Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER SIX: The Curse of Hatred

Hanako

As soon as the feeling came, it faded away. The chakra just disappeared, vanished into thin air. "Hanako, are you all right?" Kakashi's voice made me wake up from my trance, but instead of looking at him, I looked up into some trees far away from the building. There was nothing there, but I could swear I could feel a chakra source there less than a minute ago. "Hanako?" I looked back at the Jonin and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's finish packing your stuff before it gets late." I walked inside and stopped when I noticed that his bag was ready, over his couch.

"I'm done." Kakashi said as he closed the door. "Now, as we wait for departure time, why don't you explain to me what your mission is about?"

"My mission?" I asked as I looked at him from over my shoulder.

"Yes, the A-rank the Hokage assigned you." I sighed and looked back at the couch.

"Why don't you bring me a glass of water?" I let myself fall on the comfortable sofa as I looked at him with a smirk. "I got thirsty all of a sudden."

The silver haired man rolled his eye and walked to the kitchen. "You know, you can't avoid my questions forever," he said as he picked a glass from the upper cabinet and filled it with tap water.

"Try me."

Kakashi walked next to me and gave me the water. "Is it hard?"

I took a sip of the drink and sighed in content when the cold liquid traveled down my throat. "Who knows..." I looked at the ground. "Maybe it is...maybe it isn't...depends on the enemy."

"Enemy? You have to fight someone?"

"Most probable." I looked sideways at the Jonin when I felt something slump down next to me on the couch.

"You don't always have to accept these missions—"

"But I want to." I smirked again when I noticed that Kakashi was looking at me with confusion marked in his face. "Besides, it's not like I won't be in missions with Team 7, it's just this particular case where it's really necessary that I go solo."

"Why is that?" The man raised an eyebrow while asking. I chuckled. I filled again my mouth with water and pressed my lips tightly as I let it wander down to my center. I decided to remain silent.

The silver haired man beside me narrowed his eye at me. He didn't seem happy at my lack of response. "Look," I uttered softly while I looked him in the eye. "There are just some things I'm not allowed to discuss. And this mission is one of them." I finished before I stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to leave my glass on the sink. "However, as you are, you will find out soon." Especially, given the fact that the missions were both related and shared the same setting. "But that's not a detail worth mentioning," I thought.

We didn't speak anything else on the matter after that. Kakashi decided to leave early for the gates and I let him. Even though I knew he would stop by at the flower shop, buy some lilies, visit the cemetery for an hour, then visit the Memorial Stone for another hour, and finally go for the gates where his students impatiently waited for him after three hours. Yes, that's how late Kakashi would be for the things he considered unimportant. Three hours. He would only be on time if life depended on it.

After I watched Kakashi leave, I became concerned on the chakra I had felt earlier. It wasn't possible he could be back, was it?

I calmly walked in the direction of the old Uchiha District. Carefully keeping my chakra low, I tried to trace every single signature that was near the place. But I couldn't find the person I was looking for. Not even a clue to prove myself that he had been there.