Insert disclaimer here

Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)

Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind (also flashbacks)

Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi talking Jutsu will also be bold

BLAH yelling, or emphasis of some sort

Wrath of a Woman Scorned

Rated M for: language, violence, adult situations and concepts, lemons, and graphic imagery

Chapter 2: Team 7

As Team 7 sat waiting for their Jounin sensei to show up Sasuke was thinking about who knows what, Aki was lounging in her chair with her feet on the desk reading while Sakura thought over the conversation that she and Sasuke had with Iruka.

Flashback

It was a fairly common scene that Sasuke and Sakura found once they made it to the classroom: Iruka grading papers while sipping a cup of tea.

"Um, Iruka-sensei?" asked Sakura.

Looking up, a little surprised to find one of his students already back, Iruka asked, "Yes Sakura?"

"Uh, we were wondering, Sasuke and I, if you could tell us anything about Aki?" Sakura said, somewhat nervous.

Slightly curious Iruka asked, "Why do you want to know about Aki?"

"Well she's our teammate now and…" Now that she actually stopped and thought about it, why was she so curious about Aki? Sure the other girl scared her, but that wasn't really a reason to be curious about her was it? Ami had scared her at one point too and she hadn't gone looking for her life story. Then again why was she really afraid of her? Sure, Aki could kill her but so could a lot of the other students. So what made Aki such a special case? Then it came to her, "…I guess…I just want to understand her. Why is she the way she is?"

Why was Aki so... Aki?

That seemed to darken Iruka's mood, "Aki… she wasn't always the way she is now," he sighed sadly. "When I first met her she was the most energetic happy-go-lucky child that I'd ever met. She was always smiling and laughing, always trying to cheer people up... a regular ball of sunshine," he reminisced with a faraway look in his eyes.

This confused both Sakura and Sasuke; that sounded nothing like the Aki they knew. "What changed?" Sasuke asked somewhat dreading the answer as he started drawing disturbing parallels between himself and Aki.

For a moment Iruka looked absolutely murderous. "People happened," he growled. "I don't like talking about it."

Slightly confused Sakura asked, "Why not?"

"Because if I think about it too much I want to kill someone."

End Flashback

In the end they really gotten any answers. In fact, they now had more questions and very little in the way of answers after Iruka-sensei told them that if they really wanted to learn about Aki they should ask her directly. The only real answer, and what really worried Sakura the most, was his comment about something happening to Aki that made him want to kill people. Glancing over at her red haired teammate she had to wonder, what could possibly be so bad that Iruka-sensei, kind, caring, patient, Iruka-sensei want to kill someone?

Sakura decided to just bite the bullet and go straight to the source. "So, that book you're reading, what's that book about?" she asked, trying to break the ice. By her reasoning, a little small talk was as good a place as any to start.

"It's a tragedy about a misunderstood hero," the other girl answers, turning the page.

"Um, is it any good?" Sakura asked. She liked books, maybe it was something they had in common? Something the two of them could have a nice pleasant conversation abou-

"Everyone dies," Aki replied evenly as she casually flicked to the next page.

Not sure how to respond to that Sakura lamely replied, "That sounds... sad."

"…Yes, yes it is," Aki answered, though, the way she said it, Sakura wasn't so sure she was talking about the book.

There was a long pause as Sakura tried to think of a way to continue the conversation without sounding like she was prying, in the end though it was Aki that brought up the next subject.

"So I take it you two had an interesting conversation with Iruka-sensei?" Aki asked, still not looking up from her book.

"W-what?!" Sakura asked, caught completely off guard by the other girl's question. 'How does she know we were talking to Iruka-sensei?!'

"You two held your little brainstorming session under the tree I was reading in," Aki replied, smirking knowingly as she turned the page.

"Y-you heard that?!"

Finally turning to look at the other girl Aki said, "You really should be more aware of your surroundings, never know who's listening," she said now glaring pointedly at the door to the classroom which opened a moment later to reveal a silver haired man wearing Konoha BDU, a mask covering the lower half of his face and his forehead protector pulled down over his left eye.

For a moment the newcomer just stood there then, "How to put this…my first impression… you're no fun," Sasuke and Sakura sweat dropped as their new sensei pouted while Aki looked oddly pleased with herself. "Oh well, follow me," he told them before ducking out of sight.

Academy Rooftop

Five minutes later found Aki, Sakura and Sasuke sitting, or in Aki's case lying lazily in the shade reading her book, in front of their new sensei who was leaning casually against a rail facing them.

"Alright let's introduce ourselves," spoke their new sensei.

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

Striking a thinking pose the silver haired man said, "Well names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing, though not necessarily in that order."

At this Sakura asked, "Um, could you go first sensei? So we have an example."

"I suppose I could, well my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes are none of your concern, dreams for the future…I have lots of hobbies."

'All we learned was his name,' thought Sakura and Sasuke, Aki on the other hand…

"As evasive as ever I see," she quipped from her place in the shade.

Glancing at her teammate then back at her new sensei Sakura asked, "You two know each other?"

Seeming uncomfortable with this line of questioning but hiding it well Kakashi answered, "You could say that I used to baby sit her when she was younger," then to change the subject. "Alright, so why don't you go next," he says, pointing to Sakura.

"Me?" Sakura asked, rather nervous at being put on the spot. "Well um, my name is Haruno Sakura, I like um…" she glanced at Sasuke and shook herself. "Well, my dream is to…" again she glanced at Sasuke, this time sporting a heavy blush. "I dislike... perverts," she growled making Kakashi blink.

'Not too out of the ordinary, girls her age are usually more concerned with romance then being ninja, seems a little obsessive though,' he thought before pointing to Sasuke. "You next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I see no reason to give out my preferences, I dislike quite a few things, I don't have any hobbies, as for my dream... my ambition is to resurrect and avenge my clan."

'Saw that coming,' Kakashi thought. "And last but not least, little miss book worm."

"Hm? Did you say something?" Aki asked, looking up from her book.

Kakashi's eye twitched, "The introduction smart ass."

"Well you can call me Aki, likes…well those are rather complicated, dislikes… and my hobbies are rather well known, as for my dream… that would be telling," she said, grinning at the irritated looks her teammates were giving her.

'And she says I'm evasive,' Kakashi thought sarcastically. "Alright now that that's out of the way we will be having a little test tomorrow…"

The Next Morning

As Sasuke made his way to the training field that his sensei had told them they would be using he was, once again, thinking about his red hair teammate, and the more he thought about her, the more confused he became.

Silently cursing Sakura for peaking his interest he went over what he knew about the girl. Aki was always smiling and grinning but they were never genuine, never happy, smiles they were expressions of cruel satisfaction or predatory intent. She'd laugh and chuckle but again hers were a perversion of the expression, when Aki laughed it felt dead and mirthless, almost haunting. There were just so many things about her that just felt… wrong, off, like a twisted mockery. And then there was that book she was always reading…

Out of curiosity he'd gone to one of the local book stores the night before and purchased a copy hoping he might find some insight into his mysterious teammate, it hadn't been at all like he had expected. That one of the Densetsu no Sannin had written it had surprised him, somehow he'd never pictured that someone so powerful would have the time to write anything of significant length, but apparently Jiraya-sama was a rather prolific writer. He had started to read the story itself last night… tragic didn't even begin to describe what the main character was put through but what made it truly disturbing was one sentence on the first page.

This story was based on actual people and events.

The thought that what he had read in the opening chapters were real—or, gods forbid, a sugar coated approximations of the actual events—had made his stomach turn unpleasantly. Sasuke had no illusions of how cruel the world could be. How could he? But ninja, despite all their cruelty, generally employed that cruelty for a reason. It was a means to an end, it had purpose. What was done to the main character in those first few pages... had no reason, no purpose but cruelty.

Still lost in thought, Sasuke arrived at the training ground to find the object of his musings sleeping against one of the surrounding trees using her arm as a pillow but there was something else, something off. It took him a few moments to figure what it was about the scene that bothered him. 'The dew on the grass around her hasn't been disturbed,' Sasuke realized, staring around to find that there were no prints of any kind in the sparkling grass, save his own. 'That would mean that she's been here since... did she sleep here last night?' he wondered as he reached out to wake her.

It happened in and instant. One moment Sasuke was reaching for her shoulder to shake her awake so that he could ask and the next he was on his back while Aki straddled him with one hand holding his arm in a joint lock and the other around his throat ready to snap his neck. For the briefest of moments before she recognized him Aki's eyes were absolutely murderous. In that moment Sasuke understood exactly why Sakura was so terrified of this girl.

She had the same eyes as his brother.

Then the eyes were gone and the moment passed.

For a few seconds they stayed like that, Aki staring down at him and Sasuke staring back like a deer caught in the headlights. "You needed something?" she asked as if it were entirely normal to be sitting on someone's chest in a position to kill them.

"Um, I was just wondering if you slept here last night," he said nervously.

"Yes," she said, not bothering to get off him.

"As amusing as this is, would you mind releasing him so we can get started?" said a voice from the middle of the clearing.

Sasuke tensed but relaxed when Aki didn't seem at all surprised that there was someone behind her. Glancing past her into the clearing he saw Kakashi standing next to a madly blushing Sakura.

Shrugging Aki released Sasuke who made a mental note to stay out of arms reach if he was ever trying to wake Aki up.

"Alright, here's the deal," Kakashi said as he pulled out an alarm clock and placed it on a training post. "That clock is set for noon, you three have until then to get these," he explained as he held up a pair of bells before tying them to his belt, "from me, those who fail to retrieve a bell get sent back to the Academy. Any questions?"

"Um, sensei? There are only two bells," Sakura pointed out.

"Yes."

"Um, shouldn't there be three?" she asked, confused by his blase response.

"Nope."

"But then one of us will fail no matter what we do, that's not fair!" she cried indignantly.

"Life's not fair. Any other questions?" he asked, sounding entirely too pleased with himself. When nobody answered, "Begin!"

Immediately, Sasuke and Sakura disappeared into the undergrowth leaving Aki staring at Kakashi seemingly debating the merits of actually participating. Then, without a word, Aki walked over to one of the training posts and sat down to take a nap.

Neither Sasuke nor Sakura noticed as Kakashi's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

A While Later

After the alarm rang Kakashi gathered his students. "Well I don't see any need for you guys to go back to the academy," he said, surprising two of his students. "Nope, you guys should drop out of the ninja program, you suck," he told them cheerfully. "Sakura, you fell for a simple and obvious genjustsu," he chided, Sakura had the decency to blush. "Sasuke, not so bad but at your level you should know better than to engage a Jounin alone," Sasuke scowled remembering how Kakashi had left him buried up to his neck. "And you didn't even do anything," he finished turning to Aki.

Lazilly cracking her eyes open from where she lay in the shade of a nearby tree, Aki did something none of them expected.

ClinkClink...

She held up a bell.

Eye widening Kakashi glanced down at his belt and sure enough one of them was missing. "How did-!? When did you-!?" he stammered.

Aki answered by putting a finger to her lips as though shushing him. "That... is a secret," she told him, grinning like a guilty cat.

Sighing in resignation Kakashi said, "Still, none of you got the true meaning of the test," and was about to continue when he was interrupted.

"Teamwork."

Slightly confused Kakashi turned toward the student who had answered... back to Aki. "You knew how to pass but didn't attempt to work with the others?" he asked, puzzled.

"To what purpose?" she asked rhetorically. "For there to be teamwork there must be some level of trust between the members of said team, as I do not trust either of them and we had neither the time nor inclination to build that trust, it would be a waste of effort," she explained matter-of-factly.

"Wait!" Sakura cried indignantly. "If the point of the test was teamwork then why were there only two bells?! That would just make us fight each other."

"Of course it did," Kakashi responded, confusing Sakura. "The purpose of this exercise was to see if you could put aside your personal interests and successfully work as a unit," he explained. "While individual strength is indeed important," he directed this more at Sasuke and Aki, "teamwork, the ability to function as a unit is far more important because individual actions without thought of consequence to the whole can put everyone at risk… for example," suddenly Kakashi disappeared grabbing Sasuke and pinning him to the ground with a kunai to his neck. "Sasuke overestimating his prowess engages an enemy alone only to be taken hostage and thus forcing his teammates into a difficult decision of weighing his life against the captor's demands," he said waiting until he believe his message had sunk in to release Sasuke. "Do you see that stone over there?" he asked, nodding his head over his shoulder.

Looking past him they saw a large stone marker that lay several paces behind him, and while Sasuke and Sakura didn't recognize it a dark glint entered Aki's eyes.

"Hundreds of names are carved into that stone and others like it," Kakashi began, "Each and every one of those names is a man, woman, or child who is recognized as a hero of this village but they are no ordinary heroes."

"What kind of heroes are they?" Sakura asked.

Before Kakashi could answer Aki stepped in. "The forgotten kind," she growled, an unsettling timber leaking into her voice. "They're the kind that gave everything for their village only to become another faceless name on a piece of granite."

"Not exactly how I was going to put it," Kakashi said into the silence that followed Aki's outburst. "This is a memorial to the shinobi that are listed as K.I.A. … the names of my best friends are on this stone," he said pausing to let that sink in. "By all rights I should just send you back to the academy," Kakashi said giving them a serious look, "But I'm willing to give you guys a second chance, after lunch we will try again. Sasuke, Aki, due to Sakura's lackluster performance she doesn't get any. I am the rules here, if you give her any you fail. Understand?" and with that he was gone.

An awkward silence fell over the clearing as the three children considered their teacher's threat, then without a word Aki pushed her bento toward Sakura.

"W-what do you think you're doing?!" Sakura cried, surprised and confused at the other girl's actions.

Aki simply stated, "I don't eat anything that I haven't prepared myself," before leaning back and closing her eyes.

"But Kakashi-sensei said not to give me anything to eat," Sakura said, still confused.

"And I'm not, I am simply stating that I won't be eating my bento while clearly not paying attention to it," Aki replied never opening her eyes.

Sakura blinked… then blinked again, what was that supposed to- then her eyes widened as she realized just what Aki was doing, "Oh… um thanks," Aki said nothing as Sakura began to eat the lunch, an odd but peaceful silence descending on the clearing until it was broken by the sound of clapping… it was Kakashi.

"Congratulations Team 7, you pass."

Later that Night

As Aki made her way into the woods Kakashi caught up with her. "You really should give them a chance, you know. They might surprise you," he told her.

For a moment Aki paused. "In my experience that can be dangerous, Inu-san," she responded without turning around.

"Not everyone is an enemy lying in wait to betray you, Aki," he tried as she began moving further into the trees, once more silently cursing the misguided actions of his village.

"Perhaps…goodbye Inu-san," she responds before she disappears into the forest, her form consumed in shadow.

As he stood there staring after her a single tear slid down Kakashi's face disappearing into his mask.

Edited: 6/10/17

A/N

BDU stands for Battle Dress Uniform

KIA stands for killed in action

And since we're on the subject of acronyms if you ever hear someone who doesn't swear use the word Snafu, laugh at them. It is an acronym from WWII meaning "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up" it's always funny when you hear it used on the news since the censors usually get so bent out of shape about anything even resembling foul language.