Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, contents of the following text only serve entertainment purposes.

AN:What you might not like: I twisted Kakashi's past to make it more relevant to and match Yuki's.
OOC warning! alright! it goes throughout the entire story!

This chapter has been re-edited.

This chapter: Sanity is a precious thing. Should she sacrifice it in order to maintain her status as anbu?

Chapter: Should I?

The walk back to Konoha was even more tiring for Yuki. Especially with her rib still bugging her. Once she got back to Konoha she'd have to ask the Hokage to take a look at it. To make it worse, hanging around Sakura, whom she had grown to call Sakura-chan, as well as Naruto, left her no chance of escaping. Sasuke's ever watchful gaze also made it difficult.

Every time their eyes met, Sasuke seemed to have broken part of his wall to let her really look at him. At least, that was what it seemed. She couldn't deny that Sasuke was always on her mind. The day she had saved him, she realized that she had feelings for the boy, but avoided acknowledgement like a plague. Sasuke seemed to be doing the same thing. Every time his hungry eyes came over her, her body threatened to give in and return the gaze, but their rational senses kept anything from being too obvious. It was only the presence of the others that kept each other at a safe distance apart. Both realized what each were doing but pretended to be ignorant. Kakashi watched them from behind with unhidden interest.

Tomorrow they would reach Konoha. Tomorrow they would walk past the gates, drop Yuki off safely at her home and then report the mission to the Hokage. Tomorrow.

On the other hand, Yuki was slowly being filled with dread. She hadn't been able to escape them thus far, not even during Kakashi's night-shift. No, Uchiha Sasuke slept too lightly for that. She had to escape soon, before they reached Konoha. She couldn't just walk in and be walked to her home. It was Kakashi's home too. The trio knew his home, having visited a few times after the Orochimaru incident. They took sanctuary there when Uchiha Itachi went after them. They knew the place too well. She had to escape soon. Soon.

"Time to camp," Kakashi announced. Automatically Naruto went off in search for a safe clearing. Sakura went around in search for firewood. Sasuke and Yuki waited for Naruto to come back so they could start pitching up the tents. Kakashi left them to go off for a little hunt. Sasuke and Yuki distanced themselves and turned their backs to each other.

"What kind of an anbu am I?" Yuki was virtually kicking herself for acting all bashful and hesitant around him. It was the perfect chance to escape, but something held her back.

Once the camp was set and the fire was going, she took her seat around it. The food was being cooked and she was assigned to make sure that it wouldn't burn. After the meal was cooked, Yuki started to cut it up for the exhausted ninjas, there was plenty for all. Kakashi came to sit with her on one side and Sakura the other.

"H-Hatake-san?" They all looked up at her. "Hatake-san, could I speak to you later? Privately?" Kakashi nodded, looking bored on the exterior. Sasuke's ear pricked up in suspicion and something that was vaguely like jealousy. Sakura and Naruto simply continued with their meal.

"What is it, Yuki?" Kakashi asked later in the night. Morning, really. He had taken the last watch and was leading her a safe distance away from the camp. Far enough to still see the sleeping figures, but not to be heard.

"It's time I left... yeah?" She smiled up at him. "I'm so sorry I had to commit to asking you aside for the chance. Your students haven't exactly given me the chance to." Kakashi knew that by 'your students' she really meant only Sasuke. Except for those moments alone they had, his eyes were constantly on her. He tried to mask it with suspicion but Kakashi knew that it was more of an open curiosity.

"What excuse will I tell them tomorrow morning?"

"I don't know. Just tell them I left. Home's so close anyway. Anbus are on the watch from here to the village, so there's nothing to worry about. Something like that."

"They'll be devastated," Kakashi said. "Naruto will be yelling himself hoarse when he finds out."

"I'll be close by anyway," she said, rubbing the back of her head like her oniichan usually did. A habit she obviously picked up from him. "I've got to get myself out of these clothes anyway. The strain on my chakra keeps on increasing."

"I'll see you when I get home?"

"Yup," she answered, smiling as she jumped to a tree branch. "Thanks, oniichan." She faded into the shadows in an instant.

Back the camp, Sasuke was painfully aware that only one returned when two had gone. Only Kakashi-sensei. He had sensed that Yuki had been trying to escape, but didn't really do anything about it. He kept watching her, thinking that maybe the last sight of her might be his last. Now that she'd left, maybe she'd take away his infatuation of her. Maybe. Why did she go?

"Yuki-chaaaaaaaan!" The campers were rudely awakened by Naruto's yell. Kakashi had already seen that coming and had covered his ears. "Kakashi-sensei! Where's Yuki-chan? You talked to her last didn't you? You better not have done anything to her, you pervert!"

Yuki watched them from afar, giggling at the scene while also feeling betrayal of some sort for leaving them. She watched as Kakashi slowly explained to them. Both Sakura and Naruto seemed to look very upset at that. When Sasuke simply walked off she felt a sharp pain in her heart. She didn't see Sasuke go back into his tent. She didn't see the single tear flowing, unchecked, down his face. She didn't see him bite himself for it.

She watched them from afar as they kept on walking towards Konoha. It was in the middle of the afternoon when they arrived. She left them just as they stepped past the gates and headed straight to her home. It was always good to be back in Konoha. There was enough time for a quick shower before going to see the Hokage. She arrived just as Tsunade blew up about the death of the missing-nin.

"You did what!" she was screaming, more to the whole group than Kakashi alone, who had curved his eye up in a sheepish smile and was rubbing the back of his head. "You guys..."

"Hokage-sama." Yuki decided to appear in the office to interrupt the meeting. It was alright for an anbu to appear there. "A word? With your permission." Tsunade nodded and led her to a private room, leaving the four ninjas outside, looking surprised at her entrance.

"Argh!" she heard Naruto exclaim exasperatedly. "Anbus interrupting our report again! Then again, their timing has always been perfect. Maybe Tsunade-baba will cool down a little." True, it wasn't the first time Yuki had to step in to save their hide from the temperamental Hokage.

"You didn't inform them about the content of their mission?" Yuki asked.

"It was supposed to be a test! It wasn't anything they couldn't handle on their own!" Tsunade grumbled.

"You labeled it a B-class mission!"

"All they had to do was to assist the hunter-nins!"

"Kuma was an S-class shinobi!"

"Information like that is vital to the success of a mission."

"A mere slip up would have killed any one of them."

"Uchiha Sasuke passed out fighting him."

"What!" That bit of information certainly got a reaction.The two glared at each other until Tsunade finally realised her own mistake."Alright! Alright! It was my fault!" Yuki nodded to her solemnly. Tsunade was grumbling again. "But his skills were really important."

"Which?"

"He was one of the last of his clan. His heritage is slowly deteriorating. Konoha needs thoseskills kept alive."

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Yuki reprimanded. It was fairly odd to be in that situation. Anbu winning over the Hokage. No matter. Once Tsunade found out that it was really Yuki that had done the job... "I said that Uchiha Sasuke fought him." Realization struck her.

"But it was Kakashi that he was the one that killed him. Not Sasuke."

"Well... It wasn't Kakashi-niichan," Yuri said, stumbling on her words. Tsunade found the opening and pounced at the chance. It felt so degrading to be Hokage and be reprimanded by an anbu. And a kid to boot! Yuki put on a sheepish expression though Tsunade couldn't see it behind the mask, but the most telling gesture was the guilty action of rubbing the back of her head... a gesture reminiscent of Kakashi.

"You did it, didn't you?" Tsunade growled as fire erupted in her eyes. Yuki slowly backed away and opened the door, knowing that an audience was the only thing that would save her from Tsunade. Yep, Yuki learned never to be caught alone with Tsunade in a room. Especially if she made a slip up.

"Very well then," she said coolly as she stepped out. "I'll return later. I'm sorry for taking up your time." Tsunade knew that the girl had out-foxed her, so she merely sighed in defeat. She returned to her seat as the anbu left the room.

"Uchiha Sasuke...?"

"...Yeah?"

"So you fought Kuma? Did you use your sharingan?"

"Yes."

"Good. I need you to show it to Kakashi. Kakashi, you'll record it...?"

"Sure."

"Dismissed."

The three chuunins walked out fairly puzzled. Sasuke just shrugged it off and left for the training grounds with Kakashi, not bothering to stop off at his home first. Naruto had gone to his usual ask-Sakura-out-after-a-completed-mission mode and forced Sakura to join him at Ichiraku ramen. Sakura had no longer refused him, knowing life would be easier without Naruto constantly nagging at her to go out with him, so she accepted. The answer was met with delight and Naruto began 'bouncing' all over the village to invite other people to eat with them. Some things never change. But getting Sakura alone wasn't a goal for Naruto anymore. He asked her out purely out of habit.

Once knowing everything was alright with the group, Yuki turned back to the Hokage's office, waiting for her in Tsunade's own private room, that was her secret 'hospital', lying down on an operating table wearing only a vest and shorts. Her disguise - a hooded cloak and a mask - lay on the floor.

Beside her was a still body. The man would almost seem dead if it weren't for the slow, gentle breathing that indicated that he was still alive. Other wise he wasn't moving. Not a twitch. The man had been in a coma for years. Nearly 4 years in fact.

Uchiha Itachi had never woken up since Sasuke had pounded him with a chidori. It was a heated battle. Sasuke was only a gennin then, though he was one of the top ones. In the end they had both collapsed into a coma. Sasuke woke up only two months later, disoriented and almost about to attack his own dear friend, Naruto. Naruto calmed him, of course. Told him that his brother had also slipped into a coma. Although, he was more unlikely to wake up when compared to Sasuke. So Uchiha Itachi remained hidden from the rest of Konoha, lying within the Hokage's reach. Just in case.

Yuki lay, staring at the man's face. It was so much similar to Sasuke's. Yuki blushed at the thought. Never had she thought of a male like she thought of that dark-haired young man. She was around her own perverted brother too much to notice anything special about them... but when she was looking at Sasuke... When he tried so much to let her inside him, if only through his eyes...

"Yuki-chan?" Tsunade called in surprise as she entered the room. It was time for her routine check up on Itachi. She wasn't expecting Kakashi's sister to be there too. "Yuki-chan, are you alright?" Thoughts of their previous encounter was immediately dismissed.

"I'm really sorry. I know I'm being troublesome but could you take a look at my ribs? Please, Tsunade-sama." Tsunade was without expression as she put a hand over the young lady to use her chakra to check up on her body.

"Yuki-chan!" she gasped. "You fractured a rib..."

"Dang..." Yuki said through gritted teeth. "I thought so."

"Just lie down still," Tsunade instructed. Yuki let her mind fade away from reality as Tsunade began her 'operation'. It was night before she was done. Tsunade had slowed down the process a bit so they could talk to each other while she was being healed. They both had the time anyway. "There. You should be alright now." Yuki sat up and stretched her back.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," she said, smiling up at her. While she was chattering away with her, her mind had caught up on something that happened between her and Kakashi. It remained partly in attention to that. Should she quit? "Ts-Tsunade-sama?"

"Yuki-chan?"

"I... I... it's nothing," she ended flatly as doubts rose to her mind. "Excuse me. Thank you for taking care of me."

"Yuki-chan, you know you can talk to me," Tsunade said gently. Apparently her irritation earlier that afternoon was forgotten. "I realize that both you and Kakashi have been away for missions, but is Kakashi at your home enough to your liking?"

"Tsunade-sama... I don't want to ruin anything just because-"

"We care about you, Yuki-chan. Kakashi cares for you, too. Who knows? He cares for you more than the rest of us combined. I don't want to take him out more than necessary. He feels the same way about that too."

"...Yeah, I understand." Yuki looked dully at the floor.

"How could that Uchiha pass out?" Tsunade wondered out loud.

"Kuma was an S-class shinobi... I wouldn't be surprised if he fought Uchiha Itachi and squared it out." Yuki was gritting her teeth in resentment. "His clan must be very powerful."

"No. Not really. He must have learnt something during his period of absence to have made him stronger." Yuki felt the disappointment of their loss.

"Sorry about that. I burnt his body in the forest."

"Don't mind it. At least, this way, no one else will be able to reach it either."

"Well. I'll be going home now," she said when nothing else could be brought up.

Instead of making her way straight home, she made a detour to the training ground where team 7 would have normally trained in. She didn't know why her body just decided to go there. She let out a little gasp when she saw Sasuke there. He wastraining in the middle of the clearing. He seemed to twitch when she gasped. He stopped and turned all around as she hid. When he found nothing amiss, he kept on training.

Yuki watched, breathless as her heart raced against her will. Sasuke looked so focused. His dark eyes were... blank. It was both fascinating and depressing at the same time.

"Sasuke-kun..." she whispered against the wind. Her mind wandered to what had happened with Tsunade. She chickened out of telling her that she wanted out. She started rethinking her options. If she did demote herself to the jounin level, she'd have to make an appearance among all the other jounins as well as the chuunins of the village. Sakura-chan would find out. Naruto-kun would find out. Sasuke-kun would find out. They'd all feel so betrayed. Would she be able to handle that?

"Yuki-chan..." Kakashi had appeared next to her and had touched her lightly on the shoulder.

"I... Sorry, Kakashi-niichan." Kakashi looked to where she had been looking at and saw Sasuke. He sighed visibly and gave her a little pull to go away.

"Yuki-chan. You do realize that your abilities - the byakugan and the sharingan can only be inherited?"

"Like yours, oniichan? Your father had it?" That was the only bit of information Yuki knew about Kakashi's lineage.

"Yes... That's right." Kakashi winced inwardly at the memory of his parents. "I think it's time you understand something."