The sentinel was twenty yards away at ground level, unmoving and silent, eyes fixed on the surroundings. The other targets were further back in a small clearing. Kakashi remembered the place from a patrol some time back. It was a good strategic location, their backs would be to a high bluff and thick vegetation and a large stream protected their flanks. Kakashi could hear the faint echoes of a voice on the wind; it didn't sound happy.

He leaned back into the shadow of the tree's trunk that hid them and glanced at Gai. His friend, rival, lover, partner was a solid presence at his side, mask tilted as he listened to the noises on the night breeze. Then he made a gesture and tapped his chest piece. He wanted to take point.

Kakashi pretended to bonk him on the head, as a much more expressive hand-signal for 'no'. Gai always wanted to be at the spearhead of the attack, even on Kakashi's missions. But not this time; Gai was the backup and he knew it.

Gai crossed his arms over his chest and, despite his strong frame, ANBU armour and lethal weaponry, gave a good impression of someone about to sulk. Kakashi faced him down until Gai looked away; Kakashi was the cooler head, the strategist of the two. In circumstances where they were outnumbered or outmanoeuvred, Kakashi called the shots. Particularly in this case. Kakashi was not going to let Gai or anyone else lead the charge against seven killers. That was his job.

Gai's fingers twitched some code. I have your back. Be careful. The last signal was exaggerated, the hand movement ending with a finger nudging Kakashi's masked forehead back, as if it could drill the order into it. Kakashi pretended to bat the hand away, though he didn't make contact in case the sentinel heard the click of armour on armour. Gai was being a real mother hen tonight; Kakashi was always careful.

Kakashi delineated the attack plan in a few quick gestures. Gai nodded, shifting the sword on his back as if eager to go.

One last moment together. They both reached out to brush fingers against the other's gloved palm, as they always did before a tough one; the gesture ended in the customary quick thumbs-up. A 'good luck'; a 'take care'; a 'see you on the other side'.

Then they turned and slipped into the night.

Kakashi leapt silently from branch to branch, moving slowly at first; surprise was their greatest weapon, or things would really get messy. He didn't even glance at the sentry down below as he passed ten feet away from the man, in plain and deliberate sight.

The watchman started and turned towards Kakashi, hands flashing towards his weapons, breath drawing in to shout- Gai stepped out of the shadows behind him and slit the man's throat with the very tip of his sword as the sentinel twisted to face the new danger. Kakashi knew, without looking back, that Gai's next step brought him close so he could catch and lift the body before it could fall and convulse against the forest floor. Kakashi knew, without looking back, that Gai had muffled the death rattle against his shoulder. He knew, without looking back, that blood was coating the ANBU's chest and naked arm. Kakashi didn't look back, he had to move on.

Up ahead, the voices stumbled to halt. The quarry was good; despite the unbroken silence, they'd felt something was wrong. In a moment, they would smell blood.

Kakashi flickered from branch to branch, still in complete silence, while his fingers danced through seals. Two Kage Bunshin clones broke away and flanked him left and right; all he could produce without a chakra flare that would give away his location, but it would help even the odds.

He darted around one last tree and the clearing came into sight; a tent camouflaged by brush was up against the chalk cliff, bed rolls and bags were packed nearby. Three people were standing already and looking warily in the direction of the sentry, the other three were still scattered about, getting to their feet and asking what the matter was.

Kakashi drew his sword with a faint metallic hum.

Right on cue, the nin-dogs that had scattered around the camp set up a baleful howling, a sound matching the moon and the feral forest around them.

Cries of surprise- people spun around to stare at the baying woods around them-

The first man died easily, still reaching for his weapons, taken completely by surprise when Kakashi fell on him from above. The sword plunged down at an angle into his liver and cut out sharply.

Blood sprayed but didn't catch Kakashi, who's already darted towards the next target in line.

He was leaving his back wide open. Not that it mattered. Kakashi darted towards his target, brushing a kunai out of the air with the back of his reinforced gloves. Another one glanced off his chest armour, but his clones were distracting the others in the group, so he wasn't coming under a concentrated attack.

A polearm was plunging towards his back, the Shinobi behind him aiming for an easy kill. Kakashi's concentration did not flicker from his intended victim. There was the swish of a sword at his back, the noise of a polearm getting scythed in two, a sharp crunch; Gai appearing behind Kakashi and crushing the attacker's skull with his free hand.

Kakashi's intended target had leapt back, giving himself some space. His hands were making seals; Kakashi's eye dissected them automatically. He knew that one. He was ready when the air solidified into a mighty punch; he dropped straight down into a low crouch, nearly flat against the forest floor, shuriken flying from his left hand. His opponent dodged two and coldly took the last metal star in the shoulder so he didn't have to duck further and break the next set of hand seals he was forming.

Behind Kakashi, a blossom of fire savaged the darkness and set a tree alight nearby. Gai came barrelling away from the blaze, ignoring the woman who'd aimed the flame jutsu at him. He propelled himself off a tree, flipped in mid-air over Kakashi, and threw himself straight at Kakashi's adversary, the sword glinting in his left hand.

The enemy was forced to break the seals; he sidestepped Gai's blade, and a vicious dagger of chakra sprung from his palm, aiming at Gai- but Gai was already three paces away, ignoring the enemy. Who didn't have the luxury of attacking Gai from behind, because Kakashi had followed right behind his partner, his sword slicing into the target's neck.

Kakashi's blade grated against the man's vertebra as he yanked it out and quickly took stock.

Gai was trading lightning fast blows with another opponent up ahead. The man had to be good; he wasn't giving Gai an opening. The last two attackers had dispatched the clones that had distracted them for a few crucial seconds; they had finally rallied and were leaping towards Gai. They were going to attack the first ANBU three on one, and then move on to Kakashi when Gai was dead.

Kakashi hurled his sword at one of the attackers. The blade aimed at him forced the man to dodge and break off his attack. This left Kakashi's fingers free to form seals again. Nothing subtle; flames ripped themselves from the burning tree and hurled themselves at all angles towards the woman swinging a long kunai at Gai's back. She spun around and parried. The flame shuriken disappeared into bursts of light as soon as the metal touched them, but a few got through and sliced her clothes and skin, leaving long red streaks that started to smoke and bleed.

Gai threw one last punch at his adversary and broke the fight, leaping back, flipping in midair and ploughing to a stop into the ground by Kakashi's side.

Three against two now.

A momentary hush fell over the battlefield. There was only the crackle of burning wood behind them and the dying croak of one of their victims.

The three foreign Shinobi stared at the two ANBU standing side by side. Less than a minute had elapsed since the dogs had started to howl, and the enemy had already lost four of their numbers, including Sakae, their employer; he was one of those lying dead behind Kakashi and Gai.

It might have been reasonable for them to stop fighting at this point; if Kakashi was here as a Jounin, he would have suggested a truce to his opponents, and let them run off without embarking on a useless fight.

But he wasn't here as a Jounin. ANBU took no prisoners unless specifically ordered to do so.

From the way the enemy were staring at the cat and dog mask, they knew this. They realized they were, in all likelihood, already dead. But no Shinobi died without a struggle. Kakashi and Gai had gone for the easy prey first while the enemy was disorganized; this last fight would be harder.

"There's only two of them," one of the three muttered, a tall, bearded man in a leather jacket. Kakashi immediately discounted the danger that fool represented. The woman's sneer echoed that disdain. She appeared to have no delusions about the odds. She was good at ninjutsu and she'd dispatched one of the clones with ruthless efficiency; she would be hard to take down with two others at her back. The last man wore a blank headband pulled down nearly to his eyes and armour similar to theirs, but with a high, thick leather collar on it that hid the rest of his face and protected his neck. His stance betrayed absolutely nothing. That one would be the toughest.

There was no need for hand signals. Kakashi could feel Gai nearby, as if there were a warm, slender tether between them. Their plan of attack was already decided.

In the forest, the dogs abruptly stopped howling.

Gai threw himself at the two men, a direct attack to keep their attention on him.

The woman felt the danger; she fell back, away from the other two mercenaries she didn't know and who might hamper her fighting style. Her kunai flew towards Kakashi to keep him at a distance, and then her fingers started to form seals.

The fact that she was looking straight at him was what he was counting on. Kakashi dodged the blade and whipped up his dog mask.

Her eyes widened-

That bastard Itachi made it look easy.

Kakashi felt like he'd done two Chidoris in a row, but the woman fell straight over, her mouth open in a soundless scream. He hadn't been able to make a perfect copy of the Uchiha specialty genjustu; that level was way beyond him and his single, transplanted Sharingan, and it wasn't in his bloodline to start with. But he'd coined a pretty good lower-level imitation. It didn't pussyfoot around and mess with mental torture; it went straight for the psychic jugular. It might kill her, it might not, but it had taken her quickly out of the fight and would keep her out.

Kakashi's mask was back in place and his fingers flying through seals before the woman's body had hit the forest floor. Gai had tackled the faceless man in the high collar, who was armed with two tonfa, steel batons. Gai moved with his usual deadly speed and strength, keeping his opponent between himself and Leather Jacket so the latter couldn't help. Leather Jacket cursed and started to make hand seals; Kakashi's Sharingan whirled, it was a variant of the water clone technique- another Mist renegade.

Behind Kakashi's back, two water clones rose from the stream and ran to help their creator.

The man with the collar and tonfa was good; nearly as fast as the two ANBU, with a short but vicious reach, a wall of blunt steel that Gai couldn't breach.

Not that Gai was trying to.

There were no words, no signal exchanged between the two ANBU. Just the sudden crackle and chirp of chakra pooling at the end of Kakashi's fingers.

The enemy lunged towards Gai, tonfa swinging, blunt ugly death- but Gai was no longer there.

The man staggered, caught short by Gai's surge of speed and his unexpected retreat. His eyes flickered too late towards Kakashi, bearing down on him with lightning dancing at his fingertips.

The tonfa came up in defence; the Chidori sliced clean through the thick steel and hit him in the shoulder. He'd parried a fraction of the lethal strike though. This man was either in the Bingo Book or deserved to be.

Behind Kakashi, the sound of splashes and disintegrating water clones culminated in the sinister crack of a neck being broken. Gai hardly ever used the sword to kill, which was why it was in his left hand. He used it to parry and prepare the strikes for his kicks and deadly right fist.

Their last remaining enemy staggered back, blood erupting in thick gouts from his torn shoulder; pieces of the joint were missing, most of the muscle mass, several veins and an artery ruptured. The tonfa tumbled from his useless right arm, but he still gripped the other one in his left hand and he'd not fallen.

Kakashi felt Gai step up to his side. He didn't glance at his other half, though he could feel/hear something wrong in Gai's gait, in the way he moved.

The masked man had pressed tonfa and left hand against his right shoulder; the blood loss was slowing under waves of chakra. A slapdash job; the man knew he was dead, but he didn't want to keel over until he'd killed one of the ANBU at least.

"Two against one, hm?" he murmured, voice threaded with pain and bitter determination.

"Best odds there are," Kakashi answered coldly. Even more than other Shinobi, ANBU were weapons for their village; they had no pride, no honour, no rules. No regrets and no remorse.

The man snorted. He reached up and tore off the wide collar. Kakashi's eyes traced the revealed features. Yeah, that face was familiar; straight out of the Bingo Book. The two ANBU had been lucky; if this fellow had had men he could rely on at his side, he wouldn't have gone down so easily.

"One way or the other, this is the end of the road," the man threw at them, a scar twisting his lip upwards in a natural sneer. "You two, take off those masks and let's fight face to face."

"What masks?" Kakashi asked pleasantly, drawing his tanto.

He and Gai moved in the exact same fraction of a second.

The target threw himself forward at the same time, angling to attack Gai first. He parried Gai's sword strike with his tonfa and shoved at the ANBU- then continued to swing the deadly weapon around, aiming straight at Kakashi who'd caught up.

This guy had seen the teamwork they were capable of and he was using it against them; he was good, despite his injuries.

Kakashi didn't dodge; Gai was leaping back into a new attack, and if Kakashi ducked out of range, that would leave his partner open to a counter. He managed to parry the blow with his tanto, shoving all his strength, will and chakra into resisting the pounding. The man's eyes widened as he felt Kakashi resist the blow that was meant to snap his blade and decapitate him.

Kakashi twisted the sword up before it was ripped from his grasp by the strength of the attack; the tonfa slid down the blade. Kakashi took the end of the blow on his armoured forearm with a grunt. The move slowed his opponent's backswing and gave Gai an opening.

Gai slammed his elbow into the enemy's jaw. The man staggered- Kakashi spun around, tanto tumbling from his numbed right hand, snatched up in the left- Gai ducked beneath one last desperate swing of the tonfa and kicked the enemy towards Kakashi, who buried the tanto into the back of the man's exposed skull.

The body fell, twitching and shuddering into the carpet of dead leaves.

The two ANBU were motionless for a few heartbeats, senses sweeping the area for more enemies.

"Pakkun?" Kakashi called over his shoulder.

"Here. All targets accounted for," the dog answered from a safe hole in the underbrush.

"Good." That brawl had been very brief, but borderline messy in Kakashi's fastidious opinion; a clever enemy would have left a clone to fight and gotten the hell out. Wouldn't have gotten past the circle of noses posted around the battlefield though.

Kakashi straightened, absently moving his right wrist, feeling the damage. The armour had taken a hammering, the forearm would be bruised, maybe a hairline fracture in the wrist, but it didn't hurt; he'd be mobile and functional until they got back to Konoha. It had been worth picking up a minor wound in exchange for finishing this quickly and without further risk to either of them. He gave Gai a quick assessing glance; most of the blood covering the other ANBU belonged to enemy, but Kakashi could tell, through that intangible umbilical between them, that Gai had taken a few cuts. Nothing major; they could both still kill if they had to.

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at movement behind him. Then he turned back towards his friend.

"Gai, go and get the kid," he ordered.

Gai had been examining the dead man at their feet. He straightened up in a fluid gesture, took a step towards Kakashi, his fingers rising to sign-

"Go," Kakashi said quietly.

Gai stopped. His shoulders fell a bit; in silence he turned his face away, and then quietly vanished into the night.

Kakashi made sure their last opponent was truly dead, leaving the tanto buried in the man's skull for now. He checked some of the other bodies too. The enemy had not had enough time to prepare any little surprises, the kind that bastard Kabuto specialized in, but it paid to be careful. There was one more familiar face among the fallen, the man Gai had spotted before; that made two less entries in the Bingo Book. Sakae was down and there were a few less riffraff around. A warning to their kind that Konoha's Shinobi did not let roaches run around in their woods, however damaged the village had been by the attack from Sound.

Then Kakashi went to pick up his sword left-handed and headed towards the woman who was struggling to sit up, eyes wide and blind, fighting against the dregs of Kakashi's genjutsu she'd managed to dispel.

ANBU took no prisoners.

He was wiping the blood from both his blades when, a minute later, he felt Gai's presence again. The kid was with him.

"I see you managed fairly well," the boy said, in a voice that suggested he'd been rehearsing something cool to say for the last ten minutes.

"Do your job," was all Kakashi answered.

"Right." There was no hesitation in the Hunter's step as he headed towards Sakae. He'd obviously been trained and prepped for this type of mission.

"Want me to do the others while I'm at it?" he asked as an afterthought.

The kid had never cut up a corpse before, however trained he was; he had no idea what he was letting himself in for. Kakashi had never been a Hunter, but he knew what was involved, and he'd been on enough battlefields to have no illusion about the undignified dirt the human body turned into, a graceless, stinking, shitting pack of soon-to-be-rotten meat. And the more bodies there were, the worst it got; each corpse wore away at something inside you until even the living looked like mere meat puppets jerking along until the string broke.

He almost said 'Sure, you take care of them', just because kids these days needed to be taught, they needed to understand just how ugly things could get out here, on the edge where the ANBU thrived; like that, children would stay afraid of the dark and wouldn't go running off into the woods alone...

A rustle behind him made him turn.

Gai had picked up the woman's corpse, holding her in his arms as if she were only sleeping. He carried her over to the man with the broken neck and placed them side-by-side.

"We'll deal with these," Kakashi said, and went to pick up the first man he'd killed. He dragged the guy, one-handed, over to where Gai was prosaically going over the bodies, looking for dog tags or any information Konoha should know about.

When the surplus corpses were stacked up, Kakashi did a few seals, working through the stiffness in his wrist. When the charnel fire burned bright and the smoke rose from it thick and choking, they walked over to the Hunter who was already up to his elbows in blood.

"All good here?" Kakashi drawled.

The Hunter had quickly placed himself between the two ANBU and the corpse, protective of its secrets. Smart kid; he'd be a good Hunter some day soon.

"I'm fine."

"Feel free to use the fire when you're done checking him. We're off."

The Hunter stood fluidly and saluted, accidentally getting blood on his mask. "I thank you for your help. I hope this is a sign of the strength of our Villages' Alliance."

"Your Gaara certainly did help us out six months ago, with Orochimaru's little buddies," Kakashi said, just to see how the kid would react. Sure enough, there was the tiniest flinch from the boy when Gaara was mentioned. It amused Kakashi to think that the whole village of Sand was more afraid of their own secret weapon than they were of any other enemy. A kind of poetic justice, surely.

He was going to add more, but there was a sudden absence at his side. Gai was at the edge of the clearing, looking back.

"Be out of our woods by sunset," Kakashi told the Hunter cheerfully. "Nice working with you."

"Er, y-yes," the kid mumbled behind him. Apparently Kakashi intimidated him somewhat; imagine that.

Kakashi leapt effortlessly into the nearest tree. An instant later, Gai landed at his side. They headed south at a quick pace.

The darkness seemed to flow past them. Kakashi accelerated. The air was crisp and cold against the bare skin of his upper arms, whipping back his hair, cooling the few tepid splashes of blood he'd picked up.

Trees flashed by like weapons easily parried. Kakashi vaulted from branch to branch, enjoying the night, enjoying the breath racing through his lungs and into his blood.

He did glance back at Gai, to his left and a bit behind him. His friend was moving a bit awkwardly still.

"You okay?" Kakashi shouted back at him, and felt like laughing. Of course Gai was okay; he was alive.

It wasn't easy to make out Gai's answer, what with the night and their speed, but Kakashi knew what it would be. Gai always brushed off his injuries unless they could impair his fighting abilities. Kakashi, an expert by now in dealing, receiving and examining wounds of all kinds, thought that Gai had taken a few kunai in the armour on his back and maybe one in the shoulder, the sort of minor wound you accepted when you were manoeuvring into position to defeat another enemy and you couldn't properly dodge anything from your six without leaving an opening.

Gai was making hand signs at Kakashi, while trying to keep up - Kakashi had accelerated again without noticing, drunk on night air and speed and the deadly silence and grace of their movements.

Are you injured? Gai's fingers asked.

"Me? No."

Gai managed to run a bit ahead of Kakashi; he was tapping his right wrist with his left hand.

"Oh, that. Minor. Wanna see?"

Kakashi suddenly laughed and his speed increased, fuelled by a chakra burn that lit up the night for those who had eyes to see. He had an amazing amount of energy, considering the fight they'd just survived. He shot off a tree at an angle, catching a branch with his hands, swinging around and leaping higher. The arm was a bit stiff but perfectly functional. Those losers back there hadn't been able to seriously wing either of the two ANBU, despite their numbers.

The moon was falling towards the horizon as Kakashi ran along the top of the canopy. The night air was crisp and clear, smelling of pine, dead leaves and dying summer days. Kakashi's senses were burning as he moved even faster. The forest he knew blurred around him.

He was always the same in a fight: steady, calculating, and behind his laidback attitude, very careful of his team-mates. As a Jounin, the hours after a conflict left him weary; sober but relieved. He would be thankful they'd all made it, he'd calmly remember and assess his performance and those of his students- not that he had them anymore.

But as an ANBU...after the fight was done, it was a whole different story.

Amazing the difference a mask could make. Sometimes he wished he could wear this one all the time.

He flickered through the night, catching branches with his hands to slingshot out into darkness, landing on a branch and using the momentum to move on the next tree in a flash. It was this way he fought, too, as if the air were a three-dimensional chessboard he could tear across, breaking all the rules.

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi twisted in mid-air and slammed feet-first into a tree-trunk, sticking there with an automatic pull of chakra. He glanced back wildly.

Gai was twenty yards back, his right hand gripping a branch for support, the other dangling the cat mask from its straps. He was panting, face grim and covered in sweat.

"What, going too fast for you?" Kakashi laughed breathlessly, taunting, reassured to see that Gai was alright.

Then he blinked at the empty tree where Gai had been.

Goddamn but that bastard could move when he wanted to!

Kakashi straightened, but it was too late, Gai slammed into him and plucked him from his perpendicular perch on the tree's trunk. The night air hummed in Kakashi's ear as they fell, it touched and caressed him as he passed.

He twisted in mid-air and retaliated. A couple of playful blows, mere love-taps. Gai didn't even bother to dodge them, concentrating on breaking their fall with a punch of chakra towards the ground, then he tried to wrestle Kakashi down into the leaf mulch.

Kakashi grinned like a wolf beneath his dog mask and gave as good as he got. This was fun too. He wasn't going to let Gai win that easily. Though he was going to let him win in the end; getting Gai to fuck him through the forest floor would be even more satisfying than a race or wrestling.

Some rough and tumbled followed, until Kakashi managed to get Gai in a half-hold, twisting to lie behind his rival's back and pinioning one arm. He grinned down at his captive, enjoying the way Gai's hair had spilled from the hood, unusually wild and free.

"Wasn't that an exciting fight back there?" Kakashi panted, trying to solidify his hold. "Two against seven. We better get used to those odds now; we'll be getting more fights like that if we want to keep Konoha on top."

Gai grunted and tried to break free.

"Come on," Kakashi whispered, the mask distorting the sound. "Admit it...that stirred your blood up a bit. Haven't had a battle of that calibre for over six months. And nobody to worry about this time, no innocent bystanders, no kids to watch over - admit it, you had fun."

Gai fell still in Kakashi's grip. Then he nodded slowly, his face turned away.

"You're not wearing that bloody mask anymore, you can talk now," Kakashi snapped, an oddly brittle note to his exasperation. The slight surprise he felt at his own tone distracted him for that crucial second; that was all that an expert combatant like Gai needed.

When the forest floor and the trees stopped whirling around him, Kakashi was on his back and staring up at Gai straddling him and holding him down by the wrists. Well, this new position had great possibilities. Time to stop the rumpus and start something else.

Gai let go of Kakashi's right wrist with a jerk, as if remembering his injury, not that Kakashi felt it. Then he reached around Kakashi's head and loosened the straps with a jerk until he could yank off the dog mask. The metal face landed a couple of feet away, and Gai pulled down the black cloth that had been beneath it. Kakashi tried to nip his fingers in passing, but Gai was too quick for him.

The air was cold and felt clammy against the sweat on his face. He panted, breathing more easily now; he stared up at Gai, his vision no longer restricted by the curved slits of his mask. His right forearm was starting to tingle....

"Come back," Gai said.

Kakashi lunged with his right hand, hooked his arm around Gai's neck and dragged him down into a hot, violent kiss. Gai responded, but too slowly, too gently- Kakashi growled, and started to buck.

Gai's entire weight shifted and suddenly bore down on Kakashi, and not in a fun way. Kakashi's right hand was ripped off of Gai's neck and pressed back down into the ground. Kakashi snarled. Gai still wanted to play? What kind of lame-ass hold was this, though? Kakashi could break out of this in a second. He could break out of this hold and leave Gai bleeding in the dirt.

Gai...

"Come back..." Gai whispered. He was speaking into Kakashi's neck as he pinned him down, blocking his movements.

Kakashi stared up at a glimpse of the night sky through the branches. It was so quiet now, after the screams and blows; nothing but the two ANBU panting and the crunch of dead leaves beneath their bodies.

He could smell the blood on Gai's clothes and bare arms. Warmed by Gai's exertions, it was starting to let off a rich, thick, cloying scent.

Gai was holding on to his right hand above the injured portion of the wrist - it hurt nonetheless; not much, but a little jab of pain Kakashi hadn't noticed till now. Gai wasn't holding on too hard; his thumb was making slow, careful circles in Kakashi's gloved palm. Keeping Kakashi grounded despite the way this left Gai open to a potentially lethal attack.

The stink of blood was everywhere, like meat that had been left out in the sun, like the inside of a slaughterhouse.

It was making him nauseous. Kakashi shuddered and controlled the feeling, toning down his sense of smell. He turned his head away, his cheek prickling with small twigs and dead leaves on the forest floor. The smell of the earth couldn't overpower the blood. His mask was lying off to one side, staring up at the moon.

"Come back." It was barely a whisper.

"I can't come back if you're sitting on me," Kakashi grunted, shoving wearily at the other man's grip with his good hand. "Get off, and we'll go home and get a shower. You're starting to reek."

The body over his shifted, and Gai looked down on him prudently. Then he sat up.

Kakashi righted himself while Gai sank back onto his heels. They stared at each other under the barren trees and the trickles of moonlight.

"But you have to admit, that was exciting," Kakashi murmured, as if concluding a long argument.

Gai sighed and stood up.

"Yes, it was," he said.

He walked off a few feet to pick up his discarded mask. Kakashi felt at his wrist, trying to gauge how much it had swollen beneath the straps of his armour.

"Kakashi...don't take any more ANBU missions. You've done enough of them by now."

Kakashi glanced up in surprise. Gai hadn't turned around, his back towards Kakashi as he stared down at the cat mask.

"It keeps getting worse. One day," Gai said softly, "you won't come back."

Kakashi stood up with a grunt, brushing off his pants.

"Give me a break. Have you seen the kind of S-rank missions Tsunade tosses at me? I might not come back from any of those, either."

Gai let him pretend that that was what he'd meant by not coming back. They both knew it wasn't the case.

Kakashi picked up his mask and tied it to his belt. Looked like they weren't going to have sex, at least not right away. Too bad, his blood was still thrumming, but now fatigue and a hint of pain and the reek of blood were having the effects of a cold shower. When they got home and after they cleaned up, maybe they could let out some of this tension. Or not; knowing his luck, Lee would be on the doorstep still. Dammit...

"I can't get out of it," Kakashi said reasonably. "The ANBU were hit hard during the attack, we lost too many-"

"Yes, you can get out of it. You volunteered tonight. Even if they'd assigned it to you, you had grounds to refuse."

Gai was still back to Kakashi, staring down at the mask, and he wasn't talking like Gai usually did. The night and the armour were still affecting him too. Kakashi realized how much he hated that, how much he disliked the silence between them when the mask went on, as much as he appreciated the deadly sword defending his back. As Jounin, they made a good team; Kakashi covering the ninjutsu and letting Gai get in close for something wonderfully violent and physical, while Gai spouted his brave words and Kakashi said something ironic in return...

He didn't have to wonder how Gai felt when that dog mask was laughing at him, colder than Kakashi ever was. But...this was necessary...wasn't it?

"Look, I know I'm still a teacher on paper," Kakashi sighed, "and yeah, I could use that excuse to avoid the pressgang, but I'm useful as an ANBU, and we all know the teacher thing's not true-"

"You are a teacher," Gai said in a voice that even Kakashi would not have contradicted. This was a tone he'd only heard a couple of times from Gai in the twenty years they'd known each other. On the two previous occasions, someone had died shortly thereafter.

The silence grew thick and sticky.

Then Gai swung around and pointed a righteous finger at Kakashi. "You are the teacher of two brilliant, energetic persons full of youth! Naruto and Sakura are busy working with all the strength and determination of their age. They are trying to catch up to your level, Kakashi! And when they do....you will lead them once more!"

"I can't wait," Kakashi drawled, feeling something loosen in his chest as a more familiar Gai returned - noisily - to the scene. In the trees around them, a few birds complained sleepily at being disturbed before dawn, and something small, furry and alarmed scurried away in the underbrush.

"And then we'll go find Sasuke!"

"...What do you mean, we'll go find-"

"Yes, 'we'! I won't let Orochimaru's crimes go unpunished! And I won't let a tender and inexperienced youngster in his clutches. I'll be with you every step of the way, Kakashi, or very close behind you."

Actually, Kakashi had been objecting to the 'find Sasuke' part rather than the 'we'. By the time they figured out where Orochimaru was holed up, Kakashi wasn't sure there would be anything left to find. But he didn't say it, because when Gai proclaimed stuff like that, Kakashi never stopped him. Besides, it was nice to think that the next time Kakashi did something risky and desperate with his team against a Sannin, he'd have Gai somewhere at his back.

His gaze dropped to the cat mask Gai was tying to his belt.

"And if I do an ANBU mission...?" He already knew the answer, but a part of him needed to hear it.

"Right behind you too," Gai said, and there was an edge of steel behind the bombast, as if the mask was still clinging to him a bit. Then he shook an admonishing finger at Kakashi. "I will not let my rival beat me when it comes to taking dangerous missions and defending our village."

Well, that tore it. Kakashi refused to be responsible for Gai's life as well as his own. He wouldn't refuse a mission if he was asked, but he'd consider not volunteering next time.

Besides, Naruto was coming back. If Jiraiya had taught that hot-head the Rasengan in less than a month, god knew what the old lecher would teach him in a couple of years. And Sakura was learning a lot from Tsunade too. Yes, they'd both need a calm, reasonable head around to counterbalance all the weird stuff the Sannin were showing them. It'd be nice to work with a medi-nin again...as well as the number one surprising ninja in Konoha.

...maybe, together, they might actually find Sasuke...

"Fine," Kakashi sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets and shaking his head in resignation. "Come on. Let's go back before the sun rises."

"Should we put these back on?" Gai asked, touching the mask at his belt. He didn't look very enthusiastic about it.

Neither was Kakashi. "No, we'll sneak in. It'll be good practice for the next S-rank mission Tsunade probably already has ready on her desk. We should be able to do get back without being seen. I hear we're supposed to be Shinobi."

"I am always the master of discretion!"

"...Now I know I'm tired if I can listen to that and keep a straight face."

"Hah! You and your modern responses-"

Kakashi grinned up at the paling moon, letting the words flow by. He pulled up his black mask, but left the metal dog swinging by the straps at his belt.

"Come on," he said softly, when Gai stopped to take a breath. "Let's go home."

---

Dawn lay like the thin edge of a blade on the horizon. Kakashi watched it for a few seconds from the top of the monument, before sending a kunai flying through the open window of the admin building. When the night desk ANBU found it imbedded in the wall, Tsunade's mission handout stuffed through the handle, he'd know the team had made it back safely. The official report could wait. It was sort of a tradition in the ANBU; there weren't many clerks who had the balls to run after them for the paperwork, anyway.

Gai froze as they neared the rooftop of their home, and his hands drifted towards his mask. Kakashi caught Gai's wrist with a forbidding look. Then he peered over the edge of the roof, already knowing what he would see.

Lee was sitting there in a meditation posture on their doorstep. As Kakashi watched, the Genin's head drifted down and his breathing deepened. Almost immediately though, he jerked himself back up straight and muttered something. Probably some self-imposed rule he would have to follow if he fell asleep.

"I never learn," Kakashi breathed. "I should have told him you were away for twenty-four hours or something, so he wouldn't wait. The kid is as stubborn as you are."

Gai looked like he was going to get emotional, and he'd taken an absent-minded step towards his pupil. Kakashi rolled his eyes towards the heavens, grabbed Gai by the waist and jutsued him into the house through the back door, not stopping until they hit the bathroom.

"Shower," Kakashi ordered. "I'll deal with the armour."

"You don't have to-"

"Get the blood off. I'm letting him in in five minutes, before he goes to sleep and then has to run a million laps around the country."

"But your wrist-"

"-will hurt a lot worse if I'm forced to strip you," Kakashi pointed out in a lazy drawl.

Gai knew Kakashi well enough to stop arguing and start shedding armour.

Kakashi stuffed the bloodied equipment and masks into the closet, along with their weapons. Cleanup could wait. He hadn't picked up any stains that couldn't wash off in the sink. He slipped on sweatpants, a jumper and a clean mask and went to open the door.

Lee must have heard movement inside the house. He was standing to attention, looking eager, until he saw it was Kakashi again. Kakashi was once more favoured with The Look.

"Yo. Still here, huh? Maybe I should have mentioned earlier that Gai was out on a mission."

The Look got a thin coating of glare added to it, though Lee stayed respectful of his elders and of Gai's Dearest One.

"Anyway, he just got back right now. He'll be out in a minute."

"Oh." Lee straightened up even more. "If Gai-sensei was on a mission, I can come back when he's rested. I only wanted his help on this new move I thought of-"

"I'm sure he'll want to see it," Kakashi said, which was only the truth. "Come in, Lee."

"I don't want to disturb-"

"Actually, I need a favour from you," Kakashi added on impulse, before Lee could run off.

"A favour...?" Lee looked at him as if he couldn't imagine what Kakashi might want, but he followed the Jounin inside and into the kitchen.

"What can I do for you, Kakashi-sensei?" the Genin asked seriously, obviously resigned to do his best.

Kakashi fished their large first aid kit out of the cupboard and held it out to the young man.

"Gai picked up a few minor injuries. Can you help him apply the dressings? I took one in the wrist, I'd probably do him more harm than good."

Lee stared at Kakashi, then at the first aid kit. He took it like it was a sacred relic of the First.

"I'll do my best," he said, in a voice heavy with emotion. "But..."

But? Kakashi hadn't been expecting a 'but'.

"Yeah?"

Lee was looking at the first aid kit and he didn't answer for a few long seconds. Then he lifted his head and looked straight at Kakashi. It wasn't The Look, either.

"Thank you," he said simply. "But I also want to take care of your wrist."

"Heh? This thing? Forget about it, it doesn't even hurt." Kakashi twisted his wrist around in illustration and hid the unexpected wince. Ouch. Maybe it was a bit more cracked than he'd thought, now the adrenaline was wearing off and he was actually feeling it.

"He needs a strap on it, Lee."

It was Gai, standing in the doorway as if he'd been there for awhile. Despite his usual histrionics, he could move very quietly when he wanted to. He was looking at Kakashi and Lee in a warm way that seemed to distance him from the night of killing they'd just had, as if the cold, silent killer who only spoke in hand-signs had washed off of him and trickled down the shower drain with the sweat and blood. It was worth having Lee fuss over his wrist, Kakashi decided, just to see that. Not that he was going to admit it.

"Oy, you two, don't go overboard for a mere bruise." Kakashi sighed in a put-upon way. "Gai, you're bleeding, get Lee to fix you up."

Gai was wearing pants and an old robe; two red stains were staining the cloth like small bloody fingerprints on his left shoulder and back. Lee straightened like he was about to salute if it weren't for the medical kit in his hands.

"Sir! I'll attend to Gai-sensei's courageous wounds first, since they need immediate attention. Then I request permission to strap your wrist. Sir."

"I'm not gonna be able to shake him off, am I?" Kakashi asked Gai, who shook his head, beaming proudly at his student. Lee and Gai exchanged a thumbs-up and a brilliant smile, and Kakashi sighed again. There were some things even Sharingan Kakashi, the copy-nin genius, couldn't fight against.

Lee dutifully took care of their various injuries, all minor and Kakashi felt extremely grateful and lucky for that. Gai needed a couple of press-stitches, but he should be fit for duty by evening. Lee's hands were surprisingly gentle on Kakashi's forearm, and the strapping was good; it would stop further injury and gave Kakashi support so he could fight without too much pain if he had to. Lee was obviously a pro at this, but then, he had a lot of experience bandaging himself up.

Lee then made them an Energetic Breakfast, a recipe he'd apparently cribbed from Gai, while he talked animatedly about his new Taijutsu move. The two men, still too wired to sleep, ate the breakfast and listened to the boy talk while the sun crept in through the kitchen window. Gai stopped Lee from doing the dishes, and they headed out into the backyard for a demonstration of the new move.

Kakashi drank a cup of coffee alone at the table. He should go and clean up the armour. He was definitely going to do the weapons. But a part of him was thinking of a bloodied cat and dog mask lying tangled together at the bottom of the closet.

Maybe it was time they stayed there.

END

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