Chapter 37: Team Leader Arc: Two

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto.

Kakashi, disturbing as it is, follows me out the door. For about two blocks, I ignore him in an attempt to get him to go away. He doesn't though, just shadows me with one hand in his pockets and another holding a lurid orange book. This is the first time I've noticed him reading Icha Icha.

"Will you quit following me?" I turn around to glare at him.

He eye smiles at me. "I'm not following you Hana-chan. You're just walking in front of me." I could learn to hate his sing song.

I really could. "Just so you know, as soon as we get back to the Inuzuka Clan grounds you're liable to be assaulted." Kaa-san...did not like him much. And by didn't like him much, I mean seems to have developed a universal disapproval for every aspect of his existence, including breathing the same air as him. I don't think him reading soft core pornography in the district is really the best way to improve his social standing.

He shrugs. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it, Hana-chan!"

"I think you mean." And here I have to take a deep breath so I don't scream with frustration. "You'll either cross that bridge when you get to it, in which you resolve to face my Kaa-san. Or, you'll burn your bridges, which given that they're already burning, means very little to begin with."

"No, Hana-chan." Kakashi peers at me with his single eye over the edge of his-so obnoxiously orange-book. "I mean I'll burn that bridge when I get to it."

Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep. Calm.

Very deliberately I turn around, and begin walking in the direction of home. "Well, it's your funeral." I mutter under my breath. "Idiot scarecrow of stupid degrees of stupid."

"I'm home!" I call out as I step over the threshold. I slip off my sandals, and set them near the door, and glare at Kakashi until he does the same.

Cousin Ashi appears from beyond the doorway. "Oh, welcome home, Hana-chan." She trails off as she notices who is with me. "Tsume-baasan has standing orders to throw you out should you be found within the clan compound, Hatake-san."

Kakashi shrugs. "Well, I haven't been thrown out yet.

Cousin Ashi frowns, and I grab his elbow and tow him down the hall past her. "He's an invited guest, Cousin Ashi!" I smile awkwardly as we pass her. "Nothing to see here."

It's only after we hurry down the hallway that I realize I have no idea where I'm supposed to take Kakashi. I mean, this isn't like last time, when he was drunk out of his mind and couldn't even distinguish between people in his head.

Where are we supposed to go? I straighten my shoulders. "Well, no help for it then." I mutter, and slide open my door.

My sheets are a crumpled heap at the foot of my bed. There are at least three books on earth jutsu balanced in a precarious stack on my desk. Tou-san's meticulous notes regarding chakra control are scattered all over the floor, and I scoop them up and shove them into a desk drawer. My walls are covered with pages of Kiba's childish scrawl, and I am not ashamed that someone else has seen them.

An array of kunai, explosive tags, shuriken, and soldier pills are piled at one end of the low table by the door. My whetstone is right beside them. A ripped and not yet repaired mesh shirt and stray wires, pliers, needles and thread take up most of the center of the table.

There's another mesh shirt thrown over the back of the only chair in my room. And of course, there's dog hair everywhere, considering that the Triplets, Kimaru, and Kuromaru came and went almost constantly.

I pull the stool out from under the table. "You can sit here, if you'd like."

Kakashi had been eyeing my room with something akin to interest. He looks like someone who'd expected to see normal London and just fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland to be honest. A stranger in a strange land, in the inner sanctum of the Inuzuka Clan Compound.

"Whose pictures are those?" He asks as I flop back onto my bed.

"Kiba-chan's." I reply, and at his nonplussed expression I explain. "My darling otouto."

"Ah." Kakashi pulls out his book and begins to read again.

"Why are you here?" The fact that he's in my room would not deter Kaa-san from kicking down the door in the slightest.

"Well, you see, I was dragged in by an overeager puppy." Kakashi begins, and flips a page. "And that is why I am here instead of elsewhere." An overeager puppy? Really?

I sit up and walk over to my desk. "Well, you are always welcome to leave before Kaa-san kicks down my door to punt you across the village." He raises an eyebrow at me, and I smile. "Kaa-san doesn't like people who threaten her children, and you've held a kunai to my neck twice."

He winces, and puts the book away. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going down to the kennels." I shrug on the extra mesh shirt, and scoop up the bag of dog food by my door. "I hear we have puppies." And while they wouldn't be anything like the Triplets, I still had a duty to the Inuzuka dogs. If there were new puppies, I should at least welcome them into the pack.

He gets up and follows me again. "That's not what I meant, Hana-chan." He has a hand on my shoulder, and turns me around so that I'm facing him again.

"What did you mean then?" I won't run away from him in the sanctuary of my own home.

"What are you going to be doing, if you aren't joining Tracking?" Is that what he meant?

"I'm applying for the Military Police Force." I respond and shrug off his hand. "I have plenty of projects to accomplish before that." Tou-san. I understand why you left me your research notes now.

Kakashi has now officially stopped following me. Well, that's a relief. Kaa-san won't have to punt him now.

"Koma-senpai!" I run after the fading silhouette of a tall Hyuga in the lightening gloom. "Koma-senpai! Wait up!"

It's just a little before dawn, and the Triplets and I are out on our typical morning run, when we spot Koma-senpai.

He turns to me, fatigue in every line of his face, and for the first time I notice that he's in ANBU gear. Well, that confirms it then. He's definitely ANBU. "Yes, Hana-chan?"

I step closer to him, so that he can very easily lean against my shoulder if he would like to without any nosy civilians realizing the truth. Koma-senpai is prideful. Much like Toku there's no arrogance in him, but oh, he could be prouder and more immovable than the mountains. It is perhaps, what connects all Hyugas, that pride flame that in some manifests as arrogance, and in Hinata burned so weakly until pushed by the wind.

"Are you going to be at home today? I wanted to see if Toku was in." I've lost track of his schedule already, and while it might be okay to visit Kiho-baachan to check, it wouldn't be nice to interrupt every time I wanted to see Toku.

Besides, I don't even know it Toku's training takes place at Sensei's house right now.

"No." Koma-senpai answers. "He is not, Hana-chan." We walk slowly and he does, from time to time, make use of my shoulder. The Triplets tag along behind, silent, watchful, and serious for once.

I do not ask him what's going on. There are drawn lines on his face that seem to speak of loss and agony. He's failed in some way.

There's no need to rub it in.

I fill Muta in on what's happened with Sensei over tea at Mufu-an later that morning. He'd taken a day off as soon as he'd gotten back to Konoha. As I had expected, Hunting Missions often took the pursuers out on a goose chase for the longest of times.

"I heard that you made chunin." Muta opens with a gentle smile, seemingly having accepted his state of being. He'd been so tortured the last time I saw him.

And I regret that I will have to again, open wounds in his heart. "Yeah." I sigh. "We all did."

"You do not seem pleased." Muta observes. He tilts his head to the side, and watches me with those golden eyes of his. "Why?"

"Ita-kun was put under a genjutsu that would break his mind." I state. "And Sensei used a kinjutsu to fix the problem."

Muta nods. "I heard from the rumor mill that something sparked out in Iwa." He frowns, the corners of his mouth pulling down only slightly. "I did not know the extent of the damage."

So he'd already been worried. I lean in close. "You can't tell anyone about this."

"When would I?" He asks and glances up at the ceiling. "You and Toku are my best friends. Sensei is Sensei still."

And I suppose that's what team loyalty is. "Team Tan, huh." I whisper. "Well then, friend of mine." I rise and offer him a hand to pull him to his feet. "Let's go on a walk."

We make our way down the street, arm in arm as we'd never done before, but felt perfectly natural right now.

"Sensei can't use chakra right now." I whisper and point at a dango stand on the corner. "They've the best tea flavored dango, Mu-kun." I say a bit louder, pitching my voice so that the random passersby heard only a simple conversation. "Two years." I smile, even as I feel my heart break. "It's been like that for two years now, Mu-kun!"

He inclines his head in my direction. "That indeed sounds wonderful, Hana-chan." Only I could hear his distress. I'm sorry I have to tell you like this Mu-kun. But it's understandable that Sensei doesn't want this to get out to the public right?

It does not make me feel any better. "Do visit Sensei." I say at last. He'll want to see you. "He's missed you these few months when we were away."

Muta nods. "Of course, Hana-chan."

"Cousin Hana?" Cousin Gaku steps into the house, Byamaru at his side. "Might I speak to you?"

I look up at him, from where I'd been sitting on the floor with Kiba as he'd been explaining his sudden descent into friendship with Sasuke. "Well he's not all that bad you know, Neechan. He's just weird."

"Yes, of course, Cousin Gaku." I stand up, and brush the dust from my shorts. "Shall we walk down to the kennels?"

Kiba protests. "But Neechan, everyone knows that Cousin Gaku's weird." My heart skips a beat.

"You aren't to say that." I frown at Kiba. "Cousin Gaku is very dear to me." He'd brought me to the hospital to say goodbye to Tou-san. "He doesn't entirely remember many things anymore, but that's no way to speak about our cousin, Kiba."

Properly chastised, Kiba falls silent, and I offer my arm to Cousin Gaku. "Shall we go, Cousin?"

The corners of his mouth tilt up. "Yes." He agrees and we walk down the path towards the kennels.

I sit with the new puppies crawling over my lap. "You said that you wanted to speak to me?" I ask. He sits down as well, and the puppies back away from him.

"They-" He shakes his head. "Puppies used to-" He looks at me helplessly. "Puppies used to like me, right?"

I frown. "I don't know. You never came with me to the Kennels before."

His hand, which had still been outstretched towards the little wriggling balls of fur, returns to his side. "Do not join ANBU, Cousin Hana." He looks at me seriously. "Never." Why is he so concerned about ANBU for me?

"I did not plan to." And it is entirely true, that I would prefer to stay as far away from ANBU as I could possibly get.

He seems relieved, and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my left ear. "I am glad."

The next morning, I finish packing for the routine border patrol mission that lasts for a two week rotation. Most active duty chunin do end up taking at least three rotations of border patrol duty, unless they taught at the Academy or worked inside the Intel. I suspect that any Uchiha who regularly worked in the Military Police force also didn't go on border patrol.

"You're leaving again, Neechan?" Kiba sits, swinging his feet on my bed.

I pat him on the head. "Yes, unfortunately my number came up in the rotation, Kiba-chan." I tuck the extra soldier pills that he hands me into the front pocket of my pack. "I'm glad that you and Sasuke-chan are friends." I ruffle his hair. "Be good for Kaa-san, alright?"

He nods, very serious and wise with his wide brown eyes. "Of course, Neechan. I'm always good."

I laugh. "Sure, sure Kiba-chan."

He walks me to the edge of the clan compound, and I head off into dawn along with the Triplets to meet the members of the Genin Corps that I'd be leading on patrol. There's supposed to be another chunin in the group, and 4 members of the Genin Corps. We'll be splitting into two groups at the fork in the Naka river, and travelling our border with Taki.

"Hello, Inuzuka-chan. We meet again." I look up to find Akimichi Chikai smiling at me. "I didn't get to speak to you much last time we talked."

"That's a bit of an understatement, Akimichi-chan." I respond with a nod to her flak jacket. "At the Suna Exams we barely spoke at all." We lean against the wall waiting for the four members of the Genin Corps to arrive in silence after that. Perhaps she mistook my words.

Ah well. No matter.

"Don't be concerned so, Hana." Ichi nudges my hand with his wet nose. "We have two weeks ahead of us."

I manage a weak smile for him. "But this is the first time I'm leading a team, and it has to do with keeping the village safe."

Ni nudges my other hand. "But Hana's best." He states and San nods. "Hana's best."

I pat all three of them on the head. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."

The members of the Genin Corps come in a group of three, and a single entity.

"Well." I clap my hands together. "Since we're going to be a team together for two months, let me begin by introducing myself." I look around at the three together, and then at the single one person who seemed really familiar. Nevertheless, I cannot place him. "I am Inuzuka Hana, and these are the Haimaru Triplets." I gesture to Ichi, Ni, and San, who are crowded around me protectively. "I like history, books, learning new jutsu, my family and my teammates. I dislike people who would hurt my teammates, people who think that my Sensei is only fit for being a machine that decodes messages, and people that dislike dogs." And I hate Uchiha Obito, for what he did to Kakashi's mental state and how important he is to someone he couldn't care less about. That one Iwa ninja who's dead now that put the genjustu on Itachi to begin with, and Iwa in general for being hell on earth. I add in the confines of my mind. None of those are suitable for sharing though. "My hobbies are training, and visiting my teammates. My dream for the future is to enter the Military Police Force." I look around at the five rather bored faces all around me. "Any questions?"

"No." Chikai is next. "I'm Akimichi Chikai. I like food, helping my parents at the restaurant and becoming stronger. I dislike how I am bad at baking, Academy problems that require mental math calculations that are stupid while in the field, and enemies of Konoha. My hobbies are tending fruit trees and cooking. My dream for the future is to open a restaurant that specializes in tempura."

The next person to speak is the boy that I feel I should know, but cannot place.

"I'm Nara-" He begins, stumbles and glances at me. "Nara Kasuga." No...he doesn't look much like-the boy in front of me is thin, and frail. He'd dark circles under his eyes and he seemed defeated and broken. Nothing like the Kasuga that I'd threatened that night in Iwa. "And I have no dreams for the future." He finishes.

No dreams? None? Even I have dreams. I'm not really paying much attention as the rest give out their names and introductions.

What happened to him to make him this way?

The first time I'd met him, he'd been...well if not a typical Nara, then at least a confident boy with a cruel streak. He's all wrong now, soft spoken, quiet. He looks as though he already had a foot in the grave, half starved and overcome with fatigue.

He'd been a part of Asata-san's team. I had not realized that after the Iwa disaster that Team Asata had been disbanded.

Nara Kasuga is permanently on the mind as we make our way out of the village, and into a new day.

A.N. More Kakashi. He's still being weird and opaque about his thought process. And then we have Koma-senpai rising above random stock character, Muta is informed of a horrible situation, Cousin Gaku is slightly more human but still kind of weird, and Nara Kasuga, again.

Hana is just being pelted with people and their agendas this chapter. Well, agendas except for Koma-senpai. He's mostly cool.

Thank you to WhiteFang001 (You're right, he can't be anticipated, he took up more screen time during this chapter and was basically a troll yet again.), CasJeanne (Itachi, so far as we are aware, does not refer to himself as a cat.), rickrossed (Always Itachi feels. He's such an easy character to have feels about), Alizay (I did feel that the summary was weird-ish, thus new summary, and yes, Sasuke is in fact dearest, but Itachi doesn't always think clearly), Snidekick (Well, I suppose Kakashi is on the road to recovering his mental state if you count the fact that he's added a second chair to his apartment.), Sam (No Itachi Hana interactions this chapter, but Itachi Hana interactions will in fact, continue.), and The Yeah (I am a singular person. I write the chapters generally the night before I upload them. And I am stuck in present time. I do, however, never sleep, so there's that to be considered? Your comment made me laugh really hard btw) for reviewing!

And to everyone who favorited and followed, huge shout out. Bloodless passed 100 favorites yesterday! YAY!

You all are amazing.

~Tavina.