Hello readers. It should interest you to know that I never post a story unless it is already completely written out and finished. So you can read with confidence knowing that this story will not be abandoned. I will be posting new chapters once they have been checked for errors.

This is a Kakashi/OC romance as in character as possible. It is a slow burn with plenty of drama. There is no Mary sue here and the OC will not become a ninja. This is strictly a romance fic so there will be no fighting in this story. The rating my go up in the later chapters. Please enjoy and review!

-leeniejs

Chapter 1

Kakashi was a man on a mission. Granted that mission would be over in a few minutes when he crossed into the gates of Konoha. The mission had been a boring one. Deliver a scroll. The only reason a jonin such as himself would be sent on a simple courier mission was due to the fact that the scroll contained sensitive information as necessary correspondence between the Hokage and the Kazekage.

Ever alert, he caught a glimpse of something wholly unexpected nearly a mile away from Konoha. A person sitting in the shade of a tree, conscious but seemingly confused. He perched himself on a branch, taking in the scene before him. Experience told him that something out of place should be approached with caution. He sat and observed the woman on the ground.

She was the very definition of out of place. She was a mile away from the closest civilization and she was entirely unprepared for the environment around her. A baggy tee shirt hung from her lanky frame, falling over equally baggy sweat pants. Her chocolate brown hair fell loosely around her shoulders, barely touching the bottom of her shoulder blades. He legs stuck out in front of her as she sat up and looked around. Her bare feet stuck out of her sweat pants and there was no sign of any supplies or extra clothes around anywhere. She looked entirely confused and helpless.

He checked quickly to see if the vision before him was not in fact a genjutsu. Surprisingly, it was not. Casting his senses out, he could sense no one near them. It also seemed as if the woman was nothing more that a civilian. The information at hand begged the question: why was a civilian woman wandering around in the woods completely unprepared? Kakashi couldn't answer the question with the information he had. Looking for more details, he couldn't help but notice that she seemed completely unmarred. She wasn't dirty or covered in the fall leaves as he would assume of one wandering about in the woods. The bottoms of her feet were scrubbed clean as if she had just set foot outside of the shower.

He could speculate all day but he knew his questions would be answered only if he bothered to ask them. Remaining wary, he jumped down to make his presence known.

His entrance had an effect immediately. She jumped at his sudden appearance. She blinked looking more confused as she stared at him. He raised a hand in a casual greeting.

"Yo."

She stared at him for a good five seconds before she let out a short laugh and stood from her spot on the ground.

"Alright, alright this is obviously some kind of joke. I don't know who put you up to this but you can stop now." Her laughter had not died from her face when she looked up at him again. Kakashi couldn't see the humor in the situation.

"What is it that you think is a joke?"

"All of this of course. Some one kidnapped me out of my home brought me to the woods and had you dress up like one of my favorite characters, though how or why they did that I still don't know." Did she just refer to him as a character? Maybe the reason she was out here was because she had lost her mind.

"Who do you think I am?" He asked curiously.

"Well I don't know who you really are but you are dressed as Kakashi Hatake." It seemed she did know who he was. He didn't know why she thought he was only pretending to be himself though.

"Who are you?"

"Emma Steele. If you could just point me towards my house I would like to get back to my day off."

"Where do you live?"

"Probably in the closest town. I doubt someone would take me across the country just for a joke."

"The closest village is Konoha about a mile that way." He pointed to his left. She seemed harmless enough. He didn't see the harm in pointing out civilization to her. Any ninja worth their salt would be able to navigate a map if they intended to attack or invade his home. She sighed at his answer.

"Look that joke has run its course. There is no such thing as Konoha or Kakashi Hatake. It's just a story." She spoke with a wavering patience, confused about why he was sticking to what she thought was a lie.

"I can assure you I am very real." She frowned at him and sighed again.

"Fine." She turned and walked off in the direction he pointed earlier.

"Where are you going?" He walked along after her.

"Towards town obviously. Since you aren't going to be of any help." She whispered the last bit to herself but he caught it all the same.

"Your feet will freeze by the time you get there. Not to mention you are likely to be bitten by snakes around here." She paused and stared at the wet ground. Her feet were already wet. She was already lucky that she had been laying on a dry piece of ground when she woke up here but now that she looked around she could see the majority of the ground was drenched in water and leaves. Unfortunately for her it seemed he was right.

"Well then what do you think I should do?" She looked to him at her question.

"I'll take you to town and to someone that can help you." He didn't feel the need to antagonize her with details she thought were false. He needed to take her to Tsunade. Both because she was a foreign visitor and Tsunade should be able to help the younger woman with her obvious metal issues.

She quirked an eyebrow at him in question. Wordlessly, he stepped forward and crouched down waiting for her to climb on his back.

"You have to be kidding." He motioned his fingers at her in a silent reply. She huffed and resigned herself to the best way of getting to town. She stepped forward, placing her legs on either side of him and her hands on his shoulders. He stood, grabbing her thighs and hefting her onto his back easily. She wrapped her hands around his neck and tilted her head to the side to look ahead of them. She was lighter than he had assumed. Her baggy clothing made her look heavier.

"Hold on tight." She rolled her eyes only for her lids to open wide in a look of shock as he jumped into the trees and took off. Her grip slipped from his neck and she barely caught his shoulders before she threw her arms around him again. This time her fingers curled themselves underneath his vest, in a vice like grip. Her eyes very nearly left the safety of their sockets as she watched the world pass by in a blaze of browns and greens. Traveling at such a pace they reached the gate in no time. He stopped at the check in desk and felt her hands slip from around his neck when he placed her feet on the floor.

"Hey Kakashi. Who do you have with you?" Izumo said.

"Just a civilian I found in the woods." He signed the roster as he answered.

"She needs to sign too." Kakashi turned to look at her. Her eyes were busy taking in every detail of the village in front of her, occasionally flicking back to the Hokage monument.

"Emma." She tore her gaze away from the village to stare at him in disbelief. "You need to sign your name." She stepped up to the roster and wrote her name on the next line.

Emma was still staring at him when he bent down again. She climbed onto his back without complaint and held on tight once again. He took to the rooftops heading straight for the Hokage tower. His personal preference of dropping in to her office through the window was made more difficult with his companion in tow. Resigning himself to the stairs, he climbed them and stopped in front of the door to the Hokage's office. Setting Emma on her feet, he knocked and waited.

"Enter." He opened the door and motioned her inside. She walked inside hesitantly. He followed and shut the door behind him.

"It seems something unexpected happened on your mission, Kakashi. Care to explain?" Tsunade spoke, barely glancing up from a scroll she was writing on.

"My mission was completed. On my way back I found this woman a mile away from Konoha. I couldn't see any tracks, supplies or any indication of enemy involvement. She seems very confused. She seemed to think that Konoha and myself were nothing more than a work of fiction."

Tsunade looked up at the young woman. She could see why Kakashi was concerned. She was very much out of place and she had some explaining to do if they were to understand the situation at hand. She set her pen down in favor of focusing her attention on the woman before her.

"Who are you?"

"Emma Steele." She answered.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't know." She looked shaken and uncomfortable. Expert eyes raked her form as Tsunade questioned her further.

"Do you know where you are?" Emma looked flustered and confused again. She could only bring herself to reply in a tiny and nervous voice. She wasn't sure of her answer any more.

"Konoha?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"You are right. This is Konoha." Tsunade said rather patiently.

"I don't understand. This isn't some joke?"

"She has said that before. She doesn't seem to understand why she is here." Kakashi informed her.

"What exactly don't you understand?" Tsunade questioned, her honeyed eyes pinning the young woman where she stood.

"Where I am from this world, your world is nothing but a story. It's all just a work of fiction. I know about this world because it's one of my favorite shows to watch."

"Can you provide some sort of proof of your story?" Tsunade regarded the young woman skeptically. She bit her lip and cast her mind out for some fact that could prove she was telling the truth.

"Itachi Uchiha was never a traitor. He was ordered to kill his clan. He did everything to protect the village and his younger brother. He is the most self less and loyal shinobi Konoha may ever see. This all became apparent to everyone after his death." She stopped when Tsunade's eyebrows jumped up towards her hair line. "He's... not dead yet is he?"

'Shit' she thought.

"That is something that only select few know about. I hope we can trust you not to go around blabbing secrets to everyone." She quickly nodded.

"So what shall we do with you? We can't have anyone knowing that someone has valuable information on this world. Frankly, I don't want to know anything you know. Knowledge may be power but I fear the knowledge you have may be too much for this world to handle. We will just have to hide you in the village until we can return you to your home. I will push some paperwork through to confirm your citizenship. Keep those secrets to yourself. We can reconvene tomorrow at 10 am for the details. Kakashi." He stepped forward as she addressed him.

"You will be watching over this girl until further notice. You already know her secret and the importance of protecting her. Keep her out of sight until we can create a story and paper work to back it. And I still expect a scroll on my desk detailing your mission."

"Hai." He answered.

"Dismissed."

They both walked out of the Hokage's office and into the hall way.

"So, now what?" Emma asked.

"We keep you out of sight till Tsunade-sama comes up with the paperwork to explain why you are here."

"Where does one go to avoid everyone in Konoha?"

"We are going to my place." He answered.