Still hope you enjoy this one... ...

Author's Note: Minor changes made. :D

Kakashi caught sight of noticeable green hair among the customers of Ichiraku Ramen. Only one girl had green hair in the entire country of Fire. Kakashi sat on the stool beside her and said, "Yo," just as she was about to shovel noodles into her mouth.

"Kakashi sensei!" she exclaimed. She motioned towards her bowl of Miso ramen. "Let's eat."

"How was your first day?"

"A disaster," Mitsuri answered with a groan. She rolled her eyes. "And my teaching partner is Uchiha Sasuke, too. That brat—" Wait. Why was she talking like she didn't want him to be her partner? Was she so used to not liking Sasuke that her mind had a hard time adjusting to liking him? Oh the confusion! Or maybe she wasn't really attracted to him.

"Hm?"

"Well, it was quite eventful," she finished lamely. She decided not to tell her sensei about her students' trick and everything else even though she knew she could confide in him. It was just that he had also been Sasuke's teacher, or so Mitsuri heard. Besides, she wasn't used to liking anyone and all that and she didn't know how to react. Oh well, she would have to get rid of her silly infatuation soon, if she wanted to leave her mind in peace. Remembering her manners, she turned to Kakashi. "What about you? How was your afternoon?"

"Better than when you were my student," he said. He was joking, of course. But as the saying goes, 'in every joke, there is always a bit of truth.' Mitsuri raised an eyebrow suspiciously. She knew she had been a hard-headed pupil back then. Come to think of it, she was still hard-headed now.

----------

10 years ago

"Don't waste your chakra on pranks, Mitsuri," scolded Kakashi for the umpteenth time. Somehow, he understood her restlessness. Coming from a six-year old girl, pranks were definitely part of the package. Then how did this little worm graduate at such a young age? Like you, said a tiny voice in his head. At exactly the same age, he had finished school and had easily passed the chuunin selection exam. Maybe he should get his students focused on training for the exam.... that would give them something better to do than planning mischief. Not that they needed to plan to make trouble.

"What's there to do? I'm bored," little Mitsuri drawled lazily. "Somebody should tell old man Hokage to give us jobs that aren't crappy. I mean, pulling the weeds from the feudal lord's wife's garden isn't exciting! Except when she kicked Junko's butt for pulling her precious herbs."

"They looked like weeds," Junko defended herself.

Fusubi threw a pebble at Kakashi. "Like Mitsuri-chan asked, what's there to do?"

"How would you guys like to enter the chuunin exam? It's coming up next week. I can nominate you so Hokage-sama will give you passes."

"Do you think we're ready?" Junko asked worriedly.

Though Mitsuri was quite hyper and naughty, she was a loyal and supportive friend. Right then she put an arm around Junko's shoulders protectively. "Of course he thinks we're ready! Kakashi sensei wouldn't nominate us if he didn't think so. Don't worry Junko, I'll watch your back. Fusubi and I will, OK?"

"OK."

Kakashi smiled to himself, which wasn't hard to do, since the only visible part of his face was his right eye. Having a student like Mitsuri was like having to deal with an unpredictable weather everyday. He liked it. In most of his sixteen years, there were always challenges and he was growing accustomed to them. What would he do without them?

----------

Present day

"I wasn't always bad," Mitsuri insisted.

"No, you weren't."

A little surprised at his ready agreement, Mitsuri quickly recovered and let out a belly laugh. The most natural she ever had in many days. She pinched Kakashi's cloth-covered cheek and went on eating.

----------

Tsunade steeled herself for a litany of complaints when she saw Sasuke walk toward her. She shouldn't have paired up those two. That way, she could have saved herself from trouble. But a woman like her squashed every sign of regret that would seep in to her mind. Besides, it was advantageous that the two teenagers had both been under Kakashi's training, although at different times. At least their mottoes wouldn't clash. Anyway, she makes the rules around here. With a sigh, she told Sasuke, "I don't have time to listen to your trash, Sasuke. I've already said the word, you will remain Mitsuri's co-teacher. Got it?"

"I want information on her."

"Oh, is that all?" The Godaime went to a steel cabinet and searched for Mitsuri's file. As soon as she found it, she tossed it to Sasuke. "You can bring that home, but return it when you're done. Be careful, those are original updated documents."

----------

The Uchiha house was silent. Sasuke lived alone ever since his entire clan was massacred by his own older brother. Just two years ago, he succeeded in avenging his family's death by killing Itachi but he didn't feel as good as he had thought he would. Nevertheless, his days seemed lighter when he fulfilled his goal. Now all he needed was to find a new goal. Something to forget the gore that had been following him since childhood. Having his brother's blood on his hands would never be easy to forget. With Mitsuri's file in front of him, Sasuke allowed himself to absorb the information.

Name: Odagi Mitsuri

Country: Fire

Village: Konoha

Rank: Jounin

Age: 16

Missions:

S – 08 all completed

A – 84 all completed

B – 65 all completed

C – 47 all completed

D – 24 all completed

GENERAL INFO (including the mentioned above) :

834 ninjutsu ; high-level genjutsu ; high-level taijutsu

Unique ability/ies:

Mind-reading

Background:

An orphan left on Sandaime's steps. Bloodline unknown. Graduated from the ninja academy at age six, and was then under the training of Hatake Kakashi. Became a chuunin on the same year. Became a jounin at age nine and was offered a slot as leader of ANBU but declined the job.

Sasuke read every page of Mitsuri's profile and accomplishments. He couldn't believe that she had mind-reading ability. Even with the enormous power of his Sharingan, he was not able to read minds. Did she read his mind earlier? He hoped not. He would really have to be careful about his thoughts when around her. Damn. He was going to be around her everyday. When he read that Kakashi was her teacher, he was surprised. He didn't know. Sasuke felt slightly ashamed that though Mitsuri was younger than he was, she graduated at a much younger age. He was twice her graduating age when he got promoted from the academy! Frustrating... but sugoi.

----------

"Mitsuri sensei! YOU'RE LATE!" shouted Konohamaru. He, Moegi, Udon and Sasuke sensei had been waiting at the training field for her since six o'clock. They had to wait for almost two hours.

"Well, you see, I—" Mitsuri began. She stopped when Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Heh. She's just like Kakashi, Sasuke thought. She was glaring at him. Did she know what he was thinking?

Mitsuri wondered why he looked so nervous. Did she really look angry enough to make him sweat? "Uh, let's start." A hand tugged at her shirt so she looked down at Moegi's sorry face.

"Gomen nasai, Mitsuri sensei," she apologized. "About yesterday... We were just fooling around. Gomen nasai."

"That's all right! I've forgotten all about it!" She lied. Mitsuri smiled kindly at the kid. Moegi looked so sincere. She was just like Mitsuri when she was younger, minus the sweetness. "OK, everybody, listen carefully. Sasuke sensei will explain our activity for today."

??? Damn that woman. She knew he disliked talking. She's just trying to get on your nerves, a tiny voice in his head said. Did she hate him that much? Apparently, she did. Wasting no more time, Sasuke went straight to the point. "Your job is to get these two bells from us. One will be with Mitsuri and the other with me."

"Is that all?" Udon asked.

"Hai," replied Mitsuri with a grin. "But don't think that this will be easy."

----------

Hours later, Team Eight dragged their tired butts to whatever they can sit on. They still hadn't managed to get a single bell from their senseis. It didn't even look like they were trying hard not to be caught yet the kids still couldn't get a hold of even one! Were Konohamaru and the others really weak? No. Mitsuri sensei and Sasuke sensei were just too strong for them.

"What's the matter?" Mitsuri asked, leaning against a tree trunk. She tried to look bored when inside she was laughing gleefully as she watched her students' exhausted expressions. "Tired so soon?"

"So soon?" Moegi gasped. "It's been hours. And we haven't eaten lunch yet!"

Sasuke grunted. He remembered Kakashi telling his team back then not to eat breakfast because they might throw up. Turned out he just wanted them to be hungry enough to work hard on their get-the-bell survival training, since those who couldn't get one will not get lunch. These kids were lucky he and Mitsuri weren't as merciless. He watched as Mitsuri walked toward him.

"Do you think we should pass them?" Mitsuri whispered. "I mean, they worked together, but there's two of us... It's too difficult for them, don't you think?"

He shrugged. She was right, of course. "What do you think?"

"I asked you first!" she hissed back. She glanced at the students, who were still sprawled all over the grass.

She looked so damn cute when she was mad. Heck, she looked cute whenever. Sasuke could feel a lump in his throat as she got nearer. Why didn't he feel like this yesterday? They had been closer then. Why now, when she was just standing there and not pressed against him? He shook his head. Maybe he was hungry or something and it was making him overthink. And about thoughts, who knew if she wasn't reading his right then and there? "Just do what you want with the kids," he said roughly, taking his mind off her warmth.

"You don't seem to take this seriously," she said with a pout. "We're responsible for 'the kids', Uchiha."

Did she just call him by his last name? He was sure she did that to annoy him. It worked. He sighed and turned to the dead tired students. Unbelievable. They didn't even budge. A good ninja would always look for an opportunity to achieve his goal. But these children were just complaining and generally doing nothing useful. Do they even deserve to pass? On the other hand, they showed a lot of teamwork. He guessed maybe they just lacked jutsu training. "We'll pass them."

"Really?" Mitsuri's grey eyes grew wide. Then she smiled, indicating that she was pleased with the decision. He might not be so insensitive after all. She resisted the urge to hug him. Feeling sure he could read her mind, Mitsuri blushed. Humph! She was the one who could read minds, not him. "Let's tell them now."

Lemme know what you think! -anko-dono-