Chapter Eighteen — Not Seeing is a Travesty
"I don't see them. Are you sure the outpost saw them coming?"
Kushina put her hands on her hips, huffing. "Of course I'm sure, brat. You eager to show off your new trick?"
"It's not a trick," Kyoko protested. "But yes. Niichan will be excited."
"I'm sure he will be," Kushina said, stretching with a yawn. "Whenever they actually get here."
"The lookout said they were almost here? Really?" Kyoko frowned through the gates, rubbing at her eyes. They were still sore. Still tingling with chakra that she'd never felt there before. "Maybe they said they were delayed? Or that they saw someone else?"
"Wh— Hey, are you calling me a liar, dattebane?"
She turned and looked up. "No! Of course not, Kushina-sensei! I'm sure they're almost here!"
Kushina wrinkled her nose, staring at her. Then she nodded. "Good. Oh, look, I think that's them."
Kyoko whipped back around, grinning. She activated her sharingan, and the world sharpened in a way that was still so unfamiliar. She frowned. "Wait, there's only three of them." She looked up. "Did they split up for some reason?"
Kushina paled and dropped a hand to Kyoko's shoulder. She pulled the girl back. "Stay here."
"What? But—"
"Stay here, dattebane. Understand?"
Kyoko caught her breath and nodded. "Yes, Sensei."
Kushina shunshined away. Kyoko watched as the redhead stopped in front of the small group—too small—and spoke with Minato. Then Kushina dropped to her knees and pulled Rin to her arms. She reached out, and Kakashi didn't even fight as Kushina dragged him in to.
"No," Kyoko breathed. "No." She stepped forward, watching as Minato looked up at the movement. She froze. It was still hard to see him clearly from so far away, even with the sharingan, but that didn't matter. Because Obito wasn't there.
"Can I sit with you?"
Kakashi stilled, kunai pressed against his whetstone. Then he shrugged and resumed his sharpening.
Kyoko sat down on the grass in front of him. She tucked her feet up under herself and clutched her hands together, staring at the bandages wrapped over his left eye. Once he'd made his way through three more kunai, she said, "I'm sorry they wouldn't let you go to the funeral."
The rasping of the stone against metal got louder.
"Um, Tousan said he wanted to thank you for what you did. To try to save, um . . . . But he said that since you've been avoiding Shisui, you probably didn't want to see the rest of us either."
"Then why are you here?" he grit out, one-eyed stare flicking up and pinning her to the spot.
Kyoko swallowed. "I think you're avoiding Shisui because he looks and acts like Niichan." He looked away, and she took a breath. "People have always said that they both look like Tousan but that I look like Kaasan. And I know I don't . . . . I never acted like him. So I don't think me being here will bother you as much."
He was clenching his jaw tight enough that she could see it even through the mask. He dropped his stare down to his work as he started again.
"Am I right? Or do you want me to go?"
"You can stay."
"I thought you didn't have training today," Shisui said, arranging the contents of his kunai pouch and eying the bentos she was pulling from the fridge. "So where are you going?"
"Kyoko-chan is having a picnic with some friends," Kagami said, joining them at the table. "That way, she won't be home all alone today while we get to go off and have fun."
Shisui snickered, grinning. "Have fun," he echoed. "If it's like our last C-rank, I'm gonna be bored the entire time." He closed his kunai pouch and fastened it to his hip. Then he frowned. "Wait, who? I thought Anko was on a mission."
"She is." Kyoko finished folding up the blanket she'd selected.
"Is Genma's team back already?"
"No, not yet."
"Then who—"
"Shisui," Kagami said, stooping down to pull Kyoko into a hug and press a kiss to her temple. "Let's not be late." He moved to the door.
Shisui squinted at Kyoko for a long moment. Then he huffed, snatching up his tanto and sheathing it. "Alright. See you when we get back." He gave her a squeeze and then yanked on her braid, shunshining out of the way before she could smack him. "Too slow!" he threw back to her, disappearing out the door.
Kyoko checked over her things before she shrugged on her backpack. She stacked the bentos atop the blanket and picked it all up, moving outside. She lit up when she saw that Kakashi and Rin were already there, only to falter when she saw they were talking to some of the older members of the clan. Rin's fists were clenched, and Kakashi's shoulders were hunched. And then she heard the word thief.
Kyoko dropped what she was holding and shot off the engawa in a shunshin. She slid to a stop beside them, knocking her shoulder into Rin's arm as she did so. "Akihito-san. Ume-san. Michi-san."
The Uchiha who had spoken, Akihito, lifted his chin and stepped back. "Kyoko," he said. "Haven't the elders made it clear that they don't want him here?"
"If they did, I don't care."
"We don't want a thief—"
"It's my brother's eye," she interrupted, clenching her fists. "It's my brother's eye. And I want him to keep it."