Author's Note: Alright, here's the next chapter, and I must apologize for getting it out so late X3 I've been really busy as of late, not to mention mentally drained from all of my schoolwork :/ Oh well, not much anyone can do about it :) I tried to move this chapter along as quickly as I could, without making it unrealistic, simply because I didn't want this to be an episode of either anime where the battle lasts for, like, five chapters XD Anyway, hope you enjoy and be sure to let me know what you thought :)

Reviews:

kgstacticshock12

scarecrowdbzxxxx

Bluefiredragonslayer

Aguakatenotesxxx

Toshiko-Akatora

Guest

Kakashi and Mistuko stood opposite to one another, staring each other down as they waited for their opponent to make the first move. "So, Kakashi, you seem pretty agitated right now. Don't tell me you're getting all bent out of shape over this girl. I mean, honestly, you just met her after all." He smirked, trying to draw out a reaction from the copy ninja.

When no response was given, Mistuko decided to try a different approach, silently deciding to add a few embellishments to the story, "You know, it was a lot of fun to get information from her. She was incredibly stubborn, and it was almost fun breaking her down." He added with a sadistic grin, a feeling of satisfaction coursing through him when he saw Kakashi's eyebrows furrow.

"You're lying, the only power you have is through mind games. Now, no more talk. Let's end this." He ordered, Sharingan zeroing in on its target as he dashed forward. Perhaps Kakashi was lying as well; after all, they say to fight fire with fire.

The man blocked his attack with the kunai, the two of them blinking in and out of sight as they tried to overpower each other. Kakashi managed to land a small knick on Mistuko's side, but the man retaliated with a kick in the gut as the white-haired ninja was sent flying before landing on his feet. After a series of quick hand-signs, spiked rocks jutted out from the walls and aimed themselves at the enemy.

Mistuko dodged them though, only receiving a few minor cuts before making a few of his own hand-signs. When he finished, fire filled the room as he unleased some kind of flame jutsu. Blocking with a quick water jutsu of his own, the copy ninja back stepped towards the door, following the man through the steam filled room by zeroing in on his chakra paths.

Erza and the others stood facing their attackers as she gripped the sword in her hand tightly, formulating a plan in her mind that would keep them all alive. "I want you guys to stay away as much as possible, I don't want any of you to get hurt. Kakashi would probably kill me if anything happened to you, so please don't do anything reckless." She pleaded, eyes landing straight on Naruto.

"Come on, Erza! I can be loads of help! Just wait, I'll-" Naruto began before Erza gave him her signature stern look, causing him to instantly shrink away from her in fear.

"Step one foot out of line in this battle and you'll wish you had died." She threatened, the promise empty despite her serious words. She could never hurt any of her teammates, but that didn't mean she had to tell them that.

Naruto instantly agreed, hiding from her gaze as he cowered behind an equally frightened Kiba. "Man, she's scary. I think she might even be the scariest person I've ever met." The dog boy whispered to his blonde acquaintance, Akamaru barking from the ground.

Naruto nodded in agreement, "You've got that right… I'd rather face an angry Sakura." He shivered before moving away, watching Erza warily as he took out a kunai. The others followed his lead, except for Sasuke seeing as he already had his weapon out, and silently watched as the wizard took a few steps closer to their enemies.

"I request that you only fight me, for if you hurt any of my comrades I will be forced to inflict pain you've never experienced before." She warned, earning a few laughs from the ninja in front of her.

"Yeah, whatever hon. I'll make sure to go after them once I've finished with you." One of them grinned, teeth unnaturally white as pulled out a samurai sword from its sheath.

Erza smiled, "Very well, I'd like to see you try."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the man rushed her as their swords clashed together, seeming equally matched until Erza began to overpower him and drive the ninja backwards. Every attack her threw, she seemed able to block. In a few moments, her sword slashed across his chest and he fell, all movement gone.

The others watched her quietly, eyes wide with shock as they stared at their fallen friend. Erza pointed her sword at the men, "Who wishes to die next?"

Kakashi and Mistuko continued to exchange blows, jutsus clashing as the clashing of the metal weapons could be heard throughout the underground chamber. Their fight had moved out into the other parts of the base, and neither seemed to be tiring at this point.

The copy ninja quickly replaced his body with that of a stone, avoiding the man's blade as he appeared behind him. The man barely blocked the attack, Kakashi's kunai sliding along the blade to cut into the other man's cheek, a small trickle of blood forming.

Gritting his teeth, the battle grew more intense as it continued, neither seeming to gain the upper hand at first. That is, until Kakashi was able to stab his kunai into Mistuko's arm, taking an opening that appeared as Mistuko attempted to get the copy ninja in the chest. This caused the man to drop his weapon before leaping away, gripping his arm as he grimaced in pain. "How dare you!" He growled angrily, nothing but hatred in his eyes as he glared at Kakashi.

Straightening up, the white-haired ninja merely look at him apathetically, "Maybe you should have thought twice about kidnapping someone I care about." He answered, walking towards the man. Before he reached him, however, Mistuko dashed away again, avoiding the fate that he knew would come if he allowed Kakashi to get any closer.

Kakashi noted the amount of blood that was seeping out of his earlier wound as he gauged the damage he'd already done, wondering if it would be a wise decision to leave the man here. Considering he would probably die from blood loss or infection, Kakashi decided to leave as he turned and left, tilting his head to the side to avoid the knife that was thrown at his head by Mistuko.

Running towards the entrance, he emerged from the mountain side to find Erza and the others fighting off the lackey's that had followed them, two surrounding Erza as she blocked their attacks, he rushed over to help. Smiling at her as he intercepted the attack from one of the ninjas, he quickly greeted her, "How's everything going out here?" He asked, glancing around to find the others facing the two other ninja as a group, the only major wounds showing up as a few scratches and bruises.

"Pretty well, considering." She answered simply, smiling in return as she managed to gain the upper hand in her battle. Gaining an opening, she sliced through her opponent just as Kakashi managed to trick his own and stab him in the back.

After a series of attacks with kunai, Akamaru, and Naruto's shadow clones, Kiba and the blonde haired ninja managed to take one of the enemy ninja out, grinning and high-fiving each other once they did.

Sasuke managed to take out the other, Sakura attempting to help out by throwing kunai and shuriken to distract him. Without speaking, they all headed towards the safe zone Erza had attempted to send them to earlier, collapsing onto the cave floor once they decided it was, indeed, safe.

Kakashi and Erza sat side by side as the Genin began to get into their normal routine of talking and laughing, turning into their old selves now that the battle was over. "Is Mistuko dead?" Erza asked after a while, glancing up at Kakashi from the corner of her eye.

Kakashi nodded, his head band pulled over his red eye once more, "More or less. He's not going to have any medical ninja around to heal him; at least, I doubt he will. I gave him a serious enough wound that he'll probably end up dead from blood loss or infection, whichever comes first." He explained, earning a nod of agreement from Erza.

"Right, I would've preferred him dead, but I can accept that. As long as he doesn't hurt anymore innocent people, that is." Erza responded, smiling slightly as the group began making a fire, using brush and leaves from the cave floor as Sasuke lit it on fire with his jutsu. It was nice to see everyone getting along and working together, and knew that they would have made a strong guild if they lived in her world.

"Do you have to go back?" Kakashi spoke after a moment, staring at the new flames as he avoided meeting her gaze.

Erza blinked at him in surprise, "Of course I have to go back. My guild needs me… I can't just abandon them like that… Why do you ask…?" She added as an after that, peering at his face as she tried to decipher his feelings despite the obnoxious mask.

He looked away, scratching his chin sheepishly, "No reason, I was just wondering if you changed you mind. I'm still going to help you get back, no need to worry. Though, at the same time, I want to make sure you know that you're welcome to stay here… Everyone loves having you around, so I'm sure you would make even more friend in no time… Just in case you can't get back." He told her with a sincere smile, finally meeting her eyes.

Erza blushed as she looked towards the fire, a happy smile on her face as she nodded, "Yes, I know. Thank you, Kakashi. I think I would like it here, if it turns out I'm stuck… I mean, you guys don't really have cake here that can compete with the stuff back home, but I can deal with that." She grinned, briefly glancing at the shoulder where her guild mark was located, the tattoo hidden by the metal of her normal armor.

Kakashi laughed, "Actually, there's this one really great place to buy cake in town… It gets quite a bit of business, and I've only ever heard good things about it… Perhaps I could take you when we get back." He offered, smiling inwardly when her face lit up like a kid's on Christmas.

"Really? I would like that. I would like that a lot actually." She grinned, the two of them finally noticing that the others had been fairly quiet for a little while now.

Glancing over, they found varying degrees of expression as the Genin looked at them. Sakura was giggling and grinning, while Naruto seemed horrified for his sensei. Of course, if you knew Erza, you'd wonder how anyone would be interested in her too. Sasuke seemed to be in shock, and Kiba was gaping openly at them.

Erza blinked, "Uh… What?" She asked, her oblivious air for all things that didn't involve battle coming to light.

Sakura shook her head quickly and clamped a hand over both Naruto's and Kiba's mouths, "Oh, nothing. We're just a little tired from the battle that's all." She assured her, earning only a nod from Erza.

"Of course, we should all get some rest." She agreed before turning to Kakashi, "I can take first watch."

Kakashi shook his head, "No, I'm fine. You probably need the rest more than I do." He argued, gesturing for her to sleep as the others all got situated.

Weighing his words, it took Erza a moment to comply as she considered how much she wished to argue. "Very well, wake me in a couple hours." She ordered, earning a noncommittal 'ok' from the ninja.

A/N: By the way, since I did mark this as a romance between Kakashi and Erza, I'm going to begin highlighting it as you can see from this chapter X3 I ended up having to rewrite a bit of the last few paragraphs, mainly because I started to get really OOC with Erza X3 I was starting to make her 'playful' and 'girly' O.o Yeah, that's not Erza XD (For the most part...)