A small breeze blew gently, causing what little clouds there were too, slowly drift across the wide sky. A lone bird floated in the same sky, using the thermal air currents to keep it in the air. It soon found itself circling again around a large village below—its hundredth time since its arrival to the area. The large bird gave a powerful ‘kaa’ as it flapped its black wings and slowly glided downwards to the village. Its dark brown eyes looked down over the area as if searching for something…or someone.
In the eyes of any person below, it might seem that this bird was simply scavenging for food, but to anyone who actually knew this bird –which was very, very few—they could clearly see that he was on a mission. What that mission was exactly, only one person knew, and that person…was Akio.
Karasu had been summoned several says before and given his orders by Akio. In the event of an emergency, he was to go straight to the Hokage and no one else—not even to Hisayo. His reasoning had only been that she shouldn’t be put in any danger. He felt a heavy responsibility to keep her safe from their own clan.
As a summon, it was his duty to do his master’s bidding and follow his every command, but he felt that it was in the better interest for Hisayo to hear the news and act accordingly rather than leaving it to the Hokage to take action. She was the one more directly involved than anyone else in this village they had taken residence in. She had the right to know. And so, for the first time in his history of being Akio’s summon, he deviated from his orders.
He descended lower and lower until he was level in the air with the tallest buildings of the village. He landed heavily on one of the high rooftops and looked around in every direction, each time adjusting his eyes to check short and long distances. Each time he would give a few loud ‘kaas’ before moving on to a different area to repeat the actions.
*******
“Looks like the gates are coming into view.” Kakashi stated in a lazy voice.
He glanced over from his book to see Hisayo looking straight ahead without any kind of response to his words. To him it seemed as though she could really care less, but upon further inspection, he could make out the tiniest of curve on her lips. He gave a light smile upon seeing it and returned his attention back to his book.
She could see him glancing at her from the corner of her eye. She found it a bit uncomfortable, but didn’t let it bother her as she continued to think of her wolves, the results of their small intervention, and what they thought of her. But all of that was what just a cover for what she had been trying to get her mind off of.
“Are you really my friend?” She mumbled mostly to herself after a short moment, causing Kakashi to lift his head from his book in slight confusion.
“What was that?” Kakashi questioned.
Hisayo paused in her steps. She hadn‘t really meant to voice her thoughts out loud. After regaining her pace, she decided to respond. “I was just wondering about something.”
“And what‘s that?”
“Your…promise.”
“Are you scared when it comes to friends?”
“Perhaps.”
“Why?”
Hisayo paused for a moment to figure out how to word her response without giving herself away. “Have you ever…been hated before just because you are who you are and nothing more?”
Kakashi thought back to his past and of his Uchiha friend, Obito. “Yes, I have.” He also thought back to the way he had thought of him and treated him before they became friends. “And I regretfully have, in a sense, hated someone before, just because.”
“Well, it’s always been that way with me. It’s to the point where I’m…afraid to even try to makes friends because they eventually…find out about…” Hisayo gave a long pause to try to again figure out how to not reveal what she was. “It’s like with Jiro. I can‘t keep many friendships because of what…” Another pause.
She just couldn’t find a way to word her sentences. She couldn’t flat out say, ‘Oh, well I’m part demon and people are afraid of me just because of that little detail about myself.’ If she so much as said something like that, then she was sure it would be another end to a friendship she was finding that she wanted.
Kakashi now knew where this was all going. He hadn’t been there when Jiro expressed his thoughts on Hisayo in front of everyone else, but he still knew what had happened through Asuma and Kurenai afterwards. Take that, plus her clan’s history, and it was no wonder she wasn’t too friendly with others. However, her interaction with Naruto, the Hokage, and a few Genin, from what he heard from Akio, was evidence that she was trying. He continued to see her trying, but it seemed that this past experience with her ex-teammate was causing her to hesitate.
They were right on top of the gate by the time his thoughts finished. “You know, sometimes those who don’t seem like they are compatible for a friendship, actually are. And I speak from experience.”
“You do?”
“Remember my friend I had told you about before?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we were like fire and ice. Always fighting—never once getting along. It had been that way for a long time, but in the end we had a friendship with a strong bond that no one could break. Despite everything before, we were still friends.”
“I’ve told myself before that I would fight and protect my bonds, and the friendships I have with others, but do you think that I will really be able to hold onto them despite of everything?” Hisayo was still a bit unconvinced, but she really did want to believe and hope that it was possible for her to do so.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she really was warming up to the idea of forming and keeping her bonds just like Akio had hoped for her to do. It really wasn’t all that bad, but a couple of bumps along the way had caused her to think twice.
“Some of them will take time, while others are quick to form, such as the one you have with Naruto.” Kakashi smiled.
“I see. So as my friends, you and Naruto…Akira, Suzume, and Ken—you all are accepting of me and as your friend, I’m accepting of you. I…like that.”
“Don’t forget Takeshi and Kouzetsu. I’m sure that they see you as a friend even though neither have said anything yet.”
Hisayo perked up in curiosity as he said that. “So you don’t even need to say anything to know that you are friends with someone?”
“Sometimes words aren’t needed to express friendship if you are close to someone or familiar with them.”
Hisayo thought carefully over everything that was said. She couldn’t help but have a comforting feeling move throughout her body and mind. This whole conversation was enlightening for her and she felt a sense of gratitude towards Kakashi for his calming words. She was really starting to give in to being social and expressive, but of course she wouldn’t let herself become too expressive.
A light smile graced her lips before she gave an almost inaudible chuckle. “Thank you, Kakashi.”
“For what?”
“For…being…my friend.”
“No need to thank me. I’m happy to be your friend, Hisayo-san.”
Hisayo gave a light sigh as she resigned herself to a small decision. “I suppose since we really are friends, you can drop the suffix.”
“Really? Are you sure?” Kakashi was surprised to see her easily give up on her attempts to make him say her name formally.
“Don’t make me repeat myself or regret my decision.” Hisayo warned.
Kakashi gave a small chuckle. “Right, sorry.”
They were just barely in the market square when Hisayo thought she heard a very faint but familiar sound in the air. Again she heard it and this time stopped.
“Karasu?” Hisayo questioned out loud upon hearing a ‘kaa’ in the sky.
“What’s the matter?” The only response Kakashi received was a quick “Shh” from Hisayo as she held up her hand in front of him and looked up to the sky.
Again she heard the call and she then quickly put her thumb and index finger to her lips and gave a high pitched whistle. A moment went by before the “kaa-ing” grew louder. Soon a large raven flapped into view and made a dangerously fast landing in front of Hisayo and Kakashi.
“Hisayo! Hisayofound! FoundHisayoIfound!” The raven began ranting in a very fast and anxious manner, much to Kakashi’s surprise. He had never heard the bird speak before. He had only ever heard it give off different pitches of noise and ‘kaas’ before.
Hisayo narrowed her eyes as the bird continued his excited and uncontrollable rant. “Trouble!TroubleAkioisinclancapturedby! Akiohavethey!”
Hisayo could take it no more as she tried to decipher Karasu’s lightning fast and out of order sentences. “Karasu.” she tried to gain the bird’s attention.
“Hurry! Hurryyoumusttoclanyougo!”
“Karasu calm down…”
“AlreadygotroubleAkioisin!
Hisayo sighed and quickly ripped her forehead protector away from her neck and held it at an angle to capture the light from the sun. Meanwhile Kakashi looked between her and Karasu, trying to figure out what was going on. The light soon gleamed on the metal piece of the headband and Hisayo knelt down in front of the frantic bird that had yet to cease its hyperactive sentences. As soon as the shining object came into Karasu’s view, he stopped mid-sentence and stared intently at it. His eyes seemed entranced by the shining object.
“Karasu, have you calmed down now?” Hisayo asked after a few moments.
“Calm…Karasu calm is…” Karasu slowly spoke, much to Hisayo’s and Kakashi’s relief.
“Good.”
“What…just happened?” Kakashi asked in a confused voice.
“Karasu’s sentences are always twisted. They have been for as long as I can remember. As you can probably guess, it becomes a problem when we need to know information not only quickly, but correctly too. So Akio and I taught him how to communicate correctly by using Morse code. That’s how he usually speaks to us now, but if he gets really worked up then he loses his calm and reverts back to speaking in a twisted and undecipherable manner. Usually the only thing to calm him down is a shiny object such as this.” Hisayo explained.
She then slowly moved her headband back and forward, causing Karasu’s head to follow the gleam it held from the sun. “See?”
Kakashi found it quite amusing. “I see. So, what’s Karasu trying to say?”
“Right.” Hisayo then turned her attention back to Karasu while keeping the shining headband in place. “Alright now, Karasu. What exactly is the matter?”
“Akio…trouble is in.” The bird spoke in a hypnotized manner, his eyes never leaving the shining headband.
“What do you mean Akio is in trouble? What happened?”
“Clan Akio went to. Akio clan captured.”
Hisayo and Kakashi’s eyes went wide in surprise.
“What?!”
Karasu continued to speak in a hypnotized manner. “Hurry save. Akio save…you do.”
It was then that another presence made themselves known, interrupting the conversation Hisayo was having with Karasu. “Hey you two! Did you just get back from a mission?”
Hisayo turned her head to see the ever exuberant Takeshi and her happily panting partner, Kouzetsu. Realization was slowly starting to hit her. Kakashi nervously looked on at Hisayo, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
“Takeshi…did you just get back from your mission with Akio?” She nervously asked.
“Mission? No way. A couple of litters were born just after we got back from our last mission together, so Kouzetsu and I have been busy looking after the little rascals.” Takeshi then laughed. “They’re a handful, those pups.”
Hisayo stood up, taking away her headband from Karasu’s view much to his dismay. Everything several days before flashed through her mind
“Sounds like a great idea, but how about you train with me instead, hmm?”
“I was actually going to say ‘have lunch with Naruto’, but if you rather he eat by himself…”
Had Kakashi been trying to keep her from discovering that Akio had left to see the Ookami Clan? Hisayo slowly turned to face Kakashi. Her eyes were slowly widening.
“Listen, Hisayo.” Kakashi tried to calm her, but she heard nothing as her thoughts raced.
“Yes, you two are to go to the Buddhist temple two days west of here and deliver these scrolls.”
“Why just the two of us? What about Akio, Takeshi and Kouzetsu?”
“He is already on his own mission with those two to deliver similar scrolls to a sister temple to the north.”
The Hokage had known as well, hadn’t he? The mission he had sent her on…it was only to distract her, wasn’t it? The whole time Akio was on his way to the Land of Wolves.
“Hisayo?”
“Hey, what’s wrong with her?” Takeshi’s happy face changed to a concerned one and Kouzetsu’s head turned to the side in confusion.
“I guess you and Akio will get an inside look at the temples occupied for the ceremony for the first time.”
“Really? It didn’t seem that way when you came to visit me in the hospital several days back.”
“I’ve told you before, don’t question my actions. But if you must know, I had been put through one of Akio’s annoying guilt-trips. If I hadn’t at least made an appearance, then he wouldn’t have stopped pestering me about it.” She had lightly fumed over the matter.
“And the visit after that? I do recall a second visit.” Kakashi had continued to tease.
“And how about we take it slow and easy? I’d like to enjoy a stroll down the road of life.”
He had lied to her and had acted as though nothing was wrong the whole time and on top of that, he had been purposely stalling the time it took to get back home. But what about everything else? Had everything he had said before…was it all a lie?
And finally…
“Hisayo. One day you may find that I am no longer around. You understand that don’t you?”
Akio had already planned on leaving the entire time. He had planned everything, hadn’t he? She should have been tipped off by his change in tone and his choice of words, that there was something wrong.
“You…” Hisayo’s knuckles began turning white as she clenched her headband.
“Hisayo, let me explai-”
“You knew. How long? Since the beginning, right?” Kakashi only lowered his head slightly in guilt and almost flinched back as she continued in a much more expressive voice. “Right?!”
“Yes, I did.” Kakashi confessed.
“And the Hokage? This was all a set-up, wasn’t it?!” Hisayo then turned away from Kakashi and a very confused Takeshi. “Karasu, come!” She quickly darted off towards the Hokage’s mansion without a backwards glance.
“What was that all about?” Takeshi slowly questioned.
Kakashi watched Hisayo vanish through the crowd with his eye narrowed in concern over not only Hisayo’s sudden outburst and actions, but also the potentially dangerous situation Akio may have found himself in. What could have happened over there to cause Akio to be captured? Had he had a dispute with the easy going brother that he had spoken about to him before? Karasu’s presence led to the conclusion that perhaps Akio had, and in his last efforts, sent Karasu to warn them.
“Takeshi, let’s go.” Kakashi ordered before running towards the Hokage‘s place.
“What? Wait, what’s going on?” Takeshi ran to catch up to Kakashi with Kouzetsu right on her heels.
“Akio is in a bad situation. We need to get to the Hokage to work out a plan.” Kakashi pushed himself to go faster.
“Why didn’t you say so!? Faster Kouzetsu!” Takeshi hollered before kicking it into higher gear. Kouzetsu barked in response as he too picked up the pace.
*******
It was just a normal, or what could be called normal, for one team of genin and their sensei. They were pretty excited about the day, because their sensei had been officially discharged from any medical care. And so, they were on their way to celebrate with their sensei.
“Hey, so whose going to pay for this outing?” Ken whispered to his two teammates.
“I thought you were going to.” Akira whispered back in an angry tone.
Suzume readied herself for the inevitable to happen.
“What?! No way!” Ken yelled, earning a large yellow sleeve to roughly cover his mouth.
“Shh! Not so loud.” Suzume whispered harshly.
Jiro turned his head over his shoulder. “Everything okay back there?”
“Of course Sensei. No problems back here.” Suzume sweetly replied before giving a small glare to Ken.
Jiro gave an unconvinced ‘hmmm’ but decided to drop it and turned his head back around to continue to their destination for lunch.
“I thought you were since it was all your idea.” Akira sighed.
Ken finally freed his mouth from Suzume‘s sleeve. “Just because it was my idea, doesn’t mean that I’m taking care of everything. I only have enough money right now for maybe two bowls.”
“Fine, we can all pitch in then. I have enough for three bowls.” Suzume tried to solve the problem.
“Just for one.” Akira frowned.
“Okay, that should be good, right?” Suzume stressed in a hushed voice to her two companions.
“Yeah, I guess.” Akira agreed first.
Ken gave a reluctant groan. “Alright.”
Suzume gave a happy smile at their replies.
It seemed that over the past couple of weeks, the little sparrow had started to assert herself a bit more. Sure she sometimes had to force herself to do so at times, but she knew that without the person around who inspired her, it was up to her to try to find compromise and settle the arguments that the boys often found themselves in.
With their predicament now solved, the group continued quietly on their way.
Well, almost quietly.
“Hey look! It’s Hisayo-san!” Akira happily spoke as he pointed in their friend‘s direction.
“Really? Where?” Suzume and Ken lit up while Jiro slightly flinched and hesitantly turned his attention to where Akira had pointed out…the monster.
She was running towards them, in the direction of the Hokage’s place and the hospital where they had come from. A large black bird was flying closely over her. By the looks of it she was in a hurry, but that didn’t stop the three Genin from trying to capture her attention.
“Hisayo-san!” Ken shouted happily.
She drew closer, but didn’t reply to his call. They figured that it was just her being the way that they had known her to be, but realized there must be something wrong when she passed them without a glance.
“Huh? What’s wrong I wonder?” Akira asked with a quizzical turn of his head.
“Maybe she has to get to an important meeting or something.” Suzume tried to reason.
“She could have at least given us a wave.” Ken said with a disappointed frown.
“Hn. Do you still not see that she isn’t someone to be friendly towards? Look at what just happened. It’s not in your best interest to keep your ties with her.” Jiro spoke coldly.
“You’re wrong, sensei. She’s our friend and always will be. She said so herself, and we’re going to be her friends too.” Akira quickly defended.
“Why are you afraid of her sensei?” Suzume asked with eyes bubbled over with curiosity.
“What makes you think I’m afraid of her?”
“Well, you don’t talk about her anymore and when you do it’s always in a cold and negative manner. Did something happen between you two to not like her anymore? I mean even if she wasn‘t ‘normal‘” Ken held up his fingers to emphasize quotation marks as he said normal. “It’s not like she hurt you or anything, right?”
Jiro flinched at his student’s words. They just had no idea how close their ‘friend’ came to actually doing so. Sure she hadn’t meant it, but she was still a monster—just like that Naruto. He was forever scarred by not only the events involving his ex-teammate, but the ones involving the Kyuubi as well. He didn‘t think that he would ever get over them.
Forgive and forget, his family would have told him, even today, but as much as he tried to, he just couldn‘t. He didn’t think he could ever forgive the Kyuubi for taking his family away from him all those years ago or for Hisayo’s attempt on his life, even though she had no control over herself at the time. It didn’t change the fact that she was a monster and that he was, in fact, afraid of her.
It made him angry to know that the others, including the Hokage, had not felt the same; that they were okay after seeing and knowing what she was. Had any of them been on the receiving end that he had been on, then perhaps they would be feeling what he felt now. Suddenly he felt a loss of appetite.
“I think we should save lunch for another time. I just remembered that I have things to do. We’ll get together tomorrow for training. Until then, you three have today off.” With that, Jiro hastily disappeared in a cloud of smoke, avoiding his Genin’s prodding questions.
*******
Hisayo ran up the stairs with a tunnel vision unlike any she had ever had before. She didn’t pay anyone attention, not even when she passed by four familiar faces, three of which were happy and excited to see her. The only thing on her mind was getting to the Hokage and giving him a piece of her mind—which any rarely received.
She didn’t even listen to the warning the two shinobi standing outside the Hokage’s office gave about the Hokage being in a meeting with another shinobi. She simply pushed her way through and slammed the door open. Two sets of eyes quickly focused on her.
It only took one look at the angered kunoichi for Sarutobi to know that she had finally discovered what he and Kakashi had been hiding from her. Her eyes said it all.
There was a heavy air of silence before Hisayo spoke in a deadly voice. “How dare you.”
“My apologies Hisayo, but it was his choice.”
“You have no idea what you have done. Do you think that he could just waltz into our old clan’s home and not be faced with any negative outcome!?”
The Third stopped his earlier thoughts at her words. “What do you mean Hisayo?”
“Karasu just now showed up and told me of the situation. Akio has been captured by them.”
“Calm down.”
“You expect me to be calm? You and Kakashi could have told me. I could have stopped him from going to them. You both have no idea how fragile our relations with our clan are. You two just let him go into dangerous territory!” The light bulbs in the room suddenly shattered at the end of her angry rant, earning surprised jumps from both the Hokage and the familiar raven haired kunoichi in the room.
Hisayo could feel the tips of her fingers charging with electricity—a sign that she indeed needed to calm down. She closed her eyes and lowered her head before taking a few slow and deep breaths. If she wasn’t careful and didn’t calm down, then she would put the two in the room with her in danger.
“Hisayo, I’m sorry about the actions I took, but now is not the time to be upset. We need to form a team together for a retrieval mission.”
Hisayo, after gathering composure, turned away to exit the room. “I’ll take care of this situation myself. I can’t trust you or anyone else.” She paused at the door. “Not like I thought I could.”
Sarutobi gave a regretful sigh after she left, sitting a few moments in thought, before he turned his attention back to the kunoichi still in the room.
“Kurenai, gather Takeshi and Kakashi.”
“That’s not necessary. We’re already here.” Kakashi informed as he, Takeshi, and Kouzetsu entered the room.
“I assume you were there when she found out?”
“Yes.”
“The four of you find her and bring back Akio.”
All of the shinobi nodded before quickly leaving the room and making their way to find Hisayo.
*******
Hisayo wasted no time as she rushed to the apartment and stocked her pouches with more weapons, wiring, exploding tags, and flash bombs. She then took out a small travel pack and filled it mostly with first aid supplies and a couple canteens of water. Before leaving the apartment, she swiftly called upon Myukyu.
The small wolf stretched himself in a groggy manner as if he had just been taking a nap. Hisayo wasn’t surprised that he had been trying to catch some sleep. He had been working really hard before.
“What can I do for you Hisayo?” He yawned, allowing a small pitched noise to sound.
“Akio’s in trouble.”
Any sleepiness that Myukyu had felt suddenly vanished. “What happened?”
“I’ll explain later, but first I need you to tell the pack the situation and to be on standby.”
“The pack? As in the whole pack? Even…the Mergers?” Myukyu questioned nervously.
It had been a long time since an emergency such as this caused Hisayo to want everyone—even the Mergers. The Mergers were more rowdy than the main pack Hisayo used; and more dangerous too. If they got too excited then they were sometimes difficult to control, even for Hisayo.
“Yes…even them. And tell Zenko that he should be ready too, just in case.”
Yikes! The situation must be really bad then if Hisayo even wanted him to be ready for action, Myukyu thought to himself, even more worried than before. What had Akio gotten himself into exactly, he wondered.
“Alright then, I’ll tell everyone, but I want a full explanation later.” He said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Hisayo let out a heavy breath of air before locking the door and making her way to the main gate of the village. She didn’t know what would be waiting for her when she arrived at the clan’s doorstep, but she hoped that she’d be able to handle it.
…
“Hisayo!”
Hisayo’s gold eyes looked to the side at the sound of her name being called, but ignored it and continued running through the trees. Her main priority was Akio. Dealing with the Hokage and the village would have to come later.
At that last thought, she fell towards the ground after wire was wrapped around her legs. She quickly caught herself with her hands and twisted around, taking the wiring with her with great force, and causing the silver-haired Jounin on the other end to go flying forward from the sudden action.
Hisayo drew a kunai and cut the wire with one quick motion before jumping back to avoid her pursuers. “Don’t try to stop me, or I will fight you.” She stressed as she held up the kunai in a ready position to throw.
All four grew tense at her words.
Kakashi was the first to recover and speak. “Hisayo, we only want to help.”
“It’s back to Hisayo-san again, and I don’t need your help. You’ve already helped the situation enough—you and the Hokage!” Hisayo finally yelled in anger and irritation.
“I’m sorry.” Kakashi’s eyes were full of regret. “I’m sorry about keeping you in the dark, but it was Akio’s decision. He’s only trying to protect you.”
“While getting himself into trouble in the process. I should have known better than to let my guard down and trust you and the Hokage. I should have suspected something was going on. You were only acting friendly because of that, weren’t you?” Hisayo’s voice slowly lowered in disappointment and sadness. “Everything you did. Everything you had said. It was all a lie, wasn’t it?”
Kurenai and Takeshi looked between the two, as did Kouzetsu. The entire situation was still unknown to them. All they knew so far was that they had been sent to intercept Hisayo and form a plan before they were to continue their rescue mission.
Kakashi took a few steps forward and Hisayo tightened the grip on her kunai as he did so. Kakashi hesitated when she did, but slowly continued forward.
“I meant every word, Hisayo, and I still do. Be angry at me if you want. I deserve it, but right now isn’t the time for you to break down and rush into your clan’s territory with a hot head. If you do, then the situation may only get worse.” Kakashi continued forward slowly. “We can help. Akio would want you to seek help from others if you needed it.”
Hisayo narrowed her eyes at Kakashi’s words. It did sound like something Akio might say to her, but recent events gave her cause to revert back to the way she used to be before meeting anyone from Konoha. She was so angered by them and especially Akio now, for having left her like this. But most of all, she was angry with herself for letting her guard down and believing that it really was okay to form bonds with other people.
Hisayo closed her eyes tightly, weighing her options and chances for success.
A few moments went by before she opened her eyes and carefully looked at them all. Her eyes stopped last on Kakashi. His dark eye stared into her fierce gold ones with sincerity, confidence, and a glint of something Hisayo had never seen from him before. It almost caused the strange feelings she had before with him, to surface. However, now was not the time to be questioning them—she had a choice to make.