=^.^=

11

…The sun was concealed behind a clouded veil as Toshiko skipped through the village, her bright pink bag filled with all the things any normal 6 year old girl's bag should be filled with; Kunai knives, shurikan stars, a katana sword roughly the size of an adult's dagger, a first aid kit and a bento box for lunch. Normal, that is, for a girl who grew up in a hidden ninja village.

She was on her way to one of the training grounds to meet her friends, Ryosuke Matsuo and Yasahiro Himura. Toshiko and Ryosuke had made friends on their first day at the academy the previous year, bonding instantly over a penchant for pulling pranks and joking around, whilst Yasahiro being the studious type tended to ignore the pair as much as possible. However the two had latched on to Hiro ever since he had gotten them out of trouble with their Sensei at the Academy after an incident involving some orange paint, a spring trap, and said Sensei's desk drawer, naturally the three of them had been inseparable ever since.

The trio had arranged to meet at training ground 7 today, it had been Tosh's favourite ever since meeting the boy with the silver hair 3 years previous, and every time she trained there a small spark of hope ignited inside of her that Kakashi Hatake might just happen to be there too. The happy little kunoichi finally reached the meeting place, a grassy open space surrounded by trees, and noticing the others hadn't arrived yet she decided to get in some extra target practice.

She missed one, then another, the third Kunai hit the wrong tree, but the forth was perfect. *Yes! I did it!* she thought, pleased with herself. *Only my fourth go, that's much better than last time. Now, I've just gotta do it again…*

With renewed determination she continued to try, the majority of the blades ended up scattered around the base of the trunk or on neighbouring trees, with only 3 embedded in the roughly hewn out bulls-eye. It was frustrating to say the least, she didn't know what she was doing wrong some of the other kids in her class made it look so easy. Tosh bit her bottom lip and frowned, looking around at the array of Kunai on the floor, *Stupid target practice. Stupid Kunai. Stupid trees… Stupid, stupid, stupid!* She walked over to collect the fallen knives, dragging her feet, and subsequently stumbled over an unearthed tree root on the way.

"Pathetic."

A voice rang out behind her, turning to the source she saw a shock of silver hair, a dark mask and navy attire. After three whole years her eyes finally beheld the boy from her memory; standing in a tree staring right back at her. Her stomach filled with butterflies and she could hardly stop herself from jumping up and down at the site of him, "It's you! Wow I don't believe it, I thought I'd made you up!" Toshiko called out, grinning from ear to ear.

"You can't even hit a stationary target from 5 metres away. Are your other ninja skills as bad as this…?" He inquired.

Toshiko stared up at him, unsure whether she had misheard him or not, "I… huh? What did you-"

"People as useless as you give real ninjas a bad name. Do yourself and the village a favour and give up." His cold stare bore down at her as he spoke.

"But… but I'm... still training-" Choking out the words, Tosh's eyes began to line with tears.

"It doesn't matter how much you train if you don't have natural talent. You'll just drag your team mates down, and ruin missions." Kakashi barely moved as he spoke, standing atop the hefty tree branch his arms crossed over his chest.

This boy who she had considered a friend, however brief their previous meeting had been, was standing there insulting her for no reason at all, the warm energy that had bubbled up inside of her only moments ago turned to fire as each stinging comment rolled off his lips. Toshiko trembled all over, tears rolling freely down her cheeks now, "Stupid jerk! Why… why are you being so mean?"

The calm response Toshiko received did nothing to make her feel any better, "I'm not stupid, or mean. I'm just being honest, you lack the traits and skills ninja's need. It's better you realise that now before you fail. Completing missions successfully and following the rules are the most important things, and ninjas who don't do that are scum." Kakashi then disappeared, teleporting away, leaving her to stare at the now empty branch in shock.

How could he say such things? Was this really the same Kakashi Hatake she had befriended long ago? The boy she had just met was like a completely different person and now that she had met him for the second time she wished it had never happened, but more than that wished that she really had imagined him.

"Yo Toshi!" A voice snapped her thoughts back to reality, and she turned to see two boys walking towards her.

Ryo and Hiro had finally turned up. The large ever present grin upon Ryo's face lessened as he saw the tear soaked cheeks, "Why are you upset, Toshi?" His eyes darted to the bulls-eye carved into the tree trunk and the Kunai strewn ground. "Target practice went that badly, huh? It's nothing to cry about, I'm rubbish at it too."

He smiled reassuringly at her in an attempt to cheer her up. Hiro on the other hand gave him an incredulous look, "Akatora has had trouble with target practice lots of times before, and has never gotten upset over it." He turned swiftly to address Toshiko. "I thought I sensed someone else's chakra, did something happen before we got here, Akatora?"

Finally she let out a chuckle at the formal address, "Hiro, you sound so ooold calling me that… But yeah, someone was here... It was that boy, Kakashi..."

Ryo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "You mean that kid you met years ago? Wow, I thought you made him up."

"Wish I had, he was horrible, I hate him forever!" Tosh sniffed, wiping a cheek with the back of her hand. She proceeded to fill them in about the less than pleasant meeting.

Ryo looked thoroughly disgusted with the older boys behaviour, "Maaan, seriously? He said all that crap? Want me to go sort him out for you?"

Hiro cut across him, "Ryosuke, don't be stupid, from what I've heard about Kakashi Hatake he's on a completely different level, I think the saying 'He would wipe the floor with you' would be appropriate. Akatora, try to ignore what he said, or use it to encourage yourself to work harder and prove him wrong."

Tosh considered this, although her anger had simmered down a little she still felt an aching in her heart that wouldn't heal as easily. She gave them a half-hearted smile and nodded, "OK Hiro, I'll try. Anyway, what should we practice first?"

"Oh, oh how about ninjutsu?" Ryo piped in, glad the problem had been resolved for the time being. "But something fun, not the clone jutsu as that's so boooring."

Hiro tutted, "You only think that because you can't do it. Which makes it a good one to start with, clones are really useful to a ninja…"

When Toshiko had finished recounting the old memory, Kakashi; who had been sitting on the sofa, slid down onto the floor beside her "I... I said such terrible things to you, and I didn't even remember it. I used to talk to Obito constantly like that back then as well. I'm not proud of how I acted."

"You know you don't have to apologise to me, we were just kids after all and we've both changed so much since then." She looked down, absently playing with the hem of her dress. "Not to mention I had no idea what you were going through; at that point I hadn't heard about… your father's suicide."

A hand reached out and softly rested two slender fingers under Tosh's chin and turned her head to face his own, keeping them there to prevent her from looking away. "I mean it Toshiko, I truly am sorry for what I said, I never meant to hurt you."

Tosh's insides twisted at the pain that laced his voice, and she struggled to think of something reassuring to say. Blinking away the haziness in her mind that Kakashi's intense gaze had caused to wash over her, she finally choked out the words "It-it's OK, 'Kashi, really."

Reaching for his hand, she squeezed it gently and brought it down from her chin, "Obviously now I understand why you said those things. After everything that happened with your father it would've been surprising had it not affected you to some extent. I actually found out about it soon after that but I didn't really understand, so I kinda took it all to heart and was too stubborn and angry to just let it go. But that was a long time ago and you know I don't feel that way towards you any more, right?"

"Yeah, I know." His eye crinkled from a hidden smile as his mood brightened once more. "Now you just can't get enough of me."

She nudged him in the ribs, "Says the guy who crept onto my balcony whilst I was in the shower at ridiculous o'clock this morning."

He lifted his gaze towards the ceiling, "What can I say, I was bored."

"Whatever, stalker." Toshiko stood, stretching, the heavy atmosphere in the room had lifted as quickly as it had fallen, and she exhaled in relief and picked up the empty breakfast plates. "I'll go and wash up, it won't take me long."

He gazed after her thoughtfully, Tosh could feel his eye upon her as she turned towards the kitchen, "Tora?"

"Yeah?" Tosh turned, jumping, to see Kakashi leaning casually on the door frame directly behind her. "One of these days I swear I'm going to buy you a bell, I didn't even hear you get up…"

"Leave the dishes." He stated simply. "We're going out."

"We are?" She blinked. "Where to?"

"Wherever you like." He said, his eye belying a warm smile.