Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Tag, you're it!

By Amaryllis Namikaze

Chapter 25

It was a simple scene that made Kakashi thoughtful for the rest of the week.

He was walking back home after giving his report about the last mission his team completed (Kori insisted that he shouldn't give up such a good position and good ANBU team just because of her), when he heard something. Of course the street was crowded with people, so, there was no surprise in listening to things, but a person falling down certainly attracts attention.

It was a small girl, maybe three or four years old. She had a really dark hair curling until her shoulders and greenish-blue eyes. This small girl held no similarities to his daughter - except, perhaps and to a certain extent, the blue eyes. Yet, Kakashi paused his walk when said girl tripped a rock and fell. She looked around with big eyes for a few seconds and when her mother noticed her fall, she started to cry loudly and annoyingly.

Kakashi observed as the mother soothed her child and started to carry her – probably – back home. He was surprised by the scene, even if it was so simple. The reason was just because he never had noticed such a tiny detail in such a common occurrence. He had seen lots of children falling and being rescued by someone, but had never noticed how the small girl – and every child in the world, in fact – would fall and look around. The children weren't confused for falling, as some may point, they were analyzing – was there an adult around? Would it be worth to cry? Was there anyone to see their tears?

Of course they didn't think this exactly, but the children wanted attention and if there wasn't anyone to pay attention to their cry, it wasn't worth shedding tears.

Kakashi could understand their thinking – more or less, in a weird way – but it made him thoughtful for the rest of the week, even if he had perfectly understood the scene.

The doubt that annoyed him, however, was: Kori wasn't like this.

She didn't cry for just falling down. Kakashi could remember earlier days when she was playing in the park and would trip over rocks or sticks. Her hands would be dirtied and, sometimes, bloodied, but she never cried. Kori would come to him and show it, then Kakashi would take care of it. But she never cried for petty things like this.

But, Kakashi thought as he observed the sleeping frame of his daughter in the room across the corridor, she never cried about the Orochimaru incident, at least, not after the night I found her. And it has already been one month since that.

Why didn't she cry? Kakashi was sure she was scared, traumatized - yet, there were so few things he could do if she just continued to bottle her emotions.

She was faking most of her smiles, she was hiding most of her emotions, she was avoiding strangers and most people in general. In fact, she was a shadow of the child he met in the hospital so many years ago.

She trusted him now, which was different from before. She trusted her aunts and uncles, the Sandaime, and even Hinata and Itachi to a certain point. But she avoided the rest of the villagers and fellow classmates like plagues, talked even less in public and became even shyer with strangers.

She was the same Kori, while she wasn't.

Class had finished and Kori was happy to be outside. She was determined to protect her loved ones, but school was so boring. The first-years don't learn any Ninjutsu or Taijutsu stances; it was theory and stamina regimen.

She would sit and listen to Iruka-sensei's lectures. Growing up with a full-fledged ninja had its perks, since she knew most of the first-year curriculum, even though she started school later than the others. Kori was aware of the ninja ranks, kages and its countries, as well as important ninja of the Konoha history. These facts were something that she had never forgotten when she was in Orochimaru's hideout, because, differently from her ninja training-skills, these were things already tangled to her brain. She never forgot.

The stamina training was another thing. Accordingly to her Daddy, the Uzumaki clan was known for their seals and stamina – and even the Hatake weren't so far behind. However, after Kori went to a check-up in the hospital, something was different.

Kori knew that she had three types of chakra with different benefits and disadvantages. The problem was: Kori thought that each benefit would somehow cover another disadvantage. A check-up with a medic-nin showed it wasn't like this.

While she gained a great chaka control from her Hatake blood, her stamina somehow failed. She had lots of chakra and – thankfully – a great control, yet, her physical condition was diminished. When she was younger and trained with her Daddy, it was a light training – at the Academy, on the other hand, they demanded the best from their students. And Kori couldn't give her best, because her stamina was failing her. The only solution was training. She would need to train more than the others to achieve a great stamina, because fights – and even certain Jutsus – drained her.

Kori was very upset. Kakashi was very worried.

His daughter didn't know, but his suspicions about her yellow chakra were confirmed: either it would be easy, either it would be extremely difficult. Kakashi could still remember his sensei training to inhuman stamina to achieve his space-time speed. It'd take a lot of time, training and patience from Kori if she wanted to be a good ninja as well as be successful in achieving the Hiraishin.

All in all, Kori hated this part of the school. And Fridays were exclusively dedicated to stamina training. Unlike kids her age, Kori loathed Fridays. So, it was just her lucky that her Daddy decided to tell the secret of her life on a Friday.

Kori arrived home feeling like trash. Her Dad was a busy ANBU, so, sometimes it was difficult for him to pick her up at school, but she didn't mind (much).

"I'm home," she called to the silence, not sure if her Dad had come back from the meeting with his team.

"Hello, sweetie," Kakashi smiled, appearing in the hall.

"Hi, Daddy," Kori waved in hello, depositing her bag next to her shoes. She smiled up at her Dad, but he wasn't grinning anymore. His rarely un-masked face was concentrated and cautious. "Is there a problem?"

He sat in one of the kitchen chairs and she followed him, kneeling in her usual chair to stay in eye-level with him. Kakashi sighed.

"I don't really know how to say this."

"Start at the start," Kori smiled softly, but it didn't reach her worried eyes. Did her Dad finally realize how much of a monster she had become? Would he give her up? She forced the tears down.

Kakashi briefly told her about the child he had seen last week, but it didn't ring any bells. Kori just stared at him, confused.

"What I mean to ask, sweetie, isn't anything in special, really. I'm just…" He hesitated, careful. "Well, I'm confused as to why you're not crying over…" Kakashi stopped and looked at her.

Kori froze. She knew of what he was talking about, of course. I'm confused as to why you aren't crying over Orochimaru's incident. She herself didn't know exactly. Kori had spent two miserable with the snake and his apprentice, but couldn't force herself to cry. She was traumatized, sure. She was afraid of most people, sure. But she was so worried. How could she cry over this incident when she was worried about how much her Daddy would despise her after realizing her monstrosity? How could she cry over this incident when she was worried about being too weak to protect her loved ones?

She looked at her tiny hands, clenching them. Kori was so small. Her stamina, as discovered, wasn't a big thing. She had lots of chakra and great control, but what of it if she didn't know anything useful? Her growth, the medic-nin told her, was stunted by her triple chakra. She was so tiny. She was so weak.

"Kori?" Kakashi called her in a worried voice.

She looked up from her frail hands, "Yes?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

She averted his gaze. Kori wished her Daddy hadn't asked that – physically, Kori was perfectly fine. But she didn't feel fine. On the contrary, Kori was feeling horrible.

Hiding her trembling fists under the table, she let her now silvery bangs shadow her watery eyes. She sighed deeply, trying to ask the question Kori had been dying to know the answer.

"Why do you love me?"

It was such a simple question. There should be a simple answer. Yet, there were a lot of complicated factors between it.

Kakashi was caught by surprise, "You're my daughter."

"No!" Kakashi's eye widened at her shout. "I'm adopted remember? I was two when you adopted me. Why did you do that? Why did… why do you care for me? Why do you love me? I'm… I'm a monster!"

Kori started to sob. Sobs turned into tears. Tears turned into screams. Kori puts her hands over her eyes, trying to force the tears back – she wasn't supposed to cry! She wasn't supposed to say these things! Her Daddy would give her up for sure now.

To her surprise, Kori felt herself being sat over legs. She sobbed, briefly noticing her new chair: Daddy's lap. Kori clutched his shirt, watering with salty tears the Jounin uniform.

"Shh," she vaguely heard. "Shh, angel."

Kori sniffed, "Can't you see what I am?"

Kakashi kissed the top of her head.

"I think that it's you the one who can't see clearly."

Kori shook her head, silver and blond hair flying around, "I'm certain of what I am." She sobbed one more time. "When you adopted me, I was silent, because I didn't trust you – yet, you took care of me. People always told me I was a monster and I never understood why – still don't. But you still kissed me goodnight, hugged me when I felt lonely. Slowly, you made me understand that I wasn't a demon as the others said. I used to be always confused, because – though people told me I was a monster – you didn't make me feel like one."

She looked up at his only visible eye.

"But after O-Orochimaru kidnapped me, I gave up hope. After being his p-pet for such a long time, I understood that I really was a monster. Being so, why you still care for me? I don't deserve you – or your love, your care, your worry. Why?"

To her great surprise, Kakashi lightly laughed, his chest shaking with the sound, "Daddy?"

"My angel, you can't see yourself clearly, can you? You – are – not – a – monster," Kakashi carefully pronounced, making sure to look at her eyes. "You make me happy when skies are gray," he quoted with a smile. "That's why I love you."

"Just… just it?" She sniffed.

"Just it," Kakashi smiled kindly. "You'll learn, sweetie, that people love each other for simple reasons. Each person has flaws - that's what makes us humans. But each person has something good too. I don't think you're a monster, so shouldn't you."

Kori cried.

She had never felt so relieved. Not even when Kakashi told her she would never be alone. Not even when she was found by Daddy in the forest. She could believe it – she wasn't a monster. Her Daddy wouldn't leave her.

Suddenly, her worry disappeared. She had spent the entire month worrying over it, discreetly glancing at her Dad, just waiting for the moment when he would throw her out.

But here was he hugging her and letting her sit on his lap.

"Daddy…" She managed to say after minutes of relieved tears.

"Hm?" He hummed, absentmindedly playing with her hair.

"Why did people call me a demon?"

Kakashi paused his playing.

"Dad?"

"A long time ago, there was a nine-tailed fox called Kyuubi. It attacked our village and a lot of innocent people died. The Yondaime Hokage needed to take drastic measures, so, he gave up his life while sealing the fox inside a baby."

Kori didn't ask who this baby was, since she could imagine. She simply cuddled closer to her Dad, feeling better than she felt in ages.