"Daddy! Daddy!" I clung to his leg, sitting on his foot as he tried to walk forward.
"Yes, Yo-yo?"
"Are you going on a mission?"
He reached down and picked me up so that I was in line with his face. His hazel eyes were identical to my own, and I stared into them with pure adoration.
"I'll be back in a few weeks."
I pouted hoping that my puppy eyes would be enough to keep him from leaving, "But do you have to? I don't like it when you leave me with Mother, she's so grumpy."
He sighed and his eyes were filled with sadness for a millisecond, "I'm really sorry, but that's just the way that she is."
"Why'd you marry her then?"
He poked my nose, "If I hadn't married her, then I never would have had you, Yo-yo." I giggled and poked his nose back. "Now, I want you to be a good girl while I'm gone, alright?" I nodded as he started throwing me up in the air and catching me as I squealed and laughed in delight.
He stood at the door with his backpack on and ninja gear fully equipped.
"Dad, do you really have to leave?"
He knelt down in front of me and poked my nose, "I'm a ninja, Yo-yo. This is what I do. You've been at the Academy for a couple months now so you must know something about being a ninja and what it means to the village."
I rubbed the tip of my nose vigorously and looked at the ground, "I'll be a great ninja like you someday. Just you wait. I might even become Hokage!"
He chuckled and reached into his back pocket. "I can't wait to see your carved face. Until then, this is for you."
He held out a lime green yo-yo, and I took it from his hand reverently. On one side were the words: "For my precious Yo-yo."
I gave him a big hug and started putting the string around the middle finger on my left hand. "By the time you're home from your mission, I'll be able to do lots of different tricks. I can't wait to go and show Kashi! I wonder if he knows any yo-yo tricks that he could teach me."
Dad laughed as he stood up to leave, "Well, I'm sure the he would love to help you learn some fun tricks. I'd better go now... Be nice to your mother while I'm gone, and I'll be back before you know it."
"Bye Daddy!"
"Goodbye, Yo-yo."
He left, and I stood in the doorway and watched as his silhouette disappeared down the road.
"Kaiyo, shut that door now. You're going to let in bugs."
"Yes, Mother." I shut the door and slipped inside, holding the yo-yo close to my small chest.
"Kanaye will be staying over while your father is gone. He's going to help around the house."
I froze. I hated Kanaye. He was so creepy and weird. But, I remembered what Dad had told me about being nice to my mother so I simply said, "Do you want me to get the guest room ready?"
"No need."
I tilted my head to the side in confusion, "Where's he going to sleep?"
"That's none of your concern."
"Yes, Mother."
There was a knock at the door, and Mother opened it quickly.
"Nori! Looking lovely as always." A man stood at the door. His smug face looked down at me, and the gaze of his murky-brown eyes made me shudder. "Oh my, Kaiyo, look at how big you've grown." He knelt down and pretended like we were close, "How old are you now, four?"
"Five." I crossed my arms in anger.
"Kaiyo!" Mother snapped at me. "Be polite to our guest."
"Yes, Mother."
She shooed me with her hand, "Now run along."
And run I did. I sprinted to the only place where I knew that I could go any time: the Hatake household.
Kakashi opened the door, "Hey, Kai, what's up?"
I stepped inside, "Dad's on a mission, and Mother invited Kanaye to stay."
I could see his nose wrinkle up in disgust above his ever-present mask. "He's really creepy."
Sakumo walked in, "So are you here to get away from him?"
I nodded.
I had never seen the White Fang look so angry, "I'll talk to your mother about letting you stay here for the time being." As he walked to the phone I could barely hear him mutter under his breath, "How could Nori do that to Dai while he's out on a mission?"
A few minutes later, Sakumo came back, "Kaiyo, go home and get your overnight stuff; you'll be staying with us for a while."
"Okay, thanks Sakumo!"
I ran home and Kanaye opened up the door for me, "Hello there, Kaiyo. Here for your things?"
I glared at him, and stepped inside. Five-year-olds have no poker-face so he knew exactly what I felt about him.
I spent the next two weeks at the Hatake's and was eternally grateful for being able to avoid Kanaye. He made my skin crawl with his deceitful eyes and the stares that they gave my mother. He would always try to act like my friend, but I knew that he disliked me as much as Mother did. The worst part about him was how he seemed to have dual natures. In front of most people, he was light-hearted and would always do stupid card tricks and pretend to read the future. People hailed him as the life of the party and an eternal "class-clown." But, in front of my mother he'd change. Kanaye would become cold just like her. Cold and cruel, all of the pretend humor and fun wiped away from his delicate face.
Kakashi and I were playing when I heard Sakumo arrive home from visiting the Hokage.
"Nori, she's right inside the living room."
"Why do I need to know that?"
"You are going to tell Kaiyo, aren't you?"
"No. I have no desire to see her tears. Emotions like that make me sick; they only lessen one's ability to be a shinobi. If the girl can't follow rule number twenty-five, then she has no right becoming a ninja."
"Dear god, Nori, she's five. Cut her some slack. What five-year-old can control all of their emotions, especially with something like this?"
I had stopped playing with my new yo-yo, and it dangled down from my middle finger like a pendulum. There were footsteps in the entry-way followed by the sound of the door opening and closing.
Sakumo walked in with a sad look on his face.
"Kaiyo, can you come here a minute?"
"Yeah." I walked up and each step felt like it was bringing me closer to my doom.
"You might want to sit down." So I did. "We've just received some news from the war front. Dai Kimura has fallen in battle."
It took me a moment to process what he had said, but then my young brain finally clicked: Dai equals Dad. That meant that Dad had fallen. Dad was dead.
"You-you're lying. He couldn't die."
Sakumo bent down and picked me up, holding me close, "I'm sorry, Kaiyo, but he's gone."
"But-but he can't be! I never got to show him my new yo-yo tricks."
I sobbed and screamed and yelled until my body simply gave out, and I fell asleep.
Dad's smiling face filled my dreams, "Goodbye, Yo-yo." I woke up with tear tracks down my face.
I pulled myself out of bed and realized that I had no idea how I had gotten there the night before. I was in the bed that I would always use when I stayed at Kakashi's so at least that meant that they hadn't taken me home to be with my mother and Kanaye just yet. With a yawn, I started to walk to the kitchen, but Kakashi stopped me.
"You don't want to go in there right now."
"Why?" I yawned.
Kakashi started to lead me to his room, "Because my dad's talking to your mom, and I don't think that you want to hear them."
I looked up at him, "Kashi, is my dad really g-gone?"
He nodded, and I broke down again. My dad was my entire life. He was the one person in the whole world that I knew would always love me unconditionally no matter what, and for a five-year-old, that's the most important thing.
Kakashi hugged me as we heard snippets of what was being said in the kitchen.
"She's five, do you know hard this..."
"...never wanted children in the first place."
"Dai loved you and Kaiyo, but you never..."
"He's the reason that I..."
Mother came into the room looking angry enough to sour milk, "Kaiyo, we're heading home now."
"I don't wanna."
"Come, now. We have to get ready for the funeral."
As we walked out, Sakumo gave my mother an intense look, "Nori, remember what I said. You should keep Kanaye away from Kaiyo, his presence isn't good for her right now."
"Yes, of course, Captain Sakumo." She sneered back, "Because Kaiyo's happiness is the most important thing of all."
Sakumo smiled, "I'm glad to hear that you're starting to understand what it means to be a parent." He turned her sarcasm against her.
During the funeral it poured. My little, black dress hung off me like it weighed a hundred pounds with water, and I held onto my lime green yo-yo so tightly with my left hand that the knuckles turned white. Sakumo held my other hand, and Kakashi stood next to me as well. "Mother" was off to the side and barely even spared me a glance as I cried unreservedly for my dad.
From that day on, Sakumo became like my new dad until his untimely death only two years later. Occasionally, Mother would send me over to spend a night or two with Kakashi, and when I'd get home, there'd be signs that Kanaye had been there. Simple things like how he always folded up the hand towel and put it to the right side of the sink. Or how he'd drink a lot of coffee and the dishwasher would have several mugs sitting on the top drawer. I'd look at the splatter of tooth paste that reached higher up the mirror than my mother's, and I'd know that Kanaye had been there while I was gone. I was too young to understand what was going on at the time, but looking back on it now, it makes my stomach churn in anger. The worst part was that my mother had been with another man on the night that my dad died. I still don't know why he married her.