"The first time I met you. . ." Jesse started looking at Jessica. Sid and the others were gathered around him, Jessica had asked what they were like as children.

He looked at his tiny little sister in his mothers arms. He was only six when he first seen her. She was so adorable! Those chubby little cheeks, button nose, soft skin, soft hair, she was so cute.

"Would you like to hold her?" his mother asked him, he looked up at her in wonderment, then a thought occurred. What if he dropped her. He quickly shook his head 'no' worry etched on his face. His mother laughed kindly, "It's okay, daddy will help you," and just as she said his father appeared behind him and taught him how to hold his sister.

"Ah! She's so warm!" he whispered excited, Jesse looked at his sister. A powerful urge to protect her with all his being. "Jessica, I'm your big brother, Jesse." he said happily to her, Jessica started to squirm and cry. Jesse panicked for a moment, unsure of what to do, then it hit him. "Bad dreams? Don't worry, I'll protect you from them! That's what brothers do! It's what I'll do! I'll save you until you are ready to fend for yourself. But it won't mean that I won't be there with you, because I'll always be around, even if you can't see me. If you can't see me, then that means I'm protecting you with everything I've got. And trust me! I've got a lot!" Jesse announced, Jessica calmed down at the sound of his soothing voice. "I'll protect you, Jessica. I'll be here when you wake, and if I'm not, it only means I'm doing my job protecting you."

"HA! You sappy Bastard!" Hidan called out.

"Hey! If you don't shut the hell up, I'm eating you!" Jessica called out, her eyes glassy and slightly watery.

"Oh! Scary Bitch Slapper," Hidan mocked.

"I'm sewing your mouth shut!" Kakuzu announced and did just that. Jessica relaxed a small smile on her lips.

"Thank you, Kakuzu," she said and turned to Jesse waiting for the rest of the story to be told.

"Hehe, after that announcement from my six year old self, I did as I promised. I protected you from falling down the stairs, I was there when you woke up crying, I was there when you fell on your face in the snow," Jesse laughed remembering that time.

The snow was thick on the ground, Christmas had just passed and they were trying out their new sleds. The small hill beside their house was perfect for them. Jessica had started clinging on to Jesse, who started to find it a bit annoying. But he didn't want to push her away like most of his friends did with their siblings. He thought it was mean of them.

"Stay with, dada, I'm going to make sure it's safe, okay?" Jesse told Jessica and she did as he asked. Really he just wanted some time to himself, and went down the hill with his sled, and took a long time to get back up.

"Jezpfff!" Jessica called, Jesse smiled at her, and put on an effort that it took a while for him to get up on top. Jessica waited patiently, admiring her brother for climbing such a mountain for her.

"It's a long way up, you sure you're ready to go down with me?" he said and flopped on his back. Jessica walked, or tried to walk over to him and hug him, only to land face first in the snow after a few steps away from their father.

"Oh, Bell," Kelper said and made a move to pick her up. But Jesse was quicker and lifted her up.

"You okay, Jessica? Oh, it's only water, look it's melting, you're okay. Shh. Let's go down the hill, and I'll pull you back up, sound good?" Only an excited squeal was heard and she was on his sled going down without him. "Hey! Wait for me! Come back! JESSICA!"

Laughter erupted from the living room.

"So I just took off without you!" Jessica laughed.

"Yes, and I ran all the way down, out of breath just to pull you back up, only for you to do it all over again." Jesse informed.

"What a mean sister," Itachi put in, smirking.

"Hey! He said he'd pull me back up, and protect me! I didn't fall off the sled now did I?"

"No of course not! Just face plant in the snow!" Deidara laughed.

"What happened on the night of mom and dad's. . ." the room grew somber at Jessica's question.

"Ah, that's a different story. I'll tell you another time. I don't think you're ready for it yet," Jesse smiled at her.

"Still the overprotective brother!" Sid cut in smiling. "Hey, Jezpfffff!"

"Why the hell are you spitting on me!?" the room was in laughter once more. "It wasn't my fault that she couldn't say Jesse! And believe it or not, it was actually her first word."

"What?"

"Jesse was your first word," Jesse repeated.

"It was?" Jessica asked, smiling. Jesse nodded. "Aunty always said that my first word was 'Blanket'" Jesse only smiled.

"Probably because she never heard you talk until then, you were always the shy type, didn't like strangers. And if I'm correct, you probably tried running away, you did that to our last babysitter, but I was quicker and grabbed you before the babysitter knew what was going on."

"I feel so horrible, Aunty got to spend more time with me then you did."

"It's okay, at least I'm here for your prom." Jesse smiled, Jessica only reddened.

"JESSE!" she yelled.

"No, no, no, no, it's Jezpfffff!"

"Again with the spitting on me, get lost you blue freak!" Jesse called trying to wipe away Sid's saliva.

"That's hurtful!" Sid jumped over the couch and into Jesse's lap, possibly accidentally or purposely kicking Itachi in the side of the head. Jesse yelled and tried to push Sid away, only to have said blue haired man hang onto him even more. Kisame felt like he needed to intervene, and pulled Sid away like a cat stuck to a tree.

"Get over here you." Sid being an oddity himself started acting like a cat to try and get away.

"What really happened?" Jessica asked.

"What happened?" Jesse asked looking at Jessica, she turned sour and glared at him.

"You always know what I'm thinking so how about you put it to the test!" Jessica said and crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch. Jesse laughed, and watched Jessica for a moment. 'What happened that night when mom and dad died?' she was silently asking. But another question interfered. 'What's for dinner?' Jesse figured that he should tease her a bit, and went with Sid's question.

"What's for dinner." Jesse announced.

"What?" Jessica asked confused.

"Oh, that wasn't you? Must have been Sid."

"You can read Sid's mind!?"

"No of course. . . actually yeah. . ."

"How!" Jessica asked.

"Because he loves me!" Sid said proudly. Everyone looked at him and if they could, sweat drop. 'Are you going to tell her soon?' Jesse only shook his head at Sid, both answering the unasked question, and the stupid remark.

"Another time, Jessica," Jesse said.

"What happened in your childhood, after you disappeared?"

"Hm, not much to tell really b-"

"Were you molested?" Jessica deadpanned. Jesse looked at her, shocked for a moment, then busted out laughing.

"What gave you that idea!"

"You never talk about yourself! Half the time I don't even know if you are my brother!" Jesse calmed down after a few more moments.

"I am your brother, and from what I was back then, I am now. I never changed according to Aunty."

"What?"

"I'm serious, I hate people, I'm overprotective, over attentive-"

"That's your personality!" Jessica muttered.

"From what I do now, I did back then, even when you weren't there."

"That promise you made when I was born. . . you were keeping to it?"

"Yes, in more ways then one. I'll tell you someday, maybe when you graduate." Jesse said, hoping that they will stop when she turns 18, it's when they stopped training him and sent him out on more dangerous missions. He was first sent out when he was 16, and even then it was close to 'home'. 'I really am glad I ran,' Jesse thought, Sid of course caught the thought, and answered 'I am too.'

"And not a day later! I want to know about everything!" Jessica announced. "Oh, I have a recital coming up, you going?" Jessica asked hopeful.

"Of course I'll go," Sid cut in smiling. "Thank you for asking."

"Sid, you belong to Jesse," Jessica laughed and walked away.

"Was that a blessing I heard!" Sid called out.

"That was sarcasm," Jesse said, trying to get out of it. Jesse got up and walked into the kitchen, followed by Itachi. Together they started making dinner.