Disclaimer: Not mine!

AN: I would really appreciate it if you read whats below! But If you want to read the story itself skip past!

To all of my reviewers, subscribers, favoriters and followers….

I'm soooooo sorry. I want you to know I haven't given up on this story! It's still being written. For those of you (which is most of you) who are unaware, I've been very busy lately. Right after I post that previous chapter my parents got sick (they're pretty much better now). Then I had a lot of schoolwork to deal with because it's my junior year. I was pulling pretty much 18 hour days for a while (I'm sure many of you understand this) with homework and extracurricular. With the speech and debate season over as well a the play I worked on I've had a little more free time. The other thing about junior year is flushing out your resume…. Which means I've been concentrating on my original prose and fiction. Please don't kill me! This chapter is very short and un-betaed so I apologize in advanced…. Enjoy!

Kakashi turned around abruptly, "You are as intelligent as you seem, Hermione." The smiling eye was enough to tell Hermione that she had said enough, but she persisted anyway.

"And you're more afraid than you seem, Kakashi."

The fake grin faded away. "I'm just a coward. I was too afraid of breaking the rules and I…" he fell into silence.

"…Kakashi. What do you see and hear, when the dementors are near?

Chapter 11: A Shinobi's Fear

Shinobi are afraid too. Their fear is that, if they truly understood people, they'll understand too well, and the guilt of destroying other people, with the same worries, the same vices, and the same sort of lives would destroy them, themselves.

Hermione watched, fascinated, as Kakashi's eye crinkled up in to what, she now realized, was a very insincere smile.

Continuing to stride on, he responded in an almost sing-song manner.

"We wear the masks of grins and lies

it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—"

Now they were at the doors to the castle and continued on to the grounds, moving steadily towards Hagrid's run- down hut. By now, Kakashi's forced smile had fled his face, succeeded by an almost nostalgic look.

"Have you ever read any Paul Dunbar?"

"Um… like 'We Wear the Mask' Paul Dunbar, right?" She was certain she was correct, but something was bothering her about it. And he'd avoided the question again.

"And when the world is over-wise

We known not how to hide our sighs

Better they only see me while

I wear the mask."

"That's it."

"Astute as ever, Hermione."

He turned abruptly and rapped on the door to the little cabin.

"You didn't answer my question." Hermione was annoyed. Again.

Kakashi slowly turned to face her. "I'm confident in your abilities." His smile was more genuine than it had been before.

The door was opened, and a teary-eyed Hagrid looked down up the two teens, both of which were still engaged in a three-eyed staring match.

"Er. Allo, 'ermione, Kakashi. Come ta join us then?" By the devastated look on Hagrid's face, they had missed something rather important.

Timeskip: Please take my borrowed time and use it for meditation… Ohm……

Buckbeak was going to be killed. Kakashi could have told Harry, Ron and Hermione that the moment they started their attempts to save the hippogriff. Governments don't care about the individual wants of their people, let alone those of a half giant and a hippogriff. Maybe Buckbeak didn't deserve it, but sacrifices are necessary for a government to function.

Still, he sat by the fire with the threesome. Harry wasn't talking to him, but it was still Kakashi's responsibility to look after the kid.

When mistletoe and various other Christmas decorations began to crop up around the school, Kakashi stopped to stare up at a large bouquet of mistletoe, and was yanked out of the line of fire by a madly laughing Ron. A Brunette wearing a very short skirt shot the two of them a slightly angry and disappointed look.

Still chuckling, Ron inquired, "Don't tell me… You don't know about mistletoe."

The rest of the day Kakashi's shinobi talents were mainly put to use staying out from under the evil plants.

Ron had also explained several other strange traditions.

Man shaped cookies? Ew. Sure he was a shinobi, but he wasn't a canibal.

Presents… it wasn't anyone's birthday.

Strangest of all were the many trees standing guard around the castle. What use would they be against an invasion?

On Christmas morning yet another of the porcupine-ish trees had appeared around his bed, alongside quite a few presents, albeit a smaller pile than those around the other boys.

Mostly he was surprised that the other boys had woken up before him for once. It had to be five in the morning.

He watched with interest as Ron held up a wool sweater, of a rather terrible maroon color. He had to laugh when he saw the look of frustration on Ron's heavily freckled face.

"Oh yes?" Ron's frustration had melted into a look of amusement and mischief "Why don't you open that one, then?"

Kakashi glanced downward and, indeed, there was a rather lumpy looking package. Giving a heavy sigh, he ripped off the red wrapping and starred in what was--dare he even think it? —a pink—MAGENTA—sweater. It was decorated with a surprisingly accurate depiction of the hidden leaf symbol. Oh, Gai could never find out about this.

"Put it on." Ron commanded, barely containing the glee in his voice.

"Oh hell no."

"Come on." Ron jumped down from his own bed, and snatched up the p—magenta— garb. And began to try to forced it over Kakashi's hair, which had even more volume than usual due to a rather ridiculous case of bed-head.

Kakashi quickly grabbed the taller boy's wrists, crossing them over one another and then flipped onto his back, sending Ron flying to the floor on the other side of the bed.

He worried for a second that he'd hurt the teen, but his fears faded away when he heard the hysterical laughter begin and picked the sweater from Ron's hands, which were shaking with laughter.

"Merlin's bear, Kakashi, it's just a sweater!"

AN: note in your review if you got the riddle, please.