The legendary Kakashi Hatake was on his way home from yet another uneventful A- delivery mission which he, of course, completed successfully. Uneventful was good for his health, but boring nonetheless. Oh, well. He’ll be home in a day or two at this easy pace. If an urgent message came, he could easily make it back in 6-10 hours.

The forest was fairly quiet, (apart from the random wildlife). With no other “people” signs &/or chakras on his radar leaping through the trees was rather calm and getting dull. Perhaps, it might be a good chance to catch up on some reading?”

Just as he was reaching in his vest pocket for the infamous orange book, the crook of his arm was grabbed rather forcefully from his blind side and his whole body was lurched sideways through a little entrance into what appears to be a cave within an old hollow tree trunk.

After sliding down in a most un-ninja-like manner, they finally landed. The infamous Copy Cat ninja instinctively drew his kunai and turned around into a defensive stance against his attacker. Only to be shocked to find a young girl around 8 or 10 years old; lying prone and wounded on the tree’s cave floor wheezing and gasping in pain. Warning in a hoarse whisper, “Mean Ninjas coming…Hurt you... Need help… please sir.”

Even if he was mildly distracted he should have felt this person’s chakra, let alone noticed this little hole. Mmm, How did I miss this and… why can’t I sense her? Civilian, perhaps? But then how did she pull me- Wait, is she really alone?

Kakashi gave a quick scan around while putting the kunai away and getting out his first aid kit. It appeared to be a primitive makeshift home for this child. Raising his eyebrow in surprise at the entrance's deceptively small-looking appearance was revealed from within to be a play of light and knots of branches and tree roots. He smirked beneath his mask. She certainly found the perfect hideaway. The mangled maze of branches, limbs and roots seemed to jumble together, serving as a stairway/ramp to the lower level where they had slid downwards into the hollowed out tree cave.

As her painful spasms subsided and her breathing normalized, she watched him survey her “Sanctuary.” Never thought it’d be this big inside, eh? Never judge a book by its cover, Mr. 'Poufy Hair' Ninja man! She gingerly sat up, leaning her right side against the wall.

As the masked ninja turned his attention back to the girl, he was startled to see Rin’s gentle kind eyes and Obito’s stubborn smile looking back at him. Shaking the ghostly images away, he took command of the situation, “Hold out your hand and swallow these, they’ll help with the blood loss.” She hesitantly took them with her right hand, eyeing the pills warily. “Umm, do you have anything that I can drink with these?”

Not really one to be questioned, Kakashi was about to tell her to just swallow them when he realized the hoarseness in her voice was probably because she hadn’t had any water in the last 12 to 24 hours. He reached into his vest and pulled out a flask, kneeling down to hand it to her, “Here, drink.” As she tried to raise her left arm to reach for the flask, she winced, hissing from the sudden pain. He waited for her pain to wane and suggested calmly, “Put the pills in your mouth first, then drink.” She nodded and did as he suggested. He pulled the plug off and placed the flask in her right hand. She took a drink and coughed, “Erg.. the water- whoa… tasted… err…odd.”

Pretending that he didn’t forget that it was sake instead of water, he sagely replied, “It’ll help with the pain.” She smiled and chuckled, “Oh really?”, she hands him back the flask, “I guess it works really fast.”

He liked this kid. Okay, she’s young, not stupid. He replaced the plug and put the flask away in his vest pocket. Heh, Obito would be rolling around laughing and Rin be giving me one of her medical lecture on the proper use of alcohol. He looked at the girl’s grinning face and smiled back beneath his mask and shrugged in surrender.

Picking up the first aid kit again, he moved behind her to start on the nastiest looking gash on the back of her left shoulder. By how emaciated she looks, she probably hasn’t eaten any meat in Kami knows how long. What has she been living on? Heh, and that was definitely the worst fire pit I've ever seen. Even Obito’s was mildly better. He smirked, Well, almost. If she didn’t die from her wounds, she would from either malnutrition or accidentally burning herself.

Thankfully, he didn’t ask how she ended up with such odd wounds to her left shoulder, arm and leg. There was no way she’d admit to anyone, let alone a guy that she fell into that old stupid rusted Ninja trap, (probably left after a war), on her way back from having “a call from Nature” in the middle of the night when she was half asleep.

She tried to keep still, but she couldn’t help flinching more than a few times. He wasn’t rough and he tried to be gentle. But the shoulder wound was the deepest and tenderest. Her arm and leg seemed to be going numb. That “water” seemed to be dulling the pain as well.

She still didn’t like living alone, especially like this. In spite of the current situation and the stupid bugs, living in the woods had its advantages. Few people came and those who did were in too big a hurry to travel to where they were going. Being able to “hear” them far in advance while they were just faint whispers enabled her to avoid the “complications”, thus, making her life more bearable and a whole lot safer. Well, except for the stupid Ninja trap.

She rarely asked for help for a reason. It usually ended up badly afterwards. But there was something different about "Poufy Hair"… his heart’s voice was so wonderfully different from most ninjas. And well, she‘d rarely heard a shinobi’s heart song that was so addicting to listen to. Strong, but not overbearing, shifting rhythms of a haunting melancholy melody mixed with what she dubbed that “lonely orphan tone”. The little ripple of amused harmony at the “water” joke was a treat. His current mellow tones while he was concentrating were calming instead of the normally grating panicked states.

The shoulder was finally bandaged and now “Poufy Hair” was working on cleaning and stitching the longest gash along her forearm. In an effort to keep awake and, more importantly, distract herself from that needle, she looked to her Good Samaritan's unique features. How does his hair stay up like that? It was tempting to touch his hair, but she didn’t think “Mr. Hip & Cool” would approve of her curiosity. So her eyes wandered downward to his lopsided metal headband thing with the symbol of a leaf over his eye. She frowned warily, Has there ever been ninjas with leaf symbols chasing after me? Wait, is that an eye in the leaf? She shuddered.

He smiled under his mask. Ah, there’s that ‘What happened to your eye?’ look. By the looks of her, a late night stroll ended up with a meeting with an old ninja trap. And by how embarrassed she was, it was probably to a natural outhouse. He wasn’t a med-nin, but even he knew, those rusty marks on her wounds weren’t good. She’s probably been injured for at least a day, maybe more. No doubt she has some serious blood poisoning by now. She’s too pale.

He had no illusions, there was a reason she was hiding. Kami only knew what that reason was. The fact this civilian child still remained free, let alone alive, impressed him. But, his curiosity would have to take second place to her survival. “Would you like to come with me to Konoha? You could decide if you’d like to stay after you’re healed.”

It’d been quite a while or was it years now, since anyone treated her like a normal girl. He’s a ninja, he could force me to go but… he’s not. He’s… asking me? It isn’t a ploy? She snapped her head towards the entrance. Dang, they’re here! She “shhed” him, showed him 4 fingers and pointed towards the cave entrance with her good hand, then gave him the universal hand sign meaning “wait”.

He nodded his understanding and waited. Finally sensing the chakras of the “Mean Ninjas” she warned him about, he suppressed his chakra as the two of them silently waited. The "Mean Ninjas" arrived, bickering in quiet whispers right outside her little tree cave. Kakashi finished putting the ointment on the minor scratches and began wrapping her arm. Their chakras are quite malevolent and their conversation... 'Mean Ninjas' was an understatement. It’s obvious she’s probably had some nasty experiences with Ninjas. Odd girl, doesn’t seem to hate me or ninjas in general.

There were things Ninjas had to do, like kill. But, the Hayates prided themselves on never enjoying killing. Business was business. Ninjas knew what was at stake. Whenever possible, innocent civilians were to be respected & protected, not bullied. Those who preyed upon the weak were weaker than their victims.

Kakashi could’ve handled them, if he needed to. He wasn’t in the Bingo Book for nothing. But, he was too jaded & lazy to prove he could beat them. She probably just saved him a lot of time and trouble. It seems fate gave him an easy out and the opportunity to return the favor for a little lost orphan with an interesting sensing ability. If she could sense people that far away, that accurately, what other talents does she have? Gai wouldn’t like that 'hunted look' on her. Heh, wonder how’d she react to meeting him and hearing him go off on one of his 'Springtime of Youth' tirades?

She remained in silent thought over his offer and probably was just trying to stay conscious too. Pretty amazing she hasn’t passed out already. Kind of cute how she keeps trying to stay awake. Like a toddler who won’t take her nap. A little bit after he finished bandaging up her left leg, the “Mean Ninjas” continued on their fruitless search, their bickering fading into the distance.

Kakashi took some inspiration from Gai's showmanship, (but would die before admitting so). And broke the silence by rephrasing his question in his unique “hip and cool”, playful way, “So, little 'damsel in distress', may I offer you my services as a professional ninja to escort you to a pleasant little village called Konoha for your medical care? As it so happens, that town is my home and since I’m already headed in that direction, you can hire one of the best ninjas in the Fire Country for only a song.”

Unlike those “other” ninjas, “Poufy Hair” seemed to lack their greed or bloodlust. Plus, how could she resist a ninja with a good sense of humor. Maybe this time, somehow with him, God would make things work out better?

Smiling like the playful child she was, she became businesslike by nodding thoughtfully, “Mmm, one of the best, eh? If you’re willing, you may escort me on a tour of this charming Konohu village of yours and introduce me to your friends. I’ll raise your fee to three songs as well.”

He raises his eyebrow, “Well, that sounds quite generous of m’lady.” She pretended to dust off her tattered skirt, waved her right hand magnanimously and regally replied, “It’s the least I could do my good sir, since, as I have been informed, you are one of the best ninjas around. And good help is so hard to find these days.”

She lowered her eyes and her hands clenched her dress as her voice grew shakier, “um...on the medical part, maybe we could just go to some remote doctor, herbalist or something?” She began to nervously pull at her straggly brown hair. Taking a deep breath, she continued in a subdued voice, “I, err… kinda have trouble with crowds and well, hospitals... they’re kinda,.. more worse. “ After a pause, she looked up to him with a feigned smile, adding hopefully, “If we can avoid the hospital, I’ll raise your fee up to five songs. Like a bonus!” Then, as if on cue, she promptly passed out. He caught her before her head hit the ground.

Interesting kid. She survives in the woods, yet is afraid of hospitals? Heh, she’s like a stubborn sick little puppy that doesn’t want to go to the vet! Oh well, I’ll add her request to the report and leave the rest up to the Hokage to decide. He tilted his head to one side as he smiled. Though, the Hokage might agree that five songs may be hard to turn down. Mmm, I’ll need some pills to keep me going to get her to help in time. He fished the soldier pills out of his pack and swallowed a couple of them. He lifted her up and noticed her right hand wouldn’t let go of a walking staff. When did she- ? Holding onto it for dear life, eh? And it looks darn annoying to carry, too. Oh well, one good deed deserves another. Heh, or five songs... After checking for any other personal effects and finding none, he arranged the little wounded lamb with her staff on his back, and off he went at his top speed towards home.

The green canopy and the forest floor below merely whizzed by as she woke briefly. It feels like we’re flying. Wait, 'we’re'? Oh yeah, “Poufy Hair”… He’s really worried about…me? Wow, kinda nice to have someone actually care like that. Don’t worry, “Poufy Hair” I won’t- Wait, that’s not a nice nickname for a friend. Gotta think of something,… um nicer. A name that means friend would suit him best. She smiles weakly as she drifts off again. He’d probably get teased by other ninjas if I called him 'Poufy Hair', anyway. She drifted in and out of consciousness during the remainder of the trip as the moonlight peeked through the tree branches while her masked knight carried her off to a new “sanctuary”.