Chapter 4
Sam's POV:
It had been a very long time since someone had taken care of my wounds for me so when Kakashi used a warm wet rag to clean my hand I practically shivered.
He smirked slightly, "What? Not used to a handsome man's touch?"
I rolled my eyes at him, "Not use to gentle touch at all really."
"How long?" he asked. He didn't finish the question but I could guess what he meant.
"I was 16 when he took in my sisters and me. I was fully trained at 18. I'm 25 now. You do the math."
He shook his head slightly, "I worked for him for 3 years and I left. He told me a lot of stuff that I never asked to know and has been hunting me down since the moment I left."
Part of me wanted to ask why he left but another part of me just didn't care. Instead I just didn't say anything and nodded.
I looked up at him while he was focused on my hand and studied his face better. He had a vertical scar on his left eye and a small mark on his chin. His eyes were grey but different from his eyes. Almost as though a storm was happening in his eyes.
"Kakashi!" a voice shouted from down stairs.
Kakashi groaned and I couldn't help but smile. He was like some weird type of father.
"What is it Lee?" Kakashi shouted back with out even looking up.
"There are three kids down here. They look pretty beaten up, I think they need help!" the kid shouted back.
At that Kakashi did look up. "Do you mind if I head down?"
I shook my head, "I'm fine, we can go."
He nodded and led me down the hallway. Once we were down the stairs I could see the three children. One was a blonde headed girl who looked about 17 and the other two were boys. One boy had shaggy black hair and completely black clothes while the other had blazing red hair that stuck out in different directions.
And I knew all three of them.
They were teens that Orochimaru was training and I had personally helped train all three of them. Their names were Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. Temari was the oldest at 18, Kankuro was 17, and Gaara was 16.
Even though Gaara was the youngest he was also the most violent of the three.
Gaara was also covered in blood with Kankuro and Temari on both sides of him holding him up. Gaara looked up ate with a small smile and the sight of the young boy covered in blood and smiling probably would have scared off anybody else but I had seen him in worse conditions. Like the day he and siblings were found by Orochimaru.
It had only been a couple months after Elana and Tori had disappeared and the three siblings all seemed young. I didn't even know why we had went to their family but two men had been ordered by Orochimaru to kill their parents. I had just been there for back up when they called out that one of the kids were fighting back.
I had ran up the stairs to find a 14 year old Gaara standing in front of his two older siblings. He was covered in blood and three men were laying around them while four other men were moving towards. Gaara had a look in his eyes that said he would be willing to do anything to keep his siblings alive.
"Stop," I called out before either of the men could reach them.
I took a step forward and Gaara barely glanced at me. He looked ready to fight anyone who came towards him. When another man stepped forward he proved his point by not hesitating to fight back. He jabbed a hidden knife into the mans throat and twisted it. It had been smart that he had hidden the knife because nobody else could see it.
I rolled my eyes and walked forward towards the three siblings and the bleeding man. I pulled the man away from Gaara and snapped his neck, letting his body fall to the ground. I looked over my shoulder to the other three me, "When I say stop, I mean stop. Understood?"
They nodded and I turned back to the children. The two older ones looked afraid but the younger stood unwavering.
"What are your names?"
"I am Gaara. My sister is Temari and my brother is Kankuro and I will protect them with my life."
I nodded and turned around, "They are coming with us. They are not to be touched and if they decide they do not want my protection then you will let them leave. If any of you fail to follow my orders then you won't have to worry about following any order ever again."
"What makes you think we would want your protection?" Gaara said behind me.
I turned and looked him in the eyes. I smiled slightly at him, "You guys leave. If I don't come down soon then just assume I am dead."
"We'll see you in ten then."
Once I thought all three men were gone I spoke again, "I have two little sisters. I don't have any other family and I had to watch my parents get killed in front of me too. If you come with me, I can teach you what I know. I'm not promising you love and affection. I'm promising you protection and training."
Gaara looked over his shoulders and hesitated, "And if we want to leave?"
I stepped aside, "You are free to go if that is what you want but I can't protect you if that is what you choose."
"Then we will go with you," the girl said, speaking up.
"Temari, we can take care of our selves!" Gaara shouted.
"Gaara, Temari is right. We have to stick together but can't do that if we are constantly worried about our lives." Kankuro spoke up.
Gaara turned back around and stared at me with cold eyes, "We will go with you but don't expect us to trust you."
Now the same three children stood in front of me two years later and seemed to be waiting for me to speak.
I stepped forward and brushed the hair away from Gaara's face. Sometimes he looked so young it was like the first time I had met him. "What are you doing here?"
"They told us you were gone so we came for you." Gaara explained.
"Did you really expect us to stay there with out you?" Kankuro asked.
Iruka sighed beside Kakashi, "It looks like we are gonna have to use the other rooms now."
"Speaking of rooms, I think everyone else should start getting ready for bed." Kakashi said.
I almost laughed at how much he sounded like a dad. I watched as the other kids walked past me to go upstairs and was surprised at how different they all were. I looked to my left and there was a blond boy leaning against a black haired boy. The blond boy looked as though he were half asleep and the black haired boy was staring at him fondly. It was a look that if you didn't look directly at them it would look as the the black haired boy was just looking at the ground.
After a moment the black haired boy nudged the blond one. "Wake up, loser. We have to go to bed."
The blond one groaned, "Why are you so hateful, Sasuke?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Come on, Naruto. I refuse to carry you to bed again."
Naruto finally straightened and grabbed Sasuke's hand, "Let's go then."
I watched as they walked up the stairs until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find Kakashi looking at me.
"Iruka said that I have to keep an eye on you so that means you have to sleep in my room."
I raised both eyebrows at him, "I am not sleeping in the same bed as you."
He rolled his eyes, "There are two beds in every room."
I nodded my head, "I'll find you after I talk to the others."
He nodded and headed up the stairs.
I immediately went to find the room that Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari was put in. The moment I opened the door they all looked up at me.
"Did Orochimaru tell you the plan?"
Gaara nodded, "Yes but we didn't want you to do it alone. We said it would be more believable if we came here after you."
I stepped further into the room, closing the door behind me. "You kids are very smart."
"Are you going to take us with you?" Kankuro asked from a corner of the room.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, "Absolutely. I would never leave you guys behind."
"When will we meet your sisters?" Temari asked.
"First thing tomorrow. You are all so important to me and I'm so glad you will finally be able to meet."
"Are we really going to kill Kakashi?" Temari asked, looking slightly upset at the thought. She had always been softer than her brothers.
I nodded my head, "If that's what it takes to keep my family together then yes."
"What if Orochimaru tells you that you can't take us with you?" Gaara asked.
I looked at him in complete seriousness, "Then I will kill him too."
Kakashi's POV:
Sleeping had never been something Kakashi was good at. He would always end up having a dream that would wake him up in sweat and wouldn't be able to catch his breath.
On this specific occasion it wasn't his dream that woke him up. It was the sound of someone struggling to breath and scratching against bed sheets. He sat up in his bed and looked at Sam struggling in her sleep. He watched her for a moment. She was drenched in sweat with her hair sticking to her head. She was clenching at her chest and breathing loudly and Kakashi wondered if that was what he looked like when he was trying to sleep. He slowly got up and walked over to Sam's bed and knelt next to her. She looked younger even though she looked like she was struggling to breath.
Kakashi put his hand on Sam's shoulder and she jerked awake immediately. She also punched him the face before he could move away.
Kakashi covered his nose, "Shit, Sam!"
She didn't say anything but looked at him with wide eyes as if she was trying to remember something. When she blinked a few times she seemed to visibly relax. She pushed the hair out of her face and then pushes the covers off of her.
"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm sorry I punched you. I'm not use to being woken up." Sam said and crawled out of her bed.
Kakashi wanted to ask where she was going when she pulled off her shirt. His eyes widened in confusion as she tossed her shirt aside.
"Do you have a shirt I can borrow?" Sam asked in an uneasy voice.
When Kakashi just stared instead of answering, Sam turned around to look at him. She looked slightly confused and then she laughed.
"I'm sorry, I'm so use to changing in front of people with out thinking twice."
Kakashi just nodded, "It's fine. Uh, I have some shirts in that closet if you want to get one."
"Thanks."
Kakashi just nodded. After a few moments of silence he looked back over at Sam. She had on one of his shirts and looked a lot calmer than she had before. She was brushing through her hair with a brush that Elana had let her borrow.
Finally Kakashi cleared his throat and spoke, "Elana and Tori never really talk about their childhood much."
Sam didn't look over at him, "There isn't much to talk about. They left America when they were still young and then after a couple years we were taken in by Orochimaru."
Kakashi bit his lip. He wasn't entirely sure what all he could ask with out Sam going back into her shell. "Why did you leave America? How old were you?"
Sam sighed and put her brush down. She sat back down on her bed and faced Kakashi. "I was 14, Elana was 8, and Tori was 3. We had a nice life before and we lived in a nice house and they were happy. We were a happy family. They don't remember it that much because so much has happened since then but I remember," she paused for a moment and smiled, "We were happy. Then one day a man broke into the house in the middle of the night. My mother had shouted at the man and told him they were still getting the money but then there were two gun shots and then nothing. I went to look in their room and he had shot them both in the head, point blank. I ran to my sisters rooms before the man could realize we were there and I left with them."
"To Japan?"
Sam laughed, "To my uncle's house. He is the one who sent us to Japan. We stayed with a man he trusted for two years until he was killed by Orochimaru."
Kakashi became confused, "You went with a man who killed someone you trusted?"
Sam looked down at the ground as if making eye contact was starting to physically hurt her. "He promised to protect my sisters. And he did. They got everything they wanted for five years."
"Did they know you were killing men for him?"
"I did what I had to do. I have always done everything I could for them."
Kakashi didn't know what to say. He had never felt that way before he met Iruka and Naruto. He couldn't imagine how Sam felt when she was still a girl having to take on the responsibilities of a parent.
He tried to imagine himself in that situation and couldn't see it. The thought it self seemed complicated to him. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that for so long." Kakashi said after a while.
Sam just laid down on her side, "Everybody has a past they don't want to talk about. Don't apologize."
Kakashi thought of responding but didn't. Instead, they both sat in silence until the others started waking up.