Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone here, except Saki.

K9: Sorry it took so long...The ending is rushed, but it turned out okay. Thank you to all those who reviewed-you get a cookie!

4

The Truth

"Sensei...is on a mission," said Kakashi with a weak smile.

"When's he coming back?" she asked with a naive smile.

"He didn't say," he said, his smile turning sad now. A small ache inside his heart made it hard for him to hold the tears in. It had seemed bad enough when she didn't remember anything, but this was tearing his heart apart. She could only remember up to a point, up to her breaking point. He wondered if she remembered anything after the mission, the mission she couldn't go to. Why was her memory so selective, he had wondered many times before. It had only seemed to remember him, not Kakashi.

"What's the date, Ha-kun?" she asked in a cheerful tone very different from that of the woman they had met a day before.

"September 21st, why?"

"Tomorrow's Rin's birthday, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, you're right," he stated ever-so-bluntly.

"Let's go visit her grave tomorrow!" she said, still with a smile on her face.

"So you remember that," he whispered to himself.

"What? I didn't hear you Ha-kun," Saki said earnestly.

"Oh, nothing," he said with a small smile as he tried to stand up. As he did, blood spilt out of the two bite marks, and pain shot through his leg (oh, and by the way, all the villagers are back to their normal duties). He screamed out, making people stare, and Saki and the whole team rushed to his side.

"Ah, sorry Ha-kun!" she said as she and Sakura tried to lift him up. Even though she was taller than Sakura, her shoulder couldn't even serve as a crutch for him. The two boys stepped up and took Kakashi away from the shorter girls, laughing a little while doing so. Sakura growled and grumbled a little, but Saki just giggled. The girls then ran to either side of Kakashi, Sakura where Sasuke was, and Saki where Naruto was, with her panther as a white kitten on her shoulder. The whole way to Kakashi's house, Saki kept on staring at Naruto, which made him blush. 'Who does he remind me of?' she asked herself as she looked at the boy.

"Was your dad the 4th Hokage?" she suddenly asked Naruto.

"Huh? Uh, actually don't know who my dad was," he answered with the smallest of a smile.

"Oh," she said in a whisper and cast her eyes down.

"Sensei! Is that your house?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" asked Kakashi.

"It's the messiest one here," responded Sakura in a "it's so obvious" tone.

"Jeez, Ha-kun, what in hell happened to your house?" Saki asked in an amazed tone.

"I just haven't cleaned the outside in a while," he said.

"Dare I ask what the inside looks like?" asked Saki.

"You can ask, but I don't think you'll like the answer," Kakashi said as a sweat-drop climbed down his head. They were now at the doorstep of Kakashi's house, and were all afraid to go in. Saki was the brave one who decided to go in first.

"Ha-kun?" she asked

"Yeah?"

"I'm giving your leg the most painful treatment I know," she said as her eyes gleamed with evil. Kakashi started sweating and put his good leg out, as if to stop the two boys from bringing him inside his own house.

"Now, as far as I remember, the herbs were in here," she said to no-one in particular. "Aha! Found them!" She put a pot on the stove and started mixing in different herbs and spices into the boiling water. As a final addition, she focused her chakra into the pot, giving the potion the ability to work faster. Saki poured the mixture of herbs, spices, and chakra into a bowl and took out a towel to spread the mixture over Kakashi's wound. When she dipped the towel into the mixture and put it onto Kakashi's leg, he almost screamed and started wiggling his legs. Saki kept his leg down with her own and focused her chakra into regrowing the top layer of skin. After she finished, she wrapped some bandage around the wound and then finally let Kakashi's leg free.

"You're a medicine-nin?" asked Sakura eagerly.

"No actually," she said with a light laugh, "But Rin taught me a couple of things about it."

"Wow, I'm gonna be a medicine-nin!"

"I could've been a medicine-nin, but it would just be too disappointing when I couldn't save someone. And so here I am, wielder of fire!"

"Wielder of fire?" stepped in Naruto.

"Yep, most of my attacks and defenses are fire-based,"

"Woah, can you show us?" asked Naruto and Sakura asked simultaneously.

"Sure, come outside. And Kakashi, don't move!" she said in a firm tone. As they walked out the door, Saki grabbed her fans from the counter that was right next to the door. She walked out to the middle of the street and stood still before breaking into a graceful fan dance. With every foot movement, the fans swished, and with every fan swish, fire came as a slice in the air. Her hands moved faster and faster until a sort of force field formed around her. The force field rapidly shrunk into her hands, a compressed form of all of the chakra in the force field. Saki forced her hands into the ground causing an upheaval of mud. After all settled, a huge hole was in the middle of the street, about 6 feet in diameter and twice as deep. Sakura and Naruto could only gape.

"I think I overdid it a bit," said Saki sheepishly, with a light blush spread across her face. They came back into the house, Saki made dinner, and then Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke went home.

"Hey, Kakashi, do you have any cat food?" asked Saki.

"I should probably still have some dry food in the usual place," answered Kakashi.

"Okay," she said as she reached for the shelf at the bottom right corner of the kitchen. Saki put out a white plate and poured some dry cat food into it, letting the cat do the rest. She sat down next to Kakashi and fingered at the bottom of the shirt she'd been wearing since yesterday. As Kakashi looked at her, he realized something was wrong.

"How long has it been?" she asked quietly.

"What?" he quizzically inquired.

"How long has it been?" she repeated, raising her voice; tears were now hard for her to hold back.

"I don't know what you're talking-" Kakashi lied, and smile lightly.

"I know you know!" she screamed at him, "Answer me! How long has it been?"

Kakashi lowered his head, but she put her hand on his chin and raised it up, making his eyes meet hers. He watched tears roll softly run down her face, and watched her wipe them away. 'She deserves to know,' he thought.

"Thirteen years," he answered her in a light whisper. Without saying anything, she collapsed onto the ground with a thud and started crying. Kakashi kneeled down in front of her, wrapped his hand around the back of her head, and pushed her head into his chest. She wrapped both her arms around his chest to his back as he did so with her shoulders. Saki cried softly into his shirt, giving his shirt a nice wet stain on its left shoulder.

"So where is Sensei really?" she asked in a muffled voice.

"Sensei's...dead," he said softly.

"What?" she half-screamed.

"He's dead," he repeated. Saki broke away from his embrace and ran out of the door, saying something like "I have to find him" and "He has to be alive". Tripping in the dark outside, she fell down into the hole. Kakashi ran as fast as he could without disturbing his hurt leg.

"Saki, are you okay?" he asked. All he got in return were sobs. He slowly approached the edge of the depression and slid down along its side. He found her sobbing right next to the place where he slid down. When she saw him, she turned away and continued to sob. Kakashi crawled over to her and hugged her around her waist from the back. Putting his lips right next to her ear, he whispered, "Even if Sensei isn't here for you, I'll always be here. I'll always give you a shoulder to cry on."

K9: So do y'all like it (yep, that's me the Southerner!)? Please review!!! Bye-bye...