Sooo … I hurried?:)

Take this as a prologue of sorts. The next chapter will skip a few more months again. This takes place around 1,5 years after part I.

Also: I realized that this one spells CoaCh ('Cords and Chains') – weird.

It's winter.

The first harsh one Hisana has ever experienced in Konoha. Five years aren't really all that long, so she doesn't feel like her judgment is worth much, but in her opinion the cold temperatures are a nice change from the usually mellow weather.

Now there's snow everywhere outside, and she takes near unholy glee in watching the citizens struggle with it. Because of the cold Obaa-chan's teahouse is full to the bursting point; it's late afternoon and most people want to warm up a little before trudging home through the snow. And really, Obaa-chan's tea so good that no excuse is actually needed to have it.

Hisana herself isn't quite off duty yet. Or, she is officially. It's just that with Kakashi-shishou one is never quite finished. 'At least not in this life,' he impressed on her repeatedly.

Of course he's late again. So she's already on her fourth cup of tea for today, desperately trying to stay awake because Hisana is pretty sure she won't get to see her bed anytime soon tonight. Tenzo next to her doesn't look much better, clutching his cup as if his life depends on it.

She kicks him under the table when his eyes slide shut and he spills hot tea all over himself. Hisana snickers.

"You're turning into him," he informs her gruffly, too busy rubbing his dry eyes to muster up a glare. "Whenever he isn't here to pick on me himself you suddenly start channeling him." He looks at his empty cup mournfully.

"You just make it so easy," she accuses. Tenzo is a nice guy. Too nice most of the time. To be honest, Hisana still isn't entirely sure what to make of him. While she remembers the Shippuden manga well enough, 'Yamato' used to be a bit of a mystery to her even then. He was too inconsistent, too often shown in sticky situation and not enough during down time to get a clear picture of his personality.

She started picking on him just to see when he'll start fighting back, but he never does. Even though Tenzo has nearly ten years on Hisana and technically outranks her, their shared position as Kakashi-shishou's side-kicks and sometimes punching bags seems to outweigh whatever authority he should have over her. He doesn't have much self-esteem, she thinks in vague pity. Poor guy; Kakashi-shishou sure likes to ride roughshod over him.

"Cheer up, buttercup – I'll get you a new one. Look, I'm braving Baa-chan all by myself for you."

She lifts her hand, calling the grumpy old woman over. It's not often that the old lady comes out of the kitchen to serve customers herself. She's not the most patient person and rather delegates the work to her younger, prettier waitresses. But during days like this, when every table is in use and people line up at the door, she pretty much has no choice.

Hisana, who is usually one of her favorite customers, braces for her snappy mood.

"What is it, girl?"

"Ah – you see, I made a mess, I'm afraid. My friend here needs a new cup of tea."

Hisana shoots her a disarming smile, but the woman's face stays sullen as she turns her eyes to Tenzo, still wet and wiping ineffectively at his shirt. Baa-chan tuts.

"You bully him too much," she admonishes Hisana. "And such a good-looking boy too. You'll never get married like this."

Then she turns around and hobbles off, presumably to get a waitress to deal with their idiocy. Tenzo snickers at her. Hisana kicks him again, this time harder.

"As if I'd take you, even if you begged me," she snipes haughtily, ignoring how he starts laughing harder. It's strange to interact with people who should be around her proper age. Children – or teenagers now, she guesses – are easier to handle. Shiki and Shizuha are the exception to the rule, but the rest of her peers is easily intimidated by her dumb jokes. She knows Choumei would have already shrunk away from her, convinced she was really angry at him, and Inomaru's pride would have taken a severe hit.

She wears the knowledge like armor, aware how to press that advantage if they ever make her uncomfortable. Because they do. At fifteen, hormones have a death grip on her former classmates. She's never been subjected to it before, but now, with her pretty face and generally unassuming appearance, they seem to feel encouraged. In the past few months she's been cornered by several vaguely familiar boys who though it a good idea to try and engage her in clumsy flirting.

Not a good idea, as it turned out. She'd had no idea what to do, so she defaulted to shutting them down a.s.a.p., leaving a trail of bruised egos in her wake. One such unfortunate encounter was witnessed by Shiki, who recognized her bumbling for what it was and laughed herself sick, much to Hisana's chagrin. Now she really knows how Sasuke feels.

But even though Kakashi-shishou and Tenzo are closer to her real age and should be more intimidating than a bunch of bumbling teenagers, they are essentially harmless. She's just a little girl to them, so smudging the lines between banter and flirting a bit is easy and safe. And if applied at the right moment it seems to amuse them greatly. But getting too comfortable in that persona is also dangerous. A week earlier she made the mistake of talking to Kohaku-senpai that way. He looked very uncomfortable for a few seconds, before Kakashi-shishou broke the tension by flat out laughing in his face.

Shiki nearly broke a rib about that particular piece of information, while Shizuha rather bluntly warned her that her antics have already given her a reputation of liking older men. Tactful those two are not.

No, Hisana is pretty happy where she is: Away from her age mates while they go crazy, and in the more or less well-meaning care of Kakashi's team Eta, currently only consisting of the three of them.

"We should celebrate by just going home," Tenzo suggests, gratefully taking the cup that one of the waitresses hands him. "Just saying. I, for one, haven't slept for almost forty hours."

"Twenty-eight," she admits and shrugs. "I tried, you know. But shishou insisted it may be my promotion, but his accomplishment. Can't really deny that."

At least not completely. Tenzo makes a thoughtful noise.

"You don't really have to call him 'shishou' anymore, you know."

… True. By becoming tokubetsu jounin she's proven she's a tracking expert – enough to rival a jounin. Her apprenticeship is officially over and done. But it's a bit sad; even though she could have killed him five times over, Kakashi wasn't all that bad of a teacher. So much changed, she thinks wistfully. Now she's nobody's student anymore.

"Am I a proper adult now?" she wonders absentmindedly. Tenzo snorts into his tea. He opens his mouth, maybe to tell her that's she'll never be a proper adult, but is stopped by Kakashi stepping through the door. Good, she thinks, so I won't have to make you regret it.

"So," their team leader greets them, "I would have invited you" – scoffs from both of his teammates – "to a bar, but they wouldn't let little Hisana-chan in, so that would be moot. But I have it from a trustworthy source that Baa-chan has some excellent beer." He throws Hisana a conspiratorial look. "Maybe we can sneak you a glass."

When Hisana gets home she's a little drunk, incredibly tired, and a tad of hysteria is rising in her belly. She stumbles into the genkan, carefully listening for Sasuke's breathing anywhere in the apartment, and kicking her sandals into the corner when she finds it deep and even in the bedroom. Good.

They still haven't managed to move into something bigger, but at this point it's mostly because Sasuke likes it and Hisana has simply dropped the subject. It's a nice apartment; why not keep it? It's not as if she has a private life to speak of. She drags herself to the bathroom, locks the door firmly, and sinks to the floor. Oh god, she's never doing this again. Kakashi is crazy, she thinks faintly. Serves him right then that he has to carry Tenzo home. She hopes he doesn't abandon the poor guy halfway through. It's not an entirely unreasonable fear, because their taicho is far more sloshed then either of them and therefore prone to flightiness.

Sasuke's graduation is four months away. Hisana lets her head sink onto her knees. Four months is nothing at all; far less than she would have liked. If the Kazekage is already dead? The thought of it fills her with anxiety, but also a malicious sort of vindication.

Sasuke is so excited. He won't say it, of course, but graduation is all he talks about. Naruto is far more subdued about it, but that's mostly because he still can't quite believe that he'll pass the exam – much less that team 7 will stay together. Sakura fiercely believes it for him. Right now all the last pieces are slotting into place and in less than seven months Sasuke will awaken his Sharingan. In less than nine, Orochimaru will kill the Sandaime Hokage.

Now Hisana understands why high-ranking ninja often turn to alcohol or lose their minds entirely. Constantly living with such pressure – knowing that you'll have to perform better than you may actually be capable of … Her hands are shaking just thinking about it.

But no, she's maneuvered herself into a good position. She's a tokubetsu jounin, which means she's not just good, she's really good. And that'll have to be enough to secure her a place, any place, in the Konoha Chuunin Exams.

Anko will be her in. The woman likes her, for some unfathomable reason, and will probably jump on the chance to have Hisana as her lackey at the very least. Sticking to her will give Hisana a fool proof way to track Orochimaru should the Sannin outwit her own skills.

Let Anko deal with him then while she goes and extracts team 7.

She has a plan all written out, knows it by heart even. But all that can't calm her nerves. If there's one thing Kakashi succeeded in, it was driving home the point that she can die. That she will die at some point, probably on duty. Very possibly before the war ends or so shortly after that it doesn't even make a difference.

The only thing that keeps her going is the knowledge that she isn't alone in this. Yes, the others aren't aware of it yet, will probably never find out just how much she knows, but Hisana has friends. Capable ones. As much as she will try her hardest to protect team 7, to stop Sasuke from leaving, to save Itachi if she can – to kill Orochimaru, Danzo and the entire misguided clusterfuck that is Akatsuki, team 7 has its part to play and no one can or will take that away from them.

I'm not the main character, she repeats to herself. I don't need to be the main character.

Hisana will lay the groundwork. That's all it is. Fiddly work, yes, but in the end not the most dangerous part.

Right now her biggest concerns are Orochimaru and Itachi. Sasuke doesn't have the motivation to leave Konoha this time around, which will be a thorn in the Sannin's side. So he will either outright force him, or, more likely, tell him about his brother.

Hisana can't stop that, but she can do damage control, so that's what she'll do. Keep Sasuke from being too traumatized after Zabuza, strengthen his bond with his team, and when he finds out about Itachi, focus his aggression on something useful – on her, if necessary. That'll hurt momentarily but will be better for everyone in the long run.

Hisana rubs her face, forcing the gloomy thoughts away. Four months. She mustn't already run herself ragged about it. Especially because the Chuunin Exams are going to be a lot better supervised than the last time. As expected, the Hokage was more than alarmed to hear of her run-in with Gaara. The Elder Council petitioned to have her questioned and probed by a Yamanaka, to be sure that she isn't lying, to find out about Suna's Jinchuuriki – a million different reasons, really. But as Aburame Shigure predicted, they were easily blocked by the greater council, who were all pretty irked that they would want to send someone of the greater clans to T&I.

As she was informed later, Hyuuga Hiashi even called it "an indignity and an outrage", and wondered aloud if maybe they would like to start interrogating his clan next, because obviously nobody is trustworthy anymore. Apparently the only thing stronger than his dislike for the Uchiha is his distaste for the Elder Council's impertinence towards the noble clans.

Hisana picks herself off the floor and tries to get through her evening routine as quietly as possible. It's not even midnight – god, Kakashi is a heathen – and Sasuke isn't sleeping very deeply yet. She sneaks into the bedroom, watching her cousin for a few long minutes.

It's a bit creepy, how he is the center of her world. He's not always at the forefront of her mind, but ultimately everything she does is to keep him here. Hisana chokes down a silly giggle at herself. Would he appreciate it if he knew? Probably not. Sasuke is still impulsive and a little short-sighted. She loves him dearly, but he's a headache and a half.

But then he does little things, like cleaning up after her, or saying something thoughtful at the right time, and she can see the person he could become if Orochimaru doesn't get to him first. She crawls into bed next to him, vaguely wondering if she can expect him to want a separate bedroom at some point after all. He's grown a lot; the girls have been going crazy over it. Puberty will never leave her alone, will it? She gets rid of her peers and then it gets to her family instead. Maybe. Maybe he doesn't have hormones …?

She closes her eyes before the hysterical giggles come back. Better never ask him about that.

"You know," Anko tells her a few weeks later, "Most people feel that supervising a bunch of genin while they fool around is punishment."

Hisana stares flatly at her. "I'm not most people," she then settles on, purposely imitating the sassy bend of the other woman's hips. Anko chortles unattractively.

"I want to be in because I like watching them squirm. But why do you?"

"Isn't it enough that I want to?" she huffs, "I could bribe you a little even. Dango?"

"Yes to the dango, no to the rest. I wanna know. You're up to something."

They stare at each other stubbornly. 'I am a seer, and I foresee terrible things.' Yeah, that would go over terrifically.

"Suna-nin are going to be here," Hisana finally bursts out, easily dredging up the very real resentment she feels towards the Kazekage. "I don't trust them!"

"Yeah …," the other woman drawls. "We were briefed about that. Isn't that one more reason you should stay the fuck away?"

"Would you?" Hisana challenges, because of course Anko would be the first to dive in head first, if it were her. Finally the older kunoichi makes a noise that sounds vaguely like approval. Anko is fierce and sure to scare any genin she comes across – a perfect fit for the chuunin exams. And if she puts in a good word for Hisana it would be easy. "Come on," Hisana grits out. "I know you're dying to boss me around."

Anko's loud laughter startle a few birds nearby.

"Hell yeah, I am."