Chapter 15: Bide your time

Kakashi let out a sigh as he entered his father's old room, reaching for the light switch. He hadn't been lying when he told Hermione he hadn't expected her to do that well. It would seem she was quite intelligent, or at least was a quick study. That actually worked in his advantage. The less time he would have to spend teaching her, the better.

In the meantime, however, he figured he might as well start sorting through his father's stuff. It was long overdue, not having been here for over thirteen years. A part of him just wanted to forget what had happened but he knew that wasn't possible. In a way, it had shaped him into the shinobi he was today.

He had to admit, at first he may have gone a bit too far in doing his best to not be like his father. Kakashi scoffed at that. A bit? In doing so, he got his teammate killed. If only he had just listened right away, maybe Obito would still be-

No. He had to stop thinking like that. The nightmares were already enough, he didn't have to torture himself like this while awake as well. It wouldn't do anyone any good, the least of all him.

He was brought out of his musings by tapping on the window. The Anbu on the other side, skillfully opened the window and turned to him.

"Senpai, we have a mission."

"How is it that you always learn about these missions first, Tenzou? You'd almost think you were the captain," he said jokingly, turning towards him.

"Come on, senpai, it's not my fault you always manage to disappear when someone's looking for you."

"Maa, they just don't try hard enough, kohai."

"Alright, alright. But we do have to go. All of us are needed for this one, apparently."

Kakashi turned back towards the door, intending on letting Hermione know he was leaving, but he hesitated.

"Who'll take over watch?"

"I wasn't told who, just that it would be taken care of. From my understanding the Hokage had approved it, so I'm sure it's alright."

He hummed in response, he'd have to find out who before he left. He didn't just want anyone watching over his house. He was still a very private person and liked to keep it that way.

"Alright, well. Give me the scroll. Can you get everyone to meet me at the training field near the facility in about half an hour?"

"You got it, senpai. See you in half an hour." Tenzou said, while handing him the mission scroll. He then jumped out of the window, leaving it open for Kakashi to follow. He looked behind him, towards where Hermione was, still hesitant for some reason. The mission came first in this case, so he would just have to assume it would be alright with whoever was assigned to watch the brown-haired woman.

He jumped on the windowsill before focusing chakra into his hands to stick to the side, closing the window behind him. A second later, he flickered towards the Anbu facility. He walked through the corridors towards the locker room. Stopping in front of his locker, he started undressing himself. He neatly folded his clothes, placing them on one of the shelves and took out his Anbu equipment. This process was done while on automatic pilot, his mind already planning for the mission to come.

Once he was dressed, he made his way outside, towards the training field he told Tenzou to meet him. At the same time, he was reading the scroll, slightly changing his initial plan as he read through it. They would have to gather intel on a group of mercenaries that was growing in size and could possibly become a threat to Konoha. Seemed easy enough.

Kakashi only had to wait about five minutes before his team arrived one by one. Checking them all over, making sure they were all set to leave once they were done going over the mission. He nodded at every single one as they came up to him on the field.

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point. Gathering intel on a group of mercenaries. Standard procedure. We'll stay within the country, but will be going near the Tea-border, so we'll be gone for at least a week, possibly more." He started explaining. "Before we'll actually get close, we'll pick a safe spot and go over the details more. Move out."

Hermione softly groaned as she woke up, her neck hurt like hell. What in Merlin's name had happened? She remembered looking for Kakashi to see if he wanted to join them for dinner, but then- Oh no! Teddy! She sat up and looked around to see where she was.

Fuck . What the hell was going on? They put her in a cell? So, was the Hokage lying then? She thought that he told her he'd give her another chance, hadn't he?

She slowly got up from the cot she was placed on and walked towards the bars. It was almost completely dark, the only light was from a torch that hung near an entryway at the far end of the corridor. From what she could see Teddy wasn't near her, at least not in the cell with her. Actually, she seemed to be completely alone.

Slowly reaching into her pocket, she took out Remus' wand, surprised they hadn't taken it from her. Surely they were aware of what she could do with it. But if they hadn't taken it… Had it actually been the Hokage's orders to put her in a cell?

With a soft whispered " Lumos ", the tip of the wand lit up. Great. A dungeon. They put her in a dungeon. Of course they did. Giving a quick look around the room, she whispered " Homenum revelio " but nothing happened. Okay. Think Hermione. Next step. What's the next step?

A loud clang was heard a second later, causing Hermione to cast a quick " Nox ", dimming the light of her wand, and put the wand in the sleeve of her sweater, making sure she could easily grab it. She took a few steps back and lowered herself on the cot, waiting to see what would happen. A moment later, a door opened at the other side of the room her cell was in and the room was lit. At least they had electricity here.

She heard someone slowly walking towards her. The sounds she heard didn't make sense though, it wasn't a normal sound of someone walking, placing one foot in front of another. It reminded her of Moody. A cane, then? Listening more closely she decided that yes, it was a cane. An older person then, perhaps? But who?

Her question was soon answered, sort of. She hadn't seen the man before since being here, but that didn't mean it made it any less terrifying. This man was dangerous, there was no doubt in her mind about that. He stopped in front of her cell and slowly turned to her, looking at her disdainfully. Hermione wasn't backing down though and kept eye contact with the man.

It was an older man, his right eye covered in bandages and his right arm hidden away in his robe. He really seemed nothing like the kind, but strict Hokage she had met. Of course, not everyone would be like him, especially not in a village full of soldiers, which they all were essentially.

"So," the man started with a slight accent, but in English nonetheless, "you're the female I've heard about. Took your time waking up, didn't you? Don't see what's so interesting about you, really. Tell me, girl, what makes you so special that Hiruzen decided to let you stay in our village?"

Hermione stayed silent, feeling that was the safest bet in this case. She recognised the name Hiruzen and immediately realised that no, the Hokage was not behind this. But this man obviously knew the Hokage well enough to call him bij his first name. Either that, or he had no respect for his leader whatsoever.

"Not going to talk, hm? Very well. We'll get it out of you. We have ways to persuade you, little girl. I'm sure you haven't forgotten about your son, hm?"

She frowned and clenched her jaw at that. Son? They thought Teddy was her son? It made some sense, for anyone not knowing anything about her arrival and all that, but it was also worrisome. It would mean they would definitely try to use him to get her to talk. Damn it.

"Prepare the room. We will get her to talk. If we need to use the boy to do so, we will."

Hermione fought extremely hard to make sure nothing would be read from her facial expressions. Obviously they weren't aware that she had learned a little bit of their language. She couldn't understand everything fully, but she knew enough to realise he was talking about Teddy and her. The man didn't waste any time, did he?

"Yes, Danzo-sama," was heard from a few yards away, she couldn't see anyone besides the man though.

So, his name was Danzo. Good to know. She'd have to keep close attention to what they were saying. Even if she only knew a little, it would have to be enough to prepare herself for anything coming her way.

Danzo kept his eyes on her for a long time, analysing every single movement, as if that would tell him everything he needed to know. She still didn't back down though. A small voice in the back of her head said she was crazy, and she kind of agreed. But she had a feeling that showing weakness would be even worse.

Without another word the man turned and left the way he came, taking the other figure and the light with him, as they left the entire room dark. Not that it mattered, she could create some light without an issue. She just didn't have a clue as to what would happen to her. Hell, she didn't even know how long she'd been here already. Hadn't Danzo said "took your time waking up"? So, it really started to bother her. How long had she been unconscious? And where were they keeping Teddy?

Team Ro moved at a relatively relaxed pace towards their destination. Relatively relaxed for Kakashi. Which meant it still was a killer pace he set for his team. Honestly, if it were up to him, they would be going full speed. Something just didn't sit right with him, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

Taking breaks along the way, it took the team about two and a half days to get to their destination. With some luck, they'd be back in three, maybe four days, depending on how easy it would be to gather the intel. They couldn't rush it, however. It was imperative that the information they were gathering was correct.

During their trip, he was actually glad for the distraction his team offered. Shisui and Yugao were bickering like an old married couple, Genma kept throwing comments at the pair that would make even Jiraiya blush. And Tenzou kept his mouth shut, which was probably for the best. That kid had a weird mind sometimes.

Kakashi signaled them to gather around, so that he could further explain what the situation was.

"Okay, we're dealing with a gang who call themselves "Namae no nai kyōdai ai". They've been growing in size, which is causing some concerns."

"Nameless Brotherhood? Really? That's what they came up with?" Genma scoffed. "What? All the good ones were taken?"

"Focus, Shiranui."

"Sorry, Boss. But come on. There's no way you're not thinking the same thing."

"What I think about the name doesn't matter. Nor does it matter what you think. What does matter is that we need to gather intel, fast. It's important that we find out what they're about and how to stop them from growing even larger."

"Question!" Shisui piped up, raising his hand and successfully turning the attention to him, "what's the info we have so far?"

"What we know is that they've been harassing the neighbouring villages. It was relatively harmless at first. Some burglaries here and there."

Kakashi rolled out a map of the area, pointing at several spots. "These are the villages that have been hit before. Seeing the pattern, it would seem the location of their base would be somewhere around this area," he said, pointing towards another area.

"While at first it was just simple bandits who were responsible for these burglaries, now it seems there are defected chunin and jonin who have joined their ranks, which means the gang is getting more and more dangerous."

"The plan, for now, is to just observe and gain intel that way. Once we have enough intel, another plan will be made for infiltration. So we have to make sure our intel is solid."

After relaying the information to his team, he divided them in three teams, assigning each team to a different location. Yugao and Genma would go to the north of the supposed location of the base, Tenzou and Shisui to the southeast and Kakashi would summon his pack and would then head to the southwest.

They would observe their locations for six hours, looking for any patterns or other information. After that it would be decided if they had enough, or more observations were necessary.

"Meet back here in six and a half hours. Don't be late." Kakashi ordered, looking at every single one of them. "Move out!"

Kakashi waited a moment as he watched his team disperse, before summoning his pack.

"Yo," Pakkun said with his gruff voice. "Been a while, kid."

"I know. I had wanted to summon you sooner for some training, but something came up."

"What do you need?"

"Need to do some surveillance and gather intel. Could use a few extra pairs of eyes and ears. Follow me."

Kakashi sprinted off, followed by his ninken, arriving to the southwest of the enemy's base.

"Spread out, don't be seen."

"You got it," the pug said. "How long?"

"We're meeting up with the rest in six and a half hours. Make it count."

The entire pack, save for Pakkun, left to scout the area. Kakashi looked around and jumped up when he found a good spot to stake out in, the pug following his lead, sitting down next to him.

Hermione had no sense of time while sitting in the cell. She opted for trying to ask one of the guards that brought something that barely resembled food but he either couldn't or wouldn't answer her, because all she got was silence and a glance from an eerie-looking mask.

Maybe next time she could try to greet them, saying good morning, hoping that if she was wrong, they'd correct her. She wasn't sure if she would understand their answer, though. She couldn't not try this. Maybe if she got them talking, she'd be able to figure out something about Teddy.

Her stomach churned thinking about him. She was so worried about him. Since she arrived here, she barely spent any time away from him and not knowing where he was freaked her out. She hoped they'd at least be human enough to properly take care of him.

She heard a metal clang signalling the arrival of one of the guards. A second later the lights in the dungeon were turned on, revealing the same masked figure she had seen before.

" Good morning, " she tried, hoping she pronounced it properly.

The guard briefly paused his movements as he lowered the tray with food, before setting it down. " Good afternoon," he corrected softly with a nod as he shoved the tray towards her.

" Um, where?" Hermione tried. She really didn't know enough to ask him with a full sentence.

The man shook his head and said something that sounded like "no" but she couldn't be sure. He stood up and walked away, leaving the lights on so she could eat. This happened with the previous meal as well. The moment they collected her tray, the lights were turned off again.

Hermione glanced down at the tray and made a face. She couldn't understand people actually ate this stuff. It was absolutely horrendous. However, this was all she was getting. And between eating this or nothing at all, she knew it was best to at least eat something. She needed the energy to stay sharp, especially if she was going to do what she was planning.

She knew she got three meals a day, at least she got that much. But that did help her to get a sense of what time it was, roughly. The next meal would be dinner and then breakfast. Counting the meals she has had so far, she realised it had been about a day and a half since she woke up. There was no way of telling how long she'd actually been here however. She hoped it hadn't been that long.

With all this time she had with nothing to keep her busy, her mind was working nonstop. Subject of the hour: Kakashi. Was he aware of what had happened to her? Was he the one behind this? He wasn't at home when she was taken, otherwise he would have prevented it, right? Right? He was acting less like an arse the last time they'd spoken. But she would've expected him to at least let her know if he had to leave.

Hermione sighed as she shoved the tray of food away, no longer hungry. She sat on the cot and pulled her knees towards her, wrapping her arms around her legs, softly rocking herself. She couldn't believe she was actually thinking it, but she missed him. Sort of. Hell, she missed any kind of contact, really. Well, any type of normal contact. The contact she'd had with the people here thus far was anything but pleasant. She could definitely go without that.

The door on the far end of the room opened, which she was actually waiting for. They'd always give her half an hour to try and eat the disgusting food before taking the tray away again. She took a deep breath in and tried to keep her heartbeat under control. She could do this. She had to. For Teddy.

She fumbled with her sleeve, where she kept the wand. She focused on the spells she wanted to cast, focused on the incantation. There were two spells she would need to cast if she wanted more information. 'Come on, Hermione,' she told herself. 'You're the smartest witch of your generation, you can do this.'

Hermione looked up as the same masked man came down to her cell. The moment he turned his head towards her, she already had her wand pointed at him and with a quick " Legilimens " she entered his mind. She didn't need to understand their language, as his visual memories would be enough. She just needed to know where Teddy was.

She was quick to find the memories she needed, surprising herself with her efficiency at using the Legilimency spell. It didn't matter, she got what she needed. As she left his mind, she noticed him stiffen before reaching behind him to no doubt attack her. Not today, bud, she thought.

With a flick of her wand, she erased the memories of her invading his mind, and him seeing her use her magic. After she used the charm, she changed his memories to make it seem he had gotten distracted by something vague. His mind would fill in the gaps to make it more real. She gave a small sigh of relief as he was disoriented by her actions, giving her an opportunity to put the wand away. She didn't expect to use this charm again. The last time she had done so she had used it on her parents, erasing herself from their memories to protect them.

The man stopped in front of her cell, looking at her with a cocked head, as if trying to figure out if she had done anything. She tried to keep her face as passive as she could, not giving anything away. She may not have been a shinobi like him, but this is something she could at least manage after years of getting into trouble with Harry and Ron.

Without a word the tray was taken away, the guy walking away with one backwards glance, before turning the lights back off. The door sliding shut was the last thing she heard. She wouldn't see anyone until the next day. Not that it mattered. She got what she needed. Teddy's location and how to get there. She was relieved to see he was alright. The only issue now was finding out when to go. It would have to be soon. There was no way she was going to stay here any longer than necessary. They would find out what it meant to cross a witch. Especially a Gryffindor.