My heart pounded and my lungs screaming for air, I pushed myself forward, not waiting for Naruto, because I knew he would catch up. He always was faster then me.

I'd make a mistake, and I already knew it, but I had to go through with this. There was no way I would admit, out loud, that I knew this was wrong. It was the right thing to do. I had to convince myself that. Kakashi was in trouble, and it seemed that nobody cared. Except me. Who else was going to go get him?

In a matter of minutes, Naruto was pumping his arms, right beside me. He could easily pass me, but he didn't. "Nikki, stop! We need to talk!" He yelled between breathes.

"No!" I snapped, glaring at him.

Although he shot a glare right back, he stayed with me. Even following me, falling back, letting me lead. He never stopped running, even after I could hear his heavy breathing, though not nearly as bad as mine. I knew I would probably collapse before he would, but I kept pushing on, needing to get closer to my goal, my destination.

"You're going to kill us both!" Naruto hissed from behind me.

Sadly, I had to agree with him on this. So I stopped - without slowing down - and collapsed on the floor. I could hear the 'thud' when he collapsed onto the ground too. It was a long time before our panting turned into a steady, normal rate, and for awhile, I thought Naruto had fallen asleep.

"You're insane." He said, half-heartedly.

"And so are you. So now we're even."

I rolled over on my side and watched him for a moment. He was lying on his back, staring up at the stars. He didn't look like he had just run a marathon, like I did, but he looked like he was asleep with his eyes open.

For awhile, neither one of us said a thing. A million thoughts were racing through my mind, all jumbled together. I couldn't think straight, and it was frustrating. With a sigh, I ran my hand through my hair, a new habit of mine after so many Johnny Depp videos.

"Any regrets, missing nin?" Naruto laughed, turning his head to smile at me.

"Jeez, you make it sound so... dirty." I chuckled. I couldn't think of it that way. Okay, maybe I had left the village, but it wasn't like I was out to betray secrets or something. There definitely weren't ANBU members after me. It just felt like I had accidentally left my forehead protector at home.

"Dirty? No! You're a criminal, and I've come to take you back." Naruto snapped.

"You are the worst ANBU member I have ever seen." I growled.

We both chuckled, too exhausted to really argue, for once. Then, it was quiet again. Had Tsunade really sent him to get me? She probably wouldn't waste time with sending ANBU members, but I was surprised she would even send anybody. Maybe he had run off on his own. He definitely hadn't made the stupid mistake I had, because he still wore his headband proudly.

"What are you doing here anyways?" I asked, all the joking manner washed away. I was serious now, and so was he. His eyebrows lowered and made a crease; his serious face.

"Making sure you don't get yourself killed."

"Why do you even care?"

He hesitated and stared at me like I was crazy. Wasn't the first time today - was it still the same day? We'd been running so long, we might have been running for weeks, for all I knew - that he gave me that look. Maybe I was going crazy.

"What, I can't care about my team-mate for no apparent reason?"

I laughed, a very dry laugh. I was way too uptight, I need to relax, but right now I couldn't.

"Correction, I do have reason, but mainly I think you're losing it." He said, the humor previously in his voice, now sucked away completely. "What do you think you're doing?" He snapped.

"I need to at least make sure Kakashi-sensei is alive." I said, rolling onto my back and folding my arms across my chest. "And if Tsunada-sama thinks she can sit around and wait, then she's insane."

He heaved an exaggerated sigh, mostly to get on my nerves I bet, before snapping back at me. "And you think running away like that is gonna work? You're still mad at Sasuke for leaving us, yet you're doing the same thing. You're being a hypocrite!"

"For different reasons!" I yelled, sitting up and glaring at him. "Sasuke left because of his damn obsession to kill his brother! And he's never coming back! He doesn't care about anyone but himself! Even after he killed Itachi, he still decided that wasn't enough! I had to do this! I couldn't leave Kakashi out there! I need to know that he's at least alive! You know that no matter what I'd still come back to the village, so don't you ever, and I mean ever compare me to Sasuke in that way!"

Fists clenched by my sides, I couldn't help and yell at him, take all my anger out on him. All my anger about Sasuke leaving us. How could Naruto compare me to him? That just wasn't fair. Maybe it wasn't fair for me to yell at him like that, but it slipped out, and it was something I needed to say, badly. Even after two years, I was still mad at Sasuke for leaving. Not just mad, but still hurt.

I braced myself, expecting him to yell back at me, but instead he just looked me in the eyes calmly and asked, "Why do you pretend to hate him?"

"I don't pretend." I hissed through gritted teeth. What was he getting at?

"But you also don't hate him." I couldn't respond. "And don't try and lie, telling me you do hate him. If you did, you wouldn't care that he left. And you definitely wouldn't want him back."

He had cornered me. I didn't know what to say. He was right, and I didn't want to admit it. I turned my head away, and looked down at the ground while hugging my knees. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hate Sasuke. He'd grown to be a brother to me, so how could I not be disappointed that he had left us? My hope had been that maybe after he killed his brother and gotten the revenge he had wanted for so long, he'd come home. Yet, he hadn't. Apparently revenge wasn't enough. He wanted to fulfill what the Uchiha's had been trying to do. The reason Itachi had to kill them all. He just couldn't accept that maybe his brother had done was right.

I remember when Raidon explained to me, exactly why Sasuke hated Itachi, I couldn't blame Sasuke. That was, until she explained how much she loved her older cousin. She told me why he had to do, what he did. He had done the right thing, but he had been forced to take on the evil act. It made me almost feel sorry for him. Yet, how could I feel sorry for someone who I barely knew? Someone who had hurt many of my loved ones; Kakashi, Sasuke, Raidon, even Naruto.

One thing I knew for certain though, was almost everybody - except Trisha - in the village, wanted Sasuke back. Now though, we were unsure if we could take him, the way he was. He would never be his old self. That is, the old Sasuke that I knew. I never knew the young little Sasuke that Raidon did, but I still missed the old Sasuke, even with his crazed desire to kill Itachi. I didn't think I could want him back now; he was a criminal now.

I glanced over at Naruto, and saw him staring back at me, waiting for an answer. He knew he was right, and I was waiting for a smug little smirk on his face, but I never found it. He was thinking the same thing as I was.

"You're right." I sighed, shaking my head. "I don't hate Sasuke... I just... I don't want you to compare what I'm doing, to what he's doing. I already know he's never coming back, but," I hesitated, trying to find the right words to say as I stared down at the ground, hoping those words would come popping out at me. "I can't help and still be mad that he left us like that."

There, I did it. I said it. And I actually agreed with Naruto on something.

"I knew it!" Naruto said with a triumphant little smile. "And you actually admitted I was right on something!"

"You tell anybody about me agreeing with you, I swear I'll--"

"You'll what?" He interrupted, grinning from ear to ear. "Kill me?"

"I might just have to." I said, smirking back at him. Naruto sure did know how to ruin a moment, didn't he?