I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or Naruto. Good thing, too, cause if I did then it would probably never be done.

▪one hour earlier▪

Kakashi had been having a pretty good day.

He had put his little minions through one of Gai's obstacle courses, and had laughed when they got stuck in the quicksand pit.

After he had dismissed them (early, because at the end they could hardly move, so caked in sand and mud as they were) he had headed off into the town.

There had been a sale in the fresh food market that he liked to stop by, and he had been able to pick up plenty of meat for much less than it usually would have cost him.

Then he had successfully avoided Gai himself, and his equally disturbing green protege, something that did not happen very often. Gai seemed to be able to almost sniff him out, much like Kakashi himself could do.

So yes, he had been in a very good mood.

Until he received the hawk that signaled that he had to head to the Hokages' office.

Immediately.

Oh, joy!

So, here he was, an hour later, right outside the tower, and trying not to feel too annoyed as he reached for the doorknob.

The door opened before he could even touch the metal, revealing a worried looking Choza and a dazed Inoichi.

That was odd. The blond clan head held a hand over his eyes, moving oddly for any normal person, much less a ninja. He almost looked to be stumbling, but that was.....

Kakashi moved aside. Choza steered Inoichi through the doorway and down the street.

Okay. That was weird.

Kakashi entered, a faint feeling of doom descending upon him as he started through the hallways.

▪▪▪

The Hokages office was a total mess. Kakashi stepped around a pile of rubble (It looked suspiciously like the floor tiles but there was no way-...).

"Good afternoon, Kakashi," the old man greeted him.

"What in the world happened here?" The Copy-nin asked, waving a hand at all the destruction.

"A certain young lady who, I admit, I antagonized, made usage of her unique talents." The Hokage smiled wryly. "I have a jonin especially skilled at doton manipulation coming as quickly as possible, but he won't be here for a while yet."

Oh. That was news. The Lord Third didn't look too concerned but Kakashi filed away the information in his head.

He whipped out his Icha-Icha book. "So what do you need me here for?"

A few ANBU twitched, no doubt annoyed at his rudeness in front of the village leader, but Hiruzen waved them away. "There's someone I need you to keep an eye on."

A spying mission? That was nothing new, but surely the Hokage knew that he had a genin team now and couldn't really leave for an extended period of time. His minions weren't good enough for any sort of infiltration mission yet, either.

He reminded the Hokage of these facts, but the old man just continues flipping though the immense stack of paper on the desk he sat behind.

"This mission is rather... unusual." Hiruzen slid a manilla folder toward him.

Kakashi stepped up and began to read.

He paused. The target was a young teenage girl, her eyes a faded grey. Something about her vacant stare was off-

"She's blind?" The Copy-nin asked.

"Among other things," the Hokage gave him a smile that promised nefarious things. "As of now, you're in charge of her."

"What?!" Kakashi almost dropped his book.

"Keep her well fed, clothed and sheltered. I would have given her to Shikaku, but he has his work to do, Shikamaru is part of a team, now, and Yoshino couldn't possibly handle her if she... 'lost control' again." The Hokage nodded towards the file he still held. "Take good care of her, alright, Kakashi?"

What the- how the?

"How did you make that jump?" Kakashi asked. "From Shikaku to me? I'm not good with kids! And I have my own team to take care of! I don't have time for this-"

"Assignment?" Hiruzen gave him a small, grandfatherly smile. "I can assure you that Miss Bei Fong is far from just a simple assignment."

There was all too much glee on his face as he turned back to his paperwork. "Dismissed, Hatake."

It was a sharp, final command that stang with a faint reprimand.

Kakashi did the one thing he could. He bowed his head slightly. "Yes, Lord Third."

▪▪▪

Toph Bei Fong was nothing like what he'd been expecting.

Yes, she was short and small and blind, but there was no aura of helplessness to her. If anything, she was as sure, if not more, as his most brash student. The light of the late afternoon sun illuminated her, all of her bizarre appearance. She wore clothing he had never seen before, her hair done up in a ridiculous poofy bun.

She stood side by side with the scarred figure of Shikaku, who was laughing at something she'd said. He caught sight of Kakashi and stopped, wiping away a tear of mirth.

"Toph, this is Kakashi Hatake. He'll be taking care of you until we get things sorted out." Shikaku waved a hand at him.

Her head turned towards him, an eerie motion with her staring, unseeing eyes. "Why can't I stay with you?"

"A variety of reasons," the Nara nodded to the Copy-nin, then prepared to go.

Her small hand snagged his sleeve.

The motion was so achingly reminiscent of his own childhood that Kakashi stopped cold.

"Do you have to go?" She asked, quietly.

Shikaku hesitated. He turned back and set a hand on her head. "It'll be just fine. Kakashi will take care of you, you'll see. He's not very nice, but he has lots of dogs that make up for that."

Her grip slackened, then her hand fell back to her side. "...okay."

She kind of folded into herself. "Not a problem."

Kakashi watched as she suddenly straightened, then wiped the fear from her face. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Don't be so eager for more total destruction in shogi," Shikaku smiled softly. "Besides, you could totally take him if you wanted to."

"Don't lie to me, Mr Shikaku," Toph told him. "I really don't like it."

"Oh," Shikaku seemed to remember something, then he straightened and replaced his hands back in his sleeves. "Well. Get along, both of you. Toph, ask him for a game or two if you have the time. He's not that bad."

"Okay," she seemed to steel herself, then turned to Kakashi. "Hi. My name's Toph. It's nice to meet you."

He nodded, then remembered she couldn't see him and opened his mouth to speak instead-

"See you tomorrow," Toph didn't turn back to the Nara, keeping her blind gaze on the ground.

He looked ruefully at Kakashi, then turned and left.

Oookay, then.

"So. Do you have a place to stay?" Kakashi tried.

Her eyebrows set, and she lifted her chin. "Not unless you're gonna send me back to that cell Mr Shikaku just got me out of."

So no, then. The Copy-nin pinched his nose. "I have a spare couch you can use for the time being."

"I thank you for your hospitality," her voice was frigid.

"Do you have anything to get?" The Copy-nin asked.

She paused, then shook her head.

"Okay. I suppose we'll start there." Kakashi gestured towards the market, then started walking.

Toph followed.

▪▪▪

Walking around with Toph was weird. For one, she had absolutely no qualms about going around with someone holding the obnoxiously obvious porn book. Even his own friends couldn't contain their facial expressions sometimes.

He didn't know whether to be pleased or mildly annoyed.

Another thing was that at first glance, nobody realised she was blind. That meant that they looked at her and saw a civilian-looking child and a ninja reading the orange book.

So that was fun.

Having the ninja headband was a sign that the wearer was to be taken as an adult, thus making the shock factor with his students a lot less fun.

But not Toph.

A group of scandalized housewives gasped at the sight of his reading material and started muttering as they passed.

He hid his eyesmile behind his book as he continued to walk towards the supermarket. Toph kept pace besides.

So.

What was he supposed to do again?

"What sort of stuff do you like to do?" Kakashi tried.

She shrugged.

Hoo, boy.

"Nothing?" He asked. "Really?"

"Earthbending?" Toph folded her arms behind her head and leaned slightly back as she walked. "Not being a lady. Doing whatever the heck I want. Shogi, now, I guess."

She fell quiet, and they continued on in the akward silence.

It seemed almost like an eternity, but they finally reached the small clothing store that most newly graduated genin frequented, titled: Chiyo's.

It supplied specially made clothing for ninjas, more durable and protective than normal fabric. And since the shop catered to teenagers, the prices were affordable.

The only downside was that it did not make clothing for adults, and thus Kakashi had not been there since his youth.

He held the door open for her and she headed inside first.

"So, what are we doing here?" She asked him.

"Shikaku told me that you didn't have anything to wear. Or in general. Since you're probably going to be here for a while, you've got to get some clothes." Kakashi gestured to the inside of the store. "This is a good place to get some."

The interior was quaint. It was split down the middle, with women's clothing on the left and men's on the right. There were changing rooms in the back, and a single woman with short curly red hair manned the counters.

Toph sniffed. "This place smells-"

"What're you looking for?" The woman asked, brightly.

Kakashi nodded at Toph. "She needs a few different outfits. Could you help her?"

The redhead got a gleeful look on her face. "Really?"

"Yep. Would you mind picking her out a few things?"

She somehow managed to tamp her pure joy down long enough to steer the small teenager towards the multitudes of clothes on the left. "Would you like it to all be in the same color scheme?"

Kakashi couldn't hide his own sadistic smile as Toph turned her head in his direction, her features contorted in horror.

"That will do nicely."

▪▪▪

For those of you who don't like the way that I portrayed Toph in the middle of this chapter:

She's totally alone in a strange new world where there are weird powers and things she's never 'seen' before. She doesn't know if she'll ever find her friends again. She's scared, super tough Earthbender or not.

Shikaku is the only one she's even thought of trusting. He's spent time with her and answered her questions. He's never actually tried to hurt her.

Now, in her eyes, he's abandoned her to this weird dude who smells as much (or worse) of blood than the Hokage. She doesn't know Kakashi. She doesn't trust him. And Shikaku is leaving her.

In the animated series, Toph often latched onto Sokka whenever she was feeling nervous. Her grabbing Shikakus' sleeve was like a much less exaggerated version of that.

Thanks for reading!