An Unexpected Friend (Book 1 of the Unexpected Series)

Ch. 4 - Let Them, Let Him, No Letter

Yashamaru

Kakashi was a bit relieved that Yashamaru would continue to help his daughter out with her friendship with Gaara. Still, he knew Kokoro would be very unhappy with the outcome of her friendship. He knocked on her door twice before he opened it and entered her room. She was laying on her bed with the covers hiding her body. He sat beside her on the edge of the bed and shook her lightly. She didn't respond. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. A loud squeak emitted from her mouth and she hit her dad on the head in retaliation. He plopped onto the couch in the living room and sat her upon his lap. He uncovered her face, showing a tear-stained and reddish face. She refused to make eye contact with him.

"You missed one," he said as he held up the small letter. Her hands were trapped by her blanket, so she could only read the letter as he held it up in her line of vision. Her eyes slowly transformed from sad, angry, confused, and then joy. Kokoro scrambled to free herself from her self-made prison and ran to the kitchen. She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and sat in front of the small coffee table in the middle of the room.

"I'm guessing you're not going to give up," Kakashi said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yashamaru said he would give Gaara all of my letters when we could be friends again," she recited the contents of the note. "That means I gotta keep writing to him so that he doesn't think I forgot about him!"

"Alright, I guess I can't stop you," he said with a fake pout.

Kokoro giggled and said, "Daddy, you weren't gonna stop me and you know it!"

"You're right," he said. He watched as she concentrated on writing her letter. When she was done, he produced an envelope from his flak jacket and handed it to her. She thanked him and tucked the letter in it. Giddily, she held the letter out for Kakashi to take and send out. He took it and promptly set it back on the coffee table.

"We have to send it out now," Kokoro complained.

"You know the procedure by now," Kakashi said with a shake of his head.

"But I don't wanna train right now," she whined.

"Do you want your letter sent out?" he asked.

"Yes."

She stood up from her spot on the floor and followed her dad to the training grounds. He had warned her that their next training session would be the start of her ninjutsu training, so it was no surprise they were going there. Their yard wasn't big enough or durable enough to handle any ninjutsu techniques. As soon as they arrived at the training grounds, he made her run twenty laps and do some stretching techniques. She knew it would help her in the long run, but she really didn't like training. It was strenuous on her body and she really wasn't in the mindset yet to train. The idea of training was more appealing than actually doing it. But she persevered through it. She wanted to be a great shinobi like her dad and she wanted to make him proud.

When she finished, Kakashi allowed her to catch her breath before he walked up to her and held out a small piece of paper. It was different from regular paper as it had a brownish hue and was less durable.

"Is that chakra paper?" she asked him excitedly. "Do I finally get to know which nature affinity I have?"

"Well, you've been asking me for a while," he said as he held it out to her. She grasped it and watched in awe as three things happened: It split in half, wrinkled, and then dampened. She stared at the paper in amazement. She looked at her dad with a sparkle in her eyes and held it out for him to see. Kakashi looked at the paper in surprise, not expecting her to have three nature affinities.