Crosshairs
KakaSaku
Theme: Badass outfits
In their line of work, each day was as unpredictable and uncertain as the next, and while Sakura had come accustomed to not knowing what the day ahead would hold for her, she had never expected her evening to end like this.
Sakura was still in a state of shock that the person that had been their department's medical examiner for over two decades was behind the string of murders her team had been investigating. They had worked dozens of cases together, and it shook her to her core that she didn't recognize the man that now stood on the receiving end of her gun.
Adrenaline surged through her veins and sharpened her senses. It was only the training the police department had been drilling into her since her days in the academy that kept her body from reacting on instinct. Her hands held her gun steadily, her eyes focused solely on the man behind her weapon's sights as she searched for the right thing to say, the right thing to talk him down from shooting the hostage he held.
"Orochimaru, you don't want to do this," Sakura reasoned.
He growled at her, his yellow eyes flashing with the streetlights the lit the road at her back. "I really think I do. Get out of my way or I will put a bullet through her head!"
A fearful noise sounded in the back of the young woman's throat and she struggled against the arm around her shoulders but made no real attempt to move away as Orochimaru pressed the barrel of his gun harder again her temple.
"Put the weapon down," Sakura tried again. She was acutely aware of how little time she had before the situation escalated beyond what it already had, but she had to stall; Kakashi needed more time to get into position. "Just let her go and we can figure this out."
"There's nothing to figure out. Move!"
"Commander, get back!"
Sakura ignored Naruto's shout. Both he and the rest of her team were some yards behind her, taking cover beyond their squad cars. Out here, she was alone and the weight of her vest was her only company.
Where the hell was Kakashi?
"There's no place for you to go," Sakura argued. "The only way out of this is for you to release her and surrender. If you don't, we will be forced to use lethal action and then the only place you will be going is to the morgue."
Orochimaru's mouth turned up into a snarl as he looked past her to the half a dozen police cars surrounding the apartment building. His expression darkened upon finding all of his exits blocked and he fixed his glare upon her once more. "Then I guess you'll be going with me."
In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru redirected his weapon at her just as a muffled gunshot broke the tense, night air. Sakura's eyes widened and her entire being grew rigid as she waited for the blow and pain that was sure to pierce her body.
But it never did.
Instead, Orochimaru's body became limp and he collapsed back against the wall as blood gushed from a large gunshot wound in the side of his head. His arm fell from around his latest victim and without pause, the young woman ripped herself away from him and ran towards Sakura and the rest of her team. Holstering her weapon, Sakura met her and guided her to Tenten before the brunette hurriedly steered the frightened woman away from the gruesome scene.
With the threat over, Sakura's adrenaline began to wane and she forced a deep, soothing breath into her lungs as her body came down from its high.
"Sakura. Sakura!"
She turned at the call of her name just as her Deputy Chief sprinted around the corner, his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. It wasn't often Kakashi wore his police vest, but it made his tall, lean form appear broader and he towered over her as he reached her.
"What were you thinking!" He gripped her shoulders so hard she was nearly knocked off her feet and she stared wide-eyed upon finding his face lined with anger and worry so intense it nearly bordered on fear. "You could have been killed!"
"I'm okay-."
"Okay? Don't you dare do that again ever, do I make myself clear?"
Sakura opened her mouth but the words caught in her throat as she met his dark gaze. She had seen her supervisor agitated in the years they had worked together but never once had fury danced so darkly behind his grey eyes before. The ferocity stole her voice and she nodded numbly.
"Deputy Chief, you're going to want to see this," an officer called.
Kakashi held her a moment longer. The anger was still simmering in his gaze but it was slowly cooling, allowing for another emotion she couldn't quite name to bubble to the surface; but before she could identify it, he released her and eventually stepped away to attend to his other duties.
Sakura watched his retreat, her heart pounding against her ribs as fresh adrenaline flooded her system. Only this time for an entirely different reason. She both did and didn't know what that look had meant, and even in the chaos around her, it demanded attention like a police siren in the dead of night.
He was her mentor, her superior, her Chief. He had scolded her when she messed up, had her back when she was in the right; protected her and fought alongside her through her hardest cases, and shouldered her burdens on the nights when she thought their job had taken everything from her. But that look - it changed everything and she wasn't sure if it was uncertainty or excitement that made her stomach erupt into butterflies.
"Commander, we need you."
Sakura blinked and tore her eyes away from where Kakashi stood only some yards away. She was acting like some love-struck teenager when she had more important matters that needed her immediate attention.
Inwardly shaking herself, Sakura turned away to approach Naruto who was waiting expectantly, unaware of the pair of grey eyes that followed her.
end...or something?
So I really wanted to write something for KakaSaku month on tumblr but what I had started I kinda lost inspiration for so I wrote this instead. Not sure if you can write 'badass outfits' but I love the thought of Kakashi in a bulletproof vest with a high powered rifle and magazines on his hip. Yum!