Summary:

"Don't cry; I'm here." Twisting around, she found a light. In the light was a hand that she took a hold of, and was forever saved.

A/N:

First things first, I changed Mori's name because it wasn't Japanese. So it's now Akane because it means "brilliant red."

Okie dokie, on to the real A/N! I'm sorry I stopped writing Eternal before—really, really, really sorry, folks! I don't know what got into me all of a sudden to make me want to write it again too. And I don't mean that in a bad way, though; I just never thought I would continue it. Strange…

Oh, I'm adding this new feature, I might add it to my other story too, and it's at the end of the story before the second A/N. It's basically the song of the day (mostly a song I'm listening to at the moment or something that helped me get in the mood or inspired me in some way). And they're good songs too!

Disclaimer:

All the Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto! Akane and Yuki fully MY property and I love them! Haha, that was unnecessary.

So, read on!

Eternal

Chapter 1: A Pair of Ninja and Blue Eyes

She ran as fast as she could, which wasn't much. She didn't even have to look over her shoulder to know his men were following—coming closer and closer with each passing second. And she also knew she wouldn't last long due to her faults, for she was a very clumsy girl; and that was the new trait that served as a reason for her not being able to train. Thus she wasn't in perfect shape.

Just then, she heard yelling from behind. It was him. "Don't let her escape." His voice wasn't loud and panting, like her breathing, because he wasn't even running, but she heard it clearly. The reason was because she was so used to it, having known him all her life, and so that tone of his was all too familiar, along with the glint of his glasses.

That was when the tips of her feet sunk into the soil beneath her and her clumsy self fell forward. On the way down, she made a soft 'oomph' sound, her glasses landing not a long way away from her. She squinted to focus around herself, but she still couldn't clearly see the oncoming ninja. She tried slapping the ground to find her glasses, which she thought was the best thing to do at the moment. She knew she wasn't going to get away now, and for some reason it seemed possible back in the village she just left. And she knew she wouldn't be able to escape again after this.

"I-I was lucky this ti-me." She said. By now the fast and skilled ninja stood over her body, and trying for some hope she wished would come, she shouted the loudest her lungs could make her, "H-help! S-somebo-!"

"Urusai!" Called one of the ninja. The girl struggled but the strong grips of the ninja pulling her up were overpowering her and she could not do anything but scream little sounds and thrash her head this way and that. One of the ninja kicked her on her back, setting her anything but gently back on the ground. She moaned in pain, but felt a little comforted when she felt the cold metal of her glasses. She slowly forced her body to painfully move and put them on, but after her eyesight had been regained, she finally ceased struggling. There were too many of them.

"That's a good girl." Called the voice of her nightmare, now standing before her with an evil grin plastered to his face. "Take her to the hideout, I'm going back. And make sure you don't lose her this time."

The ninja obeyed his command and one of them picked the girl up and started across the forest. Every part of her body hurt; she even felt a headache coming on. Slowly, she regained some of her strength, and with all of it, tried to elbow the man holding her. He let out a small cry of pain and dropped her on the ground. She hit the soil hard, but she had used all her energy on getting here and 'fighting' that she couldn't even roll to another position to stop the pain, only cower slightly. The other men quickly reciprocated and one man hit her upside the head, reached to help up the slightly hurt ninja and soon she was being held again, by another servant. The one she had hit was not too far away, though, and he held her glance, glaring. She couldn't even manage to scream help anymore, instead she tried her hardest to lean her body downwards so when she fell through his arms, she might yelp and, hopefully, someone would hear. But it hadn't worked.

And that's when her savior showed up. At first she hadn't even known he was there, but after the man she was watching fell forward on his face, with blood spilling from his stomach, she took a peak around to see what had caused such a chance in balance. There stood a man about the same height as the man who'd just retreated a while ago. Like him, the man before her had white hair, but this one had a mask on his face, along with a headband covering one eye. She knew he was from the leaf village due to the symbol etched into it.

The latter then quickly went to getting rid of the other ninja around him. Soon there were many different ninja on the grass and dirt, lying either unconscious or dead. The one that had saved her walked over to her and gently raised her from the ground. She still didn't have much energy in her, not enough to keep her eyes open. He held her close to his side to help support her weight and she gladly stayed quite—it was her way of asset the current situation. "Are you alright?" The man asked and she nodded. "You sure brought trouble to yourself." She nodded again, but didn't speak. He noticed, but didn't push. "What are you doing all the way out here?" No answer. "My name's Hatake Kakashi..." Again, she nodded. "Would you like to sit?"

She didn't feel like moving her head at all this time so she slumped and rest her head on Kakashi's shoulder. He didn't say anything else for a while, just carried her back to where his partner was. It took a while, but he finally got there. And when he did, his friend rushed over to him with wide eyes. He threw at him all sorts of question needing some clarification, but Kakashi just dismissed them with a wave. "She was being attacked by ninja, but she's alright now."

His friend nodded, but didn't settle his hands at his sides and sit down. He was way to competitive for that and tried to snatch the girl away from him, saying in a loud voice, "We should set her down! Youths these days are absolutely crazy!"

"Keep quiet," Kakashi warned while pressing the fragile girl in his arms closer to him and away from Gai. "She's asleep and is way too tired for you to be screaming in her ears." He kept his voice down too, to pass the message onto Gai. Thankfully, he listened.

"Okay, then let's put her down and make something suitable for her to sleep on." Gai said, again reaching for the girl. Kakashi didn't bother to retort in any way and handed her over. Gai laid the girl on the ground, making sure not to wake her. Kakashi went over to their huge bag of supplies and took out some bandages to cover the wounds on her arms and legs.

Poor girl, he thought. I wonder what she did to deserve this.

"Hey, Kakashi," Gai whispered. "Where did you find her?"

"About a mile away from here; I was walking around for a while to get some fresh air when I heard something. I followed the voices and they lead me to her."

Gai looked down at the girl on the ground and made room for Kakashi to apply the medicines and bandages. "I wonder what she was doing on the outskirts of the Sand Village." He chuckled, but he didn't look amused. "She's lucky we were coming back from a mission nearby and weren't stalled along the way." He frowned. "She has no headband." he noticed. "I wonder if she wasn't able to pass exams, she looks of age. Or maybe she hadn't taken them yet." He mumbled the last part low enough for only him to hear. Kakashi wasn't paying attention to him, though. Kakashi sighed and announced it was still Gai's turn to stay up and watch for the rest of the night. After that, there was no noise out of the two. Kakashi fell asleep and Gai watched, both wondering about the girl that was just saved.

When she woke up, she thought something was wrong. The man from the day before wasn't here, and there was another. Unlike the other man, this one had black hair and bushy brows. He also wore a green and orange jumpsuit outfit. Just like her, he was up.

When he noticed she was awake, he said, relieved, "So you're alright, right?" She wanted to reply, but she couldn't quite properly speak at the moment. Again she relied on nodding. "Well, you're safe now. If anyone tries to approach you again, we'll take care of them." He shoved a white thumb to his chest and smiled so brightly, she had to cover her eyes. Then Gai remembered they hadn't introduced themselves yet. He reached out a hand and said, "My name's Might Gai, nice to meet you."

Akane cleared her throat before struggling to speak. "My n-name's H-Hoshiko Akane. N-nice to meet you, t-too, Might-san." She said, taking his hand.

"Hoshiko Akane, huh? It fits you."

Akane smiled, knowing he must be talking about her hair. "My m-mother named me th-that. She loved the co-ler red."

"That must not have been the only reason."

"You guys up already?" Gai and Akane turned to where Kakashi sat down to rest. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned loudly. "So, your name's Akane?"

Akane nodded and stood up slowly to wipe the dirt from her pants. Even though she tried very hard to clean them, it stuck. She had a feeling they'd be hard to clean, since she's worn them for a long time. But she ignored that for the while, thinking she might as well thank them while they were both here. "U-um, th-thank you for help-ing me, Might-san, Hatake-san. I'm sorry for i-inconveniencing you, but I'll be g-going now." She stuttered at the long word, her tongue not making the proper movements in her mouth and she turned bright red, matching her hair.

Kakashi and Gai both frowned and said in synch, "Wait—!" They looked at each other for a while and finally Kakashi let the stubborn Gai speak. "You're leaving? Are you sure you want to? Those men might still be there, and if they are, how are you going to protect yourself?"

"Gai's right, Hoshiko-chan. You can't just go alone; you're not fully healed. You still have some bruises on your body and we'll still need to check if you hadn't broken a bone or anything. You can stick with us till we get to a village, preferable Konoha, if you don't mind. I know a good doctor that could help you. She's pretty stubborn…." Kakashi's lower lip went up, he looked nervous. "And a little violent, but she's good."

"U-um—"

"Yeah," Gai added. "And if she won't take you in, I'm sure Sakura will." Akane's troubled face changed to a perplexed one and Gai inserted, "She's a medical ninja; she's not a pro yet, but she's good."

Akane cleared her throat and said softly, "U-um, I have s-something to sa-y." Kakashi and Gai turned their attention to the girl and listened. "I c-can heal myself. I kn-know my ways with… medicine plants." She turned bright red from the staring

"That's excellent!" Kakashi and Gai both yelled. "But we still want to make sure you're okay." Gai nodded.

Defeated, Akane gave up on trying and thought about the positives. If she went with Kakashi and Gai, she'd be able to escape her capture and be safe. She'd also be able to rest easily for the night—though she had slept well last night, her body was still uncomfortable on the ground. She felt like it would really do her good. "Okay." Akane agreed. "I-I'll come with you t-two."

Kakashi and Gai nodded.

In the next hour, they had packed their belongings and set away from the Sand Village, and towards Konoha. The walk would be long—about three or two days—but Akane tried her best not to slow them down. But by the time they had reached Konoha, Akane was exhausted. She felt she wouldn't be able to walk anymore, but she strained her feet to keep walking and keep their balance.

Before she could comment on the village inside, one of the two ninja at the gates noticed Kakashi and Gai and spoke out to them. "Well, you guys are early." The responsible one of the two, Izumo, said. He turned his visible eye towards Akane, but his companion, Kotetsu, beat him to it.

"Who's this?" Kotetsu asked, curiosity peeking out from in him.

"Hoshiko Akane-chan. She's here to see Yuki."

"What happened?" Izumo asked.

Gai nodded towards Kakashi, "I'll go report to the Hokage and you take her to the hospital."

Kotetsu frowned, "At least tell us what happened before then." Gai ignored him and walked on to the big building where the Hokage was.

Izumo, annoyed, snapped, "They'll tell us later. Let them do their job first." Kakashi nodded. Izumo waved them good bye and Kotetsu bid them good bye too.

"Do-does everyone here c-cover their eyes?" Akane asked, turning a little to look Kakashi in the eye. She then looked behind them, to Kotetsu and Izumo fighting.

Kakashi laughed at her comment and said, "No, not everybody. By the way, that's Kotetsu and Izumo. Izumo is the one with his eye covered, and the other, with the bandage over his nose, is Kotetsu."

"Th-they act like brothers," Akane commented. Kakashi studied her from the corner of his eye, thinking, what did she do to get into so much trouble? She's seems to nice and fragile, how can a girl like this bring problems to herself? She even looks innocent.

Akane felt someone's eyes on her, and when she turned, she was surprised to see a bunch of kids walking together, all staring at her. She felt her cheeks flush a deep rosy color, and turned away. She whispered to Kakashi, "There are people s-staring at me." She rubbed her sore legs to try and take the attention off her, but that wasn't doing her any good.

Kakashi turned to look at her, she looked so worried. What's made her like this? She flicked her eyes back to the group of kids and Kakashi understood. "Don't worry," he assured. "They're just staring because they're wondering who you are. Why don't you go introduce yourself?"

"A-are you sure?" Akane's light brown eyes slowly made their way to the kids, and stopped at a pair of blue eyes. What pretty eyes. "Wh-who are those people?" She turned away, bright purple. He was staring. He was staring.

Kakashi could feel her discomfort—it was as thick as noodles. He grabbed her arm and gave her a small push towards a big white building. The push hurt her a little, but only because of her injuries. She flinched, and a pair of blue eyes also flinched. She dug her teeth into her lip, trying to hide the pain and keep from falling down.

"Go inside and ask for Yuki, alright? Sakura is right there, but she's probably on her break." He said, pointing towards the kids. Akane didn't look over to where he was pointing, too embarrassed to look. Kakashi didn't force her, either. "Um, why don't you just go inside and ask for Yuki and if she's busy, ask for someone else. Tell them you're here on Kakashi's request and you may be injured."

Akane nodded and began walking towards the doors, not turning around to see Kakashi walk over to the kids; she didn't even notice the blue eyes still watching her. She all of a sudden felt very nervous. She didn't know anyone here and felt like she was intruding. She grabbed the knob and pulled open the door, trying to prepare herself and think of what to say again.

At the desk sat a woman in his mid 20's. She had short purple hair that was a few inches longer than Akane's. When the said girl was about to speak, the other spoke before her. "How may I help you?" She sounded bored, but looked a little angry. Akane became more nervous.

"I-I'm looking for someone. I c-came here under H-Hatake-san's request because I m-may be in-injured."

The lady smirked, "You sure can't talk properly, can you?"

"U-um, I-I was saying. I'm looking for—" A slam on the table made Akane stop talking. She looked up to see another pair of blue eyes watching her, sternly. "I-Is there something wr-ong?"

"Yes, of course there is something wrong! Look at you! You can't talk properly, and how many times are you going to repeat yourself? That's annoying! Just spit it out; who are you looking for?"

Akane nodded, "A person named Yuki."

"Yuki who?" the other snapped.

Akane began playing with the hem of her poufy pants from all the nervousness. "I-I don't know, miss."

She let out a loud sigh and turned in her chair before getting up. She picked up a phone and said into the receiver, "Someone take my shift, I have to go." She didn't wait for a reply, just went out from behind the reception desk and began walking down a hall. Akane didn't know what to do, but she felt she should follow. She sped up when the woman in front of her turned around to roll her eyes at her slowness. She mumbled something about Kakashi under her breath, but Akane didn't hear—she was too busy trying to speed-walk in the less painful way. "In case you still don't know…" the woman started. "I'm Yuki."

Akane's eyes bulged from their sockets. I hope she isn't. She seems so mean. "R-really?" Akane asked.

"What a stupid question." Yuki spat. "Are you trying to say I don't know who I am?"

Before Akane could try to say anything else, Yuki stopped at a pair of steel doors and walked inside. Akane followed. Beyond the doors was a small room, but it bigger than the others they had passed. It didn't look like a place a patient would stay due to the lack of beds and curtains. There were only desks, cabinets and chairs and a big window on one side that let in tons of light. Akane assumed it must be some kind of office of hers. "Let's check you out. Now, do you feel any pain?" Akane nodded. "Sit down," Yuki pulled up a chair for her to sit and took another for herself. Akane collapsed onto the chair, leaning into it for some relief. "Where does it hurt?" She pointed to the parts of her body where she thought the pain was coming from and let the older doctor touch her and heal her with her hands.

She was amazed at how skilled she was, and slightly jealous of her capabilities. She tried to remember the last time she had used ninjutsu, but nothing came to mind. Without her consent, she let out a gasp. Yuki looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"

Akane flushed red, looking into her eyes and thinking of the staring boy and his friends outside. "N-nothing. I was just wondering…"

"Wondering what?" Yuki sounded annoyed. "Can't you at least finish your sentences?"

Akane nodded. "I've ne-ver seen anyone o-other than one person use Medical n-ninjutsu before. It looks c-cool."

"Are you serious? And who is this person?" Yuki reached over to a cabinet and took out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She dripped some onto a towel and rubbed that on Akane's wounds and blew on them to soothe the stinging. She looked up out of annoyance when she didn't reply. "Hello?"

Akane regained some self-control and stumbled over the next words. "My brother, but we're not related."

"Then how is he your brother?" Yuki narrowed her eyes, enjoying her company some more.

"I just call him that."

Yuki rolled her eyes, "Whatever." There was a knock on the door. "Who's there?" Yuki yelled.

"Me." came Kakashi's voice. "Is Hoshiko-chan there?"

"I don't know if that's her name, come and check for yourself. I'm not asking." Kakashi rolled open the door and walked inside. Behind him were a pair of other kids—the ones who were watching Akane before. "No!" Yuki cried. "Why do you have to bring me more people? I'm only doing this girl; nobody else."

Kakashi put up his hands in surrender, "Don't worry, they're not here for you." He turned to Akane, "Hey, Hoshiko-chan, I'd like you to meet some people."

Akane turned around and started, "O-okay. Who—?" She stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw a pair of crystal blue eyes. Her own then widened and she blushed. He's still staring.

Song of the Day: In the Dark by Dev

A/N:

I hope you liked it! And if you really like this and you've watched or read Fairy Tail, please check out my other story, Seconds in Between! I would really appreciate that!

Please leave a review, add this story to your alerts or anything. The more reviews I get, the faster the second chapter will come out!

Yuki: Just shut up.

Oh, no need to be so mean! Who made you like this?

Yuki: You did, stupid!

Sarcasm, dude! :P

Akane: P-please read the next ch-chapter when it comes out.

Yuki: And why did you make her like that? That stuttering is annoying.

Akane: I'm sorry.

Hey, don't apologize! Yuki should apologize!

Yuki: Bye!

Hey, that's my line! Bye, see y'all next time!