Questions? See the end of the chap.

Updated 12-01-04 to account for the fact that the chick on Kakashi's team was named Rin.

Chapter 2:Ghosts Are Among Us

It was a perfectly normal afternoon at the bridge. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the trio known as Group 7 were waiting impatiently for their instructor to show up.

"Why is he always late?" Sakura growled to herself, feeling annoyed. "It's not like it's that hard to get up in the mornings..."

Panting, Naruto glared at Sasuke. "I'll get it this time!" he shouted, pointing at the black haired boy. "You'll never be able to beat me Sasuke! CHIDORI!!!"

"Dobe." Sasuke muttered, actively trying to ignore the blond genin.

Kakashi appeared at the end of the bridge with a small puff of smoke. "Sorry I'm late. A beautiful woman became lost so I had to help find her."

"Do you always have to lie?" Sakura demanded, glaring at her teacher.

"Kaka-sensei! I've almost got it!" Naruto shouted, his face red. "W-watch! CHIDORIIIIII!!!"

Kakashi ignored the boy as he fell to the ground. "Mah, listen up everyone, the Hokage's given us a B ranked mission. Top priority."

"Really!?" Naruto shouted, leaping up. "B rank!? What do we have to do? Defeat enemy ninjas? Find a forbidden scroll? Pat our heads and rub our tummies at the same time!?"

"Nope! Better!"

"What's the mission, sensei?" Sasuke asked, his face determined.

"Ah, all we have to do is find a beautiful woman."

The group stared at their teacher.

"Did the Ero-sennin give us this mission?" Naruto asked, looking annoyed.

"No. Tsunade herself issued it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Do we have to find someone in particular or do we just have to find a beautiful woman in general?" Sakura asked looking puzzled.

"We have to find one that was accidentally discharged this morning from the hospital," Kakashi said, leaning back to rest his weight on one of the bridge's rails. "She's badly hurt and possibly confused. The Hokage wants her back before she can get into any trouble."

Sasuke sighed. This was going to be yet another stupid mission. "What does she look like?"

Kakashi crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. "Her hair is... Eyes are... She's wearing clothes..."

"You don't know what she looks like!?" Sakura shouted. "How are we supposed to find her if we have no idea what she looks like!?"

"Mah, calm down Sakura-san," Kakashi said smiling. "It should be easy. She was last seen carrying Naruto's jacket after all."

"My jacket!?"

"Is this person by any chance the girl we pulled out of the river?"

"Yes, she is, Sasuke."

"Black hair, grey tunic, black pants," Sasuke said calmly. "Where are we searching?"

"The village limits. The guards report that she couldn't have gotten past them to leave."

-

-

(Meanwhile... Outside the Village Limits)

This was much better, she decided. The sun was warm against her back, she could hear bird song and feel the breeze... Yes. This was much better then the crowded and busy village. Less people too. She wasn't supposed to go near people because...

Her stomach rumbled interrupting her thoughts. She was hungry. Starving really. When was the last time she had eaten? Her head hurt just thinking about it. Maybe there was a berry bush nearby or a plant with good roots? Her stomach growled again loudly.

"Heh, the kid's hungry," a male voice said off to her right. "Too bad she doesn't know that Kakashi's brats left their lunches behind when they went off on their mission today."

"Really?" she asked turning to look at the young male as he turned to go.

The man stopped and slowly looked back at her. "You heard me?"

"Yes," she said nodding. "I'm very sorry sir, but I'm very hungry. If those meals are unclaimed, may I have them?"

The man stared at her, black hair blowing in the wind.

-

-

"So then, this kid Naruto gets the bright idea to eat the obento while everyone is off trying to defeat Kakashi," the man said laughing merrily.

Swallowing her mouthful of rice, she smiled. "What happened next, Obito-kun?"

Closing one of his red eyes, Ushira Obito grinned widely. "Kakashi caught him. And tied him to the log."

She laughed, gazing at the log which must have once held the boy Obito was speaking of. " Did he get in trouble?"

"Not really," Obito said shrugging. "Kakashi was more amused then anything else. If he was really ticked he wouldn't have let the kid start his ninja training after all..." He smiled gazing at the log fondly. "Man, that log brings back memories. I remember when I was going through the genin trial that I was the one tied to that log. Rin laughed and laughed at me... And Kakashi-baka just stood there with that stupid mask on his face and asked the Fifth if he was a genin yet."

"What about your students, Obito-kun? Did any of them need to be tied to the log?"

Obit smiled sadly. "I've never had any students. Certain... situations have prevented me from ever teaching."

"Oh." She gazed down at the half eaten meal in front of her. "Would you like something to eat, Obito-kin? There are three meals, I can't possibly eat them all."

Shaking his head, Obito smiled at her. "Nah, not hungry." He fell back, laying down and basking in the warm afternoon sun. He was glad that he had met this girl. Glad that he had shown her the lunches which team 7 had so thoughtlessly left behind. It had been a long time since he had been able to converse with anyone (being dead) and it felt nice to have someone to talk to that could actually hear what you said. How could she see and hear him anyway? he wondered. Most humans couldn't do it. Was she a miko? "So what's your story?"

"My story?"

"Yah. Here I've been telling you the entire secret of the Konoha genin test and I don't even know your name."

She gazed down at Obito's smiling face and frowned. It was true. She had been being terribly rude... "My name... My name is... is... Dear."

"Deer? Like the animal?"

"I suppose so. That is what the Ka-chan called me after all."

"Your mother named you Deer?"

"Ka-chan isn't my mother. She's a nurse."

"So you came from..."

"The hospital."

Obito looked at her puzzled. "Hospital... What happened?"

"Nothing really. It was just stomach pains due to it being that time of month."

A light blush covered Obito's face. "Oh."

"Obito-kun..."

"Yah?"

"What does 'that time of month' mean?"

Obito stared at her, his face going scarlet. "Ano.... I don't really know," he lied. There was no way in hell he was going to tell a woman about their own problem. "I always thought it was a girl thing. Why, can't you remember?"

She frowned and ate another bite of rice. "Obito-kun, is Dear really that odd of a name?"

"... I guess so."

"Do you think it's my name?" There was true sadness in the girl's eyes.

Obito sat up and looked at her full in the face. "You can't remember, can't you?"

"No."

He smiled brightly. "Well, let's see if we can change that. What's the first thing you can remember clearly?"

"Waking up in the hospital," she responded promptly. "Ka-chan giving me my clothes and getting dressed."

"And what can you remember before that?"

She hesitated. "Being... cold... wet..."

"And before that?"

She was silent for a long time, staring down at the obento on her lap. She could remember the hospital clearly. The pure white of it all and the smell of disenfectent with underlying scent of illness. She could roughly remember the feeling of arms around her. The safety of the arms as the wind blew quickly around her. Before that she had been cold. She had held onto something... a log?... and floated along a deep river. But why had she been in a river? Her head and chest hurt as she thought about it...

"Hey. You okay?"

She looked up at Obito, sharply. "I- I'm fine."

He smiled weakly, looking a bit worried. "Well, remember anything?"

She closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happened before the cold. Unbidden tears began running down her cheeks. "I was betrayed," she whispered softly.

"Betrayed?"

"The river... it wasn't in the river..."

Obito looked at her, concerned. "What wasn't in the river, Imo-chan?"

A small sob escaped her. It hadn't been in the river. For days it never appeared. She had been hungry, but it never came. Had her mother... "Obito-kun!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around the man.

"Wha–" Obito gasped out before being tackled to the ground. She was touching him! No one had ever... Ghosts couldn't... Why could she touch him when everyone else just walked through him like he was air?

"She forgot me," she murmured into Obito's chest. "Mo-Mother forgot about me. She stopped sending the rice..."

"Imo-chan..."

"She told me to stay away from everyone. Told me that if I was good I could go to heaven with her... She forgot me, Obito-kun... She forgot her Mitsuki..."

Slowly, Obito sat up, the girl still sobbing in his arms. Poor kid, he thought to himself. She was crazy. But she could see him, touch him. His head reeled at the thought. He could feel her tears soaking into his vest. Holding back laughter (for it wasn't the time to laugh) he slowly began stroking her back as she cried. Thanks god, he cheerfully thought, not able to rid himself of the grin that was beginning to cross his face. This girl, she could hear ghosts, she could eat mortal food, she would be able to complete his goal.

Clearing Up:

Yes, this guy is Obito, Kakashi's dead best friend. Yes, he is dead. Yes, he is a character and he's currently talking to the OC. Yes, it's all very confusing. See the genre of supernatural describing the fic? I'll explain it all later. After the Tengu, Kappa, Oni, Tennyo, Kitsune, and Yuki-Onna come into play. Brushing up on your Japanese folklore may help. I recommend Folktales of the World Edited by Keigo Seki, Translated by Robert J Adams, and Published by the University of Chicago copyright 1963. I found this copy in my University's Library. It rocks. Really, the best I've found. It has all my favorites and it keeps all the sound effects untranslated. Plus it keeps the honorifics. Yup. The best ever.

Imo-chan:

Okay, I got sick of referring to Mitsuki as she or girl or that freaky person who weird crap is happening to. Imo-chan is a short, friendly way of addressing her as little sister. Why is she address as little sis by Obito? Well, while Mitsuki is 23 (no, I haven't said that yet, but I'm saying it now) Obito is still 26. He just happened to die when he was 17 (haven't said that yet, either). So Obito is older. But dead. Very dead. Poor Obito...

The Story Thus Far:

Almost everyone who has reviewed has mentioned that this story is slow and confusing. Sorry it's slow. I can't really help it. I have a lot of information to weave together with the Naruto world and I really don't want my characters to be all "I can't remember my past! sob (2.3 seconds pass) HI! My name is Mitsuki!" As for confusing, Mitsuki has been very confused thus far. So the basic lay down:

Chap 1: Mitsuki (at this time being referred to as 'she') somehow fell into a river, nearly drowning, and was fished out my Kakashi (the hard warm bumpy thing was his chest covered by the vest. I figured that the summoning scrolls would be rather uncomfortable being pressed into you). Naruto donated his jacket to help keep her warm and she was rushed to the hospital where she got warm and passed out.

Chap 2: Mitsuki (now believing her name was 'dear') wakes up to Kaede trying to discharge her. There was a mix up of charts (probably due to Kaede's incompetence) and Kaede thought that Mitsuki was a girl who had come in 'cause her parents freaked out over their daughter's cramps due to her period. Never mind that the girl is just down the hall with her parents trying to take her home. Being very confused, Mitsuki leaves wondering why her shoulder and head and why she can't remember much of anything. Meanwhile Naruto wants his jacket back and doesn't want to go to the hospital to get it. So what does he do? He harasses Kakashi until he agrees to get it for him. Tsunade is leading Kakashi to Mitsuki's room but is side tracked as Kaede explains to the parents of the menstrual girl that their daughter was fished out of a river and is badly hurt (she isn't). Kakashi discovers that Mitsuki is gone.

Chap 3: (Why not?) Kakashi goes and gets Team 7 to help him find Mitsuki (who still can't remember her own name). He can't remember what she looks like, but Sasuke does. They believe the guards report that Mitsuki could never have gotten past them (she did) and they go to look for her in the village. Meanwhile, Mitsuki is hungry. The ghost of Ushira Obito (Kakashi's best friend) happens to come across her, and muses out loud how silly she is (this is a common occurrence in Japanese folklore. Usually it's people who can understand the language of bird though). Mitsuki with her 1337 supernatural powers (Hint #1) hears him, sees him, and asks him to show her the food he mentioned. Obito is shocked. They settle down at a picnic by the memorial where Obito amuses her by telling her stories. Mitsuki tries to remember things but she can't. Then she remembers things (Hint #2). She grabs onto Obito for emotional support and cries while Obito realizes that he can use her to fulfill his goals.

AND NOW THE GREAT CHALLENGE!!!

It's simple. Tell me what Mitsuki is and I'll give you... something. I don't know what... You've got a couple hints and the knowledge that I love Japanese folklore. All you need to tell me is what Mitsuki is or what story she's part of and I'll award you the title of Master.

JaDErUst