Lightning In The Hidden Leaf

26 - Calista's Luck

"Calista," Kakashi breathes, his voice hardly audible. 

Calista blinks a few times and looks around at the familiar faces. They all looked relieved. She should be as well. She has come out of that jitsu alive. But what concerns here are the people here, and how they got caught up in all this.

"Shikumaru. Please let my mother go. I promise she will not hurt you."

He hesitates but releases the jitsu when Kakashi gives him a little nod.

"Mother," says Calista. "It was you all along. I had no idea about any of this."

"I know," says Senna. "Miko had you undergo that jitsu. Then he remarried and had another child. For all you knew, that was the life you were born into."

Calista looks at Senna. So much time has past but for Calista, it feels like just yesterday she was taken from her mother. 

"Mom. What kind of trauma have you endured to do this? To be like this?"

Senna stands up and Kakashi takes his stance. Since he met Calista, he is always ready to fight for her. To protect her. She puts her hand out, indicating to him that she doesn't need his intervention. 

"It's not just about what I endured," sighs Senna. "It goes way back to my great grandparents. And further back than that. The village I lived in thought of woman no more than an object to be used by men. We done all the work while they sat around drinking and gambling with one another. The nights were the hardest. There is nothing worse than a drunk man who longs for the intimacy of a woman--"

"That wasn't like my father at all!" 

"It wasn't. You're right," she says with sad smile on her face. "I met your father and he helped me escape to the land of lightning. But the damage was already done. The women, including myself, have endured and witnessed too much pain to merely integrate into a typical life. They had started their own clan. A clan with a purpose to save as many women as possible. You were first on my list but by the time I came to the village, you were gone. I think Miko employed some plan to get you to leave."

Calista's eyes releases tears and she asks a question that deep in her heart she already knows the answer to. "What happened to everyone? My moth- step-mother, father, brother?"

Senna sighs. "They died. In accordance with the mission of our clan."

"The entire village? There were women and children there, not just evil men."

"Some women came with us. We had to kill the ones who refused our assistance, to end the cycle of pain that they didn't know they were enduring. Or will endure. The young girls came with us while the boys--"

"Were killed," says Calista thinking of her brother.

A silence befalls and after a couple of moments, there is a heavy thud to the ground. 

"Iruka is on the last leg of his life," says Guy, looking at the women. I don't mean to interrupt your reunion but we have to something for him.

"Why did you come for me?" says Calista. "I wasn't in any trouble. I could have lived a normal life, maybe got married and --"

"You think that's normal and that's part of the problem. You were always content with us back then until you met him," she says nodding at Kakashi. "A handsome face and some friendly words and that totally threw you off. It was different with Yuri," says Senna answering Calista's question before she can ask. "I used him because I wanted him to keep an eye on you."

Calista looks over her shoulder at Kakashi. She looks deep within his soul, knowing that what they shared was a taste of real human connection.

"Something I don't understand," says Kakashi. "Why do you even have men in your clan if you hate them so much?"

"The men aren't part of my clan. They don't even know there is a village of women that is my true focus. I just use them, the way they have used us."

That explains why there was less and less money. She was adding more and more women to her clan.

"Calista, you're perfect for this clan," says Senna. "Your beautiful and alluring. You can take advantage of men to help us, the women who have been taken advantage of far too long."

Calista closes her eyes for a moment as she lets go of everything she once hoped for. "I will go with you," she says. Kakashi whips his head in her direction, hoping he didn't hear right. "I will go with you, but leave everyone here alone."

Senna takes Calista's wrist and Kakashi steps forward. "Respect her!" Senna yells. "You men got to learn that."

Then two women take off leaving the Leaf Ninja's alone.

"Kakashi?" says Kurenai as they all reconvene. 

Kakashi rummages through his pockets and throws two vials of liquid and a couple of food pills at Guy, which he gracefully catches. "Get this into Iruka. It will keep his vitals functioning until we get him proper help."

"What are you going to do about Calista?" says Guy.

Kakashi looks at the direction the women headed in. "We'll be right back," he says as he runs after them.

Damn it, Calista. You have come this far. We're so close... you can't mean this. 

***************

Senna and Calista are running but stop in their tracks when they see Kakashi blocking their way.

"I told  you not to meddle," says Senna.

"Kakashi, please, just go home," says Calista.

He takes a vulnerable step towards her. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm done with talking, Kakashi. Like my mother said, please respect my wishes."

"How can I respect this when just a moment ago you wanted to end all of this nonsense and talked of getting married and living a normal life?"

She turns away her blushing face. 

"That was before I remembered. Things are complicated now and I have other agendas to attend to."

"Calista," says Kakashi, begging.

Calista takes out her kunai. "Move. This is your last warning."

A few moments passes. Kakashi stays planted firmly.

"Do it, Calista," says Senna.

Calista runs for Kakashi and they both engage in a sparing match, their weapons clashing as they manage to counter every attack. 

When their weapons collide this time, Kakashi grabs waist her and pulls her in. "I don't plan on killing you. I can't do that," he says in her ear. She feels his breath on her neck causing a shiver down her back.

"I figured. And that puts you at a disadvantage." She wraps her leg around him and wrestles him to the ground and straddles across his waist. Her kunai is hoisted, ready to puncture. It reminds Kakashi of the first time they exchanged words. 

She leans down close to him. "Ask for Doctor Sato in the village north of the lightning. He can help you. And please, Kakashi. You told me yourself all darkness needs light. Go back home and give the light a second chance. I want that for you."

She never planned it, but she puts her hand to his face and slides his mask down so their lips can touch. Needless to say, it was quite the jolt when Calista penetrates her kunai into Kakashi's abdomen. Calista jumps of Kakashi and reconvenes with her mother.

"That's my girl," says Senna. "You'll fit in with the other women just fine."

Calista doesn't look back. All it will take to change her mind is one look at Kakashi. The man she knows she has been falling in love with the moment they met. She grits her teeth as her heart breaks. It's unfortunate that life had other plans for her.  But Kakashi and what he has taught her is something she will never forget. She will seek out her light, as she fulfills her new mission. 

She can't help but laugh at the direction her life has pulled her in once again as that indeed, is just her luck.