Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he fled from branch to branch. Something was troubling him. It could be the fact that he had a certain reservation towards this mission. At the beginning he was very determined, but as he got closer to the rogue ninjas, he started to lose confidence in himself. He heard another tree branch break. He rolled his eye to his left side. Or it could be the obnoxious little monkey by his side. The way she jumped and clung to the branches reminded him of anything else, but a girl. He started regretting he didn't hit her hours ago. He did have his policy on girls, but like he though- she couldn't possibly be considered a girl. Another branch broke. He clenched his teeth. His eye ran over her. She scornfully looked at him.

"What are you staring at?" she asked as she hung by her hands on a branch.

"Hm…" he sped up.

"Perhaps you don't know, but I'm a really outgoing person," she coughed. "Very few things upset me. Being ignored is one of them. So could you tell me why are you staring?" she stressed each word.

"I wouldn't be staring if you acted properly!" he snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?" her hand was on a branch while her feet were propped against the tree.

"A girl is not supposed to monkey around like that," he sighed.

She frowned. He sped up.

"Well, how would you know that since you're not a girl?" she continued.

"Hm," she was really getting on his nerves, but then again he was a fool for bothering.

"What's that for an answer? Do you have speaking problems? Because all you do is grunt and grumble. Is that what you call communication?" she asked.

He restrained himself from shutting her up both verbally and physically and sped up until he got to a clearing. He calmly waited for her to reach.

"It's not very polite to leave a person talking by herself," she said.

"You are so annoying," he growled. "Do you ever shut up?" he lowered his pace and shoved his hands in his pockets. He was maybe a bit tired.

"Do you ever speak?" she raised her eyebrow.

"I don't speak for the sake of it! I only speak if I have something to say," he looked away.

"If nobody spoke unless they had something to say, the human race would soon lose the gift to speak," she said.

"That's kind of a long phrase for you, don't you think?" was he being sarcastic?

"You…" she growled and wanted to launch a punch at him. He stopped her midway and gave her a poke on the forehead. She wasn't pleased. At all. "I'm going to get you for this!"

"What does it take for you to shut up?" he snapped. "God, if only you were a boy…"

"If I were a boy, what?" she smirked.

"I would have shut you up long ago," he growled.

"Why don't you shut me up now?" she came up to him.

"I have a policy. I don't hit girls," he started walking.

"You don't hit girls or you don't hit on girls?" she smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," she scratched the back of her head. "I'm just saying…"

"What?"

She whistled. He stopped and looked at her walk ahead of him. Upon realizing that he just offended him he ran after her.

"Hey!" he cried.

She stuck her tongue at him and sped up through the trees. His patience was pushed to its limits. He couldn't wait to get his hands on her. She was already waiting for him in a crouching position. He launched at her. She tripped him. He fell to the ground.

"You let your emotions get to you," she pushed him down propping the tip of her kunai to his neck after giving it a swift lick.

Bringing his knee to his chest he pushed her off him. She flipped in midair and landed behind him.

"And you are underestimating you opponent," she studied her nails.

"I had enough of you," he fiercely growled before tackling her to the ground. They stumbled down, rolling down the hill.

Finally they stopped.

"Ouch!" she cried under him.

"Got you…" he growled tugging on her fishnet blouse.

She scornfully looked at him from where she laid under his weight. They glared at each other for several moments until he acknowledged where they were. He looked at the serene scenery around them. Tall healthy green grass, perfumed flowers, bird's twitter and the smooth minty forest breeze. He dropped her blouse and got off her. He advanced in the small opening. She turned on her stomach and watched him. He sniffed the air. It was tainted with blood.

"Kakashi…" he heard a meek sound behind him.

He felt his fists clench. He could remember it all. He remembered jumping in front of Rin pushing her away from the two ninjas trying to attack her. He thought them while she tried to defend herself against the other. Finally he understood that all the energy he had lost was consumed on an illusion. He was getting ready to reveal his Sharingan, but he was taken down and forced to watch as they tortured her to death.

"Kakashi!" she had cried several times. "Kakashi!"

He couldn't take it. Blood splashed everywhere. All her vital organs were wounded at least once. He managed to free himself and chase them away. But he had to rescue Rin. When he came back, she was trying to heal herself. On the surface it looked as if she didn't even sweat.

"Rin!" he jumped by her side. "Rin, you're alright, Rin!" he cried.

"Kakashi…" she said in a weak voice and fell in his arms.

"What's wrong, Rin? Come on, you have to heal yourself!" he nudged her.

"I can't…it's too much," she coughed blood.

"Do you need my help? Can I do anything? Lend you my chakra? Anything?"

"I… I need to rest…"she tried closing her eyes.

"No, Rin, stay with me!" he got up. "Don't close your eyes!" he raced back. "Rin!"

He could feel a tear escape his eye.

"Rin…" he muttered.

"Kakashi, what's wrong?" a foreign voice interrupted his chain of memories.

He turned to see a tensed Anko. She looked alarmed staring him from under her fringe.

"We're here," he said tasting the air.

"So this is where you last fought them?" she started to carefully look around.

"Yeah," he crouched and started feeling the ground. It was dipped in blood.

"There's nothing," she ran a finger over a patch of earth. Not even one trace.

"Can't you see it?" he looked at her.

"See what?" she frowned.

"It's soaked in blood. Can't you smell it?"

She sniffed. "No, I can't. Are you sure?"

"Sure, I'm sure!" he snapped.

She advanced towards the forest ahead. She touched several tree trunks. They were not altered at all.

"Kakashi, there's nothing here," she sadly said.

"Of course there is, you ignorant," he growled.

She stared at him. He angrily preformed his hand signs and summoned his pack of dogs.

"Yo, Kakashi," the little brown furred dog said as he looked at the ninja.

"Pakkun, I need you and your dogs to trace this place of any signs of other human presences except mine," he asked.

"Jeez, not even a 'please'," he peered over his shoulder. "Who's that?"

"That's…" he looked at Anko. "My teammate."

"Ah, I see. Come on, boys! Use those noses!" he ran off.

Anko pursed her lips together as she came by Kakashi's side. She knew well they wouldn't find anything since she didn't sense anything. But she hoped they would. For the sake of the mission, of course. Kakashi's sanity was vital for the mission as well, wasn't it?

He saw the funny troupe come back. Pakkun had a cold stare.

"Well?" Kakashi bit his thumb.

"I'm sorry, but we found nothing. No one was here in a while. It's impossible for me to trackback like this," he reported.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. "It's here. The signs. Can't you see them?"

"No," Pakkun continued.

Anko frowned at the little dog.

"Its okay, Kakashi," she patted his shoulder. "It's just a memory."

"What do you know?" he slapped her hand away. He nervously paced around the clearing. "Thank you, Pakkun," he finally said.

"Anytime. Good luck with you mission," the dog replied getting ready to leave. "And, you, look after him, okay?" he looked at Anko.

"M-me?" she pointed at her.

They left.

"Start gathering wood," he heard Kakashi's husky voice. "We're setting camp here."

"But there's a village twenty minutes away from here!" she protested.

"I said we're setting camp here," he coolly said.

She bit her tongue as she looked at him test the ground.

"You are one sad bastard…." She muttered to herself.

Wow,you're reviews were just great. And I wish I could make longer chapters, but I'm so caught up in so many projects and then there's school. I need a vacation...Anyway, please, continued reviewing if you still like.