Running his fingers through his silver hair, Orion took a deep breath, releasing it visibly thanks to the cold weather. He stared at it as it disappeared, his mind going in wonder. If it weren"t for the lazy author, his story could"ve progressed further. To his dismay, the author added a Christmas Special instead of an actual chapter just to go along the theme.Oh, it"s past Christmas too, and near New Year.
Amazing.
Orion seriously landed with the most unreliable author in the universe. Granted, the author enjoyed her holiday, but Orion didn"t. Let"s recap on what happened.
__________
I ran through the thick forest, senses keen and eyes completely focused on the target ahead. This small task should"ve been finished already but the thick and slippery, snow-covered trees are getting on my way. I nearly died from heart attack earlier because of a small, slippery branch. My heart literally skipped a beat.
Oh, and did I mention that my scarf is p.r.o.ne to getting caught with twigs and sharp branches? No? Well, it is, unfortunately.
"Orion." I heard a voice through my earpiece. "Try to overtake it."
"Copy." I responded, making my pace faster.
Running around on snowy treetops near the village boarder while chasing a cat seems a great idea. Now, why did Bakashi borrowed the demon cat again? I don"t fvcking know. All I know is that cat is one h.e.l.l of a runner. I now understand Rookie 9"s pain in this mission.
Except this isn"t a mission.
I sighed, pushing a reasonable amount of chakra on my feet to gain speed. Just as I was about to overtake the cat, pain popped out of nowhere on my left ankle, causing me to stop running and lose my balance on the branch I was running on. I quickly back flipped to regain my posture on the ground, only to fall on my back again.
A breeze went past me but came back another moment. Concern can be seen through his eyes.
Kakashi stood in front of me, turning his earpiece off and crouching down next to me. "You okay?" He asked as I struggled to sit up. "Wait, stupid question. Don"t answer that." He laughed, checking my injured feet.
After poking it for a few times and receiving a thrown rock to his face, he did a quick first aid. He then cleared his throat and offered his back to me, "It seems like your joint shattered after you released a load of chakra to it. You won"t be walking for the rest of this training, it seems. Let"s get you back."
"What about the cat?" I asked, reaching for his shoulders before wrapping my arms around his neck.
Kakashi stood up and leaped up, chuckling out his words, "Let"s pa.s.s on our misfortune to others, okay? Don"t worry about that smarta.s.s cat."
"I second that." I agreed, lazily burying my face on his fluffy scarf as he carried me back through the forest.
It was silent for a while, but it was the comfortable kind; Kakashi decided to ruin it. "What do you want for lunch?" He asked.
Kasan and Tou-san went out today and left me with Kakashi. I don"t really know where they went, but the scarecrow a.s.sured me that they"ll be back soon. He also kind of dragged me into the whole "chase-the-demon-cat" thing first thing in the morning.
"Ori-kun?" I heard Kakashi call out my name.
"Yeah?" I raised a brow.
He sighed, smiling through his mask. "What do you want for lunch?"
"Uhm…" I leaned my head on his, "Ramen?"
"Sounds good to me." He nodded, "I know just the right place."
__________
Kakashi entered the hospital room, careful about the tray he"s carrying. After admitting his nephew to the hospital to treat the boy"s shattered ankle, he quickly dropped by Ichiraku to order two ramen for himself and the young boy. It was on the house on that day, since it was a special day.
He returned quite quickly—through the windows, in fact, startling the young boy lying down on the hospital bed.
"Careful," He said, placing the tray on the table beside the young boy, "it"s hot."
Orion gave him a deadpanned look. "You sure care much today."
"Oh, please," Kakashi laughed, taking his own bowl of ramen and sitting down on a nearby chair, "I care every day." Orion laughed at his words, taking his own bowl of ramen, starting to eat it slowly, blowing the steam off.
It was pretty peaceful.
Nothing extraordinary is happening…
… yet.
Shattered gla.s.s echoed in the boy"s room. Cat screeching to the top of its lungs echoed through the whole building. Hot steam and loud gurgling scream filled the unfortunate place.
Boy, it was terrifying; Orion was on fire—no one knows how and why; a guy in spandex somehow bathed in ramen and is covered in gla.s.s; Kakashi is holding a cat by its tail.
It was chaotic.
Running footsteps neared. The door burst open as the nurses and ninjas around the area came in panic. The scene was an absolute surprise.
After extinguishing the boy on fire and switching rooms to clean up the mess Guy had made when he went through the window, everything, dare I say, finally calmed the h.e.l.l down. The random event settled down and now, two people are now admitted in one room.
Kakashi folded his arms and crossed his legs, clearly annoyed about recent happenings. "So," He started, eyes closed but is still emitting a cold aura, "you actually thought that running through an "invisible wall" was a great idea?"
"My youthful rival…" Guy laughed, "I apologise. Someone had pa.s.sed on the misfortune of the mission to catch the demon cat, and I was the one who received it."
"Ha." Orion chuckled, "Pa.s.s on the misfortune! Fun." He rolled his eyes, staring boredly at his uncle.
Kakashi sighed loudly, placing his palm on his face. "First of all," He looked over at the two, "how on earth did Orion got set on fire?"
"Because I"m hot." The said boy dropped the sa.s.s bomb and put on non-existent sungla.s.ses.
Kakashi ignored him. "Second of," He gave his gaze towards Guy, lifting up the cat at his direction, "What the h.e.l.l? Why would you even accept the mission to catch this demon?"
"Because I can…?" Another sa.s.s bomb nonchalantly dropped by a teen in spandex.
The Hatake doesn"t even know anymore. It seemed as though he"s the only sane one in the room at the moment. Kakashi blames the author. The story is all over the place because the author is just throwing stuff in one go. The author needs a boost.
Everyone, including Kakashi, needs to pull author-san away from Tumblr. No particular reason why—
The door swung open, and the loud noise had cut off the laughter that filled the room because of Orion.
They simultaneously looked at the door, meeting an icy-cold glare coming from a motherly face. "What. Happened. To. My. Baby." Kaiya stomped in, taking in the cold atmosphere with her.
Following her entrance, Shikakuro leaned on the door frame, his arms folded. His soft expression subdued the cold aura his wife had spread. "I a.s.sume… seeing that Tora is here, the misfortune was pa.s.sed onto your bunch?"
His son gave him an "are-you-serious" look.
"I a.s.sumed correctly." The Nara nodded to himself.
"Oh, Ori-kun, don"t worry," Kaiya moved closer to her beloved son, hugging him, "Kasan"s here."
__________
Bandaged like a mummy, Orion has been checked out of the hospital (forcefully) by his mother, who stormed out, dragging him out with his uncle, showing her medic-nin ID to the front desk.
With a quick ninja magic, Orion healed as fast as the demon cat could run. Her mother doesn"t stop to amaze him. Kakashi, on the other hand, received a somewhat light scolding from his "Kaiynee".
Sure, the day was chaotic.
But it can"t just end there, no, no.
Christmas carols played in the background as the young Hatake-Nara entered the household. Christmas decorations has been put up, and, to his surprise, the long-awaited Christmas tree finally stood tall and mighty in the courtyard. Orion knew it was troublesome to set up and the tree has been there for quite a while now, but in some form of miracle, someone had finally set it up on Christmas day. On. Christmas. Day.
Whoever that was, bless them.
Stepping out on the courtyard after getting dressed in his Christmas attire, which consisted a red scarf to go along his white, turtleneck long sleeve and black shorts, Orion was greeted with the falling snow and powder landing softly on the tree. It was a sight, he admit.
The moonlit night gave the falling snow a soft light as the household gathered around the tree.
Shikakuro placed down Orion on his lap as the household grew bigger. A few visitors from other clans came as well, mainly the Yamanaka"s, Akamichi"s, a few Uchiha"s, Hyūga"s and other famous clans. Even a clone of the Third Hokage came to the event, holding Naruto with him.
Orion, of course, didn"t escape the death hugs coming from Ino, Chōji, and, surprisingly, Shikkun.
"Merry Christmas~" The trio greeted him, with one particularly lazy about it.
"Merry… Christmas to you three too." Orion awkwardly replied.
As they chatted away, mostly Ino ranting about her Christmas preparations and how her father almost forgot about the event happening in the Nara compound, particularly in the second master"s household, an Uchiha broke away his hold from his brother and cousin, approaching the chatting bunch.
"Shiro-chan." Orion froze at the familiar nickname he had been given by a duck-haired boy.
Shikamaru spat out the Christmas tea he"s been drinking, choking at the same time; Ino froze and dropped her cookie; Chōji innocently stared at his friends who"s acting really weird; Orion is trying so hard to not run away from the Uchiha.
"Ah…" The only silver-haired toddler in the group pretended to not remember the boy, "Who are you again?"
The Uchiha blinked, mouthing out his name, "Ssu-ke. Remember that."
From afar, the Uchiha"s brother raised his brow, while the cousin laughed hard enough to fall on the floor, being stared at by several pairs of eyes.
"Right…" Orion started to inch away from the young Uchiha, only to slide further near the said boy thanks to the Yamanaka toddle who"s wiggling her eyebrows at her. "Wh-What?! No!" Orion tried to push her back instead but to no avail.
Whatever the Yamanaka was planning, it was up to no good for sure. "Get that boi." Ino whispered in his ear, "Or I"ll take him away." She winked.
Orion couldn"t overpower her as his stomach started to twist and turn because of panic and nervousness, "OH MY KAMI LET GO—H-Hi Sasuke." He directed a faltering smile towards the young Uchiha.
The Uchiha simply blinked at him. "Shiro-chan"s acting weird."
"No s.h.i.t." Orion muttered under his breath as Ino ran off with Shikamaru and Chōji, silently observing from afar. "I feel like I was just betrayed all of a sudden."
Sasuke tilted his head, "Hm?"
"Nothing." Orion shook his head, not wanting to spread his cursed language over to the yet to be tainted Uchiha.
"Eh?" The innocent raven nodded, "I"m glad I got to see you again. I thought I"d wait for years but here we are." His grin grew wider.
Our beloved Orion held back a gag. His inner twenty-eight year old self do not approve of this. This is utterly disturbing for him… especially when he just got into a disaster and looks like he"s about to dive head first into another disaster. Oh, wait—he was the one who got dragged into this in the first place.
The only thing in his mind right now while the young Uchiha told about stuff was… "Fvck."
He actually prefer to chase after the demon cat than having to stay in this holiday gathering which only happens once in a blue moon. Saying that I his mind now, he doesn"t want to jinx his amazing luck.
Of course, like what was said earlier, the chaos just can"t end with a burning trip from the hospital. Let this be summed up in a sentence: Orion jinxed himself.
Out of nowhere, a screech echoed in the courtyard, making all of the people in the area look over to where the ear-scratching sound came from. A well-known black cat ran from the roofs and latched onto the heads of its path before running through guests" legs.
The Nara"s don"t know how on earth the cat got through their forest—actually... it"s a cat. It can do whatever it wants. It can go wherever it wants. Cats don"t give a s.h.i.t about a single thing. That"s why author-san loves them.
The ribboned cat had caught attention of the anbu"s in the area, creating a not-so-good chase show through the crowds. Jounins also joined in the chase, which caused more trouble since this raised the interest of everyone in the surrounding area.
People literally joined the sudden "quest to catch Tora".
Orion, known for his bad luck in this Christmas Special, got consumed, with Sasuke, by the crowd. Due to the fact that the Uchiha had grabbed his arm to "protect" him, Orion wasn"t able to use anything to help himself get out of the mess, drowning with Sasuke in the crowd.
When hope was losing fast, a quick tug and a cold breeze made the two freeze, only to realise that they"ve been scooped out by an Anbu and Kakashi out and away from the crowds (to the rooftops). Both of them were carried like bags of potatoes, or over the shoulders, by the two.
Kakashi coughed as he put down his nephew, trying to hold back his amus.e.m.e.nt as Crow placed down Sasuke next to Orion.
Of course, the younger Hatake-relative gave both of them a deadpanned look. If they were the only people in the current area at the moment, Orion would"ve thrown a flat rock on their faces—or anything that could be thrown. He"s so close to being livid. They were enjoying every moment of his agony.
"Are you going to stare until the daylight shines?" Orion asked them in a single, low, serious tone.
Oh, how Kakashi was amused further.
Orion, without a single warning, grabbed a hold of the scarecrow"s silver hair and started tugging, screaming about something along the lines, "I"m so done!"
Crow, however, remained silent, watching from afar with Sasuke, not wanting to get into the fight between the silver haired Hatake"s.
From down with the crowds, Itachi looked up at his brother on the roof, noticing that Sasuke"s eyes had fixed onto a silver haired child bickering with a higher up. He heard his little brother rant about a young girl he had met a long while ago.
And Sasuke calls the girl Shiro-chan.
He sighed.
"Oi! "Tachi!" His cousin, Shisui, called him, holding up the cat, "Caught the d.a.m.ned demon—"
"Idiot." Itachi called him out as the cat jumped from the older Uchiha"s grasp, scratching his face as well.
The cat jumped into the tree, the Christmas tree, for kami knows how long; spreading a cold silence through the crowd who are waiting for something to happen as the leaves rustle here and there.
A nasty, loud snap broke the silence. The tree slowly dropped down, puling the Christmas lights and whatever strings tied up there are down with it.
Lookie "ere.
Another fire.
Orion stared down at the burning courtyard, running his palm down his face. "I"m done for the year." He sighed, Kakashi nodded, "I"m not looking forward to the New Year event."
"I"m with you on this one." The scarecrow, sat down, setting a water jutsu to help extinguish the fire downstairs, looking at the Anbu behind him.
Crow chuckled, nodding to himself, "What an unfortunate Christmas indeed."
==========
A/N (since it doesn"t fit in author"s thoughts lol):
Finally. A chapter published. A special one, actually, which won"t be a part of the story. I"m sorry for making all of you wait...
I"m not dead, surprisingly lol and I"m going to apologise in advance because I"m going dead for a while again uwu
In March, I promise to publish chpaters (yes, chapters) since school"s ending by then.
I"m just here, and this special chapter, to prepare y"all for the upcoming canon chapters. Keep low, peeps. I don"t want to take y"all in an unfortunate journey *wink*