There was no haze in my mind as I came back to consciousness. I immediately knew where I was.

Hospital.

I knew why I was there.

Ibiki.

I knew how long I'd been out, judging by the stiffness of my body and the clock on the wall.

Eleven hours, twenty five minutes, thirty seven seconds.

I explored the side of my bed, feeling all the buttons and mentally filing away what did what. I pressed one of the buttons and the bed began to tilt upright. I then find another button and press it, feeling the pain in my limbs fade away, only to be replaced with a slight buzz. I sighed in relief as my body seems to float away, freeing my mind. Finally, I pressed the third button, calling a nurse to me.

"Oh Cashile, you're awake," the nurse greeted.

He continued to explain to me what exactly had happened as I hid my irritation. "Your sensei went a bit too hard on you. You've got multiple bruises, a few broken ribs, broken nose, a concussion and a stress fracture in your forearm," he listed.

I automatically knew that the fracture was from attempting to block Ibiki's repeatedly hard blows.

"When am I able to leave?" I asked. Judging from my injuries, I would be released soon; nothing was so serious as to keep me in medical overnight.

"Well, we've bandaged you up good. Don't remove the bandages on your ribs, even though they'll be irritating!" he warned, giving me a pointed look.

I nodded briefly, breathing shallowly.

"You aren't allowed to train for 2 weeks and you are not allowed to use that arm of yours for 4 weeks in total. The doctor will evaluate you in that time to see if there is any improvement. I will be right back with your medicine. You are to take two tablets per day. One in the morning when you wake up, and one before you go to bed at night. Understood?" he asked.

"Yes." I muttered, wincing as I raised myself into a sitting position on the hospital bed. "Why can't you just have a medic nin heal me?"

"Ah, well, if the injuries were worse or you were a higher ranking shinobi going on more important missions we probably would. But seeing as that's not true, well... You'll have to heal up the normal way." He smiled. "Not to mention this forces you to rest. We find that if we heal up genin right away they don't learn and land right back in the hospital the next day! Anyhow, let me go grab your meds!"

2 minutes and 47 seconds later the same nurse walked into the small hospital room again with two bottles in his hand.

He handed them to me. "Here, this is your pain medicine."

I read the label. Zetophorin. Oh, the complicated names of science. Why can't things just be called Aspirin or Tylenol anymore?

"Make sure to only take one in the morning and one at night!" He ordered cheerfully, "And after one week start to only take half pills morning and night, then at the two week mark take just half a pill when your feeling bad, until you're healed. Got it?"

I nodded, again, studying the label further.

"You're allowed to leave now. But one more thing," The nurse added. "Your concussion. Do you live with anybody?"

I shook my head. "No. I live alone."

"Do you have any friends you can stay with? You need to be woken up every two hours while you have the concussion to evaluate whether there's any swelling occurring in the brain. You'll need to have someone with you at night. Then you can come in and we will evaluate you further," he explained.

I looked at her with cold eyes and stated simply, "I have no friends." Then I stood, gathered my effects, and left the hospital, holding my still-sore ribs.

Third Person P.O.V.

"Care to explain?" The Hokage asked Ibiki, who had appeared grudgingly when called.

Ibiki immediately knew what the Hokage was talking about and crossed his arms defensively. "I was just training her," he replied gruffly. Even though he was carefully controlling it, anger was still evident in his voice.

"You don't think you pushed her just a bit too far then?" The hokage questioned, blowing out smoke from his pipe.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, you requested that I train this girl. I won't hold back," Ibiki declared.

"Yes, Ibiki, and I thank you once again for sacrificing your time. But please refrain from your anger in the future. Cashile is not invincible; she is a human being and a child at that," The Hokage rebuked. "Her body is not that of an adult. She was not ready for the thrashing that you gave her. She is one of our own, please treat her as such."

Ibiki gritted his teeth, his anger spilling out. "'One of our own'? Hokage-sama, her parents-"

"Ibiki," the Hokage cut him off sternly, silencing him. "Cashile is not her parents."

"Yes, I understand that!" Ibiki seethed, frustration clear in his voice. "But even so, do you really think it's wise to give more power to such an unpredictable little girl?"

The Hokage sent Ibiki a look that immediately reminded the interrogator that Sarutobi was the Hokage, powerful, and pissed. Ibiki took a half step back, remembering his place.

"I understand your concerns, Ibiki," the Hokage sighed, sinking back in his chair as he puffed on his pipe. "And I've taken several precautions. Don't think for a second that I take the matter of Cashile Kuroki lightly."

Ibiki bowed, the conversation clearly over. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

***...*.*.

Not long after Ibiki left, Kakashi knocked on the door.

"Enter!"

He walked into the spacious living room of the Hokage, practiced slough not enough to hide the concern clearly weighing on his mind.

"You summoned me, Hokage-sama," he murmured.

"Yes. Kakashi. As you are very well aware I'm sure, Ibiki has landed Cashile in the hospital." He nodded, slipping hands into pant pockets to hide how they clenched. "She's been released, but she has a concussion. She needs to be woken every two hours. Yet she lives with no one."

Kakashi nodded, understanding what the Hokage wished to be done, but raised his eyebrows in confusion. "The hospital let her leave?"

"To my understanding, she walked out," the hokage chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I...see..." Kakashi murmured, subtly sighing. One more stubborn child to deal with. "I understand what you want me to do. Also, may I speak with Ibiki in regards to my student and the way he's decided to train her?"

"Of course." The hokage nodded. "I expect no less."

***...*.*.

Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the door leading inside the interrogation center. The man he was looking for stood right in front of him.

"Ibiki Morino," he acknowledged.

"Kakashi," Ibiki greeted.

"I'd like to talk to you about a student of mine. Cashile Kuroki."

At the mention of Cashile's name, Ibiki's casual glance hardened and he turned around so that he was fully facing Kakashi.

"What about her?" He asked, voice carefully controlled.

"Don't you think you're working the genin too hard?" Kakashi didn't straighten from his slouch, but his eyes were dark and focused.

"You and I both know she's not at genin level," Ibiki growled. "So I'm not going to train her like a genin."

"She's still a child. She deserves a normal lifestyle, a normal genin life. She needs to work with her team, completing missions with them and building camaraderie. It's a fundamental learning aspect in this program," Kakashie argued. "You know my training methods are tough. I wouldn't be asking this of you if I didn't feel strongly about it. Let her devote most of her time to my team-to her team. She can train with you as the secondary, additional training it was meant to be. At the rate you're working her, her body won't be able to keep up with anything else but your training, much less additional team missions and practice."

Ibiki's eyes flashed dangerously, narrowing on Kakashi. "She's my student," he growled, "And I'll train her how I see fit."

Kakashi's voice remained deceptively calm, but something shifted in his stance, in his gaze, that made Ibiki's skin crawl. "She's my student as well, Ibiki. I don't think what you were doing yesterday was "training" Cashile. That was torture, pure and simple. And you know it, too."

Ibiki gritted his teeth, his glare deepening.

"Why, though? Revenge? For what? Anger? Can you not control yourself? I heard that several ANBU gathered around to watch the fight-" Kakashi broke off, shaking his head. "No, I can't even call it a fight. It was a massacre. You beat Cashile bloody, knowing that she would be unable to defend herself. Trained, elite, hardcore ANBU intervened and pulled you away from Cashile's unconscious body. They couldn't believe what they saw."

Ibiki looked away with a small, "Tch."

Kakashi pulled his hand out of his pocket, scratching at the side of his face before returning it, giving off an air of nonchalance that stood in direct opposition to the look in his eyes and words he was saying. "So why? What excuse do you have for beating up my student?"

Ibiki snarled. He found himself disliking Kakashi greatly in this instance; each word he said rang true in one way or another.

"I was trying to break her," Ibiki confessed. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, inviting further explanation. "I just... Well, I saw her as an opponent. An obstacle. And I wanted to see if I could break her."

"And could you?" Kakashi asked, curious despite himself.

"Not yet," he grimaced. "She's just too clever. And I wanted to push her to that breaking point, to that instance when you unleash your true potential."

"And?"

"She saw right through me," Ibiki scoffed. "She knows what I want and refuses to give it to me. She's too damn stubborn!"

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps she doesn't have what you tried to draw out of her, yet. That may have just been an exercise in futility."

"It was a mistake," Ibiki finally admitted. "If only because I didn't get the result I wanted."

Kakashi blinked, watching him thoughtfully. "It can't happen again."

"I understand," Ibiki replied. "What do you propose?"

"Missions with Team 7 are to be the priority," Kakashi immediately asserted. "You're not allowed to cut into that time at all. But after missions are completed for the day, she can train with you. So long as she's done with any training by, let's say, 10:00 p.m., I won't have any complaints. We're usually done with missions by around 5:30, so you would have about four hours every day to train.

"What if your missions run late?" Ibiki asked. "What if you're not done until 9:30 or 10:00 one day?"

Kakashi watched him with uncompromising eyes and simply said, "Too bad."

Ibiki studied him, decided he wouldn't get anything more out of the agreement, and begrudgingly nodded. "Fine. I approve."

"Good," Kakashi replied, hiding relief at not being pushed further. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a genin that I need to take care of."

***...*.*.

Cashile's P.O.V.

I continued my game of chess, bored out of my mind. Wasn't there something interesting to do around here? I flung a kunai at my wall, only one from the many shurikan and kunai that had already been thrown. Taking a shallow breath, I sighed in irritation; the bandages around my ribs were incredibly confining and tight. I attempted to adjust them, but it was almost impossible. Adjusting my position on the couch, I moved another piece before sitting back to study the board. Hm.

A knock on the door distracted me. I looked up, then chose to ignore it in favor of remaining on my couch. The knocking came again, more insistent this time, and I stood with a groan, stiffly making my way toward the door. Opening it, I'm greeted by the sight of Kakashi's now familiar slouch and book.

"Yo," he raised a hand in greeting. "You should be sleeping and recovering."

I walked back to the couch while he let himself in, shutting the door behind him. "Not tired," I replied briefly, moving a knight forward after a moment of contemplation.

"You must be. Your body is healing, you need to sleep," Kakashi disagreed.

I sighed. "Boring!" I threw my hands up and fell backwards onto the bed, ignoring the flare of pain that ran up my side. I winced and held my breath.

"Breathe, Cashile," Kakashi reminded me, exasperated.

I rolled my eyes, letting out the breath. "Breathing. Breathing's boring."

Kakashi sighed. "Cashile, you must be tired."

"Let me rephrase my earlier statement: I can't sleep right now."

"Can't?" Kakashi clarified. "Why?"

"Too many thoughts," I hissed, hitting my head lightly. "I need... I need...what I need is a puzzle," I decided.

"A-" Kakashi began, eyebrows furrowed.

"Puzzle, yes, a puzzle. Give me one," I demanded.

"I-" I immediately read his confusion, and sighed in exasperation.

"A riddle, maze, question, something!" I answered before the question even left his mouth.

"Uh, okay... I fly through the air, thrown with all might, I land in the target, With which I figh-"

"Kunai," I sighed. "Or shurikan, or any throwable weapon I suppose. Next."

"Er...Born with a gift, A gift that can kill, The eyes of destruction-"

"Uchiha, and stupid," I growled, growing bored of Kakashi. "C'mon, challenge me. Give me something!"

He thought for a few moments, then opened his mouth. "What walks up a mountain on two legs, down it on four, and on flat ground walks on three?"

"Nothing, you made it up in an attempt to stump me." I rolled my eyes. "Stop being childish and THINK!"

He was silent for a minute, then began softly. "It grows and blossoms, it dies and wilts. It happens in the beginning and happens in the end. It can make you cry, it can make you sad, it can make you smile, and can make you brave. What is it?"

I went to answer, then hesitated. Closing my mouth, I fell silent and thought hard. Several minutes passed, but still Kakashi waited for me and my answer. I felt myself-to my surprise- begin to drift off to sleep, and barely managed to get out one more sentence before sleep claimed me.

"What's the answer?" I mumbled.

Kakashi smoothed my hair and stood. "I hope one day you're able to figure it out," he whispered, then walked away.

I slept.

***...*.*.

I woke to a hand on my shoulder, and before I knew it I'd grabbed the arm and twisted, clumsily kicking the back of my target's knees so that they'd be forced to kneel. A sound of pain escaped my lips from the sudden movement, but it didn't stop me from hitting one localized spot on the neck, temporarily paralyzing the body for about ten seconds.

Only then did I realize I'd attacked Kakashi, and winced; it had probably taken all of Kakashi's self-control to keep himself from stopping and responding to my attack, knowing that if he did he could potentially injure me further. He could have easily stopped me if he wanted to; I certainly wasn't stronger then him yet.

Smarter, perhaps.

But stronger? Not yet.

"What are you doing here, Kakashi?" I asked coldly, standing. I flinched on instinct as my ribs flared but controlled the cry of pain that was close to escaping my mouth. Oh. My concussion. That was probably why he'd been waking me. Right. Oops.

"Cashile," Kakashi ground out in a warning tone, narrowing his eyes as he attempted to move and found himself unable.

I waved my hands in an attempt to placate him. "Relax, It's only temporary. You should be able to move in about.. now."

I smirked to myself, thinking of the pressure point I'd hit perfectly. That was for you, Iruka sensei.

Kakashi lifted himself up and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I only came to wake you up."

I stared at him emotionlessly. "I'd guessed as much. Mission accomplished. You can go now, I'm not in a coma."

"Speaking of missions, actually," Kakashi segued. "We've been assigned one. By the way, you're only allowed to train with Ibiki until 10:00 every night. Don't let him run late."

I blinked several times, then decided to comment on the most obvious piece of missing information. "Mission?" I glanced down at myself. "Okay, sure."

Kakashi sighed, something he seemed to do more often around me than anyone else. "Just meet the team at training ground 6 in an hour."

I watched him leave before taking my pills, feeling the now familiar numbing buzz it gave me before preparing for missions. I arrived at training ground 6 exactly on time, guessing that Kakashi wouldn't have pointlessly sent me out to stand for hours while injured. My three teammates were waiting around as usual. Sakura spotted me soon after I'd arrived.

"Cashile! Oh my gosh. What happened to you?" She asked, eyeing my injured body up and down. I was covered from head to toe in bandages, walked with a limp, and I didn't care to cover my facial bruises with makeup.

"Training," I replied shortly.

Naruto looked at me knowingly with hurt-filled blue eyes. I felt absolutely no remorse; it wasn't my fault he felt so much. So passionately. Caring was not an advantage in this world.

Sasuke glanced at me emotionlessly, a glance which I returned.

He looked away first.

"Team 7, now that you're all here let's get to today's missons," Kakashi announced, appearing out of the blue. "First is.."

He listed a few small missions, all of which seemed boring. I was glad I didn't actually have to participate in these missions due to my injuries, but tagging along would be a form of torture in itself. Our missions passed with the day and I sighed in irritation. Useless, these missions. I'd practically rather be training with Ibiki right now, the guy that mentally and physically wanted to torture me. If that didn't say anything about how awful these missions were, I wasn't sure what would.

The genin of team seven along with myself followed Kakashi into the hokage's office for more missions. Before Iruka could even finish listing the chores disguised as missions, Naruto interrupted.

"I WANT A COOLER MISSION!" Naruto yelled.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Could he be any louder? I didn't do anything to shut him up, though; if he was willing to risk punishment to voice what we were all thinking, I wasn't about to stop him. The hokage chuckled and proceeded to explaining the ranking of the missions assigned, lecturing Naruto even as Naruto ignored him in favor of musing out loud about ramen.

I let out an exasperated breath. Thank God I was on the advanced path to ANBU; I couldn't survive many days with team 7. They were so boring.

"Alright Naruto. I will assign your team a C-rank mission," The hokage finally gave in.

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. "Are we guarding a princess? A feudal lord?" He asked excitedly, practically jumping in eagerness.

I rolled my eyes. "Try ungrateful drunk dickhead," I muttered, wrinkling my nose. I could smell the sake from a mile away.

The adults in the room gave me a pointed, reproving look, all of which I ignored. What, they didn't want me to ruin the surprise? The man entered the room, and my eyes narrowed in surprise.

Drunk, yes. But when he saw us his eyes widened and guilt shocked across his face quickly. He glanced out the window as though looking for someone before turning his gaze back to us.

Liar.

Everything about Tazuna (I read his name on the papers the Hokage had in his desk) screamed it.

Liar.

"This is all I get? A bunch of snot-nosed kids?"

Guilty.

He took a swig of his sake bottle, which, by the smell of it, was the cheapest he could buy.

Broke.

His shoulders were tense, eyes wary despite the alcohol.

In danger.

Several things connected almost instantaneously while Tazuna introduced himself.

Tazuna was a bridge builder who came from the Land of Waves. He came specifically from an island that was under the control of Gato, an important business man. Anyone who listened to merchants could hear about the monopoly growing in the Land of Waves. Gato was as much a thug as a businessman. If Tazuna was a bridge builder, he would obviously be building a bridge.

A bridge that would connect his island to the main land. Once connected, the island would have options other then Gato to do business with.

Which would make Tazuna a prime target to Gato.

That made this at least an A rank mission. Depending on who Gato hired to kill Tazuna, it could even be higher.

So I call Tazuna out on it so he can have the proper protection, right?

Of course not.

Obviously he didn't have enough money to hire shinobi for an A rank mission, or he would have. Calling him out on it would save our own skins, but he would end up dead. Not that I cared at all.

If I told the Hokage the true rank of this mission, I'd be able to stay and practice more with Ibiki...

But at the same time, completing an A rank mission would give me more experience out in the field. For once, it might not be boring.

The decision was easy enough.

I was going on the A ranked mission.