A year to remember

By: Josephine Russell

Chapter one: To some love is death, but to others love is heaven

The strongest memory is weaker

than the palest ink.

-Chinese proverb-

A/N: I am a teenager, there are hormones, I can not be blamed for this.

Disclaimer: I take no owner ship for Naruto, or any characters, and/or things related to Naruto in anyway, shape, and/or form.

My white hair fluttered in the wind behind me as I sat high in the tree. I'm an ANBU member and I'm on a mission. Little did I know that I was being watched by the mission. From a distance Atari sat high in a tree his black hair fluttering behind him helplessly in the wind like a fly trapped in a spider's web.

"Where is he?" I asked myself, trying to spot his black hair in the crowd, but to no avail I must have lost him. So much for my mission, so much for being the best ANBU member out there. I'm done, dead, and close to losing my spot as ANBU, head leader. This was the third mission I had bombed this year. The Hokage would be pissed and I'm sure of it this time. I let out a sigh, of disappointment in myself, out. I felt my dream crumble underneath me, my life, my job, and the only thing that I had that really mattered to me anymore.

Atari saw the hate and rage in my eyes that moment, the sadness. It was all there a mixture of emotions being pushed back to wait for a more appropriate time to be reformed and let out. This girl, why had she been fallowing him? Watching his every move? What was he doing that their country didn't like?


"Atari," The Hokage announced as he entered the room.

"You called for me?" Atari asked. "Yes indeed I did, I have a mission for you," The Hokage said his face in distain. As if the information was a poisonous, distain, gas and if he were to say it that poisonous distain, the same distain that he had, would spread to Atari and affect more and more people like a, fast growing, plague that would soon affect the entire world. Bringing us all to ciaos, and a world apparently full of the same distain for whatever it was that Atari was about to learn. "I need you to go to the Water country, and spy on a woman, her name is Jai." The Hokage handed Atari a profile of the girl. Atari froze when he saw who the girl was; it was the same girl that had been fallowing him just that morning.

"May I ask why I need to spy on her in particular?" Atari asked. "She's the last Kaguya left; you do know what that means don't you?" The Hokage asked. "No, actually I don't, but I learn fast, so if you don't mind, enlighten me," Atari answered. "It means that we must have her to repopulate her clan, we need the Kaguya's around, they learn at an earlier age, and so far have an extreme tendency to be great ninja's. Jai made ANBU at nine," The Hokage answered. "Wait…you mean you're going to kidnap her just to have sex with some random person that she doesn't even like!" Atari was outraged and rather shocked at the Hokage's selfish motives.

"Not just anyone, Atari, you, you were the only other teen besides Jai to make ANBU at nine," The Hokage told him. "WHAT! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!" Atari was officially pissed, "THAT'S WRONG ON SO MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS! SHE'S A GOD DAMN HUMAN BEING! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? I'M NOT ABOUT TO KIDNAP SOME HELPLESS GIRL AND THEN FORCE HER TO HAVE SEX WITH ME GOD DAMN IT!"

"Either you take this mission or you take that mutt," Atria Atari's summoned, white, wolf snarled viciously at the term that the Hokage had so graciously used towards him, "And get out and don't expect to come back." Atari took a moment to ponder the thought of losing the one thing he had that really mattered to him anymore. He could have had a family but instead he chose ANBU. ANBU members never get the chance to have a family, their always off on some kind of life threatening mission that at any moment could take there last breath from them. And if that ANBU member finally ever did get a girlfriend or boyfriend let alone a family of his/or her own the other spouse or off springs would be constantly worried about the other or be feeling a lack of attention.

Atari let out a sigh, of disappointment in him self, out.

"I can't believe that I'm actually going to do this," Atari finally said. He let another sigh, of disappointment, out. "Good then, here's you're permission to be in that country," The Hokage said, with a sigh of relief, as he handed Atari a card stating his reasoning for being in that country and his permission, to be there, as well.


"Jai," The Mizukage said as I entered the room.

"You called for me?" I asked. "Yes I have a mission for you, Jai," The Mizukage announced. "Which would be?" I snapped I didn't want to be there all day, if I had a mission I needed to get it done as soon as possible so I could perform, or prep for another. It wasn't like I had a family. It's too hard for an ANBU member to have families, much too complicated. Sure I dated a couple times, but none of them worked out. Guys don't want to date a women stronger than them let alone one they'll have to worry about twenty four seven. "Atari is coming to this country for a mission and needs someone to show him around for a few days, I want you to figure out what he's up too while you're at it," The Mizukage said a pleasant smile on his face. "That's it?" I asked distain in my voice, the way he had been acting was like it was some life or death mission or something. But he gets all freakish over something like this? What's that all about?

"Do you except it or not? If you don't you can waltz on out of here but don't expect to be called back anytime," The Mizukage said his voice changing from happy to extremely annoyed. "Well duh I'm gonna take it if you put it like that, so when's he comin'?" I asked. "He'll be here…" There was a knock at the door, "That maybe him right now," The Mizukage announced and went to let him in. It was indeed Atari.


"So, where are you staying?" I asked trying to make conversation as we walked down the dark street. It was getting late and I didn't want to walk around anymore, I was getting tired. But I wasn't about to fall asleep on a mission. Atari was looking rather tired too and I was starting to wonder if this guy was ever going to sleep. I sighed; I had been doing that a lot lately. Stress had been building up on me, why with constant missions, no sleep, and everything else on my mind, such as my past, I was extremely stressed. Atari stifled a yawn and then abruptly stopped. He opened his mouth as if he had had to say something but then shut his mouth as quickly as he had opened it and shook his head vigorously as if it was too big of an idea to keep within his head, or maybe it was just a wrong or unclean thought that might have made him seem like too much of a guy. I didn't know which to chose but one thing I did know was that I rather the first idea.

Atari looked as if he was about to start to walk again but, once again, abruptly stopped, causing me to run into the back of him.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I screamed out of instinct. I practically rolled off of his back and started to fall towards the ground but before I could hit it, Atari had swooped me up in his arms. He smiled warmly down at me; it was one of those smiles that you could stare at all day long and get so wrapped up in it that it only felt like a minuet had passed by when it was really the entire day. This was rather a bad thing at that moment for me to be starring at. It was one of those kiss me I'm in you're arms moment's that you see on television; you know the ones that never really happen to real people? The one's that were made to make women awe and ooh at the television thinking, "Oh my, how romantic, I wish that could happen to me! I should forget all about being a ninja and become a girly house wife, how exciting!" With so much enthusiasm that it makes you want to barf? You know those corny, chick flicks?

Only one problem this wasn't a television show, this wasn't one of those girly chick flicks; this was my life, my time, on my mission! And right now a guy, my age, my rank, maybe even stronger than me was looking as if he wanted to kiss me or something. My eyes were still locked on his smile; it was the most ravishing thing I had ever seen. So ravishing that it indeed made me, of all people, want to smile back even though I would be smiling for no apparent reason. Atari leaned down into my face.