"How much longer until we reach the meeting spot?" Talon asked with noticeable anxiousness.

By the irritated sigh that was almost a growl Badger let loose, the others of the squad thought for sure that he was just about ready to strangle the boy, "Ask again and I'll make sure you never get there."

Panther quickly intervened before things got too out of control between the two of them: "We're only a few miles away now," She said calmly, not turning around from her spot at the front of the group. She glanced to the left, "Badger, keep your pants on."

A low chuckle was heard from Asuma in the back. Badger growled again. Talon began to giggle, himself, but was silenced by a glare he knew the older man behind him was giving him. Asuma shook his head:

"Come on guys," He began, "This is a serious mission. We don't really have time to hate each other right now."

"I agree with Asuma," Panther said with a nod, "If you two don't shape up, I'll kick your asses all the way back to Konoha," There was a seriousness in her voice that reminded all of them why she was the leader of the small squad they were in. Badger spat:

"Fine."

"Yes ma'am," Talon said, almost ruefully. Asuma was vaguely reminded of two brothers who just got grounded for fighting and smiled, despite what he had previously said about this being a serious mission. After a few more seconds, Panther held a hand out to stop them, which they all did quickly. She turned to face them.

"I'm going to go scout ahead," She said. She pointed at the youngest member of the group, "Talon, you're coming with me."

He seemed excited, "Alright!"

The two of them were off in a flash, leaving Asuma and Badger to stay semi-hidden amongst the trees. Asuma smiled a little again, turning towards the well-muscled man, who seemed to have relaxed suddenly.

"You certainly seem calmer all of a sudden," He mentioned.

Badger scoffed, "Any moment without that kid around is a good moment for me."

Asuma shook his head, "Do you really dislike him that much?"

"If that wasn't already obvious, you've got issues of your own, Sarutobi," Asuma could hear the laughter in his voice.

"I guess so," He chuckled back, and they stood in silence for just a moment before Badger spoke up again.

"He's naive," The man grunted, "And so freakin' reckless you'd think he wouldn't have made it the fifteen years he's been alive."

"Reckless? Isn't that what you're famous for?" Asuma's grin widened.

Badger chuckled darkly, "Smartass," Asuma returned his chuckle, "I have more sense than he has. When I charge into a situation, I know what I'm doing. But that kid," He gestured loosely in the direction Talon and Panther had set off in, "He never knows what the hell he's doin'."

Asuma glanced in the direction the two had set off to scout in, "… He's only fifteen?"

Badger nodded, "Yeah…" He said with a sour tone before leaning against a tree, "That's way too damn young."

Suddenly, Asuma knew why Badger 'hated' Talon.

"Well?" Asuma was called away from his thoughts when Panther and Talon came leaping back through the trees, landing in front of him and Badger without so much as a sound.

"Like I said before, we don't have much farther to go," Panther said in response to Badger's half-question.

"Only a mile and a half; probably less," Talon finished, with an upbeat tone. Clearly, he was glad that they were about to arrive at their destination.

"Alright," Asuma nodded with Badger, and they all started to move again, shifting back into their rightful positions. The Jounin suddenly started to think about the reason they were all out here… Kakashi.

Asuma was infuriated when he learned about what had happened with Kakashi. He would've come along on the Retrieval Mission even if they didn't want him to. He was determined to get his friend back to Konoha, no matter what it took. It didn't quite make sense to him, though… Curious, he asked Panther:

"Panther," He said.

"Yes?" She replied.

"… Why do you suppose Orochimaru would want Kakashi?"

The atmosphere seemed to darken in and of itself after the question was asked, and there were a few moments before Panther answered. Badger and Talon looked up at her expectantly too, because this was a legitimate question that everyone on this mission probably asked themselves once or twice already.

"I'm not quite sure," She answered truthfully.

"Gai told me that Orochimaru said it was for some… 'Plan B'," Asuma said. A similar chill ran down everyone's spines when they heard that. For some reason, no matter who said it, or who it was said to, that same chill would return. It was probably because the thought of that snake bastard having his eyes set on someone else in Konoha as well as Sasuke didn't sit very well with anyone.

"… It's hard to say what that means," Panther responded, "With him, it's hard to tell," She spat the 'him' like it was a gross word.

"Doesn't quite matter, anyway," Badger grunted. Attention was shifted back to him, "What it means," He clarified. Talon nodded, turning to Asuma. He spoke with words that sounded just a mite too experienced for the voice that said them:

"Yeah," He agreed with Badger, "We're supposed to go and find Kakashi-senpai and bring him back to Konoha. It doesn't matter the reason; it's just what we have to do. So we'll do it," He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Asuma smiled softly, chuckling a little before returning his attention to the path ahead of them, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Badger and Panther smirked behind their masks. Only a kid could sum up the duties of the ANBU as simply as that.

Suddenly, the trees broke ahead of them, allowing the small bit of light they had to increase just a little as a large clearing appeared before them. The three stopped mechanically as Panther held a hand up, and glanced over the scene before them.

"Whoa…" Talon mused quietly, gazing at the splotches of blood and giant holes that were present throughout the clearing. Asuma's stomach twisted a little when he realized that this was the spot where Squad Seven fought when Kakashi was taken. Realizing that most all of this blood belonged to Genin was not something that he could get used to.

Panther analyzed every speck of dust in the area, until her eyes caught on a kunai to the left of them, lodged in the ground, with its handle pointing into the trees behind them. She held up another hand to get the squad's focus, and then briefly motioned toward the kunai with a shrug. Badger and Talon nodded. Asuma took the liberty to look vaguely confused, deciding to not ask questions until they were out of plain sight.

They were moving again. The group followed behind their leader, who pulled the kunai out of the ground effortlessly, and then sidestepped into the trees the handle was pointing to, the squad mimicking her actions mechanically. Just as Asuma was about to open his mouth to speak, he saw another kunai lodged into the ground to the side of them, its handle pointing back deeper inside of the forest.

They only stopped for a second, Panther pulling that kunai out of the ground as well, and jogging ahead of them. Asuma was slowly beginning to figure this out. Or so he thought. It seemed to him that this was a way of pointing to a meeting location, which was highly probable. It wasn't very smart for the ANBU to meet up in a large clearing where they could all be seen.

Suddenly, it seemed, they were surrounded by masks. Asuma was only surprised for a second before he realized that these were all also ANBU members. He kicked himself mentally for being so jumpy, but the speed at which they came out barely gave him time to stay calm.

Panther tossed the two kunai to Fox, who caught them effortlessly and slid them back into his pouch. He looked the group over, "Good. Seems like we're all here now."

Everyone was in a large circle, standing within their own groups. Raven was the first to speak up, "So, Fox, this information is vital?"

Fox nodded, his white mask being the only thing anyone could see clearly in the ever-fading light of the setting sun, "As you all undoubtedly saw when you came into the clearing, there was a battle fought out here. However, Kakashi's blood is not amongst the pools out there. As you can imagine, that was unsettling."

This surprised quite a few, people glancing around at each other warily. Gai and Asuma shared identical grimaces as the conclusion came about that all that blood belonged to the kids.

"Hiroto, is it?" Panther looked across the circle to the man, who immediately stood up straighter, facing her with a serious, but tired expression.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"You were there, weren't you?" She crossed her arms.

"Yes…"

"Then you should know why none of Kakashi's blood was out in that clearing, should you not?"

He nodded, "Yes, I do," He turned just slightly so that he could project to the rest of the group as well, "When Kenshin first came; he stated that he was there to 'observe' Kakashi."

"Observe him??" Fang asked in confusion.

Hiroto nodded again, "We were unclear of what that meant. Even Kakashi seemed like he had no idea what the man actually wanted, or what he meant. Kakashi tried to hold him off, protecting his students as well. For some reason…" Hiroto seemed very perplexed by this, "Kenshin seemed extremely adamant about attacked Kakashi's students; not him personally."

This warranted confusion and unrest within the ANBU members, "I thought you said Kakashi had fought him too?" Fox asked.

"Shortly. Like I said, Kenshin was only interested in his students it seemed, so Kakashi had his hands full trying to protect them. Soon after, Kenshin did a jutsu that made vines launch out from the forest and grab Kakashi, pinning him to a tree."

Genma shifted uncomfortably in his spot as he recalled seeing a badly singed tree in the clearing. He hadn't brought it up with the others of his squad, though, because he thought it just another little thing that happened during the battle.

"So, then he started to attack the Genin?" Raven asked sourly.

Hiroto nodded, almost hesitantly, "I tried to help them. I thought we had him for a little while, but he just kept on getting up and healing himself," He shook his head, "The kids knew that they had to free Kakashi in order to stand a chance, so Naruto went over to him in an attempt to get the vines off of him," His expression darkened, "Kakashi had already yelled at them to run, but they didn't listen."

That didn't surprise anyone. If Kakashi was given a choice between his loved ones' lives and his own, he would choose their lives; no question. He never once thought about himself in dangerous situations involving other team members.

"Kenshin ran up to Naruto and sliced his side right open," Hiroto continued dryly. Retelling this part wasn't very exciting for him, "And then when Sasuke and Sakura came over to help him, the man knocked Sasuke back as well, causing some serious damage," Suddenly he looked sad, "Kakashi was absolutely horrified."

There was a small silence amongst the group before Genma spoke up, "Wait. Since Kenshin was working for Orochimaru, and Orochimaru's the one who put the Curse Mark on Kakashi, then do you think there was some sort of underlying reason why Kenshin attacked the kids so ruthlessly?" His question was aimed at everyone.

"… Orochimaru must know how much Kakashi cares for his kids," Badger muttered gruffly.

"He must," Panther agreed, "But that still leaves the question: what happened to Kakashi to make him submissive to Kenshin? Was it a threat?"

"… I don't think so," Genma said, "I never said anything, but out in the clearing, one of the larger trees had a really bad burn mark on it. I immediately recognized it as the mark from Kakashi's Chidori," His brow lowered, "But from the intensity of the burn, Kakashi must have been incredibly angry."

"That's… That's right," Hiroto said, like he suddenly remembered something, "I don't know what happened, but suddenly Kakashi got ridiculously angry. He managed to lift his headband to reveal his Sharingan and then activate the Chidori with no hand signs at all. The vines snapped immediately, and I thought he was going to tear Kenshin apart."

"What happened then?" Raven asked, "When Kakashi gets that angry, his opponents are never left standing."

There was a low murmur of agreement from just about everyone in the group. Hiroto was surprised; it seemed like everyone here had prior mission experience with the Copy Ninja. Nevertheless, he went on:

"Kenshin managed to dodge the first Chidori, but only barely. I was sure that he wouldn't be so lucky a second time, when…" His eyes squinted a little as he was pulled deep in thought, "He just suddenly stopped. Froze, like a statue. His Chidori just simmered away to nothing. Before any of us knew what was going on, he cried out in pain and these… Odd black markings seemed to cover his entire body. Only a second after the markings spread, he collapsed on the ground, still in visible pain…"

There was a sharp intake of breath by many of the listeners after Hiroto had mentioned the 'odd black markings' covering his body. The air seemed to stiffen around them as Hiroto finished, "Kenshin seemed ecstatic, picking Kakashi up and leaving…" He looked up to face everyone, "But… he said that he hadn't 'expected it to be that far along' already…"

"The Curse Mark," Gai said coldly, "It makes sense, now. Orochimaru does know how much Kakashi cares for his students. He must have given Kenshin careful instructions to only attack the Genin… He knew how infuriated it would make Kakashi to see his students suffering," His gaze hardened, "He was trying to goad Kakashi into using his Sharingan, which would activate the Curse Mark."

"And it worked…" Asuma muttered in a low voice.

"So when Kenshin said that 'it' was farther along then he expected…" Phoenix mused, "He meant the Curse Mark. That makes sense…"

There was an almost eerie silence among the group as everyone took a beat to process this information. If anything, this news only complicated things for them. But, they couldn't just ignore it. Now, at least, they knew the reason why Kakashi lost. For some reason, because of the mentioning of the Curse Mark, it seemed like the stakes were higher.

"We move out immediately at the break of dawn," Raven said firmly, breaking the silence, "It's fair to assume that Orochimaru is anticipating the Leaf Village's take of action. Besides, snakes prefer the dark. It'll be safer this way."

There was a consecutive nod from everyone just as darkness overtook the sky.

………………………………………………………

Kakashi jerked awake as a painful shock racked through his body.

His arched back slowly found its way back to the cold stone floor as he exhaled shakily, letting his eyes adjust to the dim and familiar torchlight around him. He managed to let out a soft moan as another small tingle ran through his numbed body. He didn't any more of those painful happenings would hurt much anymore because of how thick and numb he felt.

Well, at least he was able to move his wrists and ankles again.

Kakashi rotated said body parts slowly, stretching out his fingers and toes and allowing them to gratefully stretch. He hoisted himself up to his elbows slowly and ascended shakily to a sitting position.

Looking around, the Jounin concluded that he was back in his cell. The iron bars and chains on the back wall assured him of that. He breathed in deeply, realizing with a start that he could feel the stale air hitting him in the face. He frowned. He moved his arm up to his neck, albeit shakily, and yanked his mask back up to its proper place.

Kakashi felt secure with it back on. Still, the fact that the snake bastard had seen his face absolutely infuriated him.

Orochimaru… His expression soured as he thought back to the last time he heard his voice. It was among two other voices. One he now reasoned to be that Masaru Tomichi character he had met earlier. (He didn't quite know how much earlier, because he didn't know how long he'd been out) The other… Well, he didn't know. Masaru called her Yuuka, but he didn't know anything else besides that. Nor did he care to.

Suddenly he stiffened, thinking back to when they were talking about conducting 'tests' on him. The words 'dosage' and 'sedative' came up, and Kakashi didn't like them. The thought of being 'tested' on by that creep was a generally sickening one.

"… Maybe that would explain these odd pains," He thought, wincing just a tad as another short jolt went through his shoulder.

The thought didn't comfort him. Kakashi hated not knowing what was going on, especially when it involved strange tests that might have been performed on him. And why did they just toss him back into his cell? They didn't even bother to chain him up. Was that really smart?

The Copy Ninja slowly tried ascending to his feet, wobbling more than a few times before feeling his feet plant themselves firmly on the ground. He sucked in another deep breath and walked around a little, still wobbly. He hobbled to one of the walls by the iron gates and gave them a once over.

"Even if I have low chakra stores, these bars aren't all that sturdy…" He thought, "I could bend them easily."

Not that it was an all-around good idea. He was definitely not quite up to snuff, and even if he was, with the damned mark on his neck, he doubted how far he would get without killing himself. That would be preferable, however, if he was given the option to be Orochimaru's new toy or die.

Out of curiosity, Kakashi decided to focus some chakra to his hands and see how far he could get. Sucking in yet another breath, he started to draw in chakra to his arms. As a faint blue hue started to cover his hands, an incredibly piercing pain started to ring throughout his body. This was almost three times worse than the other shocks he had been feeling. He muffled a loud cry, tipping over to his side and digging his nails into the stone wall to try and keep himself standing. Kakashi slid to his knees as he suppressed other undignified whimpers and moans.

The pain died down to a tingle as his knees hit the ground. His breathing was raspy and shaky, and his fingers still twitched in the stone wall with aftershock from the horrible pain that had struck them. Beads of sweat dripped off of his face.

Slowly, he managed to turn himself around, sliding to his backside and trying to steady his breath again, "What the hell was that?!" He wondered furiously, staring momentarily at his shaky hands that still felt the tiniest little tingle.

Kakashi let out as much of a growl as he could muster when he tried to put two and two together. This was definitely his doing. Whatever strange 'tests' they had put him through, they had cut off his chakra somehow. Now it made a lot more sense to Kakashi why they didn't chain him up to the wall. It also made the sinking feeling in his stomach grow exponentially.

He couldn't escape.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! I'm SO so sorry for not updating sooner! It's been almost a full month now, and for that, I apologize.

I've been really busy since school started, so I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to get to these chapters. It could be in intervals of weeks, or even a month. I'll try to get them out as soon as I can though!

I am SO excited about this story getting over 100 reviews! That's so amazing! I'd like to thank each one of you for you input. Every little comment makes me feel really good! Thanks a whole lot! Hugs for all! :]

I'd also like to thank KakashiKrazed especially, because they always leave really descriptive and amazing comments that I look forward to every time I update! X3

But, again, I enjoy all of your input very much, and am honored that you all are following along and enjoying a story of mine!

So, I hope you all STILL like it, as the plot gets thicker and thicker!