To much time had past, the two men in the clearing had barely moved at all, and already the sun was beginning to sink lower into the sky. The boy's were growing increasingly frustrated with the fact that they could not do anything. Naruto of course was the most obvious about his frustration. Kakashi had to admit that he was beginning to wonder what was going on himself. The two men were just standing there, as though they had no intention of leaving. He'd already peeked with his sharingan, and had little doubt that the men below were actually there. However they couldn't simply stand here forever.

Quickly he made a few motions to the boy's and Tenten, letting them know he was about to make a move, and Naruto grinned in relief. He was almost certain that the young man would have exploded if he'd been forced to wait much longer. Without warning Kakashi sent two kunai flying through the air toward the two men, immediately changing his location in case they sent an attack back. To his amazement the taller man easily caught both the kunai in a single hand. The motion was almost so fast that Kakashi missed it. One moment the kunai were flying through the air and the next they were in his hand, the man standing ever so slightly forward of his companion, a small smile upon his lips as he looked through the brush for the one who had sent them.

"He-ll-oo out there! Have you any other gifts for me?" The man waggled the kunai in the general direction where the kunai had come, strangely luminescent eyes flickering for a hint of tell-tale movement. He had a strange accent which Kakashi did not recognize.

As Kakashi had instructed, the clearing was suddenly filled with kunai, like a rain of metal they fell down. The dark man laughed and Kakashi lost sight of him. A moment later the clearing was silent once more, but when the dust cleared... The red-haired man stood untouched by the kunai, the larger stood before him quite a large number of the kunai dotting his form, but he was laughing. Almost playfully the man drew one of the kunai out of his body, licking the blade before tossing it to the ground with a flick of his wrist.

"Come, come! Surely you have a few more to spare. You have hardly scratched me!" The man laughed again, drawing more of the blades from his skin and dropping them with tiny clinks that echoed unnaturally through the clearing. Kakashi stared at the man. Not a single one of the kunai had hit a vital area, but the sheer number of them should have had the man on the ground, or... at the very least not laughing. Another blade hit the ground and Kakashi noticed that the blade was clean. Wisps of vapor rose from the blade, as though the man's blood had evaporated in the time between being inside his body and the earth. Indeed, if he looked carefully he could see thin lines of the same vapor rising from the man's body where he'd been wounded.

It was like Naruto's wounds when he used the nine-tailed fox demon's chakra. Except Kakashi knew that this man was not a Jinjuriki.

Like Kakashi, Naruto was staring at the two men down in the clearing. He might have expected them to run, or somehow escape their attack. He did no however expect them to stand there and let the kunai hit them. Or at least the taller man in front. There was something about that man that made Naruto's skin crawl. He didn't even have to look at Lee to know that he was thinking the same thing. That they couldn't let these men get away. He didn't have to glance at Kakashi to know that his teacher was silently willing him to keep his place.

Then he was rushing forward, his fist outstretched with a kunai he could hardly feel clenched within it. Lee was right at his side. The man's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the two young men entering the clearing, but it was only a single breath of surprise. Not an instant of fear, but a broad smile of anticipation as he caught Lee's foot and Naruto's fist, one in each hand. The man's smile widened. Naruto could only look at him in shock at the trickle of blood that ran between the man's fingers.

"Well, look what I have caught Rin." The man tightened his grip on Naruto's hand as he spoke, causing him to wince. The man was surprisingly strong, and in the same movement he twisted Lee's foot, sending the green-clad ninja spinning away. Lee easily caught himself only a few feet away, his own shock echoing Naruto's.

Behind the tall man his companion glanced almost tiredly around to look at Naruto. Naruto flicked his eyes toward him, trying to wrench his hand away, but the man had him pinned. The man blinked at him, his eyes shifting color in the light from blue to a sort of muddy red. The shift caused Naruto to blink, wondering if he had somehow imagined the man's eyes changing color's. "You used my name." His tone was flat and uninterested.

The tall man tightened his grip on Naruto's hand even further, destroying his shadow-clone in a puff of smoke, but rather than being interested the man turned away from the smoke toward his companion. "But I tried to call you Rouge, and you did not respond."

Lee glanced back into the forest where the real Naruto waited questioningly but Naruto didn't understand either. What kind of ninja turned his back on the enemy to talk about someone's name?

"Would you focus? That one in the green over there is going to attack you again." Lee started guiltily though he hadn't even had a chance to move yet. Then froze when he realized that the tall man was suddenly standing right behind him. Almost casually the man leaned onto Lee, laying his arm comfortably across the younger man's shoulders.

"As cute as they are, I do not think I would mind." The man laughed, tracing his fingers across the edge of Lee's face; immediately Lee swung his body around, his right leg flying up to find it's mark upon his much taller opponent's face. Languidly the man took hold of Lee's leg and then with speed that astonished everyone watching threw the young man into a tree. The man wiped a trickle of blood from his lip and licked it from his thumb as he slowly made his way back toward Lee. "See how popular I am Rin? He could not wait to try kicking me again."

With a yell Naruto attacked again, this time sending a group of three clones after the tall man, trying to distract him so that Lee could get back on his feet. Even while Naruto made his move, Kakashi slid his headband up; reflexively closing his natural eye so that it would not interfere with his sharingan. Immediately the his perception of the world shifted slightly. There were times when he wondered to himself which reality was closer to the truth. That which he saw every day, or that which his sharingan eye revealed to him. The tall man moved so fast that even with his sharingan at times it was difficult to keep up with his movements which were somehow languid and discordant. He met with Naruto's clones and threw them away with an ease that made Naruto's movements look clumsy.

Kakashi realized that Naruto's distraction wouldn't last long, and darted forward to check on Lee. The young man was still slumped against the tree looking a bit dazed. The trunk was half shattered, and if it had been another shinobi Kakashi would have been worried about broken bones or worse. Gently he laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, trying to get his eyes to focus on him. "Hey, Lee you alright there?"

Lee made a sound, shaking his head slowly from left to right, but Kakashi thought it was more to clear his vision than to indicate that he was seriously injured. "His hits have the great power of youth in them Kakashi-sensei." Lee grinned crookedly. It seemed the boy might get back on his feet, but Kakashi was distracted by movement behind him.

The other man, Rin had drawn a bit closer to them. Naruto was distracted too, allowing this other enemy to draw closer while Kakashi had been preoccupied. The man stopped, almost as though he realized that he had caught Kakashi's attention and that had been his intention all along. This close Kakashi could see as the man's eyes shifted colors slowly from their previous color of a sort of muddy red to a nearly luminous green. THAT was definitely not natural, but as far as Kakashi could tell there was no genjutsu at work obscuring reality.

"You're an interesting one aren't you?" The man asked, the bored expression he'd had on his face this entire time shifting to one of interest. Yet at the same time it seemed to Kakashi as though the man were not actually looking at him. "That's a sharingan eye isn't it? But it's not yours." The man lifted his hand, and acting on instinct Kakashi rolled to his left. He wasn't sure why, but his instincts were screaming that he did not want that man's hand pointed at him.

At the same time Lee climbed to his feet, the last of his dizziness fading quickly. That attack had been strong, at least as strong as any that his own teacher Guy had ever thrown. Lee knew from experience that that sort of strength was something that took years to obtain, but the man's movements were unlike anything he'd ever seen. For the moment at least, Naruto had him distracted, and so Lee turned his dark eyes toward the other man. Rin turned toward Kakashi, ignoring the younger ninja coolly, and Lee frowned. He waited half a moment as the red-haired enemy took a step toward Kakashi, lifting his hand again which again caused Kakashi to move suddenly and Lee leaped forward, thinking to attack the man while his attention was on Kakashi.

Rather than his fist hitting Rin however, he found his hand caught in the vice-like grip of the other tall man who had moved with such speed that Lee had not even seen him move. The last of Naruto's clones dissipated into a cloud of white smoke and Lee's eyes widened, his heartbeat quickening in expectation of attack.

"My young green friend, I must warn you. I am the jealous sort. If you ignore me, it will cause no end of trouble." The man smiled almost gently.

Their teamwork was flawless, their trust in one another despite some tension complete. Rin hadn't even blinked, had made no effort to stop Lee. Almost as though he had known that his companion would stop Lee. And they were powerful. Fast, and if Lee had his guess they still had tricks that they had not used. "Who are you?" The young man asked angrily, tugging at the hand he could not free, then throwing his other fist at the man's face.

Easily the man caught this one too, using his new-found leverage to draw Lee uncomfortably close. As he spoke, Lee couldn't help noticing that his breath smelled of blood. Old blood, new blood, the smell of flesh and copper. "I thought you would never ask. I, am Kol." Suddenly the man bit down onto Lee's neck and the young man screamed.

-MLE

In mind a memory,

Of a time and place,

We were meant to be.

Me to you,

And you to me;

Together here at least,

Bound in symmetry.

-MLE