"And you didn't think to mention this sooner?" Kakashi asked, sounding astoundingly annoyed.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I meant to get around to it."

"This needs to be reported immediately," Kakashi said. "You need to come with me to the Hokage's office."

"Don't tell me what to do," I glared at him. "I'm busy."

"Cashile-"

"Yes, I know how important this is. The safety of the village and blah blah blah. But there's also literally nothing she can do. She's overbooked, overworked, and understaffed. And she also dismissed me for treatment before I could inform her of what I found out," I replied irritably. "But logical reasoning isn't good enough for you. So go tell Tsunade. I've got shit to take care of," I snapped, cutting him off.

Kakashi assessed me in a terse manner for a moment, before conceding. "Fine. You'll have to explain to Lady Tsunade in greater detail before we leave for the mission tomorrow."

"That I can do."

***

I had talked to my genin's individual instructors—though Shikamaru had taken more cajoling than I thought he would—prepared for the mission tomorrow, and eaten dinner.

There was one thing left to do.

When I arrived at Kento's house, I realized that he wasn't home. All the lights were out except for one in the living room, where his father was no doubt watching T.V. and having a beer. His mother didn't appear to be home—she was overworked at her job as a waitress and probably had a night shift.

Kento, though, should have been home and asleep; it was quite late. But his darkened room was noticeably empty.

That's when some clues that had been floating around my notice all suddenly came together. With a scowl I turned on my heel and left.

I had to find my stupid little wayward student.

***

I finally found Kento in the kitchen of a restaurant, washing dishes. For a moment, I was struck by how small he was, needing to stand on a stool to reach the sink.

I walked through the back door, leaned against the wall behind Kento, and loudly cleared my throat.

The dish Kento had been holding slipped from his hand in surprise, and I just barely caught it before it smashed into the ground. Mouth closed in a thin line, I handed the plate back to him before stepping away.

He took it hesitantly, glanced at me, then resumed washing the dishes. I remained silent, and finally he asked, "What are you doing here?"

I kept quiet, folding my arms as I watched him wash the dishes. He continuously glanced back at me and finally felt the need to fill the silence, as I knew he would.

"Look, sensei," he began, plunging his hands into the scalding water to hide their shaking, "It's really no big deal. It's just another job. The hours don't even interfere with training or missions! 9 pm to 5 am!"

With a sudden start I realized that I quite often made training start at 5 am in order to have the later hours of the day to myself and my own training. All those time Kento had been late and I had lectured or punished him... how hadn't I put the pieces together sooner? I even knew about his terminally ill sister, his overworked mother. I had all the pieces and yet I'd failed to see the picture.

The silence between us was filled only by the clinking of dishes as Kento continued washing. Then, "It's just—" Kento's voice broke, and he took a long moment to regain control of his emotions. "My sister is sick and the hospital bills are so expensive and my mom is already overworked and genin wages just aren't cutting it and my dad—" Kento broke off here again, and I pretended that his shaking shoulders were due to his motions of scrubbing a dish, despite the fact that all clinking had stopped.

Kento turned to look at me, and there were no tears in his eyes when he did. There was exhaustion and hidden shame but so much pride and strength as well and in the face of all that I didn't quite know what to do with myself.

The clinking of dishes sounded like the screams of the ones I'd tortured as I turned and left, feeling as though I had somehow monumentally failed.

***

"Listen up, team," Kakashi began. We stood right outside the village gates, drenched from the pouring rain. "We'll be traveling individually in a general area in order to cover more ground. I'll assign two of my nin dogs to each of you to assist in tracking and for safety purposes. Do not, I repeat," he gave Naruto a pointed look. "Do not engage the enemy. Report back immediately if you spot either Sasuke or Itachi." He turned his strained gaze to me. "Understood?"

There was a collectible group nod of confirmation.

"Naruto, you'll be paired with Hinata and Yamato. Cashile--"

If looks could kill, Kakashi would be dead. "No. I said no."

"Cashile, you're a target too. You need back up just in case anything were to go wrong."

"Anyone who's paired with me will just drag me down," I argued. "And we don't have the manpower to afford two ninja looking in the same area."

He was stubborn.

I turned to Tsunade. "You know how I work Tsunade. I am much more efficient as an individual than a team member. It's my specialty," I continued my argument. "I haven't really worked with anyone in over three years. Not to mention that I made it very clear this morning that the Rising Phoenix would not pursue me any time soon. And if they do, I'll be within a couple miles radius of all these fantastic ninja right here."

Tsunade kept a straight face, but I could see conflict in her eyes as she glanced between Kakashi and me. Finally, she let a sigh.

"Cashile will not be paired with anyone." She finally declared.

I frowned, sensing a looming "but".

"However, Kakashi will create a shadow clone to accompany Cashile, who will report back immediately in case of emergency."

"Tsunade—" I started protesting at the same time as Kakashi.

"Am I clear?" Her voice spoke volumes of how clear she was.

"Fine." I turned away sullenly, arms crossed. I could ditch a clone without a problem, need be.

"Understood," Kakashi replied. He looked about as happy as I did. The sign of a true negotiator: no one ends up happy. Kakashi turned to the rest of the group. "Ready?"

He was met with a definitive silence -- excluding that of the pouring rain.

"Alright. I order the pursuit and capture of Itachi Uchiha. Be smart and stay safe!" Tsunade declared with an authoritative voice.

On her orders, we began running-- I begin running in a different direction. The direction of Sasuke's likely location-- information I had gathered during my own mission and infiltration. Our mission as a collective unit was to find Itachi, to capture Sasuke, but with my own information, I had better odds of finding Sasuke himself. So it was decided my mission would be to go straight for the target.

I had my own suspicions about Itachi, however. If I had to predict an outcome, I would say that the group would be able to locate Itachi, but his whereabouts would remain unknown and he would remain  uncaptured.

I ran, trying not to be distracted with thoughts of the genin of left behind.

Kento. How hadn't I seen it? He wasn't like me; he was just a child, who couldn't handle stress or sleep deprivation or the demands of being a ninja on top of it all. He had been ranked number one in the classroom in intelligence—and wasn't far behind in other categories. And while it was true that classroom success and classroom intelligence didn't always translate into the field, I still should've noticed.

I should've done something.

But what could I do? I couldn't just go to Tsunade and insist on a raise for my genin. And even if I could, would Kento even accept it? He was prideful, I knew that. He wouldn't want my pity or my help—no matter how much he needed it. I couldn't force him to quit his job for his own good; that should have been the responsibility of his parents. And I couldn't solve the problem at its root: his sister was terminally ill, and Konoha didn't cover the medical expenses of its citizens, only its ninja. And that coverage didn't even extend to the ninja's family.

With a sudden flash of brilliance, an idea came to me. I smirked. It might  not work, the plan might be seen right through, but I was fairly certain it would work.

Who could deny a dying girl her final wish of being a Konoha ninja, after all?

Sometimes I was astounded with the simplicity of my own brilliance.

"Stop!" Kakashi ordered, landing on a roof.

We gathered around in order to receive our partners for the mission. When Kakashi glanced towards me I sneered, and with a sigh he made the signs for a shadow clone.

"We'll all spread out from this point," Kakashi ordered. "Use the dogs if you find anything or get into trouble. If you find a trace of Sasuke, do not engage. Understand?" We all nodded. "Good luck."

We all sprang from the roof, Kakashi clone trailing close behind me. It was tempting to just kill the clone right off the bat, but Kakashi would realize immediately if I took such actions and probably use it as an excuse to babysit me himself.

So I continued running in my designated direction, clone trailing slightly behind. As I ran, the air became stiffer, denser. Heavier. Almost like two powerful aura's about to collide-- make that three. I followed this path. I smirked. I could trust Sasuke to be in the middle of whatever this was.

As I zeroed in on the two chakra signatures I was able to distinguish them and identify the persons they belonged to. The third one, however, presented a mystery. I pushed it to the back of my mind to deal with the problem at hand. I could deal with that later.

One of the two belonged to Sasuke. It had been a while since we had been around each other, but the familiar Uchiha power oozed from his body, and who the hell else would it be?

The other belonged to him. The Akatsuki member who killed Gaara. Who stepped on his dead body. The one who prattled on about his form of "art". The one who could never appreciate my form of art.

Deidara. It seemed like I would finally have a chance to kill him, without interference from Konoha and its morals. Its warmth.

Sometimes, a part of me missed being the Claw. Working alone. Not having to care. Not having to answer to anyone. Life was... simpler, as the Claw, if not better.

Then I remembered the rising Phoenix and what they did to me.

What that woman did to me.

"Kakashi," I spoke. No doubt the clone had sensed the power those two were emitting. No doubt he had sensed the initial clash of power. Their battle had just begun.

And I needed to appear as cooperative with the clone as possible. There was an 83 % chance, by my calculations based on several different factors, that the clone would be wiped out as a casualty from the battle. Clones were far less durable than the originals. And by the time the clone died and relayed its information back to Kakashi, it would be far too late.

It would be far too late to interfere with my kill. Because I would be killing Deirdara today. He escape last time, and that was unacceptable. What would he tell us that we didn't already know if I managed to capture him? He deserved to die. He killed Gaara. He sat on and kicked and disrespected Gaara's body and--

--and that shouldn't matter. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, disregarding the anger and emotion that had filled me. My thought process had just been far too similar to Naruto's for my comfort. It wasn't logical to be... angry. Gaara was alive and well. And what did Gaara mean to me anyway?

He was a good ally to have. The highest in the chain of command in the Sand, and on my side. And not a complete idiot.

Deidara, on the other hand, did present a problem. Not only for this mission, but for all future missions as well. Therefore, he needed to be taken out of the equation, and if Sasuke couldn't do that, then I would.

"I sense it. We need to get the others," Kakashi's clone responded. I blinked, having forgotten during my thought process that I had even spoken to the clone.

"I agree," I lied after a moment. "First we should do recon, before you disappear to let Kakashi know the situation," I added carefully. If the clone disappeared now, Kakashi would be here far too soon.

Kakashi's clone hesitated before complying. "Alright. Not too far in, though. The others need to get here as fast as possible. Remember the mission."

Jeez, even his clone lectured. I rolled my eyes for show, but when I turned away, all emotion wiped from my face.

I would show Deidara some real art.

Maybe he would even have a moment to recognize it as true art.

Before I killed him.

_____________________________________________________________________________

I swear we're sorry lol

we don't do this to you for fun i promise its just as much torture to us

WE HAVE BEEN BUSY

holy crapppp  I'm going to college!!! Move in date is aug 16 and classes start aug 21 :O THATS SO SOOON

In other news I was selected to go referee at  nationals! so thats part of the reason why I havent been able to write. It was a blast but very hot and sexism is still very much a thing but ANYHOW.

any advice for a soon to be college freshman? no? You're all younnger than me? okayyyyy.

PLEASE LEAVE LONG AND BEAutiful comments they mean the world to us!!!!! we will truly do our best to update soon and you shouldn't have quite so long a wait again lol

sorry thanks COMMMMMEEEENNNT!

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Like she said, we're dying. Lmao.

I JUST got out of summer classes (which I aceeeed) and moving into my apartment Aug 26th, so excited!!!

I also got two jobs and I'm going to school to become a volunteer EMT w the fire department along w college to become a nurse / or premed (it's undecided yet)

That's my pathetic excuse for not being able to write sorrryyyy guys.

Pls still luv us.

&comment. Pls.

-Supermassiveblckhole

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