Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, just the storyline and some characters.

Summary: Sasuke's older sister comes back to Konoha, rekindling love in his heart. But Shinju also returned for other reasons: to finish a task given to her long ago , to find Itachi and ward off enemies from destroy the Leaf Village. The fate Konoha rests on her shoulders. How far will she go to save those she loves?

A/N: I've decided to make this story a little more fast-paced because I realized I'm already on the 26th chapter and I'm not even halfway done with the story LOL. So, if you like really long stories about Kakashi, which I do, then you're in for a treat! Please keep reviewing, favoriting, and following! It gives me motivation ;)

:: Konoha's Pearl Princess ::

Chapter 26 - Another Departure

Everything was prepared. Slinging a pack across her back, she tiptoed quietly across the house to wake her little brothers. Itachi sat comfortably on the couch awaiting their departure. Shinju smiled at him warmly.

She remembered the argument that ensued when she told Tsunade and the Council that Itachi would be coming along to her Mountaintop.

"We absolutely forbid it!" Homura's voice shouted angrily.

"Regardless that he's your brother, he is also an S-class criminal who must pay for his crimes he committed against Konoha." Koharu stated.

"I thought we went over this already," Shinju said through gritted teeth, "He's been working as ANBU for you old farts for months now. And if memory serves me right, he killed our clan under your orders."

Silence fell.

"Having him leave with the two boys would make the other nations feel a whole lot better knowing that the Hidden Leaf doesn't have a world renown criminal in its depth."

"Then again they might feel the need to attack us since we appear so weak now." Danzou sneered.

"We have always been strong without the need of Uchiha Itachi," Shikaku spoke after remaining silent the entire meeting, "Naruto and Sasuke need this training anyways for the battle that will come soon. I agree with Shinju, the three of them must go."

Tsunade, who also remained silent throughout the meeting, said with a tone of finality, "We'll take a vote. Those in favour of having Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uchiha Itachi remain in Konoha, raise your hand.

Homura, Koharu, and Danzou raised their hands promptly.

The remaining council members looked at each other from across the table, but did nothing.

"It's settled then," Tsunade declared, "Uchiha Shinju will escort Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi to the Mountaintop where they will stay for an indefinite amount of time."

Shinju gestured to Itachi, "Let's wake them up."

Itachi remained where he was and frowned, "I doubt Sasuke would be pleased to awake to my face looming over his."

She rolled her eyes and wrenched him to his feet, "He's going to have to get used to his older brother being around, why not start now."

Sighing in defeat, Itachi followed her into the boy's bedroom. They already had their packs ready beside their bed as they slept. Moonlight fell through their window and lit their sleeping faces with a quiet serenity. Shinju would watch them sleep from time to time and still she could not get over the fact how much they've grown. But when they slept, they looked years younger, the pain of loss etched away from their young faces.

"I'll wake Naruto," Shinju whispered, "You go wake Sasuke." She made her way to the blonde hair boy's bed and gently patted his head, quietly saying, "Wake up, little brother."

Itachi knew this was a bad idea, but he did as his older sister requested and began shaking his little brother softly. "We're leaving, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes slipped open slowly. He stared at the figure waking him up and instantly hissed in indignation. His Sharingan flared and he pounced on Itachi.

"I told you." Itachi sighed tiredly, laying still on the floor while Sasuke held a kunai to his throat.

Shinju squeaked in shock and rushed over to Itachi and Sasuke, "Get off your older brother this instant!"

Naruto stirred awake, "Nani, oneechan? What's going on?" He looked down to the floor and scrambled out of bed, "What happened! What did he do to Sasuke-teme? Ne? Ne?"

Shinju grabbed Sasuke's face, contorted in rage and lifted it to look into her eyes. His raging scarlet eyes met hers and they instantly cooled to obsidian.

"Please, Sasuke," Shinju whispered while stroking back his dark bangs, "You need to trust him now. He will be with you for the duration of your stay on the Mountaintop and I won't be there. Itachi is your older brother and I love him as dearly as a I love you."

Sasuke's internal being struggled against his older sister's words, "But he," He choked out, glancing wildly at the still man below him, "I can't forget what he did, onee-chan. Mother and Father. They were dead. I was there."

Slowly, she lifted him off of Itachi and cradled him in her arms, shushing his choked sobs, "I know, little brother, I know. It's going to be hard, but we need to move forward. You know why he did it. You know it was the right thing to do. Itachi loves you, you know that? He would die protecting you and I."

Sasuke said nothing. Patting his head, she rose to her feet along with Itachi.

Naruto sat up stockstill watching Sasuke wipe his eyes. "Ne, teme, are you ok?"

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke muttered.

"NANI?!" Naruto exploded, only to have a hand clapped over his mouth. Itachi looked at Shinju exasperatedly, holding the struggled blonde down.

"I can't believe you expect me to watch over them at the Mountaintop," He sighed holding onto Naruto's struggling body.

Shinju laughed softly, "Naruto, it's 2 in the morning. You need to be quiet."

Upon hearing her words, he stopped struggling, but crossed his arms over his chest. "I was only worried for, Sasuke-teme." He mumbled.

Sasuke flushed a dull pink, "T-thanks, I guess."

Shinju watched this exchange with a glowing heart. They had changed so much from the squabbling boys to brothers.

"We'll need to get a move on soon, we're meeting with our two other escorts shortly."

The group of four walked out of the Uchiha compound at a comfortable pace and headed toward the woods. The light of the moon guided them through the dense forest. Shinju kept her ANBU mask inside her pack, she was required to have it on her during her mission to deliver the three young men to the Mountaintop, but not wear it. Itachi, on the other hand, had snapped his mask into place the moment they left the house.

She and Itachi were dressed in a similar ANBU garb. A black, tight, sleeveless turtleneck adorned by a white, hard plated armor on top. Black, form fitting pants that tucked into heavy duty military boots, rather than sandals that Naruto and Sasuke wore. The only difference between Itachi and Shinju's uniform was that she wear a thin, black cloak with a hood around her neck.

While Itachi's somewhat pale arm stood stark against the deep black of the ANBU tattoo that had been etched into his shoulder, Shinju and various black swirls and shapes gracing her elegant arms. Sasuke and Naruto couldn't help but stare at the seals that surrounded her body. It looked like art, beautiful, dangerous art.

Breaking the tired silence within the group, Shinju began singing a familiar tune under her breath.

"I could stay awake, just to hear you breathing..."

"Watch you smile while you are sleeping..."

"While you're far away and dreaming..."

She fell silent, staring into the starry sky. Sasuke stared at his older sister in wonderment.

How is it possible that this angelic creature is my onee-chan? He thought to himself.

Itachi had closed his eyes when Shinju sang and thought of their late mother. She always hummed and sang softly to them.

Naruto just smiled to himself, thinking he was one of the luckiest boys in the world to have found someone like her.

Moments later, they broke into a clearing that led them to the Gates of Konoha, but in its path was the Memorial Stone. Shinju saw it, paused, and walked toward it.

"I'd like to talk to them alone, if you don't mind." She said to the trio that followed her toward the monolith. They nodded silently and fell back, waiting on their sister to speak to her deceased loved ones.

Shinju dragged a finger over one distinct name. Obito.

"I'm taking Sasuke and Itachi to the Mountaintop where I trained," Shinju said softly to the cold, marble stone, "Naruto is coming too. I'm excited to see how they flourish under Shun-sensei's training." She paused when the thought of silver hair glinting in the moonlight surfaced from her memory, "Kakashi and I-" Something caught in her throat thinking of the masked man she had loved. Still loved. "I guess we weren't suited for each other. It's fine, though. I have my boys. That's all I need." She ended her little talk to her cousin with a sad smile and walked away from the Memorial.

They boys didn't have to pretend that they didn't hear what Shinju had said, she could see from the looks on their faces (excluding Itachi since he was wearing his mask, but his aura spoke for him) that they were very unhappy with the last part of her confession.

"Are we allowed to kick Kakashi-sensei's ass now?" Naruto scowled.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"Leave your poor sensei alone," Shinju said and continued walking in the direction of the Gates.

Itachi fell in step beside Shinju and said quietly, "You shouldn't have to go through this heartache just because that idiotic Copy-nin can't see perfection if it danced naked in front of him."

The young woman giggled, slapping her younger brother's arm, "You always say the strangest things in the strangest ways."

Itachi shrugged, "I'm just giving you my input. But in all honesty, Kakashi has a hard time letting people in, especially if that said someone had left him for about 10 years."

Shinju fell silent, after a few minutes she said, "You let me in."

Itachi turned his head and placed an arm around her shoulders, bumping his head to hers, "That's because you were patient and gave me time to readjust."

Sasuke watched this exchange in disgust, yet somehow a strange feeling of warmth clutched at his heart. He had never seen his older brother act so warmly towards another person. The frown that formed on his face changed to that of contentment.

A few minutes after they had left the Memorial they began walking down a familiar dirt path that led to the Gates. Shinju squinted her eyes against the dim light of the moon at the entrance and scowled. Without saying a word she unzipped her pack and placed her gold-leafed mask on her head.

"Sorry boys," She said to Naruto and Sasuke who looked at her in confusion.

Their question was answered when they had come within earshot of the Gate.

"Yo." They heard their sensei call out.

"You're our escorts?" Naruto blurted out.

Standing in front of the entrance were two tall ANBU. One had caramel colored shoulder length hair and a raccoon mask. The other had gravity defying silver hair and a dog mask. Shinju frowned behind her mask at the two men, surely Tsunade wouldn't have him escort them. She shot both her arms out as Sasuke and Naruto rushed Kakashi. They growled at him simultaneously.

"We don't want you to escort us." Sasuke said flatly, glaring at the silver-haired ANBU.

"Sorry to disappoint." Kakashi drawled.

"You're the Rokudaime," Shinju shot back, glaring at the Copy-nin, "You shouldn't leave the village on an ANBU mission. Is Tsunade out of her mind?"

He looked at Shinju intensely, "Tsunade-sama insisted that we escort you, it's not like we had a choice."

The air was thick with tension.

"Alright guys and gal," Genma laughed nervously, "Let's get along now." He slid his mask up, nodding to Kakashi to do the same.

Relunctantly, the Copy-nin removed his mask and stared at Shinju promptly. She crossed her arms across her chest and said, "Let's just get on with the mission details."

Kakashi shrugged, turning away from Shinju and talking to Naruto and Sasuke, "We don't want to look like a huge group, especially if we're almost entirely comprised of ANBU. It'll look suspicious. Itachi and Genma are going to shadow us from behind from the front."

Itachi snapped his head at Kakashi, "I won't leave Shinju's side."

"You need to be the eyes up front," Kakashi explained, "If there's something amiss, you can warn us easily since you're so attached to Shinju."

Although Kakashi hadn't meant for it to sound taunting, he didn't feel sorry when Itachi stiffened at the last part of what he had said.

"Back off." Shinju said sharply to Kakashi, "At least Itachi can express how he feels and not be a coward and take back what he says."

Genma could feel the temperature drop a few degrees.

Kakashi looked impassive, and stunned, but continued in a somewhat calm voice, "Shinju and I will be with Naruto and Sasuke."

Dissent arose from the two boys. "No! Let Genma be with us."

Genma raised his hands and shook his head, "I'd rather just guard the rear, you guys can figure out what the hell is going on between you two." He motioned to Kakashi and Shinju.

Shinju tried to look aloof to the idea of being with Kakashi for the better part of 3 days, but she was bothered by it. Very bothered. She didn't say anything, though. There was already too much tension between the two and a big argument was threatening to break if they continued to talk.

"Let's go." She said curtly to Kakashi and took the lead. She reminded him silently that she was the Captain of this mission. She whispered quickly in Itachi's ear the general whereabouts of the Mountaintop.

Itachi nodded briefly to her before disappearing into the darkness of the forest outside the gates. He would leave an almost undetectable trail for them to follow. She placed her hands on Naruto and Sasuke's backs, "Take one last look at Konoha," Shinju said softly, "You won't be back for a while."

Naruto and Sasuke gazed at the sleeping village silently.

During those few precious moments, Kakashi tapped Shinju's shoulder and motioned for her to follow him a little ways away from the two boys. She regarded him coldly, but followed him.

"What?" She asked, folding her arms across her white plated armor. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach watching Kakashi run a hand through his spiky silver hair. She recalled a time when she would run her hands through his soft mane of hair as they relaxed in their apple tree.

"This animosity needs to stop," Kakashi said frustratedly, "I don't want this to be how it is between us."

"How would you like it then?" Shinju hissed, tearing her mask off her face, "You made it clear that you don't want to be with me, and yet you want to be with me? Which is it, Hatake, because I'm not some chick that waits around."

Kakashi rubbed his face in frustration, "I do want to be with you."

Shinju's face became blank, but inside her heart was aching.

"You say that now," She said slowly, not meeting his gaze, "But how will you feel later? When war eventually explodes will you run away with your tail between your legs because you're afraid to be hurt?"

"Aren't you afraid?" Kakashi implored.

"Of course," Shinju scoffed and then said softly, "I'm always afraid of what might happen, but I don't want to be afraid to take chances." The morning wind created a hushed sound between the two ANBU.

"I loved you." The last part she said in an almost inaudible whisper that was carried with the wind.

Kakashi instinctively placed his hand under her chin and lifted it to meet his gaze, "I love you."

Her bright red eyes looked sadly into his ink black one, tears forming around the rim of her eyes.

"You broke my heart," She whispered, placing a hand on the one under her chin and pushing it away, "I can't forget that. I can't make the emotional turmoil I went through because of you go away."

Kakashi's face looked strained, he could feel himself struggling with her words. "What can I do to make you believe that I'm for real?"

"Give me time." Shinju said, releasing his hand and turning away from him, "I need time."

Nodding his head, Kakashi stepped back from her, "I'll wait as long as I have to."

Shinju bit her lip and stared into Kakashi's eyes, pain reflecting into her own, "Thank you."

End chapter