Chapter 14: When One Door Closes
(Sunday September 21 Konoha's Hokage Office)
~Tsunade~
Tsunade spun her chair around and sat to face the visiting kunoichi. "Konoha's shorthanded on available ninjas, so we appreciate the aid from Suna." She motioned for her guest to sit in one of the two chairs opposite her desk. "I trust your journey went well."
"Yes, Ma'am," Temari answered, unshouldering her fan. "Our Kazekage is eager to build the political ties between the Sand and Leaf villages."
Another thing the village owed thanks to their number-one-knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto.
"As am I," Tsunade replied.
Their meeting was interrupted by two knocks on the office door. "Sorry to interrupt Lady Tsunade," Shizune spoke as she cautiously stepped into the office, "Shikamaru Naara is here."
"Send him in," Tsunade instructed.
Shizune shoved the yawning Nara into the office. Tsunade eyed the clock on the wall; he was fifteen minutes late and appeared as disinterested as always. She sighed heavily; the next generation's genius was as apathetic as the previous generation's.
"The upcoming Chunin exams will be held here in Konoha. As expected, there's a lot of distrust due to the events the last time we played host." Tsunade stood and looked out the bay windows to the village. "We must have comprehensive strategies in place and take the appropriate action to prevent any shortfalls." She turned around and tossed a file at Shikamaru. "You've been selected for your analytica—"
Tsunade straightened up, glaring at the intruder who'd burst through her office doors. "Now isn't a good time, Jiraiya."
The walls reverberated with the Toad Sage's hearty laugh, which made her left eyebrow twitch in annoyance.
"Sure, it is." Jiraiya placed a hand on the backs of Temari and Shikamaru's chairs. "Why doesn't… Why aren't you a chip off the old block?"
"Jiraiya," Tsunade cautioned, growing ever more impatient with his presence.
"Shikamaru," Jiraiya slapped the boy's shoulder, nearly winding him.
"Uh, yes, Sir?"
"Why don't you take this young lady for breakfast?" Jiraiya suggested.
The audacity of the man was exasperating. He'd barged into Tsunade's office, interrupting an important meeting, and was now speaking as if he were the Hokage and not her.
"Go, Shikamaru," Tsunade huffed. "Come back when you're finished."
"Yes, Ma'am," Temari said, uncrossing her legs and looping the strap of her fan over her head. "Let's go, idiot."
"Hmpf. Already bossing me around. Troublesome woman," Shikamaru moaned, holding the door wide enough for Temari to walk through unimpeded by her weapon strapped to her back.
~Jiraiya~
"Tell me about it, kid," Jiraiya scoffed, sitting on the window's ledge.
He was staring at the back of the most troublesome woman in the Five Nations.
"Why are you here?" Tsunade asked flatly, retrieving a bottle and two cups from her desk drawer.
"To see you, of course."
One day, Jiraiya hoped that would be the truth. However, he, too, had been interrupted this morning, which was a shame considering his efforts to position himself in the prime vantage point of one of the village's bathhouses.
He cleared his throat, "Don't be angry, but the poor pooch was exhausted. So, I offered my humble services to hand-deliver the note to you."
Tsunade snatched the folded note from his hand. "Great."
He'd read it already. Its contents were cause for concern on two levels. The loss of more innocent lives and a failed confrontation with the assailant weren't what his Sunflower needed. But there was little Jiraiya could do about her. For the time being, he had to put his faith in Kakashi.
Jiraiya accepted the cup from Tsunade. "Awfully dangerous to have someone like that out there, and with the Chūnin selection exams—"
"I know, Jiraiya. But it's not like I can do anything. We're already stretched thin. I can't afford to send an ANBU team out to chase ghosts," Tsunade lamented.
He smiled at how her hands flailed around the air in frustration. Setting down his untouched cup, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'll go check it out."
Tsunade's eyes stretched wide. "No."
"No?" Jiraiya chuckled.
"I mean," she clicked her tongue and averted her eyes, "it has to wait. It can wait."
"You've already got one dead family. What's next? A village?"
Jiraiya wasn't keen to be galivanting across the Land of Fire for a wayward pyromaniac. He'd much prefer to remain here in Konoha with Tsunade. While it may not look like it, he was loyal to Konoha. No matter how far his travels took him, he always kept a keen ear out for anything that may impact his home.
He tenderly tipped Tsunade's chin upwards and used his thumb to encourage her to release her bottom lip. "You always were so stubborn, Princess." If not for her damnable pride, Jiraiya was sure the kunoichi would have burst into tears. He couldn't help but erupt into a burst of rumbling laughter. "Don't tell me you're worried about me?"
"Tch." She pulled away from his hold and turned her back on him. "What about our bet?"
"What about it?" Jiraiya asked, downing his saké.
"You really think Hatake can pull it off?"
"Anything is possible." He paused with one hand on the door handle. "I never thought I'd live long enough to see the day you would be worried about me."
The Toad Sage managed to slip out, leaving the porcelain cup that Tsunade intended for his head to shatter against the closed door.
Troublesome woman.
(Amegakure Village Mid Morning)
~Kakashi~
Kakashi sidestepped to avoid a collision with an approaching merchant and their food cart. The dried meat hanging around the cart's roof looked exotic and smelt terrible. Once able, he rejoined Nina, walking hand-in-hand while they discreetly surveyed the village, quadrant by quadrant.
The weather was gloriously fresh and sunny, and with the upcoming festival, the streets were bustling. Artisans lined the street sides, and with the mission's slower pace, Nina had them occasionally stopping to appreciate some of the many works on display. One stall, in particular, caught her attention and nose.
Kakashi watched as Nina carefully lifted a single bloom from a bouquet of pink lilies housed in a makeshift wooden pigeon-holed cart. "Favourite flower?" he asked.
"By default, I suppose," she replied.
Her haphazard reply had him pulling back on the off chance he'd unintentionally dredged up an undisclosed part of the kunoichi's life. "Oh, um…"
"They're Hana's favourite." Nina's fingertips glossed over the flower's dainty petals ever so delicately. Her expression was soft and gleeful—a testament to her thick-as-thieves bond with Hanako. "She gave me them as thanks for healing her injuries. Not that she will ever be without her scars."
None of us will be.
Hanako liking pink lilies checked out, too. Since her return to Konoha, she'd proven to be a challenge to reign in for the men. Which wasn't necessarily a negative; she knew her worth and made no apologies.
As did pink lilies.
Kakashi seldom saw the hard-to-come-by bloom at the Yamanaka's flower shop and, over the years, had become accustomed to settling with white ones instead. However, he would splurge and replace the white with the pink lilies whenever he did manage to spy them, regardless of whether he'd taken Rin fresh flowers the day before.
Although that was all well and good, Kakashinow had an opening to dig a little. "And yours?" he asked.
"My—?" They both stepped back from each other, allowing two short, elderly ladies to access the floral arrangements. "My what?" Nina responded.
"What your—Hm?" Kakashi peered down at the scruffy head of a small child he'd caught trying to pick-pocket him.
"Oi, you! Get out of here!" yelled a merchant.
The child ran off instantly.
Although unbothered by being made a few Ryo lighter, Kakashi quickly stuffed his hand into the depths of his other pants pocket, searching for the familiar feel of paper edges.
~Nina~
Ignoring the sniggers and snipes about the would-be thief, Nina watched as the child—a boy—raced away, ducking and weaving between the crowd. Without thinking, she followed, eventually spotting the boy with unkempt brunette hair and piercing blue eyes hiding in the shadows of a narrow alleyway across the street.
His face was dirt-smeared, and he had tear-stained cheeks. His frail figure was only exaggerated by the raggedy shirt draped over his body and his patchwork pants. At a guess, Nina estimated him to be no more than six or seven years old.
How can the Kage afford to pay so much for a simple recon mission, yet this village is so impoverished?
~Kakashi~
Kakashi sighed in relief that his gift from Jiraiya hadn't been filched. He turned his attention to Nina, who had wandered off ahead.
"You noticed, didn't you?" she asked, not bothering to turn and face Kakashi, who was now standing beside her. Her eyes were on the alleyway across from where they stood.
Notice?
Of course, he did.
Kakashi had seen how the villagers turned their noses to a child in need and the boy's brave-faced guise against the vicious tirade of judgements. It wasn't unusual and shouldn't have been for Nina, either. Sadly, this was the life of so many children. No one escaped the far-reaching effects of war. Especially the innocent.
Yet, the kunoichi's expression was a dangerous one.
They had a lot of ground to cover before lunch, with the last of this street and two more quadrants still to canvass. Kakashi turned side-on and held his hand out. "I heard someone mention something about a bookshop up around here."
Unlike his unruly student would have in a similar situation, after a few seconds, Nina recognised she wasn't going to get an answer and slipped her hand into his. "Did you just?"
(Amegakure Village Café Mid Afternoon)
~Kakashi~
Having finished his lunch already, Kakashi pulled his mask up. Nina's miso soup with eggplant remained untouched on the café's table beside his empty bowl. "You need to eat," Kakashi said, opening his book to read.
"Just like the majority of this village needs to," Nina mumbled while resting her chin in her palm.
It was a fair observation. Away from all the flurry in the central districts, the back-end streets were a gloomy affair. Housing was crudely put together shanties, the roads were spotted with mud pits filled with stagnant water, and no one looked like they had sat down to a proper meal in weeks. But again, it wasn't anything that either of them hadn't seen before, and they would undoubtedly continue to see.
Kakashi lazed back against the chair and pulled out his book. "You still need to eat, Sarutobi."
The kunoichi more or less growled at him and pushed her uneaten lunch to the other side of the table. Kakashi paused from reading, watching as Nina untied the twine bow on a small brown paper bag. There had been a bookshop in this village, after all. The range wasn't anything like what they were used to, and Jiraiya's books were nowhere to be seen. There was a single double-sided shelf that ran approximately two or so meters. Jammed into the sagging shelves were an array of dust-covered books. Nina roved the collection on one side while Kakashi scanned the other.
"I can't believe it's still in print," Nina said, sliding the paperback out of the bag.
It was unlikely that it was a recent print. More than likely, it'd sat on the shelves for the last almost two decades. Kakashi hadn't seen a copy of this particular book since… back then.
~Flashback~
(Konoha's Training Ground Three~Post sparring session between Nina & Genma)
~Kakashi 12 years old, Nina 10 years old~
A projectile—a star shuriken—whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Kakashi's right ear and thunked into the tree trunk behind him. The swishing sound of metal cutting through the leaves alerted him to the wayward incoming weapon, just in time for him to dodge it. Kakashi looked around, meeting the disgruntled stare of a girl. He knew her—Nina Sarutobi. Asuma's younger sister and the Professor's daughter. From memory, she was two years younger than himself. He wondered how long she had been out here.
"You're terrible at this," Kakashi remarked, dislodging the shuriken and tossing it down to the base of the tree he was perched in.
Irritated by his unsolicited comment, Nina squawked, "Why don't you come down here and show me how it's done then?"
"Not a chance," he bluntly rejected.
"Is it any good?" Nina asked, padding over to the tree to search for her missing weapon.
Kakashi flicked his eye down at her. "Hmm?"
"The book,"—she pointed to it with one hand, the other on her cocked left hip—"is it any good?"
Kakashi twisted his wrist to look at the book's cover: 'How a shinobi should die.' He'd picked it up a few days ago—his subconscious had made the decision for him. Guy had frowned on his choice in literature. As had some of the others, no doubt.
Not that he cared.
Shuffling back against the tree trunk, Kakashi pillowed his head with one arm and resumed reading. Nina hadn't moved; her eyes focused on him, awaiting a response.
The girl's question seemed more than just a shallow attempt at conversation. "It's alright… I suppose."
Kakashi kept reading, glancing away from his book to watch as Nina combed through the overgrown grass shoots. Grumbling to herself, she stood up, brushing her hands off the dirt and grass. Their eyes locked for a second before she turned around with arms folded across her chest.
"Where's your team?" Kakashi asked.
Nina's feet scuffed to a stop. "Teammates are overrated."
Kakashi's interest was piqued a little more by the kunoichi's matter-of-fact reply. If he'd said such a thing in front of his Sensei, Minato, he'd have surely earned himself a knuckled punishment to the head. He laid his book on top of his straightened-out legs—his index finger pinched between the covers keeping his place.
Nina faced up to the line of three cylindrical wooden targets, pulling out three shurikens from the pouch on her right hip. "They're loud," she began, throwing the first three. "Annoying,"—she threw a second lot—"and…." Nina trailed off. "They mess with your stuff," she finished saying as the third set of shuriken left her fingertips.
Unlike the first two rounds, the third lot didn't embed perfectly centred into the third target. In fact, two of the three stars missed the mark entirely.
Kakashi had expected more from the Professor's daughter.
From the corner of his right eye, he saw Nina's right foot coming up and back down in a fit of impulsive anger. The expended force created a sizeable crater and almost caused Kakashi to drop his book due to the vibrations. Correcting his posture again, he looked down at her to try and piece together what had just happened.
His thoughts fell silent as he grappled with believing what he saw. Nina was seated on her backside in the middle of the crater, unbalanced by her childlike tantrum.
He no longer wondered how the young kunoichi had come to be in the state she was in—dirty, bruised, dried blood down one side of her face. Nonetheless, something compelled him to put away his book and leap out of the tree.
Stepping lightly over the broken ground, he approached Nina as she retrieved her shuriken from the targets. Holding the shuriken she'd lost earlier in his upturned palm, he let slip yet another question he'd meant to keep to himself, "Are you going to give up?"
Nina's outstretched fingers flinched, pulling back empty-handed to her sides into clenched fists. The leather of her gloves squeaked with each tensed flex, filling the beats of silence between them. Kakashi studied her side-on expression. Astonishingly, all of the heat had dissipated in a few seconds, leaving her face inscrutable to him. Her lips—dry and cracked—were sealed, holding in whatever she wasn't saying. Her deep-brown eyes snapped from fixedly riveting on the third target to him.
Emotions had no place in the life of shinobi. However, at that moment, Kakashi knew it'd be improbable he'd forget how he felt right then. The onslaught of multiple emotions was too much for him to pick an appropriate strategy. Nina was an anomaly who was giving nothing away.
"No, but I'm done for today," she replied, calmly taking back the shuriken from him.
Unexpectedly Nina grabbed hold of the crossed bracing on Kakashi's chest. Disliking the invasion of his personal space, he awkwardly bowed back away from her, forcing her to tug him upright rather unapologetically.
"What are you—?"
"Take off your hitai-ate," Nina sternly cut in. Releasing him, she knelt on the ground and fossicked around in the pouch strapped to the back of her right hip. Laying out the few medical bits and pieces, Kakashi tried to retreat, but she quickly stood up. "I know you want to be alone."
Standing askew, the girl's words halted Kakashi. For the first time in a month, someone had acknowledged his wants. Instinctively, Kakashi's left hand lifted to his—not his, but—eye.
It'd barely been a month since the Kannabi Bridge incident, and many were still unaware that he'd both lost and gained something from that failed mission. The sharingan eye was an ocular Kekkei Genkai belonging to the Uchiha Clan. Kakashi was not of Uchiha blood, and he was still adjusting to the transplanted eye from the late Obito and its hefty toll on his chakra. Covering it with his hitai-ate saved his chakra reserves and the questions. However, today, the band-aid solution wasn't enough. The typical noise of the village had thrown him into a sensory overload and exacerbated the relentless thrumming from his left eye socket.
Rin had mentioned Nina a few times when telling Kakashi about the happenings in her medic classes while waiting for Obito to arrive finally. Trained under the firm guidance of her mother—Biwako Sarutobi—Nina was apparently quite a reasonably skilled medical ninja.
Others had poked and prodded him—none of which made any significant difference. Annoyingly, some medical staff had used it to try and unmask him. A part of Kakashi contemplated if that was Nina's motive too?
Still, he sat, and she thanked him for doing so. "I won't take long," she softly said, reaching up to remove his hitai-ate. On her knees, she raised her hands to his left eye socket—one at the brow and one at his left temple—filtering a steady stream of chakra into the area. "Then, you can go back to rea—" Nina stopped.
Curiosity got the best of Kakashi, and he squinted his right eye to peep at the kunoichi. She appeared to have her total concentration on his left eye. To avoid the green glow of her chakra, he shut his eye.
As though Nina sensed his sneaky check, words flowed smoothly from her mouth, unaffecting her healing. "When I'm done, then you can go back to brooding."
Kakashi cracked his right eye open again to glare at her. Her eyes made a quick dart in his direction, filled with daredevilry. Caught in a position where he was at her mercy, all he could do was scoff.
Little by little, the pain that hadn't shifted since first attaining the new left eye was lessened by Nina. Regardless, after that comment, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing he thought she was the most capable medic to work on it thus far.
~End of Flashback~
Thinking about it now, that was probably the first time Kakashi met Nina, and he'd never finished that book. It ended up in one of Konoha's bins. Maybe she'd let him borrow it.
~Nina~
"Just so you know, I'm not one of those kinds of girls," Nina warned, slipping the book back into the bag.
She'd read about it sometimes and also seen and heard it plenty of times, but it wasn't for her. It wasn't who she was, and Nina certainly didn't want Kakashi to think she was.
"Would you like me to return it?" he asked.
Nina stilled when Kakashi laid his hand over hers that was holding the bag.
"If you'd prefer to pay me back, it was one hundred and fi—"
"No. It's not that," Nina snapped.
She appreciated the book, but that's not what had caused the twists of strange giddiness in her stomach. Nina couldn't be sure of the reason either, and at this point, she almost wished she'd opted for the simpler and more standard response.
Fucking idiot, Nina. Why would Kakashi care what sort of girl I am?
She brought the bag to her chest and slowly took a breath before looking up at Kakashi with a small smile. "Thank you. I look forward to reading it next."
"You're welcome, Sarutobi," he replied, gently tapping her hand twice.
~Kakashi~
Behind Kakashi's usual crinkle-eyed smile, he swiftly made three mental notes about the cagey kunoichi. Nina wasn't materialistic, which he'd kind of assumed as much when he gifted her the spa voucher. Like himself, she preferred to read one book at a time. Finally, lilies were a default favoured bloom, but her actual favourite flower was unknown.
There was a saying, 'when one door closes, another opens,'. With Nina, it was more like- 'when one door closes, another two close,'. She was an endless labyrinth of doors with uncrackable locks.
He hailed down the passing waitress requesting their lunch leftovers to be transferred to a takeaway container.
~Nina~
"Pakkun eats miso soup with eggplant?" Nina queried.
Kakashi stepped behind her, tucking their chairs back in under the table. "If not him, then Bull will."
Nina held his hand firmly between hers, preventing them from moving anywhere. "As it's my lunch, can I choose who I feed it to, please?" she asked.
"I suppose so because you asked so nicely," he replied.
Content with being able to see Bull, Nina wasn't listening to the rest of what Kakashi was saying. She'd worked with all of his ninken, but she'd always had a special place for the biggest canine of his pack.
Collecting the takeaway container from the waitress, Kakashi again held out his hand for Nina. "Shall we?"
Despite the cover of his mask, it struck Nina how disarming Kakashi was when he smiled. The quirk of his lips pulled the fabric so it was at odds with itself—a telltale of his fleeting show of emotion other than a nonchalant deadpan.
Nina nodded, taking Kakashi's hand as he led them out of the café.
~End of Chapter~
