Little Black Dog

Kakashi was cautious for if he said the wrong thing then Narichi would kill him, so he began to ponder, "If I ask her what she's talking about she might know I saw her, but if she really just wants to make sure I didn't see anything even though I did," he looked away to hide his blush, "But that shouldn't matter, Narichi is my friend and I should tell her the truth, even if it takes my life, right?" he asked himself and looked at Narichi.

Narichi was in a deep red blush and she started to look uneasy, he could tell if he said anything uncomfortable she would faint again, but then he thought, "If she faints again then she won't remember asking or me answering her question, therefore I won't be lying to her!"

"Well…did you?" Narichi asked softly nervous about his silence.

Kakashi took a deep breath and stopped walking. He looked at Narichi who stood next to him and waited for his reply, she looked so scared and worried. He sighed, then hoping that she'd faint he said, "Well in the process of catching you, umm…well I did see a TINY bit when your towel slipped off. But anyways, please don't kill me!"

Narichi's fear was now in fact very real, she couldn't stand and wavered back in forth. Slowly her consciousness was fading. Kakashi noticed and asked, "Are you alright?" Even though he knew she wasn't.

Narichi's eyes grew heavy and then suddenly her mind went black and she fell forwards toward the ground. Kakashi caught her quickly and softly sighed, "I'm sorry Narichi-san."

Kakashi carried Narichi towards the forest ignoring every ones comments and suspicious looks.

Kakashi later arrived at a clearing where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke waited impatiently for the arrival of their late sensei. "What took you so long!" Naruto yelled pointing at Kakashi as he entered the clearing.

Sakura was a little upset at Kakashi and told Naruto, "Pointing at people is rude."

"I don't care, he's late!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke was leaning against a tree trying to ignore Naruto but muttered, "He's always late, so you should be used to it by now, baka."

Naruto heard him and glared at Sasuke, "What did you just say?" Naruto started walking towards him.

Sasuke stood up straight with his hands in his pockets, "I don't see any reason to repeat myself, since your pathetic senses have failed you yet again, Baka!"

Naruto got angry and pulled up his orange sleeve and clenched his fist tightly together. "That's it, your dead!" Naruto yelled charging.

Sakura got angry, "Naruto, you fool! You can't beat Sasuke so, Stop It!"

Kakashi couldn't believe how eager they were to start a fight. He sighed and threw a kunai in between them, without dropping Narichi, to stop Naruto from proceeding forward. "Will you three grow up already! Now in about two days you three will be starting your missions in order to proceed to the next level, Chunin. I'm only going to train you now like I have for the past week on common sense things that you all seem to lack. These skills will help you in the missions to come. So if you choose to ignore my help consider yourselves of the Genin class forever," he said setting Narichi down against a tree.

They stopped and looked ashamed. Then Sakura noticed Narichi was unconscious and said, "Hey! Kakashi-sensei, why is Narichi-san unconscious? Did you do something to her again!"

"No. Now here's what you have to do today there's a little black dog that ran away from its master in this part of the forest. Now it's up to you three to locate it and bring it back here. Got it!" Kakashi said briefing the three.

"How is this training? And whose dog exactly are we looking for?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi sighed, "The dog's name is Kurohe's my neighbor's dog. And I've been watching him for a while now, when I was walking him this morning he ran away so I figured I'd let you three find him for me!" Kakashi smiled as the three looked at him with irritation.

"So because you're a lazy bum, we have to find it for you so you won't get in trouble," Naruto mumbled.

Kakashi looked over too Naruto and said, "Yeah that's pretty much it."

Naruto flinched thinking, "Huh! How'd he hear me? Wasn't I quietly thinking that?" Naruto thought and became confused with his own thoughts.

"Anyways the three of you must figure out a plan that you can all agree to, and that is the fastest and safest way to retrieve Kuro. Ok then, you're dismissed." Kakashi finished and sat down against a tree near the resting Narichi, "I'll be here if you need me. Oh, and you only have an hour." Kakashi smiled waving to the kids as they then nodded in agreement to split up.

The three of them thought, "This is just too easy…"

Narichi started to wake from her long nap. "Where am I?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

Kakashi looked over to her, "Oh, you're awake now! Well were just in the forest waiting for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura to come back."

"Oh, ok." Narichi said sitting up she noticed something in near by the trees. She walked into the forest, and then around a big tree and found a little black dog tied to the tree. "Oh Kawaii!" she cried hugging the dog.

Kakashi smiled looking down at her from where he stood resting against a tree. "Well at least she's happier," he thought. "His name is Kuro right now Naruto and the others are searching for him," Kakashi laughed thinking about them.

"So are you preparing them for class D missions?" Narichi asked as she untied the dog and carried him back to the clearing.

"Yeah, I really just want them to learn how to sense the presence of other living things, not just humans. And to learn the perimeter checks help especially if you have the time to kill before meeting someone," he smiled.

Narichi was studying how Kakashi teaches his students, "Oh I see, so this is the kind of thing you want to teach young shinobi." Narichi and Kakashi walked over to the clearing they were in before and sat down and played with Kuro.

It was not long till Narichi started talking. Narichi was rubbing Kuro's tummy when she softly said, "Kashi-kun, why do you always say that?"

Kakashi was confused and asked, "Say what?"

"It's for your own good, you always say that right before you kiss me. And why do you also kiss me, even though it just hurts me?" she asked.

Kakashi smiled, "Well since you haven't figured it out after all these years, I don't see any harm in telling you."

Narichi looked over to him, "So that's a no, huh?"

"Yup," Kakashi said.

Narichi sat back then held Kuro close to her, "Then tell me this, Why did…why did you break your promise? Why didn't you come back?" She looked at him almost ready to cry.

Kakashi was surprised for it was his dream all over again. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't protect you, I still can't protect you! That's why I had to leave you there! I'm sorry," he said softly. He couldn't bring himself to look back at Narichi.

Narichi threw a stick and Kuro chased after it, she said slowly looking away from Kakashi, "We both know that's not true. You just use that as and excuse."

"If you know then why ask?" Kakashi said plainly.

"Because," Narichi's voice was shaky, "Because you abandoned me there! I don't know exactly why, I just know…I just know what's not true." She didn't cry, but she clutched the area of her chest near her right shoulder with her left hand.

Kakashi stared at the ground, "I'm sorry, but I'm powerless against them."

Narichi squeezed her arm and yelled, "Well so am I!"

Kakashi looked at her and asked softly, "Is that why you ran away?"

Kakashi had struck a chord in Narichi. She was frozen stiff and she slowly said, "Yes…I," then she was interrupted by a young shinobi who happened to appear from out of nowhere, nowhere being the shadows of the forest.

"Look, I found him Kakashi-sen" Sakura began cheerfully, "…sei," she was extremely confused to see Narichi and Kakashi very seriously staring at her as if she had barged into something important.

Kakashi stood up and walked over to Sakura, "Good job Sakura." He said patting her on the head. "You can put Kuro down he won't go far," Kakashi said looking at Kuro whose air was being squeezed out of him.

"But, didn't this dog run away from you this morning?" Sakura asked letting the jump from her arms and onto the ground.

"Uh, no see it's been tied up ever since this morning." Kakashi smiled.

Sakura looked irritated and wanted to yell at Kakashi but refrained from doing it. Instead she just sat down to wait for Sasuke to come back.

Narichi hid her feelings from her previous conversation and asked Sakura, "So Sakura-chan how were you able to find Kuro so much faster than the others?"

Sakura looked over to her and smiled, "Well for one thing I'm superior to Naruto and Sasuke probably already on his way back. But once we decided to split up I checked nearby here and then I heard a bark and found this little guy, he was barking at a rabbit hole so I snuck up on him. He fit Kakashi's description, so I figured it had to be Kuro."

"Hmm, well that's good," Narichi smiled.

Kakashi looked over at her then glanced away. He was eager to finish their conversation and learn what happened to Narichi over the last nine years.

Narichi wore a smile to hide her insecurity. Sakura was interested in finding out more about Narichi so she stared at her every now and then.

Sasuke and Naruto came racing back. When they got to the clearing where the others were, they both held out small black dogs and demanded, "Which one is it!"

Everyone was surprised to see them both with dogs. One of the dogs had a white paw and the other had a cute pink nose. "Well!" they demanded.

Kakashi picked up Kuro to show them and said, "Neither."

They stood there looking at the dog Kakashi held up. They then let the dogs jump down and run off into the forest. Their clothes were soiled from trying to catch the dogs, and their faces wore expressions of weariness and irritation. They both were thinking something alone the lines of, "How could I have missed that one. Sakura was searching the nearby area, why would it be there." Suddenly Sasuke understood what exactly had happened.

He glared at Kakashi and demanded, "You planed this, didn't you!"

Kakashi put Kuro down and said, "Of course."

Naruto was confused about Sasuke's exclamation "What are you talking about?" Naruto asked blankly.

Kuro joyfully pranced up to Sasuke and gave a small bark to get his attention. Sasuke glared angrily at the small dog. Which then ran away in fear, towards Narichi and hid behind her, and peeked out to check if it was safe. Sasuke glared at it again and it buried itself in the drooping cloth from Narichi's dress.

Sasuke then looked back at Kakashi. He then growled, "Kakashi-sensei here, kept the dog near by here so we were sent off a wild goose chase!"

Naruto was angry but then mumbled, "Hey that would be interesting. What if I order Miso Raman with Duck!"

Everyone stared at him for a moment. Then Sakura jump at him and smacked him with a fan that seemed to appear from nowhere. "Why is all you think about Raman! Don't you have some other kind of life?"

All the shinobi around them looked at her and were thinking, "Uh, all I do is train..."

Sakura walked away from him a little pissed. Kakashi sighed, "Well maybe he's just thinking about lunch." Suddenly everyone's stomach growled but his. "What none of you ate anything? Not even you Narichi?" he asked mainly looking at Narichi.

Narichi held her stomach and said, "I've been doing Kuniko's chores all morning, so I must have forgotten to make breakfast for myself."

The young Genin looked at their sensei and said, "You took so long getting here, of course we got hungry!"

"Very well," sighed Kakashi, "You all can go home, but before you eat think about how you should have completed this mission without any flaws. Oh and tomorrow you have the day off, and in about a week we'll be starting your missions."

Sakura looked at Kakashi blankly and asked, "But you said we would be starting our missions in two days?"

"Well I lied," Kakashi said and looked away from his irritated students. "Well I guess I'll be taking Kuro back now. See you three later."

The three left hungry and very eager to get away from their sensei. While Narichi felt very uncomfortable about being left alone with Kakashi. For she had no intention of bringing back the conversation he had early killed.

She comforted Kuro and let him run back to Kakashi she then said, "Well I guess I'll see you in a while." She waved good-bye and turned around.

Kakashi said, "Hey come back here."

Narichi stopped and turned around yelling, "Just leave me alone!"

Kakashi was standing there a little confused. Kuro was at her feet begging for her to pick him up. Narichi turned a little red from embarrassment and picked up Kuro. Then Kakashi in good nature smiled at Narichi's misdirected outburst, and stopped himself from laughing hysterically.

Kakashi walked over to her and said, "Hey can you come with me? I need to take him back but it seems he's really attached to you."

Narichi said, "Sure, I have nothing better to do for the rest of today."

Kakashi smiled, "This way."

"Ok," Narichi said she couldn't help but let out a little smile.

They walked together through the village and found themselves on the far side of town. Kakashi's place wasn't much farther. When they went in it, Narichi found it to be your usually bachelor style one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. "Uh, where is Kuro's owner?" Narichi asked looking around amazed it wasn't a complete mess but actually rather clean organized. (A lot nicer than her own she'd have to admit)

"Oh, well see Mika is out on a mission so I have to watch Kuro for another day or so," he said grabbing a small bag of dog food and poured it into a bowl on the floor. Kuro eagerly jumped out of Narichi's arms and ran for the food. But when he sniffed it he barked at Kakashi.

Narichi looked at his food and then asked, "What are you feeding him?"

"What Mika gave me. Look the box is right here." He said handing the box to her.

Narichi examined the box and then looked at Kuro. She picked him up and rubbed his tummy. "Well don't feed him this anymore," she said looking at his teeth. "Besides this stuff is for puppies, Kuro is an adult dog now."

"Huh? Are you sure I thought his breed grew up to be at least twice his size now." Kakashi said looking down at the small Doberman.

Narichi stood up after patting Kuro on the head, "Well maybe for a pure breed but this one here is a mix. And he looks sick so you'll have to feed him something easy to digest."

"Like what?" Kakashi asked watching Narichi move towards his refrigerator.

Narichi looked around and said, "Like rice! And how about some eggs while we're at it." Narichi smiled and pulled out a small carton of eggs and a bowl of left over rice.

"Ok, well since when did you become an expert at everything?" Kakashi asked with suspicion. Narichi was frozen still and slowly began to relax. She walked around the kitchen looking for a larger bowl to put everything it.

"Do you really want to know?" Narichi asked buttering up a frying pan.

"Yes." Kakashi said waiting for her reply.

"Very, well then," she stuttered.

Hello Onigiri here! o

Now see this chapter would really be about 25 pages long or so if I didn't split them into to. The next one is coming soon since most of it is finished already. Now I figured I'd give you a heads up, so from here on out my story is going to get rather serious. I'm slowly and disorganizedly revealing Narichi's past. If I wrote mangas her entire life up to 22 years old could fill over 7 manga books. So this is a really long series.

Now the last thing I should mention is my writing skills are falling to their doom. In order to write and perfect my story to its fullest potential I need reviews. I really don't care what you right but if you ever read this story you should review. In fact even if you hate this story tell any of your Naruto fan friends about this. And make sure they review. See if they don't I'm afraid my spirits will fall even further down the cliff of attempted and failed writer. Tear I'm sorry but I really need you to review every time you open to one of my chapters. If you review me I'll love you forever. Also umm, I don't care if your reviews are good, bad, or ugly. The ugly and bad ones will just help me understand my audience (If any) and allow me to make improvements. I spend lots of time on my computer typing instead of doing my homework, (This explains my lowering grade in geometry). So I beg of you, Please, review!

Thank you

Oni-Onigiri, Saying Good-Bye! And with lots of love!