~A/N: So because I totally forgot last week-I meant to wish everyone Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Whatever you celebrate, I hope it was awesome! I really love you all and appreciate the time you guys take to read this and those of you that review and talk to me, thanks again! Also, I seemed have accidentally channeled my inner Kishi, so I apologize for the lack of holiday spirit when it comes to this chapter... But I wrote some one shot fluff last week, so that's good, right?

Forty-Two: Failure

"Whew," Sakura muttered to herself as she let the barrier close behind her. She hoped no one had noticed the slight ripple that went through the edges.

"That took a lot out of you," Kakashi said, watching her carefully. "You should catch your breath."

"I don't need to take a break, Kakashi. I can handle myself."

"It doesn't do to be running around panting deep in enemy territory. Besides, we don't know where their camp is. You wait here and recover your chakra while I go look around."

"No we shouldn't split up."

"It'll be alright, Sakura."

"I still don't like the idea of you going in there on your own. Remember the first time?"

"I won't go in. I'll just go see where their camp is at and if they have any guards. Then I'll come back and get you. That will give you time to catch your breath."

Sakura sighed. "Fine. But if you get in trouble, yell for me."

The silver-haired jonin grinned under his mask. "Deal."

True to his word, Kakashi was back fifteen minutes later without a scratch on him. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, although she knew he wouldn't intentionally stray from the plan.

"Find it?"

Kakashi nodded. "It's straight ahead, about a five minute run."

She frowned. "This must be a pretty big barrier."

"Yes," Kakashi said, reading her mind. "The jutsu caster must be very powerful. We should be careful. There's a good chance he or she might have detected the slightest tear in the jutsu."

"Right."

The two shinobi slunk quietly into the shadows and ran swiftly but quietly to where Kakashi had seen their camp. Crouching down below a large shrub, the pair began to form their plan.

"What do you think?" Sakura asked after a quick survey of the area. "I don't see many guards but that doesn't mean there aren't people in the camp."

"I agree. I think it's probably safest to each take one side and meet back up at the end."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Kakashi silenced her, continuing on before she had a chance to voice her opposition.

"The camp isn't that wide, so we'll be close enough to hear each other if we run into trouble. Everything will be fine Sakura, I promise."

Sakura nodded. Something about the situation was bothering her. She couldn't explain it, but ever since she'd pushed her chakra into that barrier she'd felt something off.

The pink-haired medic shook her head, clearing away all thoughts of doubt. She trusted Kakashi, and knew he would never try anything that he thought would put them in unnecessary danger. Even in ANBU, his 'teammates first' policy remained firmly intact.

"I know," she said, keeping her concerns to herself. If and when she found something tangible to cause them worry, she would voice them out loud. "Let's go."

Kakashi gave her a quick glance-over, as if he could tell something more was nagging at her, but he didn't press her for answers; he simply nodded and took off in the opposite direction.

Sakura sighed, turning to her right. "Guess I'd better get going then."

Sakura ran, quickly but stealthily, among the shadows, taking a mental note of anything of importance. She had seen a few recognizable faces, but there was no sign of Mizushima or any of the other rebel leaders. Still, she trusted Jiraiya and Shikamaru's information, and knew that it was entirely plausible for the higher-ups to be inside a tent somewhere out of sight.

She stopped sort, however, at the site of three all too familiar faces. Isamu, Akio, and Akira stalked out of a tent, grumbling about something she couldn't hear, but nevertheless looking much thinner and certainly much darker than she remembered them. Even Akio, who was normally so carefree and silly, looked grim.

Sakura was about to move on when she saw a small blonde girl step out of the tent.

"Takara," Sakura gasped, taking in the small, fragile-looking form of her once-friend.

The once-bubbly girl had none of the usual vigor in her step as she walked quietly behind the three boys.

She felt the pang of guilt that she still had to deal with every time she thought about killing Mitsuo, but she quickly pushed it and all thoughts of her former friends aside as she focused on her mission.

She couldn't explain it, but something was telling her she needed to get back and rendezvous with Kakashi as soon as possible.

"Yo," Kakashi said when she'd reached the designated meeting place. Apparently he'd conducted his half of the search faster.

"Hey. Find anything?"

He shook his head. "Not much. A few faces I think I remember, but no one important. You?"

"I think Kaoru is probably here," she warned. "I saw Isamu and the others, so I can only assume he's with them." She couldn't bring herself to tell Kakashi that she'd seen Takara. The guilt there was still too strong.

"Hm. You're probably right. He seems to keep rising in the ranks, so I'm not surprised that he would be included on a mission like this. But other than that, you didn't see anything that looked like trouble?"

"No," she said, even though the earlier feeling of uncertainty hadn't left her.

Slipping quietly around the outskirts of the camp had been easier than Sakura had thought—almost too easy. She couldn't snake the strange feeling that had been coming over her ever since she'd touched that barrier. It was like some sort of dark force was creeping over her, wrapping its treacherous coils around her being.

Maybe it was just seeing the people she'd befriended again, but there was something about this whole situation that Sakura didn't like. She had decided she wasn't going to bother Kakashi over simple feelings with no evidence, but something in her gut was saying that this was very wrong, and she couldn't ignore it any longer. Besides, her silver-haired team leader seemed to already know something was bothering her. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, she was always like an open book to him.

"Kakashi, something's wrong."

"Do you sense something?"

The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head. "No, but I can tell. I know I have nothing to go on, it's just a feeling, but please, Kakashi, we have to go."

Kakashi frowned, unsure of why Sakura was suddenly so frantic about leaving, but he saw the pleading—almost scared—look in her eyes and nodded.

"Okay. We can go."

"I'm not wimping out on you. Something really isn't right," Sakura implored.

The Copy Ninja held up a hand to stop her protesting. "I know, Sakura. I know you wouldn't make a fuss if your instincts weren't telling you something was really wrong. And a shinobi should always trust their instincts. I was the one who taught you that."

A quick smile came to Sakura's face. "Yeah, Tsunade has never been very good about that."

The smile was gone as quickly as it had arrived, however, and Kakashi found himself worrying that something was seriously wrong. Was she injured or sick, and she hadn't told him? It was very unlike Sakura to make a fuss—especially on a mission.

"Sakura are you sure you're—"

A loud, blaring alarm bell cut his question short. The two shinobi froze, instantly eradicating any trace of their presence and hiding beneath a bush. They would be left open to being spotted if they were to move, but as long as they stayed still, it would be impossible for the enemy to detect them.

"Spread out!"

"Search the entire area! They can't have gotten far!"

"Find them! We let them escape last time. We can't afford to make that mistake again!"

"Fools!" a female voice rang out, authoritative enough to capture the ears of both Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi twisted his head to the side just enough to be able to make out a shapeless figured covered head-to-toe by a dark black cloak. Her facial features were indiscernible, but he could just make out a sharp nose and full, red lips.

A sharp intake of breath next to him caused Kakashi to turn to look at his pink-haired companion. Sakura's emerald eyes had gone wide, and he noticed that her body was starting to shake ever so slightly.

He didn't have time to ask what was wrong, because one robed arm reached outward, stretching, to the two shinobi's dismay, toward their hiding place.

The woman smiled. "They're right over there!"

"Shit," Kakashi swore, jumping to his feet and lifting his headband to expose the Sharingan. "We should have been undetectable. Let's go."

He turned, starting to flee from the tens of soldiers who were now running in their direction. The silver-haired ninja only made it a few steps before he realized Sakura was still frozen.

"Sakura!" he yelled frantically, trying to get the pink-haired kunoichi's attention, but her eyes were focused intently on the cloaked woman. "Come on Sakura, we have to go! Hey! Snap out of it!"

Sakura's eyes snapped back into focus as Kakashi gripped her shoulders, dragging her to her feet and preparing to lift her up and carry her to make their escape.

"I'm fine," she said, pushing his hands away. "Kakashi, I'm fine. I'm okay now."

Kakashi wanted to ask what that was all about—it was like she'd been in a genjutsu, or a trance—but they couldn't waste precious time. It would have to wait until after they'd defeated their enemies.

"You should probably call Yamato and Sai for backup," Sakura said calmly, assessing the situation after she saw the number of men following them.

Kakashi nodded, turning his radio on and speeding ahead to an open clearing that he knew would serve as a better battlefield while Sakura took out the first wave of attackers with a few well-placed senbon.

"Yamato! Come in."

"Kakashi! Report!"

"The enemy sensed our presence. I don't know how—we were masking our chakra completely—but they've engaged. We're going to need backup!"

"Roger. We're on our way!"

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Naruto?"

"Are you and Sakura in trouble?"

"Ah, it's definitely not favorable for us, but Sakura and I will be fine—umf!"

Kakashi fell to the ground, hard, as a new wave of attackers launched themselves out from the shadows. He turned to see Sakura in a similar predicament, with two men pinning her to the ground before she arched up, nearly knocking one's head off with a chakra-enhanced kick to the head. Kakashi did the same, throwing his attacker back nearly five feet before quickly forming the seals for a Chidori.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The earpiece crackled with the sound of Naruto's loud voice from the ground, but Kakashi didn't have time to pick it up. They were in a worse predicament than he'd thought.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"They aren't answering, Sasuke."

Kakashi moved out of range after that, so he couldn't hear what Sasuke said, but if he knew his two former students, they would be rushing to the battlefield.

The silver-haired Copy Ninja took down his first three opponents with ease, turning briefly to make eye contact with Sakura, who had already taken out five—not including the earlier ones with the senbons.

Sakura nodded, acknowledging Kakashi's unspoken question and affirming that she was alright before turning back to her own opponents. The men had finally seemed to realize that she and Kakashi were strong—and not to be messed with—and had therefore held up a bit with their attacks. She knew they were trying to use their numbers as an advantage, hoping to tire the two Konoha shinobi out before really attacking, so Sakura knew she had to find a way to take out a large mass of them at once.

"Warp," she whispered, forming the seals for her original genjutsu and sneaking up behind the large group of about six men, easily killing them all before they'd even realized she was gone.

Despite their grim situation, Sakura couldn't help but smile. It was the first time she'd used her new jutsu in a combat situation with no mistakes. Unfortunately, it seemed doing it properly took more chakra, so she would probably be limited in its usage—like Kakashi was with the Chidori and Raikiri.

Now the only opponent she had left was the one who had broken off from the group attacking her to go after Kakashi. He wasn't in front of her—where he'd been before the attack—so Sakura turned, spotting him a few yards away finishing off two of their attackers.

Her target stood off to the right, alone, but his back was to her.

Odd, Sakura thought, shouldn't he have tried to go after me while I was distracted by the pack?

Instead, he seemed to be focused intently on the silver-haired man who had just finished the last of his opponents as well.

"Shit."

Sakura saw the shuriken heading straight for Kakashi, and she knew he wouldn't see it in time to dodge. Doing the only thing that seemed possible in that moment, she launched herself into the air and hit his back, knocking him into the ground with her shoulder.

The shuriken tore through her stomach, their jagged blades ripping at her insides. She gasped in pain, and Kakashi turned to look at her with a worried gaze. His Sharingan took in the extent of her injuries, and he looked up at their enemy with a rage in his eyes that Sakura hadn't seen since Zabuza had threatened to kill them back when they were genin.

Their opponent was quickly taken care of, and Kakashi was back at Sakura's side. The pink-haired medic was fumbling with her injuries, but she was coughing up blood and struggling to keep her hands in place. Kakashi grabbed her wrists, gently steadying her hands as she attempted to pour healing chakra into her own body.

"Why did you do that?" he asked softly. She thought he would have been angrier.

"Because you weren't going to dodge." Her voice sounded weak. Kakashi knew they needed to get her to a doctor, fast.

"You're the medic. You could have healed me after."

Sakura shook her head. "Not on the battlefield. Not with only the two of us. I didn't think, I just jumped."

Kakashi gripped her wrists tighter, angry with her for saving him, but more angry at himself for needing to be saved. "Well, it was stupid."

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah. I guess it was."

"Sakura," he said seriously, leaning over her, "I need to move you. Is that okay?"

She nodded, clearly still in a lot of pain. She winced as Kakashi picked her up as gently as he could, cradling her to his chest.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, seeing her face contort.

"It's alright. It's not your fault."

Kakashi opened his mouth, wanting to say that it was his fault. If he'd sensed the shuriken coming, she never would have had to throw herself in harm's way to save him. She'd been saving him a lot lately, he noticed. It was strange, seeing their roles reversed. He decided he didn't like it. The idea that she could get hurt protecting him wasn't something he liked to think about, even if he wasn't willing to think about why he didn't like the idea.

"Kakashi," she whispered, her voice suddenly urgent.

He stiffened. He'd sensed it too. There were other chakra signatures around them. He couldn't pinpoint their exact positions—he was too exhausted from his earlier fight—but he was sure they were outnumbered, and outnumbered badly.

They didn't have many options. Kakashi didn't even know if he had the strength to activate the Kamui, let alone use it effectively and survive. Not that the last part really mattered to him—not if he could get Sakura out alive.

"Don't," she whispered, as if she could read his mind. "It wouldn't work."

"We're out of options," he hissed, putting her down gently. To his surprise, she was able to stand on her own, albeit a little shakily.

"I know," she said, a sad smile on her lips. "I'm sorry."

"Wha—" Kakashi started, but the wind was suddenly knocked out of him as Sakura forced him back with a sudden blow to the chest. It wasn't enough to permanently damage him, but it was enough to send him flying backwards—and out of any sort of blast radius.

"No!" he yelled, willing his bruised and beaten body to move itself, but he found what little strength he'd had had been sapped away by Sakura's blow.

"Sakura!"

The pink-haired kunoichi turned, launching explosives in the direction of the enemy surrounding them, while another exploding tag landed at her feet.

Green eyes turned to meet mismatched ones, and soft pink lips moved hastily before settling into a contented smile.

Then there was a loud boom and a flash of light, and Kakashi Hatake saw no more.

The first thing he noticed when he came to was destruction, destruction everywhere. Bodies and debris lined the battlefield, and through his hazy memory, Kakashi slowly began to recall what had happened before he blacked out.

Holding his aching head in his hands, the Copy Ninja pulled himself to his feet, sauntering over to where most of the destruction had taken place. That was when he remembered.

A pain formed in his chest, so sharp that he was sure some stray kunai, or at least a sharp branch, had been wedged into him, because there was no way grief could feel this real. He'd experienced it before, but the pain never seemed to lose its shock.

Kakashi collapsed to his knees, dragging himself over to where the broken body of his former student, teammate, and partner—something else?—was lying. Silently denying what his eyes were telling him, he pulled her into his arms, cradling her tiny frame against his own.

One touch of her wrist was enough to confirm her heart wasn't beating.

The sound that came out of his mouth was not human, of that Kakashi was sure. He knew it would give away his position to any enemies that might still have been in the area, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He could hear footsteps behind him, but if whoever it was were going to kill him, Kakashi wouldn't try to stop them. He'd dealt with enough pain in his lifetime. He was ready for it all to end.

"Kakashi?" Yamato asked, taking in the destruction all around him before really focusing on what the Copy Ninja had cradled in his arms.

"What—" He stopped, his eyes going wide and his brain unable to process what was clearly before him. "No."

He stepped back, face blank as if he couldn't feel anything at all, despite the fact that it was quite the opposite. He didn't even notice the rest of Team Seven rush in after him. Only vaguely did he take in the fact that Naruto had crumpled to a heap on the ground, a strange sort of wailing noise coming from the blonde jinchuriki.

Sasuke had taken one look at the scene before him—memorizing it perfectly with his already activated Sharingan—before turning around in rage and slicing clear through a tree with his Chidori. Anger was the only emotion he would allow himself to feel at the moment. Destruction was the only thing he would permit his mind to focus on.

Even Sai had uncontrollable tears streaming down his face. He frowned, reaching up to tough the foreign liquid on his cheeks.

"I don't understand," he said softly, more to himself than to his companions. "What is this ache I feel?"

"I don't believe it!" Naruto wailed, looking around at his teammates, as if hoping for the confirmation that they didn't either. "It's just a genjutsu, right? Sakura's fine. She isn't gone."

No one answered him. They couldn't say it, not to him. He was the one that held them together. They couldn't bear it if he broke too.

"Kaka-sensei?" Naruto sounded so shattered, so vulnerable. Kakashi hadn't heard him sound like that since Sasuke had left them oh so many years ago, and maybe not even then. "It's going to be okay, right?" His voice was breaking. Kakashi couldn't take it anymore. "Tell me it's all going to be okay."

Kakashi clenched his teeth and buried his head deeper into Sakura's hair, willing someone or something to come along and kill him, knock him out, anything to take away the pain. Because even though the flames had been roaring, and the sound of the explosion had taken away any sound her final words had made, Kakashi had the Sharingan. He had been able to read her lips in her last moments, and he knew what Sakura had said.

She'd said goodbye.