Irukashi

Chapter Three

Irukashi ran swiftly alongside Kakashi, their feet hardly touching the tiles of the rooftops. Irukashi had a large grin plastered across her face. It felt like they were really flying! Of course, she knew that shinobi could run at speeds much faster than a person not trained to rely on their chakra, but since Iruka didn't let her out of the house often enough to test her theory, she was experiencing all of this for the first time.

Soon enough, they were at a collection of small apartment buildings very similar to the one she and Iruka lived in. Kakashi ducked into a window, motioning for her to be still and quiet. Irukashi scowled slightly; two of her worst abilities. She sighed softly at being left behind and tried not to bring any attention to herself. A small flock of birds landed on the rooftop next to hers and she found herself with them on that rooftop before she could blink. After only a few heartbeats, one of the little birds landed on her finger and she felt its thoughts sinking into her body. The others soon found their own perches and gently touched her bare skin, allowing her to share in their thoughts.

"Irukashi," Kakashi's voice broke though her consciousness as she was sharing in one particular bird's memory of its first flight. "Irukashi," Kakashi repeated and the memory washed away, allowing reality to sink back in. Slowly but surely, the scene of flight was replaced with an image of Kakashi standing next to her.

"How long have I been standing there?" Her voice sounded loud and ringing in her own ears. The birds all took off, leaving her mind feeling empty and her senses fuzzy. She stumbled slightly and Kakashi caught her gently, smiling as he righted her and handed her a pack to be slipped onto her shoulders.

"Long enough for me to go and get you that. And long enough that we only have five minutes to get to the gate if we're going to be on time to meet the rest of my team for the mission." Irukashi's eyes widened in shock and she looked around quickly for the path to the gate. Kakashi gently nudged her in the right direction and she shot off. Kakashi shot after her, overtaking her easily. She squeaked in surprise and put on a burst of speed.

"Kakashi-sensei? What were you doing in that apartment building?" she asked curiously as soon as she caught up to him. She couldn't tell if she was getting the hang of the whole running thing or if he was slowing down in order to accommodate her. She suspected the latter and scowled slightly at herself.

"I was telling Naruto and Sai that they needed to meet us at the gate for our mission. Tsunade will probably have already told Sakura because –"

"Because she's Tsunade-sama's apprentice. And Naruto-san is Jiraiya-sama's apprentice." She paused for a moment. "And I suppose you could say that Sasuke-san is Orochimaru-sama's apprentice, couldn't you? I may not leave the house very often, but when the two of you talk, I usually listen. And I have a good memory." They were at the gate. Irukashi had never personally been there before, but she had seen it from Sarutobi-sama's office once, so she knew what it was. She hugged Kakashi around the middle, her arms wrapping around his waist. Kakashi stopped in surprise at the sudden gesture of affection. "I have a good memory, so I remember when Sasuke-san left and you weren't yourself for days." Kakashi let out a soft sigh and pressed his concealed lips to the top of her head, his arms reaching out and embracing her.

"It won't happen again, Irukashi. I promise. But I want you to promise me something as well. I want you to promise that on this mission, you will look out for yourself and only yourself. The rest of us have been on more dangerous missions than this. We know how to take care of ourselves. You have to look out for yourself. Promise me." Irukashi murmured her agreement, nervous again. Kakashi hugged her tightly. "I'll be here the whole time. I'll watch out for you. I just want you to be on guard."

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei. You finally found a girlfriend. Congratulations." Irukashi's head snapped up and she looked over at the person who had spoken. It was a teenage boy, probably a little older than her, with ink-black hair, flat black eyes and paper-white skin. He had a painfully fake smile plastered across his face. Kakashi gently pushed her away.

"No, Sai, she is not my girlfriend. She is far from my girlfriend." Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back a headache. Irukashi couldn't help a half-shocked, half-disgusted noise from escaping her lips. She took a few more steps away from Kakashi and let out a delicate shudder. Sure, she loved her Kakashi-sensei, but she didn't think of him like that! Sai opened his falsely-smiling mouth to say more, but everyone was distracted by the sound of more footsteps.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Are you on time for once or am I just really late?" The joking voice belonged to a teenage girl of around Irukashi's age with short, bright pink hair kept away from her face by her hitai-ate acting as a headband. Her fiery green eyes led Irukashi to believe that there was a dangerous, untamed temper behind her calm and easy façade. Those green eyes met Irukashi's own brown ones and Irukashi's gaze hit the ground shyly. She wished that she hadn't moved so far away from Kakashi-sensei and could at least hold his hand.

Before they could say anything else however, another boy ran up, yelling his apologies for being late. Irukashi's gaze lifted again and, as he took another step, she felt a shock go through her core and let out a gasp, her hand going to her chest. Unsure of what set off this reaction, she examined the newcomer more closely.

He was nearly a head taller than her with blonde hair that flew in every direction. The orange in his outfit was barely subdued by the black and, looking at him, she couldn't figure out how enemy shinobi couldn't see him from a mile away at least. His blue eyes met hers in open curiosity and for just one heartbeat, she was looking into a set of curious, red, animalistic orbs. The shock went through her again, so strong her knees buckled and she fell to her knees on the ground. Kakashi was by her side in an instant and she grabbed his hand to pull herself back up.

"I'm okay," she murmured, trying to convince herself as much as her silver-haired father. She took a deep breath, spreading her consciousness slowly in order to understand what had caused her to react in such a manner. To her surprise, she found a strange reading radiating off of the blonde boy.

"Who is the girl, Kakashi-sensei?" she heard the female voice ask before she could report her findings to Kakashi. Kakashi turned half-way towards her, his attention still on Irukashi. Before he could answer, however, someone else did.

"Oh, her? Apparently, that's Kakashi-sensei's lover!" The pale boy gushed with false enthusiasm. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had picked up a small rock and thrown it at him with all the force she could muster. The rock hit Sai right in between the eyes and the pale boy was sent sprawling backwards into the dust.

"I am not his lover, you bastard!" she screamed hotly. She took another step towards him, but Kakashi put a warning hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, letting her know she had gone too far. Irukashi's eyes shot open with shock and she put a hand to her mouth in horror. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize what I was doing a-and –"

"Oh, don't even bother apologizing to him! He deserved it!" the pink-haired girl cut her off with a wide grin. She then turned to the dazed Sai, who was sitting in the dirt with a small trickle of blood running down his head from where the rock hit him. "See what happens when you make wild assumptions like that, Sai?" Sai nodded dumbly, his flat eyes wide. The blonde boy was doubled over himself, laughing hysterically. Even Kakashi let out a light chuckle as he leaned down to his blushing daughter's ear.

"Not to self: Irukashi does not take well to teasing." Irukashi blushed even worse. "You've certainly made an interesting impression, haven't you Iru-chan?" Irukashi hung her head, embarrassed and practically mortified by her first impression.

"Team Kakashi," the silver-haired jounin called, trying to get everyone's attention, though it wasn't really working. Sai was picking himself up off the ground and dusting himself off and the blonde boy was still doubled over laughing. The pink-haired girl was the only one that was even remotely paying attention. She hit the blonde upside the head and he stopped laughing, whining at her. Kakashi cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to him even though the blond was still rubbing his head gingerly.

"We are taking along a fifth member to our team on this mission. She will now introduce herself." Irukashi didn't hear him, still in her own mortified world. Kakashi gave her a light nudge and motioned to the three shinobi staring at her. She looked up and blushed again.

"M-my…my name is I-Iru- oh wait, I forgot, I'm sorry. My name is Umino Irukashi and it's n-nice to meet all of you. O-Oh, and I only got this," she pointed to the hitai-ate around her neck, "this morning, so if all of you would please bear with me, I am a very quick learner." The blonde openly gaped at her while Sai and the pink-haired girl just looked surprised.

"You're bringing a new genin on a C-ranked mission? Don't genin have to complete at least twenty D-ranked missions before even becoming eligible to go on a C-ranked mission?" Sakura asked skeptically. Kakashi hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.

"Yes, technically, but Irukashi has never been ranked before. If Iruka would've let me, I'd have taken her out a long time ago. She was trained by the Third and then later by Iruka and I. If I would guess, I'd say she was past genin rank by now. Probably a chuunin. It's only the hitai-ate she got today." Irukashi nodded slightly.

"Yes. Iruka-papa says that I'm a higher rank than all of the genin he trains and he trains a lot of genin. More than my Kakashi-sensei!" The blonde boy suddenly came to life again, waving his arms around frantically to get her to stop.

"Wait, wait, wait! You introduced yourself as 'Umino' and you just called Iruka 'papa'! What the hell is going on here! You can't be Iruka's daughter! You're too pale!" He eyed her with scrutiny. She frowned.

"That's not true! I am too Iruka-papa's daughter! And –" Kakashi put his hand gently over the young teen's mouth, sighing.

"I will explain everything later. As of now, you and you," he pointed to the pink-haired girl and the blonde boy in turn, "introduce yourselves. I'm fairly certain she knows who you are by now, Sai."

"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me. My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm this team's medical nin." Irukashi looked at her, her wide brown eyes curious and slightly confused.

"You are Tsunade-sama's apprentice, yes?" Sakura nodded. "Does she really have a terrible temper? I meet her this morning and she seemed liked a very pleasant lady. She was nothing but nice and calm." Irukashi tilted her head slightly to the side. Sakura laughed, the sound both amused and pained.

"Oh, she's got a temper all right. She's practically famous for it. You could ask Naruto if you want any first-hand experience, but I do not believe that Jiraiya's gone through the wall a few times. And that was only the light side of her temper." Irukashi's eyes widened in horror as Sakura laughed again. The blonde boy visibly shuddered, running through his own Tsunade incidents, and then grinned over at Irukashi.

"And my name is Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you." A large smile had spread across Irukashi's face and her eyes were wide and alight with excitement. Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion at her odd reaction.

"You're the Uzumaki Naruto? It's so nice to finally meet you! I've been waiting for this moment for years! Iruka-papa and Kakashi-sensei talk about you all the time at dinner and when I lived with Sarutobi-sama, he always talked about how highly he thought of you!" She grabbed his hand and smiled widely. "I am very honored to meet you, future Hokage-sama!" Naruto grinned widely at her and then looked over at Irukashi, the grin still plastered all over his face.

"You know what, Kakashi-sensei? I don't care about where this girl came from or anything about her past! I like her!" Kakashi smiled and Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto turned back to Irukashi. "It's nice to meet you too, Irukashi-chan!" Irukashi smiled happily and Naruto mirrored her. Kakashi cleared his throat and the four of them turned to look at him, the smile dropping off of Irukashi's face.

"It's about time we get to the border, all of you. We'll take it easy today, seeing as how we're getting started late anyway, and camp out before making it to the border tomorrow. Once we're there, we'll find out the specifics of our mission. Let's get started, shall we?" He shouldered his own pack before tossing Irukashi hers. She caught it easily, slipping it on her shoulders and hurrying to catch up with Kakashi as he lead the team through the gates and out of the village. Irukashi felt a thrill rush through her along with the ability to breathe easier. Naruto hurried to walk beside her and she again felt the shock go through her core. Making a mental note to ask Kakashi about it, she engaged Naruto in a flurry of conversation, asking him anything she could think of.

"What do you mean you've never had ramen!" Naruto exclaimed once they were far enough from the village that you could no longer see the gate. All the birds in the area took to flight, startled. Irukashi pressed herself against Kakashi's side in startled surprise. "Ramen is the very breath of life! What has Iruka been feeding you!" Naruto demanded. Irukashi blushed softly and looked down, fingering one of the straps of her bag.

"Iruka-papa doesn't feed me anything." Naruto's eyes widened in shock and Kakashi's visible eye widened at her implications. Irukashi's eyes widened and she shook her head violently. "I-it's not like Iruka-papa lets me starve or anything! Iruka-papa just isn't a very good cook, so I'm the one who cooks most of the meals! But I'll be happy to eat ramen with you once we get back to Konoha! I'd love to see what it is about ramen that you like so much." Naruto smiled at her and she smiled back. Kakashi ruffled her hair gently and turned to look at all four of them.

"All right, everyone. The sun is setting and it's time to set up camp! Sakura, Sai. You two come with me and we'll find a good spot. Naruto, you watch after Irukashi for me. Stay near here. Move only if necessary." He motioned to Sakura and Sai and the three of them disappeared. Irukashi looked up at the darkening sky and shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I've never been outside after dark before. Iruka-papa always said that it was far too dangerous. He said that even trained shinobi can lose their head in the dark because all the shadows look like they're hiding something." Naruto looked over at her, walking towards her. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to him with a grin.

"Don't you worry a bit, Irukashi-chan! I promise that I'll protect you no matter the cost! Because you're my friend and friends protect each other!" Irukashi blushed gently at his smile and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, smiling herself.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You're the best."