I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I feel guilty for not updating in so long, but I simply lost my burning passion.

I hate it when authors take super long breaks until I can't even remember what the story is about so I'm going to try my best not to do it again.

I reread this story and found some things I want to change. The changes I want won't affect the plot but might slightly alter your views of the characters. I think they'll help the story a lot though so if you want, you can go through the previous chapters. Or not. To each his own/whatever floats your boat.

As a warning, if you don't read the changes you may be a bit confused in future chapters, but not majorly.

I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to make it up to you, but if there is please tell me! [Keep it reasonable. I can't align the stars to form your dog's name or make your baked potato dance a jig - Just an FYI.]

PS I decided to start being a beta-reader! Please consider me if your story fits under the categories listed in my beta profile. Thank you!

DISCLAIMER: Naruto isn't mine... Did you expect me to say it is? Oh. well... I'm sorry. again...

Carry on...

Chapter Five
- PRESSURES -

"I'm fine," Kohare said yet again to the ninja that was still pestering her. It was difficult to breathe, let alone sit up in the bed. She would do it on her own, though.

"Let me help you." On the inside, Kakashi was still overwhelmingly guilty for his mistake of breaking one of her bones the night before. Why did he always act so uncool when he was with her? No matter how he felt, it would be breaking the shinobi code to show it. Plus, he constantly wondered, 'How is she going to fall in love with me now that I've broken one of her bones?'

"I'm fine." Her eyes were filled with determination, causing Kakashi to remember when he first saw her. He thought she was like an empty cup, void of emotion or morale. He still thought that sometimes, but found himself enjoying watching that emptiness fill up, drop by drop.

Giving in, Kakashi sighed and moved away from the side of her bed as she struggled to maneuver her arms to lift herself as painlessly as possible.

He quickly performed a set of seals and cut his thumb, temporarily surprising Kohare. She realized what he was doing when he slammed his hand on the hardwood floor and smoke billowed from it, clouding the room with white.

She semi-eagerly awaited seeing what his summons would be when she felt a pressure of at least ten pounds directly being pushed onto her broken rib. At first her brain didn't register the pain, but in a split second, tears came to her eyes and she let out a sharp gasp. Something was trying to squeeze the life out of her.

A light sheen of sweat gathered on her face. She thought she was going to black out. The weight made her want to scream, but she was trained to hold it in. She couldn't even think straight, her mind was so clouded by pain.

It felt like she would stop breathing and her agony wasn't ceasing. Milliseconds were hours.

All of the smoke finally cleared and she looked to see what was causing her so much pain. A small brown dog with a Konoha forehead protector and blue jacket looked back at her.

When the tortured expression on Kohare's face came into view and he connected it with the confused dog on her chest he sprang to action.

"Pakkun! Get off her!" He tried desperately to make Pakkun get off Kohare's hurt self using frantic gestures, but he had too much respect for the nin-dog to treat him like a pet dog.

"Oh! Kakashi! There you are!" The canine was continuing to miss the crucial fact that Kohare felt like her insides were on fire.

She snapped, her attempted nonchalant charade disappearing.

"Off." Her voice lowered to a dangerous tone that could make any ninja, no matter how tough or strong, want to huddle in a dark corner and never come back out.

She was aware in the back of her mind that nin-animals should be treated like equals, but she would have threatened anyone sitting on her broken rib.

Normally, whenever someone tried to treat Pakkun like a mindless pet, he would waste no time in teaching them the extreme differences between them.

He would have done the same to Kohare if her voice hadn't made him flinch; in addition to that when he turned to her and looked into her eyes her murderous glare sent shivers down his little spine.

Even Kakashi was alarmed when Pakkun obeyed and hopped onto the floor.

But, no one could have taken into account that the force of his back feet pushing off of her for power tempted her to kill the dog. The pitter patter of dog pads on the floor masked the grating of her teeth.

When the weight was gone, she could breathe again. She dropped her head back onto her pillow and closed her eyes. Her arms lightly cradled her chest in a futile attempt to piece herself back together.

"Sorry…" Pakkun looked apologetically at the exhausted face that he now knew he didn't want to see mad ever again.

She ignored him, focused on the retreating pain.

"I need your help, Pakkun." Standing at the foot of the bed, Kakashi got Pakkun's attention. "This is Kohare," he said, gesturing to her. "Kohare, this is Pakkun." She nodded. "We're in the Land of Silk on a mission and she broke her rib -"

"No – you broke it for me." Kakashi flinched as she commented. He had hoped she would leave that part out.

"I'm sorry." He quietly spoke, his eyes not meeting hers.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She felt a little bad for him since she knew that he felt guilty, but he was guilty. "Sorry" couldn't heal her.

Turning his attention back to Pakkun, he continued. "We'll have to stay here for about a month until she can travel. I need you to relay the message to Hokage-sama. Tell him the mission will still be completed."

"Yes!" Pakkun bounded off through the window, leaving silence in his stead.

Kohare lifted her hands from her chest and placed them on either side of her. Once again she tried to sit herself up, the pain she was failingly trying to hide obvious. Kakashi had enough.

"I can do it." Kohare still protested as Kakashi walked to her and placed one of his hands on her back.

Looking her straight in the eyes with his own determination burning in them he responded, "No. You can't."

She gritted her teeth and looked away as she reluctantly accepted her defeat. 'I don't even have pride now.' At the moment, she hated herself although she knew that she couldn't do anything on her own. She was aware of how ill-experienced she was at asking for help.

Kohare let him snake his arm to her farther shoulder and hoist her up, the pain shooting through her. It passed quickly this time, and Kakashi left to his own bed.

"Thank you," Kohare quietly spoke as she faced away from him.

"That's what comrades are for," he responded, eyes wide. " I'm keeping guard tonight," he added as fatigue overtook her before she could hear the last word of his sentence.

Kakashi awoke to heavy breaths. On the other side of the run-down room, Kohare was panting, her face tilted up, contorted in pain. She turned and looked him in the eyes, her own trying to tell him not to pity her.

"There's nothing you can do to help," she spoke steadily. Those words were the honest, blunt truth, and Kakashi knew it. 'Why can't I be better at healing?' crossed his mind.

He lifted himself off from the top of his bed and after taking a quick shower, told her that he was going to complete the mission.

"What's the mission?" she asked him. 'She's persistent,' he thought as he kept inching towards the door.

"Bye!" he called, and was out the door.

'I'm definitely killing him later. I will break all of his ribs, make that dog sit on him and then I'll kill him.' These thoughts are what kept her mind occupied as she seethed and went slowly insane from being bedridden.

Just as the sun began setting on the small town that they were staying at, a bored-looking Kakashi strolled through the door with the bolt of fabric wrapped in a cloth sack and under his arm. That is, he was bored-looking until he met her glare.

"What?" he asked, confused. 'What have I done this time? I'm supposed to get her to fall in love with me. I should step my game up.'

"Hatake-san, I've been sitting here for twelve hours and you come back and say 'what.' " She spoke with more emotion than she had before.

'She looks like she's going to start slamming her head against the rickety desk repeatedly if I don't find a way to stop her.' His mind searched for the safest thing to say.

"I brought food," he stated, but it sounded more like a question. Kohare seemed to be contemplate his response and how she should react, until she nodded and seemingly let him off the hook.

Kakashi threw her a metal fork from the suite's kitchen and the teriyaki chicken box followed it. They ate on their beds, the silence interrupted by the occasional tap of a fork being set down on the ledge of the container or a creak of their bed as they shifted positions.

A question that had bothered him during the day brought itself up again as they were finishing up. "Kohare? Why were you trying to poke me last night?"

"I was checking if you had Make Out Paradise in one of your pockets," she said flatly.

A terrifying thought dawned on Kakashi. "You didn't know where it was? You didn't... lose it did you?"

"No I did not. Let it go, Hatake-san since you aren't going to be getting it back anytime soon," the her voice icy. The truth was, she had found it in one of the side pockets of her pack that day.

He thought it was in the best interest of his well being that he did not say another word.

Call me mean, but I like ending with cliffhangers. I don't know if I should say sorry or not since there isn't one for this chapter, but oh well. I'm sorry if you like them but I'm happy if you don't.

Please let me know if there is any Mary-Sue going on or any OoC. It gets hard to tell when you're the one writing it.

Happy 11/11/11 !