Disclaimer: Naruto & co. don't belong to me. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

A/N Umm... I know there have been reports that Kakashi got his sharingan eye from some sort of surgery. Let's just say I used a different idea for this fic alright? Would that make it an AU? err.. then again we don't know too much of Kakashi's past anyway. But it sort of tallies to what Itachi says in episode 81 about Kakashi... I think o.O; It doesn't matter if you haven't watched it, I don't think I put any spoilers here.

Stuff I created: Katon: Fire Dance no jutsu - it's the kinjutsu (forbidden jutsu) Yuki and Naruto had to retrieve from the Hidden Snow village.

Chapter: Discovering the Root

"What? So I'm female, therefore I can't kill people?" Yuki said heatedly as they stepped into the Uchiha manor. Sasuke ignored her as he took out his keys to open the door. Neither could remember what had started them arguing. It began only minutes into their walk to his house. After all the effort he made in trying to be nice, this just had to come up. He was bitterly sorry for saying anything at all. "I'm a jounin, Sasuke. Unless you misunderstand the conditions to become a jounin, I don't see how my killing people is a problem!" They were arguing about the time she killed Kuma at the forest.

"What I don't understand is how someone as pitifully weak as you could have become an anbu!" Sasuke bit back, though fully knowing he didn't really mean it. Dear god, he'd just seen her destroy a huge tree like it was nothing. But he wasn't about to lose this argument. Yuki was taking the act of murdering people too lightly. "You didn't even try to hide when Naruto found you in the forest!"

"And what was I supposed to do? Pick up the body and run? Leaving a careless trail of blood behind me? I think what I did was the best option I had without having to draw the four of you running around the forest to look for me, hence wasting time on your mission!" she retorted. "I was supposed to protect you not hinder you, damn it!"

"You killed a ninja at that time, too?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes. Yuki bit her tongue when she realized what she had just said. What was his problem anyway? Killing people was how she lived for the past decade. It didn't matter whether she liked it or not. She stuck with the job because she could. Yuki snapped back, glaring defiantly at him. Why was he being such a prick?

"So what?" she asked challengingly. "It's not like you've never tried to kill your brother, Uchiha Itachi."

"That's different," Sasuke barked right back at her.

"Oh? How different?" she asked coolly, crossing her hands in front of her. The action infuriated him even more.

"He killed the only family I had then and escaped. He deserves to be killed," he spat. So he was campaigning for rights for the missing-nin and enemy ninja not to be killed now, just because they hadn't killed his family? What kind of twisted logic was that? Since when did the Uchiha even start campaigning for rights anyway?

"So he betrayed you and Konoha... many others have done the same." Yuki looked crossly at him. "You betrayed Naruto-kun once years ago. Do you deserve to be killed?"

"Do I?" he challenged. The logic in the argument was starting to get confusing and Yuki knew it. Sasuke wasn't helping. All he had to do was to look at her with those damned dark eyes of his and everything started to become twisted. She decided to take another path.

"Are you getting a kick out of riling me up?" Yuki said, nearly shouting in his ear. Sasuke winced and headed over to a bookcase. They were now in the study room.

"I didn't do it intentionally," he said grudgingly. Maybe it was time to cool down. Sasuke didn't mean to start up the stupid argument but it had ticked him off when he found out that she could do something he couldn't. Ever since he found out that it was really Yuki that had killed Kuma, he'd been itching to fight her. To see where he stood. But the bitter fact was that she was jounin. And he was still chuunin. Damn. Even he still couldn't get his chakra level up to Kakashi's level yet. Kakashi could do four chidori. He could only do three. Of all the bitter facts. But Yuki was still Yuki. Though a Yuki with sharingan and was... "Then again, how would you feel after finding out that you actually have relatives - after thinking for years that they'd all died?"

"I'd've felt grateful," Yuki sneered, missing the meaning of the content of his statement.

"Well," he huffed angrily, shoving an open book to her hands. "Your father is Uchiha Taka. He was banished from the family two years before I was born - before we were born. They mentioned something about betrayal."

Yuki did not immediately grasp how fast the topic had changed and said, "Why doesn't that surprise me? It seems that the Uchihas have a history of betrayal in their blood." Sasuke's eyes narrowed and only then did she realize everything that was just said... What was it that he said? Her father was an Uchiha? And she was talking about... No way... she thought she saw... a glimpse of raw pain in his eyes. No. It couldn't have been. Uchiha Sasuke wouldn't have allowed anyone to see that he was in pain. Arrogant ba- but what she said was completely... "Sorry. I went too far." Yuki hung her head and blushed furiously. Sasuke turned away and blushed as well, not even bothering to cover his pink-tinged cheeks. Yuki was an eyeful when she blushed. To think that they were actually related. Yuki refused to look up at him and started skimming through the book to distract her attention from the awkward moment. "It says here that Uchiha Taka engaged himself to a girl but he was supposed to marry... someone else."

Sasuke didn't say anything so she decided to continue.

"So they banished him since he didn't want to break his promise to this other girl. He was never seen since. Labeled as a missing-nin."

"You have the sharingan," Sasuke stated. "Since I haven't found any records Uchiha children 'dying' around my birth year, or of any kidnappings, or anything else that is suspicious - this may be the only clue we have to your birthright."

"He was your father's second cousin." Yuki turned the page and fingered the picture of Uchiha Taka. Sasuke stared at her as she did that. She had a glazed look in her eyes. Like she was tearing up. She was blinking furiously too.

"You have his nose and cheekbones," Sasuke remarked, trying to get the awkward feelings from his chest. "There's nothing else to suggest otherwise so there's a large possibility that he could be-"

"My father," Yuki ended the sentence for him. She closed the book and looked up at him squarely, looking sheepish but resolute. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

"Don't thank me just yet. I still have no clue on who your mother could be." Yuki knew fully well from what family her mother would be but kept silent. She debated on telling him that. Telling him that would mean telling Naruto and Sakura too. Telling all three of them also meant telling the rest of Konoha ninjas. From those ninjas to the rest of the villages. The thought didn't appeal to her much. "Hi." Yuki blinked. He had offered his hand with a shy, almost grudging smile.

"Hi," she said right back at him, taking his hand in with a curious stare. He had that shy smile on his face. Shy smile. How unusual. How becoming. No, don't think that way! But there was something so unusually innocent with the way he was looking at her. His eyes were glinting something new. There was a freshness about his look. A visual apology and request for reconciliation. Not for the first time, she was drawn to his eyes... damn those Uchiha eyes... It struck her. She understood the meaning behind the awkward behavior.

Sasuke was trying to say that he wanted a new beginning between them both. Another beginning.

She was suddenly looking at 'him'. The shy boy that desperately wanted a family. Someone to recognize him. That raven-haired youth seemed so akin to Naruto at that moment. Well, they'd always been akin to each other. But not so much like this moment. The boy that had lost his family so long ago... left all alone. No one to see him... not to truly see him. To the villagers he was Uchiha. Not Sasuke. He'd been hiding behind that name for so long... he'd lost himself. Yuki saw that. She knew that. It was a gut feeling, but she felt as though it were accurate. No, maybe he hadn't lost himself. He was still there... hiding behind those eyes. That shy boy. That little boy that wanted the warmth of a family. That needed a family. Was that Sasuke?

It gripped her heart and bled it. She wanted to cry right then and there. This was the Sasuke that had been fighting to come out. Who knew why he'd chosen her to do it for. To let her see him fighting. Maybe it was that that had spurred the feelings they had for each other. Maybe somehow each knew that they were related. From that first moments together. Maybe that was what spurred all those emotions they had for each other. That he had for her. That she had for him. It felt a little disappointing, to Yuki. They locked eyes and smiled in mutual reconciliation and understanding. "So everything's alright?" She was referring to the status between them. Although she knew that it was still a little too early to see if he would forgive her-

"Yes. Everything's alright." He was smiling at her. Actually smiling, not sneering, not smirking. Just smiling. The day was actually starting to look better. For both of them.

The next day, Yuki woke up to the sound of clanging pans in the kitchens... and a smile. Something she thought she'd never do again in her entire life.. since she found out that Kakashi was adopting her. Well, that was one happy day... Yuki grinned as she stretched on her bed. Sitting up, she looked outside her window. The sky was clear. Perfect. Maybe now... everything will settle down. Maybe...

"Yuki-chan!" Kakashi called from their kitchen just as she stepped out of her bedroom. Yuki took a seat at the kitchen counter and looked over at her brother. "Yuki-chan, I'll be heading out on a mission with Sasuke-kun in a few hours. I've already explained everything to Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan. The Hokage requested that you train my squad whenever I'm away. Alright with that?" Alright with that? Yuki scoffed to herself. At last! A few days without worrying about those god-damned books Kakashi kept on reading! Even if it felt really nice that she could spend time with her brother, it could still get so... annoying!

"Alright." Kakashi had avoided mentioning her failing her students. Lucky for him, it seemed to be the last thing on her mind. He knew it'd be tough on her if he brought that up in the morning. She'd been so depressed the day before... that is, before she'd met up with Sasuke. "I've got to teach Naruto that kinjutsu anyway. Whatever is Tsunade-sama thinking?"

"She told me that some people have come to her with disturbing reports. She didn't tell me exactly of what, but she thinks that the winds are picking up and are heading for a change. She just wants as many leaf-nin as ready as possible."

"I thought it might be that way, since I was sent to retrieve the scroll," Yuki remarked. But ready for what? What was there to be ready for? Life had not been much more peaceful that it had been the last few years. What could've possibly alarmed Tsunade enough to actually get her to teach forbidden jutsus to chuunins?

"What happened on that mission anyway? You didn't tell me the whole story." Kakashi was referring to the previous mission she had with Naruto. Yuki went over the main points happily but when she got to the part where they were nearly caught, she turned red. How could anyone be so slow? "Yuki-chan, you're turning red."

"I... I-" she choked, feeling steam go through her ears. Did she and Naruto really do that? "I-it didn't s-seem so... at that time..." She then, choking out all the words, told him what had happened. Kakashi had the nerve to laugh as her discomfort! "Kakashi-niichan!"

"Well, you're all grown up now. Old enough to make your own decisions. Old enough for your own choice of bed partners..." he teased. Yuki protested again. And then she turned quiet. "Is there anything else, Yuki-chan?" He still had that teasing note to his voice. But he turned serious at the slight look of worry on Yuki's face.

"Sasuke just told me yesterday..." Huh? So it had to do with Sasuke? What did Sasuke do now? With Naruto, it had to be something or other... but then Yuki'd never really opened the subject of Sasuke by herself... so it had to be about something important. And considering what had happened two nights ago at Naruto's apartment...

"Did you find out anything from your roots in the Uchiha family?"

"It's seems that we're related in some way. We think that my father could be Uchiha Taka." Yuki was staring at her fingers when she said that so she didn't see Kakashi's visible eye widen and then freeze.

"Uchiha Taka..." he thought. "I always had my doubts but I guess that... so... Yuki... This is how it will be." He turned his attention back to Yuki before she'd notice anything amiss. "Did you tell them about your byakugan?" Yuki shook her head.

"I don't know how that'll work out. From what I've observed about the Hyuugas nowadays is that they're very protective of the members of their clan. I don't want to get sucked into that circle too soon." She had just obtained her 'freedom'. "Besides... I... I'm a little worried about that... thing. That cursed seal. I don't want them to put it on me. I... don't."

"Well... I've got to go prepare now. It's about time for the other two to get impatient, waiting at the bridge."

"What?" Yuki glanced at a clock. "It's late! Kakashi-niichan, why didn't you wake up earlier?" He chuckled.

"I didn't want any Hatake breaking the tradition of being late," he said. Yuki didn't even have to think to understand the weight in his words. He was acknowledging her as though she was his blood sister, as he did only once before. It was a silent promise to not let her go and get 'sucked in' to any other clan. But oooh! How could he wake her up so late!

"You're late!" cried out the irritated Sakura and Naruto when Yuki appeared at the bridge. She had her hand at the back of her head like Kakashi.

"Kakashi-niichan didn't bother to wake me up so-"

"Liar!" they two yelled. Yuki sweatdropped. Then Naruto looked grudgingly back at her.

"That excuse is pretty plausible," he muttered, looking sheepishly back up at her.

"Sorry," Yuki said, also feeling sheepish. "I'm guessing Kakashi-niichan already told you two why I'm here..."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura piped up as she saw the brunette walking in their direction. Yuki turned around to meet him.

"I just wanted to say goodbye before I left," he said to Yuki, blushing as he hid his face.

"That's something new!" Naruto remarked.

"Shut up," Sasuke huffed. Naruto looked from Sasuke to Yuki and back to Sasuke. Sasuke was looking awfully strange. Yuki... was acting awkward. What happened between them? Damn, he was feeling very curious. But it wasn't a bad sort of awkward, so Sasuke mustn't have done anything wrong. Naruto pouted to himself and then shrugged off his worry.

"Do your best in the mission, Sasuke-kun," said Yuki. Maybe that was what Sasuke wanted to hear? He still looked a little disturbed. His expression was a little shifty. Yuki knew he wanted to ask her something, but what?

"Hey, Yuki-chan! If we do good on our training, are you going to treat us out? Right, Yuki-chaaaaaaan? You still owe me lunch out." Yuki chuckled at that. Naruto's mind could work in such strange ways.

"Tell you what. You learn the kinjutsu that I'm going to teach you, and once Kakashi-niichan and Sasuke-kun have come back, I'll treat us all to dinner. Sakura-chan?"

"That sounds great, Yuki-chan!" she said happily. Naruto was bouncing deliriously on the water on the creek. Sasuke touched her shoulder to get her attention. What was this? Sasuke, who had all the attention in the world, was asking for some from her? He looked reluctant in asking her what it was that he wanted. Whatever that was. But Yuki thought that she could guess. She sighed, thinking that she'd give him a little mercy. "Sasuke-kun. I was thinking, that maybe, once you get back, we could go look through those books again. With your permission?" Yuki could positively see light dancing in his dark eyes. So she took the correct guess! But why was that making her feel like blushing? He nodded slowly and with a satisfied smile, walked away. Sakura watched the interaction with a blush.

"He really likes you, Yuki-chan," she said timidly. "I've never had that attention from him before. Not in all the years we've been together. I... I guess he's really happy to have found another member of his clan."

"I guess so, Sakura-chan," Yuki thought absently. Her heart was still wildly beating from his touch. They hadn't had any physical contact with one another since that day she had helped him with his injuries from fighting Kuma. "Naruto-kun! Now is not the time to slack off! It's going to take some time to get this jutsu down."

"Never fear!" Naruto said arrogantly. "I will accomplish this jutsu in a day, for I will be the next Hokage. Remember my name: Uzumaki Na-Na-Naru-tooo!" He lost his concentration and had fallen in the water. The two young ladies laughed at him.

"Naruto-kun." Yuki looked serious as she kneeled down to his level as he fished himself out. "I'm going to have to discontinue your lesson on kaze no jutsu alright? You may practice it while I am teaching Sakura-chan, but you'll have to concentrate more on the kinjutsu that I will teach you. Alright?"

Sasuke had never felt so foolish in his life. How could he have been so smitten around her? Hell, he was even blushing right now. Smitten? Heck, since when did that word even exist for him?

"All set, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked him from the gates of Konoha. Sasuke gave him a barely distinguishable nod. As with their missions together, they'd never really talked much, preferring to focus their attention on their surroundings. But this time, they were barely ten minutes out of Konoha before Kakashi said something else. "So I hear you've found out who Yuki-chan's father is?"

"A possible candidate," Sasuke said dryly. He was suspecting that this 'inquisition' might come up. "Why didn't you tell me that she had the sharingan bloodlimit, Kakashi-sensei? And all these years she'd been hiding..."

"Well... It wasn't exactly my secret to tell." He let the silence linger for a moment for Sasuke to absorb what he had just said. But he knew that the answer wasn't going to satisfy the youth. "If Itachi knew he had let someone else go, she would've fallen victim to him at an earlier age. She wouldn't have been able to grow enough to be able to protect herself." And the lady certainly could protect herself. Now.

"Someone else, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked, somehow knowing that the 'someone else' did not refer to Yuki. His thoughts wandered to his sensei's covered eye. Could he- could Kakashi be the 'someone else'.

"Yes, I meant myself," Kakashi said, almost as though he had read his thought. "You see, Sasuke-kun. Yuki's father, Uchiha Taka, was my half-brother." ***(A/N: please read note at bottom of page)

"Heeey! Yuki-chan! You didn't have to hit me so hard!" Naruto gasped as he stumbled to the ground. "You'd think the Hidden Snow village would have an ice-type jutsu instead of fire-type."

"Naruto-kun," she sighed exasperatedly. "It's important that you understand how this jutsu works. How it hits people. How much it injures them. Where it could hurt the most." Naruto looked up and gaped at her. What she said was so very... cold. "This kinjutsu is not to be taken lightly. As similar as it is to the kaze no jutsu that I taught you, it's a little more difficult to control. Since it's only to be used in life-threatening situations, you're going to have to learn how to use it to its maximum, without losing too much of your chakra at trying to control it." Naruto resentfully stood back up and dusted himself off. "Now, try it at me."

"Katon: Fire Dance no jutsu!" Spits of fire balls came from Naruto's direction towards Yuki. They grew bigger and bigger as their velocity increased - as they were supposed to. They were the size of tennis balls in the blink of an eye. And it started jerking unpredictably, moving from side to side in an unmistakable dance of fire. "Oh nooooooo!" The fire spits went of control. All had missed Yuki, who only had to step a little to her right to dodge the closest fire ball. They rushed behind her towards the trees, proceeding to burn everything that was in their way. Yuki sighed and moved quickly to dispel the jutsu. The jutsu was supposed to move, randomly, though in a controlled manner, in such a way that it would not allow the victim to escape it. That at least one would hit the victim of the jutsu.

"Do you understand now, Naruto-kun?" she asked as she made her way back to him. He had a shocked look on his face. "Remember when you trained yourself to learn kage bunshin no jutsu? It's a kinjutsu as well. Do you remember how much effort you put into it?" Naruto was suddenly reminded of all the hard work and pain he had to go through to master it. "Here's an idea. Try using the kaze no jutsu with the fire dance skill technique." Naruto looked dumbfounded. Yuki could only sigh in exasperation. "Naruto-kun. There's something you have to understand. The original kaze no jutsu was only to create gusts of wind to push back the opponent or to stop the path of projectile weapons. I modified it myself to create the different versions."

"No way... you invented a jutsu?" Naruto's scream could be heard within a mile radius.

"No, Naruto-kun. The jutsu was already there, I only modified it," she said. "You can do it too. Just like you combined kage bunshin no jutsu and oiroke no jutsu to make harlem no jutsu," she said with a wink. "Just use the seal of kaji odori no jutsu and then instead of focusing your chakra in its original manner, use kaze no jutsu's way of chakra control to the first level. The first level, the air bullet, is most similar to the kinjutsu." Naruto suddenly looked like an overeager child who had been given candy. "Try it, but don't over-do it alright? I'll go check up on Sakura-chan."

"Yuki-chan!" Sakura gasped in surprise as Yuki appeared next to her. Sakura had only just seen her with Naruto on the other side of the field. "Yuki-chan... I haven't been able to get the hang of this..." Yuki was teaching her the basics of kaze no jutsu.

"Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. It took Naruto a week to get this right. But you are so much better at chakra-control, I know you'll be able to do it sooner." Yuki told her to do it to demonstrate for her. Sakura did it but only managed to get a loud thwack as it hit against the bark and dissolved. "Good. Very good. Now you'll have to try giving it a little more energy. It's like spitting, see? Naruto-kun actually had the right idea." Yuki proceeded to demonstrate for her. Sakura was doing quite well.

Yuki's mind started wondering about what her brother and Sasuke would be doing at that moment.

"What do you mean, half-brother?" Sasuke finally managed to asked. He was thoroughly puzzled at the revelation and had refused to speak for hours. "There aren't any records of Uchiha Taka having a half-sibling."

"Just because they're not recorded doesn't mean that they're not there. Besides, illegitimate births happen all the time." There was a dry note to his voice.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Uchiha Taka's father was my father. His father had an affair with my mother, Hatake Ayame. That ended with me." Sasuke felt creeped out that Kakashi didn't display any emotion, not shame or even disgust of his past. Sasuke silently praised him for the self-respect Kakashi had developed for himself, regardless of his family situation. What kind of man was his father anyway? "Of course, the Uchihas didn't know about it until my sharingan eye appeared. They tried to kill me, or to carve it out... that's how I got my scar... it doesn't matter anymore. My mother died protecting me. The Hokage ordered them to stay away from me, if you're wondering how I got to survive."

"That would make you my uncle," Sasuke muttered loud enough for him to hear. after he had digested all the information. "Great, I have some pervert for a teacher and a relative." But he was pleased. Not that it mattered that Kakashi hadn't told him earlier. No, he wasn't going to waste time being angry anymore. He had relatives.

"Naruto-kun!" Sakura called out. She had been talking to a messenger-nin on her side of the field. Naruto stopped training and dragged Yuki along with him to Sakura. "Hokage-sama wants to see you."

"Hai!" Naruto said cheerfully as he moved to speed off to the woman's office. The messenger-nin caught him by the collar, however.

"She's at Ichiraku," he said as he let go of Naruto's collar, sending him flying off to a tree. Without missing a beat, Naruto picked himself up and sprinted to his favorite ramen stall.

"You know, it's amazing how much someone can grow and not grow at the same time," Sakura said, echoing Yuki's thoughts. The two girls looked at each other and started laughing.

A/N : *** Well, let me remind you, dear reader, before you hit the review button and try to enlighten me on how Kakashi's past is not like how I wrote it here - that I began writing this story in the year 2004, (it's now 2010) where Naruto was still new-ish and Kakashi's past was still a big big BIG mystery. I chose NOT to alter my made-up version of Kakashi's history because I like how Kakashi is connected to my OC and Sasuke. Dear readers, I love your reviews, but I am fully, FULLY aware that Kakashi's past is NOT as I wrote it here. I thank you for your time. I am glad that you are enjoying this story enough to reach the 8th chapter. I also hope that you have enjoyed enough to want to go on to press the "next chapter" button too.

Let me repeat, I know that Kakashi's real past is not as I wrote here. I wrote this story in Year 2004, before Kakashi's real past was revealed in the Naruto series. I made it all up. I'm fully aware that it's not the real story. Thanks for understanding!