There was a cool draft that blew through that place.
With the wooden post split, only silence could follow. Everyone, aside from Aiko, was shocked. The wood groaned slightly, and a few moments later the wood snapped. The gap grew at lightning speed up the post and practically severed the straw dummy in half.
" Good jo-job, Megumi..." Iruka stuttered. " An early bloomer? -Just like her father." He then mused under his breath.
The silverette child closed her mouth finally before letting out a loud woop! She fist pumped excitedly and grinned almost cheekily at Aiko. " Did'ya see that, Mama!? It broke! I can't believe it! Woo, woo!"
Aiko laughed loudly and clapped her hands, saying, " Amazing! But don't lose focus!" Megumi nodded avidly, though the smile didn't leave her face. Resuming the stance she had before, though with a different dummy, Megumi took out another kunai.
Although she'd split the dummy, that wasn't part of the testing and so Megumi had lost a few marks for that. Nevertheless, she attempted it again. Turning her body to the side, she took a kunai by it's hilt and threw it like a dart. It hit the dummy a little way above the heart, and not nearly as deep as before. The second kunai she threw, was held by the handle and swung almost like a Frisbee from her chest and outwards. This one was no better. It managed to lodge itself not directly in the stomach, but around the area of the spleen. It wouldn't stop someone immediately, though they would eventually bleed out.
Luckily the final was far better. With her forefinger on the ridge of the kunai, she flung it swiftly like a baseball. This time Megumi bettered her stance, digging her heel into the ground and squaring her shoulders. Not only that, but even her aim was better. The kunai made a dull thud as it pierced the fabric of the dummy's forehead.
" Hmph, average aim." The President muttered, scrawling messy notes on his clip board.
Iruka's lip curled slightly in annoyance. The President had been rather shrewd and arrogant for as long as he could remember. It wasn't in his nature to approve of students who were even slightly spirited. He seemed to prefer the old-school stoic, obedient and skilled shinobi, as opposed to one who was willing to have a slight knowledge of free will. With a cold smile, Iruka's notes were quite different.
' Better than average aim. Good stance. Notable strength. Quite a spirited girl.'
The next assessment was testing her flexibility, agility and speed. Simple enough. As expected, Megumi's flexibility was acceptable enough. Agility and speed higher than normal, however. Not a lot, though enough to be noticed.
After that, Iruka began to ask the standard questions such as: 'How many lethal pressure points are there on an average-skilled genin?' and 'Under what circumstances may a civilian be taken into custody?' Unfortunately, her mind didn't quite match the strength of her body.
" She's not that bright?" The Hokage murmured, leaning down to Aiko. She smiled back grimly and shook her head. That was Megumi's one big let down. Although she could be considered better than average skill-wise, she was below average when it came to intelligence.
" I honestly don't know where she got it from." Aiko sighed and continued. " It's a little sad sometimes, but she's still a good kid."
" Did you train her yourself?" Then asked Kakashi. His eye never left the little girl on the field who was desperately trying to answer the questions being asked of her.
Aiko nodded. " Yeah. With everything that was going on in Suna, I really thought it was best to train her up fast." She wrapped her skinny arms around herself and shivered slightly, golden eyes fixed on nothing in particular. " I just hope I didn't take away her childhood too early."
" I don't think you did." Kakashi muttered.
" Maybe. I don't know. It might not matter anymore."
" Why?"
Her eyes flickered briefly to him before glazing over. Another sigh followed. " There's something very wrong with her." He looked shocked for a moment. " She's so hateful and I don't know why. She's only a child, so I can't understand why she hates you so much..."
" What!?"
" She hates her father. It's ridiculous." Aiko whispered with a pained expression.
The Hokage took a small drawl from his pipe. Both watched him with silent curiosity, both knowing he was about to speak. " Is that much of an issue?"
" I don't understand, Lord Hokage."
" You don't need to, Aiko." He said quickly. As he remained silent, Aiko stared at him. His skin was wrinkled and leathery, with thick crows feet stemming from the corners of his eyes. The spark in his gaze hadn't faded, but in the same way he seemed drawn and tired, " I'm sure you probably though of this already, but Megumi doesn't know Kakashi is her father. Let her get to know him, then maybe she'll understand."
Aiko nodded. " That's what I was going to do." She crossed her arms tensely. " But there's always the possibility that she won't stop hating."
" Oh come now, no matter what she feels, she is still a child. She'll forgive him." He rebuked. Without giving her a second to reply, he continued. " Let's just watch for a while. We can think about it later."
" Does she really hate me?" Kakashi finally whispered to Aiko. The look in his eye held no malice, only heartbreak, yet she shivered and took a step away. From what she could tell, his expression fell. He seemed defeated.
Her mouth went dry and hands fidgety. " Let's just watch." Was her only reply.
Kakashi's heart twisted violently in his chest. Why was she being so cold? Surely she hadn't changed so much that when he asked to be a family again, the only thing she could do was scream at him. Acting as if he was an uninvolved stranger over simple questions. How much was she hurting? He watched her a little longer before shutting his eye. This was getting complicated.
The woman turned her head away shamefully when she felt Kakashi's gaze on her. Goosebumps appeared on her scarred arms and her face lost all its colour. Only faintly could Aiko hear Megumi bickering loudly with the President. Could she and Kakashi not ever see each other without something going wrong? Maybe there was too much history.
" Kakashi-sensei!" That single shout brought her from her wandering thoughts. Sensei!? She twisted her head to face the direction in which the voice had come from.
Three genin, all of the same age yet varying heights, approached the training field. The one on the left was, undoubtedly, a Uchiha. His striking onyx eyes, blue-tinted hair and startling white skin were dead give aways. And that expression. Itachi Uchiha...
She finally dragged her eyes away from the boy and look at the girl on the right. Tall and pretty with silky pink hair, she didn't seem much of a kunoichi. Her arms were thin, frail and expression too single-minded.
However, the one that caught her attention the most was the boy in the middle. Although he was comparatively shorter than the two flanking, he was the most confident. His vivid cerulean eyes were mischievous and curious at the same time, highlighted by a mane of blonde hair. The smile cut deep. Naruto?
" What are you three doing here?" Kakashi asked boredly, all traces of unhappiness gone, now replaced by a stoic displeasure. He shoved his hands in his pockets and continued to slouch slightly.
" Training, obviously!" Naruto snorted, fiddling with the forehead protector tied tightly around his head. " Hey, who's this, Sensei?"
" My name's Aiko Mikotai." Aiko said with a slight bow of her head. She gave the boy a closed eye smile, though he didn't return it. His eyes travelled all along her arms, neck and face, assessing and judging her scars. Aiko blew out a small mushroom cloud and said, " You don't have to stare at them. I know they're there."
Naruto immediately flushed bright red. " I wasn't!" He whined like a petulant child. She cocked an eyebrow at him.
Suddenly, the girl beside him slammed her fist over the top of his head. Naruto face-planted with an agonised groan, and barely managed to pick himself up. The girl did not seem impressed. Aiko blinked in surprise.
" IDIOT! Don't do that!" She screeched.
" Do what?" He held the lump on his head between his laced fingers, cowering from the girl's evil aura.
The Uchiha 'hn'ed and rolled his eyes. " Don't be such an idiot, Naruto." All the while his face remained perfectly composed. " You're a disgrace."
" I was about to say that, Sasuke!" The girl agreed, clasping her hands together. No matter how you looked at it, after that display of immense strength and aggression it was hard to find the girl cute anymore.
Naruto pouted, his bottom lip sticking out sadly. " How can you side with teme, Sakura? That's not fa-"
" IDIOT!" Another blow to the head. Aiko wondered how often this strange cycle occurred. She could already tell the Sasuke was the disinterested prick, Naruto the overly enthusiastic wannabe and Sakura the love-struck child who only become a kunoichi because of a boy.
Kakashi sighed and looked at Aiko, hoping to catch her attention more than he had managed previously in the day. " Well, this is my team."
Aiko eyed them suspiciously. " Odd bunch." They didn't seem like much...
" Don't doubt them. They're quite capable."
" Of course." She mumbled. " My bad." Naruto seemed different to when she had last seen him. Back then he was only a little boy, but now... It was hard to tell. He'd matured, grown, hopefully made some memories of his own, but this boy was completely different. He didn't seem to notice her staring as he bickered with Sasuke.
"... Mama?"
" What? Oh right." She looked down to see Megumi latched onto her leg. When did she come? " Hello, Sweetie."
" Hello Mama. Why are we saying hello? I didn't go anywhere. Unless you did." She then began to pout. " Where did you go? Did you have fun without me?"
Aiko chuckled under her breath and replied with, " No, no. I didn't go anywhere. I was here the whole time."
Sasuke blinked in surprise, staring at the little girl. Silver hair. Onyx eyes. Fair skin. Slender frame. His eyes flickered too his sensei. There was something truly strange about his expression. It was soft, somewhat, but also happy and cautious at the same time. Was this his family? But why then did the woman have a different last name? He stood at a safe enough distance, though close enough to suggest he was friendly with her.
This was truly strange. He would have to investigate.
In all honesty, it looked like a perfect family portrait, yet behind it it was all tatters and ruins. Nothing stood but a crumbling foundation of previous affection.
" Well it was nice meeting you, Miss Mikotai, but we were heading to the training grounds. Right, Sasuke?" Sakura said pertly, receiving an understanding nod from Aiko.
" Hn."
" You can't just 'hn' at everything, bastard!"
" ..."
" Are you ignoring me!?"
" Don't call Sasuke a bastard, bastard!"
" But Sakura!"
" You're just jealous of him!"
" As if I'd be jealous of that idiot."
Kakashi sighed again. " Unfortunately we're not going to get much peace and quiet with my team around. Why don't we head somewhere else?" He said as Team Seven began to move away.
" No. Megumi and I will be going back to Kurenai's place. Maybe we'll see you 'round." Aiko said dully.
" R-Right." Oh no, he just started. Kakashi was losing his faultless mask.
" See you around then. Maybe you and Megumi can get to know each other?" She suggested. Listening to the Hokage was definitely her best option, although an annoying one. Sometimes she thought the Hokage was just trying to get her Kakashi back together. That would never happen. Ever. Aiko promised she would never crawl back to him. Never.
" Mmm, bye."
Neither saw each other for a while.
-- Dun dun dun! Nothing really happened. Sorry. --