The three Konoha Shinobi and one Sand Kunoichi watched in silence as Lady Chiyo continued pouring her Chakra into Gaara.
"Lady Chiyo are you sure about this?" Temari asked with concern.
"Hush child. I'm just some old woman. This is the Kazekage, after all."
Lady Chiyo was using a reanimation jutsu. After this, Gaara would awaken, but Lady Chiyo would close her eyes forever.
"My only regret is that I didn't get to see my grandson, one final time." Lady Chiyo spoke wistfully, "I hope, wherever he is, he's changed for the better."
Karin watched as the water continued banging into the rocks, and finally, they gave way. As the rocks scattered and fell into the river, Kane slowly walked out.
He looked worse for wear, and had a huge cut on the side of his neck, but he was alive. The Akatsuki member was nowhere in sight.
"Kane!" Karin shouted as she ran up to him and began inspecting his neck, "How are you still standing?! This wound looks severe!"
Kane grunted, "I'll be fine. I think I just need some rest."
"What?! Kane you need to see a medic! How is this not bleeding?!"
"My Kekkei Genkai."
Karin looked at him like he was crazy.
"Okay, what the hell is your Kekkei Genkai?! You can manipulate water, you don't bleed and apparently can manipulate blood too, and now you're telling me you'll be fine after a night's rest?!"
"Pretty much." Kane couldn't help but grin at the look on her face.
"What's your Kekkei Genkai?! This is ridiculous!"
"If I told you that, then maybe you're not as smart as I took you for." Kane smirked at her and the red head looked outraged and the insinuation.
"Fine! Don't tell me! Whatever! Just... What do we do now?"
"I need to rest. My Chakra reserves are very low right now..." Kane spoke before plopping down onto his backside, a relieved sigh escaping his lips.
Karin joined him on the water, looking at the wound in his neck closely.
"So, I take it you won?"
Kane nodded.
"Well, that's good I guess. Looks like you took quite the beating, though."
"Yeah, I guess I did." Kane agreed.
Karin rolled her eyes, "Next time, try to include me at least, okay?"
Kane turned and gave the girl a small, soft smile, "Okay."
Karin smiled in return.
As Gaara awoke, he found two girls all over him checking him for wounds and injuries, and bombarding him with questions.
"Girls, relax, give the Kazekage some space." Kakashi spoke with an eye smile as Naruko and Temari backed up slightly.
Gaara looked over at the prone form of Lady Chiyo, held by Kakashi, and stared solemnly.
'She gave her life for me...'
Kakashi suddenly looked serious.
"We're not out of hot water just yet."
Everyone turned their attention to the white haired main, "There's still another Jinchuriki being attacked right now."
Sasuke and Naruko narrowed their eyes.
"Naruko! Sasuke!" The two snapped to attention at their sensei's call.
He eye smiled at them, "Temari and I can handle the rest from here. You two go save another Jinchuriki."
The two eyed each other before giving a quick nod. Naruko turned back to Gaara, "Sorry Gaara, but there's something we've got to do! We'll be back, I promise!"
And with that, they turned and took to the trees.
"I'm really glad you're okay, Gaara." Temari spoke with a soft smile. Gaara returned it with one of his own, and slowly got to his feet with her aid.
"We need to get back. The village is probably in chaos right now, and Lady Chiyo deserves a proper burial." Gaara spoke monotonously.
Kakashi stood, the old woman in his arms, and he nodded, "Lead the way, Kazekage-sama."
"Sasuke, do you know where we're going?" Naruko asked her companion as they continued onwards.
He nodded in response, "That other Akatsuki member was sent as a distraction, and if you recall, he ran into us before changing direction. We just have to retrace our steps, and then head straight towards the direction we first saw him, and I'm sure we'll find it."
Naruko nodded slowly, "Do you think it's really him?"
Sasuke said nothing as he glared straight ahead.
"Do you think... Do you think they got him?" Naruko asked in a strained voice.
Again, Sasuke said nothing.
The two sat side by side, Kane detailing his fight with Sasori of the Red Sand to the girl.
"Man, maybe it's a good thing I wasn't there..." Karin mumbled to herself, and Kane smirked in response.
"Don't say that. I want you there for every future fight. I'm going to need your help, Karin."
Karin raised an eyebrow at him, "You sure didn't seem keen on accepting my help earlier."
Kane nodded, "You're right. I was arrogant. I thought I could handle him by myself, but..."
"But?" She prodded.
"I should've died in there. If Sasori had been trying to kill me, I would be dead right now." He murmured quietly.
Karin nodded slowly at him.
"I can't afford to be so overconfident anymore. It almost got me killed, and next time I might not get a second chance... From now on, I'm going to start taking this more seriously."
Karin's eyes widened as she looked behind her. Kane raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Err... Nothing." She denied as she turned back to face him.
Kane narrowed his eyes at the girl, "They're coming, aren't they?"
Karin flinched slightly, and Kane sighed at her expected reaction. He slowly got to his feet and stretched, mindful of the still open wound on his neck. Karin stood as well, and eyed him cautiously.
"We're not staying." Kane said flatly at the hopeful look in the girl's eyes.
"Why not?!"
"I don't feel like it."
"It might do you some good to see them again!"
"It's not happening, Karin."
She scowled at him, "How are you going to get away then, wise guy? You're hurt, and low on Chakra!"
Kane smirked at her as he looked down at the water below them.
"Thankfully, I don't need much Chakra to use my Kekkei Genkai."
"What? What do you-" Karin was cut off as the water below her and Kane began rising, and then separated completely from the river. It slowly raised higher and higher, before taking off over the cave into the opposite direction of Naruko and Sasuke.
"Seriously, what the hell is your bloodline?!" Karin screeched.
"Pretty neat trick, huh? This is actually how I escaped Konoha." Kane spoke with pride.
Karin gave a look of longing behind her, in the direction she felt Naruko and Sasuke's Chakra signiatures, and then sighed with disappointment.
Sasuke felt the crunch of a piece of wood breaking beneath his shoe, and he glared harshly as he continued surveying the area. Hundreds of puppets, just lying around the cave he and Naruko entered in earlier.
No sign of Kane.
He glanced over at Naruko in concern. She'd been unusually quiet since walking inside the cave.
It was obvious that a huge battle took place here, and by the looks of things it happened very recently, too.
Sasuke felt anxiety curl within his belly. There was no sign of Kane, and no sign of any Akatsuki member.
Had they captured him?
Had he been too late?
"Sasuke." Naruko's voice caught his attention, and the boy turned to stare at his teammates back.
She turned to face him then, and gave him a bright smile, "He's fine. Don't be such a worry wart!"
Sasuke's eye twitched, "Hn."
She beamed then, "Don't deny it! You're worried about Kane! Well I'm not!" She boasted as if it was something to be proud of, pointing towards her chest with her thumb.
"Kane definitely won! There's no doubt about it, ttebayo!"
"How would you know, Idiot?" Sasuke asked as he rolled his eyes.
"I just do! Call it a woman's intuition!"
"That's not how it works."
"Yes it is!" She whined.
Sasuke shook his head as a small smile took over his features. He'd never admit it, but her words put him at ease, if only slightly.
He had a hard time imagining Kane Sanguis taking down an Akatsuki in one on one combat. It was just... Unbelievable to him.
Naruko sat down on one of the puppets, and Sasuke walked over and joined her. The two continued looking around from their prone positions, until Naruko turned to smile at him.
"Remember that time you broke Kane's nose, and we were talking about sending him to the hospital?"
Sasuke grunted, "Yeah, Kami he was so hopeless... I hadn't even been trying to hurt him. He just took it, right to the face."
Naruko laughed, "He looked so shocked, too! He really hadn't seen it coming, somehow."
"It's because he was hopeless."
Naruko sobered up slightly, "He refused to go to the hospital after that, too."
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I remember."
"It was so strange at the time, but he refused to go... The next day, he waltzed right on up to the bridge, his nose perfectly fine. I remember asking him how his nose healed, and he didn't really know."
Sasuke just watched his teammate as she grew lost in her memories.
"It bothered me at the time, ya know? Why wouldn't he go get checked out? It didn't make any sense to me back then. Now... Now I get it." She mumbled as she glared at the ground.
"Because he's a Jinchuriki."
Naruko grit her teeth, "But he's not!"
"I know that, idiot, but the rest of the village doesn't."
"It's just not fair. It should've been me."
"Maybe. Maybe not. Does it matter? What's done is done."
Naruko gave him a sad smile, "Yeah... What's done is done."
The two sat in silence for several long, drawn out moments.
"I really miss him, bastard. I didn't realize how badly I'd miss him if he were gone, until he'd left..."
Sasuke nodded, "I know."
"Everything just seemed... Duller, once he left, ya know? Like the entire village lost a lot of its energy, a lot of it's spark... It's color... Does that make sense?"
"It does."
Naruko continued to frown at the ground, "It's been over three years, Sasuke. Three years, and he was right here, in this very cave... And we missed our chance."
Sasuke kept silent.
"What if we don't get another chance? What if..." She took a deep breath, "Nevermind. There's no sense thinking that way. We'll just... do what we've always done. We'll wait, and hope..."
The two fell back into silence, before Sasuke finally spoke up, "I miss him too."
Naruko looked at him in shock, and then burst out laughing.
He gave the blonde an annoyed look as she tried to calm down, "You done yet?"
"Sorry! Sorry! It's just... It's not like you to say something like that, even if it's true."
"Hn."
She smiled widely at him.
He closed his eyes, "I'm allowed to miss him. He's part of Team 7. He's my family."
"Yeah. He's family." She smiled fondly.
"I know it sucks, idiot, but there's nothing we can do. Next time, we'll catch him for sure."
Naruko hummed at this, the smile still on her face as she continued, "Did you know I had a crush on him?"
Sasuke snorted, "Yeah, it was pretty obvious."
"Was it?" She asked as she smiled at him fondly.
Sasuke nodded, and she laughed quietly, "Maybe I should've just confessed then. I'm pretty sure he felt the same way, too. At least, I thought so at the time..." She trailed off as the smile fell away.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her, "Quit it, idiot."
"Quit what?"
"Blaming yourself. The Dead Last was smitten with you, he'd never hate you. Even if he did find out the truth, it wouldn't change anything, he'd forgive you for anything."
She smiled at him softly, "Thanks, Sasuke."
He grunted, and a twinkle appeared in her eyes, "There's the Bastard I know!"
He glared at her and she laughed as she hopped to her feet, "You've been so out of character today, bastard! Quit getting all emotional, geez!"
A tic mark appeared on his forehead as his eye began twitching, "I'm the one getting emotional?"
"Yup!" She said cheerily as Sasuke stood as well.
"Hn."
She laughed once more before heading for the entrance of the cave, "Come on, bastard, let's get out of here!"
"So what's the plan now?" Karin asked, and Kane merely shrugged in response.
"What kind of answer is that?! Don't you have some sort of plan?!"
"Nope." Kane said drily.
A tic mark appeared on Karin's forehead, "Kane!"
He shrugged, "Look, there's not much for us to do until we get word on Akatsuki."
She sighed, "Do you at least have a destination in mind? Where are we even going?"
"No clue."
"Kane!"
The two sat outside a fire pit, sitting next to each other and speaking quietly.
"Shouldn't one of us keep watch, at least?" Karin asked.
"Yeah. I'll take the first shift and wake you later."
She nodded as she yawned.
"Hey, Kane?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you hunting the Akatsuki?"
He stared at her, a calculating look in his eyes.
She backtracked slightly, attempting to explain herself better, "I mean, you could be doing anything. You said your only goal was to survive, so wouldn't it be smarter to hide? Why go after the very people that are looking for you?"
Kane shook his head, "No. I want... I want to survive."
She raised an eyebrow at his pathetic answer.
"I want to live in a world where I don't have to look over my shoulder every night. I want to live in a world where I'm not hunted."
"Okay... So how does going after them help you then?"
"I'm tired of always being weak. I'm tired of having other people determine my life and my choices. I'm tired of being hunted. Instead, I'm going to hunt them down myself. I'm going to kill anyone who would threaten me and my life, and then maybe someday I can live without the constant threat to my existence."
Karin stared at him in shock, not expecting an answer like that. She mulled it over for several minutes in silence.
"What about Konoha?"
Kane raised an eyebrow, irritation in his eyes, "What about it?"
"They're hunting you, right?"
He shook his head, "They're trying to catch me, but they aren't a threat to my life. I'm capture on sight, not kill on sight. They want the Kyuubi back."
She bit her lip before asking, "And if they were to change you to kill on sight?"
Kane turned his head away from her, shielding his face from her view, "You're asking a lot of questions. You should go to sleep."
Karin nodded. Clearly, he didn't want to talk about this anymore. She got up and laid down on the makeshift beds they'd made.
"Goodnight, Kane."
Kane stared into the embers, her question repeating itself over and over again in his mind.
End of Chapter 50
