| Comfort Trap |
[May. 24th, 2015|07:40 pm] |
[Takes place the afternoon of May 14, Yondaime Year 5, the day after Trouble Round My Door]
On Saturday afternoon, Ogata-san didn't come to pick Naruto up from preschool.
Dad came instead. Naruto knew it from the moment he squeezed past Shikamaru out the door and saw most of the moms and nannies bunched up in a cluster at the play-yard fence, like pigeons on a roofline with a cat at the other end. Only Dad wasn't going to eat them.
He was just standing at the gate, chatting to Shikamaru's mom and Kiba's uncle, and he wasn't even wearing his white Hokage coat. He had jounin blues and a flak vest, just like Kiba's uncle. Nobody was going to mistake him for Kiba's uncle, though. He didn't have the tattoos, or the big brindled dog looking over the fence and perking up her ears when she saw Kiba come shrieking.
Since Kiba was shrieking, and trying to scramble over the fence and launch himself at the dog, Naruto tried sneaking. Dad was right in front of the gate, but there was a loose board on the side yard that Shikamaru and Naruto had made looser and none of the sensei had found yet. Naruto went that way. He had to wriggle, and he scraped his hand and tore his shirt but only a little. Kiba was still yelling when Naruto stood up.
( Dad had stepped aside from the fence, so the more nervous nannies could scrunch past and collect their children. ) |
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| Take a Number |
[Sep. 6th, 2013|10:59 pm] |
[Takes place Yondaime Year 5, April 19th, immediately following Take the Mask.]
Kakashi hadn’t seen Rin since the night before the first Trial, when she’d wished him luck, told him to make friends—“Just try.”—and kissed him on the cheek, which she only did when she was worried.
He’d missed her at the hospital after the second Trial, or she’d missed him. She’d been in surgery, he’d found out later, patching up someone’s near-fatal disaster. She’d tried to visit him at home, but he’d been asleep, and she’d been exhausted, which was sort of how it always went lately.
She’d left him a folded origami crane on the counter, resting on top of a new set of shining kunai, a fresh pair of combat gloves, and a medical kit. When he’d unfolded the crane, he’d found a message: YOUR SHELVES ARE EMPTY AGAIN, GO SHOPPING, HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE.
Which was—sweet?
( It was Rin, anyway. ) |
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| No Old Heroes |
[May. 30th, 2013|09:41 pm] |
The guttering embers of Obito's funeral pyre die around dawn. Rin helps Minato-sensei gather the ashes and break camp, a hollow feeling in her chest where grief should be. Kannabi Bridge lies in ruins miles behind them; Kakashi hasn't said a word since Minato-sensei rescued them yesterday. She finds Kakashi out in the meadow, staring up at the sky. The bandage wrapped around his head makes her eyes burn.
“Kakashi,” she says, and touches his shoulder. He doesn’t shrug her off. “Kakashi, we have to go.”
After a moment, he turns to look at her and nods. She’s known him long enough to read the tightly controlled fragility in the set of his spine, the shape of his mouth underneath the ever-present mask. He looks one step away from falling apart.
“Come on,” she says gently, and takes his hand.
( He lets her lead him out of the meadow. ) |
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