Here is the next chapter...this really is going to take as long as I thought...gah!! ::laziness attacks:: NOOO!!! I shall prevail!!!!!! ::insane laugher:: Er..right...anyway...I'm going to be jumping back and forth between perspectives...sometimes it will be Kakashi talking to Naruto and Sakura, and sometimes past events will read as if they are happening in the present, but that's where the dividing lines will kick in, so it shouldn't be too confusing...I hope.

Chapter 2: Family

Naruto and Sakura sat on the floor of Kakashi's apartment, intent on listening to his every word. He was about to reveal things that had remained secret for years, personal things, intimate. They could not help but feel honored that he decided to bear his soul to them, and were ready and willing to give him their complete and unfettered attention. Kakashi, mask-less and in pajamas, was not used to having such a captive audience, and he was a bit nervous to even begin telling his tale. But, he knew that he needed to do it, to cast aside the past that haunted him and move on. It was a burden he was willing to be rid of, no matter how painful it was to recall the memories...
"So, where should I start?" He mused aloud, the question directed more at himself than his former students.
"How about your family?" Sakura suggested gently, quelling her impatience. The situation needed to be handled with extreme care, and being forceful would not aid matters in any way. Kakashi, pulling Chief's head onto his lap, began stroking the dog's fur, a far off look in his eyes. He saw his mother's beautiful face, his father's mischievous smile, his beloved sister wielding her katana. Yes, he would start with his family. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, preparing himself. Chief nuzzled Kakashi's hand as if to encourage him, and Kakashi smiled.
"Well," he began, "my mother and father first met at the Academy..."

"Hey, Hatake!" A cheerful voice rang out among the new students admitted to the Academy of Shinobi Arts, all anxious, chattering young children. Hatake Akinari scanned the mass of bodies for the source of the voice, his eyes coming in contact with Genda Eijiro, his best friend and confidant, sitting near the front and waving his arms. Akinari laughed and made his way through the rows of seats, slapping high-fives with other friends as he went. The girls in particular seemed to be affected by his entrance, all of them scrambling to catch his attention and secure his presence next to them, but Akinari, though he acknowledged them, continued on to the front and settled himself next to Eijiro.

"Hey, bro!" Akinari exclaimed, slinging an arm around Eijiro's shoulders. "Ready to be a shinobi?"

Eijiro grinned. "Are you kidding? I've been waiting for this since I was born."

"We're only learning the basics now. The real work doesn't start until we graduate." A haughty voice cut in. Akinari and Eijiro turned their heads to the side, and a girl with blue-black hair stared back at them, arms crossed over her chest. "We're not even close to becoming shinobi." She said, irritated to have to explain what should be common knowledge.

Akinari raised an eyebrow, his attention piqued. He took the time to examine the girl, coming to the conclusion that she was quite pretty despite the sour expression on her face. Her hair in particular was fascinating: it was long, almost reaching to mid-back, and if one were to squint, the color would shift from blue to black and back again. Her eyes were large, blue pools, and her pouting mouth was small and rosy. She had he look of a fighter, which Akinari liked. At ten, his interest in the opposite sex was more than most of the boys his age, all of whom seemed to think that girls had cooties. Akinari knew better.

"Who are you?" He asked, not put-off by her rude interruption. "It's proper to introduce yourself before you speak to strangers, isn't it?" He smiled, and received a glare in return.

"My name is Kamio Haruko." She said, her eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"

"Hatake Akinari," he said and motioned to Eijiro. "And this is Genda Eijiro." The other boy flashed a peace-sign, and Haruko snorted. She found her eyes straying to the boy with the silvery hair, Akinari. Something about him annoyed her, yet she could not shake the feeling that he was different from the other morons of their year. This might be interesting, she thought to herself. Akinari grinned at her. "It's nice to meet you," he said as their new teacher entered the room.

"Quiet down, guys," The shinobi said as he strode to the front, surveying his students and smiling. The room became silent, and all eyes were focused on him. "My name is Umino Ichiyo, and I'll be instructing you in the ways of a shinobi. In this room, you will learn the twelve basic hand seals needed to perform jutsus, the different classes of jutsus including Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, and what chakra is and how it moves through the body, among other things. You will also learn how to use kunai and shuriken, as those are the basic weapons that a shinobi carries at all times." He paused, his smile growing wider. "When you graduate, you will be Genin, the lowest class of shinobi, and assigned to a three-man team and a Jounin instructor. To reach that goal, you must work hard and not be discouraged. The path you have chosen is not an easy one, but I believe that each and every one of you can rise to meet the challenge."

Akinari felt the excitement beginning to brew in his blood. He wanted to become a shinobi not to make his name famous, but to serve the people of his village, to fight for them, protect them. His father impressed upon him at an early age the patriotism that he wore like a badge on his chest. And while he wasn't aware of it at the time, Haruko, too, felt a strong kinship with the brave people of Konoha, wanting to prove herself worthy in their eyes to be called one of the Leaf.

As the year progressed, Haruko and Akinari formed a friendship that bordered on rivalry, the two of them working like fiends to best each other in every aspect. Eijiro watched them with amusement, convinced that they were destined to be together further on down the line. When he told them so, they balked, trying to prove him wrong by picking fights with each other in front of him. Of course, it came as no surprise that upon Graduation the three new Genins were grouped together as a team, their Jounin sensei a wily young woman named Yuuhi Kaya. She could sense the attraction between her students as well, seeing past their attempts at concealing what was not even known to Akinari or Haruko themselves.

Sakura, who was enchanted by the tale, could not keep the smile from her face. "Oh, that is so adorable," she said, her hand over her mouth.

Naruto laughed. "Haruko-san sounds like someone I know," he said, fixing his wife with a pointed look, and she blushed.

"How did they ever realize that they loved each other?" She asked Kakashi, choosing not to respond to Naruto's comment. Her former sensei grinned.

"They had been Jounins for two years when they took on an S-rank mission together to kill a renegade shinobi of the Leaf who threatened to spill our secrets if he wasn't taken care of. They weren't expecting him to be a master of the katana, though, and that's where they ran into some problems."

Akinari saw her fall after the shinobi was dead, her hand clasped to her side as blood leaked through her fingers. Haruko had dealt the blow that ultimately killed their target, but not before she was stabbed herself. While Akinari had sustained his own injuries, they were forgot when Haruko hit the ground. Time seemed to stand still for a second or two, his brain trying to register what had happened.

He'd been knocked in the head with the butt of the renegade's katana, and came to just in time to witness Haruko and the shinobi's battle. They were both weakened, and so not as quick to dodge attacks as they would have been in full strength, which explained why Haruko could not escape the katana that was thrust in her side. Akinari's heart nearly stopped beating, and he opened his mouth as if to cry out to her, but no sound came out. Even before the sword was yanked out, Haruko reached into her side pouch for one of her kunai, embedding it right between the shinobi's eyes. It all happened so fast that her prey did not know he'd lost until he died, crumpling to the ground in a heap. Haruko then gripped the hilt of the sword, which was smaller than usual for a katana, and slowly pulled it out, careful not to cause any more damage. And then she collapsed.

The precious few seconds of disbelief passed, and Akinari dragged himself across the grassy field to where Haruko lie. Her face was ghostly pale, and she was bathed in cold sweat and blood, her breathing labored. Akinari forced himself to remain calm as he removed her hand and opened her vest, peeling the material of her tight, black shirt away from the wound. He bit his lip. From the looks of things, it was deep, potentially fatal if nothing was done to stop the blood from flowing.

"Bad, huh?" Haruko gasped, correctly interpreting the look in Akinari's eyes.

When he could trust himself to speak, he answered, "Don't worry about it. I'll have you patched up in no time." The slight quaver in his voice betrayed the emotion he was trying to hide from her, but Haruko did not comment on that.

"It hurts like a bitch," she replied instead, screwing her eyes shut as Akinari, who had received a little training in the art of healing, urged the blood around the opening of the wound to clot using gathered chakra in his palm. Once the bleeding was more or less slowed down, he produced a long bandage from his own side pouch and wrapped it around Haruko's middle, pulling as tight as he could. Haruko winced at the pressure, but did not protest. She would need to see a certified healer when they returned to the village, but for the time being she would be safe.

Akinari ran a trembling hand through his silvery, unkempt hair. "You idiot," he whispered. "Where you trying to get yourself killed?" His voice raised a few octaves. "Why in all the hell did you attack him like that? You're lucky you didn't get your head sliced from your shoulders!"

Smiling through her pain, Haruko reached her hand out and placed it over Akinari's. "What else was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to let him get away, and I wasn't about to retreat and just leave you here. I am not a coward," she said gently, her hand squeezing his, "and I will never run away. Never."

"We must be crazy," Akinari said, shaking his head. "No one with common sense would even think of doing our job." But he felt the same way as she, deep in his heart, and so he could not rebuke her. He'd have done the exact same thing if he were in her position. Yet, he wanted to shake her for fighting that shinobi in such a foolhardy way, while she was weak. She was more intelligent than that. His eyes met with hers and held, the nagging emotion that had always remained in the background springing forth. It was as if a veil had been lifted from his eyes, allowing him to see clearly what had evaded him for so many years.

"Could you help me up?" Haruko asked, her heart pounding. Their relationship had been changing, ever so slightly, as the years passed, their hands touching for those few extra seconds longer, eyes meeting whenever they looked at each other. A little voice in her head told her that she was falling in love with Akinari, but she could not, or would not, bring herself to believe it. She was a shinobi, and her duty was to the village; she did not have time for love. At least, that is what she said over in her mind, thinking that if she repeated it enough, her heart would be steeled. Haruko tried that tactic now as Akinari lifted her into a sitting position, but her thoughts were faltering. The two stared at each other, and Haruko broke down first, her arms encircling his neck. He returned her embrace, careful to avoid the wound on her side.

"You scared the shit out of me, I hope you know," Akinari said when they pulled apart, his hands on her shoulders. "God...all I saw was you on the ground with all that blood..."

Haruko laughed shakily. "I like red."

Akinari raised his eyebrows. "Well I don't. At least, not that kind." He paused, his expression serious. "I love you." It was a statement, firm, straightforward. "I love you," he repeated almost in awe, one hand moving from her shoulder to caress her cheek.

Haruko's breath caught. I love you. The words echoed through her head, sending shockwaves down her spine. In her idle daydreams, she had imagined him saying those words, but the reality hit much harder than any fantasy ever could. Her resolve to turn a blind eye to the prospect of sharing her life with someone shattered like a million tiny shards of glass, and tears came unbidden to her eyes. She forgot about the pain in her side, forgot the Leaf, forgot everything.

"I love you, too," she choked, the tears cascading down her face. "I-I can't ignore it anymore. Heaven knows I've tried."

Hearing her words, Akinari closed the distance between them and pressed his mouth against hers, pouring out all of the love that he had kept bottled up into his kiss. Haruko kissed him back, grateful to be sitting, as her legs would have given out had she been on her feet. They were both laughing when they broke apart, at their own foolishness, mostly.

"We're both too damn stubborn," Akinari said, wiping at his eyes.

"I know," Haruko replied, still laughing. "It's all so...stupid!" She put emphasis on the word stupid, shaking her head. "First class idiots."

Akinari snickered. "Oh, of course. Nothing but the best. But at least we'll be idiots together, right?"

Haruko's face glowed. "Always." She said, and kissed him. "Now, you could be a gentleman and carry me home. I think that would be nice," she added with an impish grin, holding out her arms to him. Akinari was in fact a gentleman, and complied with pleasure, scooping her up and beginning the trek back to the village, smiling the whole way.

The Hokage's pink-haired little wife was beside herself by that point, producing a handkerchief from a pocket and dabbing at her eyes. "Oh," she began, a catch in her voice, "that was beautiful."
Naruto and Kakashi exchanged a look, their brows raised. Women got worked up over the silliest things, and neither of them could quite understand it.
"They were married after that, weren't they?" Sakura asked, the handkerchief still in her hand.
"Mm-hmm," Kakashi nodded. "Once my mother's side was completely healed, which took about two months, give or take. They were both twenty- three at the time. I was born a year later, on September 15..."

The noise coming from the room that his wife was giving birth in made Akinari want to break the door down and comfort her, but he was told, quite firmly by the midwives, to stay where he was. It wasn't proper for a man to be present at a birth, and so all he could do was pace back and forth, raking his hands through his hair, cursing. He stopped short when a high pitched wail issued from the room, and his eyes went wide. The door opened, and the head midwife motioned for him to come forward.

"You have a son," she said, smiling, and moved aside.

A lump rose in his throat when Akinari beheld his wife, tired and wan, but content, and his newborn son, nestled in Haruko's arms.

"Isn't he beautiful?" She said as Akinari came to the bed, and looked up at him with loving eyes. She held the baby out and Akinari took him, still not quite believing that he was a father. He examined his son, laughing upon seeing the tuft of silvery hair, Akinari's hair, that poked out from beneath the tiny hat that covered the baby's head. His eyes were dark, dark blue, and they stared up at Akinari calmly.

"Hey champ," Akinari said, the baby responding by closing his tiny, pink hand around his father's finger. He had a firm grip, which pleased Akinari even more.

"What should we call him?" Haruko asked, watching her husband and child interact with a sense of pure joy.

"Hmm," Akinari looked closer at the boy. After a few moments, he had it. "Kakashi," he said, and the baby gripped his finger even tighter.

"Kakashi," Haruko repeated the name slowly. For some reason, it seemed to fit. "That's perfect."

"Welcome to the world, Kakashi," Akinari whispered, kissing the baby's head.

Little Kakashi was a very good-natured baby who rarely fussed, which his parents found to be a blessing. He did have an inquisitive streak, however, one that led him to explore on an everyday basis the wonders that his house held. He was particularly fond of pots and pans, discovering that, when hit with another object such as a spoon, could produce a wide range of interesting sounds. He was a quick learner, walking and talking earlier than most babies, and his father began training him in the arts of a shinobi before he was a year old. By the time he turned three, Kakashi could throw a kunai with deadly accuracy, and he was equally skilled with shuriken and makibishi, or ground nails. He had memorized six of the twelve hand seals and was able to produce two solid clones of himself at one time. After her brush with the katana, Haruko insisted on learning how to wield one herself, and began teaching her son on the weapon as well. It was clear that Kakashi was not like other children, and that he would go on to be an accomplished shinobi, perhaps even surpassing his parents.

He was still a child, however, and enjoyed doing child-like activities such as rolling around in the mud with the family dogs, of which there were four. Kakashi liked getting as dirty as he could, it seemed, and Haruko had to work like mad to get the stains out of his clothing. He made friends wherever he went due to his cheerful nature, very much like his father. Kakashi had a deep-seated respect for Akinari, taking the things his father said and did to heart, storing them in his memory. One conversation he would never forget the rest of his life. The two had been outside on the porch of their small house watching the sunset, a three-year- old Kakashi sitting in his father's lap.

"I want to be a shinobi like you," Kakashi said, craning his head back to see his father's face.

Akinari grinned. "You will be. But it won't be easy. You're going to have to work very hard."

"I will!" Kakashi exclaimed. "I'll work really hard. You'll see."

"I don't doubt it, champ." Akinari ruffled his son's hair. "There's one thing I want you to remember, though. A shinobi is a servant, not a master. Don't ever forget that. Your deeds are what will judge you in the end, not your own personal gain. By becoming a shinobi, you are pledging your life to the protection and care of others, and it will be that way until the day you die."
Though that was a lot of information for Kakashi to grasp, something about Akinari's words struck a chord in his heart, and his determination became ever greater. "I'm not afraid," he said simply, his eyes staring off into the horizon as the sun dipped beneath the white, puffy clouds. "If you and Mama can do it, then so can I."

Akinari smiled. This child was definitely his son, there was no denying that.

During the year Haruko became pregnant again, and Kakashi watched her swelling abdomen with fascination. Sometimes the baby would kick, and Haruko would call her son over and place his hand on her belly so that he could feel, which always amazed him. He was getting used to the idea that he would not be the only child in the house, but it didn't really bother him all that much. It would be fun to have another person around to play with. While he preferred a brother, he supposed he could tolerate a sister just as well, as long as she wasn't prissy like some of the other little girls he was acquainted with. They all acted very strange whenever he was around, and he did not understand why. He also couldn't see the reason why people stopped his parents on the streets while the family was on an outing to comment about what a beautiful child Kakashi was. He endured the pinching of his cheeks and the pointing as best he could, but it still irritated him a bit.

The months went by, Haruko growing larger and larger until she could no longer leave her bed. December came, with snow falling in buckets, providing Kakashi with ample opportunity to go sledding, a pastime he found thrilling, especially during the rare occasions when the momentum sent him flying from the sled into snowdrifts. He'd return to his house, dripping wet and frozen, but happy, describing his endeavors with fervor to his bewildered parents.

"It was HUGE!!!" He exclaimed, using his hands to illustrate the pile of snow he'd landed in. "And I got buried all the way to my neck! Isn't that awesome?"

Akinari raised his eyebrow, and proceeded to carry his son in the crook of his arm to the bathroom, laughing. "Totally awesome," he said, and plopped Kakashi in a waiting tub of hot water.

On December 22, three days before Christmas, the Hatakes welcomed their second child, a little girl named Asia, to the family. From the moment he first saw her, Kakashi was in love. She had the same silvery hair as her father and brother, only hers was slightly darker, and her bright blue eyes were her mother's. When Kakashi was allowed to hold her, she looked at him with those eyes, and he melted. Asia became his baby, his sister, and he took on the role of big brother with pride, determined to take her under his wing and guide her steps.

"I'll always be here to protect you," he said to Asia, who cooed happily in his arms. "No matter what happens."

"I didn't realize you had a sister," Naruto said, looking at Kakashi with wonder. His former sensei scratched at Chief's head.
"Yeah," He replied softly as the dog licked his hand. "She was my baby girl..." He trailed off.
"Do you want to stop?" Sakura asked, concern in her eyes.
"No," Kakashi replied. "I can't now. Not after I've started. I need to let go of all of it, not just part of it." Now that his resolve was set, he found that it was a bit easier to speak, and so he continued on, determined to keep going to the end.

WHEW!!!! ::wipes forehead:: That took a looong time to write!! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but it may take a bit...especially at the rate this is going....