Well, it seemed that Yoko sensei was overjoyed with having Mamushi stay with her too (as she proceeded to glomp them both, and cook them a huge celebratory meal).

This morning went like every other morning had for the past 6 days.

Mai crawled out of her huge bed on the rug, stretched, licked at her fur a little, crawled up to the bed, and mewed.

No one stirred.

She growled.

Not a sausage.

She roared full throttle, and Yoko sprung to her feet in panic.

"Up! Up! Up and at 'em girls!" Yoko would then scuttle into the kitchen, and boiled the water for the rice. Whilst she did this, and decided to sing the latest popular pop song full pelt, Mamushi sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. Mai licked her face, nudged her side, as if to say 'get up sleepy head, move it', and herded her to the bathroom.

Koneko slept very strangely.

She seemed to like to curl up like an actual cat, on top of the blanket, never under it.

And she was a heavy sleeper.

Mai actually had to shove her nose under her side, roll her up her neck, and let her dangle like a sack of potatoes on her back, as she carried Ms Hatake to the bathroom.

Mamushi returned first, dressed in…

…well. Maybe we should go back a little to explain this.

Flash back

"NO WAY! NOT going to happen!"

"Koneko-chan, don't be so stubborn."

"But I like the way I dress!" Koneko pouted. It was her second day here, and her sensei had decided to have a big say about her image.

Meaning, to completely change it.

"Look, I let you keep the eye covered and the mask on, so put up with it! You are not in training to be a little girl or a tomboy Ninja, Koneko. You two are going to be the greatest Kunoichi in all of Konoha. The best!" Yoko clapped her hands, and gave them both the thumbs up. "So it's about time you two started to dress like Kunoichi. And as a professional, I think you look perfect."

Who would have thought I was going to have this thrown at me this morning? Koneko whimpered to herself, and turned to look in the mirror.

She had basically been stripped down, Mamushi too, and dressed by Yoko.

As she looked in the mirror, she had to admit…she did look like a Kunoichi.

Same black sandals, same black mask, same huge auburn explosions of high pigtails, and the leaf headband angled to cover her left eye.

But that was all that was the same.

Black, skin tight three quarter training tights, long, slender, green hanging cloth, that covered mid thigh to mid thigh, tucked into a green utility belt (her Ninja pouched on each hip still), coming down to finish just by her ankles. Round the back, it covered her bum, not the sides of her hips, and hung down to her ankles also.

She used to have her stomach covered.

Those days were gone.

Her hanging cloth hung low down her hips, and her torso and defining young abs, all the way under her bust were all bare, exposed, naked to the eye. Her back included, and she never felt so…rebellious.

She still wore her green bust jacked, with no sleeves, and just buttoning at her cleavage, but she no longer wore a shirt underneath. There was nothing hiding her developing cleavage from show now.

Her arm sleeves were gone, and she now wore green fingerless gloves, with metal protectors over the backs of her hands.

Her Itcha Itcha Antics safely waited in her right back hip pouch, and she made sure her black mask tucked up her nose, and her left eye was covered by her protector.

"I look…"

"Good huh? I knew green was you colour. You see? Sensei does know what she's doing!" Yoko clapped her hands, then twirled Koneko in front of the mirror. "A Kunoichi is the most lethal woman in all existence. She is both elegant, and fatal. She dresses in a way that doesn't cheapen herself, leaves room for just enough imagination, and gives reason for men to be day dreaming about them in the first place. Entice, and ensnare. The two E's of being a Kunoichi." Yoko locked exited emerald eyes onto a pair of horrified golden ones.

Mamushi turned and was about to get back into her normal clothes, when both Koneko and Yoko jumped her.

"Whoa! You look GREAT Mamushi!" Koneko chucked, and gave her a wink and approving nod. "That look really suits you, Mamushi."

"It…does?" Mamushi turned, and looked into the mirror herself, as the two older Kunoichi stepped back.

She wore the exact same clothing as Koneko, but instead of her long elegant green hanging cloth, hers was purple. As was her bust jacket, and fingerless gloves. Her ivory abs and torso, not to mention surprisingly ample cleavage for her age, were all exposed perfectly.

But the major changes rally, had been made to her face.

That long, lovely navy black hair had been swept up from veiling her petite, angular face, into a mighty, high ponytail with a thick purple ribbon flowing down with her hair. She had two, perfect long bangs coming just past her chin, not hiding her face at all, but enhancing it. In fact, her bangs were very similar to Sasuke's…

With her natural purple eye markings, resembling a soft purple eyeshadow, Yoko touched her lips up with a matching deep purple lipstick.

The child, had become a woman.

"So, do you like it?" Yoko crossed her fingers, knowing that as Mamushi was a child who had hidden herself as much as possible all her life, this would be quite a big step for her. But would she take it? Koneko didn't seem to care, as long as she had her mask, her protector over her left eye, and that strange pink book she started reading yesterday…

"I…" Mamushi placed her hand over her cleavage, and held her ivory talisman. She traced the kanji saying 'gift of love' with her finger, and closed her eyes.

"Mamushi, put this kimono on."

"But, but I mustn't, Kabuto-sensei!"

"But I like it when you wear nice clothes, Mamushi-chan. You look good."

Mamushi gulped, and looked at herself once more. "Do I really look good?"

"Hell yeah!" Koneko lazily draped her left arm over her shoulder, her right hand holding her Itcha Itcha Antics in front of her face. Mamushi smiled softly, and nodded.

Yoko could have cried with happiness. The girls were growing up, and looked a lot like… she shook it off, and claped her hands.

"Right. On with the show!"

End flash back.

Yeah, there you go. The reason why Mamushi looked so good, dressed like an actual girl, and Koneko soon emerged from the bathroom too, dressed in her new uniform, as Yoko put it.In between putting the salmon in the Wok and pouring rice into the other pan, she scampered into her ops room, and dressed into her own uniform. Red sandals, red shin sleeves that clung above her knees rightly, and flared out to her red painted toenails, creamy thighs beneath red Ninja mesh, short red short shorts and white belt curving perfectly to her hips and backside, her middle covered only by red mesh, a red boob tube tightly cupping her large breasts, showing off a pleasant amount of cleavage, also covered only by thin red body mesh, the same mesh that travelled up to a red cat collar with a diamond encrusted Konoha tag on it, red mesh over her milky shoulders and biceps, where she also had arm sleeves that snugly hugged her lean muscles, to flare out to her scarlet fingertips.

Yep, that was Yoko alright. Her luscious blood red tendrils feathered around her feline face in a side parting, and she winked at her young subordinates. They were both dressed and ready, the futons cleared away and they both sat by the table in the kitchen area.

"Itadakimasu!" Yoko chuckled, and placed the salmon in the middle of the table, and three bowls of rice, one for each of them, on the table.

"Itadakimasu, Yoko–sensei!" Koneko snapped the chopsticks, and sniffed the food deeply.

"Domo Arigato, Yoko-sensei." Mamushi bowed her head, and started to nibble at her rice.

By the time Yoko had blinked, all of Koneko's food had gone, and she was just tucking her mask into place.

"Mmmm, good fish, sensei."

"Arigato, Koneko-chan." Yoko chuckled, and started her own breakfast.

When there was a knock at the door, she sighed.

What was even worse, is it wasn't the front door of the Akane estate.

It was the Shoji door to their room.

"Hai, hai I'm coming." Yoko groaned.

"I'll get it sensei. I'm finished anyway." Koneko jumped up, brushed off her green hanging skirt and bust jacket, and slid the door open with a lazy half closed eye.

Poor Rock Lee almost had a nose bleed.

"O o ohayo…erm…"

"Koneko Hatake." She rolled her visible sapphire eye, and kept it half closed, lazily. She reached behind her, and slipped her pink Itcha book out in front of her face. "So…you want…what exactly?"

"I, erm." Lee closed his eyes with determination, and nodded. "Hai! Team 7 are approaching the main gates, and Team Akane are the next allocated team to receive an away mission. Please prepare yourself for-"

Poor Rock Lee.

As soon as he even mentioned Team 7, coming home, and now, he was doomed to have an intimate meeting with the rough wood floor, as Koneko barged past him with inhuman speed.

He sat up, rubbed his head, and watched the dust cloud that was Koneko. "Erm…"

"Come in, boy." Yoko giggled, and welcomed him inside.

oo0oo

It was safe to say, Koneko had a one track mind.

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

Papa Kakashi

And nothing else.

She leapt up onto the side of the first building she came in contact with, scaled up to the roof by flowing Chakra through her feet and fingertips, and didn't stop. She soared above the streets on all fours, her long auburn pigtails whipping behind her, her deep sapphire eye focused ahead on her goal. She landed in the streets, and recoiled down, pumping the impact of the landing into her thighs, then reusing that energy to power forward into a mad sprint.

No one was spared.

If they didn't move, she moved them.

But most people jumped aside as soon as they saw her coming.

At last, she saw the open gates, and turned to the side. the guards wouldn't let her out after all. Again, she Chakra crawled on all fours up the side of the fortified wall, and sprang up high into the air.

"-no way! The first thing I want to do, is get a nice long bath. What about you, sensei?" Sakura decided that talking to Naruto when he was yelling at Sasuke, who just sneered and made snide comments back, was fruitless, so Kakashi-sensei would do instead. It he even paid attention when he was reading that book. Oddly enough, he put it into his back pocket before he answered her with a straight face and a curved eye.

"Well. I would like to be pinned unsuspectingly before I even step into Konoha, by a hyperactive carbon copy of myself."

Sakura: O.o?!?!

Then all was explained.

The sun was blocked out up ahead for some reason, and all but Kakashi looked up.

He didn't need to look after all.

But…

Wham!

Just like he said, he was pinned to the floor by a hyperactive carbon copy of himself before he even stepped back into Konoha.

"PAPA KAKASHI!!!!"

"Wha, miss me Koneko?"

"HAI!!!!!"

Koneko had her arms tightly wrapped around her father's neck, her face buried firmly into his neck, her legs wound round his middle, and there was no moving her.

Kakashi closed his eye, and beamed underneath his mask. He, of course, cradled her back, and rested his chin on her head.

"Koneko, you shouldn't let yourself get like this. You bottle up anything like this, then when it breaks through, you can't control yourself." He chuckled, then looked up. "Did you jump down from the very top of the great wall?"

"Hai!"

Team 7 fell over.

That thing was higher than a mountain.

How did she even get up there in the first place?!?!

"Shall we go home?" He hugged her, and rubbed circles into her back. "We could even go and get something sweet from the market on our way, if you like?" he persuaded her to stand up on her own, but her arms never left him. she just hugged his middle full force instead.

"No, I'm fine. I just missed you. I love you Papa!" She clung to him even more, and he just stood there and hugged her back. Sakura could have sworn she saw a tear fall from his eye and into his mask…

"I have missed you more than you know Koneko." He kissed her forehead through his mask, and Sakura had big love hearts for eyes. It was just so sweet and cute, the father and daughter exchange after a week's separation.

He sighed happily, and looked down at her with a smiling eye. "How have you been Koneko? Training hard?"

"Hai! Very hard, Papa!" Kakashi transferred her clinging to his right arm, and they walked together.

Sasuke brooded behind them, Naruto strangely decided to walk by Koneko's other side and Sakura took the opportunity to walk alone with Sasuke.

Not that he thanked her for it.

"What have you been up to, other than…" Kakashi finally actually looked at what she was wearing. "…erm…"

"Oh, this? What do you think to my uniform?"

"Your, what?" Kakashi raised a brow at her, and took her hand. Her entire stomach was on show, and her bust jacket pushed her growing breasts together to give her enough cleavage for Naruto to be blushing as he stole glances at her.

He would give him a thousand years of pain again for that later…

He was gone a week.

1

He left Konoha the father of a pretty little girl.

So why the hell was he looking at a beautiful young woman?

"Yoko-sensei gave me and Mamushi a Kunoichi uniform, and you should see Mamushi! She looks great! I wish I had her eyes…" She chuckled nervously, but shook it off. "I've been training hard, like I promised Papa! We've all been living with Yoko-sensei, so there was no way I could possibly be late!" She beamed up at him, and Kakashi couldn't stop smiling. She seemed so happy. He'd worried that she'd be lonely and mope around with him gone…like he had without her. He looked at Sakura, and tried to joke with her in training like he did Koneko.

"Ne? What do you mean my hair looks like a bush?!?!"

Nope, that did not go down well.

"Good." He chuckled, and she nodded at him enthusiastically.

"And we swam against the Konoha river current-" his eye almost bugged out of his head. That thing was like a rapid! He wouldn't even tell Naruto to do that! "-for two hours-" He felt faint. "-then we practiced balance for a few hours around Konoha, by walking on our hands for an hour-" Gods, just like Gai! Kakashi sweat dropped. "-then we held hands, and had to walk together with two hands between us for an hour-"

Kakashi definitely felt something drop in his stomach. "-but then we only spared for an hour after that. Yoko-sensei is really nice though, she took us shopping and treated us to one gift. Mamushi got a new set of Senbon needles, she likes those apparently, and I got a new book!" Koneko decided to leave out the fact that it was a replacement Itcha Itcha Antics book for him. With all the page corners bent in certain pages ahem, she couldn't give him the one she had erm… 'warmed for him'…

"Really? What else have you done?"

"Well, Yoko gave us a big lecture yesterday on, erm, what was it called again…?" Koneko closed her eye and thought hard. "Oh yeah! That was it!" She nodded, and chuckled. "Seduction 101."

At that, Kakashi did fall over.

Koneko just blinked down at him, having returned back to normal now. She cocked her head to one side, and folded her arms. She no longer had pockets, after all.

"S s seduction?!?" Kakashi's eye was snap wide open, a huge sweat drop falling down the side of his face, and his heart beating so fast, everyone else could hear it.

What had that woman been teaching his baby?!?!?!

"Hai, seduction. Oh, and the day before, we did dance and tease. It was fun, I wish you could have seen Yoko-sensei, papa! She is really good!"

but he wasn't listening.

Alluring clothing.

Exposed skin.

Dangerous training in rapid rivers.

SEDUCTION lectures?!?!?!

Dance and TEASE?!?!?!

His visible right eye twitched, too many thoughts running through his head, with no way of processing them.

It was then Koneko noticed Naruto struggling with a nose bleed.

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto stopped his nose bleed, wiped it on his sleeve, and blue eyes locked.

The white hot, red connection flared between them again. Like a fire licking at her skin all over. Fire, in his eyes.

Some blood had dribbled onto his lip, and she didn't know what compelled her.

Koneko sashayed over to him with a hungry sapphire eye, her hips hypnotising Naruto's eyes with their movement. He gulped deeply, his hands trembling by his sides, as she stood before him. "Naruto-kun." She sang with a sparkling sapphire eye, and winked at him. "Did you train hard on your mission?" She then stepped into him, and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"H hai, Koneko-chan." He whispered. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when she lifted his chin with one finger. She giggled at him, and he melted inside. "H hard…" Koneko leaned forward, and brushed her mask covered nose with his. His hands rose from his sides and held her.

His hands.

On her BARE hips.

The alarm sirens, screamed in Kakashi's fatherly head.

"NARUTO!" He jumped up, with a kunai in his hand, and a red blood shot black eye. Naruto positively threw himself backwards and crawled up against a tree.

"See papa? Did you see?!" Koneko clapped her hands together and curved her eye at her father. "I've been working hard all the time you were gone, learning everything Yoko-sensei taught me."

"Y…Yoko-sensei…taught you…that?!?!"

"Hai." She stated with pride.

Kakashi's eye twitched, and he turned on his heel.

"Team 7, dismissed." He then took Koneko's hand, and marched her through the gates. "Yoko-sensei?! Where is she?!"

"Right here." Kakashi snapped his head over to the reception where the guards should be on their post.

Instead, they were slouched against the tree, leaning as close to the scarlet haired, scarlet dressed, emerald eyed number one Kunoichi, Yoko Akane, in their best bad boy, cool guy pose.

But she was smirking at Kakashi, then transformed back to her usual self. "Koneko, you ran off! Just before we got our first mission to!" She then giggled as Koneko ran at her, and skidded to a stop right in front of her. She then folded her arms, half closed her eye lazily, and was about to talk, when- "Stop that, right now!" Koneko flinched, as did Kakashi. "You are not a boy. Don't act like one. What's the good of looking as beautiful as you do, and then slouch like a bore?" Yoko then smiled encouragingly at her, and winked. "Now, straight back, lower those shoulders, unfold those arms, and smile."

"I can't cross my arms? You already took away my pockets…" she pouted, but Yoko just laughed, and placed her hand on her auburn head.

"And it was the best thing I ever did. That posture was absolutely horrid, and totally unflattering." She then looked up, and saw Kakashi, hands in his pockets, and chuckled nervously.

So, that's where she got that habit from. "For a girl." She added, mainly to save herself.

Thought she thought it was a horrid stance for men as well. Not that she was going to say that to the great Copy-Non's face.

She would do that later. .

"Like this?" Koneko copied Yoko's usual stance, one arm hung elegantly to draw attention to her hips, and her other hand actually on her waist.

"Perfect!" She giggled, and took her hand. "Now, want to hear about our mission?" Yoko turned their backs to Kakashi and tried to lead her away from him.

She's still sore about the other day then? He chuckled to himself.

"Excuse me." He kept his hands firmly in his pockets, and walked after them.

Yoko was having to drag Koneko by her elbow, as she didn't want to leave her papa behind. "I would like to have a word with you."

"You just have more than 'a word' with me right there." She replied snarkily, and smiled to Koneko, as if he wasn't even there. "Tomorrow, we leave for the outskirts of the grass country. We're escorting an important scroll to an official of the feudal lord, who will be waiting for us there. We would be leaving today, but I still have to choose a Ninja…"

"Choose a Ninja?" Kakashi caught up with them when Yoko stopped in thought, and placed his hand on Koneko's shoulder.

"Well." She bit her tongue, resisting the urge to inform his high and mightiness that their mission was none of his business and where he can shove his curiosity. "The minimum for a mission in 4, including the Junin. We're one short because of our situation, so I have to choose another Ninja to join us by tomorrow."

"Well, if you need another Ninja, then-"

"Genin." She snapped at him, before he could even offer.

That wasn't exactly true…

But she would be damned if he joined their mission.

"I'll do it!" Everyone blinked in surprise, and looked over their shoulders.

"Naruto-kun?" Koneko blushed, when he winked at her, and gave them a thumb's up.

"Dattebayo! I will definitely ensure that scroll gets to the grass country's border." He then grinned goofily, and chuckled. "Besides, my bag is already packed, and I've not exactly got anyone to go home to…" he died off at the end, and Yoko jumped in.

"Then it's settled. Come to the Akane estate at 5am tomorrow morning, sharp. We leave for grass country. Come on Koneko." Yoko took hold of her hand, and started to storm off. When she was yanked to a stop, she glared over her shoulder with all she was worth, to see Koneko's other hand being held by Kakashi.

It was one of those moments, where if you were an onlooker, you would have wished to be anywhere else right then.

For example, Naruto.

He decided to stay deathly quiet for now, and hope they didn't notice he was there.

The Kunai being thrown mentally by Kakashi and Yoko to each other could almost be heard whizzing by, the tension was so thick.

"Get your hands off my daughter." He didn't shout, but his voice dripped with controlled venom.

"Her things are at our home."

"Your home."

"Our home. Koneko became part of my family the day she became part of my team. She is always welcome there."

"She will not need another home."

"You call that apartment a home? It's a slobbing ground for pigs. She didn't even know what conditioner was before I met her!"

"At least she didn't blatantly walk up to boys giggling and flirting!"

"Did she get his attention?"

"Yes."

"Then she succeeded and I'm very proud of her." Yoko stepped forward on one foot, and raised her free hand as a fist at him. "Is it or is it not the original purpose of a Kunoichi to use her Kami given gifts to attract their target with the aims of gaining power, information, or possessions for their kage? And are you trying to tell me, that girls her age, don't flirt? Just look at Sakura! She's all over Sasuke Uchiha like he was her life-support machine! She's on your team, and isn't even effective at that! If anything, you're the failure of a sensei, not me!"

"…I never said you were a failure, Yoko."

"You didn't have to."

Silence ensued, and it was worse than the bickering for Koneko. And her mind was made as soon as an unsuspecting Mamushi walked onto the scene.

"That's it! I'm staying with Mamushi-chan tonight!"

"Koneko!" Kakashi couldn't believe it. He looked to Yoko, who looked as pained as he was at her decision. Do you really like and respect her so much that you wouldn't want to choose me over her, your own father?

He narrowed his eye on the red haired Kunoichi in thought. just what are you to y daughter now, Yoko?

"I'll make sure to see you before I go, Papa." Koneko grabbed Mamushi's wrist, and pulled her out of sight.

She didn't dare think what could happen now that she had gone.

When they were at Mamushi's front door, she turned round, bowed her head and put her hands together in a begging fashion. "I'm really sorry Mamushi-chan. I never asked you to take me in for the night, but I couldn't think of any other way to solve the situation with the least upset. If you don't want me to stay with you, that's fine. I'll sleep…erm…"

"You don't have anywhere else you can go, do you?" Mamushi smiled softly, and cupped her face. "That was a good decision you made."

"Ah, I." Mamushi stunned her, with a golden eyed smile. it was obvious by now that Mamushi wasn't someone who smiled often, so when she did…

let's just say, Koneko decided she wanted to see her smile again some time.

"You can stay here. You and Yoko-sensei took me in when you didn't have to. I will return the favour. Although, my apartment isn't as big or nearly as nice as the Akane estate."

"No problem! We can stay up and talk about tomorrow's mission. You know about it, right?" Koneko walked straight inside her apartment, and didn't feel intimidated or unnerved at all the white walls or enclosed places at all.

Not like Mamushi, when she first entered this place.

Although, she didn't enter like Koneko did.

She was thrown inside, bleeding and cold.

But she didn't linger or dwell on that.

"Hai." Mamushi followed her inside, and closed the door with a soft smile.

It was weird, this feeling. It was warm, and filled with contempt. She had willingly involved herself with someone when she didn't have to, and she should have let Koneko leave when she had the chance…

…but…

………………she didn't.

Have I changed? Mamushi sat down on the floor opposite Koneko, and listened patiently as she went on and on about how the blonde haired boy from before would be joining them on the mission, how much fun they were going to have, and how anxious she was to start her first ever mission. Or…is this the real me? The one I locked up, and couldn't show anyone? is this…my mother's side?

She smied secretly as they spoke in the darkness, like giddy little girls at a sleep over before a party or day out.

In other words, as Koneko spoke to her in the darkness like a giddy little girl at a sleep over, before a part or a day out.

But that seemed to work for them.

Koneko was a talker, she just was. She was the kind or person who stood up, put her middle finger up and made you listen to her. She was in her element when she was aloud to go out and do her own thing.

But Mamushi was just the opposite.

She was the listener. She was the kind of person who would take in all of the facts, evaluate them and make her move discretely, so you wouldn't know it was her.

It was then she realised, they complemented each other.

Koneko would talk and be the Taijutsu.

She would listen and be the Genjutsu.

And together, they could be a synchronised Ninjustu of sound and silence.

Silent sound.

That would be a good name for a Jutsu…