.

Chapter Twenty

.

The woman behind the desk—or rather, the girl—she was too young to—but—she had the heartbeat. The heartbeat that had taught me how to hear again. My absolute favorite sound in this world.

Sharp green eyes narrowed, but I didn't care, lost in memories as I was. The dark, blank space that had engulfed me before I'd heard that sense of hope rushed back with disturbing speed.

I must have looked awfully pathetic, standing there in mismatched clothing that belonged to my brother, because the severe look in the woman's eyes softened. Really softened. The fierce hug she tackled me with a second later seemed incongruous by comparison. "Oh, Kana," she muttered into my hair, "my little princess."

And then she put me at arm's length before I had time to process all of the new thoughts chasing each other through my head. "You're so tall," she observed thoughtfully. "And you can walk! You look like Kakashi. But Kato looks like me, and oh, you're so cute, and I've missed you so, so much, and you remembered me! I can't believe you're so big now, and oh, you need another hug, and—"

Looks like it's safe to assume that life isn't likely to be quiet again.

It was easy to reaffirm several things about my truant mother. First, she held no qualms toward being very, very enthusiastically loud and bubbly. Second, she really loved me (and if I hadn't recognized her, I would be running for my life). Third, these hugs hurt.

"Mmff!" I whined, long past the point of having air left in my lungs. "Mmnnee."

She heard, and she pulled me back again after an eternity of chatter. "Oh, Kana-chan." We stared at each other for a long moment.

Terumī Mei was startlingly young, and she looked it. Her hair was much darker than mine. Her eyes were a much clearer shade of green. But where my face was still smooth, hers was defined by clear angles. Similar to how Daddy always looked relaxed, her face displayed a forceful personality. Here was a woman who was used to complete control of her emotions. Here was a girl who looked at me with longing for something she'd never really gotten to be—and not for lack of wanting. I had no doubt that the female standing in front of me had sacrificed her entire world for the sake of two small lives.

"I missed you, Princess," she said softly. Her eyes narrowed like before, and this time I saw the tears welling silently in them.

Maybe I thought I didn't need a mother. Perhaps I thought she was too young. But what parent isn't too young? And what does every parent need?

"I love you, too," I told the Mizukage. "Thank you."

No matter how strongly she presented herself to the outside world, for this moment, she had let that part of herself go. In return, I gave her a brief hug of my own. I wasn't certain what to think yet, either, but if there was one thing I knew from my earlier life, it was that giving affection never hurts the other party.

To be honest, I probably did need a mother figure. Kato needed one. Daddy . . . well, I'd have to wait and see which way the deck was stacked. He hadn't exactly returned from Kiri with hearts in his eyes. What had he brought—poisoned kunai? Yeah, this was gonna be good.

"How are your studies going?"

I rubbed my eyes on her skirt (she wasn't the only one who'd missed out) and looked up at her slyly. Shyly! Great, there went that chance, you idiot. "I'm not failing," I hedged.

A sudden wave of matriarchal pride stirred in her face. "Of course not." To think that all this time, I'd been concerned by what Daddy would feel about my achievements. How aspiring of me. Impressing this Mizukage was much more terrifying. "I've heard that you can do a solid henge. Can you show me one?"

Oh, no. I was actually nervous! Don't you dare, Kana. You fooled the entire Uchiha clan. This will be foolproof.

The pressure made me chicken out, and instead of running my usual attitude in her face, I henged into Kato. Oddly enough, it was the first time I'd ever copied him. Not nearly as flashy as mimicking Mei would have been.

As she leveled critical eyes at me, I couldn't help but do the same with her appearance. My particular skill never let me miss much. I was confident (because I had to be—no quick observation, no gain) that I could recreate her pretty well, and with that knowledge came a host of prejudices.

It's not supposed to be possible for the child to have motherly instincts toward his parent. Still, I couldn't deny my thoughts. There comes a time when one stops dreaming of toddlers and instead for future additions to society, and she looked so young. So serious.

She tapped me lightly on the arm before I'd registered the movement. "Interesting." I winced. If I'd thought her hugs were violent, I knew better now. "Would it hold up to an injury, too?"

As a general rule, I avoided getting injuries. While physical trauma hadn't happened, I had been in plenty of exhausting situations without incident.

"How about a bigger henge?" she continued, not at all apologetic for hitting her long-lost daughter.

My sense of skepticism returned and I switched out Kato for an adult-sized replica of the Mizukage. This one wasn't too detailed. Thus saith the Sharingan.

The first thing Mei attempted involved my arm and pain, but this time I flinched out of the way in time. Yay, I thought, or would have, had she not promptly broadsided me with her foot. My mental commentary dropped a few notches.

She hadn't put much more force behind this blow. However, dealing with a tall, unfamiliarly-proportioned body was not the same as henging into Kato. My midsection crumpled. I staggered. For a moment, my control of the henge wavered.

Hey, I remember being like this! How come that doesn't sting? Whoa, focus on the feeling! Here and now, not with Wildcat.

"Awww," she cooed, "look how talented you are. One day you'll be unstoppable. And don't you look just like me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Surely you haven't forgotten your previous opinion?"

Her bright eyes met my murky ones. She laughed. I wondered how far off the ground her office was.

"Kakashi is waiting with Kato in the other room. Let's put it to the test, shall we?"

I blinked. "But it's only been a minute." Pardon me while I rethink my life.

Whatever torture she had lived through in recent years made its way to the surface. She wrestled her demons back down and smiled at me fiercely. "It's been a good minute, but a minute is all I can spare today. Three of my jōnin were just murdered inside the border. I was going to spend a few hours with both of you, but the village is a priority right now." Her expression grew pained. "You're a priority, too, Princess. Don't forget that."

"But your priority is the village, not us. Please don't forget that."

Her face darkened. "You're a credit to Konoha. Too bad for me that I had to sacrifice protecting my precious people to actually protect them, right? As Kakashi would say. He knows all about that, after all."

Before she launched into a detailed analysis of her relationship with my father, she strode to the door she'd drawn attention to and opened it.

Daddy walked out neutrally. Kato didn't let go of Daddy's hand, but he did smile at Mei and me. He looked tired. I scanned the room for tell-tale scorch marks to no avail and turned back to the young, redheaded woman that loved us so.

"I will see you tomorrow," the Mizukage promised, business-like once more. "Kakashi, please fill out that form I gave you last month. My proctors need to read it before the exam begins. Kana, dear, that's a beautiful henge. Kato, I look forward to meeting you again." Oops, time to take down the henge.

She retreated to the piles of messy handwriting over her desk, and we retreated out the door, through the waiting room full of gawkers (I restrained myself from sharing any glitter), and back to our apartment.

Daddy threw up a smörgåsbord of barrier seals before he allowed us to talk. "What did you think, kiddos?"

"She's a lot louder than you," Kato said.

Whereas I thought, I knew my hair couldn't have just come from one parent!

"She said that I have a lightning affinity and that it's impressive what I can do with it so far. She said one day I'll be famous for it. I don't want to be famous. I want to be the best ninja in the world. Like you, Daddy. Do I have to listen to her?"

Wait, Kato wasn't for this idea? No wonder she'd been emotional. Short of punching him in the jaw, she didn't have many ways that were guaranteed to get to him. And having been on the receiving side of her loving taps, that wasn't exactly a guarantee.

While Daddy reassured his son that yes, this spitfire lady was important, my thoughts regressed back to the subject of my hair. With two bodies, one is certain to luck out at some point, right? Exhibit A can have a wild, jungle-like mass of keratin and body number two will follow with a healthy dose of blandness. Not so.

This time around, I'd caught Kakashi's side of the family. Ponytails were a necessity, even if they made me look like Shikamaru. My hair stuck straight up, and waved wherever it pleased. It was brighter than Daddy's but much lighter than Mei's hair. Its hobby was catching things.

I'd have to hope that teenage years would tame my hair. Or at least make it manageable. Henges can only cover so much, after all. And picking up a hair-styling jutsu sounded pathetic.

At least I liked the color.

"How can you prove she's our mother?" Kato asked suspiciously.

"I remember her," I supplied. "You've done tests, too, right, Daddy?"

Daddy looked a bit disturbed. He nodded. "Just out of curiosity, Kana, has your hearing ever been wrong?"

Had it? I mean, I'd interpreted it the wrong way more times than I could count, but failure was a pretty distinctive description. "I've missed the Hokage before. And the odd ANBU. But I don't think it's ever switched heartbeats. And I've always heard Gai-san's horrible genjutsu, so—" I raised an eyebrow at his upraised finger. "What?"

"Before we move on, let's clear up this infatuation with heartbeats. Do you honestly believe sound alone is what keeps people separate?"

It did sound a bit preposterous that way. "Yes. The Inuzuka clan can do it with just smell. Every heartbeat sounds different. It's like I can feel them."

My logic-driven father gave me a flat look he'd spent years perfecting. "That's not sound, Kana. That's chakra." Somehow, this idea was harder to digest than the whole thing about my mother. Because I heard heartbeats. Real, fluttering, finicky heartbeats that had nothing to do with ninjas or civilians. Comforting sounds. The first sound I'd ever heard here.

"Huh," I said. "That would make sense if I could actually hear chakra."

The sarcasm level in the room rose audibly. I revised my statement. "If I could hear chakra, wouldn't I be able to tell it all apart? Shouldn't I be able to recognize your barrier seals and your chakra notes?" By listening, that was. It wasn't hard to recognize his handwriting and sealing style without getting close. "Besides, how come I can't just use hearing for mimicry? Shouldn't it work that way?"

Eep! Stop looking at me that way.

He smirked. "Surely you've noticed that you can hear through some seals. Why do you think you couldn't hear Mei until she let you in?"

I frowned. "What does that have to do—"

"And genjutsu in general. There have been plenty of times you haven't noticed them. How else would you have tortured certain ANBU when they were supposed to be disguised?"

"That's different. They didn't sound like you. Henges didn't matter."

"I think you underestimate the betting pool for who would manage to finally fool you."

"The what?" I paused my skepticism to explore this new rabbit trail. "Did anyone ever win it?"

"Yes. I disguised myself as one of them. You recognized me, but none of them did. Rookies."

Ugh! I'd never get to be anonymous. "But I'm not a sensor. Inoichi-san said."

"You're not. But how many times did you practice your henge before you trusted it?"

Whoa, slow down, cowboy. Let's talk about this. "Daddy, please don't do this to me. Hearing is the one thing I've had for granted. Please don't put me through training again. Not for this."

He smiled sweetly. "I won't have to put you through anything, Kana-chan. You're enough of a driving force on your own. Much like your mother, the Mizukage. Any other comments?"

You nasty person.

"Do you love her?" I asked, reasonably certain that he couldn't. Not before. Not yet.

"You're an adorable child, Kana-chan."

Kato and I spent a few lonely days in the apartment without seeing Mei, who was apparently tied up, but seeing quite a bit of Sparkles, who threatened to do the same to us. He was a man of his word.

Kato and I were not, which meant no sightseeing and quite a bit of learning about knots. Come on, Sparkles. Shadow clones.

But Sparkles was not kind enough to take us outside. He wasn't. I was.

Sparkles took a shower one evening when Daddy was running late, and I took the opportunity to henge into Kakashi. Kato provided a suitable ecstatic greeting and waved as I booked it out the front door.

I didn't run far. Instead, I found a secluded pile of rocks and watched the languid mountain scenery. The sunset sparkled through the land's stubborn mist. I let the smile come and let my frustration slip away.

"You're a brat," the ANBU said as he appeared beside me with horrible accuracy.

"You're a bully," I countered. "We can't see the sun from the house."

Sparkles glanced at me sideways and decided to sit next to me. "You have strange tastes. Why would a sunset matter when you can barely see it?"

I ignored him and focused on my shimmering mist. "Did you love your parents when you were young?"

The ANBU that was always snickering frowned. He reflected. "Do I look like I'm old?"

Cute.

"The older I get, the more I love them, bratling. My father was a great man."

"Would I have liked him?"

"He certainly liked you," Sparkles taunted angelically. Which was really unfair of him. What kind of undercover agent dangled his family like fresh dango?

"I'm going back," I muttered. "See you tonight as you creep around our window again. Cheater."

He let me walk back by myself. I had plenty of time to wonder if he'd really meant to shut me out. Maybe he'd wanted to talk. Nah, I concluded. Sparkles wasn't a touchy-feely kind of person.

.

"What do you do out there?" Kato asked as I undid the locks on our window.

"I learn things," I said. "I meet people and learn about them. I find different points of view. Tonight I wanted to find that weapons shop we keep walking by and look for seals, but I doubt I'll make it farther than a block or two."

"If you find any neat weapons," he suggested.

"Absolutely. Maybe they have lightning element weapons like those twin swords you bugged Ao about."

He smiled at me. I slipped outside and used chakra to slide messily down the building. Any further and I would have lost the skin on my palms. Phew.

I made it to the deserted pile of rocks before Sparkles' heartbeat emerged beside me. The mist tried to eat him, but an old light pole had claimed the rocks long ago, and I had a good view as he stepped into the soft light.

I paled. The Uchiha winked. Multiple escape routes flashed through my head. "It's nice to finally meet you officially, Kana-chan," said Uchiha Shisui as he stuck out an innocent hand.

He was—

"I've heard a lot about you."

And now—

The Uchiha threw back his head and laughed, almost forgetting to shake the hand I'd unwillingly given him. "You do a very accurate impression of Ao. Remember him? He was almost as pleased to meet me as you are, Nee-ch—"

At this rate, I'd never finish any sente—

"You're gaping like a fish," Shisui informed me cheerily, "or you would be, if you happened to possess a thing called facial expression."

My face's muscles were too incensed to do anything but glare self-protectively. This, unfortunately, did nothing but encourage the unmasked Uchiha. "So the little Hatake wants to try her chances in the scary, unfamiliar Kiri, does she?"

Not anymore. Really, no. Nope. Nope, nope.

"Aw, so grown up," he cooed. "Are you going to henge into my cousin again?" When I said nothing, he continued, "Well, it's better than you fl—"

I think he was a bit surprised when I henged into Itachi and nearly managed to punch him in the face. "My, Itachi. You don't usually get this riled up. Could it be tha—"

"Shut up," I snapped, which really wasn't all that out-of-character. "Seriously? As if it wasn't bad enough already?" Shut up, Kana.

Shisui, the Uchiha fated to die. Shisui, the catalyst. (Shisui, the young man I recognized because the genin in his clan liked to henge into him to try to scare each other. I'd wondered if they were the reason his reputation was so high, but now I knew the real explanation.)

Sparkles was annoying, but this version of him. . . .

It didn't take long to see why Itachi was so stoic.

Sparkles was impossibly fast, but Shisui operated at the speed of light. He was very, very adept at baiting. Bully for him. I wasn't born yesterday. I'd spent more than one lifetime navigating the game of life, and I knew a fair bit.

I was, however, in for a long night of very something Uchiha. Very bored? Persistent? Worried?

Inescapable.

Shisui and I . . . went hunting. He was much better at it. But then, he'd been out of the village much more often than I had. He knew his way around foreign genin.

Not that most of them were hard guesses. Kiri had a long-standing reputation of blood-thirstiness, but not many people from the village felt a need to show the world where their weapons were concealed.

It didn't hurt that Shisui was masquerading as a Mist jōnin with enough scar tissue to blend into some of the scenery's uglier rocks. One glower from him and even the Mist genin flinched.

"Only one team from Iwa," the deformed henge murmured. "Odd."

"We've only seen one team from Suna," I countered. "What's odd about that?"

"Suna's team has a better reputation. And besides, Sand likes to show off. More should arrive before the end of the week."

This, I thought, was either poor logic or a terrible explanation. Commenting on either would lead to even more problems, and I'd already spent a good hour bashing my head against the brick wall he currently resembled. It was much easier to watch our current prey.

"Act your age," one of them was hissing. "We're representatives of Kumo. Sensei will be back in a minute, and if she doesn't murder you, I'll go and ask that kid's sensei to."

The offending boy glanced our way, unaware of the way his double-take preened Shisui's ego. "Wow, when did that guy come in? He doesn't look like a squad leader. He looks like a murderer. And the kid looks like a toddler."

"Takes one to know one," the third teammate said quietly. "Use the chakra-sensing technique Sensei gave us and try again."

Shisui chuckled quietly. "Genin are so cute."

Not these genin. They were in their upper teens and past any semblance of innocence, unlike me. I was a little navy-haired boy with a tendency to hide behind Shisui's ridiculous bulk. Hardly intimidating.

"Wait, that little kid has reserves that big? Are you telling me this is one of our competitors?"

This time I whacked Shisui. "What if they recognize me later?" I hissed. "Or you?"

"Oh, please. That jutsu is hardly useful. Anyone can flare his chakra to fool it. It can't even differentiate."

I concentrated back on the team, who were speculating if I were a single entrant, had older teammates, or had previously killed them all in a Kiri-like fit of rage. Apparently I was too adorable to be anything less than lethal. Even though I was a good ten years old.

"Remind me not to go out with you again," I grouched as we left.

Shisui raised his eyebrows. And laughed.

Sadly, he caught up before I could escape back to the apartment. "Come on, Kana-kun, let's go look for Suna teams. I'll get you back before bedtime, don't worry." He cackled.

I flushed. He kept cackling.

Like I mentioned, it was a long night.

.

.

~School has been rough. Believe me, I didn't anticipate things slipping this badly. But I don't have time, and I've been sick for several weeks. Ah, well. Bygones and all. Happy April Fools'! Hope you all liked at least some parts of this chapter.

Many thanks to my guest reviewers, namely, Guest (Pfft, ha! Your descriptions are accurate), Gal (Lately, I just did. Well. Bad humor aside.), Guest (Aw, good to hear! I've grown a lot, too, which explains most of that, I'd imagine. Glad you think so), Guest (He is a bit, isn't he? But he's even worse now), Guest (Another chapter!), Guest (Well, at least I posted one chapter), Guest (Cliffhangers are great, aren't they? NO.), A for anonymous (Yes way (: cackle and I do think it's plausible), Guest (Thank you for your honest thoughts. Fortunately, the writing has gotten more legible since then, although I imagine you probably didn't last much longer. Thanks for the reminder to go back and revise), SoInLoveWithThis (Well, good day for an update, right? Sorry about those fruitless months. Kakashi is very adorable. I merely show some of the sides I see of him), and raelemrys (Oh, yesshh, the evulz. Tee hee, TVTropes).

Until next time!