No One

"You are the one to blame. It is your fault, after all, right?"

Kakashi's body started trembling at the words as voices began to rang in his head.

"Welcome home, Aniki! How is your day?"

"You're so cool, Aniki! When I grow up, I want to be like you!"

"Aniki? Are you okay? Why were you looking at me like that?"

"Daddy's home, Aniki! Come on, let's meet him!"

"Aniki... Why are you ignoring me?"

"Help! Help, Aniki! Daddy won't wake up! And he's bleeding!"

"No! I don't wanna go back there! I hate living there! Aniki, please tell them I can live with you! I don't want to stay in that orphanage!"

"... Please don't hate me... Aniki..."

Kakashi clenched his fists, as Kaeru continued crying.

"YOU LET THEM DO THIS TO ME!!!" He screamed, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his pale arm, covered with so many scars, "What did I ever do wrong?! WHAT'S MY FAULT THAT I DESERVED THIS?!"

"They expect me to be their perfect soldier... They tortured me for their own mistakes! They thought of me as a disposable tool... NO ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT OF ME AS A HUMAN!!"

"They turned me into a monster... Then they hurt me, they broke me! They tried to destroy me! They lock me up, treating me as an animal! And they wanted to kill me because I tried to protect myself!"

Kaeru leaned on the tree behind him, his nails scratched the trunk. He looked up, giving his brother a desperate look.

"Am I not allowed to wish for a normal life? Why did I have to go through all of that?! Kaeru knows he did many bad things, but he never wanted to. Kaeru-... Kaeru was scared, that's all."

"... I'm so sorry, Kaeru." Kakashi finally managed to say. However, it looks as if Kaeru had forgotten about his presence.

"Why does everyone hates Kaeru? Is Kaeru really that inhuman? Is it a bad thing if Kaeru wants to be free?" He whispered, his voice bitter as he wiped his tears.

The ANBU he shoved his hands in his pockets, and approached his crying brother. Kaeru eyed him warily, as Kakashi raised his hand above his head. He prepared himself for the hit,

...but it never came.

A gasp escaped Kaeru's lips as the gloved hand ruffled his soaked silver hair.

"Stop crying." His brother's voice told him, "Hatakes don't cry that easily. And besides, we are the two last of the clan. What will people say when they saw my little brother like this?"

Kaeru's eyes widened, but he clenched his fists. "... You said it yourself that I'm not your brother."

"I was stupid. I shouldn't have said that." Kakashi replied, as he lifted Kaeru's chin up, "Look at me. You are my little brother, Kaeru. I am your Aniki, and I will be here for you now."

The boy narrowed his eyes. "How do I know you are not lying?"

This brought a chuckle to the older Hatake.

"Mom used to ask me that all the time." He replied, and Kaeru's breath hitched at the mention of her. No one, not even his father, has ever talked about her.

"Now that I think about it, she's just like you. You got her looks. Her nose, her eyes... And the way you talk is similar to hers. We both got her stubbornness, sadly. But, we still have Dad's 'weird' hair, as how you used to call it."

Kaeru looked down, a small smile made its way to his face. Seeing that his little brother had calmed himself down, Kakashi kneeled in front of him, their eyes on the same level.

"Please forgive me, Kaeru. I'm sorry for everything. Everything that happened to you, and especially how I treated you all these years. I was... blinded by grief, I think. How Mom died giving birth to you... For years I blamed you."

"I was so damn selfish. I only think about myself, and I don't care about anyone else. Not even you. But now I know I was wrong. It's not your fault, not at all. You didn't take away Dad's attention on me."

"I never loved you, but you never hate me. And I always push you away. It was unfair, wasn't it? I'm sorry, Kaeru, I truly am sorry. If only I-..." He fell silent as soon as a pair of arms wrapped him into a tight hug.

Kaeru was hugging him, holding him as if he was clinging to life itself. The boy snuggled his face to he black fabric that covered Kakashi's neck, as he started sniffing again quietly.

"... It's okay. You will always be my Aniki."

Kakashi pulled him closer, tears began to form in his eyes. Tears he would never let Kaeru see, because Hatakes don't cry.

"Let's go home, otouto."

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Kakashi

It was already dark by the time we entered the village. The rain had stopped a few minutes ago, but he was still slightly shivering from the cold. I gave Kaeru a piggyback ride all of our way back, because I just couldn't stand seeing him walking that far. He was very light, and I realized how thin he truly is. But he seemed like he didn't care.

At first it was very hard to assure him that he could trust me. But when I finally succeed, I found out that I enjoy his company. Makes me even wonder more why didn't I like him sooner.

"Where is Anko-chan and her scary friend?" Kaeru suddenly asked.

"At her apartment, maybe?" I asked back, as I stopped in front of my house. I put him down, and rummaged through my pocket, pulling out my key and unlocked the door.

"All cuddly-cuddly? With Ibiki?"

A very disturbing image crossed my mind, and I instantly shook my head. "They would never do that, Kaeru."

"They should. It would help them feel warm. The weather's so cold." He told me innocently.

Chuckling, I shook my head, pushing the door open and walked in, turning on he lights.

"Okaeri." I stated out loud, looking at him. He grinned, following me, entering the house.

"Tadaima!" He yelled, looking around. "Woah, this place's cool! But it looks familiar..."

"It's our old house. You don't remember?"

He shook his head, sitting on the couch. "My mind feels blurry." Is his only explanation.

I frowned. Blurry, huh? Did someone mess with his head or something?

"Here. You should dry yourself off. You're gonna catch a cold." I told him, throwing him a clean large towel as I went to the kitchen. Now, food. Anko is feeding him sweets for days when he seemed to be malnourished for years. It's insane.

"Aniki, what is that?" He asked, already standing next to me. What the hell?! How come I didn't hear him?!

"Miso soup. When is the last time you ate?"

"Uh..." He tried off, before shrugging. I sighed and ruffled his damp hair.

Kaeru

"You're gonna get sick at this rate. You can't live with just dangos, Kaeru." He said as he put all the vegetables into a bowl and filled a large pot with water, placing it on the stove and turned it on.

"I won't die." I told him, watching as he grabbed more kind of food I didn't recognize and put them all into the pot along with the other things he had finished cutting.

"That's not the point." He replied, closing the pot, "Come on, follow me."

It felt different. Unlike Anko, he didn't say many sweet words. And the way he talks feels like he treats me as a friend. He didn't act too kind, but I guess I prefer this. I can't imagine having him snuggling into me like Anko did.

"I never do anything to your room, just like Dad's. After he... died... both of us weren't allowed to stay here. No one ever bought this place, they were too scared. And years after, when I got enough money, I bought this place again. Nothing changes." He explained, as he pushed a door open, "Here. Your room. It must be a bit dusty but-..."

"Achoo!" I sneezed all of a sudden, and he scratched the back of his neck, "Maybe more than a bit. I'll clean it up tomorrow. You can sleep in my room tonight."

"But, it's my room, and-..."

"It's final, Kaeru." He assured, "Now get yourself cleaned up. I'll be leaving for a while to talk with Anko. My room is there, you may go in and wear some of my old clothes." He added, pointing at a closed door.

"Okay Aniki." I said as I walked to his room, glancing back at him as I walked to see if he was going to change his mind about me staying in his room or not. When he didn't say anything, I made my way into the room and shut the door behind me.

No One

Kaeru looked around Kakashi's room, taking note of how bare the room. The only things in the room that gave it any sort of flare was the book shelf that was decorated with tons of books and scrolls.

Beside of the bed was a desk, on that desk were two picture frames. One had Kakashi, Rin, Obito and Minato in it. Carefully, Kaeru picked this picture up and stared at Obito. He looked so much different than Kaeru remembered.

Kaeru wondered if Obito missed him like how he missed Obito. Probably not, considering that Kaeru was deemed completely insane when Obito and him were on earth, a threat to society.

Kaeru sighed quietly as he placed the picture back down, he picked up the other picture. When he looked at this picture, he was slightly confused. The top half of this picture was gone, a corner, as if someone's face had been ripped out of it. The other two faces that were visible were Kaeru's, and their father's.

Kaeru ran his fingers along the part of the picture where his fathers face was, and he smiled slightly. "I miss you, Daddy." He said quietly as he placed the picture back down.

Kaeru got up and walked over to the closet in Kakashi's room and looked for some of his smaller clothes, finally settling for a pair of pants that were way too long on him, and a short sleeved shirt.

He yawned quietly and walked over to the bed, laying down on the bed. And within a matter of seconds, he was asleep.

| × | × | × | × | × |

"It's sad, isn't it? How that innocent face hides such darkness. No one could have thought that he had killed many people... That he was tortured and locked up for years..." Anko said, as she crouched beside Kakashi's large bed, where Kaeru was lying asleep. She gently caressed his cheek, before she turned at Kakashi. The older Hatake had his gaze locked on his brother, while he leaned on the doorway.

"No need to hide it Kakashi, I know you care about him." She said with a smile, as she stood up.

"It's getting late so I'm going home, I take it you'll be taking care of him from now on?"

Kakashi nodded, letting out a sigh.

"Good night, then. Be careful, he might wake up with a panic attack. See you tomorrow, Hatake." The Mitarashi said, walking out of the room.

Kakashi frowned, before he lay down on the mattress, careful not to wake Kaeru up. He stared at the ceiling, deep in thoughts.

'I wonder what happened... Why did they torture him? And why was he locked up?'

'What did he do? There must be a reason for him to kill those people...'

"... Please don't... don't hurt Kaeru..." He could hear Kaeru whimpered in his sleep. Kakashi turned to his brother, and gently lifted up his shirt, to reveal his scarred back.

A small gasp escaped his lips. Even he, who had bear the title shinobi since he was 5 years old, doesn't have scars as much as half of Kaeru's.

Suddenly, the said boy curled himself up into a ball, and pulled up the blanket higher, covering his body.

"No, Aniki..." Kaeru whispered, "Don't look..."

Kakashi shrugged, and turned his back on Kaeru. "Alright, if you say so." He said, as he took off his headband, and put it aside, "But I don't mind scars, personally."

"Your scars don't define who you are. They define how strong you are when you face whatever happened in your past."

Receiving no reaction from his brother, Kakashi sighed, and closed his eyes. However, Kaeru lowered the blanket, and wiped away his tears.

"... If you want to know, I can-..."

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi cut him off, "We could talk again tomorrow. For now, just rest. You need to sleep, Kaeru."

"... Okay."

| × | × | × | × | × |

"Mm! This tastes so good! You're great at cooking, Aniki!" The little boy exclaimed, putting down his chopsticks, "I still want to eat, but my stomach is full!"

Kakashi chuckled, patting his brother's head. "Then I think you should stop. You can eat again later." He said, as he closed the fridge and put down a glass of milk in front of Kaeru. "Here."

"What's this?" The boy asked back. The older Hatake raised an eyebrow, shaking his head slightly.

"Milk. You need this. It's good for you." He replied, watching as the boy carefully took a sip of the milk. His eyes brightened, and he began to gulp down the whole glass.

"Aniki." Kaeru suddenly called, "I want to tell you a story."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

"It's about how I got those ugly lines on my back."

| × | × | × | × | × |

Kakashi's eyes were wide as he looked at his brother, a single tear threatening to escape his eyes as Kaeru rocked back and forth on the bed, his legs crossed.

"I... I had no idea Kaeru." Kakashi said quietly as he looked at his brother, who seemed slightly unfazed by telling the story this time.

"It's okay Aniki!" Kaeru said with a small shy smile. "Kaeru is better now. Not in pain like I was." He said with a child like giggle.

"I still... I'm sorry you went through that. I promise Kaeru, no one will hurt you as long as I'm around... I won't let anyone hurt you." He said quietly and Kaeru smiled slightly as he leaned forward and hugged his brother.

"It's okay Aniki! I trust you." He said, his arms wrapped tightly around his brothers waist. Kakashi glanced down at his brother, unaware of what to do. Slowly, he placed his hands on the boys back, hugging him slightly.

And his lips was tugged into a small smile.

| × | × | × | × | × |