Yay! I'm excited, new story! I hope you all like it! R&R please.
Summary: She woke up in a new world, with no memory. She was handed off to a man with silver hair and given a new name: Kaede. And now she's on a team with an annoying blond, an eager girl, and a stubborn Uchiha boy. But as time progresses, and she gets to know them all better, she finds that the stubborn Uchiha boy might just have the heart of a romantic underneath is strong, forced outer cover. SasukeXOC
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters, ect...sadly. :(
CHAPTER ONE: Sunlight, a gray haired man, and three odd ninjas
The light shone unmercifully in her eyes, and she fought to keep them closed. The longer she tried to force them closed, though, the worse her headache seemed to become, so she opened them.
Curtains, stark white curtains were pulled back to reveal a shining, sunny day. The sunlight illuminated the white and blue tiled floor, the white walls, and the metal machines that were beeping ominously to her left. She swallowed; nothing in this room looked familiar. Nothing.
She tried to move her legs, but found them weak. She wiggled her left foot to check its mobility, and she bit back a scream; pain shot all through her foot and ankle when she'd moved it. She chewed on her lip, waiting patiently for the pain to subside. When it had, she reached up with her right arm to run a hand through her hair.
This time, a small screech escaped her lips. What felt like white hot needles coursed through her upper arm and shoulder. Tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes, but she impatiently brushed them away with her left hand.
Why was she hurting so much? Why were her leg and shoulder injured? And why would the persistent throbbing in her head go away?
With a bang, the door to the room opened and she jumped, startled. She jerked back, and the IV she hadn't know was in her arm tore out. Another cry came from her throat—what was going on?—and she grabbed onto her arm, which in turn caused more pain to spread throughout her shoulder. This time, the tears flew freely.
Two of the persons who had entered, nurses, grabbed onto her wrists and tried to force her back down. She screamed, the sound tearing through the small room, and wrestled free, numb from fear and oblivious to the pain. She stumbled on tired, sleepy legs, tripping over her own feet.
The third person who'd entered, a man, grabbed her with one arm and held her tightly to his chest.
She fought tooth and nail, screaming, kicking, flailing, and spitting out more curse words than she ever thought she had known. Eventually, after a few minutes of struggle, she felt the fatigue wash over her, and she went limp.
His tone solemn and calm, the man said, "Better?"
She nodded, unable to speak. The man set her down on the ground and allowed her to lean against him for support. He looked straight at her, and she realized the oddity of his clothing.
A black mask covered his face, just above his nose, and only one eye was showing. The left eye was covered with part of some band, a forehead protector, with a strange symbol carved onto it. Underneath an olive green vest were black pants and a black long sleeve shirt, both rather baggy. Gloves with the fingers cut out adorned his hands, while a strange leather pouch was strapped around his right leg. Wraps were around the visible part of his legs, and black sandals were on his feet.
Where on earth was she?
"What's your name?"
She jumped again, startled by the man's voice, and jostled her shoulder again. She cringed, but still looked up at the man's face, unfazed. Then, when she got to thinking about his question, she gasped. What was her name? She couldn't remember her name, her own name! She couldn't remember anything! Tears threatened to fall again, and she had not the energy to fight back.
The salty tears fell freely from her eyes, dripping down her face and off her chin to land on the ground beneath her.
"I'm sorry," the man apologized, tilting her chin up so she had to look at him. "I suppose I should've introduced myself first. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm a Jounin-level ninja."
This so startled her that she stopped crying. A ninja?
"Would you like to tell me your name?" the one called Hatake Kakashi asked again, as calm and collected as ever.
She gulped and stared into his one eye. Her throat was so dry—she feared she wouldn't be able to talk. But she had to try.
"Can't," she choked out. She tried to form the word. "Re…Reme…Remember."
"Ah," Hatake Kakashi said, kneeling in front of her. "Well, why don't we give you a name?" She looked at him, amazed. "Yes, how about Kaede? It means 'leaf,' and we are in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, after all."
She nodded slowly, wondering wildly what the Village Hidden in the Leaves was. The name of the hospital, maybe? "Kaede," she said, trying the name out. She smiled for the first time, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"Good," Hatake Kakashi agreed, his eye tilting up in what she assumed to be a smile. He stood. "I'll have one of the nurses bring you clothes. Come out in the hall once you're changed; I'll be waiting for you out there, and I'll take you somewhere that you can stay, OK?"
"OK," she said, and as if on cue, a nurse walked in with an armful of clothes accompanied by a pair of shoes.
Hesitantly, she studied the odd clothes. A corduroy skirt with a black belt, a black shirt without sleeves that zipped over a white spaghetti strap, white wraps, black gloves with the fingers cut out, and a pair of black sandals.
She blinked, tilted her head to the side, and looked up at the nurse. The nurse giggled and smiled.
"Go ahead, put them on," the nurse said.
With a grunt, she glared at the nurse and the woman left the room. Carefully, she took off the hospital gown she was wearing and pulled on the odd clothes. Then, after a few moments of searching, she found the bathroom and looked for a hairbrush and deodorant. Once found, she brushed out her tangled hair, tied it up with a scrunchie she'd discovered, and put on some deodorant.
She swallowed, lightly noticing how the clothes showed off her slim figure, and left the room. Hatake Kakashi, as promised, was waiting for her. He motioned for her to follow him out of the hospital, and she did.
The newly named Kaede walked next to Hatake Kakashi, her eyes wide as she took in the strange setting around her. People were walking, just walking, through the city. She even caught a glimpse of some jumping from house to house. Jumping! She looked up at the man with gray hair next to her. He glanced down at her, and seemed to smile encouragingly.
Suddenly, a suspicious thought came to Kaede. Why did she trust this man? She didn't know a think about him, or what he was capable of. He'd shown great strength before, in the hospital, and was constantly calm, as if he knew nothing could hurt him. What was his deal? Kaede didn't know, but from now on, she would have to be on her guard about him.
Hatake Kakashi suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder and halted her. Kaede stared up at him, wondering what he was getting at.
"You know, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, watching her carefully. "I'm not going to hurt you. But I can understand your suspicions," he added. "You have no memory, you don't know anything about the place that you're in, and you're walking around with a strange man. Let's go have some ramen and I'll explain some things to you."
Blinking, Kaede allowed Hatake Kakashi to steer her into a little shop whose name she didn't care to notice. The man and girl working the store smiled as they exchanged greetings with Hatake Kakashi.
"And who's this?" the elderly man asked, smiling at Kaede as if she were a little child. "I don't believe I've seen her before."
Kaede fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the man; she wasn't that childish. Instead, she introduced herself. "My name's….Kaede?" She looked up at Hatake Kakashi for confirmation, and he nodded encouragingly. "Yeah, Kaede."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Kaede," the elderly man said, and went back to his cooking. A few moments later, two steaming bowls of noodles were in front of Kaede and her escort, or whatever he was.
While Hatake Kakashi eagerly dug in, Kaede stared at the noodles. She picked up the chopsticks, unsure of how to use them. Hatake Kakashi saw her dilemma, and showed her the proper way to hold and use the chopsticks. She smiled gratefully, too a bit of the noodles, and immediately started gobbling them up. The elderly man and the young woman behind the counter looked on in amazement.
"She could give Naruto a run for his money!" the girl said, staring wide eyed as she watched Kaede start on a second bowl.
Hatake Kakashi chuckled. "Don't tell Naruto that. I've haven't introduced them yet, and I don't want them to start out on a bad foot."
When the man and the woman went back to their cooking, Hatake Kakashi turned to Kaede.
"I know you don't know the formalities of this place, or what to call me. So you can call me Kakashi, OK?" Kaede nodded, slurping up some more of the delicious ramen. "Good. Now, I want you to listen very carefully to what I have to say. I'm going to explain to you about this village, and the other villages around it, and about the ninja culture, life, and ranks." Once Kaede had said a firm "yes," Kakashi was off.
It was a while before Kakashi had finished his little speech, but as soon as he was finished, Kaede understood.
Ninjas were the fighters of Kohnoha, the village that they were in, also called the Village Hidden in the Leaves. There were many, many villages, such as the Waterfall, the Sand, and the most hated: The Sound. The Hokage, the leader of the Leaf Village, was Tsunade, one of the three legendary sannin. And the more Kakashi talked and explained, the more Kaede began to see her part in it all. She was to be trained as a kunoichi, a female ninja, and was to join Team seven, Kakashi's team.
When Kakashi was done speaking, he payed for the ramen and led Kaede off. Kaede knew where they were going; not the exact place, but they were going to meet the other members of Team seven. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.
The rest of the walk through Kohnoha was uneventful. Kakashi greeted a few people on the street, but didn't stay to talk. Kaede had the feeling that Kakashi was late, and that it happened often.
It wasn't long before the two reached the bridge, and Kaede could see the three ninja that were to be her teammates. One of them was bouncing around like a tennis ball, apparently eager to get going. That one had blond hair, and an orange jacket and pants on. He wore his headband on his forehead, not titled like Kakashi's. The second boy also wore his headband on his forehead, but was standing indifferently, leaning against the bridge railings and telling the blond one to shut up.
The third, a girl with pink hair—pink hair!—was trying to prevent the two boys from getting into a fight.
Kakashi cleared his throat, and the blond and the pink haired girl turned to him. They shouted, "YOU'RE LATE!"
Sheepishly, Kakashi tried to explain. "I'm sorry, I was getti—," but was interrupted by the two ninja's, who shouted,
"LIAR!"
The kid with the black hair just muttered a, "Hn."
"Actually," Kakashi said, putting a hand on Kaede's shoulder. "I'm not lying, for once."
"Yeah, for once," the blond mumbled, crossing his arms. The girl hit him upside the head, and he yowled.
"Shut up, Naruto!" she hissed. "Let him talk!"
"Anyway," Kakashi said loudly. "I was picking up your new teammate. I want you all to be very nice to her, and welcome her into the team. She's a complete amateur, but she had spunk and promise, so they chose me to be her sensei, which means you have to behave yourselves." He pushed Kaede forward a little, and she looked at the ground, nervous. "Go ahead, introduce yourself."
Afraid, Kaede still stared at her feet. Kakashi had made her sound like a little kid, a "complete amateur" as he put it. The whole part about her being spunky and having promise didn't make her feel any better, either. What was she doing here? A sudden urge to go back to hospital and sleep came over her, and she turned to leave. She wasn't going to be a ninja; she didn't know the first thing about it! But Kakashi wouldn't let her leave. He spun her back around, forcing her to look at the three ninja on the bridge.
And he kept his hand firmly on her shoulder, and lightly squeezed it. "Go on. Tell them your name," he said, more strictly this time.
She nodded slowly and said, "Kaede."
And suddenly, a blond, whiskered boy was in from of her face, his hands linked behind his head. "Hi! I'm Naruto! And I'm going to be the next Hokage. Believe it!"
Astounded, Kaede just stared at him, unable to believe this kid's nerve. She raised an eyebrow, trying to understand the boy.
"Erm, hi?"
"Naruto, let her breath!" The girl with the pink hair grabbed Naruto by the collar and threw him back. Kaede looked on in astonishment, amazed at the girl's strength. "Sorry about Naruto, he's just eager," she apologized. The girl held out her hand and smiled. "I'm Sakura. It's nice to meet you."
Kaede nervously shook her hand before glancing at the quiet, indifferent boy. He merely nodded at her, and she nodded back, somehow understanding that he wasn't one to talk.
"Oh," Sakura said, grabbing Kaede's hand and pulling her over to the boy. "This is Uchiha Sasuke. He's the strongest member of our team."
"Yeah, right! I could beat him any day of the weak!" Naruto announced confidently, scowling.
"Sure you could, dobe," Uchiha Sasuke said, startling Kaede. She hadn't realized he could actually speak! "You'd better not be weak," he added to her, and she growled low in her throat. How dare he!
"You may have more experience then me," Kaede said, her courage suddenly rising, "But you'll see. Once I get up to your level, I'll beat the shit out of you faster than you can blink, Uchiha."
Naruto and Sakura looked at her as if she was a crazy person, but she glared at Sasuke, and he glared right back. Neither of them averted their gazes; black eyes stared into hazel eyes.
Kakashi smiled as he watched them. I had thought she would give Sasuke a run for his money. She's got a lot of nerve talking back to him like that, but then again, she doesn't know him, and isn't afraid of him. He chuckled to himself. Yes, in a few weeks time, Kaede will be right up there with Sasuke. She might even beat him.