Authors Note: I am working on my other stories, but RL is being a bitch to say the least. Demonkin has a chapter in the works, as does uh, whastistface, the Hidan one.

We don't get to see each other much anymore.

It wasn't like before, when I was a chuunin, happily teaching kids, and Kakashi didn't have to feign his laziness. Now, both ANBU, fighting for our lives, things are so different. The only children I see are blood spattered, guts spilling. Kakashi is constantly on edge, his eye twitching. Both of us desperate to get to Kyuubi. It hurts. No longer will I ever see a sunshine-smile. No longer will that golden-haired boy beg me for Ramen. For he is no longer Naruto. Whatever shell he was before, when Sasuke left, snapped when…well, I cannot think of that. It pains me.

I touch my face, unsurprised to feel wetness. Although I have shut those memories away, my body longs to remember happier times. Uncaring about the wetness, I stand up, pulling my mask over my face. Kakashi always used to tease me about being a dolphin. I know now why – I was being promoted to ANBU. My codename? Take a guess.

He's a wolf. An odd sight, to see a wolf and a dolphin working together, usually so far apart in the world of nature. But nature has no place anymore. The world is in tatters. Kyuubi rages in the form of a golden-haired boy. Sasuke blackens the world with his childishly fuelled darkness. It rains where once was sand. Forest lie black. The apocalypse is here. Most civilians are dead. What is left of them hide out in caves, mountains, scrabbling for food and trying to survive. They cannot 'live' – only survive. Kakashi and I survive. We fight each minion of darkness. We save what children we can. But mostly, our time is spent chasing. Chasing the monster that ravages our world in the form of the boy I thought of as my son.

Why didn't I tell him that when he was alive? Kakashi wishes he had said things too. We both regret so much. But regret, I remind myself, solves nothing. No, what will solve this is – I pause. Nothing will solve this. Why must we fight, if to no end? We have no loved ones to save. All gone. We have no village to protect. All gone.

"The only thing we have is each other."

Kakashi stumbles in,those words on his lips, and it is clear on his face he has been thinking the same thing. I slide my mask up – I was just about to go search for him, but here he is. Our eyes meet, and we take in the others appearance. Blood-stained clothes. Tear-stained faces, tracks where they have been the only bit not marred by dirt or blood. And seeing that, I remember what I am fighting for. I'm fighting for him.

I'm fighting so we can live together again .Fighting so we can have somewhere to live that isn't a makeshift shelter. Fighting so I can cook his favourite meals. Fighting so I can see his smile.

Fighting for him.