He had never said this before. He had chosen to punish himself by making Rin's choice, his choice. But now, he allowed himself a brief moment of solace.
"She must've been very special then. And she must've known how special you were... and worth saving." Mabui replied quietly.
"I'm not special –or worth saving. If I were, I would've been able to save Rin. I should've been the one to die that day. Too many have died because they loved me." Karachi glared at the ground, tears in his eyes. He was not sure why it was so easy to talk this stranger. But once he started, he could not stop himself. Tears fell as a soft sigh released itself from his chest.
Overcome with her own emotions and feeling this oddly intense connection to this strange boy, Mabui fell forward suddenly, wrapping her arms around Kakashi's neck and burying her head into the shoulder opposite to his wound. She whispered. "Sometimes I just want to die too."
In response, Kakashi leaned his head to the side and rested it on top of the head on his shoulder. Collapsing again into the girls essence. They stayed like that for a longtime. As the sun set and the shadows took over the woods. The soft purrs of Atsui's snoring as he fell asleep at his lookout post mixed with the night chirps of crickets and cicadas. Still they stayed like that, enjoying the feel of human contact. Soon they both fell asleep too.
The next morning, Mabui woke to find herself, leaning into Kakashi's chest. His right arm wrapped around her. She sat up quickly and wiped her face, checking his bandage to make sure she had not disturbed it in her sleep. Kakashi, who had been awake for awhile, just watched her and said nothing.
"We need to get you back to your village now and complete our mission." She looked over at Atsui, who was eyeing the two of them from his spot, looking irritated.
Kakashi grabbed Mabui's arm and looked into her green eyes. He said, "I need to say thank you for helping me."
She smiled at him in response.
**
Three years earlier...
A ten year old Mabui stood between her mother and father, along with the rest of their specialty unit at the Kumo base. The commander was speaking, but Mabui was not listening. She was looking around her at the others in the unit, most of them adults around her parents' age. A few teenagers were sprinkled in between, but Mabui was definitely the youngest one.
Now the commander walked down their row and pointed at Mabui. "She will go with the drop squad this time. She's old enough... Mabui will provide the deadliest strike, and they will suspect her the least."
Mabui looked up at her father. His face was grave, but he only nodded at the commander and said, "Yes sir."
After the commander was done walking through the rows of men and women, picking out all of those who he wanted on his drop squad, he dismissed them, telling them to be ready in ten minutes.
Mabui's father, Nobui, kneeled down in front of her and took her hands. He had silver hair like all the members of their clan, thick and heavy, made for fire and destruction. But his eyes were black and intense. Mabui looked away from them and down at her feet. "Your mother and I have been assigned to the clean up squad, so you will have to make it through your first mission on your own. But you've been trained for this your entire life. It will be just like every other training exercise, just do your job and then get out of there. Don't look around you. Keep your focus on your destination and your retreat. Do you understand?"
Mabui nodded. "Yes, Papa."
Her mother, who also had the long silver hair but soft green eyes like Mabui, reached down and stroked her daughter's head. "She's too young and inexperienced for this Nobui. The drop squad is fifteen and older for a reason."
Exploits of An Ex-Hokage
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