Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 2

Akira made her way to what had been the family room. She was looking for something here. She didn't care about anything else in the house. She had no prized possessions, and neither did her parents. But they did have a photo album, and that was what she had come for.

The light of the stars above her head and the rising moon gave little light for her to search by. She kicked over rocks and pushed away chunks of the roof. Destroyed furniture looked like ghosts in the shadows. It took a while, but eventually, she found it. But it was stuck under a particularly large rock.

"Damnit," she growled.

Akira tried to pull the book out from under the rock, but to no avail. She stood and gave the rock an experimental shove with her free hand. It didn't move a bit. She leaned her left shoulder into it and tried again, this time was stopped by pain flaring in her ribcage. Akira growled in frustration and gripped her hair at the scalp. What was she going to do?

"What are you doing?" A voice said from behind her.

Akira didn't bother to look. She knew who it was by their chakra signature. She had been so distracted by the photo album she hadn't bothered to pay attention to her surroundings. Some shinobi she was.

"Nothing," she deadpanned.

Kakashi stepped into the room, over the wall that used to separate it from the front yard. "It doesn't look like nothing."

Akira stepped to the side when he reached her, refusing to look him in the eye. She still held the flowers in her left hand, along with the paper.

Kakashi glanced down at the flowers, then at the book that she was staring at. He put his shoulder against the rock and was able to push it far enough off of the book that Akira was able to swoop down and grab it. He set the rock back down when she stood.

"Thanks," she mumbled. She sat down on the floor and put her back against the remainder of the wall. She set the flowers and the paper down beside her. She brushed the dust off of the book, revealing a picture of three people on the front cover. She was glad that it hadn't been destroyed.

"What is that?" Kakashi asked. He stayed standing, hands in his pockets.

"A photo album."

Akira opened the book. She could barely see the pictures, but she could make out enough. She had looked through this book a hundred times before. She knew which pictures she was looking at.

As she flipped through the pages, Kakashi crouched down in front of her. "Akira, are you even supposed to be out of the hospital right now?"

Akira didn't answer.

"Akira," he said.

"Why are you here?" She responded, not lifting her eyes from the pages of the album.

Kakashi sighed. "Lucky guess."

"I don't need a babysitter."

"I know that."

"Then why are you here."

"You weren't in your room."

"So?"

Kakashi ran his hand through his unruly hair. "You're still so annoying."

Akira finally looked up at him. He was a mess. He had dark circles under his eyes, eyes that held no emotion. His hair was sticking up all over the place even more than usual. He wasn't wearing his forehead protector, instead donned in his ANBU gear minus the mask. But his left eye was closed, hiding the Sharingan. She met his gaze with a blank expression of her own. Hiding in the numbness she felt.