Roses {Kakashi Hatake}

10. Mission

One year had passed since her parents' murder, and she had become a chunin as fast as she could, in the meanwhile trying to make sure Kakashi no longer felt too guilty, "Kakashi, he gave you that eye for a reason," Akahana told the boy when he kept refusing to use his left eye, "You better start using it before you're considered a lousy friend to him."

Until now, it had been to no succes, neither could she convince him to start using the Sharingan.

"I don't even deserve it, I should have--"

"You do deserve it, Kakashi!" Akahana told him, "You realised the importance of your teammates eventually, it doesn't matter it was too late. You did all you could."

Kakashi gave her a questioning look, did she really not blame him for what happened while he was supposed to lead the mission and keep his teammates safe, "You really think so?"

"I know so." She threw him in a hug, taking him by surprise. He hesitantly hugged her back, unable to escape the girl's rather strong grip.

She broke the hug when they were interrupted by Naoki and Mako picking Akahana up for a mission, "I'll see you later, Kakashi-chan!" she said with a wave before leaving the boy alone.

Just because she saw Kakashi give her a hint of a smile didn't mean she wasn't going to tell Rin to spent some more time with him to keep him distracted. She wanted to make sure there always was someone to make him feel better when she wasn't around, she was that committed to her goal.

***

"Kiyomi-san, meet Fire Freckl-- What was that for?" Naoki flinced in pain as Akahana stepped on his foot.

"You know what that was for, Tree Boy," she stated. She then turned to the client they were supposed to protect on the way to her village, "My name is Kobayashi Akahana," she introduced herself.

Kiyomi, a woman with brown hair, brown eyes and tan skin smiled. The two reminded her of her relationship between herself and her older brother.

"Well, at least she's happy," Mako stated dryly, "We've succeeded in our first objective, keep the client happy." Shibi just nodded, agreeing with the thirteen year old.

Akahana smiled at the boy and swiftly turned to face the gate before them, "That's the spirit, let's go!"

Shibi coughed louder than he usually would, earning his chunin's attention, "I'm supposed to lead the mission, you know that, right?"

The girl grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, right."

Kiyomi let out yet another smile, she enjoyed seeing the team dynamic and she would love to see the team work together, even though she hoped they wouldn't be attacked at the same time.

*a few hours later*

"Are we there yet?" Naoki asked, "Didn't Hokage-sama say it was only a few hours away from Konoha."

"If you walk in a straight, flat line," Mako said, "Which we're obviously not," he added as he walked uphill, careful not to slip over a rock, "And that bandit attack did cause delay as well."

"But we fought them off easily, right?" Naoki retorted, "We deserve a break."

Without warning, he promptly sat down on a rock, dragging Akahana along, "I have a hostage."

Shibi looked at Kiyomi, raising an eyebrow. Kiyomi nodded and sat down on a rock the opposite side of the two chunin, "I guess we could take a break."

If it wasn't for the fact it would be rather embarrassing for the thirteen year old Naoki, he would have done a victory dance since his improvised plan had worked.