Title: Peaceful Child

By ElusiveMuse

I do not own Naruto or anything belonging under the same umbrella...Yasuko is a character of my own creation. This story has been inspired by an author on here, Spoiled Sweet, who wrote House Calls...look it up; it's a very well written, well rounded story with fantastically developed characters and stunning descriptions. I just wanted to say thank you for reading this story, and I look forward to reading what you think of this story. I also want to say thank you to Half-Tongue for having a quick read over of this chapter ^^

Chapter One

It wasn't hard to find her if a person knew where to look. All they had to do was find an archway or a tall gate. When asked why she haunted those places. All she would do is cock her head to the side and reply in a soft voice. "It's simple," she would say, "They're gateways to the realms. The people there are interesting."

Yasuko was a spiritual teen, quiet and thoughtful, almost like a wallflower. She wore her green flak vest with pride as a symbol of achievement and was the only part of her uniform that had any colour. Her baggy pants were a faded black, and her sleeveless mandarin collared shirt a silver colour, a shade darker than her gunmetal silver hair. It was an odd shade, especially for a girl her age. When asked about it, she would simply shrug and pass it on to genetics before walking away. Her eyes were a similar shade, like shiny new coins. She liked how unusual they were, and how well they fit with her slender frame. What Yasuko didn't like about herself, however, was her nose. She supposed it was an alright size, small and proportionate, if not for the tip being upturned, however, that flaw made her features childish, cute even. There was no way her brother could take her anger seriously when she scrunched her nose a certain way. It was just a little more than vexing.

Despite her frequent irritation towards her older brother, grey was still her favourite colour, it reminded her of him, made her feel close to him when he was away on missions. People passed over grey; it was a bland colour that everyone ignored, a perfect blending colour for a ninja. Colour wasn't good for a person in her career; it was often too bright and would more often than not, give away the element of surprise. The bland shades made sure that she didn't have to worry about being bothered as often in crowds as she made her way to her favourite places.

The wind rustled through the trees lazily by the village's gate, gifting those close to it a reprieve from the oppressive summer heat. Yasuko moaned softly as she hung from her knees in the little hut, forsaking her usual spot on top of the roof. Izumo idly fanned himself as he leaned back in his chair while his friend and teammate, Kotetsu, slumped next to him.

"Mah, Kotetsu-Chan, you're like a wilted flower," Yasuko teased, trying to blow a lock of hair away from her eyes. "Heat getting a bit much?"

The man lifted his head a little and glared blearily at her. "You should have been called Ren, and then you could have rain danced for us."

Izumo let out a snicker, "Nah, Gin-Chan, it should have been. She's too silver to be named a water child."

"I think my name suits me very well," she replied, sniffing, "I am a peaceful child after all." With that, she stuck out her tongue and hoisted herself back up to the support beam. Shifting a little to get comfortable, she tossed them a glance. "Is this what you two do all day? Just sit here?"

"Suko-Chan, you know we do more than that," Izumo whined. "We also write down who comes into the village and send the wounded to hospital."

"Mah," she scoffed, "You send the wounded to me, don't lie." They all shared a wry grin. Most shinobi refused to go to the hospital, more often than not; they had the view that a hospital was just the waiting room before death. There were competent doctors, sure, even a team or two of Medical Nin, but it wasn't enough to cope with the demanding life of a ninja.

Yasuko, with her precise Chakra control, was one of the few shinobi that trained in the medical arts. Although not blessed to have the Hokage as her Sensei, her teachers had been very thorough with their teachings. With the ninja who knew her, it was a tossup between having to wait in an impersonal hospital that had no censor or drop in at her house for a no questions asked patch up. Most chose the latter option.

The two shared a tired grin. "So how come you're here and not patching up someone?" Kotetsu asked.

"Been a slow week," she replied, swinging her legs, "Haven't even seen an ANBU-san or anything. I thought I'd at least get some Shinobi on my days off."

"Days off? If only I had days off!" moaned Izumo. "The Hokage is a monster! We should at least get danger pay and a few days off when we're assigned near her office."

Yasuko laughed. "When you work three weeks on without a break, then you can get a week off too. Tsunade-Sama knows how hard I work, especially with my nightly visitors. Maybe I should set up my own clinic?" she asked, jokingly.

"That's a good idea," Kotetsu replied. "No more blood getting into your carpets."

"Too much paperwork. It's bad enough that I have to write up reports on every one of my visitors to give to the Hokage without having to worry about all the other admin stuff. I think I'll just be a black market doctor for a while longer. At least until I move out of home."

"Ha," Izumo snickered, "The only time your brother will let you leave home is when you find yourself a husband that won't run away when faced with the Copy-Nin." She poked out her tongue, not wanting to admit that they were right in their assumptions.

"Nyah, it's too hot here, I'm gonna head home and have some ice cream, like cherry or plum while you two melt in this tin shed," Yasuko teased, quietly dropping to her feet. Her two companions glared at her fiercely. "Who knows? I might have a welcoming party waiting for me."

The two men let her leave with a minimum amount of cheerful jeers. Smiling, she turned and waved, walking backwards for a few steps before tripping over a cat. The poor feline had chosen the wrong time to walk in front of the Kunoichi and once pinned by the larger body, clawed and hissed her way out from the human, leaving Yasuko covered in deep scratches and seeping humiliation. The two gate keepers almost collapsed over each other as they roared with laughter. Flushing furiously, Yasuko performed the transporting jutsu as quickly as possible, not wanting to face further teasing.

Neji slowly flicked through the photographs, matching them to the files strewn over the low set table before him. Jasmine tea seeped in a blue ceramic pot to his right while a grinning white animal mask lay to his left. Out in the glittering twilight, a little brook bubbled and gurgled brightly, its noise soothing and calm. It wasn't often, especially in the Hyuuga compound, to find peace and serenity. However, Neji treasured these moments, for a change it wasn't a chore to finish off his obligations and reports.

In front of him, in perfect poise and silence, knelt the head of the clan, Hiashi. Things were not as stilted as they were once, back when Neji was merely a Genin, nevertheless, there were still traditions to follow, and the man before him was a man to be respected and feared.

"There are few women here that will be capable of merging with the Hyuuga traditions," Neji said softly, sorting the files into two. "Although I am surprised to see Hatake, Yasuko amongst them."

"The Village Elders feel that the Hatake line cannot be lost. They request that one child be named as that family heir, the rest of the children may remain within the husband's name," Hiashi replied, lifting the small blue tea cup to his lips.

"Yasuko-san has not made any mention to me about marriage proposals," Neji noted before placing her file into the considered group.

"Due to her...acquaintance to both the Hyuuga clan and the Nara clan, the Elders wished for a quiet way out if there were a scandal to be found in either relationship."

"Both houses are noble, there would be no dishonourable actions to be found, therefore no scandal to be had." His tone had the right amount of reproach and tact to dismiss any claim of bad action.

"There have been rumours of you entering her house at all hours of the night, Neji-kun," Hiashi replied in the same tone.

Sighing, Neji looked up from the new file he was perusing to gaze eye to eye with the head of his clan. "As you are aware, Hiashi-Sama, Yasuko-Chan is a renowned emergency surgeon, one of the few medical shinobi in that field. Her home is open to those who cannot wait around for an available doctor, especially if they are ANBU and their features require confidentiality. The hospital is often too public, while Yasuko, with permission from the Hokage, maintains that level of secrecy while treating her patients. Her practice is not hidden away, most people are aware of her actions and no ill is reflected upon her character." Lifting his own tea cup to his lips, he gave no more explanations towards his actions.

The fact that she was the only medic he would see had nothing to do with the conversation...or the fact that she was one of the few he could actually consider a friend. Those were unnecessary points...and had the potential to reflect badly on the honourable character the woman possessed.

"Be that as it may, the Elders of the Village are not as convinced, therefore has decided to add her to the list of suitors. I'll be frank, our clan needs new blood, and a Hatake would not be a negative addition, even if their head is a little...eccentric."

Neji hid his wry smirk behind his tea. Eccentric was a light way to describe his friend's older brother. Not everyone would be shameless enough to broadcast that book as a favoured to the public, not to mention his punctuality and his ethic to superiors. "I shall consider this proposal, but I refuse to force her into a marriage that she has no knowledge about. Perhaps you could notify the Council members that should they not inform the Hatake clan of their actions, I, and perhaps even Nara-san, would be more than ready to do so...perhaps in less than flattering terms than what they would wish. Am I right in assuming they would want a bloodless resolution to their proposal?" Hiashi treated him with an aloof glare. "I highly doubt Kakashi-Sempai would be willing to simply hand off his younger sibling to a marriage he had no knowledge of."

"You are getting quite bold," was the simple response from his Clan Head.

"Is it boldness when I am merely concerned with the compliance of a potential suitor for the clan?" he returned. "However, I must apologise, I am close to running late for a meeting in the Hokage tower. Perhaps we can pick up this conversation at a later date?"

The elder Hyuuga inclined his head lightly and watched as the younger man bowed and rose, picking up his porcelain mask with one smooth movement. It wasn't long before Neji disappeared, leaving him alone in the cooling tea room with files scattered on the table in an organised manner. The soft face of Hatake Yasuko glimmered up from the photograph in the gentle candlelight.

Whoever had placed the bandages on such a high shelf was going to get a Kunai in the gut; Yasuko glowered as she stood on her tip toes, her hand barely reaching the box. The chair she was standing on creaked loudly in protest as she jumped a little, hoping to knock the infuriating box to the ground. Growling to herself, she glared up at the box with her hands on her hips. It was a busy day at the hospital and she didn't want to waste ten minutes or so trying to get a damned box.

"You're like an industrious beaver that can't quite get the dam to stop leaking," a voice said from the doorway. Glancing at the person, Yasuko's face brightened into a smile.

"Shika-kun!" jumping off the chair, she bounced over to him and gave him a firm hug. "Thank god you're here!"

His brow rose as he held her close. "I always get roped into something troublesome when you say something like that."

"Well, it's not actually troublesome this time, I just need you to get those bandages down for me," she replied with a wry grin, "Someone decided that the inventory needed to be sorted without taking into account how many short people work here."

Rolling his eyes lightly and muttering under his breath, leaned over her, stretching his arm out and plucked the box off the shelf without having to really reach out. Handing the box over to her, Shikamaru followed her out of the tiny room. "Do you have a minute? There's something I need to talk to you about."

Tossing a quizzical glance over her shoulder, she replied, "I'm meeting Kaka-Nii-San for lunch in about ten minutes, how about I go on break early?"

"That'll be great, when you flip out, you can go straight to him."

"Come on, Shika-kun, I'm not Sakura, I don't go pounding on people without a decent reason. Not to mention I like to at least put some planning into my revenge." Yasuko grinned at the taller man. Shikamaru just frowned at her, causing her smile to falter. "Is everything alright?" she asked as she gave the box of bandages to some random nurse and signed the break book.

"Not really, Suko-hime, I don't have good news." Her silver brows furrowed in worry as she took in her friend's dejected slouch. Slipping her white coat off, she hung it on a peg and grabbed his hand.

"If the news is as bad as you're implying, let's go outside, the fresh air will do us some good."

He looked at her for a moment, his face in fierce contemplation before he nodded, seemingly to himself and grabbed her by the elbow. His gait was neither fast nor slow, but a steady, determined pace. Although she reached his shoulders in height, her long legs were more than capable with keeping up with him.

As they walked through the doors, the sun burst onto them with a blinding light before fading to a more reasonable standard. Shielding her eyes a little, Yasuko allowed her friend to drag her towards an empty park bench. She supposed, to all the patients and doctors in the gardens, it was a little strange to see her being pulled around without any sort of fight on her behalf, but she had a strong feeling that what her friend was about to say was of the utter most importance.

Sitting down, Yasuko gave her whole attention to him. "Ok, I'm here; you've got news, so lay it on me."

Shikamaru took in a deep breath. "I'm joining the ANBU ranks."

There was a beat.

"You better hope to god you're joking, Shikamaru-kun," she said seriously, taking in a deep lungful of air. "I know the survival rate of an ANBU pretty darn well thanks to hands on experience. You know it too with all my complaints about it. Now you're telling me that, despite all of the shit they go through, you're joining them anyway? What happened to the guy who thought getting up and turning off his alarm clock took too much energy?" At this point, she had stood up; her hands clenched either side of her hips as she glared at him fiercely.

"Yasuko-hime..."

"Don't you dare 'Yasuko-hime' me, Shikamaru, you don't get to do that after telling me what you just did," pinching the bridge of her nose, she began to pace in front of him. "I can't lose you, you're my best friend."

He stood up and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I need to do this, Yasuko-Chan, you know I do. War is looming, it's pretty much already here, and they need me, they need my brain. Asuma-sensei would have done the same if it were him in my place." Yasuko didn't reply, just simply buried her head into his flak jacket to try and quench the sobs. "It's not like I'm dead or dying. I'm still here; I'm holding you and I promise that I won't do anything stupid."

"You've already gone and done something stupid. Joining ANBU is like signing your own death certificate. A majority of their missions are suicidal!" Her voice was hoarse with unvoiced sobs. Shikamaru pulled back a little and bent to meet her grey eyes.

"I need your support on this, please Yasuko," Shikamaru begged, pleading with his eyes to make her understand.

They were silent for a while. Yasuko took the time to seriously think about the whole thing. She hated ANBU and everything it stood for. Kakashi had been part of it and she watched as it almost tore his body and mind apart. There were times when she had to watch as he broke down, unable to truly handle and cope with the things he had to do, the crimes against nature he had to commit and now one of her best friends was ready to sign his soul away for the same life?

"I saw what ANBU did to my brother, Shika-kun...I'm not sure if I can..." she replied honestly, dropping her gaze as anguish poured into his eyes. "But I promise to be there when you come back, and to patch you up when you need it." Her stomach dropped with her words as he practically beamed at them. Placing her hand against her stomach, Yasuko could barely hold in the impulse to be physically sick. She didn't want to be there when he began to fray around the edges, or when the new types of missions became everyday and he to begin to accept it as a part of life. "Shika...I...I need to go..." she said dully, pulling out of his arms. "I'll talk to you later."