Are you okay?" Inoichi said, rushing towards her the moment she collapsed.
"I can't-" She tried to get the words out, but it was incredibly hard to do so. "-breathe."
"Hermione-san?"
"S-something's wrong. With Kakashi-san." She looked up at Inoichi, who closed his eyes and put his right hand up, both his index and middle finger in front of him, while the other fingers were curled. It vaguely reminded her of old movies she had watched, remembering they did this when they needed to focus.
It was only a few seconds later when he opened his eyes again. "I found him. He's not far. Let's go see if he's alright." He helped her stand up and did the same hand signs she'd seen Kakashi do whenever he took her somewhere else. In a blink of an eye, they were standing in a dimly lit field. Her eyebrows rose before frowning as she witnessed the event that happened in front of her. Were they serious?!
She watched Kakashi ready himself to throw a punch at Genma who was on the ground. That bloody- "Everte Statum!" She yelled, firing the spell at Kakashi, sending him back several feet. A moment later she fired another spell, calling out "Stupefy!", this time at Genma.
The other two shinobi, who she recognised from the forest, appeared next to the two stunned men. "What the-? Yamanaka-san?" She heard the black-haired teen say, looking at them confused. No matter. She had other things to deal with right now. She watched as Kakashi slowly got up, surprising her on how quickly the spell's effects seemed to fade away. His eye locked on her, and she knew he could feel the anger radiating off of her.
"You bloody idiots!" She yelled as she made her way towards them. "You're acting like children! What the hell were you thinking? I was worried sick!"
And she had been. Whatever it was she'd been feeling coming from him had made her terrified, this time for him. She didn't know what had happened to cause him to feel like that, but she hated it. Hermione felt the moment Kakashi realised what had happened, guilt flooding her system. It only fueled her anger even more. Then something happened she hadn't felt in a long time. It was like she was surrounded by pure magic, dancing on her skin.
To the side, she could see the same teen who had spoken before pointing at her, before getting an elbow in his ribs by the purple-haired woman next to him, who hissed something at him. She stopped in front of both Kakashi and Genma, putting her hands on her hips. "Well?" she angrily demanded.
"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked as he got up. She turned to him in surprise, not expecting him to speak up first, but her surprise was quickly followed up by annoyance. What was she doing here? Was he for real? "Also, uh, your hair-"
Absolutely not. He was not changing the subject. "Don't change the subject." She said, voicing her thoughts. "You don't get to do that. You had me worried sick! Why the hell do you think I'm here?" She responded, waving her arms around in frustration. "Did you seriously forget that I can feel the intensity of your emotions? We just had this conversation!" She said, poking him in the chest with her finger.
That question sparked confusion by Genma, the other two didn't speak English she realised, looking as confused as ever at the situation. "Wait, what?" Genma called out, "what do you mean, you can feel his emo-"
Hermione could barely hear him saying anything, too riled up to focus on anything other than Kakashi. She felt the energy around her become more noticeable as it started to tickle her skin. It didn't matter though. She needed Kakashi to know and to understand that whatever had happened had affected her too. "I thought something bad might have happened to you! Instead Inoichi-san and I find you here with Genma-san, acting like bloody children in a schoolyard fight." She was breathing hard after letting it all out.
"Hermione-san," Kakashi started, "you need to calm down. And stop poking me." He said, clearly annoyed with her poking him. Good. Maybe then he'll realise what a scare she'd had.
"I will not calm d-" Kakashi then grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from him. The moment their skin touched electricity crackled around them. It shocked her how the normal feeling she got when they touched, was so extreme. "Wha-"
"Please calm down," he said again, "I'm not sure how, but your magic is affecting my chakra. You need to calm down." As his words registered in her mind, she felt herself calm down slowly, no doubt thanks to him. Hermione wasn't sure he knew what he was doing, but it worked, so she just went with it. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself down enough, feeling the magic dissipate in the air.
"I- Merlin."
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" She heard Genma speak from behind Kakashi. "What is all this about being able to feel what Kakashi's feeling and-"
"If I may," a new voice popped up, causing all shinobi to flinch, from what she could see. She whirled around as well, noticing another teen standing near one of the trees.
"Damn it, Tenzou," she heard Kakashi groan.
"When the hell did you get here?" Genma asked.
"I was here the whole time." That sentence caused every single one of them to groan. Besides Inoichi, it would seem, who had stayed to the side, observing everything. Hermione was quite happy her time studying had paid off, as she could follow most of what was being said.
Kakashi will never, ever admit he flinched as Tenzou popped up behind them. Of course he was there, he should've known. He knew his kohai wasn't one for parties, but no doubt he'd keep an eye out anyway. He appreciated Tenzou's offer to try and explain everything, but couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't interfered before. Maybe he'd been watching Hermione instead? That would make the most sense, seeing as the rest of his team was here and they hadn't entrusted anyone else with watching her.
He didn't believe Tenzou's answer when he'd said he was there the whole time. While Kakashi knew that he was quite able to remain untraceable, he did always have a hunch that Tenzou was lurking around. This time, he hadn't felt anything like that.
"Right, so, if you're gonna explain, mind explaining it all? Because Yu and I are completely lost." He heard Shisui say from behind him.
"Speak for yourself," Yugao commented, but Kakashi knew Shisui had been right. Yugao just wasn't someone to admit that. She hated not understanding something.
"I will, unless- Do you want to explain instead, senpai?" Tenzou asked, looking at him.
He really, really didn't. He'd rather just forget about all of this and call it a day. But, with already so much out in the open, he knew that wasn't an option. Instead of answering Tenzou's question, he turned to Hermione, who had a thoughtful look on her face. How much had she understood, he wondered.
"What do you think?" he asked, going with the assumption she had understood most, if not all, of what was said.
"I- They're your friends, no? It's up to you." He heard what she did and didn't say. 'It's up to you' basically meant 'if you trust them' in any language. And while they hadn't discussed this part, he knew Inoichi was already aware of their bond. Why else had he brought her here? Kakashi hadn't forgotten about him. He knew Inoichi was observing all of them, but mostly Hermione and himself. Well, if it would help them understand the bond more, he figured it couldn't hurt.
"Very well." He said, before turning towards his team. "I'll explain. Only, not here. It's probably best if we go to my house, since it's closest." He suggested, knowing his team would follow. He risked a glance towards Inoichi, who gave him a small nod. He felt himself get a bit anxious now. He knew his team, yes. However, he wasn't sure how they would respond to this news. No doubt it would clarify some parts for them, but it would also raise a lot of questions. Questions he didn't have the answers to. Questions none of them had answers to. Well, one thing at a time. The rest would come later.
End of chapter notes:
As always, I can't wait to hear what you guys think!
Until next time!
Xx