• Kakashi smirked as he headed toward the main gate leading out of the village for his newest mission. His partner, Mitarashi Anko, was already there, checking her watch and tapping her foot impatiently.
    "Baka, you're late." Anko grumbled, glaring at him.
    "I'm sorry. I was helping an old women with her groceries." He said, scratching the back of his head and smiling.
    Anko rolled her eyes and grumbled something under her breath. He laughed, wondering if Obito was amused by his comment, where ever he was.
    "Well, for once, get your head out of your butt and focus on the mission." She growled, almost menecingly.
    Kakashi wondered how Anko could get so worked up over a simple scouting mission. He was scared to know how she'd react to something more serious.
    "So... what's the purpose of this mission again?" She asked, not realizing how badly she contradicted herself right then.
    Kakashi laughed as he took Anko's hand in his and explained that they were searching for an alleged spy team of rouge ninja who had been reported by one of the guards along Konoha's protective wall. A slight shift in the trees around them made Anko jump.
    "Shut up!!!! Did you hear that?" She whispered loudly.
    Kakashi stood up and looked around.
    "Keep quiet...something's not right here..." Kakashi muttered.
    Something was deffinately wrong. He could feel the tension in the air.
    "GET DOWN!!!!!!!!" Kakashi shouted as a rain of senbon showered down on the two of them.
    They jumped out of the way barely avoiding the deadly downpour. Above them, three dark figures emerged from the trees.
    Kakashi reached for his headband in attempt to reveal his Sharingan, drawing the attention of the rouges.
    "Anko! Take the kunoichi! I'll handle the two shinobi." He shouted back at her as his headband was knocked off.
    "You're mine." Anko growled, blocking the kunoichi in her tracks.
    Kakashi turned around and focused on his attackers. Both were armed with katanas, ready to attack. Kakashi pulled a couple of kunai from his pouch and blocked every blow they dealt him. It was times like this that he was glad for his ANBU training.
    The two were relentlessly attacking, giving him only a split second to notice a fourth blur emerge from the bushes. There was a cry of pain from the rouge kunoichi fighting behind him. He smirked as he found a blind spot in the two shinobi's defenses and dealt the final blow, killing both of them with a single attack.
    After a few moments of silence, Kakashi turned around to check on Anko, horrified at the scene he beheld.
    Anko had killed the kunoichi, but had been hurt herself. She was on her knees and holding her side, her hand covered in blood. A trail of blood leading away from her told Kakashi that the fourth ninja had gotten away.
    He ran to her as blood began to dribble out of the sides of her mouth. It was worse than he thought.
    "Anko!!!! No!!!" He shouted, hoping that it looked worse than it was.
    He kneeled down and grabbed her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him. She looked up for a moment, her expression attempting to hide the pain she was in as she fell into Kakashi's arms.
    He wrapped one arm around the back of her neck and laid her over his lap, trying to hold back tears as she tried to speak.
    "I-I tried...to...block it..." She said, forcing herself to speak. "I...got one...though..."
    She was smiling as best as she could, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She reached up and touched the side of Kakashi's face with the hand she had been using to try to stop the bleeding on her side.
    "I'm...not...gonna make...it, Kakashi..." She gasped out as he took her hand.
    The tears that had been forming in her eyes spilled over as he placed their hands back on her stomach, avoiding the wound as best he could.
    "I-I never...thought...a...kunai would...take me out..." She said, trying to lighten the mood.
    The blood streams on the sides of her mouth grew thicker. She only had a little time left before she would pass on. It was getting harder for Kakashi to hold back the tears as her smile began to fade.
    "I'm...sorry...I wasn't........." She began to apologize. But she never finished.
    Her friendly brown eyes began to shut as Kakashi's tears began to form dark spots on his mask.
    "Don't leave me..." He whispered as her eyes shut for the last time, never to open again.
    He placed his forehead against hers and gave her a final good-bye kiss, his pain only intensified as her lips grew cold.
    He pulled her body into his arms and held her as close as he could.
    "Good-bye...Anko..." He whispered into her ear as his final farewell to the woman he loved.