Hours later, while she was still in the bath, she sensed Naruto and Sasuke entering the house.
"You're back!?" Naruto asked her mentally.
"That's right. I'm bathing. I'll be down shortly."
She reluctantly got out of her wonderful bath and put on her pajamas. She went downstairs and saw them sitting on the couch.
"How did it go?" Sasuke asked without preamble.
"Good, good. We found Orochimaru's base and several documents that they must be reading right now."
"Is Ero-sennin alive?"
"Yes. In fact, we've reached a kind of truce," she confessed.
"Until I see it, I won't believe it."
"Was he there?" Sasuke asked, returning to the mission.
"He fled. Better, actually," she shrugged. "It's not certain, but apparently Jiraiya thinks he wants your body for himself. To use you as a... meat suit, we could say."
"Eww!"
"And why is that?" Sasuke asked, frowning.
"He's obsessed with immortality. I suppose you're a very tempting body, having the Sharingan and being young, and all that."
"Eww!" Naruto repeated in disgust. "Orochimaru is completely crazy!"
"Crazy, yes, but he's also a genius. We have to be careful with people like that," she reminded him. She yawned, unable to help it. "I think I'm going to bed soon, guys. I'm dead tired."
"But it's not even 9 PM!" Naruto looked at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Leave her alone, dobe," Sasuke gave him a slap on the head while rolling his eyes. "You won't die from not talking to Seina for a couple more hours before bed."
"Good night."
"Good night, nee-chan."
"See you tomorrow, Seina."
She went upstairs and flopped onto her bed, reveling in the comfort of her trusty mattress. There was nothing like being home. She fell asleep almost unintentionally, peacefully. Unfortunately, she wasn't as tired as she expected, so she woke up in the middle of the night, having fully regained her energy. She freshened up a bit and went down to the living room with a couple of books to get ahead on some work and prepare breakfast. When she went downstairs, she was surprised to see a dim light from one of the floor lamps next to the couch. She looked out the window and saw that it was still pitch-black outside.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, blinking a couple of times upon seeing him on the couch. "What are you doing down here?"
"Seina. I've been told you're home. Welcome back," he smiled at her through his mask. "I couldn't sleep."
"Have you been here long?" she asked, heading to the kitchen for a glass of juice or something similar.
"A couple of hours. What are you doing awake?"
"The same. Maybe I should have waited a few hours before going to bed yesterday. Now I'm not tired enough to keep sleeping," she sighed.
She returned to the living room with her glass, sitting down next to him. She noticed he was wearing pajamas. This time gray pants and a black shirt. She observed his mask, present even when he was alone. He wasn't wearing his ninja headband, so she could see his different eyes. One from Obito, the black eye, and his own, the dark gray eye.
"Can I ask you something?" She saw him nod. "Why do you wear a face mask? Is it a personal preference or is there a particular reason?"
"My first mask was given to me by my mother," he confessed. "She discovered I had a more developed sense of smell than usual and thought that covering my nose could protect me from certain odors. Later, when she died, I didn't want to take it off because it reminded me of her. She died when I was only four years old."
"I'm sorry," she said at such a confession.
She placed her hand on his arm, squeezing it for a second before letting go and grabbing her juice. She saw him watching her drink with a peaceful expression and raised an eyebrow, tilting the glass in his direction. The jonin, surprisingly, not only didn't refuse her offer but took off his mask to her astonished expression and then grabbed the glass from her hands.
"You didn't have to take it as a challenge," she joked.
"You've seen my face," he shrugged. "Besides, you fed me. I think I can handle you seeing me without the mask."
He smiled at her without his mask for the first time. She stared at him in amazement. It was the first time she saw his smile in its entirety, not just imagined it. She put the glass on the table, but he didn't put the mask back on. Seina couldn't help but smile at his act of trust and, a few seconds later, at the arm he put around her shoulders as if it were nothing. She saw him shift a bit on the couch, turning more to the side and blocking the lamp behind him so that it didn't shine directly in her eyes, no matter how dim it was.
Seina didn't reject him. She leaned on him, accepting the invitation for what it was, and put her legs over his, practically sitting on his lap. She grabbed his shirt with her remaining hand as she felt him finish hugging her against his chest, as if it were the most normal and easy thing in the world. She felt the weight of his head on hers when he buried his nose in her hair, and despite not having been sleepy, she felt her eyes close as if nothing.
"How is it possible...?" he whispered into her hair.
"What?" she asked in a tiny voice against his chest.
"That you drive me crazy like no one ever has before," he confessed for the first time. "I thought I was... defective for not wanting anyone until you came along."
"You're not defective," she scolded him.
"Oh, no? Seina, you're only eleven, almost twelve," he let out a slightly hysterical laugh. "I'm thirteen years older than you. An adult and you—"
"I won't be twelve forever. You know that."
Seina hugged him tighter. She thought about what she could say to ease his worry. For him, she must be some kind of adult trapped in a child's body, confusing his senses. Was she a child or the adult she mentally was? She imagined this dichotomy must worry him and make him doubt if he was sane. If he was really falling in love with her, and she believed he was, Seina was sure it was for her adult personality and not her adolescent body. The problem was that he didn't know what was different and special about her.
"It's time to explain your past to him... Otherwise, you'll let him suffer because of his feelings for you for nothing," Kurama told her, seeing the predicament she was in.
"You're right," she thought to Kurama and then gathered her courage, burying her face in his chest. "I have to tell you something. Something only Naruto and Sasuke know because we share minds from time to time."
"Am I finally going to know everything?" Kakashi-sensei asked curiously.
"Everything?" she asked, suppressing a satisfied laugh.
"I knew there was something more you weren't telling."
"I think you'll be the last to know. It has to do with a reincarnation. Mine, to be exact."
Kakashi-sensei fell silent. Seina organized her thoughts. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent.
"Something happened when I died the last time... Souls are not supposed to remember what they lived, but I woke up with my memories."
"You reincarnated into this body."
"That's right. I died at 120 years old. That's why you feel I'm an adult," she reluctantly separated from him to look him in the eyes, still in his arms. "I'm 132 years old, Kakashi. I'm older than you."
Kakashi-sensei looked at her in astonishment before bursting into laughter. He stifled a laugh for several minutes, hugging her tightly against him as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He didn't even hesitate to believe what she was saying. Probably because he knew there was something odd about her beyond her kekkei genkai.
"How did you die? And what was your name? Where were you from?" he asked enthusiastically, like a little kid.
"My name was Harriet Lily Potter-Black. I died by tripping on the marble staircase in my house. I know... a stupid death. I was playing with one of my granddaughters and tripped over a toy, hit my head, and was instantly unconscious, otherwise, I could have saved myself with a snap of my fingers. The rest is history."
"What kind of name is Harriet?" he asked curiously.
"A name from another world, obviously."
"Another world?"
"Yes, one without ninjas, but with wizards and witches. I was a witch. I am a witch. If there's one thing we knew, it's that magical powers reside in the soul, and souls are what reincarnate," she knew this better than anyone because of the horcrux on her forehead...
"Now I understand everything. Your kekkei genkai is magic," he said delightedly, like a small child, "and everything you know how to do you already knew how to do in your other life."
"That's right. I was a master in several magical arts. Luckily, except for a few things, I can use everything I learned over 110 years."
"Incredible..."
"Oh, Kakashi. You have no idea what I'm capable of," she laughed quietly, "and now that I can also use chakra… Once I know how to fight with Kurama… I could wipe out an entire village by myself without any effort."
Kakashi-sensei shuddered in her arms and buried his face in her blonde hair as if nothing had happened.
"Thank you, for exposing yourself to show me that I'm not completely crazy," he whispered gratefully.
"I would do anything for you."
"I know," he murmured into her hair, "And by the way, I like how my name sounds on your lips."
They talked in whispers for the rest of the night. Seina told him everything he wanted to know, and Kakashi-sensei answered all her questions with complete honesty. It was as if the last, and most important, barrier between them had been destroyed. He spent the entire night with his face uncovered, buried in her hair or cradling her forehead with his jaw, as if he didn't want to let her go. Only when the living room began to light up with the dawn did Kakashi-sensei slowly let her go, not without first kissing her on the head.
"I would do anything for you too," he said in a hoarse voice with total certainty, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and slowly placing his lips on her jaw for a few endless seconds that felt too short.
She watched him go upstairs to put on his uniform, biting her cheek to keep from grabbing him by the collar and kissing him as she wanted. She set the table and then went to change herself. She passed by a practically sleeping Sasuke before entering her room. She lay on the bed, burying her face in her pillow so no one would see the huge, silly smile on her face. She quickly got dressed, full of energy, despite having been awake for the past five hours.
She met Kakashi-sensei again on the stairs. She felt like a schoolgirl with her first love. She smiled at him, seeing him return the gesture. He placed his hand on her shoulder, walking down the steps beside her, and parted ways when they reached the dining room. As usual, she sat next to Naruto and Kakashi-sensei sat across from her. Feeling brave, she placed her foot next to Kakashi-sensei's while talking to Sasuke, who was sitting across from Naruto. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that his expression didn't change upon feeling her foot; in fact, she felt the jonin's leg press against hers.
"Do you want me to make breakfast this week?" Sasuke asked out of the blue.
Seina was stunned to hear this. She saw Naruto slowly turn, pale and surely horrified, in her direction. Kakashi-sensei seemed not to have heard anything, but his foot had stopped caressing her ankle. Why was everyone looking at her to respond? She cleared her throat for what she was about to do.
"I don't know how to say this, Sasuke," she began softly, "but cooking is not your thing. Maybe it would be better if we divided the tasks more efficiently, you know, so you wouldn't have to cook. Or do you like cooking?"
"Hn," he replied. Seina stifled a sigh, realizing he didn't seem disappointed or hurt by her words. She saw him slowly start to smile. "I know perfectly well that I cook terribly, but I wondered how far you'd go to avoid eating my food."
"Are you saying that all this time you knew you are a shitty cook, and still made us eat your food several times?" Naruto asked incredulously, indignantly, and in disbelief at the same time.
Sasuke's shoulders started shaking with laughter, and she knew he was laughing at them despite having his head bowed. Kakashi-sensei and she watched him with blank faces, and she with her mouth agape.
"I don't like cooking, so I thought that if I gave you a taste of my food at the beginning, you'd relieve me of that task," he explained, and when he raised his face, he was grinning from ear to ear. "You should have seen your faces when I gave you those cereals."
"WHAT A BASTARD!"
Seina couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter. Then something unheard of happened. Sasuke started laughing with her, crying with laughter. Kakashi-sensei only shrugged in relief, seeing that he wouldn't be cooking.
"The face Kakashi-sensei made when he tasted that fish dish of yours," she laughed, clutching her stomach.
Naruto leaned on the table, cracking up at the memory, while Sasuke and she laughed at Kakashi-sensei, who could only sigh exasperatedly.
"Thanks for reminding me of that bad experience," joked the jounin, "and I mean it literally."
"You told me you were on a diet," Sasuke scoffed. "I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing in your face."
"God, what a bastard you are," she smiled. "I see Kurenai-sensei was right. In this team, we're all trolls."
"Well, guys. I'm leaving. I have a solo mission," Kakashi-sensei informed them.
"Here. Take one of my bentos that I made and didn't eat," she said, handing him the meal.
"Thanks, Seina."
"Come back soon."
Kakashi-sensei ruffled her hair before disappearing as if it were nothing.
"What are you guys planning to do?" she asked. "I have the day off, so I'll take advantage of it to make some things from my order and give them to Tsunade-sama."
"We could help you," said Sasuke. "We don't have anything to do either."
"Yosh! Where do we start?"
She summoned the list and the chest full of materials they had given her. She had to make at least 20 bracelets, 10 X-ray glasses, 20 bottomless pouches, figure out a way to use the diagnostic spell, and... make an indestructible table? She stayed on the last point, thinking, until she shrugged. That was the easiest of all.
"We have work to do, but I think everything except one thing can be finished today."
"Can't you use clones to carve the runes?" asked Sasuke.
"That's right! I almost forgot," she slapped her forehead with her palm. "Then, while you guys carve the runes, I'll think about how to make the diagnostic spell usable."
That's how she spent the entire morning. Listening to her clones, Naruto, and Sasuke complete the first stage of runes on the material she provided after transforming the raw materials into glasses, bracelets, and pouches. Then, when she had nothing else to transform, she thought about how to design the spell in the form of a rune sequence in some object.
To begin with, she needed the spell to be connected to a small, easy-to-handle object. Maybe a metal wand or a wooden disk. The only thing she needed was enough space to write the runes. The more energetic the material, the less time it would need to recharge, so she imagined it had to be a quartz and metal wand to which she could carve the runes under a metal handle to prevent them from being damaged. This wand, in turn, would be connected to a specific tray to draw power from it.
She tried it first on a wooden stick, but although it worked, she found that the wood was too weak for prolonged use. Even so, what she wanted was to know if she had written the rune sequence correctly, and she had succeeded.
"How's it going?" Sasuke asked, looking over her shoulder. "We're done here."
"Let me test it," she said, engraving the sequence on the metal and then permanently attaching the quartz tip, which was the power source for the runes. "Ta-da! Let me try it."
The scroll appeared out of nowhere, but unlike her medical spell, it was much more extensive. Damn, she had forgotten to limit the spell. Those sheets contained her medical history since birth in great detail, not just the general traits.
"Maybe I should modify it," she sighed, but Sasuke shook his head.
"No. You should leave it as it is," her brother assured her.
"Well, let's see what Tsunade-sama says."
She finished activating the other items that Naruto and Sasuke had completed, and then they tested each one.
"They all seem to work," Seina smiled. She conjured a chest to put everything in and stood up. "I'm going to take this to the Hokage. Do you guys want to come?"
"I think I'm going to train," sighed Sasuke.
"Me too!"
"See you later, then."
She left the house towards the Hokage's tower. Since she had nothing to do, she took her time. She saw a couple of birds flying over the village, raising an eyebrow, realizing it was a signal for some jonin. She shrugged and entered the building, nodding at several guards. She noticed, surprised, how the atmosphere seemed tense, nervous, while she waited for her turn to see Tsunade-sama. She listened with her enhanced hearing how many prisoners had escaped from a prison for criminal ninjas.
"Did you hear that, Naru, Sasuke?" she asked mentally. "Apparently, everyone escaped because of Mizuki!"
"We know. We're at the hospital," Sasuke said. "We found three half-drowned men by the river, and now Kakashi-sensei is carrying a couple of escaped prisoners."
"Huh. What a coincidence."
"We're heading to the tower, nee-chan."
Seina mentally disconnected from the call, realizing why they were taking so long to let her in. After a few minutes, Tsunade-sama arrived with her entire team. Kakashi-sensei smiled in her direction, letting her enter the office first.
"What a day…" sighed the Hokage. "I forgot how much I hate office work. The report, Kakashi?"
"Here you go, Tsunade-sama," he handed over the rolled scroll and raised his hand, ready to leave.
"Not so fast!" called the Hokage.
Seina suppressed a laugh, realizing why he had been so eager to leave the office. She saw his tired and exasperated face before he turned around again. Naruto and Sasuke watched in silence, as if they didn't know what was happening.
"Another S-rank mission. Here."
"…Hai," he nodded with a sigh. Seina patted his arm. "See you later."
The door opened again, interrupting the meeting before he could leave. It was Iruka-sensei.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
The entire team watched as Kakashi-sensei handed Pakkun one of the tasks given by Tsunade-sama as if it were nothing. The jonin disappeared before the Hokage could ask him anything else, not without winking at her blatantly. Tsunade-sama sighed but accepted his departure.
"I'm afraid you have another mission, Iruka. Sasuke and Naruto will accompany you."
"What? Where?"
"Find Shizune and defeat Mizuki."
"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted. "And what about Seina?"
"I have another mission for her," the Hokage turned her eyes to her. "I know it was your day off, but we can't afford it."
"That's fine. I just came to deliver what you asked for," she said, lifting the chest.
"Leave it here, thank you."
"Wait a minute! Why are we doing three different missions?" insisted Naruto. "We could go, the three of us!"
"Because I say so, Naruto!" snapped Tsunade-sama, pounding the desk and making it creak. "Seina is more needed on another mission, and that's final."
Now she began to understand the need for the indestructible desk. She blew an inaudible laugh and cast a spell on the desk without anyone noticing. The Hokage kicked them out of the office, not without getting angry at Naruto's manners. Naruto and Sasuke gave her disappointed looks before following Iruka-sensei.
"ARGH! THESE BRATS!" she yelled, grabbing the chair and throwing it out the window in front of Seina's open mouth.
The glass gave way to such brute force, and the chair went flying. Shortly after, they heard a tremendous crash and someone screaming in pain. Seina closed her mouth, realizing her jaw had dropped. Ninjas were completely crazy. She cast a spell on the window, repairing it instantly, and Tsunade-sama turned to her with a calmer smile.
"Thanks for that. I wouldn't want to replace it again."
"I RETURNED TO THE VILLAGE AFTER TEACHING THOSE PIRATES WHO'S BOSS WITH MY FISTS!"
Seina felt her energy drain at the highly exuberant presence of Guy-sensei, who opened the door with another tremendous bang.
"Another one!" exclaimed the Hokage, annoyed. Then she turned to her assistant. "Call Guy's genin."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama."
"Eh? My students are going on a mission?" asked Guy, with a smile so bright it dazzled her.
"They will serve under Seina's command," informed Tsunade-sama, looking at her with bright eyes.
She listened as Guy-sensei and Tsunade-sama argued like children while waiting for her team for a new mission. When Neji, Lee, and Tenten appeared, Seina was about to throw herself out the window after the chair. Compared to Kakashi-sensei, Guy-sensei had too much energy. The three genin saw her exasperated and tired face and smiled.
"Alright, Guy's team. Finally, you are here. I have a mission for you. You will escort three men back to Katabami and expel the Kurosuki family from the town. Your leader will be Seina."
"When do we leave?" asked Neji.
"This afternoon. Once they have rested a bit in the hospital," Tsunade-sama informed them. "Use the time to prepare and get out of my sight. They will be waiting for you at the main gate in three hours."
"Hai," she turned to her new team. "See you later."
Seina didn't think it twice and left with a sigh. She was beginning to understand why Kakashi-sensei avoided Guy-sensei. He was too intense. Before she could head home to eat quietly, a hand grabbed her arm. She knew, from what she had heard, it was Lee. She swallowed another sigh, realizing she was right.
"What is it?"
"Come, let's have ramen, and I'll tell you!" he said, pulling her downstairs.
They saw a couple of chunins pass by with the Hokage's chair before leaving the tower behind. Seina bit her tongue to prevent a laugh. They headed to Ichiraku, her brother's favorite stand, and sat down to eat a bowl of noodles.
"So? What did you want to tell me?" she asked curiously.
"Guy-sensei told me that the guy leading the village and the Kurosuki is one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He says his name is Raiga."
"Mmm... I remember reading about him in the bingo book."
They ate in silence. Lee seemed hungry, and she wanted to review her memories. She didn't remember Raiga being very important, but she couldn't downplay it if Guy-sensei had bothered to mention it to Lee.
"I'm going home to gather a few things. See you later," she temporarily said goodbye, placing her share of the money on the counter.
She didn't need to grab anything, but since there were a couple of hours left before the meeting time, she could laze around and see how many bentos she had left under a spell in her pouch. Still, it never hurt to check things a couple of times. Just in case...