Two days later-

Kakashi stared at the piece of paper in his hand and blinked. No way. It just wasn't possible. Was it? And yet there it was boldly scrawled in black ink on the piece of paper in his hands, Naru Uzumaki. He blinked again, unable to fully comprehend what he was holding in his hands.

She was his student. The ban that prevented him from being close to her had finally been lifted! He could finally get close to Naru. Could get to know her, and take care of her like he had wanted to from the beginning.

"What you got there?" A familiar voice asked in a rumbling baritone, and he nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned his head and found his child hood friend and old Anbu partner Maito Gai standing right behind him.

How the hell had he managed to sneak up on him? Kakashi looked the man over, sensing that something was different about him and frowned when he noticed that the man's short dark hair was slicked back, he was wearing a short sleeved navy blue shirt, his jounin vest a pair of black capri pants and fingerless gloves. Kakashi blinked again and pointed at the man, unable to articulate what he was thinking so that he could ask Gai what he was doing looking...normal.

Gai gave him a smile and straitened his spine since he had had to lean down a bit to see what Kakashi was staring at with such an awed expression on his face. "I got tired of the women folk and the small children running from me in terror." Gai explained as he snatched the slip of paper from the copy nin and scanned it. His dark eyes stopping on the name of the fourth Hokage's daughter.

Naru Uzumaki-ah now he understood why Kakashi had such an odd expression on his face. He was in shock.

He supposed that he'd be in shock too if he were in Kakashi's shoes. He had been forbidden to have contact with the girl since the incident seven years ago when the child had been dragged out of her home by a group of drunken pedophiles hell bent on putting the 'demon' in it's place.

The Anbu had managed to suppress the group and throw them all in jail before they had hurt the girl, but Kakashi had found out that two of the men from the civilian council were responsible for orcenstrating the attack. And Kakashi had broken into their homes later that night and murdered both of them in cold blood.

As a result he had been forbidden to go near the girl, or raise a finger to help her or defend her.

It was the councils way of killing two birds with one stone. Torturing the girl, and forcing Kakashi to stand idely by and watch as she was beaten, abused and god knows what else.

To Naru it was nothing more than sheer human cruelty.

To Kakashi, it had been a punishment for trying to protect the one that he loved.

"What are you going to do Kakashi? Naru is too old to adopt now." And on top of that she was now seen as an adult in the eyes of the villagers. There was no telling what the council would try to do to her now that she was an unprotected adult. Surely Kakashi must be aware that the council could draft Naru for certain missions in an effort to kill her.

"I don't know. Like you said, she's too old to adopt."

"But you still want to take her in?"

Kakashi sighed and ran his fingers through his silver hair and started to pace back and forth in the hallway. Gods yes, he still wanted to take her in. She was the only family that he had left, he wanted her where he could see her, touch her, and reach her should she need him. And she would, he didn't bother to deny that. It would be stupid of him to try and kid himself about that.

"Yes." But if he tried to take her in at this point, she would think of him as some creepy guy with ulterior motives. And technically he was, but none of them were bad. And he'd rather cut off his right arm than hurt her.

Gai was quiet for a second as he thought. A second later he smiled and glanced at the copy nin. "Say have you found a wife yet?"

Kakashi stopped pacing and turned his head to glare at his friend and bared his fangs behind his mask. The Hokage had been trying to get him to marry and sire children to resurrect his clan's blood line. And while he had looked for a wife, he hadn't found anyone that he would care for. No one that could run his house hold, or welcome him home if he was covered in blood like he often was after a mission.

Most of the females that he had met with were cold, ambitous women that cared nothing for hearth or home.

The things that mattered to him. "No. Why?"

Gai smiled at him, and Kakashi started to get a bad feeling. What kind of hellish idea had popped into Gai's mind this time? "What is that you want the most Kakashi?"

"I want to be close to her. I want to see her smile, hear her laugh. I want to chase away the demons that haunt her every waking and sleeping moment."

"Do you love Naru-chan?" Gai asked curiously. If he didn't know any better he would think that the copy nin was deeply in love with Naru, he was certainly obsessed when it came to Naru. He had a shrine to her in the spare bedroom of his apartment. He had pictures, old stuffed toys, and even some hair from the girl's last hair cut.

Kakashi growled at him and snapped. "Of course I love her. I wouldn't have murdered two people in cold blood if I didn't love her."

"I know." Gai said. And it was true, Kakashi didn't kill people for just anyone. That plus the state the two corpses had been in when they were discovered, were a testament to Kakashi's anger and rage over having his family targeted in such a way.

"Why do you ask?" Kakashi wondered out loud, suddenly feeling nervous about Gai's questions. He didn't know what he was thinking but he was sure that he wouldn't like it once Gai decided to share his thoughts.

"I was just thinking-" Oh god here it comes. Kakashi thought as he cringed. "That Naru had never really known kindness, or safety. She was forced to live without comfort or companionship. Without a family. Maybe instead of adopting her...you could marry her instead."

Kakashi gaped at him like he had grown a second head. There was no way in hell Naru would go for that idea. 1) She didn't know him. 2) She had been subjected to all kinds of abuse since she was a child. She wouldn't feel safe with him, and wasn't likely to let him show his affection for her. If there was one thing that he knew about himself it was that he would want to touch her. He would feel compelled to touch her. To reach out and take her small hand in his own, to kiss her finger tips.

3) He doubted that it would be a very good idea at all. Even though, being married to him did have it's perks. For one the villagers and the council would'nt be able to touch her. Kakashi would never allow it. Gai would never allow it. And neither would the Hokage.

"I don't think-"

"It could work, Kakashi. Naru grew up without warmth and love. You could give her the things that she needs, the things that would help her feel happy and safe. You could be her family in the truest sense of the word."

Kakashi chewed on his bottom lip. Gai painted a pretty picture of the perfect life, a life with a wife, a kid or two, of him and Naru side by side. But he still didn't think the girl would go for it. After so many years of pain and suffering Naru had learned to expect the worst of people. Taking a husband would'nt change that.

If anything it would only scare her more...