Chapter 1

It had been six long and hard years for Kakashi. He stared hard at the KIA monument, tracing his fingers along the names of the many people he had lost. He had lingered longingly on one name in particular: Kurosaki Ritsuka. He sighed sadly before straitening himself up, his eyes stringing with the effort to not cry, his hand dropping down by his side with a thump. Time didn't seem to be doing the healing he had hoped it would.

Images of the past few years went through his mind as he stood in his cold and empty silence, the past haunting him. Long nights spent awake and wondering, or ones filled with dreams of the horrors that could have taken place. His fingers twiddled with a couple of small metal bands in his pocket, where he had kept them since he had got them. He had planned everything out so well. Ritsuka was going to return from her last mission and the two were going to pick a house. After her second trimester when she would probably feel the worst, due to the ever growing weight and inability to do much of the things she loved, he was going to marry her. Remind her that she was beautiful and perfect in everyway no matter what size or shape she was, or whether she could sit up from the floor in under five minutes or not. He sighed heavily as the Hokage's decision to assume Ritsuka was dead rang through his memories like it had only happened yesterday.

He could still sometimes smell her on the pillow cases or when he walked into the flat after a long mission. He had tried hard to let her go, but when it all came doing to make the move, and finally break free, he felt that he just couldn't. It wasn't that he wanted to be depressed forever, or that he thought it would have been too hard, or he couldn't do it. He just simply didn't want to. He didn't want to forget her, forget the times they shared. And he knew he could. He could have moved on, hundreds of girls seemed to be throwing themselves at him, but he just didn't care. He wanted Ritsuka, and that was it. Plain and simple. He did everything he could to keep her memory alive, though he would never admit that he had been using the shampoo she used to buy when she had first moved in.

Kakashi would return to the monument every morning, like he had done for longer than he can remember, and would sometimes get so lost in his own thoughts that the day would pass by without his knowledge, which didn't help with his already tardy time keeping. But today, like many others, he had managed to stop himself from spiralling into his little pool of empty despair and thoughtlessness, and was heading back to take his team on their newest mission.

Naruto and Sakura had long ago given up on lecturing him on his lateness. They had been so accustomed to it that they themselves slacked a little with the early morning meets. Yamato had disapproved, and Sai would usually turn up early, taking it upon himself to lecture them instead. It had all been quite comical to Kakashi.

But on this particular morning, the whole team were weirded out beyond repair when Kakashi was sitting in a tree branch waiting for them in the clearing, tossing his mission scroll absently as he thought back to the past, Ritsuka's perfectness plaguing him. Yamato was most deeply disturbed when Kakashi had only just realised they had arrived when they were so close to the tree, which was not like him at all.

"Kakashi! You're early! Are you sick?" Naruto enthusiastically joked, his big smile warming him slightly. Kakashi faked a dramatic cough and jumped down from the tree. He pushed Sakura off of him when she tried to feel for a temperature, relaying the mission to his team as a distraction. He prided himself in his smoothness.

After they readied themselves, Kakashi walked on through the forest, leading away from Konohagakure with his team, Yamato walking closely beside him and Naruto, Sakura and Sai ahead, all squabbling as usual. He sighed as he stared up into the sky, feeling particularly depressed today. Yesterday had been the anniversary of Ritsuka's disappearance, the day he lost the one he loved and their child. It had really knocked him out of sorts today, so much so that others were noticing. Tears threatened to come, though his highly trained self prevented it. He found himself once again thanking his mask for its existence.

"Kakashi? I don't want to seem out of place here, but you seem rather distracted today. Is everything alright?" Yamato never failed to pick up on the smallest of details, a useful trait in the man, yet an annoying one.

"Ahahah... I'm fine, I'm fine!" Kakashi quickly replied, though perhaps a little too quickly. Yamato remained unconvinced, but knew that perusing the matter was pointless. Kakashi was famous for being mysterious, never the one to share his personal thoughts with anyone.

"If you say so." But that didn't mean Yamato was going to let Kakashi think he had pulled the wool over his eyes though. Nuh uh!

The team continued to dash through the trees, enjoying the breeze they made on this particularly hot day. They had a couple of weeks travelling to get to their destination; it was practically at the other side of the world. Naruto had of course jumped into action happily, and Sakura moaned about the distance some what, but the team seemed to be making good progress.

Light turned to darkness as day turned to night, and the team found a spot to set up camp. The night was thankfully a lot cooler. Team seven sat and talked for a while, exchanging pleasantries and gossiping, well Sakura was gossiping to the group at any rate.

Kakashi had however retreated to the forest surrounding them claiming to be setting up the usual traps before heading off with the group to bed. He trudged through the dead leaves of the forest floor, kicking at sticks and stones as they crossed his path. The moonlight filtered through the canopy above, creating strange but intricate decorations on the ground and tree trunks. He appreciated nature's beauty as he tried to avoid his thoughts, following a squirrel with his eyes as it jumped and weaved through the branches.

Things like this grew hard to do, the thought of Ritsuka loving this scene tugging at Kakashi's subconscious. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get her out of his head. He had been so love sick for so long that he wasn't sure if it had gotten better or worse since she vanished. He blamed himself of course, having thought he should have done her mission for her. Maybe he should have put his foot down harder on the issue when she fell pregnant, or even searched further into the world once she was gone. Would he have been able to catch her and rescue her if he had gone in search for her the day she didn't return?

He felt his eyes sting in an all too familiar way as he continued to battle with himself, his guilt getting the better of him. He had been forced to see some councillors in his time, the Hokage fearing that Kakashi was becoming unstable. But really he just wanted to be alone. He was sort of glad she was gone, no longer worrying about what might happen since it had already happened. It sounded mean, but he could rest knowing he will never lose anyone again, because he didn't have anyone. The last to go had been Jiraiya.

Kakashi pushed the thought that he had grown close to his team far into the depths of his mind, deciding that it just wasn't on the same level. Was it?

He couldn't. Couldn't handle the torment, the constant torturing memories.

Kakashi shook his head as he began to set the traps. He needed a clear mind to deal with this mission. Needed to forget the past and move on. He had to! It was time to forget. But god he didn't want to…

Kakashi returned to camp a few minutes later, the area secure. The team headed to bed in the make shift house Yamato had constructed with his incredibly useful wood skills.

The rest of the journey had followed on the same, running, jumping, eating and sleeping. It took them a week and five days to reach their destination.

The town they had arrived in was one without Shinobi, hence why they had been requested as a group of the finest shinobi from Konoha to come and aid them. Something had been wreaking havoc in the southern areas of the nameless countries, and villages were being evacuated for safety measures. Something huge was going down, but no one seemed to know what. Kakashi's team were not the only ones picked for this mission. A couple of the others were making their way down later in the week. Gai's team would be arriving tomorrow at night, or that was the aim anyway. He may well already be here with a very tired team crawling behind him.

The team set off to the head of the country, unsure of the challenges ahead.

…………………………………

Rain fell on the ground as lightning streaked the sky dangerously. The air of the night was humid, danger filling the atmosphere. Mud squelched and splashed loudly as a girl, carrying a young boy on her back, ran through the streets of a deserted town. Her breath was coming in heavy pants as the last of her energy was leaving her. Behind her were three great, black, creatures racing after her, their arms outstretched and ready to grab her at any chance. She felt her legs begin to wobble and give way ever so slightly now and then, causing panic and tears to well up in her eyes. Her grip on the child tightened as she picked up her pace the best she could, noting her breath becoming even heavier. The boy on her back gripped tighter onto her shoulders, clamping his eyes shut as she ran for their lives.

The black creatures began to shout their annoyance at the girl, catching the attention of others close by. Her heart sank as she heard more footsteps splashing behind her, indicating more on their pursuit. Her hope was not dashed, however, as she spotted a fast running river nearby. She had heard that these beasts couldn't swim and she was desperate enough to be willing to test the theory out. The sun would be out soon, and this would definitely buy her time.

And without much more thought on the matter, she made her last dash for the river, her grip tightening even more onto the boy, if it were possible.

"Hold on." she whispered as she jumped as far into the river as she could. The current swept her head under surprisingly violently. She struggled to gain control of herself again, but managed in all the panic and rushing waters to grab onto something sturdy on the other side. Her first move was to bring the boy's head out of the water, which proved to be rather difficult, but she managed it. She felt him grab onto whatever she was holding, and pull himself out of the water. She gasped desperately for some more air before having her head forcefully tugged under as her grip on the object slipped.

The sounds of rushing water and the muffled panicked shouts of the boy filled her ears as she threw her hands out to grab something else. Her back was suddenly thrown against something hard, which had stopped her from being washed away, though it had winded her badly. She was desperately trying to catch a breath as well as the shore as she felt her lungs fill with water. Amidst all her efforts to breathe she managed to grab the edge of the bank, and pull herself halfway to safety. She was now succeeding in the breathing department, and cold hands pulled her to safety. Her mind raced as her heart slowed itself, adrenaline pumping through her and making her shiver.

"Mother! Mother!! Wake up!! Are you okay?!! MOTHER!!" the boy's shouts broke the girl's semi conscious state, bringing her more towards awake. God she would give anything to sleep, the bags under her eyes an indication of her tired body. Her vision blurred as she tried to take her surroundings in, her brains unscrambling slowly.

"Kyoya? I'm fine. Everything is alright now..." a wave of coughs came careering through her body without warning, sending the poor boy into another panicked craze. The girl leaned over on her side, coughing up the water that had managed to find its way down her throat. "I'm *cough cough cough* fine! I just *cough cough cough* need some time to *cough* recuperate." the boy nodded knowingly and helped his mother up. He helped her as much as he could to walk, but his height, or lack of in this case, proved to be quite a large disadvantage. But he managed to pretty much drag her to a nearby tree, resting her back against it. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she thanked her son for rescuing her.

"They're gone. The rumours must be true about them not being able to swim. But even so! That was so dangerous and ridiculous! You could have died!" the boy lectured his mother, shivering slightly against the wind. Being wet didn't help their situation at all. She laughed softly as he continued his rant about how she was so careless and stupid at times that he couldn't understand how they had even made it this far.

"Kyoya jeez! Give me a break. It's not like I was trying to kill us. It was an opportunity that I seized is all. We were heading that direction anyway... kind of..." her son stared hard at her, a look of outright annoyance plastered on his face. She sighed again and rolled her eyes "You're welcome, for me saving your life, by the way." she laughed again as her son got all flustered and apologetic.

"I just don't want you getting yourself killed with one of your stupid stunts is all..." His mother looked at him caringly, proud of her little boy who was growing up so fast.

"It worked didn't it?" she then winked and giggled mischievously as her son slapped his own forehead in agitation.

"You're impossible..."

They argued a little more as the girl got her strength back, fully aware that they were not safe for long.

"Right, I think we will need to make a move soon. I can't imagine it has taken those creatures long to find the bridge, and I'm sure they are looking for us as we speak." her son nodded briskly, glad to hear that her sensibilities were back. "So I was thinking we should probably head to the nearest village, get food and supplies, and then head off to warn other towns and villages 'til we get to the capital. How does that sound?" her son nodded again. "Good! Shall we?" she pointed off into the forest, indicating for Kyoya to go first. That way she could watch him and their surroundings.

The two headed off, running at a steady pace through the forest.

Herro everyone! and welcome to the second part of our adventure! I hope you are all full of questions that i can answer over what will seem like a frustratingly long time XD

I kid, but i do hope your still interested in whats going on. But the wait is over, and now we can begind our new journey!

so i hope we all have fun!

Peace!