Hello everyone! It's been a veeery long time, huh? Been very busy these days and I haven't been able of writing much of my stories but I decided to upload this new story, the third and final part of my Crossing and Distance stories. This doesn't mean I'm free, I'm going to be just as busy or maybe even more now but I think I can keep on writing some of my stories from time to time. I won't be uploading fast, actually, the uploads will be pretty slow to come but they will come, I won't place on Hiatus any story of mine. To those who read this story, please be patient. Also, if this is the first story you read of my series, please read the first two that are on my profile (Crossing and Distance) so you won't be lost when you read this one. This first chapter has pretty much of a summary of how the rest of the story's style will be like(action, drama, romance, adventure, suspense) and things like that :P but since now I can say that this story will be pretty long. Hope you all enjoy this first chapter!

Shades of Life

"Colors and shades, lights and shadows,

Blinding and obscuring, clear and blurry,

Never the same, always changing,

So fragile and weak in the strong willing,

Happiness and sorrow, a joyous cry of agony,

Living to die in eternity,

Graceful disasters and beautiful torments,

Broken hearts and mending souls,

Justice, peace and war,

A mirage of reality

Mindless insanity,

Smiles that cry and silent voices,

Loving, lying, waiting, hating,

The never ending dream,

Trapped inside, heartless eyes,

Hope never ending,

Shades of life."

Chapter One: Something New

"Change is something hard to accept,

Something that comes in the right or wrong time,

And maybe it's unexpected but still,

It's part of evolving.

It's part of being alive."

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It's a place of trust, would you meet me there? There's no time to spare, come and show me you care. Here we can make anything become real.

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"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Fire illuminated the darkness of the night as it emerged from the lips behind the mask of a man. The fire was followed by a shower of senbon from another side and a blue and white flash of light came from the other, all attacks hitting their target simultaneously. Smoke emerged after the attacks subsided and silence reigned over once again on the scene. The smoke cleared out and an unrecognizable body laid in the center of where the attacks had hit, burnt to a crisp and covered by needles. The three responsible for the scene looked at each other through small openings in their masks, nodding at each other. One of them jumped down from the branch of the tree he was standing on and opened a scroll, laying it next to the body. Performing certain hand seals, the body disappeared in a poof of smoke and a black kanji appeared written on the scroll. The one who had performed the seals rolled the scroll once again and tied a fine strap around it to prevent it from opening.

A man with a Hawk mask walked back to the others also wearing masks, one had a Dog and the other had a Rat mask on. The Hawk nodded to them both and the three disappeared from the scene.

Meanwhile, dozens of miles away the next day, three young adults stared at each other in the training fields of Konohagakure. The birds could be heard chiming melodies and the leafs of the trees moved with the wind and everything seemed pretty quiet until a rather loud voice was heard.

"Shannaroo!" And then the earth trembled around them as the short pink haired female crashed a kick down onto the ground, forming a pretty big crater.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Five more blonde haired Narutos appeared and charged against a brunette standing opposite of both Sakura and him. The cherry blossom ran towards Ari as well, her fists charged with chakra and the purple eyed woman narrowed her eyes at the assault of them both. Taking a breath, she jumped up high into the air and made some hand seals.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" She said and balls of fire emerged, hitting the ground below though the two shinobi fighting against her evaded the jutsu. Looking behind her, she locked eyes with one of Naruto's clones who was going to hold her down with his arms. Raising her hand up in a hand sign, she disappeared, making the clone hold on to nothing and in the next second, it disappeared in a poof of smoke when Ari stabbed a kunai at his back.

"Hey, Ari-chan! What if that was really me?" The real Naruto on the ground screamed back at the brunette and she smirked. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Idiot, you just gave up your cover! Now she knows who's the real you." Naruto raised an eyebrow and in the next moment, he was struck to the ground by a fist from the purple eyed woman. The pink haired kunoichi took this chance and threw her own chakra charged fist at Ari but she used her own hand with chakra to grab Sakura's gloved fist. The cherry blossom's eyes widened and then she had to evade a kick being sent to her side. The pink haired threw another punch at the brunette but she evaded it threw a punch back and so the two girls engaged in pure taijutsu fighting.

Naruto watched and pouted a little, wanting to do something so started to form his Rasengan as the two girls fought each other. Ari noticed and stopped fighting with Sakura by doing a back flip to jump away from her. She pointed at the blonde shinobi and spoke.

"You're really taking this seriously, huh?" She asked smirking and Naruto grinned back.

"Of course! That's what you told us, to take it seriously!" The knuckleheaded ninja sprinted towards her with his Rasengan ready, knowing that she would somehow evade it but was surprised when she didn't and took the attack directly. He tried to stop himself but it was too late and Ari had taken the attack. His eyes widened.

"Ari-chan! Why didn't you evade it?" He shouted but then noticed that the female's body didn't fell to the ground, but rather floated and started to fade into purple butterflies. His eyes narrowed.

"I know that trick! It's like big teme's but with butterflies instead of those ugly crows!" He shouted and braced himself for the shower of shurikens but it never came, instead, the butterflies flew to his back and started to take the form of Ari once again. The female giggled a little before speaking.

"Of course it's the same, he is the one who taught me, after all. But I decided to change the crows and give it a personal touch of my own." She smirked and disappeared again into butterflies that surrounded Naruto completely, not letting him move. Taking a deep breath, the frog sage accumulated chakra and then released it out of his body in one powerful burst, saying "Kai".

When he opened his eyes, Sakura was panting heavily and healing a wound she had in her left side. He looked at the brunette female that had placed him under a genjutsu. She looked like new, with just a few scratches while the cherry blossom was all wounded up.

"Sakura-chan, what happened?" He asked and the pink haired just glared at him while Ari giggled.

"Welcome back, Naruto." She smirked and the blonde narrowed his eyes at her.

"That's no fair! You know I'm not good at that genjutsu stuff!" He shouted back at the purple eyed.

"Then just you and me, Naruto?" She asked, walking circles around him and staring. The Uzumaki grinned and took a fighting stance just as the half Uchiha woman smirked and took a stance of her own. Seconds later, they both disappeared and reappeared in the center the training field, exchanging fists and kicks in a taijutsu fight. They were both in an almost equal level until Ari took the upper hand when she activated her Sharingan, watching all the attacks Naruto was going to do and evading them to counter back with slightly chakra charged fists that hit their spot.

The blond groaned lightly and jumped back to stop the taijutsu fight and brought his hands together in a hand seal. Ari did also and they both shouted: "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" at the same time, one clone of each other appearing next to them. The female was the first one to move as her clone sprinted to the left and she sprinted to the right and Naruto took out a kunai along with his clone, surrounding it with his wind chakra. The purple eyed noticed with her Sharingan and her hands started glowing blue as she opened them. Her clone then disappeared and caught Naruto's clone by surprise as it appeared right behind the real blonde shinobi, making him stop looking at the real Ari who used her blinding speed to paralyze Naruto using her Mystical Palm Technique.

Cerulean blue eyes widened when the brunette jumped back and raised her hand in a seal, whispering "Shadow Clone Smash" and her clone exploded right behind him, making the blonde's clone disappear in a poof of smoke and sending Naruto flying a good feet away. Ari walked towards him as he coughed from the dirt on his face and held on to his legs which were paralyzed due to the purple eye's technique.

"I think that's enough for today." She said and smiled, deactivating her bloodline limit and crouching down with her hands glowing green as she placed them over the Uzumaki's thigh to heal him from the effects of the Mystical Palm.

"Man, how do you do it, Ari-chan? Every time we fight against you, you have something new! You always get us by surprise." He said and Ari smirked.

"Because I try not to be predictable. Itachi told me that in battle, one of the worst mistakes you can do is perform that same technique several times in the same manner because that way, your enemy will learn how to evade it and even counter it which may result in defeat." She smiled, concentrated on healing the shinobi.

"You even sounded like him there." Naruto said and the brunette giggled.

"Cause that's exactly how he said it. There, all done now. Something else hurting?" She asked him and he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine now. Thanks Ari-chan and you really are a strong one. Big teme must be an amazing teacher. You think he can give me some tips later on?" He stood up and so did the purple eyed.

"Well, you'll have to ask him. He's on a mission right now but he should be arriving soon, I think." She smiled and the Uzumaki grinned, standing next to Sakura.

"Boy, I'm hungry. Anyone up for some ramen?" He asked while Sakura rolled her eyes and Ari giggled.

"I want to pay." The brunette said and Naruto's grin widened even more.

"Really? You're the best, Ari-chan!" The three of them walked to Ichiraku's and sat there, ordered their raiment and waited until it was served. They talked about Ari's progress and the two official shinobi told the still not official kunoichi about missions and other things involving shinobi business. The ramen bowls were served and they ate their meal gladly. The sun was setting on the village and the sky looked orange when they finished eating and headed to their respective houses.

Passing away from her house in the Uchiha compound, Ari stopped in front of the tomb of Sasuke to visit him. She smiled down and placed her hand over her chest where her heart was.

"I'm getting stronger, Sasuke." She said and sat down next to the tomb with the tablet that read his name.

"I beat Naruto and Sakura today though of course, it was practice and I think it was just cause they were going easy on me. I know they are very strong, one of the best. Team seven is one of the most powerful teams or at least… when you were still here with us." She lowered her voice in the end but then looked up again and smiled.

"I've missed you a lot, you know? But I promise I will keep getting very strong and when I take the exams, I will be amazing!" She laughed and the wind picked up making her hair frame her face. Call her crazy, but she felt that every time she was 'talking' with Sasuke, he answered her through the wind because whenever the wind blew after she said something, she could feel him. Looking behind her where the sun had just settled, she stood up and smiled down again at Sasuke's tomb.

"I have to go now; I'll be back tomorrow, alright?" She turned around and walked towards the house. Getting her keys out, she unlocked the front door and entered, leaving her sandals by the entrance before closing and locking the door behind her. Sighing, she took off her kunai pouch while walking up the stairs to her room to take a nice long bath. The house suddenly looked empty and she had almost forgotten that Itachi was on a mission and she missed him instantly.

One year had passed since Madara was defeated and soon, it was going to be Itachi's birthday. It was May 21st and he was born on June 9th so soon, he was going to turn twenty three being almost four years older than her. If one did the math right, she was now nineteen years old. Her birthday had been on December 1st and she didn't wanted to tell anyone but, Itachi knew and he remembered but he also understood that she didn't wanted to celebrate it so he had simply made her favorite food when she got home from work at the hospital, had bought a small chocolate cake and had whispered a small "Happy Birthday" as she closed her door to sleep for the night. She smiled at the memory.

Itachi has told her everything about her mother and also who her father had been. He had shown her everything in a genjutsu and she had seen her mother and father and she remembered her eyes watered instantly when she saw how beautiful her mother was and how handsome her father had been and laughed at how cute Itachi had looked when he was a three year old.

Smiling to the memories, she drifted herself to sleep.

Next Day

"Hinata-sama." The navy blue haired Hyuga heiress looked back to where she heard her name was being called and smiled softly when she saw who it was.

"Kimiko-san." She greeted the dark purple haired and light green eyed woman.

"Hinata-sama, how are you?" She asked and the pearl eyed female nodded.

"I'm good and you? Where are you headed?" She asked back and Kimiko smiled.

"I'm well and I was going to visit Neo and the boys." The green eyed said and Hinata nodded.

"Me too so l-let's go together." Both women walked side by side and talked about little things until they reached the house where Neo, Jack and Natas were training.

Both males were training to become full-fledged official shinobi. They were not only training physically but also studying everything that had to do with being ninja. They both wanted to become ninjas because that way, they could openly start a relationship with their sweethearts.

Kimiko on the other hand, she didn't come from an important family like the Hyuga and the Yamanaka so it was easier to start a relationship with her crush Neo. Just recently they had confessed their feelings for each other and decided to start going out but they were taking things very nice and slow.

When the females arrived, they saw that the three males were sparring so they didn't interrupted them in their fight, just simply sat down and watch. After they finished, the brothers along with Neo went to welcome Hinata and Kimiko. They all asked Natas about Ino but he said that she had a shift at the hospital and couldn't come visit today so they all prepared lunch and ate together.

"Uchiha, a chunin team has arrived; there is one with fractures and the others have minor injuries." One of the nurses said to Ari who was just exiting a room.

"Which room?" She asked.

"Room 4." The brunette nodded and walked towards the room where the chunin had been placed. She took the small board with their papers on the wall next to the door and read them, looking up to them after she finished.

"Alright, Team Kouichi formed by Mei, Akio and Kouichi. Can you explain what happened?" The purple eyed asked politely and the female with dark blond hair started to talk.

"We were returning from the mission and then we got ambushed by missing-nin. We were all pretty tired and they were pretty strong so it was a difficult battle. I had little chakra and they were going to attack me and I couldn't evade it but Kouichi got in the way and he got severely wounded… Akio was the one to finally fight them off and we both carried Kouichi as fast as we could back here." She explained and Ari nodded.

"Very well, I will attend Kouichi first and then I will go with you two, alright?" She asked and they both nodded and she walked towards the young teen who was unconscious by now. With her hands glowing green, she placed them over the chest of the chunin and flowed her chakra into his body, inspecting the damage. After she found out what needed to be cure immediately, she started to work on his fractures and left the minor injuries for the other medic that came after her. Several minutes later, she was done with all three of them and left the room after the other secondary medic arrived. She was immediately called to attend another shinobi who had also been seriously injured in a mission. After that, it was lunch break and she and Sakura both went to eat something. Later on, she returned to her noon shift and attended at least thirty more patients before her shift for the day was over. As she registered her check out of her shift, she said goodbye to her nurses and started to leave the hospital but the small smile she had widened even more when she sensed a familiar chakra signature in the lobby area of the building.

Standing close to the sliding doors of the hospital, was Itachi Uchiha, smirking at her way when he saw that she had noticed him. The purple eyed ran towards him with a wide smile on her face and lunged herself into his arms. The Uchiha heir chuckled lightly as he embraced her and looked down at her shining purple orbs.

"I've missed you! I'm so happy you're back." She said and he smiled.

"I'm glad I came back as well." He whispered to her ear and she let go of his waist to hold on to his arm and pull him outside of the hospital.

"So how did the mission went? You were gone for two weeks!" She pinched his arm lightly and he chuckled again.

"It was successful. The target was pretty good at fleeing away from us but in the end, we captured and disposed of him." He said with that velvety smooth voice of his.

"I'd expect nothing less from the great Itachi Uchiha." She grinned and raised her head up as she said his name and he smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"And how has your training been going?" He asked her and she let go of his arm to walk close beside him.

"Very well. I've had sparring matches with Hinata, Jack and Natas and yesterday I had a spar with Sakura and Naruto and I won." She winked and smirked. Itachi nodded once and smiled.

"Then we shall train to see how that has helped in your progress. Do you have work tomorrow?" He asked and Ari nodded.

"Night shift but we can spar in the morning." She said and the Uchiha nodded. The two kept on walking down the streets of Konoha until they reached the Uchiha compound and entered their house or better said, Itachi's house in which she was also living.

"I want to prepare something for you." She said and the ebony haired raised an eyebrow.

"I already made dinner while you were working." He smirked and Ari pouted.

"So you got back early. Alright, then I want to eat." She said and the male served the dinner he had already prepared and they both ate and talked about the things that had happened while he was away in the mission.

Itachi had missed her so much. He had spent a whole year living with her and even though he knows that Ari doesn't feel anything more than friendship for him, or even some sort of brotherly love, he cares for her much more than he lets out. The purple eyed knows that the Uchiha heir feels something that resembles maybe attraction towards her but nothing else and she trusts that he won't do anything to show it to her and since it has passed a whole year after that small confession he had made of his feelings, maybe she believes that he no longer feels the same way.

Of course, in reality, it was nothing like that.

He cares for her even more than he did before and he has had to control himself even more around her. Sometimes, when she had walked so close beside him on the streets of Konoha, he has been so tempted to place his arm around her waist, place his hand over her hip and show to everyone that she is his. Other times, she has fallen asleep on his lap at night and how he wanted to carry her to his bed and kiss her as she slept. How many times he has seen her with not so covering clothes and lusted to take them off and make love to her over and over again.

But that couldn't happen because she wouldn't accept him.

After they finished eating, they both sat at the living room. Itachi grabbed a book to read while Ari decided to draw and watch television. The night came by fast and they went to their rooms to sleep and wake up early for the next day.

When the sun was rising, the Uchiha heir woke up and started with his morning routine which was taking a bath, washing his mouth, changing clothes and preparing breakfast. He didn't need to wake up the sleeping brunette upstairs because the smell of his food made that for him. She took a quick bath, washed her teeth and sleepily walked down stairs, rubbing her eyes. The food was already done they both sat down to eat scrambled eggs with bacon along with a sandwich of ham and cheese. After they were finished, they sat on the living for a while to digest the food and then walked outside to start their morning spar.

Ari was the one to attack first, disappearing and reappearing behind the heir who easily turned around and grabbed the kick directed to his side. He held on to her leg and pulled her in but she threw her torso down to the floor with her hands on the ground, maneuvering to do a small turn and bring Itachi along with her leg up to the air, making him let go of her. Jumping into the air with the impulse of her hands and arms, she flipped around in mid air and landed on her feet back at the ground. The male raised an eyebrow at her moves and she smirked in return.

"I'm using more my flexibility." She said and he smirked, performing a hand sign and creating a shadow clone of himself. Ari crouched down a little in a fighting stance and waited for Itachi's next move. Both him and his shadow clone took out a kunai and lunged at her which was strange because Itachi almost never goes for a straight attack but none the less, she still kept on watching and waited for the right moment to dodge their assaults at her. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed his hand, tossing his whole body the other way while raising her leg to kick the real one away from her. But then, just as she knew, the clone she was holding by the hand exploded but she was ready and had done a replacement technique so when the clone exploded, she had disappeared into purple butterflies.

Looking up, he saw Ari going down on him with a chakra charged fist and he dashed to the side just in time to evade a punch that created a small crater once it hit the ground. Performing very fast hand signs, fire emerged from the Uchiha heir and the brunette's eyes widened before jumping up to evade it and performing her own Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Itachi dashed and evaded the fire projectiles of the jutsu, disappearing and reappearing behind her but this time, she couldn't get out of the way when he grabbed her from behind, placing his arms underneath her shoulders in a grapple, taking her by surprise. She gasped when he snaked his hands up to her arms and threw her down to the ground, all in mid air. The purple eyed crashed down but stood up swiftly and raised her hand to where the ebony haired male was standing. Now his eyes were the ones to widen at her.

He felt the pull inside him of her chakra controlling his and he tried hard to stay put but it was useless when he was thrown up to the air and then tossed down violently to the ground. Ari ran to where he landed, ready to strike him down with a kick but was stopped by his hand grabbing her leg and then she had to block a fist. After that, they engaged in taijutsu battle for several minutes, each doing back flips and side flips, blocking and evading each other's assaults. But the battle ended when Itachi took the upper hand with his superior speed and was able to take her down to the ground completely, pinning her with his own body weight.

They were both panting though the female was kind of gasping for air as she had his weight on him. Their chests were pressed against each other's and they could both feel the heat radiating from their bodies. But it didn't affected the purple eyed as it affected Itachi.

He suddenly felt more self conscious of how her body felt underneath his; how her chest rose up and down when she inhaled and exhaled against his own broad one, how her breath trickled his face and of how intimate the position they were in was. But what he didn't know was that she was also very aware of how close they were and her cheeks blushed a deep red but she didn't say anything, waiting for him to do so first. His eyes moved up from her lips to her purple eyes and they connected, not letting go of each other's gazes. It felt like maybe hours but it was just a minute of two until he finally pulled away from her body and stood up.

Neither of them looked at each other nor said a word for several seconds, wondering what had just happened. Itachi was the one to break the tense silence then.

"… I think that's enough for now. You have progressed enough. I'll go speak to the Hokage about arranging a date for your exams." He said and walked away from the field and the female just stared at his retreating form, still not registering what had happened to make them both so tense all of a sudden, though truth be told, she already knew what it was.

And she knew that the feeling that got over her once his broad and strong chest was crashed against hers, and when she felt his breath over her face and his lips so close to hers, had a name; attraction.

She started to feel attracted towards Itachi, her former lover's big brother.

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'Cause of you, my tries to not think of you, they just end up in one million thoughts, It's way too much to mention, see what I mean when you see my creation.

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And that's all for now! Hope you liked it at least a bit ;P Please remember to leave a review saying what you think about the story for which I will be very grateful! So for now, until next time! See ya!