Author's Notes: Thanks to those reading. Yuugao's fan base is understandably small, but it's nice to know some people are interested!

Warnings: Potential spoilers for recent Naruto chapters, Kakashi Gaiden, and the series at any time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

Turn of Blade, Twist of Fate

Chapter Four: An Unwell Swordsman

By Nessie

Rin was surprised when Yuugao told her of the acquaintance she had made with Kakashi, taken aback by her ex-teammate's willingness to make himself known to her friend. She explained that the Kakashi Yuugao had met in her back yard was an entirely different person than the Kakashi with whom Rin had first been assigned to Team Minato. Getting used to the less uptight, more bearable Kakashi was something she was still working at, even six years after Uchiha Obito's death.

This news, however, was not nearly as shocking to Rin as Yuugao's seemingly abrupt decision to become a member of ANBU. At first, Rin tried to persuade her away from such a dangerous path, pleading that her skills as a kunoichi were as useful in the standard reserves as they would be in any special unit.

Despite her concern, in the end it only took one look from Yuugao – the same look Rin had been given on the day Aunt Eiko had been found dead, when her friend had wordlessly dedicated her life to her work – for the medic-nin to relent and offer her services in preparation for the trials.

Ninja seeking ANBU enlistment had the option of doubling their Jounin test with the ANBU trials, completing their rise in rank as well as sealing their place in the top force in one, grueling bid for power. Most chose to undergo the two exams separately, the dual stress too much for one person at a time. Yuugao purposefully chose the former.

"But why?" Rin exclaimed in the middle of a hand-to-hand sparring match the girls held on Yuugao's sixteenth birthday. She would fight her friend in this way no other time, for it was only this day that Yuugao insisted her preferred method of celebration was in training. "You would increase your chances of accepted by a plausible thirty percent. Just make Jounin first, then you—"

"Just nothing, Rin," the younger girl replied between spins in a double-roundhouse kick that missed the first time and connected the second. "I am aware that the odds are against me. If I'm to be accepted into ANBU with such a minimalist record – no long-term sensei, majority of missions in-village – I've got to make an impression."

"You're so stubborn!" was the predictable response, though Rin said it with as much fondness as exasperation.

As expected, Kakashi made ANBU. Rin told her that he had been entered into the organization with some disgruntlement from the proctors. When Yuugao asked why, Rin only shook her head.

"He was late," she sighed. "He never used to be, not for anything. It was always Obito running behind like it was a part of his DNA."

Now that Kakashi had done it, Yuugao felt spurred on, as though the son of the White Fang had presented let's-see-what-you-can-do to her face. She was sure, though, that it would be at least another six months before she was ready for the Jounin/ANBU trials. Yuugao was not a rash person, unless a situation called for it. Impulsiveness was something she knew could get a person killed. Everything about her spoke of deliberation, from the weapon she chose to the minute movements of her body.

She spent her time training, and when she was not doing that she, naturally, observed. Reconnaissance was practically a pastime for her, and she already knew with a degree of certainty that, ANBU or not, she would be assigned to that unit.

It was in this way she learned that Kakashi was spending time almost daily at the Inuzuka estate, supposedly inspecting the dogs being trained there and doing business with the Inuzuka clan. Yuugao found out all of this on her own, though the circulation of the rumor was so great that it had almost been unnecessary for her to use any stealth at all.

She saw him only occasionally, when he came to see Rin while she was there or when Rin asked Yuugao to go with her to the memorial stone and Kakashi was already there to pay his respects.

When the time drew nearer to the registration period for her qualification exam, Yuugao redirected her usual method of training and practiced at the river. She liked the waterfall, how it misted at the bottom and sent rainbows arching in the sun, but swimming was not a skill she excelled at, and this was the very reason for which she was there. She wanted to be completely prepared for anything the ANBU proctors might toss her way, and it made sense that they would exploit her few weaknesses.

In midday, she exercised the task of throwing weapons at difficult angles, some in such a way that they would fly away and back to her for launching again. Yuugao was not alone – there was one other at the site; a man with a lean build and circles under his eyes. He did not stand in water itself but stayed on the banks practicing standard shinobi techniques – kicking and punching at trees and posts, and then occasionally taking a katana from a sheath strapped to his back to practice his arcs and angles.

He was an easily-overlooked sort, the sword in his hand the most attention-grabbing aspect of him, and he did not bother Yuugao but for a fit of coughing he endured every ten or so minutes. The only thing that concerned her was that he appeared to be very close to her age, and she was certain that she had never seen him in her life. And Konoha was not the kind of place where a person could go unknown by anyone.

The more she considered this point, the more distracted Yuugao became. After an hour she had begun to notice so much of the solitary shinobi that his coughing did begin to annoy her, and she did not like her passivity broken. She threw a final manji-shaped shuriken at the water; it went through and came streaming back, dousing her as she caught it in her strong, steady hand. She turned to uncharacteristically initiate interaction with the bag-eyed man, only to find he was already looking at her.

"What?" she asked tersely, though this was not the cool introduction she had had in mind.

The man took a bit of a jolt, visibly recoiling somewhat, though her utterance had not been sharp. "I-it's nothing," he replied, his voice thinning at the last syllable as he again broke into a series of hacking.

Yuugao walked over, removing the black ribbon that restrained her dripping violet hair so that the long strands could dry in the sun. She kept a good distance from the man, though she prosaically noticed that he was not unattractive, but sickly-looking. With discretion, his eye followed the flow of her every movement – for all she knew, he may have been as good at finding details as she was.

"You're not contagious, are you?" she asked bluntly. "I can't afford to contract any illness."

He smiled then, a soft upturn of lips, and Yuugao did not realize that the tension she had a tendency to maintain after training dissipated a little. "No, I'm not," he replied. "I'm just unlucky."

She waited, her curiosity undeniably piqued, as he cleared his throat and coughed again. "Why don't I know you?" She did not elaborate, though she thought that he had not been at the Academy, or the Chuunin Exams, or even any of the festivals Rin always forced her to attend.

His coughing bout ended, and he met her gaze as she stepped closer. "Because of this. I'm…unwell…in a way." His brow furrowed, as though he was not sure how to word it, as though no one had ever asked him before. "I was trained as a Genin individually, and took the Chuunin Exams in the same way."

"So you're a Chuunin," she noted.

"No," he corrected. "A Jounin."

This caught her by surprise. Yuugao saw no vest, but that could simply mean he had opted not to wear it that day. It was the appearance of him that suggested the impossibility of his rank. "But what team are you a part of?" she queried after a moment of contemplative silence.

"No team," said the shinobi with a straightening of his shoulders. It was unclear whether he was proud of or embarrassed by this fact. "I hope to have one if I pass the trials for ANBU."

For the first time with anyone other than Kakashi or Rin, Yuugao could not keep emotion from her voice, and the incredulity she felt rung on the riverbank. "You're taking the trials?"

He did not take offense to the demand. He merely reached up and scratched his brown-haired head. "Yes, that is what the Third Hokage said to me as well."

She wondered if she should apologize, but then her attention was caught by his katana as he began to stow it. The shinobi must have realized her instant shift of notice, and he paused in the action. "You're a weapons specialist, aren't you?"

Yuugao nodded, her knowledgeable mind taking in the craftsmanship before her.

"Would you like to see?" He passed the katana to her without ado, trust given practically without thought. Yuugao could never have done the same with even the smallest of her weapons – especially if the person wanting to look was an expert with them. She accepted the blade into her grasp as gently as if it had been an infant. Her deep eyes studied it from blunt hilt to sharpened point, saw the deftness in the make. While she looked, he coughed but only briefly now.

"It is a masterpiece," she praised, though her voice remained uninflected this time.

"It was made a man and his wife who died the day the Kyuubi was sealed into Uzumaki Naruto."

Yuugao paused. She had not heard anyone mention that name aloud in quite a while. That October day had also been the one during which her uncle had perished. "That doesn't narrow my choices," she told him.

He shrugged. "I don't know what the clan name was. I don't believe there was a clan. All I know them is that they were survived by a daughter. She would be seven now, I think."

The idea gave Yuugao pause, but she didn't know why. Perhaps it was because her own parents had died when she was less than a year old. Mentally shaking off the notion, she returned the katana to the shinobi with care. "Thank you," she said with a slight incline of her head.

He nodded back. Yuugao hefted the oversized scroll containing her weapons, a sign that she was preparing to go. When she turned her back, the shinobi called after her. Peering behind her, she arched a brow.

"What's your name?"

It was a reasonable question, she determined, after twenty minutes of sporadic conversation, interrupted either by his coughing or her chronic wordlessness. "Uzuki Yuugao."

"The Secret?"

"Not really," she murmured, surprising herself as well as him with the unexpected response. It hit her rather forcibly that she wanted to know who he was in return. "Who are you?"

He gave a polite bow, though the movement seemed to aggravate him, and he fought back another bout of coughing as he replied: "Gekko Hayate."

She asked nothing more of him, not wishing to somehow set him off further. Yuugao left him by the cool water but returned the next day, and the day after that, and so on – always to find Hayate and his magnificent katana, performing well-executed but unimpressive techniques. She eventually felt pity for him, a feeling she wasn't used to, wondering how in the world he expected to be received into ANBU.

His cough lessened by the day, however, and they spoke more. He was not discouraged by her dedication and drive, and Yuugao was astonished to find that it was as easy to talk to Hayate as it was to Rin. The things they had in common were abundant – both were orphans and without teams and more or less unknown in the warrior society of Konoha. Both wanted to keep it that way by joining ANBU.

They sparred, Yuugao winning each time because Hayate would worsen and improve in condition alternatively. She had the feeling there was a specific reason for his chronic state of weakness, but he never told her why, and she knew better than to ask. She had been rude to Kakashi, and she would not be rude with Hayate.

It eventually occurred to her quite randomly (she was at the bathhouse three weeks after their meeting) that unwell swordsman had become her friend.

Hayate was a little older than Yuugao, and when both of them reached seventeen years in age, they registered for the upcoming ANBU trials together. Rin joked that she had lost her best friend.

On the night before their scheduled trials, the Uzuki girl came to the river with the intention of training alone. Hayate's company was convenient, even enjoyable, but she desired the solitude to assure her focus. And so far, she had only seen Hayate here in the day.

Yet her newest friend must have had the same idea. When Yuugao came to their stretch of river, she saw from the shadows that Hayate had already arrived their. She resolved to go to another part of the river, a smaller waterfall if necessary, until she noticed that Hayate actually stood in the water this time – or, rather, on top of it using chakra.

Her pulse leapt into a heightened pace, and Yuugao did not understand. There was a feeling she had, anticipation preventing her from looking away from the sickly shinobi – less ill than usual now. Unaware of her presence, he did not move for several minutes.

And when he did, what she witnessed crumbled the foundation of her view of him to dust, and Yuugao realized that she would never think of him in the same way again.

To Be Continued