Saturday:

I take my brothers advice and wake up early today. As soon as my feet touch the ground I let out a long yawn and crane my head to look out the window at the orange sky. I have a big test to take on Monday, the one that, if passed, will make me an official Genin. I get dressed and walk to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast for my brother.

I hope he's here, I think as I approach his bedroom door with a bowl of rice and sushi in my hand. The door's opened a little, and peachy light shoots out in a ray from the small crack.

"Kakashi?" I ask as I push the door all the way open, the light enveloping me fully. After I walk inside and pull the curtain back over the window I look at Kakashi's bed and let out a small sigh. Of course he isn't there. His covers are folded neatly at the end of the bed and his pillows are propped. Despite the absence of a note telling me where Kakashi is, I already know without needing one.

Flashback:

It was early in the morning when I heard Kakashi moving around in his room. I got out of bed and crept quietly down the hall, pausing to peek inside his room. He was fully dressed, aside from a glove that he was pulling on. I assumed he was going out to train, or maybe meet up with Guy-Sensei or something, but if he was then why was he leaving through his window? I thought only Shikamaru and I did that. Being in my pajamas didn't stop me from following after him, waiting a good couple of minutes after he left. As I weaved through the treetops I made sure to keep the back of my brother's Jounin jacket always in my sight. And the only thing I could think was:

Where is he going?

All of a sudden he came to a stop so abrupt I almost fell off the tree branch. Thank goodness he had taught me to control my chakra through my feet. I hid halfway behind the trunk with my heart racing. To be honest, I was expecting something bad. Peeking around the trunk, my eyes fell at the sight of my brother. Standing alone at the Memorial Stone. He didn't move for a long time, just stood there staring at the thing. I was starting to get worried about him. I hopped down from the tree and began making my way towards my brother. I was doing pretty good at keeping my footsteps nice and quiet, but as soon as I took another step a trig cracked beneath me.

Kakashi turned his head to the side just as I cursed. "Language" He said, though his voice was...empty sounding.

I went to stand beside him." Sorry... how long have you been coming here?" I asked.

With his eyes focused again on the big stone, he just shrugged his shoulders and said "A long time."

I knew what the Memorial Stone was for, and it took me a second to put the pieces together. He was here for Obito. I'm too young to remember anything about Kakashi's two teammates, but he did tell me a couple stories about them...and a little about that one mission that went terribly wrong, resulting in a death and the replacement of one of my brothers eyes with the Sharingan. I felt my heart clench at the empty look in my brothers uncovered eye, and cautiously grabbed his hand in mine. He stood statue solid, but after a while gave my hand a small squeeze.

I was planning on asking Kakashi to train with me for a few hours, maybe watch me do a couple jutsus and tell me if they were good enough. My shoulders slump forward a little, kind of like Naruto in the bushes yesterday, but I shake off the feeling of disappointment and head outside to train on my own. There's a big tree stump in the backyard that I use for both target, and tai-jutsu practice. I stand at least fifteen meters in front of it before taking out a kunai and throwing it towards the stump, watching as it misses the target by two inches. I keep on throwing until it finally hits the target dead center before backing up five more meters and throwing it. To be honest, It takes me a while to learn things, but once I understand it it becomes easy as breathing. My throwing aim has always been kind of rusty though. Moving on from the kunai-embedded stump, I close my eyes and focus my chakra into creating a few shadow clones. They smile and wave at me before I let them disappear in a poof of smoke. The sun is higher in the sky, meaning that its almost noon, and Kakashi still hasn't come home yet. As I look off into the sky, my senses pick up on something flying straight towards me. I flip backwards just in time to avoid a kunai that lodged itself in a tree behind me. I hop up into a tree, taking shelter in the soft green leaves around me. Sweat runs down my neck even though I don't see anyone else in the field. I half rise before pausing. Someone's behind me. Twisting around, I throw a punch, only to have it blocked. My foot slips off the tree branch, but I manage to regain balance.

"Never focus all your attention to the things in front of you. Remember to cover your backside. Otherwise, nice job dodging the kunai" Kakashi says as he lets go of my fist.

I nod my head to him, trying to get my breathing under control. I should've seen that coming.

Kakashi puts his hand on my head. "No need to stress too much over it Ame, with more practice you'll be just fine."

"I have that big test on Monday, remember? What if they put me in a position like this? I won't become an official Genin if I fail." I say.

"Oh yeah. That's right, huh?" He says nervously. "Hmm..Ill tell you what, how about we go get something to eat, and then we can come back and work on whatever you need to, okay?"

I smile really big and tell him about the bowl of rice and sushi I made for him earlier. He gets this weird look in his eye before giving me his famous eye smile.

"Well it looks like I owe you then. C'mon, lets go."

True to his word, Kakashi helps me train once we get back from the Ramen Shop. We're working on defensive tai-jutsu right now, and so far I've managed to land a punch and a few kicks here and there on my brother. Its hot outside, and both of us are sweating something fierce, but that only makes me work harder.

"Don't leave yourself so open, be flexible, but always remember your defensive position." He instructs me.

I try to reach up and give Kakashi an uppercut, but he blocks my arm, so using the other one, I give him a swift jab to the gut. "Nice one" he grunts just as someone runs into the backyard, waving his arm.

"Hey! Kakashi! Lord Hokage wants to see us, lets go!"

I hear Kakashi sigh before wiping sweat off his forehead. "Be right there!" he says to the guy. "You did well today. Ill see you when I get back." Kakashi tells me before running off, leaving me waving to his retreating figure, and all I can do is send it a weak wave.

"Be careful.."

Whenever Kakashi gets sent on missions, I have to go to either Gai-Sensei's house, or to Shikamaru's. For some reason my brother doesn't like the idea of me staying at home when he's gone..which is kinda weird, if you ask me. Maybe he's worried I'm going to get into his books or something. I finish off my training for the day before going inside to pack three days worth of clothes, all the while trying to decide between going to Gai-Sensei's or to Shikamaru's. Its around seven when I knock on the front door of the Nara home. Shikaku, Shikamaru's dad, opens the door with that stoic expression on his face that seems to run in the Nara family. At least with the men. Once he sees that its me though, he gives me a warm smile before standing to the side, unblocking the doorway.

"Well if it isn't Little Hatake. Get inside girly."

"Thanks Shikaku."

As soon as he shuts the door Shikamaru comes around the corner, barefoot. "He got sent on another mission, huh? Well thank goodness you're here. I was just about to walk over to your place."

I follow him to the dinner table where his mom hands me a big plate of steaming rice and fish. "Dying of boredom again so soon?" I tease.

Shikamaru rolls his eyes at me. "You really need to ask? Besides, I was thinking maybe we could train together or something for that test on Monday."

Shikaku and I begin a stare down as we shovel food in our mouths at a sickening speed, Shikamaru's mom rolling her eyes at us as she sits down. Shikamaru, however, begins banging his knife and fork on the table, yelling at me to "Get that elbow grease in!" Those words coming from Shikamaru makes me start laughing really hard, and I begin to choke, causing all three Nara's to rush around the table to my seat and take turns beating me on the back. Once my airway was clear again, I look at the three of them and the bewildered looks on their faces before erupting into gasping laughter again.

Afterwards Shikamaru and I go up to his rooftop to have a quick "battle" against each other. The moon and clouds are to his advantage, leaving me constantly on my toes to avoid his shadow-possession trap. I incorporate the brief tai-jutsu lesson I had with Kakashi earlier today and manage to land some kicks and punches on Shikamaru. And laying on the cool tile with bruises forming on our bodies after we call it quits, I can't help but feel more confident about the test on Monday.