Rukia's Bloodline Revealed! The joys of being a father.
Summary: Rukia has no one to celebrate her chunin promotion with and the one guy she really wants to celebrate with is a complete mystery to her.
A/N: ahhhhh still crying over the fact this was requested ugh i love it. also yeah that would absolutely be the episode title in naruto.
WC: 2.5k
Rukia tagged list: @mrsbakashi @therantingfangirl @nightingaleflow @mortyvongola2-0 @mal-the-konohoe
The two of you are promoted to chunin. Tsunade’s words echoed through Rukia’s head as she walked down the narrow halls of the Hokage's tower.
She could see flashbacks of her and Konohamaru racing to get to the Hokage’s office. Memories of when she tripped and scraped her knee as her grandfather soothed her and picked her up, memories of when her many guards would let her climb on their back as they walked her to the office.
Who do I even celebrate this with? Rukia sighed opening the front door, the suns rays shining on her face as if to congratulate her.
She kicks a few pebbles along the street as she made her way to the Sarutobi compound. Home of the last two family members she had. A once thriving clan dwindled down to just three people.
She knocked on Asuma’s door, a room followed by a large section of the Sarutobi compound that Asuma had completely to himself. “Uncle Asuma?” she knocked again before opening the door to a pitch black empty room that still lingered with one of her favorite smells. He's probably out celebrating with Shikamaru.
“Ah! Lady Rukia!” Hori, the Sarutobi groundskeeper, said.
Rukia smiled as she turned around to Hori. Hori, one of the few constants in Rukia's life. Rukia jumped down from Asuma's porch as she ran to hug her. “Hori! Guess what!”
“What’s that?” Hori smiled taking in how much Rukia has grown.
“I know ninja stuff isn’t your thing.” Rukia blushed as she let go, the front of her foot tapping against the ground. “But I got promoted to chunin! Rukia Sarutobi, a chunin!”
“Oh Lady Rukia! Your grandfather would be so proud.” Hori smiled as she pulled Rukia in for another hug. You poor thing. Most people get to celebrate with their family and here you are celebrating with little ol' me.
“He would wouldn’t he?” Rukia muffled against Hori’s chest as tears started to sneak out. “I’m uh, I’m gonna go tell him.”
“I think he would like that very much.” Hori gave Rukia a smile before pulling away, “I won’t tell your uncle you were snooping around his room.”
Rukia laughed as she started running away, “You can! What is he gonna do? I’m a chunin now!”
Rukia ran down the busy streets of Konoha, stopping in her tracks as she ran past Ichiraku, as she ran past Kiba, Hinata, and Shino in Ichiraku. Shino would care, right? And Kiba and Hinata would definitely be happy for me, right?.
“Ruks!” Kiba laughed, placing his arm over her shoulder the second she walked under the sign, “You joining?”
“I just ate but..” Rukia blushed, taking a quick glance at Shino, “Umm.” How do I casually bring up I got promoted to chunin and they didn’t?
“Are you okay?” Hinata softly asked. Rukia was always the polar opposite of her but right now with the nervous fidgeting of Rukia’s fingers, Hinata could tell something was up.
Does she want to tell us about her promotion? Is she nervous to bring it up? “We saw Shikamaru earlier. Congratulations Rukia, why? Be-”
“Because you’re chunin now!” Teuchi smiled down at the young girl in front of him, “Next time you stop by it’s on the house.”
“Thank you,” Rukia smiled and turned towards Shino as she unraveled herself from Kiba’s arms, “it means a lot.”
She could feel her tears start to swell up again, celebrating with friends was nice but she just wanted him, whoever he was, to tell her he was proud of her. “I gotta go but really thank you.”
With that, Rukia jumped along the rooftops of Konoha leaving little teardrops in her path up to Hiruzen’s face on the Hokage mountain.
She slid herself in between the two tallest pieces of his hair, “Hey grandpa.” God this is so stupid, I’m talking to a rock. “So I got promoted to chunin today! I know it’s not jonin but I’ll get there eventually." Rukia sighed leaning against the rock, feeling comfort despite the hard surface.
"It was me and Shikamaru- just the two of us. Which feels a little weird since I think Naruto summoning those giant toads is enough for him to be a chunin but whatever, you know?”
“Becoming a chunin isn’t just about strength, you know.”
Rukia flinched, startled by another voice, but a voice she knew exactly who it belonged to. “Kakashi sensei! You can’t sneak up on people like that!” Rukia laughed, wiping away her tears as she stared up on her sensei who stood on the tip of one of Hiruzen's hairs.
“For a chunin, I’m surprised you didn’t already sense me.” he teased crouching down maintaining perfect balance.
Rukia chuckled, “Sorry I was a little preoccupied having a moment with a rock.”
“I can see that.” Kakashi smiled as jumped down, taking a seat next to Rukia. “Congratulations, I’m pr-” Kakashi stopped, Rukia's tears interrupting him.
“Uncle Asuma is with his team and Konohamaru is still in class and-and-and the first person I was able to tell is Hori and I love Hori it’s just-it’s just..” Rukia wiped away the tears from eyes with her hands, “my first thought was about him. Wondering if I’m finally strong enough for him.”
“Lord Third?” Kakashi knew that wasn't the answer but he was scared to hear the actual answer. Hiruzen made it clear that despite Rukia being placed on Kakashi’s team, she was only placed on it for Naruto and Sasuke - not because she was his daughter.
There have been so many moments in Rukia’s life where he’s wanted to tell her. When she aced her first exam, when she came running out of the academy jumping onto the new ANBU guard Kakashi was disguising himself as that day, the first time she made a spark, every time Kakashi would see her in the office before he was sent on a mission.
He often wondered how he would feel if she would wish him good luck before a mission. If he got to hold her and promise her he’d be back.
Sure, if he saw Rukia before he was sent off on a mission she would wish him good luck; but just like how she would wish Gai or Genma good luck. It had no other meaning other than Rukia seeing him as a shinobi and hoping not to witness another funeral.
Kakashi wanted the good luck that she would give to Asuma. The good luck followed by her jumping off of her grandfather's lap as she ran to hug his legs, the smile and bright beaming eyes that she only gave to her family members- not just to some regular jonin.
“Not him.” Rukia sighed, feeling embarrassed that she was complaining about family matters to her sensei. “I’m sorry sensei. You probably don’t have time to listen to me whine about not knowing my father.”
“I have all the time in the world.” Kakashi smiled, internally working up the courage to confess to her. How would she take it? Would she be angry at him? Would she hug him as a father rather than her sensei?
Rukia laughed, “Sure you’re not just using me as an excuse not to do something else?”
“Well yes,” Kakashi chuckled, she knew him well, “but that can wait. This can’t.” You’ve waited long enough.
“Okay but don’t tell Naruto and them that I’ve gone all soft okay?”
“Okay.”
“So..” Rukia plopped down next to Kakashi, “My grandfather used to tell me bedtime stories of my mom every night. I was very curious about her and my dad when I was younger because everything was kept such a secret. I’ve only ever seen pictures of her but even then they’re the black and white ones so it wasn’t until I was like, i dunno maybe three that I learned she had green eyes.”
A very deep emerald green. Kakash smiled remembering Rumi, how the trees of Konoha begged to be as beautiful and vibrant as her eyes.
“But still, he never told me what color my fathers eyes are. Though, being the only one with white hair and red eyes in my family I think I know.” Rukia laughed as she continued to ramble. “One time when I was like four I think… anyways I asked Fugaku if I could see his sharingan because they were red and he never showed me it but he did explain that my red eyes must have come from somewhere else.”
“Yeah, theirs is not always on.” Kakashi sighed, wishing he could deactivate his.
“Well I know that now.” Rukia laughed, “But back then I just clinged onto any sort of similarity. I love uncle Asuma and Konohamaru but you can look at them and see they’re related. Me, you just see a short girl with white hair and red eyes who looks nothing like her family.”
“Well, your grandfather was short so you do have that going for you.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Rukia took a deep breath. She stopped searching for her father when Kakashi became her sensei. She looked up to him, would watch how he fought, would listen to how he commanded her team, would hold onto him when she was hurt. It was silly, she knew that, but in a way she couldn’t picture her father ever measuring up to Kakashi.
“Rukia, do you have time to listen to a story?” Kakashi took a deep breath, if he was going to tell her he wanted to tell her everything.
“If it’s one of your Icha Icha ones, then no.” Rukia laughed looking up at him, “Whatcha got?”
“13 years ago, well longer than that, your mother filled a void in your fathers heart. The two of them lost their teammates and for a while didn’t speak to each other.”
“Wait, you know them?” Rukia sat up on her knees leaning into Kakashi.
“Listen.”
“But-”
“Rukia...” Kakashi laughed, she certainly isn't a patient one.
“Fine.” Rukia plopped back down, patience is a stupid virtue.
“Your father isn’t the best man. He’s made a lot of mistakes but he tries to make up for them.”
“So you know him pretty well?”
Kakashi took a deep breath avoiding Rukia’s question, “When your father and your mother found each other again, it made him feel whole and it was something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Shortly after, you were born and your mom-”
“Had to choose between me or her.” Rukia finished for him, she knew that part. That’s a part of her story that eats her up at night, she killed her mother. Sure, no one ever saw it like that but Rukia did, her mother chose to save Rukia instead of herself. To Rukia there was no other way to see it.
“Right. A part of your father died that day, but at least he had you..” Kakashi looked over at Rukia taking a deep breath, “and he had his sensei and his wife who were just about to have a son. He was prepared to raise you on his own, but then…”
“What happened? Why did he let me go?” Rukia’s voice croaked.
“The day the nine tails attacked was the day he lost his sensei. He lost everyone he cared about, he didn’t want to lose you. Death followed him like a shadow.”
“So he gave me to my grandfather to protect me?”
Kakashi nodded his head, “But he couldn’t stay away, he watched over you every day he could.”
Rukia took a deep breath, a little feeling in her gut that Kakashi knew way too much about her father for it not to be him. “So the agreement, about knowing my other side of the family once I’m strong enough, I’m finally strong enough?”
“Yes.” Kakashi swallowed, “I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to tell you but I-.”
“Is it you?” Rukia looked out to Konoha, she didn’t know what answer she wanted.
If it was Kakashi she’d be happy but if it was Kakashi she’d also feel betrayed. If it wasn’t Kakashi she’d be disappointed but if it wasn’t Kakashi she’d also feel a little relieved she hasn’t been lied to by him for 13 years.
“How would you feel?”
“I don't know but, Lady Tsunade might want to take away my chunin status for not being able to realize it sooner.” Rukia laughed, turning her head to Kakashi, tears falling down her face as she gave him a smile.
Right now, all she could focus on was the fact her father was right in front of her. “But if it is you then-then that must’ve been really hard for you.”
Kakashi felt his breath hitch in his throat, of all of the responses he expected from her, he never expected that.
“You had to act like just my sensei, treat me like just a student.” Rukia smirked, “I knew I was your favorite.”
Kakashi let out a chuckle as he draped his arm over her shoulders. “Was it that obvious?”
Rukia smiled leaning into Kakashi’s shoulder, an action she’s done before but this time with so much more meaning. “A little bit, I just chalked it up to our hair though.”
The two of them stayed like that for a while before getting up and stretching their legs, taking a walk as father and daughter. Rukia asked nearly a hundred questions; what was her mom like on the team, how did they pick the name Rukia, how did they finally get together, which of her many guards was Kakashi and which were just regular guards. All questions the Kakashi had the answers to, all questions he loved finally being able to answer.
“Wait but if mom didn’t have red eyes and if you don’t have red eyes… who the hell gave me my eyes?” Rukia laughed as the two of them walked down the street.
“Well,” Kakashi stopped and turned back to the Hokage Mountain, “See Lord Second up there?”
Rukia stared at the mountain, her mouth agape. “Yeahh..”
“He had a daughter and his daughter fell in love with your great grandfather.”
Rukia’s eyes glanced back and forth between the mountain and her father, trying to process what she was hearing. “So I’m a-I’m a Senju?”
Kakashi nodded his head, “Makes sense now doesn’t it?”
“Feels like a lot to live up to.” Rukia nervously chuckled as she twisted a strand of her hair around her fingers.
Kakashi crouched down before her, “Senju, Hatake, Sarutobi, whatever name you choose to go by; the one that matters most, is you. Rukia.”
Rukia immediately felt tears running down her face as she ran up to Kakashi, wrapping her arms around him as he held her close. It was everything she never knew she needed to hear.
“Kakashi sensei!” Naruto screamed out from down the street, Sakura and Sasuke trailing behind him.
Rukia pulled away from her father, “Are we gonna tell them?”
“Up to you.” Kakashi laughed, picturing the reactions of each of his students once they learned the truth.
Rukia debated before she felt a little devilish running off to join her team, “Hey guys! Kakashi sensei is my dad but he’s going to buy us all ramen as he explains everything!”
I didn’t agree to that part. Kakashi sighed, the joys of being a father.