When they returned to Angel's mansion the door was actually opened for them. "There you are," said an old woman as she stepped aside to let them in. "I thought that you might not be here today so I was just about to leave."
Angel bowed in apology for being late and Kyusuke grumbled about having to do his lessons. "Can't I just skip them today since we have some visitors?" he asked. Angel shook his head and nudged Kyusuke towards his teacher. "But you need someone to translate for you," Kyusuke tried again, but Angel just shrugged and pushed Kyusuke towards the tutor again.
"I'm sure he'll find a way to communicate," said the tutor. "He is very smart."
"But," Kyusuke tried again.
"Come along now," said the tutor as she walked back inside pushing Kyusuke with her. "The quicker we get started, the quicker we can be done so that you can join your dad and talk to the visitors."
"Why does he have a tutor?" asked Sakura. "Why doesn't he just go to a normal school?"
Angel looked back at her before moving into the house. The three members of team seven followed him only to find that he had spread out a scroll on the small table in the living room and was writing in it. He handed it to Sakura as the three of them sat down and she read it quickly.
"He's the only child here?" she asked as she gave the scroll back to him. Angel nodded slowly.
"Isn't that hard for him?" she asked.
Angel looked away and nodded again. He felt bad for subjecting his child to a life without anyone his age to hang out with, but this had been the only place that had accepted him and the child that he gave birth to so he wasn't willing to leave it.
"He seems to be happy with his life regardless," said Kakashi. Angel didn't seem to believe him as he looked down at his legs before him.
"That boy is very happy with his life," Sasuke sighed suddenly. He was actually surprised when Angel's head jerked up to look at him. "If he wasn't I think that you would be able to tell."
Angel nodded quietly.
"Why do you believe him and not me," whined Kakashi as he took out his Icha Icha Paradise book. These were two signs that told his team that he was beginning to trust the man whose home they were in.
Angel immediately reached over, snatched the book away from Kakashi and closed it only to hand it back to him with a note that said. I will not have you reading that in my house where my son can see you.
"But this is a great piece of literature," Kakashi pouted. Sakura actually sniggered as she heard Kakashi say this after reading the note over his shoulder.
Angel simply handed him another note. It is a book written by a perverted old man. That is not literature.
"Fine," Kakashi pouted as he put the book away, "but don't expect me to be happy about it." This was going to be a very long week for him without his favorite book to keep him company.
Angel just shrugged and stood up.
"Where are you going?" asked Sakura.
Angel looked back with a small gesture of his hand and then continued on his way to where ever he was going.
"Well that was rude," said Sakura.
"He's mute Sakura," said Kakashi. "He couldn't have answered you."
"He's going to get some tea," said Sasuke.
"How do you know?" Sakura looked at him curiously.
"Naruto used to do that," he said as he copied the hand gesture that Angel had just done. "Whenever he said that he was going to get some tea."
Both Sakura and Kakashi frowned at his words, but they said nothing. They knew that Sasuke hadn't gotten over Naruto and that he looked for Naruto whenever he had free time, but they were able to convince themselves otherwise when there was no talk of Naruto. Sasuke had spent years looking depressed and he had finally started looking normal as long as no one talked about Naruto. Anything that reminded Sasuke of Naruto always made him smile, but the smile looked so depressed that they couldn't even stand to look at him.
Angel returned moments later with a tray and three cups of tea. He placed the three cups in front of his visitors and sat back down in his seat.
"Where is yours?" asked Sakura.
Angel shrugged before writing a message down and handing it to her. It read, I don't like tea.
"If you don't like tea than why did you make it for us?"
Angel looked back at the kitchen before he turned and took the scroll away from Sakura so that he could write another message in it. Before he even got a chance to put down the first letter, Sasuke spoke.
"The tutor made it didn't she?" he asked.
Angel nodded slowly and tilted his head to the side.
"I don't know," shrugged Sasuke.
"You don't know what?" asked Sakura.
"He just asked me how I knew what he was going to write."
"How do you know that?" asked Kakashi.
"I really don't know," sighed Sasuke. "He just reminds me a lot of…" He didn't want to finish the sentence. One mentioning of his lost beloved was enough for one day thank you very much.
Is there anything else that you need? Angel asked through the scroll that he placed on the table before them.
"Just a small thing," said Kakashi. "We need somewhere to stay until we finish our mission."
What is the mission? Angel asked.
"We're investigating a rumor that we heard," said Kakashi, "and I will say no more than that."
How long will you be staying?
"As long as necessary," answered Kakashi.
You may stay, Angel nodded.
"Thank you," Kakashi smiled through his mask.
"I'm done!" yelled Kyusuke as he rushed down the stairs with the tutor following slowly behind him.
"That was fast," said Sakura.
"I decided that I would make the lesson easy for today since there are guests here," the tutor smiled.
Angel stood and bowed to her silently before going into the kitchen for more tea. Kyusuke sat in the spot next to Angel's and the tutor sat beside Sakura.
"I'm afraid I didn't introduce myself properly before," said the tutor. "My name is Irene."
"It's nice to meet you," Sakura smiled. "I'm Sakura and these are my teammates Sasuke and Kakashi."
"I understand that you are from the same village that Angel came from," said Irene.
"Yea," Sakura agreed.
"If you don't mind me asking," Kakashi said. "How did he come to this village?"
"I found him," said Irene. "I found him just outside the village when he was in labor. I took him in and helped him take care of Kyusuke for a while. The poor man had been malnutritioned, but somehow Kyusuke was very healthy."
"He gave birth to Kyusuke?" gasped Kakashi. "How is that even possible?"
"I actually have no clue," Irene shrugged.
"There have been some men that have been able to give birth, but they are usually from a certain bloodline," Sakura explained. "Everyone thought that the bloodline was extinct, but maybe that's not the case. There's also the chance that he used some sort of jutsu. A lot of gay men use it so that they can give birth with their lover, but it's a forbidden jutsu because almost no man has actually survived giving birth." Sasuke looked away in shame. There was one point where he had considered asking Naruto to use the jutsu even despite the risks, he thought that Naruto had survived everything else so he should survive this, but when he was just about to ask he realized how selfish that request was. He would never put Naruto in harms way just so that they could have a child together. No matter how much he wanted a child, and if that meant that he never got a child of his own then so be it.
"How did he get this place?" asked Kakashi.
"Soon after Angel had completely recovered the village was attacked by a large band of thieves," Irene answered. "This band of thieves had actually been terrorizing us for quite some time, but when they attacked this time Angel captured them all and threw them in jail. The council was so grateful that they gave him this house, which hadn't been used in years. That's also how he got his name."
"Angel isn't his real name?" asked Sakura.
"No," Irene shook her head. "No one actually knows what his real name is. Ever since Kyusuke was born, he hasn't been able to talk to anyone. Not even his own son." Kyusuke bowed his head sadly when Irene said this. He had always wanted to know how his dad's voice sounded, but he had never been able to hear it. He even remembered sometimes, when he was very young, his dad would try to speak to him, but then a look of sadness would overcome his face when no sound came out.
"Ever since?" asked Sakura. "Does that mean he actually can talk?"
"I've only ever heard him talk once," said Irene. "It was when I first found him. He begged me to save his son no matter what. He even told me that his son's name would be Kyusuke just in case he didn't make it through the birthing process. After that it was just like all sound abandoned him. The poor man tried to talk all the time, but nothing would come out."
Just then Angel walked into the room. He looked as though he hadn't heard any of the conversation, but both Sasuke and Kyusuke noticed a sudden slowness to his steps that marked the sadness that he felt from not being able to speak. Kyusuke decided to change the subject. "So dad?" he said. "How long are they staying?"
Angel just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head before sitting back down in his comfortable seat next to his son.
"We're just going to stay until our mission is over," Kakashi said with one of his smiles.
"How long's that gonna be?" asked Kyusuke.
"Going to be Kyusuke," Irene immediately corrected and Kyusuke scowled at her interference.
"We have no clue," Kakashi said happily.
"Well that's not much help," said Kyusuke.
"That's rude Kyusuke," said Irene.
"Well it wasn't," Kyusuke said. "He just pretty much said the same thing that daddy said."
"I will never understand how you two understand each other," Irene sighed. Angel's shoulders drooped when he heard these words. It was a constant annoyance for him because no one except his son was able to understand him unless he actually wrote out what he wanted to say, but more often than not he didn't have the time to write anything. He was forced to rely on his son as his communicator and that wasn't fair to Kyusuke because it allowed him no time to actually be a child like he should be.
"You just aren't trying hard enough," Sasuke said. Angel's head snapped over to look at Sasuke in surprise. "It's very easy to read him. You just have to find the subtle hints that he shows." Angel nodded minutely to Sasuke who took it as a thank you, but he did not say anything else.
"Sasuke," Sakura said. "You and Kyusuke seem to be the only ones who are able to read what Angel is trying to say. I don't even think Kakashi understands it and he is a pro at reading people."
He is a pro at reading what people's next moves are going to be, but when it comes to how people act he is completely clueless. Angel put the written words on the table before them and Kakashi's one visible eye widened drastically.
"How do you know that?" he asked.
"My daddy is very good at reading people," Kyusuke answered. "He always has been. I remember this one time when I was planning on doing something stupid and he figured it out before I was even able to start. I was grounded for a week for just thinking about it."
"What were you going to do?" asked Sakura.
"I was going to steal a magazine with lots of girls on it," he said. "A lot of the guys were looking at it so I wanted one but daddy refused to buy it for me." Sakura couldn't help but to laugh. She remembered Naruto doing that quite a few times in the past. She used to think that he was a total pervert until he revealed that the only reason that he had ever done that was because some of the other kids had said that they would be his friends if he would get those magazines for them. Apparently he only ever looked at the front covers. "What's so funny?" Kyusuke pouted.
"It's nothing," Sakura said as she looked at Sasuke who was looking at the ground. Apparently he was thinking of something similar to what she was thinking. "Just a memory."
"About what?" Kyusuke asked curiously only to be elbowed by his dad. "What?" he whined.
"It's not polite to go prying into other people's pasts," Irena said.
"It's fine," Sakura said. "It was just a memory of a long lost friend of mine."
"What happened to your friend?" Kyusuke asked only to get elbowed once again.
"He went missing," Sakura said cautiously as she looked over at Sasuke who was now looking at the ground so that no one would be able to see the tears beginning to build in his eyes.
"He went missing?" Kyusuke asked. This time Angel didn't even bother elbowing Kyusuke. He just put a hand in front of Kyusuke's mouth. He didn't press hard enough to damage the boy. He was only telling him to be quiet and Kyusuke immediately understood and slumped away from the hand that continued to hover where it was for a moment longer before Angel turned back to his guests. "Sorry," Kyusuke mumbled.
"It's quite alright," Sakura said with a sad smile. "It's just better if you don't ask us about it anymore."
Kyusuke nodded slowly. He never meant to hurt their feelings. He was only being curious. "What is Konoha like?" he asked suddenly to take the topic away from his previous curiosity. He always wondered about the place because his dad seemed to love the place, but he was never able to describe it.
"I'm sure you'll see it sooner or later," Kakashi said happily. He felt Angel's glare settle on him, but he didn't pay any attention to it. "Besides, your father is from Konoha so you'd have to go there sooner or later."
"I don't care about my father," Kyusuke crossed his arms in front of him with a small pout.
Kakashi was more interested in Angel's reaction, though. He reached up and grabbed at a barely noticeable dent in his shirt that was probably a necklace. By the way it was shaped, Kakashi assumed that it held a picture in it. Probably of the boy's father. It didn't seem that Angel hated the man like Kyusuke did. That was good. Children's minds can be changed much easier than adults.
Suddenly Angel stood and, with a stiff bow, left the room.
"Where is he going?" asked Sakura as group seven watched their host leave the room.
"I don't know," Ksyusuke replied. "Sometimes he just goes off to be alone for a while. This one time I followed him when he went off and he looked like he was having a conversation with someone, but there was no one there."
"Kyusuke," Irene chastised. "You shouldn't follow people when they want to be alone. It' rude."
"He knew I was there!" Kyusuke defended himself. "My daddy always knows where everyone is in the village."
"But still," Irene sighed. "Your father must leave for a reason. You really shouldn't bother him."
"I told you already that he's not my father," Kyusuke growled.
"Fine," Irene acquiesced, "but my words are still true. You shouldn't bother your dad when he wants to be alone."
"I only did it once," Kyusuke crossed his arms in a very childish pout. "I just wanted to know why he keeps randomly going off to be alone."
"Well that's none of your business," Irene said before standing and asking, "Does anybody want some more tea?"
"I would like some please," Sakura said as Sasuke and Kakashi just nodded their heads distractedly. They were both distracted for different reasons though. Sasuke was distracted because he was remembering those moments that Naruto would disappear so that he could have an in depth conversation with Kyuubi and no one would ask him why he was so out of it. It took Naruto forever to trust that Sasuke wouldn't bother him or be bothered by him while he was talking to Kyuubi. On the other hand, Kakashi's thoughts tended in a different direction completely. He was thinking about how this Angel that lived in a village where no ANBU should be, knew so much about them. There was no way that everything he knew was just from being good at reading people. There had to be more to the guy than meets the eye. Not that anything really did meet the eye. Angel was so well concealed that his chakra still had yet to make its way to Kakashi's senses even though he had been standing right in front of him.
"Daddy!" Kyusuke exclaimed suddenly looking behind Kakashi.
Kakashi turned and was surprised to find the man standing right behind him with a kunai in his hand. How could he not have noticed that? Even without being able to sense Angel's chakra, his shinobi training always told him when he was in danger. Before he could pull out his own kunai, however, Angel tossed the kunai to Kyusuke who caught it easily.
"Really?" Kyusuke said excitedly. Angel only nodded and Kyusuke turned to the guests of the house. "Do you guys want to come training with me? Maybe we can have a spar or something."
"Sure," Kakashi said a little too quickly. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at him suspiciously, but they did not question their sensei because they knew that whatever he was up to had to be important somehow. Angel was not so easily persuaded. He continued to watch Kakashi all the way until they got to the training grounds. At that point he tore his eyes away from Kakashi in order to look towards his son.
unfortunately this is the last chapter that i had prewritten so i will post the next one as soon as i write it