Kimiko's clan symbol is of a full circle, and it's on her right hip.
Kimiko's P. O. V:
The day following the Hokage ceremony, I stand in Tsunade's office with all the Genin teams and their Sensei's. Shizune stands beside her mistress.
"So, what's the big idea? Why are we all summoned here?" Naruto asks, squinting his eyes curiously.
Tsunade speaks up, "I summoned you all here because Kimiko has something she needs to tell you—about her past. I want you all to listen and not freak out until then end, understand?" Everyone agrees and the caramel eyed woman nods for me to go ahead, as I stand beside her desk.
I take a deep breath before I begin. "You all know about my clan massacre, right?"
"Well, yeah, but Kabuto said no one knows how it happened," Says Shikamaru.
"I do," I say. "It was him and Orochimaru who massacred my clan." Everyone's eyes widen at this. "Then they took me prisoner. Kabuto was the one who killed my younger twin, Touka."
"They took you? B-But why?" Kiba demands, anger lacing his tone.
"Because of my Kekkei Genkai, the Tengan. You know it has the ability to copy other Kekkei Genkai, as it was derived from the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. Orochimaru's desired its power and sought to make me his future vessel by forcing me to train and kill for him, as well as do other unspeakable things. Kabuto helped out with the experiments, cutting into me and forcing me to air drugs. It was how I'd gained Darkness Release and my unnatural speed. There were jus so many times my body wanted to give out, but Orochimaru wouldn't let me. He'd relentlessly experimented on me since the day he'd captured me."
"Oh, Kimiko..." Hinata says, white eyes wavering as she holds her curled hand to her face.
"How did you escape?" Kurenai wants to know.
"I was on a mission by myself, so I took the opportunity to walk away," I answer. "Orochimaru doesn't exactly scare me, but there are times when I do get scared by him, and I was afraid of facing him in the Forest of Death. But I had to in order to protect you guys." I glance at Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, who are staring at me with widened eyes. "I understand if you guys hate me for what I am... I just thought you should all know the truth."
I hang my head as my bangs veil my eyes.
"Kimiko... I had no idea," Says Sakura, no doubt remembering the fight in the Forest of Death. Tears were now dripping down my face. "You faced the man who did all this to you... just to protect us?"
"I can't imagine how you must've felt," Ino adds, no doubt also imagining it as tears well up in hers and Hinata's eyes.
Suddenly, I was glomped by an orange glob and look up to see it's Naruto, hugging me while bawling his eyes out, snot dripping from his nose. "I'm so sorry, Kimi-chaaann! Now I understand why you hate Kabuto, and I'm sorry you had to go through all that! But you're still my friend and nothing will ever change that!"
I pat Naruto's back awkwardly as I hug him back. I meet Kakashi'sgaze over him and Kakashi sends me a closed eye smile.
"Thanks, Naruto. That means a lot."
"Naruto, move it! You're not the only one who wants hug Kimiko!" Sakura says impatiently. She hauls the blonde back as she, Ino and Hinata glomp me at once.
My eyes bug in their sockets at this and I feel Tsunade and Shizune smiling at me.
"Err, question," Says Asuma. "Is the reason for your mischievous and mean demeanour because of the time you spent with Orochimaru?"
I switch my gaze to him as Kakashi deadpans. He says, "You wish. I tried asking Kimiko-chan that once, and she says she's always been like that. So, in other words, it's not because of Orochimaru." This makes everyone sweat drop as I chuckle slightly.
Ino, Sakura and Hinata pull back as Kiba cones over. I gaze at him wearily, waiting for his reaction. I blink my eyes when he pulls me in for a warm hug.
"I don't care about your past, Kimi-chan. That won't change how I feel about you. You're still the girl I love," Kiba tells me. I feel like crying again as I hug him back and bury my face in his shoulder.
Asuma asks, "How did you get the Crystal Release? It hasn't been seen since the Third Great Ninja War."
Kiba and I pull back and I wipe the tears away as I answer, "Oh. Orochimaru made me copy it from one of his dedicated followers, a woman named Guren. She wasn't happy about it, as I'm sure you can imagine, but she had to let me copy her Kekkei Genkai on Orochimaru's orders."
"I'm glad we got that all cleared up," Says Tsunade. "You may all leave and stay on standby for missions."
We chime our agreement and Kiba and I go on a lunch date together.
🗡🗡🗡
I stand with my teammates, beside Sasuke, my hands on my hips and leaning some weight into my left leg as Naruto spins towards us, some weird look on his face.
We'd just finished our recent mission and I'm wearing my usual white sleeveless turtleneck crop top with the one shoulder cream vest and my headband tied around the strap, black mini shorts and blue wrap skirt with my twin katanas strapped to my back and fans on my waist. On my feet are my white open toed strappy sandals and I have my mismatched gloves on my hands, the right one stopping above my elbow, the left stopping at my wrist.
A few days have passed since Tsunade had become the new Hokage and I revealed my past to everyone. In those few days, I'd asked her to teach me how to heal the mind to which she'd agreed.
Naruto puts his hand to his mouth as he whispers, "Hey! You wanna see it, dontcha? I say it's time!"
I ask, "For what?"
"Come on! You know what I'm talking about.... Kakashi Sensei's real face!!" Naruto says, and I instantly go rigid, my eyes widening, as Naruto gets right in front of Sakura with a torch to light up his face.
Sakura screeches, punching Naruto upside the head, "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!!"
"Please," Sasuke scoffs, turning away. "This is lame! You can count me out. We've finished today's mission. I'm outta here." He starts walking home.
"Yeah. You're totally right," Sakura says in agreement.
Heck, even I'm curious about Kakashi Sensei's face!
Naruto asks Sasuke, "What if he has lips..." Sasuke freezes mid step. "... like a blimp...?" That's what he thinks is behind Kakashi's mask?! Sasuke wobbles in place. "... Or maybe buckteeth?!"
The Uchiha twitches violently at this, before going statue still. A visible shudder goes through Sasuke's body violently and he agrees to join us.
🗡🗡🗡
"Well, this is out of the ordinary," Says Kakashi, his arms folded across his chest and a suspicious look on his features.
I sit on the right side of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura on my right side, Kakashi on our left with his arms folded.
Kakashi muses, "The four of you treating me to lunch? Come on, you guys are up to something, right?"
This startles us as Naruto splutters, "Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you, crazy?!"
Sakura says insistently as Naruto giggles nervously, "Kakashi, Sensei, please! You just got out of the hospital! Uhm, now please! Why don't you just go ahead and eat!"
Naruto had bought Kakashi ramen, mostly in the hopes of seeing his face while he eats.
"Well, alright, then," Kakashi muses, reaching for chopsticks. "I suppose I should just dig in!"
Teuchi sets a bowl of roasted pork in front of him, and a miso soup in front of me.
"Here, you go. Thanks for waiting."
Ayame chimes, "The roasted pork and miso soup are on us!"
Kakashi hums in delight as he breaks his chopsticks. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and I are gazing at our Sensei with narrowed, suspicious glares, bodies tense from anticipation.
I see Kakashi raising his fingers to his mask. The silverette hums, tugging down his mask painfully slow, "Boy, this looks good!"
I blink my eyes in surprise when Shikamaru, Choji and Ino suddenly throw themselves atop Kakashi and the blonde exclaims happily, "Sasuke-kun! What a coincidence!"
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and I scream out in frustration at the thought of missing seeing Kakashi's face.
Sakura yells as they're sent into a tumble, "Get out of the way, Ino Pig!!"
"Awe, man! I can't see squat!" Naruto shouts.
Once the commotion ceases, Kakashi had finished his ramen and placed his chopsticks nearly atop his bowl, hands clasped together as he smiles in content. "All done! That was tasty!"
While choke holding Ino and Choji, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and I say in unison, "So fast!"
Kakashi glances at them questioningly as he asks, "Hm? Is something wrong?"
"Err, no, of course not! What makes you say that?" Sakura asks timidly.
Kakashi turns his head to Ayame, sweat dropping slightly.
Ayame is gazing at the silverette with hearts in her eyes, her face red. Even Teuchi is blushing!
"Huh?" Kakashi utters.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and I say in unison, "Okay. Now I'm curious!!"
We then go back to where we started to figure out our next plan.
Naruto says with the same face as before, "That's it!! Nothing's gonna stop me from seeing his face!"
I stand next to Sasuke, away from Naruto and Sakura. The green eyed girl says, "Yeah, but how? You got any ideas?"
"Don't you worry!" The Uzumaki holds the torch to his face as a horrified look crosses it. "We'll see it one way or another!!"
Sakura screeches as she punches him to the ground, "I'm asking you how, you stupid little troll!!"
Sakura's body violently twitches as Naruto sits up, rubbing his head. He retorts, "Alright, Smarty Pants! How do you propose we do it?"
"Well, we..." Sakura trails off as a large lump forms on Naruto's head and Sasuke turns around.
He says coolly, "We'll just have to tail him around for the day. He'll take off the mask eventually."
Sakura chimes, as Sasuke walks off, "Oh, Sasuke! I swear, you are so smart!"
As the lump fades from his head, Naruto drawls sarcastically, "Oh. Whatever! Good plan, Captain Obvious!"
With her eyes angry white triangles, Sakura leans towards Naruto and growls, "I'm sorry! What was that?!"
"Uh, nevermind!"
We follow Kakashi to a bookstore as he's carrying groceries, and Kage had morphed into shadow to hide his large form. Kakashi glances at the window of the store and freezes, his right leg in the air. Before he jumps to the window and skitters along it, getting excited over something, as he drops his groceries.
Naruto asks as my eyes twitch violently, "What is Kakashi Sensei doing...?"
"It's so disappointing," Says Sakura.
"And he's the infamous Copy Cat Ninja..." I murmur, trailing off. Just then, the Hatake whips his head in our direction, startling us and making us duck behind the billboard we're hiding behind.
Sasuke says, "He's onto us!"
Sakura snaps, "Naruto, you idiot! You blew our cover!"
"Why the heck is it my fault?!"
Kakashi whirls to the billboard as he gasps, "Wait... my favourite book is going to be a movie?! I'd better order tickets in advance!" He then takes off running down the street.
Sakura says, "Hey! He's on the move."
Sasuke tells us, "Let's go before we lose him!"
Naruto chimes, "Yeah, right!"
We then follow the Hatake down the streets leading to our house, skidding around the corner. However, the Jounin wasn't in sight.
I say, "He's gone."
Sasuke groans, "Great! He got away!"
"Are you kidding? Where did he vanish off to?!" Naruto asks.
"Hey," Says a voice from behind us, scaring all of us. "What are you four doing? Do you need me for something?"
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and I shake our heads rapidly. "No, not really!!"
We slowly turn their heads to see our Sensei.
"Sorry, Kakashi Sensei, but we gotta go!" Sakura says before she grabs my arm and drags me behind her, as she, Sasuke and Naruto leap away from the Jounin.
Back in our meeting place, Naruto asks suspiciously, "Hey, how did he know we were tailing him, huh?"
Sakura suggests, "Maybe there were just too many of us."
"Oh, please! If you know how to hide, it doesn't matter how many people there are. Don't tell me you've forgotten all of your Jutsu, Sakura!" Naruto gives the pinkette the same look as the last two times, only to receive another punch to the head that knocks Naruto to the ground.
"You're the one who forgets!!"
Sasuke suggests as he turns away, "We should shadow him. It'll be good practice. But we should do it solo, this time."
Sakura agrees as he walks off, instantly releasing Naruto, "Yeah. I think so too! We should totally ditch Naruto!" I didn't fail to notice she didn't mention me, as well.
"Say what?!!" The Uzumaki screeches indignantly.
I mutter as I follow Sasuke, "I think he means ditching both of you!"
They both deadpan after me.
🗡🗡🗡
So we take it in turns to shadow the Copy Cat Ninja.
While Sakura, Sasuke and I wait and drink tea outside a tea shop, Naruto went to shadow Kakashi. He comes back very soon just as the three of us drink from our bamboo cups. We let our content sighs and turn our heads to see Naruto, laughing sheepishly while rubbing his head.
"He got away..."
Sakura chides, "Just as clumsy as always."
Sasuke wonders, "Why are you such an idiot?"
I let out a deep sigh as Naruto hangs his head in disappointment, groaning.
Sakura went next. It ends up raining and we sit under an umbrella. Sasuke, Naruto and I drink our tea and let out content sighs.
We look to see Sakura standing before us. She's poking her tongue out cutely while scratching her right cheek.
The boys sigh in disappointment and hang their heads while I deadpan.
I went after Sakura. It's finally stopped raining. I just find a perch on a rooftop and activate my Byakugan. Kakashi shows up in the screen, wandering around while reading.
I swing my legs over the edge of the roof as I gaze at him. I've been watching Kakashi for five minutes now, and could clearly see his face through my Byakugan.
He was actually stunningly handsome, my face turns as red as Ayame's earlier.
I let out a sigh as I rest my chin in my hand and my elbow on my knee, gaze drifting away. I could be doing better things than this, like going on a date with Kiba-kun....
I wonder what he's doing right now...
After gazing at Kakashi's face through the mask with my Byakugan, I decide to keep it a secret and not tell the others.
Deactivating my Byakugan, I disperse my Jutsu and return to the tea shop. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were drinking their tea when they glance in my direction.
I give them an innocent expression as I clasp my hands behind my back and twist my sandal toe into the dirt. "I, uh... I couldn't be bothered keeping track of him?" I make it seem more of a question than a straight answer.
"Figures, since you're the laziest of us. Yet you're still stealthier than Naruto," Sasuke drawls, making me chuckle sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.
"I thought you'd have had better luck than the rest of us, Kimiko," Sakura chimes.
I perch back on the bench, saying, "You're up, Uchiha."
Sasuke leaves to shadow Kakashi.
Naruto, Sakura and I drink from our teas. A few minutes later, we look to see the Uchiha has returned.
Sakura asks eagerly, "Sasuke-kun! How'd it go?!"
The ravenette turns his head away and closes his eyes as he mutters, "I got tired of shadowing him."
I roll my eyes as Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke hang their heads with sighs.
🗡🗡🗡
Later that day, my team and I head for the gate for our new mission. We're to help out at a farm near here.
Naruto cheers as I lean some weight to my right leg, my arms crossed, "Alright!! Let's go!!"
I notice the intense stares Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were giving Kakashi. They were determined to see his face.
Kakashi seems to notice as he asks them, "What's with you guys today? You seem ready for anything."
Naruto and Sakura chime, clenching their fists, "Oh, we're ready alright!!"
I roll my violet orbs at their enthusiasm as Sasuke smirks and lets out a "Hmph!"
Kakashi glances at me briefly before giving a closed eye smile and saying, "Alrightie then! Good to hear!"
We continue on to our destination.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura catch up to us.
We stop at an inn and are greeted by four old ladies who show us inside. We sit at a long table laden with delicious food.
"Oh, wow!" Sakura and I say in unison.
"Looks good!" Naruto says.
"How lavish!" Kakashi inputs.
We take our seats, with me sitting on Kakashi's right.
One of the old ladies says from the door, "Take your time!" She then closes the doors and leaves us six alone.
None of us pick up our chopsticks. I knew my teammates were waiting for Kakashi to lower his mask.
"What's the matter with you guys? No one's picking up their chopsticks," Says Kakashi as he gazes around.
"Oh, it's nothing! Don't wait on us, Kakashi Sensei! You go ahead and eat," Says Sakura.
He says, "Actually, I'm kind of on a diet right now." I arch an eyebrow at him.
Naruto says as he grabs a pot of hot tea and it flies towards Kakashi, "Oh, no! My hand slipped...!"
My eyes jerk wide but with his super quick reflexes, Kakashi flips the table up and I duck behind him to use as a shield. There's a clatter as all the food falls off the table and the tea pot hits it.
Kakashi and I peek around either side of the table just in time to see the red octopus peel itself off the table and splatter on the floor. Naruto cries out in frustration.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Screams Sakura.
Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Kakashi says, "Sorry about that. My hand just slipped!"
I face palm as my teammates yell, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "YOUR HAND JUST SLIPPED"?!"
They're hopeless!
I sit around my teammates as Sakura questions, "What's our next move, guys?"
Sasuke says, "Don't worry about it! I think I have a plan."
"What kind of plan?" Asks Naruto. Sasuke smirks in response.
We go to the hot springs next. Sasuke's plan was to see Kakashi's face when he takes his mask off in the hot spring.
I sit next to Sakura in the women's bath, the air full of steam.
I sigh in content as the pinkette groans, "Awe, man! I wanted to get a look, too! But with these hot springs, I'm out of the loop. I wanna see! Oh!"
She ducks under the water and blows bubbles.
"What's the hold up, Kakashi Sensei?!" Naruto shouts.
"One sec! I'm coming," Kakashi calls back, causing Sakura to pop her head back out of the water.
"I gotta see this!" She hisses before making her way to the wall.
"You're wasting your time," I tell her, relaxing further into the bath. I know it's pointless to try and see now.
At the wall, peeking through a hole, Sakura groans, "I can't see a thing!"
"Phew, is it hot in here!" I hear Kakashi say. "Just coming in for minute." I snicker when I hear Naruto and Sasuke anime fall in the bath. Kakashi probably has his face covered with a towel or something. "Hm? What's up with you two? Well, I'm getting in."
I hear laughter and arch an eyebrow as Sakura says, "What's going on?! This is killing me!"
I wait in a moment longer than Sakura when she leaves, wanting to enjoy the warm water as long as I can. When I get out and go back to the changing room, I pause and blink my eyes.
My teammate's clothes were gone but my said teammates are nowhere in sight.
Shrugging it off, I grab my white crop top, shorts, vest and mismatched gloves.
I then go find Kakashi.
The next morning, I arch an eyebrow at my teammates who look haggard.
"Come back anytime!" The old lady chimes.
"Safe journey to you!" We say before leaving.
"Come back anytime!"
I walk beside Kakashi, who has a spring in his step.
When we reach the farm, Kakashi says, "Alright. You've all got jobs to do. You'd best get to work! Dismissed!"
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and I huddle around each other.
"I don't know guys. I don't think my nerves can handle much more of this."
A crow caws and flies overhead as Sasuke agrees, closing his eyes, "I'm getting pretty fed up myself."
Sakura adds, "Yeah, me too. That makes three of us."
"Err, guys? You know you could just ask Kakashi-kun to his face, right?" I state, holding up my hand.
Naruto says fiercely, "Alright, guys! Desperate times call for desperate measures!"
"Desperate measures...?" Sasuke, Sakura and I echo.
Their next big plan was to disguise themselves in gray suits and helmets. Since there were only three of them, I'm sitting this one out. They promised to tell me what they saw afterwards.
Sasuke questions, "Why are we dressed like this?"
"You guys look totally ridiculous," I comment, chuckling, a hand on my hip.
"Isn't it obvious?" Says Naruto. "We're posing as a trio of rogue ninja!"
I demand, "Where did you even get these things?"
"Uh, look! Let's not get bogged down in the details!"
Sasuke asks, "Do you even have a plan?"
Naruto jumps up and down as he says, "Huh! Strip off the mask by force if we have to!"
I roll my eyes and wander off to help Kakashi.
Kakashi lifts up the wooden fence and I start to hammer the nail in.
"I really appreciate your help with the fence, Kimi-chan," He says. "Where are the others?"
"No problem," I say as I hammer the nail, being careful to not strike my thumb. "They're off doing their own chores somewhere."
As we fall silent, Naruto's voice commands from behind d us, "Hey!! Kakashi Hatake!"
"Huh?" He utters as we turn to my teammates, an eyebrow raised. "What are the three of you up to?"
Naruto splutters, "Wh-What are you talking about?! We're just three wandering ninja! It's not like we wanna see what's behind your mask or anything—ah!" He's cut off when Sakura shoves him face first into the ground.
"You idiot!! Don't say more than you have to!!"
I anime fall as I say in exaggeration, "You guys are so obvious!! We both know it's you, already!"
"Hold it right there!" Says a man's voice as another spins to his side and forms the letter E with his limbs. "Hahaha! Kakashi, it's time you paid for your transgressions!" His second companion appears and forms the letter P. The leader holds out a purple bottle. "And the price is death! Delivered in the form of this elixir! Which will make you weep uncontrollably—ah!!"
The man is cut off as I get to my feet and sees Kakashi has already tied up Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. I peek out from behind Kakashi as he says, "That's funny! I was just wondering how long you fellas were gonna hide for!" Kakashi sets my teammates on the ground in front of him. "You finally decided to show yourselves."
The three men skirt back nervously.
"First thing's first, though," Kakashi admonishes as he glances at the Genin tied at his feet. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, why on earth are you three dressed like that?" Said Genin start.
Naruto splutters as he sweats profusely, "Uh, uh, well, the thing is...!"
Sakura easily frees her arm as she points at the three men and says, "You fools! You three easily fell right into our trap! We've known all along you were targeting Kakashi Sensei!"
"What?!" I demand lowly through my teeth as I wrench a glare to the men in suits.
"That's impossible! Are you telling me that our mechanisations were exposed from the very beginning?!" The boss exclaims.
Sakura continues, "Of course! This was all just a ruse to lure you guys out! And you fell for it, hook line and sinker!"
"We were caught up in your web of deception!" The boss gasps.
"We underestimated them because they were kids!" His companion says.
Naruto mutters in confusion, "No one filled me in on any of this."
Sasuke praises, "Nice work, Sakura!"
Scratching the side of his head, Kakashi utters, "Well, I'm not sure I really get what's going on around here, but, whatever!"
"I'll give these jerks a taste of my fan!" I seethe as I go to pull it out. "If they think they can get away with hurting you, Kakashi Sensei..."
I trail off as he places his hand on my head and says, "Just leave this to me, Kimiko-chan." He then steps towards the three men who skid further back until they're on their knees.
"Oh!! Please forgive us! Forgive us!!"
With a dark look on his face, Kakashi says as he leans towards them, hands on his hips, "Words aren't going to help you." Kakashi then beats the men up, making them cry out at the pain, before he swiftly ties them up with rope and hangs them from the ceiling of the barn.
"This is just like three years ago all over again!" The boss groans. "Swinging from a rope like an oversized yo-yo! You've got us all tied up in the same stupid rope and I can't..." The boss blabbers as Kakashi brush's his hands off before turning to them.
"Hey, by the way, who are you guys?"
Anime tears pour from their faces as they cry, "And he doesn't even remember who we are!!"
We leave the three hanging from the ceiling of the barn doorway as my team and I make our way home.
Kakashi reads as he walks, the sun setting behind us.
"Hey, Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto says with squinting eyes, gaining said man's attention.
"Yeah?" He lowers his book.
"What are you hiding under that mask?"
"What? You wanna know what's behind my mask?" Kakashi queries, blinking his visible eye.
"Yeah!"
"You should've just said do in the first place."
I sigh, "I did tell them that, but they wouldn't listen."
Sakura asks hopefully, "So does that mean, you'll show us?"
"Sure! I don't mind," He says, much to my shock and their excitement. They huddle around him, eager looks on their faces. "What's the big deal?"
Kakashi chuckles a little as he slowly reaches up to his mask. "Alright. Behind this mask..." With one swift movement, the silver haired man tugs his mask down, only to reveal another in its place, giving his students a closed eye smile. "... is another mask!! Pretty cool, huh?"
Kakashi and I laugh as my teammates turn ghost white and they anime fall, disappointed groans escaping them.
I laugh so hard at their reactions I clutch at my stomach. "Kakashi Sensei! You sly fox!" I smirk at him to which he responds with a cheeky wink while rubbing the back of his head, pulling his mask back up. "I saw it through my Byakugan. Your true face, I mean." He stares at me in shock. I send the black eyed man a wink. "But, don't worry! I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
Kakashi gives me a grateful closed eye smile.
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ENDING IS THAT?!"
I couldn't stop laughing.
After my teammates recover somewhat from their shock, we return home.