This chapter picks up right where we left off last chapter.
Kakashi's bad mood lasts for most of the day but starts to cool off towards the late afternoon. It helps that the hours after lunch are spent forcing his students through conditioning training until they collapse with exhaustion.
Kakashi is a jounin. He can remain cool and think rationally in just about any situation, thank you very much. Yamanaka mind healers might disagree, but Kakashi isn't about to ask them or allow them any input, so there.
Anyhow, predictably it is Sakura who collapses first, long before either of the boys. Kakashi quietly directs her to continue practicing her tree walking once she can stand - an exercise that will be less physically demanding but still give her chakra control a workout. It takes her a couple of minutes to gather her wits and her trembling limbs enough to stand up again but eventually she obeys.
Kakashi is only mildly surprised to find that despite her exhaustion she still does not struggle with the tree walking. Her chakra control is good, he admits to himself. Regardless of when she learned the skill it, like all jutsu, still increases in difficulty with exhaustion as the mind tends to focus on the physical distractions rather than the output of chakra.
Not that the notion of her mastering tree walking in less than an hour becomes any less unbelievable for it. No, that kind of chakra control would put her in the same kind of league as … Kakashi isn't even sure. Far above him anyway, in regards to pure chakra control. She'd have to be closer to the likes of Lady Tsunade or Minato-sensei.
He scoffs at the thought. Her Academy teachers would have had to be blind to miss such skill.
He would have had to be blind.
Eventually Naruto and Sasuke collapse as well, virtually on top of each other, and Kakashi decides to dismiss them all for the day.
Afterwards, Kakashi does what any semi-responsible jounin sensei who suspects one of his students is keeping secrets would do: he follows her.
It's not really difficult. She's a genin fresh out of the Academy, he's a jounin; and if anyone notices him they have enough sense not to intervene.
Even so it's only common sense to be careful when stalking a fellow shinobi, even if one's target is only a genin. Luckily her ridiculous pink hair makes her stand out of a crowd like a beam of colourful light amongst shadows, so there is no need for Kakashi to get up close like he would a more difficult target.
She spends some time walking around the marketplace, perusing wares of smaller merchants that sell substandard shinobi gear for next to nothing. Mentally Kakashi shakes his head. What does the Academy even teach its students? Sakura is supposed to be one of the top students of her year, yet she seems unable to tell quality equipment from bad equipment.
Case in point, she stops for a longer period at the stall of a particularly shady merchant and buys something. He'll have to have a conversation with her about the importance of quality shinobi gear as well. Bad equipment gets good shinobi killed unnecessarily, and someone like her can't afford that.
Afterwards she heads for the library.
Kakashi notes with some unease that she doesn't stop for dinner, even though she realistically should be starving by now. His unease grows as she settles down at a table in the library to study.
She remains there at least until Gai finds him and manages to draw him into another challenge. It is, by then, quite late. The library will close soon.
Kakashi allows Gai to distract him and makes a mental note to investigate further tomorrow.
He doesn't like this.
She weighs the coins in her hand. It's not a lot. All of her savings, meant for another bag of rice once her current one runs out - and it's already more than half empty. It won't last until her next paycheck. Won't last more than a week, even.
It's been two days since her teammates returned, and already Kakashi-sensei is bothering her about her spartan bento boxes; lecturing her on the importance of proper nutrition even though she's doing the best she can with what she's got while Naruto probably hasn't had a vegetable in days.
It's just not fair, she thinks angrily, fingers clenching around the coins. She only has a bento box at all because Asuma-sensei gave her his, and grilled fish is perfectly healthy even if she's really starting to grow tired of the taste! And she's trying to supplement her meals the best she can, dammit! But it's not even June yet and despite Konoha's mild climate there is only so much growing freely in the forest.
She could try snaring a rabbit or a bird for herself but even in the training areas she's about as likely to catch someone's pet as a wild animal. Or a careless fellow genin. So fishing really is the best way to go, and then she can complement that with rice and whatever the forest gifts her.
Unless she's willing to start stealing from the stores. It's … an uncomfortably appealing thought. In the end though, she won't lower herself to that. She may no longer be a lady but she's still got her dignity, thank you very much! Besides, it'd be super embarrassing if she, as a kunoichi of Konoha, were caught stealing.
So, no stealing.
Which only brings her back to her current dilemma.
"It's a good deal," the merchant tells her. "T'best you're going to get, trust me."
She looks at his dirty little stand with its subpar wares. The kunai and shuriken that all look just a little bit wrong, the weight off in her hand, suggesting that they're made from some sort of cheaper alloy by hands that don't really know what they're doing. The ninja wire that looks just a little bit spotty, as if it's been used and bloodied and then been looted from a corpse - weakened and more likely to break. And, of course, the lone sealing scroll with it's two, small bloodstains. She looks at it all and the shinobi in her wants to sneer in revulsion.
But sealing scrolls are expensive and she really doesn't have much money left. Just enough for this scroll. Or rice. Not both. So the choice really comes down to which she wants more. Which she needs more.
There is a reason Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei both have lectured her on the importance of her diet. Food is important, especially to growing shinobi that wish to improve their skills. Fish is protein, which the body needs to build cells and muscles, for her to continue growing and developing. The greens she has been able to gather around the forests contain important nutrients but they are also low in calories. She needs carbs and fats too if she ever wants to be able to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke, and currently rice is her main source of carbs.
She can't really afford not to eat rice. She knows that better than most of her yearmates, because unlike them she actually paid attention in class. Which is why she shouldn't even be contemplating the choice between rice and a sealing scroll.
What she really should be doing is to find Kakashi-sensei, march straight up to him and tell him about her situation. Just like the Genin Commander advised her to. Kakashi-sensei is an adult and a jounin of Konoha and most importantly, he's her sensei.
Even if he wants to throw her off the team.
Even if he barely looks at her anymore, and even if his eye is cold when he does.
Even if just the thought of him makes her want to turn around and run from the memory of his anger.
He's her sensei and thus the first person she should be turning to for help, especially in issues that concern her shinobi education. She knows that. She meant to do that, except-
Go. Don't come back unless you're ready to tell the truth.
A shiver runs down her spine, making her knees feel weak and trembling. Kakashi-sensei had been so very, very angry and so very, very done with her.
"Look, little lady, no one else is gonna sell you a sealing scroll at this price," the merchant says, apparently growing impatient. "I wouldn't either, ordinarily, but for a pretty little thing like yourself I'm willing to make an 'ception."
"Fine," she says, her skin crawling with her own cowardice as she hands over the coins.
Her stomach grumbles unhappily.
Naruto and Sasuke-kun have accepted her vague explanation of a miscommunication. Perhaps it's because they're both orphans, or perhaps they're both just more respectful than she has given them credit for, but they didn't ask many questions after she explained about her mother's passing. Naruto even apologized for leaving without checking on her and both of them have taken to quietly backing her up against Kakashi-sensei. Their support means more to her than she dares to even admit.
Go. Don't come back unless-
She shakes her head, trying to push the memory aside. Why would she even lie to him to begin with? And about something as simple as climbing a tree? She's well aware that she's not a very good shinobi but when did she become an untrustworthy one?
The merchant shows her how to seal and unseal things. The scroll has a storage space just about big enough to fit her backpack and experimentally she seals a couple of kunai away, unsealing them and then sealing them away again.
It's not perfect but it will do. A scroll is easy to just store away in her weapon's pouch, much more discreet than carrying around her backpack everywhere. She's been lucky that team 10 haven't questioned her on it so far, but when even Naruto starts questioning her about it it's only a matter of time before someone decides to investigate further.
She can't afford to have any of them start asking uncomfortable questions. Naruto will make a whole affair out of it and she'll probably die of humiliation if Sasuke-kun finds out that she's clanless and homeless. And Kakashi-sensei … She's not sure what he'll do if he finds out but it can't possibly be good.
She waves to the dirty old merchant over her shoulder and promises herself to never again make any business with him.
A glance up at the sky tells her that it's around dinnertime. She should get fishing and set up her camp again, but her stomach is too uneasy to even think of food at the moment. So instead she heads for the library, deciding that if she can't eat she can at least study. Maybe she'll read up on the local fauna of Konoha, or maybe look up the theory behind that tree climbing exercise.
Perhaps she should have turned to Asuma-sensei for help. He'd been kind enough to take her on even though she's not supposed to be a part of team 10. She's pretty certain that he would have helped her, had she asked. But she'd still been aching with the loss of her mother and her clan and by the time she had started contemplating telling someone she had already been with team 10 long enough that the thought of telling him just felt strange.
The librarian greets her with a friendly smile but Sakura averts her gaze nonetheless, feeling her shoulders rise against her will.
Maybe the question is not when she became untrustworthy, but rather when she stopped trusting adults? She's used to trusting adults. Respect and trust for adults has always been a central paradigm of her education, both in the Academy and from aunt Kasumi, but now she finds herself scorned by the adult world. First her clan turning against her, then Kakashi-sensei.
If she can't trust her family and she can't trust her sensei, then whom can she trust?
Pushing the thought aside she settles down in the back with a book on chakra theory.
Gai's challenge is to see which of them can eat the most spicy curry at one of the food vendors.
Gai wins.
When the library closes at last Sakura makes her way back towards the training grounds. She doesn't dare to use team 7's usual one for fear of leaving traces her teammates might find, but there are plenty of these basic training grounds and none of them are booked at night.
This late her stomach aches from hunger, despite her earlier unease. Luckily there are plenty of rivers in Konoha and its training grounds, so catching a couple of fish is an easy matter. She gets a small fire going and sets the fish to grilling, hesitating over her remaining rice. Reluctantly she decides to save what she has for her lunch boxes, to stave off Kakashi-sensei's ire as long as possible.
Even though it won't be enough.
Go. Don't come back unless-
To keep the thoughts at bay she turns her thoughts elsewhere while the fish cooks. Her gaze lands on the river and she recalls her readings. The next step of the tree climbing exercise is tree jumping and running, but there is also one that will allow people to walk ok water. Logic would have her continue practicing in the trees at first, but maybe ..?
There's no one here to stop her and there's basically no risk of her accidentally killing herself in the shallow parts of the river. Besides, she needs something to distract herself with to get out of her head.
Hesitantly she steps up to the river, taking a deep breath. Gently she places her foot on the water, channeling chakra just as she would to climb a tree.
It doesn't work.
Awkwardly she continues to hold her foot out, allowing it to just grace the surface of the water, balancing all of her weight on the other foot.
The water feels completely different than the tree underneath her foot. Obviously. It's water. Unlike something as sturdy as a tree it's not actually supposed to carry her.
She's ridiculous for even trying to walk on water. Walking on water is impossible and she'll sink like the silly little girl that she is the moment she tries to put any weight on the foot hovering just above the water's surface.
Except it's not at all impossible. There are plenty of shinobi that can walk on water, she knows. Theoretically, at least. The scroll at the library indicated that water walking is a skill common in shinobi ranked chunin and up, but that it is by no means impossible for a genin to learn the skill either.
Meaning that some genin can learn water walking and some cannot. What if she's among those who can't? Her mother never indicated that she could do anything like it, and while she cannot remember her father there have never been any mentions about him being able to either.
What if she's just a stupid little girl who would have been better off obeying her family after all? What if-
Go. Don't come back-
She's not going to think about that.
She's not.
Instead she's going to think about the gentle flow of the water beneath her foot and the circulation of her chakra and finding that precise balance that will surely be the answer to her dilemma. In tree climbing the answer was using just enough chakra to keep herself attached to the tree, yet not enough to cause the wood to shatter beneath her feet. It is roughly the same whichever tree she climbs on, and only marginally different according to the size of the branch and the type of wood, as far as she can tell so far.
Water should therefore require an even more delicate balance of chakra, she decides. Much less chakra and it won't be enough to keep her weight, but too much and the chakra will surely push the water aside beneath her feet.
Except of course that no amount of chakra seems to be perfect. As she continues trying she becomes aware that her efforts are not completely fruitless. It's almost as if she's walking on something very slippery, her footing slipping but occasionally finding some steady leverage as the gentle but constant flow of the water currents causes little waves and ripples beneath her.
Experimentally she adjusts her own output.
It's not about finding a single balance of chakra output, she realises. It's about adjusting her output to the flow of the water.
How inconvenient, she thinks with a frown. But logical too. A tree is still the same beneath her feet, it's growth negligible in the time it takes her to put one foot in front of the other. The water, however, is always moving beneath her feet, always shifting from the currents and even reacting to her own chakra output.
Slowly she leans forward, putting more weight onto her water-bound foot, half expecting it to sink through the surface just as it has always done. It doesn't.
Hesitantly she puts all of her weight on it, taking a step forward and finding that her other foot carries as well.
Well, that wasn't even difficult! she thinks to herself, smiling lightly.
Her next few steps are equally hesitant, awkward and bowlegged, but as the water continues to carry her weight she starts to relax. She jumps, heart in her throat, but she lands with only the smallest splash of water.
"This isn't so difficult," she says out loud.
A particularly loud crackling from the fire answers her.
The momentary distraction is enough for her to sink knee-deep into the water, and once she's that deep she panics and loses her focus entirely. With a gasp she goes underwater, having gotten further out into the river than she'd meant to. The current tugs at her limbs and her clothes but it's not very strong, nor is the water very deep. She kicks against the bottom of the river and surfaces a moment later, easily swimming the short distance back towards the riverside.
She's soaked in cold water but a smile spreads across her face anyway, almost painful in the way intense joy bubbles up in her chest. She walked on water! For a couple of minutes, at most, but she did it!
Luckily most of her equipment is still by the fire, safe and dry. She grabs her towel, hangs her soaked clothes to dry and by that time she realises that her dinner is starting to catch fire. So wrapped in a towel and with her wet hair probably getting even more tangled she sits down to eat at last.
It tastes like charcoal and victory.
After the spicy curry they wind up heading to their favourite bar to get something to drink.
Asuma and Kurenai are there on one of their pretending-it's-not-a-date dates, so they join them as well. Kakashi drinks more than he usually might, thanks to the curry earlier still burning away in his mouth. Not enough to get drunk, but enough to get pleasantly buzzed. Enough that old and new traumas alike start to feel just a little more distant and he starts to remember what nice friends he has. Really, they're the best drinking partners a socially stunted jounin like Kakashi can ask for.
Which is probably why he feels vaguely guilty the next morning when he arrives at team 7's usual meeting spot and finds that all three of his students are giving him weary looks, the boy's stepping protectively closer to Sakura as he arrives.
She does not strike me as the kind of person who would lie, he remembers Asuma saying. Who knows, she might even end up surprising you.
Well, Kakashi thinks, there are ways he can test that.
"Had a good night's rest?" he asks, smiling virtuously.
The fear in their eyes is genuinely amusing.
"Today we're going to build off of the tree climbing exercise, since you've all mastered that one. Today-"
Channeling chakra through his legs he takes a large jump, landing on the nearby river.
"-we're going to learn how to walk on water."
Naruto's excited chatter is instantaneous and Sasuke's gaze intensifies the way it does whenever Kakashi offers a new skill for him to learn. However, Sakura - who Kakashi will guess is not used to seeing people casually walk on water - looks vaguely ill at the declaration.
Not the kind of reaction Kakashi was expecting.
"Like with tree climbing you need to channel your chakra to your feet," Kakashi explains, continuing to watch Sakura. "However, I think you'll find that this is quite different and will require quite a bit more of your focus."
He steps aside to watch as they get started, Naruto rushing into things and going underwater immediately. Sasuke grits his teeth at the sight and reluctantly takes off his weapon's pouch and kunai holster before he too steps out into the river. Because he's more careful than Naruto he choses a shallower part of the river and only winds up sinking down to his knees.
"Sakura?" Kakashi prompts when she does not make a move to join her teammates.
Taking a deep breath she too removes her kunai pouch and kunai holster, glancing briefly at him but not meeting his gaze. Kakashi watches expectantly as she steps up to the river, gently placing her foot on the water and … promptly walking a few steps out, the water rippling gently beneath her feet.
Kakashi slowly raises an eyebrow as she turns to look at him, raising her chin almost challengingly.
"Practiced before, have we?" he asks.
"Yeah."
She doesn't explain herself further but Kakashi frowns nonetheless. It sounds like a lie. In so much as one word that is clearly true can sound like a lie, at least.
At least she's honest this time, he thinks to himself. But why then does her telling the truth sound like a lie?
Regardless, this will not prove anything. If she's been practicing water walking beforehand then her repeating it now proves nothing in regards to her potential skill, other than that she does have enough chakra control to master it. Which is true for most of the shinobi Kakashi knows, if not all.
"Well, practice makes perfect," he says, gesturing vaguely for her to continue practicing.
She meets his gaze for another moment before turning away again, doing just that.
Sakura sighs quietly, relieved that Kakashi-sensei is apparently not going to accuse her of lying or try to throw her off the team again.
Her neck burns with the knowledge that he's watching but she tries her best to ignore it, most of her attention required to keep herself standing on top of the water.
"Wow, Sakura-chan! That's so cool!" Naruto says, swimming over to her, apparently uncaring of the water he's splashing everywhere. "How'd you do that?"
Sasuke-kun is watching her too, she realises, and the realisation is almost enough to send her underwater. She stumbles but manages to regain her focus, only sinking down to her ankles before managing to pull herself back up.
"It's, uh," she stammers, fighting the blush burning on her cheeks, "it's the output. Of chakra, that is. You need to, uhm, adjust it. It's not just one balance, like with the tree, it needs to be adjusted all the time."
"Exactly," Kakashi-sensei agrees from the riverside. "Which is easier said than done, so keep practicing."
She ducks her head. He doesn't sound angry and it doesn't sound like a rebuke, but clearly he doesn't want her to distract her teammates. Even though she'd only been trying to help.
Resisting the urge to apologise she nods briefly to Naruto and Sasuke-kun before stepping aside to allow them to practice on their own.
They spend the morning practicing water walking. By lunchtime Sakura feels almost as confident in her water walking skills as her tree climbing skills and Sasuke-kun can manage a few steps at least before sinking down to his knees, which surprises Sakura. Sasuke-kun has always been the best at any practical skill, far above everyone else in skill with kunai and shuriken and always the first of the boys in class to master a new jutsu. She has never seen him struggle like this before.
She's not sure how she feels about it.
Sasuke's gaze is dark and stormy and his mood irritable. Struggling must be new to him too, she surmises.
Unsurprisingly Naruto struggles the most, still not able to take more than a step or two before going underwater.
They have lunch. Kakashi-sensei gives her lunch a disapproving look but does not comment further, for which she is grateful. Afterwards they do missions, thankfully not involving catching any cats today, and then they are dismissed.
It's already friday, so Sakura heads for team 10's training ground, vaguely hoping to be able to catch them on their way to Yakiniku Q. Mostly she just wants to spend some time with people who don't hate her, but if that also involves free food that is not fish then so much the better.
She's lucky. They are just leaving the training ground as she arrives. Ino squeals excitedly and Asuma-sensei easily invites her to join them for dinner.
It's a very nice meal. The atmosphere is relaxed, the jargon light and their questions friendly and genuinely curious.
Surprisingly it's Shikamaru who suggests they have a sleepover. All four of them. Ino agrees eagerly and Choji easily enough as well, and then all three of them turn to look at her.
"I, uhm, I'll have to … ask," she lies awkwardly. "But sure, I'd like a sleepover."
Thus it's decided.
They go their separate ways for a bit, Sakura taking a walk around the village before heading for the Yamanaka, to give the impression of having been home to ask permission. Choji and Shikamaru are already there, their respective clan compounds adjacent to the Yamanaka one.
They spend the evening snacking and playing board games in Ino's room. Shikamaru trounces them all in shogi. Sakura tells them about her new tree climbing- and water walking skills, proving it by climbing the wall of Ino's room when Ino declares her disbelief of it. They're jealous, she can tell, but the kind of jealous that is still warm and friendly and genuinely happy for her. Asuma-sensei will probably get his hands full come Monday but Sakura can't bring herself to feel sorry for having caused it.
They spend the night in a fortress of pillows and blankets on Ino's bedroom floor and in the morning Ino's mom makes them all breakfast.
It is, in a word, perfekt.
She leaves the Yamanaka compound in the late afternoon, feeling happier and more relaxed than she has in days.
Sunday is spent mending her clothes. The purple and yellow dress isn't holding up nearly as well as she hoped but thankfully she already has some needle and thread in her shinobi gear for just such reasons. She makes a mental note to buy more when she gets her next paycheck.
Before she knows it, it's Monday again and she's back with team 7.
Falling back into old routines is surprisingly easy, despite everything. They do another D-ranked mission that morning, painting a fence. Naruto and Sasuke make a competition out of it and wind up splashing paint everywhere. Sakura paints about a third of what they paint but she thinks her stretch of the fence is at least neater than theirs, which ought to count for something.
Afterwards they head off to their training ground for lunch. Kakashi-sensei rolls his eye disapprovingly at her bento box and Sakura tries her best to ignore it. Then they practice; Kakashi-sensei running them through a series of katas and conditioning exercises whilst remaining mostly focused on his book. Sakura tires long before the boys do and when they're finally dismissed she heads for the library again.
It is a routine that is both comfortable and awkward but slowly it settles and becomes just another day. One day becomes two, then three and so on.
Her bag of rice runs out on tuesday. On Wednesday Kakashi-sensei gives her a particularly severe look upon noticing her fish-and-greens bento box.
"Diet," she shrugs apologetically, unable to quite meet his gaze.
"Your choice," he replies, shrugging carelessly. "If that's all that your teammates' lives are worth to you."
The food in her mouth might as well be cardboard and she has to for herself to chew it down.
"Hey, why don't you buy us something better then, Kaka-sensei? Show us how we're supposed to eat or whatever?" Naruto suggests.
That afternoon Naruto manages to convince Kakashi-sensei to treat them to Ramen Ichiraku. Sakura only hesitantly accepts, because she really can't afford to pay for her own food and she's not entirely certain that Kakashi-sensei won't leave them to pay the bill anyway. But Kakashi-sensei stays true to his word and pays the bill without too much fuss. He even orders seconds for them all, ordering extra noodles and fatty pork for Sakura's. She ducks her head but eats without complaint, something she cannot quite name stirring somewhere in her stomach.
Perhaps he doesn't hate her after all.
Maybe, just maybe, whatever is wrong between them can still be mended somehow.
It is the best meal she's had in ages.
Perhaps she's not hopeless after all.
Maybe, just maybe, there is still some saving grace to her.
He hasn't been able to push Asuma's words about Sakura's diet out of his mind. Or rather, he hasn't been able to push Asuma's description of Ino's problems out of his mind, except in his mind it's still Sakura. He knows that she's lying, that she's been keeping secrets ever since their return but this seems the most imminent danger.
He watches her as he places the order - carbs and fat, both things which Sakura desperately needs but insists on excluding from her diet - and is mildly surprised when she doesn't object. When the order arrives she eats it without fuss and with an expression of bliss on her face that rivals even Naruto's obvious enjoyment. And really, Kakashi finds no fault in that and it is a stack in her favor. A small one, at least.
With Asuma's words about Ino throwing up after eating he follows Sakura after the team has been dismissed. She heads for the library, as seems to be har habit. With the exception of Friday, when she wound up heading for the Yamanaka compound after the dinner with Asuma and his team, the library seems to be where she spends most of her evenings.
Really, Kakashi is honestly surprised by how boring his surveillance of her has been. Not that there had been a whole lot of it, but still. Maybe he should have watched her during the weekend, but Kakashi had been unwilling to get close enough to that many Yamanaka to properly watch her, and so he'd spent the weekend with Gai and Asuma and Kurenai instead.
Hours pass by. She makes only one, brief visit to the bathroom before returning to her studying and by the time the library closes Kakashi's conscience is reassured. Asuma was right after all. Whatever is going on with Sakura's diet it is not that she won't eat what is served to her. Which makes it all the more perplexing why she continues to stick to it. Perhaps he really should look into who makes her bento boxes and have a conversation with them instead.
It's not a task he looks forward to though. Not at all.
The good part about having a team full of orphans - if one can talk about there being good parts to it - is that he doesn't really need to deal with their parents.
Sasuke making trouble? Kakashi is free to punish him in whatever way he sees fit, without worrying about bruising any other Uchiha ego than Sasuke's.
Naruto going too far? Kakashi can reel him in with only his own conscience berating him in Minato-sensei's voice.
But Sakura? She has a whole clan of relatives that are involved in her life. A whole clan of civilian relatives, even. And Kakashi doesn't really know how to deal with civilians outside a mission perogative or a brief greeting at the grocery store.
So Kakashi does what he usually does in such situations. He waits and hopes that the problem will somehow resolve itself.
Of course it's not that easy.
No, instead it all blows up in his face. Or threatens to blow down the door to his apartment, in this case.
Kakashi's luck in dodging Kichiro finally runs out one evening as he returns home. He's climbing the stairs towards his apartment when he hears his name being called. Ignoring the call he quickens his steps.
"Kakashi!" The call comes again as he unlocks the door, sharper this time.
He pushes the door open, steps inside and moves aside to slam the door shut.
"Kakash-" the call ends in a garbled, pained noise as the door slams against a foot rather than shut. Kichiro curses quietly but doesn't remove his foot, which Kakashi will reluctantly give him credit for. The man is being unusually stubborn.
"We need to talk, Kakashi, and I'm not leaving before we do!"
"One would think that the Genin Commander would be able to take a hint," Kakashi replies, opening the door just enough to glare at the older man. "I have ignored your messages because I don't want to talk to you."
He moves to slam the door again but Kichiro still hasn't removed his foot and now he adds a hand as well, holding the edge of Kakashi's door though not yet trying to force it open.
"And one would think that a genius like you would be able to take a hint as well," he says, copying Kakashi's tone perfectly. "I have left multiple messages to you because it's important!"
"I'm not interested in anything that concerns the Hatake clan. Now, if you'll excuse me-"
Because he normally walks with a cane and now stands halfway through Kakashi's doorway, Kichiro is unbalanced. Kakashi takes the opportunity presented to him and firmly shoves the other man backwards, sending Kichiro stumbling.
"-goodbye!"
Finally he slams the door shut, making sure to lock it as well. Not that a regular lock ought to be a challenge to any shinobi worthy of the title, but still.
"Damnit, Kakashi! Not everything is about you or your bruised ego or the Hatake clan!"
Kichiro slams his hand against the door, which Kakashi happily ignores. He's got dinner to make and-
"I'm here about your student. About Sakura."
He freezes halfway to the kitchen. That is not what he expected Kichiro to say.
"Gods help me, Kakashi, open this door or I will blow it down and drag you by the ear to my office for this conversation!"
Kakashi swallows, his throat suddenly dry. It's not an empty threat. It has been years but he still remembers the pain and the humiliation of the last time Kichiro dragged him around by the ear like a naughty pup. Back when Kakashi was still mourning his father's suicide and refusing to live in an apartment paid for by the clan that allowed the suicide to happen - encouraged it even, in the case of his aunt. He'd been determined to live in a tent until he made chunin if it was what it took to never see his clan again. It had taken five days and five increasingly humiliating walks through the village with his ear in Kichiro's ruthless grasp before Kakashi gave up and finally accepted the apartment.
Kichiro doesn't make empty threats, or at least has never done so before.
"Three," Kichiro counts slowly.
Kakashi takes a fortifying breath. He's not six years old anymore! And he's no longer a helpless genin, unable to fight Kichiro off!
"Two."
He's bloody twenty-six years old damnit! Kichiro has no right to come knocking on his door like this and-
"One! Last warning, Kakashi!"
"Fine!"
With an angry growl he unlocks the door and throws it open. His glare does not seem to affect Kichiro at all, who just gives him a calm smile as if Kakashi has just done something good.
"Good. That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, do you want to have this conversation here or should we head to my office?"
Kakashi would very much prefer not to have the conversation at all, but seeing as that apparently isn't an option he'd rather just get it all over with. Reluctantly he steps back, allowing Kichiro to enter.
"Thank you," Kichiro says, as if he has just received a heartfelt invitation rather than bullied himself in.
Kichiro makes his way into the kitchen, sitting down at the kitchen table with a relieved sigh. He leans the cane against the nearby wall and proceeds to knead his bad knee, grimacing lightly. Kakashi remains standing, leaning lightly against the kitchen counter. He doesn't offer any refreshments, and Kichiro doesn't ask for anything.
"I've been wanting to talk to you about-"
"Sakura," Kakashi interrupts. "You said so already. Get to the point or get out."
Kichiro raises an unimpressed eyebrow. Kakashi does not avert his gaze.
"Has she told you?" Kichiro asks at last when the silence starts to become ridiculous. "About her mother, her clan and everything?"
"Supposed miscommunication about wanting time off for her mother's funeral rather than to retire," Kakashi summarises with a shrug. "The Hokage filled me in, as did Asuma and she's back on my team. Now, if that was all-"
Kakashi interrupts himself as Kichiro raises a hand, signalling that he's not done yet.
"That's all you've gotten? "Supposed miscommunication"? Sakura hasn't talked to you?"
Not really, no. Which is, admittedly, mostly Kakashi's fault. Throwing her off the team doesn't exactly build confidence, even if he wound up taking her back in the end anyway. And Kakashi has been distracted by her diet and how obviously behind the boys she is that he hasn't really been giving much thought to her earlier resignation.
Before Kakashi can answer, Kichiro groans, rubbing his temples as if he suddenly has a major headache.
"Never mind. Clearly she hasn't. Let me guess, you did something stupid and scared the poor girl off before she could?"
Kakashi straightens at that, because Kichiro has no right to come barging into his home like this and start insulting-
"To make a long story short I suspect that her resignation note was forged by someone in her clan, and that she was later kidnapped and tortured to force her to submit to their plans."
Kakashi's mouth, halfway open to rebuke Kichiro or order him to leave or something, abruptly snaps shut. It takes him a moment or two to process the words and another moment or two to connect them to the pink haired, dieting menace.
"Kidnapped?" he repeats. "Tortured?"
Kichiro nods grimly.
"About a week after you left I received an anonymous note with a tip that Haruno Sakura's resignation had been forged and that she was in need of assistance. Because you weren't here I went to investigate myself, as the note made the issue seem quite urgent, and what I found was …"
Shaking his head, Kichiro takes a deep breath.
"They claimed she was ill," he continues. "That she was too sick to receive visitors, and I basically had to bully myself into her room. The door was locked and the aunt had what I suspect was the only key. There were signs that she'd been locked in for days already at that point."
Kakashi's stomach does a curious thing where it twists painfully and grows strangely heavy. Suddenly dizzy, he makes his way over to the table and sits down in a chair opposite of Kichiro, not looking away from the older man's grim face.
"She could barely even talk, so dehydrated she was. Weak enough that she couldn't even open a bottle of water on her own and just about barely conscious of her surroundings, looking at me like I was some sort of hallucination. Couldn't have had anything to eat or drink for days at that point."
Kakashi opens his mouth but no words come out, his mind unable to come up with anything to say. Part of him wants to deny what he's hearing but he immediately rejects the notion. Whatever their differences, Kichiro has never been cruel to him, has never lied to him before. And he's here as the Genin Commander, not as a member of the Hatake clan.
"But you should have seen her Kakashi. As weak as she was and with her aunt and that awful Haruno matriarch trying to stop me from seeing her, threatening to bring the council and the Hokage down on me if I don't leave and in the middle of that she somehow summons the whereabouts to renounce the Haruno-name!"
He chuckles lightly at the memory but Kakashi doesn't join him, still struggling to imagine the scene. Still struggling to imagine that it is his student that Kichiro is talking about.
"There's fire in her, Kakashi. I know her file doesn't look like much - I took the liberty to look her up - but if she's got half the guts that she showed in that moment she'll be a force to be reckoned with some day."
Which is just … the direct opposite of any impression Kakashi has ever had of her. And also irrelevant, at least at the moment.
"What happened then?" he manages to ask.
Kichiro's smile fades.
"I brought her to the hospital where she stayed the night. The next day I tried to talk to her about pressing charges but she refused."
"But they can't get away with this!" Kakashi exclaims, righteous ire suddenly washing over him. "They kidnapped and almost killed-"
His own voice fails him. The thought of how close he apparently came to losing one of his students without even realising makes him feel cold. To think that he came so close to returning to Konoha only to find that Haruno Sakura had died because he didn't follow up on her uncharacteristic resignation letter.
"There's no real proof," Kichiro explains, shaking his head. "Just the note. The Haruno all claim that she wrote the note herself and must have changed her mind afterwards. And they say that she went mad with grief after her mother's funeral, lashing out against them so that they had no choice but to lock her in for her own as well as their protection. Her aunt insists that they had been trying to feed Sakura but that she'd been refusing to eat or drink or even see a doctor."
"Bullshit. They're lying!"
To think that she hasn't told him - except, he realises with startling clarity, that part is entirely his fault. It's enough to make him wince quietly beneath his mask. To think that a month and a half ago she lost her mother, was kidnapped and almost tortured to death without him even knowing - because of him even, because he didn't check in on her when he should have.
Worse than that realisation even is the one about just how monumentally he has fucked up. Instead of doing the right thing upon the return to Konoha and talking to her, finding out from her what was wrong, he instead lashed out at her and tried to throw her off the team.
"Of course they are, but they're all telling the same lies. There's no proof and Sakura won't press charges, and even if she did it would be her word against theirs."
"She's a shinobi," Kakashi points out. "Her words carry more heavily than theirs."
"In a shinobi court, yes. If the crime the clan is charged with is kidnapping and torturing a shinobi of Konoha. If she did indeed write that note, then she was a civilian at the time and the case would go to the civilian courts, who would most likely side with the clan."
"But that's … that's …" Rarely does Kakashi find himself speechless, unable to formulate his outrage into anything coherent, but now he does. It's not a pleasant experience.
"I know Kakashi. I've been investigating it on the side but so far I have had no luck."
They sit in silence for a few moments, Kakashi processing what he has just learned and Kichiro giving him the time.
"I'll look into it," Kakashi says at last. "I'll make them tell the truth."
"The Hokage is unwilling to put too much pressure on a civilian clan," Kichiro warns. "Especially while Madam Shijimi is still here."
Kakashi grimaces again. The Daimyo might hold the formal power of the Fire Country but everyone with any sense - every jounin with any sense, that is - knows that it is Madam Shijimi that truly needs to be kept happy for Konoha's sake. Unlike her husband, who spends most of his time in the capital with his court, Madam Shijimi actually spends most of her time in Konoha. The woman is fat and deceptively frail, but Kakashi is well aware that one bad word from her is enough to end a shinobi's career.
"I'll be discreet then," he states. "Besides, she shouldn't oppose a trial once there is proof of their misdeeds."
"Be careful Kakashi." Kichiro's voice is serious, as is his gaze as their eyes meet. "Rumor has it the Daimyo does not intend to reform the Twelve Guardian Ninja again after their disbandment. That he's been hiring non-shinobi guards in greater numbers, even. The last thing we want is to give him or his wife the impression that Konoha's shinobi are willing to turn against civilians with anything but perfect proof."
"What do you want me to do then? Just stay away from them?"
Kichiro shrugs in a manner that indicates that is precisely what he wants.
"For now that might be for the best. Besides, I didn't tell you because I need help investigating. I told you because Sakura will need your support."
Right. That thing that Kakashi has been failing spectacularly at.
"I've helped her apply for an allowance from the orphan's fund," Kichiro continues. "I haven't heard if she's gotten an apartment on her own, but she might require your help to convince a landlord to rent to her."
The memory of following Sakura on Friday evening flashes before his eyes. He'd thought it strange that she had separated from her friend and then returned to the Yamanaka compound, but suddenly it makes much more sense.
"She's got an apartment in the Yamanaka compound," Kakashi says. "Pretty sure of it."
Kichiro gives him a doubtful look and Kakashi shrugs.
"She's friends with Inoichi's girl."
Which is probably why she, as an outsider, was able to get an apartment in the clan compound.
"I see. That's good then, but the girl is likely to need extra support regardless. From what I understand she has never been on her own before, and that is on top of the loss of her mother and the social stigma of being clanless."
Kakashi sighs.
"I'll see what I can do," he promises.
So far I have been trying to update weekly, but I am finding that it is becoming a bit difficult with my work and irl-life and the fact that most of these chapters undergo a serious rewrite before they can be published, so from now on I plan on updating every other week. Apologies that there will be a longer wait for a story that is already very much a slow build.