Never say Never (Kakashi x OC)

The Quiet before the Storm

After their talk in the garden, Izumi really started to blossom. Even Tsunade acknowledged, that Izumi's self-confidence seemed to have grown. Her sister Ryu on the other hand, had (despite all of Hajita's initial concerns) not caused any trouble at all and become invisible. To such an extent that Hajita hadn't seen her in weeks. Until the day she received the news of Kakashi having been hospitalised.

When she arrived at the hospital, she was surprised to see that Kakashi already had a visitor. And to her even greater surprise, she acknowledged that it was Ryu. Inside, she could feel jealousy rising, but she tried not to let Kakashi know how much Ryu's presence bothered her. As a medic professional she knew it was very important that he didn't get worked up about something stupid like this so early into his healing process. But she was furious. How did she even manage to get into his room? She asked herself but chose to set her priorities straight. Tending to her wounded husband was the most important thing now and dealing with Ryu would come later.

"I told you" She started to scold Kakashi. "Not to play the hero and to be cautious."

Then her tone softened "But I didn't expect you to listen to your wife anyway."

Hajita sighed and smiled mildly at her husband. After an initial quick check-up, she was relieved to find that none of his wounds were as bad as she had thought and that he would be able to recover fully after a few weeks of rest. Thinking about peace and quiet, Hajita searched the room for the intruder, who in the meantime had quietly backed off into one corner of the room and was about to head for the door. Hajita chose to not address her directly but to ask her husband instead.

"May I ask what SHE is doing here?"

When Kakashi, still quite weak, answered that he had no idea who this girl even was, Ryu seized the moment to make a hasty departure. Hajita feared she already knew the answer to her question. She had an idea why Ryu had taken an interest in Kakashi. She suspected that, just like when they were 16, Ryu probably still was a maneater. And Hajita knew that she wasn't going to give up on her new target easily.

The fact that Kakashi was only slowly recovering from his overuse of the Mangekyou Sharingan, put a huge weight on Hajita's shoulders. Even though she was an Iryonin, Tsunade hadn't allowed her to take Kakashi home and treat him there on her own, because of all her other duties. And Tsunade was right, Hajita really was busy teaching and keeping up with her usual household and gardening. Even though she spent every spare minute that she had at the hospital, and Kakashi regularly assured her that he was in good hands at the hospital and that he was completely fine with the situation as it was, Hajita's feeling of guilt gnawed on her. Because she feared she didn't spend enough time caring for her wounded husband, and even worse, she feared that Ryu would take her chance and would manage to win Kakashi over. And sure enough, Hajita started to see Ryu visiting her husband more and more often.

When she finally found the courage to confront Kakashi with her mixed feelings about the situation, he proved to be as ignorant and innocent as her little brother when it came to girls hitting on him.

"You really think she's trying to steal me away from you?" He asked and even had the nerve to look a little bemused until he noticed how much that hurt her. "I've never seen it like this. I'm sorry, Jita. You know I love you. And you know that I don't care much about most other people, right?"

But Kakashi's words of comfort were unsuccessful. On her way home, Hajita was so exhausted from all the work and all her negative feelings, she was looking at her feet in order not to trip down the stairs when she suddenly bumped into someone. It was Ryu, of course. She looked at her and hated herself for being so jealous. If it wouldn't have been for her exhaustion, Hajita might have not been able to keep up her usual approach of ignoring her. But her fatigue wasn't lost on Ryu, too. Being her usual calculating self, she decided to seize her chance. Attacking people when they are vulnerable is just too easy, she thought and started to provoke Hajita.

"Could you at LEAST watch where you walk?" Ryu asked in a menacing tone. "Why are you even visiting him anymore? You know that I am the new woman on Kakashi's side, right? Hasn't he told you?"

Hajita tried not to let Ryu's words get to her, but her eyes started to fill with tears. This was the sign Ryu had waited for. Positive about her victory, she decided to play her last trump and used her famous Genjutsu on Hajita, because she knew this was her only weakness. As pictures of Ryu, happily in love with Kakashi, appeared inside Hajita's head, she looked like she was about to break down. The pain of seemingly losing her husband paralyzed her completely. She was unable to move, unable to react, unable to defend herself. Ryu snickered and prepared her attack, when suddenly someone blocked her way, shielding Hajita.

"You are not going to hurt Mrs Hajita!" Izumi screamed at her older sister, a furious look on her face.

"All my life you tyrannised me. You laughed at me for my wish to solve disputes peacefully. You saw my rejection of violence as weakness. You called me a coward. You even told me I was worthless!" She was now starting to cry but continued to yell through her tears. "But the worst part is that I believed you! Until Hajita-sama taught me different things! She was kind and understanding! She made me feel like I am special and that I deserve better."

"You will not harm her." She repeated herself once more, making clear that she was serious about it.

"Hahahaha" Ryu sneered. "As if YOU would do something about me attacking her. You wouldn't even defend yourself at your Chunin exams."

"Lady Hajita told me there was only one real reason to fight. And that is to protect your loved ones." She took one last glance at her teacher before Ryu attacked her with full force. Finally able to defend herself, she exerted powers she had been holding back all these years. Her counterattack was so powerful, the outburst of chakra was comparable to those of jinchuurikis. As it turned out, Izumi possessed two elemental chakra natures - earth and fire. Since it was her first time releasing nature based jutsus, she was completely unable to control them. Thus, earth and fire merged together into a great wave of Lava that rolled over her utterly shocked big sister and buried her underneath.

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"I understand that she has to leave after what happened" Hajita told Tsunade-sama. "And she knows it, too. Even though we officially declared it as an accident."

"It is not your fault, Hajita." Tsunade stated. "It simply was the quiet before the storm."

As Izumi made her way back to Kirigakure away from her newly found friends, Hajita feared that the incident would change the sweet girl's nature. And she was right. From that day on, Izumi hated herself for what she had done. She felt so guilty, she thought replacing her sister was the only way to make up for her mistake. So, she gave up everything she once was in order try to replace Ryu. She even took her sister's place in the organisation called "Root", because she knew how much Ryu had always identified with their goals. Constantly suppressing the sweet and gentle creature she once had been, she remained mentally unstable from that day on and died young only a few years later.