A/N: So, my sister, our friend, my cousin, and I have all decided to write a fanfiction with our OCs in them. We've all wrote our own versions of it, so… Maybe you should go check theirs out too (when they get it out). Also, this is just a preview, so the rest won't be out for a while, since I plan on finishing it before I put the rest up. :)

Reaching for the Sky

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, although Caitlin and the plot are mine.

Chapter 1: Devil Child

"A soul needs a purpose to live..."

~Gaara~

Madara stared at the paper. I just wish this damn thing would catch on fire. You know, I have half a mind to do that, but it would be a waste of chakra. Besides, old jutsus like these need time to work. Or, they work in ways you never expected them to. Still… Madara sighed.

Crumpling the paper in his hand, Madara threw it at the wall of his cave. Minutes later, he stood and stored it again in the case that he had for these purposes. Maybe it will be useful later…

x~x~x

The blonde haired child strode out of the Academy quickly, her eyes firmly planted on the ground. She continued her pace past the other children that were being picked up by parents and siblings, things that she didn't have.

Five minutes later, she had arrived at the orphanage. Yuki-san, the caretaker of the children there, stood in the doorway, smiling as the girl arrived. "So, Caitlin, how was your first day?"

The girl paused, and swiftly glanced up. "Horrible," she muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie." She paused. "The Uzumaki boy is in your grade, correct?"

"Yes, Yuki-san. He's in my year."

Yuki-san frowned harshly. "Stay away from him. He's trouble." With that proclamation, she turned and ambled into her room.

A brunette girl strolled out of her hiding spot from behind the corner. "I don't understand. Why do we have to stay away from him? I mean, it's not like he has a contagious disease or something."

The other girl shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he does have a disease."

"No, he would be in the hospital if he did," Tenten said, frowning.

"What if it's a disease that's not contagious and one that they can't cure?" the blond girl countered.

"Like you said, who knows?" Tenten shrugged. "Hey, want to go train?"

"Yeah," the other girl replied, finally glancing up with a smile, emerald eyes burning brightly.

"Well then, let's go!"

x~x~x

The girl, of course, didn't heed Yuki-san and spoke with the boy, whose name she later learned was Naruto. They became fast friends, even if they acted very different at times.

"Please, Caitlin? It'll just be an itty-bitty prank. Besides, it's gonna be on Kiba. Remember, the dog boy who you said needed someone to take him down a couple of notches? It'll be fun!" Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear.

The freckled girl frowned at him. "Yes, I remember Kiba, and even if he probably deserves to be tricked, I will not be the one that does so."

"Ah, but-"

"No buts or what ifs about this," Caitlin informed him. "And no amount of pouting will change my mind."

Of course, Naruto still sulked, not that it changed the girl's mind. She was adamant in her refusal to help Naruto with his pranks, no matter her dislike for the person that he wished to hoax. Caitlin knew that if Yuki-san heard that she had pranked someone she would have a fit, especially if she heard that Naruto had helped her. Every year the woman would remind Caitlin to stay away from Naruto, and every year, the advice was ignored.

X~x~x

One day, Naruto and Caitlin were playing outside the academy. It was Caitlin's 7th birthday, so the two best friends decided to celebrate it together with their other friends, Hinata and Shino. They met their other friends when Caitlin noticed that none of the girls, except for Hinata, would going near Shino because of his bugs, so naturally Caitlin and Naruto decided to join in on their game of tag. They had become fast friends since then.

The children didn't realize that a surprise birthday party had been prearranged for Caitlin, one that Tenten was not let in on, so the older girl couldn't inform the younger one. Because Yuki-san required for Caitlin to show up to her party, she arrived at the academy soon after class had been dismissed. The woman was in for a surprise as she realized that Caitlin was playing with the Jinchuriki like they were best friends.

Crossly, she stormed up to the child and grabbed her arm and shook her, not noticing the alarm in the blonde's eyes. "What have I told you about that monster?" she snarled, shaking the girl violently as she said the last word.

"I know what you've told me and- and I don't care! Naruto is my friend, and I won't give him up for the world!" the normally quiet girl stuttered as she faced the snarling Yuki-san.

"Young lady, we are going home! You're grounded!" Yuki-san shouted as she pulled the unwilling girl away from her friends.

"C-Caitlin-chan, will you be alright?" Hinata asked as Naruto stared guiltily at the ground. Shino's eyes through his dark glasses seemed to bore holes through her, asking the same question.

"Yeah, I will be. Don't worry!" she shouted as the dark haired woman pulled her further and further away from the other children.

x~x~x

When they arrived at the orphanage, for a couple of minutes all Yuki-san did was stare stonily at the young child. "You will never see that boy again, not while you live under my roof," she said, still staring at Caitlin.

Tiny fist clenched as the child stared back, refusing to lose this battle. "Then I'll leave. Consider me gone because I am never coming back to this place again," the child snapped back as she turned away and marched to her room, opening her drawers as she passed them and grabbing fists full of clothing that she tossed unto the bed. She quickly turned towards the closet and grabbed her suitcase from within it as Yuki-san appeared in the room, over her shock by now.

"Young lady, you will not-"

"I'll tell the Hokage. He'll let me buy my own apartment, and I'll live next to Naruto. I won't give up one of my best friends just because you tell me to," Caitlin said, looking her dead in the eye before turning and resuming her packing.

Yuki-san's lips pursed in anger as she turned away from the child she'd raised since she was just a baby. Somewhere in the back of Caitlin's mind, she'd been hoping that the woman she'd looked to as a motherly figure would understand, but she should have known that she wouldn't. No one seemed to comprehend anything when it came to Naruto.

As Caitlin walked out the door, she found Tenten to be waiting for her. "Will you be okay?" the older girl asked.

Caitlin just smiled through the tears that were now pouring steadily down her face and nodded her head. "Don't worry too much about me. I'll be fine," she answered.

Tenten watched worriedly as one of her good friends disappeared into the crowd, gone from the orphanage that she had lived at her entire life. It would be a huge change for the blonde girl who usually didn't care for such variables. She would make an exception this time for Naruto's sake.

x~x~x

Tugging her suitcase along, Caitlin trudged down the path towards one of Konoha's training grounds. She was staring at the ground when suddenly a pair of ninja sandals enter her field of vision. Looking up, she saw a one eyed man with silver hair was in her path.

His eye crinkled at the corners strangely, almost as though he were smiling at her, but she couldn't tell because he was wearing a mask over the lower half of his face. "Why do you look so down, kid?"

Caitlin blinked at him in surprise. Most people didn't care for her because she hung out with Naruto, so it was shocking to see someone talk to her without a trace of malice in their voice. "I was kicked out of the orphanage I lived at, and now I'm trying to figure out what my options are."

"Well, what are your options then?" the silver-haired ninja (she assumed that he was one because he was wearing a vest that only those of chunin rank or higher could wear) asked.

"Um… going to the Hokage and asking for the allowance allowed to orphans and buying my own apartment, or living with Naruto. I don't really want to impose on Naruto, but it would be the best option because we could pool our money together…" the girl trailed off in thought, though she didn't miss the slight widening of his one eye when he heard of Naruto or the shake intake of breath when he heard that Naruto lived alone. Still, she decided not to ask and filed it away into her mind for later. She was too shy to ask outright anyway.

"I… I can definitely see your reasoning there. Are you two close?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know? Do you hate him like nearly everyone else does?" snapped the distrustful girl, who wasn't very sure how to take his question. Was he asking because he would hate her too if she were friends with Naruto, or did he have another purpose here?

"No, I don't hate him. The other villagers' hate is irrationally misplaced because of their need to blame others for an event that could not have been controlled."

"Oh," murmured the girl, who was not quite sure she understood. She had always thought that there was no reason to it, or that it was because of his pranks, but it had to do with something that Naruto hadn't done? Caitlin could see why he called it irrational if this was so.

"So, are you going to answer my question now?" the man asked.

"Er… yeah, as long as you answer one of my own questions for every question you ask," answered the awkward blonde. "And to answer your question, yeah, Naruto's one of my best friends, along with Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino."

It was strange for Kakashi to realize that Naruto was on his own. He had tried to adopt him when he was younger, but he hadn't been allowed to, and now to connect with his sensei's son through a little girl was bizarre. The Hokage may have told Kakashi that he couldn't tell Naruto of his heritage, but that didn't mean that he couldn't become a father figure to him.

"Now, what is your purpose in asking about Naruto?" the girl demanded, staring at him with cold green eyes, bashfulness being overrode by her protective feelings for her friends.

Kakashi shrugged, not planning on telling this girl the truth, though he had to admire how she tried to protect Naruto. "Don't really have a purpose. What's your purpose towards Naruto?"

The girl frowned at him. "That's not a real answer, so I'm not telling you until you stop avoiding the question!"

"I don't like the way the villagers treat him," Kakashi answered again, some of the truth showing through in his answer.

"I'm his friend," the girl answered to his own question after an awkward pause in which it took her a second to realize that that was all Kakashi was going to say. "The way he's treated is despicable. I hate it. At times, I hate the villagers, too, because of this…"

He sighed quietly. He could understand why she hated them, but it didn't mean that it was right. "Kid," he started to say, but she interrupted him.

"Caitlin. And if you're worried that I'm gonna become a murdering psychopath, don't. Naruto wouldn't let me even if I wanted to be one. Which I don't, by the way."

"Name's Kakashi. That wasn't exactly what I was thinking, but good to know…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Your eye…um?" Caitlin suddenly questioned, shyly glancing towards his face.

"A mission," Kakashi answered, deciding not to reveal everything about himself.

The girl frowned at him, becoming slightly bolder. "That's not a real answer, Bakashi."

Glaring at the girl, he stated, "Well, it's the truth. I lost it in a mission, and that's all I'm gonna tell you."

"Ask your question then, if you're gonna ask another," the blonde said as she frowned into the distance, probably thinking of Naruto if he was correct and it was the orange bloom that she was staring at.

"How in the world did you become so annoying?" Kakashi demanded, rubbing his temples. "You're not as bad as Gai, at least."
"You know, I'm counting that as a question, Bakashi. And I'm not annoying. Why do you wear a mask?" asked the girl, obviously planning on asking the most aggravating questions she could.

The silver hair nin was saved from answering as Gai himself appeared in front of them. "Kakashi, my eternal rival. And your most youthful companion is?" he asked when he saw her.

Caitlin stared at him for a couple of moments, speechless. She took in his outfit, slightly horrified, and answered," Caitlin. Um, you are?"

He answered with a sparkling grin and a thumbs up, "Maito Gai, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast!"

Caitlin slowly blinked, and then said, "Aren't you a taijutsu master?" She had read about him somewhere in one of her text books, and thought that it would be a great opportunity to get better at taijutsu, which she was atrocious at.

Kakashi suddenly sputtered. "How do you know about him, but not about me?!"

"Don't know. Maybe you're just not important enough to be in the text book," Caitlin stated with a shrug. In truth, she hadn't finished reading it yet, and if he was the rival of the Maito Gai, then it was very likely that he was. Of course, Caitlin wasn't about to tell him that.

"To answer your question, yes, I am the most youthful taijutsu master of Konoha!" Gai interrupted, giving Caitlin a million watt grin.

"Can you teach me?" Caitlin asked, childish excitement taking over as she literally started jumping up and down.

Gai's grin somehow sparkled even more when she said this. "Of course, most youthful Caitlin! Be at training ground seven tomorrow at four!" He then disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

Caitlin frowned at where he disappeared. "At four? Isn't that a little late to start training on a Saturday?"

Kakashi snickered evilly. "Poor, poor little devil child. He meant four in the morning." He then started chuckling evil as Caitlin gaped at him.

"Hey! I'm not a devil child!"

Omake

"Hey, hey, Bakashi, whatcha reading?"

Kakashi froze, his mouth hanging open under his mask. What are you supposed to tell a seven year old when they ask you what you're reading when you're reading porn?

"Um," Kakashi stuttered, trying to come up with a good lie. A child friendly good lie.

"My most youthful student, you would not like what Kakashi is reading. It is most unyouthful," Gai said, saving the silver ninja from what could have been one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. "Now, go run five laps around Konoha!"

"Okay," Caitlin said, as she started jogging towards the gate so she could run around the inside edge.

Kakashi let out a breath. "Thanks Gai, I really owe you for that."

"Well, now that you mention it my most youthful rival, I've noticed that you haven't wore your birthday present that I gave you. Could you wear it tomorrow, maybe?"

x~x~x

The next day, Kakashi was seen wearing a green jumpsuit much like Gai's, with a blonde girl trailing after him, snickering as she read a book that, thank goodness, was not Icha Icha.