.
.
.
small ember red heard the whisper plea, breathe
-i-
Ken was working up to something in their conversation that morning; Sakura could see it in his body language, heard it in his tone, and knew it from his typical style of a leading question.
"Did you know Orochimaru was a disciple of the Third?" He had asked as if it were a spontaneous thought as they traded a water bottle. Sai was there, too, but he was silent in the presence of his teacher. Ken was talking to Sakura.
They were in a training ground Sakura had never seen before. Training Ground Seventy-Two went back into the mountain beyond the Hokage monument and consisted of large caverns and an extensive network of tunnels that might have been natural, might have been formed from jutsu, or maybe a combination of both. Impossibly large mineral deposits chewed up the interior space, creating a dimensional and dangerous landscape, and there was a slickness to every surface that had claimed her skin and clothing, too. They were sat in a natural sort of amphitheater after training.
She had nodded 'yes' at Ken's question, and so he told her something new.
"He was once a member of the renegade organization hunting your teammate. He was chased out of our village but when we were... unable to execute him, Orochimaru became a member of Akatsuki."
Sakura found that difficult to understand.
"A man who wanted to become Hokage at any cost bends to the will of another mercenary?" She asked. The move didn't sound like something the egotist she had briefly encountered would make. But then, considering for some how 'the ends justify the means,' perhaps he had made a temporary concession. She postulated, aloud but to herself, "Akastuki wants to remove our jinchuuriki. If they had that same intention back then, he must have seen that as a way to weaken our regime."
"Others have come to that same conclusion," Ken said.
He didn't redirect the conversation, she supposed she were following the correct lead.
"Of course, then he left Akatsuki eight, nine years ago and returned to working towards his goals on his own. Or rather, at his own discretion."
Sakura eyed Sai from her peripheral, wondering if he would give some indication as to where this was going. The boy was completely aloof and wouldn't respond to her secretive glances. Feeling a little lonesome from that, Sakura busied herself with freeing bits of rock from the treads of her boots and combing down the gooseflesh on her bare legs. It wasn't at all warm inside the cavern but the air was dense and lacked the freshness of the approaching winter months. The cloying moisture in the air chilled her all the same.
"If Orochimaru left them," she said finally, "then maybe it was because their goals conflicted too much. They might want the jinchuuriki, but they might also want to destroy Konoha altogether."
"If that were the case..."
Sakura finished Ken's thought, "why would they allow him to leave the organization? Were they unable to stop him?"
"That seems the likely reason."
So they were talking about Akatsuki and its history, its manner of functioning, she thought. Orochimaru was the 'in.'
"It seems odd to me that they would coexist," Sakura said, thoughtful. "The intelligence that could be leaked seems too detrimental a risk. Akatsuki must not be powerful enough to stop Orochimaru, but he similarly isn't strong enough to stop them. Stalemate, perhaps."
Sakura was quiet a moment, then wondered, "did he leave because they no longer had the specific power or resources he needed?"
Ken was happy with her question. He smiled and she could see the curve of his cheek in his eyes when he looked at her. He pushed her with another question. "What are your thoughts about Akatsuki and their structure?"
Most of Sakura's thoughts concerning Akatsuki centered around the fact they wanted Naruto for the demon inside him. She didn't known as to what they would do with that demon and the powered offered therein once they had him. And more specifically, in terms of structure, Sakura was only certain that the most visible operatives worked in teams of two. Beyond that – things like how many members there were in total, the hierarchy of leadership and the chain of command, base of operations, she didn't know about those things.
"Going by the assumption Orochimaru doesn't interfere with Akatsuki," she said, tentative, "then maybe they're too powerful in ways beyond ninjutsu."
"And what type of power would that be?" More pleased leading from Ken.
"Man power," she said quickly.
"More than that. What gets the numbers?"
Ken was reminding her of the very potent fact that ninjutsu and physical power only went so far when compared to the most important form of persuasion –
"Money," and that answer earned her a nod of approval. She went on, "but then the question is where does the money come from? Especially if they're as formidable as it would appear and they're unaffiliated with a country."
There were plenty of ways in which to make money, like real estate, drugs, weapons, or trafficking any illegal or high demand commodity. However, if a ninja wanted to make fast money and in large amounts quickly, something that were more randomized than regular customers and supplies, that offered more anonymity, Sakura could think of one particular job.
"They could be taking bounties. Ones too politically risky for villages to accept or pursue."
"Never one to disappoint, apprentice." Ken had gotten what he wanted out of her. Nodding his head to Sai, he said, "with that in mind, I want you to consider taking a mission with us."
"How do you mean?"
"ANBU intell has singled out a potential hub for bounty missions. Operates out of the shady zone on the borders of Grass and Wind. Has the street name Carbon Man. We think he's funneling jobs to Akatsuki."
Sakura stood straighter in her seat, excited, but a little lost as well. Not seeing where she could contribute, she asked, "I don't understand what could I do for you?"
Ken laughed like he couldn't believe her doubts. "You're a medic, aren't you? I want one in my cell when we go to investigate. You up for it?"
"Of course," she said without hesitating. "You're trying to take down Akatsuki, of course I'll help."
"Perfect," Ken almost hummed. "We've got a few kinks to work out before it's official, but I think you'll be pleased to join the effort."
Sakura smiled, sincerely happy with the thought of working in a team again. And she didn't think it would conflict with her current mission, but rather she thought it was a step furthering her objective. Kakashi would be happy, too, she thought.
Remembering something, Sakura dropped her smile in favor of a crease in her brow. "Why did you ask me if I knew Orochimaru was a disciple of the Third?"
Ken shrugged a shoulder. "Just something curious to remember is all. Something I think about from time to time."
And that was all he said any more on that topic.
As hopeful as she was about the prospect of leaving Konoha on a mission and reacquainting herself with the world outside of the village gates, Ken had stirred within her a troubling sense of unease.
-o-
Kakashi had pulled a muscle around his elbow on his last mission and no matter what position his arm took, the stupid thing ached constantly and often twitched with sharp little pains.
He tucked his arms across his chest, which seemed to bother him the least, and waited for Sakura to finish her initial briefing. They were in the One-Eleventh Street clinic, as they always were when they spoke, and Kakashi was leaning in his typical spot. He noticed Sakura hitch in her recitation just once, as her eyes had been looking over his bad arm with a suspicious narrowing, but she hadn't said anything about the injury.
"Ken has been teaching me genjutsu. Lower-ranking jutsu meant for quick diversion. He's brought me to training ground Seventy-Two, which I'm pretty sure is typically off-limits to someone like myself. Usually."
Kakashi made a noise of agreement. It was reserved for ANBU.
Sakura took a little breath before speaking. "He's also put in a request for me to join his cell."
As he started to say something, she added hastily, "for one mission. Temporarily."
"You're supposed to go on a mission with him. As what, ANBU?" Kakashi was surprised at the development, although his tone was more condescending than he would have preferred, because Sakura pinched her face.
"I don't know," she shot back, annoyed. "Probably not. Just as a floating medic, I'm sure."
Kakashi shook his head. That couldn't be the case. Either everyone in the cell was ANBU or "no one" was. His heart beat faster in his chest as he realized Danzo was closing in on Sakura.
"Ken already knows the parameters of the mission he's asking you to join?" Kakashi asked.
"We're looking into transactions concerning mercenaries and bounties on the Grass-Wind border. Trying to establish a money trail."
Frowning, "a money trail to whom?"
"Akatsuki."
Definitely an ANBU endeavor, considering location and involved parties. Kakashi asked her more and nothing she said relieved him of that awful conclusion.
The old man was really going to do it – actually attempt to poach a student of the Fifth.
Kakashi's student.
Apparently Danzo didn't have much esteem for the messages Kakashi had instilled in his team.
Ah, but then he had been more focused on Sasuke than Sakura at that time and considering what had come of that...
So Danzo was picking up Sakura and Nara Shikaku would think everything was going according to plan.
Kakashi felt ill down his middle. A normal feeling for him recently. It wouldn't change any time soon.
"Can I ask something?" Sakura interrupted his thoughts. He looked at her but she didn't wait for his permission. She was holding back some eagerness in her expression, but it wasn't anything he thought positive. "Why didn't the Third eliminate Orochimaru when he first betrayed the village?"
The subject was unprecedented to Kakashi and he stumbled at first to answer her. Smartly, "he did."
Sakura tilted her head.
"He tried to," Kakashi clarified. "But even that many years ago, Orochimaru was a powerful shinobi. There wasn't anyone as strong as him in the village."
Sakura had been thinking about this issue, though, and might have expected a response like that."What about the Fourth? He's supposedly the most talented Konoha nin ever. Couldn't he have stopped Orochimaru?"
Kakashi hedged at saying his sensei couldn't have been able - certainly Minato had been - but it was more complicated than that.
"And if it really couldn't have been one person, wasn't there a team that could have terminated him? Taken him in somehow?"
"We were also in a war, Sakura."
She was on a thread, though. "Not the whole time. What about after the Fourth's initiation as Hokage? Couldn't the Third have gone after his student himself?"
"I suppose some people still hope there's such a thing as retirement in our lifestyle," was Kakashi's flippant grumble, a little annoyed himself.
"Doesn't that appear a little naive to you?" Sakura finally demanded. "Why did the Third let such a formidable – verifiable – threat go unchecked?"
It hadn't gone 'unchecked,' Kakashi wanted to say. Jiraiya had been tracking Orochimaru for the better part of two decades. Of course, that was classified and not his place to share with Sakura.
Instead, Kakashi returned her harsh tone. "Why are you so curious about this now? When have you ever doubted the leadership of the Third? Are you sure this isn't a line of thought coming directly from your target?"
Sakura was taken aback by the obvious, unspoken accusation.
"Am I right?" He goaded.
"This is so rich coming from you," Sakura mumbled, closing her eyes and putting a hand at her temple. A noise that could have been a short, audible sneer. "You're the one who always espoused, 'look underneath the underneath' and now I'm a turncoat because I want answers to fair questions?"
Kakashi had a retort prepared, but he shut his mouth. She had a point.
"I needed to know the perspective you were coming from," he said in lieu. Seemed trite, though, once out of his mouth.
Finished with the massage at her temple, Sakura let out a sigh. Defeated or detached, he didn't know, but she said, "I shouldn't have asked. Are we finished here?"
They were and he told her as much. Told her their next meeting time and she nodded her chin absently. She paused at the door and Kakashi knew she probably wanted the last word.
"Those questions I had are coming from him," Sakura confirmed, her back to him, and Kakashi had the correct instinct not to say he knew as much. She continued, a glance over her shoulder, "but I didn't go to Ken for answers. I came to you."
Something in his chest shrank in a wilting sensation and Kakashi felt suddenly very inept.
"And get a sling fitted, would you? You look miserable."
-o-
"What do you think?" Ken was smooth in his excitement, but Sakura thought she detected something like that in his voice. "I had a little say in the design. Thought you might like it."
Sakura looked down at the all white mask he held out. Her hands shook as she accepted it. Three weeks ago the idea that she would have ever held such an item, let alone wear it, was nearly an impossibility.
Of course, it was only for one mission. For one month. And then she would go back to being non-combat oriented, base-bound Haruno Sakura.
The mask's caricature wasn't obvious. Not like a wolf, not like a fox. Not quite a dog, she didn't think. But it was something narrow and shy and canid.
"Coyote," Ken told her. "Scrappy little fellas. Kind of like you."
Sakura snorted, but appreciated the sentiment. She put the mask to her face and secured it around her short ponytail. Cool and then warm against her skin. Looking out from behind the porcelain was a strange, wonderful and terrible experience.
Four of them at the village gate, off to its side so that their cell could depart unperturbed out a hidden door Sakura had never seen. She had gotten her outfit and pack ready back in her house, but the mask was the last thing to complete her short-term initiation.
"You ready?" Ken asked as they were leaving and it was ambiguous to her ears.
Sakura thought she was.
She found out later she was mostly wrong.
.
.
.
-ii-
and time how the forest crushed the rocks
-o-
Part of being a kunoichi was allowing things to happen that were not at all inherently good.
Deep in the disputed territory between Grass and Wind countries, Sakura remembered that as she sat next to Ken in the crook of a rock formation, watching a group of mercenaries further down the mountainside as they besieged a group of travelers. The hostage party consisted of a mature couple and five staff members, and a very pampered pet rabbit the mercenaries found amusing, and one by one they were lined up and pushed to the ground.
The mercenaries singled out the older man of the couple to carry the punishment for the transgressions of the group. Someone had failed to make a very important payment, one of the mercenaries informed, and it was time the man 'appreciated what was owed.'
The older man, seeing his impending mortality, went from livid, to imploring, to terrified. The mercenaries were unaffected by any of his words. Then, as he and Sakura watched, the man was left untouched as everyone around him, even the rabbit, was slaughtered.
Ken suspected the mercenaries, lower level fighters who had probably defected as genin from the war time, were working for the Carbon Man, and so Sakura sat with her Commanding Officer and did nothing to stop the violence.
It was not the right play to intervene, Ken said to her. It would only hinder their mission.
They left the man alone in his ruin and went after the mercenaries.
-o-
It was like a rancid thing wrapped up in a mat and stuck in his middle; muted and dull, buried but rotten there all the same.
Kakashi hadn't felt anything similar for a very long time, and especially not towards Gai, but he recognized the sensation as resentment. In the middle of a crowded bar, stranded in a haze of happy white noise, surrounded by people he knew and sometimes even liked, and Kakashi was miserable with souring resentment because Gai's team was sincerely so damn glad to be together.
Across the room from him and their contagious laughter was a constant resident in his ears. Jokes, dares, stories. One of Gai's students, Lee, he thought, had turned sixteen that day. Around them there was an atmosphere of comfort that radiated outwards and threatened to warm even Kakashi in his far away corner.
He turned his eye from them and thought he would rather not look at his friend with such obvious emotions.
Kakashi loathed himself for being resentful. Usually he would admit, to himself and never aloud, that Gai was possibly the most capable person of maintaining a healthy and functional team and that, really, the man should have all the happiness in the world for that achievement.
And resenting Gai quickly led to Kakashi spiraling deeper into loathing himself for being responsible for his own team's fracturing and disintegration. For being foolish and immature and ignorant.
How pathetic, too, as he recalled arguing pretty strongly against ever being assigned Team Seven. And now he couldn't stop thinking of how those three should have been in the bar with him just then, all together and content – rather, eager – to stay that way.
Two teams in his life that Kakashi had split up quite spectacularly.
He stared down into the glass of amber liquor he spun between his hands on the bar top, the catalyst for his pity fest perhaps, and morbidly thought how long it would take for his new teammates to fade out just as the old ones had. It used to be he had a suspicion Naruto would go first, and then Sasuke, but recently he was certain Sakura was edging her way up the list to that honored position of First to Die.
His fingers ghosted over his glass, missed the friction that would have stopped its momentum, and watched the thing slide towards the edge of the bar top. A split second thought told him, just let it fall, and Kakashi realized he was probably drunk.
The glass careened off its little ledge and he was definitely drunk because he didn't move to stop it. He didn't move either when the drink was caught in a small, deft grab by another patron who had been walking by.
Mitarashi Anko gave Kakashi a smug sort of smile as she looked him over, noticing who it was that had neglected catching his own drink from a terrible fate. She was apparently gleeful to see it was him.
"Uh-oh," she cooed, normal sharp brand of humor in place, "the tired old man is unhappy tonight, is he?"
Kakashi accepted the glass she handed back to him and waved at the bar tender for another drink. For her, of course. And one more for himself, maybe.
"Looks like you're slowly trying to drown yourself," referring to his collection of empty glasses. At his persisting silence, which must have been less composed than usual, Anko dropped her smirk. She pushed into the seat next to him and, after a moment, leaned in close to speak more discretely. She asked, serious, "you lose someone today?"
Kakashi felt an acidic and short laugh leave him on a breath. He must have been a dramatic fixture for Anko to ask that (even though it was a fair question given their profession). Shaking his head, he downed the last of his double. In a damning manner, he said, "today? No."
But in a way he was losing someone.
It hadn't been easy to pull off just the right amount of hesitance and eventual permission from Tsunade for Sakura to joining the ANBU cell, but eventually she had been assigned to the mission in a way that maintained their covert intentions. They had already taken off and Kakashi hadn't seen her since the last meeting they had in the One-Eleventh Street Clinic. Not exactly a pleasant send off for her on his part, maybe.
Sakura should have been at the celebration, probably would have made it if not for the isolating nature of her current assignment. If it hadn't been for that...
"Don't leave Kurenai waiting," Kakashi said next, softly as he could since he was apparently incapable of a more polite way of brushing someone off. But the woman at his side was a long time stranger to sensitivity and took his words gracefully.
Anko made a face that was a brief flattening of sympathy on her lips and patted his shoulder as she stood again. "If you want to, we have a seat for you."
Because it was her, Anko tacked on a little bit louder, "ya needy, grumpy bastard," just so no one else would bother him.
He waved his fingers in thanks as she left him. Watching her back weave away he thought he should call it in for the evening; a drunken Kakashi was even less of a joy at a party than regular Kakashi.
Back in his empty apartment he had dark and meandering thoughts for company.
-o-
Determining anything about Akatsuki involved a lot of surveillance time, and most of those hours were more an extensive exercise in patience than anything exciting.
They had already been on the mission for longer than anticipated, having spent the first few weeks determining potential bounties targets and following the one with the most recently, most intensely fortified security. A tired and true strategy, as Ken had told Sakura, because when a person has a bounty on their head, it wasn't likely they didn't know. After some time, a group of mercenaries had come for the lead subject, and Sakura and her team had watched the assassination without interfering so that they could then track the group back to their main target, the Carbon Man.
At the moment, Sakura was perched on the upper branches of a large tree with Sai, watching a building in a small forested township a few hundred meters away. It was a strange sort of location, as it was rural, sparsely populated, and dominated by one particular industry. The industry was iron and steel and the entire town had grown from the demand of the mill. The only road in and out of town went by the mill complex before anything else.
Their surveillance target was a little group of offices well off to the side of the larger structures of the furnaces, engines, separators, and so on. Inside the office was the owner of the mine and also the person suspected to be the Carbon Man. Their subject of investigation operated almost as a pseudo kage, taking in assassination requests like missions and paying out when a body was brought in for identification and, more often than not, disposal in the blast furnace.
Sakura had sent out a clone disguised in henge a few hours ago, to better listen in on conversations or see something more worthwhile, and it was almost time for the clone to disperse. She and Sai would take turns sending out clones, both to conserve their own chakra and to get back new information.
What they were looking for was an opportune moment to get inside the operation and to confirm their suspicions. To decrease risk of detection or intervention from hostile parties, it was ideal for them to make one excursion into the Carbon Man's territory, get what they needed, and to then retreat as quickly as possible. Most importantly, while infiltrating the operation, Ken wanted Sakura to get a look at the bodies being kept in storage; the bounties so important that the client would want to check on the job in person. These were the ones Ken suspected would have been jobs taken by Akatsuki. And then – and here she saw her true value as a medic-nin on the team – Sakura would perform an autopsy on the body to determine the methodology of execution. Depending on the body's condition, she would be able to determine what type of ninjutsu caused wounds, or what weapon was used to damage bone and tissue. She would be able to read the type of conflict that ended in the person's death, and what kind of skills the Akatsuki had to offer.
They would leave after that. Their mission was to bring back information on one of the village's most dangerous and unquantified enemies, to help discern what kind of nin they were facing.
But until the autopsy, for the moment, it was a waiting game.
Sai's clone, in the form of a songbird, took off to relieve Sakura's.
She tensed when she received the clone's memories.
"We might have something," Sakura said, but not aloud. As part of covert operations for their mission, while on watch they communicated through hand signals. Sakura had memorized the language over several three hour sessions, using key words most pertinent to their investigation. In a rough translation, she told Sai, "a shipment request has just been recorded that is incongruous with the other orders we've seen."
Sakura's clone had been a songbird in the eaves, flitting around with wild birds, and as inconspicuously as possible, memorizing pages of the owner's hard copy, hand written, coded ledger.
Aside from surveillance, there had also been plenty of code-breaking work and deciphering huge amounts of both legitimate business and illegal murder business.
"Similar to the incongruities we've seen so far?" Sai asked.
Sakura shook her head. She told him, "different logistics from the established pattern. Might be a body."
With a body would they could track the location of the Carbon Man's holding freezers.
He nodded. "Let's get this to 'taichou' now."
Sakura relayed the information, watched Sai's ink creature slither off to find Ken, and went back to silence.
She had watched five executions in front of her and had she really wanted, Sakura could have saved each life. It might have gone against orders, but otherwise she had been far from powerless in the situation. And yet she hadn't stopped anything and ever since she had felt different.
Just – different.
Repositioning herself more comfortably again, Sakura then wondered, abstractly and not at all like herself, what means the Akatsuki used in their executions.
-o-
The fourth member of the ANBU cell was called 'Tatsu' and she was their apprehension specialist; she knew best how to track and capture a target.
Sakura helped her put up a perimeter specifically set to respond to higher levels of chakra. It spread out like a web around the township, miles out, and was interspersed with seals for reinforcement of chakra control and sensitivity. Ken and Sai set up more seals to act as bases for transportation techniques in the case of potential breeches. The method involved a lot of preparation and energy, and was most effective in small range, trap scenarios.
Small range, to the senior ANBU, meant up to five kilometers of perimeter.
"I developed this in the war," Tatsu assured Sakura as they worked. She added, with what could have been a wink, "and it's only gotten better since."
"How long can you keep it activated?"
"If I'm rested, up to an hour. And I'll still have a good amount of fight in me."
An hour was time enough. Outside the perimeter, Sai had several ink birds watching the forest from the air. Before the mercenary reached the inner circle of territory, they would be sighted and reported. The perimeter would go up within minutes, and then the mercenary's location would be theirs.
"We follow him to the drop off, follow the body, find the morgue, do the autopsy," was the plan, and Sakura thought it was a tidy and efficient course of action.
The problem came when their subject, a lone man carrying one body over his shoulders, crossed the perimeter and stopped. All eyes of the ANBU cell were on the motionless subject.
From the earpiece Sakura wore, she heard Ken's voice speaking to Tatsu, "he's sensed the perimeter."
"But it's such an insignificant amount of chakra – "
"Engage. Pattern Three-Red."
Suddenly, Sakura was actually on a mission again, present in every muscle of her body.
The attack formation deemed she stayed away from the area of fire, but after her three team mates dropped down to their target, a problem became obvious.
Sai was the close-range on the offensive. Sakura watched his movements became sluggish and his limbs twitched. Ken and Tatsu noticed but didn't discern the cause, only reinforced that Sai pick up his speed and close his body's openings.
From her vantage point Sakura had a thought as to what was happening, and then she saw a wisp of movement from the target's mouth.
She knew Sai's movements from their year of trading hits in sparring sessions. She could almost predict how he would duck and twist. And with a rush of adrenaline, a backing of Nocturne, and the instinct of fight, Sakura did predict when she could move her body between his and the target's.
A long breath and over her mouth and nose she laid a barrier of medical-ninjutsu, preventing air from entering or escaping. She moved, and with one leg to kick Sai back, and two arms out in front of her – she snapped the man's neck.
Maybe harder than she intended, because the tissue and bone and blood between her hands crushed inward under the force of her hit, pressure went up and so did the man's decapitated head.
But at least, in the spray of red and gore, the mechanism pumping out poison gas hidden in his throat was eliminated.
With the backdrop of Ken's quick words, none of which Sakura registered, she turned around and focused on getting the poison from Sai's system.
-o-
When she first saw it, Sakura didn't recognize Sai's ink ninjutsu for a very specific, manufactured reason.
His was an original ninjutsu style that did not come from any clan or any person that could be traced back to Konoha. It was the same for the seals Tatsu used, in that they were completely generic and also could not be linked directly to seals their village favored. Ken fought using sword techniques borrowed from Konoha users or with techniques copied from other villages and martial artists.
Sakura hadn't recognized Sai's technique because she wasn't supposed to recognize it. This sort of approach to ninjutsu lowered the possibility of ANBU actions being tied to Konoha, and most especially when the ANBU cell in question was trespassing and operating in allied disputed territory.
Which was exactly the case for Sakura's cell at the moment.
And as for the barehanded strength Sakura had just used to instantaneously sever and pop off a man's head – Ken seemed to think someone might find that suspiciously similar to their Hokage's technique. He hovered over the body and considered what to do with it while Sakura healed Sai.
"We'll seal away the bounty and drop this one in the blast furnace," was Tatsu's suggestion.
"We're not going to the mill. I don't want this to look connected to that at all." Ken paused, and Sakura imagined he was staring at her with some frustration, but she couldn't see it.
"Stage it like it was a looting?"
"Only people looting in this are are those working for Carbon Man."
"So..." Tatsu hummed. "We're taking both bodies back with us?"
"And one injured," Ken decided. He asked Sakura, "you know how to seal dead bodies, right?"
From where she worked on Sai, who was quickly becoming delirious, Sakura nodded. She said, "I think that would be best. There's something weird about that guy."
"The headless one?" Tatsu specified, and there was the noise of what could have been a boot tapping at and rolling a ten pound bit of corpse.
"Didn't you think so? His facial expressions and his body's movements were incongruous." Sakura had watched people fight before but now she had the added awareness of her medical background and an appreciation for micro-movements not everyone would notice.
"When need to move, now." Ken was less concerned about that observation. About Sai, "how soon until he can travel?"
Sakura glanced up to Ken, incredulous. "He shouldn't move at all right now."
"What if I move him?"
There wasn't going to be an ideal outcome in terms of her working situation no matter what, so Sakura hesitantly agreed to move him. "He'll be in pain, but that might be unavoidable any way."
She thought that would be the only say she had in the matter.
Ken surprised her. "Tell me how far we can go and where we need to be for you to finish your work."
Right. She was the medic-nin. She had that much authority.
"Of course," she replied.
After that they acted clean up crew. The perimeter seals were removed, the bodies stored away, and then several locations were blown up in a series of explosive tag detonations. If there's going to be a scene of crime, might as well make a few more just to keep the investigation busy.
Then they were making their way back to Konoha in a long, winding trail.
Sai lived but Sakura thought of her stained hands all the way to the village.
.
.
.
-o-
thank you for reading, please review~