The rest of the week went by in no time and the next week arrived when classes started anew. But things weren't like before. First of all, more than half the class resigned. Civilian parents thought that having their children close to an Uchiha may be a bad idea, they thought Sasuke would snap and kill their precious little children. Sasuke? He became a brooding mess and the girls began giving notice, well except Hinata and I. Shikamaru and I began slacking and sleeping in classes, which unnerved the teachers. Shino became really reserved, Naruto became confused about our changes.

After school, Shikamaru went mostly to Choji and I went to Ino, sometimes they came to us, but after that Shikamaru became obsessed with reading tactics on battlefields and I became obsessed with the human mind. Both of us became colder than before, Shikamaru was letting only a few close to him, I didn't let anyone, except Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, but even in their cases, I kept my defenses up.

Everything became such a drag.

After a month Kakashi appeared to greet me, while I was walking home alone, I didn't greet him nor I waved at him. He didn't press me, but then he appeared after a week when I was grocery shopping. I didn't pay attention to him, but when I saw him I nodded. After two weeks I was at the book store and he met me there, I didn't talk to him.

After four weeks I was walking alone, again, when I saw him sitting on a bench. I didn't greet him, and he didn't say a word either. But when I was walking past him he stood up and put a hand on my shoulder.

The next moment I was at the third training ground.

Heck, if I wasn't that traumatized, my fangirl side would be jumping up and down in excitement.

"Are you angry, Shikanai?" he asked and I sighed.

"No." I told him honestly.

"Then what's wrong? I've seen you around Naruto and you keep him away from you, hell, you do that to every kid that tries to approach you!" he exclaimed.

"I don't want to tell you." I snapped, but I didn't look at him.

"Fine. But tell it to someone. You can't act like this, it's not good for your health." he sounded gentle, but I didn't care.

"Says the pot to the kettle." I heard him take in a sharp breath.

"You should not act like how you acted back then, especially in front of a superior." I heard his colder side in the voice, I should have let him be and leave, but I looked up.

"It doesn't matter anyway." I told him, anger seeping into my tone. "Nothing matters." I muttered and turned away. "Can I go now?" I asked him, turning back, he looked hurt and shocked.

"What happened?" he asked in a gentle and slightly frightened tone.

"Why should I tell you? It's not like we trust each other." I saw the pain flash through his eye. "What I realized that day, made me wonder about stuff. But if I tell you anything you're going to do just what they want you to do, report everything." I shook my head. "So, it doesn't matter."

I waited for a while, but he only watched me with a sad look. None of us said a word, he only watched me, and I wasn't even looking at him. I wanted to go home and sleep. Sleeping made things go away because that way I wouldn't feel anything, anything at all. That was why I was sleeping in classes, it just made life easier. Mother and father tried to help me, but I wasn't keen to allow them. I was alright. Or I would be. Anyway, it didn't matter.

But then he sat down and he sighed.

"I was only a child when I found my father dead in our house." what. Did he… Did he tell me that? Did he really… I stopped and watched him with wide eyes. "I threw myself into the shinobi life and I got a team, Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei." I was frozen on the spot. Why was he telling me… Why did he trust me… A random child, I was only a random child, why did he trust me? I could run around and tell everyone, everything about him… And yet… I wouldn't do that. "Obito, that loudmouth" he snorted, reviving an old, but a sad memory. "he saved me and died in return, he is the one who gave me the Sharingan." my heart ached at his tone. "I promised I'd keep Rin safe, but I failed, during a mission I…" he stopped and brought a hand in front of him, and he watched it in the silence. "I… killed her…" he sounded so broken. Chills went through me and I found it hard to keep my emotions in check. "And then sensei saved the village and he died with his wife." he swallowed hard. "I was an ANBU by that time and after all that happened I became suicidal, I took missions that should have been the end of me, but yet… Every single kunai directed at me fails to hit my heart." he looked at me and our eyes locked. "I am depressed, but now I know that way of living is just bad. Shikanai, please don't go down that way. You sound different from before, you look like you have nothing to live for." he told me and I looked away.

"Why do you trust me?" I asked, emotions clearly showing in my tone.

"Sometimes even a dog has to show trust." I felt a tear roll down from my left eye.

"Animals." I told him, turning to face him. "Numbers. Tools. We are only those in their eyes…" I was crushed by the ache from my heart. "We have no name, no families, no life!" tears began flowing without a stop and I felt him coming closer. He put a reassuring hand on my right shoulder and with his other hand he brushed my tears off. "They want a tool as a shinobi!" anger tugged back at my heart. "Well, they gonna get it." I hissed and I felt one hand stop on my cheek, the other going tense on my shoulder.

"Shikanai, if it's about what Snake said, it's not true. We are not only numbers." he told me in a far too gentle voice, but it didn't reach me.

"Then why are you an animal." I snapped back.

"That was what my sensei wanted me to be-"

"Another Hokage ordering nameless tools." I glared daggers at him through my teary eyes.

"He wanted me to protect his wife. After that, it was my choice to remain in ANBU. But even like that, the Hokage cares, believe me." I didn't believe him.

"Have you read the questions we were asked to answer?"

"Yes." he sighed.

"They want us as loyal, selfless, brainless shinobi." I wiped the tears away and looked him in the eyes with all the determination that lived in me. "Itachi didn't kill his clan because he snapped." his eye widened. "Those questions were too precise for that. Those questions asked if we would kill our clan as well if asked. He killed them because he was ordered to do so!" Kakashi didn't move, he only looked at me with incredibility.

"The Hokage would never…" he began but didn't finish.

"And yet you know that…" The Hokage could and would do it if it served the village and we both knew it.

"He won't make you do it." he told me and I snorted, but then he brought his hands to cup my face and made me look at him. "I won't let him." and he said the truth. He dropped all his masks for me, and he looked genuinely concerned for me. But why me.

"Why do you care about me?" I whispered and he smiled under the mask.

"Let that be my little secret for now." I nodded and then I was pulled into a hug.

A hug.

From fucking Hatake Kakashi.

The fuck was going on!

He shouldn't be like that! He should be all broody and moody! He should hate himself and be cold towards everyone! What the heck!

But maybe he had a heart under all those layers of lies and masks. Maybe, just maybe I touched him somehow...

"You feel safe." I admitted in his arms and felt him tense for a moment, but then he relaxed.

Don't you dare to think that this fic is going to be some perverted romance novel, about a man loving a child! Anyway, here are some little shifts in the story, like how the two Nara children became so lazy, how the main character kinda became depressive. Oh, and isn't it a little weird that Kakashi shows his gentler side to this girl? Yeah, there's a reason for that.

I still don't own Naruto.

Sorry for the long wait, university is killing me... Like I barely have time to eat... I'll try to be more active tho.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!