Disclaimer: Only Nao is my own in that story.

Warning: Uh.

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

Edit: 1/1/2018

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It took another two days before I ran into Haku. Naruto, it seemed, had passed out from exhaustion (despite his abnormal stamina) and awoken to Haku. The two had a conversation of which I only entered the scene at the end of. After insisting Naruto headed back without me, I found myself standing before a politely smiling Haku.

"So," I said, deciding to go straight to the point. "How's Zabuza?"

Haku froze, though his smile did not slip. "I don't know what you mean."

"You do, but you won't admit it," I answered. "That's okay. I wouldn't either. Let's say I'm a mutual ally for you two. I know Gato hired you, but what you don't know is that he has no intentions of offering you payment. He's hoping we'll kill you and you'll kill us. You might want to pass that information along to your master or whatever."

Haku eyed me a moment, his smiling never wavering. "I assure you; I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do," I said again, "but that's beside the point. Look, if you don't believe me, ask Gato to pay you half up front then the rest later. If he refuses, then you know I was right. Pass it on, or whatever."

Haku inclined his head and I left, not really caring for an answer that I knew he wouldn't give.

Besides, I had bigger things to worry about now.

My memory, and now my eye.

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(Third Person POV)

Haku was a little more than concerned at how the little girl had managed to discover his identity so quickly. More than that, he was a little more than worried at how she obtained the information. If her information was correct, then it would prove most fruitful for him and Zabuza. If it was wrong... well, it didn't really make much of a difference. They would pursue the Leaf shinobi—and kunoichi—to reach their target as originally planned. And what did it matter how she obtained the information? Well, actually, it mattered quite a bit because that would imply there was a leak or that Haku had somehow messed up and if that was the case.

But if she was right...

Haku had only now finished informing Zabuza of the situation. Zabuza sat up in his bed, his eyes narrowed as he calculated through each risk and possibility. At first glance, many would tell you Zabuza was a mindless, savage, and blood lusting buffoon, but that was not the case. Zabuza could, and very much did, calculate multiple angles and see all the different outcomes.

He wasn't able to do it as easily when the grip of blood lust took him in the heat of battle; but, that had never been a problem for him, so Haku could easily dismiss it.

A full minute passed by until Gato and his two useless thugs entered the room. Gato entered with confidence in his stride, grinning a slimy grin while his beady eyes darted across the room to where Zabuza and Haku were.

"I heard you let the Leaf brats go," Gato said. "Shame on you."

Zabuza cocked his head, seeming to debate for a moment before responding. He didn't very much like the thought of being played. He especially didn't like the thought of being played by someone as pathetic as Gato. "Perhaps. I was not paid to fight other shinobi. I was paid to kill a defenseless bridge builder. Speaking of payment, though, where is mine?"

Gato scowled. "I told you. You get it when you kill Tazuna."

"That's it, though," Zabuza said, his eyes sharp as he focused in on Gato. "I'm beginning to doubt that you're going to pay me at all."

For a flash, Gato's façade broke and his face twisted into pure fury. "Who the hell told you that?"

Zabuza paused for a moment. "Apparently you did. Instead of denying the information, you quickly wanted to find the source to snuff out any other possibility of treachery."

Zabuza shifted from his bed, standing up with some difficulty and eying Gato. A look of malicious glee entered the missing-nin's eyes. Gato took a small step back, his mouth hanging open. "Even now you don't deny it. You know, Gato, there is a reason why my people feared me."

"You clearly don't know who you're dealing with," Gato snapped. "Any second and I could have an army of men in here to rip you to shreds. You're a has-been now. Unable to even take on a couple brats. And look at you now! Barely able to stand. You're in no shape to be threatening me."

Haku moved, standing up from his chair and tensing himself for battle should he be needed.

"And I really don't like be lied to. Especially by those far weaker than me."

"Shall I?" Haku asked, his voice a murmur.

"No," Zabuza said. "Leave that to me."

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(First POV – Nao)

Imagine our surprise when in the middle of training, Zabuza and his accomplice appeared before us. Immediately, Kakashi tensed, pushing me behind him and placing himself between the potential threats and his students, but I kept relaxed. I felt no killer intent coming from either of them.

"Change of plans," Zabuza said. "We don't want the bridge builder anymore."

Kakashi's eye narrowed.

"It seems Gato proved to be," a pause, "misleading," Zabuza explained gruffly. "So I killed him. Now you don't need to worry about me killing the old geezer. He's not worth it."

"Then what are you going to do now?" I asked quietly, my shyness taking hold of me, forcing me to keep my body behind Kakashi, but peek my head out.

Zabuza eyed me for a moment. "that place is nice. Especially if the economy is going to improve. Besides, now that I've stolen all of that useless man's money, I'm pretty wealthy. Might as well settle down for a while. Easier than being constantly on the run at least..."

Kakashi did not relax, but he shifted stances to a more nonchalant one. "Well, that's good to hear."

Zabuza snorted. "Whatever. I'm washing my hands off you brats. Let's go."

"Why are you telling us that?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

The accomplice moved to stand beside Zabuza, his mask discarded and Naruto stared at him, his brow furrowed and his expression thoughtful. "We do not want you to pursue us. And we understand the Village Hidden in the Leaves isn't quite as aggressive. We want to be able to settle down here, but because you are already aware of our presence—"

"I understand," Kakashi said swiftly. "I will inform my Hokage of that development, but so long as you don't intend harm on the Leaf, I see no reason why we would instigate anything with you, or inform Kirigakure."

That reason, and we definitely aren't allies with Kirigakure. If anything, they hate us almost as much as Iwagakure.

Zabuza snorted again and then he and the other, ah, person were gone.

Naruto blinked. "So does that mean we've completed the mission?"

"Does that mean we can go home now?" Sasuke asked.

"We stay until the bridge is done," Kakashi said. "Then we can go home."

"Guess we lucked out," Naruto said. "It'd suck to have to—hey wait a minute! That guy from before was with Zabuza! What the hell?"

I snorted in amusement.

I paused.

Why were those two from before familiar to me?

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Kakashi gave a short sigh and I pulled back my head, chewing my lip thoughtfully as I peered up at Kakashi.

"It's infected," Kakashi finally said.

I lowered my gaze. The eye that had blood and other stuff seeped into it from before was cleaned out by Kakashi and kept wrapped in bandages. However, Kakashi was by no means a medical-shinobi and I was unconscious for the majority of the cleaning. Even after waking up and having it cleaned again seemed to have proved relatively useless.

Whenever I unwrapped the bandages to try it out, any bright light around me would send a blinding pain through my eye and I had a horrible foreign-body sensation.

"That's the best diagnosis," Kakashi finished quietly.

I let out a slow breath, trying to squash down the rising sense of grief.

"When we get back to the Leaf, we'll have it looked at properly."

I only nodded.

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"What's wrong, Nao-chan?" Naruto asked our last night in Wave (we would be leaving in the morning). The two of us were outside in the back. I had gone out to seek some peace and relative alone-time when Naruto had followed me out shortly after I had left. I was seated on the grass, my back to the house, and Naruto came out and sat beside me.

I shrugged mutely, staring sullenly down at the ground.

"Is it your eye?" Naruto guessed hesitantly.

I glanced up at him, frowning. "It's not looking good."

"What's wrong?"

Both of us looked up to find Sasuke heading towards us, his eyebrow raised.

"Nao's eye isn't looking good."

"So?" Sasuke retorted.

I frowned more deeply, feeling a little hurt by his dismissal at my injury.

"What the hell do you mean so?" Naruto snapped, his face twisting with unhidden anger.

"She's not the only one to lose an eye. Yeah, it sucks, but look at Kakashi," Sasuke pointed out, nonplussed from Naruto's rage.

My only visible eye widened and Naruto faltered in his anger.

"He's one of the best shinobi we have and he hardly uses his eye," Sasuke said. "Not to mention there are still plenty of other shinobi and kunoichi who get by with half their vision, or no vision at all."

"You're right," I murmured softly, staring up at Sasuke in surprise. "I-I had not thought of that. I suppose I was still—"

"It's understandable to be upset," Sasuke said shortly, "but I won't tolerate either of my teammates actually allowing an injury like that to throw them off. So stop sulking."

Naruto glared. "How would you like it if you lost one of your eyes?"

"It would be different," Sasuke said.

"How so?"

"Our clans value different things," Sasuke explained, gesturing between us. "It would be one thing if she lost her mind, or her sensor ability, as those are two things the Yamanaka clan pride themselves in; while the Uchiha clan pride themselves in our eyes."

"That's true," I remarked. "I would rather lose my sight entirely than my chakra sensing ability, or my mind. I would rather lose my sight and my legs than either of those. I would imagine Sasuke would rather lose his arms, and legs, and mind, than either of his eyes."

Sasuke nodded. "Exactly, so stop moping."

With that, Sasuke turned away and headed back inside. Naruto snorted behind him. "Asshole. He didn't help at all."

"No," I disagreed quietly. "He did. In his own way, as you did by your gesture to come out and make sure I was alright. Thank you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto gave me a sheepish smile.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I'm right here," Papa said as he and Kakashi guided me through the hospital rooms. Not even two hours after returning to the Leaf I was scheduled for an appointment. Kakashi had personally seen me home, and explained the mission to Papa. Mommy was out at the time, shopping. Papa was furious at the bridge builder. The coffee cup he was holding had actually shattered in his hands when Kakashi gave a brief report of what had happened. Kakashi had actually neglected to mention that Zabuza and the, um, other person, were still there in Wave, and I could understand why. Papa, in that state, may had done something irrational.

And for one reason or another, I felt the need to protect Zabuza and his, ah, apprentice? So I didn't fill Papa in either. Kakashi then had to give his report to the Hokage, so he left me with Papa. Papa had taken off my bandages and looked at my eye himself, frowning all the way. He sent a cousin of mine, Shi, to fetch Mommy from the market. She came back roughly thirty minutes after I came home, and held me tightly, kissing the top of my head.

I felt a little small in their attention, and unsure of how to respond to it all even though I understood their reasoning. I was, after all, their youngest daughter and already my first mission outside the village—one that should have been relaxed and easy—had more than likely cost me my eye. Even if our clan didn't value the eyes as much as the Uchiha, or Hyūga, it was still my eye.

I didn't want it gone. I really didn't want it gone.

Ino and the others(Shikamaru and Chōji) had left for their own first mission outside the village, so I would get no support from them.

When Kakashi had returned, he and Papa then took me the hospital, Mommy saying she would call over the others (Shikaku, Chōza and their wives, and at my request, Naruto, Sasuke, and Tenten) and we would have dinner.

I was glad Kakashi had come. I took much comfort in his presence, and it was a nice reminder that even if I did lose my eye I could still be helpful.

The room I entered was small and seemed cramped. The doctor that came in shortly after was a thin woman with wispy black hair pulled up in a bun. She smiled politely at me and I undid my bandages. Kakashi leaned near the door while Papa stood beside me, a gentle hand placed on my back. She gave a tsking sound when she saw my eye. She pulled out a fairly small device—Ophthalmoscope—(Tenten wanted to be a medical kunoichi, though her chakra control was horrendous for it, but she still studied up on what she could) and leaned towards me.

For a long while, she didn't say anything.

She leaned back, her smile gone as she frowned thoughtfully. "How exactly have you been feeling since.?"

"I—" I struggled to find the words to speak. Some part of me didn't want to describe everything. Wanted for her to say my eye would be okay and it only needed some rest. It was so immature of me that I felt ashamed of myself for it. Nevertheless, it took me some time to find the strength and courage to describe everything to her. "I have been experiencing foreign-body sensations, and whenever I wake up out of nowhere, I experience severe pain in my eye. The times I have unwrapped it and attempted to use it, my sight has been blurred, and I've noticed it's been very sensitive to the light."

She nodded, scribbling a few things down on her clipboard. "I'm sorry to say, but it appears you have corneal erosion."

"What?" It escaped my mouth before I could really process what she had said.

"What exactly does that mean for her?" Papa inquired while Kakashi closed his only visible eye.

"The pains will continue," She said gently, being sure to maintain eye contact with me. "And you'll still be sensitive to light in that eye. I can't promise your vision will improve, more often than not it will worsen. That's the worst-case scenario, though. It's manageable, but not curable. You'll have to use eye drops, a couple dots every four hours while you're awake should help. There are also special contacts to use that we can also fit so you can see better."

She gave me a small smile. "But, as I said before, it's not curable. The eye drops and contacts will only go so far. Your outermost layer of epithelial cells are failing to attach to the underlying basement membrane."

"But it's manageable." I grasped onto that one word, holding tightly to it.

"Yes."

I let out a small breath. Papa nodded and kissed the top of my head. "Alright. Where can we get the drops and contacts?"

"Ah. While we can fit her for contacts to see. I'm afraid I must finish my input on them," She said.

We fell into silence, waiting for her to elaborate.

"The contacts will not help with the light sensitivity, and a constant exposure and usage of her eye may result in. less than desirable consequences. I find that it would be best if she either kept it wrapped out for a while longer, or she decided to invest in something akin to glasses to block out the harsher rays of light in that eye."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A couple days after my appointment, I had stayed late with Papa training. The sun was now setting and the sky had turned to a very lovely shade of orangish-pink. I had decided to return back to Sasuke and Naruto to prepare for dinner. Ino and her team were currently out of the village for the moment, so Shikamaru and Chōji were unable to join us. The two had been beyond busy bodies since the Wave. Mostly Sasuke though. He trained like there was no tomorrow.

My eye, currently, was kept under wraps. I was hesitant in using darkening glasses as that would, more than likely, hinder my vision and performance as a whole in the long run as I would be too reliant on them. For the moment, I was trying out using my one eye.

Even if it was painful. My depth perception was horrendous and I couldn't tell you how many bumps and bruises I had managed to collect over the course of the days. However, Kakashi proved to be most helpful in that regard.

He understood all too well what I was going through. Even if he had the Sharingan in his eye, he couldn't use it for the longest time. Not only because it took too much chakra, seeing out of it was wrong for him. Not morally, that his body couldn't accept the vision it transferred him. He had to go one-eyed for the longest time.

Entering the compound, I maneuvered through the halls, heading towards what I felt to be a very weak chakra signature of Sasuke.

Curious and a little worried, I sped up my pace.

My heart momentarily stopped.

Sasuke laid face down in a ruined training ground. Scratches and bruises marred his body, as well as his arm, which seemed to jut out at an odd angle. From what I could see of the skid marks and the patterns of damage, he seemed to have fallen wrong. But what had me really concerned was his breathing.

Or lack of it.

Heart in my throat, I sprinted to him, quickly placing a hand on his throat and feeling for his heartbeat. Barely. But there.

My head snapped up and I flared my chakra signature, frantically.

But of course that wouldn't work. No one came into the Uchiha district besides us.

So I did the next best thing.

I ran.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I found him where I usually found him. Standing at the memorial stone.

"Kakashi!" I shouted, crashing into him and grabbing his arm. Startled, he pulled himself from his thoughts to take in my panicked face.

"What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Sasuke—he's not—it's not—help," I said, my mind reeling.

"Take me to him," Kakashi said.

I did as he asked.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Ten frantic minutes, an even more frantic nurse and a couple of IVs, and I finally sat at Sasuke's hospital bed, the stubborn Uchiha finally deciding to regain consciousness. Kakashi had left to find Naruto at my request, leaving it the two of us.

"What were you thinking?" I asked quietly, my brow furrowed.

Sasuke stared at me a moment before looking down at his hands. "I was useless."

My eyes widened at that.

"Against Zabuza," Sasuke said. "I was useless."

I frowned. "He was a—"

"I know his rank," Sasuke interrupted. "But it didn't matter. Itachi would be stronger than him and if I couldn't even face Zabuza without shaking like a scared little boy, what hope do I have against Itachi? I hadn't even activated my Sharingan... it just..."

"I see," I whispered. "You didn't like feeling helpless."

Sasuke nodded his head slowly. "So I trained."

"And nearly killed yourself," I pointed out dryly.

"But it was worth it," Sasuke said, a slow smile stretching over his face.

"I don't see how."

"Simple: because of that."

And as Sasuke looked back at me, I noticed his eyes were no longer the usual obsidian black.

Instead they were the bright red of the Sharingan.

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"Troublesome. We rarely have time for ourselves anymore since graduating the academy. I knew I should have failed," Shikamaru bemoaned as he stretched out onto the grassy hill. I was sprawled out next to him, feeling lazy myself, and I watched as Naruto and Sasuke erupted into yet another fist fight and Chōji attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Have you ever had a really strong sense of deja vu?" I asked him, turning my head.

"Doesn't everyone?" Shikamaru returned shrewdly.

"Well. Back on the mission at Wave. I-I have spots in my memories."

Shikamaru frowned, his gaze sharpening. "What kind of spots?"

"Just, ah, spots. Suppression spots."

"Why would you consciously erase part of your own memory? Are you sure it wasn't repression?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I've read enough books and heard enough from Papa that I can recognize the difference from suppressing a memory to repressing it. I consciously forgot part of my memory on that mission, and the only thing I can recall for my reason being that was feeling the strongest sense of deja vu."

" That's weird. Can you bring up the memories?"

"I can," I said quietly. "But I get that horrible feeling that I shouldn't."

"Then don't," Shikamaru said patiently. "If it's something that needs to be dealt with, then it'll be dealt with. If not, then you'll end up making a big deal of nothing. I'd relax and forget about it."

"That's what I'm afraid of doing," I whispered.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Tenten's arms wrapped around my neck from behind and she rested her chin atop my head. "Hey girlie, how have you been?"

"Busy," I responded, blushing slightly from Tenten's affectionate hug from behind. "How about you? Do you intend to introduce me to your team yet?"

"No," Tenten denied immediately, releasing her hold on me and sliding into the same booth I sat in at the tea shop. "As much as I have come to like my team, they're a bit too, um, eccentric for you."

I blinked owlishly at her. "Surely not that bad?"

"Yes. That bad. Anyway, you up for more taijutsu training? We haven't really had a chance since you joined your Genin team and Gai-sensei taught me a few interesting moves that I wanna teach you," Tenten offered, smiling at me.

My eyes widened and I smiled shyly back. "Thank you, Senpai."

"Which reminds me, have you settled on your specialty?"

I hesitated. Normally after graduating, a Genin would choose which area they specialized in: taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, medical-ninjutsu, tracking, etc. My personality contradicted the normally demanding and blunt style of taijutsu, but I had no genjutsu or ninjutsu in my arsenal to learn from. I didn't have a strong desire to learn genjutsu either as my sister was already trekking down that path and I didn't want to mimic her. Long-ranged ninjutsu seemed to best fit my personality, but I had felt too hesitant to approach Kakashi about training. Papa was too busy, and Momma was a genjutsu kunoichi, not a ninjutsu one.

"Not yet," I confessed. "I want—I think I want ninjutsu, but I'm rather good at taijutsu. I don't feel comfortable with it, though."

"Don't worry," Tenten soothed. "We'll find something you're good at. You're pretty decent at the katana and sword as well as senbon and scythes."

"I suppose," I responded dubiously. "I admit that I'm better at taijutsu than I am in ninjutsu for the moment, but—"

Tenten ruffled my hair. "Seriously, don't worry about it. You're only nine. You have plenty of time to choose a specialty. Why not work with your strengths now and see where it takes you? You can always change paths if it doesn't fit you."

"I will definitely consider it," I agreed tentatively.

"Now enough with that talk," Tenten said. "It's time to get your accuracy back up to speed!"

Her eyes lingered a moment or two longer on my concealed eye and I felt more hesitant.

Ino—Ino had been piss-pot furious at what had happened. She very nearly went down to Wave herself to talk with Zabuza. Papa had to actually physically restrain her, but then she made the very sharp comment about how he was taking that so well, so Shikamaru and Shikaku had to actually use the Shadow Possession on Papa. It was a very eventful night.

She had also slept with me that night, insisting it was more for my benefit than her own, but I could see through her. She saw how that mission escalated and she realized, very somberly, that it could have been more than my eye that was lost. I didn't complain, however. I took comfort in her presence. She had also rearranged my hair style, moving it about so my hair would conceal the bandage I had over my eye. I still wore my hair as such, content with hiding my injury.

"Yeah," I finally said. "Let's get to work, and thank you, Tenten-senpai!"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Answer: Hot chocolate.

Question: Have you ever had a game-crush? Like a crush on someone from a game? NPC or otherwise.? If so, what was your first one or what is your current one? If you don't game or never had one. Crush on a character in general (from books / movies / etc)?

Reviews are love.