"Kakashi?!" The red head exclaimed, turning around to face that familiar head of silver. "What are you doing here?"

"You forgot these." He then walked closer to her and handed her the prayer beads she had forgotten. She hung my head in shame. Kakashi had just witnessed something she hadn't wanted him to see.

"K-Kakashi… I-I-I…" She stammered enough to where she just stopped talking. She dropped my head even further, her chin almost touching her chest, and dragged the beads from his fingers. They slipped easily away from him.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look up at him, lifting her chin with a finger. Seiri only stared into his eyes, or rather, the one onyx eye that she could see that wasn't covered by his headband, There was nothing she could say. What she had done was even too much for her to handle. Kakashi didn't say anything either. He only wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He felt it was all he could do in the moment. He wouldn't get answers from her in such a state. And he did, in fact, need answers from her. She might have been well enough away from Konoha for others not to see, but he couldn't just let her walk away from this.

For the moment, she let her arms hang limp. Seiri didn't understand if Kakashi was doing this because he knew she was going through conflicting emotions or just because it was something to calm me down, or if it was to keep her from running away. Whatever the reason, it was appreciated with how much she needed it.

Then she heard him speak the words she had dreaded him saying. "Do you mind telling me what this is all about? And... they called you Rae?"

She took a deep breath and sighed as she pulled away from him. He deserved to know more than anyone, having been the one to take her in-a complete stranger-and he was the only person she was remotely well acquainted with outside of her Order. Her old Order. But where would she begin?

"I…" She thought back on everything, remembering all the parts of her past that had once been such fond memories, "When I was young, the Priests destroyed my village. They took me in as an apprentice and I was assigned a master like every other child they took in as a recruit. I gave him a fake name. I wanted to hold on to mine, the only thing I had left.

"A month later… I received the mark of their organization…" She pulled her red hair away from her neck and let Kakashi see the twisted mark that was burned on the back of her neck. "I thought that what they were having me do was good. I didn't ask questions, the council-our leaders-promised us that everything they had us do was for the better. I trusted that...

"I was making helping make real changes, for the better, I thought… I was becoming stronger… I could avenge my clan… But the deeper I got into everything, the more complicated it all became." Seiri turned away and stared out into the forest, "When I was a little older, I started training other kids, going on more dangerous missions… kill... killing people.

"A couple months ago, I was sent on a mission to… destroy my old village. The one they had destroyed when I was a kid. I think too much time had past, I was in such a routine, too obedient for my own good and I complied… I killed innocent people, Kakashi. I murdered men, women, and children! The only thing I saved was Jun." Seiri pointed to her horse who was grazing the nearby grass.

"Then... I was told to train a girl named Ahmi… for a week. I did as I was told. Now... Now look at her! I-I just killed her… But she... she was the one who killed one of my only friends. She brought me his head!" Kakashi realized that must have been what the bloody sack was lying a little off to the side. Seiri was hysterical, tears streaming down her face, "After the week was up… I-I was told to go to Konohagakure, here, and gain intelligence on your new Hokage. The one you call Lady Tsunade. I barely got a day away from the Temple and I was already being tracked. Almost killed by that friend of mine... Yehvon… He let me live… I should have let him kill me…" Seiri walked a few paces away and picked up the sack from the ground. "…I cost him his life, Kakashi…" her voice was the quietest of whispers but he still heard her, "I ruined his sister's…"

"Seiri-"

She held up a hand to forestall any question he had. "When Yehvon had found me while I was traveling, he told me that the council had suddenly found me disposable. I still don't understand that. I've been nothing but loyal to them. But they... they were so ready, so willing... to just throw me away. They destroy the strong so no one will challenge them… I was content with my life. What they did was their mistake. But this…" I pointed to the gruesome scene around me, "This is mine…"

Kakashi looked at Seiri with compassion in his eyes. Then he started walking towards her. "Seiri, you don't have to worry about them anymore."

"But I-" He placed a finger against her lips to shush her.

"I'll keep you safe."

He then started to lean in towards her, their faces now only inches apart. Rationally, Seiri knew it wasn't what it looked like, but the irrational part of her grew flustered, suspecting something more romantic. Of course that's not what it was. She backed away from him anyway, "I can't Kakashi… I… I just can't…" She spun around, face flushed, unable to look him in the eyes.

She felt his gaze on her back and she almost regretted pulling away. But she had morals and a code she still followed, whether the council saw that or not. She gave up, or rather was forced to give up, any chance at having love. Seiri wasn't even sure she knew how to feel such a thing anymore. Then she felt a warm presence behind her and it sent shivers down her spine.

"Just know that you don't have to face your problems on your own."

"Kakashi… it's sweet… that you want to help me, but you barely know me. I just met you yesterday."

"Then let me get to know you. I have a feeling you're not the monster you're pretending to be. You've had a troubled past. And this-" he looked around him, "-as bad as it looks, I have a feeling you did it because you had no choice. I was here for the whole thing, they provoked you. I saw your face when that girl threw that sack to you. Looking at the head of a dead friend... I heard their her confession. I can't imagine anyone would have any other reaction than exactly what you did."

Seiri couldn't answer. She had no answer. Kakashi was the first person to ever be even remotely this kind to her and she was shoving it back in his face. Her shoulders slumped and then they racked with her sobs. Tears now flooding down her cheeks like a river. They glistened as they fell to the ground.

She felt Kakashi's arms wrap around her again and she buried her face into his chest this time, holding on to him like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning. Seiri's tears were soaking his jacket but he didn't seem to care. He only held her tighter and told her everything would be alright. But it wasn't alright. She was being hunted by the only people she knew as family.

Except, they didn't think quite so fondly of her anymore...