Kakashi heard the sirens going off and breathed a sigh of relief. Megumi had been by earlier to somehow poke fun and profess her eternal love for him simultaneously. Thankfully, she hadn't administered the 'medicine' she intended to give him -whatever that happened to be-, as the sirens had began at that point and everyone was put on lockdown.
A small amount of chakra had come back to him, but it was barely enough to sneeze at. He could hear guards thundering down the halls at random, voices yelling over the top of one another. And then came the silence.
The silence was long and drawn out, like the lingering moments before ones execution. Not even the alarms were screeching into the infernal blackness. It was just silence.
Without even the smallest sound, the door swung open and Kakashi heard the faintest of the most familiar voice, like some forgotten ancestor reaching out from the past.
"Kakashi, come on."
Kakashi scrambled to his feet as quickly as his broken bones would allow.
"Hurry, come on."
"Jiraiya-sama?"
The shadow at the door held up a hand for silence. Though the body had been altered, disguised, it was without a doubt the Toad Sage. There are some things one cannot simply hide, particularly not from Kakashi..
"This way." Jiraiya led Kakashi through a slow game of hide and seek. Even though the alarms had stopped, it was clear everyone was on high alert. Jiraiya was just striding past most of them in the darkness, no one even giving them a second thought. Kakashi didn't dare look up from the floor, for fear of blowing their cover. He just needed to focus, one foot before the other, in spite of the rattling pain in his body.
He focused instead on the soft sound of Jiraiya counting backwards under his breath, turning up a hallway here, going through a door there as they went. The incline of the floor suggested they were headed up, much to Kakashi's relief.
"We just need to find Murasaki and Maito-san and we can find our way back…" Jiraiya said, his voice heavy with and exited sort of tension as they neared the exit, his paces becoming almost impossible for Kakashi to match with a broken leg. "We're almost out, just come on…"
"You brought Murasaki-no-kimi with?" Kakashi had a hard time masking his surprise; he'd expected better judgment from both of them.
Here in the starling brightness of the watery sunlight, Kakashi could make out Jiraiya's disguise; long, slender fingers utterly devoid of pigment clutched at that slithery kimono of pale silk that hung off one impossibly frail shoulder.
Jiraiya said nothing, simply bristling until he finally replying in a cold, curt voice. "She volunteered…"
Kakashi knew that tone. That utter anger that was bourn solely of love and caring. Jiraiya had used that tone on him once or twice, and it was a signal to not push.
They rounded a corner, the dirt flood of the cave damp with moisture. Kakashi slipped, clutching the wall for support as his knee twisted in an unusual direction.
Jiraiya tried to catch him, grasping the jounin's arm tighter. A guard came around the corner and Kakashi felt Jiraiya's grip become unmercifully tight.
"Ah, Megumi-hime, what are you doing out here? This place is on lock-down, you should get back to your chamber."
Kakashi's fingers were starting to numb painfully as the older man stood, frozen at a loss for words. After what was only a matter of seconds, but felt like an eternity, Jiraiya tossed the long black hair over his shoulder and gave the guard an offended look.
The mans face immediately fell and he took a step back.
"That is to say, Megumi-hime, that we're only mission is to ensure your safety…"
Jiraiya continued with a look of distain, releasing his grip on Kakashi's arm by just a fraction. The feel of the blood rushing back to the limb was almost enough to make the already delirious jounin swoon.
"Do I look like I need help?" Jiraiya snapped finally, shaking more of those silky black strands over his shoulders. The guard gave her a startled look, but bowed politely.
"No. Forgive me." He muttered, before walking away. Jiraiya never broke his gaze until after the man had disappeared.
"Now to get out of here…" Jiraiya muttered darkly, placing his arm around Kakashi's shoulders for stability. The slight rush of panic was draining from him, reminding him of exactly how much pain he was in.
They stumbled through the dark, twisting and turning up and down dark corridors filled with dirt and filth, ducking into shadows to avoid detection.
Jiraiya began placing small sutras in the walls, to mark where they had been. Slowly, Kakashi could feel his chakra returning, which was of substantial comfort to the young man.
The air in the tunnels was slowly changing, the scent of rain and damp earth and the decay of foliage slowly wafting towards them.
There were guards more frequently, but subtlety and sleight of hand ensured their safe escape.
The exit was in sight, and Kakashi felt Jiraiya pick up the pace, nearly dragging him to the floor in the process.
But in a movement, Kakashi felt himself skidding to a halt, straight into Jiraiya's broad back. The genjutsu had stopped and Jiraiya was bristling.
"Stay behind me." he hissed. "And cover your ears."
Kakashi had barely the time to raise his hands before a sound wave shook the tunnel, threatening to bring a mountain of dirt down upon them.
Feeling weakened by the blast, he sank to the floor behind the sannin, his head reeling. He felt blood stain his mask as she weakly clasped his battered hands to his ears, the hot stickiness running over his lips and chin.
There was little to no doubt who they were up against. That shreik that rattled the walls; that was Megumi, the Siren of Sound.
XxX
When Murasaki came to, her entire body felt as if it had been shattered. There was blood all over the floor of her cell and immediately she knew what had happened.
The entire lower half of her body was naked, raw, and sore. There were handprints in the blood, where they had grasped her hips for stability. It felt like she had been run over, disemboweled, and left to die like a dog on the roadside.
The former shrine maiden coughed, retching as she twisted back into some semblance of a mobile position. It was apparent that something was terribly wrong. She stood shakily, groping in the dark. Her hand met cold flesh and she withdrew, her pulse rising. A closer inspection revealed the doctor. He sat there, slack-jawed and pale in the darkness, his dead eyes open and staring. There were defensive wounds on his arms, the blood staining the rolled up sleeves of his white tunic.
Slowly and painfully, she pulled herself up from the floor, crawling on her raw elbows until she found a suitable stabilizer to climb shakily to her feet.
Murasaki bent her knee, finding it faintly more comfortable to limp around as she looked for a way out.
There was a door, rough and splintery, but it held fast. Murasaki took a deep breath, trying to gather up her wits and her chakra.
It was at this point, the realization hit her. It felt as if something had been turned off. Her overall chakra capacity had been cut in half. It was like there was a hole in her body. A huge chunk of chakra was missing, beyond what had been drained by the sutras.
She could feel someone close by, someone beyond the door. It was faint, but their chakra was large, and dark, and familiar, and with them there was a smaller chakra, a sliver that sent a flush chill across Murasaki's skin.
She hobbled to the door, falling on her knee and wrenching the muscles in her back as she struggled, pounding her fist against the thick wood.
"Dad!" Her voice came out weak and hoarse. Her arms were moving, but she had to will them with every ounce of her strength, and when her fists hit the door, it only made a small, hollow noise.
She held back a dry sob, knowing full well that Jiraiya couldn't hear her. She could feel the chakras moving away from her, taking with it the last shred of hope.
Murasaki coughed, bringing up blood and bile. She'd been left to die.
Somehow, simultaneously she was filled with rage and self pity. For a brief moment, she wanted to cry, to throw a fit and give up, but she'd had these a million times before. While it tempted her to do just that, she knew she couldn't. She had to at least try. So what if no one came to her rescue? So what.
Clawing her way off the floor again, she stood shakily. She wasn't going to die in this place, not if she could help it.
The door had more of those damned papers on it. Murasaki wasn't sure if once she got out, her chakra would be restored completely or not. It certainly felt like it would never be the same again.
She hobbled back to the other end of the room, passing the deceased doctor as she went. It was far too painful to sit fully; her pelvis was most likely broken, if not at least bruised.
With one bruised hand against the wall, she caught her breath, trying to shake that cold, dead feeling that had settled in with the mind numbing pain.
In her minds eye, she imagined the paper on the door, feeling out the void with the remains of her chakra. With a gentle motion of her hand, she drew an invisible box around it and sealed it, crushing it with her spiritual energy.
Immediately, Murasaki felt like a gash had been torn, not in her body, but in her soul, and that spiritual force was draining out like blood.
Standing as still as she could, she closed her eyes to force out the pain, willing her broken forefinger to form part of the hitsuji hand seal.
Murasaki's hand brushed her bloody lips as her root chakra gate was forcibly yanked as wide as she could manage, her spiritual energy draining more than it ever had.
It felt like someone had hit her in the stomach right then. Like the back of her naval was being pulled with hooks and her intestines were about to fall out from between her bloodied legs.
Perhaps here she was hidden from the gods, or had somehow fallen out of there favor.
But as quickly as that thought came to her, she found herself sprawled out on the forest floor, the moist green moss seeming to sponge the blood, dirt and tears from her face.
Murasaki lay there on the forest floor, flat-out unwilling to move for fear she would shatter. The drugs were wearing off, all the pain coursing through her body like an unbridled river.
The rainwater ran freely down her body, dampening her thin camisole and washing the blood away from her bruised hips. She was still bleeding in some areas, and the incident had no doubt injured her internal organs and possibly ruptured them completely. It would be a slow death, and painful. But she'd die free.
Being exposed like this in the woods made her feel an even greater shame. The gods were watching, and she was defiling a sacred place. But at least she was aware of them and hadn't fallen completely from their sight. There was a small amount of comfort there.
"I could really use a bit of help right now." Murasaki laughed sickly, quietly, to herself as she pulled herself up shakily, nearly falling back down on the slippery moss. She struggled for stability, limping her way among the roots and undergrowth. After a few moments, she found a stick with a 'y' at the end, using it as a crutch as she awkwardly looked for a way out of the woods. She wasn't absolutely sure where she was, but judging by the flora around her, it couldn't have been far from Orochimaru's lair.
The ground was slippery and each step brought a fresh wave of pain surging through her body. Her sandals had disappeared with the rest of her clothes, and the mud felt strange as it gushed upwards, coating her nearly to the knee in some places. But it didn't seem as bad. Her feet were starting to lose feeling, becoming numb and rubbery.
Murasaki heard voices, stopping behind a camphor tree to listen. She couldn't risk an attack at this moment. She'd have to find another way out of a fight.
Somewhere, deep down, she knew that it would be useless. She had a sinking suspicion she would have to end it here. It seemed like such a shame, after so many uphill battles. After so many fights and so many people lost, it would end here.
But at the very least, she would die on her feet.
It was then the earth shook from a large explosion. Her entire body screamed in pain as she fell against a tree, part of the ground right next to her giving away as the cliff nearby sloughed with a tremendous roar. She bit her lip, drawing blood as she lay there against the tree, trying to catch her breath as the voices became steadily closer.
XxX
Kakakshi was ashamed at how quickly Jiraiya had beaten Megumi. It was a direct reflection on his own progress as a jounin, which seemed to be in some kind of retrograde.
But, as they limped from the fight and Jiraiya broke the genjutsu that Megumi had placed on Kakashi, Kakashi was just happy to be alive.
"One more thing." Jiraiya turned, eyeing the entrance as he raised a paper seal in his hand, flinging it against the floor of the cave.
The entire place went up with a roar and a blast just as two more guards saw them outside. If one could literally be blown to bits, it was these two men. It made for a sight Kakashi never had and never would quite get used to.
"Be ready for trouble." Jiraiya said, his shaggy white hair sticking to his face as one of the enormous leaves overhead grew heavy with moisture and bowed over him. "Orochimaru let us out easy. He wanted us to get away. He has something up his sleeve."
Kakashi tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his chest and leg, but he felt his knees buckle and he clutched the sannin for support.
"Let's just get out of here." Kakashi gasped, the fabric of his tattered mask clinging to his face. He'd been in worse shape before, but this was still pretty bad.
"Murasaki and Gai are waiting on the edge of the forest. We'll meet them on the way out."
As if on cue, there was the sound of desperate footsteps, a young man in green breaking through the sea of pale green foliage.
"Jiraiya-dono! I lost her!" Gai was speeding towards them as fast as he could, his face caked with dried blood and mud, matting his normally silky hair down. He looked terribly pale and was covered in cuts and bruises from a long fight. "We were ambushed…she was taken."
Jiraiya visibly paled, not even looking back to the crumbled entrance to the cave system. Kakashi felt his stomach sink into a bottomless pit. That sick feeling of dread came rushing in like water into a deep hole, the very same feeling he had the day when Obito and Rin were killed…
"Maito, you fool!" Jiraiya roared, grabbing Gai by the front of the vest and slamming him violently against a tree. "I trusted you with her!"
Gai looked exactly as Kakashi felt. Jiraiya was heaving, his shoulders rising and falling. Neither Gai nor Kakashi could determine if the man was just angry or trying not to cry.
"Gai? Father?" The voice was feeble, weak, and desperate, but without a doubt belonged to Murasaki.
A lump rose in Kakashi's throat as Jiraiya tore off through the foliage after his daughter.
"Dad, don't come any closer." Murasaki entreated. Kakashi and Gai exchanged glances before rushing in the direction of the voice.
"Both of you, stay back!" Jiraiya boomed, but it was too late.
When Gai and Kakashi came around the side of the twisted tree, Jiraiya was hastily searching for his med kit, his haori draped around the nearly naked teen's shoulders.
Kakashi stood, his good eye opened wide in horror. He could see the bruises on her hips, the cuts and gashes and incisions still oozing blood. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
Her lip had been split and was violently engorged, her left eye nearly swollen shut. It wasn't an attractive sight, but it was somehow an overwhelming relief to the young captain.
Murasaki refused to make eye contact with any one of them, her face burning with shame. Gai took off soaking cloak and attempted to drape it around her shoulders, but she moved away defensively.
There were no words spoken, just the gentle hushing sound of the rain pounding the canopy above them.
A/N: So, I had a bunch of finals that I had to see to, so this is short and quite a bit late. The good news is I should have a bit more free time as of today.
