A/N: Tiny bit late with this, but I'll just say it once. DISCLAIMER. All characters, with the exception of the Mikuzens, belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I, personally, don't think this story is very dark, violent, or suggestive (good on language!) but readers who made through it differ :)

Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

The Beginning

The day Kakashi Hatake first arrived at the Academy, at the tender age of five, it was clear that he was a prodigy. Chunins had taken bets on how long he would stay there: some said a year; others, six months. He would be a legend. It was clear in those guarded, black eyes, in his movement, in the way he studied scrolls for the briefest second and analyzed them fully in the next. Even if he had no birthright or kekkei genkai, he was still the son of Konoha's White Fang, after all. With or without that comparison, the point still remained: Kakashi was simply better than everyone else.

The day he entered the Academy and held his first weapon in his hands, a two year old child had clapped her hand and giggled. This girl was Akane Mikuzen, and she was a child with presence. They stared at her coppery hair and pale eyes, charmed by her little, ringing laughter. And for the first couple years of her life, that was simply all Akane Mikuzen was: a doll. She was all show, with no substance. Useless. Fragile.

She was everything a ninja shouldn't be.

xxxxx

"Obito, where are you going? We're going to be late!" Rin scolded, her voice breaking through the quiet roads leading back into Konoha. Birds chirped and flew away as the girl ran after the grinning Uchiha boy on a bright, sunny day. He didn't slow down, but rather turned to face her and ran backwards. His face lit up.

"A cousin of mine is entering the Academy today!" Obito exclaimed proudly as they approached the familiar white and red building attached to the Monument. A flock of children crowded the doors, all chattering excitedly about becoming a great ninja like their siblings or parents or one day becoming the most well-known ninja ever – some, even aspiring to be the next Hokage. It was just a chaos of high-pitched voice.

"Obito."

"WHAT THE -" Obito shouted, flustered as a silver-haired boy appeared behind him, glaring at him. "Kakashi, what was that for!" he complained loudly as Rin giggled. Kakashi, even behind his mask, was clearly not amused by Obito's attitude. His black eyes narrowed accusingly.

"I just knew you would be here. Didn't Minato-sensei tell us to meet at the training grounds in five minutes?" Kakashi reminded bitterly. His eyes flickered to Rin, and although he didn't say anything to her directly, it was clear that he wasn't too thrilled with the fact that she had followed the boy as well. She stared down at her feet, unable to meet his piercing gaze – a trait so rare among someone so young.

"I would've made it!" the Uchiha snapped indignantly, but it was obviously a lie. "Ah, forget you." He sharply turned away from his teammate and scanned the crowd for his young cousin. All the while, a copper-haired girl was staring at the group of ninjas with open curiosity and blinked in realization when she put their words together.

"Kenta," Akane Mikuzen said, poking the Uchiha beside her, smiling, "I think your cousin is looking for you." The dark-haired boy looked up, his face slightly flushed. When he had heard his name, he was shocked to hear such a friendly voice from the girl. Even before entering the Academy, most of the aspiring ninjas knew each other fairly well and Akane was hard to miss. Although she was a daughter of a jonin, it was her mother's profession as a dressmaker that made everyone wondered why Akane would ever consider being a kunoichi when she seemed more like one of her mother's mannequin. Nonetheless, she had accompanied her father today into the first enrollment at the Academy, more out of curiosity than an early introduction.

Kenta stammered. "Huh? Oh, uh, well –"

"Hey!" They turned to the taller boy. "I see you!" Obito announced, shuffling his way through the crowd. Akane, being only three, giggled at his clumsiness for someone who was already on a squad – and stopped midway when another popped up right in front of her. It was the other boy, the one with the mask. His hair was an odd colour of grey that she that she had always associated with older men, and yet despite his small frame, he had a presence that was incredibly hard to mix. How did he get here so fast?

"Let's go, Obito. I refuse to run ten more laps around the training ground just because you want to –"

"Fine! Geesh, Kakashi!" He groaned angrily at the bossy, self-proclaimed leader of the squad. Kakashi is so– hey, wait a second. Obito's eyes narrowed as he took in the tiny, orange haired girl in front of him. He leaned down to her, eyes squinted. "I know you."

She didn't hear him, she was turning red – more red than Kenta had – at being so close to Kakashi. She wasn't sure why but the way that this boy carried himself, the way he moved, caught her attention...or maybe she wanted to see his face that was hidden behind that mask. "I'm Akane." Her little voice was hopeful as she looked up at Kakashi with open admiration.

He didn't care, he didn't notice. And he didn't wait for Obito.

One moment, the young chunin was in front of her, and the next, he disappeared - leaving Akane with her first hope of becoming as strong as he.

xxxxx

When Dosu Mikuzen married a civilian woman, he knew he wanted his daughter to be raised like that: a civilian, well away from dangers of a shinobi life. That was the reason why he didn't marry a kunoichi, after all. He knew he could not be able to handle the pain of losing someone close to him simply because it was a part of the job.

So when his five year old daughter ran up to him and begged him to register her as a kunoichi, he was horrified. More than horrified. He tried to imagine his little girl holding weapons up as he did, and slaughtering other children and adults even. But she was so determined, and he loved her too much to deny her of many things and so he reluctantly signed her up. She bounced up and down excitedly, trying to watch over the crowd.

Two years ago, she had been standing here next to Kenta Uchiha. Now, she was going to be a student.

"I'm going to be strong, right dad?"

He sighed, covering his face. "Damn right you will be."

Akane stared openly at her father, who had never seemed to clean up his language even in front of his daughter. He wasn't the least apologetic about it. A grin broke across her face and she grabbed her father's hand, pushing him towards the Academy, already anticipating the day where she would graduate and join a squad with Kakashi.

xxxxx

The young prodigy sat down on the grassy training ground, appraising the spar between his sensei and the other one. The Uchiha's attacks were sloppy compared to Minato's quick, assured movement. His eyes followed the blond man's speed patterns versus the amount of strength he used when aiming for each body part and preplanned his own moves, what he would do to retaliate, and the proper way to respond.

And as sharp as Kakashi was monitoring the fight, he still noticed Rin staring at him from the corner of his eyes.

"What?" he asked in a harsher-than-necessary whisper, his eyes darting around to follow Minato's flashes. She blinked and looked down, staring at her hands in her lap. She said something quietly, but he pretended not to hear because he did not care for her – or girls, really. He just needed to be a ninja…to get a higher rank, to carry out more missions, to prove his value to all of Konoha and to the Hokage and to all the shinobi that had thought lesser of him because his father was not strong enough. That was the only thing that mattered, the only thing he strived for after the night he had seen his father's hands on the kunai that ended his life - that caused the body of a fully grown ninja to lie curled up in a pathetic ball and dead by his very own son's feet.

Third fanfiction for Naruto, oh Lord help me I have a problem. But at last, a KakashixOC fanfic that I can actually imagine writing! It was difficult trying to analyse what type of girl would be good for Kakashi. So…meet Akane Mikuzen.

I'm really trying to pace myself here with the story, so bear with fan-girlness for a bit! This story will probably be spanned over like what, 15 years of his life?

Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review.