Author's Note: Thanks for the review, Pm, and alerts and stuff :) I appreciate all and any support and criticism. ^_^ Enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 1

By the time Kakashi had met back up with his team after his run in with the fortune teller and his checking in with the head of the emperor's security, the young shinobi were deep in their enjoyment of the festival. They were all sharing dango together and chattering happily, even Sasuke, which made Kakashi change his mind about interfering. He would keep his distance and watch for suspicious activity enough for the four of them in order for them to have one day where they could be worry free children.

"What do you want to do next?" Sakura asked as she swallowed the last of her dango. Naruto's eyes darted around the festival as Sasuke shrugged, not wanting to go anywhere particular. Sakura looked around as well, her eyes catching a target game. It wasn't the game that had her attention though, but the prizes. Beautiful bouquets of flowers sat in cooled water as prizes for anyone who was able to hit four bull's-eyes. Obviously, it was a trap for guys to get sucked into to try and win a present for their girlfriends, but Sakura knew better. She could win one, easily. "Can we play this?"

"Flowers? Why would you want to win flowers?" Naruto asked as he scrunched up his nose. Sakura ignored him as she ran over and dug into her pockets for some money.

"I'd like to try a round," she said with a smile to the man running the booth. He took her money and handed her four shuriken to toss at the target. "This should be easy, just like being at the academy," she mumbled to herself as she backed up and threw. Even though they seemed as though they would've made perfect bull's-eyes, each shuriken she threw didn't stick into the target. "Huh….?"

"I'll win you flowers Sakura!" Naruto grinned as he put money down for a round of shuriken. Now was his chance to not only win Sakura's affections, but to also beat Sasuke at something. Never mind the fact that Sasuke wasn't even trying, because to Naruto his not trying just meant that he knew he wouldn't win. Naruto became exceedingly frustrated with each throw as the shuriken continued to bounce off of the target, like it was a trampoline or something.

"Idiot, you're doing it wrong," Sasuke grumbled as he put down some money and took a round of shuriken. Before throwing, he ran his fingers across the points and realized that they were much to dull to ever even get close to sticking to the target. Quick enough so that the booth owner wouldn't notice, Sasuke traded out the shuriken with his own and threw them quickly, each landing with a thunk into the bull's-eye. The owner stared at the Uchiha dumbfounded as Naruto glared at him and Sakura practically swooned.

"Which do you want Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he faced his teammate. Some of the words Kakashi Sensei had told him before they had gone on this mission danced into his head.

Hatred will not make you as strong as love, because hatred is a selfish act, but love is something given without the promise of receiving. If you love someone enough, you will fight harder for them than you ever will for yourself.

"Sasuke…?" Sakura whispered, her face beet red from blushing. Sasuke blinked and slightly blushed himself, realizing that he'd been staring at Sakura while thinking that.

"I'm sorry, did you say which one's you wanted?" he asked while all the while Naruto was simmering in the background, wishing he was the one who had won flowers for Sakura.

"Those," she said as she pointed to a bouquet of white lilies. The booth owner moved to them and handed them to Sasuke, who handed them to Sakura. "Thank you Sasuke…"

"You're welcome," he said, rather than throwing a sarcastic or hurtful comment at her. She was somewhat surprised, but didn't want to say anything that might break the spell of happiness. Before she even had the chance to screw up the moment, Kakashi appeared again.

"Yo," he said with a wave. "We're officially off duty, so I was going to go arrange where we're staying. Are you three ready to go back?"

"Not yet Sensei," Sakura said childishly as she cradled her flowers. "But, could you take these with you, so I don't have to carry them?"

"Sure," he said as he took the flowers from his student. "Have fun you three. You deserve a break."

"How will we find you?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi turned to leave. Kakashi smiled, his eye crinkling as the only sign of it.

"Consider it espionage training," he said over his shoulder as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke to find a hotel in the overly crowded city. While this would normally be nearly impossible, Kakashi had just been lucky enough to find an inn relatively close to where he transported to with a room that wasn't extravagantly expensive. It wasn't the nicest hotel in the world, but they were shinobi and use to sleeping outside, so if there was a roof over their heads, that was luxury.

As soon as Kakashi got into the room, he laid Sakura's bouquet on the end table, peeled off his shinobi uniform and put on pajamas. It was strange how as soon as he made it to the room, a wave of exhaustion washed over him as the perfume from the flowers attacked his senses and made him even more drowsy. With a small yawn, the shinobi dropped into one of the beds, not even bothering with any other bed preparations, and passed into a deep sleep.

"Are these for me?" A familiar voice asked sweetly as a dark mass held a bouquet of white roses. Its slender fingers were easy to make out as they brushed against the rose pedals, taking in the feel of each one. Was this a person Kakashi knew? A love interest that he didn't remember? "Thank you. You are the kindest shinobi I have ever met." Something about this didn't feel right. It was almost as though this wasn't his dream, or his memory, but someone else's. Before he could consider this longer, he was pulled into another scene.

"Ho Pup!" the same voice called out as Kakashi watched his younger self run into the Yamanaka's garden. The dark mass followed behind, stopping at the gate and watching his younger self. "You mustn't play in an area that isn't yours."

"But - It's fun!" he called to the mass as he jumped through the gardens, careful not to step on any of the flowers. Behind him trailed a young Pakuun, timidly hanging near the gate with the mass.

"I understand Pup, but we must be going home now. I don't think Mrs. Yamanaka would be happy to find you in her garden for the fourth time this week," the voice said as it offered its hand out.

"Sensei?" a sweet voice called into Kakashi's dreams, interrupting the unfamiliar thoughts. He started blinking to try and wake up, but to no avail. "Sensei?" she tried again, shaking him softly. "We found you, but now you have to make room for Naruto and Sasuke in bed."

Kakashi sat up to see Sakura standing next to him with a smile as she pointed to her two teammates.

"I refuse to share a bed with either of them, but I'm sure you understand," she said with a smile as she walked into the hall to take a bath, not even hesitating to wait for an answer. Kakashi rubbed his eyes as he tried to make sense of the last part of his dream. That was definitely him, but he doesn't remember ever going in the Yamanaka's flower garden, and by the way the voice sounded, it seemed like a regular thing.

"Uh… Sensei?" Naruto questioned, breaking Kakashi's trance. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Kakashi said as he got up and grabbed his shinobi uniform from where he put it in the corner of the room. Without another thought, he pulled his pants and his long black shirt on over his pajamas and walked out of their hotel room.

"I just need some air," Kakashi told himself as he walked down the wooden rickety steps and out into the Capital. Most of the booths were closed, which meant less people were out now, but that was exactly what he had been hoping for. Now he could have a moment to think without interruption. But rather than pondering about the entire situation like he had been, he decided to make a list in his head of what he knew, what he didn't know, and what he needed to know.

He knew that he had heard that voice before, that these "dreams" he's been having are more than dreams, and he knew that he didn't remember any of these memories, if they were memories.

He didn't know who or what the black mass was, or even if it was only one person. He didn't know why this was happening to him now. He had absolutely no idea what was triggering it, although he thought it may have something to do with his surroundings, like how he had dreamt about flowers when there was the smell of flowers in the room.

What did he want to know? Well, for starters, he wanted to know who the black mass was, if it was any one person or many people. He wanted to know who that voice belonged to. He wanted to know why this was happening, and if he was supposed to be taking deeper meaning from it or not.

"We meet again," the fortune teller called cheerfully from her booth, now only lit by candle light. "Lost?"

"Not physically," Kakashi answered as he continued to walk by.

"I wasn't asking if you were physically lost," she called back, making Kakashi stop. "How about a chat?"

"I think I'd rather be alone with my thoughts now, but thank you," Kakashi said after considering her offer for a moment.

"Isn't it always more productive to bounce your thoughts off of someone older and wiser than you though?" she asked, which was enough of an argument to get Kakashi sitting right back at her bench. "Now what bothers you?"

"Have you ever had strange dreams that almost feel like déjà vu but you can't really place where you've seen them before?" Kakashi asked as he stared at the woman's bright eyes, hoping that maybe she would have an answer.

"No," she answered truthfully. "But I use to have a friend that did."

"Really?" Kakashi asked, hoping that meant she would maybe be able to give him her contact information or some way to talk to her.

"She's quite dead now, but when she was alive, we had lived in the same caravan together as children. She would always have these strange dreams about the past, sometimes pasts of people she didn't know, and then, she began having dreams about the future," the woman said gravely. "That was when everything went to hell."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, although he could imagine being able to know the future would be far from ideal.

"There are a lot of things people are willing to do for security," the fortune teller said softly. "Even if it means hurting others."

Chills shot up Kakashi's spine as the image of arms and legs being chained appeared in his head. Now where had that come from?

"Did she ever talk about seeing black masses in her dreams? Like, bodies that should be there, but aren't?" he asked to quickly change the subject away from chains and death. The fortune teller took a moment to think back the best she could.

"I don't believe so," she said apologetically. The old woman yawned, reminding Kakashi that it was late, so he asked just one last question.

"What was her name?" he asked carefully.

"Mikazuki," she answered as she began snuffing out candles. Kakashi took the hint.

"Thank you for your company," Kakashi said as he stood up. She nodded and gave a friendly wave as a goodbye as he disappeared into the smoke and back outside his hotel room.

"Mikazuki! Come here sweetie!" Kakashi heard a woman say from behind him. He quickly turned around, only to see that no one was there.

"I just need some rest… it's because I haven't been sleeping well," he said to himself as he walked back into the hotel room where all three of his students were sound asleep.

"Kiki! Wait up!" a young girl called, but it had sounded like it came from the window. Kakashi hurried over and looked out, only to see an almost empty street and no children in sight. Deciding to ignore the voices, he pulled off his layer of uniform and laid back in bed in his pajamas, crammed next to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Mikazuki, it's so great to finally meet you," Minato's voice said in Kakashi's head. His stomach flip-flopped at the sound of his sensei's voice, even though he knew it had to just be in his head.

"Just go to sleep," he mumbled to himself as he tried to get comfortable in the overcrowded bed. "Just go to sleep…"

As Kakashi reached the end of consciousness, one more voice rung out.

"Mikazuki? Are you alright?" Sakumo Hatake whispered, as if he was whispering it into Kakashi's ear just as he fell into a dream.