Disclaimer: You know, this really is pointless, but I suppose I have to say it anyway: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! I do, however own Aria and any characters I may add in later chapters.
Note: Once again, thank you for all the reviews and I hope to see some more after this chapter. Thanks so much and hope you like this chapter! ------Sandsifter
"Come in" a voice called from the other side of the wooden door. Kakashi blinked; he hadn't even knocked yet. Shooting Aria a quick glance, hesaw her looking straight ahead with a reserved expression.
"Shall we?" He asked. Aria nodded and together they entered the Hokage's office. Tsunade looked at Aria with curiosity. "Kakashi, why have to brought the Golden Assassin to our village?" she asked calmly.
Aria leaned against the wall and looked around with a bored expression; the question was obviously directed at Kakashi and she knew that this woman wasn't going to address her right now. Kakashi shot the assassin a look and then turned to Tsunade "Naruto fished her out the river and-" Kakashi was cut off when Tsunade waved him off and spoke to Aria.
"Let me see it." She demanded. Aria blinked in surprise; not many people knew about the signs that an assassin took on to prove his or her loyalty to the Code. Carefully, Aria pulled off her right glove and turned her hand towards the woman. Tsunade got up to inspect her hand; a swirling pattern of two crossed daggers was etched on Aria's palm from a sharp blade that created an intricate pattern. After a quick nod from Tsunade, Aria replaced her glove and returned the older woman's stare.
"May I see the contract?" Tsunade asked almost gently.
Aria looked at her and clenched her jaw, but reached into her vest and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper that was placed over her heart. Reverently, Aria unfolded it and held it up for Tsunade to inspect. The woman hovered close to the paper; Aria was somewhatimpressed; it was considered the highest offence for a non-member to touch another copy of the Code. The piece of paper was Aria's prized possession; she had written the Code carefully and without any mistakes in her own blood and she protected it ferociously.
Suddenly, Tsunade straightened and returned to her desk. Carefully, Aria slipped the paper back into her vest and tucked it safely away. The assassin looked around the room for a moment before being jerked back to reality by Tsunade's voice.
"Funny, I thought you were a man. It seems that this world is full of surprises. Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't order the ninjas just outside this room to kill you."
Aria looked at the Hokage unblinkingly and addressed her in a clearly bored tone "There isn't any reason why you shouldn't; it would be a welcome change for me. If I were you though, I would fix that loose board before you order anyone to attack; it could prove an advantage for me. You are obviously an expert on the Assassin's Code and know that I will fight for self-defense, but I won't harm you otherwise."
Anger clouded Tsunade's face "Are you daring to threaten me, the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves?" the womennearly screamed.
Aria met her gaze calmly, only resulting in making the Hokage angrier "Please, I meant no offence, I was merely stating facts and I wouldn't get to high on your ego, my friend. There are quite a few assassins, including myself, that have been offered the job of killing you."
Tsunade's anger dissipated and was replaced by curiosity, "Really, who?" she asked. Aria shrugged and answered in a monotone.
"I'm sorry. I can't discuss previous employers, but lucky for you, no one has accepted the job yet."
Suddenly, Tsunade erupted into laughter, making Aria nearly jump; she swore this woman was bipolar or something. "I like you, young assassin; you have a strong sense of duty and I think that you would be perfectly safe in our village if you simply swear that you will not kill any citizens, and if you do, I will simply kill you myself."
Aria nodded slowly and promptly told her oath, which wasn't really necessary since she was bound to the Code anyway. "Now," Tsunade began, pouring a glass of tea for Aria, who quickly checked it for any poison before drinking it thirsty, "there are a few issues we must discuss before anyone moves. One, I believe that the fact that you are an assassin should not leave this room." She said, looking purposely at Kakashi "Next, there is the matter of sleeping arrangements."
"I have plenty of money to buy a room at an inn or a small apartment." Aria answered swiftly before two men suddenly burst through the door and Aria turned, flicking her daggers from her wrists. Tsunade and Kakashi saw the movement and both dived toward Aria, preventing her from putting the men into death-grips for questioning.
"Hello Gai and Iruka." Tsunade said with a sly smile "I was just discussing with Aria here where she stays while visiting us. Would either of you be interested in taking her in?" Both men looked at Aria for a moment before eagerly volunteering.
This can't get any worse. Aria thought to herself mournfully while putting the daggers away. The two men were looking at her with amazement and she was tempted to slap them. "Really, Tsunade, I can pay for it myself, I-"
"Nonsense Aria, you are our guest and I insist on letting you stay; free of charge." Tsunade exclaimed, not bothering to hide her evil little smile.
"See can stay with me," Kakashi suggested, "after all, she did come with me."
"NO!" Aria nearly shouted, "I, mean, I would REALLY rather stay at an inn." In his dreams, I will NOT stay with that pervert!
Suddenly, Gai appeared in front of her, taking her hand in his and looking up at her longingly. "You can stay with me, my dear. Forget my eternal rival and his perverted ways." Gai made to kiss Aria's hand and she panicked. Jerking her gloved hand up, Aria laughed nervously and stepped back.
"Uh, that's very nice but I-" Aria stuttered, not used to people flirting with her. After all, who in their right mind would flirt with the Master Assassin's onlyfemale student, especially with Hiyu and Uio always over her shoulder?
Suddenly, Iruka put a hand on Aria's shoulder and smiled. "Listen, I have an extra room and it would be perfect for you." Aria looked at him carefully, analyzing his face in search of a hidden intention, but couldn't find any. The young assassin looked back up at him and smiled back.
"That would be great, thank you." She finally consented.
Kakashi watched the exchange with growing horror and anger. Who did these idiots think they were? And Aria called Him a pervert. Suddenly, he appeared next to Aria and shot Iruka a withering look. "Aria, are you forgetting why you're here? No, you are going to stay with me." With that, Kakashi bowed to a smirking Tsunade and dragged Aria out of the room with a last murderous glance to each of the other men.
Aria had seen the look in Kakashi's darkeye and it had shocked her. There was a murderous glint to it and she waited until they were out of the building before ripping her hand from Kakashi's grasp. "Who do YOU think you are?" she demanded, "I didn't forget why I'm here, but that doesn't mean that you can control everything I do."
Kakashi looked at the woman and was about to answer but suddenly the two men erupted from the building and rushed towards Aria. Gai somehow arrived there first and smiled at Aria. "I apologize for my forward invitation Aria; please allow me to take you out to the nearest ramen restaurant."
Before Aria could say anything else, Gai was propelling her into the crowd. "Uh, okay."
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Aria was totally bewildered and overwhelmed by the information that constantly rushed into her eyes from the colorful and new city. Gai was babbling something and sheseriously considered knocking him out just to make him shut up.
"And then I kicked Kakashi in the stomach, sending-" Gai rattled on and on and on and on...
Aria narrowed her eyes at him and waited for his grip to suddenly loosen. Just as a large crowd of people knocked into them, Aria gracefully slipped from his grasp and took off at a run through the dark alleys. Behind her Gai was obviously confused and thought that they had been separated by accident.
Aria ran hard and eventually came to a cliff where the faces of past Hokages were carved into the earth. Glancing around furtively, Aria secured her pack toher backand grasped the cliff, swinging her legs to get a better grip. If anyone had chanced a glance her way, they might have just thought her to be a shadow.
Finally, Aria came to the top of the structure and lay down on the cool rocks trying to catch her breath. She honestly couldn't care less what that dumb Hokage said; she wasn't going to stay with any man that she hardly knew. If Hiyu and Uio had been back there when Gai had tried to kiss her hand, they would have beaten him to a pulp several times over. Aria smiled and looked up at the orange and pink clouds that marked the coming of sunset. She really missed them.
Assassins that decided to join the Code were required to train under an experienced member; the training included many testsalong with a completememorization of the Code. When the training was complete, the new affiliates would write the Code on a piece of paper from memory in their own blood, and would have the pattern of the assassins carved into their palm.
Aria slowly took off her glove and stared at the scars that made the pattern for a moment. She smiled at the memory, that moment had been both the most painful and happiest in her life. It had been an odd combination of emotions, but belonging to the Code had given her a tiny piece of honor to hold onto.
Then, Aria thoughts came back to the look on Kakashi's face as Iruka offered her his apartment. It was filled of an emotion that she hadn't seen in a long time: Jealousy. Could the silver-haired man be jealous of her? No, that was stupid, ridiculous, and yet it made sense. Aria had a huge repertoire of skills, but one of them was not relationships. Flirting was not something that assassins did and she was no exception.
Aria replaced her glove and stood up, looking out over the village. It was beautiful in the setting sun and this spot provided the perfect place to watch for any danger that might come.
"What are you doing?"
Aria jumped and spun around only to come face-to-face with Kakashi. Unfortunately, in doing so, Aria lost her balance and slipped off the side of the cliff. In a flash, Aria spun around and caught the rock with one of her hands. Grunting with the effort, AriaallowedKakashi todrag her further away from the side of the cliff.
"People normally don't enjoy others creeping up on them while they are thinking." Aria hissed between breaths.
Kakashi looked at her and put a hand behind his head. "Sorry, habit."
"Yeah, yeah, well next time you should just push me off the side of the cliff." Aria shot back. "What are you doing up here?"
Kakashi looked at Aria strangely, "I asked you first." Aria looked back at him in amazement; this guy was immpossible.
"I got away from that idiot Gai. I'm telling you if I hear about one more battle where he kicked your butt I think I'm going to scream. I came up here to get away from perverts, but apparently they're everywhere in this village. Now you answer my question."
Kakashi could hardly contain the smile that threatened to burst from his mouth. "I was looking for you and figured that this was the best way to see everything that went around the village."
"Why exactly were you looking for me?" Aria asked nervously. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? Her stupid face was blushing and she hoped that the sunset covered it up.
Kakashi grinned through his mask and shrugged,"I was going to save you from the antics of Gai and was going to show you how to get back to my house."
Aria snorted and looked away "If I had any intention of staying with you, I would have simply tracked your footprints and I am fully capable of saving myself from dumb, arrogant men. You, Kakashi don't need to worry about me; this is the perfect place to carry out my job."
Aria stretched out on the rock and watched the sun disappear beyond the mountains. The violet color snapped into focus around her eyes and she was suddenly come over by a new sharpness in her vision. "That's too bad Aria," Kakashi said slyly, "I thought that you were going to take me up on the offer and come quietly, but if you insist to be difficult, I'm going to have take drastic measures."
Aria's eyes snapped open and she jumped up. "Don't even think about it!" She screamed.
Kakashi made a few hand signals "Doppelganger Jutsu!" he yelled. Two more copies of Kakashi appeared and suddenly surrounded Aria. Seeing the situation called for a retreat, Aria kept her eyes locked on the real Kakashi and suddenly turned around and ran.
"Get away from me you creep!" she screamed while running down the other side of the cliff. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw two Kakashi clones bounding on each of her, they each wore a smirk that made Aria want to beat them to the ground. Quickly, Aria took out the throwing knives that were secured on her calves and threw one at each clone making them disappear in puffs of grey smoke. Suddenly, the real Kakashi appeared in front of her and she immediately crashed into his chest.
He grinned down at her before literally tossing her over his shoulder. Aria began to beat the man on the back mercilessly. "Let go of me you jerk!" she screamed again.
"Are you going to come peacefully?" Kakashi asked innocently like she was the one who was being difficult.
"In your dreams, I'd rather eat Hiyu's socks." Aria shot back and continued to struggle. "What is your obsession with getting into everyone's business?"
"Ah, I'm just nosey when it comes to pretty girls." Kakashi said. Aria suddenly twisted in an impossible angle and flipped away from the man. She hit the ground running, snatching her two daggers from the clones. Behind her, she could hear Kakashi chasing after her.
"What's the matter old man, can't keep up?" Aria taunted behind her. With a graceful movement, she jumped up into a tree and swung around the branches, careful to keep an eye on the Jounin in front of her at all times.
"How old do you think I am anyway?" Kakashi yelled as he followed her higher into the branches.
Aria looked at his hair and smiled "I think most people would think that you were around forty or maybe even sixty." Aria had read Kakashi's file before and knew that he was twenty-four but she couldn't help to tease him.
"Just because I have silver hair doesn't mean that I'm old. I'm only twenty-four." Kakashi tripped with shock and was now falling through the branches, trying to land on his feet. Aria swooped out of nowhere and hooked her legs around a branch and caught the falling man with her hands.
"I said most people; I know you're only twenty-four." Aria stated. "Alright, I'm going to pull you up, but only if you promise not to try and pick me up, got it?"
Kakashi looked up at the assassin and then at the ground. "Fine." He huffed.
Aria saw the flash of green come from his mouth and then yanked him up into the branch. "What is with you?" she asked. "I'm an assassin, not a friend. You shouldn't be inviting me into your home."
Kakashi looked at her for a moment before answering "You don't have to be alone, Aria. Stop acting like no one cares about you. I do, so do Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura. We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Honestly, when I saw Iruka offer to let you live with him, I got angry, really angry. Come on, I have room for both of us at my house."
Aria looked at him for a minute, her mouth open so wide that passing birds would have tried to nest in it. "Listen, no offence, I think you guys are great, but I really don't think that getting to be friends is a good idea. I have plenty of things out here to keep me occupied and I'll be safe. Being inside makes me nervous, so I'll just camp out here and I'll meet up with you later." With that, Aria stood up and jumped down into the brush.
Kakashi sighed and preformed a few transporting Justus and found himself back at his house. She is so difficult. I wonder what she sees when she looks at me.
Aria waited until she was sure Kakashi was gone before sitting down on the soft, forest floor. Aria pulled out her cloak and wrapped it around herself to keep out the cold and settled down into a troubled sleep.
FLASHBACK:
"Ah, get off of me! Leave me alone!" a young boy cried out. His blue eyes flashed and tears welled up in his eyes.
"You think you can just go into other people's minds, huh punk?" An older boy of about eight threatened.
"No, I swear, I didn't go into your mind, please stop it that hurts." The younger boy cried out againas the other boys began to kick him in the stomach.
Aria heard the shouts down the hall and began to run towards them. When she saw a group of boys beating the younger child, she flew at them in a fury. "Leave him alone you jerks!" The older boys took one look at her flaringgolden eyes and fled. Silently, Aria walked over to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what were you thinking? Those boys are too strong to fight by yourself."
The younger boy looked down,and didn't meet the girl's eyes. "Thanks. I guess they don't like me for my power."
"What can you do?"
"Oh, when I look into someone's eyes I can sort of read his or her mind and sometimes take control of the body. Those boys thought I was reading their minds, but I wasn't!" The boy began to cry again. Aria squatted down next to the boy and gently wiped his tears away with her finger. He was six, just like her.
"Don't worry about them, I'll protect you. They think I'm a freak too because I'm the only girl here. Can you read my mind?" The boy looked up and stared at Aria's eyes for a moment and then shook his head in wonder.
"How do you do that? I can't see anything."
Aria laughed. "I'm a special kind of Seer and I guess my eyes block it out. See these eyes? They can see anything; guess what? They change color at night and day."
The boy smiled up at the girl and smiled. "That's pretty cool. You're the only person who was ever nice to me. Can you keep a secret?" Aria nodded and looked at him eagerly.
"Well, I found out my name." The boy whispered.
Aria gasped and looked at him. "Wow, how did you do that?"
"I read the man's mind at the corner. All of the names of every person here was on his mind. I'm called Hiyu." Hiyu smiled with pride I know your name too, do want to know your name?" Aria hesitated for a moment; that kind of information was secret and forbidden. Reluctantly, she nodded and looked at Hiyu fearfully. Hiyu looked excitedly at her and leaned forward so no one could hear them. "Your name is Aria." Hiyu whispered.
"Aria." The girl repeated softly as if tasting the wordin her mouth.Suddenly, she stuck out her hand smiled at the other boy. "I like it. Nice to meet you, Hiyu. We're going to be friends from now on."
END FLASHBACK
Aria woke up early and quickly took a bath in a nearby river and pulled on her only pair of clean clothes: a pair of simple, black trousers, a black shirt, and her black vest. Carefully, she wrapped her wet hair up in a tight bun and secured it with a decorative comb before putting her veils and cloak. Today she was going to be the Golden Assassin. Kakashi was so going to pay for what he did last night. Smiling wickedly behind her veils, Aria took off at a run to the nearest village...
It took her until two-o-clock to get all of them, but she had completed the task. Looking down in her arms, Aria grimaced at the pile of bright orange books. Silently, Aria crept into the forest and tossed them on the already huge mound of them and suddenly pulled out a match, and ceremoniously set them all on fire. It seemed like a very solemn occasion and Aria took the liberity of personally spitting on thenearest book.
Throughout the day she had been to every village nearby and had taken every copy of the book. It was funny how willingly people handed over the books when they thought it was the Golden Assassin behind the veils.
Of course, Aria had paid for each one, so it technically wasn't stealing. Now, only Konoha was left to be cleansed. Silently, Aria slipped into the town and quickly took each book without the owner ever noticing, always remembering to drop a few coins in its place. If Tsunade heard that it was the Golden Assassin behind the uh, 'cleansing.' Aria's plan would have been a bust.
When she was done, Aria took off her veils and cloak. She then looked at the ground and searched it for Kakashi's footprints. Instantly, she recognized his shoe print and matched it to his stride. Aria suddenly took off in search of his home.
It was so easy to find it that Aria was almost disappointed. The building was an apartment complex and his room was Room 11. His room was right below the roof, so Aria simply jumped up, hooked her legs around the gutter, and dropped down so she could look into the apartment. He obviously wasn't home, so Aria took out a liquid that Uio had given her once and applied it to window.
Next, she took out a pin from her auburnhair and quickly picked the lock, lifting the window up easily. Aria smiled in triumph and swung into the room, landing without a sound. Being an assassin had its advantages. Aria proceeded through the room so carefully that even if she checked the room with her own eyes, nothing would seem out of place.
The room was extremely simple. A grey couch was situated in the entrance way, no pictures hung from the white-washed walls, and a single twin-sized bed was located in the bedroom with a closet and a-ah a bookshelf. Aria scowled in disgust as she looked over the rows of bright orange books. Dumb pervert. Aria thought as she lifted each book from its place so carefully that the dust around them wasn't even disturbed.
Aria look a quick glance around and suddenly saw two pictures on the shelf above the books. One was a picture of Kakashi and Team Seven, the other was a picture of Kakashi with a man and a smiling woman. Aria looked at the picture carefully, the woman was smiling and had her arm draped around Kakashi's neck. No indication told Aria that the woman was alive or the other man; both were obviously dead, but the picture made her throat constrict.
Aria suddenly turned on her heel, carrying the books in her arms and dove out the window, locking it as she left. Nothing besides the books had been touched.
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Later, Kakashi walked back into his apartment sullenly. Aria hadn't appeared all day and he was getting worried. Althoughhewould rather fling himself off a cliff than admit such a fact.He knew she would find him when she was ready, but images of her fighting that Hiyu kept flashing through his head. Silently, he opened his door and stepped in. It was about five-o-clock and he was hungry, sweaty, and ready to curl up with his newestbook. Kakashi walked over to the bathroom and quickly took a shower to clean off the grime that he had collected while training his team.
After changing into a clean Jounin outfit, Kakashi walked into his room and reached up to grab a book; nothing was there.Taking a deep, calming breath,Kakashi looked at the shelf dumbly for a moment. Nothing was there. What would aburglar want with histake his books...…Aria.
Kakashi smacked his forehead in frustration and checked the window. There was no way for her get in. "Damn!" Without another moment's hesitation, the distraut shinobi flew out the door and pelted to the nearest bookstore.