Reference: Chapter 18
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Kakashi had jumped backward out of Orochimaru's reach right as Akira had throw the bomb. He had seen her pick up the rock and knew what was coming. The rock exploded against his back, sending him stumbling forward with a yell. What he hadn't expected was for Orochimaru to focus all of his attention solely on her, and completely disregard the rest of them. It would have been a good plan, if it weren't for the fact that they were facing a sannin.
Orochimaru turned to face Akira, bloodlust and killing intent seeping out of him in full force. Akira raised her kunai in front of her, but Kakashi could see the fear in her eyes. He felt his own fear.
His body moved on its own before Orochimaru even started forward. He formed a chidori and ran toward Akira. He had to get there. He had to get there before Orochimaru did.
Orochimaru blitzed forward, and Kakashi barely made it in time. He punched Orochimaru's outstretched hand with his left fist, then attacked with his chidori. Blood sprayed across his vest and mask as his right hand went straight through Orochimaru's shoulder. He was so angry, he hit the sannin so hard he sunk his arm in past his elbow.
Everything seemed to stop. Kakashi was breathing heavily, glaring at Orochimaru. His own killing intent was seeping out of him, his chakra spinning faster than it ever had before. Lightning flickered behind Orochimaru's shoulder, and Kakashi slowly pulled his hand out. His glove, sleeve, and forearm protector were covered in blood. The snake sannin glared at Kakashi for a moment, then leaped backward.
"I'll make you pay for that, Hatake." Then the sannin disappeared. Kakashi was breathing heavily. He lowered his arm, shaking a bit. He couldn't turn to look at Akira right now. He couldn't stand to see the fear in her eyes. She was alive. That's what mattered.
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"Goat, go relieve Fox. She's been out there long enough," Kakashi instructed his sensory team member. He had no doubt that the poor girl was probably exhausted after being on watch for almost twelve hours straight. Goat nodded and left the cave. A moment later, a very tired looking Akira entered.
Kakashi looked up at her as she took her mask off. Her face was weary, as if she had seen a thousand nightmares all at once. He supposed that in a way she had. Her emerald eyes were dull with exhaustion. She didn't even greet her captain, and instead immediately went to Kakashi's side, almost as if on instinct. She knelt down next to him, her leg bumping his. He could tell she was doing everything in her power to not lean on him in that moment. She was so tired, when she initially knelt down she almost slumped right into his side. He was about to tell her it was alright, to just go to sleep here. But then she put her hands over Fly's chest and began a healing jutsu.
He wanted to tell her to stop, but he also didn't want her to stop. He didn't want to lose Fly, and any medical help he could get he would take.
Akira was able to sustain the jutsu for a few minutes. Eventually though, she had to stop. She sat back on her heels and once again almost slumped into Kakashi's side. But she caught herself. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she wiped it away with her sleeve.
"Go get some rest, Akira." Kakashi whispered to her. He smiled slightly, even though she didn't look at him. "You've done enough. It's okay."
For once she didn't argue with him. She stood, using his shoulder as leverage to help herself up, and crossed the cave to where Bat was sleeping. Bat shifted over so she could share the open bag with him, and faced the wall. Akira practically collapsed onto the bag. She was asleep as soon as she hit the ground.
Kakashi watched her for a few minutes, making sure she was actually asleep. It was the most peaceful he had seen her look all day. She fit right in with the rest of the ANBU, and clearly her team had already accepted her as one of them. It made him extremely grateful.
"She's a good kid," Seek whispered, drawing Kakashi's attention. "But she's just a kid. She's too young to be out here doing this."
Kakashi sighed. "It's always been her dream to be in the ANBU. Ever since she was little."
"How long have you known her?"
The corner of Kakashi's mouth twisted upward. "Almost since she was a baby. My sensei was her uncle." Kakashi had known Seek for several years at that point, and trusted the man greatly. It was why he felt comfortable giving away this information that he normally kept closely guarded.
"Minato, huh?" Kakashi nodded. "That explains a lot. She's talented."
He nodded again.
"The team is very impressed by her skills. She had quite the showcase yesterday."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
Seek nodded and smirked. "Almost got the jump on me at one point. But her fighting style is very similar to Kishi's."
"He was her sensei for a few years."
"No wonder why she's already in the ANBU then."
Kakashi didn't respond. He dabbed at Fly's forehead a few more times, then soaked his rag again.
"Are you alright taking first shift?"
Kakashi glanced up at Seek. The poor guy looked exhausted, and like he was about to drop. And even though he felt about the same way, Kakashi nodded. Seek had definitely had the worst day between the two of them.
"Thanks."
Seek laid down right where he was at and quickly fell asleep, leaving Kakashi as the only one awake in the cave. He laid the cloth down on Fly's forehead, then stood and walked to the entrance of the cave. He made his way out into the forest to relieve himself. When he returned to the cave, he stopped next to where Akira was sleeping and knelt down next to her.
He scanned over her body for injuries, and was glad to see that other than the occasional scratch, she had come out of the battle unharmed. Physically anyway. He had no doubt that they would be having a long conversation about what had happened when they got back to the leaf. Akira hadn't grown up fighting on the front lines of a war, though she had seen plenty of the aftermath. She wasn't used to fights like the one they had had today. She really was still just a kid.
He shook his head at himself. Sometimes he forgot that he was only seventeen. He felt like an old man.
Kakashi brushed a piece of hair out of her face. He hoped that one day she would be strong enough to take down people as strong as Orochimaru on her own. That would be the day that he would no longer need to worry about her. As much.
He thought about the first time Akira had come to one of their practices, back when he was on Team Minato.
Kakashi saw her first. They were in the middle of running skuriken sets, and he caught sight of a little girl behind a tree watching him. She looked to be just a toddler, and had bright green eyes and red hair. What the heck was she doing here?
Kakashi stopped in the middle of his shuriken set and turned to his sensei who had been observing him. "Minato-sensei, there's a little girl over there." He said, annoyed. The dumb kid would get hurt with how Obito was throwing his shuriken.
Minato looked in the direction that Kakashi was pointing and smiled. "Obito, Rin. Let's take a break."
Obito and Rin stopped what they were turned, confused looks on their faces. They turned to look at their sensei. Kakashi crossed his arms and huffed.
Minato walked over to the tree that the girl was hiding behind. "Come out, come out, Akira, I see you!" He called playfully.
There was a giggle from the tree. Kakashi rolled his eyes and threw his shuriken he still held in his hand across the field and into the target on the post. Then he walked over to it and sat down at the base, glaring at the ground. This was stupid. He wanted to train, and some dumb little kid was interrupting and causing a fuss. Training was supposed to be a time for focusing and honing skills. Not unnecessary distractions.
Obito and Rin had followed at a distance behind Minato. Minato teleported behind the tree, and a small scream echoed across the field, followed by laughter.
He came out of the trees holding the little girl on his hip, smiling at her.
"Who's that, Minato-sensei?" Rin asked with a smile on her face.
"Obito, Rin, this is Akira. My niece."
Kakashi rolled his eyes again. Great. Just great. Now they were going to have to babysit because Minato is related to the damn kid. His sulking was suddenly disrupted.
"Kakashi, come over and say hi!" Rin called out to him.
"No," he snapped.
Rin rolled her eyes and walked across the field toward him, while Obito started poking the girl's sides, making her squirm and giggle.
"Oh come on, Kakashi. We've been training for hours, we can take a fifteen minute break. Besides, she's cute!" Rin said as she approached him.
"I don't like kids."
Rin grabbed his wrist and yanked him to her feet.
"Hey!" Kakashi protested. Rin dragged him along behind her until Kakashi finally fully regained his balance. "Alright, alright, fine. Stop pulling!"
She didn't let go of his wrist until he was standing in front of Minato. Rin let go of him and started gushing over Akira.
"She's so cute, Minato-sensei! How old is she?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms again.
"I'm three!" The girl shouted, and thrust out a hand with three fingers up.
Rin giggled. "Wow, you're already a big girl! Are you going to be a ninja, Akira?"
The girl nodded eagerly. "Yes! Just like my mommy and daddy, and Uncle Minato!"
Obito tried to poke her again, but she caught his finger and held it in her little fist. Obito laughed as Akira shook his hand back and forth.
"I'm going to throw the shur-ken just like you guys!"
Minato chuckled. "Yes, but only with an adult around, right?"
The girl pouted. "I know."
Minato turned his attention to Kakashi, who still stood several feet away. "Come introduce yourself, Kakashi."
He lowered his arms and took a couple steps forward so he was standing next to Obito. It irked him that he was still a few inches shorter than his teammate.
"Hello." He said shortly.
The girl gave him a big smile. "Hi! I'm Akira!"
"I'm Kakashi." There was something about the way she looked at him that had him a bit on guard. As if she were able to read him. Her smile had shifted to one that seemed almost understanding. Acceptance. It caused a long forgotten ache in his chest.
Kakashi bit his lip and shook himself out of his thoughts. He focused instead on the fact his training session was interrupted, even more so than it usually was even with all of Obito's annoying antics everyday.
"Alright Akira, how about I take you home now, okay?" Minato said.
Akira pouted. "Aw, but I want to train too!"
"You'll have to ask your mom to train you. I can't today, I'm sorry."
"I can come train with you later, Akira!" Rin offered.
"Yeah, I'll come too!" Obito added quickly, his cheeks turning bright red. Kakashi rolled his eyes.
Akira's face lit up. "Really? Can they train me, Uncle Minato?"
Minato chuckled. "Sure."
They said their goodbyes, then Minato teleported away with Akira.
Rin squealed. "She's so cute! I love her red hair, it's just like Kushina's."
Kakashi ignored Obito and Rin, who were talking about Akira, and went back over to the target. He resumed practicing throwing his shuriken, still annoyed by the interruption. At one point his two teammates came over and asked him what he thought about her.
"She's annoying."
Kakashi couldn't believe how much his opinion had changed since then. Sure, she still annoyed him every once in a while, but now he didn't get angry every time he saw her. After the initial meeting, Akira would show up about once a month to one of their trainings. She would hide behind the trees until one of them saw her, usually, Kakashi being the first to spot her. Then she would come running out and try to tackle either Obito or Rin. He had always made sure to avoid her when she charged at him. They would take a break and play with her for a few minutes, then Minato would take her home. It wasn't until she turned five that Minato started allowing her to train with them occasionally.
Kakashi had hated that. Though his sensei had done a decent job of distracting her so that the four of them could actually train. But Minato-sensei always insisted that they all walk her home together. Akira would hold Obito and Rin's hands while walking back to her house, and Kakashi would hang behind a few steps, glaring at the ground. Minato would come with them, and the only reason Kakashi didn't try to run away was because those were the nights that the four of them would go out for barbeque together, his sensei's treat. Minato was constantly trying to get them to work on their teamwork, and this was one of the ways in which he did that.
His opinion of her didn't change until the day she chased him through the forest. She and Obito had caught up to him, and when he had sped up Obito had tripped while Akira kept going. He had to admit, she was decent for her age.
But then she had fallen out of a tree. Kakashi had purposely taken a different route than he knew the rest of the team would take in an effort to lose the kid. He had realized that she must have been a sensory type or something though because no matter what he did she would always catch up eventually. Thus, it had kind of been his fault that she had gotten hurt.
Kakashi jumped over a boulder.
"Stupid kid," he snarled. He ducked under a branch and put on another burst of speed. He heard a crack from behind him, and a second later, a scream.
He skidded to a stop, panting slightly. That hadn't sounded good. He knew he couldn't just leave her out here, Minato-sensei would be furious with him.
He jogged back in the direction the scream had come from. He rounded the boulder and saw Akira lying on the ground on her left side, her arm pinned underneath her and twisted strangely. She had a small cut on her forehead that was bleeding, and her right elbow and knee were scraped.
"Really, Akira? You're hopeless." He snapped. But still, he knelt down beside her and rolled her onto her back.
"It hurts!" Akira said through tears.
"What hurts?" Kakashi helped her sit up. "Your knee?"
"My shoulder. I can't move my arm."
Kakashi looked down at her shoulder and his eyes widened. "Well yeah, because you dislocated your shoulder." The joint was clearly disfigured, he could tell that much even through her shirt. There was an odd bulge at the front of her shoulder.
Akira started to cry harder.
"Ugh, be quiet! I'll put it back in."
Kakashi picked Akira up and laid her down on a flat rock nearby. He helped her roll onto her stomach, her left arm hanging over the edge of the rock. Then he slowly pulled downwards on her arm, increasing pressure until there was a distinct pop and her shoulder popped back into place. Akira wailed.
"Owy, owy, owy!" She cried.
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You'll be fine. Come on."
He turned around and crouched down. Akira wiped her tears and sat up. She slid off the rock and climbed onto Kakashi's back. He picked her up, carrying her on a piggyback ride. He walked a few steps before he started to jog again. Akira held her left arm to her chest, firmly gripping the front of his brown belt over his right shoulder with her right hand. Kakashi kept a firm grip on her legs, and took the easiest route he could.
"Be more careful next time," he grumbled.
Akira nodded. She sniffed. "Am I gonna be in trouble?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes again. "No, Akira, you're not in trouble. But I am taking you home."
She started to tear up again. "But I want to train!"
"No. You just dislocated your shoulder. You're going to the hospital."
"But–"
"No!" He snapped. "You're going to the hospital, and that's final!"
Akira started to cry again, though more quietly. "Why do you always have to be so mean?" She asked. Kakashi didn't answer. Though for some reason, her words stung a bit.
They arrived in her neighborhood and Kakashi slowed his jog to a walk. There were a lot more people here, and trying to dodge them all would have been difficult. Even over the rooftops, there were too many obstacles to carry Akira through safely.
"At least I got to run with a bit of weight. I guess I can still count this as training." Kakashi muttered to himself. He knew Minato-sensei would be wondering where they were at. He had no doubt that the rest of his team was probably pretty close to finishing their run by now.
Akira was still sniffling but wasn't crying anymore. She yawned and laid her head down on his left shoulder. Kakashi glanced at her when her red hair fell over his shoulder but didn't say anything. She closed her eyes. Her breathing turned into a steady rhythm and her grip loosened on his belt. Kakashi leaned forward a little bit to keep her from falling off.
He rounded the corner onto her street and immediately caught sight of Akira's mom walking down the street away from them.
"Ms. Daisuke!" He called out. She stopped and turned to face him. She saw her daughter, and her features twisted with worry.
She met them halfway down the street.
"Oh dear, what happened, Kakashi?"
"She fell out of a tree and dislocated her shoulder." He said. He gently bounced Akira, trying to wake her up. She didn't stir. Probably used too much chakra chasing him.
Her mother reached out for her. "Akira, wake up."
She lifted her head off of Kakashi's shoulder and looked around.
"Come here, sweetie," her mother said. She lifted her off of Kakashi's back and held her on her hip. Akira laid her head down on her mom's shoulder, cradling her left arm against her stomach.
"Thank you for taking me home, Kashi. Have fun training." Akira said sleepily. She yawned again.
"Yes, thank you, Kakashi. Take care."
Kakashi nodded. "Feel better, Akira." Then he took off running down the street towards the training grounds.
Kashi?
He realized now that that had been the first time that Akira had called him by the nickname he was now so familiar with. She had rarely referred to him by his name before that. When he had gotten back to the training ground, Minato-sensei was already there, along with Obito and Rin. All three of them looked very worried.
"Kakashi? Where's Akira?" Minato-sensei asked, frowning.
Kakashi shrugged. "I took her home. She fell while chasing me and got hurt."
Rin gasped. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she dislocated her shoulder, but she's fine. Her mom is taking her to the hospital."
"It's your fault, Kakashi!" Obito said accusingly, pointing a finger at Kakashi. Kakashi clenched his fists in anger. "You shouldn't have gone so fast!"
Kakashi opened his mouth to respond, but Minato beat him to it.
"That's enough, Obito. It's not Kakashi's fault. What matters is she's okay. Let's get back to training."
He could tell that Minato wasn't very happy with him, but Kakashi had done his best to act like it didn't bother him. Which in hindsight, probably made things worse. He stared into the fire, thinking about what Akira had said that day, and why it had affected him so much.
It wasn't like he hadn't been called mean before. Obito had called him all kinds of names. But something about a five-year-old he barely interacted with calling him mean was different. He tried to make an effort to be a bit nicer to her, mostly for Minato's sake. Then, that mission had happened.
Kakashi shook his head to get himself out of the memories. He looked back over at Akira. Minato had always wanted Akira and his team to get along. The little girl had been a really important part of his sensei's life. He used to chastise Kakashi and Akira for arguing with each other so much. But at the end of the lecture, he always told them that he believed they would one day get along.
Look at us now, sensei. I guess you were right, I did come around.
Here he was, throwing himself in front of a sannin's killing blow to save her. He hoped his late sensei would be proud.