A/N: Oki peps, first Naruto fic so be kind and merciful….English is not my first language, so I hope it doesn't suck as much as I think it does. I'm writing this fic mainly as an excise so any criticism or advice is highly welcomed. But still R&R and 10x a lot for stopping. Enjoy!

Prologue

In the garden of the Konohagakure temple there's a memorial stone. The numerous names craved on it, all belong to the ninjas that died while protecting the village. To fader emphasize its meaning, the Third Hokage wrote a haiku poem entitled Loss on the stone. When the nine-tailed demon attacked the village for the first time, over 300 shinobi were killed. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the village's memorial stone; they all wanted to crave the name of their loved ones on it. The Third Hogake waited in line like everybody else. But when the moment came to engrave his wife's name, the Hokage pulled out his dagger and scratched out the words of the poem, leaving only the title. At that time I didn't understand his action, but as I got older - and people close to me started disappearing from this world – I started to grasp the true meaning of his unusual gesture: one cannot read nor write Loss, one can only feel it.

The Cat and the Dog

I was five years old when the kyubi attacked our village. I remember it like one would remember a natural-disaster… if I think about it, for me it was more of an earthquake then anything else… Ebisu - at that time one of my mother's students – was asked to take me into the forest, along with all the other village children. We stayed there for about two days. Luckily there was plenty of food and water. To help us get our mind off the kyubi, the guardians encouraged us to play - but within the refuge's borders. My father was among the last parents to come to the forest. I remember playing some kind of tag-game, and was blindfolded when I felt his strong fingers angrily pulling my arm and dragging me home. As soon as we arrived, he immediately sent me to my room. Stuffed in bed I waited for the usual good-night kiss from my mother. But it was father that came to me that night. He bent over and kissed my forehead, just like mom would've done.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She's gone" he could barely speak, his lips were moving slowly, as if he had trouble articulating the words.

"When will she be back?"

"He didn't answer so I quickly changed the subject."

"I'm hungry; I'm going to eat something!"

"No, you won't eat anything tonight."

"But why??" I asked folding my arms.

"So you can understand emptiness" he answered.

I climbed out the window as soon as he left. The street-lights were turned off and a strange, thick darkness swallowed the entire village. Like my father, Konoha too was mourning. Before that night it was never really dark in Konoha, it was never really quiet….

I don't exactly remember what happened in the months that fallowed the demon attack. That period of time is like a blank page in my memory, but I like to think that I was mourning my mother's death properly…

As a child I was very spoiled and my father lavished affection on me like no other…Not only was I a brat, but I had a loud mouth, foul temper and I could come up with a tantrum so fast that it would make any reasonable mans' head spin. Before I turned 6 it was decided that the only cure for my condition was severe military treatment. Soon after Ebisu became a chunin, he was designated as my personal teacher. After only six months of training his hair turned grey, after a year he was having problems sleeping and developed a heart condition. It's no wonder he would threaten my father with quitting about once every 2 or 3 months. When the Hokage thought the poor man couldn't take anymore, he would send him to a spa where he would receive special treatment. Among other things, this kind of particular spa's offered: medical attendance of any kind, free psychological counseling and support, plus clean trendy white jackets with long sleeves. After some months of well deserved piece and relaxation, Ebisu would reassume his job with more determination and more conviction then before:

"Ayumi-sama, I'm going to make a shinobi out of you even if it cost's me my mental and physical health! These three months at the spa have been a dream! I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!"

"Oh, Ebisu-san, I had that same dream", I said sending him a bright smile and politely bowing "but you go in the other direction…"

Before he could catch the insult I climbed the closest three and hid myself among the branches. I was agile like a cat when it came to climbing something and would rather enjoy myself lazing or sleeping then training.

"What did you say?! You impertinent little brat!" screamed Ebitsu.

"Little girls should learn their place" said a voice. "Don't you think?"

The voice was so close that it scared me. I lost control of the chakra that was flowing trough my legs and feel to the ground. I got up quickly and stared angrily at the unwelcomed stranger that had stolen my tree.

"What's wrong?" he asked raising his unmasked eye from the book he was reading. "Cat's got your tongue?"

I was so furious that my face turned red, my chin wobbled and from head to toes my entire body was shaking.

"Do…Do you have any idea of who I am?" I asked in a trebling voice.

"I have absolutely no idea" answered the stranger.

"Let's go Ayumi-sama, this man is not to be trifled with" whispered Ebisu pulling my arm. "We'll find another place to train Kakashi-taichou! We didn't mean to disturb you!"

"By all means, you can stay" the masked stranger answered still reading his book. "You don't disturb me at all."

"Oh, Kakashi-taichou is to king and…"

"And now that we have your permission" I said making a theatrically deep bow and speaking in a pretentious tone. "We'll definitely take into consideration staying…"

"Foolish girl! Show some respect! You are talking to the great Copy-Ninja Kakashi! One of our village's finest shinobi! Kakashi-taichou, on behalf of this silly child I…"

"It's alright Ebisu-kun" he said plainly. "And as for you, a little girl should be first thought good-manners and then ninjutsu. Don't you agree?"

I was so stunned that I couldn't mutter a single word. He could see through my façade. This man recognized me for what I really was, not the charming daughter of our proud Hokage, but the arrogant, spoiled, annoying child of a blind old man.

"So how did today's training go?" asked father as Ebisu and I were entering his study.

"Very well sir!" said my teacher trying to catch his breath. "You don't mind if I sit down for a minute?"

"When looking at you two" said the Hokage "one can't decide who's training who…"

"Hahahaha, Hokage-sama!" said Ebisu laughing hysterically. "You're so funny….Is that water?"And without waiting for an answer he took the Hokages' glass from his hands and started drinking.

"And you, my little instrument of torture, how come you're so silent today?"

"Papa, do you love me?" I innocently asked while biting my nails.

"Did you kill somebody?"

"No"

"Break something?"

"No…"

"Then what on Earth makes you ask something like that?"

"Dad…Who's this Kakashi-nija-copy-guy?"

"Who?...Oh, you mean Copy-Ninja Kakashi…Well his a skilled Jounin…If I'm not mistaken at the moment he is the head of the ANBU's 4th division…Did you meet him?"

"We ran into him" said Ebisu. "Ayumi-sama must be upset because he didn't know who she was…"

"It's not that! It's just that…Well…He's the most disagreeable and insolent and arrogant and…"

"Hokage-sama!" screamed a woman from outside the window. "Hokage-sama! The thing has escaped again!"

"Darn! Ebisu get your team and start looking for him."

"What's wrong?" I asked. "One of your monkeys ran away again?"

"He's not a monkey…"

"Then..what is it?"

"He's a boy... a five year old boy."

"A boy? I'm sure that woman was talking about an "it" not a "he"…And why would a boy feel the need to "escape again"?"

His face was ashy white. He held on to his walking stick as he got out of his chair and opened that door for me:

"Go home!" he said with pity. "I'll tell you all in good time."

A/N: Ok, this chappy was a lil' angsty but the mood will definitely change in the next one. As you have noticed Ayumi is an OC and she is represented by the symbol of the cat - if I evolve this fic feather she'll be able to summon cats just as Naruto does with frogs, Sakura with snailes, Sasuke with snake and Kakashi with dogs > Ebisu is more of a mouse kind of guy and basically the teacher student relationship between him and Ayumi is supposed to be similar to that of the cat and mouse from the Chinese zodiac.