Second chapter! Whoo! And so it begins.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters.

Chapter 2: A Thicker Plot

Oh, Grandma Hatsu. I hope you didn't hurt yourself. Lee sighed, tying her hair back again.

"Grandma," she called, as she made her way to the crest of the hill, "are you alright?"

"Just fine, dear! Spilled a little water. Now be on your way!"

"I can't. I left my sensu, Grandma Ha—!" Lee froze, catching sight of Grandma Hatsu. The old woman was brandishing a hoe, her arms shaking and eyes fierce.

What is she…? Lee's eyes panned to the right, where they fell upon a group of rough-looking men. Tattoos, brands, and sweat rolled over bulging muscles. Their clothes were thin and heavily patched, and they wielded hatchets, knives, and clubs. Lee had never seen anyone quite like them before, but she knew they were a bad sort of people.

She held her chin up, with every ounce of Lee dignity she had, and spoke:

"What brings you here, men?" she asked, striding over toward Grandma Hatsu, "There is nothing but small potatoes and an old bag of rice. If that is what you desire, then help yourselves and be on your way!" She took the hoe from Grandma Hatsu and tried to pull the woman to the side of the house. She refused to budge.

"Grandma Hatsu, please," she whispered from the corner of her mouth, "I know this place is precious to you, but your life is worth more!" She pulled harder, but the old woman shook her head, holding angry tears back.

"We aren't here for potatoes and rice, sweetheart," said a large, tan man, who rested the shaft of a hatchet on his broad shoulder.

Lee bristled, releasing Grandma Hatsu. She straightened her back and looked him dead in the eye.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Well, I'm 'fraid it's like the old cliché: if I told ya, I'd have to kill ya. Which'd be a damn shame, wouldn't it boys?" he snickered, nudging the man next to him, who had a makeshift spear. The men chortled.

"Leave now, Miss Lee. Please," Grandma Hatsu begged, tears streaming down her face.

"I—" Lee closed her eyes painfully, "I won't. I can't. I'm sorry, Grandma Hatsu. Not without you. What would my brother say?"

The men roared with laughter as Lee stepped in front of the older woman, holding the hoe in front of her.

"Ya think ya can fight us all by ya'self, kitten?" the large man pointed at her with his hatchet. "In these mountains," he lowered his voice maliciously, "no one'll even hear ya scream."

Lee's fingers tightened around the hoe.

"Stay behind me, Grandma. I will protect you!" She stepped forward.

The man ran at her, and Lee swung the hoe with all her might, squeezing her eyes shut involuntarily. His hatchet cleaved through the hoe, splitting the blade from the haft. The metal fell to the ground with a clunk. She jabbed at him with the splintered shaft, but he wrenched the useless stick from her hands and threw it aside.

Lee's eyes widened as he raised the hatchet and slashed at her. She dove on Grandma Hatsu, knocking her out of the way, and snatched at a metal bucket that lay overturned beside them. Holding it by the handle, she wheeled around and swung it into the man's hand as he pulled the axe back up. The hatchet flew several feet and the man swore and shook his hand, breathing through his teeth.

"You little bitch," he spit out. "You're really startin' to get on my nerves."

Lee looked around out of the corner of her eyes. Next to her, on an old stone bench, lay her sensu. She'd fought her brother with them before. They weren't meant for fighting, per say, but they were familiar. I have to distract him.

"I'll ask you again. What business do you have here? Surely you didn't come all this way to fight a little girl and her grandmother?" She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, resting her hands on her hips. An inch closer.

"No, kitten. I don' suppose we did."

"If I am to die, for I know already I am no match for you, at least grant me this: I must know the reason," she stepped back and to the left, and straightened her kimono.

"Hmm... Well I guess there's no harm in tellin' a corpse, is there?" he laughed, looking back at the other men. "Well, kitten," he rested his hands on his knees so he was at eye level with her, "we know a man who'd pay a pretty penny to get into your Leaf village. Our intel suggests there's an underground passage around here. Starts in the mountains. An old evacuation tunnel. An' Granny here," he stood up and pulled the old lady up off the ground by her thin hair, "is the only one out here old enough to remember exactly where it is."

Lee bit her cheek, fighting the urge to throw herself at him. She stepped back, as if scared.

"What will you do?" she asked, clenching her skirt with her sweaty hands. "When you find the tunnel?"

"We'll just pass along the info and be on our way. We don' mess with shinobi. But our employer ain't a big fan of your precious Leaf Village. He's got plans. Big ones. So don't worry about gettin' lonely, kitten," he said, tossing the old woman aside. He walked towards his hatchet. "I'm sure your friends an' family'll be joining you real soon." Lee looked to her right, where the man had tossed Grandma Hatsu aside. The old woman had a stone clutched in her hand.

"Now!" Lee shouted. The old woman threw the rock with all her strength, hitting the man in the jaw. Lee kicked the hatchet into a bush and dove for her fans. She smirked triumphantly, as the man stood up, spitting out blood.

"You old hag!" he kicked at the old woman.

"Hey!" called the man with the spear, "Don't mess her up too bad. We need to question her, Jaku! You need some help over there?"

"Yeah, yeah," the man rolled his eyes, calling over his shoulder. "I've got everything under control, Kiji. Just caught me by surprise." He turned to Lee. "What ya gonna do with those little things, huh?" he gestured at the fans, "Blow me away?"

"Grandma Hatsu, can you move?"

"Miss Lee, please—"

"Can you move?" Lee asked, shortly.

"Yes."

"Get inside. Don't argue. Barricade yourself. I have a plan."

"You think I'm just gonna stand here an' let her hole herself up in there?" the man scoffed.

"I need you to trust me, Grandma Hatsu," Lee said, staring into the older woman's eyes, "I have a plan." Grandma Hatsu nodded reluctantly.

"I understand. I trust you." The old woman pulled herself off the ground with a grunt. The man, Jaku, grabbed at her, but Lee slapped his wrist with a closed fan. The sound rang through the air as the old woman slipped inside. His tanned skin glowed red.

What's my plan? What's my plan? Oh my god. What's my plan? This man is going to totally destroy me! Lee took a shaky but calming breath. No. Not without a fight. Never without a fight. Are you watching me, Brother? Even if I'm lost, please look upon me favorably and think, "That's my sister. Mizuchi, you did well". If you can think that, Brother, then I can pass on with few regrets.

Jaku drew a long knife from a sheath on his belt. Lee shrunk inwardly, but remained planted firmly on the ground. It's just a wooden kunai. It's just a wooden kunai, she repeated stubbornly. Like Brother and I always played with. This much...I can handle! She sunk into a low, wide stance and spread the fans. Jaku slashed at her, and as the knife bore down on her, it slit through the thin embroidered silk of her fan, freeing it to flutter in a sudden gust which also ripped the ribbon from Lee's hair. The second the blade reached the crook of the fan, Lee snapped it closed and twisted, sending the knife twirling out of his hand. It flew in an upward spiral, and Lee caught it in her left hand.

Jaku grabbed at her wrist, seeking to control her knife hand, but she spun the second his hand started to close around her, drawing him down to her shorter height where he was off balance. Lee kicked in the bend of his knee and drove the knife into his back before his upper body followed his lower to the ground. He landed with a thump and a groan. She grabbed the bucket off the ground nearby, and, as Jaku started to rise, she wound up and swung the pail into the back of his head, hitting him with the bottom edge. He collapsed forward and didn't move. Blood began to saturate his dirty shirt and stringy brown hair, and it's coppery tang suffused the air, turning Lee's stomach unpleasantly.

Right now, fear is useless. It's useless. I need to protect Grandma Hatsu. Kinder people than me have killed. It's the way of this village. Still, terror gripped at her heart and throat, I hope he isn't dead.

The men were starting towards her, furious and shouting for their fallen leader. Lee shook out her wrist, which was thrumming from the impact.

Oh, I've done it now, she thought miserably, backing up toward the house, clenching the hilt of the long knife with both hands.

"So you're a little shinobi fledgeling, then?" asked Kiji, the man with the spear. "Guess we had some bad luck. But you're not very good, so I'm not too worried." He walked toward her slowly, his blade pointed at her throat. The other men crowded around Jaku. Lee scoffed and held her chin high.

"I'm no shinobi. This is what it means to be a civilian in the Hidden Leaf village. We're woven from a tougher fabric than you lot. Do you really want to be next? Even a little civilian girl like me is better than your leader. You can't even imagine the power a shinobi wields. What will you do when the village finds out about this? Leave! And take your low-minded motives with you!"

"He's alive, Kiji!" exclaimed one of the men. "Just out cold. She didn't hit anything vital. But we gotta get this treated fast." Kiji laughed shakily, clearly relieved.

"Civilian indeed."

"If you surrender," Lee offered cautiously, "he will be treated. I'm sure of it. Even war criminals receive mercy in this village. And once you've served your time, depending on your crimes, you may be allowed to assimilate." Kiji laughed again.

"You self-righteous little brat. We don't want the mercy of a load of back-stabbing, duplicitous snakes. You'll offer us mercy? Hah! You leaf people are all the same," he sneered and prodded Lee in the chin with the butt of his spear, driving her back into Grandma Hatsu's door. "Better to snuff them out young," he said darkly. Lee licked the blood from her bitten lip. It dripped down her chin, a liquid ruby on her pale skin. Her hair hung about her like a dark cloud, casting long spidery shadows over her eyes in the dusky light.

"You speak of justice and mercy and helping the weak," Kiji continued, "but you solve all your problems under cover of dark, slipping poison into your enemies' porridge and slitting their throats in their sleep. Real men fight under the sun. You think we were born without homes or food?" He was yelling now, his face contorting nastily. "None of our villages could afford your steep price of freedom!" He slammed the butt of his spear into the door behind her. It vibrated against her back and through her head. The knife slipped through her fingers and fell blade-first into the earth. "We were so ransacked by the bandits of other countries, we couldn't help but become just like them. Meanwhile, you send your ninja to every rich noble with a heavy purse, even if they're on the other side of the world."

He stepped even closer and spit in Lee's face, where defiance flashed dangerously. "My friend here would die before he'd take your help, you pompous little bitch!" With a growl, Lee kneed Kiji in the groin and seized the spear from his hands as he doubled over in pain. Too close to stab, she swung the spear like a bat into the man's head, sending him tumbling to the ground. She raised the spear like a harpoon and brought it down. It made its way halfway through his middle before the makeshift blade snapped inside him. As he moved to get up and the rest of the men charged toward her, Lee stepped on the base of the blade, driving it all the way through him to the ground, doing her best to ignore the sickening squelch. Kiji cried out and started to choke on blood.

Don't think. Don't feel. Don't think. Don't feel, Lee chanted in her head. Just fight. Live.

Remembering her failure with the broken hoe, Lee hooked the bucket onto the end of the stick and put her trust in momentum once again, swinging it into the head of a man with a rusty mattock. He fell onto his knees with a yell, holding his head. A younger man-barely a man-with a pitchfork stabbed at her, but Lee dove to the side just in time. She slammed the bucket-spear onto his weight-bearing foot while he was still overextended, and the man tripped slightly, then jumped around on his other foot swearing.

"Useless!" one of the other men shouted, shoving the man-boy out of the way. He swung a large axe at her, narrowly missing as she jumped backwards. She swung the bucket-spear overhead, and, as luck would have it, the bucket slipped off and fell onto the man's head. Lee hit it with the stick. The bucket pealed like a bell, the sound rippling outward in waves. The man stumbled around dizzily like a drunk, then fell into the man-boy as he was getting up. The two flailed in a jumbled pile on the ground.

"Someone take that bloody bucket away from her!" Kiji choked out, trying to get up. The man-boy heard him and hurriedly yanked the bucket from his angry comrade's head. As he pulled, the handle caught on the underside of the axeman's chin. He let out a strangled yowl. The man had bit his tongue and blood was gushing forth. Eyes burning with fury, the axeman grabbed the man-boy by the throat and threw him into the stonebench. The boy tried to catch himself as he fell, but his arm twisted and broke with a crack. He clutched his arm and wailed. Lee winced.

Well, it's one less person to deal with. The axeman was grabbing his axe again and trying to rejoin the fight, but he seemed dizzy with blood loss and rage. Lee jabbed at him with the splintered spear-end, and the sturdy wood pierced through his shirt and an inch of flesh. As he fell backwards, he took the spear with him.

Three unharmed men remained, Lee observed. One was very large and bore a massive club covered in nails. The second was slender and had a long knife. And the last had a sword, chipped and aged, but real. His cheekbones were high and his eyes were small and clever.

They closed in around her.

She heard Kiji let out a spiteful laugh.

"What will you do now, little girl? No weapons. Just those skinny-" he fell into a short fit of coughs, "-those skinny arms. Our employer already knows about this place. He'll send more like us," he coughed again, blood splattering the ground as he clutched his stomach. "They'll find the entrance, and, before you know it, your precious village, your little friends and family, will be ripped to shreds. His shinobi will kill your father and brothers, enslave and prostitute your mother and sisters, and then maybe you'll get a glimpse of life outside those blood-red walls."

"You know nothing! Nothing! These people are good and kind. Our shinobi are brave and just! You spew hate because it is all you've known," Lee yelled, angry tears spilling down her cheeks. In her mind she saw her brother, who was off on a dangerous mission, giving her the thumbs-up. Telling her that someday he would protect the whole Land of Fire with his taijutsu. That he would be a splendid ninja.

"There are not enough ninjas in this one village to protect the whole Land of Fire. How could there be? We're just one village! I am sorry if you felt abandoned, but everyone in this village is doing the absolute best they can. And so I must do my best as well!" Lee knelt down and grabbed her fans from the ground, though one was torn. Rivulets of blood ran from the cuts on her arms, staining the white silk of the sensu. Her clothes were tattered and ripped. Her lips were as red as cherries, the color stretching down either side of her chin. Trace tears cut through her dirt-smudged cheeks like stripes on a tiger. The girl stood up, took a low stance, and spread her fans. She looked at the three men before her, challenging them. A fire blazed in the center of her dark eyes, raging wildly. Her will was an inferno. The three men roared, swarming her on all sides and swinging all at once like some three-headed beast.

Brother. Grandma Hatsu. Mother. Father. Konoha. They flashed before her eyes and resonated in her heart. She yelled:

"I will not allow you to harm this village or any of the people in it!"

Then, a rush of wind, a cloud of dust, a sharp clink of metal, and silence.

"Nicely said."

As the dust cleared, Lee coughed, trying to expel it from her lungs.

A tall form stood in front of her. Her eyes were level with the calming green of his vest. A shinobi! A real shinobi. Lee stepped back and nearly fell to the ground in relief. The man glanced behind at her. The bottom half of his face was concealed by a dark blue mask, and another fourth by a Leaf headband drawn low over his left eye. The metal plate depicting the symbol of the village shone brightly, even in the fading light of dusk, despite scores of faint scratches accumulated from years of use. His hair was an impossibly messy mop of pure silver, its glittering strands sticking up in every direction, seemingly unaffected by gravity. Every strand seemed to move independent from the mass, as if it were lighter than air.

He leaned down close to her face, breaking her quiet reverie.

"You ok, there?" He asked gently. Before Lee could respond, her surroundings rushed back to her at the first sign of movement. The three men who had assaulted her were somehow nearly fifteen feet away, each struggling to get up or locate their weapon.

"Sorry if I'm a little late to the party" the man apologized, looking down at Kiji with a false smile.

White hair, thought Kiji, eyes comically wide. He can't be…

"I wish I'd gotten here earlier to save you from the 'little girl,' but I got a little distracted-Oh, I don't think so," he chuckled, jerking his wrist backward. Lee saw a white line flash through the air, and the three men fell to the ground again, feet snapped together by wire.

They were trying, Lee realized, to sneak off into the woods. They were just going to leave! The silver-haired man seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as he narrowed his eye and spoke:

"Bandits, I dislike," he took a step toward them. "Men who hurt children, women, and the elderly, I detest." He walked slowly. "But men," he knelt before them now, his gaze dull but icy. -The men were scrambling to free their legs, though their hands shook uncontrollably-"who would abandon their comrades...Well, you're just lucky I don't get to decide your punishment." He pulled a thin rope from a bag at his hip and tied them to the base of a large tree.

Lee released a breath she hadn't known she was holding. This atmosphere. Even when I knew I could die at any minute, it didn't feel like this. Is this what a real shinobi feels like? I know I'm safe now, so why do I feel so scared? Is this guy, maybe, someone really powerful?

Lee surveyed the area, feeling oddly numb. Jaku was still out cold. The man with the mattock was curled up, still holding his head. The man-boy with the broken arm was huddled by the stone bench, cradling his twisted limb and mumbling to himself. The axeman had fainted, the spear shaft, still embedded in his middle, extending upward like a flagpole. Kiji sat stubbornly, clutching the spearhead in his stomach and panting, sweating, and bleeding in equal measure.

Did I really cause this much destruction?

She gasped.

"Grandma Hatsu!" she remembered, stumbling over to the door. As the adrenaline faded from her system, Lee felt the painful ache of exertion in muscles she didn't even know existed. She felt bruises forming and throbbing, and cuts stinging in the cool air. Her eyes stung from sweat and tears. "Grandma Hatsu, you can come out now!" she knocked loudly.

The silver-haired man walked around the area, tying up anyone he still considered a threat. Kiji ground out every insult he could think of through his sneering lips, but the man didn't spare him a glance. He walked the young man with the broken arm over to a tree and leaned him against it. He handed him a pill of some sort and, after some hesitation, the man-boy took it and was asleep in seconds.

When he was finished, the man walked over and pulled Lee away from the door calmly, holding her arms back. Her fists and palms were red from beating against it, and her eyes were wild and unfocused. He pushed her gently, but firmly onto the stone bench, where he crouched in front of her.

"Someone's in there?" he asked quietly. Lee opened her mouth, closed it, and nodded.

"Ok, I'm going to get us in there, but I need you to stay right here for now, ok?" Lee nodded again. The man tried the door, then went to check if the window was loose.

"She-she might be injured. One of the men kicked her and I-I pushed her pretty hard earlier," Lee admitted guiltily.

He looked back at her and gave her a warm, comforting look Lee wouldn't have thought him capable of. He walked over to her, crouched again, and put a hand on each of her shoulders. He looked her in the eye.

"You did brilliantly," he assured her. He gave her shoulders a squeeze, stood back up, and went back to the window. He pulled some wire out of his side pack and slipped it under the window. A few seconds later, Lee heard a sharp click and the man was sliding the window up. Her jaw slackened.

Ninjas, huh? she thought, peering at him curiously as he slipped through the small window. Lee heard some rustling and the sound of objects being shifted about. The door opened. The man stood in the doorframe alone.

"Well," he started, "I think I know why these guys were here." He jabbed behind him with a thumb. Lee leaned forward, looking around him. There was a large hole in the floorboards. She stood up, eyes wide. She walked over to him and stared into the room with him.

"A trap door?" she asked.

"It would seem." Something clicked into place.

"Ah! This must be what he meant," Lee said and recounted all Jaku had told her.

"Huh. To think it was here the whole time. Well hopefully that means she's gone to get help. Guess we'll just wait," the man said, moving to lean against a wood beam near the bench. "Come sit down. My squad will probably turn up soon either way, so they can get prisoner transport if no one shows up."

Lee nodded and returned to the bench, stretching her stiff legs out in front of her. She looked to the side and up at him, then back to the ground. "Thank you," she said quietly. "If you hadn't come, I'd probably," she bit her lip, "I'd probably be dead. So thank you."

He looked down at her. "You're welcome," he said simply. Lee became overly aware of her breathing and how loud it seemed and how dry her mouth was and how stupid she had sounded. She blushed and glared at herself inwardly, though it looked outwardly as if she really hated a potato on the ground a few paces away. The man studied her for a second, then smiled a little and looked away.

"Do you mind," Lee asked, looking at him through the corner of her eye, then back at the potato, "if I ask your name?"

"Potato-san," the man said, in a completely serious (but decidedly not his own) voice. Lee's eyes bulged. After she overcame the incredulity, Lee let out something between a giggle and an awkward cough.

"And you?" she asked, looking at him directly, a shy smile playing on her lips.

"Kakashi. Kakashi Hatake," he said, staring too directly into her eyes. Lee nearly gasped.

I thought it might've been, but...he is!

"And you?" he asked. The smile slipped off Lee's lips abruptly. She cursed herself for opening her mouth.

If my parents found out about this...Lee looked down at herself for the first time, just realizing that every discomfort she felt was reflected two-fold on her flesh and clothing. Her sensu were thrown carelessly in the dirt, both bloodied and frayed or torn. I don't think "I fell" is going to cut it this time.

"Lee," she decided. It was better than revealing her whole name. It's a common enough name, at least. If the man, if Hatake-san thought it was odd she only gave her surname, he didn't voice it aloud.

"So, Lee-san," he began, casually. "Where'd you learn to...uhh," he gestured at the men, searching for the right word, "decimate?" Lee looked around.

"I mean, I...," she blushed, staring at her hands, "played ninja with my older brother when we were younger. But this," she gestured as he had, "it just kind of happened. I'm not strong or good at fighting or anything. I'm really quite weak. I just got lucky. And they weren't very bright.

"And Grandma Hatsu. She-she helped." There was an awkward silence at the mention of the old woman. Kakashi stared into the house darkly. "I told her to. To lock herself up in there. That I had a plan. I really didn't," she admitted, "But I told her to go. I didn't know about the tunnel, obviously."

Kakashi said nothing.

"What happened here, exactly? Do you live out here with her?" he asked, finally.

"No. I just visit sometimes. To see her and help out. I used to come here a lot, when I was little. My brother and I...This place, these mountains, it's where we made our fondest memories. I'm not exactly supposed to be here. My parents don't like when I-" she cut herself off.

"Anyway, Grandma Hatsu sent me away all of a sudden. But I forgot my sensu," she pointed at them, "so I came back. And these men were here. She told me to leave, but I couldn't. I wasn't trying to be brave, or anything," Lee said defensively. "I just couldn't leave her. So I tried to protect her. But that big man over there-," she pointed, "his name's Jaku-he attacked us and I had to fight him. I sent Grandma inside, and I managed to take him down. And then that guy, Kiji, attacked me. I didn't mean to really hurt them, I swear. They said the person who hired them was going to do horrible things to my family and the village. I was really scared. So I fought. I know it was wrong to hurt them like that. They were just so much stronger than me so I knew I couldn't just-" In one smooth motion, Kakashi had covered her mouth with his hand and was crouched in front of her once again. Her mouth kept moving for a second, before it snapped shut. He removed his hand slowly, then placed both hands on her knees. He sat all the way down with a quiet thump.

"I just asked what happened. You don't need to defend yourself to anyone. I'm really sorry you had to go through that all alone," his soft tone grew harsh on the last two words. "I wish I'd gotten here sooner. You've seen a lot of really scary things today. But you're safe now, ok? No one's going to hurt you or your family. I promise you: I won't let them.

"Lee-san, you fought bravely. You're clever and strong. So don't think poorly of yourself. None of these men are dead." The unspoken "not yet, anyway" hung in the air. "You did really, really well. And there are lots of really kind, understanding people who are going to help you get through this. And if you ever need to talk, few people will understand how you feel right now as well as I do. You can ask me anything, any time. Ok?" He gave her knees a pat and stood back up, stretching his arms overhead and yawning. The moon was glowing brightly now.

Where did those three go? he wondered.

Lee smiled a little and nodded, feeling suddenly warm and safe, even as the mountain air grew colder.

Kakashi Hatake, huh? Brother said his sensei always described you as cool and aloof. A really powerful ninja that knows a thousand jutsu, who can summon a blade of pure lightning, who can predict his opponents' moves so quickly he seems to read their minds. But you seem like a really warm person, after all. If only my parents would say words like those. I hope I can be like you someday, Hatake-san.

"Excuse me for a second," Kakashi said, peeling himself away from the beam he'd returned to leaning against. Lee watched as he turned around the corner of the house, raising a hand to his ear.

"Hey, what are you three doing?" Lee heard him whisper, clearly irritated. She tilted her head, listening hard. "After all that, you lost it?" He sighed. "Alright, well head this way. There's a clearing northwest of where I left you. Ok, I'll see you in a minute, Naruto. Sakura, you catch up. Sasuke, I want you to head back to the village, and be quick about it. I thought someone was sending help, but apparently not. We need a prison transport team and a couple of medical ninja. There was a pretty bad fight. No one important. Yeah, I'll tell you about it later. Kakashi out."

He took a deep breath and returned to Lee.

"Just had to touch base with my squad. You haven't seen a cat around here lately, have you?" Lee shook her head, confused. He sighed again. "Didn't think so. Well, nothing we can do about it now." He stretched again, then sat down next to her on the bench. Lee fidgeted uncomfortably. Kakashi reached into the pouch on his side and pulled out a smaller bag. He handed it to her. She took it slowly, then opened it.

Nuts?

"It's not much, but this all might take a while. You're going to want some food in your system." He went into the house and came out with a bamboo cup of water. He handed it to her and sat back down.

He's so...nice. Lee almost cried. As she drank and ate, her throat stung and her jaw felt ill-equipped for the task. She set the cup down and chewed slower and slower. She was overwhelmed with sleepiness. She looked at him, concerned.

"Hatake-san, is there something in this?" she asked, trying not to sound accusatory.

"Nothing at all," he assured her, with a little twinkle in his eye. "You're just finally starting to relax a little," he explained, slightly teasingly. Lee nodded and yawned simultaneously. She stretched, wincing when the motion stretched a few cuts. She brought her arms back down slowly. She tapped her feet on the ground, nodding her head from one side to the next. She yawned again, covering her mouth with a hand. The men all seemed asleep, and Kiji had passed out. Lee felt strangely detached as she looked at them. This felt like a different world entirely to the one where she was struggling for her life. She thought of her brother, and the lessons he'd recited to her.

Maybe it was all just a genjutsu, Lee mused, though she didn't actually believe it for a second. She snuck a look at Kakashi, but blushed when she made eye contact, and looked away quickly. Kakashi chuckled in the way only adults could and turned away, propping his elbows up on his knees and resting his chin on his hands. He looked at her again out of the corner of his eye, and Lee imagined he looked rather cheeky under that mask.

"I think I've earned the right to be a little tired." This time he laughed outright, the sound almost like a bark, and his eye formed a cheery crescent above his cheek.

"I think you have, too," he nudged her with a shoulder. A bright smile stretched across Lee's face; she felt like a little kid who'd been let in on an adult's secret. She nudged him back lightly, then scooted back on the bench and brought her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rested her head with a final yawn. She fell asleep instantly.

Well, there it is! Let me know what you though about the content, the formatting (are my paragraphs too long?), the characters...About just how great Kakashi is with older kids. I love that man. I'm hoping to make this a very feedback-oriented fic once it gets rolling, so let's open up for discourse!

Look out for the next chapter: The Hospital

This Wednesday (July 1,2020)

And let me know what day you like updates. I know Sat. and Sun. are popular reading days, but Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. I guess I could write Wednesday and post on the weekend. Let me know.