Chapter 25: New Team Six Arc: Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

After we finish our second D-rank mission as a team, Itachi stops Toku and I with his hands hovering over our shoulders. "Kaa-san would like to invite you all over for dinner."

Toku huffs and slaps his own hand over Itachi's so that Itachi's hand actually touched his shoulder. "Alright, you need to stop acting like we're about to disappear." Toku turns with a grim expression his face. "We've been able to take care of ourselves before with a few near misses, but if you keep expecting us to fall over during missions outside the village we'd be the ones taking care of you."

"Alright." Itachi pulls his hand from Toku's grip. "But Kaa-san did want you to come over for dinner."

"I'd be happy to." Ah, well, I wouldn't necessarily be happy to, the Uchiha compound is one big hazy mass of ghosts, but I would make an effort. It's the least I can do, given what I've promised him.

Toku shudders. "No thanks." He looks at Itachi's crestfallen face and hastens to explain himself. "It's not you or your immediate family, but the last time I visited the Uchiha compound more than ten people were glaring at me at the same time." He gestures towards his face. "It's the dojutsu thing you know, there's a problem with being branch and all, and I expect Hiashi-sama will attempt to speak with me in person if I'm ever caught willingly visiting the Uchiha Compound."

I bump my shoulder against his. "You're rambling Toku." He turns to me with a startled vacant look in his eyes, and I smile. "I'm sure Itachi-kun gets it."

He drags a hand over his tired expression. "Blagh."

Even Itachi breaks into a smile at this. "I wasn't aware that Hyugas made such noises."

I grin. "Toku's a very special Hyuga. Mu-kun and I corrupted him early on in the aging process." I pause and give special consideration to Itachi. "Perhaps we'll end up corrupting you too."

Itachi looks mildly horrified at the very idea. "I don't think so Hana-chan."

Nevertheless, I am on my way to the Uchiha compound as the sun sinks to a few finger's widths above the horizon that evening.

"Wait, Hana-chan!" Cousin Ashi calls after me as I attempt to slip out of the door. "You need to take this with you." She moves more slowly now ever since she'd slipped down the steps while I wasn't home during the exams. The summer heat does nothing to relieve the aching in her bones and I know she shouldn't even be on the reserve roster, but my clan is full of stubborn people.

Our motto is thus: If we can still move, we will fight for Konoha when she needs us. It is why there are so many of us on the memorial stone after all.

I take the pot of stew she offers me. "I'm sure that Mikoto-san has prepared more than enough food for dinner."

Cousin Ashi frowns. "It can't hurt to bring a friendly offering to the Uchihas. They are so rarely welcoming after all."

It would be unkind to show up without some sort of gift, Blossom. I blink back the tears that threaten to form, and hug her tightly instead. "Thank you for thinking of me."

She pats my back comfortingly. "Anything, Hana-chan."

I walk past the main gates of the Uchiha compound and pause there, uncertain of where to go next. I'd been here just two weeks ago with Sensei, but I had very little idea which paths we took being too concerned with the weighty stare of what had seemed like an entire clan.

Carefully, I balance the pot on one hip, and make my way further in. Surely there's someone I could ask about where Itachi-kun's house is.

I take a few more tentative steps further down the path. The thing is, I didn't really want to ask someone who is blatantly staring at me. Doubly awkward is the idea of speaking to someone who is clearly giving off the aura of 'mind your own business'. Cousin Ashi is right. They are rather unfriendly taken as a whole.

If only at least one of the Triplets is here with me, they could track where Itachi-kun's house is just by scent. But I had left the Triplets at home to play with Kiba, and I doubted that Fugaku-san or Mikoto-san would be pleased to feed three rather large dogs even if they are ninken.

I keep walking. If Itachi's the elder son of the clan head surely he has to live in the biggest house? That's how this would work right? Still, the idea of just barging into the largest house and hoping that it is the right one sticks in my throat.

Finally I spot someone who isn't staring at me, in fact, he isn't even looking or walking in my direction. Perfect.

I race forward to tug on his sleeve, careful not to jolt the pot and spill the beef stew in the street. "Excuse me Uchiha-san-" He's turning and suddenly I feel my throat clam up. I drop his sleeve because it's made of ice and snow and broken dreams. Of all the ghosts I had to unearth today, it has to be Uchiha Shisui. Who didn't know about the sacrificial son of the Uchiha clan? His right eye stolen by Danzo, his suicide by the Naka River...A statistic. One of the many. A ghost. And he is staring at me with a rather quizzical look in his eyes, which are incidentally, still in his head at this point in time. "Do you happen to know where I can find Uchiha Itachi-kun's house?" I finish rather lamely, as I shift from one foot to the other.

Why, why did it have to be yet another sob story? Oh wait, because this clan is full of them.

"I'm sorry, I don't give out my cousin's address to his fangirls." He's smiling, but his voice is so bland it might as well be plain boiled noodles.

Of all the-what did he just call me? I shift the cooking pot so that it rests again, firmly on my hip before I take two steps forward and grab a fistful of the front of his shirt. You are not going to get away unless you tell me where I can find Itachi's house. "I'm not a fangirl. I'm the kunoichi on his new genin team and if you make me late for dinner then not even Kami-sama will be saving you." I hiss at him through clenched teeth.

He pauses, blinks as if poleaxed and then laughs, and it's clear and free and it makes everyone around him want to laugh too. So that's what the manga meant by nice. Oh.

"You should have just said so, Inuzuka-chan. I'll walk you over." He looks down at my hand. "If of course, you unhand me."

I feel a blush crawl up my neck. "If you say so, Uchiha-san."

"Shisui." I glance at him. He has his hands laced behind his head and he turns a cheerful smile at me. "I like you. You should call me Shisui."

"Alright then, Shisui-san." Is he actually an Uchiha? He smiles cheerfully. I'm fairly certain that that is not normal.

As it turns out, Shisui is actually a regular member of Mikoto-San's dinner table which is why we were going in the same direction. I proffer the pot as I step through the door. "My cousin wanted me to bring a peace offering, Mikoto-san."

She smiles at me. "Oh that's perfectly alright, Hana-chan. Did your sensei and other teammate come with you?"

I laugh awkwardly and fiddle with the loose thread at the edge of my sleeve. "Actually...Sensei never comes to these things and Toku said he had something to do at home today..." That's not really what Toku said, but a little white lie can't hurt, can it?

"So the Hyuga doesn't want to visit us because we're so beneath him?" Uchiha Fugaku steps out from behind the door frame and I freeze, awkward smile still on my face.

I attempt to make my smile more genuine, but it's probably a lost cause. "Actually, Uchiha-san, Hyuga Tokuma is probably the least arrogant member of his clan that I know. He can't make it today because he doesn't feel that he'd be welcome wandering around the Uchiha District as an inheritor of the Byakugan."

He tilts his head, arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the door. "Who are you?"

I bow, just enough to show the respect required of me, but no more, because he'd been so rude. Toku's genuinely trying not to make dinner awkward, but you're doing a good job of that all by yourself Uchiha Fugaku-san. "Inuzuka Hana, Uchiha-san. The first time we met you said I took after my father." I straighten in time to see the widening of his eyes, but I don't know if it's because he thinks I'm unspeakably rude or something worse.

At any rate, things can only go downhill from here. "So you're the girl who ripped out her opponent's throat in the Chunin Exams." Like I thought. It's only going downhill from here.

"Ah, well, that's what Sensei and the boys told me afterwards...I don't really know." My smile is plastic, and I feel the heavy weight of his gaze resting on my shoulders.

"Oh, come, Anata you mustn't scare Hana-chan." Mikoto-san sets a hand on his arm and guides him toward the dinning room. "Itachi-kun's waiting, Shisui-kun. He wants to spar after dinner today."

What follows has to be the most uncomfortable meal I'd lived through for two lifetimes. Family dinner at home is a casual affair with Kiba throwing rice balls at me so I could catch them for him, or Cousin Ashi's loud, open mouthed laughter, or Kaa-san leaning back in her chair and everyone feeding the dogs under the table.

Uchiha family dinner is a formal affair indeed.

I feel as though every thought any Uchiha ancestor ever had is pressing down at me from all sides. I'm sure Mikoto-san's cooking is wonderful. I'm just incapable of tasting a single bite of it.

"So, Hana-chan, what is your teammate like?" Mikoto-san is doing her best to carry a conversation, and at points she'd ask me some question or other. Generally, what was your favorite subject at the Academy? History. What is your favorite desert? Mochi. Who's your favorite person? Kiba. And so forth.

I pause, set my chopsticks over my bowl, and smile genuinely for the first time that night. "Well, Sensei's a not so typical Nara who likes to drink tea and moan about doing actual work while doing work, Toku's a corrupted Hyuga who laughs has bad posture and makes really bad jokes, and Mu-kun is easily embarrassed and is really fond of over analyzing situations..." I trail off as I recall that there is in fact a person on my team that I haven't mentioned. "And Itachi-kun's very kind." I say at last.

What could I do? I had already messed up by listing Mu-kun as a teammate when he isn't officially one anymore.

"So you still consider the Aburame boy a teammate?" From behind his bangs, Itachi winces. Certainly his father is no worse than he was portrayed. In the intervening years since the Kyuubi incident, it seems that Uchiha Fugaku had gotten more discerning, and exponentially more strict.

I don't look in Fugaku-san's direction when I reply. "He'll be my teammate until the day I die. I offer that same benefit to your son, Uchiha-san."

"Oh don't mind him, Hana-chan." Mikoto-san laughs airily and offers me more rice. "Fugaku's bad at speaking to children." I'm not sure if that makes this better or worse, Mikoto-san. But they did say that he loved both of his sons.

I look over at Fugaku-san to gauge his reaction to his wife's words. His face might as well have been stone. Well, no help for it. Might as well stick my entire foot in my mouth., "You asked me earlier if I ripped someone's throat out during the Chunin Exams, Uchiha-san." My thighs are trembling under the table because speaking to the Uchiha patriarch is a bit like speaking to a mountain, but I keep my voice steady and quiet. "I do that to people who threaten my teammates. Your son is in safe hands."

Shisui whistles. "Brutal words, Hana-chan."

"Shisui-san." I frown at him. "I don't think I agreed to let you call me Hana-chan."

Sasuke lobs a rice ball in my direction at that very moment and I catch it with my teeth just by reflex. He shrieks with laughter. "Again! Again!"

"Sasuke! Apologize to Hana-chan right now." Mikoto-san has a hand over her mouth and she turns towards me. "I'm so sorry Hana-chan. Sasuke is normally so well behaved..."

Mikoto-san's horrified expression has me giggling. "No, it's alright. Kiba-chan and I play this game a lot during dinner." Sasuke might not have thought of it as a game, or even lobed rice balls at the dinner table before, but I catch another one and he looks around the table, searching out new participants in the game.

His father's glare freezes him quite effectively though. "Sasuke. Apologize to Inuzuka-chan."

His eyes fill with shocked tears. "Otou-san..."

I walk around the table to pick him up. Sasuke's surprisingly well behaved as a child. Kiba would be throwing a tantrum and wailing if anyone had dared stop his fun. Granted, Kaa-san never did, and Kiba is a spoiled little brat with a heart of gold, but still. "No it's okay, Sasuke-chan. I don't mind, but..." I lean in to whisper in his ear in a conspiratorial manner. "Maybe we should only play this game when your Otou-san isn't looking?"

He smiles at me, and when I look up again it's to the entire Uchiha family in residence staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

Fugaku-san actually cracks a smile, and it's suddenly as if the sky is falling because everything is so much more relaxed. The banter around the dinner table as I sit back down with Sasuke still on my lap isn't exactly rowdy, but it isn't the icy silence of earlier.

After dinner Mikoto-san, Fugaku-san and Sasuke and I sit on the steps as Itachi and Shisui face off in the yard.

"We're so sorry for being so reserved, Hana-chan." Mikoto-san sets a hand on my shoulder. "We weren't sure what to do when you showed up today."

I blink at her. "Did you not expect anyone to come?" I slap a hand over my mouth as soon as I realize what I said. Oh Kami, I can't believe I said that.

Fugaku-san snorts. "Neither of Itachi's teammates or his jonin-sensei showed up the last time we offered." I don't entirely turn my face towards him, but the tiredness in his voice is clear. Through the corner of my eye I note now that the tension had gone out of his face, it is more lined than I thought. He wasn't trying to be mean to me earlier?

He's just bruised by past rejections. And isn't that a strange thought to have? That Fugaku-san is, in fact, a human being?

"Well, I can tell you that Sensei really doesn't like to eat dinner at other people's houses." I tilt my head back so I'm staring up at the sky. "He seriously loves having his students over for dinner though. Kiho-baachan's a wonderful cook. And Toku just really thought he wouldn't be welcome. He's very honest."

"Perhaps you could tell him that we'd be happy to eat with him the next time, Hana-chan." Mikoto-san's suggestion is hopeful.

I smile. "Un. I'll tell him."

But then a dog leaps over the garden gate heading straight in my direction. It's not one of the Triplets. The dog's fur is tan, not gray. For another...he's wearing a blue vest with a henohenomoheji so I have a fairly good idea of whose dog he is.

"Are you the girl with food?" I blink.

"Huh?" His jaws close around my wrist and he proceeds to very gently drag me away from the Uchihas. "We need your help, please come."

I toss a helpless look back at the Uchihas still sitting on the porch. "I'm sorry, I'll be back later, Mikoto-san, Fugaku-san."

And then I am dragged by one of Kakashi's dogs off into the night.

We take to the rooftops after leaving the Uchiha district. "Could you tell me more specifically what you need me for?" I ask as we clatter over one of the residential areas. "That and a name would be nice too."

The dog turns back to look at me. "I'm Guruko, and we need your help to get Kakashi to the hospital."

I nearly fall off of the roof. "What makes you think that I can possibly get him to go anywhere he doesn't want to go?"

"You have a good history regarding our summoner." Guruko stops and waits for me to climb back onto the roof tiles. "Three years ago you dragged him to your house and prevented him from drowning. A year and a half ago he offered you information regarding his genin teammates who he hates talking about. Not two months ago he allowed you to see his injuries and didn't kick you out when you forcibly made him food, and gave you advice. I'd say your history with Kakashi has been fairly smooth sailing."

I feel my right eyebrow rise a whole lot higher than my left. "You call that good?" I stand up and dust off my shorts. "Well. Let's go attempt to persuade someone who could kill me with both hands tied behind his back to visit the last place on earth that he'd like to be, shall we?"

Guruko has the good grace to look ashamed of himself. "If I had another solution, we'd use that one."

Oh, lovely. Just what I need.

Guruko opens the door of Kakashi's apartment from the inside and lets me in. There's no light on, just some pale moonlight falling over the floor and the bare walls and table.

"What're you doing..." Kakashi is...collapsed, and bleeding and his one visible eye as a sort of shocked vacant thing going on. Oh goody. "Guruko."

I walk towards him very cautiously, the same way a mouse might try to approach a cat if mice even dared to approach cats to begin with. "Kakashi-san?"

His singular eye focuses briefly on me. "Why're you here?" I can't quite place his tone. Not annoyed...not annoyed...maybe...guilty? But why would he be guilty?

Very, very careful to make no sudden movements I kneel down beside him and find that the floor is actually sticky. Don't think about blood. Don't think about blood. Don't think-ah yes, thank you denial, my old friend. "Let's go to the hospital shall we?" I smile down at him while attempting to slide an arm under his shoulders. Where is he bleeding from? Can I bandage that with something? Why on earth is he bleeding this bad to begin with?

How in Kami's name did the gate guards not catch this?

Right, because Kakashi is a first class troll.

My remaining hand, which I'd been about to set on his other shoulder to begin the attempt to move him is caught firmly in his grip. "You know how to heal." What? No I don't? I've never learned anything to do with medical ninjutsu...

"Oh for Kami's sake I am not Nohara Rin!" That-is a very wrong thing to say when dealing with an injured Hatake Kakashi because he's slammed me against a wall with a kunai at my throat the next instant.

"Who are you." I glare at Guruko who's still cowering in a corner. This is all your Kami-damned fault. If I live to see the dawn tomorrow I will murder you slowly.

"I'm Hana." I all but growl at him and jab him in the stomach. He lets go-that must be where he's injured-and I sling an arm over my shoulder. "Now let me take you to the hospital or you won't live to see the sunrise, Kakashi-san." I turn to Guruko. "Go tell Konoha General that we're coming and that they should look for us somewhere between here and there."

I want very badly to just leave him alone. He'd far too many issues with mistaking me for someone long dead whenever he is weirdly not in control of his mental state. But I can't. If I'm the only one his dogs could think to find, what does that say about the rest of his acquaintances?

So since I can't leave him, we walk.

I am rescued by some paramedics on our way to the hospital. Unfortunately, Kakashi is a bad patient even when half conscious, and he's devolved into thinking that I bear some resemblance to someone who is very dead.

Thus, I too am dragged along for the ride else he might actually kill himself resisting care.

"Excuse me?" I tap one of the passing nurses on the shoulder. "Can you tell Kaa-san that I'm safe, but in the hospital because there's an irritating scarecrow to look after?" Now that I think about it, it might be too late for that.

The bellowing downstairs says that I'm probably right.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY DAUGHTER'S IN THE HOSPITAL?!" Kaa-san's storming up the steps.

I run over to her instead of continuing a now rather useless conversation with the nurse. "Kaa-san, I'm alright. Nothing happened."

She looks down at my bloody shirt and stained knees, and pulls me into a hug. "What happened to you, Little Nose?"

I close my eyes and count to ten. Then I open them again. "One of Hatake-san's nin dogs wanted me to take him to the hospital. I can only assume that his latest mission went very bad."

She pulls back, but still holds me by the shoulders. "Why does it have to be you?"

I shrug. "I don't know, but Guruko was fairly certain that he'd kill some other people if they were brought in to try and help him." Not entirely sure if that's the truth, but really, who am I to question the dog I still have to kill?

"Why did you go?" Kaa-san's got me in another bone crushing hug, and I don't want her to ever let go.

"Well, I couldn't just let him die. It wouldn't be efficient." Fatigue overcomes me, and my eyes slide shut. "Hokage-sama would be mad if someone so important died in his own apartment without anyone to help."

Kaa-san's chuckle sounds more like a growl promising vengeance. "I'll have to speak to the boy about what is and isn't acceptable." She traces the scratch on my neck with idle fury. "This isn't acceptable."

By this point, I'm too tired to protest. "Okay." I sigh and slip deeper into a dreamless sleep.

A.N. So we get meet the Uchihas and Kakashi's an idiot all in one four thousand word chapter. I think it went over fairly well, all things considered. (Now most of the time Kakashi doesn't exhibit such idiocy, but he and Hana meet very occasionally over the years, and it's mostly when he's some form of moronic, so she's less inclined to believe he isn't a troll.)

Thanks to WhiteFang001 for reviewing!

And thank you to everyone who favorited and followed.

As always, I'm open to your thoughts.

~Tavina