Disclaimer: it's no new fact that I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Blah, blah, blah.

Prologue

"What?"

Kakashi stared at the old Hokage as if the man was crazy. Had he heard it right?

"Exactly what I said, Kakashi," the Sandaime replied patiently, as if knowing that his reaction would be this one – which he probably did. "You're retiring from ANBU."

"But, sir…" Kakashi stuttered, for once not understanding what was happening. Why would he be forcefully retired from the organization? He had done all missions perfectly, successfully.

The old Hokage stayed in silence for a minute, his eyes glued to Kakashi clueless expression. The seventeen-year-old ninja sitting in front of him had gone through more than many veterans. He'd just spent almost the last the three years of his life drowning in missions and not resurfacing when coming back to Konoha. If he kept this up, the young man would snap someday.

"The problem, Kakashi," Hiruzen finally spoke, "is not your success rate, which is very good. The problem is the time you spend doing these missions."

Kakashi's only visible eye showed all his astonishment.

"Do you want me to finish them faster?" The silver-haired man never felt so dumb.

The Sandaime did not even blink, "No, I want you to quit, as I stated before."

"B-But why, sir?"

Kakashi couldn't even remember the last time he stuttered to pathetically. Probably before his father had committed suicide, since he became an ice block after the event.

"I need a favor from you, actually."

A favor?, the silver-haired man thought. The Hokage didn't ask favors to ninjas – he gave orders. What could he – a simple ANBU, now Jounin – do for him?

"I'm sure you know about Uzumaki Kori?"

Kakashi froze on the spot.

How could he not? He'd listened to his sensei's babbles about "his baby" during months, saying how pretty she would be or how strong he would be. He heard Minato-sensei complaining about Kushina, who decided she wanted to eat weird food combinations in the middle of the night. Even Kakashi was once woken up by a moody redhead at three a.m. because Minato wouldn't get up and buy her banana pie with eggs.

"What about her?" He asked rather abruptly. He had seen the girl once, almost three years ago. She was a small thing with a tuft of blond hair and fair skin. One look at her and Kakashi couldn't gather courage to ask about the baby again – she looked too much like his sensei.

He was coward, Kakashi knew.

"She'll be three in eight weeks. She's Minato's daughter – and, despite this, she haven't seen you once."

"I…"

Hiruzen raised one hand, thankfully stopping Kakashi, because the man wasn't sure of what he was going to say anyway.

"I'm aware of why you have never seen her again. It'd be too much, too difficult, for you. I understood this at the moment. However, it is time to let go."

"Let go? Let go?" Kakashi stood up. He should not talk to his leader this way, but he was so fed up of people trying to understand him, trying to make him feel not guilty. "Minato-sensei took care of me as a father would since mine decided to kill himself! He stayed by my side even when I was a stupid, arrogant brat. How can I throw away his kindness? How can I forget him? Or Kushina? Or Obito? Or Rin?"

The older man sighed.

"Calm down, Kakashi – you know that I didn't mean it like that. Now, sit down." The younger ninja did so. "What I meant is that you don't have a life of your own. You take three S-ranked missions per week – some lasting more than a day to go and come back, mind you – and, when you're doing this, you just stay at the Memorial Stone. This isn't healthy."

Kakashi shrugged, not looking worried about the fact.

"Why would it matter? I don't have a family anyway."

The Sandaime felt his headache worsening.

"But you have friends – friends who do care about your well-being. Maito Gai asks about you every time he sees me, as does Asuma, Kurenai, Genma and even Anko. They are your friends, aren't they?"

Kakashi felt like a child being scolded. He looked away, not willing to meet the Hokage's eyes. Truthfully – as always – he was a little ashamed of his attitude. Had he been such a brat these years? It seemed as if he hadn't changed anything.

In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum, Obito had said. Kakashi closed his eye for moment. That's right – his teammate would kick his ass for being such a prick.

"Alright," the silver-haired man agreed. "Officially speaking: I, Hatake Kakashi, quit the organization Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai."

"Good."

Kakashi hesitated. The Hokage was still looking at him, waiting.

"What about… Kori?"

It was a little hard to pronounce her name. Not the name itself, but its meaning. He knew that his sensei and his wife spent weeks searching for a beautiful name. It would Naruto if it was a boy, they said, but Kori if it was a girl.

"Because it means maiden, ne, Kakashi?" Minato-sensei had smiled and winked. Kakashi had nodded in agreement at the time, though he hadn't had the slightest idea why the couple was so cheerful about naming their could-be daughter 'maiden'.

"She's at the hospital."

The news took Kakashi out of his daydream. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had fallen over his head. Suddenly, the Jounin felt the urge to run to the said building. Weird reaction.

"Some men," Hiruzen almost hissed the word, "managed to find her and beat her almost to death. Fortunately, her tenant seems to heal her injuries faster than a normal human would. I suppose there's one advantage."

For a moment, the elder stopped speaking, his lips twisted in a small, bitter smile. Then, he looked up and Kakashi saw tired eyes.

"I want you to adopt her."

Kakashi blinked. Again. And again.

"What?"

And that's where it started.