Yullia: Hey everyone! I'm back with the fourth chapter! Oh, I got tired of Tomoe and today I'm here with Aya-chan!

Aya: Hey guys!

Yullia: Aya's nicer than Tomoe *pats Aya's head*. I wanna thanks dragon18 again. You're the best!

Aya: So, dragon18 is your beta-reader?

Yullia: Yeah! Well, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: *sighs* do I have to? *lawyers: nods* Okay...I don't won Naruto...I'm too poor. The only thing I won are the original characters. So don't sue me!

Sound of Snow Falling

By Yullia

Chapter IV: Surprise

Tomoe laid awake on her bed the next morning. She was thinking about Sasuke. He would be twelve, maybe thirteen, now. She was sure he would recognize her.

She sighed and got up. Too late now, it would be better if she got to them before Itachi and Orochimaru. Heading for the bathroom, she noticed that Aya was still asleep.

'I'll have to wake her soon if she wants to get there early' Closing the door behind her, she washed herself and took a shower, all the while thinking in how she would explain to Sasuke about the whole situation.

'Well...I'll think of something' She dried herself and dressed, braiding her hair. She went to Aya's room and shook the girl gently.

"Aya-chan, wake up"

"Hum...Ice cream..." Tomoe sweat-dropped, shaking the girl more firmly and saying her name louder "Choco...Oh, morning Tomoe-chan..." She said sleepily.

"Good Morning. Are you hungry?" Asked Tomoe.

"Very" Aya smiled "Can you make me some breakfast while I get ready?"

"Yeah" Tomoe watched as the younger girl left and walked to the kitchen. She was cooking calmly when she heard a sound outside.

'What now?' She sighed in annoyance and peered outside. Nothing. She gave a last look before going back to cooking 'Funny. I could have sworn I heard something'

"Tomoe-chan, Is breakfast ready?" Asked Aya, entering the kitchen.

"Almost. Are you ready?"

"Yeah...But I'm hungry!!!" Aya whinnied.

Tomoe laughed a little. "All right. Here you go" She handed Aya a plate and got one for herself. Aya started talking about her plans while Tomoe listened, more concerned about more important matters. After Tomoe and Aya cleaned everything, they went to the inn.

Aya was very excited about meeting her new friends and was telling Tomoe to walk faster every second. The older girl would smile a little at her cousin and walk a little faster, till they got to the inn.

"Hello, Mrs. Aikawa!" Said Aya cheerfully. Mrs. Aikawa smiled and greeted Aya and Tomoe.

"Hello, you two. Haruna and the others are waiting for you. They're in the porch."

"Thanks!"

They went upstairs and Tomoe's heart raced. She would meet Sasuke and the other boy, Naruto, any time now...

Aya pushed the door to the porch open and greeted them.

"Hey everyone!"

"Hi, Aya-chan!" Tomoe studied the boy. He was blonde and had clear blue eyes.

'It's him...The boy with the seal...' There was also a girl with pink hair and a man there. They greeted Aya and Haruna hugged her friend 'Where is he?'

"Everyone, this is my cousin, Tomoe" Aya smiled. Haruna and Sakura waved. Naruto smiled and said 'Hi!'. The man waved too, and Tomoe could have sworn he winked at her "The girl's Sakura, and the blonde boy's Naruto. That's Kakashi-sensei and the boy on the corner..."

Tomoe turned around and looked at the opposite corner.

"Is Sasuke"

(A/N: Oooooh, I could be evil and stop it here. *dodges objects: many of them sharp, on fire or both* Okay! No need for violence!)

Tomoe's heart skipped a bit and for one second she thought that she was seeing a twelve-years old Itachi. Sasuke nodded at her and turned. He didn't look like he had recognized her. At least by now...

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tomoe." She smiled at all of them "So, Aya, where you'll take them?"

"Well, I'll just show them around. It's up to them, really. Anywhere in special?"

"Yeah!" Said Naruto "I wanna go eat!"

"Stupid! You just ate breakfast! How can you be hungry?!" Sakura punched him, then turned to Aya "I wanna go shopping!"

'Lord have mercy...Go shop?!'

"All right!" Aya smiled and started making plans with Haruna and Sakura.

"Hey, wait! I don't want to go shopping! We have to do something that we all like!" Naruto said. Tomoe looked at Kakashi. He was reading some book, but agreed with Naruto.

"Naruto's right. I don't want to go shopping either." He closed his book "Do you want to go shopping, Sasuke?"

"No."

"So, Tomoe will have to decide what we will do" He turned to her and smiled "So?"

'Great, leave it to me...' She took a deep breath "We could go shopping at the next village. It has a lot of candy and ramen shops"

"YEAH! RAMEN!" Naruto screamed, earning him a punch from Sakura.

"DON'T SCREAM!"

Kakashi shook his head and Haruna and Aya cheered. Tomoe sighed. It would be a long day...

Time passed quickly, and soon they were getting ready to lunch. Tomoe and Sasuke were the only ones not as excited as the others. They were at a field of flowers, eating the food Haruna's mother had made to them. Tomoe watched as the girls laughed at something Naruto said and Sakura arguing with Kakashi about something he did.

'They look so happy...But...' Her eyes traveled to Sasuke. He hadn't spoken much. Every time someone asked him about something, he would answer with monosyllables or a "Whatever". Aya tried twice to make conversation with him, but failed. Sakura, on the other hand, was much more persistent.

"So, Tomoe-chan, were you home-schooled too?"

Tomoe looked at Naruto. She smiled and answered his question.

"Yeah. My father taught me and I used to go every winter to the Leaf Village to train with my relatives..." 'No! Too much information!' She stole a glance at Sasuke. His chopsticks were half-way to his mouth and his brows were furrowed.

"Really? What relatives?" Asked Naruto, smiling innocently.

"Oh...My"

"Naruto, don't ask too many questions" Said Kakashi, looking at her strangely.

"But.!" Kakashi sent him a look "Okay...Sorry"

"There's no problem, dear." She patted him on the head and smiled. Suddenly, Sasuke got up and stood in front of Tomoe.

Everyone went silent. Tomoe stood there too, looking at the dark- haired boy. She heard Aya whispering to Naruto "What's going on?".

"Can I talk to you in private?" Sasuke asked, making everyone look at him strangely.

"Sure."

As she followed Sasuke, she heard Naruto whispering to Aya "Seven words in a row? To someone he only met? Sasuke certainly is getting more social!"

"And who would ever think you knew the word 'certainly'?" Sakura said, punching him on the head, but looking worried.

When Sasuke thought they were far enough from the group, he turned to Tomoe.

"Why?"

Tomoe looked at the ground. Why? Why she hadn't helped him when he needed her?

"I don't know. I think I was just scared." She looked at him to see his reaction. Nothing. "Sasuke..."

"I just recognized you when you patted Naruto. You used to do it a lot with me and him."

She supposed 'him' was Itachi, but said nothing about it. "Yes. I never got rid of this habit. I always patted you on the head..."

Sasuke looked like he was remembering his past before he became an avenger. Before his brother had...

"Where were you all this time?"

"I was traveling. I moved to a lot of places till I settled myself on the Water Country. You stayed at the Leaf Village, right?"

"What do you think?"

Tomoe went silent. She was ashamed at herself. How could she be so selfish? She had turned her back on her cousin because she was afraid about what would have happened to her. She bit her bottom lip.

"Have you met him after...?"

"Yes. I met Itachi not long ago." She said, knowing what he was going to ask. "And I know you met him, too. Do you know about Naruto...?"

"Yeah. I know the Akatsuki's after him. We fought with them once."

"So that's why you guys are here?"

Sasuke nodded "The Hokage heard that they were saw coming this way. Kakashi-sensei then decided to bring us here to gather information."

"Isn't dangerous to you and your friends to be near them?"

"They would came after us eventually."

Tomoe looked at him. She wished she could just turn back time and fix everything. She could stop Itachi from killing all his family and Sasuke would be happy again. But she couldn't.

"I'm sorry"

Sasuke looked torn between forgiven her or not. She waited till he made his decision. She hoped he would forgive her, but knew that if he didn't, it would just serve her right.

"I...It's..."

He looked troubled. Tomoe felt tears gathering in her eyes 'Please, don't let me cry now...'

"...Okay, I guess"

Tomoe let out a sigh of relief. She blinked away the tears and patted him on the head.

"Thank you. I know I can't make it up to you, but I can at least help you now."

Sasuke nodded. They stayed silent for a while and then Sasuke asked the question Tomoe knew would have come sooner or later.

"What happened when you met him?"

Tomoe took a deep breath. How would she explain to him that she had quite a 'friendly' relationship with Itachi?

"Well, you see..." Tomoe stopped when she heard a noise coming from the bushes. She looked at Sasuke, who was looking at the bushes too. He let out a heavy sigh and said in a cold tone.

"Show up already, Naruto"

Not to Tomoe's surprise, all of the group came out from their hiding place.

"Aya-chan!" Tomoe scolded at the girl.

"Sorry, Tomoe-chan! It's just that you two looked so strange! We were worried! And..." Aya looked at Sasuke and back to Tomoe "...What's your connection to Sasuke?"

Sasuke answered for her "We're cousins."

Aya, Haruna and Sakura's jaws dropped to the floor. Kakashi had this triumphant look on his face and Tomoe presumed he already was suspicious from the beginning, and she wasn't surprised. She had met him once or twice when she was Aya's age. Naruto looked just as surprised as the girls.

"You are Sasuke's cousin?!" He asked pointing at her.

"Yes, I'm his cousin by my mother's side." Tomoe smiled at the blonde boy.

"Okay...Do you mind explaining?" Sakura asked, looking at Tomoe suspiciously.

"Maybe later" Kakashi interrupted "Today we're just going to leave it aside." He turned to Tomoe "Tomoe Mimori...You certainly changed for better." Tomoe raised an eyebrow. She could see he was smirking under his mask and her suspicions were confirmed when Sakura mumbled under her breath a 'pervert old man...'

"Thank you, sir."

"Ah, no need for formalities! You can call me Kakashi!"

Tomoe watched amused as his students glared daggers at him. Even Sasuke.

"Ahh...All right."

"Okay then! Let's go back to eat!"

"ALL RIGHT!" Aya and Naruto cheered and made a sequence of high-fives and low-fives, earning odd looks from the rest of them. Tomoe giggled when they all started talking, making their way back to the spot they were before.

~*~*~*~

"I'm so tired!" Aya threw herself at the living-room couch, several hours latter, when they got back home.

"But it was worth it, right? You had tons of fun." Tomoe said smiling, closing the door and untying her hair.

"Yeah, and tons of surprise. Who would have thought that you and Sasuke are cousins? And that Kakashi-sensei's a bit of a pervert?"

Tomoe had the urge to tell Aya that 'a bit' was an understatement, but decided against it.

Aya sighed and suddenly asked Tomoe "That guy from yesterday, Itachi. He kind of looks like Sasuke, don't you think?"

Tomoe looked at Aya "Yes...They kind of look alike. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just making a comment." Aya smiled playfully "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Well, kind of..." Tomoe turned to Aya "But don't tell anyone about it, okay? It's a secret!"

"Okay! I won't!" Aya smiled "I promise!" She added, seeing the look on Tomoe's face.

"I'll trust you. But you will regret if you tell anyone about him!" Tomoe started tickling Aya, making the girl go into hysterics.

"O...Okay!" She managed to say between her laughter. Tomoe stopped and laughed.

"All right, then. I'm going to take a bath."

"Okay."

Tomoe went to the bathroom and took of her dirty clothes. A bath would do her some good. Then she would think about Itachi. She took a long bath and then wrapped herself, heading for her room, stopping at the living room to tell Aya to go take her bath too.

She put her pajamas on and started brushing her hair when something shiny caught her eye. She looked by the window and saw a kunai stuck on the wall. There was a note attached to it.

She reached for it with her arm and pulled it from the wall. Grabbing the note, she put the kunai down and started reading.

I'll meet you tomorrow at Orochimaru's house. Be there at 9 pm.

She recognized Itachi's neat hand-writing. She sighed heavily. She had already wasted one day.

End Chapter IV!

Yullia: Wow, that was the longest chapter so far! Hope you guys liked it!

Aya: Yeah! I just don't understand why Tomoe looks so nice on the fic! I mean, she's a [censored]!

Yullia: *gasp* Aya-chan! Don't swear!

Aya: You can't tell me not to swear, because you swear too!

Yullia: *looks at Aya and open her mouth to answer when Tomoe appears, looking enraged*

Tomoe: YOU! *launches at Yullia, who screams and run away from her*

Aya: *looking at them, sweat-dropping* Anyway, review! And remember that dragon18 didn't take away her threat! Bye!

Yullia: By- AHHH! *run away from Tomoe, who had almost stabbed her with a poisonous kunai*

Tomoe: You'll pay for locking me in the broom closet!

Dragon18: ok...one of my muses has something to tell you!! Go!! \Clef: IF YOU DON'T REVIEW...I'LL SICK MY FLYING 100 FOOT FISH ON YOU!!/ that's all...BYE!!