When I'm Gone | Multi-shot [@Insomniac_Lullabies]

[When I'm Gone | Part 2: Impromptu Mission]

[Music in multimedia: "I Am Machine" by Three Days Grace. Picture in multimedia: Cashile.]

When I'm Gone | Multi-Shot

[Part 2: Impromptu Mission]

[Cashile Kuroki]

Loneliness was a strange thing; it creeps up to those who least expect it.

Namely, Aisa.

What, you expected me to say that I was the one who was lonely? Don't make me laugh.

"Hey, Cashile.." Aisa sighed once more, propping his head up on his forearms as he stared out the window. "Hasn't it been four days already..?"

I glance up from my dog-eared Bingo Book, pausing for a moment in scribbling down several concise lines of code. "Yeah. He'll be back before you know it, kid. That moro-- guy won't manage to stay away for long."

He merely pouts in reply to my offhanded response. "But--"

Mildly irritated - mainly due to the fact that I could not concentrate what with all the constant pestering the kid's been giving off for the past few days - I stand up, the Bingo Book lying forgotten upon the comfortable sofa, and head over to the dismal kid. Upon reaching his slumped figure, I place a hand on his shoulder, lowering my voice so only he could hear.

"Believe in your older brother, kid. He won't just leave you alone." He doesn't have the capability - the guts to do such a thing.

"He's never been gone this long.." Aisa mumbled half-heartedly, as though reluctant to concede to my 'reassurance'.

Oh. Of course. Who wouldn't think something was wrong when another acts out of character? But perhaps there was a stimulus eliciting this delay.. Then maybe it would be understandable.

"Something might be up; you never know with missions." I shrug carelessly, perking up suddenly as a familiar chakra signature flares to life right outside the door of my apartment. Why was he here?

No, the better, more pressing question was.. Why was I, who was openly deemed to be heartless, concerned with Aisa's troubles? Aiden wasn't my brother, so why..

Shaking my head slightly, I removed my hand from where I had placed it unsteadily upon his shoulder, turning on my heel and heading for the door just as two, hurried knocks resounded. Perhaps there was an urgent matter that needed immediate attention.

"What?" I say almost immediately after I open the door, to be greeted by the gravity-defying, silver hair of a certain jounin. That, and the serious tone of his voice alerted me of the situation at hand.

"The Hokage wants to see Team Seven in her office right now. Said it's important.." Kakashi trailed off for a moment; his single, onyx eye locking onto the worried kid behind me. "And that it involves the kid as well."

::*::

"Is it a mission, 'ttebayo?" The blond knucklehead, otherwise known as Naruto Uzumaki, asked excitedly, much to my displeasure. It was plain obvious; couldn't he keep his thoughts to himself?

Of course he can't; he had the tendency to blurt out things better left unsaid - to be more exact, was completely unrelated to the matter at hand. Such stupidity was one of his many idiosyncrasies, after all.

"Shut it, Naruto," Sakura snapped, glancing at the adults gathered in the room out of the corner of her eye. "Listen to the instructions for once, would you?"