Tender Sea

Chapter 7

Dream

Naru swung her legs idly back and forth as she sat on the edge of a cliff. There was a cool wind blowing through her shortened hair and the crashing sounds of the waterfall soothed her heart.

"I knew I'd find you here." A warm voice said as she heard footsteps behind her.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei, like you I'm doomed to spend hours wasting away in front of a stone." She waved over at the direction of a neatly made tombstone, which she had taken the time to painstakingly carve.

"At least I'm still in Konoha where people can find me." Her sensei gave a small greeting to his buried student.

"Hey! It's my day off anyway," Naru pouted, it's not like she could visit every day. Why did the Valley of the End have to be on the border of Fire country?

"Maa-maa, no need to get all feisty on me." He ruffled her hair, "Why did you have to cut it anyway?"

"It was stained with blood," She answered simply. Despite the fact it wasn't possible for blood to stain hair, and that it had been washed out long ago, she could always see the blood soaked strands whenever she looked at her reflection. Thus she had hacked it off, and her sunny blonde hair now only came up to her shoulders. She had already dealt with Ino and Sakura screaming about what a waste it was, making her promise to grow it out again.

"So," Kakashi began after a moment of peaceful silence, "What flowers did you bring him?" He had seen the gorgeous bouquet resting on the Uchiha's grave, wrapped in elegant black paper and a red ribbon.

"I got him some pink carnations, lots of cyclamens, a couple daffodils, geraniums, purple hyacinths, some random pansies, and some crimson roses. Ino wasn't at the shop today so her dad wrapped them up for me. Apparently he's working on a rose hybrid that would have been perfect, but they're taking a while to grow so they'll have to wait for next time." Kakashi hummed in thought as she listed off the flowers almost professionally.

"Maybe I'll bring something for him next time as well." He decided.

"The teme would probably like that. I know Sakura visits on her day off as well but she can't come often due to hospital work."

"It's understandable. Deaths aren't uncommon in our line of work so it's hard to find time to mourn properly." Kakashi said knowingly.

"Yeah, yeah." Naru wanted to stop him before he fully went into teacher mode. She stood up dusting off her jumpsuit and turning to face the taller male. "So what did you need me for?"

"Tsunade-sama wanted to see you. She said it was urgent." There was another silence with an added coy smile from the tale male.

"Then why didn't you tell me straight away!" Naru shouted at the laid-back man. "Unlike you I refuse to be three hours late to important appointments!" She quickly left the area via shunshin after a small wave towards the grave.

Reality

Miyu blinked a couple of times, trying to get back to sleep. It didn't work seeing her biological clock had been waking her up at 4:00am for the past three years. There was an uncomfortable weight on her and she pushed it off, smiling as she heard a surprised yelp. With a discontent look the fox rolled back onto his feet and slapped her with his tail.

"Did you ever think that if you stopped sleeping on top of me, I'd stop pushing you off?" She suggested. Kurama merely gave her a look that said he wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. Looking out of the hospital window she could see the sun hadn't even risen yet and deduced no one would be checking on her anytime soon. Miyu sat up and crossed her legs preparing to meditate. It was better she found out where exactly her chakra levels were right now.