A/N: As I understand, Kage means 'shadow' in Japanese (note that I am NOT Japanese, and therefore if I am wrong, please feel free to correct me). So, following with the naming of the other hidden villages, the village hidden in the shadows would then technically be 'Kagegakure' or simply referred to as 'Kage'. So if you see 'Kage' around this chapter or henceforth, just know that I'm not referring to the village leaders, but rather to Arya's village.

Why Konoha ninja thought it'd be a good idea to train in large groups, she'd never know. They were divided into three man squads for a reason. Arya didn't like the group training style that reminded her of her Academy days. Back to when the entire class would have to run around the school training grounds and do exercises on a large scale. She preferred being assigned to her team, though admittedly, she enjoyed her squad from the hidden shadows more than she had enjoyed her old squad from the hidden leaf. The point was that she found the smaller groups to be more practical and more efficient. Which made it all the more aggravating that the Leaf ninja didn't see that.

At present, Arya was laying in the grass as far away from the annoying, boisterous Leaf ninja as she could while still remaining on the training grounds. Arms behind her head, she idly watched the clouds floating by. Now and again she'd pick up bits and pieces of the conversation Zen and Haru were having beside her. She could have tolerated that, she sometimes found her teammates voices comforting anyway, but what she could not deal with was the hooting and hollering of that blasted blonde man-child.

The space between the two groups did nothing to dampen the volume with which the kid was yelling. The saddest part was that she was pretty sure that was his regular, talking volume.

Yea, she was definitely going to have words with Enta about all this.

Speaking of her sensei, he had yet to show up. Of course that wasn't exactly unheard of, but both Kakashi and Kurenai were also missing. She knew Kakashi well enough to know that he, like Enta, wasn't the punctual type, but she was pretty sure Kurenai was different.

Turning her head to the side, she glanced at the six shinobi sitting across from them. There were Kakashi's students; Sasuke, Sakura, and of course Naruto. And then there were Kurenai's students. Arya didn't get a chance to talk to any of them, nor did she plan to, but she overheard their names being shouted here and there. Shino, who seemed to hide himself in his clothing even in the blistering summer heat, Kiba, a shaggy haired loudmouth with his ninken Akamaru, and finally the kunoichi. Hinata.

Now, she didn't know the girl personally, again, she didn't care to, but at a glance, she seemed to be everything Arya disliked in a woman. Feeble looking, meek, flustered. Weak. Just looking at her made Arya's anger mount. She was aware that it was unfair, that her anger was unwarranted because that girl could have been strong in her own right. But there was just something about gentle, defenseless women that she detested.

But Arya wasn't stupid. She had a pretty good idea where that dislike came from.

Her mother had been one of those women. Weak, powerless, feeble. She couldn't defend herself, much less a child, but that was no excuse not to try. It was no excuse not to attempt to do something. To attempt to help. But instead, her fragile mother had done absolutely nothing. In fact, she did worse than nothing. She let it happen. She let him…she let those men-

"Hey, you alright?"

Snapping out of her daze, Arya turned her head to blink up at Zen and Haru who were now leaning over her, cutting into her line of vision. It was then that she noticed that she was all tensed up, muscles pulled taunt. Forcing herself to relax, she coolly raised an eyebrow at her teammates.

"Of course I am," she stated simply, attempting to look past their faces to the clouds. She noticed they exchanged a look before sitting back, removing themselves from her view.

"If you say so," said Zen, stretching out to recline beside her. "Your eyes were getting darker, and you were glaring at that girl pretty hard. They noticed."

At that, Arya blinked, and turned her head back to the group to see that they were indeed looking in their direction. Hinata looked like she was ready to pass out, red as a tomato, and Naruto was giving her a look full of righteous indignation. Internally rolling her eyes, she turned her face back to the clouds.

"I'm fine," she repeated, her tone leaving no room for further discussion on the matter. But of course, Zen being Zen, he would just switch into a different topic without missing a beat.

"So…how did thinks go with Kakashi?"

"Unless you want to be bleeding out of all your orifices, I suggest you don't bring him up."

Most people would have kept their mouths shut at that point, but her team seemed to have a death wish.

"That good, huh?" teased Haru, and she would have taken them both out if it hadn't been for Naruto's exuberant shout that the older shinobi were there. The three shadow ninja got to their feet just as Enta motioned them over to join the larger group. Kurenai was saying something to her squad, idly patting Akamaru on the head and Kakashi…well Kakashi was looking at her. She met his gaze for a fleeting second before looking pointedly at Enta.

The events of the day before were still fresh in her memory, and it didn't help that she spent the rest of that day reminiscing about their past. No, thoughts like that weren't going to do her any good. And neither were thoughts of that kiss. She'd do well to just forget about it all.

Coming to stand in front of her sensei, she fixed him with a hard look, one he returned with a big grin. But there was something else behind that grin. Arya frowned slightly at that. Something about that smile seemed ever so slightly forced. And now that she thought about it, the glance Kakashi had given her as she approached them also seemed…different somehow. Of course she could have just been reading it wrong, but Arya was confident in her abilities. She knew something was up. Perhaps it had something to do with the meeting both Kakashi and Enta had with Lady Tsunade the day before.

Before she could wonder about it any more, Enta slapped her on the back, drawing her closer to him. When her scowl deepened, he chuckled lightly.

"You're too young and too pretty to be pulling that kind of a face Arya. You should smile more. Like Sakura over there."

Upon hearing the compliment, the girl in question turned almost as pink as her hair.

"I hope you sleep with one eye open," Arya muttered under her breath.

"I have been since the day I met you," Enta replied instantly, and she couldn't help the tiny smirk that appeared on her face.

Kakashi cleared his throat then, capturing the attention of the little group.

"Alright everyone. Nice to see that you're all on time-"

"Yea, too bad we can't say the same for you guys," grumbled Sakura, prompting Naruto to voice his agreement. Kurenai, for her part, apologized while the two men just gave everyone guilty smiles. Typical.

"Ahem. Well, moving along," he continued. "Today we are going to practice our sensory skills. However, instead of practicing them yourselves, you will all be using ninken. Now, I understand that you are all chunin and this seems like quite a basic exercise, but after a mission a couple weeks ago, it became clear that not everyone knows how to effectively work with a ninja hound."

At that, Naruto gave a sheepish laugh and scratched his head, looking anywhere but at Sakura who didn't look too happy about the ordeal. Clearing his throat again, Kakashi continued.

"So. The exercise today will test your abilities to utilize and work with ninja hounds. We've gone ahead and hidden things out in the forest. You all being chunin, we couldn't make it too easy for you. The scents will not be detectable by the human nose, unless of course you're Kiba. Hinata, you are forbidden from using your Byakugan for this exercise, just as using your bugs is forbidden Shino. Arya."

Having only been half listening to his spiel, Arya was startled when she heard him say her name. Looking up from the spot on the ground she was previously staring at, she glanced impassively at Kakashi, noticing that everyone's eyes were now on her.

"Your smoke technique is forbidden too," he said, his visible eye lingering on her for a heartbeat, even after she'd given him a quick nod. Turning away from her, he was about to say more when he was interrupted.

"But Kakashi sensei!" cried Naruto, waving his hand in the air. "How are we all supposed to do the exercise when we only have one ninja hound?"

"Well if you'd let me finish, I'd have gotten to that."

"Hehe…oops-ow Sakura!"

"Shut up and listen Naruto!"

Arya rolled her eyes as Naruto rubbed the growing lump on his head, courtesy of his teammate. Were they always that…loud? Shifting her eyes, she looked at the third member of their team, Sasuke, who stood there looking much like she was feeling. Poor guy.

"Anyway, as I was going to say, since Kiba has Akamaru, he is already good to go. As for the rest of you, you'll each get one of my summons." Saying so, Kakashi bit his thumb before making the necessary seals and placing his hand to the ground. A puff of smoke appeared, and when it wafted away, they were left with eight ninken.

Arya looked at the group, and raised her eyebrows in visible surprise. Images of much smaller and younger dogs flitted through her head, and before she could even think to connect the dots, she was flat on her back with eight ninja hounds jumping all over her.

"Little girl," said the smallest of the bunch as he seated himself on her chest, muscling his way through the other dogs vying for her attention. "Well. You don't look so little anymore. You've gotten big. Long time no see, huh?"

"Pakkun," she gasped, for some reason finding it hard to breathe. "You look exactly like you did back then."

"Bull! You can't sit on her like that, you big oaf. You'll suffocate her." A couple moments later, she felt a weight shift off her and she sent Pakkun a grateful look. Gently moving Pakkun back, Arya sat up, the dogs crowding all around her as she changed positions. Coarse tongues lapped at her face and arms as the smaller of the dogs tried to climb on her.

And she couldn't help it, she laughed, head tossed back and eyes sparkling as she tried to pet everyone all at once. Had she been paying attention to those around her, she would have caught the almost mesmerized look on Kakashi's face. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that his ninken were very well acquainted with Arya. He used to leave them behind with her when he had to go away on missions, or he'd summon them for her to play with while he was training. The dogs were just puppies at the time, but he should have known that ninken don't forget. But there was something else that he'd forgotten.

Over the span of four years, Kakashi had forgot, or likely had forced himself to forget, exactly how beautiful she was when she laughed unbidden like she was just then. Like the carefree little girl she used to be. Before he went and fucked it all up.

Arya however, was unaware of the turbulent emotions churning within Kakashi because she was still engrossed with her reunion with her old companions. She remembered, vividly now, of how she played with the ninja hounds as a young child and as she grew up. Although, they were much smaller back then, especially in the case of the large black bulldog.

"Bull!" she cooed, yes, cooed. She'd be appalled at her lack of composure later, she was just…too happy at that moment to care about how unlike herself she was being. Reaching out, she grasped his large head between her hands. "Look how big you've grown. I used to be able to carry you around in my arms, and now it looks like you could carry me." Bull, being the only one of the lot who couldn't speak, simply nuzzled into her hands happily, prompting her to grin.

"And Shiba, look at you. I like the hair." The hound in question was above slobbering happily like some of the others, but still, she could see how he preened at the compliment, tail wagging contentedly.

"And me?! What about me?"

Laughing, Arya watched Biscuit jump up and down in front of her. Reaching out, she scratched behind his ear, the smile never straying from her face. "Yes, yes, you too Biscuit. You're still as loud as ever though."

"Um…what's going on? And…Kakashi sensei? Why are your ninken all over Arya?"

It was at the sound of Naruto's voice that she was roused from her ninja hound-induced stupor. And all at once she realized exactly how stupid she must've looked, sitting on the floor, cuddling and cooing over the hounds. Clearing her throat, she got to her feet, Pakkun clinging to her shoulder. Reaching up, she took the small dog into her hands, trying to resist the urge to snuggle his familiar warmth against her. The other hounds settled at her feet. There was a moment of chaos when Bull accidently stepped on Guruko in his attempt to sit right up against Arya's leg, but a stern look was all it took to have them sitting silently.

"Good luck trying to sort out who gets to be partnered with her," said Enta under his breath, and Kakashi rubbed his forehead.

"Me, obviously," said Pakkun from her arms, having overheard Enta. Now that sure did get the ninken all worked up again. And Arya was too busy struggling to seem nonchalant in front of the audience to actually do something about the angry ninja hounds. It was Kakashi who finally decided that he'd had enough. Stepping forward, he raised his hand, waiting for everyone to fall silent, which they did. Eventually.

"Akino will be paired with Arya for this exercise." Biscuit started to protest loudly, but Kakashi shut him up with a stern look. "I've already gone through and came up with pairings beforehand, so this is non negotiable. You can all continue your reunion later, but right now we're trying to run an important exercise. Is everyone clear?"

Slowly, the hounds all nodded, albeit solemnly, but they knew when to shut up and take orders. Seemingly satisfied, Kakashi's eye ghosted over her once more before he turned away and addressed the group as a whole. He went ahead and announced the rest of the pairings. Reluctantly, the dogs left her side one by one to go and stand by their assigned ninja. Bull gave a heavy sigh as he hunkered down by Haru's feet, and Pakkun wasn't too happy about being paired with Sakura. Then again, the pink haired Kunoichi didn't seem to be too happy about being paired with him either.

Once they were all assembled into their two man squads, Kakashi gave them the go ahead to begin the exercise. Akino took a moment to clear his mind as he sat in the same spot even after the other pairs had gone off into the forest. Arya didn't say anything however, and simply stood by him, pointedly ignoring the feel of three pairs of eyes on her.

Kakashi, Enta and Kurenai stood at the edge of the training grounds. Being the last pair still there, Arya figured they were just waiting for her to also leave. But even then, something unsettled her about the way they watched her silently. Thankfully, Akino decided that he was ready to go just then, and he was off. Swiftly, she jumped into the trees after him, glad to leave behind the odd trio.

The leaves became a blur around her as they raced through the forest. She could sense a couple others in their general area, but they were all slowly fanning out into opposite directions. When she heard Naruto's surprised shout in the distance, followed by an explosion, Arya confirmed that the sensei had in fact placed traps around the forest too.

"So," said Akino after a long while of silence. Arya was slightly surprised to have him speak to her, not because he'd never done it before, but because he was usually a dog of very few words. Raising a brow curiously, she watched him from the corner of her eye as another explosion sounded somewhere else in the forest. "I see things are…tense between you and Kakashi."

Arya nearly broke her steady rhythm as she played back what the hound had just said to her. Of course all the ninken knew that she and Kakashi had been together, platonically and romantically, and they also knew that things broke off abruptly. But it was quite the shock to have the current situation between them brought up, especially by Akino. It took her a moment to answer, and she busied herself with somersaulting over a trip wire to avoid saying anything. But Akino was a very patient soul, and he simply waited, the silence growing between them. Finally, she sighed.

"Well what did you expect?" she said irritably. "Did you hope we'd be best friends or something?"

"I hoped he'd have thrown himself at your feet and begged for forgiveness."

Arya couldn't help but scoff at that. They both knew Kakashi was way above groveling for forgiveness. Everything he did, he did for a reason, even if it was one only justifiable to himself. She didn't foresee any groveling any time soon.

They continued in silence again, Akino changing direction slightly at one point. A sharp gust of wind hit them then, strongly scented and meant to throw the hounds off. Thinking quickly, Arya grabbed Akino and jumped high over the cover of the trees and out of the range of the simulated gust of wind. They landed some ways away, and her actions preserved their assigned scent enough that he picked it right back up instantly.

"He's missed you," said the hound solemnly as he sat by her side a little while later. Arya was using a kunai to dig into the soft patch of earth he had led her to. She paused in her actions for a moment, her breath catching in her throat. But as fast as it came, it was gone, and she resumed her actions, seemingly unshaken by his statement. Arya didn't respond to him, and the trip back was a silent one.

They laded in the clearing together, prompting the trio of Jonin to look up at her. Standing by them were Sasuke and Uhei who seemed to have just arrived there themselves. Stepping towards the group, she held up a bandana with the faint scent that they were meant to trace. Instead of handing it to Kakashi, she tossed it to Enta before walking past them. She had intended to go off and stand at the opposite end of the training grounds, but at the last moment she veered off towards Sasuke and Uhei instead.

The dark haired man reminded her of herself. There was just something in his eyes. Not weakness, but something dark and haunting. She recognized it, because she spent twenty years looking at it in the mirror. And just like her, Sasuke seemed to have adapted a cool, nonchalant, persona to go with it. She couldn't help but think that Kakashi had been the same way once, though he seemed to be more relaxed now than when he was a teenager.

As she walked up, Uhei greeted her by coming to sit in front of her, tail wagging. She reached down to scratch him behind the ears as a tiny smile curved her lips.

"You seem to be well acquainted with them."

Looking up, she silently raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. He seemed to catch himself then, shifting his gaze off into the distance, jaw clenched. He didn't press, which was the only reason she decided to answer him.

"Yea. I grew up around them," she offered simply with a shrug of her shoulders just as Zen, Haru and Sakura appeared in the clearing one after the other.

"You grew up around Kakashi's ninken," he said slowly, and Arya dropped to a crouch as the newly arrived hounds ran over to surround her. Again, he didn't press anything, but she could hear the piqued curiosity in his voice. The unasked questions. She figured his pride would prevent him from asking those questions outright like Naruto would have. As the three other ninja joined their little huddle, Arya reasoned with herself that Haru and Zen already knew her story anyway. What did it matter if Sasuke and Sakura knew too? Besides, they'd probably find out at some point, and Arya had convinced herself that the more she tried to hide it, the more significance she attached to it. And the last thing she wanted to do was seem like she cared about it enough to keep it from everyone.

"I grew up in Konoha," she said absently as she rubbed Bull's flank.

"You what?!" came an unnecessarily loud voice behind her, and she didn't need to turn around to see that Naruto had joined them too. Arya pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to restrain herself from hitting the blonde over the head. Lucky for her, Sakura didn't seem to have any restraint at all, and pretty soon Naruto was sitting in the grass with a pout and a huge lump on his head.

"I grew up in Konoha," she repeated, allowing Biscuit to jump into her lap. Perhaps it was the dogs that had her willing to share. It was hard, even for her, to be in a grouchy mood when they were present. "I wasn't born here though. I'm from a little village near the Fire country boarder. I came here to Konoha when I was five, and I left for Kagegakure when I was sixteen."

"Wait…if you're from here, how come we've never run into one another?" asked Sakura, brows furrowed. Behind them, she could sense that the other three shinobi from Kurenai's squad were back. She could also feel Kakashi's eyes on her. It was unsettling, but she told herself to ignore it.

"Well I graduated from the academy before you guys even joined. I was only there for a year, so, either way, you wouldn't have run into me there."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, a silent acknowledgement of her accelerated graduation. Sakura and Naruto were both also enthralled, although they were much more obvious about it. The two of them kneeled by her, seeming to hang on every word she uttered.

"Why didn't we see you around the village then?" asked the man with the shaggy hair, Kiba. She spared him a glance before fixating on Biscuit and Pakkun wrestling for a spot on her lap.

"We probably didn't run in the same circles," she said curtly, hoping that they wouldn't ask exactly whom her circle was comprised of. But of course Naruto did ask, and she sighed.

"They were a couple years older than me. Enta, Asuma, Guy, Obito, Rin." She realized a little too late that she had left Kakashi out of that list. It was too late to mention him now, so she simply waited. If they had at least half a brain, they'd figure out that Kakashi fit into that group of shinobi.

"So that's how you know Kakashi-Sensei?" asked Naruto, and she could all but feel Kakashi still from across the clearing. "You guys were friends?"

Arya hated that she had to pause. She desperately wanted to run her hands through her hair, but she didn't allow herself that nervous gesture. Instead, she schooled her face to look carefully blank as she got to her feet.

"Something like that," she said, neither accepting nor denying Naruto's claim. She could tell that the blonde was going to fire another question at her, but thankfully Kurenai unknowingly came to her aid.

"Alright guys, you did well," she said, addressing the group as a whole. She then fixed her own students with a glance. "We've got a mission in a couple hours, so we're going to go prepare. We'll see you all later."

Arya met the older woman's peculiar red eyes for a moment. She had never been as close to Kurenai as she was with Rin, a fact that was proven when the older woman didn't even recognize her when she first came back to Konoha. Even then, she could only remember good things about the genjutsu specialist. That thought was followed by a gentle smile from her before she disappeared into the forest. The members of her squad called their farewells before also running off after her. And then it was just her own team and Naruto's.

"Alright, you guys can go," she heard Kakashi say somewhere behind her, and the ninken began to grumble. Smiling despite herself, she leaned down to give everyone a final cuddle. "I'll see you guys later," she said softly as she kissed the tip of Bull's nose.

"You'd better," said Pakkun before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, the others going after him. Once they were all gone, Arya couldn't deny that she instantly missed their presence. That in itself was quite troubling. She didn't realize just how profound an effect her old companions had on her. Then again, she mused as she turned to face Kakashi and Enta as they walked towards them, she should have known better.

She wasn't as impervious as she pretended to be.

Kakashi came to stand across from her. It was an innocent enough action. She was standing near the front of the group, and it was almost natural for him to stand there as he addressed them all. But even then, her heart seemed to constrict, and her mind wandered back to that kiss…Oh she was in trouble. She should have never come back to Konoha. It was the biggest mistake she could have made.

Caught up in her own vices, Arya didn't feel the new presence until a beat after Kakashi and Enta did. That one second of difference was enough for both men to go on the defensive, turning their backs to the group to face the far end of the training grounds. At that point, the others had also sensed an ominous presence and everyone shifted uneasily. It was Sasuke, however, who seemed the most visibly affected by it all. From the corner of her eye, she could see the dark haired young man stiffen before taking a jerky step forward only to be stopped by Kakashi who lifted a hand in warning. Sasuke froze, but his usually stoic face began to show a myriad of emotion. Surprise, anger, conviction, perhaps even sadness. Arya was wondering why he'd have such a reaction to the new comer when she realized that she too recognized the chakra signature approaching them.

In front of them, Kakashi and Enta stiffened. She didn't realize it before, but they had shifted their bodies so that, together, they shielded her completely from the view of the other person. It both annoyed and confused her.

As the person stepped into plain sight, she heard Sakura gasp, her hand reaching towards Sasuke who seemed to be trembling in anger. Naruto seemed pretty pissed off himself as he stood by his teammates, fists clenched. Haru and Zen seemed to be as lost as she was, but they too had noticed the way the older Jonin shifted to cover her. Knowing that two talented shinobi found it necessary to guard their teammate was enough to have the two younger men also taking up a protective stance on either side of her.

Arya hated feeling like she was weak. That meant that she hated it when other people took it upon themselves to try and protect her or shield her from danger. It made her feel powerless, and she absolutely hated that feeling.

And so, in her customary rebellious style, Arya dispersed herself into a black cloud of smoke before sliding past the two Jonin and reforming herself in front of them. Now behind her, she heard Kakashi curse under his breath and snap at her to get back. Enta too had lost all traces of humor, a rare feat, and demanded that she fall back to her previous position.

It confused her. Why were they so…worried? What was she missing? Did this have anything to do with why they were acting weird that morning?

Her questions went unvoiced and unanswered however, as the new comer came to a stop a couple feet in front of her. The face was a familiar one. One she'd seen multiple times back when she was in Kage. She wasn't surprised to see him exactly, she was just surprised to see him there. In Konoha. She was also intrigued at the reaction he was provoking from Kakashi and Enta by just being there. The fact that he didn't come in his true form, but rather as a clone, only confused her that much more.

And if there was something Arya hated more than feeling weak, it was feeling like she was missing something.

Crossing her arms, she took a step forward and heard Enta snap her name. But she didn't bother to look over at him. Instead, she stared into Sharingan-red eyes.

"Itachi. What are you doing here?"

Annnnd the plot thickens, lol.

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