The moon had barely risen over the town when the icy winds began to descend and the air became a blast of wintery air. Normally no one would be out on the streets but this was a special day. It was the ten year anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi and the whole village was celebrating, well most of the village anyway. A large group of men had assembled what they called was a hunting party. What were they hunting? Well, that's the problem with this picture. They weren't hunting foxes on the anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat. Nope, they were hunting a small child. Cruel you say? Anyone who tried to tell them that gotten severely beaten and called a traitor to the village.

At the current moment said child was peaking out from an alley by one of the main parties going on, looking for some food that someone had dropped or forgotten on a table. The little boy looked to be no more than nine or ten and had long blond hair. His blue eyes shinned in the darkness as he stared hungrily at the food tables. On each cheek there were three whisker like scars that he'd had ever since he could remember. He inched closer to the party, leaving the relative safety of the ally. He knew that some people might be out looking for him, to hurt him, but it was nothing knew. There were always people coming after him. He knew they weren't going to be anywhere near here, they'd never think that he'd be near such a big party. Unfortunately for him, the hunters were waiting for him, somehow figuring that he'd come to this exact spot. They waited until he was halfway to the table when the converged on him, one of them clapping a hand over his small mouth so he couldn't scream for help, not that anyone would come to his aid anyway.

They dragged him several streets away and into a dark alley that didn't lead out to the next street. The man holding the boy threw him against the brick wall and stepped back into the loose circle that formed around the area where the boy had fallen. He slowly pushed himself up, his eyes a little unfocused as he held his side. Only one thought ran though his mind: What did I do now? Sad, isn't it. When human beings can harm others like this without a thought nor a reason. Well, they thought they had a valid reason. You see in their eyes this child was a demon, an abomination that had to be killed. Reality? The child was the container for the fox spirit that had attacked the village some ten years before. No, he wasn't the spirit. The spirit was sealed inside of him by the leader of the village, seeking a way to save the village from destruction at the paws of the beast. He died shortly after sealing the monster inside of the boy. His only wish was that the boy be seen as a hero. Was he? Nope, because some of the villagers were too short sighted to see the burden that had been placed upon the child by the so called 'brave' leader of the village.

"It's time we wiped you from the face of the earth scum," one of the figures growled, producing a pipe from behind his back. All around the circle weapons were appearing and the boy cowered against the wall. He couldn't see a way to get out of the mess, there were no holes in the circle and he didn't think he could run at the moment anyway. He was almost positive that two of his ribs were broken and a couple of them cracked. His eyes grew wide and darted across the faces in the circle, as if trying to find a soul that would help him. Alas, none were found.

"Get him,"

- - - - -

"I swear, next one to mistake me for a woman in their drunken stupor is getting a kunai to the balls." Kakashi muttered angrily as he moved away from the group of drunken ninjas. Why he'd never decided to go to that party he'd never know. He wasn't one for these celebrations, after all he'd lost his Sensei today. Why would he be happy? His mind wandered back to that day even though he tried to stop it. He didn't like thinking about how the man he looked up to had died. Or how he'd sealed the demon into that child. He felt a pang of sympathy for the child, he'd have to deal with the ignorant villagers for the rest of his life because of the burden that the Fourth Hokage had laid upon his shoulders. He vaguely wondered how the child was doing today, it would be his birthday after all.

He paused for a moment as a scream of pain reached his ears. Was someone getting in a fight? No, the sound was too childlike for it to be a fight. Against his better judgment he moved toward the alley where he heard the noise, pausing to squint down it. He could make out several shapes beating at something. He frowned, so they wanted to gang up on one person. Maybe he'd go give the poor guy a hand?

"You know it's not nice to fight a guy twelve on one? Maybe I should help even up the odds a bit?" he drawled, moving closer to the group.

- - - - - -

When were they going to stop? Were they determined to kill him this time? Normally once he lay still and stop screaming they'd get bored and go away but they continued to beat him. He barely was able to keep the screams of utter pain from leaving his lips. He'd only let one escape and they'd began to beat him harder than before. He tried to curl into a small ball to evade the attacks but found he didn't have enough strength to do so. He'd lost so much blood already! He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for it to end soon. He didn't care if he died, he just wanted the pain to go away. The blows continued to rain down and he began to fade out of consciousness. He could have sighed with relief, he knew that the end of the pain was coming in one form or another.

Suddenly the blows stopped and there were sounds feet moving all around him. He could barely open his eyes to see what was going on. All he could see was a figure with a mob of white hair before he had to close is eyes again. They were so swollen that it was hard to keep them open for more than a few seconds. He had to focus as he realized that someone was speaking.

"Beating up a child? Really? Have you sunk that low?" one of the voices demanded angrily. It didn't make sense to him, why was the voice defending him? Didn't they want to kill him.

"Oh come off it Hatake, it's a demon and you know it! It killed your Sensei for crying out loud." Another, angrier, voice answered.

There was a loud sound that echoed through the alley and he waited for a new pain to appear. He slowly realized that he wasn't the one whom had been hit.

"Get the hell out of my sight before I kill all of you. NOW" the first voice growled, sounding angrier than it had before. He heard the sounds of foot steps and he tried to shrink in on himself but quickly realized that the footsteps were going away from him, not closer to him. He felt a bit of relief, something had happened in his favor for once instead of against him.

- - - - -

Kakashi stared down at the child and fought back the bile that was rising in his throat. They must have had him trapped in that alley for a while because his face was bruised and bloodied, while his eyes were swollen almost shut. There was blood leaking from somewhere beneath that mop of blood hair and blood soaked the thin clothing the boy wore.

He reached out a hand to softly touch the boy on the side of the face but quickly pulled it back when the boy flinched back violently. Kakashi cursed silently to himself and pulled off his cloak to wrap it around the boy.

"Shhh, it's okay." he whispered as the boy whimpered. "I'm going to help you, my name is Kakashi Hatake." he murmured, gently picking the boy up. He flinched as he saw the amount of blood that had pooled beneath the boy. He couldn't take him to the hospital, they'd most likely overdose him and call it an 'accident'. Well, he would have to do his best to help the kid. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep him alive though the night.

Kakashi began to jump roof top to roof top, hoping that none of the anbu saw him. He didn't want any of them knowing about what had happened though he had a feeling that they'd find out within a few moments. He had to be quick and get the kid back to his place.

"Mr. Kakashi" came a weak voice from the child in his arms. Kakashi glanced down to see the child force his eyes open, the blue orbs peaking out at him from behind the inflamed skin. "Why did you save me?" he whispered, his voice mystified.

Kakashi felt a stab of guilt, this child knew nothing other than violence and death. He should have taken a bigger part in protecting the boy! He should have at least looked in on him every now and then. Instead he'd decided to believe the Hokage when he said that the boy was being looking after. Ha, that was the biggest joke he'd ever heard in his life. Where was the kids protection tonight? Most likely they'd joined in the hunting party for a bit of a laugh. Or they'd just watched as a bunch of grown adults beat the ever loving crap out of a nine year old whom couldn't hurt them if it meant saving his life.

His eye stared down at the blond with an unreadable expression on his face, his decision made.

"Because I don't turn my back on what I should do, not anymore."

An attempt at rewriting one of my stories. It was at first supposed to be a crossover but I've decided that I'm writing too many of them so it's going to be a regular story. Next chapter should be up soon.

~Sailor Emerald