Authors Note-
Thank you to everyone who reviewed (you know who you are), please keep it up!! This is my third rewrite and I can finally get to writing the rest! I'm sorry it was up so late, I had said it would be up on Monday and now it's Saturday :-/
Kakashi and Kaori walked in front of the group, always watching for ambush. They walked along the path towards the villager's town. Kakashi took out his book, knowing this was going to be a long journey. These people could not run fast or jump tree to tree, especially with a child. He glanced back at the family, who had been silent most of the way. It was only a couple hours into their journey and already the little girl looked exhausted.
He sighed and looked back at his book. "We should stop and rest soon. We started late and it seems that the family is exhausted. We have been moving at a fairly quick pace." He mumbled so only Kaori could hear.
She glanced at him and then turned her head toward the family. "You're right. A few hours of rest would be good for all of us." She stopped and walked toward the exhausted family. "We are going to take a break for a few hours. We know you have a small child, and we all could use some rest before tomorrow."
"Thank you, Kaori san. We would appreciate the rest. I'm sorry we have to slow you down like this." Benjiro said, picking up his daughter.
"Don't worry about it. Let's go find a spot for you to rest in." Kakashi said, his eye forming into his little "smile".
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Kakashi leaned his head back against the tree sighing, noticing that the sky was growing lighter. He was sitting in a tree branch high above the sleeping forms of the others. Even Kaori slept soundly down on the ground; Kakashi said he would keep watch. It wasn't like he would be able to sleep anyway; but it was too dark to read his book.
He realized that since it was morning, they should probably head out soon. Silently, he jumped out of the tree and landed next to Kaori, who jumped to her feet the moment he hit the ground.
"Oh, it's just you." She whispered, looking relieved. Then she looked up at the sky, also noticing its lightness. "Let's wake them up and eat some breakfast before we leave."
The family was slowly woken up, with lots of grumbled from the children. Kaori passed out small rice balls to eat and Kakashi took his to sit at the base of a tree with Kaori sitting next to him.
Chihiro, the little girl, walked up to Kakashi and sat cross-legged in front of him, taking a bite out of her rice ball. "Hello!"
Kakashi and Kaori looked up from their food. "Why hello." Kaori said.
"Hi! So, you two are Hidden Leaf Ninja, right?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, we are. Why do you ask?" Kakashi asked after finishing his rice ball.
"Well, my father doesn't like you very much. Actually, he doesn't like the leaf village at all." She said, frowning a little.
"Why is that?" Kaori asked.
"Well, he hates the leaf village because of what happened during the Great Shinobi War. Father was…" she stopped herself, frowning again, just as her brother walked up behind her.
"Father was in the trading business. Back then, we lived very close to Iwagakure, and the village's war with Konoha stopped his ability to trade almost completely and nearly destroyed our home. He thinks that it is Konoha's fault that we had to start over."
The little girl nodded in agreement as Kyo went on. "He only hired you guys because we were in Konoha for trading-he eventually got his business started up again- and needed an escort back home. Although, I thought a whole team of ninjas would be escorting us, instead of only you two."
"Can you really protect us from all those Iwa ninja?" Chihiro asked.
Kaori smiled. "Who do you think could protect you better than us? Two former ANBU?" She laughed. "Well a whole team also would be able to do the job as well."
Kyo thought for a moment. "The Copy Ninja! Father and Mother used to tell us stories about the war, and the Copy Ninja was the greatest! He knows a thousand jutsus because of his Sharingan. He could take them down in a second!"
Kakashi coughed. "Well I don't know about a second." He thought. Out loud he said, "If the Copy Ninja is as great as you say he is, then you guys will not need to worry!"
Kyo and Chihiro looked at him confused, until he sighed and pulled up his forehead protector. Kyo's mouth practically dropped to the floor when he saw Kakashi's mismatched eyes. "You…you're the Copy Ninja!"
Kaori laughed. "He is. Now, come on. We must get moving." She stood up and the children followed her.
Kakashi smiled underneath the mask and pulled his forehead protector back down over his eye, shaking his head.
The family and ninja packed up their stuff and set back out on the path. As they started walking again, Kaori ran up to Kakashi, slowing her pace to walk next to him. "Who knew that the infamous Kakashi Hatake even has fan's in the Land of Earth?"
"Hey, no making fun of me!" he joked, lightly pushing her shoulder.
They walked in silence for the next couple hours as the day grew hotter and hotter. Suddenly, Kaori froze where she was, her eyes growing wide. Kakashi looked at her confused. "Hey? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Then he sensed them too.
"There are people coming, ninjas. There seem to be three or four of them…" she closed her eyes, and then reopened them. "They are too fast for us to outrun. We will have to fight."
He nodded and they both ran up to the family. "They are coming. Whatever you do, stay away from the fighting. One of us will be guarding you at all times." They nodded. Kyo ran up to Kakashi, holding on to his sister's hand.
"What can I do?" he looked desperate to help.
Kakashi pulled a kunai out of his pocket and handed it to the boy. "Protect your family anytime that we can't; especially your sister."
The boy nodded and tightened his grip on both his sister and the knife. Kakashi turned back to Kaori. "Ready?" She nodded, going to stand behind the family while Kakashi stood in front.
All of a sudden, three ninja with Iwagakure's symbol on their forehead protectors stood before him. Kakashi's grip tightened on his kunai as he glared at him. "Why are you here?" he asked, knowing the answer.
One of the ninja, obviously the leader, stepped forward. "We came to fulfill our promise. You see, we promised that man there that we would kill him and his family for what he did to us."
Kakashi smiled, still keeping his cool. "I don't think so. Your promises will never be fulfilled because your life ends here!"
With that, he lunged toward the leader, meeting the other's knife with his own. He glanced sideways and saw two of the three rouge ninjas heading towards the family. He tossed a kunai at one of them with his free hand, nailing him in the back. The ninja fell over, supposedly dead, while the other started fighting with Kaori.
The ninja he was battling with leaped back next to the fourth ninja, doing hand signs. Kakashi silently cursed as the other's stone dragon jutsu surged toward him. He jumped back and the jutsu stopped, forming a large stone wall, separating Kakashi from the other ninja. After making sure Kaori was handling the other ninja, Kakashi jumped up on top of the wall to see better.
He looked down, searching for the two rouge ninja, yet he couldn't see them. Suddenly, a hand grabbed him from below pulling him down while they went up. He quickly used a shadow clone of attack the ninja, the leader, while he pulled himself back up.
He felt someone's chakra behind him and turned around just in time to block the punch of the leader's own clone. He returned the punch with one of his own straight to the face, sending the clone flying out of sight. While his shadow clone battled the leader, he jumped down to go help Kaori.
She and the other remaining ninja were locked in what looked like a staring contest. She had her sword outstretched by her side, and by the blood on it she had obviously injured her opponent. She was standing in between the ninja and the frightened family. All except for Kyo, who stood on the other side of the family with his knife ready.
Kakashi ran at the ninja from behind with a knife, quickly thrusting it into the man's chest. He let go of the man, who dropped to the ground dead. "Are there any more left?" she asked, still holding her position.
He nodded and ran in the direction of the rock wall. "My shadow clone is fighting the last one as we speak. Let's go." Before they could go anywhere, though, the ninja appeared in front of them, injured but alive.
Kaori lunged at him with her sword; he ducked and aimed a kick at her head, which she blocked. He leaped back and tossed a few kunai at her, which she easily dodged. Little did they know, that who he really was aiming for was not Kaori, but the family. Kakashi leaped in front, knocking all the weapons away.
"I see that I am not going to be able to get past you." The ninja observed, smiling a wry smile.
"Of course you won't! You would never be able to defeat the copy ninja!! He is the best." Kyo shouted from behind Kakashi.
The rouge ninja smiled even wider. "So that's how I recognized you, Kakashi Hatake." Kakashi tightened his grip on his knife, his eyes narrowing. "The child is right, I can't defeat you alone."
With that, he made some hand motions and disappeared out of sight with a gust of wind. "Shit!" Kaori yelled. "He got away!"
"For now, the family is safe again." Kakashi commented, getting relieved looks from the entire family.
I know, this chapter is REALLY long!
Review please please please!!!