"Stupid humans," Kira muttered through tears, bounding through the forest, trees rushing past her. "Stupid Kakashi sensei," she sniffed, wiping her nose as she sprung off of a tree trunk and landed on a tree branch, taking perch on its firm wood. She took a minuet to gulp back the tears that forced their way through her eyes. She took shaky breathes as she wiped her blurry eyes, the cooling wind wiping the tears away from her face.
"I-I-I wish I had never met K-Kakashi sensei," Kira growled through tears. Suddenly, her ear swiveled behind her, where she heard the crashing of leaves. She immediately recognized the footsteps that were coming closer. Quickly, she scurried up the tree trunk, leaping onto its branches going higher until she reached a particularly large branch that she curled up on, hiding her face in her hands.
"Kira!" Kakashi called form beneath the tree, "Kira! Come down!"
Man, Kira moaned mentally, how did he see me?
"No!" Kira snapped back from high up in the tree, her voice echoing through the trees, "Go away! I hate you!"
"Kira, you don't mean that," Kakashi said calmly, scaling the tree towards her.
"Yes I do!" Kira yelled as Kakashi climbed the tree trunks branches that reached out like arms, "I hate all humans! I hate them! I HATE THEM!" Kakashi emerged from the tangle of branches to see the back of his student, her head buried in her hands as she continued to gulp back sobs, her ears limp and her tail hanging beneath her. Kakashi sighed in despair.
"Kira, please don't cry," Kakashi said softly. Kira sensed the upset tone in his voice, but forgot about it when she remembered what her mother said.
"My mother lied to me!" she gulped again, not taking her head out of her hands, "She made me feel so alone! I so badly wanted friends, and I couldn't have any because I'm a freak!"
"Don't say that Kira," Kakashi said more sternly, inching his way across the branches towards her so as not to startle her. It was silent for a while as Kira adjusted to Kakashi's new tone. She shook her head, the tears continuing to drip from her eyes onto her hands.
"Why did she do that to me?" she whimpered, her voice rising in anger, "Why did she have to let me grow up in a world like this?" Kakashi finally inched over to her enough so that he was on the same branch that she was on. He carefully took a seat beside her, looking at her sadly. It pained him to see her like this.
"Kira, your mother loves you very much," Kakashi said softly, looking out at the forest before them, "She did it because she wanted you to have a happy life."
"But I'm not happy," Kira sniffed, wiping her eyes so that Kakashi finally saw a glimpse of their red and watery color, "I mean…I am…but…I could be a lot happier if I had friends….I just want friends so badly…"
"Your mother took you here because if you stayed in the village, you would be in very great danger," Kakashi explained softly, reaching out to wipe a tear from her pale cheek.
"You mean…O-Orochimaru?" Kira asked quietly, her sobs subsiding.
"Yes, how do you know that?" Kakashi asked softly, surprised somewhat.
"L-Late one night," Kira explained shakily, pausing ever few minuets to hiccup, "I heard the Kazekage, the leader of Uindo, and a bunch of other men talking with my mom. It was after they found out about my wind powers. They talked about Orochimaru and h-how he wanted find me so he c-could use me…or something like that…."
"Yes, that's the short and the long of it," Kakashi said softly, "So, do you see why she had to do that?"
"I-I guess," Kira nodded, "I mean…I-I don't want to m-meet this O-Orochimaru guy…he sounds s-scary."
"Hopefully, you'll never have to meet him," Kakashi smiled, letting Kira grip his arm so that he could lift her up.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked, setting her down and kneeling to face her. She nodded, her smile returning.
"Yeah," she nodded her head, "I feel lots better."
"You have friends, you know that?" he smiled down at her, "You have me and your mom, right?" Kira stared up at him and smiled, her tail wagging.
Kakashi didn't hear it, but Kira did, for she turned her head in an instant, her eyes wide. Before Kakashi could ask what was wrong, a hissing noise filled the air, until it was cut off by Kira giving a painful yelp that pierced the air like a knife. Startled and afraid, Kakashi attempted to grab Kira by the shoulders as she wavered, but it was too late. She suddenly tipped off of the tree and plummeted through the branches towards the ground, her body limp.
"No!" Kakashi yelled, fear swimming through his body. His jumped into action as he fell through the branches after her, his heart beat banging in his ears.
Mid fall, Kira awoke from the painful blur and without another thought, positioned herself so that she landed on all fours once she burst through the leaves and hit the ground. Kakashi immediately followed and landed on his feet as well. However, Kira immediately fell forward, curling up into a ball as she gasped in pain. Kakashi raced forward, kneeling beside her crumpled figure.
"Kira! Oh, Kira, are you okay? What happened to you?" Kira only gave somewhat of a high-pitched chirp of pain as she shut her eyes tightly, her mouth open but no sound coming out, new tears spilling from her shut eyes. Kakashi felt his blood go cold with fear. What was wrong with her? If anything happened to her…Kakashi shook the thoughts away. He gently turned her body over and flinched at what he saw: a black metal arrow protruding from her thigh, dark red blood spilling from the wound and staining her pale skin. Kakashi's eyes widened in horror.
Who could have done this?
Kakashi's horror was soon replaced with anger as he saw his student's tearful eyes look up at him, wincing in pain.
Whoever did this will pay.
"Goddamn, I didn't know you would be here."
Kakashi slowly turned behind him. Standing there was an unknown ninja, clad in traditional Shinobi outerwear, with kunai and shuriken strapped to his vest, but the thing that caught Kakashi's eye first was the symbol imprinted on his headband.
"The Land of Sound?" Kakashi asked softly, standing and taking a step further, "It's been a while."
"Indeed," the ninja nodded, a sinister smirk playing on his lips, "We may not have met, but I have heard stories. Kakashi Hatake: The Great Copy Ninja. I can't believe I'm meeting face to face with the biggest insult to Konoha."
Kakashi felt his body sear with anger, but the minute he heard the slightest mewl from Kira, who still lay on the ground, curled up in pain, Kakashi took a step to the side so that he towered over her.
Kira looked up to see her sensei above her. She stared up at him in awe, trying to lift her body up more to survey the scene but fell back down in agony as pain burned through her body. She had never seen her teacher act this way; in his true battle stance. It was as if a dark shadow as passed over him, and it frightened her. The ninja cackled wickedly as he watched the Shinobi guard his student, her body poised for defense.
"Right on target," he laughed, motioning towards the metal arrow that stuck out of Kira's thigh, still rippling blood, "I must say, finding her was pretty hard, but I was surprised when I saw her here with you."
"What do you want with her?" Kakashi growled, his eyes fixed on the ninja as he circled the girl slightly like a vulture on wounded prey.
The ninja only cackled fiercely, his voice sending chills up Kira's spine as she lay curled up, shaking with fear. The Ninja grinned, his words laced with venom as he growled the words, "Orochimaru sends his warmest regards,"
Kakashi's eyes widened when he heard this name. Quickly, his laid a hand on one of his kunai knives, looking at the stranger with utmost anger in his eyes as he snarled the words, "If you take one step closer to her, I'll cut your throat."
Kira had never heard her teacher talk like this, and it scared her slightly. She watched with teary eyes as the Sound ninja continued to cackle.
"Looks like there might be a little more blood spilt today than I thought," the ninja smirked, staring at Kira. Kira quickly turned away, her eyes wide as she trembled with fear.
"Never thought I would see an actual Neko," the ninja remarked, smirking at the fear in the girl's eyes, "So rare these days; you only here stories about them from the war. Then again, I never thought I'd be seeing you, either." The stranger drummed his fingers on the katana that was strapped to his belt, smirking down at Kakashi, "Fate's funny, huh?"
Kakashi looked back at his student, looking at the fear in her eyes. She looked back at him, trembling, with big scarlet eyes that were open wide, beginning to see her teacher for the very first time.
Suddenly, he realized why he was sent to train her.
Kakashi slowly raised a hand to his head band, gripping the cold metal.
"Not many ninja get to see this," Kakashi warned, slowly lifting it from his face, "But in your case, I think I can make an exception." Kira watched in amazement as Kakashi prepared himself to lift the headband from his eye. Kira had always wondered why he kept it slanted over one eye, and had asked repeatedly, and even attempted to take it off at one point, but she never thought that now would be the time for him to reveal his other eye.
"The Sharingan," the ninja smirked, "I feel deeply honored." Kira didn't know what the Sharingan was, but as far as she was concerned, it was the most feared thing in the world.
"Kakashi sensei!" Kyra suddenly yelped, squirming in her spot. Kakashi looked back at her, his eyes briefly drained of anger as he calmly spoke to her, "Don't worry Kira, it'll be okay. I won't let you get hurt. I just need you to close your eye for a minuet, okay?"
Kira felt her stomach churn at these words, fearing what might happen, but when she looked back at her teachers calm eyes, letting her know that she was okay, she knew just how protected she was.
She trusted him.
She did as she was told and lay back down, her face buried in her hands.
Once sure that she couldn't see, Kakashi turned to the ninja, raising his headband, showing his gleaming red Sharingan eye.
"Wise advice," the ninja smirked, reaching for his kunai knife, "I wouldn't want her to have to watch someone get sliced in front of her."
"Like wise," Kakashi said.
"Why do you want to protect her so much?" the ninja asked, lowering his eyes, "What makes her so special to you?" Kira peeked out slightly from her fingers, looking up at the Shinobi standing above her, almost a dark stranger now.
"Because," Kakashi said softly, lowering his hand and laying it on his kunai knife. Kira ears pointed forward breifly, watching with wide eyes as she heard her teacher say, "She is something precious to me. I will protect her with my life."
In an instant, both ninja leapt at each other, knives raised. In a clash of metal they met, both of them jumping back, furiously weaving hand signs. Kakashi observed the enemies attack with his Sharingan and noticed the sign of the tiger. Quickly, just as the Sound ninja was preparing his attack, Kakashi raised his hands in defense as the Sound ninja hurled the stream of fire at him. A tunnel of wind erupted and sent the flames scattering, searing into ash. The ninja covered his eyes as the powerful gust brought the flames back onto him. He quickly regained himself and flipped himself backwards so that he landed on the tree behind him as the wind ceased. He rubbed his eyes free of ambers and stared down at the ninja.
"What sort of technique is that?" he growled in pain.
"That one, I learned from the person you were sent to capture," Kakashi smirked, "The Kaze Koneko."
"Copy cat," the ninja snarled, hurtling himself from the tree with his kunai knife raised. Before Kakashi had a chance to defend himself with his own kunai knife, the Sound ninja grabbed the shuriken strapped to his vest and threw them at Kakashi. The sharp jagged pieces of metal pierced Kakashi's skin, flinging him to the ground. The ninja dropped to his feet, staring down at the body ridden with Shiruken.
"Hah, got distracted by the knife, huh?" he smirked, letting the decoy kunai knife drop from his hand with a clang, "Guess you're finished." As he ended his sentence, the Shinobi's body suddenly dissipated in a shroud of smoke, leaving a rotted log with Shiruken jutting out of its bark.
"What!?" the ninja yelled furiously, "What the hell!? Is this a joke!? I'm not here to play games!" The ninja widely looked around the forest, listening for the slightest sound of the copy Ninja. The only sound that answered his furious yelling was the calls of birds. Panting in rage, the ninja turned to the Neko girl on the ground, trembling in a tiny ball. He huffed in smugness.
"Look at you," he snarled from afar, "The great Kaze Koneko. You have no idea how many people have died trying to capture you." He took a step closer towards the frightened kitten, growling the words with relish, "I could break your little arm now if I wanted to." With those last words, a kunai knife came flying from a tree and stabbed the ninjas arm. The ninja screamed in pain as the blood spilt from the wound, dripping onto the ground. He wavered backwards, quickly pulling the knife from his arm with a pained scream and tossing it aside.
"Come on!" he screamed, almost blinded by pain now, "Come on! Fight me!" Silence issued again, except for the soft fearful panting from the cat girl, still curled up in a defensive ball. The ninja spun around blindly, trying to find the Shinobi.
"Show yourself!" he screamed, "Fight me! I'm not going to fail on this mission! I came here to kill whatever fools that dared protect this monster! Show yourself!"
"Behind you," a voice whispered.
Suddenly, a knife was thrust into his back, ripping the inside of the ninja until it protruded through his stomach, erupting red blood. The ninja did not scream, but held his mouth open as Kakashi dug the knife in further, blood pouring from his prey's mouth as he gagged on the thick red substance. Slowly, the ninja fell to his knees, and finally fell over onto the ground, the blood collecting in a pool around him.
Kakashi lifted the blade from his back with some difficulty, staring down at his victim with his blood flecked face. It was done.
As his thirst for blood faded and he lost the desire, to battle he turned to his student. She was in a sitting position, her face flecked with blood. She watched wide eyed as the pool of blood edged towards her, her tail bristled.
Kakashi breathed, dropping the blade with a loud clang, walking over to his student and kneeling down, gathering her trembling body into his arms.
"I told you not to look," Kakashi breathed the words as the child shook in his arms. He shook his head remorsefully as he wiped the blood on her face, looking at her big tearful eyes, glimmering in the sun light: the blood red eyes of the Kaze Koneko.
"It's okay," he said softly, "Its over. You don't have to be afraid anymore. I got you." Kira merely nodded as the wind glided past them, sending the stray leaves around them soaring into the air. The warmth and exuberance of summer seemed to return as the sound of rustling leaves and birds chirping filled the air. Kira sucked in the fresh air before suddenly falling limp in the Shinobi's arms. Kakashi smiled warmly, gently picking her up in his arms and getting up. Adjusting her light form in his arms, he walked her back to the village where they were waiting for him to return with her, where she could get proper care from her mother.
"Who knows what other challenges are to come?" he smiled down at her, "But for now, I think you can sleep. You've had a long day, Kira."