Chapter 14

"Pursuit"

The sun had long since disappeared behind the horizon, but the night was still warm.

Winters never lasted long in the Land of Fire, much to Haru's pleasure. As disorienting as it was to miss a month of her life in a coma, she couldn't complain about skipping over the coldest month of the year. Her night watches were so much easier to get through when she wasn't tense and shivering from the cold.

Tonight, however, she wasn't the only ANBU watching the darkened streets of Konoha. Tsunade had ensured that after Haru's near-capture she wouldn't do anything as a shinobi without proper protection – at least until Akatsuki was no longer a threat, which Haru knew wouldn't happen until one or both of them were destroyed. And as much as she couldn't argue with the Hokage's logic (she'd seen it coming, after all,) she couldn't help but feel a tad annoyed at her sudden excess of company. Tonight her neighbor Ashikaru joined her on her watch, albeit on opposite sides of the village, which in this case wasn't too aggravating – but she'd already gone on one A-rank mission since her coma that had been a near disaster for how many shinobi had been ordered to accompany her. Even having one more shinobi than needed on a mission could cause trouble, as it usually made a team much more detectable and increased the likelihood of mistakes. She'd had three extra teammates.

She sighed quietly to herself, leaping three roofs over for a change of view. She knew that eventually Tsunade would ease up her guard but at this point Haru wasn't sure which was worse: the threat of Akatsuki coming after her again out on the field, or failing a mission and likely getting her fellow ANBU killed because of a swollen cell. At least in dealing with the Akatsuki threat, stealth was usually on her side. There was no stealth in numbers, and Haru believed only stealth would win out over strength when it came to Akatsuki. She highly doubted that the next time they found her it would only be Itachi (and maybe Kisame,) or that they would risk letting her teammates live again. The next time they found her she knew she wouldn't come out alive.

And I thought it'd been hopeless last time… she thought. The more she reflected on what had happened the more the whole situation just seemed like a fluke – on both sides. She couldn't understand how Team Kakashi had managed to rescue her, or why Itachi was the only Akatsuki that pursued them, or how Itachi had failed to stop them at all. By all logic, she shouldn't have survived – her simple mistakes had ensured death – and yet...

Her had fluttered to her abdomen. The seal burned into her skin beneath her uniform was still there, black as ever and unchanged, right beneath her ribs. She could still feel the five-tailed demon within, but the chakra she was so used to bubbling right beneath the surface felt… distant. She had no idea what it meant. Perhaps Akatsuki really had succeeded partly, or perhaps somehow their ritual had injured the demon. It was possible that she might be able to find out using her kekkei genkai, but, if she were being honest with herself, she almost didn't want to find out – and she was fairly sure that if Rakumaru was injured, she wouldn't be too inclined to heal him. So she hadn't checked. But the thoughts were nagging, and she knew that the responsible thing to do would be to find out as much as she could; after all, the Gobi wasn't just a danger to her. He was as much Konoha's problem as hers.

She shook her head. She needed to focus on her watch, as boring as her watches always turned out to be. There was no use in asking questions that she had no way of answering, or in trying to make decisions that she simply wasn't ready for.

She heard him coming before he appeared beside her, faint steps on a rooftop and controlled breathing. Ashikaru now perched on the roof at her side, looking off in the direction she assumed he'd come from.

"I saw something moving over the wall," he said quickly through his ANBU mask, which resembled the face of a mouse. "There's blood. We need to investigate."

Haru merely nodded, and they took off towards the wall together. It'd been a long time since anything nearly as interesting had happened on one of her watches – the last time it had been a missing nin whose brain had been muddled by a genjutsu, just wandering the streets of Konoha after dark and waving a katana at shadows. The blood that Ashikaru mentioned worried her, though. It could mean any number of things, but none of them looked good.

When they arrived at the base of the tall wall that stretched around Konoha, she motioned for him to climb first. He perched atop the wall and looked out in the direction he'd saw the thing moving, and while he searched Haru investigated the blood. It was splattered on the ground right at the wall's base, and she spotted a smaller splatter near the top, smeared in what seemed to be a handprint. The blood on the ground was hard to read in the darkness, but there wasn't a lot – it was a small wound, at least. She pulled a small vial from her pouch and took a sample of it, hoping the fact that it was mixed with dirt wouldn't hinder an analysis.

She heard Ashikaru's signal and quickly joined him where he was perched, noting on her way up that the second blood splatter was definitely a handprint, large enough to be a man's. Ashikaru nodded towards the forest.

"Whoever it is, they haven't gone far," he muttered. "I can feel a chakra signature out there but I can't pinpoint it."

"You want to get closer?" she suggested, scanning the forest herself.

"It's not a good idea," he replied. "We'll have to send out a search in the morning."

She frowned. "They're likely injured," she said, pointing back at the bloodstains. "What if it's one of ours?"

"Why would they run out of Konoha if they're Leaf?" She could feel his chakra pulse as he tried to feel for the chakra signature again. He shook his head. "I don't know who or where they are, but if they were friendly they would have wanted a Leaf nin to find them. They're trying very hard not to be found… yet they're still out there, I can feel it."

"Then we need to get closer," she argued. "They were here for a reason – that could be a problem."

"You and I can't risk it," he said with finality. "All we can do is send out a search party in the morning."

She sighed angrily and leapt off the wall back into the heart of Konoha. She knew exactly why he couldn't let them just pursue the person themselves but the logic behind it didn't piss her off any less.

Ashikaru followed and caught up to her quickly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling a search party now," she said. "We can't afford to wait until morning."

"The Captain's asleep."

"And this could be important," she snapped. "I know Tsunade would have your head if you let me pursue this mystery man while Akatsuki is still out there, but I'm not going to let them get in the way of my job any more than they already have. I don't care who I have to wake up."

She heard Ashikaru sigh but he kept his mouth shut. He knew better than to argue when she pushed – he'd been on enough missions with her in the past to know what this behavior meant, and nine times out of ten when she pushed like this, they got results.

She had no idea if this lead was in any way important or dangerous, but she had a feeling. Something was off about the blood, and she was eager to get it analyzed – until then, however, they couldn't let this chakra signature get away, especially when it didn't seem to be moving.

In the back of her head, however, she really did hope it was nothing.

"Excuse me?"

The medic in the lab turned around, eyes wide as if she hadn't expected anyone else in the vicinity. Haru supposed there weren't many civilians who would come to this floor of the hospital.

"Oh, you're Tanade-san, aren't you?" asked the medic.

Haru paused. "…Um, yes, I am," she replied.

"My apologies," the medic said hastily, "I just noticed your clothing, and I feel like I've seen your face around here a few times. I'm Himura Itsume."

"Ah. I do work a lot here in my off-seasons – I imagine most of the medics have seen me around," Haru replied, looking down at her clothes subconsciously – she was still wearing her black ANBU uniform, just without the white armor. She'd understandably been in a rush after her night watch ended.

Itsume nodded absent-mindedly, then eyed the vial in Haru's hand. "What brings you down here, Tanade-san?"

"I was hoping you could analyze this sample for me," said Haru, walking forward into the lab before handing over the vial. "I came across it on a mission – it should just be blood and dirt but if there's anything else you can find out about it, I'd be grateful."

"Sure," Itsume said, and set to work immediately.

With the machines the hospital provided it didn't take long, but even with the short wait Haru found herself getting antsy. The whole night had had her on edge – although the fact that she hadn't slept in over a day probably had something to do with it.

"Hmm," Itsume mumbled, her eyes in the microscope. "Omitting any compounds from the dirt you mentioned, it looks like AB-type blood and saliva… but there's something else…"

Haru's brow furrowed. A mouth injury, then? Or an internal injury to the respiratory system? "Something else…?" she repeated.

Itsume frowned, adjusting the dials carefully. "It's an organic compound, like some kind of virus or parasite… or perhaps just a kind of sap, something that comes from a plant? Its cellular structure is odd. It's hard to tell but…" She pulled away from the microscope and rested her hands on her hips. "…But I think I've seen it before."

"What do you mean?" Perhaps the man was sick or poisoned… or not entirely human? Her mind wandered to a certain plant-like shinobi she'd seen with Akatsuki – one of the few members she'd never met.

"I've had shinobi bring me samples that contained this compound before – very rarely, mind you," Itsume explained, "but still enough to recognize it when I see it. It's unique. Unfortunately I don't know anything about it. I'd need a much larger sample even to study it."

"Hmm." Haru glanced towards the microscope. From the little she'd heard about the plant Akatsuki, Zetsu, the pieces didn't add up – just the way he traveled wouldn't have left room for climbing walls and making handprints. And the blood was mixed with saliva, meaning one way or another it had to come from the man's mouth – the splash pattern she remembered could have been from coughing or spitting. But somehow none of it answered any questions.

"You're looking for someone right?" Itsume asked, breaking Haru's pregnant silence. "Are they dangerous?"

Haru glanced back at the medic. "I'm not sure… but it doesn't seem too worrisome, I don't think," she half-lied. Regardless of Itsume's findings, Haru wouldn't know anything until the search party they'd sent returned.

Itsume seemed to see through her, but said, "I'm sure you'll find them, anyways, Tanade-san."

Haru took her vial and put it back in her pouch. "Thank you for your help, Himura-san," she said, and headed for the door. "I don't want to keep you from your work."

"Of course," she replied. "If you find any more of that sample, I'd be glad to see if I could learn any more about the compound."

Haru waved over her shoulder in acknowledgment as she left the lab, her mind swimming too deep to find a better response.

It was still entirely possible that this lead could be nothing. As strange and nearly suspicious as the situation seemed, there could just as easily have been a more mundane explanation for it all as an insidious one. Maybe a Leaf shinobi was sick and had a nosebleed as they were leaving for a mission – something like that.

But Haru knew as she made her way back to her apartment, somehow, that there was something she was missing – there was something more to it. She only hoped her lack of sleep was making her overthink it.

Ashikaru was walking out of his apartment as she neared hers. She waved to get his attention.

"Still up, Chiharu?" he called. "I thought you'd gone to bed already."

She shook her head as she stopped next to him. They'd been on watch until just before dawn, and she could tell he'd just woken up from his nap – he usually slept in until late morning after his watches. "I had to finish up some work," she said, then lowered her voice. "Have you heard anything about the search party?"

"No," he said, the look on his face telling her he'd been enjoying the levity that came with just not thinking about it. "I imagine our guest is long gone by now."

Haru frowned. "Maybe. They've been gone for seven hours now, though."

"Takes a while to search an entire forest," said Ashikaru, then waved as he started to head off to wherever he was going. "You worry too much, Chiharu."

Haru sighed and waved at his back. I'm sure I do, she thought. She was long due for a nap – and maybe when she woke up things would go back to making sense. She entered her apartment and headed immediately for her bedroom where she stripped off the rest of her pouches and ANBU attire and hid them away in her closet.

At the very least she knew a nap would help her to just stop thinking altogether. Kakashi was out on a mission, so she didn't have him around to keep her distracted from all the things that had been floating around in her head lately. As much as last night's watch had succeeded in keeping her from thinking about Akatsuki and its members after a while, it also just gave her more to worry about. And it didn't end there, it seemed.

There was a distinct tapping at her bedroom window. She froze in the middle of tying her sweatpants – that sound. She knew that sound. She turned around slowly.

On her windowsill, its beak poised carefully at the glass, sat a large black crow.

Its eyes were scarlet red.

A/N: And this, my dear readers, is where my favorite part of the story begins :) Hope you're all enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you for reading, as always, and please let me know what you think of the story in a review~