Naruto sighed as he sat, the swing beneath him swaying slightly. To any decent person this would have been a sad sight but any sense of decency that the people of Konoha had was overridden by their hatred and fear of the container of the Nine Tailed Fox.

The small blonde boy gripped the rope tightly, his hands burning slightly along with his eyes as he fought back tears. He shouldn't be upset after all monsters have no emotion after all that's what the matron of the orphanage said and she was an adult, which meant she had to right.

The teachers at the academy had just announced the annual Bring Your Parents day and as soon as those words were spoken the class had broken out in whispers about how they were going to show their parents all their favourite things.

In Naruto's mind it wasn't fair, what if you didn't have parents?

The question brought back long forgotten memories, memories of drunken villagers telling him that he didn't have the right to have parents, that demons didn't deserve love. These thoughts broke Naruto's resolve and soon after his eyes started to tear up.

His chest burnt as he held back sobs and when he took a breath, a chocked sob slipped out. A tiny hand shot up to wipe his eyes as he curled over himself in an attempt to stop the tears before they got out of control.

A hand landed softly on his head and the unexpected weight and warmth had him almost falling of the swing. His heart sped up until it was all he could hear and he was convinced that the person behind him could hear it to.

"Why so sad?"

Naruto spun around and looked up to see a single black eye peering at him over the top of a bent orange cover, the title was in big letters but to Naruto it may as well of been a different language and his cheeks burnt slightly even though he had only confessed about being unable to read in his head.

"I'm not!" Naruto spat scrubbing at his eyes

The man hunched down slightly and the untamed grey hair caught Naruto attention. The man swiftly shoved the book into a small ninja pouch on his hip and smiled or at least Naruto thought he smiled, it was hard to tell due to the mask covering the majority of the ninja's face.

"Yes you are"

"No I'm not"

"What's that on your face then?"

"It's nothing!"

"It's definitely something"

The tears were long forgotten at this point as Naruto argued with the man, neither of them noticing that they were now the only people in the yard.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki"

"Kakashi Hatake"

The name seemed familiar to Naruto for some reason and he could have sworn that he knew the man from somewhere. He looked over the man again in his head and a single image came to mind, a porcelain dog mask.

"Inu-oniisan" He blurted out

The man, Kakashi, looked stunned. His visible eye widened slightly before he composed himself again, his face turning back into a stoic mask that was just as effective at hiding his emotions as the dog one.

"You remember me Naru-Chan"

Why did he sound so surprised Naruto wondered. Of course Naruto remembered him; he had been one of the only people that were kind to him even if he didn't talk. Kakashi had been one of the three ANBU that the Hokage had assigned to watch over Naruto.

Inu as Naruto had called him at the time had been the only one to reveal himself to Naruto when the villagers had started to get rowdy at a festival a year back. A man with a face that had reminded Naruto of a bull had stumbled over to Naruto and had gone to shove him down and he would have succeeded if it hadn't been for the ANBU that had suddenly appeared in front of the small child.

As far as Naruto knew, he hadn't said anything but the man paled and walked in the opposite direction. Naruto had been in awe and was dumbstruck when the man turned around to pat him on the head and pass him a plastic bowl of ramen before disappearing back to where ever he had been hiding.

To Naruto's young mind this made him one of his precious people and after a talk with the Hokage he had dubbed him as his older brother even though they had only met once.

"Why were you crying Naruto?" Kakashi asked again feeling obligated after all he did everything to the best of his ability and that meant being the best older brother that he could.

"It's bring your Parents to School Day tomorrow" the child whispered

The Copy Nin gave a silent sigh as he sat down on the grass and pulled the 6 year old into his lap. Naruto startled at the action but when a hand started running through his unruly blonde locks he quickly relaxed.

"I don't have parent either"

"Really?"

"Yes"

Naruto snuggled into Kakashi vest as he had an idea.

"Kashi?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Iruka sensei said we could bring older sib-sibl"

"Siblings"

"That, what does that mean?"

"It means a brother or sister"

"Does that mean you could come?" He asked hopefully as his eyes fell shut slightly at the soothing notion of the petting.

Kakashi was silent for a while and a ball of dread began to bloom in the bottom of Naruto's stomach as he hoped he had messed up.

"Naruto I ca-you know what let me speak to the Hokage and ill meant you hear tomorrow morning"

"Really!?" Naruto shouted looking up to face Kakashi with tired eyes.

"Yep"

Naruto grinned as he buried his face into Kakashi's chest and his eyes began to shut.

Maybe the villangers were wrong after all big brothers are always right.