Akemi took a long deep breath, and then released it. She was sitting quite deep in the forest bordering Konoha. She had found a small opening where there was a tree stump perfectly at the center, there Akemi found herself sitting on the stump, concentrating hard on her breathing. She wanted to complete her new technique – Hawk Eyes genjutsu. So far she had only been able to get one eye to work, but she strived to get the other one going too.
Akemi closed her eyes and dived into her thoughts, tracing her chakra network in her body with her feelings. She searched for a specific type of chakra frantically. She was searching for the Hawk's chakra stored somewhere… A nerve twitched in her left eye, followed by a short tingling sensation. Akemi opened her eyes and snatched the small mirror lying next to her. She glanced at her reflection and saw that her normally dark blue, almost black left eye had turned into a golden yellow shade. She then noted sadly that her right remained dark.
Once again Akemi shut her eyes and plunged into the thoughts of Hawk chakra, determined to convert her right eye gold as well.
A loud howl pierced Akemi's concentration. The sensation of a shadow growing on her was emitted. Before Akemi had time to open her eyes, something crashed into her, throwing her backwards, off the tree stump and onto the hard earth.
By now her eyes were wide open, staring into a young pair of eyes. She realized their position: she was lying defenseless under the young mans body, both clearly surprised by the turn of events. Anger grew rapidly in Akemi. This, this – pervert– had disrupted her training just at the point when she was advancing greatly! How dare he!
"What the hell are you doing?! Get off me this second, or I'll brutally force you off!" Akemi spat at the young man with a face of anger and disgust.
"I'm really sorry - I didn't mean to – I didn't see you, I, I…" the boy stammered as he scrambled off Akemi. She sat up and saw an enormous dog walking to the young man's side, with a smug expression. Akemi glared at the two of them, and saw that the young man was staring curiously at her left eye. Feeling self-conscious Akemi remembered that she still had her eye golden. Turning away from the giant dog and its obvious owner, she released her eye from that abnormal state. She received another wide-eyed stare when she looked back at the young man.
"What did you just do?" He asked.
"None of your business, you pervert!" Akemi huffed.
"Hey! I said I was sorry! You were in my way!" he protested back.
"So it was my fault?!" Akemi exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, as did the boy. "I was innocently concentrating on my training when you whacked me to the floor, harassing me on the way!"
"I was not-! Don't you dare insult me again, you hear, you filthy liar!"
" What did you call me?!" Akemi had approached the boy with firm steps and was now only a few inches away from him. "If YOU dare insult me again I will personally peck your eyes out and shred off your skin – along with your dog!" The boy gulped.
"I'm sorry for before and the insulting," he murmured frightfully. After a short pause of only hearing the boys heavy breathing Akemi smiled contently and backed away, sitting down at the stump once again, back turned to the boy.
"You were training?" The boy pressed on, making Akemi sigh in frustration.
"Yes, I WAS."
"So you're a shinobi?"
"Yes."
"You're not from around here, are you?" Akemi heard the boy approach her. When Akemi had seen his frightened expression before she was convinced he would scamper away immediately. Obviously she was wrong.
"Technically I am," Akemi started, immediately regretting her words. "Don't you have to go to school or something?"
"School?!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm a chuunin for Christ sake!" He had gone around the stump and now stood in front of Akemi looking appalled.
"Chuunin, eh?" Akemi felt a pang of jealousy come like a reflex, but tried her best to shove it away. A fake smirk plastered across her face to hide her feelings as she looked into the boys eyes. "What's your name, oh mighty chuunin?"
"Inuzuka Kiba," Kiba grunted crossing his arms.
"Well, Kiba, don't you have something much more interesting to do than annoying me?" Akemi said as she rose from the stump and started to walk away.
"Nope," Kiba replied bluntly. Akemi shivered of rage, but continued to walk on confidently.
After five minutes of silent walking, Kiba following Akemi like a dog, along with his dog, he suddenly asked, "So what were you training?"
"Something for me to know, and you to not find out," Akemi hissed. She scanned casually the forest ground when she spotted a dead bird almost hidden in a bush. "Yes," Akemi murmured as she dragged the bird out of its hiding place. It was a blackbird to Akemi's delight. She kneeled over the corpse of the blackbird and placed her hands over the bird. Her blue chakra circled her hands when summoned, and started to burn the dead bird.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Cremating," Akemi answered Kiba simply.
"Cremating? With chakra? You better explain yourself better."
Akemi sighed. He wouldn't stop bugging her if she didn't explain anyway. "Well, my ninja techniques have all something to do with birds. I found out long ago that if I cremate a corpse of a bird I will gain its, "chakra" you can call it, even though it's different from ours. By doing that my techniques have a more realistic outcome plus I get more chakra. You could call it chakra absorption."
"Realistic?" Kiba questioned obviously puzzled.
"Yes, realistic. Ok, what I was training in the forest is a new technique which I call Hawk Eyes. Basically it's a genjutsu that turns my eyes yellow like a hawk. If I have absorbed chakra of more Hawk's it's easier to do the technique. It's like I consult with the chakra when I do the technique. Got it?"
Kiba looked amazed when the last of the bird vanished into Akemi's hands. "By the way, if you tell any one about this, I'll kill you," she couldn't help but add on.
"I'm guessing your "Hawk Eyes" aren't complete, as you only had one eye yellow," Kiba suggested slowly as he continued to follow close on Akemi's heel.
"Correct."
"How many Hawks have you absorbed?"
"About two. They are very rare," Akemi casually gave away. At last they had come back to the village. "So, thank you for your annoying company, and good bye," Akemi gave a forced smile at Kiba and left him watching her walk away. Just when she thought he had given up, she heard Kiba running after her. When she turned the corner she was eye to eye with Kakashi.
"Great, I'm ambushed…!" Akemi grimaced.
"Sorry to scare you there," Kakashi smiled. "I just wanted to know if you've considered my offer?"
"I didn't have to: No," Akemi said. "By the way, how do you loose the dog guy?"
"Don't talk about me as if I'm not there!" Kiba stormed into the conversation.
"Well go away and you won't hear me talking at all," Akemi hissed.
"Hey, you guys. Calm down," Kakashi interrupted waving his hands around. "Akemi-san, why don't you want me to test you?"
"Look what you've done! Now you told Mr. Stalker here my name!" Akemi yelled at Kakashi. "Plus I don't have time for your little games. That goes for you too, Kiba."
"Err – Kakashi-sensei if you don't mind me asking, what are you talking about?" Kiba asked Kakashi innocently.
"I offered to test Akemi-san here, to see how strong she was. She's a Konoha genin but I believe she has greater abilities. Akemi-san doesn't want to be tested though…," Kakashi explained with a sad tone.
"She's only a genin? My god, I can't believe I looked up to her for a second or two…," Kiba sighed. Akemi was furious. She might as well have steam flowing out of her flaring nostrils!
"Don't you dare judge me! I could easily slice you up and feed you to pigeons if I wanted to!" Akemi spat, now clutching the neck of Kiba's leather jacket.
"Prove it then," Kakashi said cheerily. Akemi stared at him and Kiba for some seconds. She gulped her words, until she was able to speak.
"Fine, I'll show you," Akemi let go of Kiba and turned away. "But I won't be responsible for my actions."
She walked away, the rage starting to die down. What had she gotten herself into? Haate would not like this… IF he found out…

That evening Akemi got a message from the receptionist of the inn where Akemi and Haate was staying in. Thank God Haate wasn't with her as it was a message from Kakashi.
The receptionist relayed that he expected Akemi at daybreak in the first opening of the forest to directly to the east of the high street. He had also added that Kiba said "Good luck - you'll need it". How come Kiba was able to pull the right strings to receive a negatively emotional response from Akemi?

The vague description from Kakashi had made Akemi get lost three times. She had to summon a sparrow to find the site, but she still doubted if it was the right place. She had come quarter of an hour late but there was no one there anyway, making her doubt. But after quarter of an hour waiting, Kakashi turned up.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Kakashi put on his usual cheery smile.
"Uh - it doesn't matter…," Akemi smiled back. This way she didn't have to admit she too was late. "Shall we finish this quickly?"
"Well, if you can," Kakashi replied mysteriously, giving Akemi goose bumps. "Basically what you need to do is get this bell from me which I have on me. You have until midnight."
"Seems easy enough," Akemi smirked.
"Whenever you're ready," Kakashi said as he pulled up his forehead protector from his left eye, revealing a sharingan eye.