"I'm sorry." He swept the blonde hair out of the tiny toddlers face. "I'm sorry for so many things, but I know I can never make it up to you. If I could, I'd give you the world, I hope you realize that some day."

The man pulled the covers up and turned, only to be stopped by a tiny hand catching his own.

"Who are you?" the bad speech problems didn't pass the elder man, and he knew he shouldn't tell the child anything to give himself away.

"Anyone you'd like me to be. I'm always around, but unable to stop anything, yet I protect you with my life everyday. Good night Naruto." The unknown man leaned down and brushed his lips across the child's forehead, disappearing in a cloud of mist.

As the child fell back into a deep slumber he recalled a voice, soft and lyrical. "I love you son, never give up.

Years later he'll remember the strange man, and everything that he had said, but he wouldn't understand it until he lost the precious person for good.