Author's Note: Hello wonderful readers! I've been working on this story on and off for a couple of years now and recently decided, having gone back and re-reading the early chapters, that there were a few things I'm no longer happy with; so I've changed the first two chapters slightly. Originally Toshiko was able to use basic medical ninjutsu and now I just don't feel it's right for her character. I wanted this story to be a drawn out romance, as I personally tend to find them more believable and enjoyable as a reader. My OC's name, Toshiko Akatora, is supposed to mean "Clever Child, Red Tiger" I chose the name Toshiko because I've loved it (ever since I watched Torchwood) and I wanted her to have a cat-like surname, hence "Tora". All *Text like this* is meant to be thoughts, usually Toshiko's.

Any feedback you might like to give would be amazing, I try to take it all in and use it to improve (hence the desire to update the beginning!). I hope you enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters, story, ideas that are associated with it. What I do own is my OC Toshiko Akatora and any other OC's that may turn up.

The last thing she uttered before losing to a sea of unconsciousness was "Why is it always me…"

=^.^=

1

"Ko… Iko…"

*What is that?* Her head felt far too fuzzy for such a notion as concentration right now.

"Shiko… TOSHIKO!"

She heard it this time; a familiar voice was calling her name. Opening her eyes all she could make out in the blurry darkness was a faint flash of silver. Her head was pounding and she struggled to think coherently, "Kakashi? Why… are you in my bedroom?"

Kakashi Hatake uttered a sigh of relief behind his mask, "I'd be rather worried if this was your room, Tosh, especially as it's starting to rain."

Her vision cleared long enough for Toshiko Akatora to finally take in her surroundings. The sun was long gone, and the silvery shimmer of the moon shone through the leaves of the damp forest. This definitely wasn't her room. She then slipped back into unconsciousness.

Frown lines creased the Jounin's brow as he looked down at his friend. This must have been some fight for her to be so beat up but, other than a few snapped twigs and broken branches strewn on the ground around her, he couldn't see any signs of a struggle. The most important thing to do right now was to get Tosh to the hospital as soon as possible, so he lifted her gently in his arms and headed swiftly back to Konoha.

=^.^=

When Toshiko awoke the next morning she found herself to be covered in bandages, and the inside of her head felt like a musician had mistaken it for a drum kit. *Brilliant* she thought, rubbing her temples, *this is exactly how I wanted to spend my day off, in a hospital bed.* looking around the room, for something to distract from her aching limbs and head, Tosh's eyes fell on the large open window, there was something sticking up from the sill that captured her attention. She teetered over to investigate, wincing with every other step, and resting on her un-bandaged leg she reached down to gently run her hand through the soft thick fur… no, not fur, it was hair. She tentatively peered over the ledge; Kakashi was sat on an outcropping of roof tiles, a pocket sized book in his hand. He glanced up at her and remarked in a playful manner "I would prefer it if my hair remained attached to my head, naughty Tora."

Noticing her hand was still tangled up in the copy ninja's hair her cheeks flushed red, and with a smile she let go "Aah sorry Kakashi, I didn't realise it was you."

Why had that made her blush, was it as simple as slight embarrassment? And why on earth did she wish her hand was still gently tousling his smooth spiky hair? Unaware of the thoughts raging through his friend's mind, Kakashi put the book away and climbed into the sparse hospital room. "I suppose I can forgive you, just this once."

He slowly helped her over to the comfort of the bed, and sat down on top of the covers beside her. "So what happened? Do you remember anything?"

Tosh thought back to the previous evening, the memory of what had happened flooding back to her. "I… I think so, yeah, I was on my way back from a mission and the rest of my team had gone up ahead, when suddenly out of nowhere over a hundred rogue ninja attacked me! I mean normally I could have taken them on, no problem at all, but I'd used too much chakra during the mission so they ended up getting the better of me. I fell and they left me for dead, that's when you turned up."

He raised his visible eyebrow, "You battled over a hundred ninja... and walked away with little more than a few broken bones?"

"I was, err, lucky…?" she replied. *He's really not going to buy this, but how can I tell him what really happened? He'll mock me for weeks!*

"You weren't far from the village when I found you; no one came to your aid? I mean, a battle of half the size would cause enough noise to alert someone. I suppose I'd better go and inform the Hokage about this, you're hardly in a fit state to go. Right now you'd probably get there later than me…" He carried on making observations and picking holes in an attempt to smoke her out.

She held her hands up with a sigh, "Alright, alright you've made your point, I give up. So that's not exactly how it happened, just don't laugh OK?"

"I promise."

Content with his answer Toshiko then proceeded to explain the real cause of her injuries. "OK, well, on my way back to the village I decided to have a break for a few minutes, as I'd used up a lot of chakra and energy. But when I went to jump to another branch I may have lost balance upon landing, and my foot slipped. I winded myself on the branch below, started panicking and really overcompensated with chakra as I tried to grab onto other branches on the way down, basically destroying half of the tree in the process. I guess I managed to break the fall enough not to do any real damage, thankfully."

Kakashi had sat silently listening to the tail of pure clumsiness up until the end, but just couldn't help letting out a chuckle when she'd finished. He just couldn't stop himself; the thought of a Jounin level ninja losing to a tree was just a tad ridiculous. She punched his arm lightly, "Hey I said don't laugh, meanie."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he said, with a twinkling eye. "It's just, you go on dangerous missions all the time with no problems, but it's a tree that puts you in the hospital."

"So I'm a tad on the clumsy side. Now you know the whole story, happy?"

He sighed, giving his friend a warm look "Very, although why do I have the sneaking suspicion you haven't told me everything…" He was cut off by a messenger bird flying past the window. "…but I guess that'll have to wait."

With a smile she replied "Come visit me when you get back?"

He grazed her soft cheek with the back of his hand as he got up to leave "Of course, Tosh."

Electricity coursed through the skin where his fingers had touched, leaving her feeling ever so slightly breathless. What was up with her today? Kakashi had touched her cheek in the same way a hundred times before, in a playful and completely platonic way. Why, then, was this time any different? It had sent shivers down her spine, the good but rather confusing kind.

She decided to blame it on the painkillers.

Yeah, that must be it.