I apologize profusely for the long wait, but I believe I have already warned everyone to expect a great deal of time between updates. The long delay was caused by a shortage of time to work on this and a lot of trouble planning the rest of the story. Since I'm having so much trouble planning out the story, I have decided to continue publishing chapters here, but if it seems I will be unsuccessful in finishing the story well with this ending, I will remove the chapters from this point forward and publish them in a separate story. (If that's confusing, don't worry; I'll explain further if we ever get to that point) Please enjoy!
Remember, this chapter continues from "River".
Disclaimer: Kishimoto actually made an interesting chapter of Naruto last week.
A faint breeze rippled through the clearing, rustling the thick, vibrant canopy of the surrounding forest and dancing with the lush carpet of grass. Ignoring the loose strands of hair that tickled my drooping eye, I kept my unfocused gaze on the characters carved into the Memorial Stone.
This year, the Tanabata festival had been a very bittersweet celebration. I'd strolled through the streamer-lined streets, holding hands with Sakura and enjoying the sounds of laughter and scent of food wafting through the air. As we had walked past a vendor selling an assortment of delicious snacks, Sakura had asked me to buy her some kakigori, and I had been more than happy to comply. When I'd approached the vendor, however, I had nearly asked for a skewer of grilled unagi instead of a bowl of sweetened, shaved ice. I'd forgotten that the woman holding my hand wasn't the person that I usually celebrated Tanabata with.
Farther down the street, Sakura let out a squeal of delight.
"Kakashi, look over here!" Tugging on my hand, she dragged me through the crowd, stopping in front of a stand that sold racks of glittering jewelry. She slipped her hand out of mine in order to kneel in front of a small table. "Isn't this the cutest necklace you've ever seen?"
"I guess," I muttered, shoving my hands into my pockets and shrugging noncommittally. Sakura didn't notice and continued to coo over the golden knickknack. Suppressing a yawn, I let my gaze drift to the adjacent stall.
A flash of colorful fins made my eyes snap wide open. Fish glided languidly through a plastic tub filled with water, ignoring the mob of giggling children that dipped their paper nets into the water. For the briefest second, I saw a slender, dark-haired girl squatting in front of the pool, her brows furrowed and her mouth set in a thin line as her narrowed eyes scanned the water's glistening surface. I blinked hard; when I opened my eyes, she was gone, replaced by a sandy-haired boy that laughed raucously as he swirled his net through the water in a futile attempt to scoop up a fish.
"Wolf-san, you're needed on an urgent mission. We'll go to Hokage tower as soon as you're packed." I whirled around at the soft voice, my dark eye widening in shock.
Karasu…?
The leap of joy in my heart died away as I saw the ANBU mask. There was no beak, no gently curved, diamond-shaped eye holes. The female crouched in the grass wasn't my best friend.
"I-I'm sorry, did I startle you?"
"No, it's fine, Sayuri. I just… thought you were someone else for a second." As I spoke, I remembered how (had it really been a year ago?) Karasu had approached me in a similar way, using almost the exact same greeting. "Would it be okay if you waited here while I change and pack?"
"Actually, my specific orders were to follow you and make sure that you change as quickly as possible; the Godaime said that we can't afford for you to be even ten minutes late."
"I see." Frowning, I motioned Sayuri to follow me as I leaped from rooftop to rooftop, slowing as I reached my apartment complex. "I'll be right outside. Just wait here." The medic nodded, settling on the edge of the roof as I ran through the front entrance and up five flights of stairs. I changed quickly, my hands moving fluidly as I fit supplies into my pack and fastened my ceramic mask. When I darted out the door four minutes later, Sayuri rose from her crouched position and dashed towards Hokage Tower, her lithe form a white blur.
When we quietly opened the door of the Hokage's office, I stopped dead in shock. Besides my own four-man squad, there were three other groups in the room. Apparently, this mission was of a higher priority and more dangerous than I had thought it was.
"Kakashi, Sayuri, please take your positions." Tsunade indicated two empty spots in the square formation that the other ANBU had arranged themselves in. Was it my imagination, or had she paled when we entered the room? I obeyed silently, setting my feet a shoulder-width apart and clasping my hands behind my back.
"Four days ago, a jounin left Konoha to deliver documents to Suna. The documents were not particularly sensitive, the journey was not considered dangerous, and the jounin was skilled. She decided to complete the mission alone. Fifteen minutes ago, we received a messenger hawk from Suna. The jounin has not arrived yet." Several ANBU shifted, their armor clacking quietly.
"We have to reason to believe that the reason behind this jounin's delay is not mere circumstance. For the past month, there has been a sharp upswing in the number of attacks on and disappearances of travelers between Suna and Konoha. Suna has given us permission to send out a contingent of ninja to investigate. As I mentioned before, this jounin is particularly skilled. She is an active member of ANBU; any group that manages to bring her down must be formidable. Therefore, I will send four squads to complete this mission. Hatake Kakashi, you are in charge of both the mission and of tracking." The formation rippled as masks turned in my direction and back to the front of the room. Squeezing my eyes shut, I swallowed a wave of anxiety and excitement. To be in charge of such a mission was both a privilege and a challenge.
"The three-day journey between Konoha and Suna will make it difficult to successfully track the jounin. She's already been missing for at least twenty-four hours. For all we know… she may be dead." Pausing, Tsunade swallowed, her voice hoarse. "Even if you are too late to rescue the jounin, you are to capture the robber groupand bring its members, preferably alive, to Suna. Are there any questions?" The ANBU acting as Karasu's temporary replacement in my squad raised his hand. "Yes, Tenzou?"
"Pardon me, Hokage-sama. I am not trying to challenge your authority, and I do not doubt senpai's ability, but why are you placing him in charge of both the mission and of tracking? Such great responsibility is very taxing on one person. The mission would be easier to coordinate if the responsibilities were divided and placed upon two different people."
"I understand your concern, but I will stand by my decision. There is no other person better qualified for the job, because your captain… is very intimately acquainted with the jounin." Snapping my eyes open, I raised my head, my mouth open in silent shock. Tsunade avoided my questioning stare, keeping her eyes firmly locked on Tenzou.
"I understand. Thank you."
"Yes, Genma?"
"What is this jounin's name?" As Tsunade opened her mouth to answer, her gaze shifted from Genma's mask onto mine. Nauseating horror ripped through my body as my mismatched eyes locked onto her amber ones.
I knew who the jounin was.
I knew.
"Kuro Karasu."
"C-Cyclopes?" Genma stammered, his voice a raspy croak. Keeping my eyes locked straight ahead, I nodded briefly, indicating for him to speak. "I know that it's very important that we find Karasu, but w-we need a break. Some of us can't take it much longer." Glancing behind me, I saw that he was right. The footprints of several ANBU, originally small dashes in the sand, were now long furrows as the pause between landing and springing off gradually lengthened. Lagging behind the group arrangement, Sayuri and another medic were visibly staggering with every leap.
Another pulse of guilt ripped through my stomach. I'd been so focused on tracking Karasu that I hadn't even noticed the deteriorating conditions of my exhausted teammates. What kind of leader was I, what kind of captain?
"Halt!" At my hoarse bark, the group stumbled to a stop; several ANBU fell onto their hands and knees, panting harshly. "Drink some water and rest in the shade of those cacti. We'll start moving again in ten minutes." I turned away as the group obeyed my orders, doubling over and resting my clenched fists on my knees. Beads of sweat dripped off my temples to quickly vanish as they were absorbed by the thirsty sand.
Every second counted when you were tracking someone. Pushing my body and the group's endurance to the limit, I had been able to cover most of the distance between Konoha and Suna in two days rather than the customary three. Any chance of finding Karasu or Aranoko was as emaciatedas the missing ninja herself; the frequent sandstorms in the desert constantly churned the landscape, scattering chakra trails and scent trails and burying evidence under several feet of sand. Karasu had been easy enough to track through the forest, but when the earth became dunes of sand, when the trees were replaced by cacti, and when mirages of water dotted the landscape, her trail had vanished. Even with several formidable trackers and my eight ninken, we had been unable to pick up the scent again.
"Wolf-san, please join us. It is not good to stay out in this desert sun for too long." A light pressure on my shoulder made me flinch. Sayuri gently steered me towards a group of tall cacti that was separate from where the rest of the group was sprawled; Tenzou and Genma were sitting in the shade, wiping their foreheads. I wordlessly accepted the proffered canteen of water that Genma held out, dipping my head in thanks.
"You have to be careful in the desert, senpai. You'll get heatstroke if you're not-"
"I don't care." I jerked the canteen away from my masked lips, the words tearing through my parched throat. "How can I worry about heatstroke when Karasu has been considered missing for the past seventy-two hours? If she's not dead, then she's been beaten and tortured until she wishes she was." Setting down the bottle with a shaky hand, I clenched my eyes shut, my ragged breaths stifled by the searing heat.
So many important people had already been ripped away from me. My mother had died when I was very young, and my father had killed himself in shame. Obito had given his life to save me; I hadn't been able to keep my promise and protect Rin. My comrades had been struck down one after the other, gasping weakly as their scarlet blood poured through gaping wounds. If I failed to protect one more person…
If Karasu died, I would never be able to forgive myself. I would never be able to sleep again, knowing that she had gone to the grave with my snarls echoing in her ears. I would never be able to eat again, knowing that I hadn't been able to make things right. I would never be able to breathe again, to feel again, to live again. I would unhesitatingly follow my father's footsteps and slash open my stomach in deep, unquenchable shame.
I could still remember snarling into her gaunt face. I could still remember pinning her roughly against the tree, my hands digging painfully into her bony arms. I'd used the Sharingan on her, even when I'd known that she was deathly afraid of it. If I hadn't let my wildly fluctuating emotions control me, if I hadn't lashed out in such blind anger, Karasu wouldn't be in this situation. She would be safe in Konoha, at home, anywhere but in the clutches of a desert robber group. Emitting a noise that was halfway between a growl and a whine, I pressed my trembling fists against my forehead, rocking slightly as I struggled to contain the howl of anguish and grief bubbling in my chest.
"Cyclopes, drink some water and listen to me." Genma didn't continue speaking until I had grudgingly picked up the canteen and taken several gulps of water. "You know that Karasu is too tough to give in. I promise you that she isn't dead and that we will find her." My hoarse bark of hollow, derisive laughter made Sayuri glance up from adjusting her sandal, her leaf-green eyes wide in alarm.
How did Genma have the nerve to make such rash promises?
Nothing was guaranteed on a mission, absolutely nothing. Team Seven's first C-rank mission, for example, had jumped to an A-rank when the bridge builder confessed that the bloodthirsty murderer Zabuza was targeting him. I had been lucky that all three genin and the bridge builder's family had survived.
No one was guaranteed to survive any assignment unharmed. Every single mission, even a D-rank, had its own hidden dangers. This was an S-rank mission. There was an eighty-seven percent chance that not everyone in the team would make it back alive, and there was a ninety-five percent chance that Karasu was already dead. How could Genma tell me that Karasu was too tough to give in? He didn't know that. He didn't know her.
He didn't know that when Karasu smiled- really smiled, and didn't plaster that small smirk on her face like she did in public- there was a faint dimple in her left cheek. He didn't know about her innocent, child-like side that still laughed whenever I gave her piggy-back rides, pushed her on the swings, or tickled her. He didn't know that she would collapse giggling if you tickled a spot one inch to the right of her navel. He didn't know that her hands flew instinctively to cover the lower half of her face when she really smiled or laughed because she was embarrassed by the show of true emotion. He didn't know that she constantly tried to hide her face with her hands, a scarf, or a hood because she was so self-conscious of her nose and the occasional wacky face that broke through her stony expression. He didn't know that Karasu was too stubborn to admit if she was tired or hungry, even if she was on the verge of collapse. He didn't know that behind the mask of a tough tomboy that she tried so hard to maintain, Karasu was greatly affected by the smallest comment; her eyes had been dim for days after someone told her to sit in a different seat on the bus.
He didn't know that by the time Karasu was nine years old, I was already having difficulty getting her to smile. He didn't know how scared I had been, how hard I had tried to prevent Karasu from turning into a copy of my younger self: withdrawn, cold, and lonely. He didn't know that when Karasu was taking her chuunin, jounin, and ANBU exams, I had bitten my lip until my mask was wet with blood, fighting to play the role of a motionless proctor as she was thrown to the ground again and again. He didn't know that, after her first kill, Karasu had curled into a quivering ball, her unseeing eyes glazed over as I tried to get her to respond. He didn't know that Karasu had nearly killed herself taking care of me after Rin died. He didn't know how hard Karasu had shuddered, crying silently as her family's mangled bodies, still oozing blood, lay in a nearby pile of rubble. He didn't know how her eyes, quivering with grief and despair, had pierced through my heart before drooping shut in a drunken stupor. He didn't know how much alcohol Karasu had downed in a period of two weeks. He didn't know that she was close to collapse, thin and staggering from an unknown ailment of the heart. He didn't know that I was the reason why Karasu had fled Konoha. He didn't know anything.
"Captain, come here quickly!" In an instant, I was next to the ANBU that had called out.
"What is it?"
"Look at these cacti! Look at these sections over here!" I bent to study the areas that the ninja indicated, my brows furrowing as I examined the unusual sight. Large chunks had been sliced off from several plants as if with a razor, and the otherwise perfectly straight edges were curiously burnt and shriveled. Leaning closer, I sniffed tentatively at one scorched section and recoiled immediately, my nose wrinkling. Faint traces of familiar chakra and a soothing scent that made my heart clench in pain were almost completely overpowered by the thick, cloying odor of poison. Swallowing, I forced my trembling fingers through a series of seals. Eight dogs appeared in a burst of wind; a small brown pug approached me, blinking to clear its eyes from grains of flying sand, its head drooping apologetically.
"Kakashi, we've tried our best, but even Bull can't pick up her scent. I'm sorry, but I don't think-"
"Sumimasen, Pakkun, but I need all of you to dig around the base of these cacti. The deeper the hole and the wider the area you cover the better." The ring of ninja that had gathered widened as sand flew everywhere; I buried my face in my sleeve and coughed. When the sand settled, a collective gasp rose from the group. Lying in a gleaming pile were several assorted weapons, including kunai, shuriken, and senbon. As the rest of my dogs circled the pile, sniffing the weapons carefully, Pakkun sat back on his haunches, scratching his ear.
"Three-quarters of those weapons have some trace of Karasu on them. The other quarter are marked a scent that should be easy to follow. Most are streaked with some sort of poison, which would explain why the group was able to take down Karasu relatively easily." The pug's lined face stretched in a wry grin that I didn't return. "This group might have gotten her, but that girl put up one hell of a fight."
Squeezing my eyes shut, I pressed the heel of one hand against my forehead, struggling to cover the raging storm of dizzying, raw emotion that clashed within my chest with the cool, emotionless mask that all ANBU were taught to maintain at all times. Gratitude for the pure luck of finding Karasu's trail and a small, searing flame of hope were nearly extinguished by a flood of despair and anguish. The enemy'sapparent reliance upon venoms and toxins was fatal to Karasu. The likelihood that she would be able to completely recover from, let alone survive, this ordeal had dropped to three percent.
But if I didn't get a grip on myself and get moving, that chance would drop to two percent.
"Get in formation; we're leaving now. My ninken will lead the group." I raised my voice, swallowing to make it less raspy. With a faint clatter of armor, the squad organized itself behind the arrow configuration my ninken had formed. I gave a sharp bark; a small cloud of swirling sand was the only sign that the squad had ever rested near the cacti.
I pressed myself against the searing sand, my ragged pants echoing harshly inside my porcelain mask. Jagged sandstone mountains loomed above the dune that the squad was crouched behind, their wind-carved surfaces streaked with red, white, yellow, brown, and beige. There didn't seem to be any visible caves or tunnels; the group must have disguised all entrances with some sort of ninjutsu. I had already spotted three camouflaged sentries scattered on the slopes. We weren't in their line of vision, but I didn't know if there were any other guards that could spot us at any minute.
"Get the Hyuuga over here," I hissed to Tenzou. He turned to the ninja on his right and whispered the message into her ear; a few seconds later, an ANBU sidled up next to me.
"Yes, Captain?"
"I need your Byuukagan to find all the sentinels and the entrance." Nodding, the man pressed his fingers together, and I saw his chakra signature brighten as he activated his bloodline limit.
"There are seven guards in total. One is behind that stone, two are hidden in that crevice, another is on that peak, and the last three are on the ground, clustered around the entrance. The cave entrance is to our right and disguised by a powerful genjutsu that looks and feels like a solid wall of rock. There are about eighty enemy signatures in the mountain, including the seven sentries."
"Thank you. Where's Aki-san?" A kunoichi crept up to my left and bobbed her head, a few loose strands of her hair bright scarlet against her bone-white mask. "Rat, show Fox where the guards are. She needs to cast a genjutsu on all seven of them. Fox, can you do that?"
"There should be no problem," the woman whispered.
"Rabbit, Lizard, Snake, Tiger, Crane, and Bear, you will take the four guards in the mountains down while they are affected by Fox's genjutsu. My ninken can handle the three on the ground. Remember, we need to take them back to Suna alive, and bring one of them back to me conscious. The rest of us, get ready to move in." I paused as the Hyuuga muttered to the other ninja, his fingers rapidly jerking from side to side. "Is everyone ready?" Masks glinted in the sun as their owners nodded. "Go!"
Faint cries of surprise echoed from the hidden sentries as Aki's hands blurred in a series of seals, freezing in the sign of the ram. Six ANBU and my eight dogs vanished in a burst of wind and sand; the cries of surprise turned into screams of pain. The attack was quick, brutal, and efficient. Within ninety seconds, there was a pile of bound, unconscious guards at my feet, and all fourteen attackers had returned unharmed. A tied-up, gagged sentry was dumped unceremoniously at my feet, his face as bruised and bloodied as his comrades'.
"Disarm all of them and put their weapons in a pile," I ordered the other ANBU, squatting in front of the captured guard, whose eyes widened as I slid out my tanto from its sheath with a soft hiss and placed the razor edge against his jugular. "Listen carefully. Make any sudden moves or call out for help and I will drive this blade through your throat, understand?" Nodding frantically, he took a shuddering breath as I loosened the gag enough for him to speak.
"P-please don't kill me! Please!"
"Answer all our questions quickly and accurately and we might honor that request. First, are there any other sentries that could locate us right now?"
"N-no, there shouldn't be."
"Are there any defensive ninjutsu that make it possible that your group knows about our appearance already? Will there be any ninjutsu that will activate as we try to break through the entrance?"
"None."
"Very well. Do-" Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a familiar pattern of mahogany and pine wood. Breaking off in mid-sentence, I turned to snatch the tanto from the pile of weapons that had been confiscated from the captured sentries. My eyes snapped wide open.
"Where is the person that you stole this weapon from?" Fingers trembling, I was unable to keep my voice from curling into a growl.
"I-I don't know!" The man cringed as I snarled and applied more pressure to my blade. "I haven't been assigned to any raids in the past week! That weapon wasn't given to me! All I do know is that they captured a kunoichi from Konoha and brought her back here three days ago! Please, believe me!"
"Describe her!"
"She has a thin, bony face and a flat nose. Her long, black hair glimmers green in the sun like the feathers of a raven, and it's tied back in a low ponytail. Her bangs come down to just above her eyebrows, and… and there are thin, jagged scars on her left cheek!" I'd never seen the scars, but there was no mistaking it. They had Karasu. Swallowing, I forced the next words out in a raspy, unsteady whisper, dreading the answer.
"Is she… still alive?"
"From what I heard this morning, yes, but she won't last long." A dizzying wave of relief threatened to knock me over, but I resisted, tightening my grip on my tanto.
"Where is she? How do we break through the entrance?"
"There's a cobra carved into the side of the mountain. Place your hand on its head, apply three short bursts of chakra, and the barrier will disappear. Follow the hallway and turn left at the intersection. Take the second right and walk forward three hundred yards before turning left. You should arrive at the room where she is being kept." The man stopped, moistening his lips as he stared at me beseechingly.
"Rabbit, Lizard, and Bull, come here." My massive bulldog lumbered up next to me, shadowed by two ANBU. "You heard what he said. Try it." I watched through narrowed eyes as they slunk around the base of the mountain, their fingers trailing along the streaked sandstone. Rabbit paused, then pressed his palm against a reddish patch; the stone disappeared, replaced by the yawning entrance to a long corridor that was lined with torches. Turning back to the man, I withdrew my blade. His sigh of relief was cut short as I slammed the heel of my hand against his temple, knocking him unconscious. Pulling the man's gag back on, I straightened and took a shuddering breath.
"Pakkun, stay here with Sparrow and Dragon to guard the prisoners while we break in. If there's any trouble, you know how to contact me. As we attempt to retrieve the target, Rat will take the lead and alert us about the enemy's movements. Tenzou, you'll bind the enemy's wrists together with wood after we've knocked them out. Only kill the enemy if there is no other option; Suna wants them alive. Got it?" A murmur of general assent dissipated in the stifling heat. "Move in!"
The torches on the cave walls flickered as we dashed by, stirring the thick, inky darkness that seeped from every crack and crevice in the rock. Figures that melted from the shadows were quickly dealt with; their unconscious, bound forms were left on the sides of the tunnel.
Word spread quickly throughout the robber's nest; as we rounded the final corner, a row ninja blocked the doorway. I caught a glimpse of a shadowy formation of masked, armed figures behind them before I had to dodge a metal needle aimed at my temple.
As I spun and weaved through the roiling mass of battling ninja, a shuriken grazed my shoulder. Immediately, a searing, sharp pain tore through my arm; I snarled and lashed out, striking someone squarely in the jaw. As he slumped to the floor, I coughed as a cloying odor burned through my nostrils. They were using poison gas. It wouldn't affect the enemy; no doubt their masks were specially designed to filter out the poison. ANBU masks, however, weren't. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an ANBU drop to her knees, shuddering.
A sudden blast of wind knocked me against the cave wall and others to the floor. Squinting, I saw Rat lower his hands; he must have used some wind technique, snuffing out several torches as the poisonous gas was blown away to be replaced by fresh air.
Hurtling through the doorway, I rammed my elbows into the diaphragms of two ninja; as they doubled over, groaning, I followed up with blows to their temples. They slumped to the floor, quickly bound and thrown aside by another ANBU into a growing pile of bodies. In the crowd surrounding me, the number of porcelain masks exceeded the number of metal ones. We have a chance. We can get Karasu back. The savage burst of hope gave me strength and speed, increased the number of enemies I brought down with each strike.
"Drop your weapons, or she dies!" A high voice sliced through the chaotic sounds of battle. Glancing in the direction of the sound, I staggered as shock ripped through my body. Next to one of the flickering torches, a masked woman held a sword against the neck of a thin, battered form that I could barely recognize.
Karasu's eyes, glistening with the reflection of flames, were half-shut and glazed over. Casting deep shadows on her bruised face, her cheekbones jutted out at harsh angles. Blood trickled from her temple down her neck, disappearing into the darkness that obscured the rest of her body, which was undoubtedly as emaciated and battered as her visage. The most shocking aspect of her appearance, however, was her hair; more accurately, what was left of it. The last time I had seen her, a sheet of rippling, black water fell to her waist. It had been brutally cropped so that the jagged ends were barely level with her chin.
"I said, drop your weapons!" The woman screeched again, digging her blade into Karasu's neck until the undoubtedly poisoned edge of her gleaming sword was stained with red. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the sounds of metal clattering against stone echoed through the chamber as one ANBU after another raised his open hands to head-height. I grudgingly followed their example, keeping my Sharingan locked on Karasu's faint chakra signature.
"Good, very good." Carefully keeping her weapon pressed against Karasu's neck, the woman took off her mask, revealing full lips curled in a cold, reptilian smile. "I'm surprised that there are so many of you here to rescue this girl. I simply don't understand what you see in her. We took her down fairly easily with a very low amount of poison. Imagine our surprise when we found out we had defeated Kuro Karasu!" The woman's chuckle ground against my ears, a low, rasping sound of scales rubbing together. "If she was beautiful, I could understand why she is so important to you. However, her muddy brown eyes, flat nose, and lack of, ah, feminine curves prevent me from drawing that conclusion. I would have mistaken her for a man if it hadn't been for that ponytail. Such an oily sheen! She should be glad that I trimmed her hair for her; it is so very impractical." Her own tresses were a golden, sandy mass that curled halfway down her bicep.
"Let her go," a voice that I recognized as Genma's growled.
"Not a chance." Grinning, the woman tightened her grip on Karasu, who shifted feebly. "She's my ticket out, my bargaining chip. As long as I have her, you're all too afraid to attack for fear that I'll slit her throat open."
"We were ordered to take you alive if possible. If you surrender, we won't kill you."
"You may not kill me, but the country that hired you could. I can't take that chance." Flashing her icy smile, the robber began barking out orders to her fellow criminals. "Anyone on my side who is still conscious, start knocking out and tying up these ANBU. Don't worry; they won't touch you. I've still got the prisoner." I heard a low groan and a dull thud as someone began following her commands. Biting my lip, I counted the number of bodies that fell to the floor, the number of ANBU that were brought down as I struggled to come up with a plan to save both Karasu and my teammates. One, two, three-
"It's a pity, really. I thought that Konoha's ANBU were among the elite." Four, five. "Who knew that they were so easy to defe-" Suddenly, without warning, Karasu made her move. She lifted one arm and rammed it backwards as hard as she could.
As her bony elbow connected with the woman's solar plexus, I felt the corners of my mouth curl in a small grin.
That's my girl.
Breaking off in a guttural, pained gasp, the woman hunched over, her sword flashing in the torchlight as her right arm jerked involuntarily and her left arm loosened its grip on Karasu. My best friend's slumping form had barely slid an inch when my sword was unsheathed; I lunged forward, hearing two dull thunks as a wall of wood rose to block two senbon aimed at my back. Straightening quickly to avoid my swipe, the woman hissed, hopping backwards awkwardly as she struggled to keep a firm grip on her captive. I lashed out again, surreptitiously creating a clone as I threw a silver kunai at her head. As my clone advanced, I threw myself to the floor, completing a series of seals in the time it took for the woman to regain her balance. The woman's growl turned into a loud yelp as I grabbed her ankle and yanked her into the ground, knocking Karasu free.
Quickly, before she could react, I slammed the heel of one hand against her jaw and the other against her temple. The woman's head drooped, her sandy tresses fluttering with every deep, even breath she took. Pausing only to snarl viciously at the unconscious robber, I quickly spun in the direction that Karasu had fallen.
Three medics were crouched around her prone form, barking rapid orders to each other as their glowing hands illuminated patches of Karasu's blood-soaked, broken body. By the glow of Sayuri's chakra, I saw what seemed to be a dark, thick shadow wrapped around Karasu's neck.
At first, I couldn't understand what I was seeing. As I watched, the shadow extended a thick arm that came to rest in the hollow above Karasu's collarbones and began growing.
Then it hit me.
It was her blood.
Blood was pouring out of a deep cut that ran across her throat.
"No!" Collapsing onto my hands and knees against the hard ground, I felt a wave of panic and terror rise through my throat, cutting off the flow of air. Her throat had been untouched when I first saw her. When did this happen? Had I wounded her when I had performed the Earth Decapitation Technique? Had I-
An image flashed through my brain: the woman doubled over as she struggled to catch the breath that had been knocked from her lungs by Karasu's blow. Her right arm jolted involuntarily, jerking the sword that had been pressed against Karasu's neck in a violent arc.
For the briefest second, those glazed, dull brown eyes were set in a face marked with purple tattoos. It was as if Rin was dying all over again; once again, my most precious companion's life was gushing out of a deep gash in her throat. Once again, I could do nothing more than reach out, clasp her cold, limp hand, and squeeze fiercely in a desperate attempt to do something.
"Don't you dare die on me, damn it!" My broken scream echoed through the cave, drowning out a strange, gurgling noise from the weakly thrashing body on the floor.
She was choking on her own blood.
A glowing, cupped hand hovered over Karasu's mouth, drawing out a fountain of dark, crimson liquid and directing it onto the floor next to the neck wound that was healing far too slowly. Karasu drew a deep, rattling breath, her thin frame shuddering weakly with the effort.
"Move! We've come back with the backup from Suna! Get out of the way!" Tenzou's cry was muted by the blood that pounded in my ears in time to the faint, erratic pulsing of Karasu's chakra signature.
"Her throat wound has been sealed! We'll take her to Suna, where the hospital has the resources to send her to Konoha through a long-range teleportation jutsu. Let's go!" I kept my grip on her hand as the medics gently eased her onto a stretcher, ignoring their jostling as they barked instructions to each other.
"Sir! Please let go of Kuro-san! We need to-"
"Let him hold her hand! He's Hatake Kakashi!" I would have to thank Genma later for his response; I was allowed to run beside the stretcher and keep my grip on Karasu as an intricate web of stylized writing was drawn in blood to send us to Konoha.
I clenched my grip on her hand until her thin fingers turned white. I couldn't let go of her. I needed to make sure she was here, alive, real. If I let go, she would become yet another one of the mirages of water that dotted this vast desert: necessary for life, but always just out of reach, always slipping away.
I couldn't let go, not if I wanted to live.
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