The horizon had turned into various shades of dark red, orange and purple. The oh-so white and somewhat bright clouds were slowly fading away until only darkness remained and had started to absorb their beings.

It was midnight, and darkness had been surrounding the atmosphere for quite some time now.
Quick footsteps and dark silhouettes made their way through a thick forest. There were two pair -two people, two people who were desperately trying to get the hell out of there as they passed numerous rows of deeply-rooted trees.

Their footsteps were rapid.

The two were running away from something, someone, trying to make their way home as safely as they could.

They were haunted, preys of the cold and silent void, the darkness slowly swallowing them up with each crucial and longing moment.

All of the sudden, one pair of footsteps stopped dead in their tracks as a sharp, blunt object had made its way through the thick trees and hit one of its targets, sliding through the armor and previously untouched flesh. Blood spattered upwards and slowly started to drip onto the hard soil.

Not too long afterwards, a loud thud was heard all across the forest.

One had fallen.

''Senpai!'', the other one abruptly shouted out loud, turning round and made his way towards his companion as quickly as he could manage.

He grabbed his partner by the vest and held his head affectionately against his own chest. He had realized that they weren't alone anymore, actually – they hadn't been for quite some time now, the enemy had been pursuing them as wild animals, savages before. But now, it was different. Now, there was no escaping it. Now, they were completely surrounded by more than just the emptiness, the void that had previously held them company from the solitude. No, the enemy had the upper hand now.

There was only one option left, a last and final resort.

''Mokuton No Jutsu!'', one could hear throughout the whole forest as the man sacrificed his last remains of chakra to protect and save his superior. His vision slowly became black, fading out as he, too, fell to the floor, unconscious.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He slowly managed to open his eyes, his lids felt heavy and were unwilling to participate in this petty act, and thus, he took his time to regain full consciousness.

After what could've been the eight time of closing and re-opening his eyes, slowly drifting back in and out of consciousness, he suddenly sat straight up in his bed with one fast swift, remembering what had happened that dark night. It seemed as if he was back in Konohagakure, more precisely, its hospital.

But how did he ended up here?

And where was his companion?

With desperation and angst suddenly kicking in, Kakashi quickly scanned the room, hoping he would find something that would cool his agony down, neutralize his conflicted emotions.

And it did.

Much to his own likings, the man he was looking for, had been lying silently asleep onto a hospital bed in one of the corners, his chest slowly rising and falling and his eyes completely shut.

Kakashi couldn't help but smirk to himself as he watched the exhausted man sleep for a few minutes, he then hopelessly crawled out of bed, gaining a few cuts and bruises while doing so, and wobbled his way with unsteady feet towards his Kohai's bed.

After a few struggles and such, he was finally able to slide down the chair beside Tenzo's bedside and noticed that he had woken his partner up with all the noise that he had made. Quite frankly, he was staring towards his Senpai with those strict ghoul eyes of his, blaming him that he had abruptly put a hold to his dream and had actually scare him.

Kakashi scratched the back of his skull, muttering a soft apology. Tenzo only nodded back as to forgive him, but kept, quite continuously, staring at the man beside him. It did made him a little nervous, knowing that those looks never meant any good, but he decided to continue with whatever he had planned and softly grabbed Tenzo's hand with one of his own, and gave it a small, yet loving, pinch.

Tenzo's stare had softened and he had looked quite surprised, knowing that his mentor never really was the type of man that would get all touchy-feelings on him or anyone else for that matter.

''Even though you could've left me there in that forest, you didn't – you saved me,'' Kakashi paused to soften his own stern look and, instead, started to smile, ''Thank you''.

Tenzo only smirked back at the Copy Ninja as he tightened the grip on their now-entwining fingers, letting him know that all was good.


A/N:

This little piece was written for the KakaYama members on DA. We have this *special* KakaYamaFanclub there - if you're interested in joining, let me know! 3