A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews. Some new faces in this one :) It all seems so light hearted doesn't it? But it won't always be...

Disclaimer: My birthday is October 21st. If you want to buy me the rights to 'Naruto' I'll love you. But at the moment, I don't own the lovable Kyuubi-holder or anything to do with him. Please pass the tissues.

Claimer: Kari and Kita are mine. I am their biological creator.

Winds of Change

And looking into his eyes,

She knew that things would soon change.

"Sasukeeee"

"No."

"But--!"

"No."

"Why--!?"

"No."

"So why can't I have a key?!" Kari asked again, glaring her frustration at the back of his head. Sasuke huffed, shoved his hands even deeper into his pockets and kept walking, refusing to look at her.

"I told you, you'll lose it" Sasuke said, his voce cool and calm and to Kari's dismay, devoid of irritation.

"NO I--" Kari began indignantly but froze mid-sentence.

"Kari?" Sasuke questioned, confused at her sudden silence. Her eyes were wide in surprise, but then narrowed as her expression became serious. Her wolf ears twitched and her eyes faded into a piercing white. Sasuke almost gasped and began accusations of the Byakugan, but shook it off. She didn't have the trademark lavender-tinted eyes of the Hyuuga. These eyes were necessary for the Byakugan. Sasuke supposed it was just her eyes changing colour again. He had observed how they melted into a mixture of blue's greens and greys, constantly changing shade, but so slightly it was difficult to notice. Of course, he with his Sharingan had noticed.

"We need to get back" Kari said grabbing hold of his wrist and yanking him back in the direction they had just come. Sasuke struggled to keep up, perplexed by the speed she moved. With her lazy attitude he expected her to be slow, average at most, but then again he hadn't paid her much attention in battle. He really should observe his team mates more, in particular Kari, of whom he knew barely anything about.

Sakura had intelligence; she was a quick thinker and good at planning and remembrance. When it came to knowledge she sucked it up like a sponge. Her physical strength, stamina and weaponry skills however, left much to be desired. She wasn't particularly stealthy either and was slow and loud when moving.

Naruto was a complete dumbass with incredible stamina; his chakra is pretty impressive with all those Kage bunshin too. But his aim is terrible, he slow and clumsy, he doesn't think things through and acts rashly. And he's an idiot. A complete idiot.

Kari was rather mysterious. She had a tendency to be as rash as Naruto in defending other people and seemed to get injured easily. Yet never once had he heard her cry out in pain. Yes, she showed a wince here or there, cursed rather a lot, but mostly suffered in silence, struggling on her own. Her aim had been impressive back with the Chuunin that had jumped them on the way to the Wave Country. But she didn't seem to be very strategic, and she was incredibly inexperienced. The only thing Sasuke knew about her fighting style was that she was quick, and now he paid attention, it was only his own feet that made noise. So she was stealthy.

"Sasuke" the Uchiha turned his attention to her, pulled out of his thoughts by the seriousness of her tone. "It seems our team-mates have just run into foreign ninja with bad tempers. Be prepared for possible butt-kicking."

"KONOHAMARU!" Naruto cried. The teenage guy Konohamaru had run into picked the small kid up by the throat. His pale face was painted with bright purple patterns, covering most of his face. He wore a black, cat suit type of thing and had a large bandaged object tied to his back.

"So? Does this hurt punk?" the boy asked, a wicked grin spreading across his pale painted face.

"Put him down Kankuro or you'll know you'll pay for it later!" the girl snapped. She had sandy coloured hair with bright green eyes. She wore a purple ninja dress with a plate on her chest. On her back, was what appeared to be a large fan.

"Hey I'm sorry the whole thing was my fault" Sakura said awkwardly, her mint green eyes darting between the two unidentified ninja.

"YOU BETTER TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HIM RIGHT NOW!" Naruto cried, glaring at the guy holding up a squirming Konohamaru.

"We got a few minutes 'til he gets here why don't we mess with these punks?" sneered the guy who seemed to be Kankuro.

"LET GO OF ME YOU JERK!" Konohamaru cried in a similar way to Naruto, kicking out in vain against the larger boy.

"You're feisty, but not for long" Kankuro said evilly.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Naruto shouted, deciding the time was for a hero. Without hesitation, the orange-clad ninja charged at Kankuro only to be sent flying backwards somehow. "NANI?!"

"You're a leaf genin too? Looks like your village is full of wimps" Kankuro mused.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto, Moegi and Udon cried. the latter two almost in tears.

"Hey! Cut it out! It hurts!" Konohamaru cried, his face flushing from the pressure on his throat as he flailed about.

"THAT'S IT DROP HIM NOW OR I TAKE YOU APART YOU GOT THAT FOOL!" Naruto threatened. Sakura immediately pulled the poor fox-boy into a rough headlock.

"YOU'RE THE FOOL! MAKING THREAT'S ISN'T GOING TO HELP NARUTO!" Sakura shrieked, enraged at her comrades stupidity. Kankuro smirked.

"You're annoying, all of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth... I just wanna break him in half" Kankuro shouted angrily. The four watching Konoha-nin gasped.

"Uh fine I'm not involved in any of this okay?" the sandy-haired girl said boredly, shooting Kankuro an irritated look.

"First I'll take care of this little squirt then I'll take care of the other one!" Kankuro cried pulling his fist back, preparing to punch the living daylights of a barely conscious Konohamaru. Naruto hastily got up and ran towards them desperate to help, when a stone hurtled into Kankuro's hand causing the larger ninja to drop the boy, Kankuro held his wrist, scowling up at the tree's where the rock had been thrown from.

Sasuke tossed a rock up and down as he glared at the unknown ninja. Kari sat behind him smirking, proud her throw had been dead on target. TenTen-sensei would have been so proud.

"You're far away from home and way out of your league" Sasuke said cockily. Kari held in a sigh and resisted the urge to push him out the tree and tell him to pull the stick out of his ass.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura squealed. Causing poor Kari to clamp her hands over her ears as her eyes watered. Those ears would be the death of her, she just knew it…

"Kari-chan!" Naruto cried happily, grinning up at her. The wolf-girls heart warmed and turned to mush as she smiled back down at her dear Kitsune-niisan. God bless Naruto, he always made her smile. The guy Kari overheard as being 'Kankuro' with her accursed ears, glared up at Sasuke. The sandy-haired girl also had her eyes on Sasuke, but a blush adorned her cheeks and her eyes were rather glossy. Kari smirked deviously, nudging Sasuke in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-kun? You've stolen yet another innocent girl's heart" Kari teased, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut it Kari" the irritated Uchiha mumbled, giving her a disgusted glare. "You can't exactly talk" True enough, the Kankuro guy was blushing and smirking up at her, making her feel slightly queasy.

"NARUTO!" Konohamaru cried running over to the said future-Hokage. Naruto shot a sulky glare at Sasuke, which the Uchiha ignored, his eyes glued to Kankuro.

"Great another wimp to tick me off" Kankuro said crushing Kari's little pebble to dust, Kari looked at it sadly and snatched Sasuke's stone instead, sulkily noticing how it wasn't perfectly smooth like hers was, wasn't a perfect oval like hers was and… well just wasn't the same.

"Get lost" Sasuke said coldly, intensifying his glare.

"AAAAH THEY'RE SO COOL!" Udon and Moegi squealed. Sakura of course only said Sasuke was cool as Kari blushed and awkwardly waved at her adoring fans.

"HOW COME YOU'RE NOT COOL LIKE THEM!" Konohamaru bellowed, turning on Naruto.

"EHH?! WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT I COULD HAVE TAKEN THOSE GUYS OUT IN TWO SECONDS FLAT!" Naruto cried, waving his arms around in a dramatic way.

"Hey punk get down here" Kankuro said, glaring at Sasuke again. "You're one of the pesky little snots I hate the most all attitude and nothing to back it up! Heck that girl next to you could do better!" Kankuro said. Well, Kari did throw the stone after all, though Sasuke would have found a way to do it better than her. She was proud of that throw, though had the feeling Sasuke was getting the credit for it. Poor Kari-chan's are so unappreciated. Kankuro pulled a…thing off his back. Kari's eyes shot to the side, her advanced senses noticing something.

"Nani!? You're going to use that for this?!" the girl cried, looking at Kankuro in horror.

"Kankuro. Back off." Everyone looked round to find a boy, his hair was a bright ruby red and his eyes a light aqua. He was pale with thick dark rings around his eyes that could only be that of insomnia, or way too much eyeliner. He wore dark clothing with a white toga sort of thing wrapped around him. Attached to his back was some sort of gourd. He was hanging upside down in the same tree Sasuke and Kari were in.

"So the others finally realised you were there" Kari mused smirking. She had hold of the guy's wrist; ignoring the fact his arms were folded. The redhead turned his eyes on her, his gaze piercing. But she didn't feel alarmed or uncomfortable, in fact she felt a strange sort of connection to him, like they had met before, or he had a special unknown meaning. She smiled, tilting her head to the side, their eye-contact never faltering. "I apologise for my behaviour, it comes as a reflex to me." After a minute or so, he tore his eyes away, nodding in reply. He narrowed his eyes, and with the same blank, stoic expression spoke again.

"You're an embarrassment to our village" the boy said scathingly. The two foreign ninja tensed, becoming awkward and anxious in his presence.

"Er... Hey Gaara!" Kankuro said smiling sheepishly as sweat trickled down his brow. Gaara looked at Sasuke and narrowed his eyes into a glare, which the Uchiha more than happily returned. Sasuke hadn't sensed this guy; he just popped out of nowhere. How Kari had somehow detected him was beyond Sasuke, though slightly bothered him.

"Have you forgotten why we came all the way here?" the redhead now known as Gaara asked.

"Er... I know, I-I mean they challenged us! They started the whole thing you see here's what happened-" Kankuro cried, immediately thinking up alibi's and excuses.

"Shut up" Gaara said coldly. Kankuro flinched. "Or I'll kill you." Kari blinked. Well isn't this guy a little ray of sunshine?

"Right I was totally out of line… Gomen Gaara… I was… totally out of line" Kankuro said fearfully.

"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused" Gaara said, turning back to Kari for another staring contest. She smiled again, earning her a confused look from the red-head. She released her hold on his wrist and bowed in politeness.

"I apologise for the trouble my team-mates may have caused your comrades. Sasuke, keep your glares to yourself" with that, Gaara disappeared and then reappeared at ground level in a flurry of sand and Kari swiftly jumped down, landing a few feet in front of Naruto and the others.

"Let's go we didn't come here to play games" Gaara said, with one last glance at Kari before turning to take his leave.

"All right sure I get it" Kankuro said sheepishly, as he and the girl turned to follow.

"HOLD ON!" Sakura cried. Kari shot her a warning glare, knowing these three were not people to mess with. Gaara had a strange aura, as well as a different chakra to any other ninja Kari had ever sensed. "HEY!"

"Nani?" the girl said boredly, the three of them turning back to face them.

"I can tell from your hitai-ate that you come from the Sunagakure no sato; The Village Hidden in the Sand. Of course the land of fire and the land of wind are allies, but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So state your purpose and it better be good!" Sakura cried, hands on hips.

"Geez, Sakura-chan you need to tutor me…" Kari mumbled. Konoha means leaf and is in the land of fire? Shouldn't it be in the land of earth or the land of trees or something? How can she tell from hitai-ate's? Who's allies with what? Shimatta…

"Really, have you guys all been living under a rock or what?" the girl sneered. Kari slightly scowled as her eyes flickered to the small amount of dust that had once been her rock. "You don't know what's going on do you? We have permission" she said holding up a pass. With Kari's excellent eye-sight, she read the name 'Temari' and an authorization stamp. "Of course, you are correct that we are Suna genin and our home is the land of wind. We're here for the chunin exams, get the picture?" she said.

"The choo-nin exams what's that?" Naruto asked, looking at me in hopes of an explanation. "Well I've never heard of any choo-nin exams dattebayo!"

"You're totally clueless" Temari scoffed. Kari inwardly sighed as Kita jumped into her arms, Moegi finally having stopped hugging her. The wolf cub retreated to her Okaa-san's safety, away from the hands of small children.

"Hey boss, they're exams every Genin has to take to become full on Chuunin" Konohamaru whispered. Kari wasn't too sure on the ninja rankings. All she knew was the missions' lecture she had half listened to when the Hokage was talking and Naruto was blabbering about ramen.

"OH! WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?! I AM SO THERE!" Naruto cried excitedly. Gaara had his eyes fixed on Kari again, his face blank. In the depths of his eyes she saw a slight flash of gold, and a strange pattern within his eyes. She felt the stirring of sand, thick and wet in the centre, heavy. Then lighter at the edges, softer, faster… She felt things stir within herself, energy, lots of it, lots of different types of it.

'Suna, beware the suna.'

Beware the sand? Wait? Who are you?

Her thoughts were cut off as her eyes met with a red and white symbol of a fan, the sign of the Uchiha. Sasuke had jumped down in front of her, half blocking her from Gaara's view. She walked round him giving him an odd look.

"Hey you! Identify yourself." Sasuke demanded, his arm extending in front of Kari like a barrier, preventing her from getting any closer to the Suna shinobi. She gave him a slight glare, she didn't need protecting.

"Hm? You mean me?" Temari asked smiling and blushing.

"No, the one with the gourd on his back, what fascination do you have with my team-mate" Sasuke said, his eyes fixed on Gaara.

"My name is Subaku no Gaara, Gaara of the desert" Gaara replied. "I'm curious about you too, who are you?" his pale aquamarine eyes now fixed on Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke" Sasuke replied with a cocky smirk. Gaara then looked round at Kari, fixing her with an intense stare.

"And you?"

"They call me Kari, Mitsukai Hikari" Kari replied, smiling in memory of Naruto giving her that name. Kankuro suddenly smirked, but it soon disappeared after a glance from Gaara. Yet again, Kari and Gaara had become locked in each others stare. Sasuke glared at Gaara, wanting to know what his infatuation was with the wolf girl. Yes she was decent looking, yes she was peculiar with those ears and that tail, but what the heck was his problem?

"As for your second question, I find interest in what lays in her eyes" Gaara said, before breaking his gaze and turning to leave. The other two immediately followed suit.

"HEY THERE! I bet you're dying to know my name!" Naruto cried excitedly.

"I couldn't care less" Gaara said. "Until we meet again… Hikari." The three of them jumped away. Sasuke smirked, that guy would be a good challenge for him, he could sense that guy had power. The Uchiha's eyes flickered over to Kari. But he should keep that Gaara guy away from Kari. He didn't like the way they looked at each other, reading far too deep into one another's eyes. It gave Sasuke shivers just thinking about it.

"Hey Konohamaru do I seem uncool or something?" Naruto whispered solemnly.

"Naruto-kun don't worry about it you rock" Kari said smiling at her dear Kitsune-niisan. Naruto grinned. Honestly, Kari sometimes believed she was the older one, but Naruto's birthday was ten days before hers.

"Well compared to Sasuke yeah, you're pretty lame" Konohamaru said ruining Naruto's moment. "Oh and personally I think that Kari girl is way prettier and way nicer than Sakura" he whispered offhandedly to Naruto.

"Well as a matter of fact -" Naruto began blushing. Kari raised an eyebrow. The Kyuubi vessel coughed awkwardly and quickly changed the subject. "Anou… Hey! Kari-chan did you get the key?" Kari shot the Uchiha a very nasty look as she folded her arms and scowled. Sasuke ignored Kari's glare and decided to do a bit of Naruto-mocking.

"Hn, see even they think I'm better than you" Sasuke said, looking down his nose at Naruto.

"ARGH! YOU'RE NOT GONNA SHOW ME UP SASUKE!" Naruto screeched, jumping to his feet, his charging halted by Kari's grip on the back of his jumpsuit.

"Hn back off loser" Sasuke said smirking. Kari sighed at their immaturity, but was completely distracted by the chakra signatures of three more foreign ninja. They had a dark aura and sent shivers down her spine to the tip of her golden tail.

"What do you think Dosu?"

"The usual weaklings, nothing special. But that one from the Uchiha clan, the girl with animal characteristics and the desert rat… we should watch them... carefully…"

Kari's eyes flashed to a piercing red for an instant as a growl threatened to erupt from her diaphragm. The fur on her tail stood on end, as her eyes tried to find the three masses of chakra. Her eyes weren't like the Byakugan and couldn't clearly see through objects, but she could see the overall shape and the piercing blue of chakra. Her eyes weren't designed to see the chakra system; she only saw a human shaped blue flame. She could smell metal, a weapon of sorts. A slight rustle alerted her to their retreat, her eyes faded back to their natural mix of blue, green and grey, but they were sharp and aware.

"I'll see you later guys, I'm going to train. Kita-ko, you stay with Sasuke and make sure he doesn't lock me out." She didn't tell them that Kita was to protect Sasuke, the Uchiha would be insulted if he heard such nonsense. But those unknown ninja made her feel uneasy. Kita could immediately alert her if Sasuke encountered danger. Naruto and Sakura should be all right. Besides, she had a gut instinct of whether Naruto needed help or not, she felt the need to return before Kita informed her.

Her eyes narrowed as she ran. Don't get too full of yourself Sasuke; I sense danger in the future. And my instinct tells me it involves you. Believe me Uchiha, my instinct is rarely wrong.

"My team has entered the Chuunin exams, it's about time for it to start again" Neji explained, having stopped his gentle fist practice. He had decided to 'train and talk' and was pelting Kari with chakra filled fingers, only allowing her a break when she fell on her backside. Her dodging had improved immensely due to her speed and ease of movement, her blocking… well, it was still terrible.

Hinata had shown Kari to where Neji was training, pleasantly conversing with her along the way. Kari told her a short version of her day, which Hinata always asked about and enjoyed listening to. The Hyuuga Heiress was a better listener than a talker, Kari was the same though found it easier to talk than the timid girl did. Kari new Hinata would find confidence, she had and she knew one day Hinata would. The two enjoyed each others company and had a comfortable friendship. They felt they could tell each other anything in confidence, it was a nice feeling. Kari felt close to her, even though they hadn't known each other that long. It was always Hinata who came and showed her where Neji was, the shy girl had explained she simply knew when Kari was near.

"You better watch it Neji, those foreign shinobi I've seen look pretty rough" Kari warned, dodging a blow intended for her shoulder. Neji didn't hold back with her, if that blow had landed she wouldn't have been able to move her arm for a good hour or two. But Neji said she was a very quick healer.

"I know, I've seen a few around" he agreed, effortlessly dodging one of Kari's punches. He was pleased with her progress and took pride when he saw her improve. Her attacks were quicker and sharper, her speed was impressive. It was her defence that needed all the work. But her speed should get her through, she wants to learn offence and channelling chakra, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. Genjutsu wasn't her style. She understood how the mind worked, but when Neji had used a simple Genjutsu on her when they were training with Gai, she fell for it badly and when it came off was clutching her head in agony, shivering uncontrolably. Lee had gone absolutely nuts, trying to see if she was all right while TenTen furiously demanded to know what he had done. He had only confused her senses, whisperings, shadows, that sort of thing. But he supposed her senses were far more sensitive and it affected her more. SO he'd shown her how to break Genjutsu with chakra, which she found rather easy. She could recognise Genjutsu, she just couldn't cope well when her mind was attacked.

"You better be careful Neji, if you die I'll kill you" she said with a reverse turning kick, her toes lightly brushing his chest. That was the closest she'd got. Sadly, before she could feel pride over her victory, Neji sent her tumbling backwards with a palm strike under the indent where her rib cage was joined. With a painful sounding 'oomph!' she landed on her back. She coughed; the air knocked out of her, but stood up again, ignoring her balance being slightly off. With surprising speed she was behind him, her leg twisting to hit him on the right side, in the middle of his ribcage. Unfortunately, with his Byakugan, Neji twisted, catching her foot in his left hand, then did rotation and sent her flying into a tree.

"You can't kill someone if they're already dead Kari" he said smirking at her. She glared at him from her upside down view. She had done something Naruto typically did and fell on her head after she hit the tree. Her ears lay flat on the ground, her back was curved against the straight and sturdy bark of the tree and her legs were in the air, her tail lying limply between them and almost tickling her nose. He helped her out of her twisted position by nudging her in the side with his foot so that she fell onto her side.

"Pshh, I'd have to kill the person who killed you first wouldn't I?" she scoffed, rolling so she was straight. She rubbed the swelling bump on her head, scowling at the amused Hyuuga. "But I'd beat the shit out of you in the afterlife."

"Language" he lightly scolded, nudging her off balance again. He could continue to push her over all day, but it was starting to get dark and he had been very hard on her today. He'd feel guilty if he could see the small bruises littered on her body, but of course, Kari is modest and is very covered up. The only skin she actually shows is her face and neck. Showing mercy, he helped her up, allowing her to lean against him until she sorted out her balance. "Go and sleep Kari, I'll train you more tomorrow."

Kari dragged her feet through the streets of Konoha. Sasuke lived near the edge, near the creepy Uchiha compound. Not in the middle of the streets of Konoha. She let out a soft whine. She didn't want to walk all the way to Sasuke's place. Her legs hurt, her arms hurt, her head hurt – heck! Everything bloody hurt! Neji was brutal; she didn't need to worry about him getting hurt in the Chuunin exams. She should be more worried for whoever he had to fight. The Chuunin exams must involve fighting right? Neji didn't know that much a bout the Chuunin exams, only that they were held in a different country every time and that it was about making bonds with other villages, and that Genin were promoted to Chuunin of course. Apparently, what they involved changed every time. It all depended on the proctor and country hosting it.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she sensed eyes upon her. Looking up, Kari saw that Gaara guy from before, sitting on the roof of what looked like a hotel. Without much thought, she jumped up and landed beside him.

"Hikari." He acknowledged.

"Gaara" she nodded. "Call me Kari; I don't get called Hikari much."

"What are you doing wandering Konoha at such a late hour?" Gaara questioned, his intense gaze focused on her.

"I was training" she replied, taking a seat beside her to rest her weary legs. "Can't you sleep, or do you have insomnia?"

"If I sleep it takes over my body, I must stay awake to suppress it. You have one too, don't you?" he said monotonely.

"It?"

"I was born a monster" with that, Gaara turned his gaze away. He seemed distracted by memories, he gave off a cold, distant aura, made to drive people away. The word monster triggered something within Kari, clear as day Naruto's voice rung in her head.

"They called me a monster."

"You contain a demon" Kari said, understanding what he meant. "You're right. I hold monsters too. Were you shunned?" He remained silent for a long while, debating whether to answer. In the same cold, blank voice he replied.

"I was."

"They say I have the Torai-Kenshi" Kari admitted, wrapping her arms round her legs and resting her head on her knees. "I don't understand it, I doubt I ever will."

"Shukaku. Shukaku the sand spirit. A one tailed racoon like demon that controls the sand" Gaara explained. Kari looked round at him. "It was sealed within my unborn self by the Kazekage, my father." Though horrified his father could do such a thing, she kept it to herself. He didn't want her sympathy, she knew it.

"I don't know how my bijuu came to be inside me. I woke up as a twelve year old with distant memories that make no sense and don't exist here." He opened up to her, he deserved the same courtesy. Neither went into details, they didn't want to and didn't need to. They had a silent understanding of each other. It wasn't friendship, it was simply understanding.

"We're both outcasts. We don't belong." Gaara said, voicing how Kari felt since she woke up. She didn't belong. Yet at the same time, she felt that she didn't belong back home anymore either. So they sat in silence watching the night sky, reasonably comfortable in each others company. For them, that was enough.