Monday, March 26, 2007

Rain, rain, go away...:(
It didn't rain until near the end of the school day, and it was really pouring...like cats and dogs! XD

Oh, speaking of dogs, Lucy is sick. :(
She has this terrible itching problem, and she stayed up almost all night, without much sleep. I'm hoping she'll feel better soon; she's been a good dog today, though! I can't believe it's almost been a year since we got her...in August!

When we first got Lucy, she was all wrangly and mostly light blonde (not exactly attractive) and had a few sores on her body.

Now her ears have darkened up, she has the most CUTEST puppy eyes, her fur's become real soft, and her tail curls beautifully. :D

Anyway, the only homework I have is in American History, and a project in American History, which is due on Thurs. and I really should get started on it soon...><

In Art, mr. shade was gone today, so we had a substitute; we took notes on ceramics and did a puzzle.

In Tennis, we played several mini-games, and did extra running when we lost; both teams, suprisingly suffered the equal amount of punishments, and so it was a fair day there...O_o

In Science, we copied down vocabulary...
I don't know why, but Andrew, a boy in my Sci. class, likes ( or pretends...) to sit by me. Hey pretty much, I've been sitting in my Sci. desk all alone all year, and then that boy just happens to come along, put his stuff on the area next to MY stuff and says, "I'm going to sit with my baby Andrea today." I'm telling you, that's what he always says!!! O_O

It's not that I like Andrew (to tell you the truth, he's an annoying class clown, who lives in my area), but I guess it's just that I can't no. Another encounter with Mister Andrew (lol) is when my family and I were walking through the streets, and what did I see was Andrew, with his shirt off, since it was summer time, and him playing outside.
I almost always get nervous when I see someone I know outside of the school building; i just seems so embarresing to me...anyway, I was hoping he wouldn't catch a glimpse of us (ha, like that couldn't happen <_<) and, whaddya know, he says "Hey, Andrea."
'Course, I had to say hi too.

Andrew's still an annoying brat though...just not TOO annoying. ><

Ugh. MOST boys (thank heavens not all!) in middle and high school can be your worst nightmare...O_O

Oops. Getting off track...

In Pre-Algebra, we got a deeper insight on triangles, and I finished the worksheet that was supposed to be my homework before the beel rang...

In English, we spoke of Native Americans; their culture has always fascinated me, and I kind of admire them. ^_^

In Computer Lit. I was finally able to catch up...

And in American History, we worked on our inventions. I'm 'invented' an educational as well as enjoyable computer program which allows people to read any book or text they desire--the entire thing.

Ah, I saw a fanfic story about A young Kakashi (pre-Kakashi Gaiden)and I thought it was sad; nevertheless I enjoyed it. There were a couple of others similar to this, with Sasuke, Orochimaru...and someone else that I forgot.
I'd like to put it up here, author and all, so here it is:

Fragments (Kakashi)
by Lex


=================================


Kakashi looked up from his breakfast. “Tousan…” he began, hesitantly. “I didn’t think I did very well, but they promoted only me and about four other kids. It’s not because of…”

Pale blue eyes widened with surprise. “What?” Sakumo said. “It’s because you’re a quick little learner, that’s all. It wasn’t because of me.”

“Ah—I wasn’t going to…I mean…” Kakashi said, but trailed off. His father was famous. He had been worried that his promotion was only for that. It was a perfectly reasonable conclusion, so he didn’t know why he was trying to justify it.

“Hehe…” The older man grinned, the little scar at the corner of his mouth quirking up. “It’s a natural conclusion to come to, Kakashi. But Hokage-sama told me himself how well you did. You were clever and resourceful. You’re a chuunin now because of that. Orochimaru-san was talking about you, too. Everyone’s very impressed by you, and I’m sure that has very little to do with anything I’ve done.”

Kakashi smiled.

There was a knock at the door.

“Uh-oh, I’m late!” Sakumo said, standing up and putting his dishes in the sink. “Be sure to lock up before you go to meet your sensei.”

“I will.”

“Ii ko.” And he ruffled Kakashi’s hair before setting off down the hall.

“There you are,” huffed Okosa. “Hatake-kun, you’re really pushing it, being late so much. I’m glad I’m not normally teamed with you.”

Kakashi leaned over, trying to catch a glimpse of the two men out in the hall. He liked Higawa Okosa—the guy was a little grumpy, but he was shrewd, and a good fighter.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Higawa-kun. I was eating breakfast with my boy.”

“You spoil him too much,” Okosa snorted.

“Well, when you’ve got a child of your own, I’m sure you’ll spoil him, too.”

“Whatever. Now come on, before Yamanaka-kun starts to get all bent out of shape.”

“Itterasshai,” Kakashi called.

***

“Ooookay, who’s next?” the green-haired girl asked in a bored tone.

Kakashi stepped forward.

She glared down at him. “A broken wrist? You could’ve set this yourself, you little crybaby!”

“Oneesama,” her twin chided.

She pouted. “Hey…you look familiar.”

He looked at her.

A blush appeared on her face, and she pointed at him. “Ah! You look just like Sakumo-sama!” She went off into a daydream world, swooning and exclaiming to herself. “Oh, wonderful Sakumo-sama…if more men were like him, every girl would be happy! That hair…those eyes…even the little scar near those gorgeous lips! Wahhhh, he’s just so wonderful!”

Kakashi ruffled his hair. “Wow, is Tousan really that great?”

“Yes!” she said firmly. “He most definitely is, no matter what anyone says. And since you’re the darling son of the wonderful Sakumo-sama, I’ll go ahead and treat you just this once.” Then she practically shoved him into a chair and started the hand-seals for bone mending.

‘No matter what anyone says.’

He frowned. He heard the things they said; they weren’t particularly discreet about it.

They called his father a traitor, sometimes to his face. They avoided him as if he had some distasteful disease. They said he didn’t care about the village. They said he was selfish, and foolish.

And they said Kakashi was tainted.

***

Kakashi peeked warily through the crack in the shoji, telling himself that it was all right to eavesdrop on two adults who were deciding your future.

“I’m very honored to have you in my house, Orochimaru-san,” Sakumo was saying, smiling so that the scar on his mouth quirked just a little.

Orochimaru didn’t smile. Then again, for the whole week that he had watched Kakashi and asked questions, he’d never smiled. Maybe he just didn’t smile, as a rule. There were people like that. “The boy is very talented,” he said. “As you know, before your son, I held the record for being the youngest shinobi in Konohagakure to achieve the rank of chuunin. Such an exceptional gift must be properly nurtured.”

“Yes, you’re correct, of course,” Sakumo agreed, nodding.

“I’ve never taken a pupil before, but I would be willing to apply myself to your son’s further training.”

Kakashi fidgeted.

Being trained by one of the Sannin…by one of the most skilled ninja in the entire village…by the protégé of Sandaime-Hokage-sama himself…

It was exciting, and perhaps just a little daunting.

“Of course it would be an honor!” Sakumo said, but Kakashi could hear the nervous hesitation in his tone.

“But?” Orochimaru prompted.

Sakumo grinned sheepishly. “I only wonder if…well, he’s very young, after all, and I worry that he’ll have trouble fitting in if he excels too quickly. After all, as you said yourself, Orochimaru-san, he’s now the youngest chuunin in the history of the village, so there will be no one who can relate to him, or befriend him.”

A sudden dreadful cold radiated from Orochimaru. “A shinobi has no need for friends. We are tools of our village, nothing more. We exist to become more skilled.”

“Ah, but he’s also human, and he is my son.”

“Don’t be foolish, Sakumo-san,” Orochimaru said. “What sort of life would he be able to have, playing with children his age, after the things you’ve done? Don’t children already shy away from the son of a man who aborted such an important mission for something as foolish and worthless as the lives of three teammates? What chance would he have at being assigned to a skilled trainer, to a balanced chuunin team? I can tell you now that only a true professional or a socially unconscious idiot would accept that tainted boy as his student.”

Sakumo wilted at that. “Ah…there is that, isn’t there,” he said somberly.

Kakashi bit his lip. Tainted. They did say that about him.

He thought (not for the first time) that it might be better if people didn’t know who he was, didn’t look at his face and see his father. He thought it might be better if he cut his face up or wore a mask. He wondered if cutting off all the skin would get rid of that so-called ‘taint.’

He hated his face, and that made him feel ashamed. How could he hate his father’s face? It was unworthy of him. He told himself that he was being stupid. He told himself he loved his father, and should be proud to resemble him so. He should be proud to resemble his hard-working father, who stayed with him and tried his best for him.

“And so it is fortunate that I am, above all, a true professional,” Orochimaru finished smoothly. “In all honesty, I have no opinion regarding you or your actions, and even if I did, such a thing would not blind me to the raw talent your son possesses. Will you or will you not allow me to train him?”

“I suppose I have no choice,” Sakumo relented. “For the good of my son…I entrust him to your care.” And he bowed.

Kakashi admired Orochimaru’s ruthlessness. The man was so cold, so logical, so matter-of-fact…the embodiment of ninja regulations.

“Kakashi-kun.”

He tensed, but Orochimaru just lifted a hand. “Come here.”

Sheepishly, he slid the door open and came in, taking a seat.

“And what do you think about this?” Orochimaru asked. “Would you like to become my student?”

“Hai!” he answered immediately.

Orochimaru smiled. Just a little. “Excellent. I will return at seven tomorrow morning.”

***

And so he began his training under Orochimaru. It was hard work, and he got the feeling that he was learning things that even jounin didn’t know, but it was satisfying. It was much better to be thought of as talented and capable than to be seen as the child of a dishonored ninja.

Within a week, he was busy with exercises that would hone his ability to focus his chakra in parts of his body other than his feet. Orochimaru had demonstrated the usefulness of such a skill by stabbing his finger through a tree, which had thoroughly impressed Kakashi.

So, he was doing some strength exercises on water—pushups, hand-stands, all sorts of things. He’d gotten pretty good at it, but Orochimaru said he still wasted too much chakra, so he kept training.

“That’s enough chakra exercises for today,” Orochimaru called from the bank of the river. “I have a jutsu scroll I want you to study. I expect you to be able to perform the technique on a rudimentary level by this time tomorrow.”

Kakashi hopped back onto dry land. “Hai, sensei!” he said, taking the small scroll and immediately unrolling it to start reading.

“Horaa, mitsuketa!” someone called loudly from the direction of the village.

When Kakashi looked up, the first impression he got was…hair. Lots of hair. The man striding toward them had a huge, spiky mane of white hair. After that, he realized how big the man was—taller and broader than most men in the village. And the last impression was his triumphant grin (which made him look just a little bit stupid).

Somewhere behind him, he thought he heard Orochimaru curse under his breath, but he dismissed the idea. His sensei had entirely too much self control to curse.

“You’ve been avoiding me, haven’t you, hebi-teme?” the big man accused, pouting when he finally stood before them. “Me! Your best friend!”

“Friend or not, Jiraiya, you can’t monopolize my time,” Orochimaru said impatiently.

“Hmph!” the man grunted, scowling down at Kakashi. “I suppose this is your fault, eh, kid? Some fancy brat shows up and it’s like his birthday came early… Well, you can’t monopolize him either, okay? I had him first!”

“Jiraiya!” Orochimaru growled.

“Jeez, you’re no fun these days, Orochi!”

“Oh? I seem to recall you weren’t nearly so interested before your team decided they were ready to split up. How is that idiotic Musashi boy of yours, anyway?”

“He’s brilliant, and he’s fine, thanks. And it’s not like you even noticed I was gone, since every time I visited you had your damn nose in a book! Stop wasting so much time on this tainted brat and come drinking with us.”

Kakashi nearly dropped the scroll in his hands as his heart skipped a beat.

Orochimaru was, above all, a professional. That was why he trained a ‘tainted’ child.

No one would know, he told himself. If he wore a mask for the rest of his life, no
one would know whose son he was. No one would know that he was tainted.

And if his father asked...he’d say...he’d just say... He’d say it was to make him more mysterious. Girls liked mysterious men. It was to get girls. It wasn’t because he was ashamed of his face... How could he be ashamed of the face of someone who was so loyal to him, who took care of him so well?

“By your use of ‘us,’ I can only assume you have a toad in your pocket,” Orochimaru remarked acidly.

Jiraiya glared. “Stupid! I mean ‘us’ as in ‘me and Tsunade.’ It’s your birthday soon, and I just thought you might be willing to grace your old teammates with your presence.”

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder in time to see his sensei press his lips together in a thin frown.

“Don’t be an idiot, Jiraiya,” he hissed. “When have I ever managed to get you to leave me alone on my birthday? Never, that’s when. But there are more important things than being a year older.”

Jiraiya scowled at Kakashi again. Then he blinked. Then he slowly started to grin. “Oho! I get it. You’re turning thirty, so you’re worried that your beauty’s starting to fade. No wonder you don’t like the thought of celebrating another birthday!”

“Bakayarou!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret for you, Orochi. But Tsunade will be really mad if you don’t show up to drink with us, so you better come.” Then Jiraiya left, snickering as he went.

“Ch’…” Orochimaru muttered. “Just read that, Kakashi-kun, and be ready to show me your progress tomorrow.” And he turned toward the village.

***

Several years later, Kakashi was standing frozen in the door of the dining room.

All he could really think properly was that the tatami would be ruined.

He’d run home as quickly as he could, to give his father the good news that Orochimaru had said he was ready to move on to a different teacher.

From the smell of the blood, Konohagakure’s White Fang had been dead for at least a couple of hours.

Kakashi couldn’t stand the sight of it. He ran.

He pounded at his sensei’s door.

Orochimaru showed no hint of emotion when he opened the door, when Kakashi clutched at his sleeves and told him what had happened.

“He abandoned me,” Kakashi finished.

Orochimaru considered him for a moment. “Your father disobeyed his orders,” he said, after a while. “And because of that, he became hated by this village. It was a hatred he bore only for the sake of raising you. When he saw that you were grown enough that you didn’t need him any longer, he escaped his guilt. While it’s true that there are those who would foolishly consider his actions heroism, this village is not kind to its heroes. In the end, the White Fang was a coward who died for nothing but fear.”

He didn’t want to be like his father anymore. He didn’t care about the niggling guilt anymore. He would hide his face, and act as differently from his father as he could imagine.

“Then I’ll become like you, Orochimaru-sensei,” Kakashi said firmly. “I’ll always follow regulations, and I’ll always do my duty as a shinobi of Konohagakure.”

“Do as you will,” Orochimaru said neutrally. “In any case, the time has come for the both of us to move on; you to a new teacher, I to a new pupil. I shall make sure that the mess in your home is cleaned up.”

***

“So!” Musashi said, grinning at his three new students. “Since I’m going to be your teacher, and you’re going to be my students, let’s get to know each other. Please introduce yourselves.”

“What should we say?” the young girl asked nervously.

He shrugged. “I suppose...your name, something you like, something you dislike, and your future goal. For instance, my name’s Uzumaki Musashi, I like high places, I dislike dishonesty, and my future goal is to become Hokage.”

The girl raised her hand. “I’m Morinari Rin, I like...um...” She blushed and glanced sidelong at the dark haired boy next to her. “I dislike sour foods, and my future goal is to become a medi-nin like Tsunade-hime.”

The boy with the goggles raised his hand next. “I’m Uchiha Obito! I like training, I dislike mean people, and my future goal is to become an elite ninja like my father!”

There was a long silence.

“Well, Hatake-kun?” Musashi prompted.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. “Hatake Kakashi. I don’t feel like talking about my likes, dislikes, or goals.”

Obito scowled at him.

“Well...I suppose that’s your prerogative,” the blond jounin conceded. “But your teammates should still know a little something about you, if they’re going to trust you. Why do you wear that mask, for instance? I never saw you wearing one when I would visit Orochimaru-san while you were training.”

“I didn’t wear it back then,” Kakashi said. “It isn’t odd to see a ninja who wears a mask. In the old days, they used to wear them all the time. I just happen to feel like wearing one.”

Musashi stared at him for a while, until he squirmed under that honest blue gaze. “I don’t appreciate being lied to,” he said sternly.

Kakashi looked away. “I don’t want people to look at my face,” he said flatly. “Why else would someone wear a mask?”

“All right, then,” Musashi sighed. “It’s your right to keep secrets about yourself, but remember that people don’t trust a person who keeps too many secrets.”

“Whatever,” he said dismissively.

He didn’t care if no one ever trusted him. If no one trusted him, no one would try to get close to him. Just as Orochimaru had said all those years ago, he was tainted. He wouldn’t force such a thing on anyone else.

End

Er...well, it IS a fanfic...^_^;;

And now for something NOT so serious...:P



Poor starving, annoyed Kakashi...hey where can I get those CDs? :D
Nah, I'm kidding (seriously, who'd want to listen to THAT junk?! Oldies and foreign songs all the way!!!)



Ha ha! :D
I really enjoyed this particular part:

Sakura: "Um. so sensei, who was that girl we saw earlier?"

Kakashi: "Oh. She's from a band of rejected mimes. They got kicked out of mime school because they talk. ALL THE TIME."

Sasuke: "Then why'd they kill Zabuza?"

Kakashi: "Mmm-mm."

Naruto: "I thought you knew everything!"

Kakashi: (sarcastically) "Oh yeah. 'Kakashi knows everything. If we have a problem, Kakashi will know the answer. We can't do research ourselves! Quick, Kakashi, help us!'"

LOOOOOL! :D

Ooh. Long post.

Well, bye for today!
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