Fuyu was unsure if she liked the changes happening to her.
Konoha's Ice Princess. That's what they had called her recently from the invasion. Funny, she was always keeping her bloodline a secret to avoid people from hating her, only to screw up during the Konoha Crush. She noticed how people see her now when she walks down the street. Most of the children would be amazed, some ran away while a few were pulled away by their over-protective parents.
Fuyu even heard rumours on killing her because of reasons like 'this bloodline is deadly.' or 'are you sure she's not from the Hidden Mist?' It hurts, but she has to put on a brave face for this. A few other rumours she had picked up was the versions she had overheard about her attacks during the invasion. Some had included the word sadistic, ruthless and a saviour with a split personality to her attacks.
Touche.
The next day, Fuyu attended the Sandaime's funeral, which she grieved along with Konohamaru and Iruka. The three who were closest to the Third alongside the other villagers stood under the rain as they promised themselves to remember the Sandaime's sacrifice. Fuyu overheard Naruto's conversation with Iruka and Kakashi and sighed as she couldn't agree more to their words herself.
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It was sunset at Konoha. Fuyu sat on the Sandaime's hair at the Hokage Rock, watching as the sun slowly descends itself. The sunlight reflected her green eyes beautifully, even when Fuyu was clearly lost in thoughts. She remembered the memories of the Third founding her all alone at Konoha's gate before taking her into his custody. The times where she and Iruka would go and play pranks on Hiruzen replayed freshly in front if her eyes. She misses the Sandaime dearly now.
"Iruka told me I would find you here." Fuyu remained silent, somehow encouraging the figure to come towards her. "Forgive me for asking, but why do you like sitting on the Third's head, Fuyu? It's so pointy and...." Fuyu looked at Kakashi, her eyes telling him to shut up. "If you haven't noticed... almost all of our Hokage had pointy hair during their youth."
Kakashi slightly hummed. She left him to his own thoughts as she watched the sunset eagerly. 'Must be nice to be able to watch the sunset every day.' She patted the rock underneath her, muttering to it as if it was alive. The sky slowly changed its colour as Kakashi sat next to her. "You don't seem to mourn the Third as bad as when you mourned for Haku." The skies had finally been decorated with the stars. Fuyu looked up, enjoying the view of the stars twinkling up above.
"Sandaime-sama.... He has lots of people to mourn for him. He has his own son, grandson and thousands of people to remember him in their thoughts. Haku... heck, he killed his own father, who killed his mother. Just so you know." Hugging herself, she continued talking about Haku.
"I met Haku when I was travelling alone at the Land of Water. He was all alone, and we were both afraid of each other. Then we realised we had the same curse and practised together in improving our skills." She looked at a specific star, eyes twinkling as she remembered her younger self-training with Haku. The star seemed to twinkle brightly that night. It was like Haku was watching her from the skies.
"I'm kinda glad that he finally had found someone to protect and died from protecting the one he cares about." Tears started to flow down her cheeks, but Fuyu decided to ignore it. "Don't take the blame on yourself. Haku died to protect someone he cared." She gave Kakashi a rather wide smile plastered on her face. Kakashi raised a brow, surprised at the smile. They both continued to watch the starry skies as the cold wind blew through them.
"You aren't going to train today?" Fuyu shook her head, finally standing up. "Well then. Would you mind if I escort you to somewhere?" She thought for awhile, nodding to agree. "Alright then. But, you might want to hurry now." The Copy Ninja caught up to her quickly. "Anything for the Ice Princess." He snickered.
Fuyu was so close to throwing Hatake Kakashi off from the Hokage Rock.
They walked along the Konoha streets, Kakashi with the book in his hands while Fuyu looked around the streets. Fuyu noticed people looking at them, whispering as they passed through the crowd. She began to distance herself further from the jounin. "What's wrong?" Kakashi closed his book, noticing Fuyu's action as he tried to close their distance again. Fuyu glanced at the people on the streets before looking back at the man beside her.
"Ah, ignore them. It's not like the Ice Princess will suddenly attack all my fans with her weapons or something." He pulled her closer to himself. "And I did say I'll escort the Ice Princess, right?" Fuyu felt her face turned bright red. "Now, does the princess wants some barbeque tonight?"
They arrived in front of Yakiniku Q a few minutes later. The kunoichi took out her purse, sighing as she shook the purse lightly. "Can we split the fare in half?" Kakashi stifled a giggle at Fuyu's request. Well, she's still a teenager in a way. "We don't have to pay, come on." Well, you don't. He thought to himself. They entered the restaurant to be greeted by numerous jounin inside.
"It seems like my arch rival had arrived with a partner." Guy appeared in front of them, inspecting Fuyu from head to toe. "And what an interesting partner does he have." Guy patted Kakashi, possibly a bit too strong as Kakashi nearly fell down. "The Ice Princess herself. Man, Kakashi, you're such a lady magnet." Guy whispered. Fuyu looked confused and turned to Kurenai for some explanation.
"Starting from tomorrow, all of us are going to have tons of mission. So do enjoy tonight's feast, it might be some time till we have some leisure again." Kurenai almost gave her beer when she realized something. "Oh, you're underage." Kurenai laughed as Fuyu took the orange juice from her hands with a sour face. "Don't worry," She cheered her up. "When you're already of age, I'll celebrate it with you. Promise." Fuyu smiled at Kurenai as she took a seat beside her. "My birthday isn't that far anyway. I don't really mind." She stared at the bottle of orange juice reserved just for her.
'Maybe I do mind... just a little..' Sighing, Fuyu gulped down a glass of juice in a nick of time. She watched Kakashi and Guy do their typical one-sided competition as she ate the meat. Kurenai noticed her watching as Fuyu giggled a bit.
"Ah... those two are always at their so-called competitions. It gets boring when you watched it for years." Fuyu continued to drink her juice, pissed a bit as the juice was quite warm. She did a small Hyoton and cooled the drink. "Eh, stop playing with your jutsu you little punk." Fuyu turned at Asuma before she playfully flicked her hands, showing her ice needles. Asuma became quiet immediately, much to Fuyu's pleasure. "Man, how does Iruka survive with you?" Asuma groaned, entertaining both Kurenai and Fuyu.
It was late at midnight when their feast ended. Fuyu thanked all the jounin for the food (she didn't have to pay at all because she was underage.) The girl had walked along the streets alone when she felt a presence of a familiar chakra. She looked up and her eyes locked with Kakashi's once more. "I thought you were joking about the protecting the Ice Princess thing." The ninja jumped down from the tree, landing right in front of her. "Well, it's already past midnight. It's way more dangerous to walk alone for a girl." They continued walking side by side once more. "Besides, I think I should know where you live in case you fainted again." Fuyu rolled her eyes.
"I think you could have just ask Iruka about that."
"That would be a really cowardly action."
"And asking him where I would usually be wasn't a cowardly action??"
"Nobody sits on a Hokage's head just to watch the sunset. Heck, nobody would dare to sit on any of the Hokage's head." Fuyu smiled.
"That's why I'm special."
"More like a spoilt child," Kakashi replied.
They stopped walking as they reached Fuyu's apartment. "Thank you for accompanying me. And inviting me to the restaurant. It was nice." She turned to go to her apartment when Kakashi pulled her into his arms. He turned her so they were looking at each other. The last time they were this close, Fuyu remembered, was when she wanted to shred him to living pieces.
Being this close, in the middle of the night is actually making someone feeling a bit uneasy as Fuyu blushed a really bright red right now. They continued this pose for a few more seconds before Kakashi started to come closer. Fuyu closed her eyes, her loud heartbeat ringing in her ears.
"Goodnight, Ohime-sama." He let her go right after he whispered those words to her ears. Fuyu turned around, ice needles in her hands to literally stab the ninja when she noticed he had disappeared. Face still bright red, she threw the ice needles to the nearest tree. "He's really going to get it soon." Stomping, she entered the building and slammed her door shut.
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"You left early yesterday." Asuma greeted the silver haired jounin the moment he entered the Jounin Standby Station. "Were you chasing someone?" Kakashi maintained his lazy expression, even if he was blushing softly underneath the mask. "It is dangerous for a woman to walk alone in the streets at night. You walked Kurenai home too, right?" The Sarutobi sighed before he took a new cigarette and smoked. "Kakashi, we're talking about a 19-year old that fought with ninjas from the Sand and Sound alone during the Konoha Crush. We're also talking about a girl who has Ice Release inside her. Asuma patted Kakashi at the back, giving him a sincere smile. "Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid to her."
"I didn't." He looked through the window. Seeing a figure he could recognized from far, he continued to look at the window. "I just whispered her goodnight." Kakashi watched as Fuyu and Iruka walked together through the busy streets of Konoha. Iruka seemed like he was trying to calm the former down, which failed endlessly.
Fuyu looked up and apparently saw Kakashi inside the building. She took out her ice needles and pointed it to Kakashi before dragging Iruka along with her. "Well, I guess I'll be going now." Kakashi waved Asuma goodbye. "If she comes here, please tell her I wasn't here." With a puff of smoke, Hatake Kakashi disappeared.
Just in time too, as the door slammed open and an angry Fuyu came inside. "He left." She let out a loud 'tch' and slumped at the nearest seat beside her. Asuma continued to smoke, letting the young jounin calm herself first. "So, how was yesterday?" Fuyu looked at Asuma with confusion before she remembered yesterday's event. "Ah, it was... fun."
"Glad you enjoyed yourself." Asuma put the cigarette away for a few seconds before smoking once more. "I was actually surprised when you came with Kakashi. I thought you guys came together because you accidently met at the streets. When he told Guy he accompanied you... my, everyone was really surprised. Heck, this is the first time I saw him walking someone home." Fuyu kept her poker face still, waiting for Asuma to continue. "I think it's nice for the guy to have this new attitude. You're a positive vibe for him."
"That's.... nice." She could only think of that as a reply. Smooth, Fuyu. She stood up and walked towards the exit. Stopping as Asuma called her.
"Fuyu... " He looked at her like she was going to bring hope to the world. "Keep up the good work."
Fuyu didn't slam the door shut this time.