I hurt. Sitting up, I grabbed my side. Wincing, I looked around. "Tenzou." I whispered. The brunette looked up at me. Whimpering, he reached out towards me. He had bandages on his side. Looking up, I saw the amber eyes receding into the darkness. Tottering over to me, I helped Tenzou up on my bed. He whimpered, holding his side as I carefully situated him on the bed, my side screaming in pain. Adjusting him to my non-hurt side, he nuzzled into me, whimpering.

"Kashi?" He mumbled, hugging me as I whimpered, his hands grabbing my injured side. I was only six, my dad having died over a year ago. I had graduated from the Academy not too long ago, and then Orochimaru had kidnapped me, Tenzou, and a bunch of others. I didn't know what all he was doing, but Orochimaru always kept taking blood from us kids and injecting us with stuff. At times, he put us in these liquid water chambers as he injected stuff into us. I didn't know what he's doing, but I knew it hurt.

It hurt Tenzou too. He was only two, an orphan like me, although his parents died on a mission. He gravitated towards me from the first night I was there. Something about my hair,…he always liked it. Like right now, he had his fingers curled in it as he curled into me. "Hurt." He said, looking up at me.

"I know." I rubbed his back. "It'll get better. I'll get us out of here." I promised him. I didn't know how I would get us out of here, but I would figure out a way. I was going to be an ANBU, so I could not…I would not…die in here. As Tenzou held onto me, he started snoring quietly. Chuckling, I laid him in my bed, laying down beside him and holding him to keep his nightmares at bay.

Jerking awake, I noticed I was still in my cell, Hidan, presumably, on watch. Rubbing my eyes, I stood, stretching. I don't know why I had that dream again. I hadn't dreamt of my past in so long. That dream just brought up long buried feelings. Frowning, I stretched my stiff limbs, walking around. I hated Orochimaru for what he did to us kids. I was thankful that Lord Third saved us by driving Orochimaru out. While, I didn't technically get Tenzou out of there, I did raise him after we got out.

It took several years before Tenzou and I figured out what had happened…what Orochimaru had been doing to us. Lord Third helped. Seems Orochimaru had been injecting DNA from the first Hokage into about half of the subjects, and DNA from Mito Uzumaki into the other half. Of the sixty kids Orochimaru had been experimenting on, only Tenzou and I survived. When Lord Third had driven Orochimaru out, we had been left, presumably to die. Many of the other kids did…in fact, Tenzou and I were the only ones to be found alive. We had been on the table, getting our injections when Orochimaru left, so we were forgotten, strapped there. Tenzou had been injected with Lord First's DNA, and as such had many of his abilities, specifically the unfettered ability of the Wood Release as well as the ability to control the tailed beasts. He struggled with controlling the beast, never quite having mastered it…at least not with me.

I had been injected with Mito's DNA, which had allowed me to become a jinchurriki as well. I hated Orochimaru for putting that burden on me, as well as not being able to understand why he had did it, until we also figured out what was going on with Tenzou. At that point, we figured out that Orochimaru had some kind of nefarious plans involving Lord First's Wood Release and controlling the jinchurriki.

Once Naruto's name appeared on my wrist, and I found out the plans of Mina and Kushina, I actually was happy that Orochimaru had done what he did…otherwise; I could never have been a jinchurriki. Naruto would then have been cursed with Kurama in his belly.

And would that have been so bad? The fox was such a smart ass at times.

You know you could work with me and help me get out of here instead of just being a smartass. I noted.

Easier said than done. We are in a chakra prison right now, Idiot.

I sniffed indignantly. Sitting down, I tried to go back to sleep, as I judged from the tiny slat considered a window that it was the middle of the night. Tossing and turning on the pallet, I eventually fell back asleep.

"Kakashi…my name's Yamato now. Not Tenzou." He stood in front of me, a young man. He was ten, and I was fourteen…it was just days before Naruto's birth. "Lord Third said that he thinks Orochimaru was experimenting on us to make you a jinchurriki he could control so he could have the power of the beast…and use me to control you. But I don't want to control you…you're my brother, not my weapon." His brown eyes were still so big in his face.

I nodded at him. "Yamato, I'm not a jinchurriki. Therefore, you don't have to worry about that. Just because I was experimented on doesn't mean I'm a jinchurriki. Yes, you were a success, but it doesn't mean that I was. I just survived." I shrugged.

Yamato just looked at me. "I think you're more than a survivor, but you don't give yourself enough credit." Yamato noted quietly. Shrugging off the compliment, we went back to training.

()()()

"Why Bear?" I asked Yamato, looking at his mask. Yamato shrugged.

"Bears are big, strong, and can't be strapped down." Yamato said, his eyes sliding off to the distance. He still bore the scars of the kidnapping and experimentation. I don't know that they would ever truly go away. "It's like you with Wolf." He pointed out. I raised an eyebrow. Sometimes he was too smart for his own good. Grabbing my mask and slipping it on, we headed off on our first of many missions together.

()()()

He was…perfect. The most beautiful blue eyes, the most perfect shade of blonde hair, ten gorgeous fingers and ten tiny toes. I would do anything to protect him. Feeling the sting, I looked at my wrist. " O" was in such neat writing on my wrist. I knew it by the way I felt about him. I didn't need to look at my wrist. But I did. Confirmation, I guess? I dunno. Yamato stood by my side.

"The beast…it's loose!" I heard Minato's voice.

Springing into action, I grabbed Naruto, handing him to Yamato. "Protect him. At all costs." I ordered. Yamato nodded, flash stepping away with my soulmate.

The battle raged long into the night. Comrades fought bravely, and died. Finally, I saw Yamato, standing by Minato-sensei. Yamato had Naruto in his arms. "Yamato! Get him out of here!" I yelled, running towards the two men.

Minato turned, looking at me. "Kakashi! Go tend to the Villagers!" Looking up, I saw the huge fox in golden chains, howling, as Kushina sat, chains from her back glowing as it looked like they attached to the beast.

"What are you doing?" I screamed, running for the three.

"Kakashi! I command you to go protect the Leaf." Minato said sternly, voice angry.

"No! You're going to seal the beast inside of Naruto?" I asked, horrified, confident I was right.

"It's the only way. Because of his heritage, he will be able to be the container, just as his mother was." Minato said eyes sad as Yamato handed Naruto to Kushina. As she smoothed Naruto's hair, rage filled me.

"The villagers will regard him as a monster based on what has happened this night." I pleaded with Minato. "He will be hated and feared. Put the beast in me…I have Mito's DNA in me as well, thanks to Orochimaru. I can be a jinchurriki. Yamato can control me. I'm already hated and feared." I pleaded, warning Yamato with a look that he had better not speak. Wisely, he remained silent.

Minato looked at me. "We don't know that it will work…we don't know that the experiment was a success. We only have one shot at this." Minato said, kind eyes exhausted, filled with pain.

"It was, I know it…I can feel it." I begged. "Minato-sensei…he is my soulmate." Flinging out my wrist, I pulled my glove off, showing him the mark. "Please, let me do this for him. You know I am right…it's not the same as when Kushina became the container. The destruction that has been caused…the villagers won't be able to forgive that. Please."

Kushina looked at Minato. "Kakashi is strong willed, and he has the DNA in him…I…think we should. I…I am being selfish, I know, but I don't want to burden our son." Tears fell like crystals from her eyes. Turning to Minato, I threw myself at his feet.

"Please, Sensei...please, do this for me. Let me be the vessel."

As the fox glowed a deep crimson, Minato thought. Finally, he created the Reaper Death Seal. "I'm sorry, Kakashi." He said softly. Bowing my head, I failed again. As I felt the shameful tears fill my eyes, I prayed Naruto would forgive me for my failures. Suddenly I felt Minato grab me and put me on my back on an altar. "I'm sorry I'm too weak to do this to my son, and am instead choosing the easier path. Eight Signed Seal." Screaming, I passed out as everything went white.

Waking, I lay on the ground, Yamato sitting by me, my head in his lap. Mina and Kushina's corpses were crumpled nearby. Coughing, my stomach and chest screamed in pain. Looking up, Yamato's face was white. "D…did it work?" I asked my throat on fire. Nodding, Yamato grabbed my hand. Looking over, I saw Naruto asleep in a blanket beside Yamato. "I…is he okay?" I asked, my body ravaged by pain. Yamato nodded again. As I sat up, Yamato grabbed Naruto, laying him gently in my arms. As the blonde slept, I smiled, knowing I had made the right decision.

()()()

Waking again, I heard the laugh. Looking up between the bars, I saw Kakazu. His brown hair was loose, as his headgear was gone. He was still in his Akatsuki robe. The pupil less green eyes with the blood red conjunctiva stared at me. Smirking, he nodded at me. "Thanks for the information." He chuckled. I raised an eyebrow, confused. "I was wondering how you became a jinchurriki. Thanks for opening your memory banks for me. I needed some of that information to move forward." Chuckling, he left as I heard Hidan following him.

"C'mon, Kakazu…please let me sacrifice him?" Hidan whined as his voice became fainter.

Rubbing my eyes, I frowned. Sitting on the pallet, I cursed when something hit me on the head. Looking up, I saw a blue eye in the slat. Damnit, Naruto…you weren't supposed to come here.