"I spent a long time watering a plant made out of plastic, and I cursed the ground for growing green." The words fit the melody in her head perfectly, and Kasumi fiddled with a different set of notes before she delivered the next line. "I spent a long time substituting honest with sarcastic, and I cursed my tongue for being mean…"
She grabbed the small notebook filled with words and scribbled out sections, and wrote the verse, clucking out a sound of approval at her slow process. Song writing was a bit difficult, but entertaining. She set down the pen and notebook, placing the guitar down next to her gently, before running to the balcony in her room, small hands clutching the railing carefully as she leaned out to address the boy below.
"You're not that stealthy for a Chunin, you know." Kakashi's head snapped back to gaze at her from below the balcony, and the look of indignation in his eyes was enough to crack the serious façade she had fixed on her face before admonishing him.
"I wasn't trying to be stealthy! I simply heard what sounded like screeching, so I came to check if you were still alive. Turns out, you were just singing." He emphasized the last word with air quotes, and her eyes widened marginally, but she could tell he had noticed from the smug look he was now carrying.
"That wounded me, truly." Her words were laced with snarky sarcasm, and the smug aura he had been enveloped in dissipated, which took her by surprise, because really, what did he care if she was slightly annoyed?
"I was actually going to come see how you were doing since you seemed sick last night." The sincerity in his words made all traces of the irritation she had felt vanish, until the only thing she felt was embarrassment and a slight sense of endearment for the boy she had only just made an acquaintance the day before. She quickly blamed her constantly changing mood on the alienated way Jiraiya-pa raised her and scrounged up some courage for the silent apology she had in mind.
"Give me a sec!" Kasumi ran back inside her room, and quickly tugged on her sandals and her thigh pouch before running back out and leaping off the balcony. Had he not been the skilled young shinobi Kakashi was, he probably would've been too surprised by the unexpected way she leaped towards him, but he instantly caught her, one arm supporting her legs and the other around her shoulders. She planted a small kiss on his cloth covered cheek before jumping out of his arms. "Thank you for the concern, I'm feeling way better!"
He nodded and murmured something that didn't quite catch her ears, the beating of her heart too loud to concentrate. Love was a strange concept, she thought to herself, and then, almost chocked on her own saliva because, who the hell had said anything about love? And how the hell did she even know if this was it? She loved Jiraiya and the old man, and she loved the village, even though the other kids sucked, but that was a bit different from what she felt now. None of those prior listed things made her feel as if a garden was growing in her chest, entangled around her ribs and organs.
Maybe Kakashi was right. Maybe she was sick. The shake of her shoulder alerted her to the fact that he was speaking to her, but she had been too deep in thought to listen. "Sorry, what?"
"I said, where are you headed, we've been walking for a good ten minutes and were almost nearing the market." One look down at the paved ground that signaled the way towards the village let her know that he was right, and she knew she was blushing again when concern marred his visible features. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm sorry, yes, just got a bit distracted with some lyrics that came to mind," she lied. "I need to pick up some melonpan and go visit a friend of Jiraiya-pa at the Uchiha compound. He finally wrote me, and he said something about loneliness making people cold."
Kakashi seemed to ponder her words, and for a while, she found herself wondering what was running through his head. Was he thinking about his father, Konoha's White Fang? He hadn't mentioned it, and neither had she, but her father had told him the tragic story. Sakumo Hatake was a hero in her eyes, someone she could easily look up to. "I can walk with you, I was gonna head to the Uchiha manor myself."
She tilted her head, wondering what business he had there, but he answered the question before she could ask. "One of my team members is an Uchiha. We're supposed to leave on a mission tonight."
If he noticed the glum look on her face, he made no mention of it. To say Kasumi was upset was an understatement. She was pretty devastated, and she knew the vibe was rolling off of her in waves, but she could do nothing to contain it. She had just met him yesterday and he was already leaving. And who knew if the awful man from the night before would pay her another visit, although judging from his last words, if she wanted to see him again (which was undoubtedly a hard no), she'd have to 'follow' a snake.
They made their way silently through the crowd, following the scent of fresh sweet bread to the bakery. Once inside, the old woman at the counter greeted them warmly, and Kasumi felt her mood improve drastically at the way the woman addressed them so familiarly. When Kakashi mentioned the melonpan, the woman sweetly motioned them to give her a minute to grab a fresh batch from the oven in the back.
"She's so sweet." Kakashi nodded in agreement, his eyes landing on everything but her, and it bothered her for some reason. Had she said something stupid while she had been out of it without noticing?
When the woman came back with a half dozen box of warm and aromatic melonpan, Kasumi reached for her leg pouch to dig out some bills to pay the woman with, but Kakashi's firm grip on her wrist stopped her. "I've got it."
He shoved a hand in the pouch attached to his hip, but the woman waved them off with a hearty laugh. "It's on the house, you two look so good together, reminds me of my dear husband and I when we were your age, people even thought we were siblings."
Kasumi could've died on the spot in that moment, but she regained her composure as much as she could before thanking the woman and following the stoic Kakashi out of the bakery. The silence that came after the bakery scene was uncomfortable, and she wanted to dispel it with a lighthearted joke, but she was scared to make it worse. When the silence was too much to bear, she spoke.
"I could've paid for the bread."
"I never implied you couldn't. I was just being polite."
"Well I don't need you to be polite all the time."
"Okay."
"I'm sorry, Kakashi."
"Don't worry about it." She stopped in her tracks and grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt, motioning him to stop. When he turned, she could see he was still annoyed, and it made her feel uneasy, but she shook the feeling off and pulled a melonpan out of the box. "What are you doing?"
She ripped the bread into two halves, and handed him one of them with a bright smile adorning her face. He looked confused, but when she shoved the bread closer to his face, he reluctantly accepted it. "Peace offering."
"I don't particularly enjoy sweets." She pouted, and he looked away at a spot behind her head. "But thank you."
They ate the bread in the comfortable silence that being around him entailed, him sneaking bites while she wasn't eating, and her savoring the sweet taste of the bread. What was she going to do in his absence? The month she had spent on her own had been awfully unsettling, and meeting him had been the best thing that had happened to her so far. Sure, she could always pay the old man a visit, but she knew he was too busy to bother, being Hokage was a tiresome job, she knew from the fact her father would constantly stress the fact that he'd never be up for the task. As for the woman she was on her way to see, if Orochimaru was any indication to the type of friends her father surrounded himself with, she was already dreading it.
…
When they reached the compound, Kasumi was amazed. It was like a village inside of the village, and she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb with her white hair and jade eyes among its raven haired, onyx eyed inhabitants, but she found comfort in her companion's similarly light hair.
"Is that an angel?" She turned abruptly and was met by two large charcoal colored eyes less than an inch from her face. The boy, who had crouched down a bit to be at eye level with her, was wearing the most puzzled expression on his face, and she couldn't help but chuckle at how dorky he looked with his spiky unruly hair and the obnoxious goggles that rested on top of his forehead protector. "What are you doing here with an angel Ba-ka-shi?"
"Are you stupid, blind, or both?" Kakashi pulled her back and away from the Uchiha's examination, and half hid her behind his back. "This is my idiot team member I was telling you about."
"Obito Uchiha, nice to meet ya! One day, I'll be the first Uchiha to be Hokage, remember it angel-girl!" His enthusiastic exclamation made her giggle once again, and at that moment she decided Obito was gonna be a good name to add to her small growing list of friends.
"She's not an angel, her name is Kasumi Kaguya. She's looking for someone."
"Amaya. Jiraiya-pa said I could find her here." Kasumi added.
"Oh! I can show you where she lives! I'll meet you at the village gates in a bit Bakashi!" And with that, Obito picked her up the same way Kakashi had caught her not that long ago and took off amongst the people strolling around before she could even protest the fact that she could obviously walk. She hadn't even been able to say goodbye to the silver haired boy, and the last thing she heard from him was a loud order for the boy who had essentially abducted her. "Don't be late!"
Once they were out of view, Obito finally set her down, apologizing profoundly for the way he had taken her from under Kakashi's (Bakashi was what he actually called him) mask covered nose. He was the complete opposite of Kakashi. While the silver haired boy was calm and collected, Obito was almost as eccentric as her father, and he acted and spoke out of impulse and emotion rather than intellect, but she enjoyed that about him. "So how come I've never seen you around, angel-girl?"
"I don't really like coming out to the village. Some of the kids made fun of my kekkei genkai. It left a bitter taste." She offered him a small smile, and the look on his face let her know he was upset about the way she'd been treated, but he quickly changed the subject before she could say anything else.
"I have a kekkei genkai too! Well, it hasn't woken yet, but it will! And then I'll beat Bakashi and maybe Rin will…" He mumbled the rest, and the flustered expression on his face was enough for her to make out the fact that Rin was, 1.) a girl, and 2.) the third member of their team. "Anyway, what's your kekkei genkai?"
Kasumi had been slightly dreading the question, too afraid of what his reaction might be, but she swallowed away the thought and extended a clammy palm towards him. When the long, sharp, bone began to protrude from the palm of her hand, his eyes widened in what seemed to either be fear or wonder, and when she couldn't tell the difference, she quickly retracted it.
"That's… so cool!" The words made her blink in confusion, and when she finished processing them, she was elated. She loved making friends, even though they were on the same team which meant he'd be gone with Kakashi as well. Maybe when they got back, they could introduce her to Rin, and then she'd be able to add a girl to her list!
"Don't you have a mission, cousin?" The question came from a boy sitting down on the rooftop of the home they had made their way to, most likely Amaya's, she reminded herself. He leaped down gracefully and walked to them in a silent manner that reminded Kasumi of Kakashi a bit. "Is that a ghost? Have you been vandalizing the memorial, Obito?"
She could feel her head throb at his comment, but before she could snatch him by the collar of his shirt and chew his ear off, Obito replied. "Angel-girl is actually looking for your mom, Shisui. Anyway, I gotta go before Minato-sensei comes looking for me. See you later angel-girl!"
Obito's departure was sudden, and an awkward silence followed it. Deep obsidian eyes studied her from beneath long sooty lashes, and she found herself admiring the beauty of the rude boy before her. He couldn't have been much older than her, but definitely younger than Kakashi or Obito, although the small stress lines on his face had her second guessing herself.
"Is that melonpan?" Her eyes drifted from his face to the box she was holding, and she nodded her head with a little too much enthusiasm. "Come in, mother is preparing dinner."
…
Shisui's home was full of life compared to her and Kakashi's respective homes, and the light that shone in through the windows and sliding doors was enough to illuminate it all without the need to turn any lights on. There was something about the welcoming warmth that made her feel at ease, and she dreaded the thought of having to go back to the empty cabin, which was only ever illuminated by the presence of the man who raised her. "Mother, you have a visitor."
The slim, long haired woman turned, and when her eyes landed on Kasumi, she smiled brightly, instantly dropping the task she had been so consumed by. "Kasumi, you've grown so much since the last time Jiraiya brought you around! You're almost as tall as Shisui!"
She couldn't think of anything to reply with, as she couldn't remember ever being in the woman's presence, so she extended the box of sweet bread towards her with a small smile. "I've brought melonpan."
Amaya was practically beaming, and Kasumi decided that the woman was nothing like Orochimaru, therefore she liked her. She took the box from her hands before quickly turning and cutting one of the breads in perfectly even halves, much like she had done for herself and Kakashi, before handing her and Shisui each a piece. "Let me finish up dinner here, and in the meantime, you two can go enjoy the treat in the garden, get reacquainted. I'll call for you when it's time for dinner."
They both thanked her before Shisui led her back out towards the back of the house, and when they stepped out to the engawa, she was elated at the beautiful design of the garden before her. Directly below was a pond full of brightly colored koi fish, all in the most beautiful shades of reds and oranges and pearly white colors she had ever seen. Shisui took a seat, his small legs dangling an inch above the water, and when he threw a small piece of the bread in the water, the fish all gathered in a bunch below them.
"This is beautiful." She murmured the words before sitting next to him, and she didn't miss the delighted expression on his face as he bit into the sweet treat. She mimicked his actions and tore off a small piece of the bread to the delight of the fish below, before taking a bite of it.
"Mother says they're therapeutic, although I do agree with you. They are somewhat mesmerizing." He raised his hand a fraction, almost as if stuck in a thought, and when he pointed at a fish that stuck out between the rest of the fish like her and Kakashi had stuck out in the Uchiha compound, he spoke. "That one is my favorite though."
The koi was a mustard yellow color that clashed between the regal colors of its companion, with dark gray splotches covering most of its back, and part of it felt like she could relate to it, the sense of not fitting in a familiar feeling to her. She tore a small piece of the bread in her hands and aimed it straight at the distinctive fish, and it rapidly caught it, gulping it down before humoring them with a crooked swim below them.
"Why that one?" He seemed to ponder on it for a second, almost as if gathering his thoughts into something he could easily explain, and when he spoke, she listened intently.
"My uncle, he built his wife a koi pond to celebrate the news of her pregnancy. He spent so much time and effort into everything that had to do with it, my mother even helped him in her free time. She gifted him a pair of koi to breed, including her favorite one, a beautiful pearl white female. All of their surviving offspring were beautiful, except for that guy there." He pointed at the fish again, before continuing his story. "My uncle believed him to be bad luck due to the fact he looked different from the others, so he had planned to take it out of the pond and let it dry out and die. My aunt in turn, took pity on it and brought him to my mother, and so, here he is. I don't think he should have been treated any different because of the way he looks, in fact, I think the fact he looks nothing like the rest of the koi is what makes him beautiful."
Shisui turned to her, but she found it hard to focus on him, and when she rubbed her eyes and felt the wetness on her hands, she realized she had been crying. As she frantically wiped away at the tears, she heard the sound of Amaya's voice calling out to them and when she finally looked up, she was met by an already standing Shisui, his hand outstretched towards her and a smile on his face, the bright sun behind him encasing him in its light.
"You're weird ghost-girl, but I think I quite like that."
…
Little pretentious yet extremely sweet Shisui, I LOVE HIM! And I really love this story to bits, little angel/ghost-girl is already becoming like my child, well, she basically is! Obito is 10 here, Kakashi is 9, Kasumi and Shisui are both 5. I thought maybe Kasumi is a bit mature for her age, but everyone was growing a bit too fast in the era of the Third Great Ninja War. I made up the story of the Koi fish, and if you haven't guessed yet, the uncle and aunt that Shisui was talking about are Fugaku and Mikoto, so baby Itachi is currently about 2 here, more or less. I hope you guys enjoy!