Wild-filly: And here we have it, the last chapter of Okumen Gokurakuchou. Thank you all so much!
Disclaimer: for crying out loud… I still don't own Naruto, Kakashi, or anything of value… why do I keep having to admit this painful fact?
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Okumen Gokurakuchou: Fledgling
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Dawn light was beginning to spread, spilling through the canopy of thick fir trees. Kakashi blinked as he stared up at the intruding brightness. Morning already. He'd lain awake thinking about her again. It still happened, even after nearly eleven years. Maybe it was because there never had been a body. There was always a chance, no matter how slender, that she had gotten away. Someone might have stopped and helped her. But why wouldn't she have come back to him? Why would she have stayed away from Konoha entirely? Such questions itched the back of his skull, robbing him of sleep and torturing his taskless moments.
That was why he had thrown himself into his work. His reputation had burst, like a fragile bubble obliterated by the massive blow that had been his loss of Kurotaka. His name had spread. Copy-Ninja Kakashi. Not just the son of Konoha's White Fang, but a challenge in his own rights. A worthy adversary. An honourable ninja. A merciless foe and dedicated sensei. After losing so much, he had only his work to fall back on, and fall back on he certainly had.
It was rather annoying that at the end of it all, the only person that he still had left from his original Jounin team was the one he had valued the least of all. Maito Gai. At least some things never changed. They still annoyed the hell out of each other. It was a reassuring kind of annoyance. Even though they fought with each other, the terms were always exaggerated, toying and mocking. As much as Kakashi was loathed to admit it to himself, he actually liked having the other ninja around, even if it was just for cheap entertainment.
The rustle of a sleeping bag caught his wandering attentions. One sleepless eye swiveled to observe the tossing of his blonde-haired student. Naruto was yawning, stretching sleepily where he lay. With a snort, the Genin thrust himself out of the tangle of plushy fabric and staggered away. Kakashi sighed. It was time to begin again. It took only a matter of minutes for team Kakashi to break camp and vanish into the forest. If there was one thing that Kakashi was good at, it was disappearing.
"Are you going to tell us what our mission is yet, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi rolled his eye. Was this kid ever going to shut up? They'd been walking for only half an hour and he had already started on it again. He'd been like this since they'd left the village nearly a week ago. "Hai, Naruto-kun. It's not much further now. We've been assigned another minor mission by the Hokage-sama."
"Minor? Awww… not again Kakashi-sensei. I'm sick of all these stupid, meaningless missions." Naruto pouted, arms folded and face writ with an expression of intense disgust. Kakashi noted though, that for all of the silence of Sasuke and Sakura, neither of those two looked very enamoured with the concept either. They were just better at hiding it than the ever-transparent Naruto.
"Naruto! It's not for you to challenge what the Hokage-sama tells us!" Sakura shook her head at the other Genin impatiently. "If we've been sent on this mission, then it's obviously important to someone." It impressed Kakashi how she always took it upon herself to do all of the necessary scolding. It certainly saved him the time and energy.
"So what are we actually doing?" Sasuke spoke this time, much to Kakashi's surprise. Not that he was going to show favouritism, but he felt obliged to answer the young Uchiha's question. He highly doubted that Sasuke was aware of Kakashi's own ties to the Uchiha family; namely through his bastard second cousin; but he still couldn't help but acknowledge a small feeling of kinship towards the young man. That and the fact that he was usually less irritating than Naruto. Besides, Sasuke needed some kind of reward for speaking in terms beyond a grunt.
"We're going to help repair some storm damage in a little village just a couple more miles north of here. Winter took its toll more heavily on his village than anywhere else nearby. Thankfully for them, they were able to scrounge up enough money to bring in some Shinobi to take care of the majority of the drudgework and heavy lifting. Normal workmen aren't strong enough to take care of this kind of thing on this kind of scale." Kakashi noted with some amusement that if possible, Naruto looked even more annoyed then he already did.
"We're just cheap labour then?" Kakashi would have called Naruto's tone one of affront; if he weren't quite certain that the Genin didn't know what 'affront' meant. Pissed off would have to suffice for now. All the same, he nodded cheerfully at the fuming Naruto and strode on, whistling. Ah, baiting them was so much fun. Not that he figured that he'd be able to do it for much longer, at the rate that the three were progressing in skill.
A ramshackle village began to emerge in pitiful segments of battered wood, peeking out from dense forest foliage. Kakashi could feel the presence of scarcely more than seventy people within the small confinement. They must be exceptionally reclusive to be dwelling all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. It had taken Team Kakashi over a week to reach the place. Mind, that probably had something to do with Naruto and Sasuke's bickering and Sakura's demands for normal levels of hygiene. Pitiful really.
"That's the place, Kaka-sensei?" Kakashi glanced around to see Naruto's gaze affixed on the nearest house, roof peeling away and drenched wood rotting and falling away. Deep mud puddles mapped out the scant pathway that served as a street for the town. Piles of refuse were scattered everywhere and skinny, sullen children skulked along the sides of the ruined buildings. There was a peculiar sympathy written over the young ninja's face. Sakura seemed equally wrenched, standing behind Naruto's shoulder with a thoughtful frown over her face. "How long have these people been living like this?"
"Long enough," replied Kakashi shortly as they moved towards the entry. "Not much money between them, so let's be generous, ne?" The three looked at him curiously, although Sasuke appeared as stoic as ever. Kakashi eyed them appraisingly. "We have to tell the Hokage how difficult the mission was after we get back. The harder we say it was, the more these people get charged. Does anyone feel like a little charity?"
Sasuke smirked. "You're saying that we should lie to the Hokage?"
"No," Kakashi grinned. "I never said that. You just took the idea into your head somehow." Sasuke snorted impatiently, while Sakura and Naruto grinned. Those two would be fine. And Sasuke probably wouldn't say anything to anyone anyway, since talking was something of a chore for the young man as it was.
All of the village adults were already hard at work, sawing lethargically at chunks of sodden wood. Kakashi set the younger three off to help; to fetch and carry, to climb up the slippery roofs and secure the planks there. It was good practice for Chakra manipulation, if Naruto's headfirst descent, falling off a low and unexpectedly slick roof to the entertainment of the children, Sasuke and Sakura was anything to go by.
Kakashi resigned himself to assist with the wood cutting, Chakra helping to speed the process along a little. He tried to not make it too obvious though. It wasn't a good idea to let too many members of the plebian masses understand the intricacies of the ninja arts. Wait a minute… Naruto was demonstrating his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to a crowd of squealing children, roof abandoned. With a low growl, Kakashi shook his head. Idiot student. Dumping down his pile of freshly carved roofing planks, Kakashi meandered towards his errant pupil.
"See? I bet you can't guess which one's the real one!" Pride rang through Naruto's voice, joined by the excited shouts of laughing midgets. As one, the herd of uncontrolled offspring launched themselves at Naruto and his clones, pinching and poking, trying to find the real one. Plumes of smoke filled the air, forcing Kakashi to halt and wait for the atmosphere to clear. Naruto wasn't quite smart enough to sense danger in the form of his irate sensei.
"Ha! You got me alright!" Naruto lay sprawled in a deep mud puddle, four small children astride his stomach as though he were a bright orange and very muddy pony. The rest of the chirping bunch gathered around, pointing and laughing. Kakashi froze, reluctant. He didn't have the heart to interrupt. Let Naruto finish his tasks in his own time. With a grunt, he turned back to his pile of wood slates. Now seemed to be as good as any time to attach them to a roof. Scanning about the grubby area, Kakashi chose a house at random and vaulted nimbly onto the slippery surface, Chakra flaring and securing him onto the cracked slates.
It took Kakashi a good few minutes of despairing staring at the ruined roof to realise that someone, or something had moved his hammer and nails. Ambling over to the edge of the guttering, he peered over the edge. It would appear that gravity had been the culprit. Ah. He hadn't secured them with Chakra. Oh well. He couldn't be expected to think of everything all the time.
Tucking himself neatly into a ball, Kakashi rolled off the edge of the roof. Using the momentum to spin himself into a somersault, the lanky silver-haired Jounin landed easily on his feet and sank a good few inches into the mud for his trouble. He gritted his teeth, tensing to prevent himself from flipping over backwards. Damn this place… didn't it ever dry out here? It then occurred to him that he had an audience.
"You dropped your hammer, ninja-san." Three curious children were gathered around him, one of them holding it plaintively between his dusty hands. All of their eyes were on him, expectant. Kakashi stared back, perplexed. Three large pairs of eyes, two brown, one blue, followed his every move.
"Can I have it back?" Ask a stupid question, Kakashi. He chided himself internally.
"Can we see a trick please?" They clustered closer together, eyes somehow contriving to widen even further. Kakashi mentally rolled his own. Honestly. There wasn't a child alive that could get anything out of him. He considered himself one of the few, and exceedingly fortunate people, capable of resisting a child's pleading gaze. Not that he had had much experience of these, of course. Most of his practice had come from getting Naruto to put the marshmallow bag away these last few nights.
"I'm not a dog to do tricks at your whim" admonished Kakashi, but his tone was gentle. Two of them looked down, scuffing their filthy shoes in a hangdog look otherwise guaranteed to win support. One of them just turned away, apparently unwilling to stoop to the lengths of the other two.
"Please, ninja-san? We promise that we'll give it back. We just want to see a little trick… we've never seen ninja before." They returned their collective deceitful gazes to him. Damn them all. Kakashi glanced hurriedly about himself. Naruto was still playing the role of chief entertainer a couple of houses away, surrounded by his adoring, kindergarten-aged fans. Sakura was mixing a waterproofing agent and Sasuke had vanished into the woods to cut some more roofing material. Neither of them would see anything. Kakashi sighed. Ah well. It was just as well that he hadn't stopped Naruto for what he was about to do himself. Hypocrisy didn't bother him too much when he, Kakashi, was the one doing it, but it was always irritating for someone else to point it out to him in the continual, high-pitched and indignant fashion that Naruto would.
"Fine." He rolled his one visible eye skywards. "Would you like to see my pet dog?"
The look of excitement that crossed their faces answered his question without words. Kakashi deftly cracked a smoke bomb, screening his actions from view. There was no problem with being too cautious. Within seconds he'd unrolled the scroll and bit his thumb, smudging a little trail of blood down the activation seal. Only enough for one very useless dog. Another puff of smoke joined the cloud that he'd created.
"Kakashi, good to see you! What's our mission?" A yap filled the air, startling the cluster of children who were still squinting into the slowly melting shield of smoke. Kakashi sighed. This was only going to get more painful.
"Hello Pakkun," he greeted the small dog. "Do you think that you could entertain these while I finish this roof?"
"What do you mean by 'these'?" Pakkun never heard the answer that his master didn't give anyway. The trio of small children tackled the pug to the ground and began petting him, squealing with delight. The pug never stood a chance.
"Kakashi!" Pakkun's voice was muffled under the excited pile of limbs and giggling infants. "This is not what the scroll agreement was all abou-" His disagreement was stifled by a small girl's interested hand. Pakkun wasn't stupid enough to bite a small child. They usually had mothers. Aggressive mothers. Kakashi chuckled. At last he'd found a suitable mission to occupy the talkative little mutt with. Baby sitting. He shook his head and moved to vault back onto the roof, but something stopped him.
"Wait."
He turned, one eye lazily curious as he looked to find the source of whatever was tugging on his dark green jacket. A child stared back at him, eyes equally curious. At a glance, Kakashi guessed that she was only slightly younger than Naruto, although small for her age. There was an odd tilt to her head, a set of her jaw that seemed familiar to him, though he couldn't quite place it.
"Hai?" He didn't know precisely how to handle this type of situation. Most of the women who accosted him tended to be considerably older and a lot less subtle. It was tiresome to keep pushing them all away or finding new excuses to make himself scarce. Someone of this age was definitely a new one for the books though.
The girl bit her lip and seemed to rally herself. She straightened her back and stared up at Kakashi, a new confidence blossoming in her face. He watched her, fascinated. This had to be one of the more curious encounters that he'd ever had. Most children found his lack of three-quarters of his face rather intimidating.
The slap came out of nowhere. He had no chance to duck and never saw it coming. Kakashi rocked to one side, eye swiveling with astonishment to stare at the little girl who had reached up to her full height and deftly belted him across the cheek.
"Kaka-sensei?" Great. Just what he needed. Naruto's surprised voice rang out from where he had paused his circus act, herd of adoring fans also staring in confusion. At Naruto's call, both Sasuke and Sakura chose to emerge and see what was wrong, heads craning around nearby buildings for a closer look. Kakashi glared down at his miniature assailant, who was still standing in front of him, hands on hips and a satisfied expression on her face.
"What was that for?" queried Kakashi. "Usually people wait until I've spoken to them before they take offense." He rubbed his face absentmindedly. She had quite a blow to her for an untrained midget. It was just as well he wore the mask constantly. He didn't want to have to put that bruise on display, complete with the invitation for people to question him as to what embarrassing circumstances lead to it being put there.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke hurried over, concerned. Sakura seemed confused, but Sasuke had a look of amusement on his face. Naruto was beside himself. The brightly-coloured Genin raced over, ahead of the other two and stopped in front of Kakashi's juvenile attacker. "Why'd you go and do that?" He loomed over the shorter girl, glaring at her. "That's our sensei you just hit!"
The child glared at Naruto, "I know it's your sensei, idiot. I hit him because I was told to."
Kakashi could safely say that nobody saw that one coming. He could only stare at the haughty little madam incredulously. Had the world started hiring very cheap and somewhat incompetent assassins?
"Who told you?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "I don't believe you! You're just being a brat." Eloquently put. Kakashi shook his head. Trust Naruto to take the offensive way out of an argument. Or at least into one.
"Naruto, that's not how you talk to someone younger than yourself," even if it might be true he added silently. "Please, young miss, can you explain precisely why you were told to hit me?" This had to be one of the weirdest conversations he'd ever had, and there had been some weird ones.
"I don't know." The child seemed perplexed, blue eyes widening innocently. "Kaasan just told me that if I ever saw a tall man with white hair, hardly any face and dogs I was to hit him… and something else. I was to call him something… I can't remember what though." She cupped her small chin in one hand. Kakashi felt all of the colour draining from his face. What on earth…?
Naruto snickered. "You upset some lady, Kaka-sensei? You really messed up if this is what I think it is."
Kakashi was too stunned to even note the time and date that Naruto caught onto something in less than ten minutes.
"Your kaasan?" Sakura crouched down on one knee to look up at the shorter child. "Where is your mother?" Her large green eyes were kindly, reassuring.
The girl looked down at her, uncertain. "She's over in our house over there," she gestured towards the east of the village, "the one with the wood planks in front of the door."
Sakura blinked. "Why are there wood planks?"
The child looked at her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So she can move, of course!" As she turned, Kakashi noticed for the first time that her hair draped down the length of her back, scraped out of sight into a ponytail and the top of her head covered by a blue headscarf to keep out the cold. Her hair was pure white, as pale as his own had been at her age. He choked. This couldn't be happening.
"Sensei!" He had started walking without even telling his feet to go. The three Genin were following him, complete with his miniature assailant and the pack of curious infants. He barely noticed them, mind swimming with half-formed possibilities and wild guesses. Ramshackle houses were a passing blur. He strode past them as swiftly as he could without breaking into a run. It might only be a false alarm. He couldn't forge false hope only to have it dashed down again. He couldn't dare to hope any more.
A little house rose into his view. Some flat wooden planks had been drawn across the entrance, laid flat on the muddy ground. A series of wheel ruts were gouged deeply into the filthy earthen track outside it. Kakashi stalked over to the house and hesitated. Should he go in, or knock? Indecision gripped him, chipping away at his resolve and forcing his brain to scream at him in frustration.
Throat tight, Kakashi rapped on the foundering wood of the door. A rustle of movement inside. He couldn't sense who or what it was. He knocked again, louder, breath beginning to rustle in his chest. Could it be?
"Just a moment…" A low grumble emitted from the recesses of the dark hut. Kakashi's head jerked up, eyes widening in apprehension.
"This thing's murder in all this mud." The voice was muffled, breathy. A rattling squeal assaulted Kakashi's ears and then a wheelchair was jerked awkwardly into view, mounting the wooden planks at the doorframe. A pair of curious eyes found his and widened, pupils flaring in shock.
Kakashi froze, eyes locked on the woman before him. She stared at him, face a contortion of different emotions. The white-haired kit ran to her side, staring up at Kakashi curiously. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke approached, hesitant but intrigued by the sight of their usually stoic, controlled sensei struck dumb. They hung back, not wanting to crowd the scene. Kakashi paid them no attention. His eyes were fixed on the occupant of the rusty wheelchair, breath ripped from his lungs and a lump welling in his throat.
"Well…." The voice was crackly, clumsy with emotion. Dark blue eyes became watery, then creased into a mocking grin. "It's taken you long enough, Kakashi-kun. I was beginning to think that you'd never figure it out." White-tipped black hair spilling over the wheelchair's occupant in lavish folds. Yumenimo Kurotaka beamed at the stunned silver Jounin before her, eyes awash with delight.
"Figure what out?" Kakashi could barely speak. How could she truly be alive? It was impossible, a miracle. "I saw you die… you… what happened?" His poor tormented mind was in disarray. He wanted nothing more than to fall onto his knees and hug her close to him, lest her image disappear as though it were nothing more than a figment of his imagination, as it had been for so many years.
Kurotaka cocked her head to one side, grinning up teasingly at him. "You think that I'd die that easily? I was in a bad way, I admit. Completely lost the ability to stand on my legs for one thing," she gestured irritably at the rickety wheelchair. "A couple of travelers picked me up and when I came to, I was here. I don't have any money or usable legs, so I've been stuck here, waiting either to heal or for you to find me at last."
Kakashi nodded slowly. "That wound wasn't fatal? I wasn't thinking… I thought you were dead…" Kurotaka shook her head, eyes closing empathically. "It hurt like hell Kakashi-kun, I won't lie. But I'm not dead. My legs hurt too much for me to be dead." Kakashi numbly took in the grimy bandages wrapped tightly about the former kunoichi's knees. There was no blood on them. The damage had already been done.
The white-haired child shifted, catching Kakashi's eye. He stared at her sharply. "Who…? You weren't…?" Kakashi gestured hopelessly at the startled girl standing beside Kurotaka. It was a vague question, but he had to be sure. Long white hair, pale skin, dark blue eyes. A personality that could cut through rocks and a slightly sleepy expression. He was pretty much certain already.
Kurotaka smiled; a true smile with no hint of mockery. "I was. That's why I wanted to take you out of the village. I didn't want to be overheard by-" for the first time, she seemed to notice Sasuke. Her eyes narrowed. "I thought that the entire Uchiha clan was wiped out?" Apparently she wasn't completely isolated from the happenings of the outside world.
Sasuke glared at her. "I am all that's left, apart from my… brother."
"That's not true." Sasuke blinked at her, startled. Astonishment splashed across his face, reddening slightly at her words. Kakashi almost burst out laughing. "Kurotaka's of Uchiha blood as well, Sasuke-kun," he explained gently. "But not of the legitimate kind."
"That's my father?" The girl interrupted before Sasuke could spontaneously combust at this news and Kurotaka could glare at Kakashi for ruining her opportunity to gloat over her ill-gotten bloodline. Kakashi stared at the child with a new light. Truly? It was unbelievable… or maybe it wasn't, and that was the hardest thing to grasp. He smiled tentatively behind the mask, eye arching into the slightest of creases.
"Hai, Mukudori-chan," Kurotaka grinned, navy blue eyes fixed on Kakashi. He felt his grip on sanity slip slightly. Mukudori. Grey starling. How appropriate. How could he not have felt her life mingled within Kurotaka's presence in those last few days together? Had he been so fraught over Masurao's death that he hadn't noticed the beginning of life? It was incredible. He had lost more than he even realised on that day. A new pang stabbed his chest. He had missed so much.
Kurotaka shook her head, stretching her arms out wide, smile benign. "It's taken you long enough Kakashi-kun, but that's ok. I want to go home now. We both do." She leveled her eyes on his own, dark pupils forbidding but gentle mocking, a spark of something he had not seen in a long time flaring within those eyes. It was what he had been looking for and had never found. It was something that he had thought lost for so long, and had now been returned to him in the most perfect, most wonderful way possible. Here in an ignominious little village, here out of the reach of warring nations' interests, she had been safe for so long. It was time to reclaim what was his.
A foolish smile broke over Kakashi's face, throwing restraint to the wind. In one movement, he tugged his mask away and descended upon Kurotaka, drawing her up into his embrace and out of the wheelchair. Arms enfolded her small, warm form, hoisting her aloft and clutching her tightly to his chest. Tears tickled his cheeks. He hadn't even noticed them fall. The soft scent of her, clean and slightly floral, engulfed his senses as he buried his face the crook of her neck. Her fingers knotted about his hair, soft lips on his ear, gentle and warm. Her heartbeat drummed alongside his own, her arms wrapping themselves about him. Both of them entwined again at last. It was over. It could all start again.
Naruto turned grouchily to Sakura, disappointment clear on his face. Sakura squinted at him, shaken at what had just unfolded. Their seemingly emotionless sensei had just revealed an entirely new side without the benefit of a full explanation for the perplexed onlookers. "What's wrong Naruto?"
"We still haven't seen his face, even after all that!"
END
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Wild-filly: My undying thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! Sayonara until next time – we're all done here! I cannot thank you all enough and I hope you've enjoyed the trip as much as I have. Thank you again! This has been my first step towards becoming an author, so I thank you all for helping me through his and helping me to develop my writing style.
By the way, if anyone wants to see a sequel to this, please feel free to post suggestions. I am perfectly amenable to write a sequel to this, but I need some more inspiration. Thanks!
