A story long time ago…

-bzt

Closing in and still going. He's moving at alarming speed.

-bzt

He can maul you, dear girl, if you don't watch out.

-bzt

Oh stop joking, he won't do that. However we have a test to pass.

-bzt

Can you two quit-…

-bzt

What is it?

-bzt

Never mind, I'm going.

-bzzz…

"Kakashi?" a voice whispered hoarsely into a mouth piece hugging against her skin. The device lay on top of a bandage which was taped onto both of her cheeks.

She twisted her head to face another comrade who was staring at her far away almost invisible through the bushes. "He's gone!"

"Who is it, honey?" the other whispered into the mouth piece. The twelve-year old received a glare from the girl crouching ten meters away. "Fine, fine. Why's he gone?"

"Dunno," she muttered. The girl brushed a hand through her sweaty brown hair, and frowned. She glanced across the landscape for any signs of gray or their teammate's usual attire. "Obito, search for Kakashi. He's not that far."

"On it, Rin," the Uchiha disappeared from the tree and reappeared underneath the bush. Rin's voice echoed in his right ear, as he crawled on all fours beneath the thicket.

Twigs got caught in his jet black hair, and scraped against his face, yet he continued wiggling against the ground.

'The enemy is coming towards your way, wait until ready.'

Obito paused, his breath growing thin. Where the heck was his rival? The by-the-book freakazoid? He glanced towards the side, where he saw a pair of sandals thud past.

After a while, a larger pair of navy blue sandals appeared in a crouched position. Immediately, Obito concealed his chakra and stifled any noises that would cause the enemy to find him.

BOOM

His head snapped upwards, the boy caught himself from gasping at the noise. Obito could tell that the ninja beside the thicket also looked heavenward.

'It's going to rain…' he thought absent-mindedly. And not a second later, the drizzle which had been showering the forest and turned into raining cold slanted water, splashing against the ground harshly.

'Oh damn, at this rate we'll never find Kakashi.'

A silver-headed boy ran through the forest, his sandals slopping against the ground. A kunai was held firmly in his grasp, as his dark navy t-shirt was being soaked by the rain. Water dripped off his hair, and his bangs clung to his face.

'Crud, I swore I heard him here,' Kakashi thought. He skidded to a stop, creating a small mud wave as his navy sandals dug deep into the mud. Looking around, his eyes caught sight of a figure stalking around a cave opening. Narrowing his eyes, he gripped his weapon more tightly and ran towards the cave.

Kakashi approached the cave hesitantly glancing different ways, before slinking in. Something shifted against the ground on the opposite side of the cave.

"DON'T MOVE!" he commanded, shooting a kunai to the direction. It missed the intruder's head by a centimeter. Kakashi automatically got into a battle stance, flicking out another kunai, but his shoulders slumped slightly as he analyzed the person. "What?"

Scrunched up near the corner was a girl around the age of ten, looking at Kakashi as if he was a mad person. She stared at him as her pale eyes became wide.

"What are you doing here? It isn't safe," Kakashi stated, stepping closer to the dripping wet girl on the ground.

"…to take shelter from the storm…" she said quietly, unconvinced if the twelve-year old was an enemy. The Hatake was now only five feet away from her, his hands on his hips.

"Hatake Kakashi, your name?" he asked rather harshly. The girl's eyes slid to the side to avoid his piercing gaze.

"Mitarashi Anko."

Strange how this girl was so quiet, Kakashi could barely hear her over the thunder, lightning and rain. Also his earpiece was buzzing with static so he removed it from his ear. "You…" he trailed off having nothing to say. Kakashi wordlessly sat down, his right arm propped up by his right knee.

Kakashi himself wondered why he was stationing himself there when he had a job to do. Obito and Rin were both counting on him to help them complete the mission. But it was raining hard and they probably called it off.

"Why are you here?" she queried, her voice louder than before.

"Mission," the Hatake muttered. If it was even a mission then Kakashi wouldn't be sitting in the cave waiting for the rain to clear up; instead he found it alright to wait with Anko, he had no reason to leave her there.

"Why aren't you doing your mission then?"

"It got called off."

"Why aren't you going?"

"It's raining."

Kakashi received a suspicion that she was thinking something otherwise, and he snapped at her, "I'm not here to keep you company."

Anko nodded, her purple bangs stuck to her face because of moisture. They sat in minutes of silence, listening to the pitter patter of the rain. Then Kakashi spoke breaking the silence. "Do you have teammates?"

"No, not now anyways. I'm still in the academy," she said. Anko's voice took on a cheery ring. "But there are so many people in my class that I don't want on my team!"

To keep the conversation alive, Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and quiered. "Why's that?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Most of the guys in my class are so idiotic! They give no respect to girls. And most of the girls are so stuck up and are jerks!"

Kakashi sweat dropped, as he remembered the life in the academy. Anko continued. "Besides only a little population of the girls are serious about being ninjas…"

"Well, those who are…usually get the most out of life," Kakashi stated, looking at her in the eyes. Anko nodded, her face flushing red.

The atmosphere was turning colder and snow was being visible through the cloud of rain. Everything soon blotched out into a sheet of white.

The twelve-year old found it hard to keep warm, with damp and casual clothes on; Kakashi didn't prepare for a blizzard in the dead of winter. In these circumstances, well he hated these circumstances; Kakashi would have to think of a way to keep warm…

He glanced sideways at Anko who was looking at the snow in a daze. Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, but closed it quickly to formulate a sentence that would persuade her to sit next to him. "Hey, Mitarashi." Anko's head snapped in his direction, she looked at him with curiosity. "Come here."

It seemed more like a command then a suggestive statement. Nevertheless, Anko obeyed him. She scooted closer to him, until their shoulders were touching. She looked at him with her pale purple eyes. "Yeah?"

Kakashi laid his head back against the wall, and stared boringly at the blizzard flying outside. "Nothing, just thinking that you were lonely."

Anko shrugged the response off and leaned gently against him, looking at the snow sheet flying. Not within two minutes of silence, a grumble came about and well it came from Kakashi.

He said nothing as his stomach continued to call food. Abruptly, Anko stood up. Kakashi eyed her warily.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere," she replied, walking towards the opening. Kakashi's hand shot from his side and grasped Anko's wrist. The ten-year old girl stopped and looked at him giving a cocky smile. "Don't worry, Oniichan." He flinched at that name, but didn't protest against it. "I'm going to get us something to eat; I left my bag outside somewhere not too far."

Before he could do anything, Anko dashed out and disappeared. Kakashi's eyes widened, as he withdrew his hand. 'She just didn't dash out there.'

"Oniichan," Anko panted bursting in through the wall of white. Snow dropped off her hair and body, as she held a pale green bag in her hand. She sat herself near Kakashi, and opened the sopping wet bag. Anko dug her hands into it and produced a bag that contained four or five sticks of colored dango. "Sorry if it's cold."

Anko handed a stick to Kakashi, and quickly ate her own share. The silver-headed boy looked at it; obviously the problem at hand was eating in front of Anko with his mask off.

The Mitarashi looked at him curiously, before piping up, "Oniichan, why don't you eat it? You're hungry aren't you…?" She finally took note that half of his face was covered by a dark navy mask. She looked at him, then her dango, and then at the floor. "Uhm…"

"I'll eat later," Kakashi stated, putting the dumpling back in the plastic bag. Anko chewed on the green dumpling stuck on her stick while looking intently at him.

"Why do you have a mask?"

Kakashi didn't answer but only grunted, signaling that he was uncomfortable with that question. Anko turned her back on Kakashi, and looked at the cave opening.

"Never mind, I'll face this way if you don't want to see me eat," Anko said, her words muffled by the sticky dango in her mouth. After a few minutes of chewing, Anko stood up again.

This time, Kakashi grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him, so that she sat between his legs. He kept a strong hold on the dripping wet girl, and grumbled in her ear, "You aren't going out into the blizzard again."

Anko's face turned red, as the warmth of his body spread throughout hers. She laid her head back against Kakashi's chest and closed her eyes, listening to the rhythmic sound of the rain and snow.

Kakashi's eyes opened to see the snow storm still occurring outside of the small cave. He shifted quite a bit to see a head resting on his chest; Anko was curled up fast asleep on him, clutching his left arm as if a teddy bear.

He gave a small smile, and looked at the bag of dango lying next to his fingers. Kakashi looked at her again, and slowly fell back to sleep, hugging her to his chest.

Hey look at that…

Is he dead?

Possibly.

Obito!

Nah, he's just asleep…

Voices…why did he hear voices? Kakashi slowly opened his eyes to meet the sting of sunlight which flooded into the cave. After awhile two short figures and one tall one towered over him.

"Well, well…this is where our comrade went," Obito said, a vein pulsing on his head. He quickly grabbed Kakashi's collar and choked him. "YOU HAVE NO FRIGGIN IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS!"

"Eh? Hatake," Rin asked, her eyes attracted to the lump that was curled between his legs and laying on his lap. "What's…no…who's her?"

All eyes stared at him for an explanation as Kakashi's eyes widened. He then got back into his normal composure. "Someone."

"And that someone is…" Obito teased, both of his hands on his hips. Kakashi gulped and looked at the yellow haired man for help.

"Aren't you two cute?" the sensei replied, a smile on his face. Kakashi frowned, and shifted from underneath Anko. "Why don't we take her back to the village?"

Kakashi nodded in silence, as the jounin took Anko and placed her on his back. As they began walking away, Kakashi stopped to collect her items and bag.

As he stood up to leave with them, he bumped into Obito who was staring at him suspiciously. He had a crooked grin, a vein was pulsing on his forehead, and his arms were crossed. "Kakashi…what did you do to her?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Nothing," he said emotionlessly.

Obito grabbed him by the collar and swung him back and forth. "Dammit! NOTHING EVER GOES ON WITH A WOMAN!"