May 19th
~ later that night ~
Hanako
Hana: Hi, Sensei. It's Hanako.
Kakashi Sensei:) : will you make it to training tmw if ur up this late, Shojo? it's 11:22pm
Hana: lol. Don't worry about me, Kakashi Sensei
Kakashi Sensei:) : that's my job
Hana: Nah. I'm a woman now... so, shut up, would you?
Kakashi Sensei:) : ...feisty.
Hana: heh. Goodnight, Akumu
Kakashi Sensei:) : Goodnight, Hanako.
Kakashi Sensei:) : It's good to have you back.
May 20th
Hanako
The next day came quickly, and Hana was already up early to meet some old friends.
Dressed in her Shinobi attire -black shorts with fishnet tights underneath, a black long-sleeve shirt, her mask and a little pouch wrapped around her thigh- she took a stroll through the village with Kurenai, catching up on all the gossip that had happened over the last six years.
After spending most of her days with Jiraiya, Hanako was thankful to be back and have some quality girl time with her friend Kurenai.
"Asuma decided to throw a welcome back party for you tomorrow night, Hana. Will you come?" she asked as she scanned over some mission reports her student Hinata had given her before.
Hana mindlessly twirled a Shuriken around her index finger and sighed quietly, "do I have to?"
Kurenai grinned and lifted her eyes from the reports to send Hana a feigned death stare. "Someone throws a party in honour of you, and you ask me if you have you attend?"
Hanako chuckled slightly, "You guys just want a reason to drink."
"Yes and no. Please come, okay? Everyone missed you, and Asuma sounded really excited this morning."
"I'll think about it. By the way, what is going on between you and Sarutobi?" Hana side-eyed her friend and shoved the Shuriken back into her little pouch, and grabbed her phone.
Kurenai closed the report sheets and pressed them against her chest to cross her arms in front of them. "I thought you never asked. We are officially dating now!" she cheered and jumped in front of Hana, walking backwards when Hana didn't stop in her tracks. "It's been six months now, and he's a real sweetheart!"
Hanako genuinely smiled at her friend, "I'm really happy for you."
"Thank you.. I'm really happy. He is perfect, Hana, I mean it!" Kurenai blushed, held the reports with one arm and placed her other hand on her cheek.
Hana's smile widened beneath her mask, remembering the words her beloved Jiraiya once said to her.
'A Shinobi's life is not measured by how they lived but rather what they managed to accomplish before their death.'
Being a Shinobi means friends and lovers could be taken away instantly, and it was easy to slip into a comfortable mindset - to think that it won't happen to you. Hanako wasn't an idiot. She knew damn well that it happened to her and would most likely happen again if she ever decided to open up to someone.
But Hana knew Kurenai always wanted a family, always reassuring Hana that love was worth it. That Hana should always choose gratitude.
Yet, a Shinobi's mission was never guaranteed. That's why Hana decided never to get too close to anyone, so the pain of losing them won't hurt as much. - Jiraiya was the only exception.
However, that didn't mean Hana wasn't happy for her friend. Quite the reverse- Hana was excited and glad that Kurenai got what she had always wanted in life.
"I always knew that you'll end up with Sarutobi," Hana said and stopped walking to place her hand on Kurenai's arm.
"Everyone said that after they heard the news of us dating." Kurenai chuckled and tilted her head cutely, making her dark brown hair shine in Konoha's morning sun. "I'm still waiting for you, though."
"Waiting for what?"
Kurenai wiggled her eyebrows and placed her hand on Hana's arm. "I'm waiting on who'll you end up with. Will it be Kakashi? Or Ko? What about Genma?"
Hanako sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not ending up with anyone. I don't date Kurenai."
"Shame. You're so beautiful!"
She sighed again and quickly changed the topic. "I need to go."
Typing a quick message to Kakashi that she was on her way, she hugged Kurenai tightly and smiled at her through her mask, "I'll come to the party. I promise."
"Good! I can't wait, Hana."
"Thank you for the conversation, Kurenai. I missed you!" she yelled back to her while already jumping away over the rooftops.
Hanako arrived at the field right on time when she saw how the silver-haired Jonin walked toward her with his three students following him. She quickly caught her breath, pretending that she had arrived a couple of minutes ago already.
"Wow, you actually made it on time, Sensei," She said and placed her hands on her hips.
Kakashi stopped talking to his students and gave Hanako a closed-eyed smile. "I promised, didn't I?"
Hana chuckled slightly, ignored his rhetorical question and looked at the three teens. "Are you excited to see me kicking your Sensei's arse?"
Naruto and Sakura cheered, but Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest. "A tiny woman like you has no chance against Kakashi."
Kakashi
Kakashi was surprised that Sasuke would be the one to stand up for him out of all his students, but he quickly shoved his excitement away.
He grinned under his mask and placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "That's the support I want from my Team.", side-eyeing Naruto and Sakura, who betted clearly against him.
"Tiny woman, mh?" Hanako looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow and got on her tiptoes to meet his eye level. "Do you want to start then?"
He furrowed his eyebrows, "I'm only a Chunin."
"Scared, Uchiha?"
"Not in the slightest. You probably don't weigh much more than Sakura." he scoffed.
Hanako chuckled, turned around, grabbed a Shuriken from her pouch, and twirled it around her finger. "Let's go then, Uchiha."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest while observing their bickering. He knew how strong Hana was, and remembering that she left the village to become even stronger, quickly made him intervene. "Not this time. We arranged this so you could show me how strong you got and if you can finally beat me."
Hanako grinned and turned to Kakashi. "Alright, then, you're my opponent, Akumu-san."
Kakashi quickly motioned his students to step back before turning to Hana and beckoning her towards her with his hand. "Igzho, Shojo."
He looked at her and grabbed his Kunai, making Hana believe he first wanted to get into a stable fighting position, but instead, Kakashi threw his Kunai right at her.
Hanako
Hana sensed this coming and quickly caught his Kunai mid-air between her index and middle finger. She turned around and propped her hands against her hips. "Now, that was just unfair."
His visible eye widened slightly, but he quickly regained posture, "You're fast."
Hana could sense all of his steps before he even took them. At first, it was hard for her to use the Sharingan when she started to wear her contact lenses, but she got used to it and perfected its powers.
She shrugged, "Always been fast," and threw his own Kunai back at him, with her Shuriken following.
He grinned and quickly stepped aside. "I thought you worked on your lightning chakra. Show me some of that, you weakling."
Hanako furrowed her eyebrows.
Did he really call me a weakling?
"Are you scared you can't beat me with your plain Taijutsu, Akumu-san?"
He scoffed, "Oh, you want to play this game? Come at me, then, Hana-chan."
Kakashi got into a stable fighting position again and held his kunai in her direction. Since agreeing only to use Taijutsu, Hana knew he wouldn't expect her to use Genjutsu on him.
She made a few quick steps in his direction, acting like she wanted to attack him with her body strength until she could stare right into his visible eye to put him under her Genjutsu. Making him believe she punched him hard enough into his stomach to lose his posture, but instead, Hana appeared behind him the next second and kicked him in his back.
Quickly grabbing his kunai away from his hand, he fell onto his stomach and groaned when he realised what she had done to him.
Hanako grinned and crouched down above him, one leg on each side of his body to hold him in place on his upper arms with her knees. "Kakashi Hatake, legendary inheritor of the Sharingan, and you didn't see that coming?"
He groaned again and tilted his head to the side to look at her over his shoulder, "I gotta admit; I didn't see that coming. But I'm used to something better than that from you, Shojo."
She bent over to hold his Kunai against the side of his neck. "Don't test me, Sensei. If I wanted, I could easily kill you," she paused and carefully let the blade of his Kunai run over his neck, "but I'm a good girl."
Kakashi
Hanako didn't realise what her words did to him, and he had to take a deep breath. Hearing her whispering into his ear while she sat on his back sent his mind straight into his bedroom. - making a mental note to himself that he needed to take a break from reading Icha Icha from time to time.
Focusing back on the here and now, Kakashi slightly wiggled under her and yanked Hana by the ankles onto the flat of her back- snatching his Kunai back and holding it against her throat as he leaned down close to her face. "Now, Shojo, I've taught you better than to lie."
Hanako
Hanako scoffed as she felt a slight pain running through her body and quickly grabbed his wrist with both hands. "I don't lie."
She wanted to push him off her with her knees and hands, but he quickly turned his wrist in her grip, wrapped his hand around both of Hana's and stretched them over her head and against the ground. His action brought him even closer to her face. "I thought we were only using Taijutsu."
Hana squirmed under him, "Did that hurt your feelings, Akumu-san?"
"You're not in the position to hurt my feelings." He answered in his usual dismissive tone.
She chuckled, "Ouch. Did you want to kill me, then? I thought you never wanted a friend to die again."
Kakashi slightly clenched his teeth, "I remember telling you twice that you and I are no friends."
"Right. My bad. Another round then, Sensei." she grinned widely under her mask and pushed him off her with her knees against his stomach with force.
The two quickly got back into a fighting position opposite of each other. Hana grinned, "Show me what you got, old man, Sensei."
He raised his eyebrow, "old man, huh?"
Hana grinned and beckoned Kakashi toward her with her outstretched index finger.
Hanako
From the way he moved his legs and arms, she knew he'd use his Chidori on her, so Hana quickly steadied herself and activated hers earlier than him. Her hair immediately got electric and stuck uncomfortably around her face and arms. The blue lightning curled around her forearms like a snake as she intertwined her hands in front of her face to let her chakra flow faster through her body.
To Hanako's surprise, Kakashi just chuckled and grabbed a sealing scroll from his flak jacket before cutting his thumb and mumbling, "Summoning Jutsu." as he pressed his flat hand to the ground, and his eight ninken appeared around Hana.
She shrieked as they jumped on her, biting into her sleeves and pushing her back onto the flat of her back. Hana quickly covered her face with her arms, fearing one of the dogs might grab the thin material of her mask with their teeth and pull it down.
A/N: that's all his Ninken, just for your info, so you won't get confused 🤍)
"Now, now. It's so nice to see you again, Hanako!" Shiba, Kakashi's white/grey dog, said as he put his paws on Hana's chest.
"Right. What did you do to make the Boss summon us ?" Pakkun now asked as he sat down next to Hana's head and touched her cheek with his wet nose.
Kakashi and Team 7 chuckled loudly as Kakashi walked over to Hana and crouched down next to her. "You didn't see that coming?" mimicking Hana's tone as she said that to him.
Hana scoffed and sat up on her elbows, "You're playing an unfair game!"
Bisuke, one of the smaller dogs, scoffed and placed his paw on Hanako's leg. "So, there is no emergency?"
Hana grinned and patted all dogs alternately before leaning against Kakashi's biggest dog, Bull. "No. Your boss is just old and doesn't know how to fight anymore."
Kakashi tskd but helped Hana up to her feet. "I'm 31, you know."
"I know, Sensei. It's so brave to say that out loud." She grinned through her mask and squeezed his upper arm firmly.
~ a few hours later ~
Hanako
"Ooofff", Hanako's once neatly braided hair was lost and damp from her sweat, making it stick uncomfortably to her face.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Bull next to Kakashi while caressing Pakkun's back, who lay in her lap, snoozing quietly.
All that was heard was their heavy breathing, the dogs snoring, and the birds chirping peacefully. It was a familiar moment for Hana. After training with Kakashi, they always rested in the high grass with his Ninken around. It was a pleasant feeling for Hana to now have Kakashi's teens around them, especially- close to her little brother Sasuke.
Kakashi
"How do you feel, Shojo?" Kakashi asked calmly, glancing up from the book he was reading.
"I'm fine, thanks," She said without opening her eyes. He hummed and focused his eyes back on his book.
"Thank you for today, Sensei. I missed this." Hana slowly opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at him.
He side-eyed her before looking at Shiba, whose head was on Kakashi's thigh and patted his head softly. "Mh. It was impressive to see how strong you got. But next time, don't play with me. I know you were holding back."
Hanako shifted in her place and looked away from him. "Why would I hold back?"
"That's what I'm asking you, Shojo," Kakashi responded and tilted his head to look at her face.
She was exhausted, her skin sweaty and dirt stuck on her face and hair. Yet, she looked beautiful.
Hanako
Hana scoffed, picked Pakkun up to place him against her chest and looked at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, who were lying in the grass. "I'm just making sure not to hurt you, Akumu-san."
Kakashi grinned slightly, "I see."
Hanako looked at him and studied his face for a while before drawing her attention back to the dead exhausted teens. "Come on, guys, I'll treat you all to dinner before heading home. And you sweet floofs need rest too."
Naruto jumped up immediately after Hana said the word 'food'. "OH YES!! Ramen, please, Hana-san!"
Hanako chuckled and got up from her place next to Kakashi, still holding Pakkun in her arms. "Everything you desire, my little sweetheart, but only if you finally drop the formalities."
"Noted." Naruto's cheeks reddened, and he quickly turned to walk away. The others followed him silently, too tired to even answer.
"Come on, Sensei. You can read later when you're at home." She carefully placed Pakkun back to his feet and offered Kakashi both of her hands, which he gladly took with one hand and got up.
Kakashi
Standing so close, Kakashi consciously noticed the considerable height difference between them. Hana barely reached his shoulder, forcing her to lean her head back to look him in the eye. He chuckled slightly and held his book up again.
Hanako smirked at him under her mask, taking away his book to shove it into the pocket of his flak jacket. "Enough reading."
"It got interesting right now," he sighed but didn't step back from her.
"What chapter are you on?" she asked, and Kakashi tilted his head in confusion.
"What?"
"You heard me."
He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "Uhm, 16."
She hummed and walked past him, following his students while Kakashi's ninken were practically glued to her. "That's a beautiful chapter but a bit unrealistic, don't you think?"
Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow and quickly caught up to her. "You read these books?"
Hanako nodded and looked up to the sky, "It brings me back closer to him. I haven't seen Jiraiya in a while."
Kakashi looked at her to study her body language. Her eyes showed sadness as she stared at the clouds, mindlessly fiddling with the ends of her beautiful hair again.
He quickly cleared his throat to ease the tension and looked out for the kids before returning to her question. "I don't think true love is unrealistic."
Hanako
Hanako furrowed her eyebrows and took a deep breath. The last time she and Kakashi saw each other was when she was 16 and he was 25.
She always had a thing for Kakashi, but he had just left the Anbu a year before and was distanced from most people around him. He barely talked to anyone and scared away all the teams he should have cared for. He was confident in his skills as a Shinobi and didn't hesitate to rub it into everyone's faces. - one of the many reasons people didn't like spending time with Kakashi. Another one was that still, even after losing his friend in a battle and promising to himself that he'd never let a comrade die, he wouldn't think twice about putting his mission first.
Cold-blooded Hatake?
Well, yes. Partly. Kakashi was disrespectful most of the time, yet when Hana pointed it out, he just snapped, 'respect is earned, Shojo.'
Despite all these negative aspects, Kakashi always treated Hanako a little differently than other people around them. He wasn't precisely friendly, but they spent days after days together, and he tolerated her presence, even inviting her to his apartment to sit next to each other in silence to read.
Sometimes, when Kakashi was in a good mood, he cooked his favourite fish for her- leaving her to eat it alone in his kitchen so she could lower her mask. He was thoughtful and never mistreated her, but calling him a friend would still be a step too far.
Whatever they were, it was Kakashi, and Hana was cheerful; she'd always feel different about him than about others.
Now Hana was 22, and she felt safe whenever Kakashi was around her; almost safe enough to deactivate her Sharingan; well.. almost.
What was so different about Kakashi?
Hana quickly shook away the thoughts and walked faster to catch up with the teens, leaving Kakashi's answer uncommented.
When she reached them, she placed one arm around Naruto's waist. "How did you guys like training?"
"I just told Sakura-chan how impressive it is to win against Kaka-Sensei." Naruto grinned and wrapped his arm around Hana'a shoulders.
"None of us was able to do that yet!" Sakura grinned.
Sasuke scoffed, "Beginners luck."
Hana gasped, "Wow- what's with the attitude, Uchiha?"
"Not everyone likes you, Shojo." Kakashi cooed next to her and pulled out his book again.
His comment broke Hana's heart, but obviously, she swallowed her feelings and pulled Naruto closer instead. He doesn't even know who I am, yet he hates me?
She scoffed. "You don't even know me, little Uchiha."
"Never asked to know you, Hanako." Sasuke calmly said
Hana stopped to look at him. "Why are you behaving like a little brat?"
Sakura and Naruto looked at her with wide eyes, but Hana tried to keep the perfect Pokerface.
Sakura quickly wrapped her arm around Sasuke's as he wanted to turn and confront Hana. "Sasuke-Kun.. stop this.."
"Stop what, Sakura? She's coming here and invading our Team, playing big, defeating Kakashi-" he snapped.
"Well, I knew him first, so who's invading, huh?" Hana snapped back and pressed her hands against her waist.
"Guys. Stop! She just came back a few days ago; might get to know her first before behaving like that, okay?" Kakashi raised his voice at them before shaking his head and entering Ichiraku's Ramen restaurant.
Hanako had to take a deep breath before following Kakashi inside, and they all sat down at the counter.
Tch. Fucking brat. At least something we have in common.
"Choose whatever you like. It's on me.. if- you still want this." Her eyes searched for Sasuke's, and he exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose when he looked down at Hana.
"I'm sorry, Hanako-san. I don't know what got into me. I don't know you. I'm sorry." He bowed down a little before placing his hand on the small of Sakura's back.
Hanako smiled softly and eyed him intensely. "No, don't worry about it. I'm sorry for calling you a brat."
He nodded softly and then returned to his conversation with Naruto and Sakura.
~~~~
Last Update: October 11th, 22'