Sai wandered through the streets of Konoha, wondering what was wrong with Naruto today. He had seemed agitated this morning, before Lady Tsunade had herded them out of her office. Sai shrugged it off, knowing that eventually the blonde would announce it to the while village.

He heard a whimper from in front of a bakery and nearly ignored it. When it came again, however, he stopped and stared at the little girl.

She was about five, with short dark hair and green eyes. She was barely tall enough to see over the window sill her dirty face was pressed against, and her dress was so filthy and tattered Sai couldn't tell what color it had been.

The little girl was practically salivating at the sight and smell of fresh bread. Sai frowned, barely a downward tilt of his lips, and stepped closer to the girl.

"Hello," he said, smiling the way only he could. She jumped and turned around guiltily, nearly crying when she saw his ninja headband.

"Please, mister, I wasn't doing anything wrong!" she cried. "Don't take me to jail!"

Sai crouched down in front of her. "No, no," he whispered. "I'm not going to take you to jail. I'm just wondering why you're alone."

"Oh." The girl's face relaxed and she stared down at the ground. "Mommy and Daddy were mean to me."

Sai tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Why don't I buy you some bread and you can tell me what you mean," he suggested.

The little girl nodded and Sai took her hand to pull her into the bakery. The baker frowned down at the girl's appearance before turning to Sai. "What would you like?" he asked, leaning against the glass.

The girl studied her choices before shrugging. "A loaf of bread is fine," she said quietly.

"One loaf of bread and a glass of water, please," Sai said. The baker nodded and prepared the order before tallying the total.

"Twelve ryo."

Sai pulled out the appropriate amount and passed it to the baker. He took the bread and cup of water before leading his companion over to a nearby park and sitting down on a bench.

"What's your name?" Sai asked as he handed the girl her bread.

"Kohana Yamazaki," she answered softly, her dark hair falling into her face.

"My name is Sai."

They sat in silence for a moment. "What did you mean by saying your parents were mean to you?" Sai finally inquired.

Kohana took a bite of her bread. Then she held out her arm, where Sai could just barely see the greenish-yellow outline of a bruise. "See this?" she said, fingering the bruise. "Daddy hurt me. Mommy left."

Sai frowned again. "Why?"

Kohana shrugged, pulling the tattered remains of her sleeve over the bruise. "Daddy was mean, Mommy hated us. That's all I know."

"Why are you out in the streets?"

"I ran away."

/\/\

Sai walked calmly to the Hokage's office, an innocent sleeping Kohana in his arms. Right now he was almost glad Root had trained him to be emotionless on the outside, because on the inside he was fuming. How could anyone treat Kohana like that? She was so sweet and innocent.

He climbed the steps to Tsunade's office hurriedly, knocking on her door. When she called that it was okay for him to come in he pushed open the door angrily.

"Lady Tsunade," he said. "You must fix this."

Kakashi and Tsunade blinked at him and the little girl in his arms.

"Sai?" Tsunade said. "What are you doing here?"

"Kohana ran away from home because she was abused."

Tsunade sat back in her chair. "Who are her parents?"

Sai lifted his shoulders a fraction in his version of a shrug. "Her name is Yamazaki."

Tsunade groaned. "We've had trouble with them before."

Kakashi leaned against the wall. "How did you find her?" he inquired lazily, an air of boredom surrounding him.

Sai felt a flash of anger directed at the older shinobi and barely suppressed it. How could Kakashi not see that Kohana was abused?

"She was in the street in front of the bakery. I bought her some bread and asked her some questions about why she was there," Sai explained through gritted teeth.

Tsunade seemed to catch his anger and cut a warning glare at Kakashi before her amber gaze was trained back on Sai. "Well," she sighed. "There isn't much we can about it now. Why don't you take her back to your apartment and as soon as we can we'll get a hold of her parents."

Sai glanced down at the sleeping child in his arms and nodded. "Yes, Lady Tsunade," he said, bowing shallowly so as not to disturb Kohana.

He left without being dismissed.

/\/\

In his apartment, Sai set a groggy Kohana on his couch and gently brushed a hand across her cheek.

"Kohana?" he asked quietly. She blinked up at him and smiled.

"Sai!"

She hugged him tightly and Sai forced himself to react to this nearly foreign act—Naruto was very touchy-feely sometimes.

"Kohana, you will be staying with me for a while," Sai said. "And, as my responsibility, I will be giving you a horribly needed bath."

Kohana giggled and followed him to the bathroom. Sai turned the water on and monitored it as it filled the tub.

He turned to Kohana and helped her out of her ruined dress and underwear, dropping it to the side. Later he would call Sakura and see if she could get a new dress or something.

Kohana climbed into the warm water and Sai studiously scrubbed her small body until her skin was pale pink.

Sai could clearly see the bruises littered across the little girl's arms. Some were relatively new, others were older, a green-yellow color. The corners of his mouth tilted down.

"I hate to ask you this, but how long ago did you run away?" Sai asked.

Kohana swirled her hand through the dirty and soapy water. "A couple days ago," she replied, her voice small.

Sai tilted his head to the side. Deeming her clean, he pulled the plug and lifted her out of the tub. He hunted around for a moment before finding a towel; he wrapped it around Kohana and rubbed her dry.

"I'll give you something of mine to wear until my friend can get you some clothes, okay?" Sai said. Kohana nodded and followed him as he walked towards his bedroom.

Sai pulled out one of his old shirts and gave it to Kohana. She stared up at him expectantly. He blinked.

"What?"

"I don't have underwear."

Sai went and grabbed her underwear off the bathroom floor. He handed it to her and grabbed the phone Naruto insisted he have off his nightstand. He scrolled through it for his contacts and found Sakura; he pressed call.

"Hello?" Sakura yawned into the phone.

"Sakura, can you do me a favor?" Sai questioned, watching as Kohana tried to figure out how to get dressed.

"What, Sai?"

"I need some children's clothes."

There was a long silence and then, "Sai, I really do not need to know what you do when you're at home."

"No, no, Sakura," Sai said. "I'm taking care of a little girl and she needs clothes."

"Oh. What does she like?"

"…She wears dresses?"

"What's her favorite color?"

Sai pulled the phone from his ear. "Kohana, what's your favorite color?"

Kohana poked her head through the arm sleeve of the shirt and said, "Green."

"Green," Sai repeated into the phone. Sakura was silent. "Sakura?"

"I heard you. I'll be right over. Be prepared to pay me."Sakura hung up and Sai dropped the phone back in its place.

Well, that was one hurdle crossed. Almost.

A/N: Did anyone else realize how fatherly Sai was being when he was trying to get Yuukimaru to come with him? I did, and this is the result of it. I borrowed Kohana from Hinata, and I hope she liked my portrayal of her! Review, please?