Taisetsuna "Precious" - Version Two

by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Sixteen

Day was breaking under the cover of thick, low-lying clouds. Oururi pretended to busy herself with her scroll pouch as she studied the sky. The air was heavy with moisture. The start of the Hidden Sand's brief but often devastating monsoon season was approaching.

"Tut tut," Kakashi quoted as he opened the third gate, "it looks like rain."

"Who knows," she said with a sigh and tried to seem uninterested.

"Don't use that Jutsu."

"I will do what I must."

He grabbed her arm. "Please."

Oururi narrowed her grey eyes and stared into his only blue. "I will do what I have to do to protect my children."

He gasped lightly and released her. She walked through the gate. "And I will do the same," he whispered and followed her.

Behind the third gate was another enclosure like the last two, only this one was empty. Kakashi raised his hitai-ate and scanned the area with his solitary Sharingan iris. "He's here," he whispered. Oururi nodded. "Any ideas?"

"Could be Karasu…"

"Chigau!" a sing-songy voice called out. "Wrong-o!"

"Shit," Oururi hissed. "Kakashi, don't look at her!"

A small, round woman with huge, round glasses dropped her camouflage and clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Onee-sama, why do you want to leave?" she cooed and pouted. Her Anbu mask was affixed to the back of her head.

Oururi stared at the ground. "I didn't think they'd use Mimizuku so soon. She's the Sand Anbu's best Genjutsu user. That means the girls are safe for now, though." She looked to Kakashi but he was still looking straight ahead. Suddenly it seemed about 10 degrees hotter and more humid outside that it had only moments before. "Oh no, Kakashi…"

Mimizuku's pleading hands shifted into a seal. "That was so easy! Gotta love that freaky eye, ne?" Her giggle made Oururi growl.

"I will make you wish you had never laid eyes on him, you little bitch," Oururi hissed.

"Oh?" Mimizuku asked. "Much as it pains me to see you die, Onee-sama… Sharingan no Kakashi, kill her!"

Kakashi crouched low and suddenly leapt at Oururi. His eyes were as white as a Hyuuga's.

"Ohohoho!" Mimizuku laughed covering her mouth with her hand. "This is great! Get her!"

"Baka!" Oururi shouted as she dodged his fists and feet. "It's me, snap out of it!" The sky grew darker and a low rumbling caught Oururi's ear. "Come on, come on," she growled. "I don't want to hurt you, Kakashi."

He swatted at her a few more times before she cuffed him and leapt on top of the high wall. Oururi raked her left cheek with her thumbnail and wiped the blood on her first two fingers. "Aono Ichizoku Lightning Call!" she shouted and thrust her hand above her head. "First Strike!" In response the black cumulonimbus clouds above her sent a jagged bolt of lightning down to the contact point on her fingers.

Mimizuku shrieked in alarm as the thunder clapped, dropping her concentration on Kakashi for a moment. Surprised, but attentive, the bespectacled woman shouted at him, "Kill her, now!"

"I'm sorry, Kakashi. This is going to sting a bit!" Oururi shouted. Her hair billowed around her with the static charge. She pointed her bloodied fingers at him and let the power loose. It shot out so quickly one would have missed it had one blinked. It arched and crackled towards Kakashi. "Sidesplash!" Oururi called and the bolt swung left, sending a small stream of electricity towards Kakashi, stopping him just a few feet before he would have reached her, and the larger portion of it off towards Mimizuku. The Genjutsu user crumpled to the ground in a charred heap. Kakashi fell to his knees, his hair smoking a little but otherwise unharmed.

"What, what happened?" he asked looking up in a daze as Oururi jumped down from the wall. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and walked past him.

"I'm sorry."

Kakashi furrowed his brows, but didn't push her. 'Damn it,' he thought. 'I can't let her do that again.' He could tell by her breathing that the Lightning Call had taken a good amount of her Chakra with it. 'For this next one I've got to be on my toes.' "Oururi," Kakashi called, catching up to her. "Before we go through this door, who's left? Who do you expect to see today?"

"There's only two left of the whole upper echelon of Anbu: Karasu and Tancho. Karasu is a sick bastard whose hobbies include unconventional body piercing and human taxidermy and Tancho is the captain. No one has ever beaten her since she's become captain. She's a Taijutsu specialist. I've never seen her use anything else, but then again, none of her targets have ever lived to tell what she might up her sleeve."