Author's Notes: Hello! I am excited to get this story up here finally. It is a work in progress and I hope I can get my concept across as clearly as possible. Please please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. This story is mainly for my own amusement.


I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast.
I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life
- but there was no one to tell me.
~George Washington Carver

Chapter 1- Pink

Kakashi never knew what he was missing in life. The world seemed perfectly normal to him. The grass, the sky, the village, the people. They were all a part of one big scene playing out on a dull stage around him. Maybe he was the lead actor? Maybe he was the audience?

Did he really care?

Not really.

Today he was on his way to the market to pick up a few things for the house. With no mother around—she was dead after all—and a father who was almost constantly away on missions, it fell to Kakashi to pick up food and other necessities. At least his father would leave a list; a list that Kakashi sometimes secretly added to just to get what he wanted.

A group of kids ran by. Kakashi watched them until they disappeared around the corner of a shop. They couldn't have been more than seven or eight. They were a little under his age, but they were definitely village kids, not ninjas.

Kakashi puffed out his chest in pride. He had passed the Academy in a year at the age of five and was already a chuunin. Beat that society! In fact, the village considered him one of the best upcoming prodigies in years—after Minato Namikaze of course, but that was a different story.

The young chuunin stopped in thought and let a hand stray to the wall next to him. Maybe after his errands he would go to the training grounds. That was a logical endeavor for a growing prodigy.

The slap of scandals hitting the ground caught his attention. Kakashi merely glanced in the direction of the sound. A young girl was running down the street. She was clearly out of breath and had somewhere urgent to be. He wouldn't have minded about it too much, but when the girl's shoe caught on the uneven ground and she tottered forward, he had to move.

Kakashi sprang into action, letting his ninja instincts act. He swung an arm around the girl's waist and spun her around delicately so she was facing the sky. As if he would let go, the girl snatched at his shirt as she came to a halt safely in the crook of Kakashi's arm.

"Are you… all right?" Kakashi ventured as she glanced around almost bewildered for a few seconds.

Then something happened. The girl's face changed. He couldn't describe it as she pushed him away and patted dust from her skirt. It wasn't like her eyes had disfigured or that her mouth suddenly had sharp fangs. She was just… different. It was across her cheeks, he concluded. The change was certainly still there.

The girl cleared her throat, "Thank you… I um, need to get going.. I'm almost late for class."

"Class?" Kakashi ventured. She looked about his age, maybe a little younger.

"Yes," she said with a smile, "I'm going to graduate from the Academy this year!"

Kakashi mulled that information over.

"Not if you're late."

"Well I— ah!" the girl spun on her heels and took off down the street again, "I'm sorry we can talk later! My name is Rin! Nohara Rin!"

Kakashi waved slowly as her figure retreated into the distance. What exactly had just happened? The young chuunin glanced around the area. Nothing else was changing in that weird way. He continued on the road to the market debating if he had just imagined the weird shift of gray across the girl's—no Rin's—face. It didn't seem right.

Suddenly, something caught his eye by a flower shop. It was the same thing that had been on Rin's face. Kakashi walked over to the tulip as if it was some ghastly fascinating science experiment. If he squinted his eyes just enough, the thing stopped wavering. He poked the strange tulip just not getting it. Had Rin done something to his vision? Was she actually a spy in the village that had put some sort of weird genjutsu on him? It didn't seem likely, but he had heard far worse scenarios throughout the Third War happening.

He would definitely keep an eye on Rin. She was too suspicious now.

"Hey," a gruff voice knocked Kakashi out of his thoughts. The flower shop lady had come out and was staring at him with disdain, "Stop standing there gawking. You never seen a tulip before?"

"I—" Kakashi couldn't get any farther.

"You either buy something or get lost kid," the lady commented.

Kakashi would have taken the second choice in a heartbeat any other time but this… this was intriguing. He needed to see what else this strangely changed tulip could do.

"I'll buy this," he replied as he picked the tulip from its vase full of companions. None of the other buds were different, just this one. Maybe he could figure this out.


It was a long day as Kakashi finished up the chores and cleaned around the apartment house. Hopefully his father would be back soon. Kakashi really didn't want to start the laundry that was piling up. As brave and smart as he was, taking one step toward the growing pile of dirty clothing sent shivers up his spine. How did his mother—and women in general—cope with such a distasteful task?

Kakashi didn't mind the other tasks though. He kept one eye on the tulip he'd purchased; it was currently sitting in a bowl of water by the sink. There weren't any vases in the house and Kakashi hadn't thought about it at the time. Maybe he should go pick one up too.

The flower hadn't changed at all. The same… strangeness was there throughout the day. He still couldn't understand it.

So when the clock finally rolled around to when the Academy was letting its students go for the day, Kakashi swiped the bright tulip from its deficient dish and set out to find Rin.

When the chuunin finally found the girl he was looking for, he realized talking to her alone might prove difficult. Rin was walking home alongside Kurenai and a very egotistical Anko. He wasn't worried about the first one, but the second one could be very hard to handle if she got fired up.

He crouched on a tree branch overlooking the street and watched the three girls as they passed below.

"Aw come on!" Rin was pouting about something.

"Tch, the garden?" Anko spoke up as she took long strides to keep up with the other girls, "That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

Kurenai merely smiled. Aw dear Kurenai. A soft spoken lady that was as smart as she would be deadly one day. She should be graduating from the Academy this year. At least, Kakashi hoped. Then maybe he could lobby for her to be placed on his team.

"What are you going to do?" Kurenai finally replied, countering Anko's comment.

"Me? I'm gonna go hang out with Orochimaru and get stronger, of course," Anko responded with a grin.

Kakashi noted the slight worry that crossed Rin's face before it disappeared. He had to agree with her doubts about the older jounin. There was something about him that didn't seem right to Kakashi. He gave the creeps to everyone around him when they were at meetings or when he would show up at the training grounds unexpectedly. He was not right in the head or something.

Kurenai suddenly stopped. Busted. Kakashi gave a small sigh as Kurenai turned around and—her eyes were the same strangeness!—her gaze landed on him. "Kakashi? I knew someone was lurking around… I didn't think it would be you of all people."

The other two girls looked up. Rin took a step back obviously recognizing him from earlier. "What're you doin' up there ya creep?" Anko spat out.

Kakashi slipped off the tree branch and landed lightly on the pavement. He took a moment to straighten up his clothing. The tulip was still safely tucked into his jacket.

"Watcha got there~?" Anko pressed. It was like an interrogation already. "Gonna get all smooth and sly on a bunch of girls like us?"

"No no," Kakashi replied, but Anko would hear none of it.

"You think you're all that, don't ya?!" she continued.

"Anko stop."

Kakashi was mildly surprised when Rin stepped in to handle the wild girl. He was even more stunned when she walked over to him and waved the whole situation off like some forgotten appointment she just remembered.

"I gotta go guys," Rin said cheerily, "I forgot I had a meeting today."

"With him?" Anko glowered back.

"Yea," Rin replied awkwardly. She glanced at Kakashi for help, "Sorry."

Kakashi wasn't sure why Kurenai was smirking. He only needed to talk to Rin. He didn't need to get involved with a bunch of silly ideas of dating or whatever women thought.

"All right," Kurenai said, "just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"What? Are you serious? Nothing ever happens when we do it your way!" Anko replied.

Kurenai crossed her arms at that. She pursed her lips indignantly, "Fine then. Don't do whatever Anko would do. See you later." With that, Kurenai continued down the street as if nothing strange had happened.

"Hey!" Anko called chasing after the dark haired girl, "That was cruel!"

"It is true Anko."

"No it isn't!"

Kakashi waited until the girls were out of sight before opening his mouth. Rin cut across his train of thought, "What do you want?"

Might as well get straight to the point.

"This," Kakashi stated taking the tulip from his jacket and nonchalantly shoving the flower in Rin's face.

"It's a flower," Rin replied. She looked confused and… what was that? Defensive?

"Yes," Kakashi huffed. How could he explain this... this whatever had happened? "It's different."

"It looks like a regular tulip to me," Rin shrugged, "…You're not asking me out or anything are you?"

"No," Kakashi didn't know what to do as he rubbed circles into his temples. This was going to be one massive headache soon. "I mean…" he held the tulip out again and pointed at it. "This. It's…" He moved his finger to indicate the whole weird change that had taken place that he couldn't explain.

"Iiittt'sss…" Rin's head made a circular motion trying to draw more words from him. She obviously wasn't going to get an answer from him because Kakashi didn't know. Finally she gave up and sighed, "What? Pink? Is it too girly or something?"

"Pink?"

What the hell was pink? That word was new to him. Maybe she really was a spy after all.

"Yea… pink," she was staring at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

So the weirdness was "pink." Kakashi looked at the tulip closely again. At least he had a name for it now.

Rin crossed her arms with a contemplative expression. Kakashi wasn't sure what else to say. This "pink" didn't seem harmful. He hadn't been hurt by it yet. And Rin wasn't running in the other direction either. That was a good sign that it wasn't dangerous.

"…I've never seen it before," Kakashi ventured at last.

"What?" Rin's eyebrows knitted together in a fine line, "How have you never seen…" She hesitated as Kakashi gave her a very serious look, "You've really never seen pink before?"

Was this a trick question? Kakashi gave her a guarded look, "No…"

"No blues or greens or yellows? Nothing?"

Now she was just speaking foreign words to him. His expression must have slipped because Rin reacted immediately, "Holy crap! You really don't know what I'm talking about!?" She threw her hands up in mock distress before turning around. "How did you even pass the Academy?!"

"Excuse me?" Kakashi butted into her rambling. Okay, now he just wanted an explanation. He had passed the Academy with top marks at the age of five! How could she doubt his growing skills as a shinobi?! "What are you talking about?"

"Come with me," Rin snapped as she turned to face him and seized his wrist. Kakashi was about to counter her move when a thought struck him. Maybe the answers he sought weren't as simple as he first imagined.

He let Rin drag him down the sidewalk. They didn't stop until they were on the same street as earlier with the flower shop. Kakashi frowned. Going back to the scene of the change? How would this help exactly?

Rin stopped in front of the window of flower displays. She pointed at the nearest vase and asked, "What color are those?"

"What is color?" Kakashi shot back as he eyed the tiny daisies. Were they playing some interrogation game now?

"Those are yellow," Rin stated calmly, "Yellow is a color."

Kakashi waited for more.

Rin frowned at him, "You really aren't joking are you?"

Kakashi reflected her expression, "Joking about what?"

"Everyone sees color!" she responded. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as she stuttered through her words, "Color is like… like a part of everything. It gives objects s-substance and and… wow, you really don't know."

Kakashi again noticed the slight change of Rin's cheeks. The "pink" was there again. So did it happen randomly or was it always there under the surface of the skin? Did he have the "pink" in him too? He was starting to believe Rin wasn't a spy. But this concept of… color… what was it and why did it seem like he should know about it?

"This is hard to explain," Rin laughed sheepishly after a couple of minutes, "Wow, um… can I try to come up with a better explanation and meet you some other time?"

Kakashi didn't see the harm in that. She certainly seemed intrigued by the situation. He only had a couple of small missions for this week. It wouldn't be hard to meet again. Maybe he could find a book in his spare time about color or something. The chuunin nodded slowly, "Tomorrow?"

"All right… wanna pick me up from the Academy?" Rin smiled slightly.

Kakashi nodded again, "Sounds good."

"Okay!" Rin bubbled, "Wow, I really can't believe this. This is so cool and weird~!"

Something about those words bugged Kakashi. If Rin was reacting the way she was, what would others say if they knew about this no color thing? "Rin…" he stated before the girl wandered off.

"Yea?"

"Could you not mention this to anyone else?" Kakashi wasn't sure if she could keep her mouth shut. "Please?"

"Sure," she replied, "It's gotta be really strange not knowing what color is."

Kakashi simply nodded again, "Thank you."

"I better get home now. See you tomorrow Kakashi~!" Rin laughed and ran off.

Kakashi gave a slight wave. He just hoped Rin wouldn't say anything to her friends like Kurenai or Anko of all people. Not until he at least had some understanding of what was going on and could figure out how to handle the others' reactions.

He twirled the tulip in his hand thoughtfully. Life was looking pretty interesting all of a sudden. And pink.