- Scroll III -
- Flames to Dust -
Koyuki didn't know how long she stood there in the shower, hair clinging to her nape and face, droplets of water hitting her shoulders, and the tiles below her. Soap foam brushed along the sides of her feet and she slipped one lean leg forward, letting the hot water wash away the remaining bubbles that clung to her knee and thigh. For a moment longer she studied the pattern engraved into the marble in front of her, and then she reached up and twisted at the metal knob, feeling the slow rush of air from beyond the bathroom as the water stopped falling.
Wrapping a royal-blue towel around her breasts, she stepped out, head tilting up to gaze across the light fixture as she stretched an arm back to loosen her muscles.
Her mind was as always, a silent, busy whir of clicking thoughts that never ceased.
Whenever she woke from the nightmares, her chest always ached, as though her heart had been bruised from hammering too hard against her breastbone. Sometimes the shakes took hours to fade away completely, and she often had headaches that, like now, arced across the top of her skull and throbbed with such power.
The familiar coolness of the floor under her pressed into the soles of her warm feet.
The long shower refreshed her and she selected her clothes from the closet. After slipping on a pair of loose black capri pants and a black short-sleeved shirt, she harnessed a white armor tank top above the shirt. She strapped on her black ninja sandals and fingerless black gloves with metalguards, and a titanium metal plate arm guard on her right forearm.
Lastly Koyuki strapped and fastened her ninjato on the left side of her hip, and her tanto strapped horizontally on the small of her back, secured just above her weapons pouch.
She looked at the bedside clock. Seven-forty-five in the morning. She had fifteen minutes until the genin exam, and the Ninja Academy was all the way across the village.
Koyuki wasted no time darting through the front door, pushed the door shut behind her before she forced a run through the Mikoto Compound. The street in front of her was quiet, save for a fruit vendor on one side and a tool-sharpener on the other. Her stomach let out a grumbled that was unearthly and she realized she was famished. She turned the corner and thought about buying an assortment of fruits from the vendor, seeing it was more convenient than stopping by a market.
Koyuki quickly purchased two mandarins, one peach and a four ichigo daifukus.
The trees weren't many along the streets of Konoha, and to cut around the twists and turns of alleyways for urgent business, the Hokage had long ago allowed the shinobi to leap over rooftops if it meant cutting travel time in half.
She instinctively gathered some chakra under the soles of her feet and leaped up to a particularly high penthouse. Koyuki looked across the landscape of the village, and leapt across a chain link fence ontop the building, hurdling on to the neighboring penthouse, to the academy.
The sun was rising properly now, and the streets outside began to wake up. Koyuki watched two sleepy men open up their respective shops as she jumped from building to building.
Koyuki had arrived ten minutes later, short of breath, but satisfied. She dipped her head against the shove of the wind and pushed her body towards the main entrance, the class was on the third floor, she reached the stairwell and took two steps at a time, ignoring the complaints of her body.
After pulling the classroom door open, she realized that she had arrived just in time. Koyuki eyed Iruka-sensei in the front, clearly about to start the exam.
Koyuki's face looked up to his, eyes flickering, weariness radiating from her even when the teacher saw, she was trying valiantly to look almost unaffected.
"Ah-", the chunin's eyebrow rose in greeting.
"Long walk?"
Koyuki ignored the attempt at humor. She was just too exhausted.
"Please take a seat, Mikoto-san."
She was more than happy to oblige. After taking a seat next to the bubbly and energetic soon-to-be ninja clad in bright orange, she open her bag with the assortments of fruits and began eating.
"Psst! Koyuki." The boy with corn-silk hair and the eyes like the clear blue sky uttered under his breath. Koyuki turned her attention to Naruto.
"Why are ya late? Usually your the first one here."
Koyuki swallowed the chunk of peach she bit off and spoke, "I lost track of time, plus I got some breakfast on the way."
The orange-clad boy nodded profusely, and pointed with one finger, "And the bandages?"
"Training."
"Uh-huh." the boy answered quietly as his eyes narrowed into slits.
Iruka-sensei spoke to the class, "For your final exam, you must each generate three clones. When you are called, come to the next room."
Koyuki's shoulders slumped, and signed under her breath. Honestly, couldn't they have something a little bit more challenging than just simple clones?
Nonetheless, each student was called into the next room, and each has received a hitai-ate.
"Mikoto Koyuki!"
She stood up and proceeded to the next room, where Iruka and Mizuki-sensei resided to examine the performance of each student's clones. Koyuki stood in the middle of the room.
"Please generate three clones in order to pass." Iruka-sensei instructed.
Koyuki nodded, she formed her first and middle finger upward with both hands with her fingers crossed, the hand sign for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
A swirl of smoke circled beside her as three shadow clones appeared lightly beside her, each one flawless.
Iruka-sensei gave her a open smile, "Congratulations, you pass."
He held out a hitai-ate in front of her. Her hand stretched out and clutched the hidden leaf forehead protector within her hand. Her cheeks pulled into a dim smile, and she placed the metal plate across her forehead, and tied to fabric into a tight knot.
She bowed to both Iruka and Mizuki-sensei, and left the room, closing the door behind her softly.
On his way back home, Sasuke was blockaded by the graduating students and their close family members. He lingered about, trying to pass through or passing enough time to then pass through, be upon hearing the congratulatory comments, seeing the pats on the shoulder, ruffles on the hair, and hugs.
His dead parents never gave him that kind of love and affection. Only one member of his family ever did. Except now, that person, his brother, was also as good as dead to him.
He decided to go the short way home.
Upon passing the aged swing set near the Konoha Ninja Academy, his heart suddenly plunged all the way to his stomach. Just beside the tree stood the last person he wanted to see. Or at least what his mind vainly tried to tell him.
The sun reflected over the tops of her bright, silver and black hair, as she looked down at her sandals.
In one moment, everything that happened last night came crashing down over his head.
The stubbornness in him that he had only lately discovered forced his legs forward, even if a part of him wanted to be anywhere else but near her again.
He stopped in front of her, in his usual casual stance with his hands in his pockets.
"Koyuki..." the raven-haired boy's tone of voice, caused the kunoichi to raise her head and her eyes softened with a mix of various emotions Sasuke could not place.
To the girl's curiosity, the Uchiha gave her a brief look that held none of the usual hostility or flashing intimidation he gave to everyone else. Koyuki's eyebrows rose in confusion.
Sasuke still had that meaningful look on his face when he slowly turned away.
The kunoichi's violet eyes followed the boy's steady, even steps before they once again slowed to a stop and Koyuki waited for something else to come from the boy, her gaze swept over the clan logo on the prodigy's back. The voice startled her.
"Have you had lunch, Koyuki?"
The girl's lightly-etched eyebrows drew together and she studied her classmate's back for a long moment. "No..." she slowly answered, "I haven't replenished my stocks at home."
Sasuke finally turned around to face her, and as the wind whipped past his hair and nipped at his clothes, Koyuki once again saw the quiet beauty of the boy. His presence was silent, yet radiated with ripples of suppressed capability and power hidden within that lean frame and stoical manner with which he now regarded her.
At a nudge of his head, Sasuke gestured towards the road in front of them that inevitably led to Ichiraku.
"You're hungry and I have pocket money. Let's go."
The Mikoto's pride kicked in and she crossed his arms stubbornly, "You don't have to pay for my meals, Sasuke."
The Uchiha closed his eyes and sighed, his mouth dipping slightly, and then surfacing with a subtle smirk. "Then, I'm hungry and I have pocket money. Join me."
The viola-speckled eyes that stared back at Sasuke wavered for a moment.
"But... You never do this."
And as if her stomach knew better than to pass up an opportunity, it betrayed her, and gave a low rumble of hunger just enough that the Uchiha heard it.
Koyuki cursed feebly at the ground and at her stomach, before her eyes went back to the boy.
Despite Koyuki's now crippled dignity, Sasuke was being nicer than usual and she could definitely take advantage of that rarity.
"Fine." The girl muttered, only half-grudgingly and more to herself before she followed her friend out of the academy grounds to the cemented road.
Once again, the owner of Ichiraku was nowhere to be seen and Ayame had taken over the counter.
Sasuke extracted a paper bill from his pocket and slipped it across the table as Koyuki plopped down on the seat beside him.
"Tempura ramen-" the dark-haired genin said, before tilting his chin down at the girl beside him, "and one tonkotsu ramen for Koyuki."
The kunoichi folded her arms across her chest, and she studied Sasuke with considering eyes.
"How do you know it's tonkotsu ramen I want?"
Sasuke looked sideways at Koyuki with a slight smirk as he sat. "It's what you always order."
He had not been kidding. Koyuki was fairly predictable as long as the situation didn't have anything to do with battle. The Uchiha noticed that she was quite capable of coming up with brilliantly impressive tactics during sparring sessions and actual battle. But when it came down to food, Sasuke knew the girl didn't need a menu.
At Ichiraku, it was always tonkotsu ramen.
"Oh." Koyuki silently responded before her chin fell into her hand, even as she hid a candid smile. He still remembers, after all these years.
Sasuke's eyes silently studied the cluster of chopsticks in front of him before finally wandering over to his classmate.
Koyuki's own eyes remained closed even when she could sense Sasuke's calculating gaze on her.
His breath stirred at the curls of steam rising from the cup and he leaned forward into the counter, strands of blue-black hair escaping against his cheeks. He brought the tea cup to his mouth.
"Koyuki..." Ayame's voice pulled the Mikoto out of her state of lethargy, and her eyes perked at the sight of the steaming bowl of ramen being lowered in front of her.
"Thanks, nee-chan." She slurred delightedly, her eyes twin beams of joy.
Ayame mirrored her smile and Sasuke lowered his face to sip quietly from his cup.
The bowl of ramen being set in front of the dark-haired boy ushered in a silence and Sasuke started nibbling on his starch-fried shrimps.
"So, Koyuki. Where's your sensei?"
"Hmm? Which one, nee-chan?" the girl mumbled into her meal, barely sparing the young girl a glance.
"The one who usually shares lunch with you. Kakashi... Kakashi Hatake." Ayame said, trying to catch a bit of her uncanny amethyst irises.
The Uchiha's slanted eyes looked sideways at Koyuki and the sun danced off the side of her finely-bridged nose as she lowered her chopsticks and dug into the noodles.
"Ah! Kakashi-sensei... eto, he's probably visiting the cenotaph like he does every morning. He's always been so busy these days, I haven't seen him in a while." And Koyuki reached out to her green tea, sipping a bit of it before setting it down again.
Koyuki tilted the ramen bowl to her lips, gulping down what was left of the warm soup.
A short silence ensued, during which Koyuki lowered the emptied ceramic bowl and swiped at her damp cheeks.
"Anou... Kakashi-san should be waiting for me at the training grounds today." the girl's honest, violet eyes glanced over at the raven-haired boy. Sasuke lowered his chopsticks and stared into the noodles.
"I'm sorry that I was such a burden last night Sasuke, I should have been more careful." She said, her voice slightly startling him.
An arm absent-mindedly rose to brush away the stray strands of hair that fell across her face.
She'd started speaking but he cut her off abruptly, "I could've let you out there, but I chose to tend to your wounds and let you stay the night. It wasn't a burden, so quit apologizing and just be grateful."
Her eyes flinched, and for a moment Sasuke waited for her to lash out with a defensive retort of her own. But she only gave him a smile.
Unknowingly, she had delivered the last attack and had blown his grand fortress open.
He couldn't keep hurting someone who didn't want to fight back.
"Thanks for lunch Sasuke." He heard her shuffle onto her feet, but before she left, he felt and hand on his right shoulder, her fingers gave a light squeeze before she walked away from the ramen bar.
Ayame raised her head from behind the counter, where she was seated and her brown eyes swept over the slumped form of her customer. Her heart wrenched as she watched Sasuke, his hunger forgotten.
The ramen in front of him remained untouched, steam dancing above the hot soup had dissipated and she knew that the tempura was cold.
Apparently there was a first time for everything.
Silently, she slipped behind the curtains towards the inside kitchen to clean out the utensils.
Koyuki stepped onto the tree branch near the training grounds, the rushing water in the nearby stream was eerily silent. And the girl lowered herself along the tree bark.
One droplet of rain, a shattered wet streak across the delicate bridge of her nose, but the girl seemed not to notice. Then more rain came, a drizzle of beads hitting gently at their faces, soaking into her hair and dampening the hues of her clothes.
A subtle smirk formed on her lips. Let's see how fast you can catch on... Kakashi-san.
"Are you sure it's not just the coming rains? A storm perhaps?"
"Kakashi..." the small summon managed a look of irritated offensiveness. "I know what rainfall smells like, and this is not it."
The pepper-haired jonin hovered along the ledge of a tall tree branch before jumping down to the ground. Right were he suspected Koyuki would be.
Undeniably, there was something going on. He could feel the tension burying into his nerves. Feel the familiar prickling sensation creep up his neck and spine.
"Yes, something's not right." Kakashi started, before turning to the little pug, "I just wanted to make sure it was our target you were smelling and not another worthless — or suprising - something."
The jounin held out a gloved hand to his small friend cowering on a low tree branch, and his one eye crinkled in its gentle, assuring way.
"Come on Pakkun." Kakashi lightly cajoled with a tilt of his pepper head.
The blue-vested dog couldn't resist the jonin's charming personality, and he wiped his front paws gingerly against each other before leaping down into the jounin's outstretched hand.
Kakashi drew Pakkun against his vest, dangling him over the crook of one arm, and the dog only barely started to nestle comfortably into the body's warmth when the intense smell of potent chakra filled his nose.
The dog jerked and opened his mouth but the jonin cut him off with a low murmur enough only for the summon to hear.
"This is a bunshin. Go when I drop you."
The dog's eyes widened in surprise.
The skill Kakashi possessed in evenly distributing his scent and body heat.
It had fooled even him.
The black and white outfit rustled in the wind as the soft-featured kunoichi shot forward. Her ninjato gripped firmly between her hands.
Pakkun yelped and scrambled away, shooting up into the nearest tree where he pushed himself into a hole in the bark.
The ebony sword's deadly tip shot forward, pushing sharply into the jonin's vest.
And the Kakashi-bunshin let out a very convincing cry of pain as the sword tore through his chest with a flickering glow of white-gold.
And then the jonin-clone was folding into the floor with ninjato protruding from its chest, slamming into the ground before exploding into a cloud of smoke.
Koyuki stood there, her dark eyes wide with determination, and with a chuckle she swung her sword up against her shoulder.
But a sharp, hissing noise close to her ear made her jerk her head sideways in surprise at sword's sharp tip.
A tag had been slapped over the edge, the exploding curse already burning more than halfway through.
"Shimata-" the girl had barely finished growling when the explosion was activated, blowing off the sword and the girl's head with the impact, sending voltage slapping into the trees, and the sparks leapt from the bunshin to the nearby tree which flared in flames but faded, to the tree tops overhead, and from there it ran to every corner of training ground, lightly singeing just about everything.
Kakashi watched from a few feet away, as the static-clone hovered shakily for a moment on its one stable leg before finally collapsing backwards, and sloshing noisily into the ground.
The jonin's eye narrowed darkly and he pushed away from his position, disappearing in an etch of lines and reappearing in the middle of the field.
The pepper-haired shinobi looked up at his cowering summon, who was then giving him a threatening look, despite his fear, and Kakashi pushed a hand behind his head and sighed.
He had to make the bunshin look authentic didn't he?
Pakkun seemed to forget that summons could disappear whenever there was a mutual agreement to do just that.
The dog seemed to remember it then, and his eyes gave a dead look as he mouthed the words.
The jonin could read lips, and he nodded in permission, turning away from the dissipating smoke as the dog departed, as well as the Kakashi-bunshin.
Standing there, against the tug of the wind, he closed his eyes and sharpened his senses, remembering Koyuki's unique chakra signature in his mind.
He could feel it. He knew. There were more clones to come.
"Where is the real you...?" Kakashi's breath was straining against his mask, one gloved hand moved up to push at a deep cut across his left shoulder where one of the clone's sword had sliced him.
The eight figures only looked mutely at him and Kakashi jumped when one of them swung out fast with her sword, smashing it into the ground where the jounin had been standing.
Flickers of electricity danced along the ebony blade, and the jounin felt his left leg weaken slightly as he landed a few feet away.
He'd figured it out after killing two other lightning clones. The sword was charged with Koyuki's unique lightning chakra, and whenever he was close to the sword, he could feel the lightning charge through his bones, deep within the marrow, and paralyzed his nerve cells.
He'd managed to avoid all but one direct blow. But even from two feet away the sword electrocuted at your nervous system.
Kakashi knew he didn't have much of a choice.
He had to read the movements to disable Koyuki.
His left hand rose to pull his forehead protector up and the jounin barely managed a duck as another clone shot out at him with a swipe of his leg.
Another sword came from the side and the jounin twisted in quick somersault, dodging another vertical slash from yet another clone and pushing a firm fist deep into the bunshin's nose, feeling nothing but the shock coursing through his body and the exploding static around his limbs as his body stiffen in agony, he lost control of his muscles as his knees collapsed to the ground.
Kakashi willed himself up, staring now into the face of another grinning Mikoto.
And the jounin smiled underneath his mask as the Sharingan in his left eye opened and started its ease of familiar slow sweeps in circumference.
A growl from the girl in front of him and the jounin saw it.
He ducked as the sword lashed out and struck with a powerful leg sweep, breaking through the bunshin's ankles and causing the waves of jutsu to double over backwards.
Six more to go.
The Sharingan flashed, dots sweeping in jutsu copy, as the lightning clones started another approach.
One dashed out towards the left, another ran for the right, both sides swinging a sword at him at the same time.
There was a crunch, much like autumn leaves and sea shells breaking as the two swords collided and Kakashi slid himself backwards, head slightly reeling as his gaze focused on the line of dust he'd kicked up.
Just as he suspected, the two swords glowed with electricity, paralyzing his system.
The jounin could see the ethereal light beyond the swirls of dirt.
His hands whipped out two shurikens and Kakashi sharply tossed them out, both stars flying straight towards the two bunshin foreheads.
The metal weapons slammed into solid skin before sinking into the sudden pools of electricity and the jounin pushed one hand up in an activation seal, anticipating the move.
The ninja-stars burned orange and within a second the clone to the left exploded into electricity followed by the showering detonation of the other from the right, the electric charge of both flooding out into the ground, sparks of fire withered across the grass, the charge was hot enough to scorch the blades of grass into smoking remains.
If this keeps up, my chakra will be completely depleted.
Just as the thought left his head, he saw a flash of black in front of him and the menacing flash of a bunshin's eyes as it hoarsely murmured, "Got you."
Kakashi reflexively brought a hand out sideways and the metal over his glove collided hard with the ninjato. For a moment he cringed, trembling with the effort of holding his fist up.
This girl was strong to have clones who were so capable.
The sword released a static sound and the whole length of it glowed satisfactorily.
Immediately the energy left him, and the jounin's knees hit the ground.
The ninjato came slamming down.
It hit rubble and a crack stretched out across the ground, as Kakashi pushed his body sideways with a roll.
"This is bad." He panted, feeling the noticeable change in his body as he struggled to raise himself.
And then the real Koyuki was flying towards him, the sword held straight out, and Kakashi readied himself in defense stance.
Closer, closer.
His eye widen as the blade stopped mere seconds before it contacted with his forehead.
A familiar, lean form stood in front of him, "I win Kakashi-sensei." the voice droned.
"Koyuki." The jonin looked up to his student as she slid the sword into the scabbard.
"The sword..." Kakashi tightly said pushing a hand to the cut across his shoulder as it pulsed with hot pain, "It electrocutes the nervous system of anyone who comes near it. Very clever."
Koyuki turned her head to the side, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and the pepper-haired shinobi's eyes widened slightly.
"It is isn't it? And the best part is... it doesn't require any of my chakra, it's all apart of my kekkei genkai."
Koyuki shook her head slowly and grinned weakly.
Even when her eyes were already lowering and her legs were growing numb. Kakashi pushed his body up, hunched beside her and tugging one of her arms on his shoulders.
The girl's head bent as she gave a small smile into the ground, "I'm getting stronger though, am I?"
The jonin's eye softened and his hand clutched tighter around the girl's wrist, pulling the sagging weight higher into the arch of his shoulder blades, "Yes, of course, bringer me to my knees is certainly a rare sight."
The Mikoto's head dipped along with the last words she whispered into the training ground. "…Heh, I'm glad."
Her body caved into Kakashi's arms, and the jonin bent to gather the unconscious kunoichi and her tangled limbs.
He remembered all the times in the past they'd fought with each other.
It wasn't the first time Koyuki's determination to win had brought her to unconsciousness.
It only follows that it isn't the first time I'm the one who has to drag her to bed. the jonin dryly thought as he looked down at his slumped student.
The evening was silent, save for the clapping of leaves as branches swayed.
"Stay strong Koyuki, not just for yourself, but for your clan." Kakashi murmured into the space between him and his student, the mouth under his mask pulling up in a small smile.