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I Still Remember :
Chapter : [14] : Taichou! :
Atsuko stood, kitted in full ANBU gear, in front of her ANBU Captain as he explained the mission to locate and take out a missing nin.
"My sources inform me that he is headed towards the thunder country border, and considering his had start, it will take us three days at the very least to reach his location; there is rumor that he has certain ties with the Akatsuki – and especially as the village is still vulnerable, we need to get there, dispose of him and return as quickly as possible with a minimum of injuries." Atsuko nodded in understanding, "I'm going to file a quick report on this and provide an estimate for the length of time, meet me at the main gate in half an hour; dismissed."
"Hai, Taichou," Atsuko responded, disappearing in a puff of smoke and appearing outside her apartment, she collected a few extra items necessary and packed them into the pouches hanging off her belt. She was more than capable of being a captain, but she wasn't one for leading or taking responsibility for others beyond the demands of friendship or camaraderie. She never much liked missions with others, much preferring to work alone, but her Taichou was an excellent shinobi and a good man having earned her respect some years ago; she didn't mind working with him too much.
As she stood waiting for Kiji-Taichou at the front gates, forcing the memory of what happened the previous afternoon out of her head, half worried about what would happen when she next saw Kakashi, but also glad she didn't have to face him again so soon. It wasn't lost on her at how similar she was acting when they last had an 'incident' of waking up next to him (albeit still fully clothed, with the minor exception of a certain Jounin's attractively shirtless chest) some weeks back. She forced the thought out of her head, and focused on the mission, with a number of pouches on her belt and a cloak covering her body, she stood patiently in cool air.
"Ready, Yutsi?" Kiji appeared out of nowhere, addressing his subordinate with her code name, she nodded in response and they disappeared off in the direction of their target.
It had been a long day, and they were both tired not having stopped since they left Konoha quite some hours earlier,
"We'll stop for a short rest, I'll keep watch for a few hours," Kiji stated, Atsuko laid down and almost immediately fell into an uneasy sleep, the past few days of both physical and emotional exhaustion beginning to catch up with her. The rest was all too short as soon Kiji woke her up to keep watch while he caught some sleep. She sat keeping her ears and eyes open for anything unusual feeling disgruntled that her thoughts almost immediately turned to Kakashi and their last encounter.
As the light began to creep over the trees turning the sky a deep shade of orange, Atsuko woke her Taichou, and they continued at an alarming pace. For the next two days, that was all they did, run and stop very occasionally to eat or sleep as the ache in her ribs was getting worse. Eventually they approached the thunder country and their target; luckily he wasn't too difficult to locate thanks to the detailed information they'd received. Although he was a tricky target, and had set numerous traps in an attempt to fool them, but they were ANBU and wise to almost any and every trick in the book; and some that weren't in the book.
"Okay, I'll head in first; you keep your distance for now and make sure he doesn't have any more back up keeping hidden,"
"Ossu," Kiji sped off and engaged the enemy, who was powerful their taijutsu was near evenly matched, as Atsuko suppressed her chakra and performed a quick scout of the area as she found no one, she watched the fight between her Taichou and the missing nin. The battle was long, and it was clear that Kiji was on the loosing side having cast a Genjitsu but it was all to quickly dispelled and left Kiji open to a kunai, Atsuko was desperate to jump in, but knew that he hated anyone randomly jumping in to help unless he called them. She sensed another chakra presence she sneaked over to its source and it turned out to be a kage bunshin, which she quickly dispatched; just managing to dodge a windmill shuriken, not having time to deflect it, it sped towards the main battle.
"Taichou!" Atsuko called out, giving Kiji time to lean out of the way, but in the process he was hit with a kunai being rammed under his ribs by the missing nin. She flung a few chakra string controlled sebon needles at the enemy, he managed to dodge the main noose of the chakra, but he couldn't move his arm fast enough and it was caught and cut off; along with his ability to form hand seals.
"Nice, Yutsi," Kiji called, quickly performing his hand seals himself, manipulating the earth element great tongues of earth sprouted and attempted to capture the missing nin, but he was too fast, he sprang away dodging the earth,
"Hah, to slow my pathetic leafy friends," she snide, arrogant nin shouted, as he landed right in front of the Taichou thrusting holding a windmill shuriken preparing to strike him, but Atsuko spotted another kage bunshin approaching from behind with another windmill shuriken, she performed her lightening hand seals seeing this as her opening, preparing her infamous Jutsu,
"Taichou, behind you!" as she sprang forward, the captain turned but was still caught by the shuriken, within a second Atsuko had collided with the missing nin, nearly obliterating him in the process; but the greatest weakness of her attack was that she was very vulnerable from behind and in her rage and speed, she'd tripped a wire releasing a trap of kunai at her. She avoided a few, but was caught by most nonetheless where the armour didn't cover her back completely; cancelling the Jutsu, she rushed over to her captain who no longer fighting the now gone shadow clone.
"Kiji-Taichou! Stay still, you are badly injured," As she got closer she saw that the final shuriken had pierced the top of his shoulder, by the fact he was still alive told her that it had missed his heart, but it was likely that his lungs were not so lucky.
"Come," she attempted to pick him up much in the same way she had done with Kakashi when they first sparred, but Kiji stopped her,
"N-no… I can't… leave me… here, just get back to Konoha… and… take my place… the village needs you." He was coughing up blood and his now uncovered face was ashen;
"Kiji-Taichou, please, if we leave now-"
"I'll still die, Yutsi; don't let your emotion get in the way… I don't know what your problem's been lately, but something's definitely wrong… promise me something… whatever it is – when you get back, sort it out." Atsuko merely nodded, as the life of her captain drained away; she remained in silence for a few minutes saying a silent prayer for him and composing her self, she lifted his corpse and sprinted off back in the direction of Konoha, ignoring her own wounds.
She'd run for what felt like a long time, although it was barely a few hours as her wounds were aching and the weight of Kiji-Taichou was slowing her down. Eventually forced to stop and rest, much to her frustration she had to keep herself conscious and not drift into sleep; as she was still more than two days from Konoha and the sharp ache in her ribs and shoulders was nearly unbearable. After barely an hours rest, she pressed on, she had to get back to Konoha as fast as possible – the simply wasn't the time or the resources for Konoha shinobi to be slow on missions. She couldn't help but sort of wish Kakashi was there to help her on the way back.
Allowing the pain simply to wash over her and not allow it to slow her down, she just kept on running, focusing only on the right direction and keeping her balance, she sped on, surprised a little that she recognized the section of forest so well, signaling she was barely more than a hour or so from Konoha. She was reaching her limit and wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep – allowing her to forget all of the awkward, stressful and bad things that had happening recently. There were few things she disliked more than unnecessary stress, especially when it involved other people. Eventually she landed in front of the gates, collapsing as she did so, she heard shouts of the guards, but before she could find the strength to look up or even speak, she fell into unconsciousness.