*Peeks out from a corner* Hello everyone! :D

I know, I have NO EXCUSE for the terrible delay and neglect I left this fiction in... it reeeeaaaally wasn't my intention ^^; But look on the bright side, at least it hasn't been a year!

I hope someone will still be interested in this... :P
I'll leave you to the chapter after this last advice: if you haven't already, I think you'd better go back and re-read at least from the 9th chapter on 'cause I made some changes.
Oh! And please forgive the poor drunken-speech pattern present here.

I won't make any more promises for the next chapter, I feel bad at letting you all down... ^^;

Enjoy!

Ja ne,
Temari 88

How can I be lost, when I've got nowhere to go?
Search for seas of gold,
how come it's got so cold?
How can I be lost? In remembrance I relive.
How can I blame you,
when it's me I can't forgive?

- The Unforgiven III
by Metallica -

"I feel useless, sometimes..."

"Why?"

"When you're down, I can't seem to do anything worthwhile to help you... I'm your sister! I should be able to do that...!"

"You don't give yourself enough credit, you do help me."

"... That might be, but I don't understand you nearly as much as I'd like, so I can't really get you."

"..."

"I envy that kid, you know...?"

"You do?"

"Yeah, he can reach you however deep you hide in yourself. When no one can get you to respond, he can... effortlessly."

(CHAPTER 12)

"… So, Umino-jiji, was there a reason why you called or were you just eager to hear me~~?" Kakashi was lazily slouched in his chair, his feet propped on the desk in front of him and holding his cell phone with one hand as the other was bended back over the backrest. He had been bored all morning, there at the police station, doing nothing but fill out reports that had piled up because he was too lazy to write them and his partner and his kouhai were far too rule-oriented – not to mention full blown bastards when it came to cover for him – to do him the favor of filling them in his stead; thankfully Kakashi's phone had started ringing right after lunch break, so the evil reports were put on hold for the time being—riling Iruka up was a most welcome past time, especially when the other started sputtering in outrage… like now.

["—Am I clear? I would appreciate if you refrained from saying such things! It's bad enough I have to associate with someone so annoying, I would never call for such stupid reasons!"] ah, yes, Kakashi could just about picture the man's face contorted in anger and embarrassment but he stopped himself from laughing aloud. ["Hatake-san, I'm talking to you! Are you even listening?"] enter twitching brow on the social assistant list of irritation giving-away ticks.

"Aye, cap'n, I'm hearing you!" he added a salute-like motion, even though he knew the other could not see him, and chuckled when Iruka let loose a curse followed by his name and the accusation that he was having way too much fun with the conversation and to stop imitating pirate-talk because he sounded idiotic. "Arr, but I already have a patch on my eye – I might as well practise in case I have to impersonate a sailor for work…! Oh, and I could buy a fake parrot too!" a long silence was all Kakashi heard for a while then a wary sigh came to him via receiver.

["... Anyway…"] Iruka sounded beaten – he probably had given up on arguing with Kakashi. ["What I called for was to know if you've come up with an idea about what to do for the boys next semester of school… you know we can't let them continue in two different institutes: they're too far from each other and it'd be too complicated to drive them both."]

Kakashi went quiet for a couple of minutes, thinking. "If I'm not mistaken," he said "Gaara-kun attends to Konoha's private institute, Ouran, isn't it?" he heard sounds of rustling from the other side and could picture Iruka looking through the papers of the child's dossier, then a grunt of assent reached the cop's ears. "Well, that's near my apartment… Naruto's school is a public one: Kawarima… and I believe it's near your house, Iruka-san. Given the fact the boys live with you, I guess it would be a better option to transfer Gaara to Naruto's school, if that's possible… besides," went on the man, after a brief pause. "while the kid might have founds left by some relative, Gaara is your charge and if you intend on making it official through papers and all that, you'll have to take care of his school bills."

Iruka didn't say anything from the other side of the line, obviously thinking over his possibilities. ["... That was actually what I thought as well, having Gaara-kun changing school, that is."] he said eventually; the man sighed. ["And you're right, Ouran is a very expensive institute…"] another sigh as Iruka tried to count mentally just how much a year of tuition at that private school would have cost him and found his face paling at the thought of the sum he got – a year at Ouran equalled to three years worth of his wager! And that was only with a very rough count, because he didn't know exactly how much the institute charged for its instruction – and couldn't help but swallow through a dry throat. ["I really can't afford the price… I'll have to convince Gaara-kun into changing school…"]

"Yeah, you do that, Iruka-jiji. Don't forget to mention he'll probably end up in Naruto's class, though." said Kakashi, teasing the other but getting ignored, as Iruka was still trying to recompose himself from the shock of the monstrous amount of money people could make others pay just for elementary tuition. At one point, the brown-haired man shook himself out of his reverie, registering what the officer had said about Naruto.

["Why would I need to point that out?"] he asked, curious.

"Because I feel that'll help convince your charge to go with your idea – he does seem rather fond of my nephew." replied Kakshi with a small smirk.

["… If you say so… well, I need to get back to work. Goodbye."]

"Psh, 'get back to work' my ass: you're not even at your office." scoffed Kakashi, not wanting to separate himself from his lovely social assistant—no, okay, he was just desperate to get the conversation going: the longest the phone call, the less time to 'do his job' (not that he had done much besides sitting at his desk reading Icha Icha…)! "It's not like there's people breathing down your neck if you slack off." he waved a hand dismissively for emphasis even though the other could not see him.

A snort was his answer. ["I don't slack off. If anything, that's your speciality, isn't it ero-cop...?"] Payback felt nice, decided Iruka when silence answered him from the other side of the phone and, without waiting for Kakashi to gather his wits back together, he cut off the conversation pressing the red button on his house phone—he told the truth after all: he wasn't a slacker and he still had some work left to do.

Kakashi, on the other hand, sighed and silently cursed Naruto for that stupid nickname he always used... he had to go and give Iruka some ammo to shot back when he teased. Reluctantly he snatched a piece of paper to proceed and do some of his own work while he waited for Sarutobi-san to call him to his office for THE talk—he dreaded it... Kakashi would very much have preferred to write out a report, but he knew the old man wanted to hear what his nephew had said from his mouth and he really wasn't looking forward to it. Recalling the boy's facial and bodily reactions to the memories still made the man uneasy just thinking about it. Naruto was basically a carbon copy of his sensei, thing that sometimes made it difficult to rest his eyes on him and not remember how hollow, shunken and dead Minato had looked when he had arrived at the Namikaze house... at the same time, Kakashi's oi had his mother's exhuberant character and every time Naruto jumped at him when he went to visit, the bloody image of a lifeless Kushina was hard to keep locked away. Another question that worried Kakashi was what to do when all the tests on the bodies will be completed and the funeral could finally be performed... what then? Will Naruto have the strength to separete definitely from his parents and sister?... Will Kakashi himself?

The cop sighed, giving up on writing the report, reclined on his chair and picked up his smut novel to cover his eyes; the depressing thoughts had smashed down his mood and now he only wished to go home and sleep off the rest of the day, but he knew he couldn't so he let his mind wander.

[Flashback]

Kakashi had been cursing all the way from the gym to his sensei's house: the weekly session of training with Gai always left him exhausted and drained of most of his energy, so much so that he was pratically dragging his weary body along the pavement, rather than simply walking. He had been beyond glad when the other teenager had told him a week prior that he had all the intention of becoming a teacher (a P.E. teacher, of course), or open a dojo, as soon as they graduated from high school, because Kakashi really wasn't looking forward to have daily training with the bushy-eyebrowed young man if he could help it; not to mention he would have risked having Gai as a partner and that was the last thing he wanted.

With one last shudder, Kakashi let a small smile stretch his mouth as Minato sensei's home came into view right before his eyes. The blond man had called him earlier in the morning, voice excited like that of a ten year-old (and Kakashi had no difficulty imaging his role model bouncing on his feet, undoubltely giddy for some reason) as he demanded that his favorite student came over as soon as school and his usual hour of training was over, because he had great news to share. He had rolled his eyes at the antics but had agreed immediately - it was Minato-sensei after all, he wouldn't deny the man anything if he could. Lost in thought as he was, Kakashi didn't notice he had reached his former home (although he still considered it as such) and that he had been standing in front of the door for a good minute... with a light, self-indulgent, chuckle and a shake of his head, the late teenager finally knocked before taking a couple of steps back, placing some space between himself and the wooden door to prevent his face from having an impromptu meeting with it - event that seemed to happen far too often when Kushina-san answered the door.

He could hear a ruckus coming from inside the house and his brows drew together minutely, wondering what might have caused Kushina-san to yell at her husband so fiercely, but his thoughts were cut short as the door was finally opened. "Kakashi! Good, you here..." was Minato's blurted greeting, the man had a sweat drop running down his temple as he shot a look behind his back; the young man was about to question the shouting when he caught sight of Kushina-san stomping quickly towards her dearest - Kakashi would swear her hair was floating around her head in a dark-red aura of anger - who was sweating even more, not able to move. "Ku-Kushina-chan... please calm—"

"Don't say a word!" interrupted the angry woman. "How could you do that! You knew how important it was... but you couldn't resist, could you?" her voice had taken on a sultry tone that was far from calming the two men (by now Kakashi was sweating too even if he hadn't done anything at all) in front of her; she stopped some feet away from her husband and threw the object she was holding in her right hand - a videotape - with lightning speed and it was only thanks to sheer instinct and his own speed that Minato was capable to avoid the projectile aimed at his forehead... however, as soon as his brain caught up with his body, the man realized Kakashi had been standing right behind hi—SBAM!

"Ouch... that hurt for sure..." Minato winched sympathetically at the prone body of his favorite apprentice, twitching away as a bright red vertical line marking the spot where edge of the videotape connected to his face began to form immediately - and immediately started to swell, proving the force behind the throw. Uzumaki Kushina was a dangerous woman. And Kakashi swore to himself, while still out cold at the Namikaze household's doorstep, that he would work to exhaustion on his reflexes from that moment onward. "Kakashi?... Kakashi?" he could hear distantly his sensei's voice calling him but he couldn't bring himself to respond in any other way that didn't involve moaning helplessly or twitching involuntarily... the young officer in training could also feel poking at his forehead - which was what caused him to twitch in the first place - and wanted to punch whoever of the other two responsible for it, but the chances that the poker could be Kushina-san was enough of a threat to decide against waking and yelling. "Aww, Kushina, you killed my student! What can I do without him no—Kushina-chan! Stop that!"

Yep, Kakashi would definitely stay where he was. No waking up and yelling at Kushina Uzumaki—only those having a death wish would do that, and he thought today had gone close to it enough to last him a life time.

"Yeah, yeah..." the woman's voice sounded awfully uncaring of Kakashi's health, even though the teen was just as important a figure for her as he was for her husband: alas, the wrath of a woman when someone - even her dearest - dared to delete her favorite TV show could turn the most gentle lady into a Fury (let's not stop to point out that if Kushina ever heard someone referring to her as 'lady' she would smash said person through a wall, as she took such a thing as the deepest insult one could throw her way). "Ah, Hatake... I'm very disappointed in you, I thought you were better than this." Kushina spoke, not minding the exasperated look Minato was giving her, switching her (rather painful) poking from the young man's forehead to his ribs and adding a little more force as she went on with her one-sided speech. "I thought I could trust you with the 'secret' we were about to let you on, but I guess I put too much faith in you if you're dead because of this pitiful blow..." she ended with a deep sigh and a shake of her head.

Across from the woman, Minato Namizake was staring at his wife astonished. "You call that a pitiful blow?" he asked, stabbing the poor teenager dead on the swelling would and causing a string of mumbled curses to fly out of said youngster's mouth. "A normal person would be in a coma for a week!"

Kushina, standing up and turning to head back inside, waved a hand at him, dismissing his words. "He'll live... and if he doesn't wake up in ten minutes, it means he really was nothing special, after all." she paused a moment to pick up the discarded videotape, then, "Come on, bring him in. We do have something important to tell him, have we?" even though Minato couldn't see it, he knew Kushina had a smile on her lips as she said that... she was as eager as him to see Kakashi's reaction to their news.

-x-

No later than those ten minutes, Hatake Kakashi had regained consciousness and was now holding a packet of ice to his abused forehead, keeping a wary eye on Kushina in case she went berserk again and decided that throwing chairs was much better than throwing simple video tapes. His sensei entered the living room in that moment, bringing a glass of cold tea to the young man sitting on the couch. "Suman, Kakashi, I should have taken that..." said Minato gesturing to the lump with a sweat drop, "I moved without thinking."

Kakashi shoved the apology to the side with a wave. "It's those reflexes that've saved you before..." he said, "and I've been training with Gai, as you know, and as much as it pains me to admit it... it was useful." he finished with a faint grimace that made the other man chuckle.

"Yes, I hear he's somewhat of a fan of training and that he's very skilled." supplied Minato, who had heard wonders from one of his colleagues about Maito Gai, the 'Green Beast' of Kawarima (Konoha's public high school) due to his post as captain of the taijutsu club. The kid had wiped out almost every opponent during the interscholastic championships since he started attending the school. "Not a lot of people would willingly go up against him, so for you to train with him, it means you recognize his abilities."

Kakashi stayed silent for a moment then, "You actually think I do that willingly...?" he sighed as if defeated. "I thought you knew me better, sensei... Gai forces me to spar."

"Oh come on, Kakashi, you know as well as I do you wouldn't do it if you didn't appreciate the exercise."

"...Sensei, he sticks that awful spandex suit in front of my face every time, trying to get me to wear it: I have to beat him for that. It's morality imposing me to do it for the sake of mankind!" Minato nodded, fully understanding the heavy burden placed on his student's shoulders, before laughing out loud unable to stay serious anymore. "It's at time like these" continued Kakashi, "that I can't help but curse Obito for ditching me. I mean, I understand that his father insists on him attending the family's dojo, but once in a while he could flip him off..."

"That's not everyday you sulk like this, Kakashi." replied the blond man with a smile before adding, "But what would Obito think, hearing you say you miss him as a sparring partner...?" the smile turned into a sly grin at the other's horrified expression.

"You woulnd't!"

"Oh, I dunno about that..." was the vague response.

"SENSEI!"

"I see you two are having fun, 'ttebane." interrupted Kushina coming into the room with a tray of freshly made sandwiches, she set it on the low coffee table and sat beside Kakashi, patting the young man on the leg closest to her. "So, Hatake-kun," begun the red-haired woman, a thin sardonic vein in her voice, "there's a reason you're here... beside the obvious pleasure to see you, of course... we wanted you to be the first to know." The mood turned serious and Kakashi could feel the faint tingle in the pit of his stomach indicating apprehension - silence reigned for some time and the teenager was starting to feel the suspense getting at him, he wanted to say 'What is it? Whatisit?', but kept quiet until, finally, the blond Namikaze spoke up.

"Yes, you see... we wanted to tell you first..." he paused and let a bright, blinding smile blossom on his lips, "we're going to have a baby!"

He was shocked. His eyes shifted between light blue and pale grey, both pairs were sparkling with a happiness so great and pure Kakashi couldn't resist, he let a big smile on his lips too. "That's great, Sensei, Kushina-nee-san! Congratulations!"

[End Flashback]

He still remembered how happy they had been that day, all three of them, holding a private party to celebrate the news. Kakashi opened his eye and took away the volume of Icha Icha, closing it and tossing it on the desk—a pang of melancholy and sadness accompanying the memory and tainting it with a bitter tang in the back of his throat. He sighed, wishing nothing but to leave the police station and throw himself n his bed, possibly sleeping off the entire rest of the day... instead, Itachi suddenly appeared beside him, after having exited the boss' office, and informed him Sarutobi was waiting for him; the grey-haired man thanked him with a nod and, sighing again, he walked toward a very unpleasant meeting.

"Iruka-san...?" the voice snapped him from his concentration. He turned his head to rest his eyes on Gaara, who had quietly entered the living room where he was doing the work that had plied up during the festivities, smiled and beckoned the boy to come closer - a little break was what he needed.

"Yes, Gaara-kun? Did you need something?"

"Not really... I just wanted to ask a question..." Gaara seemed a little reluctant in saying what it was that he wanted to say... his normally blank expression was distorted by a frown that deepened as seconds went by... "Arguing with himself over the question?" thought Iruka, slightly amused and not understanding how close he had gone to the truth. "Don't worry, Gaara-kun, you can ask me anything you want." prompted him with a smile that froze when the red-haired opened his mouth.

"Why no one came to ask me about Oji-sama?" silence reigned. The social assistant was shocked, that was possibly the last question he had been expecting and to hear those words come from a seven year-old didn't help him any... now that he thought about it, it was strange that nobody from the police had came over yet to question Gaara, after all an officer had already called him to know if he was acquainted or if he had ever met Iseki-san - and they had also requested for a copy of Gaara's file with all the info on the boy's family situation... but no one had come to listen to the boy's version of what happened. The options were two, as far as Iruka could guess: either they already had a clear picture of the circumstances which lead to Yashamaru's death, or they didn't think the child would be of help and thought it best to spare him from reviving what surely was a traumatizing memory.

"... I don't really know, Gaara-kun." he answered to child with a small shrug, "Maybe they don't think it necessary to stress you with a retelling of what happened..."

"But..." Gaara seemed to be having some difficulty expressing his feelings, "I was there...! They should ask me what happened!"

"From what they told me, they already classified your uncle's death as suicide... or are you telling me it wasn't?" Iruka added that last part in afterthought, an eyebrow slightly raised.

Gaara seemed to froze for a second, then shook his head. "He can't get off so easily!" he said, raising his voice uncharacteristically and surprising the social assistant. "He beat me! He tried to kill me at least twice and last time he almost succeeded! I'd be dead instead of him if I hadn't run away...!" he finished, winded from the unusual spasming of his diaphragm at yelling in that way. The boy was pale and he had started to sway a little, like all his energy had been drained from his body; Iruka was starting to get worried.

"Gaara... I think it's better if you go lay down for a while, you don't look good..." he told the seven year-old, before gently stirring him towards his room. Gaara didn't oppose, letting himself being led by the man and laying on his bed; he turned to the side, giving his back to the man and Iruka took it as a sign that he wanted to stay alone and left, closing the door quietly.

The social assistant sighed briefly, silently thanking the Gods that Naruto was at Sasuke's for the time being, otherwise the blond kid would have made a scene at seeing his red-haired friend so distressed.

-x-

"What was all that 'bout, kiddo...?" came Shukaku's voice after more than five minutes of complete silence. The demon was a little concerned for his host (not that he would admit it out loud), the child had been restless all morning, the wheels of his mind continuously revolving in never-ending cycles until everything he could think about was the death of his bastard uncle; it hand't been until Gaara decided to bring up the topic with the ningen that Shukaku had begun to sense something was somewhat wrong with his lifelong 'partner'. "Ya almost told the human what I did... it could've ended bad, yanno." he felt the need to point it out, even though he could sense the other was barely listening to him. "Not that he would've believed ya..." he added to himself.

"..." Gaara didn't make a movement to indicate he had heard the demon speak, nor did he move from his fetal position on the bed, eyes tightly closed and brows drawn together as he fought to calm his shallow breathing.

It was going to be a loooong afternoon if Gaara kept acting that way - not that he did it on purpose, but when he retreated into himself like that, it was very difficult to take him back out... it will take Shukaku at least the rest of the day to coax the boy back into a conscious state of mind—it's in times such as these that the sand spirit was glad for Naruto's presence: the blond seemed able to reach Gaara no matter how deep or how far he withdrawn, he had always had that ability.

He wished the annoying kid was here.

A low whimper left the red-haired's lips unknowingly.

Shukaku sighed, hoping Naruto would be back soon.

It was well past six in the evening, when Kakashi Hatake finally left the police station - he was completely drained of any energy, so much so he wanted badly to just call for a cab and have it take him home because even the thought alone of driving himself made his feet, his hands, his whole body feel like lead. The meeting with Sarutobi had been, just as predicted, uncomfortable and depressing for it made reappear in the forefront of his mind a series of unpleasant images that continued to merge with old memories... all in all, Kakashi didn't really know how he managed to force his voice out through the acid taste rising in his throat while informing the chief of Naruto's witnessing. Not even the feel of the smooth surface of a red-covered novel in his left hand had the power to lift his mood from where it was, under his shoes.

He was glad he didn't have to go at the Umino household, that night... he didn't think he would stand seeing his nephew after today. His heart clenched at the thought, yet he couldn't bring himself to change his destination: a bottle of strong sakè definitely sounded good and a dreamless sleep even better.

He was about to open the door of his car to get inside when a foot clad in an elegant pair of shoes landed on it, preventing him from doing so; a quick glance at the owner of said foot told Kakashi that Uchiha Itachi had some business with him. He tried to galre the other man away, but through experience the grey-haired man knew it was useless—as if he had heard him, Itachi pulled a glare of his own (one of those where more than actually glaring he stared you down until you naturally cowered) daring him to forcefully remove him from his car. When nothing but a silent staring match came out of the confrontation, the Uchiha inwardly rolled his black eyes and finally spoke. "You are coming home with me."

"No I'm not." hissed Kakashi, weakly pulling at the blocked door.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not."

"You are coming with me."

"No."

That situation was becoming ridiculous in Itachi's opinion... the Hatake was well known for joking around, and on a every-day basis he didn't mind that attitude for it helped ease a little of the constant tension lurking inside the police station, but the childish act - while possibly unconscious - was getting on his nerves. He was about to tell the other man that, when he realized something... "Naruto-kun won't be there... I already asked Umino-san to come pick him up; Sasuke will sleep over there." he paused to let his words sink in, then, "Now, you are coming with me." and with that, he grabbed Kakashi's coat and literally dragged him to his car, tossing him into the passenger seat and started the car heading for his house.

-x-

"—Y'knoww... 'm fucking tired of alwaysh looshing people... Itashi-hic! Ya underrrshand, righ'...?" Kakashi slurred, waving a brown glass bottle of sakè - the man had long ago forgotten the small porcelain cup and had started chugging the liquor directly from the source, Itachi let him do what he wanted and merely listened to his friend speak on, let him spill everything that had plied up since they had taken up Namizake's case. As much as the other tried to conceal it, the dark-haired Uchiha knew him well enough to catch the signs and the way Kakashi had looked that morning had worried him more than a little (not that anyone could tell, anyways) because he knew it had most likely to do with the 'talk' he had with Naruto-kun... it must have been as difficult for the Hatake to sit through the tale as it was for the kid to tell it...

He didn't blame nor judge the man for wanting to drawn everything with alcohol, but was better if someone kept an eye on him as well.

"... Firsht my mum, then Obito, then me fatherrr... now senshei and hish family..." continued Kakashi after a nod from Itachi, "We're too fucking young to looshe all them..."

Itachi couldn't agree more. Both had lost a lot of precious people, although the circumstances were somewhat different: Kakashi lost his mother due to illness, while Obito (who had been Itachi's own cousin and one of the few he had ever respected) and his father had died in mission, and Namikaze-san together with his wife and daughter had fallen victim of a senseless revenge - the raven-haired Uchiha hated to hear when a crime was committed in name of revenge: it was the lowest feeling in a human being, a mix of jealousy and anger and malice stirred into one ugly idea of vengeance.

His case was similar yet not... the Uchiha Clan (because it was once one of the largest and most influent families in Konoha) had been literally eradicated during a fierce, violent inter-clan war where members of the same family had tried to overpower each other, going as far as to physically remove any obstacles from the way and it didn't matter if they were fathers, cousins, godparents, not even children were spared if they were present. The only thing that had saved both Itachi and his otouto had been their mother, she had send the two away when the chaos had gotten worse and it was a fortune, thought Itachi, that Sasuke had been too small to really remember that time.

Without them realizing, time had passed by quickly and Kakashi was well on his way towards dream land, slouched on the sofa sideways with the sakè bottle on the floor, spilling the few drops still inside. Itachi shook his head minutely, ponytail brushing his neck as he did so, and went to retrieve a blanket for the other. He hoped the dreamless sleep he wanted was worth the hangover he will have in the morning... somehow he believed he would have to go through another evening like this again some time soon: the permission for the funeral shouldn't be long in coming by now...