[A/N]: Hello! This is the short intro to a new fic I've been working on. This will be very Kakashi centric and is an AU where Sakumo was able to save his comrades AND finish the mission. Basically, a fic where Kakashi grows up very loved and feels very loved. I wanted to work on everyone's relationship with Kakashi since we know from all the Kakashi Gaiden info that he was very involved with how the story of Naruto came about. This fic will probably go up until Naruto becomes a genin; somewhere around that area.

Other than that please enjoy! I'll try to get out an update soon. ~BB

Chapter One

"Start"

With every rotation of gauze around his torso, he could feel the raw skin stinging as the material rubbed up against it. More blood oozed from the wound as he tried to tighten the binding, causing him to hiss in annoyance and pain before finishing the process, neatly clipping the end of the tape together. He then moved gingerly to discard the pile of crimson bandages that had accumulated on his bed while he was tending to himself. Part of him knew that he should have probably gotten the cut looked at by a medic, or at the very least, Minato, but his father was coming back from his mission and he couldn't afford to be late because of some mindless injury he sustained during his own mission.

It had been two years since he was promoted from genin to chuunin, and he was fairly certain he would be taking the jounin test sometime later in the year. After his father had come back with information that had stopped a brewing war, Hatake Sakumo's skills were in high demand.

The details of the S-ranked mission were so classified that even Kakashi wasn't completely sure what had happened. All he knew was that if his father hadn't been able to get the information from their spy source, the Third Shinobi War would have begun and Konoha would have been at the core of it.

Thus, the Hatake name was known as a legend. People had feared the name Hatake before; after all, the abilities of the White Fang were known throughout all five lands and Sakumo was often acknowledged as someone on the same level of the Konoha Sannin. Now, the citizens of the village practically worshiped him. The teammates that the White Fang had saved during that mission also felt indebted to him, saying that if they had been under anyone else's command, they would have surely perished. And while Kakashi found their hero-worship attitude towards his father annoying, he would much rather have them adore him than hate him.

Even then, Kakashi missed his father. Ever since he became a chunin, the father and son had spent less and less time together. When Sakumo was on a mission, Kakashi was training or putzing around the village, and when Sakumo was given time off, Kakashi was off on a mission. The two were like night and day, in a sense.

Today he would get to see the man for the first time in weeks. Kakashi told himself that he would get the injury looked at after he had greeted his father. So with that, he stood from his bed, hopped out of his window, and headed towards the village gate, ignoring the stabbing pain in his side.

The skies were red that morning, making the world above him look like a painting with the clouds as wide streaks of white contrasting against the dark background. Kakashi found it ominously pretty. Though he was never one to believe in superstition, he found himself walking at a faster pace towards the gates, dread slowly churning in his gut. Everything's fine, he told himself. Jiraiya-jisan is with him. He'll be there.

However, when Kakashi arrived at the entrance to the village, his fear was only confirmed. He stood alone, staring at the large opening that lead to the outside world. The sight of the empty pathway lead him to be more disappointed than he wanted to admit. His eyes swam slightly, making him dizzy, but he shook off the sensation when he heard someone call for him.

"Kashi-kun! What're you doin' looking all down?" A very familiar voice sounded from behind him.

Kakashi had barely been able to turn around when he felt two arms grab him and pull him into a tight embrace. He tried not to gasp in pain as his wound was suddenly aggravated. "K-Kushina-san," he coughed, trying to breathe. The woman released her hold on him only to promptly smack him over the head.

"Oi, brat, what'd I tell you to call me? I don't want any of this '-san' crap. It's just Kushina, got it?"

The chunin held his head and sent her a half-heated glare, "Yes…"

"Honestly! What seven year-old uses such formal honorifics anyway?" Kushina grumbled under her breath.

Minato gave a small, exasperated chuckle at the woman before turning his attention back to his student. "What brings you all the way out here, Kakashi? Waiting for your father?"

Kakashi always hated how Minato could see straight through him sometimes. Being a prodigy and the son of a legend had always kept him isolated from most other kids. He rose through the classes at the academy and then shot through ranks as well. Most people his age were still practicing the fundamentals of taijutsu. So when Kakashi had become a genin at the age of five, the higher ups weren't exactly sure what to do with him. Some of them wanted to send him back to the academy, but most others saw that as a waste of his skill. Then, a few days later, he was introduced to Namikaze Minato, and he had been teaching Kakashi ever since.

"Kakashi?" Minato prompted, staring at the boy with a concerned in his eyes. He always seemed to do that.

"My father said he would be here before noon, but…" Kakashi hated how he sounded so insecure.

Kushina placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, Kashi-kun. Sensei's always been really strong. I doubt anybody could put him down without a fight. Plus, Jiraiya is with him. And with those two together, any trouble they find is usually only found because they were looking for it."

"I'm sure that they'll be back soon. Jiraiya-sensei must have gotten distracted with his… research," Minato added brightly.

Kakashi simply nodded, which he seemed to do a lot when he couldn't find the right words to say. Even though he disliked being coddled by his sensei and his father's former student, he couldn't deny how the two jounins' words had soothed his troubled thoughts. He found more logic in what they had said then the worst-case scenarios that kept formulating in his head. And even though he felt that he could take care of himself just fine, having people like Kushina and Minato to support him was comforting. He briefly wondered when they had all gotten so close.

Kakashi had known Kushina for as long as he could remember and apparently his father's student had been the one to watch him when Sakumo left on missions while he was still a baby. Jiraiya and Tsunade had also been there to help, since they were good friends with his father and technically Kakashi's godparents. However, with Jiraiya being in and out of the village so often, and Tsunade working full time at the hospital, the job fell upon Kushina more often than not. She always insisted that she never minded and that he was so "cute", but Kakashi was fairly certain that the only reason she had never complained was because of the amount of blackmail material she had over him now.

Meeting Minato had been a bit different. Kakashi had always heard Jiraiya speaking to his father about his genius student, Minato, the one that dreamt of becoming Hokage someday, and the one that was working to perfect a jutsu similar to the second Hokage's time-space jutsu. At the time, he hadn't really paid too much attention to whoever the man was, but it did motivate him to work harder in the academy and with his training. Kakashi wanted his father to be able to be proud of him just like Jiraiya was with his student. In a way, "Namikaze Minato" had become an inspiration to him.

So, on the day that he met the smiling, cheerful man that was meant to be his jounin-sensei, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. His sensei was kind of ditzy. Or at least, that's how he presented himself to Kakashi. It wasn't until they had gone on their first mission, a simple delivery trip gone wrong, that he established a firm respect for the man. Ten Iwa ninja had gone down in less than two minutes and Minato didn't have a scratch on him. And his face had been absent of his usual grin when he wiped the blood off from his kunai. Their student-teacher bond had slowly gotten stronger since that day.

Now, the two jounin watched over him like a little brother (and Kushina always tried to get him to call her "Nee-chan", but has been fruitless in her attempts so far). Both of them liked to check in on him, even if his father was home. Minato had a more subtle approach, asking if he was taking care of himself and how his wounds were doing whenever he got hurt on a mission. On the other hand, Kushina was a force to be reckoned with. Once she focuses on something, she doesn't let it go until she feels satisfied with the results. When she had found out that Kakashi was a pound underweight, she had taken it upon herself to feed him ramen and soup, making sure he never missed a meal. His father had received quite an earful during that time, as well.

And even though Kakashi always made a show about how annoyed or roll his eyes at the two's antics, he found himself to be happier in their presence.

"Kakashi!" Minato exclaimed sharply, drawing the boy from his thoughts. When had he become so dizzy? "Kakashi, you're bleeding!"

"EH? When did you get this?" Kushina yelled after lifting his shirt and finding a blood soaked bandage.

"You told me the blade hadn't even grazed you, Kakashi!" With the distraught tone Minato carried, he could practically hear the man blaming himself for the injury.

Kakashi wanted to tell them that he was fine and that it was just a lot of blood for a small wound, but he couldn't find it within himself to speak. And suddenly he found that he was so tired. He tried to cling to Kushina's voice, and focus on Minato's eyes, but his vision began to blur. The world started to tilt, the floor and the sky becoming vertical. Kakashi closed his eyes, hoping the swaying feeling would leave if he did so, but the next time he opened his eyes, he was being carried across rooftops.

The first thing he could think of was how nice it felt to have the cool wind brush across the burning wound on his stomach. He was with Minato and Kushina, right? They wouldn't be angry if he just took a short nap. They would wake him up when his father got back. He was just so tired and he was so comfortable in the person's arms…

And the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was the white head of hair contrasting against red morning skies.

[A/N]: Kakashi is slightly different in this fic. While he is still rather arrogant, he will not be as cold as he is in Kakashi Gaiden. Also, there are many things I've taken liberties with such as Kushina being one of Sakumo's genin students and Jiraiya and Tsunade being Kakashi's godparents, so please understand that. I'm fairly certain that this is not canon (though it would be pretty cool if it was).