In Konohagakure.

Time..!2:45 AM

"There you are, Kakashi!" Anko tisked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. The tall lean jonin calmly strolled the length of the Konoha bridge, and came to rest next to his fellow ninja.

Anko kept that stony look on her face as she continued, "Where were you? I was waiting for over an hour!"

"I had things I needed to do." Kakashi said calmly in his characteristic way, leaning against the railing, "Oh, my. Doesn't the moon reflecting on the water look pretty…"

Anko didn't even look, instead she narrowed her eyes at Kakashi, and intensified her look of death. She had been watching the moons reflection in the river for the past two hours. Now she gazed pensively across the river at the dark Konoha forest. What secrets did those treacherous pines have to hide from her?

Anko softened her gaze, and sighed, "OK, Kakashi. You're here, at least, and that's good. I have a message from the Lord Hokage. Earlier this night he called me and Roeki to his office. You know we are proctoring the next part of the exams.."

"Yes, get on with it." Kakashi's voice was curt, now.

She marveled at how a man who was over an hour late for a meeting could snipe at her about drawing things out. She let it go, however. Their friendship was solid, yet at times could be a little hard to discern. Anko was the charismatic one out of the two, while Kakashi preferred to do most of the listening.

"Anyways…:" Anko took a deep breath, "Here it is. He told us that Yorugakure is supposedly allied with us again, and that there is one Tasogare left….who happens to be in a genin cell bound for the second half of the chunin exam."

Kakashi noted Anko's bitter use of the word, 'Supposedly'

"I still can't get over how our friend Yoake is styling herself as Yorukage!" Was all he said in reply.

Anko knew that she shouldn't have expected any sort of tremendous emotional reaction to her statement, but she still felt a little miffed.

"Only the three of us know that Satoshi, Satora's father has come back to life after that invasion all those years ago." Anko said darkly, gripping the rail with enough force to make her knuckles white, "Not even his village, so since they think he's still dead, Yoake was the next natural choice, so really, she's not, 'styling herself.'"

"mmm…" Kakashi seemed entranced with a pair of late nighting ducks swimming down the river. He gave a slight yawn, and turned to Anko, "You know how dubious I am about that rumored Tasogare power, Anko. Chances are Satoshi just plain didn't die back then in that fight, and now that he's out of the shadows, he's milking his so called revival for all the legends are worth. I know that the Tasogare have incredibly unheard of stamina…but to be able to come back to life? It's all a bedtime story for children."

Anko shot her fellow jonin a look of death, "Kakashi, I would have thought that you of all people would be the most alarmed to know that Yorugakure is back on the map, and that Satoshi is still at large. OK, maybe he didn't come back from the dead, but regardless he's still here. Don't you know what that could mean for you, and for your cell?"

"Of course I know." An edge crept into Kakashi's voice, "I've taken care of it. And we killed Satoshi once, we can do it again."

"Satoshi and maybe his daughter are going to be out for you and that Uchiha's blood…and we need you both a live for what's coming."

"I'm not worried, like I said; it's all been taken care of."

Anko rolled her eyes, "Do tell."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, "Can't you see it? Yorugakure is protecting itself as well as us with this alliance. Both of our trump ninja are being spared from the other. No one will let Sasuke kill Satora, since Konoha needs Yorus support if the rumors of an invasion are true…and Satora won't kill Sasuke because of our new friendship with night."

"It all seems fishy to me." Anko frowned, "We killed off Yorugakure's best clan…and now they're turning around to give us help? Can we even know that Suna and Oto are even plotting anything?

"I've seen it coming for years." Kakashi said. That decided it, "And you know how Yoake thinks."

Anko gave a hoarse, bark of a laugh, "From what I remember of her, she didn't, much."

"Yoake has changed." Kakashi's voice grew darker, "She is calmer, more calculated. She knows that someone doesn't stay Yorukage without showing some stuff, and is acting accordingly. You wouldn't believe the difference."

"You still love her, don't you?"

"I'm going to choose to ignore that." Kakashi plowed on, "Now that we know about the Sound and Sand alliance against us, we can work against it, see?"

"What if Night is actually with Oto and Suna? What if we're just being used in some greater plot? What if…..oh, to heck with it."

"You never could take things at face value, could you, Anko?" Kakashi gave a faint smile to his old friend, "And I know why. You've seen the worst-you've seen how deep the roots of treachery and betrayal can run. It's all in your eyes, and in the scar on your shoulder."

Instinctively, Anko grabbed for the mark on her shoulder. She would only allow a select few to speak to her of the mark…and even though Kakashi wasn't one of them, she let it slide.

"I don't want to see Orochimaru win." She said in a passive voice, letting her hand drop back down, slowly, "He is so foul…the very idea of anyone allying themselves with him is just repulsive. He's been in Konoha once before…and I never want to hear of it again. No decent ninja would ally himself with that snake…"

"This is why the ninja of Yorugakure will never join him." Kakashi's smile widened, "You know this as well as I do-The Night ninja may be rather manipulative, but they all have good hearts. Why do you think Konoha felt so bad after that attack? I'll tell you-they knew that Yoru didn't deserve it."

"The Tasogare were a threat." Anko growled, "We were justified."

"We were NOT justified, Anko, and you need to see that. The entire village needs to see that. Yorugakure has seen it, and they have forgiven. And the Tasogare weren't a threat-if Yorugakure wanted to take over the land of fire, they would have by now."

"Yeah…yeah, I know it." Anko dropped her gaze, "I-alright. You win. Spread the word of the alliance, Kakashi, and make sure that it's an actual Konoha ninja before you spill the beans."

"And how did you know it was me?"

"Anyone else would have shown up on time, Kakashi." Anko gave a smile, and her round face lit up, "Now get out of here. I have an exam to procter in two days, and I need to make sure that everything is set up."

In Anko-speak this means.. 'Go and do whatever you have to, but stay safe since I really care about you deeply, more deeply than I would like to admit.'

Kakashi gave a small wave, "Toodles."

POOF! He was gone.

In Kakashi speak, 'Toodles' means…..well…'toodles.'

Anko sighed to herself, and walked away.