Chapter 2: An Umbrella
Arashi stared forward and pinched her right arm in intervals. On the chalkboard was a watered down explanation of chakra and the different seals used to mold and manipulate it. Their Sensei had already been over the subject several times that week, so she assumed this was a review before a test. Beside her a classmate struggled to not fall asleep. His head bobbed several times and then he snapped awake for a few moments before the bobbing continued. She shared his sentiment.
It was not that Hibiki Sensei was a bad teacher, but his voice was monotone and when he spoke at length it had a similar effect to white noise on the class.
When it was time for her to leave, she tucked her notebooks away, double checked to make sure she had all of her kunai and shuriken – she was proud of them, even if they were blunted to ease her mother's worries - and pulled her pack over her shoulders. She threw a final look toward the review on the chalkboard and rushed outside with the rest of the children. Some of them went to their parents, whereas others walked home on their own. She scanned the small group of adults for either her mother or her father and found that they were not there.
A feeling of dread settled in her stomach.
She knew that they were both working, but had hoped that one of them would manage to find the time to walk with her. She chewed on her lip and kicked at some pebbles on the ground with her sandals. The last time she was allowed to walk herself home she had gotten lost. Someone helped her and she made it within a reasonable amount of time, but the shock of not knowing where to go left a bad taste in her mouth.
Arashi was terrible at remembering directions.
One look up at the sky revealed that it was going to rain anytime and that revelation only served to twist her stomach into a knot. Not only was she going to be lost, but she was going to be lost in a storm.
"Hey!" A voice whispered right by her ear.
She jumped and squealed. When she spun around to see who it was, she was welcomed by red hair and a grin that spanned from one ear to the other. The woman straightened to her full height and laughed, not so subtly pointing a finger at the girl.
"Did I scare ya?"
"A little," her face burned, "Wh-why are you here, Kushina-san?"
"You're staying with me for a little while this evening, Arashi-chan. I thought I'd make sure you knew where to go."
Arashi quickly forgot her embarrassment. Kushina had just saved her from being lost in the city until someone took pity on her and pointed her in the right direction. The girl latched onto the woman's hand with a vice-like grip.
As they walked away from the Academy, Arashi watched the woman with a deepening interest. Her signature was one of the strongest she had ever been near and it was pleasant, but there was definitely something else hiding inside. The girl could not put her finger on it, but it made her uneasy.
The kunoichi's eye twitched and she stared back at the girl, "It's rude to stare, you know!"
"Uhh," Arashi quickly thought of an excuse, "You have such pw-Pretty hair! You're very pw-pw-pretty!"
The woman blinked and a flattered smile curved her lips, "Thank you, Arashi-chan. You're pretty, too."
With her free hand she played with the hem of her shirt and looked at her feet to feign embarrassment. Arashi knew she was pretty – her mother told her that she was all the time – but she was convinced that she was supposed to act like she did not believe it. She waited until Kushina was focused on looking at the sky to grin in victory.
Nearby she felt a signature that she recognized. ANBU-san was nearby. Her eyes widened and she looked around, but she could not see him.
"What are you looking for, Arashi-chan?"
"Nothing," she lied.
"Hmm, if you say so." Kushina shrugged. "Do you like cake?"
Her eyes widened, "Cake?"
"Mhm. Cake. I figured we could eat and then I'd bake a cake."
"You're a genius, Kushina-san!"
The girl skipped all the way to Kushina's home and the woman was proud every step of the way. Perhaps caring for a child was not going to be as hard as she first thought.
Arashi looked over her notes and muttered under her breath as she reviewed what they had been over in class for the week. As soon as her eyes fell on the section about genjutsu she groaned into her hands. She understood the subject inside and out, but for the life of her she could not keep up with other people in her class.
The more she thought about her struggle in that area, the farther her bottom lip stuck out from her face. It just was not fair.
Kushina hummed in the kitchen as she prepared their food and was oblivious to the girl's plight.
Arashi stood, arranged the bow in her hair, and threw her nose up in the air. Genjutsu was most often used by shinobi with high intelligence and chakra control – which Arashi had. She was a smart girl with a father that often pushed her to train beyond what was expected of an Academy student and her Sensei knew it. In turn, he often tried to instill a taste for genjutsu in the girl, but she struggled through every assignment with it. Her first instinct was to ask her father for help, but he had been too busy as of late.
She stepped on the notebook and ground her teeth. The girl knew she was never going to be considered the prodigy of her class, but that did not mean she wanted to be mediocre in anything. She wanted to make her father proud.
A clap of thunder shook the home and made her gasp.
She looked toward the window and realized that it was raining. Her thoughts immediately focused on ANBU-san, who for some reason went wherever Kushina was. That detail was odd to her, but she figured it might have something to do with the woman's secret.
She touched the window and watched the raindrops pelt against the glass. Her eyes wandered over to her backpack and she looked at the umbrella that her mother sent with her for the day. She checked to make sure Kushina was busy.
Of course, she knew she was supposed to stay inside, but if she got caught she would just cry and apologize. Crying always worked on adults. Besides, she knew without a doubt that she had a duty to perform.
She grabbed her umbrella and slipped outside.
The boy in the dog mask sighed when he saw the girl emerge from the front door and start on her trek around the building. He took a step back, but kept her in sight. She took a moment to jump in a puddle, but continued walking – toward him. The boy's eyebrows furrowed.
He changed locations and the little girl adjusted her course.
His dark eye narrowed. This was interesting. A child of six years was effectively tracking a member of ANBU while humming a rhyme to herself and waving a pink umbrella around. Out of curiosity he moved to another spot on the building next to Minato and Kushina's home.
The girl clenched her free hand into a fist and spun on her heel to glare up at the other roof, "ANBU-san, either you come down or I'll find a way up!"
Arashi tensed when his presence shifted behind her. When she turned around, she came face to face with the mask.
"How do you do that?" He demanded in a deadpan tone.
Her head tilted to one side, "Do what, ANBU-san?"
"How do you track me?"
"Well," she twirled a strand of hair around her finger, "You're not very good at hiding, silly!"
He stood to his full height and she could feel him glare down at her, "What are you doing out here, anyway?"
"I brought you this."
She held the umbrella out to him.
"No thanks." He pushed her toward the door. "Now go back inside."
She pushed his hand away and narrowed her eyes at him. They stared at each other as lightning flashed in the distance and thunder rolled above them.
"I don't need or want the umbrella."
"ANBU-san, you're going to catch a cold!" she insisted, one hand on her hip.
"No, I'm not." He retorted. "Now go back inside."
She frowned, "Fw-friends don't let f-friends stand out in the rain."
"I'm a Jounin and a member of ANBU. I've been through worse than just a little rain."
Arashi held her umbrella over the boy.
"Go back inside and mind your own business." he ordered in a dry tone.
"No! I'm not going anywhere until you take my umbwe-umbwe-umBRella!"
He was quiet for a few seconds and his stance was tense, "Mahh, you're a very annoying and disobedient kid."
"If you take the umBRella I'll leave you alone."
A compromise.
"Fine." He took the umbrella from her. "Now leave me alone."
"Okay, ANBU-san! Take care and don't catch cold!"
She skipped through puddles and turned her face up toward the sky. The young Jounin's shoulders sagged when she turned out of sight and left him to his solitude in the alleyway. It was just him and a gaudy pink umbrella.
Only went Arashi saw the door in front of her did she consider the magnitude of what she had done. She was a bad girl. Kushina was famed for her temper and her skill as a kunoichi. Shame settled in the girl's stomach like an iron ball when she considered how disappointed the woman was going to be in her for sneaking away and coming back soaked to the bone.
Arashi squared her shoulders and took a step toward the door – just to slip and fall face first toward the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the impact.
In a flash she was caught up in a pair of arms. Her eyes shot open and she stared in shock. It took a full moment for her to register who it was, but it was unmistakable. It was the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
"I guess you're Arashi-chan?" He gently asked her.
She nodded, unable to form words. His chakra felt warm and welcoming, like the first rays of light in the morning.
"You're almost as wet as I am." He chuckled. "My wife is going to be mad at both of us."
Her eyes were now the size of saucers. "Wh-what can we do, Hokage-sama?"
"Pray."
She swallowed over a lump in her throat.
Inside, Kushina realized that Arashi was not in the woman's home. As the Red Hot Habanero rushed toward the door to check outside she had a foreboding feeling that caring for children was, in fact, not going to be easy. In spite of the girl having an innocent air about her and the best pair of puppy eyes Kushina had ever seen, she was also a sneaky opportunist. She made a mental note to not forget that.
She jerked the door open and stared.
Minato was poised with his hand outstretched like he was about to turn the knob and in his other arm he held the girl against his chest. They were both drenched from the rain. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
As always, her temper got the best of her.
Arashi dug her fingers into Minato's flak vest as Kushina's chakra swirled around her. Her red hair circled her like nine long tails and thrashed around.
The man's eyes widened, "My wife is beautiful, don't you think, Arashi-chan?"
"So Pw-pretty!" She chorused. "You're lucky, Hokage-sama!"
Minato sniffed the air, "Is that cake?"
"Of course! Kushina's a genius, after all."
"She is!"
Kushina's hair settled back into place and she crossed her arms over her chest. Normally, flattery would not achieve anything when she was mad, but the sight of a grown man and a little girl conspiring together to avoid her anger was pitiful enough to placate her for the time being.
"You're both still in trouble, y'know!" She stepped to the side to let them in.
Arashi buried her face in the man's shoulder and they breathed a sigh of relief in unison. He carried her inside and set her down on her feet once they were in the bathroom. He retrieved a towel and handed it to the little girl.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"You can just call me Minato when it's the two of us." He ruffled her hair. "Now dry off and maybe we can take a look at the homework you had scattered on the floor?"
"Oh," She hid her face behind the towel, "Uhm, okay."
He left the room with a smile and closed the door behind him on the way out. She only had an hour or so until her mother was supposed to take her home, so she dried off as quickly as she could. She wanted to spend as much time with Minato as possible and she hoped that there would be many more encounters with the Yellow Flash in her future.