8

Age: 12

Another year had passed and thing were finally beginning to turn up for Ryou.

Her father had recomposed himself after a very sloppy year, and he had given up alcohol for good. Her relationship with her team had improved even if Asuma and Kurenai seemed more into each other than their team.
Obito was now her 'best friend', and she was barely starting to learn how to craft crystals which was a huge deal given the fact that most clan members learnt to do it in they're adulthood.

"I'm home dad." She said taking a bite off an apple in the kitchen. She opened her backpack and put another 2-3 in her back before making her way out of the house. "Wait-"
"Yeah?" She stopped.

Her dad had been reading the newspaper and he removed his reading glasses.

"Ryou, there's been a lot of tension with Iwagakure lately. So I want you to be carefully whenever you train or when you're out on missions. Understood?" He warned.
"What does the village Hidden in the Stone have to do with us?" she asked.
"Just- not good news. Be careful." He said putting his hand on top of his daughter's head.

She rushed to the Uchiha compound where she would be meeting Obito for some evening training. Even if her friendship with him had began over interest-
it wouldn't be long until she convinced him allow her to break into the police department.

"I swear, first time I'm early and you're late." Obito sighed shaking his head.

The moonlight illuminated the field with a lake of the compound where Obito usually "trained". It was rare when they were able to meet at night. Especially on such a dark, peaceful one like tonight's. Both of the shinnobi climbed to the tallest tree in the field.

"I picked up some important stuff." Ryou saw pulling out a box with dumplings, two waters, and several apples for them both to share.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Obito asked confused scratching the back of his head.
"Planning." Ryou said mischievously. "For what?" The clueless one replied.
"For when you ask Rin out of course!"
"Shhhhhh!" Obito ran up to her and plastered his hand over her mouth. "Shut up! Someone could hear you!" She licked his hand and feeling grossed out he pulled his hand away.
"So you're admitting it?" she asked with a grin.
"N-No. But I don't want any rumors spreading around the village." He said with a noticeable blush on his face, his arms crossed over his chest in a defensive position.
"Suuuure." Ryou said as she began to help herself to a dumpling.
"What about you-" Obito suddenly snapped. "Why don't we focus on your love interest. Hmm?" He said raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I don't have time for such things." She said in a dull voice before taking a sip of her water bottle.
"Bull! I know you like Kakashi!" This time her water went the wrong way and she spit it out spraying Obito who looked absolutely grossed out.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" She snapped both of her eyes wide in honest shock.
"Or- at least he likes you. It's weird how he always looks at you, and only talks to you-" Obito shrugged.
"I think you're confusing infatuation with pure blind hatred." Ryou scoffed. "If looks could kill Hatake would've killed me 1,000 times already." Ryou couldn't help, but laugh.
"Now stop changing the subject we have plenty of planning to do." Ryou began.
"Wait-" Obito began. He became quiet for a long time.
"What?" Ryou droned.
"N-Nothing. Never mind." Obito shook his head.

Kakashi woke up the following morning and the first thing he saw was her. Her eyes were starring at him from the wall. He immediately felt the anger he had built for Ryou Noa bubble in his stomach. A new picture had been added to his small mural. It was one of Ryou holding her Chunnin vest with a small smirk. Another picture which had appeared on the newspaper. This one was more recent and the image was provocative. He felt as if she was mocking him, smirking at the fact he would never surpass her. He started his dull morning routine before heading out to run some errands.

"Come on Obito! You can do it!" Ryou said as she massaged his tense shoulders.

"Just go up to her and ask her out, right? How hard can this be?" He said to himself. He attempted to ignore the beads of sweat that were begging to form on his temple. His heart rushing in beats almost escaping his rib cage.

Rin was calmly sitting on a bench in the park reading a book. Obito mustered all of the courage he could to approach her. He took in a deep breath which made his chest swell as he began approaching her. He had approached her a thousand times before, but never like this.

"Wait!" Ryou suddenly hissed, her voice didn't reach Obit's ears. "What the fuck." She said to herself. Finding a nearby acorn she aimed for Obito's big head and tossed it. He turned around with an irked expression as he rubbed his aching head.

From a block away she saw Kakashi slowly approaching the scene.
"Here comes Kakashi! Shit, shit. He's totally going to ruin this." She began panicking.

Obito felt his heart racing. "What do we do, what do we do?!" He panicked retreating.
"I'll distract him!" And with that, Ryou went behind the tree into the bushes and began to slyly make her way to distract the silver haired ninja.

He had always possessed the keen ability to show up at the worst time.

Ryou briefly turned around and saw Obito sit down with Rin on the bench. 'SCORE!' she said to herself as she hid under a nearby bush.

"Are you stalking me?"

'Oh shit.' She suddenly leaped out of the shrub and saw Kakashi standing over her. He was carrying a small bag of groceries. His bored expression was still plastered on his face like always.

"Stalking you? Please Hatake. As if you were that interesting or worthy of my time." She said putting her hands on her small hips and shaking her head.

"Then what are you-" She interrupted him with a bark. Her fierce green eyes met his dull dark ones. "Fight me." She suddenly blurted as a lightbulb went off in her head.

'I have to keep him entertained!'

"What?" Kakashi just looked confused.
"Paper, scissors, rock!" Ryou began playing.

He gave her an incredulous look.

"Are you making fuUUun of me?" His eyes became when his teen voice cracked.
This time Ryou couldn't help it and she burst out laughing.
"This is a perfectly normal reaction of my developing body. Of course, you're extremely immature and find it humorooOUs." His voice cracked again at the end of the sentence making Ryou laugh even harder. He cleared his throat in an attempt to compose his seriousness. She was now clutching her sides as she continued to loudly laugh at him.
Seeing Kakashi like this. She didn't know if she was laughing at his embarrassment or at the fact that he became angrier and angrier the louder she laughed. He became furious and flustered until he snapped.

"It's not funny!"

Finally Ryou stopped laughing. She turned around and saw that both Obito and Rin were gone. She had to get out of here now.

"You said you wanted to fight me?" Kakashi hissed.

'Oh, shit.'

Ryou flickered her eyes back to his and he looked absolutely livid. His deathly glare slowly wiped the smirk off her face. She had never seen him so angry, even when she punched him in the face.

'He's really going to kill me this time...' She thought.

"A week from now meet me at the training grounds by the red bridge in the afternoon. No excuses." He growled out, even dropping his grocery bag.

He stretched out his hand and Ryou looked at it as if it belong to an alien. His eyes were cold, he wasn't even blinking. Almost like a shark. It slightly terrified Ryou even if she would never admit it. She raised her fingerless gloved hand and slightly hesitated when shaking his limp.

This is when she realized this was the first time she had ever actually touched him. His skin was cold to her touch. She pulled away quickly still feeling the lingering coolness in her palm which made her feel very uneasy.

"No backing out." She repeated with a smirk in an attempt to keep her cool.

Standing tall, with her back erect, she pretended to walk away calmly, but in the inside she was shitting bricks. He was going to kill her.
Ryou ran into an alley and focused on finding Obito. She closed her eyes for a moment and got ahold of his scent. Following it, she met him back at the Uchiha training grounds.

"What happened?!" Did she say yes?" Ryou asked grabbing onto his shoulders.
"Ah! Don't sneak up on me like that." He put a hand over his racing chest. Feeling as if he had just had a heart attack.
"I couldn't ask her." He sweat dropped lamely.

Ryou felt like strangling him. She stared at him blankly.

"Great Obito. Now I have a fight with Kakashi next week. He's going to kill me."
"What?" He asked shocked his dark eyes widening.

Ryou explained to Obito what happened. He seemed a little uncomfortable with the idea as well. "What are you going to do now?" He asked running a hand through his spiky hair anxiously.
"Fight him." She sighed. "I have to prepare for that, but before… There's something I need you to help me with."

It was now the evening 7:00 p.m. to be precise an hour after the offices close and when everyone is having dinner. Obito stood with Ryou outside of the Uchiha police station building.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked for like the 5th time. "I mean, if we get caught- I probably won't get in trouble, but you…"
"I have to do this." She said looking at him with 100% certainty in her green eyes. "I've analyzed the building. There are no cameras but every evening there is a guard keeping watch. So we need to watch out for him." Obito nodded.
Already having the keys to go in was a blessing. They easily entered the building and now for the hard part.
Ryou and Obito ran up the stairs as stealthily as they could. It was when they heard footsteps that they both froze in the spot. Thinking quickly both ninja jumped and glued their feet to the roof. Ryou's heart stopped. A curly haired ninja who appeared to be around their age was calmly patrolling the building. In his hand he held a flashlight.
Ryou swallowed a thick lump that had been forming in her throat. If busted again... Only heaven knew what the consequences would be. The Hokage would have mercy on her, but the Uchiha clan? Well that was a whole other story...

It was then that the guard looked up. He saw them both. His eyes met both You and Obit's. Both were frozen in the spot with fear.

Unsure of what to do, Obito allowed his dead weight to drop and he fell on top of the guard. Pinning him to the floor. Ryou took this opportunity and without another word sprinted up the stairs, locking herself in the Uchiha police chief's office. She heaved as she looked over her shoulder. "Must be a pretty shitty guard if he forgot about me..."

She opened the door to his secret file room and began looking for the documents.

Meanwhile Obito rubbed his bum as he stood with his cousin.
"Sorry, Shisui-san." He grinned sheepishly.
"Obito, what are you doing here at this hour?" He asked with both of his hands on his hips.
"Uh-" Obito was at loss of words. "I forgot something."
"Really? What?" Shisui asked now crossing his arms over his chest not believing him. His cousin was well known for his ridiculous lies and excuses around the compound.
"M-My Ninja tool kit!" He said touching the one that was on his leg. The last thing Obito saw was Shisui's eyes turn the deathly crimson shade of the Sharingan.

Meanwhile, Ryou eyed the photographs of her mother's corpse and analyzed the details in them. She scanned the images and attempted to memorize them to the best of her ability.

'There was no sign of force entry…'

Natsume Noa had a blessed ability for sensing. She was a gifted tracker. If a stranger had been rounding the house she would've definitely been the first one to know. She wouldn't have hidden away in Miharu's room before being taken as a "hostage." Which was not a possibility.

Then there was another detail. The pool of blood that her mother was found laying in. And the messy room, the furniture was on top of the blood- not underneath it. Meaning there had been a struggle after the kill. Ryou sat in the bottom of the small storage closet in a pensive matter. She was still trying to puzzle this whole event together. It didn't make sense. Her sister's file… It said her leg from her knee to the bottom had been found alongside with blood by a river. But the river ends at the walls of the city. If her body had really gone into the river it would've been found regardless… Concluding that Miharu did not drown. She was taken somewhere and over the wall- Suddenly she heard a high-pitched scream echo from downstairs it sounded like Obito. She had to get out of here, she put the file back in place and tenaciously jumped to her feet- She rushed out of the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" A small scream escaped Ryou's mouth as she fell back on her bottom. She had bumped into a person. It was a male person, he looked to be about a year or two older than her. He had curly, messy, dark hair and proudly wore his hitai-ate protector on his forehead. He wore the traditional Uchiha outfit and colors. Most contrasting were his ruby eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"N-Nothing." She said trying to give a step back, her hands slightly shaking. She had to do something...

His top eyelashes were extremely long and curved up at the corners of his eyes. Almost opposite of her own lashes.

Ryou ended up bumping her back against a cabinet. Making a thudding sound, she slightly turned around and returned her eyes to the Uchiha. Her eyes darted towards a nearby window. She could make a run for it. Preparing to sprint she lay a foot down when a body suddenly flickered in front of her. Almost in the blink of an eye.

'W-What-' had he had really flickered or was it her imagination. He was inhumanely fast. Once again she bumped into him, both of his hands held a tight grip on her upper arms this time.

"Hn," a smirk made way to his face, and he placed a hand under her chin making her look up to him.

"Did you really think I would forget about you?" He closed an eye winking at her.
'Is he… flirting with me?' Ryou thought confused as she felt a rush of blood rush to her face.She felt her heart hammer in her chest. She turned her face away. There was no escape, she was trapped.

"I'm Shisui. What's your name?" He asked cooly as he leaned in dangerously close. He raised one of his arms caging her against the shelf behind.

"I-I'm- I'm not going to tell you my name. So you can report me!" She raised her voice at him upset. Not thinking rationally she kneed him away and made a run for it.

Before she could even take a full step he had already managed to get a tight grip on both of her wrist from behind. "Ouch," he said almost humorously with a chuckle.
"Breaking in? Tampering with federal documents? Assaulting an officer? Resisting? Tsk... Tsk..." He said mocking her. She struggled which only made him strengthen his grip, he pulled on her arms making her arch her back painfully.
"I expected more from the renowned Ryou Noa."

Her eyes went wide. He knew. She wondered just what type of expression he wore on his face. She could only hear his voice right behind her ear, almost too close for comfort.

"I know why you're here." He stated.
"Then what are you waiting for?" She remained tense as she accepted her fate. "Throw me to the dogs for obstruction of justice and everything else I deserve."

He paused for a moment.

"That all depends..." He suddenly said in a softer tone. His grip also loosened. She noted he was letting his guard down. She had to play her cards carefully.
He actually let her go completely. Slowly, she turned to face him. Looking up to meet his now charcoal eyes. The slightest smile on his face.

"How about we get out of here and talk about why I should or shouldn't tell my superiors that I found you here?"

She had no choice.

A few moments later, You found herself sitting with Shisui Uchiha in a local tango shop. Right off the bat, You could tell that Shisui was no ordinary person. There was something special about him, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was.

"Dango is more delicious in good company, wouldn't you agree?" He said wiggling his eyebrows at the bushy haired girl.

Remaining flustered she looked away unsure on what to say or how to proceed.

"H-How do you know who I am?" she asked with a bit more courage.a bit more courageously. She wouldn't allow him to think that she was some stuttering fool.
"How could I not?" he retorted with an amused smile.
"I remember a couple of years ago when you were rookie of the year, then you were one of the few Genin promoted to Chunnin and well of course your family's incident…" he said with a sad smile. "I assume you were in the office looking for information on the crime scene no?"

She only nodded with a sad expression, "Are you going to tell on me?" She asked with a concerned expression.
"Maybe…" He said darkly looking at her with his onyx eyes.
"If you don't enjoy your dango, probably."

The smile returned to his face. Ryou couldn't help it as a small smile crept on her lips as the took a big bite of the sweet dango.

Shisui walked Ryou home that night, it wasn't that late when her father greeted her.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you." He said with a smile.
He was slightly taken back when he saw a smile plastered on Ryou's face.
"You know, this is how I always want to see you. Happy and smiling." He said with a grin on his face as well.
Ryou didn't bother hiding her smile, "I have you, and some friends and that's all I need."

Her father hugged her rubbing her shoulder as he lead her to the kitchen. "Look at my most recent project…"
On the table was a whole new beautiful collection of crystal jewelry.
"They're beautiful dad." She said fingering a necklace with 5 crystals that was on the table.
"I call it the 'Natsume collection'." He said sadly.

He picked up that one necklace Ryou held in her hands and put it around her neck. "You've always had a peculiar taste for expensive things." Aru said with a sweat drop, but I'll give it to you. The necklace consisted on a simple threat holding 5 equally sized and separated chakra crystals.
"Dad! Thank you so much!" Ryou hugged him again. She was so glad to have him back as her father now.
"Just as a reminder to never give up." He said fingering one of his crystals which was now on her daughter's neck. a dark expression on his features. A reminiscent of his days as an alcoholic.
"Thank you…" Ryou repeated feeling the weight of it just above her collarbone.
'That necklace costs a real fortune…She better not loose it!' A part of him mourned for the necklace he was giving away.

Aru felt that everything had returned to normal. Well almost normal… After his wife's murder, his oldest child's disappearance and his temporary alcoholism… Ryou finally looked happy again. She had been spending most of her days hanging out with one of the Uchiha kids and training. She had even been promoted to Chunnin. Despite the nearby threat of war, business was starting to stabilize again and most importantly he and his daughter were their old selves again.

It was when he pulled his hand away from his daughter and she spoke- that's when he knew that something had died in his daughter the same day that his wife and eldest daughter had passed. She would never be the same again. Even if she smiled or appeared to be completely ordinary on the surface.

"Dad. I promise you. If anyone even thinks of stealing this necklace..."

There was a new found darkness in her eyes which he had never witnessed before.

"I will kill them."