So here I am, sitting at the computer, wearing my haori which I have just finished sewing, reading Naruto manga chapter 237, and thinking... Damn... Jiraiya's kinda sexy in a Freudian sort of way...
Nobody's figured out what Mitsuki is yet so the contest continues... Not many hints in this chapter either...
Chapter 3: Kappa Maki and the Kappa
"Head to the main gates," Mitsuki muttered to herself. "Go through them, turn left, then go forward until you reach a closed gate with a fan symbol on it. Third board on the left is loose, pull it aside and go in. Head to the main gates..." She chanted the instructions over and over to herself like a mantra. Obito-kun had made her learn it once he had found out that she had no where to sleep that night. He had nobly volunteered his home saying that no one lived there anymore and no one would mind her being there. All she had to do was find a comfortable looking home in the Uchiha complex and sleep soundly.
"Ne, Mitsuki-chan, you better get going," he had said watching the shadows lengthen. "It's almost 3."
"Why? Is there something important about 3?"
Obito had flushed slightly, muttering something about a 'baka na shinigami' and how she really had to be going. So, promising to come back tomorrow, she had left to find the place that Obito had described to her so that she could rest.
"...third board on the..." she paused, faltering. "Right? No left... Second board on the lef... No! Third board on the–"
Screaming and shouts suddenly filled the air, startling her and causing her to drop the bright orange jacket she had been carrying. Surprised, Mitsuki looked around her trying to see what was causing all this noise. Had a bird become stuck in a trap? Was a fox trying to steal a badger's young?
"HELP!" a shrill, childish voice screamed.
A child was in danger, she realized slowly. Her grip on the obentos tightening, Mitsuki began running towards where the screaming was coming from.
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Naruto and both of the chunins from the front gate stood on the water trying to pull a screaming, thrashing Konohamaru from the water, all of them failing miserably. None of them could understand it. This was a peaceful pond, deep but clear. If Konohamaru had become caught on something they would have been able to see it and free him from it easily. However, as it was all that seemed to be trying to pull the boy from their grasp was clear water.
"Hold him!" Naruto shouted, letting go the boy for a moment. Instantly, Konohamaru sunk a few more inches into the water his mouth now only barely above the water. "Bunshin no jutsu!" In a puff of smoke five Naruto clones appeared and grabbed hold of the two gate chunin. Slowly they all began pulling Konohamaru from the water.
They had just managed to get Konohamaru's shoulders up and out of the water when, to the surprise of all of them, the water beneath their feet began to bubble. In a sudden explosion the clones were destroyed and the ninjas were thrown off their feet, falling back to land as the water sucked Konohamaru under it. Naruto was almost instantly on his feet running back to the water's edge when a grey and black blur ran by him and stopped at the water's edge.
"Kappa-dono!" a female voice shouted, leaning over and slapping her hand on the water's surface. "Kappa-dono, release that child at once!"
"Out of the way!" Naruto shouted, about to knock the person in front of him aside. Instead, a huge plume of water hit him in the chest knocking him back thirty feet.
"Kappa-dono," the woman said again, smiling this time and trying a different approach. "That child is very small, not a very good meal for a mighty Kappa like yourself. Wouldn't you like a better meal, Kappa-dono?"
The water bubbled, giving off the impression that it was growling.
"I have an idea of a meal that would make Kappa-dono very happy," the woman said opening an obento box that she was carrying. "How would Kappa-dono like some cucumber? I have some cucumber sushi that Kappa-dono would surely love..."
The water instantly stopped moving, becoming as smooth as glass.
Pulling out one of the sushi pieces, the woman smiled. "See Kappa-dono? Cucumber sushi! Wouldn't Kappa-dono much rather prefer some delicious cucumber over a skinny, tough child?" Her smile widened a bit as the pond stayed calm. "Oishi cucumber..."
A green scaly hand shot out of the water, grabbing the piece of sushi from her as Konohamaru was tossed out of the water. One of the gate chunin jumped up and caught the coughing boy before he could hit the ground then turned and began racing back to the village, needing to get the child to the hospital. The other chunin and Naruto stayed, watching in amazement as the strange girl slowly coaxed a green, scaly turtle creature out of the water using sushi.
Naruto carefully watched the creature. A bird's beak, a turtle shell, a large crater in it's head filled with water... "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" he shouted, pointing to the creature that was currently laying it's head on the girl's lap.
The girl looked up at him, a puzzled look on her face. "It's a Kappa," she said calmly. "Didn't you know it lived here?"
"No," the gate chunin said holding a kunai tightly. He stared at the creature for a long moment. "How do we kill it?"
"Kill it?" the girl asked looking horrified. "You can't kill him!"
"That thing tried to drown and eat one of the village's children. It's a danger to Konoha!"
The woman put her arms around the content Kappa's neck, ignoring the pleased, yet confused noises he was making. "He was starving! If you made a few offerings of cucumbers to him he would protect the village!"
"It's a danger!" the ninja shouted. "Now it away from it!"
"You can't kill Kappa-dono!" she shouted, getting to her feet. "All he needs is a little respect!"
"Out of the way!"
"NO!"
The ninja swore. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" he shouted quickly replacing the girl with a small tree branch before throwing the kunai.
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Mitsuki sighed. "He really shouldn't have tried to kill Kappa-dono," she muttered helping Naruto pull the unconscious ninja out of the ground. She smiled at the blond boy, grabbing one of the chunin's feet. "We should hurry before he runs out of air," she said cheerfully.
"That was pretty cool," Naruto confessed grabbing the ninja's other foot and pulling. "Did you know that he would do that?"
"No, but kappa have never taken kindly to being mistreated," Mitsuki said. "At least that's what Kappaoji-sama told me..." She frowned. "I think I knew someone called that once... On three. One! Two! Three!"
The ninja came out of the ground with a pop sound, his body from the waist up covered in mud. He was still unconcious too. Probably from the noxious fumes that had come from the kappa during the attack. "You think he'll die?" Naruto asked, bending over to grab the man's arm and pulling it over his shoulder.
"I think he'll live to be wiser," Mitsuki replied, gathering her one remaining obento. The kappa had taken the sushi filled obento with it once it had KO'ed the chunin. It had other sushi besides the cucumber ones in it, but Mitsuki wasn't about to try and stop the ticked off creature.
"So there you are," Kakashi said appearing suddenly. Silently he studied the scene in front of him. Naruto was supporting an unconcious chunin while a woman was standing next to him holding what suspiciously resembled Sasuke's usual obento box. "I heard that a child was nearly drowned."
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! Konohamaru and I went to search the woods for the mission and he went near the water and he got pulled in and we shouted and the gate chunin arrived and he we couldn't pull him out and–" he suddenly stopped, looking thoughtful. "I've got to see if Konohamaru is alright!" he shouted, dropping the chunin and rushing off.
Kakashi watched him go then turned back to look at the girl in front of him. Black hair, grey tunic, black pants, he thought to himself remembering the description that Sasuke had given earlier that day. She was missing Naruto's jacket though... He smiled, his one visible eye curving. "Let me walk you home Miss..."
"Mitsuki," the girl supplied looking pleased for some reason. She bowed lowly. "Thank you for the offer but you really don't need to, sir."
Kakashi shook his head, and hoisted the unconcious chunin over his shoulder. "Pleased to meet you Mitsuki-san. I'm Hatake Kakashi. It would really be my pleasure to escort you."
The raven haired girl looked thoughtful for a long time before nodding. "Maybe just to the gate," she said finally, a frown starting to cross her face. "Main gate turn...right?" she muttered quietly, turning and heading towards the pond.
"Ah, Mitsuki-san," Kakashi called, "The village is this way."
"Oh, hai, hai" Mitsuki said sounding distracted. She bowed lowly to the pond, her hair nearly brushing the ground. "Thank you for releasing the child and not killing that man Kappa-dono," her voice was full of respect and courtesy.
Kakashi frowned sightly. Great. Just great. It would figure that she would be crazy.
"I'll be sure to bring you a cucumber soon," she continued, still holding the bow. "Also, if you could do me a favor Kappa-dono, I would be eternally grateful." If anything her bow lowered, her body becoming a perfect ninety degree angle. "If you happen to be talking to any other kappas or a water fairy could you please ask them about a river with rice in it?"
A river with rice in it? Who would put such a precious thing in a river? Kakashi thought to himself. Maybe her brains had been scrambled by the hit Tsunade had told him about?
"Domo agrigato gozaimasu,1" she said softly, slowly straightening. "Bei bei!2" she said cheerily smiling and giving the pond a quick wave.
Kakashi gave a mental shrug, glad that her strange antics were over. He opened his mouth to call her over to him when he froze. Coming out of the middle of the pond was a large green hand which briefly waved at Mitsuki before vanishing into the pond's depths.
Smiling, Mitsuki turned and ran up to Kakashi, a obento held tightly in her hands. "Thank you for waiting, sir," she said happily. "Are we going to town now?
Kakashi stared at the pond a second longer. He had seen many strange things over the years. Why not a scaly arm coming out of the water? "Yes," he said, turning towards the direction of Konoha. Adjusting the weight of the unconcious chunin, he began walking making sure Mitsuki was able to keep up. "So," he said calmly. "What happened?"
Mitsuki looked up at him puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"To him," Kakashi said gesturing to the chunin on his shoulder with his free hand. It would be a good idea to get the story before hand so he could tell the healers what was wrong when he got to the village.
Mitsuki look at the man, comprehension dawning in her eyes. "You mean how he became unconcious?" She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, he was still concious when Kappa-dono slapped him twice... and he was fine when Kappa-dono hit him into the air with his feet... I think he became unconcious when Kappa-dono broke wind in his face."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"But really, it may have occurred when Kappa-dono buried him. I tried to convince him otherwise, but Kappa-dono insisted that he be buried from the waist up so that the world may truly see him. He also wanted to steal his trousers, but I managed to pacify him with some kappa maki.3" She smiled up at him. "And have you ever known a kappa to pass on kappa maki?"
Kakashi wisely remained silent. He had never seen a kappa before now... Never believed they existed. Then again, if the Nine-Tailed Kitsune had ravaged the town... was a turtle like water spirit all that hard to accept?
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The huge gates of Konoha village rose up sharply, seeming to welcome the silver haired jounin home. Smiling slightly (though no one could tell through the mask) Kakashi felt himself relax a bit. It wasn't a smart thing to do, he realized, but no matter what returning to Konoha always seemed to be the most relaxing thing to do. Besides taking a bubble bath with a rubber duck and one of his books that is...
Waving the guards away ('Sir! Let me help you with him!''No, I've got it..')('You! What is your business in Konoha!?''Err..''Relax, she's with me.') Kakashi walked through the gates before stopping, realizing that Mitsuki wasn't following him. "Something the matter?"
Mitsuki frowned, her face full of concern. "I can't remember which way to turn," she confessed. "I think it may be right... but I also think it may be left as well."
Kakashi shifted the chunin to his other shoulder. He didn't think he was that out of shape but, damn, this guy was getting heavy. "Well, where are you trying to go?" he asked. It didn't really matter where she wanted to go (she was going to go back to the hospital or Tsunade would kill him) but he was sure the Hokage would be interested to know where the girl thought she belonged.
"To Nii-chan's house," she answered feeling a swell of warmth rise within her. She was so proud of herself. She had made such a close friend that he insisted that he call him Nii-chan before she left. Plus he even wanted her at his house. Such a kind man. She couldn't remember a man ever being so kind to her before. Then again, she mentally confessed, she couldn't remember much.
"Where does your brother live?" Kakashi asked, realizing that Mitsuki wasn't going to tell him any more then that.
The warmth of happiness in her grew causing her to blush slightly. "Well, he isn't really my brother. I just met him today and when I told him I couldn't remember where I lived he insisted that I move into his old house," she said. "He said no one would mind and the pleasure would be all his!" she added quickly seeing the blank look that was crossing Kakashi's eye.
Kakashi stared at her. Damn. Had he been using all the wrong pick up lines? "Sou desu ne.4"
Mitsuki nodded. "Yes. So which way do you think I should go Hatake-san?"
The chunin over Kakashi's shoulder groaned softly before becoming still. Inspired, Kakashi took a step forward, his free hand gently resting on Mitsuki's shoulder so he could steer her better. "I think you should come to the hospital with me."
"Why?"
"To tell the healers what happened to this man."
"But I told you what happened."
"Yes, but you're the one who saw it happen, ne? It's better coming from a first person account."
Mitsuki frowned, but her face filled with pity as the chunin groaned again. "Alright."
"Good. Now if you would just follow me..."
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Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose sighing heavily. She worked in a mad house. Really. She did. It was the only explanation for all this. Then again... she could be dreaming...
"Well?"
She glared up Kakashi. "They're all mad."
"Not just the girl?"
"Nope. Konohamaru, once he had calmed down, said he had seen something shiny in the water and when he went to see what it was a great green arm shot out of the water and grabbed him. Naruto swore he saw something grab Konohamaru and he and two chunin weren't able to pull him out and that they were forcefully expelled from the surface of the pond. Then, he added that the girl showed up and not only managed to convince something to release Konohamaru, but she also had it eating out of her hand like an overly large house cat. The chunin that brought Konohamaru in confirms Naruto's story that he, Naruto, and his partner were unable to pull Konohamaru out of the water, that they were forced to land by some sort of water explosion, and that the kid was released once the girl showed up and bribed something with sushi. The chunin you brought in woke up a few minutes ago babbling something about a monster, water, and farts. And..." She took a deep breath and stopped. This was really ridiculous. Kakashi gazed at her unflinching, silently willing her to go on. "The girl... She's the one you pulled out of the river all right, I remember her... But..." Another long pause. "All her injuries are gone."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"The large bruise on the back of her head? Gone. Her dislocated shoulder? Healed. The ankle that was shattered? She has a mild sprain, that she can't even feel unless she twists it to the side." The Hokage stared down at her revised chart. "She should have been laid up for weeks. Months even, when you think of the shape her ankle was in! But how is she? She tells me that yes, she did feel very ill this morning, but it went away sometime this afternoon."
Kakashi nodded and leaned against a hospital wall. "Interesting."
"Interesting? It's damn near impossible!" Tsunade shouted, throwing the clipboard to the ground so hard that it broke in two. "Hell! It is impossible!" she glared at the closed door that led to the girl's room. "I want to know how she did it..."
"She told me that she had met someone today," Kakashi said calmly. "He invited her to stay with him. Perhaps he healed her?"
"Get a name?"
"She called him Nii-chan, although she said that he wasn't her brother."
"Great, just great," Tsunade growled, picking up her broken clip board. "A pervert?"
"Maybe."
"Healed injuries, a pervert, and people raving about kappas... I need a vacation."
"You just got back from a 25 year long one," Kakashi pointed out.
"Well I need another one," Tsunade snapped, glaring at the jounin. "And I need to know how she managed to heal all that damage in less then a day." Rising to her full height (never a good thing) she thrusted her finger into Kakashi's chest in a fit of sudden inspiration. "You! Your new A rank mission is to discover that kid's secrets and report them to me! I want to know where she came from, how she got those injuries, and more importantly how she healed them and why everyone thinks that there's a kappa in the waters outside of the village! Got it?"
Kakashi almost winced. Really, Tsunade was taking this too far. Him? Following around a girl all day? That was so... Jiraiya. And while he greatly respected the man he was really one to read about perverted tendencies rather then do them. "Hai, hai. Is the genin training on hold then?"
"Nope. Take her with you."
Take her training? Ridiculous. "What if she's a spy or a missing-nin?"
Tsunade scoffed. "Her a ninja? She's too... bubbly. And too trusting. Plus she fell for it when I told her to go out the 'side entrance' and instead locked her into the hospital room." She put a hand on her hip and gazed at the door. "She's not a ninja. She's something else and I want you to find out what it is."
"I'll have to set up surveillance around the hospital then," Kakashi mused out loud thinking of long cold nights spent in trees. He never expected he'd do that outside of missions spent outside of the village. He was going to miss his bed... Hopefully the moonlight would be bright enough to get some reading done though...
"What are you talking about?"
"Since she'll be living here then..."
Tsunade held up a finger, silencing him. "That, Kakashi, is the beauty of it."
Kakashi froze (although you couldn't tell) dreading the words that the Hokage was going to say. He knew what they were going to be, but that didn't mean he couldn't secretly hope that they were going to be something else.
"You won't have to do any surveillance of the hospital simply because she'll be living with you."
Damn.
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He unlocked the door, opening it wide and gesturing for her to go in first. Smiling weakly, Mitsuki entered and quickly removed her shoes so she could follow Kakashi around during the quick tour of the small apartment. "Kitchen," he said gesturing to a room filled with more dirty dishes, pots and pans then floor space. "Living room." The room was covered in granola bar wrappers, abandoned magazines and newspapers, and instant ramen cups. "Bathroom." The door was closed. Thank kami. "Bedroom." It was the only neat room in the house despite the stacks of books that seemed to be piled everywhere. Kakashi must be an active reader, Mitsuki thought to herself warily. "Questions?"
"Do you ever clean?" Mitsuki asked then clamped her hands over her mouth. "Gomen nasai Hatake-san!" she said quickly, bowing lowly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't think before I spoke... I mean... Your home has much character!"
Kakashi gazed at her, slightly amused. "It's fine," he said looking around warily. "I suppose it is messy even for a bachelor's pad."
"No, not at all!" Mitsuki said waving her hands frantically. "It's homey! Charming really!"
Deciding to ignore her continued protests he looked about wondering what was to be done. "I'll put you in my bed," he said finally, cutting off her insistence that messiness was closest to godliness. He smirked slightly seeing the way her eyes widened slightly. "I've got an old futon in the closet that I'll pull out and sleep on. In the living room."
"Oh, Hatake-san, I couldn't possibly take your bed!" Mitsuki protested her hands restarting their frantic motions. "I'll take the futon! Here I'll go get it!" Quickly going past Kakashi she opened the closet door only to be nearly crushed by the avalanche of old manga and books the flowed out.
Yanking her back (and saving her from being killed), Kakashi gently pushed the now apologizing girl aside and removed a futon from underneath the mess of books before kicking them all back into the closet and shutting the door. "Goodnight Mitsuki-san. If you need a pair of pajamas I have some extra clothes in the top drawer of the dresser that might work."
"No really!" Mitsuki protested, her hands still moving frantically. "I'll sleep on the futon! I couldn't possible take your bed! I'm only a guest!"
She followed him out the bedroom door to the Living Room where she continued to protest as Kakashi set up the futon. Much to his amusement she continued to protest as he silently herded her back to his room and pulled out a pajama set that Gai had once given him for Christmas which he had never used. (Gai's hopes of winning his self proclaimed contest of who could give the most practical, useful gift was crushed when Kakashi calmly informed him that he didn't usually wear anything to bed. Gai ran around the perimeter of Konoha six times backwards, wearing nothing but his 'Christmas Undies' (a green, garnish thing that had Rudolph's bright nose right over the crotch) and Kakashi caught female ninjas trying to break into his apartment late at night every day for four months.) "Here," he said sticking the light blue things in Mitsuki's face.
Mitsuki reflexly took the pajamas her mouth snapping shut. Quiet realization filled her face as she slowly looked from the pajamas to Kakashi. "Are you sure, Hatake-san? I could always still find Nii-chan."
"Do you remember where he lives yet?"
"No, Hatake-san."
"Then you'll stay at my place tonight," Kakashi said firmly. "And stop calling me Hatake-san. Since we'll be staying together you can call me Kakashi."
Mitsuki frowned. "Hatake-san?" she tried, not willing to address her host so informally.
"Kakashi."
"Hatake-kun?"
"Kakashi."
"Kakashi...-sama?"
"Just Kakashi."
"Kakashi-dono!" she said smiling brightly.
"Ka. Ka. Shi," he said sounding out each syllable.
"Kakashi-san?"
Kakashi frowned underneath his mask. It was late. Tsunade had spent hours telling Kakashi the details of what exactly she wanted to know (everything), the methods Kakashi was to use to get said information (slowly as to not arouse suspicion (like moving her in with a perfect stranger wasn't suspicious)), and threatening him with all sorts of bodily harm if he groped or manhandled Mitsuki in any way (He read Jiraiya's books. Jiraiya was EVIL. So the books were EVIL. That meant Kakashi was EVIL. But he was still a damn good ninja). "I guess that will do," he relented. Maybe if he addressed her informally she would get the hint and do the same? "Goodnight Mitsuki-chan."
Mitsuki beamed up at him. "'Night Kakashi-san!"
Then again, maybe not.
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1: Thank you very much
2: Bye bye! (It's the cute way of saying it)
3: Kappa Maki is sushi made up of rice, seaweed, and cucumber. On a side note Tokyo Sushi has the best Kappa Maki that I've ever had.
4: Is that so.
Wow long chapter this is for me... Assume any and all spelling, grammar, or just plain stupid errors were done on purpose. We'll all be happier that way.
Like kappas? A basic site for info about kappas is Metropolis - Big in Japan. Search in Google for Kappa Japan and it should be the first or second link. It was a great quick reference point when I was writing this chapter.
I don't think this chapter needs an explanation. It's pretty straight-forward... Review and tell me otherwise if you want
Alright. Now I've got to get to bed. It's 2 in the morning, I've got class at 9, and my dormmate is trying to sleep while I've got almost all of the lights on in the room. I swear, one of these days she's going to kill me and throw me into the portage...