An unexpected person appears in the Hidden Leaf Village, and she has something to do with Kakashi's past. Not only that, she has changed since the last time they saw each other, physically and psychologically.

Back at the memorial stone…

"Kakashi…" She muttered. The White Fang's son woke up from his deep thinking and turned around.

"Well, long time no see…" He said gravely.

"So it's really you." She had now the confirmation.

"Yes, can't you see me?" He though her affirmation was quite odd.

She opened her eyes, and all he could see were two deep grey swords that crushed his heart in a thousand little pieces. He made his I-can't-even-believe face. It wasn't possible!

"Y-you're… blind." He let out, unconsciously. She nodded, smiling.

"I've changed, Kakashi. I could always fake I was from the Hyuuga clan, couldn't I?"

"Don't say that! Don't kid with serious problems!"

"Calm down. It's okay. I'm used to it, now." A breeze passed through them and made Kakashi tenderly shiver. All his memories passed through his mind. He remembered when he found her, lost from her home. He remembered how he had taught her how to find her way by watching the clouds, her eyes shining as he talked to her, her hair floating in the pleasant air, her beauty in the light of a beautiful day. «She smelled like roses», he remembered. «and she still does». He had to ask.

"Why have you come?" He noticed his own face had formed a smile while he was reviewing such great memories, and immediately made a severe face again. She started deep thinking. "So?" He remembered her of her own existence. She stirred up.

"I wanted to see you and Rin. How is she doing?" She grinned again.

"We both know that's not why you came." The White Fang's son passed his hand on her beloved's name, engraved on the rigid and cold stone. "She's not with us, not anymore." His face became obscure. The shame and guilt fell one more time on his shoulders. "I killed her."

The blind girl's face became as white as chalk. "You wouldn't." She was certain of what she was saying.

"I would." He replied. "I'll ask again: why have you come? Tell me the truth."

"Something bad happened. Something really bad. The Hidden Leaf was the only place I could go."

"What happened?" He wasn't showing much interest but, in fact, he was quite curious.

"The Lock Village, it was attacked. I'm afraid it has already but burnt into ashes." At this statement, his eyes grew wide. "I ran away. Without my eyes, I'm useless. I couldn't fight. Please understand my position, Kakashi." He nodded.

"Maybe you're right, but what you did still is a dishonour." He was still facing the stone. He couldn't stand the view of her blind old friend.

"I'm aware of that, and I'm ashamed." She hid her face in the darkness of the shadow.

"Who was the attacker?" He wondered why the Lock Village didn't send any help requests to any other villages. Odd.

"I shall not divulgate that information."

"Look, you came to me and I accept to help you, but you have to tell what I need to know!" Kakashi was really starting angry.

"I didn't come for help." The wind delicately blew again and made some leaves fly around; one of them landed on her headband and covered the Lock Villages symbol. "I don't wish to come back. I wish to stay here, in the Leaf Village." Kakashi's eyes grew wide again. He finally faced her.

"You know you can't. Aren't you already in the Bingo Book?"

"I don't know. Many Lock villagers ran away to different places and I haven't seen any posters with our photos saying «WANTED»."

Kakashi was thinking. "They considered you war survivors?"

"Probably."

"You'll stay at my house tonight. But then you'll find another place."

She nodded. She wondered why his old friend was being so mad at her. They had built a great friendship and they trusted their lives to each other, they had even kissed, but Kakashi was now rejecting her like some traitor. This made her feel extremely lonely and melancholic.

Her heart turned grey and a tear she had be holding for long slipped out of her blind eye and flowed down her face, emphasizing her cold and subtle beauty.

"I've got to go, now. I'm already late. Naruto and Sakura will kill me if I keep them waiting one more minute." He just puffed away.

/-/-/-/

The sunset had already finished and the night was starting to take place. People were heading off to their homes. As Kakashi walked home, the lights inside the houses filled the street of life. It was possible to hear the villagers happily talking to their families about the huge fish they had caught or the promotion they had been awarded with. He could smell the delicious dinners in each house more tempting. He could taste the energy he knew since he was just a little boy, the Leaf energy. He could touch his wood house door, the empty house without any light, or noise of people talking inside it, or smell of dinner waiting for him. A lonely house, for a lonely jounin. He closed his eyes. It was so cold. Such aloneness was demeaning.

"Here you are." Kakashi turned back to see her morning company on the other side of the street, pretending to look at him. It was now obvious she really was blind, because she couldn't tell precisely where he was, she could only feel his presence. Her blind eyes didn't precisely look at him, they were looking to somewhere near to him, a little bit more above than his precise place.

"How did you find my house? I was going to go look for you."

"We both know you weren't going to look for me, so I tried to find your house myself. It seems like I succeeded."

"You always do." He said gravely. "Come in. You have much to explain."

The jounin and the Lock villager were both sat on the living room floor. The heavy ambient was taking the two down, the silence was hurting them. It needed to be broken.

"You're going to explain things on your will or do I have to make you explain them?" Kakashi wasn't in his best mood. She understood he was right and sighed.

"What do you want to know?"

"The truth. Don't you think I don't know you've been lying since you got here?" It was like he already had the answer prepared because he replied immediately.

She sighed again. "Three months ago, I ran away from the Lock Village because we're being infiltrated by unknown professional privet detectives. We didn't even know from which village they were!"

"Then how did you know they were there?"

"Because they were actually pursuing me. I was afraid they wanted to pull some kind of information from me, so I made sure that they wouldn't, and I escaped without being seen. But they'll find me, I know it. It's just a matter of time…"

"How did you manage to escape from them?" Kakashi sure was impressed. She made a who-do- -you-think-I-am face and he got the idea. "Right." He said. "And you came here to hide yourself?" He sounded quite dubious.

"At first, that was the idea, but I can't stay here for long: they're coming to get me. And besides, I found this in my way here." She passed him a «WANTED» poster. It had a photo of two masked men and some information about them. She continued her explanation. "These guys are S-ranked, and not only that: many village's best ninja, including ANBU have already tried to catch them, but they always ended up aborting the mission, they couldn't find a single trace of them!"

Kakashi wasn't impressed. He had already heard about many S-ranked criminals who couldn't be traced: it was the everyday meal.

"So, what do you pretend to do?" He felt that he had the obligation of helping her, even if he hadn't nothing to do with it. Odd. He didn't even know why he felt like this. Could it be companion?

"I have no idea. The only thing I know is that I need to leave as soon as I can, but what could the best hideout be? Maybe a small village."

"Here."

"Here?!" She was incredulous.

"Reverse psychology. Apparently the worst place to hide would be a big village like Konoha, because you would be quickly noticed."

"Exactly!"

"But, that's what they think you're thinking, so the first place they would look for you are the small and unnoticed villages, get it?"

"Yes, but that's too risky. I can't support on suppositions, I have to be sure of what I'm doing!"

"And that's why you'll stay here."

"No, I'll leave by tomorrow morning. I can't risk being caught because I based my thinking on reverse psychology."

"You're not getting it… You'll be trapped in a snap's instant if you don't listen to me." He said calmly.

"Sorry." As she said this, she got up and went to her room, which Kakashi had shown to her earlier.

Do you already know who she is? :D If you don't, the identity will be revealed in the next chapter! What will happen?

And I'll try to write bigger chapters, meanwhile. c:

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