HeartBrokenHitomi- Hey what's up guys? Or Girls? To anyone who reads this! Haha! Any way, this is Chapter 4! Hoora! I hope you like it. And I also hope you like the story. I do not own Naruto. Just Kana and Roku, but he's probably dead now. OH well…

Chapter 4

Team 7 did have much to travel before they reached Konoha. Kana was well enough to walk after a few hours of being carried by Kakashi, he didn't mind and neither did she. She walked beside Kakashi, and the kids couldn't stop rubbing in what Roku had said about them. He had said Kakashi loved Kana.

"Oh my god! Kakashi love someone!?!" Naruto yelped in laughter.

"Hard to believe isn't it?" Kana piped in, jokingly. Kakashi looked at her sternly.

"Please, I beg you, don't encourage him" Kakashi muttered. Kana just shrugged.

"If my life wasn't being threatened and I wasn't about to almost drown in freezing water, I would have laughed." She said honestly. "I mean, it's funny. But its not ya know? Its…sweet really… What a nice way to find out someone loves you. By someone who's about to kill you." Kana smiled at Kakashi, his favorite smile.

"Ok, so Kakashi-sensei isn't denying it? That's awesome! I totally knew! Sasuke, Naruto, you two owe me dinner!" Sakura cheered silently.

"Can we please stop talking about this?!" Kakashi begged at the same time Kana said "Wait, you three betted on us?"

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances.

"Uh no?"

"Hell no"

"…"

Kana looked at Kakashi, both started laughing.

Naruto and Sakura glared at them. Suddenly, Sakura remembered something. "Would you quite laughing if I told you Iruka-sensei is the one who started the bet?"

….

Silence

Then,

"That punk I'm gonna kill him!" Kana said, slamming her fist into her other hand, making her statement.

"NOW you want to take action against them?" Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"You know what Kakashi, your right. We should just tell Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto we bet on them! Ha!" Kana turned and stuck her tongue out at her kids. She started walking and Kakashi shrugged at them and followed her. They walked on the path for another 15 minutes with out talk, light slowly fading from view beyond the horizon.

"Hey, we should stop for the night." Kakashi said to Kana. She looked behind her, the kids were arguing amongst themselves but they seemed very tired. She looked back up at Kakashi, before nodding. The group found a small little spot to rest in and set up. Kana and Sakura rolled out all of the sleeping bags and Naruto and Sasuke fished while Kakashi fetched firewood. The order of this sleeping arrangement from the left and in a circle was: Kana, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi with Kana on his left again. Time passed quickly and the group ate a quick dinner and started to head off to bed. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto all fell asleep instantly. Kana sat on her sleeping bag, watching them sleep. A small smile graced her face.

"What are you thinking about?" Kakashi asked quietly, avoiding her eyes and staring at the fire that was still burning in the middle of the circle.

"Life, death, and the pursuit of love" She answered back, just as quiet. Next to her, Naruto growled in his sleep. She tentatively placed a hand on his head, brushing her fingers through his hair softly. He seemed to calm down and rolled over toward Sakura. Kana pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her forearms.

"What are you thinking about?" Kana whispered.

"You." He muttered honestly. She turned to look at him then quietly stared into the fire again.

"Why? I'm fine. I live, I breathe, and I fight. I'm alive" She sighed.

"I know. But what am I going to do if you died?"

For once, Kana didn't have an answer. She instantly blamed herself for becoming the weakness of the best ninja in Konoha. Would he have been happy without knowing her?

She knew she shouldn't ask but she did anyway.

"Would you have been better off not knowing me at all?" Kakashi looked at her, surprised and slightly angry.

"No" he snapped "I can't believe you would ask that"

"I know. I'm sorry, I just had to know" She whispered.

"Why would you want to know that?" He asked.

"Would you rather save me or the kids?" She moved to sit behind him, facing the woods to his left. Her right side rested against him, she could hear his heart beat through his jounin vest, her favorite sound.

"Kakashi?"

"I would save all of you."

"That wasn't a choice"

"It is now." He muttered.

"I'm serious Kakashi! Would you give up a mission to save me?"

"Yes" Kakashi answered. He felt her sigh and place her head against his back.

"Kakashi, I'm going to die. And based on my clumsiness, I will die before you. You need to accept-"

"No! I'm going to always look out for you! You're not going to die!" He retorted. She was silent. Kana knew that she wouldn't make it home on some mission. She knew he couldn't possible stop her from dieing eventually. Yet, some part of her knew that she needed to convince him to keep going. She almost died today, and it made her realize how much she had impacted Team 7. She mothered all of the kids in some way, was always there for them. Kana knew that even though she isn't their mother, she loved them like a mother. They loved her like that as well. And if she died, she knew they would stop existing unless Kakashi was there to push them on. That's what she feared the most. She feared that her death would kill her kids and her Kakashi. She needed him to live for them if she died, he needed to live for himself.

"What if you died?" She asked heatedly, trying to prove her point to him "What should I do?"

"You should live. You take care of the kids, you teach them everything. You move on!" He said realizing her point.

"Exactly! That's what I need you to do for them if I die! Promise me! Right now, I want you to promise me that you will do that!"

"I…promise" he sighed, not sure he could do all of that.

"Thank you…" she whispered.

"You should sleep"

Kana nodded and crawled around to face Kakashi. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder. He hesitantly placed his arms around her, holding her tightly. He breathed in her strawberry scent, memorizing it.

"Wake me up when you get tired. I'll take a shift. The kids all conked out. They won't take watch. Thank you for everything. I love you Kakashi Hatake" she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Yep, you're welcome. I…love you too Kana" he whispered into her hair. She pulled back and then placed a small kiss on his cheek.

"Night" she whispered and then instead of going to her sleeping bag, laid down next to him on his.

"Night" he mutters, knowing its going to be hard concentrating on keeping watch if she's so close to him.

The next morning

"Hey sleepy head, wake up!"

Kana's voice snapped Kakashi awake and he slowly sat up. He assumed that she woke up half way through the night and took a shift, letting him sleep. He had a strange dream, a dream about Kana, except she died. He had a bad feeling with him that the dream was a premonition of today. He couldn't get the feeling out of his stomach, and that made him anxious. He looked around, Sakura and Sasuke were trying to get Naruto up too. Everything was packed up, except his sleeping bag, and Naruto's. Kana walked over to where Naruto was sleeping and snatched his bag and unzipped it, letting the cold air slip into his bag. Naruto growled and sat up.

"Alright… alright! I'm up!" Kana laughed at him and stooped down to ruffle his hair.

"Sorry kiddo had too. We need to get going."

"Yeah yeah I know." He stood and fixed his hair. A few minutes later, the Team was ready to go. With Kakashi and Kana in the lead, they set off on the trail back home. They walked a ways before Kana stopped Kakashi.

"Something's not right. I have a bad feeling about this." Kana whispered. She had stopped them at the thickest part of the woods, and only a few hours from Konoha if they walked the rest of the way. Kakashi looked around, trying to sense any chakra. The weakest chakra was next to him, Kana. This was bad. Some part of Kakashi thought that the dream was no becoming reality.

"Do you guys sense a trap?" Sakura asked in a small voice from behind them.

"Not really. It's…something else." Kana answered quietly. This put the group into tense mode. Every muscle was on edge. Suddenly Kana and Kakashi looked to the left and jumped back. The spot where they just were was suddenly covered in needles. Kana shouted at the kids.

"Hey, don't just stand there, evasive maneuvers!" She barked at the stunned kids. They nodded and dropped their stuff, running into the woods for cover and avoiding any sharp flying needles. Once the attack stopped, two large men dropped out of the trees. Kana had her back to a tree that was facing the two men, Kakashi in front of her. They held their breath as one of the men placed a hand on the trunk of the tree. The two men were chuckling to themselves. Kana started to lean out to see them but Kakashi held her to the tree.

"Brother, we have them. Master said he only needed one of them. He wants to take their memory and-"one of them laughed but was soon stopped by the other.

"Shut up brother! They are still here."

"Oh right…"

"Come on out and fight!" the other man said from in front of the tree where Kakashi and Kana were hiding. The other man started heading into the other direction, where the genin were hiding. Kana listened to his footsteps fading and looked at Kakashi with scared eyes. He shook his head no, not yet. Kana glared at him.

"Brother… I can feel them hiding over here, the little ones. Will their memory do?"

"They would have to know a lot about the village, let's not take that risk… I want the dark haired girl. She's jounin, did you see her vest?" Kakashi's grip on Kana tightened and she tried to shake him off. She intensified her glare, Now!, it screamed to him. He narrowed his eye, not yet.

"Yes brother, I did. I did." The man that stalked toward the genin stopped suddenly.

"Hm? What is it Soga?" the man near Kakashi and Kana's tree asked "Did you find those little rascals?" At this Kana started pulling at Kakashi's arm. He pinned her to the tree harder, wait, his look said to her. She rolled her eyes at him and kept pulling.

"Brother… I don't smell the kids, but I do smell your two jounin. There at the tree, were you are."

Kakashi took a step back and pulled Kana to him. A sword suddenly came slicing through the tree. Kakashi jumped back farther, carrying Kana. They landed in the brush a few feet away. Sakura was instantly at their side.

"Hey, you guys ok?" She whispered.

"Yeah" Kana muttered.

"Yeah, hey, do me a favor and take her will ya?"

Kana and Sakura looked at Kakashi like he had a second head growing out of his shoulder.

"Are you telling a genin to take care of me?!" Kana whispered angrily. Kakashi shrugged.

"You could put it that way. Shit, Sakura, get out of here" Kakashi snapped and grabbed Kana, dodging another sword strike.

"Well, I think we should fight back!" Kana reached into Kakashi's bag and pulled out two kunai and stood her ground. She didn't have hers since Roku took it. Kakashi sighed and took two more out as well.

"Ah… you have quite the spirit, girl" the man said and rested his sword against his shoulder. He was lanky, skinny and tall, with a red cloak on.

"They do, don't they, Brother" Soga laughed from behind them. Kakashi looked over his right shoulder and analyzed 'Soga'. He was big and short. With a sword hanging delicately from his sausage fingers and he was wearing an enormous blue cloak.

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?" Kana barked at them. Brother straightened up and pointed at her.

"You darling, my master needs a jounin. You see, we need someone who's grown up in Konoha. And why waste my time fetching him any 'ole jounin when I can give something like you to him? Hm? Yes, I thought that would be more…fun."

"Heh, like I'm that easy…" Kana muttered.

"Ah, but you are. Roku did his job. He wore you out. And now, your chakra level is lower than a baby's. And you're obviously tired from your fight with him." Brother laughed. Kana stiffened. He was right.

"I still won't go that easily!" she growled and ran at him. He laughed again and moved his sword in front of him. She lunged at him and threw one arm out, kunai still in hand. He easily blocked it with his sword and she had to put the other one against the sword, in an 'X', making it harder for him to overpower her. She moved her kunai to the side and let his sword drop into the deep earth. Kana then stepped in the tip of his downed sword and tried to slash at his throat. Brother dropped the sword and threw his left forearm up, blocking her, and he sent a palm into her sternum. She was thrown back a bit. Her legs gave out on her and she fell to her knees. Kakashi tried to get to her but Soga rushed him. Kakashi ducked and whirled around, kicking Soga's sword into the ground and slashing at him with the kunai. Soga leaned back, avoiding the kunai. Kakashi went for his throat but Soga pulled his sword up at the right moment and it became a strength match, two kunai versus one sword. Kakashi's kunai wavered for a moment, but he kept them up. Soga laughed.

"Brother, I think this guy doesn't want you to take her."

"Is that so?" Brother whispered. Kana was on her knees in front of him, panting from her sudden out burst of energy. He put his sword against her neck and she flinched away. The sharp cold steel skimmed over her jaw line and back down to her collar bone. She suddenly smacked his sword away with her hand. "Feisty." was his only remark. He pulled out another sword with his other hand. She stood now, hands clutching her kunai tightly. She rushed him again. This time, she stuck first, metal hit metal, as he brought his sword up for protection. Suddenly, Kana found herself against a tree. She pulled her kunai up to defend herself with but his swords were holding them back at her sides. He brought his face close to her. She turned her head in disgust. He just laughed.

"Mmm, strawberry." He leaned down and nipped her neck. She instantly stabbed a kunai into the tree and slapped him, sending him back a few steps. She glared at him. "I wasn't going to kill you, but you have changed my mind" he growled and started toward her slouched form again. She tightened her grip around her kunai, panting, trying to think of a way to fight in her weakened state. Suddenly a flash of red and pink came in view of Kana.

Sakura

"Back off sicko" Sakura said and sent a strong kick to Brother's chest. Brother backed off a few more steps. Sakura continued her barrage and threw punches and kicks to any open spot on his body. Once enough distance was created, Sakura jumped back to Kana.

"Sensei, are you alright?" Sakura asked worriedly. Kana looked up at her and could only nod. Sakura pulled Kana's arm over her shoulder and helped her up.

"You…need to…get out of here. Take Naruto and Sasuke with you. These men aren't just after us, they're after Konoha. Any thing about Konoha will help them. The gates, the fighting style of some of our ninja, the anything. He could take anything we have seen in Konoha and use it against the village. I need you to go back and warn Tsunade." Kana said in a rushed tone. She tried to detangle herself from Sakura but Sakura wouldn't let go. She shook her head, smiling.

"Oh Sensei, do you ever worry about yourself? Besides, you and Kakashi-sensei always taught us to never leave a teammate behind, right?" Sakura smiled warmly.

"Yeah, I know, but just this once-"Kana practically begged but was cut off by Sasuke.

"I won't leave my team behind." He said coldly. Kana sighed. She looked over to Kakashi who was still struggling with Soga.

"Isn't anyone going to help him?" she asked quietly. Sasuke and Sakura rolled their eyes.

"Well, Naruto likes to make an entrance, remember?" Sakura explained. Kana laughed a little.

"He could make his entrance anytime he wants…" Kakashi mumbled. As if on queue, a bunch of orange dressed blonds came dropping down onto Soga. Many stepped onto his wrists making him lose his grip on his sword. Kakashi was able to stab a kunai into Soga's bulky shoulder. The real Naruto dropped next to Kakashi, patting him on the shoulder.

"See, I made good time!" Naruto joked. Kakashi just rolled his…eye. Soga ripped the kunai out and used it to stab the remaining shadow clones. Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other quickly before kicking Soga in the chest and sending him back into a tree. Then the pair rushed over to Kana and the others. Kakashi took the kunai out of Kana's hand.

"You, no more fighting. Your completely useless at this point." He said, harshly but his eyes held concern. Kana scoffed. The team looked at her. She sighed.

"Ok, I give up"

"Good. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, I need you guys to guard Kana. I'm going to take the two of them on." Kakashi muttered. Now everyone looked at him, like he was crazy. He ignored them and pulled his forehead protector up, opening his Sharingan eye.

"You can't be serious!" Kana shouted at him.

"I am." He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. She looked surprised.

"Do you just want to die?" she asked sarcastically.

"Of course he does" said Soga who was helping his brother up.

"Yes, and if that's his wish I will surely grant it." Brother hissed. The two men were standing with each other now, opposite Kakashi. Kakashi fixed his Sharingan eye on them, studying them. Brother suppressed a laugh.

"Ah, he has a trick up his sleeve…Soga, I want you to get the girl, only genin defend her, and once you have her, she won't put up much of a fight." Brother said, smiling evilly.

"What will you do Brother?" Soga asked advancing toward Kana and her genin. But Kakashi was in the way.

"I will deal with him." Suddenly, from the corner of Kakashi's eye, a blur came rushing up to him. Kakashi barely had time to block Brother's sword. The two disappeared and sparks flashed everywhere. Kana couldn't keep up with them. Sasuke activated his Sharingan as well. With his Sharingan, he watched Kakashi fight Brother, without any trouble what so ever. A grunt brought his attention to Soga. The bulky man took slow steps toward the group, ignoring the sparks that were flying all around him. Sasuke took Kana from Sakura and Sakura and Naruto crouched low and jumped at Soga. Sakura sent a powerful kick to his jaw, while Naruto tosses punches at his chest. Soga's head snapped back when Sakura's foot came in contact with his jaw, and he fell back a bit from Naruto's punches.

"You two are annoying" Soga growled and ran forward. Sakura and Naruto jumped to the side, to avoid being trampled. Sasuke hooked an arm around Kana and jumped up and off the tree, landing behind Soga. Soga crashed into the tree he growled again and rubbed his head. Ouch.

Kana looked over to Sasuke whose eyes were still fixed on Soga.

"How is Kakashi doing?"

"You worry too much" Sasuke responded without taking his eyes off Soga. Soga pulled out another sword and walked toward the area where the flashes of sparks were coming from.

Kakashi watched Brother, using guerrilla tactics, jumping in, attacking then jumping back. It wasn't too affective but it worked. Brother stood out of his fighting stance and grinned at something behind Kakashi.

"Kakashi!" shouted Kana, worriedly. Kakashi didn't have to look to know who it was he simple moved to the side as a sword came crashing down on where he was. Kakashi then whirled around and cut Soga on the cheek with his kunai. Kakashi jumped back, keeping distance between the brothers. The two brothers lunged foreword at the same time, Kakashi only had one kunai. He blocked Soga's sword and tried to dodge Brother's sword. His sword nicked Kakashi jus below his right eye, making a slim line of blood run down his cheek. Brother was about to slash at Kakashi again when a single kunai came flying and buried itself in his hand which held the sword. Brother dropped his sword and looked back. Sakura and Naruto were half way to Kakashi when Kana had thrown the kunai, and probably saved his life. Still, she was weak, holding on to Sasuke for support. Throwing that kunai had taken most of her remaining energy. Kakashi looked at her, pleading with his eyes that she stay out of the battle, he started to move towards her but Brother held him against the tree.

"Soga…" Brother whispered.

Soga arched his arm back, then wildly threw it foreword, throwing his sword in her direction. The blade flew into the air heading toward the group. Naruto pulled Sakura down with him as he fell to the ground, the sword missing them, but barely. Sasuke tightened his grip on Kana but she just retracted her arm and kicked him to the side. She started to follow him but the sword caught up with her. It pierced the right side of her chest and pinned her to the tree behind her. She gasped, trying to breathe she wrapped her hands around it and tried to pull it out. She coughed up some blood, staining the green moss around her red. It was stuck. The sword did not move and only cut into her palms. Soga laughed and headed toward her. Sakura rushed to Kana and gripped the hilt, pulling it but it was jammed. Tears filled her eyes when Kana tried to talk.

"Sakura…it's stuck. You have to…leave." Kana's eyes fluttered, she was losing too much blood. Naruto and Sasuke jumped in Soga's way and started attacking him. He just tossed them aside like rag dolls. Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu and all of his clones jumped on Soga. Soga just shook them off like fleas and they all fell to the floor in smoke. Sakura turned around to face Soga and tried a physical attack. She threw a punch at his face, but he just dodged and kicked her away. She hit her head pretty hard on the ground and didn't get up. Soga walked up to Kana, and gripped the hilt of the sword.

"Bullseye! Eh brother?" Soga laughed. Kana looked at Kakashi who was frozen in shock. She tried to smile, tried to tell him she was ok, when Soga pulled the sword out. She fell to her hands and knees, the tree behind her covered in blood. A few feet away, Sasuke stirred and started to get up. He looked at Kana, eyes blazing in furry. She watched him then shook her head no. 'Don't…I'm as good as dead." Her look said to him. He stood up anyway, and slammed a sharp piece of bark he found on the forest floor into Soga's back. Soga whirled around and punched Sasuke to the floor again. He looked up at Kana who was letting silent tears fall. His eyes narrowed. Sasuke tried to get up again, but Soga placed a boot on his back, pushing the air out of Sasuke. 'No! Get off him!' Kana screamed inside her head. She pushed herself to her feet and threw her body into Soga, Soga stepped off Sasuke. She landed next to Sasuke. She struggled to her hands again, coughing up more blood. She looked at him. Sasuke could see the relief in her eyes that he was alright. Suddenly, her eyes closed and her hands gave way. She collapsed again, this time not breathing. Naruto came crawling over, rolling Kana onto her back. Her chest didn't rise or fall, her eyes were closed and her heart stopped beating. Naruto gripped her shoulders and shook her.

"Kana!? Kana-sensei, wake up!" Naruto put his hands together and started pushing into her chest, trying to get her heart going again. His movements mimicked Kakashi's, when Kakashi revived Kana the day before. Dispite all of Naruto's efforts, Kana didnt respond. Her heart didnt start.

"She's dead boy" Soga growled and kicked Naruto back. He grabbed Kana by the arm and hoisted her up. She hung limply, her blood stained hair falling like a curtain around her. Kakashi felt his own heart stop. He swallowed a large lump that had formed in his throat. He started for her, but was once again stopped by Brother. Brother gripped Kakashi by the shoulder, sensing no will to fight from him, he tossed Kakashi foreword and slammed his sword into Kakashi's stomach up to the hilt. He leaned over to Kakashi.

"I'll let you live knowing you did nothing to stop her from being killed by us" Brother hissed into Kakashi's ear and ripped his sword out. He stalked over to Soga, stepping over Sasuke and Naruto, taking Kana into his arms.

"Konoha can bury without the body right?" Brother laughed turning to face Kakashi one last time and started walking into the forest. Kakashi watched him, trying to get up.

"No, stop, give her back!" he spat from his position. He watched Brother turn holding his Kana. Brother moved his arms so that Kana's face was resting in the crook of his neck. He closed his eyes, taking in her sweet scent. Kakashi growled at him, trying to get up again.

"Don't touch her!" He screamed at Brother. Brother just laughed and slowly stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Ah…still warm" Btother mocked. "What are you going to do about it? You can't follow us with those wounds, surely you'd die. Oh well, even though it's a shame we had to kill her, her memory will still be intact for now at least." The man turned and disappeared with Soga and Kana into the forest. Kakashi tried to stand and almost toppled over, when Sakura held him up.

"Sensei, you mustn't move…" she whispered "That wound is deep, you will die unless taken to Tsunade-sensei right now." Kakashi didn't seem to listen, he still stared where Kana had been before being taken away by the brothers.

"Sasuke, Naruto! Are you two alright?" Sakura called out from beside Kakashi. There was a groan, and then a grunt. Sasuke stood up and helped Naruto up as well. Naruto had a bruise forming near his chin from where Soga had kicked him. Sasuke has a bruise also forming below his left eye from where Soga punched him. The two made their way over to Kakashi and Sakura. Sasuke eyed his sensei.

"So, what's the plan then?" He asked coldly.

"I…will go after them." Was Kakashi's response, which Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all shook their heads.

"You can't even walk with out Sakura-Chan, how do you expect to fight them?" Naruto barked, angrily.

"I'm still trying to figure that out. It doesn't matter what happens to me, as long as I can bring her back…"

"That's heroic and all but you're going to die if you don't get to Tsunade soon!" Sakura snapped. She started to pull Kakashi in the other direction. But he pulled back.

"We can't just let her go with them!" Kakashi yelled.

"I have an idea, Sakura, you go and tell Tsunade what has happened. Tell her to bring the Anbu force here and search for those two bastards. Naruto and I will bring Kakashi home. Be quick Sakura." Sasuke said and took her place at Kakashi's side. Naruto took Kakashi's other side. The two of them started dragging Kakashi away. They stumbled along and Sakura watched them for a minute then rushed past them, running as fast as her legs will take her. She ran through the streets of Konoha and to Hokage Tower. She barged into Tsunade's office.

"Tsunade-sama! Please, assembly the Anbu!" she screamed hurriedly, hoping that the Anbu would find her sensei… alive. She hoped that Soga was lying when he said Kana was dead.