Chapter fifteen
Skylar was focusing at her desk later that night. The test she ran with her chakra and strength came out better than she thought it was, she was better than at her peak a few years ago and she was improving her Hiraishin, more senbons, a larger range of attack. The chakra cut into the metal as she focused on engraving the seal with massive amounts of chakra.
"Hey babe…" Naruto called from the doorframe after picking up the little nickname for her. Skylar didn't react.
"What is it Naruto?" She asked, concentration thick in her voice.
"Kiiro's here to stay with you for a while. Kaka-sensei, Sasuke and I are going out for a while, do you mind?" Naruto asked. Skylar put down what she was working on and turned off the bright lamp on her desk as she leaned back against the chair.
"No problem, I was wondering when I'd get to spend some time with her, do you mind bring us home some dinner when you come home, I'm sure we'll both still be awake." Skylar said, stretching out the kinks in her shoulders and neck.
"We will, see you later." Naruto said as he left and Skylar let her head hang back a little and stared at the ceiling and before she knew it she had a bundle of blonde sitting on her lap and hugging her tight while Skylar chuckled and heard the guys leave, hugging Kiiro back.
"Still as energetic as ever I see Kiiro." Skylar said playing with her loose blonde hair.
"Of coarse… So what you working on?" Kiiro asked as she shared Skylar's chair with her.
"More senbons to increase the range of my attacks… You still want my help to bring Kabuto down don't you?" Skylar asked with a smile as she played with a new and completed senbon in her hand.
"The sooner the better." Kiiro said determinedly with a fist punching into the palm of her other hand.
"Then we better get started with our training while we can." Skylar said as she pocketed her new senbons and stood with Kiiro as she flashed them away.
The three guys sat at the Barbeque restaurant and cooked their meat over the hissing hot grill… They could feel tension surrounding them, as they stayed silent. Kakashi chose this restaurant for a reason.
"Spit it out already Kakashi." Sasuke said with his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back against the wooden stall.
"Skylar had that same look in her eye just before she took off to fight Tobi and I'm afraid now that's she's back to normal she'll do the same thing with Kabuto… She feels as if it's her duty to solve the whole world's problems being sent here." Kakashi said as he slipped a piece of meat into his mouth.
"Don't you think she's learned since the last time she did it?" Naruto asked.
"No I don't… It's one of him and one of her, she'll want to do it for Kiiro and for her deceased sisters… It looks like she and Kiiro became very close in those two months." Kakashi said.
"She's all Kiiro ever talks about." Sasuke added. "You know her Naruto, she's like you. She'd rather sacrifice herself than have her friends get hurt and die."
"That's true… She probably still sees herself as out of place here." Naruto said sadly, his appetite fading quickly at the thought of the fight against Tobi with Skylar. "She was making more senbons this evening when I talked to her… She's probably already planning everything out."
"She has ANBU watching her, she won't do anything stupid and will probably be more cautious than last time." Sasuke blurted out, Kakashi gave him a hard glare and Naruto stared at him in confusion.
"They want to recruit her, that's why she's being watched but we're falling off the topic here." Kakashi resolved the situation quickly, gaining their attention back. "There will be higher consequences than last time if she goes off on her own again after Kabuto… She could turn into our own enemy in the future if she's considered a missing nin if she leaves." Kakashi stressed somehow seeing the scene he explained happening somehow.
'"So how are we going to stop her then?" Sasuke asked.
"Keep her and Kiiro close to us and not let her out of our sight for too long… Sorry Naruto but you won't be getting your door back for a while." Kakashi said and Naruto nodded determinedly as they finished their food and stopped by Ichiraku's on the way home to grab Skylar and Kiiro some dinner. They entered the quiet apartment and looked around with slight panic for Skylar and Kiiro before reconciling back in the lounge.
"She's not one for going unplanned which means she's still around. She's probably at the training grounds." Kakashi said, leading Naruto and Sasuke down to the training grounds. It was an all out battle between the two girls with the stalking ANBU far away from the scene which made him smile but also worried that it was her plan from the beginning. "Alright you two I declare this battle a draw until further notice unless you don't want your ramen we bought for you." Kakashi called and the instant Kiiro heard ramen she was walking over to the guys with Skylar following behind.
Kiiro ate happily while they all sat on the grass with the white moon overhead. Kakashi could see Skylar was avoiding anyone's gaze for too long and the guilt shining in her eyes gave it all away as well as her slightly tense body language. She also gave her ramen to Kiiro… He needed to know her skill set now so he can counter her plans.
"So Naruto said you were making new senbons this evening." Kakashi began.
"Yeah, I figured if I had more it would widen my range of attack I'm up to nine attack and eight for getting around the village… I'll beat Minato's twenty in no time." She said with a small fake smile.
"So where are all of your locations now?" Kakashi probed.
"You'll just corner me when I run away again so I'm not telling." Skylar counted just as well without it actually seeming like they were working each other out. Kakashi narrowed his eye slightly at the pure defiance in her eyes. She had one at home, Tsunade's office, training grounds and Ichiraku's. Earlier she flashed Naruto, Tsunade and herself to the hospital so there was one he had three more he needed to find and she wouldn't lie about her skill set.
They were talking amongst themselves while Kakashi began working Skylar out. Kakashi examine everything and noticed a senbon in Kiiro's hair… Two more to find. He knew by her earlier words that the senbon were all in the village but where?
"Kiiro, let's get going soon, we have a mission tomorrow morning and I need my sleep after last night." Sasuke said as he got up with a glare towards Naruto and Skylar. Kiiro hugged, or more like tackled Skylar in a hug and stood up and slipped her hand into Sasuke's again, making him blush but not let go as he suishinned away.
"Sasuke's right, we should be getting home as well." Kakashi said, standing up as well.
"You guys go on ahead, I want to train some more." Skylar said as Naruto pulled her to her feet.
"We can train together tomorrow before the mission so I think just leave it for tonight plus I'm feeling lazy." Kakashi said with a shrug, making it seem as casual as possible. Skylar's eyes narrowed for a second then grabbed Kakashi by his collar and flashed all of them home.
"Lazy pervert who stole my door." Skylar muttered as she left to her room and bathroom for a shower. Kakashi instantly put up a barrier around the apartment and began setting traps.
"She's knows we're onto her." Kakashi explained at Naruto's confused look.
"So that's why you were so intent on knowing her skills and forcing her home." Naruto concluded and Kakashi nodded to the disheartened blonde. "Is turning her into a prisoner in her own home really necessary?" Naruto asked.
"There are two senbons out there I do not know the location of but they are in the village but could be anywhere… I just don't want a repeat of last time where we nearly lost her." Kakashi said with a sigh as he sat down and ran a hand through his hair as he took off his hitai-ate off with his flak jacket.
"Why don't we just try talking to her?" Naruto suggested as he sat down next to Kakashi.
"It didn't work the last time." Kakashi said.
"Yeah but maybe it wasn't the right person… Sure Captain Yamato and her are close but, you know…" Naruto said desperately.
"I choose my own choices you know." Skylar said from her doorway. "Nothing you say can change my mind and I'm sorry if it hurts you but this is why I was sent here in the beginning."
"That duty was completed nearly two years ago, you're not expected to solve every problem that comes along Skylar." Kakashi said to her.
"Coming from the man who still blames himself for Obito and the whole war from starting… If you knew what would happen in this future, you wouldn't have made the mistakes you did… You would have gone after Rin with Obito and you wouldn't have lost your eye and been replaced by Obito under the rock fall… You wouldn't have to talk to Rin's grave about the birth of Naruto where Tobi received the information… You would have made sure at least one of Naruto's parents were here to look after him… You would have possibly stopped the Uchiha massacre and saved Sasuke from his dark path… Would have, would have, would have… You don't get it!" Skylar said harshly and made Kakashi flinch from her words. " I sat back and watched this whole thing happen, from third to fourth war when I could have come here and done something about it sooner which is what I'm doing now, I won't let it get to Akatsuki level of danger ever again… That's why I was sent here."
"What point would it make if you sacrificed yourself for nothing." Kakashi pointed out and had tears running down and soaking into his mask.
"Then at least you can take the threat seriously from the start and convene the Kage's together sooner like Gaara tried after Akatsuki attacked him first. I'm a sacrificial piece for my village but for more importantly this world like that hitai-ate you gave me: 'Shinobi'. The shinobi world, not just for one country… " Skylar said, holding up her maroon hitai-ate with 'shinobi' on it.
"What about me?" Naruto asked.
"I gave up my life once already and made a new one here, in the world I was sent to protect and you're part of this world… I love you but what's the point of protecting ones self when sooner or later it'll catch up to you anyway and play a crueller fate than death… I'd rather die for the sake of the world than watch my friends die for the sake of my own selfish wants and suffer that cruel fate of knowing I could have done something sooner. I've done that once to this world… Never again." Skylar said coolly as she crossed her arms, still leaning against the doorframe, waiting for the next question.
"You can't solve every dimension's problems." Kakashi said with some anger as he stood up.
"No I can't but I was sent here to solve this dimension's problems, none other… You can't talk me out of this, I've had these discussions with myself already, two months can be a long time." Skylar added coolly again.
"Dammit Skylar! Be selfish for once in your damn life!" Kakashi shouted at her, which surprised her.
"Having you all care for me has been selfish enough when I planned to die from the beginning." Skylar said strangely with a small smile. "My father even warned me that the travel here through the dimensions could have killed me but it didn't… I believe there was a reason I met Kabuto in those jails and took his help and such and it was to stop him… Having friends like you along the way just made this sweeter and keep me on my path, please respect my wishes." Skylar asked as she launched forwards and knocked Kakashi to sit back down again and wrap her arms over his and Naruto's necks in a hug as they clung just as tightly back to her.
"So we can't talk you out of this?" Naruto asked into her ear.
"No… I'll be staying to my plan I already have in motion… Who knows, maybe everything will turn out okay like last time but this is the last thing I feel I need to do to accomplish why I came here in the first place." Skylar said, kneeling on the couch between them and holding both of them, crying into her neck silently.
Skylar had woken up with Naruto curled up with his head in her lap and Kakashi under her arm and sleeping against her shoulder almost like a child. She felt guilty but she refused to put her friends in danger again and she needed to complete this because she felt like letting him free that one day was her fault at what he was doing now.
"Come on you two, time to wake up." Skylar said softly as she ran her hands through their hair softly, waking them up carefully. They both seemed to open their eyes sadly and avoid looking straight up at Skylar who seemed to be okay with everything. "We've all got missions this morning and we're probably all late already. I don't particularly want both teams breaking down another door and find us like this." Skylar said with a smirk to her voice and Naruto quickly sat up and Kakashi pulled away and wished he hadn't. Skylar stood with a stretch and left for her bedroom and went round the corner to change for the day.
"How do you think she can act so calm like that?" Naruto asked with depression leaking into his voice.
"You remember when Hiruko placed that puppet jutsu on me for my sharingan as I planned to sacrifice myself to bring him down?" Kakashi asked, looking into her room and Naruto nodded and watched his sensei. "Skylar knows well that this is her duty to complete, just like we risk our lives everyday to complete missions… She feels she must sacrifice herself for the needs of the many over the few like herself and us… She has people she wants to protect in this world now and she understands there is more than just us to this world now." Kakashi explained sadly.
"So she's just doing her duty as a shinobi then…" Naruto said with a bit of a smile as he came to his own understanding and left to her room to get changed as well. Kakashi smiled a little as he moved to his room to change for the day's mission.
Skylar flashed them to the meeting place on the bridge for both teams. Both Sakura and Kiiro looking a little annoyed as they pointed a finger up to them.
"You're late!" They both shouted together and Skylar smiled as she jumped down with Kakashi and Naruto, both looking a little sheepish.
"Sorry, we all got lost on my path of life." Skylar said and waited for the next line…
"Liar!" They both shouted again at her with the finger pointing again and Skylar just pushed their hands down.
"Alright, alright… Let's get to the missions then." Skylar said, already heading in the direction of the mission desk.
"Ah just who I wanted to see." Tsunade said, standing up from behind the mission desk as they all said their hello's to the people sitting there.
"What can we do for you Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked. Skylar caught the green flak jacket that was thrown at her and put it on straight away with a smile as Tsunade pulled out three other jackets and lay them on the desk with Naruto and Kiiro both grinning like idiots and Sasuke smirking.
"It had been decided through a conference call between the Kage's regarding Kiiro's situation and such that you four be chunins of Konoha… Kiiro, you'll be joining Kakashi's team of Skylar and Sasuke as a chunin of Konoha… Now for your missions…" Tsunade said as she passed them their jackets as they all put them on and listened to their missions for the day.
A few days later when they all returned from their separate missions, Skylar sat up straight in bed with a deep and harsh gasp as she clutched the sheets in her hands. Naruto was fast asleep on her right and Kakashi was next to her on her left… He came into her room earlier that night and explained he couldn't sleep, not knowing if she was still there or not and pulled him into the bed with them… Naruto would freak when he wakes up but that wasn't her problem right then.
She untangled herself from the sheets and jumped soundlessly over Kakashi and onto her feet on the floor as she headed for the bathroom and took deep breaths and wiped her tears away. She stripped down and ran the water cold in the shower for her overheated body from having two hot guys sleeping next to her, as well as the dream she woke up from.
She was a kid still with Yusei with her like a big brother should have been. Her real dad smiled from behind her with a dark haired lady walking hand in hand through a field of flowers. She felt so happy and content that it hurt painfully in her chest when the flowers turned into snakes and began attacking them, Yusei pulled her back against him as he stood by their father and mother as the familiar dragons appeared and fought off the impending darkness of snakes but the woman was pulled from them first as she disappeared into the darkness with a shrill scream Skylar could still hear so clearly. Yusei stepped calmly from around her and turned to face her with a wicked smile, as he stepped into the snakes and they began slithering up his body and began eating through his chest until his eyes rolled back and he fell into the darkness and disappeared then everything stopped and disappeared when she woke up.
"Skylar… Don't do it, put the kunai down." Kakashi called from behind her. She was leaning with one arm against the wall of the shower, her back to Kakashi as she looked down and noticed red running with the water into the drain. She felt a harsh sting on her right side of her body and looked to see the tip of the kunai dug into her side. She gasped with shock as she dropped it in her hand and began healing herself right away.
"Where the hell did I get that from?" Skylar asked more to herself as she concentrated on healing the small wound.
"It's the emergency kunai we keep in the shower remember? What were you thinking?" Kakashi asked as he switched off the water and fetched her towel for her.
"I… I wasn't, I had a bad dream and it shook me up so I came in here to calm down as I ran through the dream." Skylar said as she took the towel from Kakashi and wrapped it around her self as she stepped out and hugged Kakashi, as she was now very cold to the bone. He rubbed her back soothingly as he forced his own heart to calm down from what had just happened as she explained the dream to him. He left her to get dressed and she cuddled up to both of them with the blanket wrapped tightly around her as they went back to sleep. Kakashi had left the room by the time Naruto woke up so everything was fine the next morning as they went for training with the two teams.
It was Kiiro and Skylar Versus Naruto and Sasuke as they fought back to back. The girls were hiding in the bushes and watching Naruto and Sasuke plan while everyone else watched from the memorial stone.
"So… You and Sasuke huh?" Skylar whispered to her and she went red and looked down with a smile.
"I guess… I'm not sure… He holds my hand all of the time and likes to watch movies with me, cuddled up on the couch and last night before we went to bed… He kissed me…" She said with a whimsical voice with a grin, blush spreading down her neck.
"So definitely then… Hey Naruto, I won the bet!" Skylar shouted as she jumped out for an all out attack against the two guys who jumped around to face her. Sasuke jumped away and Naruto met her, kunai to senbon as they battled for the upper hand.
"What bet?" He asked as he forced his kunai against hers as the jumped back and Skylar dodged the kunai thrown at her with a small slice on her arm as she flipped onto on hand and onto her feet, throwing her senbon back at Naruto, kunai meeting senbon once again.
"What bet…" She said as they clashed together. "Sasuke and Kiiro… Together." She said through gritted teeth as Naruto's brute force was stronger than hers forcing her back again. Skylar jumped as a huge fireball came down on her and she kept running as lightning chased her through the trees, knowing Sasuke had begun his onslaught and Kiiro was moving into position quickly. She felt her senbon fly and flashed red to hold her senbon at Naruto's neck with Kiiro doing the same thing, watching each other's backs.
"Now… Where's Sasuke and what will you do?" Kiiro wondered out loud in a low voice.
"Want to try what we've been working on Kiiro?" Skylar asked and Kiiro grinned and nodded. Skylar flared her chakra as the wind started up in its vortex around them like a dome. Skylar took a deep breath and nodded to Kiiro who also flared her chakra as she released it slowly.
Sasuke had already given up and standing with the rest of the team, watching what they were doing with Kakashi through their sharingans as Kiiro and Skylar lowered their weapons and stared into each other's eyes over Naruto who stayed very still, wanting to see what they were going to do. Both of the girls gritted their teeth and focused far away as their chakra flared to maximum, the vortex whipping around dangerously and sounding similar to the rasen-shuriken then it took on an electrical saw kind of sound and sparks began bouncing from the vortex as Skylar closed her eyes and furrowed her brows.
The sparks turned into small bolts of lightning and something went wrong as Skylar was flung backwards into a tree and the vortex died quickly as everyone rushed to see her. She pushed Sakura's hands away and held an arm up to her chest tight with protection as she pushed away from the tree and sat on her haunches.
"You should know you can't mix two chakra natures unless you possess a kekkei genkai, what were you two thinking?" Kakashi scolded them as Skylar stood up with little help from Naruto and Kiiro as her eyebrows held pain in their furrowed forms.
"There's two of us so it's not a kekkei genkai like Yamato's water vortex and Naruto's wind release: rasengan against Kakuzu." Skylar countered defiantly as she pulled her arm away from her chest carefully.
"It would work if you had one lightning nature and one wind nature… You're trying to control both at the same time with little support from Kiiro's wind nature." Kakashi explained, seeing the dark rings under her eyes and pale face from the bolt of lightning that hit her.
"No offence but you and Sasuke don't have enough chakra to perform with Kiiro or I." Skylar said as she straightened up again and began getting colour back to her face as some muscles twitched from the aftershock. "Plus, I have the free control over the wind with just the flare of my chakra, it should be possible."
"You have that control because you're wind natured… You're not a gale release user like Darui or we would have discovered it by now." Kakashi said defiantly.
"Senpai's right. I've had extensive training for my wood release and we would have discovered that kekkei genkai the day we gave you the chakra paper to test your affinity… You can't force what is unnatural to your body." Yamato added in while Skylar and Kakashi glared at each other.
"I guess that's enough training for now since the sun is going down already… Team dinner?" Naruto said, breaking the ice and tension.
"RAMEN!" Kiiro shouted and Sasuke let out a small chuckle with Naruto.
"Any objections?" Naruto asked the group. Everyone shook their heads with fond smiles except Skylar who was scowling into the dark forest.
"Go ahead, I'll catch up a little later, I want to get some training in before I turn in for the day." Skylar said, avoiding everyone's gazes as they began off to Ichiraku's. "Show yourself ANBU, I know what you want." Skylar shouted into the shadows.
"Extraordinary skills Uzumaki-san." The one ANBU with a bird mask on said, kneeling with his team behind him. "I'm sure you know why we're here." He said again.
"I do and I reject your offer… Stay away from Uzumaki Naruto, I know you're after him too." Skylar said defensively as the ANBU stood up.
"Is that a threat Uzumaki-san?" The ANBU asked, letting his killer intent shine through as did Skylar to match his and his team's.
"No, it's an order… I'm sure Tsunade-sama has also told you he is off limits and I'm just reminding you so stop following him everywhere he goes or you'll have to deal with me and Hatake Kakashi." Skylar said, drowning their intent as they bowed slightly and left. "Damn vultures." Skylar muttered as she began training for a few minutes on what she was trying to achieve with Kiiro.
She gave up after electrocuting herself four times in thirty minutes with just enough chakra for her to flash to Ichiraku's to join the team.