Kakashi realized vaguely that he should probably leave the two kids alone when Naruto kissed Ran but he found something made his gut churn. There was a strange wind to the air. It was cautious and tentative blowing the hairs along the back of his neck. Ran stiffened at first before very gently allowing the blonde to pull her body closer to his. Her hands had wound up pressed against his chest, thank the world he'd had a shirt on, as his own slipped into her hair. His fingers knotted in the violet strands as a loud thud hammered the window. Ran jerked back sucking in a breath as Kakashi quickly moved away from the line of sight. He watched as a messenger hawk tapped it's tiny orange beak against the glass rapidly. It was an ANBU hawk with a scroll tapered to its leg.

"Naruto…" he reached forward to take her wrist. She pulled back quickly getting to her feet as the coffee colored bird with a light tan stomach let off a warning call.

"What's wrong?" she threw open his window and ripped the scroll off as the bird settled ruffling it's feathers and wings to adjust sitting on her shoulder.

"I…I have to go. You uhm…stay here ok? They don't need all the ANBU. They're just calling some of us out." She glanced back at him shoving the scroll in her pocket. He could still see the blush crested over her neck and cheeks.

"I can go with you." He said pushing up onto his knees. Something tugged at her heart seeing him willing to fight with her but the panic rising in her chest overrode it. This message had been sent in hast. She knew that they had specifically stated she come alone.

"No. No…" she shook her head trying not to sound so urgent. "Naruto you can't go." The hawk nipped at her face screeching in her ear. She swatted at it annoyed and headed for the door.

"Why can't I?" he asked getting on his feet now.

"I said NO Naruto!" she snapped yanking the door open. "just…I have to go." She whispered seeing the plain lines of hurt and worry cross his face as she'd yelled.

"Ran…" Naruto said as she slammed the door.

Not a lot of things set Kakashi off as of late but this girl had just struck a very high nerve. Naruto had a range of highly sensitive emotions. She'd just plucked a hard string and slammed a door in his face. The old ninja quickened his pace following after the swordswoman. She was traveling at a faster rate than normal implying that whatever had been on that note was of great importance. She took a left evading the ANBU barracks which confused him. Staying on her tail he drew up short almost smacking his head off a branch to see her skidding to a halt near the edge of the village by the river. There was a small pool where the water met the ravine and the moon cast an eerie glow over the faint reflective surface.

"What happened?" she whispered into the wind. At first Kakashi assumed it was directed at absolutely nothing and that she was insane but from the darkness of the tree line a figure came forward. When he was in view he noted that she became on edge and her body was stiff. The man was dressed in traditional ANBU gear and neared her almost instantly. He invaded her personal space towering over her as if challenging her to move. She narrowed her eyes and kept her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"You said it was an emergency. What happened?" she snapped growing wary.

"It is somewhat of an emergency. The sealed walls are beginning to crumble. We need you to fix them." Ran struck his chest plate shoving him back hard glaring at him intensely.

"THAT is NOT an emergency." He chuckled going to run a hand through her hair. She slapped it away agitated.

"Also…" he caught the arm that had smacked him away and yanked her forward. Even with a mask on Kakashi got the feeling that his face was alive with rage beneath, "the plan is moving ahead. Whether you like it or not; we will finish this." She tried to pull her arm back wishing she'd had her kantana strapped to her back.

"You can't make me do anything." Ran spit on his mask.

"I can make you do whatever I want." He growled gripping her arm tighter. "Because if you don't," she felt her nostrils flare in anger, "Your little biju might just have an accident."

"I'd kill you before you laid a hand on him!" her words were lethal and cold.

"Wouldn't it just make so much sense?" he countered releasing her arm causing her to stumble back a step.

"What are you talking about?" she rubbed the skin there eyeing him.

"A scorned lover who happened to be a hidden sealer? Got into a fight with her boyfriend…who happened to be a biju container…and what luck? She decided to unseal the beast inside him to unleash it on the village?" Kakashi watched as almost all the color began to drain from the girl's face rapidly.

"Are you threatening to frame me?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

"I'm just telling you what will happen if you don't comply." Her blood was rushing to her ears pumping in long loud thumps behind her eyes. "We are fully prepared to reveal who and what you are and Naruto will be the one who suffers."

"How dare you…"

"Think of it as collateral." He laughed. "Now, go fix the containing walls so we don't have to worry about the chakra leaking out." And with the swirling of the nighttime winds he was gone.

Ran did not go back to Naruto's when she was finished fixing the detainment walls to an underground room hidden beneath the barracks. Only a select number of ANBU had ever seen the hidden catacombs under the village and only a couple of them knew the horrors that laid there. She had seen the cells only a number of times, enough to count on one hand, and she hated them. The exact cell that she'd been asked to fix had contained a captured essence from a curse mark; in other words, a piece of Orochimaru that they had kept alive after the Edo-Tensei jutsu had been released. She couldn't stand the man and honestly even sealing him back inside the cell to make sure others didn't pick up on his chakra leaking into the ground drove her insane. He was always talking about why and how she could let him out. Screw that. She didn't trust him and she knew that he knew Sasuke was living back within the village walls. There was no way in hell she was letting those two ever get near one another again.

Her own apartment was cold, barren, and dark when she opened the door. She didn't bother reaching for the lights because then she'd have to look at herself passing the mirror in the hallway. She was so upset with everything that had happened she didn't know that she could walk by it without breaking it if she saw her reflection. How could they threaten Naruto? How could they expect her to go through with what they were asking? It was like picking one evil over the worse evil; neither choice was a happy one. Either way someone was going to get killed, possibly hundreds, if it didn't go as planned. She stopped in the hallway gritting her teeth gripping the sides of her head. Her knuckles started to turn white from the grip on her hair as tears began to form burning hot against her cheeks.

"I can't do this…" she strained out.

"Do what exactly?" Kakashi asked stepping out from the shadow in the living room corner crossing his arms over his chest.