I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Sorry about there being so little bit of Kiba but he really didn't fit in until the end.
Meng Ka yawned as she stretched while still lying in her bed. Tinktink chirped again as she flapped her fiery wings sending hot air rushing passed Meng Ka's face. With a moan Meng Ka sat up, "I'm up, I'm up." She whined as she pulled the covers off and stood up. She sluggishly made her way over to her dresser were she picked out her clothes and then went to shower.
Tinktink handed Meng Ka the salt while she cooked Kakashi and herself breakfast as the sun was already making its way up the sky. Only a bit of pink was left in the sky when Meng Ka was done and strolling into Kakashi's room with a bucket of hot water, not hot enough to burn but hot enough to wake someone up. With a devilish smile on her small red lips, Meng Ka tilted the bucket and let the water fall on top of her Uncle. A loud scream radiated throughout the small cabin as a high pitched squeal was followed soon after it. Small feet could be heard running through the hall while someone yelled and followed after the laughter that echoed through the cabin.
"So what are you doing today, Uncle Shi?" Meng Ka asked as she put a piece of pancake in her mouth. Tinktink landed on the window sill, having returned from her morning hunt.
Kakashi looked over at Meng Ka and bit down on a piece of bacon, "Just some more training with Sasuke. But after that I'll be doing some patrol, we aren't going to be given any missions until the village is fixed and we have a new hokage." He said with a sigh as he drank some of her coffee.
"Yeah, once I'm done with handing out my jams and berries me and Kiba are going to help fix of some places." Meng Ka said as she got up and put her plate in the sink, she sat down next to Kakashi and drank some more of her milk.
"Hmm? You and Kiba seem to be spending a lot of time together." Kakashi said as he watched Meng Ka out of the corner of his eye. A small smile coming across his face as he noticed the light blush that came over Meng Ka's cheeks.
"S-so?" Meng Ka cleared her throat and crossed her arms, "We're just friends." She stuck her tongue out at Kakashi and then finished her milk.
Kakashi just chuckled as he finished his breakfast and then got ready for the day. As Kakashi walked out, Meng Ka was tying her leaf village band around her waist. He smiled and kissed her on the head before pull up his mask over his nose. "I'll see you for lunch."
"Psh, you and I both know you're gunna check up on me about five times before lunch." Meng Ka smiled up at Kakashi smugly but gave him a hug that he returned with another one of his chuckles.
As Kakashi walked out of the cabin, Meng Ka followed closely behind him but turned to walk into the forest as he made his way into the village. For the next few hours, Meng Ka picked berries and made jam. After jarring them, she stuck them into her baskets with her other berries. Smiling up at Tinktink she said, "This has to be our biggest order yet. Four whole baskets." Then she looked at the four baskets, "How am I going to carry all of this?" She asked mainly herself but like usual Tinktink seemed to have an answer.
Tinktink chirped sharply as she fluttered her wings, pushing a strong wind under the baskets, making them lift into the air for a few seconds. Meng Ka watched, still amazed herself at some things that Tinktink was capable of. Biting on her lip, Meng Ka concentrated on the wind around the baskets. She had never had to do something like this before and she was able to get two in the air but as the third one was coming up it swayed and then fell back on the table. Meng Ka took a deep breath and concentrated again, doing this over plenty of times but she soon got a hold of what she was doing and was able to carry one in her arms while having the other three follow after her as she made her way to the village.
She only had a few jars left when she ran into someone, or rather that someone ran into her. She fell back on her bottom, the jars thankfully still in one piece as they sat in her basket. Tinktink chirped softly as she landed on her shoulder and looking over at the kid with her yellow eyes.
"Oh!" Konohamaru said as he sat up rubbing the back of his head and noticed that it was Meng Ka he had ran into. In his hast to get to school, he hadn't noticed her small form until he turned the corner.
"Konohamaru! I'm sorry." Meng Ka said softly as she noticed it was the kid who liked to bully her because of how different she was. Getting up, she picked up her basket and looked around nervously as she waited for his two friends to pop out.
Konohamaru stood there as he stared at her with a strange expression on his face. He had never really looked at her before and as he took in her small frame that was dressed in a simple white dress. The way her cheeks turned a light pink as she blushed and her turquoise eyes looked around nervously. Shaking his head, he wondered why had was so mean to the girl in the first place, after all, she had been right there with him crying at his grandfather's funeral.
"Oh, it's you." Moegi said as she stuck her noise in the air and looked slightly down at Meng Ka while Udon sniffled and pushed his classes up.
"Shut up!" Konohamaru said sharply to her before looking back at Meng Ka. The three of them stared at him in shock as he seemed to be lost in thought before he finally straitened his back and looked over at Meng Ka, "Sorry for running into you. I'll see you around." With that he started to run off again, Moegi and Udon close behind him with shocked expressions still on his face.
Meng Ka watched the trio run away curiously but turned and walked over to the Ichiraku Ramen Shop. As she came in, she sat the basket down and smiled over at Naruto, "Hi, Naruto. How was training?" She asked as she pulled out the jams.
"It was great! I got a lot done but when I'm done with this I'm going to get back to training, I have a lot more to do still if I'm going to be the next hokage." He smiled at Meng Ka but then pointed at her jars of jam, curiously. "What are those for?"
Ayame giggled and handed Meng Ka her money, "It's the jam that she sells around the village. She has a nice stash of Goji berries growing in the forest near where she lives and my father and I love the jam." She smiled as she took the jars and put them away.
"You're not going to put that in the ramen are you?" Naruto asked as he watched Ayame put them away.
Teuchi laughed as he shook his head, "Of course not. It'll all be going straight in my stomach." He winked over at Meng Ka who giggled just as someone walked in the shop.
"Meng Ka! Is that you?" A deep voice said with surprise as she turned around to see who it was.
"Jiraiya-sensi!" Meng Ka said excitedly as she recognized the old sage and she jumped up from her seat, giving him a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm helping Naruto to train. But look at you! You can speak clearly now. When I last saw you, you still couldn't say Kakashi's name correctly." He laughed at the old memories of the little five year old Meng Ka.
"Hey! Pervy Sage! Where have you been?!" Naruto yelled as he cut into their conversation, too got up in his anger at Jiraiya to notice the little reunion between the two.
"I told you not to call me that!" Jiraiya yelled and then sighed, "Finish eating and I'll let you know."
Naruto didn't seem to like that answer but he went back to eating while Meng Ka sat back down in her seat. "If you haven't seen Kakashi yet, he should be here soon since it's close to lunch time." Meng Ka said to Jiraiya.
"Ah, I've actually have seen him already, dear. But do tell him I said hello for me." He said as Naruto finished eating in record time. Jiraiya ruffled Meng Ka's hair and smiled, "It was good seeing you, kid. You'll have to show me some of that ninja fighting sometime when we get back." He gave her another hug and then left with Naruto who was firing question after question at him.
Just as Meng Ka turned around in her seat, Kakashi sat down next to her, two steaming bowls of ramen sitting in front of them. "So how's patrol going for you?" Meng Ka asked as she picked up some chop sticks.
"It's going alright, found some people to follow around but everything should be alright." Kakashi said as he looked over at her with a smile.
Meng Ka nodded her head and eats a bit of ramen, "Where Sasuke at? Done training as well?"
Kakashi tilted his head in thought, "We are finished for today but I believe he may be out training still."
Meng Ka sighed and turned in her seat to face Kakashi, "You know, Uncle Shi. Shadow clones still don't work on me." She said with a frown as she suddenly thrusted her chopsticks into his gut. His shadow clone gave a look of surprise before disappearing and Meng Ka only shook her head as she finished her ramen. "I'll get this one to go, Teuchi." She said pulling her lips into a smile.
She waved goodbye to the two in the shop before heading over to where Sasuke was. Everyone seemed to have that one spot that they liked to train and get away from everyone and Meng Ka pretty much knew everyone's spot. Walking through the woods, Tinktink became slightly restless as her movements became more sharp and higher up as if she were watching something. Meng Ka didn't bother the phoenix though as she made her way through the woods some more and stopped just as Sasuke released his rasengan that Kakashi had taught him.
He was breathing heavily and seemed rather lost in thought at he stared at the rock in front of him that had two holes in it now. Glancing over him, Meng Ka could see him already shaking from the lack of rest he was taking for his training and he was also at his limit by this point.
Meng Ka smiled and walked into his view, startling him slightly. "Hi Sasuke. Uncle Shi told me you were still training so I thought I'd come and give you some ramen." She said as she sat the box down on a rock and motioned for him to come over and sit.
Sasuke looked at her, his face completely expressionless, "Maybe later, I need to train. Thank you Meng Ka." He simply said, his voice seeming to be far away as he stared back at the rock and began to try and build more chakra.
Rolling her eyes Meng Ka walked up in front of him and too his hand in hers as she looked it over. An annoyed expression coming across Sasuke's face but he didn't fight her. "You need to rest. You're chakra points are already becoming narrow because you are over working them. They're kind of like muscles really." She began to pull him over to the rock and sat him down, "You have to build up to your goals. You can't do that by over training because then you are doing more harm than good." She kept saying as she took out the bowl of ramen and handed it to Sasuke.
"I know that, but-" Sasuke cut himself off as his lips tightened in a straight line and his one hand bowled into a fist.
Meng Ka tilted her head to the side and lightly touched his hand, sending some much needed chakra into his system to help sooth him. "Everyone gets stronger at their own pace. Both you and Naruto are fairly evenly matched when it comes to Chakra. You'll both end up exceeding even Uncle Shi."
Sasuke looked up at her sharply, "How do you know that?" He eyed her, having never trusted anyone in the first place, it was common for him not to trust what people say. But he did have to admit that he enjoyed Meng Ka's presence. For a child she was very mature and he was starting to see how she was such a high ranking ninja as her age. Before he hadn't noticed it but her small frame radiated power but it wasn't the kind like other powerful ninjas. Hers was more soothing and ancient, like it had been around for many years and over those years had built up knowledge from all around the world.
Meng Ka looked away from Sasuke, suddenly becoming rather shy, "My eyes are similar to Hinata's eyes." She said as her turquoise orbs slowly lifted to meet Sasuke's dark eyes. He shifted slightly, feeling a bit uneasy under her gaze. "Unlike the eyes of the Hyuga Clan, I can't see the chakra system but I can still see chakra. Though for me, the chakra is a different color than the usual shade of blue when it becomes visible to everyone. It's all kinds of colors, some are even blue. Though I've find that most of the time, the person actually wears the color of their chakra the most, even though they don't really realize it."
Meng Ka said as she bit her lip and thought about it, she had never really had to explain this to anyone. The third hokage actually understood everything and had even had some books about her kind for her to read. "Hmm, like Sakura, her chakra is pink and Naruto's is a light orange, though his shifts from light to dark sometimes. Yours is actually blue but a dark blue like your shirt." She pointed to his shirt, making Sasuke look down at it briefly before eating a bit of ramen.
Meng Ka fell silent as she became lost in her thoughts as the two of them sat there in a comfortable silence. Susake was finally starting to understand why the third hokage had such a great interest in her. "So are you like me then? The only one left of your clan?" He was curious mostly because he hadn't heard anything about another clan in the leaf village having been destroyed recently.
Looking up at Sasuke, Meng Ka's eyes became sadden as they seemed to glaze over as she thought back to the day Kakashi and the third hokage had explained to her about her heritage. "I am of the Hakuen Clan and also the sole survivor of the village hidden in the Phoenix Flame. The third hokage said that's why my chakra was white, even to the naked eye." She said as she lifted her small hand, palm up and concentrated chakra there for Sasuke to see. A small bit of chakra flowed through her palm, almost looking like a little white flame as it flickered about in her palm.
Sasuke looked at her palm, curiously. He had noticed it the times she had used it to heal others and now things were starting to click into place. He had always noticed the way others had treated her, the way the parents seemed to take pity on her and the kids seemed to keep their distance. But what made the most sense was back right behind Kakashi had agreed to help him learn the rasengan. Kakashi had made her swear to protect Meng Ka with it, no matter what was in store for them in the future. Not really understanding at that time, Sasuke had agreed to get him to teach him but now he understood why. In the wrong hands, Meng Ka's chakra was dangerous but not only that, she was also powerful, even without knowing what really, Sasuke knew that even her body must work differently than usual. Meng Ka was practically a gold mine for Orochimaru.
Meng Ka suddenly stood up, "I must be going; I told Kiba I'd help him with cleaning up the village today. I haven't even seen him yet and it's past noon already!" She suddenly rushed over to her baskets, picking them up as Sasuke got up.
"I'll walk with you then." He said as he suddenly found himself being a bit protective of the girl, with a start suddenly realizing just why Kakashi was so protective of her as well. "It's the least I can do for bringing me the ramen." He said as he looked at her with his blank face but a small smile tugged at his lips.
Meng Ka smiled up at him and nodded her head, "Thanks, Sasuke." The two walked through the village as Meng Ka kept an eye out for Kiba, hoping to at least explain to him why she hadn't showed up yet. Time had completely slipped on her and she felt awful for not getting to Kiba sooner. They came up to her place and Sasuke opened the door, letting Meng Ka in.
"I'm going to talk to Kakashi real fast. Where is his room?" He asked as Meng Ka set the baskets down on the table.
"Oh, I'll show you. Though I thought he was on patrol so I doubt he's in there." Meng Ka said with a shrug and showed him to Kakashi's room. Upon walking in, Meng Ka saw Guy, Asume and Kurenai all sitting his Kakashi's room. Her eyes scanned over the three frames over his bed, briefly pausing on each one. The first one being of when he was young and in his group, with his sensi and then the other was of Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke with Kakashi. Her eyes paused a little bit longer on the picture of the both of them with Tinktink. She was only three in that picture and Kakashi was holding her as she giggled at something, Tinktink resting on the other side of Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi was looking down at Meng Ka with a gentle smile.
But as her eyes drifted away from the pictures and onto the bed, her blood ran cold as she screamed, "Uncle Shi!" She ran over to him quickly, instantly starting to scan his body for injuries but forward her brow in confusion as she found nothing.
"Why is Kakashi sleeping?" She heard Sasuke's neutral ton fill the air, "Besides, only Jonin are gathering here. What are you doing? What in the world happened?" He demanded at the end as he looked at both Kakashi and Meng Ka. Meng Ka on the other hand just ignored everyone as she continued to scan over Kakashi's body, something was there, she could feel her. She brought her hands up to his face, wondering if maybe he had over used his eye. That was when it hit her like a bolt of lightning. It was strange, something she had never ran into before but she had read about all the time. The mental beating of a Sharingan, it only attacked the brain but affected the whole body.
"Nothing in particular." Came Guy's deep response and Meng Ka looked up at him, confusion plain on her face.
Just then another Jonin ran inside the room, "Is it true that Itachi has returned? And moreover, is after Naruto?!" That's when it suddenly hit her, the two people Kakashi said he was following earlier that day. One of them must have been Itachi, that would explain why he didn't come to see her himself but rather sent a clone.
"Idiot." Kurenai said as she shook her head and Guy sighed, smacking his forehead while Asume took a deep drag of his cigarette. Sasuke remained quiet as he took in the information; his eyes suddenly changing from their calm state to that of anger as he suddenly ran out of the room.
"Why does this always happen?!" Guy yelled as he stood up and looked at the man in front of him, "Go after him!" he yelled at the ninja and with a nod of his head he ran out after Sasuke.
Meng Ka bit down on her lip as Guy slumped back down in his seat. "What happened?" Meng Ka, her voice small but steady and full of demand as she remained still and looked at Kakashi.
She could feel the air become tense as her own anger grew. Meng Ka may hate to fight and kill but attacking those she held close was one sure way to get under her skin real fast. "Itachi used his sharingan against Kakashi. One moment he was alright but then the next he was falling down. I can't really explain it." Asume said gently, he knew this side of Meng Ka, though rare, he had only seen it once before.
The air seemed to thicken around them and grow hater as her blood began to boil and she bit down on her lip. "They're after Naruto you say?" She asked her voice still small and demanding as her eyes never left Kakashi's.
The three Jonin looked at one another, knowing that Meng Ka was in a dangerous stage right now and none of them wanted to trigger her anger but they didn't want her to go running off like Sasuke did. Guy rested his head on his hands and watched her closely, Meng Ka filling his gaze finally turned around and looked at him, her eyes having a small golden ring around them as her anger grew. As the two stared at each other, Guy finally gave in, "Yes." He said somewhat defeated.
Just as he said that, Meng Ka was gone; having moved so fast that it took a bit for the three in the room to notice she had left. Tinktink was hot on her trail though as she raced through the village, locking onto Naruto's chakra and following it. Chakra was radiating through her veins as she raced to the village that they were at. Seeing the hole in the hotel she quickly jumping in and she then landed right in between the two brothers, kicking Itachi against the corner of the wall, making a whole as he coughed up blood. Sasuke sunk back down to the ground and Meng Ka stood protectively in front of him.
Her eyes were almost a pure golden color by this point as Tinktink came to rest on her shoulder, her flames looking brighter as the air around them was thick and hot. She had just broken Itachi's nightmare realm, the same thing he head used on Kakashi and that only seemed to make her blood boil more as she watched him stand.
Jiraiya suddenly became tense as he noticed Meng Ka's eyes and Naruto looked at her in pure horror. "Meng Ka! What are you doing?! Get out of there! He's going to kill you!" Naruto yelled as he balled his fist and glared at the guy in front of him.
"Hmm, so you're Meng Ka. The leaf village keeps you pretty well hidden." Itachi said as he stood up and looked down at the girl. She only narrowed her eyes at him, looking only at his eyebrows and not into his eyes. "You're a smart girl with a powerful kick for one so small. We'll have our use for you later on but for now we only need Naruto." He looked over at Naruto then back at Meng Ka, "Stay out of the way for now. We need you alive."
"Should have thought about that before you decided to attack Kakashi." She said in a low voice that was laced with so much venom that it demanded Itachi's attention as the two locked eyes.
At that moment, Naruto suddenly ran forward, the blue guy suddenly running after him as Jiraiya made quick hand movements and the walls around them suddenly turned into muscle but Meng Ka didn't keep her eyes off of Itachi as the wall sucked up Sasuke and began to try and drag her down as well, Jiraiya wanting her safe and out of the way.
"This? This is…" Naruto trailed off as he looked around.
"Ninja art: Toad Mouth Trap! How unfortunate Itachi, Kisame. You guys are already inside my stomach." Jiraiya answered as Itachi broke eye contact with Meng Ka and looked over at him. "I summoned the esophagus of the giant toad of the Mt. Myomoku rock cave. You guys are wanted criminals anyways. I'll turn you guys into fodder for the stone toad.
"What?!" Kisame said as he glared Jiraiya.
"Naruto, Meng Ka! Stay still." Jiraiya ordered.
Itachi looked back at them, "Come here, Kisame." He ordered and the blue guy broke free of the stomach lining and ran down to Itachi.
"There hasn't been one person who has escaped from this!" Jiraiya yelled after them as the two of them ran forward.
Suddenly there was a banging sound as the two escaped and Meng Ka followed Jiraiya to the massive hole in the stomach. Black flames were coming from the hole and Jiraiya sealed them as he made sure they both stood back from it. Taking a deep breath, Meng Ka sighed as she gained control over her anger. That solid kick that she got in had been rather satisfying for the moment and she turned around to help get Sasuke out of the wall. Naruto helped her to set him on the ground as Jiraiya got rid of the frog stomach. Meng Ka quickly began to heal what she could of Sasuke, though he was going to have to rest to help with his mental state that the nightmare realm put him in.
Suddenly, Guy ran in and kicked Jiraiya in the face, making him fall down the hallway. As Guy landed he suddenly got a panicked look on his face as he realized just who he had kicked in the face. "Well, I'm sorry for having kicked you so directly. I was in a rush and I forgot my mirror. I used this headband instead and it was hard to see who was who. So I assumed this rough-hewn face was the enemy. I just let the flames of the burning juvenescence take over me. I'm sorry!"
"Is that supposed to be an apology?!" Jiraiya asked, furious.
"I'm a simple-minded guy, just like my face looks." Guy said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"It doesn't really matter." Meng Ka said interrupting the two, "More importantly, we have to get Sasuke to the medical team. He's broken his arm and ribs; I can only do some much here. But not only that, he's lost consciousness from the nightmare realm that Itachi put him through."
"Hey, Meng Ka! Is Sasuke going to be alright?" Naruto asked worriedly beside her as she finished healing him.
"Seems he's suffered a great deal of mental damage." Meng Ka said truthfully but she smiled, "He should be fine though." She knew he would be and she zoned out the two as they argued and she went to checking his mental state again, seeing if maybe there was something she could do. But there wasn't much that she knew about this and she didn't want to mess around with his head.
Meng Ka yawned as they finally made it back to the village. She was tired with the day's events and her anger from earlier had drained a bit of chakra from her. Guy had gone ahead with her urging and she waved sleepily at the two at the gate before making her way through the village.
"Meng Ka!" A familiar voice yelled at her and suddenly someone had her in a head lock as they ruffled her hair. "Where have you been?! The day is already over and I haven't seen you all day!" Kiba yelled with a smirk on his face.
Meng Ka mumbled something as he let her go and she yawned, rubbing her eyes. "Sorry…" She trailed off and Kiba tilted his head to the side, "Are you alright?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah, I just need some rest." She said with another yawn.
Kiba smiled and then laughed as her stomach growled, "And some food from the sound of it. Come on, mom is making dinner. You're always welcomed to eat with us." He said as he lifted her up on his back, Meng Ka too tired to argue with him as he ran back to his house, Akamaru close behind him.
By time he had gotten back to the house, he was about to set her down when he realized she had fallen asleep on his back. He chuckled and carried her in, taking her to his room and laying her down before slipping out and going to dinner.