Authors Note. I don't own anything but my OC's. Heavily inspired by other stories: Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen, Inoue Shiori by Hermionechan90, Déjà vu Jutsu by Vixen Tail, Catch Your Breath by Lang Noi, Clearing Mist by Shadownumera, Reading Totems by GrizzlyTeddyBear and Of the River and the Sea by Aleycat4eva. So give them a read if you want.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time – Mark Twain

Chapter 1

Death, contrary to popular belief, was not a painful experience, dying was painful but death was not. No, death itself was, in fact, quite relaxing. It was warm and soft, quiet without being silent. If I had to describe death to someone I would say that it was like being in the embrace of a loved one after emotional turmoil, there was a sense of security and comfort in it.

I remember dying. I remember the pain of it. It had been a normal day for me, just hanging out with a friend, enjoying the day. And then, then there was pain. I remember screaming, but I couldn't say if it was actually me screaming, and I can recall the surge of warmth coming from my stomach, could feel my blood leave my body. My death was rather slow in some regards. It was drawn out by people trying to save me, trying to keep me alive. As I neared the end I felt colder, the sun no longer warm, no longer bright as my eyes dimmed. There were no great passing words as my lungs heaved at my last breaths. I didn't close my eyes to signify my passing, but I couldn't say what the last thing I saw was.

If I had a chance I'd say that my biggest regret was that I never lived properly. There would be no great tales at my funeral, no stories that I would be remembered for. I had my friends, my family, my job, but I wasn't special, not in a way that makes people remember you years to come. I had a list a mile long of things I wish I had done before my passing, and traumatizing my friend with my death wasn't one of them.

Looking back I should have realized I wasn't dead anymore. I should have figured that the warmth I was experiencing was actually from being in a womb, but to my favour, I didn't remember the first experience, so I couldn't be blamed for not knowing the second time round. Thankfully infant amnesia was still a thing, even for the reborn. It made sense to me. Being born is likely a traumatic experience that is best forgotten, and not remembering my previous life meant adapting to this new one was easier. Japanese is a bitch to learn if English is still your first language.

Not remembering my parents made it easier to bond with my new ones. I'm glad I got to know my new parents before my memories returned, Tou-san wasn't Dad. Okaa-san wasn't Mum. They weren't the same but I seemed to have a similar relationship with Tou-san as I did my Dad. I was closer to him than Okaa-san. My Tou-san was a nice guy, very family orientated, and doted on me from the moment I was born. It was him that held me the most for the early part of my life, him that read to me, sang me lullabies, dressed me. I was his little girl. Okaa-san was around, but not much, it seemed as if she had me and then went back to whatever it was she was doing before being pregnant. Tou-san took me out into the village whenever he could, I got to meet a lot of people. The most notable would have been Sakumo Hatake, we never stayed long to chat with Hatake-san, Tou-san only ever had a quick chat and then we'd move on. There were a few others, but the Hatakes' stood out as he was the only other person to have a child near my age.

I also found out I had an uncle. Ichiro-Oji was an experience and a half. A bit manic, but a family man overall. I found, from overhearing conversations that adults don't think a baby could understand, that Ichirou-Oji was meant to be the head of the household but wasn't allowed to be once he became a shinobi. I didn't understand why this was a big thing, but apparently, it had to do with us being a civilian family. I wasn't sure how much I believed that knowing that Okaa-san was a kunoichi as well.

I couldn't remember much of my first life before turning one. I couldn't remember much of anything at that age, but apparently, I was a smart baby anyway. Normal baby developed stated that children will babble from about 15 months or so, but words are generally beyond them until about 18 months to two years. I didn't get this memo. I feel like I should have questioned why no one questioned an 8-month-old baby mimicking sounds and a just-barley-a-year old baby making kinda coherent sentences. Okaa-san didn't seem surprised by my development, and Tou-san would tell everyone who would listen about his 'Genius Daughter'. Full sentences were the norm for me by age two.

When I did get my memories back it was a scary moment. I was alone. Okaa-san was away as usual, but Tou-san was in his office, doing whatever he did in there. I had been asleep, enjoying my nap, but I dreamed. I dreamt of who I had been before, of how I died. I woke up with a start and cried. Tou-san came rushing in and held me. Hushing me in that way that people hush babies, but being held by him, being close to another person in that moment, feeling their warmth numbed the pain, if only for a moment. It reminded me that I wasn't dead, that I was going to be okay. I refused to let Tou-san go after that, and for a minute he reminded me of my Dad, so I held him tighter and cried anew.

I'll admit it took me awhile to recognise where I was. Okaa-san and Ichirou-Oji being ninja didn't connect with the world that I was residing in. I was nearly two when the two thoughts finally clicked. Ichirou-Oji had just come back from a mission, and he was covered in blood, I screamed at the sight of him, convinced that he was dying. It made me remember my own death in great detail, as where before it had just been an abstract feeling, it was not a horrifying memory. It was also the first time I saw a hitae-ate. I recognized the symbol carved into the metal or rather seeing the symbol induced more memories, but this time revolving around my teen years and my interest in anime. When I calmed down and Ichirou-Oji was sent to the hospital, as he should have instead of coming home in that state, I showed interest in the hitae-ate and the symbol on it. Tou-san took great delight in telling me about where we were, about Konoha, and about shinobi. About the Narutoverse.

I decided after this talk that I wanted to be a ninja. I wanted to be able to help the people of Konoha, I wanted to be strong enough to stop what happened to me from happening again to either me or to someone else. At first, I was excited about this, about possible meeting Naruto. Meeting the Rookie 9, a venture out into the village dashed this, as I looked up at the Hokage Mountain for the first time and noticed that Minato wasn't carved into the mountain face.

Shit.

I had no idea when I was.

Not helpful, not even a bit.

The only help I got was on my first playdate.

Note to self – Young Kakashi was adorable. The word chibi was made specifically for him, and cute had never been so thoroughly applied. He hadn't donned his iconic mask yet, but it was as clear as day why he might have felt the need to wear one, even without a heightened sense of smell. His silver hair was already spiking upwards and his bored gaze had to be part of his resting face. He still had his baby fat, rounding out his face, and the beauty spot just under his lip just seem to extenuate his looks.

"Hi Sakumo, I hope you don't mind looking after Sayuri for a bit. Hanae and I have been going mad trying to get things organized." Tou-san handed me over to Hatake-san. I wasn't paying attention to him, I was still gawking at Kakashi-kun.

"It's nice to meet you Sayuri-chan." There was a pause as Hatake-san shifted me in his arms, trying to get my attention. "Sayuri-chan? Are you alright?" He sounded concerned.

"Cute…" I mumbled.

"What?"

"CUTE!" I leaped out of Hatake-sans arms and lunged for Kakashi-kun. Squealing as I huggled him to me. I was probably giggling like a mad woman at his futile attempts to move me. But he was just too cute, all chibi-faced and small, even though Kakashi-kun was taller than me and was forced to bend due to me hugging. I could hear Tou-san and Hatake-san laugh at us, I didn't care, Kakashi-kun deserved all the hugs in the world. I was just starting payment. Kakashi-kuns voice was muffled as I squished him to me, it was a good thing we were children, otherwise this innocent and childish action might have been a bit awkward.

"Kashi-chan you might have to start wearing a mask like your old Ojii-san if that's the response girls give you." Tou-san laughed. He patted Hatake-san on the shoulder as he made a move to leave. "Sayu-chan be good for Sakumo. I only want to hear good things. Got it?"

"Yes, Tou-san." I replied, keeping Kakashi-kun trapped against me,

"Good luck Sakumo." Tou-san said, waving as he left the house.

"Ne, Sayuri-chan? Are you going to let go of Kashi0chan any time soon?" I think Hatake-san was concerned about the interesting colours Kakashi-kun was tuning. "Come on Sayuri-chan. If you let him go you could be properly introduced." I giggled at Hatake-san trying to bribe me into releasing his son.

"Okay Hatake-san." I cheered, releasing Kakashi-kun. He fell to the ground and all but ran away from me. "Hatake-san, you need to teach Kakashi-kun not to run away from girls. He'll never get a girlfriend like that. Okaa-san said that's why Ichirou-Oji doesn't have a wife, he keeps running away." I said sagely, nodding to myself as I looked up at Hatake-san.

"Call me Sakumo, Sayuri-chan." He said between restraining himself from laughing. His shoulders shaking from the exertion. "And you're right. Will you help Kashi-chan?" Sakumo-san was now hiding his face behind his hand.

"Un. I'll find Kakashi-kun the best girlfriend!"

"What if I don't want a girlfriend?" Kakashi-kun pouted from his safe distance.

"Then I'll find you the best boyfriend!" Sakumo-san finally let loose. His laughter was full and rich, tears creeping out of the corner of his eyes. He hunched over holding his guts, only moving back up to take a gulp of air between peals of laughter.

Kakashi glared at the small girl that was brought into the sanctuary of his home by a friend of his father. She was probably an average size for her age, but Kakashi didn't have much experience with children his age, let alone younger than him. The fact that his face was worthy of being crushed into her small body only helped him come to the conclusion that, not only were girls weird, he needed to do all he could to prevent incidents like their introduction from ever happening again. He looked at the girl again. There was nothing special about the girl from what he could tell. She was average height for her age, with brown hair that was tied up in two pigtails. Kakashi could say that her eyes might have been considered interesting, they were dark, black, no discernible colour that was usually associated with the Uchiha clan, but that would have been her only claim to fame. Excluding her personality. Kakashi decided, from this first meeting that if he could go his whole life without meeting anyone else as exuberant as Sayuri Akiyama he could die happy.

Somewhere a young Maito Gai sneezed.

Kakashi also decided that he probably wouldn't have a better friend. Over the course of their meetings, he noticed that Sayuri was exceptionally good at reading his mood and responding appropriately.

Yes, Kakashi thought She's not a bad person to have as a friend at all.

Sakumo Hatake was generally a content man. While saddened by the loss of his wife, Kakashi's mother, he was happy with his stoic son. So seeing said son have such an emotive reaction to the small girl in his care brought no small amount of joy to him. Within minutes the little girl had declared herself Kakashi's personal matchmaker and probably caused him to have an aversion to touch. Within an hour she had his son wrapped around her little finger, following her instructions in a game she was forcing him to play.

"I already told you. It goes in a cycle. Jack, Queen, King, Ace, two, three and so on and so forth. And you're supposed to get rid of your cards, why do you keep slapping the bigger pile? Are you going easy on me because I'm a girl?" Sayuri-chan explained, again. Sakumo had to hand it to Jirou and Hanae, their daughter could articulate very well for her age. She was also definitely her mother's daughter, bossy.

Sakumo laughed to himself as he watched his son get yelled at by the little girl, again. Seeing Sayuri sitting seiza while glaring at Kakashi was absolutely something she learned from watching her mother.

"Ne, Sayuri-chan. When are you going to start to look for a partner for Kashi-chan?" Sakumo enjoyed the look of contained horror on his son's face, the dramatic paling and widening eyes.

"Ummm. Hmm. Not until he's older. Children shouldn't worry about things like that."

"Aren't you younger than me Brat?"

"I'm not a brat you Baka!" Poor little Sayuri glared at Kakashi. Her face turned upwards in an expression that was 100% her mother. "Anyway, age has nothing to do with maturity. Tou-san says I'm an old soul. Okaa-san says that I got female maturity from her side of the family, and she says that when I'm older I'm going to be head of the Akiyama Clan, and I'd get to be on the council." The look she gave Kakashi was most definitely the preening look her father owned.

"Then I fear for the future of Konoha." Kakashi intoned dryly. Sakumo sighed, he'd have to teach the boy about the dangers of responding to clearly passionate people. If Sayuri didn't teach him first.

"What did you say Bakashi?" She screeched. Sayuri was going to teach Kakashi the danger of passionate people one way or another. Sakumo watched the argument escalate across the room. Sayuri seemed to burn with the energy that only a two-year-old could possess.

The playdate ended when Sayuri finally ran out of energy. It wasn't a gradual process, in fact, she had been mid-sentence when she face planted the table she and Kakashi were seated at. Sakumo snorted when Kakashi jumped out of his skin, it was only an hour later when Jirou came to collect his daughter.

"So… How was she Sakumo?" Jirou asked as he scooped up the toddler, resting her head against his shoulder.

"She… She was quite something Jirou. I won't mind having her again if you need. I think she'll be good for Kashi-chan."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She's decided that she'd going to find him a girlfriend or boyfriend in the future. She also seems to be training him in a way not dissimilar to how I train the pups." Training him for something that only Sayuri seemed to know.

"If you could. Next week I've got back-to-back meetings and Hanae will be away on a mission, and Ichi-nii isn't meant to be back by then."

"No problem. I'm still down as on medical leave."

And with that Kakashi became cursed with regular visits from Sayuri Amiyaka.