Taisetsuna "Precious" - Version Two

by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Six

Present

Sometime later, three pale, white shapes slipped out the living room window and repelled down the side of the apartment building. They silently hit the ground and sprinted through the quiet streets.

The 3rd Hokage's house was as usual, unprotected. One by one they flipped up to the ledge outside a tiny window and popped inside. Moments later the first emerged, followed by the second, a large scroll that just fit through and then the last. They exchanged hand signals and sprinted away.

As they wound through the alleyways and side streets on a seemingly random course, one looked forward, one held the scroll and one watched their backs. They didn't expect to be confronted from above. A half dozen shuriken tagged the scroll so hard it fell from Hikari's hands.

"Above!" called Yami.

"Oh no!" Yume cried.

"Otousan!"

Kakashi stood balanced on one foot on a wire stretched between buildings. "You are so grounded." He had his forehead protector raised. His eyes gleamed in the light of a neon sign. "So you were using me the whole time, were you?" he growled, more disappointedly that angrily but still frighteningly.

"Fist of Sand no Jutsu!" Yami called her attack.

"No, Yami! He's using his Sharingan!" Hikari warned too late. Their father put his hands together mimicking her seal and copied her. The two enormous fists punched each other, scattering in a shower of sand. As the girls jumped to avoid it, Kakashi honed in on Hikari.

"Give me the scroll, Musume!"

"I can't!" she shouted. A thin wire shot between them and wrapped around the scroll. Kakashi looked to the source as Hikari lost her grip. The scroll flew towards the wire's owner.

"I'll take that," a muffled voice came from above. A woman wearing the beige clothes of a ninja from the Wind Country and a Hunter-nin mask reeled the scroll in.

'Oh no!' Kakashi gasped. 'She's come for the girls!' He charged the woman. She tucked the oversized scroll under her arm and bounded away on the electric wires. She was misbalanced because of the heavy scroll and Kakashi soon caught up with her. Throwing kunai at her served to set her even more off balance and she finally slipped. As she landed and turned to run again he was right on her back holding a kunai to her throat.

The girls had caught up with them. They skidded to a halt and watched with baited breath.

"I won't let you have the scroll," the Hunter-nin muttered from behind her mask.

"I don't give a fuck about the scroll," he growled. "I won't let you take my kids."

The girls gasped. "Otousan," Yume whispered.

The Hunter-nin grasped the scroll tighter. "Just let me have the scroll."

Suddenly it came together. Kakashi looked over his shoulder at the girls. They were clutching each other anxiously. 'They're not worried about me,' he thought. 'They're worried about the Hunter-nin!' he grabbed her shoulder, spun her around and tore her mask off.

Just like the last time he saw her, Oururi couldn't look him in the eye.

Yume looked up at the starry sky. "They're coming!" she alerted everyone.

Kakashi was on top of it. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted and an exact clone of himself appeared. "Give me the scroll." Oururi resisted. "Do it, or you could all be executed!"

Reluctantly she gave it up. Kakashi tossed it to his clone and it bounded up to the rooftops. Soon it was quiet again. He slipped the kunai back into his pocket, turned his back on her and began walking away.

"Kakashi…" Oururi reached out grabbed his sleeve. "Won't you at least let me explain?" Her eyes were filled with worry like they had been in his mind.

"Follow me," he said and they flicked through the alleys back to his apartment.

.x.

Oururi and her girls sat on the futon in Kakashi's living room. He leaned against the wall and looked from one worried face to another. He kicked himself for not having noticed how much they resembled like him, especially around the eyes.

"All right," he said and cleared his throat. "Why did you set me up?"

"That wasn't part of the plan," Oururi said quickly. "Well, sort of. It was just a mission. But I thought since we were here, they could meet you." She cast her grey eyes back down at the floor. "You weren't supposed to see me."

"That's a shitty plan and you know it," Kakashi growled softly.

She shrugged. "Guess I sort of wanted to see you, too."

He folded his arms and walked to his room. "Well, your mission failed," he said plainly. "We'll talk more about this in the morning."

Oururi looked shocked, but said nothing as he closed the door behind him.

"Kaasan," Yume whispered. "Otousan is scary."

"Pfff," Oururi scoffed. "He's a pushover. He could have turned us over to Sandaime by now and he didn't." She grinned assuredly at her children, but bit the inside of her lip. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right."