Those Little Moments (Hatake Kakashi)

16

"Did you sleep ok, Emi?" Kurenai asked when her eyes finally peeled open.

I nodded gratefully. "I didn't have any nightmares. Thank you, Kurenai." 

She smiled gently at me, hugging me tightly one more time, before we started to make breakfast.

Halfway into making the eggs, there came an urgent pounding at the door. Exchanging confused looks, Kurenai and I went to open it, and there stood Guy.

"Emiko disappeared! She's not at home! She must have been kidnapped again! We must go save her with the power of youth!" He exclaimed.

I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "I'm right here, Guy."

Guy picked me up in a hug, twirling me around. "Ahead of the game, I see, Kurenai! How youthful!"

Kurenai and I rolled our eyes in sync. "Guy, Emiko came here of her own free will. We just had a little sleepover."

I smiled gratefully that she didn't give any details about the reason behind the sleepover and Guy put me down, staring at me crossly.

"Emiko! Why didn't you tell me?" Guy whined. "I wanna have a sleepover with you too."

I shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Guy, sleepovers are girls only."

"Next time, if she's not home, just assume she's here first before thinking she's been kidnapped." Kurenai told him, smiling at me. "Come anytime, Emi."

"Thanks, Kurenai." 

I waved to her while Guy and I started going to the training fields, where his Genin were waiting. The whole walk over, he seemed to be almost bouncier than usual, asking me for details on my sleepover.

I didn't tell him anything, but found myself smiling at how happy he was, and that day during training, I managed to make him trip, though he still won our spar. I didn't use my fuinjutsu, even though I was getting quite used to it; I wanted to save it for our next official battle, so I could surprise him and catch him off guard.

That day, we actually had a mission, or they did, technically, and I watched from the sidelines once more. Still, I practiced my jutsus off to the side quietly, where I wouldn't get in their way, counting down the minutes until they finished.

The same happened every day after that. Though I stopped having nightmares every night, whenever they did show up, I would go to Kurenai, who would accept me warmly and eventually recommended I try some sleeping pills. I trained every day with Guy and his team, working on my own at fuinjutsu every night, sometimes even going to the woods and catching and releasing wildlife with my chains, without hurting any animals, of course. 

I had even convinced Kurenai to come train with me some evenings, though she often had me under a genjutsu too quickly for me to act. It became quite clear that genjutsu was my biggest weakness, as I had trouble even recognizing when I was in one, which Kurenai teased me about every time I got caught in her net. Thankfully, though, after training quite frequently with her, I was able to break a few of her easier genjutsus. 

"You've been improving a lot, Emi." Kurenai said after a few weeks of our training sessions.

"Scared I might start beating you, Kure?" I teased back, getting into a fighting position. I was already drenched in sweat from training all day with Guy, who had made me do a lap of the village on handstand, but I was only growing more excited for our fight.

"We'll see."

We both stared each other down in the dying lights of the sunset. Before I could even move, I felt the air change, and I was suddenly stuck with my feet in the ground. Huffing annoyedly, I punched myself in the leg to break the genjutsu, then, seeing that Kurenai wasn't in front of me anymore, I spun around just in time to dodge her hit. While leaning backwards, I used singlehanded signs, calling up chains, though not adamantine, and grabbed both her ankles with them, attaching her to the ground. Before she had a chance to break them, I summoned adamantine chains with normal hand signs, catching her around the waist and pulling her to the ground.

As she fell, I summoned chains just below the earth behind me, and just as I felt a change in the wind and the Kurenai in front of me disappeared, the chains leapt up, blocking Kurenai's kunai and grabbing her wrist.

"Well played, Emi." Kurenai praised as both her wrists were locked by chains. 

I grinned at her. "I knew I wouldn't be able to break your genjutsu in an actual fight, so I just guessed where you would attack, and it worked. If I didn't know you were a genjutsu user, though, I would've lost."

"Still, I'm proud of you."

I felt myself blushing at the praise and pushed her away embarrassedly. "Thanks, Kure."

Kurenai laughed at my embarrassment, linking our arms as we walked back to the village. "Wanna get some drinks to celebrate your first win?"

"Sure! Just us, or are we inviting the others too?" I asked, almost skipping from my excitement at having won.

"Let's invite everyone, make a real night out of it." Kurenai suggested.

Soon, we were sitting at the bar with Guy, and Asuma. Usually, Kakashi would be here too, but he was still on that C-rank mission with Team 7. For some reason, though I was very happy with my current friends, I couldn't help but wish he were here too. I wondered if he'd even thought of me at all since the beginning of their mission. The thought that he didn't wiggled its way like a splinter in my heart, and for a moment I had the thought, maybe he didn't care. Maybe he was so busy he couldn't think of me because I didn't really matter that much. I shook the thought from my head, determined to be happy when celebrating with my friends.

"Today we are here to celebrate Emi's first win against me since her return." Kurenai announced, laughing with all the others when I hid my face in embarrassment

"Kure! You're so embarrassing!" I complained, my cheeks red. Grinning, she pulled my hands away from my face and we each took a shot. Usually, I would drink a fruity cocktail, but Guy had insisted we 'celebrate properly' with shots as an 'expression of our youth'.

By the time the night ended, I was drunk enough that if Kakashi were here he would've carried me home, like usual. I could walk well enough, but I stumbled and giggled constantly, and Guy had to walk me back to make sure I didn't get hurt. In my drunken haze, I stared at Guy curiously. You know, he really was sweet, and a good shinobi and teacher, and I did like when he gave me flowers, but something just didn't feel right.

"I'm sorry I can't marry you, Guy." I yawned, resting my head against his shoulder with cheeks flushed from alcohol. "I do like getting flowers, but I feel kinda bad saying no to you all the time."

Guy just laughed boisterously. "Don't worry Emiko, a noble gentleman like me can take a rejection in stride, with the power of youth!"

I laughed a little in between yawns. "You're really cool, though. And you're a really good teacher."

"You're a great shinobi too, Emiko. Never understimate yourself!"

I laughed again, my eyes drooping, and we arrived at my apartment, where I waved lazily goodbye to Guy, before heading to bed and passing out once my head hit the pillow.