Naraku stood amidst the destruction, staring passively at us. He was quickly swallowed up into the foliage as Kakashi pushed deeper and deeper into the woods.

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"Ow…Kakashi, please, can we stop?" He'd kept up his brutal pace in the trees for the last twenty minutes, pausing only to listen for sounds of pursuit, and my entire body was rising up in revolt. My knees were on fire, my back hurt, the dozens of scratches from rolling around in the brush burned, and my stomach was making a valiant attempt at escaping up my throat.

He came to a screeching halt at my request, stock still and balanced on a precariously thin branch as he watched and listened. Then, with no warning, he stepped off, sending my stomach right back up into my throat. Landing in a crouch, he set me on my feet and helped Iruka out of my arms.

I dropped boneless to the ground as soon as Iruka was clear, and let out a pathetic groan.

"Danny-onee-san?" Iruka asked tearfully, kneeling next to me. I didn't answer, gathering him up in my arms and pulling him in for a hug.

Kakashi stared down at me, anger apparent in his one visible eye.

"What?" I asked, propping myself up with another groan.

"…" He opened his mouth to say something, and then, seeming to think better of it, shook his head, "Might want to let the chibi out." With that, he wandered off. Not out of sight, but away from us none the less.

"Oh crap, Ed!" I panicked, fumbling with Ed's bishi-ball. The blond burst out from the hazy red light with anger all over his face. Spinning on his heel, as soon as he was sure we were safe, he turned to face me.

"Baka trainer!" He growled, dropping heavily to one knee and jerking me around while he inspected for damage.

"Huh? What'd I do?" I demanded, yanking out of his grasp and glaring at him.

"You should have left the fighting to us!" He shouted, one eye twitching as he grabbed my shoulders, trying in vain to shake some sense into me.

"Hands off, Ed." I warned, leaning back and returning his glare.

"You could have been hurt." He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at me. His automail arm whined.

"And you weren't?" I pointed out, "Look, that Naraku caught me off guard, but he never hurt me. He just tried to sideline me. Any damage I got was my own fault. You were both tied up; I couldn't let that Kagura disappear with 'Ruka."

"Naraku couldn't hurt you, not intentionally. It's against the rules. Kagura, on the other hand, could have done some serious damage. You went after her and her trainer. That's a loophole. And that trainer could have done anything." Kakashi spoke up, still on the far side of our tiny clearing.

"But he didn't. Kakashi, I can take care of myself-" I began, absolutely boiling for a fight.

"Not against our kind!" He exploded, turning to face me for the 1st time since he sat me down, "You're a trainer. You stay back. We fight for you. That's how it works!"

"Do NOT pull that on me, Hatake Kakashi." I struggled to my feet, adopting the angry mother stance with one hand on my hip, finger pointed in his face, "You listen to me. Bishi battles, I will gladly leave to you. I don't pretend I'm as strong as you, I'm not suicidal. But I've taken care of my own fights my whole life. And that wasn't a bishi battle. That was someone with the very real intent to kidnap small child for who knows what purpose. I'm not going to just stand around and wait for things to fall into place."

Kakashi opened his mouth to argue, but I stamped my foot, "Uh-uh. You had your turn to yell at me, now you just listen. We are partners. Period. If I think you need help, I'll jump right into the thick of it all. That's what friends do for each other. If you don't like it, then we have a problem."

He didn't respond, just staring at me.

"What?" I asked, temper still high.

"Can you stop pointing at me?" He finally asked, tapping at the finger still stuck squarely under his nose.

"Oh. Sorry." I mumbled, leaning back against the tree with a sigh, "You piss me off sometimes, you know that, Hatake?"

"Me? I'm not the one swan diving out of a tree into the middle of a fight." Kakashi snorted.

"Or taking flying leap at a demoness in midair." Ed supplied helpfully.

"Yuk it up you two. Just say 'Thank you Danny, for being so awesome.' And get it over with, mkay?" Ed laughed, pulling me into a hug.

"You're one crazy trainer." He chuckled, squeezing tight around my shoulders.

"Ow. Too tight, Edo." I giggled, squirming in his grip.

"Oh, sorry, hang on a sec." He tugged at his automail arm, cursing and swearing. Kakashi finally planted one foot on his hip and yanked, pulling the arm straight and freeing me.

"You need the tools, Ed?" I asked, rubbing my shoulder. He nodded, fiddling with a few plates distractedly. Rummaging through my backpack, I came away with the handful of assorted tools, and set them down next to him on the ground.

"Thanks." He reached blindly for one, and went to work on his shoulder without any further preamble.

I took that as my cue to leave him alone, and set about putting together a fire and some food.

"You should probably let the safety department know about this, Danny-san." Kakashi suggested, taking the sticks I'd been rubbing together for the past ten minutes, and starting the fire himself. I nodded, sitting on a rock, realizing that my hands were shaking like mad. "Danny-san?"

"I'm fine…just…fine." I managed, pulling my backpack into my lap and making a show of searching for my Dex.

"Danny-san." Kakashi knelt in front of me, eye to eye, and took the newly found Dex from me.

"Huh?" I reached for the device, but he held it out of reach behind his back.

"You did good. You shouldn't have fought at all. But you did good. You kept your head when it counted. If you have a moment of weakness after all is said and done, we aren't going to judge you for it." Kakashi said softly, and for a moment, in my mind's eye, I could see him saying something similar to Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto after their first real fight.

"I'm okay Kakashi, I promise…just an adrenaline crash, that's all. I hurt, and I'm tired. Just need some food in me!" I grinned, shaking it off and leaning over him to snatch my Dex away.

A quick call to the BWSD netted me the promise that someone would be by soon to take my statement and look into the 'accusation'. Pfft, accusation? My knees scream more than just accusation, all by themselves.

Kakashi had stepped away during my brief conversation, and had reheated some food left over from dinner. Seeing that food was being taken care of, I wandered away, checking on the others.

"You need any help?" I asked, crouching next to Edward. He was sitting with his back braced against a tree, legs crossed, tightening a screw or a bolt or something on his automail arm.

"No thanks." He mumbled, dropping the wrench to the ground by his knee.

"Oh. Ok. Well, if you need any help, just let me know… I'm not completely useless. I may not know automail, but I do all my own work on my bike, and on my car when I was back home. And my grandpa used to teach me all sorts of stuff about engines, and electrical work and stuff. Anyway, dinner'll be ready soon." I finished with a smile, standing and turning back to the fire.

Before I could walk away, I felt a tapping against my shin. Turning back to see what it was, Ed was facing away from me, scratching his cheek with his automail hand, his flesh hand tapping out a rhythm against my shin with the wrench.

"Can't really reach the one back here, Winry always did it for me." He muttered, the faintest hint of a blush coloring his cheeks.

"I've got it." I grinned, kneeling and accepting the proffered wrench. He pointed out the bolt needed, and we settled into a silence while I figured out the best way to reach it between the shifting plates.

"There you go. Anything else?" Ed flexed his fingers a few times, rotating his arm.

"Naw, I think that'll take care of it for now." He finally said, handing me back the tools, "Thanks Onee-chan."

"Dinner's ready!" Iruka called from his spot at Kakashi's side, snatching a bowl up from the older shinobi before he was finished filling it.

"Oi." Kakashi protested, but Iruka was already slurping down soup with a happy sigh.

"Relax, Kakashi," I laughed, slinging an arm over his shoulder and trying to sneak his book out of his pocket. He slapped my hand away with a halfhearted glare, passing a bowl of soup back to me. "We okay?" I asked, accepting the bowl.

He considered for a minute, then shrugged, handing Ed a bowl and filling his own.

"Yea. We're okay."

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A.N. Sorry it's not as long. I'm stuck on the next bit, so I doubt the next update will be quite as quick as these last few. I won't drop off the face of the earth for a few years this time, I swear!

As always, if you want to have a trainer appear in the story, feel free to send me a bio! Give me the trainer's name, age, appearance, personality, how long they've been in the bishi world, what bishi they have, what stage the bishi is, and how the bishis interact with you and each other.

Reviews are always appreciated and squee'd over fondly!

Tsunami