Kakashi had caught up to Mouse by noon the next day.

She had been careful, looping back and sending clones in different directions to try and throw off any hunters. However Kakashi was determined that she wouldn't get away. They needed to know what other information she had given out and to whom. He could hear her gasp when she noticed she was no longer alone in the forest. His dogs circled her so that she couldn't escape. A deadly low growl filled the air because Kotori was his and that made her pack to the ninken.

"Hound?" She scoffed. "I should have known. Well, let's get it over with."

She stood up, twirling her kunai around her fingers. He knew Mouse was more of an infiltration type. It was fitting considering how easily she had infiltrated Konoha's ANBU and no one had noticed until now. One on one in a fight she would not last long, especially against him. She looked resigned to death, however that didn't mean she would make it easy. Kakashi knew he was not going to kill her in battle. Mouse did not deserve an honourable or even a quick death.

His anger hummed through his body with each vicious blow he dealt. Mouse paled when she realized he wasn't fighting to kill. Being caught and brought back to Interrogation to be held accountable was every traitor's worst nightmare. Konoha was not forgiving. Inoichi especially would not be kind to a woman who's betrayal lead to a clan member being killed and another captured. Ibiki could be a cruel man on a good day.

However she wouldn't be going back to Konoha. Kakashi was going to interrogate her himself.

He caught her, slamming her to the tree with his left forearm, chidori hovering inches from her chest with his right hand. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the death sentence he didn't deliver. Kakashi let the chidori fizzle out instead.

Her eyes blinked open and she sneered at him. "Just kill me already. I'm not going back alive!"

"No," he coldly said. "I'm not done with you yet."

"What are you going to do to me?" Her voice wavered as she asked.

Kakashi didn't respond. His anger shimmering over. His sharingan had copied Gyoku's jutsu and with his lightning infinity it was only too easy for him to imitate it. He could feel the buildup of his own chakra in his hand as he released it, setting Mouse's chakra network aflame with lighting. She let out a terrible, high-pitched scream from the pain. In his mind's eye, he could see Kotori kneeling on the ground, in unimaginable pain from the same jutsu. He released his hold on Mouse, letting her curl into herself at the base of the tree.

"What the hell was that?" She gasped.

He crouched down so that they were at eye level once again. "That was what you subjected your comrade to for over two weeks."

Her eyes widened, "I'm sorry! I didn't know - I didn't think - "

"You damn well knew," he growled. No one could be that naive in ANBU. They all knew the price of being caught by an enemy. "You knew the moment you ratted her out what would happen. What the hell did Kotori ever do to you to deserve that? She was your comrade, your neighbour! You've known her for years and didn't think twice about putting a target on her back."

"It wasn't personal," she whispered. "I had no choice. Gyoku would have - "

"I don't care for your excuses," he coldly cut her off. Every shinobi had a hard life, some harder than others. It wasn't an excuse to betray one's comrades. Kakashi didn't care if Mouse wanted to betray him, but to drag Kotori and his team into this was unforgivable. As far as he was concerned, she had just as much blood on her hands as Gyoku or any of his men. "You should have known that if Gyoku didn't get to you, I would."

"What are you going to do to me?" Mouse fearfully asked. "Tie me up and torture me for the next two weeks? You're not heartless, Kakashi. No matter what the rumours say. Kotori wouldn't want you to do this. Not on her behalf!"

Kotori. Kotori, who after weeks of enduring torture and humiliation, was still able to put her comrades before herself. Kotori, who had stayed behind, knowing full well what horrors awaited her. No, she wouldn't want to see Mouse suffer.

But he sure as hell did.

This time without anyone around to stop him, Kakashi gave in to the growing darkness that had taken hold of him since he first woke up the the hospital. All of the anguish and fear and anger burned through him as he once again formed Gyoku's lightning style attack in his hand.

Mouse's shoulders were trembling. "P-please, don't! I'll tell you anything you want. You want to know who else knows about Kotori? I can give you names - "

His body went completely rigid and Kakashi could not move. He looked at the ground, obscured by the shadows of the surrounding trees and couldn't tell which direction it had come from.

"Let me go, Nara!" He thundered. He didn't really give a shit which one he was speaking with, although he had his suspicions.

His body acted on its own, his hand reaching out and silently touching the tenketsu point in Mouse's neck and knocking her unconscious. Kakashi attempted to resist the entire time, however it was useless. He loathed being at the control of someone else, even a suspected ally.

Kakashi knew the weakness in the shadow paralysis technique. Ensui wouldn't be able to hold it indefinitely. He was stronger than most, Kakashi would grant him that. However he would eventually have to release it. Shikaku was rumoured to be able to hold it for ten minutes, his younger brother wouldn't be able to do better than that.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Ensui quietly asked. Kakashi could hear the barely contained rage in the older man's voice. "I want to know what kind of man abandons his traumatized girlfriend to go off on mission after mission."

"I - "

The words felt like a knife jabbed straight through his heart. Kakashi would have preferred if Ensui had just punched him instead.

"You're a real piece of shit, you know."

Kakashi grinned humourlessly behind the mask. He knew that more than anyone could possibly understand. He had spent his life trying to atone for his past mistakes. Only to fail once again. He deserved much worse than Ensui's ire. He welcomed it, even. Everyone was always patting him on the back and telling him things weren't his fault. Kakashi knew Kotori's suffering was a disaster of his own making and wanted someone to get angry at him for it. He wanted someone to blame him.

"There is an entire unit dedicated to tracking and another one for interrogation. You could have left the job to literally anyone in the village and be assured it would be handled. You could have assigned it to your team. Hell, you could have assigned it to me. You know what's one job you don't get to delegate? Did you even see Kotori before leaving?"

"She said she was fine." He regretted the words as soon as he said them. Hearing them out loud, he felt so foolish. Kakashi couldn't believe he had been such an idiot. Of course Kotori would tell him what he wanted to hear. She was always doing that, putting on a bright smile and reassuring others so they didn't worry. She was too good for him.

"And you believed her?" Ensui scoffed. "I think you need to ask yourself what's more important. Kotori's well being or your need for revenge?"

Ensui released his shadow paralysis jutsu and Kakashi felt the fight drain from him.

There was a wary look on Ensui's face as he glanced from Kakashi to Mouse. "She was right about one thing. Kotori wouldn't want this for you. If you continue to go down this path, you will lose her for good."

It was a long trek back to Konoha. Ensui had slung Mouse over his shoulder to take her back for interrogation. Kakashi could feel the other man's disapproval radiating off of him. However it was never as bad as the personal loathing Kakashi lived with. Once again, he had failed the person he loved. He kept choosing the wrong thing over and over again. And Kotori had once again suffered for it.

If only he could go back to the beginning and choose correctly this time. He never should have left her side at the hospital. He never should have allowed her to be captured in the first place. He never should have allowed rumours to spread about the two of them.

He never should have allowed himself to date her.

Hadn't he known from the start that she could be used against him? Hadn't he known she could be hurt or killed? And he had selfishly pursued her all the same. As long as he was in her life, she was at risk of being used to hurt him. He could never allow that to happen. Never again.

Kakashi knew what he needed to do.

He circled Konoha twice after debriefing the Hokage, finding the strength to do the right thing. The journey to Kotori's apartment had never been so long yet still managed to be not long enough. Kakashi's hand raised and lowered twice before he gathered the strength to knock on her door.

Within seconds, Kotori answered, giving him a warm smile.

She embraced him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest. It was tempting to just stay here forever with her in this moment. They could give up being shinobi and go someplace far away from here. He could be a farmer. That was what his ancestors had been, generations ago before the shinobi line split from the civilian line and came to Konoha. They could live peaceful, happy lives together.

However it wasn't in Kakashi's nature to turn his back on his village. And he knew Kotori would never be happy leaving her friends behind.

He took a deep breath in, knowing this would be the last time he would ever hold her.

"What's wrong?" Kotori released him, looking up at him with a worried expression on her face. She was always very perspective to his moods and this time was no exception.

"Ah, Kotori, I think we need to talk."

There was no going back now. A guarded look came over her face. Nothing good ever followed that statement and they both knew it. She took a step back, crossing her arms.

"What about?"

There was no sense dragging this out. "We need to end our relationship."

She was shaking her head. "What!? No, how could you possibly say that!"

"Dating you was a mistake - " He winced at the flash of absolute hurt that crossed her face. This wasn't going how he meant for it to go. He had carefully planned everything he wanted to say to her before coming over. And yet here in the moment, he was unravelling. "No not a mistake. Dating you was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm the mistake. I've been careless and now you've been hurt - "

"So you're going to leave me? Now? Because I got hurt?" She was crying now, messy tears streaming down her face. "But I thought you loved me."

"I do, but - "

"Then stay!"

"I can't."

"Can't?" She sobbed. "I need you, I need you more than I've ever needed you before. And you're leaving me? You're going to leave me to figure this out on my own? After everything? You know what, fuck you. I can't believe -"

"Tori -" his heart felt like it was somewhere in his stomach. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He didn't want to hurt her this way. He wished there was some way to make it easier for her. To make her understand that he cared for her so much it hurt and that losing her was the worst thing that could happen. But he would gladly give her up if it meant she could be safe.

"Don't call me that. Just go."

"I need you to be okay."

When he walked away, he intended it to be for good. They couldn't be friends after this. He had already asked Lord Third to have her removed from his team. Kakashi knew neither would ever be able to move on if they continued to see each other so often. It wasn't fair to her. And even if they weren't together, it was still possible for her to be used against him. So he had traded her and Genma to Team Fu. Ken Tachibana was a good and honourable captain and they would be with Ensui and Raidou. He thought being with friends might make it easier on her. He would have resigned from the team himself if it had been allowed.

"Well maybe you should have thought about that before coming over here! Is that why you've been avoiding me?"

No. Well, not consciously anyway. Perhaps in his heart he knew he did not deserve her after what had happened. Perhaps he knew it would have to come to this and his mind just hadn't been ready for it.

"You're a good person," he weakly said. "You could do a lot better than a piece of trash like me."

Feeling like a coward, he spun on his heel and started walking away. If she continued to look at him with tears in her eyes his resolve would break. Every instinct was screaming at him to pull her close and never let go.

"If you walk away right now, I'll never forgive you!" She shouted after him.

His shoulders straightened as he hardened his heart. It was better she be heartbroken now then killed later. She would move on, find someone who loved her. Any man in this village would be lucky to have her, she would find someone more deserving. Maybe they'd marry and have children. He would be fine. He would go on existing and protecting the village and the people he cared about from a distance.

His keen sense of hearing picked up her brokenly say, "Please come back."

He body flickered away.

A/N Sooo Kakashi continues to be an idiot and just went scorched earth.