AUTHORS NOTE: hey... so I'm back, thanks to everyone that stuck with this during the accidental hiatus... And thanks to everyone that showed their support and patience and ideas, thank you all so much~~

I know it's short but working on the rest of it, but I really just wanted to put something up like right now~ and remember when we left off, Kakashi and Kida were fighting cause Kida had snuck outta the house and was rearranging rocks and stuff (can't remember if I wrote why that was so I'm gonna have to go back and read to see where we're at)

So here ya go, enjoy

Foxghost~~

Warmth from the rising sun gradually crept over me as it breached the horizon of the eastern hills. A cool sighing breeze gently brushed a curtain of silver across my forehead as it drifted through the emerald clearing between the trees that had been our designated meeting place... three hours ago.

"You're late!"

My teammates familiar scold announced the arrival of our Sensei. I begrudgingly open my tired eyes and rise to my feet to join the team. Naruto and Sakura shared looks of distaste as Kakashi approached, smiling at us from beneath his mask. A plastic bag hung heavily as it swayed with each step. Sasuke remained seemingly uninterested if it weren't for the subtle twitch at the corner of his eye.

"Sorry I'm late, some kids were hunting the ghosts that are currently haunting their playground, and I surely couldn't let them do such a thing unsupervised."

How thoughtful. And then it hit me.

"What's that smell?"

"I'm glad you asked, Kida. This is for you."

From the plastic bag, he pulled a looped piece of tan rope with pink scaled, hand sized fish strung decoratively on to it. Their pitch-black eyes stared soullessly at me from every angle as they swung back and forth in front of me. Sakuras squeal seemed distant as I became transfixed on their transparent champagne pink fins, and the overlapping water colour effect of their scales.

"That's so cool!" Naruto's voice brought me back.

"What?"

"Torra's missing." Kakashi began the mission debriefing, completely unbothered by the ring of fish carcasses still hanging heavily from between his fingers.

"Who's that? A Princess? A Lord? An Aristocrat?" Naruto was visibly shaking with excitement.

"A cat. This is a search and retrieve mission. Kida's going to wear this fish lay and try and lure him out on the ground-"

"Are you sure? Cause it smells like a task that should be for Naruto."

"-while the rest of the team surrounds and follows from the trees. The target is a brown feline distinguishable by a red bow on his right ear. We'll start through this area here where the cat was last sighted, then work our way around the village. Any questions?"

"No way."

"That's not a question."

"There's no way I'm wearing a fuckin dead fish necklace. I'm not that alternative."

"Come on, Kida, you're pretty much an adult. If you can go out at night without telling me where you were or what you were doing, then you can handle a simple task like this."

Without giving me a chance to respond, Kakashi threw the lay over my head. The fish's cold, scaley bodies flopped heavily against my chest and shoulders. Their pugnant stench immediately melded with my clothes and hair. Muddy water, dead flesh, gut bucket, grimy pier, it all became part of my very soul. My fate was sealed.

"KAKASHI!!"