Another update, I have no excuses for the long wait...

Disclaimer: Reason I was late... Was binge watching gintama/onepiece/digimon/ and the like... How many of you are excited for "Naruto Gaiden"? I'm estatic, which was part of why this chapter came out.

Warning: Light humor, lack of empathy, and slight lack of angst. You know the basics of this story.

Beta: None, and I'm working on going through the earlier chapters and fixing mistakes.

Pakkun Days

Family is more important

Kakashi sat in the back, on the patio looking out at it, in a very creepy forlorn way. You're only 7 brat! 7! You can't be acting like an old man just yet! Just because you became Chuunin 3 months before your 7th birthday, does not give you a right to be so creepy!

I sit next to him, looking up at him. I climb into his lap and proceed to bite his ankle. He flinched from the pain, but immediately returned it by fiercely grappling my front paws, pressing his thumbs into my paw pads.

"Hey, you wanna die you little brat!" I wiggle around, as he just stares at me, a slight angry tick in his forehead. He was unimpressed.

"Lately your insults have been less over dramatic." I can see him staring at me with a calculating eye. I avert my gaze. "What's been troubling you, Pakkun?"

"Nothing really." Kakashi looks at me, his eyes clearly tell me not to lie. "You know, you and your father... Well I'm not saying you should hero-worship him with the father complex you had when you were younger, but you don't have to outright ignore him." Kakashi put me down, as he let out a sigh.

"Pakkun, how long are you going to complain about this... My father, he isn't the same man."

"Yes he is, and if you don't want him to die, you best start at least treat him with the same respect you treat comrades on missions."

Kakashi gave me a questioning stare. "He's an academy teacher, what's going to kill him? An academy student? Don't joke around Pakkun, you've always been bad with jokes."

"I'm not kidding! ARGH!?" I headbutt him, as he yelps. "Just don't act like you hate him."

"But I do! He's the reason we're in this war. If he had just died with honor on the battlefield, those three villages that burned down, all those people died because he selfishly chose to run!"

"Chose to run! Is that how you put it!? My mom died in that fight, in which Sakumo saved his comrades! How would you feel if he never came back at all! If he was gone forever! You don't know what that's like! My last words to my mom was, "Yes mother." Not an "I love you" or "Please be safe", but a sarcastic "Yes mother." You know how that feels! I won't ever be able to cuddle up to my mom, I won't be able to listen her rant and rave about her journey's with Sakumo-oji-san, or enjoy her terribly sung lullabies." My eyes watered, but I refused to cry. "You don't know how lucky you are, that your father is still alive. And Sakumo-oji-san isn't going to outlive you. His time will come, and you'll regret... You'll regret acting like a spoiled, foolish, immature, teething toddler."

I look up at him, my eyes flowing over with sweat. It wasn't tears, I wasn't crying. I just said I refused to cry! Kakashi just picked me up, and patted my head, then petting me.

"I can't understand what it was like to have a mom. My mom died a long time ago. I also can't forgive my father for abandoning his duty, it's because of him that countless families were killed. But I will promise I'll grow up really quick and become strong, so I can protect what I have left. I guess I don't hate him, but I can't easily forgive him Pakkun, it's hard to explain my feelings. I'm sorry about your mother."

I sniffled. Damn stubborn Kakashi. I don't understand one bit! Those people you don't even know, and yet your father spent 7 years raising you! And just like that you aren't going to love him anymore!

"But I won't ignore him anymore. I'll treat my father a little better, but on one condition." I perked up, as Kakashi held me. "You have to listen to me more often."

"But what if you are absolutely in the wrong?"

"Too bad. My mistakes are your mistakes." I twitched in fear at that thinking.

"I-I-"

"If you don't want to, you don't have to. Just like I can continue ignoring my dad for all I like." This brat! He's manipulating me! Kakashi's damn eyes are sparkling like he's won!

"F-Fine! Whatever. I toss in the white towel! You win, you devilish, hellion, training-obsessed, heartless, immoral, biased squirt!"

Kakashi just smiled, his freaking squinted eyes twinkling in delight. "Good, then the first thing on the agenda, is team based offensive jutsus."

I stared at him quizzically. "Huh? Team based, but there's only you and me?"

"And Bull and Shiba."

My eyes widened, before I pulled them into a smirk. Kakashi was surprised that I was excited to meet more teammates, as usually I'm apprehensive or angry. But these two, these two are going to become part of Kakashi's ninken! More of us to take him down! My tail wagged with happiness. Its strange, their scents aren't in this house, but I can definitely smell two other dogs that I haven't met on Kakashi. I figured he might've gone down to the Inuzuka compound, but I'm all the more excited to see more of Kakashi's pack.

Kakashi performed a couple seals, before two other dogs appeared from the puff of smoke.

Bull was bigger than me, but still smaller than Kakashi, probably a little bit taller than his waist. His dark brown color complexion was nice, especially the way the sun was reflecting on it, he reminded me of a big piece of chocolate. His ears flopped downward, and his face was butt ugly. It was wrinkly, and some wrinkles had wrinkles. His posture, eyes, and face were kinda intimidating, but his demeanor was different. The light behind his eyes was dim, he seemed like a kind dog that would obey rules and was polite.

Shiba was a bit bigger than me, but came up to Kakashi's knee. I only came up halfway to Kakashi's calf for reference to Kakashi's small form. He was an ugly color grey, worse than Kakashi. His underside was white, as he had a brown mohawk. He seemed to have a permanent smirk full of teeth, as his lips wouldn't relax. His tail was wagging a thousand times per second it seemed. His eyes were ugly too, but the triangular, white stripe that went only half way up his muzzle, and the way the white surrounded his mouth, was quite an eye pleaser. He was definitely a troublemaker, but he seemed calm. Probably because he was older, but I had a feeling we would get along well.

"Hello." Bull grunted.

"Yo." Shiba snickered through a half bark half growl.

I raised a paw, "Hi." Our tails started to wag, as we were all excited, I could smell the Inuzuka compound coming off of Shiba, but Bull's scent was hard to locate. It smelled of mud, steel, and trees. I guess he was staying with a foster at the moment, maybe a retired ninja? Shiba and Bull came over to me to investigate me, as I also investigated them. I looked back at Kakashi, and he still seemed to be curiously dazed. I wasn't that much of a jerk when it came to teamwork. I could get along well with Kuromaru and... okay so maybe I was a bit stingy on who I accepted, but hey! At least I get to meet more of my pack!

"Alright, introductions are over. Time to train."

I can see why Kakashi's ninken work so well together. That was the best training session ever! Did that thought just occur in my brain? Best and training next to each other? I guess so, because Bull and Shiba are so cool! It was so fun ganging up on the dummy. We demolished it to pieces! Best part is imagining it's Kakashi. Bull and Shiba give the standard answers of just taking out an enemy, but when I said I imagined it was Kakashi, they actually snickered instead of looking at me in a reprimanding way like Baka-kashi did.

Right now Kakashi and Sakumo are having dinner, but I was eating with Bull and Shiba in another part of the compound. A room underneath the sleeping area. I bet this will be our room. It's decorated to be accommodating to a dog. We all have our own little homes, which still look like wire cages, but meh, it's got a pillow. At least I don't have to sleep on that godforsaken cot of Kakashi's. I'm guessing Bull will take the medium sized one, and me and Shiba will share the larger one.

"Pakkun." I turn to Shiba, as he licks his chompers clean, before cleaning his paws. He likes to eat with his paws in the food bowl, to prevent it from moving. Smart if you ask me. Annoying to Kakashi. "So, what's master like?"

"He's pretty much like how you see him." I curiously looked between the two of them. "How long have you two known him?"

Bull chewed on a bone, as he replied with a couple grunts and growls. "We've known each other since we were a year old. We were underneath Inuzuka Kizana, but she unfortunately passed away with her team in a trap." Both their ears lowered a bit, as their expressions dulled. But Shiba shook his head, as he continued cleaning, while Bull continued. "We couldn't really fit in with any of the other Inuzuka members, since we bond with them while both parties are young. Shiba and I turned 3 this year, and I got shipped off to work for a retired ninja, I think his name was Himuro Tatsumi. An old chunnin, just wanted some company. He was a nice fellow, but definitively treated you more like a dog than a ninken. I heard Shiba was about to be put with Hatake Kakashi, and I asked Tatsumi for the same transfer, and he allowed it. We've been under his guidance for maybe about 2 weeks. Master told us you weren't really social, but you're pretty cool to me."

Shiba grinned, as he looked up from his paws. "Me too! For a pup, your really smart. Especially with that one manevuer of Bull and I taking off the arms, while you went for the vitals. That was a quick and good way to take down a chunnin level ninjustu based fighter."

I was about to nosebleed from the type of conversation we were having. Finally! Someone who can talk strategics with me! Dogs who don't treat me like a pup! They can acutally converse me with me, and I can talk normally! Not that I couldn't talk strategics with Kuromaru, but our relationship just wasn't like that. We were more so friends over the fact that we constantly complained about our owners.

I finished up my own bowl, but gave Bull my bone. He gave a thankful bark, as Shiba and I held a wrestling match.

I was tossed over, as Shiba grabbed onto my jacket collar. I bit into the bottom part of his jacket as I threw him down with me. I had already won 3 matches, and so had he. There was no way I was going to lose to him, even if I was smaller than him! I threw a surprise quick kick with my back leg at his cheek, as I sat on his face.

"Take that!"

"Pakkun." I jumped off of Shiba, as he snorted. He turned over and sat next to Bull, as Bull was licking off his lips of the chunks of bone hanging off of his wrinkles.

Shiba put a paw on my shoulder, as he barked to Kakashi. "We just having fun. Master."

Kakashi gave me an eye, while he then turned to Bull and Shiba. "You don't have to call me master. Just Kakashi is fine."

"Or Baka-kashi, or hateful spiteful training demon from hell, or the OCD freak-" Kakashi threw a book at me, as I fell over. Bull and Shiba were holding in their laughter, probably unsure of how to react to the situation.

"Kakashi is just fine." He repeated. "Pakkun lets go." I looked confused at him, before looking back. Bull was getting into the large cage and Shiba into the medium sized one. Wait.

"Aren't I supposed to sleep with them?" I whimpered. The other two looked to Kakashi, their tails wagging in excitement. But Kakashi looked at me strangely.

He then turned back to the door. "No. Come Pakkun." I figured I could've marched in with Bull and slept with him, there was enough space for my tiny body. But I did say I'd follow Kakashi's orders, and it wasn't like following him would kill me. My ears fell flat, as I dejectedly followed him and he closed the door to the room where my new teammates resided in.

I curled up next to Kakashi, my lips pulled into an unsatisfied line. Kakashi turned over in the bed, as he put a hand on my head. "What's got you so unhappy?"

"I just thought if you were going to have a pack, I'd be with the pack."

"What you don't like sleeping with me?"

"You kick me in your sleep."

"No I don't. I'm motionless when I sleep."

"So you say."

"Don't lie to me Pakkun. Stop being so sassy." I looked alarmed at him, okay lately I've been called sassy, but seriously just wanting to be with my own species is sassy?

"What's wrong with being with my own kind?"

"Just this morning you were lecturing me on putting strangers before my father, and here you are putting strangers before me." He looked at me, his eyes irritated. I smirked.

"Are you jealous Kakashi?"

He turned over the covers and faced the wall. "Shut up. I'm not jealous. Just go to sleep Pakkun."

I smiled. "Aww, Kakashi is jealous."

He let out an irritated sigh. "I just told you, it isn't like that. Stop misunderstanding me."

"Are you not glad that I like Bull and Shiba?"

"I'm glad that you do, I was really proud of all three of you in training today. I mean Father's advice on bring in more mature dogs into the pack was a good idea, but I won't allow you to respect them more than you respect me."

Oh my god, what is with this alpha dominance shit. "I don't respect anyone if that makes you happy."

"So you'd just blindly follow them, is that it? I thought you said you'd obey me more." Wait what is he getting at. This is clearly not jealously in his tone. There's worry, as if I'd just trust anyone. 30 seconds ago, did we not agree that I'm not a team player. Oh... oh. He must be getting at how Bull and Shiba had a partner before...

Kakashi just turned and glared at me. I curled up to his backside. "Look, I don't do girly comforting words okay. Kakashi, you're my summoner, and the only summoner I'll ever serve. Got it."

Kakashi's chakra signature became less upset, as it radiated a calm happy feeling. Ch, children. "But I still don't respect you Baka-kashi."

The weeks went on, and I still got summoned by Kakashi to help with tracking. His sense of smell has gotten better, but it still can't beat mine. Not that it ever will. Minato has been suspiciously commenting on how 'well' I've been behaving. It's not making me feel giddy or happy or anything. I'm not proud that I'm becoming nice and more approachable. Nope, definite nope.

Today I'm in the house alone, as Shiba and Bull have gone with Kakashi and Minato somewhere. They aren't tracking per say, and the two have a lot more battle experience and strength than me, so Kakashi opted to let me stay home. Not that it made me feel weak and want to become stronger or anything. Not that I felt useless when it comes to power or anything. We do have more team based jutsus and techinques, but Minato and Sakumo have advised Kakashi it's best not to use them in the heat of battle, maybe if he was planning ahead otherwise the three of us could seriously get hurt. It is a war out there, and there is no mercy.

I just have a lot of escort and tracking experience more than anything else. Bull and Shiba are strong together, especially when they want to take down somebody. Bull will tackle the torso, while Shiba will use his speed to go for the opening in the back, usually the lower neck or spine to paralyze. When I first woke up and saw those two training late at night, it made my blood run with excitement at how strong my two new teammates were.

Now, it feels like I'm the dead last.

It isn't a good feeling either.

I go into Kakashi's summons room (aka where Bull and Shiba sleep), and sit in the middle rug, where all three of us usually eat. I curl up into a ball and decided a nap will do, since naps are always nice. It also helps me forget how I was feeling, as I run off into my dreams.

A darkness forms, yet it has a heavy feeling to it. It is similar to water, but heavier, like a thick syrup. My limbs won't move easily, but as I look I don't really have a body. All I am is this weird blue amoeba-like shape. Holy crap, I didn't know I could bend like this!

Suddenly my blood runs cold, as I notice I'm not alone. Oh shit, it better not be that same dream. That freaky dream where the pedophilia voice of a crazed vampire says that I'm his in that oh so creepy fashion. Oh no, I ain't even doing this. Wake up Pakkun, wake up!

It's slitted red eyes hover over me, looking at me. I freeze, only focusing on myself, as I would if I was trying to dampen my chakra signal. His teeth appear, in their deathly shaped sickles. A paw pushes through the watery darkness. It's claws aren't even, as it looks like they are piled ontop of each other. He could really rip something apart with that claw made up of claws. The three claw-like talons and a sickle shaped one appearing on the inner side of his paw. This thing is definitely a chimera of shorts, as his feet are paws but look like they are made up of scales. He walks towards me, as I continue trying not to panic.

He passes over me, and I see his bottom side, as it has a mouth like a lamprey, rows and ringlets of sharp teeth. The scary thing, is I can never see the start of the throat, it's all just sharp razor shaped teeth. Drool hits me, as I slightly mentally whimper. He stops, and I hold my breathe. His body turns 90 degrees, as he goes forward. I can hear something slithering, as his back portion nearly misses me. His back legs drag along, they are longish and clawed like his front, but they are small, almost seem useless. The scaling on them is far more protruding, sharp points sticking out readying to attack. It reminds me of the one time I petted a desert horned lizard the wrong way, not only are their bites fierce, but their spikes fiercer. His tail follows, as it has a ridge of spikes that end in a forked tail. The fork tail has needles on it, that have slight breaks on them. The tail sways left and right, and I can see the needles fall off from the friction with the ground.

A fearsome opponent he'll be. I slightly move backwards, away from the direction he's headed, until I hear a scream. It's a shrill cry of a rabbit, but I can hear words forming in the English language.

"Stop please! Not me! Please wait! I know I'm a describable wretch that doesn't deserve to live, but is there anything wrong with wanting to live! Please I beg of you!"

A resounding crunch follows, and voice is gone.

"Eat, must eat. Delicious. Delicious. Perfect, perfect maturity."

Suddenly I feel a cold shudder, as I can see other signatures of beings through the darkness. They too look upon the beast, but don't seem to notice each other. The beast raises his head before looking at me, his eyes wide but blood is pouring through his fangs as he grins.

"You know. You know of them. Mature you must be. Delicious you will be. I will come for you next, Special."

I wake up in a cold sweat, as Bull and Shiba have arrived home. Wait they weren't supposed to come home for another 3 days? Shiba leaps to me, as he lays on top of me.

"Pakkun, long time no see!"

Bull enters as his goofy smile, but his ugly (yet cute) face doesn't cheer me up from my nightmare. I'm still in a daze at what I witnessed. Who was the rabbit voice? And why does the beast have to eat me next!

Bull looks at me, before his smile fades. "Something wrong Pakkun?" I lay there with Shiba tugging on my ear between his teeth. I can even feel the pee underneath me. I've never wet the bed before in this life time. Shiba immediately gets off of me, as he smells the urine.

"Sorry Pakkun. I didn't mean to play too hard! I'm sorry!" Bull however looks at me. I haven't moved.

He puts a paw on me. "Pakkun?"

"I'm scared." The other two look to each other before looking at me. "I'm scared of dying. I'm scared of dying and having changed nothing." The other two don't understand, not that they ever could. If I told them I remember another life, well quite a few lifetimes, they'd deem me crazy.

The other two comfortingly lay with me. Shiba puts a paw on my head. "Don't worry. We don't let anything take away family right?"

Bull nodded in agreement. "That's right. Kakashi said we're family, so we protect one another. Don't worry Pakkun, you aren't alone."

But that statement stung me instead of comforting me. I was alone, because nobody could understand. Nobody could understand that, that beast, was out to get me and I could only see him in my dreams.

Kakashi came on over, his eight year old silhouette shining in the door. He was smiling, the mission probably went well. But he stopped as he looked at me, and Bull and Shiba hovering over me.

"Hey, don't bully him." Kakashi angrily remarked. He quickly walked over to me, picking me up as I desperately tried to lay back down to the ground, reaching for it's strong solitude. The other two however gave me comforting whimpers. Kakashi looked between the three of us, before Bull explained.

"Pakkun says he's scared of dying."

Kakashi looked at me, before taking me to the bath and putting me inside. He looked back at me, before closing the door. Probably to go clean the rug and feed Bull and Shiba.

I only lay against the cold tile, as my mind repeats the events of the dream. The bathroom sways a bit, as it seems to get darker and darker. I close my eyes, but the vision still plays in my head.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy." I continually chant, until my stomach growls. I'm snapped out of it, as my stomach is in pain. This isn't regular pain of missing a meal, I recognize this pain from when Kakashi was adamant I go on a diet. I guess I was really asleep for 3 days. Why didn't Sakumo wake me!? He comes home after the academy, wouldn't he have felt my chakra signature from within the summons room?

Kakashi comes back, but seems confounded on what to do. He turns on the water, before hosing me down. Usually I put up a fight, that we should bathe together or I shouldn't be the only one subjected to getting wet, but I lie still as the warm water pours over. It reminds me of the darkness the others were in. Wait he said I could see them, does that mean they can't see me?

"Pakkun?" I snap out of my thoughts as I look at Kakashi. He looks back at me worried.

"What is it?" I ask. I barely miss my voice cracking at the last word.

"Okay now you're really acting strange." He puts the water over my face. I hate that. He knows I do. But I don't leap at him intending to tear his arm off. I just close my eyes, and lowering my breathing as the water flows over. Kakashi looks at me like he doesn't know what to do next. He then picks me up, shoves me in a towel and suddenly body flickers outside.

"That's it, I'm taking you to the vet." He knows I hate vets, but maybe spending the night in one will delay my death.

He rushes over to the Inuzuka, where the best canine bet in Konoha is. Because you know, they deal with dogs everyday, they have medic nins, it was bound to happen.

He passes Tsume, as Kuromaru looks happy to see me, but his form suddenly goes rigid and his ears droop along with his tail.

A young woman in front answers, after Kakashi has been banging the front bell for a minute straight. She looks at him annoyed, before looking at the bundle (which is me!) he shoves in front of her.

"He is acting strange. Do something."

Of course his eight year old childishness is showing, now I know I've really panicked Kakashi when he can't maintain his composure.

"Umm. What are his symptoms?" The lady responds, as if she's dealt with this sort of thing, and he shouldn't be worried about me, since I'm healthy, you know? Until I fall asleep and have that dream and then die.

"Lack of response, paranoia, nervousness, catatonic-"

"Okay let's not over exaggerate. Lemme take a look at him." The woman pulled me over, as her hand lit up a green color. I could feel something poking and prodding at me, like when the doctor feels you for lumps, but it was on a much deeper scale, and wasn't as uncomfortable.

"When was the last time you fed him?" She asked.

Kakashi looked confused for a second before replying. "I fed him two weeks ago, but I was out on a mission."

"He's just hungry, it seems he hasn't eaten in 3-4 days."

Kakashi looked at me, before replying back. "That's impossible, Pakkun can fend for himself. I've left him alone, plenty of times, there's no reason he would just stop eating."

The lady looked at Kakashi before turning to me. "Okay little one, when was the last time you ate?"

"Tuesday morning."

"It's Saturday you know?" She replied while Kakashi looked at me worriedly.

"I just woke up."

Both humans looked at one another in a confused manner. "You slept for 4 days? Did you do any intensive training."

"No I was lounging about the house, and then took a nap."

"For four days." She added.

"It didn't feel like four days." I countered. My sassyness at least isn't fully dead. But everything else just seems to be.

The lady looked at Kakashi, "I personally would like him to stay so we can watch him. He hasn't been to the Sand country recently has he?"

"Last month." Kakashi replied. "Had an escort mission with two others."

"Have they been acting the same way or have any similar symptoms?"

"No ma'am."

"Hmm." She took off my jacket, as she examined the surface of my skin. "I don't see a bite, but he could have the Sleeping Sickness."

"Sleeping Sickness?" Kakashi questioned.

"It's easy to treat in the first few days of the fever, but afterwards, they usually sleep for long periods before convulsing. It's cause by a parasite that attacks the central nervous system. Usually after a pretty violent convulsion, the patient dies from a hemorrhaging in the brain or any other important organ."

"He is treatable right?"

"In this stage, it's more of a 50/50. You haven't seen him convulsing or spit drooling out of his mouth, have you?"

"No." Kakashi solemnly answered.

"Then that raises the percentage by 20 percent. I'll get him tested first, before we do any treatments."

Kakashi followed her, as she took a bit of my blood, but my test came back negative, along with the other tests she put me through.

"That's strange, he seems perfectly healthy."

Kakashi stood by, as I lay on the metallic table, my eyes sleepy. He pinched me, as I blinked, forcing my eyes open. The lady turned back.

"I don't know what I can do for you. I don't know if him going to sleep is a good thing or not. Maybe just try waking him in the morning." Kakashi nodded, as he took me back home. Shiba and Bull were waiting for us outside, as I could feel Sakumo pacing inside, near the dining table.

It was weird, I knew everyone was worried, but I could care less. The only thing I could think about was that I was going to die. Dinner went by quickly. My stomach was aching, but I barely ate anything. Now even I knew I was acting weird. The food tasted great, just in the back of my mind I couldn't enjoy it. I couldn't enjoy Shiba and Bull trying to cheer me up, or now that Kakashi was talking with his Father. Sakumo and Kakashi gave worried looks to me, but all I wanted to do was push my food to Bull. I took a few bites, and then laid my head down. My head hurt, and I just wanted to sleep. But Kakashi didn't want to let me sleep.

But out of all the fears and worries I had, there was one particular feeling that really scared me.

And that was the little part of me that was happy that I might get to see Mother if I die.

Pakkun's personality takes a 180! What's wrong with him! Tune in next time to find out!