I kneeled on the ground for a long moment after the puppet began retreating, trembling and trying to catch my breath. Finally, I staggered to my feet, turning and spotting the idiotic genin who I now recognized as the Third's grandson. He was wide-eyed and shaking nearly as badly as I was.

I took another moment to gather my feet beneath myself before turning to leave, heading in the direction I'd last seen Kakashi. Even though I'd made no move to invite him, Konohamaru stumbled over himself to follow me. At least he was silent.

I carefully picked my way through rubble and fallen buildings, making my way to the top of a crater and looking down in it. Kakashi was there, half buried beneath the rubble, and I picked up my pace, sliding down the sides of the slope. I heard crying, glanced over, and spotted Choji. I snapped my gaze back to Kakashi. Was he crying because...?

But then Kakashi moved and began to murmur something to Choji, who wiped at his cheeks, and I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye and reacted immediately to annihilate the threat of the torn apart puppet that seemed to be growing an arm with a projectile out of its back.

Choji turned to run, Kakashi's eye widened, and I cut off the appendage growing out of the destroyed puppet's back before it could launch the weapon, slamming my other blade into its neck.

Choji looked back and paused when he saw me standing over the destroyed puppet. "Go, Choji," Kakashi insisted. "Tell Tsunade."

I leaned over the body, yanking out the black rods as quickly as possible for good measure. "Tell Tsunade what?" I asked Kakashi, trying to ignore how he was half pinned under rubble and blood caked his face.

"Pain's abilities," he informed me.

"You mean the eyes that can see everywhere, apparently?" I muttered, pulling out one of the last main rods and going to Kakashi's side instead.

"Yeah," he sighed, wincing as my movement caused the rubble to shift. "Careful, there, would you?"

"How could you do that?!"

Kakashi turned his head the best he could to spot the new voice. "Shouldn't you be with the other genin helping evacuate citizens?" Kakashi asked lightly when spotting the genin, reprimand hidden in his tone.

Konohamaru ignored him, glaring at me instead. "How could you give up Naruto-nii to these monsters?"

It was my turn for Kakashi to snap his gaze over to me, incredulous. I began shifting rubble off of Kakashi carefully, running chakra down my arms to help with the heavier pieces. "It's what they were after," I panted, taking the biggest piece of rubble away. "Shit, sorry Kakashi, I have to take a break."

I sat down next to him, and he eyed my trembling limbs with worry. "What happened?" He asked.

"She betrayed Naruto-nii and the Will of Fire and the entire village!" Konohamaru shouted hysterically. His eyes were still wide, and if he wasn't already setting into shock he would be soon.

I patted my pockets, finally finding the water I stored there. Taking a swig, I offered Kakashi some, and he took several swallows. "I was fighting a Pain Puppet," I explained. "I observed it hold two chunin by the neck and ask where Naruto was. Both claimed not to know, but only one survived whatever jutsu he did. The one who told the truth."

"Ah," Kakashi nodded, wincing in pain as he did so.

"Konohamaru, make yourself useful and go get one of Tsunade's slugs that I saw helping people. Kakashi needs the help more than whoever else."

Konohamaru glared at me, but with one look toward Kakashi, he flinched and nodded, sprinting away.

"Anyhow, I was fighting him, that fucking idiot kid distracted me for half a second—my eyes just glanced over there, I didn't even take my main attention off the fight!—and Pain managed to get a hold of me. I couldn't get out," I shrugged, standing and shifting the worst of the rubble from Kakashi once again.

"Anyhow." I gasped in a breath, letting it out in an explosive movement as I pulled a large slab of concrete from Kakashi. "He got me, asked me where Naruto was, and when faced with either lying and dying or telling the truth and living, I told the truth."

Kakashi's arms were completely free, now, and he helped me push one of the smaller pieces of rubble away. "Hm." He frowned, then carefully asked, "Is that why the Pain's seemed to begin their retreat?"

I sat down, taking another break, and Kakashi's frown grew even more worried. "I know how you feel about betraying or abandoning comrades, Kakashi, but it made sense. Naruto is weeks away. The danger to him is weeks away. The danger here was present and now. And I would have died if I lied. I made a choice, and it was the right one. Naruto can be reversed summoned back here at any moment. So when the Akatsuki arrives at his training ground in a couple of weeks—assuming he stays there that long and they actually make it—he can be reversed summoned back here in an instant, putting him, once again, weeks away from danger."

Kakashi worked on moving the small rocks away, lips pressed into a thin line, while I focused on the last large slab. "Okay," he finally said. "I see where you're coming from."

I let out a breath I hadn't been aware I was holding and found the strength to move the final large piece of debris. I almost immediately collapsed back down, boneless and exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked, concerned, working his way free.

"Yeah," I waved his concern away. "Just, I don't really know, whatever that puppet did seemed to drain all my energy and most of my chakra."

Kakashi, finally free, continued to just sit there, recovering his strength with me. I watched him closely; he was still losing a large amount of blood and certainly wasn't out of danger yet. "Well," he finally spoke, "I'm glad you're not dead."

Silence followed, then breathless laughter left me. A few seconds later Kakashi followed suit. "I'm glad you're not dead, too," I agreed.

We sat there, waiting for Konohamaru to return, catching our breath. After considering it for several long moments, I decided to speak.

"Hey, Kakashi," I began hesitantly. I wasn't sure why I felt compelled to say this—maybe it was because he'd come so close to dying and wasn't out of the woods yet, maybe it was because he didn't immediately accuse me of abandoning a comrade when he'd heard I'd given up Naruto's location. But for whatever reason, I wanted him to know that I didn't blame him for my capture but the Rising Phoenix. "You know that—Kakashi?"

He didn't answer, and I turned to him again, and was shocked by the amount of blood that had left his body now that the rubble wasn't pinning him down and cutting off the circulation. "Shit," I whispered, hurriedly trying to find the worst of the wounds. "Shit, shit, shit."

I checked his pulse, found none, repositioned my hand, and still found nothing. I lay him on his back, beginning chest compressions. "Where the fuck is that stupid fucking genin?"

"What are you doing to him?!"

Never before had I been more relieved to hear that genin's annoying, whining voice. "What does it look like?" I snapped back.

"Have you done any rescue breaths?" Konohamaru asked, looking shocked but thankfully, thankfully, with a slug in his possession.

"No, new regulations emphasizes the importance of compressions over breaths," I replied. "Now, if you please, hurry the fuck up with that slug."

I sat back as the slug covered Kakashi with green light and stare at my shaking, blood-covered hands for a split second before returning my attention to the slug and Kakashi.

After what felt like hours, the slug turned to me and nodded, telling me in a soft voice that he was stable for now, and all the breath left my lungs in a rush. Kakashi would be fine.

Only minutes had passed since Kakashi had been pulled back, and he was starting to stir. Two chunin arrived at the scene, and after checking on us and seeing that we weren't in critical condition, they rushed away, taking Choza to the hospital. Kakashi stirred, slowly pushing himself up with a groan, patting at his midsection and looking confused but pleased to not be greeted with stabbing pain.

While he situated himself, I felt the slug attach itself to my lower leg, and slowly but surely, slight strength seeped back into my body. Fine tremors still wracked my body, but the slug was helping. I glanced over to Kakashi, but he still seemed out of it, blinking and staring off into space.

From my peripheral vision, I caught a glimpse of orange and black, floating in the sky above the village. Snapping my head over to get a better look, I narrowed my eyes, trying to clear my blurry vision. The lead puppet Pain was floating upward, hands spread as he gathered an immense amount of chakra. "Fuck," I muttered, glancing at Kakashi, who was aware enough to have noticed the movement as well. We made eye contact and exchanged oh shit glances for a split second, before being utterly blinded by a bright light, seeming to emanate from the puppet Pain's body.

Instinctively, without thought, I lunged for Kakashi and latched onto his flak jacket tightly, biting my thumb simultaneously, gathering what little chakra I had left and hoping it would work. "Reverse summoning!"

Instantly, Kakashi and I were teleported to a dark cave in Benisu Island; home of my quite pleasant summonings. Almost immediately I swayed, the strain on my chakra almost too much. I bent over to catch my breath but miscalculated, accidentally putting my center of gravity too far forward. I attempted to rectify the mistake, but the movement put too much strain on my legs, which gave way beneath me.

"You need to be more careful with your chakra!" Kakashi reprimanded, immediately kneeling next to me and putting a steadying hand on my shoulder to make sure I didn't face plant into the wet soil below us.

"Oh, sorry, would you have rather stayed there?" I asked incredulously. The effect was lost when I had to pause for breath between each word. "Besides." I looked pointedly at the slug that was still attached to the side of my leg, the reason that I could pull off the reverse summoning, without resulting in death. I gave Kakashi a half-smile,"You should know me better than that by now." We both knew that if death was an actual possibility, I would never have pulled a stunt like so. We both also knew that if the risk was worth the reward, and there was a possibility that I would come out on top, I would be willing to take said stupid actions.

The location we were in was proof of that one.

"The others," Kakashi voiced, going to stand as though he could start walking back to the village.

My thoughts immediately snapped to my team and Aiden. "They'll be fine. Couldn't you feel it? Right before we were reverse summoned, there was a huge expansion in Tsunade's chakra. She most likely used her 100 healings mark to protect the villagers. By the time I noticed, though..."

After a brief hesitation, Kakashi nodded. I'd already completed the reverse summoning by the time I noticed that Tsunade would have saved us. Beside, this way, the chakra that would have gone toward saving us could go toward saving two other people. I was thankful that Kakashi refrained from asking why I had taken him here, knowing that it took more chakra to reverse summon another person--especially if that person didn't have a contract with said summoning. The truth was, I didn't exactly know it myself. Instinct, most likely.

Kakashi still looked worried, and I needed to find my team, so with a weary sigh I bit my thumb, prepared to reverse summon us back to Konoha, where a spider had traded places with us. Unexpectedly, Kakashi pushed my hand down. "You shouldn't do that right now," he told me quietly. I blinked up at him, having half expected him to ask me to do this to get us back to the village even though it would hurt me. "You need time to recover, and even if we went back right now, we wouldn't be much help." We were both completely sapped of our strength and it was painfully obvious.

"I need to find my team, and we need to get back to the village to assess the current situation," I argued back, even though I understood the current situation. Kakashi held my gaze and after a couple seconds, I kept my hand down of my own accord. "I'll wait for the slug to replenish some of my chakra."

"That's the Cashile I know," Kakashi said, relaxing just a bit. There was a bit of a pause, in which I did my best to not stare at Kakashi, before I broke the silence.

"You almost died," I told him. My voice wavered, but I managed to control it before it broke completely.

Kakashi stared at his hands, a slightly vacant look in his eyes, and even with his dark clothes I could still see the bloodstains. "I think I did," he admitted.

I sat in front of him, hands clenched into fists, and for some reason I was having trouble breathing. This would be expected for all the exertion that had happened, and the recent reverse summoning and all-- except that I had caught my breath already. Kakashi looked up—maybe I'd made some sort of noise that gained his attention—and his eyes focused, his face softened, and then he was reaching for me, pulling me in, and hugging me.

The only reason I didn't fight my way out and pull away was because I was too exhausted, of course. My body still trembled at random, muscles twitching in sometimes painful spasms. That's why, instead, I took a moment to catch my breath, face pressed into his flak jacket, absurdly grateful that he wasn't dead and wishing that I could wash his blood from my hands.

I pulled away at the sudden thought and rubbed at the damp rocks on the ground, trying to get his blood off my hands. When a whispered, hurried fuck escaped my mouth Kakashi grabbed a canteen and poured it over my hands, almost reaching out to help me rub his own blood off, it seemed, before pulling back. I didn't say anything because I didn't need the help, I didn't ask for it. He gave it anyway, but that didn't mean I had to thank him for it, even if I was. Instead, Kakashi said it for me, voice quiet and concerned but warm and proud.

"Thank you, Cashile."

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Another chapter done YEET

Okay so first week of school has been completed for me, second week is underway, and let me tell you there is SO MUCH FUCKING READING to do. Holy shit. Holy moly roly poly. Idek anymore. I think I'll be fine. 18 semester hours is a lot of work. It'll be fine. Right? RIGHT?!

I am officially double majoring in English and Creative Writing and Political Science and minoring in Philosophy. So yeah. I sound like a pretentious fuck.

PLEASE COMMENT lots of long lonng thoughtful beautiful comments to give us inspiration and get us through the start of the school year I'm living in an apartment and have real life responsibilities on top of school responsibilities (someone pay my rent pls).

SO COMMENT FOR US so we can keep the chapters coming and cry ourselves to sleep as little as possible :')

lol comment also if you have any fanart send it in to [email protected] we can post it at fan(art)(fiction).

Okay that's all bye

gaara119

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