A/N: I am so very sorry you guys. I accidentally uploaded the next chapter of one of my other stories instead of the next chapter of this one...I guess that's what I get for doing that just when I woke up in the morning/afternoon (Kakashi won't get out of my head. He's making me late for work/school/getting up in the morning). So. Here's chapter 4. Until I figure out what's going to happen next, you guys will just have to pine and wait, like I am because I have writer's block after this chapter!

Legal Stuffiness: I don't own Naruto, as if we didn't all know that already!

Chapter 4: Stress.

Ino stared incredulously. Sakura's face was blank. "What?" I asked. My tone was flat.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Ino fumed, and yelled at me. "Why didn't you call me, baka?" I really hadn't thought about it. I take that back.

"I wanted to, Ino, but I didn't want to get you involved."

"What, did you not think I could handle myself? I'm the ninja, not you. While I'm nowhere near as sadistic as you are, I can handle myself just fine." I smiled at that. Now that I thought about it, there was a little bit of Aoi that rubbed off on me. It's only natural. We were dating for two and a half years. The blonde woman threw her hands up in disgust.

"Ino, I just don't want anyone to get hurt. Unless it's Aoi."

She walked around her desk and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me like a rag doll. "He's stalking you, burning down your apartment, and now he's sending his goons after you? Sweetie, a restraining order isn't enough." There was a lot of concern in her voice, but I could see on her face that she was thinking up horrible tortures for Aoi.

I sighed. "What am I supposed to do, Ino? Pay off some ANBU members to go to his house—get through all of that damned security—and kill him? For now, until he comes slithering out of the shadows himself, there's nothing I can do."

It was at that moment that Sakura decided to speak. "W-What does Kakashi-sensei have to say about all of this?" Her face was still full of disbelief.

Sighing again, and thinking of how he beat down eight men at once, I said, "He's not happy with it. Why should he be?" Nearly under my breath, I said, "I have half a mind to break things off just so that he's safe." Just then, my head snapped to the left, since Sakura had slapped me as if she were interrogating a particularly hostile prisoner. "Wha-- ?"

When I looked back to her, rubbing my face, Sakura's eyes were like green flames. "Don't you even think about it, Natsumi. He's finally happy. Don't you dare take that away from him." Wow. She's scary. Super-ninja-scary-bitch. Then suddenly, she was her normal self, smiling and happy. What the fuck? She's got some kind of weird split personality disorder or something…

I took a step back from Sakura toward where Ino stood at the corner of the desk. Sakura waved a quick farewell, and left by way of the door. I turned to my friend, and said, "Is that a regular occurrence?"

"No. She usually keeps all of the aggressive stuff inside. I guess you shouldn't say anything about dumping Kakashi again. She'll kill you." I nodded. She probably would. I certainly knew that she was capable of doing it. Now, I was sure she was just crazy enough to actually go through with it. I shivered. Ino put a hand on my shoulder. "Look, Natsu, if something happens, please call me. I'm your friend. I like to know if one of my friends is nearly kidnapped." I nodded, and hugged her. "Now, you'd better not keep him waiting."

Kakashi had asked me to come home early from school, so I'd skipped classes and told Ino—and Sakura, since she'd been in the room—about Idate and the botched kidnapping. Now headed back to Kakashi's apartment, I kept my eyes peeled for any crazy morons that Aoi might have hired. He had the money and the power to buy anything he wanted, really. I frowned. If that was the case, why was it that he didn't just find himself another woman? And why was he so fixated on me, anyway? He broke up with me. The bastard. Jerk…asshole. Oh, why can't I just come up with new things to call him?

By the time I got back to Kakashi's apartment, I had thought up a few new words for Aoi, and I was just going over them in my head when I opened the door, only to find Kakashi… dead… on the floor, kunai protruding from his chest, blood absolutely everywhere. At first, I only stood there. Then I fell to my knees. I screamed. I cried. And finally, I fainted.

I woke to someone lightly slapping my face. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was Kakashi, but I remembered him being—no. It had to be wrong. My head was swimming. "What happened? I saw you d-d-d-dead, and and and…" His brow creased in worry.

"I'm sorry. I was setting up for a short training session for you. I thought you'd be back just a little later." When I was still confused and shaken, he explained, "That was genjutsu…illusion." I gave a strangled scream of frustration and grabbed the nearest thing I could get my hands on, which happened to be a shoe, and smacked him on the head.

"Baka! Teme! Moron! What the hell? I thought you were dead! I very nearly had a heart attack!" I'd had enough, and I dropped the shoe, taking hold of his shirt instead, burying my face in his chest, and bawling my damned eyes out. "Just don't do that again. I don't think I could take it." I felt him drape his arms around me, and I relaxed into his hold. My tears didn't stop, though.

I suddenly felt myself being picked up off of the floor, and I stopped my stupid crying to see where he was taking me. The bathroom? After he set me on the little bench, he moved to the tub and started the water. First, I was confused. Then he looked at me and said, "You need to relax. Going to make yourself sick if you don't." He was making me a bath. He emptied a small packet of something that smelled wonderful into the water, and then walked over to me. In an innocent voice that was ruined by the twinkle in his eye, he asked, "Ok. With or without your clothes?"

I snorted, and started to get undressed. He brushed past me, and I thought he was leaving. Not so. He closed the door to keep the heat in, and flipped off the lights. "Kakashi, I can't see."

"That's the point. If you don't need to use your eyes, then you can relax more." His tone was like a teacher's, lecturing a student. "Now, finish taking off your clothes." I did as I was instructed, and when the tub was filled, I got in. I heard him settle down onto the floor next to the bathtub. "I'm really sorry. I didn't think that would happen."

As I settled back against the cold tiles, I reached for his arm. Finding it, I gave it a squeeze. "I'm ok. I just need to calm down. What was the training for, anyway?"

"Genjutsu training. I was going to teach you how to dispel it."

"Isn't that reserved for shinobi?"

"Well, Aoi is, or at least was a jounin, so I think that you knowing a few of his tricks wouldn't be a bad thing. I can't really turn you into a ninja or anything, but I thought if you knew what we're up against, it might level the playing field a bit." I sniffed. He said "what we're up against…" My conversation with Ino came back to haunt me. How could I possibly have been thinking that it would help me to put distance between us?

I sighed. "Ok, I don't mind learning. But could we please start with something other than me having to look at your dead body? Please? I wouldn't even care if it was mine. Just not yours." I was on the verge of crying again, and I was having a hard time stopping it.

"Shut up, Natsu. No more talking. Just relax." I heard him moving, and soon, I could feel water dripping onto my face. It felt like rain. My head tilted upward, the droplets falling onto closed eyes, and I smiled. Not sure where the water was coming from, I reached out. I felt his arm, and then his hand. It was holding a sponge. I had been waiting for him to dump a cupful of water onto me or something, but it never happened. I just let the "rain" fall onto my face. It was wonderful. I highly recommend it, actually.

It didn't take long before I was pretty relaxed. No sooner had I relaxed than I felt myself being lifted out of the water. "What—?"

"Didn't I say no talking?" His voice came in an admonishing tone, and my jaw snapped shut. He chuckled. I was dripping wet, but he didn't set me down until he put me onto the bed in his room. When he pulled the bedcovers up over me, he said, "Now, rest. I don't want you going into shock." He sat in a chair nearby, watching me. I closed my eyes. The next thing I remembered, I was staring up at the ceiling.

I looked to the chair, and he wasn't there. I looked around, and found that he was not in the room at all. Then, I thought I heard voices. Snatching up a robe, I threw it on and crept to the door, opening it soundlessly. As I did, I heard Kakashi's lazy voice, saying something about Aoi. "I think he's going to try something worse than kidnapping."

Another voice, even lazier, said, "And what did you want me for?"

At this, a hint of annoyance came into Kakashi's tone. "Because, moron, you're the damned smartest person I know. Maybe you could figure this out. It hurts my head." I silently chuckled. Making sure that the robe was securely belted, I walked out into the living room. Kakashi sat on the couch, across from someone who looked vaguely familiar. Dark eyes, sullen expression…spiky ponytail…oh.

"Hello, Shikamaru." I said with less enthusiasm than I would have liked. He was the laziest bastard on the planet. But you had to admit, he was smart. He raised a hand in greeting. "What are you doing here?"

Smiling ruefully, he said, "I hear you're having a bit of a problem with your ex." As usual, his wit was astonishing. Sarcasm was an art form for him, and he was a master. I nodded, sighing. "Well, let's hear it. Kakashi wouldn't really give me details."

"What do you want first?"

"Chronological order would be best." For once he'd managed to keep the sarcasm from his voice, which I found impressive, considering the utterly unconcerned expression on his face. I told him everything. Well, everything that concerned Aoi. "Hmm. He really is a chicken shit." Shikamaru seemed to be thinking. He turned to Kakashi. "So, arson, stalking, kidnapping, there are really only two more things he can do." I watched Kakashi's eyes widen.

"We can't just keep her locked up, Shikamaru."

"Then go and talk to Tsunade-baasan. She's usually pretty understanding about this sort of thing. You could see if one of your students could guard her, or maybe you could." Shikamaru's placid tone became ever so slightly suggestive at that last. Before Kakashi could retort, I cut in.

"Will someone please act as if I'm actually in the room?"

Muttering something under his breath, Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked up at me. "By two things, I mean that all he hasn't really tried are rape and murder." I swayed in place. My knees gave out, and I collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. Aoi wouldn't…No, you know he would.

I was staring at the air between my face and the carpet, unable to focus my eyes. I blinked, trying to shake off the shock. "Fuck. Oh, why can't we just kill him, Kakashi?"

Muttering darkly, he looked away from me. All I caught was something about "Don't give me any ideas," but the rest was inaudible. Shikamaru stood. He looked over at Kakashi. "It's a nice day. I'm going to go and watch the clouds. I'll come back tomorrow, and maybe I'll have something." He always seemed to want to watch clouds. Lazy bum. With a parting smirk, he walked out of the door. Then, I heard Kakashi's voice.

"Natsumi."

"Mm?"

"I won't let him touch you." His tone was different from any other I'd heard. I looked over at him. His right hand was curled into a fist, and he was tapping it against the cloth of his mask, just where his lips might be. His voice was protective, and it sounded jealous.

"Do you think maybe we could use help?" I asked hesitantly.

"Like what?"

"Ino said she wanted to help." I really didn't want to involve her. She was my best friend, and I didn't want her to get hurt, or worse, I didn't want Aoi to even look at any of my friends in the way he looked at me the other day in the hall. "She yelled at me for not telling her everything." Kakashi tapped his chin with a finger, considering. "You can't actually be thinking about letting her, can you? She'll get hurt!"

Raising an eyebrow, he said, "You've never seen her fight." I nodded. I hadn't seen that, no. But I suppose that I was being protective of my friend, even though I knew that she could take better care of herself than I could. "She'll do." He got up from the couch, and said, "I'll be back later. Get some rest." Just before he went out the door, he turned back to me and said, "Lock the chain and the deadbolt, and don't open the door for anyone, unless it's me."

"How will I know it's you?" I was thinking about that ninja's art where you can disguise yourself as someone else.

He got the hint, and leaned in to my ear. "I'll ask you what color your underwear are." I snorted. He would come up with something perverted as a password. He tried to leave again, and I grabbed his arm. When he turned back, I pulled back his mask.

After giving him a long, lingering kiss, I pulled the black cloth back over his face, and said, "You couldn't possibly think of anything less perverted?"

I could tell he was trying not to smile by the way his eye was trying to crinkle. "I could come up with something more perverted, if you like."

Laughing, I said, "Not as a password, Kakashi. Come back soon, ok?" He nodded, then he was gone. I closed the door and locked the knob, deadbolt and drew the chain. As an extra precaution, I put a chair under the knob. Then I went back into the bedroom and pulled on one of Kakashi's old t-shirts and crawled into bed. Sleep took me quickly, and it was a long time before I woke up.

The knock at the door was insistant, and annoying. I sat up, wishing that I didn't hear it. Then, I realized that it was most likely Kakashi, and that he couldn't get in because I'd locked the chain and put a chair under the door. Just in case, I threw on a bathrobe. When I got to the door, I looked through the peephole. There was Kakashi, with Ino, Hinata, and Shikamaru. "Who is it?" I shouted through the door.

Kakashi said, "It's Kakashi. Let me in." I started getting goosebumps. He sure as hell hadn't asked me his perverted password question.

"Sorry. I don't think I will." I said, trying my best to sound calm. Who was it? I didn't think it would really be Aoi, just one of his little henchmen. I watched Kakashi's eye narrowing.

"Let me in, darlin'." Hearing Aoi's words in Kakashi's voice was breaking my brain. Ohmyholygod! It really is him. Shit. Kakashi isn't here!

Suddenly, all of the anger that had been bubbling inside me about his stupid stalking just sort of…exploded. "No fucking way, asshole. I'm not letting you in. The least you could do is show yourself you chicken shit." When I had said this, Kakashi's appearance melted away, and there was Aoi, in his old jounin uniform. The other three behind him suddenly looked different, as well. They looked like they were wearing straight jackets, and scuba masks. Fucking thugs. Those guys were mercenaries. They'd work for whoever paid them.

Aoi's hands blurred as he did some kind of hand seals. Then he was gone. Where did he go? My answer came when I heard his voice…right behind me. "Natsumi," I felt his breath, hot on my neck, and his arm clamped down around my waist. "I missed you."

"Like hell you did, bastard. You just don't like the thought that I wouldn't wait around for you." I was trying to pry his arm off of me, but it didn't work. He was squeezing me so hard that it was getting difficult for me to breathe properly. I felt his other hand, on my shoulder, moving down over my arm, then moving to the front of my body. Even though I couldn't breathe, and I was starting to see spots before my eyes, I still tried to fight him. There wasn't much I could do, though. The last thing I remembered was hearing him one last time, saying, "Mmm...mine, and no one else's."

A/N: Again. Very sorry. Also, I'm sorry to leave it as a bit of a cliffhanger, but that's really all I've got so far. I wish that I could smile evilly and laugh. But writer's block is not a laughing matter, especially when Aoi has Natsumi in such a position!