A/N: Hi!

I'm back! And I'm sorry for the cliffhangers – it's not like I'm planning them but they're just somehow always there if I want to finish a chappy. Sorry, I'm not doing it because I want to annoy you. :D

Chapter five

Kakashi leaped from tree to tree carrying the unconscious Anko in his arms. She was much lighter than he had expected. Indeed, in his eyes she was almost too light; but maybe he was just overreacting. It's been a while since he had carried someone. After he had kept running for a while and the distance between them and the cave was big enough he finally stopped and carefully laid Anko down. She was still unconscious. But so he could check her injuries without her insisting that she all right. Gently he touched the side where the stone had hit her and his heart nearly stopped. Where his hand should've met the resistance of ribs there was barely one. And it felt wet. A certain red liquid, also known as blood, was slowly soaking her coat. Without thinking much he took the coat off and examined her wounds. Not only had the stone broken her ribs it had also left an ugly gash in her side. Not wanting her to lose more blood he quickly and at the same time carefully first cleaned the wound and then bandaged it up. With that done he laid Anko on her right side so that she hopefully could breathe easier.

Now he could just wait and hope that she would wake up soon and that her injuries weren't too serious. He couldn't stand the thought of losing another teammate. No Anko surely wouldn't die just because of some broken ribs and from loss of blood. This didn't sound convincing but at least he knew that Anko was way too stubborn to simply die here. He sat down besides her listening to her labored breathing. It was his fault that she was in this condition. She had saved him… just like Obito had. Was she going to die like Obito, too? It couldn't be. He wouldn't allow it! It couldn't possibly be that all those who even only once protected him were destined to die. Life was unfair. Everyone close to him sooner or later died right in front of his eyes: his father, Obito, Rin… It was kind of ironic. He had promised that he would protect Rin but in the end he not only failed with keeping that promise – Rin even died because of him.

They had been fighting in a major battle back then. Leaf versus Stone. At the end of the day the battlefield had been nothing a bloody swamp. Konoha had been the winner (if you could say that under such circumstances). They had lost for too many shinobi in this battle. Rin being one of the few medic-nins had been very busy so that she and Kakashi had been separated during the fighting. At the end of the battle he had been lying somewhere in this bloody swamp mortally wounded and at the edge of dieing. He really had thought that when the day was over his life was as well. But then Rin had found him. She had said something but at this point Kakashi already had lost too much blood to understand her words. He only had felt her tears falling on his face. And he had seen the white lines that they had left in her blood-covered face. He had closed his eyes then; not because he had wanted to but because he hadn't had the strength left to keep them open any longer. He really had expected to die there but the time he had almost reached the other side he had felt a warm, comforting energy flowing through his body. He had known this feeling very well – it always meant that someone was healing you. Somehow he had managed to open one eye again. Rin had been healing him. Her hands had already been shaking but nevertheless she had kept healing him. But the wound in his stomach hadn't stopped bleeding. Rin had sent that much Chakra through her hands they had started bleeding. Eventually she had been able to close his wound. Kakashi had been saved but with her task done Rin had broken down. That day, if not that very minute, she had died from lack of Chakra.

Xxx

Looking at Anko Kakashi clenched his fists. He was a jounin, former ANBU, but what was it good for if he couldn't even protect his comrades? He was considered a genius so why? Why did he let things like this happen? Should he able to prevent them? A sound from the left teared him away from his thoughts. Anko coughed. Looking at her face he noticed that she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused and she stayed like this for a moment but then her eyes fell on him and she sat up or at least tried to but fell backwards. Kakashi caught her and then leaned her against a tree so that she could sit. He felt unbelievable relieved that Anko had woken up again. Now he had only to get her back to the Konoha-hospital.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. Quite a stupid question because 1) she was holding her right side with one hand, which meant it definitely hurt and 2) he already knew the coming answer.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"I don't think you are. We need to return to Konoha as soon as possible so that we can get your wounds treated."

"But you've already treated them."

Kakashi rolled with his eyes. "That was merely first aid you need a proper treatment." He stated. Anko looked at him with a just too stubborn expression. He instinctively knew that arguing was useless. He could only drag her back to Konoha and probably worsen her injuries (or get injured himself) or he could give in and make sure that nothing would happen to her during this mission.

"Fine, fine." He chose the second. "But before we continue we'll rest here for a while."

She nodded slightly smiling. Scratching his head he muttered. "You're too stubborn for your own good."

"You aren't better either…" Came the sly reply.

Xxx

They had been resting there for quite a while but neither of them said a single word. Kakashi seemed to be lost in his thoughts and Anko concentrated on breathing. As long as it was possible Anko tried to take shallow breaths because with that the pain in her right side had eased although it didn't go away completely. Somehow she felt thirsty and so Anko wanted to take her water bottle but it turned out to be quite difficult because the water bottle was on her right side and so she couldn't get it without sending a new wave of pain through her body. Noticing Anko's futile attempts Kakashi simply took the bottle, opened t and then held it up to her mouth so that she could drink. "I can drink by myself." She muttered and took it with her left hand feeling a bit uncomfortable about the fact that he was actually looking after her. But nevertheless she mumbled a 'Thanks' before drinking. Looking at the copy-ninja reminded her that she still wanted to know something.

"May I ask you something?" She questioned.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Sure. What?"

She first hesitated but then asked. "Why did this Iwa-nin mistake you for the White Fang? I mean – I mean you can't be the White Fang. I heard he is dead…"

Kakashi looked down on his hands. "Yeah that's true…" Anko felt like she shouldn't have asked that question. The silver-haired jounin looked at her again. "The 'White Fang' as he had been called was my father. I guess there's a resemblance between us." He looked up to the already setting sun, which was dying the whole sky in a deep red color. Kakashi stood up. Although he was wearing a mask Anko could still see the somehow that expression on his face. "I think we should go and look for a nice place where we can rest for the night." He said. Standing up as well Anko followed him. She wanted to apologize for her question but right when she opened her mouth she had to cough. Almost reflexive she put her hand in front of her mouth. She felt something warm in her hand and seeing this red liquid she realized that she had just coughed blood. This surely wasn't good but being Anko she decided to ignore it and simply followed Kakashi.

TBC

A/N: So this chappy is done as well. And being the evil me I decided not to continue writing before I haven't got at least… 5 reviews. Hey only five tiny reviews :D So why don't you click this sweet purple button to the left :D ?

Thanks to Akanan and fire.elve for reviewing.

disappears in a poof of smoke