Disclaimer: I think the same word defines everything: fanfiction
(Nothing about Naruto and its characters belongs to me, mine are just this story... and Shikamaru.)

…

Characteristics of the fic:

- Pairing: Kakashi Hatake x Yūgao Uzuki
- Ninja Universe/Canon divergent
- Genre: Romance/Action/Drama
- Rated: T for language, violence, and eventual change to M for future lemon, etc, etc.

UNDER THE SAME MOON
PART I. THE ROAD THAT BROUGHT US SO FAR

1. Wrong trace

Two and a half years after Naruto's departure...

A sepulchral silence settled between them and Hatake Kakashi knew he was in trouble. In very, very serious trouble.

He could tell by the way the figure before him had tensed, like a cat millimeters from the water. Every trace of expression disappeared from the delicate features of the face that looked at him a few steps away, and those brown eyes had taken on a glow of deadly seriousness that was rarely directed at him.

"You're joking, aren't you?"

He shook his head barely perceptibly and was quite certain that she could clearly imagine the expression of ignorant innocence now sketched beneath the mask.

Although that would neither lighten the situation nor save him, he also knew it.

"Do you remember exactly every date of publication of those awful books of yours and you can't—?" She couldn't even finish articulating that claim as a question. That's how upset she was.

"And if you give me a clue?"

The movement of the hands of the clock was a hollow sound that was perceived as the blows to a huge gong.

Tick, tick, tick, BONG!

He saw her clench a fist in front of her face as she pressed her eyelids hard in an attempt to stifle her temperament, appealing to the patience that all the years of shinobi career should have given her, even though Kakashi was fully aware that in her, the kunoichi and the woman were two disturbingly separate entities most of the time.

"That's enough, I'm leaving!" she exclaimed make him wince. "You'll know where to find me when you remember!"

He saw her turn on her heels, a regal and indignant gait guiding her to the exit as he heard her mumble a few more imprecations before slamming the door.

Kakashi was left with more silence cooling everything around him and the slight note of the scent of lilacs floating in the room, a hallmark of her presence when she was not on duty.

After a few seconds, he couldn't help but smile slowly.

Perhaps he should have told her that he was joking and that, in fact, he did remember...

The first time Kakashi had seen Uzuki Yūgao, he didn't even know that was her name. It wasn't like he was interested in it either, really. But even so, seeing it in retrospect now that he was alone watching the village rise up before him, he could say that he remembered it, even when she hadn't brought it up in a while.

…

It had been an October 11, many years ago. More than he would really like to admit out loud (because that would only make him aware of the relentless passage of time) and like many previous afternoons and many more future ones, that'd been a torture for him.

The problem hadn't been the cold weather that was settling in Konoha because of the upcoming autumn. Nor was the stillness that surrounded that part of the forest near the riverbank.

The problem had been him. It was that simple.

It was always him and his inability to live with himself.

Guilt and free time had been cruel executioners who had made him their main amusement, especially because Kakashi had firmly believed he deserved it: the constant memories of his mistakes had confirmed it. Thus he had turned into a bitter dichotomy where, as much as he detested embracing the ferocious torture his memories meant to him when he was alone, he was also unable to allow other people's contact to break through the barrier he had set up around him.

It's not like he was different in the past, he knew it.

He had always been characterized for not being a 'normal' child, not at least of the type that played with other children and shared childhood experiences full of laughter and mischief; on the contrary, after his mother's death he was formed as a silent child, even a cold one. Asocial. That was the term with which his worried father defined him when he thought Kakashi didn't listen to him.

The problem was that the losses hadn't ceased to accumulate since then and that it hurt in a way that shinobi training never warned him. So, since he didn't know what to do with that pain, he chose to bury it. Sinking it so deep until there was no trace of it, although in doing so, he also isolated so many other feelings that had only left a huge gap.

But the hole in his chest was fine. Focusing on work had been a good thing, it prevented him from ending up in the prison that was his apartment by keeping his mind fixed on the missions, on his duty as an ANBU, even when he suspected that perhaps it wouldn't last long now that his teacher was dead and the Third Hokage had resumed office.

In the middle of that sector of the forest where he decided to wander to fill the free time he was forced to take after almost a month of uninterrupted guarding, he took a deep exhalation and let the air rush through his hair as he was distracted by the orange tones that began to flood the sky above his head.

He would be lying if he said that his initial intention wasn't to find a place far enough from the village to be able to train without having to worry about unwelcome interruptions, but that was set aside when he realized the date marked on the calendar and then the hours had passed around him wrapped in his cavilations.

His teacher's son must have been a year old the day before.

And although Kakashi set a goal to watch over the child, he had seen him shortly after birth and it was painful to recognize Namikaze Minato's blond hair and blue eyes on that baby.

"I know your intentions are good, Kakashi, but I think it would be better if you kept your distance from little Naruto. At least for now. Everyone knows that you were a student of the Fourth Hokage, one his closest collaborator, and sooner or later you will raise suspicions about your sudden interest in a little orphan, which could compromise his safety..."

Months ago he would've been willing to contradict the words of the Third Hokage, but a glance around the hospital was enough to realize that there were more eyes there than there normally were. Unwanted eyes, definitely. So no matter how much it hurt in his chest, he clenched his fists, took a step back and abide by the tacit order of the highest authority in the village; though that didn't prevented him from feeling like complete rubbish as he did so.

"I am failing you again, sensei..." he sighed with regret as he looked down. Would he ever stop failing the people who had been important to him?

The only answer to that question wasn't going to please him, so he preferred not to repeat it.

Instead, he took a deep breath and everything was locked up at a speed worthy of an expert evader.

His hands made the seals he already knew by heart, he pressed his palm against the ground and wrapped in a small cloud of smoke with a puff!, his eight ninken appeared before him. Well, if that pile of meat and grunts that made up his puppies could already be called like that.

When his sensei suggested that perhaps he could add an invocation to his repertoire of techniques, Kakashi had seriously considered asking him to add his name to the contract with the toads on Mount Myōboku; but that hadn't materialized due to the unexpected departure of the Fourth and Kakashi's reluctance to accept the suggestion.

Toads didn't seem to be his thing... although it hadn't seemed to adopt newly weaned puppies either.

Lately he didn't feel compatible with any other living creature, to be honest.

However, four months later, the progress in his training was already more than noticeable, so he could say he was doing a good job with the puppies.

He waited patiently for a few seconds for them to finish settling into their new surroundings and then congratulated them internally because this time the eight appeared in a more orderly manner than they had done on previous occasions that they had tried.

Once he had everyone's attention, he placed a tiny piece of cloth before them and his thumb caressed the cold surface of the small whistle he carried with him. Immediately the puppies focused on the object, sniffing with a special zeal for a moment and then they waited expectantly to receive the order they already knew would come.

"Well, you know the exercise. Begin!" The whistle produced a sound that was not perceived by normal human ears and then the pups disappeared in a blink, taking different directions as they went deep into the thick forest.

…

Shinobi's life is constant evolution.

Those were the words her grandfather gave her as part of the congratulations on her graduation from the Ninja Academy, although Uzuki Yūgao didn't understand them at first.

Her grandparents and mother were present that day, but not her father who was fighting at the front with the other members of the Konoha's armed forces during the Third Shinobi War. However, although he was not present, his wishes had been.

Yūgao knew what her family and superiors expected of her, even before the official start of her career as a shinobi. She was the last descendant of one of the best clans specializing in kenjutsu, her father and grandfather had served three hokages, after all. And if her increasingly notorious skills as a sensor ninja, her agile mind, and her commitment to the village were added to that... the rod was set high.

In part, she had placed it there.

"Shinobi's life is constant evolution," her grandfather had told her making her frowned at not knowing exactly what those words meant. The man had smiled, with wrinkles on his face accentuating like small cracks filled with the experience that a long warrior trajectory had given him, and had handed her the handle of her new katana.

"It means change, my little girl. A shinobi that doesn't improve constantly is no good for being a shinobi. So don't forget to do it every day."

And so she did. As hard as she could.

At her young age, she was part of one of the most promising genin groups in Konoha and Inoichi-sensei had told them more than once that her and her companions' progress was one of the most remarkable in recent generations.

Sometimes— Well, most of the time, Yūgao believed that her sensei exaggerated a bit or that he said so because of the obvious progress of her teammates. One who had left her as the group's straggler, even though she had been nothing more than an outstanding student since joining the Academy.

She grunted in frustration as the chakra vanished between her fingertips and the movement of the katana was interrupted in an ungraceful manner. The light afternoon breeze caressed her body making her release a hiss of pain when she noted that the skin on her palms was already heavily lacerated by the flow of chakra from her hands to the blade of her katana and back.

Perhaps the intensity of her training had also something to do with it. But that's how she was. If she hadn't yet mastered this new technique it was because she hadn't tried hard enough. And if she returned home at the level she had at the time, her father would remind her of the importance of practice in achieving perfection along with his usual discourse on the Uzukis and their tradition in kenjutsu to protect the Hokage in turn and Konoha.

She leaned down to raise her katana and her assumptions about that day's training level were confirmed when she felt the ground moving slightly below her feet.

"Well, let's give it one last try. It won't kill me," she said to herself resolutely once she regained her balance.

She spent the whole day training, abandoned by her genin teammate apparently, and now that she reached this point, she wasn't going to give up when she was so close to achieving it. Hunger, stabbing pain in my hands and tiredness were just side effects she could bear.

She took a deep breath, grabbed the handle of her katana and closed hers eyes to concentrate her dwindling chakra reserves. She could do it. She had to.

She opened her eyes suddenly and raised the blade of her katana, moving it in an elegant sequence of movements that sparkled the iridescent reflection of his chakra infusing the blade as she leapt to reach the proper height.

Then, she felt a chakra approaching her at full speed from some point to the south. It was really small. Or perhaps it wasn't that small, perhaps its owner wanted to hide it from her sensor abilities and if so, then...

"Look out!"

The unexpected scream made her lose her concentration, but more so did the tiny shadow that appeared behind her back and to which she had reacted as if it were her teammate's. She could barely deflect the movement of her katana in the last fraction of a second to avoid contact, but in doing so he lost control of her own landing, which caused her to fall incorrectly on her left ankle and hit the ground hard with her side.

"That... hurt..." She moaned as she tried to stand on her injured arm.

"If this was a joke of yours, I swear I'm going to..."

"Whoo! That was close, you almost cut off my paw!"

Wait a minute.

That wasn't her teammate.

It took her a full second to realize that the child's voice type belonged to the little dog standing before her. The puppy stretched his four paws, looking at them closely as if he were checking that they were all in place and complete.

"I... I... I'm sorry... I didn't see you."

"I know I'm small, but you should've smelled me." He scolded her as if that were obvious before sitting on his butt and tilting his head, now looking at her with curious eyes. "I'm Pakkun, and you are?"

"Uh... Yūgao." She managed to articulate. "Whe-...? Where did you come from?"

She was fully aware that there were talking animals, but this was the first time she engaged a conversation with one of them and that, in some way, accentuated the dizziness that returned to her body as a result of the vertigo caused by the fall. However, the pup seemed oblivious to her discomfort, as he continued to speak to her animatedly.

"...Although it was also my fault, I was following a trail and then I smelled... I smelled..." He took a few half-short breaths to catch the scent that had diverted him from his route, and then returned his attention to the girl again. The metallic smell came from her, from... "What happened to your paws?" He asked, alarmed, approaching to look at her hands closely. "Does it hurt much?"

Yūgao followed the line of his gaze, noticing that the damage of her palms had intensified from her forced landing and was now bleeding. She grimaced.

She was ready to lie and say it was nothing -a shinobi never shows weakness to strangers, after all; it didn't matter if it was a dog- but the words didn't manage to form a coherent phrase in her head, much less could she express them because suddenly she felt as if her mouth was full of cotton.

Then the forest around her began to lose sharpness and her vision dimmed until it darkened completely while she admitted that maybe, yes, maybe she went a little too far with her training and now she was completely run out of chakra.

…

"Hey, Pakkun. What are you doing? You must have come back a long time ago, the others finished before... you..." Kakashi's reprimand vanished when he went out to that little clearing in the forest and discovered that his ninken wasn't alone.

The little pup turned his head to look at him, but quickly looked back at the unconscious girl leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Kakashi-kun, look... something very bad happened to her paws."

"Hands, Pakkun. Humans have hands, not paws." He corrected him as he watched the girl from above with an undaunted gesture. He wouldn't even bother reminding the puppy not to use the 'kun' with him, because he knew the answer he would get: Pakkun thought it was funny to say "Kakashi-kun".

At first glance there seemed to be no other injuries that might indicate any risk to the stranger, except for the wounds that had alarmed his pup so much. Now that Kakashi thought about it... this was the first time Pakkun had seen blood on a human. Perhaps that's why he seemed so concerned.

"Can you cure her?"

"Mmm... no. That's a medical-nin's job." He explained calmly, plunging his hands into his pockets. Then he looked away from the unconscious face and as he focused on the puppy, he knew instantly what he was about to say.

"Can we get her one?"

Not even his insensitivity made him completely immune to those huge puppy eyes and the legitimate concern he saw in them. Nor was he so soulless as to leave someone unconscious in the middle of the woods when it was already getting dark, much less a fellow shinobi of Konoha as he could tell by the band tied around her neck.

Kakashi crouched to pass one arm behind the girl's back and the other below her knees, lifting her from the floor. He took a look at Pakkun and the puppy could interpret it perfectly. Then the two began their way back to the village.

"So you don't know her name?" asked the doctor who received them at the hospital. It was the third time he had asked her that question since she had left the examination room, after checking the stranger.

Kakashi shook his head.

"One of my ninken found her unconscious in the woods. I had never seen her before."

"Nee, Kakashi-kun..." Pakkun whispered in his ear. "The lady's name is Yūgao."

"¿Yūgao?"

"Well, her wounds are not considered." The doctor resumed politely, dismissing the information provided by the pup. Apparently she didn't consider him a reliable source. "We'll let her rest for a few hours and she'll be fine."

"Thank you!"

"Hey, Pakkun!"

Kakashi barely had time to react before the dog jumped down from his right shoulder where he had settled and hurried his way into the nearby room. For a pup still in training, he was really fast.

With no choice, Kakashi followed him inside being careful not to make too much noise as he approached. His ninken was already sitting on the stretcher looking curiously at the girl. Under the white light, the female hair had acquired a purple hue that he had mistakenly judged as chestnut while they were under the poor lighting of the sunset in the woods.

"Well, you saw her. Say goodbye to the lady and let's go home."

The puppy looked at him as if he were about to ask for something, but Kakashi's firm gaze held him back.

"Goodbye, Yūgao-chan." he said slowly, looking down and then leapt out of bed to follow Kakashi back to the door. "Hope you get better soon."

…

Her ears were ringing as if she had been in the range of an explosion and her stomach was tight in a knot. Nauseous, she recognized the sensation. Where was she? She tried to remember what had happened, also to distinguish something else in the darkness that surrounded her, but with each effort the twinge inside her skull became sharper.

She opened her eyes slowly and let out a small moan as the white light bathing the room hurt her pupils and increased the headache.

"You're finally awake!" Even in the midst of the confusion, Yūgao could easily recognize that voice and the easy smile that accompanied his words. She also recognized the hospital rooms interior, and again tried to remember how she ended up there. "I was starting to think that maybe I would have to ask permission to occupy the bed next to yours."

With a little more effort, she leaned a palm against the mattress and pushed herself to raise her upper body while blinking away the discomfort in her retinas and was finally able to focus on her teammate's face.

"You're late..." She complained looking at him with a small accusing pout.

For all answer, the affable and sincere smile remained there, giving a new nuance to his deep black eyes and as always happened, Yūgao couldn't help but correspond with one of her own.

«To be continued…»

Hi hi!

So this is the english versión of my story "Bajo la misma luna" which is formerly written in Spanish. It is also the first time I write something in English so if there's any grammar mistake or misspell, please feel free to let me know!

Thank you for reading!

Ana