There was a pounding feeling in my head and I felt groggy.

My eyes slowly opened and the pounding got worse. This felt like I had a hangover.

I looked around and saw that I was lying on the ground. I turned my head to observe where I was, but I couldn't figure that out. The only thing I could figure out that it was dark and cold.

A deep chuckle rang through the air, sending chills down my spine.

"I'm pretty sure you'll remember me,"

It was the man's voice from earlier. I heard his footsteps and saw him standing over me. He took this hood off from his cloak.

Something about him was familiar, but I couldn't figure it out.

His hair was long, extremely bushy, and it almost looked like it was in dreads. He also looked like he was old and had a bunch of scars on his face.

"Remember me?" He smirked.

I didn't respond and he looked a bit irritated.

"I thought after I killed your two friends, you would've never forgotten my face,"

My eyes widened and he looked smug.

"Now you remember," He said. "You look helpless right now and you'll make a good hostage. Once Sakumo's brat sees you, threatening him will be much easier,"

Anger started to course through my veins when I remembered him. He was the one with the afro and everything was his fault. He's the reason why I lost Obito and Rin. He's the reason why Kakashi and I suffered.

"What more do you want from us?" I snapped.

I tried to sit up, but he still had me in his damn wire string.

"What are you rambling about?"

"You caused enough suffering," I narrowed my eyes. "You're the reason why there's a giant hole in my heart that can never be filled,"

He was unfazed and he still had that stupid smirk.

"And because of Kakashi of the Sharingan, I was imprisoned for years. You have no idea what I went through there and I'm about to teach him a lesson,"

I grew angrier.

"What YOU went through?" I raised my voice. "I went through hell all because you had to kidnap my best friend. I lost the love of my life and I had to watch him and my best friend die in front of me because of you,"

He was about to speak, but I cut him off.

"You took everything from me and I nearly drank myself to death because of you. You didn't suffer, you got imprisoned for a crime. Get over it," I shouted hatefully.

This was a mistake. He got angry. "SHUT UP!"

He smacked me across the face harshly. It stung and I couldn't do anything about it because I was still tangled in the string.

"You may be older now, but that still doesn't give you any right to disrespect me like that, Red," He sneered.

Suddenly, there were footsteps. 

I was alarmed, but so was this guy. He apparently wasn't expecting another person either.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

The person didn't reply and my heart started to race in anticipation. They walked past me and I got a glimpse of what they looked like.

They wore a long black cloak with a hood pulled over their face and black gloves. I couldn't see their face at all. Although, I could sense some anger radiating off of them.

"Not going to speak?" The ex Stone ninja sneered. "Whatever, I'll just take you out right here,"

The mystery person seemed to have no issue with handling this guy. They simply stepped to the side and my attacker lunged for him again. 

The mystery person turned around and started running. My attacker followed him and I knew that was probably a trap.

I was suddenly left alone and I was now confused. Who was that person? Why did they just come to rescue me like that?

The cloaked person came back and pulled a kunai out. I widened my eyes but was surprised when he used it to cut the wire string around me. They started walking away and I sat up, watching them leave.

I observed them even more. This person was tall. That was all I could make out.

I quickly got up and followed them.

We got to the entrance of the cave and they stopped walking suddenly.

"Who are you?"

"That's not important," They finally replied. "Just be grateful that I was even there,"

I guess they had a point, but I was still confused. I wanted to know who this guy was and why he saved me. I also wanted to know how he knew I was in danger.

He started to walk away and suddenly, I got a little shy.

"T-Thank you,"

He stopped and then continued walking away.

I watched him leave and then decided I should probably find my way to the dumpling shop that Asuma was talking about meeting at.

I walked around, trying to find a familiar path and once I did, I started walking towards the small town that was ahead. I still couldn't get that mystery man out of my head and wondered what he had to gain from helping me.

I was now in the small town and I scanned the area for a dumpling shop.

I found it and noticed that it looked very old fashioned. I walked inside and the bell attached to the door made me jump. I looked around to see if Asuma or Kurenai were here yet, but they weren't. I decided to sit down and wait on them.

A woman walked up to me. 

"Hello," She smiled. "What can I get you today?"

I realized I was pretty hungry, so I decided to order some food. 

"Just a plate of some pork dumplings," I said.

"Anything to drink? We have sake," She suggested.

"Um, no," I replied. "Tea is fine,"

She nodded and went back to the kitchen. I looked out the window, still pondering my savior. I also thought it was crazy that I ran into the infamous Kakko. The man who took everything from me. 

The chime went off, signaling that someone walked in and I quickly looked. It was Kurenai.

I was actually hoping Asuma would show up first to avoid awkwardness, but of course, things can't go my way.

She saw me sitting down and walked over. She took a seat and the waitress brought my food and drink to the table.

I noticed Kurenai eyeing the cup.

"It's tea," I answered, knowing why she was looking at it. 

She nodded. 

The waitress took Kurenai's order and we didn't talk, but then to my surprise, she broke the silence.

"Did you run into any of the enemies?" 

"I did," I replied. "But I'll explain when Asuma gets here so we can all talk,"

"Alright,"

It got silent again.

The chime broke the awkward silence and we both looked over at the door, seeing Asuma. I mentally sighed with relief. I didn't know how much more I could handle being in awkward silence with my ex-best friend. 

Asuma walked over and the waitress came by to give Kurenai her order. Asuma wasn't hungry, so he just ordered a cup of water.

"Sorry that I kept you two waiting," He said, sitting down next to Kurenai. "I ran into a rogue ninja who was giving me problems,"

"It's alright," I replied. "I ran into one as well,"

"I'm glad you're back..." Kurenai looked at him. "I thought you were..."

He gave her a small smile. "No one killed me, so just relax,"

"So, what did you run into, Hana?" Asuma asks.

I didn't even know what to tell them. Well, I did, but I meant I don't know how to explain that a mystery man came to my rescue. Maybe I should just leave that part out.

I looked down. 

"I know you guys remember Kakko..." I trailed off and swallowed thickly. "He was the one who...who took him away from me,"

They knew exactly what I was talking about.

"What happened?" Kurenai asked.

"Turns out Kakko escaped prison and came after me to get revenge against Kakashi. He caught me in a trap and I managed to escape and he fleed after I took care of him," I explained. I had to tell them that he got away because I don't actually know what happened to him. 

I looked back up at them and I could see how shocked they were.

"Did you find anything, Kurenai?" Asuma asks.

"No," She shook her head. "I ended up in a big maze and I couldn't even figure out where I was. I ended up finding some ruins and had to go back the way I came to find this place,"

"And what did you find?" I asked Asuma. 

"Well, I thought we may have ran into the same person, but we didn't," He said. "The one I ran into was looking for some people to mug and was actually trying to escape from a robbery he made in the Leaf Village. I recovered the things he stole so we can return them,"

"A thief kept you that busy?" Kurenai asked.

"He was stronger than he looked. He knew his way around ninjutsu," Asuma replied.

My mind drifted off to my savior again. I couldn't help but wonder if him saving me was a good thing.

"Are you alright?" Kurenai asked suddenly.

I rose an eyebrow at her. It surprised me that she out of all people would ask me that question.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just tired. Kakko took a lot out of me and forced me to remember...things,"

That part was true at least.

Asuma gave me a look of sympathy. 

"Let's head back to the village then," He said.

We all paid for our orders and left the shop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to apologize for the slow updates. I'm just super stressed with work right now and I made this chapter longer to make up for that. I have a drawing of Hana's look for this story coming soon, so I will post that once I get it.