Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto, so don't sue me.

Hatake Kakashi, master of a thousand jutsus, legendary copy nin of Konoha, famous throughout all the great lands, and former Anbu Black Ops member, was a man of mystery. He carefully guarded the secret of what lay behind his mask, but there was another secret, one that he guarded even more closely. No one knew, and if he had a choice, no one would ever know.

In secret, when he wasn't on a mission, the great Sharingan Kakashi slept with a ratty old teddy bear. The ninja who could kill enemies without remorse or a second thought, who had once been in Anbu, where emotions are considered useless and quickly discarded, couldn't get rid of the last vestige of his innocent childhood before he had become a ninja when civilians would still have considered him a child. The ratty old thing was all he had left to remember his mother by. She had died before he even became a genin, and besides for the teddy bear that she had made for him, all he had from her were a few hazy memories and a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Whenever he was getting back from a mission, still feeling the blood staining his skin after a shower, he would curl around the ragged bear, holding it close, and breathing in the scent of his mother that still lingered there, letting the warmth of those feelings slowly suffuse him, drawing him back from the brink of his decent into inhumanity, where shinobi were simply emotionless tools that were worth less than the completion of the mission. Damp hair letting the cleansing water drip down his shoulder, Kakashi once more held onto the bear for his humanity. Breathing deeply, he slowly let the horrors of his job go, reverting to the innocence he had left behind so very long ago, in another lifetime. Closing his eyes, he could almost feel ghostly fingers gently brush his cheek and his mother's faint voice. "Sleep tight. I love you." Ethereal lips brushed his forehead, and Kakashi drifted off to a peaceful sleep, arms still holding onto the ratty old bear for dear life.

A/N: I know it's short, but I'd like to know what you thought, whether it was completely OOC or not.