Ayame woke to find Naruto peering over the bed at her. Frightened she yelled and shoved Naruto away with tremendous force. Naruto fell into the wall across from her bed, making an indent of Naruto into the wall.

"What the hell!" Ayame screamed at Naruto as she grabbed for her robe and quickly put it on. Naruto slowly arose from the wall only to be helped by Ayame. "Sorry, Naruto. You scared me."

Naruto quickly apologized and left the room, only to wait for her outside of Kakashi's apartment. After Naruto left Ayame took her time getting ready.
As she finished dressing, something caught her eye on the headboard. She examined it closer only to find out that a picture was missing, the one of her and Itachi. Thinking that Naruto stole it, she ran out of the apartment. "Did you take a picture of mine?" Ayame held the frame up to reveal a missing photo.

"No," Naruto rubbed his head. "Can we go train now."

Ayame didn't hear Naruto for she was intently looking at the empty frame. It was her most prized picture. For that picture reminded her of the days before everything got so screwed up. It gave her hope, that things could one day be the same again. Although she believed it to be a false hope, she wasn't so sure since Itachi didn't try to kill her in the forest.

"Hello, Ayame." Naruto waved his hands in her face, moving around her body.

"Oh sorry, what did you want?" Ayame shook her head

"Can we train now?"

"In a while I have to go take care of some business at with the Hyuga clan. I'll meet you at the forest in lets say two hours." Naruto didn't like to wait but Ayame made it clear in her voice that she had to go see the clan before she could do anything else.

Two hours later, they walked along the forest part of Konoha with Naruto chowing down on some food. Ayame casually walking beside Naruto heard a rustle in the leaves behind them. She threw her Kunai at the bushes scaring Naruto in the process. But she found nothing and the Kunai struck the trunk of the bush. Her eyes scanned their surroundings as they continued to walk father into the forest. Yet she still couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being followed.

Her instincts where right. They were being followed by two shadows that quickly moved ahead once the Kunai was thrown. One sat down breathing heavily, but glad that his nose sensed her alertness so that they could quickly move and not be discovered spy.

"Why does Naruto get to train with her," Kiba complained as he caught his breath.

"I don't know, why don't you just ask her?" Shino suggested.

"They're on the move again, let's go." Kiba whispered.

They soon stopped only a short distance away from the open area where Ayame and Naruto sat down on the grass. Kiba and Shino peered through the leaves to find Naruto meditating; the sight was too much for Kiba. He started to laugh when a male voice spoke, "What are you guys doing?"

They turned to find Lee with Neji staring at them. Kiba told them to hide or they would blow their cover. Just then Ayame glanced over her shoulder and Neji hide behind the tree while Lee bent down besides Kiba and Shino. She shrugged her shoulder and went back to meditating. Naruto started to get impatient and began to lose focus. The guys saw him constantly changing positions and Ayame scowled him for being so easily distracted.

"Who is that?" Lee asked and Kiba explained what Yamato told them. "Why are you spying on her, then?"

"Because… just look at her," Kiba annoyed at Lee's blindness to her beauty.

"This is unlike you Shino, spying on a girl." Neji commented.

"Someone had to watch Kiba, keep him out of trouble." Shino replied.

"What! You wanted to come as much as I did," Kiba quietly shouted at Shino.

"Lee lets leave before she discovers us here," Neji began to move but found Lee intensely staring at her. Neji just this morning meet her and was at first taken by her beauty. But quickly discovered not to give her that advantage for she pumpled him to the ground in a demonstration. He remembered how embarrassed he felt afterwards but Ayame helped him up, telling him not be since she a Kage-level ninja. He wondered how she got so skilled, so fast and wondered if she possessed a bijuu like Naruto. After a while, Lee and Kiba began to doze off since no action was happening but Neji gazed at her until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Slowly he turned over to find Ayame waving at him. Neji shocked at the surprise stepped back almost into Shino but Ayame caught his robe and kept him from falling. She placed her finger to her lip winking at him. Then she stood behind the other three, "What are you looking at?" she asked in a sweet voice that extended the end of every word. Kiba and Lee woke up suddenly banging their heads together and Shino twisted around to find Ayame leaning over them.

"Naruto, I found them!" She yelled while holding Lee and Kiba by their shirts. Then her clone disappeared and she brought the guys in the open.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto sourly asked.

"Um…" both Kiba and Lee tried to get words out but couldn't. Shino and Neji remained cool the entire time, well you couldn't tell about Shino because most of his face was covered up.

"Well this is good," Ayame said.

"It is," everyone replied.

"Yep, now I can see you're abilities Kiba and Shino. This is much better than reading a bunch of stats," Ayame chuckled, "Why don't we have a spare. Who wants to challenge me first?" Kiba shouted and Neji dropped his head, knowing that it would be over soon and the humiliation would begin. In the distance a cloaked figure stood on a tree limb watching Ayame, his red eyes peered through his hat and he held a picture in his hand.

As everyone came back to the village with everyone but Neji (who was smart and backed away from the challenge) and Ayame beaten up. The afternoon fight wasn't going to well with the rest of the group, even Naruto challenged her using his most elite moves was almost out of chakra. Kakashi greeted them with a wave but soon dropped it and rushed towards them, "What happened here?"

"Oh just some training," Ayame beamed.

"I see, well did they learn much?" Kakashi scratched his head.

"They learned not to take up a challenge without knowing what they are getting into. But Neji seemed to pick that up after this mornings encounter." She raised her eyebrows at Neji. He lowered his head towards the ground in order to hide the blush that appeared on his cheeks.

"Well, it seems that my team needs to rest up. By the way we're leaving tonight, Tsunade wants us to start the mission."

"Finally! I'll meet you guys at the gate. I have some preparing that I have to finish. See yeah." Ayame jumped up into the trees while flashing a kiss at the group and winking.

She ended up near a small cave on the outskirts of Konoha. Near the entrance there were markings engraved into the stone. She lightly brushed her fingers across the markings as she entered the cave. Dust covered the furniture inside the cave, well what was left anyway. Cobwebs filled the space now and she moved them carefully away as she went deeper into the hole. Everywhere she looked a memory would fill her mind. The thoughts of the past that she worked so hard to bury behind overwhelmed her. All the hopes and dreams of her childhood seem to taunt her now as she walked towards the end of the cave. At the end, there was suppose to be a wooden chest instead it was an empty space. Ayame searched the cave only to find nothing, she slammed her hand onto the dirt floor cursing.

That chest was important to her. It held all her childhood things. She put all her toys and anything that was important to her childhood. It was a pack that her and Itachi made, when they both passed the Chunin exam. Both of them threw their childhood away in order to focus on their future as Ninja's. Ayame didn't want to throw away her childhood, considering that it was the only time she had with her mother and father but she went along with it. Thinking that she would come back and get it again, Itachi often proposed these crazy rituals and Ayame went along with it only to break it again. But this one seemed different; Itachi seemed different after he put all his things inside the chest. It was as if a part of him left his personality that day, he immediately became more serious. Well he was always serious but Ayame could extract some fun out of Itachi but from that point on, they drifted apart. Soon that chest was the only thing that Ayame had that reminded her of their friendship that they once cherished.

Now Ayame wanted to remember that friendship one last time before she had to put it away forever. Ayame was a Ninja of Konoha, although she hadn't lived in Konoha for six years. Her loyalty was to Konoha and now that she had her little brother back she would protect both of them at any cost, even if that meant losing a broken friendship forever.

In the shadows stood Itachi with his red eyes staring at Ayame. He clutched tightly onto the handle of the chest, which he took from its place only moments before Ayame entered. He to was relieving everyday that they spent together. Emotions of the past, that he thought he got ride of, filled his body. He knew that he had to get ride of the emotions or he could never become a Sharingan master. The best way to get ride of emotions is to go directly to the source, he would have to dispose of Ayame. But could he do it, in the forest he couldn't even use his Mangekyou on her. He prided in one thing, he didn't have a weakness, but she was becoming one weakness. He had to get ride of his weakness or it could be used against him. Itachi decided that was the only way as he left from the shadows.

At the gate Ayame met up with Kakashi and his eight-man team. She still thought that this was a little too much for what they were going to accomplish. They weren't even going after Sasuke yet they were just gathering information. However Kakashi seemed to think that this number was necessary and maybe it was. They could always split into smaller teams and cover more ground but until the moment to do so, they were going to be an easy target for an ambush. In order to reduce the odds of an ambush she asked Sai to draw an eagle and have him be a look out from above. Then they left with her and Kakashi leading the way and in the shadows Itachi followed without Kisame beside him.