Kakashi awoke the next day, feeling rested, but still mentally exhausted from what he had seen the night before. Bodies were piled in the streets where the Uchiha clan resided. Blood stained the walls, floors, and everything else. The only survivor was a young Uchiha boy named Sasuke. Reports said that his older brother, Itachi, was behind all of the killings. He had murdered his whole family, but had spared his brother. Kakashi blamed himself for not giving Itachi better guidance when he was his superior. He should have known something was going to happen. Why hadn't he seen it?
Kakashi moved to sit up, throwing the blankets off of himself, but he felt something warm laying beside him. He suddenly jumped out of the bed, tripping on his own feet, and falling with a loud crash on the floor. "W-what the hell? What are you doing?!" he cried, standing up, steadying himself on the dresser behind him.
Nayamae was now sitting up in the bed, awake after hearing Kakashi crashing about. "What's going on?" she asked, looking around frantically, then down at herself. "Oh my god!" she cried, quickly grabbing the blankets and covering herself with them. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized quickly. "I'm so sorry!"
"What are you doing in my bed?" Kakashi demanded, trying to regain his composure. He had gone to bed seeing her as a fox lying at his feet. Now she was human again, frantically trying to cover herself with his blankets.
"I'm sorry!" she repeated, hiding underneath his covers. "I just thought…! I didn't mean to…! I'm just…! I'm sorry! I didn't know this was going to happen!"
"You've been a fox this entire time and just now you become human again? I can't believe this!"
"Just hand me some clothes or something so I don't have to keep hiding in your damn bed sheets!" she yelled from beneath the covers, suddenly angry.
Kakashi turned around to face his dresser with an exasperated groan, but paused before he opened a drawer. He looked back at the mound under his blanket, tempted to pull them off just to see her reaction. He had taken a several steps towards the bed, his hand outstretched to grab the fabric, before he heard a low growl coming from the mound.
"You yank these sheets off me, you won't live to see the rest of the day," Nayamae threatened.
"Fair enough," he muttered, turning back to the dresser. He threw a shirt and pants onto the bed and went to the door. "Clothes are beside you. I'll be in the sitting room."
"You better be, you pervert," she called to him as he shut the door behind him.
He sighed again and sat at the low table, waiting for her to come out. After a few minutes, Nayamae came out of his room and sat across from him, her arms crossed over her chest. The gray shirt she was wearing was obviously too big, and so were the pants. She had found a spare wrap to tie around her waist to keep them up. Her hair was still a mess, but it looked like she had at least attempted to fix it.
Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, but she started first. "Before you ask me anything, what happened last night? You were acting weird and then you asked me that question. What happened that bothered you so much?"
He looked at her, her expression showed an odd mixture of annoyance and concern. He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know all the details yet," he started. "Someone I know murdered his entire clan, leaving only his little brother alive." His voice went quiet. "I could have stopped it."
"Why didn't you?" she asked, not meaning for her question to be rude.
"I didn't know."
"You didn't know it was going to happen?" He nodded. "Then how can you blame yourself for what you didn't know?"
"He was under my supervision. I should have seen something." She was quiet. Silence passed between them for several uncomfortable minutes. He exhaled heavily. "Anyway, we need to report to the Hokage. Show him you're back to normal."
Nayamae scoffed. "Why do we have to do that?"
"Because you're still my responsibility."
"I don't need a babysitter," she countered irritably.
"No, maybe not. But you're still in my house. Remember, it's better than a jail cell," he reminded her. She made a face. "I should probably call Kyrie as well, get her to examine you. Quick question," he said, reaching for a book on the table, "did you ever learn to read?"
She glanced at the book. "No."
He nodded. "I was just wondering," he said, flipping through the pages. "I wondered because you were following along whenever I read aloud."
She looked down at her lap. "I was trying to figure it out," she said quietly.
He closed the book. "Hey, don't think I'm trying to make it sound like a bad thing you were doing that! I don't want to discourage you from learning!"
"Then will you teach me?" she asked suddenly, looking up at him hopefully.
Kakashi was about to say he wasn't a teacher, but slowly realized this would be a good opportunity to get her to trust him. He put the book down, shrugging. "I guess," he said slowly. "I'm really not a good teacher though." She stayed quiet, smiling back down at her lap. He thought she looked much more pleasant smiling instead of glaring at him liked she usually did. "I did some research on you," he said, changing the subject. Her brows furrowed. "Well, not you specifically. What you are."
"You have questions then," she stated.
He nodded. "A lot of the illustrations had the foxes with multiple tails. Some of them having as many as nine. How come you only have one?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "It comes with age," she replied. "The more tails a kitsune has usually means they're much older and wiser."
"That's what I thought, but I wanted to confirm. So then, you only have one, how old are you?" Kakashi asked. "You don't look very old."
Nayamae shook her head. "No, I'm not. Nor am I very wise, if that wasn't obvious by my life choices. I'm only twenty, I think."
"You think?"
"My memories only go back as far as ten years ago when I was with my father. He always told me I had probably gotten amnesia from a head injury during the war." She tapped her forehead as if pointing to a long-healed wound.
Kakashi thought of the memory he had seen of a younger Ryu and Nayamae playing through a house. They couldn't have been much older than twelve, maybe a little younger. He remembered the room they had interrupted with all the armed soldiers and how Nayamae had focused on one man. The man had been huge, but he oddly seemed very gentle.
"Was he one of the men in the memory I saw?"
She nodded. "Yes," she answered in a quiet voice. "That was Abba."
"And the woman who yelled at you? That was Shinjou, right? The woman who wants you dead?" She nodded again. Kakashi was getting more information from her than he thought he would. It was almost too easy. "What happened to Ryu? You said Orochimaru killed him?"
Immediately, Nayamae looked fiercely infuriated. "Orochimaru did kill him!" She stood up quickly. "Don't ask me about him again. You saw what happened." She stormed off into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. After a moment or two, Kakashi heard water running in the shower.
Nayamae didn't come out of the bathroom for nearly an hour. Instead of staying at the table waiting for her, Kakashi had called Kyrie, telling her Nayamae needed a health examination. He then searched through his dresser to try to find a pair of pants that may fit her better, but didn't find any. He called Kyrie again, asking her to bring a couple sets of clothes with her for Nayamae.
Nayamae finally came out of the bathroom just as Kakashi was finishing a meal he had made. Quickly, he pulled his mask back over his face when he heard the door opening. Her plate sat opposite of his at the table. "Kyrie is on her way here," Kakashi told her as she sat across from him. "She'll have clothes for you."
"Good. Then you won't have to keep staring at me so much," she said, taking a mouthful of rice.
"I'm not staring," Kakashi said defensively.
"That's what you think," she countered while chewing. "I'm just your 'responsibility' so you're just doing your job at keeping an eye on me."
He opened his mouth to reply, but he suddenly noticed the mark on her left hand. The seal was still there. He hadn't removed it yet. "Give me your hand," he demanded suddenly, catching Nayamae mid-bite.
"Hey-!" she exclaimed as he grabbed her hand to examine it. The mark looked lighter in color than Kakashi remembered it initially being, but that may have been the lighting in the cave.
"Do you remember how you got this?" he asked her, glancing up at her face before looking back at the mark.
Nayamae's mind dashed through her memories of that night. She remembered fighting Orochimaru, but she wasn't sure where or when he had made the new mark. "You'll be able to remove it right?" she asked. "Like the beetle?"
"It's possible," he replied, letting her have her hand back. "I tried to remove it before, but I didn't have a chance to finish."
She held her hand back out to him. "Then can you finish it right now?"
"Finish eating first," he said, pushing her hand away.
She frowned, but she returned to eating anyway. When she was done, she went to hold her hand out again, but suddenly froze. "Someone's coming," she said hurriedly, dashing to Kakashi's bedroom and slamming the door behind her.
Kakashi still sat at the table, wondering what she was talking about, when he heard a knock on his door. He jumped up to answer it, finding Kyrie standing on the landing with a large suitcase at her side.
"Hello, Kakashi-san!" she greeted cheerfully.
"Hi," he replied, letting her inside. "Glad I caught you while you were still in town," he said, shutting the door behind her.
"Oh, I'm always around here nowadays, dear. I'm called out a little more often than I would prefer, but patients need to be seen." Kyrie set her suitcase on the floor. "Speaking of patients," she stated, glancing around the apartment, "where is she?"
"She bolted into my bedroom. I guess she heard you coming up the stairs."
Kyrie furrowed her brow. "That's odd. I'm normally very quiet."
He went to his bedroom door. "Nayamae! Come out of there. It was just Kyrie."
"Oh, Kakashi!" Kyrie said quickly. "Did you tell her about…?" Her voice trailed off when Nayamae opened the door. Kakashi shook his head at Kyrie, answering her unvoiced question. "Ah, Naya! Good to see you again!" She looked at her clothes, putting her hands on her hips and tutting. "Oh, dear. I've got you some real clothes in my bag. Come, you can change while I examine you. Kakashi, wait out here. We won't be long." Nayamae didn't have a chance to protest before Kyrie pushed her back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them.
"Alright then," Kyrie started while Nayamae removed Kakashi's clothes. "Anything in particular bothering you?" she asked. "Your heart beating normally? Lungs giving you breath? Your skin isn't dry?"
Nayamae shook her head. "I'm perfectly fine," she replied. "Honest."
"Well, I'll determine that for real," Kyrie replied, grabbing a stethoscope out of her bag. She then went through the process of listening to her lungs and then her heart. "Does your heart normally beat that fast?" Kyrie inquired.
Nayamae shrugged. "I suppose."
"Hmm," Kyrie hummed. "Hold still for me." Kyrie stood directly in front of Nayamae, took off her glasses, then crossed her arms under her chest. Suddenly, Kyrie's eyes went completely white as she concentrated on Nayamae. "Just as I thought," she muttered after several minutes as her eyes went back to their normal yellow.
"Is something wrong?" Nayamae asked unsuredly.
Kyrie put her glasses back on her face. "Do kitsunes normally have that little kitsunebi surrounding their heart?" she asked suddenly.
Nayamae blinked. Had Kyrie been around other kitsunes? "No," she admitted. "Do you know about…?"
"About Orochimaru stealing your fox fire? Yes. Kakashi's had me look into it. It's not easy when your kind is so few and becoming even fewer." Kyrie reached into her suitcase and pulled out some clothes, handing them to Nayamae. "I'm doing what I can," she continued, "though I can't say it's looking like you'll be getting it back anytime soon." She shook her head with a sigh. "Whatever evil Orochimaru did to those kids made them completely dependent on your fox fire to keep them alive."
Nayamae looked at the clothes in her lap. "If that's the case," she said quietly, "let them keep it."
Kyrie moved some loose hair behind her ear. "Everything will be okay," she assured her, sitting beside her. "I'm going to do the best I can."
Nayamae nodded. "Thank you for the clothes," she said softly after a few minutes of silence passed.
"You're welcome."
After Nayamae was properly dressed, they exited Kakashi's room together. Kakashi looked up from the book he was reading. "Everything okay?" he asked.
"Perfectly healthy," Kyrie replied.
"Ready to go then?" he asked Nayamae.
"Go?" she asked.
"We have to go see the Hokage, remember?" He shut his book and crossed the room to them. "There are some things the two of us have to discuss with him. Thank you for coming, Kyrie."
"Just call me if you ever need me," she said, waving her hand. "Naya, if he ever gives you any trouble, let me know." She eyed Kakashi before picking up her suitcase and leaving the two alone.
"Those clothes look better on you than mine did," Kakashi said awkwardly.
Nayamae looked down at herself. Kyrie had brought her a light purple top with matching pants. A dark purple wrap tied around her middle, holding the top together. "I guess so. Not so sure purple is my color…"
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should go. The Hokage is expecting us."
"Right."
And off they go! I think I have finally laid out how I want this story to go, so I'm excited to finish it out! Which of course, that's not going to be for a while I don't think. There's plenty of content I can put into this story and I'm looking forward to doing it.
What do you think will happen? Tell me about it!
Thanks for reading!