After all his talk about never giving up, Naruto seemed depressed into inaction once we lost Sasuke's scent. When we arrived back at Konoha, he didn't even say goodbye before splitting from the group and trudging in the direction of his apartment, head lowered and feet dragging. I shrugged; not my problem.
"I'm assuming you have the report covered?" I asked Kakashi and Yamato. They both nodded. "Good. I need to check on my team and get a decent meal. See ya."
It was still afternoon, so I wouldn't be surprised if my substitute instructors were still training Aisa, Michiko, and Kento. I decided to check on Aisa first, only because his and his instructor's location was most predictable.
As I had thought, Aisa was with Gai running laps around Konoha... on their hands? I shuddered as I caught sight of Gai; even after all these years, he gave me the creeps. Gritting my teeth, I decided to not delay the inevitable, and jumped down in front of them. Gai, sadly, noticed me first.
"Ah, Cashile-san!" Gai shouted in way of greeting.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment before putting on the fakest smile I could manage. "Gai," I greeted curtly.
"Cashiiiile!" Aisa exclaimed, flipping back onto his feet and running toward me. I nodded in approval when I had to sidestep to avoid his flying tackle of a hug sooner than expected; he'd grown faster in the little time Gai had been training him.
"Cashile, that is quite the wondrous bud of youth you have on your team!" Gai grinned. "Before you know it he will flower into a fine shinobi!"
"I'm... glad to hear it," I responded, studiously ignoring his thumbs up and sparkling grin. "Aisa, normal training grounds, 5 o'clock. Get something to eat."
"Alright! Then you'll tell us how your mission went?" He asked happily.
"Sure, whatever," I agreed absentmindedly, keeping an eye on Gai's antics. He seemed to be doing one armed hand stand push ups.
"Can I have some money for ramen?"
"Don't you have pocket money now that the team is going on missions?" I questioned. "Bad spending habits should be squashed now."
"I know! I'm saving some! And I don't want to go into my savings, but I reeeeeally want some ramen," Aisa wheedled, making a constipated face that may have passed as puppy dog eyes.
"Whatever," I sighed, fishing some money out of my pouch. "But this is all I'm giving you. Don't even think about asking for more."
"Thanks Cashile!" Aisa grinned. "See you at 5!"
I rolled my eyes and sprang away before Gai could challenge me to a race up the Hokage mountain.
***
To my surprise and satisfaction, when I was about 50 yards away, Michiko turned sharply in my direction. Her sensitivity to chakra had clearly been further honed. When I landed next to her I purposefully flared my chakra as though preparing for a fight, and she barely winced. I nodded approvingly.
"How did she do?" I asked the Hyuga.
"While she will never come close to the complete awareness that comes with having the Byakugan," the Hyuga began, and I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes, "Her sensitivity is unique and well honed for a genin. Her perception is acceptable."
I nodded. From a Hyuga, it actually was high praise. "Come to our usual training field at 5. Get something to eat."
"Yes, sensei!" Michiko grinned, correctly interpreting my lack of criticism as my having a lack of things to criticize. She was progressing well. "See you then!"
I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Ja ne."
***
I found Shikamaru and Kento napping on a grassy hill. Shikamaru lazily opened one eye when I arrived. Kento remained dead to the world. With a sigh, Shikamaru begrudgingly followed me away from Kento to talk, mumbling complaints under his breath the entire time.
"How was training?" I asked, keeping an eye on Kento over Shikamaru's shoulder. Shikamaru turned to watch him as well, and his face settled into something just a shade of concerned past boredom.
"He's exhausted, you know," Shikamaru told me, voice quiet. "But he tries to refuse help and rest. I only get him to relax with me by refusing to train him until he takes a nap. And once he actually lies down, his exhaustion hits him. He'll be asleep for the next hour at least, and he's already slept for two."
I nodded, a frown slipping onto my face. "I'm trying to address the root of that problem," I told him.
"See that you do," Shikamaru ordered seriously. "It's our job to protect the younger generation so one day they can surpass us."
Silence surrounded us for a moment as his words permeate the air. Then, "Whatever. Want to play some shogi?"
"Sure," Shikamaru shrugged. "This was getting to be too bothersome; how'd you manage to get me to agree to train this kid anyway? Kicking your ass in shogi will make me feel better about all the trouble you made me go through."
"But you'll only feel worse if I hand you your ass," I shot back. "Are you sure you want to risk it?"
Shikamaru flashed me a smirk that almost resembled a smile, and we fell back into easy silence.
***
I knocked on the door.
"Enter!" Lady Tsunade called from the other side. I could clearly hear the question in her tone. After all, when was the last time I knocked on her door?
But I needed something from her, and the best approach? Kiss ass.
"Good morning, Hokage-sama," I cleared my throat, skillfully ignoring her skeptical look.
"Good morning, Cashile." She looked at me, waiting expectantly to get straight to the point.
"I have a student—Kento." Psychology dictates that if she knew his name she would be more lenient to his cause. "His sister is dying. They're doing what they can for her but.. it's not looking good. She has a dying wish. A wish to be a ninja while she's still alive."
"Is that so?" Tsunade asked dryly.
"Yes," I nodded. "I know that it wouldn't exactly follow...protocol, for you to make a citizen a ninja, but what harm could it do?"
"What harm?" Tsunade stood, glaring at me. "Here's the harm it could do: next thing we know, every single sick and dying citizen is requesting to become a ninja so they get the healthcare that comes along with it!"
I closed my mouth, which I'd opened in preparation to argue with her. She'd seen right through my ploy. Time to improvise. "It's effecting the outcome of our missions," I tried. "Kento is distracted, unhappy, and it shows. He doesn't get enough sleep, and if he makes a mistake at the wrong time it could get the entire team killed."
Tsunade sighed. "I understand that. But he's not the only ninja who's had to deal with sick or dying relatives. He needs to deal with it, not have his sensei come to his rescue."
I frowned, mind processing her words. I hadn't anticipated a flat out no from her; I thought maybe she would bargain, ask more from me, anything. My reasoning was completely correct: Kento might actually get his team killed because of a stupid mistake made in his distracted, sleep deprived state. I needed to fix this for not only Kento's sake, but for myself and Aisa and Michiko as well.
Kento's sister was dying. Some sort of terminal disease that she would never heal from. But in the meantime, she was just causing strife and stress for her family, draining resources, and putting my team in danger. She was dying anyway. Nothing would stop that. So why drag it out longer than needed?
My frown deepened. His sister's death would send Kento spiraling into grief, causing emotional strife greater than what he was feeling now, putting the team in even greater danger. But, at the same time, he would heal. Right now he was degrading, and there was no chance of his emotional, mental, and physical health getting better until his sister died or she got the healthcare coverage needed.
If Tsunade wouldn't cover Kento's sister's healthcare costs by making her a ninja (it was a beautiful loophole, she should've jumped at it!) then the other option was killing Kento's sister. In the long run, it was the best option not only for Kento, but for the team as well. But if Kento ever found out, or even suspected that I'd had a hand in his sister's death, he would never forgive me. It would break the team even more than his current predicament was.
"Listen, Cashile, I can appreciate that you care so deeply about the genin on your team. Maybe we can work something out."
My eyes snapped to hers and settled into a glare. She's only said no as a bargaining tool. I hadn't expected her to use a little girl's life as leverage against me—it was something I would do, not the Hokage of Konoha.
Then again, I wouldn't put it past Tsunade either.
"What do you want?" I asked, playing into her game.
"Oh, just a few minor tasks. you can start with a guest lecture at the academy. I believe the young ones could benefit from a few lessons taught by you."
I scrunched my nose, showing my displease. "Kids? You want me to spend my very minimal spare time talking to little brats?"
"And a few other things," Tsunade shrugged nonchalantly, enjoying her position of power. Several moments passed while I glared at her, trying to find a way to get this back under my control instead of hers. She continued to smirk slightly, and I realized that I had overestimated the responsibility she would feel as Hokage, as a medic nin, and had underestimated how cold hearted and pragmatic she could be when faced with a dying girl. I had not expected her to be so like me in this moment.
"Whatever," I finally snapped. "Do whatever." And with a whirl I spun around, slamming the door behind me.
***
I was still fuming when Kakashi appeared next to me on the training grounds where I was waiting for my team.
"So. The spiders." Kakashi didn't bother beating around the bush, instead cutting right to the issue.
"So, the spiders," I snarked, still on edge from my confrontation with Tsunade. I hid a frown as I remembered his sharp intake reaction when I'd done my summoning in the woods; he'd clearly been shocked by the skill I had demonstrated.
"When?" He asked.
"Kakashi, you're going to have to actually complete that question if you want me to answer it," I sighed. Sure, I could extrapolate what information he was after from the incomplete data of his question, but since when did I make things easy for him?
"The Rising Phoenix seemed to focus on training you in taijutsu, not ninjutsu and certainly not genjutsu; probably so they could maintain control over their Claws—over you—despite being experts in taijutsu."
"You're rambling, Kakashi," I drawled, shoving my hands in my pockets so he wouldn't notice their trembling and turning away sharply. "Get to the point."
"So why would they make you sign a contract with the spiders? How would they even know that you had a potential summoning?"
"These feel like rhetorical questions." I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn't see. "Seriously, get to the point already. My team will be here soon. I need to train them, so you need to go away."
"Cashile, did you sign the contract to summon the spiders as a genin here in Konoha? After they'd already poisoned you?"
"So what if I did—not that I'm admitting I did," I hurriedly added. "It's the past. I'm no longer some little genin that you can punish. What does it matter to you if I went back and got the contract as a genin versus if I got it as the Claw?"
Kakashi watched me for several moments, hands shoved deep into his pockets and shoulders slumped in the perfect picture of apathy. His eye told a different story, full of sadness and bitterness and maybe even a little bit of defeat. I had nothing left to say and so let the silence grow around us.
"I guess," Kakashi finally said heavily, "I guess I never realized that you... my genin...I didn't realize you had so little regard for your own life."
I slowly glanced back over my shoulder. "I think we've established that all I care about is my own life," I sniped back, but all the venom had been sucked from my words.
"Right," Kakashi offered me a tired smile. "Right. Look, I better get going if your team is about to show up. Good work on the mission. Let me know if you need any more help with your lightning style, yeah?"
He seemed to be waiting for some sort of acknowledgement, so I nodded. "Alright."
He glanced at me once more, and I tried and failed to understand the emotions that flicked through his eyes. "Take care, Cashile."
And then he sprung away.
______________________________________
Heyyyyauauwiej.
Guess who wrote this INSTEAD of working on her project due tomorrow?
THIS GIRL.
Haha college is rough this week and I'm gonna pull an all-nighter tonight (or at least a most-nighter) but I still wrote for y'all! You should award me with many many beautiful long comments!
Also y'all should check out my blog that I started (I'll post a variety of things on there but I'm trying to stick to current issues)
Check it out here:
https://freethoughtsontheproceedings.wordpress.com
K I should actually go work on this project now lol byyye
gaara119
Yeah. College is killing me. College sucks. So instead of putting this off like normal...
Well, outcome.
Tired. Chem hw. Pls comment. Sorry for the barely A/N
-S
Haha Supes is exhausted and yet she still wrote so you guys better comment your thanks because she is the best and I will fight anyone who says otherwise ;p
So comment for us!!!
Comment, Vote, and Fan!
Ja ne!
Insomniac_Lullabies