four.

(—true suffering)

Kakashi Hatake stared up at the rooftop of Tazuna's house just barely able to make out the black outline of his new mysterious student. It had occurred to him to just confront her and ask about her old team. However, Inazuma's expression when she told him that Team Arashi was a taboo topic around Winter made him second guess his decision. Sighing softly he leaped onto the roof sitting down next to Winter. 

"You should be sleeping." He said, speaking low so he didn't wake the others. 

She shrugged her shoulders and he noticed a silver object being spun in between her fingers. "I'm not tired." She said, though her body posture spoke a different story. Her shoulders were curled in as if a heavy burden had been placed on her, her turquoise eyes had black bags underneath, and her chakra levels were so low Kakashi was surprised she was still awake.

Rolling his eyes Kakashi reprimanded her, "Winter, you may only be a temporary placement as you wish to be called, but I care for my comrades' well beings. You need the sleep or else you won't be of any use against Zabuza." 

Winter let out a deep breath, choosing to ignore his words for the time being. "Kakashi you were alive during one of the Great Ninja Wars, right?" Blinking he nodded his head slowly, wondering where she was going with this. "Did you ever feel like you should just give up? Like the whole world is striving against you, wanting you to fall again, and again, and again. Wearing you down piece by piece until you don't know what's wrong and what's right, and you are going to shatter with that final tap?"

Silence followed her small speech, broken by a single word. "Yes." 

Winter paused, her necklace hanging from her fingertips. The two ninjas sat in silent, both thinking about the things that have worn them down in this world. "Goodnight... Kakashi-Sensei." Winter got up gracefully, her movements reminding him of a cat or perhaps another animal, and swung down from the roof into her open window, closing the window silently and laid down on top of her bed. 

Chakra exhaustion finally caught up with her as her eyelids grew heavier. Finally, everything went black.

***

Waking up with a start Winter clutched her chest, feeling her increased heartbeat. Swinging her feet over onto the wooden floor she silently padded across the room grabbing a change of clothes. Getting into the shower she washes her hair and lets the warm water ease her aching muscles. Turning off the stream of water, she gets dressed and pulls her hair up into a neat bun. Afterward, she places her swords on her back and ties her hi-ate across her forehead. Pulling on her shoes she goes down the stairs just in time to see the Uchiha brush past her and walk out the door.

Sitting down across from Sakura, Winter nods her head in thanks to the bowl of food Tsunami placed in front of her. "What got the Uchiha in a pissy mood?" She mumbled scooping more of the delicious food into her mouth. 

"That idiot Naruto was out all night training, I wouldn't be surprised if he is lying dead somewhere from chakra exhaustion. It would serve him right! Don't y-" Sakura stopped talking seeing Winter's eyes narrow and glare at the pinkette. 

"So you would wish death upon your teammate?" The black haired girl questions in a calm voice. 

To calm, Kakashi realized.

"Well, yeah I guess. I mean I don't want Naruto to die, but if he died from chakra exhaustion it would serve him right and..." Sakura trailed off seeing lightning starting to spark around Winter's enclosed fists. 

"I see. It's a wonder that someone like you managed to become a Genin when all you are good for is complaining and cowering behind your teammates while they train until they drop to make up for your lack of skill. It's disgusting." Winter hissed her eyes narrowing and her pupils seeming to shrink slightly.

Sakura cringed back into her chair, "U-uh." She stuttered, Winter's words ringing in her head and attacking her with no remorse.

"WINTER!" Kakashi yelled, startled at her choice of words. "You may not want to be on this team, but that does not mean you may treat them like this. Right now, Sakura is your teammate." 

Winter laughed coldly, "My teammate? Tch, as if. You and your little Team 7 will never be my team, understand? I am here because I was ordered to be here by the Hokage. He never told me I couldn't voice my opinion and I made myself perfectly clear that I did not want to be with you. I would never want someone like her on my team. Someone more interested in how she looks than her own team's safety." Winter hissed venomously.

Standing up, Winter brushed past the frozen Tsunami and put her dish in the sink. Walking out she grabbed her cloak, pulling it on, and went into the forest, stalking away with the occasional lightning sparking around her.

Scowling Winter prowled through the forest feeling her control slipping. "Don't lose control." She muttered to herself, her temper spiking at the pink haired girl and the way she carelessly talked about her team. "What was the old man thinking, putting me on a team like this. They barely know the first thing about being a team, much less to actually treasure one another." Huffing in annoyance, Winter spun on her heel and punched a tree straight on with no chakra. 

A satisfying crunch revealed that the tree had a small crack on it. However, Winter let out a hiss of pain, cradling her hand slightly making more lightning appear around her. Looking at it, she decided that it was most likely strained. Sighing Winter sat down Indian style with her back resting against the tree she had punched. Closing her eyes she began to breathe in and out. Starting to clear her mind and slowly easing her temper away. Usually, she wouldn't get so riled up, but something about this new team tries her temper.

Settling down into an abyss of darkness, Winter let herself relax. Slowly the lightning faded and so did her anger. It was peaceful and she listened to the sound of nature, letting her chakra be released to sense what was around her. The birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves, the ocean in the background, a squirrel running past her, and a blond haired boy yelling. 

Her eyes snapped open, that last sound was not one of nature.

Looking around she noticed that it had grown dark, the light leaving the sky making way to the darker tendrils of the night that slowly encapture the world around her. Standing up she stretches her sore muscles, feeling peaceful. Sauntering through the forest she finds herself in front of Tsunami's house in no time. Letting herself in, Winter hung up her cloak and walked into the kitchen wordlessly helping Tsunami hand out food. Finally, she sat down next to Inari eating her food silently, ignoring the looks both Kakashi and Sakura sent her. 

Unaware of the tension that happened earlier today, Naruto started asking Winter tons of questions, "So Winter, why did the old man put you on our team? Did you want to be on our team? How old are you? I don't remember you being in the academy, did you graduate late? Or did you graduate early? How powerful are you? If you knew that tree climbing exercise, why did your team get disbanded? If you are so powerful, why aren't you a Chunin yet? Huh, huh?" Naruto chattered away, not knowing he was venturing into dangerous territory.

"The Hokage put me on your team for reasons I do not know. No, I do not want to be on this team. I am 12, and I graduated early. The rest of those questions are none of your business and if you continue on trying to learn those answers I know at least 15 different ways to make sure you get permanent memory loss or to make you disappear and stage it as an accident." Winter growled at Naruto.

He sweatdropped and inched away from her dark aura that was spreading around the room. Silence followed her outburst with everyone eating quietly, not wanting to further anger the young kunoichi.

"Kakashi?" Tazuna asked cautiously. 

"Hmm?" Came the complacent reply. 

"Why are you still here if I lied to you about this mission?" 

"Well..."

Winter zoned out of the deep conversation, eating her food quickly. "Why?" A small voice interrupted her thoughts of strangling Naruto for trying to find out more about her. 

"Huh?" Naruto questioned looking over at Inari who was shaking slightly. 

"Why do you guys keep on fighting? Why do you guys insist on fighting Gato?" He looked at the foreign people who'd come into his house.

"Well because we're ninja and that's what we do! We're heroes." Naruto stated enthusiastically. 

Inari laughed bitterly, "A hero? There are no such things as a hero." He stated. 

"Why you little-!" Naruto shouted standing up. 

Inari started to cry, "You act like you know everything, but you don't know what true suffering is!"

Crack.

A shattering noise made everyone look at Winter who was looking down at the ground, shadows sprawled across her face, hiding her eyes. Her glass was shattered and water ran down her closed fist, small drops of blood joining from the cuts in her hand. Pushing back her chair violently she stood up. Walking calmly she stopped by Inari. "True suffering?" Her voice was like the season she was named after, like the storms and ice that kill people and harbor the horrors of winter. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the young boy like she was a wolf and he was her prey.

There is a saying that the eyes are the window to a human's soul. If that was true, Inari thought, then this girl has seen it all. Her eyes were hollow, but Inari could see the raw pain lingering within them. He saw all of this in a couple of seconds, but he didn't pay attention to it. What caught his attention was the crystalline tear coming out of her left eye.

"You have no idea, what true suffering is."

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