A/N:
New chapter of A Stitch In Time coming out soon. This will be the last story I put up while there are all the unfinished ones, I promise. Well. I say that now... Anyway, have fun Naruto fans.
Warm yourself by the fire, son,
And the morning will come soon.
I'll tell you stories of a better time,
In a place that we once knew.
Before we packed our bags
And left all this behind us in the dust,
We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch.
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
Down!
We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told.
But we've been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home.
We've been pulling out the nails that hold up
Everything you've known.
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
So open your eyes child,
Let's be on our way.
Broken windows and ashes
Are guiding the way.
Keep quiet no longer,
We'll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we've lost,
And the lives we've reclaimed.
Go!
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
Don't hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don't need your help now,
You won't let me down, down, down!
Don't hold me up...
(I don't need your help, I'll stand my ground)
Don't hold me up...
(I don't need your help)
No! No! No!
Don't hold me up!
(I don't need your help, I'll stand my ground)
Don't hold me up!
(I don't need your help, I'll stand my ground)
Don't let me down, down, down, down, down!
Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang of Konoha, the Original Child Prodigy, the Sharringan Warrior, the Man Who Copied Over a Thousand Jutsu… Was concerned. That was the only reason why he was sat in a bar with his friends Iruka Umino and Asuma Sarutobi sitting either side of him, nursing a glass of Sake. Said friends both new and understood that he was concerned but, like true ninja, said nothing, preferring to be a silent support for their mutual friend. Unfortunately for them, their presence did little to comfort the silver haired Jounien now, as he watched the seconds tick by on the clock behind the bar. He was already two hours late for his 'urgent' meeting with the Hokage and knew it was time to make a move. He could delay the inevitable no longer and so with a sigh he stood up, his stool screeching underneath him, and drained his cup in a single gulp. Iruka and Asuma both gave him sympathetic glances.
"Whatever it is," Asuma said in an attempt to console his comrade, "It can't be that bad. Not for you." Iruka nodded his agreement.
"If you need any help just let us know…" The sentiment was wasted on the Copy Cat Ninja. He ran a single gloved hand through his already messy hair and sighed heavily before turning and giving a casual wave to his friends over his shoulder as he left the bar. Once out of sight the two other men turned to one another.
"What's it over, do you reckon?" Asuma asked, puffing on another of his cigarettes. Iruka shrugged.
"No idea. But if Kakashi Hatake has reason to be concerned over something, I start writing my will. Just in case." Asuma sniggered slightly before seeing the look on Iruka's face and sobering up. Quickly.
"Well." He mused. "Guess we've just gotta wait and see huh?" They were both staring at the door that their shinobi friend had just left through. Waiting suddenly seemed like a very bad idea.
"He will be here shortly." The elderly man behind the mahogany desk with the large, official looking kimono and hat on sighed, taking a puff of his pipe. "It's his prerogative to be at least two hours late to everything." The person he was addressing nodded from the shadows in the corner, clutching a small bag to their frame. She didn't speak, just stood there, quiet and unobtrusive. The Hokage of the hidden leaf village sighed in response to the stoic silence, staring at the file in front of him. Not a single ranked mission and yet found it impossibly easy to complete an A rank, so long as certain conditions were met. Not for the first time, the Hokage was reminded of his hatred of the Akkikage. You just didn't do that to… He glanced back at his silent companion. She was what, 11? 12? Her birth date or age weren't even written down here. All he had was a name, a record of the missions she'd taken and a few notes about her… Abilities. He took in her appearance again, cringing inwardly. He'd barely believed it when he'd seen her alive on his state visit to the Demon Country, having seen her receiving orders for what, from the sounds of it, would have classified as an A rank mission.
Looking at her now, he could barely claim she was alive. Her face was grubby to the extreme; her hair fell in matted clumps around her eyes, which were surrounded by heavy black rings that could be nothing short of insomnia. Her complexion was deathly pale verging on jaundice, the lines of her face sharp and fierce as she had next to no fat there. She was small and skinny, unhealthily so, and whilst his own knowledge of medicine wasn't vast it didn't take a genius to see that she was going through the symptoms of Catabolyis, severe muscle deterioration. Her body was digesting itself to stay alive… The way her clothes hung from her frame made her look like a ghost. She was a sack of bones, and he had seen her on more than one occasion falling asleep where she stood, but when he turned to let her know she could sit down she was sat up, alert and focused. She was a child who was living in one of the wealthiest countries in the Shinobi Nations, and she was starving to death. She was a child…
His train of thought was interrupted as a woman, his secretary, put her head around the door.
"Kakashi Hatake is here sir." She said gently, throwing a hurried glance to the kid in the corner who hugged her bag to her tightly and didn't speak. The Hokage watched her too, looking for some sort of reaction from the child, anything to suggest there was a human inside that broken shell. But she; as if knowing that all eyes were waiting for her and thinking they were searching for a weakness, merely straightened her posture and did not respond. The Hokage sighed again.
"Thank you Alena." He said turning back to her. "Send him in." She nodded, looking nervously to the child, and left the room. The Hokage was about to say something, something to her, to tell her to relax when the door re-opened, halting the procession of words. As he turned back the girl shrunk away from the new man who walked into the room, pressing further back into the shadows. Kakashi approached the Hokage's desk and bowed.
"You wished to see me, Lord Hokage." Sarutobi nodded.
"Kakashi, there's been a complication-" Kakashi wasn't looking at him. He was staring at the corner, at the eyes that gazed out at him. The Hokage had never seen the Copy Cat ninja go ashen, but he did in that moment. His eyes widened and his whole posture stiffened. When he finally spoke, his voice was all but choked off.
"C-Cara?"