Chapter One-

Two Years Later

Yamaki Sasumi woke up, as usual, with tears in her eyes and a cold sweat all over her body. Breathing heavily, she leaned over and curled her arm around her knees, resting her forehead on her kneecaps. After her breathing steadied, she straightened, brushing her short hair out of her eyes, slipped out of bed, and got dressed. She pulled out six separate rolls of bandages and preceded to bandage both legs and arms as well as her feet. Trying not to wince as she used her left arm, she pulled on her dark green quarter sleeve shirt, long black shorts, dark blue standard shinobi sandals, a strange gray neck warmer that concealed her entire neck and dark purple gloves. She picked up her Konoha headband and stopped.

" I'm really a shinobi now, huh."

She tied the headband tightly around her forehead and attacked her shuriken holder to her shorts. Her vivid red hair got in her eyes again, and as she brushed it away her gloved fingers brushed over her unnaturally bright green eyes.

" I'll never be just a shinobi with these eyes," she thought, "I'll be something else as well."

Today was her first day as a Genin, she had passed the exam just yesterday and today would be assigned a sensei, as well as two other teammates who she would be working with for the rest of her career, unless she joined the ANBU. She would have to be extra careful, starting today. She wondered who she would be put on a team with. She really didn't care, as long as it wasn't Nara Shikamaru. She knew that he was almost twice as smart as she was and if anyone was to figure her out, it would be him. She knew that her teammates, whoever they were, would not be happy that she was on their team. She was just an average Kunoichi with average grades, and that was the way she wanted them to think of her, nothing more. She was silent unless someone asked her a question and just the stoic expression that never wavered on her face scared people. To them she was emotionless, the perfect shinobi.

But not a real one.

She always addressed people by their last names with the suffix –san, which distanced her from people. She needed no attachments, she couldn't afford any. She grabbed her dark blue backpack filled with books and scrolls and walked out of her tiny apartment. She quietly slipped down the rickety staircase and into the alley below. She walked quickly through the worst neighborhood in the village, neither looking left nor right as she passed the homeless, the drunk, and the drug dealers. She couldn't be late, not that she ever was in the past. Her walk slowed as she exited her neighborhood and arrived at the Academy right on time to see Uzumaki Naruto, the loudest student in the entire school, fall lips first onto Uchiha Sasuke's mouth. Chaos ensured. She watched, keeping her face emotionless, slightly amused at their horrified expressions. A bunch of girls were about to attack him when their eyes met. He turned away as the Kunoichi descended upon him. But the one glance was enough. There was something wrong. He looked older, now, more mature. He knew. She swallowed. Someone had told him. She wondered if it had anything to do with the traitor Mizuki. Or the reason he had a headband on when she knew he failed the test. She inwardly sighed. Mizuki had told him about the Kyuubi. It wasn't a rational guess, but Sasumi had a feeling she was right. She was pulled out of her thoughts was Umino Iruka walked into the room, causing the class to quickly slip into their seats, and the girls to stop trying to kill Naruto. She then realized that she didn't have a seat and was forced to sit in the only seat available, between Naruto and Sasuke. She took her seat and waited patiently as her teacher called out the teams.

"…and Team Seven," called Iruka, causing Naruto to look up from where he had been napping on the table and Sasuke to shift ever so slightly, "Uzumaki Naruto, Yamaki Sasumi, and Uchiha Sasuke. Now Team Eig-" That was as far as he got before Naruto started yelling about Sasuke. Sasumi was surprised.

"Do they even realize that they've put the people with the most problems all on one team?" she thought incredulously. She caught Iruka's eye and sifted through his recent memories.

She saw Mizuki standing before him, a sneer upon his face, ready to kill him. Then Naruto appeared with an expression of hatred that she had never seen upon his face before.

"You touch Iruka sensei, and I'll kill you!" he snarled, his eyes glinting red for a second. He moved his hands in a hand seal and suddenly hundreds of Kage Bushin appeared and began to attack Mizuki. When it was over he gave Naruto his headband and told him he had passed. At seeing Naruto's look of true happiness, she realized that it was the first time she had truly seen him happy. The memory changed and he was informing the Hokage on his decision to pass Naruto. Then he was walking through the hall on his way t-

She stopped. She had seen enough.

"Now everyone will meet there new sensei in different rooms after lunch. Team One will be in room seventeen…"

"Room thirty-five, right."

The following day she walked into room thirty-five right on time and sat down in the nearest seat and began to read. Five minutes later, Sasuke walked in, looking slightly surprised that she was all ready there. Scowling slightly, he sat down in a chair across the room from Sasumi and stared out the window. Nearly ten minutes later, Naruto came crashing into the room, his spiky blond hair full of something that looked like spider webs.

"Gomene, sensei! I was-" he stopped, looking confused, "Hee? Where is he?"

"Obviously he's not here, moron," said Sasuke, looking annoyed.

"Shut up, bastard! How was I supposed to know? He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!" snarled Naruto and the argument began. Sasumi almost finished her book before it was over. She inwardly sighed as she turned a page.

"This is going to be a long day."

After twenty minutes their sensei still hadn't showed up.

"Where the hell is he?" complained Naruto, "It's been hours!"

Sasuke looked, for once, like he wanted to agree with him, but scowled and said nothing. Naruto let his head fall and banged it on the desk.

"Ita! That hurt!"

Sasuke growled in annoyance, "Will you shut up for once!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out, but said nothing. Then he began to laugh manically. Sasumi raised her head from her book and raised her eyebrows as Naruto haphazardly exited his desk and stuck an eraser between the door and the wall. Sasuke looked unimpressed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in disdain, " That's not going to work you know."

"That's what you think, bastard!"

"Hn, moron."

"Hey yo-"

And at that moment Hatake Kakashi opened the door, causing the eraser to become unstuck and fall straight onto his gravity defying, gray hair. Sasuke raised his eyebrows in surprise and Naruto fell on the floor laughing.

"Well," he said jovially, "I must say that my first impression of you is-I hate you."

Sasuke and Naruto both looked nonplussed, and Sasumi took this opportunity to skim through her new sensei's memories.

A man with gray hair like his lay on the floor, a sword through his stomach, he screamed, begging for him to get up.

"Otousan! Otousan! OTOUSAN!"

The man didn't move. The memory changed. He was standing before a man with blond spiky hair that she recognized as the future Yondaime Hokage. There were two other children his age by his side. A girl with long brown hair, and a tall boy with black spiky hair and goggles. It changed again. The black haired boy was crushed under a gigantic rock.

"Obito!" he cried.

"Hey…Kakashi…"

"Obito! Don't move, I'll-"

"I'm sorry Kakashi…you know I was thinking…about a present I should give you…don't worry…it won't be …useless trash…"

"Obito," he choked out, "I-"

"It's these eyes of mine. The Sharingan." he gestured to his red eyes that were speckled with black, "Rin, you'll make the transfer…won't you…"

It changed again, the brown haired girl Rin lay dead. Her was blood soaking the ground, her eyes wide open in fear.

A huge fox, snarled, and tore buildings apart.

The Yondaime lay dead on the ground, his face peaceful.

More memories flashed by that she wouldn't make sense of until later.

She watched as tears flowed down his face and as he punched the wall in anger.

"Why-"

"Sasumi?"

She blinked, tearing herself away from his memories.

"Yes?" she said evenly.

"We're going to talk somewhere else," he said.

She followed them up to the top of the building, where he asked them about themselves, their likes, dislikes, and dreams. She zoned out as soon as Naruto began sprouting out something about ramen. She knew a lot about her new teammates, there really wasn't much point in listening. Finally it was her turn.

Naruto was looking at Sasuke strangely and she guessed he had said something about Itachi.

"My name is Yamaki Sasumi."

That's a lie.

"I don't have any likes or dislikes."

That's not true.

"Nor do I have any dreams or ambitions."

Sometimes I don't even know why I keep on living.

There was an awkward silence as her entire team stared at her.

"Well," said her sensei, after a while, " Tomorrow we are going to be doing some training."

Naruto perked up.

"Training, really? What kind of training?" he asked excitedly.

"Survival Training," he answered proudly.

Naruto looked confused, and led to Kakashi taking the next five minutes explaining what it was to Sasuke's apparent annoyance. Needless to say by the end of the day, he looked like he wanted to kill Naruto right where he sat.

"Oh, one more thing," Kakashi said before they left, "Don't eat breakfast."

Naruto immediately started to complain and she and Sasuke walked off in their respective directions.

"Well that'll be easy, I don't eat breakfast anyway."

She walked off in the direction of her part-time job at a nearby restaurant. She worked as a the cook's assistant, which meant that she cleaned up every single mess in the kitchen. Tanaka Haruko liked her because she was quiet and a hard worker, which was the only reason she would hire a minor. At first she had complained about her because she refused to take off her gloves even when scrubbing the floors and only used her right hand, but after she saw her work she never voiced a complaint again. Sasumi didn't particularly like her job, but before today it was her only income. She wouldn't be able to quit though, her shinobi's wages alone wouldn't cover all her costs. However, the bright side was that with the extra money she would be able to start saving up for a better apartment. With that in mind she entered the shop by the back door, slipped on her apron, and began to work.

Hatake Kakashi was a slightly annoyed. He probably had the strangest team ever. First there was the Kyuubi kid who seemed to be obsessed with ramen, then the Uchiha, who looked like he wanted to kill someone, and the strange girl who just sort of sat there. He had to say he was surprised when he heard that Naruto wanted to be the Hokage, he had expected something about ramen, and was also surprised by Sasumi's response. He could understand if she was too embarrassed to say her dream, but she just bluntly stated that she didn't have one. That was kind of weird. He bumped into Asuma and Kurenai, as they were already finished meeting their teams before he even got to the room, and they had said that there teams weren't that bad. But then again, they didn't have Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamaki Sasumi. Sighing he flipped out his book and began to read.

When Sasumi got to the training area the next day, she was not surprised that she was the first one there. Apparently, Kakashi was late for everything. A few minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke trudged up, glaring daggers at each other. She leafed through a book on healing jutsu and began to commit it to memory. Almost and hour later Kakashi showed up and they began. Kakashi explained that they were after two bells and the one who didn't get the bell would be tied to a post and not be able to eat lunch. Naruto, of course charged at Kakashi the first chance he got. Sasumi didn't really know what her sensei was thinking, but based on his past it probably has to do with teamwork. Which was something this team certainly lacked. She briefly wondered if they'd be sent back to the academy, before watching from a not to inconspicuous bush the scene below. She watched as Kakashi tricked Naruto into a trap and pulled Sasuke into the ground. She inwardly sighed as she sensed him sneaking up behind her.

"Sasumi-kun…!"

She drew her kunai and launched herself at him, trying her best to act like she was working hard when it would be disastrous if she did. After a few thrusts he apparently got bored moved his hands in a hand seal that Sasumi recognized as a genjutsu. She almost panicked, but then decided to fake the symptoms of this particular genjutsu, which in this case was dizziness and eventual loss of consciousness. As he made his escape, Sasumi contemplated what she was to do. Obviously, he had no intention of going easy on them, which meant than neither of her teammates would be able to get the bells. And which also meant that she couldn't get them either. But would he really send them back to the academy? For some reason Sasumi doubted it. A loud ringing noise echoed across the woods.

"There goes the bell," she thought dully and walked over to meet the rest of her teammates. Naruto was already tied to the post; what had he done this time Sasumi did not care to know.

He proceeded to explain that they would not be needing to back to the academy because they were so bad that they should just give up being shinobi. She raised her eyebrows in surprise wondering if he was really being serious. Her teammates, however, did not take it this well.

"WHAT!?" yelled Naruto, struggling against the robes. Sasuke glared at Kakashi and looked like he would like nothing better than to cut off his head. Which he attempted, but to no avail. She spaced out, staring at his mask listlessly as he began to talk about the importance of teamwork, in a last attempt to look like she was paying attention. She did start, however, when he said he'd give them another chance. He told them he would give them another chance after they ate lunch and they were not to let Naruto eat. Sasumi raised her eyebrows in surprise. What was the point of not letting Naruto eat? Unless…

Kakashi confirmed her thoughts as he walked away from the scene.

"Great," she thought dully, "He's trying to make us work together."

Naruto grinned that fake grin of his, stating that he didn't need food. He stopped, however, in mid-sentence when his stomach started to grumble. Sasuke looked him over and then moved to her, as she had not made any move to open her bag.

"Where's your lunch?" he asked her.

Surprised, she turned to him and said in her usual monotone voice: "I don't have one."

He exhaled in annoyance and surprised her and Naruto again.

"Here, you two eat this," he handed them his bento.

Naruto stared before starting to protest.

"W-wait, didn't Kakashi-sensei say that I wasn't supposed to eat, if he catches us h-"

"We're supposed to work together, remember, moron. You two won't be able to work properly if don't eat."

Sasumi looked at him in surprise.

"Is he really serious?"

"Here, take it," he told Sasumi.

She took it with her bad hand, wincing inwardly, and picked up the chopsticks with her good hand and fed herself and Naruto. She knew for a fact that Kakashi was watching and hoped she was right about them working together. She was rewarded when Kakashi burst forth from his hiding place, scaring Naruto and Sasuke and told them they had passed. And to meet them tomorrow at the same place. Sasumi made a mental note to bring a lot of books. Sasuke got up, completely recovered from the shock of Kakashi rushing at them, and followed Kakashi out of the training area. Naruto yelled after them.

"Oi, bastard, are you just going to leave me here?! Oi!"

Sasumi inwardly sighed and untied him. When she was done, she looked up and noticed that Naruto was looking at her strangely.

"Is there a problem?" she asked softly.

Naruto reddened in embarrassment, "Uh…no," he turned away, " Thanks."

She nodded in assent and picked up her stuff and followed him out.

The next few months went by quickly, mostly filled with small missions like weeding someone's garden or finding a lost pet. Naruto had become quieter, probably because of the hours that they waited for Kakashi. He sometimes argued with Sasuke, but most of the time just stared out at the scenery. Sasumi didn't particularly enjoy these missions, but she always felt an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach when her teammates greeted her. The only mission she hated was when they went to the Wave Country. That was pure torture. She was forced to stay up all night and had to use her bad hand while eating in order to not arose any suspicion. She also knew she had her teammates curiosity as to if she actually had any emotions at all. When the two Chuunin working for Gato as well as Momochi Zabuza attacked even Kakashi had lost his cool. But she had just stood there, stoic as ever, doing her job. She knew she shouldn't have been the first one to reach the top of the trees during their training, but she was just so frustrated that she could never do anything. Probably the worst part of the trip was when Naruto accidentally knocked her bag over.

Flashback

"Aaah! Sorry Sasumi!! Here, I'll just put everything back in…" Naruto haphazardly stuffed her collection of books, explosive packets, as well as other things back into her bag. She inwardly sighed and then tensed as his hands found something she didn't want them to.

"Hey, what's this?" he picked up the beautifully polished bamboo flute. Sasuke looked over in curiosity. She wished that Kakashi was here to tell him not to mess with her stuff, but he was outside, leaving them alone in Tazuna's house.

"Hey Sasumi, can you play this?" he asked, she could feel both his and Sasuke's stares.

"No," she said almost inaudibly, but they heard.

"Aww. Then why do you carry it around with you?"

She bit the inside of her lip, pondering her answer. Why did she carry it around?

"I used to be able to play it," she hesitated, before speaking again. "But I can't anymore."

"Huh, what is th-"

Kakashi walked in cutting him off.

"Time to go. Naruto, stop messing around with Sasumi's stuff."

Even as Naruto mumbled excuses, she didn't feel his or Sasuke's stare leave her for a long time.

End of Flashback

But what had scared her the most, happened during their fight with Zabuza and Haku. It wasn't the fact that the Kyuubi's chakra had started to leak out of the seal, or that for a second she thought that Sasuke had died. In the last seconds of the boy, Haku's life, see saw his eyes. It always annoyed her when people wore masks that covered their eyes. She felt vulnerable, because she see couldn't see who they were, what they wanted, or if they knew anything about her. But in those last few seconds she saw his life flash by. And it scared her. Because in his eyes, she saw herself. She also saw herself in Naruto and Sasuke and even Kakashi, but that was different. They weren't dead. They hadn't died standing between the person they loved the most and death. And in that moment she wondered if maybe…

Maybe, this is my fate too.

And somehow, Sasumi didn't mind that much.

Flashback

She crouched in front of his grave, her gloved hand burrowed partly in the freshly turned soil. It was night, just like that night almost three years ago. Completely silent.

When he died, he was smiling.

She exhaled lightly, running her hand over the soil, feeling it even through her glove.

"Goodbye, Haku. I'm sorry."

End of Flashback

A/N: I know this chapter is mostly a recap of the manga, but it gets better. Also, if this is incredibly Mary-Sue-ish, please tell me, 'cause I honestly can't tell. Please review and tell me what you think!