It had been several hours and they still hadn't found Nayamae. Shinjou decided she didn't want to keep holding onto Kakashi herself and ordered some of her men to keep an eye on him.

"I'll make sure that your death is the last thing the fox sees before I kill her as well," Shinjou told him threateningly before he was dragged away once again.

Instead of taking him back down to the stone dungeon, he was tied to a supporting pole in a random room with one guard sitting across from him. From the other side of the paper doors, he could hear the occasional person running by, still in search of Nayamae. By now it was late morning. The guard watching him sat against the opposite supporting pole, noisily eating breakfast and slurping down a canteen of water. It wasn't until now that Kakashi realized how thirsty and hungry he was. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything since before they had been caught on the mountain. He shook his head, trying not to think of the smell wafting from the guard's food.

Several more hours passed by, turning into the afternoon. The guard was obviously just as bored as he was. There wasn't much for him to do just sitting there. He thought he dozed off a few times, but would awake with a start whenever he heard a loud noise.

The room itself was mostly bare with its paper walls and bamboo floor mats. Every so often the guard would stand and stretch his legs and open the door a crack to talk to somebody outside or to take lunch from them. Kakashi felt extremely stiff from sitting and having his arms behind him for so long. He wanted to stand, but more than anything wanted something to eat and drink. His mouth felt like cotton.

It was nearing the evening again now. Somebody had brought them a single lamp for the room, but it wasn't very bright. They still hadn't found the kitsune.

Kakashi was letting his mind wander. What if Nayamae escaped back to the village and was bringing back a rescue party? Or maybe on her way back to the village, she met the rescue party and was leading them here? He didn't quite know the likelihood of her actually doing that, but he allowed himself to imagine it anyway. He also thought she might have escaped and wasn't coming back for him. He wondered if his hunger and thirst would kill him before Shinjou would get the chance to.

"Do you trust me?" Nayamae's voice echoed softly in his head. He told her that he did, and now it was being tested. He was going to have to trust her.

He smiled slightly to himself, thinking of the melted metal on the door. She had taken his suggestion after all. He wondered how much of her kitsunebi she had to use in order to get the metal hot enough to not just bend, but to completely melt.

It was dark outside now. The guard had fallen asleep, his arms crossed over his chest and his head drooped heavily. Kakashi's head hung low, his chin resting on his chest, but he wasn't quite asleep.

He heard a faint drag from the paper door. He pulled his head up to look. By the faint light of the lamp, a black shadowed mass crawled into the room, shutting the door softly behind it. Kakashi blinked, unsure if he saw glowing red eyes coming from the mass. It moved behind the guard, putting a hand over his face and an arm around his neck, yanking him violently against the pole behind him. The guard's eyes were wide as he tried to breathe, his arms and legs flailing wildly as he tried to fight off his attacker. Kakashi would have thought to try a quieter attack with the noise the man was making, but no one came to his aid. After several intense seconds, the man went slack, slumping comically against the pole. Carefully, the attacker released him, guiding him to the floor so he wouldn't make any more loud noises.

The black shadow came from behind the guard, moving towards Kakashi. He had his suspicions when it came into the room, but as it moved closer to him, he was absolutely sure it was Nayamae. Once she was closer to the light, he noticed her eyes. They flickered between the normal sharp brown to the glowing red. He then noticed the sword hanging from her waist. It looked different than the one he had seen her carry before. It was longer, with a wider grip and a dark, glossy sheath. The katana hung from her waist by a red ribbon.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" she whispered, moving behind him to untie him from the pole. His aching muscles felt immediate relief.

"Naya! I'm fine. Do you-" Kakashi began to reply, but she had thrown her arms around his shoulders, embracing him tightly. He blinked again, surprised.

She let him go, holding him at arm's length. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "I'm just glad to see she hadn't killed you yet."

He shook his head. "No, not yet. Do you have any water? Or some food?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh, right!" She crawled back to the guard, stealing the canteen from his waist. "Here," she said, handing it to Kakashi who took it and drank greedily. "I have a little bit of food, but I'm afraid it may be a little crushed."

"I don't mind," he said. "Anything is fine at this point."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small paper package that looked like it had been refolded several times. "It's all I managed to steal from the kitchens. I had two, but I already ate mine."

Though it was far from any size meal that would be completely satisfying, Kakashi took and gratefully ate the rice ball anyway. "Thank you. Where have you been all this time?" he asked her between small bites.

She had tied the guard to the pole using Kakashi's bindings, coming back to his side of the room and sitting next to him. "I've been busy," she replied vaguely.

"Doing what, exactly?"

"Planning on rescuing you, of course," she said, smiling slightly. "After Shinjou took you, I decided your idea wasn't too bad after all. It took a lot out of me to get that metal hot enough to bend so I could escape. Thankfully, you were both gone for a while so I had plenty of time to escape."

"You're welcome, but where did you go?" he asked. "They've been looking for you since yesterday."

She put her finger to her lips, grinning widely. "I have my secret hiding spots around here that even Shinjou doesn't know about. I had to lay low in one of them to gather my strength back. I only woke up a few hours ago."

"But the guards and the heightened security?" he questioned. "How did you get past them? How did you know where to find me?"

"You forget I can sense people's chakra," she reminded him. "I avoided the guards and was trying to pinpoint where you were. Shinjou's compound is big enough that it was quite the challenge, but I managed just fine."

He nodded, finishing the riceball. "Where'd you get the sword?" he asked, reaching up behind his head to untie the cloth that was over his left eye.

She held it up. "It's Ryu's," she admitted. "I took this from a shrine Shinjou has for him. I didn't think he would mind me using it for protection."

"I don't think he'd mind at all," he agreed. They sat for a few more minutes, trying to plan the best way out.

"If I see her, I'm going to challenge her," Nayamae said determinedly, catching him off guard.

Kakashi was confused by what she meant. "Challenge her?"

"For her position. I'm allowed to challenge her to a fight, and if I win, I get everything she does," she explained.

"And if you don't win, you're dead," he stated with a frown. "We should just escape while we can and not worry about fighting for control."

"But if I do win, I can do what I want with her business and shut it down."

They argued back and forth for another minute or two, only quieting down when they heard somebody walk by. The guard was still out cold.

"We should go," Nayamae said once the coast was clear. "Can you stand?" she asked, holding her hand out to him.

"Yeah," he said, taking her hand to pull himself up.

She moved closer to the door, pausing to sense where any guards were. "We need to move quickly," she said, turning back to him. "Go now." She slid the door open, sprinting across an open courtyard to the other side. Kakashi was right on her heels, but wasn't expecting her to climb onto the roof from a gutter. She beckoned to him to hurry, helping him onto the roof.

Together, they quietly ran across the roofs of the separate buildings. Only a few times did they have to pause and hide on the opposite side to avoid being seen. Eventually, Nayamae stopped in the middle of a roof.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi whispered after nearly running into her. "Why'd you stop?"

"Up ahead," she whispered back. "Everyone is gathering in that courtyard. We should check it out." She started to move forward, but Kakashi held her back.

"Let's not," he said. "If everyone is going that way, I suggest we go the opposite way and escape."

"We should just take a peek and get out before it's over." Nayamae insisted. "Aren't you at least a bit curious to what's going on?"

"No, I'm not curious. If we go over there, someone is bound to either see us or hear us. We should leave," he continued, trying to keep her from moving forward.

"Shinjou is over there." She stared intensely into Kakashi's eye. "I may have a chance to finally end this."

Kakashi stared back at her in almost disbelief. Was she trying to get herself killed? He soon realized she was going to go with or without him, but he wasn't going to leave her by herself. He gave in, swiftly following her towards the group gathering in a nearby courtyard.

Quietly, the pair laid down on the roof to peek over into the yard. Over fifty people had grouped in the area, leaving an empty space in the middle. Shinjou stood in the center, her arms crossed over her chest, looking impatient under the moonlight. The crowd parted as two men dragged another man into the crowd, unceremoniously dropping him in front of Shinjou. Kakashi recognized him as the guard who had been watching him all day.

The man bowed deeply to the ground, pleading with Shinjou. "Please! I was attacked!" he told her.

"You let the Sharingan user go! I imagine it was the fox who helped him escape, but you let her!" she said. "Why are you of any use to me if you can't even defend yourself?" She reached across her body and pulled out her sword, striking the guard across his neck. He fell to his knees, his hands grabbing his throat as blood poured from the wound. Shinjou grabbed his shoulder and stabbed the sword clean through him. With a disgusting thud, the man fell faceforward to the ground.

Shinjou looked to her men around her. "If that fox and Sharingan user aren't found within the next hour, I'm gutting all of you!"

Nayamae gritted her teeth and went to stand, but Kakashi pulled her back down, shaking his head vigorously. She pulled away from him and stood tall on the roof, looking down to the ground.

"SHINJOU!" she called loudly. Everybody stopped running and faced where the voice was coming from. Shinjou looked up to the roof in surprise. Kakashi covered his face with his hands, not believing she was actually going through with her challenge. "I challenge you!"

Shinjou paused, taking in her words, then began to laugh. The men around her laughed as well. "You challenge me?" she questioned. "You won't win!"

"Then fight me and we'll find out!" Nayamae countered. "Or are you too coward to fight in front of your men?"

"Fine," Shinjou said, sheathing her sword. "I accept your challenge."

Oh, Naya... What have you gotten yourself into? Sorry for the short chapter, but I decided to leave the challenge for next chapter!

Thanks for reading!