It was a normal morning in Konohagakure. The weather was perfect, civilians happily went about their business, missions were carried out, and Hatake Kakashi was late.
As usual he was running behind schedule to meet his genin. Purposely ignoring the fact that he was already an hour late, he avoided the more crowded streets in favor of some shortcuts.
He was currently passing by the Academy. The street was not one normally taken by civilians unless they were dropping off or picking up their kids. It was relatively empty except for him and another woman who was exiting the Academy.
She was an ordinary looking woman, nothing different or special, but something about her caught Kakashi's eye.
From where he was standing he could tell she was at least a whole head shorter than him, she had chocolate brown hair that was tied in a messy bun on her head, and similarly colored eyes that seemed to brighten when exposed to the sunlight and that accentuated her fair complexion perfectly. She had on a simple, loose, white tank dress with a black messenger and camera bag thrown over her shoulder as she held some documents underneath her right arm.
Normally Kakashi wouldn't be one to openly stare at women, or even stare at all, but he couldn't help himself. She was just beautiful to him.
She caught his gaze suddenly and stared back before a quirking eyebrow at him. He'd suddenly remembered that he was staring at her. In the open. On an empty street.
He stuttered for a bit lost for words as she continued to stare at him a slight blush beginning to develop on her face as more time passed.
She moved to tuck a strand of hair behind her eye, momentarily forgetting the documents tucked under her arm, and they all scattered onto the ground. Her blush deepened as she sighed in annoyance before kneeling down to collect her papers.
Kakashi found himself walking over to her without realizing it, "Need a hand?"
The brunette looked up at him, "That'd be nice."
"I'm sorry for staring at you," he apologized as handed her some of the papers.
"No harm done I suppose, right?" she waved a hand at him as she stood up, "I'm Ayuki."
"Kakashi."
"Nice to meet you Kakashi-san," she began as she turned to walk down the street, "I'm sorry your first impression of me was such an awful one," she laughed softly.
"Trust me that was not my first impression of you," she looked at him strangely but he continued before she could question him, "Do you work at the Academy? As a photographer I mean. I've never seen you around before"
"Oh I just arrived to Konoha two months ago. I was given the job at the Academy earlier this week. I take pictures of all the new genin and a bunch of other shinobi for documentation and whatnot," she smiled more openly now.
"Well then welcome to the village."
"Thank you. This place is just so huge, I'm always getting lost," she laughed.
"Well I'd love to be a guide if you ever need it."
Her smile got brighter as she said, "Thank you for the offer Kakashi-san. I might have to take you up on it one day."
Kakashi silently prayed that day came soon.
"I honestly don't mean to be rude," she began, "But don't you have other things to do this morning? Talking to some civilian probably isn't very important on a shinobi's list of things to do."
"A shinobi's list of things to do," he laughed softly, "And what might that include?"
"I don't know shinobi stuff. Saving a cat from a tree, rescuing a damsel in distress," she smiled.
"Well now that you mention it, I am supposed to meet my genin at the training grounds."
"And when do you have to do that?"
"Not for a while," he lied smoothly.
Ayuki bit her lip slightly, happy to know she'd get to talk to the mysterious shinobi a little more, "So if you have genin then you must be a jounin."
"Mhm," he said in agreement.
She made a slight noise of approval, "An elite. You must be really strong then Kakashi-san."
"I'd like to think so," he said sincerely.
She laughed softly before coming to a stop outside of a building, "Well this is where I live."
He noticed that she lived across the street from the Yamanka flower shop. The only homes on that street were two-story townhouses. Only families could afford it, not a single woman. A disappointing realization came to him then.
"Your husband picked a nice area."
She looked over her shoulder at him, a slightly horrified look on her face, "I'm not married."
"You're not?"
"No," she shook her head a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "There isn't a ring on my finger.
"Roommates?"
She snorted in laughter a little, "If you're wondering how I can afford such a place I come from a well off family."
He nodded once as he went through the list of wealthy families with a daughter named Ayuki. He'd been assigned to guard plenty of them, especially while in ANBU.
"Now are you coming in or not?" she asked as she opened her door and walked in, "The least I could do is offer you a drink or something."
"You don't have to," he said honestly.
She smiled at him like she had done so many times that morning, "But I want to," she left the door open as if knowing he would accept her offer.
He followed her in shortly after happily taking the opportunity to spend more time with her.
The front door opened to a small walkway that led to fairly sized kitchen that was nicely lit by the sun flowing in from a window on the opposite wall. A dinner table was in the center of the room and she placed the documents and her bags on it. To the right was a doorway that led to a sitting area with a fireplace on the opposing wall. A staircase was placed to the left of the door that he guessed led to her bedroom and bathroom, maybe even a spare bedroom to. It was big enough for a family of three, yet here she was in this big house, alone.
"Why-"
"This location?" she finished for him, "I'm just used to big homes I guess."
That reminded him of what she said before, "If you don't mind me asking, what's your family name?"
"Myugako."
"Don't think I've ever heard of them," he didn't mean to sound accusing but he was curious.
"I thought so. We're a well off family but not note-worthy. Plus the Myugakos live in the Land of Lightening."
He was a little shocked by her answer, "You came all the way from the Land of Lightening? That's a four day trip. Six at a civilian's pace."
She shrugged as she turned to open her fridge, "I wanted a change of scenery."
"Pretty far for a change of scenery."
She smirked at him as she closed her fridge, a pitcher of water in hand, "Well if you must know. I really just wanted to get away from my parents," she placed the pitcher on the table as she got two glasses out of the cabinet.
"And what's wrong with your parents?" he asked as he moved to sit in one of the chairs at her table.
"Oh you know they're the overbearing type," she answered as she sat opposite him and poured the water in the glasses. She gave one to him as she took a sip of her own.
"You know I don't know why I'm telling you all this," she was smiling though, "I just met you."
"Maybe I have a face you can trust," he joked.
She stared at him for a split second before she broke out in laughter, "Of course. That's probably it." About 93% of his face was covered up.
"I must ask," she began as she leaned a little onto the table. The new angle exposed the top of her breasts and Kakashi couldn't help but quickly steal a glance, "The mask is understandable but why cover up one eye?"
He was a little taken back by the question. If people asked about the secrecy with his face they'd ask about the mask, not about his left eye. Although most people know what's there already.
Since she was being open with him he figured he'd be open with her.
"I don't usually unveil my Sharigan unless necessary but I'm willing to make an exception for you," he didn't miss the small blush as he pulled his hitai-ate up.
She gasped softly and he smirked at her expression, "Freaky huh?"
She was silent for a second before asking, "How'd you get that scar?"
He was obviously going to have to learn to expect the unexpected with her if she caught ignoring the obvious, "My scar?"
She nodded a solemn look on her face.
He looked away from her sympathic expression as the memory of where the scar and, subsequently, the Sharingan came from flooded his mind, "I got it when I was 13. In a battle with an Iwa shinobi."
"I can never get my head around the fact that they put children into battle," he looked at her, shock clear in his eyes.
"You know I keep expecting you to say one thing, but you always say another."
"I'm sorry," she was smiling softly none the less
"Don't be I like it. People don't surprise me often."
"Must be horrible throwing a surprise party for you," they both laughed happily taking a change in subject.
"I must apologize for keeping you," she said after there'd both regained composure, "I just remembered you have to meet your genin."
He glanced at the clock behind her noticing he was now 3 hours late.
"Yes it appears you've occupied my time for two hours," he replied as he readjusted his hitai-ate.
She looked at the time behind her, "Oh my Kami I'm so sorry."
"Don't be I was late already to begin with," she winked at her as he stood.
"You little liar," she smiled as she also stood while grabbing their glasses, "You told me you had some time till you had to meet them."
"Technically I do still have time. I'm always late."
She laughed as she put the glasses in the sink, "I suppose I'll just see you around the village?"
"With you working at the Academy our paths are bound to cross."
"I guess this is goodbye then."
"More of a see you later," he said as he turned towards the door.
"Well then I'll see you later Kakashi-san."
"And same to you Ayuki-chan."
.:* * *:.
"Why do we continue to show up on time when Kakashi-sensei doesn't?!" Naruto asked exhaustedly. He was more talking to himself since he knew his other two teammates were trying to block him out.
"Naruto stop trying to start trouble," Sakura chastised even though she was agreeing wholeheartedly on the inside.
"Well tomorrow I'm showing up at later than 6AM so that way I don't have to wait hours for him to show up!"
"That sounds like a great idea. But what happens if I show up early?"
Naruto froze for a second at the sound of his sensei's voice. He spun around quickly with his hand behind his head scratching at nothing (a nervous tick if anything else), "Uh he-hey Kakashi-sensei! You see I was just joking there 'cause—"
"Whatever Naruto. I suppose this is partly my fault. I just lost track of time," the jounin apologized.
The three genin shared a look.
"Are... You okay Sensei?" Sakura asked wearily.
"Better than okay," Kakashi answered as he started walking down the path, "Come on. There are missions to do."
Naruto smiled at the mention of missions, his jounin's odd behavior forgotten, "Alright! What are we doing today Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly, "I hope it's something dangerous and cool like an assassination," he continued without waiting for the jounin to answer.
"You baka. We're just a bunch of genin. Why would they give us an A-rank mission like that?" Sakura chastised.
Naruto and her talked, fought, animatedly as Sasuke turned towards his sensei.
"Who is she?" the raven asked.
Kakashi looked down at the Uchiha confused by his question, "That's Sakura."
Sasuke rolled his eyes already tired of this conversation, "You met a girl today. That's why you were late," he explained.
Kakashi wondered for a moment if the boy had been watching him, "She needed my assistance."
"Yeah right. You were flirting, admit it."
Kakashi did not, and was not, going to discuss his personal life with a twelve year old. He was politely going to tell the genin to 'fuck off' but Sasuke interrupted him.
"You know it's always the same. Some wonderful, and I use that term loosely, girl comes out of nowhere and makes the usually reserved, tough shinobi fall head over heels in love. Don't deny it. You have a far off look in your eyes, you didn't give some BS excuse about why you were late, and you aren't even reading your perverted book."
Kakashi hadn't even realized he hadn't been reading his Icha Icha. The kid was smart. Too smart.
"Why Sasuke you think I'm tough?" he asked in a false innocent tone. He was gonna play dumb till the raven got annoyed with the conversation.
Didn't take long though. Sasuke grew aggravated just from that one comment and walked away to rejoin his bickering teammates while mumbling about how his sensei was a usuratonkachi.
Hello readers. My name is Keyana and this is my first fanfic on this site so snaps for me. For the people that were already following this story I'm sorry I never introduced myself before and for the people just reading it's nice to meet you. Anyway, I previously had two chapters already posted on this story but I deleted them. I was reading this story and I realized, "...I hate this." I'm really appreciative of the people that commented and were already following this story, but it was a little too cutesy for me so I rewrote it. That is actually why it took me so long to update because I was rewriting it (and I had an essay to do). This new version of the story is a little more where I want it to be. Ayuki seemed a little too dumb before for my likings, I really wasn't liking the whole what-Kakashi-was-thinking lines either, and Kakashi and Ayuki have a lot more interaction. Anyhoo, I already have the second chapter rewritten and I'll post it next week. The reason why is it'll give me time to write the third chapter.
Well to my previous followers, I hope you like this new version of the story and continue to follow it. To any new readers, I hope you like this story also and follow.
Well bye for now and remember to comment please :)