Lightning In The Hidden Leaf

18 - Calista's Stars

"What are your plans then?" asks Kakashi when Calista finally makes a move.

She brushes herself off and straightens her clothes that had become a disarray from laying in the bed. She still doesn't know where she is or why she's here. She didn't even think to ask.

"Home but... where are we anyways?"

Kakashi places his book into his pocket and stands up. 

"A place I like to come when I want to be alone," he says.

"That doesn't answer my question."

He looks at her, surprised by her lack of patience. The sides that he has seen of her have been very different. She was charming and mysterious when they first met back at the hot springs. Then she was polite and determined when she arrived to the village. Now, it's as if she is on the threshold, unsure which traits to harness next until she has more answers about her situation. 

"We are instead of a tree."

"A tree? Like in a forest?" she says looking up, realizing there isn't a roof or an opening in sight.

"That's right. Our first hokkage was a wood style user. He created these woods. Many of these trees are hallow and were used during combat."

"And no one besides you know about it?"

"Nah. All of the elites and well skilled Shinobi know about this place. They don't get used too much these days as our lands have been peaceful. We have so many of these concealed bunkers so it would probably take sometime before they found us anyways."

"So I better get going."

"Right. To go back home... which home was that?" he holds his breath in anticipation.

"Back to the Lightning."

Good. So she isn't retreating to her previous clan for protection. Not yet anyways.

"I have a feeling the Leaf ninja's are after me. I'm ok with that, but there's something I have to do which I won't be able to do if institutionalized. Will you tell anyone of my whereabouts?"

"You're right about one thing. The Leaf ninja's are most definitely after you and it's only the matter of time. The one thing you're wrong about is expecting me to keep such urgent information from the my village. That goes against my code of ethics as a high ranked Shinobi. And I take pride in what I do."

She turns away from Kakashi, not wanting him to see her red face. He is right. They are hardly acquaintances and he has, for whatever the reason, helped her so much. She can't expect this much from him. It's not fair.

"I apologize. I have asked too much--"

"Unless I go with you. I can help you avoid the Leaf. I can't withhold information from my comrades if I don't encounter them."

"And that doesn't go against your code of ethics?"

"The Leaf are suppose to be keeping an eye on you. If I'm with you, I'm honoring our rules. I can learn a lot about you this way and whatever I learn I will be more than willing to share with the Leaf."

She is half turned to him, not wanting to be too vulnerable but she has to know. Turning to face him she asks, "you are so involved with this. With me. Why? You owe me nothing."

He leans causally onto his leg, hands in pocket, as if every task he has every done is as easy as tying his shoes. Then he exits the tree with Calista following behind him.

"What you said earlier about the past getting in the way..."

"What about it?"

"When I first met you, I didn't see an icy glare or an angry face. But I did see the darkness in your heart."

"Darkness?" she says cocking her head to the side.

"I carry darkness in my heart as well, but I carried it much different than you. My past has caught up with me too. It took over the present and made the future nonexistent. To be honest, I couldn't wait to die so I dabbled in death by making it my mission to kill." He leans against the tree and looks up at the sky, but Calista is more curious about him, than what's in the sky. 

"But if I carry my darkness different than you, how would you know there is darkness in my heart?" she asks.

"It's really easy to see the darkness when you have moved into the light."

She takes a moment to watch him watch the night sky. She is so captivated by him and what he has to say, she only now realized her heart is beating to a foreign rhythm.

He continues, "I know what the pain of one's past can cause and I know how hard it is to carry darkness. I'd like to give you what I wish was given to me the moment my heart first became tainted. But thinking about it now, back then I was probably too stubborn to accept someone's help," he says rubbing the back of his head, a smile wiping across his ghostly face only for a moment.

Kakashi takes his eyes of the sky as Calista draws closer to him. "This darkness you speak of. It's been the there for so long, I didn't even realize it has made a nest and home in my own heart. I think it might have even married and had a family," she says laughing at her own words. 

The moon illuminates her and Kakashi notices her in a way that he has yet to notice. Every time he has met her, she was trying to please someone. Either her clients, her clan, or the higher ups of the Leaf. Now, she's unpolished. Frustrated, angry, perhaps a little frightened, as she takes the darkness from her heart and lays it out for them both to see.  

So this is the true Calista. I have been dying to meet you, thinks Kakashi knowing how difficult it is to accept your own pain.

"But something you said bothers me," says Calista. 

"Which part bothers you?"

"You said you carry darkness in your heart too. Does that mean... it never goes away?" she whispers the last words as if Kakashi not hearing her question will shelter her from the truth she isn't ready to hear.

"No," he sighs. "It doesn't go away."

"Then what's the point of telling me all of this if things aren't going to change?!"

He smiles to himself. There she is again.

"The darkness doesn't go away, no. But things can absolutely change."

"How?"

"Well... by doing what you're doing now for starters. Answer me. Can light exist without darkness? Can darkness exist without light?"

She looks down as she deciphers his riddle. "How would we appreciate one, if the other didn't exist?"

"Exactly."

She looks up at him, as he smiles down her. Then he looks back up into the night sky. Calista follows his gaze this time. The stars are bright and Calista understands exactly why Kakashi is so interested in the sky.

If the stars look this beautiful against the black sky, maybe darkness isn't such a bad thing then, she thinks as she too watches the beautiful night sky, finally understanding the message she didn't even know it was trying to give her.