OSF AU - "Lightning Strikes Twice"
lunarsilverfox said to cyb-by-lang:How would kakashi react if he had been dragged along with Keri in its? Would his interactions be like with the other jinchuriki, marines, revolutionaries, strawhats and whitebeards?
Lucky you! You get a minific.
"He's happier than I've ever seen him," Kei said quietly, while she and Kakashi sat on the beach and watched the turtle the size of a small mountain frolic in the ocean.
"Good for him," Kakashi said, sprawled out under a giant leaf and reading Icha Icha. Unlike Kei, he'd been wearing his uniform when whatever had brought them here had…done its thing, leaving him suffering through the tropical sun. Even after shucking his flak jacket, he still didn't seem comfortable, but he knew all too well how quickly he'd get a sunburn in this weather.
Thus, he baked.
Kei nudged him. "Come on. Let's explore while he's busy."
"All right, all right," Kakashi said, rolling to his feet in one smooth motion. He tucked his novel into his hip pouch, then held out a gloved hand.
Kei took it, smiling.
The Whitebeard Pirates found them on a beach on a tiny island, two days' sailing away from Foodvalten and other, more well-patrolled places. Neither of them were that odd by Grand Line standards–which rewrote the rules on normality every third day–and no one assumed they were particularly threatening after Ace confirmed that neither was a Devil Fruit user. Combined with their dangerous ignorance of basically everything, and it seemed like the two of them were just misplaced townspeople from somewhere or other.
Kei was a shy, unassuming woman whose behavior was silly at worst and mild-mannered at best, with a penchant for endearing herself to the crew. Kakashi, on the other hand, was dismissive, unapproachable, and thus Thatch's favorite target for befriending efforts. While they stuck primarily to each other, it was the Whitebeard Pirates were slowly managing to get to know them and trying to convince them to stay.
Then came the night that Teach betrayed them all.
Lightning crashed over the deck of the Whitebeards' flagship, backed by a pair of voices and a high, pained shriek that barely sounded human.
When Ace reached the deck, he found Kei putting pressure on a gut wound that Thatch wasn't conscious enough to handle himself.
Marco, then, came across the scorched remains of Marshall D. Teach just as Hatake Kakashi stepped back from the carnage, his hands still sparking with bluish-white lightning. There was a hole straight through the corpse, almost exactly the size and shape of a human hand, and Marco looked askance at the supposedly one-eyed man.
"I missed the start of this," Kakashi said in a mild, inoffensive tone as the light died down and he replaced his eyepatch, "but if this guy had an excuse for stabbing Thatch and nearly doing the same to Kei, I couldn't care less."
"Wait, made of rubber?" Kakashi said in a wondering tone, even as Luffy stretched his face out to truly impossible extents.
"It…could make him immune to lightning," Kei guessed, "but maybe not chakra-generated lightning."
Zoro perked up. "That sounds like an invitation to find out."
"No. No, no, no no no–" Usopp began, waving his hands frantically.
"I would like to interrupt–" Gaara began.
"Thank you–"
"–And suggest you take it off the ship."
"Gaara!"
"Ya-hooo!" Luffy cheered, and rushed off to the shore.
"…Fuck it." Kei pressed a hand to her forehead even as Kakashi set off after Luffy, at a much more relaxed pace. "Ace, can you do popcorn?"
"I've been waiting for someone to ask for that one all day! This'll be great."
Kakashi mostly didn't get involved with the initial run-ins he and Kei had with her potentially hostile counterparts. While his reputation in the world at large was only slightly better than hers, his Sharingan wouldn't have been helpful when it came time to convince the Tailed Beasts to be friendly.
Thus, when Kei and Yugito went to visit Han at the same time that Ace tried to skip out on a restaurant bill, Kakashi fished him out of the river by his ankle and set him out to hang dry.
Ace later threatened to torch Kakashi's book, which sparked a lifetime of animosi–
"God dammit you two," Kei interrupted, slashing her hand down between them, "is this what's going to happen every time I don't pay?"
"You shouldn't have to–" Kakashi began.
Ace cut across him. "You've been paying for me this whole time?!"
Yugito rolled her eyes. "How else do you think we've avoided being run out of towns?"
Ace stared. Then, hanging his head, he groaned, "Now my reputation is ruined…"
"…" Kakashi sighed. "I give up. Pirates don't make sense."
"It helps if you totally invert your preconceptions and realize bounties are basically a way of keeping score," Kei said, shrugging.
Yugito glanced from the exasperated Kakashi, to the moping Ace, to the apparently oblivious Kei. Then she said, "I think I made a mistake in deciding to travel with you."
"Too late to leave now," Isobu said, and she gave up too.
"Naruto, have you been joining anti-government armies?"
"Uh… Well, it's in a good cause. I remembered everything you taught me, Kakashi-sensei!"
"Naruto."
"And I met a bunch of really cool people and I get along with Old Man Yang and I beat up a bunch of Marines and–"
"Naruto."
"–AndIregretnothing!"
"Naruto, I'm not upset."
"Eh?"
"The Marines deserve it." Kakashi paused for a while, looking up from his book. "But as for everything else… You've been slacking on your training, haven't you?"
"Iregretsomething!"
"Holy shit," said Sabo, as Naruto immediately snapped to attention. "That's the first time he's listened to anyone in the time I've known him."
"Traitor!" Naruto shrieked, even as he fled the scene.
"Excuse me," Kakashi said politely, "but I have to catch up and see what remedial lessons my student needs."
Sabo waved, along with Koala, as the masked man sauntered off. Just because they had no idea what else to do.
"You'd think he was allergic to shuriken practice given the way he acts about it," Kei muttered, unnoticed by the rest.
OSF AU - "The Damsel in Distress"
morskijez00 said to cyb-by-lang:
I gotta wonder, what would have happened if Kei was kidnapped instead of Ace? (I know it wouldn't last long but still)
Well, I admit that the justification for this scenario is a little hazy, but hey! Minific.
Kei stared out at the open sea, from her place on the deck. Often, she'd found herself walking through the same mental checklist that anyone in an unfamiliar location would, starting with the obvious questions like "What happened?" and "Where am I?" Today, she skipped the second question, figuring that it could effectively be answered by the first and that she was alive anyway. That sole, absolute fact meant the rest of the situation would be dealt with shortly.
Kei flexed her wrists experimentally above her head, less than surprised that there was no give. Being chained up tended to work that way. She took a steadying breath, finding her emotional center by the skin of her teeth, and looked up just as a shadow fell over her.
"Zehahaha! You're finally awake!" Teach leered down at her, all of his teeth bared in a sickening grin. "Enjoying your new jewelry?"
Kei's eyes narrowed. "Not so much." Unfortunately, she could see her katana on the back on one of Teach's eclectic crewmates. If she'd been able to reach it with her foot, Kei would have launched the blade straight into his gaping maw and called it a job well done.
Teach leaned over and engulfed both of her wrists in a single hand, pinning them to the post above her head. "And after I went to all the expense to get a sea prism stone cuff! Sure, you're not the fish I meant to land, but beggars can't be choosers." He gave her one last shake for emphasis, then let her drop back to the deck. "Maybe the old man will come after you himself, since he couldn't send anyone else with the brains to avoid getting killed."
Kei's blood ran cold. But that chill almost immediately flashed into anger. Before she could spit curses or maybe rip the mast out by its entire length, there was a low growl in the back of her mind.
He is wrong.
Do you have Ace and Yugito? Kei asked, forcing her expression to remain a fixed glare. Teach didn't need to see her thought processes.
Yes, Isobu replied, while Teach continued to pontificate about whatever evil plans he had. Utakata as well. But we need you back here for medical expertise. We have injuries.
Not good, Kei thought. Why didn't you just summon me back while I was out?
If I want those chittering apes along for the ride, I want it to be immediately before I crush them in my jaws, Isobu rumbled like an earthquake. Ace has broken bones, though we successfully faked his death. Yugito is recovering from that quickly, but Matatabi is traveling in a bubble. Utakata is barely not hostile.
Then I'm wasting time here. Kei shifted her weight consideringly. Her legs were free, so she had some leverage. And since Teach had cited a sea prism stone cuff as his secret weapon, there was probably room for a bit of surprise.
"Hey, Teach," Kei said in a quiet voice, which didn't interrupt his tirade. He was too into his recruitment speech to bother. "You're wrong."
"How am I wrong? Is it about the old man? Or are you clinging to some hope?" Teach grinned.
The grin quickly shifted to stunned, fish-mouthed gaping as the V2 cloak sprang from Kei's coils as quickly as Ace's flame. Explosive seals bloomed below her feet and her hands, spiraling outward like cursed spider webs or inscriptions in an ancient tomb. "No one's coming after either of us. Because you'll die right here, right now."
The Blackbeards' ship exploded. Kei stayed just long enough to tear herself free of the mast and pick the survivors off before any of those that could swim could think about getting away. Without their captain's Deva Path-like powers, they were almost helpless in the face of her strength.
Reverse Summoning Jutsu, Isobu said, and then she was gone, leaving burning wreckage in her wake.