𝘉𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘚 | ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒ

fifty seven

Itazura laughed, pointing at me with the can of soda still in his hand. "Look at you! Katsu-san really has you around his finger, huh? You used to be such a hard ass. It's cute, honestly."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, asshole."

But he didn't appear offended at my quip, proceeding to laugh even harder.

While I was supposed to have dinner with Ryuu and Katsu so we could catchup a bit since we all had been so busy with the exams going on, I decided to drop by at home real quick to talk to my old man about taking my leave of absence. I guess the thought of it made me a little nervous. I had never been gone from home for a long time before. Maybe a month at most. But I had a feeling this mission wasn't going to take just a little month to complete. It was important to me that he supported me. While it was something I really wanted to do... if he didn't support it... I don't think I would go through with it.

I didn't like how he was so suspicious of Hajime. However, I could understand his hesitance to letting me go with him. He was right. I've only known him for a few weeks at most. Leaving on a private trip with him was dangerous.  At least... at least when I really didn't know him that well. I just really... I really wanted to trust him. Maybe I was a little blinded by the prospect of having a family, but I really didn't care. I think I deserved to be a little naive.

"Hey, dad." I said, stepping into the kitchen after having taken off my shoes at the front door.

Kenji sat at the counter, some sort of scroll laid out on the counter. A smoking cigarette bud was pinched between his fingers, but he wasn't paying it as much mind as he usually did, his eyes looking over the document in front of him. Though at the sound of my voice, he looked away from his work immediately, his focus on me.

"Kohana, I didn't know you'd be dropping by. Though I'm glad you did. Since I have a feeling I'll be heading off for a mission soon..." he scratched the side of his cheek, looking down to the scroll again. He tapped the ash off into the little tray, before raising it to his lips and taking a slow puff.

"Really?" I said, coming over to peer at the document he was reading so intently.

I squinted, eyeing a few photographs. Two, I recognized instantly as Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame. My nose curled into a sneer at the sight, and I had to resist the urge to flip the paper off. Especially when remembering the terrible genjutsu Uchiha Itachi had put me in.

But that didn't seem to be the main focus of the file. Especially as the title of the file was Akatsuki, a description of a cloak with red clouds underneath it. I furrowed my brows, looking back up to my old man. "What are you checking them out for?"

He sighed, placing his chin in his palm. "Rumor has it they're going after the bijuu. While they would never admit to it... it's said they have the five tails... and the seven. And that they're planning to go after more. It makes me nervous. While from these it doesn't seem as though they're going in numeral order, so our eight and two are safe for now... we really don't know what they're planning."

I chewed on my lower lip. "Or... why they would even  want them in the first place. Is their motive to make a bunch of jinchuriki and use them as soldiers?"

Kenji breathed out a laugh, shaking his head. He clapped me on the shoulder, tapping off his cigarette ash with his other hand. "Let's pray to kami that's not that case. But anyway... was there something you were wanting to talk about? You seemed troubled."