I reappeared in the Spiders' territory, and I was up and spouting directions before the smoke even cleared.

"I need you to send me to the Hokage's office!" I snapped in an urgent manner.

"Get there yourself," one spider grumbled. I glared, but before I could insult the creature another spider cut me off.

"As you wish," a deeper, more authoritative voice spoke.

I disappeared immediately from the spiders' cave and coughed as the smoke cleared, mangled arm limp at my side. Glancing around, I smirked internally: seemed like I'd inadvertently crashed on a genin team's mission report. A fairly new genin team at that, judging by the way one of the kids fainted. Even the jonin sensei paled, and I realized that I was dripping blood from my arm onto the floor of Tsunade's office.

"Sorry 'bout the blood," I offered.

Even Tsunade looked shocked but my words seemed to snap her out of it. Uttering a curse under her breath, Tsunade ordered the genin team to leave. "What happened?" She snapped.

"Well, from what I gathered, Sasuke has killed Orochimaru--though I wouldn't be surprised if he came back," I warned. "You know how he is: plans and back up plans. Then I received evidence that Sasuke was gathering a team. I would bet on him gathering three to four members for this team. Probably three others; that's the number that he would be used to commanding--me, Sakura, and Naruto. I can give you the most likely individuals to be a part of his team if you give me a little time. I have about thirty people in mind right now. I can narrow it down more."

"But what happened?" Tsunade repeated, glancing to my arm. "In fact, come here now."

I walked over, stretching my arm out at her prompting. "Captured by The Rising Phoenix. You should send someone out to recover the bodies of the ANBU, by the way."

Her hand squeezed slightly on my wound and I hissed in pain, glaring at her apologetic look. "Captured by the Rising Phoenix? How long has this wound been exposed?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Not long. Maybe ten minutes, tops?"

She nodded, further examining the wound. "This is deep," she mumbled. "And fairly messy. Shizune!"

Her assistant came in, and after some discussion they began to heal, and I winced at the feeling. Thankfully, my wrist was only fractured, so they didn't need to snap it back into place.

"You'll need to wear a cast around the bandages," Tsunade said, a warning evident in her voice. "Even after healing, the bone and ligaments will be weak."

I didn't have it in me to argue. A cast would cause optimal healing time and faster recovery, and I had work to do.

"About the mission--"

"We can discuss the details later. Right now you need to go to the hospital and get your wrist casted. You are to resume your regular duties as a sensei and lay low for the time being. Am I understood?" Tsunade asked.

I bit my tongue. I had been hoping to continue my solo mission. I was doing just fine. I did everything right. I had a back up plan and I got out of their alive with intel. And I was being punished for that?

I cleared my throat. "I think it would be best if I continue-"

"You have received your orders," Tsunade declared sternly, daring me to speak up against her orders again.

I straightened immediately at her tone. "Of course." I nodded stiffly and turned on my heel to exit the room.

***

I walked toward Aiden, ignoring the fact that he was working and probably shouldn't be interrupted. He only saw me when I was practically on him and set down whatever it was he was carrying.

I reached out, grabbing his shoulders to turn him to me. "Cashile, what—" he began, but stopped talking when I cupped his head between my hands. I studied his face closely, turning it back and forth before finally staring at his eyes. They weren't empty. They were full of emotion: confusion and surprise and happiness and after several long moments of studying him I let my hands fall away from his face and instead pulled him in for a hug. His hands hovered, confused, for a moment before returning the embrace.

"Would you ever swear in front of your brother?" I mumbled in this shoulder.

"What? No," he denied. "But—why—?"

"Do you want to go get sushi?" I asked, ignoring his confusion

"Cashile, are you okay?" Concern was written all over his face. His eyes widened as he grabbed my arm. "What happened here?"

I glanced down at the bulky cast wrapped around my wrist, replying, "There was a small incident on the mission. But I'm fine--sushi?"

He interlocked his fingers with the fingers of my mangled arm and replied. "Of course, as soon as I get off work. Meet me at the apartment at 8?"

I resisted a shudder. I didn't want to be alone. I glared internally at myself, at my weakness, and shoved it down, somewhere deep, where it couldn't resurface. "Sure, yeah. I need to meet up with my team, anyway. I'll see you then."

"Cashile?" Aiden stopped me before I could turn away. "You're okay, yeah?"

I hesitated, thinking about it, before truthfully answering, "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine."

Aiden watched me for a long moment before nodding. "Alright," he agreed. "Okay."

We parted ways without another word.

***

I found my team sweating under the tutelage of Sakura.

"Hey," I greeted, and she jumped up with a shriek.

"Don't sneak up on me!" she complained. I raised a judgmental eyebrow and she flushed, quickly changing the subject. "You have some good genin here," she complimented. "At first I was angry that Tsunade was saddling me with babysitting duty, but I'm impressed."

I nodded. "Luckily my mission didn't run too long. What did you work on with them?"

She shrugged. "Basic training for Kento and Aisa, though with an emphasis on strengthening for Aisa. I've been focusing on chakra control as well, with all of them, but mostly with Michiko. You already taught them how to walk on water!"

"Yup," I smirked, watching as Aisa and Kento collapsed, clearly exhausted.

"It's not over yet, boys," Sakura yelled, and both jumped up, clearly terrified of the pink haired girl's anger. "You better give me at least ten more minutes!"

"Where's Michiko?" I asked.

"I'm having her do the leaf concentration technique," she replied.

"Seems a little basic for her," I commented.

"Well, she's also doing it while sitting on a fast flowing river," she grinned.

"So that's why you're not at the normal training grounds," I nodded. "How's she doing?"

"Really well," Sakura nodded. "Her chakra control is exquisite. Not to mention her sensitivity. That could really help you on infiltration missions, you know. We actually discovered something."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"She can release chakra, sense how it moves through an area, and see the layout. It's like--"

"Echolocation, almost," I murmured. "Like a bat."

"Exactly." Sakura turned, watching Aisa and Kento as they practiced their exercises. "It's really impressive."

"Hm. I'm sure it needs work," I sighed.

"It's by no means perfected," Sakura agreed. "She can also get a basic sense of a room using the inhabitants chakra, but doing it that way is "fuzzy", she said."

"She should perfect that, first: on covert missions she has to keep her chakra hidden, not go around broadcasting it," I replied.

"Still, it's impressive."

We were silent for several minutes. "Thanks for the help," I offered.

"They're good kids," Sakura smiled. "Keep it up, Cashile."

I nodded, caught off guard by the civil conversation we'd just held. "Back to work, I suppose," I sighed, heading toward my genin.

"Good luck," Sakura laughed. "You'll need it."

***

I knocked on my apartment door, before twisting the knob and letting myself in. Those two really needed to start locking their doors.

Not that it would help much against an attack from a Claw. Or any other ninja with misguided intent. Huh. Maybe they were on to something.

"Aiden?" Aisa called out from his room.

"Guess again," I called out, setting a chocolate cake down on the kitchen counter. After training my team (who complained excessively about Sakura and her methods; they preferred Ibiki's training over Sakura's??), I returned home and baked.

"Cashile!" Aisa appeared in front of me, arms stretched wide.

As per usual, I pressed against his forehead, blocking the hug.

I sighed, "Will you ever change?" I asked exasperated, although my insides did warm a little, for some unknown reason.

A big grin spread across his face. "Nope! How was your mission? Did you get the bad guys? You wouldn't answer our questions during training! Did you--"

"Classified," I stated, cutting him off expertly. "Cake?"

"Shouldn't you be promoting healthy eating habits, sensei?" Aisa asked, but none the less cutting a slice of cake for himself.

I shrugged. "I eat cakes all the time."

He moaned as he chewed the chocolate deliciousness. "This almost makes up for you siccing that pink haired monster on us."

I rolled my eyes. "Where's Aiden? Shouldn't he be back by now?" It was five past eight.

Aisa shrugged. "I don't wait up for him anymore. He comes at all odd hours now days."

I frowned at that. "Alright," I replied. I grabbed a teacup, not my teacup, and started the kettle to boil water.

"Tea?" I asked.

Aisa scrunched his nose in distaste. "No thank you."

I poured the boiling water and dipped a tea bag into the cup, watching the color surface through the water.

In the silence, the knob was easily heard twisting, and the creaking of the door as it pushed open.

"Niichan!" Aisa flung forward and enveloped his brother in his tiny (in comparison to Aiden)
arms. Good to know he didn't discriminate.

"Hey Aisa," Aiden ruffled his brother's hair affectionately. "Cashile and I are going to head out now."

Aisa yawned and stretched his arms above his head. "Okay," he replied. "When will you be back?"

"We'll just be gone a couple hours. Why don't you head to bed?" Aiden suggested. You got dinner, right?"

"Yeah." Aisa nodded without complaint. "G'night Cashile," he said as he walked to his room.

"Don't forget: training field 5  tomorrow at 0600," I replied, smirking as he groaned, leaving the room.

"Ready to go?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah."

***

For some reason, Aiden was acting incredibly... awkward. I watched him from the corner of my eye as I placed my order and he stumbled over his, wondering what had gotten into him. As soon as the waiter left, his gaze dropped to the table, cheeks unnaturally red.

"How's work," I stated more than asked, irritated by his lack of conversation. Was he turning into an idiot on me?

"Fine," he mumbled, drawing his finger through the ring of water left on the table by his glass of water. "How was your mission? How'd you get hurt?"

"The Rising Phoenix," I shrugged, taking a sip of my own water.

Aiden sat bolt upright, seeming to forget his previous awkwardness. "What?!" he exclaimed. "How? Are you okay?"

Rolling my eyes, an amused smile came to my face. "I'm right in front of you Aiden," I mocked lightly. "Obviously I'm okay."

"But your arm--"

"Healed," I cut him off. "The bandages and splint is there just because the bone and surrounding ligaments are still weak. It'll be healed within one or two days or less if I have another healing session."

"Er, right," Aiden agreed, previous awkward air returning.

Shrugging to myself, I took another sip of water. It didn't really matter to me if he was feeling awkward about whatever it was he was feeling awkward about so long as he paid for my dinner like he'd said he would. We sat in silence until said food arrived, and then busied ourselves with the food in lieu of conversation.

A sigh escaped my lips as Kakashi's presence appeared. Aiden gave me an odd look as I snatched up a piece of sushi and stuffed it in my mouth, but I ignored him. If my mouth was full, I wouldn't have to talk to Kakashi.

Kakashi appeared at the open window next to our table, ducking under the propped open shutter. "Hello Cashile," he gave me his famous close eyed smile and I rolled my eyes at him. "Sorry to interrupt..." he glanced between Aiden and me, his eye gaining a twinkle before continuing, "whatever this is. Can we talk, Cashile?"

I gestured for him to continue, still chewing my sushi. Kakashi glanced toward Aiden, a short sigh escaping. "Alone?" he requested.

I swallowed, then immediately took another piece of sushi, dipping it into some soy sauce before stuffing it into my mouth. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at my childishness as if asking, Really?

"Um, I'm going to run to the bathroom, Cashile," Aiden informed me slowly, glancing between Kakashi and I.

"I think that would be best," Kakashi agreed, but Aiden didn't move until I met his gaze at him and gave a nod. Kakashi watched the interaction, waiting for Aiden to travel out of earshot before talking. "Does he need your approval for everything?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him before finally talking. "No, but when some asshole shows up and interrupts dinner after I've had a difficult mission, he does make sure I'm cool with being harassed alone before he leaves."

Kakashi blinked. "Right," he agreed awkwardly. After a slight hesitation, he added, "Sorry."

"No problem." I waved him off. "I assume you're here to talk to me about my mission? Or how Konoha's acting on the intel I gathered?"

Kakashi nodded. "We've decided that with Sasuke gathering a team, his most likely target is Itachi Uchiha."

I nodded. "Agreed. So Konoha wants to take out two birds with one stone . Find and capture Itachi, and Sasuke will come after. Makes sense. But Sasuke does have a head start," I warned.

Kakashi nodded. "We're aware. I'm gathering a team of two platoons."

"Who are you planning on bringing on to the platoons?" I questioned, picking up another piece of sushi.

"Kiba Inuzuka," Kakashi listed. "Hinata Hyuga. Shino Aburame. Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato."

I chewed thoughtfully. "You'll move too slowly with only Kiba as a tracker," I informed him. "Not to mention one large unit will pick up attention."

"We'll split up," Kakashi told me. "And use my ninja dogs to communicate."

"Makes sense," I agreed. "Naruto is a risk, though."

"He is," Kakashi acknowledged. "But he deserves to be on this mission. As do you."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't trust me, Kakashi," I murmured, trying to figure out if this was his idea or if Tsunade had ordered it.

Kakashi sighed. "I trust you, Cashile," he assured. "It's just... The Rising Phoenix is still after you, and... look, Cashile, I'm sorry," he finally admitted. "I'm just worried."

I blinked, sushi halfway in my mouth. That... was not how I'd seen this conversation going. He was worried about me, and that really wasn't much of a surprise, but the fact that he'd just come out and admitted his emotions was... out of character, for him, unless he had really been thinking about this for a while.

I briefly wondered if he'd still care if he knew all I'd done, not just as a Claw, but even here, in Konoha. Empty blue eyes flashed through my mind and I hurriedly ate the piece of sushi already halfway to my mouth to buy myself more time. By the time I swallowed, I'd chosen to diffuse the tension. If Kakashi pursued this line of conversation, there was a chance he would find something out that I didn't want him to.

"I've narrowed down the likely companions to be accompanying Sasuke,"I informed Kakashi.

"Tell me," he ordered, relief clear in his eyes now that the "sharing and caring" was over.

"I've narrowed it down to the top five, though there are others who are possibilities," I warned. "These are just my best bets. They are: Suigetsu Hōzuki. Shin-ken Karin -- And I believe he would have a third teammate."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Tell me everything you know about these people."

With a smirk, I obeyed.

_____________________________________________

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