Chapter Text
He could barely remember what home looked like.
He dragged himself through the gates, kept himself upright through his mission debrief, through the reports after that, and then finally made it back to his apartment. That was the problem with missions that took a couple of months – it always took so much out of him and took him so far away. It was hard to remember what things were like back home, what being off of a mission felt like, what his favorite foods tasted like.
Hurrying through a shower, he managed to find a few ration bars in his cupboard that were still good. There would have to be time for grocery shopping later.
Something much more important was overdue, now.
With the mask settled and hidden away, he had a name again. Though it always felt like such a little thing, such a small personhood, he was Kakashi, and he could breathe again. Kakashi headed out the door, hurrying to the orphanage.
Naruto was only four.
He wasn’t able to fully adopt Sensei’s kid, but he was able to visit him sometimes. It hurt to do, but he stuck to when he was sleeping, bringing him toys and blankets – soft things that would smell of pack in a way that had always helped Kakashi when he felt trapped somewhere. Or when he felt alone. There was not much he could do for Naruto, not when it meant he might end up being the death of him.
(He had been the death of everyone around him. He wondered, sometimes, if he’d been the cause of his father’s death or if it had been a handed-down gift.
Which had come first – Sakumo’s suicide or Kakashi’s deathly touch?
Which had caused the other?)
The orphanage was easy to slip into. Naruto’s room was easy to find. None of the staff wanted to stay close to it, and none of the other children were roomed with him. No one wanted to risk him being enough of a monster to turn on them. If he could have fought against it without revealing several secrets, Kakashi would have started screaming. It was unfair. Naruto deserved to grow up with friends and family and a pack of pets like he knew Minato would have insisted upon.
Kushina would have rolled her eyes and sighed, Kakashi knew, but she would have fondly rolled around with the dogs and petted the cats and –
And Naruto’s room was empty.
Kakashi stared at the small bed, his hand on his hip pouch, his entire body tensed. Kidnappers? Assassination?
The bed was neatly made. Naruto, even small and untrained, would have put up a fight. There would have been damage to the room. The demon fox would have refused to die easily. Feeling a click in the back of his throat, Kakashi turned on his heel and moved out of the room, down the hall, to find the nearest staff member. The woman he found nearly shrieked when he suddenly appeared, barely holding it together at his arrival.
“Where is he?” Kakashi demanded.
A voice in his head, one that sounded strangely like Gai, chided him about manners. He ignored it for the moment – he needed to know where Sensei’s son was.
“What?” She stared at him, probably a little scared. Or maybe he’d grown a second head, who knew. “Who?”
“Naruto,” Kakashi felt the growl in his voice, the way it dipped low in his range. He knew his killing intent was close to flaring up, which wouldn’t help the situation and would only panic the civilian woman in front of him. To be honest, he did not care. There were very few people left that he cared about, and he needed to know that they were alive and safe. Naruto was one of them. When she frowned, confusion starting to win out over the panic, Kakashi stared at her. “Demon child.”
That got recognition from her, and it made him want to scream.
She didn’t know his name.
“Some Chuunin came to see him,” she shrugged, backing away. Like everyone else, she knew the stories about Kakashi, the Friend Killer. It was smart to stay away from him.
Some Chuunin.
Kakashi let her go.
Nothing happened without someone knowing, in the village, it was just a matter of finding them – he knew someone had to know. Someone would know if he asked around. Without a word, Kakashi left the orphanage, heading out through the nearest window. He could go back to Hokage Tower, ask Sandaime, see if he knew anything –
Or, Kakashi stopped in his tracks, blinking a couple of times, he could see his quarry sitting on the grass in the park across the path.
There was a young man with brown hair pulled back into a tail, sitting on the grass with Naruto in his lap. A uniform vest was nearby, his foot through the arm hole to keep it close and keep it from being taken, presumably. There was a bag on his left, Kakashi could see, with different types of snacks sticking out of the top, as well as a few books. In the man’s hands was another book, open and held in front of Naruto, the young man’s hand pointing at the words as he appeared to be reading out loud to him.
Naruto's eyes were pinned to the book, wide and excited, his hands patting hurriedly at the pages.
His heart pounded in his chest, Kakashi watched as the two of them kept reading together. The Chuunin – it had to be, right? – flipping pages slowly. He would rub the top of Naruto’s head, petting his hair back into place, before pressing the bottom of his chin down for a second. Affectionate, as if he wanted to press a parental sort of kiss to the top of his head. The scene dragged up ancient memories, and Kakashi wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever, wanted to preserve it and hold onto it.
Eventually, the spell was broken when the Chuunin looked up, his expression hardening when he saw Kakashi.
There wasn’t a major change, the Chuunin didn’t get up and move, but he did tighten his hold on Naruto. When Kakashi moved closer, he curled his body around him, as if that would protect him. Kakashi kneeled in front of them, holding his hands up as a symbol of peace. “Maa,” he hesitated, his brain turning over and over, trying to remember where he knew the Chuunin from. Something about him was familiar. “Not here to fight, Chuunin-san.”
“…Hatake-san, if you’ll forgive me, one does not get a visit from you for pedestrian reasons.”
Kakashi reached out and tapped Naruto’s nose, smiling under his mask when he giggled. “I was looking for him, actually.” He pulled out the small plush he’d found on his mission, an orange frog that reminded him of Gamabunta – he’d decided it was perfect for Sensei’s son. “I bring him things, sometimes. I don’t get much time to stay with him, but I bring him things.”
Tiny hands shot out, grasping and reaching.
With a ghost of something that might once have been a laugh, in another life, Kakashi handed the plush to Naruto. “Imagine my surprise when he was missing from the orphanage,” he looked at the Chuunin.
“Umino Iruka.”
“Hmm?”
“My name,” the Chuunin’s cheeks were pinked, his mouth crooked to the side. “I apologize for taking him without any warning, but I was just – I delivered paperwork for Sandaime-sama, the other week, and I found him crying.” He hugged Naruto, setting the book down. “There were no aides around, no staff members on hand, and he was crying silently.” Umino turned his head, his eyes closing as he pressed his mouth to Naruto’s temple. It was soft and fond, parental, and Kakashi’s heart thudded. “Children do not cry silently unless they know there is no attention coming, Hatake-san.”
He had done that, once upon a time. After his father’s burial, when there had been no one to hear him. No one to listen.
Every last bit of anger and panic drifted away from him.
“How good it is, then, that there is someone who has the time and willingness to spend it with him,” Kakashi’s smile grew, hidden under his mask, as he watched Umino’s cheeks grow redder and redder. “Are you training to become a Jounin?”
“Oh, no,” Umino shook his head. “Not me. I became a Chuunin, and that is a high enough rank, thank you.”
He looked down at Naruto, who had the frog plush clutched to his chest. “Besides,” he hesitated, then smiled. “I want to become a teacher. I am taking classes to do so, now.” Umino brushed Naruto’s hair back again, sighing. “Someone has to do something about the orphanage system, however.”
Kakashi nodded. “I need to speak with you about that, actually.” He stood up and stepped back. Despite how exhausted he was, despite everything, he had enough to summon them. The motions and pull on his chakra were second nature, by now – when his pack appeared, Kakashi hurried to settle them down. They had just come off a mission, after all, and he needed them happy and playful rather than ready to fight. “Pakkun?” he found his main tracker, plucking him out of the center of the pack.
“Boss,” Pakkun sat in his hands, dutifully meeting his eyes. “A mission again?”
He sounded confused, so at least he recognized that they weren’t somewhere away from home. “No,” Kakashi looked at Naruto, then shrugged. “Well, yes. The mission is to play with the pup,” he set Pakkun down in front of Naruto. “This is Naruto,” he introduced the kid, tamping down on the knowledge that in another life, another world, another time, his Sensei’s son would have met his pack much earlier and been a little hellion running around with them from the time he could toddle around. “Uzumaki Naruto, this is my pack.”
The kid looked delighted.
Pakkun stepped forward, sniffing hurriedly, eyes lit up in recognition. Before Bull could barrel forward and knock Umino and Naruto over, Bisuke and Urushi hurried in and tugged Naruto to his feet. Uhei laughed, his tail whipping around as he darted in and nudged Naruto around, getting him to a safe distance for Bull to dive under his legs and take him off the ground. With Naruto being carried and the rest of the pack chasing, staying within shouting distance, Kakashi turned to Umino.
“What did you need to speak to me about?” Umino’s face was serious, his eyes hardened again.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “When I was asking the staff member about where he was,” he glanced at Naruto, who was laughing. “She didn’t know his name.”
“…What?”
“I asked where Naruto was,” Kakashi tried again, as if that would help. “And she didn’t know who he was until I used the word, ‘demon’. Then she knew exactly who I was talking about.” He watched as Umino’s knuckles turned white, his hands clenched into fists. His anger was plain to see, easy to track.
It hit him, then, exactly who Umino Iruka was.
Take off a few years of his age, about two years younger than Kakashi, had just turned eighteen in all likelihood, add in a different outfit – he was the little prankster that had tormented the ANBU for ages. He’d disappeared from his prankster ways a few years back, suddenly and without warning, and Kakashi had actually sort of missed it. He’d been about eighteen when it had happened, Iruka had probably been about fifteen or sixteen.
Kakashi had seemed like his favorite target – or rather, Hound had.
He could see it was still there, under everything. That hard edge, that unwillingness to back down. A good quality in a teacher as well as a prankster. Oh, Kakashi realized, he would be good as a teacher.
Then: He’d been the reason Kakashi had kept dragging himself out of bed, after everything.
The pranks had pissed everyone in ANBU off, to the point of wanting the kid punished for them, but he’d somehow gained the personal protection of Sandaime himself. Something about having been found in the wreckage after the destruction, the night the Yondaime had died. Sarutobi Asuma had taken on the role of his older brother and had, personally, stepped in to protect him from a couple of Jounin who had been overly angry about what they had viewed as preferential treatment.
Umino breathed in through his nose, carefully, and nodded slowly, then breathed out through his mouth. It was a calming technique Kakashi recognized.
Kushina had used it a lot.
He felt the urge to step back and hope the Chuunin’s fury did not hit him. “Is there anything you would like me to do about that, Umino-san?” he asked, hoping to redirect him.
“Come with me, when I go to drop Naruto back off,” Umino kept his voice remarkably even for someone who was so clearly furious. Even with his hands clenched into tight fists and his teeth grinding together, he still managed to be precise when speaking. “There are some things I wish to speak with them about, and I believe your presence will lend some weight to my argument.”
“I have time,” Kakashi nodded. “I can do that.”
“I don’t want to drop him off,” Umino grumbled. “But I don’t have space for him. My apartment is—I barely have room for myself. The Chuunin quarters are what they are, you know.”
Kakashi thought of his own apartment, two bedrooms, empty most of the time, and barely more than a place where he stopped to sleep. An idea began to form, one he tilted his head to inspect, keeping silent for the moment as he thought about it. He had space. He had space for a small kid, for Sensei’s son, and for a Chuunin who wanted to protect him. The orphanage staff hadn’t known Naruto by name, hadn’t realized he was the one Kakashi was looking for until he’d mentioned the word ‘demon’. There was something to that, something he could use to his advantage.
“What if,” Kakashi began, almost whispering. “What if we didn’t?”
Umino looked at him, his expression sharp. “What?”
“You don’t have space,” Kakashi met his eyes, his hands awkwardly curling together in front of him. He didn’t really know what to do with them, sometimes. “I do. He turns five this year. I don’t think their treatment of him is going to get much better.”
If possible, he was pretty sure Umino’s eyebrows would have flown off his forehead. “Excuse me?”
“I have my own apartment, not one of the ones they supply,” Kakashi explained. “Two bedrooms. I barely stay there, out of the village on missions a lot.” He didn’t need to explain he was ANBU to Umino, that didn’t need to come into the conversation. “I say we just…Move him. Into the second bedroom, I mean. You stay with him, either in the main bedroom or the same bedroom as him. I wouldn’t mind, either way.”
“…What would be in it for you, Hatake-san?”
“Kakashi, please,” wincing, Kakashi looked at him. “And the thing I would get out of it would be the knowledge that someone is taking care of him. That someone is actually making sure that when he cries, he is being seen to. Children shouldn’t cry silently, Umino-san. Not when they’re this young.” He saw the way brown eyes narrowed at him, the same streak of intelligent prankster he had missed the last few years. “I knew his parents,” he admitted quietly. “And if I could take care of him, full-time, I would. My schedule is…”
“Ah,” Umino nodded. “You can’t take him in on your own, but you can’t stand to see how he is treated by them.”
He reached down and pulled his vest off the ground, brushing off dirt before pulling it on. Once it was back on his body, Umino nodded again. “I’m taking you up on your offer, Kakashi-san. Is there anything you would need me to bring along for this to work?”
“I can provide everything he might need, everything you might need,” Kakashi shook his head. “I just have a schedule that means I cannot look after him on my own. He turns five just about a month after I turn twenty,” he turned his head to track the movement of his pack and a little head of blond hair. “And I should have been able to be there before now, but I…I can’t. Not on my own.”
“Which is why the toys and blankets,” Umino was smiling when Kakashi looked back at him. “Comfort items. Things he can hold onto.”
“Yes.”
Umino pulled a piece of paper and a pen from somewhere, hurrying to write something down. “If we’re going to work together on this, here is my address,” he held it out to Kakashi, carefully folded, between two slim fingers. “I don’t think there can be much trouble we’ll get into – I don’t overly use the protection I get from the family that took me in, but I think I can rely on it for this.”
Kakashi took it, something curling up in his stomach and heating his entire body for the first time since he had gotten home from the most recent mission. “There are other protections I can lean on,” he slipped the paper into a pocket. “I…”
“I’m guessing there are secrets I am not allowed to know,” Umino smiled. Something about it was enough to make Kakashi feel human again, relieving the ache in his bones from pushing hard to get his mission finished. It had been brutal, both in pace and in difficulty. Too many dead, too many missing, too much bloodshed. He hadn’t felt like himself in ages, hadn’t felt like a person in years, really, but there was something about that smile that had him feeling stabilized. “And that’s okay.”
He held out a hand again, gesturing towards where the dogs were. “Now, if we could go confront some incredibly rude orphanage staff?”
With a whistle, Kakashi called them to come running back.