Akira's POV
"Sensei, where are we going?" I ask confused, seeing that I'm the only one with him.
"Well, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke are going to have D-rank missions while we are away." Sensei explained
"But, why am I with you...?" I said frowning.
"What? Don't you like my company?" He said sounding offended. I just cross my arms and continue walking.
"But like, we could do this mission with them, why does the Hokage just send the two of us?" I asked looking at him.
"There was a lot of D-rank missions recently so genin like the three of them needed to stay there to do the missions...Actually, Hokage-sama asked me to pick one of the members of the team to join me." He said making me frown.
"You could have picked Sakura, or Sasuke or maybe Naruto" I said gesturing my hands.
(How come I am the one who needed to be stuck with him...)
"Well you're the most 'kawaii' genin in my team, I thought I could bring you with me." He said making me lose a brain cell
"The connect?" I said tilting my head to the side.
"They said cute things like a puppy, cats can relieve stress since the mission we're going to do is quite stressful, you're just the right person" He said eye smiling at me.
"The hell..." I mutter, sighing. I look at the ground pouting.
(What's with him...) I thought my eyebrow knitting
Third Person's POV
Kakashi looks down at Akira with a smirk hidden under his mask. What he said was actually true, this mission can be quite stressful. Well, it wasn't the exact reason why he decided for Akira to bring with him. He thinks she is the most capable in their team for this mission.
Also, he needed Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto to improve their teamwork, he noticed lately that their team is always bickering with each other, and Akira was the only one who is exempted from all of it since they treated Akira differently. Kakashi observes Akira, how come they all act differently when it's Akira, he thought looking back at the book on his hand, when Akira just stares back at him realizing that he is staring at her.
"I think we should rest" Kakashi said noticing the sun is already going down. Akira looked up and also did the same, she hums in agreement, a glimmer of satisfaction glimmering in her eyes.
"We will just continue the travel tomorrow, we will get most of the rest today so tomorrow when we get there we can do the mission right away." Kakashi said making Akira nod. Kakashi wanted to ruffle her hair, he reach his hand but immediately stops seeing the look Akira gave him.
"Well, we should start camping" He said going to the spot he thinks is more safer and comfortable, Akira just following behind him, crossed arms. He heard a sigh of contentment, followed by a thud. He quickly turns to look at Akira.
Akira lies on the grass, each arm widely stretched to her side. She sighs finally feeling her body relax. Even though the ground is hard it was enough when you just had a half-day of nonstop walking. She sits up seeing her Sensei make a small fire. She quickly stands up and pats her clothes to remove the dirt.
"Well, to add some help I'm gonna find us what to eat." Akira said making Kakashi look up at her.
"That's actually a good idea, but just fix the tents, I'm the one who's going to find our food." Kakashi said making Akira's shoulder drop. He can't let Akira wander around in unfamiliar surroundings or go far away to their position right now, even though it's unlikely to have any enemies here, it's best to be always ready and careful.
"If that's what you want, Sensei" Akira said pulling out the tent from their bag and starting to fix it. Kakashi hums and walks toward Akira, he ruffles her hair not really caring about the look she gave him. He removes his hand from her head and walks past Akira to start finding their food. He can't help the smile forming on his lips. He should probably get a check-up.
-skip-
"You should probably sleep, don't you think?" Kakashi said looking over her who was sitting beside him on a branch of a tree reading. They already put out the fire, to avoid attracting attention to their spot. The moonlight is the only source of light.
Akira looked at him her eyebrows knit.
"Wait" She just said swinging her feet and looking back at the book she was reading. Kakashi just looks at her as the moonlight shines on her face, making her eyes glow. He looked away and tries to admire the night sky, but he can't help but took glimpses of the person beside him. He sighed and stand-up, pulling the book she was reading.
She quickly stands up trying to reach the book, not being able to do so, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" She said looking up at him. He sighed again as he looks at her.
"You see we didn't stop traveling just for us to sleep late as I told you we needed to rest so tomorrow we can wake up early and continue" He said giving her an eye smile. Akira frowns at him and put her one hand in her pocket. Akira sighed defeatedly, knowing that she will not get the book back if she didn't follow their Sensei.
"Hai, hai," She said waving her other hand.
"Just give it back to me" She continued as she waits for him to give the book back.
"Come on, I'm not going to read it. I promise I'll sleep" She said closing her eyes and raising her right hand.
Kakashi looked at her, he always can't help to stare at her. There's something he feels, he didn't know what it is, but one thing for sure it is weird. He didn't know if it was a bad thing or a good thing.
Akira's eyes fluttered open when she didn't get any reply. She looked at him, as he stares at her, looking lost in thoughts. She tilts her head, hand still raised. What's wrong with him?
"Sensei, are you okay?" She asked getting Kakashi snaps out of his thought
"Oh, sorry, here..." He quickly said kind of startled.
"...Thanks..." Akira said looking at him weirdly. She jumps down the tree as he follows behind her. They both crouch to go inside the tent since they actually just brought one with them. It was big enough for the two of them so they just both decided to bring one with them to avoid bringing too much luggage.
Akira plopped down on her sleeping bag, her body instantly relaxes as if it was melting. A sigh of contentment escaped from her mouth. Kakashi walks towards his sleeping bag and carefully lies down on it. He looks over at Akira who is messily sleeping, hand-stretched out on both sides. He chuckles and was about to stand up to at least cover her up when her eyes suddenly fluttered open as she quickly fixes her position and brings the blanket to cover her body. Akira looks at him, with a smile.
"Goodnight, Sensei" She said before turning her back towards him. Kakashi just stare at her back for a few seconds before replying.
"Goodnight, Akira" He said, a small smile creeping out on his lips. He clears his throat finding himself weird. He should probably sleep too, besides he already set traps when he was finding their food earlier. He takes a last look at Akira, before quickly pulling the blanket up covering him, and closing his eyes, as his body relaxes and becomes comfortable.
-skip-
Akira quickly sits up unfamiliar with her surrounding. Her brow twitches remembering where she is. Damn, why is this always happening to her? She looks beside her to see if their Sensei is already awake.
Kakashi is soundly and peacefully sleeping. His hitai-ate lay near him on the ground. She stares at him, her mind racing with ideas. Since they returned from the Land of Wave mission, Naruto has been talking about Kakashi's mask, but he hasn't been able to convince them to join him in his quest to discover what their Sensei is hiding behind his mask.
Akira snaps out of her thoughts when her Sensei move to a more comfortable position with a sigh. She squints her eyes, pondering whether she should wake up her Sensei, judging by the sunlight passing through the opening of their tent...or if she should do what Naruto has been suggesting all along.
She sighed, not knowing what to do. Even if she try that, her Sensei would just probably wake up as soon as she stepped closer to him. She's just going to wake him up, they also needed to get ready.
She removes the blanket covering her and stands up to walk towards their Sensei. She crouch a few inches away from her Sensei, she didn't want to startle him by touching him or by getting too close to him.
"Sensei..." She said looking at him her chin resting on her knees.
"Sensei" She said more loudly, her brow twitches as his Sensei just sigh.
"You know I'm going to throw this stone at you" She said grabbing the small stone on the ground. She stares at her Sensei with a poker face.
Kakashi does not move from his position. He waited for a few seconds to feel a stone strike his face, but all he got was silence because Akira didn't say anything or even make a sound. His eyelids flutter open as he senses a look pointed attentively at him. He tries not to smile as he sees Akira staring at him, as if he's stupid.
"psh," she murmured under her breath as she watched her Sensei open his eyes, his mask shifting slightly as if he was trying to keep from laughing.
"I knew it, you're awake all along..." She said flicking the stone slightly towards her Sensei's face.
Kakashi closed his eyes as the stone hit his forehead, he didn't bother to dodge it since there was just a little force put into it.
Kakashi sits up, a chuckle escaping his mouth. He looks at Akira with an eyesmile. "Well, you really look deep in your thoughts earlier, it's like you're making a really hard decision..." He teased her. Akira just looked at him with a poker face, as if she was thinking, how she would kill him in the future. He chuckles again as he ruffles Akira's hair that still kind of messy. Akira frowned at him, grabbing another small stone.
"Wait, Akira-sama, I'm going to stop," he teased again, prompting Akira to throw the stone at his face with greater force this time. He easily avoids it, his eyes following the stone. He turns to look back at Akira.
"Sorry, sor-" He stopped not seeing anyone where's Akira earlier.
He look around, her sleeping bag was the only thing there, her bag was nowhere to be found. Well, they should probably get going. He sighs as the strange sensation in his body fades away.
Outside their tent, Akira paced back and forth, waiting for her Sensei. She frowns as she stares at the ground. What's with him acting like they were so close with each other.
She smoothed her hair with her hand and sighed as she continue walking back and forth. She kinda misses the loud mouth always ranting about what he wants, she also misses the bickering of the three. A small smile formed on her lips. They just needed to finish this mission and they can go back to Konoha.
-skip-
"Are you the additional shinobi from Konoha?" The old lady said seeing the two ninjas, one with only right eye shown, and the one with purple eyes. She looked at the shinobi, her obsession with children showing up.
"Ahh, kawaii, what a beautiful child!" She said suddenly squishing the child in her arms.
Akira just stood there dumbfounded.
"A-ano..." She said trying to indicate that she can't breathe by tapping the old lady's arms.
"I-I can't breath..." She said as the old lady squished her more. The old lady looked at her, her excitement is still clear in her eyes but she pulled away
"Ohh, sorry, come on you can enter." The old lady said very excitedly.
"Ah, thank you..." Kakashi said scratching his head slightly.
"Judging by your headband you're from Konoha." A person with a surgical mask said.
"Hm, the Hokage-sama told us about your crisis here in the hospital" Kakashi said as he pulled Akira closer to him. There's something wrong in the surrounding, no, it wasn't the surrounding, it was how the people there look at them.
"I'm glad the Konoha responded immediately. My name's Haruka" The guy said.
"Please wear this before entering the main building" The guy continued giving them Personal protective equipment. They both nodded as the guy left, he seems like he was in a bad mood actually.
"I am sorry for his attitude, he is just like that to people he didn't know besides the last few months are kind of toxic" The old lady immediately said as Kakashi and Akira exchanged looks.
"No, it's okay we understand it..." Kakashi said respectfully.
"Oh, by the way, my name's Aiko" The old lady said smiling at them. She keeps glancing at Akira as if she can't contain her aggression toward the child.
"My name's Kakashi, and this is my student, Akira" Kakashi said, making the old lady smile more
"Well, you should probably start changing, just go there, there are changing rooms there. I'll just wait for you here." The lady said making them both nod again, a small smile on their lips.
*after a few minutes*
Kakashi and Akira both finish changing as they both leave the changing room at the same time. Since they're already wearing a mask, Kakashi didn't wear his usual mask but put a patch on his left eye, they both remove their hitai-ate not wanting to attract too much attention, it seems like people there are not used to shinobi or people that come from far away.
"Sensei you didn't tell me that we're going to the hospital. You could have just asked Sakura instead" Akira said her eyes looking bored.
"See you become discouraged so I didn't tell you. Besides the patients here aren't very friendly, just perfect for you." Kakashi said eye smiling. Akira looked at the ground thinking.
"Maybe, this will be fun after all..." Akira said boredly as they walked toward Aiko.
"Please, follow me" The lady said once they reach her, she is also wearing PPE.
Akira looked at Kakashi as he gave her a nod. They follow behind the old lady as they examine the surrounding.
The people become less and less. They just continue to walk as they enter another door. The place becomes isolated, all the people inside wearing a PPE. Unlike a few seconds ago there were a lot of people there whom entering each room, a clipboard in their hands.
"We're here...I assume the Hokage must have told you the situation." The old lady said as Kakashi and Akira nod. Akira deadpanned remembering when her Sensei told her about the mission, she thought they were actually going to prison or something and not a hospital.
"mhm... Hokage-sama told us about your crisis here. It seems like that you are really having a hard time" Kakashi said looking around. Loud thudding coming from each room, and the people looked stressed and tired.
"Right, people coming here becomes aggressive and seems like they lost their ability to think. Some of them even killed some of the employees here, and some of the employees too have been infected. It's like a virus, first, it was only one or three then after a week passed it multiplies. When we examine them they also have the same symptoms like all the other patients." The old lady said looking around with a sad smile.
Akira just looks at her feeling sympathy towards her and the employees there.
"But after we did some research we finally found the right cure for them. We just needed a more skilled person like a shinobi to help us transfer them to the next building." The lady continued.
"Why do you need to transfer them?" Akira ask confused.
"We can actually inject them with the antidote but that will take too much time and it will be hard for us to touch them. In the other building, it's like an open area that is only separated by mirrors in each room. There we will release the antidote through steam. We can't do that in each room here as we just created a few antidotes, it's better if they were compacted together in one place" The lady said making everything clear to them.
"So, why don't we start!" Akira said smiling widely at the old lady seeing her look disappointed and stressed. The old lady quickly smile as she looked down at the child.
"Ahh, you're really cute. Okay, we're going to start. I'm just going to inform the other employees. But please be careful and don't remove your PPE's" Aiko said pinching her cheeks slightly and walking away from them towards an employee to give the information.
"See I told you, you will be just perfect here" His Sensei suddenly said making her smile drop.
"Ma, what's with the sudden change of mood" Kakashi said putting his hand on her shoulder
Akira smirks and looks at his Sensei, her eyes twinkling.
"I'm really cute don't you think?" Akira said bragging, her eyes looking so innocent.
Kakashi looked down at her. Her expression is really different from what she always have, her eyes look so innocent as they twinkle in a playful way or in a childish way. Kakashi just looks, stunned by her sudden out-of-character behavior.
It's the first time she sees Akira with a playful manner when she is around him and not with the other three members of the team, she always has this emotionless expression on her face and always seems like she didn't want to talk to him at all. Like she's trying to set boundaries between them, trying not to get too close to him, or too attached. He just stares, as the weird feeling slowly coming back again. He looked away and clears his throat.
"mhm... I don't really know" He said instead still looking away. His voice sounds like he's trying to convince himself, as he tries to subside the weird feeling.
Akira looked at her Sensei confused.
"I should be the one asking you, what's with the sudden change of mood?" She asked arm crossed leaning forward to meet her Sensei's eyes.
Kakashi looks down and returns the playful tone in his voice.
"Ma, I just don't want it to get too much in your head" He said making Akira pout.
"Tch" Akira said looking at the side crossed arm, returning to her usual attitude, the distant one, the one Kakashi used to see. Kakashi heaves a sigh of relief as the weird feeling completely disappears just like how it always happens. He didn't know if he wanted the feeling or not to come back, it always feels good and bad at the same time.