Chapter 13 : Regrouping

A/N :So, this time I won't be sorry for the VERY late update, as I just lost my USB key (again) and this time I actually know where and when I lost is. This is what happened : I was kicked out of the computer room in the school because there was a class that the teachers apparently didn't inform me of, and so I had to wait around 45 mins. to go back, only to realize that I left my USB key on the table when I left the room. Since the teacher was still there and didn't hear of someone finding my key, it was probably taken by someone. Since I had all the assignments of my entire life it it, I had to re-do everything from around 4 months ago, and so I simply didn't have time to write. At all.

Disclaimer : I do not own the characters of Masashi Kishimoto-sensei in any way and form, and I do not own the few latin quotes that will pop out here and there. I however own the plot and the Ocs, as well as the description of some places and the characterization of some less-known characters in the original anime/manga.

-Sasuke-

When she finally arrived at the presumed battlefield, Sasuke was hoping to see a fight, at good one at that. She also anticipated a confront against Kumo-nin, as the battle wouldn't have gone unnoticed with all the powerful chakra waves that were unleashed, not to mention that Naruto had apparently forgotten to hide her chakra signature during her fight : that had to have alerted the enemy as efficiently as a flashing red light in the middle of a forest. Sasuke always mentally prepare herself for every outcome before a battle. She did not, however, expect to stumble upon something that looked like a typical battlefield after a combat: dust was in the air, pipes and rocks littered the ground, but blood and dead bodies are nowhere to be seen. For Kami's sake, she couldn't even sense the bloodlust that usually radiated from Naruto!

Well, that had been what she thought at first glance.

But Sasuke wasn't stupid, and so she stepped into the field of destruction. Quickly scanning the area, she noticed that something even more important was lacking: the presence of another person. So either Naruto had lost and the enemy had escaped, or they were somewhere under all this wreckage. The fact that both could have left so to cause minimum damage to the village was also a possibility, but in that case, too much is needed to be put under consideration. Deciding to assess the situation first and recover anything that may lead Kumo-nin to Konoha, she stepped carefully over water pipes that were still leaking the precious liquid, mindful to erase her trail with a quick sweep of lightning chakra, turning over rocks here and there. Five minutes later, the raven began to feel frustrated. She found nothing: no weapon, no traces of poison, no torn cloth. It's as if nothing had happened! But then, something in all the depressing grey caught her attention: a sliver of blue, hidden behind a huge mount of debris. She quickly ran to the site, relieved to have finally found something that may save her from boredom. Pushing painstakingly the largest rock to the side, Sasuke froze at the sight before her. Hair as blue as the sky, coat black like the night, familiar patches of white and red across the simple design. Amber eyes stared back, and then, nothing.

-Naruto-

She smiled sadly at the man in her arms. She finally felt… complete. Unlike so many times, he was not a dream; not a simple illusion created by her shattered mind. For once, he was real. Alive and he was right here. It felt unlike any other thing until now. It hurt… yes, it hurt, but she was happy, and she would enjoy this moment as long as it lasts. The man shifted, and Naruto realized that since she had caught him somehow awkwardly, his arm was crushed under his body and his neck was at an uncomfortable-looking position. The Uzumaki slowly moved her arms, careful to not touch any injury, and cradled the shinobi so that his head rested against her stomach and her own legs supported his weight. She managed to hold him in a position that prevented his back from touching the ground, since dirt in a fresh wound wasn't exactly what they needed. She can only stop the bleeding for now, her basic knowledge on medical jutsu limiting her abilities as a healer. Through the entire process, the man had scrutinized her, seemingly taking in every detail that could indicate her origins.

"You…who are you?"

"Namikaze Minato, age 19, shinobi code 53163908, Anbu code-name Hachidori, reported MIA since last week. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"You-!" Naruto guffawed at the panicked expression on his face.

"Hai hai, I was just teasing you. This place is safe, no need to get alarmed. I already placed a concealing seal over the place so that it would look to the villagers as if the explosion never occurred. It would not work for my teammates or yours, as they were keyed earlier into the seal. Now, I'm from the retrieval team Mirai from Konoha, shinobi code 55000003, code name… don't have one yet. As for my name, you have the figure it out yourself!" Minato silently raised an eyebrow almost elegantly, and Naruto sighed.

"Fine, fine. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya!"

'Her shinobi code begins with 5? She must be Anbu then, so where is her mask? She said that she didn't have a code name... yet. What does that mean?'

"Nice to meet you. I'm Minato, though you already know that. But more importantly than greetings, you just said that I was declared MIA? How much time had passed since I left for this mission?"

"I would say… around 6 weeks. I know that you remained in Konoha for a month after your last retrieval mission, which is about 3 weeks from now. You departed a week before the mission to exchange a scroll with Waterfall and then joined your team halfway on the journey about a month ago, as your weekly reports claimed. Since travel from Konoha to Kumo takes a month at a civilian pace, you had 2 weeks of travel before your capture. We are Wednesday, and you usually send your report Saturday, which we haven't received. Hokage-sama immediately sent me and my teammate here. So yeah, that's pretty much what happened," Naruto answered.

Minato nodded to show that he understood, but hissed at the pain that shot up his spin, and his back arched slightly from the unexpected sensation. Naruto immediately pressed her cold palm to his neck, and the tense body began to struggle under her grasp.

"Don't move!" the Uzumaki hissed out through gritted teeth. "I'm trying to help you, so lie down and. Stay. Still." She did not bother to explain that if the connection was broken before she could remove her chakra from his system, it would run rampant without someone to control it and it would literally fry his nervous system, which would end his shinobi carrier in a matter of seconds. Well, no need to make Minato tenser.

Minato intelligently chose to do as he was told, and waited. Suddenly, he realized that the cold sensation wasn't only on his neck anymore: now, from the palm pressed on the nape of his neck, an icy feeling ran through his muscles like water. It was something new to him, as he rarely let anyone touch him anywhere higher than his shoulders. Call it paranoia, it is justified by his dangerous career. Unlike what he thought, it turned out to be quite nice, and he quickly found himself relaxing under the gentle touch. Unfortunately it soon came to an end, and the hand was removed from his neck. Minato, opening his eyes that he didn't remember closing, felt somewhat dazed. He closed them again, wanting to enjoy the peaceful moment for a while, and he distantly heard a chuckle above him. The cold sensation returned, but this time, instead of resting at the same place, moved from his forehead to his chin, then over his pulse, and stopped over the junction of his neck and shoulder. The cold just felt so good on his heated skin. He head a soft sigh, and from the small vibrations he caught through his clouded mind,the girl was laughing again. Too late did he realize that the sigh came from him, and that made him snap open his eyes. What was he doing?

"Relax, I'm here." Naruto murmured into his ear. During the few minutes of her 'massage', she had changed their position so that she could bend over easier without the man's head pressing into her stomach. Minato flushed at the soft brush of her breath against his earlobe.

"Y-yeah..." He trailed off, not sure if he should say something or just keep quiet.

"Here." The redhead handed him something, and taking it in his hand, Minato took a few seconds to deduce that the hard texture indeed belonged to his Anbu mask. Kami, had he been so out of it that he forgot one of the most important rules of the Anbu? He glanced at his savior worriedly, wondering if she would keep it a secret or if she would spread the news that the youngest Anbu captain had lost his mask on a mission and forgotten to put it back on. Naruto looked back, and she say the worry in his clear eyes.

She simply pressed her forefinger to her lips, and Minato knew then that he can trust her from now on. Twisting awkwardly to get into a sitting position, he turned his back to Naruto and attached his bird mask to his belt, not bothering to put it on as the other person already knew what he looked like. He passed a hand through his dirty blond hair, feeling the blood that remained stuck in the blond locks.

'Not too bad, just a few bruises and cuts, except for the sword slash on my back. Well, at least the bleeding had stopped. I wonder how Inukami is fa- Inukami! Where is she? Where is my team?'

"Uzumaki-san! I need to leave. Now!" he said and attempted to stand up, only to fall right back on his behind. Cursing himself mentally, he clenched his fists angrily and swallowed his groan of pain. His body screamed a him, telling him that he cannot move yet, but he has to. His teammates' lives were submitted to him the second he became their leader, and he would go to hell before he let any of them go to waste.

"Ira furor brevis est, Namikaze-san." At the soft call, Minato tilted his head. She was right: his anger will lead to nothing in his situation. Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down and cleared his thoughts. Unclenching his fists finger by finger, he allowed the warm summer breeze play with his hair for a few moments. Looking back at the Uzumaki, he scrutinized her features for a sign of something, but all he saw was a disconcerting calm, as if she didn't care. Her posture was relaxed, her hands in her pockets, and her blue blue blue eyes told a story of their own as if they were alive. She knew something, he realized, and his anger all but dissipated. Naruto then offered him her hand, and he gratefully took it, pulling himself up.

"Thank you, Uzumaki-san. Your advice is much needed, and it is always pleasant to meet a fellow fan of old lore. But I am curious: how come you have such knowledge? Much time has passed since the glorious days of old, and only a few lines remain nowadays. I myself had to look into some very precious and ancient collections to find such fine verse." Minato inquired while glancing around to get a feeling of his current location.

"No need to be courteous here, Namikaze-san. Naruto is fine. I know how much of a hassle it is to talk to dignitaries, and fortunately, I am not one. As for my knowledge of the ancient language, well you can say that it is a family tradition. My clan was old, and our archives date to thousands of years back. I am just one of many that had the chance to spent countless hours in our library."

Minato accepted the simple answer, since it was normal for clans to keep track of things that were lost during the many years of history. His own clan, as small as it may be, also has several scrolls an ancient times of wars and peaces, all yellow and dusty but still readable.

"Then please, call me Minato. And do not expect me to drop the formalities until you do as well, Naruto-san." The blond stared at the Naruto sternly, trying to prove his point, but the faked seriousness didn't last long and both let out a small, contained laughter.

They both managed to recover quickly, having no heart to amusement in the current situation. Suddenly, Minato's shoulders tensed again, and he slightly looked at his right, then looked back at Naruto. She simply nodded. He furrowed his brows, and Naruto saw his fingers slip into his kunai pouch. Soon, small tapping noises reached them, and while it was almost not noticed, the footfall was undeniably heavy, as if an unseen burden was being dragged. A dark figure appeared between two columns, steadily approaching them. Minato readied himself for an attack, but was interrupted by a loud cry beside him.

"Ooooiiii! Konan! Sasuke! Right here!"

'Allies? Well, it is way better than Kumo-nin. Now I'll just have to hope that they are relatively normal.'

The dark figure turned out to actually be two separate people, and they waved back just as enthusiastically at the call. Their figures were hidden behind a massive rock, and it was probably also because of it that they didn't notice each other until now. Both skillfully jumped over it, and now that there were nothing to hinder Minato's sight, he realized that both were much nearer than he had thought. The taller one had blue hair that was hold up in a loose bun with a white rose, and a black coat decorated with white clouds and an incredibly high collar hid her form. The other one had midnight black hair in a high ponytail and was surprisingly dressed in civilian clothes, but Minato saw a mesh shirt through the few tears of her black jacket. The two kunoichi approached at a steady pace, but as they got nearer, Minato noticed the taller one was leaning heavily on the raven.

'The raven, she has something... strangely familiar,' Minato thought.

Naruto ran toward them and gently removed the blue haired kunoichi from Sasuke's strong grip. The redhead murmured something in her ear, then looked back at Minato; the Uchiha's eyes widened slightly but didn't say anything. Instead, she helped Naruto carrying Konan to a relatively clean space sheltered from the sun by several wooden posts, and laid her jacket on the ground. They lay down a protesting Konan on it, forgetting Minato's presence.

"I told you, I'm fine! I had only been caught in the explosion! Look, I'm not even bleeding!"

"You're not fine! You were knocked out by a table! A freaking table made from the best kind of wood! Wood that shinobi usually use as training dummies, I must add!"

"Exactly my point! It was wood! Not stone!"

"Still! You could have gotten a concussion or something! Right, Sasuke?"

"...what she said," came the bored reply.

"You...you traitor!" Naruto was going to continue, but she was interrupted by an awkward cough.

"Hem... Naruto-san..."

"Oh, that's right! Minato-san," she started, "this is Konan. Konan, this is Namikaze Minato. He's our target."

"Nice to meet you, Konan-san. An this is...?"

"Ah! This is Sasuke, but I believe you've already met, no?"

Minato frowned. The raven sure looks familiar, if only he could place it...

"The cave," Sasuke suddenly said.

'Cave? Let me see... cave... a cave... Ah!'

"You mean you were the one with the chokuto? In that forest a few months ago?" Minato asked disbelievingly. This cannot be the same person! He remembered that the person he rescued was bloodied, bruised, and her injuries were so bad she almost hadn't survived the first 24 hours in the hospital! No one, even with Tsunade's aid, could recover that fast!

"Minato-san, please do not judge a book by its cover; I am much more than what I let others see."

"Sasuke, this is not the time. We still need to plan out your teammates rescue and we only have an hour or so before the sun sets. If we want to act this night, then we'd better start now, " Naruto stated. Something flickered in Sasuke's black eyes, but it soon vanished and she sat down beside Konan, who gave her a questioning look.

"Now if you don't mind, can you brief us on your capture, the enemy's identity and such so we can know how to proceed next, Minato-san?"

The Anbu captain gave a nod and sat down.

"Yes. Our mission was to escort a wealthy merchant to this village, where some Kumo nin will then take him into Kumo. We traveled at a steady civilian pace with minimum contact with the client, though our travel was slightly delayed as the client insisted to spend a day in a minor trading village on the borders of Fire country. Our team was composed of me, Inukami and Taka, and our medic remained in Konoha to help out at the hospital. We arrived here two days before the meeting, so our target suggested us to remain here for the night. We didn't accept since our presence was much needed in the village and we would have been able to report back in a week's time; but as we were running short on food and water supply, we decided to eat at the hotel before leaving."

"You were running short on food? I thought that this forest would have been able to provide enough for an entire battalion for a few months."

Minato nodded. "That would have been the case in times of peace, Naruto-san. During wartime, many villages put toxin in the rivers on their territories to keep out invaders, and their water supply is extracted from the air and the moisture, or in the case of Kumo, Konoha and Waterfall, rain. That is why our mission rations were reduced dramatically since the beginning of the war, and we were forced to hunt many times during the travel to have fresh meat; but Kumo is big, and so is their wildlife. We cannot afford to stumble upon anything bigger than a cat here, and a cat is barely able to sustain a single shinobi for a day. We had to rely on what we brought, which is not much."

"That explains why I had some encounters with larger-than-usual tigers. I believe that you had a fight in the hotel, and Anbu-level shinobi normally wouldn't even have a scratch from that kind of fight, so why were you captured?"

"A reasonable question. I thought it may be the effects of some poison that they put in your food. I know that protocol dictates precaution against all food and liquids offered by anyone other than the Kage, so it must have been undetectable for anyone else than a skilled medic who, according to what you just said, wasn't present at the time," Sasuke added.

"That's also what I thought. I am not sure as I didn't feel anything except a slight tingling behind my eyes that I took for a minor headache. We knew something went wrong when Inukami passed out minutes after the meal, and Taka was able to detect traces of a liquid that smelled like ink in her food. As trackers have very keen noses, we couldn't say or do anything since the enemy would just say that it was the smell that knocked her out, but we definitely were alarmed. We were then attacked by the merchant's bodyguards who all seemed to have some shinobi training even if their movements were somewhat robotic. I noticed that I moved much slower than usual and my senses were duller. Most of the enemy fight with swords, but one of them had a crossbow. Taka was hit by an arrow on the arm and was soon poisoned. I was taken out when Taka was slammed into me and the enemy took the chance to knock me out with the handle of his sword. During our capture, Inukami had been delirious and her eyes were bloodshot." Minato lowered his head. Talking about it only aggravated his guiltiness, and he thought that he really should have been able to defend his teammates with his level of skills, poison or not.

"An odorless and colorless poison then, probably extracted from carnivore plants that secrets serum to slow their preys' movements. The ink smell must be a kind of signal, to know when to attack. The poison is harmless, but it will be better if we can have some sort of counter to it for the retrieval of your team. I am no medic, but I can manage something with the right ingredients. Sadly we don't have enough time, so I would advise you to dodge any projectiles instead of deflecting them," Naruto said. To quote Sikamaru, how troublesome. The poison wouldn't affect her of Sasuke since they both were immune to them thanks to Sakura who used to carry them with her anywhere and everywhere, but the same cannot be said for the others.

"What do you need?" Konan, who had remained silent until now, asked.

"I'm sorry?

"What do you need? I happen to be carrying some herbs with me, so I may be able to help. I also have medical tea and salves, and I'm sure we can find something in the forest if we know what to look for."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a minute, but soon turned her head toward the blue-haired kunoichi.

"I need some astragalus, preferably cicer milkvetch, bitter gourd, black cohosh, ginseng and hosetail leaves. Lotus seeds and summer savory tea will have to be prepared for Inukami as I fear the ink-smelling poison had been nutmeg, a natural insecticide that causes euphoria and nausea. Experiences also reported bloodshot eyes and memory disturbances. I know that medics from Iwa are able to treat it and turn in into a dangerous, lethal poison that causes death if not treated immediately, but I'm not overly worried as she was still alive by the time Minato escaped."

"I have most of them, except the lotus seeds and the black cohosh. I think they can be replaced by some marigold balm and thunder god vine that I have with me, though only in small quantities. As for the bitter gourds, I'm sure you can find them at the general market."

"Good!" Naruto started. "Can you give those to my shadow clone? She will have them ready by sunset." Right then, a small, golden-furred cat came out from behind a rock and sat down by Konan. A poof of smoke later, another Naruto was sitting with the group.

"Now, we need to find out your teammates' location. Sasuke?" At the call, the raven pulled a scroll out of a hidden pocket in her shirt and unrolled it, revealing a map of the village.

"This map is made for tourists, so it is much more detailed than normal travelling maps. You see these buildings?" Naruto said, pointing at several identical buildings that had a red cross drawn over them. "As you can see, they are placed at strategic places in the village. We are currently near the one behind the barbecue restaurant three blocks away from the hotel. We can forget that one as it is destroyed, so we have to target the seven others."

Minato studied the map for a few seconds, tapping his chin in deep thought. "I think we can cross out the one behind the public school since the enemy would not put high-risk prisoners there in case of a breakout."

"Right, then we might as well forget the one near the north gate since Kumo patrols pass too often there these days."

"That leaves us with five targets: the one near the south gate, the two near the hotel and two others near restaurants. We have Konan, you, Sasuke, me and my shadow clone. I suggest working in pairs, so we can each chose a target and I'll send a shadow clone with each of you."

"Are you sure? Shadow clones are pretty taxing on chakra, and to be able to make one or two is already impressive. But we are talking about six or more..." Minato inquired worriedly.

"Yes yes, not need to worry. I barely feel it when I make a hundred of them or so."

"Are you kidding? I remember you making more than a few hundreds with a swat of your hand and still throwing massive jutsu around as it nothing happened," Sasuke said with a knowing smirk.

"Mayyyybe..."

Minato gaped at the comment. Shadow clones weren't dangerous for nothing: it divides your chakra in half every time you make one, so even kage-level shinobi cannot make more than a dozen at best without having a severe case of chakra exhaustion. But this girl said that she was able to make hundreds of them at the same time! That would not only takes monstrous amounts of chakra but also a powerful mind able to filter through all the information received after a dispelling. But he suddenly remembered the Hokage's words: the black-haired girl was the one he retrieved three months ago and she was confirmed to have massive chakra reserves while severely injured, so it wasn't that far of a stretch to think that her teammate would have the same advantage.

'Yes, that must be it. Though I'm slightly jealous...'

Yeah right. As if he'd ever be jealous.

"So it is decided?" Naruto inquired. A chorus of 'hai' answered her, while Konan came back with a few lighter pockets and a jar of mixed leaves and flowers.

"Then it's settled! Konan-san, you take the one behind the hotel, Minato-san, you take the other one near the same place, Sasuke, take care of the place near the south gate. I will take the one near the sushi restaurant and I will send a few clones to the last one. You will each be assisted by one of my shadow clone."

"Minato-san, you can take these back." Naruto threw something at the blond who caught it easily. Minato gratefully attached his kunai pouch to his belt and his supply of shuriken to his leg.

"I also took the liberty to put a few exploding tags, 3 smoke bombs and a pack of poisoned senbon in you shuriken pouch."

"Thank you, I was going to ask. Now, for that salve against the poison..."

"I have it ready, Namikaze-san," Konan said, holding the jar in her hand, "I just need hot water and a pestle to extract the essence of the leaves." That was taken care of when Sasuke gave the Ame kunoichi her gourd of water, heated it with a small Katon normally used for campfires and told her to improvise with the circle on the handle of a kunai.

"That said, we will go back to my hotel room and prepare. Sunset is in a few moments. We'll strike at midnight!"

"Hai!"

Naruto lowered the barrier she created withing the concealing seal and four blurs left the scene, disappearing over the rooftops.

-Konoha-

She was scared. Where was she? Where is mommy and daddy? Why is everyone running? It's so loud, her ears hurt. She was so scared.

"Mommy..." she sobbed, wishing to be anywhere else but here. She wanted to be in her bed. She wanted her mommy!

"Hehehe, look at what I found. A child! A cute one at that. Hey, look at me! Mister is not going to hurt you!"

She slowly opened her eye. A big shadow was on the ground. Her eyes met a pair of boots, then black pants. Looking up, a mister was smiling at her, but she didn't like him. The mister was scary, he had a scar over his left eye and something red was on his cloth. He smelled weird and his smile was too large.

"No... I want my mommy..." she whimpered. Something suddenly collided with her face and she tumbled on the ground, screaming. It hurt!

"Hehehe, what a beautiful scream! Let mister hear more, okay? Hehehehe! After you will find your mommy, in death, that is!Gyahahah-Argh!" The sound of flesh colliding with flesh reached her ears, and she rolled herself into a ball, her hands over her sensitive ears. She heard a curse, a metallic sound followed by a gurgle, then nothing. Is the big scary mister gone?

"Hey, you're okay?" That voice... it wasn't the big mister. Deeming it safe, she opened her eyes again. A boy older than her was looking back, smiling softly at her or she thought by the way the crease on his forehead disappeared for a moment. He was dressed in black, and a cloth was covering half of his face. However, the thing that caught her attention was his easily recognizable spiky, silver hair. Her mom had said that there were a super cool family with silver hair living in Konoha and that she should respect them.

"A-arigato, Hatake-san."

"You're welcome." She noticed that he stood in an odd way, his back to her and his legs spread in what must be an awkward position.

"Hatake-san?"

"Nani?"

"What are you hiding?" Kakashi smiled: this little girl is sharp for a four years old. She would one day grow into a fine woman, perhaps a future kunoichi if the kunai-shaped toy in her hands is any indication.

"Something scary. You don't want to know do you? Onii-san will protect you, so you don't need to know."

"Hai, On-ONII-SAN!" Onii-san was going to be hurt!

"Wha-" He didn't have the chance to finish, as pain erupted from his abdomen. Looking down and noticing the little girl's frightened gaze, he saw a fairly large wooden spike protruding from his stomach, blood dripping from the wound. Black spots began to dance before his eyes, but he still turned his head to look at his assailant.

"Thought you had me didn't you, brat? Hahaha, now if I go back Cadenza-sama will reward me for eliminating the Hatake brat and Tsuchikage-sama will promote me!"

"You... bastard..."

A maniacal grin appeared on the Iwa shinobi's face. Kakashi swayed on his feel, feeling what little strength he had left abandon him.

"Heh, the rumored Hatake brat is still a brat after all. How does it feel, having your life wrenched from your hands? Feeling like a failure, feeling weak? Tell me!" With that, he brutally pulled on the spike in his hand, causing it to be pushed further into Kakashi.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrgh!" A blood-curdling scream was torn out of his throat even if Kakashi gritted his teeth, and he soon choked on his own blood. As the white hot pain soared through his mind, Kakashi's vision went black.

The Iwa shinobi crackled in satisfaction. The Hatake is now as good as dead! No one can recover from such a wound even with immediate treatment. He would be rewarded and become the Tsuchikage's most prized shinobi, and he would never have to fight on the front lines ever again! Sensing a presence nearby, he formed the handsigns for his signature doton jutsu. He may let the little girl live to tell his tale, but he would not let anyone else alive. No one shall survive his wrath! He let out an insane laughter and began to mold his chakra.

Kuro snared behind her mask and quickly threw the severed head out of the destroyed building by a window before kicking the body behind her. The already traumatized girl didn't need to see more blood, she can at least do that much for her. That fool of a shinobi probably never saw it coming; he died before he could think of it. She had used a bolt of lightning to fry his brain which, by the looks of it, had liquefied instead, since she put too much power behind the attack in her wrath. The Iwa nin had dared to harm a girl, a little, innocent child. Talking about her, Kuro glanced at her to make sure she was not hurt. What she saw surprised her: the girl was staring right back, her big, honey-colored eyes full with unshed tears. Her light strawberry hair had a few patches of blood here and there, but none were hers, so no need to worry there. But the girl reminded her of someone that she'd rather not think about, not in this situation.

Kuro swung her blade in the air to get rid of the excessive amount of blood; she would take time to clean it later. Turning toward the Hatake boy, she swore under her breath: he was losing blood at an alarming rate, much quicker than she thought. Quickly running to his side, she sheathed her sword and passed her hand over his abdomen. He looked worse than he really was, since the blood on him was not all his. Good, she still had time.

Tearing the lower parts of her pants, she put the tissue in Kakashi's mouth. Looking around the room, she found a blanket lying on the ground. That will have to do. Counting to three in her head, she removed as fast as possible the spike of wood and pressed the blanket on the now heavily bleeding wound. A muffled scream was heard, but she paid it no attention: a single mistake could lead to the precious boy's death. When she was sure that the excessive blood around the wound was soaked up, she removed the blanket and pressed her hands on the injury, gaining a pained grunt from the body below her. She needs to focus. Slowly, small balls charged with energy formed around her hands, floating in the air. More and more appeared, until they were a good dozen, and they began to merge. Minutes tickled by, and Kakashi's body grew paler and colder. Finally, a single blue ball of concentrated energy hovered above Kuro's hands, who was sweating by now, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

'Come on, just a little more... Damn it, I'm not letting him die even if it costs me my life!'

"Carpe diem, Kakashi!"

Suddenly, a bright light enveloped her, and the glowing ball of energy passed through her hands into the gaping hole in Kakashi's stomach. Then, the light enveloped the Hatake as well, and small, soft, glowing white feathers appeared in the wound. They looked as if made of crystal, and Kakashi's pained face relaxed a little bit. The blood soon stopped flowing, and time seemed to slow down as the skin around the gaping hole seemingly began to stretch and grow, tendrils of blue light weaving through it as the injury closed. The small feathers melted into the wound and the skin continued to glow slightly for a minute before it disappeared inside the body. Kuro released a small breath: she had saved him.

She then inspected her charge: he looked okay, if not a bit pale, and the only mark left by the injury was a patch of white skin that she knows will never tan again. The skin was smooth, and when she delicately applied pressure, no grunt of pain reached her ears. Good, it means that the feathers had done their job. This was a trick only she can use. It was like a bloodline limit, only it wasn't entirely... human.

"Tenshi-san?" a small voice called her.

"Yes?" Tenshi? Well, that's a first.

"Tenshi-san... ano, arigato... and... is he okay?"

Kuro smiled at the small girl. She had a soft spot for kids, and this one is particularly cute. "Yes... onii-san is going to be okay." She then poked Kakashi in the ribs, causing him to groan. "See? Onii-san is still alive." The small girl giggled at her antics, and Kuro gave herself a pat on the back for a job well done.

"Tenshi-san? Your are an angel right? Are you onii-san's guardian angel?"

"Why would you think so?"

"Well I-I..." the girl stuttered, "Onii-san was hurt and you just, like, poof! And big mean mister is not here anymore. And then you helped onii-san with that light! And there were feathers, just like mommy said angels had! So, I thought..."

"Then I am an angel. Thought this will only be between us, okay?" The little girl nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm Yuki!" Kuro felt a shiver run down her spine at the name, but managed to hide it.

"I am Yomi. Now, let's get you to safety shall we, little lady?" She offered her hand to the young girl, but at the last moment a kunai whizzed past her head, cutting a small strand of black hair. Sighing softly, she turned toward the direction of the attack, a droplet of blood sliding down her chin from the scratch the kunai made.

"Yare yare, seems like we have company."

A/N: Was it ok?

Ira furor brevis est: Anger is a short folly

Carpe diem: seize the day

REVIEW please! *Bow*