Hi! Sorry this took so long, a lot of stuff has come up recently and snatched up all my time. But better late than never, I guess!

Disclaimer: You know the drill I don't own any Masashi Kishimoto's characters. I only own the OC in this story.

The late afternoon found us on a ferry being rowed along the gentle current towards our final destination. I groaned as a pounding headache formed, making me rub my temples in an effort to relieve it. It seems that the blood loss from earlier was taking it's toll on me, my dizziness has gotten stronger as well.

The rocking and bobbing of the boat didn't help matters either, it just induced some mild seasickness on my part. I swayed from side to side in time with the rocking, my eyes drooping drowsily, trying to keep myself from throwing up, I felt like I was dead on my feet and I needed to sleep badly, it's been ages since my last nap!

On a particularly steep turn I was forcefully knocked onto my left, my balance being overthrown by the steepness of the turn. With a muffled groan I landed on something rather soft and plush, it was surprisingly really comfortable to rest on so I just stayed there with my eyes closed dozing peacefully, not even caring what the squishiness underneath me was until a firm hand was placed on my shoulder. I blearily peeked up from underneath my tired eyes and saw Kakashi masked face peering down at me. It seems the thing I was laying on were in fact his legs. Oh well. I can't be bothered to care all that much and besides he was comfy so I continued laying there anyways.

"Looks like the side effects from expelling the poison is getting to you." The silver-haired man sighed, disregarding the position we were in and instead choosing to examine my state of health. He gently turned me onto my back before putting a hand to my forehead, gently moving away the headband and removed his glove so he could feel my temperature. "Hmm, it's a bit high." He diagnosed quietly to himself, taking his hand away and restoring my headband to it's rightful place then putting his glove back on. "We better get to a safe place soon so we can all get some rest, but for now try to stay awake 'till we get there, okay?"

I nodded slowly so I wouldn't get dizzy, my head swimming and turned back onto the masked man's lap. Placing an arm over my waist Kakashi stroke a hand soothingly through my dark messy hair, I hummed contently. This reminded me of the times with Shikamaru, how we'd lay together like this, sometimes sparring and cloud watching together. 'I miss him, I wonder how he's doing with his own team?' I thought to myself, gazing up at the sky with a wistful smile, though I couldn't seem much with all the mist.

~Shikamaru's POV~

Back in Konoha, Shikamaru was staring at the blue sky once again cloud-watch, sitting on a stump in some lady's garden. (No. Not for anything you're thinking of. Yeah that's right I see you there, don't hide from me. He was there with his team on a mission, so calm your tits. Well, it wasn't a mission really, it was more like a bunch chores. But hey, someone's gotta do it.) His mind wasn't on the shapes of the clouds though but rather on a certain girl he had come to like, the same girl that was out of the village on a mission he wasn't able to know much about just yet and now he was somewhat worried for his friend, of course he knew she could handle herself just fine but he couldn't shake this feeling of unease that occurred.

'Damn it, Reicheru. You better get back soon you troublesome girl, making me feel like this.' He grumbled in his head. He had been feeling all sorts of crazy since the graduation and it had only been lately that he finally realized what exactly he has been feeling, thanks to a talk with his sensei Asuma. 'I hope you're okay out there.' He glared at the sky, hoping in some childish, cliché way that Reicheru would be able to hear him.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Quit day-dreaming and come help, you lazy-ass!" Demanded Ino, breaking him from his gaze and thoughts, from across the garden where she and Choji were digging holes and planting seeds and whatever other gardening things they've been assigned to do. The boy sighed and padded his way to his teammates to carry on with their task.

~Reicheru's Pov~

When we finally halted to a stop at the edge of a pier and clambered off the boat, I myself tentatively stepped out of the boat onto the hardwood platform, steadily taking my time to hopefully prevent myself from falling over or vomiting. Now with the sickness streaming through my body I was moving noticeably slower than before, but I was determined to stay awake and carry on, just like Kakashi-sensei told me to do.

I held my arm like makeshift sling so I didn't jar the bandaged and still slightly bleeding wound. Kakashi was kind enough to slow down for me, but I waved it off stubbornly. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I was fine on my own, I didn't want, nor need, the special attention. He should be more focused on Naruto anyways, seeing as he's the one that's always mucking about and causing general chaos.

Even right now he was making a fool of himself by randomly chucking shuriken into bushes, startling us all. At one point a terrified squeak sounded from the bushes and when Kakashi lifted the bush when he want to investigate, revealed an absolutely petrified snow hare. Of course this led to an annoyed Sakura berating Naruto and an attempt to save the rodent from the blonde boy.

'Why is that bunny white? It's spring, it's coat should be brown not white.' I mused silently studying at the little rodent thoughtfully. Alarm bells rang in my head and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. 'I've got that bad feeling again.'

Fuh-wisssshh!

"Everyone take cover!" Yelled Kakashi and I immediately drop to the floor, feeling the wind whistle as an object whizzed past above me and groaning out in agony when white-hot pain shot up my injured arm. I think I may have also knocked my head a bit because my vision was now swimming and I was seeing two of the same things at once.

"The Hell was that?" I muttered as I shakily stood up, trying fight off my double vision. When the blurring finally vanished I gazed upwards to where the object had supposedly landed and spotted a well-built, practically topless man skillfully balancing on top of a gigantic sword which was obviously his, and with his piercing black eyes he scrutinized our every move. From what I could see he wore a bandage mask much like my own except his was much more wider and sporadically wrapped. His arms and calves were covered in black and white, camo-printed warmers, blue, thinly pinstriped trousers clinging to waist like a friggin' life-line.

"Well well. If it isn't Momochi Zabuza, the kid who ran off and left the Land of Mist!" Kakashi drawled fairly loudly from his place ahead of me. Besides him, Naruto sprang forward obviously overly eager for a fight but he was stopped by Kakashi's hand in front of him. "Don't interfere, give me room. This one is on a different plane from our previous opponents." The man instructed sternly, not for one second taking his eyes off Zabuza. He moved the hand that was in front of Naruto to his headband. "And if I have to face him, it better be like this." As he spoke the last of his sentence, he lifted the metal and cloth.

I watched in interest as the cloth revealed sensei's other eye. My own widening in recognition when I saw the bright red irises and black yins circling the pupil of Kakashi's left eye. 'That's a Sharingan!' I realized. I remember reading about it one of my clan's scrolls a while back when I was younger, it was chock full of information about the different types of eyes clans had and what it did, though most of it was incomplete and most likely out-dated due to the decades of not being updated or continued.

'From what I recall, the sharingan always appears in both eyes not just one,' I stared at the Jounin's thin scar that ran over his eyelid, curiously. 'At least only naturally.'

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, I presume?" Zabuza asked rather condescendingly, still glaring. "Could you surrender the old man?"

"Something tells me you'll just take him whether we like or not." I said sarcastically. The throbbing in my head making me bring out my attitude a bit. "But of course we won't be letting him go without a fight." I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes up at the man. Said man chuckled menacingly and leered at me, saying. "Are you sure you're up for such a difficult task, little lamb? Because I won't be holding back."

I fought down an unwanted blush at the pet name. "Oh I'm pretty confident that we are. But the real question is, are you up for the challenge of trying to beat us? Because we won't be holding back either." I taunted, smirking. I knew this was stupid and reckless of me but I'm ill and tired and I just wanna rest somewhere and this guy is blocking my road to recovery and it's pissing me off! Naruto cheered his agreement in the background whilst Sakura gained a terrified look, she obviously didn't want me to rile up the enemy. Sasuke remained indifferent though he was heavily focused on Kakashi's sharingan eye, his own eyes slightly widened with what I think was shock or surprise.

A low, dark chuckle rumbled from the bandage-masked man. "Why don't we find out?" Challenged Zabuza as he turned around to face his opponents. Kakashi stepped in front of me suddenly, glaring at the Mist nin. "Hey! Eyes over here! If it's a fight you want then I'm the guy to go to!" He shouted, forcing Zabuza from his gaze on me. The silver-haired nin placed a hand protectively in front of me, forcefully guiding me further behind him so that I was away from Zabuza and closer to the rest of our team. Kakashi turned his glare to me. "Reicheru, stay out of this. You aren't strong enough for this."

Outside, I didn't do or say anything apart from glare stubbornly at the back of my sensei's head, pouting childishly. But inside, I was screaming. 'What!? What do you mean I'm not strong enough?! I meant that we could take him down as team! Isn't that what you trained us for?! If you don't allow us to put it to use then what was the point of that exercise?!' My hotheadedness made me completely disregard the fact that I was injured and my slowly rising blood lust made me itch for a fight.

"If you think that is a smart move on your part, Hatake. Then so be it." Stated Zabuza. "Ah, to face the legendary sharingan so early in our acquaintance, this is an honor."

"You keep calling it a mirror eye, a Sharingan eye, what the heck is it?!" Interrupted Naruto. I turned to look at the scene behind me and saw Sasuke shuffle slightly before he answered Naruto. "Shinobi who have the Sharingan eye have mastered a form of ocular ninjutsu. It enables them to penetrate and see the reality behind any illusion or spell and reflect the power of the magics they penetrate back on those who cast them. A Mirror-Wheel or Sharingan eye is one of several types used by the masters and there's more." Sasuke explained monotonously, his eyes still locked firmly on Kakashi.

'Wow, I think that the longest I've heard Sasuke speak.' I thought humorously as Naruto inquired Sasuke what more there was. Zabuza chuckled from his perch, directing my attention back to him. "Heh-heh, exactly." The man stated. "There is indeed more. Most formidable of all the acuity with which the Sharingan can discern and then duplicate it's opponent's greatest skill. When I was an assassin for the Kirigakure, I possessed the usual Bingo book - a kind of whose our enemies." Zabuza eyes bored into Kakashi. "It had quite the extensive write-up on you, including a mention of your impressive record the man who penetrated and copied over a thousand different techniques; Kakashi the Mirror Ninja."

'Whoah,' I thought, my abandoning my anger for now. 'that is impressive. I wonder where he found the time to do it?'

Maybe he's as old as his silver-hair suggest? Hmm... nah that's unlikely considering his young, handsome face. Wait, did I just him handsome?! My Sensei?

I looked over at Kakashi with a small blush creeping on my face. It steadily got redder as I studied the man's face (or what I could make out of it) more closely. 'I guess he is kinda...dare I say it, hot even with that mask of his on, but what does this mean? What do I do?

I'll just be normal, I guess? Will I be able to do it though? Even now my heart is pounding or maybe it's just adrenaline? I hope it's just the adrenaline.

"Enough." Zabuza interrupted, now crouching down on his massive sword handle. "Pleasant as this conversation has been, the time for talk is over. I'm on a very tight schedule to polish off the old man."

At that revelation we quickly form the Diamond Formation around Tazuna with Sasuke at the front, Naruto and Sakura on the sides and me at the back. We instantly whipped our kunai out in front of ourselves in preparation for the awaiting attack.

"But it seems Kakashi." The shirtless man drawled menacingly. "That I'm going to have to kill you first." We startled as he lept from his place on the sword and braced ourselves for an assault. It didn't come though. I looked around and saw a ripple in the water. Zabuza had jumped in. Soon though he appeared again, this time he was standing on the water in a weird jutsu form, one I didn't recognize. I watched in shock as he disappeared gradually into fog.

"His gone!" Exclaimed Sakura from behind me as she and the others stared at the spot the Mist nin had disappeared on. I tensed as the fog got thicker around us, so much so that it got difficult to see from more than a few feet away.

"He'll come after me first," Warned Kakashi, his posture tense and ready. "Momochi Zabuza of the Kirigakure Assassin Corps is a famous master of the Art of Silent Killing. Letting your guard down around him buys you a direct trip to heaven. I haven't necessarily mastered every aspect of the Sharingan eye, so all of you stay on your toes!"

"There are eight targets." A dark sinister voice echoed around us, making the hairs at the back of my neck prickle. The intensity of the sound gave me shivers, the shudder running up my spine to the back of my neck made me flinch and left a tingling feeling.

"Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, heart." The voice listed eerily. "So many choices, what vital, vulnerable place shall I choose? Heh-heh."

Suddenly, a terrible blood-thirst rose in air, like a snake coiling around us to constrict our air flow, suffocating us. But that to every-one else.

To me it was not unlike my own blood-thirst that what secreted away inside me. It was of a similar feeling, a familiar face. It caressed me in such a way that I visibly shuddered and barely held in a shocked gasp. What a strange feeling.

I looked to my teammates to see what their reaction were and secretly hoping that they didn't notice mine. Of course they didn't, they were too shaken to do so, Sasuke in particular. He looked like he was having minor breakdown, sweat drenched his pale skin and his whole body was trembling like a newly born lamb that just learnt how to walk.

Kakashi's voice suddenly broke the thick tension, saying. "Sasuke," Said boy snapped out his stupor and turned his dark eyes towards Sensei who was facing forward as he addressed the genin. "Calm down. Even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." My heart steadily pounded as he turned to look over his shoulder. "I will never let my comrades die!" He said with full confidence in himself. It actually gave me some comfort even if it wasn't necessarily directed at me, it felt kinda nice.

"I wouldn't bet on that." Zabuza's sinister voice echoed. Suddenly, Kakashi lept backwards, pushing us away. I luckily managed to dodge Tazuna's heavy body when he almost fell backwards on top of me. I swung my head 'round to the scene to see what had happened and saw Zabuza being swiftly held onto and blocked by Kakashi so that he couldn't hit us with that massive sword of his.

The mist nin quickly wrangled himself out of the grasp and swiftly appeared behind his opponent. "Sensei, behind you!"

Thank you for reading and don't forget to review and/or favourite! Buh-bye and see you in the next chapter! :D