Dreams of the Past

Hatake Cousins

Chapter 28

Hatake Cousins

It killed Kakashi just a little bit to hear about Sakura's bad days. She never wrote about them in her letters, but Kusa and Pakkun were more than happy to share every detail whenever they poofed back to their realm. Hearing about her bad days at the hospital, Tenzō's meltdowns and the nights she lay awake unable to sleep made the ache for home a nearly unbearable weight. He wanted to be home, to kiss her to sleep, and to comfort his son.

The unending rain and cold in Lightning did nothing to improve his mood.

"Boss... They're doubling back."

Kakashi pulled his head back to the mission. Hopefully this would go a long way toward ending things earlier. So he could go home, so he could stay home. "Finally." He had been hanging back far enough that they either hadn't noticed him or didn't care. As they got closer to Kumo, wanting to catch them before they were in the village, he had stopped masking his scent and followed much closer. "Do they have any ninken with them?"

Senbei sniffed the air again, his tail wagging after a few moments. "Yes!"

"How many?"

"Three. I don't recognize them, Boss."

Kakashi rubbed his companions' ears and drew a kunai. "Good boy, Senbei. Remember, we don't want to fight with them, but if they attack first, defend yourself."

He barked softly, crouching, ready.

Thirty-two seconds later, three sets of glowing eyes appeared around the brush and boulders. They growled menacingly. Senbei responded in kind.

"I told you it was too good to be true, Raiu. He's obviously a Hatake, but not one of ours."

A disembodied female voice seemed to come from everywhere. Pulling his mask down below his nose, Kakashi inhaled deeply. A scent that felt familiar and yet totally foreign filled the area. Pack.

"Hm. Too bad. I was hoping—well no one I wanted to see again would have abandoned us for an enemy nation."

Raiu, male. He sounded closer and to Kakashi's left, and bitter, angry.

"I guess the White Fang wasn't the only one of our Konoha cousins to survive the last war after all."

There. Ten feet to his right. "I apologize for not visiting sooner." He fixed his mask and held his hands up in surrender. "I come as a Hatake first, not on behalf of Konoha. I just want to talk."

There was an angry snarl to his left and a kunai whizzed just shy of his head. "Why should we trust you, Konoha filth? You may be a Hatake, but you are an enemy."

"I didn't follow you all the way here to fight."

There was a flash of gray and white and another snarl as Raiu flew at him. A narrowly deflected lightning blade charged at his chest, followed by a quick barrage of kicks and kunai.

"Raiu!"

Seeing him up close, Kakashi determined that he was younger, twenty at the most. His taijutsu was good, fast and powerful. He tried another lightning blade, again Kakashi managed to dodge.

Beneath his white flak vest, he wore a tight black shirt, revealing a broad chest and muscular arms.

No wonder he hits so hard.

Deciding he needed to end this quickly, Kakashi danced around the younger shinobi, defending against his taijutsu as he looked for an opening. There. Summoning his own purple lightning, Kakashi struck.