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"What are you doing here?"
The blond boy, who hurt him just by looking so much like a photo of his mother coloured in Minato-sensei's colours, jumped back as if to merge with the wall behind him, looking completely broken and terrified before putting on a braver face.
How sad.
"What do you want?"
"You shouldn't be out in the rain," Kakashi replied without really listening to the question, slightly concerned that he would get sick.
"Who cares anyway?"
It was muttered and not meant to be heard, so Kakashi did not respond. He had no right to anyway. He had never been there.
It would be difficult to say that he cared, right? He cared about him as a concept. Much like protecting anyone else in Konoha. There was no affection born of shared moments, camaraderie, or understanding. The Anbu did not encourage you to have intense relationships. It was holding you back.
And you're going to hold me back, aren't you?
That said, it was one of life's inevitable realities. Children were weak and fragile. They had to be protected before they had a chance to be strong themselves.
He was more than strong enough to compensate for that kind of weakness.
"Stand up," he ordered when he heard him gurgling.
"I don't want to go home."
"Do you live with someone?"
The boy shook his head, and Kakashi thought only one thing: good. Easier.
"Come on, then."
"What?"
"You're just asking to be taken away."
"Huh? Hey!"
"We're going to eat," he explained generously as he lifted him up by the collar.
"Go away, leave me alone, old man!"
He said that and pushed him away with his arms... but his little hands were clinging to his jacket as if his life depended on it. He did not really want him to let go. He did not want him to let go at all.
He was just afraid that someone who seemed to care would leave without him, and he preferred to push him away himself so he would not suffer later. Kakashi understood this mindset better than anyone, having adopted it himself at the same age. It was not a life for a child, not one he wanted for his sensei's son.
"Stop whining," he sighed, holding him close, going home to put the soaked child down on the floor.
"This is Pakkun. Pakkun, the puppy."
"He's small. And skinny."
"A talking dog?"
"Pakkun isn't just a dog, he's a ninja summon, a work partner. Pakkun, watch him while I go get some food. No nonsense."
"Of course not, no nonsense."
When he returned with takeaway food, Kakashi naturally noticed that the dog treat jar was empty, with a single symbolic treat left behind as a message, but he did not think anything of it when he saw all his summonings lying around and on top of his little guest.
"I wasn't sure what to get, I hope you like ramen."
A simple choice that was most likely to please everyone.
"I love it," the boy sniffed before urgently wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Ichiraku's is the best."
An almost forgotten memory flashed before Kakashi's eyes. A redhead and a blond, leaning over steaming bowls, their shoulders shaking with laughter. Happy, smiling, full of hope.
Their lives were now reduced to nothing more than that. A living yet fragile legacy, so fragile that a breath could be enough to make it disappear... A marginalised child and a less than perfect village.
Sometimes Kakashi wondered why he was fighting. Why he kept going. Why he got up in the morning.
Konoha was lucky that they had loved ones to protect, because the system itself did not deserve their blood and tears.
"I also like eating at Ichiraku's," he said simply, sighing inwardly when someone knocked energetically on his door, startling his little guest.
If that idiot had come to challenge him again-
"My rival, I challenge you!"
Kakashi blinked slowly with his visible eye, once again glad that his Sharingan was covered so he would not immediately memorise this perfectly, and sighed.
"Gai, in honour of our long rivalry, I suggest we have dinner together tonight, and we'll have a challenge tomorrow morning."
His mood subtly shifting, the unique excitement of their rivalry transforming into the quiet enthusiasm of their friendship, the jonin smiled brightly and entered without hesitation.
"Gladly, Kakashi, what did you do for... for..."
"Ramen," he replied, returning to sit at the table where the kid had climbed onto a chair and started digging into his bowl. "Kid, Maito Gai. Gai, the kid."
"Kakashi, it's..."
"I know," he replied without elaborating, seeing the tension rise sharply in the boy's shoulders. "A baby."
"Hey! I'm not a baby!"
"You still have baby fat all over your face," the ninja teased, pinching his cheeks. "Look at that!"
"I'm not a kid, you're just old!"
Gai burst out laughing.
"He's not even twenty, you know?"
The little Uzumaki turned to him with wide eyes.
"You... what? You have grey hair!"
"There are stranger things than grey hair."
"It's true that Sakura has pink hair, which is even rarer," the child whispered. "It's still weird, though."
"What about him, isn't he weird too?"
The boy turned to Gai, who was smiling at him.
"He's weird," was the blunt admission, "but he seems nice."
"I am!"
"He is. Now eat, or it'll get cold."
He gave one of the extra bowls he planned to eat the next day at lunchtime to Gai, and they ate while listening to his best friend and rival talk. Gai could be very good at talking about anything and everything, to the point where you wondered when he breathed or ate. In other words, he was the perfect guest to relax the half-wild child, who finally fell asleep with his arms crossed, a tuft of blond hair being the only thing visible of him on the table at the end of the meal.
"Thanks for staying, Gai."
"My pleasure, Kakashi. Do you want me to take him home?"
He IS home.
But he was not stupid and did not say that.
"I'll take care of it, don't worry about it."
His friend slipped away for one last intensive training session, but Kakashi did not go home, waiting patiently, and finally he was rewarded with a masked figure appearing before him.
An Anbu. Not someone he knew, surprisingly. Not that it mattered as long as they knew him.
"Get out of my house."
"The Kyubi-"
"I won't repeat myself."
"The orders-"
"He's safe."
He went back inside and slammed the door, startling the half-awake boy who was rubbing his eyes, completely unaware of the stakes he carried with him everywhere he went to.
"Are you all right?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You seem angry."
Murderous would be more accurate, but Kakashi liked that he could not tell the difference. At his age, he deserved to have his innocence protected. Well, what little remained of it.
"There are annoying people everywhere, pup, that's just how it is. Those who know what's good for them keep their distance. The others get what they deserve."
Clearly eavesdropping, the Anbu at his door stepped back to give them space. Whether he went to file a report or stayed around, Kakashi did not care.
"Thanks for the meal," the blond said, hiding a yawn behind his hand as he walked towards the door.
"You look like your mother, you know?"
The moment the words sank in, the boy froze.
"You knew my mother?"
"Her name was Kushina, Uzumaki Kushina. Your parents were wonderful people. I don't want to leave their only son miserable."
"But I-"
"No one is going to argue that you're better off orphaned than adopted by one of the best ninjas in the village," he continued. "You don't have to call me father or brother, I'm not doing this so you'll love me. Just be a happy kid, that's enough for me."
"Um... Can you even do that?"
"Watch me," he grumbled as he took out a futon. "Bathroom. Toilet."
"Can you tell me about my parents?"
"Brush your teeth. Brush your hair. Bed."
He sat down once the boy was settled in his futon and almost completely covered in dogs, and began to talk. What his mother was like, her personality, her love for Konoha and her son, how they met. Naruto had been asleep for a while when Kakashi stopped, but he did not mind. In fact, he was quite happy with that.
There were things he needed to say even though he did not want anyone to remember them. Maybe one day he would tell him more. He did not really know what it felt like to be normal anymore.
With a little luck, they would learn that together. He would give him everything he could to the best of his ability, just as his sensei had done for him. Hoping that it would end better this time.
"When we told you it was time for you to settle down and bring us a puppy, you know that's not what we meant," Pakkun grumbled as he settled down on his lap.
"I know."
It would not change the fact that this little one was here to stay. It might be his longest mission yet, but he would not back down. Kakashi was nothing but stubborn.