“Ka-ka-shi~!”

Only moments after the team entered the village, Miki had abandoned them without thought. One glance at the direction their sensei had taken off in confirmed the reason that the jounin’s excited shout had already given away. Walking down the street a couple dozen feet ahead of them was a tall, white-haired shinobi. As her entire team paused to watch, Miki launched herself at the man, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind.

Much to no one’s surprise, except perhaps the three young shinobi he’d been walking with, Kakashi didn’t react beyond turning his head just enough so that instead of focusing on his book, his one, bare eye was focused on her.

“Miki.”

“Oh, kids?” she questioned, peering over his shoulder at the blonde boy, pink haired girl, and black-haired boy that all seemed to still be in shock over the scene. “Your genin?”

Almost instantly, the black-haired boy seemed to have recovered and regarded the newcomer silently. From where she stood, Kazue narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, deciding that at least two out of the three seemed slightly familiar. She dismissed the thought a second later, however, as her instincts came into play. They’d been bred through a year of dealing with the flippant, and sometimes annoying nature of their sensei and were currently telling her that if Miki did remember she’d been walking with them, there was a good chance of them being dragged into the conversation the moment that Kakashi’s genin were brought up.

“Want to leave?” Noriaki asked before Kazue even opened her mouth.

She simply nodded in return. Jun wrinkled his nose, hooking his hands behind his head.

“I swear, sometimes it’s freaky how in-tune with her you are, Nori-kun. You guys do whatever you want, I’m going to stick with Miki-sensei.”

His statement hadn’t come as a surprise to either of the other genin. To them it seemed that Jun avoided his house as much as possible, which normally meant trailing behind Miki, whether they were there or not. What managed to connect his disturbing nature with her erratic one, they hadn’t yet managed to figure out.

“Alright, see you tomorrow,” Kazue replied, raising a hand as she turned away.

Within a moment her and Noriaki had disappeared in the crowd. Meanwhile, Miki hadn’t moved from her position with her arms tucked around Kakashi’s shoulders.

“Yes, th-” Kakashi began in response to her question.

“Let’s see,” she cut in thoughtfully as she studied them for a moment. A second later she put on a bright smile. “The blonde one looks stupid.”

‘Uzumaki Naruto.‘

“The black-haired one looks stuck up.”

‘Uchiha Sasuke.‘

“And the pink-haired girl…”

‘I don’t know her name.’

“Must not be important.”

Unsurprisingly, two of the genins looked even more shocked than before. If anything the third, Sasuke, simply looked annoyed.

“I’m not stupid!” Naruto shouted.

“Unimportant?”

“Who are you?” Sasuke demanded.

Kakashi sighed, his one visible eye settling on Miki for a moment. It wasn’t hard for her to figure out what he wanted and she reluctantly released her arms from his shoulders and stepped around so she was standing next to him. At that same moment Jun joined them, his fake, friendly smile plastered in place.

“This is Gekko Miki, one of the villages jounin-” Kakashi began.

“Don’t forget to add the friend part,” she instructed. “I’m also Kakashi’s friend!”

“Kakashi-sensei has a friend?” Naruto asked, his face showing exaggerated astonishment.

“It’s a one-sided crush,” Jun replied instantly. “Miki-sensei trails Kakashi-sensei everywhere. It’s actually a bit creepy.”

“Jun!”

“She was complaining earlier because she hasn’t seen him in forever,” he continued teasingly.

“JUN!”

All she received in response was for him to shoot her a cheeky smile and pull his hands from behind his head and shove them in his pockets. Kakashi studied the pair curiously, trying to distinguish whether or not the boy was lying. He was rather familiar with Jun’s tendency to say whatever he thought might work up those around him.

“I’m just joking Sensei, no need to get so worked up. After-all, we all know you’re just friends.”

Miki simply glared at him. She found herself wishing- not for the first time- that she had her late sensei’s talent for water jutsu. Whenever they’d thought about doing something like that they’d been drenched. Somehow, no one on her team felt like teasing Kenshin after that. Well, except Hisoka, but he’d been an exception to about every rule.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself rather than insult me?” Miki grumbled reluctantly.

He grinned, turning to the three other genin and giving them a slightly mocking bow without bothering to pull his hands from his pockets.

“Nice to meet you! As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m Jun,” he informed them.

‘What a wonderfully short introduction,’ Miki thought to herself.

As if sensing her thoughts, the amusement that had been laying behind the boy’s expression seemed to grow even further. She bit back a sigh and instead just watched as Naruto stuck out his hand immediately, a grin on his face.

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” he announced.

The faint smile that had begun to appear on Miki’s face faltered slightly when Jun eyed Naruto’s hand with uncertainty for a moment. A second later he pulled his right hand from his pocket to shake Naruto’s- but not quick enough that the pause hadn’t been noticeable. The reaction wasn’t unusual- most people weren’t fond of the little troublemaker for reasons that not even half of them really knew or understood. It was just the way things were. Even though she felt annoyed by Jun’s pause, she herself couldn’t say that if it weren’t for the fact he was on Kakashi’s team that she wouldn’t react the same way. A realization that bothered her- it wasn’t as if she was the most likable person when she was younger.

“Nice to meet you,” Jun said, turning up the level on that constant smile of his to match Naruto’s.

Seeming to pretend to not have noticed Jun’s hesitation, Naruto began loudly introducing him to the two others. At the same moment, something in the sky caught Kakashi’s eye and he tilted his head back. Miki- noting the motion- looked up as well. At the sight of the bird crossing over their heads, she immediately pulled up the meaning. The Hokage was calling a meeting.

“Let’s go together?” she suggested cheerily when Kakashi lowered his gaze back to the team.

She crossed her fingers behind her back and Kakashi, knowing that there really wasn’t another choice, gave a small nod.

“That’s it for the day,” he told the genin. “I have to submit this mission report and Miki has one to submit as well.”

Jun glanced at her curiously and she gave a small nod, drawing a disappointed look from the boy. She almost opened her mouth to apologize, then changed her mind a second later. She wasn’t going to apologize for not giving him another excuse to avoid returning to his house.

“Then I’m going home,” Sasuke announced, turning his back on the group without a second thought.

Jun cocked his head, then grinned once again as he took the hand that wasn’t stuck in his pocket and waved it in the air.

“See ya later… what was it… Sasuke-kun~” he called out. “I’m sure that because of Miki-sensei’s stalking habits we’ll meet again sometime!”

Perhaps, Miki mused to herself. Murdering her own genin wasn’t a bad idea.

Sasuke paused, and he might have said something, except for at the same moment Sakura darted towards him.

“Hey, wait, Sasuke-kun! How about we go work on our teamwork… just the two of us…” she suggested, clasping her hands and pressing them to the side of her face.

Jun glanced between the two of them curiously, his eyes lighting up with realization a second later. A soft snicker burst from his lips as he stuffed his free hand back in his pocket.

“I see.”

“Miki,” Kakashi muttered, drawing her attention away from the scene. He wore a thoughtful expression on his face. “I said we were going to turn in our mission reports… but did you actually write one for your team?”

“... no.”

“... I figured.”

Without another word, he left his bickering students be and began performing the hand signs needed for the body flicker jutsu.

“Hey, Kakashi-kun,” Miki began, adding on the honorific in hopes of helping her appeal succeed. “Could you hel-”

He finished the jutsu with a flash of smoke and she sighed, staring at the empty space for a minute before beginning the jutsu herself. Somehow, she doubted that the third would be happy to hear she’d forgotten again.

_________________________________

Kazue paused outside of her house, glancing over her shoulder at Noriaki. The blonde rose a brow silently and she sighed, grumbling under her breath as she slowly closed the distance between her and the door before pulling it open. It would seem that she wasn't going to get off without a lecture.

“And I told you, vegetables are important!”

“Oh shut-up, I’m a medical-nin, I know what’s important for you. I just don’t see the reason why I should care.”

“It would seem you don’t know, baka!” the first, obviously female, voice hissed. “If I have to clean up one more half-eaten pla-”

“You don’t have to clean up any plates,” the second, male voice pointed out. “I’d rather you didn’t, actually. I can feed myself, you know.”

Nori’s lips twisted up slightly, the only indication showing how amused just that tidbit of conversation made him. Sighing once again, Kazue dropped her things by the door and made her way towards the kitchen.

“You’re so frustrating!”

“Hold on, Hika-chan,” the male interrupted, his tone slightly teasing. “I have someone more important to talk to.”

“Hisoka!”

The male pulled away from the table, his shaggy, pale-blonde hair falling in long strands that completely covered his eyes. Without pausing to push them away, he easily stepped over to the doorway, flinging out his arms before it had even slid open.

“Kazue! You’re home!”

When she did open the door, it was to give him a slightly annoyed expression.

“Niisan, you’re being weird again.”

“Kazue-chan, Noriaki-kun,” Hikari greeted, sounding relieved. “Tell this butthead that he has to eat properly!”

Kazue’s eyes flickered to the plate in Hikari’s hands. Her lips pursed, she glanced to Hisoka, as if to ask him if it was alright to be honest. The male chuckled, dropping his arms. He towered a quite a few inches than his younger sister, even though she was a bit tall for a girl her age. As per usual when he wasn’t on call, the former shinobi was dressed in baggy, mis-matching clothes. All-together, someone who didn’t look like they’d be able to stand up to the female shinobi’s anger when it flared up, as it would if Kazue was honest.

“Go on, Kazue,” Hisoka encouraged her, amusement clear in his tone. “Tell Hika-chan exactly what you think.”

Noriaki pointedly crossed the room, busying himself with getting a glass from the cabinet. He knew better than to get in the middle of what was coming. When he was certain that Hikari couldn’t see him, he wrinkled his nose, doing his best to block the scent of whatever it was Hikari had piled on that plate of hers.

“Hiso-nii is a medical-nin…” Kazue began after a moment, her eyes flickering back to the plate. “He knows better than to eat that.”

Hisoka burst out laughing, Hikari’s face turning bright red.

“It’s just a bit burnt,” she protested, staring at the charred mess. “It’s not even that bad!”

“I knew it!” Hisoka declared, spinning on her. “And you said it wasn’t!”

She glared at him, slamming the plate down on the table.

“How would you know?” she snapped.

“I smelled it,” he replied instantly. “Perhaps you’re noseblind, but I’m not. It smells like you burnt down the kitchen to fix that.”

If anything, his comment only made the girl turn an even brighter shade of red, this time out of anger. Without a word, she stepped forward and drew herself up to her full height, flicking the boy in the center of the forehead.

“You’re such a jerk!”

“Hey!” he complained, clasping both hands over his head. “Is that anyway to treat your host?”

She snorted.

“What sort of host insults the guest?”

“When the guest is you? The honest kind-ow!”

Kazue glanced at Noriaki with a sigh. Her cousin, guessing the silent question, held up two glasses of ice-water. Edging away from the bickering duo, she gestured towards the door. Hikari, her elbow still digging into Hisoka’s stomach, noticed but dismissed the escaping genin for now. She had more important matters on her hands.

“You’re too violent!” Hisoka whined, clasping his hands around his stomach this time. “I thought the handicapped were to be pitied, not beat!”

Her anger faded slightly at his play on her emotions, then came back in full force when she realized what he was doing. Instead of responding, she pulled her elbow away and clenched her fists.

“If you think that is violent…”

“Kazue, come back and help your brother!” Hisoka called out, a grin dominating his face despite Hikari’s seething anger. “I think Hika-chan is about to-”

“What. Have. I. Said. About. That. Name?”

He turned on a thoughtful expression, cocking his head to the side. The motion cast his bangs away from his face, revealing an ugly, jagged scar that cut across both eyes and the flesh on the bridge of his nose. It was obviously years old, the scar having faded into a pale color that if the injury hadn’t been so severe, might not have even been noticeable.

“I can’t remember,” he replied mockingly. “I’m too distracted by the stench of burnt food.”

“...”

From Kazue’s bedroom on the second floor, they could hear Hisoka’s exclamation of pain as they settled down on her bed. It would seem that her brother would never grow up and learn when it was wise to keep his mouth shut and agree with the temperamental shinobi woman.

Taking a sip of the drink, Kazue eyed him warily as he did the same of her. After a few minutes had passed, she sighed, shifting so that she could place the cup on her bed-side table.

“Alright, get out with it.”

He rose a brow and turned so that he could put his own cup in the window-sill. The motion was slow and careful, as if he needed the time to gather his thoughts. A second later Kazue grumbled under her breath, moving so that she could tuck of her legs under the other and brace her hands against the soft surface of her sheets. It seemed that outside of fighting or protecting, her cousin never did anything without thinking about it first. Jun had commented on the habit once, stating that Noriaki must have a slow mind for as long as it took him to go about making decisions.

That matter had ended up with Jun knocked on his back, the tip of Noriaki’s katana settled at the boy’s throat. His slow thought process had never been brought up again.

“Well?”

“I asked Miki-sensei about the upcoming exams.”

Kazue blinked, surprise surging through her. She’d expected a lecture, not a discussion over something.

“Exams?”

He nodded, settling his hands in his lap.

“The Chuunin exams. They take place twice each year, and the last one was quite some time back, so I expect that the next should be sometime soon.”

If it was anyone else, she would have dismissed them. Noriaki’s instincts seemed to be pretty dead-on half the time, though, so she forced herself to pay closer attention.

“When I asked her, I wanted to know if she’d enter us. It was on a whim that she decided not to do so last time, you know Miki-sensei’s tendencies. Her response was just to smile and say ‘I wonder’. Most likely, that was as close as she’d get to saying yes.”

Kazue nodded, her entire body seeming to fill with excitement.

“The Chuunin exam,” she murmured, as if just testing the idea out. “We’re ready. She wouldn’t be Miki-sensei if she ignored that fact.”

Noriaki frowned, tapping one of his fingers against the back of his other hand, obviously disagreeing with some part of her statement. Kazue sighed in return, turning her eyes towards the ceiling as she tilted her head back. She could guess what he was going to say next- to think she hoped he would skip the lecture.

“You have to-”

“Be careful,” she finished with a roll of her eyes. “Pay attention to my surroundings so that I won’t miss out on an injury. Don’t reveal my ability if I can avoid it. Don’t deliberately ignore an injury just because it’s inconvenient to take care of the matter at that moment. Did I miss anything?”

Noriaki’s lips twitched, irritation battling amusement.

“Yeah, the part where you stop being a smart-ass like your brother long enough for me to speak,” he grumbled.

“I’m not near as bad as Niisan,” she replied instantly.

As if to reassure them that she was telling the truth, another round of bickering suddenly floated up to them from the room below. Something about how Hisoka needed to cut his hair, and Hikari would do it, but he wasn’t going to allow her near his head with a sharp object. Kazue shot her flooring an annoyed expression.

“No, not as bad as him,” Noriaki agreed reluctantly. “No one is as bad as Hisoka-kun.”

A smile flashed across her face in that moment and she dropped her arms, allowing her back to hit the bed.

“Don’t worry, Nori, the tests can’t be that close. I’m sure that by the time they start, you’ll have complete faith in my ability not to hurt myself.”

Noriaki snorted.

“More faith,” she amended.

“I hope so.”

_____________________________

“What are you reading?”

Miki blinked, glancing up at Kakashi. While waiting for the other jounin in the village to arrive, she’d settled with her back against the meeting room’s wall. Her lips twisted up slightly as she closed the book, keeping a finger in place so she wouldn’t lose her page.

“From your disapproving tone,” she mused. “I’ll assume you already know.”

His eyes flickered towards the title and he gave a small sigh, reaching forward to pluck the book from her hands. Wordlessly, she pulled it away and tucked it behind her back.

“Thief,” she accused.

“Copycat,” he retorted.

She rose a brow.

“Me, a copycat? I believe the copier here is you, oh great ‘Copy Ninja Kakashi’. Or am I thinking of someone else?”

His lips twisted up slightly behind his mask. If it hadn’t been for the audience he knew they were attracting, he would have challenged her on the matter of the book. He could feel their friends’ eyes on his back, an obvious sign that the matter should be left for later. He had yet to figure out what exactly the others assumed his and Miki’s relationship was, or rather he’d completely dismissed the possibility he’d come to of what they thought, and was in no hurry to give them more material for their fantasies.

Instead, he gave in and glanced towards the front of the room, noting the beginning of the meeting. Knowing Miki would follow, he silently made his way towards the front of the crowd. From who all had gathered, it was obvious what was occurring.

“You’ve been assembled for only one reason,” the third announced as soon as all of the shinobi had gathered in front of him. “It should be obvious by the members here.”

“It’s already that time…” Kakashi mused aloud.

Miki cocked her head, slightly amused by what must have been a private joke, no one else around her could come up with another reason why the third’s announcement could have caused the soft chuckle that left her lips. To her, it simply amusing that the announcement had come so close to Noriaki’s questioning her about the exams prior to their mission.

“It’s already been reported to the other countries, I saw them in the village,” a familiar voice commented as he stepped up beside her.

Miki turned slightly, offering the man a bright smile.

“Niisan!”

Hayate simply nodded, focusing his attention on the third.

“So when is it?” he asked.

“In a week,” came the immediate response.

“So soon?” Miki wondered aloud.

The third chuckled, giving a small dip of his head.

“Well, I’ll announce it properly seven days from now. On the first day of the seventh moon.. the chuunin exam will commence!”

A/N: Bet you guys didn't think you'd see me so soon! Yet here I am~ 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the comgoleration of plot starting points that it is! Also, if you've started this and you're slightly confused with all of the unfamiliar names, check out Smoke and Lightning, the prequel! It will introduce you to everyone and give you a pretty solid background for the OCs. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Until next time~ <3

P.S. The cover to the side is an alternative one produced by SweetNightmare1o1!