Dirty Deeds
A Naruto fanfiction, By Serenanna
Part 8 – Bungled
Warnings and Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them to play with. I'll return them later, promise. There is adult language and content as well as sexual situations in this story. So, if you're under 18, leave now before your virgin eyes are scarred forever. If you're over 18, enjoy!
Story Notes: Betaing by cultofdecay. See Part 1.
The snow started to fall almost as soon as he reached the entrance to the Minagawa building. It wasn't a good sign for the day to be turning overcast.
In bad weather, eight ninja dogs never seemed like enough. Even if each one of them knew Sakura's scent by now, none took the same path towards finding her after he had summoned them. None of the dogs came back in the first ten minutes after having been called either, not even Pakkun. She could not have disappeared, not in this light a snowfall. Where could she have gone to? He never should have let her out of his sight. What could Takara be planning to do to her? Whatever it was, it left a sense of dread in the ninja's stomach. She was the best medic ninja Konoha had ever produced short of Tsunade herself. She could pound solid stone into dust with one punch. She was his favorite and best student, the one he trusted, his partner and only teammate, yet there he was, worried half to sickness and hopping from rooftop to rooftop looking for her on his own.
Kakashi stopped on the edge of the next roof over after a giant leap across, crouched in the snow. He shouldn't be so worried, he reassured himself. Sakura could take care of herself. Only one time had she ever faltered and nearly gotten herself killed, but he had gotten to her in time. If she really was in trouble she couldn't handle, he'd make it in time. He always made it in the nick of time . . . at least when it was really important. He'd make it this time too, right? Just as he got up to continue running across the roofs, the swish and crunch of snow beside him got his immediate attention. The Copy Nin looked over to see a familiar small, brown, pug-faced dog looking up at him with big, mud-colored eyes. Pakkun: always on time when he needed to breathe a little easier. "Did you find her?"
"Not exactly . . . I found a definite trail. Her scent is all over it, only . . ."
He didn't like the way the little pug trailed off. "What is it?"
"There's five different male scents following her too; same path, and not that far behind her, but one broke off from the others. It smells to me like they're forming a trap."
The silver-haired jounin frowned. It was just as he thought after all. "Lead the way."
As soon as the two shinobi had climbed up to the tops of the buildings surrounding the plaza, finding Sakura again as she walked down a less busy side street wasn't hard. Neither was finding the men following her. Silently, the pair trailed along as well, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. The wind and snow had picked up as well until the gusts of air at that height whipped at their clothes. Ino stayed right behind Genma, nearly bumping into his shoulder at least three times. She didn't have to voice her worry as it showed on her face every time he looked at her. All the ninja could do was shake his head and frown. "Don't even think about it, blondie."
The kunoichi frowned at him. "She is outnumbered. If they grab her . . ."
"How much do you want to bet she'll take out all five without cracking a sweat?"
"Genma, be serious," Ino tried to convince him as they continued walking. "She will be in danger once they catch up to her. We could pick them off one by one before they ambush her."
"She'll hear the noise if it turns into a fight."
"I could possess one of them!"
"Then she'll feel the chakra miles away, know it's another shinobi, and find us."
The blonde's frown deepened. "You're willing to let who-knows-what happen to her, aren't you? When we have a chance to prevent it? How can you be so cruel? You heartless bas–"
Genma stopped in his tracks, whirling towards her as the words died on her tongue. She just had to pick that to hit him with, didn't she? Her choice of phrase ignited his anger as he stared at her. "I am not that cruel, or heartless, so stop insisting I am. We already went over this. You agreed to not think the worst of me anymore. When are you going to get that through that thick, presumptuous head of yours?"
"If you aren't, then why aren't we doing anything?" she asked back with a vicious tone to her voice and a defiant glare in her blue eyes. "How do you plan to explain our actions, or more like the lack there of, to Tsunade-sama or Kakashi if she gets killed, or worse?! If something happens to her, I'll never forgive you!"
"You are a shinobi, Ino!" he yelled in her face while roughly pulling her closer by the arm, the wind keeping the shout from carrying down to the street. "Didn't Asuma teach you anything about controlling your emotions on a mission?! Get a hold of yourself and think before I force that lesson into you!"
The air felt as if it had been forced from her lungs, a feeling usually reserved for a punch to the stomach, only this was a direct blow to her pride. Ino's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked up at Genma and the rage burning deeply in his brown eyes. How dare he accuse her of that?! What was he trying to prove?! Every shinobi knew that rule was a joke! How could someone really be as cold as ice when the lives of teammates, friends, teachers, and lovers could be at stake? Yet, in spite of all the anger she could summon against him, her mind still turned over the fact that she was nearing hysteria, as well as really wanting to piss him off for pissing her off. Her jaw quivered from the cold and from trying to formulate a response that wasn't borne solely out of a need for redemption. His eyes bore into her, making everything she could have said turn to dust in her mouth. For one crazy moment, the ninja seemed to be leaning closer to her, as if he was examining her face, waiting up-close to see if her resolve crumbled.
Ino ripped her forearm out of his tight grip and backed away, refusing to look at him. "Damn you . . . I thought you said we'd help her?"
Genma looked at the blonde standing there, hearing the heartbroken sound in her voice. Shit, what the hell was happening to him? One moment, all he could think about was verbally ripping her a new asshole, and the next, all he could see were those eyes of hers, drawing him in. That shade of blue, as deep blue and green as sea water, could only spell trouble for him and his resistance. Now, as he watched her struggle to not break down in tears, all he could feel was regret for getting angry in the first place. When the hell did he start feeling anything for crying women? "Shit," he cursed to himself, "I am a fucking idiot . . ."
The kunoichi looked up at him, blinking back barely formed tears. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Genma said, trying to wave her off as he turned back to watching the streets below them. "Come on, we can't lose them."
Looking at him skeptically, Ino followed. "I thought you said–"
"If you'd ever stop jumping to conclusions about me, I'd get a chance to explain," he grumbled, making a sheepish look form on her face when he wasn't looking. Without explanation, he started to follow the trail, leaving Ino once more to catch up. Just as they crossed another small side street, the pair broke the silence between them at about the same time. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at–"
"–shouldn't have been so emotional, it isn't like–"
"–I don't like getting angry at women–"
"–I shouldn't have pushed your buttons in the first place, and–"
"Ino . . .?"
"Yes?"
"I think we're both sorry. We'd probably be better off without the excuses."
She didn't say anything in response, but he caught her nod with a glance over his shoulder. "You ever going to explain your grand plan to save Forehead?"
"In due course, blondie."
"Stop calling me that . . ."
They jumped over another roof as Sakura turned the corner. Suddenly, Genma stopped, raising his arm to hold her back. As they watched, one of the men from the pack following the pink-haired woman glanced at the others and broke away, turning to run down a nearby alley. Ino moved to follow him when the shinobi blocked her way again, pointing behind her towards the way they just came. "Hold on. Someone else is coming."
Her eyes followed his outstretched arm back down to street level. A small, brown figure padded through the snow with his nose pressed to the ground. Just as soon as he appeared, he was gone, running and leaping off in another direction. The kunoichi blinked. "That's . . ."
A half-grin sprung up on Genma's face. "Looks like the hero of the hour is not too far behind us."
A frown formed on Ino's face. "He's going to be late . . ."
He frowned as well, but for different reasons. "Then that means it's up to us to make sure Sakura survives long enough for a timely rescue."
"Genma! What about the argument we just had?!" she hissed at him as he started off, back down Sakura's trail. "If you really aren't sorry and just said that stuff to piss me off, I'll–!"
"You're assuming again," he almost chuckled in a mock-scolding tone of voice that only seemed to enrage her further. "Think, Ino."
Despite how much the ninja was trying her patience, she calmed down long enough to actually start to think outside of her blinding rage. He had some kind of plan, right? One that would save Sakura without blowing their mission? Genma was nowhere near Shikamaru's league of tactical planning, so it had to be something even she could think of, something stupidly simple and obvious. When that thought finally hit her, she groaned. "You're only suggesting we act as Sakura's safety net, aren't you? In case Kakashi is late or she goes down early."
"Right. These guys don't look like professionals in our class, so . . ."
"They're probably just going to beat her up, or . . ." Ino trailed off before paling to a shade that nearly made the snow look warmer. "They could–"
She stopped herself from finishing that sentence as he nodded grimly. "Which is easier to do with a victim either drugged or dazed, and that takes time, which gives us more of an advantage if they are that stupid."
"So, once she's down for the count, and if Kakashi hasn't shown up by then, we finish them off and disappear before he arrives . . . That could work," the kunoichi said with a nod of approval.
Genma smirked, moving faster down the street in pursuit of Sakura's would-be attackers. "Of course it works. What kind of idiot do you take me for?"
Ino giggled, keeping pace with him. "The lazy, womanizing kind."
For half a second, he looked at her, deeply offended as she continued to laugh at him. Normally, if another woman had made fun of him like that, or had a laugh that grating, he would have been both deeply pissed and repulsed. Yet, after this much alone time with the Yamanaka girl, her voice wasn't half as grating anymore, except when she was complaining. Neither did her constant stream of light yet snarky remarks about his personality affect his temper, except when she said the wrong thing. He still did look at her too, whenever he was sure she wouldn't notice. If he didn't know any better, he might have admitted, at least to himself, that Ino had begun to grow on him. Then again, what was there not to like about her, except for that complaining thing of hers and the attitude? If he didn't know any better, he might even have admitted to himself that she was a practical, beautiful, no nonsense, opinionated woman he could grow to actually want a friendship with.
The ninja took in a deep breath, glancing sideways to see the smile on her face. It was a good thing he did know better otherwise that smile could've worsened the knot of nervousness in his stomach that had formed from when they climbed up the fire escape together. He let Ino take the lead, watching as she jumped over an alleyway. It then occurred to Genma what the blonde had actually said, and coupled with the knowledge of her crush on old Nara's kid, the thought put a grin on his face. "But she likes lazy idiots . . ."
Maybe, if he really was starting to like her, she liked him in return.
Sakura's heels clicked sharply on the pavement with each step. The only other sounds in the empty street were the wind howling overhead and the soft pad of feet trying to be kept quiet behind her. Of course she knew she was being followed. Who could ignore the noise they made in their pursuit? She just wished she would have picked up on it earlier instead of being distracted. The pink-haired young woman pulled her coat tightly around her, not about to let herself be distracted again by her own thoughts. If she hadn't been thinking of Kakashi, or the mission, or anything else that had caused her to storm out of the Minagawa building, she might have been able to avoid whoever followed her. Too late now, though. There would be no running from this one.
Who would follow her, anyway? It didn't make sense unless their cover had slipped up somewhere. Maybe someone finally recognized Kakashi's name. Well, it didn't matter at that moment as much as getting them to stop following her did. Damnit, and she wasn't even dressed for a fight! Tsunade could kick butt in high heels, but her dear mentor had never gotten around to that lesson. Then again, taijutsu wasn't the Godaime's specialty unless it involved chakra enhanced strength. She probably couldn't fight in a short skirt, either.
A car drove past her over the road with a crunch of ice, snow flakes starting to stick to the surface. She needed a battleground, a closed space to avoid an unwanted audience and to keep her enemies from spreading out. She'd have to ditch her coat and satchel as well. That wasn't too much of a problem. Suddenly, she was very glad that she brought the small bag along with her each day, despite Kakashi's protests. Not only did it hide her senbon well, but it discreetly kept her med-kit with her. It was occasions such as these that made taking it everywhere worthwhile.
The steps behind her picked up their pace, and the kunoichi swallowed the lump of panic in her throat. Now wasn't the time to panic. Shinobi were always in control of their emotions. Handling a few thugs was a piece of cake as long as she remained calm, right?
Sakura's pace unconsciously slowed as she saw a gruff-looking man leaning on one of the street lampposts look right at her. As she got closer, he stood up straighter, walking towards her. The footsteps on the sidewalk hurried up. "Hey there pretty lady," the man called out, "can I have a moment of your time? See I got this problem–"
Adrenaline poured into the kunoichi's blood. It was a trap.
She didn't wait around to hear the rest, knowing she would be chased and caught as she broke to the right. Feet pounded after Sakura as she ran down a dark, trash-strewn alley. She toppled over the first trashcan she saw, not looking back as she heard a satisfying crash of metal and flesh. The alley opened up to a side street as she turned left. Not missing a beat, she kicked up the heels she was wearing into her hands before running even faster. The pink-haired young woman darted across the street and down another alleyway. The only problem was a chain fence blocked the way. Sakura hit the chain links and cursed, gasping for breath. "Shit."
Looking over her shoulder, she could see three of the men running after her still. Not about to be caught, the kunoichi slipped her shoes into her coat pockets and jumped. Her stocking-covered foot pushed off a nearby brick wall and then off of the next one over until she cleared the fence, landing in a crouch. She heard the men hit the fence as well and looked back to see them staring in shock. Sakura grinned. "You boys really don't want to mess with–"
Before she could finish, a foot kicked her in the stomach, sending her sprawling across the snow and dirt with a roll. Groaning, she started to pick herself back up. "Bad idea . . ."
Sakura looked up to see a man's face leering down at her as she got back to her feet. The other men jumped down from the fence, circling her. She panted to catch her breath, huffing puffs of steam as all of them glared at her. Only one of them dared to move closer, a shorter man than the rest. "You gave us quite a run, girlie."
"Don't call me girlie, ugly," Sakura growled back, meeting the man's gaze.
"She can't call you that, boss!" one of the men shouted. "Lemme teach her mouth some manner first!"
"Shut up!" their apparent leader yelled back. "This whore is tougher than we were lead to believe. We ain't getting paid enough for this much. And for making us work this hard, we're getting the rest of our worth out of her, after I teach her those lessons myself! I'm filling that mouth first!"
"What the hell, boss?!"
The group descended into quick, quiet arguing. Sakura's lip twitched into a half-hearted grin, a malevolent look overcoming her face. Great. Just great. She was going to get raped by a bunch of clowns, or at least that was probably what they thought would happen. How cliché could these wannabe gangsters be? Arguing amongst themselves could have made it all too easy for her to slip away, but actually getting away at that point wouldn't answer who had sent them in the first place. The longer the infighting went on, the more it proved her theory that common criminals couldn't find their way out of paper bags with both hands and a map. The thought made her grin turn into a smirk. Casually, Sakura slipped her hands into her coat pockets, grasping her high heels. "You really don't want to mess with me. I'm worth three times your salaries."
All five men turned their undivided attention to her, their expressions wavering between dumb and licentious. "Is that right, pretty lady?" their leader said as he got closer. "We were led to believe that you did sell it after all, but you must be something else to get paid that much. How about we discuss a friendly discount?"
Sakura's grin turned into a sweet, seemingly pleasant smile. "I'll give you a two-for-one deal."
"Really now? How does that work?"
The kunoichi threw the left shoe into the air, then struck forward with the right, jabbing the thin heel into the man's shoulder. "One!"
He screamed and reeled backwards as the high heel fell into her right hand. A second thug reached to grab her, only to be stabbed as well when the stiletto went through his palm. "Two!"
Sakura ducked as the next three rushed towards her en masse, diving between two of them as they collided with each other. "Two-for-one! Come again, boys!"
Just when she thought she had a way out, a meaty hand yanked on the collar of her coat, pulling her backwards. Her body hit someone's torso, and suddenly she felt another hand on top of her, grabbing at her clothes. "Hold that bitch still!" someone shouted as panic flooded the kunoichi's senses.
She slipped her arms out of the coat to run forward, stopping again when another man pulled on her satchel. Bare feet slipping in the snow and ice, she ducked to get the strap off of her neck, letting the bag go. Feeling a presence over her shoulder, Sakura spun and struck out, only to have her fist easily caught. He wasn't lucky enough to avoid her kick, though, as her shin hit his side. Chakra flowed naturally into her movements, lifting him off the ground to sail through the air and directly into a wall with a crunch. The man crumpled with a thud. All of the shuffling behind her stopped as she turned again. Sakura stood before them on surer footing and in a fighting stance, a palm beckoning the rest of the thugs forward. "Shit! She's fucking shinobi!" one of them shouted, panic striking across some of their faces.
Their leader glared at Sakura as she smiled. "I don't care! Get her!"
Genma smirked from their perch above the alleyway with his chakra masked. He looked over at Ino. "Told you she could take them."
The blonde frowned, leaning on the fire escape's railing. "Don't remind me . . ."
As much as she wanted to cheer her friend on as the four remaining men rushed her, she couldn't find the enthusiasm in her heart to do so. Sakura was stronger than she'd given her credit for, and it made Ino feel small by comparison. She could indeed handle herself just fine without either them or Kakashi. Her frown deepened. "It's looking more like the Copy Nin won't need to be the hero of the hour."
The brown-haired shinobi turned to nod in agreement, but paused as something caught his eye in the middle of the fight. In the hand of the one that had initially come on to her was what looked like a gun. "Shit!" Genma said as he started to climb up onto the railing.
Ino saw it too, only she knew it wasn't what he assumed it was. Her hand grasped his shoulder, pulling him back as she hissed. "No, wait! Not yet! It's not a gun! It's an injector!"
He stopped, crouched on the rail. "They're going to drug her?"
The blonde paused a moment, then nodded. "But with what, I don't . . . I don't know . . ."
Genma sunk back down, watching as the man managed to put the object to the kunoichi's neck and pulled the trigger. "Shit . . ."
"Shit," Sakura cursed as she slapped a hand over the prick to the back of her neck. The world wobbled for a moment, then refocused. Moving out of the way of another fist, she turned towards the guy that had stung her. "You're gonna pay for that."
Before said payment could be delivered, though, a punch to the side threw her off balance. Her feet slid and her arms flailed to stay upright, grabbing onto one of the thugs. Another hit struck her back as she cringed, yelping in pain. Damnit, she should have run when she had the chance . . .
Everything seemed to shudder and shake for one moment then stopped, making Sakura feel dizzy all over again. Her eyes unfocused as things started to appear hazy on the edges of her vision. In spite of the disorientation, her chakra-laced palm still managed to connect with someone as she felt whoever had been bracing her fall away with a thud. The young woman staggered as she heard shouting around her. What the hell had they put into her? It had to be a poison to work this fast, or close to it. Everything seemed so blurry . . .
But of course it would! Whatever had been injected into her went right into her blood stream. Maybe it was nightshade, or cyanide? Arsenic? Maybe belladonna? Wait, that's nightshade's other name! Or . . . or?! Damnit! What was it Tsunade-shishou had told her about poisons again? She couldn't remember that either, at least not at that moment. Those bastards had meant business after all, and damnit, she should have run. How could she have been so stupid? Another hand touched the kunoichi, causing her to lash out on instinct. Her nails raked across skin as she heard a pained yelp. She swayed on her feet, forcing herself to focus. "Is that all you got?!"
Their laughter sounded terrifyingly loud in her ears.
A hand shoved her, and Sakura fell. Her back hit something hard, a wall probably, then everything around her felt wet and cold. She groaned, her fist clenching snow. "Damnit . . . cheap . . . move . . ."
"You say something? I don't think I heard you from all the way down there . . ."
His voice sounded in the distance, as if she were worlds away instead of lying in a heap at the man's feet. Above all though, Sakura felt cold, mind-numbingly cold. Everything felt so . . .
Ino jumped up onto the railing beside Genma as Sakura fell to the ground. "On three, I got the guy on the left."
"No, you take the right. I got the left."
"But I want him! He's the one that–!"
"There isn't time for this, take the right!"
"But–!"
Before she could argue any longer, a figure darted overhead, then jumped downwards. Genma fell backwards, pulling Ino down with him. How could he have gotten there so fast? His dogs were good, but that good? The shinobi wasn't about to argue, though, about the sometimes untimely appearances of the Copy Nin, not when he showed up on time when it mattered the most.
Sakura's pink hair on the pure snow looked paler than he had imagined as the clear white brought out the delicate lilac undercurrent in the normally vibrant hue of her locks. He might have said she looked beautiful in that moment if the sight of the rest of her lying there limp didn't make him burn with anger. Three men stood around her, but not for long.
Kakashi dropped down silently among them without even a crunch of snow. One punch to the left, then one to the right, followed by a kick to the third just as he turned sent all of them crashing down to the ground. Two struggled to get back up while one didn't move anymore. The Copy Nin leaped towards slowest of the pair, grabbing him by his jacket collar and hauling him to his feet. The guy threw a fist which he easily caught, using the leverage and momentum of the swing to flip him end over end onto his back.
He turned sideways suddenly and held his leg out straight as the last man standing rammed himself right into Kakashi's foot. With a loud oomph, he fell backwards with a splat in the snow.
Righting himself again, the ninja walked over to Sakura's body as she lay still below the wall. He could still see her breath puffing away little balls of steam into the air, and it gave him some sense of relief. She was alive. Crouched down beside her, he shook her shoulder, yet she didn't move. Even when he lifted a limp wrist, her arm fell bonelessly back down. What the hell had they given her? Kakashi shook her harder, which only made the kunoichi giggle and try to bat the hand away. "Get gone, you pesssstt," she mumbled, slurred.
If he didn't know any better, he might have said it was a drunken slur, only he knew she wasn't drunk. What had they done to her? Sakura whined as he sat her up and leaned her against the brick wall. "Just let me sleep . . ."
"No! No sleeping on me, Sakura. I need you to tell me what they did to you," he said. She winced, trying to slide back down the wall, yet he held her in place. There wasn't any strength or control in her body as she tried to push him away again. "Just lemme 'lone! I'm cold, sleeeepy, and my neck hurts . . ."
Kakashi blinked then pulled her forward. Sakura bent over like a limp rag doll, not moving in his arms except to snuggle slightly against him. Her skin had a slight tinge of blue, probably not helped by the cold weather and falling snow. Gently, the Copy Nin peeled down her turtleneck collar, looking for what she said had hurt. Immediately he noticed a red dot on the back of her neck that wept a trace of blood under pressure. Something had been forced into her blood, but what? Sleepiness and coldness . . . it could have been anything. Thoughts of basic first aid went through the shinobi's mind as he leaned her back against the wall. Warmth, if she was cold; she needed to be kept warm. Kakashi grabbed her longcoat from the ground, throwing it over her, along with his own. Sakura's head fell to the side, and she fell asleep again until he shook her back awake. "Hang on. We'll figure this out. We'll . . ."
The ninja trailed off as he saw one on the men move, attempting to roll over before coughing loudly. Standing back up, he swooped down to grab the man by the neck, lifting him back to his feet. The guy panicked, thrashing and choking as Kakashi backed him against the wall, pinning him there by the throat. "L-let me go!"
"Not until you tell me what you put in her."
"What?"
"I don't repeat myself, now answer."
"I don't know! I just follow orders!"
A flash of anger crossed the ninja's dark eye. "Then who does?"
He flailed, gesturing wildly towards another one of the downed men, the shortest of the bunch. "Him! The boss! He knows!"
A grim look settled on Kakashi's face as he kept the man still while he lifted the eye patch. He stopped squirming altogether as the shinobi leaned in, slowly opening the Sharingan eye. "You've been . . . helpful."
Unable to look away as the black tomoe whirled, the man screamed, and then went oddly silent. His body slumped over, then fell to the ground as Kakashi released him before sliding the eye patch back into place. "Good night . . ."
Just as the Copy Nin turned towards his next target, the short guy bolted upright, quickly getting his feet under him and starting to run. Cursing to himself, he took off after the guy. Before he could even reach the end of the alley, the ninja was almost on top of him. The man stumbled in panic at seeing that he was being chased, crashing into a mound of snow. Kakashi grabbed the back of his neck before his face hit the ground, roughly dragging him back with much kicking and shouting. The sound stopped, though, as he was thrown against the wall, a hand painfully grasping his throat as well. He struggled while trying to pry the fingers off, choking as they only gripped tighter. "Same question. What did you put in her?"
"I don't know. Really, I don't!"
"Then where did you get it?!"
"From the woman paying us! She said she was tough, that it would knock her out if we injected it into her! Then we could do whatever the hell we wanted to her!"
Kakashi frowned, his eye narrowing on the man. "The bottle . . ."
"It's in my coat pocket with the injector!"
The shinobi reached into the man's coat as he had indicated, pulling out a small vial wrapped in a paper label. The name he recognized as a powerful sedative, one that could potentially cause temporary amnesia and was fatal in large doses. The glass container was practically empty with only a scant amount of blue liquid left. "You gave her all of it?" Kakashi asked, sounding as if he couldn't believe what the man had done.
The apparent boss of this band of thugs squirmed as he was lifted up the wall, making it very hard to breathe, let alone answer. "We . . . thought . . . it would . . . work quicker."
Kakashi let the man drop to the ground, kicking him once in the stomach for good measure. He then pulled a packet of wire out of his suit jacket, quickly binding the man's wrists and ankles. "Stick around a while, maybe you'll live if she lives."
Before the man could plead for his life, the shinobi shoved the bottle into his mouth as a gag. Immune to the muffled screams, he turned back towards Sakura. The blue-tinge to her skin looked more prevalent by the second. Moving quickly, he grabbed her fallen satchel and squatted beside her, ruffling through the items. "Talk to me, Sakura. What counteracts sedatives?"
"I don't . . . so . . . tired . . ."
He shook her, waking her back up when her eyelids started to droop. "Don't fall asleep on me! I need to know!"
The kunoichi's brow furrowed in confusion. "Seda . . . tive?"
"Yes, that's what they injected you with, and a lot, too. I need to know how to counteract it."
"Well . . . damn . . ."
Kakashi tried not to frown. That was the understatement of the year. "Sakura, please. Think."
"Poison . . . extract . . ." she started to say, attempting to get up until she collapsed back down. "You do it."
She had to be joking, there was no other explanation. Him, do the poison extraction jutsu? He wasn't a medic-nin! And certainly not one in her class or Tsunade's! That took intensive training and more chakra control than he would ever have. And even if she could teach it to him, and he could do it, what would he do it with? A street alley was no place to perform complex medical jutsu. Sakura shivered, almost seeming to shake. Kakashi laid her down before she cracked her head on the wall. For a moment, the puffs of steam from her mouth stopped, then started again with a gasping breath.
This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be losing her, not now, not on what was supposed to be an easy mission. The ninja held her face in his hands, trying to warm her pale cheeks. He didn't have a choice. She would be dead before he got to the nearest hospital, let alone a ninja village. "Talk me through this, Sakura," he said as he started pulling things out of her bag, "'cause I haven't the slightest idea what I'm doing."
Sakura shivered as he lifted the coats away from her torso and pulled up her shirt. "Use the snow . . . grab it . . . with chakra . . . then crush . . . and put . . . the yellowroot . . . into it."
She gasped for breath, and he knew she had come close to not breathing again. "Just hang on. I can do this."
Kakashi grabbed the packet labeled yellowroot, pulling the dried herbs out and crushing it in his palm. He'd seen her do this so many times before, but never copied it as it was all done with chakra manipulation and control. She even performed it on him more than once when he was poisoned while they'd been on missions together. Each time it was the same procedure: yellowroot in water; form it into a bubble in her hands with chakra; then push into the skin, through the body, and out again, like a liquid filter. But with snow? It was the same principle, he guessed, just a solid and not a liquid form of water. Not that he had time to argue with the medic-nin's training. Maybe what was left of her body heat would melt it enough to let it pass, or the chakra would. If she thought it would work, it would work. How much he silently hoped it worked. Herbs ready, the Copy Nin stuck his hand in the snow. It was just like Rasengan, right? Just don't move the chakra; form it around the hand.
The first time he lifted his hand out, the snow clung to it in a thin layer, making him curse. "Damn, not enough."
His hand dove back in; sweat broke out along his brow as he concentrated on forming a ball of it. When he lifted it up again, the snow had formed an irregular sphere under his hand. Kakashi breathed a little easier in relief. "Ok . . . Now what?"
She convulsed as he placed the snow against her cold skin, and for a moment he thought she had gone into shock until she settled back down, still breathing. "Sakura, talk to me. How do I do this?" he pleaded, wiping the freezing sweat away.
Even if her eyes were wide open, Sakura saw nothing. She barely heard his question as her mind wandered in the coldness surrounding her. No, she did hear something, but it wasn't Kakashi. She was seeing things as well, except it wasn't the grey sky above her. No, what replayed over in her mind was the memory of the technique she was supposed to be talking him through. Tsunade's voice whispered in her ear, drumming the instructions into her, just as it had throughout the four days it had taken her to learn it until she had mastered it. It was the same words over and over again, just as her mentor had said them each time she failed to save one poisoned fish after another. Push the water through and pull it out again, like a string through a needle. Push the water through and pull it out again, like a string through a needle. "Push the water . . . through . . . pull it out, like . . . string . . . through a needle."
Like string through a needle? Kakashi's worried frown deepened. Somehow, he couldn't think of it being that easy. He took a big gulp of cold air, then slowly let it out again. Anything could go wrong. For all he knew he could end up causing internal bleeding or something and killing her if he didn't do this right. Failure wasn't an option, though. He wasn't losing another teammate to dumb chance, least of all the cherry blossom. The ninja pushed at the chakra and the snow.
Sakura screamed, but he didn't stop. That was how it was, right? He knew from personal experience that it hurt like thousands of stabbing kunai until it was over, and the use of snow probably made it worse. When she thrashed on the ground suddenly, throwing off the coats, Kakashi moved to pin her back down by straddling her legs and holding her shoulder down with an elbow. He cursed to himself, wishing he'd tied her down before starting this. Each time he pushed a little more of the chakra into her, she screamed and tried to throw him off. He could be killing her at that moment, and he wouldn't know it. All that he could do was keep trying, and hoping. The phrase she had said kept repeating itself in his head: like string through a needle, like string through a needle. "Like string through a needle."
His other hand hovered over her abdomen, trying to pull the chakra out along with the melted snow and the drug, but it wasn't coming out at all. What was he doing wrong? "Come on . . ." Kakashi muttered under his breath.
He pushed again, Sakura screamed, and finally water droplets pulled away from her skin to form around his hand. His jaw dropped at the sight, definitely seeing the blue tinge of the water that was also free of red. He'd done it, or rather, was doing it. Kakashi broke out in a maddening cackle, marveling over it as much as he did over a latest copy of Icha Icha. "I actually did it."
"Kakashi . . ."
Suddenly his attention was back on Sakura and finishing the procedure. "Just hold on. I can do this . . . I can do this."
After the first tug on the chakra, passing the rest through her and back out became easier. Keeping the kunoichi still throughout the process though was anything but easy on the other hand until she finally exhausted herself in fighting him. When it was over, she had passed out, lying still on the ground, covered up again and breathing easier. Kakashi sat beside her, nearly as exhausted from the effort as she was and wishing he could pass out, too. The water was dumped into the alleyway, and it ran down towards the sewer drains. Slowly, the ninja got back up and brushed himself off before turning back to study her. The blue tint was gone from her skin, replaced with a red blush instead, along with a slight, clammy sweat. He crouched down over her, brushing the pink hair away from her face where it stuck. Suddenly, Sakura woke up with a gasping breath, green eyes fluttering. He tried not to smile. "Better?"
She groaned, reaching up to rub her forehead. "Been better . . . How did I get like this?"
Kakashi blinked. "You were attacked by five men. In the middle of the attack, you were injected with an overdose amount of sedative."
"Oh . . ." Sakura said as if it was a big surprise to her before her brow furrowed. "Why don't I remember?"
"It has a side effect of short-term memory loss."
"Oh . . ."
"What do you remember?"
"Being followed. Knowing I was being followed, too. Then running when they cornered me . . . I don't remember fighting back . . . How long was I out?"
"Only a few minutes. You're lucky I found you in time . . ."
"Oh . . . How many did I take down?"
"Two."
Her groan got louder. "Two? That's it?"
He nodded and she tried to roll away. So much for all of his great taijutsu teaching. She couldn't even defend herself from five thugs. How could she have not noticed someone trying to inject her?! Sakura grumbled to herself, burning with anger, and successfully rolling away from him in the snow. She still felt cold, almost deathly so. Wait, what had he said about an overdose? "How much did they stick me with?" Sakura asked.
"It was a lethal dose . . ."
Suddenly, she felt a lot colder. "How am I still alive then, and better? I should be–"
"I said you were lucky I found you in time . . . and even luckier that I've seen you do that poison extraction jutsu too many times."
The kunoichi blinked. "Huh?"
"I did that jutsu on you while you talked me through it, and with snow instead of water. Probably quite handy to have in my arsenal, too. I can only imagine the applications. One could use it to–"
Sakura groaned again, wanting to beat her head against a rock or something else equally hard and close by. "I just taught you that jutsu?"
"Yes, and I just performed it perfectly on the first crack. You must be some teacher, Sakura-chan, or I'm some student," Kakashi said with a happy crease of his eye.
"It took me four days to master that jutsu and countless dead fish, and just–! Argh! And you got it on the first try?! I know you're a ninjutsu genius, but give me a break already! That should have been impossible for you to do!"
"But I did it, didn't I?"
". . . I hate you."
Kakashi tried not to roll his eye. She didn't mean that at all. She just hated that he knew some medical jutsu, too. She was also missing the point, and that was that she lived because of him. "You almost died, you know. A 'thank you' for saving your life would be appreciated."
Her frown deepened. "Thank you . . . but I'm still kind of angry here," she muttered, then grumbled to herself.
"You'll get over it soon."
Sakura sighed, throwing the coats off of her body. He couldn't help but smirk as she tried to get up, and rather shakily at that, before he pushed her back down to a sitting position. "Don't even try it."
The kunoichi frowned. "I'm fine now. Not keeling over any time soon."
"Don't argue." Kakashi stood up again, taking his coat with him before throwing hers around her. "And stay warm."
She followed his order and didn't argue, slowly slipping her arms into the sleeves. The ninja moved away from her and towards another man lying on the ground with his hands and feet bound. She watched as the ninja picked the man up effortlessly and backed him up into a wall. Slowly, Sakura stood up again with a slight wobble, breathing calmly as she picked her things up, slung the satchel over her shoulder, and tried to fix herself as best she could. After eventually finding her discarded heels, she wondered for all of a second how blood got onto the stilettos, before shrugging and slipping them back on. Kakashi glanced at her when she came up behind him and shook his head. "I told you to rest."
"And I told you, I'm fine. If you're going to interrogate him, I want to listen in. You're not the only one with questions. I got a few of my own too, like who the hell sent him and his men to kill me."
The Copy Nin pulled the vial out of the man's mouth, tossing it aside as he yelled. "It was an accident, I swear! I'll never mess with drugs again! Just fucking let me go already!"
Somehow, from the frowns on both of the shinobi's faces, it was easy to tell that they didn't believe him. "Not 'til you answer our questions, tough guy." Sakura took a threatening step forward. "Who sent you?"
"Actually, I already have a good idea who," Kakashi interrupted, much to Sakura's surprise. "But I'd like to hear it from him too, just to confirm my suspicions, of course."
Their attention turned back to the man, who seemed to be growing a backbone as he didn't shake nearly as much as before. "You're not gonna kill me, are you?"
"Well, Sakura did live, so I suppose we should let you go . . ."
"Answer his questions well, and I won't pound you into specks of dust, maybe," the kunoichi hissed, growing anxious for some answers. And yet, the man just smirked at her. There was a leering glint in his eyes, as if he was still undressing her in his mind despite how he was pinned against a wall. "I think you'll have to do better than that, pinkie. I can think of a few other things, like–"
Kakashi's fist slugged into the wall beside his head, making a fine line crack in the brick. The man paled. "Ok, ok! . . . It was some blonde woman, sexiest damned thing I'd ever seen. She told us to find some pink-haired woman working at the Minagawa building, rough her up, and then get my men to do her."
The two shinobi looked at each other significantly. "Name."
"I can't remember her name. Uhhhh, T-something, maybe? You know how fuzzy memories get when you've been hit a few times . . ."
Sakura's frown didn't improve. "Was her name Takara?"
"I really don't know. Maybe you could, you know, think of something more pleasant than the prospect of beating me within an inch of my life?"
Kakashi's grip twisted in the man's shirt, nearly strangling him with it while lifting him up the wall. "Was it Takara or not?"
"Yes! Yes! It was her, damnit! Put me down!"
The Copy Nin slowly let him down while looking at his partner questioningly. He could see the anger building in her, as well as four words repeating themselves over and over in her stare, in a litany that would surely be ground into his head eventually. She didn't even have to say it for him to get to message: 'I told you so'. Her knuckles cracked and her fist clenched; keeping her fury bottled tightly, she spoke in a dangerously small voice. "Excuse me for a moment . . ."
Sakura walked past the ninja, over a few unconscious bodies, and up to a large trash bin sitting at the end of the alley. Kakashi shuffled on his feet while watching her, knowing those murderous waves of anger radiating off of her couldn't be anything good, at least not for the trash bin. With a loud crash, she punched a chakra-loaded fist into the metal, denting it severely. Well, at least she probably felt better after that. Then again, she was only getting more worked up, shouting, kicking, and slugging the large container with such brute force that it started to crumple under her hands. The ninja stared at her, wincing slightly at each loud screech of metal, while the face of man he held captive turned a pasty shade of white. "Is . . . she ok?"
Kakashi turned back to the man, patting him on the shoulder. "She's just a tad upset at the moment. Nothing to worry about."
Another loud bang of her fist hitting metal didn't make the man seem any more comforted. "Why don't you tell me more about your dealings with Takara?" the Copy Nin suggested, turning him away from the sight of the irate kunoichi. "Like what did she offer for your . . . 'services'."
"Uh, ten thousand?" the man said, not sounding too sure until another crash from behind them persuaded him otherwise. "It was twenty thousand! Half up front and half when it was done! I swear! I thought it would be an easy gig for me and my gang! She didn't even mention you! If she had told us you were shinobi, I never would have taken it!"
"She never told you?"
"No! Do I look like a mind reader to you?! She even said it would be easy! When I get my hands on that bitch . . ."
Kakashi clapped him on the shoulder, drawing him further away. "What you should be more concerned about is drugging my partner, and what I could have done to you if she had died."
Another bang drew away the man's attention momentarily, fear spreading across his face as he raised his bound hands defensively. "Listen, I'm really sorry about that. She never told us how dangerous that shit was, and I know nothing about drugs, and–"
"Takara gave you the drug, but she didn't tell you how much to give?" the Copy Nin asked, one eyebrow quirked.
The man slumped slightly. "Yeah, she didn't say a thing . . . just said it would make it easy to rape her if she resisted, and that she wouldn't remember who hit her when it was over . . ."
For a second, an angry flash crossed the ninja's dark eye. "Did she mention why she wanted this done?"
"No, not one word about it. I didn't want to know myself. Women are crazy."
Kakashi looked over his shoulder after another loud crunch to see Sakura bent over and panting before kicking the nearly destroyed trash bin again, putting her foot through the metal as easily as if it were taut fabric. "Only crazy when they're angry, or fighting with another woman."
The man looked as well, shuffling on his feet nervously. "Can I go now?"
"Not yet, we still have business."
He paled as the ninja reached into his suit jacket, wondering what weapon he'd pull out to kill him with . . . until he saw the wallet in his hand. The man's eyes lit up as Kakashi opened the bill fold to pull out a number of large notes. A moment later, they were stuffed into his hands, and the wires around his wrists and ankles were snapped off. The leader of the gang blinked at the shinobi as he stuffed the wallet back into his jacket. "What?"
"Don't you know hush money when you see it? I thought all tough guys knew how to take bribes?"
The man gawked at him, speechless. Kakashi smirked, continuing with a sagely nod. "That's twenty thousand for you and your men. In return, you are to tell Takara that you never managed to catch Sakura, and that none of this happened. You are not to breathe one word about what we are, and you are never to let us see you again. If you fail in any of that . . ."
He gulped, eyeing the kunai lining the ninja's jacket as he momentarily flashed it open. "I get the point."
"Good, now . . . run."
The man ran all right, nearly crashing into another trash bin in his hurry, and leaving his unconscious men behind. Kakashi stood there watching him careen out of the alley as Sakura came up beside him, out of breath as she leaned onto his arm. "Think he bought it?"
"Do you think I bought it? Sometimes you scare me with that strength of yours. I don't think he'll attack another woman without wondering if she'll punch him through walls first . . . Feeling better?
"Not by much . . . Did you need to pay him that much?"
"Just covering all our angles," he said before turning towards her. "You are getting better at being the bad guy when it comes to interrogating, too . . ."
"A compliment, how touching." She grinned for a moment, and then frowned again. "I really am pissed, you know. When I get my hands on that, that–!"
Sakura stomped her foot, breaking off in an aggravated huff as she stalked off down the street. "And I'm still pissed at you, too. I told you! I told you, I told you, I told you so, so many times Kakashi, and did you believe me once?! No!"
He followed after her. "That's kind of in the past now, just so you know."
"How many times did I warn you about her?!"
"You see, that really shouldn't matter since–"
Sakura whirled on him as she screamed right in his face. "How many?!"
Kakashi's eye creased, but not as sarcastically happy as normal, while nervously scratching the back of his head. "A few times . . . but it really is beside the point since now I know better."
"No, the point is you should have listened to me, your partner, and you didn't!" she yelled before turning back again and walking on without him. The seriousness of her accusation made his mood sink as he followed, keeping a distance behind her. Even if he did try to keep away from her, it didn't stop him from hearing every angry grumble. "You never really listen to me anyway, not when you think you know better. You're always right. Always, always, always. Never wrong and always right. I'm only ever right when something blows up in your face. Like how you were wrong about Hiro, I was right then that he was a scumbag, but did you listen to me? No! Did you listen to me about Takara being trouble? No! Am I ever right? Of course not! Not to you!"
"Now you're putting words into my mouth." Kakashi interrupted her tirade as she slowed down. "I can understand you're upset, but–"
"Upset?! You haven't begun to see upset from me! She tried to have me raped and killed! I'll murder her myself!"
"That really wouldn't solve anything . . ."
She spun again. "What wouldn't it solve?! She'd be gone! All she does is cause trouble! And now I have a personal reason to kill her because her existence threatens mine!"
Kakashi shoved his hands into his coat pockets. There wasn't any argument that Takara had suddenly become a bigger problem than he thought, but assassination wasn't a part of their mission . . . even if part of him wouldn't miss the sight of the blonde. She turned around, idly kicking her foot at the snow. The storm had picked up to a heavier fall of snowflakes around them. "Sakura . . ." he started, "all killing her would do is make you no better than her, and put suspicion on us. This is still a mission, after all."
Even if what he said made sense, the pink-haired young woman was still angry–ragingly angry, livid even–and not just with Takara. "That's so like you, always thinking of the mission first," she muttered bitterly, taking a step closer towards him. "Why don't you just come out and say it? Why don't you just come off that high pedestal and admit you want to see her dead, too, for what she's done? You had to have known she was up to something against me, or else you wouldn't have come running to save me. You knew, didn't you? And yet you are still going to let her live."
A flash of anger went through the ninja at her accusations as a stern look crossed his face before simmering down to a frown. "I had my suspicions about her, yes, but you're right, I didn't know a thing until she ran into me in one of the elevators after you left. And I am going to let her live since the problem is Hiro and not her. I don't want to kill her or anyone else unless we can't help it."
"Why? Going soft?"
"No, because collateral damage won't help us."
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, hips cocked to the side. "If you knew she was sending people after me, why didn't you let me handle it myself?"
"I should remind you I saved your life–" he added before the angry kunoichi interrupted him.
"Yes, but how did you even know I needed the help?! You probably just assumed I couldn't take care of myself! Right?!"
Kakashi frowned. Now who was assuming? "That wasn't it at all," he tried to rationalize, even as her foot tapped impatiently on the ground. "She vaguely admitted to putting you in danger, but failed to specify what exactly. Did you expect me to sit still while knowing my partner was in unknown danger?"
"You've trusted me before to take care of myself! And you've trusted what I've told you before, too! Yet you still, at times, choose to not listen! You still choose to treat me like a genin that can't wipe her own nose! This is exactly my problem with you! You choose when to trust and not trust people, even me, even your friends! Either you trust me or you don't!"
"I do trust you, Sakura."
"You don't act like it! I swear, trust is like a four-letter word with you! Every time you say it, it's to get me to do something I should know better than to do!"
"I should remind you, again, that I saved your life . . ."
"If it weren't for the fact that they drugged me, I could have wiped the floor with them!"
"But you didn't."
"But I don't always need you there to . . . to remind me that I'm not as good as you! . . . Damnit!" she cursed, whirling around again and walking in a circle while rubbing her forehead.
Kakashi stood there, glaring at her and trying not to let his rising temper get to him. How could she question if he trusted her or not? Of course he trusted her; he always said it and always meant it. He knew what she was capable of, including massive destruction and superior intellect and insight. Did that mean he still couldn't look out for her? She was supposed to be his partner, teammate, friend, whatever. Wasn't watching out for one another part of the relationship? Would she accuse him of being heartless if he didn't care for her? She knew he cared for her, right? Did she know that at all? What did he have to do, scream out at the top of his lungs that he would be devastated once and for all if she died as well? Just like Obito? Just like Rin?
Simmering in his own anger, the Copy Nin watched as she stopped pacing to turn back towards him. She must have realized that he was angry when an apologetic look crossed her green eyes. "I am grateful, really, for what you did today, and proud you could pull it off, but . . . Can you understand, a little, how I feel right now?"
Kakashi's face didn't budge an inch. Couldn't she understand how he felt?
Sakura sighed, trying not to let it turn into a groan. "We're supposed to be partners. Equals. You talked me into having your back, but if that's true, why do I get the feeling I'm still a burden to you? That it's just lip service for some other reason to keep me around?"
His anger melted slightly at the self-doubt in her words, ignoring her accusations for the moment. "I meant what I said to you, Sakura. I still do, and I am still glad you agreed that night four years ago and haven't given up putting up with me since. You're not a burden to me, either. You should know me by now to know that I'm a bit . . ."
"Overprotective?" she offered.
"Paranoid," Kakashi said, before taking a calming breath. "I don't always listen, and for that . . . I'm sorry."
Sakura held down her growing grin. "Say that again? I don't think I heard you right."
"I'm not repeating it," he grumbled, trudging along through the snow past her. "We all make mistakes. I thought you knew that by now? And I also thought you knew by now that I always keep my word."
"Not always," Sakura shot back as she walked beside him. "You try to, but you are not perfect . . . At least you try not to break your word to me, sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"There's no excuse for not trusting my judgment."
"Judgment can be wrong sometimes."
"Which was part of my point to begin with, since you misjudged both her and Hiro."
"No, your point was to make me out to be the bad guy because I told you not to murder Takara," Kakashi shot back viciously, gratified to hear Sakura splutter in disbelief.
"I did not do that! Stop twisting this argument since I still have a right to be pissed!"
"Just admit it already. You wanted someone to be pissed at, so you picked me since I was wrong anyway, despite the fact that I, you know, saved your life and all."
She glared at him. "I am not that petty."
"Like killing Takara would not have been petty?"
"She tried to kill me first!" Sakura yelled. "She's dangerous, and trouble, and I told you! We need–!"
"I know that!" Kakashi finally snapped back at her. Sakura blinked as he stopped to look away from her while running a hand through his silver hair, dislodging flakes of snow. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. This was the first real argument they had had with each other in a long time. Too long. The first, and what she thought was the last fight, occurred when she nearly died, maybe a year, year and a half ago. His cowardice had kicked in back then, arguing with her that one day, he'd get her nearly killed again, except next time he might not be there to save her. It was only when she scolded him about being a shinobi and about how she was supposed to die for Konoha one day that he laughed at her. She didn't know what made him laugh; maybe it was the ridiculousness of being scolded by his one-time student, or maybe it was just the ridiculousness of it all, but Kakashi had laughed. At the time, she hadn't laughed with him, but now . . .
Sakura finally understood why he had laughed: because he couldn't do anything else but laugh.
She snorted a small giggle as the Copy Nin glanced at her. The perplexed look on his face was too much as she burst out in laughter. Even as she laughed her head off, he kept staring at her as if she'd finally cracked. Maybe she had cracked. He hadn't meant to be mean, but she had him so wound up that he would have snapped over anything. The longer he peered at her, the longer she kept laughing. It made him grin slightly, then chuckle along with her. "I think you've finally lost it."
The kunoichi laughed softly, smiling as she looked at him while pointing. "I think I'm not the only one."
Kakashi bit the inside of his mouth to keep from chuckling any more. "Why are you laughing anyway?"
"I don't know. Why were we arguing anyway?"
He immediately sobered up at the reminder that they were supposed to be in the middle of an argument. "Sakura . . ."
She stopped laughing, the happy look turning back down into a contemplative sadness. "Don't start it again, Kakashi. We're both sorry for what was said, even if we both meant it. We need to move on and figure out what to do next."
"That wasn't what I was going to say . . ."
The pink-haired young woman blinked at him. "What were you going to say?"
Kakashi looked back at her, seriously. He could feel it on the tip of his tongue, the words he wanted to scream at her earlier, at the top of his lungs until she understood. If he could just tell her, maybe she would understand how much she mattered to him, that she wasn't useless or a burden to him, and was worth caring for. How could he not care for her? If only she could know how her second near-death experience reminded him all the important people he had failed in the past, and how he feared that, one day, he just might fail her as well. Couldn't she see that, starting those four years ago, she was the only person he didn't keep at arm's length? The weight of those words was too much, though; it would come out with all the heaviness of a confession rather than what he wanted her to know. Maybe it was a confession of sorts, one better kept to himself. "Nothing," he said quickly. "It's nothing."
Sakura shrugged as they moved on, thinking nothing of it. "What are we going to do now, anyway? If she sent those men after me . . ."
"Takara knows we're trying to swing the vote, or at least that we're the reason behind Hiro's sudden bad luck," the shinobi said as they walked down the pavement, turning back onto a busy, snow-covered street. "Even if we don't kill her, we need to stop her from trying anything else."
Sakura glanced over at him. "You're already forming a plan, aren't you?"
Kakashi's dark eye creased at her as he grinned. "Actually, I haven't any idea what we will do, only that it will be drastic."
Her green eyes rolled upwards. "Perfect . . ."
"We'll start with surveillance. If she sent those men, then she must be up to much more than getting even with you."
"She's probably with Hiro this time of day, in his office, or . . ."
"Leave that up to me," Kakashi said, just as she noticed a familiar brown pug lingering at his feet. A small smile crossed Sakura's face at the sight of Pakkun. "So that's how you found me . . ."
The dog snorted at her, brushing past her ankles to walk ahead of them. The Copy Nin smirked, turning his attention back towards her. "I'll get to that later. I'm seeing you back to the hotel first."
"I am fine, Kakashi. No need to baby-sit me," Sakura said with an annoyed crease to her forehead. "And I am feeling fine too, so stop worrying."
Yet, despite her words, her feet sluggishly plodded through the snow, giving away the lie. "Go back to the room and rest," he ordered her. "After what you've been through, and what they put into you, you need it. I'm only saying this because I care."
"Could have fooled me . . ." she grumbled darkly.
For a moment, Kakashi felt his heart sink. She really didn't believe that he cared. She hadn't truly thanked him for saving her, either, not that he hadn't already rescued her a few times over. Yet, this time the missing words truly felt missed by him. "Sakura . . ."
The kunoichi sighed and shuffled past him. "Alright, alright. I'll go. I'm not happy, but I'll go because you're probably right."
"Sakura," he called after her before she got much further down the block. She stopped and turned, looking up at him as the heavy snow fell around her. Kakashi's chest clenched painfully as he stuffed his hands back into his pockets. "I . . . do care. You know that, and you know why . . ."
A sad smile crossed her face before turning into one laced with false happiness for his benefit. "Yeah, I get it. Like I could forget, anyway. I won't do anything you wouldn't do."
"Promise?"
"Oh, get out of here already! I can at least walk back on my own! You're not my father!"
He smirked and started to turn away before hearing, "Hey! Kakashi!"
The shinobi turned back, a more genuine smile on her face this time. "Thank you, for being there in time."
He waved back with a short nod. "Don't mention it, Sakura-chan."
She waved and turned towards the rest of the street. Kakashi finally turned away too, and trotted off with Pakkun running after him down one of the alleys. He smiled to himself, knowing she would be going home after all, and that she would be kept safe. "The rest of us are following her. They'll report back if she doesn't make it or changes course," the pug said as they walked down the dark, narrow street. "You sure you only need me? If this woman is anywhere else besides that giant building . . ."
"Relax. I'm almost certain she's still there . . . How long had you been there, anyway?"
"Saw the whole thing from the roof. She is cute when she's angry with you . . . for a human."
Kakashi smirked. "At least you don't think I'm a fool, too."
"You? A fool? Never," Pakkun said with a grumble before seeming to yawn, when in actuality he was silently laughing at his master. "But . . ."
"But what?"
"But you should just mark her already. It would have made it easier to keep other dogs from trying to mate with her. The way you two fight, I'm surprised you're not mated already. You both act like a mated pair."
The silver-haired jounin's jaw dropped at the little dog's statement about him and Sakura, speechless for once in his four-legged companion's presence. Pakkun yawned again with a slight hiss and his brown eyes creased, and Kakashi knew he was being laughed at. The ninja grumbled, jumping up along the wall towards the roof. "Very funny. No more doggie snacks for you."
"Um, can we discuss that?" the pug pleaded, quickly following the ninja. "It was just a joke . . . Kakashi? . . . Kakashi!"
Far atop the streets that a certain pink-haired young woman and her silver-haired companion had just been walking across, two shinobi looked at each other, eyes communicating in silence. Neither of them said a word because there was no need to. Both of them had seen the scene played out to the end, their subjects moving on, and both of them were quickly forming the same opinion as they watched the Copy Nin vanish into the skyline. There was something deeper going on between those two, and just as it had made the basis of the dog's joke, it also made them wonder and think. Silently, after a few moments of quiet contemplation over what they had witnessed, they stood up and moved on.
After all, the day wasn't over yet.
To Be Continued in Part 09 of Dirty Deeds, Once More, With Feeling.
