A/N: Okay, this chapter might not be so good: I was writing it half-asleep and during the night. But, anyways, have fun!

Disclaimer: Ah, fuck it, ya know the drill already.

Dear loveable-M: Kajitsu is pronounced something like kah-jih-tsu, and really fast. That sounds about right... I think the timeline is post the war of Sound and further from that. Or AU, where everything is peechy-keen. I'm not quite sure yet.

Haa, here we are, in the restaurant-part of my house. I'm currently cooking ramen for Naruto. Basically, everyone else has a bowl of their own. I decided to wear one of those cooky chéf-hats chéfs wear. Uchiha keeps eyeing me strangely every now and then... Suppose the fact that I threathened to beat him to death with his own arms has anything to do with it?

"Here you go, Naruto! Beef-ramen!"

"Itadakimasu!" And he digs in. I glance at Kakashi, whom I just gave his portion about a second or two ago. The bowl's empty.

"Gochisosama." He says and nods at me. And the eye twitches...

"You ate it already?"

"Yes?"

"That fast?"

"Yes?"

"You'll get a stomache-ache."

"Aww, so you do care."

"Maybe I'm just being polite?"

"I'm a ninja, I know these things."

"I'm a woman, I know these things better."

"Oh, so?"

"Yes so."

"I have many years of training on my side."

"I've got woman's intuition."

"Good point."

"It is, isn't it?"

"Ah, it's a lovers quarrel." Mayu smirks.

"Screw you."

"Maybe later, I'm pretty tired now." I just squint at her. Shiranui-kun chuckles at the backround, and Yui smirks. Since I have fed everyone in the house (yes, Tsume too) I grab my bowl, sit on a counter, take out my Come Come Paradise and start reading it as I eat.

"It can't be that intresting." Yui says and glares at me. What did I do now?

"Yes it is." Eating ramen and flipping a page.

"Anything good yet?" She asks and looks at the pages in an impossible angle.

"A few physiological impossibilities... Unless you're a yogi, that is."

"Heh." I suddenly yank the book towards Yui and glare at the person infront of me. It was Hatake-kun, smiling sheepishly again. His hand was still in a strange position, as if he had tried to grab it away from me from below.

"I thought I made it clear; you are not getting this!" I shouted and glared at him.

"Please? I'm protecting you, it could be my pay!"

"Folks will pay for the mission once it's over, dumbass."

"Fine, then I won't protect you."

"That still leaves Shiranui-kun, Naruto-kun, Uchiha-kun and Sakura-chan." I reply with a huge smile.

"Pleaaaaase?"

"No. I'm in the middle of it."

"Just a peek?"

"Get your own."

"I know you want to give it to me."

"Read your old one."

"But I've read it 5 times already!"

"Tough shit, buddy."

"I can always steal it from you." He suggests and looks as though he just won our argument. I stare at him for a while, then hide the book into my top, right between my breasts. Beat that, scarecrow!

"Try stealing it from there, bub." I counter, as calmly as I can, while eating more ramen. Yui nearly falls off the counter from laughing, Mayu is on the floor, courtesy of a fit of giggles, Shiranui-kun makes a noice with Naruto, something like 'OoooOOOoooh!', Sakura giggles as well, a little red, and I think I saw a tint of red on Uchiha-kun's face as well. And out of all the things I though Hatake wouldn't do, I see his hand approaching my chest.

"KYAAA! PERVERT!"

Slap.

And I made a nice, red handprint to the side of his face. Man, this is fun! Inwardly, the inner-me is doing a victory-dance. Right now, Yui, Mayu and Shiranui-kun are laughing their heads off, while Hatake-kun's team 7 is glaring at their teacher quite disapprovingly.

"Owch." He mutters and rubs his face. My lips form a sadistic grin as my hand is still in a the position it was after I bitch-slapped him.

"That made me feel soo much better!" Wow. Dejá vu!

"Sadistic, aren't you?" He asks and eyes me warily.

"Yes!" I reply with the cutest smile I have and push my glasses a little further up the bridge of my nose.

"I found a movie! Come see!" Sakura-chan shouts. Apparently, she and Mayu decided to raid our video-shelves. Everyone, except me and Hatake-kun leave the kitchen and walk towards the livingroom. Hatake-kun's attention is somewhere else, so I try something. Basically a suicide-attempt, I try it anyways. I silently edge my finger closer to the edge of his mask, then I try to etch it between his skin and the mask. Hey, what facial-products does he use? Before I could do anything, he catches my wrist and looks at me, boredly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He warns and releases my wrist.

"Well, you're not me. And..." I say, put my empty bowl away and hop down from the counter, staring him into his eye, and getting closer. Mere inches are separating our bodies from each other, and I put my index-finger on his mask, right there where I should see his lips.

"One day, I'm going to see what's under that mask of yours... Kakashi-kun..." I whisper and look into his confused eye. I smile, and turn around. After he can't see my face anymore, my smile breaks into a devious smirk and I hurry to the livingroom, my inner-self congratulating my actions, and my heart beating fast. I think I'm toying with my very life in this situation... But why did I do that? Normally I would've just shouted it, from a safe distance... Ah, whatever, I'll think about it later. I walked in and looked at the TV. Oh, goody! Another sappy movie. Aw, man! This bites beyond words. Apparently, Uchiha-kun, Naruto-kun and Shiranui-kun agree; they look bored. So I decide to entertain them.

Not like that!

Just goofing around. I glance at the movie; I've seen mom watch it many times, and I know about half of the lines by heart. So I plop on my couch and begin to re-enact the movie.

"Oh, Taro, why did you save me?" I mouth the words and try to put on my googly-eyes as the main girl whines in the TV.

"Because... I love you, Nikki." Acting, acting...

"Oh, but my family will never accept us!" And I act all drama-queen-like, put the back of my hand to my forehead and mouth the words.

"Let us elope then!" I mouth again and grasp the air, as if I'm holding someone's hands between mine.

"Yes, we shall elope and I will spend the rest of my life with you!" I try to get all sparkly-eyed and look as though I'm about to cry. Now Naruto starts to laugh, Shiranui-kun tries to keep his laughter in and I swear, Uchiha-kun is smirking. Yui, Mayu and Sakura turn at me and glare. I drop my act and sit there, looking like I hadn't moved in five minutes at all.

"What? What? What did I do?" I ask and glare right back.

"You did something, didn't you?" Yui asks and intensifies her glare.

"Just because someone laughs, does it always mean that I'm the culprit?"

"We've known you forever, we know if you're up to something." Mayu pipes in, eyes glued to the screen. Yui turns away from me.

"We'll be keeping an eye on you." She says and I mouth the words, while drawing a lazy circle into the air with my index-finger and mouth "yack, yack, yack" after she's done talking. Now Naruto laughs harder, Shiranui-kun began to laugh and Uchiha-kun has a really hard time keeping his cool. And I hear Hatake-kun chuckling behind me. Tsume walks over to me, seeing that none of the other girls seemed to pay any attention to her. I scratch her behind her ears, and ruffled her fur. I pat the couch seats with my hands.

"Come on, girl! Come on!" I encourage her and she jumps on the couch, lays her head onto my lap and looks content as I run my fingers in her silky fur. She curls up into a small ball and sticks her tongue out. I smile at my dog and rub her head. She sighs and closes her eyes. Times like these allow me to think. I can let my mind wander around, with no real need to concentrate into anything. Things start popping into my head. Why did my parents go on a family visit without me? Why did they hire two jounin and three chuunin to look after me? I'm twenty years old, for goodness' sake! I think I can take care of myself! Why do other people shunn that Naruto-kid so badly? I'm aware of the demon inside of him, but he isn't the demon. Why does everyone keep hating him? Why is Uchiha-kun always sulking? I know it must be really hard for a kid his age to live alone, but still. If he has emotional scars, why doesn't he try and heal them? I can't even imagine what it would feel like to go home and find my parent's murdered... Or my friends... I shake my head to get rid of the images. Tsume looks up at me, her eyes saying everything. She seems to feel my confusion and tries to offer comfort by licking my hand. I smile at her and pat her head.

"Just rest, girl. I'm going to go and think." I say and get up, lowering her head on the sofa. She looks at me, as if asking if I'm sure. I smile at her, and she seems to understand me. She lays down and goes to sleep again. I quietly grab my jacket, watching if anyone notices me. No one seems to, so I slink to the backyard. The cool nightair greets me, and I head to a gigantic tree in the backyard. I start to climb it. After having about my whole lifetime to practice it, I get there easily. I've constructed a small platform in to the tree, on which I climb on to sit. This is my place, my special place rare people know about. There's something magical here; I can see the stars, the moon is shining it's pale light through the leaves of this pear tree on me, fireflies are dancing in our garden... This is nice... Too bad things like these don't last forever. Come to think of it, I wouldn't want them to. If we don't see the downs of life, how can we appreciate the ups? I mean, you've got to at least try and find something positive in everything!

"Hey." I take a sharp intake of breath and turn my head to my left. Yeah, there stood Hatake-kun. And not methaphorcally speaking, the guy was literally standing there, attached to the treetrunk. I let out a breath of relief, and put my right hand on my racing heart.

"Phew, you scared me."

"Sorry. Can I...?" He gestures the platform and I scooch over a bit. He climbs on it and sits next to me. Silence lingers, but this one is the good kind of silence, it's not awkward or anything. We both stare at the nightsky, not really minding the silence.

"So what's under that hitai-ate of yours?" I ask suddenly, still looking up.

"What do you mean?" He counter-questions, his eye looking at me.

"You're hiding something under it. If it was just a regular eye, you wouldn't hold it like that."

"What if this is a fashion-statement?"

"Feh. Have you forgotten? This is a relatively small village. People talk." I say and let out a little laugh.

"Can't argue with that."

"If it's something painful, you don't have to talk." I say and stare back at the moon. Again, silence lands between us. Even though the curiousity is killing me inside, I don't wan't to push it. If he wants to he'll talk. I think.

"You seem to be close to your friends." He changed the subject. That painful, huh?

"Yeah... We're not sisters by blood, but by souls." Small moment of silence.

"God, that sounded so corny, didn't it." I state and let my head drop and hit my knees. Hatake-kun chuckles a bit.

"Yeah, it did." I lift my head again, to see a mostly hidden face. The pale light of fireflies and the moon give his hair an eerie glow, like I think it gives mine too.

"But it's true, every word. We seem to know what we each think. Kinda creepy, but kinda cool at the same time."

"You're strange."

"Hey, the world needs a few of us strange ones to make everyone else look normal."

"Yeah, but I meant the way your personalities change."

"Aw, come on! Even I can't be bitchy all the time." I say and chuckle.

"True." I shift from my pose and lie flat on my stomach.

"Nights are strange, don't you think?" I say, looking down to the fireflies dancing above some flowers.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Everyone thinks that during the nights, nothing moves, but when you watch closer, you'll see that there just might be more movement then than during days." I prop myself up on my elbows.

"Look, fireflies. You can only see them by night. Those flowers over there?" I say and point at a bush of yellow flowers, eminating a sweet scent.

"Those only open at night. And the bats live during the dark too. All and all, there's something calming and serene in nights."

"This isn't your first time in this tree during nights, is it?" I don't answer, just smile knowingly. Suddenly, I stiffle out a yawn.

"Guess it's way past your bedtime." Hatake-kun chuckles.

"Oh, really? Then what time is it?" Hatake-kun strokes his chin, as in thought and looks slightly up.

"I'd estimate, about 11:34 p.m." I look at my watch.

"I hate it when people do that."

"'People'?"

"... Okay, just you. Now let's go in, it's getting chilly anyways." I grab the edge of my platform, swung myself over it and land on my feet on the ground, slightly bending in the knees. Owch, that stung. Ah well, been worse. As I look up, I see Hatake already standing there, watching me in an amused way. I pout a bit. I continue to the backdoor, Hatake leisurly walking behind me. I open the door, and walk in. Hatake closes it and I tug his sleeve. The thing I saw must be one of the cutest I ever saw. Uchiha-kun had nodded off, supporting himself to the sofa; Naruto-kun was on the couch, hugging Tsume, whose backpaw was pawing the air; Sakura-chan had dozed off on a futon I gave her; poor Mayu was sleeping with her head on Shiranui's lap. Yui and Shiranui were awake, and Yui smiled at me as we entered. Shiranui-kun rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, careful not to wake Mayu up. Yui motioned me towards Mayu, and I followed. We both lifted her up, and hoisted her on my back.

"She's like a little baby." I whispered and smiled at my sleeping "sister" as she murmured something about candy-canes.

"Yeah. But she's our little baby." Yui joked.

"Yeah, she has your eyes." I whispered back and Yui slapped my arm playfully. We walked the stairs up and into my room, deposited Mayu on my bed, and tucked her in. Yui decided to go and wash her teeth, so I went back downstairs. I saw Hatake lifting Naruto-kun up and carrying him on a futon. I walked to Sasuke-kun and lifted him up. He was sleeping surprisingly soundly, I don't think he woke up at all. He snuggled closer to me.

"Hahauen..." He murmured and I smiled. He was a normal kid, after all. I walked to a futon on Sakura's right side and deposited him on it, tucking him in. As a sudden impulse, I took Sakura's hand and put it into Sasuke-kun's. His hand curled around it, and I smiled at my deeds.

"Playing Cupid, eh?" I heard Shiranui-kun whisper and I nodded.

"They can always blame it on sleep. Well, good night." I whispered and smiled at the jounins. They nodded back, and I began climbing up the stairs. I arrived to my room, and saw Yui had already passed out like a light. On my bed. Ah, what the heck, let's make it even more crowded. I climbed on the bed, taking an extra blanket and a pillow, and passing out as soon as my head hit the pillow. This was a nice day...

A/N: Well, here was the second chapter. Kakashi got a little bold, ne? Anyways, that was deep. Even for me. Seems as though Kajitsu isn't such a horrible gal after all... Bye! And remember to wait for:

As Told By Kajitsu! (echo)

Love, Tenshi-Hikari.