This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Most of the following unrecognizable are original characters of mine, please bear with me I am still in the process of making the character profiles for an even better visualization.
Comments, suggestions, criticism, even just simple messages are welcomes, please feel free to message me anytime.
Also, thank you so much to you guys who take your time to read my humble fanfiction even though it had taken a very slow turn. Special to those who follow, favorite, and especially those who take extra efforts to review.
But above all, thank you for those who have been there since day one, I love you guys so much!
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 13:
"Well I guess that wraps it up for now" Jiraiya announced as they gathered the results of the team's efforts. It's lucky of them that they unfortunately did not find any akatsuki by the end of their new string, but they were able to gather sufficient evidences enough to prove that the akatsuki always travels in twos and it was not a coincidence that they are spotted two at a time.
"I'll report to the village right away of the status of the mission and that we are heading back to the village" Kaede said as she began writing her message to her sensei.
"Psst, Kakashi" Jiraiya half whispered, half yelled at Kakashi whilst motioning him to come closer.
"I'll send my report directly to Tsunade, you guys can take your time going back, you don't have to rush it" Jiraiya whispered at the masked jonin, finishing off with a grin and a wink.
"Eh?" Kakashi asked, a bit wide eyed, but was not able to voice out his query as Kaede had finished with her message and was about to stand not two feet away from Kakashi.
"You guys ready?" Kaede asked her companions.
"See you guys back in the village" Jiraiya waved as they parted ways, watching while the two walked away, Jiraiya watched with as Kaede and Kakashi walked away.
"Well, that should give them a couple of days for themselves" he grinned as he summoned a frog and fed him a scroll of their report.
Kakashi thought deep and hard about what Jiraiya had told him and how it was supposed to stay a secret from Kaede, but all his questions and problems were solved the moment he saw a hot spring inn on their way home, and instantly Kakashi understood Jiraiya's motive.
'He was giving us time alone together, but is it really wise to do it as such a time?' Kakashi thought and realized that along with his answers came a new set of questions.
They were both just about close to getting past the inn, when without thinking, Kakashi had called out to Kaede.
"What's the matter is something wrong?" Kaede asked turning to face Kakashi who was just realizing what he has done. Taking a few moments of dilemma, he decided to just suck it up and use the time the Ero-sennin had bought them.
"Do you want to stay in the inn…with me?" Kakashi asked as smooth as possible, but judging from the pink hues surrounded his mask, Kaede knew, Kakashi would be blushing under the mask.
'I'll certainly be get a good scolding from Tsunade-sensei if we don't return as soon as possible, but-' Kaede looked back to Kakashi, and just like him the words that soon escaped her lips was not out of reason.
"Yes"
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It only took Misaki a second to know that Sora carried a part of the nine tailed beast, but the sinister story behind it was revealed to Misaki with both blockheads unconscious in the hospital, both were in a severely weakened state, doing more damage to their own body rather than from their enemies.
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'it's dark, cold and lonely down here' Sora thought as he hid his face in his arms and knees as he sat down, wherever this was, it felt utterly familiar, almost as if this place was a manifestation of his feeling.
Yes, even with the company of others, this is exactly how it felt like, a dismal cold and dark place where in he had nothing but himself.
"You don't have to be alone" a voice whispered from the other side of this dark abyss, wherever that may be, he didn't recognize it but he had this strange feeling like he knew who this person was.
"SORA wakeup" this time a rowdy voice yelled at him from the same place, this time he recognized Naruto's voice and he looked up in time to see the place where the voice came from begin to shine brighter and brighter, until the blinding light reached and engulfed his body and the entirety of the place.
"Let's go home" Naruto, who was came with the light said offering his hand to him.
"Home?" Sora asked staring at his hand disbelieving.
"Yeah, everybody's waiting for you" Misaki confirmed this time offering her hand as well.
Looking at the two people before him who both wore genuine smile he realized, they had bought the warmth and the belongingness, for the first time in his whole life, he wasn't alone.
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Once they have shoved Sai, Sora and Naruto into the hospital, Azuma had told her everything there is to now about Sora's power.
"It must have been hard for you, isn't it?" Misaki whispered as she brushed Sora's hair away from his face, thinking back to Naruto's experience. It hadn't been easy for him too, both were orphans to a conflict who just happened to harbor extreme unwanted, not to mention dangerous power, with others treating them like the beast's power that resided inside them.
However, hard as it might be, Naruto had her, and the rest of the gang, and it made a lot more sense that Naruto wanted to reach out to Sora, to let him know that he's not alone in his pain.
Not long after that, thanks to their amazingly advance healing capabilities, all of them stood at the village's entrance bidding the young apprentice monk good bye, but he wasn't going back to the temple.
"Nope, I want to see more of the world and meet all kinds of people, and little by little, I want to make friends like you have," Sora explained.
"But make sure you stop by once in a while, Konoha will always welcome you," Sakura invited with open arms.
Feeling left out since she didn't have all that much time to spend with Sora, but was utterly and completely shocked when Sora approached him as she stood in between Yamato and Sai.
"My name is Sora, it's very nice to meet you, I hope we can get closer you and I!" Sora announced blushing, shocking everyone, except for Naruto who had all kinds of veins popping in his forehead.
"I'd like that to, Sora" Misaki smiled at him, making him blush even darker than he already is.
"Well then see you" Sora turned stiffly and began walking, only to pause in his steps just outside the gates.
"See you around, and say hi to Old man Asuma for me. Come to think of it, I haven't given you a posthumous name, I'll be sure to give you one the next time we see each other" Sora said mischievously.
"You jerk, I just found out that's a name you give to dead people!" Naruto exclaimed as Sora finally left the village with a laugh on his face and his heart, yelling back something along the lines of Naruto for being an idiot and taking too long.
"Well, there's a total metanioa" Misaki muttered as all of them watched his form disappear in the horizon.
"Now, Sakura if you may, let's get these two idiots back in the hospital before they do more damage to themselves" Misaki said glaring at the two, especially Sai who sneaked out of the hospital to get into a fight.
After a few more days Misaki was back at the Namikaze household preparing lunch for both Naruto and Sai.
"Hmm I wonder how mom must have felt all alone in this big house of hers when I was gone" Misaki wondered out loud as she prepared the bento. It had been days since they were ordered by Kakashi to return to the village, and it had also been a few days of living alone in the Namikaze household. She felt guilty for leaving the village, hence leaving Kaede all alone.
As a matter of fact, the house was so lonely she spends most of her days in the hospital with Naruto and Sai.
"Well, with Kakashi always lurking around, I'm sure it makes for company too, but even Kakashi has missions so often, speaking of which-"Misaki's pondering came to a halt when the very people she was thinking about met her at the the Namikaze household.
Both of which looked like they were just as surprised to see her home as she was to them. c
"Hey guys I bought lunch, and look who I-" Misaki stopped in her tracks to see Naruto choking in his sleep on an…apple?
"Sakura fed Naruto, so does that mean, Sakura likes Naruto?" Sai theorized making Sakura go all crazy, pulling at her hair and crushing an apple with her bare hands it scared Misaki, making her swear drop.
"Huh? What's going on?" Kakashi asked dumbfounded.
"Oh yeah, I don't believe you've met, my mom" Misaki said as she fixed the two boys their lunch.
"Mom, this is team Kakashi's latest member, Sai, Sai meet my mom, Namikaze Kaede" Misaki introduced him just as Kaede walked closer to greet him.
"Nice to meet you, Sai, I hope Misaki is not giving you a hard time" Kaede said and smiled, Sai stared at Kaede.
'Why does it feel that I have seen her somewhere?' Sai thought deeply until a flash of Naruto's sexy jutsu ran through his head.
"It's very nice to meet you, did you know you look exactly like Naruto-" Misaki accidentally hit his injured arm with his bento box, cutting him off, whilst everybody else all froze in fear, sweat dropping profusely afraid to awaken Kaede's famous temper.
"Oh, so sorry, my bad" Misaki said smiling a little too charming and innocently at Sai, too much that she almost seemed glowing with angelic presence.
"Oh yeah, I resemble Naruto quite so much don't I, I get that quite a lot," Kaede responded good naturedly, and all except for Sai, released a held breath.
"So what did you do to wind you in the hospital?" Kaede asked, being the doctor that she is, examining the patients' welfare.
Diligently, Sakura took it upon herself to relay the events that took place not long ago.
"Oh, so you made a great showing whilst I was away huh?" Kakashi exclaimed, Konoha's affairs have been interesting while he was out.
"Where the heck were you Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked, and just as always, Kakashi brushed it off as insignificant. Before the conversation can push any further, the door opened to reveal Azuma, who was looking for Kakashi.
"I knew you'd be here, Kakashi, got a minute? I just want to talk to you about something" Azuma asked, coming off as a little casual as he scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, yeah, Naruto, Sai, here's a get well gift" Azuma presented a basket filled with items that could have been Naruto's potential murder weapon a little while earlier. Kakashi and Kaede shared a meaningful look that went unnoticed for most present in the room except for Misaki and Sai. Kaede gave him a small nod and off did Kakashi go with Azuma.
"Hm, sounds important" Misaki wondered watching the two jonin sensei walk out the room.
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After Kakashi left the room, Kaede examined Naruto and Sai even further, then asked Misaki to help her with a couple of duties at the hospital. Misaki raised a brow in thought, but decided to let Kaede's decision take play.
It was only after a few more moments' did she finally ask the elephant in the room.
"So… Hospital duties, not that I am complaining, but shouldn't Sakura be a lot better for these sort of things, I mean she was the one who was able to advance in the medical field, I only practiced with Tsunade-sensei for a while then a free-lance tutorial lessons from Kazumi" Misaki asked.
For a few moments, Misaki watched while Kaede thought the situation through, but the longer it took the more intense her face grew.
"Yo!" Kakashi suddenly greeted from the window, surprising both of them.
"Misaki, can I talk to you for a while?" Kakashi offered, noticing the look on Kaede's face. Once again the two looked a meaningful look that did not go unnoticed.
"Yeah, sure," Misaki reluctantly agreed, only growing even more suspicious of the two.
"Yosh" Kakashi cheered and left through the window.
"Umm, could I just use the door like a civilized person?" Miskai cringing when Kaede gave her a warning look.
Once Misaki had followed in suit, Kakashi kept walking quietly, forcing Misaki in an uncomfortable walk of silence.
"Um, Kakashi, am I in trouble because I can totally explain where I hid your stash of make out books are, mom told me-"
"Wait, you hid my stash of make out books?" Kakashi exclaimed stopping to face her.
'Oh, crap he didn't know' Misaki mentally sweat dropped at revealing her secret mischief.
"Nothing, nothing, you were about to say something?" Misaki diverted the conversation and thankfully what they were about to talk about is more important than his books, which for Kakashi's case a measly few.
"You're going to want to sit down for this" Kakashi said as they finally stopped at her favorite spot, the hokage's cliff, on top of the fourth hokage's head. Misaki had been itching to ask Kakashi, almost at the brink of yelling at him to just spit it.
After a few more moments of silence, Misaki was already at wits end, almost physically dying to hear what Kakashi wanted to say. She had long over ruled something seriously urgent, of course if that was the case, Kakashi would not have wasted time to beat-around-the-bush, so this was the completely opposite kind of serious, probably a life changing one.
"KaedeandIhavedecidedtoliveourtherestofourlivestogether" Kakashi said too quickly for Misaki to comprehend instantly, but taking a moment to process what he had just said, err blurted out, combined with the blushing face, or what is visible of it plus the beating around the bush.
Kakashi waited for what seemed like eternity for him for Misaki to react, look at him an experienced ninja, recognized a genius at a young age and seasoned with years of service, mumbling about matters of the heart, commitment and love.
Of course it wasn't a sort of thing that he was prepared for, for all he knows, he was prepared to live alone for the rest of this days, married to his work.
"Ehh, what are you talking about you already live together…wait a minute you don't mean!?" Misaki squealed in delight barely caught by Kakashi as she launched herself to embrace him.
"This is wonderful news! Marriage, who would have thought! Congratulations, I thought you were going to spend the rest of your lives trudging along the corners of the unspoken thing!" Misaki said, earning a tick mark from Kakashi.
'I wonder if that was an insult or a compliment' Kakashi thought, but didn't want to be a sour puss and ruin Misaki's naïve bubble of sheer and utter happiness.
"Wait, before we celebrate, you have to accomplish something first" Misaki said, her voice devoid of any sort of positivism she had displayed earlier. Misaki motioned Kakashi to lean lower and closer to her for even at the tip of her toes, Misaki could not reach Kakashi close enough to whisper in his ear.
Kakashi did as he was told and listened fervently as Misaki whispered what he has to do to get her approval for Kaede's hand in marriage.
"EEEEHHHH!" Kakashi howled at Misaki who wore the most angelic and innocent smile he had ever seen. Too angelic if you'd ask him.
Meanwhile back at the hospital Kaede was just finishing up with her shift at the hospital, her mind completely fleeting away, filled with worry on how it went with Misaki and Kakashi all day.
"Hey mom!" Kaede jumped in surprise and dropped everything she was holding at Misaki's voice. Good thing Misaki was able to catch the medical supplies in time, or it would have all went to waste. It's not that Misaki surprised her with her sudden intrusion, it had been because she was completely out of it all day she didn't notice Misaki approaching.
"Are you okay mom?" Misaki asked checking Kaede for temperature as soon as she had safely put away the almost broken medical paraphernalia.
"Oh, yeah I'm good how did go, with Kakashi I mean" Kaede asked, her face completely red with embarrassment.
Misaki didn't answer, but instead decided to torment her mom a little further and gave Kaede the same exact smile she had given Kakashi.
'How did I raise a child like this' Kaede grimaced at the sight of the most innocent smile that Misaki could muster and it scared Kaede's core
In another part of the hidden village of the leaves, Tsunade was finishing up with the last of her paper works for the day when Shizune barged in her office carrying an equally anxious expression on his face.
"What is it?! An attack Akatsuki?!" Tsunade demanded, standing up, her chair falling backwards at the force of her rise. It had been only a few days since Konoha was attacked, it wouldn't stray too far from the truth that their enemies would make use of their momentary weakness to attack.
"Er, no, how do I explain this- I guess you're going to have to see it for yourself Tsunade-sama" Shizune blabbered, earning another tick mark to the quickly increasing number of it on Tsunade's forehead.
"What is it this ti-" Tsunade was unable to finish her angry remark when she stepped on top of the Hokage's building, the best seat in the house in view of the Hokages' Cliff and on the cliffs, across the faces of herself and her fellow hokage was a vandalism written in bright red pain.
'Namikaze Kaede let's spend the rest of our lives together, Hatake Kakashi'
Tsunade, along with the rest of the village of Konoha read the red bold letters over and over again.
Tonton hid behind Shizune as Tsunade's entire body began to shake, her fists clenching tighter and tighter, in fact if you listen closely you could almost hear a growl coming from her.
"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, trying to approach her master slowly and cautiously.
"FINALLY YOU DID IT KAKASHI!" Tsunade at the top of her lungs, throwing her fist in the air as a sign of victory.
Down below amongst the crowds stood Misaki and Kaede. Initially, Kaede wore a dumb found expression until the words began to sink in, together with the gravity of the situation. Kaede was a cesspool of emotions, embarrassed, shy, proud and above all loved.
"I actually wanted Kakashi to declare his love publicly whilst screaming at the top of his lungs, but I guess this was more of his style" Misaki explained, more than mischief, she wanted the unspoken thing between them, to be well spoken, besides, doing something Kakashi wasn't comfortable with proved it even more on how serious he was with Kaede, and for that Misaki was enough.
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Chapter 13 hope you enjoyed it so far. Sorry for posting a little late too, I don't know about you, but the internet is pretty much crap here, so yeah, internet has been down for more than a month and all that jazz.
On the positive note, this is chapter is sort of like a spring board for the story I posted, a Gaiden about Kaede's life, I feel that I am not giving her credit enough, of course people might know her as a killer medic with a monster temper that can only rival Kushina's and Tsunade's, but I feel her character isn't showing the depth of who she really is since she doesn't get as much as exposure as Misaki.
Anyway see you next chapter,