"My Rival!" Gai bellowed, barreling up and verbally assaulting the poor man as he crossed the village boundaries (covering ground so speedily that the road was filled with unfortunates choking on the dust he kicked up). Kakashi slumped a little, thumb twitching imperceptibly on his book's open page. Luckily, the motion was invisible from Gai's point of view. "I must speak with you!" A little yellow songbird took off from his perch on the gates at top speed. The Chuunin manning the entrance desk seemed to agree, one of them muttering, "Oh god," and the other covering his face with his hands as if in shame.
Gai merely beamed at him, giving no sign that he noted those things at all.
It wasn't often that Gai initiated conversation instead of challenges, so Kakashi was mildly interested. Still, there was a procedure to these things. Kakashi turned the page from the lovely illustration he had been admiring, despite not having finished reading the accompanying words. He knew what it said anyways. After a few moments, he looked up, feigning mild surprise.
"Oh, it's you. Did you say something?"
It quickly became clear that Gai actually had something to say, because he only wept manly tears for a few moments before snapping into a 'Good Guy' pose. He had to hustle into motion to catch up with Kakashi, who hadn't stopped walking in the first place.
"It's about your student."
Kakashi seamlessly slipped his book away and actually looked at the man who was probably his closest living friend. "Oh?" The opening was noncommittal, but the very fact that he'd engaged in conversation proved he was interested.
"While you were out on a mission, she sought me out for supplementary taijutsu training!" Sunlight pinged painfully off his slightly smug smile.
'Damn,' Kakashi thought in surprise, 'That's a point to Gai, isn't it?' He was mildly put out with Aiko. Even he knew it was pretty rude to seek help from another teacher. But she didn't seem the type to intentionally disrespect him. Had he been neglecting her growth? There seemed to be no need to rush. She had plenty of time. Her career was only beginning, and she was already an exemplary Chuunin.
"She seemed concerned about something. I fear that she needs your direction and guidance, so that her youthful abilities may be best honed!"
He'd made a good try to curb his enthusiasm and only really started to shout towards the end, a concession Kakashi appreciated. It illustrated the awkwardness that Gai was feeling about having a conversation on a somewhat personal level. Kakashi was feeling it as well.
Their friendship was mostly expressed through a series of subtle psychological games and one-upmanship in their professional lives. Their personal lives rarely entered into conversation.
That was largely because it was obvious that Gai won those interests hands down and he wasn't interested in categorically humiliating his 'Eternal Rival'. He had happy, successful family from a civilian clan in town who were ridiculously proud of their only shinobi relative, a close emotional bond with his apprentice, many friendships, and occasional romantic entanglements with shinobi and civilians alike.
Kakashi had a deserted family compound he couldn't stand to look at, a few children he desperately wanted to protect on basis of their relationships to dead team members (all but one of which had been taken from his protection) and a fifteen year relationship with his hand. And Kage bunshin. And Icha Icha. And that ridiculously assertive, grabby girl from that bar in Snow with the huge— well, the point was that he'd never had a real romantic relationship that extended beyond sex.
So this conversation was downright unprecedented, despite the way they were desperately trying to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"I see," he muttered, mind already miles away cataloguing what Aiko might be worried about. Had she caught wind of the increase in border problems and wondered if she was going to be deployed without him soon?
That thought stopped him in his tracks for a moment, genuinely not noticing whatever Gai was babbling about anymore. It was possible that Aiko had come to that conclusion, and frighteningly likely that she'd be right. He'd been assigned to more and more high level missions lately that she just didn't have the clearance for. His refusal to allow her promotion meant that she had been barred from his most dangerous missions (making it hard to keep an eye on her), but it also generally kept her off of rosters that her abilities couldn't handle. But that could change if these skirmishes broke into something more serious.
As of now, she was not ready to be in dangerous situations without his protection. She was trained as a tracker without the dogs to back up the retrieval aspects of the specialty, not a front lines combat specialist. She used poison and precision weaponry as her primary weapons and taijutsu as a fall back.
Unless she got assigned to some sort of ambush squad (an unlikely prospect, seeing as the problem was ambush warfare directed at Konoha's allies), Aiko was thoroughly unsuited to straight combat in war-like conditions. At best, she was prepared for dealing with small squads, but that preparedness was more due to her creativity than raw hitting power. She had that sword, of course, but she needed experience that she couldn't get from training to be really good at it.
That lack of front line ability was a problem, he noted darkly. Did she need backup more than she needed an increase in hitting power? Her brother had the Rasengan and the Kyuubi, setting him up as a frontline specialist. Aiko doted on Naruto and would almost certainly follow him wherever he went. It was almost a shame he didn't dare try to pass Chidori down onto his apprentice. She wasn't nearly skilled enough with lightning transformation for him to risk teaching that to her.
Then again, he had invented the Chidori himself with a shape and nature transformation. Perhaps he could adapt it for a water nature… It wouldn't have the cauterizing effect that the lightning natured Chidori did, however. That was one of the best traits for his jutsu—the brutal heat actually prevented excessive bleeding by burning the flesh even as it speared. It was an ugly way to die, of course, reducing the torso to shredded meat almost instantly, but it didn't give much time to suffer or excessive blood spatter that might restrict his vision and choke him.
A water transformation could cut in the same way, of course, he mused. If it was agitated enough it could generate enough cold to coagulate and reduce hot blood spatter by rapidly cooling it as the shape transformation element pierced flesh, but it wouldn't be as neat as chidori.
But it would be possible to make a powerful technique with a lot of hitting power that Aiko could easily use multiple times, since it was her original chakra nature, she had tons of chakra, and plenty of experience with low level water jutsu. Her cutting bullets actually utilized a similar hard-edge idea, of course, though on a much smaller scale…
He found his student on the training field Gai usually used. Kakashi repressed a flinch at what she was doing—punching posts was almost counterproductive for a kunoichi like Aiko. The scarring that resulted from extensive repetition would limit her dexterity.
'Maybe I should have given her something else to work on,' he thought guiltily. It was very unlike her to ask for help, however. His apprentice was so independent –bordering on secretive- that it hardly occurred to him to do more than help with whatever project she had decided on, aside from training her to track.
Perhaps it had been influence from her peers (who were gaining ability at a shocking rate that caused gossiping that even Kakashi couldn't avoid hearing) that sent her in search of guidance. Naruto was learning toad summoning and powerful attacks, Sasuke was learning slug summoning and a terrifying lightning release used for altering heartbeats and scrambling nerve signals (elemental medical techniques were something Kakashi had never quite trusted), and those two girls she lived with were both gaining a reputation for wandering out with little snakes on their arms that they… had… summoned.
'Ah. In retrospect, this seems like an obvious conclusion.'
In a way, it was obvious. But it was also totally counterintuitive to think of ever passing down his contract. After all, it had traditionally been in the Hatake line, and he had no children or plans to acquire them. On the other hand, it was also traditional to pass on even family techniques to personal apprentices. It would also go a long way toward improving her combat abilities. Many of his packmates were B-class fighters on their own (almost all of them but stubby little Pakkun, actually, who was the brains, an excellent tracker, and a personal friend). Working together, they were truly formidable. They wouldn't quite replace him, but his pack would ensure that she was never alone when he couldn't be there.
Now that he knew what he would teach her while he worked out the kinks of his elemental transformation idea, Kakashi shun-shined into her view and simultaneously stopped suppressing his chakra signature. It was too cold to lurk anyways. The wind was really going that day, tugging at his trousers as if it wanted to rip them right off. He much preferred the heat.
Aiko noticed him immediately, her next blow faltering. She cringed when she hit the pole, but doggedly kept on as she had no doubt been instructed. Kakashi flickered right beside her and gently stopped the next blow, twisting her wrist slightly to examine her hand.
He had to sigh at the angry, mangled skin he saw when he unwrapped the bandages inadequately protecting her hand. "Aiko, go to Sasuke and have these calluses healed up. You can't afford that. Your technique and hitting power seem to have improved, however," he added to soften the criticism.
It was true. His student had never worked extensively to improve her raw physical strength, but he'd never thought it especially crucial. She tended to put on lean muscle even when doing workouts that had bulked him up, making her petite and agile. Unless she had a very surprising growth spurt, she wouldn't have Kushina's raw hitting power. She'd been even stronger than Minato, who had not been a frail flower by any means. It was a little odd, since Naruto gained hard muscle like Kushina. Aiko must be a throwback to Minato's mother.
He'd never met her, of course, but she must have been a petite, curvy woman. Aiko had always been such a skinny thing, but lately- No. He shied away from that mildly traumatizing thought. He wasn't ready to deal with a teenage girl. If he said it wasn't happening, then it wasn't happening. There was definitely no puberty happening on his goddamn watch.
Kakashi did not look at his apprentice at all. "After you have those healed, meet me back on our training grounds. I have something to teach you, starting tonight".
She might get it in one night, actually. The actual theory of summoning was simple. The hard part was developing working relationships with your contract holder, but his ninken were all trained professionals who would help Aiko as a favor to him if nothing else. If he never passed on the contract at all, their warrior caste would probably have to disperse further than they already had into other professions, and ninken were proud people in their own way. He was certain he could persuade them to accept another summoner, even if it was unconventional.
While she was gone, he called up Pakkun and explained the situation and acquired permission. It would have been embarrassing to find out with her there that they refused to take a summoner outside of the family the contract had originally been made with, after all. There was no point in accidentally humiliating the girl, after all. Luckily, Pakkun agreed nonchalantly. They were outlining how things would work out when Aiko gracefully touched down in the clearing, eyes brightening visibly at the sight of Pakkun.
'Oh, yes,' Kakashi remembered. 'She's liked the dogs since the first time she saw them.' He gave Pakkun a skeptical look. He was a full-grown adult with grown puppies, begging for belly rubs from a little girl. Shameful, was what it was. Pakkun let his tongue loll out in a way that Aiko apparently found cute, but Kakashi knew was a rude gesture directed at him. 'Either she really likes animals in general, or she's easily impressed.'
He didn't seriously mean that, of course. Pakkun was an excellent ninken, and he had adorable soft paws that had captivated Kakashi as a child. (shinobi or not, toddlers were allowed to cuddle puppies, he'd insisted when his father and later Minato-sensei had tried to tell him ninken were not toys.)
"Alright, that's enough." Pakkun gave him a betrayed expression, but Aiko obediently stopped and looked up at him for more directions.
He liked that about her, Kakashi mused. Naruto and Sakura had always been distractible (and the thought was painful, he'd gotten a twelve year old killed and Naruto had been taken away) and Sasuke had always been insolent. If Tenzo wasn't quite so pathetically eager to please, Kakashi might have rated him as highly as Aiko on the 'favorite subordinates' list, but his cute little kohai didn't have Aiko's sharp tongue and humor. He was fun to tease, though. That crush was adorable, even though it was hilariously misplaced.
"Good news, Aiko-chan. Pakkun has agreed to let you sign the ninken contract."
It was a conscious effort not to chuckle when her jaw dropped. He took a moment to savor the surprise on her face. Then he frowned, struck by a thought. Was it really so surprising that he would teach her something of his own volition? He was her shishou, wasn't he? He'd taught her plenty of things unprompted, like… Like…
Kakashi scrunched up his face in thought, features safely hidden behind his mask. Hmm.
With a deep sigh, Pakkun rolled over and put his little paws on the ground. "I'll be right back with the contract," he grumbled, giving Kakashi a pointed look that implied there would be stern words if he interfered with a belly rub again. Then he cancelled the summoning and poofed away.
Suddenly alone with his student, Kakashi dropped effortlessly to the grass with casually folded legs and patted a spot relatively close to his side absentmindedly before poking around in his little pouch for a brush. He pulled one with a frayed, bent end out victoriously, but-
"Aiko, do you have any ink?"
She must have, because she wordlessly reached into her little leg holster and withdrew—a scroll? He didn't have time to comment on her odd habit of sealing everything up even when in the village, because that was when he felt the tug that indicated Pakkun was yanking on their connection. Kakashi sped through the motions to summon the pug again once more, and then immediately shot his hand up to catch the scroll that Pakkun tossed at him.
A lesser man might have winced at the toothprints on the delicate, painted material, but he was well used to those. It was best not to even think about his poor woodwork. Even a hyper intelligent ninken was still a dog when it came to things that needed to be chewed on just for the principle of it. Or things that tasted good, or moved interestingly, or had a funny shape…
"Thank you," he said absently, unrolling the contract reverently. It wasn't an especially long one, not as far as family contract went. That damn cat scroll for those twitchy Uchiha had been signed for something like fifteen generations straight, for example. (His dad's partner had never shut up about it, growling at the slightest hint of the clan's traditional summon partners). But his gaze still softened at his father's and grandmother's signatures, along with a great-uncle he'd never known. He hadn't seen those names in a long time.
Pakkun wiggled up onto Aiko's lap, nudging at her slack hand with his boxy head. "You're going to have to eventually find your own pack," he rumbled. His left paw dug into her leg pleadingly, and his eyes shut in happiness when she scratched at his ear. "Ah, that's the spot. Anyways, I'm getting too old to commit to another summoner. Boss keeps me busy enough. But we'll work for you until you have time to meet some other puppies who need a partner."
"I appreciate that." Aiko smiled down at the dog, and Kakashi had to look away uncomfortably. She didn't usually smile like that. She looked disconcertingly like Kushina with that uncharacteristic grin.
"Right." He gently placed the contract in front of her. "Once you've signed, I'll go over the summoning seals with you. It shouldn't take you too long to figure that out."
She leaned over as best as she could without disturbing the pug in her lap. His enormous brown eyes were intent on the scroll, despite his apparent smugness about getting snuggled. This would be the first time he'd seen the scroll open, much less signed. He'd been a tiny puppy when Kakashi had signed it in his boyhood, and they'd grown up together.
Aiko's scrawl was hasty but showed a steady hand and technical perfection, he noted. A carryover trait from practicing seals, perhaps? He'd never mastered seals, in large part because his handwriting was a horrifying chicken scratch that had actually made Minato-sensei cry once. When he consciously worked at it, it was less terrible… but then again, the messy handwriting frustrated that paperwork Chuunin and made him turn the most amusing colors and get so angry he'd unintentionally use Big-Head-No-Jutsu.
As she finished the last character and lifted the brush, the ink she had just used crackled and shone red for just a moment, before settling back down. He blew on it to be sure, but it had dried. That meant…
"Well, congratulations," he eye-smiled at his baffled looking apprentice. "Looks like you've been deemed worthy. Now, shove Pakkun off your lap and pay attention." The little dog tumbled off with a pout before she could move him and grabbed the scroll in his teeth.
"See if I help you again," he muttered, tossing the scroll up and catching it again to get a better grip.
"Be sure to tell everyone that she's practicing, would you?"
"Yeah, yeah. Doubtless they already know." Pakkun snorted, mumbling slightly around the paper in his mouth. "You shoulda heard old Grandma bark when I asked for the contract. 'That good-for-nothing finally had a puppy?" he mimicked in an old, wheezy voice. Then he disappeared.
Aiko appeared to be valiantly resisting saying something, possibly a question about that last statement. Kakashi saw no need to explain. Grandmother Dog meant it in the best possible way, he was sure. Aiko would probably never meet her anyways. If she did, however, she would understand.
"Pay attention." He carefully formed the first seal. Aiko wordlessly mimicked him. "When you start building up chakra depends on who you're summoning, but you also vary who you're calling by thinking of who you need. For example, you don't need to use chakra at all until the last two seals to get Pakkun. I can't tell you how much, though, you'll have to figure it out through trial and error."
The new skin on her hands was oddly pink and pulled slightly, but she was too happy to care. Karin gave her an odd look when she flounced into the house humming aloud that Aiko didn't acknowledge. Sure, she'd been crabby and grouchy for the last few weeks (two weeks in-village with Gai had turned into 19 days, which was approximately 18 days longer than her poor body could handle.)
Even her good mood couldn't drown out the screaming of every muscle in her body, so she turned on the hot water in the traditional tub and shook in bath salts that would help mitigate that pain before stripping and rinsing off with the bucket.
It was the same thing she'd been doing since the second day of working out with Gai and Lee. It was a little shameful that a genin could give her such a work out. She could beat him, of course, but not head-on, and the whole point of going to a taijutsu master was to improve her most critical skill, not scheme to outsmart a fifteen year old boy. Lee's overwhelming focus on exclusively taijutsu had turned him into an absolute monster. She wasn't at all ashamed to admit that the phrase 'Genius of Hard Work' actually did fit.
She'd been joining them on their second workout session every day. Neji and Tenten apparently only tolerated them enough for one workout per day, and spent the rest of the time developing their personal abilities.
'Come to think of it, I've never seen Tenten use taijutsu,' she realized. Aiko had to laugh at herself a bit when she figured out that she'd subconsciously assumed the girl avoided it because she was no good at it. Not a chance in hell, not with those two as workout partners (not to mention yet another taijutsu specialist, Neji) for going on three years now.
Of course, because she had just gotten comfortable, the laws of the universe dictated that there would be a knock on the door. she sunk up to her chin in the water, hoping Karin would be civilized enough to answer it for once.
She was, but unfortunately a moment later Karin called out, "Aiko, Ino is here to see you."
Aiko groaned quietly, letting her head thud back against the side of the tub. "I'll be right out," she projected her voice to carry and stood up. Somewhat sullenly, she toweled dry and pulled on a house yukata, wrapping her hair up in the towel as she pushed the door open with her foot and padded out.
"Hello, Ino."
The girl in question gave her a mildly embarrassed look that Aiko immediately pegged as strange. Ino wasn't body shy, was she? Then she noticed the short pile of books in the burlap bag wrapped around Ino's wrist.
"Oh, right. You're returning those, then?"
Ino nodded, averting her eyes. "Yes, they were great." She cleared her throat. Aiko eyed the other girl curiously. Something was seriously weird with Ino today. She was never this self-conscious.
"Is something wrong?" she prodded, indicating that Ino could set the books on the table.
As she upended her bag, Ino visibly hesitated, struggling with words. Then she turned a blinding smile on Aiko. "You know, I was just thinking that you should get some of those published." She snatched 'My Neighbor Totoro' off the table. "Especially this one, I criiiied for days. Plus you could make a lot of money off of it, I know just the person to talk to," she babbled, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Um, thank you?" Flustered, Aiko just took the suggestion as a compliment. Well. It wouldn't be a terrible idea. Books and ideas were meant to be shared, after all, and she wasn't so morally upright that she would turn down a source of income. She killed people for a living, which sort of made the relative correctness of taking credit for the creation of stories from another universe seem negligible.
'Is that really was Ino was acting so weird about?' After the other girl had left, she just shook her head. 'I'll never understand some people.'
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me," Shizune grumbled. She glanced around shiftily, and then hid the sheet of paper explaining the Daimyo's most recent ridiculous request at the bottom of the 'In' pile. Sasuke could be the one to break that to Tsunade. He might not even know what a request for an escort on a round of Alternate Attendance meant.
Shizune had been forced to go once. It was a long mission with no combat predicted. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but all the pomp, self-important speeches, and ridiculous spectacle were enough to make her want to throw up.
Essentially, the Daimyo kept his lords too poor to lead rebellions by going to visit them and 'allowing' them to host him. It invariably turned into a massive competition to out-do one another and try to impress him to curry favor. They were forever sniveling after his approval. Since the Daimyo had to personally approve all marriages between the nobles, it was difficult for them to use that most binding form of merging two families' interests. Impressing him and having his ear made it easier to sell off their children like cattle.
Shizune was not very fond of the noble class, to be honest. It was one thing to owe your undying allegiance to your lord (that was much like serving a Hokage, after all) but it was another thing altogether to dictate the lives of your adult children. It was a barbaric system. Shinobi's children were free as birds, finding love where they would. Life was too short (and also far too long) to barter your adult years to someone you didn't know in exchange for wealth that would never benefit you.
But still, Tsunade would have to send a stupidly large, grandiose force to the parade to grumble with the samurai dressed up like china dolls (the one time they were in total agreement). The Daimyo liked to occasionally remind everyone that the shinobi were his subjects, totally loyal to his interests. The show kept them from hiring Konoha nin to use against him.
'Sometimes,' she thought rather uncharitably, 'I approve of what Mist did when they got rid of their altogether.'
Sure the country had fallen apart afterwards, but that had been for unrelated reasons.
She startled a little when her kohai appeared behind her. That one was silent as the grave. Shizune pulled on a smile and turned to face him. Her perpetual good cheer was a little tiring to maintain, but it was worth it when she could make other people's days a little brighter. "Hello, Sasuke-kun. Ready to go?"
Of course he was ready to go and she had known that. Today was the first day of his pediatrics practicum. He was taking a specialty path in disease in addition to the general practitioner training Tsunade had been giving him in between rounds of paperwork. He didn't have an appointment with his little cousin today, however. They were doing their best to obscure any possible connection. No, he would see her in person for the first time two days from now.
Sasuke hadn't actually been that enthused about this career path, trepidation that she understood. Essentially, he was going to have to treat it as a very time-consuming hobby in addition to his job of becoming a combat oriented medic. He had far too much talent as a fighter to be confined to a hospital.
At least it would be an excellent intellectual exercise, as well as the perfect cover for making certain his only living relative (that he didn't want dead, was the caveat) was safe and happy. His longing for that familial connection was painfully obvious to Shizune.
She wasn't naïve enough to claim that she knew him well, but she was probably one of the two or three people living who he had let in past his barriers at all. Kakashi might have had a chance, but he just didn't have the temperament to provide a little boy what he needed.
Part of her success in getting through to him was through her remarkable restraint in not communicating that she thought he had the most adorable little grumpy face.
It was really hard not to pinch those cheeks, but she somehow managed to soldier on. Shizune was a goddamn champ.
Omake
"About damn time, boss," Pakkun growled when he looked through the summoning smoke and saw Aiko's little gloves on the ground as if she had just left for a moment.
His explanations died on Kakashi's lips and he scowled at his ninken. "That's just rude. I had a carefully considered argument plotted out."
What little he'd plotted in the four minutes since Aiko had trotted off to the hospital, anyways.
"What?" Pakkun asked, tilting his head. One of his ears flopped and smacked him in the face, so he shook his head. "I like puppies, unlike some people I know." He gave Kakashi a rude look. "You know, when I agreed to be your partner, I thought there would eventually be puppies."
"Keep dreaming," Kakashi said blandly.