Chapter 3
The next time I open my eyes, I immediately shut them. Sunlight pours through the open window, as does a gentle breeze. I slowly open my eyes again, letting them adjust to the light before I begin to look around. I look down at my chest, Pakkun is still fast asleep. I smile at him, he's too cute. Even though I know he could probably kill someone in many, many ways. Looking from Pakkun to the rest of the bed, I notice it's empty. The dark green comforter still covers me up. At least that was one thing that didn't change from the original Naruto. On one bedside table sat a small lamp and a photo of Kakashi's genin team. I feel a pang in my chest as I look at them. I knew that at least Minato wasn't here. But what about Obito and Rin?
I take a look over at the other bedside table. It has two photos. One of Kakashi and who I assume to be our father, Sakumo Hatake. The other photo is of Gai and Kakashi, presumably during one of their challenges, as they're both extremely sweaty as they sit on the edge of the Hokage monument. At least I know Sakumo and Gai are still here. But what else had changed? The headache from yesterday returns and I wince when I feel the stabbing pain. I quickly close my eyes and throw my arm over them to keep out the light. I start to feel a little nauseous as Pakkun starts to stir.
"What's wrong, pup?" He asks, immediately on alert.
"I'm fine, Pakkun." I manage after a second. I practically hear his eyes roll as his weight leaves my chest. I hear his nails go across the floor as he leaves the room. Most likely to grab Kakashi because it was obvious that I'm not fine. I take a deep breath before sitting up slowly, my eyes still closed. Each time I've thought about the Naruto world I knew, I get the stabbing pain in my head. Maybe I wouldn't need that knowledge. Maybe, just maybe things might be okay in this universe. I take another breath and remove the hand from in front of my eyes. Even the small amount of light that I can see while my eyes are still closed burns.
I feel tears start to sting at the back of my eyes. I've cried enough already. But my five year old body doesn't agree. The sob breaks out as soon as I feel a warm hand on my head. I smell grass and dogs like I did yesterday, but this time I also smell chocolate and rain. The hand on my head doesn't belong to Kakashi, and I immediately feel all my muscles lock up.
"Shh, pup. You're safe." The voice sounds similar to Kakashi's, but more gruff. Is it Sakumo? Is it my dad? "What's wrong, Kojika-chan?"
"Head hurts." I manage to sniffle out, finally giving in and leaning into the chest of the man checking on me. The sobs grow louder as I cling desperately to his shirt. It's soft, a sweatshirt. He hadn't put on his flak jacket yet, or he'd just taken it off as he'd returned home from his mission. I hear shifting in the room, the almost silent noise of the window being closed. And then I feel the bed shift beside me. Kakashi. "Niisan?"
"I'm here, imouto." He whispers, rubbing his hand up and down my back. "Hospital?" I hear him whisper, not to me, but to the other man in the room.
"Do you normally get these headaches, Kojika?" I'm tempted to lie, but I was never good at that in my last life. I was really bad at it in this one, too. I hope it's just being, you know, a five year old at the moment. Pack. Home. Safe. The voice from yesterday comes back and seals my answer.
"No." I whisper into his chest. "Just the last few weeks." I feel him freeze before I'm pulled from the warmth of the blankets and Kakashi's hand on my back.
"Grab her shoes, Kakashi."
"Hai, tou-san." Kakashi says. I feel the breeze of being outside before I even know we've moved. I bury my head into his neck and take a deep breath. Pack. Safe.
"Tou-san." I whisper more to myself than him.
"I'm here, daughter." He whispers into my hair. "And I'm never letting you go." I hold on tighter and pray to whatever non-world destroying gods are out there that he's right.
The trip to the hospital didn't last too long. But, that's what you get with having two elite Jonin as your family. I'm prepared to wait a while when we get there, though. This isn't an emergency. I'll be fine. It just hurts.
And then we actually go inside the building and the smell hits me. I immediately feel my nose scrunch up and shake my head against my father's neck. No. Nope. I can't wait here. No wonder Kakashi never wanted to stay here. No wonder he wore that damn mask all the time.
"Wanna go home."
"We need to make sure you're okay, Kojika." Dad says sympathetically.
"Kashi-nii?"
"What's wrong, imouto?" He asks, I feel him move closer to me, his hand on my shoulder.
"Can you get me a mask like yours? It smells really, really bad." The smell was a mixture of a combination of chemicals, that I couldn't even begin to decipher. There was also a distinct smell of something coppery. It takes a few moments to realize what it was. Blood. It mixes with the smells of sickness. Add to that the sounds of machines going off at all different frequencies. I feel myself start to shake as I shove my hands over my ears, but I still hear Kakashi's reply.
"Of course, imouto."
"Have you ever been to the hospital before, Jika-chan?" If I could smile, I would. But everything around me is too much, I feel like I can barely breathe.
"Mmhmm, we always come for check-ups."
"Has it smelled this bad before?" No, no it hadn't.
"No. Wasn't this loud, neither."
"Either." Kakashi corrects automatically. I turn my head a little and glare at him, but he just eye smiles at me. It doesn't make me feel better. Because when he opens his visible eye, the worry is clear as day.
"Sakumo, brat. Haven't seen you two here by choice before." I feel dad relax a little at the woman's voice. I turn my head to the side to see a woman with blonde hair, honey eyes, and a purple diamond on her forehead. What the hell was Tsunade doing in the village? I feel my eyes go wide as I look at her but soon wince and bury my head back in dad's neck. The hospital was bright.
"Who's this brat?"
"My daughter." There's a beat of silence before I hear a sigh.
"You better have a good explanation for this, Hatake."
"Thank you." He breathes and then I feel us moving again. I hear a door shut before I feel us moving, dad shifts me in his arms to where I'm sitting on his lap. I hold on tighter to his sweatshirt, not wanting to be let go. He shushes me and starts rocking us slowly.
"What's going on?" Tsunade asks. "And since when did you have another kid?"
"Her mother was an Uzumaki, I met her while on a long term mission a few years ago." I freeze at this. Did he know about me? Did he not want me? Was that why I was in the orphanage? "I had to come home and was told that the baby didn't make it. Which was an obvious lie." I feel him pull me tighter to his chest, and I finally let out a breath. He didn't know.
"Where's she been this entire time, then?"
"Civilian orphanage." Kakashi says from beside me. "I met her yesterday at the welcoming ceremony."
"Didn't intro- introd- introrodu-,"
"Introduce," dad supplies. I let out a huff and lift my head up to glare at Kakashi a little.
"You were too busy reading your naughty book." I feel dad stiffen as I see Kakashi look away, a hint of red making its way above his mask.
"Do I even want to know how you know about that book?"
"The weird guy that always looks in the bath house had it one day." Tsunade laughs loudly at that as dad sighs. I flinch at the sound of Tsunade's laughter. I'm glad she didn't hate me immediately, but that hurt.
"What's going on with you?" Tsunade asks, I hear the wheels of a chair move towards us as she waits for my answer.
"Head hurts." Is all I can manage. Before I'd been careful to use a smaller vocabulary, but now, since being with Kakashi and Sakumo, it seemed I could just think of larger words, not actually use them aloud.
"Do you get them regularly?"
"She said it's only been happening the last few weeks." Dad says, I feel a little relieved at not having to speak yet.
"Has anything changed over this time?" Yeah, I've been thinking of plans to try to save this world from the fate of a book series I'd read in my last life. I'm sure that answer won't go over well. I just shrug my shoulders, that's the only thing I could think of, and I'm definitely not telling them that. I just got my family. I'm not losing them. I hear Tsunade's sigh before there's a warmth around my head. I go to move but dad stops me quickly.
"She's just performing a basic medical test, Jika-chan." He says quietly. "She said that she hadn't been able to smell or hear as much the previous times she's been here." The warmth slowly goes away, but she doesn't say anything.
"You got any seals on you, brat?" She finally says after a couple of moments. Seals? None that I know of. Who would have put a seal on me? And why? Wouldn't someone have seen it by now?
"I dunno." I say, finally pulling my head away from dad's chest to look over at the sannin. "It's hard to use my chakra right, though." I can't stop the childish pout that makes its way to my face. I was still upset about not being able to make a regular clone. I feel dad freeze before he turns my head to look at him. It's the first time I've actually looked at his face. He looks exactly like he had in Naruto. But the show and the manga could never show the kindness in his eyes.
"You've been using chakra? Who helped you? What happened?" I feel the heat across my cheeks and try to look away but he doesn't let me.
"Just a couple times." I say quickly, but it doesn't ease his worry. "Read scrolls from the library. I only tried making clones." I hear him sigh before pulling me back into his chest.
"How many did you make? What do you mean when you say it's hard to use your chakra?" Tsunade questions now.
"Fifty I think." I say quietly. "I tried to funnel it like the scroll said, but there was too much."
"It might just be your Uzumaki side for that." I feel dad relax again at her words. "But I still want to check you over for any seals. You should've already had your ability to smell and hear more before now. Get out you two, I'll come get you when we're done."
"Tsunade-"
"She might be your kid-"
"Pup, and-"
"She just met you both. Besides, it'll be easier without having to maneuver around you to check on her. It'll go quicker this way." Dad goes to argue again but I shake my head against his chest.
"Wanna go home, Tou-san. Go outside with nii-san." I cross my arms over my chest and give him a stern look. He just looks at me and laughs.
"Okay, Jika-chan." He says in a voice that's clear he's just humoring me. I look over to Kakashi and see he's struggling not to laugh.
"Meanie." I pout at him. He shakes his head before walking closer and kissing the top of my head.
"See you in a few, imouto."
"Come get us if you need anything." Tou-san whispers in my ear before he puts me down on the hospital bed.
"Okay, Tou-san." I say, trying to put on a brave face. He gives me an encouraging smile before he closes the door behind him. And suddenly, I'm in a room alone with Senju Tsunade. Something I never thought would happen.
Ten minutes later and she still hasn't found a seal on me. She steps back and readjusts my hospital gown before sitting back on the small rolling chair in front of my bed. I feel the tears start to burn at the back of my eyes. What if there was just something wrong with my chakra? With me? Would I always feel this pain? Would I ever get to become a shinobi like this? What would dad and Kakashi think?
"Open your mouth." She says suddenly, breaking me from my thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Open your mouth, I just want to double check something." Did she think it was root? Danzo? Oh kami if it's Danzo I'm so screwed. I open my mouth quickly and as she lifts my tongue she lets out a string of curses that I didn't even know existed.
"What's wrong?" I try to say, but it comes out as a jumbled mess.
"Someone put a seal on you, most likely to suppress your Hatake bloodline." She removes her hand from my mouth and goes to wash her hands in the sink.
"Is that why it hurts?"
"I think so." She sighs before turning back to me. "Your senses are coming in, most likely the large amount of chakra is weakening the seal. It'd be best to go ahead and break the previous seal. If your pain goes away after you get used to your new senses, then we know what's causing it."
"How do we break it?"
"We aren't doing anything. And you're not going to use your chakra until I say you can."
"But the academy-"
"Will not be starting chakra exercises yet. I'll write an excuse until you're used to your new senses." She turns to rifle through a drawer before handing me a mask. "I'll go get your old man while you change back, alright?"
"Okay," I nod before I let out a long breath as she leaves the room. My head still hurts, but not as much as it had before she checked it earlier. Had she done some form of medical ninjutsu? I quickly redress in the hand-me-down tunic and leggings that I'd gotten from the orphanage. As soon as I sit in the visitor's chair, the door opens.
"Ready to go home, Jika-chan?" Dad holds his arms out for me and I immediately run into them, cherishing his warmth. I nod against his chest as he picks me up, he laughs a little under his breath before walking us out of the room. Down the hall we run back into Kakashi and Tsunade.
"I'll send Jiraiya over to come look at it later today." She says before a nurse comes over with a stack of files. Tsunade rolls her eyes and grabs the files before waving the man off. "Give her pain killers if needed. Strong tea and rest will help the most. Don't let her get overstimulated."
"Thank you again, Tsunade." Dad says, and soon we're making our way back home.
"Did the mask help?" Kakashi asks as we pass over some rooftops. I can't look. I'm fine with heights but the movement with my headache is not a good combination.
"A little."
"I'll work on getting you a few masks, then." I lift my head up to smile at him before resting it on dad's shoulder again. I was already exhausted and it wasn't even time for lunch yet.