After the ambush, the sand shinobi retreated and now, a funeral was being held for the fallen of the 3rd Hokage. Of course, I had to participate in this funeral since Kakashi was going. 

The clouds were dark and everyone was dressed in black. Am I upset that the old man is dead? Of course not. I'm actually happy that the old man is dead. Rumor has it that Orochimaru had killed him. I should be thanking him. 

No more of those painful procedures every other day and being locked in that basement. I'm one step closer to becoming human now... 

I will continue to live with Kakashi since he has been taking good care of me like a guardian should. But, the village won't be the same now that their beloved Hokage is dead. The whole village will be living in fear until there is another Hokage. Oh, how I love those frightful faces~ 

After the funeral, Kakashi took me back to his place and fed me. I'm sure everyone else went home, too. The person who is depressed the most about the old man's passing is Naruto. He's been sulking for a long while. 

"Neh, Kakashi?" I call out to him from the living room while he was in the kitchen. 

"Yeah?" He calls out. 

"What's going to happen now that the old man is dead?" I ask curiously. "Who is going to be the next Hokage of the village?" 

"That, I am not sure about. We just have to wait and see..." Kakashi frowns. "But, you will still live with me since I gave my word that I will take care of you." 

"There you go again. Acting all fatherly towards me." I mutter and place my cheek on my knuckle, with my elbow resting on the coffee table. 

"You're not use to it yet." Kakashi is now in front of me, smiling down at me. 

"Of course I'm not use to it. I never had somebody care about me this much." I shrug my shoulders. "You said you were going to be honest with me, so I'm taking your word on it." I puff out my cheeks. 

"Do you always puff your cheeks out when you get embarrassed?" He chuckles. 

"Shut up!" I throw a pillow at him and he laughs a bit louder. 

"Anyway, are you ready to go?" 

"Go where?" 

"I'm meeting with a friend. I can't leave you in the house, Akina." 

"Fine, I'm going." I stand up from the floor and put on my shoes, and Kakashi and I are out the door. We head to a dango shop where Kurenai and Asuma were already there. 

"Hey, Kakashi. How's it going?" Asuma waves at him with a smile. "I see you brought Akina with you." 

"It's going good. I had to bring her with me. I couldn't just leave her in the house alone. She'll get bored or just run off. Like a little kid." Kakashi smiles at the end of his sentence. 

I punch his side and puff out my cheeks again. "Don't look down on me just because I'm little!" I shout.

"I'm only kidding." Kakashi softly pats my head. I admit, I do become childish sometimes when Kakashi treats me like one. And, I hate to say it, it's quite fun. I don't remember the last time I acted this way. 

While the jounin were talking amongst themselves, I stare into the dango shop to find only 2 people there. They had cloaks with red clouds on them and wearing straw hats. 

"Kakashi? What are you doing here? It's not like you to be here so early." I hear Sasuke's voice. I turn to him and glare at him. 

"What's he doing here?" I growl. Last time I checked, he almost died by hand after making the first move. 

"Kakashi called me here." Sasuke says, glaring back at me. 

"You're lucky enough to be alive, Uchiha. Be grateful I only took an ounce of your chakra." I glare. 

"If you want to go again, we can go anytime. You're on." Sasuke and I glare daggers at each other, as if we were a cat and a dog. 

"Alright, that's enough. Both of you." Kakashi gets in between us and separates us with his arms. I look back at the dango shop and see that the two people who were there are gone. They left in a hurry. They didn't even finish the dangos or their tea. "Come with me, Akina." 

"Okay." Kakashi starts to walk off and I follow him. Where are we going? Is he going to train Sasuke again? I want to see my Darling. I wonder where he is right now. Probably at that ramen shop he always talks about. "Kakashi, where are we going? We've been walking around the village for a while. Weren't you going to train Sasuke or something?" 

"I was. But he had better things to do. So, it's just you and me for the day. I thought I would treat you to something sweet. I had to go grocery shopping anyway since we're running out of food." 

"You mean it?" I blink with confusion and surprise. 

"Yeah." Kakashi looks back at me with a smile. But he's hiding something underneath that smile. Something definitely is going on. It's like he's keeping me away from something... Or someone. 

After grocery shopping and getting something sweet, we head back to Kakashi's place. I help him put away the food and Kakashi makes ramen in a cup for me. 

"Akina," He turns to me. 

"Yeah? What is it?" I look at him. 

"I need you to stay here." Did I hear this right? 

"What?" I tilt my head to the side, confused. "Where are you going?" 

"There is something I have to do. Do you think you can stay here until I get back? You won't run off, will you?" He kneels down to my height. 

"Sure..." Even though it's a lie. What is Kakashi going to do? Talk to somebody important? He's definitely hiding something. 

"Good. I won't be long." Kakashi gives me one more smile before leaving his house. I stay in the house for about a hour, snooping through his things, and running around the house out of boredom. 

"He really is a pervert." I say, looking at a book that he often reads. "And whoever wrote this is a bigger pervert." I toss the book back on his bed and look out the window. "What's taking him so long?" I ask out loud. 

The more I think back to his words, the more I want to investigate to where he is. Or, I could just go see my Darling. I'm starting to die over boredom. What should I do until he gets back? I already ran around the house, snooped through his things, and took a 30 minute nap. What else is there for me to do? 

"Screw it. I'm going after him." I open the window and jump out it, then going to where Kakashi might me. As I'm hopping from one roof to another, I can feel goosebumps beginning to form on my skin. "Somebody's in a fight~ And he's leaving me out of the fun. That's so mean." I smirk. 

I land on another rooftop and see Kurenai and Asuma standing on water with their eyes closed. Kakashi is doing the same thing, but it looks like he's in pain. There were two other people with them. The same people who were at the dango shop. 

Black cloaks with red clouds on them. 

One had long black hair with a ponytail that looks a lot like Sasuke. And the other had blue skin and gills that resembled a shark. Who are these guys? What are they doing here? What should I do? Jump in on the fight? That will result to Kakashi yelling at me, and that's too much of a pain to handle. But I want to know what's going on. 

"Go away... Get out of here..." I hear Kakashi mutter, turning my way. . Does he know that I'm here? He sounds like he's in pain. Why is he telling me to leave? 

The moment Kakashi said those words, one of the guy's he's standing in front of me turns my way, which has me fleeing quickly before they could see me.

What was that all about? Who were those guys? And why did Kakashi not want to join in on the fight? He has a lot of explaining to do when he gets back. Or~ Perhaps I should go check on my Darling. 

"Dark Art: Duplicate!" My eyes glow and make a clone of myself. She can stay here while I go see Naruto. 

After leaving the clone in the house, I run of to see Naruto. 

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