Kakashi bolted upright in bed. Sweat beaded his skin as he tried to calm is heart rate. Images flashed within his head but it was if he was trying to hold on to sand. He knew he needed to remember something important, something that needed immediate attention. But like a dying flame the images flickered out, leaving him in darkness.
What was it that he needed to do? It was about a girl, a woman who read books. Or was that his imagination?
Already awake, Kakashi got out of bed and glanced out the window. The Sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, the night sky fading into a dull bluish grey. The jonin got a glass of water, gulping it down as he tried to sort his jumbled thoughts.
His uneasiness grew with each passing moment. The only image he could grasp was night sky eyes and brown hair that was never in place. Seeing her face in his mind brought a sense of closeness, as if he knew the woman on a personal level.
His heart quickened its pace, verifying what he seemed to already believe. Kakashi trusted his instincts, and his instincts told him he needed to find this woman, and he needed to find her as soon as possible.
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After taking her usual jogging route (and noting that Gai passed her four times today), Chiisai showered and headed to work. The Sun had finally risen and the village's citizens were all beginning to start the day. Chiisai took the side alleys, keeping her eyes down when she passed someone. It hadn't been a good start to the day, and she didn't need unnecessary social interactions. Too many nightmares lurked behind everyone's eyes, and she was tired of seeing them every damn day.
She took out the key and slipped into the library. Chiisai sighed and flipped on all the lights. The morning ritual was an easy one, and she went to work collecting all the books left in the overnight return bin.
Working at the library for ten years, Chiisai knew this place like the back of her hand. Lord Hiruzen had given her the job, and it had been one of the very few things to stabilize her rather odd abilities. Everyone's dreams constantly bombardered her, changing and twisting based on the person. But books never changed. Words on paper that stayed consistent. It was reassuring, and calming, and involved no interactions with people.
Unfortunately for Chiisai, her coworkers had come to a unanimous agreement that she needed interactions with people. So she should work at the front at least once a week, and today was that day.
She heard the back door open. "Chiisai! Always the early bird, aren't you?" Mizuki asked, her crow's feet deepening as she gave a warm smile.
"Hey Mizuki. How was your night?" Her customary response.
"Oh, good. Rokura was home, so I made him dinner. The poor man was worn out. He'd getting too old to be running around on all these missions."
Chiisai nodded as the woman set her bag down in the back. "And my boys came over too, though they really should visit more often. What they both need is a woman, especially Satoshi." The coffee maker roared to life in the background.
Chiisai replied, "You know you just want grandbabies."
The woman joined her at the front desk, straightening some flyers. "Oh, how I miss the little pitter patter of feet! The only sounds I hear at home are the leaky faucet and Rokura's snores!"
The backdoor opened once more. "Who made the coffee?" Koshuu's voice rang. "I pray it wasn't Miss Silent, who might I add works at the front desk today!" Chiisai heard the smile behind his singsong words, and she grimaced. How he was so positive in the morning was beyond her.
"I went ahead and made some," Mizuki replied. "My husband kept me up most of the night."
Koshuu let out a short cough. "Whoa, Mizuki, too much information! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad at your age you both still-"
"Snoring! Snoring, Koshuu!" Mizuki shouted back as she slapped the back of his head.
Chiisai went ahead and unlocked the front door. As she turned the CLOSED sign around, Koshuu came out with two cups of coffee. "Hey, Chiisai."
"Hmmm?" She glanced at him halfheartedly.
"You know about Storytime today, right? Ages 3-5 are coming this afternoon. Guess whose turn it is..?" He grinned before taking a sip of his coffee and laying the other down. "And before you ask, yours is black," he said, "like your soul."
"Good," she smiled. Chiisai sunk down at the front desk, but didn't meet Koshuu's expectant gaze.
Koshuu set his coffee down, resting his arms on the desk as he leaned over. "You sure you can handle narrating to children, Miss Silent?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
In response, Chiisai reached under the desk and reappeared with a stack of books she had saved. She hid her smile as she said, "Put these back on the shelves." Koshuu glanced at the books, then at her, then back at the books. With a heavy groan, Koshuu drew back from the desk and collected the stack. "In one of your moods, I see. Maybe you should go out sometime, maybe go on a date with a rather handsome librarian."
"Not going to happen," she said. "Nice try though."
He shrugged, making his way to the shelves. "Worth a try anyway."
Mizuki wandered out to the front, joining Chiisai. She watched Koshuu load the books on the cart. "Did you say no again?"
She pretended to be occupied by her coffee. "Of course I did," Chiisai's words were flat. If she let any of them in any further, soon they would be prying about her family and her childhood, and that was out of the question.
The woman sighed. "So much youth wasted on the young."
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Kakashi began his search for the mysterious woman once the Sun rose. With not even a name to go by, the ninja had spent the morning wandering the streets, trying to place her face on each person he saw.
With no luck, Kakashi headed to every bookstore in Konoha, trying to describe her face to the people who worked there. That was a dead end as well. Sighing, the ninja trudged to the library, trying to recover any fragments of his dream.
However, there was a distraction. As he glanced around the village, certain things seemed out of place. He blinked multiple times at his surroundings, but everything felt two dimensional- like it lacked substance. And in the ninja world, anything was possible.
As he neared the library, a familiar figure suddenly appeared. "Eternal rival!"
"Gai?" Kakashi appeared startled. "I thought you were on a mission."
His friend grabbed him around the shoulders. "The mission was completed early thanks to the eternal power of youth!" There were tears in his eyes. "I've never seen such an eccentric team! Now how about a challenge?!"
Kakashi slipped under Gai's grip. "Not today, Gai."
"You always say that! I demand a rematch!"
The white haired ninja gazed as his friend, knowing full well that Gai had won the last challenge. There was no need for a rematch. His eye narrowed. Other ninjas seemed to be lurking around, walking casually but eyes glancing his way. It wasn't just the ninjas, but the citizens as well. A genjutsu, perhaps? Absurd. He had the Sharingan, and the only person that could ensnare him was Itachi. And this definitely wasn't his Nightmare Realm.
"Eh, fine." Kakashi stuck out his hand, preparing for rock, paper, scissors. The eyes looked away, satisfied by his response.
"No!" Gai smacked his hand away. "I want something exciting, something that can release this pent up youth!"
"What do you suggest then?" Kakashi asked.
"A Taijutsu match! Fight until one of us falls in defeat!" Gai grinned ear to ear. "And no bathroom breaks this time!"
"I've got to prepare for a mission tomorrow," he lied. "Maybe another time." Before Gai could protest, Kakashi lifted two fingers and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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Chiisai almost jumped out of her seat when a man appeared in a puff of smoke. Ninja just thought they could disappear and reappear as they pleased, she thought to herself. Just one more thing to add to the list of ninja nuisances.
The man had appeared a couple of meters from the desk, his back turned away. Against her better judgment, Chiisai muttered, "Is it really that hard to walk through the front door?"
The person ignored her remark, remaining silent as he turned around. She could tell he was tall, probably more than a head taller than her. As the swirling tendrils of smoke cleared, Chiisai froze in her chair.
Only one ninja had white hair- the one that haunted her dreams.
She blinked slowly, her mind momentarily blank as his intense eye met her wide ones. She didn't hear Koshuu approach from behind the shelves or smell the coffee sitting in a mug beside her. All senses were locked on Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja of Konoha. Her heart seemed to beat faster, but that didn't surprise her as much as the images creeping across her vision, of Hatake (farm-boy, she had called him) holding her in his arms, her hands on his exposed face.
His eye seemed more intense than ever, his cold gaze seeming to chill her flushed face. For a moment, she thought she must be dreaming. The thought triggered something then, and before she realized it, she was whispering the words that felt so familiar though she didn't know why.
"You real?"
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Frightened onyx eyes stared back at him. A wisp of brown hair slanted across her face, but she made no effort to brush it back. The face he saw in his dreams was now before him. The woman, who had first seemed irritated at his arrival, now seemed shocked.
Her posture was as rigid as his, for images flickered across his mind at the same time it happened to Chiisai. A concussion and strep throat, a nurse had told him. Red in her dreams. Her small hand yanking his masks down, her thumb on his lip. Her body limp on the cold cement ground, her hair matted with blood.
The memories hit him like a shuriken to the skin: sharp and painfully clear.
"Chiisai?"
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He said her name as if he knew her, like this was some kind of reunion. He took a step towards her, but she only drew back in her chair, a hint of fear crossing her face. This was a joke, right? This had to be a coincidence, nothing more.
Her usual indifferent expression shattered under his gaze. "Yes?" Her voice wavered slightly, her fingers tightening around the seat of her chair.
"Hey!"
She jumped, thrown off by Koshuu's voice. His brown eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows slanted with anger. "Get away from her! Chiisai, run!"
Chiisai and Kakashi both frowned.
Suddenly, five leaf ninjas appeared. She saw Kakashi's eye narrow, his body tense. Someone grabbed her arm. The silence came like a breeze, letting her for a moment comprehend the situation. Had they come for her or for him? Why were they here? She heard Kakashi's firm voice, "You're dreaming-"
Chiisai broke eye contact, her eyes now on four shinobi attacking Hatake. For some reason, she didn't want him attacked. He saved her once…
Hadn't he?
But then the ninja beside her lifted two fingers, making him and Chiisai vanish from the library, leaving behind the only thing left of her reality.