Volverte a Ver

Lo unico que quiero es poder regresar
Poder todas las balas equivar y sobrevivir
Tu amore s mi esperanza y tu mi municion
Por eso regresar a tie s mi unica mission

The only thing I want is to be able to return
To be able to dodge all the bullets and survive
Your love is my hope and you, my ammunition
That's why returning to you is my only mission

Juanes

She was alone when she awoke, but the smell of cooking breakfast told Kasumi that others weren't far away. It was hard to drag herself out of the warmth of her sleeping bag into the chilly damp of the morning, but by the time she sat across the fire from Kakashi with a big mug of steaming tea in her hands as she waited for the grey skies of the Rain Country to lighten to their daytime drab, she had resigned herself to it. Still, it wasn't so bad: the rain had stopped sometime during the night, and the cheerful fire kept the morning chill away from her toes.

Sasuke was the first to emerge from the tent where the genin had slept the night before, his attempts at affronted dignity marred by the way the hair on one side was flattened where he had slept on it. "How could you leave me there like that?" he asked Kasumi peevishly. Funny how he blames me and not Kakashi, she thought with some amusement. Obviously he's realized that Kakashi wouldn't care about something like that.

Kasumi offered him a smile and a mug of tea. "You were tired, Baby Uchiha. Besides, you looked so cute." She pinched his cheek, knowing she shouldn't be baiting him like this but enjoying herself too much to really care.

"Anyone would think I liked them, if they saw that," he grumbled, settling himself on the log next to her. Kakashi passed him a few pieces of bread and cheese with a muttered 'toast'. The genin gave his instructor a look, and speared each piece on a kunai. It was funny to watch him, his brow furrowed in concentration, as he breathed just the right amount of fire onto each piece.

"Does he make you do that a lot?" she asked Sasuke, a teasing note in her voice for Kakashi's benefit.

"All the time," the boy grumbled. Kasumi fought to suppress a giggle. Itachi-kun and Sasuke looked a lot alike, and at times were very alike in other ways too, but she could never imagine Itachi-kun using a jutsu to do something as mediocre as cooking.

Sakura was the next to join them, as Kasumi was enjoying some surprisingly tasty Uchiha-brand cheese toast. If revenge doesn't work out for him, he could always take up cooking, she thought wryly.

Luckily, the younger kunoichi had refrained from waking her third teammate up by screaming or punching him, but from the look of her face it had been a near thing. "How dare he?" she hissed. "How dare he come near me when I'm sleeping? I'll kill him!" Her voice was steadily rising in volume.

She doesn't realize Sasuke slept with them too, Kasumi realized. I bet she wouldn't be half so upset if she knew that. But the boy's hard black gaze stopped the thought of mentioning that little detail even as it entered Kasumi's head.

"Sakura, I swear, if it was anyone else, you wouldn't care half as much," she said instead. "And before you say anything more, I'd like to point out that you fell asleep on him. You aren't completely blameless."

You're starting to sound like an old mother hen.

An old mother hen would be screaming at her for sleeping in the same tent as the boys.

You know what I mean.

Sakura huffed, but didn't continue her tirade. "Besides," Kasumi continued more gently, "I doubt Naruto even realizes what happened. If you don't mention it, it will be as though nothing happened. The boys won't say anything, will you?" She knew Kakashi wouldn't say anything anyway, but gave Sasuke a very pointed look to make sure he'd understood her. He gave a shrug as though he couldn't care less, but Kasumi knew he'd caught the implications of what she'd said: if he opened his mouth, people would find out where he'd spent the night. They're so cute.

"Tea, Sakura?" Kakashi offered.

By the time Naruto had stumbled out of the tent, complaining that they hadn't thought to wake him, and they had all had their fill of breakfast, it was full light out. "We're going to split into groups to search for all the plants that Hokage-sama wanted us to collect. Naruto, you go with Kasumi." The boy's obvious excitement to be teamed with her was at once sweet and annoying. "You have the list, Kasumi?" She nodded. A part of her didn't want to leave Kakashi behind today; she was irrationally afraid that, if she let him out of her sight, she would never see him again.

But as ever, there was work to do. "Come on, Naruto-kun, get your coat."

They spent the morning searching through the foliage for the plants the hospital needed. It took a long time, and it wasn't particularly exciting work. Many of the plants they were looking for were small, and grew in patches of larger vegetation, so that each clump of leaves had to be carefully pulled apart and the plants inside examined.

It was early afternoon when Kasumi noticed another presence nearby. She kept silent, expecting Naruto to notice, but the stranger was standing in full view before he did. Well, at least he's strong, she thought. Naruto would never be one for stealth. With an inward sigh she rose from her task and offered the man a polite bow.

"Visitors," he said gruffly. "Come far, have you?"

What an strange person. And in her travels, Kasumi had met a lot of very odd people.

Naruto seemed about to jump into one of his long-winded, egotistical answers, but Kasumi cut him off. "A very long way, sir. From the Wave Country." Naruto looked about to correct her, but she sent him a look that made him suddenly very interested in the plants he was gathering.

"Ah, then you must have lots of news. Please, come eat lunch with me. I do not often have visitors from so far."

The man didn't seem overly threatening, but Kasumi wasn't ready to completely trust him. "That would be very nice," was all she said.

She kept a constant eye on Naruto on the way to the man's house, making sure he wouldn't say anything. She had no reason to think the man was dangerous, but there was a lot of resentment towards the shinobi of Konoha in the Rain Country currently, and years on the road had instilled a natural caution in her.

She kept up a stream of small talk about the weather in the rainforest with the man until they were seated around the table. "The Wave Country," he said at last. "You must have come through the Fire Country, then."

If she denied it, the man would know for certain that she was lying. The only way not to would have been to take a detour through the Thunder Country, and there was no good excuse for that. "Briefly," she admitted. Well, I did, she thought, giving herself the lie.

"The ninja there are having trouble, I hear. And about time, say I!"

Naruto made a sound that was eerily like a growl, and looked ready to jump at the man. Kasumi snapped a hand over his mouth. "Forgive my little brother, sir," she said, offering him her most winning smile. "He hates all shinobi."

"Eh, smart boy. Nothing but trouble, that lazy pack of lay-abouts. Sitting on their fat behinds, getting rich off our hard work…" He peered at her suspiciously. "You never said what it was that you did."

She offered another smile, determined that the man know his attitude wasn't intimidating her in the least. "Our mother owns an apothecary," she explained. "Herbs, medicines, spices… normally, one of my uncles or cousins would have come, but they couldn't be spared this year. The fish, you see." She had no idea what could happen to fish that would require the entire group of fictitious family members to stay home, and she hoped he wouldn't ask. "So Mother sent me and my little brother." As though anyone would really believe we're related.

She eased her hand off Naruto's mouth, hoping he would be willing to just go along with her story. "Ninjas are…" he began. Apparently not. She clamped her hand back over his mouth.

"Sorry about him, sir. He wanted to be a shinobi when he was younger… I don't think he's ever given up that dream." She gave Naruto a glare that she hoped the man would interpret as distaste for his dream and not a warning to keep quiet. "But they turned him down, just because we're poor folk and our parents aren't ninjas. It's not fair though, is it? Grandmother thinks that one of our ancestors was a ninja, and we could be just as good as anyone, only they wouldn't listen." Though it wasn't her own story, it was one that Kasumi had heard often enough over the years. People seemed to think that the shinobi had an easy life, and worked to keep them out of the hidden villages so that they wouldn't have to share their ill-gotten gains. It was utter ridiculousness, as anyone who had spent even a little time in a ninja village could attest, but the myth still persisted.

"No, they never do. They never do." He shook his head sadly. "But maybe they'll all wipe each other out, eh?" His grin verged on the psychotic. "I heard tell there was a big disaster down in the Fire Country a few months back, plenty of shinobi killed. Sounds like war's a-brewing." He munched contentedly on a piece of pork. "Some day we may even be free of the whole stinking lot of them."

"I hope it isn't a war," Kasumi told him quietly. His glare dared her to say she didn't think the ninjas deserved to die. "They'll fight without any regard to the people around them. Innocents will be killed, fields burned…" she shrugged helplessly, and the man nodded his understanding. I wish there were fewer people like him, Kasumi thought sadly. "I hope it will stay calm until we get home. I couldn't imagine crossing the Fire Country when there are ninjas about. At least we don't have any at home."

"No ninjas, eh? Lucky devils."

All in all, after lunch was finished Kasumi was very glad to take her leave of the man. "What the hell?" Naruto demanded. At least we're out of earshot. "We should have beat him up, talking about ninjas like that!"

Kasumi stopped and looked at her young companion. He was trembling with rage, tears brimming in his wide blue eyes. Oh Naruto-kun, if only you knew the hatred and cruelty man can stoop to. I hope you never learn! On impulse, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "That would only have proved him right, Naruto-kun," she told him sadly.

"But, but those things he said! It was horrible!"

"Yes, I know. But remember Naruto-kun, when shinobi fight, the farmers and the townspeople don't see glorious battles. They see burned crops and dead children and destroyed buildings. And they get angry, and they hate the ninjas that protect them." She gave him another hug. "I am sorry you had to hear such things, nii-chan." She searched his face. "But you already knew it in a way, didn't you?" she continued quietly. "Kakashi told me how the villagers hated you because of the Kyuubi. You made such a sacrifice for them, but they were afraid of you, and they hated you." His tears were flowing now, although whether from sadness at the memory or rage, she wasn't sure. "But you don't hate the villagers, nii-chan, and you mustn't hate people like that man. What you are doing is right and important, and you mustn't let their ingratitude make you think otherwise."

"But why?" He sniffled.

He seems so young. Was I ever so young?

No. Not you, not Gaara. But Kyuubi has not tainted his innocence. I am… sorry… for what I have done to you.

Without you, I would be dead. It was the closest to an apology that Kasumi had ever received from the dragon, and it amazed her to hear the humility in Ryuu's silent voice.

"Why can't they see that we're only trying to help?" Naruto sniffled again.

She gave him one last hug. "I don't know, nii-chan. I don't know. Come on," she added sadly, "we still have work to do today."