"Alright. Let's go find the ANBU and Police, and make sure they don't need us anymore, so we can head out."

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"Hey guys?" I called out to the two grown bishounen ahead of me. We had been walking for a few hours now, having left my dex number with both the BWES squad, and the ANBU, and were told they would be in touch if they needed anything.

"Yes Danny chan?" Kakashi asked sweetly, not turning to look at me. It was his way of hinting that he was getting annoyed I think.

"We passed that tree." I deadpanned, pointing at a particular tree off the trail to the right.

"You're just seeing things." Kakashi dismissed with a wave, but I shook my head, stopping dead in my tracks.

"No, I'm not. See?" I pointed to a gouge in the bark, "I made that with Iruka's kunai the last time we passed it."

"Are you sure Danny san?" Iruka asked worriedly, backtracking to stand next to me and inspect the tree closely.

"Yea. How is it two full grown shinobi can be so hopelessly lost?" I groaned, slumping to the ground. My feet were killing me by this point, and I vowed to get a decent pair of hiking boots the next time I had the chance. My boots were flat soled, and had no support what so ever. They were designed to rest on the pegs of a bike, not tromp through god knows where with a couple of lost bishounen for hours on end.

"We aren't lost Danny san. Look," Here, Iruka pointed to the sky, which was just visible through the branches of the trees, "We've been heading the same way all day. The sun is setting, and that's the way we want to go. We haven't deviated from our path at all."

"Then what's going on?" I asked warily, suddenly having that second wind that comes from being nervous.

"Maybe a genjutsu?" Iruka suggested, but Kakashi shook his head after a moment's thought.

"If it is, it's not one by any shinobi in our territory…" Kakashi said carefully, looking around us. Apparently he didn't see anything, because he jumped up into a tree and ran to the top.

Iruka and I stood underneath the tree for a few seconds before Kakashi's head popped down out of the leaves. "Come up here guys, you have to see this." He said, sounding slightly confused. Iruka gathered his son up into his arms and jumped up easy as could be, leaving me standing there eyeing Kakashi expectantly.

After a moment, he cocked his head to the side. "What?" He asked, and I just held up my arms, making that grabby motion kids use to say 'carry me'.

"I can't even reach the low branch 'Kashi. Please help me?" I finally asked after he just stared at me for a minute with an amused expression on the few inches of face that I could see.

"Very well." He dropped down out of the trees and knelt down in front of me, holding his arms behind his back so that I could get a piggy back ride.

Very soon I decided I didn't like the shinobi version of a piggy back ride though, when he jumped up into the trees in that way that always made them blur out of sight on the show, leaving my stomach and the coherent part of my brain still on the forest floor.

"Whoa…" I groaned, burying my face in the back of his vest.

"Impressive, ne, Danny chan?" Kakashi asked, in a subdued voice.

"Dunno…I think I'm gonna be sick." I moaned, but forced my head up to focus on the view in front of me, "Wow…I'm not crazy, right? You guys see this too, yea?"

"Yes, Danny chan." Iruka mumbled, frowning at the sight.

Stretching out in front of us were the flat lands that were on the edge of the forest. From our vantage point, we were less than 100 yards from the edge of the forest, but if I leaned back down into the mass of trees and looked from below, the forest continued on unendingly.

"What is this?" I asked, clutching to Kakashi's flak jacket as he shifted to a sturdier branch.

"It's not a shinobi jutsu." Iruka said after trying to dispel the illusion.

"I would have noticed that the last time I used my sharingan." Kakashi said, shaking his head.

"So, that means that it's a magic user from another territory, right?" I ventured, watching as Chibi tried to catch a butterfly that floated by.

"Possible," Kakashi said slowly, scanning the area one more time, "But Danny san, it really isn't in our hands anymore. The authorities have taken over, and the best thing for us to do is to continue on and hope we hear something soon."

We both looked at Iruka as Kakashi said this, waiting for his response. At first, he stayed quiet, just holding his son close, but we could see it in his face. As Kakashi spoke, his face fell further and further, and his whole demeanor just seemed…sad.

"Iruka?" I prompted, shifting on Kakashi's back to try and find a more comfortable spot. Unfortunately, every time I moved I could feel the branch we were perched on moved, and I wasn't that fond of heights, so I stilled, waiting patiently for his response.

"Iruka, why did you join us?" Kakashi finally asked, when Iruka didn't answer. I smacked him on the back of the head as soon as he said that, but he completely ignored it in favor of staring at the silent man standing across from us on the tree.

"I…Danny san, please don't take this the wrong way… You're a nice person. Even when I was beyond reason and going for the kill, you protected my son from me with your life, and you didn't make me leave when I calmed down. You stayed with me when the authorities came…I didn't ask to stay because I thought that we'd hunt down the killers and make them pay, I really didn't…" Iruka rushed through without breathing.

"But…it's just too hard to let someone else take over the responsibility for finding the killers and move on?" I guessed, hugging Kakashi's neck tighter.

"I'm sorry Danny san…" He apologized, bowing his head.

"Don't apologize Iruka san, I completely understand, trust me I do… but I have to ask. What is it that you want to do now?" His head snapped up in shock as I asked him this.

"What?" Iruka asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Don't sound so shocked," I teased, "I don't want you to get hurt, but if you'll only be miserable with us then I'll break your bishi ball right now so you can be free to do what you want."

"I…I don't know what to say." Iruka said slowly, "I can't let them go though Danny chan, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Iruka, I told you I understand. But if you don't mind me asking…what will happen to your son? It's not really a good idea for you to drag a baby, or a chibi, all over this green earth looking for someone you want to maim."

He shifted on the tree branch, and looked down at the baby resting in his arms with a look so heartbreakingly tender that I almost wanted to start crying.

"Could I…could I maybe leave him with you?" He sounded unsure of himself, and I'm sure Kakashi looked as dumbstruck as I felt.

"Iruka…no offense, but how do you know you can trust us?" I asked seriously, unable to associate this Iruka, who attacked me with the intent to kill, who had a son with a now dead Sakura, and was now willing to leave said son with veritable strangers to go off and hunt down her killers, with the Umino Iruka from the television show I used to love so much.

"I don't want to leave Danny san. If you would be willing, if I was allowed to keep my bishi ball, I could travel without worry of being caught, and I would be able to come back to you again. I'd be able to visit my son, and know that he was in good hands growing up." Iruka explained.

"I'll make you a deal Iruka." I said seriously, waiting for him to bring his full attention back to me before continuing, "You have to stay at least until he evolves into a full grown chibi. I don't want you disappearing before that. He deserves to have some memories of his father around before you go traipsing off into the wild. After that, if you still want to leave, I'll give you your bishi ball and you'll be free to come and go as you please, as long as you visit your son as often as possible. Deal?"

Iruka stood stock still, staring at me, and then down at his son, before looking back up at me with the most grateful look in his eyes that I have ever seen. "Thank you Danny san, thank you so much."

"If this is what you want, I can't stop you, I can only make sure that your son doesn't suffer." I smiled, and pulled out my dex.

"What are you doing Danny chan?" Kakashi asked as the dex passed through his field of vision.

"I'm going to call that trainer with the Dark that was on the investigation team, and let her know about this illusion, so they don't get trapped in it like we did. I have no clue if they're still at the camp site, so there's no point in actually walking back there." I said as I selected the dex number for the trainer, who's name was Kylar, and hit the connect button.

After a moment of ringing, the vid screen flashed on, and her face appeared. "This is Kylar, can I help you?" She asked, seeming to not truly pay attention to the dex.

"Miss Kylar, it's Danielle."

"Oh, Danielle. I'm sorry, we haven't found anything yet." Kylar apologized, bringing her attention to the screen for the moment.

"I understand ma'am, it's not that. We just wanted to let you know, there seems to be an illusion cast over the area to the west of where we found her. We spent a few hours walking in what my bishounen assure me was as good as a straight line, only to pass the same tree again and again. We took to the trees, and above the trees, we can see the edge of the trees right in front of us," here I showed her a view of the skyline, before leaning over Kakashi's shoulder, who took the hint and dropped down to give her a view of the path from below, "but below, the woods go on forever. Kakashi and Iruka say it's not a technique from anyone in their territory."

"That's very interesting. After we're done here, we'll take a look and see what we can find. As I said before, if we find anything, we'll be sure to let you know." Kylar said, and we bid each other goodbye.

"Well, let's get moving… I'd like to be in the next town by tomorrow if at all possible!" I said, putting away my dex and clapping my hands together.

"Yosh." Kakashi agreed, and he and Iruka darted off, Chibi giggling and me clinging to Kakashi's neck for dear life.

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A.N.

Weee!!! Another chapter up. My ears are still ringing from the Nickelback concert, and I rewrote this chapter twice just while I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the drunk/high people to leave! Hope you enjoyed it!

Once again, if you'd like to be a trainer, please send me an email at sontsunami 06 aol .com without all the spaces, and let me know the name, appearance, age, how long in the bishi world, what bishis and how they interact. Please don't leave that info in a review, as the last time I wrote a story that let people create their own characters, it was removed because reviews aren't supposed to be used like that I guess.

Ja ne,

Tsunami

A.N. 2

Weeeeelll, lets see if this will post this time, I spent all last night trying to post but it just kept giving me an error message. ^_^