Blood. All the young woman could remember was blood. Blood…and her name. Her name…

Saiai Shiroi, missing nin for more than ten years. But she didn't know she'd been missing. She only knew that her name was Shiroi and that there was so much blood…and she remembered a face, a person. She remembered only vaguely what he looked like, as she couldn't see, but she could remember clearly what he sounded like. She could hear his voice saying almost anything…but she had no idea where to find him. Darkness took her most of the time, and there was never a night when she didn't dream about a village, a village where that person she remembered lived. She didn't know if she lived there or not, or if she had a home at all.

Hatake Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he was handed the mission sheet, straight from the Hokage. It was a B rank, generally reserved for jounin only, but here he was, with Team 7, being assigned to this mission.

"Are you completely serious?" he muttered, single eye trained on Umino Iruka, who nodded.

"Completely. The Hokage asked me to give your team this mission specifically," the chuunin said. "Better hurry up and get to it – you'll find it an interesting one."

"Alright," Kakashi sighed, turning to Team 7 – Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Sai. "The three of you will go home and get ready for this mission. I'm going to do the same. You'll need all the supplies you can possibly carry without detracting from your ability to fight. Now scram." There was a collective "Right!" as his students ran off. Kakashi followed them out at a slower pace, reading the mission sheet as he went, mumbling the words to himself. "Missing Konoha nin spotted in the forests outlying Konoha, search and rescue, identity believed to be…" Here he stopped, both in his reading and in his walking. The name struck him – he couldn't believe it. "Saiai Shiroi," he whispered to himself, staring at the page in disbelief. She was supposed to be dead, wasn't she? She'd gone missing nearly twelve years ago, when she was 19…she couldn't be alive, surely. She had to have died. She had to. But…according to the report, she was alive, somewhere in the forest surrounding Konoha. He would have to lead his team in this mission, like it or not.

"Kakashi-sensei, is something wrong?"

Sakura's question came as a surprise to Kakashi, as he'd expected her to have run off ahead with Sai and Naruto. The jounin just shook his head.

"Nothing's wrong, Sakura-chan. I'm just reading over the mission specs," he said, feigning as if he were smiling when he really couldn't make the expression real.

"Alright. See you later, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, running off towards her house. Shaking his head, Kakashi started off towards his own home, reading the mission specs report over and over, disbelief receding each time. By the time he got home, his disbelief had all but vanished. Shiroi was alive. She was alive, and she was almost home.

The day Team 7 was scheduled to leave on their search-and-rescue mission arrived, and for once in his life, Kakashi was the first one to arrive at the assigned meeting place. When Sakura and Naruto arrived, their shock was obvious. Sakura was fumbling with words, and Naruto wasn't even trying to speak. When Sai arrived, he was markedly calmer than the other two.

"Kakashi, what momentous occasion is this that you're here before the rest of us?" the pale boy asked, the question reflected in the expressions of his teammates.

"This mission is important to me," Kakashi said vaguely. "I want to get going as soon as possible."

"Missions are never important to you, Kakashi!" Sakura managed to exclaim. "What's so different about this one?!" Kakashi just shrugged.

"You'll see," he said cryptically. "Let's get going." That being said, Kakashi turned and strolled out of the gates of Konoha, his flabbergasted students following close behind.

"What are the mission specs?" Sai asked after a few moments of silence.

"Search and rescue," Kakashi replied. "Missing nin. She's 31, and has been missing for nearly twelve years. Her name…" Here, he paused, swallowing hard. "Her name is Saiai Shiroi."

"I've heard of the Saiai clan!" Sakura exclaimed. "They have a really powerful kekkei genkai, don't they?"

"Yes, they do," Sai answered, nodding to himself. "Shiroi…she's the only heir to the Saiai fortune, and the last of their bloodline. Her brothers died a long time ago, didn't they?" Kakashi nodded.

"Hey, how d'you know all this, Sai?" Naruto asked.

"A better question would be how Kakashi knows all this is true," Sai said, looking up at their sensei as he stiffened.

"I…I knew Shiroi when she was still in the village," the jounin said, though it was clear he didn't want to elaborate and would gracefully dodge all attempts at finding out what more there was to the story. Naruto, the idiot, started laughing.

"Kakashi-sensei had a girlfriend!" the blond teased, laughing as hard as he could. When Kakashi turned to glare at him, however, he shut up.

"We're getting close to the area where she was sighted," Kakashi said, handing a photograph to his students. "Be on the lookout for her." Naruto was forcing back sniggers as he looked the photograph over.

"She's cross-eyed," Sai said. "She can't see, can she?"

"And she's so pale…kind of like Orochimaru was," Sakura added. Kakashi sighed, reaching back for the photo and tucking it away as he led the team through the trees.

"She has a rare genetic disorder that should have killed her before she even turned two," he said as they ran, staring straight ahead. "Her skin has no pigment. When she was born, her eyes and hair didn't have any pigmentation, either, but as she grew, they gained color. Her name, Shiroi, means 'white'. She's very powerful, and extremely skilled with taijutsu. She crippled her oldest brother when she was nine." He glanced at the sky – mid-afternoon. "She became a jounin when she was fifteen. Her father saved her life when she was growing up by giving her some of his chakra every day, to make sure she became strong and survived. She'll be…a little disoriented, seeing as she can't see and probably won't know where she is." Here he stopped talking, and the group traveled in silence for a while. By the time he was talking again, the sun had just about completely set in the sky and they still hadn't found her. "We'll stop in the next clearing and set up camp. She may find us, so be alert at all times." He looked pointedly at Naruto as he said the last statement, but the blond was already busy fumbling with his tent, and Kakashi sighed as he began to assemble his own tent, letting his students bicker amongst themselves about the proper tent-setting-up procedure. She was somewhere…she had to be. Shiroi would come home, after all these years…it was almost impossible to believe, but it was true. He couldn't believe it. But, in a way, he had to believe it; it was what he was assigned to do on this mission.

Come morning, there still had been no sign of Shiroi. Hiding his disappointment, Kakashi ordered his students to put their tents away as he did so himself, then giving the order to move out. "Meet back here at sundown," was his final order as the team split, running from the clearing to search the forest. Making his way through the trees, he tried to recall everything he could about his old friend. She was so kind and gentle…she really shouldn't have become a kunoichi. She'd only done it to prove herself to her brothers, which wasn't a good reason at all.

"Kakashi-sensei!!"

Sakura's shrill call snapped Kakashi out of his thoughts, and he stopped and turned in the direction the call had come from, waiting for Sakura to reach him and catch her breath before motioning for her to continue.

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto found her," the pink-haired girl said, refusing to meet Kakashi's gaze. "She's not looking so good, and she attacked him. Sai's helping him fend her off, but…we need your help, Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi nodded, deciding for himself what he was going to do.

"Alright, let's go," he said, and Sakura sped off, Kakashi following close behind. "What, exactly, happened?"

"Naruto went looking almost parallel to the route I took, and he found a girl in a clearing. He shook her shoulder, to see if she was OK, and she turned to him and—it was her, it was Shiroi," Sakura said, her voice shaking. "Her eyes were crossed, just like the picture you showed us, and she looked almost exactly the same…her face was a little thinner and her hair's a lot longer, but it's her, no doubt. Next thing I know, I heard Naruto swearing, so I went to check it out and she was attacking him! I called for Sai, and when he showed up I came to find you…I hope that idiot is alright, though…"

"He'll be fine," Kakashi said, coming to a halt just outside the clearing. He could see what was going on, and he didn't like it, not one bit. Naruto was injured, and Sai was facing off with Shiroi on his own. Definitely not a good situation to be in. Just as Shiroi was about to attack, Kakashi stepped out from behind the trees. "Shiroi, stop. You don't want to repeat what happened with your brother."

The voice…it was the voice she remembered.

"Y-you…" the girl said, sightless eyes trained as evenly as they could be on the man who'd spoken in that voice that she remembered, so clear and warm and familiar. "I-I remember you…"

"I remember you, too, Shiroi," Kakashi said. "Do you remember my name?"

"I-I…I don't," Shiroi said, almost sadly. "B-but I remember you."

"What do you remember, Shiroi? You have to tell me," Kakashi told her, his voice gentle but allowing no room for argument.

"I-I remember that my name is Saiai Shiroi," Shiroi replied quietly. "And I remember…I-I remember a lot of blood. I remember you…a-and that's it." Kakashi nodded, and walked slowly towards the girl, taking her hand as Sakura gaped.

"Sakura, Sai, you two get Naruto to the hospital, I'll get Shiroi home," Kakashi said, not looking at his students as he started to lead Shiroi from the forest. "Come on, Shiroi, we'll get you home. You've been through a lot, it seems." He could tell from the way she smiled what Shiroi wanted to say – "A lot doesn't even begin to cover it." He himself smiled a little. "I know, Shiroi. I know more than anyone what you mean."