One year had passed since her parents' murder, and she had become a chunin as fast as she could, in the meanwhile trying to make sure Kakashi no longer felt too guilty, "Kakashi, he gave you that eye for a reason," Akahana told the boy when he kept refusing to use his left eye, "You better start using it before you're considered a lousy friend to him."
Until now, it had been to no succes, neither could she convince him to start using the Sharingan.
"I don't even deserve it, I should have--"
"You do deserve it, Kakashi!" Akahana told him, "You realised the importance of your teammates eventually, it doesn't matter it was too late. You did all you could."
Kakashi gave her a questioning look, did she really not blame him for what happened while he was supposed to lead the mission and keep his teammates safe, "You really think so?"
"I know so." She threw him in a hug, taking him by surprise. He hesitantly hugged her back, unable to escape the girl's rather strong grip.
She broke the hug when they were interrupted by Naoki and Mako picking Akahana up for a mission, "I'll see you later, Kakashi-chan!" she said with a wave before leaving the boy alone.
Just because she saw Kakashi give her a hint of a smile didn't mean she wasn't going to tell Rin to spent some more time with him to keep him distracted. She wanted to make sure there always was someone to make him feel better when she wasn't around, she was that committed to her goal.
***
"Kiyomi-san, meet Fire Freckl-- What was that for?" Naoki flinced in pain as Akahana stepped on his foot.
"You know what that was for, Tree Boy," she stated. She then turned to the client they were supposed to protect on the way to her village, "My name is Kobayashi Akahana," she introduced herself.
Kiyomi, a woman with brown hair, brown eyes and tan skin smiled. The two reminded her of her relationship between herself and her older brother.
"Well, at least she's happy," Mako stated dryly, "We've succeeded in our first objective, keep the client happy." Shibi just nodded, agreeing with the thirteen year old.
Akahana smiled at the boy and swiftly turned to face the gate before them, "That's the spirit, let's go!"
Shibi coughed louder than he usually would, earning his chunin's attention, "I'm supposed to lead the mission, you know that, right?"
The girl grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, right."
Kiyomi let out yet another smile, she enjoyed seeing the team dynamic and she would love to see the team work together, even though she hoped they wouldn't be attacked at the same time.
*a few hours later*
"Are we there yet?" Naoki asked, "Didn't Hokage-sama say it was only a few hours away from Konoha."
"If you walk in a straight, flat line," Mako said, "Which we're obviously not," he added as he walked uphill, careful not to slip over a rock, "And that bandit attack did cause delay as well."
"But we fought them off easily, right?" Naoki retorted, "We deserve a break."
Without warning, he promptly sat down on a rock, dragging Akahana along, "I have a hostage."
Shibi looked at Kiyomi, raising an eyebrow. Kiyomi nodded and sat down on a rock the opposite side of the two chunin, "I guess we could take a break."
If it wasn't for the fact it would be rather embarrassing for the thirteen year old Naoki, he would have done a victory dance since his improvised plan had worked.
"You got what you wanted, could you let go of me now?" Akahana asked when Naoki refused to release her from his grip. Not that it hurt though, she could break free anytime she wanted.
"Oops, sorry," he uttered, letting go of her polse.
"Thanks." She then sat down to Mako, who seemed to be amused by the situation that had been going on next to him, "You enjoy seeing Naoki messing around, don't you?"
"I certainly don't mind it when we don't have to be serious," he replied, "You seem to like him."
Akahana looked confused, where was he going, did he think she was in love with him? For the record, she wasn't, he wasn't the type of person to balance out her enthusiasm and optimism, he was too much like her.
"Like a brother," Mako finished his sentence after a long and dramatic pause.
Akahana punched him in a playful way, "You git." Mako said nothing in return, he only smiled.
A smile appeared on Shibi's face when he saw the way his team was getting along. Of course, it was hidden behind his high collar.
---
They finally reached the village and brought the woman to her home. "You didn't have to go this far," she assured them, "Though it's nice of you."
"Nonsense! Protecting the client until the end is our duty!"
"Well, I'd rather not spend the rest of my life in a small village, no offence Kyiomi-san."
"If you did, you would miss Kakashi too--ouch!"
The four Konoha nin left the village, Naoki was rubbing over his elbow, which Akahana had hit a tad too hard. Mako just smiled, amused by what he had just witnessed.
"Guys, did you hear that?" Akahana asked after hearing a strange sound.
All three shinobi nodded, knowing what she was talking about, "Keep your eyes open for an attack," Shibi spoke.
The three chunin nodded and they were already thinking about a plan to fight back, inspired by their teamwork training sessions.
It was to none of their surprise when a group of shinobi jumped out of the bushes, telling them to stop, "Look at what we have here, Konoha shinobi..." one of them trailed off.
"I never liked them anyway," a woman spoke, "Let's kill them."
"I second that motion."
"We don't," Shibi informed before attacking the group with his bugs. They were forced to split up, the oldest man taking on the Aburame and the woman and another man taking on the chunin.
"Hanato, Thorn Needles," Akahana said softly enough for the enemies not to hear anything.
Sharp thorns headed towards the two rogue nin in high velocity, followed by Naoki's earth manipulation, creating craters, and Mako's air blades.
The woman was persistent and managed to get close to Mako unnoticed, "Seems like I'll be able to kill one after all," she said with a crazed grin, disappearing before Akahana could attack her.
At first, Mako didn't notice what the woman did but it made itself evident pretty soon, "Damn, troublesome women everywhere," he muttered as he sat down against a tree, holding his side.
Akahana moved to him, followed by Naoki and Shibi, "Poison," she stated, "We should have enough time to take you to the village and get rid of the poison in your veins."
Mako nodded and didn't even complain when Naoki lifted him up in his arms, "Let's get going then."
"Hai!"
***
Back in the village, Mako was immediately brought to the villages and what the nurses spoke about were not very reassuring.
It had taken nearly a year for the said boy to grow on the Aburame, and it was most likely to only take a week for all of that to go to waste.
On the outside, it looked like Akahana was taking the news quite well. Yet reality was far different from what seemed to be, she was devastated and couldn't help but believe she should've done something about it.
Even with those thoughts circling through her brain, she kept smiling around her friends, not wanting for them to have to worry about her as well as about Kakashi.
"I've heard about what happened to your teammate," Kurenai said, "Are you all right?"
Akahana nodded, "I'll be fine, he wouldn't want me to dwell on it for too long."
"It's okay to cry, I won't tell anyone," Kurenai assured the girl, the two were at her place, without the company of their male friends.
A sobbing sound came from the girl, "I already am."
Kurenai hugged her in an attempt to comfort her girl friend, "If you ever want to talk to me about anything, feel free to come."
"Even in the middle of the night?"
"Then you should be asleep like me, dreaming about Kakashi being more than a friend to you," Kurenai remarked.
Heat rose to the other girl's cheeks, causing her to blush, "What's that supposed to mean, Kurenai-chan? Kakashi and I are just friends!"
---
One week later, there was more news on Mako. He was either not going to take to many risks and quit being a shinobi, or he was going to continue pursuing his dream in his permanently weakened state.
Despite knowing the risks, now that he was a much easier target for enemies, Mako wanted to remain on the team and continue fighting for his village, "I'd gladly give my life for the village and my comrades," he had said.
"Don't think we're just going to let you over exhaust yourself to protect us," Akahana said to him, referring to what happened to Gai's father recently.
She never got to know him very well, but she knew he was all family Gai had left. Now that he was gone as well, he was going to have to solely rely on his friends.
"I'm not Naoki," Mako assured the girl, "My brain is still functioning."
"Oi! What did you say about me?!"
---
Aaaand another chapter is up! I hope you liked it and can't we just all agree that Naoki is adorable?
Next chapter is going to be a special chapter about Sora's past, I'm not saying which part, muhahaha.
-x Crartistic