Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Farewell, Sensei

Kakashi finished giving the report of their last mission to the Hokage and finally headed home. It was almost nighttime, he never expected to take that long in the report, but the Third kept asking him about Hanako and how she had performed. The Jonin answered him everything he wanted to know, but it was until 6 p.m. that he was finally released.

When Kakashi entered his room, he was surprised to see Hanako sitting on his bed Indian style. "Sorry for breaking in," she lowered her head. "You told me I could come to you anytime..."

"What happened?" Kakashi walked to her and sat next to her on the bed.

"Why didn't you tell me what happened to them?" Hanako looked at him with pained eyes. "I know you knew, you were the one who found their bodies..." Kakashi looked away, instantly knowing what she was referring to. "Why, Kakashi?" Hanako's eyes finally teared.

"I wasn't sure you could handle it... It happened two years ago." Kakashi looked at her and his stomach churned when he stared at her tears rolling down her eyes like a cascade. He had already seen her cry twice in less than a week. She had been playing the tough girl all the time, but now he could see how broken she really was. Why was she crying like that all of a sudden?

Kakashi sighed and stood up to look in his closet for a blanket. "I'm sorry to bother you like this, Kakashi." Hanako chuckled dryly. "You must think I'm pathetic... I don't blame you, though. I think the same."

Kakashi put the blanket over her shoulders. "You're not pathetic. You're just human," he said. "I'd be worried if you hadn't reacted like this. Kaito-san was your tutor, Koharu and Hiroki were your friends. The three of them were comrades, and their loss hurt." Kakashi turned away towards his desk. He checked some papers until he found a drawing. "I found this symbol close to their bodies," he said as he showed her the drawing. A triangle inscribed in a circle.

Hanako's mouth went dry. "That symbol..."

Kakashi frowned at noticing her features. "Do you recognize it?"

"No," Hanako shook her head. "I just thought I had seen it somewhere, but I don't know where." The Uchiha looked down at the covers of Kakashi's bed and traced the shuriken drawings in it with her finger.

"A book?" Hanako raised an eyebrow as she looked at Orochimaru. "Are you actually giving me a book?"

"You should check its contents before making that face." The man smirked. Hanako did as told, and widened her eyes when she saw that it was actually the information she had asked about the Akatsuki. "It took me too long to give it to you because I was making sure it was updated. The ones with a red cross over their pictures are already dead, most of them were Kakuzu's partner. He didn't mind killing them when he was tired of them." Orochimaru sighed.

Hanako moved from picture to picture, only nine of them weren't marked. There was a lot missing about the abilities, but at least she had the identities. Two of the nine, though, had no picture. Hanako also noted that "Tobi" was nowhere in the list. "It took you more than two years to give me this, and it's still incomplete. You are only giving me their names and their picture. And still there's two of them that don't have any picture."

"I got the pictures from Bingo Books I stole from ANBU. Most of the members are S-rank criminals, but Pain, the leader, and Konan are not in any book. They are not even criminal themselves. That's why I don't have their picture, they didn't ever show themselves either, so telling you how they look is almost impossible," Orochimaru added.

"No member has seen them?" Hanako asked.

"Of course they have, but I'm not one of them." Orochimaru smirked. "Akatsuki was just a temporary affiliation. I was interested in finding a vessel but I'm afraid I couldn't find anything worthy. So, I got bored and left."