It was the appointed meeting time and they were once again overseeing the trade. It appears the solicited group had bit and the dealer was most ecstatic in his latest market conquering. She counted three crates on the ground between the two sides and watched as the 'dealer' pried one open with a crowbar, the buying party crowding around the merchandise. In this case, it turned out to be an arms deal after all. The leader of the interested party lifted the top weapon from the crate and held it before him, turning it to view from several angles. Experimentally hefting it, he cradled it as if in battle, his mates gesturing between each other. Soon enough, they all nodded and gave a closing one to the supplier who returned a deep bow in gratitude for their patronage.

She shot a look to Kakashi at the signal the supplier made and the resulting noise of cart wheels. His hand was held out to her: don't move. She turned back. There were two carts entering the small gathering and they both watched in concern as one cart was unloaded onto the other. That was a big shipment. Still Kakashi signaled her motionless. They stayed a good twenty minutes after the last mercenary-nin was seen leaving the area.

He finally turned to her, voice serious, face stern. "We leave for Konoha tonight."

Tsunade's face was understandably contorted in worry at the news. Although Sakura couldn't really identify with all the reasons the hokage undoubtedly saw, she could definitely see how this development would cause problems not only for Konoha, but for all travelers between the Fire-Water borders. Heavily armed thieves on the road would provide for more income opportunities, certainly, but the danger level was such that it couldn't be allowed to escalate. Tsunade was frowning and Sakura mimicked her reflexively. Kakashi moved, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and she was reminded he was here, not to mention directly between her and the hokage. Maybe she should have likened it to being reminded that he was alive. He'd been standing almost over Tsunade as she thought. She knew him to be spacing off yet still aware of everything that was happening; that was just Kakashi. But the sigh that exited the hokage's mouth brought both Sakura's attention and Kakashi's eye to her.

"We can't let this go," she said, resigned, focusing an apologetic and well-worn look upon Kakashi as she met his gaze. "Sorry," she said with a half smile. "Wait for a moment and I'll write up the next one."

With that, Tsunade pulled out new parchment and put her re-inked brush to it. Kakashi remained unmoved with arms across his chest and did just that, eye once again staring over the older woman's head and to the side at a framed painting. She was unfazed and seemingly oblivious to his continued proximity. Sakura got the impression she was used to it. Sakura shifted from her spot on the cushions, his gaze on her but not as it went over her head as well. The tension in the room was getting to her, having increased since delivering their report.

Write up the next one? Another mission?

Tsunade moved and there was a gentle rustle of paper as she rolled the scroll. She looked up as she reached out her arm, hand bearing the new mission's details. Briefly following Kakashi's gaze before he pulled it away in order to take the scroll from her, she commented softly enough that Sakura had to lean forward to even hear what was being said.

"Do you never tire of looking at him?" There was something secretive in her mentor's smile and features, something sad and remorseful. Regret…and sorrow, Sakura identified. She was torn between the implications of what it could mean.

"No," he'd answered firmly, pocketing the scroll.

Tsunade looked like she'd expected as much and sat back. She was all business again. "See if you can't locate their base this time." She flicked her gaze over to where Sakura sat on the pillows not far away before returning to Kakashi.

"This is another B-rank classification. Combat is expected. There is no time frame, but please complete it as quickly as possible. If nothing is heard within two weeks, we will consider the mission a failure and send out retrieval teams."

Sakura swallowed in grim understanding while Kakashi only gave a half nod. He turned and moved to exit the room, Sakura jumping up to hurry after him. She met Tsunade's eyes as she passed, her teacher issuing a final warning.

"Be careful, Sakura. And check your medical supplies."

"Yes, hokage-sama," she bowed, sprinting to catch Kakashi.

There was something she had to ask Tsunade-sensei quickly, she'd explained, before apologizing and promising to catch up to him in only a few moments. At his expected silence and nod of approval, she sped back to the office to take care of one last personal bit of business before duty.

"You want to enter the jounin exams?" Tsunade said, somewhat shocked for the second time that day.

"Yes," she nodded. "But I need to brush up on my skills."

"Hmm, yes, I would recommend you do. Who did you have in mind for helping you?" she asked with a calculating look.

Sakura's eyes were wide, shocked at her observation. "How did you know?"

"I could tell by your face," she blinked at her.

She looked down to her clasped hands. "Oh, I see." She paused. "Kakashi said I should have you appoint someone to me."

Tsunade nodded firmly and went back to scribbling. "Kakashi can consider himself appointed."

Sakura's mouth fell open. What? Kakashi was so going to kill her.

There had been a brief deliberation over whether or not to set up camp in the same place they had before. After all things were considered, they decided not to and opted for settling on a location once they had pinpointed the base hideout. She was kind of hoping to get that same little cave again just for the peace and seclusion it had provided. Although she knew it was a luxury that really shouldn't have been available on such a mission, she still longed for it anyway. This latest mission had opened her eyes to how easy they'd had it while training under Kakashi. Not only had the missions been easy – if not dreadfully boring at times – the cut of pay they got, the length of assignments, and the gear that Kakashi almost always carried for them were such bonuses. Even now she realized how lucky she was that Kakashi was still doing most of the work.

Speaking of pay, she wondered how much she would get. The last mission hadn't been difficult by any means, but B-rank was B-rank. She looked forward to seeing that paycheck. Hmm, would they split the earnings? She shot a quick look to Kakashi in debate, making a face as she mentally gave him a hard time. He'd have to fight her for his half.

They had been traveling the roads thus far but now switched to taking to the trees. They must be getting close to some kind of activity, she thought, and in need of the extra stealth the trees would provide. She was having trouble keeping up the pace and she was only lightly packed. How Kakashi did it with the majority of their equipment she had no freaking clue. She bet that weighed as much as she did!

"We're coming up on the clearing where we saw the trade. We'll stop and see if we can't get any clues to track them. What's the face for?"

"Ehehehehe, nothing!" she quickly inserted before turning to the side. Damn, he'd seen that expression after all!

And true to his word – as he always was, she knew! – they arrived at the clearing they'd previously stood witness over. Kakashi jumped straight down and she followed, albeit slower. Not that she was one to doubt him on the field, but they had observed quite the act here not that long ago. She looked around carefully as Kakashi bent down to place his fingers on the still matted wagon wheel tracks. His fingers were brought to his covered nose. Was he smelling the grass? His elbows were resting on his bents knees as he squatted and took his turn to peer around.

"Well…" he said ever leisurely, eyes roving the brush and treetops, "there doesn't seem to be any significantly lingering marks other than the carts so we'll have to go off that."

He stood and turned to give her a quick smile before jumping up. She followed and they continued on through the trees. She hoped they were getting close as she was more concerned about the thinning cover of trees than the distance and time spent traveling. A look was spared to Kakashi. Maybe he would get the drift?

"We're running out of forest."

So, he had noticed, she mentally commented in irony. Trust good ol' Kakashi to deliver the obvious with such an uncaring and straightforward attitude. She replied with likewise ire and a roll of her eyes, "Glad you noticed."

And just like that, they were out of forest. Both of their brows creased at the sudden death of tree-line at the river. Beyond was a large open plain of…dirt? Strange for such a desolate climate to be at the very edge of such verdant woodland.

"Hmm," he mused to himself. "Something about this seems…off." He cocked his head at the end. Reviving from his momentary thought-block, he stripped himself of the pack and told her to do the same.

"Let's do some scouting first then return for our things once we've solidified our next course of action." There most likely would be fighting ahead; best to be as light as possible for quick movement. He dragged the bags over to hide them behind some brush and layered them with a concealment jutsu. "Let's get going."

Well, the river wasn't that deep - she didn't think with Kakashi already knee deep in its middle and signaling her to follow - that they couldn't cross it. More like a stream really, she thought, as they were almost to the other side. Still, she would have thought it to already be sloping up being so near to the other bank. Must be a really steep and sudden drop off on that side of the river then. Was the water getting deeper or had it been at her mid thighs since the middle. Why didn't they just water-walk across?

They found themselves abruptly and completely submerged right when both their feet should have stepped upon the shore. She burst above the surface and gasped, having been taken by surprise and losing most of her air at the sudden dunk. She worked her arms and legs to keep her head above water and turned to see a likewise drenched Kakashi staring at her with red and black, soaked hair drooping into his sight. He removed his hand from her arm after bringing her up from underneath the water and turned to glare at the suddenly far shore plus a visual target point: a large compound on a stretch of land. She didn't think that was within swimming distance…at least she hoped not.

"Genjutsu," he mumbled, obviously troubled and somewhat peeved at having missed it. "Let's regroup."

Well, she could now say it didn't matter if they'd surface-walked or not. The releasing of chakra on the 'shore' would have resulted in the same outcome as they broke the genjutsu. They swam back and stepped onto shore. Kakashi put a hand in his hair and vigorously shook it, trying to dislodge as much water as he could, she simultaneously wringing out her apron. He heaved a sigh and went to where he'd hidden their gear.

Pulling on his large pack, he turned to her, "We'll rest and rethink our tactics."

They set out for the cave they'd previously stayed in. The first thing he did – after checking for security integrity, of course – was build a fire; a decently sized and warm fire. Next, having pulled off his jounin vest and throwing it to hang from a rock, pulled out some spare clothes from his pack. He spoke aside to her, "I suggest you do the same."

Turning away, he reached down and began peeling off his shirt. She whipped around, cheeks flushing as what he'd said registered in meaning. Deciding that she needed to get out of these wet clothes and do something to occupy her mind with something other than what was going on behind her, she hastily reached into her pack to pull out a spare change as well. She gripped the dry shirt tightly in a fist as she removed the rest of her makeshift outfit. A mournful look was given to her apron as it was sat aside to dry. There was nothing to be done about that. It would just have to dry on its own.

She peeked from over her shoulder, having paused in her changing, and caught a glimpse of bare bottom as Kakashi quickly slid on dry pants. Her face flushed brightly and she jerked her head away, sweeping her embarrassed but unremorseful gaze from an unreadable happenstance glance he'd manage to connect hers with. She clenched her clothes in front of her chest, petrified. Oh, shit.

"Satisfy your curiosity?" he asked near tonelessly. She thought she heard amusement… Hell, she'd have found the situation in reverse almost amusing, then probably flattering after she got over her anger… She thought so, anyway.

"Not really." She wanted to laugh at her straightforwardness, probably would have if not for the mortification renewed at that outburst.

He laughed loudly before cutting it short. She turned wide eyes on him. Did he just display unbridled emotion? At her expense, no less? Oh, he did not!

"What?"

He shook his hand and coughed into his hand. "Nothing. Just not what I expected at all."

He was pulling on his shirt, and she watched as the movements of muscles caused his tattoos to ripple in fluid waves. She never would have figured him for the type, not in the longest guess. Still, it wasn't like he was covered in them as only a few adorned his body. Well, that she'd seen, anyway. She idly wondered if he had more. What she could glimpse of the one on his arm was awesome in its appearance and she wondered what it pictured. She knew from the ANBU members she worked on that it was eerily close to where they wore theirs, but she knew that couldn't be what his was. Kakashi-sensei wasn't that cool. Still, the one low on his back was damn wicked. She wanted to get a closer look at that one.

His shirt slid over it.

She turned back to the garments still in hand and sighing, slipped it over her head. The wet brassiere would have to be dealt with…she hadn't brought a spare of that. WHY had she taken that particular short-cut? She should have known that the one item consciously left out would be the most uncomfortable to bear. Scuffing behind her elicited a quick peek over her shoulder to reveal Kakashi sitting on a smaller rock before the fire, carefully unrolling scrolls as he took them from their pockets and laying them flat to dry in the heat from the flames.

Her brows drew together and she shuffled over to sit slightly across from him, leaning forward on her knees. "Will they be alright?" she asked delicately as she observed how carefully he seemed to be handling them.

He nodded.

She was immensely thankful that he was ignoring the little peep show earlier. That would be uncomfortable to discuss. She looked to her interlaced fingers as she wiggled them, feeling as if the silence was somehow her fault. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong or that he was angry or even annoyed, but she felt there should be some kind of conversation, no matter how inane. She was going to babble soon to fill in the silence, she just knew it. She glanced up from her clasped hands over to him again, smiling at how small he looked in the black shirt minus the jounin vest. He was so cute bending over his scrolls and tending to them so lovingly, dwarfed in that baggy shirt of his!

"You're pretty ripped, sensei."

He looked up in uncertainty. Damn it. That did not just leave her mouth.

"What?"

She could understand his confusion; she was too.

"It was such a surprise. Ahahaha! I didn't expect it, especially when that shirt makes you look so skinny," she laughed embarrassedly, hand going to rub at the back of her head.

He blinked at her, quiet and undisturbed voice carrying over the crackle of fire. "Are you alright, Sakura?"

"Ahahahaha, no!" she cried. "I'm horribly embarrassed!" Her hand fisted in her own hair.

"Mm," he nodded sagely, returning to his scrolls and fire. "I would be, too."

Her mouth flung wide open as her jaw dropped. What the fuck, Kakashi?

"Kakashi-sensei, you jerk!" She made sure her pointed finger of death conveyed all her anger and repeatedly stabbed it in his direction. He only gave her that dumb look. She gave up and flopped back with a huff. "Ugh!"

He motioned with his hand, 'give it here.' Her brows drew together and she shot a look behind her at his pointing. "Hand it to me to dry."

She meekly reached over and grabbed her apron, surrendering it to nimble fingers that laid the heavy fabric out just as lovingly as if it were one of his scrolls. Hmm, well, that was unexpected. At least she'd get a dry apron to go with a wet bra out of this.

Some time passed with only quiet between them. However, unlike before, this passing was companionable and stress free. Neither felt the need to inquire anything of the other, and both seemed content to let it pervade. There was a simple joy in just sitting. It was a nice change and certainly something she was not accustomed to sharing with Kakashi. That alone made it all the more enjoyable; another experience to add to the short list of meaningful events – okay, okay, just 'events' –in which Kakashi was apart of…outside of life-endangering situations, she should say. Because there really were so many instances in which Kakashi had saved her. And she knew in the most humble of ways that if he hadn't, she would have been left far behind Sasuke and Naruto long ago.

"So, any ideas about how we're gonna get there?" she asked in her cheerful voice. "I just know Kakashi-sensei already has this planned out three ways and back." She batted her lashes for good measure.

"Mm," he nodded.

"Well?" She gave him such a bright smile. "What's Konoha's beloved genius ninja have in store for the bad, bad enemy nin?"

"Walk up to it."

Her face fell. "Oh, I see." She should have known. "Figures."

He touched his fingertips to each scroll before rolling them back up. He must have decided them to be dry enough. His hand was pressed flat against her apron before picking it up. Tossing it to her with what she would call an apologetic look – she was really just going by the slant of his exposed eye, here – he spoke, "Sorry, it's still a bit damp."

It seemed his vest was in much the same shape judging by the sigh she watched him emit before slipping long arms into it. He zipped it shut and began to methodically replace all the scrolls into their rightful places.

"I suppose we better keep moving then, huh?"

She didn't even have to look to see his nod.

He'd instructed to leave the gear behind. They would once again use this as their campsite and would return after the success of their night's prowling. She was all too happy to leave the unnecessaries behind in favor of the lighter and more portable kunai and medical packs. Having arrived at the 'river' once more, she turned to him and asked, "What do you plan to do now?"

His lifted brow only said 'please.' His hand was raised before him and the first two fingers took on a steepled form, his other coming to rest on her shoulder. Shifting his gaze back out across the far bank, he commanded, "Kai."

The illusion dissipated before them and she looked on as dirt gave way to water while the river expanded into an impressively wide lake. She met his all too happy gaze. They stepped out together upon the lake's surface, their feet sending out ripples like the skipping stones they emulated. It was going to be a long walk.

She was just peeking over the top of the wall, fingers wrapping around the top of the cement to help hold some of her weight. She scanned left and right repeatedly, taking her time in scouting the enemy compound grounds for anything that would prove troubling. She pulled back to slink behind the brick wall and looked down past her legs to where Kakashi stood with hands on her ankles, supporting her as she balanced on his shoulders. Having sensed the shift of tension in her muscles, he lifted his head enough to meet her eyes. He had to crank his neck to see around the medic apron she was always with in order to see the small shake of the head she gave. He returned a single nod, hands sliding up to pat the back of her calves twice in quick succession; hop down.

She gave him a smile – somewhat condescending, if you asked him – and a pat on the head as she whispered down to him, "Aw, such a good little Kakashi-sensei, being so patient while I look around from on your shoulders."

His eye hooded at her comment but he let her jump down unhindered, verbally or physically. That's not to say he wasn't tempted to harass her in return, but the mission and all… Instead, he turned to face her, hands in pocket and eyebrow arched. Well?

"The nearest entrance of the compound is on the east side, here. It's roughly thirty meters from this wall. If we were to jump it, I'd suggest doing it from the south and east corner junction to provide the most ample coverage," she reported, using hand gestures to illustrate her calculating.

He nodded, looking at the top of the wall. "Nice job, Sakura." Turning to look at her, he phrased cheekily, "So, you want to go first?"

She just shook her head in long-standing sufferance and shrugged. Her hands went to his shoulders and foot into his cupped hands as Kakashi propelled her upwards in a smooth boosted jump. Settling easily in a crouch, she made for the juncture of the indicated walls in a creeping crawl, not even bothering to check behind for Kakashi's flawless landing. When he caught up to her at the drop down point, they did so together. It would be a straight-line dash – and she meant dash – across the open field to the compound. They would have to be quick, even with Kakashi's shielding technique, to avoid detection. She waited for his last seal to form before racing across the grass, her teammate trailing closely behind her.

As it was now, she stayed crouched low in an actual planter outside the east entrance walkway, awaiting a 'clear' signal to join him in entering the stronghold. She could see him fairly well from between the twiggy branches of whatever bush she was in, his normally undistinguished profile blurred even farther by the sharp angle of his head as he scouted around the corner and by the deep shadows he stood within. The sign came and she sprinted the distance between them, coming to press flat against the wall and taking up his recently vacated position as he scooted inside. She waited patiently, knowing caution was the issue, and again held off for Kakashi's all-clear. It came by way of a hooked finger around the corner and she mimicked his slithering entrance, sticking to the bends and curves of the wall and shadows.

She stopped beside him momentarily before seeing the half throw of his head to continue past him. She did, coming to a halt at the next doorway. The next room she took charge of, peering carefully around the doorframe. There were a few softened thumps behind her and she whipped her head to see what had happened. She jerked hard against the wall at the body too close beside her and pulled back, being slammed further into it as a hand smash against her mouth, stifling her cry of shock.

The arm pressed across her clavicle kept her attempt to see over her attacker's shoulder from succeeding and she was forced to shoot off a quick glance around the body even as her knee to the groin was blocked. The retaliating punch to the solar plexus sent her crashing to the floor. She saw the mop of Kakashi's hair as he lay face-first on the wood boards of the floor, obviously passed out, a heavily booted foot pressed to the back of his neck. How the hell did they get past him? Her heart constricted, knowing that it was no clone or jutsu illusion and that she was seriously outclassed. He was really down.

'Kakashi…' she mentally called him, reaching hand smashed to the floor by a boot at the wrist. Kakashi faded from her vision as an arm snaked around her waist, the sensation of being lifted mixing nauseously with her rapidly encroaching unconsciousness.

"Genjutsu," he whispered, angry with himself for having missed it again.

She hummed to herself in contentment, snuggling further into the hard but pleasant warmth. She tried to lift her arms in order to squeeze the body-pillow tighter, frowning momentarily when they seemed to be weighed down by something. Instead, she settled for shoving her face as far into the cozy corner as she could, pressing her body as closely as possible in the sleep-ridden hopes of being absorbed into it. She hugged it as much as her heavy arms would allow, not at all thinking about why the stretched limbs wouldn't respond as desired. She sighed again, and although briefly given pause at a deep rumbling following it, quickly resumed after it was delegated to 'dream stuffs.'

"Sakura," he said again, a little more forcefully than before as his frustration at her sleepy-head nature was allowed to creep in. There was no need to raise his voice more than anything beyond a whisper as her ear was right next to his lips. He had only to turn his head a few millimeters in order to have the cloth brush against her. Still nothing from her. He really wished she would stop squirming. "Sakura."

"Eh?" she blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the stubborn sleep.

She lifted her head slightly, giving a sleepy frown at the depleting warmth in the motion, and jerked harshly as she realized the situation. She tried to pull away enough to look him in the eye and managed just barely to do that. There was an audible swallow as the slight distance just allowed her to miss connecting their chins, his eye swinging to meet hers. She tugged hard on her arms to push herself further off him, held unshakably in place by shackles that bound both their arms above his head.

Her gaze was shifted across the slight gap between them to their hands to gauge how soundly restrained they were. Pretty well, she'd say, as the two chain strips had one of her hands to one of his per chain; meaning they'd both have to be freed of each chain in order to escape. She lifted her body enough to look down both their lengths from where she lay atop his on the floor. The chains that looped around each of their wrists and through a wall anchor seemed to be the only thing holding them here. She supposed their current position was meant to be the most effective way of assuring their immobilization to their captor.

"How'd we get like this?" she asked, confused and still more than a little shaken that they'd pulled one – now two - over Kakashi.

His eye closed in some emotion she couldn't name. "Genjutsu." Opening it again, he looked around as much as he could with her pretty much blocking all angles as she was before coming to rest on her again. "And a fairly skilled specialist, I'd say."

"Hmm," she thought, "let me see if I can get loose."

"No, Sakura, wait-!" he tried to stop her. She proceeded to pull on the chains and he mirrored her force, letting her use his counterweight for leverage in order to sit up. Her torso clenched and she pulled into herself, trying to get her legs out from under her. She was doing pretty well, actually, but the chain lengths were so short that he feared it would only make things worse. He looked up to his fists, red from her pressure and the cuffs cutting into them. "Almost there?"

"Yeah, I think I can get it. Just a few more seconds-" She cut herself off as her right foot slipped, having caught the edge of his pant leg and tangling in the slack fabric. It sent her crashing back down with a heavy impact that pushed air from his lungs, the rest rushing out as her desperately flailing leg caught him, knee smashing into his testicles. The resulting growling groan was quite adequate in communicating his distress. Sakura seemed to have noticed right away what she'd done given her immediate reaction.

"Oh, my god, Kakashi! I'm so sorry!" she fretted, instantly scrambling into the position she'd been fighting for to now sit on his abdomen. She tried to pat his chest to try and soothe the pain away but the short links only allowed her fingers to almost-reach his forehead. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

He lolled his head toward her, trying to grunt out any kind of noise that said he knew, but was only able to release another agony induced noise from deep in his throat. He managed to get his head far enough over that he made fleeting contact with her wide eyes before falling to the side again and nudged his head against his stretched arm. It was a futile attempt to rub away the ache. Of all the experiences in his life, that was still the most painful thing in existence.

Sakura gasped, taken aback by how much that'd really hurt him. The lone tear on the verge of spilling as he turned away from the corner of his watery, rolled back eye hadn't been missed. She'd heard that it was a very painful thing for men, but to see it reduce Kakashi to this told her it was down right excruciating.

"I'd make it better if I could. Tell me what I need to do. What do you need?" She owed it to him. She would never want to cause him this amount of pain. Surely he knew.

He gave only a weak shake of his head at first, his still raw voice trembling out a command, "Time. Just…don't move."

She nodded, so very eager to make things right. Damn, she was sorry. But apparently this was something that had to be worked out of the system. So she quietly sat on him and gave him time, intent eyes roving his face and detailing the changes in the states of dissipating discomfort he went through. She rode his sigh, watching as his turned away face issued a significantly relaxed expression. With a blink, all traces of pain were erased. Although she suspected highly it was still there, he'd just made it invisible, hidden it behind his mask as he always did.

"I have an idea," he said, voice strong, quiet; normal again. He looked to her before gazing back up at the anchor through which their bounds tied. "Do you think you can get a kick off?"

She followed the line their arms made to the wall, brow firming as she planned. "Yeah, I should be able to."

He nodded, ignoring the motion made awkward by his position as much as he could. "Good, then get ready to get a good one off."

His hands started to move rapidly in what she'd just begun to recognize as a strong fireball jutsu before pulling back as far as the chains allowed. The rush of heat against her face blew her hair back in the rapidly expanding air. The high temperature was drying out her eyes but she continued to watch the line of fire as it streamed from Kakashi's still masked mouth to beat against the iron shackles. The epicenter of the metal was just beginning to glow a healthy red-orange before a loud bang of a slamming iron door forced both their heads to whip in that direction. Sakura's short hair swung in its flight to messily frame her face. Kakashi's torso contracted as he lifted his head far enough to see, the fire instantly disappearing at the interruption.

Two heavily armed, gun-toting guards came through the low entry to spread against the wall on either side, what they presumed to be the leader ducking through behind them. Straightening, he bestowed a broad gesture of fanning arms, hands open with palms up alongside a condescending grin. The robes that flowed about him were deep reds and purples with gold cords acting as belts and accents.

"Welcome to my humble little abode." Sakura positively hated the self-assured aura that was rolling off the man. Her eyes narrowed at him, although she felt nothing from Kakashi. "Imagine my delighted surprise when I discovered that the one and only notorious Kakashi of the Sharingan was in my dungeon. Hah! What good fortune hath been given me!"

He turned and paced to the side of them. Sakura scowled openly, the 'Man' reminding her far too much of some crooked and self-proclaimed leader of faith, intent to sow disharmony. His hands were brought before him in a clasped manner as if thanking the benevolent being responsible for his recent turn of extraordinary luck.

"Now, the only dilemma I'm faced with is who to hand you over to." Sakura couldn't help but notice that the man was very careful not to take any steps closer to them. At least he wasn't stupid, but he did turn to face them and lean close. "Who would pay the highest ransom for your head? Or should I say eye?"

She almost turned to look at Kakashi as she felt something change, the muscles beneath her shifting in preparing for action. Instead, the negated action came across as a stilted jerk towards him, her eyes never leaving the enemy.

"Water? Mist?" the man continued, oblivious to what was happening beneath her, the bidding war he was envisioning starting over Kakashi taking precedence. "Or Fire? How much would Fire pay to get their most beloved ninja back?"

"Now, Sakura!"

His voice was strong. It grounded her in reality and she reacted, immediately lashing out with her right leg in a straight forward-kick. The weakened metal shattered under the heavy sole of her sandal to rain down upon Kakashi. He rolled forward, pulling on the back of her knees to bring them against his chest and tucking her close in the roll. Coming out of the somersault had him gripping her hands in a tight clasp as he supported the push-off from his chest to send her flying at the guard on the right while he dived for the left. Two successive thuds saw both targeted enemies landing on the floor one after the other. They both turned to face the man before them, their former captor no longer so confident.

"Wait! I can arrange a deal-" he pleaded, hand out in a ward as he slowly backed up.

Kakashi was never one to deal with nonsense. The kunai he'd relieved the guard of flipped in his hand, swinging around his middle finger only to be grasped in an offensive hold. He gave a parting admonition to the enemy, correcting him on a fatal flaw before springing forward. As if Fire would ever endanger anyone in order to secure him. "You give me too much worth."

Sakura turned her focus to the two guards to assure their deaths, the sight of Kakashi standing beside the newly decapitated enemy and rolling head no longer holding her interest. There was a thud as the body finally hit the floor.

"These two are down," she spoke over her shoulder to him, turning her head the rest of the way at the new noise. The rustling revealed Kakashi to be wrapping the head in fabric from the man's own body, the rich and undoubtedly expensive material now serving as his shroud.

"What's that for?" It wasn't part of the mission, but then again, neither was any of this. There were only supposed to locate the base. She knew what he'd say if she questioned even entering it. He'd say, 'We had to make sure it was the right place, right?' She made a note to mentally sigh at him later.

"Proof."

"For Hokage-sama?" She nodded to the thickly wrapped ball resting against his thigh as he stood straight; well, as straight as Kakashi ever got. "Do you think this will end the mercenary problem?"

"Hardly." He was so positive. "At best, they'll fight amongst themselves, take a few of each other down, before starting up again under new leadership." He walked past her, ducking through the low doorway.

She rose from her crouch and followed suit, commenting, "He was surprisingly easy."

"He was a businessman, not a shinobi," his voice carried back to her. "And how nice of him to illustrate that by hanging our things right outside our cell," he observed wryly, hand reaching out to grab the weapons holsters they'd been stripped off the wall. She sidled up behind to take hers. Both took a moment to rummage through and make sure all was where they'd left it. Check.

"Make haste back to camp. We'll leave for home immediately."

They were all shadows as they fled the compound and into the relative cover of forest.

End.

About using Japanese suffixes. I don't like it, at all, but made an exceptionin the Naruto fandom simply because it was ported that way; meaning the English release still employs them, so they are present here. As a personal use, they are wonderful for showing Sakura's state of mind when thinking about Tsunade and Kakashi, the -sensei, hokage, and -sama bits all meaningfully placed.