Orochimaru sat in his room meditating. He was trying to relax his nerves for one. He knew where Arihiro and his Neko followers were. The prefect place they could have been. He was going to have his way.

"Kabuto," he said, "Prepare everyone for battle. This will be the first and last time we'll have this pest around."

Naruto, Hanako, Sakura, and Sai all sat at the Ramen shop together enjoying a nice afternoon together. Kakashi gave Team 7 the rest of the day off to spend with Hanako. She was starting to like it here in Konohagure. It was the first time in a long time she felt like she was home. She laughed as Naruto cracked one of his jokes. Sakura played with her hair, fixing her cherry blossom pin in her hair.

"Who ever gave you this pin, must be someone special," Sakura said as she watched Hanako blush from her comment.

"He's no one that important," she said trying to hide her face from embarrassment. Naruto smirked to himself knowing who this person was, remembering the day he and Sasuke fought. Something had to have happen between her and the Uchiha.

"No worries, Hanako," Naruto said, "Who ever he is, he is a lucky guy. And he better be happy with that."

Hanako smiled at Naruto, glad about what he said. Hanako soon sense something was wrong. There was something different about today. The birds were a stir in the forest. Sakura seemed to catch on.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," Hanako said, "Stay here."

"Wait, Hanako!" Naruto shouted, but she was long gone.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked.

"We wait," Sai said simply.

Orochimaru was mounted on his snake as his followers followed closely by his side. A smirk across his face and madness in his eye, he was excited again. He could wait to sink his teeth into the neck of Arihiro. He licked his lips. Battle always made him excited. This would be the last day the Neko clan breathes. Then again, there was a chance of his defeat.

Arihiro lead the Neko clan through the village quietly so no one would worry.

"Mask on!" he shouted as they approached the gate. After passing the gate, the group split up into their groups of threes and went their separate ways. Arihiro went alone. His fight was to be alone. Just between him and Orochimaru.

Sasuke sensed someone was coming, but before he could warn anyone, Orochimaru was hit form above and sent hurling to the group. Soon came more of the same attackers. All looking the same, so no one can tell who was who. Kicks and punches were blocked, metal clanged, and blood was spilled. This was going to be an ugly battle. Above, the Konohagure Chunin teams watched the blood bath. They had come to know each one of the Neko followers, but seeing them fighting Orochimaru's followers, there was no telling who was who. It was fast pace and painful. It hurt them to see their new friends take place in battle with no help.

"We should do something," Lee said.

"Stay. This is not our battle," Gai said.

"But they need us," Sakura said.

"Gai is right. This is something we can't help," Kakashi said. Naruto felt his anger rise. Hanako was out there, but he knew that Kakashi was right. This was their battle. And she was the strongest girl he had ever seen. She could take care of herself fine.

"Give up!" Orochimaru said as he fought Arihiro.

"And let you win? Over my dead body," he replied.

"Sounds like a plan," Orochimaru said and charged for him.

Hanako sweated under her mask as she blocked her opponent's kick. She pulled out one of her daggers and cut her opponent's arm so he couldn't use it. She watched it hang limp by his side as he cried in pain. She smirked under her mask and went to make her kill, but ended up being picked up and taken deep into the forest, away from all the fighting.

Kabuto hid away from all the fighting. One death would end all of this. He chose his victim and fired his knife at his neck. The prefect shot and the victim fell over dead. Everything went quiet. Kabuto smirked.

"Prefect," he muttered and disappeared.

Stillness now. Orochimaru's followers disappeared as well as Orochimaru himself. This angered Arihiro.

"Come back you coward!" he cried to the air.

"Master Arihiro," said one of his followers, "We've lost one."

Hanako woke up to find her mask missing, her hood pulled down, and her daggers missing. Her jacket was opened to reveal a deep cut on her chest. She felt like she was in a daze. She didn't worry about where she was, because she felt like she was safe. She heard a small waterfall in the background and someone dipping a cloth in the river. She soon saw the face of Sasuke.

"Sasuke," she whispered.

"Shh… Don't say anything," he said as he placed the cool cloth on her wound. She stared in awe of his onyx eyes and how gentle them seem to look. She was wakened from her trans when a sharp pain came from her chest when the cloth came in contact with the wound.

"I'm sorry," he said softly as he cleaned the wound.

"I know you mean no harm," she said with a small smile. He looked into her soft gold eyes. Never had he felt this way toward anyone. This wasn't a feeling he was natural to. He shook the feeling and went back to the wound. He then wrapped it up for her and helped her sit against a tree. While he cleaned the cloth, he felt that her soft eyes were watching him.

"Am I that interesting?" he asked his back still turned to her as he cleaned the blood from the cloth.

"Why did you take me away from the fight?" she asked. Sasuke was shocked that Hanako asked such a question. The truth was he knew that Kabuto was put in charge of killing one of the Neko followers. Orochimaru knew Arihiro would be fighting him, so he put Kabuto in charge to kill anyone, but Arihiro. He saw Kabuto target Hanako, so he knocked out his opponent and rushed to Hanako's rescue.

"If I didn't help you, you'd be dead," he said finishing up the cloth and hanging it on a branch close to him.

"Oh," Hanako said. For some reason that made her smile. That funny feeling was coming back again. She started blush a little, too. Sasuke looked at her to find her looking away from him. This made him smirk. He walked over to her, squatted in front of her, turned her face toward him, and kissed her on the forehead. He backed away only to find her wrapping her arm around his neck, pulling him into an embrace, and feeling her lips against his. It was short, but was good, tender, and loving. When they broke, she had a smirk on her face and he was shocked.

"Let's say that's a thanks," she said coolly and leaned back into the tree. Sasuke remained shocked.

"Any signs of her?" Mushi asked.

"No," Arihiro replied, "but we haven't given up. We must remain calm."

"How can anyone remain calm!" Mushi asked as he started to raise his voice, "First Tetsuo is killed and now Hanako is missing! And you expect us to be calm!"

"Mushi, it's all right," Koji said trying to calm his younger brother. Mushi just ended up punching a hole in the wall and walk off to his room.

"He'll be all right," Arihiro said calmly, "Just like Hanako."

"Faster Sasuke," Hanako giggled as Sasuke carried her on his back. Sasuke broke off into a slow jog from the walking he was doing early. He loved hearing Hanako laugh. It made him feel like he was doing something right. He soon saw they were nearing the gate and knew they wouldn't let him in.

"Why did you stop?" she asked and then saw the gate, "Oh, right. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," he said letting her down from his back, "It was my choice." He then felt her embrace him from the back.

"I wish I could help you," she said. He then felt her bury her face into his back. "I don't want to leave you alone tonight," she said.

"I won't be alone. I'll be back in Otogakure before day break," he said, "Now, you've got to go." He took her arms, unwrapped them from his waist, and pushed her toward the gate. Before the guards saw her, she turned back and kissed Sasuke on the cheek.

"Goodnight," she said softly and ran toward the gates without looking back.