A/N: Blah research~~ Anyways. I looked up the Pein vs. Pain debate, and it turns out that the main reason Pain is used is because while it's written as "Pein" in Japanese, Kishimoto was going for the English word "Pain." So, I debated between the Japanese word (since I use those most often) and the English word for awhile. Eventually, I decided Pain looks cool and Pein looks like another word. Great college mind I've got here.

Oh, and again, the flickering between scenes is because I'm picturing it how an anime plays out. >3> What with how they'll run through one character, then another. If I seperated them, you'd be getting like... a dozen two page chapters, haha.

Miki arrived on the battlefield to a sight she would never forget.

Kakashi was at the edge of a large, dirt crater, several unconscious shinobi in various places around him. Half of his body was buried beneath a pile of rubble; a fact which was concerning, yet bearable. The matter that would haunt her dreams was something else entirely. It was how he was slumped over, blood coloring the front of his pale face.

From where she stood, there was no way to tell if he was breathing.

"Kakashi!"

The call escaped her without thought- attracting Pain's attention. That didn't matter- though. No, all that mattered was that there was no reaction on Kakashi's part. He was unconscious, she decided. That had to be it.

Ignoring her observer, she took off across the crater, easily making it to his side.

"Kakashi!" she urged. "Kakashi, wake up!"

There was no reaction once again. Miki drew in a sharp breath, instinctively spinning to face Pain. He'd taken a few steps forward from his position on the opposite side of the crater, his expression more passive than anything else.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Go to hell."

Before the words had completely left her lips, several kunai were flying through the air. Pain didn't bother to move, his eyes flashing as the kunai paused, then flung backwards. Miki dodged to the side; her hand flashing over her shoulder to the hilt of her katana. Within seconds she'd darted forward, her mind comparing the scene around her to the way her kunai had been flung forward without care. Did the weight of the object matter? The crater was most likely that jutsu's doing- although she couldn't rule out Kakashi having done something.

She needed to get him away from here, but she couldn't just leave the enemy there. A nagging part of her mind told her that moving Kakashi wouldn't do much good at this point, but she shut it up rather easily. He was unconscious.

That's all he was.

Pain's kunai met her kataka and Miki took a step forward with the full intention of fighting despite the way her arms trembled at the sudden force. After all, it'd been months since she'd been an active shinobi- the rescue mission excluded. This intention was ruined, however, when she was suddenly sent flying back, her back hitting rubble and prompting a cry of pain from her lips. She quickly scrambled to move to her feet, but the moment she turned her eyes to where he'd been standing, the man was gone.

She could only blink; honestly shocked beyond belief. Had he just... abandoned the fight?

Miki shook her head a second later, darting back to Kakashi's side. Her side stung from where a particularly sharp bit of rubble had cut through the thin, civilian fabric, but her attention was quickly stolen from that matter. Miki seized his hand, pressing her fingers to his wrist. Heartbeats past, yet she felt nothing.

Impossible.

It was impossible, right?

Kakashi couldn't be... right? She couldn't even bring her mind to pronounce the word. It was simply impossible. It was Kakashi.

Her breath hitched. She dropped his hand and brought her fingers to the bloody skin beneath his jaw. It was everything she could do to hold back the panic bubbling to the surface of her mind. He couldn't be... he couldn't.

"Ka-Kakashi... Kakashi, open your eyes."

Her voice came out as a hushed command; yet, there was no real expectation in her words. After all, Miki was a reluctant expert in these matters. Over the years her mind had been forced to accept news that she had only imagined in her worse dreams. Each event had chipped away at her, stealing away her sanity. Beneath the thoughts drifting over the surface of her mind, Miki knew the truth.

If Miki was to be honest, only the shock kept her from shattering to pieces in that moment.

"Kakashi..."

A broken whisper.

Her hand caressed his bloody cheek, as if he might lift his head at any second. Miki could imagine him cocking a brow; he would ask her how she thought he could leave her behind after what they'd just been through. After he'd promised that they weren't making a mistake. After the last conversation they had, had ended with barely suppressed anger on his end.

"We need to choose," Kakashi pressed, hands pointedly pressed into the mattress of her hospital bed. "It's been days, Miki. We discussed this. If the baby was a girl, it was your choice."

She curled her fingers into the blanket covering her legs. Her mother had brought it from her house- she'd said something about Miki needing something familiar in the wake of this extreme change in her life.

"Not now."

"Then when?"

The memory hurt.

In the end, Kakashi had locked his jaw, turned his back to her, and left the room. They hadn't spoken since. He'd visited, but not a word left his lips.

It was impossible, right? That he would... die with the last words she'd spoken having been the stubborn words of a woman- no, girl- too scared to give name to a life, simply because it might disappear?

"Kakashi... Kakashi..." she urged, her hand dropping from his cheek. She shook his shoulder, as if it would change the details before her. "Kakashi..."

She could feel a wetness invading the corners of her eyes. It wasn't as foreign a feeling as it had once been- Miki had cried far too many times during her pregnancy. Still, she wished it would have stayed away now. It felt wrong.

If she cried... it made it final. It meant that just like Kenshin, he would never scold her again. It meant that just like Hayate, she would never see his smile again. It meant that just like Hisoka, she would have failed him.

It meant that the most important person beyond that small bundle she'd left behind in the hospital... it meant that person would be gone forever.

Impossible.

"Kakashi... wake up... I... I'll let you choose. We can... we can name her after someone... perhaps your mother or Rin. You'd like that, right? Or... we could come up with something unique. She'd special, right? She's ours. So, open your eyes."

A sob broke free. It hurt, Miki dropping her hands so that she could curl them around her middle. Rather than let him see, she bowed her head.

The rubble darkened as the first of the tears hit it's surface. Still, her copper locks served as a shield between her and the man she couldn't allow herself to cry over.

"Kakashi... you can't leave..."

_______________________________

Kazue tored through the streets, that promise flashing through her mind.

"Watch him for me. Protect him. He's not that different than me, I remember that much. Promise me:

"I promise, Jin-chan."

How was it that despite her promise, she was accomplishing nothing? On the job to repair the hot springs, she'd intended to question him about how far gone he was- but failed. When the mission twisted to rescuing Hikari, she'd forgotten her promise in her anger. Jun had almost died. She'd then set her mind to making sure he fully recovered, but that had failed as well. Jun had fled the village; his mind fully broke. Now, there was every chance that that break had put him in a position that had just gotten him killed.

At this rate, she'd never be able to face Jin. If she found a jutsu that worked, the first thing she wanted to do after rescuing Jun was look for Jin. At that time, she had to be able to tell the girl she'd kept her promise- even if Jin typically couldn't care less about such a thing. It was for both Jin, and Kazue herself.

She'd spent so long ignoring the boy, not noticing the trouble he was going through. To her, the only way to fix that was to take away the problem. Then, he'd be alright, wouldn't he?

As she neared the cipher building, Kazue shook her head to discard the thoughts. At the moment there were more important matters, like the giant centipede that had brought her to this edge of town. She'd realized while running through the streets that she'd gotten the location of the creature wrong, it was several blocks further than the building itself. At the same time, she couldn't just leave it be. Not when further thought into the matter revealed that it was actually nearing the location of the Asari compound.

There were quite a few people living there who were no more than civilians anymore.

When she arrived on the location, the creature was distracted by several, light-haired shinobi. It gave her a much needed moment to take in the situation.

Stretching far above the height of the residential houses was a giant centipede. The thing seemed to be shaking the Shinobi off with little trouble, swiftly cutting through buildings and causing an all around mess. The only thing she could feel thankful for was that it didn't seem to be attacking anyone directly. The danger laid solely in if anyone was left behind in the buildings it crashed through.

The creature seemed like a distraction, Kazue realized in those moments. A pest, really.

That didn't change the fact, however, that it was attacking Konoha. Nor did it change the sound of the sickening crack when a shinobi was thrown from it's back and sent crashing through the walls of one of the few, standing buildings. Kazue narrowed her eyes, slipping into a fighting stance as she shifted two of her special kunai from their pouch. Within seconds she had the glow of the chakra scalpel creeping over the metal.

Jun... she would have to take care of this before she could check on him.

"Watch it, you big bug! You almost crushed me there!"

Kazue almost dropped her kunai in surprise. The source of the familiar voice was standing atop one of the still-standing buildings, a worn, long-abandoned chuunin vest decorating his chest. It was such a strange- long forgotten sight, that she hadn't recognized him at first.

"... Niisan?"

If he heard her voice, Hisoka gave no indication of it first, launching himself into the air as the centipede crashed through the bottom of the building he stood on. Kazue could only watched- partially shocked, partially stupefied- as Hisoka landed on the back of the creature. Within seconds he'd dropped to a laying position on it's back, wrapping both arms around one of its pincers as simply as if he'd been wrapping his arms around the neck of a horse.

"Niisan... get down from there!" she shouted, darting forward, then leaping back to catch a shinobi that had been thrown from the thing's back.

"Haha, you should try this, Kazue-chan! It's like bull-riding!" Hisoka declared, slipping one hand from the his hold on the creature to his kunai pouch. It dived towards another building at that moment, almost sending Hisoka pitching over the side. "Woah, there!"

Kazue, and many of the other shinobi facing the creature, sweatdropped in unison.

He did realize the village was in the middle of being attacked, right? Not only that... Hisoka hadn't forgotten he was blind and not an official shinobi anymore... right? How had he even ended up in this situation in the first place? Where was Hitoshi? Shouldn't Hisoka have been evacuated with the civilians?

"Dammit, you really are an idiot."

That said, Kazue shook off the unnecessary thoughts. As soon as the shinobi she'd caught was back on his feet, she threw herself into the fight. It would seem that this was going to be a bit more annoying than she'd initially thought.

_______________________

With his arms linked behind his head, Kurai simply stared at the seal covered ceiling above his head. Loud, echoing noises invade the cell, but he only spared the slightest curiosity for the matter. It wasn't as if much beyond the walls of the cipher building mattered to him at the moment; there was little chance that Kurai would be leaving the building at this point. His jaw locked in annoyance as he considered this matter, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

Jun, and Kurai as a result, did have a babyface. Perhaps he'd be able to... no, there was little chance of persuading the shinobi that worked in this building. They were as jaded as Jun, himself.

He frowned at the thought as his cell trembled as a result of whatever battle was raging outside.

Jun...

Kurai closed his eyes for a second, mind drifting to the familiar edges of Jun's, or perhaps his, consciousness. It was a matter he'd never bothered to teach Jun, it wasn't as if he'd needed to know. Jun with his hatred of Kurai wouldn't have bothered to try and communicate with him when he wasn't showing himself. He wasn't even sure if Jun would have been capable of such a feat if Kurai had tried to teach him.

The cell around him faded to the familiar, dark room of Jun's childhood home. He'd long since ceased to be amused that even Jun's subconscious was drenched in the nightmares of his childhood. It only seemed appropriate that someone like Jun would have such a horrible place as the manifestation of their mind. Kurai leapt from the bed, eyes scanning the room. Nothing. Not one to give up easily, he darted from it to systematically search the house- as unlikely as it was to find Jun anywhere else.

Without someone to force him, Jun rarely played out the scene waiting for him beyond the walls of his bedroom.

Nothing.

"Jun!"

Kurai cursed, fist slamming into the nearby, white-washed hallway wall. At the same time, he questioned such an action. It wasn't right, this irritation surging through him. They'd both known the likelihood that Jun would disappear following the events that had just gone down. Still, he'd thought he could manage it. He'd tucked the boy away in this building, given him an imaginary Jin, and assumed that hiding the boy from further mental stress could keep him from breaking.

But then, he'd broken through Kurai's control at the worst time. He'd seem Kazue beneath him, he'd seen what his weakness had lead to.

He'd broke.

Now, he was nowhere to be found.

Kurai snapped to reality as a concrete pebble detached from the ceiling and dropped to his forehead. He blinked, staring once again at the seal covered surface.

Was the fight worse than he thought?

Shifting to a sitting position, he shot the small window situated on his doorway a thoughtful glance. Within seconds he'd shifted a childish smile to his lips and leapt to his feet.

"Guard-san~" he called out. "Guard-san~ Are you out there~?"

When there was no response, Kurai cocked his head and crossed the room. A glance into what he could see of the hall revealed it to be deserted. He blinked a few times in surprise, as if that would change the sight, before humming thoughtfully under his breath. The ceiling trembled again, more rubble falling from the slowly growing cracks in the concrete.

"That's not good..."

The statement was confirmed only seconds later as a loud crack resounded from the spot above Kurai's head. The seals broke, chakra flooding Kurai's system and serving as the only other warning of what was to come. Without hesitation, he leapt back and clasped one hand over his mouth and nose, as to block the debris and dust when the ceiling caved in within seconds of his action.

"Annnnd, I don't mind if I do~" Kurai commented to himself, shifting chakra into his feet as he lightly jumped atop the rubble, then into the room above.

A quick glance at his surroundings told him that it was most likely an interrogation room when it was occupied. At the moment, however, it was empty. It would seem that whatever was going on, he would get the chance to join in. Or flee the village- there was always that option as well. The battle outside would serve as the perfect distraction- they most likely wouldn't even notice he was gone until the rubble at the entrance to his cell had been cleared away. They'd probably assume he was trapped beneath it.

'The Leaf is my home. I've given everything for that village.'

As Jun's words to Saichi's father flashed through Kurai's mind unbidden, the boy scowled. For a moment, he paused in the empty cipher room, kicking a chunk of rubble. The only faintly familiar feeling of pain surged through his foot and he bit his lip harshly enough to draw blood to the surface of the chapped skin.

"Dammit."

It wasn't like he was bound by that idiot's promises. He'd leave. This was his chance, after all. His only chance.

"I'm not Kurama Jun," he said aloud, despite the fact that there was no one around to hear him. He'd always been talking to himself, this was no different. Jun rarely listened to what Kurai had to said and Jun had been the only one ever able to hear him. "Jun's gone."

An unfamiliar tightness clutched his chest. Another curse escaped his lips as Kurai started for the door.

"I don't owe them anything."

'Neither did you. You never did, Jun,' he added silently.

Leaving was his only option.