Prologue:

I sighed and pushed myself off of the bed. My hair was flying in random directions, my face white as a sheet, and my pride taking a beating. It'd been a long time since I'd looked like this. I bit my lip and swung my feet over the side of the bed and padded to my bathroom in my pajamas.

With last night still fresh in my mind, I climbed into the shower and set the spray to where it would melt flesh off. Today, I could stand it. My breath hissed out in surprise between clenched teeth as the water hit my body. I was pale, bruised, and pissed off. I quickly finished in the shower, a quick lather, quick rinse, and then completed it with my hair. After wrapping a towel around me, I started back toward my room.

I was mumbling to myself about big, stupid men and their big, stupid attitudes when the door to my parent's room burst open. My breath hitched in my throat as a muscley man appeared in the doorway. Harp, the small, wiry mutt that we had gotten a year before streaked through the open doorway, between the man's legs, and hid behind me. The poor little thing was covered in blood.

The man hid behind the mask that was so cleverly worn by the ANBU. Of course. A rogue one had just entered my house, killed my parents, and was now standing there, waiting to kill me, too. That would be just my luck. And poor little Harp… The little thing would be all by her lonesome with a big, bad, murderer.

I glared at the man. If he was going to kill me, he'd very well kill me when I was dressed. With a sigh, I grabbed Harp by the scruff of the neck and pulled her toward my room. Realizing where we were headed, she tore herself from my grip and plunged into the safety of my room.

Safety my ass, I thought to myself as I walked into the room.

The man followed at a safe distance. There was something familiar in the way he walked. I pushed that thought out of my head. Nobody I knew would sneak into my house and kill my family. I pushed Harp into the bathroom, shutting the door before she could streak out through the open door. She scratched and whined at the door.

"You," I said through clenched teeth as I pointed at the man. "You are going to stay in here while I get dressed, do you understand me?" A nod. "Good. Because if you kill me while I'm naked, I will come back and haunt you."

The man shook his head as I scurried around my room in search of clothing. I chose some skin-tight black jeans, a black tank-top, a black lacy bra, and a black thong. I almost laughed at it all. As I opened the door, Harp jumped at my legs, smearing them with blood as she smeared saliva all over my upper thighs.

"Down, Killer," I said on a giggle as I walked into the bathroom.

I turned around, glared at the man who was too busy looking around to notice. The door slammed. Followed by the locking mechanism. I started the shower once again, making it seem like I was washing the blood off of my legs while I was actually washing the blood off of Harp. When she was clean, I quickly washed and dried off my legs and began to dress.

With the water still running, I quickly and quietly opened the window. When a footstep was heard, I stopped, Harp cocked her head and watched me. The footsteps retreated back toward my bed in the opposite corner of the room. I opened the window the rest of the way, thankful that it didn't creak as it usually did. Harp came at my hand motion. After picking the mutt up, I crept through the window.

I pressed a finger to my mouth while looking at Harp. The dog had been taught the universal sign of "Ssh." I crept along the house, avoiding the windows, and managed to get to the wooded area that sat at the back of our property without being seen or heard. With a silent laugh, I crept into the woods. Looking back, I saw the man look at me from my bedroom window. I froze. He lifted the mask. The breath caught in the back of my throat. Itachi?

He gave me a small, tight smile and lifted a hand in a sad greeting.

My heart turned to stone in my chest.

My world managed to crumble into a billion tiny little pieces.

Part 1: Three Years Later

Harp yawned as I stretched on the bed. The mutt grumbled low in her throat and nudged against my arm, which was laying in her way. I pushed against her, knowing already that I couldn't move the 150 pound plus mass that was lying at my side. Harp lifted her head and barked, the sound high pitched and growly at the same time.

"Katara!" I heard Kakashi yell from the other room. "Shut her up!"

I glared at Harp. The dog looked at me and smiled, showing all of her teeth. I muttered a curse under my breath as I got up from the spare bedroom. Harp jumped off the bed and skidded on the floor, thumping into the wall. I heart Kakashi yell from the other room about annoying beasts who should be put outside and laughed.

"Oh, Harp," I said as I quickly walked across the hallway into the bath. "You are so lucky he loves you. Otherwise I'm sure that he'd follow through those idle threats he throws at you."

Harp smiled again and wagged her tail so hard her whole body shook. With a sigh, I slammed and locked the door. The water was turned to full blast on hot enough to melt your skin off. A moan of pleasure escaped my lips as I stepped into the water and let the spray wash over my body.

"Katara!" Kakashi whined as he pounded on the door. "I have to use the bathroom! Come on! Unlock the door!"

I opened the shower curtain and looked down at Harp. "What do you think, Harp? Should we let him in?"

The dog grumbled low in her throat and barked at the door. I had an answer.

"Sorry, Kakashi!" I yelled from the shower. "But I can't do that right now. Use the other bathroom!"

"There is no other bathroom!"

"Go somewhere else, then."

Harp howled at the door. Kakashi cursed and banged on the door once again. I sighed and stepped out of the shower. I wrapped myself in a towel and walked to the door. Wrenching it open, I stood in front of a very sleepy-looking Kakashi and glared at him.

"My God, do you ever stop?" I yelled as I walked back to the shower. I stepped back in, towel and all. After the curtain went back into place, I threw the towel over the top of the shower and continued bathing myself. "Couldn't you wait until I got out of the shower?"

Kakashi was already at the toilet relieving himself. "Uh… Not really…"

"Of course not. You never can. Why can't you just sleep for another twenty to sixty minutes?"

"Hmm… That would be the little furry thing that lies in the corner of my bathroom as we speak."

I launched a shampoo bottle at him.

"Bad aim. We really should work on that."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"That's what you said yesterday, Katara."

"And?"

He sighed.

"Kakashi, I'm done in the shower. I kinda need you to leave now so I can get out."

"I'm goin'. Don't forget, Harp can't stay in the house alone anymore."

"Jeez, man. She eats one pair of underwear, socks, and mauls your couch to death, and you decide she can't stay in the house alone anymore. You're so mean."

"You say to the man who took both of you in when everybody else wouldn't."

I bit my lip against the tears. The rejection still stung as if it was yesterday. With a sickening laugh, I shook my head. What was I saying? Every single day was like I was living the day after I saw who killed my parents. I still didn't know why. I needed to find Itachi for that. My fingers curled into my palms, biting little half-moons into them as I fought to keep my breathing even and not scream.

I had loved him.

He killed them.

I still love him.

"Katara?" Kakashi asked, obviously uneasy during this quiet moment.

"I'm fine. Leave so I can get dressed."

Kakashi sighed and left the bathroom, the door closing with a soft click. I thrust the shower curtain open, escaping into the room. Harp watched wearily from her corner of the bathroom, whining at my pacing. Water was dripping off my limbs as I wrapped a dry towel around myself. As the water seeped into the cloth, I realized water was still dripping down my face. I reached up, touched the water droplets. With a curse, I noted that they were tears.

Itachi could still make me cry. Three years later, and I still cried over him. My best friend. My first crush. The one man I had thought I had loved. With a sigh, I wiped angrily at the tears and tried shoved my way through the door that had decided it didn't want to open. I beat at the wood, sobs wracking my entire frame. God, my poor heart was breaking once again…

The door gave way. Kakashi caught my limp body as I fell forward. He held me as I cried, told me everything was going to be alright. I almost laughed at him. How did he know what I was going through? As far as I knew, he hadn't known what love was like. He was still pure.

"Katara," Kakashi whispered as he kissed my temple softly. "Katara, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"Oh, God," I muttered as I tried to pull away from him. My mind wanted to, but my body stayed almost glued against his. "Kakashi… Oh, God…"

"Katara, just tell me, okay? I'll listen. I promise."

"I… Oh, God, Kakashi… I think… I think I still love him!"

Kakashi grew still against me, even though his hands were still stroking up and down my arms. I bit my lip, ready to be rejected once again. Then his body went lax again, as if my confession hadn't just escaped these treacherous lips. He kissed my temple again, hands stroking my hair.

"It'll be okay, Katara. We can get you over him. I know it."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

I smiled my first real smile in years as I pressed against him. His body was so large, warm, I was somewhat afraid. The only men I had known hadn't been as accepting as Kakashi had been all these years. He even dealt with Harp, who most would have forced me to get rid of. But Kakashi… Kakashi was different.

Kakashi grabbed my upper arms firmly and pushed me away so he could look into my eyes. He smiled, looking somewhat haunted. And at that precise moment, I knew something bad was going on, going to happen. Something quite horrible. And it was going to be all my fault. I couldn't endanger him. I had to leave.

"Katara?" Kakashi asked as his eyes searched my face. "What is wrong, Katara? What's going on in that twisted psyche of yours?"

I gave him another award winning smile, even though it was hollow and I felt gutted inside. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Katara… Don't lie to me…"

"I'm not, Kakashi. I'm telling the truth. The absolute truth." I stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get dressed and brush my hair before it dries the wrong way and it's impossible for me to work with."

Kakashi nodded, letting go of my arms. His fingertips slid down the pale limbs as I stood up, careful not to flash anything. He smirked as my breath hitched a little. I rolled my eyes and walked back into the spare bedroom, not bothering to see if Harp was at my heels. As I reached my door, I heard Kakashi lovingly whisper to my dog. Harp grumbled in agreement and ran after me.

"Harp!" Kakashi called, causing the large yellow mass of wiry fur to come to a stop, spin around, bark at him in annoyance. Or at least I thought it was annoyance. "Remember our pact, okay?"

Harp grumbled in response and streaked into our bedroom.

I looked back at Kakashi and my eyes watered once again.

Oh, Kakashi, I thought as I blinked back the tears. I'm going to miss you.