I made a booboo last chapter. Ai says Hayate gave her the bracelet last month for her birthday… I so meant the write last year. I fixed that. It's not a huge thing chapter wise, but story wise, if her birthday (which it's not) was the month before the chunin exams that messes up a lot of numbers. It's December 22nd by the way, in case you were wondering.

Thanks for all of your support! I :heart: you guys! You're all the best people ever!

Also, I keep writing scenes that have nothing to do with what I'm currently writing, it's so bad. I guess I'm just looking forward to the future. xD


Silver Streams

Sink of Blood and Crushed Veneer

The sun had just finished rising fully above the horizon, finding a young ninja striding purposefully down the roads of Konoha. Yugao had completed her report to the Hokage, but she still had another job to carry out. It was that task that landed her in front of a certain apartment building that she didn't quite have the same desirous feelings to visit anymore, but someone had to tell Ai what had happened and Yugao was the best person to do it. After Hayate – Yugao felt her throat tighten – she knew Ai the best.

After she had defended Ai so ardently in the Hokage's office, it could only be her. Just the thought of the Hokage asking if Ai might have anything to do with Hayate's – Yugao glossed over that – made her feel ill. Her even hurting Hayate was a preposterous notion. Ai held more loyalty in her than half the ninja she knew, you just had to win it first. Win it and get past her irrational fear of close relationships. Though, with the news Yugao was delivering, and from what she had learned of Ai's past years ago, maybe it wasn't so irrational.

Yugao took a breath and climbed the stairs of the apartment building, coming to stop at a door she was very well acquainted with. She clenched her fists. "You can do this." She'd done it many times before, not that any of them were easy, but this time felt even more difficult.

Steeling herself, Yugao knocked. It didn't take very long before she could hear movement on the other side. She let out a shaky breath, doing some last minute figuring out of what all she wanted to say to Ai, and how to handle the likely incoming break down.

Ai opened the door, she was wearing black pants and an overlarge shirt bearing a few aloe flowers on the front, when she saw Yugao on the other side of the door she blinked. "Oh, Yugao, what are –"

At the sight of Ai and the sound of her voice, Yugao felt her heart stutter and she could no longer repress the image of Hayate in her mind. His vest and clothes shredded, sword just brushing his fingertips, where it had fallen from his grasp. His blood tacky beneath his cold body, matted in his hair. The others of her squad standing around the body, silent.

She was brought back by a gasp. Ai was staring at her wide-eyed and mouth agape, horror and realization dawning across her visage. "No," she whispered, pulling away from the doorway, "no, no, no, no," she kept repeating over and over. Yugao swept in and pulled Ai into a hug just as her legs gave away. One hand around her back and the other cradling her neck to pull Ai to her shoulder, Yugao gently guided her to the floor. She could feel the young girl shaking violently in her arms so she began making small circles on her back to try and soothe her.

As she did that, Yugao began to build her chakra and tense her legs for what she knew was coming. When she felt Ai's chakra bubbling unstably, Yugao made sure she had a good grip on the girl before pulling them both away with a body flicker. It took a couple, but she managed to get both of them to the closest training ground, which luckily was empty.

She pulled Ai tighter to her and began some comforting sounds, trying to keep what was likely the inevitable from occurring.

Ai's chakra kept piling and piling and Yugao could feel tears on her neck, but she wasn't afraid. She knew enough that Ai's chakra had never hurt Ai herself, maybe left her a little singed, but nothing worse. If she kept close enough, Yugao was sure she'd be all right as well. Sure, she could have left, but the idea of leaving Ai to go through this alone, she couldn't do that, so she clung to the girl as the first explosion rocked the clearing, pulling chakra into her chest and head as precautionary measures against shockwaves.

When the explosions began to scatter tree and dirt particulate, she closed her eyes and tucked her head down, making sure to continue rubbing circles into Ai's back. It didn't take long before her chakra began to flag and the explosions petered out into a few pops and cracks, soon leaving the field in near silence. The only sounds left were Ai's sobs and Yugao's soft shushing noises.

A quiet rattle caught her attention. Looking up revealed Abel standing a few feet away, his body crouched, neck lowered, and head down, but his empty-socket eyes turned up enough to meet her gaze. She had learned enough to know this meant concern. Yugao shook her head minutely at the strange skeletal cat. He merely laid down. As he did so, she spotted a substantially sized splinter wedged in the cat's ribcage and she realized the he must have been around during the fireworks and had defended them both against the worst of the barrage. It hadn't occurred to her until that moment that perhaps Ai's lack of harm wasn't from an unconscious sense of self-preservation, but from a cat that worked hard to keep her unscathed.

Returning her attention back to Ai, Yugao couldn't help but feel envy over the fact that unlike Ai, she could not express her sorrow so fully. As a ninja, her emotions had to remain in check and bottled up, that she would and could continue her obligations to the village. She could pretend though, that Ai's show of grief was hers too, for inside she felt the same way. She could pretend that this break down was hers, that she too had unleashed her soul-wrenching pain and then maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad anymore. The least she could do was aid Ai through her heartbreak, whatever she needed. Hayate would have wanted that.

Yugao couldn't be sure of exactly how long they were like that, but eventually Ai's body-wracking sobs slowed, turning into tremors and then stopping altogether. Her body lost its tension and Ai curled herself up into Yugao's warmth, arms wrapping around her waist. Yugao loosened her grip to allow Ai's movement, pulling the girl that was really too large for this, onto her lap. After some more time passed and after Ai has stilled more fully and her breathing had turned regular to the point Yugao wasn't sure if she'd fallen asleep or just finally shut down, the purple-haired kunoichi adjusted her hold on Ai, standing up with the girl in her arms.

Once upright, Yugao took in what was once Training Ground 13. All the trees within a thirty-foot radius had exploded, their bark splintered and cracked, the few trees that had managed to stand through the assault now possessed bulbous midsections from the boiling water inside expanding their trunks. The ground too had ruptures. Geyser-like holes dotted the ground, creating hazardous footing. Debris, of dirt, rocks, large splinters of wood, were scattered everywhere and Yugao thought it miraculous that none of it had actually hit them with enough force to hurt, or penetrate flesh, though, she supposed they had Abel to thank for that. The worse that had happened was they were both dirty now.

Ai could do a lot of damage in a short amount of time, but Yugao was positive, just as Hayate had been positive – and probably the whole damn ninja community could be positive if they gave it the time of day to figure out – that Ai's wasn't properly processing her chakra. It wasn't unheard of for chakra to get away from you. Fire and Lightning jutsu were notorious for turning on the user if done improperly.

But for Hayate's sake, she would do her best to help Ai. It might not be how he would have done it, but she'd try. For his memory.

And it'd start with some intensive chakra training.

Glancing up at the position of the sun, Yugao tried to determine how much time had passed. Between the sun – and the ache in her body when it finally moved – it had been around two hours. The initial explosive mess hadn't taken much time, she knew that much, Ai's chakra practically vanished under heavy use, but unless consciously pushed, it wouldn't drain to dangerous levels. It was the consoling that had taken awhile, but thankfully, no one had shown up to inspect what had happened here. The positive of taking it to a training ground.

And, you know, not destroying half the living quarters of their complex.

Using body flicker again, she took them both back to Hayate's apartment, door still standing open. She depositing the – sleeping? – girl onto the couch, tucking a pillow under her head and settling a blanket over her body. She then moved to the kitchen and set rice to cook and a kettle of water to boil. Partway through the cooking, Yugao heard the soft rattle of Abel arriving and glanced out to see him settle down by the couch, spear of wood now missing.

Once the rice and tea were done, she set them both on the table by the couch for Ai to, hopefully, eat and drink. She selected food that wouldn't be upsetting to her stomach and tea that tasted just fine cold.

Abel watched her as she left through the door that had yet to be closed. She gave the cat a nod before shutting the door. As much as Yugao wanted to stay, she had a few things she needed to do and she was still expected to continue performing her duty. The first of her tasks would be easy enough. She'd drop by to see Iruka, get him to watch Ai for as long as needed before the second task was accomplished. The second, if she was lucky, she'd be able to find tomorrow morning and, if she was extra lucky, convince him to watch Ai for the time being until something more permanent could be settled.

It wouldn't be that much of a strain on him, he was already watching one target. Putting two together would make his job easier.

Yugao hopped up to the rooftops and took off.

※※※※※

Yugao hadn't locked the door, but Iruka would be floored if someone was actually daring enough to break into Hayate's apartment. Even if Hayate was no longer there. He'd seen the damage Abel's metal teeth could do to inanimate objects and he could imagine with vivid clarity what they could do to people. Yugao had once explained it by saying 'I wouldn't call what was left behind a body,' and Iruka could believe that.

He opened the door and was greeted by Abel, who had never once greeted him before in the four years he'd known Ai. The skeletal cat circled him once, then twice, before rubbing its ribcage across his leg – which was a disturbing sensation – and then used its hipbone to put pressure on the back of his thigh, pushing him forward. He gladly walked away from the cat, which followed him, but settled at the base of the couch with a flop, looking for all the world a strange, unalive, art piece. He'd never seen the cat so subdued before.

Iruka had been told that Ai had been left possibly asleep or shut off from the world and both emotionally drained and chakra exhausted. For him though, she was sitting upright, blanket bunched by her side, staring off into the distance, blue eyes completely unfocused.

Better than blowing things up, he supposed.

"Hello, Ai," he said, not expecting a response. "Yugao asked me to come by." He gathered the rice Yugao had left on the table and walked back to Ai. He placed the bowl in one hand and the chopsticks in another. She still hadn't focused on him or anything for that matter. "You need to eat," he told her. He could feel the tremors in her hands. Iruka got her started by sticking the chopsticks in her hand into the rice. He let go and left her to get some water. He collected the tea on his way back in case she'd want that instead, though he didn't think she'd notice or care either way.

"I was thinking you could come with me to the Academy today," he told her, keeping up a stream of conversation. "You could sit in on my class, or hang out in the teachers' lounge if you'd prefer." When he got back he was glad to see that she had taken a few bites of food, before stopping, for all the world looking like she'd forgotten what she'd be doing. "Of course, you'll have to get showered first," he set down the tea and crouching in front of her, he replaced the rice and chopsticks with the glass of water. When he nudged her hand up she mechanically took a drink. "You're covered in dirt." He removed the water from her trembling hands. "It'll be good for you."

Iruka gently cupped her elbow and at the slightest tug, Ai stood up and followed him to the bathroom. He guided her in, started the shower, and closed the door behind himself. He monitored her with his chakra, which he could hardly feel, between it having so suppressed itself in sadness and having used nearly all of it earlier, but despite its current limitations, he'd be able to feel it flare in distress if something bad happened or sense it as she moved around. He took a few steps away before he felt a slight shift in her chakra. He hoped that meant she was actually going to shower and not just sit in there while the water ran cold. Either way, he'd still bring her with him to the Academy.

He paused in the hallway realizing she didn't have any clean clothes to change into. That was fine, he moved the other direction down the hallway, he could dig through a fourteen-year-olds clothes and – he stopped again. "That sounded so wrong." He rubbed his face. "Clinical. Clinical. It wasn't like I'm doing this for kicks." He entered her room and nearly swore as something moved under her bed. A large snake skull, made of rounded metal panels and, assumingly, attached to a skeletal body, emerged from under her bed to stare at him. He let out a breath and did not reach for a kunai. Now he knew what Hayate was talking about when he said Ai could be difficult to live with.

"You must be Seth," he said to it, edging towards Ai's dresser. Its lower jaw dragged across the ground with a soft scraping as it turned to watch him. Yugao had told him about the snake he never knew existed and explained to him that he'd need to check the seals on her arms. He hadn't been expecting the snake to be out, however. Apparently displeased by him, a rattle sounded. "Right, I'll just…" he dug through Ai's clothes grabbing whatever, not turning his back on the snake, though it hadn't moved any further out. Once done, he exited the room and closed the door.

Iruka went back to the bathroom door, where he could hear a disrupted flow to the water. He knocked on the door. "I'm putting clothes on the floor outside for you," he called loud enough to be heard over the sound. He kept his chakra tuned towards her still monitoring her. He hoped she wouldn't be in there forever, he really didn't want to go in there after her.

Moving back to the front room, he cleaned up the food and drinks, putting the rice in a storage container and into the refrigerator. He then made up a bottle of water and searched for a few handheld snacks for Ai to carry with her. Iruka was relieved when he felt Ai's chakra move and heard the door open and close again. Meanwhile, he sought out and found the ink and brush he'd need to redo the seals on her arms.

After a few moments, Ai emerged, dressed, hair dripping, and clean from dirt. She shuffled to the couch and stared at it. She might have sat on her own, but Iruka helped her along with a "Go ahead and sit, there's one more thing we need to do before we leave." She did what he said, so he added, "We need to check the storage seals on your arms." His words got her to lift her head and look at him. "Yugao told me," he explained, sitting down sideways to face her and tucking a leg underneath him. "Your arm." She offered him one and he took hold of her wrist, pushing up the sleeve.

What he saw was a relief, Yugao had given him a diagram of the seal, but he could see the ink faintly stained into the pale ventral skin of her arm. It saved him the time of trying to copy it when he could trace it. In only a few minutes there was fresh ink coating her arms and mostly dry by the time he finished the second. "Go seal up the snake in your room," he told her, cleaning up the supplies he used. Abel shuffled a small amount as Ai slouched past. When he finished, he followed Ai to her room, curious as to how she managed the metal snake.

Ai was kneeling in the middle of her room, a few feet from the bed, arms out and sleeves rolled up. The snake was how he'd left it, metal skull poking out. What Iruka found interesting at the sight was that the snake almost looked like it was ignoring her. Its head turned away. In comparison to Abel, who always watched Ai when she was in the same room or general vicinity of the cat. It always seemed the be keeping an eye on her, despite lacking eyes.

"Seth," Ai spoke calmly. The snake turned its head sullenly towards her, remaining under the bed. She touched the inside of her left arm with her fingers and, in a way Iruka could only describe as sulkily, it slowly emerged, ribs rasping across the floorboards. Upon reaching Ai, most of it having not emerged from under the cover of the bed, Ai cupped its skull and the seals on her arms lit faintly as they were activated. With a faint hissing noise, the snake vanished, turning into two trails of smoke as Ai separated her hands. She stood shaking away the residual smoke drifting around her arms. The light of the seal faded and Ai kneaded at her forearms, carefully avoiding smearing the ink.

"Let's go," Iruka said, "Academy classes start soon." It wasn't too soon, but Iruka preferred to be there early. Ai followed him quietly from her room, into the front room, where Abel shook itself out and joined the pair, as they silently moved out the front door. The cat jumped up to the roof and vanished from sight. They continued their silent trek to Academy and ended it in the lounge where he left Ai settling in at the table.

A few hours later when lunch swung around, he popped back in to check on Ai. She had cracked a window to let Abel in. The cat was sitting up with its head laying in her lap as Ai idly rubbed her fingers across its smooth skull. She had also dug into some of the books and scrolls laying around and currently had a few laying open in front of her, though he wasn't sure if she had read them at all. Even from a distance her could spot her red-rimmed eyes.

Iruka sat in a chair next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?" He saw her eyes grow misty, but she shook her head. He nodded, he didn't want to push her. He felt nearly certain that she didn't have enough chakra to blow anything up, however, he didn't want to be the cause of a break down either. Crying children, he could handle. Crying teenage girls? He wasn't so sure. "As trite as it sounds, you're not alone. If you want to talk to someone, I'm here for you."

She didn't acknowledge his words, but he did see her hand curl on top of Abel's head.

Iruka deposited the food he had brought with him beside the scroll she was staring at on the table. "Don't forget to eat," he told her before gather his own lunch to eat.

※※※※※

It had taken Yugao two days to track him down. She found him in the northern training fields located in the mountains. She decided to be polite enough to approach him at night instead of in the middle of a session, but only barely.

He obviously knew she was there, he'd be a poor shinobi if he didn't.

When night fell and Sasuke had gone to sleep, Kakashi appeared before her.

"You've been lurking for hours. Something you need?"

Yugao shifted her stance. "I know you're busy with your student and the Chunin Exams, but I was hoping you'd do me a favor." He tilted his head in a questioning manner.

"I can guess where this is going," he began, "and you're right, I am busy with training Sasuke. I don't have time to babysit a traumatized girl on top of that."

"Look," Yugao's tone turned firm, "I'm not trying to unload what should be my duty on you, but Ai is in danger and I have shinobi duties I have to take care of as well. I don't have the time to watch her and Iruka can't keep taking her to the Academy." Kakashi's single eye blinked.

"What do you mean 'she's in danger'?"

"I don't think it's something that anyone other than the Hokage, Hayate, and I know, and it's best it stays that way. But you're smart, so when I say Kabuto showed interest in her, you can guess where my thought process is going."

"Is she…?" He trailed off his question.

"We've checked and double checked and then triple checked. She's not aware of any correlation, but we think the probability of her being experimented on by Orochimaru is high."

"I see." He murmured, hands fidgeting in his pockets. "And you want to put the two targets together. You sure that's wise?"

"It's unlikely a move will be made until the third round or possibly after the exams," she answered, readjusting her stance to loosen her limbs. "But like I said earlier, I'm not trying to foist her off on you. I think you can all benefit. In the off chance there is an attack, Ai will be able to help you defend Sasuke –" Kakashi interrupted before she could continue with her other reasons.

"Are you sure she's even in an emotional position where she can properly defend? Her mental instability isn't an unknown. And just a few days ago rumor has it that Training Ground Thirteen was renovated. Violently."

"Yes, she's upset and displaying a few red-flags, but you don't need her to be in a working condition. Abel can handle the defense on his own. I'm hoping that keeping her busy will help, as well. And along that train of thought, I know who Sasuke is supposed to fight in the final round, you haven't been around Ai enough to see her fight, but she's the only one in this village that you'll find with abilities even slightly resembling Gaara's. A perfect training partner." Kakashi sighed, his shoulders rolling forward. "Please, Kakashi. You're someone I can trust to handle the situation."

He sighed again. "Very well. What do I need to do?"

"I'll inform Iruka of the change of plans, you just need to pick her up in the morning. It won't be difficult, she doesn't bother locking the door, let alone activating the traps."

"Right," the silver-haired man breathed out.

"Thank you, Kakashi." Yugao praised, giving him a grateful look, before darting off.

※※※※※

When had he gotten so soft, Kakashi ruminated to himself. He spared a glanced at the red-rimmed-eyed girl walking just slightly off to his side. Her shirt was a standard Leaf ninja uniform top that was too large for her, its sleeves hanging past her hands. It obviously had belonged to Hayate and she was using it in an attempt to remain attached to him through his scent.

She hadn't said much and she hadn't argued about going with him, so at least she wasn't putting up a fuss. The silence, though, that was a tad worrying. She didn't even attempt to engage in conversation, rarely even responding to outside stimuli. Except for her cat, who had joined them once they were no longer in Konoha proper.

It? He? Kakashi wasn't sure what pronoun to use, had settled in beside Ai and she had reached out putting a hand on the creature's back. Which was only a spine and despite seeing the cat slinking around the tower in the second exam, he hadn't gotten over the skeletal appearance.

He could see why Ibiki liked the girl.

Rounding the rocky bend, he spotted his student. Sasuke was running through drills but when Kakashi showed, he stopped. "There you are Kakashi-sen-sei…" the last word paused and trailed off as he spotted Ai, who had come to a halt a little distance behind Kakashi. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed in distaste at her.

"Sasuke, this is Ai," he introduced, noticing that Abel had disappeared somewhere.

"The girl who tripped on a smooth floor?" Sasuke's voice was flat and completely unimpressed.

"That is her, yes. Fortunately, it's not her footwork we'll be dealing with. Ai is here to mimic Gaara's defensive capabilities." Sasuke's face was purely doubtful at his teacher's words. "If you can make it past hers, you'll stand a good chance against Gaara's." He hoped. He was taking Ai's skill on word of mouth alone, he'd never personally seen her in action.

"I could be sending her to the hospital with a broken skull," he supposed, "and Sasuke a missing arm." His student's face was only getting sourer by the second.

"Ai, why don't you go stand over there," he gestured to an open area that he figured would be the best place for the spar to begin. Though he had to wonder at what kind of spar it would end as.

The blonde didn't acknowledge his words directly, but the breath of air she released that said she would rather be anywhere but here, along with the fact she began to move, let him know she had heard him. He watched her shuffle into position, hands shoved into her pockets.

"Shesh, it's like having two Sasukes around," he thought deadpan, "at least she's not back-talking."

Kakashi tilted his head, pushing chakra towards his ears. The cat moved very near silently, but he could just catch the faint hint of metal claws on rocks as Abel moved to get as close to Ai without revealing itself. Once Ai was in position Kakashi turned to direct his student. "All right, go for it."

Sasuke blinked at him. "Is this a joke? Or a test of some kind? You want me to attack a civilian girl?"

Before he could reassure the young ninja with something along the lines of 'it'll all be fine,' Ai, surprisingly, spoke first. "What's wrong Uchiha? Worried you won't measure up when it matters?"

Sasuke's face turned wrathful and Kakashi closed his eye.

"Spoke too soon."

"Fine," the dark-haired boy growled. "But don't complain when you wake up in the hospital." Sasuke shot forward and Kakashi's eye shot open when he felt – felt with his chakra – as Abel raced forward with a speed that had to have been chakra aided to intercept Sasuke's punch. His fist went between the cat's ribs, sinking into the empty space there. Abel turned his body down and twisted. Sending Sasuke flying away from Ai.

It was a move that should have snapped Sasuke's wrist like a twig, but the boy got up no worse for wear. As the cat repositioned itself, he saw the reason why. The two ribs that Sasuke's fist had gone between were straightening back into place after having widened to let his arm go without breaking bones. The cat shivered, rattling parts of its metal body together at the Uchiha staring it down. Sasuke rubbed at his wrist, eyes going between Ai and Abel, studying the pair. He was obviously trying to figure out what kind of jutsu she was using. His eyes spun to Sharingan red and despite knowing there wouldn't be anything to copy, Kakashi lifted his headband.

The Sharingan wasn't as renown in its ability to see chakra as the Byakugan was, but it was still good enough to see Ai's chakra. Darkened with her sadness and anger, Kakashi watched as it slowly boiled like a thick soup. There was no doubt that she was in a bad place emotionally. She also definitely had a fire affinity. A flaming orange color was roiling restlessly beneath the surface, as if in preparation for a fireball.

Abel, however, was surrounded by a lighter chakra than Ai's, yet, he could see the similarities in it. Very close similarities, as if Abel was related to her somehow. Under the Sharingan, the 'it's a variation on the puppet jutsu' explanation didn't hold up, but how Ai filled or charged the cat with chakra, Kakashi couldn't begin to guess. The patterns mimicked that of a person over something like a tree or an animal. There were also no eyes or muscles, nothing the Sharingan could usually track, he wasn't sure how you'd be able to tell what the cat was planning. The cat just stood perfectly still, pointing its empty socketed skull at you, waiting. Once it got moving, he was sure that following it wouldn't be as difficult.

Having decided or discovered whatever it was he'd felt he needed to, Sasuke charged attacked again and was once more blocked. Then again, and again, and again.

Kakashi knew how he would get past Ai's defense and that was without considering the fact the he could just dart past the cat. But he would let Sasuke figure it out for himself.

He sighed, pulling his headband back over his Sharingan, as Sasuke was once again blocked. He was in for a long day. He supposed he'd stop them in a few hours and have Sasuke work on the other aspects of his training. Maybe give him a few pointers for dealing with the cat. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Mornings spent trying to get past Abel, a break for rest and review, then afternoons spent learning the Chidori.

As the days passed, it turned into an interesting arms race between the two, for even as Sasuke's speed and taijutsu improved by leaps and bounds, so did Abel. From what he could tell the cat was better learning to use the chakra that suffused its metal body, being able to speed up and match Sasuke's own quickening speed.

It took four days before Sasuke figured out the tactic Kakashi had thought would be best to get past the cat.

He sped towards the pair, throwing a punch. Abel moved to intercept, committing to the defensive action. Once that commitment was clear, moments before Sasuke's fist struck the metal, he pulled up short, darting to the side in a burst of speed.

Ai, who had seemingly spent the last four days studying the sky and the landscape, finally responded to the Uchiha assault.

Abel rattled as Sasuke's body tensed to stop his attack and Ai turned her attention from a nearby cloud formation, to her side. The girl held out her left hand in a sideways stop and put her right wrist over the left, hand up. As Sasuke vanished, she drew her right hand around her left in a circle, stopping as the top of her right wrist hit the underside of her left.

Kakashi perked up as he felt her chakra pull. "A summoning?"

A puff of smoke billowed a second after Sasuke reappeared and lunged forward to throw a punch.

Sasuke's fist sank into the smoke and there was a sound like gong had been struck, echoing around the rocky clearing. The Uchiha's eyes went wide and he darted back, taking extra precaution and going further than usual. There was a clatter like a crate of kunai had been dropped as whatever Ai had summoned fell to the ground.

The smoke cleared, blowing past Ai on the wind. On the rocky ground was a writhing mass of metal, curled and knotted around itself.

"Congratulations," Ai spoke as the metal uncoiling itself. From the undulating ball emerged a skull. As it rose, the ribs of its upper body expanded, forming a hood as if it was one of Wind's Black Sand Cobras. "You made it to level two." The snake's body rippled, mimicking a hiss as the metal vibrated.

With a sigh, Kakashi put his hand over his lower face and cursed Yugao. She couldn't have told him Ai had two of those metal creatures?

The young ninja's eyes darted between Abel, who had pulled back to Ai's side and the snake gently swaying on her other side.

"If you think Gaara can't attack and defend at the same time, you should get yourself checked for brain damage." Ai scowled at the dark-haired boy, who scowled back. She looked away to her snake. "Seth," she said, reaching up to its head. The fingers of her hand sank into its eye sockets, tightened, and pulled its face to look at her. It froze as their eyes met. Kakashi tilted his head as he watched them stare at each other for a few moments. Ai didn't speak and the snake didn't make a sound either. A short time later, she released the snake she called Seth and it jerked back, twitching its head to Sasuke once more. Slowly the ribs making up the hood shifted, touching themselves and rearranging their appearance into the top half of a human skull.

"I'll warn you now, Seth doesn't play as nice as Abel, so you better be quick." As the last word left her mouth, Seth shot forward, hitting the ground, kicking up dirt and debris. Abel didn't move to join, it merely began to circle Ai, waiting to defend the girl should Sasuke make it past the snake.

Sasuke dodged its first lunge successfully, but barely managed to avoid the second. The snake was much more aggressive than the cat. It possessed a long range filled vicious tail swipes and eventually revealed that it could become more than one snake, the metal plates – which turned out to be smaller snakes – capable of disconnecting and reorganizing themselves, though he only saw a max of five lashing metal strands. It was disturbingly impressive, but Sasuke's Sharingan seemed to pick up quick on its tactics.

Though when Kakashi called a halt to the cat and mouse game, Sasuke would have gotten a chest full of metal snake and sent flying if it hadn't been for Abel. He plowed into Seth sending the two of them tumbling in a horrible raucous of metal that ended with the snake pinned beneath the cat's sharp-clawed feet. Seth's tail continued lashing wildly, until Ai walked up to it, hissing air through her teeth. She rolled her left sleeve up and dragged her fingers across an inked seal there, which began to faintly glow as it activated. She put her hands on the skull of the snake and it puffed away.

"So, not a summons at all. It's sealed away in her arms." It was an interesting fact. He had to wonder how the two of them, made from the same person behaved so differently from each other.

"Sasuke," he called, catching his student's attention from Ai. "Take a break before you get started on nature transformation training."

"Sure," he muttered, walking away as Kakashi moved towards Ai.

"You could have given a bit more of a heads up for that snake of yours." She was sitting on the ground, staring out at something that wasn't there, but when he spoke to her, she actually looked at him. It wasn't a pleasant happy-to-see-you look.

"Isn't one of your ninja policies to not tell enemies about your skills?" Ai laid back, Abel settling in beside her, and began to watch the sky once more.

"Are we your enemies?"

"That's not what I meant," she sighed out.

Kakashi settled on a flat rock near her. "Have you had the situation explained to you? About why you're here?" That brought her attention back to him. He could see confusion in her eyes, making the answer an obvious 'no.' "I'm not one for coddling, it does more harm than good. Yugao, along with the Hokage, think you might be a target for Orochimaru. You know who he is?"

"I've read about him in books. The ones open to civilians, anyway."

He nodded, that was enough. "They came to this conclusion, because we recently found out that Kabuto is a spy for Orochimaru and he has been making some sort of play on the village." Ai sat up, her eyes sharpening at Kabuto's name. It was the most life he'd seen in her since Hayate's death.

"Is he the one who killed Hayate?" she growled.

"We don't know anything for sure, only that Hayate was possibly on his trail."

"Is that why I'm here with you? To keep me out of the way? Safe in the middle of no-where training grounds? Is Sasuke a target too? I saw something on him during his fight, is that related?"

"All right, all right, hold up," Kakashi interrupted, raising his hands. So, she did have some brilliance in there. He'd heard the rumors, her instability, her hearing voices, that she was dangerous, but he'd also heard, from a few ninja she'd interacted with, that she was smart, a little quirky at times perhaps, but she got any task done when put before her.

It was a strange double personality.

And he was beginning to think it a front.

He'd been there for her 'I may have told him I was crazy' story. That implied she, with the consent of Hayate, told, or allowed, people to think she was disturbed.

But why would someone want other people to think you were so mentally instable unless it was to get people to think you were that way. A convenient excuse to explain away oddities that might arise interest from other parties.

Had Hayate been worried about the possibility of Orochimaru from the start? Or had it been someone else he'd been concerned about? Ai had been around before Root had been disbanded.

"You are pretty sharp. Yes, everything is related, but there isn't much I can actually tell you. Not because it's classified, or anything like that, it's simply because we don't know much ourselves." Kakashi set his elbows on his knees, dropping his hands to hang down.

"I don't know anything either."

"I'm not saying you do, but you might can shed some light on his interest in you. For example, he wants Sasuke for being the last of his bloodline."

"Not the last," Ai imputed. Kakashi blinked. Well, he supposed it wasn't an unknown tale. She had lived with, and around, shinobi.

"No, but I imagine if Orochimaru could have gotten to Itachi, he wouldn't be after his younger brother. You do have a bloodline though, right?"

"I've been told that, but I can't control it. Hence the 'careful, Ai might blow up a building' routine people have around me."

"Or a training ground?" Once that had been discovered it had gotten around the village pretty quickly. Ai shrugged. "Either way, are you sure you can't control it?" Kakashi's eye drifted over to look at Abel.

Ai set her hand on its head. "I don't think this is part of it," she explained, "or if it is, I do it on accident."

"During heightened emotional stress?"

"I blow things up during heightened emotional stress."

She seemed pretty stuck on that. With an attitude like that he wasn't surprised she kept blowing things up. "Surely there was some reason behind their creation then?"

They sat in silence for a few moments as Ai thought. "Life in Cloud isn't easy for someone alone, especially a child. I scrounged the streets for scrap bits of metal and pieced him together eventually. Abel was more reminiscent of a child's toy, or a puppet, then. I suppose I made him out of the desire for companionship and protection.

"Seth was a few years after I came here. After the…" she trailed off a moment, looking to where Sasuke had gone. He was nowhere in sight. "I had some friends that were Uchiha, after they were all killed, I suppose I was afraid. I've had a few close calls and I don't respond well to stress."

"So, you made him out of fear," Kakashi settled on using the masculine pronoun. Ai had, and he figured he'd go off of her example. "That explains their personalities, I suppose."

"I guess. I still have no clue how they've become what they are."

"You said that Abel started off little more than a trinket? So, he… grew?"

"I give them metal and they incorporate it into their bodies. Back in Cloud Abel was more bits of sheet metal that I managed to cut, eventually he began to take on the more bone-like appearance. I never did anything though. He was the size of a normal cat back then, until soon after the murders. Then, he, well," Ai looked away, rubbing at her cheek, obviously unsure and embarrassed. It took her a few moments to continue. "He asked me to give him metal, so he could grow."

There was something he hadn't expected to hear, it was no wonder she hesitated either. Bringing up voices in your head was always a delicate subject. Though, from what she said, it implied the Abel, and possibly the snake as well, had grown to better fit her needs. Or perhaps to better fulfill their roles.

But talking to her?

How did you bring that up without bring rude?

Well, Kakashi wasn't known for his tact.

"What do the voices say exactly?"

"Voice," Ai corrected. "I only hear one voice. What I get from Abel is more… impressions. And it's not like the voice tells me to kill people or anything like that."

Was that better? Kakashi wasn't sure. But he was learning a few curious things about her. He could see why Orochimaru was interested in her.

"So, when do we find Kabuto and beat him black and blue?" Ai asked, taking the incentive during their silence.

"Slow down there," he replied. "We don't know their current whereabouts. Not only that, but you'll leave this to the adults and the people who are actually ninja."

"I know how to fight!"

"Fight? Maybe so. But you haven't gone through anywhere near the same amount of teaching and training an Academy student has."

"I'm not afraid," she leaned forward as she snapped out the words.

"You don't have to be. One wrong move from you and you'll spend the rest of your life as an experiment." She dropped her eyes, her hands curling up in the dirt. Kakashi kept his voice firm to impart the importance of his words. "There are a lot of worse things than fighting and dying. And I promise you, Orochimaru is one of those things. Bravado is great and all, but you'd be smart to fear him as well. There is a fine line between courage and stupidity." He could see shivers running through her body. Kakashi hoped that meant she was thinking about what he said.

Abel got up and came around to her side, head dipped to look at her bowed face. A tremor ran down the cat's body, clattering the metal of his body softly. Ai's hand went up to his head. All the while Kakashi watched the interaction, curious at the peculiar sight. The actions certainly implied a conversation.

"Are we done for the day?" She finally spoke, her voice quiet. "I want to go –" The way she cut herself off suggested she had intended to say more. It wasn't hard to guess what. Could she really no longer even say the word 'home?' Kakashi felt a wave of sadness roll over him for the girl.

"Yes, we are."

"Good." Ai stood and walked off. Abel followed behind her, long tail listlessly trailing in the dirt.

The days continued in that vein for a while. It took a few for Sasuke to get past the snake, and reengage trying to get past Abel's defensive stance, but between the two metal creatures, he didn't make it to her again.

They also didn't have a repeat of Seth attempting to attack after the spar was called to an end. He figured that meant Ai was putting more effort into his control, which Kakashi thought was a good thing.

Sasuke was getting closer to making it past, and might would have, if Kakashi hadn't received a message, two and a half weeks into the training, that told him he didn't need to pick Ai up anymore.

If it hadn't been in Ibiki's hand, he probably would have gone anyway. He was sure Sasuke would be fine with her no longer showing up, at least. He and Ai hadn't gotten along very well, especially after her 'you're not a special snowflake, Uchiha, so stop acting like you're better than the rest of us' speech she shouted at him. He knew he wasn't a good judge on the matter of emotional progress, but she had seemed like she was getting better. Ai had seemed more focused and she'd been talking more by the end, with him, anyway.

He did find himself wondering what would happen with her though.


I want to thank you all for reading! It means a lot to me! I even updated before a the month mark! I actually ended up cutting off 3000 (ish) words off the end cause the chapter just kept growing longer and longer. Each chapter has grown in length... which good news means the next chapter is 3000 words done!