On today's run, the sun was slightly higher in the sky. The weather was warmer, and Sakura felt stronger. If she closed her eyes, only focusing on detecting chakra signatures nearby, she could almost pretend she was back in Fire Country.

Then a light tapping noise caught her attention.

Futaha rolled down the window. She smiled at Sakura.

"I didn't see you last night," she noted with a lilt. When Sakura didn't say anything in response, Futaha continued. "I felt very safe though, being guarded by all of those men."

"I'm glad."

Sakura could feel the woman's dark eyes trained on her.

"Do you feel protected being around them?"

That was a different way of phrasing the question Sakura thought Futaha would ask. She was surprised at the words the woman actually chose.

"I feel protected being around my team, when there are men or when they are women. I feel safe because I know they would fight to keep me safe. Much like how you know we're hired to keep you safe."

Sakura knew she was being more verbose than usual. But something about her felt compelled to tell this woman as much.

Futaha cocked her head and regarded Sakura. "You make it sound like the motives there are different."

Sakura shrugged, "They might be."

The woman gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She sunk back into the carriage but kept her hand rested on the open window. "Money changes everything, ne?"

Ko was leaning forward, one elbow placed on the table as he slowly moved rice into his mouth.

"Tired from a wild night, Ko?" Tenzo teased, poking the man with his chopsticks.

Ko lifted his dark ringed eyes to narrow slightly at Tenzo.

Kakashi decided to pile on also. Sakura noticed it before he even spoke—there was a tiny spike of chakra from the captain. She snorted, Kakashi must have felt adrenaline going after his subordinate.

"Remember Hyuuga, no sleeping with the clients until after the mission."

Ko sighed and meticulously placed down his chopsticks. Sakura watched, entranced to see what had happen next. Ko rarely rose to the bait, and Kakashi had been more relentless as of late.

"Captain," he said dryly, "I'm a professional. And if it came down to it, I'm sure Miyamizu-san has no preference between you or I."

"Okay, I'm hurt—!" Tenzo clutched a hand over his heart and looked wounded. He winked at Sakura over their heads, making her giggle.

"Ko-kun," Kakashi's chopsticks darted over to steal a piece of fish from Ko's bowl, plopping it into his mouth noisily. The Hyuuga made an exasperated noise at his captain. Kakashi sucked on the ends of his chopsticks teasingly. "You'd be throwing me to the wolves. A lesser man like me can't possibly handle a woman like Futaha Miyamizu."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't want to hear about you being men, with women and… wolves," she shuddered. "I'm going to sleep. Ko-san, you take last shift."

Kakashi watched her until she left.

Sakura slipped into Futaha's suite shortly after four in the morning. She rolled her shoulders and was grateful for the thick, tight anbu vest that kept her posture up even in her current exhaustion.

Kakashi shook his head at her as she came in. He was standing stiffly, hands clasped tightly to his sides with his back to most of the room. It looked like he was staring straight ahead at the wall. Sakura gave him a look at his odd location but came fully in.

As soon as Sakura was settled, Kakashi darted out of the room, gone before she could blink. The man was so dramatic.

The bathroom door opened with a soft click and Sakura met Futaha's eyes. The woman scanned her quickly before giving a half-hearted smile. Futaha's eyes were pitch in the dark room, and Sakura thought she was still wearing her makeup.

"You're not the white-eyed friend. I was excited to see him again."

"He's resting."

The woman laid down on the bed, her silken robe riding up on her thigh. She didn't move to cover it, instead just luxuriated and let herself settle with a sigh.

"I can't sleep," she told Sakura. "I have a migraine. Can you cure it?"

Sakura deliberated. Someone must have told Futaha that she was a medic. If she were Ko or Kakashi, the woman undeniably would have already used that line. Actually, maybe she did use it on one of them, which is how she knows.

On one hand, she didn't like using her healing for things that were trivial. On the other hand, getting Futaha to sleep would be a victory for them both.

Sakura approached the bed and sat down on the edge. Futaha shimmied over at Sakura's beckoning, and with effort, arranged her long black hair around her head appealingly. Satisfied, she fell back down and pulled her shoulders back.

Sakura smiled under her mask at the woman's determination. Futaha was a beautiful woman and every little movement she made was deliberate and appealing, even when it was only her and Sakura in the dark room.

Sakura placed her hands in a cradle around Futaha's face, handling her with delicate fingers. She pulled her chakra from her core to her limbs and closed her eyes as the familiar glow started up again. She used only a minimal amount of chakra, as it was known to make civilians sick at higher doses. It would be slow going, but hopefully effective.

Under her hands, Futaha was staring intently at Sakura. The glow from the kunoichi's hands made it hard to see her in the dark, but there was enough light that Sakura's features were a shadow that she could focus on.

"Ram-san," she called out lightly. Futaha fiddled with her robe's neckline, trailing it lower on her chest. "Tell me about being on this team."

"Are you asking about white-eyed and gray-haired ones?"

A laugh. "No, but tell me about them too. Why do you protect each other? How do you know one another?"

Sakura paused. Her first words came out sounding uncertain. "Some don't agree with this method, but I like thinking of my team as my friends." She thought about what she wanted to tell the wealthy woman.

"We don't know each other—well. But I respect them for their strengths in battle. And as we spend more time together, I learn more things about their person that make us closer to friends."

"And then I'll care about them. And I'd want to protect them."

"Would they always want to protect you? In return?"

Futaha seemed seduced by the promise of being a shinobi. Sakura could see it from her appeal, the red lips, dark eyes, seductive manner. Popular conception of nin was full of blood, sex and battles. She supposed she was disappointing, to that trope.

"It's not in return—" She explained, "But I would hope so. But a battle is fast. There are so many things to prioritize. In an ideal world, we save everyone and succeed."

Minutes went by. Sakura knew from her chakra that Futaha was still awake, just silent.

Like on the first day, Sakura felt compelled to say something more. "Miyamizu-san, do you have similar people in your life?"

The black haired, black eyed woman lay still in the bed. She said nothing in response. Sakura finished healing her and slowly eased off of the bed, returning to her watch spot by the door.

They neared the final leg of the journey. Futaha had it made it a habit now to keep her window rolled down, talking to Sakura about the going ons of her mind as Sakura ran alongside her. The men had noticed the heiress' habit but not said anything about it, certainly not interested in getting closer to the carnivorous woman.

They were driving through a narrow pass in a line of trees. The area was quiet, like all of the other plains they'd passed through, the heavy snow muffling the landscape.

Sakura was about to reply to a quip from Futaha when Kakashi held up his hand. The carriage halted to a stop, Sakura running a few last steps before instantly turning out, her hands held at the ready.

"Miyamizu-san, please close the window."

The horses at the head of the carriage stamped their feet and made piercing noises, the driver shouted for them to calm down. It was difficult to listen for any hostile noises above the chaos and Sakura felt herself quickly darting her sight from tree to tree.

Then it happened. Several kunai came for Sakura's side of the carriage. Sakura knocked two of them out of the air with her own, and Kakashi sent one in their direction, disabling the third. As Ko leapt towards the source of the attack, a blast of snow came from behind one tree, heading straight for Sakura.

Sakura had no shield jutsu for moments like these. Deliberating it for a second in her mind, she ducked to the side as the plume shattered the window of the carriage behind her. Sakura's head whipped back and locked eyes with Futaha. She felt like she could see fear in the woman's usually impassive eyes.

"I'm taking her!" she shouted to her team as she reached in through the broken window and opened the carriage door. She discarded her travel pack.

"Miyamizu-san," Sakura offered her back. Futaha latched on, nearly choking Sakura with a strong grip as she leapt away from the carriage.

Sakura hoped to put distance between them and the attackers, hoping that Kakashi and the others could disable them. Futaha's thick kimono fluttered behind Sakura in the breeze. Sakura quickly unlatched her cloak to win more mobility. She gripped behind Futaha's knees and circled, keeping the other woman firmly attached to her back.

Tenzo approached Sakura's direction, facing outwards as he searched the area.

Kakashi and Ko burst from the tree line. Kakashi held two fingers up then closed his hand in a fist. Two eliminated.

A sound behind Sakura made her startle. She ducked down and leapt several feet to the side. A senbon implanted itself in the snow behind them. Tenzo was making the hand signs for a wood release as a shower of senbon rained down on them. A shield of wood shot up, but a senbon impaled in Sakura's shoulder.

She groaned under her breath. With effort, Sakura wrenched out the thin blade, discarding it in the snow.

They took off. Sakura was vaguely aware that Futaha was screaming as she ran, but she couldn't spare a moment. Sakura's head whipped back constantly, checking behind her to make sure that Kakashi and Ko were pursuing the attackers.

From the direction that they ran in, the snow on the ground started to stir. Sakura watched for only a moment before walking back her steps, but not quickly enough as they were overtaken by a tremendous plume of packed snow that knocked Sakura off her feet.

She rolled into a fall, taking care to keep Futaha the right way up as much as possible. Her body ached from the impact.

The sky around them had turned dark, the snow whirling to become razor sharp pieces of ice that clawed at her bare hands and neck.

"Cover your face!" She commanded. Futaha was sobbing. Sakura could see that her delicate hands were bleeding from the cuts carried on the wind.

Sakura needed to find the source quickly before the pieces of ice found something vital. She focused her chakra and tried to look around the mini storm for a sign of life.

Kakashi, Ko and Tenzo were not in sight. She couldn't find them. She bit down the panic and committed to moving in one direction. They'd break out of this eventually, if she managed to keep up the speed.

She threw chakra to her legs, sprinting as quickly as possible. The drag of Futaha on her back made it harder but Sakura saw a glimmer of bright light from the dim of the storm. They were almost at the edge—

A figure appeared in front of them, materialized from the snow.

Sakura recognized the uniform and mask. A hunter-nin.

She quickly leapt back, analyzing the enemy's appearance and turning the gears in her head at the same time. What did hunter-nin want with an heiress like Futaha? The man pulled out a long, thin katana. He sunk into a battle pose.

Futaha was screaming when he launched towards them. Sakura deftly jumped to the right, throwing her shoulder back as she dodged and pulling it forward in hopes of landing a hit. But her whole bodied was slowed by the extra weight on her back, and the nin was much faster, flashing away before her knuckles could connect.

Sakura's neck tingled as she felt a movement behind her. She whirled on her ankles and brought up a kunai just in time to deflect a parry from the katana. She knocked the sword away before it could slide closer to them.

She knew she was fatiguing quickly. Sakura needed to find someone from the team before it was too late. Digging her heels in to the thick snow, Sakura let out a tremendous spike of chakra that she hoped would help them find her. She was down more than half now—it'd been a gamble.

"Haruno!"

Sakura turned with tremendous relief as she spotted Kakashi speeding towards them. She took off in his direction. He grabbed her elbow as she passed.

"Go—!" He bellowed at her as he engaged the hunter-nin.

Sakura ran in the opposite direction as Tenzo materialized through the thick and dove after Kakashi.

Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she kept one eye on them and the other in front of her. She didn't want to run too far in case she lost sight of them again. The sharp sound of steel told her that Kakashi had pulled out his tanto, and there was a crackling of electricity in the air that made Futaha cry out in fear.

Sakura angled her body so Futaha wouldn't have to watch Kakashi finish off the hunter nin, driving his chidori through the man's stomach.

The thick ice storm around them began to settle. The bone-piercing cold eased up. A hint of sun trickled through the tops of the clouds again. Futaha was still wrapped around her neck, in a hold that was impressively firm and also dangerous. Sakura coughed as she eased the woman down into the snow.

"Miyamizu-san," Ko had appeared next to them. "You have to let Ram-san go."

Futaha screamed at the sudden sight of Ko and Sakura rested a hand on the woman's arms. "It's—the white-eyed friend—" she choked out with difficulty.

Kakashi and Tenzo approached them. Sakura gestured for help. Kakashi bent down and without fanfare, tore Futaha's arms off of Sakura, who rolled onto her side and gasped fat breaths for air.

Sakura rested on her knees and elbows, head bowed in exhaustion.

"Ram-san," Futaha cried for her, draping over Sakura's back. Sakura could feel her quivering.

Sakura tried to turn around so she could hold Futaha but suddenly lost strength. She fell flat on her face, buried in the snow, and lay there as she felt a strong hand hook under her armpits and drag her up to sitting.

Blearily, she saw Kakashi kneeling behind her. Sakura had to lean back on Kakashi's knee to stay upright. Ko had Futaha in a similar hold, who had draped herself around his chest and was sobbing.

Sakura sighed.

She pitched herself forward and crawled to where Futaha was crying. With gentle hands, she unwound the hysterical woman from Ko's stiff posture. Futaha wept even harder at the sight of Sakura, which she couldn't understand, couldn't find the energy to figure out.

Taking Futaha's hands in hers, she quickly healed up the multitude of cuts, and helped pick out pieces of dirt. The heiress whimpered as Sakura administered the treatment.

Sakura took Futaha's arm and rolled up the sleeves, searching for more hurts. She grabbed Futaha's shoulder and looked her over from front to back. "Hurt anywhere else?"

Futaha shook her head. And started crying again once she looked at Sakura. Looking down at herself, the kunoichi realized her hands and wrists were shredded. Touching the back of her neck, the area between her mask and collar, her hand came away sticky and wet with blood. Her shoulder also hurt.

Tenzo and Kakashi sported small cuts where they were exposed to the storm, but Sakura and Futaha had spent the longest inside. Ko was thankfully unscathed. The men stood in a circle around them, their body language tightly sprung.

The driver of the carriage emerged from a plough of snow, and stumbled towards them.

"Driver-san, how far are we from the last stop?"

The man was quivering as he fell at Futaha's feet, crying and clutching at his mistress. "Two hours by horse—but they've all run off," he weeped.

"We'll run." The men automatically moved into place. Ko offered his back to Futaha, who latched on. Tenzo picked up the driver man.

Kakashi gave Sakura a hand up. He glanced a question at her and she nodded in affirmation. She was low on chakra from the run and fight. She healed her shoulder, and would save the rest for later.

They took off.

When the sight of the tremendous villa peeked over the horizon, blocking out the dipping sun behind it, Sakura nearly cried with relief.

Especially after the ambush, Kakashi kept a punishing pace. They kept their formation, Kakashi in front and Tenzo and Ko in the middle with Futaha and the driver.

Sakura, in part due to having nobody to carry, and in part because she was exhausted, rounded out the tail. She had no doubt that she wouldn't have been able to take Futaha this entire distance. She stumbled into the house after the five of them.

Sakura was vaguely aware of another butler, similar to the one who had met them at the original destination. Like the last one, this butler also gave them a similarly disapproving look. His critical gaze felt like it spent the longest on Sakura. She was aware of the sensation of water dripping from her body, a combination of blood and melted snow.

She dragged her eyes from the carpet, now stained, to the butler, to the ceiling. Sakura's knees buckled and she dove into a deep sleep.

Kakashi got to her first, with nobody on his back. He caught Sakura before she hit the ground. Futaha burst out screaming again, crying for Sakura as she tore herself off Ko's back, to the protests of her butler and driver.

It was chaos all over until the butler led Kakashi to a double bedroom, and the captain managed to set her down on one of the beds. He ordered Ko and Tenzo away, to secure Futaha and the hysterical driver and to get some rest themselves.

To his sharingan, Sakura seemed fine aside from exhaustion and a low grade fever that she must have been running with. He felt an inkling of annoyance, wishing she'd said something earlier. He was free to help if she had just asked for it.

He grabbed a towel off of the rack in the bathroom and wet it with warm water. Kakashi coaxed her mask off. Then undid her vest from the side, unable to get it over her head without irritating the cuts on the back of her neck. To his satisfaction, Sakura seemed to breath a little easier without the thick, constricting garment.

Kakashi wiped away the dried and fresh blood on her face and hands, watching her face for signs of pain as he skirted around the open wounds. Pulling a familiar med kit out of his travel bag, the anbu captain wrapped up her neck and hands. Some of his bandage work was rough, but it would do until she woke up.

"Captain."

He shot awake at the sound of her voice.

Sakura was sitting up in the other bed, gazing at him calmly. She reacted a little to his expression. He wondered if he looked irritated, or relieved. Ideally, neither.

"Sorry, captain."

She looked a little sheepish, smiling tentatively at him. Her face looked red and flushed, Kakashi thought that if he touched it now, her skin must be hot. Her hair was a little wild, some bits of it tinged in blood.

"Did it look bad?" She cracked a wry smile. She eyed her anbu vest discarded on the floor, stained red.

"You should have just asked me to carry you."

She swung her feet to the floor and set them down, grounding herself with the feeling of the cool wood under her toes. Sakura's head was pounding, and she knew her temperature was too hot. "I thought I could make it here on my own."

He shook his head at her, and watched her move in a falling motion towards the door. He couldn't keep down his annoyance as he snapped, "Where are you going?"

"Checking on Futaha."

"She was fine."

Sakura had opened the door and was ambling down the hallway, stumbling like an uncoordinated toddler. Kakashi saw red.

"Come on, captain. If you're worried then escort me to her," Sakura quietly called.

He threw off his blankets with a growl and caught up to her in no time. He grabbed her elbow roughly, and forced her to lean on him. At a crawl, they made their way upstairs and down a hallway that felt too long to Kakashi. At multiple points, he considered just throwing Sakura over his shoulder and hauling her to the suite.

"Futaha-san," Sakura leaned on the door, softly rapping at it with her knuckles.

The door burst open and the dark eyed, dark haired woman burst out with a cry. She grabbed onto Sakura and sobbed into her chest. It was unclear who was holding up who, as the two leaned into each other.

Sakura smoothed a hand clumsily over the woman's long black hair.

"It's alright, we're okay." She nudged them inside, Kakashi following stiffly.

The medic set the other woman on the expansive bed. The sheets were unmade, it was clearly she'd been sleeping when Sakura called. Sitting across from her, Sakura turned Futaha carefully over in her hands, scanning every bit of skin.

"Not hurt, are you?"

"I was so worried about you," the woman cried. She looked abject and deeply upset. Sakura felt sympathy, seeing how shaken the heiress was. It was out of character for a woman who she had read to be cold, focused on men and sometimes socially careless.

"I'm strong, ne?" Sakura crinkled her eyes at her.

"Thank you for protecting me."

Sakura grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. She looked deep into Futaha's dark eyes, "I wanted to."

"Miyamizu-san," Kakashi spoke from where he stood, several meters off. "This was meant to be a regular escort mission, we were told you had no enemies, only to watch out for regular looters and bandits."

Futaha met his accusing gaze.

She looked deeply upset, red lips drawn into a sharp frown. Sakura looked between them.

"My father, he's a member of the governing body in Snow. His position endangers me." Sakura couldn't hide her response at this. "He's also a shinobi too, but he only ever hires others to protect me." Her tone was biting and she looked at Sakura as she talked.

Kakashi let out a deep sigh. Sakura patted Futaha's hands.

They sat and talked for a little while until Sakura started to exhaust. Standing up to leave, with Kakashi holding on to her arm, Sakura heard Futaha call to her.

"Ram-san, I'm sorry for endangering you. I admire the way your team protects each other."

"You should heal yourself now," Kakashi told her once they got back, closing the door behind them. He watched her shuffle to the bathroom, and in the mirror could see her unwind the gauze.

Sakura hissed at the sting as she pulled the bandages away from the fresh wounds. Tenderly, she prodded at the areas.

"I'm low on chakra," she said.

He appeared in the bathroom doorway. "I can give you mine."

She shook her head slowly, pulling her shirt down to look at the shoulder that had taken the senbon. "It would hurt me. Chakra transfers are really tough on the body and should only be a last resort."

Her eyes landed on him. She stumbled over, placing her hand on his neck. Kakashi felt the itch of the skin reforming as she healed a small scratch. He slapped her hand away, not lightly. She winced.

"Heal yourself first."

Sakura gave him a pointed look but retreated to the other end of the bathroom. She unraveled a fresh roll of gauze. He watched her quietly.

Kakashi's head throbbed at the amount of worry she'd put him through in the last couple of hours. She'd made exactly the right moves, stealing away Futaha and protecting her fully from harm. He could even overlook how she had insisted on running here on her own, only to pass out from exhaustion.

But then Sakura had barely woken up before insisting on seeing that horrible woman, just to console her. And now Sakura was wasting chakra healing his scratches when she should be treating herself.

How did she have so much heart to care about other people? Her priorities were damn crossed. What was Tsunade teaching them over there?

He gritted his teeth.

"We leave tomorrow." The words sounded harsh, even to his ears, as he said them. Sakura was still feverish looking.

Sakura looked up from redressing her hand. She smiled at him. "I might have to take you up on that offer to carry me."

Author's note:

I have a question for all of you, please leave me a comment or a DM: How much fluff do you want to see? Options being (Little) (Enough to get to the next point) (A lot!)

Being honest with yall, I have one more chapter in the backlog, then a (blank), and then more chapters. Trying to decide how to fill up the blank. I'm also going through a career change right now, so I will be posting next week's chapter and possibly taking a 1-2 month hiatus! I wish I didn't have to, but it will help me bring better chapters to yall once I can focus! Thank you for your patience, and continued support.

As usual, thank you so much for your kind comments and feedback, likes and favorites. I appreciate them all.

- Maudlim