I walked around for maybe twenty minutes or so before I found Kakashi. Well, I mean, technically he found me but we aren't being too picky with logistics here. I saw him first sooo, I found him.

"There you are, I've been looking for you."

The masked ninja says and I smile. Wait... Why am I smiling? I immediately stop before shaking my head, my eyes looking up at him as he rubs the back of his neck. What was I going to ask him again? Oh yeah. The creep from earlier.

"Whose Kabuto Yakushi?"

Kakashi immediately tenses, his gaze intensifying as I tilt my head, looking around the bustling street as people pass us on their way to dinner. Or so I'm guessing.

"Where did you hear that name?"

I look down at Kit, both of us agreeing that this person wasn't well liked around here. Dunno what that feels like…

"He told me, when he broke into Jiraiya's apartment. I didn't particularly get good vibes from the guy so I immediately came to find you... Or the other two, I didn't care who I came across first."

That's not true, it would've been disappointing if it was the Sage. He would've gone all gooey eyed, probably not listen to a word I say, ugh Naruto really hit the nail on the head with his name. I'm not entirely sure how he gets anything done, he's so easily distracted.

"He broke into your apartment? When?!"

Kakashi asks, bringing me back to the present as I let out a sigh.

"Uhh... Like a half hour ago? Why are you freaking out so much? Who is he?"

"Let's talk somewhere else…"

The masked ninja whispers as he grabs my wrist, pulling me rather abruptly into an alleyway as his eyes looking around again before settling on me. What the heck is with all the secrecy?

"What exactly happened?"

He asks, his tone serious. I'm starting to wonder who this guy is to him? He's clearly worried about something. I've seen that look in people before. Usually it's when someone finds out about Kit and I so it's slightly concerning to see it from the other angle.

"Well I was sleeping on the couch with Kit and I woke up to a loud sound..."

My fox sits at my feet, looking up at us as his ears remain back, his hearing focusing on our surroundings instead of us.

"When I turned on the light, Kit notified me of the intruders whereabouts and I managed to get behind him and restrain him."

The ninja doesn't say a word and I take that as the need to continue. I'm not used to him listening to me like this, he always looks like he's doing some internal monologue. Probably thinking about who he's going to annoy next.

"He told me who he was and that he'd been watching me, that he was impressed with my skills. He saw our little friendly spar earlier on, which is weird because I didn't sense he was there…"

Kit barks at me, saying that he didn't notice him either. Which is odd because Kabuto had a rather noticeably dark energy signature. Hard to miss. What was the other thing…

"Oh yeah. He said something about, um... How did he word it..."

I go quiet before remembering.

"He will be pleased. That's what he said."

Kakashi's eyes widen as he looks at me, my eyebrows furrowing as I get a funny feeling in my stomach and it's not a nice one.

"That's what he said? Are you sure?"

I gaze down at Kit, my hands sliding into my pockets as I nod.

"Yep. Then I kicked him down some stairs and Kit slammed the door shut. I wasn't worried about him."

"It's not Kabuto that worries me… It's who he works for."

Kakashi mutters as I drop my gaze back to to Kit as he starts to growl at the roof top above us, my eyes lifting as they start to glow orange, noticeably bright in the shadow of the alleyway.

"He's back…"

I whisper before Kakashi jumps to the roof to investigate, not even hesitating for a second as Kit immediately follows.

"Stay here!"

He orders as I look up at him before they disappear from sight.

"Hey! Where are you going?!"

I yell, my arms raising as I roll my eyes. Can't a girl just have a night off? And why was Kit following Kakashi and not hanging back with me, ever since I got to this damn town - everything is so out of whack.

"Hello child."

A hear a unfamiliar voice behind me, his tone sending a cold shiver down my spine as I glance over my shoulder, my eyes glowing orange again as I sense his chakra. His energy is even darker than Kabuto's…

"Have we met?"

I ask, suspicion in my voice as my eyes drift to the rooftop again, hearing Kit and Kakashi involved in some altercation.

"If you'll excuse me…"

I go to jump after them to make sure they're were okay before my body suddenly stops in mid air, my eyes widening as I feel a cool hand grip my ankle, nails sharp in my skin as I'm yanked back down. My hip and shoulder colliding with the ground first as the air is knocked out of me, my eyes lifting to see a dark figure looming in the shadows like some psychopath.

"It's like that is it?"

I move into a crouch before I slowly stand, my eyes remaining on the dark figure as I hear yelling from above, Kits deep bark echoing in the night. He's transformed, that wasn't a good sign.

"Kit are you o-…"

I feel the same cool hand grip my throat, my eyes widening again as I gaze at the man who towered over me, his face was almost white but it wasn't that which scared me - it was his yellow snake like eyes. The way they contained so much desire but not for love but for power… For knowledge… I even saw death in them. Lots and lots of death. The guy wreaks of it.

"No need to involve yourself in that, my dear…"

My eyes narrow as I see his tongue flick out his mouth, almost serpent like. I'm not gonna lie here, I may have screwed my nose up in disgust a little. But can you blame me? That's just plain nasty.

"First off…"

My hand slaps around his wrist, squeezing it tightly. My eyes burning brighter than before as anger starts to boil up inside of me like a dormant volcano.

"Don't. Touch. Me."

I bend his wrist back as he winces, a creepy manic laughter escaping his lips as I glare down at him.

"Secondly, I don't like playing games. Who the hell are you?!"

The man continues to laugh before smirking menacingly, his yellow eyes glinting in the moonlight.

"You haven't heard of me? That's such a shame. Don't worry though my dear, you'll know me soon enough."

I feel a fist in my stomach, my eyes bulging a little as I suddenly feel weightless. My hair blowing around me as I fly backwards off my feet, the serpent man getting further and further away as my body collides with an unopened shopping stall on the other side of the street. Shards of wood, bricks and the stalls canopy all collapsing on top of me as I smash into it.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting the guy to have that amount of strength. My stomach right now feels as if it had been crushed by a damn stampede of buffalo, my ears were ringing, I was trying desperately to gasp for air as not only did the punch wind me but my body colliding with the stall didn't help. Not one little bit. My ribs are never going to heal at this rate.

"Aimi?!"

I remain still as my head hangs low, my eyes noticing a large piece of splintered wood imbedded into my thigh, my crimson blood slowly seeping out of it as I hear Kit's barks.

"I'm… I'm okay!"

I think.

"We're going to get you out of there, hang tight!"

Oh good, Jiraiya's here. I let out an irritated groan before I close my eyes, my orange chakra glowing and vibrating around me as I hear Kit barking at people to get out the way.

"Everyone clear?!"

I yell and my not so little fox barks a yes. Allowing me to send out a 360 degree blast to expel all the debris from on top of me. The bricks, wood and canopy carefully landing in the street as I crawl out the rest of the rubble.

"You're hurt…"

The Sage says as he reaches me, my hand reaching out to use him as my own personal cane, his hand pulling me to my feet. This may be surprising but the wooden splinter in my thigh makes it increasingly difficult to weight bear. Shocker I know.

"Is anyone hurt?"

I ask, my gaze drifting on Jonin I've never seen before, Guy and then after a few loud heart beating moments I see Kakashi, a little banged up but still alive. Thank god. Don't look into my concern though, I just don't like seeing the innocent get hurt. Nothing more.

"Are you alright?"

The masked ninja approaches me as I nod, my eyes seeing him look at my thigh as he crouches down in front of me, his hands pressing gently around the wound before taking out a small med kit.

"I'm fine Kakashi… It's nothing."

He remains silent as he focuses on bandaging up the wound and stabilizing the splinter within it. My eyes moving to my large fox as he watches the ninja curiously.

"Well we can't leave it in there so it's going to be another trip to the hospital I'm afraid."

Jiraiya adds and I sigh, nodding in defeat as I respond.

"Yeah.. I thought you might say that. Just one question before we go though…"

Kakashi stands, his body close to mine as he looks down at me.

"What is it?"

"The snake guy, with the yellow eyes? Who is he?"

Now I'm not being dramatic when I say I heard crickets, there might as well have been a damn horn section playing dramatic music in the background because I could literally cut the tension around me with a damn Kunai and by the looks on everyone's faces, this person is bad… Bad news.

"Kakashi?"

I ask as he responds, his voice cold.

"Orochimaru…"