Chapter 21: The Fourth Shinobi World War Begins
Chapter Text
Sakura's feet carry her through the streets, her seldom-worn doctor's coat around her body and hair tucked up into a knit cap she fished out of the lost and found box. She avoids the roofs and feigns a civilian's chakra level and gait. Guilt thrums in her chest as she hurries her pace slightly past the turn towards the neighbourhood where her parents live. It's too late at night, they're already asleep, she assures her own guilt; seeing them tomorrow will be fine. Whether it was necessary or not, her efforts to avoid being drawn into interaction work and she makes it to her building.
She lets herself in and doesn't bother turning on the light switch as she goes straight to the bathroom to shower.
When she's dry and steps into her bedroom to dress for bed, she pauses as the nightgown falls over her face.
Her bedroom is just as normal. And that's the problem.
Sakura sniffs at the nightgown, pulls it off, tilts her head down and sniffs at her own body, turns, and grabs at the dirty laundry in the bin. It has a faint, a very faint scent of Kakashi, barely any at all, masked under the strong hospital smell of disinfectants and medicines and dried flecks of blood. And she's just washed every scent of him off herself, like an idiot.
Animalistic, instinctual panic surges up in her despite her rational mind's exasperation with it.
Angry at herself, she pulls the nightgown back on and gets into bed.
It takes her ten minutes to realize that being angry at herself for being primordially upset is no more helpful an emotion to sleep than her brainstem panic is in the first place.
When she accidentally rips a pillow in two, she knows something needs to be done. Grumbling, she yanks the coat back on and pulls on the boots.
She doesn't bother feigning being a civilian as she speeds across Konoha, but her luck is in and she doesn't run into anyone this time either.
Cautiously, she runs her fingers along Kakashi's windowsill. There's an obvious trap seal, but it responds to her chakra and seems to deactivate. Bracing herself, she opens the window and rolls through into a defensive crouch. Nothing happens.
Sakura hangs her coat on the chair, slips off her boots and throws herself into the bed. Immediately, she lets out a happy sigh, burying her face in the pillow to get a good long whiff of Kakashi's scent.
It's not as good as having him there himself, of course, but her hind brain is mollified. She gets up to close the window and is startled into a little shriek at the milky eyes peering through it at her.
"I apologize for startling you, Sakura-chan," Hinata-chan says softly. "I would have flared my chakra but I didn't wish to attract attention from anyone else."
Sakura presses her hand to her chest and feigns nonchalance. "Oh, no, it's fine, Hinata-chan! Do you need something? How… how did you know I was here?"
"Naruto-kun told me about things so I've been keeping an eye out for you," Hinata-chan says. "May I come in briefly? I have some things for you."
Indeed, Hinata-chan is lugging a truly enormous bag that somehow squeezes through the small window. She opens it. Pillows, blankets, duvets, covers, and cushions tumble out.
"Don't worry about getting the ones you don't like back to me," she says apologetically, "but I hope some of them will suffice—at least, for tonight, at least, until you can do your own nest shopping. Sorry to presume to interrupt you, but I thought—at least I hope…"
"Hinata-chan, you are an angel."
Hinata waves her hands feebly as Sakura hugs her. "It was nothing… the very very least I could do… and of course if there is anything else I can do…!"
"I'll tell you. Thank you so much."
"Well, I'll let you rest," Hinata climbs up to the open window. "Goodbye!"
A nest…
Pregnant omegas, especially when separated from their alphas, often increase the perceived comfort and security of their sleeping areas…
Or something like that, as a little footnote in some medical tome.
Perceived comfort and security… did that equal… more blankets? Ridiculous. Very sweet of Hinata-chan, of course. But unnecessary.
Sakura gets into the bed with its one (1) duvet and one (1) pillow.
She is usually a quick and easy sleeper, but sleep does not come. She just… isn't comfortable.
She gets out of bed, feeling a bit foolish, and grabs another pillow. And it might be a little cold, so another blanket wouldn't hurt...
Twenty minutes later she is cocooned in a fluffy fort, Kakashi's pillow with his all-important scent directly under her head while his sheet is the innermost layer. One super squishy body pillow is snuggled in her arms and another is supporting her back, with the shuriken patterned duvet forming a kind of canopy layer over top of everything.
It may be irrational but it is also blissful.
—
Yamanaka Santa is not a bad sensor, but the Seven Tails' chakra is so massive, even halved, that when it appeared suddenly and rapidly Santa didn't really need to alert the other three members of Team Kakashi that they were about to encounter the jinchuuriki Fuu.
Fuu struggled a bit with her flying ability in the early weeks after childbirth and having half of her tailed beast forcibly removed, but it has been two years after all. The winged silhouette that appears out of the mists darts forward with nimble grace, all the more remarkable when she gets closer and it's revealed that she has a toddler strapped to her front.
"Wow hey!" she calls as she hovers down to a landing on a rocky outcropping. "Kakashi! Anko! And you." She points at Shikamaru. "You're my friend, right?" Fuu squints as the dusky blue boy strapped to her front attempts to twist his head around to look at them. Her face clears. "Shikamaru! Yeah! My friend Shikamaru, aren't you?"
Shikamaru presses his lips together. It's become something of a tell for him. Kakashi wonders if he should mention it. It's the unvoiced "mmmmm" at the beginning of the mendokuse (troublesome) that he wants to say. Instead, he simply says, "Yeah."
Fuu nods in satisfaction, then turns her attention to the last member of the team. "You, I don't know."
No one says anything for a long moment. Kakashi realizes he was unconsciously waiting for Fuu to ask Santa to be one of her friends. Yet Fuu isn't saying anything of the kind.
"Fuu-san, this is Yamanaka Santa, a Leaf chuunin," Kakashi says. "Santa-san, this is Fuu-san, the jinchuuriki of the Seven Tails and a Waterfall jounin."
"A Cloud jounin," Fuu corrects, twisting slightly to display the mark on the hitai-ate on her arm. "Old man Raikage had to give my old village something or other... he said it was a bargain though, mostly to 'save face' or something. You wanna know the truth, it's probably for the best for everyone, ya know. I've been... just a little expensive for my old village over the years, and with the Akatsuki and then the Nozomi, it wasn't like I could go on missions for 'em either..."
"We're on a diplomatic mission to the Raikage," Kakashi says, while his mind works in the background on this new piece of information. "Please escort us to him."
—
"Come in! Did you have breakfast? I'll make you breakfast. You need to eat!"
"Hello okaasan," Sakura says awkwardly as her mother dashes back into the house towards the kitchen. She wiggles out of her boots and grabs her usual pair of house slippers to walk after her. "Is dad here?"
"No, he's on another trip. Only within the Land of Fire, thankfully. I told him, you stay away from the western border until this war business clears up again!" Her mother opens the rice cooker and ladles steaming okayu into a large bowl, then opens a jar to add a pair of umeboshi to the top. "Here, eat, eat!"
Sakura sits down at the low table cross-legged and begins to eat eagerly. Her mother's okayu is so comforting, after all, and umeboshi is one of her favourite foods. Her mother coughs slightly and Sakura suddenly becomes aware of her own rudeness, not to mention how unladylike her posture is compared to her mother's perfect kneeling.
"So you're a married lady now, Sakura."
Sakura swallows a mouthful of the gruel. "Um. Yes. I know it didn't happen in the proper way…"
Mrs. Haruno waves this aside. "Oh, with an omega daughter one has to be prepared for things to happen suddenly. I'm just relieved that you've ended up with such a respectable match! Hokage-sama told me about everything, and I can understand why you've been so busy. I just want you to know that I'll help you adjust! For example, I bet you haven't even thought about your clothes."
"My clothes?"
"Yes, of course your clothes! I've written to your uncle Shouta… let me get his letter back, actually…" Her mother gets up. The uncle in question was a silks merchant. "I don't know if any of the Hatake kimono survived the terrible calamities we've had, but even if some have, you'll certainly need more… and underwear… and proper zori… and of course as your pregnancy progresses you'll need padding…"
"Okaasan… I mean, I appreciate the offer and maybe I will need one kimono, or maybe two, but I really don't think I'll need more than that."
"When you wear them multiple times a week, you'll need more than you think," her mother clucks, fingering through letters in a file drawer. "Not to mention that you have to think about seasonality."
"But I'll only need them for special occasions. I mean… maybe I should get the Hatake crest for my haori…? But kimono are not practical for most kunoichi."
Her mother stops. Slowly, her head turns towards her daughter.
Sakura eats a spoonful of okayu and tries to look more casual than she feels.
"But you can't be a kunoichi now! What about the baby?!"
Thinking quickly, Sakura looks over at the clock. "Oh wow! It's later than I thought, I need to go do my shift at the hospital!"
Her mother's face clears. "Oh, well, if it's just the hospital…"
"Bye, thank you for breakfast!" she says as she makes her escape.
—
The Raikage keeps them waiting. It's an old diplomatic trick for a reason: scope out any irregularities in the foreigners' actions, impress on them their unimportance to their hosts, keep them off-balance. Although it was Cloud, via Darui, who had made a new overture of alliance to the Leaf not so long ago, the progress had been slow. The Leaf had focused on the modest goal of getting Cloud to participate in the joint chuunin exams. There was certainly no level of alliance between them that could be relied upon in a war. Official neutrality was all Tsunade asked Kakashi to secure, meaning not only that Cloud wouldn't aid Rock, but also that Cloud would not make any opportunistic assaults against potentially valuable targets along the border between Lightning and Fire. And in return, the Leaf could offer…?
In other words, they were not here to demand, or even to negotiate; they were here to plea.
"Appeal to his love of peace," Tsunade advised, "and his hatred of Onoki."
Team Kakashi is not ushered into a room to wait and sweat, however; they are rather told with a friendly smile to make themselves at home in the village until the Raikage can "find time in his schedule." Anko makes a "booty call" gesture to Kakashi in front of Santa's mystified face and marches off, doubtlessly to find Killer Bee. The other three stroll with deliberate relaxation.
Shikamaru sights a building with a flag bearing a large backwards horse kanji, the hidari uma. "Is that a shogi dojo?" he says in his most bored voice, a tone so flat and dull that Kakashi knows instantly that the Nara is intensely interested.
"Looks like it. Want to check it out?" says Santa.
"It'll pass the time, if the captain doesn't mind."
"You two go on in," Kakashi says. "I'd rather read."
He wanders, seemingly aimlessly, but in actuality he's doing a shallow but thorough sweep of the village. As he walks through a residential area, he spots Fuu again, just finishing taking her laundry off the line.
"Oh! Hello!" she calls cheerfully. "Have you seen Raikage-sama yet?"
"Not yet," he replies, looking up from his book but not closing it.
"He probably won't see you 'til tomorrow, then," she says, unclipping a toddler-sized blanket and folding it. "Have you had dinner? Tengai is asleep already. You could come in and have something, or even just tea, ya know!"
Free refreshment and the possibility of information? Kakashi doesn't have to think twice. "Thanks very much," he says as he closes his book.
As Fuu rattles around the kitchen, which is visible to him in the open concept little house, Kakashi tests the boundaries by being a trifle obvious about sifting through a pile of books on a table. When Fuu doesn't react, he sets to a thorough sweep of the place, but even a shallow search would have easily uncovered a pile of unopened envelopes addressed Fuu, Eight Tails Jinchuuriki in the Hidden Cloud in a bold but precise handwriting.
When Fuu still doesn't seem to react or even notice he opens one and pulls out the contents.
Fuu,
I don't know if you are even reading these? Am I wasting my ink and paper? You never say a thing to the messenger, so I think at some level you are glad I am sending you things with my scent, at least. I can understand why, even if you aren't reading what I write. I ache with longing to even catch a whiff of your scent again, down to the marrow of my bones. If it's a suffering I can spare you, I'll keep going on like this.
So then why do I still write? Perhaps it does ease my agony a little to imagine that you read them. Am I wrong to imagine touching you even with my words?
Kakashi breaks off from reading to look at Fuu, who still seems oblivious to his snooping. He looks down again.
But perhaps you do read them. What can I say in that case? You've read all my justifications in my previous letters, and it hasn't changed your mind. I still won't regret what I've done. It's for the best for you and our son in the long term. You two will, without doubt, live forever in a perfect world; I will do whatever it takes to make that happen. If I have to bear being hated by you in the meantime, if I have to bear never making it to my own perfect world, I will bear it.
I love you endlessly. Even sea bream has no flavour when eaten alone.
Be mindful of your health in the changing weather.
Kisame
Kakashi folds the letter and puts it back in the envelope, then ponders. Does he need to try to reseal it? The careless way it's been dumped into a pile suggests she doesn't look at them. But then why hasn't she discarded or destroyed them?
"I hope you like Lightning food," Fuu calls cheerfully. "I never really learned to cook until I came here, ya know. I made river cabbage salad, to go with some yak meat pies I picked up on the way home."
"Sounds delicious," Kakashi answers.
The bakery pies are made with leavened puff pastry in the Land of Lightning style, hearty and not heavily seasoned. The 'river cabbage' is evidently some kind of seaweed, which is familiar enough to Kakashi's Land of Fire palate, even if the seasoning is again rather bland. He's able to make a good meal without faking enjoyment.
"How is everyone?" Fuu says. "How are Naruto and Hinata-chan and Sakura-chan? She still doing that training?"
"Naruto grows more powerful every time I see him," Kakashi says. "He is obnoxiously indulgent of little Tampopo. Hinata has blossomed in confidence since leaving her old clan. Sakura... came back from her training an equal to Naruto in strength, and has done me the honour of becoming my wife."
"Ehhhh?" Fuu's fork clatters down. "Was it a force bond?!"
A sudden attack, and one that Kakashi honestly didn't expect. He'd been hoping to spin the match, without actually crudely saying so, as a shrewd internal alliance among the Leaf's elite. Now he has to decide whether to outright lie about it.
Fuu saves him the trouble, clapping a hand over her mouth and then laughing. "Oh geez! That was dumb of me, wasn't it? Like either of you would be without your suppressants and stuff. Specially Sakura-chan, she's like, a genius..."
Kakashi takes a small hit to the ego that he's not the one being called a genius for once.
"I didn't mean to be offensive, y'know," she adds, with a hint of anxiety. "I mean, heck, it's not like it's bad, is it? I mean, it's what I did..."
Fuu turns and looks towards the place where Kakashi was only moments before reading her extremely private correspondence, but shows no sign of having realized that Kakashi was snooping.
"Maybe I'm not one to talk," she says, turning back to her plate and pushing little strands of river cabbage around with her fork. "Sorry. Forget I said anything about all that. I don't know how to read people at all, still..."
"It's completely fine."
Her lip twists into a humourless smile. "I used to think I could just trust my gut, but it turns out guts can lie as much as anything. Isn't that funny?"
Kakashi nods, not thinking it funny at all.
A messenger bird taps at the window, relieving the tension with a summons to the Raikage office.
On his walk back Kakashi ponders again the letter and what it means about what Kisame thinks he is working for.
Living forever in a perfect world.
And he thinks about all the rumours of the drug, or drug-like jutsu, that Nozomi is using to gain addicts and devotees, and how Sasuke interacted with the others according to Neji's report during that reconnoissance mission. It seemed like a genjutsu caster and his targets. Tsukuyomi? A pleasant one? One that would somehow last forever? How?
But how did that relate to capturing the tailed beasts? It was true that Nozomi apparently hadn't created any of its own jinchuurki. Could the tailed beasts be used to power a massive genjutsu? How? It didn't make any sense. After all, someone under genjutsu would still be prone to all the ordinary deaths of the body, not least of which thirst, which would quickly claim a poor soul left in a genjutsu for weeks.
A perfect world forever.
With a serene face but a stormy heart, Kakashi enters the Tower of Lightning.
—
Sakura opens the door to examining room three to find not Nara Rei for her yearly check-up but instead Shiranui Genma, experimentally mangling a tongue depressor in his mouth instead of his usual senbon.
"Sakura-san," Genma says, flipping the used tongue depressor into the trash. "Hokage-sama sent me with a message for you."
He holds out the scroll, which Sakura takes in some confusion. She breaks the seal and opens it.
We've received word that Team Shikaku was surprised attacked along the border with Water. Fortunately they were able to hold out long enough for Team Keiko which was in the area to reinforce them, but it's turned into a siege battle against the town. I'm not sure yet whether Water is allied with Earth or whether this is just an opportunistic attempt for them to get access to the mines in that area. I've sent what regular reinforcements that I can spare, but I need a medic ninja to go. Please write down the name of the person you recommend for this task on the included paper and send it back with my guard.
To send such a thing as a sealed message, rather than summon her? Why ask her at all? Surely Tsunade-shishou is as familiar as Sakura with the talents and weaknesses of the available medical ninja of Konoha.
Unfortunately, despite Tsunade-shishou's aggressive promotion of both basic and advanced medical skills, the chakra precision required for advanced medical jutsu is simply beyond the reach of many otherwise talented ninja. And with the war just started in the west, compounded with Konoha's recurring losses over the years, the hospital is already stripped down to only those medical ninja who for one reason or another are not suited to the battlefield.
Except for Sakura herself. Sakura, obviously, is among the elite of the entire world on the battlefield. It would be false modesty to pretend otherwise.
But Tsunade-shishou didn't just order her to go. Why didn't she want Sakura to go?
No, that wasn't it either. If she didn't want Sakura to go, she wouldn't do this whole charade with the message delivered in private with trusted messengers. The purpose of this charade, Sakura realizes, is to give Sakura an out.
This is the fork in the road: is she a purely village-based medical ninja, like Sandaime-sama's wife Biwako had been after her marriage? Or is she actually going to get on the battlefield again, even while pregnant?
She can see underneath the underneath clearly. Tsunade-shishou does want her to go-her mentor is pig-headed enough that if she didn't think Sakura could handle it, she'd absolutely not let her beloved student take the risk. But at the same time, Tsunade-shishou is so tender. Even in the face of such awful circumstances, she will not force Sakura to join the battle against her will. And even more so, Tsunade is giving her cover for whatever choice she makes by making the request in this clandestine fashion. Nobody has to know that she made the choice.
Once Sakura straightens out in her mind exactly what she is being asked and why she is being asked it, she doesn't hesitate to write Hatake Sakura on the included card and hand it over to Genma.
—
Darui looked rather stiff as he ushered Kakashi in to see the Raikage, which didn't exactly bode well for the meeting, but the Raikage was everything that Tsunade could have hoped for and more.
"Onoki is such a stubborn ass," Ay rumbled, pushing a paperweight around on his desk as if it represented the Iwa leader to him. "Greedy, grasping. Anyone else would have passed on to a successor decades ago, but he'll hang onto the hat until he's the same dust as his jutsu. And Water is a land of maniacs. They can't even restrain themselves from slaughtering each other. You Konoha ninja may be fools, but you're not half the danger the others are. Not a tenth!"
This was not overly complimentary to the Leaf, but as he appeared to be leading up to an actual alliance, Kakashi kept his mouth shut.
Kumo had intelligence that Kiri was already making a move on the Land of Fire, and the Raikage laid out before Kakashi an ambitious plan of attack down from Lightning, through the Land of Water and towards Kiri itself, which would doubtless pull any and all Mist fighters into retreat from the Land of Fire to protect their village. If it didn't, they would just march on to relieve the Leaf fighters directly. And when the dust cleared, Konoha would support redrawn borders here, here, here, and also here, agreed?
Kakashi agreed.
And so, rather than drinking a cup of yak milk tea before lying down on a suspiciously uncomfortable bed, getting enough sleep to have energy to spend the next few weeks kissing the ass of the Raikage just to gain a grudging agreement not to help their enemies, Kakashi is already many kilometres away the same evening of his arrival, making traditional Lightning-style camp hanging off cliffs.
"If I may say so," Kakashi volunteers to Darui, who is supervising the hammering of spikes into the cliff face, "wouldn't the gully be a more reasonable place to make camp?"
Darui looks down into the gully impassively. "No." Then he smiles. "You won't fall."
"We've only lost fifteen people this year to tents breaking," Atsui says, coming up to smack Kakashi on the back. "Good odds!"
"That's not true," his sister Samui says reprovingly, and then, less helpfully, "not fifteen, anyway."
"Nobody can prove that's what happened to Dee," says another Cloud nin whose name Kakashi doesn't recall hearing.
Darui scoffs. "Dee! Dee was a moron."
The Cloud nin murmur in agreement.
Kakashi looks down into the gully. Down, down, down into the gully.
Another hand on his shoulder, this time Darui's, squeezing gently. Kakashi looks over.
"Sorry," Darui says, "Just a little teasing, you know? Anyway, I'm the one supervising the camp set-up. You know you can trust me, right? Well, no, you don't, but anyway. You can."
With an awkward, too hard squeeze and jerky motion, Darui breaks away and shuffles off.
Shikamaru, standing nearby, tries to flick ash off his cigarette. The young Nara must be nervous also, because the cigarette itself slips from his fingers and off into the crevasse, shining like a tiny ember before it disappears below. "What a drag."
Kakashi rubs his copy of Icha Icha Paradise like a good luck charm. "Maa, I've always hated cliffhangers."
—
The sunset throws long shadows from the rooftops that Sakura skims across on her way from the hospital to the clan district.
An old torii gate with the characters 志村 - Shimura - across the top stands sternly at the edge of a property, but in just in front and to the side of it now stands a cheerfully painted orange sign.
Sunflower House for Children, says the top in large characters, and below it, a four character motto, 後生可畏.
"Kouseikai," Sakura reads aloud.
"Who's that?" Naruto says, suddenly banging into existence, nearly making her jump. She must be more tired than she thought if Naruto can get the jump on her like that.
"The motto," Sakura says, pointing. "It says kouseikai."
"Does it?" Naruto says, looking at the sign, squinting his eyes to notice, apparently for the first time, the hiragana annotations written helpfully over the kanji. "Oh, it does." He pauses. "What does that mean, anyway, dattebayo?"
"You mean you never asked Hinata-chan?"
Naruto scratches his head. "Ehhh, Sakura-chan... I didn't want her to think I was stupid..."
"Hinata-chan knows you're stupid, stupid Naruto," Sakura says with affection. "It means, 'the youth deserve respect,' or, 'the next generation inspires awe,' something like that."
"Oh!" Naruto brightens. "Kakashi-sensei said somethin' about that when we fought Kakuzu. Like, the kids are gonna be awesome, right?"
Sakura hums noncommittally, not wanting to get drawn into a philosophical discussion when they're supposed to be leaving to rescue their allies. "Isn't everyone else ready to go? I was worried I was keeping everyone waiting."
"What do you mean?" Naruto says. "It's just you and me, isn't it?"
"Is it?" Sakura is nonplussed. Is the Leaf truly that thinly stretched that only she and Naruto are going?
"Yeah, I think so," Naruto says. "Granny said, at least this way I can be of some use, because the further I get away from Earth, the better, dattebayo!"
But if Water is allied with Earth, then there's no direction that's safe anymore...
There comes a rumbling of little feet and little chakras, with Hinata's sweet energy leading the way.
"Sakura-chan, N-naruto-kun!" Hinata relinquishes their daughter to Naruto's eager grasp.
Naruto tosses the toddler up in the air and catches it with a clone, then tosses to another clone, while still more clones ruffle hair and high five other children.
Sakura blinks. "So many?"
"Well, that's why the sign," Hinata says, with a little yawn. "We took a few, then a few more... eventually none of the children wanted to stay in the orphanage, and we couldn't say no... so Tsunade-sama has folded the orphanage and transferred the funding to us as Sunflower House... although we need staffing more than funding..."
"Oh, Hinata-chan! That sounds difficult! You're working very hard."
"Oh no, no! The older children have been very helpful..." Hinata leans in and lowers her voice, "I was worried that they wouldn't know how to be tidy, given, you know, Naruto-kun... but it turns out that was just..."
"Just Naruto," agrees Sakura with a sigh. "Well, I'll return him to you in one piece!"
"Thank you," Hinata says with a hug. "Tampopo-chan! Otou-san needs to go now!"
—
Though Kakashi assumed that the Raikage would be eager to lead his forces through capturing Mist territory and resources but reluctant to actually go into the Land of Fire to assist Konoha fighters in rebuffing the Mist.
To his surprise, however, it is the Raikage who keeps urging everyone to hurry up when the messages from the embattled Leaf fighters indicate that their position is untenable. With most of their forces already deployed against Iwa, they have no idea when, or even if, Konoha will be able to send any relief, especially medic nin.
"Let's go!" roars the Raikage, leaving a crumpling Mist nin corpse crumpled in the dust behind him. "C! Report!"
The sensor drops into formation close beside his kage and gives a report quietly to him, too quietly for Kakashi to hear.
"Good. Fantastic!" barks Ay. "We'll get it all done at once and then go home with more to our names!"
Kakashi takes the first opportunity to get in close to his own team and particularly his sensor.
"I don't really sense anything," Santa says, "but he's a better sensor than I am, from what I can tell."
"If we're allies," Anko cuts in, getting uncomfortably close to Kakashi, "then why don't we just ask the Cloud what they sense?"
"I don't want to give them the sense that we don't trust them."
"If we did trust them, why would we hesitate to ask?"
Shikamaru chuckles, and Kakashi can't even dart him an annoyed look because he's behind on the side of his closed eye.
"I think Mitarashi-san has a point," Shikamaru says, a hint of apology in his tone, so perhaps he gleaned Kakashi's annoyance anyway.
"Let's face it, Hatake, you're off, not that it's your fault," Anko says. "Even someone who wasn't pining for his mate wouldn't have slept well last night."
"I wasn't—" Kakashi's face reddens. "I slept fine."
"Well then it must just be that you're pining for that sweet pink—"
Kakashi lets a tree branch ping Anko directly in the neck. She yelps indignantly.
"Not off enough that I can't get the jump on you," Kakashi says with forced laziness in his throat, "but I'll take your advice if it makes you shut up." He easily catches up with the Raikage and his guards. "Raikage-sama! What are we running into?"
The Raikage grunts. "Heh! Tell 'em, C."
"The Leaf forces have been joined by the Nine Tails jinchuuriki," C says, "but the Mist has sent reinforcements, including the Mizukage. We should end up making it to the battle site at the same time as she does."
—
When they arrived at the site of their beleaguered companions, they were on the brink of losing everything. Now Naruto is basically soloing the entire opposing Mist forces. Sakura doesn't even need to go into sage mode, merely to concentrate on healing the many wounded on their own side.
"Don't touch him," she snaps at a too curious genin who was reaching out to grab a dead leaf from Naruto's clone's hair. "He's meditating and it's vital he be undisturbed."
"Yes ma'am!" The genin backs away violently and trips backwards over a pile of garbage.
Sakura turns her attention back to Shikaku, looking much livelier after a blood replenishment pill, but still not as recovered as she wanted to see.
"You're nearly as beautiful as your teacher now," he says.
Sakura blushes. "Nara-san! You shouldn't say...! You're just addled from the blood loss."
He chuckles, though weakly, and closes his eyes. "Hn. No, the nearly is because you deny it. The day will come when you'll say 'hell yes I am, but that's nothing to do with you, pervert!' And then you'll be the most beautiful woman in the world. Hope I live to see that..."
That does make Sakura laugh. "You're in no danger of death, Nara-san, believe me."
"I do..." Shikaku sounds sleepy now. "But there's a whole war ahead of us... troublesome..."
A ninken nearby whined in a high pitch, and his mistress got up, wincing at her own minor injuries. "Sumi says that troops are approaching from the east and the northeast. The ones from the northeast have those two jinchuuriki with them."
Shikaku sits up, wide awake now, though still pale. "You'd better leave me here and go assist Naruto-san," he tells Sakura. "The troops from the northeast we can hope are friendly, but those from the east..."
Sakura nods, and leaps over the barriers and nimbly through the defenses, over the town wall and out til she gets to the battleground, where one man is unrivalled. "Naruto!"
"Yeah, I know!" Naruto falls back away from the Mist ninja, who flee east, and gets into a defensive position by her side. "Lots of Cloud ninja coming, but Kakashi-sensei is with them, so it's gonna be fine dattebayo!"
Relief floods her at that name, but she pushes on regardless. "And the others?"
"Don't know 'em too well," Naruto admits. "That lava lady, I'm pretty sure, she's mad as hell, bunch of people with her. I'm nearly out of sage mode and..." Abruptly, the sage mode glory drops off him. "Oh, damn. Well, I've got one clone's worth in reserve, but I'd rather keep that until I really need it." He turns, looking at her with eyes their normal big blue. "Is everybody okay, Sakura-chan?"
"I've stabilized everyone," she reassures him. "We just need to get them home."
Naruto nods. "If that lava lady doesn't stop fighting when she sees that we've got Cloud on our side, then... well, she will -ttebayo! She's got to, right?"
Sakura has to admit it doesn't make sense for her to do otherwise. The Mizukage is powerful, and doubtless has her own forces, but she can't hope to stand against a combined force of Naruto, Sakura, the Raikage, Killer Bee, Fuu, Kakashi, and whatever other high level Cloud ninjas are on their way. She'll agree at the very least to a truce that will allow the Konoha injured to get away.
—
The Cloud forces and Team Kakashi stare out from over the crags.
By the river mouth, the Mizukage and her entourage stare back.
In the bloodied field just west of the river and southwest of the mines, two individuals form the third point of the triangle. Though the other two points dwarf them in numbers, nobody there underestimates Naruto.
Kakashi yearns to run directly to Naruto's companion, but he controls himself. This is a delicate balance and any sudden move could wreck things.
But to his surprise, the Raikage steps forward and yells towards the Mist side, "I got some Konoha nin with me here. I think they'd better rejoin their friends; then we can discuss things more clearly."
Terumi Mei's eyes narrow. "Fine, but they had better go west first."
Not at all sure what's going on, but needing to accomodate their alliance, team Kakashi obediently rejoins Naruto and Sakura.
Anko's ribbing of Kakashi may have been nearly unbearable, but she throws up a defensive jutsu wall of snakes that appears from the outside to be merely a preparation for potential battle... but it allows Kakashi to get in one good embrace of his mate away from the eyes of their enemies and allies.
"So you're under Konoha's sway now too, are you?"
"That's rich of you to talk, when you're taking Earth's orders!"
The Mizukage hisses. "I would never ally with them! They're practically the Akatsuki at this point!"
"Then why are you doing their business?" the Raikage counters.
"Konoha is always at the heart of any trouble! They're the reason why the Land of Water is in such a mess! And we need resources! Why shouldn't we have these mines? They've taken far more from us!"
"You're not entirely wrong," says the Raikage. "Konoha always means well. And they always make things worse."
"But you're allying with them!"
"Well, Konoha's not entirely wrong either. We've got to stop Akatsuki or Nozomi or whatever the hell they want to call themselves. But there's only one way to do that, and that's to keep them from getting what they want most. The Nine Tails Jinchuuriki."
Kakashi breaks away from Sakura and pushes up his forehead protector to reveal the Sharingan.
"You're being tricky," the Mizukage says. "What are you saying?"
The Raikage signals to C, who tosses him a scroll. "Someone's who has approached you, has also approached me," he says as he unfurls the scroll. "I suggest, if you don't want the whole of the north to become Land of Lightning territory, that you abandon this foolish idea of working on your own."
"What about the mines?"
"If we succeed? Sure, I'll back you."
Blood activates the scroll, from which a serpentine presence arises.
"How uncomfortable it is to travel that way," Kabuto stretches and twirls his staff.
"What's going on, boss?" demands Darui. "Why didn't you consult—"
"We need to isolate and seal away the nine tails," the Raikage says, his mouth set in a firm line. "If they can't get the nine tails chakra, Nozomi cannot succeed. That's what matters most."
"But just springing it out on us like this—we said we were their friends!"
"This is what the Raikage orders!" roars Ay. "Get ready!"
There is palpable unease, yet the Lightning forces are still clearly overall loyal to their leader.
"Now, Naruto!" Kabuto points his staff towards the Leaf side. "Will you surrender, or will you force your would-be friends to die, merely to do what needs to—oh! Sakura?" His villainous speech interrupted, he falters a little and almost resembles that awkward bespectacled youth from so long ago in the chuunin exams. "Sakura... this is what needs to be done... you can still join us and be on the side of the heroes who prevent the freezing of the world..."
Sakura grabs Naruto's hand defiantly. "Give up on either of us giving up!"
Chapter 22: the Battle For Tanbara Mine
Chapter Text
Sakura bites her thumb at Kabuto in a rather more defiant and rude gesture than is strictly necessary to summon Katsuyu.
"Please attach to my Leaf comrades, Katsuyu-sama," she says, "and let me know immediately if any of those too injured to fight are sneak attacked. Also keep tabs on Naruto for me, they're probably going to try to separate him from the rest of us."
"Understood, Sakura-san." The small Katsuyu she was addressing multiplies, and the original version climbs up on her shoulder.
The opposing forces are still being cagey, watching each other as much as they are the Konoha forces. The Mist forces had just had Naruto tear through their ranks, and probably think the fresh forces from Lightning should take the lead; but the Lightning forces, other than the Raikage, are visibly reluctant as well.
Fuu takes it beyond mere reluctance. She's been standing there, arms akimbo, for a little while, and now her agape mouth finally forms words. "I'm not attacking a friend, ya know!" she yells at the Raikage, then swivels towards Killer Bee. "Bee! You're not attacking our friend, are you?! Our friend Naruto?!"
"I know, I know, just let it go, lemme get on the flow to stop my bro. Check one check two, if you know what to do—"
"Shut up Bee," growls Ay, "I already said it's an order! You are both ninja of the Cloud! If you disobey there will be consequences!"
"Then I'll go missing-nin!" Fuu declares, and she flies off north at such a high rate of speed that she's quickly out of Sakura's sensing range even with the seven tails chakra.
Bee, for his part, plants himself down on the ground with his back to the proceedings like an overgrown toddler.
It's not a good sign for the enemy morale, and it provides sufficient time for Katsuyu to get situated on the others.
Kabuto apparently also sensed that this anti-Naruto alliance was on the brink of collapse before it even began, because he transforms into his monstrous, dragon-like Snake Sage form and charges, not at Naruto, but at Yamanaka Santa—and seemingly eats him, whole, like a python.
"What the hell!" yells Naruto, immediately goaded by the death of a comrade into taking on his own Sage Mode. "You coward!"
It's a brutal but savvy move. Nothing is so likely to enrage Naruto as seeing comrades die, and the quick win reverses the enemy's discouragement from the defection of Fuu and the refusal to engage of Killer Bee. As Naruto focuses on Kabuto, the Mizukage and Raikage both shout commands and the Mist and Lightning forces charge.
"The Raikage and Darui both?" Kakashi says, flipping out of the way of a strike. "Maa, I'm flattered. Maybe I'll be able to take that Black Lightning jutsu after all."
"Won't matter if you copy it if you die before you can use it," grunts the Raikage, pursuing.
"I've died before. Not eager to do it again." Kakashi switches places with a nearby rock, which becomes a shower of pebbles from the Raikage's slam. "Come on, Darui, let me see it. I've wanted that jutsu for years."
Darui, eyes on Kakashi's feet, almost smiles, but he doesn't launch his signature jutsu. Instead, he's fighting in as loose and leisurely an attitude as he had when they sparred, and he's watching the Raikage as much as his opponent.
Across the field, Sakura is chasing Naruto and Kabuto, at a disadvantage because she's using only her own strength. Her slug sage mode isn't ideal in crowded combat with many friendly forces mixing with enemy forces, not least because she has not yet mastered the slug form's senses enough to accurately identify unfamiliar things, especially in motion.
It's not a big deal when she's solo, or has one or two companions, but she'd find it hard to forgive herself if she mistook one of the other Konoha ninja for an enemy; but at the same time, if she hesitates against these enemies, she's asking for death.
"Naruto!" she yells as loud as she can with the breath she has. "Don't get too far away, idiot!"
Naruto doesn't slow down, but her advice proves to be warranted as Kabuto snakes around Naruto and surges towards Sakura.
That doesn't leave any choice. She triggers slug sage mode from her forehead seal.
—
"Darui! Double Lariat!" Ay calls, and Kakashi tries to make a split decision of which direction to try to get away, because Darui must be behind him. He attempts to go up, but Ay goes up as well, which should be a death sentence.
But isn't.
Darui's arm is around his neck alright, but not only isn't it coated in lethal chakra, it's only just exerting enough force to pull Kakashi down and away from the sizzle of the Raikage's arm.
"Darui!" screams Ay again.
Darui has hooked his other arm under Kakashi's knees as they land on the ground with a thump. Flummoxed, Kakashi looks at the Lightning ninja who's currently cradling him in a princess carry. Darui's heavy lidded eyes are still turned away from Kakashi's Sharingan, and a breeze fluffs his off-white hair.
"I guess when it comes down to it, I can't do it," says Darui, superficially relaxed.
Kakashi looks over at Ay. The rest of the battlefield has gone quiet again, Mist and Cloud and Leaf ninja in tense stand-offs as they watch this new, inexplicable betrayal of the Raikage by his right-hand man.
"So you're choosing water over blood?!" spits out Ay, incomprehensibly to Kakashi.
Darui lets Kakashi down gingerly to his left as he says, "They want to be blood—"
"The same mealymouthed Leaf bullshit as always! How can you fall for it?" Ay demands. "All of them are raised to eat their own! They treat their family worse than strangers!"
"He is family to me," Darui says, and actually does glance at Kakashi for a brief moment; Kakashi doesn't use the Sharingan. "Even if we were raised apart."
Fluffy, silver hair.
Heavy-lidded eyes.
The tattoo on his shoulder, the bottom half of lightning 電 represented by a tilted field 田 like…
...like the Hatake mon, the family crest.
"When you say family... Wait. Hold on. Did my father know?" Kakashi says.
"I don't know," says Darui. "My mother doesn't think so. She—"
The discussion was interrupted by the rapid return of Kabuto.
—
Sakura was ready for a real knock down drag out sage on sage fight. She was maybe even a little bit thrilled about it. Here would be a chance to display, more publicly than ever before, just how far she had come from her last exhibition before the world, the second chuunin exams, where she had been, in retrospect, easily mistaken for ordinary.
But it was nothing but frustrating. Kabuto was needling her, and she knew that, and she knew that he knew that she knew that, and it made her want to scream. So she did, but she wasn't landing her punches, so it still wasn't satisfying. He certainly wasn't getting in any attacks on her either, but that wasn't soothing at all because he wasn't really trying to.
Kabuto didn't talk, either, he just smiled, and not even a smirk, but like he was really and truly pleased with her. Which just made her angrier because how dare he be happy with her strength, act like it wasn't threatening?!
When Naruto caught back up with them, blows starting being exchanged alright, but it made it difficult for her to join in, especially because her own sage mode was both limited and impossible to refill. Peripherally she was aware that her companions were badly outmatched by the Mist forces, especially the Mizukage, and she had to concentrate hard not to be distracted by worry for Kakashi who was fighting the Raikage and his right-hand man, two against one.
Then Kabuto jerks his head to stare for just a moment, incredulous and incensed, at how Darui has seemingly, inexplicably switched sides to defend Kakashi against his Kage. Then he glances over for just a moment at how the Mist forces are dropping back for a moment to watch this situation as well.
"Have to do everything myself," Kabuto growls, and counterbalances Naruto's next attack to launch him towards the horizon. Then he rushes back towards the centre.
Everyone's attention is on the Snake Sage, making a perfect stage for him to dramatically summon those coffins again.
Kabuto brings forth Madara and Itachi again. Madara has barely enough time to snarl before Kabuto is sending him as a blank fighting puppet to intercept Naruto. Then he sends Itachi against Kakashi.
To Kakashi's great luck, however, the Mizukage sends a blast of lava between them, not as an attack on anyone, but as a wall. "Mist forces, hold back! I demand to know what's going on before any more of us dies!"
"A Cloud ninja has betrayed us," barks Ay, "but the rest of our forces—"
He's interrupted because there's a sudden cacophony of crow shrieks and calls, and Kakashi darts up the still burning hot lava wall because it has to be Itachi doing something, but it's not Itachi at all. Instead, there are crows swirling around where Naruto is facing Madara, and Itachi has fallen back to Kabuto. The snake sage looks even more enraged than before. "Why aren't you returning?!"
The crows fade away, and Madara, very slowly, turns around, but as he does Kabuto curses and bursts into his dragon form, Itachi fleeing with him.
"Where are you going? We had a deal!" shouts Ay, and this, unfortunately for him, gains him Madara's attention.
Ay attempted to behead Kakashi, but Kakashi still feels an amount of stunned empathy as Madara separates the man's head from his shoulders. The Raikage never stood a chance. He wasn't anticipating the attack at all, and, well.
This is Uchiha Madara.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Darui and the Mizukage scream to their forces simultaneously.
Madara goes to attack Darui next, but when Kakashi steps up to help defend against his attack Madara abruptly stops and regards him. "Oh yes. Obito's dearest friend, aren't you? Konoha's so important copy ninja."
"Get your forces out of here," Kakashi hisses to Darui, but Darui doesn't budge, though most of the rest of the Cloud ninja are leaving. Killer Bee stands at his brother's body, his back to Kakashi. Kakashi can't risk a turn away enough to check on what the Mist forces are doing.
"Are they Konoha's allies?" Madara asks Kakashi.
"We are," Darui cuts in. "I act as Cloud's leader for now and I say we are."
Madara doesn't spare Darui a glance, he merely gestures at Kakashi to answer.
"The Leaf seeks no war with the Cloud nor the Mist," Kakashi says.
Madara sighs. "Did you have to answer it like that? Fine, I suppose we're done here, then, since the Mist is fleeing. You won't change your mind? I could wipe them out, you know. Wouldn't it protect Konoha for me to do so?"
"No," says Kakashi, trying to wrap his head around what's happening.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto runs up to his side. "You're not gonna believe this! Madara stared at me and then suddenly a crow came out of my mouth! A crow!" He rounds on Madara. "How'd you get a crow inside me, you old bastard?!"
—
Tsunade stares at them in silence for a few moments. Then she holds up a hand to indicate silence, pulls an empty sake bottle from beneath her desk, and begins concentrating on it, pulling out a small sphere of liquid to analyze.
"This is just sake," she mutters, "and yet I am seeing someone who definitely, definitely, is not alive. Sakura, punch me."
"I don't think that's a good idea, shishou," Sakura says. "But he's not alive. He's sort of undead."
Tsunade slams the bottle back down and they all hear it shatter. "My great-uncle," she declares in a low voice, "has a lot to answer for."
Madara laughs. "You're not wrong on that one, Senju."
"Oh, don't start," Tsunade snaps, then turns to Kakashi. "Why is he just standing there instead of, I don't know, kicking a baby or slitting a kitten's throat or something?"
"Typical Senju," Madara mutters as Kakashi answers, "As near as we can tell, Itachi set a trap using one of Shisui's original eyes inside of Naruto. A compulsion to protect Konoha. It was keyed to go off when Naruto was exposed to Sharingan. Presumably Itachi thought the recipient of the trap would be Sasuke."
"I still can't get over that dattebayo," grouses Naruto. "You're saying that when I felt that crow go down my throat in that genjutsu from Itachi… that was real?! And I had an eyeball in my stomach all this time?! How did I not digest it?"
"You have worse things in your stomach," Madara says.
"Excuse me, Godaime-sama," Sai says, "but is this man why my clan is like this? Because if that is the case, I understand a great deal more now."
Madara turns on him swiftly and looks him up and down. "You? An Uchiha?"
"I have been informed on fairly solid intelligence that I was born to Azusa of the Uchiha clan, sired by her husband Kagami of the Uchiha clan," Sai says with no intimidation, "but taken away, under the agreement of the Uchiha clan leader, to be trained by Shimura Danzo. So I feel very little attachment to the Uchiha name, though I have been glad to get to know my brother, Uchiha Shisui."
"There are entirely too many goddamn people in this room," Tsunade snaps, and points at a hapless chuunin. "Everyone under jounin, out!"
"What about tokubetsu jounin," comes Genma's voice from somewhere in the ceiling.
"You know perfectly well you are still on duty!" Tsunade shakes her fist at a ceiling tile, then looks back at Madara. "'Protect Konoha,' eh? That must be burning you up inside."
"I won't say it isn't," Madara answers, "but compared to forcibly serving that… that worm… At least there is something of substance here."
"I still don't trust you," says Tsunade.
"If you did," growls Madara, "this damn compulsion would compel me to tell you not to. The real me… damn you… the real me is still hellbent on…" Madara snarls, and the next words come out as if pulled from his throat. "Hellbent on saving everything!"
Tsunade narrows her eyes. "Saving it how?"
"The moon," Madara says, clearly against his own will, "with the power of the Ten Tails… the moon can become like a reflection of a Sharingan… and the entire world… placed into an eternal genjutsu… for true and lasting peace…!"
Sakura glances at Kakashi, but he's all intent on Tsunade.
"That was the plan?" Tsunade says.
"Yes. Except that my damn followers have completely ruined it… who knows what they think they're accomplishing now."
"What followers?" Tsunade says, and when Madara purses his lips, quickly adds, "to protect Konoha I need to know all the names of everyone who you have used for this plan."
"Everyone that I have used? " Madara laughs, and sits cross-legged on the floor. "Call for more sake, Senju."
—
A few hours later, Madara is in the most secure cell they have, bound in a straightjacket and blindfold with seals, chains on his ankles, seals on every wall, guarded by tokubetsu jounin on site and monitored remotely twenty-four hours a day.
Kakashi feels like he's in a cell too, that there are seals on his tongue and a curse in his stomach. Sakura saw him with his hand on his covered-up eye and came over to scan him before he could stop her. Everything was normal, medically normal, that is, and he told her he just needed a few minutes. A few minutes to come to grips with this idea that Obito was and had been alive, all this time.
Why did he say that? There was nothing about this news that a few minutes, hours, days could change.
Obito had been warped by Madara into becoming Madara, into taking on Madara's identity and goal as his own, even if the current trajectory seemed to have veered off. It was Obito who pulled him into that alternate space where he fought Sasuke, and Obito who oversaw the extraction of Fuu's tailed beast, and Obito every time they faced the Tobi that could teleport.
There had been a few other Uchiha behind that one-eyed mask: Kagami, the father of Shisui and Sai, who had mind-controlled the Mizukage and many others; Echigo, who had been the "Madara" who assisted Itachi in the massacre; Shakujou, who had helped stoke the anti-bloodline ability mania in the southeast that destroyed Uzushio and so many other clans…
"My God, and we haven't even talked about the Raikage," Tsunade groans, bending her head forward and heedless as one of her pigtails slips forward over her shoulder and dips into the cup of sake she just poured.
"I don't think that situation is exigent," says Kakashi, pulling himself out of despair, a familiar technique.
"A Konoha ninja—never mind that he's a renegade, very much should be dead Konoha ninja—but a Konoha ninja beheaded the Raikage in full view of not only his own forces but those from Water as well, and you think the situation isn't exigent?!"
"There was strong reluctance from the Lightning forces to betray us," argues Kakashi, "and the acting, and most likely official successor to Ay is—" Kakashi stops short, realizing that he is duty bound to reveal Darui's ties to the Leaf. To himself.
"Is…?" Tsunade raises herself up, hisses as she notices the sake dripping from the end of her pigtail, and irritably flicks it back over her shoulder. She downs the cup anyway.
"Darui of the Black Lightning," Kakashi says, "whom I have just learned is, or believes himself to be, my half-brother. He feels a strong kinship for me, and wishes our villages to be strong allies."
Tsunade does not react as one might expect to this news that the likely new leader of a historically hostile foreign power is pro-Konoha. She stares at Kakashi's face with accusation. "Sakumo, you unbelievable… of all the… to fall for a foreign ninja's honey trap… I told you to remarry, you damned fool of a beta, the stupidest rookie mistake—"
"Maa, Hokage-sama," Kakashi says with a nervous titter, as Tsunade's wrath rises, "I'm not him."
Tsunade huffs. "Near enough in foolishness. Alright, table Kumo for now. What about Kiri? Will they be back for Tanbara Mine? You left no defenders. The Mizukage alone would surely take the territory."
"Darui has established defenders there, and for the time being they are in alliance with us."
"Hmph. Another Hatake brat to deal with, and this one isn't even someone I can order around. I should have recognized those damn sleepy eyes." Tsunade squinted her own eyes at the clock. "Fine. If there are truly no other decisions that must be made right now—" Tsunade swept her eyes over the others, daring them to hide some other disaster from her, "—then you are all dismissed for the day. Night. Whatever. Shizune, I expect my sake to be already restocked when I get in here tomorrow."
—
Sakura and Kakashi exit the Hokage's office in an awkward manner, neither sure who is meant to lead, nor where the destination ought to be.
"I was staying at your apartment, before I went on the rescue mission," Sakura says, giving Kakashi a pretext to pause on a rooftop. She catches herself on the eave and turns towards him. "That was alright, wasn't it?"
"Of course. I made it so you could bypass the traps deliberately, so you could use it as you needed. I'm sorry it isn't much."
"Not at all. I, ah… I didn't really have time to go back there, when Tsunade-sama sent me, so I'm worried it may be a bit…"
"I don't mind a mess," Kakashi lies.
"Not messy, exactly, just…"
"If it's something like food that's gone bad, I've dealt with that sort of thing before."
Sakura tries to think of how to tell him that he's made his austere bedroom into a stereotypical omega nest, fidgeting, before deciding that even if she does tell him, it'll still be awkward to show him. Maybe even more awkward because of the anticipation. "Well, let's go there then."
She leaps, and he follows.
—
Kakashi takes a lead at the window—it is his apartment, after all—and when he gets the window open, stares at his bed. In a manner of speaking. He can't actually see his bed. There are strange pillows and cushions and blankets, although he does recognize one duvet. "My bed's under there somewhere, right?"
He hears Sakura huff in her enraged-embarrassed fashion as he ducks in the window, and a moment later she darts in after and immediately begins to dismantle the nest with a face pinker than her hair.
"I didn't say you have to take it apart, hey, hey," Kakashi protests. "It's fine, it's just that it cost me an A rank mission to buy that bed, so I like to know it's in good condition. I had to bodyguard a flatulent princess, so if that had been for nothing, I would cry. You wouldn't want to see me cry, would you, Sakura?"
Sakura laughs. "What rank of mission did you need to buy this shuriken duvet cover?"
"Oh that was a gift of gratitude from the flatulent princess. Had to wash it five times."
"Ewwwww!" Sakura lets go of the duvet with exaggerated disgust.
A little silence, but less awkward this time.
The air is a little musty from being shut up, and Kakashi turns on his fan. "We should wash. I'm sorry I only have a shower."
"I know. It's alright." Sakura takes off her haori and hangs it up.
Oh, right, she's been staying here, Kakashi thinks. "So… you have your clothes here?"
"Some of them. It really is a small place. Uh… Tsunade-shishou told me you inherited some land, but the house on it fell all to pieces. But Yamato-taichou said he'd build us a new one anytime we want, we just have to tell him how we want it laid out. Of course I said we'd decide that together… plus I thought you might want to check on the existing house before it's torn down."
Kakashi pauses with his vest in his hands. Tearing down his father's house… Kakashi hadn't wanted to live there, which was why he rented this apartment, but…
On the other hand, he knew his father's spirit was at peace now. Maybe it was time to let that go.
A new start. Clean. Finally, clean.
"Yikes, I didn't realize I was this dirty," Sakura complains, pulling out the hamper to toss her clothes into it. "It's so humid out by the Land of Water border, sweat just collects on you. So gross."
She walks past him, naked, and pauses at the bathroom door. "You coming?"
Kakashi hastens to get naked.
—
The shower's roomy for one. Two is a squeeze, but in this case that's a bonus.
Sakura can feel her mate's hard interest against her back as she lets him rub shampoo through her hair. He ducks down to let her reach up to return the favour, and she can't help laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"You look like a sad wet dog." Sakura gently tugs on a lock of Kakashi's hair. The tip would usually be fluffed up in the air above his head, but now it's dripping water down along his jawline.
His one open eye crinkles. "I've been compared to much worse."
She washes his chest, pulses a little chakra in to ease muscle aches, then lets out a little yip when Kakashi splays his hands around her butt.
"Sakura, you know how I brought up the rear behind you on our way home from Tanbara? It's because nothing motivates me to keep moving more than this glorious ass."
Sakura hopes the steam and her ducking her face is hiding her blush. "Shannaro~ did you get that line from Icha Icha?"
"No, that one is a Hatake Kakashi original." He slips his hands up to her waist, pulls their hot wet bodies into firm contact. She wonders if he can feel her heartbeating so fast. "You are a muse to me."
"Glorious ass isn't exactly high literature," Sakura tries to get out as a sassy rejoinder, but she can hear her voice betraying her agitation.
"Then I need to do more direct worship at your altar for inspiration."
It's a good thing they were business-like and efficient in getting actually clean, because Sakura isn't thinking at all about hygiene as she fumbles the water off.
—
"I'm going to be very gentle." Kakashi's voice purrs against her ear as he begins to slide in.
"What? Why?" After the passion they shared in the showers and practically crash-landing into her overflowing pile of a nest, Sakura expected the urgency to continue. Not for him to be entering her so slowly like this.
"Well," he whispers, "it's been a while, hasn't it? Better to ease into some things, don't you think, Sakura?"
Sakura squirms a little when he settles fully inside her and doesn't move. "Kakashi..."
"Hmm?" He nips lightly at her ear. "You need something?"
"This is way more than just gentle!"
"Ah, Sakura, are you so needy? You don't like a nice, romantic pace like this?" Kakashi begins to move again, a leisurely glide. "Aren't you a good girl?"
Rather than answer, Sakura begins to move her hips too, and Kakashi chuckles and stutters his pace, sometimes moving against her to make their impacts fast, other times moving with her so that they're grinding in circles. Always peppering her neck, jawline, and ear with kisses, nibbles, and even a lick.
"You are mean and gross!" she cries out after the lick, but then he's reaching between their bodies to stimulate her clit directly and her planned tirade turns into a moan.
"Just like this, then?" He's so talented with his body, perfectly able to thrust at the exact pace and angle that best pleasures her while teasing her clit. "Oh, you are so much more than a good girl, aren't you. Let me give it to you. Take it all."
"Kakashi, Kakashi—"
When they're knotted together, Sakura hefts them up, businesslike, into a more comfortable position on the bed, on their sides.
"Wow," Kakashi says with admiration. "What a woman."