Kakashi's Teammate, the Lightning Goddess

The Chunin Exams: P.4

*edited*

Chapter 17: The Chunin Exams: P.4

                “Fill me in,” said Melissa, swinging her legs over the edge of the porch. Her dark hair shone as dawn began to approach, and I sighed, leaning back into the wall.

                “There’s not all that much to tell,” I said. “It would take ages, anyway. Remember Kakashi? He’s so annoying and yet awesome at the same time.”

                She giggled childishly. “You know, when they announced you dead all those years ago, I couldn’t believe it. Kakashi was absolutely crushed, too; it was as though he’d lost everything.”

                “Well, I guess he did lose half his team,” I said, shrugging. “Rin was murdered shortly afterward, too – or, at least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

                She was thoughtful for a moment, and I was wracked with shame again. How could I have been so stupid as to pin the blame on my younger sister? And because of what she looked like? Because she was the oddball in the family?

                I was definitely a horrible person.

                “You look like you’re regretting again,” said Melissa, as though reading my mind. “I forgave you about two days after the incident, you know. But by that time, you had turned to your teammates… and mostly Kakashi. Jeez, did you ever pay him back for being such a great therapist?”

                I kind of wanted to cry. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I never really blamed you. I just needed someone to blame, someone to curse… and I missed you so much, but I was afraid that you hated me. And then you went to stay with the Nara clan…”

                “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I never tried to approach you, either, and then all the missions, and the War – “

                “We kind of just got sidetracked, huh?”

                We sat in silence for a moment, until I remembered something important. I unhooked the silver necklace from around my neck – the one I always wore – and handed it to Melissa.

                “This belongs to its rightful owner,” I said, and she was smiling so hard when she took it that I was almost worried she would explode. “It’s pretty strong, putting up with me for nearly twenty years.”

                “Twenty years!” She laughed as she put on the necklace. “How is it even possible to ignore your sister for twenty years?”

                “That,” I said, “is an amazing question. And I have absolutely no idea. Busy life?”

                We both burst out laughing. It was nice, having her back, although she’d clearly changed a lot from when she was a little girl. I had missed way too much of her life.

                She sat up suddenly, and looked over her shoulder. “What?” I asked, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

                “Nothing,” she said, before looking around again. “Okay, so if I said that I wanted to send Kakashi on a wild goose chase, what would you say?”

                I swear my eyes gleamed. “I would say, ‘that’s the greatest idea anybody’s ever come up with’. Let’s do it.”

***

                Melissa, in fact, did have a plan, and it was easy to put into action.

                “So you’ll guide him here…” Melissa tapped a point on the map of Konoha she’d picked up. “… I’ll be here, you get him to actually stop walking, and I’ll do this move – “ She demonstrated by forming several hand signs, and I recognized them immediately. “ – and then maybe we can get him a better and less worthless life.”

                “Well, I have already done that once,” I said. “It clearly didn’t do much.”

                Melissa’s silvery eyes, identical to mine in every way, gleamed. “We’ll pound it into him.”

***

                “Where are we going again?” Kakashi didn’t once look up from his book as we walked along the streets, which annoyed me. But fear not; that won’t be a problem soon enough!

                Amaterasu snickered, as I said, “Somewhere interesting. I have something to show you.”

                He finally looked up to cast me a sideways glance. “Somehow, I have a strange feeling about this.”

                Yeah, probably because I stole your words from earlier. I glanced at my watch; we had only half an hour left before we had to be at the Prelims. The sun was just about to rise.

                I led him to the top of the Hokage Monument and paused, pretending that I was admiring the view. It wasn’t like the view wasn’t admirable, but I was on a mission.

                “It’s beautiful,” Kakashi agreed, stopping beside me. I could almost sense Melissa’s chakra behind me, as she began to form hand signs. “By the way, how did you like your surprise?”

                Was he onto me? “I loved it,” I said, giving him a genuinely warm smile, because I had loved it. “You know, I’ve written her letters, but I never got one back. I suspect that’s because after Iwagakure, she’s been out of Konoha a lot, too.”

                “I talked to her quite a few times while you were gone,” he said, his tone solemn now. “In Iwagakure, I mean. Sometimes I tried to pretend that she was you, but reality always caught up with me.”

                ‘That’s so sweet,’ Amaterasu cooed. ‘Now you’ll get married and have babies.’

                ‘If you were tangible, I would be kicking you halfway to the moon.’

                ‘Why not the sun?’ Snicker. Snicker. Sun Goddess. Snicker.

                “Hi, Kakashi,” came the voice of my sweet sister from behind us. We both turned, and there was Melissa, smiling happily, the last sign still formed as she waited for the perfect moment.

                “Hi,” said Kakashi, and at that moment, Melissa cast the Time Freeze Jutsu. It was more or less a Genjutsu, but a very strong one, and it only needed to last a second anyway. Melissa beamed and snatched the book out of Kakashi’s hands. I doubted that Kakashi even knew what was going on.

                Melissa released the Genjutsu, revealed her teeth, and Kakashi started toward her.

                “Give me my book back,” he said. Melissa’s smile was growing wider and wider. I kind of wondered if she would just explode from all that smiling. Her cheeks must’ve hurt.

                “No,” she said pleasantly, through her big smile.

                “Book.”

                “I’m sorry, did you say ‘TeeGooglyCoffeeMeat’?”

                He froze. “What does that even mean?”

                She giggled. “Bazinga!” Tossing the book to me, we both made off in opposite directions, leaving a very confused Kakashi behind.

                Well, there was my entertainment for the day.