Alrighty, this is my first ever Naruto fan fic, so please go easy on the flames.

I don't own anything that has to do with Naruto, but I do own my original character, Mikomi, so no stealing.

R&R

enjoy

It was about 1:00 in the afternoon on a dark, chilly day. Gray clouds denied light upon the whole village hidden in the leaves. The streets were more deserted than normal, due to the frigid temperatures that had overcome the city and the forest surrounding it.

A tall, silver-haired man of twenty walked down the streets. The wind blew through his hair, making it more unruly than usual. He walked holding an orange book, which most would find had questionable material, that he had his nose buried in. Making this trip was a daily ritual for him. His single eye was black as night, while the other was covered with his ninja forehead protector. A navy blue mask hid his mouth and nose.

The man walked slowly out of the gates of Konoha, making his way to his daily destination, the memorial stone. The forest was ghastly during this weather, dark and foreboding. Arriving at his destination, Hatake Kakashi closed his book. There sat the great, black stone of the fallen ninja. His best friend was on there, and his death had changed him completely. It made him become bent on teamwork. It made him realize that a team is one, and they act as one as well. If one wants to defend themselves, then they have to defend their whole team.

Kakashi stared blankly at the name upon the stone; Uchiha Obito. The one who had given him one of the greatest gifts a ninja could receive: the Sharingan.

He stood in his trance for sometime. Listening to the howling of the wind, and feeling it rush through his hair.

The copy nin's eyes snapped out of the trance quickly. He was not alone.

He turned his vision to his left into the forest, and heard a twig snap in the direction of his vision. Someone had been spying on him and now they were trying to escape.

The real Hatake Kakashi sat on a branch in a tree, watching his clone look over into the forest, right below where he was positioned. He saw the spy now below him. The figure was very small, so it had to be a child, but why was the child watching him? The child gasped as his clone looked over in the direction where it was at. The small figure turned to run, but then looked up into the trees and saw the real ninja looking down at it. It was a young girl with bright blue eyes and raven hair pulled up into a ponytail that extended to the base of her neck.

Surprisingly, the girl did nothing, but smirk at him. Then in a puff of smoke, the child now was a log.

"A Replacement Jutsu? But that girl didn't even look like she was five years old!" Kakashi thought.

Then he heard it. Someone was bounding through the top of the trees. He followed the sound and in a puff of smoke he appeared right before the child, who was looking behind her and rammed right into Kakashi, who wrapped his arms around the child to render her unable to move. The girl squirmed with all her might, which added up to be very weak.

Sharingan Kakashi bounded out of the forest and into the clearing where the memorial stone was. The girl was still squirming and grunting to try and free herself, but Kakashi just rolled his eyes at her feeble attempts. He stood the girl on the ground, while still holding firmly onto her wrist. The top of her head only reached his mid-thigh, so he squatted, so that they could at least be closer to eye level.

The girl was indeed tiny, not only in height. It didn't look like she had eaten in days. She wore a tight black, sleeveless shirt that had a turtle-neck stretching to the middle of her neck. Black wrapping adorned her fore arms and so did black gloves. She wore black baggy pants and black shoes.

"This girl's got a love for black, that's for sure."

Everything about her matched entirely. Her hair matched her clothes perfectly. Except for her eyes, which were a shocking blue. After examining the girl thoroughly and making her very uncomfortable with his eyes…well eye, looking her up and down, he began asking her the basic questions.

"So what is your name, little girl?" he asked, trying to add some kindness to his voice.

The girl responded with a glare at first, but then murmured grumpily, "Mikomi."

"How old are you Mikomi?"

"Six…"

"And what clan are you from, Mikomi?" asking as sweetly as he could manage without killing himself.

"I don't know," she stated darkly.

"How exactly could you not know?" he asked getting somewhat annoyed.

"I don't have a family," Mikomi said.

"You don't? Then where do you live?" he asked make his voice as sugary as possible.

"You don't have to baby talk me, mister. I'm not a baby. Speak to me as though you were speaking to anyone else, and I live in the forest," she stated.

He was shocked by her request. Normally a girl of this age didn't care if he baby talked him. Even women didn't care if he baby talked them, but that was a different story.

"You have no home either?" he asked finally taking the sugar out of his voice and loosening his grip on her tiny wrist. Kakashi noticed randomly that his wrist was bigger than the width of her arm.

She shook her head in response.

"So, Mikomi, why were you spying on me?" he finally got around to asking the question he had wanted to ask.

"It's just that I see you here everyday. I saw that you were a ninja, and I just wanted to see what ninja were like."

"You seem to know some of the things ninja do, like that Replacement Jutsu."

"I went to the library in Konoha one day. I found a scroll on ninja techniques, and I taught myself some of them."

"Who taught you how to read, then?" he asked looking down into the girl's bright eyes. She had relaxed under his grip now.

"I taught myself everything I know."

Kakashi looked at her for a moment, then said, "You seem like a smart girl, Mikomi. How about we make a deal? If you promise not to run away, I'll let go of your wrist."

She nodded in quick agreement and he let go of her wrist. Mikomi rubbed it painfully. Kakashi must have held on harder than he intended because he forgot how small and fragile her wrists were.

Kakashi sat down on the grass nonchalantly, and motioned for Mikomi to sit next to him. He had taken an interest in this girl. She looked at him questioningly, but then gave in and sat down next to him, Indian-style. Sitting, the top of her head nearly reached his shoulder.

"Geez, she's so tiny."

"Geez, he's so tall."

"What's your name?" Mikomi asked.

"You can call me Kakashi," he responded.

She nodded and asked, "Are you a jounin?"

He nodded and her eyes brightened with curiosity. She came close to smiling, but not quite. Mikomi's eyes, Kakashi noticed, reflected wisdom and intelligence far beyond her years, but showed no emotion otherwise. Mikomi didn't strike Kakashi as the happy type, she almost looked sad.

"No, not sad. Lonely and unloved," he thought.

"So, Mikomi, how long have you lived in the forest?" he asked.

"All of my life, or at least since I can remember," she responded.

"How did you survive?" he asked the surprise obvious in his voice.

Her response was quite strange. "The spirits of the forest helped me to survive."

"Is this kid nuts?"

"I'm not nuts!" she exclaimed, her eyebrows lowering in anger. Then she realized what she had just said, and covered her mouth in shock. Mikomi had accidentally revealed her secret.

Kakashi was shocked. "Did you just read my mind!"

"Uh," she was trying to think of an excuse that he would believe, but she realized nothing would get her out of this one. She sighed and said in her high-pitched voice. "Yes, I can. Sometimes, I do it accidentally, like just now. I've always had these powers my mind can do."

"What else can you do, just so I'm not caught off guard next time?" Kakashi asked quickly.

"Well, I can read minds obviously. I have the ability to perform telekinesis, which is..."

"Yes, the ability to move objects with your mind. Continue," he interrupted quickly.

"I can also perform telepathy, talking to people through their minds. Also I can do mind control and therefore control a person's body. Oh, and what I mentioned earlier, I can talk to spirits," she said cautiously, fearing that he might actually deem her crazy.

"Whoa," was his sole response. "So these…spirits help you survive?"

"Yeah and they give me certain items that help me to do so," she said looking at the ground now, almost afraid to look Kakashi in the eye. "I'll show you some if you'd like."

"Sure, I guess," he said.

Mikomi stood up and motioned for him to follow her. She walked into the dark forest, unafraid, which most children would be quite frightened.

"I guess you wonder how I could live in a place like this," she said and that's exactly what he was thinking.

Mikomi turned around and looked at him, and jumped at how he was looking at her. Kakashi was glaring down upon her now.

"Oh you think I read your mind again don't you? No, I just guessed," she said, showing absolutely no emotion whatsoever. Kakashi relaxed and they continued and so did she.

"The darkness doesn't bother me because I am the darkness. And it does not bother me that I am," she said.

"It seems that you want to become a ninja," Kakashi said.

"Yes. My goal is to be the greatest assassin in Konoha and the greatest spy ninja. I would like to also join ANBU. To be part of the darkness helps with all of those things," she said.

Kakashi found it strange that a girl of six was already thinking of becoming a hired murderer. But he figured that since she was alone all of her life and had to fight to live, caused her to mature so quickly. She stopped in a clearing that opened to reveal a stream and a small sleeping mat. There was also a spot for a camp fire.

Mikomi walked over to the tiny campsite and picked up two small silver daggers. She motioned for him to come look at them and he walked over. Holding them up, she apparently wanted him to look at them. The dagger's handle was fairly thin and was made of the same metal as the rest of the weapon. The blade was long for a dagger and thin. There were two prongs that came out of where the hilt should have been and curved up, pointing in the same direction as the blade.

These weapons were for a warrior that desired speed and not power.

"Look closely," Mikomi said pointing at the dagger. "See the engravings on them?"

He looked again and realized that there were words engraved over every inch of the daggers. They were in very beautiful, cursive lettering, but they seemed to be in a different language, unknown to him.

"The language is the language of the spirits," she said.

"You can read this?" he asked.

"Yes," she walked up closer to him and he lowered the daggers so she could reach them.

She traced her finger over the engravings and for a brief second the words lit up, emerald green.

He looked at the girl questioningly, because she was indeed very…different.

"Ullua por nui ferette, harle por nus sagettes, yui nue esdarme. Yui nua esdarme harlerette," Mikomi read.

"It means, I protect the forest, I whisper to the spirits, I am the shadow. I am the Shadow Whisperer. The spirits gave me these daggers and therefore decided upon what is engraved upon these. The "I" in the passage obviously refers to me. Shadow Whisperer is the part that always confused me," she said.

Not as confused as Kakashi was, as he stared at the blades in his hands. This was very bizarre to him. A girl who can speak to the spirits? There was one clan through which this was a special technique. This was a trait of one advanced bloodline he knew of. But, from what he knew they were demolished three years ago.

"Could it be that this girl is the last survivor of that clan?"