Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of the Merc and the Medic. Enjoy the 1500-word chapter. I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and a few others do.

(Hidden Leaf Village, Forest of Death)

Marmora continued to stalk through the trees while Sakura rushed up a cliff side.

"I haven't been here in years…" Sakura said while Marmora leapt till, he was next to her.

"What do you mean?" He said, that was before a Kunai slammed into a tree next to them.

That was before a group of 10 warriors with hooded clothing, they looked like bandits. He looked around at them while Sakura cracked her knuckles.

"Can you fight in those shoes?" Marmora asked while the group drew kunai. They spread out into a circle, 5 for Sakura and 5 for Marmora.

"Yes. I don't have any Kunai or weapons." Sakura said while Marmora pulled a Kunai from his pouch slowly.

"What do you guys want? You blow up a part of the Hidden Leaf for what?" Marmora asked before a woman pointed her weapon at them.

He passed the kunai to Sakura.

"We got hired to gut you, I don't really care for why." She said before 2 of the bandits rushed at them.

Sakura easily dodged the frenzied slashes before she slammed her knee into the man's face. She stabbed him in the leg as she ducked a slash at her head. She then kicked the man to the side.

She turned to see Marmora flip over the man and slammed his fist into the man's face before planting his feet on the man's chest and kicking off him.

The man slammed into a rock and didn't get up, he looked at the group before he cracked his neck.

"Whoever paid you to rip my head off should have paid more…. And they shouldn't have involved someone innocent into this…" He said before the rest of the bandits besides the leader rushed at them.

Marmora sighed and walked forward.

"You're not even worthy using a Jitsu for…" Marmora said before he rushed forward.

Sakura watched him knock a bandit towards her before he slid under the legs of another bandit and threw the kunai into the chest of the third bandit. Sakura watched the man collapse dead to the ground

The fourth one went to stab Marmora before he grabbed the girl's wrist and kicked her legs out before he stomped on her head, knocking her out.

The two other bandits went to stab Marmora behind before Sakura grabbed their heads and slammed them into a tree, shattering it and knocking the bandits out.

"Nice one." Marmora said before the other bandits looked at their defeated comrades and shared a look.

"Screw it, the pay isn't worth it!" One of the three bandits besides the leader said and the trio ran off into the trees while Marmora looked at the bandit before Sakura cracked her knuckles.

"Trust me, you're not going to beat me, let alone her, your entire gang is gone and you obviously failed. I used to be a mercenary, take it from someone who's had this happen before to them, cut your losses and give up or run." Marmora said, crossing his arms while the bandit leader considered her options.

She went for her Kunai and the split decision was all Marmora needed to zip at her and flip her into the air while she tried to twist and threw her Kunai at Marmora.

That was before Sakura managed to slug her in the back, slamming her into the ground.

Marmora rubbed at a cut on his cheek which Sakura noticed.

"Damn it, I thought I could dodge that… Stings a little." The Mercenary said while he walked over to examine the fallen bandit leader.

If there was anything to be gleamed from being a mercenary, it was to always check the bodies for supplies to make sure they weren't hiding something.

"Your cheek…" Sakura said while Marmora looked at the slightly bleeding cut and then to her.

"I've been hurt before, it will heal. I want to see if they have any orders or anything." He said before Sakura put a hand on his face and it began to glow as she healed the cut.

Marmora blushed which the glow hid before she took her hand away, the cut was closed, it was still a little red, but it would fade with time.

"Thank you… You didn't have to." Marmora said, not used to being healed like that.

"It's the duty of a medical ninja to heal the wounded. You got hurt, I can't let that slide." Sakura said while Marmora chuckled and looked over the bandits.

"Says the girl who knocked out an entire group of bandits… I guess all those stories about you being a one-woman army with the Hokage and the Uchiha were right." Marmora said, he noticed out of the corner of his eye Sakura turn away at the mention of Sasuke.

Marmora said nothing and continued to look over the bandit's body, whatever problem Sakura had was her business. he would speak up if he could help, but personal matters were private usually.

"I found a letter…" Marmora said before he opened it and slowly read it.

He wondered why no other Shinobi were responding to the explosion unless there was more trouble.

"Oh, you have to be…. Damn it, Dagger!" He yelled while Sakura blinked.

"Who's Dagger?" She asked while Marmora continued reading.

Sakura snapped her fingers at the mercenary and nearly laughed when he fell over.

One of the Bandits groaned before Marmora kicked him in the head.

"We might want to tie them up and I'll talk about it on the way back." Marmora said before Sakura nodded.

(5 minutes later)

Sakura looked over the letter while Marmora leaned on a tree.

"Dagger is a… 'Sleazebag'… Blasted fool used to be a Jonin then he dropped out of the ninja job… I used to work for him." Marmora said before Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"If you're going to slam me into a tree, let me explain first. I didn't drop out of being a Shinobi. I enjoy fighting for my village and helping others… Sadly, that both doesn't pay bills… And to sound less like a greedy jackass, it has to many restrictions." He said before he cleared his throat.

"I took up merc work to help people, Dagger saw potential or something in me and took me under his wing, felt like I had some semblance of family after my first one threw me aside. Dagger isn't good at playing fair, but he's got a good head. I want to say the moron stayed out of trouble, but he had so many get rich quick schemes, he would use for jobs that I was young and naïve enough to think we're dealing with trash at the time. I found out I was just killing more of his former 'partners'." He said while Sakura nodded.

"I said I wanted out and left, Dagger borrowed from some guys that would stab you 50 times and throw you in a river to rot… These bandits must have been hired by one of the guys Dagger borrowed from… And probably didn't pay back, Dagger loves to get paid, he doesn't think about the consequences though. I can't believe the idiot got into trouble; this is entirely why I left." Marmora said and punched the tree.

He winced before he turned back to the medic who folded up the letter and put it away.

"So, you have a bounty on your head because of your old master using you for a weapon?" Sakura asked, the pure sass coming from it was physically painful.

"Yes… And thanks to him, you could be on their hitlist, unless they didn't have one of their spies see you. I swear if I see that meathead, I'm throwing him off a cliff. I'm sorry for possibly making you part of my old bosses' meat headed tactics." Marmora said.

"You don't have a place to live, do you?" Sakura asked while Marmora's eyes widened until they were diner plates.

"You can stay with me until you work something out… I'm not going to let a crime boss kill you just because you were stupid enough to not cut ties with your friend a while ago." Sakura said bluntly.

Marmora said nothing, he had no recourse to what was said, Sakura grabbed his hand and tugged the mercenary along with her.

His brain flashed back to the band of bandits. They would have more, there was always more.

And he wanted Sakura out of that.

Author Notes

Phew, another chapter done! I want to point out Sakura and Marmora don't love each other yet; they just are friends. I do want to point out Sasuke and Naruto might not appear, but Ino and the others might. Next chapter will be on Wednesday or so and will show Marmora and Sakura talking at her home. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!