Kakashi watched Sakura as she paced back and forth. To say she was worried about what they had found out would be an understatement, so Kakashi just lie there across the couch like a lazy cat, nothing like a high-strung wolf like he should be. His lone eye followed her as she walked the length of his living room whilst muttering about how much trouble they where in, she had read the book from cover to cover many times.
He almost jumped out of his skin when she leapt onto his lap; "Look!" she pushed the book into his face whilst pointing at an entry.
Kakashi took the book from her, trying to ignore that ones again she was sitting on an body area that she should be keeping away from, he swear that she was doing it on purposes. He sighed as she started to read the entry she had pointed too, it was an old entry, about two years ago, she had managed to track down a solitary and wounded Garou in its wolf form, it went on to say how she has used a silver headed arrow fired from a crossbow to finish it off. So this is what she was so worried about.
"The wolf was alone and wounded, she got lucky, it was not any testament to her skill." he said plainly.
"But Kakashi-kun!" her face was tight with worry.
"Do-not-worry, you will only make yourself ill, as Caller-san said, there has only been three Garou born from shinobis, so normal werewolves wont have the same training, there is nothing she can do to me."
"I know but-"
"No buts," he interrupted, "she can't attack me in the day time, and if she tried she would have the village on her in no time."
"I think your taking this too lightly."
In a flash he was on top of her, pinning her to the couch, "And I think you worry too much." he grinned.
"I have to worry this much as you don't worry at all!"
The copy-nin chuckled, "For the last time Sakura-chan, don't worry about me, you have enough stuff to worry about with your training and work, speaking of which, shouldn't you be getting back?"
"No," she said as she managed to get out from under him, "I took the rest of the day off."
"Do you think that is wise?"
"I have pulled so many shifts lately that no one will think anything of it," she sighed, "and did you see the amount of paper work I had? I swear I would of gone insane if I stayed there any longer."
He sat up so Sakura could sit down by him properly, "You got any plans for tonight?" he asked as she flopped down beside him.
"Got any plans?" she razed an eyebrow, "I cant really go out now can I?"
"Sakura, we have to go on like nothing is happening, and don't worry about getting others hurt, I don't think they would attack us in the open like that."
"Maybe your right. She sighed.
The medic was in no mood to argue with the new moon, and she really did want to go out and see Ino, Hinata, Tenten and the others. Thinking back on it she has not had a night out in months, even before Kakashi went through his first change she was boarding on no social life.
"Well Ino did invite me out for a drink, and it has been a long time sense I last talked to her."
"So its set then, you will spend some time enjoying yourself and not worrying." he put some enthuses on not worrying.
"What will you do?"
"I will think of something to deal with our problem," he held up the tan book, " its dangerous to let someone like that to go around unchecked, the may end up doing some real damage."
"What happened to staying together?"
"I wont be far," he flipped through the book in his hands, "I can see everything that happened from the spirit world, so I will be at your side all the time, I will just be the other side."
"Somehow that does not seem very comforting." she mumbled to herself as she looked away.
"What was that Sakura-chan?"
"Oh, nothing Kakashi-kun," she replied as she stood up and stretched, "If you don't mind, I'm going to take a shower and change out of this damn uniform."
"She has changed so much, and yet in someway she has not changed at all," he mused in unguarded though, "she is always worried about everyone other then herself, it's a shame that someone like her had to be pulled into this world of darkness."
The copy-nin looked down at the book resting in his fingers, he knew things could never go back to the way things where. Even if by some grace of Gaia he could dispose of this human, the pack of Black Spirals and bring back Sasuke, nothing would change. Pulling himself to gather, he decided to fully focus on the task at hand.
Rolling his shoulders he gathered the chakra needed to summon a shadow clone, "Stay here and do your best not to get hit." the copy gave a small nod as a reply.
Leaving things to his clone. Kakashi left via his normal way, through the window, despite the huge leap he landed effetely and silently on the roof below. He had really no idea where Shiroi could be, but this was not the first time he had tracked someone by instinct. The copy-nin lifted his head slightly and sniffed the gentle breeze that drifted by, he did not know her sent, but he would be able to sense anything out of the ordinary. Kakashi would not admit that he was scared slightly when these changes came over his body, but now he was coming to understand it. His nose twitched, as he smelt something unfamiliar, she was near.
With a growl he dropped down to the pavement below, with so many ninja's using the rooftops to move about no one gave him a second look as he landed only inches away from a fellow shinobi. He straitened his jounin vest and casually began to make his way towards the sent; Kakashi did not ignore the negative side of being a Garou among normal humans. The Curse was not easy to live with, people can feel that there is something not right with the werewolf, a Garou's mere presents will cause the primal part of any human's mind to react, telling them to run, but they simply shrug it off and avoid said Garou. But it was this curse that he was going to use to flush out the hunter, if she really did remember and had a weakened veil over her; she would not simply shrug it off.
He stopped himself from grinning when he saw her come into view; Shiroi was fumbling around in her bag, by his guess she was trying to look for her tan book. Slipping his hands into his pockets he kept his gaze striate ahead, never looking directly at her.
Shiroi cursed when she reached the bottom of her backpack and still could not find her diary, now she had to spend the most of her time looking for the damn thing then doing what she came here to do. She really did not want to stay in this ninja village longer then she had too, there was something about it that made her feel uneasy, like she was always being watched. It his her hard and without warning, that all too familiar feeling of oppression that was almost suffocating. Like she wanted to claw out her own windpipe, she had felt it before, the feeling of being in the sights of a predator. The blond outsider froze as she cast her gaze to the right, the flash of silver-grey got her eye, her eyes widened when she saw him, the silver hair, the black mask, and this deathly feeling was unmistakable.
Kakashi did not react as she froze and then picked up her pace, "I'm sorry but I can not hide from this, Sakura, don't hate me for what I may have to do." without looking back he poofed himself away.
--
The Shadow Lord grind to himself as he watched Sakura put on the last of her makeup, being able to see thing from the Umbra was something to could get use too. But there was something he could not shift a feeling uninfluenced by any of the local spirits, a pang of sadness, he wished he could be there with there physically.
"Damn protectiveness nature." he mumbled to himself as she left.
"Hay forehead!" Ino waved from her seat at the back of the club.
"Hi Ino-pig!" she waved back to her rival and best friend.
Shikamaru and Choji where they're as well. Shikamaru had his chunin vest slung over the back of his seat, he stared with his normal bored expression of his face at his drink, giving a small wave as a greeting. Choji was his normal self, always eating, but he seemed even more happy to see her then Ino.
"Where have you been? It was like you disappeared into thin air." Ino asked as Sakura sat down next to her.
"Just been busy with training that's all." the pink-haired medic tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"She brought her team with her! What was she thinking? Doesn't she know how upsetting it is for Sakura." Kakashi growled, still watching from the spirit realm.
He stood by her side for some time, watching as she took her first few sips of her drink. He could tell that she was uncomfortable about this situation; she had lost both of her team-mates so she was feeling a bit out of place here. With a sigh he tore his gaze from his former student, there where no Wyrm-spirits around so far, and there where non-on the edge of his senses, but he was not going to drop his guard just because things looked safe. With a quick glance back to Sakura he left the spiritual reflection of the building to stand under the night sky, the spider-spirits could be seen widening down for the night.
With a great leap he made his way onto the roof of the local club. In this realm he found that he could easily use the Sharingan without the worry of becoming drained, the copy-nin sat on the edge of the buildings flat roof keenly watching over the village, he dropped his chin into his hand.
"I wonder how much time my father spent like this?" he asked himself.
"Many long years, his vigil stayed even in death."
Kakashi did not jump or startle or anyway as the spirit spoke into his ear. Magpie ruffled its feathers, comfortable with its perch on the copy-nin's shoulder.
"It's good to see you old friend."
"Magpie happy to see Kakashi too." the black and white bird chirped.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the spirit as it began to clean its wing like a live one would.
"I have always been here." it puffed out its chest
"I mean why are you here now with me, has something happened?"
"Magpie was worried about Kakashi, Scarecrow feel like Harano."
He razed an eyebrow, "Harano?"
"Kakashi's spirit is morning for what is not yet lost." its eyes glistened as it spoke to the silver-haired shinobi.
"I'm fine."
"LIE" it squawked.
"Fine," the copy-nin sighed, "I'm just worried about Sakura, she is with one of her friends and her team, and seeing as she lost hers, and don't say there's anything between us, I'm just her sensei."
"Stop," the bird cried with another ruffling of feathers, "to many words, start over."
"I love this song! Common Choji." Ino yelled as she pulled said boy to the dance floor with her, leaving Sakura alone with her drink, seeing as the half asleep Nara boy was not much company.
Sakura sighed looking down at her drink, watching the lights dance across its reflective surface.
"So how has Kakashi-sensei been?" Shikamaru asked almost out of the blue.
"He is fine, just a little worried about Naruto and Sasuke." she smiled at him.
"Really? He never seemed the kind to get violent when stressed." he said calmly, remembering what he had heard about Genma.
"Well you see, with someone like him who has been bottling stuff up for most of his life, I guess it just burst." she hoped that this would be enough for the shadow user.
"Then why are you spending so much time with him?"
Crap!
She was struggling to come up with a good excuse when Ino and a tired looking Choji dropped down at the table. Saving Sakura from the investigating chunin.
"I love that song," Ino laughed, "What where you two talking about?"
"Sakura was just about to say why she was spending so much time with Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru said before Sakura could get a word in.
"Oh?" Ino grinned at her friend, "really do go on."
"I was always fine by myself till my first change, now I can feel It." the Garou racked his hand through his silver hair.
"Wolves are pack spirits, being alone not normal." the bird replied.
Kakashi laid down, his gaze turned up to the red star, "Magpie can I ask you something?"
"Kakashi can always ask, answers may not be spoken." the spirit spoke.
"Kyuubi, what is he?"
"Powerful." the black and white bird cried.
"No I mean," He stopped when he heard the heavy flutter of wings, "I see."
He picked up a dark feather that had fallen from the spirits wing. Rolling it between his thumb and index finger, the feather gleamed silver. He crushed it in the palm of his hand, it felt like crushing ice, a cold tingle that enveloped his hand and traveled down his arm. Sitting back up he could see the spiritual reflections of Sakura and Ino, but there was another dark flicker of movement that told him it was time to go.
"Guess forehead, the way you where trying to avoid questions in there makes it look like you and Kakashi-sensei are an item or something."
"Shut up Ino-pig! There is nothing like that between us, he is just the last team-mate I have left now." she yelled at her friend.
"You sound like you have given up on Sasuke, not like you ever had a chance with him anyway."
The pink-haired medic sighed, "Stuff like that does not matter to me anymore."
"Sakura?"
"Ino," she sighed, eyes cast down but suddenly her body tensed, "Ino we are.."
"I know." she was glad it was one of her rare days where she had next to nothing in the way of drink.
"I don't feel any chakra." Sakura whispered to her friend.
"Same, I don't think they are a ninja."
"You can stop following us now." Sakura yelled to the darkness behind her.
"I'm sorry to invaded on your privacy Sakura-san." Shiroi moved out of her hiding place, closing the gap between them.
"You know her?" Ino glanced at her friend, looking a bit confused.
"Shiroi-san, maybe it is best that we talk alone, there is no need for us to bore others with our talk."
Shiroi's eyes darted from Sakura to Ino then back again, "Sure."
"She asked me to help her with a few things," Sakura explained, "You go on ahead Ino, ill fill you in tomorrow."
"Are you sure?"
"I will be fine." she gave her friend a reassuring smile.
"Ok then," she sounded sceptical, "I will talk to you later then."
The pink-haired medic sighed in relief as she watched her friend move down the road to her hold, and out of hearing range.
"I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night Sakura-san."
"Don't lie, I know your not."
Shiroi giggled, "Your right, I take it your friend does not know about your lover?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." she growled as she turned to face the outsider.
"Don't play this game with me Sakura, it does not suet you."
"I see." she began to channel chakra to her fist, just in cast thing got out of hand.
"Is there anywhere more appropriate for us to talk? Here does not feel right." Shiroi smiled so sweetly that Sakura wanted to hit her right then and there.
"We can go to the training grounds, no one will be there at this time." she did not wait for a reply before she began to lead the way.
"This is not good, Sakura, don't do anything foolish." Kakashi followed the two women in the spirit realm, looking for somewhere to step-sideways.
"He is a monster! How can you not see that!" the blond yelled, frustrated that she was not getting her point through.
"It's not like that, he is a good man."
"I'm glad you feel that way about me Sakura-chan." a deep male voice sounded just behind the medic.
"Kakashi-kun!"
"You!" Shiroi reached into her backpack to retrieve her weapon, "You monster!"
Sakura moved out in front of her ex-sensei, arm outstretched trying to protect him, "Shiroi don't do this!"
"Sakura," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Don't this is my fight."
"But Kaka.."
"Don't." that one word was commanding enough to make her stand down.
"So she is human," the silver head of an arrow gleamed in the moonlight, "I don't know how you got her to believe that you are good, but it wont work on me, I have seen what your kind are really like." she aimed the tip at him.
"I have not razed my claws against humans." he told her calmly.
"Don't lie! I was there! You monsters are all the same, hiding in human skin, pretending to be one of us."
"You where there?" Kakashi's brow furrowed, "what happened?"
"I guess I can hummer you as Sakura did with me," she closed her eyes briefly, as if recalling a painful memory, "when I was a child, my father brought home a work mate and guess what, he was… he was…" she stopped, Sakura could tell she was trying not to cry.
"He was a werewolf." Kakashi said in a matter-of-fact way.
"He killed and ate them! I was hiding and saw it all! After that I vowed I would hunt down everyone I could find!"
"I'm sorry for your loss," Kakashi said, "but it's not what you think."
"Shut up!" she screamed as she pulled the trigger.
The arrow struck the copy-nin in the neck. Causing the shinobi to gurgled blood as he feel to his hands and knees, she went to ready another arrow when her would be victim disappeared into a cloud of smoke, the arrow falling to the ground with a light thud. She gasped, wondering what could have happened to the seemingly dieing man.
"You are not a shinobi," Shiroi froze when she realised that Kakashi was right next to her, "so it would be wise if you did not point your weapon at one." his hand reached around and easily destroyed the crossbow.
She jumped away from him, throwing the broken weapon that ended up landing nowhere near him.
"Sakura, don't interfere, you know what has to be done."
"Hai, Kakashi." it hurt her to say that.
Shiroi had never confronted a werewolf as calm as this one, normally they would of showed there true selves after the first arrow, but this one still remained in his human skin. She was sure that he was a wolf, the feeling she got when she was near him was enough to confirm that, grabbing the only real weapon that she had left, one of her arrows, she charged at the Garou.
Kakashi grabbed her wrist easily, "I told you, don't point your weapon at a shinobi." he snarled, black and red eyes glaring at her.
"Wha-What the hell is that?" she yelled on seeing his Sharingan, "you god damn freak! Let me go!"
She struggled but his grip on her tightened, "I can't let you go, not like this." the Sharingan began to spin as her struggling began to weaken, then stopped completely.
"What did you do to her?" Sakura asked when she saw him let go of her, and Shiroi's body fall limply to the ground.
"I just reinforced the Veil on her, she won't have any memory's of my kind, and she will react like normal if she runs into one of us again." he explained whilst rubbing his eye.
Sakura was going to ask what they should do with her till she woke up. When two bird masked ANBU came out of no where to kneel beside Shiroi, one of them took the sleeping blonds arm and slung it around his neck in order to carry her away.
"What is going on here!" Sakura yelled at the masked men picking up the outsider.
Kakashi stood there calm and quite, even as two more ANBU members appeared at his sides.
"I knew you where keeping something from me Kakashi," the Hokage grinned slyly at them as she walked up with more ANBU, "Hatake, to think you really are a full blooded Garou."