Kakashi watched as Chiisai sat down in front of a bowl of rice porridge. It was two in the morning, and the bags under her eyes looked even darker under the harsh light of the kitchen. The colorful balloons tied to the chair she was in did little to help her demeanor, especially given what she was wearing.

The light green froggy robe looked like it had been made for a child, and Chiisai had the hood up, blocking the light from the kitchen. The frog eyes were big, and they stared down at Kakashi as if daring him to laugh.

But he was far from laughing. Chiisai looked exhausted, and miserable, and hesitant. It reminded him of a cornered animal, too tired to run.

It was cause for worry. When he had gone into the bathroom, it was clear she had thrown up from ingesting bath water. Had she tried to drown herself, in fear of her seal breaking? Or had someone tried to drown her? Which was impossible, because no one had been in the bathroom with her. It was likely she had fallen asleep. But there was also no explanation for why her wrists were so raw and blistered.

They looked as if they had been burned, and it was clearly painful. They needed to be bandaged, but he doubted she'd let him touch her again. She could barely even look at him.

Her posture stiffened when he sat down across from her.

He said, "We have to come up with a compromise eventually, Chiisai." He leaned forward and held eye contact with her. Some people had told him that his eye had been unsettling, and he liked to use it sometimes during conversations like this.

However, his gaze didn't unsettle her. In fact, it seemed to anger her more. "Compromise?" She asked. "I barely have a clue to what's happening."

He lifted up his finger, and his tone was serious as he said, "I'm here because one, you need someone to take care of you. And two, your seal is breaking, and I need to know whether you're a threat or not."

She paused for a moment and stared at the steaming bowl. Finally, she looked up at him and said, "Kakashi, I can barely think. Do you really want to interrogate me right now?"

He shrugged. "The sooner you talk, the sooner you get this over with."

Chiisai looked away and sighed, taking a bite of porridge. "You are impossible."

"No," he replied, "what's impossible is that abilities like yours exist. Tell me about them." He pulled out one of her journals and laid them down in front of her.

She stared down at it and swallowed. "You seem to already know a alot," she said. "What more information could you want?"

Kakashi asked, "Why did the Third seal you if you were such an asset to him?"

She was silent as she stared back at him. Her lips were set in a fine line, her jaw tight with tension.

He only leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "I've got plenty of time on my hands," he said. "But if you don't want to talk about it, we can talk about something else. Perhaps why Itachi's chakra is imbedded in your mind?"

She met his eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"There's a seal on your memories, and I know that chakra from anywhere."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she said, "You're joking."

"I'm afraid not," he said. He kept his voice light, his tone controlled and casual. Her guard was up, despite her injuries, just like a kunoichi. Of course, given her past experiences, perhaps she was a sort of kunoichi, though she physically was unable to perform jutsu.

Chiisai's hands tightened into fists, and she muttered, "That asshole."

Kakashi lifted his eyebrow and replied, "So you do know him. You two were once friends?"

She massaged the side of her face and said, "I thought you saw that in my memories already."

He shook his head. "Not exactly. But I had the feeling that the two of you seemed...close."

"Look," she said, "if you think I was some sort of spy for him or something, you have it wrong."

Kakashi shrugged and replied, "Convince me."

She frowned, but eventually said, "I guess you could say Itachi and I were...close. He was the first person to discover me in a dream, and he reported it to the Third." She stirred her porridge and slowly continued, "From what I remember, my abilities became difficult to control, and it didn't go unnoticed by the third. He and Itachi developed a seal for me, but we discovered later that I had been under a genjutsu the whole time- Itachi's genjutsu." She paused before continuing, "He used me as a distraction for the Third Hokage the night of the Uchiha Massacre. It was when I was sealed."

She rubbed the side of her head and took a deep breath. "Give me a minute," she muttered.

Kakashi nodded as he studied her. He wasn't being a very good medical aide, pushing her like this, but he needed to know.

She added, "When I woke up, the Third was still there, and Itachi had used the time to slaughter his clan. I had asked the Third to stay with me until I woke up, and apparently I was out for awhile."

There was anger and betrayal in her voice, and he could understand why. Even when he was in Anbu, Itachi had appeared kind. His kills were quick and merciful, and he seemed wise beyond his years.

Now he was a rogue ninja and one of the top names in the bingo book. And he had used her as a pawn in one of the worst slaughters in the Leaf's history. Even worse, she seemed to not know that her memories had been tampered with. How much of this was even true?

Kakashi asked, "Do you think Itachi would come back for you?"

She shook her head and winced, touching the side of her temple. "I doubt it. He's more powerful than anything I could do."

There was bitterness in her words, but Kakashi doubted the truth of her statement. "The organization he's with could use you."

Anger and impatience laced her tone as she replied, "So could any other organization or nation. Why do you think Lord Third hid me so well? Not even the council knows about me."

There was logic in her words. Itachi had in fact been in the village recently, and Chiisai didn't know. Perhaps he had no use of her anymore. There was reason to hope, but the anxiety didn't lessen. And when it came to the council, it was easy to guess who Lord Hiruzen had been worried about- Danzo.

Kakashi said, "When you looked into my memories, you saw what Itachi did to me. Is your ability similar?"

Chiisai looked away and nodded, rubbing the side of her head. "Yes. It's...like a genjutsu, and it allows me to see into minds if they're asleep."

His gaze flickered towards her abdomen, though it was unseen by Chiisai. "Did Itachi give those to you? The scars?"

"What?" Her eyes shot up to Kakashi's. "No."

"It's obvious you were tortured." His tone was blunt. It obviously wasn't Itachi's methods, but the more he knew about her, the better.

Her fingers tightened around the spoon. "I'll answer your questions about anything having to do with my abilities. But don't make me explain this. Please." She rested her hand on her stomach. Her voice had been pleading, and it took him by surprise, though he didn't show it.

Something about her tone earlier had him looking at her in a new light. Kakashi hadn't necessarily been friends with Itachi, but he had worked with him, had seen what he was capable of. But Chiisai had been friends with him, had trusted him, and he had used her to her fullest extent. And there had been guilt in her voice when she mentioned the Third staying with her.

Kakashi's voice was soft as he asked, "Are you alright?"

She frowned and replied, "Does any part of me look alright?"

He met her gaze and found himself echoing her own words. "You shouldn't feel responsible for the deaths, you know. The Uchiha clan."

Her fingers twitched, and her spoon clattered against the ceramic bowl. "That doesn't have to do with anything."

He raised his eyebrows and retorted, "I think it does."

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "I've already said the same to you. Take your own advice this time."

He scratched the back of his neck and sighed. Then he pressed his finger to the table and said,  "No, that's a little different. You see, I was the one chosen as leader for both missions involving my comrades' deaths. You, on the other hand, were a victim of a twisted ninja."

"You were a child," she said, meeting his gaze. "Had you even hit puberty before the bridge mission?"

Why did she want to defend him? It was odd having this conversation with a woman he barely knew. She talked to him as if they were close friends, asking him personal questions without so much as asking him if it was alright to do so.

Kakashi's voice was hard as he leaned forward and said, "I was the leader of my team, my soldiers. Age has nothing to do with it."

She crossed her arms. "You were kids sent to fight, and it was horrible for everyone. Kids, parents, teachers, mentors- I saw everyone's dreams, Kakashi. They were all filled with nightmares."

He didn't deny it. "War does that." He paused and added, "And what about you, working for the Third, acting as a spy? You were a soldier too. Did you ever have to kill anyone on your missions?"

"I never had to," she replied. "My abilities would either wipe their memories or I'd keep them bound to the dream world until Leaf ninja could arrive."

He shrugged and in a casual tone replied, "This dream world- how does it work?"

She looked away, and her voice dropped. "I don't know. It's like a different dimension, I guess. Only I can cross it willingly. Everyone goes there when they dream."

They were making progress. Good. "Do you know how these abilities manifested?"

"No." She picked up her spoon and ate a bite of porridge. "My parents seemed to think I was a monster, so I doubt it's hereditary."

His thoughts flickered to Orochimaru. "How do you know they were your real parents?"

She frowned. "I guess...I don't."

Kakashi tilted his head. She could have been an abandoned experiment by Orochimaru, like Tenzo was. With auburn brown hair and black eyes, her looks weren't uncommon. A slender nose, a smooth jawline, full lips- there were no features that necessarily stood out. Perhaps the eyes, only in the sense that they looked at a person knowingly, and he now understood why.

And he now knew that she wasn't hostile to the Leaf or the Third Hokage. That was good news at least, but the idea of Itachi knowing about her had him on edge. And then came the journals.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked.

He tapped the book in front of him and said, "I'm still curious about your journals- why you made them, why you kept them."

She looked away and sighed. " I can't believe I'm telling you this."

She stood and headed to the sink with her bowl. The floorboards creaked under her feet as she said, "I keep the journals to remember that what happened was real, and when it comes to my abilities, no one should be trusted."

"Like your parents, perhaps?"

"Yeah," she snorted, clearly frustrated. "My parents didn't believe what I could do at first. My father was a ninja, and he soon realized how useful I could be to him, and I wanted to please him." The bowl clattered in the sink, and she picked up two paper plates from the stack.

"When I got older," she continued, "he wasn't too fond of my insubordination, especially once I figured out he was selling information to Iwagakure and Kumogakure. You know the whole Hyuga incident? Thank him for that."

Kakashi watched as she struggled to pop off the lid to the cake container. After a minute of struggling, Kakashi stood and walked over to her.

"I have it," she said. Her fingers fumbled with the latch. Her hand was shaking, and she cursed under her breath.

Kakashi leaned towards her and replied, "Looks like it."

"Oh, shut up," she exhaled with a huff. She glared up at him, and the froggy eyes of her hood stared with her.

"Here," he said. He bumped her hip, and she gasped as she was forced to the side. His fingers instantly popped the latches off, and he lifted the plastic lid off with ease. A smile crossed his face, and he blinked in surprise when she held up a knife.

"For the cake," she said, handing it to him.

Kakashi frowned down at her and took the dull weapon. He didn't know why he expected her to stab him with it, but as she frowned at him, the more it looked like it had crossed her mind.

He sliced two thin slices and asked, "What happened to him? Your father."

She didn't speak for several moments as she watched Kakashi lay the slices of cake on plates. After grabbing a couple of forks, she trudged back to the table and sat a plate down in front of him.

"I'm waiting," he said expectantly.

Chiisai stabbed her cake with the fork, and the metal ends thunked against the plate and table.

She met his gaze and simply said, "I killed him."

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Author's note: I'm ahead on writing, and it's a holiday weekend, so here's another chapter for y'all! Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading!