A quick note: yes, Kakashi is a bit OOC in this story, but I imagine him to not suddenly treat Venna like just another civilian, and her influence on his social life shows in his behaviour with his peers as well.
The apartment Kakashi had chosen was located in the shinobi district, near his old home. This meant many eyes were watching all the time without a chance to easily break in and get away without being followed or caught.
In the foyer, the copy-ninja had nailed a sign to the wall:
Kakashi's house rule – Don't let weapons lay around in the open where Venna can get her hands on them!
He grinned under his mask at the young woman's indignant expression and the flabbergasted look she gave her friend.
"I am no toddler!"
"No, but you are just as skilled with weapons as civilian babies are."
The apartment itself was fairly large compared to what the jonin was used to. The open cooking and living room area were as big as his old apartment, both bedrooms, being next to each other, did not look crammed with the dressers, beds, side tables, and shelves for books or other knickknack he decided to add.
Kakashi also had paid attention to the shower, which did not have a step to get over before entering. The jonin did not know if Venna preferred bathing or showering, but they had both options and for the latter one she would not need much longer to walk in herself with Gai's exercises and her stead chakra-supported recovery.
For the next week a nurse would come by in the morning and help Venna to get ready for the day.
Every possible and impossible entrance into their new home was rigged with traps, seals and weapons.
The copy-ninja had asked Iruka for some suggestions concerning his traps, since the other had been known for his prankster-youth.
Genma and Anko had kindly and unknowingly 'borrowed' him enough senbon and poisons to paralyse a rhino herd.
Asuma had been nice enough to provide Kakashi with a sample of the safety seals used at the Sarutobi's house.
Kakashi also added his own seals loaded with lightning chakra to zap any intruder into next Tuesday.
It was safe to say that Venna would not be easily bothered in the safety of her four walls.
Kakashi pushed her through the apartment, letting her inspect every room and praise her friend for a job well done on the choice of furniture, and make suggestions on missing decorations.
"My dresser is blue," the young woman called out in delight and stroke her hand over the sky-blue object. The knobs were all different in form and colour, giving it a playful design.
"I love it! Thank you so much, Kakashi."
The elite ninja silently basked in the praise and pushed his friend back into the kitchen area where Gai was busy making tea with a youthful herb mixture.
The duffle bag and crutches laid forgotten in a corner of the room.
With the hot tea and more mochi, the trio enjoyed the late breakfast in Kakashi's and Venna's new home.
Gai was busy talking with the young woman, asking her about her plans on becoming a teacher, which the elite jonin took as a chance to study his friend.
She had gained some colour in the past two weeks, and thanks to the medics and his own chakra, Vennas body had made an astonishingly wide step in her recovery.
In her own world, the copy-ninja had no idea how long it would take, but even for chakra-based treatment, her recovery was slow. Well, for a shinobi like himself.
But Venna's body took in all the calories like a sponge, worked overtime with the chakra he was feeding her, and with a pair of healthy lungs, the rest should follow quickly. Her face was not more thin or hollow – okay, well, maybe a little bit, but she looked a lot healthier compared to two weeks ago, or on the clearing.
This was another good sign.
After all, if Venna had the strength to curse Konoha's prejudice against Naruto and swing her bag at people, her physical healing had to be just fine.
And his friend animatedly talked about the prospect of becoming a teacher in Konoha. Future plans!
Sadly, before she could start with those, they had to get a few things down first.
Kakashi cleared his throat and interrupted the enthusiastic conversation.
"I don't want to dampen the mood, but we have something to discuss." The copy-ninja waited a moment for Venna and Gai to catch on to what Kakashi was talking about.
"As it happened, the old council members heard about Venna when she helped Uzumaki Naruto a couple of days ago. Hokage-sama already sabotaged any possibility to get access to the non-existent files about her life here in Konoha.
Everything those goats can do now is ask around and listen in to conversations. I already let some 'information' slip back in the bar with Gai and the rest of the idiots, so the others have some ideas what might have happened. But we have to make up a concrete story and all stick to it."
Gai sat his teacup back down and rested his chin in one hand, scratching it in thought.
"This is a matter of great urgency, my respectable rival. I do not like the nature of lies, but I would do the same to protect our youthful blossom. Ah, how formidable, my hip and trendy rival! Your sense of protection is shining brightly!"
"What do your friends know about me?" Venna kept nervously munching on the mochi on her plate and Kakashi automatically stacked another serving on it.
"They know about the presents you gave me for becoming a jonin and for my birthday. They also know that we met out of public and that you… I lost you after the Kyuubi attack."
"Our most compassionate friends also believe that my hip rival grieved deeply for the last eight years for loosing you. The past four months only support this idea," Gai added his insight and with a thoughtful hum he continued: "What I could propose is the most tragic tale of our lovely blossom losing her memories. A simple reaction to the trauma caused by the Nine Tails. It is not unheard of."
Kakashi urged him to continue talking with the wave of his hand.
"This could explain why Venna-chan has problems with the social rules on how to correctly address people, and why she was kind to Naruto-kun, not knowing about the open secret in all of Konoha. She hasn't been back since the boy's birth and could not possibly know why he receives so much hate.
A matter I am mostly ashamed of, my dear blossom! Please, do not think my most respectable rival or I support this most shameful and unyouthful treatment! We are forbidden to seek out and interact with the boy, since the council fears we could accidentally let information about his heritage slip."
"What?!" Venna's head shot over to Kakashi, and both men were sure they heard a crack at the abrupt movement.
"Is that true?"
Kakashi swallowed the sip of his tea he took when the attention of his companions was not on him.
"…Yes."
"…"
"I am terribly sorry and beg for your forgiveness, my rival! I had no idea you have kept this a secret from your lovely blossom," Gai shouted out and bowed his head deeply, nearly colliding with the table.
"Yes, Kakashi," Venna's voice was low and tense, making the copy-ninja wish to sew the green shinobi's mouth shut. "Why didn't you tell me about this little detail?"
Good question. Why?
Kakashi had not been in the best mental state when his mentor died. The voices calling him friend-killer, monster, and a disgrace had been too loud. All the copy-ninja did was bring death to the people he allowed into his life. He strongly believed it.
When he was forbidden to seek out the small blond bundle, Kakashi had not protested, because the further the boy was away from him, the higher the chance of his survival.
This was also the beginning of the Dark Period, where Venna had been alone on the clearing even though Kakashi was there, too.
The elite shinobi was not noticing how long he had been silent, but Venna's eyes softened and one of her hands took hold of his, intertwining their fingers.
"I get it."
And with that, the trio went back to talking about Venna's new background story.
Gai proved to be a great storyteller, and after the matter of one hour, Venna was now one of the countless orphans from Konoha, who tended to wander through the woods within the village walls. There she interrupted Kakashi in his favourite hiding spot and simply came back again and again.
When the Kyuubi appeared and attacked Konoha, the girl was nearly hit by an attack and the sheer wind power behind the huge fox's tails blowed her away.
Venna hit her head after landing in the river and the stream caused the unconscious body to drift away.
The girl then survived nearly eight years on the road without any memories but her own name and she had to somehow re-teach herself everything she knew now.
Her company mostly consisted of other travellers, sometimes outlaws, or she found shelter in a whore house for a night. Nobody there would use polite suffixes to their names, most only had a first name, and Venna unconsciously took over this behaviour.
One night she dreamt of Kakashi and remembered him, but not Konoha or her life in the hidden village. It took her a few months to put the puzzle back together, before she knew her childhood friend was a shinobi of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.
Venna started walking back to the fire country, but a terrible illness caused her to come near death's door, until Gai and his teammates found her in pure luck.
"Gai, you are precious!" Venna hugged the man and looked at the notes Kakashi had written down, while Gai spun the tale.
"Yosh! I am delighted to earn your approval, lovely blossom of spring! Let us rejoice for your new start in our wonderful village!"
The enthusiastic man carefully returned the gesture of affection, happy to be of help. His plans to create a youthful friendship with his rival's loved one was blossoming beautifully! Manly tears streamed down his face for his personal accomplishment.
Kakashi just shook his head with a hidden grin and was thankful to not be part of the celebration. He preferred less intrusive body contact with his odd, green friend - mostly boiling down to them clashing against each other in a spar.
.
In the early afternoon Gai excused himself with a copy of the notes about Venna's background to report to the Hokage and share their story with the old leader.
Kakashi let out an exaggerated sigh after he closed the door and activated all the traps and seals.
"How can he always be so loud?!" The question was rhetorical, but Venna's answer surprised him, nonetheless.
"We all cope with our problems differently, darling." Her voice was soft, without criticising her friend.
Said man rubbed his face with his hands and pulled his mask down to take a deep breath.
"I know… But your opinion doesn't count, you always just accept strange quirks and odd people all together."
The young woman shrugged her shoulders and slowly pushed her wheelchair around the table towards her friend.
"Who am I to judge a broken man?"
The copy-ninja turned his head to meet the woman's eyes in surprise, not knowing how to react. His eye scanned her features, and body posture. All she did was tilting her head at his behaviour and waiting for him to do something with an open expression.
The silence in the room stretched for a few long moments without becoming uncomfortable, but then Kakashi just dumped the teacups in the sink and pushed Venna to the couch.
With the shinobi's help they sank into the soft pillows and the young woman leaned into her friend's side. Kakashi wrapped an arm around thin shoulders and watched her spread a thin blanket over them both.
"You turned me into this," he suddenly said.
"Into what?"
"A shinobi, sitting on a couch and cuddling. Dear kami, in a year or two I will start teaching in the academy if this goes on."
Snorting at the absurdity of Kakashi's statement, Venna softly punched his side.
"As if you would willingly teach kids. That's going to be my job!"
Kakashi smirked back, happy that his friend was accepting her new start in Konoha, and he squeezed her lightly against himself.
The copy-ninja started drawing circles on Venna's arm and simultaneously fed her body some of his chakra to boost her system and muscle building.
"You know," Venna said in a gentle tone, "you guys are not as bad or damaged as you might think you are. You have your quirks and strange antics, but you keep living, talking, and you enjoy life in different ways.
Gai is loud and has his youthfulness he tries to share with the world. You have your time at the memorial stone, and you shut people out to not lose them or get hurt again. Gai manages to interact with people out of his own intrinsic reasons, you just need someone to remind you to do the same, give you a push. But you still live and smile."
Kakashi felt the soft, silky fabric of the blue scarf around Venna's head brush the skin on his neck and the woman rested her head against his shoulder.
He pressed a light kiss on her forehead and kept the light chakra flow going.
.
The idyllic atmosphere got interrupted an hour later by knocking on the apartment door.
The elite shinobi rested Venna's body against the soft pillows to not wake her from her nap and felt for the chakra signature when he went to answer the door.
Hm, closely pulled in chakra, clam and controlled, no ill intention, strong potential.
Pulling his mask back over his face, Kakashi left the seals active but disarmed the traps with his chakra and the door opened to a masked agent, holding an envelope in his hand.
Why would someone send ANBU to deliver a message? Wait… they just left the hospital. Those damn, old skunks!
With a short nod, the man handed the flat object over and disappeared.
Closing the door shut again, Kakashi checked the envelope for a trigger out of habit, before opening it to a short message.
Venna was being summoned to see the council. Not only the old civilian farts, but the whole council, including the clan heads. The meeting would start in only half an hour. How did that happen?! She only spent about half an hour talking with Naruto.
Well, she did interact with the human sacrifice, and for a foreigner this was suspicious.
Kakashi let out a huff of air and silently went over to the napping woman. Her features were relaxed, making her look younger than she had looked since her deadly diagnose back in her own world.
The copy-ninja did not want to disrupt her peaceful sleep, but this meeting was actually important enough for Kakashi to try and be on time.
Carefully shaking her shoulder, the shinobi kneeled down to her.
"Hey, Venna. Get up."
"Mmmh, what?" The woman frowned and pressed her face into the pillow. "'m tired."
Kakashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I know, and I am really sorry, but you have to get up."
Venna did not move for a minute, then slowly turned her face to glare at her friend out of the corner of her eye.
"Why?"
"The council wishes to see us," the jonin held up the piece of paper, and rubbed firm circles over her back to stimulate her body to wake up. "Come on, I'll help you get ready."
"Are we late already?" Kakashi had to smirk at the question.
"Not yet. Do you want to be?"
"Can I choose the excuse?"
"No. We will be on time, just this once."
Venna groaned loudly into the pillow and drew the sound out.
"They better have a good reason," she mumbled, allowing Kakashi to put her into the wheelchair, and push her into her new room.
'Not to your definition,' he thought.
The copy-ninja quickly pulled the spare sweatpants and hoodie out of her drawer and held them towards his friend, who gave them a sceptical look.
"Can I show up at a council meeting hobo-style?"
"You don't have other clothes yet," Kakashi shrugged and turned around for Venna to change her top.
He then lifted her body out of the wheelchair for the woman to pull the pants down her butt.
Sitting back down, she pushed the piece of clothing off her legs and the spare one up as far as she could manage before Kakashi lifted her up again to get the pants up all the way.
He did it the whole time while respectfully staring at the ceiling. The shinobi decided to ask Kurenai for some help the next time he saw her.
Venna rewrapped her thin scarf around her head and deemed herself as ready. Kakashi just pulled his gloves over his hands and carelessly stuffed the message into his pocket.
With quick movements he summoned Pakkun.
"Yo." The pug held up a paw in greetings and Venna made a strange, strangled sound of delight at the ninken.
"Kakashi! It's Pakkun!" She tugged on his sleeve in excitement and literally had stars in her eyes. The shinobi gave an eye-smile at her reaction.
"I know, and you can properly get to know him later, I promise. Pakkun, I need you to find Gai and tell him that we have to meet the council for now. He tries to be secretive, but I know he is planning the dinner. Tell him to maybe wait an hour longer before everyone comes over."
"We are having dinner with your friends?!"
Venna's question made Kakashi hang his head down. Of course, she wouldn't get all the 'subtle' signs of the taijutsu master. Had he just ruined the surprise?
"Just act like you did not expect it when they come over."
"You are the little brat boss told us about? Not so much of a brat if you ask me," Pakkun addressed Venna with hidden curiosity.
Right, Kakashi had forgotten to summon his ninken to meet her. He'd apologise later with steak.
"You are the pug Kakashi told me about. A little bit small if you ask me. Cute vest though, Pakkun," Venna just retorted with good humour.
"Pakkun, I need you to go. We have to meet Hokage-sama."
"Yes, yes. Just go, I'll take care of the green man," Pakkun said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"So. Cool." Venna stared at the empty floor and whispered the words in amazement. Ah, there was the easily impressed child again.
Securing the door on their way out, Kakashi started pushing Venna through the streets and looked out for any possible threat. The young woman was a bit pale in her face and nervously fingered the hem of her hoodie.
"Do you think Gai managed to give your Hokage the note in time?"
Kakashi hummed loudly.
"I don't just think it, I know it. He probably ran in to his office and took Hokage-sama's time without asking, just to tell him everything we came up with in person. Very youthfully, of course."
The shinobi managed to coax a light but nervous laugh out of his friend and ten minutes later they arrived at the tall Hokage tower.
"Huh. I guess they never tried to get a wheelchair up there before," the copy-ninja said drily and Venna nervously looked up the long staircase.
"Can we just turn around then? I already came up with some excuses."
As much as Kakashi wanted to do it, he knew today he could not afford such a stunt.
"Sorry, no. We'll just have to get one of the guards to carry the wheelchair and I'll carry you."
Just as he said, the copy-ninja waved one of the shinobi closer and, well, ordered the man to help out.
"Urgh, ordering us to show up but not using their three brain cells on how to show up," Venna cursed against Kakashi's collarbone when he picked her up and started climbing the stairs.
The elite shinobi hummed again, feeling a light shiver run down his spine when the warm breath caressed over the sensitive patch of skin. Swallowing hard, he looked down to his friend, who was protectively held against his own body.
Shaking his head, Kakashi nearly missed a step but caught himself before Venna could notice his mistake. He seriously had to get his mind out of the gutter.
.
Venna had wrapped her arms around Kakashi's neck and managed to hold herself up in his arms. If she had to be carried up to this meeting, the young woman at least did not want to look like a limp rag doll to the people they met on their way.
The nervousness was heavy on her stomach and all she wanted to do was beg her friend to turn around and go back home. Home. Her new home with Kakashi. The place was safer than Fort Knox and there she wanted to be.
Not in the same room with higher-than-thou-attituded bastards, who preferred children to grow up all alone over an 'imbalance of power'.
The building anger nearly managed Venna to just face the bunch of jackasses, but she knew this was not about Naruto and childcare, not really. The old farts wanted information about her.
Dear god, Kakashi hadn't explained to her how to control her reactions or mislead observing shinobi. The thought made the nervousness crash back down on the woman, and she pressed her face into the crook on Kakashi's neck.
Kakashi, right. He was here with her, and he would stay. Should something happen, her friend was there to protect her. As long as Kakashi was with her, she was okay.
Those words helped Venna to not panic and a warm feeling spread from her chest through her whole body.
.
The copy-ninja noticed the sudden tenseness in the smaller body and stopped in front of the double doors. Venna's face was pressed firmly against him and her warm breath made his skin tingle.
Locking ever thought of this kind into a mental box and throwing it far, far away, Kakashi shortly tightened his arms around the woman to get her attention.
"Hey," he said in a low voice, pouring all his confidence into his words. "We will be fine."
Venna slowly turned her head to look up to her friend, and then at the door. She shifted back into a straight posture and took a deep breath.
The guard behind them finally reached the top of the stairs. Huffing and puffing like a steam engine, he sat the wheelchair on the ground and pressed a hand against his chest while taking deep, greedy breaths.
"Seems like you need a bit more training, huh?"
Of course, Kakashi had to tease the man who helped them out. Venna rolled her eyes when she was sat back into her wheeled vehicle.
The short moment of distraction was over as soon as Kakashi turned back to the meeting room they had to enter. One of his hands rested on Venna's shoulders and gave it a light squeeze.
Pressing her hand over his for a short moment, Kakashi pushed the door open and entered the lion's den.
.
When the door swung open, Hiruzen was able to see many surprised expressions on the faces around him, when one of his elite shinobi came in, pushing the young woman in a wheelchair.
Well, mostly the civilian council members, the clan heads all schooled their reactions, but their interest was still present.
"You wished to see us?"
Kakashi's whole demeanour screamed booored and his lack of courtesy just proved his point. The man was not pleased with this meeting. At. All.
Hiruzen let his eyes wander through the room and to the people sitting around the table.
"We did. Hello, Venna-san, Hatake-san."
Oh, how the old Sarutobi disliked the formal rules of addressing people. It only fed the tenseness in the meetings.
"Hokage-sir." Venna nodded to the old man and her voice was so low and meek that Hiruzen didn't recognise it as her own.
"That is Hokage-sama for you," one of the old civilians snapped at the woman, who flinched towards the copy-ninja behind her in surprise. Said man immediately shielded his friend by resting his hands on her shoulders and a dark glare met the culprit.
"We are not here to correct our citizen's use of language," Sarutobi said with a firm voice and quickly stopped any developing conflict. With a softer tone he addressed the still sick-looking woman who was ghostly pale. "Please, take a seat Hatake-san. It seems we brought one chair more than needed."
"Yes, I brought my own, sir," Venna let out and immediately froze. Hiruzen allowed himself to chuckle lowly at her reply.
Kakashi did not sit down, the shinobi kept standing closely next to his friend with a warning gleam in his eye.
Oh boy, this should be fun, Hiruzen thought to himself and packed his pipe.
.
"Well then. I am sure you already know why this council convened today, Venna-san."
The Hokage addressed the nervous woman again and she met the man's eyes in hope to get over her stressed emotions.
Why did everyone here have to look like they could rip off her head and play ball with it? Right, because most of them were or had been ninjas at some point.
Ninjas who didn't know about her and somehow felt threatened when she made Naruto smile with a few kind words.
Clearing her throat and trying to sit tall, Venna found some of her self-confidence. Kakashi stood close enough for her to brush her shoulder against him.
"Because I helped a small boy out when he was being mistreated, sir?" her voice was stronger than Venna had expected it herself, but she tried to talk her nerves down by silently reminding herself about the story Gai had helped them to work out.
Yes, she did not know who Naruto was. All she saw was a sweet, blonde boy. At least on this part she did not have to lie.
The civilian council members on the right side of the table, easily distinguished by their old faces, fell into loud talking, all of them outraged to some extent.
Venna had to force herself not to smirk at the bastards.
"She admits it herself," one of the old skunks said with a disgusted tone in his voice.
"She admits to helping a child when he was in danger," Kakashi shot back with supressed anger.
More protest followed.
The left side with younger people, the clan heads as Kakashi had told her on the way to the Hokage tower, stayed silent, but kunai-sharp glances darted to her, assessing what they saw.
Those calculating eyes made the young woman squirm on her wheelchair, but she tried to meet their eyes. Not that she succeeded, because Venna mostly kept her eyes around their mouth area. Only the wild looking woman managed to lock eye contact when she grinned to show sharp teeth.
A heavy hand took hold of Venna's shoulder and made her look up.
Kakashi gave her an eye-smile. We will be fine.
This might not make the people go away, but Venna took a deep breath and slightly relaxed her shoulders.
"Why is Hatake-san here anyways? The message only asked for the woman," the civilian who had been rude before managed to talk over everyone else's words.
"Maa. You cannot expect Venna to get up all the stairs in her wheelchair, do you?"
The eye-smile and tilt of the jonin's head were so mocking and fake, it nearly stank. Kakashi did not hide his displeasure from his voice and let everyone hear what he thought about their move.
"Maybe not, but this does not explain why you are still here," another man said.
Only one half of his face way visible between al the gauze and bandages that were wrapped around his head. One of his arms was wrapped up, too, and it did not take Venna much time to match him to the man Kakashi had described back on the clearing.
Danzo.
She unconsciously gritted her teeth together and wished she could make this absolute son of a bitch combust into flames. Why was he not dead?! He had manipulated Kakashi into trying to assassin the Hokage just to take the hat himself.
"I am here because I want to be here, Danzo-sama," the copy-ninja said with a hard, cold voice and narrowed his visible eye on the man.
"And I already expressed my wish for him to be here with Venna-san, who is a civilian in a room filled with shinobi. Give her something to feel at ease. You don't have to bother yourself with this little detail, Danzo," Hiruzen suddenly interrupted with a firm voice.
"We should get back to the purpose of this meeting," a man from the left side suddenly said. Venna took a moment to study his strange, pale eyes, the white clothes, and the angry look on his face.
A Hyuga, Venna matched him to the descriptions she once got from her friend.
"Of course, Hyuga-san. Nothing else has a place in this meeting." The old man shuffled a few documents and read over the first few lines.
"Venna-san, this council wanted to see you, because due to a recent accident in the archives all our files about the civilians killed or lost eight years ago got destroyed. We would like to hear about your life, please."
Venna looked up to Kakashi, searching his eye for confirmation before she started talking.
"Eh, well, I don't really remember much, to be honest. Around eight years ago I woke up with nothing but my name and I had to teach myself how to interact with people again. I couldn't remember any rules of courtesy, and I still have some problems to this day."
The young woman couldn't help herself but fiddle with the hem of her hoodie again.
"I lived on the road, since I had no idea where I came from. But I met kind people who were more than willing to help me out," Venna had to think of Gai and Kurenai, who both have been nice to her, causing the woman to smile.
"They didn't have to help me, you know? I was just a stray to them. But they helped me to adjust to my new life and I am very grateful for that.
A few months ago I suddenly had a strange dream and from then on, I started to remember things. Mostly my meetings with Kakashi back when I was a child. I had to puzzle all the pieces together, but I managed to remember that we often met on a clearing and that he was a shinobi from Konoha. I basically just grabbed my things and started walking."
Not really noticing it herself, Venna sank into herself and her eyes fell down to her fiddling hands.
"It had to be two months ago when I came down with a sickness and travelling became very hard for me. I only managed to seek out the doctor once with the little money I had, but they said it was too late for me. They gave me a couple of weeks and send me away."
Venna remembered the day back in the hospital when the doctor came in with a sad expression and told her she was in the last stage with lung cancer. The young woman had to take a shaking breath, fighting her tears back.
Dear god, she would so not cry in front of the fucking bastard Danzo!
Green eyes wandered back up and looked at the old Sarutobi.
"I don't remember how exactly I ended up in the ruins of the house, but I am grateful that Gai and his team found me and brought me here."
There was a short silence in the room, taking the tale in and people realised that Venna was done talking.
"You seriously expect us to believe in such a vague story?" Danzo barked out in anger. The man did not seem like the trusting type to Venna, not that she ever care for his opinion. "I could have made that up five minutes ago."
"You mentioned spending time with Hatake-san. Do you have anything to prove this?"
A man with long, blonde hair suddenly spoke up. He did not look as stiff as the Hyuga man, but he clearly was a serious man.
"Eh-," Venna started eloquently, but Kakashi beat her to it.
"I do, if you are interested in it." He opened one of his pockets and pulled out an envelope and shook it with the opening to the table. The content fell out and was visible for everyone present.
"Oh my god." Venna buried her face in her hands at the sight of the tattered, crooked card. There was even some of the glitter left. "You seriously kept that hideous thing?!"
"Of course, I did." Kakashi turned to her with one of his earnest eye-smiles, pulling something else out of his pocket. The bracelet with wooden pearls, thinned by time, joined the card.
"Those are the presents Venna gave me for becoming a jonin. You can ask the people I have since spend time with. They all will be able to testify seeing me with the bracelet. I haven't shown the card to anyone, though. But it had its place on my fridge."
"On your fridge?!" the young woman squeaked out in embarrassment.
Curous eyes inspected the old, self-made card and the woman with sharp teeth barked out in laughter.
"Pup, I wouldn't show that around either. That is some ugly gift you got there."
"Eh… thank you, Inuzuka-sama. I rank them among my most precious possessions," Kakashi said, but got distracted when he suddenly felt a tug on his hand. Venna was looking up at him with wide eyes.
"You seriously kept them."
The sentence carried wonder, joy, disbelief, and so much affection, Kakashi felt his heartbeat go up. He wrapped his hands around hers and caressed the soft skin with his thumbs.
"You gave them to me as a gift. Why wouldn't I keep them?"
He then remembered that other people were present and faced the room again, letting one hand go.
"I also got this as a birthday present just before Venna disappeared."
He pulled the lightning bolt on the necklace from under his shirt and held it up for everyone to see and read his name engraved into the metal.
"The day Venna disappeared, I gave her a birthday present, too. I was nearly a month late, but I am glad I was still on time to give it to her."
The shinobi carefully took hold of Venna's left wrist and held it up to show the silver bracelet.
Some people mumbled under their breath, others just inspected the objects further. The Inuzuka woman nudged the stiff Hyuga clan head with her elbow in amusement and wiggled her eyebrows.
Meanwhile, Kakashi put the old card and bracelet back into the envelop and in the safety of his vest pocket.
"Why the lightning bolts," a deep voice asked. The owner had scars over his face and his dark hair was pulled up in a spiky ponytail.
Venna pulled her eyebrows together and tried to match the man to one of the names she still had at her disposal.
"The first time we met, Venna had just survived being struck by lightning. She was also interested in my lightning affinity and, eh- I guess it just became our thing." Kakashi scratched the back of his head and Venna felt envious for his ability to just play it cool.
"You survived that? Holy shit!" The only female clan head gave the smaller woman an impressed look. "Do you have those strange scars? I saw a corpse once and the lightning burned this pattern into the skin."
While talking, the woman drew lines into the air to show what she meant.
"I-, mhm. I do, but only a few thankfully."
"Can I see them?"
Venna clenched the hoodie slightly to the left side of her heart where the burned scar was.
"I prefer not showing them."
The Inuzuka woman zeroed her eyes to the other one's private area and nodded.
Kakashi also followed Venna's hands to where the marking was. He had not seen it yet.
Well, not that he ever asked her, and it certainly was not typical for friends to just see each other with such a lack of clothing.
The copy-ninja also had made sure never to look when the young woman was in an undressed state or to intentionally look at her… female assets. He was a gentleman, thank you very much.
"I regret the loss of Venna-san's files. The medical notes surely were very interesting, but we have no possibility to look into them anymore." Hiruzen regained the attention and he took a long drag on his pipe.
"As you were able to see, Hatake-san and Venna-san share memories of their childhood together, and nobody would be able to implant those into one of our elite shinobi's heads. I already questioned his peers, and they all confirm that the bracelet has been in Hatake-san's possession for a long time now."
"Tsk, you are biased, because this girl managed to win one of your shinobi over. She could be a traitorous spy sitting right in front of you," Danzo felt the need to share his opinion once again.
This time Venna glared at the old bastard for all she was worth, and she hissed under her breath: "Look who's talking."
Her voice only got heard by the nearest shinobi around her, being Kakashi, who gently nudged her in the side, the Inuzuka clan head, the Hyuga clan head and the man with the spiky ponytail, whose name Venna didn't know. They gave her calculating glances, obviously trying to work out the meaning of her words.
When the copy-ninja started rubbing circles on her shoulder with his thumb, Venna seemed to reluctantly relax and with a huff she leaned back against her chair.
"I can assure you, Venna-san is not a threat and her loyalty lie completely with Hatake-san. Just as he would not turn his back to Konoha, as won't this young woman."
Hiruzen's voice had taken on a dark edge, causing Danzo to backpedal.
"We still have to ask about her interaction with Uzumaki Naruto," one of the other civilian farts piped up, thereby annoying Venna with their damn questions and crass behaviour towards her. The hateful way he spat out Naruto's name nearly made her explode.
"This is something I already took care of," Hiruzen interrupted harshly, clearly not too keen on causing conflicts. The man was not sure how much longer the young travellers control would last, when she was willing to stand up to himself.
A few more bitter geezers might not bother her in the heat of the moment… and he was right.
"Are you god damn serious?! I saw a little boy getting beaten with a broom and mishandled in front of a crowd of people! You want to know what they did? Nothing! Absolutely fucking nothing! The child was in pain and they only bothered to call him names.
I call that child assault and I don't know what a shitty, twisted mind you need to have to agree with those bastards, but they are sick in the head! So yes, I defended a small child from a large group of abusive adults and took him to the hospital, because the poor boy got hurt.
And in case you didn't hear it already, I also gave him my coat and scarf because the poor boy did not have weather-appropriate clothes. You want to judge me for that? Go fuck yourself!"
For a short moment Kakashi did not see Venna next to him but a certain red-headed Uzumaki woman with a tendency to prove her temper to anyone.
The room was deadly silent, with only Venna's heavier breathing from shouting making any sound.
"Do you expect us to just believe you contacted him out of good will? Because he was a child in need of help?" Danzo shot a sharp and suspicious look at her.
"Why? Do your eyes see something else when you look at Naruto?" The woman hissed back.
For another moment the old man was silent, possibly calculating how much Venna really knew.
"It is suspicious for a complete stranger to just show up and come near one of Konoha's children. Especially an orphan who is young and gullible."
"If Konoha values its children so much and wants them protected, why did you allow the people to assault the poor boy? Why did it take a stranger to step in and help a small child? What you are, mister, is a hypocrite of the worst kind! You tell me I am the danger, but for watching all of this happen, you are part of the real danger!"
Kakashi squeezed her shoulder subtly at the last remark, warning her not to go into this direction.
"You dare accuse me?" Danzo 's voice was loud, angry, and a cold eye looked down on Venna as if she was less than a worm.
Gathering all the false bravery and rage she could manage, Venna sat straighter in her wheelchair.
"Do I accuse you or am I just reminding this council of the latest events I had witnessed?" Venna replied coldly, waving her arms at the council, this time addressing everyone.
"A child should grow up in a safe environment, feel loved for being alive, and know to be protected in its home. If this was the case, Naruto would not have looked at me like I offered him the moon by ruffling his hair or giving him warm clothes against the cold wind.
The boy is starved of affection and if you don't think this problem is manmade and a danger to a child's development, you all should go back to school and learn one or two things about childcare."
A low sigh next to her distracted Venna from her rant.
"Venna, I asked you to not jump the gun on this topic or explode into their faces."
Kakashi said in the dry, bored tone he used in public. He was just relieved she got angry after they had a chance to talk about her fake background story, implicitly explaining why she had no idea who Naruto was.
As much as he would curse himself later, Kakashi agreed that the most influential people of Konoha had to know what happened from a different perspective.
"And I told you the childcare system in this place isn't worth shit. They have to know about it to change something. Lives depend on their decisions!"
The young woman was still huffing and puffing in rage, and to Kakashi Venna looked like an angry little dragon who was more smoke than fire.
"We... will look into the matter," Hiruzen said hesitantly, not having expected the small woman to shout at the entire council. He had some appeasement to do when the woman left.
Venna might be a little bit of a wild card, but his best chance at keeping Kakashi from his suicidal behaviour on missions.
Sarutobi cleared his throat loudly and shuffled the papers in his hands once again.
"Thank you for your honest and objective opinion, Venna-san. That would be all for now. I wish you a nice first evening in your new home."
The council was smart enough to not protest, when their Hokage clearly wouldn't punish her for the outburst. They all knew, their leader was fond of Uzumaki Naruto and maybe that was the reason he allowed the woman's rage.
Venna gave a serious nod, while Kakashi just started pushing her wheelchair to the exit.
"Have a good day, sir."
The copy-ninja gave a light bow and with a "Hokage-sama, council" they left the room.
.
"She certainly has a temper," Ionichi said with a pained expression on his face.
"Troublesome woman…," Shikaku mumbled to Inoichi and sighed loudly.
"But she has a point. And she reminds me of someone with a similar explosive temper," Hiruzen offered his opinion.
Hiashi just frowned at the other men, making his opinion clear by the bitter expression on his face. Tough, Hiruzen was not sure if this wasn't his default expression by now. The man had to relax once in a while.
"Don't be like that, you stick in the mud. She just shared her opinion," Tsume said with another barking laugh. Then her expression grew serious. "If you can't deal with her words, then you just don't accept the truth. The kid is a pariah and none of us helped him. We owe it to his parents."
"This insolent woman is nothing but trouble!"
"You seriously let her talk to the council in this disrespectful manner, Sandaime-sama?!"
Ah, the civilian fraction never let you down when it came to close-minded comments.
Hiruzen cleared his throat, silencing the flock of feather-ruffled geese.
"I already had a long talk with Venna-san on this topic and I have to admit, her viewpoints are a bit foreign to me as well. But they are founded, her understand of childcare logical, and the opinions she has on teaching methods are very interesting.
You should not cut new voices, but consider what they offer and weight out the arguments.
"Venna-san wishes to become a teacher in Konoha and I am sure I only caught a glimpse at her techniques and beliefs on healthy child development, but they are proven valuable in the places she visited on her journey back home.
None of you might know this, but having Venna-san back in Konoha is an immense benefit for Konoha."
Someone snorted drily at his comment, but Hiruzen just ignored it.
"As you might have observed by now, she has a strong sense of protection towards children. If we want our new generation to grow up strong and healthy, a new approach is needed after the proof Uchiha Itachi gave us. A mentally healthy child would not have done such a deed. Venna-san's different understanding in childcare and teaching might be the chancewe need to take.
Also, Hatake Kakashi is fond of this woman. He truly mourned for her death and now that she is back, he shows behaviour I haven't seen since his teammates passed away."
The silence was answer enough for the old shinobi.
"One week ago, I send him on an A to S-level rescue mission with an ANBU team. They reported him to dodge all attacks before charging in himself. His medical file proves Hatake-san to not have cared for any harm to his body in a long time.
This new development, his effort not to get wounded, and to come back as safely as possible, is caused by the reappearance of Venna-san. He terrorised our nurses by staying with her in the hospital for all the time since Maito Gai found her. Have any of you seen him or our other shinobi in this building for any longer than one day?"
Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi immediately understood the influence the young woman might have on one of their elite shinobi.
Inuzuka Tsume barked out a laughter again.
"Told you they were a thing."
"And," the Hokage raised his voice again, "I already made Venna-san promise to not actively seek out Naruto until she can walk again. Then I will have another talk with her how to proceed."
"You might be too late with that," Danzo said with distaste in his voice. "I already heard that the Uzumaki was seen following after that woman when she left the hospital. Whatever she told you, can you really guarantee no contact between the two of them?"
"You misunderstood. I did not tell her to avoid Naruto should he try and contact her. Hatake Kakashi has his order to not encourage either one nor to send Naruto away if he wishes to talk to her. But he will make sure Venna-san stays in line for now."
People mumbled under their breaths, some looked less than displeased at the outcome of the council meeting, or cursed at her show of temper.
One man in particular was not pleased at all with the new unknown civilian. Her words at him were too sharp, her eyes too knowing, and Hiruzen's approval could become a problem in the future.