Zabuza's sister

11 : I'll tell you a secret (long chapter)

Kakashi awakened in an unknown bedroom, his wounds bandaged but his clothes still on, except for his jacket. There was a shadow next to him, sitting against a wall, beneath a large window bathing the room in sunlight. He recognized Ayane, who seemed asleep, a hand still laying on his arm. Her gas-mask was off, and she was wearing the same mask as him on the bottom half of her face and band-aids on her eyes. Something in her strangely reminded him of someone. Maybe her black hair surrounding her face and body, or her black clothes, or the way she covered her arms. He knew only one other person who did this. The girl he loved since they had met, seventeen years ago. The one he let down when she most needed him. He lifted his hand to touch Ayane's...

"Waking up, eh? Are you alright?" A woman, probably Tazuna's daughter, asked him, startling him.

"I've been better. It will be a week before I can move normally." The jônin replied, sitting up quickly.

Too quickly. His felt dizzy. The new presence in the room and Kakashi's movement awakened Ayane who immediately drew back her hand, leaving a cold sensation on Kakashi's arm.

"You really should stay laying on your bed, you know." She said, voice even, masking her embarrassment. "You need rest to recover."

The rest of the team and their client arrived, looking relief to see him awake. The brunette took this occasion to stand up and go out of the house. Kakashi felt suddenly lonely with her gone. She really did look like Dana.

...

Dana's footstep led her near the water, in a little bay where nobody was in sight. She sat on a rock and sighed. Trying to relish some of the tension she was feeling. She wanted to trust her instinct, that her brother was still alive, but... Wasn't she fooling herself because she couldn't handle to lose an other person in her life? To lose the family she just found again, after all this time? And if Zabuza really was still alive, what would happen? She would have to prevent Kakashi and him from fighting and then, what? He was so... cold. Cruel. All the time, during the battle, she could feel his desire to kill, his excitement, his anger, his rage. This wasn't the boy she knew. And maybe he didn't care about having a sister any more. The girl, the trained shinobi, strong and confident, suddenly feeling very vulnerable, raised her knees against her chest and buried her face in them. Tears didn't came, as she sat silently next to the water, wondering. What should I do now?

...

"Ayane!" Sakura screamed when she came back to Tazuna's house, hours later. "Where were you?" But she didn't wait for an answer. "Do you know what Kakashi-senseï told us?"

"How could I know, I am no medium." Dana's tired voice struggled to get past her thin mask.

"Zabuza is still alive! He thinks the boy who took his body was his accomplice and that he saved Zabuza, making us all believe he was dead!"

The brunette felt her heart skip a beat.

"What?!"

"Yes! And Sasuke agrees with him! And, well, I really find this story strange too. Killing someone that strong with just some tiny needles? As dead as he seemed, I don't buy it. What do you think?"

"That if we all got the same feeling, then it must be right." She tried not to sound relieved.

"So you thought it too! Is that why you kept your distances all day? You didn't want to worry us?"

"Sort of." Her voice broke.

"You know..." Sakura was suddenly feeling awkward. "It's OK if you didn't do anything during the battle. I wasn't of much use either..."