Disclaimer: They aren't mine, we all they don't belong to us, because if they could, it would be the catfight from Hell. I lay odds 3 to 1 on myself.

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Ch 13

He had gotten lazy, complacent. The one thing he should never have forgotten, the one lesson he never wanted to repeat, and it was going to happen. He was going to lose someone he loved dearly, and he didn't know if it was better or worse that she would still be alive once everything was said and done. He really didn't know.

Kakashi had gotten home a day after she had left, the only consolation being that her mission wouldn't take too long. It had been a year, and it still amazed him that he seemed to have the perfect woman. No fights, no games, just love and respect. He was content with his life for the first time, and he never took a moment of it for granted.

He should have known it wouldn't last.

He had just gotten out of the shower and thrown away his bloodied and ruined uniform before a frantic pounding at his door had him waltzing in the general direction at his usual relaxed pace. He had only opened the door a fraction before Naruto barged in and promptly began pacing, not even bothering to remove his sandals.

Bemused at the man's ability to get himself worked up so easily, Kakashi silently leaned against the nearest wall and waited for Naruto to settle down enough to speak.

"Kaka-sensei, I found something out tonight."

"Hn?"

Naruto resumed pacing, talking as though to himself, sometimes almost mumbling in his rush to purge the words from his mind, to get the weight of them off his shoulders and onto another's.

"I saw something I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to. But it had Kris' name on it, and I was curious, so I took a look. It was a file called Wonderland, whatever the hell that it. It was an order from the council to find you a woman. Apparently they had research done to figure out what you wanted, because they're worried you would die without an heir. They wanted to make sure the White Fang line didn't die, whoever that is. Is he like an uncle or something? Anyway, Kris was apparently the one they decided on, and they had this whole plan for how to get her here, to get you two living together, all this stuff to make sure that you married her and had kids. It said that wherever she came from, they killed her fiancée and sent you there to kidnap her, did you really stalk her? There were reports in there that were signed by you, reports from other guys about their opinions on your relationship… I didn't know anyone was watching you. What the hell is going on? Did you know the council and Tsunade baa-chan set all this up for you? Did you know about this before you went there?"

When Naruto didn't receive an answer, he looked up for the first time and saw Kakashi frozen against the wall, staring at Naruto without seeing anything. Misinterpreting it as guilt, Naruto rushed him and sent him flying to the side with a powerful hook, following the body of his former sensei to the ground and crushing his throat with his forearm.

"Tell me you didn't know what they were going to do to her! Tell me you didn't agree to this, or so help me Kaka-sensei I'll-"

"It was all a lie?" The question wasn't really directed at Naruto, but he was quick to answer.

"No, it was all a plan by the council, and Tsaunde baa-chan approved it. I'm pretty sure it was not supposed to be sitting out, because the file said it was a S-class secret. You had no idea why they sent you on that mission, why you were supposed to train her?"

"No," Kakashi croaked out around Naruto's arm, who quickly lifted it and helped Kakashi to his feet. "It was all beyond classified, so I didn't ask questions, I fulfilled my missions. All this, everything they did to her, was just so I would have children?!"

Kakashi slid back down the wall and looked up at Naruto, all the color leeched from his face. Naruto crouched over him, afraid he would pass out from lack of blood in his head. He had never seen fear on his invincible sensei's face, or the despair that was so easy to see. The one man who never let his true emotions show was now displaying them all with frightening intensity, and Naruto could barely keep his panic in check.

The raw, hoarse sound of his former mentor's voice did nothing to calm him.

"It's all my fault. Oh Kami, they killed him because of me. They took away her life, her home, everything, for me."

Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of tears pooling in Kakashi's eyes, one tear slipping down a white cheek.

"Oh, Kami, Naruto, she's going to hate me."