Wild-filly: Yay! Fifty four reviews! Special thanks to Steel Jaguar, Grummur, Veve, kimpster and hieiluver for their aid.

In reply to comments received, I am very grateful for all of your encouragement – that's what makes it all worthwhile and I just can't thank you all enough for it In excuse for my grammar slips, it's that I usually don't update very often, so when I finally complete a chapter, I'm in such a rush to post it that the most glaring of errors don't appear to me until its too late -- I promise to be more careful in future in order to ensure that the flow of the story isn't jeopardized. Yes, Kurotaka is a bit of a clique in some ways... what can I say? She has a bit more to her, but I'm afraid that yes, I am basically using the "standard Uchiha" model – can you forgive me, Veve? As far as my sketches of Kurotaka go, I'm still arguing with the computer about that situation but I think I may have found a solution... Once again, I'll keep you posted And on with the chapter!

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Okumen Gokurakuchou: Chapter 10

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The cold bite of stone jabbed at his body, so suddenly stricken and weak on the ground. He muzzily forced his eyes open, darkness crawling, lurking like a malevolent fog at the edges of his vision. It took every ounce of his will power not to let his eyes roll back into his head and unconsciousness wash over him in its warm, dulling waves. He couldn't let himself go; not here, not in such obvious danger. Something was terribly wrong with him and there was no way he would surrender his awareness without a fight. His deadened senses reported that apart from the sharpness of the flinty gravel around him, his head and torso were being supported by someone's body.

A soft pair of hands took his face, cradling his head upwards and towards the afternoon light that now seen so alien and offensive. Squinting his exhausted eyes up at Kurotaka, he found her own anxious blue searching his face in earnest.

"Kakashi! What's wrong with you? Can you speak?" Her voice was shrill, panicky, cool hands clasped around his face.

His tongue tentatively built a couple of syllables, rasping out of his throat. "I... don't know". That was a lie. One couldn't receive so much training in the ANBU without learning to recognise the symptoms of poisoning. Inwardly he cursed himself. Why hadn't he been more cautious? It had been far too easy to take that food... But then again, why hadn't Kurotaka suffered the same effects? Too many questions sprung to mind, cluttering his already-stressed brain, dragging the shadows even further over his eyes. As if she understood Kakashi's inner conflicts, Kurotaka slapped him on the cheek, glaring at him venomously.

"Don't you dare fall asleep now. If you leave me to sort out his issue by myself, I swear I'll kill you".

Despite the obvious answer to his order, the lack of energy forced Kakashi to bite his tongue and continue his struggle to keep consciousness. He lay there, partially supported upright by Kurotaka, her midnight tresses trailing off her own shoulders and down into his face. She peeled off her pack and started frantically rummaging through its depths, yet carefully not jolting him. The white brush-tips tickled something terrible as she moved, but in doing so they served as a deterrent from sleeping. Finally she straightened, clasping what looked like a scroll and a packet of dried weeds to his heavy eyes.

"I don't think you've been poisoned. It's definitely not a poison... Poison would have a more dramatic effect... unless" She was thinking out loud, tracing her way down the scroll as though she was hastily revising answers just before an Academy exam. He tried and failed to roll his eyes in exasperation, as what scant energy reserves he had left failed him. "Drowsiness, lack of coordination, weakness.... Kakashi, do you think you can stand up?"

Could he stand up? What kind of a question was that?! Did she think he would deliberately lie there in her lap, cushioned by her ample... oh. Maybe it was a good question after all. Gingerly he shook his head once, mouth too tired to form words any more. Even that slight movement sapped him of yet more strength. Bright spots danced in his vision, pupils sliding upwards and threatening to roll back entirely. His will was weakening even as she dumped the scroll on the ground and started to probe through the bunch of dead flowers. At last he could hold the fatigue back no longer, relaxing his hold on his eyelids and letting him close, sending him into blissful peace, all of the earthly aches of life seeming to drain away. The pain in his muscles, the nagging pain of the rocks and the bone-exhaustion of his body faded to the slightest of memories. His mind was cushioned, warm and safe in its own little dark world. Numbly he thought to himself, if this is dying, then I'm not so sure it's all that bad...

Then the darkness was waning, intrusive flashes of light invading his quiet, warm recluse. The aches of his joints were returning, jabbing his nerves violently as though anxious to make up for lost time. A foul, bitter taste rose in his mouth, clenching his stomach until his eyes flew open, just in time to plant his arms on the ground and wretch. He vomited spasmodically, as though his body was reuniting itself with its separate limbs and muscles in turn.

"Welcome back to the world", came the crisp tones of his temporarily forgotten companion, as he wretched miserably and then sat up again, hastily replacing his mask.

"I had no idea how much I missed it", he answered sarcastically, muscles trembling as he folded his arms. Inside though, he was a little concerned. She had had to pull his mask off in order to give him whatever hideous drug had purged him of the intoxicant. Had she actually seen his face entirely?

She sighed, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder wearily. "That's nice. Just please, the next time you want to overdose on sleeping pills, make sure that its someone else's problem other than mine. I don't particularly like having to restart my heart and then remember the combination of herbs to make someone vomit".

"Sleeping pills?"

"Yes, sleeping pills. It would seem that that wasn't a bag of nuts you picked up. It's just as well I'm allergic, so I didn't take any".

He nodded dumbly, but inside he wracked his brains. There was no way that he'd have mistaken medicine for food. He'd received far too extensive an education for that. Someone must have planted them, or maybe even switched them when he wasn't looking. That would have taken a very skilled Shinobi though. One capable of moving at both swift and virtually undetectable speeds. Was this yet another phase of the Jounin exam? Attempted poisoning was a far sneakier tactic than open attack; one that even the strongest of fighters wouldn't be immune to. It was likely that this particular opponent was faster than he was strong and had been hoping to weaken both Chuunin before making his move to dispose of them. Kurotaka's allergy couldn't have come at a better time.

"Come on". She jerked her head towards the road. "We can't sleep out here in the street. There's bound to be a more sheltered area for us to crash in".

Nodding, Kakashi stumbled to his feet, fatigue mixing with nausea and the exhaustion that already lingered in his body from the hard travelling. Rolling her eyes, Kurotaka offered him an arm to lean on and he grudgingly accepted, walking like a scarecrow down the road as the sun set and threw amber rays over the two bedraggled Chuunin.

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The faint morning light had deepened almost to the harsh rays of afternoon by the time Kakashi woke, hunger burning inside of him and muscles aching everywhere. Perhaps wedging himself between the two walls of a very narrow alley hadn't been the brightest of ideas after all. Unfolding himself and feeling something like a decrepit deckchair, he made his swaying way out of the alley and into the street, heading straight for the fountain. Regardless of the scandalised stares he attracted from the local merchants going about their usual wares, he plunged his head right into the icy waters of the delicate, marble fountain. The cold stung the little scrapes his face and hands had picked up over their travels, banishing the feelings of fatigue still clinging from yesterday and only emphasising his hunger. Resurfacing and gasping for breath, he quietly watched the turbulent surface of the water, rippling as droplets that clung to his face returned to the shallow pool. Who was that tired, grubby ninja staring back at him? Some embarrassing acquaintance he would be better off without, that's who....

"Finally alive? I was beginning to wonder if you'd retained some of those pills after all". Kurotaka shuffled cheerfully over to him, seeming unnaturally happy for one who was stranded penniless in the middle of a foreign town that felt neither of them much by way of good will. Intrigued, he turned to face her, shedding even more droplets onto the street. He blinked in frank disbelief.

She was scrubbed spotless; her skin flushed and glowing, hair scented and sleeked back into a bun, apart from the white tips that cascaded from the base of it like spray from a waterfall. Very cliqued, but nice either way. Her grubby and torn short kimono had been replaced by one of the same length and dark blue, but this one was remarkably cleaner and not yet shredded by the trials of running through woods with and without a path. She grinned at him. "Did you have a good rest?"

Feeling exceptionally shabby and highly suspicious, he stood up from his crouched position in front of the fountain. "What favour did you fall into while I was out?" His tone was snappish, but then again, the situation was a little unfair. She chuckled appreciatively, seeming to enjoy his annoyance.

"Come now Kakashi, the people here aren't so horrible as they'd leave a defenceless young woman out in the cold would they?"

He snorted, "surely you didn't let them believe that?" He wasn't so worried about the danger Kurotaka could have potentially been in, had she come across the wrong people during her charade, but about the integrity of her words and their affect on both Chuunin. What far-fetched story had she spun in order to get so much pity?

"Of course I did! What do I look like to you?" She shook her head in mock frustration. "Don't be so bitter, Kakashi. I included you in my little sob story as well".

"Oh? And just what role do I play in this little fairytale of yours?" He hissed through gritted teeth. Just when his morning couldn't get any more pretentious, a certain infuriating someone had to go and invent a whole new problem for him to face.

"A fairytale... now why didn't I think of that earlier?" She laughed, "I doubt you would have done much justice in the role of a prince, but probably no worse than I would a maiden in distress... No Kakashi, I told them the truth and strangely enough, they believed me. Now wasn't that odd of them? And it just so happens that I was accepted so well into their fold that they told me to bring you to them for help as well. Wasn't that kind of them, and of me to mention you?"

He rolled his eyes. It was annoying to be indebted to one so irritating at times like this. "Yes... it was very kind of you". He could feign gratefulness at least and get his own back in some other way later.

She nodded cheerfully and jogged up the street, beckoning imperiously for him to follow. Glowering under his mask, Kakashi trooped slowly after her, plotting grim vengeance as he went.

As it turned out, Kurotaka had gone to one of the most obvious places for aid – a place of religious significance. At the little Shinto shrine, she had only had to put on her most pathetic expression and ask a middle-aged couple for some spare change to buy food in order to be given by them a free room, meal and clothing. Ordinarily Kakashi would have written this off as shamefully devious, but for now... they really were both charity cases.

The couple's house was small and neat, elegantly furnished with traditional Japanese fittings, flooring and walls. It was one of the most elegant places he had ever been. It was such a shame that he had to shed dirt all over it as he staggered in from the street, looking like something that had been living in the woods all its life. Kurotaka bounded ahead of him, bowing courteously to their benefactors.

"Odayaka-san, Yogensha-san... this is my team mate – Hatake Kakashi. He is very grateful to you both for including him in your generosity". Her voice was oddly mellow, syrupy tones completely uncharacteristic for her. He slid one eye over to her in slight amazement. He wasn't aware just how sweetly innocent she could pretend to be. With that gentle smile and huge, almost chibi-esque eyes, he was surprised they hadn't simply handed her over the deeds to the house. Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. It was quite sickening to behold...

"Hatake-san, you are a ninja as well?" The older man addressed him directly, iron-ore eyes flinty as they turned from Kurotaka and seized his. Kakashi returned it, "hai, sir. I am a Chuunin of Hidden Konoha".

"And precisely what do you do to earn a living?" The question was harsh, even mocking. Kurotaka sidled from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable. It would appear that she had been spared these questions last night. Kakashi however, was not so endearing to the man as she.

He stiffened, "I am afraid that I cannot betray the nature of my employment to one who is not a high-ranking ninja, sir. I apologise, but those in my field are also under the same restriction".

"You're a spy?" The grey eyes narrowed. "I might have guessed".

"Not a spy", corrected Kakashi. This man was annoying him. Why did everyone just want to annoy him lately? Maybe he wouldn't be so easy to offend after he'd had a chance to eat something that wasn't drugged, but for now, he was not in the mood for verbal games.

"Then what are you? I don't let just anyone into my house. Your team-mate is perfectly agreeable, but I don't trust people who keep their face covered and don't answer a few simple questions".

Kurotaka; perfectly agreeable?! That did it.

"Very well". The words slid like icy venom from his throat, eyes piercing those of his interrogator. "The nature of my employment is one that I am not restricted to reveal at all. I just prefer not to mention it to those who have offered me aid, by my way of thanks. Do you truly wish to know what I am?"

Taken aback slightly at the coldness in Kakashi's words, the man rasped a quick intake of breath and exchanged glances with his wife, who was shaking her head pointedly at her husband. Kakashi noticed, to some slight amusement, that a mental struggle took place between both of them, with the husband losing. With a disdainful sniff, he strode off into one of the side rooms, without a word to either ninja or his wife.

"Please forgive my husband, good Shinobi", smiled Odayaka benignly. "I am sure he doesn't mean to offend. Please, come this way. There is food and hot water available until you are ready to leave on your task". With a shallow bow, she escorted both of them through into a dining room and hurried away to bring in a great steaming bowl of rice to them. Excusing herself, she disappeared and left both Chuunin to kneel and eat. Raised voices could be heard further down the corridors. Rice paper walls were not as soundproof as they were pretty.

Kurotaka finally broke their silence after ten minutes. "Would you really have told him what you do?" Her voice was low, careful not to be overheard, despite the yelling match in a different room.

"Hn?" It was so hard to formulate answers around a mouthful of jasmine rice.

"What would you have told him?"

"The truth". He swallowed the mouthful hurriedly, replaced his mask and shuffled around to face her. He had adopted the strategy of eating with his back towards her. It looked a little odd, but was a far easier method to speed-eating and then suffering indigestion.

"And what would that be?" There was a hesitant note of curiosity in her voice, her eyes flickering ever so slightly to meet his.

"I'm a romance writer".

"YOU'RE A WHAT?!" Her rice bowl slipped from her hands, hit the low table and ricocheted onto her robe.

"You didn't think I would tell him the truth did you?" He eye smiled at her. It was quite amusing to see someone else covered in rice for a change. Words couldn't do her facial expression justice either. The combined look of rage, disgust, humour and rice was simply priceless. Her sudden disregard for keeping her voice low also added to the humour of the picture as well. She couldn't seem to formulate a response above an incomprehensible spluttering.

"Come now, Kurotaka, do you think I would be stupid enough to tell him that I'm an assassin? All I had to do was think of an employment that people don't usually want to admit to".

"But a smut writer?! Come on Kakashi, I don't think he would have fallen for that".

"Oh? I'm hurt, I really am. I would like to think of myself as a connoisseur of these writings".

"Please. I didn't need to know that".

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It was so pleasant to feel clean again, thought Kakashi to himself as they ran ninja-style across a wide field. It was also pleasant not to be weaving continually between trees as well. Konoha was only a day or so away if they could maintain this pace. It would be wonderful to be back home.

Kurotaka jerked one hand in front of her, glancing down at the compass clasped in her palm. She gave a brief nod to Kakashi and sped up, loping easily over the long grasses. He hadn't the heart to tell her that he now knew exactly where they were going. He was back on the home stretch – the race back to Konoha after a mission. How long had it been since his last long-haul challenge? Racing alongside his masked companions, leaving behind the painful emotions associated with what they had just done for the good of the nation. Not long enough for his liking.

Something flickered on the edge of his vision. Instinct took over.

"Kuro! Down!" He leapt forward and shoved, using his momentum to send her sprawling to the ground, rolling in the grass with him tangled in her limbs. He sprang away from her and ducked, even as a volley of arrows fired overhead. Kurotaka gave a growl, spitting out a mouthful of grass that her fall accumulated, but didn't say anything offensive. It was better to be grass-stained and moderately offended than blood-stained and moderately dead.

Kakashi squinted carefully from where he was crouched, trying to sight the location of their attackers. There didn't seem to be anyone in view. A trap perhaps? He gazed critically down the length of the field, until it caught his eye. The faint glitter of Chakra wire, barely five metres away behind them. Kurotaka must have snapped it as she ran; that was the problem with increasing the power of one's own Chakra; it made it harder for you to notice weaker strains of those belonging to other people. It was much harder to hide Chakra wire from a rookie than it was hiding it from a talented ninja with a huge Chakra supply.

Kurotaka hissed under her breath, "crossbow under Chakra camouflage". She pointed to a clump of grass a couple of hundred metres away that stuck out at odd angles. Carefully she drew a handful of shuriken from her leg holster and threw them in a wide volley. The Chakra shield deflected one and then crumbled as another caught it seconds afterwards, exposing a masked and hooded figure wielding a crossbow.

Kakashi joined Kurotaka's assault with a shuriken of his own, expertly nicking the crossbow string and disabling the weapon. Their attacker dropped the bow, not bothering to try restringing it and leapt back into the grass and what cover it could offer. Kakashi sent another handful of throwing knives after the trail of parting grass. There was a small shriek and then no other sound. Coldly, he turned back to where Kurotaka was crouched, only to be launched upon by another masked person, yowling as he drove a haggard sword down to where Kakashi was kneeling on the ground.

Reacting with an educated grace, Kakashi drew his own katana from the leather sheath across his back and blocked overhead, the two blades grinding and sparking as they caught. He sprang backwards, katana curving in delicate, warning arcs. This was not a sword meant to block and counter other swords; it was designed to cut through whatever it came across. At the right angle, he could shear his enemy's blade in two, and next time, he wouldn't miss.

Teasing his blade towards his opponent, making the other swordsman dance hastily out of the katana's path, he glanced surreptitiously for where Kurotaka had disappeared to. She had vanished it would seem. Whether she had been attacked while he wasn't looking or had snuck away to gain a tactical advantage, he didn't know. Either way, his attentions where somewhat taken for now.

The swordsman moved in, blade flashing and cutting into Kakashi's defences, forcing him to step back and consider his options. The skills of this random attacker were not vast. Judging by his strikes, Kakashi could disarm and put the man out of action to question him or simply dispose of him quickly and look for Kurotaka. The former would take longer, but prove more useful in determining a motive, the latter appealed to him much more. Now wasn't time for games, but he needed some information.

With a decisive thrust of his katana and nimble flick, he caught his opponent's sword at the hilt and sheared the blade from it, sending the stunted sword spinning from the man's grasp. Advancing on the stunned ex-swordsman, Kakashi lazily planted the tip of the blade on the man's chest.

"Kindly don't try to run. I'd have to make an awful mess if you did".

The man nodded slowly, face as white as a sheet, or at least what was visible of it under the mottled grey mask. He stood stock-still, not offering the least motive for Kakashi to cleave him in half.

"Two questions. Give me the two answers I want and you can run off. Give me two bad answers and you can run off, but not get very far... do you understand?"

He nodded again, fingers twitching at his sides.

"That's nice. Now, tell me. Why have you attacked me?"

His attacker stared sullenly at the ground. "I'm not permitted to tell".

"Oh dear, that wasn't a good answer. Would you like to try again?" Kakashi lightly put more pressure on the katana, pricking the skin. He had to be careful; this blade could very easily cut through flesh, with or without him intending to.

"We're thieves. Is that good enough?" The man spat contemptuously at him. Kakashi regarded him thoughtfully, "good enough for now I suppose. Second question; where is my team mate?"

"She's fighting one of the others".

"Really? I don't see or hear any fighting".

"That's because they're in a Chakra cage".

Kakashi's teeth gritted. "Change of plan, you can run after you open this cage". He tightened his stance, anger boiling in his veins.

"I can't do that. Only her and the ninja she's sparring can. I don't even know why he attacked with us. He wasn't part of our group".

Kakashi felt his blood run cold. "What's that supposed to mean?" He stared at the blank space of empty field behind the man. Somewhere, Kuro was trapped in there, engaged in a death match and he couldn't help her.

"I mean he's not part of our... gang of thieves... he's a good ninja, one of the policing force. He shouldn't be associating himself with us". The hooded man was frank, unashamed of his social standing.

"Who is he?" He had to ask, even though he knew the answer in the pit of his stomach.

"One of the Uchiha clan of course. Really perceptive one you are".

"Why would an Uchiha be with you?" His hands were numb, the katana slackening in his grasp. This couldn't be happening.

"I just told you, I don't know!" The man could obviously sense Kakashi's weakness, for he twisted to one side, drawing a concealed dagger and plunging it towards his opponent's ribs. Almost automatically, Kakashi blocked the dagger, not with his sword, but with a swift mawashigeri jodan. The hooded "thief" crumpled to the ground. A direct hit to the side of the head with the flat of Kakashi's foot. Consciousness was not an option.

Completely disregarding the man, Kakashi stepped towards the space. There was only one way he knew for breaking Chakra prisons, and it would involve the use of a technique he had only previously used for assassination.

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wild-filly: will update as soon as I can... how very strange that I seem to be coming up with cliff hangers... Please review!