What seemed like the entire village came out to greet us.

They parted ways, creating an aisle for us to walk through, and I tensed, hating being surrounded on all sides--but forced myself to walk forward normally, trying to hide my discomfort. Gaara glanced at me out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

I made certain to not show my gratefulness, but he somehow seemed to still receive the message.

He smiled.

***

"You're leaving already?"

I stood with Naruto and Sakura just outside of the village walls, holding all my possessions. Gaara and his siblings stood before us. He was wearing the Kazekage robes, and I had to admit that they somehow looked... Right, on him. You could see just how much being the Kazekage meant to him.

"We have more missions to complete, dattebayo," Naruto said. "But the next time we meet, I'll be Hokage!"

Gaara gave a slight smile at that and nodded, clearly believing in Naruto's word. Then he turned his gaze, sea foam eyes of the Kazekage pinning me in place.

"Where's your team?" he questioned.

I shrugged. "I sent them back to Konoha. Didn't want them getting in the way."

A faint smile touched Gaara's lips. "I'm certain they were thrilled with that," he murmured.

I shrugged again, ignoring the hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of my lip as I thought of their irritated reactions when I returned. "I don't care if they were or not, as long as they did what I said."

Gaara gazed at me for a long time, a look in his eyes I couldn't quite place. Finally he spoke. "I wish you well, Cashile Kuroki," he said softly, nodding. "I am certain your genin will grow into fine shinobi."

I nodded, acknowledging the compliment.

"If she doesn't kill them first," Naruto muttered, but there was a teasing gleam in his eyes as he said it. He had heard of how I'd taken the hit for Aisa, and it had certainly softened his view of me when it came to my team.

"Shut up, baka," Sakura ordered, slapping the back of his head.

Gaara watched on in amusement before jumping in. "My appreciation extends to all of you. You will always be welcome in the Village Hidden in the Sand." He looked into each of our eyes, finally landing back on me with that same sad, hopeful look that I couldn't grasp. "All of you."

I nodded to show my appreciation of his acknowledgement, and also noting that unlimited access in those territories would be very useful. Ultimately, the Kazekage was in my debt.

This mission had proved to be very useful indeed, and would surely facilitate in my quest to obliterate the Rising Phoenix.

***

Kakashi and I stood in the Hokage's office, reporting our individual and conjoined team missions.

"... and then I sent my team back with the remaining ANBU and a sand support unit." I finished.

"Well done, both of you. Two missions completed successfully. I will discuss further on the concerning matter of the Akatsuki—"

"Actually," Kakashi said, "there is one more thing I'd like to discuss."

Tsunade waved a tired hand. "Go ahead, then," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in order to ward off the inevitable headache.

"I believe that Cashile Kuroki should only be assigned missions with her genin team; C ranked missions or lower," Kakashi informed the Hokage.

My head snapped around fast enough to give me whiplash. "What?" I asked incredulously.

"Kuroki—" and was that supposed to hurt, him referring to me by last name? Nice try. "Killed an enemy that we could have captured and questioned for information. She disregarded my order to not engage with a member of the Akatsuki on her own, and Gai reported that it appeared as though she was attempting to assassinate the member after I berated her the first time. Throughout the mission I remained concerned about her emotional stability and control she had over her actions."

Tsunade transferred her gaze to me. "Is this—"

I rolled my eyes. "It was a clone, Kakashi. Besides, I wasn't going to kill Deidara no matter what Gai said; just seriously injure or maim him. If he'd let me do it then we could've captured Deidara rather than have to try and escape a huge explosion. You could have avoided-- I mean look at you."

Kakashi's stance was weary, unable to stand straight. Exhaustion clearly tugged at every corner, and heavy signs of fatigue showed throughout. It was probably a miracle that he was standing here, in the hokage's office, rather than laying in a hospital bed-- and much less arguing with me.

"You'll be in the hospital at the end of the day  as opposed to a member of the Akatsuki. And you can be as concerned about me as you want, but that doesn't mean my control is about to snap."

"I—" Tsunade began, only to be interrupted by Kakashi.

"So you admit you have strenuous control over your actions?"

I made an irritated noise in the back of my throat. "I said nothing about strenuous—"

"But it is!" Kakashi insisted persistently. "I've seen, I know—"

I rolled my eyes, sharp and bitter and angry. "Well, of course you would think that you know so much—"

"Silence!" Tsunade snapped, clearly fed up with our argument. Her tone was sharp and cold and demanded nothing short of instant obedience.

The effect was instantaneous.

My knees hit the ground, hands following soon after. With a thud, my head slammed into the floor, framed by my hands as I pressed my face into the ground and waited for what was to come.

Would She be pleased with my performance? Or would She be disappointed and find a mistake in the mission? My breath caught in my throat; an unforgivable display of emotion. For that alone She would punish me. What would it be? Run laps until I pass out? The dogs? A lashing? The cold—

"Cashile?"

My breathing was as shallow as I could make it and still draw air. Cashile. Who was Cashile?

"Cashile?" The unknown man's voice came closer, and I vaguely wondered if he would be the one to carry out my punishment.

I am Cashile.

The thought shocked through my mind in an instant. She wouldn't be happy about this; about me remembering who I was. I was certainly about to be punished—

But I'd escaped.

I breathed in and out slowly. I'd escaped. She couldn't be here. I couldn't be there.

"Cashile?"

Kakashi. He was here. He had never been there. Ergo, I wasn't there.

I took a deep breath. This place smelled nothing of there. It was warmer here. There were happy voices drifting up from the street below.

The street below. Konoha.

"Cashile, can you hear me?"

Kakashi. Worried voice. Right. I was in the Hokage's office. I was reporting about the mission. Arguing with Kakashi.

I stood slowly. Eyes followed me closely. I had shown weakness in front of them. Displays of such weakness would not gain me power. It just revealed the lack of control I held. It revealed how little power I had at the moment.

If Kakashi said a single fucking thing, I think I would maybe murder him.

Instead, he looked at me with such extreme sorrow that I thought he just might start crying. "Maybe—" his voice broke, and he swallowed loudly, painfully, as though it was shards of glass going down his throat and not saliva. "Maybe we should continue the mission report tomorrow it was a... It was a long mission."

Tsunade considered us for a long, long moment. "Very well," she conceded. "Tomorrow, then. First thing. Dismissed." Her voice was far, far more gentle than it normally would be. I ignored the way my throat tightens, bowed, and exited the door. Kakashi snagged my upper arm before I could disappear.

"Cashile—"

"Let go, Kakashi."

His hand remained on my arms. "Cashile—"

"Let. Me. Go." I wouldn't even look at him but he must have realized that I was half a second away from either breaking his arm or stabbing him in the chest.

"Let me go."

He released my arm.

I disappeared.

***

"That'll be the last time I go out of my way to help Kakashi with a mission," I grumbled to myself angrily.

He had no right.

My breath came harsh and fast, and it took me several seconds to reassert total control. There was no real reason to be angry. Logic spoke that Tsunade wouldn't listen to Kakashi's "advice". She may be a bit wary of me, but hasn't she always been? I was too great of a resource, in the end, to not use. But Kakashi was proving to be more irritating than I previously expected.

I walked into the ANBU training complex without an invite, causing heads to be whipped alertly in my direction. Honestly, they shouldn't be so jumpy: I would have been stopped if I wasn't supposed to be in there. I waved my hand at the wary individuals regarding me. "It's just me," I informed poorly, before shoving my hands back into my long trench coat.

It was about time to see the results of Ibiki's training on my team. I walked into Ibiki's preferred training grounds, and blinked at what I saw.

And blinked again.

I think my brain was short-circuiting.

Ibiki had a vicious smirk on his face that wasn't at all out of place. What was out of place, however, was the three giggling genin.

Giggling. With Ibiki.

I stalked into view.  "I thought I sent them you to be trained," I snapped. And to annoy you, I thought, but left unspoken.

"Cashile-sensei!" Aisa exclaimed, "You're back!"

"Obviously," I rolled my eyes, fending off his hug with one hand. He didn't seem at all put off, instead taking a step back, an innocent look sliding into place.

"Is it true that Ibiki-san pushed you off a waterfall once?" Aisa asked angelically.

Emotion slid from my face as my dark eyes pinned Ibiki in place. "You didn't."

His smirk spoke more than his words ever would.

"Is it true," Michiko giggled, "that once Ibiki-senpai was beating you up so badly that ANBU had to pull him away from you?"

Of course she would find that funny, the sadistic little shit.

"Did you really get sent back to the medic five minutes after leaving, once?" Kento questioned.

Wow. It was like these kids wanted to be punished.

I slowly allowed at bloodthirsty smile to spread across my face. "Why?" I asked, squinting my eyes into the smile. "Were you guys hoping to get the same treatment?"

They practically fell over themselves to assure me otherwise.

"So. How did you train them, other than telling stories?" I asked Ibiki. "In fact, how did they manage to find you?"

"Quite the story, actually," Ibiki replied. "Apparently they treated it like a mission. They were interrogating people and trying to track me. Eventually they ran into Anko while they were taking a dango break, and you can imagine how she reacted to a bunch of wide eyed, gullible genin. Apparently she led them on quite the wild goose chase—"

"This is starting to sound like it could devolve into a cute but ultimately meaningless filler just to get you to say more words and take up more time," I interrupted, shaking my head. "So I'm going to cut you off right there."

"Kind of reminds me of that time Team Seven tried to find out what was under Kakashi's mask—" Ibiki said thoughtfully.

"Anyhow," I interrupted again, "Team Ten, with me."

The genin sprang to my side, trooping after me as we left the compound. "We actually did do training," Aisa hurried to reassure me. "In fact, we already did a lot today—"

"Don't worry," I responded boredly. "I believe you, and it's too late to put you through another training session. Team Ten, you're dismissed. Report to the south bridge tomorrow at six sharp."

"Hai!" All three exclaimed before Kento and Michiko hurried in opposite directions. Aisa remained.

I raised an eyebrow towards him. "Yes?"

Aisa scuffed a shoe at the ground and I internally grimaced at the obvious display of emotion. He was young, yes, but he really ought to be a little harder to read. "Um, well, I told Aiden about the mission, and he was worried, so I said that as soon as you came back I would make sure you went and said  hi, and I don't want to let him down, so could you...?"

"If you didn't want to let him down, you shouldn't have promised something you had no control over," I reprimanded.

Aisa's lower lip trembled. "I-I know," he mumbled. "But Aiden's always working so hard so I just wanted to help somehow, so I just... I just wanted to help, and—"

I sighed. "Fine, kid. But I get to use your food to make myself some dinner."

All signs of sorrow, embarrassment, and general worry disappeared in favor of a blinding, triumphant smile. "Awesome!" Aisa exclaimed gleefully, snatching at my hand to drag me along. "Thanks, Cashile!"

I blinked. Had Aisa... Had Aisa just.. tricked me? Fooled me? Deceived me? Had Aisa just played me? Despite everything, a slow smile crept across my face.

They do grow up fast.

_______________________

Heyyy.

WE UPDATED. Sorta quickly too.

But my school starts tuesday and I have SO MUCH SUMMER HOMEWORK to do so don't expect an update super quick.

That being said, COMMENT SO I HAVE INSPIRATION TO WRITE DESPITE BEING BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND SHIT.

Basically, please please please please please please please please take the time to comment super long super inspirational comments.

If writing out thoughtful longer than "Good! Update!" comments takes too much time, think on this: think how much time and effort it takes to write these chapters (which we try to make at least 2000 words). In other words THANK YOU SO MUCH TO PEOPLE WHO COMMENT AMAZING COMMENTS THEY MAKE US HAPPY AND THEY ROCK AND PLEASE KEEP IT UPPPPPPPP

okay maybe my procrastination induced panic is starting to show through here. Time to go work on homework.

Comment! Bai!

gaara119

HEY GUYS!

So college started last week AND IM ALREADY DROWNING SO HELP ME BY WRITING NICE AND DEEP AND INSPIRATIONAL THINGS.

Thank youuuuu in advance.

So, what do you predict will happen in the next chapters?? First arc of shippuden DONE!

Comment! Vote!

And wish me luck haha...

-S

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Ja ne!

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