A letter arrived three days later.
The silver envelope literally glowed in the office, as the cursive words were written in royal blue. As Kakashi opened the letter with Iruka by his side, a small note fell and landed on the Hokage's foot.
To: The Hokage and Iruka-san,
I advise you to leave as soon as you received this letter. Konoha wasn't in the guest's list. Strange- I wonder why would the queen not invite the land where she's been raised? If you managed to arrive by this week, you might escape the security checks they would be doing a week before the coronation. You might not get guest rooms, so please follow the time I've written here so that I could pick you up immediately. If you rather sleep in the dungeons, I highly recommend you ignore this letter.
Yū Kōri.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Iruka."
"Oh, but need I remind you that you started all of this?" Iruka hid no venom tone in his speech, he was obviously still pissed at his leader. "Look, the sooner we resolute with Nami the sooner you won't have to see that pretty guy again." Kakashi's figure remained stiff after his speech. How we he even apologize to Nami anyway?
"You know..." Iruka slowly approached him from behind. "I know you love Nami a lot. I still remember the tales that you snapped the second Nami 'died' during the war. What changed?"
Kakashi looked at him with eyes filled with sadness and regret. It still haunts him, Iruka realized, the fact that he screwed up his own relationship big time. "When I was at the airship, Kahyō disguised herself as a guest. She fell in front of me and I caught her. Kami, her eyes were majestic. It seemed to pull me in towards her. Then I snapped myself before letting her leave to go to the ship. It didn't happen again until I met her again during the ambush. The pull was stronger this time, I- I felt confused."
"Of course, during the span of the crisis, I became more lost with my thoughts. Nami appeared in my mind when I was falling from the sky but I yearned for Kahyō's touch more. It was crazy- as if I was in love with two different women. This trance did stop again when Nami came during my coronation and the peace lasted for a few months... until the first visit to Hozuki Castle."
"First? Kakashi-" Kakashi hushed the younger one with his finger. "We had the first meeting when she was first assigned as the new warden. There, the pull returned- only it was more intense than before. You wouldn't understand at all." Iruka was close to condemning him again, but somehow the pain in his eyes said that it was the truth. The chuunin kept his fist close to himself for now.
"It was until there was a point, I saw Nami in her. I was lost and I really did miss her since she left to the Snow Islands. God, I swear I knew what I did was wrong but it still felt so right," He said with a bittersweet tone, eyes looking at the frame on his desk. "Though I had no idea how the rumors spread around. That was weird. It was weirder when I've never heard of any when I returned back to Konoha. Don't you find it strange Iruka?" It was a bit weird, Iruka thought. Didn't everyone know that Kakashi was with Nami? The war did expose their relationship.
"Are you trying to say this was all planned?"
"I didn't say it was planned."
"... you have A LOT to explain to Kōri soon, Kakashi."
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Iruka and Kakashi's jaw dropped upon stepping ground on Nami's kingdom. The scenery itself was a painting- the snow that fell softly colored the gray streets with white powder. Houses were covered with the royal color of royal blue and silver, the citizens obviously excited to celebrate the new queen. They moved out of the boat to an alley a few meters away from the harbor. It was a risk to trust some random guy, but it was either that or an ambush anyway.
"I don't see him anywhere." Iruka's teeth were clattering, he wasn't the type of person who enjoyed the cold, his feet and hands were shaking intensely now. He summoned all his chakra to warm his body. "I know I was the one who said to trust this guy but I'm having some regrets now-"
"Please, your ship was late," Another masculine voice popped out from the far end of the alley. The figure walked lazily towards them before pulling down his cloak. His blue-golden iris greeted them with boredom. "I waited far longer than I was supposed to, you know." The said figure leaned against the wall, his gaze changing from the Hokage to the shinobi beside him. "Well? One of you guys owes me something. Come on, all the accommodation and help I'm offering and still no confession??? I'm hurt," The young man said with a mocking tone.
As Kōri turned around to face away the shinobi, finally, the silver-haired spoke up.
"I have to confess something. But it's too public here." Kakashi expected another insult to come out of the latter's mouth, but a wide smile appeared instead that left both the ninjas surprised. "Thank you. Yes, I don't want the public to know how you mentally screwed up our queen. You can tell it as we go to the castle."
"How are we going there actually?" Iruka spoke out of the blue. True, the cloaks hid their identities well but the wind here can be a possible threat and that fact has been running in his mind for awhile.
"Don't worry, I know a safe way." Kōri went towards a wall a few meters in front of them before he kicked it with full force. The wall crumbled to reveal a silver door hiding stealthily behind it. "It's an old passage that leads directly to the castle. Not many can access it like I did, it's been ages since people used this." The two shinobi quickly joined him as the three of them finally entered the passage.
Kakashi told him everything he had told Iruka, his voice still low and soft, cautious if the walls had their own ears. Kōri listened to him well, no reaction is shown at all- which pretty much causes a certain chuunin to be suspicious.
"Aren't you mad, Kōri?" The said man turned to the brunette, his eyes widened a bit with surprise. "Why should I be mad at the Hokage? He confessed it was his doing, he'll probably receive the queen's wrath so I don't want to torture him more."
Iruka swore he had never met anyone with Kōri's undeniable good logic.
"So, how do we finally get to Nami now?" Kōri was lost in his thoughts as they continued walking, only paying little attention to Iruka. Then, he turned to both of them as if an idea finally popped out. "This may sound weird... but I have a feeling that your event-" He pointed at Kakashi. "- and whatever happened to the queen is linked. Aside from suddenly wanting to marry another snow punk guy, the queen hasn't really been herself for the past two weeks."
"How odd is her behavior?"
"Aside from not fighting with the councilors nowadays, she hasn't been sneaking outside a lot. I'm getting anxious about her." Iruka had to hide his laughter. Some habits do die hard. "Did you notice when it started to happen? The changes I mean."
"It was immediately after she came back. Oh, and uh... I think this is serious because she's been using her blue eyes a lot recently."
"And she didn't collapse or something?" It was Kakashi's turn to grow worried now. He remembered the early days when they were only friends when he helped her overcome her weakness. Kōri shook his head. "Something's up, and I don't know how you guys would react to this but.... we have to work together to save her from whatever is happening." Kakashi looked from Iruka to Kōri, both having the same expression written on their faces.
The sounds of water dripping out of nowhere- which was odd despite the cold outside muted their speech as they lay out their plan to save the queen.
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HEY HO GUESS WHO'S BACKK
I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I've been... a mess lately.
Results are coming out soon and I have 2 fanfics my hands are itching to finish soon and work exists and I'm trying to finish it before the end of this week. Sighs.
You can see I'm stressed since I'm using proper writing even in author's note.
Anyway, a lot of good things happened to me here too.
First, DID THIS BOOK REACH 1K VOTES??? YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Thank you so much for the support TuT I love you guys so much.