Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did I'd be set for life and spend my days napping :)

Author's Note: For those of you who read these THANK YOU! A big thanks to those of you who reviewed! deamon-of-light, thank you so much for your suggestions! I have edited chapters one through three. Hopefully the timeline makes a little more sense now. A big thanks also to hatakekakashi7 for your encouragement! It gave me the extra push to finish chapter four. If you guys haven't noticed yet, if you review I will give you a shout out in my author's note, so PLEASE REVIEW.
To be honest, not sure how I like this chapter, It really gave me a hard time, hence the long wait for the update. Let me know what you guys think and I hope you enjoy!

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long

Chapter Four: A Not So Restful Day Off

Kakashi POV

"Kakashi…"

Rin's face, pale wide-eyed and quivering hovered ominously in front of him. Her voice whispered his name, the words barely making it past her blood stained lips.

"Kakashi…" The voice grew angrier, louder. The accusation ripped through Kakashi like a kunai through the heart.

"Kakashi!" The voice turned to a growl, thunderously loud, the anger smashing down around him.

...

"KAKASHI!"

He jerked upright, throwing off the blankets and nearly tumbling out of bed in his panic. His chest heaved against his sweat-soaked shirt, fists trembling as the beat of his heart drummed through his body. It took him a moment to remember where he was. The chipping paint on the walls, the shuriken patterned comforter, his mission report left unfinished on his tiny desk. It had been a dream.

He stared down at his hands, numbly assessing the sweat shining on his palms.

BANG BANG BANG

"KAKASHI!"

His head snapped towards the door, the thud of his heart begging to slow to a dull throb.

'Seriously?'

"I, THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA, HAVE COME TO CHALLENGE YOU, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, IN THE SPRINGTIME OF OUR YOUTH, TO A GLORIOUS BATTLE OF STRENGTH!"

Kakashi threw himself back down on the bed and drew an elbow over his eyes.

'I don't have time for this.'
Maybe, just maybe, if he ignored him long enough, Guy may take his youthful exploits elsewhere. Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut, shifting uncomfortably as the fabric of his T-shirt clung to his skin.

"KAKASHI!"

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!

Kakashi made a small noise of discontent, pulling one of his pillows over his face.

"Go away!"

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Kakashi growled in annoyance and lumbered slowly towards the front door.

He began releasing the wards and traps, precautions he had put in place after his encounter the day before. Well, at least some of them. Most of his friends thought he was paranoid. Maybe he was. But the way Kakashi saw it, when you're in the Bingo Book, it's the paranoid people that live.

"KA-"

Kakashi opened the door sharply, cutting off Guy's pounding fist mid-bang. He stood staring blankly at his rival, deciding it wasn't worth saying anything. Guy would do all the talking anyway.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL! WHY DOES IT APPEAR I HAVE ROUSED YOU FROM THE DARKNESS OF UN-YOUTHFUL SLUMBER?!"

Kakashi continued to stare unblinking at the obnoxious young man standing on his doormat. If he proceeded to yell much longer he was going to wake the neighbors. Kakashi sighed inwardly.

"THIS WILL NOT DO, MY MOST GLORIOUS RIVAL! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A RACE ON OUR HANDS BACKWARDS UP TO THE HOKAGE MONU-"

Kakashi, seeing as he had no intention of excepting Guy's ridiculous challenge at four thirty in the morning on his day off, and finding the one-sided conversation supremely boring, casually stepped back and shut the door in his face.

"-MENT…Ka-…KAKASHI! THAT IS SO UN-YOUTHFUL! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO ACT SO COOL!?"

Kakashi quickly replaced the wards and reset the traps guarding the perimeter. Guy was continuing to yell outside his door, the grumbles of his neighbors and footsteps in the adjacent flats begging to respond to Guy's persistent and ridiculous level of volume.

Ignoring his friend's protests, Kakashi walked shakily to the kitchen, his breath still coming unevenly from his nightly torture session. It was the same dream. Every night. Not that there weren't others, sure there were others, but somehow it always came back to Rin. Back to her pale face, her wide brown eyes…his hand lodged deep inside her chest cavity.

His fingers darted forward to send water flooding into the kitchen sink. He let it stream over his skin in a hopeless attempt to rinse away the memory. Rubbing his thumbs over his palms, he forced himself to take a deep breath.

He couldn't say that it was just a dream. He wished he could; wished he could claim sanctuary in reality. But he couldn't. He had killed Rin. It wasn't just some figment of his imagination, his worst fears coming out to plague him at night. No. He had. He had killed his teammate.

His breath began to rasp in the back of his throat, his lungs beginning to ache. He scrubbed harder, willing the memory of her blood to disappear, wishing he could somehow clean his hands so well it would erase the past, rinse away time and let him try again. He-

'Calm down.'

Kakashi shoved his head under the faucet, letting the freezing water rush over the back of his neck.

'Calm down. Tools don't feel.'

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Guy's pounding had finally stopped, his voice echoing down the hall as he gave up on his eternal rival accepting his challenge, "I shall be at training ground three if you change your mind!" And with that his presence began to dissipate, his chakra signature growing fainter as he descended the stairs.

Kakashi turned off the water and took a deep breath. He needed to get a hold of himself. He had pressing matters to handle today and not much time to look into them.

Originally he had planned to train with team Ro today. Those plans had changed after the previous day's excitement. Being assaulted in one's own village, though not a new sensation for the young Hatake, was certainly not a comfortable feeling. Especially whilst his enemy obviously had intel on him and he had nothing to go off of but a few drops of dried poison remaining on his uniform and the memory of nondescript weaponry. Kakashi ran a hand through his hair and growled in frustration.

A growing knot of anxiety was beginning to roil under his skin. Every small noise made his hand twitch, every soft breeze made his shoulders tense. It was as if he were still in the field. Like he was being hunted through enemy territory. A mouse preparing for the fox to finally pounce.

Kakashi had sent in a request for his team to take a day off, alerting the rest of his comrades to the change in schedule later the previous evening. He hadn't provided them with an explanation, figuring whatever excuse they thought up would be far more believable than any lie he could contrive on such short notice.

Their response to Kakashi's obvious discomfort during training had suddenly become an asset. Most days their worrying would have been exceptionally irritating. However today, it was probably the best turn of events that Kakashi could have hoped for.

Along with the time to investigate, his team would most likely leave him to himself, opting to let him take the day to rest rather than try to drag him out of his, as Taro would put it, "Boring old man apartment."

He couldn't tell them about the incident, at least not yet.

Granted, it was serious. An organized attack meant planning and planning typically wasn't something that your everyday group of enraged shinobi did well. Most likely, they were working for someone, their emotions separate from the target. They had to have done research or at least have known about his most recent mission.

Waiting until he was alone and wounded to make their move had been smart. If Kakashi hadn't known the area so well, they probably would have succeeded. It was quite possible that these were the same shinobi who had pursued him on his last mission. It was equally as possible that it had been fellow shinobi in the village who were aware of his current status. Honestly, Kakashi anticipated the later. It would have been difficult for enemy anbu to infiltrate the Leaf. Not impossible, but difficult. It would probably be even more challenging for the enemy shinobi to get back out. Sure the alarms wouldn't be set to go off for shinobi leaving, but they'd have to avoid both border surveillance and the shinobi in the village. Let alone the massive amounts of civilians. It would be far easier for leaf shinobi to have pulled off the attack. Whether they were working for someone within the Hidden Leaf however, was a different story.

Of course, Kakashi had his suspicions already, but he wasn't willing to voice them without solid proof. The consequences of alerting his mother hen of a sensei to a pack of murderous shinobi headed his way may produce some undesirable results. Minato's awareness of his…situation, could easily result in a sudden and total loss of freedom that Kakashi was just not willing to accept.

He had raised himself from the age of six. He'd been almost completely self-reliant since the age of five. He could take care of himself.

Besides, in situations like this, there was always a high chance of death or injury. Not knowing your enemy is a dangerous place to be. The fewer people Kakashi associated with his problem, the fewer comrades would be in harm's way. The moment his team became aware of the threat or found a link to its origin, would almost certainly place a target on their backs. Kakashi had been in this situation enough times to know what to expect. He wouldn't put their lives in danger for the sake of his own. He'd had enough of others sacrificing themselves for him. He would not live with the guilt of knowing another comrade had died for him. Not again.


Tenzo POV

"Ughhhhhhh, I'm so bored!" Whined Taro, swinging to hang upside down from his tree branch, a long piece of grass twiddling between his teeth.

"Then maybe you should find something more productive to do than stalk me all day." Tenzo muttered absentmindedly inspecting the edge of the kunai he'd just been sharpening.

"Mah, I didn't make any plans this morning because I thought we'd be training. But no, Taichou just had to go and ask Hokage-sama for the day off! He totally screwed up my whole day!"

"No one is stopping you from training." Tenzo retorted stowing his kunai and beginning to work on his shuriken.

"But we totally could have decimated Kakashi Taichou today!" He pouted, his lower lip poking out, pushing the long blade of grass down towards his inverted nose.

Tenzo glanced up ruefully, "You know, this obsession you have with destroying your captain is kind of disturbing."

Just then voices floated over from the sidewalk across the street.

"I TRIED, BUT MY ETERNAL RIVAL WOULD NOT LISTEN. THE POWER OF YOUTH SHOULD KNOW NO BOUNDS! HE MUST EMBRACE THE FLAME OF HIS YOUTH!"

"Guy, how early exactly did you try to wake him up?" Asuma asked.

"THE MOMENT THE CRIMSON RAYS OF SUNLIGHT BEGAN TO MAKE THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE HORIZON I-" Guy began, making his two companions cringe.

"So what like four thirty or five?" Asuma cut him off.

"Tch- I would have done worse than shut the door in your face." Kurenai grumbled crossing her arms and turning up her nose.

The group continued past them, unbeknownst to the two anbu lounging against the nearby tree.

"Ha!" Taro laughed linking his fingers behind his neck, "Serve's Taichou right for ditching us last minute."

Tenzo shook his head and sighed, he wasn't sure what to think about Kakashi's sudden change of heart. Tenzo somehow found it difficult to believe that Kakashi would take a day off for health reasons, unless of course he really couldn't get out of bed. Yesterday's training session had been a testament to that.

It's possible that Kakashi really had taken a day off to rest. Most of his days off, he claimed that he spent trying to catch up on his sleep. Maybe he had been telling the truth.

His mind flicked back to the expression on his face. The empty smile and sudden departure the previous day.

Tenzo felt horrible. He should have gone after him. He should have told him he wasn't to blame, even if it seemed so blatantly obvious. Kakashi, since Tenzo had known him, had always carried around unnecessary guilt.

He thought back again to those blank eyes. The dull smile before he disappeared. He had already avoided the team for weeks. It wasn't hard to assume that he must be avoiding them again. Tenzo sighed.

"What?" Taro asked

Tenzo shrugged, "Nothing."

'Nothing at all, Just Kakashi senpai's incredible guilt complex starting to make me question my sanity.'


Kakashi POV

Kakashi stood outside the old door, dimly lit in the underground halls of Anbu headquarters. He sighed and placed his hand on the knob.

He'd have to risk the chance of questions being asked. Although medic-nin in the anbu were far less nosy than medic-nin in the main forces, their curiosity could pose a threat to Kakashi's plan. He shrugged. There was no helping it. This was the clearest step to tracing his attackers.

Pushing open the door to the medical unit's lab, he knocked on the doorframe as he entered.

A slight woman in her mid-twenties looked up from her microscope, pushing her short cropped black hair out of her eyes.

"Hatake." She said standing to greet him, "I think this is the first time we've met when you haven't been bleeding."

"Nara-san." Kakashi greeted with a nod, "I have a favor to ask."

"Well that's a first, you seeking medical attention on your own free will." She leaned over to scrawl a few observations in her already full notebook, the words spilling into the margins.

"No, not that." Kakashi interjected handing her the vest, "I'd like to get this analyzed."

The young woman's face twitched into a frown as she inspected the tear across the shoulder, looking closer at the slight purple tinge on the gray fabric.

"You want to know what kind of poison this is?"

"Hai," He nodded, "when's the soonest you can get the results?"

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and looked back up, if it's something we've recently documented, maybe as early as this evening, otherwise it may take several days."

He nodded and turned to leave, "Thanks, let me know what you find out."

Her hand snapped out to grab his wrist, wrapping around it like a vice.

His shoulders tightened, right hand unconsciously dropping towards his weapons pouch.

"Wait…Care to explain how this happened? You've been off active duty for over a week. I didn't think you were going back on the mission roster for at least the next five days."

'Crap'

He didn't turn around, "It's not mine." He lied, praying that she'd buy it, "One of my subordinates went on a mission while I was on leave. I needed to come to HQ anyway. I'm doing him a favor."

She sighed and dropped his wrist, "Fine. I'll let you know what I find when the results get back."

Quickly thanking her, he made to exit the room, hoping beyond hope that his lie held up, at least until he knew the results.

This had been the easy part. What came next would prove far more challenging. He needed to see his medical files.

Typically if a patient wanted access to his medical history he need only ask. But the anbu's files were kept locked separately from the rest of the shinobi force. Their histories were considered highly classified. Access to any one of those documents had to be granted directly from the Hokage himself.

Kakashi was sure that Minato would have a few questions as to why his student wanted to see them. Especially considering Minato's general belief that Kakashi seemed to lack any and all concern for his own physical wellbeing.

That would mean breaking in. He'd done it once before while the Sandaime was still in power. However, considering that the third appeared shortly thereafter, Kakashi had been fairly certain that he had known the whole time.

He'd have to make an attempt. Either that or he'd have to come up with a valid excuse to make the request without creating suspicion. Either way, the chances of success would be slim, and he'd need some time to plan. He would have to wait until the shift change this evening. That would give him a good nine hours to strategize. Hopefully, his chances would seem a little more promising after some time to think.


Tenzo POV

The sun had finally finished sinking beneath the horizon, the thin crescent moon rising slowly to take its place in the darkened sky. It had taken him too long to convince himself to come.

Tenzo stood at the entrance to Kakashi's apartment complex, staring apprehensively up at the pale cracking walls of the old building. He never really understood why Kakashi had chosen to live here. It was a nice complex, all things considered. A little old but well kept and in a quiet part of town. However, Kakashi had supposedly inherited the entirety of the Hatake Clan's compound. It had apparently been abandoned for years now. At least, long enough for the younger generations to start telling ghost stories about it.

It struck him now, as it often did, how little Tenzo really knew about his Senpai. He had been so immersed in the Root organization for so long that he had to spend these past two years playing catch up with the history of his own village. The Hatake clan was rarely mentioned if at all in most history books. The only Hatake that Tenzo had ever heard about was Kakashi's late father, the White Fang. His story, Tenzo knew. It was hard not to. Kakashi was still looked at with disdain by a large majority of the village for his father's part in the war. He was their scapegoat. An outlet for their pain. It made Tenzo sick just thinking about it.

However, aside from the one mission and the fact that he died, Tenzo knew very little about him. Tenzo often assumed that Kakashi's main reason for refusing to live in the complex was an attempt to spare himself some of the angst of the village, by trying to separate himself from the object of their hatred. But truthfully, Tenzo didn't know. Kakashi was his best friend, and he didn't know.

Tenzo, sighed and made his way towards the building and up the first flight of stairs.

He was going to smack some sense into his captain. Crow's death was not a result of Kakashi's failure to carry the entire team on his shoulders. Crow's death had been, as terrible as it was, an occupational hazard. It came with the territory of being an Anbu. Crow's death was a result of the man's own decision to take the mission. A result of his choice to refuse to leave his captain behind. The failure to save him from that decision was on the entirety of team Ro.

Climbing the last flight of stairs, Tenzo made his way down the hall to the second to last door, the three hundred and twelve beginning to rust around the edges.

He took a deep breath and knocked, "Senpai?"

He waited a moment…then a moment longer…No response.

He knocked again, "Senpai? Senpai, are you home?"

Still, no response.

Suddenly a door creaked open on Tenzo's left, the civilian tenant turning to lock the door behind him.

"Excuse me, sir?" The man stopping and looked down at him, "Do you know if Hatake-san is in?" Tenzo asked, pointing to the door.

The old man nodded in annoyance, "Yeah, heard him get in a few hours ago. Kid was making a hell of a racket." Tenzo frowned as the man turned to leave, waiting until he descended the first few stairs to pound on the old wood door.

"Oy! Kakashi! Stop ignoring me, open up!" Kakashi remained silent. Tenzo stopped to listen, realizing for the first time that he could hear water running faintly from inside the flat.

'Maybe he's in the shower.'

Tenzo laid his hand on the doorknob in frustration, leaning his weight on the smooth dull brass. Without warning, Tenzo's hand slipped, nearly dumping him on the ground as the knob turned and the door swung open. Tenzo's jaw went slack in disbelief. Ever since he had first met Kakashi, even whilst Tenzo was still in Root, he had never once forgotten to lock and seal his door. Not once.

"Ka…Kakashi?"

Tenzo stepped into the room, the only light emanating from a small lamp beside the entrance.

The room was in shambles, bookcases toppled over and furniture overturned. Kakashi's weapons lay scattered on the floor, intermingled with shredded bit's of couch cushion and scattered pages of an unfinished mission report.

"Kakashi!"

Tenzo stepped into the room, picking his way across the destruction, a far cry from the almost obsessive tidiness that the Hatake perpetually left in his wake.

Making his way into the kitchen, he squinted to find the light switch. The room was nearly pitch black, leaving Tenzo to grope blindly at the walls until his fingers found their target. He crashed into what he assumed to be the kitchen table, turning to promptly trip over something on the floor. Falling to his hands and knees, his hands slid in something wet as they hit the tile. The sound of running water was louder in here. As he reached for the counter to pull himself up, one of his hands bumped into the kitchen sink, fingers skimming the steady stream of water pouring from the faucet. He groped for the tap, attempting to staunch the flow.

Fingers finally reaching their target, he pushed the handle down, casting the room into eery silence.

Scrambling to his feet Tenzo felt frantically for a light switch, his hands trailing hurriedly across the wall.

At last, he found the protrusion he'd been searching for. With a click, the room was flooded with warm golden light. His eyes squinted shut, the sudden change searing into his skull. He waited a moment before reopening them, blinking as he registered his face was mere inches from the plain yellow drywall.

Looking down he- "Gah!"…His hands were covered in blood.

Reeling back, he tripped over the unknown object again, sprawling backwards into the kitchen table and sending it screeching backwards across the tile. He opened his eyes.

…He had tripped over Kakashi.

…Over Kakashi, unconscious in a pool of blood.