12 YEARS LATER
A young woman strut down the streets of a forsaken village at the North of the Land of the Earth with eye-catching, red high-heeled shoes that every passer by had to look back to question the taste of the woman whose face hid behind an open magazine. The woman in question disappeared around a corner street and out of their minds for the villagers to continue with their life, concerned with the stranger's lack of decorum and outrageous fashion taste, unsuspecting of any inner hidden motivations. Suddenly, the woman dropped on her knees and tapped on the ground beneath her, receiving as her signal an echoing and hollow metallic sound. She quickly moved the sewer cover and jumped inside, before covering it back again submerging herself into the darkness and none the wiser.
She pulled out the fancy coat and blonde wig she was wearing, tossing it into the sewer black waters and ran down the pipe and into the hidden laboratory of Orochimaru, feeling her heartbeat on her neck as she came upon a crossroads. Her plan hadn't taken her that far, so that at this point it was merely a game of luck. Out of a whim, she chose left because villains could never be right and soon came upon a series of tanks lining the vast chamber perimeter. She took one step in, minding to avoid a wire trap, only to notice too late there was a second one exactly where she had step.
"Katon: Fire Flower no Jutsu!" She aimed the fire balls at the sliding snakes coming her way and didn't stop until the creatures screeched and burned with a rancid smell that made her stomach churn. She had never liked the smell of things burning, but she had learned to keep up with it having a nature of fire.
She made use of her physical skills to jump over several other traps, giving it to Orochimaru that the man would never leave a secret lair unprotected or any of his experiments, really. She was living proof of that.
Finally, she fell on one knee before listening to the sound of clapping. She stood up and sighed, sticking her right hip out and with a vein popping on her forehead.
"You finally arrive." The voice of her master came from a chair, where he sat with his feet up on the desk.
"Try doing everything you did in heels, old man, and we'll see how it goes for you." She pointed at him before pulling off the nasty shoes and tossing them away. She hoped the snake wasn't a fan of heels, if he ever returned to this base of his, which seemed unlikely by how it looked, he would find himself with a new pair and she didn't want to give him that ounce of happiness. "Did you find something?" She asked looking over Jiraiya's shoulder.
"Mmm..."
"Huh?" She tilted her head to read the documents in his hand.
"It seems like our old friend Orochimaru has got friends infiltrated inside the Leaf."
"A spy." Gillie frowned noticing the stolen official documents in Orochimaru's personal desk. Jiraiya handed them to her. "Did you knew about this?" She gaped at the printed pages.
"I'm afraid... yes."
"And when did you think it would be a good idea to tell me another whole clan was eliminated?" She asked composedly reading the report in her hands, then irking a brow and looking at him. "You know a friend of mine was an Uchiha."
"You're missing the point here. Why is Orochimaru interested in the Uchiha Massacre, huh? Question for extra points."
"I..." She huffed. "I don't know... Knowing that psycho freak, he'll probably find a way to dig out their graves and steal his sharingans?"
"Nice try! Scary how quickly you came up with that, don't ever mention the idea around him, he'll probably try to go through with it." Jiraiya crossed his arms before standing up and searching around. "Any more ideas?"
"Huh..." Gillie tilted her head. "It says here there was one survivor. The son of the clan, precisely." She looked up. "Do you think it's got something to do with him?"
"I don't think so, I take it for granted. It's always the heirs, isn't it?" Jiraiya sighed and went his own way to keep on digging, while Gillie turned the page around to stare at the photograph of the scared boy, Sasuke Uchiha. He didn't ring a bell, but she had soon learned that life at Konoha had followed its path after she left to find hers. The boy in question looked back at her from the photograph and she felt an angry feeling churning inside her gut, while she rubbed the cold sweat running down her forehead.
"He's so young." She said reading his age, but then again around those years she had fought a war and Orochimaru had tried his scientific experiments on her. In retrospective, she realized she had also been very young. Watching at Sasuke Uchiha's picture she thought the idea of that snake coming anywhere near him didn't make her feel comfortable. Her sensei was right, the mad scientist had a thing for descendants... Something caught her attention on the floor, a yellow paper facing downwards on the floor. Gillie put down the stolen report and knelt down to grab the yellow papel. A flier.
"Master?" She called over her shoulder, her eyes not leaving her discovering. "I think I found something!"
Jiraiya rushed to her side and knelt down, now him being the one looking over her shoulder.
"Mmm... this isn't good."
"That Uchiha boy?" Gillie told him. "He's 12 now... He must be taking part in it."
"That tells us something, doesn't it? The snake is coming back to Konoha. After all this years."
Gillie frowned, standing up and looking down at him.
"But, we've been following his trail for ages. Does it mean...?"
"Yes, it does." Jiraiya stood up and cracked his neck. "Ready for the long journey ahead of us? We're heading home, kid." Jiraiya patted her shoulder before walking away, leaving her in a daze.
She had grown so much in the past 12 years, physically and mentally. Her health was mostly stable these days. However, was it wise to return now? Perhaps, it was time to make a visit to Mama, she might also try to reach Papa. She would love to meet Choza sensei's kid and getting to see the Fourth's son. Was she truly prepared to go back to that place and meet teammates and classmates and having her memories resurface?
Gillie sighed with concern and took a deep breath, before running after Jiraiya, rubbing the cold sweat of her forehead again.
"And, well?" Jiraiya bit his nails, eyes expecting on her editor's resolution in the initial draft of his next book. Sadly, the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja hadn't been received with the acclaim both him and Gillie had expected, which is why he tried to go on a new route, and well... Icha Icha Paradise had been a total success, so writing a sequel was a must. "Please, stop making faces while you read!" He cried, she smiled sheepishly.
"I cannot help it. Even with a good book, I can hardly ever not make faces-"
"So, you're saying it's bad?"
"I'm saying it is..." She began to sweat. "Oh, heavens-" She grabbed the bridge of her nose and looked up at the sky. "When did I go from being an editor of children's books to editor of tasteless, dirty adult romances?!"
"Somewhere after turning 18?" Jiraiya recoiled after the daggers Gillie sent him. "And, well?"
Gillie rubbed her head when her gaze identified the border with the Land of Fire. She gave him back his draft, rather roughly, and gulping, tightening her hold in the straps of her traveling backpack, she said:
"And, here we run."
"NO, GILLIE! Don't leave like that! Gillie! Oh, curse her..."
The man followed after her, running and jumping on branches through the woods on their way back to Konoha. She had no mercy on him and ran for days, to the point that he considered chopping some of her hair only to be able to keep up with her stamina levels. Eventually, she came to a stop with the excuse that she needed to use the bathroom, but he knew better. It was that wicked vanity of hers stemming from her paranoia that kept increasing with each year, that had next to nothing to do with aging. After they came close to the outer walls of Konoha, she had to look herself in the mirror once. He wished he could blame it entirely on that awful summoning animal of hers.
"Gillie..." He said in a sing-song voice, balancing from side to side.
"What?!" The woman's voice snapped from a few meter away where she couldn't be seen.
"Wow-ho! Someone's gotten bold. I remember the times when you used to say "Yes, Jiraiya-sama" and "No Jiraiya-sama-""
"I also used to call you "old man"."
"That much hasn't changed." Jiraiya told himself through his teeth. "Only now, I was wondering about your thoughts on my latest draft! Any positive-feedback I should know about?" Gillie walked out of her hiding spot, cleaning her hands in the process. Jiraiya smirked observing her now combed hair and clean face.
"How about some negative-feedback?" She exclaimed with faked good-heartedness. "It's tacky, Master Jiraiya! T-A-C-K-Y. Tacky. Okay? I'll try to do my best, but I hardly can do anything with such a male-perspective vision in a whole book that is meant at a target market of middle aged women! Heavens, I still don't get how Icha Icha Trash was better received than the Gutsy Ninja..."
"Will you make my vision come true?" Jiraiya's eyes cried rivers as he pouted and rubbed his face, shoulders sagging at her response.
"I'll try to do my best, but I can't make miracles, my friend."
"You didn't have any trouble when working one with your face, back there." He said still in the middle of crying, before it turned into a sharp conniving, fox-like face. "Is that lipstick you're wearing?" His signal to run away was watching Gillie's blood ability activate and her hairs spiking up as a purcopine. He ran for his life.
Kotesu sighed loudly and finished peeling the orange he had been working on for the past 5 minutes, before tossing it Izumo's way.
"Thanks, man." His partner smiled.
"It's nothing. Anyway, this lady of yours...?"
"Yeah. She works at the dango shop." Izumo looked up at the sky. "She's too pretty, though."
"Izumo... you are not so bad looking, pal." Kotetsu cleared his throat.
"Aw, I appreciate it." Izumo nodded. "I even thought asking Genma for advice..."
"Do not make that mistake, friend. Genma is not the type of bachelor you want to be."
"Mm?"
"He's the jerky type. Only dumb girls dig that these days."
"Mm-hm..."
"In another note, did you hear about the preliminaries? Hayate told me Guy's kid was seriously injured. He's not doing so great."
"Who? Lee?"
"No, Guy... But also Lee, yes."
Izumo groaned.
"Damn..." He dragged the word, "I placed a bet on him-"
Kotetsu coughed looking around, making sure no one had heard.
"Same here... And, something stranger happened. Naruto won his match. Can you believe it?"
"Ugh, Naruto." Both of them groaned in one voice.
"I suppose all of Kakashi's students passed the next round." Izumo asked, but more like stating it.
"Not the girl, no. What's her name?"
"Sakura Haruno."
"Yeh, the same."
"Mmm..."
The two entrance guards fell into a silence that lasted for a few minutes, in which Izumo ate his fruit and Kotetsu whistled some old song he had grown up listening in his Obaachan's radio, wishing the final rounds of this year's Chunin exams would arrive faster. He'd had fun messing with those kids before the written exam and was looking forward to do so again. Suddenly, Izumo reached for his binoculars.
"Someone's coming."
"Hn?" Kotetsu frowned at him.
"Is that..." Izumo shook his head, without taking his eyes off the binoculars. "Nah, no way..."
"Who?"
"Could it...?"
"Izumo?"
"Oh my! It is..." Izumo laughed once like a madman and dropped the binoculars, disappearing with a poof.
"Who was it?" Kotetsu yelled reaching for the binoculars before they could reach the ground. "Idiot..." He said dusting them off and taking them to his eyes. Through the binoculars lenses she saw a pair of people coming this way from the forest. One, definitely was Jiraiya-sama, if he remembered him correctly walking around the village during his chunin years, if only looking a bit beaten-up. The other one was a woman, with very long lustrous hair, shining healthily even in the distance and walking a few feet ahead. "My, my... Now, that's something that should cheer Guy up... Gillie Nohara is back."
Both Jiraiya and his apprentice bowed down, respectfully, at Konoha's current leader, the Third Hokage.
"It is nice to see you again, Jiraiya, after so many years." His sensei smiled at the sight of him and for a moment Jiraiya reminisced of a further time back in the past, when he had been brought to this very same room many times after getting in trouble as a child to face the same man now in front of him. Jiraiya nodded with a small smile, finding Sarutobi-sensei in good health and back on his position as Hokage. "And Gillie, of course. You are looking happier than last time I saw you."
"Yes. I suppose it is true what they say: that only time heals... I would also add distance, getting to travel the world and meeting all kinds of new different people." Gillie thought aloud, grabbing her chin. "Yes, also that."
"I have no doubt you have grown to become a powerful kunoichi." He said fondly, grabbing her attention again. "And beautiful, too."
Gillie hesitated before noticing the judging gaze of her sensei. She cleared her throat and bowed again.
"Coming from you, I feel honored, Third Hokage-sama"
Jiraiya snorted and pointed at her over his shoulder.
"Would you look at that? She's got her Mama's looks and Papa's charm-"
The Hokage irked a brow, while Gillie's eye twitched before turning towards his sensei and shaking her hands in front of her at the Third.
"Don't mind him, Hokage-sama, it's just this stupid story he comes up with every time we're asked about our precedence. As you can see Master Jiraiya has became one cheesy, senile-"
"Who're you calling senile, kid?!" Jiraiya yelled bonking her in the head. The Third Hokage seemed to find them amusing by the chuckle that came out of his chest.
"It is good to see some things haven't changed..."
Gillie, still rubbing her head, didn't seem to receive this comment in the best way, but with his life experience Jiraiya had learned that, indeed, although change is inevitable some few things remaining the same were not so bad from time to time. He could agree with his sensei on that.
"On to more important matters, Third Hokage, we came as soon as we stepped on the village."
"Which has me wondering, what is it that has brought you back so suddenly and without announcement. I am sure it must have been a very long trek home. Last time I heard of you, you were somewhere by the Land of Lightening."
"Are you telling me your old student Orochimaru hasn't made act of presence to this year's chunin exams?" Just like that the atmosphere in the room thickened, while the Hokage put his hands together in front of himself.
"He has, indeed. I suppose you're still after him."
Jiraiya looked down at Gillie, now looking all serious and meaning business only.
"That's what we do. That's what we've done all this time." He said and she nodded back, before they both turned to the Hokage. "Tracking down the snake."
"We've got reasons to believe he's after the Uchiha boy. Sasuke Uchiha?" Gillie said.
"Which is why, until we know he has left Konoha, we are staying. I will personally search for his trail, while Gillie here will guard the boy." Jiraiya looked back at her by the corner of her eye. "Which is where she should be heading now, for I have some other important matters to discuss with you Hokage-sama-"
"But-"
"And, it's not available for dumb, little girls to hear-"
"Was the insult really necessary?" She groaned, "Fair enough, but I'm twenty-five-!"
"Thank you very much, Gillie. This shall be everything for now." The Hokage interrupted her, "You might be able to find Sasuke Uchiha at the hospital. I will send someone to deliver a report with everything you need to know about what has been going on with the boy. You are dismissed."
The kunoichi looked from him to Jiraiya, repeatedly, while her mouth opened and closed, before she seemed to accept it reluctantly and bowed once before disappearing with a poof, leaving the two men to their own.
"What could be so delicate that you wouldn't want someone like Gillie, whom I believe is of your complete trust, to hear, Jiraiya?"
Jiraiya nodded looking down at the floor before raising his gaze.
"It's about an organization I've been hearing much about while investigating on my own, Hokage-sama... Have your ever heard the name Akatsuki?"
Gillie kicked a stone on her way out of the Hokage tower, feeling a bit annoyed, but decided to focus on what was currently important: protecting the Uchiha boy.
If only the village had not changed so much in 12 years to keep her distracted and astray. Looking around, searching for the most optimal path to reach the hospital, she noticed a huge feeling of a light purple color (if it could be described in any way) overpowering her. Like the color of the sky after a rainy day. She took her time to look around from her spot in front of the Hokage tower, turning around on her place, pointing at places she recognized and then at things she did not.
"That was never here before... But, I remember that... That's where we-"
"MY SOUL SISTER!"
Gillie jumped on her place turning around to see the hurricane in green, leaving a trail of dust behind itself as it rushed and made its way towards her, a blubbering crying mess. Gillie's chest filled again with the same feeling of before, and her vision blurred at the sight of her old friend.
"Might Guy." She whispered, watching the man traveling a thousand miles per hour with his hands extended in front of him.
"MY YOUTHFUL FLOWER!"
Gillie's face morphed into a horror-struck grin as she realized if he kept that speed she would be pulverized.
"Guy?" She called a bit more terrified.
"MY NUTTY HAIRED ONE!"
At the very last second and with dread chilling her bones, Gillie took a step away from Guy's path and where the boy would have crashed on the ground in the past, the man did a tiger jump, rolled on the ground and getting back on his feet stroke a pose that exclaimed "I am fine!", before turning around to cover his mouth and jump on his toes, looking at her.
"Gillie, you are back!" He moaned with delight. "I cannot believe it!"
"My dear friend." She looked at him entirely, "You better do it." She quickly rubbed her eyes. "Look at you, Guy, you look so..." Well, she didn't want to lie or say anything rude during their first encounter. "Grown-up!" She smiled frowningly.
"My, and look at you! Why, last time I saw you, you were a half-dead looking walking stick!" A vein popped on Gillie's forehead. It was good to see that at least his cheerful way to deliver words was still intact.
"Thanks." She said, right eye twitching.
"Oh, I'm so excited, I cannot believe you're here, and-OH!" He stroke a dramatic pose. "Why did it have to be now, after- after..." Guy broke down into a fit of uncontrollable cries in which Gillie couldn't make herself to do anything else other than patting his shoulder, feeling sympathetic for him.
"Now, now, what happened, Guy?" She asked sweating with concern.
"My! Gillie, you will not believe what just happened! You were only too late to see him at his best- It is my boy, Gillie! It is my boy, and he is NOT okay!"
Gillie covered her mouth with her hands and gasped.
"Guy, did you have a son?!"
Guy place a firm hand on her shoulder and pointed at the distance.
"Why, Lee is more than a son to me, our bond runs deeper than a mere blood connection." His head snapped at her. "He is my student!" Guy raised his thumb and winked. She had so many questions about the wellbeing of the boy, but she was also glad that Guy had became a teacher. She could perfectly see how that worked; he had been very encouraging with her as a kid when she had wanted to improve her skills before meeting her current master.
Guy, a teacher. Gillie found her eyes blurring again and had to rub them to keep them from tearing up. What is happening to me today?
"Oh, but there is no time for tears!" Guy suddenly became serious. "You have to meet him... YES! YOU HAVE TO MEET, LEE! LET US GO! TO THE HOSPITAL!" Before she could say anything else, Gillie found herself being dragged to the hospital, which was kind of okay considering that's where she had meant to go in the first place.
The hospital was a place that brought back many old memories; it is where she would come and spend time with Rin during her lunch breaks, where she had spent days recovering with Guy and Genma after disastrous missions, and where she ultimately was taken when Orochimaru kidnapped her for the first time. So many memories... which is why the place almost felt sacred. Guy must have noticed the change in her demeanor, for he also changed his, adapting to her state as he had so easily done since they were kids. They were quiet as soon as they walked in, and he didn't quicken his pace when she took longer and slower strides, while sliding her hand, touching the white walls next to her.
"This way." It was the only type of commands he gave her, and waited for her every time she stopped to stare at something, whether it was a water tank or a bench.
Eventually, they walked into a silent room, where a single boy slept over a white bed. Gillie tilted her head, staring at the boy and then back at Guy who seemed to be lost in worried thoughts while staring at his student, that if she hadn't been told otherwise she could have swore was Guy's child. They looked very much alike, even by the bowl cut and thick brows. Guy looked at her as if waiting for her to say something.
"Guy..."
"Isn't he beautiful?"
Gillie nodded sincerely, unable to see but sensing the terribly damaged chakra points of the boy. Watching the young one injured in such a way... it was triggering, to say the least. She rubbed the cold sweat off her forehead before joining her hands together.
"What happened to him?" She frowned behind her hands. The two of them took a seat and she listened to everything there was to know about Rock Lee: his abilities (and lack thereof), the type of training Guy had instructed at Lee, the match with a Sand shinobi and the consequences of it.
"All there is to do now is wait." Guy sighed looking miserable, which broke Gillie's heart for her friend and the boy. He was so young. For the third time in that day, Gillie felt her eyes blurring and she had to look up to keep them at bay.
Seriously, what has gotten into me?
"He sounds like a fighter to me." She said looking back at Lee's unconscious frame, not wanting to say or make promises about everything being okay. If there was something she had learn about the shinobi life it was that things going okay was like a fortune wheel, and knowing Guy he would take her words too close to heart. "All there is to do now is wait." She agreed.
"Um..." The man rubbed his face and stood up, suddenly feeling nervous. "There is a very important errand I need to do right now, but um... feel free to stay for as long as you want! I'm sure Lee would've liked that, he's only heard so much about you and hoped for the day he would finally be able to meet you." Gillie felt warmth in her chest hearing her friend had spoken about her with his students. "If there is anything I can help you with before I leave..."
"Actually, there is." Gillie nodded at him. "By any chance, would you know in which hospital room I can find one Sasuke Uchiha?"
With Sasuke still out and Naruto under Ebisu's supervision, Kakashi was hoping to rest for a while before going back out again at night to search for clues on Kabuto and Orochimaru's whereabouts. Something was beginning to brew in Konoha, and it had everything to do with the Chunin exams. As a result, he had been taking double patrolling shifts and it didn't look like the situation would change anytime soon. Therefore, in those spare moments: rest.
"Kakashi! Open up, for heaven's sake! Kakashi! It's of utmost urgency!" Kakashi groaned inside the book he was currently reading, and having lost all decorum through the years, Guy didn't wait for him to answer the door, appearing instead with a poof in the middle of his living room. Noticing his comfortable position in the couch, Guy pointed accusingly at him. "My, Kakashi! Weren't you planning on opening that door?"
"What is it you need?" Kakashi smiled at him. Automatically, changing his demeanor, Kakashi figured out something very good must have happened for him to be this happy after what happened with his student.
"You simply will not believe who has returned to the village!"
Kakashi pondered on it for a moment, but all of their friends hadn't been allowed to leave on missions as a consequence of their students participating in the Chunin Exams. It could be Tenzo, though, he hadn't seen him in a while...
"Who?" Kakashi asked sheepishly.
"You'll have to guess first!"
Kakashi looked at him for a moment, studying the emotions in his face and then back to his book, feeling tempted to go back at it, before going back at Guy. Then, he decided for the second option and just like that continued his reading, leaving Guy waiting.
"Er... Kakashi? Aren't you trying to take a guess?" He asked realizing he had lost the attention of his fellow jonin. If it was important, Kakashi knew, Guy would say it anyway. There was no point on putting up with his antics.
"Well, since you seem only too eager to know..."
There it is.
"...why, none other than a ghost from the past, my friend!" Guy bursted with energy, and then, to the surprise of Kakashi's ears (since his eyes continued glued on the latest discovery of Akiko) shifted towards a sweeter and more composed demeanor. That by itself was almost as interesting to hear as reading about Ren's love affair. Almost. "An old fellow shinobi and dear classmate of us, that has traveled a long and far away distance to return to us, Kakashi." He insisted, before whispering: "It is her! She is back and she is here! She's been ordered to guard Sasuke Uchiha by the Hokage himself! Gillie is back."
...
"I said, Gillie is back!" Guy repeated a bit more enthusiastic having the same success at provoking a reaction out of him. That is, none. "Er... Kakashi? Don't you want to come see her? It is Gillie. Gillie Nohara."
"Haven't you seen her already?" Kakashi tilted his head, eyes still on the printed pages.
"Yes, with my very own eyes! But... I thought maybe you'd be-"
Kakashi yawned, stretching his arms over his head before getting more comfortable on the couch. He finally met his eyes.
"Would you mind locking the door on your way out, please?" Kakashi smiled at him before covering his face with the book.
"Er..." Guy seemed to hesitate looking quite disturbed by his lack of emotion, and then gasped. "Oh-ho-ho, I know this trick of yours, Kakashi! I cannot believe I almost fell for it! Always trying to look so cool and uninterested, but I shall not fall for your old facade, my rival! There is evolution in the air, just as spring morphs turning blooming flowers into summer breezes. I refuse to fall for it!"
"Thanks, Guy." Kakashi sang from under the book.
"I refuse!" The man exclaimed opening the door dramatically. "Now, I shall be on my way to announce the good news to Genma! Good afternoon, Kakashi Hatake!" And with a loud doorslam Guy was gone, finally leaving him on his own to rest.
Sasuke Uchiha.
Gillie tilted her head towards one side and then the other, trying to find any resemblance between the last living heir of clan Uchiha and the memory of Obito Uchiha she still possessed, but other than the common traits she remembered all their family members to have (the characteristic dark hair and fair skin, for example), there was nothing in there, nothing that provoked an emotion on her.
Nevertheless, it was hard to judge a book by its cover. Who knew? Perhaps right now the unconscious Sasuke Uchiha might have looked nothing like Obito, but only perhaps, there was something in their bloodline that carried that unwavering faith and energy her old classmate had had, only apparent when in conscious state. A part of her hoped that was the case.
Shaking her head, trying to focus on the mission at hand she opened the files sent by the Hokage on Sasuke Uchiha. By the time, she finished she felt as if she knew Sasuke a bit more.
"Who would have thought we have more in common than we thought, eh Sasuke?" She spoke to the unconscious boy, meaning both the massacre of their people, being left on their own as a child and having the snake after them at some point. At least, she'd been adopted, she'd had a family and... onee-san. Gillie shook her head. "But you, be smarter than I was, huh? Don't listen to anything he has to say... I won't let you listen to anything he has to say... Should we promise on it?" She asked raising her pinky finger with no response from him. "Okay, I understand, if you must insist, we can work on it after you wake up. There is no need to give me that face." Sasuke's face remained impassive.
After a while also growing bored of talking alone, she sighed heavily slumping back on the chair and looking over her shoulder sensing the presence of someone arriving. She had to double take to make sure she wasn't imagining things.
A silver haired jonin quietly walked into the room, carrying a book in front of his face with one hand and with the other hand inside his pocket. The man wore a face mask that covered half of it and a second covering right above his left eye. He had an aura of being physically and mentally exhausted, Gillie noticed, but his eyes were severe as they raised to search in Sasuke's face for any sign of him being back to consciousness. As if made to confirm her theory, the jonin placed two fingers in Sasuke's jugular, and opened one of his eyes, just like a medic-nin would have done. With a heavy sigh of his own, the man turned on his heels and left the way he had come, leaving Gillie confused on whether she had actually been in that room the entire time. She frowned at herself.
"Kakashi?" She asked herself, before turning around on her chair and towards the empty door.
It had been him. He had changed, of course. Grown up. He was taller and sturdier than the 14 year old boy she had known, but there was no mistake it had been him. The same characteristic silver hair, his stance, his mask and dark eyes (or more like the one visible eye he had) she remembered so well. And, he had not seen her?
"I guess, he didn't..." She said slowly getting back on the proper position in her chair. "Huh..." She irked a brow.
Had he really not seen her sitting there enough to forget to acknowledge her or, perhaps, he had a lot in his head to pay attention to the person next to Sasuke? He had been reading a book... but still, unlikely. Rarely a thing had ever gone under Kakashi's radar in the past. Then, had he not recognized her? Gillie shook her head, still feeling confused and dumbstruck by seeing again yet another classmate of hers so soon. She rubbed her forehead and scoffed before looking back towards the open door. She stood up and looked over her shoulder.
"Don't you dare to move, eh Sasuke?" She said allowing herself to sound amused, before rushing out of the room.
"Oh! Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura waved at her teacher passing by her on his was out of the hospital.
"Yo." He said raising a hand.
"Did you come to see Sasuke?"
"You too." Noticing the flowers in her hands, Kakashi's smiled grew wider under his mask.
Sakura felt her cheeks burn red. CHAA! Why did sensei always had to find her in the middle of doing something nice for Sasuke? If she was honest with herself, it only made her feel more embarrassed because of the fact that she had been the only member of Team 7 who didn't make it to the final rounds.
"I-I also brought some for Lee."
"That's very nice of you." Kakashi patted her head and continued on his way. "Guess I'll see you around." He said raising up a hand in the air without looking back.
Sakura smiled at his back before continuing her own trek towards Sasuke, hoping he was doing better and he would soon be back on his feet. He had to train and prepare himself if he wanted to kick some Sand butts in the arena (at least, she hoped he did, for Lee's sake). She opted for visiting Sasuke first and was about to enter his room when she almost bumped into a woman coming out of it. By her speed, it would have been an ugly impact if the woman hadn't had such impressive reflexes to move aside on the very last millisecond.
"Sorry, kid!" The woman said before disappearing in a sprint down the hallway.
Sakura was left shocked for a moment, before bad thoughts clouded her mind and she ran into Sasuke's bedroom to make sure he was still there and safe. Nothing had changed, he was resting, but that only spiked her curiosity on why did that ninja (because she had clearly been shinobi), who was not a medic-nin and definitely not a citizen of Konoha (by the sight of her clothes) had been at Sasuke's room.
"Kakashi-sensei!" She gasped to herself. If he hadn't left yet, she could alarm him on what she had just seen. She stared at the window; it was a hospital, but desperate situations called for desperate measures. She ran towards it ready to open it before coming upon the view of her sensei standing in the street talking with the woman from before. "Eh?" Sakura bit her thumb. "What is this?"
"Kakashi?" Gillie called him running to catch up with him. The man mindlessly walking a few meters in front of her, holding the same book from before in front of his face, stopped on his tracks and turned back over his shoulder looking oblivious. "Kakashi!" She gasped finally reaching him. "It is you! I knew it had to be you, it was- I mean-" She pointed back at the hospital. "Wow!" She shook her head, not believing her eyes and certainly only know believing she was for real back at Konoha.
She never expected it would be the image of Kakashi, meeting him after all this years, that would drop the ice bucket of reality on her, but here she was speechless at the sight of him. Perhaps it was that her strongest memories on Konoha, both good and bad, had been for a long time guarded inside her mind with the image of the boy imbedded in them. And here he was, no longer a boy. Foreign, yet familiar. It was Kakashi. Kakashi Hatake. Her memories took her back to pijama parties and talking late at night, whispering about the boy, it took her back to missions and quarrels, thoughts and decisions, backtracking, continuing, regretting, mending, leaving... How could a person hold so much power in one's memories.
"I-uh..." Gillie gulped and shook her head again, trying to not make things awkward. "Didn't you just see me right now?" She half-smiled pointing over her shoulder.
"Eh?" The man asked looking confused, trasmitting his confusion to her.
"Uh-" Her frowned deepened and placed a hand over her chest. "It is-It is I! Don't you... recognize me?" Her voice slowed down, she waited for a response but the man simply stared stoically at her, scanning her up and down and then back up. She touched her cheek with her fingertips, deep fears surfacing before shaking her head. "I'm Gillie." She said wishing her voice didn't come up sounding strained.
"Gillie Nohara." He stated as if saying "isn't it obvious?".
She didn't care what tone he used for she felt an instant relief listening to him say her name, as if with the simple acknowledgement he confirmed her whole existence. She had been here before, her memories and the people in them had been real. Everything that had come to happen had really happened, this 12 years also had, and she was so far away from all of that. She had come a long way. She was still here. Gillie chuckled once, she had never thought that having someone like Kakashi not forgetting her name would feel nice.
"Thanks for remembering." She kept on smiling feeling stranged by her own words, before blinking and looking up at him. "Woah, look at you! You haven't changed much. How have you-?"
"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked amicably, but leaving Gillie without words for the second time. "Perhaps, directions? As you might have noticed already, a lot of things have changed around here in your absence, and I'm sure you're aware of the current threat of Orochimaru-"
"I just..." She interrupted him, "thought I'd say... hi." She felt her cheeks grow red with embarrassment the further she explained herself. The man in front of her clearly had his mind on important village matters and here she was thinking about silly personal ones.
What had she even been expecting in return? Kakashi and her had never been friends exactly. An effusive welcoming like Guy's? Suddenly, she was a naive child again, under the cold, judgemental stare of a boy...
Then again, they might have never been friends... but she had thought, that at least by the end...
"Did you..." She began, feeling stupid all of a sudden, while pointing away. "Back there, did you purposely ignored me?"
He simply arched his brows again with that nonchalant expression she remembered too well and Gillie hissed, the entirety of the situation finally dawning in.
"You really haven't changed much, huh?" She frowned with frustration and scoffed. "You- you-" He waited almost egging her to continue with his stare, but she wasn't going to fall for it. No, sir. She had grown up, she had matured, she was different, she had-
"You haven't either." He shrugged and somehow hearing that hurt a lot. "Not one bit. Except, maybe..." His eye winked in a smile, "did you grow your hair or something?"
Gillie bit her lips harshly, and turning on her heels marched back to the hospital feeling humiliated. This was her punishment for leaving her post.
Back in Sasuke's room, Sakura ran away from the window watching the woman rushing back into the hospital. If she were to return to the room, she didn't want to be discovered peeping on them. Although, by the lady's demeanor the most gossipy side of internal Sakura wished she could have heard what was said out there.
Indeed, the stranger returned into the room and angrily slumped over the chair by the bed, bickering under her breath.
"Uh- hello!" Sakura said making the lady snap her head her way, scaring Sakura for a moment, before she noticed this.
"I'm sorry! I-" The woman closed her eyes and scratched her head. "I was thinking about something. Um-" The lady wasn't in the best mood, but she seemed to be trying to be nice. "Hello."
"Er- I don't think I've seen you around before." Sakura told her observing her with interest. "I was just wondering... You are not from here, right?" Sakura then turned to the boy on the bed. "Are you here for him? Do you know Sasuke?"
The woman's frown disappeared.
"Are you a friend of his?" She asked Sakura and the girl nodded. "Then I guess you're a friend of mine." She explained, still looking troubled in her eyes. Sakura bobbed her head before looking towards the window once.
"Are you also a friend of my sensei?" The woman irked a questioning eyebrow. "Kakashi-sensei." Sakura clarified. "He is Sasuke's and mine... and also Naruto's."
The face of the woman hardened for a moment.
"Of course he is. Of course he just had to be..."
Sakura concluded those two were not friends. The lady met her eyes again, her hazel ones melting the longer she stared at Sakura. How could she tell they were melting? Why it was only the way her mother sometimes looked at her when she wasn't yelling at her.
"What is your name?" She asked the girl.
"I'm... Sakura." The young kunoichi replied still feeling uncertain on whether to trust the woman. As if reading her thoughts, she said:
"There's no need for you to be afraid, Sakura." She stood up sharply. "I'm here to protect Sasuke, under the orders of the Third Hokage. I came from far away just to do this and only this." The woman said this as if she was also telling it to herself, as if she was reaffirming her sole purpose on being on that place, then her hazel eyes looked at her again, growing warm again. "But since you are friends, why don't you tell me more about him?" The woman irked a brow. "Did you bring those flowers for him?"
"What's got your chakra in a knot, kid?" Jiraiya observed his protégée munching on her bowl of ramen once again sending him into a deja vu. He had been having plenty of those during the past few days since their return and he didn't doubt it had been the same for Gillie. In response, the young woman bickered under her breath and unashamedly stole the narutomaki from his own bowl.
"Hey!" He complained.
"I just had a couple rough days. That's it." She said and he wondered what could possibly be rough of sitting by a bed guarding a child. If someone had had it rough, it was him.
"Anything good you could focus on?" He tried to enlighten her perspective for her own good. He knew her well to know where her thoughts tended to head towards, after almost 14 years of knowing her. She pondered on it for a moment.
"I met a girl at the hospital. She's a sweet kid. A genin. She will not dare to leave Sasuke's side of the bed either." She said quickly before going back to eat. "Anyway, what about you, Master? Did anything interesting happened to you?" She asked clearly uninterested on hearing the answer.
"I met a kid, too."
"Huh..."
"A real pain in the butt, he is."
"Uh-huh. Seems like you're a magnet for the kind, huh?"
"Ya think?!" He looked at her pointedly, Gillie grunted in response. It made Jiraiya drop his chopsticks and lean on his hand looking at her. "Wanna talk about it?"
"'Bout what?"
"Huh?"
"Hn..."
She groaned both of them understanding the other and reached for her cup of tea, drinking all of it in one go, before looking up at Ichiraku.
"Excuse me, Ichiraku-san? Do you sell sake in this place?" She asked, making Jiraiya grow with concern for he had never seen her the least interested in drinking alcohol in the past, not even during her dreadful teenage nor most rebellious of years. He internally scolded old Ichiraku for coming so quickly with one serve for each of them. With a moment of hesitation right before doing it, Gillie repeated the same thing she did with her hot tea and bottoms up. There was nothing he could do, she was a 25 year old woman now, he just hoped she'd be able to measure her intake on what he was certain was her first time by Gillie's scrunched-up face of surprise and disgust as the liquid traveled down her throat. She slammed the cup down, sighing before cleaning her mouth.
"So..." Her voice came out hoarse and teary eyes fixed on the table with a growing frown in her forehead, while her vision adjusted to it, before turning around on her chair to face him. "First I saw this one old classmate of mine, a teammate in fact." She said raising one finger. "He was my best friend, you can imagine his reaction when he saw me." She placed a hand over her chest, her eyes flickering with warmth as she shook her head before growing a grimace. "Then I saw this other classmate and uh... the guy was a jerk!" She suddenly snapped.
"A jerk you say?" He reached for his own beverage and drank it all, before turning towards Ichiraku. "Hey, old friend, I think I might need a couple more glasses to listen to this." Jiraiya and Gillie toasted before going bottoms up a second time, ignoring the faces from the restaurant owner and his daughter their way, "Then, what?" He asked beginning to feel the alcohol pumping in his veins.
"Listen," She poked him in the arm, her words beginning to come out with an almost imperceptible drawl. "I really don't care about him much, I swear!" She grimaced and slammed a hand down on the table. "We were never what one would call friends, oh-kay? I don't care if he's still the same jerk he was 12 years ago...! But then, Genma. He was my other teammate-"
"The first one you saw?"
"No! That's my other other teammate!"
"How many teammates did you have exactly?"
"Just two!"
"Okay, okay. There is no need to yell, I think I get it now."
"THANK YOU! As, I was saying...!" She rolled her eyes.
She kept on rambling and rambling with Jiraiya only half-listening to her as was common every time she had bad days, before asking for a third round for himself and commenting the woman she should probably stop for the night, the sake being definitely strong even for Jiraiya's standards, but she didn't listen and asked for a third glass herself.
Starting by the looming shadow over the jonin of her age, a dead body of a fellow shinobi in her year had been found recently in the streets, but on a more personal level, in summary, one of her best friends had been thrilled to meet her again her, another one seemed to want to have nothing with her and there was some other jerk who had been somewhat rude, but she didn't care much about (Jiraiya could tell that wasn't entirely true, though).
"...and, I don't even know why!" Gillie finished defeatedly.
"Mm-hm. Let me ask you something, Gillie, have you searched for your mother yet?" Jiraiya drawled on.
Gillie stood straight up on her seat, before balancing from side to side, she looked at him as if she couldn't recognize him.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you looked for her, yet? Gone "Hey, Mom! It's me, Gillie! I'm back!"" The lack of response from the girl told him as much. "Let me ask you this question: Why?"
She took her time to think of it and answered:
"Because, I left for 12 years, Jiraiya!" She completely slurred her words at this point and said with a tone that meant "duh". "Sure, she wasn't stoppin' me then, but didn't necessar' ly agree with my decision- She-she 'elped me pack, saw me leave and ever' thing, but she wasn't oh-kay with it. She never was." She rolled her eye as and the movement send her head rolling too. "I abandoned her, Jiraiya!" She moaned. "She said fine 'cause I needed to leave, and I-I didn't care for 'er, Jiraiya. I was just thinking 'bout me, Jiraiya." She scowled everytime she said his name and then scoffed sounding amused. "What a grateful daughter, leaving home after her other child died." She reached for her glass and noticing it empty, moved to steal Jiraiya's own drink. She hissed slamming the glass down, and Jiraiya looked around noticing Ichiraku's concerned gaze over them; the place was a familiar restaurant, not a bar. He decided to stop his own alcohol intake, someone had to keep the head clear.
"What if... what if..." He turned around to hear Gillie blubber. "she realized after some time: "Hey, she's a bad daughter, so I no longer 'ave one", and doesn't want to see me?" The frown deepened in her forehead. "I feel so embarrassed... I've been feeling... So embarrassed... That's partly why I didn't want to come back." She finished with her spirits completely down and Jiraiya scanned her profoundly. It had taken her a long time to sincerely smile again, and now she was at stage 1, years gone to waste, her insecurities re-emerging over Konoha ground like poison ivys.
But their return didn't have anything to do with her and it had been time to return. She better need to get on track. 12 years had been more than enough.
"And there you have it." He shrugged, snapping her out of her reverie. "You've got to realize that not all relationships are the same, just as no one is. This boy, Genma?" She nodded. "You never said goodbye, or so you've told me. He didn't get to see you pack and leave, which is something that your Mother at least had. And he might just be different from your other friend, processing trauma in a different way." He explained. "What if what you fear your mother feels today is what that boy actually feels now?"
"That I abandoned him?" She puckered her lower lip, sounding sad but also as if she had already figured that much out by herself and had been unwilling to admit it.
"Just a thought." He shrugged.
Gillie scratched her head before slumping over the table, looking miserable.
"Is this what he also feels?"
"Who?"
"No way... We were never friends..." Gillie said, her words becoming harder to understand and lids growing heavy. "Oh, what did I do?"
"What's this shame of yours anyway?" Jiraiya crossed his arms, looking down at her pathetic display. It was so unlike the Gillie he had grown to estimate, in every aspect. He snorted trying to ease the tension off of her. "What would any of your lovers say-"
"Oh, shut up!" She sat back up and pushed him in the arm, "Now, that's embarrassing!"
"-knowing the ever bold, ever confident Kiko Mitsuha, The One Who Has Lived a Thousand Lives and Broken a Thousand Hearts-"
"We promised we'd never talk about that!"
"-goes through life allowing herself to be mistreated by One. Miserable. Jerk."
"Okay, okay! I think I get it now."
"Chaaa, Kiko Mitsuhaaa!" He poked her cheek repeatedly and Gillie lost control on her own laughter.
That was enough to make Jiraiya satisfied for the day. They laughed together reminiscing on their old adventures until the streets grew dark and it was time for Ichiraku to close. As they made their way to the hostal they were staying at, Jiraiya half-carrying a semi-conscious Gillie down the street, placed a hand over Gillie's head.
"Do me a favor and go see your mother soon, will you? That woman kept up with you for almost 5 years!"
Gillie nodded, looking up at him and chuckling.
"I promise."
He didn't retire to his own next-door bedroom until he was sure she had fallen asleep over her bed and was soundly sleeping. Only then, he walked away. He wasn't counting on the woman to wake up minutes later and going back out the room half-asleep, in the middle of the night.
Kakashi wasn't sleeping that night either, not after the discovery of Hayate's dead body. He was getting so little rest, but he had been spending more time scouting for clues and patrolling the streets at night, making sure there wasn't anything out of the ordinary going on. Or as ordinary as they could be given the current secret emergency state the village found itself in, with the looming threat of Orochimaru hidden somewhere within its walls.
For hours nothing interesting happened but the usual, shops closing, people leaving work towards their homes and children running into their parents, ready to go to bed. Somewhere at midnight, Kakashi met a peaceful silence inundating the town, comfortable enough for him to take out his book and read it sitting close to a lit fire lamp. That is, until a lone shadow marched down a street swaying from side to side. It wasn't uncommon to find some drunk after hours lost in the night only to find them waking up on a park bench the next day, but he needed to remain assured this person wasn't making any troubles (or wasn't an enemy in disguise, either).
He jumped out of his seat and stood in the middle of the street, sharingan showing to better see the person coming his way. She walked right next to him and didn't acknowledge him, just as he had done earlier that week at the hospital. Kakashi looked back over his shoulder. What was Gillie Nohara doing marauding at this time of night, reeking of alcohol?
In any case, she was a fully-fledged shinobi, responsible of herself and her actions, so against his conscience, he went back to his position and kept on surveiling the town, taking back his book and eyes stuck on the first line until he could no longer stay in place, putting his troubled feelings for the woman aside and going after her. By her direction, he had a fair idea of where she was heading towards at this time.
His hypothesis got confirmed after finding a human sack lying right in front the Memorial Stone. He knew and respected Jiraiya-sama as the Legendary Sannin he was but... Maaa, was it uncomfortable to see his pupil in such a state. Was it so to see any fellow shinobi, an old classmate and a woman, in such a state... He hadn't expected Gillie Nohara going down this road during the years of her absence, but it was disappointing.
"I know... I know..." His brows perked when he heard the weak sound coming from the person laying in the floor and that he'd believed unconscious at this point. His interest led him to walk closer. "It is mean I didn't come before... But I've changed... I didn't mean to be mean, I'm not mean anymore, I swear... I was... I was just scared..."
Her heavy breathing, the level of her voice and the awkward and uncomfortable-looking position she was in was making it hard to understand what she said, but he somehow managed to, only by literally coming to kneel right behind her back. She must have really been out of her game, for she was oblivious of his presence, something he had known her for being good at as a kid. She was highly chakra-sensitive, a Sensor. He concluded it had been the correct idea to come to her, especially with what had recently happened to Hayate.
Disdain growing towards his fellow shinobi, Kakashi decided he'd take none of this, he would drag her away and drop her at the entrance door of the hospital and quickly go back to his position. He had grown to become a tolerant and empathetic shinobi (he wanted to believe he had), he had learned to forgive others (or if her presence confirmed anything, he was still trying to) and himself (every now and then), but this was outright shameful (even for a reinstated ex rulebook-bound shinobi) for a ninja who, according to the information he had retrieved from Sakura (that she had come to mention by her own freewill, he hadn't asked for it, no), had come a long way to protect the village from Orochimaru.
Kakashi sighed bothered, with his mind set to do that and reached for her.
"It's been a long time, Rin."
Kakashi's hands froze mid-air at the sound of the name and a frown appeared as his usually quick mind processed the information. Suddenly, Kakashi felt ashamed for any of his previous thoughts; if the young woman was in such a state it clearly wasn't just for anything and now he wondered whether this was something typical of her to do. In any case, he was in no best position to judge her on the way she dealt with her personal traumas.
Because he knew her, he searched inside his mind for important dates that could be affecting her but there was none. Perhaps, something bad had happened to the kunoichi? Or, someone had done something to her?
Once again he felt shame, especially kneeling in front of the Memorial with Rin's name engraved in it. He wouldn't know, would he? They hadn't spoken since he went to the hospital to visit Sasuke, like he did everyday and as he had done before she even arrived. There was no reason for him not to keep on doing it, right? And it had been only a coincidence that Guy had dropped by his house with the news of her return when he had just been considering visiting Sasuke only a few minutes earlier. He hadn't even been that tired.
"I'm sorry for having taken so long... onee-san."
Her words stirred something inside Kakashi and he squirmed uncomfortably on his position, before looking down at his hands now resting over his knees with a frown still in place. She was talking to her, of course.
In the past, no one had ever thought about Rin & Gillie as anything other than Rin & Gillie, but he had so often forgotten those two were related, not only by the physical and behavioral differences between them but also by the clear animosity and jealousy Gillie had always harbored for the first. It was so obvious for him, but apparently not for the rest of the world, not even for Rin. Only after his female teammate was gone his mind secured the knowledge that Gillie had lost her sister as well, it was the least he could do after delivering her body to Gillie... or more like cowered away from it. But 12 years had passed now and here he was having to remind himself: Gillie was her sister, Gillie had lost her sister, Gillie was in such state, even now, because of her sister. Unnervingly so, it was comforting to see he wasn't the only one in the world who felt like this, although it wasn't a welcoming thought or feeling being unethical in nature to even consider.
If only she had stayed.
How different would his life had been if only Gillie Nohara hadn't left so suddenly, without even a heads up. Perhaps the two of them could have worked to learn to live through it together. For an infinitesimal moment, he had hung on the hope that would be the case, specially after that rainy day, on that same location they currently found themselves at; he had lost Obito and Rin but if Gillie, the only person who probably understood his feelings by experiencing them herself firsthand, would be there for him, he would always be for her, like he could not and would not be able to for his teammates anymore. He wouldn't be alone, she represented one final light of hope, especially after that final smile she gave him the night she brought him a present to his house.
And then, the next morning she was gone.
He was naive and in extreme need of hope after losing his teammates and sensei, enough to trust her to be back in- What was it he had said then? 1-2 months?
She did not and it wasn't her fault, really, that she hadn't consider him to fill the void like he had considered her... So, why had he felt the need to push her away that day at the hospital, when he clearly had gone there against his drained energy and confirming Guy's suspicions (for once) only to get a glimpse at her? A glimpse of the bitter, antisocial, envious kunoichi he had grown to somehow believe on once?
"I wasn't ready... still am not... But I have to be... I have-but..." Kakashi had to lean further, "It's hard, you know? Life here was always hard after you..." She sniffed her nose and cried quietly "That hasn't changed... Can you... Can you tell what's on my mind or... do I need to keep talkin'?" By the tiredness in her voice and the silence that followed Kakashi wondered if she had passed out. After a few seconds she took a deep breath, followed by a sob. "Have I not changed, Rin? Or have I changed too much?" She coughed painfully and Kakashi noticed the cold breeze of the night, raising goosebumps in her arms. "I'd thought I changed-I... I'm sorry, onee-san. This is all my fault... Your death is..." Kakashi thought it was time to take her from that place, she was clearly delirious to this point. "It feels it is... In here." She placed a hand over her chest. "It's my nature, Rin... I hurt people around me... You, Obito, Mama, Papa, Genma and... Kakashi." His name came out as a sigh he almost thought he had imagined it, but he had already intruded enough in her thoughts, he couldn't make himself to keep on listening.
"Come on." He said slowly rolling her around on her position. Her face scrunched up and her eyes squeezed severely on the darkness trying to identify him. "You need to come to the hospital with me-"
"Why, now I can hear that idiot inside my head." She kept on slurring, he ignored it helping her to sit up, but it was like doing so with a rug doll. "Where are you taking me, jerk?" She muttered and he didn't answer her, instead he tried to toss an arm of hers over his shoulders, but it wouldn't work due to the height difference. "I don't feel so good..."
"I'd be surprised if you did." He said amicably, before carrying her bridal-style. Her head hung backwards before she tossed it to the front to finally lean sideways over his shoulder. A hand reach for his face and he felt her fingers feel his mask.
"Is this really you, Kakashi?" She asked dubiously.
"Yes."
"Huh..." After a moment she groaned. "So embarrassing... You ought to know... I don't do this all the time... I've never done this... I am so not that type..."
"Do what?" He asked if only not to be bored on his way to the hospital, he couldn't exactly run with her in such a state. He wanted to avoid accidents.
"Drink." She patted his shoulder, as if reassuringly. "Never. I don't recommend it either... I am never drinking again." It was reassuring, to hear her say this.
"Let us be glad it was me and no one else around the one who found you."
"Sorry for calling you jerk...You are not a jerk... I am for calling you that... You're kind of nice, actually..." She patted his shoulder again. "When you're not being a jerk." She continued bickering and muttering unintelligible words under her breath.
By the time they reached the hospital, she had grown silent, her breathing had became a little bit more regular and she was no longer crying. He sighed, contemplating on following his initial plan of literally leaving her on the floor by the entrance door. In retrospective, he realized it wasn't a good idea nor descent of him to even consider.
"Kakashi?"
"Yes?" He sang, while his eyes traveled searching for Sasuke's hospital bedroom from outside.
"Can I tell you a secret?"
Kakashi's attention went back to the woman. He didn't think it was okay for her to keep on talking when she was clearly not in her five-senses, not for him to keep on listen, but before he could refuse she covered her mouth and reached for his ear.
"I did consider you a friend..." She said, before going back to her previous resting position. "The cool, hostile type that would never think of me as one..." She shrugged. "I guess that only makes me worse than scum, huh? He used to say that... "those who break the rules are scum... and those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.""
Kakashi stopped his search and looked down at her to find her sleeping. He pondered on her words for a while, before breaking the rules of hospital protocol and jumping towards Sasuke's identified window.
"I guess that makes us two." Kakashi said before analyzing the empty room where Sasuke was resting at and locating an empty bed next to his, about a meter and a half away. He gently placed Gillie down on it and sighed deeply watching his work done, before disappearing again out of the window and going back to his post.
In the morning, after finishing his patrol Kakashi found himself going back towards Sasuke's hospital bedroom, peering by the edge of the window frame to see Sakura arriving.
"Oh, Gillie-san, you're here already!" She said while the woman in question sat on the bed, grabbing her head and looking around disoriented.
"How did I ever get here?" She asked.
"Mm?" Sakura asked tilting her head, green eyes wide with confusion. Gillie Nohara stared into the nothingness before turning towards Sakura, whatever she had thought about made her cheeks burn bright, before tried to compose herself in front of the girl.
"I might have eaten a lot of ramen yesterday! Yes, ramen! Probably Mater Jiraiya brought me here... Last thing I remember I was with him! He he..."
"Aaah!" Sakura nodded understandingly. "Are you feel better now?"
The woman tilted her head and smiled sheepishly.
"If only my head wasn't killing me-"
The boy on the next bed groaned as he woke up from his long awaited absence and Sakura beamed at the sight of him. Kakashi straightened up and sighed deeply; now, training began.
Naruto's eyes widened at the upcoming figure of the man that had finally accepted to train him for his final rounds, however he had not expected the Pervy Sage to be so petty as to dare bringing one of those dumb girls of his to training today. He raised an accusing finger at him and scowled.
"AGH! You dirty, filthy, old man, how dare you do something like this? I've got much to do if I want to beat that smirk of Neji Hyuuga's stupid face and I'll never get to if you keep on distracting yourself with-" Soon, Naruto found his mouth covered by the large hand of the man, looking sheepishly humble in front of his companion.
"What is he talking about, Master?" The young woman, looking old enough to be the same as Kakashi sensei's age asked, placing her hands on her hips and with a stern looking face, with sharp honey eyes set on the man. Or, where they green?
Master! Naruto's eyes widened realizing his mistake. This has to be that student of his!
"Yes, what are you talking about, kid?" The Pervy-sage asked him through gritted teeth reminding him of the little deal they had established themselves; that Naruto wouldn't fulfill his threat of telling on the man's recent research activities to his former student, one Gillie Nohara who traveled with the man and had threatened herself on burning all the writing drafts she possessed as his book editor if she ever discovered he had been peeping on women again. The old man had been dumb enough to have a slip of tongue on sharing this information with Naruto when they first met, when Naruto caught him in the act, and ever since then it had been the base of their relationship: training in exchange of keeping the secret from his editor.
Yikes, that was close!
"Er- Nothing, it was nothing! I just thinking about my previous sensei! He's one creepy dude always carrying a book for adults, believe it!" Naruto tightened his fists before noticing the questioning face of the beautiful onee-chan looking down at him. He scratched the back of his head and giggled, grinning widely. "Is this the student you always speak so much about, old man?" The Pervy-sage seemed to understand his play immediately.
"Oh, yes, oh, yes! Indeed! The one I've spoken only so highly about, right, kid?" The man visibly winked at him and raised a thumbs up right in front of the woman, that Naruto had to smack himself on the face. He turned towards her and noticed the woman's eyes scanning him up and down, repeatedly. Naruto felt his face growing red with embarrassment.
"I've been wanting to meet you for some time now," She said softly, with a warmth he had never heard a woman directing at him. His heart jolted inside his chest as she slowly leaned down on her knees coming to his height. Up close, he noticed, her eyes were both yellow and green, and little dots of a lighter color than her skin decorated her nose. "I've also heard so much about you." She brought a finger to her mouth and winked at him, like someone who knows a secret does. "Naruto-kun."
Naruto stared dumbstruck at her, drool rolling down his chin, with awe.
A/N: So, much for Kakashi's prediction, huh? We've jumped 12 years in the future and are not at Naruto's Chunin Exams! I tried to do my best with the time frames of this arc, but...yeah, I hope it's good. Anyways, a lot has happened in this PART IV. What do you think? Don't forget to leave your comments! I hope you liked it.
