Oh yeah guys! you'll never guess what!

Another chapter! and it's not taken me a million years XD

Chapter 10

Ritsuka woke early the next morning, a new kick to her spirits. She was excited about seeing her giant group of kids, and felt she owed it to them to show face, even if it was Kakashi's fault she hadn't seen them. Kyoya had been keeping her informed on how well they were all being taken care of, and how some had had their clothes exchanged for better ones by the villagers.

She was also a bit anxious to see how Tidus was doing. She had learned his name when Kyoya had told her in his explanations of how everyone was doing. Apparently the little blind boy had grown rather out casted, and didn't seem to be talking anymore. Ritsuka was determined to fix him up, make him feel better somehow.

Kakashi had made his concerns known again, but Ritsuka shrugged them off with good humour, reminding him that they had made a deal.

"It's not like you're going to stick to it." He had retorted, but he merely walked close beside her as he pointed the way.

Ritsuka was received with much cheering and hugs all round, her mood lifting even higher immediately. Her balance was still a bit rubbish, Kakashi's strong arms holding her steady when she gave him a frantic look as she stumbled a little.

"Oi! Guys calm down before you knock her over." Kakashi kept his tone playful, but Ritsuka could feel his frustration and worry in his hold. She smiled reassuringly at him.

"So how is everyone?!" she asked excitedly, and was rewarded with a sea of voices, all battling to tell her their tales. She had missed them strangely, even though they had only spent a week or two together. She couldn't remember how long really, all the days just seemed to merge together. A feeling she was becoming most accustomed to.

Ritsuka found a good spot to sit, and proceeded to listen to everyone in turn, laughing and joking with them as they played and danced around. A couple of the group were a little older than the kids, and seemed to sit back and enjoy the good mood and laughter. She however noticed that Tidus seemed to be missing, and it pained her to think why.

"So has anyone seen Tidus?" her question had most of the children shrugging, but one of the older boys spoke up.

"He doesn't really stay with us as a group much. Sometimes he comes to sleep next to me or Temaki, but that's it. Ever since you got hurt because he got lost he's been real quiet. Some of the other kids were mean to him, saying it was all his fault you were dying, so that might have something to do with it." A few girls in the group sulked slightly at the boy's words, Sokka Ritsuka was sure his name was, obviously to blame. Ritsuka wanted to scold them, but what would she say? Times were hard, and she could see where they were coming from, though it wasn't true. The boy was blind for god's sake.

"Oh, well that's not very good now is it? I guess I should go and find him. Thanks though." Ritsuka struggled to get up from her sitting position, and Kakashi helped subtly to keep her pride intact. "I'll be sure to come visit more often now that I'm awake." She laughed softly to lighten the sad thought, "So don't get into any trouble!" and she left on her hunt for Tidus.

It wasn't long before they came across some commotion that was at the fault of a poor blind boy tripping over some discarded rubbish, bumping unceremoniously into a rather unnecessarily raging man carring a couple of boxes, which he had of course dropped. Tidus had apologised profusely, but the man wouldn't have it as he continued to scream his profanities. Ritsuka was there in a second.

"Can't you see he's blind?!" she yelled over him, catching pathetically his hand as he tried to slap the poor boy. He couldn't have been able to duck or run or anything. Ritsuka felt the wind get knocked out of her, but didn't hit the ground as Kakashi was ready with outstretched arms. The man immediately backed off, realising his terrible mistake.

"I didn't mean to hurt the girl. She got in the way!" he protested as Kakashi heald his tongue. He was so mad he could just... "The boy! I thought he was being ignorant! I didn't know!" He continued to tell them his tale of woe, and how this whole ordeal had been so bad for him. Kakashi was really struggling and found it best to concentrate on the now out of breath Ritsuka.

"I would advise that you go away, unless you wish to be hurt?" Kakashi's calm voice seemed louder than any noise Ritsuka had ever heard in the deathly silence. The man luckily collected his things and left without another word, Kakashi shaking with the effort not to beat him within an inch of his life.

"I'm okay. You don't need to fuss. It wasn't that bad." Ritsuka tried to calm him but he just seemed to round on her instead.

"I was right there. You could have been severely hurt. Next time I'll handle the physical activates?" it wasn't really a question, and Ritsuka knew, even without the patchy memories, that it was best just to agree with him. He sighed, and smiled again, all evidence of his bad mood gone. She envied him for that ability.

"Tidus!" Ritsuka saw him trying to leave, but failing miserably, from the corner of her eye. "Where do you think you are going?" Tidus just seemed to quiver and shake as fear filled him, which surprised Ritsuka. "you're not afraid of me are you?" Tidus's colourless eyes rested on Ritsuka's general position as he tried hard to focus on her voice.

"I didn't mean to get you hurt!" He blurted out in a desperation that pained Ritsuka to hear, like he had been battling with these feelings alone for too long.

"Of course you didn't. And it wasn't your fault. I should have taken you myself, but in the heat of the moment everything got so confusing. No one was truly to blame! Now stop being ridiculous and get over here." Ritsuka hands had rested softly on the small boys shoulders and she pulled him gently towards her. She enveloped him in her arms, relief filling her as the boy clung to her desperately like his life depended on her. Kakashi stood back and let them have their moment, silently in awe at her ability to relate to people. It was a trait in her that he had never fully appreciated, her understanding of people an invaluable asset to her. He had also benefitted from it a lot, having been one of those 'need to understand' cases himself.

Ritsuka talked with the worried boy for nearly an hour, trying to comfort and sooth him in his black loneliness. She had even managed to get him to promise to stay with the group, especially Kyoya if he was around, which seemed to be impossible in the beginning.

"Are kids always this tough?" Kakashi joked, feeling a need for a lighter mood. Ritsuka smiled softly, knowing what he was doing.

"Kyoya is not so bad. He's been through a lot though, and has grown up ridiculously fast, much like you I guess. I'll never know if it was a genetic thing or an environmental thing." She joked, her little chuckle catching Kakashi nicely off guard.

The twilight was quite a nice compliment to the surrounding scenery. If it had been better times, he would love to have explored the area with Ritsuka. As it was, they were stuck within the grounds, patiently waiting for something to tip the balance of this peaceful pretence.

"Kakashi?" oh how he loved when she said his name.

"Yes?" his breath formed as steam in front of him, surprising him as he hadn't realised it was so cold. He was becoming less shinobi-esk by the minute it would seem...

"How does it feel? To have someone forget you completely?" Ritsuka wouldn't look at him as she stared intently ahead, obviously feeling bad about everything.

"To be honest? Hurtful and a little depressing. But I'll tell you, it's a million times better than thinking you're dead." Ritsuka seemed to grow sad, which wasn't really what he had aimed for. "But I'm over the moon you're here. Yeah I miss the old you and I feel hurt when you can't remember the things we did, or the places we went to, or the conversations and experiences we had, but you're piecing it together. It's just going to take time is all. And I have time, especially for you."

"I see. I'm sorry. Maybe if I hadn't been so 'spontaneous' this wouldn't all have happened." Kakashi smiled softly and turned humself to face Ritsuka.

"Maybe if I had looked harder for you, or looked earlier. Maybe if I had been more stern with you, never let you leave. Maybe if I had wrapped you up in bubble wrap and hid you from the world... the list goes on, but what happened, happened. And now it's all good. I'm sick of looking at the past and thinking what if. Now that I have you back again, I'll just have to keep an extra eye on you." Ritsuka was amazed at his optimism, but knew he was covering up a lot. He was protecting her from even himself, the darling.

"tch! You're going to need a lot of eyes!" she exclaimed, deciding best to keep the happiness up. They could talk about this in a better time.

.....

Ritsuka stared hard into the forest before her. She watched as the breeze danced with the grass so carefree, like her whole world hadn't just left her. The darkness ahead just seemed to swallow her up as she tried to regain her breath. Something about the whole scene just didn't seem right, but the emotional pain of rejection and abandonment was real, that was for sure.

Her hands subconsciously rubbed at her arms to heat herself up, but she wasn't feeling cold at all. Her senses felt dampened, and the sounds and sights seemed a little fuzzy. It didn't feel like the usual memory dreams she was used to, and it was beginning to get uncomfortable.

It was like she was experiencing someone else's memory, something that was alien to her, but only slightly. She really couldn't explain it very well. Like she was intruding, but she was the only one there.

She had been chasing him for too long, trying to stop him from leaving her. It didn't make sense. Why would Kakashi leave? After all that time looking for her to just run off in the end? Didn't he care for her? Didn't he want her back? Ritsuka pulled at the corners of her mind, confusion filling her thoughts. It just wasn't right!

Her legs began to move against her will, though she noted they were being a little sluggish and un coordinated. Her feet made her trip a couple of times, and she seemed to be bumping into trees and blackness not matter how hard she tried to steer herself out of the way.

She had to find him!

The forest went on for what seemed like forever, and she didn't seem to be slowing down either. One of the crooked branches pulled at her tightly, catching her around the waist and the arms, but her body pushed forward, her hands freeing her from the many more branches that seemed to come. Soon a light began to appear at the edge of the trees, but surprisingly, Ritsuka didn't want to walk towards it, not that she had the choice it would seem. Where was Kakashi?

Leaves and twigs crunched beneath her loudly, the deafening sound seeming to drown out voices. Yes there were definitely voices, but no matter how hard she strained her ears, or even tried to turn her head, her efforts were in vein. The frustration was beginning to get the best of her as her eyes overflowed with desperate tears, but her body remained unaware.

As the light grew closer, the trees thinned in their numbers. She could make out the shapes of clouds in the sky now, and the soft sand like dirt on the ground. She wasn't wearing any shoes either... what was going on?!

The scenery opened up in front of her, hills and rivers and distant forests rolling out into a perfect landscape. Ritsuka's heart pulled tightly at the beauty of it all, but her mind remained suspicious. A piercing noise that she couldn't make out was disturbing her, but concentrating on it was hard.

Still no sign of Kakashi. She was so sure he wasn't here, so why wasn't she turning around?

Ritsuka's muscles rippled in delight as they began to increase her pace, her desperate need to run and jump through the gorgeous meadows becoming quite overwhelming. And so she ran, her bare feet thumping softly on the silent grass, the coolness of the touch proving to be quite chilling. But still she raced, her body weaving expertly through some scattered trees, seeming to head for the rushing blue river in the distance. Ritsuka felt exhilaration flood her, but her suspicions didn't seem to lift any.

The edges of her dream seemed to be closing in a little, the corners flickering and tearing now and again as if she were watching a really old projector movie. Panic began to harbour in her mind, but her body and feelings remained relaxed and tranquil, with a taste of excitement to spice things up a little.

The river had sprung upon her all too quickly, a bright light catching her off guard. Her hands flew to her face to protect her eyes, and she sighed with relief as she regained some control of herself.

The shouting became more clear, and Ritsuka heard her name being frantically called. Kakashi was approaching quickly.

......

Kakashi woke to find Ritsuka's bed area empty, and her discarded sheets lying by the door. A lot of things rushed through his mind, but it was the panicked Kyoya that brought him back to reality.

"She ran into the forest!" Kyoya was trying his best to stay quiet as his terrified words left him with ever increasing volume. "I tried to stop her!" He was pushing Kakashi out of the door now, throwing his jumper at him as he overtook, leading the way.

"What do you mean? Why did she leave?" Kakashi was cursing his still numb brain, the many sleepless nights finally having their effects be known. He caught up on the boy within seconds and was soon in the lead.

"I don't know!" he was now shouting freely, "She wouldn't respond to me. At first I thought maybe she was sleep walking, but then her eyes were wide open, and she looked terrified. I pulled at her but she just kept swatting me away." Kyoya had slowed down now at the path Ritsuka had taken into the forest. "She is much stronger than me." The defeated tone brought Kakashi to a stop in front of his boy, his hand placed gently on his shoulders and his eyes serious.

"You did what you could, that's all that matters. I'll have her back in no time, just you wait. Now go back to bed before you catch a chill, and I'll let you know as soon as she's back okay?" Kyoya was about to protest when Kakashi spoke again, his voice more demanding. "And don't even for a second think you're following me or your mother in there, you understand? I can't hunt for her, look out for creatures and worry about you all at the same time. It will prove most difficult." Kyoya nodded though he felt a little annoyed at being replaced as Ritsuka's protector. He ignored the small voice that reminded him that he had gone to get Kakashi because he knew he wasn't strong enough...

Kakashi didn't waste any more time as he dived into the trees, chakra pushing him through the branches quickly and quietly, senses alert.

It wasn't long before he found Ritsuka's clumsy trail, broken branches and kicked leaves indicating where she had been.

And it wasn't long until he saw running towards the edge of a potentially killer waterfall.

Kakashi had only a few seconds to do what he could, and they were rapidly running out. He found himself shouting on her, though a part of him knew she wouldn't respond.

And then her head spun round, their eyes meeting for a split second before she fell backwards as if she had been pulled from behind, her silent scream falling on deaf ears.

Well i hope you all enjoyed it!, finally getting to some story line, enough of this talking of the past filler like rubbish (though it was needed to explain a few things to the reader)

So yes what the hell happened?! Ritsuka has finally gone nuts and papped herself over a cliff edge. uh oh!

well all shall become clear in the next chapter (which i've actually started writing! it's all going so well no? ofcourse i have now just ginxed it...)

so thanks again for staying with me despite my unpredictability XD

peace!