My full sprint back to Konoha was a short one, although to me, it seemed to be an eternity. My legs could not carry me fast enough through the dense treetops which stood between Konohagakure and the urgent which news I needed to report to Lord Hokage.

I could feel my legs trembling as I went. I felt of my side, now nearly fully healed, to be sure I wasn't losing any blood. Thankfully, not a drop…so why was I so weak-kneed? I could answer that simply; an innocent girl was going to be killed unless I presented the enemy with the forbidden scroll of which I was ordered to protect. A complete failure of a mission…unforgivable. I tripped over a tree root as I began running on solid ground. "Damn it," I cursed at myself.

I felt even more wobbly as I entered the village. I tried to hide the new limp I had received due to the fall. There was no need to cause any unnecessary alarm. I leaned against a wall as I saw young Iruka-sensei walk with a small boy into a ramen shop. I tried to blend in…but with no luck.

He smiled at me. "Mission successful, I presume?"

I couldn't lie to that guy, he would've seen right through me. I slightly walked closer to him, with the blonde-haired boy staring at me oddly. "Not quite." I replied.

I regained my normal walking through sheer will power, and walked past him, with just enough distance between us for me to hear the boy say, "Who is that guy?"

Lord Hokage's office was busy, as always. After all, he had an entire force of shinobi to manage. Though, also as always, he was able to make time, rather quickly, for important information from a high ranking jounin, like myself. "Kakashi-sensei, so you're saying that you have failed your mission of keeping the forbidden scroll away from the enemy?"

"Not quite, Lord Hokage. The enemy is not in possession of the scroll." I sighed, sitting down in a chair. "But…I'm afraid, it's become slightly more complicated than that…"

"I'm listening." He replied sternly, prepared for the worst.

"Well," I begin. I knew that I couldn't hold back the truth from him, so I guessed it was be best to be blunt. "It seems that an innocent civilian has been brought into the situation, and she is now being held as their hostage."

His eyes narrowed. "And what exactly do they want from us in return?"

"The scroll." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "12 days…" I murmured, trying to remember the words Kentaro had spoken. "If they don't get the scroll in 12 days…the girl dies."

Lord Hokage leaned forward. "And who…exactly is this girl?"

I lowered my head, "To be honest, I have no clue. I never got her name. But…she did know who I was…so no doubt, she's knows a thing or two about our village."

"They'll torture her for sure if they believe she has any sort of useful information."

I knew it was true. They'd get any information out of her that they could. They'd ask questions, which…she'd probably never be able to answer. After the 12 days, if they didn't have the scroll, she'd no longer be of any use to them. And then…she'd be dead. I tried to think…if I could remember something she said…maybe I could have some clue as to who she was. It hit me. "She said…that she knew of me because of something I did for her village. Something, that made her want to help me when I was injured."

"So…" he shuffled through his paperwork, finding a page with a list of places, which didn't mean anything to me. But, it obviously meant something to him. "She must be from a village we're on good terms with, from a mission which you were a part of. That narrows it down quite a bit."

"Lord Hokage, if I may be so bold…I don't see why finding out which village she's from is crucial at this moment. Shouldn't we be figuring out the next course of action before we start background checks?"

"Ordinarily, I'd agree. But, this case is somewhat odd. You don't know her name…and she was vague about her village and how exactly she knows you. For all we know, this could be an elaborate hoax…to have you deliver the scroll to their doorstep." He set down the paper and began crossing things out. "Although it's unlikely that it's the case…first I want to be sure that this girl actually exists…"

The files were given to me to sort through, since I was the only person who could identify the girl. The people were narrowed down: villages we had good relations with, villages which I had missions in, female members of those villages, ages around 20-30 years old, medical profession. After all that sorting, 86 people were still remaining, which, I had to sort through only by a picture. I could easily eliminate those with different colored hair or eyes. Black hair, blue eyes…but that's all the useful clues I could really remember. 5 remained, and they were all from different corners of the world. I had a 20% chance of guessing correctly, but I didn't quite trust those odds.

What else? What else could she have said that could tell me more about her? The herbal remedies she had…could that help narrow it down? I looked once more through the papers. That narrowed it down to 3. She did know about traveler's cabins, which even I had never heard of. So, she must travel a lot…not any help there. But…if she knew where the cabin was…then she had to have used the route before. It was not a well-worn trail which we had been using. So, she must be from an area not too far away.

With that, I narrowed it down to a single person, Sora Kata, the only one who lived within a 100 mile radius of Konohagakure. Looking at the picture again, I could vaguely recognize her, though the facial expression was dull, not like the ever-smiling face I had encountered. Somehow I knew her face…why hadn't I noticed it sooner?

I had met her…once…many years ago. The memory of her started out vague, but…as I thought carefully, I remembered the mission more clearly. Ah, yes…it all started coming back to me…