Chapter 7 – Polka

Dana ran all the way back home, pleased with her success.

The snow was falling heavily now, and had already covered a thin, white cover over the roads and rooftops. Dana stopped as she came up to the last corner round from her house and looked up at the sky, opening her mouth and giggling as the tiny flakes tickled her mouth.

She had always loved the snow; to her, it seemed to have some magical quality about it. She spun round with her hands outstretched, watching the snow twirl around her, until she slipped and feel on her bum. But she got up instantly and continued to laugh. During this time of the year, nothing could get Dana down: the happiest times of her life had always occurred when there was snow and so she always felt a kinship with it.

Finished playing, Dana continued round the corner and was surprised to see Kakashi at the front door of the house, bending down as though he was looking at something on the steps.

"Hey!"

Kakashi jumped and spun round guiltily as Dana walked up to him.

"Oh – Hey! – Dana!" he said, scratching the back of his head, "what are you doing out here?"

"Was doin some Christmas shopping," Dana answered him, showing him her tiny, brown paper bag.

"But-um- the shops closed an hour ago," Kakashi persisted, his one eye constantly looking back like there was something distracting him.

"Well, I was dropping Itachi's present off at his hou- What's up with you?"

While Dana had been talking, Kakashi had been looking behind him and then adjusting his position slightly. But when Dana asked what was wrong with him, he froze and a sweat drop appeared on his head.

"What?"

"You're acting like a cat on a hot-tin roof!"

Kakashi shook his head nervously. "Well, it's freezing out here."

Dana narrowed her eyes and poked her head to the side to try and see behind him. Instantly Kakashi shifted to block her view, and when she tried the other side, he moved again.

"Wotcha hiding?" Dana asked suspiciously.

"Nothin'."

"I...I...I – I have a...hole in my trousers."

Dana's eyebrows shot up.

"You have a hole in your trousers?"

"Yeah..."

"At your ass?"

"Yeah...Which explains why I'm so cold as well."

Dana burst out laughing. "Ya know what Kakashi: You're the worst liar I've ever met – You're bloody hopeless!"

Dana was doubled over in hysterics as Kakashi sighed in resignation.

"Alright, alright. It was the first thing that came to my head."

"Well, that was obvious," Dana gasped as she wiped away her tears of laughter. "So what're you hiding?"

"If you must know...It's your Christmas present."

As he spoke, Kakashi stepped to the side, revealing a large box wrapped in Christmas paper and tied with a big red bow. Dana stared at it in awe and disbelief. She had seen other kids get presents like that, but had never had one herself.

"For me?... That beautiful present is for me?"

Kakashi smiled. "Don't know about beautiful, it was a kinda last minute thing, and wrapping it was hell of a hard. But yeah, it's for you."

He thought Dana would erupt into an explosion of happy squeals and make a grab for the present, but to his surprise, she looked down at her little bag despondently. He bent down so his face was level with hers and tenderly poked her button-like nose so she would look at him.

"Why the long face, egg-head?"

"Egg-head" was something Kakashi had called her one time to wind her up, after she had told him that she detested eggs. It was successful in annoying her at first, but as time went on, it became an endearing nickname for her.

"It's just...my present for you doesn't seem to compare..."

Kakashi looked down at the crumpled little bag she held and smiled.

"Hey, it's the thought that counts. I'm sure whatever you've got me will be fantastic."

Dana shrugged. "Well, it's the best I could do. Next year it'll be better."

Kakashi smiled and side-glanced at his box.

"You wanna open yours now?" he asked in a secret whisper.

Dana looked at the present again; this time, Kakashi could see the longing in her eyes.

"But it's not Christmas until next week," she said, her voice barely containing her excitement.

Kakashi straightened up and picking up the box, placed it in front of her. "Yeah well, you might as well open it now, Suki was gonna have to open it when I gave it to her anyway so she could look after it until next week; but since you know about it, might as well save Suki the trouble."

Dana was now intrigued. Slowly she reached out and untied the ribbon before unfolding the paper and pushing it out of the way. It was one of those large cardboard boxes that Kakashi stacked all his papers in. She looked up at Kakashi and he nodded, encouraging her to continue.

As she went to open the lid, she jumped up in fright as the lid jumped up like something had hit against it, accompanied by a small squeak.

Dana looked up at Kakashi, wondering if this was meant to be some kind of joke, but he only smiled and told her to open the box.

Holding her breath in anticipation, Dana quickly whisked the lid off.

The bottom of the box was covered in a soft, cotton blanket and sitting on top of this, was a snowy white puppy, with floppy ears and a red and white polka-dot scarf around its neck.

On seeing Dana, it squeaked in delight and jumped out of the box, with surprising strength and agility, and landed on her lap. It then proceeded to try to lick her face affectionately.

For a moment, Dana could only stare at the little creature, her mouth slightly agape. She then looked up at Kakashi.

"A puppy?" she said faintly.

"A puppy," Kakashi replied, unsure of her reaction.

Dana looked down at the puppy again, and gently lifted it up and brought it close to her face. It was only when the puppy licked her nose, did Dana come out of her daze, and she hugged the little thing tenderly.

"I can't believe it," she gasped happily, "you got me a puppy!"

"Yeah, I did," Kakashi replied, satisfied that she was happy with her present, "you see one of my ninja dogs – well, he mated – and his mate just had a litter, and her owner couldn't afford to keep all the pups so he asked if I wanted one."

Dana got to her feet, the puppy having climbed up onto her shoulder and was now securely nestled into her neck.

"As you can see," Kakashi said with a laugh, "he's adopted some of his father's dexterity. If you look after him well, and train him with you, he'll become a fine nin- Huh!"

Dana had quietly walked up to Kakashi as he had been talking, and was now hugging him tightly. Kakashi went rigid, unsure what to do and his cheeks were blushing profusely.

"Thank you," he heard Dana whisper: "Thank you so much!"

Awkwardly, he patted Dana's shoulder before gently releasing himself from her hold.

"You're welcome."

She smiled, suddenly feeling very embarrassed at hugging him.

"Let's get inside, eh?" Kakashi said, opening the door and motion to Dana to go in. "You'll need to think of a good name for him."

Dana paused in the doorway and looked down at the little ball of fur on her shoulder. Her eyes fell on the little scarf around his neck.

"Polka," she said with a smile, "I'll call him Polka."

TADA! Two chapters within 24 hours – don't say I'm not good to you! Lol! Anyway, time to turn things up a notch! In the next chapter things will have moved on up to about a year before Itachi kills his clan. I know in the manga that makes him about 13/14 (coz that was when he became captain of ANBU) but for the sake of my story, I'm gonna pretend he's older when he does all that (coz he looks older in my opinion!!!) and coz there will be some adult content comin up later on. Just in case anyone freaks out! Till Next Time!