Miasma

...

"Um, dear Mister..." Anko opened one eye and peered over at Kakashi uncertainly, "Dear Mister Turtle-"

"Toru!"

"Dear Toru-sama." she bowed her head and closed her eyes over her steepled hands, "Sorry if we're wakin' you up, but we really wanna... uh..."

"See you." Kakashi whispered, an expectant smile growing on his face as he watched her.

"We really wanna see you. And, we-cause you're magical!" she clasped her hands tightly against her chest, "So, please, please, please don't eat us."

She blinked her eyes and looked to the boy kneeling beside her, her expression slightly hesitant. He grinned widely at her, his dark eyes glittering, and gave her a thumbs up.

"Perfect! I knew you'd pray the best."

Anko felt a smile blooming on her own face. His enthusiasm was catching.

Kakashi suddenly jumped into the air and landed with a great stomp of his feet, his little hands clenched into fists of excitement.

"Great! Now all we gotta do..." he scampered over to the light-switch next to his bedroom door, tugged over his toy chest, and clambered onto it. He pushed himself onto his tip-toes and promptly flicked the switch, plunging the small bedroom into complete darkness.

Anko let out a sharp squeal, curling in on herself. Was he insane?

There was a small thump as Kakashi slid smoothly off the toy-chest and landed on the floor. As if the all-encompassing darkness didn't bother him at all.

"Kashi-kun!" she wailed, "Why don't you have a night-light...you're-you're so stupid!"

He chuckled low in his chest from behind her, a rushed, gleeful sound that sounded unexpectedly evil in the lurking darkness. She shrieked in alarm and whirled around, arms swinging wildly in terror. Her fist knocked into his temple.

"Ow!" He fell backwards onto his bottom with an audible thud, "Anko-chan! Why'd you do that?" he whined, surprising her.

"Cause you're a ugly little boy who doesn't have a night-light!" she said nastily.

She thought she heard a little whimper at this, but she turned away from him and crossed her arms firmly. It's not like she hit him that hard... right?

"Tou-san," he gasped, and Anko imagined he was holding back sobs, "said I don't need a night-light cause I'm a big boy."

Anko shuffled her feet uncomfortably, wondering if he was just pretending to be upset again. He did that sometimes, and she hated it when he made her look like she cared about him-which she didn't! She hmphed loudly.

"Well you don't sound like a big boy to me!"

A small hurt noise sounded behind her and she thought she could hear the faint rustling of clothing. Like he was hugging himself. In fact, she realized with a small trill of panic, he sounded like he might actually be crying.

"Kashi-kun?" she asked carefully, turning slowly back around to face him.

He said nothing, but continued to make those quiet, pitiful sounds that had her hands wringing together guiltily. What if she had really managed to hurt him this time?

She imagined her mother's disaproving face and felt her stomach twist with shame. Kakashi let out a muffled sob.

Feeling unsure, Anko began to shuffle forwards slowly, waving her hands in front of her so she didn't step on him. All she could think was, he'd better not be faking!

Her left hand brushed over something soft and fluffy that tickled the palm of her hand. Alarmed, she froze for a moment. And then she giggled loudly and began to pat his downy hair in earnest, forgetting to feel sympathetic or guilty for the possibly crying boy before her. His hair was so bouncy!

"You're like a kitty!" she exclaimed, thinking of the thin, fluffy fur on her neighbor's cat and how it felt like Kakashi's. She liked to feed it the beetles that crawled on her front porch.

Suddenly, her newly-dubbed "kitty" caught her wrist mid-pat. He shot his head back, drawing a wet trail of saliva over the palm of her hand with his tongue. He laughed.

"Ew!" she screamed in disgust, stomping her feet, "You're so gross!"

"Gotcha!" He cackled and, keeping his tight grip on her wrist, sprang back to his feet, "You should see your face."

"You can't see my face!"

Anko clenched her fists so as not to punch him again. She knew it. This always happened when she played with Kakashi. She'd bully him and then she'd feel bad-only to have him laugh in her face! Which of course, would only make her want to bully him more... It was an infuriating cycle.

He dragged her over to his closet, still chuckling.

"C'mon, if we don't hurry, we'll miss Toru."

Anko startled, she'd nearly forgotten about the magical turtle. A rush of anxiety swelled within her, snuffing out her previous anger like a gust of wind. Now that the moment was actually upon them she wasn't sure she was ready...

"Alright." he whispered gravely, his mood suddenly somber, "You go first."

"What?" she squeaked.

His hand on her wrist squeezed encouragingly, but he said nothing. A flutter of nerves trembled within her. Why did she have to go fist?

But in the end, she was more scared of looking like she was afraid in front of him than she was of the turtle.

There was a hushed creak as Kakashi pried the closet door open slowly, letting it swing open ominously before her. The room was silent with tension and she wondered if he was holding his breath like she was.

"Go in." he whispered.

She took one little step, and then two; but when she was almost completely inside her courage failed her and she whirled around. Her heart thudded.

"Why am I going first again?" her voice was high and nervous.

There was an ominous silence before he answered. Her stomach filled with dread.

"Cause I'm a ugly little boy." he whispered softly, and she could hear the grin in his voice.

He shut the door and locked it.

...


...

"I just..." Sakumo started, leaning forwards onto the table with his head in his hands, "I just don't know what to tell him. He's always been quick to learn, but... but there's no way for me to tell how much he actually understands."

He looked up pleadingly to Natsuko as if he could read the answer there in the weary lines of her face.

"I don't even know if I want him to really understand..."

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then chose not to and leaned back in her chair with a deflated sigh.

Suddenly a shrill scream interrupted the heavy silence between them, ringing and wrought with terror. There was a small thundering of footfalls on the staircase.

Sakumo and Natsuko both jumped to their feet in alarm, their chairs screeching against the wooden floor. They sped out of the small kitchen and into the hall, scanning for any sign of danger.

Kakashi looked down at them, his dark eyes frightened, from halfway down the staircase. His white hair was tousled and the creamy white skin of his left temple was red and swollen. He opened and closed his mouth several times, frozen mid-step with his hand curled around the banister.

Sakumo immediately relaxed, all of the tension seeping from his posture... He knew that face.

It really only meant one thing.

Caught
.

"Kakashi-kun." he said lightly, each syllable sounding almost musical. Kakashi's eyes widened, detecting danger.

"Tou-san." he nodded once, as if they were just now meeting for the fist time. Natsuko watched the exchange with mild amusement.

"I-"

"-You." Sakumo affirmed, raising his eyebows slightly.

"-I was," Kakashi visibly quailed as the two adults began to slowly advance up the stairs towards him, "I was going to-"

"-You were going to..."

"Going to-to," the boy's eyes darted around, as if looking for the rest of his sentence. Sakumo shook his head wryly, smart his child may be, but it would be many years before he could out-wit his old dad.

"I have to go potty!" Kakashi yelped, turning tail and shooting back up the stairway.

Sakumo caught him before he could reach the second landing.

This time there was no tickling, but Kakashi squirmed just the same.

"I really gotta go-"

"Hmmm," Sakumo glanced down at his pinned child speculatively, seemingly oblivious to the boy's valiant attempts for freedom, "I wonder where Anko-chan is..."

Kakashi froze in the middle of smearing his tongue over his father's forearm, grey eyes wide.

"Ah duhnno whayuh-" (I don't know where)

-A furious-sounding roar and the distinctive sound of rattling wood erupted loudly from behind the closed door beside them. Kakashi's bedroom.

Sakumo raised his brow and sent his son a mildly unimpressed look before rolling off him. Really, one would think that the son of the White Fang would be genetically predisposed to resist all manner of interrogation... Sakumo thought dryly.

He's certainly predisposed to resist all manners of persuasion.

With an exasperated sigh, and a shared look of parental commiseration with Natsuko, Sakumo opened the door, flicked the light-switch on, and slipped inside. Natusko followed him in and Kakashi trailed reluctantly after her, fingers fiddling with a flap on his right pants pocket.

"Easy there, Anko-chan," Sakumo spoke calmly as he approached the rattling door, "I'm-"

"GET! ME! OUTTA HERE!"

With a quick flip of the lock and a sharp turn of his wrist, Sakumo opened the closet door. Anko came barreling out, rolling over herself with the force of her exit.

Natsuko quickly pulled the little girl to her feet, dusting her off and subtly checking her for any injuries.

"What happened, baby?" She pulled the red-faced toddler in for a comforting hug, running her hand through ruffled brunette locks.

At the sound of her mother's voice and the warm cradle of her arms, Anko's ferocious expression crumbled into a look of utter anguish. Her bottom lip wobbling and her eyes shining with held-back tears, she raised a quivering finger and pointed it accusingly towards the little boy hanging back by the doorway.

"There-there wasn't any turtle!"

...


...

"I'm really sorry about this..." Sakumo chuckled from the front porch, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "I don't know what came over him."

Anko looked like she was going to tell him exactly what did come over little Kakashi, but her mother just smiled serenely and slipped her hand around her daughter's mouth.

"That's alright," she said with a deliberate look to the young girl in her arms, "I get the feeling he wasn't the only one. And," she leaned in conspiratorially to whisper in his ear, "it was probably good for her. She can be a bit of a bully."

She smiled and turned to walk away, but his voice stopped her.

"Natsuko-san?"

She paused but did not turn around.

"Thanks."

The word rang heavily in the hushed night around them. She nodded once and then made her way across the stepping stones lining the garden path.

Sakumo watched them walk away into the night, the faint sound of a whistled melody coming back to him and fading slowly into the darkness. When he could put it off no more, he turned on his heel and retreated back into his house, closing the door firmly behind him.

He stalked through the hall and turned into the dimly lit living room quietly. Kakashi was there waiting for him, sitting perched on the edge of the low table that they drank tea at sometimes. Soft gray eyes, iridescent and bright with guilt, slid up slowly to meet his when he stepped into the room.

Immediately, at the sight of his breath-taking wife's eyes looking up at them from the down-turned face of his child, the heat of his anger cooled a couple gradients.

Damn those eyes-how am I supposed to punish him when he looks at me like that?

Feeling suddenly very exhausted, Sakumo sighed and made a vague motion with his hand.

"Get down from there..."

Kakashi immediately slid down, but he didn't look away from Sakumo's weary gaze, standing still and straight. The look on his son's face was expectant and nervous, but accepting. A rush of pride filled his chest at the sight.

Kakashi's moral aptitude hadn't been something that he had learned, it was something that came with him when he was born into the world. Sure, he would push the boundaries and sometimes even cross them, but in the end he always knew when he'd done wrong and he bore his punishment silently.

Sakumo kneeled down so that he was nearly level with the young boy before him.

"Looks like she got you pretty good there, son." he smiled wryly, pushing aside a thin tuft of white hair to reveal the growing bruise on the toddler's temple. Kakashi grinned.

"But even so," he rocked back into a sitting position, tugging the small boy into his lap as he did, "I don't want to hear anything about you locking anymore little girls in your closet."

"Yes, sir."

"And I especially don't want to hear about any magical turtle that's been hiding away in your closet."

Kakashi tilted his head up to look at him through mischievously slitted eyes.

"I lied. Toru lives under my bed."

...


...

Sakumo trudged slowly up the creaking stairs, the small body of his toddler hanging limply over his shoulder.

In the end, he couldn't find it in himself to punish the boy. Be it the fact that he was already so tired from racking his brain to figure out the best way to tell Kakashi about his school-teacher's passing, or that he just couldn't keep an angry face up when confronted with the soft, gentle eyes of his late wife-Sakumo just didn't have it in him.

And besides, Kakashi seemed to have learned his lesson and, judging by the steadily-purpling bruise on the child's temple, Anko had already dished out a more than fair amount of retribution.

He shook his head to himself silently. He wondered, was there ever a child more inclined to collect a more extensive collection of bruises?

Sometimes he worried that Kakashi thought himself made of rubber for all the times he had seen him barreling recklessly through the house on his two tottering legs. He could count the number of times the boy had rocketed down the stairs and crashed smack into the wall at the bottom on all of his fingers and toes.

With a slow sigh that leveled somewhere between exasperation and fondness, Sakumo gently placed his little boy on his bed. He tugged up the sheets to Kakashi's chin, leaving the child un-tucked because he knew that Kakashi would only stretch his miniature limbs out anyway. Half-asleep, the little Hatake rolled over onto his tummy and turned his head to rest on his cheek, his white hair looking very fluffy and silverish against the smooth, white pillow-case.

Sakumo ran a large hand through the child's wayward mane, taking a small measure of relief from the soft warmth. He still didn't know what to tell him... How could he? -When Kakashi lay before him looking for all the world like nothing more than a baby, his fair face still soft with baby-fat and his small body dressed in pajamas that would normally fit a large two-year-old.

But before an answer could magically appear in his head, Sakumo felt something nibble on his big toe underneath Kakashi's bed.

Sliding his foot out and casting a mildly confused glance down at his feet, Sakumo was thoroughly surprised to see two shiny black eyes peering back up at him. His brows raised.

So there is a turtle after all...

...


...

Heehee, sneaky Toru! Or should I say, sneaky Kakashi-kun! I can't decide if it would be a dream-come-true or a nightmare to have to baby-sit that kid lol. Anyway, I hope you enoyed this latest chapter, I know I had a lot of fun writing it. Reviews are always appreciated and hopefully, eventually, answered-so don't hesitate to share your opinion.

I won't be able to update for another week :( I'm sorry. But, it won't be because of writer's block or laziness, so don't worry!

Thanks again for reading!

~Flinty