AIC chapter 43 A New Year

Ok I lied, the second half of this will be posted tomorrow.

Sunlight was painful. Kakashi grimaced. He ignored the shakiness in his arms and hefted himself up to a seated position. He surveyed the room.

“Well, well.” His voice was raspy and low with disuse. “I appear to be in a medical treatment facility.”

“You remember what they look like, then.” Tsunade, the long-gone heroine of his childhood, looked at him over folded arms. “I hear you don’t spend as much time here as you should.” Her lips were pursed.

Kakashi felt danger in the air. He blinked slowly, trying to look stupid and inoffensive. “Is that so…”

Her eyes narrowed. Then she scoffed and looked away.

He relaxed immensely.

Going limp was probably the right reaction, because she didn’t do anything scary, besides exist in his vicinity.

That was unsettling enough on its own.

“Ah, Tsunade-sama,” he drawled, “are you visiting?”

Her lips twisted bitterly, and he knew he’d said the wrong thing. She let out a huff. “Something like that.” Her eyes darted to the hospital door and back away, as if she was checking they were alone.

A very quiet alarm rose at the back of his neck. He didn’t let it show on his face.

“Is there something that you need?” He asked, tone level. He was as certain as reasonably possible that they were alone and unobserved.

She fixed him with an intense look. He tried not to fidget under the catlike glint of her amber eyes. “I need to become the Hokage, and I need allies.”

Kakashi took a moment to digest that. It didn’t seem quite possible that he’d heard those words. “Ah, Tsunade-sama,” he said uncertainly. “I think the city would welcome you back with open arms.”

“Of course,” she scoffed. But she looked relieved. “I need allies to move against a traitor.”

Those words hung in the air. He ran over the very short list of people who Tsunade would need help to dislodge. He thought about who in Konoha might be considered a traitor.

He cocked his head. “...Councilor Danzo?”

Tsunade smiled bitterly. She turned her head to the side and let out a nearly silent laugh. “That’s not damning,” she said quietly. “That’s not damning at all.” She straightened her back. “Yes. I need you to be ready for a mission in a week. Can you do it?”

He threw off the covers and swiveled his feet off the bed. “I could do it now.”

“You’re stupid,” Tsunade scoffed.

He winked at her and put his feet on the floor. He stood, triumphantly. And then his legs gave out. He clutched the edge of the bed, wide -eyed. “...tomorrow,” he amended. “I can be mission-ready tomorrow.”

His future Hokage sighed. She waved goodbye over her shoulder as she left the room.

It took longer than Kakashi hoped to get mission-ready. It was 4 long days before he had decent coordination back, by which time he had accepted a lot of carefully peeled fruit from his genin.

On some level, he suspected that Tsunade was involved in the mission scroll that found its way to him. He accepted it, noting he would be with Gai. “Accompanying the Hokage to a summit,” he read quietly. He scratched at the back of his head. “Why does Tsunade want me there…?”

Her angle could be protecting the Hokage. It could be something to do with the Mizukage.

He shrugged and rolled up the scroll again. Whatever it was, she knew was she was doing.

_______

Aiko arrived at the temple grounds, knowing well and good it was after the other group had arrived.

There was a muffled quality to the air. She found herself looking around for people and sounds that never materialized. It felt like someone was talking just out of earshot. It should have put the hair up on the back of her neck, but she felt relaxed enough.

The priests greeted her. She exchanged pleasantries without thinking about them at all. She got some time to herself to unwind and set her belongings in a room set aside for her to sleep in for the night.

“Emissary.”

She turned around, eyes wide open. The voice had come from outside of her window. ‘That is not a good and polite way to get a guest’s attention.’ Aiko pulled open the sliding door to look around. She saw only a steep mountainside, green and lush but unfriendly. Movement caught her eye.

“A bird,” she murmured to herself.

It seemed to look at her, adjusting its wings.

‘A summon?’ Sanbi asked. ‘It could be observing and reporting on you.’

She looked at it, looking for anything that seemed unusual. By what she could tell of chakra, it was a normal animal. Its eyes, though. They met her gaze clearly and steadily.

Aiko frowned. She nodded to it, and then slowly closed the door. “It’s intelligent,” she said quietly. “Whatever it is, it’s smart. I think you’re right that it’s observing me.”

...would a bunch of priests have a spy bird? Surely not. And she didn’t know of anyone in Konoha with a contract like that. Summons were rare. She probably would have known, as long as they were in ANBU or something.

“A foreign country, then.” She bit her lip and turned to check her clothes to settle her mind. She looked fine. She ran a comb through her bangs and slid on some lip balm, eyes glazing over and not truly seeing her reflection.

‘Who might be interested in this little meeting?’

She shrugged in response. “It could be anyone,” Aiko murmured. She capped her lip balm. “Whether to sabotage or to observe, almost anyone might have an interest in directing or understanding the relationship between Kiri and Konoha.”

When she went into the main building again, there was an old man sitting on a blue mat. He smiled idly as he watched her pass, but he didn’t greet her.

Aiko offered him a slightly lower bow than she normally would have. It was a temple, it seemed smart to be polite. The man was obviously not a priest, however. He was wearing old fashioned robes. Beside him on the tatami laid a walking stick and a large scroll.

‘That is not how humans look,’ Sanbi hissed, discomfited. ‘Why is his head so large?’

He had the single longest head she had ever seen in her life. Aiko had to admit that. It seemed to have twice the height the average head had. But she threw her shoulders up in a metaphorical shrug. “Seems like his business,” she thought back. “I’m not going to ask him about his head.”

Behind her, the old man let out a single bark of a laugh. THAT put a chill up her spine. She did not alter her stride, but she felt somehow relieved to put some distance between them.

She had a very awkward tea with the Sandaime, some priests, and two of Konoha’s finest clowns. She pretended not to recognize Kakashi, though she wasn’t rude enough to avoid a polite nod to Gai.

Her mind wandered while the Sandaime talked. It wasn’t like her. It wasn’t what she intended to be doing. It felt like her brain was wrapped in cotton candy. The world was muffled and seemed less urgent.

‘Something is wrong.’ Sanbi lashed his tails, anxious and alert. ‘You are being influenced by something.’

She was herself enough to feel a frisson of fear. But.. “It's not like when death possessed me,” she thought, confident in that at least. “I feel very different. I’m still myself.”

‘Remain alert.’ Sanbi was not at all reassured. ‘Something powerful is here.’