Notes: this is a revised version of Know Your Place. If you've read the old one, please read this one because some important things have been added.
Disclaimer: Yes, I own Naruto. All of it. (of course, for me to be saying this is like declaring that Pikachu invented the British language, so no)
Kakashi stood lazily in front of the memorial, familiar orange book dangling from his right hand, eyes sweeping the sight of the bluish slab of stone displayed in front of him. From behind, he could see the rising sun, casting bright rays of light that filtered the vanishing night shadows.
This particular morning, he did not merely come for Obito, though his buddy was on his mind as he approached the memorial. It was the ten year anniversary for one of his closest friends. Yurumo Kaoru. As he stared, he allowed his mind to wander. Ten years since her death, since a certain betrayal had almost left to the destruction of Konoha. And only he and Genma were the survivors. At the cost of an innocent life.
A sudden screech made his head snap up and tore the memory images from his mind. A sharp brown hawk circled overhead, squawking loudly. A summon. From Tsunade.
Without another word, Kakashi set off. His figure disappeared in a hiss and a blur, leaving behind nothing but a lingering scent of memories.
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Sakura's brain was dizzy when her eyes opened to bright sunlight, the dream she slept through dissipating away like so much mist. She was vaguely aware that it was her day off finally at the hospital and she sighed in relief. She didn't feel like treating overly sensitive patients or give out any more massages. As soon as the thought entered her awakening brain, a knock on the window made her turn around.
A familiar uniform of green and dark blue told her it was no doubt one of the jounins. Naruto was the first on her mind—he often came in the mornings to greet her friendlily and offer her food or interesting stories of him and Hinata. Shikamaru or one of her female friends were next on the expectant list—probably there to tell her of a party or scold her for being such a sleeper. Genma was also a possibility for her—lately, he's been flirting with her, being the womanizer that he was. Sakura thought or maybe half hoped without much interest that it was Sasuke. He had been brought back after Naruto defeated Orochimaru and had begun to show some respect to Sakura as somewhat of an equal, but the relationship between them had digressed to mutual—if still existent.
Never had she expected to see the cover of a familiar orange book propped up between slightly calloused fingers as his figure perched casually on the tiny slope of balcony outside her window.
As their eyes, met, his visible on crinkled in a smile as he greeted kindly, his voice muffled somewhat by the glass, "Ohayo, Sakura-chan."
"K-Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura uttered, visibly startled at his appearance. This was rare. Even Sasuke would have been more likely. Ever since her promotion to chunin level, she and Kakashi practically lost contact save the occasional greetings when he entered the hospital injured, or when they passed in the streets or when their appointments with Tsunade got set up next to each other and they waved at the door. But Sakura just didn't seem to think the equally occasion, "Yo," and "Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei," were enough to maintain a relationship of any kind.
"Get up, Sakura, Tsunade needs us to be there in ten minutes," Kakashi said briskly.
Sakura's eyes widened dramatically. So much for the day off. "Ten minutes? I can't do that! I have to do my hair and wash!"
"Skip to the wash, you're hair will be fine," Kakashi prompted. "It'll get messed up later anyways. And you really might want to hurry up. She's timing us. My paycheck gets cut if we're late."
At that, Sakura was already rolling out of bed, tangled in a trail of bedsheets. "She expects you to be on time? She must be dreaming."
"Not when my paycheck is riding the risk," he replied calmly, his nose buried in his Icha Icha.
"Shit!" Sakura hissed as she tripped over her tangles blankets and fell face flat on the floor, exposing her bright pink panties. Blushing, she pulled herself up hastily for cover, casting Kakashi a glance and breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that his book covered his face.
The wash was brief before Kakashi rudely barged in a dragged Sakura out before she finished ripping a comb through her pink locks.
"Hey, I can't go out like this!"
"You'll have to endure it for now. I need this paycheck to go catch the next Icah Icha movie tickets," Kakashi deadpanned, picking up her chunin vest and bringing the two out the door, slamming it shut behind him with a casual jerk of his heel.
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"Ne, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura began as she accompanied him down the hall to Tsunade's office, passing some other people of her rank scurry away with piles of papers in their arms.
"Hm?"
"When she told you to get me, did she tell you what for?" She asked, knowing that the answer was probably a no. Beside her, Kakashi just shrugged like usual, still no doubt focused on his book. Sakura sighed. It's always been like this. But what was rare was for Kakashi to be with her on this particular occasion. They haven't really hung out with each other in a while—ever since their last mission about a year or so ago when they had to trace some Akatsuki members. But now that they were back in contact, Sakura felt rather awkward. She's always held respect for him and his reputation, but she had begun to realize that Kakashi was not as antisocial as she used to think. Due to Konoha's drinking age being seventeen, she often went to the bar and found him there sitting at a table with Genma, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and Anko, chatting when his turn and enjoying bottles of drinks.
Once outside the door, Sakura raised her hand and knocked. Upon hearing the permission call from within, she pushed the door open and went in, Kakashi following. The room was as messy as usual—not anything new to Sakura for she went there practically everyday. Papers splashed pell-mell on the desk along with stacks of unopened scrolls. Discarded sake bottles littered the corners, nooks and crannies along with wrappers of sweets that Sasuke would disprove of.
"Ah, here we are," Tsunade began, looking up from the desk and slipping out two scrolls from beneath the mess of papers. "Your missions." She handed one to Kakashi and another to Sakura; both took it swiftly before rolling it open. Sakura's brows furrowed into a brow as she skimmed through the contents and descriptions.
"Gang rapists?"
There was an awkward kind of pause in which the only thing disturbing the silence was Kakashi rolling his mission scroll shut.
"Abducting and killing off prostitutes?"
Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair, propping her feet gracelessly onto the pile of papers she had on her desk. "Amegakure. In recent months they seemed to have risen in power under their so called feudal lords, they've been reported under careful observation to have kidnapped women in a prostitute house nearby Mist and went into hiding. ANBU appeared to the scene to find many slashed bodies of, uh, clients."
Sakura shuffled uncomfortably beside her sensei.
"But they found traces of powerful jutsus. Not normal ones either. They know manipulation when it comes to it," Tsunade continued seriously.
"If all they do is kidnap and rape women from prostitute houses, then it shouldn't be too much danger?" Kakashi asked finally.
Tsunade shook her head. "If only. Our client, Gouha Emoki, has given enough evidence to prove that their ring leader is Goku Taiso, and you know of his grudge against Konoha, I'm sure."
"The Goku Taiso?" Kakashi voiced, his one visible eye widening slightly. "I though he died."
Sakura glanced at him for a moment. From the intensity of his gaze, she could tell already that for someone to startle the infamously emotionless Kakashi, Taiso must really have been something.
"Yeah, I thought he was dead too," Tsunade sighed, sitting back up and leaning in forward. "But it turns out he wasn't."
"Hm."
Silence was upon them again as Sakura tried and failed to keep up. "Wait, can I please know what's going on here?" Sakura interrupted rather rudely. "Who's Taiso? What happened with him and Konoha?"
Kakashi didn't answer; didn't surprise Sakura. But Tsunade did speak out.
"Thirteen years ago, he was one of the best ANBU we have ever seen. Besides the Itachi and Hatake here. But apart from that, he was incompatible. And then of course, there's the classical betrayal thing. It was a mission sent out between Kakashi, Genma, Taiso and Ara Kaoru to assassinate a group of Ame jounin bandits that were roaming around and kidnapping powerful people of Konoha into working for them. But along the way…"
The three hunched over on the branches in the chilly night, ears strained to catch any sign of their sly targets.
"I don't sense anything," Kaoru finally mumbled into the silence. "If they're anywhere near here, they'll have already known we're coming, meaning there must be traps around."
"No," Kakashi replied quietly, shaking his head to the darkness ahead, his Sharingan shut tightly to conserve his remaining chakra. "There's no way they'll know we're here unless they've got inside information."
"This site is supposed to be their secret right?" Genma questioned, twiddling a kunai between his finger and mouth chewing on his precious senbon. "And Ibiki said that this missions was confidential so no one knows save us, him and the Hokage."
"But these guys can't be clueless," Taiso reasoned. "If they've been going about so boldly then they have to expect some sort of counter. Unless they are completely absolutely confident that they can win."
Kakashi shut both his eyes to concentrate. This mission had been assigned fairly simple—kill off all the raving bandits that tried to sabotage Konoha and return safely with no harm and everyone gets to live happily from then on. But twice now, his deductions and interpretation of their residential location had been proven wrong upon their arrival. He knew there was absolutely no way they were told beforehand about this mission, but he didn't like to think about the other end. If they were aware this platoon was coming, traps would have been set all along the way, ambushes would have been ready for some time now. And their instructor had told them that their one chance was the element of surprise. If they failed to use that advantage wisely, they would be outnumbered badly, outmatched despite Kakashi's excellent Sharingan power and out-jutsued. Form what he knew, they had some seriously damaging stuff.
"Don't let your guard down," he ordered briskly before turning his head into the dark clearing ahead.
"But captain, do we proceed?" Taiso asked tentatively as the atmosphere thickened.
Kakashi nodded. "We'll keep moving. There's no signs of them yet, but we'll keep to the shadows."
"Could it be that they already know--" Kaoru started uncertainly.
"Only if there's inside information and I trust all of you enough to believe that you won't divulge anything," he replied, heaving his feet off in a light, blurry pounce, hearing the others follow up behind.
"And you can probably imagine the rest," Tsunade said, breaking the images from Sakura's mind.
"He of all people," Kakashi mumbled beside her, his voice betraying a hint of a scowl. Sakura was unsure of what to do or say for a moment. The sad story suddenly told before her in a way, made her feel almost…sad? Depressed?
Perfect encouragement before a mission…Then snapping her head up, Sakura realized the reason they were here in the first place. She opened her mouth to ask questions, but Kakashi beat her to it.
"Our mission?"
Tsunade leaned over her desk and fixed them with the most intense gaze she could muster up. "Kill them off and retrieve all the women back if you can. Some are not even from the prostitute house. But most importantly," Tsunade paused before looking at Sakura and Kakashi in turn.
"I want Taiso's ring."
"His ring?" Sakura asked, confused at the sudden change of subject. "You didn't mention that earlier."
"Yes, his ring. It was what our client was after in the first place. But when he tried to track the ring down, it led to Taiso, which began a whole new problem altogether."
"But what's so special about a ring?"
"It's no ordinary ring, Sakura," Kakashi said, causing her to look up at him. "It's stolen property."
"How so?" An eyebrow shot up.
"It was his ANBU weapon, you could say," he said. "I'm guessing it was what saved his life and it's supposed to be the supply of his power."
Another eyebrow shifted up to join the first. "I'm confused. How can a ring save a life?"
"Like I said, Sakura, not just any ring. It was forged by Orochimaru when he was doing his experiments."
Sakura shuddered at the thought of the abominably pale, greasy haired, slimy tongued, strangely sexualized and completely sadistic old worm that had turned Sasuke practically into the devil. True, he was defeated two years ago by Naruto and Sasuke returned in full repentance, the memories never quite left her.
"What kind of ring is it? It's not the kind where it has to be taken by some Hobbits to Mount Doom right? Because if that's the case, you should get Naruto."
Tsunade shook her head urgently. "Look, the ring is not supposed to be something superlatively legendary or mythical. It's a symbol of power, but that's not to say it has none. Orochimaru has said to have sealed numerous things in it that you would not dream to know of."
"And what exactly are those sealed horrible things?"
"No one knows except Taiso and it wasn't until his betrayal did we find out that he used to work for Orochimaru in his prime years."
"What is he? A rapist, a traitor, an ANBU failure AND an Orochimaru supporter?"
"Seems so," Tsunade mumbled. "But your mission is to kill these people off, retrieve the missing women and somehow—I don't give a damn—get that ring back. He had it ten years ago and it probably saved his life without him realizing it. I don't know why he's making sudden moves now, but out client was pretty certain about his power source. If he mass produce it, then Amegakure would definitely challenge Konoha. And since they were the feudal lords that rule everything, it shouldn't be too hard to start war. What with his grudge against Konoha and all…"
"Alright, point taken," Sakura said. "But why me? If this is an assassination mission, Kakashi would be better off sent on a solo."
There was a long pause that seemed to hint Sakura's brain to start realizing something. Prostitutes, girls, rapists, assassination—
"Sakura, how much experience have you had with seduction?"
The question seemed like a slap in the face for Sakura as she stood there in front of Tsunade, trying to ignore the interesting stare she was receiving from her ex teacher. She was unsure of what to say. In truth, she's never even had sex, while Ino, Tenten, Temari and even Hinata had already lost their virginity long ago. Ino, in particular, seemed proud of her long history of one nightstands, despite her age. Sakura, having never quite approved Ino taking after Genma's path, kept herself pure enough. Why, she didn't know—maybe because her love with Sasuke didn't leave her ready enough for a relationship? Maybe she just wasn't mentally ready for sex. Or maybe her physicality—rather young looking, not curvy and full like Ino's or Temari's—never gave her the impression that she even looked ready for bonding.
To be safe in her situation right then, Sakura replied with, "I don't understand the question."
"Hm," Tsunade mumbled. "Look Sakura, the reason I need you is because you're a girl, you have strength, Ino is away on another mission in Suna to help Gaara and you can fit in a tight slim yukata. Do I need to say more?"
Sakura gulped slightly and immediately realized what Tsunade meant. But before she knew even how to react, Shizune had entered the room telling the Godaime she had some debt conference to make that was urgent. The next thing she knew, she and Kakashi were being ushered out by a flustered blonde-baa-chan while Shizune lectured her about the bad sides to gambling. Once the door shut behind the two and the voices became muffled, Kakashi turned to Sakura and creased his visible eye in a smile.
"It's been a while since I was on a mission with you, ne?" He said happily. "Come on, let's go to the Jounin headquarters to plan things out."
Sakura stared as he started walking down the hall they came up, unsure of what to say. Was she prone to deny the mission in any way? She obviously wasn't given the chance. And as her feet began carrying her behind Kakashi's footsteps to a conference room, Sakura realized just what she—or Tsunade—had gotten her in.