Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction site, so I'm a little useless.
The Copy-Ninja Kakashi Hatake had not been expecting the resounding flurry of knocks on his door. As of late, only a few people would dare touch the wood on his staircase, let alone have the guts to knock more than three times in an erratic rhythm.
Kakashi snorted in disdain from his position on his windowsill, the night sky showing through. Whomever was intruding on his sanctuary was highly impatient, and he, as always, was inclined to think it was the man who had deemed him an 'eternal rival'. Fairly confident in this assumption, he didn't even bother leaving the perch on which he brooded. Without any concern for courtesy, Kakashi faced his front door.
"Go the hell away." the elite shinobi stated, once again without much emotion or drive behind it. He waited for a second, thinking he heard the sound of departing footsteps before the knocking came again with more persistence.
He sighed and rubbed his temple, but couldn't ignore the sound. "Fine, fine. I'm coming."
It was with great annoyance that Kakashi opened his door to greet his visitor. What he hadn't anticipated, however, was that he would find himself at eye-level with a bushy orange squirrel. Before he had the time to recover from that surprise, however, a sweaty hand tugged at his sleeve, obliging him to look down.
If the sight of the thick-tailed rodent had caught him off guard in any way, that was nothing compared to the ragged picture of Sakura looking up at him with an emotion he just couldn't pinpoint. She was dirty, windblown, barefooted, and carrying a cage half her height on her back. That was the sort of mental image that just didn't go away.
"Sakura…?" he asked dubiously, not entirely sure of how he should respond. While being a jonin prepared you for many things, a wild-eyed girl with a squirrel was not one of them. Within the cage, the animal in question began bolting around energetically.
"Kakashi-sensei, look at this!" his pink-haired student panted, producing the leaf that she had been carrying in her only pocket. It was in a sad state, to be sure, but it wouldn't contain obvious significance even if it were freshly plucked.
Her teacher stared at the object, not even bothering to take it. He looked from the leaf to the person holding it, and back to the leaf.
"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, Sakura," he admitted, scratching his gray hair, "-but if you would like to elaborate, this might work a bit better."
Sakura's shoulders sagged. It was going to be a long night, as she had absolutely no way of being able to explain the situation without sounding completely insane. "Maybe I should come in," she said calmly, and though Kakash looked like he had second thoughts about granting this request, he allowed her into his house anyway.
To his surprise, the Haruno didn't immediately allow her eyes to wander. She didn't snoop or comment on any of his things, which he found refreshing. If a man left a few things out, he left a few things out. Besides, his apartment wasn't anything out of the ordinary; for a jonin, his house was as bare as could be expected. There were a few pictures here and there, and a few basic field guides in a shelf with some of is Icha Icha books, but aside from that, there wasn't much to even bother naming.
The former ANBU led his pupil to his dining table, where she immediately sat down and placed the cage she had been lugging behind her. He watched silently as the twelve-year-old once again produced the leaf and set it on the center of the wooden surface before him. Once again, he wasn't entirely sure what she was getting at, but he hadn't had anything productive planed for the night anyway. He just hoped this didn't turn out to be something stupid, like an anonuncement of a newly-found philosophy on Sakura's part.
In a fluid motion, Sakura's now-dusty hand motioned to the leaf. "This," she began, her tone very serious and guarded, "-was attached to a squirrel my mother bought at some time today."
Kakashi didn't say anything, he merely crossed his arms and nodded.
"I thought it was just a cute little collar or something, but when I uncurled it, I found that it was actually a handwritten message…"
"…and?" Kakashi asked, bored already. Of course, no sooner had he asked for her to make her story interesting did the twist reveal itself.
"-it was from Naruto, sensei."
That caught the Hatake's attention, to be sure. He went from reclining and crossing his arms to lurching forward to grab the leaf on the table, which he did. Of course, when he tried to read it, it was to no avail. The leaf had been extremely crumpled, but it looked like it might have contained a few recognizable
etchings until very recently.
"I can't read it," the instructor deadpanned, causing the pink-haired girl's face to fall.
It wouldn't have been an immoral act to have decided that Sakura was delusional then and there, but for some reason, Kakashi couldn't label her as such just yet. The whole message could have bee a prank, but if there was even the slightest chance that this extremely improbable turn of events could be real, there was no way that he could ignore it and feel human.
"It said 'I'm still here', Sensei. He signed it, too."
Kakashi peered at her with his stoic face. "Are you sure this isn't some kind of joke?"
"No, Sensei, I'm not, but I can't see why someone would play a prank like that, anyway. There'd be no motive."
The masked ninja nodded, "True." he conceded, "-but was there any other proof that you could use to validate this argument in the presence of the Sandaime?"
Sakura pointed at the leaf again with conviction.
"This comes from a plant found in the Land of Waves, and by the stage of its decomposition, I can deduce that it is under a week old."
"Are you absolutely sure of this?" Kakashi urged her gently, his eye not visible from the new angle he had chosen.
"No, but that's why I came to see you. You were a hunter ninja once, weren't you?" she asked, her voice now quiet, a precursor to the silence that permeated through Kakashi's apartment for a whole few minutes while Kakashi prodded the leaf and pretty much wallowed in though. Sometimes, Sakura felt he was scrutinizing her, but quickly dismissed the sensation as paranoia.
Kakashi was having issues of doubt within his own mind. The chances of Naruto being alive, let alone being able to send his teammates a message on a squirrel were so astronomical that disbelief could be very easily relied on to show the error of his ways. On the other hand, if it was even remotely possible, the Hatake wanted to sample the forbidden vestige of hope, which drew ever nearer the longer he tried to argue with himself.
The Haruno was caught off-guard when her teacher finally did turn to her, once again unreadable. While he uttered no verdict, he still used his voice.
"Sakura," he said, shifting to a more confident stance, "-this may sound strange, but do you have anything of Naruto's on you right now? If so, I need it."
Sakura hesitated for only a moment before reaching into her bag and producing the blank envelopes, which Kakashi took and wiggled between his fingers. Sakura worried for a moment that her teacher may ask where she acquired the packages, but to her relief he didn't question her at all. Instead, Kakashi picked up the leaf and set it down on the floor.
With a few precise movements and gestures, a brown pug materialized at its' master's feet. Sakura jumped, but she had expected something along those lines.
"Pakkun," Kakashi addressed the fully-clothed canine, "I need you tell me if the scent on the envelopes and the scent on the leaves are the same."
The dog nodded and immediately took a whiff of both before speaking, which startled Sakura all the more.
"They do bear traces of the same scent, Kakashi." the dog declared. His tail wagged limply when Kakashi hurriedly scratched him behind his ears and retrieved both the envelopes and the leaf that had been examined.
While Sakura mulled over what the dog's words meant, a change took over Kakashi's mood and attitude in general. The jonin practically charged around the room to look for a clean vest while still holding Sakura's 'evidence', knocking a few carefully-organized piles of weapons and the occasional picture frame to the side.
"Sakura, I suggest you go home and clean yourself up. I'll meet you in front of the Hokage's mansion in about two hours," Kakashi instructed, causing the hope that had until that moment been guarded within Sakura's chest to explode. "-and I suggest you leave the squirrel at home this time."
Sakura beamed and left without a word. Two hours. The kunoichi was so pleased that she forgot one important detail; Kakashi was always late.
Author's note: For those of you who begin to realize the Ooc characteristics of what I've done here, I have something very important to say. I DID IT OUT OF LOVE. Also, I need you guys to know that daily updates are hard on the fingers.
Thanks for the reviews thus far! They keep me going.