Hello readers and welcome to this story. A bit of background to start if you don't mind:
Okay, this story does take place in an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. While the universe takes after the world of Naruto in the Manga and Anime, please pretend that Itachi has not been killed by Sasuke and that things that are happening in the story now, are not happening.
This story takes place 2 years after shippuden. While the villages are peaceful, Akatsuki still is causing a bit of trouble.
I guess this can be summed up as simply as this:
Pretend that NO ONE has died within the series (Shippuden)
Thanks for reading and please, enjoy!
Several powerful families had existed before the founding of the great ninja villages. The Yoshida family was considered royalty in the Hidden Cloud Village, Kumogakure, simply because of along, and distinguished bloodline, their striking features, of blue eyes and pale skin, in contrast to the more common tanned skin throughout the rest of the country.
Despite this, the Yoshida family quickly relinquished their power to the first Raikage when he founded Kumogakure. However, northerners along the coast still saw the Yoshidas as a royal family, thus they retained titles, a small palace on the sea and excess wealth. In order to keep peace, the Yoshidas swore allegiance to the Raikage.
Kiyomi Yoshida was the only daughter under "King" Osamu Yoshida and his wife Asuka. She and her older brother, Kazuki, lived a privileged childhood along with many lesser cousins and children of family friends. The Royal Family still maintained a strong relationship with the Raikage. Himuro Yoshida, Osamu's brother, however, was unsatisfied with his family's stature.
He staged an unsuccessful coup and was quickly executed, along with any other direct conspirators. In order to avoid a public uprising, Osamu and his wife and children were kept under strict house arrest, with constant watch by the Anbu Black Ops. The Anbu from Kumogakure were belligerent toward the remaining Yoshidas, so the Raikage requested that Anbu from Konoha be sent to watch them, since they would very likely be killed by their own people and he simply did not want the remaining Yoshidas to die without a trial.
The third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village agreed to send a small team of Anbu, but secretly assigned them to gather as much information as possible about Kumogakure.
Kiyomi was nearly thirteen years old when her family first began their house arrest. She remembered being naive and unaware of the trouble her uncle had gotten them into. It was this childish thinking that caused her to do bratty things such as run from her home in a huff after a senseless argument with her mother. She slipped past the keen eyes of the ninja watching them, and out towards the beaches.
Despite her earlier tantrum, Kiyomi was a pleasant girl. She was polite and modest, unlike some of the other girls she knew. She was genuinely frustrated that she couldn't leave her home, even if just to ride a horse or have tea in the garden. To make it all the more frustrating, her mother refused to explain why. "Just stay inside and obey," Asuka said, with maternal coldness in her voice. And with that, Kiyomi ran and eventually stopped in front of a window directly facing the ocean. The beauty of the water enchanted her, so she went outside through one of the several exits to the palace that their protectors were unaware of.
She walked wistfully along the beach, letting the cool water hit her bare feet and feeling relief to be away from her home. It had been a month now, since she had been out and it was already far too cold to swim, but the salty air and wet toes helped her relax.
Kiyomi eventually walked out of the water to collect her shoes as the sun hid behind the clouds and the beach became ominously dark. Behind her, a deep voice said, "Yoshida-hime?"
She spun to see an Anbu ninja, from the Hidden Leaf Village, to her surprise. The ninja wore a traditional uniform, with a white and red wolf mask. He was not very tall, in fact, he was only a few inches taller than Kiyomi herself.
"You are not supposed to be outside of your house, Yoshida-hime. Your father and mother are quite worried," he said sternly. "I'm sorry, I just-", she started, but silenced herself as he approached her slowly. "Your family has been placed under house arrest, which means that you cannot leave your home. Especially not to simply stroll on the beach." Kiyomi felt a lump of shame form in her throat and she swallowed back tears. He was right; she was selfish for doing what she did.
"You won't punish my family will you?" she asked desperately. "It is not for us to punish you, we are simply here to protect you until your house arrest is over. Now, come with me. You've been out here long enough."
Most of the Anbu the Hokage commanded to Kumogakure were insulted to have to be bodyguards for a foreign family. Luckily for most of them, they were only required to stay there for six weeks. Kakashi Hatake did not mind this job, as he enjoyed travelling, but he found that the remaining "royalty" of north Kumogakure were not as smart as he would have liked. They seemed to be in complete denial with their predicament. But it wasn't his business.
Kakashi was much more concerned with his youngest comrade. When he first heard that Itachi Uchiha was joining the Anbu Black Ops, he thought of how young he was when he first joined and thought nothing of it, but since then, he realized that the kid probably wasn't ready for half the things he would endure with this position. Kakashi was surprised to learn that by the time they became teammates, Itachi had already taken part in no less than three assassinations and seven espionage missions.
The kid was intriguing, clearly, but standoffish and quiet. He truly reflected his Anbu mask, a wolf. Leaf Anbu, Kakashi didn't know what other villages did, are given masks by superiors. When Kakashi first joined, he was bestowed with his mask of a dog, for loyalty. Similarly, Itachi must have been given his wolf mask because he was so introverted.
Itachi was an active member of their team, which was refreshing. Even on this mission, he volunteered to scout the area and apparently, he found one of the Yoshidas outside of the limits of their arrest, and decided to apprehend them, while the others presented themselves to the family. The family was kind enough, but clearly distracted by the loss of their daughter, who must of been the person Itachi saw.
The girl's mother was beside herself with anxiety, while her older brother glared at each of them in order to establish dominance, to no avail. The rest of the Anbu members were positioning themselves around this humble palace, while Kakashi waited to greet the "King" and make sure Itachi returned with the girl.
"Commander?" Kakashi face Itachi slowly and smiled behind his mask, amused. He had expected this princess to be a little kid, since her family was so distraught with her running off. She was as old as Itachi, definitely old enough to run off in a teenage rage, but also old enough for his comrade to show his own age when being around her.
The girl's mother quickly embraced her daughter and wept, to Kakashi's shock.
"Kiyomi, are you alright? Why would you leave? Answer me. I told you not to go." She continued to babble incoherently, while the princess gave sob filled apologies. Asuka Yoshida looked at Kakashi pleadingly. "Please, do not harm Kiyomi. She's just a girl."
"We are not here to punish you, my lady. We are here to protect you while your family awaits your trial, while also being sure that you do not break the terms of your arrest. As you know, those terms include not leaving the walls of this palace. I, or any of my comrades, would not dream of harming you, but we do have strict instructions to enforce your arrest. We will have to inflict a slight punishment upon her, as you would, as her parent. She did disobey you, so, how would you discipline her, my lady?"
The girl's mother looked down thoughtfully, then said, "I would send her to her room for the night."
Kakashi crossed his arms, "Hmm, alright that sounds reasonable. To ensure that young Kiyomi breaks no further rules, I'll assign one of us to be her escort. Do you have a problem with that?" The mother nodded fiercely, "Kiyomi is a girl, I will not have her followed about by some man."
"We don't have any available female operatives... Would you object to my young comrade here, serving as her escort. I can say personally, he is the most responsible person I've ever worked with, while also being tastefully naïve."
Itachi cleared his throat, embarrassed and Kakashi smiled. Asuka looked at Itachi with disdain. "How young is he?" Itachi looked at the queen and replied, "I am thirteen, my lady."
"I- I suppose that he may be her escort." Kakashi bowed and kneeled to Asuka and the young princess; Itachi took the initiative to do the same. "My comrades and I will protect and respect your family. Our village has instructed us to be warriors of honor, and that is what we intend to do.
Kiyomi sat at the desk in her room and wrote in her diary quietly as her escort stood in the corner of her room. His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword and the other rested on his side. She had immaturely wondered if the sword was real, though she knew it was.
It had scared her to know that he was only thirteen years old. It seemed wrong for someone so young to have such jarring responsibilities. She was curious about him, though, as she had never met someone from another village. She turned and faced him.
"It is nice to meet you and thank you for your services to my family," she said. "You do not have to thank me for doing my duties, Yoshida-hime," he replied. "You may call me Kiyomi, if you like," she stated quickly. "That would not be appropriate, Yoshida-hime," he murmured. Kiyomi blushed, a bit frustrated. "Well, what should I call you?"
"I'm not sure, Yoshida-hime," he said. "Oh, please. You can call me your name, and I can call you my name. What's wrong with that?" He walked toward Kiyomi and, Kiyomi assumed as she could not see his face, but could hear it in his voice, glared at her. "My identity must remain a secret in order to maintain my village's safety. I cannot go around giving out my name to just anyone. I am here to protect you, not to become your friend."
Kiyomi looked away from him, still frustrated, which bordered on anger. She looked him, then away once more. "I will call you, hm... I'll call you, Okami." He turned away from her and walked back to the corner and stood there, his left hand on his side and right hand on the hilt of his sword.
Kiyomi was disappointed that he wanted nothing to do with her. She would try though, as long as he was her escort, to get him to open up and maybe, just maybe, let her know his name.