She doesn't know who she is nor where she comes from. She doesn't understand when someone is addressing her, and she can't say anything herself. Two men rescue her when she runs into a group of abusers. However, what are their own intentions?
Hatake...
"Doesn't remember? I don't suppose she could not have been taught to read and write?.. Wow, a difficult case," Pakkun concluded. "So what exactly happened?"
"Let me tell you later... In fact, I didn't summon you here to entertain the girl: there is a rather urgent task for you. Although no, you know... even two tasks. Come with me. I'll tell you everything on the way..." with these words, Kakashi began to quickly put on the missing pieces of his gear, which he took off while he was dealing with the girl's wound.
☙ ❦ ❧
Leaving the girl with Tekiro, who at that moment was hastily putting together a report, Kakashi and Pakkun headed to the clearing where they had previously picked up the girl and asked the dog to trace her path before that. Pakkun lead him first to the road, and then confidently brought him to Hofu. He circled around a little and announced that the girl had not left the temple complex, at least recently. Thus, he confirmed their own guess. Initially, Kakashi even wanted to take the girl herself there when she regained consciousness, but with the help of Tekiro he realized that this was not the best idea, given the situation there, even – and especially – if she was from Hofu.
When Pakkun finally darted off in the direction of Konoha, the young men got ready to go, intending to take the girl with them. Although she did not react to the word "Hofu" in any way, it was clear that she was from there, and so there was, in fact, nowhere to return her: surely she could not be left alone in the ruins among the dead bodies. In addition, there was still a possibility that the girl was only passing through Hofu. And even if she was a devotee or a simple servant in the Hofu – the latter was already quite unlikely, given her attire – in this case, with a high probability she still had a home somewhere outside the temple: surely she had not been born in Hofu. But how to find it, was another question. In addition, if she suffered not only physical but also moral trauma during the events in Hofu – and apparently it was the case – they could most likely help her in Konoha.
The young men tried in every possible way to explain their plans to the girl: both in words and in writing, as well as drew the symbol of Konoha in the hope that she would recognise it. They even played a pantomime: Kakashi showed how he carries Tekiro on his back. The girl observed this with great interest, at some point even chuckling demurely, but refused to climb on Kakashi's back.
As a result, Kakashi got a little impatient, grabbed the girl along with the blanket, despite her protests and attempts to fight back, and just carried her in his arms.
"Gently, Inu, gently!" Tekiro shouted out mockingly.
Kakashi rolled his eyes, but loosened his grip a little and carried the girl more carefully.
In fact, as soon as he started to run, gradually picking up pace, the girl instantly changed her behaviour and clung to him herself in horror like a leech. Tekiro, picking up their belongings and catching up with Kakashi, noticing that said eagerly that he could switch with Kakashi any time, to which the latter only chuckled. However, this way of movement was really quite energy-consuming, so they had to switch over after all, as well as take frequent breaks: the girl felt unwell quickly, especially when they switched over to jumping between trees.
☙ ❦ ❧
They stopped for the night in a hollow at the base of a huge tree. Judging by the fact that the surface inside the tree was cleared, and there were traces of a fire nearby, it was used for encampment quite often.
Kakashi left to get game for dinner, while Tekiro was in charge of the camp. However, soon after, he had already plopped down next to the girl. She looked at him with slight hostility and wanted to move away, but he suddenly hugged her over her shoulders.
"Well, beautiful one, what shall we do while our silver-haired friend is gone?" he asked playfully and winked confidentially at her.
The girl was at first a little taken aback by such a gesture, but almost immediately freed herself from under his arm. When she hurriedly got to her feet, he also managed to pinch her soft spot, almost making her jump.
There is no telling how it would have ended, but at that moment Kakashi returned, carrying a duck. He stared at the fire, then looked around, and finally turned to Tekiro:
"Where's the yam? I thought I asked..."
Tekiro cursed briefly and disappeared instantly. Kakashi put the duck down, shook his head, muttered, "I wonder what it was that he was so busy with?", and turned his gaze to the girl. Noticing her somewhat lost look, he asked:
"Is everything alright?"
The girl looked at him silently, sighed and walked back to the tree, after which she sank to the ground, wrapping the slit on her dress tighter and hugging herself shiveringly by the shoulders.
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Kakashi frowned in puzzlement: when he left, the girl was clearly in a better mood. Did he interrupt them, or something? Has Tekiro already managed to hook her up? But then why such a confused look? After thinking a little, Kakashi went over to where their belongings lay and picked up the blanket. He straightened it, shook it up, then went up to the girl and covered her with it. She looked at him with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. Kakashi was instantly flustered, as if he himself did not understand what was guiding him at that moment.
☙ ❦ ❧
After dinner – Tekiro did manage to get yam, or rather, its wild counterpart, not much inferior in taste, after all, and taking into account the fuss of cooking the duck, he was not even particularly late, – they began to settle down for the night. Tekiro first patted his travelling plaid invitingly, but when the girl, blushing and frowning, turned away, shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, wrapped himself up in the plaid and soon was already snoring softly.
Kakashi gave up his plaid to the girl as a bedding, while she could cover herself with the blanket that they had previously obtained in Hofu for her.
Realizing that Kakashi was going to spend the night on the bare ground, leaning against the trunk of the tree inside which they stopped for the night, the girl protested: there was enough space on the plaid for two. In the end she also stubbornly pulled half of her blanket over him, amusing him slightly: a sophisticated shinobi like him could very well do without all this, but naturally he could not explain this to her, so he obediently accepted this unexpected care.
He delicately lay down with his back to her so as not to discomfort her, and later, when the girl fell asleep, unbeknownst to her, he covered her up properly, letting her have the blanket for her sole use.
