Thank you for reviewing! Though it's not like I would know if you did/didn't, since the site's email system is down. Well, anyway. My head's not exactly... eh... clear right now. Getting very sick and AP exams can do that to a girl. Sasuke leaving also is... not my favorite part of Naruto, I'll put it that way. But I can't just ignore it, so I wrote for it. I hope you enjoy it.

Kakashi ignored Tsunade calling back to him. He just ran for the village gate, hearing nothing but his own heart pounding in his ears.

He had known something was wrong the moment the new Hokage's face had darkened when he had nonchalantly asked where Naruto was. It was after the return of a grueling A-rank, and she had been in the process of handing him a scroll for another one when her hazel eyes had narrowed and looked away, fingers tightening slightly around the orders they held.

And now she was calling him back to do his duty for the village. But his duty was for his precious people first. Then his village.

Sasuke… I had hoped you wouldn't do this…

Kakashi shuddered when he remembered his lie to Sakura. Everything will be okay. I promise. He had known it was a lie when he'd said it. But he hadn't been able to help it; he had wanted to hang onto his team, his second team for as long as he could. It was already in danger of drifting apart and he had just promised that it wouldn't-

And then it had.

Kakashi shook his head, watching as his pack of dogs spread out from Konoha, all on the hunt for Naruto's trail. Well, he just wouldn't let it. Sasuke was not gone yet

Please let me get there in time.

"His scent's fading, Boss. WIth this rain, we won't be able to smell it for long."

Kakashi responded by moving faster.

He wouldn't let it happen again. Not to himself… and not to Naruto, either.

He would not let it happen again.

Please let me get there in time.

He did not get there in time.

All that he found was Naruto and a hitai-ate with a slash through it. The headband smelled like Sasuke.

Kakashi stood there for a moment. His body refused to cooperate; he just stood there in the pouring rain. The world crashed down around his ears, and for a moment, he thought he was dying.

"The Uchiha's trail keeps going from here, Boss. He was bleeding so it's easy, even in the rain. Do you want to keep going?"

Kakashi stared down at Naruto for a moment, then nodded and formed the seal for a shadow clone in the same moment.

He wasn't letting this team fall apart. Naruto would not go through what he did.

"Sasuke."

The dark-haired Uchiha did not turn around. He stood there, rain licking down his back and soaked clothes, dripping on the mud around him. He stopped at Kakashi's voice, though did not seem too surprised. "Are you going to try and stop me now, too?"

"Yes."

"Hn." At this, the boy did turn around, appraising with him with black eyes that hid their true power. They widened for a second, and then he smirked. "We're in Sound territory now, and you look like you just came back from a difficult mission. You-"

"I know I can't take you back against your will. I'm tired- and also a clone. I'm sure Kabuto is on his way to find out what's taking you so long. I wouldn't be able to fight him without taking a hit."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "I'm impatient, Kakashi. If you're not here to stop me, then leave."

"I am here to stop you. I know that you're not hopeless or a lost cause."

"Really?" Sasuke asked coldly, and he smirked again. "Do tell, then. Because I have nothing left for you or Naruto."

"Then why is he still alive?"

The Uchiha paused, then simply shook his head. "There was no reason for me to kill him. I defeated him. I wanted to beat him, not kill him."

Kakashi tilted his headband up above his Sharingan and tapped the skin below the fearsome eye. Sasuke's expression darkened at the sight, and Kakashi nodded slightly. "Stop lying. I know that you know about the Mangekyou. You know how to get it. You could have killed him, and yet you did not."

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. He sucked in a breath of air, then shook his head firmly. "I don't need those eyes to kill my brother. I won't become a- a monster like him in order to kill him. I didn't leave Naruto alive because I care about him, I left him alive because there was no reason to kill him. I don't want to kill anyone that is not Itachi."

"Do you really think that that will give you peace? Do you really think that the moment he is dead, you will be happy?"

Sasuke scoffed loudly at that. He gestured around the darkness before jabbing a pale finger at him. "You sound just like Sakura. You think that I care about being happy?! You think my goal in life is to be happy, that that's why I'm doing this?! Hn. None of you could ever understand. What have you lost? You told me that night that you've lost anyone who ever meant anything to you. If that's true, then how can you truly think that my goal in this life is to be happy? What have you lost, huh?! What have you lost that was so dammed important to you, but you can't understand why I have to do this?!"

Kakashi took a step forward, withdrawing the tanto from his back in a flash of silver. "This is from my father. He killed himself because of Konoha." He raised his other hand to point at his red eye. "This is from my teammate, Uchiha Obito. He died to save me and our other teammate. He gave me this so I would always remember to never place a mission above a friend again. " He took a deep breath, concentrated, and managed to activate Mangekyou for just a second before the drain was too much, and he let it fade away. Sasuke's expression twisted in shock. "This is from my other teammate, Nohara Rin. She died to keep Konoha safe." He turned and pointed back where they had come from, to the Valley of the End. "Naruto- he is from my sensei, Yondaimne Hokage. He died to keep Konoha safe, too."

Sasuke was too busy staring at his Sharingan eye to react at Yondaimne's name. Kakashi stepped forward again. "I have lost people, Sasuke. But I didn't throw my life away on revenge. Do you think you're the only one who knows what loss is? In a village full of ninja, that you are the only one who has lost anything?"

Sasuke's expression betrayed nothing. No change of heart, no anything at all that Kakashi wanted to see. Because he would not let Naruto lose his team, too. The Uchiha watched him for a moment, then turned his back and scoffed loudly. "Hn. Is that all?" But his voice was trembling ever so slightly, and Kakashi moved forward with it.

"You said that none of us could ever understand. But what you really mean is that none of us are as selfish as you're being now, right?"

Sasuke spun on his heel, twisting back around to face him with a slightly mad look in his black eyes. "Shut up!" he yelled, crazed voice echoing around the forest. It brought silence, the only noise now the pouring rain.

Kakashi stood there and watched him. He felt his Chakra pull and stretch back to the original and knew he didn't have long before he was dispelled. But Sasuke still didn't want to come back home, and Kakashi wasn't leaving until he did.

The silence lasted a moment longer before Sasuke shook his head. "Naruto… he said that he 'understood'. But he doesn't. How could he? He's never lost anyone. Always having no one is infinitely preferable to having everyone and losing it all." His voice betrayed contempt and scorn, but it also shook again, carrying the weight of what Itachi had done and the loss of his family.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed, "it is. And Naruto has never lost anyone. …Until now."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm not so important to your team. The fact that you sent a clone after me and the real one with Naruto proves that. I'm just the afterthought-"

"Excuse me for making sure Naruto lived. You know, since you attacked him and all."

Sasuke frowned, then waved him off, preparing to turn away again. "Whatever. Even if I was this integral part of your team, which I'm not, it wouldn't matter now. I think trying to kill someone puts a damper on that, don't you?" Kakashi stared as the Uchiha began to once again walk into the dark forest, leaving him and Konoha behind. He couldn't bring himself to hate Sasuke, or even be angry with him. As Sasuke left, he saw a silver-haired masked boy who turned his back on his friends, who ignored the fact that his team cared about him until they are already dead. A boy who wouldn't let his sensei help him, who had closed his eyes and believed he didn't need it or wasn't worth it, until…

"Do you really think so little of Naruto?"

Sasuke stopped at Kakashi's cold question. He didn't turn around, but he did halt.

"Naruto won't hate you because he knows how precious bonds are. Because he grew up without any. Now that he finally has people who care about him- people like you, Sasuke- do you think Naruto will just throw them away and forget about them, about you? Do you truly think so little of him?"

Sasuke stood still as Kakashi approached from behind, voice rising as lightening crackled and thunder roared.

"And you are not an integral part of our team, Sasuke. You are our friend."

Sasuke stiffened.

"So if you want to try and throw this away, then do it knowing that we- that Naruto will never give up on you and let you go. Do it knowing that you are taking from him what Itachi took from you."

Sasuke did not move. Kakashi took another step forward, hardly daring to hope.

"The question I am asking you, Sasuke, is is it worth it? Are the people who are dead more important to you than the ones who are alive?"

Sasuke still did not move. Kakashi chanced another step, reaching out his hand. Sasuke was so close, close enough to touch and bring back-

The Uchiha stepped out of the way the moment his hand tried to come down to rest on his shoulder. The boy looked behind him, expression nothing but hate, and it killed every last shard of hope Kakashi had. "You and Naruto have each other. Sakura has her family. I have no one. You will survive without me. …We were hardly friends, at best. But the idea that I could have this, a team, fam-… it made me weak. It allowed me to think I could have something else, a life beyond the one that I lived for the people who are dead. But I can not live while Itachi is alive- I know that much. And these bonds with you, they made me weaker. They allowed me to go grow content with what I had. Staying in Konoha with- with you would've kept me too weak to ever kill Itachi. And if I am able to just be content while he lives, that is a disrespect to my parents- and my clan. It means that they weren't important enough to me to even avenge their deaths. And no matter what you say, Kakashi, you are not more important to me than all of my family."

Kakashi stared numbly as his- his former student turned away and began to walk into the way for the last time. His hand still hovered in the air in the spot where Sasuke's shoulder had been.

"Goodbye, Kakashi."

Kakashi felt the clone's memories return to him just as Naruto's head twitched on his shoulder. He came to a brief halt on a branch, then shook his head and continued moving.

"Ka… Kakashi… niisan?"

Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto's leg in answer.

"Is Sasuke…?"

Kakashi stayed quiet.

Naruto didn't need a reply. His silence was enough. He let out a defeated sigh, head drooping against his shoulder again. "I see…"

When Kakashi felt Naruto slip into unconsciousness again, he realized, well and true, that his second team had just broken beyond repair.

Kakashi didn't know why he couldn't stay away.

He would lurk in the shadows, unnoticed and unheard, when visitors came by. Naruto's beloved Iruka-sensei and his new teacher, Jiraiya, and Sakura, and Hinata, and the whole Rookie Twelve-

Eleven-

came by the hospital to visit their friend. And the whole time, he lurked away, guilt thick in his throat and regret heavy on his heart.

Iruka was hesitant and unsure of himself. He spoke quietly and awkwardly, and it was clear he was hurting, too. One of his first students had gone missing nin just barely six months after graduation, and his favorite Naruto was missing the boy he had come to see as a brother. The Academy sensei was sad, though he tried to hide it, and his visit didn't help as much as Kakashi had hoped it would.

Jiraiya was understanding and full of nods and sighs, and his visit consisted of many dark trips down memory lane that Kakashi was sure the Toad Sage could've done without. He waited for Jiraiya to tell Naruto to not chase after his lost teammate, but it never came. Perhaps Jiraiya didn't have the heart to. Yet.

Sakura was the worst out of them all. She said nothing, her expression betrayed only sadness, not anger, never anger, but Naruto still apologized again and again fro breaking his promise to her. Kakashi was no stranger to broken promises. …He'd promised Sakura everything would be okay.

Like a fool, she'd believed him. Didn't she know he never kept his promises?

Sakura's visit ended with Naruto swearing, once again, that he would get Sasuke back. Then Sakura had corrected him.

No. We will get him back.

Kakashi had never been prouder of his student until that moment.

He just wished the circumstances had been better.

"How long are you going to hide out here, Niisan?"

Kakashi stiffened.

A blond head poked out the window and looked over at where he crouched, sticking sideways out of the wall. Naruto's gaze was dull and tired, and the bright smiles that were always there that Kakashi loved so much were absent. Naruto met his gaze, then pulled back in an invitation to come inside.

Kakashi paused, then crawled along inside and dropped silently to the floor. "How did you know I was here?"

"It wasn't hard. You always like to come in through windows, after all."

"…Mmm."

Naruto paused, then looked away and scratched his ear. "Why haven't you ever come inside? You always stay out there."

"You knew about that, too?"

Naruto frowned. "Don't underestimate me. I almost became a chuunin, you know. You weren't exactly hiding your Chakra."

"Ah… well…"

With a sigh, his normally boisterous student despondently crossed the room to lean back against the wall. Naruto didn't say anything, a moment passed in uncomfortable silence before Kakashi cleared his throat and averted his eye. "Naruto. I'm… well, I'm sor-"

"If you finish that sentence with 'sorry' I will come over there and pound your skull into the ground."

Well, that was graphic.

Kakashi looked up to see a sudden furious light in the blond's eyes. His hands were clenched into fists and were shaking. Naruto was angry- but not at him. "It's not your- Sasuke is not- he was your student, but he was my friend! He was not your responsibility! I should've been able to help him, I should have- but he just… how the hell could he do this? Didn't he see that we care about him?! I don't understand. You always told me that bonds were the most important thing in the world and that you should never betray your friends, and I believed that, damn it, and then Sasuke, he just threw it all away! For what? Why is Itachi so imp- no, more important than us?! I would've helped him! Anything he wanted, I would've helped him kill Itachi, I would've done it for him just so he would stay! And I still care about him. Isn't that stupid, Niisan? He tried to kill me, and it doesn't even bother me. He's still my friend, and I want him back. I'll do anything to get him back, and I'm mad at him, but I don't even want or need him to apologize for what he did. He… he abandoned us, and he tried to kill me, and all that matters to me is whether he comes back home or not."

Naruto threw his hands up in the air in a furious aggravation, beginning to pace around the small hospital room. He was shaking and shaking his head and seemed to be this close to losing control, and Kakashi did not know what to say.

"Naruto…"

The blond hung his head. His entire body was trembling with contained rage and sadness and he looked angry enough to hit something and miserable enough to just slump down to the floor and never move again. "I… I don't care if it's stupid," he whispered after a moment, voice twisted with pain and eyes shut tight. "I don't care if you or anybody else thinks it's stupid. Hell, I know it's stupid. But Sasuke is my friend. I won't let Orochimaru kill him and I will- I will get him back here. I'll make him see that we're worth it."

Now Naruto was the one making promises there was no certainty that he could keep.

Kakashi didn't call him out on it. He was guilty of the same thing, and besides, he hoped Naruto was right.

Naruto cleared his throat and raised his head. his blue eyes were clear and filled with a fiery determination that didn't hide his pain- it didn't even close. "So… you don't worry about this, Kakashi-niisan. I'll get Sasuke back, you just wait."

Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto, I am going to tell you the same thing that Sakura did. We will get him back. Not just you. Not just me. Not just Sakura. We will. Because Sasuke is our friend."

Kakashi only realized after he'd said it that he'd just made another promise he couldn't be sure he would fulfill. He sighed again. He really should stop making promises.

"…Why doesn't Sasuke just understand that? How can he not even care about us? I thought that he- all this time…"

Yeah. All this time, Kakashi had thought Sasuke had been changing, too. Learning that there was something besides revenge to live for, that he had friends, that he could live a different life.

If Itachi hadn't come back, then maybe… just maybe…

Kakashi shook his head. Twenty-one years of shinobi life, if nothing else, had taught him that there was no point in wishing about the past. The past was done. He could only change the future.

"Naruto."

The blond looked slowly up at him. He shouldn't look that sad. Naruto was supposed to look happy. Naruto was his precious person, and precious person was supposed to be happy. That was how it worked. Kakashi wanted to be angry at Sasuke for this, but he couldn't… because Sasuke was his precious person, too.

"Sasuke's lucky to have people who care about him. …We're all lucky to have that. If you want to take something from this, Naruto- never take having people who love you for granted. Death, greed, injustice- it will always end up being taken away, in the end, but hang onto it while you can and fight to protect it. A bond worth having is a bond worth protecting. And any bond that's strong, that can withstand… what Sasuke has done- that is a bond worth having."

"And our job is to make Sasuke see that. Right, Niisan?"

Kakashi nodded and smiled. "Right."

He would do that. For Naruto's sake. So Naruto didn't have to go through watching his team fall apart.

...Maybe his second team wasn't so irreparable after all.