Ai’s POV:
I walked off, aiming to go to the Hokage Mountain to cool off some. So much for trusting people. Izumo caught up with me.
“Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, un,” I muttered. “Want some tea, un? My treat, un.”
He looked at me. “Sure.” We walked to a teashop, and I ordered some of the most calming tea they had. While we waited for our tea to come, I focused on keeping the Biju calm. “What was that chakra?” he asked.
I looked at him closely. “Let me ask you something first, un. If someone told you some secret and asked you not to tell anyone no matter what, would you tell someone who asked you about it, un?”
“A secret is a secret. Depending on the secret, it could bring an entire village down. Still, no matter what the secret is, I wouldn’t tell anybody.”
I smiled. “Thanks, un. Now, to answer your question, that chakra was six demons, un.” Our tea came, and I took a sip.
“Six? Is that even possible?”
“Apparently, I’m the only person alive who can house all of the demons, un. Six so far, but I most likely won’t house any more, un. Especially because they’ve caused me some major health problems, un.”
“Health problems?”
I nodded. “Yes, un. Kakashi was there when I was diagnosed with stage two lung cancer, un. I asked him not to tell anyone, but apparently, the jerk can’t keep his mouth shut, un.”
“So the coughing before?”
“Was a reaction to the nine-tails sending chakra to my lungs, aggravating my condition, un.”
“I’m sorry…,” he said, looking down.
I shrugged. “It’s no big deal, un. I’m treating myself, and it’s getting better, un. Still, I’m tired of trusting people and getting stabbed in the back, un.”
He looked at me, smiling. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you, un.” I smelled Kakashi coming, and looked over. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here and interrupting my date, un,” I growled.
He sighed. “Ai, we need to talk.” He sounded just the right level of guilty.
I closed my eyes. “Izumo, can we pick this up in a bit, un? I’ll be right back, and I’ll make it up to you, I promise, un.”
“Sure, Ai. See you in a bit,” he said, smiling.
I smiled and nodded, then kissed his cheek on the way out of the teashop. Once outside, Kakashi grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side, into an alley, and cornered me. It’s such a stupid idea to corner someone who could kill him in a heartbeat. Still, I waited for him to say something.
“We need to talk.”
“So you’ve said, un.”
He closed his eye. “Look, I know you trusted me not to tell anyone, but she heard you coughing and figured out that something was wrong. She asked me if it was a cold, and I told her what it really was.”
I let the full force of my anger show through my eyes. “You could have lied, un.”
“I won’t lie to my team, Ai.”
“So you’ll break a promise to someone who could not only easily bring this village down singlehandedly, but also is putting her life on the line to help you, un?”
