The White Flash

Return Home

After a few days rest, the group made for Konoha. After a slight detour to a hot spring, they escorted the new Hokage to the village. She needed a day to get settled in, so Ayumi spent the time tidying their house; when he woke and returned home, there would be no dust to be spotted! He'd be less likely to be angry about the past month's activities. Come the second day, Tsunade never showed up; although, Naruto had set out in search of said woman before running off in claim to chase her down. Leaving the goose chase to him, Ayumi set out for the cherry to top off the ice cream: eggplant-mixed miso soup. With the assurances in hand, Ayumi made her way to the hospital.

            "Ayumi-chan!" Naruto's voice called to her from the entrance, his hand waving above his head as he ran in front of both Tsunade and Shizune. "I found her!" He stopped in front of her, hands balled into fists, "we're going to Sasuke first, but we'll go to Kakashi-sensei right after. Promise!"

            Ayumi gave a smile as she turned towards the entrance, "I'll wait for you then!" After getting Kakashi's room number, she moved a chair to the window at his bedside before taking a seat. Kakashi lay still in the hospital bed, cheeks slightly sunken. She's been gone over a month and he was attacked the day she left. So, he hasn't had any solid food during that entire span of time. The soup was going to be the only thing he'd be able to eat for today.

            A few minutes pass before a voice announced, "I'm coming in." Tsunade entered swiftly after, followed by Shizune and Naruto. She stood at his bedside, a glowing hand hovering over his forehead. After a few moments, he twitched. With a low groan, a black iris peeked through his eyelid as he sat up. "How disgraceful!" Tsunade rested her hands on her hips, "to be taken down by just two insurgents. And here I thought you were a genius."

            "I'm sorry..."

            "All right!" Naruto exclaimed, "Kakashi-sensei's done! Next Bushy-brow!"

            "PLEASE!" Gai launched out of the cover of the curtain, "hurry up and take a look at my disciple Lee!"

            "Right, right," Tsunade sighed following the train out of the room.

            Once the door was shut, Kakashi's attention shifted to her, "I'm sorry, Yu. Have you been able to take care of yourself while I've been out?"

            "Well..." She trailed off, grabbing the container of soup she placed it on his lap with a wide grin. "I got this for you, Papa!"

            "You did?" A slight curve of his mask hinted a smile as he smelled the air. "Smells good." Unbothered, he unpacked the soup. Only when readying to take the first bite did it seem to register. Suspicion quickly fell over his expression and he looked to her once again. "This is eggplant miso soup. What did you do?"

            Her hands resting on the sheets, she found herself oddly fascinated with the fiddling of her thumbs. "Before you get too mad, you should know that I was given permission by Gai-ossan to do it! I've been gone for over a month now. I just got back to the village yesterday."

            "You've been gone? Where? What happened? With who?"

            "I've been training."

            "Training?"

            "I went with Retsu-san, Jiraiya-sama, and Naruto-kun to find Tsunade-sama."

            "Gai let you go with Retsu-san?" His gaze glared at the doorway where said Jounin left, "I'll have to talk to him later."

            "Papa, I know you're mad at Retsu-san, but there's no better swordsman than her!" Ayumi grabbed his forearm with both hands, "I want to learn from her."