Kakashi's cry of pain was muffled beneath his mask as half a dozen kunai dug into his flesh. He fell off the branch and his body headed towards the ground swiftly. As the second string of kunai came at him and started to embed themselves into his body, a puff of smoke revealed that it was only a clone that had taken the shots. A log covered in kunai hit the ground with a loud thump.

Cries of outrange came from the bushes as the attackers realized they had been fooled. A few emerged from their hiding spots to investigate the area around the log. It was then that the concealed Kakashi recognized his attackers. It was from many years ago that he had first come into contact with these ninjas. It was a mission that was supposed to have cleaned out a nearby village of all the troublemakers that resided in it. Kakashi and several others had been assigned the task and it had been successful in eliminating the rotten eggs to try and make the village a more peaceful place.

Prior to arriving at his current hiding spot Kakashi had lifted his forehead protector so that the Sharingan eye might help him see his opponents and give him a slight edge over them, seeing as how he was vastly outnumbered. When the kunai had flown at the log he had been able to pinpoint the locations of most of the members of the rebel group. He was about to count the number of ninjas, and guessed the group to be roughly about ten members large.

When half the group had emerged from their hiding areas, Kakashi made his move. He appeared behind one of the still hidden members, holding a kunai to the man's throat. The man gasped a little in surprise, but didn't move or utter anything louder then that until Kakashi started to stand up, bringing the man with him.

Pushing the man in front of him, Kakashi emerged from the bushes, his eyes glaring at the group before him. "Revenge for being cast out of a village? Don't you have anything better to do with your lives? And why are you focusing your anger only on me? I wasn't the only one to run you out."

"We're honored you remember us Kakashi. One would have thought such an easy task many years ago would have slipped your mind by now." The man that stepped forward was the one that Kakashi remembered being the leader of the rebel group, although his name escaped him at the moment. "But as you can see, we don't forgive you for what you did…it was you who led that mission and so it is you who are to blame for our being cast out."

"I never forget my missions. By remembering faces and missions, it makes it easier to stay alive when they come back to haunt you…as we can see right now." Kakashi looked from face to face in the group while still holding the man in front of him captive with the kunai. "Why did you write the letter and how do you know about my life?"

The leader crossed his arms in front of his chest with a smirk on his face. "We have a little insider information. We figured sending the letter would be the easiest way to get you to come to us. If we were to enter the village of Konoha, we would be caught and probably killed without a second thought. By getting you alone, we had a better chance of success."

"An interesting plan…but not entirely successful. Why bring Sasuke into this at all?" Kakashi was more outraged at the addition of his lover into the mix then anything else. He would have killed all of these men without a second thought had they laid even one hand on the boy.

The leader sat down on a nearby stump, still smirking slightly. "We figured if we brought the Uchiha boy into the mix we would increase our chances of getting you out here. Don't think that this is the only part of our plan. As we speak a group is already on their way to take care of your little partner."

"Liar…you said you wouldn't touch Sasuke if I was here." Kakashi couldn't help the feeling of dread that was quickly rising inside of him. He was almost positive now that Itachi was the informant and that Sasuke was now in great danger.

The man laughed from his place on the stump, "And you believed that? That was a foolish thing to do Hatake Kakashi…never trust an outlaw. They always go after what will hurt you the most…and right now, that is the death of your lover."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he brought the kunai across his hostage's throat, causing blood to spurt out onto the blade. Kakashi tossed the man aside and turned, running back towards the village as fast as he could. He could hear the leader barking orders to his men behind him and could sense that there were several ninja's on his tail, but his one concern now was getting to Sasuke.

Before he could get very far, four ninjas popped up in front of him, causing him to stop his frantic pace. His voice was a low growl as he spoke, "Get out of my way…I won't hesitate to kill you here and now…"

Without a word the four lunged at Kakashi. He was going to have to fight them before continuing and Kakashi feared that it might just be enough to delay him from getting to Sasuke in time.

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Sasuke sat on the stoop of his home, looking up at the sky as the clouds traveled across it slowly. He sighed a little as he moved his focus to the street, watching for any sign of Kakashi to come strolling down it. He didn't mean to be so clingy or desperate to see the older ninja…but after the day he had just had, all he wanted was to curl up next to him. Kakashi had been the one person in his life since the death of his family to actually be compassionate to him. What had started as a teacher-student relationship evolved slowly into the intimate one they now had. It was the one thing that Sasuke had always felt was missing in his life…someone to love him no matter what happened.

Sasuke was getting lost in his thoughts of Kakashi, but something made him stop. He narrowed his eyes and turned his head towards the alleyway between his house and the next one. "Who's there?" He asked as he stood up slowly. He sensed the presence of at least one ninja…but it was the familiar ones of his teammates or even of the other ninja's of Konoha.

Before Sasuke could move or even perform a jutsu, he felt a wire tighten around his body and suddenly he was unable to move. His arms became bound to his sides and he couldn't bring his hands together to perform the seals he needed to in order to escape. He struggled against the wire, but it only made it tighter.

Suddenly Sasuke was knocked off his feet and he hit the ground hard with a thud. His head hit and for a moment things went black. He could hear some commotion around him and when he was finally able to force his eyes to focus once again he saw a familiar figure above him.

"I..ta..chi…" Sasuke snarled to himself as he struggled to sit up and see what was going on. He could hear what sounded like a fight. He managed to lift his head up and what he saw made his eyes go large.

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Kakashi limped his way to the village. HIs left leg was bleeding badly and his right shoulder ached from where he had been slammed into a tree by the force ofone of the ninja's jutsus.He had managed to get away from the four ninjas that had been sent to stop him, but not without getting himself injured in the process. They were a lot more skilled now then they were when he had first come in contact with them. It had taken the power of the sharingan and his ability to copy their techinigues to get him out of the dire situation in which he had been placed. With the four of them attacking at once it had made it very difficult for Kakashi to be victorous. Unfortunetly he had killed two of them in the process and that was not something he was proud of.

He forced these thoughts from his mind as he made it into the village and started towards the part of town that Sasuke resided. There was only one thing on his mind now as he fought to pick up his pace even the slightest bit. He had to get to Sasuke before they did anything to him. He rounded the final corner to Sasuke's street and stumbled his way closer to the house. As he came into view of Sasuke's building he saw the familiar body of his lover laying on the ground, his body seemed to be bound by some sort of string or wire.

What Kakashi noticed next was even more of a shock to him. Itachi was easily fighting off the four ninja's that had come to ambush the younger Uchiha. Suddenly Kakashi wasn't so sure about his original thoughts that Itachi was the informant.

The fight seemed to come to a halt as two ninja's now laid motionless on the ground, another was crawling away to safety and the fourth was now being held up by his neck by Itachi. Itachi had knocked the first two away easily without even the use of a jutsu. His strength alone seemed to be enough to send them into a dreamless sleep. When Kakashi got close enough he was able to make out what Itachi was saying to the fourth of the ninjas.

"No one is allowed to harm my younger brother as you have tried to do…Now I will force you to live the rest of your life in your greatest nightmare…" Iachi's eyes suddenly seemed to change and as the man looked into them, his body also became as motionless as the ones on the ground.

Kakashi's body trembled a little as he witnessed, not for the first time, the power of the mangekyou sharingan. Kakashi hurried the last few paces to Sasuke's home. "There is no need for that Itachi…stop now before anyone else realizes what is going on. Using that jutsu here will only get you into trouble with the council." Kakashi knew he should have just not said anything and reported the oldest Uchiha. But seeing that he was helping Sasuke, Kakashi didn't feel that turning in Itachi for breaking one of the restrictions was the right choice to make.

Itachi turned his eyes away from the man he held in order to face Kakashi. The mangekyou faded from his eyes and they returned to normal. Itachi tossed the man aside, letting the body fall onto his two comrades. "You'd like to see me executed wouldn't you Hatake Kakashi-san?"

"More then anything…" Kakashi could barely hold back the hate that he held for the man before him. But he would not go against the council's wishes. He too was forbidden to lay a hand on Itachi unless he did something to warrant retaliation. "But seeing as how you are helping your brother for once…I'll ignore what I want."

"Hmph…" Itachi knelt by his brother and released him from his bindings. Sasuke sat up slowly, rubbing his arms a little where the wire had cut into them. He stared up at Itachi for several seconds, not quite believing that he was the one that had come to his aid.

"What are you doing here Itachi?" Sasuke asked very quietly. Not sure he could really believe what he had just seen.

Itachi stood back up and started to walk away, "Breaking every restriction that was placed on me it seems…" he said without turning around to face the two ninjas that were left standing. Sasuke made no move to go after him or to question him further. He wouldn't get a straight answer out of his brother anyway. He had never been able to.

For the first time Sasuke turned his attention to Kakashi, noticing immediately that he was injured. "Kakashi, what happened!?!" He hurried over to his older lover's side and started to investigate the injuries. There was nothing life threatening, just a few bruises and strains for the most part.

"I was sent on a mission. It didn't go quite as planned. That's all." He placed his hand on top of Sasuke's head and looked down into the black eyes. "Are you alright? Did they say or do anything to you?" Sasuke shook his head and looked over at the pile of men on his front stoop.

"No…did they have anything to do with your mission?" Sasuke asked quietly as he stared at the unconscious ninjas. He knew the top one would probably not regain consciousness after experiencing the effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan. It was not an experience you readily recovered from. "Why were they after me?"

Kakashi just shook his head and started to lead Sasuke towards the house. "We should get them into custody and let them be dealt with accordingly." He looked at Sasuke again, "Itachi broke the restrictions…all of them just to save you…I didn't trust him at first, but maybe what he said was true and he isn't here to harm anyone."

"And maybe he's just setting this whole village up. Maybe fighting these guys was just a way to try and earn my trust. I still don't like it…" Sasuke shook his head and looked up at the sky. "I still don't trust him…"

Kakashi nodded and started to tie the men up. Their mission was a failure…but that didn't mean they wouldn't try again. He glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye briefly. If that group was still out there then they would come for him again. He didn't want to put Sasuke's life into danger like that again.

Thoughts and uncertainly plagued Kakashi's head throughout the time that Sasuke and him were escorting the three ninjas to the police. The one thought that kept coming to him was the one he didn't want to acknowledge. But it might be the only way to keep the young Uchiha safe…even if it meant hurting him.