Kakashi was on the ground. Actually, he was on top a trash can on the ground. He had fallen of the roof. When was the last time he had fallen off anything? Why had he fallen off the roof in the first place?
In the distance, he heard the roar of his pink-haired student and it all came flooding back including the heart-pounding terror. His vision grayed-out for a second time.
"Are you okay, captain?" asked the masked ANBU leaning over the roof. "That was a nasty fall."
"Shut up, Bunny," muttered Kakashi. "I have to go."
"You really do," said Yamato. "I think Sakura-chan is upset with you."
"Get back to work," snarled Kakashi heaving himself to his feet.
A quiet chuckle escaped the ANBU, and he returned to his surveillance leaving Kakashi to his fate.
Kakashi needed to get away before Sakura realized he was here. His feet moved of their own accord. He had to talk to someone. He found himself heading toward the memorial stone, but he needed the advice of a living person. He started to the Hokage Tower, but he realized Naruto would be no help and might be just as upset as Sakura at hearing the news.
Kakashi needed to know why Yuzu was interested in him of all people, but she and Karin were both back there with the pink-haired devil. Ichigo was the next logical choice, if Kakashi was willing to risk life and limb for a confusing and likely incomplete answer. Who else did that leave? Who else knew the Kurosakis well enough to explain this behavior? No one. No one who wasn't family.
Inspiration struck. There was someone else. Kakashi headed back for to the Tower. At this time of day, Ichigo was usually picking up one of the D-ranks he could complete as a solo genin. He might not have started yet if the discussion with Hinata had delayed him enough. If it hadn't, Kakashi could just bully the mission details out of the one shinobi on duty.
Kakashi spotted the redhead moving away from the Tower. He must have already picked up a mission then. He sped up slightly and dropped to street level in front of Ichigo. "Hello, there."
"Hello," said Ichigo coolly not bothering to stop. "Is something wrong?"
At least this explained why Ichigo avoided him so much, thought Kakashi. "I actually needed to talk to Kon, if that's okay."
"Fine by me," said Ichigo. "Just drop him off at the apartment when you're done. Kon?"
The lion doll jumped the gap from Ichigo's shoulder to Kakashi's with surprising grace. Ichigo nodded good-bye and went on his way.
"What's the mission?" asked Kakashi casting an eye around for the ANBU guard.
"Grocery shopping," said Kon.
Ah, D-ranks, thought Kakashi. The bane of genin everywhere, except perhaps Ichigo, who honestly seemed to have no problem performing menial chores at low pay, according to Kurenai.
"Can you hold on if I use shunshin?" asked Kakashi.
"You should probably hold on to me, just in case," said Kon.
Kakashi grabbed the doll in one hand, made a partial seal for Body Flicker with the other, and they departed for one of the more remote training grounds. It took a few jumps, and once they landed Kakashi released Kon and froze.
Hopping to the ground, the doll didn't seem to notice. "What did you want to talk about?"
Kakashi just stared, still too stunned to verbalize his questions.
"Are you alright, Kakashi?" asked Kon. His little face twisted with worry.
"I—it's about Yuzu," said Kakashi finally.
"What about Yuzu? Is she okay?" asked Kon.
"She's fine," said Kakashi instantly. "She was having lunch with her sister and some other kunoichi."
Kon relaxed. "That's good. So, what about Yuzu?"
"She—" Kakashi was a grown man, a jounin, a genius, and a veteran of countless battles. It shouldn't be this hard to talk. "She said she liked me?"
"She finally told you?" asked Kon.
The plush toy was completely calm. Kakashi was fairly sure that he was having a panic attack.
"She was talking to the other kunoichi, and I overheard her saying something like that," explained Kakashi.
Kon rolled his eyes. They were completely black buttons, but Kakashi felt the eye-roll all the same. "You're one of the strongest jounin in the village, Kakashi-san. Unless you've figure out how to hide your reiatsu, she knew you were there."
"She said she was going to marry me!" blurted Kakashi. Women simpered over Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Nin, all the time, but the gossips and schemers had never roused fear in him like this.
"She won't make you marry her if you don't want to, Kakashi-san," said Kon trying to sound reassuring.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"
Kakashi jumped in surprise at the sound of Sakura's voice. He hadn't noticed her approach at all. He wondered how she had found him so fast. A glance over his shoulder showed the pink-haired medic-nin stomping furiously across the training field while Karin of Team Taka trailed along behind. Sakura was serious then, if she had put aside her grudge to track him down.
A different kind of fear overcame Kakashi, but it was too late. Sakura grabbed his flak jacket and pulled him in close.
"What did you do?" she demanded.
"I don't know!" he protested. He really didn't. His interaction with both of the twins had been completely normal.
"What did you say?" asked Sakura.
"I didn't say anything!" insisted Kakashi. He had told Yuzu about the Icha Icha series, but everyone deserved to know about those. Jiraiya had even done a limited edition BL run to appeal to female readers.
"It's not his fault," said Kon literally jumping into the middle of their conversation. He landed on Sakura's fists taking up most of Kakashi's field of vision. "It's a thing that happens to nobles sometimes."
"What does?" asked Sakura.
"Love at first sight," said Kon.
Kakashi stared at the toy with dull horror. This was the reason? Karin and Sakura both snorted in unison.
"That is not a real thing," said Karin.
"It's real for nobles," protested Kon. "Kuchiki Byakuya, he defied his clan to marry a girl from the Inuzuri District of Rukongai. That's like the Fire Daimyo marrying a peasant from backwoods Earth Country. It was a huge deal. Isshin, that's Ichigo's dad, he abandoned his whole life—his captaincy, his family, everyone he knew—to marry Kurosaki Masaki on the day they met. Ichigo even—"
Kon cut himself off abruptly. Kakashi frowned. Maybe love at first sight was real possibility for nobles but what Kon was describing didn't sound like what was happening between Ichigo and Hinata or with Yuzu either.
"What was that about Ichigo?" asked Sakura.
"It's not important," said Kon. "Forget I mentioned it."
"A large number of data points are needed to accurately interpret any experiment," said Karin.
Sakura let Kakashi go to get a handle on the toy lion. Her face was shaped into a fearsome mask. "As she said, tell me or I won't understand why Yuzu wants to marry Kakashi."
Kon drooped in her grip. Then he raised a tiny paw and waved it at all three of them. "All three of you have to swear never to Ichigo or anybody else about this. Ever."
"Fine," said Kakashi. He wanted to know more too. The girls both nodded.
"Alright," said Kon. "Put me down and I'll tell you."
Once Kon was on the ground, they arranged themselves so that all three could see his face. If Kakashi stood out of Sakura's reach, that was nobody's business but his own.
"I can't explain everything, but I'll do my best, okay?" said Kon. The doll took a deep breath—Kakashi tried not to think about the lack of lungs, he needed to focus—and started talking. "About a decade ago, a little while after Ichigo started serving as a shinigami but before the Winter War broke out, this girl, Senna, appeared in Karakura Town. Everyone thought she was a shinigami trained to deal with these weird new Hollows that had appeared, but she was actually the Shinenju, the Memory Rosary.
"The Memory Rosary isn't really a person. It's a guardian created to maintain this wellspring of energy called the Valley of the Screams that appears in the Dangai every century or so. The Dangai is the borderland between areas like Karakura and Soul Society. It's not exactly suitable for sustained life, but there were these nobles that were exiled there way back when, and they had figured out way to use the energy from the Valley of the Screams to get revenge on Soul Society."
"Why were the nobles exiled?" asked Sakura.
"I don't know. It wasn't like the situation with the Shiba Clan," said Kon. "Whatever these guys had done in the past, they decided that they wanted to collapse the Valley of the Screams in a way that Soul Society and Karakura Town would collide. It would destroy everything connected to the Dangai, so basically, the entire world. So they were definitely bad guys.
"Anyway," continued Kon. "For their plan to work, they needed the power of the Shinenju, except they weren't exactly sure what form it would take. So these Exiles and all the shinigami in Soul Society were in an uproar trying to find the Shinenju so the other group couldn't have it.
"Meanwhile, Ichigo and Senna were running around Karakura trying to deal with all these weird Hollows, which actually weren't Hollows but this weird side-effect of the Valley forming. I've never seen Ichigo take a liking to someone so fast. He was just happy being around her, no matter what she was doing."
Kon deflated and his voice grew quiet. "Then the Exiles attacked and the shinigami came, and Ichigo and Senna found out that she was the Shinenju. She didn't know either. She thought she was a real person, one that was born in Karakura town before she moved to Soul Society and became a shinigami. But all of her memories were just bits and pieces of people that had passed through the Valley of the Screams. She didn't have any history before she met Ichigo.
"The Exiles captured Senna and took her to the Valley to finish the process. Ichigo went after her, and Soul Society sent a bunch of shinigami after him, partly to bring him back and partly to stop the Exiles, but it didn't work on either account. Soul Society also fired their Kido Cannon at the Valley to try and destroy it, but that didn't work either.
"Ichigo reached Senna before the Exiles could use her to collapse the Valley," explained Kon. "But the Valley had already destabilized and was collapsing anyway. The only way to save the world was for Senna to use up the energy of the Valley to shove Soul Society and Karakura apart, but doing that would use up all of her energy too, and she would die.
"Ichigo didn't want her to do it, you see," said Kon. "He had known her for barely more than a day, and he was happy to let the whole world be destroyed, his sisters, his friends, everyone, so that he could have another hour with her before they died too. But Senna loved him just as much as he loved her, and she loved the world that existed with him in it, so she went ahead and did used her power anyway.
"Afterward, Senna only had enough energy left for the trip back to Karakura Town. Ichigo took her to…he took her to her last house, the one she thought was hers anyway, and told her that her name was there, like she remembered, and that she was real. Then she died, and everything that was supposedly hers disappeared."
Kon finished and stared at them expectantly. Kakashi's mind was reeling. If that was what love at first sight meant for Ichigo, then was it the same for Yuzu?
"Kami-sama," whispered Karin dabbing at the tears behind her glasses.
Sakura blinked furiously. "I can guess why Ichigo doesn't want to be reminded of that."
"He doesn't remember," said Kon.
"What do you mean, he doesn't remember?" asked Karin.
"The Shinenju, Senna, wasn't supposed to exist in the first place. Once the Valley of the Screams closed, everyone who had contact with her forgot about her because you can't remember something that was never supposed to happen. It's the same for every Shinenju," explained Kon. "I can only remember because, technically, I'm not supposed to exist either."
At any other time, Kakashi was sure he would find that fascinating. At the moment, his mind was still stalled.
"So Ichigo doesn't remember Senna or loving her or anything?" asked Sakura.
Kon shrugged. "He might. He's kind of a freak of nature, so if anyone could do it, then it would be Ichigo. But he probably doesn't. That's why I don't want you to mention it. Especially, since he's trying so hard with Hinata-san."
"Fascinating," said Karin. "I won't say anything, of course. But the very idea, the Valley, the Shinenju, the love at first sight. It's all quite extraordinary."
Kakashi swallowed. "Does Yuzu love me like that?"
Kon frowned. "Of course she does. That was the whole point of telling you."
The ground just loved Kakashi today, he reflected as he gaze at the sky. A pink blur appeared in his vision and resolved into his pink-haired student. That made sense, didn't it? If he was sick, then he needed to be tended by medic-nin. But normally, he received treatment in a hospital, and he didn't smell any blood to indicate they were on a battlefield somewhere.
"Maybe it's your virtue I should be worried about, Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she helped him sit up.
And it was back—the fear, the terror, the idea that someone cared about him that much. Ever since he was a child, everyone he loved had died. Kakashi had a good streak going at the moment, but he kept all of his new precious people at a carefully cultivated distance. He had still nearly lost the entire village in Pain's attack. How had this even happened?
"Honestly, Kakashi, I had never pegged you as the swooning maiden type," said Karin loudly.
Kakashi was not a swooning maiden and Sasuke's schizophrenic teammate was not someone he wanted to see him in a mild panic. The story would get back to Sasuke, who would be unsympathetic, and from there reach Naruto, who would be too sympathetic, then Sai and Yamato would find out and his reputation would be shot. Well, Yamato might be a lost cause at this point. The younger man had seen him fall off the roof already, but he had mild hope for the rest of them.
He lifted his head from his hands—when had he bent over?—and eyed Kon carefully. The little doll looked concerned.
"What does it mean?" he asked.
Kon blinked. "What?"
"If Yuzu lov—if she does like me that much," Kakashi couldn't even bring himself to say, "then what does that mean? What will she do?"
Kon looked unimpressed. "Well, obviously she overestimated your emotional intelligence for one thing. What are you? A little boy afraid of girl-cooties?" The lion jumped onto Kakashi's knees, he barely weighed anything, and waved an accusatory paw in Kakashi's face. "I'm only going to go through this once. So pay attention. Got it?"
Kakashi nodded and braced himself for the news.
"Yuzu loves you and has since the moment she saw you. That means, every time you've seen each other or talked to each other the past three, four months she has loved you with the strength necessary to change the world. Not that Yuzu can do that, but I'm sure she could convince Ichigo or Naruto if she needed to.
"Yuzu isn't going to tie you to the bed, or drag you to the marriage office, or act any differently at all. Because she's loved you the entire time. And now, she's put the ball in your court. It's your turn to think about what Yuzu means to you. I have to say, if more of this fainting stuff is going to happen, then I won't be impressed."
Kon crossed his arms and eyed Kakashi. The jounin had no idea what he looked like, but apparently, it was pathetic enough for the toy to pity him.
"I'll give you a hint," said Kon. "Between, Ichigo, Yuzu, and Karin, you watch Ichigo when you think he'll do something interesting, and then you spend most of the time watching Yuzu. You justify it by claiming you don't want to go to the hospital, but you can obviously stay hidden if you really want to. And you bought Yuzu a birthday present but not one for Karin."
"That was just convenient," muttered Kakashi.
"It would have been more convenient to let Yuzu buy her own mask," said Kon. "So think about it. And in the meantime, don't get yourself kidnapped or seriously injured or anything like that. Because we don't need Yuzu unleashing all hell trying to get you back."
Sakura made a funny little noise in the back of her throat. Kakashi would normally welcome any distraction in this sort of situation, but unlike previous circumstances, he knew Yuzu wouldn't change her mind, even if he ignored her. He couldn't ignore her either. It was his job. The Hokage wouldn't support his request for another mission if he explained his reasons, and Naruto would be disappointed.
Sakura patted him gently on the shoulder. "Why don't you stay here and think about it some more, Kakashi-sensei? I'll take Kon to the hospital with me. You coming, wench?"
Karin snorted. "Of course I am, hag. I have better things to do than watch a grown-man wallow in self-pity because a lovely young kunoichi loves him."
Sakura scooped Kon off Kakashi's lap. The toy looked unreasonably frightened, but then, Kakashi would be too walking with Sakura and Karin. That was recipe for disaster. Then again, they were getting on unreasonably well today. It wasn't fair that the two not-quite love-rivals could agree to gang up on him.
"I know," said Sakura. "It's just tragic that he's so upset over someone loving him. Especially, since he's got me and Naruto and Gai and the rest of the village too. If he knew we all cared about him, then he'd just fall to pieces."
"Sasuke really looks up to Kakashi too," said Karin. "I don't want him thinking this is an acceptable reaction, so I won't I'll be telling him."
"Keeping the whole thing quiet until Kakashi-sensei sucks it up is probably best," agreed Sakura. "But Ino heard Yuzu too, so he better hurry."
The kunoichi moved out of even his impressive range of hearing leaving Kakashi alone. After a moment, or possibly an hour of wallowing, Kakashi realized alone wasn't really a good way for him to deal with this sort of problem. He ran through his list of associates again. Oddly enough, being an elite jounin meant there weren't very many people he knew with stable relationships. There was one though.
He stood and checked the sky. It was almost evening. Kakakshi hadn't lost time like that in ages. He tracked his quarry to the same bar he frequented with Gai. Unfortunately, she was sitting with Kakashi's long-term rival. Well, he couldn't keep the news quiet very long anyway.
"—adds some sort of additional layer of reality to the genjutsu, which make them very hard to break," said Kurenai. She stopped and looked up at Kakashi. "Hatake, sit down. Have a drink."
There were two cups and a bottle of sake on the table. Nothing had been touched yet. Kakashi sat warily next to Gai, who looked amused.
"I need some advice," he said quietly.
Kurenai smirked. "About Yuzu, yes, I heard from Hinata." She poured out two cups of sake, handed one to Gai, took one for herself, and pushed the bottle to Kakashi. "Now, love is difficult for everyone, so tell us all about it."
"The Springtime of Youth is not your season, my friend," boomed Gai. "But perhaps the Summertime of Romance will suit you better."
Kakashi took the bottle. "I hate you both."
-0-0-0-0-0-
A week after her lunch date with the other kunoichi— and she had to go to more of those if that's what happened every time—Hinata waited nervously outside Ichigo's apartment building. She was wearing her usual training gear, even though it wasn't her most flattering outfit, because Ichigo had wanted her help analyzing the difference between chakra and spiritual power.
Before she left with the group to Suna, Karin had assured her that Ichigo knew a lot girls and being competent at fighting was a better way to stay out of the friend zone than looking attractive. Sasuke and Naruto had shared Ichigo's unusual reaction to Naruto's special jutsu. Yuzu, when asked, practiced her henge to show off all of the women she knew who had been interested in Ichigo at one point or another. They were all ridiculously beautiful, but Ichigo had never asked one of them on a date.
Kon told her that Ichigo thought her personality was her best feature, which Hinata found hard to believe. But given the evidence, it was possible that Kon was actually right. Hinata had always been drawn to Naruto's cheerful outlook and determination to succeed, so maybe Ichigo was drawn to something similar in her.
A horrible thought struck Hinata. Neji had mentioned something about Ichigo reading the motivations of people he fought. What if her motivations to practice today weren't pure enough to be attractive to Ichigo? Could she do anything about that? She didn't think so.
"Hyuuga-san! I'll be right down!" called Ichigo.
Hinata looked up and saw him waving at her from the landing. She waved back tentatively and stifled a squeak when he jumped over the railing. Ichigo landed as softly as leaf.
"Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san," she said as he straightened.
"Good afternoon," he replied. "I'm sorry I'm late."
"I didn't even notice," said Hinata. "Was there a problem?"
Ichigo did look a little more flustered than usual and his scowl shifted to exasperated. "Sandy is upset because he couldn't go with Karin to Suna, so he's sulking."
"Isn't Sandy a turtle?" asked Hinata. A very cute turtle according to Karin, and one very talented at water jutsu.
"That's what I said," explained Ichigo. "But then he starts talking about tanuki, which I don't understand at all, and it degenerates from there."
Hinata frowned faintly. "Well, the One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku, is a raccoon-dog. It was sealed into the current kazekage, though no one knows what happened to the seven biju not sealed into human vessels after the Ten-Tails incident."
Ichigo shook his head. "That doesn't change the fact that Sandy is a turtle. Then Unicorn starts making fun of him for it. It's been going on since before Karin left too."
"That sounds…lively," said Hinata. The Hyuuga had never relied on summons or nin-animals. They could watch their own backs with their byakugan. She wasn't sure if she was envious or relieved. "Is Kon playing referee?"
Ichigo chuckled quietly. "No way, he's with Yuzu today. He thought it would be safer in T&I."
Hinata had a hard time imagining anyone finding refuge in the Torture and Interrogation section. Still, those shinobi performed a very important service for the village, even if they were a bit strange.
"And is this your escape, Kurosaki-san?" asked Hinata.
"You could say that, but it's infinitely better than T&I," said Ichigo. He blushed instantly.
Hinata decided to smile. It wasn't hard to be better than a torture session, but a compliment was a compliment. Ichigo didn't have very much experience dating according to his sisters. She had gotten a brief explanation of Shakespeare from Yuzu, and while Hinata had never heard of "the Bard," she imagined she could ask Ichigo about him at dinner.
They ended up at Team Eight's old training ground. Hinata remembered it fondly. She and Kiba and Shino still met sometimes to practice though they didn't meet regularly like Team Gai or the Ino-Shika-Cho group.
"So, Kurosaki-san, what do you want to do?" asked Hinata. "You said you needed a byakugan."
Ichigo met her eyes calmly. "Yes, thank you for agreeing, Hyuuga-san. I need to know how chakra is related to the use of spiritually-based techniques."
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Hinata.
"I was planning to use a kido, then have you watch me do the same with your byakugan, then ask you to seal some of my tenketsu points on my arm and try again," explained Ichigo. "Then I was going to try again with a stronger sort of kido."
"Kido is similar to ninjutsu, isn't that right? You used a lightning-type kido against that genin in your match," said Hinata. She was kind enough not to add "after he sliced off your arm," but she imagined Ichigo heard it anyway given the way he blushed.
"There are three types of kido: bakudo, hado, and kaido," he explained after resettling his features. "Bakudo are binding spells but also include other supplementary spells like barriers and seals."
"Like the one around your apartment and workshop," said Hinata.
Ichigo smiled briefly. "That's right. Hado are generally attack spells. But they can also be modified to create fireworks or do other things like provide light. Kaido are healing spells. I know most of those, but I'm not very good at them."
"Why is that, Kurosaki-san?" asked Hinata. She imagined kaido, much like medical jutsu, required a great deal of control. But Kurenai-sensei informed her that Ichigo was doing very well with his genjutsu, which required almost as much control.
"Part of it's a control issue," said Ichigo. "If you lose focus or overpower your kido, then they have a tendency to explode."
"I can see how that might be a problem if you're trying to heal someone," said Hinata happy to have her theory confirmed. "But you said only part was control issue."
"A lot of kido is about intent. Almost everything involving spiritual power is about intent. Can I cut something? Will I let something cut me? Can I break through this barrier? Can I keep something out? If your will is weak, then your spell will fail and your sword will break," said Ichigo.
Hinata had heard about the stunning display with Suigetsu from Neji. "Has that ever happened to you?"
Ichigo sighed. "Almost every fight it seems like. But it's been a while since the last time."
Hinata couldn't help it. "You mean, since you got back from the Chunin Exams?"
Ichigo groaned. "Yes, yes. My will was weak then, too. But the city's all back to normal now."
"City?" asked Hinata frowning resisting the automatic urge to check over Konoha.
Ichigo opened and closed his mouth several times clearly searching for an answer that would make sense. Hinata waited patiently. Ichigo's homeland was a fascinating place. She wanted to hear more about their techniques and about him too.
"Every shinigami has an Inner World where they can talk to their zanpakuto," explained Ichigo. "Mine looks like a city, but everyone's is different."
"That sounds…" Hinata trailed off.
She had gotten very drunk one evening—though she wasn't the only one—and informed Naruto that she had always known that he was a jinchuriki because the Hyuuga could all see the seal on his stomach. Naruto, who was tipsy, had launched into a detailed description of the sewer where he had met Kurama the first time. Ino had wandered over at some point and explained how jounin usually had a very definite mind space, which her clan had learned to navigate, and that they weren't allowed to use it on Naruto or any jinchuriki in case they ended up in the prison with the beast by accident..
The next morning all three had to swear each other to secrecy. Hinata suspected that Ino had revealed some very sensitive information known only to the Yamanaka while Naruto was mostly embarrassed his mind was shaped like a sewer.
"That sounds familiar," said Hinata at last. "Wait, you talk to Zangetsu there? Your sword is really sentient?"
Ichigo was quiet for a long time after that. He watched her intently thought part of his concentration was clearly somewhere else. Hinata wondered if he was talking to Zangetsu at that very moment.
"Yes," said Ichigo eventually. "All zanpakuto have a spirit that gives them strength. Shinigami are never alone once they take up their blade."
There was something somber in Ichigo's voice, which made Hinata think perhaps he had been alone before and it had affected him deeply. Naruto held his precious people close after being alone for so long. Maybe Ichigo was similar in that way.
"Can I talk to Zangetsu?" asked Hinata.
Ichigo blanched. "That's not a good idea."
"Oh," said Hinata. "I apologize."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Ichigo hastened to assure her. "Zanpakuto spirits are just… they can be… well, it's not a good idea."
"In that case," said Hinata smiling to show she wasn't offended. "You never explained why you weren't very good a healing kido."
Ichigo looked grateful for another topic. "Yes, kaido, like all other kido, needs intent to work properly, a real desire to heal. I usually want people to have never been hurt in the first place more than I want people to be better. It makes for some pretty spotty results. I don't really have the disposition for healing."
"I see," said Hinata. She really did. It was even in his name. He was a guardian, a protector, a fighter but not an assassin unless it was the only way. She didn't think she had ever met someone less suited for being a ninja—maybe if Naruto had been raised by samurai.
"I take it you won't be demonstrating kaido for me then," said Hinata.
"No," said Ichigo shaking his head. "I thought hado would be best. We could start with the simplest one and move up."
"Sounds like a plan," said Hinata.
Ichigo turned slightly away from her but held up his right arm so she could see it. "This is the first hado."
He pointed at the ground just a little way beyond them. "Sho!"
A section of the sod exploded. Hinata blinked. She hadn't seen anything that time. No lightning or anything else to indicate the use of a jutsu.
"Are they all that easy to use?" asked Hinata.
Ichigo blushed. "I have a lot of trouble with that one actually since it requires so little reiryoku. But, no, the higher the number, the more power they need and, with a few exceptions, the more complicated the chant becomes."
"Chant?" asked Hinata.
"Chants are a focusing tool like hand-signs. For sho and sai, the first ranked hado and bakudo, the chants and the names are the same. For higher ranked spells, the chants are a lot longer, though theoretically any spell can be cast without a chant," said Ichigo.
"Most shinobi learn to use a handful of jutsu without needing some or any of the signs," said Hinata. "Especially the basic three taught in the Academy."
"I figured out how to do that for some of them," said Ichigo.
Hinata bit back her automatic exclamation of surprise. She remembered now that he had used only partial signs for kawarimi during the Chunin Exams. But that was a very advanced skill for any gening, much less one who had only been studying jutsu for a few months.
Instead, Hinata activated her byakugan. "Ready."
Ichigo nodded and raised his arm again. As always, his chakra coils looked double the size of the average shinobi. Naruto's looked the same. Yuzu and Karin weren't quite there yet, but they still had sizeable reserves of their own.
The chakra in Ichigo's arm stirred, and to her surprise a point of light formed at the tip of his finger. The light shot from his finger to the ground like a bullet, blowing a hole in the turf.
"Well?" asked Ichigo.
"I could see the attack that time," said Hinata.
She reluctantly deactivated her byakugan. She enjoyed being able to see all of Ichigo. It was comforting for Hyuuga to be able to look up and locate any one of their kin in the compound. Peeking in on Neji was much harder since he and Tenten lived so far away, but he visited every day to check on them too.
"Really?" asked Ichigo. "That's odd. Sai and sho are invisible except for the effects. What about chakra?"
"Your chakra moved as you powered up the attack, but there wasn't any in the kido itself," said Hinata.
"I didn't think there would be since shinigami don't use chakra," said Ichigo. "But if the chakra also moved, then that might explain why kaiten can deflect Zangetsu."
"What was that about kaiten?" asked Hinata.
Ichigo hesitated clearly considering his explanation.
"Ichigo!" Yuzu's panicked cry him off entirely.
Hinata looked up and saw Ichigo's sister racing toward them. She was jumping through the air, and not very well, but much faster than a shinobi could move without using Body Flicker. Kon was holding tightly to her shoulder and much farther back were Kakashi and Anko.
"Yuzu? What's wrong?" asked Ichigo already running toward her.
He leapt into the air and caught her before she could fall out of the sky. Hinata ran to join them and the two jounin finally caught up. Yuzu looked exhausted and frantic. She tugged at Ichigo's shoulders trying to get down while simultaneously shoving Kon at his chest.
"Ichigo, Karin's in trouble!" announced Yuzu. "Suna's under attack! You have to do something."
"What?" asked Hinata. Surely, she had heard wrong, but Kakashi and Anko both expressed similar dismay. In Anko's case, there was a lot more profanity. But how could Yuzu possibly know?
"Dammit," said Ichigo. "Why now? Kon!"
He set down his sister gently and took the lion doll she shoved into his hand. Ichigo stuck his fingers into Kon's mouth and pulled out a tiny green pill which he swallowed.
Something exploded out of Ichigo's body. Hinata blinked her vision clear to see another copy of Ichigo dressed in black with Zangetsu slung over his back.
"Abandon your fear," he said drawing the sword from his back. "Look forward." He leapt into the air and the rest of his words were lost.
Hinata half-expected to see him fall back down, to obey the laws of gravity, but Ichigo kept going aiming for a thin black line that had appeared in the sky above Konoha. Just before Ichigo reached it, the line split apart opening like a giant mouth.
Even upside-down and backwards, it was clearly Suna on the other side, and the Village Hidden in the Sand was clearly under siege. Explosions rocked the desert village, and shinobi swarmed across the rooftops, but even as Hinata struggled to pick out details, Ichigo passed through and the opening started to close. Shortly, all she could see was the clear sky over Konoha.
"What the hell was that?" demanded Anko. "What's going on?"
For once, Hinata agreed completely with outlandish kunoichi. She wanted answers. Yuzu and Ichigo were still staring grimly at the sky.
"Ichigo went to save Karin," said Yuzu. Her legs collapsed underneath her until she was sitting on the ground. "That was a Hollow technique. I think it's called garganta."
"It's usually black on the inside," said Ichigo. "I wonder if we could see the other side because we're not connected to the Dangai here."
"I didn't realize you knew how to make shadow clones," said Kakashi to Ichigo.
Ichigo twitched. "Um." He looked at Yuzu, who bit her lip and met his gaze with concerned eyes and helpless shrug. "I'm not Ichigo. I'm Kon."
"What," said Hinata flatly. She knew she sounded rude, but at the moment she truly didn't care.
Ichigo—no, Kon—paled considerably. "Ah, you see…"
Hinata looked at the doll. It was completely lifeless. She looked at Ichigo and activated her byakugan. Just a moment ago, his chakra lines were so full, it looked like someone had painted over them with an extra-thick brush instead of the usual pencil strokes. Now the chakra he had now was still substantial but hardly more than someone who focused strongly on taijutsu like Lee or Tenten.
The green pill he had taken from the lion's body and swallowed hovered in his throat. It had the same glow as Zangetsu and Ichigo's kido. That meant it was made of spiritual energy and wasn't a soldier pill.
"If you are Kon in Ichigo's body, then what just went to Suna?" asked Hinata.
Kon looked hesitant to answer and glanced down at Yuzu. The younger Kurosaki sibling took a bracing breath.
"That was Ichi-nii's soul," she said quickly.
Hinata stared blankly. Then she glanced at Anko and Kakashi. The kunoichi's mouth was opening and closing forming the word "soul" over and over again without saying anything. Kakashi, on the other hand, wore an expression of dawning revelation.
"So when you say your father was from Soul Society and that he and Ichigo both served as shinigami," prompted Kakashi.
"Soul Society is the place people go when they die if they don't go to hell or heaven," explained Yuzu. "Shinigami are souls with strong reiatsu that fight Hollows and help Pluses reach Soul Society. They're not like the Honored Ancestor, Shinigami-sama."
"Holy fucking shit," said Anko. "I mean, damn, I thought something was weird with you three, but you're awesome at T&I, so who the fuck cared? But, that… who could even imagine something like that? Seriously? Anything else you care to share? Like? What the fuck's a Hollow? Or even a Quincy? Or, holy shit, when you say escaped from Hell you mean escaped from Hell."
Hinata felt herself in total agreement with Anko for once, but she was still worried about Ichigo.
"If Kurosaki-san can create a portal, why didn't he wait for us to assemble troops?" she asked.
"Living bodies can't pass through a garganta without special protection. That's why I'm in here and Ichigo's not," said Kon gesturing at his body.
Now that she knew, it was obvious he wasn't Ichigo at all. He held himself completely differently, and his face was much more mobile. He looked anxious in a way that didn't quite sit right on Ichigo's face.
"There's a lot to explain," said Yuzu. She glanced at the sky, "But I think…"
"We can talk about it later," agreed Kakashi. "The hokage needs to be informed about Suna." He glanced at Kon. "You're in Ichigo's body, but you're not a shinobi. Can you keep up?"
Ichigo's face twitched into an unfamiliar rueful grimace, but he nodded.
"I, uh, don't think I can move," said Yuzu. Her face was gray with exhaustion. "I can't use hirenkyaku very well yet, but you can come back for—oop!"
Kakashi reached down and hauled Yuzu onto his back. Hinata had the brief, uncharitable thought that someone's romantic life was going well.
"Hold on," Kakashi told her.
The group took off for the Hokage Tower. Ichigo's ANBU guard—this time it was Sai rather than Yamato or Neji—paced them openly. Kon didn't have any trouble keeping up. It almost seemed like he was having trouble slowing down to match them. Hinata was letting all the tiny details distract her from the real issue.
Despite the monumental revelations, all Hinata could feel was a growing concern for Ichigo's safety. She knew Naruto was the sort of person who would run off to fight any army on his own, especially if someone he cared about was in trouble, but she had expected his cousin to behave with a little more reservation.
Hinata would have offered a prayer for Ichigo and Karin's safety, but who looked after the children of a death god? Instead she wished him luck and swore she would join the rescue party to Suna.
The Hokage, unfortunately, had different plans. Tsunade-sama wasn't surprised by Ichigo's background leading Hinata to believe she had already known. At his desk in her office, Naruto was already chomping at the bit and ready to leave.
"Hatake, Naruto, collect your team and the rest of Team Gai and prepare to depart for Suna at once," she ordered. The two shinobi, and ANBU-masked Sai, disappeared out the window.
"Shizune, prep two medical support squads to leave tomorrow morning," barked Tsunade. "Our best medics are already in Suna, so make sure the hospital is covered."
Shizune bowed and shunshin'd out the window the same as the others. Tsunade looked to Anko.
"Mitarashi, track down Shikamaru and send him here. Check the jounin station first," said Tsunade.
Anko ran through the main door. It was easier to reach the jounin break room from inside the building.
"Hyuuga, get your teammates, find Team Taka, and bring them home," said Tsunade. "If these people are willing to attack a Hidden Village directly, then even Sasuke's team is vulnerable."
Hinata couldn't protest an order to protect her fellow shinobi, even if she would much rather be going to Suna to help.
As she left she heard Tsunade addressing the last two people in the room, "Kurosaki and… Kurosaki, you will stay here and explain to me what happened."
Hinata resolved that her team would find Team Taka as soon as possible. Then maybe she could get some real answers too.