Kinoe hadn't had the fortune of meeting many people who had made an impact on his life. His only childhood memories were of green, bubbly liquid and black, leathery tubes. His only parental memories were of Orochimaru gazing at him through rounded glass, his face distorted by the waning edges of his confines. He didn't even know what life was until Danzo had taken him into his organization. The older man had given him a purpose, goals, and something to live for. He'd treated him like a human being instead of a lump of mouldable flesh. He'd believed in him.

And then...this light. This strange, lonely boy. Obviously powerful, obviously respected amongst his peers, and even feared by Danzo. For reasons Kinoe could not understand, Kakashi had taken an interest in him. He'd spared his life, when Kinoe himself would have taken Kakashi's, if their roles had been reversed. Kakashi had...trusted him. Why? What was so special about him that someone like Kakashi, who was obviously very efficient at killing, would press his back to his and stand by his side? Multiple times, Kakashi, the shinobi who was known for being an emotionless killing machine, trusted Kinoe enough to let his guard down around him and put his life in his hands. It...hit a wall in the young mokuton users head, a wall that seemed impenetrable.

But it did something else, too. There was a warmth in his heart, and deep inside his chest, that hadn't been there before. Kakashi was a connection now, where he hadn't really had any before. Kakashi represented good memories; a camaraderie he'd never experienced.

And Kinoe was utterly mesmerized by him. He found that the random times they met on missions weren't enough. He found himself following Kakashi around the village, watching him wander listlessly amongst the crowded streets, speaking to no one. Friends would approach him, and he would turn them down. It was so different from how Kakashi was on missions, from how he treated Kinoe. The young mokuton user didn't understand, but he was intrigued.

What also intrigued him was the fact that he, too, felt the need to protect Kakashi, even when he knew it was a possible determent to his mission. He had been in the position to end Kakashi's life several times since their initial encounter, and every time he instinctively saved him. It was a vicious, all consuming urge. Every tendon in his body would seize, his heart would freeze, and his stomach would lurch painfully. His mind would shout "NO" before he even understood what his body was telling him. With Kakashi, he let his instincts take over, possibly for the first time in his life.

And his face...Kinoe could see it. Most of his teammates in Root hid their faces on a regular basis; it made getting attached to them almost impossible. But Kinoe could see Kakashi's eyes. He could see the shape of his face, how his bangs brushed the tips of his eyelashes. Kinoe liked Kakashi's face. He found recalling it was pleasant. Danzo did not have a face like Kakashi's; it was harsh, ragged. Kakashi was...well.

He was...

It was just really nice looking at him.

That was all Kinoe could really understand.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next time Kinoe met Kakashi, it was one of the worst moments of his life. That was saying a lot, considering he'd watched all of his "friends" slowly die and rot away in giant test tubes, completely unable to help them.

But he'd grown to consider Kakashi a sort of friend, hadn't he? Yes, of course. You want to protect your friends, and he wanted to protect Kakashi. He enjoyed his presence. He felt...he felt around him.

Danzo had told him things; things that made him confused and angry. Things that did not seem like the Kakashi he knew.

Hadn't Kakashi helped him protect friends? Hadn't Kakashi also protected him?

So...how could Kakashi have killed one of his own friends?

Kinoe did not live for much; missions was all he had had for a long time. So,when Danzo gave him the mission of ending Kakashi, he felt a part of him die that he hadn't realized had grown so large.

Every time he got a friend, he lost them.

But it didn't matter, did it? His entire life was supposed to be his missions. That's all. He was a tool. Tools don't have friends. So what did it matter if he killed Kakashi, who also killed friends when it was his mission to do so? If Kakashi did it, then Kinoe could do it.

That was what we told himself, until he saw Kakashi. Again...again, he instinctively protected him. His entire mission could have been over with no effort at all, and yet...he'd saved him. And, as usual, Kakashi extended his arm to Kinoe and trusted him.

Kinoe felt such a whirlwind of emotions tearing at his very core that he could hardly walk straight. He realized, very intensely, that the last thing he wanted to do was kill Kakashi.

But the mission.

He WAS the mission.

Danzo gave him life. Danzo was his life. What was he if he didn't serve Danzo?

Who was Kakashi, anyway? A flawed ninja who scarified his friends for the mission, just like Kinoe was expected to do.

But there was still that incredibly warm feeling, that tingling in the air when their bare arms got too close. It was like static, but it burrowed down into Kinoe's gut and stayed there. He didn't know what to think.

So he was angry.

The next chance he got, he took it. He was angry at himself, and angry at Kakashi. How dare he throw his entire existence back into his face like it was some kind of lie. How dare he make him feel this way, when he was probably just as mindless as Kinoe was. Damn him. Damn him for killing his friend, and being just as bad as every other mindless ninja. He was supposed to be different. What did it matter if he died?

But once again, Kinoe found himself with no control. He shouted things at Kakashi that he wasn't supposed to feel. He was just supposed to kill him, that was all. What did he care if he'd killed his friend? What did it matter?

Defeat, in every sense of the word. He'd never seen Kakashi so angry, so lethal. He felt the weight of his warm, strong body. He felt his gaze piercing into his soul. He heard his words; how he was too weak to protect his friend. And he realized something he'd known all along; they were alike. They were exactly alike, except for one thing; Kinoe was the mindless killing machine, not Kakashi.

Again, he felt dead. He felt lifeless. He felt soulless. Kakashi had spared his life, because he was kind. Because he wasn't a friend killer; Kinoe was.

He heard his friend make demands, threaten to take him hostage. It didn't matter to him. He was probably better off dead. He was Kinoe of Root; he lived only for the mission. If he had no mission, what did it matter?