*Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. I simply borrow them for my own musings and fantasies and do not get paid for their use in said musings or fantasies.

Thanks, everyone for your support and continued interest, and special thanks to everyone who has reviewed with constructive criticism, good points about the story, etc. I'm hoping that the story continues to hold your interest and that it'll maybe start to pick up a bit more, both in plotline as well as a start to maybe a little formation of a bond between Yuriko and Kakashi. Please enjoy this latest update and continue to let me know what you think, good or bad about the story (but don't write flames. I'm very blunt and have little shame in telling someone off so flamers, you have been warned). –Nira

Chapter 5

The ANBU team had finally reached their rendezvous point and staked out the surroundings before taking the time to plan their attack. It was understood by the jounin team that the three Stone officials and their four bodyguards were to meet them at the top of a bluff where everything around them could be seen. It was a safe place, both villages had agreed because it didn't leave room for surprise attacks from either side. In actuality, however, the treaty had already been sent to the Stone village at an earlier date and the meeting had been organized between the villages in order to eradicate the threat of the rogues. Information had leaked that the rogues had no qualms about the wishes of their government and would use the meeting spot to take out all members involved, including their own if need be in order to prevent the peace treaty, and upon hearing it, the Stone Village decided that they would not stand for it.

When preparations had been made and the ANBU trio had hidden themselves away, then it just became a game of patience. The jounin team arrived about an hour or so later and shortly afterward, the Stone officials' caravan could be seen coming up the path. They reached the top and greeted the jounin trio of Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai and as Kurenai handed over the scroll containing the artificial treaty, the official who took it drew a kunai and attacked. The caravan occupants did away with their transformation jutsu and were replaced by seven rogues and they engaged the jounin in battle with the intent to kill.

"Now!" Kakashi yelled out, and the group of ANBU burst out of the ground, each focusing on an opponent.

The jounin had been holding their own quite well and had taken out one of the rogues with ease, but the others proved to be more challenging. Yuriko focused her attention on her one opponent with the order to eliminate all enemies at all costs and was immediately on the offensive. Being from the Stone village, her opponent was likely to have an affinity for earth so Yuriko decided that her water would be the best counter. The only problem was that there wasn't a water source nearby, so she would have to make due with one of her lesser used wind jutsu. In order to do so, however, she would need to make an opportunity for herself.

She drew her short swords and charged them with her wind chakra as she ran at her opponent. She made quick but accurate slashes, even accounting for the opponent's counterattacks and how he would move or dodge to avoid critical damage even with her wind chakra enhanced attacks, and when she'd caused enough surface damage, she intensified her attack, sheathing her swords and withdrawing senbon from her pouch. Before her opponent could respond or react to the pause in Yuriko's offense, she created a clone and she and her clone focused chakra into their feet to increase their speed. The two of them ran around the opponent in a circle, constantly throwing senbon with precision, hitting pressure and chakra points and rendering his limbs useless and increasing speed until he was encased in a whirlwind and unable to form signs with how quickly he was being attacked. Yuriko released her clone and slid to a halt, weaving a final combination of hand signs aimed at the rogue.

Within seconds he was screaming in agony as her jutsu took effect. All of the cuts and scrapes that she'd inflicted on him were what made it possible for all of the oxygen in his body to be extracted, even from the microscopic level of his blood cells. Without allowing herself to dwell on the rogue's excruciating demise, she scanned the battlefield to distract herself and jump back into battle only to see that the enemies had all been defeated and many lay unconscious or groaning in agony, immobilized. The jounin had survived and were standing around, looking worse for the wear and confused as to why the ANBU were present as well.

"Captain…" Yuriko's gaze was questioning of what to do next.

"Complete the mission," Kakashi stated and Yuriko nodded in understanding, withdrawing a kunai and walking to the first rogue within sight.

"Wh-what are you doing?" the man in green that Yuriko recognized going into his mission briefing as she was leaving hers asked.

She remained silent as she looked into the rogue's eyes through her fox mask while he stared back at her, his feeble hand reaching to attempt to push her hand away as she placed the cold steel to his jugular and slid the blade across it before stabbing him in the heart to end his misery faster. Blood had splattered across her mask, but she remained steely and indifferent as she quickly stood, flicking her wrist to release his grip on her and walked away to the next. As she placed the steel at the throat of the next enemy, she felt someone forcefully grab her arm and lift her up. On instinct, Yuriko's senses heightened and she flipped the person over her back, slammed her knee into their chest, and held the kunai to their throat. When she saw that it was the jounin in green, she instantly relinquished.

"Do not interfere. This has nothing to do with you," she demanded, her voice hard and uncompassionate and her eyes dull and lifeless.

"Kakashi, why aren't you stopping her?!" Guy urged, struggling through the lack of breath from having the wind knocked out of him as he got back to his feet.

"You've done well, Guy. Your mission is complete. We will take it from here."

"But—!"

Yuriko continued with the dirty task given to her and slit the throat and stabbed the heart of the next rogue before continuing on again.

"Go home, Guy. This is beyond you," Kakashi added with finality and Guy reluctantly and begrudgingly turned his back to the scene and started making his way back toward Konoha, followed by his teammates.

When the mission had been completed and the threat of the Stone rogues eliminated, Kakashi walked over to Yuriko. Her whole body trembled and when she heard him approach, she rounded on him.

"Are we done here? Please tell me we're done…" she pleaded, trying not to let her voice betray her emotions and failing.

Kakashi nodded and Yuriko was the first to begin the descent down the trail back toward Konoha with Yamato and Kakashi following close behind. They journeyed until they'd made it back to friendly territory and when they stopped to set up camp, Yuriko performed a sensory jutsu to see if there was a significant water source nearby. She found a lake not too far away from where they'd stopped and asked if they could move closer to it for safety reasons since she was going to go to it regardless of what either of her teammates said. When neither opposed with it not being far off the path, they set up camp and when Yuriko had finished eating, she said she was going to go for a swim and asked to be left alone for a while. Kakashi and Yamato watched her walk away and when she was out of sight, the two of them sighed.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Yamato inquired. "She didn't seem to be doing so well back there…"

Kakashi remained silent and closed his eyes, lying back in the grass. Her tone of voice when she'd told Guy that it was none of his concern had worried the silver-haired shinobi more than he let on. Had Yuriko ever killed someone before then? If she had, it must have been under different, more life-threatening circumstances rather than simply because it was an order.

Yuriko floated on her back, looking up at the stars. The sound of the rogue's screams echoed in her head and when she closed her eyes, it was the eyes of each of the rogues who had been conscious when she'd come to execute them that appeared in vivid color. She held her breath and quickly dove under the surface, allowing the water to wash through her hair as she propelled herself forward, attempting to leave the haunting sounds and images behind her in a wave of bubbles. Eventually, it worked as she allowed her mind to drift with the flow of the water around her. When she surfaced, she'd calmed down a considerable amount and decided that she'd been away from her teammates for long enough. When she swam to shore she wrung her hair of as much excess water as she could before getting dressed again and walking back to camp.

Kakashi heard Yuriko approach the campsite and looked up at her. Her hair was wet and there were still droplets of water clinging to her skin but she seemed to be back to her normal, stoic and less emotionally expressive self. She sat as close to the fire as she could handle to dry off and Kakashi sat up.

"You'd never done that before… had you?"

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't…" she stated, blunt and to the point.

He nodded in understanding and let it go, dropping the conversation before it continued and made her uncomfortable again. Yuriko stared into the embers, listening to the welcoming popping of the fire and her eyelids began to droop. Kakashi watched as she began to doze off and thought to himself that she was handling it all quite well despite it being her first mission with two complete strangers as her teammates. He was impressed and when she'd fallen asleep with her head rested on her folded arms over her knees, he noticed that she'd begun to sway. Worried that she'd fall into the fire, he coaxed her into her sleeping bag and made sure she was close enough to the fire to stay warm but far enough away so as not to catch.

Kakashi insisted that he'd take the second watch to allow her time to rest and fell asleep to get in a nap before he was to start. He woke up a couple hours later and before switching with Yamato, he walked over to check on Yuriko. She was turned onto her side, facing the fire and her long silver tresses were splayed out wildly beneath her, her full lips slightly parted, he could tell from beneath her mask. As he was about to walk away, he heard her mumbling in her sleep and looked closer to see a wet streak across the bridge of her nose and a darkened spot on her sleeping bag beneath her head.

"No more… please… stop," she muttered barely above a whisper. "No… more screams… no… pain…"

Kakashi crouched beside the young kunoichi as she'd done for him nights before and slowly rubbed the back of his knuckle along the bridge of her nose to her forehead, smoothing her tense expression and calming her. She curled up closer to the fire in her sleep with a sigh and Kakashi took his leave. When he'd jumped to the perch to take over, Yamato smirked at him.

"I've never seen you so affectionate before, senpai. Could our new teammate have created a soft spot for our famed Copycat Ninja?"

"I was simply returning the favor," Kakashi stated without a trace of emotion to betray anything he may have been feeling or thinking.

Team Ro had completed their mission and as they reached the gate to the city, Yuriko paused and looked up at the Konoha symbol burned into the wooden sign overhead. When she'd first arrived she'd been nervous walking into the city, questioning whether or not she'd be accepted, what she could expect the rest of her life to be like here in this town, what kind of people she'd meet. Since she'd been accepted and officially had a place to call her own and met a few people that she might be able to call friends, she smiled to herself.

"I'm home," she thought and walked to catch up to her teammates who had paused to wait for her.

When the ANBU team had debriefed with the Hokage, they were given a few days to rest and recover so Yuriko took the time to properly groom and pamper herself when she'd returned home, starting with a long, hot shower to wash away the layers of dirt and grime. When she'd finished, she prepared dinner and tea and when she'd finished eating, she lounged on her couch with her book.

The next day she'd decided to go for a walk around the city again, dressed in a pair of black leggings, a loose-fitting angel flap sleeved white yukata style dress with a lavender sash tied around her slim waist, a fishnet undershirt, and her purple mask. Her hair was left down and free and it trailed gently behind her with the breeze. While she was walking, she came across Kurenai who smiled and waved at her.

"Hey, Yuriko. How are you?"

"Much better now that I'm back in town. I'm sorry you had to see me like that…" Yuriko apologized, referring to her behavior during the mission.

"Don't worry about it. I understand. A group of us are getting together for a little bit of a party tonight. Do you wanna come? I think it'll be good for you to meet some new people instead of sticking to your own devices all the time. It helps make getting along here in the village easier when you have people you can confide in."

Yuriko was shocked. She'd never been invited out before, and she'd never really been anywhere long enough to make friends. Maybe Kurenai was right. Maybe it would do her some good to get out. It would definitely take her mind away from her own loneliness and the terrors that haunted her thoughts when she had too much free time if she was with people.

"Yeah, I'd love to go. Thanks for the invite," she genuinely smiled.

"Great! It'll be a lot of fun. If you want, we can meet up somewhere and get ready together or something," Kurenai beamed, glad to get Yuriko out of her shell a bit.

"Get ready? Is what I'm wearing now not appropriate?"

"No, you look great. If you want to go like that, that's totally fine. Anyway, the party starts at eight."

Kurenai smiled and waved good-bye, saying that she'd be by Yuriko's apartment at 7:30 to pick her up as she took her exit and Yuriko continued on her walk. She passed by Ichiraku and a certain blonde ninja-in-training was on his way out when he saw her.

"Yuriko nee-chan!" he called out and Yuriko paused, feeling her heart flutter and a blush rise to her cheeks.

"What did you just call me?" she asked when he'd caught up to her, a smile composing the majority of his face until he'd seen her confused and shocked expression, wondering if he'd said something wrong.

"Nee-chan… is that okay?" Naruto questioned, wondering if he'd said something wrong.

She smiled wide and placed her hand on his head, ruffling his hair a bit. "Sure… What's up?"

"It's just… I hadn't seen you in a while…" he blushed, looking away.

Yuriko smiled and invited him to walk with her so that they could catch up, and perhaps she could keep him out of trouble, even if only for the day. She'd missed the kid, and he would provide her with good company and entertainment until Kurenai came to get her later that night, anyway.