"If I never knew you"

By Morobutt

Chapter 3

'I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven'

Your guardian angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus


Sakura and Kakashi quickly made their way through the trees as they tried to make a mad dash back home. They would never make it back to the Leaf Village in one day's time but they had to try, from the sounds of Kabuto's voice they didn't have much time left before he went through with his plan… whatever it might be.

The day was starting to turn in to night, Kakashi could only hope that Kabuto wouldn't send someone out after them to keep them from getting to The Leaf Village to tell of his plans. He let out a sigh as he looked over at Sakura with his one visible dark eye.

"Sakura… keep on your toes… from here on out we might be ambushed at any giving moment" he said to her in a cold tone

Sakura nodded her head before he spoke again to her

"If we end up getting split up… just keep going till you get to The Leaf Village, don't worry about me... We need to get this info back to Tsunade as quick as we can"

Sakura nodded her head once more as she pushed off of a branch of a tree. Like Kakashi she could only hope that they had some luck on their side. As the sun complete despaired from the sky it became so dark that it was like walking in to a room that had no lights on in the middle of the night. The moon and stars where coved by a think low layer of clouds that where threatening to open up and pour down on them with a slight rumble here and there.

They where only a third of the way home now but they were almost at their limit, there stamina was almost out completely. Sakura was starting to fall behind Kakashi now. He looked over his shoulder to see her lightly panting as she was out of breath from running for so long, He didn't know how much longer she would last.

Just as he turned his head back around to look in front of him he heard a loud cracking sound then a gasp of shock. He knew what had happen before he even reacted to it. Kakashi spun around so fast and was free falling after Sakura. She had landed on a weak breach of tree and it gave away under her weight, she had no chakra or stamina left to try and keep herself to falling to the ground.

"Shit" was all she could say in a soft voice as she closed her eyes.

The ground was coming up fast now and just as she thought she was a goner someone grabbed her jacket from behind and pulled her close to them. Kakashi had caught her just in time and landed on the ground with his feet. Letting out a wince of pain from the impact he looked down at Sakura who was clinging to his dark shirt. He let out a sigh of relief seeing as was alight.

"I think we should rest for a bit… where both beat" he said as he took his one visible eye off of her as she lifted her head and looked at him.

Her bright green eyes looking up at him with a grateful look. If it wasn't for him she might have been really badly hurt. Without thinking she threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life

"Thank you so much" she sobbed in his ear as Kakashi slowly stood up.

Kakashi took her arms in his hands a slowly pulled them off of him, he let out a sigh as he narrowed his dark visible eye. He let out a soft cough before letting go of her and turning away. Even though he was glad she was safe and not harmed in a way he still didn't want to give her false hope that he might have feelings for her somewhere deep inside him. He slowly turned away from her and looked up at the sky, the storm that had once threaten to beat down on them had died down and now the clouds where parting to show the stars and a faint outline of the moon still somewhat hidden behind the clouds.

"I can't let this go much longer… the sooner we get back the sooner she will see that I have no feelings for her" he thought to himself as he brought his eye sight down from the sky.

Sakura was stun; she didn't know what to make of what had just happen once she hugged Kakashi. She hung her head and took a deep breath, thinking of what she could say. But there was no time for words now. As she lifted her head up to ask Kakashi something she heard a thud of something hitting a nearby tree. Sakura turned around to find an exploding Tag hanging from a kunai; it was almost burnt all the way when she jumped out of the way. The force of the explosion threw her on the ground past Kakashi.

"Shit!.. Sakura... Run… We've been found" Kakashi yelled as he lifted her to her feet.

She let out a grunt as she got to her feet thanks to Kakashi, she glared at him and pulled a kunai out of her back pouch and stood in a fighting stance. She didn't care what he thought; he was just as burnt out as she was. Kakashi let out a growl of anger as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him.

"What are you doing… run…" he yelled at as he took a kunai out of his leg holster and stood in a fighting stance as well

Sakura hesitate for a moment before turning and running. Just as she got away from Kakashi she could hear the starting of the fight. The sound of metal hitting metal rang out through the night.


Kakashi jumped back as yet another exploding Tag hanging from a kunai hit the ground near him. Lifting his head band up over his left eye he looked out threw the smoke trying to find out where the attack was coming from. As the smoke settled Kabuto stepped out from behind a tree holding a senbon needles in his right hand.

"Kakashi… I hope you didn't think we would forget about you" he said softly

Kabuto took one of the senbon needles in his left hand threw it at Kakashi who just pulled his hand that had the kunai in it up and watched at the senbon needle bounced off and landed on the ground in front of him. Thanks to his sharingan he was able to dodge it with ease.

Kabuto let out a soft laugh to himself as he watched Kakashi's red eye start to spin. Kabuto jumped back and started doing had seals. As he end his hand seals he had a smirk on his face before he spoke out load

"Forbidden Jutsu Gedo Mark seal" he said with an evil laugh.

Kabuto watched as Kakashi grunted in pain and slowly sunk to the ground holding his left eye that had the sharingan. Kakashi let out a gasp as the pain flowed threw his left side of his face.

Kabuto laughed even more as he stared walking over to Kakashi, once he was near his side he looked down at Kakashi and kicked him in the ribs.

"Now now… we can't have you using that eye of yours on us" he said in a mocking tone.

Kakashi grunted once more before rolling over on all fours, he stayed like that as he gasped for air before he even tried to speak to Kabuto.

"What…What have you done to me?" he demanded

Kakashi tried to stand only to get half way up and fall back to the ground as yet another serge of pain made its way through his body. Kabuto laughed even harder when one of his henchmen came up next to him and spoke to him.

"We have located the girl, what you'd want us to do?" he asked as he knelt down on the ground near Kabuto.

Kicking Kakashi in the ribs again Kabuto spoke to his henchman without even looking at him.

"Kill her... Do not let her get to The Leaf Village! Or I'll have your head!… is that clear?" he asked with a cold tone

His henchman gave a nod and despaired behind a puff of smoke.


Sakura Let out a sigh as she hid behind a tree; she had tripped over a tree root and hurt her foot. Still low on chakra and stamina Sakura couldn't heal her foot. She held on to her kunai as she slowly popped her head out from behind the tree to see if Kakashi was heading her way. She could only hope he made it out of the fight alright, just as she turned back around a man's voice called out to her

"Lookie what we have here, looks like Kakashi's brat didn't get that far after all" said the one guy to another

"What do you thing we should do with her?" another asked

Sakura's face went white as she saw one of the guys stepping closer to her, she pulled her kunai closer to her.

"Let's have a bit of fun before we kill her off" he said as he laughed and reached out his hand to grab Sakura.


Kabuto smirked as the smoke from his henchman cleared the area, leaning down he whispered in to the back of Kakashi's head

"I have sealed your sharingan… you are no longer a threat to me" He said as he pulled his body back up.

Kakashi let out a wince from pain as he took hold of Kabuto's leg in his left hand, gasping for air he stained himself to look up at Kabuto

"Leave the girl out of this… she is no threat to you now… harm her and you'll be the one to be dead Kabuto" Kakashi said in a deadly cold tone

Kakashi let out another wince from pain as he struggled to get on his hands and knees, Kabuto rolled his eyes he pulled his leg out of Kakashi's grip and went to kick Kakashi down once again but this time his foot did not come in contact with Kakashi's side. Softly panting Kakashi held on to his foot with his left hand.

"I may not have my sharingan… and I may be in horrible pain… but make no mistake Kabuto… I am not useless" Kakashi said as he pulled himself up

Kabuto growled in frustration as he tried to pull away from Kakashi but to no avail, Kakashi had a death grip on his foot. Taking his time Kakashi took his right hand and put it in his back pouch and pulled out a kunai; Kabuto let out a laugh at the sight of this.

"Come now Kakashi… what do you plane to do with that? It's useless you can't harm me with that" he said laughing once again

"You're too confident Kabuto… that will be your down fall you know…" Kakashi said as he thrusts the blade of the kunai in to the bottom of Kabuto's foot.

Kakashi using what little strength he had left he tried to jump away from Kabuto. A slight hissing sound was so hard to hear over the wince of pain that Kabuto let out as he bent over to pull the kunai out of his foot. As he put his hand down near the blade an exploding tag that was wrapped around the handle went off sending smoke, blood and bits of flash threw the air.

Kakashi ducked and hid his head with his arms as the exploding tag went off. As the smoke started to settle a loud sob could be heard along with a muffled sound of someone trying to get up. Lifting his head up Kakashi looked around to see if Kabuto was still 'standing around'. Getting to his feet and pulling his head band down over his left eye he hobbled over to where Kabuto was last standing. His one visible eye looked down as he stepped on something.

With a smirk his eye landed on Kabuto, his leg had been blown off from the middle of shin. It was what was left of Kabuto's shin that he had stepped on. Taking a deep breath as yet another wave of pain took over his body Kakashi let a small grunt out before opening his eye back up and speaking to Kabuto as he took a step away from him getting off of what was left of his leg.

"What was that you said? Oh yeah… 'It's useless you can't harm me' it would seem that this is a check mate at the moment don't you think?" Kakashi said before he let out a laugh

Kabuto held on to his leg with his hands surrounded by blue chakra. He had held on to what was left of his leg and lifted his head and glared at Kakashi

"This is far from over Kakashi… even though you might have gotten away with your life the kunoichi you where with will not make it back to the leaf village alive." Kabuto said with a laugh as he pulled himself over to a tree and leaned on it.

Kakashi looked behind him; Sakura would be alright, she was after all a strong girl... No a strong young woman. Kakashi looked back at Kabuto and narrowed his one visible eye; he would make him pay with more than just losing a foot if anything happened to Sakura. Taken a step back he pulled a kunai from his leg holster

"Please forgive me for cutting this short… but we'll have to pick this up where left off at another date" he said before despairing in a puff of smoke. Hoping threw the trees not looking back Kakashi let out a sigh.

'Hold on Sakura… I'll be there… just hold on!' he thought as his foot landed on a branch and he pushed off of it.


Sakura let out a gasp as the one guys hand fell on the top of her shoulder and the guy pulled her up off her feet by the back of her red jacket. She glared and clenched her teeth at the guys rough touch, the guy slowly took his hand and ran it down the left side of her face

"My my… aren't you a fine looking kunoichi" he said as he looked back at the other two guys.

He had let his guard down so soon after taking hold of her, within a few seconds Sakura turned her head and took hold of the guys hand with in her mouth. She bit down as heard a she could, the guy turned around with the look of surprise on his face

"You no good rotten Vixen!" he yelled

The man shook Sakura around by the back of her jacket trying to get her to let go of his hand but to no a vale. She held on to him like she was a Pit Bull, she would show him. The man growled as he let go of her jacket and took her long pink hair in his hand and held a tight grip on it casing her to close eyes in pain. Sakura could hear the other two guys starting to laugh. She took a deep breath as she tightens her grip on her kunai still within her hand; with one fast movement she swiped the blade of her kunai at the guy's front. She heard a gasp and the hold on her hair went lose.

Letting go of her grip on the guy's hand she spun around and kicked the guy in the face before turning to the other guys. They just started at her, taken a deep breath she took her right hand and ran it threw her hair before looking at the guy she just kicked laying on the ground clutching his stomach.

"Kabuto sure picked the wrong guys for this mission that's for sure" she said before she started to pant lightly

What little chakra and stamina she had left was just about gone, she eyed the other two guys, she took a step at them trying to scare them off. It was a bluff; she fought to just stand up and was starting wonder if this was what Kakashi felt like after using his sharingan too much. Her eyes widened at the thought of him, she had left him with Kabuto

"Oh please… Kakashi... be alright" she thought to herself as she took a step closer to the other to guys.

Just then one of the other two guys was going to make a move they could hear a blast go off. Sakura turned her head real quick and looked back the way she had came, her eyes darted back to the guys who where now trying to slowly sneak up on her while her back was turned on them. It would seem they had called her bluff, letting out a soft growl of annoyance to herself she put her right hand in her back pouch and pulled out an exploding tag. Wrapping it around the kunai she still had held of, she turned to the two guys

"Take another step and you'll be picking up parts of your partner up off the forest floor"

She said as she held the kunai ready to be thrown at the guy she had hurt. They didn't seem to believe what she said; they thought she was bluffing again. Gritting her teeth and turning her head away she swung her arm to throw the kunai. But as a hand feel on her wrist she gaped and turned her head back, Kakashi stood panting in front of her with a tight grip on her wrist.

"Sakura…" he said as he let go of her wrist

Her mouth hung agape as her green eyes took in the sight of him. Kakashi let out a soft grunt of pain as he looked over at the two guys who had stopped walking. He took a deep breath as his dark eye fell on Sakura

"You're not hurt are you?" he asked

Sakura shook her head now but said not a word. Kakashi looked back over at the two men who where now looking as if they had just seen a ghost.

"You two might want to take your partner and go check on your master Kabuto… he doesn't seem to have thought this whole mission out before coming… what a pity… oh well" he said

One of the guys moved to get closer to their fallen partner but stopped short when Kakashi eye fell on him. Taking a deep breath Kakashi turned and waved the guy on before dipping his head a bit in pain. The two guys picked up there partner and left while the getting was still good.

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief, it was over for now. He knew dame well that Kabuto would regroup and come back for vengeance for his foot that he had blown off. Looking back at Sakura he let out a soft laugh before his face went blank and he feel face first on to the ground in front of him.

Sakura dashed to Kakashi's side as he hit the ground, her green eyes weld up with tears. He had pushed his body way past its limit this time. She rolled him over on to his back, she expected to see his face in a relaxed sleeping state but that was not what she found. His forehead and nose where wrinkled up in pain, she didn't understand it… all the other times he had passed out he merely looked as if he were asleep. But now something pained him even while he was unconscious. She ran her left hand down the right said of his face as she spoke softly to him

"I'll try my best to end the pain"

For now all she could do was rest, with her body having nothing left to give even to protect herself. She stayed close to Kakashi; he wouldn't wake up for a few days if not a week from now due to the strain on his body. She let out a soft sigh as she looked through the trees as the sun was rising up to start the dawn of a new day. Closing her eyes she lowered the upper part of her body on top of Kakashi's chest and rested her head, taken a few deep breaths before she two feel a sleep.


Hours later Sakura awoke to be pushed away from Kakashi's warm body and loud cry of pain. Sakura gave her head a shake before looking back at Kakashi; he was rolled up in a ball with his hands digging at his left eye. She let out a gasp as she quickly made her way back to his side. Kakashi had pulled his mask down as he dug at his eye; blood was now starting to show here and there in a few of the long scratch marks around and over his left eye.

"Kakashi… You need to stop... You'll only make it worse" came Sakura pleading voice

She reached out and took hold of his hands with hers. She didn't know what was going on but it more than likely had to do with his sharingan that was with in his left eye. Shifting both of his hands to her left hand she tried to gather some of the chakra that she had regained from her short rest. Kakashi squirmed and grunted out in pain as Sakura slowly took her right hand placed it over his left eye. A blue glow of chakra surrounded her hand and she slowly began to let her chakra flow from her hand and in to his eye.

He let out a gasp as he tensed a bit at first but soon fell quiet and relaxed. Sakura took a deep breath as she sat back and looked down at him; it took a few moments for the sight of Kakashi without a mask on to sink in. He didn't look his age at all, he looked to be still within his early twenties… there was no way her was thirty-two years old. Sakura's green eyes trilled down the left side of his chin where her eyes feel on to his lips.

"God… I could kiss him…"

Blushing a little a little at the thoughts as she looked away and took her left hand and pulled his mask back up. She took a deep breath as ran her right hand over her face stopping her hand so she could just barely see threw her fingers.

"Man that was a close one"

Digging her heals in to the ground next to Kakashi she pushed herself away from him. She was starting to like him more and more and now even found herself likely the idea of kissing him. Seeing him unmasked didn't help matters… if anything it just made it worse. She let out a soft sigh as she let her back rest on tree trunk behind her. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head sideways on her keen caps; she slowly drifted off in to sleep again.