15
Age: 16

The anniversary of the attack of the Kyuubi demon fox loomed over the village. October 10th. The village had suffered a tremendous toll in deaths, and after the war there weren't many more people around. Even Konoha's Yellow Flash, Minato Namizake, the Fourth Hokage and his wife had also perished.

Kakashi's only remaining friend…

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage had been appointed Hokage once again. Much rebuilding had to be done in the village. A new monument called the K.I.A. stone had been placed in order to honor the names of those who had sacrificed they're lives in the war and fox attack. And a new orphanage had to be built…

"You celebrated the day of your birth recently right?" An elderly woman with heavy under eyeliner and a massive painted round circle on her forehead crooned as she held the younger girl's hand in her own.

"A Cancer?" woman guessed. Ryou nodded her head, her eyes narrowing. "Creative, spontaneous, faithful, emotional, protective, loving…" The woman trailed off.
Kakashi who was standing behind her with his arms crossed scoffed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Moody, pessimistic, clingy, overemotional, suspicious and a born nagger!"

The smile had wiped off her face to glare at the older woman.

"You will soon walk a dark path. It will blind you and you will suffer greatly. If you don't make the right choices it will kill you, but if you do- in the end it will all be worth it," she said in an ominous voice. Her light amethyst eyes glowing in the dim lighted tent as she did.

Ryou scoffed.

"It is your emotions and attachments that make you weak. You isolate yourself. Don't make that mistake, again. Make your fatal flaw you're main strength-"

"Lady! You don't know what you are talking about!" She slammed her hands on the table making the crystal ball in the table rattle.
The woman only glared. Ryou tossed a coin to her and stormed out of the violet colorful tent, Shisui and the others following behind.

"You were right, this was a waste of time." She said shaking her head. 'Surprisingly the woman was on point…' Shisui thought slightly amused.

"We're already behind time on mission time. There is no time to argue." He said as both continued walking in an attempt to meet with the rest of the team.
They finally met up with the ANBU some were upset and some were happy to have had that small break before heading back to the Leaf village again.

'What a waste of time…' Kakashi thought dully. He had no time for such childish affairs...
Everyone was covered in dirt, bruises and was completely drained Eight ANBU had gone on a mission and eight had returned. The mission had been to wipe out a small enemy village near the Hidden Rain village, again. Team Shisui followed the way home. He was leading the way until suddenly a massive pike arose from the ground making the team scatter. They had been followed.

Shisui gave a step back, his Sharingan already activated, there were about a 100 shinnobi who had trailed them.
Everyone was ready to attack. "Now!" Shisui shouted.
The team had been warned about this, no one wanted to get near Shisui's Sharingan so they all dispersed taking the enemy out to different areas.
Ryou had gone off by herself and around a dozen ninjas had chased her. Putting both of her hands together in a clap and spreading it out, sparks flew from her hands as two concrete, crystal halos appeared in both of her hands, which made it easy for her to slice through her unfortunate victims. She saw that the eight of them were now laying on the floor sprawled out in a pool of their own blood.

Five of the other ninja stood hidden amongst the shadow's of the trees between some bushes close to the fight scene.

"That's Ryou Noa, right? Konoha's Crystal Hound…" one man said.
"They call her that because of the crystals, right?" Another one whispered back. "But why Hound?"
"They say she can smell the fear in her enemies from miles away, she can see into your soul and hear as you plead to your god that she doesn't find you." He said with his eyes wide.

The enemy saw the girl crouch down to her knees and spread her palms out in the floor as she took a pair odd extremely ragged breaths.

"Doesn't look so tough to me…" One of them scoffed.

She was only sixteen.

"We should-" The man spoke his last words.

Their leader felt his skin being splashed by the warm blood of his comrades. He turned and became paralyzed when he saw that pair of emerald green eyes were piercing into his soul. Surrounded by a group of impaled corpses some still alive and others groaning in pain. He struggled to breath properly, his mouth agape in shocking fear.

"You know what else they call me?" She said turning around approaching the villain who stood frozen in his spot his bottom lip quivering as he attempted to enunciate anything coherently.
the girl knelt down once again and slapped her hand on the ground "Ryou the Impaler," She said darkly.
Just then a massive crystal rose from the ground and pierced the villain painfully impaling him raising his dying body high enough for the young lady to look up to see him. It was truly a macabre sight, but Ryou didn't have any mercy for murderers specially when they killed children.

Ryou stood up watching the bodies of the criminals slowly and painfully bleed out she was attempting to catch her breath, when suddenly she felt a sharp blade stab her in the back.

"I guess the Blodhound's senses aren't as esteemed as they claim they are." A husky voice whispered gripping a hold of her arm, pressing his nose against her thick hair. She let out a low hiss, as she felt the itching pain in her back.
A dry chuckle escaped her lips.

"The most cowardly thing a person can do is become a backstabber."

She flashed the man a crooked smirk. The enemy pushed in his blade further and heard a sickening crack. He looked down and saw that his sword had cracked into shards. "What the f-" he began saying.

The girl pivoted and gave a step back ready to attack, but before she attacked she felt her face become splattered with the enemy's blood.
A fist shot out of his chest and blue lighting sparks flew out of a bloody hand.

"Thanks," she said slowly looking at the man who they called the "Copy-cat Ninja" or "Cold Blooded Kakashi." He simply remained silent. Acknowledging her gratitude. After all these years they still weren't speak. The only conversation they had was always regarding their missions. Nothing more than that, nothing less. Both pretended as if the other had been a stranger.
Ryou couldn't help but look at him with a construed expression. His seemed to remained permanently stoic. Then again, the masks that he wore didn't help.

He didn't say anything else, his eyes which she could see from the holes of his ANBU mask were focused on her dead impaled victims. He turned his eyes back to her.

"And they call me cold blooded." He muttered before walking away. As in cue Ryou only starred at him in concern…

She knew that Shisui was retiring as ANBU captain, to participate as a regular ANBU member, after all, he had done his time. Ryou had an idea of who would be the next captain, and the thought honestly worried her. As she left the scene she leaned on the blood crystals where her victims had been impaled and absorbed back the chakra in them making them turn a dull shade of grey rock. she had done her time as well, over the next few years she was planning on becoming more absent in the ANBU so that she could finally focus on the only thing that truly mattered to her. Her reason for coming this far: solving her family's mystery.

She followed him and saw how he would take enemies down as he encountered them. He had no mercy for them just like an ANBU should. At some point he even began charging towards her, she knew she wasn't his target, and with her hands in her pockets Ryou flickered her body out of place and saw as she ended the life of another villain that had been close behind her. The terrain was finally clear. She saw as his Chidori died down in his hand and his breathing become ragged. His arms began shaking and he collapsed to his knees.

"Kakashi! Are you alright?" Ryou said jogging over to him.

He didn't answer. Every time he killed he would see-

Her.

He could see the image of his hand piercing her and blood coughing from her mouth as she drowned in it. The image replayed over and over again every single time he killed. He suddenly felt a hand touch him, flinching on instinct he wasted no time in slicing the enemy.

"Gah!" He snapped back to reality. Taken aback by the sudden yelp of pain. You had only been attempting to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder. With a sharp hiss she retreated, pulling her hand back to his chest.
Karachi was almost like a wounded animal, a dog. One that had been abused and would bite anyone that tried to come in contact with him.

He snapped his head to look at her a crazed look could be seen gleaming from his dark and crimson eyes.
There was so much blood. It was probably her worst wound from the entire mission. It was almost like that one time when he had attempted to leave the village.

His breathing became heavy. He was not ok. He was not mentally stable. She kept a tight grip on her hand trying to stop the blood from flowing.

"R-Ryou." He said, his voice feebly trembling. He also remembered that fateful day when she had attempted to stop him from abandoning the village. He had promised never to hurt her again, and yet he had broken his promise. He had broken a rule. Kakashi didn't even recognize himself anymore.

Still with eyes wide the girl turned away and abandoned him in the middle of the forest. She returned to the main road where Shisui stood amongst the other ANBU members some injured some not, but thankfully there were no grave casualties.

"Ryou-chan!" Shisui rushed towards her noticing her injury and her body covered in bloods and dottings of maroon. "What happened?" He said holding her hand in both of his and ripping part of his shirt to bandage it.
"It was just a bad move." She lied again.
She hated lying to Shisui and she found herself lying to him often, and it was usually always regarding Kakashi. Her eyes briefly flickered towards the silver haired ninja who simply watched her from afar. Their eyes met and she sucked in her breath snapping them back to her boyfriend.

Without question he brought her bandaged hand to his lips and placed a kiss on the outside of it. "Next time be more carefully my gem." He said with a smile just before planting another quick kiss on her temple. After four years of dating you could say things were getting pretty serious with the two of them. Realizing they were in public he stepped back and checked on the rest of his team.
Still feeling embarrassed about her boyfriend's public affections, Ryou wore a small smile on her face.
That is until he showed up.
No one else seemed to notice his weaken state or his even messier hair. The smile instantly wiped of her face, and they made eye contact again for a second. He began approaching her, but she walked away retreating to be at Shisui's side. There was a newfound darkness inside him that terrified her.

It was nightfall by he time they returned to the Leaf Village everyone in the team was completely drained. Some of the men in the team found the energy and clapped Shisui in the back as he finished giving his last instructions as ANBU captain. Everyone was cheering and decided to go drink sake and celebrate.
Ryou had her arms wrapped around one of Shisui's arms a broad smile on her proud lips. Kakashi stared from a far distance engrossed. Once again he was in complete misery. He couldn't believe he had hurt her.

All of his friends were dead. He was completely alone and isolated, and worst of all he was guilty for most of their deaths. Friend Killer was a suiting name...
But what pained him the most was seeing the only connection to his past, the girl that made him stir and stay awake at night was somebody elses and would probably always belong to that somebody else. He had to stay away from her. From everyone. All he did was hurt the people around him. First Obito, then Rin, today wasn't the first time he injured Ryou, but he also didn't want to be responsible for that…
Consumed by his misery and thoughts he returned to his lonesome home. Perhaps it would be better if he just ended it... He had no purpose, he was never going to achieve greatness. The only thing he was, was a killing machine, an efficient murdering tool, and that was about it. There was nothing left for him.

Kakashi opened the door to his apartment. He felt himself slightly at ease knowing he was finally in his own private sanctuary. He stretched out and with the lights just on he began removing his ninja sandals only to see a pair of black ones already on his floor.

He turned his head and met a pair of emerald green eyes. Ryou stood there in her ANBU uniform her back to him, her head was turned but her body was facing a bookshelf he had in his living room. Her lips were pulled together into a thin line and her eyes held a glint of mystery in their sparkling beauty.

Kakashi had already been imagining her drinking with Shisui and their friends celebrating his last mission as captain.

Then he suddenly realized, his eyes darted towards his bedroom. The most dreadful thought occurred to him. What if she had gone in? What if she had seen-
He felt rush of panic. That would be the cherry on top of his life, he would probably kill himself if she ever saw the collection of photographs of her that he had on his wall.

"I thought you were with Shisui." He said in an attempt to keep his cool as he continued removing his shoes. He walked towards his small kitchen area in an attempt to create as much space as he could between the two of them. It was odd speaking to her, specially after all this time.

"I have a life outside Shisui." She said calmly, her eyes lowered, remaining focused on his book collection.
"Kakashi what happened… when Rin died?" she said in what she hoped was her gentlest voice. One wrong move and who knows what he was capable of. She turned to face him, a random book in her hands.
"That doesn't concern you." Just like that he shut her up coldly.

He saw the disappointment in her face and felt something bubbling inside of his stomach.

"What is it to you?" He asked through narrowed eyes. He had removed his uniform and only his pants and his long sleeve black shirt.

"You are not O.K.. I can see it, and I'm not the only one. Gai is worried too. I've noticed the way you kill, the way you've been carrying yourself lately and isolating from everyone. We've both done it before, and it's not good..."

"You don't pity people." He spat out coldly. "You leech onto people until you get suck everything from then and then spit them back out. You got whatever you wanted from Obito and moved on, you steal Shisui's ninjutsu, what is it that you want from me? Because I have nothing left to give to you."

Ryou began clenching her fist at her sides, even if clenching her right hand brought some pain to her. Her temper was getting the best of her. She took short breaths.

"You are selfish." He continued his rant, his words piercing her like daggers. "You don't do things out of the kindness of your heart."

She took in a deep breath, in an attempt to calm her growing rage, "I won't argue against that… Are you done?" She asked with her eyes fixed on him, both of her eyebrows arched. She tossed the book to the side and cautiously approached him. His eyes narrowed in annoyance as he escaped to his bedroom and locked the door behind him.

"Oi!" She said slapping her hand against his door.

She could hear him furiously shuffling around and in that moment he opened the door. She sighed as she stormed past him and stood against the door blocking his exit. She had never been inside of his place. It was austerely decorated. His bed was green and decorated with a pattern or large shuriken. There were many more books, scrolls, and weapons. On the wall was a massive poster with the leaf village insignia.

"Listen," she said growing more and more irked by every passing moment. "Technically you are one of my few friends… and it causes everyone around you so much pain to see you like this. Even Minato-sensei was worried about you..." She trailed off recalling his tragic death.
"So, what are you saying? That I should off myself and make the world a better place?" He sneered before approaching his window. He reached for the ledge before she felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso tightly.
She buried her face against his back taking in his scent in case he decided to run off. He had finally surpassed her in height and was beginning to toll a head taller than her.

His body stiffened, chest hardened. Something inside of him swelled.

When was the last time someone had touched him? Embraced him in such a way?
He lowered his arms, removing them from the window, expecting her to release her grip, but it instead became tighter.

"O.K..." He said awkwardly as he reached for her hands ready to remove them. Feeling one of them he saw the injured hand he had harmed. He took two steps back until she bumped into the bed and they both sat on the mattress. Sitting next to him she still held on to him tightly, her head leaning on his shoulder.
"You can let go," he uttered growing sick of her touch, unused to such affections.
She patted him in the back and finally let go, scooting to the opposite side of the bed. "You needed that," she simply stated with a coy smile.

He only glared at her from the corner of his eye.

"Well," she clapped her hands awkwardly. Once again, there it was, that familiar tension that seemed to fill the room whenever it was just the two of them. "I better get going..."

She made way to the door and began putting her ninja sandal's on. She noticed that he leaned against the bed frame of his room. His expression unreadable thanks to his dark mask. He watched her intently as she got ready to leave. She opened the door and turned to look at him.

"Unless... You want me to stay?"

"What gave you that idea?" He scoffed.
She shrugged, door handle in her hand. "I don't know... The way you look at me, you're looking at me as if you want me too."

He snapped his eyes away and lowered his head. He swallowed a nervous lump that had formed on his throat.

She once again closed the door, not daring to remove her eyes off him.

"Leave," he said dully, turning his eyes back to hers.
"I call the sofa!" she said removing her shoes, stretching her arms over her head, exhausted.
"Ryou..." He droned slightly frustrated.

"I'll be gone before sunrise," she said as she hopped on his coach. Part of him cringed at the way she was handling his perfectly unused furniture. Then again, it's not like he ever had guests over.

He retreated to his bedroom shaking his head. 'That girl...'

Ryou sighed as she sat in his sofa. 'A blanket and pillow would've been nice?'
She looked around the foreign living room.
She picked up the book she had tossed earlier and began leafing through it. A couple of hours later she closed the book, satisfied with the ending of the mystery novel. She rubbed her tired eyes ready to call it a night-
Suddenly, the sound of loud shuffling caught her attention. Alert she slowly put the book down and tiptoed to his bedroom door.

She tapped the door gently.

No response.

She opted for a knock.

No response.

She called his name.

Still no response.

Only more shuffling followed the absence of noise. She reached for the door handle and realize he had locked it. "Kakashii?" She called one last time.
Growing more and more worried by each passing second she was left to choice. Focusing her chakra on her uninjured hand, she punched a hole through his door. There was no reaction. 'What the hell could he possibly be doing?!'
Opening the door she reached into the darkness and turned the doorknob.
She was expecting him to kick her out for destroying his door. Instead-

She was greeted by a horrifying sight. In the midst of the pitch darkness, she slowly opened the door and saw a transformed human being. Just like she had predicted, this wasn't him. He was in the floor of his bedroom bent over on his knees. His back arched, chest rising up and down. He was violently heaving.

"There's so much blood."

She was paralyzed. Never in her life would she think she would witness him behaving like this. Was this what it was like to be him?
To be completely and totally alone? Only living with himself and his guilt?
Atleast she had her father and Shisui. At least she kept busy with her other... hobbies.

"There is so much blood." He repeated in a trembling voice.

Still unable to speak she rushed to his side. He flinched at her touch and she helped him to his feet. They both crammed in his small bathroom where he began to agitatedly wash his hands. She only stared at him apprehensively.

"It won't come off," he muttered as he continued washing his hands from an invisible substance.

He continued washing feverishly. Both of his hands had turned a rosé pink from how hard he was scrubbing them. He needed professional help, there wasn't much she could do for him except attempt to calm him down.
She had an idea of what he thought had permanently stained his hands...

"Kakashi..." She said in an attempt to grasp his attention.

It was no use. She repeated his name and reached for his arm carefully.

"Kakashi, there's no blood…" As soon as her skin made contact with him, he reached for her wrist and gripped it tightly. She flinched but did not pull away simply starring at him straight in the face.

"You don't understand nothing matters! It doesn't matter that I'm a Jounin, that I made it to ANBU. I killed Rin! The only promise I had ever made to Obito was that I would protect her with my life and she died by my hand instead!" He raised his voice, his eyes wide like an injured animal. His grip became tighter. "I hurt you, even after I promised not too..."

Realizing he could hurt her, he let go off her hand as if it was a hot stone. He looked at her with so much emotion, she looked, frightened more than anything.
He didn't know if she feared him or for him.

"I am death. I kill and destroy everything that's around me. Sometimes I think it might be better if I-..." He trailed off. Swallowing the confession of his suicidal problem. She knew that suicidal behavior could be an inhered trait. She thought of his father, The White Fang, she couldn't picture his life ending the same way.

'Rin…' How Ryou wished the once-sweet girl had never existed. She had made Obito suffer in life due to his terrible infatuation with her, and now in the afterlife she tormented Kakashi even when she wasn't here, she still found a way to torture someone. What she would give to have done something about it, to perhaps have offed her done herself. Ryou had come to absolutely despise the girl that had once been her friend…

"Look at me." She suddenly snapped, jerking his face so that he had no choice but to look at her tenacious expression and her determined eyes. She held his face in her hands. Kakashi suddenly realized the situation he was in and in that moment he couldn't help but wonder how both of them had ended up in his bathroom.

"Breath." She ordered not missing a beat and he did.
"Good," she let go off his faced her shoulder's relaxed.

"Do you want to try and go to sleep again?" She tried to get him out of the crammed bathroom.

"No," he avoided her eyes.
"Let's go lay down. It will do you well," She insisted literally dragging him to his bed. "No!" He pushed her off.

She stumbled back bumping into his wall. She starred at him in shock. Both of her eyebrows turned as she became upset. She gritted her teeth.

It was suddenly that he snapped back to reality. The upset expression on her face didn't particularly bring him any comfort.

"You should leave..." he said inaudibly in defeat.

She looked at him fuming as he looked away. Suddenly his face went flying to the side. He didn't react in time when she picked up one of his pillows and smacked him across the face with it. She jumped on his bed standing on top of him with an angry expression. She was absolutely livid. He had never seen her so morose.

"Ry-!" before he could protest. She hit him across the face with a pillow once again.
"Ryou!" He snapped snatching the pillow out of her hands. "Stop hitting me! You're so damn childish!" He snapped.
She held a deathly grip on the pillow and pulled at it. They both pulled so hard that it tore. Feathers flew everywhere in the entire room and she fell backwards off the bed. A loud thud resounded the apartment complex. He wasn't sure if he had officially lost his mind or if she was equality insane. He looked at all the feathers that contrasted with his dark clothing. Great, more of a mess for him to clean up tomorrow.

She stormed out of the room, through his broken door leaving. He sat there feeling sorry for himself, expecting to hear the door slam. Instead she returned with a crazed look in her eyes. In her arms she held all of the cushions and pillows from his living room.

"You. Are. So. Infuriating!" She screamed hitting him synchronization with her words.
"Stop it," he growled standing on his knees grasping both of her elbows in his hands. "Stop!" He said dangerously, holding her close.

Suddenly from below both of them could hear a neighbor knocking on his roof, their floor, complaining about the noise. Both made eye contact and despite the sombre night, she actually began to laugh. He didn't remaining unfazed.

"What is the matter with you?!" The grip on her arms tightened.
"What is the matter with me?" she blinked twice incredulous by what he was asking. "What is the matter with you?!" She wriggled under his grip.

"I can't believe you just sit here sulking all day feeling sorry for yourself! Do you think Obito would want this for you? Or even her?"

He listened.

"You've always competed with me, but I think it's time you begin competing with you. Face your fears!" She yelled. It took her a moment to catch her breath and calm down. Once she did, the grip on his palms loosened, but she still didn't move.

"There is no blood, but I can't make you see that. You have to see that for yourself." She said quietly, he didn't reply.

She was right.

"I'll be on my way now." She stood up from the bed. "Wait-" He reached for her hand. Realizing what he had done he immediately let go.
He didn't want to be the one to say it.
She looked at him expectantly. Growing more and more impatient by the minute.

His mind was so askew, for a moment he pictured kissing her-

"Stay," he simply said.

'Friend Killer…!' Kakashi suddenly jolted awake covered in cold sweat. His reaction awoke Ryou who had been half sleeping half conscious at the time. It was now dawn-

He realized he was in his living room sharing the same sofa as her. His head hung on her shoulder lazily. Half of his body resting over hers. He wanted to blame waking up in the same room as her on sleeping walking. However, he had consciously done it. She had retreated to sleep in the sofa, like the proper young lady she was and he had followed.

Realizing she was awake he slowly stood up and not daring to look back at her paced forward to his kitchen. He ran a hand through his silver hair nervously. He finally looked back to face her, but felt stupid when he realized she was gone.
She was gone asleep still in dreamland. Her mouth was a little ajar and poised in an unattractive expression.

Suddenly he realized something dreadful. Kakashi had woken up every single morning for the last six years or so to a picture of Ryou's face on his wall. Waking up next to her incarnate version was- well different…

He briefly looked at the wall over which he had spread a lame poster with Konoha's sign over all the picture's he had of her. Meanwhile Ryou's mind was racing as she pretended to be fast asleep.

'This is so fucked up…' She thought not daring to open her eyes.
'I have to tell Shisui about this.' She thought dreading that conversation as she pretended to be fast asleep in the sofa a feeling of guilty and realization washing over her. Regardless, she had to face Kakashi first. She opened her eyes and groaned as she stretched every single muscle in her stiff body. That sofa was not comfortable. She wasn't going to pretend she didn't feel him last night when she snuck into the sofa to sleep with her.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" He said in an attempt to start a conversation.
"I don't remember." she said absent mildly still stretching, popping all the bones in her spine. "Did you?" She said finally looking at him.
"A little. Better than most days." He said approaching her, handing her a cup of black tea.
"Good." She said as she exhaled the breath she'd been holding. She took the cup from him and lightly sipped on it. She had probably slept for probably half an hour or so.

"You have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." She stated slowly.
"What are you a medical ninja, now?" he retorted sarcastically his

The image of Rin Nohara popped up in Ryou's head, never. She thought disgusted.

"No. But it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You need to interact with people. Talk about what happened. It will help." She suggested, before sipping on her tea.

"Do you want to stay or-?" He said slowly as he prepared to make breakfast. "
No, I think I better go." She said putting on her shoes again.

There was an awkward silence between them. Neither of them were sure on how to proceed.

"Well, bye." Ryou shrugged making her way out. "Sorry about the door."

"Thank you..." She turned around a sad smile of her face. "No problem."

He nodded a weak thanks and she left.

'What a morning…' Thought Kakashi as he sipped his morning tea.