Hotaru sighed as she walked, stuffing her hands in her pockets. She was being completely ignored by seemingly both of her comrades. Something had been diferent this morning... she had mocked Inuzuka about his fishing skills after Haruhi had given them all some special herbal tea that morning, and he hadn't risen to it at all. Just ignored her. Like she hadn't even spoken. Well, at least she had Akamaru. And, if needs be, her new summon, but she doubted it would come to that.

She frowned and ran her hand back through her wild mane of hair; she really needed a haircut. She'd have to get Sasori to do it. Christ, sometimes that guy was more girly than Hotaru herself, with his dolls (which he would always insist weren't dolls, but Hotaru had caught him dressing them up and talking to them on numerous occasions) and unconditional love for The Muppets.

Speaking of which; she had some movie tickets to get. Sasori's birthday was coming up, and Hotaru was planning to take him to see The Muppet Movie for his present. Hopefully this mission would be over soon and she could go get the tickets before they sold out.

"Right, we have to divide here." Kakashi said, drawing to a stop, and meeting each of their eyes. It was clear in his gaze that they were being followed. "Kiba and Akamaru, you go with Haruhi-sama in that direction. Make sure you cover your tracks. Hotaru, you come in this direction with me. We need to divert them."

It was strange; Kakashi seemed to be ignoring Hotaru earlier. Perhaps she was just being paranoid.

Akamaru whined as Kiba whistled for him. Kiba seemed to grow irritated, "Akamaru! Here, now!"

The dog just whined again, and backed away a little. Kiba looked ready to blow. "Akamaru! Get here now!!"

Hotaru quickly stepped in front of the now seemingly frigtened dog. She landed a heavy glare on Kiba, "What's the matter with you?! I think you need to go cool down!"

Kiba growled, stepping up and towering over the red haired kunoichi, "Who made you the boss of me?! That's my dog, and he should be a bit more obedient!"

Hotaru stepped back a tiny portion, feeling intimidated. She'd never seen Kiba act this way before. But, never the less, she squared her shoulders and snarled right back at him, "No one did! But Akamaru's not 'your dog', he's your partner!! Treat him with a little more respect!!" some of the fire in her vains dimmed, along with her fury and pumping heart, "This isn't you, Inuzuka. Why are you acting this way?"

Kiba snarled at her, "Maybe I'm just sick of you wanting to have your way all the time!! I bet that's why Sasori left you, 'cause you're a spoiled brat-!!"

Kiba was cut off by a fast slap to the face, and was thrown to the floor. He placed a hand over his cheek, and glared up at the fuming Hotaru. "Don't you ever-" her voice shook a little, "even think of coming anywhere near me, Inuzuka! Ever again!"

Then, she roughly pulled her raised arm out of Kakashi's grip (he had grabbed her as she went to hit the inu-nin again) and stormed away, but not before Kiba saw the slightest of quivers in her lips, and the faint shimmer of tears in her hazel eyes. Regret consumed Kiba for a split second, before it was overcome by hatred once more. He picked himself up, and called Akamaru over; this time the dog growled at him. But, even so, the Ninken padded over to his master.

What right had she to talk to him that way?! All that Kiba had said was true, anyway.

He didn't say anything more as Kakashi followed after Hotaru, but not before sending Kiba a suspicious frown. He then turned and led Haruhi into the forest.

Hotaru was distraught as she crashed through the forest, leaving an evident trail so that Kakashi could follow and their pursuers could too. She had already masked the hurt, but it wasn't so easy to dispell. She didn't know what to do. How could Kiba say something like that?! Even if Sasori was back now, he should have known that the hurt from his abandonment still lingered, along with the fear that, one day, he would do it again, or someone else would. He should have known that that was forbidden territory.

"Hotaru, here should be far enough." a gentle voice spoke, and a gentle but firm grip kept he from moving any further. She looked back at Kakashi with a blank gaze; he looked sorrowful.

"You don't need to hide your pain, you know." Kakashi said a while later, when they were sitting in wait for the enemy. "Bottling it up doesn't help anyone."

Hotaru scoffed, "I bottled it up for over nine years, and it never did me any harm."

Kakashi rose a silver eyebrow. "And yet..."

"Here I sit. I know." Hotaru finished for him, releasing a heavy sigh through her nose. "I just... my brother's leaving me before... It's a sensitive topic, y'know?"

Kakashi nodded, gaze drifting to the floor. "I know."

Hotaru looked to him in confusion, sensing a slight depression emanating from Kakashi. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi's gaze turned to the sky, and he spoke quietly, so only Hotaru could hear, "My best friend died when I was very young. Then my Sensei died shortly after that. As for my other teammate... I don't know where she is, haven't seen her in years."

Hotaru was shocked by this sudden revelation. She never knew that Kakashi had such a sad past! She couldn't imagine life without Hinata, Shino, Kurenai-sensei (even if she was pregnant at that moment) and, dare she say it, even Kiba. But Kakashi... he had lost all he cared about, and at a younger age than her too... and here she was, sitting being mopey over a few insults from a guy that she hated anyway.

"All I'm saying, is... well, don't leave it too late. I didn't realise what I had until I lost it." Kakashi said, his single dark eye meeting Hotaru's hazel ones. She smiled slightly in thanks, but it faded as she sensed an unfamiliar chakra. Make that chakra's. Kakashi's expression darkened, "Seems we've finally got company. They'll be here in about... two minutes, I'd say."

Hotaru nodded, and quickly performed the transformation jutsu to look like Haruhi. Only, it was a better version; Hotaru was now an almost exact replica, chakra and all. It was a handy jutsu she'd picked up in Kirigakure.

"This is gonna be a cinch." Hotaru muttered, forming her face into a look of fear, "I've got a lot of anger to work off."

---

The silence was deafening. They were now on yet another boat that would take them across the large 'moat' (more of a huge lake with a tiny island in Hotaru's opinion) to the island that the princess needed to get to. Then they could all go home and forget that this ordeal ever happened.

But Hotaru and Kiba still weren't speaking, they just sent each other glares every now and again, making it extremely awkward for Kakashi. Haruhi seemed unaffected, even attempting at babbling nonsensically in her dumb-blonde-ish voice to Kiba. About halfway across, Kiba started to have a proper conversation with Haruhi (though how he managed that Kakashi couldn't understand, the girl literally made no logical sense at all) and went back to ignoring the rest of them. Kakashi could sort of understand that; he was a teenage boy once himself, and Haruhi was rather attractive (for this day and age, anyway), but something about the situation put Kakashi on edge.

He had never heard Kiba be so out of line before. Not with Akamaru, and not with Hotaru either. And he literally hadn't said one word to anyone other than Haruhi since the argument, even when Kakashi had tried to give him instructions for when they landed.

"Land ho!!" Hotaru rose an eyebrow at the sailor's shout; it was rather old style and quaint, and quite weird. Nobody said 'land ho' anymore. But hey, at least they were off of the boat.

"Haruhi-sama," Hotaru ground out through gritted teeth, "this is a secret area, you have to guide us-"

She was cut off by a foot coming around and smacking her in the face, the sandal of a shinobi. She saw the grin of an oh-so-familiar Inu shinobi, before she blacked out.

---

Hotaru groaned as she sat up, and rubbed her head. She clicked her neck to stretch it out, then went to stretch her arms, only for them to be stopped by cold walls. Her eyes snapped open, but she could barely see, the room was so dimly lit. She could just make out the slumped shape of a body that was either unconscious or dead in a cell similar to hers, only opposite, and in a chair to the left was a very familiar person.

"So help me, bastard, when I get out of here I'm going to pound you to a pulp!" Hotaru yelled, struggling in the hold of the chains that she hadn't noticed before. The boy just blinked sleepily at her, then grinned nastily.

"Why? Personally, I prefer it this way." Hotaru growled at him.

"We're your comrades!! How could you abandon us like this!" Hotaru could feel tears stinging in her eyes, as recognition flashed in his. "I know that you're under Haruhi's control," Hotaru spat her name like it was the ugliest of curses, "But you aren't even trying to fight it!!"

Hurt flashed in his eyes, and he stood up and kneeled in front of her cage, his eyes conflicted yet soft. "I am fighting it... trust me, I am..."

He leaned in, and because her face was so close to the bars from her shouting, was able to reach to tenderly press his lips to hers. Hotaru blinked from shock, but felt something, deep inside, and tugging, ecstatic sensation.

'No no no no!!' Kiba screamed inside his head at the girl, 'Don't fall for it, Hotaru!! It's not me!!'

He fell to his knees, roaring for the beast that was controlling him to stop, right that minute. It didn't help that he could feel every sensation; the warmth of her lips on his, the rightness of it all. But this was wrong! It shouldn't be happening, not like this!

"Good, Kiba.." a smooth voice cooed, and Kiba pulled away from Hotaru abruptly, smirking as he went to stand by Haruhi. The blonde smiled nastily, and pulled the brunette in, molding her lips to his. Kiba's arms wrapped around her waist, and he dove into the kiss enthusiastically.

Hotaru only just managed to stop the tears that sprung to her eyes that time. "You tricked me!!" she screamed at Kiba, as Haruhi pulled away and the boy smirked at the redhead, "Why- how could you?!"

"It was only serving to break you further... your affection for me is pathetic." Kiba said, smugly. The tears almost rolled down her cheeks.

'No!! Stop it!! Hotaru, don't listen!! It's not me!!' Kiba shouted desperately, but none of his words were spoken. He pounded his fists on the floor angrily. Why was it just so hard?! Why did this all happen?!

Hotaru's entire body filled with anger, and she struggled even more violently in the thick chains. "You bastards!! I'll kill both of you!!" she roared, but could not break free.

"Sorry, but, first I need your brother." Haruhi said, malice in her tone, "There is something of mine that I regret giving him."

Hotaru roared, "You go anywhere near Sasori and I'll rip your throat out, you bitch!!"

Haruhi giggled, "Hm, we'll see. Kiba, keep watch."

And with that, the blonde left the room, with a cute wave to Kiba that just angered Hotaru further. The Dog boy went and sat back on his chair, watching Hotaru carefully.

The redhead struggled hard in the chains, then gazed up at Kiba desperately. "Stop this! Don't let her win! Fight it!!"

Kiba smirked. "That won't work, Hotaru."

'I'm trying!!' the real Kiba shouted, but his words remained in the depths of his consciousness. It was breaking him to see Hotaru so desperate, 'Believe me, I'm trying so hard Hotaru!!'

"This isn't you!! You wouldn't do this! You wouldn't let something like this beat you!!" Hotaru cried fiercely, "Stop it!! I want Kiba back!"

She couldn't help it; she broke down in tears. Crying for herself, for Kakashi and Akamaru, for Sasori, and for home, but... mostly for Kiba. Just Kiba.

Hotaru wasn't aware of what had changed in the past few days to make her care so much, but at that moment it wasn't a particularly pressing matter. She just, as annoying as he was, wanted the ordinary Kiba back. She may have only just realised, but she understood now what Kakashi meant, that he didn't realise what he had until he lost it. And, what Hotaru was losing now, was a deep friendship that she had never really appreciated until she had lost it.

"That's the first time you've used my name..." a deep voice said, making Hotaru look up, "And the first time I've seen you cry. I think it's a record."

---

This is a LOOOOONG and AWESOOOME chappy to make up for the long wait and the crappiness of the previous chapter. I was working on other stories for a while instead of this one, plus I also had two chemistry mock exams to study for (that's a lot of formulae to remember cuz I'm a smarticle and in the top set for EVERY SUBJECT xD) so I couldn't really weite much anyway :P

I have my parents evening on Thurs!! Hopefully my teachers don't do too much grassin' xD

ANYWAYS! Fan, vote, add to your library, blah blah blah, but mostly COMMENT!! Because, as I've said many a time, I am a ATTENTION WHORE and will lose interest in my writing if I don't get any response telling me what people thought on the chapter. So comment.

Capische? Good.

BAAAAIIIII!!!! <3