She had to hand it to the Konoha shinobi. They weren't stupid. Unlike her own squadron, they left a few dozen shinobi behind when they went to the frontline. Smart, but she could have done without her 'bodyguards'.

The Obito kid was loud and annoying.

Kakashi was quiet, but so ridged, she was sure he had a stick up his ass.

Rin was nice, reminded her of a babysitter, but nice all the same.

She pinched her lips together. The three were arguing…again. It was her fault this time, but she couldn't help it. She really had to pee and Minato demanded she stay off her foot. If he'd been here, he would have taken her already, but these three were taking so long, she was on the verge of tears by the time Kakashi knelt with his back to her.

"Thank you!" She leapt at him, clutching his back and squeezing him tight.

He nodded, lifting her from the futon and tucking his hands under her. She locked her hands beneath his throat as he darted from the tent, through the camp, and into the trees. He was surprisingly warm for such a cold jerk.

Once her bladder was relieved, which had been more than a little awkward since he'd had to keep ahold of her while she went, he carried her back to camp at a slower pace while she fiddled with the cloth knotted at the back of his head. "Why are you always so quiet?" She tugged the knot on his headband to get his attention.

He shrugged. "Not much to say."

"You don't like me, do you?"

"You're a Jonin from Sunagakure. I'm not supposed to like you."

She hummed in her throat, throwing her arms over his shoulders and resting her chin on her left one. "Makes sense I guess. Konoha and Suna are enemies after all."

"Yet, Minato-sensei isn't treating you like one."

She shrugged. "I don't understand it either, but I'm not going to complain."

"Why?"

"Who would? I'm a prisoner, yet I'm not bound to a tree or treated like one."

Kakashi nodded. "Consider yourself lucky. If it'd been anyone other than Minato-sensei, you wouldn't have so much freedom."

"Trust me, I do." She plucked the leather strap on his shoulder, "Why don't you wear a vest like the other Chunin?"

"They don't make them in my size."

"Really? I was given a Jonin vest that was too big, but the snake woman at the clothing place tailored it so it'd fit. Does Konoha not have a clothing place?"

He glanced at her with a raised brow. "What are you talking about?"

"The place where civilians buy clothes," she huffed. How did he not know about the clothing place?

"You mean the clothing store?"

Store? "Is that what it's called?"

He stopped in his tracks. "You don't know what a store is?"

She chewed her lip, heat flooding her cheeks. "It's where you buy stuff?" she guessed, hiding her face in her arm.

"Hai, but why didn't you know it was a store?"

"Nobody told me."

His shoulders stiffened. "It's usually on the sign…"

"Oh…" She buried her face in his neck.

"You don't know how to read, do you?" he whispered, shock clear in his voice, "A vocabulary like that and you don't know how to read…"

She grimaced, digging her overheated face further into his neck. "Haha never taught me…" She gulped. This was not how she wanted this conversation to go.

"The Academy usually…you weren't there long enough to learn, were you?" He still sounded surprised and she couldn't blame him. She'd spent her childhood around adults and picked up on words and meanings of them from hearing them speak. There'd been no need for her to learn to read.

"We're going to change that," Kakashi declared, resuming his trek toward the tent she was sharing with him, Rin, Obito, and Minato, "Starting now, we're going to teach you to read. It'll be too dangerous for you if you don't learn."

"So, you do like me a little," she chuckled, poking his shoulder.

"I didn't say that."

"Sure, you didn't."

Minato ran a hand over his face. What on earth were they doing with her?

His students and imouto sat around the campfire with papers strewn all over the place. Taishi was biting her tongue, staring at the paper in her hand while Obito looked on the verge of exploding and Rin looked sympathetic. Kakashi was calm though and was explaining the writing on the paper to Taishi who appeared to be getting frustrated.

"I don't see the difference," Taishi growled, balling the paper up and pitching it into the flames, "How can the same symbol have two different meanings!?"

Kakashi sighed, grabbing another piece of paper and writing something on it. "There is a difference in the stroke. See? This line is straighter than that one."

"I don't see it," she scowled at Kakashi, "They look the same."

Minato scratched his head. "Are you teaching her how to read?"

"Trying to," Rin sighed, "She's not getting it though."

How did she… "How do you not know how to read?" He couldn't believe it. She'd spent the last week using words that a six-year-old shouldn't even know, yet didn't know how to read? How was such a thing possible?

"Her okaasan never taught her and she wasn't at the Academy long enough to learn," Kakashi murmured when Taishi didn't answer.

She plucked at her pant leg, face as red as her hair.

He frowned. "You don't know how to write either."

Taishi shook her head, lip firmly clenched between her teeth.

"Why didn't your okaasan teach you?"

She scratched her arm and looked away from him. "She doesn't like me." Her voice was so quiet, he almost missed what she'd said and when he did catch it, he saw red.

How could anyone hate their own child!?

He inhaled, forcing himself to calm down. It wouldn't do any good to get mad over something he couldn't fix, but damn it, he was going to teach his imouto to read. Standing, he circled the campfire and sat on her left side, grabbing a piece of paper and taking the pen from Kakashi. "Did they show you the alphabet?"

"The what?" Taishi tilted her head at him.

"We started with words." Kakashi murmured, a blush staining his cheeks.

"That's alright, but let's back track a little," Minato smiled, jotting down the alphabet for her, "We'll start with recognizing the letters then move to words and pronunciation, okay?"

"Okay."

A/N: Since the next two chapters are short, I decided to upload them at the same time as this one. On other note, I should add this story bounces a bit, but not horribly so. I tried to keep it in line with the original story line as well. Thank you to my reviewers and followers! I appreciate it!