Kakashi carried Meiko all the way back to where they were heading, in complete silence. No one spoke, the silence was tense. The silence was deafening to them, but who could speak after one of their comrades died, and the other would never be a proper ninja again.

"Meiko..." Rin said, breaking the silence. Meiko turned her head towards Rin, her eyes barely open from the exhaustion and the new pain that was forming up her leg. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked.

Meiko shrugged slightly, laying her head back against Kakashi's shoulder. "My legs starting to hurt." Meiko said quietly, and Rin sighed heavily, shaking her head slightly. She felt so bad that they had to take Meiko's leg, but it was the only way she could survive. If she didn't, she could have died just like Obito, and that was something Rin couldn't have taken. She didn't think Kakashi could have taken it either.

When Minato finally came into sight, he smiled at his students for only a brief moment, noticing fairly quickly that Obito was gone and that Meiko was now passed out on Kakashi's shoulder.

"What happened? Where's Obito?" Minato asked, and Kakashi closed his eyes, squeezing them shut.

"He's dead." Kakashi said blankly. "I was strong enough to save him. Rin and Meiko were taken hostage, and Obito went after her. I didn't at first. But I followed him soon after. We were standing outside of the base and we were attacked by a Rock Shinobi would caused me to lose my left eye. Obito killed him, and his sharigan was activated. We went into the cave to rescue Rin and Meiko, and the ninja we had taken down for a moment awoken and caused the rocks at the top of the base to fall. Obito saved Rin and I's lives, while Meiko attempted to save Obito from the bolder that fell. Obito's entire right side was crushed under the rock, and Meiko's right leg got caught. I wasn't strong enough to get the bolder off of Obito, but he told me it was okay. He gave me his sharigan to replace the eye I had lost. Meiko was stuck under the bolder as I mentioned, and the only way to save her was to cut off her leg. I'm sorry sensei, I failed." Kakashi said, his voice cracking every once in a while. Minato sighed heavily before he glanced at Meiko's leg, noticing the stump that was now there, right below her knee cap. A small amount of blood was still dripping from the wound, and Meiko was sound asleep on Kakashi's back.

"Let's go finish our mission and head home, Meiko's wound will need to be check out better back in Konoha." The yellow flash said sadly, and the two students he had left nodded their heads and began to run towards the bridge.

Once they arrived at the bridge, Kakashi placed Meiko down beside a tree, sitting her straight up, her back resting against the trunk. Her legs were straight out in front of her, and Rin quickly wrapped a bandage around the stump to keep anymore damage from coming to the wound.

Minato, Kakashi, and Rin got to work destroying the bridge, while Meiko slept against the tree. Of course, she woke up when the loud explosion and the crumbling pieces of the bridge fell, she awoke with a jump. By now the pain in her leg was a lot worse, and she was finally feeling the effects of getting her leg cut off. And it hurt, a lot.

Meiko's brown eyes gazed down at her stump slightly, and tears formed in her eyes. Her father would be so ashamed of her, she would never be a proper ninja again. Hell, she was ashamed of herself. Ashamed of the fact that even at her speed, she was unable to push Obito out of the way fast enough. It should have been her under that bolder, not Obito. Obito should be here with his team, celebrating that they succeed in blowing it up, jumping up and down and bragging to Minato that he finally unlocked his Sharigan and that he could surpass Kakashi now. Kakashi should be making a smart ass remark to Obito, causing the Uchiha to steam in madness and go on about how he could now surpass Kakashi because of his Sharigan. But that was the case. There were no words spoken, just the empty stares of a broken team.

A small whimper escaped the Sarutobi's mouth as the pain shot up he leg, causing her to grab at the ground below her, her fragile fingers gripping the grass. "Fuck.." She whispered quietly as tears welled up in her eyes. "This hurts.."

Kakashi glanced up at Meiko from where he stood, on what used to be a support beam to hold up the bridge, and he sighed heavily. He could tell that by now the pain was consuming her body, and he felt bad for her. He felt as if this whole situation was his fault, and he wasn't able to forgive himself. If only he had listened to Obito when he said that Meiko and Rin's safety came before the mission, Obito would be alive and Meiko wouldn't be in so much pain and missing her leg.

Minato sighed heavily as he glanced down at Kakashi, then at Rin, then at Meiko. "Let's go home guys." Minato said, and Kakashi nodded. He leaped up the ledge he had left Meiko on, and he picked her up bridal style. She rested her head against his arm, not bothering to fight him. She hated having help from anyone, but right now she didn't mind. Not that she could walk herself right now, she doesn't have a right leg or crutches to help herself move around.

"I'm sorry..." Kakashi mumbled quietly to her as Minato, Rin and himself began to walk back towards the lead village. Meiko didn't say anything to Kakashi, not out of rudeness, but out of the fact she was unaware as to why he was apologizing to her. She didn't think any of this was his fault, but she didn't have the energy to argue with him.

"Sensei.." Meiko mumbled out, and Minato turned his head towards Meiko slightly, the sadness in his eyes obvious.

"Yes, Meiko?" He asked. She coughed slightly and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I'm never going to be a ninja again, am I..?" She asked quietly, and everyone tensed slightly. They all knew the answer to this, but Meiko just wanted to confirm her suspicion.

Minato sighed heavily before he slowly shook his head. "I don't know Meiko. If you continue being a ninja, it's going to be extra hard. You'll never be a ninja of the full potential you had." He said honestly, and Meiko just nodded as the group fell back into an uncomfortable silence, a silence that lasted all the back to Konoha.

They arrived at the main gates of Konoha, and Izumo and Kotetsu smiled when they saw Minato walk back through the gates, meaning Meiko was home. But the smile was soon wiped from their faces as they saw their best friend, their teammate, asleep in Kakashi arm, covered in blood, bruises, and with only one leg.

"What the fuck happened?!" Kotetsu screamed as he ran around from behind the front desk, running towards Meiko. Izumo was hot on his heals, and both arrived beside of Kakashi would had stopped so the best friends could see her.

"She was taken Hostage, and when we got to her, we were attempting to leave the place. A Rock Nin used a jutsu that caused all of the rocks around us to fall." Rin began to explain. "When Obito saved Kakashi and I, Meiko attempted to save Obito. The bolder that fell from the ceiling crushed Obito... and caught her right leg under it. I had to cut it off to save her, or else she would have died. I'm so sorry.." Rin said. Izumo took a deep breath and nodded his head slightly.

"We can't leave our post, so please get her to the hospital. And someone notify her father and brother. They need to know." Izumo said. Kakashi and Rin nodded slightly. Kakashi leaped off towards the hospital, and Rin took off to find Asuma. Minato sighed heavily before heading towards the Hokages office. Izumo and Kotetsu glanced at each other for a moment, a sigh escaping both of their lips before they went back to their station.

Rin was searching all of Konoha for Asuma, finally finding him after about twenty minutes, training with his team. He was sparring with Gai when Rin walked up, and he stopped and smiled at her.

"Oh hey Rin, you're back! Does that mean my sister is back?" He asked, and Rin was silent for a moment, and that terrified Asuma. "Rin, is Meiko okay?" He asked.

Rin shook her head slightly, tears falling down her face as she looked at her friend. "She'll probably never be a ninja again." She said sadly, and Asuma's eyes widened as he ran towards Rin.

"What do you mean?!" He shouted, and Rin shook her head slightly.

"Just come with me. I can't take telling the story again, so once we get everyone in a room together, we'll tell you." She whispered quietly, and Asuma took off running back towards the hospital. Kurenai and Gai were close behind him, followed by Rin.

Minato arrived at the Hokages office without his mission report, and this caused the third to tilt his head slightly. Normally Minato filled out a mission report before he arrived at his office, not after.

"Minato, is everything okay?" The Hokage asked, and Minato shook his head slightly.

"Obito is dead, and your daughter is severely injured. We need to go the hospital." Minato said, and The Third shot up from his seat, and with Minato by his side they made their way to the hospital as quick as they could.

Asuma and his team arrived at the hospital at the same time that Minato and the third arrived. Asuma looked at his dad with scared eyes and walked over to him, and they walked in first.

Kakashi was sitting beside of Meiko, his hand placed gently on hers as the medical ninja re wrapped the stump after she cleaned in and healed it a little bit more. A few moments later, the nurse left and in came her family and friends. When Asuma laid his eyes on his sister, his breathing caught in his throat. Her stump was elevated up slightly by a sling that hung from the ceiling, it was wrapped carefully and no blood was soaking through this bandage. Asuma ran over to his sisters side that Kakashi was not on, slowly followed by their father. A few tears fell down Asuma and Hiruzen's face, a sob choking up in Asuma's throat.

"Oh my god, Meiko..." Asuma whispered as he held his sisters free hand, her eyes slowly fluttering open. She glanced over at her family and gave them a sad smile.

"Oh, hey guys." She whispered very quietly.

"Meiko, are you okay?" Asuma asked as soon as his sister spoke, and all the girl could do was nod her head. She wasn't okay, but she did not want them to worry about her.

Hiruzen stared at his daughter slightly, placing his hand on her forehead, brushing a few pieces of her hair out of her face. Gai and Kurenai stared at the stump where her leg used to be, and they felt bad for her.

"What the fuck happened?" Asuma said, not minding that his dad heard him cuss, he was so mad and upset right now at his sisters state, that he didn't care about anything but her.

Kakashi and everyone listened at Minato told the story that his students had told him, and by the end of it everyone had tears running down their faces except for Kakashi. No, Kakashi was staring at Meiko, staring at every bump and bruise, and her stump, and every time he found something wrong he felt even worse.

'I promise.' Kakashi thought to himself. 'I will always protect you, Meiko.'

//

LALALALALALALA NEXT CHAPPY.
dedicated to both Nikole15402 and MidnightRavencrow , unfortunately I can dedicate chapters on my phone, but this update was for you guys ^.^

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