Chapter 56

It was still dark when I woke up. I glanced at the clock on the wall to see that only a couple hours had passed since I went to bed. I delicately removed my arm from the unconscious Haku's grasp and got out of futon. Sakura was mumbling something about Sasuke in her sleep and the boy in question was scowling irritably as if he was hearing Sakura gush over him in his dreams.

I opened the window and flipped myself onto the roof. The sky was crystal clear and dusted with stars in a way that was unlike anything from my piecemeal memories of the old world. I looked down and on the ground noticed Kakashi talking to his ninken, Pakkun, not that I had been introduced to him. It was only for a second before the ninja dog poofed away and Kakashi pointedly stared back at me as I sat near the edge of the roof.

The man jumped up next to me. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Kakashi-sensei, what do you think of me?" I asked idly.

He sighed before speaking, "Well, you are certainly full of surprises. I was expecting to have a team of genin that were more like actual genin. But I guess it shouldn't surprise me that much. Honestly, you remind me a lot of your mother."

"What?" It took me a moment to react, blurting out, "You knew my parents?"

"Maa, you could say that."

"Well?" I asked expectantly.

"Well what?"

I frowned. Annoyed, I clarified, "What were my parents like?"

A shadow of a smile showed through Kakashi's mask. "Your father was a good friend of my own sensei when I was a genin. And your mother was on the same team as them."

"With...Minato?"

Kakashi's eye widened. "How did you...right. Tell me, Haru, with your kekkei genkai, do you really not know anything about your parents?"

I looked up at the stars again. "It's not really a kekkei genkai...but yeah, I don't have any memories of myself or my parents. I assume you've read the file they have on me. All I know is what the world would be like if I never existed. And most of that knowledge doesn't even apply to this world at all."

"Your mother didn't smile very often, but when she did, it usually meant that Minato or Seishirou could be found at the hospital," he said with a chuckle. "You look like a shorter version of her when you smile. Although I have to admit, she had a pretty scary smile." He looked over his back as if expecting to see a ghost behind him.

"Hm."

"By the way, what happened to that giant sword you had?"

"It's called the Kubikiribocho. I have it sealed away under my coat. Why do you ask?"

"Well...now that you have a sword, it'd be a shame not to teach you how to use it. If I let you make a fool of yourself because I never taught you any kenjutsu, I'm pretty sure your father would come back from the grave to kill me," Kakashi said unexpectedly.

"Don't say it like that. It might actually happen," I warned him facetiously.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Probably," I said with a reassuring grin.

Kakashi's only response was to shiver. "It's uncanny how much you look like her. She smiled just like that, like she was really excited to kill someone. And she usually just did."

"I think you're exaggerating, Kakashi-sensei."

He laid his hand on my shoulder. He sighed and said, "I wish I were. Don't stay up too late." Then he walked by me, presumably to reach his own window on the other side of Tazuna's house.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," I called out. The man raised his fingers in a short wave without looking back before he hopped off the roof.

"I guess I really do belong here." Learning that I had a history, that I hadn't simply spontaneously appeared at birth, was reassuring in a small way. I spent some time appreciating the stars of this world before venturing back into Haku's icy clutches to try to go back to sleep.