Title: To Those of Wolves' Eyes

Summary: Kakashi should have known better than to take on strings of A to S –rank missions on his own. But he's tired, and perhaps he'll find that one mission that'll kill him today. Except, that's not what happens. Instead, an annoying wolf demon gets stuck in him, which somehow leads to him taking care of one hyperactive blond, adopt a certain pinkette and walks to the Uchiha District nearly everyday for their playdates with Mikoto's son. AU. A Kakashi adopts Team 7 fic.

Genre: Adventure, Humour, Drama

Disclaimer: I'm not even male! Nor do I own Shonen Jump and Kishimoto's work.

Inspiration: Blind Stars of Fortune by 100demons and Team 7: Retelling by Tellemicus Sundance (Except this fic isn't a time-travelling story)

(Actually, maybe it's more like those fic inspired me to write something about Kakashi and Team 7. Obviously, the premises are very different.)

This is obviously AU and may or may not follow the Stations of Canon.

By the way, I am absolutely confused as to how Naruto characters address each other. Who calls who with 'chan' or 'kun'? I know that for the Kages they add the prefix 'sama' and that also extends to Clan Leaders (right…?). But seriously, I'm kinda lost.

Chapter Summary: Kakashi thinks his death will be ironic. Except, it's not really his end yet. Instead, he may have gotten a saving grace in the form of a demon. Only time will tell whether it's a good thing or not.

.

-(X)-

Chapter 1: A Meeting of Wolves

-(X)-

.

.

.

Kakashi supposed that it was ironic, really, that he would die like this.

He closed his eyes and silently listened to the steady drop of water leaking from somewhere in the cave. Drip-drop. Despite what will soon happened to him, he was rather calm. He forced himself to remain calm. There's no point in giving his enemies fear and such reactions; they would only laugh and enjoy his pain.

Drip-drop.

Trapped he may be, Kakashi still has his dignity after all.

His hands and legs were bound to the stone platform, chains wrapped in seals not only preventing his body from moving but also him from releasing chakra. At least he could still move his head a bit. Tilting his head, he spotted his ANBU mask lying unceremoniously on the ground a few feet away from him. Great. Drip-drop. Well, he still used a mask underneath that one anyway, and his capturers were kind enough not, or perhaps didn't see the point, to unmask him completely.

That's good. He felt uncomfortable with his usual mask off anyways.

Drip-drop.

The cave he was in was a bit dark, and Kakashi sighed internally. Why must they always do this in dark, damp places? Wasn't it rather cliché? Or perhaps it was another attempt to unnerve him. Make him act illogically and immediately rush back to Konoha when he would be given the chance…or perhaps it was to make him susceptible to the idea of killing himself sooner than later.

The place he found Rin was rather similar to this cave he was in. When he found his father, it was also in a dark place. He distinctly remembered the dripping sound of water at both locations. Drip-drop. Rin was kidnapped by Kiri-nins, his father killed himself in the kitchen. Water was expected to drip and drop there. Kakashi was sure he was still somewhere in the Land of Fire, where the weather was warm and bright, and wondered whether he imagined the dripping sounds or not.

Drip-drop.

Perhaps it was both real and not. And that spoke wonders about his mental condition doesn't it? Kakashi really couldn't be bothered by it anymore.

Drip-drop.

He wondered whether this was what Rin felt when she was kidnapped and forced to bear something she couldn't handle. He wondered whether this was what his father felt before he decided to slip a knife to his heart.

He wondered whether Obito would forgive him for not keeping his promise. He wondered how his teacher would react to him not being in his child's life at all, save for being his shadow when needed or to wire a part of his income to him.

Drip-drop.

Kakashi hoped they would all forgive him for dying.

Drip-drop.

He counted the drops. It was not as if there was anything for him to do, even if the drops were all most likely in his head. He had tried to escape, but the missing-nins holding him captive were good. The chains were tight and the seals were, while a rather sloppy in his opinion, did their work effectively. It was expected though, when the four ranged from A to S rank missing-nins. Nothing the seventeen years-old ANBU Captain hadn't handled before though. The problem was, however, that said seventeen years-old ANBU Captain never assassinated any high-ranking missing-nins after strings of solo A and S rank missions.

Drip-drop.

Today would be October 7th.

Kakashi was tired. So very, very tired.

Perhaps this mission would finally end him.

Drip-drop.

The missing-nins approached him. Kakashi watched with his (Obito's) Sharingan eye closed as they neared him. He would need to conserve his chakra if he wanted to kill them later. And he would too, for not only using him as a timed bomb against Konoha, but also for invoking memories better left to the dark corners of his self-tormenting mind. He would kill them all and then kill himself (though that brought up more memories of his father's suicide) and protect Konoha from the demon that would soon be trapped inside him.

One of the missing-nin pushed up his shirt, another started to draw seals on his stomach. The other two remained slightly behind them, and Kakashi couldn't peer through the darkness to see more than their silhouettes. Behind them was a cage of some sort. Kakashi wondered how they managed to capture a demon. Sure, it's not exactly a Bijuu, but a demon was still a powerful being.

Drip-drop.

The brush would have tickled, but Kakashi ignored the sensation. He closed his eyes again and focused on his breathing. Calm. He must remain calm. He stretched his other senses out. Four distinct smells, four breathing, four chakra he sensed; all of them from the missing-nins that caught him. Good. They were all here. He wouldn't need to drag himself out to search for more of them then.

Drip-drop.

His name probably wouldn't be carved into the Memorial Stone, fitting he supposed. ANBU gained no recognition for their work, they were the shadows of the village after all. Besides, unlike his teammates, he was never a hero like Obito, Rin and Minato was. There was nobody left to remember him, save for the Sandaime and, perhaps, his self-proclaimed 'Eternal Rival' Gai. Only they would worry and wonder where he had gone and died in.

Inside a cave surrounded by missing-nins who would shortly turn him into a jinchuriki, after he killed them, he would kill himself. He thought of his father who died via suicide, of Obito crushed under all those rocks, of Rin jumping and impaling herself on his arm, of his teacher sacrificing his life for his village. Kakashi could almost see the parallels to his situation right now.

Drip-drop.

The world has a sense of humour after all, Kakashi decided sardonically.

Drip-drop.

They brought the cage closer, but despite this Kakashi still closed his eyes. The demon felt different to his senses. Its breathing was soft, near silent, its scent was of earth and crops instead of blood that he imagined and his chakra…though it felt quite strange and not exactly human, it was nowhere near the Kyuubi's malevolence that fateful night. Strange.

Drip-

Then one of them forced chakra into the seal on his stomach.

-drop.

Kakashi nearly screamed.

.

-(X)-

.

"You should take a break, Kakashi."

The use of his given name gave the ANBU a pause. Wolf tilted his head. "What do you mean, Sandaime-sama?"

The Hokage sighed, wisps of white smoke wreathing himself and forming spirals around his hat. "You know exactly what I mean, Kakashi."

"I have rested enough." More than enough, in his opinion. Then again, some ANBU members joked (as much as they could anyway) that his medical opinion on himself is an overestimation at best, an utter disregard at worst. And it was October now, nearing the anniversary of their deaths…

"Perhaps." The old Hokage conceded. Wise, tired eyes looking at him sadly. "But I still believe you need more rest."

"I am fine." He nearly grounded out. He was fine. Really. Though his left ankle was hurting slightly and he wasn't sure whether his right arm was completely healed yet, Kakashi was certain that he was ready for a mission.

Sandaime sighed, too used to his stubbornness by far. He understood him too. It's October after all.

"Very well." The older man handed him a folder with his next targets. He checked them all quickly, memorizing as much as he possibly could with a quick scan. When he was done, he handed it back to the Hokage, who took it and burnt it with a snap of his fingers and a burst of chakra.

ANBU missions leave no trails left behind.

He bowed to the Sandaime. The aged leader nodded, almost tiredly, almost sadly. He couldn't bear that look. It was not pity, but it was close enough, and it reminded him of his failures. For someone people called genius, all Kakashi could call himself was a failure. The ANBU Wolf bowed and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Inside the now empty Hokage office, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and looked towards the Hokage Monument. His eyes landed on the fourth one. With a resigned sigh, he turned back to his desk and faced the mountains of paperwork left.

He kneaded his temple with a hand. "I did not sign up for this."

.

-(X)-

.

White. Everything around him was pure white.

"Not really, pup."

Whirling in place, Kakashi searched for the source of the voice. He found no one, however. All that he could see was a desolate, empty whiteness.

"Over here."

The Hatake looked towards where he thought the voice originated, yet he was met again with white. Wait. No…Kakashi narrowed his visible eye (and part of him wondered when did his hitai-ate was put in place, he knew he took it off before the mission). There was something off with the whiteness in front of him. Was it him, or does it looked a shade darker?

"Bout time you spotted me, pup." The darker shade of white said. Then it moved and with it, more colours seemed to fell into place. The creature's pelt turned from pure white to a shade of platinum, its eyes turning into inhumanly bright blue eyes. It was large, bigger than a horse. The wolf's eyes bore into his for a moment, before what seemed to be smirk formed at its muzzle.

"So you're my vessel, eh?" The wolf demon said, seemingly amused. "I was expecting someone a bit more…bigger, I suppose."

With a jolt, Kakashi realized that he was facing the demon sealed in him. He instinctively reached to his pouches for his kunais, ready to fight the demon if he wanted to take control of his body. He couldn't find them, however, and the demon laughed at his realization.

"So eager to kill, pup." The wolf chuckled, laying down almost lazily in front of him. Kakashi looked at him warily. The creature rolled its eyes. "Geez, my first human contact in over a century and it got to be a rude whelp."

"What about those missing-nins?" Kakashi asked, discreetly checking his other pockets and pouches for his other weapons.

"They don't count." It said with a huff, looking annoyed by the subject. "They caught me off-guard. I was sleeping, just minding my business in a nice cave when all of a sudden-." The wolf smacked its tail in front of him. Kakashi guessed that the gesture was its equivalent to humans slapping their hands together. "BAM! Those annoying flies stuffed me into that cage. You humans can be so rude."

This was clearly not what Kakashi expected when he met his demon. After finding out that he had no weapons at all (except, all ninjas are weapons), Kakashi stared at the bizarrely friendly wolf demon. It didn't seem that it wanted to eat him, though that may change later. It didn't seem too annoyed by the fact that it was apparently trapped inside a human. It even looked as if the whole thing was amusing to him.

Kakashi expected fire and anger, sheer evil and vile chakra that would force him to his knees. He expected sneers and taunts and threats to let go, to let the beast loose. He didn't expect this.

"What's with that look, pup?" It questioned, tail swaying slightly behind it. It tilted its head. "You looked as if the Kyuubi just went up and shower you with flowers."

The mental image caused him to gape a bit. Luckily, it was covered by his mask. After a moment, Kakashi asked dubiously. "Are you sure you're a demon?"

"Now what kind of question is that?" It exclaimed, annoyed but not enraged Kakashi noticed. That was…strange. Its ear flicked once, twice. "Is the sky blue? Are the grasses green?" It asked rhetorically, baring its fangs. "OF COURSE I'm a demon, mutt!"

Kakashi blinked. This was certainly not what he expected. "Then why aren't you threatening to kill me or eat me or something?"

The large wolf rolled its eyes. "Tch, that's old, pup. You gotta be ancient to want to eat human meat. Besides, with humans you don't know where they've been!"

Huh. So apparently, the demon in front of him didn't want to eat him. Kakashi felt slightly relieved at that. Considering the demon in front of him didn't seem malevolent, the human sat crosslegged in front of it. Kakashi looked up, considering a newfound idea, at it. Hmm…perhaps-yes. If it all goes well, then this mission wouldn't be his last after all.

"Do you know why the missing-nins captured you and I?" He asked.

"Nope." The demon shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't really care either way."

"Well…" He drawled, looking up at him. Was he really that lucky to get a demon that seemed rather neutral to humans? Or was it only the Bijuus that were living disasters? "The missing-nins are trying to get you to destroy my home."

"Oh?" It intoned, ears pricking up in interest. It was too early to say whether it would agree to his plans, but so far so good, Kakashi thought.

"Yes, they are using you and me to destroy Konoha." Memories of Rin's last days flashed in his mind. He pushed it back-now's not the time. But still-if only she was the one who got a seemingly neutral demon like this instead of him. If only he was the one who was caught instead…No-focus, he needed to focus on the now. "They sealed you in me, but the seals they place are sure to be sloppy at best. They want you to be released when I enter Konoha, and then they expect you to rage and destroy the village, like the Kyuubi once did." He swallowed inaudibly. "I need you to help me prevent that."

"That's the idea, hmm?" The wolf said, bright blue eyes shining attentively. It tilted its head, as if in deep thought, and Kakashi waited with bated breath to see whether or not the demon would help him or not. Finally, after several moments had passed, the wolf nodded. "Alright. Lose your home. Lose your pack. And that's a terrible thing, I should know." Those bright eyes dulled for a moment, before the wolf shook its head and grinned. "I'm in. What's the plan, pup?"

Kakashi mirrored the grin under his mask. "First, I'll need to kill them…"

.

-(X)-

.

When Kakashi opened his eyes, the cave was empty.

Or at least, it seemed empty. Closing his eyes, he stretched his other senses out. There. At the edges of his chakra senses, he could sense four people. The missing-nins. Kakashi grinned slightly under his mask.

He opened his eyes and flexed his muscles. Chains rattled and tinkled, he was still bound to the stone platform. He tilted his head and peered through the darkness of the cave. Seals were still wrapped around the chains. Kakashi bit back a groan. So he still couldn't use his jutsus then.

The missing-nins most likely thought that he had some friends or teammates that would get him out, and so they left the chains be. But as it just so happened, Kakashi took this mission solo. And as an ANBU operative, that meant that he would gain no backups of any sort from Konoha. Which meant that he had to figure out a way to get out of these chains on his own, without expending too much chakra, and still kill his targets.

Damn.

Kakashi was starting to regret, a little though, on taking the mission alone.

"Why don't you just force your way out?" The voice of the demon in him said, curious.

"I don't have enough chakra for something like that." Kakashi thought back to it. "I'll be too tired to fight by the end of it."

"Add mine then." It said, voice reasonable though he was sure that it sensed Kakashi's shock. "With my chakra, you should be able to burst out of here easily."

"Why would you give chakra so easily like that?" He questioned, suspicious. It was in a ninja's nature to be wary of others.

The demon seemed shifty. In his mind's eye, he could see the wolf looking away, a hint of a frown on its muzzle. "Well, you did say they're aiming to destroy your home. Which means you'll lose your pack. I can relate to that."

"Did you lost yours?" Kakashi asked. It sounded strange coming from a demon.

But said demon closed up on him, growling slightly in irritation. "Not your problem, pup. Just take it and go."

"Fine." Kakashi let go of the topic. There was no need to irritate a demon that was working with him.

Foreign chakra slowly filled up his veins. It was strange, like mixing snow with dye and water, but it wasn't as painful as he thought. The demon was rather mindful to the limit of his chakra capacity and didn't give him more than he could take. With his and its chakra, Kakashi pulled at the chains on his left arm.

White chakra, mingling with silver, seemed to leaked out of his hand, wrapping around the chains and seals. Grunting, Kakashi tugged harder. The demon continued to steadily supplied chakra to him, something he was grateful for. With a small, muffled shout Kakashi pulled and finally, finally the seals burst and broke the chains. There was a slight bleeding on his wrist, but tendrils of silver chakra wrapped around the wound. When it dissipated, the wound was closed.

Kakashi took a deep breath, bringing his freed hand up to his face. He saw the wound heal, his and the demon's chakras fading away and coiling back into his body. He thought-whispered. "Thanks."

"You're welcomed, pup." The wolf piped up. "Now it's time to get out of here."

"Yes." The ANBU operative nodded. He ripped the seals off the chains on his other wrist, then used his chakra to strengthen his arm and ripped his hand out of the chain. He repeated the process with the other chains on his legs. When he was done, Kakashi swung his legs off the platform and stood up.

He picked up his discarded ANBU mask and put it on, then tugged the hood of his uniform up, covering his white hair. Feeling more secured by being covered, Kakashi glanced around the cave. He couldn't find his kunais and shurikens, the missing-nins had stripped him off his weapons after all. Well, that was a bit of a drawback. He could still use his jutsus, though, and if necessary he could steal some weapons off his enemies.

Good enough. He could make this work.

Quietly, Kakashi crept through the shadows. Outside, it was dark, the stars peeking out from the clouds. The moon hung high above in the sky, the only source of natural light for miles. He stayed inside the mouth of the cave for a while, surveying his surroundings. Once he was out, he would be on an open field where he could be target for the missing-nins. Then again, they wanted him to escape, so perhaps they would let him go free, only attacking him to herd him faster to Konoha.

Kakashi breathed out slowly under his masks. Well, he got an idea…

He crept silently back a bit, tucking his chakra into himself and hoping they wouldn't notice the difference in chakra levels later. Quickly, he made a Kage Bunshin and sent it out. Half of his chakra was gone already. The white-haired teen watched as the clone ran out of the cave and disappeared into the forest.

He waited for several long minutes, slowly growing anxious. Then, he could sense the four chakras moving away from the cave. They were following the clone. Good. Kakashi was free to hunt now.

.

-(X)-

.

The four missing-nins were fanned out several meters away from each other. They were close enough to sense the other, but not enough to actually see each other. Kakashi frowned slightly. That would present a problem, wouldn't it? Even if he kept his presence secret, the others would notice the loss of one of their teammates' chakra. They would be on alert for an attack then.

Still, they were following his clone. They shouldn't suspect him as their attacker. Instead, they would think that it was reinforcement from Konoha. As if. ANBU didn't receive backup, just as they didn't leave any trail of their presence at all.

They would suspect a group of ninjas attacking them. They would spread their focus and wouldn't expect a single person to be the one who was hunting them. He could use that to his advantage.

Silently, Kakashi leapt from tree to tree, keeping an eye on the ninja in front of him. Then, when his prey turned his back to him, Wolf opened his scarred eye and struck.

A thousand chirping birds briefly rang out in the dark forest, blue light illuminating the two ninjas' surroundings. Blood poured from the gaping hole on the missing-nin's chest, his face set in shock and surprise. Kakashi pulled his arm back from the other's chest, watching dispassionately as the other fell to the forest floor. Without missing a beat, Wolf tucked his chakra back in and held it tightly, keeping his presence hidden from the rest, and jumped away from the scene.

He watched as one of the missing-nin approached his fallen teammate. From his perch up high above the ninja, Kakashi let a curl of chakra out, feeding it to his (Obito's) left eye and his hand. The mere hint of his presence was the only warning the missing-nin got before Wolf jumped down and pierced his chest.

There was two more, and they would be quickly approaching him. Damn. Kakashi eyed his chakra level. He had used up too much chakra in using the Sharingan, Chidori and Kage Bunshin. He was panting, though discreetly and quietly. No more ninjutsus then. Perhaps he could win a direct confrontation, but the chances were not in his favour. The best thing to do was to stick to the shadows and assassinate them discreetly.

He crouched down, surveying the two dead ninjas. The ANBU pilfered through their clothing, looking for kunais and shurikens and other weapons. In the end, Kakashi got a dozen shuriken and five kunais. Good enough. They must have relied on ninjutsu, genjutsu or taijutsu instead of weapons though if this was all that he got.

The white-haired teen tucked his chakra closed to him again, quickly hiding in the shadows of a large tree. The Land of Fire was Konoha's country. His country. He knew these forests like the back of his hand. They would not betray him.

While waiting, Kakashi thought on his opponents. Half of them were dead, and the other half was joining them soon. They would be even more cautious than before when they sensed their teammates chakras were gone. His eye looked at the two bodies he left behind at the forest floor. They were not weapon specialists, or else they would carry some kind of distinct weapon or be loaded with them. That means they were using chakra to attack and kill.

That meant they used jutsus. Prevent them from releasing chakra, stop them from completing their hand seals, and they could only rely on taijutsu and such attacks. Kakashi looked at the kunai he got and glanced back at the bodies. He could sense another ninja approaching. The ANBU leaned closer to the shadows, kunai raised and ready to fight. He would need to cut off the missing-nin's hands to prevent him from using jutsus.

The missing-nin approached his comrades' fallen bodies. There was a tense silence as the ninja looked at the bodies and checked his surroundings. Kakashi didn't dare to breathe. The ANBU had tucked his chakra inside him tightly, coiled it inside his body so the other ninja (hopefully) wouldn'tdiscover him.

After several tense moments, the other turned his back to where Kakashi hid. The ANBU breathed out. It was the only warning the other ninja had before Wolf struck.

Kunai enveloped in white chakra clashed against another similar knife, the other wielder's face surprised. Kakashi took that momentary distraction to feed more of his chakra into his kunai and pushed it through, slicing the other's knife like butter. With a quick flick of his wrist, he cut off the other's hand.

His chakra level dropped, so he stopped strengthening his kunai. The white glow of the knife disappeared as he once again coiled his chakra inside. The ANBU leaned back, avoiding the horizontal swipe to his head the other ninja tried against him. He dropped to the ground on his hands and lashed out with his leg, sending a good solid kick to the other's chest. Then the teen flipped and threw several shurikens to his throat.

The other nin expertly deflected the throwing stars, even as he landed with a grunt on the forest floor. Kakashi quickly took stock of his arsenal. Now he was down to nine shurikens. Better make the most of them.

The missing-nin rushed forward to attack him, ignoring his bleeding hand. Kakashi blocked another swipe to his head with his kunai. The other lashed out with a kick, but Kakashi sidestepped it, pivoted around his opponent and stabbed him. The other roared in pain, but before Kakashi could finish his job, he turned and attempted to slash him, forcing the teen to abandon his kunai and leapt away from his enemy.

Now Kakashi was down to four kunais.

He took two kunais, holding them in front of him in preparation for another bout. The other nin was breathing raggedly, his stump of a hand profusely bleeding. He must be suffering from blood loss by now. Another thing to his advantage.

He eyed the other carefully, just as the other was no doubt eyeing him. His enemy was no longer capable of using his jutsus or fight with his both his hands. More than that, he was experiencing blood loss, which meant dizziness and would, eventually lead to death. Kakashi smiled grimly under his mask. It was a time game now, to see which one would come faster, the other ninja's companion or his death.

Kakashi preferred to hasten the latter.

Dashing towards him, Kakashi threw a shuriken to his left in a feint. It worked, the other nin avoiding it by moving to the right. Kakashi drew up close to him, striking him with his right kunai. The other man blocked it however, though the ANBU wasn't done yet. Quickly, the Konoha-nin thrust his left hand out, piercing his prey's chest with the other kunai.

Blood spurted out from the other's chest like scarlet petals, the man gasping before falling limp in front of him. The ANBU twisted the knife to his heart, then withdrew it and stepped back, letting the other nin fall unceremoniously to the ground.

Three dead. One left.

Kakashi casted his other senses out, searching for the last nin. At the edges of his senses, he could perceive the enemy's chakra moving away. Still following the clone, he thought, nodding. The teen flicked his kunai, most of the blood on it splattering away, and pocketed it. Then he jumped away, back to the trees, leaving the missing-nins bodies behind for him to collect later.

.

-(X)-

.

"Why don't you use my chakra, pup?" The wolf demon inside him asked curiously, watching through his eyes as Kakashi pursued the last missing-nin.

The white-haired teen blinked, not expecting the question. To be honest, he almost forgot about the demon's presence, too focused on his mission as he was. "You're allowing me to?"

"Well I did offer. And it's not like this is the first time." He could imagine an amused grin on the demon's muzzle. Somehow, it annoyed him. "What do you think, pup?"

"Yes." Kakashi answered. He wasn't expecting the demon to help him again, actually. But if the demon was offering to help, all the better.

Once again, foreign chakra flowed through his veins, filling his near depleted store of chakra. A surge of newfound energy waved through him, almost overpowering him for a second, and Kakashi tucked his chakra closer to him. He almost gave out his position. Once his store was filled again, Kakashi channelled some of them into his legs, leaping faster across the forest.

He was close now to his prey. Silently, the ANBU Wolf jumped to a higher branch, then followed the other nin from above. Below, a few feet away, he could spot his clone running through the forest. Looking down at his prey, the hooded teen formed a hand seal. Kai.

The clone disappeared on command. The missing-nin stopped in confusion, looking down at where his clone once was. In the momentary confusion, the hunter opened his scarred eye, a thousand blue chirping birds gathered in his hand. Wolf leapt down and struck.

The man was dead before he knew what was coming.

Kakashi pulled out his hand from the gaping hole in the other's chest, pushing the ninja's limp form away. The missing-nin fell to the ground in a heap of crushed bones and broken limbs, but it wasn't as if he was alive to care about it anyway. Letting his hands fall limply on his sides, Kakashi drew a deep breath before releasing it in a soft, but large exhale.

Mission accomplished.

Except…not quite yet.

"So, pup, you killed all the men that trapped me here." The wolf demon's jibing voice said inside his mind. "What's next?"

"Next." Kakashi said back, sitting down and leaning against the trunk of the tree. He could sense no other ninjas near his vicinity. The ANBU closed his eyes and stepped back into the pure whiteness and the demon trapped inside him. "I need to deal with you."

.

-(X)-

.

He was back into the pure whiteness again, though this time he could immediately spot the large, platinum-coloured wolf lounging close to him. There were no bars between the two of them. Then again, the sealing had been done sloppily, so he supposed that it was expected. A small part of him was embarrassed at having it on his skin in the first place.

Kakashi sat crosslegged in front of the demon. Looking up into its inhumanly bright blue eyes, the teen said. "This is where we'll say our goodbyes."

The wolf blinked. "Just like that? So easily?"

He shrugged at its confusion, nodding. "Yes. I'm not going to bring you into the village. I don't trust you enough for that. Besides, I don't need or want your power." He tilted his head. "Don't you want to be free?"

"I-yes." The demon admitted, confusion on its face. "Didn't expect a human to give up power like this so easily though."

"It's unreliable." Kakashi stated. "I don't have any brush or ink to perfect the seal on me. More than that, you're a power I don't trust and can get out of control and harm my village. So thank you, but no."

It looked at him in bemusement, before a grin stretched across its muzzle. "Good reasons, I guess. Heh, you're blunt, pup, for a human."

The teen shrugged. It was true. What could he say to that?

"I can probably release the seal from the outside." Kakashi informed him. "So wait until I finished unsealing you before you escape."

"Won't it hurt you, pup?" The wolf demon asked. If it was human, Kakashi imagined it to be raising its eyebrows.

"I got you for a few hours at best." The teen stated. "Your chakra hasn't intertwined with mine yet, at least not so much that I couldn't survive the release later."

"You didn't deny it." It noted, looking down at him curiously. "Is this also for that village of yours? Konoha?"

"Yes." Kakashi answered. He closed his eyes, preparing to step back into the real world.

But the demon wasn't finished with him yet. "Wait, what's your name, pup?"

"Why do you ask?" He questioned back. In the ninja world, one's identity was important and being able to keep it secret, to prevent others from knowing it and therefore one's strengths and weakness was imperative to most ninjas. He wouldn't give out his name to some stranger he just met, even if it was an oddly helpful demon.

"Curiosity." The demon answered simply, tail swaying slightly behind him.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Kakashi retorted, inciting a laugh from the wolf demon.

"True." It said, amused. Its tail now lay in front of them, right over its paws. "Luckily, I'm a wolf, and as I noticed from your mask, you're one too, pup."

Kakashi glared at him, or as much as he could with only one visible eye. The demon stared back, an amused air around it. Several moments passed, before Kakashi growled out. "…Fine."

The wolf visible perked up, mouth pulled back into a grin. "Great! So, what is it?"

"…Hatake Kakashi." He said, almost inaudibly. The wolf picked it up however.

"Hatake!?" It asked sharply, tail shooting up to resemble an exclamation mark. It looked down at him more attentively than before. Kakashi fought the urge to fidget under such stare. "You're of the Hatake Clan!?"

"Yes…" The white-haired teen replied, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked up at the demon in suspicion. "What's it to you?"

"Several things, pup." The platinum wolf said cryptically, inhuman blue eyes staring at Kakashi, assessing him. "Your pack? Where are they?"

Kakashi frowned under his mask. "Pack?"

"What do you humans call it?" Its tail swayed almost frantically behind it, voice near growling as he tried to remember the term. "Friends? Family? Doesn't matter. Where's your pack?"

Kakashi stiffened near imperceptibly. "I don't have a pack."

The tail moved slower now. Blue eyes looked down at him almost in sadness…and empathy? "Everyone has a pack, pup. What happened to yours?"

His felt choked, his chest tightening until he wasn't sure he could breathe. Why did it have to ask that of all things? Kakashi swallowed heavily, glaring down at the white floor as he grounded out one word. "Dead."

Something soft settled on his shoulder. After a while, he realized it was the tip of the wolf's long tail. He snapped his eyes up, confused and shocked at the demon's empathetic look.

"Sorry to hear that, pup." It murmured sadly, bright eyes downcast. It placed its head on top of its paws, looking down mournfully. "I know how that feels. Losing your pack. Damn awful."

Kakashi stared up at the demon, stunned speechless by the demon's empathy. There were no words to describe what he thought at that moment.

"Which is why…" Suddenly, the wolf demon grinned, tail snapping upwards excitedly. "I'm going with you!"

"What!?" Kakashi almost shouted, but as he was a ninja accustomed to silence and stillness, it sounded more like a loud mutter. Underneath his mask, he was almost certain he was gaping.

"Exactly as I said." The wolf grinned down at him. "I'm going with you to your village. Konoha, right? Heh, been a while since I went there…"

"You want to go to Konoha? Why?" The masked teen asked, confused and growing slowly annoyed that the demon kept putting him off guard with his decidedly not-demonic attitude. "And you've been there?"

"Story for another time, pup." The wolf said easily, absentmindedly swiping his tail in front of him. Kakashi had to duck to avoid it. "As for why. Well, you're a ninja aren't you? Figure it out yourself."

"I don't trust you." Kakashi pointed out, frowning.

"Gotta fix that, then." It muttered softly. Its tail snapped forward above Kakashi's head, reaching for something that wasn't there-except it got something. Something appeared out of thin air, wrapped by its tail, so Kakashi couldn't see exactly what it was at first. When the tail was lowered, the Hatake could see that it held a scrap of paper.

The wolf handed the paper over to him for inspection. The ANBU narrowed his visible eye. It looked like it had been torn from a scroll, the edges slightly frayed and worn with age. The paper was empty though, blank and waiting to be filled. Kakashi looked up at the demon questioningly.

"Do you know what a demon actually is?" It asked instead.

"What does that have to do with this?" Kakashi asked back, holding up the scrap of paper.

The demon rolled its eyes. "Everything. Listen, pup. Demons are summons that can't or won't return back to the Summoning World." It sniffed the air in front of him. "I can smell a contract on you. Canine. Dogs. Good choice, pup. Now, imagine that one of your summons stays in this world for a long time, never returning to the Summoning World. That's what a demon actually is."

"And this is?" He waved the paper.

"A contract with me." The wolf explained. "Besides what I just told you, demons usually aren't connected with their pack or clan or whatever-" Its tail swayed a little faster behind it in punctuation. "-the specific summon call it back in the Summoning World. If it's me, it's pack, and I'm not connected to the wolves from the Summoning World. So the contract there's only for me. You can't summon other wolves."

"So I can summon you at any time I want you, but not other wolves." Kakashi said, considering the piece of paper in front of him. He never heard of demons being summons or that you could summon only one beast. Then again, what does he really knew about demons anyway? His only real experience with them, besides reading them from books, was with the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That was something he didn't want to remember.

So far, the wolf seemed sincere, but he didn't know why it would give something like this to him. Perhaps it was pity, because he learnt that Kakashi had no one, but that doesn't seem right. The wolf's eyes held understanding then. Maybe…maybe it was because he understood the pain of being alone and left behind? But understanding or not, it still didn't give him a solid reason why it would help him of all people.

That's the problem, Kakashi couldn't understand his motive. He was missing a piece of the whole reason and for that he couldn't completely trust the wolf demon. His single visible eye stared at the wolf. "And why should I trust you? You can use that chance to escape, to create chaos. So why should I trust you?"

"True, true, I could do that." The wolf nodded, its tail finally simply laying down by its side this time. It grinned down at the white-haired teen. "But I can ask the same question to you. I'm offering my power here to a human, and you guys have the bad tendency towards destruction."

Kakashi remained silent at that, waiting for the wolf to finish.

"Trust is a two way street, pup." The wolf said. Its inhumanly bright eyes looked down at him, and suddenly Kakashi could see a glimpse of seriousness and sadness, regret that could rival-no, beat his. Those eyes looked ancient for a moment, weighed with unknown burden, and the teen could only bow his head at such a gaze. "I'm willing to help you, Kakashi, though you may not want or think you need it." It gazed down solemnly at him, nothing like its friendly, almost jovial nature before. "Fact is I'm offering something to you. You can either take it or leave it, pup."

"Why do you want to help?" Kakashi asked almost silently. "You're a demon. You don't have to do this."

Its eyes still held the weight of ages. "Everyone has a past, pup." It murmured softly. "And there are monsters that haunt even the mightiest demons."

Kakashi bowed his head, eyes closed. That, he could understand.

"So, pup?" The demon said softly. "What will it be?"

"...Alright." Kakashi nodded, lifting his head up to look at the wolf. "I can use you to protect Konoha. That's good enough a reason."

"Great!" It cheered, its tail whooping upwards. Suddenly, the wolf demon was back to its cheerful state before, its previous solemnity washing away like dirt in the rain. Kakashi knew, however, that it was still there. It was surprisingly easy to hide your grief behind the mask of a fool.

The wolf grinned down at him, rows of sharp fangs leering down at him. "Sign it up then! Come on, come on, come on!"

The human stared at him. Right now, the wolf demon looked more like an overgrown puppy than a fearsome beast. "Are you sure you're a demon?" He asked dubiously once again.

Said demon rolled its eyes. "Pup, we've been over this. YES, I'm a demon. Everyone bow down to my might and all that."

"Alright…" The teen said hesitantly, a bit unsure about the demon's words. He certainly didn't act like a demon-at least not in his mind. Kakashi gazed down at the scroll, about to prick his finger with a kunai (that suddenly appeared in his hand. How? Wait-it's his mind. Kakashi almost wanted to slap himself for missing the obvious) when he suddenly realized something. The teen looked back at the demon. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Hmm?" The demon tilted his head, considering something. Its tail flicked up when it finally answered. "Call me Arashi. It's not my real name, of course, but it'll do."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why are you hiding your name?"

"It doesn't help stimulate trust, I know." The wolf shrugged, grinning as sheepishly as it could. "But my name's rather…well, I don't want to say it. I don't want to remember some things."

The teen frowned under his mask, but accepted the cryptic answer. Sighing, he looked down at the blank parchment before him. Well, it's all or nothing. Pricking his finger, Kakashi quickly wrote his name, sealing the deal. When he was done, the wolf used its (his-he's Kakashi's summon now, and demon or not, he better give him some respect) tail to pick the piece of paper up. Nodding at what he saw, the wolf flicked his tail upwards, throwing the paper into the air. Watching him, Kakashi saw the paper disappear in a burst of smoke.

"Alright! I'm your summon now, pup." The canine grinned, showing more enthusiasm than Kakashi himself at the idea. "Now, when you get out, can you summon me?" He glanced around him, frowning slightly at the whiteness. "Before that, can you do something with all this white? Geez, never know your mind can be so boring, pup."

Kakashi bit back a groan, already feeling a headache coming up. Kami help him with this demon.

.

-(X)-

.

Ok, and that's a wrap!

What do you guys think of the premise of this fic? Though I said it was two time-travel fics that inspired me to write this, the concept here is different than those two. The main catalyst for the deviances is this: Kakashi gets stuck with a wolf demon, who got his own motives and reasons to push Kakashi into having an actual life for once.

The main thing however, would come later, that is: Kakashi adopts Team 7. I haven't seen much fics where Kakashi adopts his team. Sure, there are some fics where Naruto or Sasuke or sometimes both becomes his kids, but I haven't seen many where all three of them are adopted. I hope my attempt wouldn't be so bad and would actually make sense.

I really don't know whether it's good or bad. This is my first Naruto fic, and I'm not sure I got Kakashi's character right. I mean, yes, there's probably a little angst when he compared his situation to the circumstances around his team's and father's deaths. At the same time, however, I also figured that he's strong, and Kakashi wouldn't angst so much to the point of self-pity. Ooh…I hope I got his characterisation right…

And what do you guys think of Arashi? It's not his real name, he's a bit uncomfortable in using it right now. Is his character interesting? And are his motives understandable? I tried to give him a reason to help Kakashi out, instead of using Plot no Jutsu and force an OC into helping him, like I sometimes see in fanfics. Seriously, while I admit strangers can be nice, not everyone would immediately rush out to help the protagonist with his life for no reason at all.

The Summoning Contract Kakashi sign only applies to Arashi. He can't summon other wolves, and I don't really want him too. It'll give him a bit too much power at the start. I hope the explanation why he couldn't is reasonable enough.

Next chapter will feature three years-old Naruto, and the start of huge ripple effect. (though it may not be easily seen at first…maybe.)

PLEASE REVIEW! ^ _ ^

The Storyteller of Dreams

P.S. I NEED A BETA THAT'S GREAT WITH CHARACTERIZATIONS. PLEASE PM ME IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER.