Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Harry Potter.

Ice

"Fubuki, Mizore, you get the princess," the leader of the enemy's squad orders. Then he leaps down. Kakashi instantly jumps into motion to meet him.

"I've got no idea what's going on-" Naruto growls, pulling out a kunai. "-but it feels like a movie."

I groan. Sometimes, Naruto's sense of humour is really dumb.

"I'll protect you, Fuun-hime-neechan!" he finishes.

I scan our enemies. "You two, take on the girl and protect Yukie. I'll fight the big guy and draw him away," I order.

"But, Ri-chan-" Naruto starts.

"Take care," Sasuke says.

"You too," I whisper. "Yukie-san, get out of here! Naruto, get clones to protect her!"

I don't wait for an answer and run at the big guy who is now taking out a snowboard. Damn, that gives him a mobility advantage. He jumps on the board and speeds toward me. I stop moving. "Water Style: Water Chain Sword!" I yell and launch the chains at him.

The chains impact his armour and dissolve into water. My opponent doesn't even falter. I jump out of the way and swing my sword as he glides past me. However, it only makes a small rip in his armour instead of the wound I planned to cause him.

Fucking hell. That armour ain't normal. What do I do?

The guy turns and accelerates toward me again. I curse as I leap away and aim senbon at his face, but he just lifts his arm and brushes them away.

So, the armour protects him from my sword, my senbon and my ninjutsu and he has that snowboard to help him move in the deep snow. What do I have? I focus chakra to my feet so I can stand on the snow. Snow walking can't be too different from water walking.

The man jumps toward me, off the board and tries to hit me – for his size, he's damn fast. But I'm faster, so I leap back and his fist hits the ground instead. It shatters under the impact, ice and snow spraying everywhere. It doesn't stop my opponent, he comes after me relentlessly and I have to dance away and around his attacks.

Damn it. One hit from him and I'll be done for. What can I do?

I smirk and jump backwards again. We've almost reached the shore.

"Do you see?" the man asks between his attacks. "You can't defeat me while I have this chakra armour!"

I laugh. "And still, you fail to hit me even with your armour. Pathetic." I flip back gracefully. The ice cracks beneath my feet, but it holds.

My opponent steps back on his snowboard and shoots towards me, shouting: "Don't look down on Snow ninja!"

I toss a kunai between us. "Boom," I whisper, and it explodes. The ice bursts apart and the man falls into the gurgling black water, howling. I hurl another few tagged kunai into the water, causing huge water explosions.

Did I get him?

Cables shoot out from under the water, hooking themselves into a large ice floe. I curse and jump towards it, cutting the cables with my sword, but the man's head is already breaking the water surface, the rest of him will soon follow. At least, he seems to be a little disoriented and he hasn't seen me.

I can't let him out of the water.

I grit my teeth. No other choice then.

I jump into the icy water, pouring chakra into my body to regulate my temperature. Damn it, it's still too cold. I dive down, focusing water chakra like Kakashi taught me so I can breathe, then I whip my arms back and surge into my opponents direction, the water propelling me towards him. I grab his ankle just as he's attempting to step onto the water surface and drag him back down, deeper and deeper into the dark until he kicks my hand off. He attempts to swim upwards, to get away from me because we both know that underwater, he can't win. And soon, the cold will make him unable to fight. It will do the same to me, but he's been under longer.

I make the water propel me above him, forming handseals. "Uo Tsuba!" I shout. On land, a jet of water would normally come out of my mouth. Underwater, it's a pressure wave that pushes the Snow ninja deeper under. His armour might as well not exist underwater.

However, the metal hand that shoots from his metal gauntlet and grabs my arm, nearly crushing it, certainly does. The ninja swings his arm and I'm tossed against the underside of a large ice floe. The impact hurts, but since the water resistance slowed the toss, I'm fine. I've had much worse in the past.

A short distance away from me, I see my opponent struggling towards the surface, his movements becoming sluggish. He's been in the cold too long. I close my eyes, take a deep breath. "I'm sorry," I whisper. Then I shoot towards him. He sees me coming and kicks and punches around himself in an attempt to keep my away, but I'm faster and stronger at this point, so I grab him and pull him deeper down again, intending to keep him down until he's unconscious.

But then, he suddenly has a kunai in his hand and there's an explosive note on it that's already burning, and I hastily let go of him, place my feet on his chest and launch myself off him, towards the surface. Below me, the explosions sounds, impossibly loud underwater, the shockwave and scalding hot water catching and burning my legs before I can outswim it. I scream in pain as I break the surface and grab an ice floe to support myself. I drag myself on it, whimpering.

The icy air on my wet clothes and skin is painful. It feels wonderful on my burnt legs though.

I look back in the water. That was a suicide attack. No way did he survive that.

Damn it.

I shove the guilt away. No time for that now. I struggle to my feet, gritting my teeth against the pain and the cold.

"Riko, get away!" a familiar voice yells. Kakashi. A shadow falls on me and my eyes widen because an enormous narwhale made from ice is falling down on me and there's no choice but to leap into the water again while my floe is crushed behind me. I get tossed and turned, sucked down by the currents the whale causes. I fight very hard to stay conscious, but the cold is getting to me now. Still I manage to get to the surface and pull myself up on another floe again. I manage to focus chakra to draw the water off my skin and clothes before they freeze on my body. Then I start running. In my current state, I'd definitely fuck up the shunshin and drop myself in the middle of the ocean.

Behind me deafening crashes sound, the ice groaning before it bursts apart. I chance a look behind me and immediately run faster, pouring chakra into my abused legs, trying to get away before the two giant narwhale's fight crushes me. Already, the ice beneath my feet is breaking.

Fuck, they're going to sink the iceberg! Damn, would it kill them to be a little more considerate?

A hand grabs my shoulder and then there's the familiar whirl of a shunshin around me and Kakashi and I appear on an icy pillar. Shocked, I watch as the entire iceberg breaks apart. Kakashi shifts his hold on me so I'm fully in his arms and nimbly dodges icy shrapnel. Finally, he shunshins us on the ship. "F-f-fuck," I whisper, teeth chattering. "T-that was a c-close one."

I groan and slump against Kakashi who is currently righting his hitae-ate. He frowns and puts his hand on my forehead. "Riko-chan, you're ice cold."

"T-took a l-little b-bath," I force out.

"Of course you did," Kakashi deadpans as he sets me down.

"Ri-chan!" Naruto shouts and then crashes into me, wrapping his arms around me. I groan, losing my balance, and brace myself for the impact with the ground.

It never happens. Sasuke is suddenly behind me, his hands pulling me to the side and the only one that goes flying is Naruto. "That's what you call taking care?" Sasuke growls. Goody, he's fine.

"I'm n-not h-hurt, aren't I? And I g-got the guy," I state. "A-and I r-r-reached my p-personal goal of n-not p-p-passing out again." Sasuke frowns and takes off his cloak to wrap it around me. It's still warm from his body. And it smells like Sasuke. I happily pull the cloak tighter around me. "Mmm, w-warm," I murmur.

"Ri-chan, are you okay? You aren't hurt, right?" Naruto babbles worriedly, hands flitting around helplessly. At least he isn't trying to bowl me over again.

"F-fine. Just c-cold," I answer. And a little bruised and boiled, I mentally add.

A hand rests itself on my head. "And you're going straight to bed now. We're having a meeting with the client in an hour, rest and warm up until then," Kakashi says in a deceptively friendly tone. Oddly enough, it reminds me of my mom. "Sasuke, go with her. Naruto, you're staying with me."

"But-"

"She needs rest," Kakashi says firmly, implying that he thinks letting Naruto around me would not be restful for me at all. I disagree, but whatever.

"Dobe," Sasuke speaks up. "Keep an eye on things here. I've got Ri."

Whoa, Sasuke is reassuring Naruto. Will wonders never cease?

Naruto gives Sasuke an uncharacteristically hard look. Then he nods. "Alright."

And Naruto isn't making a fuss about protecting me himself. This might be a genjutsu.

Sasuke grabs my arm and directs me toward the door that leads into the ship. I'm glad he doesn't pick me up to carry me. In front of the film crew, that would just have been embarrassing – like I'm some damsel in distress when I just defeated a ninja with some sort of almost invincible armour.

The moment we're out of sight though, he does pick me up. I glare at him. "I can w-walk," I insist, mentally cursing my chattering teeth. Sasuke doesn't deign to answer as he swiftly carries me to the room our team shares. I was actually offered my own room – the perks of being a girl – but I refused. Now Kakashi uses it.

Sasuke dumps me on the bed unceremoniously. I kick off my boots and roll my leggings up.

"You said you weren't hurt," Sasuke growls, staring at the swollen red skin – it looks like a really bad sunburn. At the very least, my boots protected my lower legs, and the leggings protected me from getting actual boils. Still, it hurts like hell.

"Ruto would have freaked out," I explain while running green glowing hands over the injuries until the skin is only slightly reddened. Then I unseal a small jar and clumsily rub salve on it – my hands are still shaking from the cold. When I'm done, Sasuke grabs the jar from me, places it on the nightstand, then shoves me back on the bed and pulls the blankets over me. They aren't warmed up yet, so they don't help any against the cold. "I'm cold again," I whisper and make my eyes as big and pleading as I can. My puppy eyes have nothing on Naruto's or Haku's – not that the boy even realises it when he makes them – but they're still pretty good.

Sasuke merely gives me a condescending look. Doesn't work on me, Ri.

"Killjoy," I mutter. "I really am cold."

Sasuke sighs, annoyed. Then he lifts the blankets and slides in next to me. I give him a grateful smile and snuggle up to him. "T-thanks," I whisper. Already, I can feel him heat the blankets with his chakra. Soon, I feel myself unfreeze. "How'd your fight go?" I ask.

"She got away," Sasuke answers sullenly.

"Mine didn't," I answer softly, pressing my face into his shoulder. "I did to him what that man in Wave tried to do to me. But I swear I didn't want him to die." My voice breaks on the last word.

Sasuke shifts his hold so he has his arms around me. My head is tucked securely into the crook of his neck. He rubs his hand over my shoulder, offering me silent comfort. I sling my arms around him tightly. "Can we stay like this for a while?" I ask.

"Hn."

"Thanks."

Reality eventually catches up with us in the form of Naruto barging in. Luckily, we heard him when he barrelled down the corridor to our room and Sasuke had enough time to get out of the bed and sit on the chair next to it, so we don't have to explain our resting arrangements. That would have been… troublesome.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Naruto chatters as he pulls the blankets away. Damn him. "Or we're gonna be late!"

"Yes, yes," I grumble, letting him pull me out of the bed and drag me after him. A minute later, we arrive at the meeting room. Sandayuu and Kakashi are already there, so are the director and his assistant and Fujikaze Yukie. Or Princess Koyuki. I'm looking forward to hearing the explanation for that. We sit down next to Kakashi. Now it's civilians on one side of the table and ninja on the other – clear fronts.

There is a minute of silence as everybody taxes the other side.

"You knew, Sandayuu, didn't you?" Kakashi finally asks pleasantly.

"Yes, I did," Sandayuu answers.

"Did you even think about what would happen if she returned to the Country of Snow?" Kakashi wants to know.

"There was no other way to get the princess to this country," Sandayuu justifies his actions.

"How about someone explain what the hell is going on?" I ask cheerfully. "'Cause we were attacked an hour ago and you never told us about enemies you knew would be coming. Or Yukie-san's status. Or anything, really." I beam at him. "Don't you think that was a tad little inconsiderate of you?"

"Yes," Sandayuu answers. "I'm sorry-"

I jump up and slam my hands on the table. Sandayuu flinches back. "I don't want to hear your constant apologies! Explain yourself!" I growl, the smile wiped off my face.

"Riko-chan, calm down," Kakashi orders. I sit down, glaring at Sandayuu who hastily starts explaining. "The actress Fujikaze Yukie is merely a front. In truth, she is the princess of Snow Country, Kazahana Koyuki-sama, the country's rightful leader." He takes a deep breath and continues. "I first came to serve her when she was just a young girl. I served the former daimyo, Kazahana Sousetsu-sama, Koyuki-sama's father." He pauses. "Snow Country was a small and peaceful nation. Sousetsu-sama was a good man and a devoted father, he doted on the princess. But those idyllic days passed. Ten years ago, Doto, the younger brother of Sousetsu-sama, hired ninja from the Village Hidden in the Snow and instigated a coup d'état! He murdered Sousetsu-sama, Kazahana Castle was burned to the ground. Princess Koyuki was believed to have died…" Sandayuu's voice breaks.

Kakashi takes over. "I was on a mission in Snow Country at the time. My team couldn't fight them back then, we had to retreat. I took the princess and fled with her."

"When I found the princess still alive and acting in movies…" Sandayuu says softly. "I was overjoyed. She was… she was alive!" he sobs.

"I should have died back then," Yukie finally speaks up emotionlessly.

"You mustn't say such things!" Sandayuu exclaims. "We prayed and hoped you were alive!"

"I'm alive, but my heart is dead. After that day, my tears dried up."

Such melodrama.

Sandayuu wipes his eyes. "I became Fujikaze Yukie's manager and bided my time for the day I would escort her back to the Country of Snow," he finishes the story, ignoring Yukie's words.

And obviously, that day has finally come. However, I question the wisdom of forcing her back here. It could do more damage than good.

"So you were just using us the whole time?!" The director's assistant exclaims.

"I apologise for fooling you!" Sandayuu answers. "But… this is for the sake of the people of Snow Country!"

Again with the apologies. He could have gotten us all killed and all he has to say is 'sorry'? Well, fuck you too.

Sandayuu runs forward and throws himself down before Yukie. "Hime-sama! Please overthrow Doto and take your place as the rightful leader of this country!"

He's kidding, right? I almost laugh at the ridiculousness of his request.

Yukie stares at his kneeling form, her face betraying no emotion.

"I will give my life to protect you! Please, take up arms and rise with us!"

It was us that fought today. It was us that could have died today.

Rage simmers in me, but I wait for Yukie's reply.

"No thanks," she says. Sandayuu looks up, shocked. "You've got to be kidding!" she continues. I kind of feel like applauding her but I haven't forgotten what a bitch she has been the past week.

"But the people of Snow-" Sandayuu exclaims.

"Who cares about them?" she returns.

"Princess-"

"Will you give up already?!" she hisses. "No matter how much you try, you can't beat Doto."

And three, two, one…

Naruto slams his hand on the table and stands up. "Quit talking like that!" he growls. "He's devoted his life to realise his dream! I'll deal with anyone who badmouths him!"

"Naruto-san…" Sandayuu murmurs, astonished.

"Ruto's right," I interject before the situation can escalate, because Yukie looks like she's going to say something mean again, and Naruto is already pissed. "However, Yukie-san has valid concerns. Sandayuu-san, I understand how important this is to you, but you've placed all of us in danger with the way you manipulated us. It's not that big a deal for us ninja, we knew this was an A-ranked mission, but you've gotten the film crew and the ship's crew involved, too, and that is unaccebtable. You also can't expect Yukie-san to 'take up arms' and 'overthrow Doto'. She's never had any fighting training in her life."

"I can defend myself!" Yukie hisses.

"Not against trained fighters, you can't," I disagree. "Any fighting will be done by us ninja. And save your damned apologies, Sandayuu-san, this is our job. We're still going to complete our mission."

Naruto would mutiny if we abandoned the mission. I can tell Sasuke wants to stay and fight, too – running away just isn't his thing, plus he probably wants to finish that woman he fought. And I doubt Kakashi wants to retreat a second time from Snow. Besides, it's not like I'd leave a whole country at the mercy of some tyrant. I just don't like how Sandayuu manipulated us. That fight would have gone a whole lot differently had we known in advance about our opponents.

"I'm not setting foot on Snow Country! I won't go against Doto!" Yukie glares at us. "It's useless!"

Kami, this lady needs a Ramen Talk.

"Please, princess-" Sandayuu pleads.

Suddenly, the director speaks up. "We are able to dream because we don't give up hope. And because we dream, there is a future. Now isn't that wonderful? It's the perfect theme for our movie."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"Director?!" the assistant exclaims. "We're going to continue filming?"

"I told you before, this movie is going to change everything!"

My eyebrow raise higher.

"But-"

The director smiles. "Think about it, how often can one film using a real princess?"

"I see… the publicity would be amazing! The movie is sure to be a hit!"

Great. More people to protect. These guys have no survival instincts whatsoever.

"Unfortunately, there's only one course of action," Kakashi speaks up, finality in his voice. "As long as Doto knows about her, there's nowhere to escape. We have to fight. That's the only way to survive."

Yukie looks away sullenly.

"Okay!" Naruto exclaims. "Let's continue this mission! Princess Fuun's gonna return to Snow Country and thrash the evil mastermind!" he grins.

"Don't joke around!" Yukie interrupts. "This isn't a movie! There are no happy endings!"

"You can change that anytime with determination!" the director yells which shuts her up.

"Normally, we'd go back to the village and get reinforcements…" Kakashi muses.

"That's a waste of time. We can handle it ourselves," Sasuke speaks up, daring us to contradict him.

"He's right," I say. "If we leave now, we'll have to deal with pursuers, and the time it'll take to go back home and then come here again will only give Doto time for preparations. He might even go into hiding somewhere we'd never find him. We need to handle this ourselves, and fast."

"Then it's decided." Kakashi nods.

"Yes!" the director agrees enthusiastically. "We're going to continue filming! We'll create a movie with a happy ending!"

"Damn right!" Naruto yells.

I don't share their enthusiasm. Considering a whole country is at stake, I don't even care about some movie.

We drive through a long deep cave in some kind of cross between a car and a snowmobile. At the end of the cave, there's supposed to be the hideout of those ready to rebel against Doto.

With us in our vehicle is Sandayuu. Yukie sneered something about being 'sick of us' and demanded to travel in another car. Since ours is the most likely to be attacked, what with it containing us, Kakashi allowed it.

"Long ago, there were railroad tracks here," Sandayuu informs us.

"What's a railroad?" Naruto asks.

"A kind of transport system," I answer. "Basically, there are railroad tracks and on them a large vehicle called a 'train' travels."

"Huh. Sounds weird," Naruto says. "Where are those track thingies?" he asks, pressing his face against the window.

"Covered by ice," Sandayuu answers.

Our conversation is interrupted when we finally leave the caves. Our car halts and we step out in the snow. Looking around, I see we're on a high mountain. Above us are cliffs, and where the ledge we're parking on ends, the bluff gapes. We're at least a kilometre up.

"Alright, let's start filming!" the director yells the moment he exits the vehicle he travelled in.

I wonder how he can even focus on filming. One has to admire his devotion to his job.

"Director! Terrible news!" We turn and see the assistant running towards up. "Yukie has escaped again!"

"Oh wow," I mutter. "Escaping in the middle of nowhere, with these temperatures, knowing she's being targeted. Is she trying to kill herself?"

"Riko, Naruto, Sasuke, we'll split up and look for her. If you find her, use the radio," Kakashi orders and we all pull out communication devices. "No clones, Naruto. They might attract attention."

We nod and scatter. I inwardly curse Yukie. I could have been in our nice, warm car, drinking tea. Instead, I now have to chase through a snow covered forest and freeze my ass off. If she was trying to commit suicide, she should have just taken a knife.

Aaaand the Cursed Seal is poisoning my mind again. Wonderful.

I focus my mind and block the seal's influence. That shit is the last thing I need right now.

The ear-phone of my communication device cracks. "Found her," Naruto's muffled voice says.

"Got it," I reply. Similar responses from Kakashi and Sasuke follow. "See you in a few minutes."

I'm the first to arrive back at the shooting location. I spot the director and Sandayuu and start moving in their direction.

I look around warily as I walk toward them. This place isn't exactly ambush material, but there are no certainties. Who knows what the enemy has in store.

A quiet creaking noise makes me look down. Where I stand, the icy ground is rapidly melting, to reveal… oh shit. Railroad tracks.

I lean down and touch my fingertips to the metal. Chakra runs through the rails, melting the ice. I jump up, looking around. Behind me, I hear Sandayuu address the film crew with a panicked voice. "He's coming! Everyone, hurry and run. It will be terrible if you are found!"

After a moment of confusion, the crew hastily moves to hide. "Sandayuu-san, where are you going?" someone yells. I turn around to see the man run up the mountain and disappear.

Is he going to the rebel's hideout? He said it was somewhere around here… doesn't matter now. I need to take cover.

I run up the mountain. Halfway up, I stop, take off my cloak and seal it away, then I unseal my sword and strap it to my back. After that, I crouch down behind a rock. From here, I can overlook the rails, but I can't be seen from below.

I frown. I'm the only ninja currently here. I'm not too worried about Sasuke and Kakashi, but Naruto might run straight into an attack.

I hear the hoot of a train. It's coming from the caves. Moments later, Naruto shoots out from the caves' mouth, Yukie on his back. He throws himself from the rails just as the train bursts through. He and Yukie tumble into the snow.

I resist the urge to facepalm at his entrance.

The train halts about fifty metres away from them. Lucky me, I'm positioned right above the wagon closest to them.

"It's been a long time, Koyuki," a distorted voice says. It's coming from a large man wearing robes, talking into a microphone. The man that Kakashi fought earlier stands next to him. "Come closer and let me see your face."

Yukie kneels in the snow, a helpless look on her face. Then Naruto gets up and stands protectively in front of her, glaring at the speaker.

He must be Kazahana Doto, I think. I look around. There's a lot of snow… I could drop an avalanche on them if they are distracted enough.

Suddenly, dozens of tree trunks slide down the mountain and crash into the middle of the train. On the cliffs, about fifty men appear, wearing samurai armour and weapons. Sandayuu is one of them. "Everyone! Princess Koyuki needs us!" he shouts. He thrusts his fist into the air. "Victory is ours!" His warriors mirror the gesture, their war cries filling the air.

I inwardly curse. No, you idiot, death is yours if you do this! Can't you see the ninja waiting for you?!

While Sandayuu continues his speech – something about waiting years for this day and how they are finally going to bring Doto down – I cast a genjutsu on myself so I won't be noticed. Man, am I glad for my white clothes now. I'm a lot harder to see in this snow.

Applying chakra to my feet, I sneak on top of the snow over to the warriors, making sure to stay crouched down and behind boulders and snowdrifts as much as possible. I can't risk discovery. At least, the enemy is distracted by the rebels. And doesn't appear nervous at all, which means they have some kind of ace up their sleeves. It doesn't bode well for our side.

And I am currently walking right into the line of fire. Oh hell.

The warrior start to run down to the train, swords and spears brandished, war cries on their lips. I jump up and start to run, too, but-

I manage to jump in front of Sandayuu's band just in time.

Along the wagons of the train, wooden shutters slide open, revealing what looks like… shelves. There is a sort of clacking noise, multiplied by the hundred, and then thousands of kunai are shot at us like bullets, and there is no way I can save them all, but I have to try. My fingers twist themselves into handseals. "Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki!" I scream the name of my A-rank jutsu, and from the snow around me, an enormous tornado of water rises, whirling and spinning around me, the rush of standing in the middle of it surging through me. But I learned from the fight with Tenten, so I cancel the technique after ten seconds. The water crashes down and reveals-

I lift a shaking hand to my mouth. It's a massacre. The snow is died red with the blood of fallen warriors. Only a handful is left standing, most of them huddled behind me. A dry sob escapes me. Doto's laughter rings in my ears, way too loud.

My gaze snaps up when there is another clacking noise and oh shit they're firing another barrage at us!

Thump. Thump. My heartbeat is too loud in my ears. I see the kunai fly at me as if they are in slow motion. There is that odd buzzing right under my skin, like voltage, and I've felt this way before, back in the Forest of Death and-

I thrust my hands out and the kunai freeze centimetres from my face. Not just those aimed at me, but all of the hundreds of kunai launched at us. I stare at them in shock. My eyes are reflected a glowing green in the weapons' polished surfaces.

The strength leaves my legs and I drop to my knees. The kunai fall to the ground, too.

Magic.

I see Doto frowning at me. Then Sasuke is in front of me, launching kunai with explosive tags attached to them at the train wagons.

"Sasuke," I croak. He turns around to me, a wild look in his eyes. I point at the snow covered ridge to our right. "Avalanche," I say. He grabs a fuuma shuriken from his backpack, ties a few explosive tags to it and hurls it in the direction I pointed to. Moments later, an avalanche crashes down on the train. I'm just glad the film crew already fled.

The train hoots and then starts to move. Unfortunately, it wasn't thrown off the mountain by the avalanche. Seconds later, it's out of view. Breathing a sigh of relief, I force myself to my feet – I feel drained, but I still have some chakra left.

Sasuke is suddenly next to me, steadying me. "I'm fine," I say shakily, trying not to look at the dead all around us. "Look for s-survivors." He doesn't listen and instead scoops me up, jumps down and deposits me next to Naruto. Then he's off again.

In the distance I hear another explosion and briefly wonder if that's Kakashi's doing.

"Ri-chan!" Naruto exclaims, jumping forward to pull me into his arms. "Are you okay? What was that with the kunai?"

"No idea," I murmur. "Absolutely no clue."

It's not even a lie.

I stand next to Naruto while we watch his clones, Kakashi and Sasuke search for survivors of the massacre. There are precious few. So far, the only ones are six people that happened to stand behind me when I pulled off my A-rank jutsu.

Six. Six of fifty. Way too few, and yet their survival means so much.

"This is the result of not giving up," Yukie's emotionless voice sounds from behind us. Naruto and I turn around to her. "If they hadn't defied Doto, this wouldn't have hap-"

I cut her off with an ice-cold water bomb to the face. Then I flash in front of her and grab her collar. "Shut the fuck up!" I snarl into her stunned face. In my mind, memories of my biological parents flash, their sacrifice for me forever burnt into my mind. They, too, refused to back down for the sake of someone else. "You make me sick! Say another word, and I'll-"

"Riko-chan, we need you here," Kakashi's voice sounds from behind us. "There's another survivor, but he's hurt. Also, don't kill our charge." Even if it's tempting, he leaves unsaid.

I growl and let go of Yukie, shoving her so she falls on her ass. Then I whirl around and rush over to Kakashi, Sasuke and two members of the film crew who are carrying one of the warriors on a stretcher. I swallow hard when I see that it's Sandayuu. They set him down and I kneel next to him, my hands lighting up in light blue with a diagnostic jutsu. I feel Sasuke's familiar presence move behind me, and then a warm cloak drops on my shoulders.

Right. I'd forgotten that I took off my cloak in preparation for the fight. With all the adrenaline, I didn't notice the cold.

"Princess…" Sandayuu weakly murmurs. Yukie approaches and kneels on his other side. "Forgive me… for involving you … in such a thing," he wheezes. "It was because of you… that I and all the others… were able to keep believing. You are… our princess… so please, believe in yourself… as I do. You are… our hope…" his voice trails off. Yukie stays silent.

"It's fine, it'll be fine, don't talk," I whisper, running my hands over his body. Information on his injuries fills my head and I bite my lip, almost despairing. "It'll be fine," I repeat, blinking away tears. "I won't let you die, I promise, Sandayuu-san."

The light from my hands turns into a gentle green. I lose my sense of time as I heal the worst of his injuries even though they are way above my capabilities. He isn't as bad off as Asuma was back in Wave, but Asuma was a ninja with strong chakra, and Sandayuu is only a civilian. I feel the chakra drain from me while I stop the bleeding in his lungs and stomach – I don't have enough chakra left for more, and I can't pass out mid-mission. My team needs me.

Finally, I pull my hands back. "He'll live," I croak. "If he's stubborn enough."

"That's awesome!" Naruto grins at me. Then his smile fades when he sees the look on my face. "Ri-chan?"

I shake my head. "It's fine, I'm just really tired. He needs to get to safety and rest." We wait while crew members carry Sandayuu away.

I don't tell him that Sandayuu will never walk again, even if he survives. It can wait.

My failure to save him, to save everyone, it stings. I'm not good enough.

"Well, are you satisfied now?" Yukie asks. "Let's go home. If you stay here, that," she points at Sandayuu's motionless form. "will happen to you, too. So let's go home!" With that, she turns and starts walking away. I stare after her, feeling dead inside. I don't have the energy to get up and shove her off the cliff like she deserves.

"Go home where?" Naruto growls while Sasukereaches down, grabs my arm and drags me to my feet. I wonder how he knows I need to be standing right now instead of kneeling. Then he hands me an energy pill that I swallow greedily.

Yukie stops walking when she hears Naruto's question.

"This is your home! If you want to go home, defeat Doto and go back to your own home with your head held high!" Naruto snarls angrily.

"You know nothing," Yukie answers. "Spring doesn't come to this country! The tears have frozen over and hardened our hearts."

"Not Sandayuu's. He kept on believing in you, even sacrificed himself," I say coldly. "But you, you're the worst. There will never be any happiness for you if you keep on running. And you know what? You deserve that."

She whirls around to me, eyes flashing with rage. "Will you stop this nonsense?! I'm going home!" she turns around again, walking away. Naruto runs after her, shouting at her to wait. He grabs her arm, but she snatches it back, whirling around again. "Leave me alone!"

No one answers, because in that moment, a giant airship comes into view behind her. I shift my stance and grab my senbon.

A Snow ninja appears in a door and shoots something at Yukie. She screams as cables pull her up into the airship's gondola. "Shit!" I yell, jumping forward as I see the female Snow ninja from before glide through the air on wings attached to her armour. She launches a kunai barrage at us, and there's something attached to them-

We all leap away as they hit the ground and icy spikes explode from them instantly, a deadly forest of sharp ice shooting up. I jump backwards, but I'm unsteady on my feet and not fast enough to completely escape. An icy lance catches on the cloak I'm wearing and I get dragged into the air. I manage to free myself, but before I can escape, someone grabs my leg and I'm suddenly dangling upside down from the female Snow ninja's hand, her chakra making my skin stick to hers. I lose sight of the airship, the last I see of it is a blur of orange flying after it. Far, far below us, the landscape passes, the ledge where the rest of my team is quickly growing smaller as the distance increases. I kick at my captor, but she only laughs. "You'll pay for killing Mizore!" she crows maliciously. She suddenly veers left and I blanch.

The bitch is going to slam me into a mountain, and if that doesn't kill me, I'll splatter on the sharp rocks below.

"I'm not going down without a fight, bitch!" I scream, pulling my leg down abruptly. Her hand is stuck to my leg, so it gets pulled down. I surge up and grab it, twisting and turning and then I'm sitting on her back between her wings while she spits curses at me. She tries throwing me off by pirouetting and it works, but I manage to grab one of the tips of her wings as I fall. We start plummeting toward ground.

"Let go!" she screams. Then she suddenly grins maliciously and forms the tiger handseal. "Ice Release: Swallow Snow Blade!" she shouts. A single ice swallow forms itself and shoots in my direction. I lift my free hand to protect my face, but that was never the target. It shoots toward my other hand, cutting my arm with razor sharp wings. I cry out at the sudden pain, and my hand loses its grip on my enemy's wing.

Her flight rights itself and she flies off while I plummet to my death.

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger... I'm evil.