Chapter 10:

Standing at the window, looking down onto the streets of his village was the Third Hokage; his hands were clasped behind his back in deep thought. "I never thought this would've happened." He told himself before falling quiet. After a few more moments of silence, he felt a presence enter his office. Without even sparing a glance behind him, the Hokage opened his mouth and spoke up.

"ANBU….have we found her yet?" He asked calmly.

The ANBU Black Op stood tall and ready at the Hokage's question; his only identification of rank was the mask of a blue wolf that covered his face. Shaking his head slowly, the Black Op replied in a low voice,

"No sir." He answered, "We checked all around the village…the girl's nowhere to found." He answered. Hiruzen closed his eyes against the news.

"It's just as I feared then. " He murmured out loud before reopening his eyes. "She is no longer in the village."

"What will your orders be then, Lord Hokage?" The ANBU asked.

"Take a few scouts…" The Third answered immediately, "…search the entire area surrounding the Village. I don't think Sayomi could've gone too far on her own, not within 6 hours. Find her, and bring her back to the village. "He ordered.

"Yes sir." The ANBU answered obediently before he vanished from the office to take care of his task.

Sighing, the Third Hokage reached into his robes and pulled out an old pipe which he then stuck into his mouth and lit up. He took a few, long drags on it before blowing out the smoke. "Oh Sayomi…" he murmured out loud quietly, "Where did you go?"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...Collapsing face down on the ground, Sayomi buried her face into the field of grass she had stumbled upon. Breathless and exhausted, she then closed her eyes in rest. It's been hours since she had left the village of Konoha running to God-knows-where. And now, it seemed that Sayomi finally found herself deprived of strength. With her body crying out from fatigue, it lost its ability to maintain her tiger form.

Slowly, her animal features melted away, leaving Sayomi bare naked in the grass. A cool gust of air then brushed over Sayomi's back, causing blades of long grass to tickle her exposed skin. She squirmed at the feeling before pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, groaning softly at how stiff and sore all the muscles in her body had become. Then as she sat back on her knees, Sayomi grew fully aware of how exposed her body really was. Instinctively, she glanced around the plain she had come to; double checking to make sure that she was indeed alone and not in view of someone else's prying eyes. But then she glanced down the front of her body and gave a soft, dismissive snort.

"It's not like there's much to see anyways…" she mumbled under her breath. And this was very true. Being only eight years of age, Sayomi had no figure whatsoever; she was short, scrawny, and flat as a board. Shifting her position so that she was lying down on her side with her knees bent in towards her chest, Sayomi wiggled her shoulders around comfortably before she found herself trying to stifle back a yawn. It was then Sayomi realized how tired she was. Eyes drooping, senses dulling, Sayomi felt what was left of her strength drain away until she was unable to fight the feeling any longer and fell asleep right then and there without even being aware of the set of eyes watching her from a distance.

It wasn't long after that before the ANBU Black OP finally came out of hiding. He had spotted Sayomi from a tree he had been momentarily perching on during his search for her. Astounded by the young girl's current appearance, the ANBU quickly bent down and scooped Sayomi up into his arms; to his surprise she didn't even stir from her much needed sleep. Then, using a hand to make a sign for one of his many ninja vanishing techniques, he and Sayomi then disappeared from the scene in a cloud of smoke.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good God…." The Third Hokage murmured out loud as he eyed the tattered remains of a young girl's clothing that had just been brought into his office by an ANBU who now stood in front of his desk. It took only a single glance to realize who the clothing had belonged to. Reaching an aging hand out, the Third lightly touched what was once part of a pink shirt. "Sayomi…." He whispered as deep concern for the girl's wellbeing instantly swept over him.

"Found this over by the shelters, sir." The ANBU informed while bowing his masked head.

At the information, the Hokage's brows furrowed in confusion before he pulled his gaze away from the ragged clothes sitting before him to look up at the Black OP. "The shelters?" he repeated. "….but…" his voice carried off. "Did you find anything else?" he quickly asked.

Straightening up, the ANBU slowly nodded his head. "Yes, sir." He answered, "…we found other traces of evidence revolving around the girl's disappearance…but I'm afraid it doesn't make much sense." He replied.

Sitting back in his chair, the Hokage clasped his hands together in front of him before nodding once at the ANBU to explain. "Go on." He replied.

"Well sir….as you can see...the condition of the clothes tell us that some sort of foul play took place." The ANBU answered.

The Third Hokage swallowed the lump that was coming to his throat at the thought that something bad had happened to Sayomi; the girl was under his protection after all. "And?"

"What's weird sir," the ANBU continued, "…is that at the site where I had found the clothes, there was no sign of struggle, anywhere. No blood either."

At once, the Hokage felt slightly relieved at the news. "So there's a chance that she's unharmed?" he asked; his voice was soft with hope. The ANBU shrugged,

"Well there's no sign of visible evidence to prove otherwise." He replied.

Closing his eyes, the Hokage sighed, silently thanking the Gods that the girl Sayomi appeared to unscathed when she left the village. Of course…that still didn't answer why her clothes were found in complete rags, scattered across the ground. "Anything else?"

"Just one more thing." The ANBU replied. "With the girl's torn clothes…we found prints on the scene as well." He answered. There was a strange tone to his voice, it was almost suspicious.

Opening his eyes once more, the Hokage raised an old eyebrow up at the information, "Prints?" he repeated, "…like human?" he asked.

To his surprise, the ANBU shook his head, "No, sir." He answered in a low voice, "….animal." he replied.

Both his brows rose at this. "Animal?" he paused for a brief second to think it over, "…what kind of animal? Dog?" he guessed.

Again, the ANBU shook his head, "No sir…." he answered, "…the print that we found belongs to an animal that lives far beyond our village's borders. We're not even sure if this animal can even be found in the Country of Fire."

The Hokage blinked in silence as the ANBU's words slowly sank in, "And…" he finally spoke up after a few seconds, "….what kind of animal are we talking about?"

Before the Black OP could reply, a second ANBU Black Op appeared; and in his arms, he carried the body of a small child. A wisp of aqua green hair, which slightly hung over the ANBU's arm, caught the eye of the Hokage and as he instantly recognized it, he rose up from his seat at his desk.

"Sayomi?" he exclaimed in shock, his eyes wide at the sight of the unconscious girl in the ANBU's arms. "What happened?" he demanded as he swiftly moved around his desk to get a closer look at Sayomi's form; by the courtesy of the ANBU, he had taken the liberty of wrapping the young girl's naked body in a large, black blanket.

"It's alright sir." he answered in a typical monotone voice, common for anyone who carried the rank ANBU. "…she's just asleep."

The Hokage sighed out loud with relief. "Thank God!" he breathed out, "Where was she?" he then asked as he eyed the girl's sleeping form.

"About 20 miles from reaching our border." The Black OP replied. The Hokage looked up into his masked face with complete surprise,

"That far?" he asked, almost in disbelief, "….well no wonder why she's so exhausted." He stated. Not even he imagined that she could have ever gotten that far on her own. "This girl really must be something else." He thought to himself quietly as he lowered his gaze back down onto Sayomi's sleeping form.

"Well...at least we've got her back in the village. Is there a place where she can spend the night at?" the Third asked curiously, "…perhaps her house on the outskirts of town survived the attack. If so, deliver her there and assign a watchman to keep her under surveillance for the time being."

The two Black Ops nodded their masked heads in understanding, "Yes sir." they replied in unison. The one then holding Sayomi in his arms then continued on,

"Who though should we assign to watch this little one, sir?" he asked, "….almost all adults in this village are busy with city repairs." He pointed out.

"Hmm…" The Hokage murmured as he thought about the Black OP's words, "….this is true." He answered with a curt nod. Thinking long and hard about who he could spare to this task, when a name finally came to mind, a light came to the old man's eyes. "Ahh…" he exclaimed. "Go and put Kakashi Hatake on the job. I'm sure he can handle this kind of task…" he stated with a small smile,

"Besides, I believe he and Sayomi are rather…..acquainted with each other already." He added with assurance.

With that said, the two ANBU nodded their heads before they vanished from the room, leaving the Third Hokage all alone with his thoughts. Turning towards one of the large windows he had in his office, he slowly crossed the floor to stand in front of it.

"And when things finally calm down again," he added, "Sayomi," he stated out loud, as if he was really talking to her in person, "….you and I are gonna have a nice, long chat."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Low voices. That was what brought Sayomi to her senses. Stirring, her head turned away from the sounds before she heard one of the voices 'hush' the other one. After that, she faintly caught the words,

"I'll leave you to it."

And then, nothing; everything went silent once again. Brows furrowing softly, Sayomi's eyes cracked open slowly. Staring over at blank wall of a seemingly familiar room, Sayomi groaned as she recognized where she was. Her bedroom in Konoha village.

"Oh no….." she stated out loud while she brought both her hands up to cover her face. "How am I back here again?" she asked herself; her words were muffled against her palms, but they did not go unnoticed.

"Welcome back." Came the voice of a person Sayomi least wanted to hear from.

Cracking her fingers open, Sayomi glared out at the wall before she groaned again,

"Not you…." She stated while shaking her head, "….go away!" she added.

"No can do." Kakashi replied. "I never back out of a mission before its complete." He added.

Sayomi could just imagine the smug look he probably had on his masked face. Forcing herself to sit up, she turned her body towards the sound of his voice and saw the masked Jounin leaning up against the doorframe of her bedroom watching her.

"Newsflash." She threw at him in an icy tone as she sent him a death glare with her eyes, "I'm not a mission." She replied. It was then she glanced down on herself and realized that only thing that she was wearing was a black blanket that had been thoroughly wrapped around her torso, like a dress. Instinctively her hands then came up and clutched the black material tighter around her body while she brought her eyes back over to Kakashi's.

"Actually…" Kakashi replied with an arrogant chuckle, "….You are."

Sayomi scowled, "Says who?" she snapped back.

"The Third Hokage." Kakashi replied with a soft shrug of his shoulder, "He gave me strict orders to watch you for the time being." He informed. "Guess he didn't want to take the risk of you running off again." He added.

Sayomi's chin rose in defiance before she neatly swung her legs off the side of the bed and got to her feet; all while keeping a firm grip on the blanket surrounding her. "I don't need this." She stated with a toss of her head as she made her way over to the dresser in the corner of the room and pulled out some clothes to wear. Holding them with one hand and the blanket with the other, Sayomi turned on her heel and marched across the bedroom to where Kakashi stood.

As she neared him and the doorway, Kakashi shifted his body before lifting a single leg up to brace it on the other side of the doorframe, blocking Sayomi from leaving her room.

"Going somewhere, squirt?" he asked in an almost casual voice.

Fuming, Sayomi glared over into his face, "Yeah the bathroom to change." She answered through gritted teeth, "If you don't mind." She added in a more challenging tone. Kakashi's face remained completely expressionless as his black eyes searched her face for a few silent moments.

"Be back in this room in two minutes." He finally stated as he slowly dropped his leg from the doorframe, allowing Sayomi to pass by.

Sayomi gave a soft snort in response as she marched right past him, heading to the bathroom a few feet down the hall. "Like I'll ever follow your orders…."she mumbled under her breath when she felt sure she was out of his range of hearing. Once in the bathroom, she turned and slammed the door shut. When it made a satisfying booming noise, Sayomi quickly dropped the blanket from around her body and got dressed into the clothes she had picked out. It was nothing fancy; just the necessary underclothes, some blue pants and a purple, long sleeved shirt.

Then, the knock that began rapping on the door as she finished pulling her shirt down her stomach, told Sayomi with great irritation that obviously her 'two minutes' were up. Frowning, she stormed up to the door, threw it open and found herself standing toe to toe with Kakashi. Crossing her arms over her chest, she took a single step towards him.

"You're very irritating, I hope you know that." She stated.

Kakashi arched a single smooth eyebrow up at her words, "Put in on my résumé." he replied smartly.

Sayomi's eyes narrowed in response before she dropped her arms from her chest and reached out before giving Kakashi a firm push on his shoulders, in attempt to move him out of her way. "You're in my way." She stated. To her surprise, Kakashi actually took a step back. But before her eyes could light up with triumph, Kakashi's own to hands reached out and took Sayomi by both her wrists before he tugged her out into the hallway with him.

Fed up with his arrogance, Sayomi struggled in his hold which he only tightened before he forced her arms down to her side and held them in place while closing the distance off between them.

"Perhaps you don't seem to understand just the kind of position you're in right now." He stated as he stared down on her small form. Sayomi turned her head up to look him hard in the face. Before she could say anything however, Kakashi continued on, "I'm in charge around here until I am relieved of my duty. Now you can fight me all you want, but I can promise you now that you won't win. Understood?" he asked.

"Oh bite me!" Sayomi replied venomously, "Ever heard the saying you can't cage the wild tiger?" she asked as a tiny, secret smile started pulling at her lips. The old phrase just reminded her of her newfound ability to shape shift into the animal itself.

Kakashi noticed this and found himself puzzled momentarily. But as quickly as that came, it was gone. Shaking his head of wild looking silver hair, Kakashi stared directly into Sayomi's twinkling indigo eyes.

"Nothing a little taming can't fix." He replied as his eyes narrowed softly at her challenging words.

"Ha!" Sayomi answered before she threw her entire weight at Kakashi. Not expecting the attack, Kakashi stumbled until his back hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway they were in; since he still had a grip on Sayomi, she was dragged along, but she at least was able to feel satisfied with the sound of Kakashi getting thrown into the wall by her efforts.

While Kakashi was trying to process what had just occurred, Sayomi quickly slipped from his hold; putting distance between their bodies by heading back towards her room.

"Who's taming who?" she called back over her shoulder in a false sweet tone, "That's going to be the question." she added as Kakashi's black eyes burned into her retreating back.

Slowly, a corner of his mouth turned up in a tiny smile behind his mask, "Who indeed, little tigress."