Wishing you well – Chapter 1: A mission and failures
In general – Just so you know
Sakura PoV
Ten months ago, after long fighting periods—well known by everyone—, we had managed to destroy the follower of Danzou, who were still remaining in Konoha after their "master's" death, and replaced the—too old—elders with more suited ones, who were at least able to think about matters more objective and eventually come up with new ideas or creative solutions. Madara and Kabuto had been able to escape—thanks to a whole bunch of strange fighting puppets without a face or soul who were sent by the former apprentice of the snake Sannin. Instead of the two most dangerous S-Nuke-nins, we got Sasuke back in Konoha. He wasn't allowed to use chakra at all (and so weren't the women and the two guys who accompanied him) and still wasn't used to do everything only with his hands.
Naruto and me were glad that he was back home, yes. But a part of me was mad at him, for risking his life and our life and making us worry and kind of heartbroken. At some point, I feared for the safety of Naruto's and my mind. I could rip the bastard's head off just because of how he stares at us when we pass by each other. And that's was out contact our so-called "realtionship" became—a glance and nothing more. If you ask me what he is doing all day than you can't expect something more than a shrug. He is and I fear he will ever be unattainable. At least for us. His former friends.
But I do miss him aside of the complicated way of our thing. And I even miss him right now because we didn't grow closer. "The time is out of joint," as Shakespeare would say and I was afraid since the fighting ended. Because the time we had to know each other again, form one of Naruto's bonds again was over and the dumb feeling inside me told me that there was something coming that would disturb the new (and well-deserved) peace of Konoha once more.
The actual problem
It had been a nice day. A day with a baby blue sky and white, fluffy clouds which were spread all over the blue like cotton wool. Nobody sensed it – I mean, something dangerous around the village. On that very day – along with all the sunshine and the ice-cream the kids of the village had eaten – the blood in front of the northern gates made a awfully conspicuous contrast to the sky.
The guards had gotten Tsunade immediately after they had found the Jo-nin and I followed my Shisho. As her apprentice it was my duty and following her lead will be my duty until my very death.
Neither of us had seen a wound like that before. At first, we assumed the weapon had been a sword or something with a very sharp blade but there were more strokes than one and they all were parallel. More like claws. Shisho chose a squad of four ANBU with a medic. She wanted to sent Shizune with the squad first but she needed her for paperwork and hospital stuff. And I knew most of the ANBU better anyway and so, she literally had to sent me with them.
That way, I could feel at least a bit useful.
My apartment – Twenty-four hours after the discovering of the Jo-nin
My hands were actually working all by themselves. They surely knew from memory how they should put what into which pocket and even if they had something like an artificial intelligence in them, I wouldn't mind. I was thinking about these strange things – like AI in my hands – because I felt the desire to run away, to avoid the mission. It was allowed to have strange thoughts if you were afraid.
I noticed after a few seconds of just standing there that my backpack was ready and full and I threw a nervous look out of my kitchen window. Five minutes left. Five minutes left of my time in my safe apartment. I moved out of my parent's house a few months ago because I was old enough and ready to live alone. There wasn't much time I spent home, so they weren't really missing my presence since I was outside most of my time.
For five or six seconds, I imagined the faces of my parents – my kind mother, my short-tempered father.. I allowed a happy grin to cross over my features and let a small laugh escape my mouth. "Oh dear," I murmured and put my backpack on "If I return alive, I will visit them for at least a week."
The weather was still nice and the bright sun made my fear nearly disappear. My teeth were clenched and the muscle near my chin tensed, though. I never really imagined an enemy that was seemingly indestructible and.. terrifying. I knew that Kiba and Lee were involved in this mission, too, but there were two more Anbus to go and I was almost afraid, one could be Naruto.
A sorrowful look appeared in my eyes when I thought of that. Shisho told me before, sending Naruto on a mission like the current one was totally out of question since it would be rather stupid to let a powerful animal-like creature like the Kyuubi appear in this, but I just couldn't take the thought of Naruto just tagging along, away from my mind. I truly wished for his safety and the strange creatures shouldn't lay their claws on him. After all the fights, he was the one who deserved some peace the most.
While I had been wrapped up in my – in some way melancholic – thoughts, the gates showed up. Shisho was waiting, with her a tall guy. Short black hair, almost white skin and a shirt that didn't cover his well-trained stomach. Sai. "Sakura!" Shisho greeted happily and Sai sent me one of these disgustingly faked smiles. "You are early! As expected from my little apprentice!" Tsunade grinned in her own, mischievous way and I took out two X-ray photographs.
"Those two were taken from Takahata-san. The creatures that attacked him crushed his shoulder in one blow. It seems, one of their strokes can be compared to one of our chakra punches." My favorite blonde Shisho frowned at the X-rays and then pointed to the second one I hid under the first. "And what's that one about?"
My hand wavered only slightly when I hold the X-ray against the sunlight. "The bones in the leg aren't crushed by a stroke. They're broken by stepping. It stepped on the leg." "And crushed it that badly?" I managed to nod. "What informations do we have of these things in general?" Sai asked and I threw him a hurried look while taking some little index cards out of my pocket. "They are heavy and they can sense energy or chakra in some way because Takahata-san was hidden in a high tree when it attacked him. They are also strong and fast enough to land a strike against a good Jo-nin," I explained. Sai looked thoughtful.
"Do we know if these things have a weak point after all?" he wondered in his typical Sai way and I suddenly felt Shisho's eyes laying on me, too. I smiled, almost sadly. "We'll see that when we find it."
"We'll see what, Sakura-san?"
"Yeah, what exactly are you talkin' about, Sakura?"
Lee and Kiba approached our little group and behind them, I could see Neji in a not really good mood. They all carried a backpack and pockets around their thighs. "So, we're complete now," I croaked and cleared my throat nervously. Tsunade observed me closely enough to notice my nervousness and then turned her gaze slowly to the three Anbu who had just arrived.
"Listen carefully, you three," she started and folded her arms, "The creatures are strong, fast and most likely able to sense your energy. You have to be extremely carefully and if one comes in sight, stay together, attack together and try to watch the effect of the attacks. Got it? Good. The leader of this mission will be none other than nobody. You are a squad and I expect extraordinary work from you as in perfect teamwork if you have to fight. Got that, too?" We all nodded and I sighed quietly. "Now, leave and sent me a bird or a message or something if you were able to discover anything."
A last and final nod and we all disappeared through the gates of our home into the danger of the outside world.
Two days and nine hours later – 2:00 am; The woods
Sweat was flowing down my temples. I coughed, Sai hovered over me and in the next moment, was pressing me down on the floor. He whispered – almost too silent for my ears to hear – , "Don't move. Suppress your chakra. Don't breath." The beats of his heart seemed to pound against my back and to echo in my ears but maybe, that was a hallucination. It could be only my heartbeat after all.
God, we did found the creature. A terrifying, awful and disgusting thing it was. Laying under Sai, it was difficult to slowly turn around so that I was laying on my back. But I had to do it because his shoulder was bleeding. Badly. After I had moved almost silently, my hand flew to Sai's shoulder and I pressed my chakra into him. A hiss – as silent as my movement before – escaped through his clenched teeth because I wasn't gentle. I put a hand over his mouth, looking him in the eyes.
It sounds more romantic than it really was.
He was trained to bear pain noiselessly and every time I remembered that, it made me sad all over again.
I could suddenly sense it as its energy was spiking up and I could hear the fighting screams of Neji, Kiba and Lee when I pushed Sai off me. "I'll go help!" I screamed and dashed into the direction where the fighting sounds could be heard. They all came in sight at once – my friends, avoiding the claws of the creature, dancing in a strange way, and attacking with Byakugan, Taijutsu and Gijū Ninpō. But the creature itself made me gasp although I saw it only fifteen minutes ago.
It was huge, twice as big as a very tall man, moved like a lizard and had a thick, black skin, which kunais couldn't stick through. We tried and failed. The white mask on its face had two horns on each side of the mask and a red circle on the forehead. Neither of us had ever seen something like that.
"NEJI!" My lungs burst with my scream when Neji jumped in front of Lee, who had been thrown against a tree and was unconscious. Blood sprayed out of Neji's chest and the only wish I had in that very moment was: Destroy this thing.
Said thing growled with satisfaction, licked some of the blood off his claws, and attempted to make another stroke. But I was faster. For the first time, I had been faster than the dangerous enemy. At least it felt that way.
My fist and the mask collided with a loud crash. The white material cracked, splintered and finally broke. A wave of joy flowed through my mind. The painful scream of the thing stopped that, though. Horrified, I watched dust, splinters and earth whirling around while the thing was transforming. I preyed it would stop but it didn't. It was shrinking. Slowly but steady.
"DAMN IT!"
A loud crash, a black shadow sprinting to the thing, a strange, muttered name and another painful shriek of the creature – then, everything went quiet.
In front of me stood a girl. She was small-framed, with big, violet eyes and black hair. A strand of her hair fell over her nose and ended on the lower part of her right cheek. The ends of her hair were in some way or another pointed upwards. Only slightly, though. She wore a black shihakushō, with a white one underneath, and straw-zōri with white tabi. Her obi was white and in a firm grip, she hold a white katana. Its blade was also white, with a long ribbon and the end of the hilt.
She passed each of us a look and then looked at her sword. When the weapon also transformed – though into a rather ordinary katana and not into something more dangerous – , our shinobi minds literally blew up. In a mere second, we had surrounded her. "Make a move and I'll crush every single bone inside your body." My voice sounded to harsh to belong to me but behind my Anbu mask, I felt safe enough to be unfriendly. The girl blinked. "You can see me?" Her slim fingers wound around the hilt of her sword again and that was when I tackled her.
"Answer now, girl, who are you?", questioned Sai and took a hold of her right wrist while Lee took the other one. "Why can you touch me?" she asked angrily instead of giving an answer and I turned to Neji and Kiba. "What should we do? She has destroyed the thing in one blow. She might be dangerous, we can't risk that." Neji wasn't to happy with taking the girl with us but I knew he got Kiba's point.
His white eyes were invisible to the girl. I could imagine the icy sparkle within his white eyes, when he turned to her. "Girl, what is your name?" he demanded and his long brown hair was slightly moved by the wind. After a few seconds, it seemed to be that she was refusing to say anything. The Hyuuga was growing short on patience as the seconds flew by and I shoved myself between the two. "Look, girl. We don't want to harm you. You destroyed the creature that threatened our village and its inhabitants. The handcuffs will be removed after we brought you to Hokage-sama. The honor of a Shinobi forbids to harm rescuers of our village. Or do you plan to be a problem? To kill our inhabitants or even aim for Hokage-sama?"
The black haired girl seemed to be surprised by the fact that she had been handcuffed. "I won't bring any danger to you or your village but I wish for you to remove the handcuffs immediately and let me go. I, too, have a place where I have to return to." That brought me on Kiba's side – where had she return to? If that place had been a hidden village, she would have given us the name by seeing the signs of Konoha. Since she obviously wasn't a Shinobi from a hidden village, where did she come from?
Kiba barked in surprisingly and lifted the unknown stranger by the obi at her back – of course she protested and started shouting at him until he put her down again. On his Ninken which made her waver for an unknown reason. "You'll ride on Akamaru as we all are more or less injured by the creature which you seem to know more than well enough to teach us about its race." Lee patted the girl on the shoulder and gave her a wide grin – which she couldn't see – along with a thumbs up. "Don't worry, Ko-chan! While Hime is here, there won't be even a scratch on your marvellous skin!"
The girl gave us a helpless look and we jumped off into the night again. Over the days we had to fight various robbers and smaller nuke-nins; nothing that could even be compared to Akatsuki in its wildest dreams. But still.. We were tired and at some point low at chakra. Afterwards, I was glad that I brought those special handcuffs along.
They were made out of holy silver steel and were to bind all kind of energies together. Tsunade gave them to me since the creature could be something like a demon and therefore had an amount of spiritual energy.
At that point, it had been out of question if the girl had anything to do with spiritual things. We would learn all of that later.
But the reason why she was nervous and not feared made me wonder after all.
To be continued...
A/N:
Hello guys!
If anyone wonders – I used a few Japanese/Naruto/Bleach words. I'll explain them here, just in case someone forgot there meaning.
Byakugan – A jutsu for the eyes that makes it possible to see the chakra system of the enemy and see through material like stone and wood. It's the Kekkei Genkai ("Blood Legacy") of the Hyuuga clan.
Taijutsu – Means the fighting with your body as in karate, taekwondo and other martial arts.
Gijū Ninpō – That's the kind of jutsu you're doing with a Ninken ("Ninja Dog"). So it's describing every jutsu that Kiba's using with Akamura. (Only the ones they're doing together.)
Shihakushō – The thing that all Shinigamis are wearing.
Obi – The white belt all Shinigamis are wearing.
Straw-Zōri – Sandals made out of straw.
Tabi – White socks you wear under the zōri. They have two seperated parts where the toes are, because there is the string that gives you hold and it's between your big toe and the other four.
Katana – Traditional, Japanese Sword. (Not all zanpakutōs are formed like a katana but Sode no Shirayuki – Rukia's zanpakutō – is.)
Ko-chan – "Ko" means child so because of her appearance and height, Lee is calling her something like sweetie or cutie or sonnie. A name you would use for a five-year-old.
Hime – Japanese word for "Princess". Normally it's a suffix used for a princess but since Lee don't want to use Sakura's real name, he used it as a cover name.
(If anyone didn't already notice—I don't own Bleach or Naruto and I don't own (and certainly wouldn't) earn money with this story.)
Tell me what you think, please! :)
xoxo, Kissufication