Charcoal waited outside of the Hokage's office. Her parent's didn't trust her enough for her to return to her village on her own. Mind you, she was sent to the leaf village named Konahona because she was acting up in her own small village. They started out as small rebellious acts. Tee-peeing someone's house to not listening to her parent's, but they started to grow. Setting fires, getting into fights, and the occasional explosions.

Things that would deem her as deadly. Her parent's couldn't handle her any more so they shipped her off to her cousin. A teacher, hopping that he would beat some sense into her. But he only read. Used to the silence, she would just disappear. He always knew where she was, and if she stayed out longer then she should have, he'd find her.

Charcoal started to get "better." She gave up on acting out, becoming the dream child of every one. Charcoal needed freedom, not to be sheltered. Her parent's would never have understood that, but would try to lock her up.

Charcoal tuned into the conversation before her. There was the voice Hokage and an outraged response of a child around her age that was way too hyper. The Hokage's secretary nodded at her that it was okay to enter. She took a deep breath and pushed open the cloth separating her from the group.

Her face was blank as she entered the room. Three kids her age stood there, a raven, a blonde, and a girl with pink hair. She recognized them from a picture in her cousin's house. The girl with pink hair had shorter hair then the one in the picture, but it was defiantly them. The blond boy with whiskers, the raven boy that could only be described as emo, and the pink haired girl with light green eyes. Charcoal smiled. "Hello Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura." There mouths fell open as she ticked off their names along with her fingers. She openly laughed at their faces, her eyes sparkling with a dangerous energy. "You know, most people would say hello back, but seeming as my cousin never told you about me, I suppose I should introduce myself. The name's Charcoal." Naruto was the first to regain his speaking ability. "Your cousin?" Charcoal smile grew larger and leaned against the wall. "Ask him yourself. He's in this room." The young ninja's whipped their head's around so fast, Charcoal was amazed that they didn't get whip lash. Their Sensei pushed himself away from the wall, and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Charcoal, I hope you know your parent's requested that my team and I lead you back to your village safely with no harm done."

"Of course I do. It's just like them to do something as stupid as that. I mean, just because I blew a few things up, they think I'm a criminal." Charcoal shrugged.

"You blew up your school."

"Nobody was in it!" Kakashi shrugged and pulled out his Come Come Paradise, flipping it open to the middle and started to read. If possible, Charcoal's smile grew larger then before.

"Well, I'm quite sure my cousin agrees with me, so let's get going. My parent's could not possibly contain there excitement much longer. I mean, instead of giving me what I needed, they locked me up. Then, when they figured out I could pick locks, they shipped me off to cousin Kakashi." The group said their farewells to the Hokage, then headed out.

They exited the gates of the village, and headed off down a path in the woods. Naruto had his hands behind his head and an impish smile on his face, Sasuke, being as emo as he is, held his hands in his pockets looking away from Naruto, yet at the same time, he had a longing look in his eyes, as if he wanted to look at Naruto. Sakura was trying to look cute. Charcoal noted this with a watchful eye, but didn't try anything to embarrass the two boys. Kakashi stayed behind the group reading.

Charcoal soon got bored walking with the group and started to fall back. In a few minutes, she was beside Kakashi, and in a few more minutes, the group was completely out of sight. She wasn't worried about getting lost, for she had explored this place many times before, and if she did get lost, Kakashi would find her in mere seconds.

She stopped walking after a few hours, in an opening in the forest. There was a waterfall leading to a small lake, surrounded by rocks. But what caught her eyes was the butterflies. She had always loved butterflies, no matter what had happened, they always fluttered. Charcoal nestled herself in a nest of rocks and twigs and watched the insects fly around her. She closed her eyes and nodded off to sleep.

"Has anyone seen Charcoal?" The pink haired ninja questioned her team. Naruto's smile dropped off of his face as his eyes scanned their surroundings. "Gah! How could we have lost her? She was here only moments ago!" Sasuke glanced at Naruto with a questioning look. Kakashi looked up from his book. "Sasuke, you're in charge. I'll be right back."

"Sensei?"

"It's nothing Sakura. I'll be right back." The pink haired ninja nodded. Kakashi bounded off in the direction they came from, wondering, when exactly she wandered off.

Kakashi hadn't realised how far away she was, and how long it would take to get to her. When he came to the surrounding full of butterflies he felt her presence once more, yet, he couldn't see her. Charcoal slowly started to come back to earth, in time to realise that she was covered in butterflies. When she stood, Kakashi just smiled and started to brush her off. "Charcoal, you shouldn't wander off like that. You could have gotten hurt or lost." Charcoal rolled her eyes.

"I've been here too many times to get hurt or lost. Can we just get going please? Before Sasuke rapes Naruto, or Sakura rapes Sasuke, or Sakura kill Naruto?"

"You are very watchful."

"Oh, thank you. Now let's get going." Kakashi nodded and they took off.

"Naruto, you giant useless blob! Why won't you just shut up for once in your life?"

"Sa-Sakura-Chan! I can explain!"

"Sakura, please don't kill your team-mate, that would be terrible." Kakashi and Charcoal walked in before Sakura had a chance to kill Naruto. Kakashi was reading his book again, and Charcoal was looking smug.

"And besides, it would be hard to explain to the Hokage that you just suddenly decided to kill him because he wouldn't shut up. And what would Gaara think? I mean, Naruto stopped him from believing that he had to kill everyone he meets. Without Naruto, Gaara might go back to being the same way."

"How do you know all this?"

"I talked to Gaara once or twice when he was in the woods. Nice guy if you get to know him." Charcoal glanced up from the ground to see their stunned expressions. Her cousin knew of course, but that didn't matter, chances are of her seeing Gaara again was slim, as were ever seeing Team 7 again, except for Kakashi at family reunions.

Charcoal smiled at her cousin, and smacked Sakura on the back of her head. "Now behave." Naruto snickered and Sasuke jumped down from the tree he was perched in.

"We thought you were lost Kakashi Sensei."

"Oh, I was about four to five hours away from here. But I'm a sprinter, and he's a ninja. It only took about an hour to get to here, thankfully. Have any of you ever been in one of his lectures? He was about to go into part two when we arrived. And it's a twenty-part lecture, each part last's an hour. I usually fall asleep after part three." Charcoal shrugged. "What ever you do, don't make him go into lecture mode."

The group walked in silence after that.

The group broke out of the forest in a few hours, walking along a path that seemed almost too yellow for the liking of Naruto. It seemed to have warmed up a bit since they left in the early morning, and since Charcoal only had a back-pack full of her cloths, she didn't really feel the heat. The others, however, did. "Gah! I thought the color of the path was bad enough, but this heat makes it unbearable!"

"Naruto we'll be in my village in two hours, you won't di…" Charcoal stopped walking and placed her hand over her eyes so they were shaded. "Say, aren't those people walking in the distance? Like maybe two or three miles away?" Kakashi glanced up from his book. "Charcoal, Naruto, get behind me. This can't be good."

"Kakashi Sensei? What's wrong?" That pink haired ninja was starting to get on Charcoals nerves. "Akatsuki." Sasuke tensed up more then a little, and Naruto was behind Kakashi in a flash. Charcoal was beside Kakashi so she just took a step back.

When the figures were in hearing range, they stopped. "We want the boy." Charcoal looked around the area before she spoke up. "Which one? There's Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto, you, and your partner." She paused for a moment, then walked up to them. "Say, don't I know you?" She placed her thumb under her chin, her index finger under her nose, and placed her right arm on her left. "No…" Charcoal snapped her fingers.

"That's right! The forest. We had a nice chat didn't we? Something about demons, and you two should get a new hobby. Then we had a fight. You know, I'm a person who holds grudges. And I blow stuff up. But that's besides the point." Charcoals voice went dangerously low. "And I'm still angry." Charcoal went side way's, feet shoulder length apart, and then kneed him. He fell to the ground in pain. His partner was shocked that he was taken down so easily. "Itachi!" Charcoal let out a sharp laugh, more of a bark really.

"Revenge shall be mine." She kicked Itachi in the stomach, then pushed him onto his back and started beating him. She stood up, whipping the blood off of her knuckles before stepping over the body and onto the pathway to continue home. She looked back. "You coming?" Team 7 blinked their eyes then ran to catch up with her.

"That was so cool! The way you dealt with Itachi and his partner! Where'd you learn how to fight like that?" Charcoal shrugged.

"I was in a gang back at home. I learnt how to fight on the streets." Charcoal looked at the sky. "It's going to rain."

"What are you talking about? The only clouds in the sky are those fluffy white ones." Sakura scoffed in a manner that Charcoal want to smack her again. "I can tell by the humidity in the air, and it suddenly cooled down. Also, I can smell it." Charcoal continued walking.

Two minutes later, the rain started to fall. "Come on, my village is only an hour away if we walk. If we run, it's only 30 minutes. We're running." Charcoal started to sprint. Kakashi was next to start running, then Sasuke, Sakura, and finally Naruto. The rain started to come down harder.

By the time they arrived at Charcoals house, they were soaked. "You guys wait on the porch. When I call you guys in, it's okay." Charcoal kicked open the door and continued walking until she was out of the rain. "Hey Mom, hi Dad! I'm home!" Charcoal flicked on the lights. The walls were smeared with blood and the kitchen was a mess. The fridge was destroyed and the oven was ripped away from the walls. The kitchen table had a bed of spikes on it. On the bed of spikes laid her Dad's body, spikes coming out of were punctured and a spike pierced his mouth. One of the light fixtures in the kitchen was swaying back and forth with her Mom hanging upside down from it. Blood was dripping from her Mom's mouth and onto the floor. "Oh. My. God."

Charcoal rushed past the scene and into her Dad's study. She threw open the closet and shoved boxes out of the way. Hiding underneath the boxes was a hatch. Charcoal opened the door hatch and pulled at it. The door popped open with ease. The door concealed a hole that held a dusty brown box. Charcoal pulled the box out and opened it. Inside the box was a black chain holding a pendant. The pendent was a swirling black and purple mist.

Charcoal walked out of the house, ignoring Team 7, and stared at the raining sky. "They're dead."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I'll spare you the gruesome details, just go look for yourself." Charcoal waved her hand towards the door. "I already did." Kakashi walked out of the house, closing the door behind him.

Charcoal slipped the pendant over her neck. "What's that?" Naruto pointed to her neck.

"Aura mask." She caught their questioning looks. "I had a little sister and when she was born, the aura doctors, they're specialized doctors, saw that she had what we would call a ghost aura. She had no visible aura. So I made her this. It covered her ghost aura with a purple aura. Nobody noticed. Until she caught cancer. She died three weeks before my parents shipped me off to Kakashi."

A kunai knife flew out and hit her in the head. Charcoal fell to the ground, blood pooling out of her head.

Three day's later, the funeral was held. Not for Charcoal, but for her parent's. Her village was relieved to be rid of the village demon for good. Her body was thrown into a box, nailed shut, and shoved off down a river.

Charcoal was gone. Or so people thought. Nobody realised that they got rid of a log…

The End