2
"Which one is the real Sakura?" Ryou barked.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were still being tormented by Noa-sensei and her SHET training. Ryou was presently holding a tied up Sakura clone with her covered mouth in front of her. Two identical tied up clones of the pinkette sat next to the girl. The first clone panicked and attempted to free herself, the second one was extremely still and the third one was crying violently.
'They all look the same…' Thought Sasuke bitterly as he analyzed each and everyone of the clones before him.
Naruto being lead by his instinct instantly sprinted towards the crying one, only to fall into a trap and become tied up upside down to a tree himself- AGAIN.
Carefully and surely enough Sasuke realized that the Sakura which was frozen in fear was the real one. He sprinted towards the pinkette in an attempt to free her. He swiftly avoided the rope trap and jumped it avoiding the second one as well actually reaching his objective.
The smallest of smiles formed on the corner of Ryou's lips.
'finally some progress…' she thought feeling relieved.
"Step #3: Be observant, always." She said glaring at Naruto. And with the flick of her wrist a knife cut the rope and Naruto fell on his head for the third or fourth time in the past couple of days.
"Sakura, good job cooperating with me. That is step #4: Cooperate with your captor. Now as ninja we shouldn't divulge secret information, and don't. However, if your captor tells you to shut up and lay on the floor. You do it."
The team nodded. From afar Kakashi stood under a trees shade again, still pretending to read his book when he was actually carefully watching the training before him unfold. He had never had closure with Ryou in regards of the interaction that strained their relationship all those years ago…
"Good job team 7. We will meet again tomorrow to continue the training. I'm satisfied with today's progress." She nodded at them and pulled out a cigarette.
Sakura cheered and Naruto rubbed his head still with a frown on his face. "I am so done with this training, believe it!" He then turned to face Sakura. "We should go to Ichikaru's ramen now!"
His girl teammate cheered backing him up.
'Yes, I will finally get to be alone with Sakura-chan' Naruto grinned broadly as his face flushed with eagerness.
"Sasuke-kun! You should come with us!" The girl said turning to the boy of her eyes with pink hearts sparkling eyes.
That was the cue for Naruto to face plant on the floor.
"Hn, I have better things to do," Sasuke hissed before starting to walk away.
Ryou raised an eyebrow curiously as the Uchiha boy walked away. He was never the same after the massacre and she knew better. Suddenly she felt it again, a pulsating headache. She reached for her temple and held on to her throbbing temple. Then in crimson flashes she saw it and image of a younger looking Kakashi displaying the same exact behavior. She flinched and her eyes focused on him for a split second before snapping back to the raven haired boy before her.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Ryou spoke catching everyone's attention and letting out a puff of smoke. She winced, once again seeing the silver hair Jounin's young spitting image. Not that they looked alike, it was something in the way they carried themselves. The arrogance, the loneliness...
Even Kakashi turned around "Come, it will be my treat," she insisted.
At the ramen place the entire team 7 and Noa-sensei sat on the bar ready to order. The seating arrangement was Ryou, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. Ryou looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall. It was still early, she wouldn't have to pick up him up from the daycare until later.
"Alright! Ryou-chan is treating us! This is great!" Naruto exclaimed while slamming his fist on a table. 'I knew deep down inside she was a nice person!' he thought grinning from ear to ear.
"I've told you plenty of times, don't call me that." Ryou uttered flashing Naruto a look rolling her green eyes.
He only flashed her a cheesy wide grin in return.
Naruto remembered Ryou from his younger years. For the first 6 years of his life he was raised in an orphanage with many other children, and very so often he remembered a nice lady with big hair would come visit them often times on weekends. She'd bring candy, and often times on sad days she would bring some children to live at the her old house. Whenever she visited, it was his favorite. He observed the woman who only turned her eyes towards him, "What?" she snapped.
The glare in them was much harsher than the day they had actually had their first interaction that day she saved him in that fateful day in the forest.
"How's the chubster, eh?" Naruto asked still wide a wide grin looking at the woman who completely ignored his question.
'It's so weird she invited herself…' thought Sakura who found it quite peculiar that the woman was sitting there amongst them.
"You guys are finally making progress, slowly but surely," The older woman spoke changing the subject while sipping some green tea.
"Ryou-sensei, why did you start the SHET program?" asked Sakura still eyeing the woman carefully.
"I felt that it was an important aspect that hasn't been properly covered during our ninja training," Was all she said, her eyes dark.
"It's a good program." Sasuke suddenly spoke.
Ryou turned to face him and smiled a little, she really wanted to converse and catch up with him. The young boy looked a lot healthier than what he had looked several years ago.
She suddenly remembered only a few years ago when he had been staying at her and her father's house- There had always been something about the Uchiha massacre that never smelled right to Ryou. She had been very close to Shisui Uchiha and friendly acquaintances with Itachi and a lot of people had said "Well it was about time for that nut to bust", but he had a general air of kindness in his eyes and the place smelled weird- besides the death, there was a particular stench in the air that day…
Ryou made a mental note to start investigating the case again.
She didn't remember much of what had happened that night, even if she had been one of the first ANBU at the scene of the crime that night.
"Oh, hey guys what a surprise." A dull voice spoke. Ryou didn't even bother snapping her head back to greet the person. His students greeted him, some more confused than others, and he sat next to her.
'Why is he here? Does he even eat with that masks on?!' thought Ryou glaring at him sitting next to her. 'WHY DID HE EVEN SIT NEXT TO ME?!' She began fuming, now she felt like running away.
Kakashi pretended not to notice her glaring. Suddenly, there was a loud awkward silence.
"So- Kakashi-sensei, you and Ryou-sensei seem to go way back. How do you guys know each other?" Sakura piped in an attempt to break the awkward tension that was going on in the restaurant.
Both glanced away from each other uncomfortably.
"We studied at the Shinnobi Academy together." Was all Kakashi uttered still not meeting her eyes.
"That must've been a long time ago!" laughed Naruto. Making a joke about their age.
"Where you guys in the same team?" asked Sasuke.
"No." Ryou answered coldly this time. "Thank Kami," She muttered before taking a sip from her hot drink.
The ramen came just in time and everyone was ready to eat. Ryou actually really wanted to actually talk to Sasuke but she figured he wouldn't be very conversational in front of his teammates.
"Hm.. This looks delicious" Kakashi said a hand slowly reaching for his mask. Realizing that he was going to take off his mask Team 7 was about to jump out of their seats from curiosity. They were finally going to see their sensei's face. There it was again, that pulsating headache. She pinched the bridge of her nose and bit down on the inside of her cheek in an attempt to pass the flashing pain. She didn't care enough and was distracted by her pain that she didn't notice the awestruck expressions in his student's faces.
"AHHH!" Ryou suddenly jumped to her feet. She felt something burning on her lap. Kakashi had accidentally elbowed her cup of hot tea spilling onto her lap. "NOOOOO!" The genin's shouted as her body covered the sight of their sensei's mysterious face.
"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" She hissed attempting to wipe the liquid from her lap.
By the time she had reacted he was already done with his food.
"Sorry." Was all he said nonchalantly.
"What the hell is your damn problem Hatake?!"
"I said I was sorry." He repeated again through clenched teeth.
Ryou felt her neck growing red in anger she began digging through her pockets finding the money to pay for her and Sasuke's meal.
"Hey! What a surprise!" A sudden third voice interrupted.
Kurenai and Asuma suddenly lifted the tarp to the ramen shop to surprise the two Jounin.
"Ryou, what a surprise…" Kurenai said serisouly through a tight slipped smile.
"Kurenai," she retorted in the same seriousness. There it was again, another flash and young Kurenai and Asuma smiled up at her. Her teammates. Holding a hand to her temple she stepped around them disregarding if she was perceived as being rude or not.
"You two together, of all people." Asuma chuckled commenting on the peculiar company.
"What? Are you guys on like a date?" Ryou snapped grouchily back making Kurenai flush a bright scarlet red and Asuma smirk. For a moment the Jounin forgot the Genin where still there watching the interaction between the adults with interest.
"I'm leaving," Ryou said slowly before slamming the money on the table next to her uneaten ramen. She said nothing else to her old teammates, or team said and stormed off.
Confused everyone turned to face Kakashi who was already on his feet and had already paid for his ramen. "It was an accident," he said casually before shrugging and walking away in the opposite direction.
"Tsk… those two…" Asuma shook his head.
"What happened between them?" Asked Sakura curious like always.
"They've gone through some nasty situations… Just got off with the wrong foot. That's all." Was all he said. Kurenai and Asuma suddenly left and the Genin turned back to their plates no longer feeling hungry- except for Naruto. Who cursed when he realized Ryou wasn't talking about treating him.
"NOOOOOOOO!" He shouted as he crumbled the massive bill he was indebted to.
In the meantime Kakashi calmly walked through the streets of Konoha attempting to catch a glimpse of the angry ninja somewhere in the streets. The sun was still high up in the sky and the hard workers of Konohagure were beginning to head out for their lunch breaks. His sharp eyes didn't fail him when he saw a wave of people splitting like the Red Sea as she stormed by. He quickened his pace without being obvious and slyly followed her. She turned streets several times until she turned into a dark hallway. He followed after her chasing her footsteps. As soon as he stepped inside he wasn't careful enough and stepped on a paper trap. Immediately the alleyway filled with a massive white cloud of smoke. As soon as the smoke vanished there was another note on the floor.
'STAY AWAY.' It read. She was gone.
He cursed and crumbled the note in his closed fist. He was going to find her. Now he was more than intrigued on where the woman was going and why she wanted him to stay away.
It took him a while until he finally spotted her. He had tracked her down by summoning his nin-dog pug Pakkun who found her at an ice cream shop out of all the places.
"What's up with the crystal lady boss?" Pakkun asked as he saw the woman paying for her ice-cream and then walk out of the ice-cream shop. Kakashi was about to respond when he saw that her eyes met his from a distance. Despite being on top of a roof she had somehow spotted him. Her face instead of showing anger it turned white with fear. That was… peculiar.
She looked around swiftly and for some reason could not move, remaining frozen in the spot.
This intrigued him.
"Oi," he said attempting to play it casual by sliding his hands into his pockets suddenly reappearing at close proximity. She pretended not to see or hear him. "Ryou," he said once again, demanding her acknowledgement.
"You know what?" She snapped turning to glare at him with her eyes turned into slits. "I really am not in a good mood today, I've had the worst headaches all day long," she said once again bringing her hand to her aching head.
"Good," he retorted flatly. "Maybe it will grind your memory back," he glared with his one visible dark eye.
She rolled her eyes and held the cup of melting ice cream with her free hand.
"What are you doing here?" he asked eyeing her suspiciously.
"Eating ice cream, what does it look like?" she said shoving a spoonful of chocolate flavored ice cream into her mouth. The brain freeze did not aid with her terrible headache.
His visible eye only suspiciously narrowed.
Suddenly he saw a wave of dark brown curly hair topple from behind her. "I'm all done momma…"
A slow, dull, child-like voice suddenly said. He saw how all the blood drained from her face. His eye went wide as he looked down and saw a child of about four reaching for his cup of ice-cream.
The child had a mane of thick, curly hair that reached down just to the nape of his neck and covered part of his forehead. He had light skin. His eyes were like two large empty tunnels. Just like his mother his eyes were permanently narrowed in suspiciousness and had prominent bottom lashes which framed his onyx eyes even more. The child with the bored expression stared at Kakashi's shocked face.
Ryou's eyes flickered between them and she picked up the child in her arms. He brought down his hand with his spoon and kept his dark eyes frozen on Kakashi who remained speechless.
"You have a child…" Was all he managed to say.
Four years in the same village and how was it that he didn't know she had a child? How had the thought never crossed his mind? Ryou often surrounded herself with the local orphans perhaps it was because of that?
"Y-Yes," she said bouncing him in her arm nervously.
"Hi," Kakashi raised his hand opening his palm closing his one visible eye in a friendly attempt to interact with the child. Suddenly, somehow, he had forgotten everything that had occurred between him and his mother.
The child only glared at him with a bored expression.
"Mom says not to speak to strangers and you mister, are very strange…" He said slightly drawling on his last word as he spoke in his slow voice. With that he shifted his attention towards his chocolate ice cream.
Noting his rudeness Kakashi felt his eye visibly twitch.
"He takes a lot after his mother," he said cringing as he stated the obvious.
"Oh, he's not my biological son," she said shaking her head. He removed himself from the situation and looked at their faces. O.K. Kakashi wasn't stupid. They looked the exact same.
Matching curly, dark hair, skin tone- hell!
You could tell just by looking at their identical prominent bottom eyelashes and half-lidded narrowed eyes. There was no way that they were not related. There was no doubt about it.
He looked at the child's dark eyes which were starring back at his.
"I know he's yours," he stated firmly with a rather annoyed look in what was visible of his face.
She scoffed.
"What do you know?" she retorted as she grew more and more irked by the passing moment.
"So... Who?" he asked in a more serious tone.
"I… don't know," she shrugged casually.
"I met Ryouta when I was living in the Rain Village of Amegakure, right?" She said placing a kiss on the child's head.
Of course she named the child after herself.
"Yes," the child said innocently. "Mom told me that she was walking in the rain one day and a red eyed raven brought her to me," he said casually.
'Red eyed raven…' There was only one person that could be associated with such an image. An image of Itachi Uchiha momentarily flashed Kakashi's mind.
"Can I walk you home?" He suddenly asked.
"That's not necessary," she said lowering the boy to his feet and making way back to her home. He shoved his hands back in his pockets and sighed still following after her regardless of her wishes.
They walked for a while, he trailed several feet behind her. The child kept himself entertained by waving around a thin branch he had found in the ground as if it was a blade.
"Listen," she suddenly came to a halt turning her sharp eyes to him. Her headache becoming more intense by every passing moment. "If you are having any funny ideas, he's not yours," she snapped in a low whisper ensuring the child wouldn't hear. Her other hand clenched into a fist.
"Yeah?" he said cocking an eyebrow up. "Then who's the poor bastards father?" he retorted in a dark tone. His eyes hard.
"Is he an Uchiha?"
She didn't break eye contact. She kept her lime green eyes piercing at his. She held her silence, and so she left him standing alone with an aching chest.
That night Ryou returned home crying again, this time she couldn't hide it from her father who over the years didn't know what to do to console her. Being busy packing tonight he only gave his daughter a hug and resumed his business. Ryou didn't have dinner. She put Ryouta to sleep and retreated to try and get some sleep herself.
She didn't want to call that night a mistake, but she had a feeling it had been more than that. The scattered memories of her life often played tricks on her. Some memories real, others not, most forgotten.
With a sudden twitch feeling like something was watching her. Ryou sipped her head to the side but only saw darkness.
Not wanting to return to sleep she relied on her creative writing in order to cope and forget.