Chapter Three: Kakashi Hatake

"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family."Lee Iacocca

Sasuke sighed as he momentarily stopped telling the story. Sasuke never knew that simply telling a story could have such an impact emotionally on him. Sure, Izami had told him alot about her early days, but she hadn't opened too much, and he had to make do with what he had heard, and what he knew from others, to piece together the story. But it was like he was hitting a spot in him that he didn't think he could hit. He sighed again, rubbing at his temples. Why the hell was this still so hard to do?

Hitomu sighed impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't know the struggle that his father was going through, and he was finally getting to know something about his mother. It was nice...Until his father stopped talking, and that frustrated him to hell.

"Why did you stop?" Hitomu complained.

Sasuke looked at him. It was like he was finally coming back to the present, and he realized how frustrating this would be to his son. Sasuke then glanced at Kakashi, who chuckled slightly, and at Tachi, who seemed rather interested in what was being said.

"I can't believe she actually thought my hair was that strange." Kakashi commented with another chuckle, touching his hair for a second before dropping his hand back down into his lap.

"No offense, but I kinda thought the same at first." Tachi added with a laugh. Kakashi looked at him, and then shrugged slightly.

"I was never told that it was her idea to come." Kakashi sounded geniually surprised. Not that Sasuke blamed him. When Izami told him the same thing, he looked at her as if she had grown a third eye.

"Yeah. Something like that. I don't really remember how it went since it was so long ago." Tachi spoke fast, dismissively. Kakashi nodded, and then there was silence for a few moments.

"Wait, so are we gonna continue the story? I wanna know more." Hitomu questioned, eyebrows furrowing together.

Sasuke sighed, rubbing at his neck. Why did he agree to this? Oh. Yeah. Because his son inherited his mother's damn stubbornness, and would bug him to hell and back until Sasuke relented. He was about to call it quits for the day, but Kakashi seemed to pick up on Sasuke's dour mood.

"If you don't want to, I can always continue it." Kakashi spoke up with a slight kindness to his tone that bugged Sasuke. Sasuke glanced at him regardless, and shrugged. He didn't feel like hearing a bunch of whining anyways.

"If that's what you want to do, be my guest." Sasuke sat back in his chair, straightening out his posture. Hitomu grinned, laughing slightly as he crawled over to his dad, and laid a head against him as he looked at Kakashi, waiting for him to continue with the story.

Kakashi glanced over at Sasuke, and then nodded as he leaned back slightly to contuine on with the story.

"So...Where were we? Ah right..."

~.~.~.~.~

It took less than two hours to get Izami settled into her new room in Kakakshi Hatake's apartment. Her room was small with a window on the west side that was currently letting in plenty of light. A rather large bed with plain white sheets was in the center of the room. There was a door on the right side of the room that was the closet. Izami's parents had hung up her clothes in there, and sat her underwear and other such things in a dresser that Kakakshi had placed in there.

A small bookcase was in the room where Izami's books where. A few pictures had been set up in the room to make it more comfortable, and then her parents left. A hug from her mother, and her father looked at her with what she thought was sadness for a moment before they were both gone.

"Are you hungry? I can cook something up, and then we can get to know each other a bit. What do you like to eat?" Kakashi asked, trying to lighten the mood. Izami glanced up at Kakashi, and then shrugged, feeling a bit timid." You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to bite." He joked, ruffling her hair. Izami scowled, looking down at her feet.

"I'm not afraid, and some beef stir fry sounds good." She mumbled. Kakashi felt some relief that she finally spoke. That she finally said something. That was a step in the right direction.

"That's pretty easy. Come on, I'll show you where the kitchen is, and then I can start some dinner for us. Do you like crunchy rolls?"

"It's ok." She answered with a shrug. Kakashi looked at her a moment longer, and then nodded.

"Hmm, ok. I guess I can cook those too. Won't be too much trouble if I start now." Izami nodded stiffly, feeling herself warm up to the strange man rather fast.

Dinner was made rather fast, as Kakashi had said, and soon the two were sitting across from one another. Izami began eating while Kakashi looked at her, trying to think of a way to make her more comfortable. He knew all too well what it felt like being separated from one's own parents. Though, her arrangement wouldn't be as permanent as his own separation was...

"So, what kinds of things do you like?" He asked as he began eating to shake away the thoughts he was beginning to have. He locked those memories away in the place in his mind he always swore to never go in, and continued to focus on Izami.

"Hmm, I like to play. My brother, Tachi, and I would play alot. We'd play ninja." Izami's cheeks burned from embarrassment as she realized how stupid the admission sounded, considering who she was talking to, but she couldn't bring herself to care very much as she continued.

"Tachi and I liked to watch our brother, Hikaru, train too. He's a genius. At least that's what everyone back home said. They said that he was a type of genius that only showed up once in a life time and Tachi is just as smart too. Tachi's alot different than Hikaru though. Hikaru's kinda mean to me, but Tachi and I get along pretty well. I like to read too. I mostly like comics, but those are a bit easier. I don't really like reading the things on the boring stuff like charka, and ninjutsu, and useful things like Papa likes me to read. Those things read like a computer manual, and it's very boring. I like stuff with stories, and I guess that's why comics are so fun reading. If I wasn't training to be a ninja though, I'd probably want to study flowers. I like flower arrangements, and figuring what looks good together, and what it means. I used to go over to Mimi's Flowers in the Cloud, and watch Miyuki-san make the arrangements. Sometimes she'd let me help, and that was pretty fun."

"So...I'm guessing becoming a ninja wasn't your first idea?" Kakashi concluded. Izami shook her head.

"No. I have talents. They may not be showing right now, but I know I have talent. What's the use in letting such talents go to waste? I'd rather become a ninja. It seems fun." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her comment. It sounded more like something that had been ingrained into her mind, but he didn't say anything to call her out on it." So, what about you? You've had me tell you all this stuff about me. I think it's only fair that you tell me some stuff about you." Kakashi looked at her in surprise, and then shrugged slightly.

"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'm currently nineteen, and an ANBU. I like reading when I have the time off. Hmm, I think that's all you really should know about me." Izami raised an eyebrow.

"That was hardly anything at all!" She yelled, scowling again. Kakashi just smirked at her.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. You'll be staying here quite a while, so I think that's a good introduction." Izami pursed her lips, and began eating at her dinner. Kakashi smirked, and shook his head as he continued to eat.

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"Why should I have to go bed? It's only eight thirty." Izami complained, crossing her arms. Kakashi sighed. He'd been having this same argument for the past five minutes.

"It's time to go to bed. You'll need a full rest tomorrow. We're going to get some blood tests done, and make sure you're ok for training, and then we'll be heading over to the Academy to get you enrolled, and there'll be paper work, and all kinds of-"

"I still don't understand why I have to go bed so early. At home, I don't go to bed until way later than this. I don't go to bed until like midnight sometimes."

"I bet you did that against your parents' wishes too, huh?" Izami's burning cheeks were all the confirmation that Kakashi needed."Believe me, I sleep very lightly. I'll be able to tell if you even move out of your bed to go to the bathroom. Last thing I want is to have a fight to get you up. So, get your pajamas on, and get into that bed." Izami pursed her lips, and then sighed.

"Ok. Fine. Whatever." Kakashi sighed as he turned to leave the room. He cast one last glance at her before leaving the room, closing the door behind him as he waited for her to call him so he could tuck her in to bed.

It took less than ten minutes before Izami cracked the door open with a sullen expression. She was dressed in an overly long, blue t-shirt, and black pants underneath. Her shoulder length, light brown hair was loose around her thin shoulders.

"I can't get up on that stupid bed." Kakashi sighed, and walked into the room, helping her up, and then attempted to tuck her, but she snatched the covers from him, causing him to be mildly surprised again."I can do it myself." With that said, she tucked the covers around her, and then crossed her arms as she cast a glare towards Kakashi. The ANBU sighed heavily, and then shook his head.

"Look, this arrangement isn't necessarily easy for me either, ok? But if you laid off the butt-face routine, it could be much easier for the both of us. If you just give this a chance, I'm sure you'll find it that it's not as bad as you think it is."

"I never said it was bad. Can you go? I'm tired." Kakashi sighed, and stood up.

"Ok. Well good night." Izami nodded curtly, closing her eyes as she went to bed. Kakashi gave her one last look as he paused by the door. After the moment was over, he shut off the light, and closed the door behind him.

Just give it time, Kakashi. She's not used to you, or this place. She's adjusting to living in a new place with someone she doesn't even know. Just give her time. She's only testing you. Just give her time.

A familiar voice told him in his head. Sighing, Kakashi laid down in his own bed to go to bed.