A/N: Hi everyone! Let's kick it up again, shall we? Warning, intense emotional stuff coming up too. But first, let's turn Kakashi loose. He needs to put a hurt on Kabuto. Enjoy!

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Kabuto looked up as Kakashi and Sakura exploded out of the trees. Normally a ninja wouldn't be so loud, but they wanted to make sure they scared the hell out of the person Anko was fighting. They did just that, landing between Kabuto and Anko. Kabuto stepped back and said, "Well if it isn't the cavalry. Here to save Anko are you? Doubt that you will. I'm pretty sure she'll die. I don't think even you can save her Sakura."

Sakura said, "You don't look too swift yourself Kabuto. Looks like Anko beat the shit out of you. Kakashi. His chakra's almost depleted. Take him out."

Kabuto got a very nervous look on his face as Kakashi pulled up his headband revealing his sharingan. Kakashi had developed his eye weapon to enable him to use the dreaded Mangakou sharingan, and the even more terrifying Tsukuyomi along with it. As soon as Kabuto made eye contact with him, Kakashi immediately trapped Kabuto in a world where hell would be welcome compared to what Kakashi had in store for him.

Time and space mean nothing when a person is trapped by the Mangakou sharingan and Tsukuyomi is used. In the world he created, Kakashi took his time peeling the flesh piece by piece, from Kabuto's restrained body over a period of two days, while in the "real" world, less than a second had elapsed. Kabuto suffered all the pain of two days worth of torture in a fraction of a second.

Kakashi covered his sharingan and immediately Kabuto screamed and fell forward, his whole body twitching and convulsing. Kakashi said, "He won't get up now. If he recovers, it'll be days from now. Let the animals eat him if no one claims him." His anger sated for the moment, he turned to finally get a good look at Anko.

Sakura had already turned and knelt next to the still shinobi. She looked at Kakashi and said, "This is not good."

Kakashi jumped over Anko and squatted down looking at her. "Move Sakura," he said as he tried to get close to her face.

"Kakashi, I'm the medical ninja here. I need to assess her,"

"Just move for a minute! PLEASE!" Sakura moved to Anko's feet and began her assessment there.

Pakkun walked up behind them and said, "Kakashi, I'm going. Good luck. If you need me you know what to do."

Kakashi waved at him, and said, "Thanks," then turned back to Anko. He looked at her staring eyes. For a moment he thought she was already dead, which brought a raw tearing pain to his chest. A bug buzzed close to her eye and her eye twitched, so he knew she wasn't dead. He breathed in relief, but he knew she wasn't in good shape at all. He got close to her face and said, "Anko, I'm here. Sakura's here with me. You're going to be fine. We'll get you back home. It was a mistake sending you here. Tsunade didn't know what you were walking into. Anko! Do you hear me Anko? Come on, Anko! Don't you die on me. You can't die on me!"

Anko couldn't make his face out, but she saw something in front of her that said he was Kakashi. She did recognize his voice, even though it sounded distorted and a bit far away. He came for her. She had to tell him she was sorry. She had to tell him she'd made a mistake. She couldn't make her body move, so she tried to focus what remaining chakra she had left, and she tried to speak.

Kakashi had never felt a pain like this before in his life. He'd been beaten, stabbed, burned, tortured, and nothing physically felt like this kind of pain. It was horrible when he'd lost his family and friends when he was younger, but here was Anko, bleeding and so still, and barely alive and there wasn't a thing he could do to make her better. He couldn't take away her pain. He couldn't make her whole again. She could die any second, and he was helpless to do anything. He finally knew what Anko meant when she said it hurt her to see him all beaten and bloody on her doorstep. He now knew what she meant and why she wanted to discontinue their beneficial friendship. She was afraid to lose him one day, and now he was facing the exact same thing. He felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of kunai, the pain was so great. The thought of him losing her forever was almost unbearable. He couldn't lose anyone else he cared about, especially not her. He reached down and took the kunai she still held in her hand and laid it down. Then he picked up her hand and held it carefully in his.

Sakura watched what Kakashi was doing while she tried to find out the extent of Anko's injuries. She noticed the tender way he carefully held her hand. Then she realized something she had a hard time believing. Her sensei was in love with Anko. She said quietly, "Kakashi, why didn't you tell me you loved her?"

Kakashi looked at her strangely. He thought what is she saying? I love Anko? Is that why I felt so terrible when she turned me away? Is that the "more" I wanted from her? Is that why I want to be around her all the time? Then he looked back at Anko with his head spinning with too many questions and said, "I love her?"

Sakura smiled knowingly and said, "I thought there was something going on between the two of you, by the way you acted around each other. But you really love her don't you?"

Kakashi thought a moment and said, "I don't know. I don't think I remember how to love someone. I wouldn't allow myself to because it hurt so much when someone I cared about was taken from me."

"Kakashi, you do love her. I can tell."

"How? How do you know? How can I know for sure?" Kakashi was looking for some kind of explanation of why he felt so horrible and yet so desperate to make Anko ok.

"Think about it this way. What if something happened to me, or Naruto, or God forbid, even Sasuke. How would you feel?" she asked him as she continued to assess Anko.

"I'd never let that happen."

"Wrong answer Kakashi. How would you FEEL?"

Kakashi thought a minute and looked at Sakura and said, "You know you are all precious to me in one way or another. I'd feel terrible if something happened to you."

"And Anko?"

Kakashi looked at Anko's face, and the way she stared vacantly ahead at nothing. Something inside him crumbled and he said, "I get it now. You're right Sakura; I guess I didn't forget how to love someone after all. I just had allow myself to feel it again."

Sakura smiled gently at him and said, "I'm glad to hear that. Now come on, we've got work to do."

Anko heard Sakura talking. She sounded far away. Sakura loved someone? Kakashi loved someone? Someone held her hand. She recognized the hand by its feel alone. Kakashi's hand. She had to tell him everything. She had to focus and speak.

Sakura said, "I hate to have you stop what you're doing Kakashi, but we need to straighten her out so I can get a look at the rest of her."

Kakashi put Anko's hand down reluctantly and said, "What do I do?"

"Keep her head and neck straight, and help me roll her on her back." Sakura took Anko by the hip and the shoulder while Kakashi put his hands on either side of her head. Sakura said, "Now move when I move. Keep her head straight." Kakashi nodded. Sakura then started to ease Anko onto her back.

Anko's lower leg screamed in pain and her head awoke with explosions as it was laid back on the ground. When her vision wasn't streaked with flashing colors anymore, yet was still fuzzy, she could make out a vague outline above her. She couldn't make her eyes focus, but she knew it was Kakashi. Through her pain she tried again to speak.

Kakashi looked down at Anko's unfocused eyes. Stay with me Anko. He knew she was hanging on but barely. As he watched her closely, her lip moved. He stared at her, and saw her chest rise. It looked like she was taking a big breath to try and talk. "Sakura! I think she's trying to say something." He got close to Anko's mouth still holding her head in place. He said, "Anko. What is it? You're safe now. I've got you. I'm not leaving, and you can't get away from me even if you tried. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Anko heard him, even though he still sounded far away. She heard what he said and it sounded oddly comforting. Something about he's not leaving and she's safe. She was glad he wasn't leaving, but she certainly didn't feel safe yet. Safe people shouldn't feel as much pain as she was feeling. She tried to focus her eyes on him, and again tried to speak.

Kakashi looked at her face waiting for some kind of sign that she heard him, that she could hear him. Her eyes moved slightly just once, as if she was trying to see him. Then he heard it, she breathed out, "ssssooo ssssoooorrrryyy," and a tear fell from her left eye and skidded down the side of her bruised face. Kakashi looked at her lying there, beaten and bloodied, and his heart broke into a million pieces. He thought, oh my God, I do love her. He got close to her ear and said, "There's nothing to be sorry for."

Sakura looked at him and said, "What's she sorry for?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. What can we do for her?

"You keep her still while I get her checked over. She's acting like she has a bad head injury. Keep her still; I want to make sure she doesn't have a broken neck."

Kakashi continued to steady Anko's head. He thought things are going to be different from now on. You make it through this Anko, and I swear things are going to be different. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to deal with it just like I am. Kakashi asked, "Anything yet?"

"Looks like Kabuto did a number on her ankle and foot. The bones are broken as if they'd been cut with a laser scalpel. I can put them back together again, but I'm not done assessing her yet. Let me keep looking."

Sakura found that Anko had a broken scapula from the crushing punch she'd sustained to her shoulder, as well as a fractured skull from the other punch Kabuto had hit her with. Her jaw was bruised, but not broken. Sakura told Kakashi, "I've got to fix her head before she has a brain bleed and dies on us."

"Do whatever you have to do Sakura. Tell me how I can help."

"Talk to her. Do something to keep her calm. Switch positions with me so I can take care of her head."

Kakashi only let go of Anko's head after Sakura put her hands in place. She began to let her healing chakra flow into the area of Anko's skull that had been fractured. Anko felt like small pinpricks of electricity were bouncing around in her head. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was a strange sensation. Slowly, her vision began to focus. She heard Kakashi ask, "Sakura, can I clean her eye?"

"Sure, but be careful. There's a clean cloth in my pack and some sterile water."

Kakashi got the cloth and the water from the pack; wet the cloth and hovering over Anko's face he said, "I guess you did this for me when I was out of it. Just returning the favor." He began to wash the blood, sweat and grime from her face. Her eye still had some blood in it, but Kakashi couldn't get it out. He noticed that her eyes were still out of focus, though they seemed to be looking at him. Her face twitched, and a small groan came from her.

Kakashi looked at Sakura. "She's trying to come back around," Sakura said. "There are no brain bleeds, and her brain hasn't swollen much. It's going to take some time, but this is the worst of it. Don't worry Kakashi; we got to her in time. She's going to be ok."

Kakashi thought Thank you Sakura. You've just made me very happy. Very grateful. Kakashi got close to Anko's face and said, "Did you hear that? Sakura said you're going to be fine in a while. We'll get you fixed up and get you back home soon."

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"She's going to need someone to look after her for a while. That is, unless you want her to go to the hospital. I'd really recommend that. We can take care of her better there."

Anko's eyes began to clear even more. She heard Sakura talk about taking her to the hospital. She didn't care where she went; she just wanted to not feel any more pain. Then she heard Kakashi say, "We're taking her home Sakura. I'll take care of her. I owe her that much."

"If you insist."

"I do."

Anko listened to what Kakashi said, and she smiled inside. She was going to have to make her deal with Kakashi as soon as she could.

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A/N: She lives! But barely, and she's not out of the woods yet. And Kakashi finally realizes that he has feelings in that boarded-up heart of his. One more chapter folks, and then we're going to wrap it up, unless . . . Anyway, review please!

Next up: So what's this "deal" Anko's talking about? Will Kakashi agree to it? See you soon!