I've always wanted to do this... and here I go... one of my two favorite characters! ... sigh... Hope you enjoy! This is my first crossover fic. Totally unaccountable, really... I don't know why I wrote such an idiotic thing... but, there you go!

Italics: Snape's thoughts.

READ AND THEN REVIEW! PLEASE! I welcome ravers, ranters, people who say 'nice', honesty, intelligent opinions and constructive criticism!

so... random... wahhh! what a waste of time!

Don't own Naruto OR the Harry Potter universe… which is just as well…

We sat there on the green knoll, looking out over the hills, the woodland spreading below our feet, and closer, the small squat hut belonging to Hagrid.

I glanced sideways at the man – the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts – one, Hatake Kakashi.

What did he see in me to talk to me like he did?

I wondered.

He was so different than me. Even though I never allowed (was allowed) to enjoy the simple dreams and desires all those brats now laying about in the quadrant have, I understood.

Kakashi was tall, lean, limber – and mysterious. His grey-white hair flopped everywhere - messily disordered, but the rest of his school dress – complete with cape, was neat and orderly. Half of his mask covered his face and a sideways ninja band covered one eye and an ear. All you could see was one dark eye, which looked lethargic.

I wondered.

What made the man like he was?

The curiosity - the fact that I was no better off than the giggling girls in the corridors- made me snappish.

"You call this guarding, Hatake?"

"I've got a bunch of kage bunshin around the other corners of the buildings…"

I don't understand but I store away the words intending on looking them up later in the evening. I'm always on top of things, let it never be said that Severus Snape is caught off guard.

"I heard some interesting things about you," Kakashi said softly.

"Eh?"

I blink, surprised.

Something uncurled in my belly. I tried to shut it up and lock it down.

"What would THAT be, Hatake? You listen to schoolyard gossip?"

"N-no… I heard you made your own jutsu."

"You're not making sense, Hatake," I interrupt acidly.

He waves it all away with a hand and a laugh.

"Your own – spells. Impressive."

"You're not –"

"How could one not be? Is it so unnatural? Well… perhaps it is…"

"Perhaps?"

"But then… who am I to cast a stone? I too made my own jutsu."

"Your own?"

"Only one other in this world knows how to complete the Chidori. And no one can do the Raikiri… yet…"

"I see."

"I made it when I was a boy."

Suddenly I understood.

This attractive, mysterious – what do the children call it – 'cool guy' – isn't so much different than me.

The green seems greener, the wood isn't so dark and even Hagrid's hut doesn't look so squalid – it's as much home as the school is.

The school is everything.

"I made mine when I was a boy, too. I often wonder if my mother would be proud of me…"

"Yeah…"

"But my father was - I don't like to think on him. I hate him. What about yours?"

The ninja's fingers tighten around his knees.

Silence fell in between us – as thick and heavy as the school wall.

"Forget I asked…"
"No." He said quickly, overriding my apologies. "It's alright. I just don't like talking about him. He committed seppuku…"

Another word to store away and look up later.

"Suicide, that is."

Suicide.

"I was only – oh, about seven…"

Seven years old.

"My mother was dead already. So. Yeah."

Orphaned at an early age.

"Sorry, Mr. Hatake. I understand. I too was orphaned. And it was hard to be a Muggle in the Slytherin house."

"I wonder that you went there at all."

"Bad choices?"

"Sure. I went through something like that too."

"Is that when you made your – jutsu – thing?"

"Yeah."

"It was the day a teammate became a friend and died."

There was nothing more to say, so we just sat there watching the sun move across the sky. A part of me knew that there were potions to prepare for the class tomorrow, that dinner would be serving soon, that I still had homework to mark – but the warmth of the sun – the moment – kept me there.

If he could be a protector – a scared, isolated, rejected boy – then I could be too.

When I turned to thank him, he was gone.

I tipped my head back and smiled – a bit rusty perhaps – but still….

"Severus?" asked a voice from behind me.

"Minerva. It's dinner already? Let's go."

She opened her mouth to say something – and then shut it.

I walked away and said nothing.

I will say nothing. It's my moment to savor. The time when he... when...

Dead ghosts are laid to rest.