A.N: Hey guys :D sorry for the delay but chapter 4 is finally up ;). I have to say this is by far the shortest chapter i have ever writte- *ducks and dodges shuriken* o.o BUT there are new character coming out in this chapter which should hopefully keep you happy, more team bonding and more revealing events. Don't forget to fav, rate and review :P

~Ghosts of the past~

Her footsteps made loud clapping sounds against the ground as she ran frantically towards the source of her distress. The screaming she was hearing in the distance served to make her run faster; fuelling her body with the adrenalin it needed to push on through the haze.

"Just around the corner," she told herself pleading with the skies that she get there in time. Making a sharp right turn she skidded against the black tiled floor before the foul stench of blood hit her nostrils as she inhaled sharply. In front of her was the scene she had replayed in her mind over a dozen times for the past five years except it was slightly different, the people she was expecting to be there had been substituted by other people she cared about: her teammates. Sakura's satin pink hair was stained crimson while Naruto's orange jumpsuit was torn and Sasuke's arms where lying in an unnatural manner.

Falling to her knees she repressed the urge to throw up. Clenching her fists so tight it hurt she watched as the walls around her crumbled painting her surroundings pitch black, a perfect match for the cold tiles she was currently kneeling on. The change of scenery brought her old team back into the picture each looking at her with dead penetrating stare's blaming her for the loss of their lives, but before she could come to terms with what was happening the scenery dissolved again leaving her alone and in a body that was not her own. A woman's cries could be heard ahead. Scrambling to get up he was on his feet and running. He knew those cries. He had to get to her in time, to save her. He had made the promise to do so. Once again the scenery changed and he was surrounded by rocks that seemed to come crashing down out of nowhere and in the distance there was a boy about his age standing stock still. Said boy looked up and smiled in his direction before the avalanche of rocks came tumbling down on top of him. Fighting down the tears he made a desperate attempt to reach his friend shouting out to him; "OBITO!"

Akari sat up straight in bed panting slightly, cold sweat trickling down the side of her face. What the hell had just happened? Her dreams never ended like that. It was true that her actual teammates' being dead was only a recent thing but she had never once seen the boy that had been crushed in her dreams before. Shifting noises from somewhere in the house caught her attention and shortly after realization dawned on her. She was hearing his thoughts again. Jumping out of bed quietly she made her way silently down the hall and stood in the doorway to her teachers' bedroom. He was shifting slightly in his sleep and had to be really zoned out to not have picked up on her presence yet. Staying in the doorway she observed the room for a while. He had fallen asleep finishing off the mission report for their time in Wave country; it was still open resting on his chest. The fountain pen he had been using had rolled out of his hand at some point and onto the floor where it left a small splatter of ink due to the force of the fall. The kunai that would normally be under his pillow at night was resting abandoned on his bedside table. Deciding it was safer to stay out of harms reach she levitated the metal object, eyes shining brightly in the dark, before letting it fall to the floor with a resounding clatter. As expected her companion sat bolt up-right on guard prepared to kill whatever was threatening his life.

"It's me," she whispered quietly walking into the light coming in from his bedroom window to prove she wasn't a threat to him. He visibly relaxed when he saw her and pulled the mask attached to his shirt up out of habit.

"What do you want?" he asked clearing his throat from the gruffness of sleep.

Akari made her way over to him and picked up the forgotten kunai and pen from the floor and placed them back on the table before sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"You were having a nightmare, it just kinda… fused it-self with mine," she began awkwardly before being cut off.

"How much did you see?" he asked trying to mask his annoyance while staring at her. She averted her gaze from his opting to look down at her feet.

"I swear I didn't mean to I was just drea…"

"How much?"

Sighing she looked back into his ebony eye before responding. "Not much, it was really not making much sense, I just heard someone crying and then I heard you shout out for 'Obito?' I think, and then I woke up." Returning her gaze to the floor she bit her bottom lip. "I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to see anything." She hated it when he was mad at her. After what seemed like an eternity of silence she heard him sigh before he answered her.

"Doesn't matter, wasn't your fault. This mission… it just hit closer to home than expected that's all," he said while rolling up the mission report. It could wait until tomorrow to be finished.

"D'you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," he answered flatly. Something was tormenting her that much he could tell, she rarely ever tried to get any information about his past out of him but right now he couldn't find it in him to really care, he just wanted to be alone. After what seemed like an eternity, which had in fact probably been no more than a couple of minutes of staring at her pointedly he cleared his throat readying himself to ask her to leave when she whispered his name. She sounded vulnerable; he knew that voice. It was the same voice he had heard her speak in when they had first met two years prior. It was a voice that carried a tortured past to it and yet at the same time carried nothing. It was a voice that longed to know the truth. Seeing her saddened expression he thought he probably shouldn't have spoken to her quite so roughly. He waited patiently until she looked up at him and stared him straight in the eye. Her piercing blue clashing with his deep ebony black.

"What's it like… to remember?"

xXx

It was earlier than he had intended to get up, after all he wasn't meeting up with his teammates until 3p.m. They had all agreed upon returning from Wave country yesterday that they would sleep in and get some rest before meeting up in the afternoon to schedule for upcoming missions, however, it seemed he wasn't going back to bed anytime soon. Instead he found himself out on his small balcony checking up on his pot plants and giving them the fertilizer they needed. They had received plenty of water during his three week absence seeing as he had set his mini sprinklers to go off at dawn and at dusk everyday but the soil was starting to lack nutrients. Ruffling his spiky hair he stood up readying himself to go back indoors when something caught his attention. Bending down he pulled out a small pot that had been hidden among the others. It contained a small plant that he had planted a week before setting out to Wave country. Turning the pot experimentally in his hand he observed it. It had clearly outgrown its pot but that wasn't what had caught his attention. The small green plant stood up proud with a slight lazy wilt to it almost as if it hadn't a care in the world. Grinning he changed it to a bigger pot and quickly wrote a small note on it with a permanent marker. Placing it carefully inside a carrier box he made his way out of his apartment. He knew exactly who to give the small plant to.

xXx

At first she didn't know exactly what had woken her up at nine o clock in the morning until she heard it again. Someone was knocking on the front door. Grumbling she turned around hoping that whoever it was would go away. After another couple of knocks whoever it was disturbing her sleep had found the doorbell. Sighing she kicked the covers off of her and stormed down the hall. She gave a dirty look in the general direction of Kakashi's bedroom cursing him for having the room furthest from the front door before making her presence known to her guest.

"I swear to god Genma if that's you I'm gonna…" she didn't manage to finish her sentence as she swung the door open and a shocked look crept onto her features. It was practically the same look that adorned her blond teammates face. She watched his eyes sweep quickly over to the name plate that was beside the door and read Hatake Kakashi before returning to look at his female teammate.

"Akari-chan why are you at Kakashi-Sensei's house at this time in the morning?"

"Errr," she found herself unable to string anything intelligible together.

"And why are you wearing pyjama's?" he asked looking her up and down.

"Err,"

"Why does it look like you've slept here?" he asked with a thread of uncertainty in his voice.

"Umm,"

"Akari if it's Genma just shut the door in his face" came the voice of the one person she didn't want to see right now.

Kakashi came walking down the hall, rubbing sleep from his eyes, having been woken up by whoever was making a racket by his front door only to find his whisker marked student looking mortified holding a wooden carrier box and a very annoyed looking roommate. Before he could react his youngest student placed the box into his companion's hands much to her confusion before storming up to him and pointing an accusing finger in his face.

"Kakashi-sensei, I respected you, I never thought you were capable of doing such a thing, she's OUR TEAMMATE not to mention YOUR STUDENT! How could you do such a thing? I knew you were a creep for reading that book of yours but SHE'S OUR TEAMMATE!" he rambled on poking the older man in the chest.

Kakashi was clearly trying to defend himself from the onslaught of words while his still half asleep brain tried to understand why his blond student was in his house, but before he could say anything a hand came out from behind Naruto grabbing him round the head effectively shutting him up.

"Naruto, he's my roommate," Akari growled squeezing his head and fighting down a blush of embarrassment. There was no doubt in her mind everyone in the building had heard what had just transpired, after all the walls were practically paper thin and if Genma was home she was never going to live this down.

"Huh? Roommate?" he asked, turning his head as much as she would allow him to look at her. She nodded in response and watched him freeze up and start sweating nervously. Turning his head back towards Kakashi he started bubbling out apologies to his teacher.

Chuckling Kakashi gave his usual inverted U eye crinkle smile before asking Naruto why he was in his apartment.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot. I've got something for you," he said pointing towards the box that was still in his teammates hands.

"Something… for me?" Kakashi asked genuinely surprised.

"Well you can open it while we have breakfast," said Akari closing the front door behind her.

"Oh, I was just going to Ichiraku's for breakfast you don…" started Naruto but was cut off by his brunette friend.

"You woke me up early on our day off, the least you can do to make up for it is stay for breakfast, besides ramen hardly constitutes as a healthy start to the day," she said walking down the hall with Kakashi close behind her. Naruto glared after her mumbling something about ramen being healthy anytime of the day but followed her down the hall into the living room non-the-less.

Once there he took a look at his surroundings. The place was neither too big nor too small and it didn't have much furniture in it either, a commodity most ninja didn't need anyway. In fact the living room was mostly clustered with bookshelves all littered with books of various genres and sizes. Against the far wall was a medium sized dark wooden cabinet and above that pinned to the wall rested two scrolls open, one green and one purple but each with the word Kuchiyose written neatly on them. To the side there was a small old television that looked like it had seen better days and in the middle of the room in front of the sofa was a small kotatsu table where Akari was currently setting out plates while Kakashi kept bringing different foods from the kitchen.

"You weren't lying when you said you enjoyed reading," said Naruto pointing at the bookshelves.

Akari looked up and merely nodded. Truth of the matter was only the two bottom shelves of those bookshelves belonged to her the rest of her books were clustered in her room. All the other shelves contained books Kakashi had read and collected over the years however she wasn't about to tell Naruto that. It was a known fact that everybody thought Kakashi only read two books and the guy found a kick out of strengthening the rumour by only being seen in town with said books. Most of the time he was just walking around with a different book camouflaged under a very well performed Henge.

Placing the small box in front of where Kakashi had seated himself she made quick work of ladling food onto her plate.

"Naruto, what exactly is this?" asked Kakashi suspiciously while he looked the box up and down. It seemed innocent enough, but this was Naruto they were talking about.

"Just open it and you'll see" was the reply he got from the blond who was trying to decide between eating fish or chicken legs.

Opening the box with care he stuck his hand inside and retrieved a small pot plant. Akari looked at it while chewing on some rice and noted it was a unique type of plant. It tilted to one side slightly and the way its leaves drooped it gave off the impression of being lazy. The rich green colour only added to its beauty. On the pot written in a scrawl she recognized as Naruto's was the name . Chancing a glance at Kakashi she noted that his face was that of a boy who had received an early Christmas present and then the similarities between the plant and her teacher struck her. It was perfect for him. Looking over towards Naruto she saw he was grinning sheepishly at his sensei's face.

"Glad you like it."

"I didn't know you had a thing for plants," said Akari while picking up a piece of fish with her chopstick.

"I do gardening as a hobby" he said while he placed a mouthful of food into his mouth before his eyes lit up. "This is so good, did you cook this?" he asked the girl sat across from him. She blinked in surprise a couple of times.

"No, it was Kakashi's turn to cook last night."

Turning to face the man sitting next to him who was still holding the pot plant with a look of complete devotion on his face he said "I honestly didn't know you could cook."

Kakashi shrugged before placing the plant on the table and picking up his plate to take it into the kitchen. "I cook to survive that's all, I suppose after living off of ramen anything tastes good."

Naruto watched his retreating figure frowning, 'when did he finish of his meal? I didn't even see him move. Now that I think about it I don't think I've even seen his face.'

Akari inwardly smirked at his befuddled features. He was kind of cute when he was thinking.

Walking back into the room and sitting back in his usual spot Kakashi turned towards Naruto who had his face scrunched up in concentration.

"Your food's getting cold," he pointed out "oh and by the way how often do I need to water this?" he asking fingering one of the green leaves delicately.

"Just a little bit of water every day should do it, I've given you some nutrient packs for the soil which you can use once a month but now that I think about it I should have packed a water sprinkler as well for when we're on missions," he responded with a saddened face.

"No worry no worry," said the older man brushing off Naruto's remorse with a wave of his hand "when we're on missions a cleaning lady comes round the building and keeps the places tidy, I'll just add watering to the list of things to do."

"It's one of the perks of living in the Jounin residence," said Akari with a friendly wink.

"Speaking of which, how come you two live together?"

"I'm her guardian," responded Kakashi flatly before his roommate could interject.

"Guardian?"

"Akari's parents died a few years back and since then I've been her appointed guardian."

Naruto eyed the man suspiciously. He could feel there was something else that he wasn't being told but decided to let it go.

"He says that but he really only uses me to pay off his rent," said Akari solemnly.

"Yeah that sounds like something Kakashi-sensei would do," said Naruto nodding.

"You both know I'm still here right?"

"But I suppose this explains how you always knew when he was going to turn up," said the blond wolfing down the remains on his plate.

"No those were just wild guesses; he's actually always out of the house before I am."

"Who would of thought that were possible."

"I know right? What with his prone tardiness and his lackadaisical manners one would think he just like's to sleep in but no apparently he just likes to keep people waiting.

"Seriously, I'm still here and I can hear you," said Kakashi, glaring daggers at both his students.

"I should probably get going I've gotta do a couple of things before we meet up again this afternoon," said Naruto while getting up completely ignoring the older man. "Thanks for breakfast."

Akari gave Kakashi a pointed stare for a while which he returned determinedly before giving up and rising from his seat.

"Sure I'll walk you out," he said. Coming back a few minutes later he looked around the room to find the table cleared and his roommate gone. The sound of running water soon after told him she was in the shower. Walking over to the table he picked the small plant up and bee lined into his room and placed it beside the photograph of his old team. He smiled fondly at the picture for a while before an idea struck him. Grabbing his book he closed the door behind him before exiting the apartment.

xXx

Walking down the street with his hands behind his head, Naruto stared up into the pale blue sky and the few fluffy clouds that could be seen. He kept thinking over what had transpired between his teammate and his teacher a while ago. Kakashi had openly admitted to being Akari's guardian but something wasn't summing up. What did the loss of ones parents have to do with needing a guardian? Hadn't the Hokage given Naruto his apartment when he was five claiming he was old enough to look after himself? So then why had he appointed Kakashi as Akari's guardian? Another thing that didn't sum up in the young ninja's mind was the timeline. According to Iruka-sensei, Akari's parents had died five years ago making her roughly nine or ten years old and after that she had left the village for two years. So where did that place Kakashi? Had he gone with her?, and if so where had they gone that had drastically changed her when she returned? Being so distracted by his thoughts he failed to notice Sasuke fall into step beside him until he started talking.

"Seems you are capable of thinking, not that you're actually thinking of anything productive."

"The hells that supposed to mean teme?" growled the younger boy coming to a stop while the Uchiha carried on walking.

"Hn."

Jogging slightly to catch up to his partner he set his face into a scowl and resumed his previous stance. "Shouldn't you be somewhere important like I dunno getting stalked by those fan girls of yours?"

"I just bumped into Kakashi," said the dark haired boy coming to a stop at a junction, "he said to tell you to bring your backpack along this afternoon we've just been offered a mission," with that said he turned on his heel and made his way down the right lane. Naruto watched him for a while before continuing down the opposite road. It seemed like some Ichiraku Ramen was in order.

xXx

Akari half carried half dragged the black plastic bag full of garbage down the three floors to the lobby, turning around when she heard someone addressing her.

"Need any help with that?" The voice spoken was a deep rumble that could make any woman melt with anticipation and send shivers down their spine. Akari knew the owner of that voice.

"Shiranui Genma, do you really think I can't manage one bag of rubbish?"

"I dunno you might be disposing of Kakashi's body after his argument with your boyfriend this morning," he answered gleefully falling in step beside her only to be forced to avoid a left hook.

"Oh funny, Genma, really funny," scowled Akari while picking up her pace to reach the dumpsters outside the building as quickly as possible.

"I'm just saying if you're gonna be going out with more than one guy you gotta plan things carefully, and here was me thinking you were adept at your career," he teased while shaking his head in a sign of resignation.

"He isn't my boyfriend Genma, just a teammate who read wrongly into the situation," she said while hoisting the bag into the metal front loader and shutting the lid with a clash.

"Sure he isn't sweetheart," he said grinning, senbon dangling dangerously between his teeth. When she responded by just glaring at him he laughed lightly, "you know I'm just pulling your pigtails."

"You off on a mission?" she asked ignoring his final comment.

"Yeah, I'll be back by the end of the week. What about you lot? You've been off the mission roster for three weeks."

"We just got back from a C-rank turned A-rank yesterday and got profusely reminded by the Hokage why Genins couldn't take C-ranks cos they could easily spiral into disaster. So I'm guessing it's D-ranks for us until Christmas."

"Oh well, tough luck, see ya in a week and tell Kakashi not to miss me too much," he said winking.

Rolling her eyes she grinned and walked off back into the Jounin residence giving a final wave over her shoulder to let the man know they were good. Genma could be a bit of a pain but his joking, teasing manner came as a nice change from Kakashi's daily aloofness, just as long as it wasn't directed at her.

xXx

The sunlight glistened off of his pearly white skin as he sat up straight when he felt the presence of one of his teammates. Leaning his back against the tree behind him he nodded slightly when she waved. He turned to regard her when she sat down next to him under the shade of the tree taking refuge from the heat the early afternoon offered.

"You're early," she said offhandedly while unclasping the restrictive belt tied around her chest, freeing her backpack in the process and dumping it on the ground.

"So are you," he replied.

"It's a nice afternoon, just felt like getting out of the apartment." A pink haired girl suddenly came into view across the field. Akari raised her hand slightly to signal where they were. A couple of minutes later Sakura was sitting next to them and soon after Naruto was with them too. For the most part they sat in silence for a while each enjoying the cool breeze that swept through the trees, until Akari pulled out a pack of cards. That's how Kakashi found them two hours later. Had it been any other day he probably would have scolded them for wasting time instead of training but seeing as they had only gotten back from an A-rank mission yesterday he let it slip. Even Sasuke seemed to be having fun if the snide remarks at Naruto's cries of cheater where anything to go by. When they felt his presence as usual Sakura and Naruto berated him for being late.

"Ah but you see I have a good excuse," he said scratching the back of his head.

"Sure you do, what was it this time a lost kitten?, walked under a ladder?," smirked Sakura.

"No," he stated flatly,"as a matter of fact I went looking for him," he said pointing in the general direction across the field where a man with an old fashion camera stood. They all looked at him bewildered. "I figured it was about time we all got a team photograph taken."

Naruto jumped up in excitement and raced Sakura across the field while the other three walked over. "Come on hurry up!" he waved impatiently.

"It's not like the camera is going anywhere you idiot," replied Sasuke, and just like that the bickering started all over again. If this surprised the camera man at all he didn't show it, instead he proceeded to setup the camera in front of a bench were they all placed themselves ready for their photograph.

xXx

The crickets were particularly loud that night singing their rickety tune that would drive most people crazy but had an odd soothing effect on Akari. She was busying herself by putting her bag away after their mission and was thinking about having a nice warm bath when she pulled something out from one of her bags hidden inside pockets. It was the photograph they had had taken that very afternoon. Smiling at it fondly she walked over to her bedside table and looked determinedly at the photograph of her old team. Rubbing a finger over the glass covering their faces she took a deep breath and removed the picture from the frame before replacing it with her new team. Clutching the old photograph in her right hand she made her way to the front door, slipped on her sandals and walked out. Opting to walk instead of taking the roofs she started making her way to the cemetery located on the outskirts of the village. Once there she stood outside it for a while before taking a deep breath readying herself for the plunge. She had never really been fond of cemeteries. They were cold and sent chills down her spine. Ticking it off as being hyper sensitive she headed towards the shrine where people commemorated the death of those loved ones whose bodies couldn't be brought back home. The walls were littered with pictures, some aging so far back that they were black and white. Finding an unoccupied spot she stuck the photograph on the wall and clasped her hands together in a silent prayer.

'I'm sorry, for not being able to really remember you guys properly or mourn over your deaths and I know I'm being selfish asking this from you but please, watch over my new teammates. I promise I'll do my best to protect them. I've realized I can't keep clinging onto something I can't grasp but I also promise, one day, I'll find out what really happened that day, you can mark my words.'

Having finished she got up and turned to leave when she felt a warm breeze behind her. Turning to face the source of her disturbance she saw a lit candle, its flame dancing merely in the night breeze. Smiling fondly at it she turned around and started making her way home. It was time to let go of those ghosts of her past, but hopefully they would still watch over her in the future.