Implied Genma/Yuugao, set preseries, part one of two. This takes place about a year after "Rescue"; Genma would be about 26, and Yuugao about 18. Do enjoy!

Even
Part I

"A rescue mission?" Genma nearly bit through his senbon in mixed irritation and shock as he and his team whipped through the forest outside Konoha. "That's what we got our asses pulled out of the village so suddenly for? We're not fucking rescue material..."

"We could be," Raidou responded, grimly; he'd been the one to get the last-minute emergency briefing before they'd had to ship out, and so he'd been unofficially deemed team leader. So of course, he was the one briefing his teammates on their way out to the rescue. Like proper dedicated shinobi of Konoha, the other three had followed orders without question, without even knowing what they were doing -- just shipped out knowing they'd get the details on the way. Of course, now hearing those details, Genma was beginning to regret his usual thoughtless obedience. Not that his loyalty to his own village wavered in the slightest, but he was beginning to wonder if someone was just fucking with him at the mission desk. He wasn't a rescue sort of guy. Like Raidou said, he could be if he needed to -- flexibility was one of a ninja's greatest assets. But that didn't mean they were top choice for a rescue mission...

"So who the flying fuck are we rescuing, then?" Genma demanded, rolling the senbon to the side of his mouth. One of his front teeth ached slightly. "And why the hell is it so urgent?"

Raidou grimaced, and Genma immediately knew he wouldn't like the answer. "A team of ANBU," he answered, the twisted scars on his face only exacerbating the ominous feeling Genma got from his words. Genma nearly ground his teeth against his senbon, but Raidou began to speak before the younger tokujou could issue anymore curse-laden complaints. "Victims of circumstance, Genma. They didn't pick us because they wanted to -- they picked us because they had to. I didn't get too many details about why ANBU didn't send out their own men -- you know how secretive they are -- but I'm getting the strong impression that ANBU's spread a little too thin, these days."

Genma's mouth settled into a wide line of disapproval, though he looked more disgruntled at the mere circumstances of things rather than reluctant to help fellow shinobi. There were always alternating times of peace and turmoil in the country, and he supposed this was just more evidence of it, but he'd never been on this end of it. He mostly considered himself lucky for that -- Genma was always ready to serve his village, but given the chance, he'd just as soon spend the day lazing on his couch with a book. His sensei had always told him that his sloth would always be his worst trait, though Genma was sure others would beg to differ on that part.

Genma and the other two members of the team, Aoba and Iwashi, flew through the trees behind Raidou without much more conversation -- there wasn't so much room for idle talk. The site of the rescue was still several miles away, and they were to move with the utmost urgency. It was sheer luck that the ANBU team had fallen so close to the village. Genma had to admit that he hadn't ever really considered an ANBU team capable of falling, let alone being rescued by a normal team of tokujou. They were the saviors, the faceless ghosts who moved on whispers and murmurs to their nameless duties.

Genma knew immediately when they'd just about reached the rescue site. None of them needed Raidou to signal that they were nearly there; Genma could identify without effort the stinging smell of fresh blood and crackling chakra and burning flesh. That last made his stomach turn in a distant way not unlike a childhood discomfort that has long been ushered beneath the carpet by adult expectations. He saw Raidou's face pale slightly from the corner of his eye, and the senbon stuck straight out as his jaw clenched tightly around it.

The enemy was still present -- the battle wasn't over yet, though it was close. It was an ANBU team from another village -- Genma didn't have time to make out the symbols on their masks before Aoba identified them first, communicating it through quick hand signs. It's Kusa -- the enemy is Kusa. Konoha had no treaty with Kusa, Genma knew, but his knowledge stopped there. Not that it made much of a difference -- treaties and the like didn't tend to matter much when someone was in the midst of trying to stick you with loads of pointy things.

There were only three identifiable bodies of their allies -- there were supposed to be four -- Genma couldn't tell at a glance how many of them were alive, but he could tell that the fourth member of the ANBU team, or what was left of him, was strewn about their battle site in pieces. Two of the remaining three were flung over the blood-spattered ground, either dead or unconscious, but the third was still attempting to fight back against the enemy team despite her obvious incapacitation. She was half-lying on the ground with two kunai stuck into one very bloody leg, body twisted upward as she leaned back on a battered arm. Her other arm was tensely raised, holding a kunai against an enemy katana. The blades scraped unpleasantly, and the Konoha ANBU's body trembled violently with the effort, her long sheet of plum-colored hair shimmering unsteadily under the blazing sun.

Genma's eyes flashed unexpectedly. That hair -- spattered with blood, sweat, and dirt as it was, he knew that hair. His mind flashed back to a year ago -- to the hospital stay after his team had been rescued --

So do I get to know your name, or is that top secret like everything else in ANBU?

It all happened within the blink of an eye. Raidou and Aoba melted away into the safe cover of the trees before they'd even reached the site of the battle, and as Genma and Iwashi launched themselves into battle, Genma was able to identify exactly three living bodies of the enemy. Even though the numbers were even -- assuming both of the intact bodies of Konoha ANBU on the ground were still alive -- the enemy still had the upper hand. And they'd called in a standard team of tokujou for rescue? They really must have been desperate, Genma decided.

The senbon-wielding shinobi launched his first attack as soon as they swung into view, spitting the needle in his mouth at the exposed neck of the shinobi attacking the plum-haired ANBU, while Iwashi flew off in a different direction at the other two enemies. The targeted ANBU flickered out of the way immediately -- without even turning his head -- and Genma grunted a curse. He should have expected as much. The senbon grazed the arm of the Konoha ANBU as she collapsed with a shudder to the grass, the sun reflecting brightly off her painted white mask.

Seeing my face is well enough, isn't it?

The reflected brilliance would have been surprising, if Genma had had time to be dazzled.

Uzuki Yuugao.

Genma's feet slid across the ground as he landed in front of Yuugao, kicking up a small cloud of dust and dirt. Four senbon were already loaded in between the fingers of his right hand, ready to go, and he hurled them at the Kusa ANBU that was already descending upon him, katana drawn. He flickered away again, and most of them missed -- one of them buried itself shallowly into the top of his left shoulder. Genma gritted his teeth slightly, taking his eyes off his current opponent to look at where Iwashi was battling another ANBU, trying to keep his number of opponents down to one. The timing would be difficult, but if he could get it just so...

Well, accuracy had always been his strong suit.

Genma thought it probably reflected badly on Kusa if one of their ANBU was able to be taken down by a small shower of senbon when facing only one enemy, but then again, their enemy was battle-weary. Iwashi's opponent faltered and fell, and Iwashi took full advantage of it, releasing a wave of chakra in the form of a deadly raiton jutsu. The smell of charred flesh grew stronger, and Genma knew that if Raidou had been there right then, he would have flinched, even if only slightly.

"Make sure he's really down, Iwashi!" Genma barked, pivoting sharply as he spun to face the ANBU he'd been attempting to hit before. The scratched and bloodied katana came at him in a brightly-lit flash, only to be countered by a kunai drawn at the last second. He couldn't spare a glance back at the fallen Konoha ANBU beside him, but her chakra seemed active enough to suggest that she was still conscious. Not that she could fight -- and even with one of the enemy down, Genma knew that he and Iwashi couldn't finish off the remaining two on their own. His arm shook as he pressed the kunai against the blade edge, keeping the Kusa-nin at bay. Strength was really not his strong suit. Come on, Raidou, Aoba, any goddamn time now...

As if on cue, a shadow suddenly fell over their battlefield. Neither Genma nor Iwashi needed to look up to know that it was a murder of crows blotting out the sun over them. If the ANBU were surprised at all, Genma couldn't tell -- but he was pretty certain that they weren't counting on a six foot tall shinobi to emerge from that flock, black matte blade angled downward and his dark cape rippling in the wind as he plummeted headfirst into the battlefield. The targeted Kusa-nin dodged, as expected -- but what wasn't expected was that he waited until the last second to do so. Raidou barely had time to change direction, and only narrowly avoided burying his sword into the ground -- when he landed, he wasn't completely ready for an attack, and he took the first blow delivered by the enemy. That was all right, though -- Raidou was built to take hits as much as he was built to deliver them.

It had been a clever thing to do, Genma thought. Of course -- they were ANBU. The tricky thing about fighting ANBU was that they functioned differently in battle, in a whole new way. It could be either good or bad, but usually, Genma lamented, it put ordinary field shinobi like him at a disadvantage.

Aoba should have been about to appear shortly, Genma knew, and that meant he couldn't waste much more time shielding Yuugao from the enemy. They had to move into a vicious offensive -- to risk drawing out the battle at all would be to risk mission failure. They had to nip this in the bud the best they could. He signaled for Iwashi to come take his place instead; Iwashi was the least qualified to lead an assault front between the four of them, and therefore the best candidate to protect the one Konoha ANBU they knew for certain to be alive. He let the kunai edge slide along his opponent's blade, sparks flying; as soon as the pressure and tension had been released from his arm, Genma leaned backwards on one leg, and then one arm, to deliver a swift kick to his opponent's head. As expected, the Kusa ANBU jerked his head to the side just in time, but with every kick and punch Genma delivered, he was being led away from Yuugao.

The murder of crows still surrounded Raidou's fighting form, but they were no longer merely passive participants in the battle -- they, too, added to the attack with fierce beaks and claws. Aoba had dove into the battle sometime too when Genma hadn't been paying attention -- not that he had much to spare in that department. ANBU were a handful to fight, and Genma decided then that if he ever had the choice, he'd never fight one again. They really were tricky bastards, and though Genma derived a perverse sort of amusement from fighting a creative opponent, the situation was too dire for him to waste his energy on such a sentiment.

The fight between himself and his opponent had gotten close -- the distance was too small between them for Genma to continue using his senbon, but the tokujou had the ANBU right where he wanted him. After all, who needed senbon when he could hit the points he needed with his own bare hands?

It was too difficult to tell if the ANBU was surprised when the Konoha-nin simply dropped his last weapon from his hands, but Genma privately hoped he was. When you lost the element of surprise, you had only your own strength to depend on, and Genma wasn't too eager to rely simply on that. The chakra rushed smoothly to his hands, collecting in his fingertips, and he felt a hot rush of adrenaline surge up into his throat. The fight was really on, now.

If the ANBU hadn't been such a quick and slippery bastard, it would have been over that much sooner -- but one hit from Genma's chakra-powered fingers, and his sword arm was useless; yet another, and the man dropped to the ground. Just for good measure -- because Genma always erred on the side of caution -- he slit the Kusa-nin's throat with a kunai. He was back into the rush of the battle before he could even see the blood rush out from the man's body.

Once it was down to four men versus two, things went much more smoothly. Genma honestly attributed it to the fact that their enemies were already weary from battle. The four of them were competent and talented, to be sure, but even two ANBU could have been more than a handful otherwise.

Raidou was issuing swift orders as soon as the last Kusa-nin dropped to the ground dead -- no time could be wasted. They'd already spent enough in battle. "Genma, Aoba -- check the vitals of those two," he said, jerking his head at the other two Konoha ANBU. "Iwashi, is she all right?"

Iwashi knelt beside the plum-haired ANBU, lightly pressing two fingers to her neck. "Her pulse and chakra are fine," he reported, getting to his feet. "She's just out. It doesn't look like she's got any critical injuries, either, but I'm not a medic."

"Better safe than sorry. The real medics will be able to tell us for sure." Raidou dropped to a crouch by Yuugao. "Genma? Aoba?"

Aoba rose from the fallen body of a Konoha ANBU, shaking his head silently. Genma was still kneeling beside the ANBU next to him, cocking the senbon in his mouth upwards.

"This one's still alive. Chakra's getting faint, though. We ought to get these two to the hospital as soon as possible." Cracking his knuckles, he scooped up the body of the ANBU and rose to his feet. Raidou's jaw tensed slightly as he looked around the battle scene -- not necessarily a sign of tension, Genma had come to notice, but a strange kind of facial tic that manifested itself whenever Raidou was in charge.

"We'll have to dispose of the body. They are ANBU, after all, and I never got word on whether a hunter-nin had been dispatched. Better safe than sorry," he repeated, slipping his large arms under Yuugao's neck and the crook of her knees. "Aoba, your birds --"

"They're not disposal summons," Aoba said, almost stiffly. Raidou shook his head.

"Whatever. If your birds won't eat the body, then burn it." He paused. "But not the mask. Bring the mask back with you."

"What about the fourth?" Iwashi's voice cut in, quietly and unobtrusively, but enough to remind them that he was still there. Genma had a tendency to forget about Iwashi, sometimes. "Wasn't there another ANBU on this mission?"

"Was being the key word," Genma muttered around the senbon, kicking at something on the ground -- upon closer observation, Iwashi could see that it was a small mess of charred flesh and cloth. The younger shinobi blanched slightly. "I don't think much disposal needs to be done of that one. Enemy took care of that for us."

Raidou turned away, and Genma couldn't help but notice the miniscule shudder. "Aoba, if you can, find his mask, too. Iwashi, Genma -- let's go. See you on the other side, Aoba." The only sound as they launched themselves into the trees on their journey back was the quiet rustle of clothing, and the only trace they left behind were the small clouds of dust that just as soon faded into the air.