The next morning, after having spent hours lying awake after her rather disturbing dream, she had made her mind up. She was going to have to take things into her own hands. She decided not to go back to her clans hamlet to train, instead she was going to practise the Tikaake dance which she had said she would perform for her closest friends in a few days. She knew she'd have no trouble remembering it because she was a true Tikaake and thus it was in her blood.

She was the only Tikaake.

She put down the jug of water she'd been cleaning and looked out of the window wistfully, the memory that she was alone slowly washing over her and filling her mind with dread. Surplus curled himself around her legs purring softly before letting out a quiet mew, bringing her back to reality.

'I'm not alone.' she told herself firmly, going back to her scrubbing with a defiant look on her pretty face, as though it was the jugs fault. She put it away in the empty looking cupboard and closed the door, turning to go back to the side of the tiny flat which held her bed, grabbing her forehead protector as she did so. She sighed to herself as she tied it around her head, watching her reflection in the cracked mirror beside her bedside table, a photo of Sasuke and her when they were young stuck to the corner with sticky tape. She sighed again and headed for the door.

…

She walked slowly along the street, heading towards the training area she knew Team seven would be working in that day and trying not to make too much noise: she didn't want Sasuke to know she was stalking him. She arrived soon enough and, as she had expected, there were the four shinobi standing on the opposite side of the field, clearly deep in conversation.

Quite suddenly all three of the genin leapt up and disappeared into thin air, the way shinobi often do (Like in the anime show!!) leaving Kakashi standing alone. She stepped forwards and noticed that the older man was already gazing at her silently from his position. She waved uncertainly and started to make her way over to him, watching as he made his way uninterestedly towards her. They met in the centre of the field, both pairs of eyes boring into each others, searching for a clue to what they were thinking.

'Hello.' said Mika after a moment, smiling politely at the jonin who continued to gaze down at her silently. 'What are you teaching them today?' she asked, trying to find a decent subject of conversation.

'That's not important.' he answered bluntly, throwing Mika slightly off guard and wiping the tentative smile off of her young face. 'How is your training coming?' he asked, turning the tables in a single abrupt motion. 'Have you got control over your new… talents?' he finished, taking a moment to find the right word.

'Yes.' replied the young brown eyed girl, a defiant frown creeping discreetly across her forehead. The man raised his eyebrow (he might have been raising them both but Mika could only see one) in a sort of tell-me-the-truth kind of look which parents often use on their children. 'What's wrong?' she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him and turning her head a little to the left, distrustfully.

'You know you're a danger to yourself and this Village, don't you?' he said blankly, still watching her steadily. Mika didn't answer; of course she knew that but she'd been training hard for three weeks and now had sufficient control over most of the powers. 'I have a message for you from the Hokage.' he said after a pause. Mika continued to glower at him in silence. 'He wants to speak with you about these new talents of yours.'

'When?' she asked coldly, she didn't know what had got into the man who had been so nice to her before, and she didn't like it. 'I'm busy.'

'Not busy enough.' he answered immediately, ignoring her furious glare. 'He wants to see you this afternoon.' he continued, his eyes boring into hers making her feel as though he was x-raying her and seeing straight through her.

'Kakashi, what's wrong?' she asked again, this time the suspicious look evaporated and was replaced by an anxious expression on her young face. She watched curiously as the handsome man's face slowly fell and he gazed down at the grass below their feet, a butterfly fluttered between them and his eyes followed it's jerky progress. 'Kakashi sensei?'

'I'm not your sensei.' he answered, but his tone was sad and a little regretful. 'You have no need for a sensei. Noone can teach you what you must learn.' he added turning his eyes back to her anxious face. 'The Hokage wants to test your control over these new powers of yours and he asked me to fight against you to try and evaluate your skills.' he told her, sighing heavily as he did so. The girl with the plum coloured hair felt her deep hazel eyes widen in fear and shock at this piece of news, hoping against hope that he had declined. 'Calm down, Mika.' he said soothingly, clearly having noticed her nervous look. 'I didn't accept, but I'm worried about who will be set up against you.'

'Do you know what sort of level they might be?' she asked uncertainly, the prospect of fighting someone of Kakashi's calibre making her feel quite light headed.

'I think they will probably put you against a chuunin or possibly a jonin, but I can't be sure.' he answered shrugging slightly his gaze still fixated on her nervous face. 'He only asked me because he knew I would go easy on you.' He watched as the girl looked up at him enquiringly, wondering why he didn't just do it and go easy on her. 'I didn't want to fight against you because I don't want to lose against one of my former students.' he finished, smiling at her from above his mask making the thirteen year old girl blush a fine shade of beetroot.

'I… err…' she stuttered, scratching her upper left arm uncomfortably as her blush increased.

'Don't worry Mika,' interrupted Kakashi letting the uncomfortable girl get away with not answering. 'I know how powerful the Tikaake clan was when they were at their peak.' Her face became sober as she realised that they were at their peak when they were wiped out, 'And now that all the powers are reunited in a single being, they'll be all the more formidable.' he paused, watching the girl who was now looking at the ground somewhere behind the jonins feet. 'Despite not being completely mastered.'

'Thank you, Kakashi sensei.' she answered quietly after a moment of silence during which she took in the depth of his kind words. 'And I will always consider you my sensei.' she finished, smiling up at him affectionately as he reciprocated back down at her. She turned away slowly heading back the way she had come as she wracked her brains as to where Sasuke might have disappeared to.

'Oh! and Mika.' came the jonins voice from behind her. She stopped and looked around curiously, seeing him standing with his back to her on hand clasping his book and the other in the air in a friendly gesture but still looking straight in front of him. 'Sasuke's in the forest searching for a specific location which I gave to him. He doesn't realise it yet but it's a location which means a lot to the two of you.'

Mika frowned to herself as she watched the man letting his hand fall to his side and tucking it into his pocket before walking off unenthusiastically. Where did he mean? There were lots of places which meant a lot to her; her old home, the waterfall, the open area where they had discovered the dark red bouncy things together, the place where they had first kissed, the small area not far from her home where they used to play with stolen kunai knives, etc…

'But you didn't hear it from my lips.' came his low voice again, snapping her back to reality where she found him standing on the other side of the field looking back at her with a smile on his handsome face. (or what we can see of it!! )

Lips? Why did he say "lips"? Why didn't he just say "me"? There was more to it than just a sentence. She smiled uncertainly as she guessed it was the place where Sasuke and her had first kissed as nervous children, not sure of what was going on at the time but too stubborn to miss the opportunity. She blushed crimson. Did he know? Had he seen them? But the jonin had disappeared, leaving the apprehensive teenager to disappear off in the direction of that area which indeed was so special to her.