A/N: Oh. My. God. Has it really been two months? I am so sorry for the long wait! It may sound a little cliché, but I've been terribly busy with exams, projects and work and all. But now things have finally cooled down a little, so I can finally pick up where we left off and finish book 1.

The next chapter is already done. Just a small compensation for making you guys wait for so long... ^^;

Thank you sooo much for bearing with me! .

She was scared. Not only of the deadly assassin who was out to kill her, but also of what might have happened to Kakashi.

I refuse to believe he's dead, she thought to herself. He can't just leave us here…

Naruto stood closer to her, his eyes not leaving the man.

He formed a seal. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Three Shadow Clones appeared around Kaede, their backs almost against her as they took a defensive stance.

"Nee-chan," said the real Naruto. "Don't move. I'll take care of him."

"But Kakashi is—"

"He'll be here," said Naruto. Though he didn't sound very convincing.

"He could be injured, or worse!" protested Kaede.

"Nee-chan!" said Naruto, raising his voice. "I can't risk losing you, as well! Just stay here. We'll look for Kakashi after this guy's taken care of."

Kaede stared at her brother, then sighed in defeat. "Go," she said softly, squeezing her eyes shut.

Kakashi…

Naruto nodded and stormed towards the assassin. Kaede didn't watch. She was already worried sick about Kakashi and what might have become of him, and now her brother was facing a deadly ninja by himself, risking his life to save hers.

The Shadow Clones stayed alert. They looked exactly like Naruto. It was amazing. Kaede hadn't seen them from this close before. Their backs close to her sent out heat – she could feel it. How was this even possible?

But soon she focused back on the situation.

"Na… uhm… Naruto?" she asked hesitantly, not sure what to call the clones.

"Don't worry," said one clone. "We won't let him come near you."

"Naruto, I can't stand this," she said. "I have to know if Kakashi is alive."

"We can't take that risk," said the clone. "There could still be exploding tags out there."

"The real me can handle this," said another.

Kaede felt tears stinging her eyes.

That's not enough, Naruto…

"Besides," said the third clone, glancing her way from the corner of his eye, "there's another clone."

Kaede looked straight at him. "Another… clone?" she repeated.

"Out looking for Kakashi-sensei," finished the clone with a faint smile. "As if I'd abandon my friends like that."

"Naruto…" A spark of hope filled her entire being immediately.

"And if it's a trap, at least we'll know," added the first clone. "Once that clone disappears, the real me will get the information it gained."

Kaede couldn't hold back and embraced the clone best within her reach.

"Thank you," she said.

The clone she was holding chuckled quietly. "You don't have to thank me," he said. Then he focused back on what was going on around him. Kaede let go of him and finally found the courage to watch the fight between the real Naruto and the assassin.

Naruto seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the man. He managed to block his attacks at the last moment, but how long could he keep this up?

Suddenly, the man took a giant leap backwards.

"Enough fooling around!" he said. "I'm going to end this. I'm ending you and your sister in one big blow!"

Faster than the eye could see, five kunai with tags on them flew their way. The man formed a seal and opened his mouth: "Baku—"

But he stopped there as something hit him and caused him to collapse. The kunai that were still headed towards them got blocked by something, sending them into the trees surrounding them without exploding.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Both Naruto and Kaede looked around them bewilderedly, the clones keeping their defensive stances around Kaede.

Kakashi?

"Show yourself!" said the real Naruto.

It has to be him… Kakashi!

But from the bushes appeared three unfamiliar shinobi wearing strange masks. They walked towards them in a calm pace.

Naruto lowered his weapons. "You're the ANBU from Iwa: the Hidden Rock Village," he said.

"We were on our way towards a mission when we heard that giant explosion," said one of them, walking towards the middle-aged assassin, who was still conscious but couldn't move.

"You two are from Konoha, right?" said another. "We were informed about you." He glanced towards Kaede. "Uzumaki Kaede," he said. "We are aware of your situation."

Kaede wasn't sure if these people were friend or foe.

"Our Tsuchikage has agreed to your getting treatment," said the third, a female shinobi. "We all agreed. Everyone deserves a second chance."

The feeling of relief was more than welcome. "Thank you," said Kaede, making a polite bow. The clones around her disappeared.

"What about him?" asked Naruto, glaring at the assassin.

Now Kaede could see what made him collapse: a couple of senbon needles in his shoulder, neck and hip.

"The first commander of the Water Country's Silver Ring Group," said the ANBU member next to the man. "We found the bodies of his colleagues on our way here. He infiltrated our country and attacked you on your mission to bring Uzumaki Kaede to the Village of Colours, correct?"

Naruto nodded. "He wanted to kill Nee-chan."

The ANBU then turned his masked face towards the man. "You are under arrest," he said.

"Are you two ok?" asked the female ANBU.

"We're fine," said Naruto, looking at Kaede.

"But Kakashi… we need to find him," said Kaede, feelings of worry welling up again. "That explosion…"

"Yeah, let's go find him," said Naruto. "My clone hasn't disappeared yet, so it must be safe."

One of the male ANBU appeared before Kaede. "Climb on my back," he said.

Kaede hesitated. "Umm…" She looked at Naruto.

"It's ok, Nee-chan," said Naruto. "We can trust these guys. They're the local ANBU."

Kaede hesitated one moment longer, but then did as she was told and climbed on the man's back.

"We'll go to the village and turn this man in," said the female shinobi.

"We'll meet at the village gate and leave for our mission as soon as I'm back," said the ANBU carrying Kaede. The other two nodded and picked the man up.

"Let's go," said the ANBU.

A signal shot in the air gave the location of the clone.

Naruto and the ANBU hurried towards where the signal came from. Kaede was amazed how they, at this speed, still managed to dodge all these branches and other objects that could have gotten in their way. Even with her on his back, the ANBU made his way to the now thinning forest smoothly.

The explosion had left a lot of destruction. Some trees were on fire and everything was trashed.

"Over here!" she heard from a distance. It was Naruto's voice. Or… the clone's voice.

Kakashi…

She wanted to see him, to see if he was injured, to see if he was still alive. Yet she didn't. She was scared. So scared of what might have become of him. So terribly afraid for the worst.

But she had to get over her fears this time. She was sick of being such a coward.

And yet…

The clone was kneeling on the ground.

"I saw the ANBU pass by," he said. "They didn't notice us, so I fired a signal shot."

"Good job," said the real Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei…" His voice died away a bit.

Kaede rushed off the ANBU's back to see Kakashi, who was lying on his back behind the kneeled clone, motionless. She gasped. Tears streamed out immediately. She couldn't control it.

"Kakashi…"

She knelt beside him. "Is he…"

"He's alive," said the clone. "But we have to get him to a hospital. Now."

"Got it," said Naruto, trying to sound professional but his voice was shaking.

The clone nodded and disappeared with a poof.

"Leave this to me," said the ANBU. He made a seal, took out a scroll, bit his thumb behind his mask, pressed his hand down to the ground and summoned two cheetahs.

Kaede froze.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm using my tent sheet as a make-shift stretcher," replied the ANBU, reaching in his backpack. "These two can carry him and take him to the hospital. You can't find any faster ninja animals than Ko and Shi."

"Don't worry," said one of the cheetahs. "We don't eat people. In fact, Ko here is a vegetarian."

"A cheetah that is a vegetarian?" asked Naruto.

Kaede stared at him. Aren't you more surprised by the fact that these animals talk?

"I know, go figure," replied Shi.

"All done," said the ANBU, who finished tying the sheet to the cheetahs' harnesses. He and Naruto then carefully lifted Kakashi up and laid him on the sheet. The ANBU used a few roped to tie him to the sheet without doing any damage to Kakashi's already-injured body.

"Is he going to be ok?" asked Kaede, still feeling sick with worry.

"His arm seems badly injured and he seems to have only little chakra left," replied the ANBU. "We have to be quick."

"We'll go on ahead," said Shi. Ko nodded and the two moved at an incredible speed – almost too fast for the eye to follow.

"They'll keep him steady," said the ANBU. "Don't worry."

He laid a hand on Kaede's shoulder in reassurance. Kaede, however, reacted instinctively and flinched. The ANBU immediately lifted his hand and withdrew it.

Kaede looked at him, trying to find a way to explain her behaviour, but the ANBU spoke before she could.

"You're a good kid," he said. "I could see that right from the start." He paused. "It's a… pity things had to become like this." His face went down a little.

Is he…?

Kaede went to stand beside Naruto and saw that the ANBU's gaze followed her.

Is he checking me out? she thought. Oh, I can't believe this!

"Let's go to the Hidden Rock," said Naruto.

"Yeah," replied the ANBU immediately. He moved next to Kaede.

Kaede looked at him for a brief moment, but then turned to Naruto and said: "I'll run on my own."

Naruto gazed at her in confusion. "Why?"

"I'm sick of being carried around," Kaede lied, hopefully convincing. "I need to stretch my legs."

Naruto scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile on his face. "No offence, Nee-chan," he said, "but with your speed it'll take too long to get to the Hidden Rock. Not that you're slow, but you're not even near ninja speed. You get what I mean, right?"

Kaede sighed in defeat. "Right," she said.

The ANBU already bent over to let her climb on his back again. Kaede really did not want to be carried by him. She looked over to Naruto, but he had already picked up Kakashi's backpack and wore it on his chest. Kaede didn't want to raise any suspicion to either of them, so reluctantly, she climbed on the ANBU's back. She tried to sit so that her breasts wouldn't make any contact to the man's back, but couldn't get it done. As they departed at an incredible speed, she even had to hold on to him tighter so that she wouldn't fall.

All the way to the Hidden Rock, they went in silence. At a certain point, Kaede could even feel the ANBU's hand holding her right thigh rubbing it and giving it a little squeeze. Kaede bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from screaming.

It's only until we're there, it's only until we're there, she kept repeating to herself.

When the hand slowly reached more up her leg and started rubbing her there, she buried her face into the man's vest and let out a short moan. Immediately after, she reached her face towards the man's ear.

"Stop it," she said.

But the ANBU kept rubbing her thigh.

"If you don't want me to have a relapse, you'd better stop it now," Kaede hissed in his ear this time. "You'll get killed."

The ANBU cocked his head a little to the right, and then his hand went back to Kaede's lower thigh, doing nothing else but hold it as it was supposed to.

Kaede couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself. She had the feeling that if she could keep this up, she might even be able to go home sooner than she thought.

But as soon as they arrived at the village, she was instantly reminded of the harsh reality.

They stopped at the gate and the ANBU put Kaede down.

"I'm going to report to the Tsuchikage and see what's become of the Silver Ring commander," he said. "You two can go to the hospital – it's at the end of the main street. I'll come to check on your comrade later."

"Thanks," said Naruto.

Kaede just glared at the man without a word before he took off.

"Let's go, Nee-chan," said Naruto.

Kaede nodded. She took Naruto's hand and together they started rushing towards the hospital.

Kakashi… please be ok.

A/N: Aaaaand on to the next chapter! :D