Chapter 7;

It was odd that he go on a mission with anyone. And for him to get special clearance for Akai to come along was something indeed. He wondered what the Hokage was thinking about these days.

Kakashi sighed. There wasn't any use just sitting around wondering about it. He would have to face all of it soon enough. He swung his pack over his shoulder and looked out in the direction he knew the gates were in. He hadn't really seen how much his three students had improved in a while. He was curious as to what new things they were learning out on their missions. He smirked, thinking back on their days where he had trained them. He hadn't taken on another group after them. He was happy with his decision. If he had taken on another group he wouldn't have had The Itachi's unknown daughter staying with him. He was also curious as to her abilities.

He flinched when her voice broke his thoughts.

"Excuse me."

Kakashi sighed he hadn't even been paying attention. She had been standing behind him, waiting for him to go out of house. He sighed and moved from the doorway. Akai fell into step next to him.

He glanced over to her constantly. Was she okay?

He didn't know what kind of life she must have had, living with a murder as a father.

As they walked through the village it was obvious that rumors and stories had built up about the girl next to him. He was relieved; most of the stares were curious and not hostile. That also meant none of them knew the truth, though. The Hokage must have been his usual self and tried to prevent her from being hated blindly.

Just as they reached the gate Kakashi heard someone yell for him.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

He turned to the left and he was met with three chunin that he had helped train, on request of their jounin leader.

Akai wasn't surprised that people wanted to get Kakashi's attention, to her, it seemed he got along with people well. But, she on the other hand had no intention of being so friendly with strangers.

"Well hello Alphie, Ryle, Touya." Kakashi said waving, noticing Akai duck behind him. He sighed; of course she wouldn't be friendly. It was part of his mission to watch her to try and get her to open up a bit, though.

Touya nodded in response to Kakashi's greeting, and then stared at the girl who had clearly hidden behind the man. Who was she? He had never seen her before, and the village didn't really get that many new comers. He glanced to his other team mates to see if they had noticed her, but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to her. He decided to not ask about who she was.

Akai peeked out from behind Kakashi as he walked over to the three. The girl, who she figured was Alphie, was clearly somewhat of a tomboy. Akai wondered how the girl could be comfortable, she had dirt smudged on her in multiple places, and was wearing simple, shapeless clothes. Akai decided that when being a ninja, femininity wasn't really focused on that much.

The two boys on the other hand, seemed to care a bit more about appearances. Both seemed to be put together well. Both were quite handsome, she admitted, but she really hadn't met that many men to be able to come up with a good scale. Though, they seemed to stay a certain distance from each other. She had read many books, and heard from her father that ninja were often paired with ones that they strived to out-shine. She wondered if the two were rivals.

"Kakashi, we received orders from the Hokage that we're supposed to accompany you on this mission." Ryle said, holding out a scroll to Kakashi.

"Accompany me?" Kakashi wondered what the Hokage was thinking. This mission wasn't supposed to be that difficult, for Akai's sake, why was he sending a team of chunin along with him?

He took the scroll and opened it for a brief moment, confirming what Ryle had said.

It was true. "Well, this was certainly last minute." Kakashi said slipping the scroll into a hidden pocket.

"Accompany us?"

All three of the chunins looked shocked as Akai stepped from behind Kakashi.

Kakashi nearly jumped himself at the sound of her voice. He hadn't expected her to speak. "Ah, it seems so, Akai." He said, trying to lighten the mood a bit with a care-free laugh. He turned to the three and pushed Akai a bit forward. "This is Akai, She's been ordered to follow me around for a while."

Akai suddenly realized she was now the center of attention and was sorry she had spoken. She turned to the three and bowed gracefully before trying to take a few steps back to try and get the attention off of her.

However, Kakashi kept a hand on her back that prevented her from moving.

"Isn't she cute?"

Alphie laughed started to laugh, "Ordered to follow you around? Geeze, what'd you do, Kakashi?"

Ryle was a bit taken aback. He hadn't really paid attention to the girl until she stepped from behind Kakashi. He was surprised she was so…well, pretty. He considered himself lucky, having been assigned this mission. He had no idea that Kakashi would have a girl following him around.

"Hey, I'm Ryle." He said, introducing himself.

"I'm Alphie." Alphie said, cutting in.

After a small pause of silence Ryle added, "And that's Touya. He isn't smart enough to form words."

Akai's eyes grew wide, He wasn't smart enough to form words? How was he a ninja?

"Screw you, Ryle." Touya said turning toward him and unfolding his arms.

"Oh, c'mon, Touya. You could at least introduce yourself." Alphie said turning to face both of them.

Akai sighed. She hadn't been raised around jokes. She froze.

Memories poured into her mind, images of her father, of her childhood, and then the fatal picture of her father's bloody body being shoved into a bag, like it was nothing.

She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be around such happy people. She didn't want to be around people that came from the place that killed her father. From that place that ended her world.

She wanted nothing more than to leave. She wanted to see her uncle. She wanted to see the only family she had left, even if he hated her for it.

"Where's Sasuke?" She said trying to stop tears from leaving her eyes.

Kakashi stopped smiling. Sasuke?

"What's wrong Akai?" He said, leaning over so he was closer to her height. He worried. What if she had a break-down? He knew she could snap at any time and probably kill many people before they could get control of her again.

Touya stared at her, why would she want to see Sasuke? Touya had never personally had a conversation with him, but everyone knew who he was. The memory of the Uchiha clan was still being passed around.

"Where is he?" Akai asked again, this time with an edge of anger on her voice. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be with Sasuke.

"Akai, I don't think we have time to see him before we leave." Kakashi was trying to softly let her know that he had no intention of telling her. He knew it was not a good idea to see him.

Ryle stared. She wants to see Sasuke. He suddenly noticed the similarity between the two. Who was this girl? She had the characteristics of an Uchiha, and she wants Sasuke? Plus, Ryle certainly hadn't seen her before that day. He glanced around his companions and they both seemed to have confusion in their eyes.

"I'm leaving."

Akai jumped up suddenly. She left her backpack behind and landed on the nearest rooftop.

"Akai!" Kakashi said, dropping his own backpack and jumping after her.

The three chunins looked to each other before Alphie jumped after them, Ryle and Touya following.

Kakashi cursed, She was much faster than he had thought. He was having trouble keeping her in his sight. He could tell she was heading for the training field that he had first introduced her to Sasuke.

Akai skidded to a halt on the branch of a tree on the edge of the field. She smiled when she spotted Sasuke fighting the blonde man she had seen him with earlier.

Kakashi yelled her name right before he saw her launch off her branch toward Sasuke.

Ryle, Touya, and Alphie landed in the field just in time for Sasuke to turn and be tackeled by Akai.

Naruto froze when he watched Sasuke get knocked down, and instinctively readied himself for a fight, until he saw what had tackled him.

Akai was lying on top of Sasuke, her arms clenched around his neck and her face buried in his chest, crying.

Kakashi landed next to them, and sighed. She really was a fragile girl. He didn't think she would run to Sasuke for comfort, though, seeing how he treated her the last time.

Sasuke opened his eyes and immediately grabbed Akai by the back collar of her kimono. He hesitated a moment, noticing her tears, before wrenching her off of him and throwing her a few feet away. She didn't seem to resist.

Kakashi watched as Akai gave no sign of trying to help herself land. She slammed into the ground and lay there for a few moments.

Ryle, Alphie, and Touya were certainly surprised as they watched Sasuke literally throw the girl away from him. It was hard to believe. They knew he didn't have that friendly of a personality, but this was a bit too much. She was just a crying girl.

Akai sat there in the grass for a few moments before calming down slightly. Her tears stopped, but her longing for comfort was still just as strong. She stood up slowly and looked over to her only remaining family, only to see him disappear and re-appear before her.

Sasuke grabbed her throat, he didn't really care how the girl felt. He needed someone to take out his frustration about his brother's death, and to get some kind of revenge on him. Sasuke couldn't fathom Itachi loving anyone, but if Itachi hadn't killed his daughter, then she must have meant something to him. And he wanted to take everything from him.

By now the other few people who had been at the training field had stopped what they were doing and turned to watch.

Sakura ran towards Sasuke screaming, and Naruto wasn't far behind.

Akai stared into Sasuke's eyes with longing. She didn't care if he killed her. She would rather be killed by him than anyone else. "Go ahead." She whispered. "Go ahead and kill me!" she said, louder this time.

All Sasuke did was tighten his grip a bit. What was she saying? Had Itachi meant that much to her? Was she tricked into loving him? Sasuke was angry now that his brother had dared produced an Uchiha, after killing so many.

Akai reached out her hands and gently touched his face.

She was released when Sakura and Naruto each grabbed an arm of Sasuke's and Kakashi grabbed Akai.

"Sasuke! What were you thinking?" Sakura yelled.

"I have to kill her." Sasuke said. "I have to kill her in place of my brother."

Ryle, Alphie, and Touya were shocked. They stood a few steps away from the fight.

"Who is she?" Ryle muttered under his breath, but both his team mates heard it.

Kakashi set Akai on the ground, but kept an arm on her shoulder.

"You realize, with her, you finally aren't alone, don't you?" Kakashi said to Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at him, actually he hadn't really thought about that. He had only wanted to kill her for being related to his brother. He had been blinded by rage.

Kakashi could see the calculations in Sasuke's eyes, and sighed. Maybe he would give up on killing Akai.

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Well, so…it's been a few years. Hehe. I hope this didn't seem too out of place. Can't really remember what I was doing when I was writing this, so I just kind of guessed. ;;