"Sakura-chan!"

Hinata's scream broke Sakura out of her frozen state instantly as the dark-haired girl sent kunai after kunai to stop the trajectory of the ones heading towards her. Sakura threw several shuriken at the attackers up ahead.

"Hinata! Cover me, I need to check on Ino!" Sakura managed to say despite choking on her words. There was so much blood and the distance from the tree branch and the floor was high but Sakura refused to believe Ino was dead.

The two girls jumped down to the clearing below, Hinata scrambling to fend off attacks and Sakura immediately dropping to her knees beside Ino. At first she couldn't make sense of what she was seeing, there was so much blood, but soon her meagre first aid class during the Academy started kicking in.

She had to see if she was breathing. With shaking hands, Sakura felt for a pulse on her friend's neck while bending her head to see her chest. Good, the pulse was strong and she was breathing. Shallowly, which was worrying, but breathing all the same. Sakura felt relief flood her system like morphine, making her dizzy for a moment before she returned to her assessment. Just because she had a pulse didn't mean Ino was safe.

Next, she had to find the source of the blood.

She was interrupted by Hinata's scream.

"Hinata!" Sakura turned around to see the girl clutching her cheek, blood dripping from between her fingers.

"I'm fine!" Sakura continued looking only long enough to see for herself that she could keep fighting before she went back to Ino.

There was a gaping hole on her upper arm and it was bleeding heavily. Sakura didn't waste any time in stripping to her mesh shirt and bindings and cutting strips of her qipao dress—you look like a princess in it, Sacchan, her dad had once said—with her kunai. She first tied a few of them around the wound itself before creating a tourniquet above it. She didn't have any more time to take care of anything else but took careful stock of the bump on her best friend's head and of the odd angle of the left side of her torso.

Ino probably broke some ribs and hit her head on the fall but there was absolutely nothing Sakura could do about it while the enemy was still attacking them.

"Hinata! Switch with me!" Sakura got up and blocked another flow of shuriken while Hinata took her place. She quickly threw an exploding tag attached to a kunai to where the barrage had come from. "I'll distract them. You take Ino straight to Konoha, okay? She's bleeding a lot, the wound is not coagulating at all, I don't know how much longer she has!"

Sakura took the moments the enemy were dealing with the explosion to drop all of her weights.

"I-I can't leave you, Sakura-chan!" Hinata was crying but Sakura was relieved to see she had gotten Ino on her back.

"You can and you will. That's an order." Sakura was surprised by how calm her voice was but she knew deep in her bones that she would protect those girls until her dying breath. It didn't matter that her legs were shaking from how afraid she was, she had to get them to Konoha. "Don't worry, Hina-chan, I'll catch up to you soon!"

Sakura didn't look at Hinata any longer, instead she turned back to her enemy. She had already counted four different directions the attacks had come from. Hinata took to the trees again, going faster than Sakura thought she was able to and it was like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"Don't let the Hyuuga heiress escape, you idi-" the man was dead before he could finish his sentence, Sakura's kunai, hidden by a simple genjutsu, on his throat.

She could finally see all of them, the three remaining ninjas were on the same tree only a branch between each of them. They were two men who were gangly enough for Sakura to think she could take them on and a woman who had a tantou on her back and looked like she had more experience than the both of them combined. They were all wearing Kusa hitai-ate with the symbol scratched in the middle.

"Give up, little girl, the rest of our team is coming soon." The woman smiled mockingly at her. "Even if you manage to hold us back, others will come."

"Not that you will last long," the man closest to her stupidly drew attention to himself right before throwing a lightning jutsu at her. Sakura didn't have time to think on her next actions. Letting instinct take over, she quickly used the kawarimi no jutsu—the one she had always been so good at back at the academy—to change place with the branch beside him and used her momentum to kick him in the throat, one foot attached to the tree with chakra and the other striking him swiftly.

The amount of force she put behind the blow was enough to crush his windpipe and he fell to the forest floor in a heap.

"Tei!" The other man yelled after him, anguish clear in his voice.

Sakura was again at the place Inner had designed for her in which she could do terrible things. It was surprisingly easy to put the mask on. While the man was distracted mourning his comrade, she quickly jumped to his branch and attacked him with her kunai, her grip surer after her lessons with Tenten.

The man wasn't quick enough to dodge completely but he managed to escape the brunt of it, only taking a shallow cut to the arm. He grabbed her suddenly by her still extended arm and tried to flung her off the tree but she held on to him with all her strength and took him with her. At the last second, she pushed off him and slowed her fall by jumping from tree to tree until she reached the ground just before him.

His fall had been less controlled than hers so Sakura took the few seconds he was righting himself to close the distance between them and strike with a kunai. She had been aiming for his heart but a sudden kick to her back sent her down and she ended up cutting his torso wide open.

The blood gushed from his wound and coated her exposed skin but Sakura didn't let herself be shocked by how warm it was. The woman was behind her and she had precious seconds before she attacked again.

Sakura moved fast to her feet but at the last second, when she was about to leap away, the woman hit her with her short sword. The damage was slighter than it could have been because Sakura was already moving away but her tanto still sank into the skin of her shoulder painfully, tearing a scream from her throat when she fell to the floor and it ripped away.

"Tell me, girl," the woman kicked her on the back again and Sakura felt one of her left ribs crack, "was killing three of our men of any use to you?"

Sakura gasped in pain as she was unceremoniously yanked to her feet and flung around to look straight at the woman. Her red painted lips were stretched into an ugly, vicious smile, her dark blonde hair loose around her shoulders and speckled with Sakura's blood.

Before Sakura could say anything, the sound of ninja moving through the trees drew their attention. For a fleeting second Sakura let herself hope that it was someone from Konoha coming to rescue her, but reality sunk in leaving only despair in its wake.

The woman had said that they'd been waiting for the rest of their team and sure enough, ten more ninjas entered the clearing. They were all wearing the same black cape that her assailants were and had different types of swords strapped to their bodies.

"What happened here, Riruka?" A tall woman asked, her voice husky and dangerous. She was clearly the leader.

"We were waiting for a Leaf team to come through so we could use them as hostages against those ANBU bastards." Riruka spit on the ground but didn't point her tanto away from Sakura. "We even got lucky enough that the Hyuuga heiress happened to be passing by but this bitch here slowed us down."

Sakura didn't know what had possibly possessed her to let go of her careful hold of her mouth. All she knew was that there was no way she was getting out of this alive and she wanted to let go of her anger before it happened, then Inner was taking over so quickly Sakura almost felt whiplashed.

"You're never going to reach them before they get to Konoha, you fucking bastards. I hope ANBU catches up to you and tear you apart limb from limb."

Before Sakura had even finished her sentence, Riruka was backhanding her so hard she fell to the side, her forehead catching on a sharp rock that cut open a straight line through her left eyebrow. Sakura was gearing up to continue her tirade, to let her last moments on this earth be of defiance and boldness but the next thing she knew, a thousand birds were chirping.

It took her a moment to realise what she was hearing and what it meant, but as soon as the dots connected in her head, Sakura jumped to her feet and took a kunai from her holster. She came onto Riruka full strength and the woman was just distracted enough for her to manage to disarm her.

Sakura quickly dodged the woman's lightning filled kick and aimed a kunai at her. It was blocked rather easily but Sakura had anticipated that and had sent a kunai with an exploding tag hidden on its shadow by a genjutsu.

The tag went off when Riruka saw through her genjutsu and paired the kunai and Sakura raised her arms against the force of the explosion as she leaped away. The force of it threw her further back but she didn't feel it burning her.

The sounds of fighting were echoing all around her but Sakura didn't have time to look around because Riruka, with arms heavily burned and her clothes in tatters, screamed in outrage and charged at her. She stood her ground, ready to defend herself with her kunai but a masked figure stepped between them and with a swipe of its sword, Riruka's head fell to the forest floor.

Kakashi was tired.

His squad had been ordered to assassinate a band of missing nin from Grass that had been causing trouble at the border about a month ago and what was supposed to be a two-week mission was taking twice as long because the ninja kept disappearing on them.

They apparently had a sensor type with them and always seemed to know when they were being followed.

Kakashi had ordered his squad to keep its distance about a week ago but today he'd noticed that their scent had split into two. With how close they were to Konoha, he was about ready to finish this mission once and for all.

They had been gaining in on the larger fraction when Kakashi felt the scent of the two groups mix.

Signing for his squad to proceed with extreme caution and to hang back a few metres, he followed their trail without making a sound. By the time he could see the clearing in the distance, he knew something was wrong.

He didn't waste any time before attacking half of them with his Chidori, barely looking around other than to confirm his next target. His hand went through five chests, breaking through tissue and bone easily, before an explosion caught his attention.

His squad had arrived. Genma cut the head off a blonde woman while Keiichi took three ninjas down with his clan jutsu and Yuugao battled the other two with her katana. The numbers weren't exactly matching up and a single figure stood behind Genma, kunai raised and battle ready.

The girl was almost bare from the waist up and absolutely covered in blood.

Kakashi was moving forwards, blade drawn to interrogate the suspicious character his teammate had so obviously protected before he noticed the Konoha hitai-ate. Then she spoke.

"Kakashi-sense—Kakashi-senpai."

Kakashi immediately stopped in his tracks, both eyes widening in realisation. The girl was Sakura. Blood covered, battle ready Sakura. The genin who had been placed on his disaster of a team, the genin who was now in the middle of his mission. His ANBU mission.

"Identify yourself, kid." Genma pointed to three bodies he had assumed had been his team's doing before Kakashi could say anything. "Did you kill those ninjas?"

Sakura straightened her narrow shoulders, determination and urgency on her sharp features.

"Haruno Sakura, chunin, registration number 012601." She said hurriedly, her words almost blurring together. "My team was attacked on the way back from Iron. Do you have a medic-nin in your squad?"

"The captain is the only one who can divulge this type of info…" Genma trailed off for Kakashi to take over but he didn't need to because he was already reaching towards the girl.

"Are you hurt?" Kakashi asked harshly, his eyes roving over her figure and noticing the wound on her shoulder.

"It doesn't matter, Hatake-san." She slapped his hand away and he noticed she was shaking. "Ino is badly injured. I sent Hinata ahead with her but I—I'm not sure she'll make it to Ko-Konoha."

"Kitsune knows basic medical jutsu." Kakashi was barely done speaking before Sakura's head turned towards Keiichi.

"Then we have to hurry and catch up with them, I think the kunai that hit Ino might have been poisoned."

Sakura, the same Sakura he had always secretly thought would never go any higher than genin, leaped into a tree faster than he ever thought her capable of. She was moving very quickly ahead of them as Kakashi turned back to his team.

"Taichou?" Yuugao questioned uncertainly, her cat mask tilting to the side in question.

"This is an emergency. Tanuki, Neko, stay behind to collect the bodies. Kitsune, full speed until we reach the girls." Without another word, he went after Sakura. It was jarring to realise that he actually had to put some effort to catch up with her. Her speed wasn't exactly on ANBU standards but it was still high enough to be noticeable.

"Byakugan!" Keiichi called from his left just as they were a branch behind Sakura. "I see them! About two kilometres ahead of us, we'll probably reach them in two minutes if we go full speed."

"Sakura," Kakashi shunshined to her side. "Climb on my back, we need to move faster."

Kakashi saw the displeasure on her face but didn't expect her to jump on his back without complaint. He tightened his core muscles to keep his balance and continued on their track, letting Keiichi take point.

The two minutes it took to reach the girls were enough for Kakashi to lose track of his thoughts. He had never expected his mission to end with Sakura turning up with three dead bodies and a promotion on her shoulders. The type of seriousness he saw on her, determination mixed with the frightening weight of responsibility, wasn't something he was prepared for either.

Kakashi jumped next to the Hyuuga girl and almost lost his balance again when Sakura leaped off his back to help her support the blonde girl.

"Sakura-chan, I'm so glad you're okay!" Kurenai's student was crying, blood mixing with her tears down her cheeks as she turned towards them. Her eyes widened when she saw Kakashi and Keiichi. "What's going on?"

"ANBU-san is going to heal Ino, Hinata." Sakura had completely taken Ino's weight on her and was lying against the trunk of the tree. She looked expectantly at Keiichi, her eyes burning like she was daring him to do anything but.

"I'm not an iryo-nin, Haruno." Keiichi was already concentrating green chakra on his right hand and bringing it to the girl's arm. "I can only close the wound superficially until we get to Konoha. My expertise only goes that far and if she really has been poisoned, she's going to need more help than I can give."

But Kakashi knew it was enough. Ino was pale but he could see her chest rising and now that they had arrived, they could make it to Konoha in half an hour or less.

"Is she stable?" He asked Keiichi, seeing how the man had tensed upon looking at the blonde.

"We can't jostle her much on the way back, Taichou." Keiichi turned to look at Kakashi. "She definitely has a few broken ribs and the risk of them piercing a lung is high at this point."

Kakashi nodded at him.

"I'll take her as soon as you're done. You'll accompany the girls at their own pace."

Keiichi carefully set Ino in his arms and Kakashi was about to shunshin away when he was stopped by a hand on his uniform.

"Hatake-san," Sakura's eyes were impossibly wide and her voice was tiny but strong. "Please be careful."

He should be insulted but he wasn't. He could see the desperation for everything to be alright on her face. It was the same expression she had given him when Naruto and Sasuke had almost killed her at the hospital's roof. It was the same expression she had given him when they were dealing with Zabuza in Wave. It was the expression of a student asking for reassurance from their sensei and it was surprisingly easy for Kakashi to fall back to that role—the same one he had resisted so much from taking on.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan." He cocked his head a bit to the side and smiled at her even though she wouldn't be able to see. "Everything is going to be okay."

The lie somehow felt bitter on his tongue as he sped through the forest. He had said that same thing to her before and things had turned out as far from okay as possible. But even though she had been trying to distance herself from him, calling him Kakashi-senpai and then Hatake-san, he knew she had needed reassurance.

He knew because he had been in her shoes one too many times with a teammate dying on the mission he was leading. He knew exactly how she was feeling, how her muscles were shaking so much she had to clench them or how the only thing keeping her steady was the duty she had to the village. So he pushed himself to his limit, running as fast as he could without jostling the girl in his arms.

Kakashi had been unable to prevent his student from having her first kill so early in her career but he knew without a doubt that he would do everything in his power so that she didn't have to lose her best friend like he did his.

.

Hello, lovelies!

I hope our boi Kashi appearing made up for last week's cliffhanger (hihi). I'm so excited about this fic and it makes me so happy so many people are liking it so far. Thank you all who reviewed, you always make my day and my muse works 100% harder when I see your words of encouragement.

We're officially caught up with AO3 (uhuuuu)!1!one! Expect some much longer A/N's from now on.

I hope y'all have a wonderful day xx