Chapter 13 - Where There's a Spark, There's a Fire
Sakura's temperature was dropping. Shudders shook her body in shorter and shorter intervals and the bare skin of her lower arms was ice cold to the touch. Kakashi knew the signs: severe chakra depletion.
He tried to wrap himself around her more thoroughly, willing his body heat to flow into her since there was no blanket in reach. But whom was he trying to fool... When he had still had the Sharingan, he had been able to copy every jutsu used in his line of sight, which included medical ninjutsu - but even though he could mimic the hand signs perfectly, the effects it had were laughable. The copy ninja had many talents but healing was decidedly not one of them.
Kakashi was precariously close to falling off the narrow treatment couch, but he wanted Sakura to be as comfortable as possible as he did what she had asked him to do: Hold her. That she had jeopardized her safety for him once more… it touched him. No... actually, it made him feel damn guilty. She had lived a safe life as long as he had not been in it. As soon as he had made an appearance, she had been almost raped and killed and had to worry about things not her responsibility daily. For someone as big-hearted and selfless as her to think she was useless because of him, to say she would give up and didn't want to live anymore…
Feeling despair, Kakashi buried his face in her hair. Stay as far away from me as possible, she had said. Yes, it was the only right thing to do. But the mere thought… it hurt in ways it shouldn't. He had been careful for most of his adult life not to forge emotional bonds that would jeopardize his performance as a Shinobi. Sure, he had greatly cared for his Team 7 kids as their Sensei. He would have given his life for them without a second thought if necessary. It was an honor code he lived by, it was part of his duty. But this? This was different.
A discomforting certainty was growing in him that given the wrong circumstances, he would choose to do things for Sakura that had nothing to do with duty, things that might well jeopardize the village. How had he gotten himself in such a situation? Had he ignored the warning signs?
He tightened his arms around her, hoping her shivers would stop soon. It always got worse before it got better, he was no stranger to chakra depletion himself. Using the Sharingan had thrown him into bed regularly, often for long periods of time. Nothing a bit of rest wouldn't fix, but it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.
And then he needed to focus on something else to distract himself from thinking about the shuddering body that was pressed against his. He had tried to tell himself holding her like this was entirely innocent, like a father holding a child, but her body was no child's. It was soft and fragrant like only women's bodies were and he could try to father or Sensei-zone himself all he wanted, it did not have the desired effect.
Another trick that had backfired miserably earlier was Kakashi trying to pretend this was just a scene from one of the Icha Icha books, where the young woman was traumatized by the advances of an older man whom she considered a gross old fart. But that didn't add up either. This type of skinship would never happen to anyone but the destined couple in any Icha Icha book.
Now, he was forcing his mind to recall what she had told him about her experience in the Genjutsu. Solving riddles was an excellent way to distract yourself and this riddle was a tough one. Just like before, he felt like he was looking at the pieces of a puzzle without knowing how large the jigsaw was going to be, hence with not even a clue about how many pieces were missing.
Sakura had suggested he might have been the one to put seals in his own mind.
He indeed knew of a Fuinjutsu method that would do that: the Mind-Sealing Technique. It was used in order to suppress memories that could get in the way of difficult missions, like for example a Shinobi sent to kill somebody very close to him. It was a Forbidden Jutsu because the risks associated with it for the wielder were very high, ranging from temporary confusion to raging insanity with frequent use. That he would resort to such a technique was not impossible, but in which scenario would he seal off his own memories and then forgot about it?
Unfortunately - no, fortunately, he corrected himself - the one who had taught him the technique was dead. Kakashi doubted anybody else but Danzo Shimura knew enough about the jutsu to be able to shed light on the workings of it, but maybe it was worth tracking down others who had been in the Foundation aka Root? It probably was no coincidence Sakura had met his younger self during the training designed to break you over and over, to kill all that was human inside of you…
Carefully, Kakashi fished for the memories of that time. Had he not been able to access them before? He remembered now, though only through a haze. His younger self had lacked the words to call the physical and emotional abuse by a name, which made the memories strangely insubstantial. He had been numb back then, a child who wanted to plunge himself into a black hole and take the whole world with him. Root was entirely devoid of warmth, but for the emotionally broken, its attempts to erase your very existence to turn you into a tool for destruction was meaningful in a warped kind of way. He thought it might be the reason he had survived despite his wish to be done with living.
The next clue were the oni-masks Sakura had claimed were in both the memories she had accessed. Was it a coincidence the attackers from the other week had also worn oni-masks? Probably not. A cult that took away children though? He knew of no cult. But shouldn't he, now that she had unlocked those memories if those really were memories? He had left the orphanage the very day Danzo had approached him at the cemetery without a word of thanks or goodbye. It wasn't like they had ever maltreated him there. Had there not been a woman…
Hm. The haze in his brain increased to a white wall.
"Maybe this will be the next memory for you to unlock," he whispered into Sakura's ear. "I think she was kind. I would like to remember her. Is she still alive?"
Kakashi sighed deeply. What was keeping him from going to the orphanage to see for himself? The knowledge that Kabuto had been running the institution for a while? Maybe he should give the guy a chance, since everybody else seemed to be able to.
"I should ask you to accompany me," Kakashi whispered into Sakura's ear again, "I'd like that. You have a way with people. Unless your temper explodes… but even then…"
His heart suddenly missed a beat. It took him a moment to realize why: She was too still. No more shivers for quite some time. But ice, ice cold.
"Sakura," he said and shook her. "Sakura?"
There was a pulse, his fumbling fingers found, but it was very weak. He was so clueless, he hadn't even realized how bad she was! Luckily, they were already at a hospital, should he rush outside and yell for someone to help? But would there be any capable doctors around at this time? Somebody else who was very capable would still be working for sure, it came with the job. Making a quick decision, Kakashi rushed over to the window, opened it, then grabbed Sakura and jumped.
###
It took him only about ten minutes to reach the Hokage Tower over the rooftops even though he found himself unusually short of breath tonight, with a left arm that hurt with a dull, blunt pain. Conveniently, the Anbu guards on the roof recognized him immediately and let him fly by without an attempt to stop him.
"Who dares to…!" Tsunade shouted as he burst into her office without knocking, but she sprang up looking concerned when she saw whom he was carrying in his arms.
"It's chakra depletion," Kakashi informed the Hokage and put Sakura down on the desk as carefully as he could. "I think it's critical."
"I'm on it," Tsunade said and pushed him aside roughly.
Feeling thoroughly chakra-depleted himself, Kakashi sat down on the floor and put his hurting head against the wall. Worry gripped him, but Lady Tsunade clearly knew what she was doing, sending her green healing chakra into Sakura's belly region with a look of concentration on her face.
"She'll be alright," she sighed after a while and Kakashi sprang up. There was color in Sakura's face again, he noticed with relief and he barely resisted the impulse to step over and cradle her to his chest.
"Where is your shirt?" Tsunade frowned, looking him up and down.
"I… took it off," he said, blushing. "I was too hot."
"Oh, don't even bother with your horrible excuses," she snapped, "put something on, this much masculinity threatens me."
The shirt was at the hospital. Like his book. And his sanity.
"Could you help me out?" he asked his Hokage with a sheepish grin. Wordlessly, Tsunade stepped over to the large cupboard along the wall and began rummaging around inside.
"Here," she said a few moments later, holding out a black shirt.
"This is a woman's top," Kakashi observed.
"Yes, maybe you haven't noticed, but I am a woman."
Kakashi sighed. Fine, now was not the time to make a fuss. He shrugged into the sleeveless garment. It was tight in all the wrong places and had room for breasts as large as Tsunade's, so he probably looked like his namesake in it.
"Care to explain why Sakura depleted almost all her chakra with you around?" Tsunade asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I think she already depleted it with you treating patients, she didn't need me for it," he replied grumpily, trying to find out which string had to go with which other string to tie the damn thing together.
"Ah," Tsunade let her head hang. "Today was no good day. I thought we had gotten rid of those fuckers when you pulled your stunt the other night. Now it seems it only spurred them on."
"Can I go see the survivors and ask them about what happened?"
"No, you can't. You are not on active duty, Hatake Kakashi!"
"You are a fool if you keep me grounded, Lady Tsunade."
"Am I?" she shot back and her tone made him look up. There was a vulnerability in her eyes he had never seen there before and it made him wonder about when and how he had hurt her. But maybe…
"What is it I did that made you lose trust in me?" he asked cautiously.
Tsunade sighed. "You going behind my back. I cannot help but think it wasn't the first time. You went on so many missions over the years, you were often unaccounted for for days. I know all about Danzo's plans and I know you were once part of his organization."
"What?" Kakashi exclaimed in disbelief. "Do you not also know he tried to have me killed for leaving it? And do you not know this organization was disbanded years ago?"
Tsunade pointed at his naked arm and asked: "Has it really?"
"Good that you mention it," Kakashi said with a glance at his left upper arm, which only showed the plain, thin Anbu flame tattoo, "I seemed to recollect that other thing was also an Anbu tattoo, but now I'm not so sure anymore. You know it almost killed me tonight? It grew this big!" he indicated the size with his other hand dramatically. "And it continued to grow!"
"What? Show me," Tsunade said, waving him closer to the desk.
Her fingers were deft but not half as gentle as Sakura's. It was also possible Tsunade took pleasure in hurting him a little.
"Ouch," Kakashi complained when a chakra infused prod hurt his very bone.
"Stop whining," Tsunade grumbled. "Did Sakura make these incisions? They look far more clumsy than her usual work, but I guess she was already running very low on chakra…"
"She saved my life," Kakashi said, feeling another wave of gratefulness for the pink-haired woman lying on the desk behind him.
Tsunade sighed again. "Did you use to be this much trouble before or is it getting worse as you age? This used to be a blood seal. And you claim you know nothing about it?"
He knew nothing about it. A blood seal? He wasn't even sure what that was.
Tsunade pointed at the seal on her forehead. "Like this but it contains concentrated blood."
"What kind of blood?" Kakashi pressed out. Blood was worrying. It was a powerful substance if used the right - or the wrong - way.
"I don't know, it's all gone. Maybe Sakura knows? Why don't you ask her after she wakes up. What is clear is that If it was hurting you, it's not your blood but somebody else's. But you know what? I can't believe my top Shinobi is standing in my office with this look on his face. Did you not notice that this tattoo was a little different than the tattoos of the others?"
"Of course I did!" Kakashi bristled. "But I distinctly remember…"
What exactly did he remember about it? Frowning, he looked at his arm again. Actually...
"Shit," he said. "Lady Tsunade, is it possible somebody messed with my memories because of this?"
"And you expect me to trust you!" she exclaimed and shot him an evil look as she walked around the desk to her chair. "Yes, it's possible. I don't look at you sleeveless all that often, but maybe I should have? I don't remember when you first got it. Anyway, now it's gone. Since you are still breathing and walking around, I'm thinking it wasn't life-critical or anything."
"Is Konoha doing experiments on human subjects?" Kakashi asked, suppressing a shudder.
"Only on volunteers like you. We are running a soldier enhancement program, didn't I tell you? Those pills you took? With them, you need to sleep less, are overall stronger and more enduring, heal faster, etc. etc."
"And Kabuto is in charge of it."
"Exactly."
"Do you know anything about a cult that took children away? From the orphanage I believe? Maybe thirty years ago."
"You are asking the strangest questions, Kakashi," Tsunade said and fell back into her chair. "A cult? Cult of what? I have never heard of such a thing. When Minato was Hokage? Or after he died?"
"I don't know," Kakashi admitted. He looked at Sakura again, feeling his heart swell. She definitely looked much better. Lovely in fact.
"Okay," Tsunade said slowly, "You haven't answered me yet. Why were you with Sakura? You keep looking at her a lot."
"She has offered to help me with my problem." Kakashi tore his eyes away from Sakura with an effort.
"Which one?"
Very funny. "The not remembering."
"And how is she doing that?"
"She found a time lapse Genjutsu in some book, a joint Genjutsu she called it, where two people agree to enter the illusion together. She wanted to study the seals in my head with enough leisure."
Tsunade let our some air through her teeth. "You obviously trust her a lot to give her control over your mind like that."
"Of course I trust her. We were comrades for many years."
"Ha," Tsunade said and then looked at him strangely.
"Are you insinuating something?" Kakashi asked, not sure whether he should feel outraged or quietly shrink away.
"Maybe I am," Tsunade said, still looking at him quite intensively. "But let me tell you something you might not know. There are quite a lot of people pressuring me about the Uchiha bloodline, including the council and the Fire Daimyō."
He did not want to hear such things. It wasn't like he was unaware of having entered forbidden territory, nobody needed to rub his nose in it.
"Glare all you want, you idiot," Tsunade snapped. "Sasuke is the last of the Uchihas. We need their kekkei genkai to endure the generations! You also know that there are several shady organizations after it and while we cannot allow anybody else to get their hands on it, we also have to make sure we keep it! Sasuke has been donating a lot of his blood and cells, but we have not managed to make any headway in how to unlock that bloodline secret."
"Are you saying…"
"Yes, it's what I'm saying. I will not tie her down and force her to have a child, she is like a daughter to me. But I will also let her know that if she isn't willing, we will have to find another way soon. Don't look at me like that. I'm not thinking of growing babies in glasses, but I will try and find willing mothers to carry the children if I have to."
"You can't do that to Sakura. She is so young! She has so much of her life still to live!"
Tsunade was getting angry, Kakashi knew the signs, the arteries on her neck standing out, the reddish hue intensifying on her face, but he didn't care much at the moment. He was equally outraged and horrified. Wasn't it like putting a kunai knife at Sakura's throat? Having children should be a free decision, not one forced upon you by the duty to a blood line!
But he knew such sentiments to be sentimental. Fighting for a prosperous, happy Konoha so that such a dream could become reality - was it not the sole purpose of his own life? Was he not still putting it on the line so that they could finally leave all the destruction and sadness behind? That he had to continue doing it meant one thing: the illusion still was only that, an illusion. As long as it did not become a reality, bloodlines mattered, power mattered, the number of Shinobis a village had mattered…
"You are a fool," Tsunade said, but not with the anger he would expect from her. "You know the degree of her obsession with this Uchiha, don't you?"
"Of course I do," he said truthfully. "Don't think me stupid, Godaime Hokage. It's just… I want her to be happy."
"Pffffft," Tsunade snorted. "I did not know you were a romantic. I thought you are happy with your porn books and…"
"Porn books?! They are not porn! If you had ever read one…"
"Pah!" she interrupted him, "never would I read the perverted fantasies of someone who was trying to get into my trousers all his life! You know how disturbing it is to me that he thought of me while writing this smut! And you reading them with such ardor…," she shuddered.
"The Icha Icha books are not perverted," Kakashi said with vehemence, "in fact, if you had ever read one you'd know that Master Jiraiya seriously loved you."
"Oh please," Tsunade pulled a disgusted face, "he loved everyone he wanted to put his… his thing into, for as long as he did not score. As soon as he did, the love moved on to the next target."
Now she had managed to make him angry and that wasn't easy. Insulting the Icha Icha books and Master Jiraiya was an underhanded, backstabbing move not worthy of a Hokage.
"A Hokage should not condemn people or things wantonly," Kakashi lectured her, remembering his own Sensei's voice as he said it.
"Oh get lost," Tsunade snapped at him, "why do you always irritate me so much! Don't you dare judge me before you haven't sat on this very seat yourself."
Tsunade patted the armrests of the Hokage chair.
"I have told you before, I am not interested and I wish you'd finally accept it."
"You know what, Hatake Kakashi?" Tsunade said and folded her hands in a deliberate, menacing fashion. "I am going to bet on you sitting in this chair before the next cherry blossom festival. The wager will be…," she seemed to be thinking hard, "a favor."
"Deal," Kakashi said because Tsunade never won her bets. He was entirely safe.
"Deal," Tsunade echoed, "and now get out of here. Take Sakura down to Sasuke. Tell him to tie her to the bed if she thinks she has to get up tomorrow for work - she needs to rest, you know the drill."
The conversation was apparently over, Tsunade began busying herself with paperwork and pointedly ignored him. And she thought he was irritating? She was ten times more irritating. Gently, Kakashi picked Sakura up from the desk, making sure her head rested comfortable on his arm. Once outside, he slammed the door to Tsunade's office shut with his foot as hard as possible, gaining satisfaction from the small yelp she made.
###
The guest apartments were one floor down, easily reachable by a set of stairs. The light was dimmed in the corridors this late at night and given there was no immediate threat to the village, there were no guards inside the building.
Since knocking with your hands was difficult while carrying somebody, Kakashi used his boot to tap against the door. That did not yield an answer, but the door to the apartment was unlocked when he checked, so he entered. It was dark inside but Kakashi located a light switch and hit it with his elbow.
"Sasuke?" he asked. No answer. Where would he be this late at night? It all looked deserted and super tidy.
Taking off his shoes with Sakura in his arms was impossible so he walked right in, carrying her to where he knew the bedroom was. With a small shudder, he remembered what had happened after the last time he had done the same thing. But this place was the safest in Konoha, it was almost impossible to slip past the Anbu outside.
Which side of the bed would be hers? He saw no trace of a pijama anywhere. Since his favorite was always the left side, he decided to put her there as well. Very carefully, he set her down, arranging her head on the pillow. Next, Kakashi sat down on the foot of the bed and took off her shoes, arranging them neatly next to the bed. No rabbit slippers around. Well, those had been thoroughly ruined so what did he expect? At second thought, he took his boots off as well. Then he just sat there and looked at her in the dim light.
Her face looked peaceful. Some hair had gotten loose though and might be tickling her. Carefully, he moved it out of her face and behind her ear. And then, because he had no self-control whatsoever, he touched her cheek with his fingertips, finding her skin as smooth as silk.
This… wasn't okay, however pleasant the feel of it was, it was what a creepy old man would do to sleeping beauties. But just when Kakashi wanted to pull back his hand, Sakura grabbed it and snuggled against it.
"Hmmmmhmhmhmh," she said contently.
His heart beating faster, Kakashi pulled against her hold a little stronger, but she held on to it firmly, even halfway turning her body to use it as a pillow. Her cheek was warm and her soft breath hit the sensitive skin on his wrist like a gentle caress. Alright… what now? He didn't mind lending her parts of his body as a pillow.
"Glkdjoooogps," she murmured and "Orpollllopok" followed by a string of other utterances.
Kakashi bent a little closer to understand what she was saying. Was it gibberish? He smiled fondly at her sleepy silliness… and then yelped as her hands suddenly shot up and grabbed the front of his strange top with much force, pulling him forward and down.
"Sakura…," he stammered, finding his face mere inches from hers, "are you dreaming?"
"You think this is easy?" she muttered dangerously, "you are an idiot. I tell you how it's done properly and you obey!"
"W… wake up," he said, feeling horribly flustered, using his hands to push against the force of her grip, which only made her redouble her efforts. Chakra-depletion or not, she was incredibly strong. "Sakura?"
She puckered her lips.
"No," he said firmly, "no kissing. No kissing, Sakura, it's… not… I'm… not..."
But she was oblivious. He should have used a blast of chakra to push against the bed and propel himself backwards of course, but for a variety of reasons, he hesitated. Using his confusion skillfully, she grabbed both his ears and pulled even stronger, taking him so much by surprise he slackened his arms and fell forward.
Their lips connected rather painfully and he pulled back horrified at what had just happened, staring down at her close-eyed face, yet telling himself that it was not kissing if it wasn't intentional and in addition, the fabric of his face mask was in between and… but she did not afford him time to finish finding excuses. With another swift movement, almost as if she had practiced this move for a long time, she pulled down his mask, interlinked her hands behind his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers.
Soft, wet, enrapturing… her lips tasted of sweet cherries, making him dissolve into a puddle of goo so instantaneously, he couldn't have resisted her even if he had wanted to. She nibbled at his lower lip like a hungry little bird and made a soft sound in her throat that hit him right in the chest. Her hands dug into his hair, pulling him even closer just as her small tongue began slipping in and out of her mouth to tease his lips apart and find its counterpart.
He was no stranger to kissing, but it had never quite got him in the same way as this.
This was utterly wrong and incredibly thrilling. Had Kakashi been capable of forming a sufficiently coherent thought, he would have realized that because he knew it to be so wrong, because he knew they could be discovered any minute, he found it the most exciting thing he had ever experienced. Stop! Don't stop! jumbled thoughts flitted across his mind, what the heck am I doing? Don't ask, just continue, continue, I want more.
Tremors began snaking along his sensitive nerves when their tongues touched, gentle at first before urgency took over. Chakra was balling itself together in the pit of his stomach as he grabbed her head for some control, finding it impossible to establish any. His breathing quickened, his heartbeat increased, soon drumming a maddening rhythm in his ears. The wave of lust that swept over him hit him so forcefully he growled. And Sakura answered him with a guttural moan that spoke of a need mirroring his own.
It was then he pulled back and looked at her face, mainly because he wanted to see the expression of desire on it, and had to realized with a feeling like a gauntlet fist to the stomach that her eyes were still closed.
She wasn't conscious. She did not know what she was doing.
The realization that he was taking advantage of an unconscious woman sobered him quickly - but it took such an effort to control the raging fire that had started to burn inside of him, such an effort to sit up, to bring the proper distance between their bodies, to suppress the yearning, to stop paying attention to her body and its chakra, to the scent she omitted, the scent of female arousal teasing his sensitive nose, calling to him louder than any words ever could.
Groaning, he put his mask back where it belonged, buried his head in his hands and began tearing at his own hair in frustration. He felt a strong urge to run away but that had never solved any problems.
"Kakashi?" Sakura asked, "what are you doing there?"
He whipped around and found her with her eyes open, scrambling to sit up, then looking around herself in confusion.
"Where are we? Do we live here?"
"Yes," he answered gruffly, slowly edging further away from her. He wasn't quite sure he could trust himself.
"Then why are you not lying down with me?"
"W… what do you…," all the blood left his head in a rush and the room began to spin.
She cocked her head at him teasingly and smiled.
"Have I ever told you how much I like your hair and how it sticks up even more wildly when you're flustered? It's very cute."
For a brief moment, Kakashi felt certain he had been plunged into a crazy Genjutsu as punishment for allowing himself to touch her. Of all things, he was most afraid of Genjutsu traps because however strong a Shinobi, the sneakier ones got you so thoroughly you were doomed before you even knew it. When Genjutsu release did not change even the slightest thing about the situation, it dawned on him that he was mistaken. Where are we? she had asked. Do we live here?
We. Him and her.
"Sakura," he told her, finding his voice shaky and hoarse, "Sakura, this is not a Genjutsu. This is reality. This is your and Sasuke's apartment in the Hokage tower. You passed out because of chakra depletion a few hours ago. Tsunade saved you and I brought you here. You need lots of rest. I know how it feels... and it's common to be very confused after waking up."
"Oh," she said. And then, remembering what she had just said to him, she blushed violently and put her hands over her mouth.
"Don't worry," he said, trying to sound unaffected. "This stays between us."
She seemed to want to die from embarrassment. Kakashi stared at her red, horrified face with the huge, shocked eyes, thinking she was the cutest thing he had ever seen.
"Seriously, don't worry," he said again.
"We…," she whispered with a shaking voice. "We…," she licked her lips, which plunged him into the next phase of this crisis, "did we… we..."
Dammit, he could not keep quiet about this or lie to her. If you did something wrong, you better owned up to it.
"Yes, we kissed," he said lightly. "Forget about that too, you were out of it and I should never have allowed it to happen."
"Oh god, I initiated it again, didn't I…. I am… I am so sorry!"
I'm not, he thought, trying to find the strength to smile at her reassuringly. What did she mean 'again'?
"Was it… pleasant at least?" she blurted out and then hid her face behind her hands, obviously horrified about her own forthrightness.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Kakashi said, which was the truth, because thinking about it did make him want to do it again.
"How will I ever be able to look at you again," he heard her whisper. But this was going in the wrong direction. As so many times before, she was too ready to blame herself one sidedly.
"Hey... if it eases your embarrassment… yes. It was pleasant. It was … very pleasant in fact."
Oh great, now was not the time for speaking such truths, but he had never quite learned how to lie. Her wide-eyed, astonished stare made him blush in turn. Fervently, he wished he could just leave already and take an ice cold shower. Or two. Or jump into an ice lake.
Her scent hit his nose again, the scent of a female body alert and ready to be pleasured. His own body reacted eagerly. No shower and no ice lake was going to fix this.
"I must leave," he said. It sounded as desperate as he felt.
"Must you?" she asked.
"Sakura…"
"This is not my apartment. You brought me to the wrong one."
Taken aback, Kakashi turned his head around. Idiot! He had thought it strangely empty!
"Ours is one floor down," Sakura added slowly.
There was a calculating look in her eyes he half wished he had not seen because it made him edge closer instead of walking out, made it very hard to convince himself that there could be no next step, not now, not ever.
Had he not warned her? He had known that he had neither the ability nor the will to control the spark between them. But now the fire had started and it was already burning as high as the Hokage Tower. Between them, it was going to be big enough to burn Konoha to the ground.
