Kakashi walked beside Naru, his arm wrapped around her slender shoulders, holding her against his side. He was enjoying the softness of her body against his hard one, was enjoying her warmth and her scent when she finally spoke. "Was I close to Iruka-sensei?" He glanced down at her, wondering why she would ask him that when it occured to him that unlike the way that she had been before, Naru must be a mite more sensitive to Iruka's emotions than he-er she, he meant to say she, had been before.

"Yes." He finally said after a second or so. She had been as close to Iruka as a child to it's parent. The two had almost litrally been joined at the hip up until Naruto had died. Naru was quiet for a second before sighing and muttering under her breath, Kakashi strained to hear what she said but missed it completely. He tightened his hold on her for a second then loosened his grasp.

"I don't know what you're thinking Naru, but try not to let Iruka's reaction bother you much. It's in his nature to doubt. That's why-"

"He's the mother hen." Naru said without thinking, missing the sudden look that he gave her as soon as she said those words.

Kakashi smiled in the darkness as a surge of primitive joy swept through him. Naru was recalling her past, sure it was sort of slow, and her memory was in little bits and pieces but at least it was there, hidden somewhere deep inside. Naru got quiet again and shifted closer to him and wrapped her arms around his arm and lay her head against his shoulder, startling him slightly since Naruto had only down things like this when he was dead tired and about ready to collapse.

He slipped his arm free of her grasp, earning a curious look from her as he slipped one arm around he and his other arm under her legs and lifted her so that he had her cradled against his chest, bridal style. "Kakashi-san?"

"Shhh. Just close your eyes Naru. I'll have you back at the tower and safely tucked away in your bed in no time at all." He said with a grin seconds before they both vanished into thin air.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

The lab tech stifled a yawn behind her hand and sat back in the swivel chair in the lab.

It was close to one in the a.m and she was dog tired and eager to go home and get some sleep before she had to get up again and start a new day of work. She looked towards the book that she had brought to read, something to help her stay awake, despite the fact that it was against the rules and sighed. Jesus, she was even too tired to bother picking the damn thing up. How pathetic was that?

The machine in front of her started beeping, the sound drawing her attention as a several words flashed on the screen.

Match found for-

Nauto Uzumaki

"What the hell?" She muttered as she scooted her chair across the floor and leaned forward, squinting at the screen as she read what popped up. It was a blood sample that someone had decided to run against Naruto Uzumaki, the DNA an almost exact match for the late village hero. She read a little more before deciding to print out everything on the screen and take it to either Shikamaru Nara or his father Shikaku Nara, knowing that one of them would understand what it meant.

She printed everything out and stuffed the papers into her purse and stood up, and glanced at the clock again. Surely no one would hold it against her if she called it a night and dropped the poapers off with one of the Nara's. After all, if the village hero had a sister or something then it should be made public knowledge so that everyone in the village could take care of her. A debt that they cold no longer pay to Naruto himself.

But they could change some of that and repay some of their debt to whoever Naruto's blood matched.

She grabbed her things and quickly left the room, suddenly feeling a little less tired and little more awake.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi drew the covers up to Naru's shoulders as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands and bit her lower lip in an effort not to yawn. "Are you going to be up all night?" She asked tiredly. Kakashi smiled at her and propped himself up on the bed, his chin resting in his hand as he watched her snuggle under the covers and turn onto her side to face him.

"Yeah. I won't sleep until sometime late tomorrow." Because he had a mountain of paper work that just couldn't be ignored. Although...maybe he wouldn't have to ignore it if he just burned it and fegned ignorance when someone kicked up a fuss about it.

Yeah, that could work. Then he could sleep in late and catch up on his reading and take care of Naru until he had a whole new pile of paper. Ugh. Maybe he should out law all types of paper but toilet paper. That could solve his problem...maybe.

Naru groaned and shifted a little closer to him and playfully knocked his prop out from under his head. He growled and reached out and slipped his hand under the covers and ran his fingers along her ribs earning a shriek of near hysterical laughter as she squirmed away from his hand bu he grasped her shirt front and dragged her back towards him and attacked the ticklish spot again until she was reduced to begging to make him stop.

He chuckled and removed his hand from under the covers as she twitched and gasped. He stood up and leaned over her and planted one hand on either side of her shoulders and leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest. Tomorrow if your feeling up to it, I'll take you around the village and we'll see if anything jogs your memory." Naru remained quiet as he straitened his spine and walked out of the room, softly closing the door behind him.

Naru waited all of two seconds before she sat up and touched the spot where he had kissed her, a strange almost wistful look on her face. "Oh Kashi, why didn't you tell me before?"