"Alright team. It looks like we will be gone a few days but pack light. Meet at the front gate in one hour." Kakashi said before we departed to prepare.

Kurenai and I lived real close to each other so we walked some of the way together. She and Asuma keep eye balling each other from time to time and I know exactly why!

"So Kurenai Chan… What happened after Naruto and I left dinner last night hmmm?" I asked as I elbowed her.

"Nothing really! Asuma just walked me home is all…"She said with a hint of blush to her cheeks.

"What about you, is Naruto going to stay in the daycare till you get back?" She suddenly asked to throw me off topic.

"Yeah I think he'll be best there…I just wish Minato was still here or that I had a sibling I could trust with him…he'd be much happier with them. He likes the really nice granny that runs the place though. I trust her with him; I'm just really going to miss him is all." I said as I looked down at my sandals as we walked.

"You're a good person for taking him in though. Just remember that." She said as she gently touched my arm with a smile.

An unsettling breeze brushed through my hair and I looked out towards the busy village. Something inside of me didn't feel right…It feels similar to when Minato Sensei sealed away the nine tails and died….

Kurenai waved bye to me with a smile as I walked up to my apartment door to get ready. I went inside and noticed it was a bit on the messy side. I picked up all of Naruto's toys to put neatly in the treasure chest I stored on his side of the bedroom and folded up some of his soft blankets and finished by sticking Mr. Bigglesworth, his favorite bear, inside the crib. Then I packed myself some weapon scrolls, food pills, and some extra clothes and camping gear inside another scroll to summon later. I grabbed my Anbu mask and my black cloak before leaving the apartment. I looked back one more time to see my home, my life and my happiness all bundled into one warm and welcoming space I created for Naruto and I. I loved it and it was always something I looked forward to seeing again. The last thing I saw before closing the door was Naruto's floor blanket that he would lay on to look up at the mobile. It had sloths and frogs and clouds with moons and stars on it to remind him of the great people that will one day help him find his ninja way.

That feeling that I had earlier still wasn't going away…it drove me crazy and frightened me a bit…what if something happens in the village when I'm away?

I quickly ran in Anbu gear over to the daycare to say goodbye to Naruto before I left. I ran into Asuma on the way and he decided to tag along as well.

"Hi Granny." I said as I entered the daycare with Asuma and removed the mask.

"Oh hello Kiki. Off on a mission?" She asked sweetly.

"Yep. I was hoping to say bye to little Naruto before I go." I responded kindly.

"Well don't you worry at all Miss. Kiki. Naruto here will be alright with us till you come back home." She said as she led me and Asuma over to one of the play rooms.

The sliding door opened to see Naruto with some other little children playing together. He looked up to me and a sparkle came to his eyes as he sat up with a piece of paper in his hand and ran over to me.

"Hi Key-Key! Lookie!" He said as he ran to me and I bent down to lift him up.

"Hey little brother! Oh that's pretty. Is that for me?" I asked with a smile.

"Yep!" He said with a cute smile as I rubbed a bit of paint off his whiskered cheek.

It didn't really look like much since he was only two but it still looked like a master piece to me.

"Onee-sama has to go away on another adventure Naruto. But Granny here will take good care of you till I get back okay?" I said sweetly as I smiled at him.

"Okay Key-Key! Lub you." He said as he hugged my neck tight.

Asuma came up and shook his hair a bit.

"Awe Asuma!" Naruto said with a giggle as he tried to get his hair back to his own type of a boyish mess.

Asuma chuckled and I smiled and gave a kiss to Naruto before letting him down to play. Soon Asuma and I were on our way out. I folded the picture Naruto made for me and placed it safely within my weapons pouch before placing my mask back on.

"It must be hard for you." Asuma said with a bit of sympathy.

"It is…but he'll learn to be tough. I know he's little now but one day he will grow to be a fine ninja. I'm just glad we have each other." I said before we arrived at the gates.

Kakashi was late as always…but Asuma and Kurenai smiled at each other which brought the most interesting entertainment to me.

Soon a white cloak flashed in front of us and Kakashi itched the back of his hood shyly.

"Sorr-" Kakashi began.

"No! We don't wanna hear any excuses!" Kurenai said as she interrupted him with a smirk.

Kakashi just chuckled a bit before standing next to me and opening the scroll for us to read. The main objective was to infiltrate Lord Jimbo's palace in the village hidden in the shadows and steal whatever evil forbidden jutsu he stole from the protection of the fire temple. He was to be brought back alive for questioning.

"It takes one day full speed to reach the village hidden in the shadows. There we will analyze our surroundings and strategize a plan. We will stay in formation A. I will lead the front, Asuma will be on my left, Kurenai will be in the back and Kiki will be on the right." Kakashi said as he drew out what we were to do.

"Hai." We all said together and then moved out the gates and away from home…away from my friends…and away from my Naruto.

The trees seemed like a blur as we rushed from tree branch to tree branch. Fresh forest air breathed upon my skin and within my anbu cloak to keep me cool through the journey but that horrible feeling still hasn't gone away…With our speed, we reached an opening an hour away from the village around nightfall and no unnecessary fighting was done so we all have made excellent time. Kakashi stopped on a branch with the rest of us following in seconds.

"Alright. Now we split into two groups. Group 1 will sleep for a couple of hours while Group 2 watches over the palace. Group 2 will gather all information needed on the outside. Then at sunrise, Kiki will use Wolf-Sight to see into the palace. Make a list of the chakra types so we can easily take them down and capture Lord Jimbo." Kakashi said towards me.

"Hai Captain." I said in agreement.

"Alright well who will be in what groups?" Kurenai asks.

"Kurenai, you and I will patrol the palace tonight while Asuma and Kiki sleep. Then Kiki will be able to take patrol with Asuma and map out the palace while we sleep for a few hours. We will infiltrate the palace before sunrise." Kakashi said before getting off the branch.

The rest of us followed and I took out a scroll to summon a sleeping bag and some camping things to help sleep better. Asuma did the same while Kakashi and Kurenai climbed back up a tree to observe the palace.

I couldn't help but think of Naruto and the village. I would have sung to him to sleep a little while ago before heading to bed. With the time we spend out here, it's going to be another 2 days before I get home. Well I guess that's not so bad…Naruto once went two weeks without me…but still. Naruto and I are very similar…we've both lost parents…

I suddenly awoke an hour later and realized I had to pee. (^.^;)

I quietly got up from my sleeping bag and went into the woods to do my business. I couldn't help but have my hearing turned up since I was half asleep and on my way back to the sleeping bag, I stumbled upon the conversation Kakashi and Kurenai were whispering.

"Kakashi you should tell Kiki." Kurenai said.

Tell me what…

"Nah I can't I'm too focused on the mission…"Kakashi whispered back.

Tell me what…

"No you need to tell her! You don't know when something could happen…"

"What about you? You and Asuma need to do something about your little flirt parade." Kakashi mumbled.

TELL ME WHAT!?

I got too tired of waiting and went back to my sleeping bag. Still I couldn't help but wonder what Kakashi was supposed to tell me…

A couple hours later Kakashi came down and woke us up to switch. I grabbed a scroll and ink to map out the palace and Asuma placed his mask back on. Kurenai slept in my bag as Kakashi did in Asuma's and we went up the tree to investigate.

"Wolf-Sight no Jutsu." I said as I put my left hand up to my lips in the hand sign of the wolf.

I felt the power come in through my eyes as I looked through the palace and found every living thing inside…I looked around and took note of the count of people, the ninja ability level of each and then I found Lord Jimbo. He had a scary looking black chakra streaming through his body…this means he's already able to use forbidden death jutsu.

"No…" I mumbled with a bit of shock.

"What's happened?" Asuma asked with concern.

"He's studied the scrolls…we won't be able to stop him easily now." I said as I continued to draw out the blueprints for the palace and all the ninja guards.

This took me an hour or so and then I focused on listening to what was happening on the inside.

"Lord Jimbo is finally ready. There is no time to waste now. Our plan must set out as soon as possible." One guard said inside the palace.

"Infiltrating the leaf won't be that simple. Now that they possess the Nine Tails…"Another man spoke.

"That won't be a problem. The nine tails is sealed in a child. We will simply just kill him and proceed to getting the Hokage."

"This is bad. This is worse than we thought." I said as I turned off my extreme hearing so Asuma won't make me deaf by talking.

"Did you get their plan?" He said.

"Yes. We must get this message back to the hokage as soon as possible." I said before doing a quiet yet beautiful whistle to a hawk.

One came swooping down and landed on my arm. I wrote down a short message and situated it to the hind leg and set it free.

"Fly fast my friend." I said before Kakashi and Kurenai jumped upon the branch.

"What's happened?" Kakashi asked in hurry.

"Lord Jimbo is now able to use the forbidden death jutsu. He plans on infiltrating the hidden leaf village in a day or so and destroy the Hokage…and Naruto." I said with a hint of sadness. What's your plan Kakashi?" I asked.

"Let's not rush this. This mission is now higher ranked than the Hokage thought so we must take action with upmost precautions." Kakashi said.

We all went on the ground and I showed him my map. Suddenly when he brushed my hand to take the map, I couldn't help but blush. Wait why did I just blush? Kakashi brought out a stick and began strategizing what each person was to do. After an hour or so, the sun was to rise soon.

"It's still early so we must act now while Jimbo is still asleep." Kakashi finished.

"Hai." We all said before putting on our Anbu masks and setting out.

We reached the palace within minutes and the first thing in the plan was to take out the gate guards. Kurenai made a clone and morphed herself into one of the trees to appeared in the trees behind the guards and broke both their necks quietly. Then I used wolf-sight to see where everyone was inside the gate. I took 4 poison needles out and Kakashi took out 3 shuriken and we rolled in and killed the 7 guards on both sides of the entrance. We moved quickly inside and I led the group quietly within the palace and towards the lord's room. I suddenly stopped Asuma in his track as he was about to trip a wire.

"Wait." I whispered.

I looked around and saw that there was a maze of wires. Kakashi signaled for me to go since he saw them with his sharingan. I took off my cloak so it would be just my anbu uniform and used my flexibility to flip through the wires. I made it to the lord's bedroom door and made three clones. Kakashi made two and with our skill, we gently cut the wires but grabbed them before they would set off an alarm and I froze the trigger box in the middle of the maze as Kakashi met me halfway. Since we had all the clones, it only took a matter of seconds and Kurenai made it to the door with Asuma and ready to sneak in.

I kept watch outside the door as Kakashi and Asuma snuck in to knock out the lord. We quietly made our escape through one his windows and down his balcony. Asuma carried him as we ran through the woods.

"Mission complete." Kakashi said as we got a bit farther away from the palace.

We kept moving until I suddenly felt three high leveled chakra surges coming from behind.

"I'll hold them off. Get the lord somewhere safe." I said as I fell back.

"Wait Kiki!" Kakashi said.

I didn't listen since those ninja were right on our tail. I stopped in my trail and landed in a clearing where there would be space for us to fight. It didn't take long before the ninja showed up.

"Where is our lord?" One of them spoke with a suspicious calmness.

I didn't answer for I was trained not to talk to the enemy for any means necessary. One then came at me and attacked but these were no ordinary ninja…two had Kekki Genkai like I did…this was to be a great challenge. I used Wolf-sight to analyze them further and noticed right away that I might not make it out of this one…One ninja had the ability use scorch release. The other could use a powerful water technique and the third ninja was unreadable…I've never had that happen.

The scorch ninja tried to attack me with his heated fist…one touch from that and I'm done for… I dodged it and almost was hit with the water ninja by his kunai but I counter attacked using my wind shuriken jutsu. Then the water ninja brought out a scroll and out came water and lots of it…this was to help him use his water style. I did some hand signs and shot thousands of little shuriken from my mouth again to hit him but he dodged them. I then tried to use water style on the scorch ninja but it was hard to even touch the guy. The other ninja mysteriously came from nowhere and kicked me into a tree but I caught myself on the body part of the tree so I wasn't all that damaged. Then I thought for a moment and did some quick hand signs.

"Wind style! Tornado twister jutsu!" I said as I summoned lots of wind and caught the two kekki genkai users inside and through some paper bombs inside.

I mildly injured them but then again was attacked by the third mystery ninja. Somehow he can move at an incredible speed and hide his chakra level. I looked out at the scenery and tried to strategize what to do next…this isn't a good situation for me…

~Kakashi's POV~

"Here looks good. Kurenai you stand guard while you strip the jutsu from him. I'm going back for Kiki." I said as I jumped upon the branch to make my way back.

We didn't leave her too far behind but still we need to use teamwork. I heard a lot of metal clashing and elemental jutsu being used before I made it to the scene. She was sitting in a tree looking out at the ninja. I used my sharingan and noticed that she was anticipating a new move. I noticed one uses water style since there was a large puddle of water on the side of the clearing and scorch marks on some of the trees. She looked exhausted from dodging everything and it looks like her Wolf-sight Kekki Genkai has eaten away most of her chakra.

The water style ninja stood within his puddle and since they haven't seen me yet, I quickly summoned chidori and ran at quick speed in front of the ninja and stabbed him in the chest while electrocuting the water beneath. The scorch ninja came at me but Kiki was able to kick his fist away with one of her clones before she summoned a new clone. She used that clone to hold down the scorch ninja and with the last bit of her chakra, she used her abilities and completely stopped his chakra flow. He stood up but her clone grabbed his arms without getting burned.

"Chakra lock succeeded." She said as she walked over to him and jumped up on his back and wrapped her legs around his head before twisting and breaking his neck while swinging to the front of him and jumping off before hitting the ground.

"Where are you?" She then said as she looked up within the trees.

Another ninja soon appeared and tried using tai-jutsu to defeat her but I went underground and back up to grab him and drag him down. The only problem though, was that he was a clone. The real one quickly snuck up on Kiki to try and get her using an earth style technique but she moved quickly out of the way before finishing him off with her chakra lock and stabbed a kunai through him.

She breathed heavily in exhaustion before taking off her mask for a moment to get some fresh air. She looked at me with her beautiful green eyes and smiled.

"We did it. Thanks for coming to help Kakashi-Kun." She said kindly as she calmed her breathing a bit.

"Ramen is on me when we get back to the village, since it's your birthday and all." I said with a chuckle. Kiki looked at me with shock and had a huge grin on her face.

"You remembered?" She said quietly but with sincerity to her voice.

"Yep. Every year to come I will…but Kiki there is something I wanna tell you…" I suddenly said.

She looked at me curiously and I couldn't help but blush once I took my anbu mask off. She couldn't see it but the blush was there under my real mask. Alright Kakashi you can do this quick and finish the mission…

"Kiki I-" Suddenly I couldn't finish my sentence because there was a reaper ghost that appeared in front of her and its scythe quickly pierced within her belly but then disappeared.

Kiki held her torso for a moment and then in sudden shock, she realized what just happened. She lifted her hand to see it stained with blood. I looked around and noticed that third ninja we killed wasn't quite completely dead until now…he somehow was able to read the forbidden death jutsu too and now she is suffering the consequences.

I quickly ran to her and caught her before she collapsed.

"It's alright Kiki." I said soothingly to keep her calm.

I then slowly picked her up but she moaned in utter pain as I tried to carry her over to where Asuma and Kurenai were. She tried hard not to make too much noise but it wasn't working. She whimpered in pain before trying to speak.

"Kakashi…I'm not going to make it…please just set me down and leave me to burn with all of Konoha's secrets." She said as she clenched my anbu vest.

I stopped on a large branch and lowered her but realized she had lost too much blood to even save her. I couldn't believe what I was seeing…she was dying in my arms…

"Kakashi…please complete the mission and keep Konoha safe…most of all…make sure Naruto is cared for…and help him find his ninja way...I….I know that…-whimpers-...I know that one day he'll ask about his family…I trust that you can make him stronger and understand everything that has happened. You are one of my greatest friends…I…I couldn't have asked…for a better person to spend my last moments with…I'm sorry…it looks like we'll have to postpone my birthday ramen…" She said as she breathed heavily as if to stay alive for one more moment.

"Kiki…I love you." I suddenly said as I single tear escaped my eye.

She looked at me with wide eyes and then she smiled and began to tear up. She then coughed and clenched her stomach in pain before focusing on me again. She brought her hand up and caressed my cheek.

"I…I…" She tried to continue but her hand fell slowly down my arm as the life slipped away from my grasp.

"Kiki…" I said while gently shaking her awake as if she was asleep.

I then closed her eyes slowly with my free hand before laying her on the branch. I picked up her mask and suddenly, her body burst into a hot flame before disintegrating into nothing but ash in the wind. Her blood stained my vest as I reached up to clench where my heart was and kept from letting my emotions out…I had to complete the mission…

DUN DUN BUNDLEDUN! Okay so I asked some friends of mine to read this before I posted and they cried…sorry guys I did mean to make it sad but not sad to the point of tears…lol Wow okay so what a long chapter!