Shinobu had grown up over the years. She had matured quite a bit and now acted more adult.

For one thing, she had gotten over Travis completely. She wasn't even sure what she was thinking. He was in his twenties back then, for crying out loud, he wasn't about to hook up with some high-schooler! She shuddered, remembering how stupid she was, and was SO grateful to Travis for turning her down when he did.

Another thing that changed was her attitude. While she was still a bit cocky, she also developed better behaviour. She began to treat others much better than she had previously. She would often look back at the days where she acted like a bratty teenager and shake her head. That kind of behaviour was not befitting a samurai... Sure, she didn't wanna be all serious and no-nonsense like the stereotypical samurai, but she had to have SOME honour.

But the biggest change of all was in her moral code. She regretted so many of her actions as a teenager...She had murdered her innocent classmates just because they found out her secret!

And so, as a form of atonement, the young woman took it upon herself to become a vigilante, and defend the innocent from the REAL evil people in the world.

She had become rather feared from the criminal underground, even the police have been known to fear her. Granted that might be because of her past but she wished to forget those times.

It was just another night, she hid in the shadows her dark skin and dark attire perfect for the night. Yet her white hair shined in the moonlight. She ran across the rooftops of the British town.

She had traveled from place to place in search of the evil of the world. She had taken down mobs and the occasional assassin. She had decided to travel to England as rumors of something dark was approaching.

A family had died and a lone child had gone missing, she had heard the news and was rather surprised that it had happened five years ago and it was never solved. She had decided to look into it herself and see if she could find anything.

She gazed down at the town and let out a sigh. 'One month, and no leads.' She jumped down onto a lower roof. 'Maybe there is nothing to find…' she frowned and shook her head but paused as her ears picked up a sound.

She looked around till she looked down to at a lone house in a line of similar houses. She raised a brow at that but they narrowed as she heard the sound again. Leaping from the building she ran over the roofs of the houses.

Finally, it became loud and clear as she touched down on the roof of the fourth house. Eyes narrowed, she hopped down to ground level, hiding in the nearby bushes.

Carefully, she stood, and peeked in through the window.

Now, there were a few things Shinobu would not tolerate.

One was cold-blooded murder. She herself regretted her own murders, and now wanted to do her part to prevent it from happening to anyone else. The less murderers in the world, the better.

Another was r***. Any human being worthy of existing on this earth would agree with her: r*** is entirely unforgivable.

And the final one was abuse. Especially abuse done to a child.

And that last thing is EXACTLY what she was watching...

She watched as a large man was swinging some kind of club down onto the smallest child she had ever seen. He was curled into a ball on the ground and the sick 'THUD' of the club on his frame made the woman flinch back in phantom pain.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she reached to her side. She griped the end of her blade and pulled it from its sheath.

Harry Potter was in pain. He had cleaned the house watered the flowers and had mowed the lawn as was ordered and was in the process of cooking dinner when he had accidentally burned his hand on the stove. He had cried out in shock and pain and that was when the beatings began.

His uncle was livid with him. "You have messed up dinner brat!" he said whacking him again with the cricket bat. "You have the audacity to cry! AFTER EVERYTHING WE DID FOR YOU!" he hits him again harder, "This will put you in your place!" he said raising it high over his head.

But before the bat could make contact, Vernon heard the sound of something slashing through his door. He slowly turned around...and his eyes widened as he saw the wall of his house fall apart in three neat strips.

Shinobu glared furiously at the man and slowly sheathed her blade, storming her way over to the walrus.

"N-Now s-see here!" Vernon stuttered, unable to find any other words due to the sheer shock of the situation. Shinobu ignored him, instead glaring coldly at him. "You haven't the right to-"

And then Shinobu swung her sheathed blade at the man's jaw.

The fat man was sent tumbling to the ground with a loud thud his jaw shattered on impact.

Shinobu glared down at him with anger evident, she turned her head to the side and her expression softened at the small child who was still curled into a ball. She could see now just how bad he was.

He was thin, sickly so. His messy hair looked like it had not been washed in months, and the many scars and bruises on his frame that she could see. Her grip on her sword tightened to the point that her knuckles were turning color.

"MMMOUTH!" the man bellowed in pain blood leaking from his shattered mouth. He reached for his club and tried to take a swing at the woman but she grabbed it with her hand not even looking at him.

Her grip tightened on the shaking club before it shattered in her hand causing the pained man's eyes to go wide. He looked up at the woman with fear as she approached him.

She kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling to the ground. He grunted in pain, then looked up at the young woman with wide, fearful eyes. She unsheathed her blade and stepped on his stomach.

"...You're gonna pay." She all but spat, pure venom in her voice.

"No..." Vernon whimpered.

Shinobu paid him no mind, and drove her blade into his hand, causing him to scream in pain.

Shinobu withdrew the sword from the man's hand, and raised it above her head...

Only to pause as a tug on her black combat dress brought her attention to the other set of eyes. She turned her eyes to see behind her and saw the brightest green eyes she had ever seen and they were holding pain, sadness and fear.

"Kid…what are you...?"

"Stop...please stop." He pleaded with her his voice dry and scratchy.

Shinobu's eyes grew wide at him. "Why…?"

"He…doesn't deserve to get hurt…please…stop hurting him…" he pleaded at her. As much his uncle hated him he still did not want to see him die.

Shinobu frowned. "Kid-"

"Please, please, PLEASE..." The little boy pleaded. "No more, no more...I don't want anyone to hurt...I hate seeing people get hurt, stop it, leave him alone, he doesn't deserve this..." And then, the boy's emotions overwhelmed him. He felt his heart beating fast, and his breathing became rapid and uneven.

He was hyperventilating.

He was having a nervous breakdown.

Shinobu's eyes had grown wide as she reached down letting go of her sword as it clanged to the ground. She grabbed the child in an embrace and held him to herself gently.

She rubbed his head all the while, "Shhhh, shhh, it's okay…it's okay." Soothingly in his ear. She felt intense guilt for almost snapping like that. She couldn't stand child abusers.

The boys heavy breathing started to slow as he took deep breaths as he was starting to calm down.

She smiled down at him to see his now very tired green eyes staring up at her. She felt a warmth pass through her and her smile grew warm at him. "Hey little guy." She greeted softly.

"H-Hi" he greeted back tiredly.

She picked him up gently. He let out a soft whimper when she touched one of his injuries. "Sorry about that." She said softly. The boy just whimpered in response. "Scared?" He said nothing. "Don't be. There's nothing to worry about. I gotcha."

"Wh-What are you gonna do with me...?" He asked softly.

"I'm taking you away from here. For good."

"B-But...wh-what if Uncle Vernon tries to find me...?"

"He'll never get his hands on you. Because I'll protect you."

A moment of silence...And then, a small sob.

The former assassin's eyes widened before they drooped sadly as the little boy buried himself into her and let out more sobs.

She rocked him gently and turned to glare at the big man who was reaching for her sword. She kicked his hand away and with movements befitting a master kicked up her sword and caught it in her hand with ease.

She placed the blade to the man's neck causing his eyes to go wide. "Be thankful. You are spared by the very one you condemned." She said in a cold tone to the fat man. She moved her sword away and placed it back in its sheath.

She walked past the fat man and to the now wide hole. "Let's get you someplace safe" she whispered to him. That was when the dam burst for Harry Potter.

She froze in her tracks.

'Oh no. He's really crying now! What do I do?!' She thought, panicking. 'My training never covered this!'

She began to fret over how to deal with the situation, pacing back and forth as she held him...

And then felt him tighten his grip on her dress as his tears wettened the fabric.

It all became clear to the former assassin as her maternal instinct's kicked in.

She held the child up and cradled him and started to rock him gently. "It's okay little guy." She said soothingly to him.

"I…I can't…stop." He said in between his sobs.

She shook her head and ran a hand through his hair and the back of his head. "Then don't. Cry, let it all out." She whispered in his ear.

Harry did so for around an hour, Shinobu walking down the dark sidewalk ignoring the wide eyed stares of pedestrians. Her focus only on the little one in her arms.

Eventually, she came to a park. Wordlessly, she sat down on the bench and slowly rocked the little boy back and forth.

Soon enough, the sobs gradually ceased as he cried himself into exhaustion. He looked sleepy...And thoroughly exhausted...

"There. Better?" Shinobu asked, ruffling his hair.

"I-I'm still kinda sad..." Harry replied quietly, closing his eyes.

She smiled down at him sadly and ran her fingers through his hair making him lean into her touch. "So moe…" she mumbled before her eyes grew wide slightly.

Harry blinked up at her wondering why she stopped only to see the wide eyed look on the dark skinned woman's face. "Ms…?"

"Moe…moe means cute. Oh god it's taken me this long to realize that!" she said slapping herself upside the head.

"And...how many things have I called moe...?" Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh man..."

"M-Ms...?" Harry asked softly.

"It's Shinobu, little guy."

"Sh-Shibowu?"

"Shi-no-bu." She corrected with a smile.

"Shinobu..." Harry replied.

"Good!" She praised. Harry smiled timidly, shrinking down slightly. Shinobu smiled. Then she did something very unlike her: pressed her lips against his cheek.

The little boy's eyes grew wide as he felt the warmth travel from her kiss to his body. It relaxed him, calmed him down. He gave the girl wide confused eyes. "What was that?" he asked.

Shinobu blinked down at him confused. "It was a kiss" she said.

"I…never got…kiss." He said softly.

The woman tightened her hold on him and felt the overwhelming urge to kiss him many times. But she held back and settled at one more on his other cheek making him smile up at her. "I like kiss." He said.

Shinobu smiled down at him. "I'm glad…" she blinked slightly before giving him a sheepish smile. "What's your name kid?"

"H-Harry..." He replied softly.

"Yes, you ARE hairy." She teased, ruffling his hair. He frowned.

"My hair's too long...It gets in my eyes...I want it short..."

"Well, I'll make sure it gets cut soon."

"M-Miss Shinobu...?"

"Yeah?"

"Wh-Where am I gonna live...?"

That was a good question. The former assassin looked up to the oddly clear sky to think about that.

'I could take him to the local orphanage…' the instant that thought past by she frowned. 'And he might end up getting someone much worse for a family…' she let out a sigh and ran a hand through her own hair trying to think.

"Well…" she said slowly still thinking, "You could stay with me for a while…?" she said more questioning then anything.

"With…with you?" he asked surprised.

She nodded. "Y-Yeah...My house is pretty close by...You can stay there...I'll...take care of you..."

"Are...Are you sure...? I don't wanna bug you..."

"You won't be bugging me. I'd be happy to have you."

"R-Really...?" She kissed his forehead.

"That answer your question?" She said with a smirk.

Harry blushed red but nodded his head with a slight nod.

The former assassin stood from the bench and started to make her walk to her home. She smiled down at the little boy resting his head on her arms and closing his eyes in content.

She felt a warmth pass through her that made her want to never let him go and a part of her was not finding any fault in that.

She shook her head however. 'What am I thinking. I can't keep him. I'm not fit to be his guardian.' She gazed back down and saw that he had fallen asleep and was now sucking his thumb cutely, 'SO MOE!' she thought holding him tighter.

She would protect him. She would make his life better. That she vowed!