A/N: I come bearing gift...two reasons why I'm updating: 1, I wasn't actually going to continue writing this chapter, because I got stuck in like the first 1000 words. But, my beta sat me through and we laughed the whole way as I was writing this. Before I know it, I had already finished this one and moved onto the next chapter (Besides, this chapter is mostly pretty chill...so no need to keep you guys waiting for a week). 2. I need to apologize because I need to delay the next update by a day or two since I am being whisked away this weekend to somewhere with no internet access. So no internet = no posting until late Sunday or early Monday. So take this as an afternoon tea read that fills your time, and a gift for an apology.

Beta'd by Alice J.

Chapter 19 - Not My Fault

I was alone in locker room 15, staring at my locker, deciding if I should go home. Kakashi had already gone immediately after the mission debrief and none of my other teammates have been summoned for a mission yet.

I opened the locker, and then I closed it. I opened it again, ready to pull out my normal clothes, but then I pulled back my hand and slammed the locker door close. There was a loud 'bang', but no one was in the room to wince about it. I am a coward, I am even too scared to face him, even though he is the only family I have left. Sasuke will be disappointed if I don't return, but he will be more disappointed if I did.

Eventually, I did reopen the locker again, but instead of grabbing the normal clothes for the off days, I grabbed the black shirt and pants issued by Anbu. I was not ready to go home yet, so I would stay a bit longer in here. It was like a second home here anyway. After the quick change, I took out a small notebook in my locker first before slamming the door shut again.

The notebook of my enigma, I thought as I sat on the bench and flipped the notebook open to a new page. There were scribbles in the pages before it, mostly notes about what I felt wasn't right during the Uchiha massacre, like how Itachi was able to eliminate all the Uchihas in the compound and the police station by himself in one night; like how my parents, especially my prideful father, put down his resistance and accepted death by the hands of his own son; like how despite our huge difference in power, Itachi let me and Sasuke live.

I wrote on the new page "Itachi was in Team Ro before 13, then he was selected as a Captain and re-assigned." These were tiny bits of information that I hoped will make the enigma clear, but all they were doing was increasing the number of unanswered questions.

I flipped a few pages and arrived at some previous notes. This one had a huge question mark in the center of the page. At the top, it read "Why would Father die willingly and claim it was something Itachi had to do?" Obviously, the clan massacre would have never been Father's idea. Uchiha Fugaku may not be many things, but he was definitely one thing: the protector of his clan, the one who puts his clan higher than anything else. Yet, he allowed his own clan be massacred, decimated to only two children with his own son as the criminal. I couldn't see how that will benefit the clan. The only things left in that massacre were Sasuke, me, and an empty Uchiha title. Why? Am I missing something, or had I simply not known him well enough.

So what was Father looking for, our survival? Did he make a deal with Itachi to spare our lives if he and mom surrendered? Putting the life of his children before the life of his clan, would he really do it? I seemed biased, I was biased.

Another reason for him to accept it would be if he realized that the Uchiha clan was dead no matter what. But how? Did he arrive too late? Was he overpowered? Like I said, it was an enigma, so many variables, so much mystery.

I flipped onto the next page, there were only two words on it, "Shisui" and "Itachi". The whole basis of Itachi's success in the massacre lay in his Mangekyou Sharingan. I realized after I obtained it, that the power of Mangekyou was frightening. The cause of his evolution was…

I wrote mangekyou under Itachi's name and then drew an arrow towards Shisui. It was his death that caused the evolution, it was his death that guaranteed the success of the massacre.

Itachi wasn't stupid, he must have known he couldn't beat the whole clan without his mangekyou, and I would never believe the idea that Itachi killed his best friend. That left two possibilities, either Shisui intentionally committed suicide for Itachi's sharingan to activate, or that his death was caused by some unforeseen circumstances and the activation of mangekyou was coincidental.

Of those two possibilities, the first one suggested that the planning of massacre was way before Shisui's death and that Shisui was in league with Itachi. The second one suggested that Itachi only planned the massacre after Shisui's death, which was only one day earlier than the massacre. Either way, Shisui's death changed everything, the motivation, the success and the outcome.

I drew a circle around Shisui's name, he was the precursor and I didn't even know how he died. And that was the biggest enigma. Suicide, no body found, none of those conditions were normal.

Especially his eyes.

"Ah, Hime, that's a secret. I'll tell you my Mangekyou if you got yours. But for now, it's best if you don't know, the Mangekyou Sharingan is a curse." He told me once before and I never knew of his abilities. My instinct screamed at me that the ability of his eyes was important, but in what way, I didn't know.

Enigma, enigma, enigma. Everything was so complicated. Itachi had a purpose, he wouldn't be on a killing spree out of insanity, he was stronger than that. That meant, I was missing something, I always was. I had never found enough pieces to make sense of the enigma. It was as if Itachi and Shisui set me up for a huge maze, but they sealed the exit and threw away the key.

Out of pure rage, I threw the notebook towards the wall and it made an ugly sound of crashing before it fell down. I was dazed for a moment before I decided that I need to go pick it up. I walked slowly towards the fallen notebook and picked it up in an almost automatic motion.

When I returned to the bench, I laid on it just like I always did during my recruits days. The icy cold metallic touch often helped with the nerves and migraines. I placed the notebook over my chest and I closed my eyes. I was buzzing around like a clueless fly, crashing into glass walls thinking it was the exit. Those idiotic Uchiha boys, they were always having secrets of their own.

See, the whole premise of my plan, or at least a large part of it, was for me to understand Itachi's actions. I thought I would understand it if I just live it once; I thought I could see what he was seeing.

But I couldn't. I just couldn't.

They all said that the biggest struggle in Anbu was not the difficulty of missions, but that of heart. As black ops, we had to do things that were considered to be the moral gray zone. I assassinated political officials, killed foreign leaders, and blew up military bases. Just take Nishikawa's assassination for example, it wouldn't matter whether he was collecting the children to give them a job or to sell them to human traffickers, the end results would be the same. I would have to kill them.

The only difference was that if he was a wrongdoer, then it would make my conscience easier. However, as for my conscience...I didn't even know if I have them anymore. Emotions, yes, no matter how hard I tried to deny it, it was there. A line that I didn't cross, maybe. But conscience...I honestly didn't know. It was like that my conscience was so skewed and numbed before I even came to Anbu that I couldn't feel whether or not Anbu was changing me.

I didn't know what Itachi was feeling. He would saw the moral dilemma, he would saw the struggle between mission and conscience, but I had no idea how that would affect him. He was different than most people, but he was also different from me. What would Itachi do? Wait, I know that. Based on his flawless records, he completed all of them. It was the question of what he would feel, what he would think. In this area, I was truly, wholeheartedly beaten by Shisui. How did Itachi feel about Anbu? How did he feel about his life in Anbu?

Konoha Anbu was definitely different from OLYMPUS, I established that very quickly when I entered. You see, it wasn't the job that was different, they were pretty much the same thing. The same kind of job that involved mostly of people that needed to die; the same kind of job I excelled at.

It was the idea that I was treated as a human, a shinobi for my village. They wouldn't discard me for the slightest mistake. Sandaime made it clear that there were therapists for me if I needed them, and if I wanted to walk away from this life, I could.

Compared to OLYMPUS, Anbu was a bargain I couldn't refuse. It offered me a place to use the skill I was most familiar with, a place where I was needed. However, it also took away my greatest fear: the feeling of being trapped. It was not completely free, but it was enough to make me feel like I belong.

It was scary. It was really scary because I liked it here, but I didn't believe Itachi would, therefore I couldn't understand him. Was he driven crazy by all these killings? Was he feeling trapped? Was he fighting his own conscience every second of the day? He was too different from me, while my moral could be considered in the gray zone, he was so kind, the kindest person I thought I would ever meet. Not in the way most people would see kindness, not like a philanthropist. He killed people, but only to survive, only to protect.

He was my hero. Or at least, he had been.

Anbu changed him, ever since he stepped into this place - the place that should be viewed as Hell even though it was becoming more and more like a second home - he became lost to me.

For the first time, I truly felt like that I didn't know anything about my brother.

This was the moment when I felt like I should throw that goddamn notebook again just so that the frustration would go smashing into the wall and explode into a billion pieces. No, the mere notebook is not violent enough, I need something more destructive. Definitely, a healthy way to vent anger out.

I wasn't aiming for anything in particular, no, I just wanted to throw something at the wall so that it would make a loud and violent sound which could potentially make me feel better. It was mostly just muscle memory as I slid out a kunai and flung it at the walls near the door, albeit a bit more forceful than what the delicate Uchiha bukijutsu techniques should be like.

The kunai did make a loud and violent crashing sound as it sailed across room perfectly. However, the moment was ruined when the door opened at the exact same time as the kunai embedded itself by the doorframe.

I got up from the bench immediately to see the cracks forming from the point where the projectile had drilled into the wall with full force, with a certain someone wearing the hound mask standing right next to it.

Oh shit.

"So, vandalism of government property or attempted murder?" He asked after a moment of silence as he wrenched the stupid kunai out of the wall, but that just caused more dust and debris to fall from the point of contact.

"Well, if I had planned to murder you, I would hope that my aim to be better than this." A simple "sorry" would have probably sufficed at the moment, but it's true; if I couldn't even hit my target at this distance, that would be really sad.

"Me too. So vandalism then?" But I... couldn't argue with that. After a few seconds of the glaring contest, he threw the kunai back at me which I caught with ease. Eventually, I placed my projectile weapons back into the locker along with the notebook, just to show him that no, I don't plan to vandalize anymore today.

"How long have you been here." He asked, changing the topic at ease as he sat down on one of the benches.

"I don't know, since the Nishikawa's assassination?" I answered uncertainly.

"When was the last time you slept."

"A few hours ago," I said quickly. He glared at me for a moment, and I sighed, "Three days ago."

"And when was the last time you went home?"

"Two weeks ago, but it's none of your business."

"It is my business, I am your captain, and I am supposed to watch the psyche of my subordinates. If you keep being so twitchy and...destructive, I will suspend you until your psyche improves." He said to me coldly and I stared at him unbelievably.

"You can't do that, I'm not crazy."

"I can do that, and just because you are not crazy, which is a debatable subject anyway, it doesn't mean that you are fine. This is Anbu, you adjust or you leave. Go home and see your brother and don't come back until the next mission." Kakashi spoke to me calmly, his hound mask was already off, but the extra layer of mask underneath was obscuring my view for observation.

"I can't go home, I am already a disappointment of a sister to him, I can't disappoint him anymore," I whispered quietly, unsure why I was ranting this to him. He didn't cut me off, so I continued, "Sasuke needs a mother, but I can't be Mom, I can barely be the sister. Every time I come back, I was setting him up for disappointment for when I had to leave…"

"Stop, I am your Captain, not your psychiatrist. Go talk to Inoichi-san or that Yamanaka boy for those problems." Kakashi stopped me quickly. Before I even realized what the hell had happened, he had already pushed me out of the locker room and closed the door behind me.

Did he just...kick me out of my natural habitat?

"Home or therapy sessions, your choice." Vaguely, I heard the lazy voice coming from behind the door. There was no way I would ever go to the therapy sessions from hell, so I guess home then. Honestly, Shun was a horrible pseudo-psychiatrist, so I might actually come back crazier than I was now.

"Home, I choose home. If I come back crazier, I'm going to blame it on you." I yelled at the locked door. When I heard no response, I just shook my head and walked off. I've been hiding for long enough, time to go home now.

But damn it, I left my keys in there.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"So does anyone want to go take a drink." Everyone in the room slowly turned their head towards the source of the voice.

"What? I'm just suggesting." Falcon threw his hands in the air and muttered. Since technically we were dismissed after a mission, his mask was off, revealing a man in his twenties with curly black locks and a bony face. There was a silence in the locker room and I narrowed my eyes at my teammate, unsure of how to respond. Sure, everyone has a way of coping with stress, for example, Kakashi with his famous novels. But drinking, really?

"Sure, why not, I'm in." Surprisingly, it was Zebra who responded first. The combat medic nin with shoulder length brown hair tied into a small ponytail closed his locker and stared at us expectantly.

"Yeah, okay, let's go." Otter, a beautiful woman with long purple hair, waved her hands casually. I kept quiet as I pulled my vest over my shirt. This vest had an Uchiha Fan insignia on the back.

"Alright, we have three, how about you captain?" Falcon asked with a laugh, clearly hoping to rope Kakashi into saying something crazy while under the influence. However, the Kakashi in my memory would have never been roped into these sorts of stuff.

"You know drinking is not my thing, I'd much rather go somewhere quiet and read my novel," Our captain said casually.

"Come on, Captain, if you go, maybe we can rope Bear into going as well. Don't you like to see what the perfect Bear is like when he is in a drunken state?" Falcon proposed and tilted his head towards the most stoic man on the team, Bear. Over the last year, I've been working in Team Ro, Bear was always a quiet and stoic man. His actions were cautious and he was able to command the team in case of Hound's absence. Unfortunately, no one in the team was blind to his undying admiration to Kakashi's words and action; I would swear that every time Kakashi praised him, he would beam under his mask.

"Actually, that would be somewhat fun to watch. Let's go to a bar, Tenzō." Kakashi looked at Bear, whom he called Tenzō with a smile in his visible eye, and the stoic man shuddered for a split second.

"Senpai! That's not something you should consider as fun." Bear said exasperatedly, but Kakashi just ignored him and agreed to Falcon's proposal. Bear considered arguing for a moment before ultimately giving up.

"Rabbit, how about you? The last member of the team, don't tell me you are bailing." I closed my eyes in pain when I heard the question, and I was just about to sneak out the locker room. I guess this was a lost cause, considering the fact that Falcon was a sensor.

"Falcon, I hope you do realize that I am only thirteen." I turned around and said, eyeing the man unimpressed. There was a certain glint in his eyes that spoke of mischief and I mentally alerted myself against it.

"But we are shinobi, age doesn't matter, you are practically an adult," Falcon argued. I sighed, suddenly realized that there weren't any laws in this world that said underage drinking was illegal, and he was probably right, the moment we became a chunin, we were seen as responsible adults able to take care of ourselves.

"I am going to see my brother, bye," I said quickly as I prepared to go out, but a hand dragged me back. I turned around furiously and saw Zebra's passive eyes. I closed my mouth to swallow the speech prepared for Falcon because Zebra was not someone I want to argue with.

"How old is your brother?" He asked, and I gave him a strange look.

"Eight, why does it have to do with anything?"

"Is he enrolled in Academy?"

"Yes, again, any reason why you are asking?"

"It's one in the morning right now, and tomorrow is a school day, are you really going to wake your brother up in the middle of the night before a school day?" Zebra inquired calmly, slowly letting his words sink in. I opened my mouth to answer, but then I closed it out of the lack of words because I seriously did not think this through. Okay, maybe I was actually planning to destroy some trees in my spare time until my brother is awake, but that's vandalism, isn't it?

"I don't think so." He answered for me and I glared at him, speechless.

"Haha, no more excuses. Come on, Rabbit, trust me, you are going to love it. Take the advice of an adult." Falcon smirked at me, and I got an unsettling feeling in my stomach. There was one thing you learned from being in Team Ro: during missions, Falcon was as efficient as a hawk, but during the off times, well, he tends to be a bit wacko.

"I'm not drinking. I'm serious." I said with a newfound determination and Falcon just laughed my statement off.

"Sure whatever, let's just get to the bar!"

What in the world is happening….

…

"Look around, kid, there's still a lot you need to learn." Falcon laughed as he dragged us into one of the sketchy bars that were still lit up at this hour.

"So you are admitting I am a kid now, good, does that mean I can go now?"

"I say that more as an expression than the actual meaning. Excuse me! Can we take the order please!" Falcon yelled as my team squeezed into the booth. I was stuck between Falcon and Zebra, which meant I had no way of to sneak out. Kakashi was sitting across from me, with Bear and Otter by his sides. Kakashi looked bored since he already took out his favorite 'romantic comedy' novel. Bear tried to look as stoic and calm as ever, but I could tell his discomfort in being in a bar.

I placed my head in my hands as I heard Falcon ordered a few bottle of sake and the waiter answered with a grunt.

"Not a sociable person here, are you?" I heard Zebra asking besides me and I tilted my head to face the medic-nin.

"I just don't like the idea of drinking, I don't want to be drunk when I have to go home," I muttered. Just thinking about the chance of my brain turning into mush and doing something stupid was sad. Although there was always the slim chance that my body was born alcohol resistant, but I was not going to test it here.

"Tell us something about you that we can embarrass you about. You see Otter there, we always tease her about her boyfriend," Otter scowled as Falcon pointed at her, "and Bear over there, he is the easiest to tease, all you have to do is mention 'Captain' and wait for a reaction." Bear gave Falcon a cold, dead glare with his wood-carved face, "Then there's me, hell, everything about me is laughable." At least you admit it… I noticed he didn't say anything about Kakashi and Zebra, which made sense since the two people that you don't ever want to get on the bad side of are the Captain and the medic.

"I'm not sure I want to tell you now that you explained it. Besides, my life really is no fun, eventful maybe, but definitely not fun." I uttered quietly, hoping he'd drop the topic.

"Then tell us about your brother, you always use him as an excuse to leave, it's hard not to get curious," Zebra added not so subtly. I narrowed my eyes at my teammates, wondering what the hell was this suspicious info session.

"What is this, my psych evaluation?" I asked as I glared at Kakashi, who resolved to turn his face away from me. "Hey, Tenzō, want to try this amazing romantic comedy?" "No! I mean, thank you senpai, but I don't think this is for me."

"Fine, he was an adorable little kid, well, he still is, just with some bits of problems. My brother is emotionally unstable and socially withdrawn. He has a superiority complex towards others because of his clan education, but he has an inferiority complex when being compared with his clan legacy. Right now, he has tunnel vision and his only motivation is revenge driven. Using his pseudo- psychiatrist's words, he is 'a little twisted and emotionally broken, maybe, but he will be fine'. Does that answer your question." I articulated in a serious voice, waiting for my teammates' reactions. At first, there was silence, then Otter laughed. Soon, everyone is laughing, even Bear.

"Geez, she is a funny one. No offense, but that sounds like most Uchihas to me…" Otter started with a laugh, but she quickly closed her mouth with a glare from Zebra. Ah, they were being careful with the Uchiha massacre.

"You are right, but that mostly applies to Uchiha men. My mother wasn't like that, and someone please knock me out if I ever become like that." I said lightheartedly in order to break the tension in the room.

"I think you are halfway there, emotionally unstable, check; socially withdrawn, check." Falcon laughed beside me as he made check marks with his hands in the air and a few chuckles followed.

Finally, the dreaded moment arrived when the waiter came with the sake and cups. "This brand of sake is amazing. Who wants a drink! Of course, everyone wants a drink!" Falcon celebrated loudly as he proceeded to fill the cups with alcohol. I could already smell the staggering stench of the alcohol floating in the booth, starting to dull my senses. Yeah, this body was definitely not naturally born alcohol resistant, if anything, this body was very weak against it. One day I'm going to have to build up alcohol resistance for different missions, but not now.

"Let's play a game of 'listing out Rabbit's embarrassing moments'! It's the tradition for rookies here!" No, let's not do that, and what kind of stupid tradition is this? I wanted to protest to Falcon's stupid suggestion, but before I could do that, the list was already underway.

"Oh, remember when you woke up exactly three hours in the middle of the desert, down to the second?" Not my fault...

"I know, when you burned down that cottage a few months ago, not that I have any objections, but the police officials certainly did. What was the excuse you used? Cooking accidents?" I don't even know what to say...

"You know that large crack in the locker room?" "Wait, she did that?" Speechless…

"Let's not forget about that pathetic attempt at Chidori last year."...

And the list continued.

This is becoming a secret dump, why is this a secret dump! I thought people here care about that confidentiality crap! I buried my head even deeper into my hands if that was possible. Unfair, half of it wasn't even my fault.

"Want some water?" I heard Zebra's calm voice when he handed me a cup of clear liquid. I didn't think too much at that moment since Zebra was usually responsible, and I was really getting a headache because of the stuff I heard. I gulped down the liquid in the cup and looked up again. Bear was staring at me shocked while Otter and Falcon snickered. Immediately, I looked down at my cup, trailing my eyes to Zebra who avoided my gaze and then I remember the unnatural taste in my cup of 'water'.

"You laced it with alcohol!?" I screamed at Zebra.

"I didn't lace it, it was pure alcohol." He spoke in a completely detached voice. Suddenly, I felt betrayed, very, very betrayed. I didn't get to throw stuff at him because I could already feel my head spinning dizzily under the effect of alcohol.

This is a bond-breaking moment, I repeat, my last bits of good faith towards my teammates disappeared like dust in the wind.

…

Kakashi watched as his prodigious pupil gulped down the cup of sake in a panic. He should have warned her, but he didn't. Yes, he wanted his subordinates to relax a bit, he could see her being crushed by all the heavy burdens on her shoulder. No matter how natural or efficient Maiko was, the work schedule in Anbu was not easily adjusted, especially if she had attachments outside of Anbu that was clearly causing half of her problem.

"Damn, never thought Zebra could pull it off." Falcon exclaimed, "You are such a good liar, saying it so calmly without even a smirk." Zebra just shrugged at Falcon's compliment.

"Pay up," Zebra said to Falcon calmly. Yes, Kakashi might or might not have been aware of a bet going around here. Honestly, he had no idea what she would become when she was drunk. He had no reference as to how much alcohol an Uchiha could take since Itachi never came on these occasions. He had to admit, it was one of his guilty curiosities that made him agree to Falcon's crazy idea.

"Sorry, my bad, I handed you the wrong drink, this is the water for clearing your head." Zebra wasn't finished, he calmly picked up another cup of sake and shamelessly passed it to the dizzy girl.

"Captain, I think we really need to teach her how to overcome the effect of alcohol with chakra. I mean, look at her, she's literally a poor little rabbit amidst wolves." Otter warned him in a voice with a mixture of amusement and worry. The woman had taken a liking to the young girl since both of them were female with a knack for kenjutsu.

Kakashi eyed the scene across the table; true to Otter's words, Maiko looked like a clueless rabbit stuck between two wolves giving her more drinks claiming it was water. See, it was Falcon's suggestion, and his only motivation was to see how the perfect Uchiha gene reacted to alcohol since he never got to find out when Itachi was on the team. He sighed, realizing how bad of an idea it was to actually listen to Falcon's suggestion, because if they weren't in a shinobi bar and if he weren't here to keep things in check, his team would have been reported as soliciting underage drinking, not that age meant much here, considering how young she started in the business of killing.

"Alright, back it off, I think she's had enough for the day." Kakashi finally decided to take control of the situation, before anything unexpected happen. The extent of his plan was supposed to be team bonding, not drinking. The girl would loosen up a bit under the pressure and she will sleep for a sound day before going on another painfully long mission.

"Come on, Captain, she is so much more fun when she's drunk." Falcon poked the confused girl in the head, and instead of breaking his arm like what usually happened, the girl just giggled.

Perhaps'giggled' was not the right word to use. It was more like a childish laughter laced with madness. A child. A crazy child, Kakashi thought immediately. A crazy child with a reason to be crazy. Kakashi thought the madness was her way of telling him that she was frustrated. Frustrated beyond belief, but she had no way of saying it. So she laughed in madness and absurdity.

Kakashi winced as he looked away, he had officially starting to regret it. He wondered what kind of madness he was spiralling into. Before today, before he had seen this, it was so much easier to disregard the fact that his prodigious pupil was only thirteen, still only a child. It was so much easier to beat the living daylights out of her during training without holding back; so much easier to exploit her every potential like a war machine without feeling the guilt; so much easier to converse with her like she was a dangerous threat from the enemy without letting his guard down. She was always so rational to the point that Kakashi sometimes questioned if she had a heart; to the point that he felt unsettling. This was madness, he confirmed one more time.

Eventually, the laughter ran dry. Maiko leaned her head back into the seat and covered her face with her hands. For a second, Kakashi thought she would just snap. Snap under the pressure, snap under the frustration. Maybe she finally decided to accept the flood and let it drown her. This is bad, Kakashi thought, but he couldn't for the life of him think of what to do about it.

He couldn't stop the flood, the stream of problems. All he could do was lifting her from the river and he wasn't sure how many times he could do it. He wasn't even sure it was relieving the problems because she would eventually just fall again and struggle against the current. After all, that's what normal people do, don't they?

So, was she drowning?

Kakashi thought she was, that was, until he saw her reaching her hand into Falcon's grasp and snatched away his cup of sake. As everyone watched with shock eyes, she drank in a slow but calm motion. There was a bit of sorrow and a lot of fatigue in her eyes, but Kakashi had expected that. However, Kakashi thought the alcohol would drown out the clarity in her eyes, but apparently not. It was almost as if she decided that there was nothing she could do, so she just bravely went with the waves.

So, was she drowning? Or was she swimming? Or at least, trying to swim?

"Ne, Kakashi-taichou, can I see Pakkun?" His attention was snapped back by Maiko's voice. He stared at the young girl, who stared back at him expectantly. He was very aware of the glares his teammates gave him, was he seriously going to use a summoning technique to please the whims of a drunk subordinate? Apparently, his teammates thought the answer was yes. With a sigh, he bit his finger to draw the blood and placed his hand on the table.

"Summoning technique." He muttered lazily, then there was a small poof and his loyal partner appeared in front of him looking confused.

"Kakashi, what do you need?" Pakkun inquired with his usual deep voice. The pug's eyes wandered a bit, then he looked at Kakashi as if saying "What the hell?". Kakashi motioned Pakkun towards the drunk girl.

"Kakashi, what did you do to the poor girl?" Pakkun gave him an accusing look as he strode over to Maiko, who picked him up immediately and placed him on her lap. Kakashi tried really hard to decide what to answer between his team's snickers.

"She's a little bit… under the influence. And she said she wanted to see you." He answered quickly, silently deciding Falcon was going down in the next group training session. To his relief, his ninken companion just shrugged and started to snuggle up to the girl with his furry body.

"You wanted to see me, pup?" Pakkun asked the girl with his deep voice that contrasted with his cute appearance, but Kakashi wasn't sure if the girl was sane enough at the moment to answer.

"Yeah, Pakkun's fur is so soft, like a pillow, and you are so adorable. Sasuke used to be cute like this until he became an angry little otouto." Maiko muttered quietly as she hugged Pakkun near her chest and stroked his fur gently. She looked like she was about to fall asleep, which Kakashi wouldn't be surprised.

"Kakashi, she needs to go home," Pakkun warned as Kakashi sighed. Despite the tone of disapproval Pakkun used, Kakashi clearly saw him purring comfortably in the girl's hug and enjoying the little attention. Out of a sheer headache, Kakashi grabbed a cup of sake and drank it down. He closed his eyes in an attempt to remember where the girl lived. Right, with that Yamanaka boy in one of the apartment buildings near the entrance of Konoha.

"Party's over, at least for me and Rabbit. I'm taking her home, and don't cause any trouble." He said as he tapped Maiko on the shoulder. Obediently, she followed him like a little puppy. There was a chorus of "Yes, Captain" behind him as he followed Pakkun out of the bar.

It was around three in the morning when he sent the girl home. Kakashi walked her home just to make sure that she didn't turn the wrong way and fall into a ditch. However, he had to actively check behind him just to make sure she was still following him because she was so silent.

When they arrived at the apartment building, Kakashi stared at the tall building for a few minutes trying to remember which floor it was. Finally, he pulled out that tiny detail from his memory and realized that he should probably ask for keys, so he waved his hands in front of her to get her attention. He got no response.

Ah, she fell asleep. He swears that she just fell asleep in the short period of time they were standing still. Or maybe she was already sleepwalking? Probably not, since she followed him instead of trailing off to some abandoned forest. Kakashi had to quickly snatch the back of her shirt to keep her from falling to the ground face first.

What happened to all the alertness she always had? Kakashi wondered, but it was kind of comical. So yes, this was definitely going on her 'list of embarrassing moments' and it would probably be the highlight for the next ten years or so (it was a tradition, established right after she had joined).

But damn it, he still needed the keys.

After a few minutes of thinking (while she dozed off without a care in the world), he just dragged her up the window like a sack of potatoes. Her traps were way too easy to avoid for a jonin like him, one of these days, he would have to talk to her about it.

The room was dark, whoever lived here was clearly sleeping soundly. Kakashi wanted to drop the girl and go, get rid of the trouble and disappear like he always did. But somehow, he couldn't just drop her in the darkness and expect her to pick up the pieces.

For the millionth time in the last three hours, he sighed. He extended his arm and held the girl up by her collar - like how a dog would pick up a tiny stupid puppy - so that she could actually stand on her feet. There was a loud grunt signifying that she was awake again, probably feeling nausea and headache from the alcohol and the roller coaster experience up the window.

Within one minute, there was muffling sound in one of the rooms and a certain Yamanaka burst out of the door. Kakashi had nothing to say when the seventeen-year-old glared at him accusingly, because honestly, he probably deserved it.

He wasted no time in dropping the drunk girl into her roommate's arms. Yamanaka Shun placed Maiko gently on the couch and carefully checked her temperature before he looked up again with anger in his pupil-less sky blue eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The boy was obviously trying his hardest not to yell at him in rage, probably because of the little boy sleeping in the next room. Again, Kakashi had nothing to say, because he had no idea what he was thinking, but he was planning to blame it all on Falcon.

"Nevermind, just leave. If you let her die, I swear I will never forgive you, not again." The teenager cast him another rageful look before turning his attention to the girl on the couch. Kakashi was feeling guilty, but not so guilty that he would say sorry publically. Instead, he turned away and was ready to leave the way he came.

Kakashi couldn't make promises, in the shinobi world, dying young was a common occurrence, this was especially true for Anbu agents. They took on the most dangerous jobs, gave their lives to the Hokage, and yet they receive no glory. He has no idea if Uchiha Maiko would survive until she is twenty, just like how he had no idea that Uchiha Itachi would massacre his whole entire clan. The Uchihas are complicated and unpredictable that way.

So, no, he didn't respond, he simply left. He escaped the living room through the window, but just out of sheer curiosity, he suppressed his chakra as he hung outside the window and looked in.

"Idiot, now what the hell were you thinking? I thought we agreed no more troublesome stuff from you anymore." Now that Maiko was officially awake, the boy wasted no time in reprimanding her.

"Tea. I need some goddamn tea." Maiko grunted demandingly, rubbing her head to ease a headache. It seemed like the effect of alcohol had started to wane once her chakra system started to kick in. However, based on Kakashi's previous experiences, it probably didn't feel so great now that she wasn't sleepy or confused anymore.

"Seriously, at this hour?"

"I am having a blank out for the last one hour or so, and I want to wring some people's necks but that's illegal. So yes, tea please." Ah, she's back. Kakashi had no idea how she was already awake enough to make conversation. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were out of the murky environment Falcon dragged them in (yes, he was going to keep blaming that guy); maybe she just had a fast metabolism, which was very likely since those with higher chakra reserves often do.

"Fine, I'll get you some tea." Eventually, the boy gave up.

"I don't know what I did that pissed off Fate and put me on the same team as you. So Kami help me if this becomes a habit…" Very soon, the Yamanaka boy's curses filled the room. Kakashi thought that the Yamanaka boy was taking it rather well but the next sentence he heard definitely proved his point that the Uchihas were born to test other's patience.

"Your tea kinda sucks." Suddenly, the girl sprouted out the words that may or may not have been a retribution to the boy's earlier rant. Shun put down his pot and stared back at Maiko as his eyebrow twitched.

"Do tell me, O-hime-sama, which part of the service doesn't satisfy you?" As Shun asked with the world's most obvious sarcasm, Kakashi wanted to tell him that he really shouldn't push for more unfavourable answers.

"It has no flavour. Always taste like you used the cheapest tea bag and you poured twice the water you are supposed to." For some reason, Kakashi thought it might be true. And judging by the flash of embarrassment on Shun's face, it probably was.

"Well, I bought the tea bags, so I decide how to use them. When you are awake enough, you can go buy your own goddamn tea. Until then, you don't get to complain." With a loud 'thud', the boy placed the cup of diluted tea on the table and went back to get another cup.

"So cheap…"

Finally, Kakashi decided that he was done with being the unqualified guardian for the day, so he left quietly.

One thing became clear from that night with an unexpected turn of events: the formidable Uchiha gene finally met its match with alcohol (although the potential for personality disorder was probably another one).

As for whether she was planning to drown or to swim, only time would tell.

…

For the next month, Falcon's life was a disaster. He regretted two things very dearly in his life, one was training Rabbit so that her speed was on par with his, and two would be ever trying to trick her into drinking sake. He had no idea how many times his shoulders were 'accidentally' dislocated during training sessions, or maybe they were punches to the liver that would hurt just the right amount without actually causing permanent damage. All his teammates sans Rabbit just looked at him silently with pity written in their eyes, even Zebra, whose limbs were saved because he was the only damn good medic on the team. Actually, he regretted three things, the third one being that he chose sensing as his specialty instead of medic ninjutsu.

A/N: The moral of the story is that be careful of who you hang out with, like really. And also, what goes around comes around, so karma ^_^. So next update will move on to the start of something else because I am so done with the awkward age of 13. Like I said earlier, next update on Sunday or Monday depending on how soon I can access the internet. After this week, the schedule should go back to normal (how I love having a fixed schedule).