Bump Buddies: Take Two

|Part Nine|

|YOU|

My fingers found the hidden key and I put it in the lock. With Sasuke being in the hospital —and from what I've heard, Naruto studying under Master Jiraiya— Kakashi should be home and have some free time.

When I stepped inside, Kakashi was sitting in his armchair wearing nothing but his underwear and mask. His usual literature in his hand.

"You know," I said, sauntering over to him and pushing his book down with my finger. "You read a lot of porn for a man who can have the real thing whenever he pleases."

Kakashi watched me and laid his book on his chest. He didn't stand from his chair, but I wasn't fazed. I began to strip regardless. Teasingly pulling my shirt off over my head and letting my bare chest speak for itself.

"It's been so long since the last time," I said, though it really hadn't been. A couple days generally wasn't considered a long time. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were avoiding me."

Kakashi didn't reply, and still didn't move from his chair. The silence made me suddenly feel exposed, so I crossed my arms over my chest.

"You're not acting like your usual self. What's wrong?"

In the last couple weeks, our third rule to not speak about personal matters was wavering. The topics we discussed were a grey area that were definitely personal, but could be justified as necessary evils.

Kakashi finally laid his book on the coffee table and rubbed his neck as he stood. I could sense his hesitation. It rolled off of him like a wave. And before he could lie straight to my face, I pulled down his mask. I wanted to see the expression on his face when he told me what he had to say.

My mind reeled at the possibilities. Could he have found someone he wanted to be with? Or was he bored of me. Was I just not enough?

"Something happened during the last exam," he finally spoke.

A deep fear sat against my chest and I took a step away from him. Something happening during the exams, meant something happened to Sasuke. "What happened?"

"Before I tell you, just know it was made top secret by Lord Third. And because you're technically not immediate family, those of us who know weren't authorized to tell you."

I had to fight the urge to hit him. Instead, settling for shoving him with both hands on his chest. I ignored the fact that he didn't even stumble. "I've raised Sasuke. Me. After the massacre I was the one to watch over him, and continued to do so after the village support stopped. You, or anyone else, have no right to tell me I'm not his family."

Kakashi reached out to try and touch me and I turned away. "I know that. That's why I'm telling you."

His words made me let down my guard the slightest bit. I waited for him to continue.

"Orochimaru is in the village." That one sentence made chills run down my spine. "He's after Sasuke. He wants to utilize his sharingan."

It was suddenly hard to breath, and I allowed Kakashi to soothingly run his hands over my arms as he continued. "During the Forest of Death round, Orochimaru got ahold of him and left his curse mark on Sasuke."

"You—" I spoke, trying to find the words to express what I was thinking, "—had no right to hide that from me."

Kakashi nodded. "You're right. But I did seal the mark after the preliminaries. It'll help, but it's not a perfect solution. I want to take Sasuke and train him one-on-one to ensure he can resist the power that comes with the mark."

"You want to take him? When?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight," I repeated.

Kakashi and I stood and silently stared at one another. He was waiting patiently for what I was going to say, and I was wracking my brain for anything to say.

"This isn't you asking. This is you informing me of what you're going to do," I finally said. Kakashi nodded.

I threw my shirt back on and trudged toward the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked, following me.

"To scold a thirteen year old before you take him away," I snapped, then slammed the door as I left.

• • •

The hospital was closed for the night. Technically there were no visitors allowed once the sun set, but I didn't care. A tall tree grew close to the building in front of Sasuke's window. I used it to climb up and slid the window open before jumping inside.

Sasuke was asleep, but I didn't bother to be quiet. I walked straight to his bed and threw back the comforter.

He started to wake up just as I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a sitting position. He fought me, but in my anger I was much stronger than he was, and pulled back his shirt to reveal the three coma-shaped symbols. Surrounded with a seal as Kakashi had said.

"I was here all day," I aggressively released his shirt. "And you didn't say anything? You've had this thing since the second round!"

Sasuke fixed his collar. "It's none of your business."

"None of my—" my body vibrated with untapped anger. I flexed and unflexed my hands to keep myself composed. "I'm your sister, Sasuke. Not to mention your guardian. Your business is my business."

"I'm not a weak kid anymore! I can handle myself."

"You are a kid!" I was exasperated. "Which means you shouldn't have to handle it yourself. Especially something like this."

He didn't respond, but instead glared at me with all the teenage angst he could muster. I suddenly felt exhausted and sat in the same wooden chair from earlier and rubbed my face.

"Kakashi is going to be coming later to get you," that peaked his interest. "He's going to take you and train one-on-one in order for you to learn to handle that mark."

Sasuke went to speak but I held up my hand to stop him. "I'm also going to be heading a quadrant of the security detail for the final exam. I will be keeping an eye on you at that time, and if anything concerns me I will step in."

Sasuke just stared at me. His expression unreadable. "Are you done?"

Feeling defeated, I stood and made my way back out the window. I didn't bother with a goodbye or see you later. It wouldn't have been reciprocated anyway.

As I made my way home I couldn't help but think of our parents. What would they think of who Sasuke had become? Who both of us had become. Even Itachi would probably shake his head if he saw us now. But then again, we would have never gotten to this point if they were all hear with us. Life would be so much different.
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Yeah I know there's inaccuracies in here, but I am not watching the same episodes for the millionth time to write it as closely to the show as possible. I'm just winging it from memory.