Naruto 1. Chapter 1-Unknown

Dawn was barely approaching, a distant light cresting the hills of Konoha, as an ANBU team swarmed through the trees. One carried another on his back listening intently for her shaky breaths. The injury hadn't been as bad as they had originally thought but they still needed to get her to a medical unit quickly. They'd been checking out an old hideout that Danzo had used to train Root Core members at when a trap had been triggered. A freshly trained ANBU had made the mistake of tripping a wire and caught Akari across the stomach and back with a sickle like weapon. She couldn't react because the size of the thing had been enormous and it had impaled her to a wall. The problem wasn't as much the initial injury but the immediate reaction that had occurred. Akari's skin had grown paler and her hair had turned a silver mist color, they feared the weapon had been coated in a type of poison.

"What the hell…?" Shizune whispered rushing to great them seeing the amount of blood coating the ANBU carrying Akari.

"She needs immediate attention." He said slowly laying her down on the ground. Her breathing hitched causing her chest to hike suddenly drawing in a sharp rush of air.

"O-ok…ok, hold on let me get Sakura-chan." She stammered and rushed inside to get the pink haired medical nin.

"What is going on?" Tsunade asked walking outside the doorway to see the chaos. It wasn't often that ANBU came directly to the medical tower for assistance. She got a close look nearing the fallen nin bending down to examine her.

This was not the ANBU she was used to seeing. Akari was not this pale and she was most definitely not white haired. Akari was normally a darker tanned female with dark onyx locks. Something was very much wrong with this entire situation, if this was poison it was deadly. The chances were that there wasn't much she could do to reverse the effects with how much time had passed. However, Tsunade had a bad feeling that this wans't a poison. She had a feeling that they'd had a traitor in their ranks and Akari was a spy for another village…she'd been hiding her identity. Sakura came rushing outside with Shizune following quickly after.

"Oh gosh…" she said taking a spot beside the older woman. Her eyes scanned the body.

"Let's get her inside and do what we can." Tsunade said motioning for them all to carry her inside.

Hours had passed between when they'd brought her in and the time that she'd started to wake, but Akari was still not really herself. She felt a strange sort of weight lifted off her body like something was coming off her skin as she struggled to wake up. She shifted in the stale sheets constricting her body and groaned rubbing the back of her skull. It was splitting like a thundercloud had erupted inside of it. She let out a deep breath through her nose and cracked open her eyes. It was a slight shock to say that the Hokage was bent over her studying her face like a specimen in a jar.

"Er…Hokage-sama?" she asked blinking the confusion from her eyes.

"Ah…Akari. It's good you're awake." She smiled down at her standing back up.

Akari moved her elbows up under her body to support herself but froze. Oh this was not good. This was not good at all. She watched as a few silver strands of hair fell down over her eyes and into view. Panic seized her heart and her lungs felt like ice water had been thrown into them. Tsunade watched the girl's reaction upon seeing the changed color of her hair. It was an instant clue that she had in fact been hiding her real identity. She raised an eyebrow as the girl reached up smoothing the hair back behind her ear with a shaking hand.

"So, are you going to explain this to me or are we going to have a problem?" Tsunade asked as three ANBU emerged from the corners of the room. Akari couldn't tell who they were but they were all people whom she knew, ANBU who she'd trained with for years.

"I…its….I don't know really where to start." She sighed looking down at her hands in her lap. The white sheets did little to make her appear brave but unsettled her nerves.

"You should start figuring that out or there will be a problem. What village are you really from?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Here." Akari said giving Tsunade a strange look. "I'm from Konoha. I was born here…wait…you think I'm from another village?" she gave them a very confused look. No one had put it all together yet, maybe she could still hide this one.

"You are not from this village. Now, tell the truth or I will hand you over to Ibiki." Tsunade stated flatly annoyed that this nin was lying. Akari had to think fast now. She needed to rely on the years that Danzo had taught her to lie about herself and make something up that would pass. What village could she be from? Thoughts flickered through her mind when the door slammed open to the Kage's office.

"BA! GRANNY! I'M BACK!" Naruto grinned stomping into the office. Akari felt her eye twitch. This idiot was trying for her patience, a great guy, but really way too loud. It wasn't until she felt a presence in the doorway behind him staring at her back that she felt an odd sensation spurn down her spine.

"Oh…" was all Tsunade said staring between the person behind her and herself. Several moments passed dragging out slowly before anyone said anything. The air in the room had gone from tense to icy.

"EH, Granny, who's this girl." Naruto leaned forward in her personal space poking her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes on him as he looked up at her face. "And why does she look like Kakashi-sensei?" he asked. Quick one, that boy.

"Should I ask how or why?" Tsunade met Akari's eyes as she looked up rubbing the back of her neck her shoulders rolling forward. She sighed rubbing her eyes and then her temples agitated.

"It's a bit more complicated than all that." She whispered.

"Try…" Kakashi's voice was soft and warm from behind her. "I'd really like to understand this better…."

"It wasn't my choice in how this started. Trust me, I honestly didn't know who I was until I turned eight." She said turning around to meet her father's face.


	2. Chapter 2-Personal Space

The village was sleeping peacefully by the time Tsunade had agreed to let Akari leave the tower and return to her home. However, she hadn't figured out a way to get rid of her new found friend. Uzumaki Naruto had been on her right hand side since Tsuande had started questioning her. Her brain was beginning to ache. It was a dull ache…but an ache. She took a slow breath and turned to face him stopping in the street as they walked. One thing about Naruto was he didn't ever shut up. She gently placed her hand over his mouth and let a sigh of relief out.

"Listen, kid, one question at a time and only seven per day. You've already hit your quota. Sorry." She let her hand slip from his mouth and waited for protest. He raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his neck grinning and then laughed heartily.

"Sorry, yeah! I forget! I just can't believe Kakashi-sensei has a daughter!" he smirked turning back to watch Kakashi who was walking lazily towards them with Sasuke trailing about a step behind. Akari glanced over Sasuke in his Jounin uniform, she could see what some girls in the village talked about, but she really didn't care.

"I'm coming Naruto…" Kakashi drawled out weaving his ahnd at his student shrugging. Akari was sort of glad that Kakashi hadn't been overly thrilled to react. She supposed they were a little alike in that manner. She hated dramatics and she hated people in her personal space even more but what really meant a lot to her was having her own bubble. She was a loner. She never really had liked people and she owed much of that to Danzo.

"Eh, you live here?" Naruto made a face looking up at the complex where they'd stopped.

It was a run-down complex with little to no windows on the front side of the building. The roof was patchy and the fence around the place was falling down. A light by the front doors of the first base floor flickered as a cat ran by hopping over a hedge. It wasn't really much. It was home. Akari shrugged putting her hands in her pockets unaware that Kakashi was standing in exactly the same manner behind her.

"It's where I like to live. It's quiet and people don't bother you…works well for an ANBU." Actually it had worked well to keep Danzo off her back. That old bastard had always been harping on her about staying hidden.

"It's off the grid Naruto. Most ANBU don't live inside the village with the normal people." Sasuke said in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, well, whatever!" Naruto quipped back frowning. Akari smirked and fished her key from her pocket. She lived on the right end on the first floor.

"Look, love to say you all are invited…" Sasuke slid past her taking the key and glancing at the number on the back of it, walked over to her door opening it.

"We're inviting ourselves." He said coolly opening the door so that Kakashi and Naruto could walk inside. There was a moment, brief in its entirety, that they met each other's eyes. She felt a heat boil inside her chest and she dismissed it as agitation paved the way through her veins. Who did this asshat think he was going into her house. She snatched the key from his hand her fingers brushing his wrist and she turned quickly going inside.

The light above her kitchen table was flickering to which Naruto stood underneath it staring up at it guessing how he could fix it. Before the boy could inflict damage she sighed and slammed her fist into the wall where the circuit was. The light went out for about three seconds before she slammed her fist into it again and the light blazed on illuminating the whole room strongly. A small black cat jumped up onto the table hissing loudly at Sasuke before swiping at his hand and jumping onto Akari's shoulder. She smirked nuzzling his head with her chin and then tickled his nose with her fingers.

"Meet my cat, Neeko." She made her way to the fridge and grabbed four beers setting them on the small dark wooden table in the center of the room.

"Beer?" Kakshi raised an eyebrow reaching for one as he leaned back against the tiled and cracked counter which wasn't very far from the table at all. The kitchen, let alone the whole place, was small. Kakashi arched his neck catching a glimpse of the living room area which doubled as her bedroom. He saw the mattress on the ground with an old lumpy pillow with what appeared to be one lonely thin blanket half on the floor.

"I drink…probably enough to call it an issue. Don't really want to hear or know anyone's opinion." She said snapping hers open on the counter and taking a swig. Sasuke watched the two of them and ran a hand through his hair pushing it back. He handed a beer to Naruto who again made a face.

"No thanks…" he said putting a hand up. "I think I'm gonna go home anyway…" He headed for the door but stopped first waving back at Akari. "Good to meet you." She waved back and closed her eyes when he slammed the door shut and the kitchen lights went out again.

"Great place you got here." Sasuke said dryly in the dark.

"Listen, you came in, I didn't invite you. Your issue not mine." She said reaching into a drawer she pulled out three candles and matches. She laid the stumpy red candles over the table and lit them taking a seat across from Kakashi. She nodded her head to the last available seat expecting Sasuke to sit down too.

"Really, the ANBU pay better than this though last I remember." Kakashi said in a gentle tone. He wasn't being as judgmental as Sasuke had been.

"I didn't get paid for a really long time. I worked for Danzo. The pay I have now…I save what I get and the rest goes for my medication."

Kakashi felt his heart drop. It was like someone was handing him a string and then cutting it short at his fingers. He waited hoping she'd go further into details but when she didn't he sighed. His eyes roamed over the walls; they were all bare. She didn't have anything that seemed to make this place her own or really mark it as anyone's. It's like she enjoyed the ambiguity. Sasuke tilted his chair back sipping the bottle staring up at the ceiling.

"Medication for what?" he asked glancing back at her.

"The same thing your brother needed it for." He nearly fell out of the chair and snapped it back upright grabbing the table for support. For once, the raven felt a little shocked. He watched her confused the candle flame playing with the lines and curves of his face.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Did I stutter?" she snapped back tilting her head crossing her arms over her chest. She blinked and Kakashi as well as Sasuke were floored. Her eyes turned into two bright bloody red orbs glistening back at them.

"How…" Kakashi started to ask but she finished for them both.

"Genetics. Obito's eye has been in your head so long it sort of fused with your body altering the DNA. They're not full proof and they don't work that well, some things can't be copied into the gene pool." she let her eyes fade back to blue and she shut them sucking in a hard breath.

"That hurt much?" Sasuke asked leaning forward stretching his hand out. She pushed it away and rubbed her eyes sighing.

"Hence why I said I take medications. They hurt. I don't really use them unless I need too."

"That's why Danzo had you." Kakashi said breaking his silence. "He put a binding on you didn't he…the same thing he did to the Root." She looked at him glad for once that he was as intelligent as he was.

"Yes, only my binding didn't stop at his name, I couldn't say or be who I was. You couldn't know." She took a long deep drink from the beer in front of her. It both troubled and worried Kakashi that she was drinking that deeply.

"But he's been dead now for almost two years…" Sasuke began. "Why didn't you come to Kakashi after that?" he finished his question.

"Why would I?" she said looking at the sink past Kakashi where there were piled dirty dishes. "He already had enough on his plate, not to mention three students who'd recently found their way back to him." She shrugged looking to Kakashi. "I guess I just figured I'd already raised myself and been ok, you didn't need me messing up your life."


	3. Taking Orders

Kakashi hadn't really felt like he was a horrible person, not to the extent that he had after he'd slept the night of meeting his daughter. There was just so much rolling around inside his head that he'd awoken four times in a cold sweat breathing heavily imagining the things Danzo probably had done to Akari. He didn't know her and yet a strange foreign piece of him felt like he'd already grown with her and known her on some level. She was so much like him that it scared him beyond belief. She was strongly introverted and bitter to the core about her past that he wondered if this was punishment for not saving Sasuke. He gripped the porcelain basin in the bathroom and sighed looking up at his gruff image. He was too old for this. What the hell did he think he was doing? This young woman deserved better than what he was going to offer, hell, he'd already fucked this up once. He let one student literally walk through hell, one mourn the what seemed imminent death of her teammate after she'd fallen in love with him, and let his best pupil lose all sight of his future and throw himself into a hopeless mission. Fortunately for him Sasuke had come back and defended the village and with hard work and many long nights of fighting and crying his team had made its way back from an unyielding edge…was it fair to do that to Akari? From what he could gather she had seen and been through so much, she drank pretty heavily, and she'd thought he was more worth value than herself. He wondered if he needed to put her through what he feared he would do if he started to bring her closer into his life. He laid down on the bed again staring up at the ceiling sighing heavily rubbing his fingers through his hair. Maybe the morning would bring about some changes…

Sasuke was concerned. There was a lot on his mind and he couldn't shake the feeling that there was much more to Akari than met the eye. He'd decided late that night to head over to the ANBU core unit's training grounds and check her out. He cloaked his chakra that morning and headed towards the unit building. When he arrived there were two squads on the grounds practicing maneuvers and running drills for upcoming missions. He stayed high enough in the trees that normally he wouldn't be seen but close enough that he could hear the conversations without straining too much. Akari wasn't hard to spot now with her silver hair which she'd yanked back into a ponytail except most of it was still puffing in spikes at the back. Unfortunately for her she'd inherited Kakashi's hair as well; untamed. She wore a cat ANBU mask with two hard red slashes through the eyes. Her squad was running a three man team against one who was attacking them relentlessly. The man attacking had a bird's mask and was pushing hard through the two man line guarding Akari. She was braced for a defensive maneuver a kunai tight in her grip dancing back and forth between the two guards. It was as if she were watching for an opening. There was something holding her back; something that she was waiting for. She stepped backwards as the bird ANBU threw the guard to the right past her and gunned it at her. She suddenly changed directions and pushed herself forward raising the kunai. The bird ANBU threw a hard punch into her jaw slamming her back against her teammate. She caught the back wind coming forward again and kicked him square in the chest before grabbing his shoulders flipping herself up and over his body. She swung herself around pulling him down twisting his body with the force and pinned him to the ground digging his body into the dirt. She put the kunai quickly against his throat and made to pull back and slice but tensed the muscles in her arm stopping.  
"TIME!" she shouted breathing hard sweat beading against the nape of her neck.

"Very nice, Tosatsu." The male said from beneath her coughing as she kneeled back off his body sitting on her butt. She had her legs bent and her elbows resting on them taking a long ragged breath. Sasuke was more struck by the ANBU codename given to her. Tosatsu meant to slaughter…well he assumed now that she was a part of the assassination squadron.

"Not good enough…it took too much time." She coughed rubbing her throat. Sasuke could tell that she didn't feel well and she was fighting a much harder coughing fit.

"You took me down faster than anyone else has. You're on the team for this mission." The man stood up helping her up by extending his hand to her.

"This mission isn't very intelligent." She mumbled under her breath. He half turned eyeing her through the mask and straightened his shoulders.

"You want to say that louder Tosatsu?" she sighed ripping her hair down.

"I didn't say anything captain." She snapped as she turned to head around the side of the building.

"Meet at the gates at four this afternoon. We leave then." He called after her. She waved a hand over her head indicating the acceptance of his words.

Sasuke watched her barely make it around the building and out of sight of the others before she doubled over. Her chest rattled violently as she coughed hard enough to make her wheeze in short panted breaths. It continued getting worse until finally he saw her body stiffen as something dark and sticky hit the ground at her feet. She quickly straightened taking a step back covering her mouth with the back of her hand shaking slightly. He couldn't see what was on the grass where she'd stood. She darted from the spot and took off her mask stuffing it in her pack as she ran towards the woods, he assumed heading home. Once she was absent he took leave from his tree and jumped down to the place where she'd ran from. On the ground beside the pale stone building's wall was a bright red liquid. Blood; a large amount of it too. She'd hacked up about a quart of blood from her lungs. Instantly Sasuke knew two things; one, that Akari needed medical attention, and two, that she was beyond just taking medications. If she didn't get medical treatment she would die. He also knew that if she were anything like Kakashi that she wouldn't ask for help.

Akari made it into the house before another wave of coughing battered her lungs. She slammed the door shut mentally cussing when the kitchen lights went out, she sighed rummaging blindly through drawers for her medicine. That had been the most blood she'd coughed up since she was thirteen when she'd first become ill. Her eyes were aching and her body was starting to slowly shut down. If she didn't get the medicine in her system she was going to pass out on the damn floor and wake up with Neeko licking her foot again. She made a face running her fingers through the drawers over silverware and letters. She couldn't find it. Groaning she tried to take in a long slow breath to calm the coughing but it didn't work. Instead, if anything, it propelled the coughs into a more dangerous fit. Her knees started to give and she used the cabinets to slid down to the floor her wrist still hanging in the drawer as she took in heavy laborious breaths. Her vision swam blurring out of focus and she felt a few wet sticky lines traveling down her cheeks. Oh hell…she was bleeding from her eyes now too. She had to be at that mission later…fuck…in the distance she heard a door open and shut. Assuming it was Neeko flicking his tail about by accident she leaned her head back against the wood behind herself sighing. Any second now she'd pass out.

"Shit, you idiot, where's your medicine?" a voice snapped coming closer to her. It belonged to a male but she couldn't really place who. "Where is your meds? Can you hear me?" he asked taking her slowly from the cabinets, peeling her body away from the floor and into his arms. She groaned feeling her head lay back against the man's arms which were strong.

"D-drawer…." She whispered the best that her voice would allow. It was weak and she tried harder to force her vision to work enough that she could see who was holding her. No go.

"Ok, hold on." She was laid on something soft and fluffy, her bed, she hoped. The person who'd been holding her was instantly gone leaving a cold wave rippling through her body.

"…ughn…."

"Shut up." The voice said in a firm tone. "How often do you freaking do this? You are ridiculous." He sighed popping the bottle open. She felt a viscous liquid go down her throat and she fought the disgusted feeling in her stomach. She hated the medicine but it was the only things helping her stay alive.

"I'm….f-fine…" were the last words slipping from her mouth before she passed out.

Sasuke felt his body release a heavy tension that had been passing over him as he watched Akari sleep. He leaned forward placing a rag in a bowl half filled with water letting it soak for a few seconds. He brought it out wringing it letting the drops fall gently. He sighed. Is this what Itachi had gone through for years without any help? Had he been this sick and trying to take care of himself? He was a mixture of pissed at Akari for letting herself get this sick and upset that she was fighting this alone. He reached forward washing the blood from her cheeks and rinsed the cloth once more before resting it on her forehead to cool the fever burning there. Her cheeks had flushed an hour ago and her skin was on fire although she shivered like she'd been dumped in a pile of ice. He'd searched the small apartment and only found her one blanket which he'd had to lay over her tucking it closer to her body to stop the chills. His inner self was having a hard time not calling Kakashi. He wanted too. He really wanted too. He wanted to tell his teacher and let him be there for her too, but…he knew that she wasn't ready for that. She wasn't ready to have her father wedged this far into her life. He'd keep this a secret for her but she'd have to let him help her. She could not do this alone and after what he'd just witnessed…he wasn't letting her. She wasn't getting a choice in this. The only thing he didn't know was that Akari hated being told what to do and she would fight him every step of the way.


	4. Shouldn't Exist

Sasuke stood outside on the front porch to Akari's smoking. He'd only been outside for about ten minutes dropping his smoldering cigarette onto the wood below to snub it out with his foot when he heard water inside. The pipes to the old apartment were loud and made small pinging noises as the water heated through the metallic heating oven he'd found inside under the sink. He rubbed his shoe over the ashes on the ground and sighed putting his hand in his pockets. He didn't want to walk in there and scare her but he figured she was smart enough to know that she didn't wipe her own sweaty forehead for the last three hours. He opened the door and slid inside before starting for the hallway. Neeko darted in front of him and hoped up on a shelf near the kitchen glaring in at him from the kitchen. His tail swished back and forth flicking a few paper Akari had sitting knocking them to the floor. He raised an eyebrow when the cat growled narrowing it's yellow eyes at him before hissing.

"Calm down tiger…" he whispered rolling his eyes. He heard a few noises from the living room and turned the corner to find Akari. She was standing in the entry way pulling her hair back into a stiff swirled bun tightly tying it in place. She was already dressed in her ANBU uniform and her mask was sitting on the table beside her pack which he could tell was already filled with weapons. A kantana glinted from light through the window on the floor leaning against the wall. It had a sleek navy oceanic handle laced with threads of ebony leading into a hard leather case like night.

"You didn't have to do all of that…" She whispered turning around to face him. Her skin was pale and there were heavy circles darkening under her eyes. Those were still red with exhaustion and exertion.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"On a mission. You have an issue with that?" she asked tilting her head to the side grabbing her small pack tying it around her waist, her slender curved waist, which lead to a backside he'd not truly noticed before.

"Yes. I do. You're not going on the mission. You're too sick." She scoffed laughing a little and adjusted the strap to her kantana before tying it on her back.

"What part of ANBU mission's aren't a choice do you not understand?" she asked her voice had a biting edge to it. It was the same finalized tone that he used to hear underline Kakashi's during serious talks.

"Listen yo…."

"I have to go. I am not just a member of the ANBU. I was raised in the ANBU. I grew up with them. I have as much a choice in these matters as your brother did." Now that pissed Sasuke off.

"You're really walking an edge here. I came in here to help you." He felt a grinding wheel tick in the back of his head.

"Didn't ask for help." She said as she walked past him her shoulder brushing his slowly. Sasuke was so very conflicted. On one hand her skin, even clothed, brushing his lit a fire inside him that scared him way more than any female had ever done. On the other hand, she was infuriating him more than Sakura did on a daily basis.

"What do you think you're going to do? Go on that mission, cough up some blood, and pass out again? Yeah, you're going to be a whole lot of help." He snapped. She whirled around on him so fast his eyes widened only a fraction.

"I am going and that is final. I don't need permission. I'm not a dog, you won't tell me what to do." And with that she left slamming the door positioning her mask as he watched the door swing shut.

Akari darted through the forest swiping trees within an inch of their breadth taking a breath annoyed. She was so unbelievably angry that her stomach was starting to burn. When she was really angry, as she'd found out working with Danzo as a kid, that her anger got the best of her. She moved swiftly gaining speed but filing lower down through the trees until she hit the ground by the gates stirring a small wind. She saw captain Yamato standing next to two ANBU core members and one ROOT core. She stopped instantly narrowing her eyes and walked over tensely. She hated the ROOT. She hated them with a blinding passion. She'd been raised by the ROOT when Danzo hadn't been around and most of the men she'd grown up around had drawn blood from her for fun. She did not trust them and she did not appreciate Tsunade's decision to include them in the regular ANBU ranks. Yamato saw her first.

"Tosatsu." He greeted her nodding his head. "I'm not able to go with you on this mission today. There are a few things that I need to take care of; in my absence I am leaving you Captain for this mission to be successful." Now she knew something wasn't right.

"Sir…can we speak for a moment alone?" she asked quickly lowering her voice directing her head to the posts of the gates away from the others.

"Sure." He said walking over with her resting his hands on his hips.

"I don't want that ROOT member with us on this mission." He sighed.

"That's not your choice to make. He's going." Yamato said.

"I don't trust him." He set a hand on her shoulder.

"You will be fine. Now, go, before it gets dark."

Akari and her team had been on the move now through the country for about five hours. It was nearing dark and her legs were starting to lose their pep. She sighed cracking her neck as the shifted their group ranks following behind her as she dodged and took a right into a small clearing. On top of this being a long distance reconnaissance mission which would end with a nobleman dead from the Mist, the ROOT member was plaguing her ANBU team mates. She'd had it about up to the clouds with this guy and as they slowed to stop for the night she almost lost it. Her muscles were taunt and her eyes ached like rocks had been ground into her retinas.

"Will you shut the HELL up!" She snapped at the ROOT member cornering him. Her ANBU teammate Taki was about to punch the guy. She got between them taking a long slow breath she put up her hands.

"Am I getting to you?" the bastard asked chuckling. "You have to play a little nicer captain." She expelled a long winded breath.

"Lay off. We're all on this mission together." The ROOT member mumbled something she didn't catch under her breath but Taki did. He jumped lunging at the man before Akari could stop him. They both went at it laying a good few punches before she threw herself into the middle trying to shove them apart.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" She screamed knocking Taki away from the ROOT. "I SAID we are here to COMPLETE a mission! That means we all have too…"

"Tosatsu!" Taki whispered from behind her. She had been much to distracted in the moment to pay attention to the three new presences cresting the trees around them. There were new ROOT members waiting for them. She started to turn and face Taki to give him orders when a slicing pain erupted through her ribs. She sucked in a breath stiffening.

"Yes, we are here to complete a mission Tosatsu. You aren't supposed to exist." Akari cussed loudly shoving away from the ROOT member. As she moved the slicing pain in her side broke again and she saw the ROOT standing there with a short hand blade longer than a kunai coated in blood. Her blood.

"Damnit…" she held her side her fingers slipping softly in the blood. Taki started to come towards her, the other member laid dead on the ground a ROOT stepping over his body. Akari made a split decision. She looked up locking eyes with Taki.

"NO! Go back to the village! Tell Yamato! GO!" he stalled as a ROOT turned facing him. Akari threw kunai at him obscuring his attention.

"But…"

"GO!" she yelled taking a few steps back drawing the other lines of vision. "Yeah, that's right, you all want me dead right? Come on! Can't kill what you can't catch." She took a small breath preparing for the pain that followed with running on an injury like this and took off. By the corner of her eyes she saw Taki safely running in the opposite direction towards the village. Her only hope was resting in him now. She'd have to make it to a safe place and stop the bleeding but with four ROOT core members tracking her she had a bad feeling it wasn't going to happen.


	5. Resting

Akari waded through the snarled muggy water of the Mist's marsh lands annoyed and exhausted. She felt the wound at her side throbbing and tried to force herself into survival mode to ignore it. She had been trekking through the banks of the river to help mask her scent and cloaked what little chakra she'd had left. Her wound was packed with a mud and dirt mixture since she had no bandages to stop the bleeding. There was currently only two ROOT core members still able to follow her. Her face and chest plate were stained splattered with blood from one core member that she'd had to kill. The ROOT was not going to back down on this and she knew that if she stopped it was over. As she'd traveled long into the night, the moon hanging over head, she had started to piece together what she assumed was their mission. It made the most sense to assume that Danzo had given a carry out order about her identity before death. She assumed that as long as she'd stayed incognito she would be allowed to live but if she ever went to Kakashi her immediate execution was ordered. It was fine to be a weapon of the village, for the village, but she couldn't be a human.

There was a deep seeded anger burning through her veins that in death Danzo thought he could control her. It was pissing her off beyond belief. She was not his pet and after she'd fought so hard for acceptance through the ranks in the ANBU core she wasn't about to give that up for her old life of being the village dog. After Itachi's desertion it had become her job to slave for Danzo and carry out his missions behind the village's back. Only she had been a good how many years younger than Itachi and with that came a lack of sense of self. She hadn't had time to grow and become her own person or see the village and it's people. All Akari had known at age eight was that she possessed the Sharingan and that she was Danzo's. There was no family to go home to at night, no little brother who smiled up at her, Akari had been utterly alone. At the end of the day Akari had been forced into the ROOT core barracks to sleep in the cells where they kept and interrogated enemies. No one cell had been hers and therefore it took years before she'd even had a blanket to her name let alone a pillow. Still, she couldn't stay completely angry at the man who could have saved her from the village, because Itachi had in the end initiated a sense of freedom within her. Of course, he hadn't meant too, Danzo had shipped her out on a mission where her path had been ordered to cross Itachi's directly and there'd been no way that Akari could stop it.

By age four she'd been held down in the Hyuuga encampment medical building by ROOT members and forced into a sealing jutsu. Danzo had thrown her into a circle sealing her tongue like the ROOT but it hadn't stopped there. Akari had been sealed to take orders without complaint. There had literally been no way that she could refuse Danzo's orders after the sealing had been completed nor could she even say his name. She had been cut off completely from the world in all ways except her own thoughts. She'd often drifted by the school yard in the shadows watching the children her age wondering what it must be like. She had wanted so badly to understand what playing was. The concept of sitting, running, and laughing for fun was foreign to her. All physical actions had been taught to her as a means of disguise and interrogation for missions. Often the ROOT took her on missions to use as bait and distraction for the enemy nin. Once, she'd been sliced open by a swordsman and the ROOT had forgotten leaving her deep in the countryside to die. They'd used her to bait the older man in and distract him while they attacked; she'd been forced to play the part of a small lost child. Unfortunately for her the man hadn't given a rat's ass about a lost crying child and had sliced through her and kept going. Danzo was livid that they'd left her as evidence and only gone back to collect her when they were ordered too.

Akari was nearing a base hideout that had been used by the Akatsuki in this country. She knew that she could bed down there for the night and she knew for certain that the ROOT core could not enter this place. Itachi had actually taken the time to seal the base from ANBU and ROOT members except for her by blocking out their sealing jutsu and forcing them outside a perimeter around the base. In more ways than one meeting Kisame and Itachi had helped and changed her life for the better as a child but on the same token Akari was just as scarred as Sasuke; it was an aspect that she didn't even want to get into with Sasuke and was precisely why she hadn't brought it up or given them much insight into her younger years. She knew that it wouldn't help anyone to trudge up old feelings and it definitely wouldn't benefit Sasuke to hear that she'd known his brother for almost a year and a half sharing a room with him and a life. Honestly, she'd seen him as the only family she'd even known and often he'd asked her to give him feedback about how Sasuke had been faring.

She knelt down beside the rough edge of the building where it met the grass and traced her fingers along the groove. She was looking for a brick that jutted over the bottom about three inches. When pressed that brick would open the buildings slide away door and let her inside. Her thumb hit the rough stone first and she quickly pressed her palm into it forcing it to slide back into place. The door groaned grating with stone against stone and slowly moved back to give way to the hallway. Exhausted and fatigued with loss of blood Akari shuffled inside making the hand sign to seal the entryway again. She stood in the pitch darkness feeling her way along the walls to the last bedroom on the left. A sense of short relief touched her as she opened the door and found the bed. She literally fell onto the surface letting the dust swirl up around her filtering into her lungs. She'd shared this room with Itachi and Kisame sleeping in this bed for so long that not even injuries could stop her eyes from falling shut…

It had been days since Tsunade had sent an ANBU squad out to kill a man from the Mist and it had been one too many days to not receive word from them. She had called Yamato and Kakashi into her office on the fifth day worried that the team wasn't going to make it back. With forethought she'd added Sasuke into the meeting noting that she was working on heading him into the ANBU ranks and that as a possible captain he would need inductions to the workings of the groups. All three men had arrived, albeit Kakashi being ten minutes late, by a little past noon. Yamato was already well aware of the problems coming but he had no idea how to properly handle them. At all costs he needed to make sure that Kakashi did not know Tosatsu was Akari on this mission and that he did not know that she had not returned. He needed to keep this secret until they received some word from Akari to avoid Kakashi acting rashly on this. If worst came to worst he would find the girl himself and bring her back, by no means would he let Kakashi's daughter die on a mission he'd sent her on. Of course, he had never thought that she wouldn't have returned by now; Akari had never failed a mission.

"So, what's the issue here?" Kakashi asked yawning stretching his arms up behind his head before letting them find his pockets.

"We have an ANBU squadron that has not returned or sent word for five days. There was a four man team that had been given the mission to find and kill a nobleman from the Mist. I am concerned Yamato that no word has come from them…" Tsunade folded her hands under her chin resting her head there.

"I made Tosatsu captain of this mission and it is unlike her pattern to not send word. I would like to request that a rescue squad of two men be sent to track her team." He said. Sasuke felt panic rising in his chest. It wasn't normal for him to feel like this and he didn't understand why. He took a breath running a hand through his hair and sighed. Sasuke normally didn't speak during these meetings because it wasn't his place and these were meant to be learning tools for him to see what he would be doing on a daily basis in the future. However, he had to say something about Akari's previous condition now knowing that her entire team had not sent word to the village.

"Lady Hokage, I have some information that I think needs to be added to this meeting." Kakashi and Yamato turned slightly to look at him. Tsunade raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. "Akari was in bad condition earlier the her team left. I stayed with her and tried my best to assist but I think that you should send a medical nin on the rescue squad." He instantly realized that he had forgotten to use Akari's codename and let go of another heavy sigh as an eerie feeling washed over him. He knew Kakashi was watching him and he knew the old man was glaring.

"You stayed with who?" He asked in a soft but deadly calm voice eyeing his student.

"Uh…Akari." Sasuke said with some caution taking a small step back. He put his hands up innocently. "I thought something was wrong so I spied a little, I was right though." He rushed on. "She is sick and she needed help taking her medication and to rest."

"I hardly think anyone needs help _resting._" Kakashi felt his visible eye twitch. Never had he before hated his student as much as he did at this moment; not even when he'd declared openly that he would kill him. He really sort of wanted to rip Sasuke's head off and mutilate the body. He wasn't sure why he felt this way but it was really bothering him that he'd been anywhere near his daughter.

"Hey, let's stay focused." Yamato interrupted to Sasuke's relief.

"Yes, I need to know more about how bad of condition she was in?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi was watching Sasuke again but the glare had turned more to attention.

"She was hacking up blood Tsunade." He sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "A good amount. She passed out after taking the medication for a few hours and had a bad fever…she was bleeding from her eyes."

"Damnit, she is supposed to report to me when she gets that bad." Yamato took a long breath. He opened his mouth to start picking members for the rescue mission when the door to the Kage's office opened suddenly. It had barely swung back hitting the wall behind it when Taki appeared in the entry.

"Hokage-sama…" He breathed in a little out of breath. "Members of the ROOT core have gone rogue. They attacked us on the mission and killed one ANBU." The room went still and icy.

"Where's…" Yamato began to ask.

"She ordered me to leave. There were four members of the ROOT tracking her when I left." Sasuke was the first in the room to move. He turned facing Taki and took the man's weapons pack.

"Kakashi I'm assuming you're coming on this one?" he eyed his teacher sideways.

"He is not going anywhere. He is in no state of mind to fight when he's worried about his daughter." Yamato said quickly.

"I agree, Sasuke you can take Shi…" Kakashi for the first time in his entire life cut of a hokage.

"Hate to be the one to argue here Lady Tsunade but I'm going and you're not going to stop me." He sighed and adjusted his headband revealing his eye before looking to Sasuke.

"Let's move then, I really doubt she has a lot of time." He said nodding to his teacher. Once they'd made it outside of the office however Kakashi grabbed the back of Sasuke's throat just tight enough to make him stop and feel highly uncomfortable.

"By the way, next time you feel the need to help my daughter _rest, _you might want to talk it over with her father first." He grinned lazily at his student relaxing the grip hitting him on the back. "But I appreciate your help on this kid." And with that he took off.


	6. BONUS CHAPTER-DANZO'S ORDERS

THIS IS A BONUS CHAPTER FOR MAKING MY STORY 1,000 VIEWS! I WILL BE OFFERING AN INSIGHT INTO AKARI'S PAST WITH THE AKATSUKI WHICH I HAVE HINTED AT RECENTLY…SO PLEASE ENJOY THE STORY OF HOW SHE BECAME A TEMPORARY SPY FOR KONOHA.

ALSO HERE ARE SOME LINKS FOR DRAWNING OF AKARI IN AN AGE PROGRESSION.

They are not the best drawings ever but I made them so be nice please!

art/Hatake-Akari-age-8-409093724

art/Hatake-Akari-Age-12-409094235

art/Hatake-Akari-Age-16-409094498

art/Hatake-Akari-Age-19-409094717

art/Hatake-Akari-Age-26-409095047

Please look up Create-tion on Deviantart because for some reason this site will not allow me to completely upload the picture links above. SORRY!

THANK YOU FOR 1,000 VIEWS!

At barely ten years old Akari was already living with the ROOT core units underneath the city. Currently she was sitting in her cell picking at dirt beneath her fingernails, or was it blood, she couldn't remember. Her head was swimming dizzily from hunger and she knew that it wouldn't stop anytime soon. She was being punished for her latest mishap on a mission with two ROOT members closest to Danzo during a trip to the sand. They had been intercepted near the country border and after a heavy hit by a puppet to her chakra and head Akari had lost control of her physical disguise. Danzo had literally dragged her into a cave sealing her inside to leave her unconscious. Above all things Danzo couldn't let her identity slip and she had become a liability during this mission so it was his only decision to hide her. She had come to groggy and exhausted on a sandy cavern floor alone. Akari had been left there for almost ten days by the time Danzo and the others had come back to retrieve her. He'd also come with an ultimatum mission. There were not many things she was scared of, really she was just tired of life, but there were a select few nin in the world she was petrified of. Danzo knew that and he had come prepared to make her regret not holding her physical disguise.

"It's great to see you decided to wake up you little shit." Danzo greeted her walking into the cave with his men behind him. Akari scooted back against the cave wall wrapping her arms around her knees holding them tightly.

"Great to see you too…" she mumbled under her breath. He stopped almost touching her looming over her and when she refused to look up he grabbed her hair snatching her head back to stare up at him.

"Fuck off!" she snapped before she could stop herself kicking out at his legs in front of her. She screamed when she felt him pulling her to her feet by her hair before he slammed her into the wall of the cave behind her.

"You're already receiving a punishment for what you did on the mission. Would you like another punishment to go with it?" he asked smirking. Her breathing was fast and irregular as she made the best decision she could that fast. It was easier to bite her tongue and take the lashes than piss him off and take fifty more.

"What's my mission…" she asked in a whisper lowering her eyes to the ground.

"I know for a fact that Uchiha, Itachi is growing sickly. You mission is to infiltrate the Akatsuki base, join the members, gain his trust, and ultimately take his eyes in the event of his death. You will bring them back to me." Her eyes widened staring at the ground. Her breathing hitched in her throat. She could not do that. There was no way; she was only a child.

"I can…." Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She couldn't refuse his orders and she had no choice but to obey.

"Oh, you will, and you will enjoy it. If you have an issue with this mission I can always pay a visit to your father…" he left the threat hanging over her like a blade. It was always like this. If she even remotely sounded like she wasn't _happy _to go on a mission Danzo would offer to hurt or kill Kakashi.

"No! No, I'll go. It's fine. Thank you Danzo-sama for the mission." She rushed out quickly fighting a shiver starting at the base of her spine.

"Very good. You should start out then…you know, before the sun starts to set. The desert can get very cold at night."

At the mouth of the cave just before she'd left, Danzo's two right hand men had been waiting for her. She stopped taking a step sideways to sort of avoid the Aburame and Naka masters knowing full well that both of them had and could kick her ass when they wanted too. The bug man stopped her with a strong grip on her arm pulling her back towards them. Before she could stop herself words tumbled out in anger. She yanked her arm back shoving his hand away.

"I'm not in the mood. Screw off." Her voice may have been small, she may have been small, but she was certainly getting fed up with life.

"Calm down tiger. We wanted to give you some food and water for the trip. It will be a long one and you've been in that cave for seven days." the bug man finished putting his hands up innocently. The Naka master pulled a small tied cloth and a canteen from his pack holding it out to her.

"I'm sure scorpions weren't easy to get down and the water was scarce in there." She eyed them both lividly and warily. Most of Danzo's men were not helpful towards her and they didn't really like her. A lot of them had hurt her on more than one occasion. These two had joined in before but had not injured her nearly as bad. She particularly didn't like the Naka man because he'd opened up her head and controlled her body under Danzo's orders more than once.

"Why." She whispered more as a statement than a question. Akari still wouldn't take the food.

"Because you're a child and as much as we may not agree with one another you need help at times." Her throat was burning with sand. It was raw with scratches from the outer shell of the scorpions she'd killed to eat in the cave; tiny flecks were hard to pick out especially when you were starving.

"Fine, whatever…thanks." She snapped taking the food and water securing it at her waist pack. She felt uncomfortable when people extended their hands to her. Without turning around she took off knowing deep in her mind that no one really cared about her. She knew that if she hesitated Danzo would go after her father and she knew that he could make her life hell. She needed to get moving and she needed to do so carefully. She wasn't sure if she should drop her disguise to trigger trust from Itachi when she arrived or keep it and play the part of someone she could make up. Akari was very good at making people up. She could be anyone and anything that she wanted to be. She could fool anyone. Really Akari didn't exist anymore, she never really had, because Danzo had never given her a chance to be a real person. She was his. Whatever he wanted her to be she became and at night when she laid her head down on the stone cell floor of the CORE barracks there was nothing to think about. She had no one and she was used to it. At ten years old Akari was tired and beaten down. She was petrified to go anywhere near the Akatsuki base and she was terrified to meet Uchiha, Itachi. She didin't know what would happen. What she did know was that if she died while on this mission it wouldn't matter to anyone. No one would mourn her absence.

After a two day trip Akari had finally reached the perimeter around the Akatsuki base near the Mist. She took a long breath collapsing behind a tree in a clearing and laid on the ground closing her eyes. She hadn't stopped except to drink from a couple of streams. She knew that the sooner she arrived and Danzo's men told him she had, yes she knew he spied on her constantly, that he'd leave her father alone faster. There was always a blade hanging over Kakashi's head because of her and one wrong move meant his death. She rolled over letting the small patches on sunlight coming down through the leaves of the trees dance over her face. It was warm and comforting, something she didn't have often. She pulled her knees up to her chest rubbing the skin which was muddy and banged up. She was aware that she still had cracked blood dried along her neck from the head injury she'd acquired in the sand. She didn't care. Her hunger level was off the charts. Her stomach was growling so badly that it hurt as if trying to eat itself. Akari pushed herself up on her elbows and then on her butt leaning back against the bark behind her. She reached into her pack and ripped out the food cloth and canteen before untying it. Seconds passed like a heartbeat before she tore into it. The meat was dried with salts, the little there was, but it tasted glorious. It was better than what she normally got in the barracks so she couldn't complain. It was tough and chewy but the water, which was slightly stagnant, washed it down fine. Food had often been used as a form of punishment as a child for her. Danzo had enjoyed taking food and water away for days when she miss pleased his highness. While she ate she became overcome in a sort of survival mode and lost touch with the forest around her. Her concentration had fixated on the meat and water.

Kisame and Itachi were walking around the base covering the outside parameters. They all tended to take turns checking the border and making sure that village nin weren't snooping around where they shouldn't be. Many men stupid enough to make it out this far had died very painful deaths. Kisame was keeping an eye on Itachi who'd seemed highly perturbed for the last few days. His partner had a tendency to trap a lot of feelings inside and Kisame had no desire to have a heart to heart with the Sharingan wielder. What he wanted to do was to keep his partner at peace. He wanted to help him keep him calm so that there was minimal turmoil rolling around inside the boys mind. Itachi sighed as a light breeze brushed past them stirring his hair at the corners of his face. He reached a thin hand up to swipe them behind his ear but stopped. There was a faint chakra presence in the area. Kisame stopped behind him raising an eyebrow. Most of the men that bothered to come out this way were stronger than the chakra they both picked up. Itachi glanced back at him tilting his head listening.

"Whoever it is they're weak…" he whispered.

"Or a child." Itachi shook his head answering the blue man.

"A child? Why the hell…" Itachi moved forward gazing ahead in the direction that they'd felt the chakra from. Sure enough in the small clearing was a young girl sitting at the base of a tree.

The child was in bad shape covered in dirt and mud with wounds that needed addressing. There was a major head wound which had scabbed over and was mostly covered with dried blood and knotted hair. Itachi noticed that her hair was a strange silver color which jogged something distant in his memory but he couldn't place what or why. Her hands were blistered and ragged with dirt edged under the fingernails of her hands which were tearing into a dried piece of meat. Kisame was close to the back of Itachi watching the child slightly annoyed. He knew that Itachi was not seeing the little girl. He knew that his partner was seeing his little brother. He often did that. He saw things that reminded him of the child that he'd left behind in Konoha.

"Well, what should we do?" he asked watching the raven for the go ahead.

"Move slowly, see what she's doing here…we'll decide from there." He whispered starting to walk out of the cover in the trees. Problem was Kisame hardly listened. He was always head first and charged at things which annoyed the living hell out of Itachi who liked to assess a situation first. The fish head marched forward hauling his gigantic blade over his shoulder grinning wide allowing his serrated teeth to shine down at the girl. Her reaction was instantiations. The cloth and water fell to the ground and the child was on her feet in a crouched defensive stance but that wasn't all. Itachi noted that a lightening blade about six inches long formed from her right fist which she angled very skillfully in Kisame's direction but kept it back in wait. Itachi watched her narrow her eyes and the tension building in her shoulders and neck.

"There are only a few people who can make that blade little girl." Itachi said touching Kisame's arm pulling him back a step. She barely glanced at him keeping most of her attention on the large threat of a fish in front of her.

"So?" she snapped her voice gravely and exhausted. Itachi had already noted ANBU mark etched into her skin on her arm which wasn't covered by her sleeve.

"So I think we might need to have a talk." He knew she was young. Probably as young as he had been when he'd joined the Akatsuki but something about her appearance and drained energy told him she hadn't done so willingly.

"There isn't much I can say." That wasn't a lie. The sealing jutsu prevented her from explaining anything to him.

"You're going to have to try." He said forcing Kisame to put the blade down by guiding the man's arm with his hands. "You're coming back with us."

It had been months now that Akari had been living with the Akatsuki and Kisame had watched the child grow a great deal. For the first month and half the girl had refused to take a blanket or pillow and slept at the end of Itachi's bed on the floor. Sometimes she would roll underneath of it and cover her head with her arms curling up in a ball. It had concerned Itachi and Kisame a lot that she wouldn't come out of the room or talk to people. They understood that the base was filled with serial killers but they normally acted civil when at home; it was only during missions that their natures came out. Itachi had spent several hours sitting on his bed reading out loud to her while she sat in a corner behind the door picking at the string at the hem of her pants. She'd ended up borrowing Deidara's clothes because they were both so young and tiny. It had been during one day that Itachi was reading from a book he'd actually brought from the compound, one of the only things he had from his former life, that she'd looked up. He'd eyed her carefully watching as she slowly got up and taken a small breath.

"Is it hard?" she asked in a small voice making her way barefoot to the bed. She'd stopped in front of him looking down at the floor her small hands pulling the sleeves down over her wrists.

"What?" he'd asked.

"Reading…is it hard to read?" Itachi had felt a break in his heart possibly wider than it already was torn. The child couldn't even read. Now that pissed him off. He'd already figured that she'd belonged to Danzo because he knew for a fact from reading mission reports and orders of the ANBU recently in Konoha that this girl was not a member of their ranks.

"Would you like to learn?" he asked her softly putting the book in his lap. "I can teach you." She'd looked up meeting his eyes.

"Can I write too? And…" she looked shy taking a small step back from him. "Can I have a pillow?" Kisame who had started into the doorway of the room felt his shoulders drop.

"Kid you can have my bed if it means you're going to keep talking." She hadn't said a word since they'd brought her back and convinced Pein to let her stay.

"Why don't we go into the kitchen and get some food. I know you wouldn't go in and get any this morning because you heard Kakazu in there." Itachi nodded to Kisame to walk in front of her. She seemed nervous but she nodded and followed the blue fish through the hallway with Itachi behind her.

"What do you want to eat?" Kisame asked glancing back at her but she was stiff and staring at the place like it was utterly foreign to her.

"What is this?" she asked looking around at all the cabinets and the baskets of bread and fruit on the counter.

"A kitchen…you make food here?" Kisame said watching her.

"Wow. I…I've never seen freash food." She shrugged and stepped back behind Itachi when Hiden wandered into the kitchen. He was nursing a beer but spit it out seeing the child that he'd been told about but never seen.

"She fucking came out?" he said in disbelief.

"You're not helping Hiden." Itachi snapped putting a hand on Akari's shoulder eyeing the man's scythe.

"Oh, hell! The kid's not fucking stupid. She fucking knows we're killers." He rolled his eyes staring at the girl.

To Itachi and Kisame's shock she smirked a little and stayed close to Itachi.

"I like him." She chuckled.


	7. The tide's will come

The sun had barely crested the hills when Akari had woken sitting up on the dusty bed cover. She groaned realizing that she'd bled over the sheets and that they had stuck to her side cracked and stale. The room was chilled with a draft filing in under the door creeping along the floorboards. She slid her bare feet to the floor shuffling towards the bathroom which she was currently praying had running water still. The tub was ringed with yellow stains and brown water marks lingering on the bottom. She made a face staring down at it rubbing the back of her neck. Her side still stung where she'd ripped the sheets from her skin and honestly she'd hoped to clean the wound out and bandage it. She reached for the handle turning it a fraction. A dark thick sticky blob surged from the faucet plopping into the basin. The pipes made a few loud clanging noises through the walls chugging the water from the heater underground until finally it sprayed out violently for a brief moment. The water's flow slowed to an even strength after a few minutes and turned from a dirty tan to a clean clear liquid. As much as she'd hated Kakazu the man had made sure the base had made enough money to keep it running even after most of the Akatsuki had died.

It had taken a good while to clean out the mud packed mixture she had used to stop the bleeding. She'd caked it on good, mainly because it had been so deep, and cleaning out the wound was rightfully painful. She ground her teeth against the lights flashing behind her eyes as she dabbed a ripped wet cloth from her pants into the wound. She drained the tub and let the chilly air dry her skin. She'd found bandages under Itachi's bed and wrapped those tightly around her ribs before walking out to sit on the dusty old couch. She needed a game plan. The minute she left the safety of the hideout and the base grounds she knew that the ROOT would continue tracking her. Akari knew that they wouldn't stop until she was dead but she really wanted to neutralize the situation without killing anyone else. The problem was that she wasn't sure how to get around it without getting seriously injured in the process. She had to be prepared to get out there and take them on headstrong and she needed to do it before they found her. It basically was hunting season and the ROOT were now fair game. She'd saved up enough chakra from resting that her reserve was pretty safe as well. She was going to need it and this was all she could do at this moment. It was attack or be attacked.

Kakashi and Sasuke were by no means taking their time to travel to the area in which Taki had left Akari. Sasuke was slightly off kilter running as hard and fast as he could in order to keep up with his teacher. There was an uneasy feeling in his chest that had settled there as soon as he'd learned that Akari was in trouble. It was painful and yet he felt a certain part of him stir in anger that anyone had even dared think they could hurt her. He was angry that someone had even tried. He was pretty sure Kakashi was about to have a heart attack as fast as he was moving through the trees. The sun had faded into a desolate muggy fog that was thick and covering a good part of their line of vision. Sasuke was sending out feelers as a way to keep in tune with the surroundings about them. He knew the old man had meant business when he'd moved his headband up to reveal his Sharingan eye. Sasuke himself had popped a soldier pill in preparation for what was in store. ROOT core members were not an easy fight. They would drag them down even as a two man team and exhaust their strength until the very end of the fight. They were both skilled but so were ROOT and Sasuke wasn't taking any chances.

As they moved they were nearing a large body of water that ran along the edge of the country here. The fog was steaming off the water in an eerie atmosphere giving Kakashi an uneasy feeling. He was worried about his daughter and he was worried about his student but if he had to pick between the two he knew that Sasuke could hold his own. His first concern on this mission was to find and secure Akari. He had never been one for overly touchy feelings and it was unnerving that he had such a strong pull coursing through his veins at the moment. There was a heavy combination of anger and fear because he had never seen Akari fight. Sure, they told him she was an ANBU, but what did that really mean? Would she be able to take on four ROOT core members without assistance? Anyone would struggle with something like that and Taki had said that she was injured. That meant a leak in chakra which she'd need to rest and regenerate. He was heavily concerned that she didn't have the time to do that which meant that they needed to find her and quickly.

Sasuke was moving almost directly behind him in unison with his teacher like when he'd been younger. Kakashi was focusing on burning through the forest ahead of them when Sasuke pulled to a sudden stop on a tree branch and grabbed his teacher's sleeve. Kakashi halted his motions immediately. Sasuke felt a surge in the area around them with multiple chakras and he glanced around searching for a sign of them. There were definitely moving this way and fast. Kakashi heard it first before he realized what was going on; he grabbed Sasuke's head forcing it down just before a violent razor sharp wind blew past them cutting them in a few places. The gale force wind caught an object of some kind forcing it tumbling and churning out onto the lake's surface. The object skidded over the water like a skipping rock before rolling and catching itself in a half crouch. Sasuke realized before Kakashi that it was Akari. He made to move but his teacher caught him. She was breathing heavily her clothes torn and several places on her were bloody as she stayed herself on the water's surface. There was a long cut across her cheek bleeding down her neck and her knuckles were torn open from hand to hand combat. Akari took a deep breath as two ROOT members reached the edge of the lake and smirked. The one laughed putting his hands on his hips watching her.

"Have you had enough?" he asked grinning. The other ROOT member chuckled running a hand through his hair but he didn't look any better off than Akari had. She'd been tearing into him more than the ROOT that had sent the razor wind.

"I'm telling you…just drop this." She said in a tired voice her eyes wary.

"Orders are orders brat. You have to die. The village can't know about half the missions you completed." The other ROOT joined in.

"I'm pretty sure no one needs to know that we had two spies in the Akatsuki." He laughed. "It's a shame you're both going to die for the village you were being forced to protect."

"Itachi protected the village because he loved it. I hate you but not the people who are innocent." She snapped her hands in fists. She stopped stiffening when she heard a rustling sound from river's bank. The ROOT core turned to look to their right where they saw a small child huddled in the pebbles trying to hide. The wind ROOT laughed and reached for the child snatching him up by his auburn hair. He hauled the boy in front of him shaking him to force him to his knees. The other member grinned pulling a kunai putting it to the kids throat.

"Wrong place, wrong time kid. So, what's it going to be Akari? Will you let us kill a kid?"

"Your life for the boys…or maybe we should just kill you both?" the other held the shaking boy as the one put the blade to his throat.

"Let him go." Akari said in a definitive voice. Sasuke knew that Kakashi had used the same tone with him more than once when he'd done some very stupid things.

"What'll it be Akari?" he started to draw blood on the boy's skin.

"LET. HIM. GO." She raised her voice as Kakashi and Sasuke watched her eyes turn a violently swirling red.

"Three, Two…" He jerked his arm back to slice the boy open.

That was when all shit hit the fan.

Akari was instantaneous in her reaction. Kakashi had started to move but failed to match his daughters speed and Sasuke had hauled him back to avoid getting caught in the fray. Akari had formed a solid lightening blade extended about a foot from her fist and appeared directly in front of the ROOT holding the boy captive. She literally slammed her fist into his chest the blade protruding out the back spraying an array of blood over the trees and pebbles behind them. She was face to face with the man now her eyes level with him.

"You will never kill a child again." She yanked her hand back leaving a hole in the man's chest where he struggled to breath. He coughed falling a few steps back before collapsing. She grabbed the boy with her clean hand and shoved him back behind herself protecting him the lightening blade still charged and crackling at her side.

"You and me. This ends here." She said as her eyes began to shift taking on the Mangekyo Sharingan as she turned to fully face her opponent. The ROOT looked somewhat shaken but was trying to hide it by squaring his shoulders narrowing his eyes at her.

"Let's see how Hatake Kakashi's daughter really fights."

Sasuke wanted to move and interject into the fight but he wasn't sure how. He figured at this point it was Akari's fight and he should let her finish it out. He glanced at Kakashi waiting for some sort of helping signal. He needed the go ahead. Kakashi seemed hesitant to head onto the battlefield as well.

Akari was not a member of the ANBU by accident. She had literally grown up with the ROOT as her primary teachers and the Akatsuki as her secondary continuance. Danzo had always underestimated her strengths and constantly placed her in positions where she'd had to downplay her advantages to keep herself hidden. It was rare that she'd been allowed to use the lightening form chakra which she balanced so well for fear that Kakashi would notice it. However, in this instance there was no holding back. She was able for the first time in her life to go full force at a ROOT core member. There was a lot of hate and anger built up deep inside her soul and it was about to come pouring out like fireworks. This man in particular she remembered well. He'd held her down and…there had been one too many things that had taken place in the ROOT barracks that had permanently changed Akari as a child. This man deserved a lot worse than what he was about to get but her main focus was the child. She caught a glimmer out of the corner of her eyes, in the trees, a metal work hit by the sun. Sasuke.

"Get the kid out of here!" she ordered him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Someone was ordering Sasuke around. The funny thing was his student obeyed her. Sasuke jumped down to meet the boy scooping him up in his arms.

"You're going to be alright." He said in a softer voice than he normally used.

"Get away from the water!" she snapped as the ROOT charged her. Kakashi realized where she was going with this and grabbed Sasuke pulling him back off the pebbles which had sand and water soaked into the ground beneath them. A sort of static was building quickly in the air. The ROOT member charged her throwing punches, landing a good four or five, making a fury mount in Kakashi. He was struck however by his daughter's ability to withstand the hits. She did not fight like a kunoichi. She was not being forced back and she was not taking purely defensive and evasive strategies to combat the ROOT. Instead she was drawing him into the water where she formed a second chakra lightening blade. Now wielding two extended and almost perfectly controlled lighting blades Akari stood on open water. The energy crackled around her while her Sharingan swirled focused and unfocused switching between forms.

"I will KILL YOU!" the man shouted rushing her. He raised his fist high and backed it with a massive amount of chakra similar to the fashion that Sakura often used but something happened. Akari swung her arms up using the blades as a line of defense. She successfully was blocking his attack in a stalemate matching his strength. She hunkered her shoulders into the block as he grit his teeth.

"There are a lot of things I hate you for…" she whispered but Kakashi and Sasuke could hear her. "But I hate you most for the night when I turned nine…you can burn in hell and Danzo isn't here to save you." There was a sudden force of tension in the air that Kakashi stepped back protecting Sasuke and the boy. He spread his arms out afraid of what was about to happen. The sky overhead was turning and roiling over itself with a dark patch of clouds over the lake.

"What…but you…you never finished that jutsu…" the man tried to half turn and break into a fast run. Akari smirked and threw her arms down at her sides letting just the tips of the lightening blades touch the water's edge.

…

Lightening flashed from the sky meeting the water at exactly the same striking points where her blades skimmed the surface. Kakashi felt his eyes widen in shock. The entire lake lit in a fury of electric shock. The water danced in places as if it were being yanked up by unknown forces. In others the water steamed making horrible hissing noises. The whole lake was a light show of electricity and chakra. She had literally created a means to electrocute the man with. A scream split his throat as his skin was boiled by the heat coming off the water. Lightning struck him twice before the entire storm stopped immediately. Akari was breathing hard the lightning blades gone but her hands were still in fists. Her eyes had faded back to blue but there was a small trickle of blood bubbling at her right eye. The man's body steamed sizzling under his burnt clothes before toppling over sideways hitting the water with a resounding thud. He sank slowly to the bottom. Sasuke had hidden the boy's face against his shoulder to shield him from seeing what had happened but it hadn't spared him.

"A-akari…" Kakashi said slowly taking a tenitive step forward. He put his arm out as a gesture of calm. "It's quiet over now…you might want to take it easy." His voice was steady and firm.

"Took you long enough." She sighed out meeting her father's eyes.


	8. Knocked Up?

Several days had passed after the return to the village from the ROOT mission since Kakashi or Sasuke had heard from Akari. She'd refused to bandage or heal any of her wounds and had scooped the young boy gently from Sasuke's arms and started towards the Mist village to return the child. Kakashi had tried several times to stop her so they could at least heal the major injuries but she'd adamantly refused. Sasuke really thought it was amazing that she wouldn't stop. She was so dead set on getting that boy into a safe area and finding his mother who he was crying for that she'd blocked out all other things. They'd arrived in the village late that night finding a mother sobbing at the village gates begging to search for her son but the guards had told her no. She'd kneeled beside the woman with the boy in her arms and handed him over whispering something to the woman. The lady had sobbed in relief hugging Akari tightly before taking the boy into her arms hugging him strongly. Akari had stepped back towards Kakashi and Sasuke with a different sort of look in her eyes that was both distant and guarded. Kakashi hadn't missed the faint brush of Sasuke's fingers over the flat side of her forearm. She glanced back at him and sighed moving her arm back.

"Let's get going." She'd said and that had been the last things they'd heard from her in about a week.

Akari had stayed holed up in her apartment for the last few days. Sasuke was fighting an urge to go check on her but only because she had already signed and written up a mission report handing it into Yamato. That had meant that at least once this week she'd had to leave her house. Kakashi however was growing far more wary. He'd held a few training session with Sasuke and Naruto before his students had both confronted him.

"You're distracted Sensei. Even _I _got a hit in on you." Naruto scoffed crossing his arms over his chest. They had just finished a training session in which Naruto had accomplished punching Kakashi's side making him wheeze.

"Naruto…I know." The old man rubbed the back of his head.

"Stop worrying." Sasuke said coming over putting a hand on his hip. "Kakashi, I know where she's coming from on this. It's not the same, but it's close. Just give her space." Kakashi really didn't like how Sasuke spoke about his daughter like he knew her so well.

"I'm just worried that giving her the space will have results similar to another situation we've all been through." He eyed the raven intently.

"Oh come on…that's not fair. She'd not like me." He snapped before sighing. He ran a hand through his hair smoothing it back from his face agitated.

"I'll give her a few more days but after that I'm going to see her."

Funny thing about that was Sasuke had already decided to go see her that evening. He'd had a few errands to run for Sakura and Tsunade to finish up some village business but he had time leftover. The lights along the village streets were hazily glowing in the night sky like little stars dotting the scape. Sasuke wasn't sure what he was doing but it felt…sort of right. He didn't get that feeling often either so when he did he tried to follow it. Not to mention he hadn't been able to make many friends back on his return to Konoha. It had been a long road and really only Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi tolerated him for long periods of time. He could still see how the villagers were scared of him and little children were told stories of the horrible things he'd done. He sighed lifting the curtain to the ramen hut and poked his head in.

"AH! Sasuke! To what do I owe this pleasure?" the cook asked grinning as always.

"Just came by to grab two bowls of ramen to go." Now the man stopped making the soup steaming in his hands and gave the raven an odd look.

"For Miss Haruno?" he asked smirking raising an eyebrow. Sasuke felt a strange heat creep up his neck and over his cheeks.

"Uhm…er…no…" he stumbled trying to think of how to put this. "Uh, just a friend." He smiled trying to make himself stop feeling so uneasy.

"Oh, so this is special woman no? Of course it is, look at your face! Oh, your blushing." The female attendant who helped make the ramen grinned from behind her dad.

"It's a friend." Sasuke sighed snapping as he paid for the ramen and took the to go bag.

"Well tell your friend that she's a lucky little girl." She chuckled. Sasuke felt a tick starting in his jaw.

"Yeah, whatever." He left the ramen hut shoving a hand in his pocket while his other hand carried the bag. Something about the situation that had just occurred was bothering him and he couldn't figure out why.

Akari was sitting on her front porch petting Neeko as the cat slept in her lap. His fur was glossed and smooth with the dry air tonight. She felt a gentle breeze drift over her skin and she closed her eyes yawning letting the night envelope her senses. She was exhausted. She'd taken her medicine regularly but the process of regaining her eyesight always took a while. She knew she shouldn't have used them in water country but she had let her anger get the best of her. Her hair brushed her shoulders as the wind shifted directions. Her vision was only about thirty percent at the moment and most objects appeared as blobs. She'd used Neeko as a guide around the house to ensure that she didn't split her skull open on a shelf or the floor.

"Well, she's alive." Sasuke's voice whispered as his footsteps shuffled closer. Akari sat up straighter gripping the banner for support and tried to squint to see his form better.

"Should I ask why you're here?" she asked tilting her head.

"Food." He held the bag up now about a few feet from her.

"Oh." She hadn't been able to see the bag. Shit. She had to get inside the apartment now without stumbling. She didn't need him knowing that she was practically blind at the moment. She pinched Neeko's tail and the cat let out a yowl louder than a baby crying.

"Let's go inside Neeko." She used a tone of voice that the cat knew meant help. He lazily jumped to the ground and stretched about three times before hissing at Sasuke and padding inside. Akari used Neeko's tail which he'd wrapped around her legs to lead her inside.

"Why does your cat hate me?" she chuckled a little. Sasuke didn't need to know it's because Itachi had given her the cat.

"He doesn't hate you. He's just protective of me. He can sense chakra levels. The little snot knows that you have a high chakra and so he's trying to keep you away from me."

"Well that's sort of…neat and annoying." He made a face at the cat sticking his tongue out. Neeko growled.

"What are you doing to him?" she let it slip out because Neeko didn't often growl.

"I made a face at…I'm standing right in front of you." Sasuke said confused. "Akari you didn't see that?"

"Uh, what did you bring to eat?" she tried to change the subject.

"How long have you not been able to see?" he asked with a clicking tone setting the food on the counter. She sighed giving up.

"About three days. I'm fine. It comes back anyway." She turned feeling for the left cabinet to get some cups.

"What happens when it doesn't come back?" Sasuke asked his eyes boring a hole into her back.

"That's not going to happen. Trust me. I'll be ok. I don't use them that much. I told you that they don't work right." Sasuke wasn't having it. He gently took her wrist and moved her hand from the smooth grained wood.

"Akari." She felt something tight drawing in her chest. "You need someone to help you out when you're sick like this."

"I'm alright." She said gently. She'd started to take her arm back when Sasuke had taken a small breath and stepped past her reaching to grab cups for them. He was very close to her now.

"I think…I mean…this is just an offer." He said placing a clay mug in her hand that he'd been holding. "I'm living in the compound. It's empty. What's left of it anyway. There are plenty of rooms and an east and west wing still. I just…I have the medical salves and things there that would help you out. Plus, when you passed out or something, someone would be there to find you." She blinked several times over the next few heartbeats.

"Isn't this a little backwards?" she asked her voice low.

"What?"

"You're asking me to move in with you…" he swallowed knowing that it was really quiet inside her apartment now.

"Yeah…I just think…you'd be safer."

"People are going to think you knocked me up." Sasuke who'd been taking a drink of water spit it out in surprise coughing.

"I don't think everyone thinks that way!" he said quickly.

"I can take care of myself." She mused watching him the best that she could. She'd heard enough of his reaction though and was trying not to laugh at him.

"I know you can!" he said frustrated. "But…you don't have too." He sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "You don't have to keep you know…going it alone."

"My dad is going to kill you." He froze. He hadn't thought of that when he'd come here to give her this offer.

"Oh shit…"


	9. Roommates

Akari groaned rolling over rubbing her temples to a break in the silence that had been creating her dreams. There was a consistent thumping down the hall near the front corridor. Sasuke had given her a room from the main family's complex which had made her feel slightly uncomfortable. He didn't like to stay there so he'd migrated into the east wing to avoid the family living area. She was staying in a guest room which she assumed was down the hallway from where his parents had slept. She knew which room had been Itachi's because the door was shut and locked. She sighed sitting up wanting to snap at whoever was banging on the door this early, she glanced at the clock. It was only seven in the morning. On. Her. Day. Off. She balanced her legs swinging them over the edge of the bed and slid to the ground yawning. Her hair was a bushy spiked mess and she didn't care. She normally slept in her camisole and a pair of baggy sweatpants that she'd kept from the Akatsuki. Those men may have annoyed her but they'd really had great taste in comfortable clothing. The material was like satin. She shuffled down the bare hallway, she'd taken note that the pictures were all taken down a while ago, and stopped in front of the door glaring at it. The person was still beating on it about every three seconds and loudly. The knob was cold as she opened it the metal almost stinging her hand.

"It's really early so this had better be…" she stopped speaking raising an eyebrow. Sakura stood at the doorstep and her body language had changed rather drastically. She'd gone from smiling and cheerful her eyes bright and round to open-mouthed and rigid. She stood taller and crossed her arms over her chest eyeing Akari tilting her head a few strands of her fuchsia hair slipping over her neck.

"Should I ask why you're here?" that tone of voice. Oh, it was grating. She leveled her chin at Akari making a point to meet her eyes.

"I've been living here for about three weeks Sakura." She said dryly. If she had thought the girl had been shocked before she had literally puffed up like a balloon. There was a sense of pride emulating from her every pore. Akari hated this; drama was not a common topic for her and she did not want to deal with it.

"Hm, well, I don't think anyone knows that." She smiled at her sweetly but behind it was bitterness.

"It wasn't open for the public. I don't think we announced it with fanfare." She replied lasily leaning against the doorframe. She felt a light brushing against her shoulder as warm fingers pulled her cami strap back up along her neck where it belonged.

"Sakura." Sasuke greeted her standing behind Akari closely.

"I came by to ask you if you wanted to come to lunch later." She said taking a small breath her neck tense.

"Sure, what time?" he asked putting his hands in his pockets. She looked confused.

"Noon? By the old training grounds?" she asked looking a little brighter in mood. Akari didn't miss the snide little glance directed at her as she'd turned waving goodbye to Sasuke because the girl had moved her hips just a little too much when she'd walked away.

"Did she give you a hard time?" he asked smirking. He looked down at her as she half turned back towards him.

"She'd going to kill me while I'm sleeping and you're on the other side of the compound so you won't find my until morning." She laughed a little before yawning again.

"Nah, she'll bury you in the backyard so I can't find your body. She's smarter than that at least." He shut the door walking her into the kitchen.

"Did you tell me dad yet?" she rubbed her eyes trying to brush her hair back behind her ears.

"Yeah no." he admitted grabbing some bread from the cabinets. "I know I have too it's just a little frightening." He chuckled nervously.

Over the last few weeks the two of them had made a sort of comfortable pact as roommates. They didn't really see one another unless it was in the morning and they took and completed missions without conferring with each other. Sasuke had just gotten back from a mission with Naruto and she'd only returned two days ago from an ANBU mission. She stayed on her side of the house and he stayed on his. They both worked around the other to pick times that they'd train, although once or twice they'd used the training grounds together, mainly because they both needed so much range and depth size for their techniques and attacks. Sasuke had gotten tangles in her lightening chakra once while she'd tried to block his Chidori and it really hadn't gone so well. They'd both almost scorched the whole yard and had to treat burn wounds on their arms. She watched Sasuke as he made tea on the small stove set into the wall with tan tiling inlaid behind the grills.

"People are going to talk today. You know she's going to go back to the village and gossip about us right?" he sighed filling two cups with smoldering green tea.

"Let come what may. Who cares." He shrugged handing her a cup which she took with both hands looking up at him. There was a faint string pulling inside his chest when he looked down at her with those oceanic eyes gazing up at him.

"I care a tiny bit." She mumbled into her cup taking a tentative sip. "You know what she's going to say." He made a face shutting his eyes for just a moment before looking back down at her. He got a sort of funny feeling which began in his stomach and he couldn't help it or stop it. His hand brushed her cheek before he knelt down to her level.

"I don't give a shit what she says. You shouldn't either…but," he was really close inside her personal space. Normally she pulled away from people when they were close enough to breathe on her but there was something holding her to the spot. "Maybe we could give them a little something to start rumors about." He smirked as she gave in if only a little bit. His hand was warm against her cheek and she couldn't help it. She leaned her face into his hand where he held it closing her eyes. Something about him just felt identifiable and safe in this moment.

"It's pissing me off how much I'm not pushing you away right now…" she heard him let out a dry chuckle right before he leaned in.

There was a soft resonance between them from the moment their lips met. Akari was in a state of shock. She had never allowed anyone to come near her let alone kiss her. She knew her body was slowly becoming fluid as if melting from a frigid state. She was fighting the complete urge to give total control and she leaned back only a fraction of an inch. He moved with her his hand slipping to the back of her neck to hold her still gently taking her mug in her other hand setting it on the table. There was a small noise that came from the back of her throat as she let him pull her closer angling her body up towards him. That damned hand was smoothing its way over her spine and down to her waist. He was growing more impatient as he tangled her up against his body breathing deeply into her as she breathed into him. There was literally no separation between their physical beings. She really didn't mind it either as she wrapped her arms behind his head and around his neck.

"OI! SASUKE CHICKEN-BUTT!" Naruto shouted walking into the kitchen. Akari stiffened and quickly moved away from Sasuke biting her lip as Sasuke rubbed at the back of his neck his face heating up.

"Holy hell, do you always barge into people's homes like that?" she asked a little shocked. She didn't have a mean tone just shocked.

"Well you know," he started grinning at the two of them narrowing his eyes chuckling, "I can always leave." He waggled his eyebrows at them.

"What do you want Dobe?" Sasuke snapped eyeing him highly annoyed.

"Sensei wants to meet with all of us for a mission." He smirked still eyeing them like he knew something they didn't. "And Akari, Kakashi sensei wants you to go with us. Granny Tsunade asked that you come too." He grinned wider.

"Oh lord…" she mumbled taking a slow breath; this was going to be one long mission.

"I'm going to go now." He couldn't help but add, "You might want to LOCK the DOOR this time."

"Is he always that way?" she asked Sasuke as she reached for her cup of tea again.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You have to tell my dad now." She commented taking a slow drink looking over the green clay rim at him.

"Yeah and you have to deal with Sakura." He smirked commenting back. She made a face scrunching up her nose. She wasn't really sure where this left them and it would be a shit tone harder to avoid the other kunoichi if she was just Sasuke's friend. She preferred not muddling things but she also wasn't really sure if either of them was looking for something more than friends. She sat back down in the chair behind her still feeling the rush in her head calming down from Sasuke.

"How about you grow the balls to tell my dad I'm living with you and I'll tell Sakura to deal with it." He shrugged leaning back against the counter leveling her stare.

"Deal."


	10. What brings us together

Akari was highly uncomfortable with the situation at the moment. Upon entering the Hokage's office she'd been escorted to her desk by two ANBU including Taki. Tsunade greeted her and the others as they arrived curtly nodding. Kakashi was last, as per always, and tilted his head confused as to why his daughter was being constrained. Akari was extremely confused as well. She looked at the Hokage rolling her shoulder as Taki kept his grip on her arms behind her back.

"Well, now that we're all here…" she looked to Kakashi and then to Akari, "We have a few things to talk about. I was digging around Danzo's old mission statements and reports. The ones that didn't get destroyed had a few interesting details Akari." NOW she knew what this was about. Oh good lord almighty they were making this into a huge deal.

"Yeah, what about it?" she asked raising an eyebrow annoyed.

"What is going on?" Kakashi asked noticing that Sasuke had moved positioning himself closer to Akari almost like a buffer in case shit hit the fan.

"Your daughter was a member of the Akatsuki." Akari scoffed rolling her eyes.

"No more than Itachi. Come on Tsunade, you believe that bullshit?" she snapped.

"It's written…" she interrupted her.

"That I was ordered by Danzo for Danzo to infiltrate the Akatsuki main base and recover Intel." Sasuke sucked in a hard breath.

"You what?" he asked staring intently at her.

"You stayed there for a year and four months correct?" the Hokage asked resting her chin on her hands.

"Yes." Akari sighed.

"You were paired with Kisame and Itachi?"

"No. Not really. I wasn't paired with anyone. I was not an active member. I went on recon missions and tactical ambushes." She stated dryly.

"The letter sent back to Konoha stated that you were close with Itachi. You were giving specific Intel back on his conditions." Now Akari felt daggers stabbing into her from Sasuke's glare.

"Hold on now, give her a chance to explain…" Kakashi said putting a hand up.

"Yes let's." Sakura smirked crossing her arms over her chest. Akari felt a wave of anxiety and anger wash over her.

"Oh, go shove it flamingo." She threw a heavy glare back at the other female before looking back at Tsunade. To her amusement the pink haired nin did look a little scared and backed down.

"Explain." Tsudane commanded slamming her fist on the table. "I do not know that I can trust you here."

"If I DIDN'T care about this village," Akari raised her voice angrily meeting the Hokage's eyes. "I wouldn't NEVER have come back!" she yelled losing her temper. "I spent my ENTIRE FUCKING childhood living in the ROOT core barracks! I had no family! I got the SHIT beaten out of me every day! The Akatsuki was the first time I had ever had anyone CARE about me. I came back because there were people who needed protected that can't protect themselves! I have a gift." She stabbed a finger in the direction towards her eyes. "I HATE them but they SAVE people's lives. I wasn't given an order to come back, I didn't have too. Danzo thought Hiden had killed me. I came back to protect this village." She finished knowing that the tops of her ears were red.

The entire room was silent. Akari felt her blood pressure surging and she needed it to come down a few notches. Tsunade had sat back crossing her arms over her chest eyeing Akari a firm look on her face.

"You didn't answer me about Itachi." Tsunade said coolly. She felt a tick starting in the back of her jaw.

"What do you want me to say? I was sent to get Intel on him. I did. Did I get to know him? Yes. That's generally how you get in depth detail on someone." She sighed running a hand through her hair.

"Did you two…" Kakashi started to ask. She made a face turning to face her father.

"Oh good god! Is that what this is about? NO!" she snapped. "No, I did not have a relationship with Uchiha, Itachi. Holy hell." Taki jerked her arms back and held her tighter. She hadn't realized she'd taken a step forward.

"How do we fully know that we can trust you?" the Hokage asked.

"Did I attack this village with Pein?" she shot back at her. It caught her off guard and it took Tsunade a moment to think it over.

"No, you didn't." she said nodding. "I suppose you could have." Akari shrugged.

"Would have been easy. Could have gotten a lot of frustration and anger out. I could have gone after the bastards that helped keep me a secret for years. I didn't. I stayed in the ANBU ranks and defended this village." Tsunade nodded to Taki and they released Akari. She took a long breath and rubbed her arms where they'd been held.

"Very well. You understand that I had to do that to make sure where your loyalties laid."

"Yeah, thanks." Akari said sarcastically. Tsunade chose to ignore it and looked at them all.

"Now, your mission." She said firmly. "You all will go as a four man team into the land of Iron. It is rumored that a man living in the country there is planning an attack with a rogue group of samurai. Your objective is to capture and bring him back for interrogation."

The mission report briefing did not take long and the mission wouldn't be hard either. It seemed simple enough and Akari wasn't sure why she was going with team seven on this unless Kakashi had requested she be there. She wondered, as they walked out of the office, if he wanted to do this for a sense of bonding. It wasn't until they were outside with the hard sun beating down on their backs that she felt that stinging glare again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sasuke asked taking her shoulder making her turn around. She did not like being grabbed like that and she knocked his hand off eyeing him. They were standing a bit closer than normal.

"Because I knew this would be an issue. It can't change anything. He's dead. Why hash this shit back up?" she asked meeting his eyes.

"I just…you got to know him." She saw this overwhelming look in his eyes. She'd been prepared for anger and screaming but this, this look was torture. She saw a lot of things hiding in his onyx eyes. He was holding back on fury letting desperation seep through. Memories were surging deep inside his mind and there was too much. She sighed and took him softly pulling him against herself. She hugged him. She couldn't believe she was hugging someone but she was. She hadn't known she'd even had this side to herself. Gently she rubbed his back and felt him wrap his arms around her warmly. He laid his face in her neck and inhaled. He whispered against her skin there softly as something warm dropped onto her shoulder.

"I did get to know him. If you want me to tell you anything…I'll tell you what you want." She spoke gently in his ear. His lips brushed her neck as he replied.

"I would really like that." Sasuke had thought that he'd lost everything about his brother after he'd been tricked into killing him. He'd had brief moments back with him during the great war…but now…he had some sort of insight into how his brother had lived. He had someone to tell him who his brother had been…

Kakashi watched from a distance having already walked ahead. He was really split on what he wanted to do. There was a part of him that wanted to go over and rip the two apart and beat the living hell out of Sasuke for touching Akari but there was another part of himself that was fascinated. He had never seen anyone tame Sasuke's emotions but Naruto and he'd never seen Sasuke attach himself to a female. Of course he could see the bad reaction coming from Sakura and he was slightly fearful as his other student watched that she would slaughter them on the mission. He rubbed the back of his neck trying to think. This was going to be one hell of a mission and one hell of a headache.


	11. Don't let me down

This is bonus material at the beginning from Akari learning to grow within the Akatsuki. It may not seem very important but I believe that it will help you come to understand a different side of her that does not often come out.

Itachi and Kisame were just arriving back from a mission in the sand. It had been exhausting and annoying to trail and track a man that was half their strength and kill him. The man had not been very intelligent but had brute strength backing his attacks. Kisame had tried to take the majority of the battle but Itachi had had to step in. His eyes were throbbing. He wanted nothing more than to lie down on the bed and bury his head into the pillow. He figured Akari would be training at this hour so he wouldn't bother her to use the room. However, upon gaining ground to the hideout, both Kisame and Itachi froze. There was a ground shattering explosion near the back of the base, the training grounds, and Itachi felt a sort of panic.

"Deidara." He cussed and took off. If that idiot had blown Akari up he was going to utterly impale the artist to Sasori and let the redhead splinter his body into pieces. Smoke was rising in the distance and Kisame was having a hard time keeping up with his partner. Although he had to admit if something had happened to the little Hatake brat he'd probably use Deidara as a punching bag. Pein insisted on training the two together because they were closer in age than anyone else, some bullshit about keeping children with children so the adults could do work.

"YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!" To Itachi's surprise Akari was towering over the blonde with a fistful of his hair in her hand and a lightening blade at his chest. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!" the idiot laughed and grinned up at her.

"You gotta run faster un." Itachi saw her eye begin to twitch before she punched him in the jaw knocking him back.

"It's called TRAIN idiot! Not KILL!" she huffed and took a long breath falling to the ground to sit beside him. Kisame noticed that they were both breathing hard and covered in ash marks from the current explosion. A small white clay bird hoped on Akari's shoulder and Deidara sat up making a hand sign.

"Come on un, their amazing!" he ducked when she scooped the bird off her shoulder practically impaling it into the side of his head when she threw it back at him. They were only sitting about two feet apart and for the first time Itachi was getting to see her act like a child. She fought a tired smile as Deidara chuckled.

"You're so stupid." She complained smirking. "I hate you." But even she was having trouble containing the laughter.

"Come on un, we need to get inside before dark. Leader-sama said no staying outside un." She yawned and stretched as they both got up she started rubbing her eyes.

"You still could have killed me." She snapped half eyeing him lazily.

"You held up un." He clapped her on the back a little too hard for her tiny frame and almost knocked her over. She coughed glaring up at him as they went inside the eye twitch came back and Itachi felt a slow smiled spread.

It wasn't until later that night when Itachi found Akari that he couldn't help but fetch Kisame. The blue shark had followed his partner down the narrow corridor and towards the living room grumbling. He did not like to be disturbed when he was cleaning his sword and he was not enjoying the slight walk. His legs were tired from the mission and Itachi was making him walk. Yes, he could be lazy too. Itachi glanced back at him as they walked.

"You will not believe this. Honestly, as much as these two fight, I thought I was seeing things." His partner whispered. Itachi did not whisper. Now he had Kisame's attention. He stopped at the end of the hallway and pointed towards the living room around the corner. Kisame raised his eyebrow and peaked around to see something that floored him. On the small burgundy couch cuddled deep within the overused and down cushions were two children. Deidara was thrown across the couch laying there head back hair sprayed around his head like a halo. His mouth was wide open where he snored like a saw and a small dribble of spit hung from the corner of his mouth. Curled up at his side like a cat with her head on his stomach was Akari. She was tightly wound against herself her right hand gripping Deidara's fishnet shirt. Her chest was rising and falling slowly her silver bangs shielding her eyes. It was hard sometimes to remember that they were children no matter how deadly they were and as Kisame turned to face Itachi both partners shared a smile. For once this place wasn't marred with blood and horror…these two rugrats had given some innocence to the Akatsuki.

(Back to the current time)

Kakashi, his students, and his daughter had all stopped for the evening to rest and eat. They needed to sleep after the length of distance they had traveled over the last two days. Sakura was checking and fawning over Sasuke to make sure that his levels were "alright" or so she said. Naruto was blabbering to Kakashi's ninja hound and Akari was fighting an urge to just lay down and pretend she wasn't here. This squad was functional without her here and she wasn't sure why she was. Kakashi sighed and sat starting the work on setting up camp and a fire. Sakura was hovering closer and closer to Sasuke leaning in here and there as she spoke whispering a few things in his ear. Kakashi raised an eyebrow watching his daughter. She was not reacting the way he'd expected as he saw her eyes track Sakura's movements. Most women would be freaking out and putting on a display of ownership, at least to some extent, to run the opposing female off. Akari wasn't showing any outward sign of annoyance other than her eye tensing.

"You want to talk?" he asked her lowering his voice. She glanced at him briefly and took a slow breath before nodding and sat down across from her father at the fire. She was beginning to think that Pakkun was only summoned to distract Naruto so that they'd have the chance to talk.

"I'm not great at heart to heart's." she admitted meeting her father's eyes over the tops of the blazing orange lights.

"That's alright. I haven't been one for great talks either." He smiled tilting his head to the side before looking at her seriously. "You know…I really do want to get to know you Akari." It was an entire heartbeat before she seemed to register what he'd said. She glanced down moving a small pebble with her right foot scrunching her nose up.

"I always thought about this moment…as a kid." She whispered looking into the bright flames. "I always thought that I'd meet you and you'd hate me." Kakashi sat back straightening up listening to her. He felt a bit shocked and confused to her statement.

"Now why would I hate you?" he asked gently.

"I am not a great person. Every parent, from what I was told or read, wants the best from their children. I've done horrible things Kakashi. I am not a good person." She looked up searching his face which looked somewhat like hers.

"We've all done our share of disgusting things Akari. That is not something I would judge you on."

"I don't know…where to begin…" she sighed exhausted. "I don't understand family…this is all so…so…" she wanted to find the word.

"New to you. It's new to me as well. I've not had someone around since my father. It will be a sort of learning process for us both." He said nodding to her. She felt some pain washing through and out of her.

"I just don't want to lose you when I haven't met you…and I don't want to disappoint you." She smiled a little nervously. She'd never wanted to please Danzo but there was some sort of foreign feeling looming inside of here that wanted to please Kakashi.

"I doubt you will." He smiled back lightly.

"Oh Sasuke-kun…." Akari took a deep heavy breath closing her eyes as she listened to Sakura across the camp running her dainty little hand over Sasuke's bicep. Kakashi loved his student but he was watching the growing agitation in his daughter's shoulders.

"Why are you just letting her do that? I'm curious…" she scoffed and shook her head.

"You can't claim what isn't yours. If he wants it to stop he'll do something. If not, it's whatever." She shrugged.

"That doesn't seem like the best…" he was cut off when Naruto shouted hopping around the camp when Pakkun bit him. He sighed at the same time his daughter did watching the boy.

"Are you going to save him or am I?" Kakashi chuckled rubbing the back of his neck.

"He's a big boy. He can save himself." And sooner or later they'd all have to lay down for the night and get some rest. They would need their strength for the upcoming mission tomorrow. It was all going to spear point into a head the next afternoon when they confronted their target. Akari was starting to get up and head towards one of the tents when she got a strange feeling. The whole of her head was spinning and her eyes surged from focused to blurry fading in and out suddenly. She stayed her movements sucking in a breath as the world spun and focused again but it wasn't what it should be. She felt sick to her stomach and what she saw was scaring her. Through her own eyes she was watching herself and the others from a different location; it seemed that she was watching them from a hidden areal position in the trees cloaked in darkness. She watched herself slow in her movements towards the tent and wrap an arm around her stomach. It was like a serious case of dejavu.

"Akari?" Kakashi said standing up slowly. As soon as it had started it dissipated and Akari felt like she was in control of everything around her again. Her vision faded back into her line of view and she breathed out holding her head.

"I'm alright. It's just some left over effects from a few weeks ago. I need to take my medicine and sleep." She was sure that was it. She'd never experienced something like that before and she was afraid to admit that perhaps her condition was worsening. She would have to visit Tsunade when they arrived home and immediately to make sure that she wasn't putting her vision in danger.


	12. HELL hath no fury

Akari sat very still on the tree branch she'd been positioned in while waiting to give the signal that their target had arrived. She'd been watching a road pass for nearly an hour when she finally caught sight of a group of men riding horses. They were going at an easy pace and close to the edge of the road in some places. She made a face watching the nobleman stretch and yawn from his horse-drawn carriage window. He was dressed in a dark green robe and wore a hat crested with the Mist's symbol. This man was not their target but he was working with the man riding the horse in front that was responsible for creating the possible uprising. She took a small breath taking care not to shift the leaves and made a whistling noise. It was a native bird call to this area and she did it expertly. It was part of the reason they'd picked her as the lookout. There were stupid little things like this that the ANBU were trained to do; stealth tactics in emergency situations. Sasuke appeared across the road hidden on the other side near a few bushes. They just needed to wait now for Naruto and Kakashi to head off the roadway. The sun was shining down over the dirt packed ground highlighting the little glassy pebbles that were tracked in from the lake's shores of the country. Akari was counting down in her head…Kakashi had said to count to four…one…two…three…Sasuke shifted his weight and she shifted hers…

Kakashi flashed in front of the road blocking it into the cave like mountain mouth ahead of the horses and men. Naruto appeared behind the group hands on his hips grinning. Akari sighed shaking her head. He was always so damn upbeat and happy, even when it was a dangerous mission. There were six men altogether and they pulled their horses to a stop the man in the front narrowed his eyes. He had long black hair pulled back into a messy bun at the base of his skull. His clothes were shoddy and resembled a bandit. The whole group except for the nobleman looked like a rag tag group of criminals that Akari was used to dealing with disposing of for Konoha. The problem was that Sakura had not showed up. Sasuke had taken the western side of the group and she had taken the eastern side blocking them off. Sakura was supposed to have taken a spot near Naruto and keep an eye on the Nobleman to make sure that they didn't kill him. They wanted him for a witness. She had a very important job but she hadn't taken her spot. Kakashi moved ahead anyway.

He stepped forward calling out to the main man on the patchwork brown horse lifting his eye shield. A light wind blew across the road and Sasuke tensed. There was something seriously not right about this whole situation. He didn't know what was annoying him but it was like a nagging feeling. He glanced in Akari's direction and saw the same reaction.

"I think we should have a talk." Kakashi said clearly in a low voice to the man. "You might want to give this up now. The Mizukage had called for your capture and execution. You're a wanted man." The man laughed hoping off his horse drawing a sword.

"I'm not really scared of shinobi." He quipped glancing around counting the four of them.

"You might want to be." Sasuke said slowly taking a step forward. Every man in the group pulled some kind of weapon and shielded the Nobleman's carriage.

"I think you all should step aside." The man raised his sword. "Or I'll start this attack. We can cut through all of you." He grinned wide showing a few rotting teeth.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted all of a sudden running forward. It had already started. Akari turned quickly seeing one of the men running at Sasuke with a heavy blade the size of his torso. She wanted to intervene but fought inside her mind as he blocked it grunting from strain with his kantana. She knew he would be fine on his own. She needed to focus and concentrate here. Tracking Naruto's movements since he'd seen it all start she watched rooted to the spot as a man attack him as well. Then another came from behind heaving a kunai up behind the blonde's back.

"NARUTO!" She screamed catching the blade of one of the others across her arm shield pulling a kunai from her sheath and slamming it into his side. He screamed falling back from her but did not go down. He went at her again causing her to lose sight of Naruto and forcing her to return to the battle. She cussed as the man started beating her back with a brute force packing hard hits. There was a loud scream from her right and she glanced in that direction. It was a mistake. She always worked alone and working now with a group the others shouts and calls were confusing her. ANBU did not react to missions like this and they certainly did not yell out during battle. Kakashi flashed in front of her knocking her back blocking a slice of the man's blade that would have caught her in the head.

"You have to pay attention!" he snapped glancing back at her. She nodded seeing that his eye was already working hard to compensate for the battle. Akari whipped around the man and elbowed him in the neck with enough chakra to knock him out. He fell sideways and she swept up his blade hauling it over her shoulder grinning at Kakashi. Her old man laughed a little and shook his head.

"What?" she asked chuckling.

"You're a cocky little shit. Reminds me of myself at your age." He rolled his eyes and then directed his attention back to the battlefield. Akari searched the road and quickly found Sasuke taking out two of the men. That was three down. Three to go. She turned looking past her father with him at her side and froze.

"Oh hell!" she snapped. That was when it happened again. It did NOT need to happen again! It did not need to happen in the middle of a fight! Her eyes blurred and focused and then blurred again. The road was losing its path and the battle surging around her was fading into a dim background.

When her vision righted itself she was staring at the whole scene from another hidden spot above. Again she was hidden in the trees watching form a safe distance. She could feel her body and feel her eyes but she was watching herself stand still. She watched her father move to her right sprinting towards a man who was running at them. She watched as Naruto was in trouble. She had to do something. How? She couldn't move…or could she? Could she move even if she wasn't a part of herself. She took a deep breath tensing and a shiver split down her spine. She was watching as she took three steps forward hesitantly. Akari was watching herself move. This was scarier that hell. Now wasn't the time to freak out. She had to get to Naruto; just before this had happened she'd watched one of the men run at him with a hand full of chakra. It was a sealing jutsu…or an unlocking one…and no matter what that was a bad thing. Naruto was a jinchuiki and anyone who knew how to use a sealing jutsu was one of his greatest enemies.

He'd been aiming his hand directly at his stomach. She watched from her areal alternate vision and panicked. The man's hand connected with Naruto's skin just above his navel as the boy had been about to throw a punch. All five fingers locked with the swirls around the seal and Akari felt a shockwave. Decision time. She forced her body to move and ran at them both. Grabbing the man who was twisting Naruto's chakra and ripping him back she stabbed him in the chest and locked his eyes in a genjutsu with her sharingan. He hit the ground hard beneath her as she searched through his mind endlessly. She had to find a way to hurry and lock the seal back. She had no idea if she could even do that. She stiffened catching memories of the man learning the seal from another in a black cloak. She pulled out from his mind immediately watching herself still separated from her body. She heaved over gripping her stomach as a wave of the fox's chakra blasted from Naruto knocking her flat. She skidded along the dirt flipping over herself when strong arms caught her. Someone was yelling in her ear…

"AKARI!" Sasuke screamed shaking her by the shoulders. Her skin along her entire back was scorched and burnt still sizzling with the aftereffect of the blast from the ninetails. Naruto was fighting to control it but one of them had to get near him and fast. Kakashi appeared beside them breathing hard a bad wound to his left shoulder.

"I'm alright. Is she ok?" Sasuke shook his head.

"I'm fine!" she huffed shoving off of him and kneeling on the ground shaking her head trying to clear it. With an uncomfortable snap somewhere in the back of her head she could see suddenly again. Her vision slammed back into her own head and she was watching everything speed up as if she'd been watching it in slow motion.

"We have to get him under control!" Sasuke shouted over the three tails that had escaped.

"I…" Akari had a plan if she could talk. She leaned forward and hurled shaking. Kakashi's eyes widened a bit; this was not going well.

"I got this!" Sakura's voice filtered onto the road finally. She was standing by the horses and she smirked. She had a plan to finish all this and to show Sasuke that she was a valuable asset to this team. She was prepared to show Akari that she was better.

"NO! DON'T!" Akari screamed as Sakura reared her arm back to slam it into the ground.

The earth beneath their feet splintered and shattered shaking like an earthquake. Kakashi tried to grab Sasuke and Akari in time but his hand slipped directly past them grabbing at thin air. He had to redirect himself to jump on falling shards of rock as the Cliffside gave way. Akari tumbled sprayed out falling past Sasuke who had reached upward catching a thin sliver of rock jutting out from the broken boulders as pieces continued to fall. His dangling arm barely caught and circled around her pulling her tightly against his stomach and chest holding her there tightly. She breathed out tense and looked up at him. Naruto had fallen down towards the water below roaring and growling as a fourth tail had boiled out of the chakra around him. He hit the water snarling and sunk.

"He's not coming back up!" she looked up at Sasuke as they both worked together to haul themselves back up the cliff.

"We have to go down and get him." Sasuke said crouching low watching the water and the few bubbles surfaced.

"We have to lock the seal. You're the only one who's been in his head." She said worried. "What was she THINKING!?" Akari was still reeling from the whole eye problem and she was freaking out a bit. Team seven was completely dysfunctional and she had no idea how to deal with this.

"Sasuke you restrain Naruto, I'll re-seal him. Akari you find Sakura." Kakashi said quickly leaping down the cliff towards the water. Sasuke glanced at her before watching his teacher.

"Be safe…please." He whispered and dashed off.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me! Why do I have to go get crazy?" she snapped holding her head as it throbbed. If she found the flamingo conscious she was probably going to beat the living hell out of the other girl or at least break her fist that she'd punched into the ground.


	13. An offered proposal

Akari held her breath as she picked through the ruble of the broken road. She did not specifically want to fins Sakura but she wasn't going to leave the woman trapped if she was covered under all this dirt and mess. Her eyes were aching as she searched for the other female and her entire body felt like she was on fire. She couldn't figure out what was going on with herself. There was no explanation for the symptoms that were occurring and she certainly didn't know how to explain them. Her left eye in particular was pounding inside her socket and felt like it was swelling behind the retina. She had a feeling that it would be fully closed in about an hour. Akari stopped hearing a slow groaning noise to her right and she quickly maneuvered towards it. An arm was caught limp between two boulders and a body was laying beneath those. That wasn't good.

"Sakura?" she bent down starting to remove the rocks with diligence. It definitely wasn't good if your medical nin was injured on a mission this dangerous. Come to think of it, Akari was beginning to guess that this mission had been a set up from the start. Clearly these men had not been after anyone but Naruto; why else would she have seen the one bandit learning a sealing technique from the black cloaked stranger.

"Ngh…" Akari hunched forward and threw her weight into her shoulders snagging her arms under Sakura's arms hauling her up from the debris.

"Hey come on, you have to stay awake." She said to the other girl laying her on one of the rocks to get a better look at her. In the chaos that had ensued Akari had lost track of Sakura and she'd never imagined that she'd been trapped in the rocks. The pink haired nin coughed rubbing her chest and then held her head. A thick brick sized lump was forming on the left side of her head and jutted over her forehead and to her eye. There was a plum colored bruise surrounding the initial contact area above her eye.

"I'm awake." She shot back rolling onto her side. Well hello pissy ass.

"Listen don't start with me. It's not the time or the place. We have an issue." She met the girl's eyes directly.

"What do you me…"

"Thanks to that little display you had, a guy was able to use an unlocking technique on Naruto's seal. It looks like it's only half open and Kakashi and Sasuke went after him. They need us." Sakura sat up starting at her wide eyed. It was honestly clear that her intentions had not been to make this mission any worse. She'd wanted for the best but caused a landslide, literally.

"How many tails have escaped?" she got to her feet stumbling. Akari caught her putting an arm over her shoulder supporting the girl's weight.

"Take it easy, you're pretty knocked around. You have a bad head injury. I'm going to help you move. There were four tails before he fell into the water." The flamingo tensed.

"Four…that's not good…" she whispered shaking her head.

"I know. We need to get over there to help." Without putting much thought into it Akari ignited her Sharingan and searched out the field for Kakahi and Sasuke's chakra. Naruto's was blazing below the cliff, what was left of it, and she knew that they had to hurry. Sakura was slowing her down but this was the best she could do.

They moved steadily and constantly, Akari working with patience to keep Sakura from falling, towards the edge. Below she could see two tails had been sucked back into Naruto's chakra and Sasuke was badly beaten. He was breathing hard balancing on the water's surface trying to distract Naruto enough for Kakashi to seal him again. She thought back to the cloaked man. Why would someone want to do this after everything that had occurred in the past few years? Most people saw Naruto as a hero above all hero's in the ninja world for having saved them again Madara and Obito in the great battle. She couldn't imagine why they would want to set the tailed beast free again. Was it possible that the someone was taking up the Akatsuki's personal vendetta again? Kakashi swiftly moved from behind as Sasuke caught the brunt force of one of the tails as it hit him across the stomach. He was flung into the Cliffside rock wall where he stuck with a sickening and resounding thud. A few pebbles cracked and fell around the deep impression his body made. Akari set Sakura down on the ground kneeling in front of her.

"You are a very strong and intelligent ninja. You are a phenomenal medical ninja. I need you to stay here and stay safe. You are key to the rest of us surviving this right now ok?" she said in a calm voice. "If you get hurt again or pass out, none of us can heal enough from the kyuubi's attacks."

Sakura fought the urge to snap at Akari as the woman set her down. She watched as she knelt in front of her and met her eyes. She shared the eyes of her teacher and the trademark worry was etched into her face that Kakashi often tried to hide in stressful situations. It wasn't until after she'd spoken that Sakura felt a sort of shock whisper through her head.

"I…" she started to say but Akari cut her off just holding her hand up.

"We need you right now. I don't know what happened between you and Sasuke. It's your business, just like what's going on with him and I, but that's not important. You need to take care of that shit with him and I'll handle mine. I don't want this to become a grudge or a fight…I have to go down there and help them finish this…" she stood up and turned crouching to make the high jump off the ledge. Sakura noticed the long stretch of burned skin on her back where her shirt was now torn. Naruto had laid into her good with the first Kyuubi blast. She was speechless as she watched her jump into the fray of the battle. No one had ever really said what she'd said to her about being important to the team. She knew that she was a vital member but Sasuke and Naruto tended to forget that and often left her behind when the fighting started. Until she'd gained massive strength in the last great ninja war no one had ever acknowledged her except Lady Tsunade. Part of the aching burning part of her subsided towards the girl…maybe she was right…she'd sworn off Sasuke when he'd returned, so why did it bother her so much that Akari was living with him?

Upon hitting the water Sasuke's body fell from the rocks and Akari flashed to the spot falling back as she caught him. He landed half against her half sprawled out with them both laying on the water. She made a face trying to lift him up and he quickly moved back kneeling and brought her on her knees with him. His eyes met her for a fraction of a moment.

"Thanks for sort of catching me." He coughed out in a laugh.

"Yeah, you weight more than I thought." She smirked half turning to see that Kakashi had subdued another tail.

"Go let Sakura heal you. You're in bad shape and your chakra is depleted. I'll handle this with my dad." She stood up wincing as the skin in her back stretched and moved grating against itself.

"You're not in any better shape idiot." She grinned glancing back at him as he stood up behind her.

"I wanna see what my old man's got." He chuckled a bit and rolled his shoulders back cracking his neck to the side.

"Yeah, ok. You got this." He put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and rocked her weight backwards over her heels before shooting herself forward towards where Naruto was. This was going to hurt and burn like a mother but It would be effective enough to stay the boy.

Akari hit Naruto at full force knocking him sideways taking her arms and wrapping them around his stomach. The chakra burning around him scorched her unprotected skin and started to melt her arm shields. He gasped as she flipped them and knocked him back into the cave wall on the other side of the cliff pinning him there. They met eyes and she activated her Mangekyou Sharingan locking him in place. She took a hesitant step back keeping her forearm against his throat roughly. Kakashi moved in behind her and she felt the heavy chakra that cloaked his hand as he lit the sealing technique.

"Keep him steady." He said near her ear as if coaching her. "If he moves now we'll have all kinds of issues. This seal can lock and unlock based on how I use it." If she let Naruto move the seal could be shifted the wrong way and unlock the Kyuubi.

"I got him…just do it…he's fighting the Mangekyou. You taught him how to break it…he's trying too." She quipped as her mind strained to keep the boy silent.

"Here goes…" much to Kakashi's displeasure he plunged his hand against his student's stomach and let the seal realign itself. There was a brief explosion of chakra and Akari was thrown back from Naruto as the fox was pulled back inside the blonde's body. Kakashi caught her sliding back on the water holding her up steadily.

"You alright?" he asked as she pushed off him taking a slow breath.

"I'm good…his chakra is ridiculous." She looked at him nervously. He smiled back at her before moving to collect Naruto's limp body from the water.

A few weeks had passed from the fiasco with Naruto's sealing mark and Akari still hadn't really spoken with Sasuke or Sakura about everything that had taken place. On the large scheme of events they at least needed to hash out where they stood in all of this. She needed to take her own advice and handle her shit with Sasuke which she'd said she would do anyway.

"Hey." He said gently walking into the main part of the house to find her sitting in the window sill reading a book.

"Hey." She said back balancing the book over her knee.

"You have a mission today?" he asked wondering idly if she had the day off as well.

"Er…no…" she tilted her head watching him curiously. "Look, I think we might need to talk…"

"We do. But I want to say something first." He stood in front of her now looking down at her running a twitchy hand through his bangs.

"Ok, shoot." Her voice was slightly softer than usual.

"I don't know what you said to Sakura but she wanted me to tell you that you're a really lucky girl." He sighed looking up at the ceiling before she could ask why because he knew she would. "Because, I'd really like you to…" he wanted to find the right words. "I want you to stay here Akari…I don't want you to leave which I guess means that I kind of think of us as more than friends at this point…" he was rambling. She smirked a little watching a dull blush start at the tops of his cheeks.

"Sasuke are you asking me to date you?" he stiffened making a face before looking back down at her his shoulders rolling forward in defeat; he smiled.

"We've kind of been dating anyway…" he chuckled. "_Someone _moved into my bedroom what?...three nights ago now?" now it was really her turn to blush badly.

"Can it. You didn't complain." She half snapped.

"I think what I was trying to say is that you as more important than just my girlfriend…I've never really liked someone the way I think I do with you right now…"

"Uh…what?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"I erm," he sighed flustered. "I wanna ask your dad to formally start an engagement to you." She gaped, she'd never gaped at anyone in her entire life, literally her jaw fell open.

"I…we don't…uhm…" she couldn't think of what she wanted to really say but when she saw the doubt and fear in his eyes begin to swell she instantly felt her brain shift into hyper-drive.

"Yes." She rushed out standing up but it wasn't a giddy sort of giggling that women did. She hugged him close and was silent letting the flittering movement of nervous things shift and churn in her stomach.

"Yes?" he asked unsure if he'd heard her correctly.

"But we're not getting married…for about five years you get that right?" he laughed shaking his head looking down at her.

"I guessed that in a way, I just wanted you to understand that I'm serious about you…I didn't want you to have to feel unsure about this…I'm with you Akari."

And for the first time in her life she really felt a part of something and someone…she wondered idly if this was what she'd always been missing in her life…love.


	14. EXTRA FLUFF-The Approval of a Father

Akari stood stiffly completely unsure of what to do. She was surrounded by the women of the village in a formal dressing room of the Hyuuga compound. Kureni was fussing around her hair sticking straight pins and needles into it while Sakura was helping slather some form of soppy liquid in other places to make it stay. She'd had to take several deep breaths and had counted to eleven thousand and twenty seven in her head silently. Hinata was rolling up a sleeve on her right wrist and marking the fabric to hem it as they stood on the small pedestal in the center of the room.

"No!" Akari snapped finally when Ino had come at her with a giant tray overflowing with hoards of bottles and pallets to decorate her face. Ino frowned pouting.

"It's an engagement walk Akari…you sort of have to do this." Mentally Akari was making the decision as to whether or not to kill her father and Sasuke.

"No makeup. I don't wear it. I don't want any." Her voice was somewhat annoyed and icy.

"Too bad." Sakura grabbed a giant puffy something and slammed it onto her face. There was an explosion of powder causing everyone to move back a foot coughing. Akari stood motionless her right eye twitching and she glared at the pink haired female.

"If you ever do that again, I can promise you that I will kill you." Sakura hesitantly smiled and offered her a towel for her face.

"I'm sorry, this is just sort of exciting. None of us knew the Uchiha clan had such a pomp and circumstance about engagements."

"Neither did I…guys…please…can we just stop this." She begged looking down at Hinata as she finished hemming the sleeve and bit the string standing up.

"As soon as you guys make the walk through the village you can go home and take all this off." Ino rolled her eyes. Honestly, what woman wouldn't love this sort of attention.

"I don't like all of this stuff to begin with." She sighed closing her eyes taking another long breath. "I can't do this…" she half groaned staring up at the ceiling.

"You are going to do this and you are going to do it like a _lady_." Kureni quipped hitting her back. "Stand tall and hold your chin up."

"Oh good god…help me." She expelled a breath staring at the older woman as she began a rant about the walk for the eighth time that day.

(Previously that week)

Kakashi had been sitting in his apartment reading more of his Ichi Ichi Paradise books when there had been a knock on his door. He'd sighed standing to stretch. He was only wearing his regulation long sleeve navy shirt and his navy pants. He'd neglected to put his facial wrap on and at the moment he really didn't care. His eye was also uncovered and exposed. Lazily he walked to the door shuffling his legs idly and opened it.

"Well, to what do I owe this visit?" he asked Sasuke as the boy shifted and came inside.

"I've come by your place before Kakashi, don't act like it's a rare occurrence." The boy nodded to his teacher before sitting at the kitchen table on a stool. Kakashi rose an eyebrow watching the raven carefully; something had the boy frustrated or unfocused. His shoulders were hunched just a fraction and his facial expression was that of anxiety. Sasuke was picking at something on his pants before he sighed. Kakashi had been reserving judgment on his student and his daughter because in all fairness she was an adult. So far, from his rampant spying trips to the Uchiha compound, Sasuke had been very good to Akari. He'd not seen them fight except for minor glaring matches and quipped remarks and they usually just left each other alone if one was agitated with the other. They were like two sides to a coin and for some reason their personalities fit together like a puzzle piece; one would turn a different way and the other would compensate by turning to refit their part again.

"What is going on inside your head boy? I can tell you're bothered by something…" There was an extremely long silence. Kakashi moved further into the bland kitchen touched by only a few utensils to make some tea. Once the kettle was warming on the stove he turned to face his student again.

"I came here to ask you a question…and seeing that you took the first one well, I'm hoping you don't have any weapons on you…you don't right?" he asked glancing up at Kakashi eyeing him warily.

"Not at the moment but you are making me wonder if I should have one…" Sasuke sighed heavily looking at the table, the wall, and then back at Kakashi.

"I…"

"If you say that my daughter is pregnant I will gut you. Just so we're clear." He smiled at Sasuke with a very scary glare that lit his face in a way he was very sure meant that the threat was real.

"Uh, no. No. She's not." He said quickly holding his hands up. Kakashi relaxed some and nodded grabbing a red and silver mug from a cabinet.

"Then why are you here?" he asked idly.

"I wanted to ask for your approval of my and Akari's engagement." Kaksahi practically became ramrod stiff as the red mug slipped from his hand and clattered to the counter. It didn't break but he could tell he had startled the man.

"Seriously?" he eyed Sasuke. "Is she pregnant?" he narrowed his eyes on the raven.

"NO!" he snapped frustrated.

"Then why are you asking for this?" he put a hand on his hip leaning back against the counter. Sasuke made a small huffing noise and rubbed his head looking up at the ceiling.

"I don't know how to put this…I…"

"It's very simple. You either love my daughter and you are so explicitly sure that you will never harm her in any way and always be there for her…or you are unsure and you're going into this and will break her heart." He said meeting his student's eyes. "If it is the second one I can assure you that you will die by my hand's Itachi's will be damned. You are _not _going to hurt Akari." His voice was definitive and final.

"I am sure. That's what I'm trying to explain…why I'm sure." Kakashi tilted his head waiting. He crossed his arms over his chest as the kettle began to whistle a slow tune.

"I have never really paid attention to any woman…I mean I noticed them but I didn't care…When I met Akari it was…almost all consuming. I didn't know her but I wanted to know her and I couldn't get her out of my head. I was worried about someone I had nothing to do with, Kakashi, I really know that I love her." Much to his displeasure Kakashi couldn't hold that speech against the boy. He grunted pouring the tea and sighed handing Sasuke a fresh steaming cup.

"I give my approval but only under the condition that if you hurt her I can kill you." Sasuke took an unsteady breath.

"Uhm, that's a little harsh sensei." Kakashi had grinned.

"Then don't hurt my daughter. It's quiet simple really."


	15. You can Still Run?

Akari wasn't usually one for heart to hearts but when her father met her at the village gates where the village walk would begin something inside her snapped. Over the last few weeks they'd been meeting once a week at a tea shop on the south side of town to talk. It wasn't much but she figured she owed him to try. He wanted to be there so badly that she felt horrible for being so tentative. She just knew that trusting someone fully was the most terrifying thing she could do; she was also giving two people her heart at once. Sasuke and Kakashi were holding a part of herself that she'd never shown anyone completely. Itachi hadn't even gotten to know the whole of her. She stood at the gates beside Kakashi and looked up at him taking a small breath. She felt ridiculous; all these damn hair pins and this stupid kimono. She hated dresses. She hated being done up like this but her father looked at her with something that only registered as pride. It was an old look that she'd only seen on Danzo's eyes when she'd killed people for the man. Kakashi nodded his head to her smiling rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"You know you're making your old man rethink giving you over to Sasuke at the end of this. You're too good for him." She laughed shaking her head.

"Is that something all father's think?" she asked smirking.

"No, I know. He had better be good to you." He stated meeting her eyes. "You swear you'll always come to me and tell me if he does anything…" she put up a hand gently.

"I would always come to you first, but I really doubt that will be a problem." She smiled as Kakashi took her elbow gently against his arm.

"I better not lose you when I hand you over." He quipped as Tsunade turned in front of them to speak to the small crowd of villagers who had gathered through the village streets.

"You won't lose me. I'll still come see you for tea." She chuckled then warily looked over the crowds. "You know you'd think people had better things to do…" she sighed.

"They wanted to see Hatake Kakashi's daughter. Remember, this is the first time Tsunade is addressing that you are my daughter and that you exist. Also, everyone wants to see who Sasuke is going to marry." She made a face.

"Marry…I really can't stand that word. I feel like I'm agreeing to be some frumpy housewife. That's not happening for a really long time." Kakashi laughed unable to stop himself but had to stifle it quickly when Tsunade gave him a heavy glare before turning to begin her speech.

"As the Hokage it is my duty to officiate the engagement of the Uchiha Head Clan member to his bride." She glanced at Akari motioning for Kakashi and her to step forward. "Uchiha Sasuke has asked for the hand of Hatake Akari in marriage."

"I give my daughter's hand willingly to Uchiha Sasuke." Kakashi grunted out sighing. He hated large groups of people and there were so many people watching them. It was his part to speak in the walk speech.

"Hatake Akari, do you agree to this engagement?" Tsunade asked facing the young female. She nodded bowing, much to her displeasure, curtly to the Hokage.

"I agree to this engagement." She said feeling her chest tighten. So many people were watching; being an ANBU meant that you did things in stealth…this was more than she was used too.

"Then let the village walk begin." Tsunade raised Kakashi's and Akaris arms and then gently let them back down and began forward through the dirt street. People were lined on either side as the slowly began the walk to the Uchiha Compound where Kakashi would hand her over to Sasuke. The poor guy had to wait at the compound gates until she made it there. Of course, he had Naruto waiting with him and Shikamaru. She hadn't been allowed to see him all week and had been living with Hinata at the Hyuuga compound. It had driven her insane. They were all extremely quiet except for their youngest daughter and even she was abnormal. Akari pegged that little shit for an early graduating chunnin by the end of the year. She had some raw talent.

_Isn't this interesting…_

Akari faltered in her step stiffening as a voice spoke in the back of her head. What in the hell? Kakashi glanced at her as she shook her head the tiny red beads jiggling in her hair.

"I'm alright…" she smiled hesitantly.

_Well I guess I can work with this…we'll just have to knock Sasuke out of the plans…or use him if he loves you that much…_

Akari smiled at a few people as she passed her eyes slightly wider than usual. She gripped Kakashi's elbow a little tighter and bit her lip. She couldn't tell anyone this. She'd gone to Tsunade about her eyes but she could not tell the woman she was hearing voices. She could not be taken off the ANBU squad. Tsunade was already worried she was going blind; of course she hadn't really told the woman the whole truth about what had happened.

"We're almost there." Kakashi put a hand over hers in the crux of his. "Still time to run?" he teased smirking.

"Ha. Ha." She said dryly swallowing around the lump in her throat.

"Just saying is all." The compound was coming into view…the gates loomed overhead like tall spires.

_Oh well, it's more fun this way. Once I fully piss off Kurama I can unleash you on that idiot Naruto and Sasuke will just have to choose…the woman he loves or his best firend…Naruto already wants to stay away from you because Kurama senses me emanating out of you…_

"Shut….up…" Akari whispered through gritted teeth sucking in a hard breath closing her eyes. Her head felt like it was splitting.

"Akari?" Kakashi started to ask her what was wrong when Tsunade turned stopping and took Akari's hand. She opened her eyes but instead of focusing on Tsunade her eyes scanned past the woman and found Sasuke.

The world sort of stopped…

She met his eyes…

There was a sort of smile starting on his face as he took in the sight of her but it was more the way he stood. His entire demeanor had changed when he'd caught sight of her. He'd never seen her like this. Granted it wasn't really her kind of style…she was beautiful. Her hair was cascading around her shoulders in small ruffles and curls where tiny intricate beads hung on strings weaved into it. Her dress was a simple white Kimono and he knew on the back was embroidered the Uchiha Clan Symbol signifying her union to the clan.

"Kakashi…I have to give her to him now." Tsunade raised an eyebrow watching the man make a face before nodding. He relinquished his hold of his daughter's hand to the Hokage.

"I know." He admitted softly. Akari smiled gently at her father before looking back to Sasuke. She noted that Naruto looked happy for his friend but upset for some reason. She noted it, but didn't really care. As Tsunade walked her towards the raven a strange feeling in her chest swelled. She realized that she really was falling in love with the boy in front of her and that she could never hurt him or imagine herself with someone else.

"Do you Uchiha Sasuke take Hatake Akari into your clan as your bride?" the Hokage asked him. He nodded curtly holding his hand out to the woman for hers.

"I take her for my bride." He said meeting Akari's eyes firmly.

"Until the day you wed you are joined in union. This engagement is complete." Tsunade placed Akari's palm into Sasuke's. "May you honor the Uchiha name." she watched as the two smiled at each other. It wasn't the sort of movie smile where they looked at each other with stars and fireworks exploded from behind their heads; it was the sort of look that two people had when they'd hurt for a very long time and finally through all the hellish journey of life found that one person that could understand them for who they were…a true love that you only saw once in a lifetime.

"Can we go inside now?" Akari whispered leaning up towards Sasuke.

"Any time you want." He grinned and quickly pecked her lips before sweeping her up into his arms. She felt her eyes widen and she made an undignified squeak.

"You _swore _you weren't going to do that!" she heatedly snapped the blush creeping up into her cheeks.

"Oh did I?" he shrugged feigning innocence. "Must have slipped my mind." He smirked turning to take her inside.

"You're an asshole." She laughed as he reached the porch nudging the door open with his foot.

"Yeah, but I'm your asshole now." He grinned kicking it shut behind them.


	16. Bad News

It had been almost two months since Sasuke had left on a mission to the Sand for village negotiations and regular treaty deals. Naruto had gone with him, since Gaara valued him so much, along with Shikamaru who wanted to see Temari. He'd more than volunteered for the mission trip. Tsunade took a long breath watching Akari come back from her own week long mission with the ANBU team she had sent out to watch the Sound. They still didn't completely trust the village and were keeping tabs on them for that very reason. The girl looked exhausted and frankly beaten around. It was rare for Tsunade to catch Akari in this bad of condition and it was worrying her. About two weeks after his departure Akari had started showing symptoms that Sakura had reported to Tsunade that she was hiding. She was tired, coughing, and there was a fair amount of time Yamato had reported her vision slipping. As it was Tsunade had removed her from several missions so that she couldn't get herself hurt. Akari wasn't stupid and she had noticed the drop in her work load; thankfully so far she'd avoided the nin and not had to give her an answer as to why. The Hokage watched her put her mask inside her pack before heading into the quarters to change. She would be heading out to a small tea shop to meet her father like she did every day at this time. Tsunade was worried about her but she knew Kakashi was keeping more tabs on her than anyone.

Akari rubbed the back of her neck slipping out of her black ANBU uniform in the stall listening to all the guys talk in the regular hall. Female nin did not get a separate changing area and the guys all just changed in the open so she figured the stalls were fine. She rested her forehead against the metal stall wall after she'd pulled her shirt over her head closing her eyes. God they ached. It was a dull vibrating thudding starting at the back of her skull emanating towards the front where it literally shook her eye sockets. She pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes as if it would stop the pain there. Hiding her vision loss was the hardest part of the last couple months; and some of those times she hadn't been able to hide it. Yamato had figured out when her steps faltered in training, something she never did, and he'd requested she be off a mission about a week before. Her eyes were sore but working at half level today. Tsunade had upped her dosage of medicine but that wasn't helping. She was too scared to tell anyone it wasn't working. There was a small part of her that was petrified to admit how sick she was feeling because she couldn't be this bad for when Sasuke got back. She would not hinder someone else. If it had been one thing she had learned from Itachi it was to stay strong no matter how much pain there was for the people you loved. She would not do this to her father or to Sasuke…her hand flew to her stomach as an awful pain started there twisting from the inside. She gripped the fabric and clutched at the toilet lid throwing it up moments before she hurled. There was a gross splattering sound and she heaved in a breath coughing from the burn in her throat. She shoved her bangs back from her face taking deep breaths. This locker room smelled horrible. The whole place was covered in a stench that reached her nose and permeated inside her body. She groaned squeezing her eyes shut as another wave of nausea hit her harder making her double over again.

She was late to the tea shop. Akari sighed pulling her hair up as she walked into the small corner shop and towards the booth where her father was already sitting. It was hot. The sun had beaten down on her with more force than usual on the way here and she was lightly sweating. She sat down smiling despite the plugging feeling still rippling in her stomach.

"Hey old man." She chuckled dryly. He glanced up from a cup of tea and smirked raising an eyebrow.

"You don't look so great there kid." She shrugged it off.

"Long mission is all. I'm fine. How was the village?" she asked glancing out the window to their left of the booth watching the people outside. Kakashi didn't really buy her story but he was going to let it go.

"It was fine. Without Naruto here to make a fuss everything usually goes normal." He chuckled taking the sugar dish sliding it towards her. One thing they did not share in common was how much she loved sugar in her tea; he preferred his bitter.

"Did you hear anything abo…"

"Sasuke? Yes. He'll probably be coming home soon, about another four days or so." He knew how much she was missing him. He knew because he was keeping an eye on her at night when she thought no one was around. He knew she was taking three times the regular dose of medicine, Neeko was guiding her around the compound, and much to his annoyance; she wasn't sleeping without the boy here. She let go of a small breath she'd been holding and took a long drag off the tea.

"He hadn't sent any word back so I figured it would be longer than that." She put another spoon full of white crystals into her cup. As she went for another sip the room started to bother her again. It was like before but honestly everything seemed off kilter. The people were louder, Ino was in the corner talking exuberantly to Lee and Kiba was grumbling to Hinata across the room. She shut her eyes sucking in a deep breath annoyed. Really she wanted to whack the tall blonde in the back of the head and scream at her to shut up. Kakashi realized her hands were gripping the porcelain until they were white to match.

"Akari…listen I know that lately things have been off…are you…" she snapped at him before she could stop her reaction.

"I'm fine. Look, it's not like you'd be able to tell anyway. You haven't been around me that long…" she bit her lip putting the cup down feeling the rush of heat to her cheeks. "I didn't mean that…I…I don't feel well…I'm going home. I'm sorry to skip out like this." She was out of her seat before he could even stand halfway up and out the tea shop door the banner swinging behind her. Yeah, something was really wrong.

Kakashi wasn't sure if he should feel angry or worried; currently, worry was winning out. In the short time that he'd gotten to know his daughter she had not once been outright mean like what had just occurred or at least not intentionally. He'd finished his tea and paid to elapse enough time until he could go spy on his kid. He hated resorting to that but he knew she wasn't about to open the door and invite him in like some kind of awkward babysitter. She was an adult who had grown up without him there and he would respect that. Hell, she was engaged…he really didn't have a choice. It wasn't until Sakura tapped his shoulder that he came out of his funk.

"Yes?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"I saw you two over here…Actually," she stalled shifting her weight. "I heard you two…can I go check in on her?" the pink haired nin looked up at her older teacher.

"Are you asking for permission?" he seemed a little shocked when she nodded.

"Well, yes sort of. She doesn't particularly like me, so I wanted to make sure you'd be alright with it. Really Lady Tsunade and I have been talking and we're going to make her come in for medical examinations every week to run blood work tests." He sighed rubbing his neck tiredly.

"Yes. I agree. She's getting worse and she won't let anyone help her. I think if Sasuke were here she'd be fine, but on her own…" he glanced up at the ceiling searching for some unknown answer. "She's just letting it go. She wants to be strong on her own. Tell her if she doesn't go to the medical exams then she'll be taken off the ANBU teams." Sakura felt her eyes widen.

"Sensei…"

"Just do it. She'll listen then." He muttered half-heartedly. He met her eyes seeing his tired face reflected in the whites.

"I don't know if that'll go well coming from me." She made a face putting a hand on her hip.

(A week after said conversation)

Akari sat on the examination table sweating and in slight pain. She was clamping the waves of nausea down as hard as she could so that Tsunade wouldn't notice and hopefully leave this whole sick horse out to pasture. She'd been threatened to lose her status as ANBU which was _not _going to happen under any circumstances. Sakura had been coming to get her at the compound and escort her to the medical infirmary. The air of the room was cold and she was gripping the metallic table beneath her with stress. They were going to come back in here with her blood test results which she was pretty sure would say that her eyes were failing. She already knew that. It wasn't the news that she wanted confirmed though. There was a dense knock at the door and she sighed before calling out.

"Come in…" she waited seeing the flamingo step inside first with Tsunade behind her. Unfortunately neither one looked in a good moods.

"Akari, we think we know why you're so sick…" Sakura started.

"And I need to start with saying that you're off the ANBU squads immediately. It's for your own good." The Hokage gave her a firm stare crossing her arms over her chest. The whole world was faltering beneath her and Akari could not take that. Her entire life had been nothing but working for this village and for the ANBU.

"Lady Tsunade, I will _not_…" she was cut off.

"You will not argue with me. My decision is final."


	17. Say WHAT

Tsunade had been about to continue on with telling Akari the news when something happened. There was a huge explosion on the other side of town that erupted like a giant earthquake shaking the whole village. Sakura jolted falling forward catching the edge of the table to stay standing. Tsunae fell into the wall sucking in a breath. Akari fell forward hitting the ground on her hands and knees as the ground continued with small tremors. Down the hall they heard screaming and running; patients medical units had been knocked offline. Another wave rocked the building and shakily Akari got to her feet as Sakura pulled herself back up as well.

"I have to go. The units will be mobilizing. Whatever is going on the ANBU have to protect the village." She rushed out quickly going for the door.

"NO! Wait!" Tsunade tried but the stupid girl was already out the doorway. Sakura steeled a glance filled with worry to the Hokage.

"We cannot let her get into a battle! Not in her condition!" she whispered heading for the door to run and help the medical staff units.

"I'll have to get Yamato, he'll stop her. Go! Help the patients!" she snapped heated. Someone was attacking the village and they would need all units to the forefront. Not to mention she was down Naruto and Sasuke who were key players in keeping the village safe. She sighed rubbing her temples trying to think of a plan. Secure the gates. Secure the village. This would not happen like when Pein had attacked. Vaguely she realized that one of the few people who would feel as strongly as she did about keeping the village safe was Akari.

Spinning out of the medical towers doors Tsunade was greeted with chaos. There were villagers scrambling for their homes, woman toting children through the streets screaming, men running for the east end of the village. ANBU were darting in and out of the craziness filtering through the people carefully and some stopped to help guide them into their homes to safety. Tsunade entered the streets running catching sight of Yamato she pulled to a stop as he ushered two children into a shop with the keep. He met her eyes before looking to the horizon where the smoke was rising.

"Lady Hokage!" he said quickly. "Please get inside to safety!" he urged her as Kakashi rushed to his side scooting the one child inside with his foot shutting the door harder than he meant too.

"Hatake! Your daughter raced off to the explosion sight, go! I want you to make sure she's alright!" she looked at Yamato. "What is going on!?"

"She did what?" Kakashi snapped stiffening.

"I'm not sure Lady Tsunade. Someone's attacked the eat wall." As Yamato explained there was another explosion and this time the wall started to crumble. It was the same nightmare all over again.

Akari shoved her way past a few jounin towards the wall as the second explosion hit. She caught a man from behind when he was thrown back and skidded into the dirt with him. Rolling on her side she laid him down coughing from the rising dust swirling around her head. She activated her Sharingan but only to clear the haze of her vision. It would do no one good here if she couldn't function at her best level. It hurt like hell and literally every cell in her body was groaning in protest as she pushed herself up pulling a kunai. A couple of masked ANBU raced to her side filling in a V shaped formation.

"What do we do Tosatsu?" the one to her right asked. He was younger and a new member. She liked that he was quick but he didn't always think.

"Stay behind me." She said calmly as they swiftly moved towards the wall to inspect it. "Be ready for a confrontation." She said in a lower voice catching the ruin. It was busted wide open and there were a few people trapped beneath the stones. She motioned with her chin silently for the ANBU on her left to start freeing them. He worked quickly yanking and pulling at the chunks of tanned rock to free an elderly man.

"Well, look how easy that was." Said a man's voice standing in the middle of the gaping hole. Akari glanced in that direction stiffening. She did not know who he was and she racked her brain trying to think if she'd seen him in the Bingo Book.

"Get back." Kakashi appeared at her side and slightly in front of her suddenly. "Now." He snapped glancing back at her. He had a kunai at the ready and wasn't really asking what she wanted to do.

"You know I'm fine." She sighed as the man in front of them took a step forward.

"Like hell you are. You're sick and you know it. Get back." He was now fully in front of her blocking her like a shield.

"Kakas…"

"I wasn't asking." His tone was frigid. The man in front of them smirked putting his hands on his hips as more men filed into the village from behind him. Akari noticed that the man was wearing an intricate robe swathed in colors of blue and imperial violets. The men around him were little more than thugs and thieves. These men were rotten and looked ill-kempt. Most of them had scraggly hair, were thin and not fed, and dirty as if they hadn't washed. The man himself seemed neither unclean or improperly fed since his stomach was fudging slightly over the belt line of his robe. That was when she saw them. Several ninja appeared from behind the thugs who had been there as weak moral support. The ninja were hardened and tough; rough and from harsher villages. Akari pegged a few instantly from the Mist and Sound, rogue nin of course. These were men for hire, assassins and mercenaries. They would do anything for a good price and the noblemen ahead looked like he could afford just about any village on a platter.

"I thought it would be harder to break through here after the last disaster." He mused laughing his mustache curled around his lips.

"Not a step further." Tsunade yelled appearing in the ranks of villagers, nin, and ANBU at the wall's destruction.

"Men." The man laughed gesturing towards the lines confronting them. "This is all you have to fear. Kill them. Kill them all and the village is ours!" he screamed laughing deep from within his chest. Kakashi tensed and Akari took a step forward. All hell broke loose.

Without further warning the nin and men rushed the village attacking with blades and knives. ANBU shot forward surging around Tsunade and Yamato lead them against the heavy hitting nin wielding kantana. Akari cussed as a man threw his weight against her and she slashed the kunai digging it into his stomach. He screamed throwing her back hard into the packed earth and stones crumbled behind her. Kakashi sucked in a breath watching the man pick up his daughter and toss her like a rag doll. It wasn't until he'd thrown the nin attacking him into a part of the still standing wall and punched him hard enough to knock him out that he realized the air behind him was crackling. Akari was on her feet with two lightening blades charged at her fists throwing them with everything she had into the men rushing at her. Her eyes blazed red shifting forms as she sliced her way past three men closer to the Hokage. No matter what her orders were to protect the village and the kage he knew she wouldn't let that go. A man came up on her left side as something fuchsia flashed in front of him. Without warning Akari darted to the left as the man threw a spear forward with enough force to impale her. He couldn't move fast enough…

Time almost stopped…

Until Sakura hit the man so hard the left side of his face caved and he spiraled to the ground making a small crater sized dent. The spear was cracked in the force shattered it fell to the ground. Akari stopped short having been prepared for the impact of the knife. She was breathing hard from the battle her right eye had started to bleed. Sakura stood in front of her knuckles bleeding from the hit.

"Thanks…" she mouthed to the flamingo.

"You idiot!" Sakura snapped angrily her cheeks red with anger.

"What?" Akari snapped back wiping at the blood trailing down her cheek.

"We told you no more missions! NO MORE fighting!" she yelled grabbing the front of Akari's shirt shoving her back some. That pissed her off. Akari did not like people in her personal space. She was about to throw the bitch off her when Sakura met her eyes and for the first time ever leveled her with a stare so intense that Akari stopped; something wasn't okay…Sakura was more than mad.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked as the fighting continued around them.

"You are so stupid! You're pregnant!" she yelled.


	18. What will be Mine

There was a brief moment in time in which Akari had promised herself that she would never have children. Growing up with the childhood she'd had it was easy to reason why she would never want to have a little person running around. There wasn't much left to give when it came down to it and she'd never known anyone as a motherly figure in her life. Danzo had introduced Akari to the only faction of a mother figure that had existed to her and it had been a story. Hanare had been a spy that her father had met and been charged to protect once but they had met before said mission. As an adult it didn't bother her much to know that her father had spent a night with this woman and left. He hadn't lied to her mother and she'd known from the start that she would not be seeing this man again. The problem was, having the child of a renowned ninja like Kakashi Hatake, would for any spy be a great foothold over a village. There was powerful information that could be negotiated for over the birth of herself. Hanare had planned to do just that. It was in fact her mother who had given her to Danzo in exchange for key information about Konoha. The Uchiha eyes for information. That had been everything Akari had meant to her mother…and it didn't leave a peaceful taste in her mouth.

Being a mother was not something she could picture. She never had been able too. She didn't hate children but she averted them with a mute passion. They made her feel awkward and squeamish. Being around free spirited mini-adults was too hard to grasp for Akari. Her childhood had not been free willed or happy…or fun. The few times that she had been able to let loose and be a child she had been around the Akatsuki and it had almost gotten her killed. Deidara had been a good friend to her even though he'd annoyed the living hell out of her on a daily basis. Most of the time she believed that he got it all back in Karma when he'd received Tobi as a partner for the things he'd done to her. More than anything, Akari felt real irrational fear in this moment. Hearing the words that had come out of Sakura's mouth were alarming. It set every single flag off inside her body and her mind was racing like a train on broken tracks heading for a cliff. She was scared to have something growing inside her. She was scared to tell Sasuke. She was petrified to tell her father…and more than anything she was scared to raise and protect something that she couldn't control.

Sakura firmly held Akari's shoulders in place locking eyes with her. She was afraid that the woman would not understand just how dire her health really was and why she needed to get off the battlefield. Akari's blood work had come back that her protein levels and iron levels were plummeting. This was causing some system shut downs and calcium deflects with her bones. Her eyes were losing focus and vision due to the lack of vitamins, proteins, and carotenes needed to work them daily. All of her body's natural vitamins were going to the baby. Sakura had looked up several files, as many as were left that she could find, about Uchiha babies. They were needy. Their mothers were often on bed rest for months during the last trimester and their eyes developed slowly. That was what was making Akari so sickly. Her child was pulling everything from her to develop it's own special eyes. The inner workings of the Sharingan were not known to anyone outside of the clan and even then Sakura had a feeling that it wasn't all mapped out. Sasuke's mother had been horribly ill just before giving birth to Itachi and several medical nin had been hired to stay in the home with her to treat her throughout the pregnancy. Weaker Uchiha with less eye function had had mothers that had been primarily healthy but the most powerful, or so it seemed later in life when the Sharingan had manifested, had nearly killed their mothers in the process of growing. In Akari's case Sakura and Tsunade were worried that because her eyes were weakened on their own that the baby's increasing strength would mean loss of complete eyesight for her.

"If you don't get inside and out of this battle you are risking your baby's life." She said sternly letting go of Akari. The girl was still in shock. Her eyes were round and wide with something that reminded her vaguely of sadness.

"I…Sakura…I don't…I can't…" she tried to form anything, some kind of words into a sentence, but it wouldn't work.

"I know! You're in shock, but right now what is more important? The more you use your eyes and the more you fight, you put it in danger." She snapped. "You got thrown to the ground a minute ago! Do you think it can survive a whole lot of that!?" Akari stiffened. She had never before had to think about what fighting would do to anyone but herself. That blow to the ground had been hard enough to jar her teeth; could a tiny infant survive that? Her veins froze.

Slowly as if in a mucky water there was a terrible and scary feeling beginning inside her. It was a shift in her thinking. It was not immediate but it was forming ever so carefully in the back of her head like a protective mechanism. She wondered, even if it was small, was this what it felt like to care about someone else? No. It was more than that. There was a deep seeded need to suddenly protect this growing thing inside herself. Call it instinct or call it motherly forethought, but Akari was panicked suddenly to be standing in the middle of chaos. A body went down behind them; she heard the faint breath drive out of the man's lungs as he took one last breath. Another person raced past them raising a kantana.

"Sakura…where…" she breathed out as the world snapped back into place. Kakashi had not overheard the conversation thank god but she needed to get through the thick of this battle and somewhere safe.

"Come on." She grabbed her arm tightly gripping the wrist. "I'll get you back into the medical tower. I want to check on the baby now anyway." She sighed yanking her through the battle.

Sasuke was standing on the edge of a cliff looking down over the edge with his hands in his pockets. Naruto was watching him from the tree line giving him some space. He'd never thought that his best friend could act any stranger than he had but from the moment the raven had met Kakashi's daughter he'd been a different man. Sasuke watched as a small hawk struggled to fly as it was nudged from the nest by its mother. For some odd unrealistic reason this scene caught him off guard; there was something tugging at him while he watched the baby bird struggle. He couldn't place his finger on it and it was starting to bug him until Naruto touched his shoulder.

"Oi, what's eating at your head?" he asked his friend coming to stand beside him.

"I'm not really sure." He shrugged Naruto's hand off. The mother hawk made a loud call and swept down towards it's baby to catch it with the wind beneath its wings under the cavern wall. The bright hues of the sunset cast off its wings with a golden array.

"Kakashi sensei would say you seem pensive." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Since when do you use big words Dobe?" the blonde smirked rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm smarter than you think I am you know." He chuckled looking down. He then glanced back up and licked his lips sighing.

"What?" Sasuke asked turning to face his partner more.

"It's just I got this really weird feeling from Akari when Kurama went berserk." He wouldn't look directly at Sasuke as he spoke. "Kurama said her chakra was reminding him of someone…that's why he freaked out and I lost control…" Sasuke was confused.

"Like who?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Kurama said it was the same engery and chakra signature as Obito had." Sasuke stiffened. Had he heard Naruto correctly?

"Excuse me?" he asked to clarify.

"I'm just saying…he thought…" the blonde started to back down some.

"Obito is dead. We handled that situation…Naruto, I think he was just spooked." Naruto sighed a little louder than necessary but left it at that. He nodded and put his hands in his pockets glancing towards the forest that would take them home in less than a day.

"I know. I was just telling you the feeling I got." The raven smiled gently knowing that Naruto was just trying to openly communicate with him; this had been a problem for them in the past.

"Thank you for telling me Naruto." He grinned back at him.

"Yeah yeah, shut up. Come on! I wanna get home! I'm starving for some ramen!" he shot off into the forest to complete the journey back to the village. Sasuke rolled his eyes. That was Naruto; always rushing off. He chuckled and darted after the fox boy.

The moment Akari made it into the medical compound trailing behind Sakura she was chilled to the bone. Her head had started hurting on the way back and it wasn't until her eyes had begun to throb that she realized it was the same as before. She knew the disembodied voice was about to follow or she was going to see herself from some other out of body angle. She gripped the doorframe in the hallway stopping as Sakura continued towards an examination room. The pink haired nin turned to watch Akari as her eyes grew slightly wider than normal. The girl looked petrified.

_Now this I can work with. Little girl, you've given me the greatest hostage I could have ever asked for…your child will be mine. _


End file.

Naruto