Will of Fire: Kakashi Hatake

Chapter 35

He continued to glare for a moment, but eventually laid back down. "Touche, Daisuke."

"Nice shot," Kakashi smirked. "Though next time aim for his throat. It'll shut him up faster."

"Mother fucker!" Seek shot out of bed and stomped across the room to stand in front of Kakashi's bed. "You know, you two have some nerve." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked back and forth between Akira and Kakashi. "Coming in here when I'm trying to rest and making noise and jokes. I've been seasick for days, and you two are half the reason!"

Akira could not take Seek seriously. She tried to keep a straight face, but when she made eye contact with Kakashi she burst out laughing.

"Are you serious right now?" Seek exclaimed. "Quit laughing and respect your elders, god damnit."

"Sure thing, old man," Kakashi said coolly. "Now why don't you go lay down and drink your prune juice."

Kakashi never had taken kindly to being yelled at. Akira knew that from the times she had seen him get irritated with Guy for talking too loud.

Seek's eyes narrowed at Kakashi and some killing intent leaked out through his chakra. He really was pissed.

"Why you–"

"Captain!" Akira interrupted, smile fading. She didn't like where this was going. It was a good thing the rest of the passengers were currently up on the deck and not in their rooms. Seek's head snapped around in her direction. "When's the last time you ate something?"

"Yesterday afternoon," he snapped.

"Okay, you need to eat. Whether you feel like it or not, at least eat some rice."

Seek calmed down after a bit and Akira succeeded in getting some rice into him. Afterward, she returned to the top deck of the boat to sit and watch the sunset. Kakashi joined her a few minutes later.

"I've never seen him get so hangry," she said softly. Seek had started to get on her nerves a bit. His constantly lashing out at them was getting old. And Kakashi's attitude hadn't really been helping matters.

"Yeah, well, none of us have ever been on a boat like this for this long."

"That's true."

Kakashi shrugged. "The sooner we get off this damn boat, the better."

Akira nodded in agreement.

+++

When they finally did get off the boat, they had arrived at a port on the Land of Water's main island, and night had fallen. Akira, Kakashi, and Seek quickly made their way through the town and into the surrounding woods. Seek was eager to get away from people, it seemed. He found a very secluded clearing for them to set up camp in, far away from the village and in a thicket of trees that had been somewhat difficult to navigate in the dark. Akira now kept her sensing ability on high alert for anybody else that might be lurking around the forest.

They rolled out their sleeping pads and the boys promptly laid down to go to sleep. Akira had volunteered to take the first watch, so she jumped up onto the branch overhead and sat down against the trunk. She held two fingers up and closed her eyes. She focused her chakra out into the forest around her, searching for any unfamiliar signatures.

There was one. Akira perked up upon sensing the chakra's presence. She focused on it and found that it wasn't human. She frowned and focused her effort harder. It was almost half a mile away and wasn't very strong.

It was a fox.

There was a fox far into the woods, doing who knows what. But it wasn't a threat to them.