Grave of the Dragon / Kakashi x OC (CURRENTLY EDITING)

Special- The Chunin Exams III

"Congratulations on becoming a Chunin!" Kakashi ruffled my hair as I showed him the certificate and uniform I had received that day. The day before, I had participated in the final stage of the Chunin Exams and, somehow, had convinced the judges that I had the skill to be given the title of Chunin. Now I was sitting on the couch in my living room, next to Kakashi who looked no less excited than me at this outcome. "I'm so proud of you!" Kakashi continued with a smile. "You made it to the semi-finals in the one on one battle. That's quite an achievement for somebody your age."

"Yeah, well..." I mumbled. The blush forming on my cheeks was mostly out of pride, but a small part of me was feeling guilty: I had had so much help from Itachi in the second stage of the exam that it hardly felt like I deserved this honour
"To celebrate, how about we eat some ramen?" Kakashi suggested, obviously not noticing the slight damper to my mood. "We can go into Konoha! It'll be my treat."

I nodded eagerly. It had been ages since the last time Kakashi and I had had some fun together. I ran into my bedroom to change into my usual outfit when I hesitated. A small smile crept onto my face. I put on some baggy black trousers and a sleeveless black t-shirt. Then I unpacked my new uniform. I put on the jacket. It was a little big on me and it was heavier than I had expected. With an excited smile, I rushed into the living room, skidding to a halt in front of Kakashi.

"What do you think?" I asked, stemming my fists on my waist proudly as I showed off my outfit.
"Wow, you look all grown up now," He joked. "You're not my little baby anymore."
"Shut up," I grumbled, blushing. "You're only 19! It's creepy when you try acting like a father. And anyways, I was already six when I met you. I was never your "baby"."
"Ouch," Kakashi grinned. "Did I just get rejected? Hmm maybe I won't buy you any ramen after all..."
"You can't just go back on your word like that!" I protested. "Come on, if we don't hurry all the shops will close!" I started running in the direction of the village.
"You know it's still early afternoon?" Kakashi called after me weakly.
"It's better to be too early than too late!"

***

It was almost dark when Kakashi dropped me off at my hut again. "I hope you enjoyed your meal, because my wallet's not going to be allowing another dinner like that in a while," Kakashi complained dramatically. "You eat too much for a nine-year-old!"
"I only look like a nine-year-old," I replied with an impish smile.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning for your training," Kakashi assured me as he turned his back towards me. "Goodnight, Sayuri!" He called, giving me a final wave before disappearing into the forest. I waved after him for a while before heading into the house. 

For some time, I sat in my living room, relishing the wonderful things I had experienced that week. It would be quite some time before I'd get another chance to make a new friend, go into the village and prove myself to Kakashi. I sighed. I realised it had gotten quite dark in the room, so got up to make a fire. Even though it was late, I wasn't feeling particularly tired- the Chunin Exams had messed up my sleeping pattern. When I had managed to start a small fire in the fireplace, I returned to sitting in the middle of the room, wondering what I should do next. The late evenings often got boring for me, as I didn't have Kakashi to keep me company.

After a few minutes of thought, I decided to practice sensing chakra. Kakashi had taught me this skill just before the Chunin exams and I still wasn't very good at it. If I were to become a ninja, being able to sense the enemy's chakra even from a short distance away would give me an advantage. I crossed my legs and closed my eyes as I got ready to start the exercise. At first, I couldn't feel anything. Then, an unbelievable mass of chakra to the east of my hut made my eyes snap open. For a moment I panicked. Could somebody have found out where I lived? Was somebody trying to attack my house? I tried to calm my racing thoughts. Why would anybody want to kill me? I thought. The source of this chakra must be here because of a coincidence, nothing more. Ever since the day my parents had been killed, I was a little paranoid. 

Despite these words, I couldn't help but investigate the matter. After all, if this person really was trying to kill me, it would be best if I knew about it. I left my house and approached the chakra carefully, hiding in the shadow of the trees I passed. As I got closer, I heard the sound of blades cutting through the air, followed by a thunk as they hit wood. At first, I froze, thinking the weapons were aimed at me. Then I fully recognised the sound. It was a sound I was very used to: the sound of somebody practicing their shuriken throwing.

I had almost reached the source of the chakra. In front of me was a small clearing. I looked around the thick trunk of the tree I was standing behind and my jaw dropped. A boy with black, spiky hair and red eyes was expertly throwing shuriken at a tree.

"Itachi?" I exclaimed incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
At the sound of my voice, Itachi turned to me with almost as much surprise in his eyes as in mine. He deactivated his sharingan and his eyes returned to their natural colour. "I'm training," the boy answered my question. "But what are you doing here?"
I hesitated. Was it alright for me to tell him? "I live here," I finally said, deciding to trust him. "In a hut, just a short walk from here. I could sense a large chakra and decided to investigate it. But I never imagined I'd find you!"
Itachi smiled. "Well, now that I know where you live we could maybe do some training together in the future."
My cheeks flushed with joy at his words. I couldn't remember the last time I had spent time with children my age. Then my face fell. "Oh, I don't think I can..." I broke off, my head drooping. Itachi frowned. "I mean, I'd like to," I assured him. "But nobody's really supposed to know I live here."
Itachi frowned again, this time out of confusion. "Why not?"
I hesitated. "Umm... for my own safety." Somehow, I had managed to stop the statement from sounding like a question. "Anyways, I didn't want to interrupt your training. It was nice talking to you."

"Sayuri." 

I turned back to Itachi, already at the edge of the clearing. "You didn't interrupt my training," He continued with a hard voice. "I mean, I guess you did, but I enjoy talking to you. I guess what I'm trying to say is: you're not disrupting me. I get the feeling that you got the feeling that you were being a nuisance. You're not." The intensity in Itachi's gaze lessened and he looked slightly embarrassed at his outburst. "And also... my offer is still open. If you decide you want to train with me, I'll be here every night."

For some reason, I felt like crying. "Thank you for saying that," I whispered, managing to hold back my tears. Itachi gave me an awkward but warm smile.
"Will I see you here tomorrow?" He asked hopefully.
I was about to shake my head sadly, when I stopped to think. If I was careful, nobody would know... I knew Itachi could be trusted and, although the thought of going behind Kakashi's back pained me a little, my desire to meet up with my new friend overcame my feelings of doubt. "I'll... think about it," I grinned. Even as I said the words, I knew that I would, for once, disobey the rules that always seemed to restrict me.

From that day on, Itachi and I trained together almost every evening. I learned a lot from him and I like to think that he learned a thing or two from me. He was the first person apart from Kakashi and the Hokage to find out about my existence, a fact that formed a strong bond between us. At that time in my life, Itachi was my only friend.