Kakashi was drowning into his newest novel of the "Icha Icha" series. Occasionally chuckling under his mask, he'd flip a page and sit back in his chair. A whole week with no missions. How was he to describe the pleasure of that? But he ran out of luck. The week had flown by extremely fast. He was now enjoying his last day of his laid-back week with his novel and his chair. They'd be his best buddies in the next couple of hours. Or so he thought...

He glanced up immediatly when he sensed that something was coming. Trouble was on the way. And trouble had an enormous amount of chakra. From in the kitchen, he could hear a door closing. It was the door to his backyard, only he thought he'd locked it... Quietly, he stood up and pulled a kunai from his pouch. Making no noise on the tricky parquet at all, he swooped over to the tiny wall seperating his kitchen from his livingroom. He held it up infront of him and cocked his head to the side so he could see the person who'd entered his house without permission.

"A-a kid?" he asked himself, removing the kunai from infront of his face. He perched down before the tiny blond with the big sapphire eyes. "Uhh, kid, would you tell me what you're doing in my house?" he asked with an anime sweatdrop.

"Ssshht! You can't let them find me!" he hushed him, running over to one of the cabinets in his kitchen and crawling in.

Kakashi just stared at the assumed 4-year-old with a confused expression on his face. He walked over to the cabinet, hunched down before it, and opened the tiny doors cautionally. The boy sat there, hugging his knees and awaiting any real threats.

"Uhh.. who isn't supposed to find you again?" Kakashi asked.

"That mean Iruka-sensei! He's gonna' lock me up somewhere in a basement for sure!" the boy replied.

Kakashi couldn't help himself and a loud laughter filled the room. "Iruka's gonna' lock you up in his basement?" he asked, still chuckling.

"Ssshhht!" the boy hushed him oncemore and shut the cabinetdoors again.

"Okay, kid, listen, Iruka's not gonna' lock you up somewhere, alright? So just get outta' my cupboard and chop chop outside."

The boy didn't make a sound though. Kakashi tried opening the doors, but they remained firmly shut. He tried them once again, but the wooden things wouldn't budge.

"Come on kid, come on out. It's okay, nobody's gonna' hurt you."

No answer.

"I'll give you candy if you come out."

No answer.

"Not a fan of candy, huh? Well how 'bout cookies?"

Still no answer.

"Uhhh... lollypops?"

The child wouldn't speak.

"Uhmm.. chocolate?"

"Well how 'bout I tell Iruka-san not to lock you away in a basement?"

"... would you do that for me?" came the innocent child's voice.

"Haha, sure."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Pinky-swear it."

"Pinky-swear?" Kakashi repeated, confused.

The squeeky doors opened slightly and a slender arm reached out. The pinkyfinger on the child's hand reached out and motioned toward Kakashi's several times.

"Uhh.." Kakashi went, assuming he had to put up his pinky finger aswell. The child wrapped his pinky around Kakashi's a briefly shook it.

"There." he said. "Now you've pinky-sworn."

"And what's that mean?" Kakashi asked, laughing nervously.

"It means that you have to do it! Once you pinky-swear, there's no turning back!" the boy declared.

"Alright.. so you'll come out, then?"

"Only if you tell Iruka-sensei first!"

"Oh come on, kid, it's not like he'll eat you if you come outta' there, he isn't even here!"

"SSssshht! Don't say that! It only upsets them!" the boy appeared to yell in his whispering voice.

Kakashi chuckled. "They're not ghosts, alright, they're teachers." he said soothingly.

"You don't know that!" came the child's reply.

"Yes I do. Trust me."

"How can I?"

"Well I've just pinky-sworn, haven't I?"

"..." Suddenly the doors of the cabinet opened again squeekily and the boy climbed out slowly. He peeked his head left and right, just to make sure that the coast was clear. Kakashi couldn't help but suppress another chuckle as the boy hid behind the table and turned occasionally toward the door to see if anyone was coming.

CRASH! "Meeow!"

The child yiked and ran toward Kakashi, grabbing hold of his leg and hiding behind it. "It's just a cat, kid, it's okay." he replied with a smile. The cat entered the kitchen via the window and trippled over to Kakashi. The older man went to get a plastic bowl from the cupboard and the little boy followed him, still clutching his hand around the soft fabric of the man's pants. He filled it with milk and set it on the ground where the cat enjoyed it frantically.

The blond boy watched as the cat licked the milk in such a speed you'd think cats needed to exercise their tongues to move that fast, and patted the cat on its head. "He's cute." he noted, scratching the animal behind its ears. "Hmm." came Kakashi's reply. The cat purred and brushed up against Naruto, begging for more attention. The child giggled and patted the stray cat's head happily.

"Naruto!!" came an angry yell. "There you are!! I knew I saw you run into some stranger's house!! You can't do that, you baka!" Iruka scolded the child.

Naruto ran to hide behind Kakashi's leg again and watched as Iruka's gaze lifted from Naruto's to Kakashi's face. Only Kakashi's face was hidden behind a mask. The only thing there was to be seen was his right eye.

"Ah- Kakashi-san!" Iruka choked, shocked.

"Wow, sheesh, Iruka-san, no wonder he thinks you'll lock him up in a basement." Kakashi said, chuckling.

"Wh-what?" Iruka asked.

"The kid's like what, three, four?"

"Three, yes."

"You think it's canny to yell at him like that? I mean, not that I know better, but it sure shit scared me." Kakashi commented with an anime sweatdrop and a nervous laugh.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Kakashi-san, but this is the way they learn."

Naruto burried his face in Kakashi's leg and Kakashi could feel the child's fingernails press into his skin.

"Come on, Naruto, we've gotta' go."

"Iie! (no!) the boy cried."

Iruka stared at him, surprised. Naruto had never really grown attached to anybody in such a manner that he'd actually burry his head in the man's leg.

"Wow.. Uhh.. Well what if we give you cookies?" Kakashi proposed

"Iie!" he declined though.

"How 'bout a cool ball to play with?"

"Iie!" the stubborn child refused.

"Aw crap I'm all outta' ideas." Kakashi admitted, seeing no other way than to forcibly yank the child off of his leg.

"You don't have to watch over him, Kakashi-san, he's no yours to look over. Besides, he gets enough care and attention at the orphanage." Iruka told him.

"So you work at the orphanage now, huh?" Kakashi asked, attempting to pull the child off of his leg. The stubborn blond wouldn't let go of the man's pants though.

"Only temporarily, just filling in for somebody." Iruka answered, trying to pull Naruto off aswell.

"Huh, that so?" Kakashi faked interest as he tried to peel the child's fingers off of his pants.

"Mm-hmm."

Iruka and Kakashi were having lots of trouble to get Naruto off of Kakashi's leg, but eventually, Kakashi was able to pull him off by using a fearful technique.

... Tickling.

When Kakashi wanted to pass the kid to Iruka though, the kid wouldn't let go of Kakashi's arm.

"Oh crap." he noted.

"We can be here forever." Iruka declared.

Kakashi sighed and sat down. "You know..." Iruka started. Kakashi looked up. "This is the first time I think that Naruto's actually grown so attached to someone in a short period of time." Iruka finished. Kakashi raised a brow. "That so?" he asked, indifferently. "Mm-hmm."

The child traced his fingers over the visible veins in Kakashi's arm. His legs hung from the table and started to gently wabble.

"You know, they're looking for fosterparents for him."

"Well of course they are, I mean, he's in an orphanage."

"No, that's not what I meant..."

Kakashi re-raised his brow.

"They try their best to give children with problems homes to move to first 'cos they believe it has a whole lot to do with the fact that they don't have anyone to watch over them."

"So why don't you?"

Iruka chuckled. "If only." he sighed then. "As you've already heard before, we try to help the children with problems first. These are usually the older kids who steal, use violence or perhaps even do drugs."

Kakashi's eyes lifted slightly, interested.

"Which is why we also almost never have time for the younger ones. The older ones come first at the moment. But the older ones have social contacts outside of the orphanage. Friends, classmates, etc."

"And the younger ones?" Kakashi asked.

"Don't." Iruka replied plainly. "They cannot leave the orphanage yet... this is also why most of the little ones start copying the older ones for attention."

Kakashi sighed. "It must be hard to keep up with it all."

"It is." Iruka replied, chuckling.

"So this punk is one of those troublemakers.." Kakashi said, ruffling through the blond locks with his free hand.

"No. Not really."

"Hmm?"

"Naruto's usually the quiet one. He keeps to himself. Only... that's actually the problem for the quiet ones.. when we have a little free time on our hands to help the little ones, we grant the troublemakers of their agegroup the attention and try to help them. They think the quiet ones don't need any attention or any help 'cos they're so quiet. Only that's the problem. They're quiet because they have problems."

"Wow..what an explanation." Kakashi said, smiling.

"Hehe." came Iruka's nervous laugh.

Kakashi looked at the boy who had now started playing with his fingers. Curling Kakashi's fingers and twirling them gently, the boy's legs swung a little more playfully. He seemed to be entertained. If only by the company of the two older men's voices. He didn't have to understand the conversation, only hear and know that they were there.

The child looked up, noticing that someone was watching him. His big, sapphire eyes stared straight back into Kakashi's as if he could see right through him. As though he could read what he was all about.

"Well, I guess it's time to go, then."

The boy's eyes suddenly filled with fear and he clung to Kakashi's arm even tighter than before. He hadn't understood a word of their conversation earlier, but he understood that sentance all too well.

"Oh crap. Did you have to say it that obviously, Iruka?" Kakashi mocked, laughing.

"Gomen." Iruka replied, flushing a red as he realised that it was, indeed, stupid of him to just anounce something like that.

"Come on, kid, you've gotta' go." Kakashi told him, lifting the child up and trying to hand him to Iruka. Naruto hung to the man's neck though, not prepared to let go. Iruka tried to pull him, but every time he did so, he had to make sure not to pull Kakashi along with him.

"Jeesh, kid, you're strong." Kakashi complimented him, but the blond's eyes didn't look amused at all. Sad and scared, actually.

What was it about Kakashi that made that the kid didn't want to let go?!

"Well, I see no other option than that you just bring him to the orphanage yourself."

"What?!" Kakashi replied.

"Well, clearly it's something about you that attracts the kid to you, so how 'bout you bring him back?"

"Are you kidding me now?!"

"Do you want me to rip him off of your neck?"

The child looked at Kakashi as if he had just asked the question instead of Iruka.

"Fine. I'll bring the kid to the orphanage. But you sure as heck aren't a nice rolemodel for them."

"Haha. Not my problem, Kakashi." Iruka replied, already way ahead of him.

"Tsk. You sure are a handfull." Kakashi mumbled, glaring at the little blond child. He just cocked his head to the side though, staring at him confused. And so, Kakashi set the boy on his shoulders and followed Iruka to the orphanage.

Children were running wild all over the orphanage. Yelling, screaming, crying, fighting, laughing, playing, talking, gossiping, etc etc. Everything humanly possible do to to make any type of noise or sound they did. Some were even singing!

Naruto pinched his eyes closed when they entered the extremely loud facility.

"Alright, thanks for bringing him here, Kakashi-san."

"Not a problem (not like I had a choice)."

Iruka did another attempt to pull Naruto away, but the child now held on to Kakashi's head.

"Great." Iruka moaned, rolling his eyes. "Naruto, let go right now!"

"Iie!" the child replied though, closing his eyes tight as he wrapped his arms around the man's head.

"Can't--breathe." Kakashi managed to say.

Iruka managed to move Naruto's arms from Kakashi's mouth and nose to his eyes and neck.

"Suffo—cating.." he complained this time.

Iruka sighed and now managed to bring Naruto's right arm back up again so it was now covering Kakashi's mouth.

"Can't complain." Iruka said for him this time.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Ha-ha, Iruka, very funny." sarcastically.

"Iruka-kun, did you manage to find the Kyuubi-kid yet?" they could suddenly hear a female voice call.

"I've found Naruto, yes." Iruka replied, clearly also not very fond of the title "Kyuubi-kid".

"Oh, hello Kakashi-san." the famale brunette to whom the voice belonged greeted him, slightly bowing.

Kakashi just smiled back and tried to hand Naruto to the female person, but apparently, Naruto wasn't fond of females either. You'd think he'd grow easier attached to a female though, seeing as children are ususally more attached to their mothers. But not this kid, no, he needed to pick the toughest person.

"QUIET!!" the room filled with an angry demand and suddenly all the screaming/... children stopped doing what they were doing and stared at the old man who approached the three adults and blond child.

"Hatake Kakashi, I take it?"

"Err.. Hai!" he replied, formally.

"This child seems very attached to you."

"Ehe-he-he." Kakashi laughed nervously. Who was this weird old man?

"Do you want him?"

"WHAT?"

"Would you like to adopt this child, Hatake Kakashi?"

"Excuse me??!"

"Would you like to sign some papers and take this child home with you?"

"Pardon?!"

The older man clearly started to get really irritated and the female person took over for Kakashi. "I'm sure Kakashi-san's just in shock, being asked a question like that so plainly."

"Well, it is a very plain question. Would you like to or not?"

"Uhh.. Isn't this a very extreme question to answer on a whim?" Kakashi asked.

"Not if you really want him."

"But what about the responsibilities and-"

"Listen, Hatake-san, we all know that this child cannot stay in the orphanage. He is to be raised the proper rules and structures of life. This is no ordinary child we're talking about."

Naruto, who was still sitting firmly in his place on Kakashi's shoulders, now released his left hand to stretch out to a butterfly that had entered the room via slightly open window.

All the other kids just stared at the older men as their conversation went on.

"And apparently, you know enough about seals and chakra-control to do so. So my question remains the same. Would you like to adopt this child or not?"

"Uhhh.."

"Bato-sama-" Iruka started, but he got cut off.

"Iruka, this matter does not concern you!!" he snapped at him.

"With all due respect, sir, but it does. I, for one, think we should inform Kakashi-san that if he'd leave Naruto here, he never would be granted the proper education he deserves." Iruka continued though.

(Aw, crap.) Kakashi thought. (Why did Iruka have to use such a guilt-pressure?)

"And, being the child of the Fourth Hokage, I don't think Kakashi-san would like the child's talent to just go to waste."

(Is he SMIRKING?!) Kakashi thought, aggrevated on the inside, but completely calm and uncaring on the outside. (But he IS right though... I really don't want sensei's kid to wind up like a kid who got locked up inside of an orphanage... He was supposed to be the hero of the village. He sealed the Kyuubi away, he saved the village from ruin. If not for sensei's son, the village would've been destroyed.)

"So, would you like to adopt this child, Hatake-san?" the older man asked him oncemore.

Kakashi sighed. (I must be crazy..) he thought, glancing up at the child on his shoulders, who returned his look with his big, innocent, azure eyes.

Later on..

"You know.. I have no idea why I adopted you." Kakashi told the innocent, sleeping boy on his shoulders. The child's hands were still under the man's chin, just making sure that he was still there, as his head leant on Kakashi's. "What is it about me that invited you in though? What on earth could be so cool about me that interested you? Is it my mask? Is that it? You know, if a mask is what you wanted, I could've just given Iruka one..." he grumbled. (Who am I kidding, though? I didn't adopt him 'cos I wanted to rid others of this burden. I adopted him 'cos I felt like it... No, that's cruel. I adopted him 'cos I wanted to. Yeah, that sounds nicer..)

He unlocked the door to his house and carried the child inside. "Well, we're gonna' have to get you a bed, but the couch's fine for now, I guess." he whispered, gently putting him down on the couch and pulling a blanket over him. "At least, until you wake up." he corrected himself.

Carrying him up the stairs would make too much noise. The stairs squeeked, which would probably wake him. And that's the last thing Kakashi wanted right now. "'Night, Naruto." he whispered, ruffling through the boy's blond locks. "We'll see if you're trouble in the morning." he chuckled.