"Stop Manami."

She had come to hold and turned around with her arms up. 'I finally found you' taught Kakashi. The doubts about his feelings for her were gone in an instant. She was beautiful as ever although little differences could be seen. She was skinner now, had lost some of her curves and her eyes had become hard, with light circles underneath them and they even lost the glow they once had. Everything different about her indicated that she had been through hard times.

His genin had caught up to them. When they saw the carnage they gasped. Sakura turned light green and even Sasuke and Naruto were white on their faces.

His Manami wouldn't do this unless it was necessary. No, this Manami was a different one. He saw how her legs began to shake. She had used that strange Jutsu of hers and was barely holding up. As she was about to fall he ran to her to catch her. Her perfume was the same. He could still smell it over the blood she was covered with.

"Thank you," she said.

"Sasuke bring me a rope." He did as asked and when Kakashi was about to tie her, Naruto complained.

"Sensei Kakashi what are you doing? She helped me before and those she killed were probably bandits."

Manami spoke to him. "It's ok Kid. Kakashi is only doing his job. You know, I'm classified as missing-nin."

The kids were speechless.

Since Manami was so weak, Kakashi carried her on his back. She used that time to rest and come up with a plan to escape. She had already regretted telling Becas not to follow her unless she would take long to come back. If she would be with her, Manami could have escaped on her back before Kakashi had reached her.

They would have to rest soon, the kids were tired. If it was for Kakashi he would walk straight to Konoha. He was eager to see Manami back there. Until then he couldn't take down his guard on her because she could try to escape.

After a while, they stopped. Manami was sitting by a tree with her hands behind her back. With time passing by she was panicking inside because she couldn't find a way to escape. But she needed to stay calm. After being fed by Kakashi and the kids sleeping She looked at him. He was staring at the same page of his book for some time. She remembered his face when they kissed and wished she could see it again. But she knew she had hurt him by leaving and if he had feelings for her back then, he surely wouldn't have now.

Since she didn't come up with an escape plan she might as well try to provoke him.

"Hey, you. What are you going to do when I need to pee?"

"I go with you."

"And if I need to do number two?"

"I would go with you too."

"Good thing then that I only need number one."

He closed his book and looked at her. "Are you serious?"

"Of course. Have you seen how much time I have been with you without using a toilet?"

He stood up, tied another rope as a leash, and helped her up. He walked a bit away from the group and stopped behind a bush.

"Ok, do your business."

Manami looked at him. "You need to put my pains down, I can't with my hands like this."

He blushed with the tough of taking her pains off but untied her hands and tied them back in the front. "Does this work for you?" She nodded and did what she had to do.

She wouldn't run now. She had some dignity and wouldn't escape while peeing...

Back with her hands behind her back on the tree, she made conversation with Kakashi.

"Being a sensei suits you."

He arched an eyebrow. "Why so?"

"You look happier and one can see that those three have grown on you."

"Well don't get me wrong but you being a missing-nin doesn't work for you. You have seen better days."

She knew that was true so she looked to the ground which caused Kakashi to get angry.

He was frustrated with her and wanted some clarity "I have heard you were with the freelancers?"

"Yes I was, the leader had convinced me they wanted to change the world for better. When I saw it wasn't true I left."

"Did he convince you to share his bed too?"

That caught Manami off guard. She looked at him and thought about telling him the truth that she hadn't slept with him, but instead, she decided to continue to provoke him. "What if he did, are you jealous?"

Kakashi had forgotten how provocative she could be. Best if he did the same.

"You would like that wouldn't you?"

Manami laughed.

Sakura was finding this conversation rather interesting. She should rest but her curiosity got the better of her and was eardroping on them. Were they once friends or lovers? There was so much she didn't know about her sensei...

"What I would like now is my bed."

"You are here because of your choices" was the harsh response from Kakashi.

"No, I'm here because you forced me to. Why can't you just let me be."

"Because I made you a promise."

"What promise?"

"Don't you remember? I promised you I would be your friend."

"Then I release you from your promise."

Kakashi was hurt by her words. He remembered when he wanted to confess to her at her birthday party. He had thought maybe she could have feelings for him too but then she was with Migeru. Later when they kissed he had new hope but afterwards she left. And now she doesn't even want his friendship anymore. She had changed and he must finally understand that and move on.

"As you wish. From now one I will treat you as a normal criminal because that's what you are."

Manami was about to respond but she saw movement behind him. It was Becas. Thank God she had come after her.

"Fine, now let me be, I want to rest."

She had no time for considering if her words had hurt Kakashi or not. Right now she was in mission mode and had to find a way to escape. If by upsetting Kakashi could help her achieve her goal it was ok for her. She would do damage control once she was back in Konoha.

With that, she closed her eyes and searched Becas's presence. She was moving towards her as quiet as only a cat can be. Manami was hiding her presence until Becas had gnawed through the rope. Once her hands were free she created an image of her own sitting there and climbed the tree. On the ground with the leaves would make too much noise. She remembered to see a river and that was her goal. Kakashi's ninken would have difficulty finding her scent on the water.

With the distance, it was difficult to maintain her image by the tree and soon Kakashi saw some flickering.

"Shit." He jumped up and reached for Manami only to grab air. "You guys wake up!" He called once again his ninken and ordered them to search her. She wouldn't escape him a second time. She was resourceful and tricky but he needed to be more clever than her. He made a clone and sent him after her. He needed to stay with his team.

Manami had reached the river. She had some options now. She could go down or up the river but she opted for another way. Becas jumped on her shoulder and Manami teleported them between Konoha and the camp place where she had rested. She hoped that Kakashi would think she wanted to go as far away as she could from Konoha, so she would instead go to the village. She had been there for sometimes since she was classified as a missing-nin and had no problem go in and out undetected.

Kakashi couldn't believe he had lost her again. His mood was bad for not saying worse. But it was strange, the Hokage didn't seem to mind that Manami had escaped. 'I must be imagining it, but he seemed even relieved.'

After laying low for a couple of days Manami visited her parents. She wanted to stay for the chunin exams but security had been increased and it would be risky.

When she heard about the events that happened during the finals she was in shock. She went back as quickly as she could. The constructions for rebuilding were already going on but she still could see the destruction that occurred. She helped where she could. It wouldn't matter if she was recognized or not. It was her home and she wanted to help.

Who would be now the next Hokage? Would he believe her that she had deserted because of a mission?