Spirits on the Floor:Part 1
"Kaka-sensei," Sakura called from the floor of her old teacher's one room apartment, a smile in her voice, "none of these pictures are very flattering." She cooed, rolling onto her back, pink hair falling around her like a halo, and falling over more images that had been scattered across the floor by Kakashi's bed.
"Mah, what do I care, Sakura-chan," He groaned from the bed, head tilted slightly over the edge so that he could watch his former student roll around in her many images of team 7, "you know I don't like to get my picture taken."
Sakura pouted up at him, her eyes growing bright with irritation, "How am I supposed to remember you fondly when I don't even have one good picture of you?"
Kakashi rolled over in his bed, the room still dark from what must have been an overcast sky, his mind still played Sakura's snicker, and as he flopped his head over the side of the bed, he could still see her there, face triumphant with an image in her hand,
"Finally!" she had shouted, raising the image high into the sky, waving it about like it had been Tsunade's winning lottery ticket.
"Baka," he whispered, as the phantom image rolled away like smoke, leaving behind a plain white envelope; a spirit on the floor.
As Kakashi rose to his feet, an old untreated wound on his shoulder complained, and wet warmth told him the scab had broken as he stretched. There had been a heavy silence as Kakashi prepared himself for today's mission, in the harsh sound of the shower and the ruffle of cloth as he slipped on his flak jacket, and in the light crinkling of paper, as he gingerly picked up the envelope off the floor, and slipped it into icha icha.
"What's this?" Naruto gawked, Sai standing by quietly as Kakashi strolled casually into the hokage's office, only two minutes late, "what are you doing here Kakashi-Sensei?!" Kakashi planted his hands deep into his pockets, letting his posture slack,
"Sorry I'm late," Naruto's brow furrowed in anger as his mouth opened wide for protest, but just as he was about to demand just what Kakashi was doing being practically on time, if it were not for the agitated throat clearing that came from Tsunade.
"Now that we're all here," she began, resting her elbows on the desk, and clasping her hands together, "it's time we got down to business."
"What about Sakura?" Naruto asked, arms crossed and voice dejected after being denied his outburst, "isn't she coming on this mission?"
Kakashi's heart sank, Tsunade's gaze meeting his own, and a silence hung in the air for a moment before the hokage once more cleared her throat, avoiding looking at the younger team Kakashi members.
"Roughly twenty-four hours ago, Sakura Haruno's status went M.I.A."
"Why were we not alerted earlier about Sakura's disappearance?" Sai interjected almost immediately, his facial features not quite matching the inquiry in his voice, "shouldn't the team associated with a missing nin be the first notified in a situation like this?"
"Usually, yes," Tsunade nodded, her eyes shifting to look at the pale young man who'd spoken, "but Sakura was working a solo S-ranked mission, no one was supposed to know about the scroll she'd been instructed to carry or its contents inside."
Sai nodded, his root training helping him understand the situation slightly more than Naruto, who had silently been seething with fists balled since Tsunade had first spoken.
"ANBU has already been sent out to the last check point; the scroll was hidden there leaving us to suspect that Sakura had picked up on the ninja coming in on her."
"Any sign of which way they may have been heading?" Sai was looking towards the floor, his head bent, and voice softer than usual.
"Roughly six miles east of the check point ANBU was unable to continue following Sakura's trail."
"Alright then," Naruto stepped forward, tightening his headband and throwing out his hand with thumbs up, "we'll bring Sakura back in no time, Grandma Tsunade!"
"Oh, Naruto," Tsunade sighed, her eyebrows drawn in,
"Naruto," Kakashi stepped forward, clapping his hand onto the young man's shoulder, the pain echoing into his throat as he tried to look into those crystal blue eyes, "We're not going on a rescue mission; it's retrieval."
Stepping out of Kakashi's reach, Naruto looked between his two superiors,
"I don't understand," his eyes were frantic, his usually fast mouth was having trouble forming the words he needed to get out, "but…but it's Sakura…it's Sakura!"
"You don't think I don't hurt?" Tsunade snapped back, pulling a hidden bottle of Sake from under her desk, "but as Hokage, I had to make the decision to put my people before my heart, I put Sakura on this mission because I thought she could handle it. I never imagined this outcome to be a possibility."
"There has to be some way," Naruto barked, raging up to the Hokage's desk, and beating his fists upon its top, "some way we can bring her back…back.."
"Alive?" Kakashi finished, strolling up to Naruto, and once more placing his hand upon the young man's shoulder, "Sakura's a smart girl, we would have heard something by now if she was still alive, she would have sent something out to let us know she was okay."
"But what if she didn't have the time?" Naruto asked, a strange smile on his face, "yeah, what if these rogue ninja have her under surveillance and she hasn't been able to sneak out anything?"
"In cases of kidnapping shinobi, these ninja would only have to reasons to keep their hostage alive," Sia muttered, refusing to look up from his shoes, "if there hasn't been any hint towards a ransom at this point they would be trying to torture Konoha secrets out of her right now."
"Sakura would never let it get that far." Tsunade sighed, knocking back her first round of Sake, and pouring the next, "she was given a pill before she left for the mission that she had been instructed to take upon capture."
"So it's useless?" Naruto went limp, "she's gone?"
"Not completely," Kakashi's grip hardened on the boys shoulder, feeling the same despair weigh upon his own shoulders, "we're going to return her body back home, it's what she deserves."
Naruto nodded, before quickly turning and heading for the door,
"Then let's go."
It took eight hours to reach Sakura's last check point, eight hours filled with silence now broken as Kakashi called upon his hounds. There was no time for pleasantries, and as Kakashi asked Pakkun to follow an all too familiar scent of shampoo, a worried look crossed over the pugs features,
"You okay, boss?" he asked, resting one paw on the tip of Kakashi's shoes, "The girl…"
"We don't have the time, old friend," Kakashi sighed, "just help me bring her home."
With a curt nod, Pakkun sat expectant. Kakashi carefully revealed the envelope from his jacket, bringing it to his own nose first, before letting Pakkun take in the scent for himself.
"We'll find her boss," Pakkun grunted, after finally catching the scent, "don't you worry."
It was just after the sun set that the team stumbled upon a flickering light deep within the woods, even from their position loud voices could be heard down wind.
"Could that be them?" Sai questioned, wiping the sweat from his brow, "would they be dumb enough to let themselves get noticed like this?"
"They would if they were cocky," Kakashi muttered, "if they're willing to set up camp like this then it could mean we're facing big numbers. Shiba, Akino, fan out and investigate the perimeter."
The dogs nodded once and ran off in their directions as Pakkun and the others made the first moves to go ahead of the team.
"Shouldn't we fall back and wait for the ninken to come back with information?" Sai asked, walking casually beside Naruto who was still silent as the grave.
"No time, we're doing this quick, if there's anything too dangerous the dogs will contact us, this pace is slow enough." Throwing his hands behind his back, elbows pointed out on either side, Kakashi sighed, "As long as we don't exert any unneeded chakra we shouldn't raise any red flags for our targets."
"We're running out of time," Naruto finally grunted, "even if this is the fastest way to do things, we're still going too slowly!"
"We don't have a choice," Kakashi's voice was hard, "we can't go rushing into these things, no matter what's involved."
"Sakura could still be alive," he spat, "she could still be alive and we're just walking around!"
Kakashi slammed Naruto into the nearest tree, the force causing it to bow and splinter slightly; he slapped his hand over Naruto's mouth before talking in a harsh whisper,
"She's dead!" Naruto moved against Kakashi's hold, trying to mumble through the older man's fingers.
"She's dead!" Kakashi repeated, pressing Naruto harder into the tree, "there's nothing I can do for her now, except keep the two of you safe!" Kakashi released Naruto, turning his back to the young man, and thrusting his fists deep into his jacket pockets, "Just stay out of trouble, Naruto, for Sakura's sake."