The pain of losing a loved one can be unbearable, and too many people know this pain. "My mother died when I was born.."
"But there are some people in this world, so evil, that there death brings joy, and happiness.
"And your father, girl?" One of the leaf ninjas questioned.
"I'd rather not talk about it.."
The man who questioned her understood her pain. He too had to struggle with the loss of a parent. So he held his hand out and they left the small village that had been attacked by an unnamed rogue ninja, who got away.
"Lily!" It was one year later, and the 12 year old girl stretched in her bed, yawning, throwing the pillow over her head to ignore the wakeup call.
"Lily c'mon you don't want to miss your first day of school!" She finally decided to get up and stumbled downstairs in whatever clothes looked clean.
"Please Kakashi do I HAVE to go to school? I'm not even from this village, I'll probably be way behind, these kids just wouldn't understand."
Kakashi Hatake, the man who took the girl from the slaughtered village one year ago, gave her a place to stay, and was like a father to her,
looked at her sypathetically, and put his hand on her head.
"Listen, I know it's hard. I know more than anyone else.. But you have to look to the future, focus on your studies and become a medic!"
He grinned under his mask.
"But.."
He took his hand off her head and opened the door.
"No buts."
He decided he would walk with her to her first day as he wanted her to arrive safe. In a way he was the perfect "single parent." Not that she had ever called him dad or anything, he just had the sternness and wisdom of a father, with that kind and overprotectiveness of a mother.
They walked slowly, taking time to say hi to other people, looking at the beautiful spring flowers, and enhaling the smells of the local food.
"You know.. we could just skip this school business and go get some ramen." She said with an innocent smile, which quickly turned to a full frown when the answer was a straight "No."
"Well, here we are." Kakashi smiled and kneeled down to her height.
Lily bit her lip and looked up at the school building. There were some kinds saying goodbye to their parents, some friends playing before classes, pretty much the standard schoolyard. "Alright Lily, I hope you have a good day. We'll meet in front of the school as soon as class is over."
She let out a big sigh, extremely nervous of the new school.
"Don't worry. It will be fine.." He smiled once more before waving goodbye as she started to walk away.
School went by relatively fast, they did some shuriken training, which she found interesting. Lunch was rather depressing though,
as she found a small spot outside to eat alone. Not that the other kids were mean, she just wasn't ready to make friends yet.
But eventually the end of the school day drew near, and as promised Kakashi met her out front. That night at dinner Lily had something big to talk about with Kakashi though.
"So everything went alright today?" Kakashi questioned as he put down two plates of food.
"Meh" She stated as she sit down in front of the steaming hot food. The aroma wafted into her nose, and she inhaled it,
thinking of how to say it.
"Kakashi. You know how you wanted me to be a medic? Well I was thinking it would be cool and all if I became a ninja!"
He put his hands in his lap and looked down.
"Lily I don't think that's a good idea.."
She pouted.
"Well.. you're a ninja, and I wanted to be like you.. you're like a..dad to me."
He felt his eyes well up, but brushed it off. If anything it was a joyous feeling he had. After all the suffering he went through as a child,
he had finally found a family. This little girl who understood him more than anyone, who he considered a daughter, and would even die protecting.
He wasn't mad at her for wanting to be a ninja, but he worried so much about losing the one person who was this close to him.
On the other hand, it would be wrong of him to say no to her dreams. So he thought of a better answer.
"How about we see."
Ah yes the dreaded "we'll see" that every kid hated.
"But Kakashi!"
"Lily.. I said we'll see."
He said with a stern voice, yet playful smile.
From that day on Lily made it her mission to graduate from the academy. It was only a few months away, and she studied and trained like there was no tomorrow. And, all that hard work, with just a small dash of luck, allowed her to graduate, just by the skin of her teeth mind you, from the ninja academy on time.
She couldn't believe it. She was a gennin. Technically that was a ninja. But she had to have Kakashis permission to further her ninja training.
"Lily I'm so proud that you graduated!" Kakashi beamed over there celebritory bowls of ramen from Ichiraku.
"And just think, tomorrow you can start your medic training!" He said proudly.
"Well Kakashi, remember months ago, you said we could see about me becoming a ninja? Well I think that's what I want!"
She exclaimed with the biggest grin on her face.
Kakashi had almost forgotten all about it. They both sat in quiet for a minute, Kakashi pndering over what he should say next.
He just couldn't lose her. If she became a ninja and got hurt, or worse, he would never let himself live it down.
"Lily, I think you'll be much more happy if you become a medic, think of the people you could help. And it's much safer as well."
She slammed her fist on the bar counter, frightening other customers.
"You can't do this! It's not fair! This is my dream! You're just jealous I could be a better ninja than you! Oh and you know something else?
I can do something you can't.."
"And what's that?" He said curiously.
"Today before graduation the teacher had us take a special test to determine which of the the five elements we had an affinity for..
and I had an affinity for all five!"
Kakashi looked at her stunned. Of course there had been cases of people having an affinity for multiple elements, but although not unheard of, it was rare for someone to have one for all five.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier Lily?" He said half impressed half still upset about the ninja thing.
"I wanted it to be a surprise for tonight.. so.. surprise." Kakashi sighed, the thought of losing her still lingered in his mind.
"Lily.. I want you to be safe.. please.. I know you'll enjoy being a medic. You're kind hearted and like helping."
She agreed, but was disappointed that Kakashi didn't think she was capable of doing it without getting hurt or something.
Medic training started, and after a couple weeks in Lily began to slip, her thirteenth birthday was near, and medic training was just boring for her. Kakashi felt bad about not supporting her, but at least he could go to bed at night knowing she was safe.
And finally, Lily snapped. It was so boring for her, she skipped medic training and ran off into the forest for some good ol' training.
She wanted to master all five of the elements. Of course having for an affinity for them didn't mean you knew them, it just made it much easier to master each one. And each day, while Kakashi thought she was going to medic training, she ran off into the forest to train. Water style was her favorite so she decided to practice jutsu with that element first. "Dang this is so hard!" She shouted to herself.
"You know it would be much easier if you had a teacher.."
She spun around and saw a man wearing a cloak, black with red clouds. He had orange hair and several piercings. He was pretty scary.
"Wh-who are you?" She stammered while inching backwards.
"I've been watching you Lily. And while you may not be talented yet, you have so much potential. I want you to join my organization,
I can provide you with all of the training you need.. You could be a great ninja you know."
She stopped inching and looked into the mans eyes. She didn't say a word.
"I'll be fair. You take a month to think about it. If your answer is yes, meet me here in a months time." He turned around and walked off into the dense forest, quickly out of sight, but definitely not out of mind.