I Do Not Own Naruto

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Budding in Darkness

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The tears had yet to stop as carried the broken body of the woman who had loved him through the rain and mud, he had waded through the blood, and bodies of the after math of the carnage. Finally, exhaustion had him collapsing with her battered body in his arms as he held her close.

He had failed, he had failed them both, he hated knowing this, he despised knowing he had failed the simple promise he had made to a man he'd consider his best friend, he hated himself for failing them both.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he kept whispering to the dead woman in his arms. He hated himself for this, he hated having done this to his own team. He rocked the body in his arms as he sobbed out his pain.

He must have passed out, he hadn't expected it but he woke with her body in his arms as a set of large green eyes looking at him as a messy pink head tilted to the side. She was a toddler, guessing from the way she was looking at him with curiosity.

"Go away," he snapped.

The pinkette didn't, instead she placed her hand on his brow, she tilted her head in thought. He noticed how gritty she was looking, how tattered her clothes were. probably a war orphan, after all, the war had raged on outside of the villages. He was very likely looking at a victim of this war. But it didn't matter to him as he pulled Rin's body closer to him and scowled at the girl.

"Go away!" he snapped angrily.

The girl stood up and trotted off, he tightened his grip on the cold body in his arms. His tears were falling again.

A moment later he was looking at the toddler who then reached over to him and offered him a tattered thing of water.

"Go away," he shouted at the toddler as he pulled away from her, holding Rin tighter to him. The girl trotted towards him then and pressed cup to his mask where his lips were. He was startled at her bluntness. He drank water or he'd have choked on it. Once the toddler seemed satisfied with those actions she reached over to Rin's face, he tried to pull Rin away from the girl, however he wasn't fast enough.

The toddler rested her small brow on Rin's brow, the girl frowned and then she gently shut Rin's dead eyes. Kakshi stared at the little girl who looked so old for her age; he put her at two or three years old, and she looked like she had lived a lifetime already. She sat down then and he just stared at her, green eyes stared back at him, and then she smiled calmly, he felt an ease wash over him at the sight of her innocent smile. He carefully stood up on shaky legs, as he walked past her he felt her get up, her small hand grabbed his pants leg and she trotted along with him.

He didn't know why he didn't rebuff the girl, however he let the toddler hold onto him as he walked slowly with her and Rin's body in his arms.

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Three weeks later…

It was the oddest sight in the village, Minato and Kushina seemed to find the sight of the eighteen year old with the toddler odd but sweet. Might Guy thought this to be hilarious for some reason and teased him about being a daddy; now, Kakashi didn't care about the teasing however the toddler who had adopted him did seem to mind, she'd often times kick Guy in the shins for his teasing. The Uchiha thought this… odd; but did not question it. And the village, well, the village just didn't know what to do about this; however, no one was willing to take the toddler away from Kakashi though.

Which brought the copy ninja to today, the pink toddler was clean and perched on his shoulders as he carried her through the village with him towards his mentor's home. He was going to ask his mentor about adopting her, he didn't see a problem with it since he hadn't really noticed his taking her in.

"Where we go?" the pink girl demanded as she played with his spikey hair.

"To a friend's," he answered honestly. She giggled, and he didn't want to know what the toddler was finding amusing. It was when someone slammed into him that he looked down, he was looking down on the youngest Uchiha.

"Oh," was his response.

"Sasuke! Wait up!" a voice shouted, the black haired boy looked over his shoulder to where Uchiha Itachi had appeared with a girl right behind him; another Uchiha no doubt and then back to him.

"You're pink," Sasuke blurted out to the girl on Kakashi's shoulders.

"Yes, yes she is," Kakashi agreed.

"I like pink," the girl stated hotly and he grinned behind his mask at her superior attitude. The little pinkette was going to grow up into a spitfire one day.

"You're annoying!" Sasuke snapped and then he darted off. Itachi and the girl waved as they ran after the young Uchiha, Kakashi looked up to his green eyed companion who was looking confused.

"What's annoying?" the pinkette asked him.

"Uh… something irksome," he guessed.

"Am I annoying?" the girl asked him.

"No," he answered as he finally made it to the Uzumaki residence, the chaos ensued when he opened the door.

"Hey Kakashi!" Kushina greeted as she held her jinchūriki toddler; Uzumaki Naruto.

"Kushina," he greeted, the hyperactive blonde toddler, he picked the nameless toddler off of his shoulders then and set her down on the ground. The pinkette promptly grabbed his pants leg as he sat down with Minato at the table.

"So, what can we do for you Kakashi?" Minato asked.

"I was wondering how I would go about adopting a kid," he admitted. The pinkette crawled into his lap then and yanked his arms around her as she smiled happily. He smiled at her though she couldn't see it. Honestly, this child was his sanity since everything had happened. First losing Obito, then failing in his promise to his friend and teammate and then killing Rin because she had tossed herself in front of his fist… well, it was breaking him. And then there was this child, a child who had demands, a child who needed attention, a child who did not let him sit around breaking in the dark. Speaking of the child, she swatted Naruto away fiercely.

"Oh? You want to adopt the girl?" Minato asked him.

He nodded.

"Well, she'll need a name, and I'll get the paperwork on the fast track for approval," Minato said as he leaned back in his chair with a smile.

"A name?" Kakashi questioned. He honestly hadn't thought to give the girl a name, she didn't seem to need one. However, he supposed everyone needed a name, and as he looked down at green and pink he couldn't help but think of how much like a sakura blossom she seemed to be like, and it was not just because she pink and green. The little pinkette seemed to be a little resilient beauty in the midst of a hellish world fighting to obtain peace again. This little blossom had brought beauty after all the hells he had created for his mind to survive.

"Well, yes, every child needs a name," Kushina informed him bluntly as she sat down with Naruto. The pinkette smiled.

"I like your hair!" the pinkette declared loudly. Kushina smiled.

"I like yours as well," Kushina informed the pinkette.

"Sakura," Kakashi said.

"Yes?" the toddler tilted her head to look up to him then.

"Alright, the name is solved, her name will be Sakura," Kakashi decided. Minato smiled then.

"Sa-ku-ra, Sakura!" the girl declared. "I'm Sakura! I'm Sakura! Sakura!" she started humming with delight at having a name then, he just decided it was for the best not to point out she was being annoying now. Especially after he had told her she was not annoying anymore.

"Well, then I'll get you the paperwork, and I'll expedite it. But before I do that; are you certain about this? This is not something you can walk away from once you commit, Sakura here will be relying on you for the rest of her life, and you can't give her up," Minato pointed out.

"I know," Kakashi admitted, however, all he could think of was the war torn child he had seen staring at him with wide innocent green eyes. The child who had closed his friend's eyes. He would make up for his failures in life with her, he would never let her down as he had Obito and Rin, he would never let her fail or feel pain again. He'd take care of this pinkette to the best of his abilities.

"Well, if you know and accept that, then I'll see what I can do about getting you those papers," Minato smiled.

"OW!" a toddler shrieked, he looked at the pinkette sitting on his lap and her irritated look.

"No pull hair!" she shouted angrily as Naruto sat on the ground rubbing his head. Kushina chuckled, and Minato was laughing, Naruto was pouting. His toddler was fuming though, and he smirked; yep, a little spitfire was here in his arms. Well, his life would at least no longer be dark and gloomy, he supposed looking at the scowling pinkette.

Still in the Naruto mood...

That's all for now folks!

Enjoy Blooming in Darkness! =)