A/N: As you will see, this fic jumps in time to specific important life moments of my OC. I hope no og character is OOC. I accept constructive criticism. Enjoy.
It all begins on a day like any other.
Gillie Yubokumin laid on a tree branch staring at the sky, immersed in thoughts of whether her mother was looking down at her too from above, searching for her face in the clouds and answers from the flying birds on why this specific life had chosen her. She wasn't even 10 years old.
After a while, the girl pulled out the book she had taken from the village library and opened the page she had last read. That's when she heard them, the voices of children and a man coming into the training fields. She groaned, because even though this specific tree branch was her favorite to rest at, things became too noisy whenever a genin team walked closer. Gillie, turned upside down on her belly to stare at the group that had interrupted her reading and her brows perked with interest and familiarity at the sight of her roommate and now sister, Rin Nohara.
"Huh..." Her head tilted, her long black hair cascading down the side of the branch, before she manually reached for it to keep herself hidden from the invaders and be able to spy a bit.
"It seems Obito is running late again, sensei."
"I wonder what stupid excuse he will come up with this time." The boy standing closer to the man that she easily recognized as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, Minato sensei, curtly replied to the sheepish-looking Rin with his arms crossed.
"Was I not clear yesterday about when we would be meeting today, guys?" Minato sensei sounded concerned and Gillie frowned from her watching position, chin leaning on her arm, wondering how come Rin had been placed at, perhaps, the best genin team with the best teacher in all Konoha.
"You did."
"It's just- Obito, he always-" Rin hesitated.
"I'm here!" The new arrival perked Gillie's interest on the otherwise boring scene. She was finally meeting Rin's team, only the people she never stopped talking about. Well, sort of meeting them. She was slightly disappointed, though, none of them other than Minato Namikaze where worthy to even stare at. The grumpy pants had half of his face covered and the only interesting thing about the other dork was the Uchiha emblem on his clothes. Obito, eh?
"I'm sorry for being late! I am so-so sorry," He gasped coming to a stop, right beneath Gillie. "but while I was on my way here, I got caught up with a-"
"Save your stories for later, Obito." The boy with silver hair snapped and Gillie found herself disliking him already. "Our training has been delayed as it is."
"Kakashi, it was only a few minutes..." Rin interceded.
"In any case, Obito please do try to be on time tomorrow. Kakashi, did you bring the materials I asked for?" The sensei got a simple nod as an answer. "Rin?"
"Yes, Minato sensei."
"Obito?"
"Er..." The boy with goggles made the silver haired one sigh heavily. "Oh, yes, yes, I did! I brought the bombs!"
Gillie groaned into her arms with the mention of that word. Couldn't Rin go somewhere else to play with her team? She wanted to read and rest in peace.
"Perfect! Then, perhaps, we should get started. First of all, let us find somewhere else to do this. I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with our presence."
Gillie snorted under her breathe:
"Too late for that."
"Is it? I deeply apologize."
Gillie blinked twice looking from where she could currently see Rin, her team and professor and up towards the same blonde man with blue eyes also sitting on the same branch as her.
"Got you. Now, you have to come down, Gillie. Mmh?"
"Huh..." Gillie frowned wondering how come he knew her name and how long had he known about her presence up there. In any case, he was right, she had been caught and now needed to obey the sensei. "Alright then." She sighed before following after the man jumping off the branch just as the Minato sensei still on the ground said:
"We have company."
Gillie landed next to the boy with googles who shrieked at the sight of her and the second sensei.
"How-?!" Before he could shriek the entire question the Minato sensei that had been with them the entire time vanished with a poof. "Oh, that makes more sense."
"And here I'd thought mine was the clone." Gillie said before crossing her arms.
"Gillie!" Rin exclaimed delighted at seeing her and threw her arms around her, before pushing her in the middle of the group. "Team, this is my sister, Gillie-chan! The one I've told you about!"
"Sisters? But you look nothing alike!"
"Rin mentioned she's been recently adopted." The boy that wasn't Obito rolled his eyes at him.
"Oh, right."
"Yes, nice of her to have mentioned that." Gillie said looking at the boy with a stoic half-covered face, who was meticulously scanning her as a sight as if she were a threat. In return, she grimaced directly on his face, without any filter, and turned around with her nose stuck up in the air.
"What were you doing up there?" Rin asked her and Gillie took her time to wonder looking up to the branch, as if by doing so she'd be able to come up with a reasonable answer.
"You know, the usual. Just hiding away from this team I've been put on. That boy, Might Guy, can be unbearable at times... In any case, I didn't meant to interrupt your training, so I suppose I should be going now-"
"You are welcome to join today's practice, Gillie." Minato sensei said with a smile that made his eyes disappear. "In that way we'll get even teams."
Can't the Yellow Flash count? That would make us five, duh.
"Um, thanks for the invitation sensei, but I humbly think I will have to pass." She added a slight bow to make it more credible. "I don't believe I'd be able to keep up with only my skills and your team's evident superior level." She said looking at all of them with a blank expression.
"Gillie-chan is like this all the time," Rin stepped in and raised her hands to apologize for her, "but she really is really good if only a little bit-"
"Disinterested?" Gillie offered.
"Unmotivated." Rin grinned. "I am sure she could put up a good fight against Kakashi if she tried."
Gillie looked away and gasped.
"Would you look at that..." She said pointing at the distance, getting everyone's attention, before snapping her way back at them. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Rin's team member, Obito, Minato sensei," Gillie bowed deeply this time, unbothered to acknowledge the first one properly and straightened up. By the look of his face, he didn't like being reduced to team member #1. What did she care? "but I think I just caught sight of my path of life, so I better run before it disappears again. 'bye!"
The girl ran away faster than any member (with the exception of Rin) would have expected her to be capable of, her long black hair flowing in the wind after her, leaving behind an almost imperceptible scent of ocean and prairie herbs in the air that only Kakashi was able to notice. His nose twitched beneath the mask.
"I see no path of life..." Obito grunted still searching for a visible trail, maybe a golden path illuminated by the sun, before pulling off his goggles to put on a couple of eye drops in his eyes.
"I guess she was in a hurry." Minato sensei sweat-dropped.
"Gillie-chan is always in a hurry to get somewhere else, but I'm so happy you finally got to meet her. She is a really special girl, you see?" Rin's face mimicked her sensei's.
"Whatever." Kakashi turned around and began to walk away. "Can we start now?"
Her hands joined, fingers intertwined and her long strands of hair elongated beyond their physical capacity, an ability she'd heard her now deceased mother saying once Gillie had inherited from her father, and the only thing she probably possessed of the otherwise faceless, nameless man. Each of them reached for the scattered kunais she had lost during her practice battle against Rin. Like tentacles she threw them back against her opponent's feet, making her adoptive sister somersault in the air just in time for her actual hands to throw the not-so-inoffensive gas bomb she carried right towards the body. The blast sent Rin smashing towards the ground and Gillie made a series of hand signs. "Katon: Marauding Fire Whip no Jutsu!"
"Suiton: Water Barrier Wall no Jutsu!" Rin yelled.
The impact of Gillie's Fire and Rin's Water Jutsu created a second explosion that reached both of them. A large smoke screen covered the scene but not their screams as they both fell defeated rolling in opposite directions on the ground. Her little spar had reached its end.
"RIN!"
Gillie's head hammered inside her head as she sat back up and coughed against the fog, while gripping her side where she could infer, a rib was broken.
"I'm fine! I'm okay! But Gillie- Gillie-chan hit that rock on her way down."
"Oh, thank Heavens you're okay!"
Gillie contained a sob and grit her teeth, searching through the mist the image of her adoptive mother hugging her body to Rin's, before her adoptive father came running her way. Gillie let herself fall back down on the ground.
"I'm okay." She told him, raising one hand in the air. "I'm fine" She gasped before the man he ought to call Papa ignored her attempts to raise up by herself, lending her a hand.
Gillie observed Rin from the edge of the cup of tea she drank, while her sister thrived in her natural habitat like the host of the 10th birthday, surprise party thrown in Gillie's honor. Surrounded by a group of Academy girls (Gillie hadn't had the pleasure for having never attended to it), she wore a beautiful jade dress Gillie wished she could be wearing herself instead of the sweated training robes she had been in when she arrived. Rin's cheeks were burning red with a compliment someone said on the delicious sweet treats and their mother was patting Rin on the back saying how everything had been baked by the girl.
Gillie heard someone say something next to her, but she was distracted now watching Might Guy running out of the house to throw up after having eaten a whole tray of pastries. He was perhaps the only person in the party Gillie had grown to like and somewhat considered a friend, for his entire pathetic existence made Gillie's pathetic one feel less miserable. She could always count on him to make her feel better, and now was the perfect example as he exclaimed it was his entire fault the reason of his pucking and not Rin's perfect cooking skills, while her sister looked mortified with herself.
"What did you say?" Gillie asked turning around to see one of Rin's team member standing next to her with a cup of his own.
"I said I don't like the way you look at her." Obito looked troubled with his own words and didn't have the courage to meet her eyes after his confession. "You are looking at Rin as if..."
"As if?"
"As if you didn't like this party."
This party. Gillie scoffed amusedly.
"This party!" She chuckled. "You think I didn't like this party, Goggles?" Obito nodded a tiny bit more courageous, ignoring the rude nickname. "Of course I like this party. It was a grand gesture on her part," She said edging on sarcasm, before adding more somberly: "especially since I would have never been able to fill this place with so many people... Why, even Minato sensei and his girlfriend are here!" She said turning towards the couple where the fearsome Yellow Flash of Konoha was currently being mouthfed by a redheaded woman. She sighed, watching a personal hero of hers falling from grace, acting humanly. Still a bad-ass in battle, yes, but also a pitiable human. "Even that unpleasant and antisocial Kakashi Hatake is here." Both children turned his way, where the boy in question was currently standing on the corner of the room staring out a window and as if he could hear them (which he probable could) turned over his shoulder to stare at them. Gillie grimaced his way, making it clear that on her part she wasn't thrilled that he had been invited and tossed her long hair over her shoulder before turning around, her attention once again on Obito. "What is there not to like? She literally let me borrrow her friends for my birthday party!"
Obito irked a brow, feeling there was more to it. Under his insistent gaze, Gillie pursed her lips.
"It's not this party I have a problem with, okay? It is parties, in general... I would have been happy with just Rin, Mama and Papa. My team, maybe." She said this last part looking towards the quiet Genma, the enigmatic Guy and Choza Akimichi sensei, currently eating a fish on a stick.
"But everyone likes parties!" Obito said as if there was something seriously wrong with her.
"I did too. Once... Where I come from," she said touching the red marks on her right cheek. The same could be found on her left cheek: the marks of the nomadic Yubokumin clan, more specifically, those of them initiated as Yubo-nin. "everyday was a party!" She paused. "I guess, parties remind me of home now."
"Where was it?" He leaned with interest. Of course he would be. Who wouldn't?
"Everywhere and anywhere." Gillie said her chest filling up with pride, before it deflated like a balloon. "It doesn't matter now. It's in the past and there is no point on talking about it." Doing so would only make her bad and she was already at a party to sour her mood even more. Obito nodded once at her, agreeing with what she had just said and with that simple gesture Gillie thought that perhaps she could grow to like Obito as a friend.
Maybe.
"Gillie-chan!" Rin jumped in between them and grabbed her hand. "Come now, it is time to cut the cake!"
Gillie was pulled away and brought to the table positioned in the middle of the room, feeling bubbles in her stomach, suddenly infected by Rin's enthusiasm. Once in position, Rin threw her arms around her and Gillie allowed herself to bury her face on her sister's shoulder, comfortable with the feeling and wishing there was no party and she could simply stay in that position with her best friend and sister. Feeling safe and loved.
Rin pulled away but kept her hands on her shoulders.
"How are you feeling? Are you enjoying your party?"
"Very much." She confessed.
Contrary to everything she had just told Obito, in a very deep and hidden part of her soul, Gillie was feeling delighted by having so many people coming together, eating together, having fun together because of her. Gillie lowered her eyes and felt her cheeks grow red.
"Thank you very much, Rin. You are... No one told you to do this, and you didn't have to, and yet..."
"Gillie-chan." Rin stopped her, looking confused. "It is your birthday and the first party we have officially had as family. Actually, I'd been worrying none of this might be enough..." Rin slouched embarrasedly, looking down at her hands before grabbing the red bracelet on her hand.
Gillie saw her face change watching at it, softening, as Gillie's own eyes did watching at the little memento that would forever mark their first interaction together, a thanking present her mother gave Rin for showing them around the village. Rin looked up decisively and nodded at her.
"Let's do this!" She smiled before turning around and cupping her hands around her mouth. "Your attention, please! Everyone's attention here, please?"
One by one the party assistants turned around to look their way, with the exception of a certain silver haired chunin far more interested in the gardens outside. Unexpectedly, Rin climbed on the table and cleared her throat, making Gillis's embarrassment exponentially worse but still feeling flattered and amused.
"Um... hello!" She cleared her throat again. "Welcome everyone and thank you so much for coming. Some of you I wasn't expecting to actually come so, thank you! Seriously! For coming to Gillie Nohara's birthday party!"
The crowd cheered and Gillie's cheeks burned redder when she felt Mama and Papa's hands on her back, standing next to her. It had been a while since Gillie had felt this sentiment, because perhaps she had been previously wrong when talking to Obito and the word wasn't a place but a sentiment: Home. She would never allow herself to do it, because even though there were abysmal differences between village ninjas and her clan the idea of openly crying and carelessly exposing one's feelings would never be the shinobi way on any culture. Instead, Gillie bit her lips and deeply dig her nails on her palms to avoid crying for the touching moment she was going through.
"As you know, Gillie-chan wasn't born in Konoha like the rest of us." Gillie smiled listening to Rin's speech, that she thought unnecessary as a prologue for cake cutting. And, when had Rin grabbed a cup to toast? "But I met her and Airi Okaasan the day they arrived." Gillie's chest tightened at the mention of her mother and felt Mama rubbing her back with reassurance and Papa's supporting grip on her left. "She came into the village around four-five years ago carrying nothing but a single case for both mother and daughter and this bracelet you see today in my wrist." Rin raised her arm for everyone to see and Gillie nodded sheepishly and smiled at the people from the crowd looking at her, although balancing on her feet from side to side. "We all know they lost everything and came here in search of a new start. As for me, I gained a best friend that day..."
Gillie kept on balancing. Yeah, putting it that way she supposed that's how the shinobi world worked, sometimes really really bad, ugly, terrible things happened to some but there was always a silver lining... She supposed it could be put that way, yeah.
"She can be very stubborn and possesses a dry sense of humor not everyone gets but... that only strengthens her courage and boldness, that's something I've always admired of her... Even after Airi Okaasan's passing, the strength I saw in her wasn't like any other I've ever seen. She rose above like a phoenix from the ashes, stronger and stronger each time... That girl who lost everything but her unwavering strength ..." Rin squeezed her eyes shut and tightened her fists, "I'm so very proud, today, to call her sister and the strongest of shinobi I have ever known." Rin's voice was heard through the room with emotion and when the girl looked down at Gillie her eyes were filled with unshed tears. She raised her cup. "Happy birthday, Gillie-chan! I am so happy to be your onee-san!" Rin bowed at her and everyone cheered at her on her beautiful speech.
Gillie looked from parent to parent and smiled at Rin after the girl jumped down to choke her in a hug. Looking over her shoulder, Gillie kept on the same frozen smile in place, looking at each and every guest of Rin's on that party, looking back at the wonderful Rin, probably thinking how lucky Gillie was on having her as a sister. During the whole duration of the birthday song, Gillie smiled while internally a feeling she had felt growing for while and that probably would have looked green if visible strengthened with the same intensity as her own strength Rin liked to talk about so much the longer she stared at her onee-san.
The hot summer arrived at Konoha and free from any duties, Rin and Gillie spent the day together at the summer solstice festival eating a dozen mini ice lollies between the two of them, while they retold the happenings of their previous missions, which had grown more demanding with the war brewing behind the village walls. In Gillie's mind, even the idea of a festival in the middle of the war was ridiculous, but these were the days she would reminisce of with fondness in the future.
"Oh, such a pretty pair of kunoichis!" An old lady at stand cried at the sight of the two of them, dressed in the same fashion, and clenched to one another by the arm. "Here, here, a jasmime cake for the sisters! Keep on enjoying the festival!"
After the two of them were far enough from the woman, they both crackled up and cheered at the sight of it.
"Free food!" Gillie exclaimed. "Maybe we shouldn't have given Mama a hard time for dressing us the same way. It does have its perks!"
"Maybe we should just keep on dressing the same from now on!" Rin giggled with a wide grin.
"Yeah!" Gillie exclaimed before becoming stoic: "Maybe not."
Both girls laughed aloud again before Rin parted the cake in halves that came uneven.
"Here, you can take the bigger part." She said. "I know rarely anything makes Gillie happier than a extremely sweet treat."
"Thanks." Gillie grinned taking a mouthful without a second thought. "Now, you were saying about Minato sensei..." She said with her mouth still full.
"Oh, that's right... As I said, we were standing in the middle of a meadow, surrounded by the enemy invisible to our eyes." Gillie leaned her way and nodded, eyes wide with interest. Those days, no one told her better stories than Rin. "Kakashi could only tell their numbers by the sound of their breathing-and well, you know and have tested my skills. It was hardly 3 and a half against 2 dozen ninjas-"
"Your missions always sound far more interesting than ours." Gillie grunted before taking a grumpy bite off her cake. "And then, what?"
"Obito wanted to strike first, but Kakashi said "no", and in the midst of their little quarrel the first kunai landed in between our formation-" She said and Gillie gasped, before taking another bite of cake. "But that's what sensei needed to find their location and figure out the enemy's formation. He took them all out in less than... Why, it wasn't even a minute!"
"Wow." Gillie ate her last piece of cake. "I knew Minato sensei was awesome. Even I'd heard about the Yellow Flash growing up, but you make him sound... You are so lucky to be on his team."
"Yeah... he is amazing." Rin raised her fist in the air with decision and took the first bite of her own cake. "We have learned so much about him and I have no doubt he will be a great Hokage someday-"
"Wow- Hokage? He is planning to be Hokage?"
"He has never openly said it, but its obvious, isn't it? He is the best candidate out there among the jonin and I've heard the Third Hokage hasn't retired yet only because of the war."
"Yeah, he's old."
"Gillie!"
"He is!" Gillie shrugged. "Isn't he?"
"I'm not affirming nor denying that statement-"
"Come on!"
"No, it's rude!"
"So is lying! Oh, come on!"
The girls got into a escape and catch routine until they grew tired for the traditional geta shoes and sat on a bench in time to see the lantern balloons going up in the night sky.
"I admire sensei but my dream is to become a medic-nin, like Tsunade-sama-"
"I know." Gillie rolled her eyes. "You have told me only over a hundred thousand times. Is there any other dream of yours I should know and you could tell me about that is not related to the great rise of the legendary Sannin "Tsunade-sama the Second"?" Rin giggled about her reaction but then seemed to get caught in a personal thought of hers that did not go unperceived by Gillie. "Rin?" Her sister's face turned red like a tomato while her index fingers came together. "Rin?!" Gillie's mouth dropped open.
Rin opened her mouth too, about to confess. Then, she backtracked and Gillie found her mouth filled with Rin's last piece of sun cake, before the girl got barefoot and ran away.
"Later!" Rin giggled over her shoulder before disappearing.
Later would literally mean that same night, later, sitting beneath a sheet illuminated by a lantern, where Rin would confess Gillie about the immense crush she had felt for so long for her teammate Kakashi Hatake. In the meantime, later meant never for Gillie and her mind was already planning a hundred thousand strategies to make her sister blurt her secret, even if she had to draw upon torture, to obtain it.
Yes, perhaps she'd resort to that.
For now, Gillie delighted on the sun cake in her mouth sitting on that bench, swinging her legs beneath her.
After Rin's confession Gillie grew, for the first time, sincerely curious in the whole existence of Kakashi Hatake. Sure, she had wondered about that mask of his about the first times she seen him around the village from afar, back since the time her mother was still around and breathing, and also because she had come to hear he was the son of the White Fang of Konoha. Her clan where renown whisperers about ninjas of legend and, whenever, some of them met their demise. Therefore, all she knew about the boy was that he was a pretentious and arrogant prodigy orphan with whom her perfect sister was in love with and her own teammate had an unhealthy rivalry obsession with. Kakashi Hatake, the only chunin student of the Yellow Flash and son of the deceased White Fang. That was a lot of important names, even for the hardly impressed Gillie.
"I don't understand." She found herself blurting out, sitting at the dining table with her adoptive parents while Rin was out in some mission for the week.
"What is it you don't understand, dear?" Mama asked with a sweet smile, eating from her pot of rice.
"How can you like someone whose face you don't see and whose attitude is insufferable?"
"Like?" Papa asked.
"You mean..." Mama looked from her to Papa with concern. Of course it was a topic they would eventually need to discuss with their two female daughters, but they had thought that at barely 11 it was a lesson they wouldn't need to worry about for at least 2 or 3 more years. This, Gillie could not see, though. She simply stared at them wondering what was making them hesitant to speak.
"How can you?" Gillie repeated.
Papa cleared his throat.
"Well, Gillie, you see.. when a boy likes a girl and a girl likes a boy-"
"Shouldn't we postpone this until Rin is back? I believe this conversation is very important information and beneficial for her to listen."
Gillie irked a brow. If it was an important conversation, couldn't she hear it first and then talk about it again when Rin was back?
"Yeah, well, you see, the think is, dear-" Papa toyed with his reading glasses, but Gillie stood up from the table and cleaned her mouth.
"I'm not hungry." She said before marching out of the kitchen table without another word, ignoring the vivid whispers of her parents behind her back, talking to one another. Momentarily forgetting about Kakashi Hatake, Gillie sighed heads-down towards the bedroom she shared with Rin.
Her eyes diverted towards the pictures on the walls of a younger Rin learning to walk and throw kunais, feeling conscious on the absence of her own child pictures. It was something she couldn't complain about, she hadn't been at Konoha when she said her first words... but still. When Rin wasn't around the house felt like the Nohara's house and Mama and Papa felt like Nohara iryo-nin and Nohara-san. It was like Rin was the bridge that joined them all together as a family... She missed Rin when she was gone.
Gillie raised her eyes and look around their shared bedroom, her eyes catching sight of her own collection of books on one side and Rin's collection of traditional masks in the other hanged on the walls, as well as the desk in which she worked creating new ones. It was a little hobbie of hers, the making of masks...
Could that be the reason behind her liking of Kakashi Hatake? Her thoughts on him returned to her, even if her sister hadn't yet from her mission, and in her absence the only other person she considered a somewhat friend and could very well interrogate about on Kakashi Hatake's matters, came to mind: Might Guy.
The next day since very early in the morning, Gillie was out in the streets of Konoha searching for Guy, nevertheless only found her other teammate, Genma, with whom she had never had a conversation out of training and missions. The boy was too quiet and awkward for Gillie to take interest, just as Guy had been too loud and explosive for her to take the first step in their friendship, if one could call it that. He was coming out of a restaurant with the one who seemed to be his father. They looked very much alike, however, where Genma carried a senbon between his lips, the man carried a cigarette.
"Hello." Gillie said uninterested in making more conversation, before making a bow, more directed towards the adult man. "Have you seen, Guy?" She asked the boy.
"No." Genma answered in the same way, while his father remained quiet observing the two of them. The two kids fell into a silent moment and then the man smacked the boy on the back of the head. "Ouch! Sorry, yeah! Do you need help to find him?"
"That's more like it." His father said.
"Er..." Concerned that the man might bump her in the head too, she replied: "Yes, please, I'd appreciate that."
"Okay." Genma groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I'll see you at home, Dad."
"Yeh." The man winked at him, making the boy's cheeks go red.
"Let's go." Genma pulled her away by her sleeve, leaving her curious on his reaction.
"What was that?" She asked once they were far enough away.
"Ignore him. My dad is a clown. He says I need to work on my lady skills..." A vein popped on Gillie's forehead. "Yeah, like I said, a clown. Now, talking about clowns, let's find Guy."
She didn't mention anything else on this, wanting to avoid inquiries on her own father she wouldn't know how to answer, and so the two kids searched for hours around the city and the training fields with no success, until it was time for lunch for which they made a quick stop at Ichiraku's for a bowl of ramen. During the entire time they searched they didn't speak much other than what was necessary, and somehow that had felt nice and comfortable, however being at a restaurant eating together required some obligatory social skills and the two of them seemed to silently agree on this.
"So-"
"So-"
They both closed their mouths. Gillie pointed at him, directing him to go first but Genma looked around and shook his hands.
"Ladies first." He said through uncomfortable gritted teeth.
"What's up with your dad concerned on your lady skills?" She had only contained it for too long. The boy sighed heavily.
"Well..." He hesitated and raised his fingers on air quotation marks. "He says we're coming into that age where I need to put on my game- Ridiculous, I know, but he was a total player in his chunin days and with the upcoming exams..."
Oh, that's right. Gillie had been thinking about those chunin exams a lot in the past few weeks, feeling zero motivation to partake on them. She felt alright as a genin for now. What was this incessant need to always climb up the ladder, anyway? What was it with this native folks and always having to be the best ninja? Being a good ninja wasn't enough?
"He says that unless I work on my lady skills as much as my ninja skills I will never get a girlfriend."
"We're 11." Gillie sweatdropped but Genma shrugged, while Ichiraku-san placed both of their ramen bowls in front of them.
"What about you? Why are you looking for Guy on our one free day?" He asked staring by the corner of his eye and playing with his food.
"I wanted to ask him about Kakashi Hatake." She said snapping away her chopsticks and noticed Genma freeze midway to eat his first bite.
"What business do you have with Kakashi Hatake? Do you... like him or something?"
"Agh, no!" She grimaced reaching for salt and sprinkling what Genma probably considered lots of it into her ramen, by the sight of his face. "It's just some stupidity I heard that's got me curious on him. Nothing more. In any case, are you eating that narutomaki?"
"Nah-"
The two children finished their ramen and continued their search. By the time they found Guy on top of the rock mountain Genma had to head back home for dinner. It was perfect really, because Gillie would be able to interrogate Guy on the silver haired chunin without his other teammate getting wrong ideas. However, Gillie soon realized that obtaining information about Kakashi out of Guy was as easy as becoming the fourth member of the three legendary Sannin, she had recently heard so much about.
Impossible.
Gillie was on her way to the training field to prepare for her upcoming chunin exams, feeling only with a motivation to stay in bed until the sun finally came out. Apparently, Choza sensei wasn't the only one with the plan of working early in the morning to prepare his students, she had heard from Rin that Minato sensei had also ordered his to be there, and she had heard from Genma (who seemed more comfortable around her these days) who had heard from Ebisu that Inoichi sensei had also called his genin students to be there, and had invited him to join to replace Asuma, who was already a chunin.
Rin and Gillie were meant to get to the training camp together, but lately Rin was taking longer to get ready before leaving the house and Gillie had left her behind, concerned with Might Guy's fury on her tardiness. And, by fury she meant effusiveness.
Gillie sighed tiredly, pondering on the fact she had been too sleepy, had forgotten her bento lunch at home and would probably starve for the rest of the day, when a body fell right in front of her. The silver haired chunin raised from his kneeling position and stared hardly directly to her eyes.
"What is it with you asking around about me and my father?" Kakashi Hatake said.
"Eh?" She frowned at his sudden appearance and the question she had yet to process inside her mind, but he didn't seem eager to repeat it, so she had to take a moment. "Oh..." She realized what had happened. Guy must have told him about the little questioning session she tried on him weeks before. How could she put it in a simple, safe way?
Gillie gasped and pointed away.
"Would you look at that? I think I just caught sight of my path of life!" She looked back at him, "I better run before it disappears again, okay? See you..." She tried to walk around him, but the quick boy stepped in blocking her path, not taking any of her bluff. She grimaced down at her feet and then up at his half-hidden face, annoyed by his height. She didn't remember the boy being this tall when she met him. "What do you want?" She spat.
"Why are you going around asking about my father?" He repeated.
She licked her lips and balanced from side to side, searching around on the ground for an answer.
"I-I-I was curious! Okay? I was curious." She shrugged. "I am not necessarily from here and was wondering on whatever reason that caused the legendary White Fang's demise." She looked up to see his eyes narrow at the last part. "It had nothing to do with you. Okay?!" She repeated. "Okay?" She repeated again more calmed. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." But before she could take another step he grabbed her arm. She looked up ready to retort in the indecorous intrusion, only to find eyes filled also with curiosity from his part.
"Gillie-chan? Kakashi?" They were joined by a new person; Rin asked the two of them with concern, feeling the tension in the air. "Is everything okay?"
Gillie kept her gaze and grimace fixed on the boy's face, who for once seemed to have an expression other than arrogance or indifference. Gillie took note, that she needed to be more careful the next time she researched on him. And she would, because this interaction only made her more curious on why would Rin ever like this boy.
"Yeah." Kakashi let go of her arm, before disappearing with a poof. Gillie rubbed the part of her arm where he had touched as if it was stained with mud and turned towards Rin.
"I don't like that boy. At all!" Her reaction seemed to ease the tension in Rin, who laughed aloud and ran to clench her arm around hers, before giving her the bento lunch she had forgotten.
"For a moment there I thought you were about to go on a fist fight or something... Not that Kakashi would partake, he is... very gentleman."
"Gentleman..." Gillie scoffed.
"What happened, then?"
"Nothing." Gillie spat. "A misunderstanding between him, Guy and I. You know they are rivals, right?"
"Yeah..." Rin said as they began walking.
"At least I won't have to see that half ugly face of his in today' training-"
"Ugly?"
"-him being a chunin an all-"
"Gillie-chan! Sorry to break the news to you, but..." Rin stopped her in her rant. "Kakashi and Asuma are helping the senseis today to train us."
"Oh, great! Now, he's gonna go all hairdresser on me-" Gillie said hugging on her most precious possession, that her mother had seemed to have treasured enough to have her promise on her dead bed to never cut it. She wasn't trying to be funny, she was dead serious, even if Rin chuckled loudly.
"He's not like that and he is not ugly, either!"
"You don't know that."
Rin had been right about one thing and it was that Kakashi had not gone even once out of his way to dreadfully target her during the training. However, everytime she looked at the boy and noticed the boy coincidentally looking back at her, she would up-frontally grimace, toss her hair over her shoulder and look away, to make it clear that on her part, she didn't like him one bit.
The day before their chunin exam, Choza sensei brought his students some eating present to stock up on energy, and Genma and Gillie sat down during sunset along with their sensei to eat and wait for Guy. Uncharacteristically of him, considering he tended to be hours before practice began at the fields, he was running late. It was so very strange a situation that Gillie felt a feeling she rarely felt for anyone other than her new family these days: Concern.
"Do you think... He's okay?"
"Mmm-hmm." Genma nodded with a mouthful of dumplings.
"Maybe, he is- He couldn't have gotten himself injured right before the exams, huh?" She turned towards her sensei who placed a big hand on top of her head and nodded with a reassuring smile. "I don't think I can try a bite until I know he is alive..." Then, she proceeded to take a bite against her own odds. "Mmm, delicious." She grunted troubled with herself.
"And you should eat Mama Akimichi's homemade ramen, sometime. Hn... Let's do this. If you pass the exam, I'll invite you over to try them, after which you'll never see Ichiraku's the same way."
"I don't know, sensei. " Genma hesitated. "We can always walk to Ichiraku's and get a bowl." He said looking at her and she nodded back agreeing, having done so together a few times in the past now, "but I don't think we can say the same of your home. I wouldn't want to spoil my appetite."
"Nonsense! Mama Akimichi is always happy to have people coming over to eat. What do you say, Gillie?"
Gillie's eyes narrowed in the distance watching the dancing figure skipping his step their way. Finally, she was able to gulp down her food.
"Here he comes!" She grinned feeling a foreign sense of relief. That is until it got replaced with estrangement as she noticed Might Guy with a basket filled with flower petals being thrown about in the air.
Oh, no!
Guy was in one of those days. Gillie smacked her forehead, wondering whatever strange thing had happened to the boy to triple his natural flamboyancy.
"Oh, but what it it my eyes see?!" His jaw dropped and his petal party came to a stop as he saw his team and sensei sitting under a tree shade eating. "Resting before the titan of a mission we are to face the day after today, our Chunin Exams!?"
"Sit down, Guy." Choza sensei said and, ever the little soldier, Guy dropped on the floor immediately so they were all in a circle. "We have worked a lot this past week, I have made sure of it." The man looked at each one of them. "I believe every single one of you is ready for tomorrow and have the ability to pass this exam with flying colors."
"Triple Gs, unite!" Guy yelled raising his hand to the sky and then to the center. He waited for his genin team to join him, but none of the other kids did.
"It's never gonna happen." Genma drone and Gillie shook his head in support. Guy deflated like a balloon.
"Today, I just wanted to meet with you guys; eat, rest and communicate, those three elements are very important for a ninja and their team to have and enjoy together." He said passing Guy his present. "Therefore, does anyone feel like sharing something?"
Guy's eyes instantly morphed into a conniving set, like those of a cat before striking its prey and he leaned uncomfortably close towards Gillie.
"Indeed, Gillie, do you feel like sharing something?"
"Er... nope."
Guy sat back straight and wiggled his fingers together, ghoulishly, with a macabre chest laughter. Gillie kept on staring at him with an irked brow while Choza sensei asked Genma to start.
"Well... my dad says that he has seen an improvement on my behavior around ladies and therefore I have a greater possibility of not ending up a bachelor... So, he got me one of those handmade onyx swords." Genma shrugged.
"Wow, Genma! Those are very expensive." Gillie said impressed, ignoring Guy's piercing gaze on her, before noticing Genma's lack of enthusiasm. "You don't seem too excited about it, though."
The boy sighed heavily.
"Well... I wish my father could understand that I'm not planning to win ladies over with my skills, but by my mere looks."
Gillie nodded and patted his back supportingly.
"We hear you, Genma." Choza sensei nodded.
"Thanks."
"Now... Gillie."
"YES!" Guy snatched his flower basket and hugged it to himself. "Gillie?!" He said in the same ominous voice from, before before tossing a bunch of petals on her face, that she had to spit out.
"Well... My hair grew 4 more inches this summer, so I am proud to say some of the moves you'll see tomorrow will be lethal."
Choza and Genma clapped at her confession, but Guy seemed a tiny bit— MAGNANIMOUSLY— disappointed.
"Guy?"
At the mention of his name, Might Guy jumped on his feet and stroke a pose worthy of being copied as a sculpture and placed at the Leaf's museum, even for Gillie's standards.
"I do have a story- No, not a story- Should I call it an oddisey?! On the reason why I arrived late today!"
"Let us hear it then."
"Yes. I am actually curious about it-" Gillie's voice got interrupted by Guys macabre laughter.
"You are a very curious one, aren't you, Gillie?!"
"Mmm?" The girl tilted her head.
"While only this morning I was on my way here-"
"You were planning to get here since morning?" Genma asked him.
"When I saw him! There in the distance! Unabashed! Unconcerned! So cold and cool as ever... Why, none other than my very own rival, Kakashi Hatake!"
Gillie tried not to seem too interested at the mention of the name, but she would be lying if she said her curiosity did not spike.
"He was standing right outside the library, staring at the exposed books in the window when he turned around, feeling my magnetic presence and our eyes connected with a thousand sparks. OF RIVALRY!" Guy's eyes literally burned and Gillie sighted hoping this would not go towards another direction on a rant about his rivalry with Hatake. "I said "KAKASHI, MY UNWAVERING RIVAL, HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING THIS ENTIRE TIME FOR ME TO CROSS THIS STREET AND TO CALL IT AN ACCIDENT WHEN IN FACT YOU ARE HINTING TOWARDS A NEW CHALLENGE AGAINST MY HANDSOME SELF?!" And he said: "I was just checking the new bestsellers-""
Gillie irked her brows at this. As a recognized client of the village's library herself, she couldn't recall ever seeing Kakashi Hatake wandering its aisles, nor remembering Rin (whom lately couldn't stop talking about him and grew more insufferable by the day) mentioning he was a reader... In any case, what did Gillie care?
"Huh." She pursed her lips and crossed her arms.
"Ah-ha!" Guy pointed at her. "That's exactly what I said. "HUH, KAKASHI! I NEVER TOOK YOU AS A READER, BUT IN ANY CASE I CHALLENGE YOU RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW, A RACE AGAINST MY AVAILABLE TIME TO GO AND MEET MY TEAM FOR PRACTICE, TO SEE WHO IS THE FASTEST READER BETWEEN US TWO?" And he acted so lousily confused. I said: "I SHALL CHOOSE THE BOOK YOU WILL READ AND YOU WILL CHOOSE MINE!" And so we ventured into the library and I fairly took a random book from the warfare section, while closing my eyes!" He mimicked his actions then by covering half of his face with his hand now. "But then, it was his turn to choose! And, oh-so-wicked Kakashi chose an herbolary enciclopedia on the meaning and uses of flowers for me! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW INHUMANE OF HIM!"
Rivers of tears ran down Guy's cheeks, his tightened fist shook in the air, while his three companions leaned his way.
"And, then?" Genma asked. "Who won?"
"Kakashi won, of course." Guy shook his hand dismissively. "But while I was in there, sitting on the floor by page 853, as he was about to leave the premises he asked: "Hey, won't you be late with your team?" And I said: "NICE ONE, KAKASHI! BUT NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM FINISHING THIS BOOK! I EITHER FINISH IT IN TIME TO MEET THEM OR I'M ONE-LEG JUMPING MY WAY UP AND DOWN THE HOKAGE MOUNTAIN 853 TIMES!" And, he said: "Okay. Just make sure you don't make Gillie and Genma wait for long." And then, he left..."
The two students and sensei nodded understanding and filling up the void on their questions about the possible cause for Guy being late.
"DON'T YOU SEE?!" Guy suddenly exploded again, and Gillie would have swore she saw volcanoes erupting behind him if she didn't know the boy couldn't use genjutsu. "THE SEASON OF YOUTH IS SOON BLOOMING IN OUR SOULS! WHY ONLY WEEKS AGO GILLIE WAS INTERROGATING ME ON KAKASHI-"
Gillies eyes opened wide.
"I wasn't-"
"AND NOW KAKASHI DARED TO SHOW CONCERN FOR GILLIE'S TIME WHILE WAITING FOR ME!"
"Technically, he also mentioned me-" Genma raised a finger.
"I SMELL FLOWERS!" He tossed the handfuls of petals over them. "I HEAR BELLS! I SEE A FUTURE WEDDING IN THE HORIZON OF KONOHA, I SWEAR! KAKASHI AND GILLIE SITTING DOWN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-"
Guy never got to finish his little song for a long tendril of hair had made his way around his neck and was currently chocking him, making him gasp for air. Choza sensei and Genma didn't notice when the girl joined her hands, activating her Kekkei-Genkai, but now they could see her hair had came alive and the girl was smiling sweetly.
"None of us are ever speaking again about this, okay?"
Choza sensei and Genma with eyes wide open nodded repeatedly, and she finally let go of his companion. Guy fell on floors, coughing and gasping, while Gillie squirmed uncomfortable on her seat while her special ability deactivated.
"You might try to silence me, Gillie, but you cannot silence the voice of the heart-"
"Do you want me to do this again?!" Gillie snarled, her hair spiking up like a purcopine around her head.
"Kids, kids... how about we move on from this and is my turn to healthily communicate, mh?"
Genma, who had been holding on his laughter for a while, snorted and motioned the teacher to do so.
"Well... I am getting married!"
That's how they finally were able to move away from Gillie and Guy's little quarrel and towards more important matters... For now. However, it wasn't the end of the conversation and would not be for a while, Gillie soon found out.
The next day, the written exam stage of the Chunin exams was about to begin, when Gillie felt someone pulling her away from her team before the doors opened. Rin had pulled her away and now grabbed Gillie's hand and placed it over her drumming heart.
"Can you feel that? It feels like it's about to explode!"
"I never took you for someone scared of exams, Rin. You are a genius."
"I appreciate it, Gillie-chan, but this has nothing to do with the exam."
"Huh?"
"Someone has been going around spreading rumors that Kakashi fancies someone!" Rin yelled in whispers, at which Gillie's eyes opened wide, before her head turned around slowly, like a rusty mechanism, eyes entirely white, threatening with death promises towards Might Guy, who caught side of this and initially looked terrified but then extended a thumbs up her way and winked with a twinkle on his white teeth.
"Someone did what?" She asked through gritted teeth returning to Rin.
"Gillie-chan! What if he's also into me!"
Gillie tried really hard not to roll her eyes right in front of her face.
"We are 11, Rin..." She sang. "We shouldn't even be talking about this now-" She said looking around at the genin began to move into the classroom.
"I am so in love with him, Gillie-chan! So, so very much! How wonderful would it be if he loved me back? How wonderful would life be if we all (You, Obito and I)- If we all became chunin and soon afterwards Kakashi confesses?!"
"How wonderful and perfect your life would be, indeed..." Gillie nodded staring at the floor and then up at Rin. "First, make sure to pass the written exam, okay?"
Gillie and her team passed every round of the chunin exams until the very last, where she would face Rin's temporary team member replacing Kakashi, Kurenai. Guy and Genma had already had faced their opponents: Guy won and Genma did not, however there was no denying that his skills were worthy of the title chunin that Choza sensei had guaranteed her that only she was still at odds on whether their whole team would become chunins this year.
Obito and Rin had already faced their opponents, as well; Obito lost his match against Raido, he would probably have to wait until the next exams. Rin, on the other hand, had been sent gravely injured towards the hospital after winning her match against a Sand kunoichi. Currently, Gillie felt unconcentrated but by the concern on whatever was going on with her sister and the idea of losing when Rin had won.
It didn't help the fact that Kurenai was playing games with her mind, showing her gruesome deaths of her sister, her mother, her clan, using a mere genjutsu... How had she known about these facts? Not even with her family did Gillie talk about her clan. Or, perhaps, Kurenai was a highly skilled genjustu wielder.
"None of this is real, Gillie!" She was screaming from the top of her lungs inside of her mind, covering her ears from the thousand voices yelling how unwanted and pathetic she was. She imagined that the battle wasn't giving much to the spectators to speak about; after all, Kurenai's battlefield was entirely the psychological realm. Gillie had worked so hard on the physical one, forgetting that perhaps this sort of opponent might be given to her. She had to give it to Kurenai, the girl was one merciless opponent.
But Rin had placed a bet on her life to win her match, Gillie couldn't not win.
Out of the battlefield and up in the bleachers Team 4, led by Choza Akimichi, stood by the edge observing how the last member of their team was slowly whitering like a rose in autumn, right in front of their eyes.
No. Nohara Gillie had never been much of a rose.
Might Guy's hands tightened around the metal railing in front of them and Kakashi's left eye noticed this by its corner, standing next to his rival at the spectators section.
If Kakashi ever had to compare Nohara Gillie with a plant it would have to be a weed. A weed that comes out the earth unexpectedly, a weed that endures across the year's seasons without ever dying, that creeps without invitation, one that once you've seen it in your garden you cannot stop stop staring at it and irks your eyes. Calling. Meddling. Swaying with the wind. With a strong scent of freshness that shouldn't be allowed in the rigid and rule-bound shinobi world.
That same weed was currently being stepped on under Kurenai's psychological boot and, surprisingly, feeling a tiny bit disappointed on Rin's adoptive sister he turned around having grown bored with the match, ready to leave and go check his injured teammate. Hoping to avoid any altercation with Guy for confessing this, he quietly slipped away from the group of genins and sensei, slouching and with his hands inside his pockets.
He had only reached the top of the stairs when he felt the sudden change of chakra dynamics coming from the arena, it was as dense as receiving a punch in the gut. The crowd gasped in one voice, his interest soared. The silence that followed forced him to turn around and walk back to Team 4, just in time to hear the crowd cheering. Genma and Guy jumped over the railing and went to support their teammate on her feet, while Kakashi's eyes scanned the scene before his eyes.
Large tendrils of hair, dark as the ink his father could spend hours swirling before using, came from the half-conscious girl resting on Gemma's and Guy's shoulders. Like living limbs they moved and began to coil back into large but considerable normal hair layers. Kurenai laid unconscious on the opposite side of the arena with medic-nins checking the marks on her neck and broken limbs. Kakashi frowned looking back at the girl now laughing with Genma and Guy and feeling genuinely surprised by the kekkei-genkai he ignored she possessed fought a smirk, a part of him wishing he could have heard the girl telling her teammates:
"We did it, Triple Gs..."
And Might Guy responding:
"So, it is happening after all!"
And Genma, adding:
"You bet!"
After both Nohara girls properly recuperated from her exam injuries and the day after Rin came out of the hospital, the two arrived at home wearing their new chunin vests with a surprise fanfare from both of her parents waiting for them and a large poster with confetti that read: Congratulations on being promoted to chunin, Rin and Gillie!
Mama ran to hug Rin's and cried over her shoulder saying again and again how proud she was of her, while Papa came to Gillie and patted her shoulders saying she had done an awesome job kicking butts in the arena, which made Gillie laugh. Then, their parents exchanged places where Papa did the same thing with Rin before kissing the top of her head, while Mama grabbed Gillie's cheeks and repaired on what a long journey she had gone through since arriving to the village and how proud she was of her. None of the differences went unnoticed by Gillie, nor the fact that it was always Rin and Gillie, never Gillie and Rin, but she shook her head and enjoyed the cake Mama had prepared, eager for the night to arrive where she would go to the Akimichi household and eat Mama Akimichi's handmade ramen bowl with her new friends. All previous animosity forgotten with Guy and newly found bonds with Genma.
"I'll accompany you towards their house, Gillie-chan!" Rin caught up with her while she put on her shoes at the entrance of their home, once the night fell and she was about to leave.
"Sure." Gillie smiled and they silently walked side by side under the stars. The road to the Akimichi household wasn't far and they soon found themselves out of it, smelling the delicious aroma of ramen steam coming out the opened windows.
"Have a lot of fun with your team, yes?" Rin said hiding her hands beneath her back and Gillie nodded once, before turning away ready to meet her friends. Before she could move any further though, Rin threw herself at her, arms around her neck and giggling, then took a step back leaving Gillie feeling dumbfounded.
"What was that for?" Gillie asked with curiosity.
"I love you so much, little sister!"
Gillie fought the smile ready to appear on her face and nodded.
"And I apologize for Mama and Papa not seeing your last match." She bowed deeply and stayed there, but Gillie just shrugged.
"I understand, you were severely injured, they needed to be with you." With their daughter. Gillie shook her head and then back up to Rin. "Now, go." She nodded towards the door. "They must be waiting for me, and Mama and Papa must be waiting for you."
Rin nodded and raised a hand in motion of goodbye. That moment filled Gillie with a strange, deep sense of peace: somehow she felt that things were about to fall into place towards where they needed to be.
"I love you! I love you, Gillie-chan!" Rin exclaimed enthusiastically to Gillie's amusement.
"Maybe you should be playing with death on your doorstep more often. It makes you sweeter, you know?" Gillie smirked, crossing her arms.
"I'm just so happy!" Rin said looking down at her vest and hers. "We are chunin, Gillie! Chunin!"
Gillie smiled but a frown appeared on her forehead, a part of her wishing she could feel the same way about the title as her sister seemed to feel.
"Yeah, awesome."
"Chunin!" Rin sighed. "All of us. You, me, Kakashi, Obito will be soon enough, I am sure..."
"DON'T FORGET MIGHT GUY, AS WELL!" The screen door behind Gillie slid opened to reveal the owner of the name.
"And Genma." The other boy said shrugging and toying with the senbon in his mouth, a smirk appearing in his face.
"Welcome Gillie! Are you ready for Mama's ram- Oh! I didn't know you were accompanied!" Choza sensei said appearing at the entrance.
"She was just-"
"I was about to leave, do not mind me!" Rin said shaking her hands.
"Why, aren't you hungry as well?"
"OH!? Are we hosting Nohara Rin into our little team rendezvous? What an honour! To be in the presence of an acolyte of the Yellow Flash of Konoha!"
"But I was about to-"
"She was just-"
"Sure thing, I'd like to hear some adventures of Team Minato." Genma shrugged toying with his senbon.
"And luckily for us, Mama Akimichi always cooks more than needed!" Choza sensei opened his wide arms, welcoming the new girl into his home.
"Well, I guess I am a bit hungry-"
"But, sensei- this was supposed to-" Gillie began.
"OH, COME THIS WAY, HONORABLE RIN NOHARA! Tonight you are our special guest, and while we're at it you might even spill some juicy secrets and weaknessses on my dear fellow rival, Kakashi..."
"Aren't you coming, Gills?" Genma said over his shoulder before everyone disappeared in a fuzz, orbitating around Rin into the house.
"I... But..." Gillie slouched down and sighed deeply. "Yeah..."
The door slammed behind her covering a night of ramen and attentions directed at the medic-nin apprentice and pupil of the Yellow Flash, while Gillie kept a static smiley face the whole evening.
A/N: Don't forget to review!
