Impossible to Forget

Chapter 10: Baaneko Nakahara

"I don't know." I whispered as my eyes glared down at a large spot of dust on the ground.

Kakashi stepped forward some so that he was standing in line with me.

"Mrs. Nakahara, if I may," Kakashi curved his eyes up into a little smile as she nodded. "I understand the grief of losing people in the line of duty. However, the ninja world is working harder now for peace than ever before so that we can prevent future casualties like your son's. We have learned from the mistakes in our past, but there is still violence in the world. And if we don't find and stop this person, then more people will die. More people will lose their sons to the line of duty, and as the Hokage, there is nothing that I want to prevent more. We are looking for the genin team photo of Nori Kimura, and Kaiyo thought that you may have a copy."

Baaneko Nakahara's eyes narrowed even further as she turned to look at me, "Kimura? Wasn't that your name before you married my grandson?"

"Yes." I looked up from the ground and into her icy blue gaze, "Nori Kimura is my mother."

The previously narrowed expression opened into one of shock, "But I thought that your parents had died years ago?"

I closed my eyes and shook my head, "Apparently not. I ran into my mother alive and in the flesh just over a year ago, and I am going to do everything in my power to put a stop to her. So if you have anything, please, it could be just the lead that we need to put a stop to her."

She looked between the two of us and shuffled out of the doorway, gesturing for Kakashi and I to follow her inside. The door creaked behind us, and we walked through the dim, wallpapered hallway into the living room. The inside was in much better condition than the outside. It was cleaner (in fact, it was meticulously dusted) and more intact than I had anticipated, but everything looked tired, worn, and old. The decorations were dated and faded, and whole place smelled like cats.

She lowered herself into the pale green, flowery armchair next to the crackling gas fireplace (probably the most technologically advanced item in the entire house). Kakashi and I sat down on the edge of her threadbare, tan sofa as an old cat, just as careworn and white haired as her owner, jumped up onto the cushions next to us. She set her head on Kakashi's thigh, and he absentmindedly ran his fingers through the long fur behind her ears.

Baaneko took a sip of water from the glass on the small table next to her, "So how did you know that I have all of the genin team pictures stashed away in my house?"

"Toukuro mentioned it one day in passing, and I just remembered it again this morning."

She nodded, "Do you know how many years ago this would have been?"

I did some quick mental math. My mother was twenty-six when I was born so she would have just turned sixty this year. And if she graduated at the standard age for her time, the Second Great Ninja War, then she would have become genin between the ages of six and ten. Personally, I'm very glad that they make people wait until they are twelve before they can become a genin nowadays. Six is way too young to throw someone onto the battlefield. Just ask Kakashi.

"Fifty to fifty-four years ago. I don't know the exact year because her records are gone, but I would expect her to be in one of those graduating classes."

Baaneko nodded and raised her tired body out of the chair. "Follow me."

She lead us back into the hallway and then up a squeaky flight of stairs. Kakashi watched her carefully the entire time like he expected her fall and break a hip at any moment. Which was probably a valid concern.

He ran a hand through his hair, "Mrs. Nakahara, can I ask how you get these pictures and why you have them?"

I groaned internally. Kakashi had never met Baaneko before so he didn't know just how much of a rambler she is. Now that he asked the question, we were going to have to listen to her go into exhaustive detail for the next, probably, twenty minutes until you wanted to rip ears off to avoid hearing another word.

"Well, my first husband, Ichisen, died shortly after our son was born, and then a couple of years later I met Hideo. He was a photographer in the Leaf Village, and was telling me all about how he had just taken pictures of all of that year's genin. At the time, my son, Jisen, was just starting at the ninja academy, and I asked Hideo what the children were like when they finally became ninjas." My eyes started to glaze over she started to lead us through the second floor. "So Hideo brought me a copy of each of that year's new ninja teams. Then it just started a sort of tradition. Every year he would bring me a copy of the pictures of genin that he had taken, and I've never been good at getting rid of things so I kept them all in boxes, sorted by what year they were taken. Even after Hideo retired a couple of decades ago, he would get pictures from his apprentice and bring them to me. After Hideo's death, Kenji, the apprentice, started bringing over the pictures himself. He comes by once a year, and I think that he does it just for my cookies. But I don't mind the company." She walked into what was originally supposed to be a bedroom and flicked on the lights. It was filled with shoes boxes. "So here we are. All of the pictures that I have for genin teams are in here."

"Thank you." She nodded in return and walked into the room next door.