"Shit." The silver headed man dodged a kunai that whizzed too close by his head and made a loud thunk as it hit the tree. They were being ambushed in the middle of the night; the traps having given them a few seconds warning before the attack came. "Sakura!" He yelled across the trees at the pink headed woman that just dodged a blast of fire. "Where's Naruto!"

"The river!" Suddenly a large explosion and a flying blonde headed boy landed in the middle of the fight.

The boy snickered as he stood, wobbling back and forth, "But Iruka-sensei, I don't want to do the sexy-no-jitsu again."

A black headed boy jumped from the shadows, throwing a kunai at a ninja poised above the delirious fox child, "Snap out of it Naruto or you'll get yourself killed!"

The pink headed chunin yelped as a sword slice through her small arm, blood spattering on her sensei as he appeared beside her. "Naruto you idiot!" Sakura hissed at him as he rolled to the ground.

"I'm not an idiot!" The fox child's eyes suddenly opened and the delirium passed. "Sasuke!" The once spacey child jumped and landed on the head of the invading ninja and snapped his neck with a swift flick smiling at the surprised Uchiha clan member.

"Stop playing around." Said clan member hissed.

Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair that was now splattered with blood. He smiled at Sakura who was bandaging the arm of a less than cooperative Naruto.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

"Well if you had stayed at the camp you wouldn't have gotten your ass beat so bad." She hissed and smacked his hurt arm, "Idiot!"

The boy fell over twitching, "I'm… not…an...idiot." He grumbled painfully, grabbing his arm. They never changed; even after all they had been through, they remained the same.

"Sakura," The silent Sasuke touched her arm, "You're bleeding."

"I'm fine." She laughed, a blush covering her cheeks as the intent gaze of Sasuke landed on her and refused to leave. Kakashi remembered how Rin looked that way; after she had waited all those years to see the caring in those eyes. And the one time he let it show, it was the last time he saw her face. The jounin sighed again and pulled out his book; he needed to escape the memories of the past. They were a lot like the three of them though. Only, Obito was gone before they were at that age. He hadn't truly gotten close to anyone after that; the closest friend he had, at the moment, was his eternal rival Gai. He smirked at the thought, annoying little brat that he was. After Obito's death, Rin and her sister had become the copy-nin's best friends second only to the fourth Hokage; but even then he couldn't keep them safe. That was always what he was trying to do; keep everyone safe, even if it cost him his life. In that, Kakashi Hatake was a lot like Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you need healing?" The green eyes of Sakura were now in front of him, looking over his body with her medically inclined eyes like Rin had done so many times before.

"No, I'm fine." He stood slowly, wincing in pain as the wound in his leg gushed blood. "We're almost back to the village."

"Home!" Naruto jumped, conveniently taking the spotlight away from the copy-nin who was trying to hide his injury. "Let's get home quick! I want some Ramen!"

Sasuke's dark eyes glanced over at their sensei, then met the man's gray eye with his own; his dark eyes traveling down to the puddle of blood. "Not until Sakura does something about Kakashi-sensei."

The jounin hissed and plopped back down to the ground, Sakura's hands working on the wound. Since when had they started taking care of him?

Kakashi fell to his bed in his cold room and curled against a pillow; it had been years since he had felt the warmness of another body. His eye glanced over the Icha Icha Paradise books stacked on the floor and he rolled over; his back to them. Lately, nothing could stave off his depression; the steadily decreasing need of team 7 for his leadership made a void in him. He had become attached to the group and he cursed himself for it. "What have I gotten myself into." He closed his eye slowly; the picture of Rin, Sumi, and Obito playing on the back of his eyelids; haunting him.