A/N: Hi everyone! This is sort of a sequel to my previous story "The Sound of Silence." The two stories are mostly independent of each other, but I let my OC "Haruka" from the previous story reappear in this one. I hope you like it. Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters.

Chapter 1: The mysterious visitors of Konoha

Contrary to what most people believed, Kotetsu and Izumo actually liked their jobs as gatekeepers of the Hidden Village of Konoha. Despite being skillful shinobi, both chuunin had a calm disposition, and would rather protect their beloved village by guarding the gate than going out and killing enemy ninja.

Today was a typical, quiet day at the gate. Throughout the entire morning, only Gai's team had made an appearance as they returned from a successful mission. The tortoise green sensei and student pair offered Kotetsu and Izumo a shiny bright smile and a good guy's pose as usual, and the two gatekeepers waved back good naturedly.

After watching Team Gai disappearing into the village, Kotetsu stretched and let out a loud yawn. "Is it time for lunch yet?" He asked his best buddy.

"Sure, why not." Izumo shrugged lazily. He bent down to fish out his bento box from under the table, but Kotetsu nudged him slightly and said, "Someone's coming."

Izumo immediately stood back up and looked at where Kotetsu was pointing. Even with his eyes squinting, Izumo could barely make out the dark silhouette of the approaching figure against the shadows of the forest.

"He sure seems like a big fella. I think he may be even bigger than Ibiki-san." Izumo commented as he grabbed a kunai into his hand. "Better not be an enemy nin."

Kotetsu had prepared himself for a potential confrontation as well. However, as the shadow came closer, the two chuunin realized that the "big fella" was but the overlapping silhouette of a slender woman and the person she carried on her back.

The woman was clearly a ninja. Even though she wasn't wearing a forehead protector, the gatekeepers could tell from the way she walked, as well as the two swords that hung loosely from her waist. She was young, probably in her late teens or early twenties, and she had a pretty, pleasant face. The person on her back was also a young woman, and the two shared strikingly similar facial features, despite the fact that the woman being carried appeared to be ghostly thin and pale.

The duo slowly walked towards Kotetsu and Izumo's station. "How may I help you, ladies?" Izumo asked.

"Ano… we are here to visit our cousin. He lives in Konoha." The slender woman courteously replied.

"Sure." Kotetsu extended his arm out. "May I see your passes please?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but we don't have a pass." The woman said humbly and carefully.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, the rule says no pass, no entry." Izumo said. However, perhaps because of the woman's pretty face and gentle manner, he added, "Who is your cousin anyway?"

"His name is Hatake Kakashi. He is the son of Hatake Sakumo, who is also known as the White Fang of Konoha."

Kotetsu and Izumo exchanged a surprised glance with each other. Everybody in Konoha knew that Kakashi did not have any living relative remain. Was this woman an enemy nin who was trying to trick them?

As if reading their minds, the woman pleaded urgently, "Please believe me. My sister is very sick." She glanced at the woman on her back, "She just wishes to see Kakashi nii-san one last time to... to say goodbye…" her voice trailed off and her eyes began to well up with tears.

Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other uncomfortably. They would rather fight ten enemy ninja than deal with a woman who looked like she was about to cry. "Um…" Kotetsu said gingerly. "Didn't Kakashi-san just come back from a solo mission yesterday? Why don't I go find him and bring him here, and then he can decide what to do." He disappeared with a puff of smoke before Izumo could say anything.

Traitor! Izumo mentally gave his best friend a kick. He turned around and looked at the two young women in front of him helplessly.

"Um… it might take us a while to find Kakashi-san." He pointed at a nearby tree. "Why don't you go sit down over there with your sister and rest for a while?"

The woman nodded gratefully at him. She walked towards the tree that Izumo specified and gently put her sister down. She fished out a water bottle from her luggage, opened the cap and handed it to her sister.

"Here, Sachi-chan, drink some water."

The tree was close enough to Izumo that he could spy on the sisters easily. He saw Sachi take a few sips of water and handed the bottle back to her sister, but her sister refused to take it.

"That wasn't enough, the last medic said you need to drink a lot of water, just go ahead and finish the bottle." She insisted.

"Ai-chan, you need to drink water too, you have been walking since the morning." Sachi softly complained, but Ai simply shook her head stubbornly.

Sachi made a pouty face and finished the water obediently. Ai gave her an encouraging smile. She took out a small towel from her pocket and began to gently wipe her sister's face.

Izumo then did something that surprised himself. Despite the fact that these girls could be enemy nin in disguise, he grabbed his own water bottle from under the table, walked over to the tree and offered it to Ai.

"Here, you can have some of my water." He said in a friendly voice.

Ai was startled by his unexpected friendliness. She looked down timidly and said, "It's OK, I'm not really thirsty…"

Izumo placed his water bottle in her hands. "Don't be silly, you must be thirsty after all these traveling. I still have more water at the station, so don't you worry about that." He walked back to his station before Ai could say anything else. He sat down on his chair and made a point to not look at the sisters, though he glanced at them from the corner of his eyes from time to time, and he was very glad to see that Ai finally decided to drink his water.

They sure don't look like enemies… Izumo muttered to himself. Out of boredom and curiosity, he continued to survey the sisters out of the corner of his eyes and compared them with the other girls he knew, the way a young man often would. After much consideration, he decided that Ai was a very pretty girl – no, not quite beautiful, but definitely pretty, with her delicate, heart-shaped face, almond-shaped eyes, and long, wavy hair collected in a neat side-ponytail, with a shorter, wispy layer that floated freely next to her right cheek. She actually reminded him of a girl that he used to have a crush on in the ninja academy.

Sachi would have been pretty too if she weren't unhealthily thin and pale, given the fact that she practically had the same face as her sister. Izumo wondered what had happened to her. Was she suffering from some sort of illness?

After spending what seemed like forever thinking random, idle thoughts, finally, much to Izumo's relief, Kotetsu was back, together with the famous Copy Nin.

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-san." Izumo stood up and addressed his senior politely.

However, the usually friendly and laid back jounin only nodded briefly at Izumo. He hurriedly marched towards the two sisters, pushing up his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan along the way, and then he did something very strange. Izumo didn't quite see how it happened, but by the time he realized what was going on, two kunai had already been shot out from the Copy Nin's hand towards the sick girl seated helplessly on the ground next to the tree. The pointy ends of the kunai were only inches away from puncturing Sachi's skin…

Izumo opened his mouth in surprise, but before he could let out a yell, Ai had situated herself between Sachi and the assaulting weapons, and the flying kunai collided with the blades of her two drawn swords with a loud clank and fell onto the ground.

All four pairs of eyes stared at Kakashi with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and perhaps a hint of anger, but the jounin simply pushed his forehead protector back down and let out a hearty laugh.

"Ai-chan! Sachi-chan! Long time no see." Kakashi squatted down in front of the girls and gently removed the swords from Ai's hands. "I'm sorry, girls, I must have scared you, but right now Konoha is being targeted by many bad people, so I need to make sure that you are not someone from, say, Akatsuki in disguise. After all, it has been eleven years since I last saw you." Seeing that everyone still seemed to be a little skeptical, Kakashi continued to explain. "You see, henge and make-up can change a person's face into another's, but it's impossible to completely imitate another person's movements, especially during a life and death situation." He turned and smiled at Ai, his sole exposed eye curved into a thin line. "I knew it was you the moment you moved. After all, I was the one who trained you when you two spent the summer with me eleven years ago." Then he added, "And you are as protective of your sister as ever."

However, despite all his explanation, Ai still looked at him accusingly and said, "But… Kakashi nii-san, what if you actually hurt Sachi-chan?"

Kakashi shook his head and sighed, "Don't you have any faith in your nii-san's ability?" He turned around again and threw a couple kunai at the tree. Amazingly, the kunai made a slight turn right before they hit the tree and flew off into a nearby shrub instead. "Those kunai weren't meant to actually hit Sachi-chan to begin with."

Ai seemingly relaxed after hearing her cousin's explanation. Kakashi smiled and patted her on the head endearingly, as if she were still the little girl that he remembered. "How are you girls doing?" He looked back and forth between Ai and Sachi, finally fixating his eyes on Sachi's pale face. "Sachi-chan…" Kakashi wasn't quite sure how to continue.

"Sachi-chan is sick, nii-san." Ai finished the sentence for him gloomily. She lowered her head, tears began to fall drop after drop onto her lap.

Kakashi didn't need Ai to point that out for him. Sachi was obviously thin and frail, her skin the color of someone who was at their life's end. After a thoughtful pause, Kakashi suddenly said in an unexpectedly cheerful tone, "You know what, Ai-chan, my fiancée is one of the best medic in Konoha. She must have a way to cure Sachi-chan of whatever sickness it is. Let's go and see her now."

"It's no use, Kakashi nii-san." It was Sachi who replied calmly to him. "Ever since I came down with this sickness two years ago, Ai-chan has been traveling with me to different countries to see different medics, but none of them could cure me." She lowered her head as well. "I don't have much time left. Nii-san, you are the only relative we have left, and you were very kind to us when we stayed with you before, I just want to see you again before I die."

Suddenly, Kakashi scooped up Sachi into his arms and began to walk towards the village. "Ai-chan, collect your stuff and come with me. Kotetsu, Izumo, I'm taking them to the Konoha hospital, I will clear their paperwork with Tsunade-sama myself later. Thank you for your help today."

Kotetsu and Izumo greeted their senpai goodbye, both genuinely hoping that the legendary medic they were about to see could cure the girl's illness.