A/N; Hey guys, sorry for the long wait but the fight scene in the end is finally finished! I'll be posting a little faster now that my computer has stopped PMS-ing but the only sad news is that this story will be over :'( Hope you're enjoying it and remember R&R
Chapter five
Who would have thought training ground seven could be converted into a party area so nicely, with a stage over the small river. Skylar had to agree that the kimono fit nicely and she admitted it matched her hair colour and eye colour pretty well. Kakashi was wearing a silver kimono that had a vicious looking wolf on the back with his regular black sleeveless top underneath attached to a mask. The Hyuuga clan wore a lavender kimono with purple petals around it with their clan's symbol on the back. Aburame wore black with their symbol on the back, Inuzuka wore brown kimonos with their symbol, Akimichi wore a royal blue with their symbol, Nara's wore a dark lime green, Yamanaka wore a pale yellow, Sarutobi wore red. Naruto had on an orange kimono with the Uzumaki symbol on the back, Sai wore a grey Kimono, Sakura wore pink with lighter pink petals on it and Sasuke wore a dark blue kimono with the Uchiha crest on the back.
Skylar sighed as she left the safety of the memorial stone to mix and mingle with the clans, each being easily recognised and who was the clan head. She talked to them politely mainly about herself and all the questions being very similar after a while. Soon it was sunset and it was time for the ritual dance with Hinata and the ritual slow spar with Hiashi. Skylar was happy that everyone sat quietly and watched on with awe and no one said or did anything disrespectfully and they all clapped politely after her first performance.
Next came the spar and they held up the universal sign to spar and began, Hiashi acting seriously, a hit to her would block a chakra point and a hit by her would leave a bruise. They finished unscaved and the heads all excused themselves as the sun set completely, leaving the younger generation to party on, Skylar took control of the music and sat next to the stage as she watched the Rookies talk among themselves and dance together.
"Shouldn't you be out there with your friends?" Skylar asked Kakashi as he came out from the shadows behind her.
"I should ask you the same thing." Kakashi said back as he stood next to her, also watching on. "They've grown up so fast, Naruto being the last to turn twenty in a few weeks… That reminds me, when is your birthday?" Kakashi asked.
"November eleventh, just rather forget about it, it doesn't hold many pleasant memories for me like Naruto's. The hard work begins tomorrow, what time do you want to start training so I know to be three hours late." Skylar asked, changing the subject quickly.
"I was thinking at seven, I'll be there when I get there, it's not always three hours late you know." Kakashi said, noting the change in subject.
"Fine, you can be half an hour late tops before Sasuke and I come and hunt your ass down and skin you alive, how's that?" Skylar asked seriously as she crossed her arms, eyes still on the party in front of her.
"Maa, so Scary Skylar-chan." Kakashi teased. Skylar smiled and they stood companionable for a while before Skylar grabbed Naruto's shoulders to stop him from stumbling after being pushed by his friends Skylar's way and they all watched and waited expectantly. Skylar looked at Kakashi who just eye smiled and winked and Skylar grinned before turning back to the blushing blonde, making sure they faced everyone at their sides and she kissed Naruto as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. Cat whistles and teasing phrases were yelled out at the couple who ignored them, too engrossed of the battle of their tongues and pressing up to each other more and more before having to pull away for air but they stayed close as the group called them both over onto the dance floor and Skylar began to teach Naruto how to waltz. Kakashi watched with a fond smile on his lips under the mask, oh how much they looked like Minato-sensei and Kushina, he saw something being whispered into Naruto's ear by Skylar and he blushed and looked away as she pulled back with a smile and Naruto nodded and faced her again as they continued to waltz.
Kakashi escorted Skylar home after a long good night kiss by Naruto and having to say good bye to the rest of the group and Skylar refused to flash them home, saying she wanted to spend some quality time with her adoptive and protective older brother which made Kakashi blush and his chest swell with pride and love for the girl.
"So what did you whisper to Naruto to make him blush so badly while you were dancing?" Kakashi asked slyly and Skylar smiled.
"I said he needs to learn to waltz so he could when he gets married." Skylar said as she looked up at the moon in the sky with a calm smile as they reached home and went to bed.
The next morning, Skylar stood nervously at her closet and looked around at her clothing with the notorious flak jacket and hitai-ate sitting on her bed. She felt unsure on what to wear, whether she should wear the flak jacket or not and if she did, what else would she wear to go with it? She needed help but Kakashi had left already and she didn't want to disturb Sasuke next doors so she performed some hand seals, slammed her hand down and out popped a familiar black dragon with purple eyes and hair.
"Skylar-sama, long time no see, how have you been?" Byakko asked her enthusiastically with its deep growling voice.
"After what happened, I wasn't able to use my chakra properly and I've only just got my eyesight back but apart from that, I've been good. Now, I have a dilemma here." Skylar said, pointing to the flak jacket and her closet again and the dragon seemed amused.
"You should wear the jacket, it will make you feel honoured knowing you and give you something to fight for." Byakko said with an understanding tone. "So, let's have a mini fashion show quickly shall we?" He said and Skylar huffed as she began pulling stuff out and arranging the outfits and began changing into them one by one with Byakko's honest thoughts.
Finally after half an hour of quick changing and Byakko's deep laughter filling the room more than once she finally settled on her uniform. She now wore a black sleeveless top with it coming up the neck with fingerless gloves that went past the elbow and half way up her upper arm like the ANBU gloves, black tight pants and shinobi sandals with a slight heal like Sakura's that went up to her knees. She checked her pouch and placed the maroon pouch on her left back cheek, her maroon shuriken holster on her right leg and her senbon holster on her left leg. She picked up her scythe hanging from the wall and sealed it into a scroll and put the scroll in the flak jacket and strapped on her katanas in their regular x-shape over her jacket using her maroon stapes making an x across her chest. Last but not least, she picked up her Konoha hitai-ate and tied it loosely around her neck under the jacket and deemed herself ready, dismissed Byakko and flashed to training ground seven.
Kakashi must have taken her warning to heart because he was twenty-nine minutes late and Skylar knew he did it just to piss her off. They worked on learning formations adapting to their skills and in Skylar's case, their personalities. An hour later, Kakashi and Sasuke were sparring while Skylar worked on her depth perception after she threw a kunai and it went completely off the mark. For the jonin who stopped by, it was lucky her aim was so off as he ducked down and they both stared at each other until Kakashi and Sasuke came over.
"Genma, what can we do for you?" Kakashi asked happily, snapping the two out of staring at each other.
"Tsunade-sama has asked to see you now… Have we met before?" Genma questioned Skylar.
"Um… No?" Skylar said, hoping he would drop it before he remembered being owned by her when she snuck into Konoha. "Anyway, let's go guys, I'll flash us there." Skylar said quickly, grabbing Kakashi and Sasuke's arm and in a red flash they ended up in Tsunade's office.
"What was that about?" Sasuke asked Skylar who grinned sheepishly.
"He's just pissed she took him down with little effort when she broke in and his team confronted her and lost… Thank you for getting here so quickly, I have mission for you three… You'll be travelling to Yu no Kuni and Yuki no Kuni where Kabuto has been spotted over the last few weeks many times, you are to go there and either detain him, kill him or destroy his plans after deeming them dangerous." Tsunade commanded as Kakashi took the mission details from her.
"Has Naruto found out anything while on his travels of his possible plans?" Skylar asked her.
"He may be carrying on the experiments Madara was doing with Orochimaru and Tobi… The sharingans that Tobi kept have been missing since before the war and once that destroyed base was searched, nothing was found." Tsunade explained. "You may leave when you're ready, dismissed." Tsunade said and the three turned around and walked out.
"We'll meet outside the apartment building in one hour to pack and we'll discuss the mission on the way so we don't waste time." Kakashi instructed, Skylar nodded determinedly while Sasuke hn'ed. The went into the apartments and Skylar moved to her room to pack and pulled out a basic back pack and began packing an extra set of clothes, a first aid kit, a few ration bars that really tasted like plastic sometimes but they kept you going and the regular Konoha coat with the red on the bottom, an extra pouch and kunais and closed her bag up as she took a deep breath, slung it onto her back and exited the room to find Kakashi sitting and relaxing on the couch.
"You seem a bit nervous." Kakashi stated calmly.
"Of coarse I'm nervous! But at least we're doing something again… I may not be in top form but obviously I'm good enough to go on a mission…" Skylar said as she sat down hard on the other couch and dumped her bag next to her.
"It's all going to be fine, you've got Sasuke and I there… Teamwork." Kakashi said with an eye smile and Skylar actually smiled.
"Not my strong point but I'll try… Shall we go?" She asked as they heard a banging at the door. They stood and put their bags on and met Sasuke outside who was leaning against the wall.
"We'll travel as much as we can and rest while we're in Hi no Kuni. Once we hit the boarder into Yu no Kuni, we'll begin our searches in the marked areas he's been seen and move up with that all the way into Yuki no Kuni, we should come across something sooner or later and follow from there, Understood?" Kakashi asked as they reached the gates and they both nodded before walking out and taking to the trees.
They travelled in silence for the first day and set up camp and took turns keeping watch. They were half way to the boarders and making a good pace to Yu no Kuni where they would enter the first village with sightings of Kabuto. Skylar sat with the last watch and watched as the sun rose through the trees and smiled… You just didn't get this type of view back in her old world. She spent her free time swapping between short distance and long distance vision as part as her eye exercises and to get her depth perception back, right now, her distances were a little off and her aim off to the left a little.
She heard them waking up below them and swung her legs as she kept looking between her fingers and humming her song that was used to break the Tsukuyomi about two nearly three years ago. She heard the ruffle of sleeping bags and tipped backwards and flipped to land on her feet, still humming as she got her stuff together and took their bottles to get some water for the trip while chewing on a ration bar with disgust. She filled the bottles and ran a small hand towel over her body and face as a quick clean and returned, passing the bottles to her teammates and they took off again.
Kakashi and Sasuke smiled as they listened to Skylar humming her song softly with a true smile on her face, one untainted with the worries of the ninja world.
"So where's your precious scythe?" Sasuke asked, starting up a conversation surprisingly.
"It's in a scroll, it's not very good for stealth missions after it was the cause of me getting caught sneaking out of Konoha the last time but it also saved my ass, nearly fell over a waterfall if I didn't have one or both scythes at the time but the one is more than enough to handle at the moment with my Katanas as well." Skylar explained with a smile still as she focused on placing her footing right.
"It's the same reason I don't keep the Executioner's Blade out, I keep it with me in a scroll since the Kages are still trying to sort everything out after the mess Madara and Tobi caused with the mix ups." Kakashi explained from up front with Skylar behind him and Sasuke at the back. "How did you convince Tsunade-sama to let you keep it?" Kakashi asked.
"She doesn't know I have it, that's how… There'll be hell to pay when she does find out though after all I did steal it from her archives." Skylar said with a shrug and nearly slipped before she regained her step and blushed at her clumsiness.
"We'll set up camp earlier than usual since we're making good time and we'll be just in the boarders of Yu no Kuni where we can send scouts ahead, I'll be sending my ninken." Kakashi explained.
"I'll send Suzaku since she knows Kabuto's presence." Skylar confirmed.
"I'll send a hawk for the skies, we'll find him quickly." Sasuke said.
"I heard Tsunade-sama also sent team Kurenai out Otogakure and the old Akatsuki base to gain any clues of his movements, he's been seen going around there first and the old bases that we cleaned out anyway." Kakashi said.
"That reminds me… Kurenai must have had her child just about three years ago." Skylar said with a smile.
"Yes, it was a boy, she named him Sarutobi Yuuhi Asuma in memory of his father, he's just turned three a month or two ago, got the skills of both parents." Kakashi said fondly, being able to be back in his friend's lives again. The rest of the trip was quiet as they past the boarders and found a suitable place to rest. Kakashi summoned his ninken, Skylar summoned a very ecstatic Suzaku who wouldn't stop talking to Skylar and Sasuke summoned a hawk to cover long distances and the summons went on their ways.
"That dragon has quite a mouth on her." Sasuke commented and Skylar laughed.
"Yeah, sometimes I think she's worse than Naruto ever was but she's loyal and fierce, she'll find something." Skylar said.
"Not unless my hawk finds something first." Sasuke challenged and they got up in each other's spaces.
"You're on Uchiha." Skylar challenged and Sasuke smirked. And after a staring contest, they went back to what they were doing. Kakashi watched on in interest at how much she had changed the stoic Uchiha for the better and saved him from the Kages ripping him apart, it was obvious to see how much she meant to both Naruto and Sasuke and even himself. He scoffed at himself at how attached he was to the girl, ever since he met her at the memorial stone that one day he just felt like he needed to clear his mind.
The sun was only beginning to go down, Kakashi cooking some fish the caught with a few lightning senbons, a competition between Sasuke and Skylar, Sasuke was sharpening his katana; Kusenagi and Skylar was doing some katas that looked more of a dance as she mouthed some words but dancing was the original base for her style of taijutsu.
The summons returned the next morning, the ninken kept picking up his scent, the hawk noticed some someone suspicious walking around but he would meet up with three girls and disappear again and Suzaku confirmed what the hawk found and Skylar and Sasuke argued all the way to the first town he's been seen in. Kakashi summoned Pakkun, Bisuke and Shiba to go with each of them to follow any scent of Kabuto they could find and they spilt up, searching the town, Kakashi with Pakkun, Sasuke with Bisuke and Skylar with Shiba.
Nothing on the first day and village and so they kept hopping around the towns, searching for him or the three girls that were seen with him. Skylar decided to form a rivalry with Sasuke and have contests and Kakashi just sighed and said that a rivalry was troublesome but left them to it as he just had to sit around watching the two challenging each other all the time about the simplest things.
Skylar was running full speed with Shiba to find Kakashi and Sasuke, she had found Kabuto but he was moving swiftly and difficult to keep track of. She had a shadow clone following him at the moment and this was the only time after a two weeks of searching have they come across him.
"I found him, we need to find Sasuke now!" Skylar said, jumping down and grabbing Kakashi and pulling him with her until he got the message.
"Are you sure it's him?" Kakashi questioned as they moved full speed for Sasuke,
"It's the same scent we've been following." Shiba confirmed.
"It's him, I could never forget a face or a chakra like his even when I met him that short time." Skylar said, running past Sasuke and gesturing for him to follow them, back to where she started and following her clone's trail but his trail disappeared as did he as they got there, he knew he was being followed.
Later that evening, Skylar was destroying a stump out of frustration and stupidity as Kakashi and Sasuke sat by the fire and watched their fish cook, for them she crossed the line at using rasen-shuriken on the poor piece of wood.
"Skylar, that's enough now, calm down." Kakashi commanded her. He watched as she drew a fist back and smashed it into pieces, and her eyes turned to them, a dark purple clouding them.
"I failed something so simple." She growled out as she walked over to them and sat down hard.
"He knows we're here now but we might find him again, we just have to be patient, he'll show up again so stop beating yourself up over it, we haven't failed yet." Kakashi said calmly but commandingly, it was the only way she listened. She sighed and flopped down on her back and stared at the darkening sky.
"Yeah Dobe, don't get so worked up over it, we've been on worse searching missions before, this is pie compared to some of them." Sasuke said down to her, giving her Naruto's nickname.
"Yeah I guess… I'll take the last watch, night guys." Skylar said moving to her sleeping bag and crawling in and falling into an uneasy sleep.