I hope you guys still like this. I apologize for my sporadic updating. I have a lot of irl stuff going on, but I'm still going! =) Please review!

Ai lay back on the cover of the bed. Her skin felt cotton candy light on her body. Her head was swimming in a foggy haze. She looked to Hotaru for comfort.

"It's nothing serious," Shining yellow eyes met her's, "You'll be asleep for an hour… maybe two,"

Hotaru kneeled on the floor beside the bed. She clutched Ai's hand and squeezed, though the red-head could barely notice. As she brushed back pieces of hair that fell, Hotaru spoke in a soft, humbled voice.

"I've been such a selfish person,"

Ai turned her head slightly and furrowed her eyebrows in lieu of shaking her head ferociously.

Hotaru could read her friend like a wide-open book, "Just listen. Please," Urgency caused her voice to crack slightly; her eyes reflected inner demons clawing their way out, "When I met you… back then, I saved you because I needed someone. You weren't the first he brought around," She swallowed hard; her throat dry as a bone, "I never said anything to him about the other girls. Only you,"

Hotaru paused, the stinging in her throat and eyes getting worse at the thoughts of her horrible life she had lead. How had it come to this? How had she let herself get so overcome?

"I was so caught up in… in survival. I lost every bit of myself that I had," A tear streak flashed down the side of Ai's cheek. She had lost movement now. Her eyes were starting to feel heavy.

"I wasted it. I wasted every damn bit of what I had. I used people. I killed people. I stole. I lied. And what do I have to show for it?" A hint of cold bitterness and disappointment swept over her voice, mingling with the grief, "Not a fucking thing," She whispered, "Everyone's dead… except you,"

Paled pink lips parted and Ai took a deep breath.

"That's why I'm leaving you here,"

Ai's eyes flashed as wide as she could get them. Her head remained motionless, staring at the crackled ceiling in vain.

Hotaru leaned forward and kissed her friend's soft cheek. The salty taste of tears brushed her lips and tongue, "Live," She spoke just before darkness took Ai's remaining vision.

…...

Kakashi sat on his living room sofa, anxiously jumping at every sound. It wasn't like him to be wound so tight that he couldn't sit back and take in some quality Icha Icha time. But he had a sinking feeling he should be running.

He scoffed at himself.

Running? Where?

He wanted to pass it off as ridiculous. But, then, his instincts had never been wrong.

A bird tapped frantically at his window. He thought briefly that the damn bird might actually break glass.

The bird didn't calm, though, even once the window was open and it was free to dart around the room. It landed on Kakashi's sleeved elbow. The bird wore the crest of the Hokage.

He groaned.

Being summoned at this time of night was the worst. It was probably paperwork related and, frankly, he just didn't feel like dealing with that nonsense. Especially not when he had such little time with Hotaru. He had so many questions for her. He definitely wanted to get to the bottom of her strange behavior before.

The bird pecked at his wrist.

No choice, I guess.

He scribbled a quick note to Hotaru that he would be home shortly.

'Don't go anywhere.' He concluded. And was out the door.

Of course, the walk to the Hokage mansion was a leisurely one, but he wasn't nearly as late as he would normally be. You know you've fallen for a girl when you can't even read Icha Icha properly.

He pushed open the office door and resumed his usual stance. His hand was lounging in his pocket and he leaned back on one foot, but his expression turned hard and serious when he saw Tsunade's.

She held up a single scrap of paper. It was messy. It looked like it had been hastily ripped from a book and, on it, only a single word was scratched.

"What in the hell is this…?" Tsunade pushed it to his face, her face revealing an unsettling amount of dread and worry.

On the paper, in bold marker it read:

Kakashi.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

It took several seconds for the door to open even a crack. Shining light from the apartment soaked the hallway where Hotaru stood – face to face with Kurenai.

"I'm sorry to bother you when it's so late," God, it had to be around one or two in the morning at this rate.

Kurenai looked noticeably surprised at her presence, "N-no… no trouble. The baby was up anyway," As proof she held up an infant that squished her eyes and cooed.

"She's beautiful," Was all she could murmur.

Kurenai smiled at this compliment.

"I just…I just…" She had planned a whole speech on her way over here. Why wasn't any of it coming out? She was such a damn coward.

"I know who you are," Kurenai spoke with all the understanding of a goddess. Hotaru was floored. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor, wide a saucers for her surprise. It was her understanding that everything was confidential.

Tears stung her eyes as she spoke, "I wanted you to know that he saved me… in more ways than one," She mustered up the courage it took for gold eyes to meet red, "I can't even find words for how sorry I am that all this happened. It would've been better had we never met…"

Hot tears shone in Kurenai's eyes as well. For a moment, neither of them could move nor speak. The silence cradled them in a soft blanket of security. Even if it was only for a little while. In this brief space of time, they both understood the circumstances. They both understood the heartache.

Hotaru inhaled sharply, "I can't stay. I just wanted to pay my respects," Then she gave a quick bow and seemingly disappeared by magic.

….

….

Kakashi was clearly confused by the note.

"I said what the hell is this, Kakashi?" Tsunade repeated herself, her voice starting to give to desperation, "Do you know anything about it?"

He shook his head calmly, "I don't understand why a note with my name on it is any reason to summon me in the middle of the night," He spoke plainly.

The Hokage ignored his comment and gave way to pace the floor in front of him. Shizune and one other male ninja stood in a corner, oblivious to the situation, but concerned for Tsunade's sake.

The steady tap, tap, tap of a woman's heeled shoes could be heard outside in the hallway. All three of them grew silent and still, listening to the sound grow closer and closer.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

They exchanged glances at one another, each silently questioning why on earth someone would be walking around the hallways at this time of night.

The door blew open with a gust of wind and, on the opposite side, stood a tall slender woman. She was dressed in a strange way – like a circus ringleader. She had a woman's tailored jacket complete with tails in the back, black tights that smoothed over every curve of her lean legs, high heeled black boots that grazed the mid-thigh. She even had a top hat teetering on her head.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her costume-y get-up. Meanwhile the other two Leaf nin stood guard in front of Tsunade.

"Who are you?" Tsunade ground out through gritted teeth. It was obvious this woman belonged here as much as a kitten belonged in a dog house.

The woman's dark gray eyes flicked up and landed straight on Kakashi. She walked to him as if no one else was in the room.

"So this is the famous Hatake Kakashi…" She purred. Her movements were fluid; smoke escaping from a chimney, "You we had to go through a whole training course…" She reached him and placed a finger on his chest, "Just. For. You," And she let her fingers dance to his chin with each word. She bit her lip like she was fighting back the urge to fuck him right there where he stood, then she smirked and started hovering circles around the room. She let fingertips touch books on the shelf as she spoke.

"You think you know what you're doing, but you're terribly, terribly wrong,"

"Who are you?" Kakashi spoke with clear authority.

The mysterious ring leader glanced at him over her shoulder, "Names aren't necessary. I'm just here to retrieve my comrades and I'll be off,"

Shizune and her ninja friend had backed Tsunade to the farthest edge of the room behind Kakashi. Unmistakable confusion crossed his face, "And you… need us to get them for you?"

The woman laughed, "Oh, no. I just wanted to see your face when I tell you the truth,"

"And that is…"

"Hatake Kakashi… you're sleeping with the enemy, my friend,"

She let out a bellow of laughter, but Kakashi stood silent. Wide eyes were glued to the floor.

"That girl, Hotaru, and her friend Ai… Well, I hate to break it to you, Sweet Cheeks," She swiveled on her hips to face him head on, "But they're criminals,"

She tossed a thick book onto the desk where Kakashi leaned. He dared to look at it.

Inside was a picture of Hotaru. Her hair fell around her shoulders and dominated the bottom part of the head shot. Her eyes were more devious than he had ever seen them.

It was a picture of her in the bingo book.

Hotaru was in the fucking bingo book.

"Now, if I can just remember her list of crimes…" She twisted her face as though she was thinking with all her might. A finger that disappeared halfway down into smoke came up to tap her chin, "Oh right. Extortion, bribery, kidnapping, espionage… murder," Sinister gray eyes looked to Kakashi for his reaction, but he gave none. He just continued to stare at the bingo book with confusion.

The woman went to him and pressed against his body like a lover would. She leaned into his neck and stroked his chest.

The world seemed to have disappeared. If you had asked him at that moment what day it was or what time it was, he couldn't have answered. He was stuck in a daze, staring at her picture; staring at a totally different person than what he had known. He'd had sex with this woman. He'd told her about his past and his uncertain future. He'd held her trembling body in the middle of the night when she had awoken from nightmares.

But now she stared back at him with a look of death. She looked like she would crawl out from the pages and kill him with her own two hands.

Who was this person?

What was he thinking?

The smoky woman continued to drag her hands along his body, daring to venture lower until he reached his hips. She ground against him, panting and moaning.

Kakashi pulled back his arm and punched her. A distinctive crack resounded throughout the room and he could hear a frightened squeak from Shizune behind him.

The woman stumbled back. She was slouched over and her feet had lost their grounding, but it was obvious that her neck was broken. It was dangling to her side.

When any other person would have dropped to the floor and screamed in pain, she shocked them with another villainous laugh. She stood upright, her head still swiveling from its correct post, and quickly snapped it back into place with a jolt of her shoulder.

The three Konoha nin stood in shock of what she had just done. Except for the swelling, bruised section on her jaw, it was like nothing had happened.

"Just send her back," She snarled to Kakashi, "Cast her out,"

Her body evaporated where she stood.

Kakashi stood, too numb to move, but when he turned his head to look at his Hokage, he found he slumped over in a chair. She held her face in her hands and, though she wasn't sobbing, was clearly hiding something. Guilt?

Shizune spoke with the male ninja, "Find them. Fine them now,"

And they both quickly disappeared from the room.

Kakashi just looked on at Tsunade. She was as still as a statue, sitting in her chair. She made no sounds. She only sat with her face in her palms.

"Kakashi," She spoke softly, "You have no idea what's going on here,"

But before she could explain further he fled the room. He just needed to find Hotaru and… and…

What? Kill her? Punch her? Yell?

He wasn't sure what his heart would bring him to do, but he knew he had to find her.

He had gone back to his apartment first, expecting her to have come back from meeting Ai. But, of course, she was nowhere to be found. The door was still locked from the inside, the note was exactly where he had left it, and her scent wasn't in any of the rooms.

She hadn't come back. Did they know they would be looking for her?

An Anbu member had appeared on his balcony and informed him that, though they hadn't found Hotaru just yet, they found Ai sleeping in a motel.

It took them less than six minutes to get there.

Morino Ibiki was standing by the doorway, his arms crossed in front of him. When Kakashi approached, Ibiki gave him an acknowledging grunt, "She says she'll only speak to you,"

Inside, the room was littered with Anbu. Two of them held a woman with fiery red hair on the floor. She was kneeling on the carpet. Blood streaked from the crown of her head, down her neck and breasts, to her stomach. They'd already worked her over.

Ai panted through the blood on her face and looked to Kakashi.

"Where's Hotaru?" He spoke calmly.

She didn't answer. She only looked at him with disdain.

"I'll ask you again. Where's-"

"She's not coming back,"

His eye widened, "She'd leave her comrade?"

His question was returned with silence once again.

"If you won't tell me, then we'll just find her ourselves," He spoke and, just as he turned to walk away, he said, "I can't believe I fell for your lies,"

He started to walk away and tried to hide himself from his embarrassment. He was a well-known, well-seasoned Konoha jounin who shouldn't have fallen for something so stupid. His shame radiated from every pore.

"You don't know a goddamn thing about her!" Ai shrieked as he passed the doorframe, her voice cracked towards the end.

"You're right. I don't,"

"I'll show you every damn thing about her life…" Ai sounded defeated. Her voice was hoarse, "If you just bring her back…"

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, "Why would you want me to capture her?"

When Ai said nothing, he ventured into the room again. Her head was hanging loosely from her neck as she stared at the bloody carpet. He kneeled in front of her and pushed her chin up to look at him.

Tears streaked her cheeks, "She gave me her memories. I'll show you everything,"

Her eyes met his single black as he contemplated this. With silent understanding he jerked his hitai ate up to his forehead, exposing the deadly Sharingan eye.

She didn't waiver when she met his gaze. In fact, she was anxious to have him start. There was so much truth that she had kept bottled inside her and it was time that he knew.

"There's not much time," She murmured.

He got the idea. The Sharingan started to spin violently until both of them were sucked into black.