A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you like the story! No, it's not yaoi at all. Any guy and guy relationship is strictly platonic. I was trying hard to keep the characters in character, I may have veered off the path to that goal but I hope you still enjoy it. This is merely the introduction. I have so many Ideas for me I would gladly take them. I am trying to keep as closest to the story line as possible. I hope I did it right. Thanks.
Disclaimer: I do not own any character or anything affiliated with Naruto.
His father would be angry with him if he didn't get home quickly. The day was slowly creeping to dusk and he completely lost track of time. That alone would be of no excuse to his father. His father desired the best of his children, and would go at any lengths to make them powerful and well disciplined. The memories brought a shiver down the boy's back as he quickly sped through the village almost invisible to the common eye.
The ramen stand held two people who caught flash of the boy, as they quietly ate their meal. One wore a black mask and had wisps of unruly silver hair while the other had black hair and a peculiar scar across his face.
"There goes the Uchiha boy, late again I presume." The masked man muttered.
"He's a talented boy, worries so much of angering his father. You should have seen him
at the examination for an early entry to the academy the other day. You would think that his father was some type a monster if he wasn't so evidently fond of the boy." The scarred one replied with a hint of concern.
"I'm sure he only wishes to please his father. The Uchiha clan is strict in its ways." came a strained, unreadable reply.
A trickle of rain started to run slowly down his face. It was strange to see it since it was sunny all day long. It only furthered the determination of the boy to move forward faster than ever. As he reached the edge of the courtyard he froze with horror and fear. His whole house was on fire. The rain slipped down him like it would to a statue. A flash of lightning reflected a light to his face bringing himself out of his shock. His heart was thumping so loud he would've thought all of Konoha could hear it.
He slowly walks toward the mansion; thinking that it would just disappear. The scuffling on the floor did nothing to change the fact as he reached the front door and heard muffled yells. He slowly creaked open the door only to see his brother's eyes flashed red and dead cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, littered across the floor. Blood flooded the floor more than the rain could, and the cold tears that lay on the frozen, horror-stricken faces told stories that would haunt anyone's dreams for a lifetime.
His mother was a sobbing heap on the floor and his father stood defiantly in front of his son who was dressed in the attire of an ANBU. Yet the father's fear could be smelt by even the boy. Suddenly the boy's brother looked straight at him and the boy gasped. The older brother gave a maniacal grin that scared the younger more than one could see.
"My dear, dear brother, come here and witness the end of tyranny, and weak excuses to the family clan."
The boy didn't know what was happening but he was drawn near to his brother; he seemed near to panic attack. He tried to stop himself, closing his eyes tightly.
"N-no, you can't do th-this."
"Listen to me, brother; it will not bode well with you if you don't." The older one said forcefully causing the boy to quicken his pace to him.
Tears fell unregistered by him in the heat of the room. It's would be but a little time till the roof collapsed from the fire. He wanted to run to each body, just to see if anyone of them were alive. He felt an overwhelming amount of grief. .
"Little brother, wipe those pathetic tears off of your face. Do you not see that our clan needs strengthening and the only way to do that is to do a certain pruning of the family?"
He put an emphasis on the word pruning while throwing a large ball of fire to their father. It went right through him with no resistance. Blood flew in all directions; the boy almost threw up when some of it fell on him. Did his father want to die? Questions zoomed through the young boy's mind, he wanted to scream but he found the moment inappropriate. His mother screamed, his only consolation in life was covered in blood and tears. Tears ran faster down the little Uchiha's face.
"Now the final and sweetest blow will be given, and to the weakest of them all. My dear mother is the victim. Let me test my power onto you." He looked her straight in the eye. The boy didn't know what was happening. His mother started screaming in pain, pleading for him to stop. Finally he pushed his brother with all his might, causing him to lose his focus. The boy was thrown roughly against the wall and his mother gave her last breath.
"Stupid child, I have not yet tested this technique that I have worked hard to get. Maybe I should test it on you." The older one sneered. The pain in his back did not quell the fear that arose in the young boy's stomach.
His brother looked at him straight in the eyes and yelled, "Mangekyō Sharingan!"
The pain was unreal, he saw his parent's death in an extreme amount of detail. Every small plea, every drop of blood was played in slow motion till he could count each one. It was played until he was broken down into desperate sobs, played until he was screaming for it to stop. He finally gave up all reserve when he heard his mom say "I love you, Sasuke" on her very last breath. Finally it all disapeared; he looked at his brother through his tears, glaring fiercly. He ran to him and tried to throw fire at him, but it was to no avail. He was thrown against the wall once again.
"Foolish, little brother; if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way, run, run, and cling to life."
That is what the young boy did, he ran, and ran trying to forget the pain, despair, and anger that took over him. He tripped and fell so many times, but it didn't stop him from running. He could hear sirens of all sorts going off and screams that were unrecognizable. He finally reached the depths of the forest unaware of a ninja following him. His pace finally slowed down; his eyes were too tired to open. He got a wave of diziness, with one last sob then everything went black. Strong arms caught him and brought him close to his bosom.
"Itachi, what have you done?" The man asked desperately and brokenly. He then rushed torwards the village with one of the last survivors of the Uchiha clan.
A few days passed as Kakashi spent most of his time at the burned down Uchiha mansion, searching for clues or at the hospital, secretly checking on a certain traumatized patient. He was only caught once by a pink-haired girl, with very long bangs. She was humming a familiar American song and putting what looked like a gold ring on the boy's left hand. She had looked up suddenly and flushed pink and quickly ran out of the room. Kakashi rolled his eyes and took the ring off of Sasuke's finger.
He looked at the boy who was healing nicely but still hadn't woke up from his deep slumber. Kakashi agreed that Sasuke should sleep as long as he wanted just to prolong the severe emotional damage that he would wake up to.
Kakashi sighed with grief, "Where did I go wrong? I'm so sorry, Obito; I have failed you…" The story was that Kakashi had taken Itachi under his wing when he found a lot of similarities that he had in his youth. He thought he could change Itachi and help the boy not make the same mistakes. He watched him so carefully, and always kept an especially close eye on him during ANBU missions. How horribly wrong Kakashi was, Itachi grew up so bitter and cold.
He acknowledged only a few people and practically ignored his father and mother. He gave an occasional smile to Sasuke, but the smile was strange in itself. It was only but a few days ago when Kakashi gave him a stern lecture on caring about friends more than power. That was after he showed a bit of indifference to his best friend's so called suicide. Itachi looked at him angrily but something in his eyes told Kakashi that he was fighting with a demon inside of him. He looked like he was about to strike Kakashi but then only patted him on the shoulder.
"I would never kill you, Kakashi." He had said in a serious but almost twisted sort of way. Itachi left and Kakashi had a horrible feeling that he had lost someone he thought of as a younger brother or, could he say it, a son.
A week later Kakashi found himself rushing towards the Hokage's office at an uncharted speed. He heard some news and needed more information and he needed it quickly. He stopped at the door to the building and composed himself and walked in. He walked at his usual slow pace as if the world meant nothing to him. A sort of indifference he had created to hide his abilities and his emotion. It was a good way to train his body in self-discipline. He nodded to the guard's and knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.
"Come in, Kakashi" The Hokage said calmly. Kakashi slowly enter, leaning on the wall with one lazy eye.
"Hello, Sandaime. Everything is starting to clean up after the terrible tragedy. How is the young Uchiha boy doing?" He said nonchalantly, but he inwardly cringed at how rushed it sounded.
"Oh, well, he woke up just last night; there were no hysterics but he was unusually quiet. He did everything anybody told him without complaint. A bit strange for someone who has just turned eight, don't you think? A few tests were done and he seems physically fine." The Hokage answered.
"Just out of curiosity, what are you going to do with the boy who has no relatives remaining?" Kakashi asked apathetically.
"Well, were putting him in an orphanage, a very nice one called The Privileged Orphan Boy's Residence. You've seen it, haven't you?" The Hokage asked innocently.
The Hokage wasn't really giving him any information on what they were going to do to help Sasuke with his mental help. Stuffing the poor boy in an orphanage wasn't going to help anyone.
"Are their going to be any check-ups by special doctors for the boy? You know, out of curiosity's sake."
"Oh, he has no permanent damage for that to be needed. I'm sure the orphanage will suffice. We'll just hope for the best."
Kakashi inwardly sighed…Okay, more like inwardly tore his hair out. He resisted the urge to scream. They were just going to throw him in the orphanage with all that mental pain? How in the world could they do that? Over the past few days he had a surge of affection for the cute, solemn boy. The times he visited were increasing everyday, from one time to three times to five times a day. One night when there was some decrease in his health, he stayed there the whole night, stroking Sasuke's hair, worriedly watching him, hoping he wouldn't die on him.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, sir? I mean he could be suffering a lot." He said in a strained voice.
"Cut the act, Kakashi. You care for the boy; it's so obvious. You spend most of your time watching the boy and you worry so much that I can finally tell the difference from gray hair to silver hair. I know you know what that orphanage is; you visit it any time you can, silently and mysteriously watching the boys and helping the hurt ones. You've gotten so popular there you earned the name the "Invisible Guardian." You spend half your money donating it there and the other half on books and pretend to be nagging Iruka to get money for food when actually you're watching the children. You have a soft spot for children and a deadly weak spot for orphans."
So this was all a mind game by the Hokage to find out if Kakashi cared... "Humph, where did he get all that knowledge from?" Kakashi thought stubbornly. Kakashi put up his calm indifferent façade again.
"I believe you know too much; I've come to the conclusion that I'll just have to kill you." He said jokingly with a slight hint of seriousness.
The Hokage laughed slightly and then his face came abruptly serious, "I have a proposition for you involving Sasuke." Kakashi sat down and looked at him calmly.
"Go on."
"At the orphanage, every boy gets their own apartment equipped with two rooms and several other rooms a normal house would have. One room is for the boy and the other is for their case guardian. The orphanage is very big but only contains about ten boys. I'm sure you know this with your constant visits. I want to ask you to be the boy's case guardian. Have the Invisible Guardian returned to the house permanently."
Kakashi looked genuinely surprised and at loss for words, "But I am an ANBU- what will the people think- and I'm 23- I-," Kakashi stuttered through his broken sentences.
"I have that arranged, you can quit being an ANBU, which I believe you were going to do in the first place. To hinder you from going out of the village for missions you can be a Jounin and try and find a trio of Genin that are up to your standards. Which I'm quite certain is rare thing to find. While you're trying to find Genin to pass your test you can work in the strategy department for missions. I believe your quick thinking would be highly needed. You can become his mysterious guardian at night and the evening so people won't know anything about it. I know you are 23 but you're far too mature for anyone to guess your age plus you would be an excellent guardian." The Hokage said resolutely while Kakashi pondered how much time Sandaime actually had on his hands.
Kakashi cleared his throat eagerly, ready to agree, but the Jounin thought one comment wouldn't hurt, just for fun, "You've seemed to have thought this out thoroughly, but what if I say no?"
"Then I would have to kill you." He said with a completely straight face.
Sasuke carried a small rucksack full of the stuff that wasn't burned by the fire. That was only the special stuff he kept in a metal, secured box. He didn't look at anyone in the eyes and if he did he would only glare at them. He would never be happy again, he would avenge his family and die as peacefully as possible. That was his only goal in life now.
He felt like he had been following this guy for ages. The guy was walking so slow explaining things about plants and stuff that they saw, like he actually enjoyed the stupid hike.
"Let's take the long way to the orphanage to see the scenery," Sasuke mentally mocked. He just wanted to kick the guy in the shin, run off, and find out how long it would take a Jounin to find him and bring him back kicking and screaming. No, then he would bite his hand and run off again making sure he wasn't found.
Sasuke smirked at his thoughts and found that they had finally arrived at the huge mansion. It was five times bigger than his house, at least. They entered the quiet orphanage; something that was strange to him. He would've thought it would be louder. Well, all the better for him. After a quick tour, they brought him to where he would be staying. He was definitely not prepared for what he saw. They entered to see a large living room eloquently decorated with a huge piano and to the left was a large training room. The whole floor of the room was covered with a mat and was full of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu equipment. To the right was a corridor that led to a bathroom, a very large library filled with training books (yes!) and educational books (bleh!), and at the end was a large kitchen with a refrigerator and pantry full of wholesome, healthy food. What, no chips?
They went back to living room and walked up a narrow set of stairs that Sasuke missed when looking at the training room. They entered his. It was big, with a nice comfy bed and its own bathroom. There was a desk full of every tool needed by a student for study. There was a bookshelf full of more training books and his school curriculum; he passed the examination, which seemed so long ago. There was also a small training area seemed to be used for morning exercises, and a TV. His dad never let him have a TV, he thought it fruitless.
He was going to have this all to himself, how wonderful, completely to himself.
"You guardian suggested all of this stuff for the house."
All to his- what-, wait a minute! "What do you mean guardian!" Sasuke sputtered; the most emotion he showed in the last few days. The man raised his eyebrow.
"Did you really think we would leave an eight year old kid here all alone? What did you think the extra bedroom was for? Each boy is assigned a Case Guardian. Yours is quite a legend here, called the invisible guardian. He never settled down with a kid, you're the first. He remains mysterious though, he'll only be here from early in the evening to early in the morning. Though he's a good guardian, he has his ways of watching you when he's not here. I trust him. You got the top guardian, you must feel so lucky." The man said smiling.
"So lucky." Sasuke muttered snidely.
Kakashi quickly took the hidden stairway to his room in the orphanage. He put his book in his black bookshelf with all the other adult books. There was only one shelf that didn't hold his adult books; it was the top one. He never touched and already it was accumulating dust on the ledge. It was full of his father's coded journals; he deciphered the last journal's last page and never touched it again. He kept them though.
He put on some casual clothes, being careful to hide his jounin outfit in his closet. He concentrated on turning his hair black and put it in a ponytail. He kept his mask on and had tinted glasses so you couldn't see his sharigan eye, you could see the good eye better than the sharigan one. They were specially made by an eyeglass doctor to give a slight illusion for the eye to look normal. He looked in the mirror and was surprised how different he looked and how young he looked. It was exactly five 'o clock. He exited his door and slowly heard gently thumping and yelling downstairs.
He walked down to the room, leaning against the wall only to find Sasuke kicking a dummy in a full-blown sweat. He wondered how long the kid had been training. He looked dehydrated and exhausted; he thought that it was time for Sasuke to stop.
"Sasuke." He called, he got no answer. He said it a bit louder… Still no answer. He yelled it and Sasuke frowned and started yelling louder and kicking harder. Kakashi finally tired of trying to get the kid to stop, seeing that he was willfully not listening to him. He thought he should get a little serious; Kakashi was not to be messed with. He walked over to the boy and grabbed his foot and lifted him from the ground upside-down until the boy's eyes were in his view.
The boy pouted and crossed his arms, glaring at what he deduced was his guardian. He was strong, that was for sure and you could barely see his eyes. He was wearing a mask like he had seen quite a few Jounin and Chunin wear. Pfft, like he was ninja... A Case Guardian for an orphanage could never be a ninja.
"Good, you're listening; I think you should take a break. I can make a quick dinner while you freshen up. You have twenty minutes to be down here to eat, and please put a civil face on while you're at it." He said calmly, with barely a hint of emotion but one could sense a threat is his uninterested attitude. He slowly put Sasuke down who stood with his arms crossed, glaring kunais. "My name is Kaishi, my surname is not important and your name is Uchiha Sasuke. Formalities are done. Now chop, chop, go up stairs."
Sasuke just stood there glaring; he did not like his guardian. Much to bossy for his taste. He's mature enough to know what he wanted to doand when he wanted to. His father let him do whatever he wanted to as long as he got stronger.
"Is there something you wanted to say or are you so weak that you can't move out of your spot? Either way, speak up or I'll help you get up stairs to freshen up. I'm sure you don't want that experience." He said with his eye curving. Sasuke nose twitched in disgust and quickly trudged upstairs.
Dinner involved one table, two plates, and two people sitting across from each other. One was stabbing their food angrily imagining a certain person while doing it and stuffing it in his mouth. The other calmly ate his, highly amused by his charge's antics. Kakashi was about to say eat your vegetables when Sasuke glared at him while stuffing a piece of broccoli in his mouth. It seemed that he didn't mean to because gagged it out quickly. Kakashi couldn't hold in the laugh and Sasuke glowered even more.
"Oh, come on, you act like you've never eaten a vegetable in your life." Kakashi said ina slightly exasperatedtone. Sasuke growled and started to get up but Kakashi looked at him pointedly.
"Finish your food, Sasuke; you've been working all day and you haven't eaten that much in the past week. If you want to regain your strength eat your food." Kakashi said seriously this time.
Sasuke sat down; he felt like the time when he was four and his mom told him to eat his food so he could grow big and strong. He wasn't a little kid anymore. This guy was getting on his nerves. After they were finished, Sasuke put his plate in the sink, Kakashi told him to go to the living room so they could talk. Sasuke thus rolled his eyes, walked to the living room and sat angrily on the sofa.
Kakashi walked in and leaned against the wall again. "I thought we would set a few ground rules. Just to get you started, the first one is; do what I say."
"That's original." Sasuke muttered.
Kakashi ignored him.
"Don't ever enter my room"
Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"Put all your little energy together and try and respect me."
Sasuke glared at him.
"After your classes, that you are starting tomorrow, come straight home everyday unless I'm told otherwise. Trust me, I know when you'll get home."
Sasuke glared even more.
"No deceitfulness at all unless it's required in your curriculum. Lying to me really shouldn't be apart of it though"
If it was possible, the boy glared even harder.
"Finally, by no means at all, will I ever want to catch you hurting or betraying a friend for your own selfish reasons." Kakashi said that so strongly that Sasuke didn't know how to answer with that one. That one seemed to be the only reasonable rule.
"Okay, it's getting late; it's time for you to go to bed." Kakashi said while Sasuke rewarded him with another glare. He stomped up to his room again without a word. Ha! Like he was going to bed. He was going to read one of his training books late into the night. He wasn't tired. He was not a little kid who needed to go to bed at a certain time. Kaishi treats him like a child. Humph, that guy has got to go!
He was sitting in his bed, reading the book when a half hour later he heard his door creak open and Kaishi stuck his head in. When he saw Sasuke still awake, having no fear on his face that he was awake; Kakashi rolled his eyes, unseen by Sasuke. Well, at least he's obeying the no deceitfulness rule, Kakashi reasoned with himself. Might as well get serious here, this kid has got to rest. Did this kid look in the mirror to see how tired he looked? The dark rings under his eyes screamed tired. Kakashi was not going to tolerate Sasuke getting sick because he wouldn't sleep.
"I told you go to sleep a half and hour ago." Kakashi pointed out.
"Yes." Sasuke said evenly, "I'm not tired" Finally; he got some words out of the boy.
"You look tired."
"Well I'm not."
"Go to bed."
"No."
Kakashi walked quickly to Sasuke and took the book out of his hands snapping it shut. He put the book away. "Glare at me all you want, I'm not leaving till you go to sleep."
"Then I'll glare at you all night."
"I don't find that likely, Sasuke."
"I don't care" Sasuke said solemnly.
About 20 minutes later, Sasuke tried hard to keep his eyes open but they were tired from glaring and the room was very quiet. Kakashi just sat there, staring at him as if he was bored. Sasuke finally drifted off into sleep, growling into unconsciousness.
Kakashi slowly walked up to Sasuke and concernedly checked his temperature. It was a little high but the sleep would take it away. He stroked his hair and sighed. "Here I thought I was taking care of a traumatized child. I guess I was wrong; all I got was a spoiled one." Of course Kakashi was kidding, but he couldn't help but feel that this was going to be a long week, or month, or year, or decade…
A/N: Please Review, I would love to hear your thoughts! I have the next chapter almost done. It'll be done faster magically if you guys review! Thanks to my beta SarahofEarth!