Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is purely a work of fanfiction.
Nina- is my original character (I do own her)
Chapter 100
"These three?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Good work you two. I'll go arrange an emergency meeting with the Fifth. Orders and watch guard are to stand until such time as we can come up with a strategy. Understood?"
"Sir."
The pair bowed their head and left the building for their assigned guard duty.
Ibiki waited until they left and took his leave for Tsunade. It had been unorthodox for him to allow Nina, and Kakashi to work on the investigation outside the confines of this building. However, their teamwork had rendered a great success. They'd managed to narrow their search down to just three places from the upwards of twenty-five they had originally been looking at. They were retired but moments like this proved their value was priceless. He'd had a full team working on it and they hadn't even come close to what they had achieved in a matter of a day.
Incredible.
"Change over."
The two operatives they were taking over from startled when they both came into view.
"Nothing to report. Target should be asleep soon."
Kakashi nodded and Nina walked over to the edge of the roof top, crouching down to survey their surroundings. Their target was none other than Naruto Uzumaki so anything was possible to transpire and they would need to be ready to follow at a moments' notice given he infamous unpredictability.
Kakashi cast his eyes over the kunoichi. His sense of logic may have recuperated however, that didn't mean he was blind. It'd been a long time since he'd seen her in her Anbu attire and a glint of giddiness stirred internally. The wind whipped through her hair, freeing strands and causing them to flaunt in the air untamed. Under the moonlight and street lighting below, it bounced off the top of her head and the metal components of her garb. Kakashi decided to join his teammate and settled down against some brickwork, mindful to keep in line of sight of their target but not in obvious view of anyone else. Such was the work of Anbu; from the shadows.
"He's not alone. About time really."
"Hinata?"
"Mhmm."
That's right all of his students too had someone else.
"I doubt they'll be going anywhere tonight."
She stood and walked backwards until she came against the brick work Kakashi was resting against, and slid down. Nina pulled her mask to the side, scraped away the flyaway pieces of hair, and tilted her head to the sky. "It's a full moon tonight."
Mindful they were on watch duty and really ought to have one set of eyes on their target, he didn't look upwards but rather to her. The moonlight reflected perfectly in the depths of her dark brown eyes. Beautiful. He observed his student with Hinata. They were sharing their company over a very basic, but very Naruto meal; instant ramen. He probably should have words with his student about better choices for meals but then he instantly retracted that thought. Simple worked. In his peripheral vision he seen Nina's head fall forward towards their target as she slid her mask back around. And there they sat. Silent. Uncomplicated.
Nina had a soft spot for the blonde haired kid. She'd been tasked with occupying him in his child days. Something that was meant to have been her father's responsibility but as with a lot of Nina's memories of things she considered important, he'd shirked on his promise. She'd overheard the conversations that he'd promised Minato and Kushina that he would look after their baby. Pulling her knees up, Nina folded her arms over each other and she rested her chin on one of her plated forearms. She wondered if Kakashi knew that her father, the great Third Hokage, the Professor as he'd referred to him, had rescinded on such a promise? Naruto had been shunned by the village. Constantly in trouble and Nina blamed her father for a lot of that. Once he'd gotten old enough to attend the academy he then become Iruka's problem.
Somehow, the village nuisance had found his way and look at him now. Content; accomplished and acknowledged. He'd make a decent Hokage one day.
Her mind wandered to the investigation. She was absolutely filthy with herself but she'd had to ignore that and instead focus on closing out this damnable thing. Before it cost another life.
He heard the hiss from inside her mask. "Nina?"
"It's nothing."
She laid her legs out and stretched her arms forward. Quickly recalling that her right hand wasn't at full strength.
He hadn't noticed somehow. "You're hand. It's… it's fixed."
"Yeah, um, Lady Tsunade healed it. Hokage obligation or something to that affect."
"Ah."
Nina churned over a few exercises. It felt like poor form on her behalf but once again she was going to ask for the copy-nin's help. She needed someone who would push her passed her pain threshold. If she did it on her own she would likely withdraw before hitting that limit. Such was the problem with self-medicating.
She stood, taking a few steps until she was sitting across from Kakashi so that she was slightly off to his right and lent forward and laced her fingers into his.
That was the second time their hands had come into contact with each other and it'd caught him well and truly off guard. She was wearing fingerless gloves, so the bareness of their skin skimmed along each other. Nina wiggled bracing herself with her left hand on the edge of the roof top. As much as his mind was protesting otherwise he kept his eyes on Naruto and Hinata.
"Although, Lady Tsunade healed it, my strength hasn't returned."
She knew Kakashi needed no other explanation as his fingers wrapped over the back of her hand and tensed in preparation for what Nina needed to do. She focussed all her concentration on his hand and her right hand and pushed with as much force as she could initially withstand. Kakashi naturally had more physical strength than her and was easily able to keep his place. The pain was barely bearable but she needed to push harder to stretch out everything that had been damaged and therefore hadn't been used in a number of days. She adjusted her grip, her fingernails tapping against the metal of the plates on the back of his gloves. She inhaled and pushed.
Nina continued this for a good whiles until even their hands were slippery. He could hear her puffs from behind her Anbu mask and as the heated air escaped into the cooler air around them, it was visible in the dankly lit sky.
After a few exasperated breaths Nina let her hand fall but their fingers didn't come unclasped. She winced at the pain that was radiating terribly from her wrist. It was a lot weaker than she had first thought and she would definitely need to follow that up with the Fifth.
Leaning forward Nina used her left hand to heal her arm. She observed how Kakashi's hand moved, figuring he was withdrawing for her allow better access now that his part was finished. However, his hand twisted so his hand was on the underside of her palm and his thumb ran over hers and along her other bare fingers as she continued to heal her wrist.
"You should get Lady Tsunade to look at that." His movements stopped but their hands stayed together, resting on his thigh.
She heard his words and ceased healing herself. "Thanks." Against her want, she pulled her hand out and found no restriction from Kakashi. Standing up Nina moved back to resume her original spot beside him against the brick work.
Maybe he'd overstepped?
"Nina?"
In the very moment he had been contemplating whether he'd done the wrong thing, Nina's right hand had dug into his left pocket and wrapped around his hand. Words were useless and unnecessary, at least in his opinion, currently. He fidgeted until their fingers interlaced, hidden in the depths of his left pocket. He squeezed her hand and almost autonomously his thumb began tracing over her hand and fingers as it'd done just before.
Her head had given out to her heart. One of the things she's missed most had been the simplest thing. Nina inwardly laughed at herself. It had almost been an initiation into their contrived relationship. She'd fought him. God had she fought him and herself. She thought it was utterly ridiculous holding hands but when she no longer could, she'd missed it.
The investigation remained unsolved and therefore she wasn't at a point she was going to be able to give any more energy to whatever this was. But for now, right now, it was what it was.
And there it was again. Hope.
Shinobi Rule 3: Hone your reflexes, they often react without you realising it.
"You've been summoned."
Kakashi felt Nina flinch but pulled her hand so that it was kept in place. He knew well enough if they stood the whereabouts of their hands wouldn't be able to be concealed from view, especially when considering that one of the operatives were Tenzo.
She took his hint and stayed in place until their intruders had left. Kakashi's grip instantly released and he stood. "That was quick."
She followed Kakashi's eyes to the window where Naruto and Hinata had been. And it dawned on Nina that of the problem. They had been summoned but the others hadn't stayed so this left their target without a guard. "Kakashi we should…"
"Come on, let's go."
The light of the room flicked out.
She reluctantly followed him as they bounded over the rooftops towards the interrogation unit.
