DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Kankuro finally came out of his fevered dreams to find the Hokage's apprentice, Sakura, at his bedside. He had given the Konoha shinobi the piece of fabric he'd managed to take from Sasori of the Red Sand but needed to alert them to what had happened following the battle.

"It's not only Gaara," he said in just over a whisper. Talking was hard, but the guilt he felt was even worse over the danger he'd put his friend in. "They've got Naruko." The temperature in the room dropped and aside from the sharp Killing Intent, it actually made him initially feel better before he shivered violently.

"Sensei," Sakura said in a soothing but scolding tone before turning back to the puppet master. She really wondered about her former sensei's relationship with the Namikaze princess: they were apparently close enough for her sensei to lose control of his oppressive chakra like that. "What do you mean, they have Naruko-hime?" She wanted to cover the poor, chilled shinobi, but still needed to draw out the remaining poison in his system. Temari offered him a cup of water and looked stricken.

"She gave me a kunai last time," Kankuro managed to say before coughing terribly. Temari cursed. "She came alone when I dropped it. I'm sure she went after him."

"That idiot," Temari scoffed as she turned around. She would not allow herself to break down. Hatake Kakashi had summoned his ninken and one had already left by the time she called out to him. "Hatake-san, I think I know how to get her back, but I don't know if she'll come." She turned to Kankuro. "She was the one who put out the chakra pulse," she stated more than asked.

Kankuro nodded then winced as pain shot through his abdomen. "I think so." He had lost consciousness but knew that Naruko wouldn't just leave him without aid.

Kakashi closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, breathing deeply. Being emotional wasn't going to help Naruko or anyone else, not even him. He was angry with himself, however. They had already been told that a huge chakra pulse had alerted the Suna shinobi to Kankuro's downed position, and he should've assumed it was Naruto who may have put it out. He hadn't seen his girl - THE girl - woman - in over a year, though… "What is your idea, Temari-hime?"

Temari pulled out the Hiraishin kunai Naruko had given her over two years before, wondering what would happen to her little brother if Naruko returned empty-handed. "We could try?" Kakashi gave her a nod, but nothing happened. At first.

"Mother fucker!"

How much more shit could she deal with?! If only her Super Pervert godfather had been around when she felt Kankuro's kunai, along with most of the puppet master's remaining chakra, dropping, but nooooo. He was out supposedly spying, which potentially meant enjoying the company of one or more of any number of prostitutes she had come to really like. Had Jiraiya taken her with him, she wouldn't be alone and dodging what felt like every weapon that could fit into a fucking barrel - and now Temari was calling her, too?

Naruko threw a special kunai toward Gaara's body, not knowing what kind of jutsu she was putting herself in between, and flashed to him. Either her presence or what she KNEW was Itachi's chakra disturbance allowed her to grab her Kazekage friend. She flashed to Temari, but not before taking a barrage of hits as she shielded Gaara from an explosion.

Five minutes after Temari threw the kunai - and when she'd already almost given up hope - her little brother and the woman she thought of as a sister collapsed in front of her. Neither moved. "Oh my God!" She ran to them, but Hatake-san was faster.

"Naruko?" Kakashi asked in a whisper, feeling for a pulse. It was weak, and the skin on her back had been terribly burned. "Sakura, quickly!" He placed the love of his life on a bed across from the puppet master and wanted to cover her. He'd given up on thinking of the blonde as anything else: he just couldn't get over her.

"On it sensei," Sakura said, as poised as her mentor. She quickly summoned Katsuya, knowing that the slug summons would be upset over Naruko's injuries. "Katsuya, Naruko's been hurt but I have multiple victims." Katsuya bowed her head after looking around and disappeared before reappearing in a much larger form. The slug that was taller than her sensei - who didn't seem phased by that at all - divided itself into three smaller slugs and scaled on top of her patients. Sakura shooed her to the side of Kankuro and continued pulling out poison. She put a sample of the poison on a seal and was pleased with the reaction.

Making the antidote was now simply a matter of time.

"What about Naruko?" Kakashi asked worriedly.

Katsuya was the one who spoke. "Multiple broken bones and internal bleeding. I believe she's also been poisoned. Otherwise, the Kyuubi would be healing her at a faster rate." The Slug began healing the younger blonde it's primary summoner was so fond of - Tsunade's goddaughter, she reminded herself - and wondered if the toads knew of Naruko's condition. "My lady will want an update."

"Of course," Sakura said while readjusting her hitai-ate. She continued writing down medicinal plants and more general items she would need in order to heal Kankuro and Naruko. Sakura hadn't known that Naruko was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki until now, and although alarming, she couldn't consider it more outside of her perspective as a healer. Hopefully, her blonde senpai would recover faster, considering what she knew of jinchuurikis.

"Kazekage-sama is suffering from chakra exhaustion," another segment of Katsuya said simply. That made things easy for her. Katsuya could easily provide chakra. After that, it would merely be a matter of the young Kazekage waking up. Or so she thought.

"Did they take Shukaku from him?" Temari asked.

"I don't... believe so," Katsuya replied, although she was unsure. "In only one known case has a host survived an extraction, and that was for less than an hour."

Sakura gave her list to a Suna shinobi who sunshinned away. As she pulled more poison from Kankuro, she saw her sensei holding Naruko's hand. Although most of his face was covered, the man looked lost. A childish little part of her couldn't wait to tell Ino. Rather than scold herself for it, she moved to pull the poison out of Naruko, sampling it to ensure that it was the same thing Kankuro had been poisoned with. Naruko let out a hacking, bloody cough.

She couldn't see well, but her nose still worked. Fearing being captured and experimented on as soon as she smelled the antiseptic, Naruko flew into action, just as an elderly man and woman stepped into the room. They were arguing.

"The White Fang of Konoha!" Naruko had no idea of why the old woman was calling her that, but she caught her punch, managing to throw her backward before she slumped into strong arms as she fell.

"'m nah da Whi' Fang," she slurred, losing consciousness again as Kakashi had to mentally roll his eyes at the whole spectacle.

"I've got you, Naru-chan," he said before gingerly putting her back in her bed. He brushed blonde hair out of her face. "Crazy woman," he said softly, "I can fight my own battles, you know."

Naruko responded with a soft snore, although in her mind, she was greatly relieved by Kakashi's distinctive smell and smooth voice. The woman who had mistaken Kakashi for his father was now having an argument with her brother.

"...There's a strong resemblance but this man's not the White Fang of Konoha. Sister, take a closer look."

"No way! I was just pretending to be stupid," the elderly woman cackled after a beat.

"Shtupi' ol' hag," Naruko said rather clearly in her sleep.

Kakashi would've laughed had things not been so serious, had she not been so hurt. He pushed more hair behind her ear and bent down to whisper in Naruko's ear. "Easy there, Princess. I'm here; I won't let anyone take you away." Naruko shivered and turned toward him as Sakura continued to examine her.

"She's healing... from the outside in?" the pinkette breathed to herself. As she pulled more poison out, it almost felt to her as if Naruko's body was helping her! The amount of poison she was able to pull was double what she'd manipulated from Kankuro, and running a quick diagnostic, she found that the small pools of poison in the blonde's system were working their way toward her hands from under her skin! Medically, it seemed impossible or at least highly unlikely.

Gaara coughed from the bed he was laying in. He looked down at the hand holding his and tried not to flinch. Once again, Temari was holding on too tightly. "Shukaku says Ku-" he stopped himself, being SCREECHED at by his tenant that Kurama would not react well to his name being known. Shukaku hadn't meant to tell him and only mentioned his "oldest, worst brother" by name once when he was sure that Gaara would die and while crying over being put into that statue. Temari brought her youngest brother a glass of water and Gaara was pleased that no one seemed the wiser. "Shukaku tells me that the Kyuubi heals superficial wounds first so that his host doesn't appear weakened."

"This woman's a jinchuuriki?" Chiyo asked in unease. The White Fang's son glared at her as he moved in front of the blonde. "Why would Konoha send their jinchuuriki to aid us in such a dangerous endeavor?! Her beast could've been taken, too!"

Gaara closed his eyes and almost wanted to laugh at Chiyo-sama's prejudices and beliefs that he felt held no place in their modern world. "Naruko is the one who saved me," he said simply, meaning much more than when she'd rescued him from death a short time ago.

Chiyo didn't understand at all.

"Temari!" Naruko hissed while waking up in a start. Muscled arms curled around her and she was instantly calmed as she tried to remember what had happened. "Kashi - is it really you?"

"Mhmm," Kakashi said, moving away from his blonde to stand up and trying not to yawn. The position they were in could lead to a lot of questions. "You were sleeping fitfully," he said, scratching the back of his hair. "I had to hold you down while you slept; it was either that or tie you up."

There was only a soft light in the room, but Naruko couldn't help the smile that softly bloomed on her face at seeing what she was pretty sure was blushing on his part. "Temari summoned me: do you know where she is?"

Kakashi nodded. "She's here. We're in Suna, Naruko." Seeing the younger woman's anxious expression return, he moved to sit back down on her bed. "Your rescue of the Kazekage was successful."

"Kankuro?"

"...was found within minutes after your signal. He's being treated in the hospital. Sakura made an antidote to the poison Sasori used." He raised his hand, "Tsunade-sama wants an immediate report." Naruko nodded her head while Kakashi summoned Pakkun.

"Here you are," Pakkun said disagreeably, giving his summoner a little glare. "Boss summoned me to find you yesterday, Naruko. You should've seen him panicking, his tail between his..."

"Pakkun," Kakashi said darkly, a reprimand clear in his tone. "Tsunade-sama needs Naruko's report."

Pakkun hopped into Naruko's arms, enjoying the way her fingers knew just the right way to scratch him. "Fine," he said petulantly. "I can listen while you scratch, Naruko." He liked the way the female continued her soft giggling and liked, even more, the way that his summoner bristled over the whole thing. "I have your pink former Genin and Suna's reports. Tell me what happened, hime."

"I can summon a toad so you don't have to run, Pakkun."

"Do you trust a messaging toad with a verbal report?" Kakashi asked. Naru's dominant hand was still healing. Minato-sensei didn't like to use messaging toads or frogs with verbal reports, because they were known to omit information carelessly while including other things that didn't need to be discussed.

Naruko wanted to say that she did - and she really did trust all of the toads, BUT - the messaging toads were really gossipy unless it was life and death, and Gamakichi had so much dirt on her... "Thank you for your help, Pakkun."

"Right there. Oh yes," Pakkun growled, his little leg kicking with her ministrations.

Kakashi realized then and there that he could be jealous of a ninken. "Pakkun, enough."

"Alright, Princess. Start from the beginning," the pug growled as he sat up straight.

Naruko tapped her chin. "Jiraiya was out... checking on his contacts," she began, not missing at all the way Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "and I was doing some training. I could barely feel Kankuro's chakra when he threw his Hiraishin kunai."

Kakashi didn't mention that the puppet master had never thrown it, but wondered how he'd activated the kunai in spite of this.

"It made it a little difficult to find him, and I checked a couple of... nearby places first. When I did find him, he was in bad shape, but one of my toads relayed that Gaara had been taken, so he was my first priority." She frowned, feeling guilty for that. "He IS Kazekaze, and knowing them, I think that Kankuro would've wanted me to prioritize Gaara-kun. Sama," she corrected herself, feeling stupid for calling him that in front of anyone else.

She didn't see the way Kakashi's eyes narrowed further at her little slip, and if she had, she would've apologized for using improper, impolite honorifics.

"Sasori had left multiple trails, but between using clones and the Hiraishin, the Akatsuki's base was fairly easy to find. They used a Five-Point Barrier, but again, with clones," Naruko shrugged. That had been all too easy. All hell had broken loose once she'd broken through that giant boulder, however. She shuddered just thinking about it. She felt Kakashi's large warm hand take hers but laughed that Pakkun's paw had been faster. Now the pug's forefoot was between their hands. She cleared her throat, looking up at them both in gratitude, and went on.

"When I entered, only two Akatsuki were actually present, Deidara and Sasori. I took off one of Deidara's legs and his other arm - he'd been injured earlier - but it didn't stop him. Somehow, he was even able to use ninjutsu, creating another insanely large explosion! I don't get..."

"Easy," Kakashi said, running his hand through Naruko's soft hair. He gave a smirking Pakkun a look that said "Shut up," and asked her to continue. "One thing at a time, first things first."

"Right," Naruko said, her eyes taking a faraway look for the first time in her report. She took a deep breath. "I can't believe Itachi was there... as a projection, I guess. All of them were present, I think. I KNOW it was Itachi," she said darkly, wondering how low the man she once loved had sunk. "There was a guy with the Rinnegan: Ero-sennin had described it before; one of his past students had it."

"Gaara's chakra was being siphoned off into this huge, disgusting statue. It had..." Naruko closed her eyes, feeling Kurama's fury - and weirder, his fear - ripple through her like it did back in the cave. "It had clawed hands, closed eyes: NINE of them, Kakashi! NINE of them - and Gaara's chakra was going into the statue right along with his beast's! Sorry I called him that, Kyuubi-san," she accidentally said out loud.

"Shukaku," she meant, saying the Ichibi's commonly known name to Kakashi, feeling embarrassed. "Kyuubi-san won't tell me his name." She was grateful that Kakashi didn't look at her as if she had just said something insane. He only listened.

"My name's none of their fucking business. Hurry up and finish this bullshit so I can talk to you about that statue, brat!"

"Okay! Gosh!" Naruko pouted back at the fox. He could be so pushy!

"I'd been fighting Sasori for a while when I felt Temari's kunai call me. I flashed over to Gaara and grabbed him; that's when the explosion went off." She shook her head and remembered that she wasn't sure about the current condition of those she went up against. "I had Gaara so I just followed Temari's kunai signature, but I'm not sure if I was able to kill EITHER of them, Kashi! I'd like to think that Deidara blew himself and that statue up, but I have doubts about even HIM being dead. Plus, Sasori wasn't even a real human! He had turned himself into a puppet," she gulped, feeling bile again rise in her throat, "and I wasn't able to put a seal on him. He had so many damn weapons and... bodies," she said, beginning to shake the more she thought about it. "Just how strong are these people?!"

Kakashi wrapped his arms around her, wondering the same thing. Eventually, he spoke. "I hate to ask this, but is there anything else?"

Naruto shook her head, but there was still that one thing that didn't sit right with her. "Itachi's chakra disruption... may have been what allowed me to reach Gaara."

Kakashi pulled away from her and sighed heavily. He knew very well how much both remaining Uchihas - but especially Itachi - had hurt his blonde. "Is that wishful thinking?"

"Maybe," Naruko admitted, then turned to the pug whose tail was wagging. "Can you remember all of that, Pakkun?"

"PLEASE," he exclaimed haughtily. "Anything else, Kakashi?"

Kakashi shook his head and ran his hand through his messy hair. "Maa, Pakkun has a photographic memory, Naruko-hime," he said, stretching. "We should probably get word to Jiraiya-sama, too. Get moving, Pakkun."

"Oh shit," Naruko said and summoned a toad. "Hey, Michi, can you please let The Pervert know that I'm fine and in Suna?"

"Rightee-oh, Naruko," he said cheesily before dispelling.

The Namikaze princess moved over in her hospital bed, making room. "I'm fine now, really," she told the man she'd had at least a crush on for years. She softly patted the mattress beside her. "Will you sleep with me, please?" She gave him her best puppy eyes.

"That'sssssss... dangerous, Naruko," Kakashi drawled, a little hint of panic in his voice.

"But you were already holding me," she said, her eyes welling up with tears. "And everything that happened was all so harrowing." She very slowly batted her eyes, twice. "I need you, Kashi."

"Okay," he finally said, laying down on the outside of the bed as he lamented her flawless execution of the puppy eyes no jutsu. And her beauty. And her charm.

Naruko wrapped her arms around him and pressed him against her. Big blue eyes looked up at him: soft, earnest, and swirling with emotion.

"Thank you." Naruko snuggled her head into his chest, inhaling deeply and obviously, uncaring of who saw or knew.

Kakashi glared at the Kazekage who only minutes later, looked through the door. Gaara-sama, or "Gaara-kun," was glaring at him, but Kakashi refused to get up. He pretended to sleep as he cuddled the blonde closer to him. He'd hidden a kunai under her pillow earlier anyway. He'd ask Naru about the Kazekage in the morning.

For this moment, at least, she was his.