I am so glad people are enjoying this story as much as I do! And the reviews for the last chapter made me so happy! This chapter was not fun to write and is slightly depressing, and I apologize in advance! On a happy note, almost 1200 people have read this story!

Thank you to my reviewer: LadyAmazon, Ella Unlimited!

Read, Enjoy, and please, please Review, I like to hear what you think!

-Otakucraze

Chapter 14

One Year and Eight Months Later

Meiyo and Anko became friends quickly after that day, and Meiyo ensured that no one dared to treat her as she had been. Anko admired her new friend, and for once Meiyo had a friend that was a female, that was her own age. Meiyo was glad Anko was not like the other girls, who were so in tune with what the boys were doing that they didn't bother to focus on the task at hand, their career. Anko refused to be that was, and Meiyo was glad. The two loved to annoy the masked boy too, often times tripping him and calling him the Catty- Ninja Kakashi. He would simply glare as the girls laughed and giggled, and would reply to Meiyo "At least I don't spit like a camel" Meiyo would retaliate with pouncing and a fight would ensue as Anko watched cheering for Meiyo.

Kakashi didn't really like Anko, simply because she would prank him in such a vicious manner. But seeing as Meiyo was laughing and having a good time with her new friend, he kept silent. He hadn't seen her smile while fully conscious since she was with Obito, and was glad she was, even if it was at his expense. Of course he would never tell her this, even after the two purple haired girls would draw on his face, dye his mask pink and dye his hair blue (and oh did he get pissed at the two over that), seeing her smile like that kept his anger in check, and often times he would laugh along with them.

But alas, as Meiyo would attest to, happiness is not permanent. Meiyo and Anko were happily walking and laughing when someone zipped past her, grabbing her in the process and pushed her up against the wall, kissing her. Meiyo was shocked, even more so when she realized it was Kakashi, her face heating up. Anko just stared in shock as Meiyo slowly melted into the kiss, enjoying it before she reminded herself of her promise, and pushed him off her lightly. She tried to act flustered, but her mind was in a blur, when she looked up at the boy his mask was securely in place and looked unsure of her reaction. Meiyo wanted nothing more to push him against the wall pull down his mask and continue kissing him, but when she scanned his face, still slightly shocked, she reminded herself that this was Kakashi, who would not do something this rash without reason.

"Wha-?" Meiyo tried to say, her mouth found it hard to form the sounds necessary to form the sentence she wanted to say. Meiyo noticed his slight smirk and turned a slight shade more red.

Kakashi savored the moment, knowing that what he was about to say would spoil the mood tremendously, and with her shocked, yet intensely pleased state, with her face red he wanted nothing more than to grab her and pull her close to finish what he started. But he knew he could not.

"Shikyo clan" Meiyo's red face began to drain itself of all color as her eyes went wide with fright and her mouth opened slightly.

If the situation wasn't so dire Kakashi would point out how adorable she looked at that moment.

"Where" Meiyo asked, shock worn off completely from her first kiss she just received.

"Just walked past" Kakashi said and in an instant Meiyo was peeking around the corner and sure enough two midnight black haired men were walking away from the alley Kakashi had taken her too. Meiyo began to get angry that Kakashi stole her first kiss and had to readjust her focus on the current situation. The Shikyo clan had already searched the house, meaning that the two men were casually looking for the Violet Viper. Meiyo sighed and leaned against the wall and began to slide down, her head in her hands as ideas roamed through her head.

The Shikyo were not known for their patience, Meiyo reminded herself, and if she hid and they got tired of her waiting the entire city would be destroyed. Meiyo had to think of an alternative.

The wind blew her purple hair, her eyes widened, why was she so dumb? Standing up with new found confidence she left the alley, leaving a confused Kakashi and Anko in her wake. She just had to play as if she was not a Shikyo, it couldn't be that hard…

Meiyo walked past the two men on purpose and as suspected they grabbed her arm, Meiyo turned, feigning confusion.

"Can I help you?" Meiyo asked

"Are you the Violet Viper of Konoha?" One asked in complete monotone

"…yes" Meiyo answered, fake confusion slipping in her voice

"What is your name?" Meiyo was about to answer truthfully when she remembered the last time she met the Shikyo clan in the village by the sea. Her mind quickly spit out the first last name she could think of

"Hatake Meiyo" She answered, mentally slapping her forehead in shame by making herself related to Kakashi

"Do you know a Kodowari Nagori?"

"Yeah" Meiyo answered, truthful once more, this was going to be fun

"Where is she?"

"Dead" Meiyo answered, quite proud of her little act, she didn't know why she was so scared of this occurring

"What about Shikyo Trinian?"

"I haven't heard of that name before" Meiyo answered

"He owns the residence behind the weapon shop"

"He died with the Kyuubi attack, if I recall correctly," Meiyo said, mentally smug with how well this was going.

"One last thing" The other man said, speaking for the first time, Meiyo turned her attention to him when he whipped out a kunai and threw it at her, she caught it effortlessly between her fingers and a liquid feeling hit her senses.

"Is this… bloo-?" Meiyo said before swooning and falling backwards, kunai dropping from her fingers as she feigned unconsciousness, she held her breath and let it out slowly, willing her heartbeat to slow to a nice even pace.

"She isn't a Shikyo" The man said "Or related to one, the so called venom she produces is probably a myth or a Kekkei Genkai, and Ryuu said he overheard the name of the girl, Kodowari, we need to verify Trinian and this Nagori are in the cemetery, but this Meiyo girl is no one of importance" Meiyo overheard, still holding her breath.

"Meiyo!" Kakashi yelled as he ran past the Shikyo to the girl

"Her story on her name checks out, he wasn't in the immediate hearing range of the discussion" The other man said. Meiyo kept still as Kakashi picked her up to put her in his lap checking to see if she was alive. Meiyo memorized their chakra signatures and followed them until out of range, still pretending to be unconscious the boy, followed by a worried Anko took the girl to the hospital. Meiyo waited ten minutes before opening her eyes and taking a big sigh of relief, while Kakashi screamed in her ear in fright

"What the hell?"

"Did you like my acting job?" Meiyo asked, sitting up and noticing she was now fully on Kakashi's lap she moved over, face bright red, Kakashi sported an unseen blush when she realized the situation. Without warning a loud slap rang through the air and Kakashi's head went with the force, a look of complete shock in the air as Meiyo stood up in front of him, she glared down at the now shocked and confused boy and growled. "You have a lot to explain"

"Li-Like what?" Kakashi stuttered out

"Li-Like how" Meiyo mocked sadistically, "you decided that the best way to keep me out of sight from my clan was by STEALING MY FIRST KISS!" Meiyo screamed. Kakashi was taken aback, he always assumed that with the amount of flirting she did on a daily basis, that usually had him snarling and glaring daggers at the boy she was doing it to, that she had had her first kiss years ago, he just wanted an excuse to have her close, and he could still feel how her lips felt against his...

"It was an adequate distraction" Kakashi said, and noticed that the entire waiting room, besides Anko, were not masking their curiosity of the situation, Anko on the other hand shared Meiyo's anger and stood in a mirror-like fashion to the girl, hands on hips and body leaning slightly towards his. Kakashi could see, from what Meiyo's top would allow, the valley in between her breasts and forced himself to look up at the very angry face of the girl he kissed. "To the Shikyo's eyes we were passionate lovers and Anko just happened to find us in the alley" Kakashi finished, to him his plan was flawless, Meiyo thought otherwise

"You couldn't think of any other possibility?" The girl snarled Anko nodded her head in agreement "You couldn't just drag me into an alley?"

"I followed the two from the main gate, Meiyo-chan, they already spotted the two of you, and if I just dragged you into an alley it would look suspicious."

Meiyo glared, and Anko's anger began to cease

"Given the circumstances, I think he's right" she said, and Kakashi wanted to hug the snake girl, the real one, not the Violet viper, because for once, the girl was on his side. Meiyo's anger ceased towards the masked boy, but she continued to frown.

As much as Kakashi wanted to apologize he couldn't, he enjoyed kissing Meiyo, he had wanted to for the longest time, and now that he finally had he couldn't go up to the girl and say "Sorry I kissed you, I didn't mean to, and it didn't mean anything" because to Kakashi he finally got to tell Meiyo, without words just passion, how he felt, and she responded. How could he apologize for something that she enjoyed? They both enjoyed the kiss. Kakashi mulled it over in his mind as he watched the girl leave, heading in the direction to the Hokage Tower. Anko patted the boy on his shoulder

"She'll come around" She said before she too exited the hospital. Kakashi felt like banging his head on a wall or something hard. He just ruined the relationship Meiyo and he had, and had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

"So they think you are not a Shikyo"

"Pretty sure, not 100% though, since they could technically still be watching." Meiyo said truthfully, she knew of the Shikyo clan but did not understand the inner workings of their mind, and she prayed she never did.

"To be on the safe side I recommend you stay away from using your blood on missions" the Hokage said and Meiyo nodded, there went her trump card. "I am also promoting you to ANBU, while in ANBU you are not allowed to use your Kekkei Genkai and may use a limited number of poisons, but it would be best if you didn't use them at all, just to make sure people don't associate your ANBU mask for the Violet Viper." Meiyo nodded again

"If you don't mind me asking, Hokage-sama, how am I supposed to be the Hunter-Nin if I can't use poison or my Kekkei Genkai?" Meiyo asked, genuinely curious.

"You are not becoming an ANBU Hunter-Nin, you are promoted to just a regular ANBU. I recommend you take this time away from poisons and your blood to remind yourself how to work in a four man team and to rely on jutsu" the Hokage said before dismissing her to get her new ANBU gear. Meiyo was shocked, she felt like the rug she was standing on got ripped out from underneath her. She had become so accustomed with using her blood and her poisons as weapons that she seemed unsure of herself and her jutsu using abilities. Meiyo sighed, she needed someone to train with, someone to remind her of the jutsu she had forgotten and teach her new jutsu as well, and only one person she knew could do both, the Copy- Nin Kakashi.

Meiyo hesitated at Kakashi's door, still peeved that the boy stole her first kiss and gave her no warning of it. Meiyo took a deep breath and got one knock in before Kakashi opened the door. He allowed her inside and she made herself comfortable on his couch.

"I need your help" Meiyo said after a long pause. Meiyo was not accustomed to asking for help, and this took a lot out of her to do it. Kakashi looked shocked at her before sitting down next to her. Meiyo wanted to scoot away, but her body reminded her of his lips on hers, the passion and the warmth that she had been given by the boy and stayed put where she was

"I am honestly surprised you would be asking me for help when you were so mad at me" Kakashi answered softly.

"I need you to help me with Ninjutsu" Meiyo said, ignoring his comment and looking up into his one dark grey eye

"Why"

"The Hokage says it would be unwise to use my Kekkei Genkai and poisons after what happened" Meiyo whispered, being extra cautious.

"What do you want to learn?"

"Anything that will be useful in battle. I am pretty rusty since I haven't been focusing on that aspect in training." Meiyo admitted

"Okay, I'll help. Tomorrow at the training grounds?"

"Sure"

Meiyo stood up to leave but Kakashi grabbed her arm

"I know you are still mad at me but I want you to know that I would apologize but it wouldn't be real, it wouldn't be true. I enjoyed the kiss as much as I believe you did, I won't deny that" He said, searching her eyes for a reaction. She looked strained

"It is too dangerous to have a relationship with me, ever. Besides" Meiyo said, sucking in a painful breath "I promised myself I wouldn't fall in love with you" Meiyo said painfully. She watched as Kakashi looked heartbroken and she understood how he felt, she was feeling something similar. Her heart ached at her words, but she was right. With the Shikyo clan knowing what she looked like it was too dangerous for anyone close to her, and if her past was any testament, death seemed to follow her around like her shadow. She was cursed, and didn't want Kakashi to die because of her, not when she could feel the throbbing heartstrings that she understood as love. This whole thing was a huge mess, and Meiyo left quietly, heading solemnly to the store, forgetting to do a chakra signature sweep in her despair, and was intercepted by a boy in green spandex

"My youthful maiden! You don't look particularly youthful today, are you alright?" The boy asked. Meiyo attempted to dodge him but it was useless.

"I just don't feel good today" Meiyo said, eyes downcast.

"Well I know what will make you feel better" Meiyo looked up incredulously at the boy "You can go to the festival with me" Meiyo scowled

'This stupid festival thing again?'

"No, I have a mission that day" Meiyo lied

"Sorry Meiyo-chan, there are no missions during the festival" the Hokage said "And if you don't mind me asking, why so you ask every year?"

"I don't like festivals"

"Ah"

"Tell me if a mission opens up" Meiyo said and the Hokage nodded, motioning for her to get out of his office.

Meiyo went home depressed. She was not looking forward to seeing the boy she had destroyed the next day, and wished she had asked someone else. Tears formed in her eyes and she wiped them away quickly, picking up her new ANBU mask that was in the face of a fox. Eyes downcast she put the mask on her vanity and placed the ANBU uniform and arm and leg shield next to the mask before curling up underneath her covers. She ignored the sunlight filtering in her room and allowed her tears to flow freely

"I can't be in a relationship with him" Meiyo said, and began repeating it, slowly her body shut down and she fell asleep, mascara running down her cheeks as it mixed with the tears, her eye shadow smudged and going to her hairline on one side of her face. Her lips stick was smudged and her lip was lightly bleeding from biting it.

Meiyo dreamt of another world where Meiyo had no need to worry about Kakashi's life and was able to have a relationship with him.

Meiyo wished with all her heart that her dream would become reality, because her future looked grim, and her present life looked dull. Her dream was filled with color and happiness while reality was depressing and bleak. How the girl wished she could just melt into her dream and never wake up.