"For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over again."

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

...

Admittedly Hatake Kakashi has not tried to interact with either of the Uzumaki children. They were too much for him, they looked too much like their parents. It was too hard. As Dog he has had to guard them a few times but that's different, when he's Dog it doesn't hurt nearly as much. So he honestly has no intention to see either of them.

Kakashi is very surprised when the girl ends up at the memorial stone early one morning, she's alone but carrying a bouquet of flowers. He watches from a far as she cleans the stone, lights an incense and replaces the old flowers there before. He's never seen her here. She shouldn't even be old enough to know anyone on this stone, surely she didn't know her parents were on here.

She doesn't stare at the names or trace over any, so he doesn't know who she's here for.. But whoever they were, she must have loved them a lot. He watches as she leaves silently before even daring to approach the stone.

He wasn't ready yet.

He couldn't face them yet.

Mitomi could feel him watching her, she pretends she doesn't notice as she goes about her routine. She'd asked Inoichi about Kakashi once during her stay at psych. Asked why he hadn't had to stay with them yet, he lost everyone like she had, so he must be suffering like she was. Inoichi explained to her that they've tried to help Kakashi but he doesn't want to be helped yet.

She couldn't push the agenda at all. She knew that, but she felt sad for him. Mitomi knew what it was like to lose everyone you loved. She felt bad for him. Maybe she'd mention it to Genma-senpai the next time she saw him, they were friends, she'd ask shishou about it but she didn't want to share him.

Mitomi continues her ritual, finally putting her past to rest. This was her life now, she needed to put her past lives behind her. She needed to move forward. To live, and strive for a better future for all of them.

It was the biggest middle finger she could give the universe, and black Zetsu, cause fuck him too.

Mitomi leaves when she's finished. At least Kakashi could stand there and mourn his dead with the sweet smells of burning incense and fresh flowers. Maybe it would overwhelm him and he'd go do something far more productive.

Mitomi giggled at the thought once she was back on the main road.

…

"Mito-chan your hair is so soft and long! It's not fair, how do you keep your hair so soft?" Mitomi is sitting very still on Ino's bed, legs crossed hands in lap. She'd come over to get some lavender seeds and ended up being roped into playing dolls. Technically she was the doll in the scenario but it's irrelevant.

"I use a conditioner. And I don't wash it everyday." She offers blandly, because what else was she supposed to say to that.

Ino had decided that they were best friends since their 'sleepover' a couple months ago. Mitomi was honestly too tired to protest and had decided to just go with it. She could do this, it wouldn't kill her.

It hurts like hell… but she'd live… most likely.

"How do you maintain it on missions?" Ino asks after a thought and Mitomi shrugs.

"I unusually just pull it up into a ponytail or a braid. I only wear it down in the village. I'd cut it but I honestly like it long." Although Mitomi's definition of down was still a half-up style because she had a lot of hair and couldn't stand it in her face. Mitomi liked her hair, she'd always loved being a redhead, it was the only thing that had stayed the same from her first life to now.

"Sasuke says he likes girls with long hair… I wish my hair was as long as yours!" Mitomi finally turned around to look at Ino. She was not going to sit through this a second time.

"Why do you care so much about his opinion? He's just a boy, if a boy told me he preferred me to look a certain way I'd tell him to shove it. No one gets to tell you how to love yourself Ino-chan only you do." Ino gapes at her, but Mitomi is committed and she grabs the other girl's hands and smiles.

"Boys are silly anyway, they don't get it. You are Yamanaka Ino and one day you're going to be a kickass shinobi, long hair or not." Ino is quiet, and Mitomi is almost afraid she's crossed a line.

"You think so?" Ino whispers, so unsure, uncertain of herself. Mitomi frowns internally… that would not do.

"I know so!" Mitomi is not at all prepared for the tackle hug she gets from the other girl.

Inoichi stops her on her way out much later with her bag of seeds. "Don't forget to water them." She raises a brow at him.

"I won't. Besides, they need more than just water to grow Inoichi-sama. You have to love and nourish them too." Then she ducks out without another word.

…

She hoped Hayate could feel the heat from her glare. Maybe she would poison his coffee after all. He helped her off the ground after laughing at her and she dusted herself off, still glaring.

"You look like a pissed off tanuki." He tells her with a chuckle, damn meant she wasn't scary at all. Tanuki were the cutest.

"Why are you so mean to me senpai? I am just a measly ten year old girl.." He keeps snickering and they ignore the rude looks from the third member of their guard unit. Who very obviously didn't like Mitomi.

Some things never changed.

"Your katas are getting better. I think we'll start practicing with a bukken soon." He coughs about halfway through his sentence but they pretend it's not a big deal. She grins at him.

"Wonderful, I can't wait to hurt more." Hayate ruffles her hair and she halfheartedly attempts to bite him. Glaring wasn't working, so she would move to teeth. He took it in strides and she wanted to punch him.

"Tsk, I don't know why you're wasting your time on her Gekko. Not like she even needs to learn kenjutsu." Mitomi wants to fold in on herself and disappear… she could not handle all the hate and rejection a second time. Hayate's hand finds itself on her shoulder.

"You shut your mouth Daisuke, and mind your own damn business." The older chunin bites back. He doesn't take his hand off her shoulder.

Mitomi works on clearing her mind and tries to focus on anything else than the feeling she is feeling right now.

She feels small, and unworthy.

She hates it.

…

Gekko Hayate had been admittedly nervous when the small redhead had been assigned to his guard post. It was no secret what she held inside her, it was also no secret that her brother was a notorious troublemaker. He had been nervous because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to expect from the younger chunin. Was she really the monster everyone feared? Was she going to be a troublemaker like her brother? Hayate wasn't sure what he was supposed to expect.

Besides.. She couldn't be too bad if Cat even liked her. His squad hadn't been surprised when the call came down. ANBU Cat was a good choice to be her teacher since she graduated between years and wasn't suited towards teams. What had been surprising was how much Cat liked being her teacher, Hayate has never seen Cat act like that ever.

She brought him coffee on her first shift, claiming he looked like death warmed over the few times she'd seen him before. Hayate had raised his brow, he's never noticed her before. When he asks she shrugs. "People only notice me when it is convenient for them." Then she sat in the chair next to him and sipped at her own thermos.

She was quiet. The only thing bright about her was her hair, she wore muted blues and grays, her chakra signature was small and nondescript. Hayate wondered how long it had taken her to learn how to suppress her signature to almost nonexistent. She read fuinjutsu theory and practiced seals during their shift.

Hayate learned a lot by watching. She wasn't a monster like everyone feared, she was just a child. A scarily intelligent child, but a child regardless. And… she treated him with respect, and didn't let the fact that he had health issues bother her.

"I have issues too, if it weren't for my friend I'd be hospital bound." She told him later, probably during their fifth sift together.

Hayate hadn't known what he was supposed to do with that information. Information that could be used against her, could hurt her if it were to get in the wrong hands. And she had trusted him with it. He didn't understand her, but honestly he didn't mind her either.

"So that's why you were in the hospital a couple weeks ago?" He asks and she nods, rolling up her fuinjutsu theory and sealed inside her pinafore's front pocket, smart.

"Yeah, I got poisoned on a mission and when it started affecting me It was discovered what was happening. Honestly I think they're just looking for an excuse to stick me with more in village guard duty. This is so boring.. I could gauge my eyes out!" Hayate snickered at the first real semblance of personality she'd shown.

She was just a ten year old brat. Fox or not, super genius or not. She was still just a kid. A kid who gave him annoying protective older brother feelings.

So when their sometimes random third guard buddy starts insulting her while he's going over katas with her, Hayate can't help but to be annoyed. Annoyance turns to irritation and disappointment when he watches the girl fold in on herself. Mentally withdrawing from the harsh words of their fellow.

He wondered how often this happened. The jinchuriki status was the worst kept secret in the whole village. Were the Uzumaki twins getting this harsh treatment from everyone? Hayate frowns watching the whole then happen and then finally he snaps.

""You shut your mouth Daisuke, and mind your own damn business." He doesn't notice that he unconsciously reaches for the little girl and pulls her behind him. What he notices is the chunin reaching for his weapons pouch and the snarl on his face. Hayate notices when ANBU steps in because he picks up Mitomi and blocks an attempt on her life from their fellow chunin.

ANBU takes Daisuke and carries him away. Hayate frowns deepen as he watches the little girl slowly just lose all composure. Cat takes her from his arms and Hayate watches in absolute anger as she cries on his squadmates shoulder. How had they failed so terribly to come to this point?

Kids like her should feel safe in the village, instead of being attacked by their supposed comrades. Hayate just about loses it when later Cat tells him that this isn't the first time that someone in the village has tried to kill her.

Hayate shakes his head. What was wrong with this fucking people?

She was just a kid.

XOXOX

Hayate has sappy olde brother feelings that he doesn't know how to deal with. Mitomi worries about the mental well being of her peers. And Kakashi is still an emotionally stunted idiot.

~LaRae