Chapter 3: Alcohol is never the solution
The ship reached Shima on the third day, waiting over four hours for the vessel to be allowed to dock. It took almost as long for the passengers to be allowed off the boat. Upon disembarking the vessel, Sakura understood why.
The harbour was heaving with refugees emerging from a large number of different ships. They were being ushered into queues to lead into other queues to lead into yet more queues. Forms were being handed out for people to fill in but some were illiterate, having trouble with the many questions on the paper. Sakura and Kakashi's answers were mainly half-truths with a few absolute fibs.
Sakura's official title was 'A-rank medic-nin' so 'nurse' was a pretty good alternative. Kakashi was in the killing and spying line of work; he had settled for 'Bookshop owner'. She had scoffed at that – and she was sure it would be filled with books by only one author. Then there were some more intimate questions. Sakura struggled to shield her answers since she last had sexual intercourse and number of sexual partners ("14 months" and "one" were probably her only truthful answers) while trying to snoop on his.
"Six days?" she asked incredulously, noting that he had been with her for five of those six days. The widely held belief that Kakashi satiated any carnal desires with a read of one of his precious novels was obviously wrong.
"Over a year?" he had snapped back without skipping a beat. His one eye narrowed as he looked down at her paper, the gears turning in his head. She angled her body away from his defensively while vainly attempting to see the number of people he had slept with but, mirroring Sakura, he covered the paper with his hand.
It was painfully obvious both wanted to ask the same question – who? – but since neither were prepared to divulge any information, they instead completed the questionnaire with their backs to each other.
After the awkward exchange, they handed their forms to the official. Fortunately, having picked a ship that was carrying the more desirable immigrants, they were fast tracked for their health checks. Women and men were separated and, with their chakra masked to avoid detection by the ninja in the mayor's task force, Sakura had no idea how Kakashi was progressing in the large, white tents.
She was glad at least they had the sense of mind to have female guards. Wearing shapeless overalls, the same paper mask everyone was required to wear and large laboratory glasses, it was clear that the governor of the island was taking this disease very seriously. Then, why would be allowing refugees to enter his city? It greatly increased his risk to take such a huge influx of people and the twenty-foot fences he had erected around the main city no doubt made it difficult for people to leave. Maybe they simply couldn't. Her feelings of uneasiness grew.
Blood samples were taken and Sakura had to resist healing the small needle mark and bruise the rough nurse had given her. Had she never heard of patient care? Without warning, her mask was ripped off and a tongue depressor shoved in her throat, far back enough to trigger her gag reflex.
"Say 'ahh'," the nurse ordered monotonously.
"Ahh," Sakura repeated dutifully, cursing that she had been separated from Kakashi. Another chance to catch her former teacher's face missed.
Satisfied that her levels of white blood cells were within an acceptable range, Sakura was given a new mask – white with a black horizontal line across it – and ushered outside to join the rest of the 'elite' in a new line. Kakashi was already there. He wore his new mask over his current one, as if just to make sure no one was going to remove it again.
"Well, I feel a little violated," he stated glumly. She patted his shoulder with fake pity, wishing she could let the male nurse who had inspected him know how lucky he was.
There was a ruckus at the front of the queue and more guards turned up to protect the noblemen and other Very Important People. One of the aristocrats a few people in front accosted a guard, demanding to know what was going on. Someone in the front had been caught trying to use falsified papers and turned out to be a shinobi, who were apparently banned from entering the town. The guard stepped away to listen to his radio then returned, announcing to their group that the mayor was prepared to enlist more ninja to defend the island from dangerous individuals, but the cost for the visa had just tripled.
A few of the people looked worried at that. Knowing how little they had minded splashing the cash while on the ship, the announcement of this 'utopia' free from infection suddenly made sense. The governor of the island really would use any opportunity to build up his funds.
Sakura and Kakashi exchanged looks. They both knew that first of all, their papers might not be good enough to guarantee entry, and secondly, they were at risk of blowing the whole mission if they were refused entry.
He glanced to the ground pointedly. She nodded then jerked her chin towards an area between two tents that seemed to be where the watchmen had breaks. They had rushed to help with the commotion, which made the site perfect for what Kakashi had suggested.
As the other immigrants continued to stare at the guards struggling to contain the solitary shinobi and grumble about the price of the visa, the two ninja snuck to the gap between the tents.
Kakashi held out his hand. When Sakura grabbed it, he pulled her flush against him. She blanched at the close contact and instinctively pushed away.
"Don't," he warned in a hushed whisper. "You don't want to end up trapped underground."
At that, she held him tight. Unbidden, the question of who had been in a similar, albeit horizontal, position with her former sensei six days ago crossed her mind.
He made the hand signals behind her back then the ground swallowed them whole. She had no idea how Kakashi knew where to let them out – or even if he knew at all – but he clearly had not been kidding when he warned her about being stuck down here. At the speed they were moving, the earth was forcing itself into any gap between them. She clutched to him tighter, the fear of being left behind in the dark, cold dirt overriding any embarrassing thoughts of the copy-nin's sex life.
The earth unceremoniously spat them out in front of a building close to the walls but thankfully on the right side. There were only a few people on the street and they did not seem to notice their arrival. That or they didn't care.
It was clearly the run-down district, and did not hold up to the idyllic city life the island's propaganda had promised.
Sakura took another look at the building, noticing the 'Guesthouse - Beds Available' written in red spray paint upon the concrete. The sign on the door was illegible, the green and white paint peeling. She was about to remark about how lucky he had been to emerge here when she remembered that he had been here before.
After smoothing over the disturbed soil – the area was too poor to even bother with paving, it seemed – Kakashi entered the hostel. She hurried in, standing beside him in the lobby. She grinned at the traditional bell on the counter but the smile disappeared at the pathetic jingle it made when she rang it, in need of repair like the front of the inn.
Kakashi cleared his throat. When that also did not yield a response, Sakura called out impatiently.
"Hello?"
"What is it?" a slurred voice replied. A scrawny middle-aged man emerged from the open door, a lit cigarette between his lips and the stench of alcohol assaulted Sakura's nose through the mask. It wrinkled in response.
"A room, please," Kakashi said politely before Sakura could berate the man for his poor customer service and drunken appearance. She was used to giving the same speech to Tsunade and Kakashi must have recognised the look in her eyes.
"It's twenty-five a night." After Sakura placed enough money on the table for the next three days, the man continued to address Kakashi. "Double bed okay for you and your wife?"
"We're not married," Kakashi stated immediately. "Single beds will do."
While she was by no means keen on sharing a bed with her former sensei, his quick refusal made her frown. They had shared two-person tents when she had been a genin, much to Naruto and Sasuke's chagrin when it dawned on them that the other tent was left for them. He teased her that she snored and she was horrified for weeks, worried what Sasuke would think of that trait in a potential wife.
"Very well. You don't need those ridiculous things on your face, you know, there's been no cases of the fisherman's flu here."
Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura decided to keep hers on. Better safe than sorry. Kakashi at least removed one of his masks.
The positioning of their room could not have been more perfect. They were on the top floor with one window in the bathroom facing the harbour and other window looking out on the busy market street. It was late but many lanterns lit the street as merchants continued to peddle their goods to no avail. Many of the new refugees had nothing left and were asking for handouts. In this dilapidated area, no one could afford to be charitable.
The amenities, however, left plenty to be desired. The futons were hard with only a wool blanket and a very low water pressure due to the room being on the top floor. As she twisted the tap all the way in a vain attempt to get a satisfactory flow of water to brush her teeth, she noticed the guards in the port shouting at a ship for unloading its passengers. The immigrants were clothed in rags and cowering away from the uniformed men. Some were on their knees begging but they were manhandled back onto the boat. Meanwhile, a cruiser similar to the one Sakura and Kakashi had snuck on was dropping off their well-dressed travellers who were ushered to the front of the queue.
"This place is disgusting," she said, her blood boiling.
"You never stayed in Kaikou," Kakashi returned from the other room.
She walked back into the room, unable to stand looking out the window anymore. "No, it's not that. It's this stupid entry fee – which, by the way, was never mentioned in all the advertisements. Now only the rich are good enough to be safe and healthy? Tsunade must do something about this mayor."
He sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. It left his scarred eye uncovered but he kept it closed, most likely out of habit. "And what would she do? This isn't Konoha's business. It isn't even Fire Country's business. This kind of corruption is a common thing. I would have thought you were old enough to know that we come from a place where power is everything. Look at the Hyuuga clan; their bloodline limit is incredibly powerful and hence they have a high rank in society with the perks that come with it. Here, money is power.
"Anyway," he continued, changing the subject. "If the governor is intending to increase the shinobi presence in his army, we need to make sure we maintain low profiles. Since we both are in the Bingo Book, it will be difficult without any transformation jutsu. But if they are any good, they will see through it."
Sakura blinked, surprised he knew. Even she had been shocked by her entry, the comments about the likelihood of her being the greatest medic-nin specialist ever known making her blush.
"You... know I'm in there?"
He turned to her, giving her an odd look. "Yes, I knew as soon as the edition came out. You're one of my students, I make sure to keep tabs on all of you, especially with your successes."
Keep tabs on me? If that was the case, why had he tried to stop her ANBU promotion? Why hadn't he come to her to discuss it? Why had he hardly said a word to her outside of missions?
"Of course I expected it was long overdue. You're a strong kunoichi, if not one of the strongest Konoha has ever had."
Her heart swelled at the compliment; it was the nicest thing Kakashi had ever said to her and even better, it sounded so genuine.
"You never needed me."
It was surely meant as another compliment, but it only made her ego deflate. He was wrong. She had needed him, many times.
When Naruto had left with Jiraiya, and she had cried every night over their team photo.
When she had to take her chuunin exam and Shizune had to be the one to nominate her.
When Tsunade had fallen ill and she needed another guide for support.
When Sasuke returned and she realised that the boy who left her on that bench was never truly coming back.
When she failed her very first ANBU mission and she learned the hard way that, sometimes, protocol overruled mercy.
"You're right," she whispered, ignoring the way his body slouched even more so than his usual posture. "I never did."
It was quite rare to see a child in the northern district of Shima. In the west, where they were staying, most of the beggars were young children. They were better equipped with their large, sad eyes to tug on any adult's heartstrings (and Sakura's purse strings) and their small stature made escaping from the guards much easier as they crawled into drains and disappeared in the bustling crowds. In the richer, northern area of the island, children were hidden away behind closed shutters while people continued to fear 'Fisherman's Flu'. Despite the mayor's assurances, the rich immigrants continued to wear masks but replaced the cheap, clinical masks for richly coloured scarves decorated with jewels and gold embroidery.
So for an area hardly frequented by children, Sakura realised the little boy she had seen as she bought a sweet bun from the bakery, and when she was scoping out the ladies' bathhouse, was standing not twenty yards from her.
She watched him out the corner of her eye as she pretended to look over the scarves. She still wore her clinical mask, not wanting to stand out in the poorer quarter, but had taken to wearing head-scarves instead of a henge to cover her hair. She could have dyed it, but any attempts to make it blonde usually made it bright orange – a shade that made her natural colour look subtle in comparison – and the dark colours never seemed to wash out completely.
Considering her next plan of action, she continued to survey him. He appeared to have had some ninja training, his chakra levels above a normal citizen, but the fact he was not masking it indicated he had not had enough training for her to consider him a threat.
Still, it was unsettling to have him stare at her so. She wondered if she should let Kakashi know, but he was back in their room and it would be foolhardy to lead the boy to their home base.
Instead, she nonchalantly walked down a quieter street. As predicted, the boy followed. She took a turn into an alley way then quickly vaulted to a balcony above the street level. A few seconds later, the boy emerged in the same alley, confused.
She dropped down behind him, hoping she was channelling Ibiki's level of dread. To her credit, the boy did jump four feet in the air.
"Why are you following me?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
The boy could not have been older than twelve, his black hair messy and his face covered with freckles rare among the Water Country people. "S-Sorry, miss. It's just... There aren't many like us around. Ninja, I mean."
Her brow furrowed, not wanting to confirm his suspicions if he was a spy for the island's army. They could be particularly brutal when removing any unauthorised shinobi.
"D-Don't worry," he continued, stuttering. "I've watched you. With the children, I mean. You seem much nicer than that other lady."
At this, her larger-than-average forehead smoothed. "Other lady?"
"Yes," he said, growing more confident as Sakura's pose relaxed. "She's horrible, threatening people. When I bumped into her, she said she would slit my throat if she ever saw me again."
"You're from Suna?" she asked, recognising the accent at last. He confirmed he was, or had been, until his father had died in the war and he moved to Water Country with his mother's parents where his academy training had come to an end. Sakura understood that the civilians of Water Country were particularly distrustful of ninja, given the Bloody Mist's reputation.
"Tell me more about this kunoichi."
"Can you please explain this to me one more time?" Kakashi asked in the most neutral voice he could muster. She had been berating him all week for sounding patronising no matter what he said. Even 'Could you please pass me those chopsticks?' had been enough to trigger her bad mood swings.
Not that he could blame her; they had been here for nearly a week without any leads and he doubted they would recognise one when they saw it. Everyone on the damn island had something to hide, which made them all act suspicious. He was getting bored with eavesdropping on conversations that were about how they were smuggling fish into the markets from unapproved vessels. It was either that, or affairs. There certainly were plenty of philanderers in Shima.
The pink-haired kunoichi rolled her eyes, pulling off the green headscarf she had used to hide her distinctive hair while on reconnaissance.
"A little boy was following me. He knew I was a ninja and he said he had seen another kunoichi in the village."
"A little boy," Kakashi deadpanned. "How old?"
"Oh I don't know!" Sakura threw her arms in the air, exasperated. "Twelve, maybe?"
Funny she referred to him as a little boy, when 'little boys' his age were soldiers in the war-time. He asked her to relate what she had been told again whereupon she recounted that the boy had told her this certain kunoichi visited The Red Lotus tea house every night in the northern district. He had overheard her tell the owner of the guesthouse where she was staying – which turned out to be his grandparents – she would be leaving the next day.
It was an awfully convenient encounter, and everything screamed at him: 'trap'. Sakura, however, was too frustrated to consider the pitfalls of following the boy's message blindly.
"So what if it is an ambush? At least we can find the kunoichi and put an end to it."
He doubted extracting the kunoichi would be that helpful. The people behind this virus were clever to hire a shinobi as the go-between. Ninja often didn't bother learning more about their employer and discretion was in their job description. They needed to find the scientist on the island, or even better, trail her back to the person that had employed her.
How she would escape the island, when the ships had now started to form a barricade to stop the ships docking and unloading immigrants, was another problem Kakashi was beginning to consider. For all they knew, she could have already had the meeting and left.
"I'll go," he said.
Sakura grew flustered. "What? We should both go, if you think it's a trap!"
"If it is a trap," Kakashi reasoned calmly in the face of the medic-nin's fury, "One should stay here in case the other does not return to send a message to Tsunade."
"Then as mission leader, I say you should stay."
Now growing frustrated at her pedantry, he reminded her that she was the one that shared a summons contract with the Hokage, therefore could send messages to the village faster than his dogs could.
"When are you going to stop treating me like a genin?" she huffed. "I can help. I can make my own decisions."
"When you stop acting like Sasuke and Naruto, chasing glory no matter the risks. You know it makes sense for me to track her. My summons are perfect for this situation and can sniff out any ninja hiding. Bull is very good at it."
She crossed her arms, obviously unhappy. He almost felt like mirroring her pose. They had not gelled as well as they had years before where every other conversation seemed to end in an argument. He got the feeling she was still annoyed with him over something but was unprepared to discuss it with him. He wondered if it was to do with Sasuke helping him with the Sharingan, but she had been annoyed with him at the very start, in Tsunade's office.
The bingo book discussion seemed to make it worse, though it had been his attempt at a truce between them. His current genin students moaned he did not give enough praise but he liked to give it where it was due (along with criticisms). So he hadn't turned up outside her apartment with balloons and party poppers, it didn't mean he wasn't proud.
He wasn't sure if he could be proud of any of the achievements of Team 7. They had chosen to take on new mentors and in retrospect, Kakashi probably deserved it. When two out of your three students leave, it's probably best to call it quits and leave the last student – who he understood the least – in much more capable hands.
How Tsunade had managed him to take on another genin team, he would never know. It might have been the threat of nominating him to be the next Hokage instead. Truthfully, he hadn't expected they would pass his test. The suspicion that his former students may have helped them out had crossed his mind; it was probably the same student that had revealed all his favourite haunts.
Eager to escape the thick tension in the room, Kakashi turned to leave the room.
"Stay here. If I'm not back by dawn, contact Konoha."
Her companion was an awful, big-headed, stupid, porn-reading, mask-wearing, lying, brute of a man.
That was what she told anyone that approached her. They inevitably assumed she meant lover and plied her with more drinks as they tried to persuade her to use a distraction to forget him. She accepted the free drinks, but turned down their offers, revealing the 'brute' to be a work colleague and not a boyfriend.
They would turn away, dejected, and Sakura would happily consume her free drink until it was all gone. She would then resume her moaning about Kakashi, though still careful to never mention his name.
Rinse and repeat.
After several cycles, she was a little bit, perhaps, maybe, possibly too drunk. She had also dropped the mask as no one else in the dimly lit bar seemed to care. What the mayor had said did seem to be true – she had not come across any outbreaks during her walks around the island.
When her bitching about Kakashi became too incomprehensible for even her to know what she was saying, it was time to call it a day lest she disappoint her former teacher anymore.
On unsteady feet, Sakura staggered out of the bar. Inside, it had been warm with the body heat of the many patrons. Outside, the air was cold and crisp. Despite her inebriation, she shivered, still not used to Water Country's cooler climate. Back in Konoha, she never had to worry about taking out a jacket but here she was all too aware that in her frustration, she had left her coat behind. In the meantime, her headscarf would do for a make-shift shawl.
A familiar surge of chakra made her turn. The spike in its level indicated one thing: danger.
She was slower than she would have liked, the alcohol making her movements sluggish. She heard voices before she saw them, and had enough sense to wait around the corner before she emerged. In her state, it took a few moments for her to understand what was being said.
"You've been a busy little boy," a woman's voice hissed. "Telling people my business, my whereabouts. Did you think I wouldn't know? I can smell a ninken a mile off."
"I-I... I don't know what you're talking about." It was the boy from Suna that had tipped her off. She bit her lip, wondering if this mysterious kunoichi had confronted Kakashi. Should she face her, when she was in such a disadvantageous position? Using chakra to burn off the alcohol would only draw attention to her.
"That ninja you set on me. I sensed him waiting at the teahouse, smelled his bloody thumb. As much as I would have liked to feed him to his little dogs, I'm here to do my job then get out of here." She paused and Sakura continued to war with herself over turning the corner. The logical part insisted she at least fetch Kakashi for back up, but the emotional side of her yearned to apprehend this woman and end months of hard work. During Sakura's inner battle, a brief struggle ensued. She looked around the corner to see the kunoichi – red-haired and tall – grabbing the boy by his hair and holding a kunai to his throat.
"Do you remember what I said to you if I ever saw you again?" she asked in a saccharine voice. The boy did not have time to respond and Sakura did not have time to react.
She opened his throat ear-to-ear, blood soaking the both of them.
Sakura was on her before she even realised, her hand coated in deadly chakra. She almost punched her with enough force to knock her head clean off but held back at the last second; they needed the kunoichi alive to find out who had hired her. The red-haired ninja used this moment of hesitation to overpower Sakura, aiming a well-placed roundhouse kick to Sakura's temple. One part of her acknowledged she would have the hangover from hell in the morning.
She wasn't sure how long she laid there, waiting for the world to stop spinning so she knew which way was up. A minute at most. When the sickness abided enough for her to open her eyes, the kunoichi was gone but the boy's body was still warm beside her.
Glassy brown eyes stared skyward as she surveyed his injury. It was a deep cut and he was bleeding out fast. She attempted to close the wound and use chakra as an adhesive but for all her efforts she only had his blood on her hands. She felt for his pulse in his wrist. Nothing. She placed her hand under his shirt on a bony chest. Nothing.
Suddenly she could picture him with a slashed out hitai-ate in a forest where a man with a tiger mask wiped his sword on the grass. This will be going into the report, he told her, but she was focused only on the boy, reaching out to close his eyes.
She did the same for this boy, her fingers then trailing down to brush over his freckles and leaving bloody fingerprints in their wake.
Logical Sakura was gone, and Emotional Sakura was out for vengeance. Luckily for her, the kunoichi had stepped in the growing puddle of blood, leading a convenient trail for Sakura to follow. It did not take long for Sakura to catch up, but she was forced to hang back when she saw just who the red-haired woman had approached.
Guards. Not ninja, but enough to be a problem if Sakura and Kakashi wanted to keep up their covers and get off the island without too much trouble.
In a total change of personality, the kunoichi was screaming hysterically, gesturing to her stained clothing.
"I killed him!" she wailed repeatedly in a performance that Sakura could not fault. "I killed him!"
The men did not hesitate to handcuff her and lead her away. She did not struggle. Sakura frowned – she had deliberately turned herself in? Why?
"You, girl!" one of the guards shouted, grabbing her by the wrist. By instinct, Sakura pulled away but that only attracted the attention of more of the police force. As if in a daze, she watched them shackle her too, knowing she was capable of escaping in two seconds but couldn't.
Blood on her hands. Why did her missions always end with blood on her hands?
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and follows. Also a heads up, very important exams coming up so while I hope to update this every two weeks, it might be a month before the next update.
Next chapter: The New Warden.
