THIS IS NOT A CHARACTER DEATH CHAPTER!

Author's Note: I own nothing except Reyna; even Kayha and Katara are creations of a friend. Everything you recognize is property of Masashi Kishimoto. Characters may continue to be slightly OOC but we add a bit of humor here….

I also have to give credit to my friend, her alter ego is Kayha just like mine is Reyna, for the great ideas and the fun caffeine driven writing!

THE LOSS OF A FRIEND

Reyna slid to a halt when they reached the battle. Naruto and Sakura were fighting one man and seriously getting their asses handed to them. Neither of them seemed to be able to land a solid hit, despite the number of shadow clones Naruto was using. Reyna growled as she watched the pink haired medic crumple to the ground after one particularly vicious hit. Immediately she fell into the fight beside Naruto and now Kakashi but even with his Sharingan, Kakashi was having problems against this foe. Katara was battling with another and she saw Sand Ninja falling everywhere. Growling she tightened her control over herself and launched an attack.

"Hey, Seiko, you'd think they would learn soon wouldn't you? They cannot win!"

"Yeah, Griffin, numbers count for shit against us!"

Reyna was knocked to the side by the one called Seiko and shook her head to clear it. She lifted her gaze just in time to see both Naruto and Kakashi fall. A scream reached her ears and it took her a second to realize it was coming from her own throat. Snarling, she pushed herself back up snarling under her breath when the wind shifted and she caught her first good smell of her opponent. In the distance she could see that Katara was tiring against the other one, but at the moment she could do nothing. She had her own opponent to worry about.

And that opponent could have quite easily just killed your entire team. And his scent, I know it. It was faint but I never forgot that one scent that was barely present in that camp. He ordered my pack destroyed. I know it was him.

She growled again, anger singing through her blood as she launched herself at him. Her attack sent him through the wall behind him, a small cloud of dust rising where he fell and she smirked. That was the end of that fight. She was just turning her attention to helping Katara, noting that every one of her friends and colleagues were unconscious on the ground…or worse. Snarling she had just started towards Katara when she heard movement behind her where she had sent Seiko flying. She turned just in time to see him walking towards her, glaring. With no time to react, she could only watch as he sent a blast of lightning at her.

Shit. Guess this is the end of the line for me; she thought to herself but just before the attack landed a shield of sand appeared before her and stopped the attack.

Reyna glanced to her left and saw Gaara on the ground, "You aren't the only one who wants revenge on these two," he muttered, dropping the shield from around her.

Reyna wondered at that but didn't have the time to ask as Seiko launched another lightning blast at her but even Gaara's Sand Shield wasn't going to stop this one. Reyna tensed and was ready to take that hit when Gaara was suddenly in front of her. He crumpled to the ground at her feet and she looked up at Seiko with rage burning behind her amber gaze. Without a thought, she started to shift.

"Not only do you destroy my entire pack, but now you think you can take away my teammates and my friends? You will pay for that," she growled her throat barely able to form the words at this point.

"So you're the little wolf girl that they wanted to break. Well, who would have thought you'd survive that, but now this should be entertaining," Seiko laughed as he too started to change.

Reyna's eyes widened as she watched, but she also realized that what he was doing required chakra, whereas her transformations did not. He used a lot of his reserves in that move and she knew all she had to do was dodge his attacks and deplete his chakra enough that she could launch her own attack. It took some doing and she was bloody and hurt by the time she found an opening. The exhausted wolf launched at Seiko, teeth flashing, aiming for his neck. Not expecting such a tactic, Seiko moved too slowly to dodge her attack. While she didn't attach in the exact place she had wanted to, Reyna nevertheless hung onto the man's neck with all her strength.

Eventually he stopped fighting against her and she heard his heartbeat slow. Still she savaged him, taking out all her pain and frustration on him. The sight of the injured and seemingly dead around her drove her to continue. She forgot about Katara fighting Griffin and for a while she completely forgot about her own human side. Finally exhaustion and the pain from her injuries caught up with her and she collapsed, her body automatically shifting back to her natural human form.

The panicked voices of other people around her finally started to rouse Reyna. Slowly her eyes opened and stared at the savaged, headless remains of Seiko. Startled she scrambled away from the corpse before the events that had led to her unconscious state returned to her. She pushed her trembling body upward, kneeling in the bloodied sand surrounding her. The taste of blood in her mouth nauseated her, but she ignored the feeling and wiped the blood from her lips on her sleeve. The entire time, her gaze moved over the battle field, taking in the injured and dead forms of those around her. She couldn't find Naruto's form among them which meant that he had to be on his feet somewhere. She knew he had been fighting and he was hard to miss in his bright orange outfit.

The sudden memory of Kakashi falling to the ground, seemingly lifeless flashed through her mind and despite the pain in her body she launched to her feet. Her now panic filled gaze flickered over the sand, desperate to find him. Gaara already had several people attending to him and somewhere in the back of her mind she registered someone saying that the Kazekage was alive. Finally her eyes landed on the still form of the Copy Ninja, sixty feet to her right. Stumbling and half crawling, she made her way to his side.

"Kakashi, please be alive," she muttered, her own injuries forgotten as she saw his chest rise and fall.

Once at his side, she collapsed her legs no longer able to carry her and she landed half on top of the senior Jounin. A pain-filled grunt echoed through her ears as she pushed herself back up to meet Kakashi's grey eye. Overjoyed and filled with adrenaline, she didn't think before she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"You're alive," she muttered over and over again until she registered his voice.

"Reyna, that really hurts," he muttered, though he was pleased to see that she was alive and moving.

"Right, sorry. Okay. We're going to get you to the hospital as soon as my legs cooperate," she replied, talking fast and releasing him.

He realized that despite everything and knowing that he was alive, she was slightly panicky, "Oh no, not the hospital again. I'm fine, really."

Kakashi attempted to get up but found Reyna's light tough on his chest was enough to keep him down, "No, you're not. You are going to the damn hospital and that's final. Now shut up and help me, help you up!" she snarled.

"Alright, alright, I'm too tired to argue right now. But Reyna, you're not exactly in great shape yourself you know."

"I'm more mobile than you are right now, so shut up and help me!"

Between the two of them, they somehow both made it to their feet and leaning upon each other, they headed towards the hospital. Immediately Kakashi was put in a bed, but Reyna waved away any aid that they offered to her, insisting that there were others who needed help more than she did. Instead, she settled into the chair by Kakashi's bed since he had passed out again as soon as two nurses had taken him from Reyna.

Bored and knowing Kakashi was in good hands for the time being, she slipped out of the room while the nurses checked him over and tended to his various wounds. She had told them about the Sharingan, so they wouldn't check that eye before she left. In the hall, she finally found another member of her team; Naruto.

"Naruto, are you alright?" she asked, her gaze taking in the blood that covered him.

"Yeah, I'm fine but I can't find Sakura and no one will tell me anything!" the blonde replied, frustrated.

Reyna was just about to answer when a familiar voice reached their ears, "Naruto! Reyna-Sensei! Are you two alright? Where's Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Yeah, we're both fine, what about you Sakura?" Naruto answered for both of them.

"I'm fine. I've been helping out around the hospital. What about Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked again.

"He's being looked after. I think he'll be fine though," Reyna answered, "I should head back in there though. I think I used a little too much chakra. I need to sit."

Reyna turned and disappeared back into Kakashi's room where she once again dropped into the chair. The nurses had completed their check and Kakashi was now bandaged, on a light pain killer and still unconscious.

Idly, she let her gaze flicker over the room around her, looking for something that would keep her awake for a while. Finding no television and nothing to read, she slumped back in the chair. Now that she was sitting and the adrenaline was beginning to leave her system, pain raced through her body. Carefully she schooled her features to hide the pain, and since everyone was so busy no one really paid any attention to her other than to ask if she needed anything.

Finally she leaned over and flipped open Kakashi's hip pouch. Sighing she snagged the book that he always carried and glanced at the title 'Make Out Violence'. She had been hoping that she would at least get the first book of the series but since she was desperate, she started reading. It didn't take long before she found herself really getting into the book. She was a little surprised at that fact, but decided not to worry.

She was about a quarter of the way through the book when Naruto returned a couple of hours later. He didn't immediately take notice of what book it was that she was reading.

"Hey, I couldn't find Kayha. You weren't there when Sakura said that Gaara wasn't doing too well either were you?"

Reyna shook her head, "Honestly, I really didn't want to hear how he was. He's in the shape he is because he saved me."

Naruto looked up at her and sighed, "I didn't know that. I guess I wouldn't want to hear bad news then either. Sorry. Hey, how's Kakashi-Sensei doing?"

"He'll be alright. He just needs to rest, I think he overused his Sharingan again," she muttered, lowering the book finally and Naruto caught sight of what book it was.

"Are you seriously reading Make-Out Tactics?" he asked, incredulously.

"Actually, it's Make-Out Violence," Reyna corrected, "And yeah, I am. This place is seriously lacking in the reading material department."

Naruto sighed, Not another one he thought to himself before returning to Reyna, "Man, I thought it was an absolute snooze-fest."

Reyna shook her head, "It's actually not bad, although I do wonder what I missed in the first two books. Some of this I have no idea what the hell is going on."

Naruto rolled his eyes and in doing so caught sight of a nasty looking cut above Reyna's right eye, "Has anyone looked after your wounds?" he asked, changing the subject in typical Naruto style.

Reyna was finding it hard to keep track of the conversation by now and it took a second before she processed the change of topic, "It really is a good book…what? Oh, sorry, change of subject. No, I'm fine."

"Sure you are that's why you can't even keep up with what we're talking about, right?"

"Look, Naruto. I'm fine. There are a lot of people here who need help more than I do!"

"Reyna-Sensei, please just let someone check you out?" Naruto pleaded, his gaze taking in the amount of blood on her body and how tore up her clothes really were.

Reyna slammed the book down on the small table beside her and launched to her feet, ready to give Naruto shit for trying to tell her what to do. She wasn't even fully erect when her head swam and blackness engulfed her. She fell forward and Naruto caught her just before she landed on top of Kakashi.

"Sure, you're perfectly fine, Reyna-Sensei but don't worry…I still have your back."

One of the nurses came into the room and stopped as she realized Naruto was holding a very unconscious Reyna. Shaking herself out of it quickly enough she directed Naruto to place the jounin on the bed next to Kakashi's and chased the young blonde from the room so that she could clean and dress Reyna's wounds.

While he was pacing outside the room, Temari found him, "Hey, Naruto. You seem to have come out of this fight alright."

"Yeah, just a couple of scratches and bruises, but I heard about Gaara."

"Yeah, but he's tough. Hey, have you heard what Kankuro is doing?" Temari asked disgust in her voice.

"No, why?"

"He's planning a bloody funeral."

"Oh no…who died, please tell me it wasn't Gaara while I was gone?" Naruto's voice rose in worry for his friend.

"No…oh god no…it's for Crow."

"Crow? You mean his puppet, Crow?" Naruto asked incredulous.

Temari nodded and Naruto started to laugh. Temari shook her head and headed away from her hyper friend, muttering about being surrounded by crazy people. Naruto was still laughing when the nurse emerged from the room and told him he could return if he wanted to. She gave him a weird look as he continued to laugh and headed past her into the room.

Naruto was still chuckling when Kakashi started to wake up again, his grey eye hazy from the pain killer he had been given. He noticed Naruto first, who had finally managed to get his laughter under control. The next thing he noticed was a very pale Reyna laying in the bed next to him.

"Naruto? What happened to Reyna? She seemed fine when she brought me in," the worry in Kakashi's voice puzzled Naruto slightly, but he put it off for the time being.

"She probably would be better by now, but she wouldn't let anyone look after her when she brought you in. She finally passed out when she was talking to me and she didn't have a choice but to let someone look after her. The nurse said she'd be fine and that she just needed to get some rest and let her wounds heal. I guess she was pretty stressed out about you when she brought you in though."

Kakashi sighed and struggled up out of his own bed. The chair that Reyna had been sitting in with him was positioned between the two beds and since Naruto was still standing, Kakashi dropped into the chair. He glanced over at Reyna and relaxed when he realized she was breathing steadily and, other than looking a little pale and had a few bandages that were sporting spots of blood, she was alright. Then he noticed his book on the table beside him.

"Why is my book over here?" he asked aloud.

"Well, Reyna-Sensei was reading it when I came in to see how you were doing before she passed out. I guess she must have taken it out of your hip pouch. She was complaining that there was a serious lack of reading material."

"She took my book again? She swore she'd never do that again," Kakashi muttered, "Guess I'm going to have to put some kind of trap on my damn books now to protect them from her. How is everyone else doing?"

"Gaara's not doing so well, but everyone else seems to be alright. Sakura's been helping in the hospital and Katara was helping Kayha. Temari is already heading home and I guess Kankuro is too," at the mention of Kankuro, Naruto started to giggle.

Kakashi raised a brow at his student, "What's so funny?"

"Oh yeah, you haven't heard yet. Well, Kankuro's planning a funeral right now."

"Oh? Who died in this battle?"

"It's for Crow…" Naruto got out.

"Oh, that's too bad," the pain meds were still making it hard for him to think right, but it suddenly dawned on him, "Wait. Isn't Crow one of his puppets?"

"Yeah…" Naruto broke out into full laughter and it wasn't long before Kakashi joined him.

The sound of laughter reached Reyna's mind and she struggled to open her eyes and find out what was so damned funny that they were waking her up. Gradually her eyes opened and she saw Naruto at the foot of her bed and a shift of her eyes told her Kakashi was mobile again as he was sitting in the chair by her bed, book lying forgotten on his leg.

"What the hell is so damned funny?" she ground out, her voice raw and her throat sore.

"Well…" Naruto didn't get any further than that before he was laughing even harder.

"Kankuro…" Kakashi started before his laughter stopped him as well, despite the obvious pain the laughter caused.

"Is planning…" Naruto tried again.

"A funeral…" Kakashi finished.

"And how the hell is planning a funeral amusing? I mean, seriously what the hell is wrong with you two? What kind of drugs did they give you Kakashi?" Reyna was a little miffed at the two of them, considering the seriousness of what she thought was the situation.

"Wait…" Naruto stopped her ranting at them.

"You have to know the whole story…" Kakashi seemed to be able to pull himself under enough control to finish the story, "It's not the fact that he's planning a funeral. It's who he's planning it for. Apparently he's planning a funeral for Crow."

As Kakashi started laughing again and Naruto collapsed on the now empty bed Kakashi had vacated, Reyna drew her brows together thinking, "Isn't Crow a Chakra Puppet?"

They both nodded and Reyna found herself snickering right along with them. Unfortunately her own wounds were a little more painful since she didn't get any pain killers like Kakashi. Still the other two knew she found it as amusing as they did, and Kakashi leaned against the side of her bed, trying to breathe and laugh at the same time.