✔️Heal My Heart {Kakashi Hatake}

109 | home at last

It was just me and Ikari left. We seemed to realise that at the same time, and looked at each other, the bedraggled look in his eyes reflecting how I felt. I sheathed my swords, seeing no further use for them.

"What do we do now?" Ikari asked, voicing the question that was lingering on my mind, too.

"Well..." I struggled to pull together a logical list of things to do. "We should bury those two. And we did just basically destroy a hotel, so we'll need to pay for that."

"Oh." Ikari looked crestfallen as he gazed around at the wreckage.

"I can handle the expenses," I offered. "I'm not exactly strapped for cash."

Ikari glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. "So you're a rich kid?"

"I guess so," I replied. "Though I've never really been one for spending money on myself."

"Good thing, because I certainly couldn't pay for all this." Ikari walked over to where the two bodies lay. "What about these?"

"I can handle them, too." I joined Ikari to stand next to the two bodies. I put my hands in the sign of the Snake, and the earth opened up and buried them where they lay. It was a Jutsu taught to all ANBU as a way of concealing the evidence of an assassination. I'd had to use it more times than I cared to admit.

"That's that, then," Ikari said, bemused.

"Is it?" I turned to him. "What about you? Can I trust you?"

Ikari blinked a couple of times, processing. "Why wouldn't you? I just fought on your side."

"Because this is an excellent chance to get me alone," I replied evenly. "I'm away from home, I'm tired from the fight, more open to trust you than at any other time since we just fought together, and I haven't had a chance to write home so there's no chance of backup. You've just heard for yourself that someone's promising ten billion ryo for my capture. So I'll repeat the question. Can I trust you?"

Ikari considered me for a moment. "I wouldn't even know where to take you if I did decide to capture you. Plus, you're whiny, annoying and really childish. I'd go mad and commit before I even had the chance to spend the money."

I allowed a smile to creep onto my face. "Maybe that's why I do it. I don't suppose you know the language of flowers, do you?"

"There's a language of... flowers?" Ikari stared at me like I was crazy.

"Not like how we speak now. Just that some flowers have a certain meaning, like how red roses mean love, which is why they're exchanged a lot on Valentine's Day," I said.

"And all flowers have a meaning?" Ikari asked.

"More or less." I crouched down by the makeshift grave I'd created. Feeling around in the earth's chakra, I found what I was looking for and pulled it up to the surface.

"A marigold," Ikari observed. "What does that mean?"

"Marigolds represent cruelty and grief," I replied. "I think it's fitting. Yokina was cruel, and Sakyū didn't deserve to die." I channeled a bit of my own chakra into the lone flower, and it multiplied before us until the whole grave was coated in them.

"Hey, you!" A loud, angry voice yelled at us, breaking the moment. "I hope one of you's paying for this damage!"

I turned around to face a short man, red in the face. I guessed he was the hotel manager.

"How much do you think it'll cost to repair?" I asked.

"Fifteen million, at least!" he spat.

"I'll pay you twenty million," I said, "on one condition."

"What?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"If you leave this site alone" -I indicated the grave- "and don't build anywhere near it, I'll pay you twenty million and you can do what you like with it."

"And where's a kid like you got twenty million from?" he asked with a frown.

"Firstly, I'm twenty-one, not a kid. Secondly, it was an inheritance. I can give you twenty million no problem, as long as you agree to my terms," I said firmly.

"And if I don't?"

"Then good luck paying for this yourself," I replied coolly.

The manager looked through suspicious, beady eyes at me, then the grave, then the wreckage that had been the reception area. He finally sighed. "Fine. I won't touch that... thing, and you pay twenty million ryo. Right?"

I nodded in agreement. "I'll transfer the money electronically. Can I get a bank number to pay into?"

The manager pulled out a notebook and pen from inside his suit jacket and scribbled down a number. "Right in here, if you will, miss."

I took the piece of paper and stored it carefully in my thigh holster. "The payment will be made within two weeks," I promised.

The manager nodded stiffly to me, then walked away.

"You just basically paid off my whole house," Ikari said weakly. "And you're acting like it was nothing. How rich are you?"

"I won't pretend twenty million didn't hurt my bank account," I admitted, "but that was probably only a tenth of all my funds, if that."

"Where does it come from?" Ikari asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "Once upon a time, my clan was big, and we had a big budget. You can imagine we made bucket loads in crops and harvest. You saw how I made those marigolds grow instantly. Imagine that with food crops, but multiplied by about fifty other clan members all doing it. Every single ryo of that is mine now, because I'm the only one left."

"That's kind of cool," Ikari said, "but kind of sad."

"Story of my life," I muttered. "And I'm barely twenty-one."

"What are you going to do now?" Ikari asked.

I shrugged. "Go home, I guess. I'll send a letter ahead of me, so the Hokage knows that I'm coming, but then... back to normal life, I suppose."

Ikari nodded, almost to himself. "I'm going home too. But I'm taking a detour around to the Sand, just to break the news to the Kazekage."

"The Sand couldn't be farther from the Cloud," I argued. "If you want, I'll go."

"I haven't got anyone waiting for me back home," Ikari replied calmly. "You do. I don't mind adding another week or so to my trip. I could do with the alone time, anyway."

"Are you sure?" I asked uncertainly.

"Positive."

"Alright then." A pause. "We'll still be friends after this, right?"

"Sure. I guess it would be useful to have an insider in the Leaf."

"Very funny." I rolled my eyes. "Have a safe journey."

"You too, Miyoshi."

It was the first time he'd actually called me by my name. It was also the last I heard of him before he was suddenly gone, on his way to the Sand, then the Cloud. Feeling the sudden loneliness, I whistled for the messenger hawk that had come with me and sent it back to the Hokage with the news of my return.

Finally, I was going home.