The Third's fingers brushed the top of the mission file, his eyes focusing on the young ANBU shinobi knelt before him. The two older ANBU in the room weren't as concerning as that boy. It wasn't that he was doubtful of the boy's abilities to complete the mission- no one in the entire village would doubt the boy's abilities- it was a matter of whether or not he was the right choice for something like this.

"There have been repeated sightings of two missing-nin suspected to have been working with Orochimaru before he abandoned the village. Ishida Ryou and Ishida Sora, two very skilled shinobi around the same age as Orochimaru himself. As you have been told, their skills lay more in the direction of locating their enemies while avoiding being detected themselves. The actual combat skills of the Ishida couple were highly limited during their time in the village- but that could have changed in the year since they left.

"Your mission is to capture them before they reach the country's border. We need them alive if we are going to learn what they know."

The young ANBU he'd been keeping his eyes on didn't outwardly react to the Third's words. Some part of him felt relieved at this. The shinobi hadn't become known during his time in the ANBU as someone who simply let traitors to the village go.

"There is one more part to the mission," he added instead of dismissing the group. "The reports filed about the sightings of the couple have one disturbing detail. The Ishida's seem to have a child with them."

________________________________________

"I swear there's something wrong with that kid. She doesn't even seem human."

"Well, what did you expect, Ryou? Honestly, when you promised to take care of something like that for him..."

The older man scowled in response as he ran one, tanned hand through his neck-length black hair. His eyes never moved from where the girl sat, knees to chest, in the corner of the small cabin they'd settled in. Even from where he stood he could see the sweat beading the girl's brow.

"I dunno," he snapped. "Just something different! What sort of kid won't even let us check her temperature?"

The blonde woman next to him simply shrugged, her eyes settled on the girl as well. Instead of replying to his irritated question, she considered attempting to get close to the girl again. As soon as she'd taken one step forward, however, familiar black smoke began curling around the girl's body. Clicking her tongue against her teeth, the woman gave in by moving back to her original position.

"See!" Ryou shouted, throwing the hand that had been in his hair into the air. "Look at this! How are we supposed to take care of the kid for him if she won't even let us do this one simple thing?"

"Will you stop yelling?!" the woman demanded in return. "How the hell are we supposed to get it to trust us if you yell all the time?"

Ryou hesitated, his angry expression faltering for a moment as he dropped his hand. Within a second he'd shoved his opposite hand in his pocket and started for the door.

"Fine," he grumbled. "I'll leave it to you, Sora, just make sure the thing doesn't die before we get it back to him."

She nodded, her eyes still focused on the kid. The girl's red hair fell in wild, tangled strands over her shoulders and even further. It was as if her hair had never even seen a pair of scissors or a brush. The idea wasn't surprising considering that they hadn't even been able to touch the girl once since she'd been handed over to them. The girl's aversion to contact hadn't been a problem until earlier that morning when both of the shinobi had realized that the girl's face was flushed and her entire body had broke out in a sweat.

Their best guess was that the reason their pace had slowed down and the girl had become increasingly unapproachable was this- she'd gotten sick. It wasn't as if the idea was impossible, neither one of them had known exactly how to handle a kid when she'd been handed over. They must have done something wrong, or perhaps the child was just sickly to begin with.

Either way, the fact that neither one of them could get close enough to take care of her was a problem.

Sora took another experimental step towards the child. The smoke curling around the girl seemed to grow thicker as the girl's body faded slightly. Biting her lip to keep from cursing, Sora stopped where she stood. She didn't say anything, just watched as the smoke slowly cleared up once again.

"Look, kid," she began after a moment, doing her best to keep her tone calm. "We don't want to hurt you or anything. You don't feel good, right? We just want to fix that."

The girl didn't react beyond tightening her arms around her legs. Her dark eyes never once left Sora's feet. The instant that the woman tried to come closer, the smoke once again began to form.

"Dammit," Sora hissed, this time unable to help herself. "Look, do you want to die? I sure as hell don't. If you die, that'll be the end of it for us. So why don't you and I just make a deal? I'll make sure you stay alive, that way I can stay alive, too. In order for that to happen, though, you have to let us take care of you!"

The girl tensed, then slowly relaxed. Sora felt relief flood through her as the smoke cleared up completely. A real smile appeared on her lips as she straightened, putting both of her hands on her hips.

"See there? Was that so hard?" she asked. "Now, is it alright if I call Ryou back in?"

There was no reaction for a moment, then the girl slowly shook her head.

"No deal, huh? Well, I don't blame you. He's a bit of an ass, isn't he?"

The girl didn't respond this time and Sora sighed.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't expect much out of you," she began as she took a few experimental steps forward. The smoke didn't reappear. "Hey, kid, since we're getting to know each other a little bit better... do you have a name?"

She finally reached the girl, removing one hand from her hip to lightly touch the back of it to her forehead. Sora bit her lip to keep from cursing once again as she realized just exactly how hot of a fever the kid was running. It was a wonder that the girl hadn't passed out already. When she pulled her hand back, the girl's eyes flickered up to meet her own. Sora froze at the sight.

There was no emotion there, not fear, not hate, not anything. When the girl slowly shook her head in response to the question, Sora couldn't find it in her to be surprised. The girl didn't seem to have enough personality to her to qualify as a person. Perhaps Ryou was right when he'd made his observation earlier.

'She doesn't even seem human.'

________________________________________________

"Those three?"

The ANBU mask kept any reaction to the old villagers question from being seen. He simply nodded, the best response she could hope to get.

"Well, I guess it was about a day ago now that I saw them. Just the two adults, mind you. They came in, saying that they needed medicine to fight a fever. Something about that little girl of theirs having come down with something. Well, seeing as they'd convinced ol' Shouta to let them stay in that abandoned hunting cabin of his, I decided I might as well help them. It wasn't like that place was going to have anything you need to help a sick child. I gave them the medicine, some blankets, food, and warm clothes. Told them not to worry about giving that stuff back, either. Just to make sure that their little girl got better.

"I've seen a few kids die of disease in my years, it'd be a shame to have it happen when I could have helped prevent it, so I didn't think twice about the matter."

She studied the three shinobi carefully. Her hands shakily reached down to straighten out her apron as she dropped her eyes from their masks.

"Now, you aren't planning on hurting these folks, are you? They're real nice people, well, them girls are. That man can be a bit intimidating sometimes. Got a real short temper he does."

The tallest of the three shinobi was the only to respond. He'd also been the one who originally asked about the three travelers.

"Thank-you for your information."

_____________________________________________________

"Sora, get your ass out here! We've been found!"

The woman's eyes flickered down to where the girl was drowning in a pile of blankets. The wet cloth in her hand didn't seem to be doing anything to kill the fever that had seemed to have only fallen a few degrees after they'd administered the medicine. At this point she knew that the smoke curling around the girl's entire figure wasn't a real reaction to how close Sora was- the girl hadn't been fully conscious for almost a day now. It was almost as if it was the girl's body's way of attempting to protect her.

Pulling the cloth away from the girl's forehead, Sora dropped it in the bucket sitting next to the pile of blankets and quickly darted out the door. Her eyes were met with the sight of Ryou knelt on the ground, his fingers digging into the earth. She felt slightly relieved to discover that his announcement had come because he'd sensed familiar chakra, not because he'd actually encountered something.

She wasn't sure how well they could fight when the girl was as sick as she was.

"How far are they?"

Ryou pursed his lips, drawing his hand away from the ground and swiping it over his already dirt covered pants. His fingers then settled around the handle of a kunai in his weapons pouch.

"Maybe ten minutes. Their chakra levels are high- that's what caught my attention. They're probably Konoha shinobi- at least jounin level."

"Dammit, just what we needed right now," she growled in response. "What's the plan?"

He frowned, tightening his grip on the kunai.

"You'll keep anyone from going in that door. It'd been too dangerous to let a fight take place inside the cabin. I'll try to lure them away from here if possible. If I don't come back, take the kid and start heading for the meeting point. Keeping her alive doesn't do us much good if we lose her to them."

Sora nodded and backed up to take her stance in front of the door.

"Ryou..." she began as he stood, pulling the kunai and his hand away from the pouch.

"Hm?"

"Don't die."

"Don't worry," he replied after a long moment, tilting his head back so that she could see the easy-going smile that had appeared on his lips. "I wouldn't leave you alone with that kid."

_______________________________________

She could hear fighting.

Her entire body ached and it was harder than ever to keep it from just completely disappearing. What kept her focused where the sounds.

The fighting was outside.

Her thoughts were jumbled, but she could at least understand that the fact she could hear fighting outside was bad. It meant that Sora and Ryou were in trouble.

Did it matter that they were in trouble?

They were only going to take her back to him.

She almost lost focus when that thought broke through the haze that was her mind. A shudder ran through her feverish body.

She didn't want to go back there. Being there hurt.

Sora was nice, though. She didn't hurt her. Ryou didn't pretend to like her. He wasn't fake. She wouldn't have a problem if she ended up staying with them.

No, that wouldn't happen. They were taking her back.

The noises stopped.

Despite her body's complaints, the girl managed to adjust herself just enough that she could see the cabin door.

If Sora came in, she would let her take care of her.

If Ryou came in... she wouldn't let him come near her. He scared her sometimes.

If it was someone else... perhaps she'd go with them. If they were fighting with Sora and Ryou... perhaps they wouldn't want to take her to him.

The first thing she saw when the door opened was a mask.

The second was the figure's white hair that surrounded it.

The girl simply watched as he came close.

White hair- she decided that she'd remember that. The person who came to get her this time had white hair.

__________________________________________

"My best guess is that she's around eleven years old. The fever wasn't hard to treat and has been completely subdued. The girl, however, hasn't responded to any questions since waking up. She doesn't even seem to care that she's been brought here and is no longer with the Ishida couple."

The third glanced at the door into the girl's room. The information they had about the girl was scarce. They'd managed to get Ishida Sora to admit that they'd been escorting her somewhere and, if the information was true, she herself didn't even know who the girl was.

"So we don't know her name?" he asked finally.

The medical-nin shook her head, glancing down at the chart in her hands.

"No, not even that. The other problem is that once she regained consciousness, none of us have been able to get close to her. She uses some strange jutsu that turns her body into smoke."

The announcement was met with silence on both sides for a moment.

"I'll talk to her," the third decided. "Make sure we aren't interrupted."

The second part of his statement wasn't to her, but to the masked boy standing a short distance away. All he received in response was a short nod. Satisfied, he entered the room, making sure to shut the door behind him. The instant he had, his eyes turned to the occupied bed a short distance away. Due to the fact they'd known nothing about her when bringing her in, the room had been carefully arranged so that she didn't have to stay with someone else. They wouldn't want any incidents happening.

The third was shocked to find fine black smoke curling around girl's body the moment her eyes met his. A low chuckle escaped his mouth a moment later as he closed the distance between the two of them, ignoring how her entire body seemed to fade away.

"It seems that you don't trust us. I don't blame you. Must be strange waking up and not knowing where you are."

Something about his tone seemed to reach the girl, because her figure seemed to slightly reform in the black smoke. Because of this, he got his first good look at the girl. She was shockingly small, he could make out the outline of several bones at one glance. Her hair was a greasy, tangled mess. Her eyes... if there was even an emotion there the only thing that could describe it would be wariness. That's if the first, lifeless impression he'd gotten was wrong.

"My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi. You might not know this, but the village you are in is Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. I'm the Hokage."

The girl blinked, her own way of acknowledging the information. At the same time, there were very few things in those pieces of information that he'd shared that she actually understood.

"It'd be a lot easier if we knew your name as well. Would you mind telling me? You don't have to give away your surname, just your first would be fine."

She didn't respond right away, but the rest of the smoke seemed to clear up. The Hokage's smile seemed to brighten slightly upon realizing the fact that she must have decided to trust him somewhat, at least for the moment. After a moment had passed, she shook her head.

"You won't tell me?" he asked.

She shook her head again.

"No, you'll tell me?" he questioned, rolling the response over in his mind. After a second the answer came to him. "You don't have a name."

Once again, she didn't respond right away. Her hands twined together in her lap and she stared at them for a moment. Just watching her, he felt a bit of wonderment and pity flash through him. What had the girl experienced to act like this? How did one get to be her age and not even know their name, or perhaps not even own one?

"Can you talk?" he asked after a moment, deciding to change subjects. "No one has heard you say a word since you woke up."

She drew her legs up to her chest from under the blanket and placed her arms over the top of them, never once un-twining her fingers. It was again a long moment before he received a response, a simple nod of her head. Amusement appeared in his expression as he regarded the young girl for a moment.

"But you aren't going to."

Again, a nod.

"Alright, let's try another question then. Did you travel with Sora and Ryou for long?"

She shook her head.

"Did you live with your parents before them?"

Again, a shake of her head.

"Do you know who your parents are?"

Again, a shake of her head.

"Do you remember who you were with before you were with them?"

This time, she responded by burying her head in her legs. One of the few emotions she could draw from herself appeared with that question as a result of the memories it made appear. Her entire body shook with the effort that it took to push them back, the black smoke curling around her.

"I see."

It was obvious to the Hokage by this point that unless the girl was lying, which seemed unlikely given the circumstances, she wasn't an enemy but simply another victim. Nevertheless, they'd have to keep a close eye on her. However, she wouldn't be able to stay in the hospital forever.

"Don't worry, I won't ask anymore about that right now," he said, hoping to calm her. It took a long moment, but she peeked her head up from her legs, the smoke clearing slightly. "Now, I have an idea that I'd like to get your opinion on.

"How would you feel about staying in Konoha for awhile?"

A/N: I originally planned on this being a side-story to the Naruto fanfiction I planned on starting soon. Instead, however, I decided to use this story to test the waters in the Naruto fanfiction world. So, I hope you enjoy this story! It probably won't be very long, but it should be fun!