Chapter 1

Encounters

Seiyna stared at the girl through his blood red eyes. She was motionless, only faint breathing gave any sign of life.

"Helpless fool," he said turning around. She began to twitch, and then slowly moved.

"Ugh…enh…" she moaned. Her palms pressed against the wet grass and she slowly picked herself up. Seiyna turned around scrunched his face and glared at her. He clenched his fists,

"Why won't you die!" he yelled. The girl pulled herself off of the ground and struggled to stay on her feet. She wiped the blood off of her face and held her stomach while trying to catch her breath.

"I could ask you the same thing…" she mumbled. We're evenly matched…neither of us will ever win unless…no…It won't even work…but I think I have no choice… She thought. Taking a deep breath, she put her hands together to focus in and summon up every ounce of chakra she had left.

"It'll do you no good Yukiko!"

"Shokugan!" she called. Her eyes turned black and looked completely lifeless. She charged at him with a kunai knife and swung it around and try to plunge it into his back, but he was too quick. They continued it, not even coming close to ever hitting each other. Her shokugan didn't work, but it gave her an energy boost. They ended up on the treetops and kept getting closer and closer to the village memorial grounds.

"You can keep trying Yukiko…nothing will work!" Seiyna yelled. Yukiko yelled angrily and threw her kunai knife and just began to punch and kick at him. I don't have enough chakra left to perform any jutsus…if I could just hold out a little longer…but as soon as my shokugan stops…

Seiyna took out two shurikens and threw them at each of her arms. She only missed one of them and fell back to pull the other one out, but she was too late. Seiyna took a knife and plunged it into her stomach…

Kakashi transported himself to the memorial grounds. When he got there, he began to walk toward the memorial and then stopped, sensing some sort of danger. He immediately transported himself deep into the woods where Seiyna had just stood. Yukiko was lying on the ground covered in blood.

"What the-…" he mumbled. He picked her up and transported back into the village to the hospital. When he got there, all of the nurses and doctors shuffled quickly to there feet and began to help her.

I can still fight…I can move…

Yukiko picked up her hand and then opened her eyes. Except for the quiet beeping sound and her faint breath, the room was silent. Where am I? Where's Seiyna! Gotta get…up… She tried to move but the pain was too much for her to handle. Her heart rate went up and a nurse quickly walked in.

"Now, now dear, don't over exert yourself,"

"Wh-where am I?" she whispered. The nurse poured her a glass of water.

"You're in a hospital," she gave her the water. Yukiko sipped it and then gathered her thoughts.

"How exactly did I get her anyway?" she took another drink.

"Um…oh, who was it? Ah, yes Kakashi Hatake brought you here," she said. Yukiko almost choked. She forced a swallow.

"Kakashi…Hatake?" she asked.

"Well, yes? Do you know him?"

"You don't? Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja, sharingan warrior!"

"…Um, well no…not really,"

"You, wouldn't happen to know if um…maybe he's still around or something?"

"He's out in the lobby, he seemed pretty concerned about you. Do you want me to get him for you?"

"Eh, um…well, I guess I should thank him…"

"I'll go get him for you then," she walked over to the door and opened it. "Oh!" Kakashi was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He moved out of the way and the nurse slipped past him. He walked in and closed the door.

"Hello there," he said.

"H-hi…" Yukiko was frozen and she knew she was blushing.

"Are you feeling better?" he pulled out a chair and sat down next to her bed.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine now."

"So, what were you doing out there anyway?"

"…I was…I was fighting someone,"

"Must have been a pretty rough fight. You were stabbed in the stomach, I thought you were dead. Your pupils looked completely dialated but you were still breathing, so…"

"Oh, that was just a side effect of my shokugan, that's all. Thank you so much though, I don't know how I can ever repay you,"

"It's quite alright, that's my job…sort of….um, did you say shokugan?"

"Huh, oh yeah. It's my…it's my well I guess you could call it my kekkei genkai,"

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry I don't believe I know you but you look oddly familiar,"

"Uh, I'm Y-Yukiko…Yukiko Uchiha…"

"Uchiha!? Really?"

"…Yeah,"

"So, wait you mean…but, um I'm sorry could you explain that to me?"

"You mean why I'm still alive?"

"Well yeah, and um shokugan? I'm pretty sure it's sharingan…"

"You would know,"

"Heh,"

"I'm not actually an Uchiha. No blood relations anyway. I guess you could say that I was adopted into the family…"

"You were adopted into the Uchiha clan?"

"Well about nine years ago, my home village was attacked. These people claiming they were shinobi came and robbed us, killed people and then burned it to the ground. My parents were already dead when our house started to burn…then an ANBU squad came and rescued me…"

"Wait…I remember that. You were that girl?"

"Well I was the only survivor…so I guess,"

"I remember you now, you were in that house with some kind of barrier around you,"

"You were the one that…oh my gosh, well I guess that makes two times now…"

"So how did you get yourself adopted into the Uchiha clan?"

"I'm not sure exactly, Father just accepted the offer I guess…"

"So did you go to the Ninja Academy?"

"No, I barely ever got to go out into the village. It was like I was in hiding or something,"

"So how did you obtain this exactly?" He picked up her headband.

"I trained with Father, and other teachers who specialized in different things…"

"So what level are you at then?"

"…Chunin…I was about to become a Jonin, but…that was the day that Ita-"

The nurse walked into the room. Kakashi turned around and Yukiko looked up at her.

"Sorry," she said, "visiting hours are over dear,"

"Alright then, I'll see you soon,"

"Goodbye, thank you,"

"Don't mention it,"

Chapter 2

Ramen and Storytelling

Yukiko finished rinsing her hair and then turned off the water in the shower. She stepped out and grabbed the towel. She wiped the steam off the mirror and then looked at herself, there was a potential scar on her neck, bruises everywhere, and stitches on her stomach. She wrapped the towel around her hair and took another to dry her body. Then she took the bandage tape and carefully wrapped it around her stomach.

She finished and then dressed herself in her white yukata with black edges. It reached her thigh and underneath was her mesh leggings. She then put on her pouch with all of her weapons and then her black slip on shoes. Lastly, she put her headband on.

"Thank you for all your help,"

"Alright dear, now you just come back if you start to hurt okay," Yukiko nodded and then turned around toward the door and left.

She transported herself to the training grounds, where Kakashi was. He turned quickly and then realized it was Yukiko.

"Oh, hello. Are you out of the hospital already?"

"Yeah. Um, well I just came here to thank you again,"

"Really, it's no trouble,"

"So what are you doing here?"

"Training. Actually, you might know one of my students,"

"Eh-" Yukiko looked over her shoulder. Sakura flew past her and then suddenly stopped. She gasped for air.

"Kakashi-sensei! Are you out of your mind!?" she yelled.

"We already went over this, at least now we know your limit, and how fast you are. Your final time was 17:03,"

"Really! Alright! Um…Kakashi-sensei, who's this?"

"Oh, this is Yukiko Uchiha,"

"U-Uchiha?" She stared up at her. "Then that means…"

"I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU!!!" Naruto yelled. As he and Sasuke got closer Naruto suddenly tripped. Sasuke slid in and then turned around.

"Loser…" he said under his heavy breath.

"Sa-Sasuke!" Yukiko called. He turned around and then found himself in a really tight squeeze.

"Yukiko…is that you?"

"Sasuke, I missed you so much,"

"Yukiko…can't…breathe…." Sasuke squirmed.

"Oh, sorry…" she put him down and wiped her eyes.

"Hey! Who's that! Why are you all over Sasuke like that! What's with Sakura?" Naruto asked. Sakura just died…

"Eh…Sas-u-ke…" she stuttered.

"I'm Yukiko," she said to Naruto. Sakura stood back up and went and stood by her teammates.

"Oh, well I'm N-"

"Naruto Uzumaki, our future hokage, right?" Yukiko said with a smile. Naruto looked up at her with wide gleaming eyes.

"Yeah! That's right!"

"And you must be young, beautiful kunoichi, Sakura Haruno,"

"Uh…yeah! But…"

"Psht…don't show off Yukiko,"

"What Sasuke-chan? I can't have a little fun?"

"Whatever…"

"Anyway, are you guys training?"

"If torture and training are the same thing, then yeah!" Naruto said.

"What did you guys just do?"

"They did a lap around the village," Kakashi said. He walked over to Yukiko and the others. "We were trying to practice focusing chakra into your legs to give you extra strength for running. Apparently Sakura figured that out first, and Naruto probably copied Sasuke…" he said. Yukiko laughed.

"Heh, isn't that what you're supposed to do Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Copy,"

"Well…um, actually I did. I was trying to figure out why Sakura was still able to run at the same speed after all that time, so I used my sharingan…"

"Uh…Naruto? What's wrong?" Sakura asked. Naruto was sulking.

"W-we could use…chakra in our…legs…?"

"Eh…"

"Man, I'm hungry. You know what? I could really go for some…ramen," Yukiko said.

"Ra-ramennnn!!!" Naruto immediately got up.

"Yup. You know what Naruto, why don't we all go get some?"

"OOOKAY!!" he exclaimed.

"C'mon you guys, you deserve it, it's my treat," Yukiko started walking and Naruto quickly followed and walked closely next to her. The others followed her and Naruto.

When they arrived at the ramen shop they all sat down. Each of them ordered and then began to eat.

"So how are you and Sasuke related?" Sakura asked.

"Well I guess you could say that Sasuke-chan's my baby brother!" Yukiko twisted her knuckle on his head. He looked away with a grim look on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, well not exactly. I'm kind of adopted,"

"Oh,"

"But I've known little Sasuke-chan here almost all his life, and I can tell you every dirty little secret he's got!"

"D-dirty???" Yukiko made an evil grin she put her hand up to her face and whispered something in Sakura's ear. Sakura blushed and then giggled. Yukiko burst out in laughter when she looked at Sasuke's face. "What the! What did you tell her? Yukiko!" Yukiko made a sinister laugh.

"I'm joking onii-chan, I didn't actually tell her anything,"

"Well it wasn't funny Yukiko…" Sasuke said. Yukiko…I just thought about it…Sasuke-chan never calls me that… Yukiko thought.

"Hey Yukiko-san?"

"Hmm…?" she flipped her head back to Sakura.

"So how-"

"Did I know your names?"

"Y-yeah,"

"It's my shokugan. I can use it in battle or just normally without wasting chakra I don't ever use it at its full power unless I really need to though…"

Kakashi was watching her and listening intently. She shot a glance at him, noticing that he had been staring at her. He smiled behind his mask and she blushed and then looked back at Sakura and continued talking.

"So what exactly does it do?" Sakura asked.

"Well, mostly if I use it in battle it gives me an energy and chakra boost. Also, it has some of the same effects as the byakugan and sharingan. You see, I found out that the sharingan actually developed over time from the byakugan and after learning about the two I eventually found out how to develop such a power. Now when I use it I can see what my opponent is going to be doing before he does it and then use the byakugan developed part to find out his most vulnerable spot to attack at the time. With the energy boost it makes a fight quick and easy for me."

"Wow…that's so cool,"

"But it's not all that awesome, anyone with the sharingan, byakugan or if they somehow have the shokugan, I can't use it on them,"

"Wait a minute, how did you know all that stuff about me then?" Kakashi asked. Yukiko blushed.

"Well, I um read a lot about you and stuff, so…it was for my research,"

"Oh,"

"I'm full…" Naruto groaned.

"Can I have the check please?" Yukiko asked the waiter. He handed her the bill and she took out some money from her weapons pouch. She handed it over the counter, but Kakashi immediately interfered. He put his hand out with some money over hers. She turned her head.

"Let me, please," he said.

"No. It was my treat to all of you. Besides I already owe you,"

"Well then let's just call this repayment number one," he said. Yukiko smiled, nodded, and then paid.

Chapter 3

Sleep tight…

"Thanks Yukiko-san! You're the best!" Naruto exclaimed. He hugged Yukiko.

"You're welcome Naruto-chan,"

"See ya later!" Naruto turned around and walked away.

"Bye Yukiko-san!" Sakura said as she followed after Naruto. "Bye Sasuke-kun!"

"Bye you guys," she said.

"Yukiko?" Kakashi asked. She turned back around toward him.

"Huh?"

"Do you have a place to stay?" Yukiko's eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that. I guess I'll get a hotel,"

"You can stay with me Yukiko," Sasuke said.

"You sure Sasuke-chan?"

"Yeah."

"Alright thanks. Goodnight Kakashi-kun."

"Just Kakashi, it's alright."

"Well then, goodnight Kakashi."

"Goodnight Yukiko." Kakashi disappeared into the night. Sasuke and Yukiko started walking to Sasuke's apartment.

"Was it Seiyna?" Sasuke asked. Yukiko looked straightforward.

"Yeah…"

"Did you-?

"No. No, I didn't…I tried onii-chan. I really did…but we're just evenly matched and so…I can't do it," she said.

"Sorry."

"So how have you been? Oh my gosh how long has it been since we've seen each other anyway?"

"Three years,"

"Wow…so you've apparently graduated, are you a Chunin already?" Sasuke stopped and clenched his fists.

"…No."

"Why not? I mean I know Kakashi has a bad history with his students but…"

"No. It was Orochimaru. Because of him, and the people of the sand village, they had to stop the Chunin Exams. No one was passed. After all of our hard work too…any of us could have been killed! But they still didn't even pass the people who deserved it!"

"I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault,"

"So other than that, how have you been?"

"Okay I guess…a little annoyed…"

"Naruto?"

"Yeah,"

"Why does he bug you?"

"I don't know…he's just a loser," he said. Oh, whatever Sasuke-chan…you know you just want to be better than him… They walked up to the building and then up the stairs to his apartment. Sasuke unlocked the door and let Yukiko in. He led her to the extra bed he had and they made it up so she could sleep in it. She put on a pair of his sweatpants that fit her like capris and one of his t-shirts. She wrapped the blanket around herself and then sat up to talk to Sasuke.

"What's it like being taught by Kakashi?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean isn't it awesome knowing you have one of the greatest shinobi ever as a teacher?"

"Well it's cool I guess…he helps me with my sharingan so it's nice to have someone else around to help me understand it."

"Right,"

"I…I really missed you…"

"I missed you too,"

"How long are you going to stay?"

"I don't know onii-chan. It depends. I'm sorry…" Sasuke looked down.

"It's alright. I understand." Sasuke laid his head down on his pillow and lowered his eyelids.

"You going to sleep?" she asked. Sasuke nodded.

"I'm really tired."

"Okay," she turned off the lamp. "Goodnight."

"'Night…Kiko-chan…"

Chapter 4

Raison D'etre

Yukiko woke up early so she could go visit the memorial grounds. She hadn't been there in a long time and she wanted to pay her respects. She prided herself in being able not to wake Sasuke up. She got dressed and wrote a note just in case.

Sasuke-chan,

I went to the memorial grounds. Be back soon.

-Yukiko

She transported herself to the forest outside the memorial grounds where she had been just a few days ago. When she got there she noticed the dark clouds moving in and the humidity in the air. After only about 5 minutes it started to drizzle, but she stayed.

Yukiko sensed someone's presence so she turned around. It was Kakashi. He turned and faced her.

"Hello," he said, "didn't expect to see you here."

"Oh, hi Kakashi," he walked toward her. They looked at the beautifully carved names. She carefully looked over them; all of the Uchiha clan names stood out to her the most. But there was one name that caught her eye. Hatake…

"Is that…your father Kakashi?" she asked. Yukiko looked at him with sad eyes. He stared hard at the names.

"Yes…" he said. "I come here every morning to pay my respects to him, Obito, Rin…all the ones I've lost."

"I-I can't read your mind…and it's probably not my place but I want to tell you something," she said. The rain came down a little harder. "I started out with a lot and then lost it. When someone took me and cared for me just as I had been with them forever it made me feel like my past didn't even matter anymore. Then I lost it again. I'm still trying to recover from that…so I understand how you feel. But I really am trying to make the best of it…I love meeting new people and having friends and even family with me. You might not have any of your biological family left, but how I see it is that everyone is your family…and you never know when you're going to meet someone that you could come to be best friends with, or have a brotherly bond or even fall in love with. Don't take those chances away from yourself, please…"

"Thank you…" he said in a soft voice. To anyone else Kakashi's face would have just looked like it was wet from the rain, but Yukiko knew he was crying. It was weird for her because she had never seen a man cry before. It started to rain really hard so they decided to leave. They transported themselves into the village. Yukiko mentioned that she needed some clothes to sleep in, so they headed over to some of the shops.

Yukiko browsed all of the things in the shops and found a couple other things she liked here and there. They found her some pajamas; it was a pair of black pants with blue stars and a black tank top with blue lace on the edges and one large star in the middle.

"Isn't it cute!" she exclaimed as she showed it to Kakashi. He smiled behind his mask.

"Yeah, but it says it's a three piece. I think it's supposed to come with a cap or something."

"Oh," she turned around to put it back. She saw something on the ground; it was a black cap with a blue star dangling from it. "I found it!" she picked it up and then folded it and the other clothes onto her arm. They continued looking around and she found a few things she liked here and there.

"Well I guess that's it. Let's go get this,"

"Okay. You sure you don't want anything else?"

"Yeah,"

They walked over to the counter and handed it over to the clerk. Yukiko handed her some money and the clerk put the outfit in a small bag.

"Thank you," Yukiko said. Her and Kakashi walked out the door. "Oh, look over there! A jewelry shop," They walked across the street and to the left and went inside the jewelry shop. There were necklaces, bracelets, rings, and all sorts of other things. She looked around commenting on how beautiful everything was. Kakashi watched her in amazement.

She can be fighting to the death at one moment, then give wise advice and then be a total girl…and she's always able to stay positive about everything…she's…amazing… he thought.

"Look at this Kakashi!" she said. Kakashi regained his consciousness from his thoughts.

"What?" he walked toward her. There were rings inside the glass compartment that she was looking at. There were gold and silver ones, diamonds, sapphires, and rubies.

"Do you see that one right there?" she pointed to a silver ring with one medium sized diamond in the middle and two smaller ones on either side. "It's beautiful isn't it?" she asked. He tried to focus on the ring but his eyes wandered over to Yukiko.

"Yeah…it is…" he said softly. Her eyes caught his and they held a short stare. Yukiko blushed.

"Uh, I also liked this one necklace here," she immediately walked over to it. Kakashi went and looked. On the other side though, a different necklace caught his eye. While she browsed Kakashi went and bought it.

"I think I'm done," she said. She looked down at the bag, "Oh, did you get something?" they headed for the door.

"Yeah,"

"Really what'd you get?"

"Um…Yukiko," he pulled out the necklace. It had a pendant on it shaped like the Jonin symbol. "I thought, since you were supposed to be a Jonin anyway, maybe you could use this instead of the jacket to let people know,"

"Kakashi…" she blushed.

"If you don't like it…"

"No, no, no…I love it, thank you so much…" she said.

"Here," he said as he unclipped it. She turned around and pulled her hair up. Kakashi slowly placed it on her neck and then clipped it. She let go of her hair.

"Thanks…"

"It—it looks good on you," he said.

"Thank you Kakashi,"

"You're welcome," Yukiko looked around a little bit.

"Hey, the rain stopped."

"Yeah, um do you want me to walk you home?"

"Yeah, thanks. That would be great,"

Chapter 5

Guy

(Do I really need to say more?)

Kakashi carried her bag that she had after much resistance from her. They walked along side of each other down the roads to Sasuke's apartment. They didn't talk much, both still probably confused about their feelings. Out of nowhere, Yukiko gasped.

"Where are you!" she called. She quickly spun around. Kakashi looked confused.

"Up here!" someone called out.

"Oh God…" Kakashi sighed.

"What's the matter Kakashi you don't seem too happy to see me," Guy said from the rooftop.

"GUY-SENSEI!" Yukiko exclaimed. Her face brightened with an unbelievably large uncontrollable smile. He transported him below and held out his arms and ran toward her and she did the same.

"Yukiko!!!" he called. They hugged each other and then did some weird handshake and laughed. Kakashi watched from behind them with his jaw dropped behind his mask.

"I missed you so much Guy-sensei, how are you! Do you have students? Are they good?"

"Slow down sweetheart, I'm not that talented."

"Sw-sweetheart…?" Kakashi asked. "Uh…"

"So I see you know Kakashi, eh?"

"Yeah, he actually was the one that helped me and got me to the hospital,"

"Was my poor Yukiko hurt, what happened?"

"It was nothing. So you know Kakashi?"

"Well of course I do, he's my ultimate rival!"

"Oh…"

"I currently have 50 wins and 49 losses. We can get along easy, but we're better working together when we're actually competing against each other, that's how our relationship works, right Kakashi?"

"…Huh?"

"AAHHH!!! Don't act so cool about that!!"

"Does that make you have 50 losses now?"

"Ah! No, that doesn't count!"

"Why not?"

"'C-cause, I was talking to Yukiko-dono,"

"-dono…?" Kakashi and Yukiko questioned.

"Anyway, yes I have students. Tenten, Rock Lee, and-"

"You have a Hyuga!"

"Yes, one of my most excellent students, Neji Hyuga,"

"No way! Is he from the main family?"

"Actually no, he's from the branch family, but more powerful than any of the Genin or Chunin in all of the Hyuga clan."

"Whoa…can I meet him?"

"Well I guess so, but you'll really like Lee, he's also one of my greatest."

"Can someone please explain to me how you two know each other?" Kakashi demanded. Guy turned back and faced him.

"Yukiko and I go waaaaay back, Kakashi. I used to help train her in taijutsu. In fact, they were going to ask you to help train her in genjutsu, but the family thought it was best to teach her their ways,"

"Oh…so that explains –sensei…" he said.

"Guy-sensei is one of my favorite teachers!"

"Now now Yukiko-dono, you don't have to be that formal anymore,"

"You're the one being formal…" Kakashi said.

"Nonsense! I'm giving her the respect she deserves; you act like you've known her forever. Not using an honorific on someone like her! The only way I would allow that is if you've saved her life more than once and then was kind to her for the rest of the time being that you knew her or something crazy like that," Guy crossed his arms.

"Eh…actually…" Yukiko started. Kakashi sighed.

"Wait, don't tell me…"

"Nine years ago, ANBU Black Ops mission and about three days ago, out for a walk. We just went shopping and I was on my way to take her home, is it alright now?"

"I-eh, um, you…WHAT!! I've lost twice in one encounter!" Guy got down on his knees and took Yukiko's hand.

"Guy-kun?" Yukiko asked.

"I am sorry Yukiko darling-"

"Darling?" Kakashi and Yukiko looked puzzled.

"-I've failed you, please forgive me. I must go now, please though, meet me at the training grounds tomorrow, you can meet my students and we'll have a picnic or something romantic like that…"

"Romantic?" Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

"Um…okay, I'll see you then Guy-kun."

"Goodbye dear Yukiko. Parting is but a sweet sorrow…"

"What?"

Kakashi walked Yukiko the rest of the way back to Sasuke's apartment. They were still a little weirded out about the encounter with Guy, but they tried to get over that.

"Thank you," Yukiko said as they walked up to the door.

"No problem…I was wondering though, tomorrow when you go to see Guy, do you have a problem if I…if I come with you? I'll bring Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura too," he asked.

"N-no, that's fine," she smiled.

"Great," he said. "See you then, bye," he waved and then transported himself.

"…Bye," Yukiko put a hand up to wave and then slowly put it back down. I think I actually get what Guy was talking about…saying goodbye…