Note: Rookie 9 are in their 16 years of age.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto characters

Genre: Drama/Angst/Adventure/Romance

Summary: To both Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi, home is a vague memory. But a certain Hyuuga heiress is about to make them remember. KakashiHinataItachi and Gradual KakaHina

Prologue: Solidarity

Hyuuga Hinata let out another long breath, as she sat on the grass. Wiping the trace of sand that was blemishing her lips, she brushed the strands of hair that fell to cover her eyes. The grass was ruffling, as Konoha's late noon breeze drifted.

"Come on Hinata! You can do it!" A tattoo-faced young man shouted from an edge, followed by an affirming bark from a gigantic white dog. There was a slight trace of worry in his face, as she unwaveringly tried to stand on both feet. Her white eyes were resolving, as she began to spread her fists and fortify her posterior. Then her left foot moved backward, securely pressuring the ground. Seeing this, her sturdily standing contender; arched an eyebrow in his usual gesticulation.

"That's it, Hinata! Strike Shino!"

"Jyuuken!"

Hinata sprinted to face her contestant, and began to strike the fair-skinned young man, who was waiting in patience. Her offensive movements were assertive but aggressive, while the tall boy's manners were large and slow, implying that he was used to giving things time to happen. Soft thuds were emitted as fists clashed and bodies eluded-years of teamwork were proving their worth—they both were meticulously versed in each other's style, they both knew their own strengths and weaknesses.

But Hinata was not about to yield. She stayed relentlessly in her determined assaults, which to her disappointment, he dodged quite efficiently.

"Detach all ties, Hinata. Defeat or be defeated. You're not serious enough," the young man muttered an unexpected comment, hardly distracted by her assaults.

With this; her brows furrowed in alarm.

I will prove you wrong, Shino-kun.

She immediately increased her speed, and concentrated on reading his shaded eyes, for nothing was imperceptible to the visualization of the Byakugan. Her fists continuously flew to strike his chest, but he sharply blocked them with his own strikes. She realized then, that she had got to think of some attack other than Taijutsu, if she wanted to defeat him. She persistently launched a series of hand strike, while her sight wandered around the training grounds to find another tool for attack.

Underneath the underneath.

She saw a shallow void not very far from the spot of brilliance they were fighting on. She could discern that her endless attacks had caused him to move backward without him realizing, nearing the void, which was filled with considerable amount of water.

She waited.

When their distance from the void became appropriate, she shifted her meditation to the water in the void, while keeping enough attention to her Taijutsu. Shino was clearly absorbed in their fisticuff, and had mistaken where her true intentions had lied. The water from the void began to sprinkle out, rose into the air to form some kind of infinitesimal beads of water, accumulated to form needles, and without further delay, the water Senbon shot themselves toward Shino.

"That's it, Hinata!" She heard the boy with the dog encourage again, jumping in glee.

Impulsive stabs of the water Senbon at the Tenketsu points around Shino's body were causing him to become paralyzed. His face was manifesting wordless surprise, as the acknowledgment of his loss rushed to his head. He stood stiffly, waiting for an absolution.

And she granted him just that. She lowered her body, and her fingers spread to perform her Ninjutsu seal.

"Jyuukenhou, Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou."

But out of the blue, Shino's figure exploded into fading flocks of mist, before she could even start her Sixty-Four Strikes.

"Kage Bunshin?" It was Hinata's turn to become surprised. She looked around their training grounds, and saw that she was alone. At this sudden dawning, even the vague sound of rippling grass could be heard—a sardonic song in the wind. Hinata almost laughed—she had been conned, and she did not even realize it.

Something was terribly wrong.

She could not feel Shino's presence. Using Byakugan, her view journeyed through the forest, and after it had extended for about 100 feet, Shino was still nowhere to be seen.

It was then; Hinata abruptly realized, that day, both Shino and Kiba were never in the training grounds.

Somewhere in the humid area in between huge trees, accompanied by the chirp of forest crickets and the occasional barks of a large dog, a man outfitted in a black robe was kneeling in defeat. His expression darkened solemnly, as he endeavored to get to his feet. His shirt was dampened by blood, his long black hair flattened at a side—tainted by mud. Expression now panicky, he wiped his face and spat the foul-tasting crimson liquid out of his mouth.

"You don't have much time," Aburame Shino voiced calmly, "tell us who sent you, and why you've been sneaking around Hinata for the past week."

'Like hell I will!" The man yelled, and tried to hurl himself into Shino, but beforehand, the Aburame heir punched the point in between the man's nose and upper lip, producing a loud pounding sound. The man let out a roar of anguish, securing his mouth with both palms; as a combination of blood and saliva dripped onto the ground. Blotches of scarlet liquid were staining the white shirt underneath the black one.

"Or do you want my dog to get it from you? You know, I've been feeding him raw meat lately, and he loves it," Kiba, who was standing not far, said in a relishing calm voice.

The hapless man lowered his palms; his nose was bleeding profusely, as he blinked his purpled eyes several times, focusing on Akamaru. Shino saw it, the look of understanding in the stranger's face, the dawn of who they were, was sinking into him.

And it was not right.

"If I tell you, boss will kill me," he said, there was a cowardly tone in his voice, as he shakily eyed Akamaru.

"Boss? So, you mean you came from an organization?" Kiba enquired naughtily, concurrently patting Akamaru's head. The dog woofed inaudibly, and slipped its tongue out, its long fur swayed by the wind like a pendulum.

The man snapped. It seemed he had leaked information important enough, because after that, his body shook more violently from fright. But it was not for long. After a long agonizing minute, he closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he seemed to calm, and afterward took out from his pocket, an exploding tag.

Before Shino and Kiba could stop him, the anonymous man stuffed the tag into his own mouth, and an explosion occurred. Both Shino and Kiba retreated, as they saw the man's jaw fall onto the ground: chipped red meat splattered on sand, fragments of skull planted on the surface of tree trunks like debris of bullets. His body then fell silently onto the ground, his eyes wide and almost protruded out of their sockets.

"Damn! Now we'll never know who sent him!" Kiba complained, while Akamaru barked, licking its paw as though nothing had happened.

"You feed Akamaru raw meat?"

"Naw. I was trying to intimidate the man. I didn't know he was about to commit Hara-kiri for it."

"You and I, we both know he didn't do it because of Akamaru."

"Yeah, he must have come from a pretty sly organization, he was scared shitless when he had let slip the information. Should we inform the Godaime about this?"

"I don't think so. Let's not worry Hinata."

"You're right. The man is gone, when they send another one to spy on Hinata, we'll abolish him together. But how do we hide the body?"

"I've figured that out."

Shino leveled his fist to his chest and a massive horde of Kikai flew out of his sleeve, forming the shape of their master.

"Make sure no trace of his flesh exists within the boundary of Konoha," Shino ordered.

The black shape of Shino obediently nodded, and quickly walked to the mangled body. The shape then fell on the body, uniting with it. The man's flesh significantly reduced, as the Kikai, bit by bit, transferred his remains to a faraway place.

Both Shino and Kiba did not wait to enjoy the sight. Kiba quickly hopped on Akamaru, and they both fled from the bloody scene, while Shino disappeared and emerged fifty foot from the site. Then another fifty foot—and another—before arriving at the training ground. Shino saw that Kiba was already talking to Hinata, scratching his head, seemingly for no ostensible reason. Hinata was complaining about how they both liked to leave her by herself, to have fun without her knowledge. Shino wished she could join the fun, but he did not want her to have nightmares. He leveled his fist in the air—a large butterfly with dichromatic wings emerged out of nowhere, and tenderly settled itself on his forefinger.

When Shino neared Hinata, he saw she was about to complain to him. But her facial expression drastically changed, as she spotted the butterfly he had brought on his index finger.

"We went to catch this," Shino informed, and slowly sat beside Hinata. She marveled at the sight of the butterfly, and had completely forgotten about her previous protests.

Kiba could not help but smile. And even though his team leader tried to hide it, Kiba knew that behind his high collar, the Aburame heir was also smiling.

Hatake Kakashi had watched them for quite a while.

At first, he had spotted the man in the black robe, hiding in the shadows near the Hyuuga residence, as he was on his way to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch, almost a week before. And Kakashi had equally inferred, that the sly man was spying on the family. Sensing fishy business, he had followed the intruder to this open field several times, and it became clear, that the man was actually spying on the Hyuuga heiress. However, the man, in clarity; was not adequately skilled. He did not realize Kakashi had been following him for days now.

Kakashi had had thoughts to squeeze information out of the man, but it seemed that Kurenai's boys were more advanced than what Kakashi had expected.

And Hyuuga Hinata.

He had not seen her for quite some time. She had grown into a fine young lady, with bluish hair falling to the level of her chest, her eyes still bearing the same amount of oblivion. Kakashi had once seen her almost killed by her own cousin, during the third preliminary stage of Chuunin exam three years ago. In fact, he had also joined Kurenai and Gai to stop Neji from killing her. He had known Hinata had a certain issue with her father from Kurenai, but he did not pay much attention to her.

But today, as he had seen her defeat Shino's Kage Bunshin, he had immediately realized, that the weak girl everybody had once known; was no more.

And Kakashi had also realized, her teammates had guarded her with their lives, while successfully keeping to themselves the knowledge on the stalker.

He watched them train again, until the first red hue of twilight emerged across the western sky.

And he followed, as he saw them walk her home. They both waited until she gently closed the door on them. Afterward, they walked two different directions, each to the safeties of their own home.

Something from Kakashi's past was fighting its way to the surface; the breeze and the silence were rendering him nostalgic. Resting on a tree stem, he flanked Icha Icha's latest volume in his arm, thinking about his childhood. He remembered his parents, Yondaime, Obito and Rin. He remembered the feel of Kunai in his grasp when he first held it. He remembered his father's laughter, and his mother's smile.

It was not long, before Kakashi had realized, that he had forgotten how it felt—to have a home.

To be continued…..