“Sakumo, we’ve found him.”
The White Fang didn’t even have time to be relieved when he heard these words. He kept speeding towards the nearest tree branch, his cohorts keeping up with him clumsily. It was the dead of night and the forest had become dark and dense, making it hard to sense, much more see, anything.
“He’s alive.” One of the men added, seemingly to ease his anxieties.
These words were able to release Sakumo from his trance and he slowed down. Reality sank on him and he began focusing on the mission at hand and not as his past failures. There were many and he would not like for this one to be added to the list.
“Where?” he tried to appear calm but his impatient voice gave him away.
After hearing the location, Sakumo hurried back, trying to convince himself that this was good news, pushing his uneasiness at the back of his mind. He didn’t travel too far but the distance was far enough for his imagination to run wild and his fears to grow dark.
Sakumo arrived at the clearing’s edge, stopping at the sight of his target. He had been frenzy with frustration before but now his insides were finally able to calm down. It was deathly quiet, save for the evening’s cold breeze, yet Sakumo made sure he was careful in his steps as he approached closer.
“Oh Kakashi…”
There was his son, sprawled over a polished rock, sleeping soundly like a child that he was. The expression on his face was not like the one’s he had when he slept in his bed. His face was more tranquil - no traces of the voices that haunted him, no monsters chasing him in his nightmares. By the way his body curled comfortably on the grass, oblivious of the cold and dampness of the night, Sakumo figured his son finally had his first decent sleep in months.
After watching Kakashi’s chest rise and fall for a few times, Sakumo laid with Kakashi on the grass. “You miss her huh?” Sakumo looked up to the starless sky. “I miss her too.”
Sakumo tried not to laugh out loud as he remembered Kakashi’s mother. She was always an enigmatic woman and Sakumo thought she had passed the trait to her son. That was his first thought when he visited Kakashi’s room that night.
It was strangely quiet, only because Kakashi would always wake up screaming, crying, or both, in the middle of the night. He figured the boy had become too tired to think after his first week of “training”. Sakumo had begun to teach Kakashi some ninjutsu to distract him and give the boy something to think about besides the loss of his mother.
Never would he have expected that the little boy would make a shadow clone of himself, instruct it to stay asleep as he secretly sneaked out of the house, cover his trail and track down the route to the gravesite that, in Sakumo’s knowledge, he only saw once. He’d be more likely to believe that his enemies had kidnapped his son, especially after the little clone was desperate enough to fight him to keep him inside the house. Even after being discovered, a shadow clone should never be that stubborn.
Sakumo noticed a shiver from the boy beside him. The body’s soul may have warmth but his small body was shivering. Sakumo sat up and scooped him up. He decided he would just have to walk slowly all the way to their house if he wants that dreamy smile to last a little bit longer.
Sakumo successfully made it home, precious cargo still sleeping soundly in his arms. He made a mistake of putting Kakashi back to his bed. The boy’s eyes slowly fluttered the instant he put him down.
Kakashi woke up.
-=oOo=-
“Why don’t you send Kakashi to the Academy?”
Kakashi overhears from the other room. His father was talking to his teammates about the details of a mission when suddenly his name comes up. Kakashi pauses from cleaning his toys – a various assortment of knives and shuriken – and tries to listen more attentively.
Sakumo answers with a laugh. “Isn’t he too young for that?” He packs up the scrolls and relaxes in his chair. “I’ve never heard of kids joining at his age.”
“He’s what, eight?” Another one of them asks; he seems approving of the other’s suggestion. “You better send him soon if you want to have him graduate early.”
“Yeah, I hear the tests are getting harder each year.” Kakashi could hear them shuffling in their seats. They were still talking as they transferred from the study to the dining area. “You should have sent Kaka-chan early. Kids his age are already formidable. I hear this Maito Gai kid is opening gates already, can you believe it? You don’t want Kaka-chan to get left behind.”
“Is that so?” Sakumo’s murmurs can be heard along with glasses touching the table top.
“I’ve seen him practice; he seems pretty good with knife throwing...”
Kakashi looks at the toys he borrowed from his father. So playing with these is considered practice?
“…not bad for a little kid.”
“He doesn’t look as sturdy though...”
Kakashi looks at himself and agrees. His height and body mass is really unseemly for his age.
“…a few months of taijutsu training can fix that.”
Kakashi hears his father sigh. “I guess you’re right.” Sakumo sounds convinced. “I’ll tell him to go to the academy tomorrow.” The next thing Kakashi hears is his name being called.
Kakashi opens the door and peaks in, enough just to show half his face. He looks at the eyes staring at him and a shiver runs through his spine. Never has he seen such an intimidating group of people. They had sharp fangs, different-colored catlike eyes, tattoos in their faces and arms, wearing animal fur and chains wrapped in dark fabric.
“He’s not used to visitors. He’s a shy kid.” Sakumo scratched his head when Kakashi refused to go in. “He doesn’t get to see other people than me. He’s afraid to go outside ever since his mother…” Sakumo stops, his voice trailing at the end of the sentence.
All at once, everyone in the room was beaming at him, trying to look not too menacing but somewhat harmless and inviting. Kakashi thinks they were doing a poor job because now everyone was smiling eerily, looking like psychotic maniacs hunting for children.
“Go on Kakashi, come inside.” Sakumo motions for him to step closer.
After serious contemplation, Kakashi pushes the door open.
“Oh look, he’s wearing his mother’s mask!”
Sakumo didn’t know if he should shout at Kakashi for going through his things. This was the only possession his late wife left behind. She was a very skilled shinobi, undercover for the most part of her life so much of her is unknown to the world, save for a few close friends. They were careful not leave a trace of her behind even after her death, in fear that their enemies would target her family. All of her possessions were burned so when Kakashi had asked what her mother looked like, Sakumo did not have a single picture to show and could only describe her with words that were unfitting for her true likeness.
“He’s a splitting image of her, don’t you think?”
Kakashi slowly approaches them, getting some sort of courage from wearing his mother’s mask. He feels a sense of security while he was wearing it, her mother’s lingering scent giving an assurance that she is with him and is protecting him.
Kakashi flinches when his father suddenly knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulder. Kakashi was close to being terrified – he has been doing naughty things lately – so when he saw his father’s misty eyes with tears threatening to fall, he was surprised.
“It suits you.” Sakumo says as he hugged him close. The moment did not last for long as Sakumo stood up and patted his back excitedly, making him step forward due to the force. “You can wear it at the admission ceremony tomorrow!”
Kakashi smiles, trying to mirror the smiling, albeit creepy, faces that were encouraging him. He has the urge to tell everyone that his height is deceiving them and he’s really only four years old so Academy can wait for a year or two.
He looks at how excited his father is.
Kakashi sighs.
The White Fang didn’t even have time to be relieved when he heard these words. He kept speeding towards the nearest tree branch, his cohorts keeping up with him clumsily. It was the dead of night and the forest had become dark and dense, making it hard to sense, much more see, anything.
“He’s alive.” One of the men added, seemingly to ease his anxieties.
These words were able to release Sakumo from his trance and he slowed down. Reality sank on him and he began focusing on the mission at hand and not as his past failures. There were many and he would not like for this one to be added to the list.
“Where?” he tried to appear calm but his impatient voice gave him away.
After hearing the location, Sakumo hurried back, trying to convince himself that this was good news, pushing his uneasiness at the back of his mind. He didn’t travel too far but the distance was far enough for his imagination to run wild and his fears to grow dark.
Sakumo arrived at the clearing’s edge, stopping at the sight of his target. He had been frenzy with frustration before but now his insides were finally able to calm down. It was deathly quiet, save for the evening’s cold breeze, yet Sakumo made sure he was careful in his steps as he approached closer.
“Oh Kakashi…”
There was his son, sprawled over a polished rock, sleeping soundly like a child that he was. The expression on his face was not like the one’s he had when he slept in his bed. His face was more tranquil - no traces of the voices that haunted him, no monsters chasing him in his nightmares. By the way his body curled comfortably on the grass, oblivious of the cold and dampness of the night, Sakumo figured his son finally had his first decent sleep in months.
After watching Kakashi’s chest rise and fall for a few times, Sakumo laid with Kakashi on the grass. “You miss her huh?” Sakumo looked up to the starless sky. “I miss her too.”
Sakumo tried not to laugh out loud as he remembered Kakashi’s mother. She was always an enigmatic woman and Sakumo thought she had passed the trait to her son. That was his first thought when he visited Kakashi’s room that night.
It was strangely quiet, only because Kakashi would always wake up screaming, crying, or both, in the middle of the night. He figured the boy had become too tired to think after his first week of “training”. Sakumo had begun to teach Kakashi some ninjutsu to distract him and give the boy something to think about besides the loss of his mother.
Never would he have expected that the little boy would make a shadow clone of himself, instruct it to stay asleep as he secretly sneaked out of the house, cover his trail and track down the route to the gravesite that, in Sakumo’s knowledge, he only saw once. He’d be more likely to believe that his enemies had kidnapped his son, especially after the little clone was desperate enough to fight him to keep him inside the house. Even after being discovered, a shadow clone should never be that stubborn.
Sakumo noticed a shiver from the boy beside him. The body’s soul may have warmth but his small body was shivering. Sakumo sat up and scooped him up. He decided he would just have to walk slowly all the way to their house if he wants that dreamy smile to last a little bit longer.
Sakumo successfully made it home, precious cargo still sleeping soundly in his arms. He made a mistake of putting Kakashi back to his bed. The boy’s eyes slowly fluttered the instant he put him down.
Kakashi woke up.
-=oOo=-
“Why don’t you send Kakashi to the Academy?”
Kakashi overhears from the other room. His father was talking to his teammates about the details of a mission when suddenly his name comes up. Kakashi pauses from cleaning his toys – a various assortment of knives and shuriken – and tries to listen more attentively.
Sakumo answers with a laugh. “Isn’t he too young for that?” He packs up the scrolls and relaxes in his chair. “I’ve never heard of kids joining at his age.”
“He’s what, eight?” Another one of them asks; he seems approving of the other’s suggestion. “You better send him soon if you want to have him graduate early.”
“Yeah, I hear the tests are getting harder each year.” Kakashi could hear them shuffling in their seats. They were still talking as they transferred from the study to the dining area. “You should have sent Kaka-chan early. Kids his age are already formidable. I hear this Maito Gai kid is opening gates already, can you believe it? You don’t want Kaka-chan to get left behind.”
“Is that so?” Sakumo’s murmurs can be heard along with glasses touching the table top.
“I’ve seen him practice; he seems pretty good with knife throwing...”
Kakashi looks at the toys he borrowed from his father. So playing with these is considered practice?
“…not bad for a little kid.”
“He doesn’t look as sturdy though...”
Kakashi looks at himself and agrees. His height and body mass is really unseemly for his age.
“…a few months of taijutsu training can fix that.”
Kakashi hears his father sigh. “I guess you’re right.” Sakumo sounds convinced. “I’ll tell him to go to the academy tomorrow.” The next thing Kakashi hears is his name being called.
Kakashi opens the door and peaks in, enough just to show half his face. He looks at the eyes staring at him and a shiver runs through his spine. Never has he seen such an intimidating group of people. They had sharp fangs, different-colored catlike eyes, tattoos in their faces and arms, wearing animal fur and chains wrapped in dark fabric.
“He’s not used to visitors. He’s a shy kid.” Sakumo scratched his head when Kakashi refused to go in. “He doesn’t get to see other people than me. He’s afraid to go outside ever since his mother…” Sakumo stops, his voice trailing at the end of the sentence.
All at once, everyone in the room was beaming at him, trying to look not too menacing but somewhat harmless and inviting. Kakashi thinks they were doing a poor job because now everyone was smiling eerily, looking like psychotic maniacs hunting for children.
“Go on Kakashi, come inside.” Sakumo motions for him to step closer.
After serious contemplation, Kakashi pushes the door open.
“Oh look, he’s wearing his mother’s mask!”
Sakumo didn’t know if he should shout at Kakashi for going through his things. This was the only possession his late wife left behind. She was a very skilled shinobi, undercover for the most part of her life so much of her is unknown to the world, save for a few close friends. They were careful not leave a trace of her behind even after her death, in fear that their enemies would target her family. All of her possessions were burned so when Kakashi had asked what her mother looked like, Sakumo did not have a single picture to show and could only describe her with words that were unfitting for her true likeness.
“He’s a splitting image of her, don’t you think?”
Kakashi slowly approaches them, getting some sort of courage from wearing his mother’s mask. He feels a sense of security while he was wearing it, her mother’s lingering scent giving an assurance that she is with him and is protecting him.
Kakashi flinches when his father suddenly knelt in front of him and grabbed his shoulder. Kakashi was close to being terrified – he has been doing naughty things lately – so when he saw his father’s misty eyes with tears threatening to fall, he was surprised.
“It suits you.” Sakumo says as he hugged him close. The moment did not last for long as Sakumo stood up and patted his back excitedly, making him step forward due to the force. “You can wear it at the admission ceremony tomorrow!”
Kakashi smiles, trying to mirror the smiling, albeit creepy, faces that were encouraging him. He has the urge to tell everyone that his height is deceiving them and he’s really only four years old so Academy can wait for a year or two.
He looks at how excited his father is.
Kakashi sighs.
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