Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot
Sakura tossed the action plan she and Kakashi had spent a good portion of last night finalizing back onto the table. She glanced at the clock and frowned. He'd been gone for almost three hours. He was due in the office in about thirty minutes.
While it wasn't at all unexpected that he was running late, surely he should have been back by now. Even if things were going well (which she doubted, seeing as it was Danzou) he would have been anxious to get back as soon as possible. She had pancake batter in the fridge, just waiting to be made. Even if they didn't have time for a bit of fun before work, he certainly wouldn't miss a home cooked breakfast.
In an effort to be productive (as well as clear up more time for this evening) she'd decided to try and go through the aid proposal one more time in order to find any lingering holes. The less work he had to do later, the more time she got with him. It was purely selfish motives … but she didn't care. She was allowed to be selfish when it came to the man she loved.
Sighing dreamily as she recalled the night before, Sakura was just about to take a sip of tea when someone knocked on the door. Frowning in confusion, she stood up and went to answer it.
Her brow furrowed when she was confronted with a white frog mask. "May I help you?" she asked cautiously, trying to discern whether the man was ROOT or ANBU.
"Pardon me, Haruno-san, but your presence has been requested," the man replied, speaking in a polite, neutral tone.
"Is everything alright?" she pressed, her stomach knotting worriedly.
"Everything is as it should be, as far as I know. My orders were to escort you to the Council chamber immediately."
Sakura nodded slowly and said, "Okay. Let me … get my things."
"What's the final count?" Danzou demanded as he stared down at the body of Hatake Kakashi – or, more accurately, his sightless sharingan. The decision to claim it had been a last minute one. Since he had unfortunately lost his in the battle with Uchiha Sasuke, it only made sense to replace it. Waste not, want not. He would wait until the room cleared a bit before having it removed and implanted into his own face.
"Of the forty operatives assigned, eleven are seriously injured. Four of those are critically so, "Torune reported gravely. "Another eight suffered minor to intermediate damage while another fourteen are dead."
"So, thirty-three of our best are either injured or dead." Danzou arched a brow and smirked. "And you said forty operatives was excessive force."
The younger man cringed. "I … shouldn't have questioned you, Danzou-sama."
He held up a hand, staving off the apology. "Were it anyone other than Hatake Kakashi, you would have been correct. But the man was probably the best ninja among us and he certainly proved it today. Has Haruno Sakura been summoned?"
"Yes, sir. Mifune went to retrieve her. He should be back soon."
"Good. You and the others continue cleaning up here. This will be difficult enough on her as it is." It was standard practice when staging a coup to eliminate all who were close to the opposition; however it seemed an unnecessary waste this time around. Haruno Sakura was a very talented medic. Someone with her skills would be a valuable asset.
And if she proved to be difficult … she was just one girl. A chuunin. The remainder of his men could handle her without any trouble.
Torune bowed and went back to assisting with the cleanup process.
Danzou released a heavy breath and moved off toward the opposite end of the room where Sai was busy staring fixedly out the window. He hadn't said a word since arriving in the Council chamber, not before or after the battle. As soon as he'd delivered the final blow, the kunai had dropped from his hand and he'd turned away from the scene.
He came to stand next to the younger man, staring out into the forest that still surrounded the old village site. "I know this must have been very difficult for you," he said quietly. "You were closer to him than anyone else."
"I had considered him a friend," Sai replied, his voice cracking roughly as he struggled to keep the emotion from showing through.
"And that's as it should be. No one here acted out of malice toward Kakashi as a person. We did what we had to for the sake of the village."
Sai's head bowed, his eyes closing tightly. "A ninja's duty is to his village," he recited as his hands curled into tight fists.
"Precisely," Danzou agreed. "You did your duty today, Sai. You are the hero of Konoha."
The only answer he received was silence. Sighing again, Danzou placed his hand on Sai's shoulder in a rare moment of consolation. "I'll leave you to grieve for you friend in peace."
He had just taken a seat in his customary chair when a raucous came from outside the doors. Danzou recognized the strident tones of Haruno Sakura and nodded in answer to Fu's unasked question.
Fu bowed and opened the doors, admitting a very irate looking young woman and sorely abused Mifune. Sakura's eyes narrowed when she saw him and her voice became positively icy as she spat out, "You! You summoned me? Where's Kakashi?"
"I regretfully must inform you that Hatake Kakashi is dead," he replied without any preamble. He heard shoes shifting on the hard floor behind him and knew that Sai had finally rejoined the conversation.
Sakura's eyes darted around warily as the ROOT members began fanning out, preparing for a possible attack. "I don't believe you," she ground out fiercely.
Danzou locked gazes with Torune and nodded. The other man walked across the floor toward the cloth covered body she'd failed to notice upon entering. He pulled the sheet back, revealing the blood splattered face of the former co-Hokage.
To her credit, she didn't react like a normal woman would have. She didn't wail and tear her hair out as if life had no meaning. She didn't faint or run from the room with nausea. Instead, her face turned ashen and her lips trembled as if the words simply wouldn't come. Sakura gave the barest of head shakes and her eyes were bright with tears as she slowly made her way over to the corpse. Torune stepped back respectfully, though he kept a hand ready should he need a weapon.
"No."
The word was whispered so low that if everyone hadn't been cued in to her at that moment it would have been missed.
She fell to her knees, tears slipping freely down her cheeks as she reached out, her hand shaking unsteadily, and pressed her fingers to his neck. Her hand withdrew sharply at the lack of pulse and a choked sob broke from her. "No."
As much as he was a battle hardened shinobi, Danzou wasn't so completely heartless that the sight of a grieving woman didn't still move him.
Sakura moaned brokenly and reached for him once again, this time with hands that were steadier and glowing faintly. She was trying to heal the body, he realized, watching as she channeled chakra into the pallid skin of Kakashi's throat. Nothing happened. Her shoulders began to shake as she continued wasting her chakra on trying to revive that which had already passed.
"No. No, no, no … damn it, NO!"
Her scream reverberated sharply in the room as she collapsed against the body, muffling her sobs against his chest. No one approached her as she continued to scream and clutch at the body of her team leader – no one except for Sai.
Torune moved as if to stop him, but one gesture from Danzou prevented him from doing so. In moments like this, emotion was perfectly acceptable. Sai was grieving for Kakashi, too.
"Sakura," the young man said softly, placing a hand to her shoulder.
She jerked away from the touch angrily.
"Sakura, please."
This time when he touched her, she turned on him with a snarl and a fierce glare – one that died the minute she saw his hands were covered in blood. With a scream that made even Danzou's hackles rise, she threw herself at Sai, taking him unawares and tackling him violently to the ground.
Immediately, Torune and the other surviving ROOT members were on her, fighting to pry her off before she could cause any real damage. She fought them all, her movements wild and born out of a rage like none he had ever seen before. Five more ROOT came rushing in to help subdue her, and even then the only reason they succeeded was because she was too overcome with grief to continue fighting. Danzou was rather dismayed to see that four more bodies now littered the ground, all of them with oddly deformed chest cavities. Apparently, Tsunade had taught her a lot more than just medical jutsu.
"Release her," he ordered sharply and it was only due to years of service that they obeyed him without question. He had seen these sorts of outbursts before, enough so that he recognized when the grieving party was beyond the point of fighting any longer. Physically, she was still a threat, but without the mentality to back it up she might as well have been a civilian.
The guards backed off, Mifune reaching down to give Sai a hand up. The younger man winced sharply as he stood, pressing a hand to his ribs in pain. But Danzou paid it very little mind; his entire focus was on the girl dragging herself back to the side of her fallen team leader. As he watched her cradle Kakashi's head, her fingers smoothing gently through his matted hair as her tears fell upon his still features, it occurred to him that her actions were far too tender for a teammate.
His eyebrows rose in shock as he realized the exact nature of her relationship with Kakashi. Closing his eye, he bowed his head and murmured, "My sincerest condolences, Sakura. Had I known he was your lover, I wouldn't have asked you here."
Several heads snapped up at that, Sai's included.
Sakura lifted her gaze enough to glare at him. The hatred in her green eyes was too eerily reminiscent of the sort he'd seen in another's face: Uchiha Sasuke. Unlike the last Uchiha, however, he was confident in the fact that she posed little to no serious menace.
"Why?" she demanded, her voice hoarse from all the screams and tears.
Danzou met her stare evenly and asked, "Would you believe me if I told you it was for the greater good of the village?"
"No."
He looked from her to Sai, silently ordering him to try and convince her of this truth.
Sai hesitated before approaching her once again. Unlike the last time, he didn't dare try to touch her and he kept just enough distance that, should he need to, he could dodge her fists. "Sakura … please, listen to me," he began softly. "What Danzou says is the truth. Kakashi-san is – was an inspirational man."
"And yet his blood is on your hands," she retorted bitterly.
"It is. But what I did wasn't easy for me. I … genuinely liked Kakashi-san, Sakura. He was a good team leader, someone to depend on. But his plans for Konoha were dangerous. Many people tried to convince him of that. His proposal for allowing rival villages to assist in our rebuilding would have posed a serious threat to our people. I understand that he was only trying to help … but when one stubbornly refuses to see the flaws, then one becomes a liability. We acted in the best interest of Konoha, as any ninja would. I am asking you, as a kunoichi of this village, to understand that we had to do this. It was our duty."
For a long time, all she did was stare at him, her eyes puffy and red from shedding so many tears. She looked down at the man whose cheek she was stroking and murmured numbly, "I understand."
Danzou released a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding and added solemnly, "I want you to know we do not plan to keep our actions a secret from the people. They deserve to know, just as Kakashi deserves to have the finest burial Konoha has ever seen."
Sakura nodded once as she continued tracing his features gently. "If I may, I'd like to say a few words in his memory."
A cold thread of suspicion slipped down his spine at her request, but before he could deny it Sai said, "Yes."
"Of course," Danzou quickly agreed, shooting his subordinate a quelling look. "But under two conditions. First, you are not to use Kakashi's funeral to speak ill of us. Second, you will speak after our representative."
"And who will that be?" she asked, casting a contemptuous look around those assembled. "Only friends should speak for those that have died."
Danzou looked pointedly at Sai. The young man blinked in surprised and said, "Me?"
"I can think of no one more suited for the task," he replied. "You were on his team, Sai. And everyone knows that Kakashi's team was like his family. It would be best coming from someone he regarded so dearly."
Sai's brow furrowed briefly, but he didn't argue. "As you wish, Danzou-sama."
"When do you plan to do this?" Sakura questioned, her voice a little stronger than before.
"This very day. I want Konoha to know immediately what has happened," Danzou answered.
She nodded and very slowly pushed herself upright. Her feet stumbled a little, but she kept from falling. All eyes were on her as she left the room dazedly, her eyes still dull with shock and grief. Danzou waited until she cleared the doorway before nodding toward Torune and Fu. "Keep an eye on her. Do nothing unless she causes trouble."
Without a word, both men followed after Sakura.
"Send word to the senior jounin that their presence is required in one hour. I don't want to give her enough time to plan something," he ordered.
Shikaku nodded in greeting to Inoichi as they entered the jounin headquarters. "So, what do you think this is all about?" he asked joylessly.
"I don't know, but I don't appreciate being woken up by some ROOT bastard banging on my door," the blond replied gruffly. Yamanaka Inoichi wasn't much of a morning person.
"Yes, they were rather … abrupt, weren't they?" the Nara clan leader remarked, frowning when he noticed that the platform he and the other Jounin Council members usually sat was occupied already. Danzou was there, accompanied by an unmasked escort today. He was surprised to see Haruno Sakura, Kakashi's assistant, directly next to him … and on the meeting room table, the distinct outline of a shrouded corpse.
He heard Inoichi suck in a sharp breath and knew the man had just noticed the same thing. The blond's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked over those in the center of the room once more. "Kakashi's not here."
Shikaku's gaze flickered back to the corpse. "I have a bad feeling about this, my friend."
It killed a piece of her heart to stand alongside the men responsible for killing the one she loved, but she didn't have a choice. She knew all they were waiting for was an excuse to cut her down like they had Kakashi, and she'd be damned if she gave it to them.
Even if it meant being a political prisoner.
For what felt like the thousandth time since leaving the Council chamber, Sakura apologized to Kakashi. She was sorry she didn't insist more earnestly that he stay, sorry she hadn't gone with him, sorry she hadn't thought to go to him herself. Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of sixth sense when you were in love, one that let you know your lover was in trouble? If so, hers was defective. She'd been making pancakes while he'd been murdered.
Sakura looked out into a sea of confused faces; they were all mostly strangers to her. She recognized a few familiar ones in the crowd, such as Shizune and Ino's dad, but for the most part she was alone in a room full of people she didn't know or wished she didn't. And she was supposed to address them all on behalf of the man lying dead on the table behind her. She was supposed to tell them about how wonderful he was and how they shouldn't feel anger toward those who'd brutally slaughtered him.
Her stomach lurched sickeningly.
She watched as Danzou raised a hand and the gathered jounin began to fall silent. "Thank you all for arriving on such short notice," he began. "I wish it could have been under better circumstances than this."
"What's going on?" someone demanded irritably from the back.
"What's going on is that we are here today to grieve for one of our own – someone dear to all our hearts."
It took quite a bit for her to bite her tongue at that.
A startled murmur swept over the crowd as several people pointed toward the table and whispered speculatively with their neighbors. Sakura caught sight of Maito Gai and knew by how tightly pinched his brow was that he had guessed who was underneath the sheet.
"Hatake Kakashi is dead," Danzou said, his voice rising up over the growing clamor. His words snuffed out all activity in the room. Shock was written across several faces, but he continued on regardless. "He died this morning, mere hours before you were summoned here."
"How?" Nara Shikaku demanded roughly, his dark eyes gleaming with discontent.
Rather than answer him, Danzou turned toward Sai. Sakura's breath caught as the boy she thought she'd known stepped forward and said, "Hatake Kakashi died at the hands of my fellow ROOT members and me."
Chaos erupted and several people rushed toward the platform with weapons in hand. They were met by ROOT forces and shoved roughly back toward the seats. Danzou, expecting some sort of uprising, had very wisely brought in reinforcements.
"Quiet!" Danzou shouted, and there was such authority in his tone that even Sakura found her lips pursing in obedience. Once everyone was settled again, he leveled a stern look over their heads and said, "Let Sai explain to you why this happened."
Sai took a step forward, his dark eyes darting from one furious face to another uneasily. He was facing a room full of angry, elite jounin who were eager to spill blood. She didn't pity him one bit.
"A-As many of you know, I have been with Team Kakashi for nearly nine months," he began, speaking much too softly to be heard by all. A few shouts of 'speak up' and 'we can't hear you' made him flinch before continuing in a much louder tone, "I did not know Kakashi well, but I considered him a friend. He welcomed me to his team gladly, proved on numerous occasions that he was an incredible ninja, demonstrated over and over again that he loved Konoha with all his heart."
"Then why did you kill him?" Gai growled. The tears running down his cheeks didn't do anything to weaken the rage burning in his eyes.
"For Konoha," Sai answered simply. "Out of duty to my village, I and my comrades killed him. There is no doubt that Hatake Kakashi did everything in his power to protect the people of Konoha. He was truly an exemplary person … but in his efforts to help us, he would have put us in terrible danger."
Disbelieving murmurs and several head shakes met him in response. Sakura waited silently by for her chance to speak.
"He wanted to bring in other villages to help us rebuild," Sai persisted, relaying the facts as he had no doubt been told them. "While it is a noble ideal, it is simply impractical. For all the talks of alliances and peace, the fact remains that we are all ninja. We are rivals. We compete for missions and for power, for supremacy over the other Hidden Villages. To allow those people into our land, to play heavily in the remaking of our homes, is a dangerous plan. It is also the plan that Hatake Kakashi had for us."
To her horror, doubt began to cross many of the faces. Despite his lack of social tact, Sai was somehow turning them against Kakashi. For the first time since initially discovering her lover had been murdered, fury started curling through her. This time, it was different. Whereas before it had been a burning fire in her veins, demanding she exact violent compensation on them, this time it was a cold so deep she could feel it in her bones.
She didn't want compensation; she wanted retribution. She wanted every one who wielded a kunai against Kakashi to die – including Sai.
"This is not to say," the dark eyed man continued, "that Kakashi acted in knowing malice against Konoha. He did not have any ulterior motives, nor was he plotting against his village with our rivals. He truly believed in the intangibility of peace between the villages. He believed in it so much in fact that he would not hear the reasoning of others and contacted Suna without leave of the Council. It was this brash act of his that led to our decision, so as to save Konoha from further peril of his good intentions. I took no joy in the matter and mourn his loss. But we – all of use here – are first and foremost shinobi. We live and die to protect our village, no matter where the threat may lie."
Silence followed after his statement. Sakura held her breath, hoping against hope that the doubt she'd noticed was fleeting. At the first tenuous applause, her heart sank. And the louder it became, the more it hurt. These people … they all knew him, and yet here they were commending the people who had brutally murdered him! She wanted to close her eyes, to forget their faces … but as she looked out, she saw that not everyone was cheering Sai on. In fact, at most she would say only half the room was doing so. Some, like Gai, weren't bothering to hide their outrage over what had been done. It helped to ease the aching of her heart just a bit.
She looked up as Danzou came to her, leaning down to whisper, "Now that the village is mine, you're free to speak."
Sakura stiffened at his words and the last bit of heartache faded completely as the icy rage returned full force. His village… Not while she was still alive and breathing it wasn't. She nodded stiffly and even tolerated him placing his palm to her back to guide her forward. "Quiet, please!" he called out. "There is one other who wishes to speak to you."
It took a few minutes, but eventually the jounin subsided enough to let her speak. "I know many of you may not know me, but I'm Haruno Sakura. I … I was one of Kakashi's students as a genin, a teammate later on. His assistant when all of you nominated him as co-Hokage." She paused for a moment, both to gauge Danzou's response to her reminder as well as to compose herself for the next part. "And most recently, I was his lover."
Once again, the audience erupted into a hum of shocked voices.
"I loved him," she said, speaking quickly before they had a chance to get louder. "I never expected to, at least not in the sense that I do now … and think always will. I know it's cliché to say this, but he took my heart with him. H-He was the most important person in my life. It's silly, I know, but I don't think I'll ever be able to love anyone like I did him again."
"It's not silly," a woman near the front offered softly. "I understand completely. My … my husband died a year ago. I felt the same way."
Sakura smiled at her, tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks. "Thank you," she whispered, and she meant it wholeheartedly.
Danzou cleared his throat then and interjected, "But even though Sakura is grieving, she hold us with no ill will … isn't that right, Sakura?"
"Oh, yes. Of course not," she replied quickly, slipping easily back into the role she was playing. "Why, if it weren't for your kindness, Danzou-sama, I probably wouldn't have been allowed to express my grief – or that Kakashi loved another more than me."
As she'd hoped, the crowd reacted to her insinuation, several of them shouting to know who the other woman was. Sakura waited as their neighbors shushed them before asking, "You want to know who his greater love was?"
The assembly murmured its assent. She met Gai's eyes briefly and saw him smile and nod his approval of what she was doing. Kurenai was next to him with her fingers crossed for good luck on her belly. As she looked around, she saw more faces she recognized, more who knew what she was about to do and were supporting her silently.
Very aware of the thin line she was balancing, Sakura replied, "Konoha. More specifically, all of you."
It wasn't the answer the majority of the crowd had been expecting.
"As Sai already pointed out so beautifully – and I want to take a moment to thank him for his words—," Sai looked about ready to puke all over the floor, in her opinion. "Kakashi loved his village dearly. It and everyone who called it home were always foremost in his thoughts and actions. He already died once for Konoha; what greater proof do you need than that?"
"Then why was he trying to bring in rival nin to rebuild our village?" a man asked from her left.
"For many reasons," she replied, ignoring Danzou's warning hiss as she moved to face the general area of the speaker. "First, he discovered that the Daimyo's representative is a highly corrupt individual – something Kakashi would not tolerate in his Konoha. Admittedly, some of the things he said were less than polite … but I'm certain Danzou-sama did his best to smooth over any lapses there."
She almost smirked as everyone directed their attention to the named man. "His second reason was that he had wanted to help Konoha progress beyond the status quo. He wanted this to truly be our village, not the land we lived on at the mercy of the Daimyo. He, like so many of you here, have fought and bled for our homes. Kakashi felt it was time we claimed that debt and in order to do so we needed distance from the Daimyo. Asking Suna for help was him expressing our desire to be free."
"Sakura … don't do this," Sai murmured softly, worry flickering briefly through his eyes.
She met his gaze defiantly and let her voice ring louder as she forged ahead. "His third reason was just as Sai said: peace. Above all things, Kakashi believed that it was possible for the Hidden Villages to coexist. Remember all the joys we experienced until recently? How nice it was not to lie awake at night with a kunai in one hand, wondering if tonight the enemy will attack? How your children have grown up smiling and happy rather than missing one or both parents?
"That is what Kakashi wanted for all of us. And the Kazekage wanted the same for his people as well. Together, they wanted to make that possible for our villages. That is why Suna offered almost two months ago to aid us by bringing food, clean water, material for rebuilding. But, unfortunately, this would have meant letting foreign ninja into our land – a major threat to our security."
She paused a moment, letting her words sink in. All those people who had doubted Kakashi's intent … they were now gazing at his cloth covered body sadly. Sakura's throat was tight and she begged silently for Kakashi to forgive what she was about to do next.
Sakura walked over to the table and hoped no one could see the way her hands were trembling as she reached out and cupped his cheek through the bloodstained fabric. "I'm sorry," she whispered, the words barely more than a breath of sound so low that no one but she could hear it. The words were for Kakashi alone – and she doubted they would ever be enough.
She looked up, stared out at the gathered jounin, made eye contact with as many people as she could. "Do you want to see the face of the man who loved you all so much?"
It took a moment, but finally someone broke the silence with a soft, "Yes." The word spread around and soon it became a riotous noise as people surged to their feet, trying to better see a face that had long been hidden.
She felt sick doing this, disgusted with herself for exploiting him so vulgarly. But if the people saw him, saw that he was just like them, then maybe something good could come from his death. With one final entreaty to forgive her, Sakura pulled the sheet back and very gingerly peeled his mask down. The material was stiff with dried blood and his skin was cool and clammy against her knuckles, but she didn't stop until it was bunched beneath his chin.
The silence that fell over the jounin as she stepped away and let them look at Kakashi was stifling. It was as if no one dared so much as to breathe loudly. But Sakura wasn't paying attention to any of them. Her entire focus was on the still features of her lover. Even in death with dried blood staining his skin and bluish hue to his lips, he was still the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She lifted her hand to touch his mouth one final time.
Fingers closed over her wrist in a bruising grip. "I think that's enough," Danzou said coldly.
"And I think you need to remove your hand from her right now," Gai called angrily from his place near the back.
Danzou's eye narrowed dangerously, but he did as the taijutsu master ordered. "As was said, Kakashi's loss is a devastating blow to the village—," he began in an attempt to bring the jounin around once more, but he was cut off by his audience.
"He was so young."
"I think he's smiling."
"Look, the bastards slit his throat…"
"… defensive wounds on his hands…"
No matter what he tried, no matter how he raised his voice, the people weren't listening; her gamble had worked. Danzou turned to her and it was the first time she could ever recall seeing him truly flustered. "What have you done?" he rasped, incredulity heavy in his tone.
Sakura let go of her control, let all the anger and pain she felt show on her face as she snarled through clenched teeth, "This isn't your village. It's his. And you should start running now."
"Danzou-sama!" Torune dove forward, crying out in pain as the senbon destined for his master's neck pierced deeply into his shoulder. She saw Genma already lining up for another shot. "Danzou-sama, we have to leave!"
Giving her one last look of horror, Danzou let his men pull him away. Two guards fell dead and three more collapsed to the ground with serious wounds as the ROOT operatives beat a hasty retreat. As he hurried after them, Sai paused for a moment to look back at her. Sakura felt nothing but an empty coldness, and it must have shown because he turned then and quickly made his escape.
The adrenaline rush finally caught up with her, causing her knees to buckle. She quickly grabbed hold of the table, keeping her eyes closed tightly so as not to see Kakashi's lifeless face once more. Someone put a hand on her shoulder and she batted it away roughly. "I'm fine," she insisted, having to raise her voice to be heard over all the angry shouts flying about.
"You're not," Kurenai insisted. "And if you argue with me, Gai here will knock you out and carry you."
"I can't leave him."
"Shizune and Genma are already working on that, Sakura. Ibiki, Shikaku and Inoichi are guarding his body in the mean time. He's safe and you're going to be sick."
Sakura's eyes cracked open just in time to see Ibiki hurl an overly zealous jounin clear across the room. Shizune and Genma were quickly placing seals around Kakashi's body in preparation of transporting him to safety. Nodding weakly, she let Kurenai pull her in close as Gai forced a path for them through the riot. She had wanted Danzou's power stripped away, but she hadn't expected the backlash to be so violent. People were practically ripping the room apart in their rage and she almost felt bad for the ROOT members that had been left behind.
They made it out of the assembly hall and no sooner were they in the hallway than Sakura was indeed sick. Kurenai continued to hold her as she emptied her stomach contents across the floor, murmuring reassuring words in her ear as she combed her hair back. She was shivering and couldn't seem to stop it, her teeth rattling hard in her mouth as a fresh wash of dry, heaving sobs came over her. People were coming over now, asking what was going on and Gai gave them the basics before telling them to move along. By lunchtime, the entire village would know that Hatake Kakashi had been murdered.
"Are you done?" Kurenai asked.
Sakura, relieved the other woman had asked if she was feeling better, nodded weakly.
"Good, because you're going to have to speak with the Elders soon."
"I can't," she mumbled, her voice rough and more than a little weary.
"Unfortunately, you'll have to. And they will probably want to see his body as well."
A broken whimper came from her and in response, Kurenai held her tighter.
Three people emerged from the meeting room quickly and Gai immediately put himself between them and the two women. He relaxed when he saw it was just Ibiki, Shikaku and Inoichi, the latter of which had an eye that was already swelling.
"Genma and Shizune got him out of there," Shikaku updated. "They're alerting ABNU as to what's happened and having them come down here to calm things down. How is she?"
"As well as you can expect," Kurenai replied for Sakura. "What's the next move?"
"We get a message to Naruto," the Nara clan leader said. "Inoichi, assemble a team and track down Uzumaki Naruto. Tell him he has to return to the village. Don't explain why, but make sure he understands there is no choice in the matter."
"Got it." Inoichi snagged Ibiki's sleeve and together they sprinted from the jounin headquarters.
Shikaku studied Sakura for several seconds before letting out a quiet groan. "Sakura, I know this is going to be hard for you, but we need to discuss what happened before the Elders call you in for an explanation. Can you do that?"
She nodded, unable to speak and unsure if maybe her agreement was a lie.
The older man turned to Kurenai and said, "Take her to my house. My wife is there and will be able to help. I'll get messages to all the Hidden Villages explaining what has happened." Without another word, Shikaku hurried off to try and restore some semblance of order.
Sakura didn't protest when Gai took her from Kurenai, allowing the pregnant woman to stretch her back out with a wince. She managed a wry smile and said, "Wouldn't it be so anticlimactic if my water broke now?"
Gai chuckled as they started toward the door and replied, "One cannot fight fate, though it'd be a good idea to try right now. This isn't a good day to be born."
Kurenai made an agreeing sound as she waddled as quickly as she could behind them. Word had obviously started to spread already, judging by the way people kept looking at her. Gai hurried to get them off the main road before anyone could think about approaching. She didn't remember much of the walk to the Nara estate, just that Kurenai and Gai talked quietly to each other and that somehow her feet kept moving.
Nara Yoshino was outside when they arrived, packing compost around the base of a young tree. She rose at their approach, but the welcoming smile faded quickly when she got a good look at Sakura. "What happened?" she asked, stripping her work gloves off and tucking them into her belt.
"Hatake Kakashi has been murdered," Gai answered quickly. "Your husband instructed us to come here. This is—"
"Haruno Sakura," she interrupted softly. "You were a classmate of my son's in the Academy." Yoshino studied her a moment longer before sighing and motioning for them to follow her inside. "The living room is to your left. Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be back in a bit."
Kurenai sank gratefully onto the narrow couch, groaning as she rubbed a hand over belly. "I can't wait until this brat is born," she muttered, shifting awkwardly on the cushions to find a better position.
At Gai's insistence, Sakura sat next to the pregnant woman. Now that everything was done, she was left feeling hollow. The pain and anger had kept her going and without it she was just … tired. It was difficult to think that just this morning he'd been alive, that she'd heard his voice and felt the warmth of his body pressed to hers. And the more she thought about it, the more it drove home the fact that she wouldn't see him tomorrow. He was gone. Kakashi was gone and she….
A tear splattered on her folded hands, cooling quickly in the open air. It was joined by another and another, and soon they were falling uncontrollably. She'd thought she'd shed them all in the Council chamber, when she'd walked in to find him dead. Her eyes squeezed shut as the image surfaced, as if by closing her eyes she could stop her brain from remembering. It was no use. All she saw was the blood and the deep, ragged gashes where people had twisted the kunai inside him. She saw his slack features, the sliver of his dull eyes from beneath his lashes.
The tears kept coming, choking her with each breath. She wondered briefly if it was possible to die from too much crying as she curled her knees up to her chest, tucking herself in the far corner. No one touched her or offer words the expected words of comfort – lies that everything would be alright that it would get easier with time. They understood that nothing could possibly make her feel better right now and were giving her the one thing she needed most: solitude.
She didn't know how long she'd been crying. For all she cared, it might as well have been forever. Finally, her eyes were too swollen and sore to tolerate any more tears. Sakura lifted her head and stared bleakly at the wall in front of her. Her entire body ached, but she didn't feel like moving.
A steaming mug appeared before her and one inhale was enough to tell her it was full of chicken broth and a sleeping agent.
"Drink it," Yoshino insisted, using the voice that all mothers seemed to have; that gentle, commanding voice which wouldn't allow for any arguing. With the way the older woman was looking at her, she knew that at some point Gai must have filled her in with the details.
Sakura took the offered cup and sipped it, even though she didn't particularly want to. Letting out a relieved breath, Yoshino sat in the chair next to the couch, her flak vest crinkling roughly across her torso. She'd changed as well, now wearing a standard issue jounin uniform and with her hair pulled back tightly. "Has anyone contacted your parents yet?" she asked.
Shaking her head, Sakura mumbled, "No. They're not here."
"Where are they? I'll make sure a message gets to them immediately."
The idea of having to face her mother with all this was horrible. It would involve the usual lecture about how being a kunoichi meant toughening up and that this was why having affairs with teammates was discouraged. Her mom was an amazing ninja, but that didn't mean she was an amazing mom all the time.
Yoshino seemed to pick up on her reluctance. She reached out and gently brushed Sakura's hair back behind one ear. "It can wait until tomorrow. Just finish your soup for now, okay?"
"It's very good," Sakura lied as she took another cautious sip. It was actually very bitter from whatever Shikamaru's mom had put in it, but that had been an intentional thing. Generally speaking, it was very rude to try and drug someone without them being aware. The older woman was being polite in not disguising it.
"You think so?" she chuckled, playing along with the lie. "Maybe I should make it for my boy sometime. He's developed the nasty habit of sneaking out at night to meet with Inoichi's daughter. A little homemade soup might encourage him to stay home."
Kurenai laughed under her breath and said, "Make sure I get a copy of that before leaving.
"Oh, it's very easy. All you do is take two parts chicken broth, put it in a pot with some carrots, onion, celery…"
Sakura tried to stay focused on the recipe to see if she could at least identify what she'd been fed, but the drug was already starting to take affect. Her eyes were getting heavier by the minute, the voices of the two women dimmer, and before she knew it she was slumping down on the couch. The last thought to cross her mind before sleep overcame her was that Nara Yoshino certainly hadn't skimped on the dosage.
When she woke much later, she a moment of panic as her eyes opened on a dark, unfamiliar room. All she saw were shadows moving against the wall and black, hulking shapes. It took a couple heart-pounding seconds before she started identifying the imagined creatures as being pieces of furniture. She sat up slowly, her head spinning from eating the drugged soup, and pulled the knitted afghan someone had been kind enough to provide more securely around her body. The remnants of a dream still flitted around the outskirts of her consciousness, too vague to grasp again but clear enough that she knew it was better than her reality.
Her eyes were just beginning to close again when she heard what had woken her: voices. Two of them, one male and one female. They were whispering somewhere just outside the living room, the male speaking in imploring tones while the woman's was an angry hiss. Curious and at a little frightened at the same time, Sakura stood up and padded quietly across the floor. She paused with her back pressed to the wall by the door and peered around cautiously to see who it was.
"Yoshino, I can't disobey the Elders," Shikaku pleaded quietly. His back was to her, which prevented her from seeing his face … but not his wife's. The anger on her features seemed so out of place compared to the gentle compassion from mere hours ago.
"Well, this time you're going to have to," she insisted stubbornly. "That girl is not going to be seen and interrogated on their grounds. If they want to talk to her, they will come here."
"And what do you plan to do, hm? Turn them out if you don't approve of their questions?"
"Absolutely. This is our house, Shikaku, and she is our guest. And when you tell the Elders that Haruno Sakura will not be coming to the Council Chamber tomorrow or the day after or any other day that they decree, make certain you remind them that manners will be observed in my house."
Shikaku made a frustrated sound and rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. "Woman…"
Yoshino arched a brow and folded her arms across her chest. "Man?" she returned caustically.
He sighed heavily, tossing his arms up in a show of defeat. "I don't know why I bother trying to argue you with."
Her smile was triumphant as she gave his chest a pat. "You do, and I love you for it. And occasionally I let you win. But in this … I'm not budging. If they want to question her, they'll do so in a neutral location – where I can monitor the proceedings."
Shikaku snorted in amusement and pulled his wife in for an embrace. "I'll inform them first thing tomorrow," he assured softly.
Sakura drew away as the couple started kissing again and crept back to her makeshift bed with a heart that felt like it was breaking all over again. She knew their display of affection hadn't been intentional, and that if Yoshino had known she was watching that it wouldn't have happened, but it didn't make it feel any less like a personal injury. It made her think about Kakashi and how she would never have the opportunity to do any of that: to argue with him, to kiss him when she wanted, to fall asleep in his arms. If she weren't still feeling heavy and exhausted from the drug, she probably would have started crying again.
She curled up tightly on the couch and pulled the blanket up over her head, as if by making herself as small as possible she could just disappear. It was a nice thought, one that helped lull her back to sleep.
The next three days passed in a blur. The Nara house was besieged with visitors, ranging from Konoha Council members questioning her repeatedly about what had happened to strangers coming to express their condolences and share small anecdotes they had of Kakashi. The former were exhausting and, at times, rude about suggesting she might have had a hand in his murder. When that happened, Nara Yoshino would magically appear with a tray of tea … and it was purely coincidental that the graceful woman would suddenly become clumsy. The Council members very quickly learned that they were to be polite if they wished to avoid potentially second degree burns.
The sympathizers were a different matter. They weren't there to harm her or trick her into admitting guilt beyond that she wished she would have gone with Kakashi that day. As such, Yoshino and her Tea of Hasty Departure rarely made an appearance. There were times where Sakura wished that wasn't the case … one of those being right now.
She knew Maito Gai meant well, but hearing him talk about Kakashi with a smile on his face wasn't really helping. Sakura understood why he appeared to be happy; he was celebrating the life, not mourning the death. Unfortunately, he hadn't been the one to see Kakashi's body fresh after it had been mutilated by forty elite ninja. The only stories she didn't mind during his three hour visit were the ones about Kakashi before she knew him.
Gai told her about his father, Hatake Sakumo, and the sacrifice he'd made. He told her about how their 'rivalry' had started (apparently, it was over a girl named Rin) and about some of their more interesting missions – like the one where he and Kakashi had pretended to be a couple so as to avoid the interest of an overzealous drug lord's wife. It had backfired; as it turned out, the wife had a thing for man-on-man action. Yoshino had thankfully poked her head in to ask if they needed and refreshments, putting an end on that story before Gai could go into greater detail.
The thing was, even though she would have preferred curling up in a corner and letting the world pass her by … listening to Gai speak of Kakashi so fondly lifted some of the heaviness from her heart. Hearing him talk about all the things they'd done together, for better or worse, reminded her why she loved him. Kakashi may have put up a cool front, but underneath he was one of the warmest men she'd ever met. He cared about those he held dear, and she considered herself lucky to be in that select group.
It also had the adverse affect of making her miss him terribly. She missed confiscating his porn so that he would do some actual work, missed his lame excuses for why he was late almost every morning. She missed the way he looked at her when he thought she didn't notice, how he always waited for her to finish up just to say wish her goodnight. It made Gai's remembrances a bittersweet thing.
Ino visited her everyday. They didn't talk about much of anything, but it was nice having her best friend with her. Sometimes, the blonde would bring a few magazines over, though how she'd managed to get her hands on the glossy articles when mail was supposed to be restricted to necessary communications, she didn't know – and Ino wasn't sharing. Going through the pages, picking out clothing for each other and laughing at some of the more outlandish styles was a dose of normality she desperately needed right now.
It was late on her third night at the Nara residence when Naruto finally came home. Sakura woke when someone crawled into bed with her. She knew the minute he wrapped an arm around her and hauled her into a tight hug that it was him. No one gave bear hugs like Uzumaki Naruto. She closed her eyes and settled back against his wiry frame. It was similar to how Kakashi had held her their only night together, but different in that there was no confusing Naruto's body for his.
"So, I heard you really owned Danzou's ass," he murmured, his breath warming the back of her neck.
Sakura shrugged and settled her arm over his. "Not really. He got away."
"For now, yeah. But he's gotta live with the fact that a sixteen year old girl got the best of him. All the other S-class criminals are gonna laugh at him."
She snorted, unable to keep the mirth in check. It really wasn't all that funny, given the circumstances … but it was hard being depressed around him. "I am a chuunin, you know," she reminded him. "Technically, I outrank you. And I was trained by Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, not to mention I took out a member of Akatsuki."
"Sure, sure, rub in how awesome you are," he grumbled jokingly. He was silent for a moment before saying more gently, "I'm sorry. I should have been here."
Sakura squeezed his arm and when she spoke next her voice cracked with unshed tears. "Can you … Can you just be quiet? Please?"
"Yeah, no problem." Naruto snuggled closer to her back, spooning his body around hers. It was the first time she'd ever let him hold her like this, and it should have felt awkward and strange. It didn't. If anything, it was the most comfortable she'd felt in three whole days.
She remained awake the rest of the night, listening to his deep, even breaths, and for the first time since everything happened she felt like everything might be okay. They would find Danzou and Sai, and together they would make them pay for what they had done. She just hoped that Naruto wouldn't try and deny her the chance to avenge Kakashi.
"Intelligence reports from Ame state that Danzou and Sai crossed the border yesterday," Shikaku stated, addressing the group of people that were crowded in his living room. His wife was still stubbornly insisting that any meetings with Sakura were to be conducted in his house rather than a proper meeting room, which was highly inconvenient … but what could he do about it?
"If they were close enough to see him cross the border, why the hell didn't they attack?" Yamato demanded sternly. He and Naruto had just gotten back to Konoha late last night, and the lack of sleep was evident in the bags under his eyes as well as his temperament.
"Ame is taking a neutral stance on the matter," he explained, noting that more than one person seemed angry at the news. "They've agreed to provide information about his movement through their territory, but they won't risk their forces by engaging him in combat. It seems the reputation of almost killing Uchiha Sasuke is enough to hold them back."
Genma snorted derisively and shook his head. "Fucking Ame pussies," he muttered uncharitably. He grimaced when Yoshino cleared her throat and shot him a disapproving glare.
"Anyway," Shikaku continued, moving along in hopes of preventing the senbon user from catching anymore of his wife's wrath, "The Elders have already petitioned the Ame Council asking for permission to enter their land with armed forces. When Danzou left, he took almost two hundred and twenty-seven fully trained ROOT ninja and another one hundred and twelve rookies."
Naruto let out a surprised squawk from where he was sitting next to Sakura and exclaimed, "They seriously had that many people in their group? Damn…."
Smirking at the obvious remark, the Nara clan leader said, "Indeed, it is. I don't think anyone knew just how extensive Danzou's forces were." When he'd reported their findings to the Council, he could still remember the look how shock on their faces to learn that the Daimyo's Hokage essentially had himself a small army. It was that information which had sealed their complete support in tracking ROOT down and destroying them completely.
"How soon will we hear back from Ame?" Yamato pressed as he studied the map that was spread across Shikaku's coffee table.
"I don't know. Tomorrow. A week from now. It's entirely up to their Council now. In the meantime, I think it would be wise to plot a contingency plan in case they refuse."
"Agreed," the former ANBU captain said as he leaned forward to tap a section of the map. "It's a likely bet that Danzou is leading them north toward the mountains. If can make it there, it's possible to survive indefinitely in the wilderness. There are hundreds of caves peppering the mountain side and the forests are rife with game. We can't let them get there."
"What about intercepting them here?" Inoichi suggested, indicating a small town in Iwa that was between Ame and the mountain range. "Firubi is an ideal battleground: two sides bordered by water and lots of flatland for maneuvering. The tall grasses are great for camouflage, too."
Shikaku nodded thoughtfully as he too surveyed the map. Yamato was right in that they needed to catch Danzou before he could reach the mountains, but he was hesitant about staging a battle so close to a small town. He stretched his arm across the table and tapped a spot just north of Firubi. "We'll engage them here. It's a little closer to the mountains, but the foothills and outcropping boulders will provide cover should we need it. Iwa is being surprisingly amiable about this whole thing, so I'm certain we can convince them to allow for temporary military access."
"Then let's get a message to them immediate and start forming the teams," Yamato replied. "The Elders won't allow for all of the ANBU forces to leave in pursuit of ROOT, so it would be best to include a mix of regular teams as well."
"How many ANBU squads do you think we can get?" Sakura asked. It was the first time all morning that she'd spoken.
Yamato exchanged a glance with Shikaku and shrugged. "Twenty at most, I would think. Why?"
Sakura slid forward from her corner of the couch to trace a line with her finger between Firubi and Ame's border. "If we let Danzou and Sai pass this point here, the ANBU teams can engage them to the north and east, which allows our regular teams to move in from the south and close them in."
"Oh! I see what you mean!" Naruto said excitedly, grinning brightly at his teammate. "They'll be surrounded on all sides, so numbers won't really matter. That's brilliant, Sakura-chan!"
"I have to admit, that's probably our best chance for success," Yamato agreed thoughtfully. "Hedge them in and force a surrender."
Sakura's head snapped up in surprise. "Surrender?" she repeated incredulously.
Yamato shifted uneasily and glanced around pleadingly at his peers for assistance. Shikaku didn't dare step in; the girl was trained by Tsunade and he'd seen what the former Hokage had been capable of with just one finger. He was not about to get on this girl's bad side.
Realizing he was on his own, the ANBU captain's shoulder slumped as he groaned under his breath. "The Council has ordered that Danzou and Sai are to be brought back alive if at all possible," he explained. "They want them tried by village standards for what they've done."
"Oh, hell no!" she shouted angrily. "Did they read Shizune's autopsy report? Those bastards stabbed Kakashi over fifty times! Fifty times! Seventeen of those wounds were delivered postmortem – meaning, they continued stabbing him even after he was dead. And they want to bring them back alive so they can get locked up for life? No."
"Sakura—"
"No! Kakashi went into that meeting completely unarmed. He had no idea that he was going to be ambushed by his own village. Then, they mutilated him even after he was dead. If the Elders think it's justice to drag them back and let them live … fuck them!"
"Sakura!" Naruto yelped, shocked by her language.
"I mean it!" she continued heatedly. "Fuck them and their stupid justice and their policies."
"Sakura," Shikaku cut in sharply. He almost regretted it when her furious green eyes landed on him. "The orders were specifically this: Danzou and Sai were to be captured alive … if possible. A battlefield is a very confusing, chaotic place. Who's to say the opportunity will present itself?"
He put just enough insinuation in his words for her to catch on that there wasn't a person in the room who was going to allow for such an opportunity. All of them, except for perhaps Naruto, were going into this with one goal in mind: vengeance. If any of ROOT survived, it would be because of Naruto's peacekeeping beliefs – not because they were following orders.
As he'd hoped, Sakura caught his meeting and quieted down. Naruto glanced from her to Shikaku and back again, rightly guessing that a hidden exchange had occurred but clueless as to what the message had been. It was for the best; the kyuubi vessel would certainly protest them going on a revenge mission."
Satisfied that most everyone was on the same page, Shikaku began folding the map up. "Yamato, you will be responsible for petitioning and organizing the ANBU reinforcements. Inoichi, Genma, Gai, you three gather as many teams as possible. Only experienced chuunin and up. These are elite ninja we're going up against and I don't want novices getting hurt. Danzou has the advantage of speed, so we'll need to organize at least seven transport sites. Yoshino, I want you and Shizune to head this up. Let's plan to leave in three days. That should give us enough time to position ourselves for Danzou's forces."
As soon as he was finished, everyone dispersed and immediately began making preparations for the upcoming battle. Shikaku watched as Sakura left the room as well with Naruto following after her and sighed. When the battle started, he was going to have to keep an eye on her. He could very easily see her doing something foolish in the name of revenge and knew Kakashi would never forgive him if he let that happen.
The battle at Firubi was over quicker than anyone had anticipated. Apparently, Ame had done more than they'd said they would and had beleaguered the ROOT army every step of the way through their country. By the time Danzou reached the proposed battleground, his men were tired, injured, and in poor condition to fight. They still managed to cause some damage to the Konoha forces; cornered men were dangerous enough, but it was more so when those cornered men were specially trained ninja.
From start to finish, the battle only lasted an hour. Only a handful of ROOT operatives were captured alive, the majority of them having either died in the fight or committing suicide so as to avoid capture. Danzou and Sai were among the latter. The former ROOT leader had been discovered with a bloody kunai in his hand and his intestines steaming in the cool air; he'd disemboweled himself rather than be taken alive.
Sai, on the other hand, had allowed himself to be taken prisoner. At his request, he'd been taken to Sakura, whereupon he offered a sad smile and an apology for the pain he'd caused to both her and Konoha – right before his body collapsed in convulsive fits on the ground. A couple people rushed forward to try and save him, but it was too late. The cyanide pill he'd swallowed at the start of the battle had done its job. Regardless of the outcome, Sai had never intended to live through it.
No one commented on the fact that Sakura, a trained medic who was highly adept at removing toxins from the bloodstream, hadn't been one of the people to try and save him.
Those that participated in the Battle of Firubi left with mixed emotions. Some felt vindicated that they had administered justice for a man they loved and respected. Others relieved that it had ended so quickly. But there wasn't a single person who could say they left the battlefield feeling proud of what they had done. That day, they killed people they had known, neighbors and friends whose only fault was that they followed a different path. There was nothing to be proud of in that.
They returned home quietly, without the fanfare that customarily accompanied returning victorious in battle. Everyone simply wanted to put it behind them and focus on the one thing more important than their duty as ninja: each other.