thirty-three, Yondaime Hokage
WHILE IZUMI HAD ALWAYS PERCEIVED KAKASHI'S TRAINING TO NOT ONLY BE INTENSE AND SWEAT-BREAKING, Maito Gai's was a whole another level of challenging. By the end of their short training session, her body felt as though it were on fire from all the taijutsu she had to use. While she was good at using it and could hold her own, against someone as Gai, a master in taijutsu, she stood chanceless. For his abilities, she deeply respected the determined boy. It was also why she didn't hesitate when he asked her to train with him.
"I want to be able to beat my eternal rival one day," began Gai, a radiant smile on his features. "And since you train with him, the best way to beat him is to train with you. Training with a Jounin will bring me closer to my youth!"
She may not have been able to fully comprehend his train of thought, but still found herself nodding enthusiastically, accepting his request. "I'm sure you can keep up with him."
Gai's eyes grew wide, his face ecstatic. "You think so?"
His expression made Izumi giggle. "Totally! But I have to warn you, taijutsu is not my forte."
And she was right, it was not her forte, especially not against Gai. The way she panted on her way to get some dango after training proved her point. All of a sudden, every breath felt heavier than before, her legs throbbing in exhaustion as they walked. With every step the sensations lessened, and she felt better, but still as though she had just been dragged across the ground.
By the Hokage tower there was a huge crowd gathering, people pushing and squeezing their way to the front, where something was going on. Gai and Izumi turned to look at each other, both confused by the circumstance presented to them.
"What's going on?" asked Gai, standing on his tiptoes in order to see over the crowd, though his efforts were to no avail.
"No idea." Izumi attempted the same, only to also fail.
The brunette reached out towards the boy wearing green spandex and grabbed his wrist to pull him with her into the bustling crowd, ready to push their way to the front to see what was attracting so much attention. In front of the Hokage tower was placed a wooden sign with writing on it.
I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, hereby announce my resignation as Hokage, and appoint Namikaze Minato as the Fourth Hokage.
Izumi stumbled back a little after reading it, almost crashing into a person behind her. "Minato-sensei is going to be ... Yondaime Hokage?" He did it, he really did it.
"Do you think Kakashi knows yet?" asked Gai.
Izumi shrugged at the over-energetic boy. "I'm not sure ..." After he had been released from the hospital, he had been more of a ghost wandering the village than anything, an air of secrecy around him. If he had found out yet, she would not know. "Let's tell him!"
Gai smiled, excited. "Yes! Let's go." He reached towards Izumi like she had done previously and pulled her alongside him, through the crowd and hopefully towards their silver-haired friend.
"HEY, Kakashi!" Once the silver-haired was in sight, Gai immediately called out to him, waving his hands dramatically as he suddenly began to sprint away from his brunette training partner.
The boy in question sat comfortably on a bench with a book clutched tightly in his hands. He appeared to be invested in it, charcoal eye moving slowly as he read. At the call of his name, Kakashi looked up to see someone he considered to be his best friend and his, more or less, rival coming up to him, delighted expressions covering their features.
Once the Chuunin in green spandex had arrived beside Kakashi, he immediately grabbed the book from his hands, inspecting it with a growing frown. "'How a Shinobi should die?'" Gai read out the title. "What is this?"
"Give it back." Kakashi stood up from his position on the bench, reaching for his book.
Izumi was faster than him. She reached out and took the book out of Gai's hand before Kakashi could take it, frowning, even more, one she held the piece of literature in her hand. "Kakashi." For some reason, the way she sounded so disappointed left his heart heavy.
"Izu." He said sternly, giving her a pointed look.
The brunette relented with a sigh, holding out the book to him. Immediately, he snatched it away, resuming his previous reading position. "What's going on?" He asked lazily, glancing up to only meet a certain cerulean gaze.
Gai raised his hand ecstatically, gesturing wildly as he announced that Minato-sensei would be the Fourth Hokage.
Kakashi's visible eye widened in surprise, and the book suddenly left unattended. His sensei ... Hokage, the thought seemed so far away, way out of his grasp.
"Do you maybe want to see his inauguration with me?" Izumi gave him a smile, hands nervously playing with the end of the bandage wrapped around her hands and wrist, fraying the material.
He was about to agree, his cheeks feeling warmer all of a sudden, when a certain excited Shinobi interrupted him, leaving Kakashi feeling a bit dejected.
Gai swung his arm around Izumi's shoulder, grinning brightly. "Yeah, come with us, my eternal rival."
Kakashi nodded. "I suppose I could come along."
Izumi's smile widened immediately. "It will be in a few hours, I think, so we still have so much time to spare."
"My youthfulness must not be wasted," said Gai energetically, feet tapping on the ground in a peculiar rhythm. "I will be training until then to surpass you!" Dramatically, he pointed at Kakashi, who showed no reaction to the challenge.
The brunette beside him couldn't help but sigh, not annoyed, but exhausted. "Not even I have that much energy. I admire you, Gai," She turned towards the boy and patted his shoulder in appreciation. "I have enough training for today. We will see you later then?"
Gai's nod was as energetic as his statement was. "Yes. Until later, my eternal rival and his flower." Without allowing either of them to comment on the nicknames he gave them, the boy skipped away, bowl cut swishing with every movement.
Izumi let out a giggle. "I like him."
Kakashi meanwhile had felt himself freeze up at the way Gai had referred to the brunette, his heart beginning to pound against his chest. It was almost embarrassing how a single word could have such an effect on him: his hands becoming sweatier than before, cheeks becoming even warmer. He shook his head in denial, attempting to evict the thoughts.
"You know, Kashi," began Izumi, seeking his attention. She sat down beside him on the wooden bench, leaning back against the back of it to sit comfortably. "I think a Shinobi should die happy."
The silver-haired turned to face his friend, confused by her answer. "Happy? How can you die happy?" To him, the statement was more of a contradiction than anything else.
"When your life has been fulfilling, I would say. You don't have to live in some sort of ideal word, but you accomplished everything you wanted."
"And would you say you are happy?" asked Kakashi carefully.
A reply was supplied to him immediately. "Of course I am!" smiled Izumi. When she looked at her friend, her eyes sparkled with delight. "I have you in my life after all. You make me happy, did you know that?"
Kakashi felt startled at her reply but maintained his nonchalant expression. The blush underneath his mask meanwhile hinted at what he was really feeling.
"I mean, there are things that make me unhappy, like my knee pains, for example. I could totally do without them, but I won't let them tear me down for as long as I may live," Her smile grew more wry than genuine. "When I do die one day, I want to be happy and feel accomplished. So I prefer to look at the positive."
"You aren't going to die anytime soon, Izu." He wouldn't allow for that to happen, no matter the cost.
Izumi shook her head softly. "I never said I was going to die soon. After all, I promised you I wouldn't."
Kakashi could vividly remember how she had promised him several times.
"And while the promise is difficult to keep, for you, I will do my best, Kashi. Because you are my friend, and that is what friends do. As your friend, I feel obligated to look out for you. I want you to be happy and to accomplish that, I would do anything."
"It would make me happy if you would stay." admitted Kakashi, almost too quiet to hear for the brunette beside him. If he was honest with himself, with her dead, he wouldn't know what to do.
Izumi smiled widely at his admission, a blush crawling up her face meanwhile. "Anything for you." She wanted to add again that it was what friends did, but for some reason, the words felt wrong all of a sudden.
NAMIKAZE MINATO'S INAUGURATION HAD BEEN SPECTACULAR, to say the least. The man had stood atop the Hokage tower dressed in both the hat and the robes of a Hokage, a dashing smile decorating his features. Energetically with yet such a powerful presence, he waved to the crowd standing below, cheering for their new Hokage.
The event had been short-lived. A long speech of Konoha's new Hokage was the main part of the inauguration, one where Minato expressed his thankfulness for the people, his plans for the futures, portrayed his ideals and also wormed his way into the hearts of the people. Afterwards he had waved yet again, igniting a fire of admiration within the crowd. No ill word had been spoken about the blond man, only positive pushed past the lips of the people watching. The same could be said about his students.
"I'm glad sensei is the Hokage, I don't think I could imagine anyone better than him for the role." said Izumi. Her cerulean gaze was focused on the path before them, the sun already having begun to set as they made their way home.
The silver-haired nodded in agreement. "Sensei is great."
"Kushina-sensei for sure looked excited when Minato-sensei began to wave." said Izumi, giggling at the memory.
"You looked just as excited as she did."
"Really?"
"It was ..." Endearing. Adorable. Mesmerizing. His mind supplied all those words to finish the sentence, yet none of them ever left his mind space.
Izumi leaned closer to the silver-haired, giving him a smile to continue. "I'm listening."
In response, Kakashi leaned away, feeling embarrassed. "Nothing." His tone was a little clipped and his cheeks had begun to burn red, the color peeking out at the edge of his mask.
For the flicker of a second, Izumi looked at him disappointed, her smile deflating as a balloon would, but she didn't allow herself to show it and instead resumed her previous position beside him.
"If you say so." She mused, secretly really invested in how he would have described her had he finished his sentence.
Kakashi let out a sigh of relief at her reluctance and when he shook his head, the words supplied earlier still roamed his thoughts restlessly. He didn't understand why he was feeling like he was and what it was that he was feeling, but it for sure surprised him. Every time he would take a look at the friend beside him from the peripheral of his vision, a smile would begin to blossom underneath his mask ... not that he minded that.