A/N: Why, hello there!

Some of you might know me from this story's prequel, "Book 1: The Lost Uzumaki". To those of you who have not read the prequel, I highly recommend you read that one first.

If you do that, please stop here, as this Author's Note contains major spoilers on the first story. xD

But of course, if you don't feel like reading the prequel, that's okay, I'll give you a brief summary:

Naruto has an elder sister named Kaede. She and the other children of Konoha were evacuated during the attack of the Kyuubi. Minato and Kushina having died in battle, Kakashi (whom regarded the then 4-year-old Kaede as his little sister) tried to find her, but was told she was murdered in the first of a long series of brutal murders.
Fifteen years later, Kaede returned to Konoha. At first, she blamed Kakashi for all the horrible things she had been through in her life (mainly sexual and mental torment), but as things cleared up for both of them, they started to grow more and more towards one another.
As Kakashi found out more about the 15-year-long murder chain, he discovered that the murderer was none other than Kaede. Kaede having gone through horrible ordeals since she had been evacuated, she had created an alter ego to protect her. Somehow she knew about this cold-hearted manslaying other personality, but feared it so much she had never spoken about it. Not even to Kakashi.
When Kaede was kidnapped by an old 'acquaintance' of hers, she shifted personalities and killed him as well. Kakashi and Naruto found her in this state, and she attacked them but failed to hit them. Kakashi managed to get her back to her usual self.
Kakashi reported the events to the Hokage, and was assigned along with Naruto to escort Kaede to a special mental institution in the Village of Colours, all the way up north in the Land of Earth.
Despite everything that happened, love had bloomed between Kakashi and Kaede. Kakashi promised her to wait for her and come for her as soon as she could leave the clinic.

With the two lovers and the two siblings parting, our previous story ended, and 4 months later, a new story began.

We start at a few days after Pain's attack on Konoha.

I hope you'll like it!

"You called for me, Shizune-san?"

The woman was looking exhausted. She must have been caring for Tsunade 24/7. Her blood-shot eyes were starting to have less and less hope in them with every day the Hokage, her best friend, had still not awoken.

"Kakashi-san," she said, sounding hoarse from lack of sleep. "Yes, this letter arrived for you this morning… Umm…" She searched her pockets for a moment before she went back into Tsunade's tent. She came back out, holding an unopened letter in her hand. She handed it over to him.

"It's err, from Kaede-san's clinic," she explained, followed by a quiet yawn.

Kaede…?

Kakashi unsealed the letter and opened it.

"Hatake-san,

We have heard about the recent events in your village. We hope all is well with you.

The reason I am sending you this letter is because your presence is required at our institute. Uzumaki-san is doing well, but there are certain complications regarding her progress. She has refused to enter the next stage of her treatment without you, Hatake-san, in her presence.

The details are strictly confidential; therefore I cannot elaborate on this outside of the institute. For Uzumaki-san's sake, I urge you to help us by temporarily standing by her. I cannot say how long your presence will be required just yet.

One final request: please do not let Uzumaki Naruto in on this. Uzumaki-san worries about him, but does not want him to focus on anything but his duties.

I hope to see or hear from you soon.

Best regards,

Ueno Kenji"

Kakashi looked up from the letter, into Shizune's dark, exhausted looking eyes.

"Kaede needs me," he tried to say as calmly as possible.

Shizune stared at him for a while before she spoke up: "… Kakashi-san, you do realize you might become… become the new Hokage, don't you?"

"I'm well aware of that," said Kakashi. "However, I have not lost hope yet for Tsunade-sama."

"Of course not! She will come back to us! She will—" Shizune stopped, wiping a tear from her eye. "Even so, you have to stay stand-by to fill in for her if we need a Hokage before she wakes up."

Kakashi gazed at the poor woman, thinking about his duty to the village. She was right. He couldn't just up and leave the village… But then again, he also had a duty towards Kaede.

"What if I stay in touch with you while I'm there?" asked Kakashi. "If I'm needed, you can send Sai to pick me up – it'll take less than two hours if he flies me back. It might only be for a few days. Please, Shizune-san. Think about Kaede. She is the Fourth's daughter. And Naruto's sister. If he is going to have to worry about her, he might not perform well when he really needs to."

Shizune rubbed her eyes.

"Very well," she said. "But you will have you return if the elders decide to make you the next Hokage."

"I will," said Kakashi firmly, making a bow. "Thank you, Shizune-san."

And after that, he immediately went back to his tent to pack the stuff he needed. Even though he meant what he said just now, another one of his reasons was that he might really need to see her before he would go to the war that was just bound to happen after everything that happened here.

Seeing her again might give him the energy and hope he needed.

A/N: This is only the prologue, of course. The first real chapter should be up soon, I'm almost finished with it.

I really hope this story will be as successful as its prequel! ^^

Thanks for reading!