Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything other than my OCs.
Toshizo stared down at the detailed scroll that had reached him. He had sent an inquiry to Hoshina about the status of Kori's reply to Gaara and she had written so much back to him. She had found Kori had in fact been waiting for a reply herself so somewhere along the line their correspondences were misplaced. He thought nothing much of it.
Perhaps the messenger hawks had just misplaced it once or twice and so this misunderstanding took place. Along with the explanation for the misunderstanding was the report that Kori was no longer in Konoha. She had gone off to train in a place called Snowy Peak so of course she would not be sending any letters. No one even knew where exactly Snowy Peak was located.
When he had told Kankuro the details of the reply, the puppet master cut their lesson short to go and speak with Gaara, leaving his student to work on some much needed coordination between splitting up his sword-puppet into it's humanesque form and swinging it around in it's regular sword form. Kankuro promised he would personally modify this puppet to incorporate his new to-be-taught skill.
It had not been long since he had arrived in Sunagakure but he already missed home. He missed his family and he missed his team but he could not go back. He had come with the resolve to learn and improve and he would not go back home a failure.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O
Kai was exhausted. The Raikiri used more chakra than he could ever have even imagined possible. Not only that, it took up all the physical stamina in his body to use it at such a high speed.
"It looks like your limit is still no more than three, Kai." Kakashi stood over the collapsed and tired body of his temporary student with empathy, "But if you can pull it off even once, you're already a success. It's probably not much of a compliment but you learned it faster than Sasuke who possesses the sharingan."
The blond glared up at the copy ninja grumpily, "Don't you give me that bullshit. Sasuke was younger than me and he had other complications. Screw you."
"Well I'm glad you know that." The white-haired jonin said, turning away from the glare to gaze off into the destroyed terrain, "Your arrogance is fading away."
With a huff the blonde sat up, "It was blind confidence and it did me no good. That annoying Touga won't ever let me live it down. Anyways, there's something I want to know."
The older male barely even looked back at him, "What is it?"
"Asahina-sensei and Kirishima Touga. What is their story?" Kai knew Kakashi was not loose-lipped but curiosity got the better of him, "Don't you think I deserve to know by now? I'm stuck with the guy and Kori knows? Isn't this favoritism, sensei?"
The copy ninja was finally looking at the younger jonin warily, "I think you've got something confused here but there is no secret. Kori just knows because she asked. Asahina's old team disbanded because two of her teammates died. Her father was the team captain and trained them from their youth and when he died, she and Touga continued in a three-man cell without a jonin to lead them."
Kai hadn't expected the older male to share so easily but now that he was talking, more questions were hanging there, "Was Touga always such an ass?"
"Believe it or not, the man you're on a team with today isn't actually Touga. His legal name is Kirishima Yashiro."
"What? Then why does he go by Touga?"
"The original Touga was his twin brother who died in the war." Kakashi said it simply and swiftly as if he were ripping off a bandage, "When he died, Yashiro took Touga's name and adopted his fighting style. Eventually, he joined the ANBU and Asahina joined a different team with Kotetsu and Izumo. They never paired again. Depressing, isn't it?"
Kai didn't know how to take it. He had no particular feelings towards the current Touga but he thought it was strange to adopt someone's name and combat style after they passed away. There was clearly a lot more to the story than Kakashi had explained but he understood the gist of it.
"You think Team Asahina is done?" He asked in an almost-small voice that didn't surprise the copy ninja, "I mean, I guess on paper we're already disbanded but you think we'll ever get to group as a trio again?"
"Most teams don't stay together, Kai. I'd say your team is oddly obsessed with staying together." Kakashi said it in a dry tone but the empathy was all there, "Or should I just say you're oddly obsessed with staying together?"
Kai huffed at the copy ninja's decision to prod at a point he had been ignoring for so long. It was true. Out of the original three members of Team Asahina, Kai was the least receptive to change. He disliked change in all aspects of life. It was burdensome and annoying.
His teammates would likely excel even if they were all put on different teams. Maybe they didn't even have the same desire to continue being a three-man cell. He couldn't be certain but after being split up he knew one thing for certain—he owed his teammates his life. It was very clear now that all this time he had been selfish and arrogant. Both were detrimental qualities on a team but his team had enabled him.
Toshi was kind and respected people as much as he could. He was a great friend and he was an even better listener both on and off the battlefield. Only someone like Toshizo could have preserved Kai's fragile ego.
Kori was always quick to adapt. She always tried to preserve people's feelings and see the good in people. She wasn't blind. She knew Kai was arrogant but she turned his bold confidence into a weapon. It was only under a different commander that his arrogance became a liability to the team.
No. That was the wrong way to see it. Kori and Toshizo had graciously accommodated him. Touga was just treating him as an adult. Kai had to acknowledge that he had been immature. Maybe it was time to grow up a little. Learning a skill he could only use when in the presence of his original team members seemed a little bit useless in the long run.
Kakashi saw the moment when the look in Kai's eyes had changed and he let out a relieved huff, "I'd say learning from Touga would be beneficial for you. You don't have to learn his morals but you can definitely learn combat from him."
After a long moment of glaring into the dirt, the blonde relented, "Okay. I understand."
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O
Yui stared down at the Kazekage's office as usual, watching carefully but today something was off. Gaara was glancing out the window more often than usual and finally she knew he had caught onto her presence. He didn't react though. He was still sitting in his chair, doing work.
When the sun had already set and the moon was shining brightly, the Kazekage looked out the window one more time and this time he made full on eye contact with her. She knew she had been seen and she took off in a panic. But there was no way she could escape from the sand master on his own turf.
She was caught so simply. She couldn't scream in her terror as the sand quietly slithered up around her limbs and encased her body just barely coming to a stop beneath her chin. When she looked up from her silent struggle, she found the Kazekage staring down at her curiously. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream. How could she have been so careless?
As slowly as it had crawled up her body, it crawled back down.
"Go." He commanded, the sand returning to the gourd on his back, "And do not return."
"Wh-What?" She was stunned. Was this man joking?
"Leave this village and don't look back."
Kyrie ran. It was all she could do in her terror. It would be no surprise if he changed his mind and decided to pursue her. She could not be caught again.
What she did not see was the look of sadness on Gaara's normally unreadable face. It had been a long two and a half, nearly three, years since he had terrorized Konoha as a monster. It hurt his heart to realize they were probably still afraid of him. Some people would probably always be afraid. He couldn't help but think fear played a part in Kori's decision not to respond to him any longer.
Finally safely out of Sunagakure, Yui caught onto Gaara's intentions. The Kazekage had recognized her. He had knowingly let her escape. Being caught spying on the Kazekage would be punishable by death. So then why did he allow her to flee? There could only be one explanation. He let her go because he recognized her as Kori's friend and because he could get away with letting her go since he had been the only one to discover her crimes.
"A monster should not pretend he has even one shred of generosity." She hissed, "No matter what he's done for me, I will not permit him to hurt Kori."
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O
Kirishima Touga was shocked to find an unusual ally standing in his doorway one night. The young man stood awkwardly in the dark. Touga narrowed his eyes suspiciously, peering his head out of the doorway to look both left and right down the road only to find no one else around.
"What is it?" He demanded, looking the young shinobi up and down.
Kai looked disheveled. Clearly, he had already had a mission or a long day of training before he had come to the ANBU op's home.
After a long moment of trying his best to find the appropriate words, Kai finally said, "I thought I'd invite you to spar."
"Why?" The older man demanded, "Why me?"
"If you don't want to just say no." Was Kai's brusque response through gritted teeth.
Touga thought about his response. He couldn't understand why the younger male had come to ask him to spar. He was sure Kai had plenty of other choices. So why?
After a long, awkward moment of silence, Kai grinded his teeth together and said, "Because we're a team now, right? I thought I should make an effort to get to know… your combat style."
Surprise came first and skepticism followed immediately afterwards. Touga hadn't expected this from Kai. Maybe from Toshizo but never from this proud, arrogant young man. Their mutual disdain for one another prevented Touga from reaching out to Kai first. It was mutual immaturity but not anymore. Kai had taken the first step and now the ball was in his court.
Touga allowed himself to admit that the mutual disdain should never have been there in the first place. They were both shinobi. Their feelings should never have mattered. He nodded, "Alright. Let me get my sword."
A dazzling grin lit up Saizo Kai's normally scowling face, "Really?"
There was a moment where Touga felt his heart pound abnormally but it was gone as quickly as it came. He chuckled, "Yeah. Really. I'm the leader of the team. I should've reached out to you first. Next time, I'll invite you."
The promise of a next time was made. This was the first step to teamwork and it had been a much easier first step for Kai than he had initially thought it would be. Relieved, he jerked his thumb back in the direction of the training grounds, "I'll meet you there. The closest lot."
When Kai had gone, Touga felt the chill of an additional presence he hadn't noticed earlier. He looked up to find Hatake Kakashi sitting in the tree nearby. He scowled, "You put him up to it?"
"I suggested learning from you." Kakashi put an emphasis on the word suggested without looking up from his book, "He was the one who came here all on his own."
"All on his own or because you were hounding him?"
"You don't know me very well, do you?" He said lazily, "I'm only here because I went home and told Asahina I thought Kai was going to be here. She basically threw me out with all her concern for her student."
"I see." Touga turned to enter his apartment once more and then he paused a moment and said, "I suppose I should say thank you anyways."
Kakashi didn't respond, only folding his book away for another time as he took his leave in silence.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O
Snowy Peak's rigorous mountain cliffs gave way to a thick snow-covered forest. Rokuro howled upon their arrival and the beasts made their appearance. They came along as if they had just materialized before their master, making her gasp in wonder.
"Fellow White Tigers, show your respects." Rokuro flicked his tail back and forth, puffing out his chest with pride, "We welcome our new ambassador, Hyuga Kori-sama!"
The girl blinked curiously at the scene before her. Dozens of tigers bowed before her as if they were trained to do so. If there were this many of them. Why was it just Rokuro and Koichi that she summoned?
"If I may." An elderly tiger spoke up, "It's because we all have different uses and we take up more chakra depending on the value of our skills."
"You read minds?" She gasped, "That's…"
"Pardon me." The tiger bowed her head again.
"Kori-sama, it's time to meet our leader." Her partner nudged her through the crowd, "Your lore, or whatever lore you humans have of our leader, describes him much differently than he actually is."
"What? I'm not from Kirigakure, Rokuro. You have to tell me more specifically." She grumbled, allowing herself to be pushed along.
"Ah. He's very wise. He's not the savage beast they make him out to be."
A grumble from the dark of the trees made it very clear to Kori why they would call him a savage beast in the first place. The silhouette of the leader of the white tigers was intimidating and his real appearance was even more threatening. The massive tiger was more than three times her height and appeared to weigh more than all the gathered tigers combined. His single operating eye was almost just as scarred as the eye that was crusted shut by scar tissue and his white fur was missing patches. He was not a very pretty looking tiger.
The Tiger Sage let out a low chuckle deep in his throat, "It seems I have frightened you."
"N-No." She breathed out, stunned that he spoke in such a clear voice, "I'm just… I've never seen anything like you."
"Of course not. I haven't left this place in centuries." He stepped clear out from the trees and Rokuro stepped back as his leader circled their new ambassador, "You're much smaller than I imagined you. You're also a woman but that's no matter."
A gasp went through the crowd of tigers as she reached out and put her fingers gently against his scarred shoulder as he circled her. The leader froze at her touch and turned his full attention to her. She did not draw away, she simply leaned forward and fully put her palm against his scarred skin.
"It must have hurt…" She murmured, stroking his fur against the nervous whisperings of Rokuro behind her, "My name is Hyuga Kori… What can I call you?"
After a short silence, he replied with a low purr, "Shiratora. It has been so long since someone has had the courage to put their hands on me. Well, it's also been a long time since someone hasn't found those wounds unsightly."
"Those are wounds you got fighting for someone like Rokuro fights for me, right?" She smiled when his eye warily wandered to her arms, "You did someone a great service…"
He held her gaze for a long moment before he grumbled, "Welcome to Snowy Peak, Hyuga Kori-sama. I hope to understand you as you have come to understand me in just these few moments we've spent together."
"I hope so too… Shiratora-sennin." She whispered, Rokuro finally stepping up behind her once more, "I am here with many questions. Please help me."
"If it is in my power, I will serve my new master with my life." The feline replied, "But it seems your fated partner is Rokuro. A fine warrior."
"There's no one I would rather choose." She praised him as needed, "But I have unanswered questions. What is this great technique that I can learn? And what is my role as your ambassador?"
"There are a variety of techniques you can learn here. Utilizing your inherent nature energy is what we teach, how you decide to use it is up to you. Our elders each specialize in something different so you will be tuned to your own specialty soon enough." He said, "Your role as our ambassador is nothing difficult. By summoning us, you show us much of the outside world. You connect us to humans even though we live so far from civilization. We always tell our ambassadors that we are close to Kirigakure but, in fact, we are simply the closest to Kirigakure in comparison to the other villages. Snowy Peak resides much farther from the Mist than we make it seem. Being summoned is really our fastest way of seeing the world. Being trapped in this bleak place is… not fulfilling."
Her eyes widened as the great tiger began his retreat to the trees. He gave her a very simple and good answer. Her heart ached for him. He seemed to be such a powerful creature and adventurous too but there was no one to summon him out of this place. What was the reason that he could not come and seek her out like Rokuro had? Is it because it would take too much time if he wasn't summoned and he couldn't leave here as their leader or was there some other force keeping him here?
Either way, the way he said "fulfilling" stabbed an emotion into her that seemed ever so familiar. She felt sympathy or maybe even empathy compelling her to call out to him.
"I will summon you!" She shouted over the winds. She knew he had heard her because he paused for just a moment, "I promise! So wait for me!"
"K-Kori-sama…" Rokuro pressed his warm, furry body against her, "He… That is a very difficult feat. There's a reason he hasn't left here in centuries."
She glanced down at her companion, "Tell me."
"He has abandoned hope that someone will have enough chakra and natural energy to call and hold him at the location. He… received those wounds protecting our first ambassador to the people centuries ago but the reason for our first ambassador's fall was also because of Shiratora-sennin." Rokuro's words made the rest of his allies avert their eyes in sadness, "The amount of energy it takes to keep him and all his strengths operating is too high."
"Okay wait. I think this is what confuses me." She grumbled, "Other summonings don't have the same requirements. What makes you so different?"
"Our species simply doesn't carry chakra or nature energy ourselves. So when we use our skills, we can only use them here where Snowy Peak's nature energy naturally flows through us or through stealing our summoner's energy. We can collect nature energy but we cannot retain it in our bodies so it must be expended on the spot so when we're summoned to any place outside this village, we run on your chakra or nature energy and… it's not impossible for us to kill you simply by sucking out all your energy." Rokuro said sternly, "So Koichi, who was left at your village is siphoning out your nature energy as we speak. You cannot feel it because here at Snowy Peak, nature energy flows through you like it flows through us so he can simply suck it away from you without trouble."
"Th-That should be impossible."
"Kori-sama… We know." A tiger purred from behind her, he was small and young but it seems his talents lie elsewhere, "But let us show you something…"
"It's early." Rokuro grumbled but didn't object as the tigers led her deep into the forest.
Kori could feel it. The surge of power growing more and more as she traveled further and further into the mass of trees. Her partner's white fur seemed to grow more and more bright as they continued into the woods and it was not just Rokuro that was glowing, the rest of the tigers were glowing just the same. The massive, radiating body of Shiratora came into view along with a giant slab of stone radiating the same energy.
"What…?" She knew what she was looking at but she didn't understand until she was pushed towards the stone slab and encouraged forward by Shiratora. The names on the slab were very clear to her. At the very top there was the label, "1st White Tiger - Shiratora" and the list grew further and further and along the way she found her partners' names, "106th White Tiger - Rokuro" and "141th White Tiger - Koichi." The tablet was missing many numbers and some of the numbers were not entirely in order.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Shiratora spoke, "The missing numbers are tigers who passed on… We can only be killed in combat, there is no lifespan for us. The tablet before you is the tomb of our first ambassador. His body is buried here and even though he has long since passed, his inherent nature energy has slipped into the tomb and fuels our existence."
"...So you're all…"
"Dead?" The tiger finished her question for her with a smirk, "Perhaps, that could be the reason for our inability to keep energy within ourselves. We might be something between ghosts and corpses but it makes no difference to us. We have lived this long. We continue to age but we do not wear down as we grow old. Only bigger and stronger."
"But there are some elderly here…"
"Yes, there are." He mused, "You ask many questions, Kori-sama, but the elderly here are not worn down like humans. Age only means we are experienced. If you think they look less intimidating, it is simply because their strengths lie outside of battle."
"I've understood as much as I'm going to understand." She sighed, glancing around, "I'm here to learn something to help me out back home. Teach it to me."
Rokuro purred, pleased with the demand, "Oh, we intend to teach you."
Kori glanced up at the darkening sky and thought of home. She prayed for the safety of her loved ones and vowed to learn for their sake.