Tsunade kept the briefing about the retrival of Kakashi and Naru short after pulling aside the medical nins going on the mission and informing everyone that didn't already know what had happened, of what had occurred. Then she had informed Tenzou, Sai and Shikamaru (after making them swear that they wouldn't breathe a word of what she said to anyone else) who were also going on the mission to bring Kakashi and Naru back before assigning everyone their duty and telling them to move out.

The team itself consisted of Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Shizune- All of whom would act according to what they saw in Naru's behavior and isolate her from the others since the rest of the team were male and Naru might not want them anywhere near her.

THe others of the team were Tenzou, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji and Lee- All of whom would be charged with isolating Kakashi depending on his frame of mind. Which Tsunade was sure was not very well off at the moment.

Not that she could blame him any, the man had just been forced to make an excruciating decision about someone he held more dear than all of those damndable books he loved so much. Still he was far too important to let commit suicide. Just like Naru was.

After sending the retreival squad out and on their way with Pakkun leading them. Tsunade sat down and had a few drinks while working out small details about the two's futures. This was the sort of situation that ruined people.

Left them devastated and beyond help in some cases. And while she could lighten their load and keep them from working until they seemed well enough to do so again, she couldn't heal the wounds on their hearts.

And she cried about that. Perhaps more than she had cried about anything in a long, long time.

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Kakashi wasn't sure how he'd ended up on the bed with Naru. In fact he was pretty damn sure that he'd dozed off in the chair across the room. Which begs the question, how the hell had he wound up not only in bed with Naru, but curled around her with his hands gripping her tightly against his chest like he was trying to protect her from some unseen force?

He forced his fingers to slowly loosen their grip on her and slowly eased back from her a little bit and frowned as soon as he saw the red marks on her face from where he'd smushed her face against his vest zipper. She exhaled and it occurred to him that by holding her so tightly he might have accidentally killed her in his sleep.

Feeling more than a little rattled by the thought of smothering her in his sleep and waking up with a dead body, Kakashi made a small panicked sound and practically threw himself from the bed, jostling Naru awake with a yelp as he hit the floor and rolled taking some of the covers (the damned things were tangled around his foot) with him as he did so.

Naru sat up and blinked her eyes and stared blankly at the wall for a moment or so before flopping back down on the bed, angling her body so that she could look over the edge of the bed at Kakashi who was laying on the floor a few feet away, his face white as a sheet behind his mask, and his whole body was shaking like a leaf.

"Sensei?" Kakashi lifted his hands and covered his face for a moment and tried to get a grip on himself. It took a little longer than he would have liked since he was trying hard not to let on that something was wrong.

Yet by the time Naru seemed to wake up enough to realise that something was wrong, he'd already come up with a lie and waited until she started to climb off fo the bed to come to him before holding a hand out and stopping her and saying in as level and even a voice as he could. "I'm fine Naru. I'm sorry...I just had a really bad dream..."

Naru looked like she wanted to argue but wisely stayed quiet and just sat down on the floor, with her back against the bed as he untangled himself from the covers and moved to sit with hsi back against the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest.

This time he did cry. And Naru didn't question the shocking display of emotion that was so unlike him. Instead she just sat there across from him and waited until he pulled himself together enough fopr her to get close to him.

For once since the incident, he didn't object to having her near him. Mainly because she didn't really touch him aside from slipping one hand in one of his own. He drew some comfort from the small contact. And perhaps even a little strength too.

And by the time she fell asleep again, this time wrapped in the blanket, laying on the floor with her hand still grasping his own and nothing else touching...he felt just a little bit like his old self.

Only a little.

But it was enough for him to plan out what he would do next once they were back at the village. Naru was and always had been such a sweet and kind and compassionate girl. Even now when she was damaged and couldn't recall anything- she was still a sweet and kind and compassionate girl. But that would all change when she remembered.

She would be ruined then. Destroyed with no hope of ever being the same again.

And he would do anything to protect her and keep that from happening. Even if it meant turning his back on everything he had worked for or loved. Even if it meant becoming an enemy to the village.

He would make sure that Naru was never left defensless and alone ever again.