Pieces
A Kakashi Romance
6: Fight and Defend
"Emiri-san," The little boy in Emiri's arms cried at her rough touch. That's when she heard the scream.
"EMIRI-NEE-CHAN!"
Both she and Kakashi whirled around, Emiri turned the boy in her arms with her, as they looked to the trees behind them.
There a masked man in a black cloak was holding the real Isamu who looked grimy with dirt and absolutely terrified.
"Nee-chan!" The boy screamed again.
Emiri looked down at the imposter in her arms. She yanked at his hair once more. With a wince, the Isamu-imposter brought his hands together to release the jutsu. Immediately, Emiri and Kakashi jumped back. In a single, fluid motion, Emiri sheathed her kunai and drew one of her short swords at her waist and held it defensively in front of her.
When the smoke cleared from the jutsu, she was looking into the dark eyes of another masked man in black.
Quickly, Emiri lunged forward and slashed at the man. He seemed to anticipate her, and dodged the attack, joining his companion in the tree tops.
"Let the boy go!" Emiri demanded, her vision tunneling on the small, whimpering boy.
"Emiri." Kakashi's voice was a low demand. She jerked her head in his direction, her pale green eyes wide. "Stay calm. Use your head."
Emiri closed her eyes, drew a breath, and opened them again. When she looked at the men, she noticed each man had a metal plate on their right arms with Hidden Mist insignias.
"I'm impressed that you saw through my jutsu. Just looking at you, I wasn't expecting much. You seem like the type of woman to care more about her appearance than her mission." said one of the masked me who impersonated as Isamu. "How long did it take you to realize I wasn't the boy?"
"Immediately," Emiri answered calmly. "Your transformation was faulty, but, even you must admit, appearances can be deceiving." The man narrowed his eyes at her, and Emiri found the courage to smile as she noted she had bruised the man's pride.
"Watch it girl, or else I will harm this boy," the man said as he drew a kunai in front of Isamu's face while his partner still held fast to him. Isamu let out a weak cry.
"My question is," asked Kakashi, "what could you possibly want with a little boy? Especially one that isn't even trained in the shinobi arts?"
"Hatake Kakashi, Sixth Hokage, and the famous Copy Ninja," the man holding Isamu sneered. "Do you know what this little boy's last name is?"
Kakashi glanced at Emiri. He did not know.
"Munashi," Emiri supplied, and Kakashi's bored eyes widened fractionally. "Why does that matter?" She asked when she noticed Kakashi's expression.
"Munashi was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist," Kakashi supplied.
"This boy is Jinpachi Munashi's nephew—his father was Jinpachi's younger brother. This boy has Kirigakure blood in his veins. As a Kirigakure citizen, we have every right to take him," said the masked man who held Isamu.
"Take him and reinstate the Bloody Mist decree," supplied the other man.
"He has Konoha blood by his mother, too," Emiri retorted evenly. "He has lived in Konoha since The War."
"But where is his citizenship?" Asked the man who held the kunai in front of Isamu. He laughed when Emiri fell silent; Isamu, was ultimately a member of Kirigakure.
"He is a ward of Konoha," Emiri argued. "As such, he is under Konoha's jurisdiction, and by threatening his life, you threaten my village." Emiri raised her sword defensively. "Are you prepared to break the peace between our villages for this boy?"
"Are you?" The man holding Isamu taunted.
Emiri tightened her grip on her sword, and Kakashi drew a kunai.
"You give us no choice," Kakashi decided, his eyes irritably narrowed at their opponents. He then turned to Emiri. "Protect the boy."
Emiri nodded and they both launched into action. Emiri headed straight for the man who held Isamu. Isamu yelled out when the man leaped away from the tree, and Emiri's sword slashed into the tree. Below, she could hear the sound of metal against metal as Kakashi engaged with the other man, their fight moving to the ground.
Emiri frowned as she chased after the man. She knew she could easily get to him but only at the risk of putting Isamu in danger.
"There's no time for this," Emiri murmured as she slid her swords back into their sheaths. Instead, she honed in on the man who held Isamu, raised her into a square shape and aimed directly for his forehead.
The man attempted to flee and found himself frozen to the spot. Emiri's red lips turned up into a half-smile.
"This jutsu does one of two things," Emiri explained to the man. "I can either tear you apart from the inside through your chakra network—and it will be incredibly painful. Or," Emiri moved an arm, and the man, shakingly, did the same. "I can make you do exactly as I want."
The man looked on with fear, and Emiri simply stared him down. She then glanced at Isamu who looked on, fearfully, his dark eyes searching on hers, looking for an anchor.
Emiri looked for Kakashi, and saw him tying the other man up on the ground. When he was finished, he jumped into the trees and held a kunai at the man's neck. "Come get Isamu, and I can take it from here," said Kakashi.
Emiri nodded and jumped over to stand beside Kakashi. As she did so, she made eye contact with the man again. She then opened her arms, and the man mimicked her movements, freeing Isamu.
"Emiri-nee-chan!" Isamu jumped into Emiri's arms.
Emiri clung to the boy, and behind his back, she brought her hands together to release her jutsu, and Kakashi knocked the man out.
"Isamu, are you hurt?" Emiri asked as she landed gracefully on the ground. She turned him around to examine him. She noticed that he had a couple scrapes and bruises, but no real damage. She also noted he wore his backpack with a cartoon tiger face on it, and it looked to be stuffed to capacity. Once she determined the boy was physically safe, her thoughts went to his mental well-being at being captured.
"I'm not hurt," said Isamu, as he hugged Emiri tightly. From the corner of his eye, he peeked around Emiri to watch Kakashi tie up the men. He then watched Kakashi summon three dogs.
"Two of you stay here with these men, Pakkun, run back to the village and have someone come for these separatists."
"You got it, boss," Pakkun said with a salute. He then glanced at Isamu who stared with wide eyes. Pakkun the dog winked at the boy before running away.
"is the boy hurt," Kakashi asked.
"No, not for a couple of bruises and scratches."
Kakashi knelt in front of the boy and smiled at him through his mask and ruffled Isamu's hair. "You were very brave," Kakashi complimented. "How did you manage to run away from the clinic?"
"Easy," said Isamu. "I got my tiger backpack and I stuffed it with my clothes and snacks and hid by the village gates and waited for Emiri-nee-chan."
"How did the men capture you?"
"They knew my last name," Isamu said. "So I stopped and listened to them. Then I got a feeling they were bad, so I tried to run away. That's when I saw you and Emiri-nee-chan, but they knocked me out before I could get to you."
"You got a feeling they were bad," Kakashi repeated, intrigued. "That is a very good instinct, Isamu." He then held out a fist for Isamu to bump. Isamu regarded it warily, before he reached out a tiny fist, grinned widely, and bumped it enthusiastically.
"Now that we have the real you," said Emiri. "What will we do with you? It would have been a good idea to have Pakkun escort him back—"
"NO!" Isamu looked up at Emiri, and Kakashi who now stood.
"I don't want to go back. I want to stay with you, Emiri-nee-chan, and with you, Kakashi!" Isamu folded his arms across his chest and stared down the two adults.
"Kakashi-sama," Emiri corrected.
"That's quite alright," Kakashi said, a smile in his voice.
"You guys are so cool! Did you see Kakashi fight the bad guys? He was like pow pow pow! And you were like woooosh with your swords!" Isamu raun around in a circle punching, kicking, and swinging imaginary swords at the air. He then stopped in front of Emiri, his dark eyes gleamingly stubborn. "Ryo-san can't do that. He's boring. It's boring without you, Emiri-nee-chan. Please, I want to go with you."
"Isamu, if you weren't just kidnapped, I would have relented, but now that this journey can turn dangerous, I don't know. You don't even have paperwork to get across the border."
"How old is he?" asked Kakashi.
"Five," Isamu answered, holding up five fingers.
"This is the last year he could travel without paperwork," Kakashi mused. "Besides, I'm also the Hokage, so, even if he was older, border patrol would make an exception for me. Finally, don't you think it would be a good idea for Isamu to visit his homeland?"
"See? Kakashi thinks it's a good idea! So I can go! This is my first mission!"
"Along the way I'll even teach you how to stand, so when someone tries to tackle you, they can never knock you off your feet," Kakashi promised.
"Really? You're so cool!"
Isamu took Kakashi's hand and tugged him forward. "Let's go, let's go! Teach me now!"
"Slow down, Isamu," Kakashi urged nervously, as though he just realized what he agreed to. "I'm an old man, I'm not young like Emiri."
"Emiri is so old," Isamu deadpanned. "You're both old."
Emiri's eye twitched irritably. She palmed her forehead and shook her head. "Am I the only mature one here," she asked, but Isamu and Kakashi seemed to not hear her as Isamu talked Kakashi's ear off, and the two got further and further away.
Still. Emiri found herself smiling. She had never seen Isamu smile so big. Before Emiri caught up with Kakashi and Isamu, Emiri reached into her shuriken holster and drew out a golden compact and a tube of lipstick. Quickly, she re-applied her red lipstick before she jogged up to her travel partner and the little boy who stole her heart.
As Isamu pretended to punch imaginary foes ahead of them, Kakashi turned to Emiri.
"How do you feel?"
"Rusty," Emiri admitted, it had been a long time since she had to be analytical and calm. "But, surprisingly good. I haven't stopped training these past two years, even if I stopped going on missions. Oh," Emiri lightly touched Kakashi's arm, and quickly withdrew. "Thank you, Kakashi-sama, for reminding me to keep my focus."
"You did well, Emiri," Kakashi nodded approvingly. His eyes flicked to Isamu to check-in on him before he looked at her once more. "You are very easy to work with."
"So are you, Kakashi-sama," Emiri agreed. She liked that she barely needed to speak to him throughout the entire situation. Working with Kakashi made her feel like she was working with an equal, though she recognized that Hatake Kakashi's abilities outranked hers by far. He was Hokage, after all.
As they walked in silence, a thought struck her, and Emiri ran her thumb across the Leaf insignia etched on the head band at her hip. The last time she fell into an easy camaraderie like she did earlier with Kakashi, she was with Neji.
Maybe, she thought, Neji was looking out for her after all.
Author's Note: Every author believes they have the best readers, and I strongly believe that I am lucky enough to have you guys as my readers. Truly, you all are amazing!
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