Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: sorry if this chapter sounds a little rushed, I'm just too lazy to edit. And sorry if it is a little short. 

But on a lighter note…Yay! 100 reviews! I love you all! I promise to update soon, though what "soon" means is still unclear…

The Ninja Game

Chapter Twelve

Twenty minutes till midnight.

"So are you a clone or the original?" Catherine asked, taking her eyes off the road for a moment to glance at the blonde ninja through her rear-view mirror.

"Maa, you see later." Minato replied lazily.

Catherine pursed her lips in the expression that she wore every time Greg made a droll comment on a case, a cross between amusement and annoyance. Warrick rolled his eyes, knowing that if the blonde was anything like Greg, he would never tell them.

"How far now?" Minato asked, changing the subject.

"Just a few more minutes." Warrick replied.

"Good. When we get-" Minato suddenly paused, his eyes unfocusing for a moment as if remembering something. The memories of the dispelled kage bunshin surfaced in his mind.

"What?" Catherine asked, glancing at him again in the rearview mirror. "Is everything okay?"

"Ah, hai." Minato replied, his eyes focusing again on hers in the mirror. "But missing-nin is not in Nick and Greg way-ru-hous." He declared.

Warrick blinked, "You mean Nick and Greg and…you didn't find anything him in your warehouse?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"Is secret."

"I figured." Catherine muttered. It seemed like magicians weren't the only ones who never revealed their tricks.

"So what's the plan when we get to our target?" Warrick asked, though it was not clear whether he was addressing Catherine or Minato. "It's not easy to work without the usual police backup."

"We'll sneak up quietly, catch him unawares." Catherine replied promptly. "Nice and simple."

"Yes." Minato nodded in agreement. He glanced at Catherine with increased admiration, knowing that the people here had some sense. He just hoped they would be able to carry out the plan silently enough—as interested as Greg was in fieldwork, he obviously did not have the skills yet.

They arrived at the warehouse quietly enough—at least no one slammed any doors this time. The second warehouse sat loftily on a stone rise beside the river, which ran under the bridge they had crossed to get to where they were. It was silent, save for the sounds of their breathing and soft footsteps, and pounding heartbeats which only Minato could discern.

Catherine and Warrick both drew their guns as they approached, keeping near the walls as they made their way to the doors on the front of the warehouse. Minato followed a few feet behind, as they had instructed. He figured it was probably safe, since he couldn't sense any chakra in this building either.

As they approached the door, Catherine signaled silently to Warrick, who nodded and moved quickly to the other side of the door. She looked towards Minato, waiting for him to give the signal. He was, after all, the one who knew the missing-nin best.

A slight nod from the jonin, who held a kunai in his hand though Catherine could not remember when he had taken it out, was all they needed to leap into action. "LVPD!" Warrick shouted, kicking the doors open while holding his gun up with the safety off. Minato was slightly impressed; he had to admit that they were highly efficient—for civilians anyways.

The door banged open, sending echoes through the building and shaking dust to the ground. But there was no reply, no movement, even as Catherine waved around the flashlight that she was thoughtful enough to bring, just dust and shadows.

"This isn't the place." Catherine finally announced, lowering her gun and flashlight.

"Yeah. That means Grissom and Sara are the lucky winners." Warrick muttered.

"Ah, I will go now." Minato said, drawing confused looks from the two CSIs.

"Wait, what do you mean-"

But before Catherine could finish her question, Minato gave a jaunty salute and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Neither of the two remaining CSIs said anything as the adrenaline of the search ebbed, leaving them drained emotionally.

After a moment of silence, Catherine was the first to speak.

"So we got a clone, didn't we?"

*~*~*

Ten minutes till midnight.

As Minato opened his eyes in the back of Grissom's SUV, the first thing he registered was someone's urgent voice talking to him.

"Hey, are you listening?" Sara demanded, twisting in the passenger seat to look at the blonde.

"Ah, no." Minato answered truthfully, though he realized that this might not have been the best answer when her face darkened immediately in a look that would have made Tsunade proud. "I know where missing-nin is now." He declared hastily. This statement caught her attention, as well as Grissom's, and both paused to listen to what he had to say, his faux pas forgotten.

"Missing-nin is in our warehouse." He said. "We need to-"

"Wait, how did you know this?" Grissom interrupted, still skeptical about the so-called-ninja's abilities.

"Secret." Minato replied coolly.

"If that's true, then we need to hurry." Sara said, looking at her watch, "There are only ten minutes until midnight."

Grissom did not reply, but sped up until they were way above the speed limit, hoping that a police car would not stop them, and they finally arrived at the warehouse three minutes later. This one was closer to the river than the previous two had been, sitting right by the banks with only a chain-link fence between the walls and the raging water below.

"You wait here." Minato instructed the two CSIs in the car. "Is dangerous." He added before they could start to protest, "I have ex-peer-ence."

"No," Sara was adamant, "We have experience too. And besides, the missing-nin is a cold-blooded murderer. You'll need our backup."

"I agree with Sara." Grissom said, "This is not the time to be playing hero."

Minato frowned. What did they understand? They were civilians who did not know even the simplest jutsu, and they would just get in the way. Still, he had to admit that they were brave, or maybe just too ignorant for their own good.

"No." he said, "You stay."

"This is not the time to be arguing." Sara said, "There are only about five minutes left. We will come find Kakashi whether you like it or not. And if we don't hurry it will be too late."

Minato's frown turned into a scowl. He knew what she said was true, and though he could easily just knock the two of them unconscious, it was probably better not to. "Fine." He acquiesced, "But you stay back. Do what I say."

Grissom and Sara nodded, and Minato gestured for them to follow him as he started off towards the warehouse.

There was definitely something inside the warehouse. The closer they got, the more Minato was sure of this, for charka oozed out of the house like slime from one of Tsunade's summons. But unlike Tsunade's slugs, the chakra was malicious, full of evil intent, shrouding the warehouse and its surroundings like a horde of malevolent spirits. Even Sara and Grissom, who could not detect chakra, felt chills go down their spines as if they had just stepped into a cold spot.

"Bijuu." Minato muttered. There was no doubt about it, this was the aura of a tailed-beast, a demon whose seal had been loosened considerably and was just steps away from being released completely.

"What did you say?" Grissom whispered from behind him.

Minato shook his head, "Wait here." He said, "Do not follow, or you die."

And with this last ominous warning, the blonde darted forwards, to the door of the warehouse.

*~*~*

As soon as Kakashi made a break towards the door of the room, two things happened. First, he had not yet regained the feeling in his legs from being tied up for so long, and he stumbled over a crack on the ground and tumbled forward. Secondly, the missing-nin recovered from his initial shock and turned furiously to face the boy.

"Kuso!" Kakashi quickly rolled to the side, avoiding a shuriken aimed to kill. The blade left a line of red across his cheek.

"Damn you, brat!" the missing-nin growled, reaching for more weapons, "You never know when to give up."

Kakashi used his momentum to climb to his feet, clutching his shoulder, where the injury had torn open again and was not dripping warm blood down his arm. He winced at the pain, but kept his defensive stance, the kunai held up in front of him. He knew that there was no chance he could last longer than a minute against the missing-nin in his injured state, but there was also no way he would allow himself to be used to break the seal on the Bijuu. He needed to find a way to escape.

The missing-nin seemed to realize what he was thinking and smirked, "Forget it, brat." He drew out a kunai with deliberate slowness. "You really shouldn't have tried to escape. At least I would have killed you quickly. But now I won't be so merciful."

Kakashi snorted softly, As if you had any mercy to begin with. But he was still undoubtedly in a very bad position; he had lost a lot of blood, and the edges of his vision were already starting to grow black. And in addition to that, the chakra from the creepy skull in the middle of the room had grown thicker, smothering the room with its presence, and the foul scent threatened to overwhelm his heightened senses.

He was not the only one affected by the increase in chakra; the missing-nin seemed less at ease as well, with the time limit of midnight creeping closer as the seconds slipped by. His eyes shifted almost nervously to glance at the skull, whose eye sockets seemed to burn with a glowing intensity under the green light of the black candles. This movement did not go unnoticed by the white-haired genius, and the inchoate beginnings of a plan started to form.

"Play time is over, brat." The missing-nin finally said cockily, though Kakashi could still sense the unease beneath his arrogant façade "Now I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Kakashi braced himself as the missing-nin launched a handful of shuriken towards him, dodging to the left as they struck the ground where he had been standing just a split second before.

"Too slow again!" the missing-nin shouted, rushing forward. Kakashi looked up too late to see the kick coming towards him, and the breath was knocked out of his body by the solid kick to his midriff. He slammed into the door, which splintered under the force, and landed onto the stairs behind with a sickening crack.

"It ends here," the mist-nin said, stepping forwards with a shuriken raised and smirking cruelly, "I'll kill you in the most painful way possible!"

Kakashi pushed himself up with one arm, wiping away the blood that trickle out of the corner of his mouth. He winced, knowing that his ribs must be cracked at the very least, and it would take at least a week for them to heal completely, assuming that he survived that long of course. The missing-nin stepped closer, but instead of backing away, Kakashi smirked.

The missing-nin's smile turned into a scowl, "What are you grinning at, brat?" he growled, "You can't escape-" and that was when Kakashi threw the kunai with all his strength, aimed strait for his enemy's heart. The missing-nin's eyes widened, and he leapt to the side feeling the warm metal brush against his face as the kunai flew past.

Kakashi's smirk widened. Realization registered in the missing-nin's eyes, and he spun around quickly, "Why you-"

The kunai was headed straight towards the bleached white skull in the middle of the room. The glowing eye sockets seemed to flare in alarm, and the missing-nin cursed loudly, turning around with surprising alacrity to intercept the weapon.

It was now or never. Drawing up his last reserves, Kakashi pulled his small, battered body off the steps and started up the stairs. Behind him, he heard the clash of metal on metal and knew that he had not managed to destroy the malicious relic, and then the sound of the missing-nin's angry promises of how he would kill the boy in various and painful ways.

Each breath, each step he took sent a jolt of pain through his chest and shoulder, and the edges of his vision blurred, from blood loss or fatigue. He knew that even if he did make it to the top of the stairs, he probably did not have enough energy to make it much further.

Damn! So close…if only sensei…

And just when he felt the missing-nin's hand around his neck, both of them felt another chakra signal approaching quickly. An impossible hope rose in Kakashi's mind as he recognized the very familiar chakra of his sensei. Maybe all hope was not lost…but the missing-nin cursed, backing away from the door, dragging the boy with him none too gently.

The door burst open with a flare of chakra, revealing a young, blonde man in jonin attire and a Konoha headband standing at the top. "Kakashi!" Minato cried, then froze as he saw the missing-nin with an arm around the neck of said student and a kunai to his throat, close enough to draw a thin line of blood.

"Take another step forward and the brat dies." The Mist-nin spat.

*~*~*

TBC

An evil cliffhanger! :P