Shout

[14] Secrets

"Kagami-san!" Kagami looks up from her reading spot against a tree.

"Hm?" She stares up at Naruto as he stands there, his hands behind his back and his smile so big it could reach his eye bags.

"Can you tell me your secret?" Kagami tilts her head in question. Naruto gives a little huff. "Your secret to climbing the tree. Believe it!"

Kagami raises an eyebrow at him, knowing fair well there was something else he want to know. He plops down in front of her and crosses his legs.

"And how to be a really good ninja." He puts his hands together and starts bowing to her. "Please Kagami! Please~"

Kagami face palms at the boy and puts her hands up, telling him to stop bowing. "Okay..." She begins.

He find and her and scoots closer, eager to hear what she has to say to him.

"To climb the tree, you have to concentrate and believe in yourself."

"Huh?" Naruto blinks at her dumbly and scoots every closer to her. "Don't lie to me just because Sasuke-Baka is around."

Kagami almost smiles at this but decides against it.

"To do something you have to believe in yourself, other wise your chances of doing it are very low. Because you have no hope." Kagami almost cringes, she's coping Iruka from the academy. Knowing that her advice wouldn't help in anyway.

"Wah really?!" Kagami nods and ushers him back to the tree.

"Kagami!" The girl looks over to her brother, gesturing her over. She gets up and appears next to her brother.

"I just got a report saying the council has retained Masaru to terrorising the neighbourhood." Kakashi raises his eyebrows at his sister.

"It's fine, he'll teleport back when he get bored of biting their fingers." Kakashi sweat drops at his sister as she turns around and goes back to reading against the tree.

"Kakashi-sensei? We need to go to the bridge now." Kakashi nods and leads the way to the bridge, looking out for possible treats, such as Zabuza and the tracker nin.

I wonder what makes Kagami notice when I'm lying? It seems she has been trained how to catch liars and when to let them go. She must know that when she gets back to the village she is going to be put straight into questioning by Ibiki. That trial seemed to knock off all reassurance the village had for the Anbu.

"Kakashi-sensei? Sensei?" Kakashi looks over to Sakura who is peering at him.

"Hm?" He raises his eyebrows at her.

"You know, your a lot like Kagami? You answer the same way, and pull the same facial expressions." The girl focuses on the road ahead of her, seeming to be in deep thought.

"Really? I didn't notice." Kakashi glances around once again, noticing Tazuna is now ahead of the two, but just close enough to hear their conversation.

"Well I did. But sometimes I think Kagami acts different. As if she has a secret." Sakura looks up at him thoughtfully.

"How's that?" Kakashi peers to the left slightly as the bushes rustle quietly.

"Sometimes she nice and talks a fair bit, at her standard, but at other times she turns the cold shoulder and refuses to speak, as if something is telling her not to speak anymore. Like she has spoken too much for that moment." Kakashi takes this moment to stare at him student, normally Sakura isn't this observant, so it has caught him by surprise.

"I believe Kagami is hiding something, not only from us but from many more people. It might be her way of feeling safe. But whatever it is, she will probably tell us when she believes the time is right. As for not talking it's because of her Root train—"

Kakashi freezes and pushes his student and Tazuna behind him. Me narrows his eyes at the trees, daring something to move. Though nothing does, and nothing makes a sound either.

"Hm? It would seem someone is spying on us." Kakashi whispers to the two, making Sakura freeze up a bit. "But not to worry, they seem to just be wanting information out of us, not to hurt us. Don't talk about anything about the village." Sakura nods and Tazuna puts up his normal facade so being an annoying old man.

"As for not talking, her Root training would of embed that into her, don't talk unless you are talk to. Many Root Anbu would Ganges personality when out of uniform, but Root is all Kagami has ever known. She's been in Root for 9 years I think it is." Sakura gasps at her sensei.

"She's been in Root that long? B-but she goes to the Hokage for missions, doesn't she?" Sakura stutters noticeably. Kakashi simply nods at her.

"He moves her from Root to Black Ops when she was put into a Genin team, it's to let her continue with her work, but so she socialises with more people her age and not just 16-30 year olds."

Sakura almost freezes on the spot, 'Kagami must of gone through so much as a child to be that good, and we were all mean to her of so long.' Sakura's eyes become down cast, her guilt consuming her for a moment.

"Kakashi-sensei?" They groups sensei looks down at his pink hair genin.

"Hm?" He keeps his eyes on the road, but still listening to Sakura.

"When's Kagami's birthday?"

Kakashi suddenly becomes worried and scratches the back of him head, "Um. . . . . . ."

"SENSEI!"

s.h.o.u.t.

"Tazuna I can't go on. I've got to leave."

"Hm?! Why!" The old man stares at his old friend in shock.

"Tazuna I have to be honest with you here, Gato is practically everywhere, I have a life and family. I don't want to lose it now."

s.h.o.u.t.

"Hm?" Kagami looks around into the trees, feeling as if someone is near.

'I'll look kagami.'

'Don't die Masaru,'

'Aww you care abou—!'

'Someone needs to scare the Konoha genin.'

'I take it back, you don't care about me at all! I should just go ki—'

'Go check Masaru.'

'I'm going.'

"Kagami?"

"Kagami~"

"Kagami!"

"KAGAMI!"

"Hm?" Kagami looks up as she is pulled out of her faze, "What is it Sasuke?"

He turns away from her, looking around at the trees, the sky, the ground, anywhere but her.

"H—how do you get up the tree?" He mutters.

"What?" Kagami says bluntly.

"What did you tell Naruto?" He whispers, leaning closer to her. She gives him a smile before leaning into the tree.

"Well, you have to . . . . ."

s.h.o.u.t.

~shadows