Inuzuka Kishi landed hard on her butt, panting she glared at her opponent and teammate, Morino Ibiki. They were having a sparring match as were not assigned any mission for the day. Her other teammate, Tokuma Hyuga, had refused to train together saying something about the clan meeting and left.
Kishi liked to train with Ibiki. Ibiki was a genius with human mind and knew how to manipulate his opponent without even touching them. He would often point out her openings and flaws in taijutsu and ninjutsu. He had a good stamina and more over he was a patient and calm. He was always able to predict her moves and block her attacks. A training session with him helped her think of various way she can be cornered and gain a insight on her weakness. She had never won a match against him, but neither did she lose. Their match was always a tie.
But today Ibiki seemed to be on edge. Kishi was strong and sharp physically as well as mentally. Ibiki's words never made any impact on her mind, no matter how brutal the given situation was. Even during chunin exams he had made many exceptional ninjas to go weak in their knees using his mind tactics. He had admired her strength ever since his team had become chunin. Even if they were training, he had noticed Kishi took his situations seriously. It was as if she was fighting in a simulation of his scene.
No matter what or who he used as the object of his mind games against her, she always had a new angle or was able to find a loophole in the situation. He had used her parents, her friends and teammates even their sensei but her mind never lost focus. He even used Hatake Sakumo, considering how she looked up to him, but all in vain. He just refused to consider that a human mind had no weak spots. 'There is something infront of me that I keep missing... there has to be atleast one weak thread to her mind' he thought to himself.
Adzuki jumped to catch Ibiki. Ibiki didn't wanted to lose time with the dog, giving Kishi a chance to come up with new plan. Quickly, He kicked the hound in his belly making it lose control and made sure the hound doesn't get off the ground by sitting on him, placing a foot on his neck. A helpless comrade in enemies hand will always take the battle downhill he thought. He lifted his kunai swift and hard, attempting to slice the canine's throat.
Kishi saw that Adzuki was captured, and with Momo and Pochi gone , she was the only one able to rescue him. She got up in a blink and started a sprint, but froze when she understood the scene. Adzuki was going to die. She won't be able to cover the distance before the kunai sliced him dead. She was out of options. She pulled out a kunai, ready to strike Ibiki's hand and started running towards him.
Ibiki glanced at her and smirked 'Quick as always..huh' he thought, then threw a kunai to his left , with his free hand, aiming at a old woman sitting on the road side.
Kishi panicked. She threw the kunai in her hand to knock the one that targeted the woman. But there was no time for Adzuki. She had wasted precious time. She saw the kunai reach Adzuki's neck.
"Stoooppp...", Kishi yelled with all her might. She slumped down when Ibiki stood up walked to her.
'Found it..' he thought with a smirk on his face. "A helpless comrade in enemies hand can change the outcome, may decide how many lives are saved or lost. You depend too much on your 3 hounds than yourself. That you are afraid to lose them is pitiful. Absence of even one drops your wining chances alarmingly and with 2 gone, like today, you both might die. Battles and war need sacrifices, You can't save everyone. Its you who decides who lives. One decision may cost you your comrade while other may build your guilt up when you go through its consequences."
"Lives are lives and those are meant to be saved if the posses no harm",she said. She knew he was not done yet. ' Can handle some more then...', he amused.
"So tell me Kishi, with no parents around do you seriously think all lives are worth saving? Given your hounds are killed, would you forgive them simply because of that? Moreover, would you ever be able to work with someone else and give best results, even though you don't know them personally? You would fail them again and again... Not because you lack skills but because you cannot trust a person." Ibiki felt he was letting his image of her meddling with his mind games, but continued nonetheless." You are good because you have known and trusted them for years now. Have you ever trusted a person? And that impacts your decision misjudging and miscalculating the predictable moves of enemy. You have maintained your distance, careful not to overstep the boundaries of personal space and trust in order to protect yourself from breaking. Even your hounds are aware of it.."
Adzuki had sat near her, his tail was slapping her back, gently. She was slightly trembling. All that Ibiki had said was hidden in a dark corner of her heart, which had finally been exposed.
'That was harsh...' he thought. He sat down, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You are not alone Kishi... You have people too... You just need to appreciate them and open up." Ibiki was grinning widely when Kishi looked up. That helped her to gain her composure.
She smiled."Arigato Ibiki..."
They were leaving the ground and Ibiki's stupid grin was still plastered to his face.
"Yeah I get it..you won today... Next time you won't be laughing though.. Now treat me some ramen... You messed up my head pretty bad today." She said and saw his grin fading into smirk.
"Quick as always...", he frowned.
After she waved goodbye to Ibiki, she had unconsciously walked to the Konoha cemetery. She really needed someone to talk to her today. Ibiki was right, she thought...
She went to the grave named Hatake Sakumo and sat in front of it.
"Long time no see Sakumo san..." she said cheerfully. "Hana had some training to do with Pochi and Momo today... So its just me and Adzuki... Guess what happened today. Stupid Ibiki won against me... He is really good though. No wonder the interrogation team summons him so often... Oh and Yui died 2 weeks ago... You were such a flirt with her. Kakashi came too, then we buried her in the backyard... Also I heard from one of his teammate, Kakashi was promoted to Jounin two days ago... Oh don't worry about him, he is doing great. Although he is tirelessly going on and on about rules and stuff, he is fine... He has got a nice team too..."
She was silent for few moments, then continued in a quiet tone, "Sakumo san... Ibiki made me realize something today...I am more vulnerable than Kakashi...Maybe he is right though... I fear people the most, people are cruel...it was the same with you... that's why I had shut myself down from the world living in my own world, thinking all will be fine if I mind my own business... I acted the same way with Kakashi, and I am truly sorry for that"
"But you see I am a chunin now... I shoulder a responsibility bigger than myself when it comes to missions. So I am going to consider what Ibiki said and see how it turns out. Guess I really needed to hear it from Ibiki huh..." Adzuki started wagging his tail looking at left.
She found Kakashi walking towards her.
Kakashi had arrived just before Kishi but decided to wait until she was done, waiting on a nearby tree. He watched her for a while. She gave a detached smile to his father that she always gave to the world around her. He wasn't able to hear everything, but he heard the part of his becoming a Jounin and decided to meet her.
"Needed to hear what?" he called out.
She looked surprised at first, then her expression softened. She didn't seem hesitated at his arrival or got up to leave, of which Kakashi was sure, so he had decided to wait. He was taken aback when she waved at him and greeted him motioning him to accompany her, but obliged to anyways.
"Congratulations Kakashi! I heard about your Promotion to Jounin from Obito", she said cheerfully.
"Thank you...", he mumbled with a bored expression.
They both sat in silence for few minutes, each deep in their own thoughts.
He had came to visit his father to tell him about his promotion. 'Don't worry dad, I won't make the same mistakes as you...'he said in his mind.
"Kakashi..."
He lifted his head to face her. It was sunset and the orange light was bathing them. Adzuki's fur looked a shade deeper. He glanced at Kishi, her usual black eyes, filled with guilt, seemed to emit a faint glint of voilet.
"I am really sorry Kakashi...", she continued "I acted selfishly. I left you all alone after Sakumo san's death. You must have suffered a lot. I am sorry, I wasn't there for you..."
"Don't apologize Kishi, I wasn't there for you either. I know you liked him and looked up to him. it was the same with you too...And I started avoiding you in the first place, I must be the one apologizing. Sorry Kishi..."he said with a calm expression, reading the name on the grave and they fell silent.
"So...you had a mission today?" He casually questioned.
"No...we weren't assigned any today. Tokuma had some things to do, so Ibiki and I trained a little, and I was defeated by him for the first time..."
"Ibiki huh..." Kakashi murmured as he saw her let out a tired knew Ibiki's techniques well to conclude that Ibiki had harassed her mentally.
"Your eyes...,"he said as if stating a fact.
"What?"
"Your eyes are not black, they are deep violet, so dark that it almost seems they are black"
She watched his bored eyes, confused and at loss of words. No one else had noticed that about her before. She didn't know what to say so she gave him a genuine smile and continued petting Adzuki.
They were quiet again. "So, where is Pochi?" Kakashi asked, changing the topic.
Kishi chuckled. She looked at the grave and said, "See Sakumo san, didn't I tell you? It was the same with you and Yui. Hatakes are real flirt...Its always Pochi for him and God that girl goes crazy for you. She really likes you a lot Kakashi", she said finally facing him again and laughed" She is your biggest fan-girl"
Kakashi was annoyed at the word fan-girl, but let it slide."She IS adorable and her fur is soo soft" he said in his defense which only made Kishi laugh even more"You are a total flirt...", she teased. He simply rolled his eyes.