Author's Note: As always, thanks for all the alerts/favorites : ) Enjoy.

Chapter 6

Kakashi rubbed his hands together, warming them with the friction, as the fire he'd made hours ago died down. Everyone else had gone to bed, leaving him to guard the site, but he didn't really mind. If anything, it was nice to have the solitude and time to clear his head. Of course, his head wouldn't really clear.

He was still puzzled with what to do about Hiroshi. Even though he was showing signs of returning to normal, Kakashi had a sickening feeling that he may become even more introverted after this mission, once he loses his newfound friend. Kakashi let out a frustrated sigh as he laid down on the cold earth. He had to do something to prevent him from going through what Kakashi did. He knew it wasn't too late yet, but he also knew that if he kept wasting time, Hiroshi would never get over it.

As if on cue, Hiroshi let out an audible cry, sending Kakashi running over to the tent where their client and his son slept. Both were sleeping, but Hiroshi was tossing and turning as sweat built up on his contorted face. Careful to not get hit by his flailing, Kakashi picked him up, instantly waking him. The boy just stared at him with wide terrified eyes while his whole body shook in fear. Kakashi carried him over to the almost dead fire and set him down next to it.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," Kakashi said sternly. Hiroshi just stared at dead fire, tucking his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "Hiroshi, do you hear me?" Hiroshi gave a very slight nod and then rested his head against his knees.

All of his work in controlling his emotions was futile, for Kakashi felt like a hurricane was erupting inside of him as he looked for fire wood. That look in Hiroshi's eyes, the way he held onto himself when he sat down, all of these were all too familiar to Kakashi. He dreamt of death. Maybe not his own, but he definitely saw someone's death.

After Kakashi had enough wood to get a respectable fire going for a decent amount of time, he came back to the site and found Hiroshi exactly how he left him. He didn't look like a six year old boy anymore, but a person who's seen too much. His shoulders were slouched in defeat as his blonde hair floated lazily around his head, moving whichever way the wind moved it. His feet were planted firmly on the ground, as if that was the only thing keeping him sane, and his knuckles were white from clutching his legs.

"Are you awake Hiroshi?" Kakashi asked as he started rebuilding the fire. He already knew the answer, but he needed to give the boy reason to respond. The last thing he could do was let him sink deeper into his mind.

"Yes," Hiroshi answered with that all too familiar voice. Kakashi shuddered at how this mirrored the night his own Sensei took him to his home, the night Sakumo Hatake killed himself.

"How are you feeling?" He asked gently as the fire roared to life. Hiroshi didn't even flinch at the sudden heat.

"Like someone just cut me in two," Hiroshi mumbled, adjusting his head so he could see the fire and still rest his head on his knees. "again." He added after a few seconds. He took an unsteady breath and then sat up more, looking somewhat like himself again. "It's strange… I feel like this is all just a trip."

"It is," Kakashi said, not understanding what Hiroshi was saying.

"No, not this mission… This whole thing…. Mom always promised me she would let me meet you one day, once I got a little older and could come to Konoha alone. For some reason, she was adamant about not going to the village… Anyways, she always said that when I got older, I could, if I wanted, spend a few weeks in Konoha, then come home and spend some time with her. And so, this just doesn't feel real… It feels like in two weeks I'm going to go home and Mom will be there, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, just like she always would stand, and ask me about my trip. And then I'd tell her about you and the one day of school I did and that weird Guy Sensei guy and how I got lost and how I got to meet your team and go on a mission with you all with a really nice old lady. Then she'd tell me that she was glad I had a good time and ship me off to bed because I'd look 'dead tired' in her opinion. Then when I woke up, she'd be singing some old song to herself, washing dishes or drawing something or just wandering around like she use to. And then she'd smile at me and ask how I slept and if I wanted to draw pictures with her or if I wanted to hear a story or go to the park. Any time she had the day off, we would always do things together. But… now, I'm starting to realize… that won't happen. She's gone… Someone who didn't even know who she was, that she liked to sing, that she could draw pandas really good, that she could be happy and sad and angry and lonely and afraid and brave just like that person could be…. They killed her…" Hiroshi's voice shuddered to a stop and he violently rubbed his eyes, trying to hide that he was crying.

"That's the first time I've said that out loud," he whispered. "My mom is dead… and she isn't coming home…"

"Hiroshi…" Kakashi said gently, touching his son's shoulder. He looked over at his father with eyes filled with mourning and the deep sadness that shinobi adopt over the years, yet he was only six. "I understand. Your mother, Akahana, was the world to you and your only family. You didn't think she'd ever die…. But people die Hiroshi and it's really sad, but that's okay. It's okay to be sad because you're right; they didn't know her and it isn't fair, but don't let it consume you, promise?" Hiroshi stared at Kakashi, like he was seeing a new person.

"You understand?" Hiroshi whispered. Kakashi nodded.

"Being a shinobi, you're surrounded constantly by the shadow of death. My mother died when I was younger than you are from some sort of rare illness. When I was about your age, my father killed himself," Both Kakashi and Hiroshi shuddered at the thought, " and then when I was older, everyone on my team died. I understand very much, more than I wish I did." Hiroshi leaned his head against his dad, feeling so much less alone now that he knew he wasn't the only person who'd ever experienced the soul devouring sadness of losing someone so special.

"What'd you do?" Hiroshi asked, "When your parents died?"

"In Konoha, there isn't a law requiring a child to have a legal guardian until they are eighteen, like there is in the Sand Village, so I just lived on my own. My Sensei helped me a lot of course, so I wasn't completely alone, but… yes. It wasn't good," Kakashi answered simply, clipping his last word. Hiroshi understood that his dad may still, even now, feel those sad feelings, so he moved away from the topic of his grandparents. Instead, he sat in the comfortable silence, until he drifted back asleep.

Once the young boy fell into a deep enough sleep, Kakashi laid him back down in the tent and went to extinguish the fire since the sun was beginning to rise. The fire squealed in pain at the water wiping it out until it finally simmered down and disappeared. It wouldn't be long until everyone else would be awake, so Kakashi pulled out his book, not really in the mood to read, but he needed to look bored or distracted. As soon as he got comfortable on the ground and started reading, the group began to emerge from the tents.

"Good morning Sensei," Sakura said with a yawn as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Good morning Sakura," he mumbled tiredly. Staying up all night never bothered him, but that moment with Hiroshi was mentally exhausting. Sakura plopped down on the ground across from her sensei, taking in her surroundings again.

"Sensei, I have a question I was thinking about last night…. If you don't mind me asking," Sakura started, yawns sprinkled within her phrase. Kakashi nodded to show he was listening, but continued reading. "Hiroshi is your son right?" Kakashi nodded again. "If you don't mind me asking, who's his mom?"

"It isn't any of your business," Kakashi said, coating his voice in apathy, "but even if it was, you wouldn't know her. She's from a different village, and from what I hear, quite dead now."

"Oh…" Sakura said, looking back at Hiroshi's tent. "I'm sorry Sensei." Kakashi just rolled his eyes at her and then kept reading. Their client was the next to wake up. She climbed out of the tent with a smile on her face as she stretched, her bones creaking from wear.

"Good morning shinobi. Shall we start on our way?" she asked as she leaned back, her spine cracking all the way down her back.

"I'll go wake Naruto and Sasuke," Sakura said, climbing back into the tent where both Naruto and Sasuke were fast asleep. "Sasuke, it's time to wake up," she said, shaking him gently. He blinked awake and started to get up. "Naruto! Get up! We're leaving!" Naruto flew out of his peaceful sleep and almost through the top of the tent, now pretty awake.

Kakashi cleaned up the camp site and woke Hiroshi, who didn't even look like he'd slept, but was willing to walk anyways. Once they got rid of any signs of their presence at the site, the group continued on their journey to the tea country.

The rest of the trip involved Hiroshi trying to draw pictures of everyone in the group, their client (whose name was discovered to be Ayame, but she said to called her Granny) telling them more stories of the hidden leaf when she was young, Sakura hitting on Sasuke at every possible moment, Sasuke and Naruto bickering every five minutes, and Kakashi reading Itcha Itcha about four times. After the week and a half of travel, they finally arrived at Granny's village in the evening.

"Stay, just for the night. I can't have you all making the journey back to the leaf village without full stomachs and a goodnight's sleep," Granny said as they approached her house. Before Kakashi could refuse for the group, the genin and Hiroshi accepted with extreme amounts of enthusiasm, so he just shrugged.

"Here, let me help you!" Hiroshi said when he saw Granny struggling with a pot of water that she was using to make ramen. He took the pot from her and put it on the stovetop with ease.

"Oh what would I do without you Hiroshi? Thank you," she said with a smile as she started the rest of the preparations on dinner. Hiroshi blushed and rubbed the back of his head, not use to being praised so much.

"It's nothing," he said, walking out of the kitchen and into the extra room in her house, where all the shinobi were sleeping tonight. Granny's house was bigger than they expected, with a living room, kitchen, eating room, extra room, and then several bedrooms upstairs.

"I have a big family," she explained, even though she was now the only person living in the giant house.

Inside the extra room sat the three genin, trying to play a card game but every time Naruto's hand didn't beat Sasuke's, he'd claim he was cheating and have a fit. Kakashi, on the other hand, was asleep probably for the night, which was understandable. He had barely slept the entire journey.

"Hey Hiroshi, wanna play?" Naruto asked as he reshuffled the deck to keep Sasuke from cheating. Hiroshi sat down in between Naruto and Sakura, folding his legs. Naruto dealt some cards and they started "playing", but Hiroshi could tell that none of them actually knew how to play the game very well because there were constant discrepancies over whether they were supposed to do something one way or the other, so Hiroshi decided to go see if Granny needed help instead.

"Back again Hiroshi?" she asked as she mixed ramen.

"I just wanted to see if you need any help," he said as he walked over to her. She smiled at him but kept an eye on dinner.

"Actually, there is something you could do for me," she said as she reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a beaded change purse. "If you could go to the store in town and get me a few things, that would be wonderful."

"Oh… okay," he said reluctantly, unsure of whether Kakashi would want him out on his own or not.

"Don't be nervous. The town is normally bustling at this hour, so you shouldn't run into trouble. All I need is a pound of rice and some green tea leaves. You can get them both at the grocery store. Can you remember that?" she asked the nervous looking boy.

"Rice, tea, grocery store. Got it," he said, slipping his brown shoes back on and walking out the door. Standing on Granny's front porch, he hesitated again. He knew Kakashi wouldn't want him walking on his own, not in a foreign place, but he was asked to do it, and turning back now would be rude.

"I just have to do it," Hiroshi said to himself, walking down the stairs and following the lights to get to town. It wasn't too far of a walk but it was a cold night, making the walk feel longer. Hiroshi stepped into town and was instantly frightened by the extreme amounts of people. She had told him it was 'bustling' but this is ridiculous. He just tried to hurry through, looking for a grocery store, but he was too freaked out to even read signs. Then he saw her, leaning against a door frame with her arms crossed. Her thick blonde hair rested on her shoulders while her blue eyes focused on the person she was in conversation with. It had to be her.

"Mom?" Hiroshi yelled towards the woman, but she didn't flinch. She wasn't wearing shinobi gear, but his mother never did unless she was working. Did she somehow survive her mission? Were the people wrong about her being dead? "MOM!" he yelled more pronouncedly, people turning to look at the boy who they assumed was a beggar since he wasn't dressed particularly well and hadn't showered yet.

Hiroshi squirmed his way through the crowd, afraid he'd get swept away by the sea of people and lose her if he didn't hurry. The man she was talking to made eye contact with Hiroshi as he hurried towards them. Finally he broke from the crowd and made it to her.

"Mom I'm so glad to see you. You can't believe the interesting days I've had, but I'm ready to go home now," he said quickly, but then he looked up at her. There was no way this was his mother. Her eyes weren't as big and she looked younger. She also didn't smell like roses. "I… I'm sorry… I mistook you for someone else…." Embarrassed, Hiroshi ran, but not back to Granny's house. He just ran as far away as he could from everything.