Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Firebird ❯ Chapter 7

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 7

*Note: Levii and I are close friends IRL and I have permission to use her characters, as she does mine.

*Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of the genius Masashi Kishimoto.

“…” - Talking
`…' - Thoughts

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Miaka couldn't't believe her eyes. Hatake Kakashi, the great Copy-Nin of Konoha had just been defeated… due to Icha Icha Paradise spoilers. When had he taken up reading that stupid series anyway? It had to have been some time during her five year absence because she certainly didn't't remember him reading those… things. Or maybe she had just been so head over heals with her stupid school girl crush that she hadn't't noticed? Who knows? The point of the matter was that the man she admired most had just been defeated because of his porn addiction.

With a sigh, Miaka slumped against the trunk of the tree she'd been watching the "test" in. She had to admit. Naruto and Sakura had been doing quite well, but they'd been starting to wear out. The plan really had been a stroke of genius on their part. `I wonder what they would have done if it had failed? Guess we'll never know…" She finished her thoughts with a pointed glare to the back of a certain silver haired head. Her frown faded instantly to a smile as her gaze fell upon the young blonde. He had grown so much. It seemed like just yesterday that he was scraping his knee on the play ground and driving Sandaime-Sama up the wall with his pranks. Now he was a strong, powerful young ninja. She really had missed so much in her years away.

"Well... what did you think?" Miaka blinked at the sound of the strong feminine voice coming from below her. Looking down, she spotted Tsunade grinning up at her. "Of what Hokage-Sama? Naruto-San's vast improvement or Hatake-Sempai's... moral decay?" The older blonde chuckled at the younger woman's choice of words. "That was a pretty pathetic reason for loosing, ne?" Tsunade said. Miaka made a face as she replied, the vein in her temple twitching slightly. "Hai".

Tsunade watched the young chuunin for a few moments longer, then addressed her again. "You really look up to him, don't you?" Not waiting for an answer, the Godaime turned and started to walk away before stopping and looking back to the girl. "Come to my office first thing in the morning. I have a mission for you."

Miaka stared at the older woman for a few moments, as if she had suddenly grown another head. Then nodded with a soft "Hai Hokage-Sama...". With that Tsunade was on her way, leaving the red head to her musings. 'A mission? A REAL mission? Not more of that gennin level dribble they've had me doing since I returned?! Yosh!'

"You seem happy about something." Miaka nearly fell off of the branch she'd been perched on in surprise at the lazy tenor voice coming from above her. Managing to right herself, she looked up at the jounin squatting on the branch above her. 'I really wish he wouldn't do that.' Her thoughts must have shown on her face, as the other scratched the back of his head, for all intents and purposes trying to look sheepish. "Maaa... Mia-Chan, you really should avoid being up in trees. You've never had good luck with them." He teased her gently. His smile quickly faded at the glare he received from the red head. "I have only ever fallen out of a tree ONCE. Hatake-Sempai of all people should know that."

With a soft poof, Kakashi disappeared from his positing above her and appeared on the branch beside her. 'Right... forgot that's a sensitive subject. Memo to self, do not tease about sensitive subjects' he mentally chided himself. Reaching out, Kakashi took hold of the girl's right hand, pulling it to him. Running his free hand over her gloved wrist, feeling the small bump that was all that remained of the injury.

**Flashback, Kakashi's POV**

The mission had been long and he was tired. However, ANBU procedure said that he be cleared by a med nin before he could go home. He really didn't get what the big deal was. It was only a small scrape along the outside of his arm. Sure, he'd gotten it from a kunai launched at him by an enemy, but that didn't automatically make is lethal. Unless it was poisoned. Maybe procedure wasn't such a bad thing...

But he didn't have time to wait around in the tiny little white room. At this point, he had already been waiting half an hour. While he had been gone, Kakashi had in-trusted Miaka's training to Kaishi. And while Kaishi had promised to be "gentle" and to "go easy on the girl" he couldn't shake the ominous feeling that had lodged it's self in his gut. While Kaishi was an excellent ninja, one of the best in the village, she also had a habit of being a little... rough around the edges when it came to most people. 'I'm being ridiculous. I'm not worried about Kaishi training Miaka... I'm worried about Miaka in general.' Having reached that conclusion he went back to the pacing he'd been doing in the small office, only to freeze in his tracks. 'Matte... when did I start worrying so much about the chibi? For that matter, when did I start actually caring about her in the first place?' Images of a broken body, left in an alley on the far corner of the village, flashed through his mind. 'Ok... stupid question.'

An hour later, Kakashi was finally able to leave. Quickly making his way down the hallway, Kakashi narrowly avoided running into someone as he rounded the corner. Turning fully to the other person in order to apologize, he froze. There stood Kaishi. With a very unhappy looking chibi in her arms. "What happened?" He asked, all sorts of possibilities running through his mind. The answer, however, was not what he expected. "She fell out of a tree," was the raven haired woman's answer. "She... what?" "She fell out of a tree, Kaka-Kun. We were training, I surprised her, and she fell out of the tree she was in. I think she hurt her wrist."

"Daijoubu desu," the small red head in her arm's dead panned. Stepping forward, Kakashi took hold of the arm that cradled was on the girl's chest. Lifting it, he carefully ran his free hand over the gloved wrist, able to feel the swelling that was currently being kept in check by the tight fabric of the her elbow length gloves. Miaka yelped as he applied a small amount pressure and he allowed the girl to pull her arm out of his grasp. With a sigh, he looked back to Kaishi. "I'll take her from here." With that he lifted Miaka from the older woman's arms and turned back towards the direction he'd been coming from.

"I'm really ok..." the girl tried again. Looking at the girl in his arms, Kakashi took note of her down cast gaze and realized that the poor girl was probably extremely embarrassed by the whole thing. Cradling her a little closer, Kakashi quickly made his way to the exam room he had recently vacated. "A-anou... Hatake-Sempai?" Kakashi's attention immediately returned to the the young kunoichi, "Hai, Mia-Chibi?" At his words, Miaka turned a glare on him that he swore could have melted the polar ice caps. Luckily, he was not made of ice. "Don't call me that!" The girl hissed. Deciding to give in this one time, Kakashi chuckled softly then spoke. "Hai hai... gomen ne Mia. Now, what is it you wanted?" He watched as the girl looked back down for a moment, as if she were carefully contemplating what she was about to say, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. Then looking back up, but not directly at him, she asked her question. "H-hatake-Sempai... how... how long have you been the Inu ANBU?"

At Miaka's question, Kakashi froze for the third time that day. 'How could she.... shimatta! I never took off my mask!' With a sigh that was barely audable even to himself, Kakashi shifted her around in his arms enough so that he could remove the porcelain mask. He then regarded the small red head with a gentle look as he answered. "Long enough," he said quietly. "Oh," was all the response he recieved from the girl as she shifted slightly in his arms. It was then that Kakashi began to wonder exactly how much the girl knew. He also wondered why the hell he cared. This did not bode well, he realized as he approached the exam room. No. This was just plain bad.

**End Flash Back**

Miaka had turned a rather vibrant shade of red as Kakashi gentley massaged her wrist, seeming lost in thought. As it was, Miaka was torn between the urge to rip her arm out of the others grasp and the desire to sit back and enjoy to gentle caress. In the end, her nerves won out and she managed to find her voice. "A-a-anou... Hatake-Semapi? Sh-shouldn't Sempai be getting back to Naruto-San and Sakura-San? N-Naruto-San is p-probably expecting to be treated to ramen." Miaka could have kicked herself. Years worth of training herself to speak in a confident manner where thrown out the window in an instant because HE was holding her hand.

The "HE" in question, however, seemed not to have noticed. "Maaaaaaaaaa... Treating Naruto to Ramen as a kid practically cleaned out my wallet. There's no way I could afford treating him now that's he's grown. I'd go bankrupt." This earned him a giggles from the Kunoichi. With a grin, he continued. "Besides, there's someone else I'd much rather take to dinner. They're much better company." He said, standing. At this, Miaka felt her heart drop. "Oh?" She said brightly, putting on her best "I'm happy for you" smile. Kakashi saw through that in an instant. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at how dense his former student could be somethings, he instead extended a hand to her. "You like Tempura, ne?"

***Author's Note***

*giggles* Well, Kakashi did use the excuse that he was "already meeting someone" to get out of buying Naruto and Sakura ramen after their test. Who's to say he wasn't telling the truth? ^.~"

This chapter is dedicated to a good friend of mine, Hitoritsuki on deviantART. She is such a sweety and, sensing that I was down a little while ago, drew the cutest pic of Miaka for me! I absolutely LOVE it! -> http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/45253303/ . And I can't forget to thank my beloved Onee-Chan, my kawaii Imouto-Chan, and all of my wonderful friends for their love and support. Also, for just being there for me when I needed them. And once again, a big thanks to Levii for letting me use her characters!

Please, please, please read and review!!! You're comments and constructive criticism help me become a better writer.

Hai = Yes

Yosh = Alright!

Sempai = A term of respect. Used for someone who is your senior in a job or at
school. Miaka uses it because the older ninja are her seniors.

Chibi = Small, Mini

Daijoubu desu = I'm alright

Kunoichi = Female ninja(s)

Anou = Um...

Gomen ne = I'm sorry, more informal than Gomen nasai.

Inu = Dog

Shimatta = a very strong curse, I'm not going to get into it's actual meaning.

Tempura = A way of cooking that involved dipping the food in batter and then deep frying it.