"Marshal, Marshal, Marshal!"
Seated at a desk in the dusty sheriff's office with his feet propped up on the edge, the silver-haired man glanced up from the newspaper he'd been skimming. The source of the noise skidded to a halt on the worn wooden floor in front of the desk; it was a local boy, with scruffy brown hair and round cheeks and a penchant for ridiculously long scarves.
"Yo, Konohamaru. Slow down there. What's the matter?" he asked lazily.
The boy bent over, hands on his knees, and panted for a second. Once he'd regained his breath (mostly), he straightened up to speak.
"'member, you said I could help out by keeping an eye on who all was comin' and goin' in town, right? Well, I just seen somethin' mighty strange!" he said, puffing out his chest importantly.
Kakashi nodded.
"I do recall something of the sort. What did you see?" he asked, humoring the boy; his eyes turned back to the newspaper.
"It's Sheriff Sasuke, sir! Him and Sheriff Naruto were fighting-
"Is that all? I'm sure Sakura will sort them out," he mused; best frienemies that those two were, they seemed to spend every other night brawling. Their fights generally resolved themselves after a good round of fisticuffs.
"But that's not all! A whole bunch of hooligan lookin' guys on horses came ridin' through town real fast like, and they had these weird clouds on the back of their dusters - every single one of 'em, big red clouds, boy it looked funny - and then Sheriff Sasuke shouted somethin' at one of 'em and he kicked Naruto and took off on Mr. Sai's horse - cause it was the closest, I think, but Mr. Sai didn't seem too happy about it - and then Naruto started shoutin' and he took off on Teacher's horse-
"They both took off? After this 'red cloud' group?" Kakashi questioned sharply; he was sensing that the boy's babbling was about to devolve into incoherent nonsense, so it was time to cut him off.
"Yeah! And Sheriff Sasuke looked real mad! Like even madder than the time Naruto and me put that itchy stuff in his- Where ya goin?"
"To find those two knuckleheads. Go on home now," he instructed as he pulled on his own duster and settled his hat over his unruly hair. "Thanks for the tip." He snagged his rifle from the rack by the door and stepped out to swing into his saddle, sliding the gun into its holster and tugging the reins lightly to direct the creature down the street.
A pink haired young woman on what looked like Sasuke's horse met him on his way out, her path merging with his as she checked the load on the revolver in her hand.
"Miss Haruno. What a pleasant surprise to see you out riding so late in the day," he remarked in his usual easy manner, despite the serious situation. "Shouldn't you be turning down the sheriff's bed sheets or something?"
"Can it, Hatake. That was Akatsuki that rode through earlier," she huffed, holstering her gun, apparently satisfied.
"Konohamaru told me," he nodded. "I guess it's too much to ask that they would have had the good sense to come get us before they rode off after them."
"This is Sasuke and Naruto we're talking about," she pointed out, arching a brow at him.
"Aa. That's true," he smiled slightly ruefully and then shook his head. "I hope he wasn't with them...Sasuke's going to be unmanageable enough as it is," he sighed, his expression becoming more serious as they caught sight of the dust clouds ahead that signified their quarry.
"Yeah, but going by how fast he took off..." Sakura grimaced and urged her horse faster.
"Hm."
He nudged his own mount a bit to keep up with the change of pace, and they caught up to the nearer dust cloud (now settling quickly) in short order. What they found there was not terribly surprising.
"God damn it, get offa me, you moron!"
"You're gonna get yourself killed, bastard!"
"Just let go!"
"Ow! Damn it Sasuke!"
"Shut up, Naruto!"
The two were on the ground at this point, wrestling with each other, Sasuke trying to break out of Naruto's iron grip and Naruto doing his best to hold him down. Their horses circled nervously, pawing the dirt and snorting irritably.
Kakashi sighed, slumping forward in his saddle, hands crossed over the horn.
"Are you two idiots done yet? We need to talk about a few things," he drawled after another half a minute or so of their scuffling.
They glanced at him and Sasuke attempted a last cheap shot at Naruto's face with the arm the blonde was still holding by the wrist, and Naruto snarled and struck back at him and they dissolved into a wrestling mess again.
There was a soft thump at Sakura alighted on the ground and then she kicked them both (Naruto in his exposed ass and Sasuke in the shin) and pried them apart in the ensuing surprised pause, her impressive strength born of years of life riding after her two best friends.
"Knock it off, you idiots!" she snapped, fists on her hips as she glared at them both. "This is just embarrassing. You might've even caught them if you hadn't wasted so much damn time fighting like this, but thank heaven you didn't! You two probably would've started arguing over who gets to shoot who!" Her rant went on for another minute or so, until the two looked suitably cowed (Naruto cowering slightly and Sasuke sulking).
Kakashi chose that moment to re-enter the conversation (such that it was).
"C'mon now. This is the fourth sighting in a week. We should go back to town and talk this over. Come up with a plan. There's too many of the bastards to just go rushing in headlong like this," he said firmly; he glanced at all three of his protégés, but his eyes lingered the longest on Sasuke. "Regardless of personal grudges. Got it?"
"Tch." The Uchiha looked away, getting to his feet and dusting himself off.
Naruto huffed and nodded, looking slightly abashed; his eyes glanced over at Sasuke as well as he brushed the prairie dust off his clothes.
"I guess you're right, Kakashi...huh-ugh! Those damn horses!" he growled; their borrowed mounts had taken off back toward the town the instant Sakura started railing at the two (no doubt off to find their much less aggressive masters).
"Well, if you're going to steal a horse..." Kakashi trailed, offering the blonde a hand to swing onto the saddle behind him.
"Shuddup. Ya know I only did it to catch up with the bastard over there. And Iruka doesn't mind."
Kakashi rolled his eyes, watching Sasuke swing into his saddle and Sakura settle comfortably behind him, her arms around his waist as she rested her cheek against the back of his shoulder. He tapped his horse's sides lightly with his spurs and the creature started off at a trot to lead the way back to the town.
"So far we've got sightings of them here, here, and here, as well as tonight's little fiasco in town," Kakashi said, drawing little x's on the map they had spread out on his desk.
"Doesn't look like much of a pattern," Naruto said, rubbing his messy blonde head with a sigh.
"They are getting closer and closer to the town, though," Sakura pointed out.
Kakashi nodded.
"As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to do something about them if they keep this up," he sighed, glancing at Sasuke; the man had been broody and silent since they'd returned (nothing too new, except that he'd simply ignored all of Naruto's jabs instead of returning them).
"What?" he grunted, looking out the window.
Kakashi sighed again.
"They must be holed up in the hills somewhere," he said, indicating the hill country to their west. "I want to find out where, do a little recon, before we do much more. I'll take Pakkun out tomorrow and see what we can find. You three hold down the fort while I'm gone."
Objections immediately rose from the three in their own respective ways; Sasuke straightened up and stared at him, Sakura banged her fist on the table, and Naruto cried out.
"You're not goin' out there on your own!" the blonde protested.
"It's not safe, Kakashi," Sakura agreed, crossing her arms. "You know how dangerous they are."
"They've wiped out entire squads of rangers before! Not happening," Naruto nodded firmly.
Kakashi waited for their outcries to quiet.
"If I take anyone with me, I'm more likely to get found out," he replied when they'd settled a bit. "I'm the best tracker you'll ever meet, and I took plenty of scouting missions back in the war," he said firmly.
"You're taking one of us with you," Sasuke put in finally, his face set in what those who knew him recognized as his stubborn look.
The marshal ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
"Not you," he said firmly; Sasuke was liable to fly off the handle if he saw a certain someone among the ranks of the group.
"Then who? Naruto is the worst hunter alive," he pointed out.
He sighed slightly and nodded, even as the blonde snapped at his friend in response to the comment; Naruto was anything but stealthy.
The only one left was glaringly obvious, and she had planted her fists on her hips as she stared at him expectantly.
"...Sakura...I don't want to ask you to-
"Kakashi Hatake. If you start in on some lecture about my gender, I swear to God I will throw you through that window."
Kakashi eyed her; in all probability, she would. That slim frame held a truly monstrous amount of strength that no one seemed able to adequately explain.
"If I tell you to run, you run. Got it?" His tone brooked no argument, but she argued anyway while the boys sputtered and tried to think of their own arguments.
"And what? Leave you there? They'd skin you alive for the fun of it."
"Sakura." He met her gaze levelly. "You're not going if you don't promise me."
She glared back mulishly, both of them ignoring Naruto's protests and Sasuke's quiet disagreement. He merely folded his arms and waited.
"...fine, you stubborn old coot," she huffed, shaking her head.
The corner of his visible eye curved in a smile.
"You always say such sweet things, Sakura dear." He dodged the paperweight she chucked at him. "I'll meet you at sundown behind the inn."
She nodded curtly and stalked out of the office with her head held high. They all three pretended not to watch her leave.
"...you're taking my girlfriend out chasing bandits," Sasuke stated, eyeing him coolly.
"Oh, she's your girlfriend now, huh?" Naruto, unable to resist, teased.
Sasuke punched him without looking away from Kakashi. Kakashi shrugged.
"If you two were suitable for the job, I'd take one of you," he said. "But you're not. And I trust Sakura. As should you."
He made an irritated noise and strode out after the pinkette.
Kakashi glanced at Naruto.
"I suppose you're mad at me, too," he sighed, rubbing the back of his head; he didn't particularly care either way, but the blonde would be more annoying than usual if he was allowed to sulk.
"...not really," Naruto said after a moment, fixing him with a fierce look. "But you better not let anything happen to Sakura."
Kakashi smiled slightly.
"I don't think you need to worry about her."
A/N: This is sort of an exploratory thing that struck me while I was procrastinating (oddly enough, I always get my best ideas when I'm supposed to be doing something else). Anyway. It was obviously inspired by the cover art Kishimoto drew that showed our heroes as cowboys. I might continue it, but I can't promise steady updates; exam week is coming up, after all. Anyway. Let me know what you all think if you want to see more of this. Thanks for reading. Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything like that. Blah. Also, the cover image is not mine, so credit to everyone who wants it.