NOT EDITED

Previously on Finding My Way

"Is this..."

"Mama..."

"SHE'S NOT FAMILY!"

"She is her mother's daughter."

"Haruka-nee?"

Now [Chapter 12 : Little Duckling ]

Holding back a yawn, Kakashi smiled fondly behind his mask as he entered his apartment in the early morning after a successful mission. His ward was sprawled along the sofa, a blanket thrown haphazardly over her with a pile of texts and notebooks on the coffee table. Yasuko must have fallen asleep when she lost track of time while studying again. It didn't take long for Kakashi to notice that Yasuko was quite the scholar and was always eager to learn more when given the chance. Though her eagerness did lead to some late night readings and skipped meals.

At this point he had made it a habit to leave a plate of snacks beside her to nibble on while she studied. Separating her from her books to sleep, on the other hand, was still a challenge he had yet to conquer easily.

Chuckling under his breath, Kakashi carefully maneuvered the child into his arms. It wouldn't do to have her sleep on the sofa, for no matter how many times he's crashed there himself, it was never the most comfortable thing to rest on.

Carefully untying Yasuko's hair, Kakashi tucked her gently into her bed, caressing her hair back. Stretching, Kakashi patted Ru's head as he shuffled past him and onto the bed. The jōnin watched fondly as the tiger prowled onto of the sheets before settling down next to his partner to rest.

Checking the time, Kakashi hummed, nodding to himself as he made his way to freshen up before heading to bed himself. It was still dark out and luckily the weekend. All the apartment's occupants deserved a good sleep in, if he says so himself, Kakashi mused.

It wasn't long before the sun began to rise, much to the ignorance of the Hatake home, all blissfully unaware as they slept on. At least for a few moments at least...

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL! RISE TO THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY! IT IS TIME FOR A NEW CHALLENGE!"

Yasuko squeaked, tumbling out of bed in a tangle of blankets. Ru growled, moving to prowl around her fallen form protectively, ears pinned back in irritation at the sudden wake up call. The young Uchiha's eyes were dazed with sleep as she gazed up at the ceiling wondering what was going on. A tired groan drew her attention to her bedroom door where Kakashi was leaning against the doorframe, exhaustion clear in the way his shoulders were slumped. Yasuko wonders if the the man had been here long since returning from his mission.

"Kashi-ji?" Yasuko murmured, sleep slurring her words as she tried to regain a semblance of coherence so early in the morning.

The trio winced as another yell reverberated in the air. Kakashi sighed, clearly exasperated, as he helped Yasuko untangle herself. Taking the blanket, he wrapped it around her shoulders before lifting her up onto his hip.

He paused in his step, staring down at Yasuko's tiger companion in consideration.

"I'd suggest staying here unless you want your eardrums to burst."

Ru let out a huff, but nodded his head in acquiescence, moving to get comfortable once more, this time tucking his head beneath his paws just in case.

Carrying Yasuko in his arms, the man rolled his shoulders back and let out a big sigh. Staring into Yasuko's sleepy eyes, he grunted, allowing her to rest against his shoulder. "Let's get this over with. The sooner he leaves the sooner we can go back to sleep."

Opening the apartment door, the two deadpanned at the exuberant man, posing enthusiastically, teeth sparkling much too bright for their poor eyes.

"KAKASHI MY RIVAL! LET US START-"

"Gai," Kakashi cut in, "It's early and I just got back. The other tenants won't appreciate being woken up by you... again."

The green glad man laughed heartily.

"Then a quick challenge!" He grinned as he finally acknowledged the presence of the young Uchiha, "And your ward could choose the challenge as well! Good morning youthful flower! I am Maito Gai! Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!" He ended his intro in a ridiculous pose sending her a cheesy wink.

Now, Yasuko was a normally polite child. It would have been rude to ignore the man's enthusiastic introduction. But right now she was an eight-year-old girl who had stayed up late after losing herself in her books and was woken up rather abruptly due to the man's youthful declarations.

So it really shouldn't have come to a surprise that her Uchiha genes decided to come into play in that very moment.

"Hn."

With a deadpanned face, Yasuko turned away from the now shock white man, burrowing into Kakashi's neck in hopes of catching a few minutes of sleep. Kakashi snorted, shoulders shaking minutely, his hand coming up to run through the young Uchiha's hair in an affectionate manner.

"Ma~ there's your answer, Gai. Good bye~" Kakashi eye smiled, shutting the door in his fellow jōnin's face. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kakashi chuckled, patting Yasuko's back as he took the two of them into his own room. They could share his bed. Knowing Ru, he had probably already taken over Yasuko's as he stretched out to sleep.

"Time for a well deserved rest, ne?"

Kakashi chuckled at the lazy grunt he gained as a response.

Having stayed up late due to their own activities, the Hatake home did not find itself in action until it was well past noon. After grabbing a late lunch, Kakashi had sent Yasuko to spend the day out in the village with Ru seeing as he still had a mission report to write and submit.

Having a tiger as a partner was a blessing on the battlefield, but with the civilians being so wary, Yasuko had taken to exploring the more ninja infested areas. Though many of the older ninja had stopped her from straying too far into the training grounds. From the chakra levels she deduced that those of jōnin rank and some she suspected were off duty ANBU were keeping an eye on her for Kakashi or because she could possibly get hurt due to stray weapons and jutsu.

Feeling rather mischievous, she quickly bounded up into the tree branches with a burst of chakra, giggling at Ru's roar of confusion. Knowing Ru would be able to sniff her out, she quickly pulled out a seal from the stack she had in her short pockets and slapped it onto her wrist. Sending a bit of chakra into it, she grinned as it lit up for a second. From the growl of frustration below her, she knew the seal had done its job.

Keeping her movements as quiet as possible, Yasuko bounded from branch to branch, trying to avoid Ru as much as possible. Then again, Ru wasn't her partner for nothing. It soon became a game of cat and mouse as Yasuko hid as well as she could and Ru chased after.

Giggling as she stumbled towards the apartment, Yasuko glanced over her shoulder for any sights of Ru, gasping as she suddenly slammed into a solid surface. Wincing as she held her sore nose, she blinked, blushing in embarrassment as she met the eyes of the man she had ran into. His shoulder-length brown hair was held in place by his forehead protector, stylized like a bandana, while he donned the standard jōnin uniform. Her brows furrowed, tilting her head in thought. This man was... familiar in some way.

As she studied the man, she completely missed the fondness in the shinobi's eyes.

"Oh, sorry kid. Are you lost?"

The man asked, tongue shifting the senbon in his mouth lazily. Yasuko stared at the weapon, curious as to how the man wasn't injuring himself. Frowning she shook her head, staring at the him in confusion.

"No shinobi-san, my guardian's apartment is just down the hall," Yasuko assured, patting Ru's nose as he saddled up behind her, "I'm sorry for running into you." She blushed.

The jōnin hummed, crouching down to be eye level with the child and smirked.

"You must Kakashi's infamous ward. The name's Shiranui Genma." He tipped his head in greeting.

Yasuko smiled shyly, bowing politely. "It's nice to meet you, Shiranui-san. My name is Yasuko."

"Just call me Genma, kid." The jōnin stood, glancing down the hall as if searching for her guardian. "Has Kakashi taken you out for dinner yet?"

"Umm... not yet Genma-san," Yasuko was uncertain why this stranger was asking such questions, "I was heading to check if he's home since Ru and I have been out exploring the village."

Genma's eyes flickered past her shoulder and Yasuko couldn't help but turn around to follow his gaze. She frowned when she saw nothing before she began stretching out her sensory range. She blinked as the chakra signatures of her usual ANBU guard were caught in her range. Her mouth shaped like an 'O' when she realized just why Genma was so familiar to her.

"Oh... Hawk-san." Yasuko murmured, blushing as Genma's eyes snapped back to her. ANBU identities were a strict secret. Even family wasn't supposed to know. Some members were an open secret, like Kakashi, but otherwise they liked to keep everything under wraps. "Sorry, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Genma chuckled, patting her head. "We knew your sensory abilities were good but we didn't think you'd be able to reckon who was who once meeting them out of uniform."

Yasuko blushed at the praise, squeaking as one of her favourite ANBU guards lifted her into his arms.

"Since Kakashi hasn't taken you out, I guess he'll just have to meet us for dinner. Off we go, little duckling."

"Eh? W-wait Genma-sa-!"

Genma chuckled as Yasuko quickly wrapped her arms around his neck as he jumped off the railing of the apartment complex and onto a nearby roof. He rose an eyebrow at how easily her tiger companion was keeping up in the streets below while avoiding the large civilian crowds, but at this point they shouldn't be surprised. Ru would follow Yasuko to the ends of the world. They still aren't sure if he's ninkin like the Inuzuka's companions or a summoning contract.

"Ano, Genma-san, we really should have left a note for Kakashi-oji." Yasuko murmured, nibbling nervously on the piece of yakiniku the jōnin had cooked for her.

Genma shrugged, unworried over the fact that he may have just triggered the protective instincts of a Hatake male. He smirked, throwing a piece of raw meet to the lazing tiger beside their booth before picking another piece of meat from the grill onto Yasuko's own plate.

"Worry not little duckling. Kakashi will be here soon," His smirked widened as he sensed a blaring source of chakra barreling over towards the grill house, "In fact that should be him now."

"."

The senbon user smirked, waving lazily at the seething Hatake as he lazily motioned towards the grill.

"Took you long enough, Hatake." He grinned around his senbon, "Why don't you join us? Don't worry it's on me tonight."

Kakashi visibly bristled much to the other jōnin's amusement.

"Do you know how long it took me to track you down!" Kakashi was practically hissing at this point.

Genma shrugged, eyes stuck on the grill as he flipped over a few pieces of meet and vegetables. "Not as long as you're making it sound like, I guess. You are one of the villages best trackers outside the Inuzuka."

"I would have known who Yasuko was with in seconds if there was a scent to track! There was nothing!"

Genma was throughly enjoying how worked up the silver haired man was, until he processed what exactly he was talking about. It's been over a decade since he's seen Kakashi so open about his feelings and actually connecting with someone since his sensei's death. But the fact that Kakashi couldn't find Yasuko's scent was worrying.

Yasuko winced, shifting guiltily as both jōnins' gazes fell on her.

"A-ah, gomen, Kakashi-oji. T-that's my fault," She smiled shakily lifting a wrist to show the seal she had placed and forgotten during her game with Ru, "It's a scent concealment seal. I put it on to make it harder for Ru to find me when we were playing in the village earlier. I had forgotten to take it off..." She bowed her head.

Genma and Kakashi's brows rose in interest. Having spent so much time as the fourth Hokage's guard and having him as a sensei, the two held a great interest in the art of fuinjutsu. Kakashi moved to sit beside his ward, eyes studying the seal. He blinked when he realized that even as he sat right next to her, he couldn't catch Yasuko's scent. Had she been cloaking her chakra, he probably wouldn't have noticed she was even there.

"Huh... I can see the standard scent concealment seal..." Genma murmured.

Yasuko's eyes brightened and nodded. "Un! I haven't been able to make my own but adjustments to existing seals are easy enough to work with! Instead of it being a stationary seal, I took the base layer-"

The two jōnin listened avidly as the young Uchiha went on a passionate lecture about the seal. With her distracted they shared a look and hidden from view, Genma signed to the on duty ANBU. The only indication the message was received was the slight flare of chakra. Kakashi nodded before turning his full attention back on his ward.

As much as they had grown fond of the young girl, they still had their duty to their village. Her fuinjutsu knowledge proved to be a risk against the tracking seal hidden on her.

"Looks like we got our own little fuinjutsu master in our midst," Genma teased, amused how easy Yasuko was to fluster with compliments, "Maybe I should take you under my wing instead, little duckling. I know a thing or two about seals."

Kakashi growled as he pulled his ward into his lap, acting very much like a territorial wolf whose had their land encroached.

"My pup!"

At Yasuko's giggle the jōnin shared a hidden look before smiling at the child.

As shinobi they had their duty to their village, weapons at their Hokage's disposal. But at the end of the day they were human and as humans they would make sure that their relationship with this innocent child was honest and true.

It was the least they could give her for all the manipulation they must do.

Yes, an update. Honestly at this point I just wanna get to Shippuden cause guys, I have written all that down up until the actual war and I am ready for angst and tears! I'm surprised people still read this. Thank you though, for all the support.

Besides that, how is everyone doing during this very boring self-isolation period? I have reached my 20th year of living recently, and let me tell you... it was BORING. Anyone else reach a milestone during this time?

UPDATED: 29/04/20

Next time on Finding My Way

"I-I don't know..."

"I'm sure he'd understand."

"Welcome to the pack, pup!"

"Let's talk."

[Chapter 13: Uncertainty]