Hi everyone! Yep I know I took forever to get another chapter out, I know it's a big gap between chapters but my other stories do come first, but I don't think I could ever loose interest in this story as it's becoming my favorite to write seeing as I wrote this whole thing in a few hours!

Thank you to everyone whose alerted this story and left lovely reviews! I'm hoping that you'll be happy with some HoshikoxItachi fluff in this one to make up for the massive gap between chapters! Also I'm not sure how many chapter's I'll have before the uhh-you know...thing but it might be another 5 or so, after this one things in the plot will start to catch up and I'll be getting the ball rolling into canon events.

An Unwanted Offer

Onyx and Ivory

"All I'm saying is, maybe you should lay off on the Sharingan use once in a while," Hoshiko argued with the stoic Uchiha in front of her as Itachi rolled his dark eyes and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. The girl before him was sporting a red face from working out and a big purple bruise appearing on her arm from a rather powerful kick Itachi had given her a few minutes ago.

"You only say that because you can't beat me in a spar," Itachi retorted with a pointed look as Hoshiko sighed and placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"I would if you stopped using it! Stop cheating for once."

"It's not cheating."

"It is so and you know it," Hoshiko stuck her tongue out at him childishly as Itachi sighed and pushed himself up onto his feet. Hoshiko was silent as she watched the taller boy walk closer to her as she leaned back, suspicious of him as he held out his hand and with a sharp flick to her forehead she yelped and stumbled back, wincing.

"'Till next time, then," he muttered under his breath as he leapt up into the trees. Hoshiko spun around on her heel, one hand holding her forehead and the other curled up in a fist.

"Chotto matte! Itachi! Get back here!"

It was no use; she could feel his chakra signature becoming fainter by the second as he leapt away from the training ground. She fell back on the heels of her feet as a soft smile played on her features as she slowly reached her hand up to her forehead and touched the area that he had flicked. Her cheeks tinged red faintly.

It had been just over a week since Hoshiko had been promoted to ANBU. She hadn't been assigned any mission as of yet, she had been spending most of her time at the headquarters learning the routines and sparring with her fellow members. Itachi had been assigned one mission in the week, which he had returned from the previous day. When Hoshiko had realized he was back she had demanded that he spar with her, now that she was back to full health from her Kekkei Genkai being released. He had relented, reluctantly and now she found herself walking through the familiar streets of Konoha's market district.

Her fully healed tattoo was hidden behind the long sleeve of her black shirt, even though no one could see it; Hoshiko had a feeling that everyone was staring at her shoulder, at the exact place it was, but that was ridiculous anyway.

Her enclosed foot kicked a rock a few feet ahead of her as she inclined her head to the left when she heard someone calling her name loudly.

"Hoshiko!"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Oi! Hoshiko, matte!"

It was Shisui. The older Uchiha came to a stop next to her, he was seemingly out of breath as he hunched over on his kneecaps.

"Have—you—heard?" he gasped as Hoshiko frowned down at him.

"Heard what?" She asked him, turning to face him fully as Shisui wiped his forehead from the sweat that had accumulated.

"Kakashi—senpai—is—awake!"

Those four words sent a chill down Hoshiko's spine, her silver eyes widened in surprise as she angled her body to face the direction of the hospital.

"He's apparently ok, he woke up this morning and—Oi!"

"Sorry, Shisui! I'll see you later!" Hoshiko called over her shoulder, waving her hand at him as she took off at a sprint towards the hospital.

Hoshiko arrived at the hospital in record time, she didn't bother going through the front doors like a normal person, instead she sensed out his chakra signature; he was still in the same room as before as she forced chakra into her feet as she scaled up the side of the building and wrenched open the window with enough force to throw an Akimichi clan member.

"Kakashi-senpai!" Hoshiko cried out as she leapt into the room. In her hurry, her foot got caught on the windowsill as she spluttered and face planted the floor painfully, hitting her chin and nose on the cold granite flooring, "Itai…".

There was a deep chuckle as Hoshiko pushed herself up onto her knees and wiped the blood that had trickled out of her nose on the back of her hand as she gazed up at Kakashi who was sitting upright in his bed. Her senpai had donned his mask shirt once again, his face looked full and his eye crinkled in laughter at her display. Hoshiko felt her face flush a deep red in embarrassment on barging into his room unannounced and also making a fool of herself in front of him; she was now an ANBU agent, a stupid windowsill shouldn't be a problem for her.

"Gomen, I shouldn't have came in like that," Hoshiko said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head as Kakashi raised his hand and waved her off.

"It's fine, I was wondering when you would come see me," he mused, tapping a finger to his masked chin as Hoshiko's eyes widened. Kakashi remembered everything. Her face flared up as she placed her palms on the cold tiled floor and bowed respectfully, her forehead was almost touching the ground.

Kakashi stared at the teenager as she continued to show him her utmost respect.

"Kakashi-senpai, I'm so sorry for hurting you!" She practically shouted at him, her voice muffled by the close proximity to the tiles. "I will do anything you ask of me to make up for what I have done," she finished off. She waited for a reply. She expected him to send her away, to blame her for almost killing him, to tell her that he never wanted to see her again, that she was a monster; she waited for anything…but it never came.

Instead, she jumped when she felt a tender hand on her shoulder. Her head cut up, her silver eyes seeking out his dark obsidian eye as she witnessed Kakashi crouching over her. She had been so focused on listening out for his words that she hadn't even heard him leave the bed.

"Hoshiko-chan," his voice was gentle, she continued to stare at him, "You didn't mean to hurt me, did you?" He asked her.

His question sent a shock of remorse through her, as she shook her head wildly, "of course not! I would never dream of hurting anyone," she spluttered out.

As he looked down at her, she saw his eye crinkle up into a smile, "Then you have nothing to apologise for."

"But—Kakashi-senpai!"

"Yamenasai, Hoshiko. I don't blame you for what happened," Kakashi said sympathetically as he extended his hand down to her. The young girl followed it with her silvery eyes as she hesitantly grasped it as he helped pull her up so that she was now standing on her own two feet. "You shouldn't blame yourself either."

Hoshiko smiled up at him, she felt wetness at the corner of her eyes, she had been so worried that when Kakashi woke up he would want nothing to do with her; she hadn't expected him to completely forgive her. She held back her tears with sheer force of will, she wasn't a crying person, and she didn't plan on starting anytime soon; so instead she reached out and hugged Kakashi around the torso. It was bold and highly unlike her personality to hug people, but she was so relieved that Kakashi didn't hate her that it just felt right.

"Arigato, Kakashi-senpai," she whispered into his shirt.

Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise as he chuckled and with one arm hooked it around her shoulder and embraced her. Hoshiko felt her cheeks flush from the contact, as she quickly pulled away and shuffled over to the other side of the bed. A cheeky grin blossomed across her tinted cheeks.

"Bet'cha didn't expect me to use Raikiri in my test, did you?" She said with a wink as Kakashi rolled his eye and walked back to his bed and sat down gently.

"A pleasant surprise," he muttered as Hoshiko took a seat in the empty chair as Kakashi relaxed back onto the bed. "How did you manage to accomplish it?" He asked her. Hoshiko clasped her hands together and placed them behind her head as she slouched back in the chair.

"I'm a quick learner, senpai. When you showed me it I had my chakra senses activated, I was able to see how you manipulated your chakra coils and nature release to create it. It took a while, and it's still not perfect…but I managed to do it!" She said excitedly as Kakashi shook his head in laughter at her. She was indeed, a very quick learner.

"How do you bypass the tunnel vision? Without the Sharingan to aid you it's near impossible to hit a target," Kakashi asked her curiously as Hoshiko's grin widened.

"With my chakra senses," she stated proudly. "I'm able to pinpoint the location of my targets and use that. It's a bit—ugh—at the moment as I haven't used it a lot, and when there's a few targets they all kind of muddle together and it's a really big power drain, but I have faith that I'll be just as good as you one day, senpai," she said with a cheeky wink as Kakashi stared at her in amazement. He felt like he was back in the exam with her, when she had demonstrated it for the first time, he had been stunned speechless back then also. It was like she had just told him how to cook his favorite dish a ramen, not a jutsu that he had barely been able to create.

"Senpai?" Hoshiko's voice jerked him out of his thoughts, his obsidian eye cut to her as he saw her gradually leaned forwards in the chair, she had called his name once already, and when he hadn't responded she had thought he was still not entirely well from the effects of her Mizukiri.

"Ah, gomen, I was just thinking that I need to increase my training if I don't want you to catch up to me," he snickered as Hoshiko tried to force back her smile but failed. Kakashi realized that she had been trying to ask him a question when he had been spaced out; he rubbed his forehead and smirked. "What did you ask?"

Hoshiko fidgeted with her fingers that now lay in her lap as she bit down on her bottom lip, it was obvious that she was nervous about something, Hoshiko never acted this way, she was always confident and sure of herself; it made Kakashi worry slightly and what could be plaguing her mind if it had her this anxious.

"Kakashi-senpai…can I ask you—a personal question?" She asked timidly, her voice barely above a whisper as Kakashi furrowed his brows. It was unlike Hoshiko to pry into people's lives, she always had a habit of keeping things about her self private and hated involving herself in other people's business.

"Of course," Kakashi said instantly, he wanted to know what she wanted, if the question was causing her to act like this then it must be important to her.

Hoshiko took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose slowly, her nerves were sky high as she fumbled over her words trying to think of the perfect way to ask. She had never been more nervous in her life then she was right now, not even for her ANBU exam had she been this scared.

"How did you get your Sharingan?"

"My Sharingan?" Kakashi repeated, making sure he had heard her right. She wasn't making eye contact and Hoshiko felt very rude asking him a question like that. Her head nodded once as her silver gaze slowly rose up until their gazes met. She was expecting him to be very guarded and retort that he didn't want to disclose the information; but this was a question that had been burning a hole through her head for the past week now.

Since having the strange dream of Kakashi with the Uchiha boy called Obito, she had been plagued with questions as to why she would dream of him. The kind Uchiha nurse had told her that Obito had given Kakashi the Sharingan when he had died, Hoshiko needed to know how, she needed to make sure that her dream had really been that—a dream.

Hoshiko shook her head, she couldn't ask him such a question! It was such a private matter that should be kept between Kakashi and the boy.

"Ah, gomen, Kakashi-senpai, I shouldn't have asked such a—" she rose from the chair, keeping her eyes downcast as she turned to leave. She halted when she felt a hand clamp around her thin wrist tightly. A small gasp left her lips as her eyes cut back to his. He motioned for her to sit back in the chair as he slowly released her arm, when he last finger left her skin Hoshiko sunk back into the chair and folded her hands in her lap.

This was it; her burning question was going to be answered.

"It was given to me by my best friend," he stated. Hoshiko had known this already, the nurse had told her as much; but Hoshiko needed to know how. "He died on a mission when we were thirteen. I was recently promoted to Jounin and he a Chuunin. We came under attack by Iwa Shinobi and he was mortally injured, his last gift to me was this," Kakashi said as his right eye opened slowly. Hoshiko stared at she watched the crimson iris swirl. She had seen the Sharingan many times in her life, one of the perks of having Itachi and Shisui as her friends, but this one was different.

Hoshiko could see the despair in his crimson gaze, there was a great sadness attacked to his hidden gift.

Kakashi winced suddenly as he leaned forwards, his Sharingan eye clamping shut as he pressed the palm of his hand to his eye socket.

"Kakashi-senpai!" Hoshiko said worriedly as she jumped out of her chair and gripped his shoulder.

"Daijōbu desu," he waved her off as she sighed deeply and leaned back on the bed, his head resting against the pillow. "As I am not a full-blooded Uchiha, I cannot turn the Sharingan on and off at will, so every time I open this eye the chakra is continuously drained from me. It seems that my body does not want me using any chakra at the moment," he finished on a light chuckle, hoping to ease Hoshiko's worry from the look she was giving him at the moment.

The young girl was giving him a sour look as she sat back down in her chair.

"Kakashi-senpai, how did Obito die?"

Kakashi felt the guilt well up in his chest as he angled his head over to her, this time she met his gaze as Kakashi sighed.

"He was crushed by a boulder, he saved my life."

Hoshiko felt her insides turn to ice. Her breath got caught in her throat as her eyes widened in fear. She couldn't believe it, it had all been real; she had seen this exact moment in her dream, but why?

Why did she see the past?

An event that she should have no memory or even inkling about, this moment happened before she had even came to Konoha with her parents.

She had hoped that what she had seen had been a lie that her wild imagination had thought up, but the truth was staring at her right in her face.

Kakashi could see the emotions passing over her face as he revealed how Obito died, he wondered why she was so insistent on this event in his life, she had wanted to know about the Sharingan, but why?

It must be something major, considering her reaction just now.

"Arigato, Kakashi-senpai," Hoshiko's voice brought him out of his thoughts as he saw her standing from the chair, "Arigato for telling me this, I need to go though," she said hastily as she spun on her heel and was out of the door before Kakashi could call her back to him.

The weather had changed drastically in the short time that Hoshiko had been in the hospital with Kakashi, the sky had turned an ugly grey with the clouds taunting them with a downpour of rain. The wind lashed at Hoshiko's exposed skin as she ran through the empty streets; many of the Konoha residents had taken shelter in their homes or shops with the overcast sky looming overhead.

Hoshiko's mind was spinning rapidly, her thoughts were all jumbled and meshing together, she couldn't create one coherent thought, all that was running though her mind was the fact that her Mizukiri had something to do with her new power.

It was obvious to her now, the memory belonged to Kakashi, she had used her Mizukiri against Kakashi and now she knew of an event that only a select handful should know.

It terrified her.

She ran for a long time, not knowing where to go, but wanting to be alone with her thoughts, she needed to wrap her head around the fact that she could take people's memories from them for herself.

Her feet led her to the cemetery. As she arrived she felt the cold splatter of rain on her hands and face as it began to sprinkle the ground. She hadn't a clue why her feet had brought her here, maybe subconsciously she needed to talk to her father, she used to do it everyday when he died, she would sit for hours, telling him about her day and all the new things she had accomplished in her short years.

She hadn't been here in a long time, she felt the guilt well up in her chest as she sighed and tilted her head back to stare up at the grey clouds. Rain fell softly against her face as she spotted small rays of sunshine trying to peek through the clouds; hopefully the rain wouldn't last long.

"What a coincidence to run into you here," a voice said. His tone was hoarse and grainy as Hoshiko looked down, finding the owner of the voice a few feet away from her. She felt her whole body lock up as she recognized the older man in front of her to be Danzo. His beady brow eye caught her gaze as her hands began to shake by her side.

Hoshiko hadn't even sensed the man anywhere near her when she had arrived to the cemetery, that unnerved her more then the cold, icy stare he always seemed to have. Even though every fiber of her being was telling Hoshiko to turn the other way and run as fast as she could, she stood her ground; Danzo wasn't just anyone, he was a village elder and a highly respected authority.

"Danzo-sama," she regarded with a curt nod. Danzo used his cane and walked slowly towards her. Hoshiko's heart thumped loudly every time his cane touched the ground.

"I heard that Hatake Kakashi has awoken from his coma, I'm sure you're very relieved at this?" He suggested to her, making it out to be like Hoshiko hadn't wanted him to wake up at all. She kept the offensive retort hidden as she plastered on a smile and nodded again.

"Yes, I went to see him. He seems to be a lot better."

"That's very good news," Danzo mused, the tone he used made Hoshiko think that he didn't meant what he said at all.

Hoshiko didn't find any, if all conversations uncomfortable, she was a person who could talk about anything with anyone and not get embarrassed or shy, she tried to be pleasant at all time with strangers, she knew what it was like to be looked down upon and scorned so she tried her best to be the opposite of that. As of right now, all she wanted to do was run, run very fast and far away from this man.

Even when she had been in a room full of other people she couldn't face this man, she didn't know what it was, his chakra, to her, felt dark and sinister. His beady eye was cold and distant. The way he held himself was confident and cunning. The one person who she never wanted to be alone with was standing right in front of her.

"Excuse me, Danzo-sama, I forgot I need to go and meet my Okaa-san," Hoshiko gave him a respectful bow as she turned on her heel and strode to the exit of the cemetery.

His cold voice stopped her, "I was wondering, Hoshiko-san, if you collected anything from Hatake Kakashi?"

Hoshiko froze to the ground, his grainy voice echoing in her mind as she felt her heart pound against her chest.

He couldn't possibly…

She turned her head slightly, so that she was looking at him from over her shoulder, her silver eyes widened as she saw the casual smirk on his withered, old face. She composed herself and replied, "I don't know what you mean, Danzo-sama."

He chuckled, glancing away from her for a second before fixing his stare back on her; he walked a few more steps to her.

"Of course," he said with a shake of his head. "My apologies for assuming. The documents that I have collected over the years state that wide variety of abilities that the users of the Mizukiri obtain. If you have no interest, then I will be on my way," Danzo said as he approached her. Hoshiko could feel her entire body trembling at his words.

Danzo knew; he knew everything about her! He even had writings, things that she had searched for countless days in the Konoha library about her clan. She wanted to speak out, to demand from him everything he knew about her; but she couldn't find her voice. She was frozen to the spot, his beady eye paralyzing her with fear, fear of the unknown.

One thing was for sure. Danzo was trying to use this information to gourd her into following him. Hoshiko was young, but not stupid; she could tell that Danzo expected her to follow him. She would not give in, every nerve in her body was telling her to ignore him, she would figure out her abilities on her own, she didn't need Danzo.

Once she felt his chakra leave the area and was at least two hundred meters away from her, she collapsed onto her knees, she had been holding her breath for so long that she had become dizzy and lightheaded. Her arms shook as she held a hand to her forehead.

Hoshiko was slowly walking through the market district, she was making her way back home after her fateful run in with Danzo in the cemetery, after he had left and she had managed to once again compose herself she had fled the scene, not wanting to stay a second longer then she had too.

The rain had stopped, and a few of the suns rays shone down from the sky, warming up the patches of wet on her clothes and skin. It was early afternoon; the academy day had finished as Hoshiko could hear the laughter of children in the village as she smiled to herself.

She had never been one of those children who had friends to play with after the class had ended, but as she got older she came to love the sound of laughing children. It reminded her of happiness, and peace. Peace was something that a lot of Shinobi had tried to protect and maintain, and Hoshiko wanted to be one of them, she never wanted to see another war in her lifetime. Even though she couldn't remember much from the Third Shinobi War, she could remember the haunting screams and the hot flames of fire. She would even dream about it sometimes, she was wake up in a fright, thinking that she was a young child once more, running from people who were trying to kill her and her family.

Hoshiko shook her head from her dark and dreary thoughts, she wanted to go home, to be out of the street and away from prying eyes, her encounter with Danzo had left her paranoid and anxious, she had a feeling that Danzo wanted her abilities for…something; and generally her intuition was right. She wouldn't put it passed him if she was being watched; a cold shiver ran up her spine at the mere thought of it.

"Oi! Grab that kid!"

Her attention was diverted to a shopkeeper down the street, it was a vendor she knew all too well, he was dark haired middle aged man that valued his fruits and vegetables in the highest regard, even if they were at times, disgusting and rotten. His stall was set up a few houses down from Hoshiko's home, and she was always greeted with his boisterous voice in the morning.

Her brows knitted together when she noticed two other shopkeepers surrounding a young boy as the fruit vendor yanked him up by the scruff of his bright orange jacket.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing, stealing my stuff?" The dark haired man demanded from the young boy. Upon closer inspection, Hoshiko deduced that the child was around Sasuke's age, maybe younger. He had bright yellow, spikey hair. Three whisker like marks on each cheek and startling cerulean eyes.

"I wasn't stealing your shit, old man!" The child yelled back as he tried to pry the mans hands off his shirt.

Hoshiko smirked to herself at the fierce reply the boy gave the man; she was reminded of herself at that age.

"Oh yeah, then why did they tell me they saw you pinching my apples?" The older man leaned closer to his face as the young boy tried to push his face away.

"I hate fruit, why would I steal yours!" He retorted.

"If I catch you anywhere near my stall again, I'll beat you boy!" The vendor yelled as she shoved him away. The young child stumbled, hitting the floor as Hoshiko gasped in disgust. She was furious at the man, how could he treat a young child that way? She was thrown back into her own memories of being harassed and mistreated when she was a child, how the villagers hated her and her family.

With a stern glare she ran over to the four men who were calling the boy 'demon child', 'unwanted' and 'monster'.

"Hey!" She yelled at them, gaining their attention. The men turned their glares on her and the young child stared up at her with apprehension. "What do you think you're doing?" Hoshiko demanded off them as she glared up at them.

With her small height, she didn't pose much of a threat to them, but the glimmer of her forehead protector and the fire behind her icy glare was enough to have them looking around in fear.

"H-he was stealing," the man stuttered out. His two light haired companions nodded.

"I don't see anything in his hands," Hoshiko stated as she looked down at the child.

When her gaze met the boy's, she stalled for a second, he was gazing up at her in awe, she didn't know why; but what shocked her was the fact that behind his brilliant cerulean eyes, all she could see was sadness.

"T-they saw him!" The dark haired vendor pointed to the other two as they snapped their heads to the side, shaking profusely. Hoshiko turned her glare onto them.

"Did you see him steal?"

"Uhh—"

"Well, it was hard to see—"

"The thing is—"

"Enough!" Hoshiko growled at them. "He's done nothing wrong, and he certainly doesn't deserve your disgusting insults." She motioned to the boy to head out as he gave her a wide grin and stuck his tongue out at the three men. Hoshiko glared at the men for extra measure as the three of them scurried back to their stalls with their tails between their legs.

She watched the little boy run to the end of the street, as he reached the corner, he turned and with a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye, he pulled out a rosy apple from his pocket and bit into it deeply. Hoshiko felt her mouth drop as she heard his laughter echo around her before he dashed away.

"That little shit!"

"Hoshiko?"

The young teenager grunted in response.

"Hoshiko," The same voice called out to her again, although all he received was another grunt. There was an exasperated sigh, followed by the sound of footsteps closing in on her spread-eagled position on the grassy ground.

"Can you answer me like a normal person?"

She cracked one eye open, her silvery gaze seeking out the owner of the voice as she saw Itachi hovering above her, he was dressed in his full ANBU gear.

"Can't talk, training."

"You're lying on the ground," Itachi stated.

"Exactly," Hoshiko replied with a grin as she shut her eyes once more.

"I don't understand you sometimes," Itachi sighed as Hoshiko chuckled.

"Not many do, Itachi-baka," she used her nickname for him as the Uchiha ground his teeth together and rolled his eyes slightly.

Hoshiko listened to his footsteps walk away from her as she let out a sigh of relief, five more minutes and then she would resume her training.

She was getting ready to stand up when suddenly water was tipped onto her.

"Argh! What the hell?" Hoshiko shrieked as the icy water drenched her entire body. She shot up, glaring at a bored Itachi who held her water canteen in his hand. "Are you insane?"

Itachi remained impassive as he tossed her the canteen; she caught it with one hand while continuing her glaring.

"Maybe next time you'll answer me like the ANBU you ought to be," he stated with a pointed look as Hoshiko launched the canteen at his head.

The speed was impressive, Itachi thought, and the power behind her thrust was violent that had he not dodged it with his impeccable speed no doubt he'd be sporting a fine black eye.

"Maybe next time I'll bite your ankles off and leave you hobbling around on stubs!" Hoshiko fired back with bitterness. She had begun to wring out her long dark tresses with her hands as she and Itachi locked gazes. There was a few seconds before both teens smirked at each other as Hoshiko tossed her hair over her shoulder and began flapping her shirt on her chest, hoping to dry it quickly.

Itachi, ever the gentlemen, retrieved her canteen and set it back down on the log that it had been on previously. As he turned around he felt his cheeks flush a deep red.

Hoshiko, oblivious as always to the male species and was the least discreet person in the entire village, had removed her shirt and was wringing it out.

Itachi immediately turned away, giving her the privacy that she needed. He cursed Hoshiko to the moon and back, she had always been forward, and never cared about how she made others uncomfortable in situations, right now was a perfect example, although Itachi could say that he had never been placed in a situation like this before, he desperately wished to leave and not look back, but that would cause Hoshiko to tease him about being uncomfortable around her and that she had the ability to make him embarrassed. Instead he stood there, his arms crossed over his chest, with a perpetual frown on his face as he desperately tried to get the image of her out of his head.

It had only been for a second, but in that second, he had seen more then enough. She had been facing slightly away from him, her chest was bound like how all the other Kunoichi did it, with bandages wrapped tightly around her…assets—and stopping a couple of inches above her belly button. Her skin was somehow glowing in the sunlight, Itachi knew that it was entirely improbably for someone to 'glow' and put it down to the water from her shirt on her skin to create the illusion of glowing skin. She wasn't as sun kissed as his own skin was, but her body had a natural olive tone to it, he had seen how her arm muscles tensed as she wrung out the shirt and he had even caught a glimpse of the ANBU tattoo that decorated her upper shoulder.

Itachi was mature for his fourteen short years, but he was also young, and he had never imagined that underneath the dark and loose clothing that Hoshiko wore that she would look like that. Of course he knew that Hoshiko was attractive, he'd be stupid if he didn't admit it, he just never thought that he could ever find himself attracted to her. She was a pain in the ass, particularly his ass. She was loud, rude at times and insolent at the worst possible moments. She had been his self-declared rival since they were five years old and she insulted him at every chance she got, her favorite always being 'Itachi-baka'. She drove him crazy and tested his patience on a daily basis.

And through all that, she was also one of his closest friends.

He didn't have many friends, he could count them on one hand, and surprisingly Hoshiko was the one, who at times understood him the most. Of course there was Shisui who he had known longer then Hoshiko, and shared a deep bond with the older boy with his clan and their ploys; but Hoshiko always had this uncanny ability to know when he was bothered by something, something Shisui lacked in, as he was a blockhead most times.

His reaction confused him the most, he had seen women getting changed before, an example would be when the female ANBU members would change clothes in the change room or when on missions, he would always politely avert his gaze or try to leave the room when possible, but none of those times caused him to blush like a small child.

It's just Hoshiko, Itachi repeated in his mind.

Hoshiko glanced over her shoulder as she flung her shirt in the wind. Her devilish smirk crept over her face as she noticed Itachi looking the other way, she could tell his shoulders were painfully tense, his fists were balled up at his sides and if she paid close attention, she swore that his cheek was dusted with pink.

"Oi, Itachi!" She called out to him as she saw his head twitch in reply. "You should get a good look before I get dressed, with your shitty attitude I doubt you'll ever see a woman's body again!" She chuckled to herself as she waited for the Uchiha's reaction.

"I would if there was anything for me to look at," came his smooth reply.

The next sound heard was the sound of Hoshiko's still damp shirt making contact with the side of Itachi's face.

A/N

So a lot happened in this chapter. Itachi gave her another forehead poke (Hoshiko still doesn't understand entirely what it means yet, but we do!). Kakashi woke up and remembers everything that happened to him. Hoshiko also had an encounter with Danzo whose trying to lure her to him with the prospect of learning about her abilities, will hse go to him? Who knows!

And we also had a small encounter with a certain blonde haired boy, I couldn't resist adding him into the story, let me know if you'd like to see more or Naruto and Hoshiko, I have left the opportunity there seeing as Hoshiko was thinking about how much she can relate to him!

And then the ending! Oh man, these two are just so cute, I always imagined Itachi being a very shy person when it comes to nudity of the sort, his mother raised him right. Those two are literally polar opposites with Hoshiko teasing him xD Hopefully I kept Itachi in character as much as I could, be if it isn't obvious he acts a lot different around Hoshiko then when he's with his family or Shisui, this will become apparent in later chapters!

Let me know what you guys thought! I'd love to hear about it, and again thank you to everyone who reviewed last time and all those readers who alerted the story!