The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 36: Team Activity

"Where was it?" Kakashi asked the empty training ground, as he crouched beside one of the log targets.

He had been sure he could find the spot—and he was almost certain this was it—but it was missing something. In his pocket, the shard itself still had a bitter-scared scent. The ground here, though, smelled only of dirt and plants.

Smells don't fade that quickly, shouldn't fade that quickly.

It was suspicious, but...

The vase wasn't shattered, chipped, or even mysteriously missing. He had seen it through the shop window, right where it always sat. So he was probably overthinking things.

Maybe the broken piece he had found was completely unrelated.

Not likely, but still: he had to be sure.

Kakashi stood up, dusting off bits of grass from his clothes before walking over to one of the other log targets. No sign there, either. After a few more minutes just looking around, he took out the shard, turning it over in his hands.

The blue glaze seemed to be the exact correct shade, same with the white, and the curve would match up... but again, he had seen the vase in the shop, undamaged.

He stuffed the broken piece back into his pocket, scowling at nothing in particular.

Something was clearly wrong here.

"I don't know... what if they get mad?"

"They won't."

Voices. Coming closer.

He leapt for a branch before he could really process just who was heading in his direction.

"But what if—"

"C'mon, Rin!" Grinning, Obito gestured broadly. "This is Minato-sensei we're talking about. I bet 'kinda annoyed' would be as far as he gets."

It was his teammates.

Very carefully, Kakashi shifted back deeper into the leaves.

"It'll be fine, they'll just— wait a second..." Obito frowned, then turned a suspicious eye to the trees.

Kakashi froze, staying perfectly still as he debated to himself the demerits of actually talking with the two of them.

"Huh. I coulda sworn..." Trotting over to the log targets, Obito looked around.

"What is it?" Rin followed his gaze, scanning the leaves.

He crossed his arms. "I thought I saw Kakashi over here."

"Really?"

Now she was looking around, too.

Maybe it would be best to just take the plunge.

Dropping down behind them, Kakashi crossed his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"AHH—" Obito jumped, startled, and then very quickly pretended like he was totally unsurprised. "Hello, hi, yeah. Uh, I could ask you the same question."

Kakashi just turned to Rin. "Well?"

"We were going to drop in on the meeting Minato-sensei is having at Axel's place." She shrugged.

He winced.

"Oh yeah!" Obito nodded, looking excited. "I dunno what they're gonna talk about, but Axel was all nervous and stuff—he's definitely hiding something."

Rin gave a long-suffering sigh. "It's probably just adult stuff—like taxes or whatever—but he wouldn't listen."

Her teammate simply acted as if he hadn't heard the remark. "But what is he hiding? That's the real question." He made a show of thinking up possible outlandish secrets. "Maybe he's actually a ghost! Or an alien, visiting here from another world!"