When the next semester began following the spring break, Yumetsuki found that the two classes in her year had been shuffled around with some students from the other class joined them. Nohara Rin was amongst them, and a rather loud boy who always wore goggles. He was someone unique in Yumetsuki's eyes as he was always picking himself up, no matter how many times he fell.
Yumetsuki had, in fact, gotten so taken by his unrelenting eagerness to do better that she was almost compelled to find out his name – it was Uchiha Obito. But Yumetsuki could never find the courage to talk to him. And he never seemed to notice her in the classroom.
Obito appeared to be always around Nohara Rin, and Yumetsuki had tried to be more like Rin, trying to smile more but no one seemed to notice it. Yumetsuki had dropped the shtick soon after.
Academy was going on as normal and Yumetsuki was spending her time training with both Grandma Chi and the Third Hokage, finding a better control on her abilities now.
On the other hand, Yumetsuki had not talked to Hatake Kakashi in a very long time. She was always nervous around him because he always seemed to look away from her whenever she looked at him, and she wondered if he hated her for something that she had done.
But as it was always with the white-haired girl, she never asked him about it as Yumetsuki was scared that he might tell her that he hated her. She didn't want to hear that even if he did.
There were times that Yumetsuki was sure that he was glaring at her – she could always feel an intense gaze from his direction. But whenever she looked at him, he would look away.
It was how it was and Yumetsuki wished that he had offered friendship to her because the two of them always headed home in the same direction – well, until they would come across the fork that separated the outskirts of Konoha from the farming areas.
Kakashi was always alone whenever Yumetsuki saw him, which was rare in itself. He was not seen around the village very much and she always wondered if he was a solitary person like her.
However, Yumetsuki simply never asked him about it because she didn't have the courage to do so.
Yumetsuki had avoided Kakashi everywhere that she went until one evening that she found herself walking home after training with Hiruzen. She noticed Kakashi walking alone, carrying fresh fish.
This was the very first time that Yumetsuki saw him carrying fish, and she wondered if it was the first time that he had caught them. She didn't want to bother him but as she slowly walked a few yards behind him, she noticed that he had dropped fishing rod's hook.
For a moment, Yumetsuki hesitated as she stared at the glinting hook on the dusty ground and then to Kakashi's figure that had turned the corner toward his home.
It would be easy for her to just ignore the hook and continue walking on, turning to the right to head home at the orphanage. She wasn't responsible for this yet Yumetsuki found herself reaching down, picking up the silver hook from the ground and jogging after Kakashi.
If she had stopped even for a moment on this path, Yumetsuki knew she would've turned around and left but her feet kept urging the girl to continue walking.
Kakashi was nowhere to be seen anymore as Yumetsuki continued on down the path and she looked to her right when she saw a small house approaching. She was sure that this was where Kakashi lives, and it was confirmed to her when she saw the name 'Hatake' on the residence.
Of course, Hatake... farmlands...
Yumetsuki reached her hand out and pressed her finger onto the bell, moving back to wait as she nervously played with the hook in her hands. She was suddenly regretting this as she could have just given this to him at school. She didn't want to meet any adults.
The front door slid open and Yumetsuki found herself face-to-face with Kakashi, who stared at her with wide eyes and then quickly averted them away from her face.
"Um..." Yumetsuki said, slightly hurt by his actions but deciding to just leave. "You dropped this?"
Holding out her hand between them, Yumetsuki showed him the hook that was sitting on her palm and Kakashi stared at it in surprise. He hadn't even realised that he had lost it.
"You..." Kakashi began but couldn't find his words as he felt his cheeks heat up beneath his mask. He reached out for the hook her hand and he felt his fingers brush against the girl's skin as he took it from her. She wasn't looking at him either. "Thank ..."
"Is there something burning?" Yumetsuki asked suddenly, her nose scrunched up like a cat's nose, and Kakashi stared at her in confusion. "Do you have something on the stove?"
Yet again, those dark grey eyes widened at Yumetsuki and she watched as he turned around, running into his home. Yumetsuki stood stunned, and she sighed softly when she saw that he had dropped the hook when he had run off. She picked it up again.
"Kakashi-Kun...?" Yumetsuki asked, looking around nervously. "Where did you go...?" She didn't want to go in after him like this. "I am... coming inside..."
Yumetsuki slipped her feet out of her shoes in the Genkan and stepped into the house. She looked around, unable to see anyone. She walked deeper into the house, following the scent of the burning food and she found her way to the kitchen, where Kakashi was.
It appeared that Kakashi was alone at home, and from the little that Yumetsuki had noticed, it didn't seem like there were a lot of people who even lived there.
There were no pictures and very little personal items. It reminded her faintly of the home that she had left behind in Kirigakure. But Yumetsuki did not inquire or mention about such things, figuring that this was how homes looked to outsiders. Only inhabitants found them 'normal'.
"You dropped the hook again," Yumetsuki spoke up awkwardly. "I am sorry... I followed you inside..." She set the hook down on the counter so she could leave. "... um...?"
"I burned the entire fish!" Kakashi said and Yumetsuki blinked at him, surprised. "I burned it all... how did I burn it when it was a fresh fish? I just caught it,"
"... freshness does not really matter with burning, does it?" Yumetsuki asked. Kakashi looked at her and she flushed pink. "There must be something else wrong..."
Yumetsuki nervously walked inside the kitchen, coming to a stop next to the tall boy, peering at the burnt fish and then at the stovetop where the frying pan had been set. She frowned when she realised that he hadn't even tried to cook the fish properly.
"Um, you made a mistake," Yumetsuki said as she looked up at Kakashi. She blushed at his eyes trained on her close proximity. She looked away quickly. "... many mistakes,"
"What did I do wrong?" Kakashi asked, looking away from her as well. "I put the oil in,"
"You did not put enough," Yumetsuki replied knowledgeably as she had grown up eating plenty of fish in Kirigakure. "And you also did not clean your fish properly,"
"Do you know how to cook fish?" Kakashi said, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. Yumetsuki nodded lightly. "... can you show me?"
Under normal circumstances, Kakashi did not like to admit that he needed help with something from someone else, especially if that someone was younger than him. But it wasn't the case with the girl standing next to him. Yumetsuki, strangely, had a comforting air to her.
Besides, maybe asking Yumetsuki out to help him out would make her stay around a little longer. This was a strange circumstance but Kakashi felt good that there was someone else in the house with him while his father was gone on a mission. Yumetsuki was the right someone.
"Alright," Yumetsuki said quietly and looked around for a knife. She carefully picked it up and turned to the fish sitting on the side, waiting to be fried. "First, you have to..."
It was silent in the kitchen except for Yumetsuki mumbling from time to time about what she was doing. Kakashi didn't mind it – he was visual learner as well.
Yumetsuki carefully cleaned out the fish, almost with the skill of a seasoned fisherman, and Kakashi was impressed as he watched how pristine the fish looked. It wasn't anything like the jagged meat he had created by ruining the fish. She seemed to know everything about the nature of a fish.
Kakashi couldn't imagine a child being skilled like this with fish of all things, and he wondered where she had learned it as she expertly grilled the fish on the skillet.
"Where did you learn all of this?" Kakashi asked as Yumetsuki set the fish onto the plate for him, her small hands struggling a bit with his large chopsticks.
"My Oto –" Yumetsuki began but cut herself off, feeling a bit suffocated on the mere thought of her father. "... I learned it from a book," She avoided meeting eye with him. "I am going home now,"
Before Kakashi could ask her to stick around a little longer, maybe even have fish with him, Yumetsuki had turned around and left the kitchen and his home. It was true that he would've liked company in his home but more than that, he wanted to talk to her properly.
Sighing in disappointment, Kakashi felt his stomach growl from the delicious scent of fish on the counter, waiting to be eaten. He knew that he'll be making a visit to the bookstore.
The next time that Yumetsuki and Kakashi saw each other, it was in their classroom. He saw her sitting in the last corner of the room, staring out the window as if she wasn't present among them. He wanted to go and talk to her, even if only saying thank you to her for the fish.
That fish had been delicious. Kakashi had bought himself a book all about fishing and how to cook different dishes with it. He had tried several over the weekend but none were as good as hers.
It had gone well with anything – steamed rice or miso soup or soy sauce. Kakashi had never ate such a recipe before and he wanted to learn more of them from her.
However, before Kakashi could make his way up to the elusive girl, his path was intercepted.
"Kakashi-Kun!" Gai exclaimed. "I lost to you last time... but that was the Might Gai of the past! The newly reborn Might Gai will never lose to you!"
Yumetsuki looked up at the ruckus and saw that it was Kakashi and Gai. They were always sparring with each other, although it seemed instigated mostly by Gai. She set her hand on her chin to watch them, frowning when she saw that Gai was injured already.
"Your face is still swollen," Kakashi pointed out, and Yumetsuki wondered if they had sparred over the weekend. She didn't say anything about it, however.
"Of course!" Gai exclaimed. "The springtime of youth never comes to an end!"
"The springtime of youth..." Kakashi repeated, doubtful.
"Come on, let's fight!" Gai urged him, lifting his fists to get into his stance.
Although Yumetsuki had wished that they wouldn't fight in the classroom, the two boys began to spar with each other. They were both good and Yumetsuki's eyes traced their actions very closely, and she saw that their Taijutsu had improved since last time.
"Kakashi-Kun..." mumbled out Rin, and Yumetsuki looked at her curiously, wondering if she was worried about him. She wasn't sure if they were friends.
"Oh!" Obito exclaimed. "Gai's keeping up!" Rin hid her face behind her hands to avoid looking at the fight but peeked through, making Obito smile at her. "Kakashi! Do it!"
"Kakashi-Kun, come on!" Rin urged as well, her cheeks blushing.
"The light... of spring... will..." Gai grunted out as he struggled against Kakashi in the front of the classroom. "... never... wane...!"
"Maybe not," Kakashi replied, managing to beat Gai.
Kakashi looked over as Rin and Obito expressed positive response but when he looked past them at Yumetsuki, he saw her head turning away and looking back out of the window. He couldn't see her expression because of her long white hair. He wished he had.
The rest of their day at the Ninja Academy went by like that, and before they realised, they were having a special Taijutsu class with the Third Hokage. Hiruzen would often use his spare time to come down to the Academy to help the students out with such activities but since they were now older, he allowed them to actually spar with him in Taijutsu.
Slowly but surely, every student got their chance while the rest of them would sit with their backs to the wall, observing and learning as Hiruzen sparred with them in the centre of the hall. Yumetsuki sat in a corner by herself, sitting respectfully on the wooden floors.
It was Kakashi's turn with Hiruzen, and Yumetsuki watched him in silence and slight intrigue but her eyes were continuously tracing over to where Obito was sitting.
Obito had lost very quickly to Hiruzen but was undeterred, which made Yumetsuki smile under her skin. She wished that she was as resilient as he was. She wished she could talk to him sometime but she wasn't sure she wanted to talk to him while he was with Rin.
Those two were always around each other, or rather, Obito was always around Rin. Yumetsuki would have liked to be friends with both of them but courage wasn't her strength.
Kakashi let out a grunt as Hiruzen managed to take him down, and Yumetsuki looked back at him as the boy was helped back to his feet by the Third Hokage.
"You are terrific, Kakashi," Hiruzen told him as he looked down at the silver-haired boy. "If I let my guard down even for a moment, I think you'd beat me,"
"Thank you," Kakashi replied, bowing his head and moving to return to his place against the wall.
"Next up, we have Yuki Yumetsuki," Hiruzen said as he turned to look at the white-haired girl, who blushed a little at her full name but stood up as she was asked.
"Yes," Yumetsuki spoke quietly, bowing deeply as she stood in front of him and then promptly went into the Taijutsu stance that Hiruzen himself had taught her.
"Isn't Kakashi-Kun great?" Rin was speaking to Obito as they watched Kakashi dust himself off.
"Well, his Oto-Chan is a genius," Obito replied slightly dismissively, picking at his nose. "Even if he doesn't do anything, he probably still has the skills. Anyway, I'm an Uchiha, I'll keep doing my best," Rin didn't say anything, smiling toward Kakashi. "I bet he's... a closet pervert,"
"You're great, Kakashi-Kun!" Rin compliment happily as Kakashi sat down next to her and Obito.
"Think so?" Kakashi replied without much interest.
"Do you practice all the time?" Rin asked. "Seriously, you're amazing!"
"Not really," Kakashi said. "I kind of read a few books,"
"Huh, he's not the most amazing in our class," Obito pitched in, giving Kakashi an annoyed side-eye. "Isn't she the most amazing?" He nodded ahead of them.
Yumetsuki was sparring with Hiruzen at a pace faster than any that they had seen so far. Hiruzen was constantly blocking her attacks. But she fluttered for a second when she heard Obito praise her, and she rushed to be even better so that she would be noticed.
"Do you even know her name, Obito-Kun?" Rin asked teasingly, causing Obito's cheeks to turn pink as he huffed, looking away, crossing his arms.
"Isn't her name something like Shiroka?" Obito responded as he tried to spare some of his ego in front of Rin but the brunette began to chuckle at him.
"No, that's not it!" Rin told him. "Hokage-Sama just said it, too! It's Yuki –"
"Yukito!" Obito tried out but Rin only giggled more at how oblivious he was.
"No, that's not it, either," Rin replied, causing Obito to scowl at himself. "Why do you keep calling her a rabbit?" Obito had no answer and simply looked away.
It stung Yumetsuki when she realised that although it had been a while since Obito moved to her class, he still did not know her name. No, it didn't just sting a little, it hurt her plenty. But like all such things, Yumetsuki let it go. She wasn't someone who had anything to be remembered for. She had no personality. She was an empty shell with a name.
But Kakashi was intrigued as he watched Yumetsuki fight against Hiruzen, who was mainly focusing on blocking her hits to the best of his skill. Yumetsuki moved like nothing that Kakashi had seen before – it was like she was lighter than the air around them.
When Hiruzen reached to attack her, the girl caught his arm, using it to swing herself into the air and she spun around to catch him around the neck by her legs, pushing his head forward with her hands from the back in a method of choking him effectively with her smaller size.
Kakashi wasn't the only one who was stunned by this aerial move, but most of the girls around them were sharing concerned looks with each other as if Yumetsuki would hurt them.
Hiruzen, however, chuckled and waved his hand at her, a signal for her to get down now. He seemed very thrilled to see her lock him down in an aerial rear-triangle chokehold.
"Wonderful, that was excellent work," Hiruzen told Yumetsuki as she returned to stand in front of him. "Your Taijutsu has improved so much since you started. You must hone it more,"
"Thank you, Hokage-Sama," Yumetsuki replied, bowing deeply before walking back to her corner.
That opportunity came by fairly quickly as Yumetsuki had her evening training with him that day. Hiruzen had just recently taught her the Sarutobi Clan's Hiden Fire Jutsu which was the Great Flame Jutsu. It always put a great strain on Yumetsuki on her body and she always found herself sweating after using it because of how powerful it was.
"Once you have gotten yourself used to the Fire in your body," Hiruzen spoke up, looking down at the girl as she heaved, wiping away her sweat. "You will find it easier to use both your Fire and Ice Style Jutsus. You can even cool or warm yourself the way you like,"
"No..." Yumetsuki breathed out, pushing herself to stand up after using the Great Flame Jutsu several times. "... my father told me that I will not ever stop feeling cold,"
"Even with his own abilities inside of you?" Hiruzen asked. He had never doubted what Yumetsuki told him because her memory was extremely sharp.
"Yes," Yumetsuki replied. "He said that I have the Kanji on my back because of it... there used to be some other people in the Yuki Clan who had it, my mother's grandfather... they felt cold all their lives. He thought I would be okay with his fire but my body is..."
"Ice," Hiruzen finished for her and Yumetsuki nodded quietly. "I see... well, there's nothing to worry about too much. You're a strong girl, your body will grow stronger, too,"
Yumetsuki simply nodded at him although she was sure that her body might never recover – she was born prematurely so the intensity of Ice her mother passed her was too much for her. On the other hand, she was sure that she would melt into nothing with her Fire. She just hoped that she would be able to grow strong enough to bear with this illness.
Hiruzen distracted her from all this by suggesting that they worked more on her Taijutsu abilities. Yumetsuki happy to do it, figuring that this was one of the ways that she could get stronger with her body. She also wanted to learn new moves so she could impress her classmates.
The thought of Obito not even knowing her name made her feel despondent but as Yumetsuki finished with her training that evening, she figured she would work hard for people to know her.
That included people other than Obito, too, of course. Yumetsuki's thoughts trailed toward Kakashi, who was the one person that everyone in their class knew and were awed by.
Kakashi had mentioned earlier that he learned his new moves from a book, and she figured that she could ask him about it. Yumetsuki took a deep breath and turned in the direction of Kakashi's home, hoping to find him home to ask him. She wondered if his parents would be home.
Since it was later than usual that Yumetsuki was making her way home, night had fallen and the path was dark. She was also feeling rather hungry since lunch had been hours ago.
It was going to be a quick visit to Kakashi's home, and she wouldn't even enter the house, just ask him from the door. But as she neared the place, she heard loud laughter in the air.
"Are there more people home?" Yumetsuki wondered out loud to herself when she heard a bright laugh belonging to a boy. "Is that... Kakashi-Kun? I have never..."
Curiosity took over Yumetsuki as she did something unprecedented – she found herself walking past the front door and toward the open window looking into the living room. She peered in, careful not to be caught, and her eyes found a rather surprising sight.
There was Kakashi, and he was sitting with Obito and Rin, who had been the ones that had been laughing. They all looked happy, eating the fish Kakashi had cooked them.
Yumetsuki moved away from the window, a strange feeling in her chest spreading like the cold. She had never seen how her classmates spent their evening before today.
Joking around and having delicious food together, it seemed like that was the essence of friendship. Yumetsuki left the place and started off back to the orphanage, deciding that she would ask Kakashi sometime else. She wasn't sure if it would be right to intrude on them.
I want that, too.
❄️