[A/N: We are back to the village and it goes off the rails from here! We are canon adjacent y'all, you've been warned!]
It wasn't long after team seven's arrival back to the village when Kakashi knocked on Lord Hokage's office door. A gruff voice bid him to enter, and Kakashi approached the carved desk to see Sarutobi smoking his pipe absently, gazing out the window behind his desk surveying the village below. He didn't even turn his chair to acknowledge the jonin's presence.
"Come in, Kakashi. Close the door behind you."
Kakashi did as instructed and waited for Lord Hokage to share the reason for his summons.
"I read your mission report. Facing Zabuza was unexpected, but it seems that you and your team handled it well. I need you to explain a few comments you've made. Let's start with the one concerning Miss Imai's abilities. I read your report and then requested a full debrief from ANBU.
"And?"
Lord Hokage bowed his head in quiet contemplation, before pointing at a file folder on top of his desk. Kakashi reached for it, noticing the drastic increase in size since he last looked at the file, skimming the contents. When he reached the section of interest, he froze.
"What? She what?"
Lord Hokage nodded.
"Yes. It seems our Ms. Imai might possess a Kekkei Genkai. However, our extensive records don't have any record of such a shinobi clan. During interrogation, Inoichi was able to disclose that the information told to the ANBU was true, she is an orphan so there is no one else to ask. I still think you would be best suited to help her develop the Kekkei Genkai as her mastery is still in its infancy. However, you should know, while you and team seven were abroad, we had an incident here in the village."
"An incident?"
"Yes, a young genin, Hoshiki Koragi, from team twenty-two. He abandoned the village, taking with him an unknowable amount of sensitive information."
"Unknowable?"
"The records room was destroyed using paper bombs, and it will take months for us to straighten it out. With all the rubble, it is uncertain what information he was looking for or if he found it. To be certain we sent retrieval operatives after him, but they haven't had much success in the time you've been gone."
"Understood."
"This brings me to my next question. You've written that you're requesting Nishira be removed completely from your supervision. Are you not recommending her for ANBU?"
"Not at all, Lord Hokage."
"Should she be sent back to the Academy for more training, then?"
"No, Lord Hokage."
"Well then, enlighten an old man, Kakashi. The report you submitted shows she performed well, you are recommending her for ANBU and does not require more training at the academy."
Kakashi looked away, with a small cough into his closed fist.
"There are some… complications. Nishira has plenty to learn to hone her skills, but I think it would be better if she were supervised by someone more suitable."
Lord Hokage studied Kakashi a moment, before understanding dawned and a small knowing smile crept onto his withered face.
"Ah, I see now. Well, then I have one more question for you. Do you think she is ready for the chunin exams? The next round is happening in the Village Hidden in Stone in just over a month. Is Nishira ready?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. Kakashi, then I propose a compromise. I am granting your request to remove her from your direct supervision. Team twenty-two needs another member to take the exam, so I will place her there with Tadato Hibi. But I want you to continue training with her, I sense she will continue to benefit from learning from you, and I would hesitate to let fear or uncertainty interfere with a student's training, or whatever the future may hold for both of you." He gave a knowing nod. "I will summon Hibi and explain everything, I leave you the task to share the news with Ms. Imai."
Kakashi gave a small nod before exiting the room. Sarutobi looked at the retreating form, and it filled him with a deep warmth. Kakashi has always been an elusive man, though much calmer than the isolated youth he'd been. But the way he had looked when the young lady's name was mentioned made Sarutobi smile. This was a first for Kakashi, and it was bound to be interesting.
As Kakashi rounded the corner to reach the training grounds to meet with Nishira, he spotted her sitting in the shade under a big, towering tree. The leaves were beginning to darken to brassy oranges and yellows. With each breath of nature, some of those leaves would ride with it, until it ended its journey on the sobering ground. The moment seemed to still as the wind sounded like a rippling tune. They were far enough from the village that man made sounds were foreign. In its place, was a calming silence filled with the noises that were never heard unless you listened. He turned to watch her, grateful for the chance. The return from the Land of Waves had been an awkward one, each barely speaking a word.
In her hands she held the edges of a scroll, the side of her face he could see was furrowed in concentration, in her mouth she held a pen, it bobbed up and down as she absently moved her mouth. But what Kakashi found most curious was her companion, a snow-white deer curled around her side, laid peacefully. Kakashi took a step towards her, and the deer's head flew up from the grass in his direction. Nishira looked up too, momentarily startled before schooling her face into a polite smile. Kakashi's heart thudded at that smile. He missed the one from back in the Land of Waves, and he had unintentionally started to look forward to it, even now. As he got closer, his eyes were drawn to the beige speckles that were sprinkled on the creature's back. When he got within almost arms reach of them, the creature bolted away into the woods.
"They really don't like you, Kakashi sensei."
Kakashi let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, as her smile deepened more genuinely as they watched the deer stop at the other end of the field, eyeing the intruder warily. Kakashi turned to notice the thick scroll she heaved under one arm and her bag in the other. The bag was an offensively bright neon pink with a cartoony smiley face, a character from what Kakashi thought would be from a kid's show.
"Who is that?"
Nishira looked down to see him pointing at her bag.
"I have no idea, my neighbor gave this to me, her daughter got a new one for her birthday and my old one was blown up."
Kakashi had the wherewithal to look somewhat ashamed, save for the smile that crinkled the skin around his visible eye.
"What are you working on?"
"Oh, just reading on some theories of chakra manipulation and shinobi tools. Figured if I could understand the intricacy of chakra manipulation, it might help me develop my jutsu!"
Kakashi contemplated her for a moment as they walked back towards the village.
"Where are we going?"
"Has anyone explained to you about the chunin exams?"
Nishira followed Kakashi along a stone path in the village. He had briefly explained the situation as they walked. Nishira would be training with a new group going forward, to be part of the semi annual chunin exam. They were signed up for the upcoming one in January. Kakashi mentioned he'd been ordered to continue her training with him, and he was prepared to provide some time each week to work on her jutsu. Nishira's mouth tightened ever so slightly at the news.
As they rounded a corner, three people came into view. Nishira's eyes squinted as she tried to make out who they were. One figure stood in front of the other two waving their hands in large gestures. Nishira and Kakashi neared as he was wrapping up, recognition plain on Nishira's face.
"And then I said, 'No sir I don't know anything about the glue shortage!'" he bellowed his joyous laughter, infectious and genuine. Nishira became painfully aware of who was missing from the group and anticipated being an unwelcomed newcomer. Hibi waved towards them, Kakashi returning it. Hibi and the storyteller smiled openly, the third, still lounging on the bench give her one side eye before looking the other way.
"Hibi, this is Imai Nishira, the newest member of team twenty-two."
Nishira bowed.
"I hope to be a useful teammate to you all and will give it my best!"
Nishira looked up to see the girl on the bench unwrap her long legs and she stood, immediately casting Nishira in her shadow. Nishira was met with the sight of her spectacular breasts at eye level. Nishira's face flushed, not remembering her to be so tall, and not daring to look up, knowing the face that was looking down at her was decidedly unfriendly.
"I don't even know why we need a new member anyways."
"Kawa! Don't be so rude. You know we need a third." The man put a hand on her shoulder, that leveled with his face. "Hey Nishira, nice to see you again!"
He held out his arms to give her a hug, which she awkwardly accepted. But she was surprised that his hug was as warm and gentle as he was.
"Toma, nice to see you too.
The taller member stood with her arms crossed, her auburn hair wrapped up into a perfect roll framing her forehead, her shinobi headband sat right behind it on the top of her head, the rest of the sleek hair was pulled back into a ponytail. A deep dusty rose dress ran from her neck to mid thigh, leaving most of her muscular legs bare. The sleeves black and drapey, with only a cut at the top to show defined shoulders.
"Hey, Kawa." Nishira felt less than a foot tall in her commanding presence.
"You're not allowed to call me Kawa!" The words were bellowed at her with much more force leaving Kakashi and Nishira stunned. Kakashi turned to his student, happy for a reason to depart from this explosive situation.
"Well I'll leave you to it! We'll meet next week to go over what we talked about. Try to have some fun."
And he left, despite her face wide in silent begging to take her with him, hand in his pocket, waving over his shoulder. Leaving Nishira standing there watching his retreating form feeling the weight of betrayal. After a heavy pause, Hibi spoke up.
"Well, who's up for some training? We have a chunin exam to prep for!"
"Aw man! Again?" Toma slouched with his hands in his jean vest pockets before kicking a pebble at his feet.
"Yes, again, I'm tired of carrying you genin around. It's time to spread your wings, be somebody else's problem!"
Sekawa followed silently. Nishira was reminded a little bit of Sasuke, that sour face he had when he was trying to be indifferent. The similarity was striking.
Nishira bent over huffing, hands pressed to her thighs, trying to gulp as much air as possible to fill her burning lungs, the cool air scalding her from the inside. Toma lay on the stony ground, his chest heaving.
"Sensei, what are you trying to do? Kill us?"
In between them, Hibi stood with her arms crossed. A devilish smirk on her face was the only response. Nishira's muscles hurt from the brutal daily grind she had them running for the past week. The weak thumbs up he gave to them drew a weary smile from her. Hibi jabbed a finger at the prone shinobi.
"Toma, get up, I want you to get that formation absolutely perfect!"
"Perfect is overrated, sensei! I'm okay with second best!" He weakly waved a hand in the air.
Sekawa glared at him, with barely a hint of sweat on her brow with not a single hair out of place.
"Toma, get up! Let's go, Nishira."
Nishira looked up at her, it was the first time she'd used her actual name all week. After a quick walk towards the other end of the ground, Sekawa mumbled something.
"Sorry?"
"I said, you need to watch your flank when you cross over… um… yeah but you're… you're doing good."
Nishira genuinely enjoyed the comment, even the awkward attempt to encourage her. "Thank you, Sekawa. I don't want to let you down."
That had apparently been the wrong thing to say.
"Yeah well, you're no Koragi! He knew how it worked."
She stomped off, passing Toma who just looked at Nishira and shrugged.
"Um, what happened to Koragi anyways?"
"Oh," Toma looked at her right into her eyes, face grim. "He's… dead."
Nishira felt the earth bottom out under her in shock and disbelief. Toma couldn't keep his face straight. It cracked into a fit under her stunned stare.
"Oh my god! You should see your face!"
Nishira's shocked face froze as Toma clutched his side howling.
"I had you going for a second, didn't I?! Ha ha, no, from what I heard, he deserted the village. He didn't tell anyone what he was doing, and then just up and left one night."
"So… Sekawa… and him."
"That's… complicated. It's not something we talk about with most people. They tend to get the wrong idea." Toma shrugged. "Come on! I'm hungry! And I bet you're hungry too!"
"What? No!" He just smirked at her and then wandered off towards the village. Nishira jogging to catch up as they headed towards city centre.
"BBQ today? I haven't been there all week."
"Sounds good! Thanks, Toma!"
As they entered the establishment to a chirpy greeting from the hostess, they heard a begrudging groan. Toma turned towards it and waved at Sekawa who lowered her head to avoid being spotted. But once it was clear they were heading her way, Nishira noticed with a stifled laugh that Sekawa then held her head high as though she hadn't even seen them yet. Toma squished into the bench on her side and saddled up nice and close, putting an arm around the girl, which looked a little odd since she was taller than him, but Sekawa, after a moment of actively ignoring Nishira's presence, softened into it. Nishira pressed her lips together, suddenly feeling like an intruder to a tender moment, her gaze moving to around the restaurant.
The sound of a sizzling grill wrapped around the sounds of idle chatter and laughter from the other patrons. Behind it, the whirring fans droned on like a rumbling base. Somewhere the delicate pulling if strings on an instrument would weave in and out of the air, impossible to determine which song was being played. Every once in a while, she'd hear the bright plinking of plates and the glugging sound of a bottle pouring into waiting glasses. The wooden click of chopsticks was almost neglectful in the symphony of the restaurant. Outside the window beside her, she watched the milling of people going about their day, some scurried, some wandered. An elderly lady carried her groceries with a slow step that was almost painful to watch. Nishira didn't have to wait long until a child, probably around team seven's age came and picked up the large woven bags of groceries for, almost overwhelmed but still smiling brightly at the older woman.
Just as she was about to look back to the guests at the table, a bright orange jumpsuit caught her attention, passing directly by her window. She almost missed the chance, but Naruto's brilliant blue eyes locked and on hers and she gave him a wave and smile. He smiled back with his full brilliant cheeky smile, the child never held anything back, and something in her softened to see him. Beside him, chatting idly was Iruka sensei from the academy. Nishira wondered if they were going for ramen. Half of the journey back from the Land of Waves consisted of Naruto dictating which type of ramen he would order, conflicted between the many kinds they offered at Ichiraku.
"What are you doing?"
Nishira looked to see Sekawa eyeing her suspiciously.
"Saying hi to a friend?"
"You're friends with that brat?"
Nishira pursed her lips, a retort ready but held back if she pushed it. Nishira managed a strained answer.
"He was my teammate."
"Oh man, I feel sorry for you, he's such a pain. Defacing the Hokage monument, stealing, getting into fights. Not to mention all that stuff with the demon-"
"Kawa, we're not supposed to talk about that." He looked around conspicuously, to make sure not one heard. "It's against the law."
"What? What's against the law?" Nishira's gaze narrowed on the two guilty looking faces. "What demon?"
"We're not supposed to talk about Naruto. I'm sorry, it's forbidden. He's- he's not good, you should stay away from him." Toma frowned, it was obvious to her there was more he wanted to share but couldn't. Nishira let out an angry sigh, her voice lowering to a boiling undertone to be heard by no one else beyond their table.
"Well, whatever it is, I don't really care. Naruto may be loud and brash and reckless, but he's kind and friendly and he just wants to do his best. So, if you have a problem with him, I'll still be his friend. Because the only brat I've met so far is you, Sekawa. You've been mean since I met you. Is there a law that says you can't be nice to me too? Because I sure as hell haven't done anything to make you hate me so. I'm your teammate. Thanks for the constant reminder I'm not some guy who decided to abandon his own village. Maybe I'll see if Naruto will let me have ramen with him and Iruka sensei. I'm out of here."
Nishira stood and stalked from the restaurant. Her blood roiling in her ears in a dull roar, but the further she got from the restaurant the calmer her mind became. Nishira shook her head in embarrassment. But remembering their faces when they talked about Naruto made her face darken again and her feet stomped, reinvigorated, as she went home.
As Nishira approached her teammates for training in the morning, she openly frowned at them, turning her pink nose, bitten from the overnight dump of snow, up.
"Hey, Nishira, listen. We want to apologize for yesterday."
She paused looking from Toma's pleading face, his lips disappearing under the beard as he pressed them together. Sekawa stood with her arms crossed and gave an air of annoyed indifference. Toma looked to her, nudging her with his shoulder.
"Hey, say it."
Nishira lifted her hands.
"Just save it okay, it's fine. You do whatever you want."
She was about to turn away to stand anywhere that wasn't next to them while they waited for Hibi sensei to arrive, when a gentle voice called her name. She turned back to see the struggle scrunched into Sekawa's face.
"Look I'm sorry, alright?"
Nishira was unconvinced.
"It's fine, I'll stay for the chunin exams and then you can hate me all you want."
"I don't hate you! I'm trying to say I'm sorry."
Sekawa spewed the words, how mouth moving like she was struggling to form her next words. "Koragi, he-"
"He was our partner." Toma smiled apologetically to both women.
"Yeah, I get he was your squad mate and now I'm here."
"No- I mean he was our partner. Kawa and him were like together, and I am with Kawa, sometimes with him and her together, but mostly her and now it's just her and-"
"Wait, back up. So, the reason you're being pissy with me is because you and Koragi were involved?" Nishira remembered the conversation at the bar, it occurred to her the reason behind the tension. "So Koragi used me to, what, make you jealous? I did not and still don't like him that way. He invited me, I showed up, I was trying to make some actual friends. I see now that that was a mistake."
Sekawa reached out to touch Nishira's shoulder, both of them looking equally shocked at the unexpected gesture. The taller shinobi took her hand away and earnestly looked at Nishira, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows arched in assurance.
"No, Nishira please listen. Koragi and I had a complicated relationship. When he brought you, he broke some rules we had made, and I was upset that night. I really am sorry for that. And then yesterday, I just wanted some alone time with Toma to talk about what I'd said to you, but he brought you, so I was a jerk and didn't know how to say what I needed. It's just really overwhelming." Those large eyes filled with glassy tears the clung to her feathered lashes before seeping down her face. Nishira almost groaned. Of course, she's pretty when she cries, she thought bitterly.
Sekawa continued to mumble but they weren't words Nishira could recognize. Toma slipped an arm over her pulling her into a hug.
"What happened with Koragi was hard on all of us. He didn't tell us anything before he left, so it was just as surprising, but I think Sekawa had it worse since they were seeing each other. What she's trying to say is-"
"I'm sorry for being a bitch."
Nishira blinked a couple of times, before a laugh escaped her.
"Alright, I forgive you, but only if I can call you Kawa."
The puckering of Sekawa's face was perfect, propelling her to laugh harder.
"Alright, alright, I'll settle for you telling me what the deal is with Naruto."
"No way! He's got the nine tails fox spirit in him? Seems like he's actually a hero, harbouring a spirit against his will and saving Konoha. That's a tough break. Why is it against the law to talk about it? It's not like he's acting like the demon fox."
"I don't know, I only know that because of Toma; He heard his dad and uncle talking about it."
"Toma, I didn't know you're from the Nara clan, I sit on the border of your land sometimes, there's so many deer there."
"Oh, we know you sit there." Nishira's cheeks coloured at the statement. "But we actually like it because the deer are drawn here and they're multiplying. They were struggling for a while to breed, and we were looking at interventions and then it just stopped being a problem. Shikaku figured it out and that's why we leave you be."
He gave her one of his big friendly grins and Nishira felt herself reply with one as well, it seemed difficult not to.
"So were you guys together before you were a team?"
"No, Koragi and Kawa were, I came later when we became a team. Hey, after this, you want to grab some ramen, you made it sound so good yesterday."
Just as they settled in a comfortable silence after a good laugh, Hibi walked around the corner.
"Hey Nishira, I have your new homework from Kakashi sensei, hope you aren't planning on seeing anybody but us for a while."
Nishira looked to Toma, rolling her eyes.
"Guess I'll need to take a rain check on that, after the chunin exam we'll make up for it."
