Naruto x Digimon

Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined

Chapter 025

Song: Hoang & RUNN - People Change

Originally Written: Monday, January 30, 2023 230PM to 332PM

A/N: I really gotta learn how to work past the moments where I write for sessions that are so long my brain shuts off in the middle of them.

. . . . .

Large hands sloppily covered Rin's eyes. Seated at the table, she let out a soft, amused sigh. "Hi Obito. Kabuto, if you don't take one bite of your sandwich within the next thirty seconds, I'm going to tickle you." It was currently her lunch break. Kabuto's actually. The tyke was adorable, and currently very clingy. He sat next to her, fiddling with his own food. She couldn't blame him. She was much the same after her time in Kiri. She couldn't say she minded. Nonou was a slave driver, and she needed the break.

"These chairs are so high." Obito whined, "I can't reach you."

"Hi Obito." Kabuto looked at him, holding a sandwich in his hands. His cheeks puffed out from the large bite he just took.

"'Ey kiddo!" Obito reached to ruffle Kabuto's hair, but couldn't. He was back to wearing his helmet. After all he and Nonou did to make him comfortable enough to take his helmet off. All it took was this event to scare him. He was still wearing his helmet. He revealed he didn't want to take it off. No one pushed him to. He chuckled at Kabuto's puffed out cheeks instead. "Hope I'm not interrupting."

"You're fine, but you've better have eaten already." Rin looked at him.

Obito reached back for the bag hanging off his wheelchair. She remembered the days he struggled to reach for it without falling out of his chair or dropping the bag on the floor. Back then, he wasn't cleared to use storage scrolls. She remembered the many arguments Obito had with Hato over it. She remembered the many days he spent not eating until he was in a private area, because he didn't like the looks people gave him as he struggled. She clearly remembered his elation when he finally found a method that worked for him. She smiled as he pulled out his lunch and started eating alongside them.

She didn't speak much, preferring to enjoy Kabuto and Obito's conversation washing over her. A small cup emerged from underneath the table and settled on her lap. She picked up the cup and discreetly filled it up with more soup. It was easier taking care of Moonmon. She mainly sustained herself on humidity and water. Lunamon was a different story. She actually needed solid food. Even more straining, was the rabbit didn't eat meat. Lunamon could, but refused to. Often, the digimon went out and foraged her own food while hiding from the village's curious eyes. Due to the recent events, she preferred to stay by Rin's side. Rin didn't mind. She set the cup on her lap. It disappeared underneath the table.

"Hey Rin?" Obito spoke when Kabuto started to tire from finishing most of his lunch. That meant she needed to finish up soon. Kabuto liked sleeping in normal positions, and woke up very cranky when he didn't. She'd have the best behaved tyrant on her hands if he slept crouched over the table.

"Hm?"

"Auntie knows about the sun." Obito said suddenly.

Rin took a minute to process. "How?" She looked at him. One of Lunamon's powder pink paws pressed against her knee.

"According to Bakakashi, apparently she's 'selectively observant'. Whatever that means. Just letting you know." He handed her his lunch. She took it and set it on the table. With strength that belied his physical condition at first glance he scooped Kabuto up from his seat and set him in his lap. Kabuto turned around and though he was too old to, he promptly stuck his thumb in his mouth, uncaring who was watching. He shrugged, running a gentle hand up and down Kabuto's back.

Rin pressed a hand to her forehead. Her other hand signed a message. 'Trust? No? Right?'

"That's what Bakakashi said, but I don't know. I don't get it. They've had Bakakashi's back more than he'd say sensei did." He reached around Kabuto, and held out his arms. She handed him back his lunch.

"Kakashi doesn't trust easily." Rin murmured.

"It's dumb. They're there almost as often as Guy." He looked down at his lunch. "I don't know. Should I have…you know?"

Rin turned around and whispered to him. He was discreet, but there was a plain clothed anbu treading around Kabuto. "Your sun saved your clan head. You've got a steady job with a steady income for it. You did the right thing. Stop doubting yourself. You never did before."

Obito ducked his head even further, a blush dusting his cheeks. Rin ignored it. He'd been doing that more lately. "Okay."

"Let's finish lunch. My break is almost over." She turned back around.

A few days later, Rin was studying in Konoha's library. Once again, Kiisu had taunted her with more advanced papers he purposely left open. This one concerned the usage of seals for medical purposes. But most of what was described seemed more like torture than medical. The ones that didn't were far too complicated to describe. All of it seemed more like theory and notes than educational information. Someone's scribbling of their theories and hypotheses. On the bottom there was another signature, a cartoonish drawing of a pig.

Lunamon traveled throughout Konoha's hospital, hidden in the shadows and genjutsu created by molding chakra in a way that only a truly advanced and powerful sensor could detect her. She whispered the information she discovered in Rin's mind. 'That's all I could find.'

Months of information gathering, finally bore a name.

Rin ran her fingers just over the signature, careful to not touch the paper directly. "Shizune Kato." She murmured. "What made you write down such sensitive information in plain sight? Are these just your notes?" Her eyes burned from many evenings spent reading document after document. "Or someone else's too…?"

Kiisu had left many documents for her to skim, and she didn't know why. Everything she wanted to know felt like it was just out of arm's reach, no matter how far she progressed. It frustrated her to no end. She raised her hand. Hesitating. She turned away from the document, before her curiosity got the better of her.