A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 26

Kakashi waited patiently as he watched his Sensei's Sensei train his student. He watched as Naruto failed time and time again to summon a proper frog.

He was told by Jiraiya to wait for him up there. He had been waiting all day and had been getting constant feedback from his clone on Sasuke. Finally Jiraiya sent Naruto home and climbed to the top of the waterfall to speak with the silver-haired nin.

"Well? What did you make me stand up here all day for?" Kakashi asked moodily. "To try and convince you to stop. You won't like what you find" Jiraiya replied, giving Kakashi a stern look. "Won't like what?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I know you've been researching Mei. I suggest you stop before you find out things you'll wish you never heard" Jiraiya replied. "I can't! You didn't see her face when Junsuke and Dorai died! There was barely an horror in her face! There was barely emotion in her face! She looked as though she had seen that stuff every single day of her life!! I just can't overlook that!" Kakashi tried to explain.

"Kakashi look. Do you love her?" Jiraiya asked. "Like she is my own blood" Kakashi replied. "Then keep your knowledge to what it is. Please, you'll break her if you keep going" Jiraiya replied, a slight pleading tone in his voice.

Kakashi thought for a second before giving Jiraiya an apologetic look. "I can't. I need to know what she's hiding. I'm sorry" he replied. Jiraiya sighed and pulled out a scroll from his pocket.

"These are all my notes I took while spying in the Akatsuki before you attacked. Please. Don't read them when she's around" Jiraiya requested. Kakashi nodded and stashed the notes in his pocket.

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Mei looked around happily watching Shikamaru and Chōji chow down on Beef Ribs as Asuna looked out the window in a daze. She began eating her own as she noticed Chōji inch closer and closer to them.

"Soooo~ Asuna-Sensei~ are you gonna be able to pay for all this?" Mei asked the elder man. "Ummm~ yes?" Asuna asked, pulling out his wallet and scratching his head.

"Oh? Hey guys! Why are you here?" Sakura asked, appearing at the window. "We were training but Chōji demanded food" Mei replied, smiling happily and noting the twin Daffodils in her hands.

"For Sasuke?" Mei asked, gesturing to the Daffodils. "Uh ha. As well as Lee" The pinkette replied. Mei stopped and smiled sadly. She pulled out a scroll and held it out for Sakura to take.

"Could you give this to Lee? I've been meaning to drop by but I've been really busy" The tangerine requested, as a jealous look flashed over Shikamaru's face before it returned to his usual 'cool and calm' look. Sakura nodded and ran off with Ino as Chōji finally finished his meal.

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Itachi read through file after file of stolen Konoha mission files. He looked for anything about the attack on the organisation, but so far came up empty handed.

He sighed loudly as he rested for a bit, eating some dangoes and sipping on a cup of green tea. He stared at the pile of read files and at the pile of unread files. Unfortunately the latter was the larger of the two piles.

He sighed again as he picked up a failed mission and started to read through it. He stopped short as the attacked base was mentioned. It read as:

'Death count: 3
Survivors: entirety of Akatsuki, Hawk ANBU, Fox ANBU, Mei, Mōrichi Moto and Chichi Hamasuki.
Mission: Failed.
Objective: Kill/Arrest Akatsuki.

Infamous Organisation labeled as 'Akatsuki' was attacked at 1900 hours held three captives inside base (located on the edge of rain village). Captives described as Sand village official Mōrichi Moto, Mist-nin Chichi Hamasaki and unknown Orange haired six year old. The two adult Captives were returned to their villages and child was taken back to Konoha. Child was later identified as Mei, Last Name Unknown, family killed by Akatsuki. Now under the care of Kakashi Hatake.'

Itachi stared at the report. Then reread it to completely understand what he read. He smiled lightly stood up, wanting to share the information with everyone else but was stopped by Zetsu.

"What's the problem Zetsu?" Itachi asked, holding up a defensive stance. "Think before you act Itachi. Do you seriously think they'll believe you? Do you seriously think Kisame will be able to handle the information?" White Zetsu asked. Itachi stilled, thinking it over before shaking his head.

"I'll visit her my next trip around" Itachi responded, a pleading look flashing through his Onyx eyes. Zetsu nodded and allowed the younger male to pass.

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Kakashi sighed as he watched Mei train, she was pushing the boundaries of her chakra and stamina and was bound to collapse at any second, he was sure of it. And when she suddenly stopped, he got up, ready to run over to catch her. He was caught off guard when a young redheaded male appeared and she approached the foreign Nin without any trouble.

Especially since that ninja was Gaara of the Desert, the child who had put Lee in the hospital. He watched as Mei hit his head and joked with the boy, and watched as the boy relaxed immensely after just a few minutes of them talking.

He was about to reveal himself when the boy, promptly fell asleep on her shoulder, taking deep breaths and holding onto something that was hanging from his neck, a pendant of some sorts.

He watched as Mei hoisted him into her back, gourd and all, and started carrying him through the forest around them.

Kakashi, who had been watching suspiciously until then, started silently following her until she came to a stop in front of a fairly well kept hotel, picking up a Pebble from the ground. She threw it at a window on the second floor, to the right and waited for a second.

Suddenly a blonde female ninja appeared and smiled at her, taking the boy from her and talking to her. Kakashi watched the exchange and raised an eyebrow when the blonde kunoichi handed her a small bag and waved the tangerine-head away.

He followed her back to their home and waited a few minutes before entering the house and finding Mei, perfectly fine eating some rice balls and reading a scroll. She didn't even smell sweaty.

"Hey Tou-San" Mei said, smiling happily. "Yo, where'd you go?" Kakashi asked. "Trained for a while with Shika-Kun and Chōji-Kun. Then trained a bit by myself" Mei replied, smiling happily again.

"Uh ha. Where'd the scroll come from?" Kakashi asked. "Oh a friend lent me a couple, I'm reading them tonight then I'll practice tomorrow again, finishing just in time for an early bed for the third exam" Mei replied, bring up the small bag and continuing with her reading.

Kakashi left her to her reading and pulled out the scroll that Jiraiya had given him. He put it in his box of important scrolls and sat on his bed, thinking about her. He sighed as he thought of something.

The scroll he had given Mei after rescuing her.

He quietly left the room and entered hers, finding it underneath a floorboard before quickly running back to his room, tying the two scrolls together and settling in for the night.