Those Little Moments (Hatake Kakashi)

8

When I woke up, I was in the tent on top of a sleeping bag. I heard Jiraiya snoring outside. My first thought was to check my clothes, but I hadn't been touched.

As I made my way out, I saw Jiraiya lying near the tent's opening, his mouth wide open with drool falling out of it. The sky was barely beginning to lighten, and even as I stepped over him, he made no sign of waking. For such a pervy guy, he really hadn't done anything last night other than give me his tent. I smiled at him gratefully as I grabbed my kunai to get some more training.

I didn't walk out of sight of him, just in case, and began practicing again. My muscles burned from the previous day's work, and it made me smile. I would take aching muscles over the tired and unused body I'd gotten used to any day. By the time Jiraiya woke up, my aim had finally gotten to the point where the kunai were only ever a centimetre off.

"Don't wear yourself out too much, we have a lot of travelling to do today." He reminded me as we packed up all our things.

"I can handle it." I responded stubbornly, only thinking about wanting to get back to where I was before.

I could, in fact, not handle it. After my morning practice, running all day, and practicing during our lunch break, I passed out just as we neared the next town. Jiraiya, somehow quite respectful, though I'm sure he peeked down my shirt whenever he could, carried me to the inn and gave me the bed to myself. When I woke up, he was sleeping in his sleeping bag on the floor of our room.

Again, I trained early in the morning, that day doing strength training, then ran all day with Jiraiya, this day less sweaty than the previous day. After a week of travel, I had mastered the kunai once more and had gained a decent amount of muscle mass, enough that my muscles could be seen rather than being stick-thin. I had cut my hair to my shoulders, getting rid of all the frizzy, unkempt dead ends. Some of the fullness returned to my cheeks, and my eyes seemed brighter. All around, I just seemed to myself less hollow, less of a prisoner, and more of a free spirit.

Twice more throughout our many-month-long travels together, I worked myself beyond exhaustion. I would practice until I passed out, and Jiraiya would carry me to a bed or the tent, leaving himself a less ideal sleeping situation. Not once did he complain, but I took it in exchange of all his glances down my shirt, and the one time I caught him peeking while I was trying to take a bath.

After those months had passed, and I had returned to my former strength, I decided it was time for me to leave. Jiraiya, who had never told me what his mission actually was and would often just disappear for a day, accompanied me as far as the border of the Land of Fire.

Jiraiya sighed mournfully, his gaze on my breasts. "It's a real shame."

I just chuckled, having long gotten used to his antics. "Thank you, Jiraiya." Hesitating for a moment, I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "You did more for me than I could've ever expected, and... without you, even if I hadn't been captured again, I couldn't have felt safe, and I wouldn't have been able to really feel human again. Even if you're super pervy." I laughed a little at the end, tightening my arms around the man I'd started to see as a mentor.

Jiraiya was grinning when I let him go, and I was too embarrassed to say anything more, so I just started my journey home. As I ran, the trees began looking heart-achingly familiar, even though I didn't really know exactly where I was, only where I was going. I almost felt I was my ten-year-old self, returning from some mission with weird Anko and Tokuma. It's funny how much I had dislike them as a child, but now I would give anything to see their faces. Everyone I had loved was dead, anyways, but at least I wanted to see that there were some people left.

The trees passed behind me in a blur and I finally reached the road, staying in the trees next to it. It was similar to how I'd remembered it, though all my old memories had started to blur, except the faces of my loved ones.

I ran alongside the road for a mile, when I started to come up on four travellers, from the looks of it a team of genin and their leader. I slowed down, being sure to be quiet as I watched them, wondering if I should ask to travel with them or not. As I followed them, something started to feel familiar about them. My eyes kept going to the leader. He really seemed familiar. I started to speed up, hoping to get in front of them to see his face. In my curiosity, I paid less attention to my steps, and one of the branches I landed on swayed slightly. A leaf fell gently down.

One of the genin stopped, holding up his kunai threateningly and facing in my direction. Already, I could tell he was a talented kid. 

"We know you're there."

Oh well, I was half planning on joining them anyways. As I jumped down from the tree and started walking towards them, the rest of the team turned to look at me as well. I felt my breath catch as I finally saw his face. I knew who he was immediately, and tears started streaming down my face as it hit me. The boy told me to take my hood off, but I couldn't move. My hands were shaking and, after some moments, I managed to lift them and pull my hood off. Still I was looking only at him.

"Hatake? That's you right?"