All these thoughts are courtesy of one of my friends, who consented to share her daily thoughts about going through something like this and she has given me position to use them here. Love to you Souris~

Mordace: biting, mordant, scathing, poignant, cutting.

Chapter 2~

There is sensation and there is feeling and there is such an overload of everything she has never known and it is painful to such a degree, to know what she has missed on.

Fear still runs through her though,

This world is new, open and the darkness of the room is no more but outside the roof… the sky glows with a multitude of lights and they have names and she cannot remember them. She cannot remember what these beautiful things are and that is sad in and of itself that such beautiful things are things she cannot name.

She is drifting in and out of awareness, as her brain struggles to comprehend what is happening. Is this something new? Meant to give her hope and joy and send her crashing down into the darkest depths when she is delivered into the arms of her greatest enemy once again.

But she isn't. The not-monster man, with his sad eyes that are different and his scarred face has brought her some place new. And she's terrified. Because what if he was lying, with those sad eyes and kind smile? If he's like the man with the greedy golden eyes, but worse, because he has made her trust him and she is so very young and how can she ever change this?

But he doesn't touch her, as she clings to him with desperation fuelled by the desire to know. She wants to know why. Why did he come searching for her, of all the children she knew had been in that place? She wants to know how his heart beats. How he lives, how she lives, how they all live in this world. She wants to know how the man with white hair, young and frail but cruel, had made her pain disappear. But she also wants to know why he did that, if only for the monster with greedy eyes had made the pain and the blood come back once again.

How did his hands glow green, like the colour of the grass she read about in a little book? How did his hands glow that colour and make her red disappear? Was it because they were different colours? She didn't know. How could she know? But she swore to find out, to figure it out. Because one day, she was going to be like the healer man. But she was going to be better. So much better than him. She would heal them-

And never would they be hurt again.

She drifts to sleep, as the sheer feeling of an embrace surrounds her and it's… strange, for in that moment there is no fear.

And that is terrifying.

AaAaAaAaaAaAaAaA

Kakashi withdraws from ANBU that very morning.

It's a sudden decision, from the young and upcoming captain but for those in the know, who can blame him?

His eyes are red and swollen, hush red from withheld tears and it is visible, the pure control and enormous strength he exerts to keep those feelings in.

Three ANBU drop out that morning, Kakashi is the last of them. Their minds are too damaged, to have glimpsed for even a moment, the terror in the eyes of children so young. And how can Hiruzen blame them, his own eyes tired and dull under the heavy shadowed weight of his hat, when he himself has felt the urge to give up.

But there is fire, in the eyes of his most prospective captain but it is not the fire to protect his village. Kakashi will fight to save what is precious to him and it seems, in the midst of the turmoil of the night, the young orphaned man has found a kindred spirit.

A gnarled, old hand with the callouses of many years, hands over the release papers with a soft glance and there is knowing in those eyes.

Kakashi ducks his head as he receives the papers, hiding from the knowledge in those old eyes and if anyone sees the tears fall as he leaves, they say nothing.

AaAaAaAaaAaAaAaA

She had awoken that morning with a scream, twisting in his arms and fighting for freedom, her eyes wildly moving beneath her eyelids and he could only hold her tight, stilling her movement until her eyes snapped open. He had hoped for an improvement but instead, she turned to rock, tensed and alert and he let her go, drawing back.

She was so young… so, so, so frightfully young. How could anyone destroy this beautiful creature, attempt to dirty the purity he could see shining from her skin?

But her eyes-

That same Mediterranean ocean blue, deep and beautiful and knowing but these eyes know too much, far too much for their age. He has not seen their like since her father's death but even in five years, the beauty of those eyes has not dulled in his memories and-

This is it.

He could not save her mother.

He could not save her father.

But by the Gods, he will save this girl and it will be the only right and good thing he will do-

But at least he will have done this.

He stretches out a hand and holds it there, waiting and watching as she tenses. She curls further back, eyes wide in a thin face and her mouth drawn tight. And he hurts deep within him.

Naru relaxes then, after endless moments of eternity. Her eyes never waver from his hand, outstretched in the space between them but she is less terrified… More cautious and he thinks it would be an improvement, if it did not still hurt even more. Her mouth twitches, just the smallest section but it's enough.

A tiny hand, so small and so fragile and thin beyond thin. It's almost like she's smiling, welcoming him and perhaps, despite all her brokenness, she can see his own.

She gently touches his hand and then jumps back, eyes trained on his face, searching for some hint of anger there. But he just watches her, his mask around his neck and a gentle smile playing along his lips. And so she reaches forward again.

A smooth finger taps his hand; then again it taps on the underside of his palm. He shifts his hand, palm up and restrains his inner pain as she flinches-

But she doesn't draw back. She flinches but returns to studying his hand, his callouses and the scars and the bumps and the still healing wounds. She places her hand in his and she seems startled by the tiny size of her hand against his. But their hands are similar, with a funny little bump on the little pinky finger and she seems to notice it.

With wide blue eyes and there is a shattering hope within, she turns and speaks for the first time since he has seen her, voice rough from disuse but soft and sweet with childhood. Just a single word and Kakashi, in that moment, is both in heaven and hell.

"Papa?"