Alrighty, so if you already didn't know, I used to be a Quizilla junky, but that whole thing went to hell in a handbasket, so I'm re-posting some of my more reputable material here!

This particular story happens to be Kakashi/OC/Naruto friendship! Nothing weird my friends, check the rating!

Tell me what you think, and yes, I know that Haku is a boy... I just found it easier that Shirei didn:t know for my own purposes.


The waves quietly washed over the destroyed remnants of the tiny rowboat that had been trying to escape the Land of the Waves. The government couldn't care less who came and who went, however, the leading business magnate of the small island country, Gato, would suffer from the secrets Shirei and her family carried out of the isolated island wasteland, and so, he disposed of them. Numerous unnamed thugs had caused the boat to crash upon the rocks, killing Shirei's parents, and leaving Shirei homeless, but free from the clutches of Gato and his undeniable influence. Now, however, Shirei was stranded apart from all she knew. Alone and afraid, she took refuge in an abandoned boat house until one day, she was discovered by an unlikely duo.

"Hey, you alive kid?" the imposing voice of a man woke the small girl from her sleep. Brushing her long, light brown hair away from her face, and rubbing the sleep from her tantalizing and innocent brown eyes, Shirei sat up to greet the disturbance. Upon sight of two Mist ninja huddling around her in the boat house, Shirei backed up and cowered into the corner. The man scoffed at the small girl, and backed away and out of the boat house, sensing her distress. The other, a young woman with long black hair and kind eyes reached out her hand.

"He won't hurt you, and neither will I. Is this where you live?" the woman asked, and Shirei cautiously nodded her head. The woman glanced sadly over her shoulder to her companion, a tall and lean, tan skinned man with wrappings around his face and a large katana. Shirei was unconvinced. The woman laughed at her perception of her companion and pulled Shirei to her feet.

"My name is Haku, and this is Zabuza. Will you come with us?" Haku asked politely, running one of her hands through the little girl's brown hair.

"I-I'm Shirei," the girl stammered, a smile winking at the corners of her cracked lips.

"Shirei? That's ironic," Zabuza laughed, seeing as the name Shirei meant commander and the small, stammering girl was anything but.

"Hey, kid, just stay outta my way, you got it?" Zabuza barked as Haku hoisted Shirei up on her shoulders and they bound through the grass and trees. Unfortunately, Shirei had no idea that they were planning to take her back to the very place that her parents had died to save her from.

"Where do you live okaa-san?" Shirei asked curiously as she smelled the distinctive sea-salt smell one only experiences when close to an ocean.

"On the island of the mist," Haku replied. Wrong answer, as far as Shirei was concerned. Squirming wildly, Shirei jumped from Haku's back and ran in the opposite direction, of course, she had no hope of outrunning the Hunter-nin. Surprisingly however, it was Zabuza who got to the girl first.

"Don't tell me you're scared," he growled, picking Shirei up with his free arm that wasn't holding his sword and hoisting her over his shoulder effortlessly.

"No! I can't go back there! That man will kill me!" she screamed and struggled, kicking against Zabuza's back and slamming her fists into his chest.

"I told you not to get it my way," Zabuza snapped, tossing the girl on the ground at Haku's feet. She scooped Shirei up instantly and began soothingly stroking her hair.

"There's no one trying to kill you Shirei," Haku smiled warmly and stared into Shirei's deep, brown eyes.

"But he killed my parents!" she sobbed, trying to pull out of Haku's arms and move away.

"Don't be such a baby," the sword carrying nin ordered as Shirei crossed her arms and looked defiant.

"Come on Shirei. I'd really like you to come live with me and otou-san," Haku whispered into the girl's ear.

"Don't call me that!" Zabuza interrupted, but Haku ignored his comment.

Haku waited patiently for a response from the child, though she knew at that age, children were indecisive and prone to acting out of what they knew, and as a child who, herself had been abandoned and orphaned at a young age, Haku understood what Shirei was feeling above all others. That is why Haku had resolved to be the small girls savior.

... Because everyone deserves a second chance at happiness.


"You didn't think we'd be living out here in the forest this whole time, did you? We have a home Shirei, and it's on the island in the Mist." After traveling with Haku and Zabuza for nearly three months, Shirei hadn't accepted that the two ninja actually had a place to call home.

"Okay, but only if you protect me, okay?" Shirei offered, holding her small, six year old arms up so that Haku could pick her up once again.

"Deal."


Over the next year, Haku had come to care for Shirei deeply, and Shirei for her. The small girl also reveled in the fact that, like Haku, her parent's had been taken from her when she was young. A deep bond formed between them while Zabuza watched impassive and ambivalent.

"Otou-san? I brought you something to eat," Shirei wobbled into the room carrying a tray and looked to where Zabuza was seated, running a damp cloth down the length of his sword. After a while, he simply accepted that the little girl needed parents, and allowed Shirei to address him as her father. Motioning with his hands for her to bring it forward, Shirei stumbled over and accepted the nod of his head as encouragement. About-facing to leave, the little girl paused at the sound of Zabuza's voice.

"What have you and Haku been doing during the day?" he asked monotonously, pushing the food aside for a moment while he finished his sword. A bucket filled with blood-stained water sloshed the liquid on the floor as Zabuza finished washing away the remnants of his work that day. A while ago, Shirei had come to learn that Zabuza was hired out as a mercenary, and lately had been serving to the beck and call of Gato, the one person she resented more than anything, even cats. She'd been avoiding him for the past few weeks because of it.

"W-we've been working on throwing! You wanna see?" Shirei asked anxiously, seeking approval from the only other person in her life she cared for. The man responded with a simple Hmm that, in his own private way, meant: 'Sure, why not.' Rushing over to the table where Haku kept her throwing needles, Shirei pulled three from the pouch.

"M'kay, ready?" Shirei asked, although Zabuza didn't know why she bothered because he never answered. She proceeded anyway. Taking an old wanted poster from a job Zabuza had finished, Shirei tacked it up on the wall and poked a hole in the center to aim for. Standing back about twenty feet, she exhaled deeply before she threw the needles directly at the target. All three hit the paper, but only one of them stuck. Zabuza attempted to keep up his emotionless facade as he watched Shirei's embarrassment and dismay telegraph onto her young face.

"Che, I told Haku you wouldn't be able to thrown those things. Not until you bulked up a little." Zabuza made his way over to the target, ripped it down and picked up the needles. "Until you can lift my sword, you won't be strong enough to throw the needles. Work on something else," was the only advice the mercenary had to offer. Shirei, however, was not discouraged, and only nodded enthusiastically. Rushing over to where Zabuza was briefly, Shirei set to work picking up the huge sword, though it probably weighed close to 200 pounds. She halted her attempts, and feeling defeated, huffed slightly before leaving the room. Zabuza only shook his head concerned.

"That kid..." he sighed before picking his sword back up and sitting down.

A few weeks later, Zabuza had received a notice that he was to prohibit the passage of the four man-team from the leaf village from entering the Mist. And to assassinate some bridge maker by the name of Tazuna. Haku had insisted that she and Shirei come along to help in the event that Zabuza could not fulfill his mission. Zabuza, begrudgingly, agreed.

"Besides, that pansy needs to watch a real fight for once," Zabuza had said before they headed out. Shirei had trouble keeping up the whole way, and because of that, Zabuza got to the fight ages before Haku and the small girl. Thankfully, at that point, Zabuza had the upper hand. I'm surprised the leaf village sent a handful of genin and one jounin on this A-ranked mission. Too bad though. No one can beat Zabuza,. Haku held Shirei in the bushes until, with a surprising combination of cunning and speed, two of the three genin, a blonde in a bright orange jumpsuit and a boy with spiky raven colored hair pulled a fast one and caused Zabuza to free their jounin leader from the watery prison Zabuza had constructed. Holding back a gasp, Shirei's eyes were filled with concern as the Konoha jounin performed Zabuza's double water dragon jutsu alongside Zabuza with unimaginable perfection.

"Haku? Where is otou-san?" Shirei looked at Haku with pleading eyes before the hunter nin pulled her round, painted mask over her face and went to retrieve Zabuza's still body through the chaos of the tidal wave caused by the clashing of four water dragons. This time, on the way back to the house in the woods, Haku didn't wait for Shirei. Zabuza needed medical attention, and although Shirei should've known better, she'd never actually thought Haku cared for Zabuza more than she. A steady envy grew within the small girl, but the worry for her surrogate father was much deeper. Until she got lost in the woods.

"Okaa-san? Please come and find me! I'm lost!" Shirei cried out, rubbing the unfallen tears away from her eyes before she continued to stumble through the underbrush. She felt like she was going in circles, and before she knew it, she ran into a familiar group of people. The Konoha leaf ninja team that had thwarted Zabuza. Shirei attempted to disguise her presence by hiding behind a tree, but she'd already been spotted by the third genin; a long, pink haired girl with very good eye sight.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, who's that over there?" she asked, pointing to Shirei's hiding spot. In the blink of an eye, the jounin leader who'd taken down Zabuza appeared before her. It was almost nostalgic, Shirei's reaction. Like the first time she'd met Zabuza and Haku, the little girl's eyes became wide with dread and she made herself as small as possible, hoping to go unnoticed.

"She must live in the Mist village," the silver haired leader, Kakashi insisted. Before he spoke another word however, the leader collapsed in front of Shirei, and without another moment of thought, Shirei bolted from the scene. That jounin would've killed me for sure! Please mommy! Come find me! Shirei's search was in vain, and before nightfall, she found herself following the Leaf ninja through the woods to the back porch of the bridge builder, Tazuna's house. But because of her lack on reconnaissance skills, she was quickly discovered once more by the jounin leader who had recovered quickly from the battle.

"I know you're out there," he welcomed gently, and although every bone in her body screamed against it, Shirei walked slowly out of the shadows and into the light of the porch where she stood with her eyes downcast.

"Are your parents around?" he asked, leaning on one of his crutches and gazing down at her with one grey eye.

"No. Mommy left after daddy got hurt. She'll be back for me. I think," Shirei explained, sitting on the porch beside the leaf nin who only sighed.

"I'm sure Tazuna won't mind one more house guest." He's really friendly. But I better not tell him about Zabuza, or he might try to kill me, Shirei deduced, clambering up the stairs into the house after Kakashi and hunkering down in a bunk bed below the pink haired girl. She seemed harmless enough.

"EH? Sakura-chan! Who's sleeping in my bed?" the loud-mouthed, blonde ninja demanded, awakening Shirei from her peaceful sleep.

"What're you talking about? No one is-" Sakura swung her long pink head of hair down below the bunk to see Shirei's pretty brown eyes peeking over the covers. Her reaction, much like a frightened rabbit told her to bolt. So she hopped out of the bed, ran down the hallway and headed towards the ocean where she could follow it to the bridge. At least under the bridge it was safe and dry, and no one was trying to kill her.

"Are you still worried about the kid? She'll be fine. She lived on her own before we found her. She might look puny, but she's a hard ass," Zabuza croaked from his still position on the bed in their house in the woods. Haku glanced out the window at the darkening sky.

"I hope you're right."

Shirei woke up on the third day away from Haku. She was troubled. Had her second mother abandoned her too? Life was unfair like that. Commotion on the bridge above her, however, alerted her to danger. But this time, she wasn't going to run away. She wasn't a coward anymore. If she was going to protect her new family, she was going to have to face these things. Rushing up to the bridge, Shirei saw Haku enraptured in her signature jutsu, the wall of mirrors. Soon, however, the bridge was veiled in Zabuza's mist, and the battle was lost to Shirei, for she dare not get closer and have her precious mother lose concentration. However, the anticipation was killing her, so instead of running through the battle, little Shirei ran around it, sidling along the railings and down farther on the bridge to what she thought was safer territory. She was wrong. Stopping dead at the sight before her, Shirei thought she was imagining the scene before her. The gentle, silver haired jounin was running towards Zabuza with some strange combination of electricity and chakra. He was going to kill her father. Sprinting towards the scene, her eyes welling up with tears, hoping that she could stop him before he ran Zabuza through, Shirei found herself coming up short as Haku appeared out of the mist and took a straight blast from the Chidori. Zabuza remained untouched.

Blood spattered in every direction, and small flecks dotted Shirei's innocent face. She stood less that two yards from Kakashi, with a look of horror on her face. Just as she was about to grab onto Haku, who now stood motionless, impaled on the jounin's hand with her normally sweet, caring eyes turned cloudy with stillness, Zabuza had regained his senses and swung blindly at the three of them, without a thought of reconciliation about running Shirei or Haku through. Suddenly, Shirei felt an arm loop around her waist, holding her tightly to her mother as Kakashi lifted them out of harms way. That's when Shirei found she could no longer contain herself.

"Y-you killed my mommy," Shirei sniffled, tugging on Kakashi's pant leg to let him know she was talking to him. The look of betrayal and sadness that racked Kakashi's every fiber translated from Shirei's sweet brown eyes to his cursed red one. Before long, Shirei found herself slumped over Haku's body, her small, innocent hands elbow deep in blood. Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks as she ignored the remainder of the fight. She felt empty, unclean, un-whole. Grief washed over her like a tidal wave and she merely sat with one hand in her lap, the other holding Haku's cold, pale hand. For Shirei, her whole world was crashing down again. It wasn't fair... then again, life wasn't fair.

The next hour flashed by without even a blink of recognition from Shirei. Finally, after damage control had taken care of the deceased Gato and had loaded Zabuza's mangled body into one of those dreaded black bags, the Konoha team finally acknowledged the girl, still slumped over the dead body of the Hunter nin.

"I can't believe that little girl only had those two. And now they're both dead. In one day," the pink haired, Sakura whispered. Slowly and carefully, Kakashi made his way toward the girl, prying her small, bloodied fingers from the body and lifting her pliable body away from the corpse. Her words however, still cut him to the quick. "Y-you killed my mommy." Trying to dispel the image of the estranged child from his mind, he set her down beside Sakura, who grasped the little girl's hand comfortingly.

"We know about your parents Shirei, and there's nothing here for you now. If it's alright with you, we'll take you back to Konoha with us," Kakashi said calmly, watching as the girl's eyes traced him up and down with a bit of reverence. She nodded to his request, and soon, she was off.


Soooooo, please tell me what you think. If you didn't know, I pretty much never get reviews, so do that please! Criticism is always helpful!

DMar