The prisoners were all dragging their feet through the mud. They were tired, exhausted, cold and hungry. The chains on their ankles weighted them down, making it any much easier to walk in this terrible weather. You saw no sun, only the black clouds that poured it tears of sadness and the hatred of thunder/ lighting. In this flock of sheep was a wolf and his name was Himiku.

The guard laughed at the prisoners and treated them bad. He would pull out his whip if one prisoner collapsed and beat them until they got up. There was a girl in the line of prisoners. She was only 17 years old. Her blue eyes once filled with hope, now clouded with despair. Her hair was soaked along with her ragged clothes. Hoshi's face was puffed up from the previous crying she had done.

Himiku looked down on the prisoners. He detests them. "Move it, you maggots" His voice sternly says when noticing the group moving slower. The girl, her body felt so heavy, she couldn't take anymore without resting, it was so awful. Then she collapsed, falling on her knees and hands into the mud. Himiku smiled wicked at her collapsing while pulling out his whip. Oh! How much everyone hated that whip cracking when he pulled it out. The girl was panting and had a strike of fear go up against her spine.

"Get up, you piece of shit," Himiku growled while walking towards the line that had stopped. His voice made everything go dark in her mind. She didn't get up. Something snapped in her mind she could no longer hear the rain, no longer hear the thunder roaring or the lightning striking in the distance. Definitely no longer Himiku harsh words. That's when the guard tried to crack the whip towards her back, but she didn't feel it. Only cause a hand interrupted that whip. The hand had the whip wrapped around the palm of the hand to the wrist. Then the hand was emanating sparks of lighting. The word, it was practically whispered, but everyone's hope was slightly given back. That word was.….

"Chidori."

The sound of a million birds screaming all at once brought the girl's hearing to that sound. She closed her eyes, and a smile drew itself in her. The feeling of relief rushed over her like a tidal wave only because she was so familiar with that sound. When she looked back at Himiku, there was a blurry figure gripping the whip in one hand and other with sparks of lighting. Her vision refocused to see the black pants and black shoes. She raises her head to see more of the figure, there was a black skin-tight sleeveless shirt with a gray vest. Looking up more, it was a guy with an animal mask and gray spiky hair.

"Ka….kashi.….?" She thought to herself.

The guard froze in terror just looking at Kakashi. He could see in the eye holes of the mask. A red gleam of the Sharingan in one eye pulled the shit guard into a genijustu. He is frozen. Not being able to move. Kakashi pulled the whip out of his hand and throws it somewhere into the forest. The ninja just walked towards the guard and puts his hand on Himiku's shoulder and whispers this in his ear.

"You see her right? You see her on her hands and knees. So you think it's okay to whip her because she is tired?"

He pauses and goes in behind him putting his hand on his neck and finished his words.

"You must be feeling good about yourself after whipping people who aren't able to defend themselves."

With that, Kakashi forces his hand through Himiku's back and watched him fall to the muddy ground. He bleeds out and breathes his last breath. Thunder roars and lightning lights up the sky. Kakashi just stands over Himiku's body, just looking down on him. He shifts his vision to the girl and walks over. Her light gray wet hair was covering her face. Kakashi breaks the chains to the prisoners with his lighting blade.

He had a team with him. They took care of the prisoners and put them in the carriage with food and blankets. Kakashi notices the girl wasn't moving. She was still on her hands and knees. She was breathing weirdly. He kneel down to her and put a hand her back.

"Hoshi-san. It's me."

Hoshi tensed her back up at the touch of Kakashi's hand on her back. She looked up at him as he pushed back her hair to see her face. Her eyes were no longer matching. One blue eye and one corrupted Hanīdesugan. A loud thunder roar shot throughout the sky. His eyes widened when saw a tear go down her cheek. The blue that used to be in her left eye was black now and her pupil was a honey gold triangle. She even had her right blue eye with a beauty mark on it. He hugged her head, and she wrapped her arms around his back. She hid her face in his chest and let the tears roll.

Kakashi couldn't bear the sight of his best friend like this. The once joy-filled ninja is now shaking in his arms.

"You're such an Idiot," She said with the waterworks turning on.

"Yeah, I know I am," Kakashi replies.

She cries for a period before he suggests going in the carriage. She agrees and they go in the carriage. He sits back in of the carriage and Hoshi rests her head on his chest then drifts off to a much-desired rest. He grabs a blanket and wraps it around her and pulls her close staying awake for the ride.

The storm isn't letting up but Hoshi sleeps so quietly in his arms. Kakashi was dumbfounded by her. She must have been through a lot, just looking at her. There were a set of cuts on her body. Two bruises on her shoulders and arms. There was dried blood on her clothing. He stiffen his grip on her and took his animal mask off. His eyes were filled with guilt for what happened to her. Kakashi couldn't help by thinking about how much he could do to prevent her being like this. It feels like it his fault that she like this.

He presses his forehead against hers and tucks her hair in behind her ear. "Never again." He whispers with a crack of guilt in his voice. He never again will he let her get like this. Kakashi looks up at the other ANBU members with a cold look. They tense up at the look cause they know he isn't too happy.

After hours riding in the bad weather and the carriage comes to a stop at the gates of the leaf. Kakashi lifted Hoshi up in his arms not trying to wake her and climbs out of the carriage. He tells the members to take the other prisoners to the shelter, so they can get treated there since they aren't leaf residents like Hoshi. The rain stops but the sky still has its eerie black clouds.

He takes her to the hospital himself. It was a long walk, but he gets there. The doors open and the medical staff look at him. They see an ANBU member without his animal mask holding an injured girl with the same clothing as him. The masked man approaches them, and they grab a gurney for the girl in his arms. He lays her down, and she took away from him.

He watches her as she gets rolled farther away from him. The hallway seems to get longer and longer to him. He stands for a moment then sits down in a chair and waits. Ten minutes becomes twenty minutes turns to thirty minutes, forty minutes to fifty minutes. Then an hour turns to two hours and now three hours. He watches the clock on the wall, spinning the hands of time around. Five hours to six hours. Six hours turns to seven hours. He still has that tense look to everyone in the room, but he is worried sick about Hoshi.

Kakashi looks down at his gloved hands then he hears a familiar voice and looks up. It's the most unexpected person he would see. It's Minato-sensei. The fourth Hokage.

"Sensei..." He says with a low flushed out voice.

Minato looked at his student and asked with a calm voice, "How is she?"

"I don't know." Kakashi's voice cracks.

Another two people walk in the room and it's her brothers. Ako and Chieko. Kakashi recognizes the two from a picture in Hoshi's locker at the base. They are supposed to be in Iwakagure, but they are standing in front of him. Ako is the one with the short black hair and unnatural color eyes. One pink and one blue like their mom. He is the oldest brother and Chieko is the one with the black long hair pulled in a ponytail. He is the second oldest, and he has blue eyes.

Ako looks angry, he probably is because his sister is in the hospital and Chieko looks like he tried to calm him down. The oldest is losing it, Minato and Kakashi just look at them.

"I want to see Hoshi now, Chie." The furious ninja demands with the hint of worry in his eyes. Chieko tries to explain to him this not the place for him to be heated up with emotions. "Ako-san please calm down. We will see our little sister in no time. We have to wait."

"But what if she is hurt? What if she dying right now? What if.…." Ako pauses going silent for a moment then continues? "What if she ends up like Yoshiko?"

Chie tightens his fists and then slaps him. "Look! Quit saying that shit, you're freaking me out and it might just come true if you keep saying it. She will not end up like her twin. She won't die."

Ako stands there shocked at his brother while holding his cheek, Chie is gritting his teeth tight and looks on the verge of tears. "Ako you're, not the only one worry about her! So quit acting like you're the only that cares about her."

The younger brother stares at his older brother. Ako's angry look softens into a sad expression and looks down. They both look at the ground in different ways. Chie apologizes. "I am sorry that I slapped you but you're not the only who isn't feeling upset." Ako shakes his head and says, "No, it's my fault. I was acting irrational, and you were right Chie."

The brothers sit down and wait. Another hour passes by and a medical ninja finally opens the door and walks out of it. She announces, "If there are any relatives or friends of a.….'Hoshiko Kei Sato' you are now allowed to see her now." Kakashi and the rest of the group stand up including the brothers. She asks them to come with her and they do. Ako and Chie start to question themselves when Kakashi is following them. Minato doesn't go and stays out in the waiting room.

The brothers aren't very acquainted with Kakashi, but he seems to know Hoshiko enough to be considered a 'friend'. The three go into the room where Hoshi is in and Kakashi is the first one to be by her bedside. He holds her hand. Hoshi has a tube in her mouth and the bruises that once was on her shoulders and arms are gone thanks to the medical staff healing. She is under anesthesia will be temporarily in her since she was in surgery for a long period. Her little cuts were healed too but the medium cuts were stitched up on her legs.

Ako and Chieko watched Kakashi. They could tell Kakashi was close their sister based on the look in his eyes. The copy ninja's eyes had a worry look in them. He had a sense of guilt on his face a little from looking his best friend.

"What happened?" Ako questions the medical ninja.

"She seemed to have a medium size amount of internal bleeding from a type of trauma in her respiratory system when we ran an x-ray. It seems that she sustained some damage to her right lung and had a difficult time breathing. So we took her immediately to surgery to stop the internal bleeding. We put a tube in her to make it much easier to breathe as a temporary fix until she is fully healed and is able to breathe on her own." She explains while pointing to the x-rays on the wall light.

Chie asks another question, "How long will she be here?"

"At least two to three weeks."

They all look at her. Hoshi was going to be fine. The light grey headed kunoichi was going to be fine. Sato brothers and Kakashi some sort of relief when hearing the nurse out. The medical ninja left the room and Ako and Chie sat down looking at Kakashi.

"What happened?" Ako asks again but to Kakashi this time.

"…" Kakashi doesn't respond because he too focused on Hoshi. Ako sighs and moves his chair closer to Kakashi. He taps him to get his attention. "Hm?"

Kakashi looks over him.

"What happened to Hoshiko?" Ako asks him once again.

"We were on a mission." Kakashi sighs and starts explaining.