Wouldn’t you love to love her?
Kakashi laughed to himself at the sight of his young teammates shivering under the blankets the inn keeper had thrown over them the moment the teens had stepped through the door. The winter rain had set a chill in their bones as they ran through the town looking for a place that night. Despite the fact that a caravan of merchants had already taken every available room in the place, the old man had offered to let the Konoha ninjas stay on extra beds in the commons area at least until the storm passed if it did not pass that night.
Sakura and Naruto were huddled by the fire along the long brick wall while Sai ordered food for the three at a near by counter. Normally, he would have said no to staying here for the night when Fire was only one more day’s walk away. The rain wasn’t coming down that hard, and they had rainproof tarps and warm blankets. The thing was, it was winter, and fine bits of ice was mixed in with the rain and snow. It had been that way for the past couple days straight, and the ground was too soft to hold a stake should they need it. Any little gust of wind would tear the tarp down, and the rain and ice would pool around them if they slept anywhere but in a tree… then again, sleeping in a tree would expose them to updrafts of cold air, and the branches were already icy and hazardous. So, they stayed.
This way, Kakashi could also work off an issue that had been bothering him over the past month since leaving Konoha. After spending about every other night with a friend or two, this month alone was killing him. Every time he saw a decent looking woman or girl--hell even a couple guys--old enough to give their consent the past week, he’d had a hell of a time keeping from just flirting and suggesting things to them. He seriously missed his friends with benefits. It had gotten to be too easy of a routine to go out to the bar and leave with Anko, Kurenai, and maybe Genma or Iruka, too for the night.
Sure, Sakura was around, but he never really thought about her like that. She was his student and a friend, but not the kind he’d complicate with such benefits. He felt like she was more of a little sister than anything else. As for Naruto and Sai, he was not into them nearly as much as girls. Every time that he shared a bed with a man, there was a woman or two between them. It was easier to pretend that it was really another girl who just liked to play around with toys on him when he had a woman to look at.
There was also the fact that those three had become a bit more than friends…or even friends with benefits for that matter. Yes, Kakashi was well aware of the bonds those three had. He was happy for them, especially happy that Sai was not thought of as an odd substitute for Sasuke. Yes, they would still miss their original friend and occasional lover, but they had moved on emotionally.
Yes, now Kakashi had the chance to find a quiet corner away from others and work it out himself. Sure, it was no substitute for hearing the gasps and feeling the tightening of a woman around him, but something was always better than nothing.
Paying the inn keeper a reduced price, Kakashi joined his teammates for dinner before seeking out that quiet spot. Right now, food was the more pressing issue. They hadn’t caught anything, and there were few plants around worth eating, so they had rationed their supplies down to the bare minimum on the way back. A proper meal was well in order.
“What does she think she’s doing?” Sakura gasped and looked past where Kakashi and Sai sat, watching someone neither of them saw.
“She’s going to get herself sick!” Naruto agreed, debating about going out there and hauling her back inside.
Sai and Kakashi turned around in their chairs to see a woman in a thin white nightgown and bare feet dancing in a puddle in the middle of the street. Her curly red hair slowly straightening out as the water weighed it down.
“She’d look lovely on paper,” Sai commented, imagining putting the woman in a waterfall setting.
A rumble of thunder passed through the area, seeming to excite the woman even more. Kakashi wondered how nuts she had to be to do that. Perhaps she just really liked the rain, another voice said in his mind. Perhaps she connects someone to rain and thunder the way you connected Rin to playful streams?
As the lightning began to brighten the area in quick, deadly flashes, the woman sat down in the puddle and stared up in awe. She didn’t seem to be bothered one bit by the ice or the wind. The fact that she was the only soul alive not taking shelter in the area seemed not to phase her. All she wanted, all she loved, al she needed, was the flashes, the thunder, the wind, and the rain.
“That’s it, I’m getting her back in here,” Naruto stood up and jogged to the door to call out to her. “HEY! Don’t you know you could catch a cold like that? Come on and get back inside already!”
“Don’t you feel it?” the woman asked in return. “Don’t you feel the energy, the life? Everyone who was ever taken in a storm is in it. They’ll have their revenge. One day, they’ll take the lives of those who took theirs. I want it to be now!”
“Lady, you’re crazy!” Naruto shouted out at her. “That’s one bad storm out there, and you don’t need to be in it.”
“I am safe,” she answered with a smile in his direction. “They have no anger towards me. It was not I who killed them. I loved them the way they loved me. Especially him…”
“Come back in, son,” the elderly inn keeper laid a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “She’s done that every night now. When the thunder fades away later on, she’ll come inside. You’ll see.”
“She’s really done that every night?” Sakura asked, more concerned now. “How long has she been staying here?”
“About two weeks now,” he answered. “She’s always here for a couple weeks or so around this time of year. Always has been here when the caravan comes through since she was a tiny thing. Been near twenty-eight years straight I’ve seen her now.”
Though the man had explained to them that she always acted this way, Team Kakashi did not stop glancing at her now and again. Naruto stood watch by the door, wondering about the words only he had heard her say. One day, they’ll take the lives of those who took theirs. I want it to be now!…They have no anger towards me. It was not I who killed them.
She looked so happy, so wild, so sure. But who was the person she had spoken of about loving her? Was it someone who took her with him along with the caravan since she was a girl? Was he one of the dead she hoped the storm would take revenge for? Could she be saved from this apparent madness? Was it worth trying for this stranger?
“I know what you’re thinking, Naruto,” Sakura spoke from behind him, startling Naruto a bit.
“Huh?” he asked, turning around at long last.
“I know who you see in her. I see it, too, but it’s not any of our concern. She’s not a danger to anyone but herself, and that’s only due to a liking of the weather. Leave her alone. It’s probably what she really wants.”
“I hope you’re right, Sakura-kun, for her sake at least.”
“Come on, we need to get some real rest,” Sai added, having come up behind Sakura quietly.
Kakashi watched as the other three cuddled up in a corner together, Naruto in the middle on his back, Sakura with her arm wrapped around his chest from by the wall, and Sai on the other side curling his leg with Naruto’s and reaching an arm over the other boy’s head to play with Sakura’s hair as his other hand entwined with hers. He smiled longingly at them, wondering if he’d ever have that instead of the usual drunken stress relief to fight away the true ache hidden in his heart.
“Your companions seem happy enough,” a woman’s voice said lowly from behind where he sat. “I wonder why you don’t join them.”
He looked up at the drenched redhead whom had decided now must have been a good time to come in. Now, he realized, that the lightning and thunder had passed on. She wasn’t looking down at him, remained focused on the teens in the far corner with a longing gleam in her pale blue eyes.
“They’re my students, my family of sorts,” he answered, “not my lovers.”
“Not what I meant,” she corrected him, “but since you did take it that way… I’ll leave you to it.”
She walked away and up the stairs, leaving puddles and drips behind her along the way. Kakashi’s eyes were glued to her the whole time before she turned the corner, looking over the revealed body beneath the now clingy and see-through gown. She may not have been a goddess like the women he was used to, but she most certainly had a beautiful shape. Her legs were built for running. Her back straight and proud. Her arms were strong, but the muscles were not quite as well formed as a shinobi’s. Her stomach was a little bigger than flat, but only just slightly. Her breasts had a few stretch marks, but were even and well formed. Her long neck was not diminished by the length of her hair, but accentuated instead.
Maybe he’d be thinking about her in a moment or two when he could go and find a quiet spot to work off the tension himself. Maybe he’d think of a name for her…that beauty of the storm.
“Hmph,” he heard the old man behind the counter, “still not ready to sleep.”
“Hmm?” Kakashi asked, not understanding. “I’ll be getting there soon, I guess.”
“I meant her,” the man said. “Gone up to the library again.”
“I didn’t know there was one,” Kakashi answered, actually curious to see if they had any of his favorite series, seeing as his was now soaked and ruined by the storm.
“Yeah, it’s not much, more of a ‘take a book/leave a book’ kind of thing, but it’s a nice enough place to watch the sky farther out… I’m off to bed myself. I’m sure things will be safe enough with you all down here.”
Kakashi watched the man go through the door behind the counter before allowing his mind to wander again. It wandered back to the odd woman. Odd to any but him. He recognized that tone in her voice. It was one he had gained and lost years ago, and could only be recognized by those who had left it behind them. It was the tome Sasuke never recognized in his own voice. It was the longing for the power to take vengeance for the dead. Yet, he felt that she knew something else, that she knew she could not do it alone.
‘No, dobe,’ he chided himself, ‘You’re making up the kind of person you want her to be. Someone you really want as a lover. Someone who can know you better than people like Anko and Kurenai.’
Looking for a little distraction, Kakashi pulled out a book from his vest pocket and realized how fragile the thing was from being soaked earlier. Lamenting the fact he had only been able to read it ten times all the way through, he remembered the old man telling him about the library upstairs and decided to go check it out.
With one last look at the sleeping teens, Kakashi shook his head and started up the stairs, attempting to miss most of the creeks and squeaks as he went. The railing was old, smoothed by time and hands, but it held firmly to the wall. The paint had been put over wall paper, he noticed, but it only made it that much more interesting to the eye. Not sure which way to turn once he reached the top, Kakashi looked down in hopes of finding the trail of water still there. He was in luck. Enough was left to lead him off to the left and into the first door which had been left open by the other person within.
The lights were still turned out, but he did not need them to search for his preferred books. What he needed was organization. The dim light of the town outside the long window of a wall provided more than enough light for him to see the mess of books, papers, and magazines laying on shelves and tables. Some were even on the chairs and loveseats. He’d be lucky to find anything on a first or even fifth try in this mess.
In the far left corner, a slight movement caught his eye. The slowly drying woman had turned her head away from the scene outside to look at him now. She was curled up in a plush chair and sat very still, as if trained to do so. She did not smile. She did not frown. She simply looked and waited.
Kakashi walked slowly around the scattered furniture and books, more for his own safety than to keep her calm. Clearing off a spot on the bench along the window, he sat down diagonally from her, meeting her gaze with a curious one of his own. Though he knew there was no way she could see his expression with the minute light behind him, he could have sworn that her smile was a response to his curiosity, or perhaps because of some strange, crazy reason he could never understand. Both were equally possible.
“Why did you come here?” she asked finally.
“I was hoping to find a book,” he answered honestly. “The one I was reading is soaked.”
“As it should be,” she smiled even wider. “You are a shinobi, aren’t you? Don’t you live better stories than the ones you read?”
“That depends on your definition of a better story,” he replied. “If you’re interested in what it’s really like to be sent out to kill the enemies of your village, perhaps I do live better stories than the ones you read.”
“And when you live those stories, what seems better?”
“Anything but what you live,” he said, looking her right in the eyes. “Isn’t that why you surround yourself with these books? To pick one up and escape the pain of what has happened to you?”
She did not answer. Instead, she looked out the window.
“You shouldn’t stay in those wet clothes,” he warned, knowing she had probably heard that a thousand times by now. “You could get sick, and Sakura would be very cross to find you that way.”
“The pink haired one?” the woman asked.
He nodded.
“She should not worry. I do not get sick easily.”
“But not never.”
“No, not never, but never from a simple storm like this. Gin taught me--” she cut herself off, hanging her head as she tried to calm her breathing once more.
He knew now that this Gin person was the one she mourned.
“Go, get your sleep. I should get dry like you and your companions say.”