After leaving the Hokage mansion from reporting to Lady Tsunade, Kakashi found himself standing next to the memorial stone that had his friends' names engraved upon it. This time when remembering the past his thoughts skewed with Kira's words. "It seems you were right Lord Third." Kakashi speaks quietly closing his eyes. "She knew far more than we ever thought possible, since the very beginning." Even speaking this the weight on Kakashi's shoulders grew. Threatening to overbear his strength. Reaching into the left front pocket of his vest he pulls out a silver chain necklace. Curling his fingerless gloved hand around the moon pendant now in his grasp. -"Kakashi." The third Hokage speaks to him after having called him back to his office later that day. The day, Kakashi had seemingly found two young kids lost in the woods. "What do you think of those two?" This question had made Kakashi sigh and shake his head recalling the encounter and everything that happened afterward. "They aren't normal kids." That is all he could say as he looks back to the Hokage, raising his right hand to the back of his head and ruffling his hair with another sigh. "I agree." The third said taking the uncomfortable weight off of Kakashi's shoulders. "It is clear they are hiding something, especially Kira. They tried to act like clueless children even though their eyes gave everything away." The third continued as he walks from behind his desk to one of the windows in his office. "It was like they were trying to play a role they thought we wanted to see." Kakashi breathes in realization making The Third grunt in agreement. "I do not believe they pose a threat to this village and their trust may not come easily. But I believe they will eventually tell us everything in time."-
He was right. Kakashi thought quietly to himself. It took nine years but Kira finally opened up and revealed everything she had been hiding. Information that once had made everyone believe she was gifted in her deductions and perceptive to her surroundings is now known to be because she had already known what was going to happen. Information if known in the beginning could have been used to prevent the attack on the village or keep Sasuke from falling into Orochimaru's grasp. To prevent the Third Hokage's death. "It seems, she finally told you." A female voice comes up behind him. Her long bright blond hair swaying in the breeze. "She did." He answers quietly unaffected by her sudden presence. "She knew everything about the other world too." She spoke up after a moment. "Yeah.." He answers with a heaviness on his shoulders as she walks up next to him. "Kira has always been like that. Withholding the information she carries from others while she holds onto the burden herself."
"Why would she?" Kakashi asks opening his visible eye and finally looking at Aphrodite. Her bright blue eyes reflecting the moonlight in a way Kira's never could. Holding more emotion inside them he often thought it was impossible for one person to feel. "She doesn't want to hurt anyone else. The information she carries could eat someone alive, and cause them to question life itself. She may be emotionless more often than not but that's not really true. She wants to protect those she cares about. Enough so that she would sacrifice herself doing it. She probably thinks she's being selfish knowing her." Aphrodite gives a light chuckle and a small shake of her head. "But everything she does is for a reason." She breathes after a moment causing Kakashi to look back to the memorial stone. -"Aphrodite, as you have probably already heard. Kira has returned." Lady Tsunade tells Aphrodite as Kakashi watches the Anbu's reactions from where he was leaning against the wall. True to Aphrodite she reaches up and removes her mask. Her blue eyes shimmering with her own emotions as she smiles happily. "I knew she'd come back!" Her voice matched her eyes as Tsunade sighs and leans back in her chair. "You know Kira better than anyone Aphrodite. Can we trust what she is saying is true?" With Tsunade's question, Aphrodite's smile fades.
"M'lady. What Kira says and what she is planning are always different." With Aphrodite's words, Tsunade's eyes narrow upon her. Unflinchingly Aphrodite remained calm and continued her thoughts. "My cousin has a good heart. She can make herself sound menacing or like she is going to kill you but in reality, her words are calculated to get you to do what she wants. Like she is playing chess or shogi and everyone around her is the pawns. If she wants you to trust her she will say anything you want to hear. If she wants you to hate her and do the exact opposite of her words she will speak accordingly. In the end, her intentions will always be unclear to those around her but they will always be for the best."
"So you are saying that her running away from the Akatsuki, is a lie." Kakashi spoke up causing Aphrodite to look in his direction. Scrunching up her face a moment as she thinks about his words. "I'm not sure. Kira twists everything so the outcome will go her way. If the time calls for the truth she will speak it. Our time in this world has changed her to the point she will openly lie just to get what she wants when before she would phrase the truth in a specific way for the individual she is speaking to."
"So we can't hold what she says at face value." Tsunade sighs heavily. "Which leaves us with no way to know if we can trust her." Kakashi speaks lowly and Tsunade nods to his words, turning her chair so she was looking out of the windows in thought. "Is she on our side or the Akatsuki's?" It was then Aphrodite takes a couple of steps forward towards the Hokage's desk. "There is one way to know if her heart is as it was, M'lady." She began catching both of their attentions. "Let me fight her. No rules or restrictions. If she overpowers me she will have to make a choice." Aphrodite bites her bottom lip nervously almost as if she was thinking of this idea as she was talking. "Basically, if we've truly lost her, she will kill me since she already hated me before she disappeared." Tsunade's eyes widen. "But if that's the case then you will die Aphrodite." Tsunade breathes out. The young Anbu in the room just seems to smile. "I believe her heart hasn't changed. She will let me live. This test will put her in a situation she can't manipulate, she will be forced to her basic instincts. It's the only way to know the truth."-
"You were right about her." Kakashi speaks quietly as Aphrodite simply nods. "She was still an Akatsuki this entire time, but when it came down to obeying the organization or saving Sai's life. Again she chose life." He informs her making Aphrodite smile lightly. "I'm guessing you accepting her actions is what caused her to finally tell you the truth." She speaks as she reaches up and tucks her hair behind her ear. "She says she wants to change the future and to prepare us for Damen."
"I see, so that's why. She's passing the baton to you." With Aphrodite's comment, a bead of sweat accumulates at Kakashi's brow. Sometimes he couldn't tell that Aphrodite was from another dimension. Then she randomly says comments like that, which he doesn't understand. "Basically she's set up plans to help with her agenda, now she's expecting you to make moves to prevent everything she told you. She did it with Light as well." At the mention of the man's name Kakashi's head whips in Aphrodite's direction, the pendant in his grip making itself more known to him. Light, her first love. The very man who gave her the necklace now in his grasp. "After a certain point, she trusted him to move his own pawns. To unravel his own plans. All the while she moved in the background. Her own plans complimenting his."
"I see, Aphrodite." He says watching her as he speaks her name, drawing her gaze up to him. A question that has been weighing on his mind a lot more than it should. "What kind of man was he?" This made Aphrodite's eyes widen before she looks away from him. She's known for years how curious Kakashi was about her cousin but with the way, he had finally asked the question she was beginning to wonder if he would ever break down and ask it. She could tell, there was more to it than simple curiosity. Reaching up she curls her fingers into a light fist at her chest. Used to she would refuse to answer such a thing. It wasn't her question to answer. "He was a murderer." She said quietly causing Kakashi's eye to widen and his breath to catch. "He was beyond smart. His deduction skills rivaled Kira's. Even without her help, he could remain a step ahead of the task force that had been put together with the sole purpose to capture him. He was a normal kid planning to join the police force after his schooling was done when he came across a power to kill and he decided to use it to eradicate all crime from his world. The world he dreamed to create had no need for prisons because if you broke the law he killed you. Just as if you pursued him. Meant to capture him and hold him accountable for his crimes. It didn't matter if you were just doing your job, he'd kill you without thinking twice. To him trying to capture him was just as unthinkable as committing a crime. Between the two of them, they killed thousands if not millions of people just to create his ideal world. With him as the god of the new world."
Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man that Kira still to this day loves and even blames herself for making him love her. A man that even in her story she never let on to be the man Aphrodite now spoke of. A killer who in all tense and purposes wanted to rule the world... and she helped him? "Don't get the wrong idea Kakashi." Aphrodite suddenly speaks bringing him out of his thoughts and back to the present. Revealing she was now watching him again. "Kira helped for her own reasons. Reasons I myself didn't understand until one night after we had arrived in this world she explained them to me. She was in love. That was her main reason. Another she wanted to protect him because she knew his story would end with his death if she didn't. She also wanted to save him from himself. To keep him from lapsing completely into his insanity. She wanted to see a world free of crime." She then looks away from him. "I think she's trying to avoid the deaths of good people while also letting happen what needs to in order for everyone to reach their potentials." Hn. Aphrodite chuckles to her own thoughts before turning away from him. "Actually, she's changed. I had thought she'd just kill the criminals or anyone against her like she did in the other world. Instead. She's trying to save everyone she possibly can." With those words still lingering in his mind, Aphrodite vanishes leaving him alone to think. Almost as if she could tell he was doubting Kira's own words or reasons.
-"Kakashi, don't fall under my spell. I don't want you to be just another victim, I want to trust you."- Kira's words from the night before rings in his ears. Before speaking with Aphrodite he had thought there was a possibility that she was falling in love with him and desperately wanted to make sure his feelings would be his own. Yet now as he stands there thinking about it. He could tell there was more to it than that. -"She's trying to save everyone she possibly can."- It seems Aphrodite still knows Kira better than even he does. As to what he's supposed to do with the information Kira gave him. He's not absolutely sure. There is one thing he can do about it though. If not the only thing. Reaching up he opens the left chest pocket of his vest and slips the necklace back out of sight before transporting himself to the Hokage Mansion. This time, to tell her everything Kira had told him about what has happened and what she says is to come. Including the fact that Kira had used the Hokage to go after Danzo. She hadn't gone into much detail about the man last night but Kakashi could tell from the look in her eyes. She truly believed Danzo's death, was a necessary one. -"You were going to be named the acting sixth Hokage until Danzo stepped in and took it away from you. He will push for war."- Stopping at a door Kakashi raises his hand and knocks his knuckles against it. "Come in." Tsunade's voice meets his ears filled with exhaustion. Opening the door he walks inside. "Lady Hokage, we need to talk."
Aphrodite had decided to do something she has refrained from doing for six months. She slips into Kira's apartment through the window only to be met by the darkened interior. No lights to be seen. She moved through the entire place and even checked Kira's bedroom in case she was asleep. Only, she found nothing. As she went to leave the apartment thinking that maybe Kira had found somewhere else to be tonight something caught her attention on the table. It was out of place since it wasn't from this world. Walking over to the table she gently picks up the plastic-cased device and flicked on the screen. Finding something she hasn't seen in 9 years. English writing.
Aphrodite,
If this is found it will probably be brought to you since you are the only other person that knows about this device.
By now you know, I told Kakashi the gist of everything. I want him to stop the war that is coming. Knowing him, he went to the Hokage with this information. I need you. Go to the outpost town on the border of the land of fire. If you are confused, ask Tsunade which town she confronted Orochimaru in just before Jiraiya and Naruto found her. Find Sasuke's parents who are in hiding and take them to the ancient Uchiha hideout. Fugaku should know which one I am talking about. It's time to put an end to the Uchiha drama. Without bloodshed, I hope.
Do this Aphrodite, and I will forgive you.
Kira
