Hey everybody. Just so nobody's confused. I wanted to let you know that this takes place pre-Naruto. Karasu is nineteen, while Kakashi is twenty.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters (except for Karasu) -

The girl stared down from her perch on the tree branch, her green eyes unblinking, watching the three genin to be flounder through their test through her mask of snow white hopped silently through the branches, scanning the ground for their instructor. She knew that these were shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Leaves of the country of fire, and if she could just convince a powerful Ninja of their village, then maybe, just maybe she'd have a chance. He was moving extremely fast, though, that wasn't unexpected, seeing as he was a jonin level shinobi. When he finally stopped, holding something out, taunting his students, her eyes narrowed as she tried to focus on him. All she could make out was his spiked gray hair, and single eye. His left eye was covered by his headband, while the lower half of his face was covered by a mask. Her eyes widened.

"Could he be…no…someone like him wouldn't stoop to teaching children…" Deciding to take the pause in his training as an opportunity. She jumped down from her hiding place, and landed softly, and gracefully, on her feet in front of him. The genin behind her yelped, while the jonin gazed at her calmly. She stood up straight, and held the instructor's dark eyed stare. She suddenly broke her gaze, whipped around, and blocked an attack from one of the genin. She smirked, held his arm, and kicked him away. "Now, do either of you want to be as foolish as your friend?" she questioned the other two genin icily. They shook their heads, fear burning in their wide eyes. Before she could turn around, she felt the cold steel edge of a kunai pressed to her neck, and a strong arm wrapped around her waist to restrain her.

"Now…" said a stern, yet composed voice. "…I don't care who you are, or what you want, but I will not allow you to lay a hand on my students, even if I was about to fail them."

"You must have missed it, but…" She quickly pulled out her kunai from her belt, pressing it to the man's stomach. "…your student attacked me first." They jumped apart, and spun to face each other, both ready for the other to attack at any given moment. "Honestly, aren't they taught to analyze their opponents before running into battle?" she asked, as she put her kunai back onto her belt, showing that she wasn't there to fight. The man relaxed slightly, but didn't let his guard down. "Relax, I'm not here for a fight," she stated.

"Then why are you here?" he asked. She sighed.

"To make a long story short, I-" The footsteps a small group of people cut her off. "Oh no, not now…" she murmured, then turned to the jonin. "You never saw my face." With that, she jumped back into the tree, and hopped over a few branches. She watched as a second jonin with his three genin entered the clearing.

"Kakashi! Is something wrong, I thought I heard your students scream," the man said, concern evident in his tone of voice.

"Kakashi…so it is him?" Kakashi's attention was still focused on the tree where she was hidden, as if he knew she was there.

"No, no…everything's fine, my students just got…excited." She let out a sigh of relief, glad to know that her cover wasn't blown. The man scrutinized him skeptically, then nodded, taking his word for it.

"I see. Well, I guess if nothing's wrong, then I can just continue to train my students. Good luck." He ran off, the three kids that had followed him to the clearing now following him out.

"You can come out now." She gasped, shocked, then leapt down, landing in front of him again.

"How did you-"

"Know? I just had a feeling I guess." She frowned, worried that if her plan didn't work out, this guy could easily be the one assigned to track her. "Now, who are you, and what do you want?" She thought of a way to explain her situation so that he wouldn't be weary of her.

"Well, there are these people chasing me. They've been chasing me for a few months, and I realized that if I had a shinobi village to hide in, they wouldn't dare come after me. Especially if the famous Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake lives in the village" He raised an eyebrow, then looked at his students.

"You three, you've failed the test. You are to be sent back to the Ninja academy. Go back to the village, you aren't worth my time to train." Each of them looked hurt, disappointed, and angry. One of them was about to argue, but Kakashi's gaze stopped her. They turned, and left, one of them on the verge of tears.

"That was harsh." Kakashi ignored her comment.

"You're expecting me to just allow you to follow me back to my village, and accept you as one of us?" She nodded. "You're an idiot. First of all, I have no way knowing if this story of yours is true, secondly, if it is, I don't know who these people are, or why they're chasing you." She bit her lip, realizing the truth in his words. "Well, I'll be going now," he said, turning to leave.

"Wait! Please! These people want me dead! No honorable shinobi will stand by and let one of their own be killed!" He stopped, and turned to look at her.

"You aren't one of my own though. You're an unknown shinobi, from an unknown village. A perfect stranger to me. I see no reason to protect you." She gritted her teeth, fists clenched.

"My father once told me, that no matter who the shinobi was to me, I should strive to help them, whether it be my closest friend, or someone I just met. He was killed living by his words, and I promised him that I would continue to live, and carry out his dreams! If these people catch me, I won't be able to keep that promise!" she snapped. He looked her up and down for a moment.

"What's your name?" he questioned.

"I'm Karasu Ushinawa," she said. He thought for a moment.

"Fine Karasu, you can follow me, but I'm taking you to my village as my prisoner. You'll still be safe, and I'll be able to keep an eye on you that way." She scowled, but nodded. "Follow me." Kakashi led Karasu through the forest, towards his village. As thy walked, he reached into his pocket, and Karasu flinched. "Relax, I'm not going to attack you." Instead of a weapon, he pulled out a book, which he read as they went.

"Is that what I think it is?" He glanced at her, then closed his eye. She could picture the smile on his lips under his mask. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "You should be ashamed of yourself. You're a renowned jonin, and a teacher!" He shrugged indifferently.

"I'll read what I want to read." Karasu rolled her eyes.

"Whatever…pervert."

"Think whatever you'd like, it won't bother me. You are my lowly prisoner after all." An irritated growl escaped her throat, and Kakashi chuckled. She wanted to bite back, but she bit her tongue so he wouldn't change his mind about allowing her to stay. The rest of the walk was finished in silence, the only nose being the chirping of the birds flying over head. Kakashi stopped at the end of the trees, at the top of a hill that loomed over the village. He stepped aside, allowing Karasu to look out over Konoha. "This is it." Karasu was in awe. The village was peaceful, yet bustling and full of life. She could see crowds walking through what she assumed was the market. The whole village was surrounded by more woods, and behind it, on a huge mountain, lifelike faces were carved into the stone.

"What are those?" she asked.

"Those would be the faces of our four great hokage." She blinked, a smile creeping to her lips.

"It's beautiful…"

"I wouldn't get too comfortable. There's no guarantee that you'll be allowed to stay for long, if at all," Kakashi warned. She nodded in understanding, and took a step forward to start down the hill. Before she could take a second step, Kakashi grabbed her wrist, and forced her to turn around.

"Ow! That…hurt…" she said, fear welling up in the pit of her stomach as Kakashi's dark eye bored into her green ones with an intensity that she could feel coming off of him in waves.

"Listen, and listen closely…" he began in a soft yet menacing tone. "You have no rights here. If I see you arguing with any citizen of Konoha, whether they be an elder or a child, I will punish you. If I find out that you pick fights or instigate, I will punish you. If I find that you plan to cause harm to Konoha, or mean ill will towards the village or anyone in it…I will kill you. If you try to leave Konoha without me, I will kill you. This is my home, and I will not bring you here, and treat you with hospitality to have you betray, and hurt it. If you run, and tell somebody the secrets of this village, I will not stand for it. Do I make myself clear Karasu?" Kakashi's had his face inches from hers, glowering at her threateningly. She nodded slowly, her whole body trembling.

"C-crystal…Kakashi…" He let go of her, stood up straight, and his mood changed instantly. His eye was closed with a smile.

"Good, now lets get going!" He started off down the hill. Karasu stared after him, utterly confused. "Well, are you coming, or are you going to stand there all day?" She shook her head.

"Yeah, wait up!" With that, she jogged to catch up to him.