Will of Fire
Chapter Eleven: The Art of Appearances
##
A scouting party had been attacked by Moss ninja only ten miles west of the rebel camp. The attack came from a different direction than the others, which indicated that they were being surrounded. The Leaf shinobi fought and won, but three of the four-nin squad had been infected with the same poison as Sakura. By the time the fourth was able to teleport them back they were in convulsions.
The medics and Karin worked doggedly to save them. They lost one; a chuunin named Ikuta, no more than seventeen years old. He was allergic to whatever toxin was used to make the poison, like some people were to beestings. He died within an hour.
The night passed in grim silence. No one slept, not with back-to-back attacks and the imminent threat of another, larger one. The jump scheduled for sunset had been delayed again, and now they waited for the inevitable. The sentries on the perimeter had been doubled, but in truth they were nearly tripled as shinobi took it upon themselves to stand guard, many of them itching for a fight against their elusive enemy. There was even talk among some of the ANBU about sending out a few squads to hunt them down.
Naruto had covertly dispatched Tenzou to find and infiltrate the enemy camp. His special ability to meld with the surrounding forest and travel unseen put him in a unique position to discover the source of the poison and determine the enemy's strength and numbers.
As the sky lightened to pinkish-gray, the three medics emerged from the little hut which had been used once again for the newest medical emergency. Karin left right away, grumbling about finding something to eat. The looks Sakura and Shizune gave her indicated she may not have been incredibly helpful in there. When she was gone, they turned to each other and began talking in hushed tones. Sakura pulled her hair from its ponytail, slowly ran her fingers through the long pink strands, and retied it—all like it was the most exhausting, difficult task in the world.
Kakashi watched her from his perch against the side of the longhouse across the way. Beside him, Sai watched Sakura as well—and watched Kakashi watch her.
"She's still recovering from a near-fatal poisoning herself," the artist said in a low voice, "but as usual she pushed herself beyond any reasonable limits. I'd never seen that kind of selfless determination to help comrades until joining Team Kakashi." He looked over, a shadow of amusement on his face. "In that way, she's a lot like you."
It was true, Kakashi thought, and he had always been drawn to that about her. That and the mixture of strength and vulnerability he saw in her, that ability she had to push through even when she was breaking inside. Even now, pale and disheveled and sapped of all energy, she was beautiful. He didn't respond to Sai's remark. He knew pointed commentary when he heard it, and he futilely wished Sai was more like Naruto…though Naruto wasn't nearly as obtuse as he used to be. Maybe they had all just gotten too close to hide things from each other. In a camp this small, secrets were hard to keep. It was unrealistic to think no one had noticed.
Kakashi didn't know what he was doing anymore. He didn't know if he should put a stop to it before it went too far…or if he should just accept that it was real and it was happening and yes, he wanted it.
Would Sakura want to talk about what happened this afternoon? Probably not. Kakashi had sensed her hesitation all the times before, and he hadn't expected her to take such a bold leap. He'd thought that, like him, she'd just continue their harmless little flirtation and it would never go anywhere. And then he was the one to cross the line. He didn't act without thinking. Not with things like this. When it came to personal matters he had always been cautious to a fault…but Sakura disarmed him. It irritated him, but he found it attractive at the same time.
It was his fault for kissing her in the first place, and it was entirely possible that his actions had spurred her forward. And while part of him regretted that impulsive moment of weakness, the other part didn't want to undo what was done. The situation frustrated him, as did his inability to make up his mind. The muscles in his jaw clenched, and he exhaled with careful control. Kakashi was tired…of brooding, of wavering back and forth, unsure how the hell it had ever happened. He honestly couldn't come to a decision that felt completely right.
"We should find out what's happening," he said to Sai, and they stepped away from the wall. Naruto was on the roof above, searching in sennin-mode for any sign of their enemies, and had noticed the medics come out as well. He vaulted from the overhang, landing silently beside them. The troubled look he gave them said whatever he'd discovered, it wasn't good. Shikamaru was loitering nearby, and came around the other side of the building to join them.
"They're out of the critical stage," Sakura told them. "Though the poison caused their organs to start failing. We still have a ways to go."
"How long?" Naruto wanted to know. "I don't want you to rush their treatment, but…" He sighed, his expression torn. "We can't stay here any longer. All night I sensed them all around us, closing in. Whole platoons. They're still miles away, but…"
"Those scouts were bold to come so close," Shikamaru added. "The enemy is confident they have us trapped. It's only a matter of time before we're under attack."
Silence fell, heavy and ominous. They couldn't abandon their injured comrades…but at the same time how could they put the lives of two people before two hundred?
Shizune offered a solution. "Why don't you take the rest of the group ahead and we'll stay back. We'll catch up to you when they've recovered."
Everyone but Sakura looked at her like she was crazy.
"There's no way in hell we're leaving both of our medics behind, vulnerable to attack," said Shikamaru. "Or did you forget what happened just the other day?" He pulled his cigarettes from his pocket and lit one.
"I don't think she meant alone," Kakashi said. "An escort guard would stay behind with them." Sakura looked at him. Her eyes were flat and dark with exhaustion, but there was a spark of something there for him, something that said she didn't regret that kiss. He almost smiled.
Sai spoke up. "By the time you caught up to us we'd be jumping again. Either way we would have to wait out in the open for you."
"At least the enemy wouldn't know exactly where you were," Sakura reasoned.
"If there's a spy among us they probably will," Shikamaru countered. "If you did stay behind you'd have to catch up on foot. If they somehow picked up your trail you'd lead them straight to the Fire Temple. Preventing that is the whole reason we're jumping."
"We're not truly safe anywhere until we identify the mole," Naruto said. "The only hope we have until then is the safety and fortification of the temple. We can't risk it…and besides, I'm not leaving anyone behind anyway."
"Then," Sakura said, "we'll just have to have them ready to move by tonight."
"In less than twenty-four hours? It took you almost two days just to wake up, and another full day to completely recover."
"Because Shizune wasn't here, and I was unable to heal myself. We can do this." Beside her, Shizune nodded in silent agreement.
Naruto shook his head, not liking this idea any more than the first. "You're already almost at your limit. You'll hurt yourselves…"
"We'll be fine," she promised, weary but resolute. "What other option do we have?"
Nobody liked it, but they allowed the medics to do what had to be done. With no sleep and little food in their stomachs, Sakura and Shizune each swallowed a soldier pill and went back inside the hut.
The sun rose, and the day passed in a tense hush. Everyone in the camp was ready to leave…and ready to fight. No one expected to make it to the jump time without violence. Naruto spent the day on the roof again, waiting and sensing for the moment the enemy made their move. Sai mounted one of his ink-birds and went out on patrol, taking Hanabi with him for her Byakugan, to do some long-range, birds-eye scouting. Kakashi resumed his position against the wall, facing the hut, fully armed and ready. He held his book in front of him, turned the pages, but hardly saw a word.
Genma came around in early afternoon and went inside the hut. Shizune and Sakura didn't want to let him in, but he argued that, like it or not, he was going to make sure they didn't kill themselves. Naruto's orders, he said. A fib, but no one was going to tell them that. At four thirty the door opened and Genma reemerged, carrying a nearly-asleep Shizune in his arms. Kakashi started forward automatically. Genma seemed to expect it, and quietly told him, "You'll probably have to carry her, too. They're two peas in a pod: gifted, but stubborn and willful. Their patients are better off than they are at the moment." Love and exasperation were plain on his face as he gazed down at Shizune, who was still awake enough to look indignant. He carried her away, and Kakashi went inside.
The patients—Komui and Chiyo, he'd overheard someone say—were sleeping a healthy, untroubled sleep, free of fever and sickness. Sakura, however, was slumped weakly against the far wall, her eyes barely open. Kakashi knelt and slipped his arms behind her back and under her knees. As he lifted her up her arms went around his neck.
He carried her outside, and she softly murmured, "We did it."
"You did," he answered quietly. Sakura pressed her face into his collar affectionately. A dozen witnesses kept him from reciprocating, but he did walk rather slowly to the sleeping bay.
Since her bedroll was still in the hut, he laid her down on his own. There were a few hours until the scheduled jump time; she could rest until then. Away from watchful eyes and gossipy lips, Kakashi smoothed her tousled hair from her face, fingers lingering against the softness of her cheek. Unable to justify staying with her this time, he left her there and went to inform the movers to ready the seals.
#
At ten o'clock sharp, the Leaf rebels gathered together inside a wide, rune-adorned circle that had been meticulously carved into the soft, loamy earth. The buildings were gone, and dark undisturbed forest surrounded them once again.
An hour earlier they'd held a short memorial for Ikuta, now buried beneath a tall ancient pine. He was the first of them to be lost since they'd come together after fleeing Konoha, and their sadness was mixed with foreboding for what was certain to come.
Now they waited anxiously, for the jump or for battle…no one was sure which would come first.
"They're coming," Naruto had warned minutes ago. He stood at the center of the circle, his teammates at his side. Everyone else faced toward the forest in all directions, tense and ready. The movers had activated the seals, and now waited for the activation on the other side.
A wave of kunai streamed out of the shadows on the right, but they were thrown from a great distance and easily deflected by the shinobi on the outside of the circle. They tightened their ranks.
"We've got to go now!" Shikamaru said. "What the hell's taking so long?"
"I don't know!" Naruto said. "I sent Gamakichi to the other side an hour ago!"
"Could they have been attacked too?" Sakura said.
He looked over at her, dread in his sennin-yellow eyes. "Let's hope not, for all our sakes."
With the rustle of leaves and creak of branches their enemy was upon them, the symbols of Moss and Fang glinting with the steel of drawn weapons in the dark. They surrounded the Konoha nin on all sides, hissing and taunting and looking for openings. They made up less than half their number; an easy fight for the Leaf. But they couldn't step outside the circle to fight when the jutsu was moments away from activating. Anyone who did would be left behind, or worse if they happened to be standing on the seals at that moment.
"Keep them back, no matter what," Kakashi ordered the shinobi around him. "Don't let them damage the seals, and do not let them inside." Fortunately, the enemy nin didn't seem interested in the transport circle, and that told him they probably didn't realize what it meant. Destroying their way out would have been the first thing Kakashi did.
More kunai and shuriken flew, testing for weaknesses in their defense. A few cries and curses went up as one or two Leaf nin took a hit; nothing immediately serious…unless those weapons were poisoned too. The Konoha rebels responded with a variety of defensive jutsu meant to repel and disable. That tactic that wouldn't last long—any second the enemy would use jutsu of their own, or engage them in a rush.
Then the seals flared up, blindingly blue-white in the darkness. Some of the enemy finally seemed to realize what was happening; Foreign shouts rose up and dark shapes surged from the shadows, hurling jutsu and weapons at the Leaf ninja as they were enclosed in a pillar of light.
The forest, their enemies, the light…all of it vanished. There was nothing, a heartbeat of disembodied emptiness. Then the light returned, winked out, and there was solid ground beneath their feet again. A few moments followed of lightheaded, quivery disorientation like they'd just fallen from a great height. The Leaf shinobi adjusted their eyes to the sudden return to darkness and saw that they were in another forest—harder ground, drier air, monolithic trees stretching upward into the night, as far as the eye could see. It was terrain deeply familiar to all of them: the heart of Fire country.
The medics immediately went into action. "Who was hit?" Shizune called out as she and Sakura wove their way into the crowd and the few who'd been injured limped forward. The ANBU commander leading the advance team came up to Naruto. Kakashi was used to associating them to their masks, and it took him a moment to remember his name: Naida.
"What took so long?" Naruto demanded. "We were under attack! It almost got real ugly back there."
"We're very close to Konoha right now," Naida explained. "A few hours ago we were almost caught by a Root patrol and we had to move and set up again. I apologize for the delay. We activated the seals the second it was finished."
Shikamaru overheard as he came up to them, and said, "Just think, if things had gone according to schedule three days ago, we might have all been caught by Root. We should have planned a better spot to jump to." He was the tactical mastermind, and his anger was directed mostly at himself.
"How close to Konoha are we?" Kakashi asked Naida.
"Day and a half. Those Root were probably outrunners. We could have taken them out, but I figured it was better to move so we didn't run into any other problems. We're several miles further south now."
"You did the right thing," Naruto told him. He looked off into the darkness of the forest. "But Tenzou's still out there. How will he find us now?"
"He will," Kakashi assured. "His abilities from the Shodai allow him to communicate with the trees. In a forest, he can find anything. If need be I can always send Pakkun."
"Good," Naruto said, nodding. "Let's start getting a camp set up. We'll have to pitch tents until Tenzou's back, but I'm not really worried about that. The important thing is that everyone's safe now."
Shikamaru took a long drag of his cigarette, his face momentarily bathed in orange light. He exhaled slowly, and said what they were all thinking. "But for how long?"
Sakura was having a hell of a time opening her lunch. The vacuum-sealed pouch of dried fruit refused to tear. Couldn't they at least perforate the damn things? Maybe exhaustion had simply killed her dexterity. Tenten had a compact mirror, and Sakura had managed to catch a glimpse of herself this morning. It hadn't been pretty. Dark circles ringed her eyes, and even with a light summer tan her cheeks lacked their usual healthy color. She could definitely use a few days' undisturbed rest, but she hated the idea of sitting around doing nothing while everyone else worked.
With a frustrated huff, she gave up and tried to tear the packet with her teeth. Which resulted in half the contents spilling onto her lap and the ground. That was how Kakashi found her, with banana chips and dried apricots all over herself and the packet clenched in her teeth like a ravenous animal.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked, amusement in his eyes.
"Almost never," Sakura replied cheekily, picking up morsels of fruit and putting them back in the bag, eating a couple in between. The five-second rule was more like the five-minute rule in the ninja world. She looked up at him hopefully. "Do you have any food that doesn't consume more calories in eating than it provides?"
"'Fraid not." He held up his own packet meal. "Just this; dried and airtight like the rest of it."
Sakura did a double-take. "Is that meat?" The bastard had jerky! "Where did you get meat?"
Kakashi smiled his most infuriating smile. "A good shinobi never gives away his secrets. But, I suppose I can share with my favorite teammate."
"Half and half?" she suggested, holding out her bag of dehydrated fruit.
He didn't take it, and didn't sit. "Since our lunch is conveniently portable," he began, and held his own hand out to her. "Come with me; there something I want to show you."
She let him pull her up and they walked away from camp, into the woods. A little thrill went through her at the thought of being alone with him. Kakashi led her to an area that couldn't really be called a clearing, as the ground was mostly covered with ferns and scrub. Long ago a massive, ancient tree had fallen over to create an opening in the canopy large enough for the sun to penetrate to the forest floor, and beams of golden light shone down on the rotting, crumbling log, covered in moss and lichen, slowly being reclaimed by the forest.
"It's pretty," Sakura said, sincere, but nonplussed.
"It is," Kakashi agreed, "but that's not why I brought you here."
He found a clear spot on the ground and knelt down to perform a summoning jutsu. But when the smoke cleared it wasn't Pakkun or one of his other dogs. It was the cutest puppy Sakura had ever seen.
The pup blinked and looked around, momentarily confused at the sudden change in surroundings. It looked at Kakashi but quickly turned away from him, more interested in other, newer things. When it saw Sakura it trotted right up to her, wagging its fluffy, curled tail. "Hi!" the puppy yipped, bouncing a little.
"Hi!" Sakura returned delightedly. She knelt down and reached out, and the pup ran toward her waiting hands.
"Her name is Shiko," Kakashi said. "She's four months old."
"Shiko, Shiko!" the puppy exclaimed. "Me Shiko!"
"She's adorable," Sakura said to Kakashi, laughing as the puppy wiggled happily in her arms. She had a soft, thick double coat of red-sesame color with tawny legs, ears and nose, and a darker saddle across her back. Her throat and belly were snowy white, as well as her paws and the underside of her tail, which curled over her back. She had small triangle ears and deep brown almond-shaped eyes.
"She's yours, if you want her."
Sakura looked up at him, shocked. "R-really?" As a child, she had desperately wanted a puppy like some other girls want ponies, but due to her father's allergy to nearly every domestic animal it was always impossible. When she began living on her own the thought of getting a dog crossed her mind, but she wasn't home enough to care for one. But a non-dependant companion with high intelligence and human language skills, who could go on missions with her and even fight at her side? It was beyond perfect.
"Mine?" Shiko asked, gazing up at Sakura with devastating cuteness. "You my hoomin?"
"I guess so," she said wonderingly, and set the pup down so she could look at her. "My name is Sakura."
Shiko tried the name on her tongue. "Sa—ka—ra…Sakra!" Her tail wagged hopefully.
"Close enough for now," Sakura laughed. She scratched the top of Shiko's head, and the pup sat up and pawed at her forearm, alternately nibbling and licking her wrist. Then she bounded off to investigate the area, sniffing everything and picking up random bits of forest debris in her mouth for closer inspection.
Kakashi settled beside Sakura on the ground. She hadn't noticed that he'd pulled his mask down while she played with the puppy. She was so overwhelmed by the incredible gift she'd been given that she didn't even ogle. Much.
"As you can see, her language skills are rudimentary, like any child," he said. "Though she is rather advanced for her age. You'll have to keep working with her."
Sakura nodded. "Kakashi, I don't know what to say…"
He smiled. "Thank you?"
"Well yes, of course thank you. It's just…this is a big deal…" A really big deal. Like the most significant thing anyone had ever done for her next to Tsunade taking her as an apprentice. Shiko wasn't just a cute little puppy, she was a ninken. A spirit animal bound in a lifelong contract to be a ninja's companion and weapon. It was a tradition going back centuries, for as long as shinobi had existed, but few were ever lucky enough to have one.
Kakashi knew this as well, but he brushed it off with typical levity. "I don't think my pack is the right place for Shiko," he said. "She has some unusual circumstances."
"What do you mean?"
"She was the runt in a litter of nine. She was bullied by her siblings and all but shunned by her overwhelmed mother. Her mother died recently, and now she's on her own."
Sakura glanced sadly at Shiko, who seemed happy enough now. She appeared to be tying to dig grubs out from under the dead tree. "What about her littermates?" she wondered.
"She's the only female," Kakashi explained, "and for some reason her brothers aren't very good brothers. From what I hear, as soon as she started to stand up to their bullying they drove her out of the den."
Sakura frowned. "That's terrible. Can't you do anything about it?"
"I can only control my own dogs. Pakkun brought Shiko to me, and she agreed to let me bring her over. I originally intended to make her part of my pack…but because of what she's been through she's not very fond of males." He shot the pup a look. "She even tried to bite me once."
Sakura said flatly, "So you're only giving her to me because she won't work with you?"
He shrugged. "Not exactly, but it is a convenient opportunity. She has too much potential to be left to fend for herself. Shiko," he called. Shiko trotted over, noticeably less enthusiastic than when she'd approached Sakura. To Sakura he said, "Make her an offer."
"Do you want to make a contract with me?" Sakura asked the pup.
Her little ears perked forward and her eyes were huge pools of excitement, but her tail wag was tentative. "You is nice to Shiko…?"
"Extra nice. I promise."
"Okay!" she yipped, front paws bouncing up and down. "Yes, yes, yes!"
Kakashi pulled the scroll of the ninken from his equipment pouch and unrolled it on the ground. "The contract is made in blood," he explained. "Since it's the first time for both of you, you'll both need to do it. The ninken first." He drew a kunai and turned to the pup, but seeing the look on her face, thought better of it and handed the blade to Sakura. "It's probably better if you do it."
Looking at the scroll and seeing what needed to be done, Sakura took the kunai and beckoned Shiko toward her. "It'll be quick," she assured gently. "It'll only hurt for a minute, and I'll heal it up right after."
Shiko sat on her haunches. "You can do that?"
Sakura smiled. "I can." She held her hand out. "Can I have your paw?"
Hesitantly the pup placed her tiny paw in Sakura's palm. Sakura turned her paw pads up and quickly made a shallow incision, gently spread the blood across the surface area. Shiko whimpered, but held herself still.
"Now place your mark here," Kakashi pointed to an empty space at the top section of the scroll, next to the paw marks of his dogs and his father's dogs before them.
Shiko limped over and placed her paw on the old vellum, leaving behind a bloody stamp. She limped back to Sakura, who took her injured paw in both hands and healed the cut in less than a minute. Shiko lay down and examined her paw, licking the remaining blood away to be sure all was well. "Shiko has special hoomin!" she exclaimed, tail thumping against the leafy ground.
"Go home now," Kakashi said, "and Sakura's going to call you back herself. Then you'll be fully bonded." Shiko disappeared with a curl of smoke. He looked to Sakura. "Your turn."
Sakura scooted closer, and carefully cut her fingertip. Wincing at the deep sting, she held her finger over the blank area below Shiko's mark, right next to Kakashi's chickenscratch moniker. "Sign my name?" she clarified.
Kakashi nodded. "Make sure it's strong, or it will fade over time and the bond will become weak."
Signing her name in blood wasn't a quick and easy task; she had to keep squeezing her finger to produce more of the crimson ink. Maybe she hadn't cut deep enough, but it certainly felt that way. "How many ninken are there?" she asked out of curiosity.
"As many as there are toads or cats or any other spirit animal, I imagine," he replied. "Contracts are usually passed down through family lines, but not always. My father created this one himself. Other shinobi somewhere might have contracts with other ninken."
"Since I'm signing your scroll…" Sakura said carefully, as the full significance of the situation set in, "doesn't this mean I can summon your other dogs too?"
"Theoretically," he said. "But they're not obligated to respond, any more than Shiko is to respond to me, so I wouldn't resort to that unless it's an emergency. They're not as easy to manage as it seems, and they'll always answer my call before yours."
That made sense; they were a pack, and they needed a strong leader. There couldn't be two Alphas.
"Most ninken have families of their own that they spend most of their time with," Kakashi continued. "But because Shiko's so young and doesn't have anyone to look after her, you'll need to keep her around you on this side until she's more independent."
"That's perfectly fine with me," Sakura said. "I'm in love with her already." He smiled at her in a way that set her insides fluttering. She wanted to scoot closer, wanted to touch him and pick up where they left off yesterday evening. First things first though.
Kakashi glanced down at the completed contract. "I think you're ready. You know the seals. Focus your chakra into your palm and imagine you're actually reaching out to pull her into this world."
Sakura took a deep breath, suddenly nervous. "What if I screw it up? Will something bad happen to her?"
"You won't," he assured.
"How do you know?"
"I believe in you."
Just knowing that gave her confidence, as it always had, since the first time he said it to her insecure, twelve year-old self. She made the series of initializing handseals she'd seen Kakashi perform dozens of times, and placed her palm flat on the ground. Taking another deep breath, Sakura called her summon. "Kuchiyose-no-jutsu!" A faint thrumming sensation went through her, somewhere between a vibration and a shiver, and with a curl of smoke and a quiet pop, Shiko stood before her again.
"Yay!" she yipped, and pounced on Sakura gleefully, all paws and tongue and puppy energy.
"Yay!" Sakura echoed, laughing and hugging her new companion to her chest. The pup's attention was soon drawn by the rustle of some small animal in the brush, and she bounded off into the forest. Sakura could actually feel her presence now, and could track her movement through the trees around them. It was more of an intuition than a physical feeling. She said as much to Kakashi.
"As long as you're not too far apart, you'll always be able to sense her," he confirmed.
"So you can sense all eight of yours?"
He rolled up the scroll and put it away. "Why do you think I rarely summon them all at the same time? It can be pretty distracting."
Despite his laid back demeanor and casual approach, Sakura couldn't stop thinking about what he'd really done by putting her name on the ninken scroll. She studied his uncovered face. "Really, Kakashi," she said quietly. "Why are you doing this?"
She thought he would shrug it off again or make some lighthearted remark, but this time he gave up the pretense. "I want to know you're safe, and I can't always be there. And because as I said, Shiko does need someone to take care of her, and you said you love dogs."
Was that really why he gave her a ninken? To protect her? Sakura knew she didn't have his extensive experience, and most of her time these past two years had been spent traveling, not fighting. Maybe she was a little rusty, but she didn't need extra help. "It's not your job to babysit me," she said.
Kakashi frowned at her. "I'm your teammate." An edge crept into in his voice. "And more importantly, I'm your friend. It's not babysitting, Sakura. It's called watching your back. It is my job. I may not have been a great sensei, but I know I taught you that much."
Sakura realized she'd come across as selfish and ungrateful. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it the way it came out. I really do appreciate it. You have no idea how happy this makes me." All of a sudden she felt terrible, inside and out. "I guess I'm just…" She sighed and hung her head, pressed her forehead into her knees. "I'm so tired." Kakashi shifted, and she felt his hand settle on her back.
"I know you know what you're doing to yourself," he said quietly, just above her head. "And I know why you refuse to take it easy, and that for you to do any differently would go against who you are. So I'm looking out for you because you're terrible at looking after yourself, that's all. I could have phrased my words better as well; I didn't mean to imply any kind of doubt in you. You should know I would never think that."
His hand moved in affectionate little circles between her shoulder blades, occasionally moving down the length of her spine and back again. Sakura leaned into his side, seeking his steady warmth. His touch seemed to quell some of the internal unsteadiness she was feeling. Even the timbre of his voice was comforting. "I'm terrible at looking after myself?"
He chuckled softly. "I know I'm just as bad."
"Worse."
Kakashi bumped against her lightly. "All a matter of perspective, I suppose. The point is, as friends it's our duty to take care of each other."
Sakura pulled away just enough to look into his face. "Is that all we are, Kakashi? Friends?" She watched him closely, the way the emotions shifted in his eyes as they flicked over her features. Tentatively she asked him, "What do you want?"
His gaze had fixed on her mouth as she spoke. "I can think of a lot of things, that shouldn't be discussed in public," he murmured. "Right now I really want to kiss you."
Breath caught in her throat, Sakura half-whispered, "What's stopping you?"
Kakashi kissed her with a hunger that left her breathless in seconds. Hot, sweet, electric desire flashed through her, more intense than anyone else's kisses had ever made her feel. Sakura shifted onto her knees, rose up a little and curled her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck. His hands moved up and down the curve of her waist, then his grip tightened and he pulled her closer, drawing her toward his lap.
Somewhere in Sakura's foggy brain was the knowledge that they it was broad daylight and they were really close to camp, but the sensation of his fingers slipping under her shirt to brush against the small of her back was too delicious for her to care. Their kisses intensified until they were both breathing heavily. Sakura shifted her weight, ready to sink into his lap and feel his firm body molded against hers.
Suddenly a third tongue joined in.
Completely wrapped up in each other, they hadn't noticed Shiko dart out of the brush until she pounced on Sakura and began eagerly licking her chin. Sakura laughed and pushed the feisty ball of fluff away from her face and into her lap, where she began scratching her belly while Shiko tried to chew on her fingers.
Kakashi gave the pup a flat, knowing look, suspecting that she'd deliberately broken them apart. Sakura didn't realize it, but only because she was enamored by deceptive cuteness and wasn't yet aware of how clever a ninken could be—even a baby one.
Sakura looked up at him, green eyes sparkling with rueful amusement. She leaned toward him again, intent on a continuation of that amazing kiss. He leaned in as well, but a sudden unnatural rustle in the forest made them snap apart again. Kakashi quickly pulled his mask up.
Shiko growled and hurled herself out of Sakura's lap, ready to attack, until Sakura saw a leaping flash of yellow-orange and told her, "It's all right. That's one of Naruto's summons."
An unnaturally large toad—though smaller than some of his fellow toad spirits—hopped out of the brush and over to them. "There you guys are," the toad panted. "I looked all over camp."
It was probably a good thing they'd been interrupted, Sakura realized, or else the toad might have seen something far more explicit than kissing—and mentioned it to Naruto. "What's going on?" she asked, already getting up.
Shiko trotted boldly up to the toad. "You smell like water."
"Naruto sent me to find you," he said needlessly. He nervously turned around with Shiko as she circled him, sniffing. "Tenzou's finally returned with intel on the enemy and the poison they've been using."
"Oh good," Sakura exclaimed. "I have some theories I want to test."
"We'll be right there," Kakashi said, standing as well.
Disconcerted by the ninken, the toad vanished as soon as the message was delivered. Sakura and Kakashi made their way out of the little thicket, but before they reached the sentry line she grabbed his elbow. He turned to face her and she tugged gently on his arm to pull him closer, gave him an anticipatory smile. "See you later?"
"Mm," he murmured in reply, leaning into her upturned face. Sakura pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his masked lips, and gave him a sweet smile before they returned to a friendly distance and headed back to camp.
Tenzou's report was dire: an army of shinobi was massing to the north, near where they'd been attacked before. Moss and Fang, and what looked to be a large number of unaffiliated mercenaries as well. They matched the Leaf rebels in number, and it was possible more would join them. The tactical meeting following Tenzou's return was long and ominously unpleasant, and in the process of planning for an all-out war against their new enemies, it was decided that they needed help.
"Danzou's collecting these foreigners to make up for the numbers he lost when we left Konoha," Naruto had said. "He knows Root's not strong enough to wipe us out, so he's gathering allies to do it for him…I think it's time we get some allies of our own."
Sakura hadn't stuck around to hear who they planned to enlist to their cause and how. She had a very important task of her own to do. In addition to gathering intel on the enemy, Tenzou was supposed to find out how they made the poison they were coating their weapons with. He'd done one better by bringing back a very fresh sample.
It turned out the source was a vibrantly colored, lethally toxic little tree frog. Sakura and Shizune set to work studying the deceptively cute creature and the chemical properties of the secretions from its spotted, turquoise-blue skin. It took the better part of the afternoon to analyze, for though the medics were poisons experts, they had nothing to work with but their own knowledge; no toxicology lab equipment, no tissue samples to test on, not even a microscope. They figured it out through trial and error, testing the toxin on various organic substances and watching what happened.
Karin reluctantly assisted them. She wouldn't go near the frog even though it was no longer alive, and was pinned to a flat board on a workbench in the building Tenzou had put up for them. She eyed it warily from across the room. "Do the Swamp nin breed them?" she wanted to know.
Sakura shook her head. "They absorb the toxins from their diet, so they usually lose their lethality in captivity. They must be catching them in the wild."
"How do they do it without killing themselves?"
"They might be, for all we know," Shizune said. "I'm sure it's not exactly a safe process. Obviously they're diluting the toxin in their coating substance, or the victims would have died in only a few minutes." She scrutinized the blade edge of a kunai with a magnifying glass she'd managed to dig up somewhere. "Well, we know it's definitely alkaline-based."
"It could be a batrachotoxin, which won't deteriorate when transferred to another surface," Sakura said, recalling what she'd read in her initial medical training when she was still working with animals. One type of poisonous frog toxin could be extracted into a painkiller that was two hundred times more potent than morphine…only it had the unfortunate side effect of causing serious gastrointestinal disasters in humans. She didn't want to imagine what the trials for that had been like.
"There's definitely no sign of potency loss here," Shizune confirmed. She straightened up and gave Sakura a grim look. "But if it's a batrachotoxin….there's no way to make an antidote."
And that was a serious problem. "It's probably a different type. Batrachotoxins are extremely rare," she said optimistically. "It's only found in a few species…and unfortunately I can't remember which ones. They come in so many colors…"
There was a scratching noise at the door. Smiling, Sakura went to open it, but before she could their visitor opened it herself. Kakashi was right; ninken were definitely smarter than the average dog.
"Shiko be in here with you?" the pup asked her, tail wagging.
"Alright," Sakura agreed. "But you have to stay out of the way, okay?"
"'Kay!"
The pup pranced inside, and Sakura slid the door shut. When she turned around Shizune was grinning at her. "What?"
She shook her head in amusement. "I can't believe Kakashi gave you a ninken." She clearly wanted to say more, but after glancing at Karin she let it drop. When Sakura drew up beside her she murmured under her breath, "Tell me later."
"I told you already," Sakura said neutrally.
"You know what I mean." She looked at the puppy. "She's definitely a cutie."
"Shiko cute," the pup echoed. "What that smell?" In the blink of an eye she ran to the workbench and stood on her hindquarters, trying to inspect the frog.
"Shiko, no!" Sakura cried, rushing over and scooping the ninken into her arms. Shiko yelped in dismay. "That frog isn't like the one you met earlier. That one will kill you if you touch it, or even if you touch something it was touching."
"Is dead frog," Shiko said, confused.
"The poison is in the skin, not the teeth. It doesn't matter that it's dead," she explained, and carried her over to the empty corner and set her down. "We're doing very dangerous work in here, and you have to stay out of the way or else you'll have to leave. Okay?"
The pup laid her ears back and curled in on herself. "'Kay. Shiko is good. Don't be mad."
Sakura stroked her reassuringly. "I'm not mad; you scared me. I don't want you to get hurt." Shiko lay down with her head on her paws and watched them quietly from the corner.
"Poisonous frogs only carry a handful of toxins, right?" Shizune said as Sakura came back to the workstation. "And we know this one comes from the Swamp country. So let's start by making a list of potential culprits and their known antidotes."
They worked on the datasheet for nearly half an hour, hunched over their cramped workspace on the other side of the counter from the frog. After several minutes of waiting and listening to the medics list off the gruesome effects of different poisons on the human body, Karin blurted, "I don't know how you guys can do this stuff for a living. It's gross, not to mention boring."
The medics turned to look at her with matching frowns. "Well if we didn't do it for a living, four of our comrades would be dead right now," Shizune retorted. "Including Sakura, who saved your life when Uchiha Sasuke tried to kill you."
"One of them is dead," she pointed out bluntly.
They stared at her in disbelief. She was always rude, but she was being particularly nasty today. "Medics aren't gods," Sakura said acidly. "Sometimes what we do isn't enough, and that's a heavy burden we have to live with. We don't need to have it rubbed in." She turned back to her work, and shared an understanding glance with Shizune. "So. We have the herbs in storage to make antidotes for most of these. But how are we going to test them?"
Shizune thought it over a moment. "I hate to do it, but we could test it on mice or small animals."
Sakura frowned. "You know I hate testing on live animals. Too bad we had to leave our prisoner behind at the last jump."
"Hm, he would have made a fitting test subject," Shizune agreed. "Would necrotic tissue work?"
Sakura shrugged. "It's better than nothing. What do you have in mind?"
"They caught some fish from the river today; maybe we could get one to work with."
The mention of fish set her stomach gurgling. She never did eat lunch today, but making out with Kakashi instead had definitely been worth the sacrifice. She turned to Karin, who leaned against the wall. "Can you go see if you can get one, please?"
Karin crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "A dead fish? Seriously? You know, when you asked me to assist I didn't think it was to be your errand girl."
Shizune had had enough, and whipped around and snapped, "Well it's not like you ever want to do any actual work, is it?"
"Excuse me for not being a perfect little medic like you two."
"You could be a medic if you wanted to. We've both offered to teach you."
"Right, like I want to take lessons from you so you can look down on me even more."
"No one looks down on you," Sakura said. "If you don't have any friends it's because you're an antisocial bitch who doesn't pull her own weight."
Karin pushed off the wall and took a step toward Sakura, and for a second it looked like a threat. Then she noticed that Shiko had gotten to her feet and was staring at her very intently. "Whatever," she said, turning away with contrived flippancy. "Play with your dead animals on your own." She slammed the door on the way out.
"Good riddance," Shizune muttered. "I'll go get the damned thing myself."
Shiko settled back in her corner. "Red lady smell bad."
Sakura looked at her bemusedly. "Whatever else might be wrong with her, I'm sure she bathes."
"No," the ninken clarified, "smell bad. Like…meanness."
"She doesn't like us," Shizune reasoned, and went out to track down a fish.
Sakura opened the medical storage scrolls and laid out the herbs they would need for the antidotes, then she sat down on the floor with Shiko and let the puppy crawl into her lap. "Someday you'll be too big for this, you know," she told her affectionately.
"But not today," Shiko replied, curling into a ball. "Pet please."
Sakura obeyed. As she waited, smoothing her fingers through soft fur, she thought about what Shiko had said. Sakura made no secret about disliking Karin. She had always felt that way, ever since they met.
Team Kakashi had brought Karin back to Konoha for interrogation following medical treatment, after Sasuke turned on her. She'd been under house arrest when the coup happened, and somehow she'd managed to escape and hook up with Kiba and his sister Hana. Sakura had no idea why they let her come this far, why they hadn't sent her on her way once they found the rebels. Konoha didn't matter to Karin, and she had only been a nuisance. Now she knew too much and it was too late to let her leave.
The ninken's instinctive perception left Sakura uneasy. She'd heard animals could sense evil. Karin probably wasn't evil, but you never knew. Meanness. The word stuck in her mind. She made a mental note to talk to Naruto in the morning and see if anything could be done about Karin's antagonistic behavior.
Shizune finally returned, carrying three small river trout by the gills. "They're still pretty fresh," she said, closing the door behind her. "The tissue isn't decayed yet."
"Good," Sakura said, pushing Shiko off as she got up. "Let's get started."
Shizune gave her a devious smile. "You in some kind of hurry? Got a hot date later?"
Sakura scoffed. "Don't be silly."
"If you say so," she said. "Now are you going to tell me about—"
"No."
Shizune chuckled under her breath and went to lay the fish on the counter. Sakura sighed. It was going to be long night.
TBC