The Red Maelstrom

[48] Thrice Twined

"Whaaaaaat."

Kakashi raised a hand before his face in a half-assed apology when Kohana tried her shove her way into Akano's office. She tried to push him back by the belly but he remained stubbornly in place. "Sorry, Kohana-chan; I changed my mind. I think it might be better to leave you out of this, after all."

Kohana's face burned fiercely with indignation and hurt. What did he mean? Wasn't she supposed to be in on this? She was Sasuke's childhood friend! Didn't she have the right to at least sit in on the conversation? Akano even said that she was going to be a part of the process every step of the way!

But when she told Kakashi as much, her endlessly infuriating sensei simply cocked his head in clear confusion. "Eh? But I never promised you that, did I?"

That gave Kohana pause, purely out of puzzlement, which Kakashi clearly took advantage of. "Anyway!" He started back before she could begin to formulate a retort. "It wouldn't be fair to include you when Sakura and Naruto aren't joining."

Kohana's hands curled into tight fists at her sides. "Invite them, then!" she exclaimed. The volume was enough to prompt a curious Akano to peek over Kakashi's shoulder. Kohana was about to plead her case to Akano, but Kakashi intercepted her again, shamelessly stepping in to block her vision.

"Nope! I'm sure they need some help with their training. Be a good teammate and help them out, won't you? See you later!"

And that was that. What chance Kohana had of sitting through a dramatic and heartfelt conversation about strength and friendship with Sasuke was gone. She had quite literally been shut out of the conversation.

"Fine!" she yelled at the inert sliding doors because there was absolutely no way she was going to let Kakashi have the last word on this matter. "Let's see if I lug your skinny ass back to Konoha!"

"Language!" returned a muffled voice from the other side.

"And it isn't cute when you say 'eh?', y'know! Shitty old man!"

With that, Kohana stormed off, eyes hot with unshed tears of frustration. It was childish to be throwing a tantrum, but it was all Kakashi's fault for kicking her out of their strategy meeting! She was concerned for Sasuke's well-being and terrified of the possibility that he would turn down Akano's offer to fully suppress the seal. What was she going to do now that she'd been excluded from the conversation? Her nerves were too fried to wait around; it was a little too much like waiting at the hospital for news on whether her brother was concussed from tripping over gnarled roots in their old forest excursions. Kohana wasn't going to very well cry about it, but... she felt like she just might.

"Huh, you're back early!" Naruto called out from the field, training axe in hand. From the looks of things, Sakura's pointers on his form really paid off. Kohana would ask him to demonstrate, but she was far too upset to think about much else beyond what was going on inside that office. Honestly! The least Kakashi could do was let them all listen in at the back of the room; they didn't even have to talk! In fact, they could have been barred from talking and Kohana still would have been grateful to be included.

But there was no point in scheming to barge in. She hated the thought of giving up, but she did ask Kakashi to do everything in his power to make sure Sasuke didn't make the wrong choice. All she could do was put her faith in their sensei.

Still, it hurt...

And though she couldn't deny that she was acting like a spoiled child at this point, Kohana couldn't help but sulk. She sat on the engawa and hugged her knees to her chest for some semblance of comfort. Didn't Sasuke want her there? Didn't he need them there with him? He was the most independent person she knew, but Kohana had hoped that the circumstances could have taught him to rely on his teammates. Was that still too much to ask?