I sighed stepping out of the warm shower and into a fluffy green towel. I wrapped one around my long hair as I looked at my neck in the mirror. There was a jumble of long ropy silver scars that crisscrossed my neck and chin. One scar crossed the side of my cheek from ear to chin diagonally. On the opposite side was a small vertical scar that ran parallel to my nose over my lips and drown to my throat left by the very tip of a broadsword. I remembered the day Akio had given that to me by accident by getting frustrated and swinging around with his sword on his shoulder only to catch me with its very tip.
The rest of the scars on my neck and face were a reminder of how close I had come to death that day my friends had died. Had it not been for my teacher's quick thinking and action I would be as dead as my friends.
I put on my bra and tank-mask hiding all evidence of the battle trophies as I put on some underwear and a pair of comfortable dark blue pants. There was chattering from the kitchen as I left the bathroom and noticed Sasuke's door was ajar and the light was on.
I walked over and knocked on the door. There was a pause as some type of music was shut off and the door opened.
'What?' Sasuke was gruff as I put my foot in the jam.
'Can I talk to you?' I asked as he gave me a suspicious look but let me in anyway. Sasuke's room was very clean for a teenager. He had dark blue sheets on his bed accented by his black from and black furniture. The walls were painted a rich Prussian blue as I noticed he had been reading judging by the various books and scrolls littered on his desk.
"So Sasuke, it must be weird to know I'm your sister eh?' I asked as he have an 'hn' as an answer. I tried a different approach. 'What are you studying?' I asked as he gave me a look.
'To see if there has been any Uchiha-Hyuuga connections with the families in the past to see if there have been any interesting bloodline limits that are different from the normal streams' he stated as I was rather impressed. Brains also ran in the family. This was a good thing.
'Good idea. But sadly I don't think I have a bloodline limit because of my weird breeding. Maybe the lines cancelled each other out?' I stated as Sasuke went back to his desk. He was on guard in case I tried to trick him or something I could see. But more so I think he was glad that I was talking to him about things that weren't trivial in his opinion.
'I know the sharingan isn't awakened in our family unless we are in danger of dying. They Hyuuga's are born with their talent already visible and ready to use unless they are sealed.' Sasuke stated as I nodded. He shifted through some papers on his desk as I glanced at them. They all seemed to be coming from a central library source that wasn't the local library or the academy's library. 'I have found this though.' He pointed to a chart about how the bloodline limits are carried. I read the passage aloud.
'After many different types of research on the similarities between the byakugan and the sharingan it can be concluded that the sharingan and the byakugan were once a conjoined trait. This can be seen by how the DNA structures seem to compliment each other in very nearly the exact same patterns when growing in developing fetuses.' I gave Sasuke a look as he motioned to keep reading. I sighed and continued. 'Both fetuses grew at the same rate and both genes were developed fully by the time of birth. One key difference was that the sharingan gene remained dormant within the carrier's body until a sufficient danger arose the wielder's instinct to use it. The opposite is the byakugan that is active from birth until the person dies or is sealed. It is believed that the sharingan and byakugan genes are carried on the X sex cell from either mother or father of the children.' I stopped and looked at my brother. He nodded as I stared at him.
'You cannot show the others this.' I said as he looked confused. 'I will be made into a living science experiment!' I stated as he glanced down at the paper.
'We need to see if you have the sharingan or the primitive blood line limit that the text spoke about originally. If you don't have those then you still are a carrier for both the byakugan and sharingan bloodline limits.' Sasuke looked at me as I nodded and sat on his bed.
'So that means that either way I can pass on either the byakugan or the sharingan if I have kids' I said as Sasuke gave me an are-you-stupid look as I nodded. Yes, it was possible for a 50/50 for my children to either have the byakugan or the sharingan or, even my own strange eye talent.
'YUKIKO-CHAAAAAAAAN!' Naruto's obnoxious voice called as I looked at the fat cat clock that was sitting on Sasuke's night table. It read 6:45 as I rolled my eyes. Trust in Sakura to manipulate Naruto into doing her dirty work.
'Have a hot date?' Sasuke asked giving me as dark look as a smirk slid onto my face.
'Wouldn't you like to know?' I stated before stepping out of his room. I walked back into my room to see Naruto jumping on my bed.
'Oh Yukiko-chan!' he said and jumped off of the bed. I stared at him as he grinned and rubbed his neck. 'Sakura said she bought you an outfit to go out tonight' he handed me a rather large package wrapped in bright pink tissue paper as he grinned and ran out of the room. The door slammed behind me as I jumped and turned back to the gaudy package left in my hands. How would Sakura know my size let alone be able to find anything in it?
I opened the gaudy pink paper as the first thing I noticed was a set of dark green barrettes that had three ivy leaves on the ends. They were quite beautiful as I looked at the clothing beneath the hair clips. There was a dark green silk Yukata that had small white flowers down the left sleeve and the bottom hem that seemed to spill down from the left shoulder. Underneath lay a white sash and a pair of black leggings. A grin slowly slid over my face as I changed into the nice clothing, it fit perfectly even if you could see the sleeves of my mesh shirt from under the sleeves and I left the neck line rather open so not to strangle myself.
I twisted my hair up and put in the ivy clips in and concealed a surprising amount of weapons on my person before slinging Akane onto my back. There was a knock before Sakura came in.
'Oh Yukiko-senpai, you're so pretty! I can't believe it fits you so well!' she gushed as I smiled.
'I can't believe you found my size, where did you get this?' I asked as Sakura shook her head.
'I didn't get it Hinata-chan dropped it off she said that Shikamaru had been asked by Chouji who had been asked my Temari who had been asked by Kiba who had been asked by his mother Tsume who refused to give a source of where or who she got it from.' Sakura said as I nodded. In truth I got lost around Temari but kept smiling anyway.
'Well tell all of them thanks I guess.' I said as she nodded and clapped her hands before turning and looping her arm with mine and dragging me downstairs. Naruto was absorbed in the TV as I saw the massive pile of documents on the kitchen table still. I groaned as Sakura pulled a plate out of the fridge and set it beside the massive stack of papers.
'Sasuke-kun can you walk Yukiko-senpai to Kakashi-sensei's?' Sakura asked handing me a plate of wrapped leftover sushi. Sasuke gave Sakura and me a dark look before walking over to the large stack of paper.
'Fine.' He said as Sakura's looked surprised.
'Thank you Sasuke-kun, Nii-chan' we said as the same time as Sasuke took half of the stack of papers. I balanced the plate on top of the papers as Sasuke led the way out of the house.
It was cool out as Sasuke took the lead and turned away from the normal road to downtown. In stead we took a side road that headed northeast. This end of town was quieter, more residential as slowly it thinned out into trees and play grounds. There were a few smaller buildings before apartment complexes rose in the distance. Sasuke was quiet as we passed a few people on the street. They gave us a wide berth as I heard whispering from passers by. Looks like my secret was out about being an Uchiha as a little girl pointed at me before her mother could whisk her away with a look of fear on her face.
I sighed as Sasuke gave me a bored glance.
'You always have this Sasuke?' I asked. I got a positive 'Hn' as I sighed again. 'You'd think over the years of being feared you'd get over it.' I said as Sasuke gave me a raised eyebrow as a question. 'I was feared in Rin for my talents. I was next in line to be yuki-kage before my platoon was murdered' I muttered as Sasuke gave me a sad 'hn' and a quiet silence stretched before us.
Sasuke turned right as we came to a street of rather tired looking neighborhood with white washed buildings. There was a small convenience store next to a two story building with a row of glass windows at the front as Sasuke walked to the side where a bland red door with three doorbells were located. Sasuke rang the bottom bell labeled Hatake in sloppy writing as we stood and waited.
'Trust Kakashi-sensei to stand up everyone' Sasuke muttered angrily as I leant against the door frame. My arms were getting tired and the sushi was getting warmer as my brother and I stood on Kakashi's doorstep.
'Is he always late?' I asked as Sasuke gave a curt nod. I sighed shifting my arms as a few children ran by on the street brandishing sticks and capes made of towels or tattered blankets.
'Yo' I jumped as Kakashi's voice was right behind me.
'You're late.' I said noticing it was now 7:45. He shrugged.
'A little old ladies cat was stuck in a tree so I had to get it down for her.' He stated as I gave him a disbelieving look.
'Your excuses are getting worse Kakashi-sensei' Sasuke muttered before dumping the stack of papers into the jounins arms. 'Bye yuki' he muttered before walking away
with his hands in his pockets. Kakashi brush past me as I felt something like a spark jump from his hand onto my arm. He glanced at me with a smile and unlocked the doors before he ushered me inside. I followed him upstairs as we came to the first landing. The door was white as he opened it into the smallest apartment I'd ever seen. The apartment was quite literally a single room with a kitchenette on one side a bed by a large window with a night table and a large kitchen table in the middle with a small bathroom off to the side. A large bookshelf with Make-out varieties covering the top two shelves and a dresser beside it sat at the foot of the bed.
'Wow, this place is clean' I said as Kakashi gave a dry chuckle.
'I don't spend a lot of time here other than sleeping and eating, even then I usually go over to your place for meals. Sakura usually makes more than enough.' He stated as I remembered the food Sakura had given me.
'Well you can thank Sakura she made your food seeing as I was preoccupied at the time' I said smiling and dropping the huge stack of papers on the little kitchen table and put the sushi into his hands. A smile crossed his face as he walked over to the kitchenette.
'She even remembered extra pickled ginger. Sakura never forgets anything it seems.' He stated as a small smile crossed his face. Those two were definitely close friends I could tell as I noticed a small plant on top of the book shelf name Mr. Ukki. What a random name for a plant.
I took a seat at the small table as Kakashi sat on the small counter eating his sushi with a pair of chopsticks. I hated eating with two sticks it was awkward at best for me as I heard a knock at the door. Kakashi sighed and looked rather annoyed as I read a very strong chakra level from outside of the door.
'It's open Gai' Kakashi called as he swiped up another piece of sushi. He wasn't eating insanely fast so I assumed he was enjoying it even though I never saw his face beneath the mask. Kakashi gave me a wink before the piece of sushi was gone from his sticks.
'Eh Kakashi, how did the interrogation of that young little spitfire of a woman go?' Gai asked as he strutted through the door and unfortunately noticed me sitting at the table half hidden behind my stack of papers.
'Yukiko-san, I didn't see you! How are you, you young blooming lotus of life?' asked as Kakashi continued to chew with a rather amused expression. I gave him a frustrated look as I swear I saw him grin. Jerk.
'I'm well thank you Gai-san how about yourself?' I asked as the green unitard wearing man threw his hand across his face.
'Alas, all is not well. My most talented student Lee has fallen for a girl and it is sad to be known she does not feel the same way. Oh the beauty of youth is being wasted, how I wish to point Lee in a different direction!' the man was nothing if not theatric and who was Lee?
'That's…upsetting?' I guessed as he sighed dramatically. Kakashi didn't say anything but I noticed all of his sushi was gone.
'Ah yes, but the more important question is why are you in the dastardly Kakashi's house fair maiden!' he exclaimed as I wanted to bash my head off of the desk.
'I recently acquired some… property… here in Konoha so I'm sifting through the paper work and Kakashi-san graciously volunteered to help me with the document wording since I'm not from this continent.' I said with a smile as Gai turned to the tall jounin who was watching us half awake.
'That is very modest of you Kakashi; I applaud your skills of reaching out to fellow ninja to assist them in their endeavors here in Konoha!' he clapped Kakashi on the back as the taller jounin looked at Gai.
'Didn't you mention running 500 laps with Lee before heading home this evening?' Kakashi stated as Gai look horrified.
'YES, and I am almost late thank you for reminding me Kakashi. Remember not to be late for our meeting tomorrow morning or Hokage-dono will kill you this time!' he pointed at Kakashi as I stifled a giggle. Well Gai was good for a laugh even if he was being serious.
'Lee?' I questioned as Gai ran from the room exclaiming thanks to me before disappearing out the door. 'He's a real whirlwind isn't he?' I asked as Kakashi took a seat beside me.
'You could say that' he muttered as he pulled the top half of the documents towards himself. Reading formalities in this language was confusing at best. Kakashi and I sat together our knees touching as he told me the paraphrased versions of the long paragraphs and all of the things I was expected to do and had to sign. We shifted through a quarter of the papers as his clock chimed 10:30 pm. I looked at the clock, my brain was dead by this point as I put my head on the table.
'This should be torture' I muttered as Kakashi gave a chuckle and messed up my hair.
'There is much worse than this. Try having to write these documents' he stated as I nearly died at the thought letting him rest his hand on my head.
'Shit' I muttered in English as Kakashi gave me a weird look. I switched back to Japanese immediately. 'That's Rin's language. Its very different compared to this language.' I stated as he nodded.
'Could you teach me to speak some of it?' he asked as I looked at him.
'You really want to learn?' I asked as he nodded. I thought for a minute. 'Repeat after me then.' I stated grabbing a pen. 'Pen' I stated. He tried to memorize what I said as he looked at the writing utensil.
'pen' he said with a bit of an accent taking the tiny instrument from me as I smiled.
'Good, you're going to be pretty good at this.' I said as he seemed a little more pleased. I grabbed another item. 'paper' I said.
'peh, par' he stated looking frustrated at the syllables not fitting together correctly as I shook my head.
'paper.' I said as he was obviously trying very hard to memorize the new words.
'Paper' he pronounced quite clearly. I grinned and messed up his gravity defying hair as I noticed how soft it was. He really was quite smart as I moved him on to harder objects to say.
'Fridge' I said as he gave me a strange look.
'That is a really weird word for fridge.' He stated as I laughed and he smiled. 'Freedehge' he said as I smiled.
'Good try. Fridge.' I said coming to stand in front of him. I could tell he was a little frustrated at not being able to get words right off of the bat.
'Freedjuh' he said as I shrugged.
'Good enough!' I laughed as he joined in. 'English is a really hard language to learn if you haven't grown up with it. Would you like me to say something in English for you to hear what it sounds like?' I asked as he gave a nod. I sighed, now what to say. I thought for a minute until I just decided to speak. 'There are all types of people in our world, most are classified between good and evil but really people cannot be classified as such. People are classified by their actions, their humanity and the compassion that they show in their everyday lives.' I finished as Kakashi looked impressed.
'You should like you're hissing' he said as I giggled.
'I never really listened to English before, I've just spoken it and never thought twice about it!' I laughed taking my seat again. Kakashi looked at me as I grabbed another sheet of paper.
'So Yuki-san are you enjoying Konoha?' he asked quietly as I stopped reading and smiled still looking at the paper.
'Yea, it's been really amazing. I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon though Kakashi-san' I said going back to reading a scroll about marriage within the Uchiha family and the approved Konoha family households. How Ironic.
'So, have you met anyone in Konoha yet that you would consider allowing them to show you more of the town?' he asked as I fought down a smile. Two could play at his little charade.
'Yes I have, he's quite an interesting person actually.' I stated as Kakashi seemed rather surprised at my answer.
'I see.' He said as I knew he thought I was talking about someone else. 'So what's this guy like if you think he's so interesting?' Kakashi asked pulling another document towards himself.
'Well, from the time I've spent with him' I stressed as Kakashi's eyebrow rose but he didn't look away from the scroll. 'I've met someone who is incredibly intelligent, I know he obviously cares deeply for his friends and loves Konoha.' I stated as Kakashi gave a grunt of acknowledgment as I looked at him. 'I also knows that he doesn't like to get close to people because he still grieves for all of the people he's lost in his life and doesn't want it to happen again because he knows that he cant take anymore heartache.' I said as Kakashi looked up at me.
He looked shocked and amazed as I noticed how dark his brown eyes were. They were warm chocolate almost as a sad smile crossed his face.
'He must be a very special guy' Kakashi muttered sadly as I wanted to smash my head off of the table. For a smart guy he sure could be super dense. I grabbed his face in my hands and forced him to look me in the face.
'ITS YOU, YOU DOLT!' I snapped as I noticed how close we were. Kakashi seemed to freeze as my words registered in his mind. I laughed quietly 'who did you think it was?' I asked as he shook his head.
I moved to lean back as suddenly not only was my mask down but Kakashi's was as well. His lips met mine as he kissed me. The kiss was short and sweet as, as suddenly as he had kissed me he had pulled away. I pulled my mask up quickly as I was tackled from behind.
'Got her boss!'
'Don't let her go!'
'What was she doing attacking you like that?'
'She smells funny!'
'Can I eat her?'
'hey boss can I have a leg?'
I sighed and attempted to turn over but was pinned to the ground by something much bigger than I was.
'Sorry, they smelt something was off before I could stop them' I heard Pakkun's voice as I also heard panting as a large glob of drool spread on the floor beside my head. Ew.
'Hey Yasu, get off of her' Kakashi muttered as the huge weight was removed from my back. A hand came into my vision as I was pulled to my feet. I turned to look at the 8 dogs sitting around the room.
'Sorry boss.' the huge bullmastiff muttered lying down on the bed. I looked at them all Pakkun was sitting on my vacant chair as a golden retriever sniffed the hem of my shirt. He wore sun glasses and one that looked like his brother wagged his tail knocking Mr. Ukki off of the dresser.
'hey, hey wanna play strange lady?' the golden's panted as a white dog beared his fangs at me.
'I still want a leg' he muttered as I raised an eyebrow.
'Or not' one with a bandaged head giggled as a dog with a tattoo that said DOG on his forehead yawned and rolled over. The last dog I noticed was hiding behind Kakashi as I turned to look at him.
'I like shoes' she stated as I blinked. What a dumb dog. Kakashi put his arm over my shoulders as he pulled me closer to him.
'Yuki-san I'd like you to meet my eight ninja dogs' he said as they all barked a hello.
'eh, sorry about letting Yasu tackle you there yuki-san' Pakkun said as I left Kakashi's side and gave the little dog an ear rub.
'That's quite alright Pakkun and you too Yasu' I said as the bullmastiff gave a deep bark. I laughed as the phone rang. I glanced at it as Kakashi looked at me, the dogs all exchanged wary looks as he picked it up.
'Hello?' he asked as there was some squabbling on the other end. 'I see. Yes they're here.' There was some more squabbling. 'Paperwork. A co-worker.' There was a laugh and more squabbling I sat down at the table and gave Pakkun a belly rub as the other dogs came to sit or lay around me. 'Yes, I will look into that. Tomorrow morning at training ground Six. Bring Sasuke and Neji. I'll tell her. Goodnight Tsunade-san' Kakashi hung up the phone as he took a seat beside me.
'What did the hokage want?' I asked as I switched to petting the goldens by my knees.
'She wants Sasuke, Neji, and myself to try to test you tomorrow to see if you possess any of the bloodline limits.' He said as I nodded.
'Sure but I don't think you'll find anything though.' I said as Kakashi gave one of the dogs a look as they tried to compete for my attention. They all backed off and sat at respectable distances from the table.
'You all can go back to the main house' he stated as the dogs all once disappeared in a flurry of leaves. Pakkun was the last to leave as he set a scroll in front of Kakashi.
'This was set at the main house for you' He said as Kakashi nodded and the little dog looked at me. 'Keep him in line' he said with a doglike smile before he also disappeared in a flurry of leaves. I looked at Kakashi as he tossed the scroll on the bed. I caught the message on the front of it.
Last notice of will proclamation was written in bold letters as the scroll landed on the bed. I raised an eyebrow as he went back to shifting through the documents. I put the marriage scroll into the pocket of my yukata hiding it from view as we managed to get ¾ of the way through all of the documents.
'Alright so the family funds are equal to $360 million in all of the families bank accounts that are now deposited into yours.' Kakashi read as I blinked. I was RICH?! I jumped out of my chair and started dancing like a maniac.
'I'm Rich! WOOHOO!!' I danced around the small apartment as I didn't notice Mr. Ukki on the ground. I slid in the dirt and went into the splits as Kakashi offered a hand to help me up. I winced as muscles were pulled I didn't know could be pulled as I glanced at the sorry little Aloe Vera plant.
'That plant never seems to die' Kakashi muttered as I swept the little plant back into its pot. I righted the cactus and put some of the spilt dirt back into the pot.
'Who gave you the plant?' I asked as Kakashi took the small plant and turned to put it back on the shelf.
'It's not important.' His tone sounded defeated as I gave him a hug. He stiffened as I rested my face against his back. I felt him relax slowly as I felt one of his large gloved hands cover mine. Kakashi was pretty toned I could tell even through the four or five layers of clothing he was wearing as he sighed and looked at the ceiling.
'I should begetting home Sasuke will be worrying' I said as he gave my hand a squeeze and let me go. I stepped back as I noticed he brushed one of the leaves of the little plant before following me.
I stopped and glared at the offending papers. As Kakashi came up behind me and swept all of the scrolls and papers back into two piles. One pile was for finished files and one for still to be reviewed files.
'Do I have to take them with me?' I asked as Kakashi shrugged. He seemed rather distant since my hug, maybe it had something to do with Mr. Ukki and whoever had given it to him.
'You can leave them here.' He said his voice strangely devoid of all emotion. I turned back to Kakashi as he wore his usual bored expression. I was beginning to think that this bored and aloof exterior was something he had cooked up to truly hide himself.
'Thanks' I said and grabbed a few scrolls just to read over the next little while. I looked back at the man standing beside me. 'Take it easy alright Kakashi-san. I'll see you tomorrow for that training.' I gave him a smile as he nodded. I let myself out as a hand gripped my wrist before I could close the door. I turned back to see a very tired looking Kakashi as my heart went out to the poor man.
'Thank you Yukiko-san' he said as he enveloped me in a warm embrace. I returned the hug as he tightened until I was almost crushed against him. He was incredibly strong as I noticed he was shaking slightly.
'Kakashi-san?' I asked as he didn't answer. I get a little concerned. 'Kakashi, Kakashi-kun?' I asked as I felt him draw in a long deep breath before a low chuckle as his hug lessened until he pulled back to look at me. There was a little pain still in the depths of his eye as I noticed that something about him had changed. He seemed almost more translucent now like he was building himself again.
'Thank you Yuki-san' he said and gave my forehead a kiss though his mask. A smile crossed my face as I poked his side. He skittered away from me as I raised an eyebrow. He feinted innocence as I laughed. The great copy ninja was ticklish!
'You're welcome Kakashi-kun, for what I don't know but I have a feeling you'll tell me when you figure it out within yourself' I smiled as he gave me one of his special eye smiled.
'Maybe.' He said as I turned to head down the stairs. 'Good night' his voice echoed down the hall as I gave a wave and turned to give him a smile as I saw him standing on the landing looking more like a teenager who had just realized he was in love with a stunning model.
'Sleep well Kakashi-kun!' I called as I let myself out and turned for home taking the rooftops as sleepy Konoha stretched out before me like a sea of little glimmers of hopes and dreams of all of its inhabitants. A smile crossed my face as I thought of a certain tall, silver haired jounin that was more than likely tailing me to make sure I made it home safely. Kakashi seemed to be a mystery as I realized how much influence I had on the guy and how much I wanted to pull him out of his self abusive cycle of self hatred. He really was a beautiful person, even if he commanded a legion of psychotic dogs that wanted to chew on my legs. I smiled as I doubled around the house and slipped in my bedroom window and put thoughts of everything out of my mind as I crashed onto the bed for some much needed sleep.
