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"Alright guys," squad leader Kakashi says guiding me towards Konohas gate with his hand on my shoulder, "this is your new teamate, she'll be staying with us until... well if we get him back that is..."

"I am excited to be on a regular shinobi team," I greet with a deep bow.

As I straighten back up I notice the pink haired girl giving me an unimpressed look, "what do you mean by 'regular'?"

The blond crosses his arms over his orange jumpsuit, "yeah, and you sure don't look excited."

I stand there unsure of what I've done wrong, from the books I've read I feel like my interaction was fine, "I assure you, I am very excited," I turn to the girl, "and by regular I mean low to intermediate ranked squadren."

"Wa, low rank! Alright guy lets fight!" the short boy yells at me.

I tilt my head confused about this, "but we are comrads. You mean you want to spar me? I don't think that would be fair, I've been a shinobi the entire time you were in the academy until now. Also, I'm not a guy."

The pinkette looks shocked, "what! But your hair is short, and- and your so flat!"

I look down then back up at her, "hm, but your hair is not long and you are more 'flat' than me are you not? Squadren leader Kakashi, I don't understand these genin, are they defective?"

Said man pinches between his eyebrows while the blond holds pinky back from coming at me.

On the outide I'm sure I have no expression as per usual, but on the inside I am so confused, these shinobi are not professionals at all. They're like feral ninken.

"Kakashi Sensei why do we have to be teamed up with a person like this!" she barks.

"Because Sakura, as I'm sure you know genin teams need four members. So, try to get along you three, will you?"

"Hai!" I answer immediately in a trained stance, they grumble and drag their feet on their yeses.

Kakashi sighs, "you don't have to act all 'military' anymore, you can relax this isn't a strict squad."

I nod, "hai."

"What operative were you under again? I didn't have time to look into your files," he asks scratching the back of his head.

"I was trained under ROOT and after some time was moved to ANBU, sir."

He shakes his head, "this'll be work..."

I look over to the blond and a now calm Sakura, then back to our captain as I stand there confused, "I don't understand sir. What will be work?"

Before I can get my answer a middle-aged man walks up, "let's go, I'm not paying you for nothing. We have to be at the boarder by tomorrow morning Copy Ninja."

Kakashis eye smiles, "ah, just who we were waiting for. Well then, let's get going."
---

After a few hours of confusion, misunderstandings, and near breakouts of fights I give up trying to relate to my peers, "I am not at all in my element here..."

Sakuras eyes roll, "oh yeah? And what's your element?"

I put a finger to my chin, "I don't know..."

Naruto laughs, "I know! Maybe somethin' like killing or espionage!"

I nod in thought, "yes, agreed. Those fit so they might be my, 'element,'"

Naruto deadpans, "I was joking!"

I blink, "oh, my bad. You should make better jokes."

He deadpans further.
---

The sun was going down, we had just made it across the land of rivers border and started setting up camp.

Everyone was hungry, but once the fire was going we individually started making food we brought along with us for the mission. I nibble on some jerky as I observe everyone's behavior, something's odd about the man we're escorting to the sand village and I just cant place what it is that's bothering me.

Sakura pushes my arm taking me out of my thoughts, "hey creepy, could you stop staring at our client like that? I know from the past twelve hours we've been stuck together that you can't help it but don't be so strange!"

I blink at her, "I wasn't aware that I was being strange, as ninja we're supposed to be aware of everything at all times."

She gives me a wery glance and continues eating her bento box, "okay..."

As the night drags closer to the next day hour by hour, I sit calmly in front of the fire throwing in sticks every now and again to keep it going.

"Not sleeping tonight?" Asks the only other conscious person, Kakashi takes a seat by the fire on a right angle from me.

"I get the feeling that Botan needing to be escorted is not the reason he hired us so I've been keeping watch. Though, the other side of that half truth is that I can't sleep when I'm on missions."

The silver haired adult sighs, "how many years has it been since you weren't living the life of a shinobi? You were just a kid when they took you, right?"

I open my mouth to answer, but don't know what to say, "I was in the academy for about a month when I was six until people started saying that I was a prodigy. ROOT didn't take me, I didn't have anyone so there was no one to take me from. I would have wasted my potential if they didn't take me in."

Kakashis tongue clicks in subtle disagreement, and he takes his time to carefully say what he wants to tell me, "you think that way now, but one day you'll realize what they stole from you. I don't know exactly what you went thought, but... after my father died I became a chunin at six, a jonin at ten, and joined ANBU Black Ops at thirteen. Sure, I made a name for myself that people respect... but in the end that means nothing you know? I can never get back that time that I could have spent making bonds with people to care about. Now I'm in my thirtys and all I have is regrets, about one close friend, and my students. If you take anything from this conversation... it's to make sure you surround yourself with people to care about while you're still young so they're stuck with you when you're older," he laughs slightly.

There's silence for a while, of me taking in what he said, of him in his own thoughts and reminiscences, but after a few moments I decide to confess something, "loneliness is a longing to have interaction, to be honest squad leader Kakashi, that's the only reason I said yes to joining another squad. I thought that maybe situations with a team of normal people my age could bring us together to create a bond, but I can already tell that it won't be working out as I wanted it to. I... will stay on the team though for now."

We watch the flames of the campfire dance a while longer, before Kakashi gets up and starts walking his way to hist sleeping bag, "you know Aki, at first I didn't want you on the team because I thought of it as you taking Sasukes place, I'm sure that's the reason Naruto and Sakura are acting the way they are. Please don't take it personal, just give them time and maybe they'll come around. Goodnight."

I sit there silently, my breathing could be mistaken for that of someone asleep. It's such a habit that I do it all the time unconsciously.

As I hear his breathing and heart rate slip into rest like everyone else, I turn my attention to the forest, listening to everything, reaching out and sensing all the chalkra in the area.

As I'm hazilly focusing on all the different critters chalkra signatures, his words echo in my head, "one day you'll realize what they stole from you."

For some reason, that struck something in me. And it hurt, and... I don't understand why. No matter how much I try to think about things in a calculated way, my thoughts aren't making sense.

Looking up through the trees, I hear his words repete on more time, "one day you'll realize what they stole from you," and I cry. For the first time in several years I allow myself to cry.

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