(A/N: Hey guys, a wild impulse hit me the other night, and I acted on it. This was my first idea for a fanfic but for some reason I never got around to typing it out. There will be a lot of new characters, though there will be some that pop up from the Naruto series later in the story (Don't let the time frame of this one fool you, things will be explained as the story goes on.) Those who have read my other story Neo Leaf, I haven't given up on it, just putting it on the back burner for the moment, working on it little by little. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one.

Chapter 1: After the Academy

15 years after the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, a new village was formed. Comprised of citizens from mostly the Land of Fire, yet welcoming many other citizens from around the world, Raitogakure has grown to be a power in the shinobi world that no other village dare's toy with without fear of bloodshed. Though Raitogakure is a peaceful village, they have waged war with quite a few lesser villages and came out on top, though many other major villages like Iwagakure and Kumogakure greatly disagree with Raitogakure's decisions, one major ally to Raito is Konohagakure. Providing financial support, as well as persuading the Land of Fire Daimyo to provide the land that they could start their village on.

Now, 75 years after the start of the village, the Yondaime Mitsukage rules over the village. He has earned the trust, and respect of everyone in the village. Known as a kind man, yet not someone you want as your enemy. Today, he overlooks this year's newly graduated academy students. All of them have been given a squad and sensei, one such graduate is Asato Yuki. He is this year's 2nd Best, falling just a few points behind his childhood friend Fujii Mai. Both of them were put into the same squad with someone from another classroom as theirs. The red spikey haird Yuki and the long blonde haired Mia were considered inseparable, being at each other's sides for everything.

As the Mitsukage gave his speech, there was only one thing going on in Yuki's mind, getting out of that academy and getting to finally do some missions. He was so lost in his own thoughts that it took Mai placing her hand on his to bring him back to reality.

"Earth to Yuki, the Mitsukage's done, we can go now." said Mai as Yuki lifted his head from where he was laying.

"Oh, sorry Mai, I just got lost in my train of thought" he said was he stretched his arms. Looking around he saw everyone start to file out.

"Come on, let's go. Since we meet our Sensei and other team mate tomorrow, there's a few place's I wanna stop before I go home." said Mai with a sly grin on her face.

Yuki looked back at her with his eyes narrowed. "So I guess that means I'm paying for whatever you buy?"

Mai stood up and dragged him to his feet, "But of course, it is the job of the man to buy anything the girl wants, right?"

Yuki crossed his arms and looked back at her with a concerned look. "Your right, but you're just taking advantage of my family's wealth….again." Yuki stopped and thought back to all the times he went shopping with her and not only had to pay, but carry everything she bought. "…oh well. We have been friends since we were kids, so I guess if it's for you, money isn't a problem."

Mai's face lit up and she latched onto Yuki's arm and began dragging him to the door. "Great, I know just the place to start!"

With Mai literally dragging him, they leave the academy and proceed into the market square. Mai immediately walks into a weapons shop, only after she took the pouch of money Yuki had and left him at the door saying something about 'It's a surprise'.

After a few minutes, she walks back out holding two weapons pouches. Those look expensive… thought Yuki just as Mia tossed him one.

"Here, one for you and one for me. I choose special ones," She opens her pouch and pulled out a silver kunai with a red taped handle. "The lady behind the counter told me they will never rust and can withstand more abuse then the regular kunai. I even got us a set of matching shuriken too." She finished with a smile.

"With my money…"

"Yes, with your money." said Mai as she nodded her head.

"And just how much did these cost?" asked Yuki, knowing that the pouch of money he gave her was long gone.

"400k ryu…"

Yuki's mouth immediately dropped to the ground. He hadn't heard of any sort of weapons costing that much, not even a katana crafted by a master swordsman cost that much.

"ARE YOU INSANE?! I didn't even have that much on me, so how did you manage to walk out with them?"

"I told the lady who I was buying half of it for, and she said that you could just bring by what was owed another time."

At a loss for words, Yuki slapped his right hand onto his face and tried not to get mad. I told her I'd pay….I told her I'd pay…. "Fine," he finally said, not keeping his sarcasm down at all. "I'll just see if kaa-san can stop by here tomorrow and finish paying them."

With a smile Mai grabbed his hand and started leading him again. "Come on, let's get lunch then."

Lunch didn't even register on Yuki's mind, since Mai had spent every last penny he had he was flat broke until he got home. "Mai, where do you think we are going to eat at? I don't have any more money on me and I'm not gonna start a tab with every store in Raito…"

Mai immediately turned around and glared at him. "You're forgetting that my family owns the most successful ramen shop in the village."

Yuki stopped and looked into her eyes, for some reason, her brown eyes were pulling him in. It wasn't until she snapped a finger in front of his face did he come back to reality.

"Are you okay Yuki? You been spacing out more than usual today." Said Yuki, the concern in her voice starting to take effect, "That's twice you've spaced out today, are you okay?"

Yuki nods his head and tries suppress the blush that's trying to take over. "Yea…perfectly fine Mai."

Mai smiled and took his hand again and led them on.

The two went to the ramen shop that the Fujii family owned and had their lunches. They talked about what was in store for them in their new squad, their past in the academy, and other things. Yuki had managed to persuade her older sister who was working the shop at the time to give them two bowls of ramen for free since it was their graduation day. Now they were walking through the city, the sun was starting to get low in the sky.

"We're supposed to meet our sensei tomorrow at 8 on Practice Ground 4…wonder what they will be like." Said Mai. She had always wanted a laid back sensei that could hold his or her own in combat.

"Hopefully not someone too into his mission that he blindly leads us into deadly situations." Sighed Yuki. He knew all too well about such calls but didn't want to bring up bad memories.

"Either way, you know that since me and you are on the same team that they will probably pair us with a very low ranking Genin. I just hope they aren't a total washout."

The talking stopped for a second as they came into a crowded part of town. Just as they were mid-way through the crowd something caught Yuki's eye. In a split second he had his right arm out and stopped Mai just as a black haired girl ran past them flat out with a few people hot on her trail.

"The hell was tha…" Yuki stops when he feels something soft against his right hand. He looks over to see he had indeed stopped Mai, but had done so by almost literally grabbing her chest. The look on her face meant that she was ready to kill Yuki. With his face blood red and a stream of blood coming from his nose, he releases his hold. "Umm…uhhhh I ummm…..sorry Mai."

With a swift slap to the back of the head, Mai send Yuki to the ground. "Baka Yuki, baka baka baka!"

He jumps back to his feet instantly, "AGGH! I JUST STOPPED YOU FROM GETTING RUN OVER AND THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?!"

Mai turns her nose up at that statement. "Likely story, or maybe you just got ballsy and wanted to cop a feel, and that stampede of people just happened to be there at the right time." Then she turns and looks as Yuki as she starts to blush. "Honestly…if you wanted to you could have just asked…"

This sends Yuki falling over backwards with blood coming from both nostrils.

"Just kidding." Said Mai giggling.

"This girl's gonna drive me mad one day…" wheezed Yuki as he just laid on the ground dazed at what Mai had said.

Mai leans down and helps Yuki back to his feet. They continues to walk around the village talking for what seemed like hours, every once in a while Mai would catch Yuki blushing and pick at him about what had just happened, which would cause him to blush more. At the end of the day Yuki was walking Mai home just as the sun was setting. They walked up onto her deck and she stopped in front of her door. She turned around and smiled at him.

"See you tomorrow, remember, don't be late."

Yuki nods. "I know, see you then."

Yuki turns to walk off the deck but feels Mai's hand grab his. She swings him around to her and she plants a kiss on his lips. He stands there stunned as Mai walks into her house blushing almost the same color he is. After a moment of standing there dazed he manages to collect himself enough to step off her porch and head to his house.

Inside Mai house, she had shut the door and was now leaning against it, trying to make sense of what she had just done. "W-What caused me to do that…" she was wondering, though she had no regrets, she didn't think that she would have showed her affection for him this early in life. "Maybe it's just my mind reacting to what he did earlier." She thought back to when he threw his arm up and inadvertently grabbed her. "UGGH! Baka Yuki!" she screamed as she stormed off into the house.

Yuki had left Mai's and headed straight for his. Taking ten minutes to get there, he strolled up to a gate, and walked in. The house was a 3 story brick home, large front yard, and indoor swimming pool in the East Wing, and Dojo in the back. Finally at the front door, he pauses with his hand on the door knob. It's not that he hated this home, or his family, he just hated the memories it held. Taking a deep breath he turns the knob and walks in. Shutting the door behind him he can hear footsteps approaching.

"NII-SAN! Your home Nii-san." Said the silvered haired little girl running towards Yuki. She latches onto him and hugs him, nearly tripping him. It was his 7 year old sister Ayame.

"Ayame, be careful." He hugs her back and then leans down in front of her as soon as she lets him go. "Ayame, is Kaa-san back yet?"

Ayame nods, "She's in her study right now."

Ayame notices the Hitai-ate with an obvious representation of a sun on it that Yuki had tied around loosely around his neck, her eyes became big and she smiled as wide as he had ever seen her. "You're a ninja now nii-san!"

Yuki smiles at Ayame as he puts a hand on her head and rustles her hair. "I sure am Ayame." He stands up and walks to the stairs across the room. "We can talk later Ayame, I need to speak to mother."

Ayame nods and runs off to the room she came from as Yuki proceeds to the stairs. He knew his mother was busy being the head of the house and clan head at the moment, she had also just retired from active duty to the village, but he knew she would always make time for him. Reaching the top of the steps, he turns right down a long hallway and stops at the first door he comes too. He knocks on it and waits.

"Come in" a tired sounding voice called form within.

Yuki opens the door and walks in. The room itself is filled with book cases, except for the part of the room that had a big desk in the middle of it. A name plate on the desk read Asato Miyabi. There in a leather high backed chair sat a woman who appeared to be in her early forties. She had long silver hair that was kept in a ponytail behind her. Her eyes were a deep blue and she had a clean white dress on. She looks up at Yuki and smiles at him as he closes the door behind him and steps towards her.

"Ahh, Yuki, how was your last day of the academy? I see they gave you your Hitai-ate's today too."

"It was fine kaa-san." It really wasn't, it was rather boring to him. "Say, Mai and I went out today and stopped by the weapons shop….one thing lead to another a…"

Before Yuki could finish his sentence she cut him off. "I'll handle it." She simply said, her smile not easing up. "She's just like her mother, if there's money in her hand, she will spend it."

Yuki fully agreed, Mai was always getting money from him, though like he had said earlier, money isn't an issue if it's for Mai. "Thanks kaa-san" said Yuki as he bowed.

Miyabi looks back down at the paperwork that was sprawled out on her desk. "Now if you'll excuse me Yuki, I need to finish my work. We can talk more during dinner." Yuki knew that she was usually up to her neck in work. She was part of the village's military brass, just recently having retired, though she still volunteers her time to help her village out with overload until the person that replaced her gets settled in. That's on top of her work as the clan head.

Not wanting to disturb her anymore, he bows and leaves the room.

Later that evening, he laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling. The day's events running through his head. For some reason his head was stuck on Mai for a while. Was his conscious telling him that he had a crush on her? Maybe he did, he liked Mai and has been with her almost every day since they were introduced to each other at the age of 3. He knew she liked him too, what sealed that was the fact that she had kissed him earlier that day, but he didn't know her true feelings.

After what seemed like a few hours, he had finally fell off to sleep. Though it wasn't peaceful.

Six hours after he had fallen asleep and with the moon raising high into the sky, he broke into a cold sweat. Immediately he started to thrash around in the bed as his right arm began to clutch some kind of black markings that were starting to show in his left shoulder. After a few more minutes, the window in his room opened and a dark figure entered his room through it. They stood by Yuki's bed for a few minutes until he suddenly shot straight up, breathing heavily and looking around as if he was still in the dream.

"Was it the dream again Yuki-sama?" Yuki recognized the feminine voice and relaxed a little. It was only one of the house maids that was left in charge of overseeing Yuki and his 'Special' condition. Yuki still held the spot on his shoulder, the pain was starting to die down.

Turning on the light next to his bed, he reveals the girl that had been standing by his bed. She was only a few years older than he was, but her chakra reserves were through the roof. She wore a black dress with white outlines, her hair was almost black with two red streaks on both sides going down the side of her face. The girl walks up to Yuki, places and hand on his shoulder, and an orange glow forms around her hand.

After a few minutes, the glow disappears and the girl drops her hand back to her side. "I suppressed the effects of the seal, it seems to be weakening, Yuki-sama."

Yuki slowly nodded. "Ko, did you sense it?"

The girl nodded, "I did," she didn't want to alarm Yuki but knew it was her duty to inform him. "Your dream, it was that nightmare again, wasn't it?"

Yuki just shook his head. "I don't wanna talk about it, Ko." Yuki gets out of the bed and stands up. "I thank you for your concern Ko, you may go now." As he said that the girl nodded, but hesitated. "Your still worried about me aren't you?" asked Yuki, seeing the worried look in her eyes.

She nodded. "Your well-being is my concern, my only order from your mother was to ensure that you remain alive and in good mental and physical condition. With that seal acting out on two occasions a week apart, it has me worried."

Yuki looks at Ko and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Ko, I'm fine. We all know that it takes a lot for the seal to be broken." He stops a minute and thinks. "Ayame, has she had any issues?"

Ko shakes her head "None, it seems he put all he had left in him into her seal."

Yuki turns from her and looks to a picture on the wall. A very young Ayame is up front between two boys, one I Yuki, while the other with black hair that spiked at the ends stood taller than him.

"Hiroto wouldn't want her to suffer any from fathers…experiments…" Yuki clenched his fists together when he mentioned his father's name.

Ko knew that there was bad blood between Yuki and his now deceased father, though she hadn't heard the story, she knew that whatever happened brought the death of his father and older brother Hiroto one winter night. She was only told about the seal on Ayame and Yuki when she was hired by their mother, how to control it, and what to do in the event the seal failed.

Yuki on the other hand, kept to himself about the incident. Many in the village knew something happened, though it was quickly hushed by the Mitsukage. For all he cared, the incident could fade away in darkness and never come to light again, but things like this never do.

Yuki looks at Ko and smiles, "I'll see to it that mother rewards you for suppressing the seal. Don't want you thinking you're doing this for nothing."

Ko bows immediately in gratitude. "Knowing that you and your sister are in good health is my reward, Yuki-sama."

"No need to bow to me Ko, your more of a friend to me." He walks to his dresser and opens it but stops and looks at Ko. "Since I'm already up, I'm just gonna go and practice a little. If you don't mind, I got to get dressed."

Ko only nods, and exits through the door, closing it behind her.

Yuki is quickly dressed and heads out of his room and downstairs. As he nears the front door he grabs his gear that was sitting on a coat hanger and exits the house.