I took a couple days for my break and have gotten my mojo back, I wasn't able to start on my next fic as I was having trouble trying to stop inspiration from Madoka Magica and Houseki no Kuni from showing in it. I want to say thank you all for the words of encouragement and understanding that you sent my way. I hope you all continue to stay by me as I write this story. I also wanted to spend some time during the fourth of July with my family. Now that the holiday is over I am able to post this chapter that was written while I was working on the rough outline for this story. It is open to changes if I find that something doesn't work or doesn't sound right, and I do accept constructive criticism, I just need time to work around it and think about it.

Thank you all. Also, stay safe out there!

23

"Hide me."

Hayate looked towards a flustered Yuzuki as she tried to find a place to hide away from Ino. She was staying with Genma, who lived in the apartment on the other side of the complex, but had wormed her way inside and was looking up at him from the floor. She had crawled through his window and slammed onto the hardwood. She didn't seem too bothered by that fact as she looked up with a blank face.

"It can't be that bad," He said.

"She wants to find me a dress, Hayate," She huffed in slight amusement, "I don't even have the right temperament for a dress, why does a woman even need one?"

Ah, so she was that unknowledgeable about women's fashion. He supposed that carried over from her previous life where she had worn clothing that was traditionally masculine. He watched as she tried to get up but was having trouble with her arm. He knew she was a bit annoyed that they didn't heal her shoulder like his, but understood it was because she was a genin. She wasn't needed for the active roster. He shook his head and easily picked her up. She gave him a look as he set her on her feet, she was getting a bit annoyed at him as well. She didn't like to be manhandled.

"Just go and spend time with her, she's worried about you," He told her.

She sent him a look at that before he shooed her out of his apartment and into her cousin. Ino looked like she had expected such behavior out of the other girl and was waiting for her. He caught the slightly betrayed look on the preteen's face before closing the door. He stretched slightly and went back to his dinner table; he had a few scrolls he needed to read and then put in a storage scroll for her. He needed the time to do so.

He felt as though he wasn't going to be seeing her for a while, and he didn't know why.

"You have the right skin shade for mute colors, but you look weird in turtle necks," Ino said as she dragged the girl behind her, "Hinata's going to help me find something that'll work with your body type and coloring."

"It seems as though Inoichi-san taught you new torture tactics," Yuzuki teased.

"Shut up, besides, we still have to cut your hair," Ino huffed.

Honestly, Yuzuki had forgotten about that. She winced as the blonde jostled her hurt arm and got a soft apology in response. She simply waved it off, it wasn't done on purpose. She smiled at the appearance of her dark-haired cousin. Hinata was waiting for them in civilian clothing that consisted of long-sleeved shirt and capris, all Chinese styled.

"Are you sure she'll be able to try clothes on with her arm hurt?" Hinata softly asked Ino.

"Yeah, besides, thing's like shirt's will be a on the large side so they won't become too small," Ino nodded, "I was thinking of a hoodie like the one you and Kiba wear."

"Fur would look horrible on me," Yuzuki piped up, "Tried it once, and it didn't look right."

The small ball of fluff on her person let out a bark in agreement. Hinata looked at it for a few seconds before holding her hands out. She was rewarded with it jumping onto her and licking her face. Ino stared at it before bringing a hand up and running it through the floof.

"What the hell is it?" Ino asked.

"It's an Ookami pup," Yuzuki answered, "Her name's Kaede, she's a bit like one of Inuzuka dogs but bigger and more dangerous."

"Have you seen some of the Inuzuka dogs?" Ino questioned as she wondered why she had named the Ookami maple leaf.

"Yeah, have you seen Lupa-hime?" Yuzuki questioned as they went into a salon.

She was getting her hair cut first so they could see what the clothes would look like with her hair shorter. The woman that was waiting for a customer took one look at the long dirty-blonde hair and hurried the girl into the chair. Being given a do what you want was her favorite thing. She wet the hair down and parted it right down the middle to see what she could do.

The hair had a natural part to it that caused a lot of it to fall over her eye. She pinned it back and began to chop at the long locks. Within minutes the floor was covered in light colored hair. Ino and Hinata watched as it was cut to barely touch her shoulders and framed her face, bangs rested across her forehead and revealed both of her eyes. It made her look happier. Yuzuki paid for the haircut and the group left the salon.

"I like it better short," Ino commented, "I know I said it was pretty long, but it looks right short."

"Thank you," Yuzuki said with a slightly amused tone, "But this isn't over yet."

Hinata smiled at the two as she pulled them into a store. It was something where both of them would find items. She looked at some of the shirts for sale and moved away from the style she wore. Yuzuki hadn't worn such clothes since she was young, she stuck with clothes that were foreign in style.

"This one," Ino said as she pulled a hoodie out of a pile.

It was black with a navy interior. It was soft inside, but rough on the outside. She tossed it towards Yuzuki and Kaede sniffed at it before sniffing in approval. Well, at least she approved of the shorter blonde's sense of fashion. Yuzuki put the hoodie over her good arm and followed the two with a look of contentment. Hayate was right, it wasn't that bad.

She caught a shirt tossed her way and did the same, she ducked before another one pelted her in the head. Ino paused after tossing the shirt and noticed the way that the taller girl tensed before taking a deep breath. She almost looked like she did during the battle. She shook her head and sent the blonde a smile.

"What about a dress?" Hinata quietly questioned, "We did say she was going to get one, yes?"

"Oh, it'll be hard since her legs are so long," Ino muttered before her eyes quickly looked around for a dress that would fit the girl.

Yuzuki sighed as she waved to her cousins before heading back to Genma's apartment. She needed to get all her clothes washed and take a shower. She ran a hand down her face as Kaede looked around on her shoulder. She was still tired from the battle a few days ago. Her chakra was back to normal, but she noticed that she had more of it now. She'd have to start training with the leaf technique when she got the all clear from the hospital.

"Just how many clothes did you three pick up?" Genma questioned as she entered the apartment.

"Too many," She replied as she knelt so Kaede could jump down from her shoulder, "Everything going okay?"

"Yeah, the council is trying to figure out who the next hokage is," He replied as she moved into the kitchen to remove any tags from her clothing, "I think they decided on Tsunade-hime."

"I wish them luck with that," She sounded vaguely amused, "Tsunade-hime won't return unless she's given a damn good reason."

Genma couldn't help but agree with her on that one. He had seen the blonde sannin when Yuzuki was training on her own. She seemed thoughtful, but he knew better than to walk up to her and ask her to return to the village. It wasn't worth the threat of bodily harm. He was brought out of his thoughts by the hoodie she brought out.

"Heh, that takes me back," He chuckled, "I had one just like it as a kid, granted the inside was red."

"We're the village hidden in the leaf, why does everyone wear so much red?" She asked as her eyebrow twitched.

He gave a shrug. He had thought that the color was cool, he'd never tell her about the choker. He wouldn't be able to live that down if she learned about it. She watched as she got up and grabbed all the clothes with her single arm and went to start a load of laundry. She never needed to be asked to do something to help out, and he ended up with clean clothes. He felt bad that she was doing it with a hurt arm.

"You don't have to do the laundry, you know," He informed her.

"I know, but it's not that difficult and it gives me something to do," She smiled.

She gave a yawn and he knew that she was going to head back to sleep after taking a shower. He ruffled the shorter strands of hair as she passed and she barely reacted to it. She just shot him a look before shuffling towards her room. He waited until he heard the water running in the bathroom to get up and make some lunch. He was going to make sure she ate something before going to sleep.

When she came out she had a towel on her head to keep her hair from dripping onto her pajamas. He ushered her to the table and gave her a bowl of fruit. She was eating slowly, and he sighed quietly. She needed medical attention that she was being denied due to being a genin. He had a feeling that if he were to gather all the chuunin and jonin she had helped and asked them to tell the hospital to heal her with chakra, they'd do it. He knew that she would never allow it, she didn't want the special treatment.

"Get some sleep all right, kiddo," Genma told her as she got up and took care of her bowl.

She gave him a small nod before moving to her room, Kaede following behind her. It was quiet as Genma sat there, waiting for a hawk. He needed to know if he was needed or not, all jonin were on edge and torture and interrogation were understaffed for the number of prisoners they had received from the invasion. He ran a hand down his face and wondered how it got to this point.

How did they end up on the cusp of war? Hayate had worked hard enough to let the village know that something was going to happen, without putting himself and the kid in danger. Yet, the invasion still happened. Sure, they were prepared for it but still. Quite a few shinobi had died that day, and they lost their leader. Konoha was going to have trouble recovering from it, but they would eventually. Nothing really kept the village down for long, not even the Kyuubi attack.

He scratched the back of his head before moving to the washing machine and putting the now clean clothes into the dryer. He paused at the hoodie and let a smirk appear on his face, she was starting to follow his footsteps without realizing it. Granted, she was going into torture and interrogation. Even if she had been moving away from it, she knew that she was best suited for that type of work.

He started the dryer and went to find something to do while waiting. He could catch up on his reading while he waited. He had a fantasy novel that was just calling out to him. He was drawn from those thoughts as a loud screech came from outside. Well, that novel was going to have to wait. He had more important matters to attend to. He gave a quiet sigh before looking around for a piece of paper and a pen. He found some and scribbled a note to the kid. He doubted that she'd be up by the time he finished, but he liked being sure.

He left and not even two minutes later a head poked out from behind a door. Kaede was still awake and had been waiting for the older male to leave. She wanted to find something for her kunoichi to do when she woke up. She couldn't train with her, but she could still read. Her tails began to wag as she thought about taking a walk with her. She shook her body and looked around before her tails drooped. There wasn't anything around for her kunoichi to do. She fumbled back into the room her kunoichi slept in and climbed into the bed with the lanky preteen. A small hand found its way into her fur and she was brought close to the sleeping girl, like she was some kind of plushie.

A day later saw a very disoriented Yuzuki walking around the apartment looking for Genma. She stumbled into the dining area and found the note he left for her. She scratched the back of her head before moving to get her clean laundry. She was a bit upset that she didn't get the chance to put it away while it was warm, the smell of clothes fresh out of the dryer was one of the best things in the world in her opinion. She was brought out of her thoughts by something tugging on her pajama shirt.

"What's wrong, Kaede?" She mumbled as she held onto her pile of clothes.

She got a bark in response and she tilted her head in thought. She had somewhat understood that. She needed to see what the scroll that Makoto gave her said. She felt as though there was some information in it that would help her understand what she was supposed to do with the little Ookami pup.

"Do…Do you want to go for a walk?" She asked with a slight frown.

Kaede jumped onto her legs and she let out a soft chuckle before moving her dry clothes to her room and putting them away. She left out a mesh undershirt, a black t-shirt, her hoodie, and a pair of pants. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and put on her kunai pouch and swords. Her arm let out a twinge of pain and she flinched from the sudden feeling. She was a bit mad at the hospital for not healing her completely, but she understood that they were just understaffed. Few shinobi wanted to be medic-nins, she had been guilty of the same thing.

"Right, let's go and enjoy the day," She told Kaede as she opened the apartment door.

The Ookami pup ran out and down the steps. She shook her head as she closed the door and locked it. She hurried after the small pup, her hand in her pocket. A few of the villagers whispered at the two tailed pup and she shot them all looks. They went back to rebuilding and she sighed. That stupid stigma against multiple tailed animals was something she'd never understand. Sure, one destroyed the village, but would it not be better to try and make friends with one?

She waved to the sensei of Ino's team and the sensei of Hinata's team. The woman seemed surprised as the tall male gave a short wave of greeting back, he seemed amused that she would greet them. She felt slightly amused at the two, they were on a date. They were trying to act as though they weren't on a date, but they were horrible at it. She wished them luck.

"Ah, Kaede," Yuzuki called as the pup rushed ahead, "Don't go too far."

She got a yip in response and she huffed as she rushed to catch up with the small animal. She let out a soft sigh as they reached a training ground that hadn't been destroyed by the invasion. No one was using it at the moment, few shinobi were training. Too many missions within the village were making it impossible to fit in training.

"You can run around the training ground to burn some of your energy," Yuzuki informed the pup as she plopped down under a tree and pulled the Ookami scroll from her kunai pouch, "I'll be here reading the scroll that Makoto-chan gave me."

Kaede gave her an affirmative bark and then began to run around. Yuzuki watched for a few seconds before rolling open the scroll with a hand. She began to read, and the corners of her lips tugged downwards as she tried to digest the information of the scroll. It told of what happened to those that ended up with an Ookami pup, the canines fell out and grew back longer, one could understand the pup, and eventually they could pull off jutsu's with one another. It reminded her of the Inuzuka, and she began to wonder if that's how the clan got started.

Just what had Yamanaka Ryu been trying to accomplish by using the Ookami summons. If she could summon any of the Ookami she would ask them what the hell he had been doing. She closed the scroll and bit her lip in thought as she tapped the scroll against her thigh. She wondered if her biological father in this life had been doing something he shouldn't have.

"Ack, Kaede!" She exclaimed when the Ookami pup barreled into her and knocked her onto her back.

She barely kept in a cry at the pain that went through her shoulder. She was really starting to hate the hospital. Her dislocated shoulder was still damaged, more than they originally assumed. The muscle had been torn, and would take a while to heal without the help of iryo-jutsu. Kaede sitting on her stomach while she tried to ignore the pain made her pull a face.

"That hurt y'know," She grumbled at the pup.

She got a lick to her face for it. She huffed and slowly sat up, and began to pull sticks from her hair. She wasn't even rolling on the ground and she ended up with foliage in her hair. That was her luck though. She paused when a sudden shiver went down her spine.

She had the distinct feeling that something was wrong. She slowly got up to her feet as Kaede let out a soft whimper and hid inside the hoodie. Apparently she wasn't the only one. She put her hand on the pups head and tried to comfort her.

"What the hell is going on?" She muttered.

She left the training grounds and decided to head to the library. She could use the time she was injured to study up on some iryo-jutsu and genjutsu. There wasn't any harm in learning, she just wouldn't be able to practice for a while. She let out a sigh and watched people run by her with wood beams on their shoulders.

"Yamanaka-san!" She blinked and paused at the sound of her name being called.

"Oh, Lee-san," She greeted, "Are you feeling any better?"

"To a certain extent, Yamanaka-San," he nodded, but she tilted her head.

He looked exhausted. She felt bad for him. He deserved better than what had happened.

"Please call me Yuzuki," she said, "I'm glad your up and about, you haven't been training have you?"

He let out a sheepish chuckle at that and she pinched the bridge of her nose. What was it with men and not following orders when it came to their health? Still, a smile did appear on her face. It sounded about right. He was just like Might Gai in that sense.

"Where were you heading, Yuzuki-Chan?" Lee asked her.

"I was heading to the library," She answered, "I haven't been cleared by a medic-nin to return to duty, and they told me not to use my chakra…I thought that some studying was in order."

"Why can't you use your chakra?" He asked her.

"Because flooding the paths in my arm could cause it to heal wrong," She answered, "The muscles were torn inside, and though chakra helps us heal faster, overloading the system while the body is still damaged could make it worse."

"Are you interested in becoming a medical nin?" He asked her in surprise.

"Ah, no I wanted to go into torture and interrogation," She replied as she scratched the back of her head in a sheepish manner, "Having some medical knowledge is always handy, I think Tsunade-Hime wanted to make sure everyone on a squad could do simple iryo-jutsus so the number of fatalities would lower."

He seemed to think about it for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. He could see how that would work. Someone like Yuzuki or Neji could learn iryo due to their chakra control and would be an asset to whatever team they ended up on during missions. He began to walk, and she fell in step with him. He had no problem walking her to the library, though he knew that she was more than capable of handling herself even while injured. She didn't say anything about the fact that it would take her a bit longer to get there due to his injuries.

"I hear that you helped with the battle," He commented.

"Yeah, I saw you in the stands," She nodded, "But Gai-sensei might've had an issue with me if I had woken you up, the enemy shinobi were targeting anything that moved."

He gave a light chuckle at that. It did sound like his sensei. She was one of the few people that took the man seriously and he wondered why that was. Most of the genin her age and a few his age thought he was a goof ball.

"You are one of the few people that respect Gai-sensei, why is that?" He asked.

"Lee, I have a few specialized taijutsu in my repertoire," She smiled, "It took me years to master them and then to be able to put them into use, the fact that the two of you have specialized in such a field is amazing."

That both answered and didn't answer his question. So, she respected them because she knew how much work went into learning new taijutsu styles. He smiled slightly at that and waved as she broke off from him and headed into the library. He continued on his way to the hospital for his physical therapy.

"Hey there, squirt."

Yuzuki brightened up at the sight of Mai. The jonin was manning the library to make sure that everyone that came in was from Konoha. She found that she had liked working with the older woman, who reminded her of someone that she couldn't fit a face or name to. Ah, that was to be expected.

"I thought that you'd be enjoying your time off, not sitting in a dusty library," Mai stated as she leaned against the receptionist counter.

"This is enjoying my time off," Yuzuki said, "I like to read, and learning about new techniques is interesting."

"You sound like such an old lady," Mai teased.

Yuzuki gave her a small smile before heading towards the iryo section. It was the smallest section of the library, so it would be the fastest for her to go through. She pulled a few scrolls off the shelves and moved towards a small alcove where she wouldn't be bothered. She sat down and Kaede poked her head out of the hoodie and tucked hers against Yuzuki's chin.

It was nice, reading with a small animal sleeping on your chest. Yuzuki made a mental note to put her in her hoodie more often if she got to cuddle with the small animal. She quickly shook herself from those thoughts and began to read the scroll. Upon finishing the scroll, she read it two more times to make sure that she had it memorized.

Well, the chakra control aspects of it was easy to memorize. The Hyuuga used the same techniques to teach their children how to use juken. The aspects dealing with the body itself, well she could just use Genma and Hayate to make sure that she had the right areas down. Though, she would like to get instruction at the hospital before testing out any techniques on the two. She ran a hand through her hair as she finished another scroll.

"The human body is fucking weird, Kaede," She mumbled to the pup as she closed the scroll and grabbed another.

She didn't get a response from the small animal and she gave a tiny smile at the tiny snores coming from her. She didn't even know that animals could snore, it was a nice little fact to learn. She gave the pup a small kiss to the head before returning to her reading. She burned through the rest of the iryo scrolls when she heard someone walking towards her. She looked up, her hand twitching towards her kunai pouch, before relaxing slightly at the sight of Genma.

"How many scrolls did you go through?" He asked as he looked at the pile in front of her.

"All of them, iryo information has the smallest section in the library," She answered as she closed the last scroll, "It's easy to go through so many scrolls when there aren't that many."

"How fast can you read?" He questioned, "There's twenty-five scrolls here."

"I'm a speed reader," She answered as she slowly got up and gathered the scrolls, "I pick out the most important words and terms the first time reading and then read the rest the second and third."

"That way the most vital information is retained, that has to be Iruka's teaching coming through," He muttered.

"That is partially it," She admitted, "But have you never watched me read a regular book?"

He had, and it was terrifying. He watched her finish a rather thick book in two hours, the fact that she finished twenty-five scrolls was nothing compared to that book. He waited for her to finish putting everything away before they went to get some groceries so they would have something to eat.

"I was thinking of pumpkin soup," He informed her, "That sound good?"

"What the hell is pumpkin soup?" She asked him with a frown.

Well, he was just going to have to show her. She noted the glint in his eyes and felt like she had just issued him a challenge. She sighed at that before smiling slightly, it was nice to see that he was still so lively.

She blinked at the way he prepared pumpkin soup. It reminded her of the way that pumpkin pie was made, but instead of a pumpkin custard it was a soup. She frowned slightly and wondered if he would like pumpkin pie as well, it did have several ingredients that were different, but her recipe always made sure that the pumpkin taste would still be there.

"Would you be willing to try pumpkin pie?" She asked him as he stirred their dinner.

"I'm willing to try anything with pumpkin in it," He answered without a second thought.

Well, it was far too easy to get him to agree to that. She didn't even glance at him as she went to give Kaede some of the meat she picked up for the small pup. She didn't think that dog food would work for an ookami. She wasn't willing to get her sick.

"She must've been hungry," Genma commented as the meat was quickly eaten.

"Well, she probably hasn't eaten since I first woke up," Yuzuki quietly admitted, "You need to let me know when you need to eat, Kaede."

"Why maple leaf?" He asked.

"She had a small maple leaf shape on the top of her head," She answered.

She picked up the pup and walked over to him. He looked at the head and realized that there was indeed a small patch of fur that was shaped like a maple leaf. He barely kept in the chuckle at the way she named the pup, it was such an on the nose name.

"Right, let's eat," He said as he got everything ready.

She smiled at that and took a seat at the table. They had a quiet dinner together as he didn't know if he was going to be called back to patrol the village or do anything else for the council elders. He made sure not to let anything show on his face as he thought back to a certain old man. They were right to be weary of Danzo, the man had brought her up right in front of him.

He said it was a shame that a child from two prestigious clans was left homeless after the attack. Genma had made sure to dash that man's claim before anyone on the council could try and dictate where she would go. She was his kid and he'd be damned if Danzo got his hands on her. He'd find himself on the other end of one of his senbon.

"Have you thought of anyway to use your tachi with your chakra?" He asked her.

"Yeah, one of my natures is lightning," She said as she scratched the back of her head, "Kakashi was able to teach me how to mold it onto a kunai, I was thinking of refining that technique so there wouldn't be any chakra waste."

"Are your weapons sharp enough?" He asked her and she blinked at that.

"I have around a hundred senbon that are all sharp enough to go through a man's eye," She answered, "And twenty kunai just as sharp, I need to go through and sharpen the rest of my weaponry…I was planning to do that tomorrow."

"Library today, sharpening weapons tomorrow," He said, "Are you going to do that every day this week?"

"I have a limited amount of weapons I can sharpen," She replied in amusement, "I was going to spend some time with Ino and Hinata before going to the hospital to see if they might heal my arm."

He had a feeling that she'd be turned away as unimportant. He really hoped that Tsunade agreed to come back so that the hospital would run as it should. He knew that the service and skill of the hospital had gone downhill since the Senju left. They needed someone like the blonde who would threaten them with bodily harm if they were to slip in their abilities, or someone who would scare them into submission like Anko. There was a reason that, though everyone thought her insane, she was followed without a second thought.

"I wait to see what Tsunade-hime will do to the hospital," He said, and she tilted her head at that.

"They've gone downhill since she was last in the village, if you were a genin when I was you'd have been healed and sent back onto the active roster," He explained.

She didn't want to think about why that would be. He was a genin and chuunin during a war, of course the hospital would be running at full capacity. They only went downhill since so many medic-nins weren't needed. She didn't want to go through another war, but she felt that it was inevitable.

She wasn't looking forward to such a thing, not while she was still young.