Kakashi lost Itachi shortly after the attack. He'd ducked into a room to pursue one of the attackers and by the time he came out into the corridor, the boy was gone. Kakashi ignores his misgivings and reminds himself that Itachi is a genius, he can take care of himself. Just like me at his age, he thinks grimly.
He circles back to the room Sakura is sharing with her parents. ROOT had targeted the windows of his and Itachi's room, clearly trying to draw them out, and when that had failed, they came through the bedroom door. Just opposite Sakura's room.
Kakashi can smell blood.
He kicks the door down, not bothering with stealth.
Sakura is standing in front of the open window, framed by moonlight. Kakashi tugs his hitae-ate back over his Sharingan, not wanting to scare her. Then he sees Sakura's mother, crumpled on the floor. Her father is still in bed, wreathed in heavy genjutsu to hide his presence.
Sakura is shaking.
There is a masked corpse lying at her feet.
Her hand is coated in blood, the stain going all the way up to her elbow.
Oh, no. Please, no.
He takes a step forward. She doesn't seem to hear him. She didn't look up when he knocked the door down, either. A bad sign.
"Sakura?" He says cautiously, approaching slowly so as to not alarm her.
She doesn't move.
"…Onee-chan." She says quietly, eyes on the dead man.
Kakashi stops. Sakura doesn't have a sister. She doesn't have any siblings at all. Perhaps she was referring to an older female friend?
Kakashi touches her shoulder gently, moving her away from the corpse. He can see a tiny fist-sized hole in the man's abdomen. Sakura's displayed signs of unusual strength before – what she did to Fugaku's floor, how she can hold both her dogs for a prolonged amount of time, and the comment she had made earlier in the day about how she could carry all of her belongings to Suna if she wanted to. He had considered it just another one of the many mysteries of Haruno Sakura. And now she had used it to kill an agent of ROOT.
Her first kill. At four years old. This could ruin her.
He glances down and sees –
A twisted and ugly scar the size of a grown man's hand, spread across her tiny back.
Impossible. No one has ever survived the Chidori. He would have known. He is the only one who can use it.
He falls to his knees, clutching Sakura's hands.
She stares back at him with wide, watery eyes.
Rin.
He forgets ROOT, he forgets Itachi, he forgets where he is and why he is there.
He breaks down.
xxxxxxxx
Kakashi is crying.
Sakura isn't sure who's more unsettled by it – her or Kagami.
I've never seen him cry before, Kagami says, what happened? What did he see?
Sakura tries not to think about it, tries to tuck it away deep in the back of her mind, but Kagami chases it.
There is nothing but silence for the next minute, as Sakura waits for Kagami's reaction and bends down, looking into Kakashi's tear-filled eye. He can't see her at all.
Why do you have my scar? Kagami says with deadly calm, the wound I got from – you know… how could you possibly have that?
I don't know, Sakura says honestly, trying to remove her hands from Kakashi's vice-like grip, it was after you fell asleep, after Izanagi used his hell magic on me.
I thought it was a sign, Kagami says, her voice thick with emotion, I thought it meant I was redeeming myself, making up for the past. I thought it meant we were on the right path. I thought it was a reward. And now you tell me… it just passed to you?
I'm sorry, Onee-chan…
Don't be sorry for something you didn't do. Be sorry for lying to me.
Onee-chan – Sakura tries, but Kagami turns away.
Sakura swallows. Her mother is still on the floor, with a head injury. She's alive, Sakura can feel it, just like she can feel her father's presence nearby, and the overwhelming riot of Kakashi's emotions in front of her.
"Kakashi-sensei," She whispers, trying to pull her hands out of his, "Please let go. I've got to heal Okaa-san and wake up my puppies and my dad. Kakashi-sensei?"
"Rin." He gasps, sounding absolutely gutted. "Rin, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I was trying to save you."
Sakura shakes her head. "That's not me, Kakashi-sensei. My name is Haruno Sakura, remember? It's okay. Whatever's bothering you, we can talk about it and figure it out. Mariko-san says an untalked about issue leads to tissues. So don't cry! We – " She can't help it, she looks at the man on the floor and shudders, squeezing her eyes shut. She clears her throat, "U-um… we're okay. I'll keep you safe, I promise."
His grip is growing painful. Sakura bites back a whimper. She doesn't want to use chakra to break free because it might hurt Kakashi's hands.
A surge of foreign chakra has her reeling, ducking as if to avoid a blow.
There is a Mask standing next to her. She stares up in horror. She can't fight them, her hands are trapped.
The Mask examines Kakashi, snapping their fingers in front of his face. Nothing happens, the glazed look in his eye remains. The Mask starts to reach for his hitae-ate –
They want his eye! Kagami screams.
Sakura jolts, confused and frightened, then kicks out as hard as she can. The Mask twists at the last second and she only clips them. They still go flying back, hitting the wall.
"Let go, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yells, then gives his chakra a good poke with her own.
He frowns, his grip slackening around her hands, "Sakura?"
He's still not completely awake and aware, but it's enough for Sakura to pull her hands free and stand up, moving to cover Kakashi.
The Mask picks themselves up slowly, their mask pointed straight at her. Their chakra is blank.
"Go away, please." Sakura tells them, her voice shaking. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."
"My orders are to not damage you in any way, but I have no such orders regarding Hatake. If you surrender now, quickly and quietly, I will not hurt him. If you do not surrender…"
Sakura doesn't need to read their aura to know they're lying. They want Kakashi's eye, for some reason. They'll hurt him no matter what.
Sakura holds her arms out, shielding her sensei.
In a split second, she's in the air, a strong grip around her throat, and a hand is pressing something against her mouth.
Don't swallow it! Kagami commands, it's either poison or a sleeping pill!
"Not this time!" Takumi yells, tackling the Mask. Sakura falls back down, nearly knocking Kakashi over from his kneeling position.
Takumi had entered the room through the wall, a big seal appearing on the wallpaper. He'd plunged through it, intangible.
He punches the Mask once in the throat and they wheeze, sagging against the floor. Takumi bites his thumb and then paints a tiny, bloody seal on the Mask's chest. Their chakra's white noise is smothered, calming down into sleep.
Takumi gets up. Sakura realises her whole body is wracked with tremors. She was so, so scared and now she's unbelievably grateful that someone is here to help. She risks a glance at the corpse she left on the floor and flinches violently, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Takumi asks, his voice very gentle and soft. She opens her eyes a little, vision blurred by tears. "It's alright. You saved Kakashi-senpai. I wish I was as brave as you."
"You – you are," Sakura says, baffled, "You beat the Mask all on your own!"
Takumi gives her a cheeky grin. He has over-sized front teeth, like a rabbit. "Not alone, Sakura-chan. I had you! You were the distraction. Without you, I would have had to face them all by myself. But you helped! Thank you, Sakura-chan."
Sakura sniffs, her face crumpling, "I should've healed the Mask. They hurt my mum but… but – "
"Buuuuut nothing, Sakura-chan!" Takumi says, squeezing her cheeks, "You did your best! You should never have had to fight in the first place, so it's more mine and Ryuu's fault! You can't blame yourself for not failing, after all. Because that's what would have happened if you didn't stop them, you know. They would have killed your parents and taken you away. Would that be better than you stopping them?"
Sakura shakes her head fiercely, "No!"
"Exactly! So, well done for saving your family all by yourself!"
Sakura smiles hesitantly, wiping her eyes. She didn't do it alone. She had her big sister to help her.
"Now, let's get this room secure or Ryuu will scold me again." Takumi says brightly, standing up straight. "Do you mind if I pick you up?"
"N-no… Why – oh!" Sakura squeaks as Takumi lifts her up and carries her over to her bed.
He finds her sleeping puppies and tucks them carefully under the sheet, still inside their cloth bag. He draws a little seal above Sakura's bed, and she feels his chakra wash over her. Then he does the same to her parents' bed, after checking her father's breathing.
He carries her mother to bed, putting a tiny bandage on her scalp.
"I can heal her!" Sakura says eagerly, starting to get out of bed.
"Nope! Save your chakra, silly. The bleeding's already stopped and she'll wake up on her own soon." Takumi says.
He crouches next to Kakashi, carefully angling his body away. "Are you awake, senpai?" He asks in a low voice. Kakashi doesn't move. Takumi sighs, then he strikes Kakashi in the neck.
Sakura gasps as Kakashi sags, unconscious, into Takumi's arms.
"He's fine, Sakura-chan." Takumi says, huffing slightly as he lifts Kakashi over his shoulder. "It's just safer if he's sleeping now."
Takumi carefully places Kakashi into Sakura's bed. She immediately curls up next to him, worriedly checking the mark on his neck. It's just a faint bruise. Her shoulders slump in relief. His chakra is calmer now, not the riot of emotions from before, when he called her by the wrong name.
"What's wrong with him?" Sakura asks, checking his temperature with the back of her hand.
Takumi gets out a kunai and starts scratching symbols on the windowsill, "He's not shed his battle-armour yet. One from an old fight. He's still wearing it, so it's like he's still there. He's just confused."
He's exhibiting symptoms of immense trauma, Kagami says acidly, from seeing your scar – you know, the one only Chidori could make? The technique Kakashi invented, and hasn't taught to anyone yet?
Oh, Sakura thinks sadly. Kakashi thought he did it.
Someone appears in the doorway. Sakura almost calls out in fear, but relaxes upon seeing it's only Itachi. Takumi is still working on the windowsill, his back to them.
That's not Itachi! Kagami snaps, run!
Not-Itachi makes hand-seals and a great gust of wind flies at Sakura's bed.
Takumi flashes in front of her and Kakashi, arms outstretched to protect them. The wind slices through him, blood flying.
"No!" Sakura yells, struggling to get out of bed.
Takumi snaps forward the moment the wind ceases, unsheathing his blade and shoving it through the boy who looks like Itachi.
Sakura freezes.
Itachi.
Not him, Kagami says, a Mask in disguise.
As they die, their form changes, growing taller and wider until they're adult-sized, with a blank-faced mask on their face. Takumi pulls his sword free and wipes it down, sheathing it once more.
He kneels down in the doorway, drawing several complicated-looking seals in his own blood. Sakura can feel his chakra bleed into the entrance.
He comes back to her bed, still bleeding, large cuts all over his face and body. He doesn't seem to notice, giving Sakura a reassuring smile, "You okay? That was scary, huh?"
"Why are there so many Masks?" Sakura clutches her blanket to her chest. The image of Itachi's corpse won't leave her mind. "There was only one in the hospital. And they only wanted me – this time, that Mask wanted Kakashi-sensei's eye."
Takumi's face changes subtly, "How do you know that?"
"They tried to move his hitae-ate to get to his eye, but I kicked them into the wall." Sakura says.
Takumi puts on a smile, but his chakra is anxious. "Then it's a good thing you were here, Sakura-chan."
Sakura tucks Kakashi in under the blanket, her puppies snuggled against his chest.
"I can heal your cuts, if you want." She says, leaning forward to reach one of his lacerated arms, still bleeding sluggishly.
He pulls it back at once.
"Not right now, please. We both have to conserve our chakra. Like you said, there were more attackers this time than last. Ryuu and I were on the roof when we were attacked – they hit us hard with everything they had, about six of them. Once we… um, stopped them, Ryuu went to clear the inn and I came straight here. The way they've structured this assault…" Takumi stops, his brow creasing in worry, "It can't be a coincidence… the one mission with the three of us… possibly even Itachi-san... all of us targeted the moment we separated."
ROOT, Kagami says darkly, I don't know who they are. I never encountered them in my lifetime. But one Mask tried to take Kakashi's eye and several others came for you with orders that you not be harmed. They might not just be here for you this time. They might have taken advantage of you and the others being out of the village at the same time. If any of you were to get hurt, or disappear, in the same incident, it would be a lot less suspicious than a series of entirely separate events.
"So, the Masks want me and Kakashi-sensei… and you?" Sakura asks, a little confused.
Takumi blinks. "Oh, was I talking out loud? Whoops. Ignore me."
Sakura is about to respond when Takumi suddenly dives over her, shielding her and Kakashi with his body. The wall caves in, a large tree trunk winding its way into the room. Most of Sakura's view is impeded by Takumi, but she gapes at the little she can see.
A tree broke through the wall!
A small figure appears. For a moment, Sakura thinks it's another Mask trying the same trick again, pretending to be Itachi, but the cloud of dust from the rubble clears and she sees them properly for the first time. They're wearing a cat mask with unsettlingly wide eyes and an exaggerated frown. They're a little taller than Shisui.
In an instant, Takumi leaps off the bed and points his sword at the intruder, his chakra a forced mass of calm.
Sakura copies what Takumi did for her, leaning over Kakashi and trying to cover his face as best she can. If only she was taller.
The Mask's chakra is pointed squarely at Kakashi. Sakura trembles again, this time with rage. She remembers dreaming about Itachi hurting Kakashi, the horror she had felt at witnessing it. That will never happen now, and this Mask won't get to hurt him either. He's part of Sakura's pack, he promised.
"Go away." Sakura growls her best Monster growl. It's quite convincing, if the flicker of surprise in Takumi's aura is any judge. "You can't have Kakashi-sensei."
"I've come for his eye." The Mask says, his voice quiet. Toneless, but not in the same way as the other Masks. He's calm, not blank. For some reason, that's scarier.
"Come get it, then!" Sakura shouts, raising her fists. Chakra glows in the dark, her hands aflame.
Takumi steps in the way, blocking her view of the masked boy. His voice is kind, like he's talking to a friend when he says, "Come on, now. No one has to get hurt. I know you have your orders, but it's still your choice. Do you want to do your duty and die here? Alone, wearing a mask and a fake name? Or do you want to make a different call, and live to receive better orders one day?"
The masked boy's chakra quivers. He's wrestling with himself. Sakura's jaw drops, he's upset. But he raises his hands to form a seal, so slowly that he must know Takumi will cut him down before he can complete the jutsu.
Sakura jumps off the bed, springing across the room. Kagami helps her dodge Takumi's instinctive grab, then Sakura stands right in front of the Mask.
She's surrounded by corpses, one of her own making.
But there's a scared boy who thinks he's going to die and Sakura can't just sit back and let it happen.
"My name is Haruno Sakura." She says, ignoring Kagami's groan about identifying herself to ROOT agents. "I'm four, almost five. I like dogs and flowers and I'm going to be a medic nin one day. Do you want to be friends?"
Takumi is giving her a chance, but she can tell he's tense, waiting to jump in at any second.
The boy says nothing for a moment, his hands shaking as they almost form a seal. "I am called Kinoe." He finally mumbles, indecision muddling his chakra until a bright light of determination sparks through. He lifts his mask, just a fraction, "But my name is Tenzo."
("I'm always the useless one." Sakura says, looking down at Naruto's sleeping face. Yamato stands next to her, not the same as Kakashi, but not the worst change she's ever known. "I think you're too harsh with yourself, Sakura. You're your own worst critic. Believe in your abilities. You are as much a part of Team Seven as any of us." Yamato says, his ghoulish face brightening with a smile.)
There's a seal on his tongue, Kagami says.
"Hello, Tenzo-kun!" Sakura beams. She gently reaches out, giving him time to move away, and takes his hands in hers. "Let's be friends!"
Flowers start to grow on the tree branches.
xxxxxxxx
By the time Itachi and Ryuu burst into the hallway and promptly get stuck at the warded door, Sakura has persuaded Tenzo to sit down on the floor with her and play word games while Takumi secures the room.
"Pretty." Sakura says brightly.
"Poisonous." Tenzo replies.
Sakura frowns at him, "You're supposed to say something nice."
"Poisons can be useful."
That's when Ryuu arrives, yelling through the doorway for Takumi to let him in. Takumi scrambles to do so, then gets a whack on the head for not trying to verify Ryuu's identity beforehand.
Itachi follows behind the older man, hesitating at the sight of Sakura, sitting and holding hands with a Mask.
Ryuu heads immediately to Sakura's bed, where Kakashi lies sleeping. Her parents are in the next bed, curled up together as if taking a nap.
"Sakura, are you okay?" Itachi asks urgently, hurrying to join on her on the floor, his dark eyes scanning every inch of her. They freeze at her hand, so Sakura looks down.
Her hand is covered in dried blood, rust flaking off her skin. She feels tears spring to her eyes and blinks furiously to make them go away.
Tenzo takes her hand in his, blue chakra gently cleansing her coppery skin. "It's your turn to pick a nice word, Sakura-san." He reminds her, his voice soft, barely audible.
Sakura smiles at him, "Thanks."
"Who are you?" Itachi asks, directing his question at Tenzo. There's an uncharacteristic hostility in his voice.
"I was called Kinoe. But my sister said I am Tenzo."
"And you were with the force that attacked us tonight?"
"I can't say." Tenzo shakes his head.
Itachi scowls, his little face darkening at once. "We'll see. Ryuu-san, Sakura has caught one of her assailants."
Ryuu looks over, brow raising at the sight of them on the floor. "Nice work, kid."
"I didn't catch Tenzo-kun, we're friends now." Sakura informs them all, gripping Tenzo's hand.
Ryuu turns his incredulous stare on Takumi, "Did you know about this?"
Takumi makes a face. "I'm not at liberty to say. Sakura-chan made me promise."
Ryuu flicks Takumi's forehead.
"Ow! Okay, well, Tenzo – sorry, the assailant, entered the room via tree and tried to steal Kakashi-senpai's eye, but Sakura-chan befriended him before he could. He never stood a chance."
Ryuu gives Sakura a severely unimpressed look, "No. You are not keeping the viper in our nest. I don't fancy getting my throat slit in the night and he wasn't cleared to enter Suna. If he gets in with us, he'll have the perfect chance to start an incident. No."
"I will go back to Konoha and report to – " Tenzo cuts off, his chakra buckling as if under a blow, "To my superior. I will say the mission was a failure, with a catastrophic loss, and that I did not manage to achieve my goal. None of that is false, so my superior will not question my report. It's likely they will just be happy at least one of their agents survived."
"You can't go back to ROOT!" Sakura protests. "They're horrible! They put a seal on your tongue, that's just gross!"
"Ah. So, it's not so much that you won't talk, it's that you can't." Ryuu surmises. He turns to Takumi. "Do you think you can take a look at it?"
Takumi nods, crouching in front of Tenzo and Sakura.
"You'll have to take off your mask." Takumi says.
Tenzo's hand trembles in Sakura's, just a little.
"It's okay, Tenzo." Kakashi says, his voice a low, sleepy rumble. Sakura jumps, delight soaring through her at the sound of his voice, but the way he was deliberately not looking at her dampens her enthusiasm.
"You know this kid?" Ryuu asks, hands on hips.
"Our paths have crossed before." Kakashi says evasively, pulling himself into a sitting position without so much as a groan, even though Sakura knows he's in pain.
"You vouch for him?"
Kakashi looks at Tenzo steadily, then nods.
"We'll close our eyes if you take your mask off." Sakura promises earnestly.
"I won't." Ryuu says.
"I need my eyes to see," Takumi says sheepishly, "Otherwise I might start sealing his nose, or something."
Tenzo unlaces his fingers from Sakura's and reaches up to his mask. Sakura looks away politely, even though she's seen his face in her dreams.
"Open your mouth, please?" Takumi says. "Okay. Phew. Wow, this is… some nice, but really, really mean work."
"Think you can disable it?"
"Yep, but I can't remove it fully. It will remain until the death of the one who used it. In this case… you know who. Presumably not an intentional choice, since that means all of his agents will be free to talk the moment he dies. I don't recognise the seal work. It'll take me a couple hours to fix it up."
Ryuu nods, looking faintly proud, then defers to Kakashi, "What should we do with him?"
"Fix his seal, have a pleasant chat, then escort him back to Konoha – directly into the Hokage's custody." Kakashi says. Tenzo makes a small noise of protest. "The Hokage has ignored his actions for too long. With an actual agent of Root, captured alive, willing and able to talk, he has to see reason."
"And if he doesn't, what happens to Tenzo-kun?" Sakura asks sharply. "If Mister Hokage-sama doesn't believe him, won't he give him back to ROOT?"
An uncomfortable silence hangs in the air.
"We can't just cut him loose. He's the key to unlocking a conspiracy, one that has repeatedly put you in danger." Ryuu says, an uncompromising slant to his chakra. Takumi is uneasy. Kakashi has pulled his chakra right back. "ROOT agents commit suicide to avoid capture. They always have. This is the first real chance we've had to obtain vital intelligence."
"But he's a boy, not a scroll." Sakura says, confused. "You can't just pick him up and take him where you want because he knows stuff you don't. He's got a name and he likes flowers too. If taking him to Mister Hokage-sama means he might get hurt, then I won't let you do it!"
The grown-ups are silent. Itachi's chakra says he's tense, waiting to spring into action. The way he's looking between Ryuu and Takumi makes Sakura think he's on her side, not theirs.
"It's alright, Sakura." Tenzo says calmly. "I'll be fine. I promise."
Sakura turns to look at him, forgetting her silent vow not to peek at his bare face. She's surprised by how young he looks, with big eyes and long hair. He looks a bit older than Shisui, maybe.
"If they give you back to ROOT, I'll find you." Sakura says solemnly, meaning it whole-heartedly. Kagami might pretend to be mean, but this time she's in perfect agreement. Tenzo is going to become Yamato, her friend and a member of Team Seven.
A dim, muffled emotion starts to blossom in Tenzo's chakra.
Joy, Kagami tells her, he's afraid to feel it, so he's pushing it back.
Sakura feels a pain in her chest. She throws her arms around Tenzo, ignoring his slight huff of surprise and the alarm blaring from Itachi's chakra. She tucks her face into the crook of Tenzo's neck. You're going to be fine, she thinks fiercely, whatever was supposed to happen that leads you to becoming one of Team Seven, I'll make sure it happens again.
When she looks up, Kakashi is looking at her for the first time since he woke up. She's not sure what his chakra means.
xxxxxxxx
After Sakura's parents are revived and her puppies wake up, everyone debriefs and starts the long process of cleaning up. Sakura is hugged to death by both parents, then licked back to life by her dogs. She doesn't say anything when the man with the hole in his stomach is dragged out. No one has mentioned what happened to her parents yet, and she hopes they never find out. What if they didn't want to hug her anymore after they knew what she'd done? That their little girl had taken a life?
Kakashi is studying one of the masks when she finds him. Momo sniffed him out for her, Misa left to supervise Takumi's clean-up. Kakashi is standing in the middle of his room, surrounded by broken furniture and scorch marks. Sakura hesitates in the doorway, uncertain of the welcome she'll receive. She doesn't think Kakashi is mad at her, not exactly, but he's not happy with her either.
Sakura picks Momo up and holds him aloft like an offering, "U-um, Kakashi-sensei?"
He turns slightly, tossing the mask in his hands up and down. He doesn't say anything. Sakura winces, then steps into the room, holding Momo in front of her face as a shield.
"Are you okay?" She asks. "You were really sad. Was it because of my back?"
Kakashi's chakra is still restrained, so she can't read his reaction at all. His visible eye just continues to stare at her blankly. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he wasn't listening to her at all.
Do you remember what to tell him? Kagami asks.
Uh-huh, Sakura replies.
She shuts the door behind her, wishing they were in a Room of Doom. This isn't the kind of conversation she wants to be overheard by anyone.
"I got that scar when I was nearly kidnapped by Kumo." Sakura lies steadily, keeping her face straight and neutral. A little of Kakashi's chakra slips out, a wash of shock. "They found me in Konoha when I was alone. I didn't have any friends back then, so I used to just read in the library and then walk home by myself. It was only one man, I think. I went into an alley and then I couldn't move. I was really scared all of a sudden. And then the bad man grabbed me. I screamed really loud and a Mask came. They fought and I was too afraid to run, then the bad man tried to hit the Mask and I got in the way by accident. It was… like a sword, but it crackled and it was really bright to look at. It… It was the worst pain I've ever felt. Worse than when I fell out of a tree when I was only little. And then I felt my chakra move. It went to my back and I… I knew what to do. I couldn't heal it all, but I tried. When I was done, the Mask had taken the bad man away."
Kakashi sits down on the overturned bed, lacing his fingers together in a pensive pose. "How do you know they were from Kumo?" He says finally, his voice hoarse.
"I've read lots of books in the library and one of them talks about all the big villages! And Kumogakure has lots of lightning jutsu and the people there usually have dark skin, like the man I saw."
"When did this happen?"
"I think it was last year? I'd already had my birthday, so I was four, not three. Not like I am now, which is four, nearly five. I think?"
"So, you managed to heal a potentially fatal wound on your own, without hand-seals." Kakashi says flatly.
Well, Kagami did.
"Yep." Sakura says with certainty. "I couldn't get rid of the scar because, well," She twists, trying to reach her shoulder blades, without much success. She flaps her hands demonstratively, "Didn't work."
"And no one else came to help while all this was going on?"
"It was really fast."
"Do your parents know?"
"No! Of course not! They'd only worry."
"Sakura… it's normal for parents to worry about their kids. Especially when their kids are getting attacked in the streets."
"Well, I fixed it. It didn't even hurt anymore, really, so as long as I kept it hidden, they'd never have to worry. But I was scared afterwards… I kept having nightmares and then sometimes I thought I saw the bad man watching me. When that happened, it was like I was in the alley again and my back hurt so much… It happened twice in front of Mikoto-san! And then my parents worried anyway." Sakura looks down, feeling genuinely bad. If she had been able to hide her reactions to the dreams better, her parents would never have thought she was being hurt. They wouldn't have been so stressed.
"Sakura." Kakashi says.
She looks up, startled.
His eye curves up in a smile, "How would you feel if I told you I never talked about my problems? That I just let them fester and rot inside me, until I couldn't breathe against the pain?"
Sakura's face falls, "I'd hate it, that's horrible!"
"That's what you're doing." Kakashi tells her, his posture returning to his usual sprawl. His chakra rushes back in a mixture of sadness, grief, horror and a rage, burning dark inside him.
Sakura opens her mouth to argue, but pauses, thinking about it.
"I'm going to tell the Hokage about this, too." Kakashi says. "You go to Suna with Ryuu, Takumi, Itachi and your parents. Have fun in the sun, okay? I'll take care of Tenzo."
"Okay," Sakura mumbles, fiddling with her shirt, "Don't forget to take care of yourself, too. You were really upset last night."
A heavy hand lands on her head, ruffling her hair. "About that… I've been told I owe you a thank you. You saved me, didn't you?"
Sakura flushes, shaking her head under his hand. "N-no! I just kicked the Mask when they tried to get your eye! I didn't even know you had one under your hitae-ate."
"It's special. It was a gift, from a friend."
Sakura is awestruck. You can give people eyes as a present? Where do you get them? She's never seen any in the shops and stalls in Konoha.
Dummy, Kagami laughs.
Sakura puts Momo in Kakashi's lap, smiling at how his hand automatically drops to fuss the puppy. "I owe you a thank you, too. I… when I… stopped the man, I felt – well, I felt like I did whenever I remembered getting hurt in the alley. Like everything froze and only the worst things in my head stayed. And then the next thing I remember is you. So, thank you for being there, Kakashi-sensei."
"Not a problem. I'm sorry I wasn't much use after that." Kakashi says, stroking Momo's soft little ears.
"It's not your fault! Takumi-kun said you hadn't shed your battle-armour yet, but I didn't see you wearing any at all? It sounds heavy, Kakashi-sensei. You probably shouldn't wear it."
Kakashi laughs, then says slowly, ponderingly, "Maybe I won't."
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Sakura isn't allowed to heal anyone.
She sulks in the wagon, her little face contorted with her best frown. It looks like Fugaku's, because his is so impressive.
Her mother's head isn't bad anymore and her father had just breathed in too much sleeping gas to wake up on his own, so Ryuu had done something weird where he pulled the smoke out of his lungs through his mouth, and he woke up just fine. Takumi's various cuts and scrapes have been cleaned and bandaged by Ryuu, not Sakura, even though Kagami told her how to do it and everything.
She told everyone that she felt fine and they seemed to believe her after quickly checking her over. She didn't bring up the deep bruises she had on her wrists from where Kakashi had grabbed her, because she didn't want him to feel bad. Her throat hurts from where the Mask picked her up.
But worst of all is the cut across her chest.
She only discovered it when she got changed out of her bloody clothes, ready for a shower. Then she saw the red line, going from the tops of her shoulders and meeting at her collarbones. She remembered the moment Kagami received it in her life, when Sasuke flashed his blade at her, testing to see if she could heal it too after she survived the Chidori. He'd cut right across her chest. Kagami had sealed the wound at once. For Sakura, it looks like a couple days' old wound, scabbing over. It's itchy and painful.
Sakura tries not to scratch it, not wanting to draw any attention to the hidden wound.
You're healing that as soon as possible, Kagami says.
Sakura doesn't reply, trying to push her thoughts into a box that Kagami can't access. She doesn't want her big sister to hear that she has no intention of healing either the slice across her chest, or the lightning-burn on her back.
What if healing them just means they go right back to Kagami? Kagami couldn't heal them herself. She had been trapped inside Sakura's mind for months, but her wounds still bled and they still hurt her. She grunted whenever she moved because she was in constant pain. If Sakura can slowly take those wounds away, time will heal them for her.
Kagami's death had been horrific. She had been alone and in utter agony, every nerve alight. Sasuke had hurt her over and over again out of spite, out of frustration that she just wouldn't die. She was covered in wounds that she didn't deserve.
If Sakura can help, she will.
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Getting into Suna wasn't as climactic as she had been expecting. They just signed some forms, flared their chakra, and went through some tests to see if they were who they said they were. Sakura clutched her dog-stick just in case someone tried to snatch her babies from her, but she seemed to pass the tests without much bother.
They entered Suna, leaving the wagon and the horses with one of the civilians who'd met them at the entrance. Which was way too long and creepy, in Sakura's opinion.
"Suna is hot." Sakura informs the group. She's beaming, chuffed. It is a vacation! There's no sea, not yet, but she's sure it's close by. Everywhere looks like a beach.
"You have a talent for observation." Ryuu says dryly.
You do, actually, so he can shove his sarcasm where the sun –
Onee-chan!
Sorry, sorry.
"Sakura, we're going to head to the marketplace. You wanted to get your partner in crime a gift, right?" Sakura's mother says. She's holding Sakura's dog-stick, insisting that she must be tired. Momo and Misa are panting, grinning down at her.
Sakura hops up and down, "Oh! Oh, yes! I forgot, Shisui-kun wanted sand, but only if I could find some."
They all look around them at the desert they're standing in the middle of.
Sakura drops to her knees and starts scooping up sand.
"Sakura…" Her mother says warningly.
Sakura frowns, but lets go of the sand. It kept falling out of her hands, anyway. She'll have to find some better sand for Shisui.
Ryuu, Takumi and Itachi go to secure the new hotel they're staying at, to make sure it's not full of ROOT this time.
Sakura trails behind her parents as they shop and chat, acting just as they normally would. She stares at their backs, wondering what's wrong with her. She can't seem to get past what happened last night, the feel of her fist punching through another person. It wasn't like when she stomped on Fugaku's floor. She can feel herself slipping into something calm but remote. She feels very far away from her parents, even though they're right in front of her.
Sakura stops walking, waiting for them to notice.
Their chakra is relieved, happy. They're glad to finally be here.
Sakura feels them slip away around a corner. She's never left their sides before, not like this. She's never run off or been naughty or done anything really wrong. They trust her so much. If they knew that her dreams had made her different, not the Sakura they knew and loved, if they knew that she had hurt someone on purpose last night…
Sakura finds a stone bench under some desert willows and sits down. Her thoughts feel heavy, with a strange weight to them that she's not used to.
The Mask wasn't going to attack her. They were just standing there, and she attacked before they got the chance to do it first.
You had to, Kagami says softly, they'd just hurt Okaa-san and they would have hurt you too. You know that.
But for that split second before her fist made contact and the Mask still lived, she felt emotion crack their blank slate chakra for just a moment. Fear. They were afraid. Of her.
Sakura cries very quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone shopping nearby. Her shoulders are shuddering as she tries to hold her sobs in, tiny cries escaping. She squeezes her eyes shut, tears pouring down her cheeks and landing in her lap, like a little shower of rain.
I know I had to do it, she thinks, gulping in air between the wrenching sobs, but I wish I hadn't. If Tenzo-kun was good, if he could be my friend… what if they all could? What if the Mask Mikoto-san killed had a family? And all of the Masks in the inn, at least one of them had to be good. If I'd talked to them… just one more… I could have saved at least one more.
Takumi hadn't killed one of the Masks. He'd sent them to sleep. Sakura heard Ryuu say they weren't necessary anymore, just as her mother carried her out of the room. She'd heard the sword come down. She'd felt the chakra vanish.
Just one more.
"Why are you crying?"
Sakura freezes, her cries cutting off abruptly. She wipes her stinging eyes and looks up.
A little boy with blood-red hair and pale green eyes stands before her.
(The monster swipes, and she goes flying. She hits the tree hard, knocking all the air out of her, and then the clawed hand begins to squeeze and she can't breathe. A rib cracks and she screams.)
Kagami had said, stay away from Gaara, if you can.
Sakura sniffs, then offers him a watery smile. I'm not scared of you, she thinks wearily, you're just a little boy.
Gaara's eyes widen a fraction at being on the receiving end of a smile. There's no blood-red kanji on his forehead. Besides the dark marks around his eyes, he looks like any other kid.
She knows Gaara of all people won't judge her, so tells him the truth, "I killed someone last night when they hurt my mother."
Gaara just looks at her, his little blank face unchanged by her admission. "If they hurt your mother, they deserved to die. Some people don't deserve to live."
Sakura shakes her head, a rueful smile on her lips, "That's not true. Everyone deserves to live. We all deserve the chance to do better tomorrow if we didn't do well today."
Gaara stares at her. His chakra is constantly seething, a rage of bleak resignation and anger warring with faint hope and need. She can feel him drifting closer to her, drawn in.
He isn't as volatile as I had anticipated, Kagami says, sounding surprised, but still, don't let him get too close. The Gaara I knew killed for fun until he met Naruto. Naruto changed him. He was just a lonely boy, in the end.
Sakura smiles faintly to herself. She knows how to help lonely boys, after all.
"Can I tell you a secret?" Sakura asks, leaning forward on the bench.
Gaara nods, eyes wide.
"I'm a Monster." Sakura says.
Gaara's mouth falls open.
Hello, friends.
So many of you were like, oh I hope Gaara shows up!
Of course he does! This precious raccoon boy is the LIGHT OF MY LIFE. At this point in the canon timeline, Yashamaru is still alive and Gaara isn't quite so murdery. Not yet, anyway.
Sakura is very tired but Toddler Therapy Hour waits for no one!
Here's a slightly early update, because the last one ended on a mean cliffhanger and I'm SORRY. I mean, not really, but… hehehe.
Does Kakashi believe Sakura's Kumo story? Possibly! How did Kagami think of it? She remembered the Hyuuga Incident, in which Kumo tried to kidnap baby Hinata, which happened when they were three. Yes, I'm sorry, Neji's dad is already dead.
You thought the next sad boy Sakura would adopt would be Gaara, but nope! Sad Flower Boy got there first! In canon, at this point in the timeline, Tenzo is sent by Danzo to steal Kakashi's Sharingan, but they actually already know each other and they've been through some Stuff together, so through the Power of Friendship, Tenzo's like screw it! I'm choosing my friend over my brainwashing community of terrifying orphans! And then Danzo's like: *evil laugh* I shall see you all HANG IN HELL
But then the Sandaime shows up and he's all like, nope. I'm taking Plant Boy. For the good of Konoha, which you're all about, right Danzo, ol' pal?
And Danzo's just: *sad evil laugh*
So technically Tenzo should've tried to steal Kakashi's eye a couple months ago. But… because reasons. It happened now.
So, the Sandaime got Danzo a mission full of his favourite targets for the Rinne Festival! Lol jk Kakashi chose the team, but seriously, Danzo's after Kakashi's Sharingan (or Itachi's, if that fails), Usagi's sealing whatnot and Sakura's healing. And they're all sent out of the village, practically gift-wrapping them for ROOT. At least, in Danzo's eyes anyway.
His creepy, stolen eyes.
Too bad Ryuu tagged along!
Quick poll for fun: Who's your favourite villain? (they can be from any book, show, anything!)
If you don't have one, like me, who's your favourite sidekick? Mine is Robin. I just love that colourful, cheerful kid so much.
(Dogwatch Update: Two dogs had a Very Good Nap.)