Shadow of the Night

Chapter 21

*three years later

Silver hair flashed in my peripheral vision, and a shuriken nearly impaled itself in my shoulder. Or course before that happened, I flicked out a finger, hooking the digit into the shuriken's hold and flung it back at my opponent. The target had a kunai ready, and he deflected the projectile.

I smirked, forming hand seals. Thrusting out my fists, a torrent of water blew my opposition into the wall. The water then dissipated, leaving the boy soaking wet and gasping for air.

"What the heck! Trying to kill me Mom?"

I laughed brightly at my son "No kiddo. Just keeping you on your toes."

"You said it would taijutsu and weapons only this round." Aki huffed. "And when can we practice our special jutsu? You promised we could today!"

I sighed looking at the determined boy. It was times like this he looked exactly like Kakashi.

"Hey! Yuro no Kage! We have time now to look at your plans!"

I looked apologetically at Aki while secretly rolling my eyes at my old rouge nin code name. Katsumi and Teiko entered our training room. "We will later Kookie, but right now we have to go over some things for tomorrow. You know, last minute adjustments so no one gets killed. Wanna tag along?" Aki nodded and we all retreated to the common room.

Katsumi, Aki and I met Teiko shortly after seeking alternate refuge. He was a broad man, in his late fifties. A bit of a stray shinobi, as he called himself. Raiden had killed his family for their shadows, so he was more than happy to help me in my mission. The man was also very good with Earth ninjutsu. Teiko had raised his own kids, and was quite a help with Aki. The young boy had even taken to calling him Grandpops, though I think this annoyed Teiko. Regardless of the nickname, Teiko was rather fond of Aki.

We had set up a temporary base, then a permanent base in the side of a mountain. This was where I trained my son.

We left the Akatsuki after most of the old crowd died. Itachi's particularly shook me. And after Sasuke came and went...

*flashback (one year ago)

Aki was running around the table again. I grabbed the four year old and set him on my lap. Apparently there were new members soon to be introduced, and I didn't want Aki to be a bother to dangerous criminals.

The door creaked open, and my heart nearly stopped.

Sasuke.

"Keep an eye on Aki, Kisame." Without my eyes leaving the Uchiha, I announced to the room "We are going to have a chat. No body interrupt us, no matter what you hear." Most of the members knew not to argue, but the red head with Sasuke seemed on the verge of protesting. She withered under my glare. The girl's words died on her tongue, and she shrank away from me.

"Moma, who is that?" Little Aki had squired around in his chair, and was now gazing at Sasuke with large wondering eyes.

"Kookie, this is Sasuke. You can meet him later. Right now, Moma and Sasuke have to have a little talk." With that, I proceeded to drag Sasuke out of the room by the ear. I noticed how much the teenager had grown, now several inches taller than me.

"Ow! Hikari-sensei, what is this? Why are you here?"

"Sasuke, you complete ass. Running out on us all? For revenge? On your brother who cared more for you than he did for his entire clan? Honestly I could slap you right now. Do you even know how heartbroken Naruto and Sakura were? How about me? Did you care? No, you just left! Bed empty, no note! I was scared, what if you got hurt, or Orochimaru, well, was himself, and you-"

I stopped talking, as I was suddenly encased in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry."

Pulling away, I wiped my glassy eyes on the back of my hand. "I can never stay mad at you kiddo. But don't even think about disappearing on me again."

Sasuke gave me one of his signature smirks. "Wouldn't dream of it." He glanced back at the door. "By the way, who is that kid? He looked awfully familiar..."

I nearly blushed at his teasing tone "Oh shut it, you know exactly who he is. And no one needs a psychic to tell you who his father is. Just, if you see Kakashi, don't mention Kookie."

"He doesn't know?"

I shook my head. "I'll tell you the story later. It's kinda long." My smile grew. "And I want to spar with you after dinner. I can't wait to see how far you've come."

"Oh it's on, sensei."

*flashback end

I smiled, recalling how I had beaten Sasuke's ass after dinner that night. His lightning blade had been no match for my perfected Raikai. Payback, I'd called it, for leaving with Orochimaru.

"Hey, Kari, you still with us? We were talking about our attack formation..."

Katsumi, Teiko and I had been planning our attack on Raiden for the past year. Until then, we'd had no clue where they could be hiding, as the new compound had been empty when we went back for a bit of stakeout. Then, about a year ago, we received a tip off of where the new headquarters was. The plan was set, and tomorrow the four of us (yes, including Aki) would be attempting Raiden's assassination.

I had also been trying to get in contact with Yuro, but every time I think I'm getting close, a Shizuka pops up on my chakra radar and I have to turn back. I wish he were here.

The goal of tomorrow was to take out Raiden without killing the rest of my clan. Telling them the truth might also be good, but eliminating the major threat came first. With all the shadows he's accumulated, Raiden's power would be hard to subdue. Unnecessary casualties would be avoided if at all possible.

After going over the plan for the hundredth time, Aki and I left the other two to continue our training.

My son had inherited my shadow prowess, and the two of us together could be a powerful tag team. Katsumi had normal Clan abilities, but could make great use of her Wind chakra nature. All four of us together represented all five natures, since Aki had Fire (we checked a year ago), Teiko had Earth, Katsumi had Wind, and I had full control of Water and Lightning. Katsumi and Teiko were less proficient in their secondary chakra natures (Water and Earth, respectively).

"Come on Mom, I think I can get the hang of it if we do it again." I smiled at Aki's determination. That look in his eyes really reminded me of Kashi.

"Okay Kookie, but just a few more times, then off to bed. Tomorrow is a really important day."

The boy nodded, and we began our training again.

*AN

Had a good time writing this :) If you spot the Harry Potter reference you get a cookie

Remember to leave me a comment and vote if you want

-Hanna

Here's kiddie-Kashi y'all can pretend it's Aki