This was the day. From. Hell.
First off, it was hot. And not just regularly hot, but the type where you step outside and your clothes stick to you and sweat runs down your back.
Secondly, their lovely charge had failed to disclose the fact that he had been targeted for ransom multiple times before they arrived, which would explain why not three miles outside the village they had been attacked.
And lastly, she sensed the presence of other shinobi lurking around them as they made their way back, which meant that he wasn't just being targeted by petty criminals but by ninja as well.
Which meant he had a lot more going on than mining.
They had made it to the convention on schedule and thankfully it had gone smoothly, though she still felt the presence of chakra from somewhere in the distance. It made her unable to relax and she knew the boys felt the same way. They had been on high alert the entire time they were at the convention and it hadn't eased as they escorted the man back to his home.
But did that stop Naruto from complaining about the heat?
"Ba Sakura-chan, as excited as I am to finally be on a mission with you again, I could have skipped out on this one if I had known it would be this hot." She glanced behind her at the blonde ninja who had actually taken off his orange jacket and tied it around his waist, leaving him in a black short sleeve cotton tshirt.
Sasuke grunted, his was of acknowledging that he agreed.
"Look, we're shinobi and a little heat shouldn't be unbearable." Of course it felt unbearable, but she wouldn't ever give them the satisfaction of hearing that from her.
Naruto groaned behind her and she had to hide her grin from him; it just all felt so nostalgic.
Her mirth died a moment later when the presence she had felt all along moved in closer.
"Naruto, Sasuke..."
"I feel it." She looked back and saw Sasuke activate his sharingan and Naruto eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Let's not make it obvious that we know their there just in case they have no intention of attacking." She knew they did, but maybe they'd find them ignorant and assume they were weak.
Sakura held back, letting the two men keep the lead as she waited for Shinjo and his guard to make their way. She had been taking the rear for most of the journey, but had moved up to the front to converse with her team. She kept a cheery smile on her face as they approached, not wanting to make the react in any way that would alert those following them that they knew they were there.
"Shinjo-san, there may be an issue, but please don't let your facial expressions to show what I'm telling you." The man momentarily froze, but loosened up quickly, which Sakura was thankful for. "Make sure your guard doesn't leave your side and leave the rest to me and my team." He nodded, as did the captain of his guard. For the first time she was glad that they were ex ninja, for it would come in handy if fighting did break out.
She wanted to question what he was hiding, as normal business men weren't usually targeted by this large of a group - especially when the caliber of the men and women in the group was high. She could feel chakra signatures all around here and silently cussed at how many there were.
Twenty against three, not the best odds I've ever had, especially since I don't know how much help his guard would be.
Suddenly they were surrounded by half of the group and she dropped down into a defensive stance. She glanced over at the man and his guard, who thankfully had formed a tight barrier around him, and then at the other two members of her own team, who had dropped into the same posture as she had.
"Well, well, if you didn't send for backup, Shinjo-kun." The man who spoke stepped forward, his blonde hair shining in the sunlight. "Too bad it won't help you."
All at once they attacked, forcing Sakura to draw out a kunai to block the flying knives that had been thrown her way. She caught one midair and flung it back, hitting its target with a thump as the man when down.
One down, nineteen more to go.
Her team had closed in on their charge, fending off as many as possible, and leaving it to his guard to take care of the rest. Sadly, as she looked over, they weren't the highest of caliber and all but two had fallen. She channeled chakra to her fist and slammed one guy in the chest, feeling his ribs crack, and turned around to do the same to the next, only catching the woman in the head. Soon, the first nine had been dispatched, and the leader whistled loudly, summoning the remaining rouges forward.
Glancing over she saw that both Sasuke and Naruto were unharmed, but both were panting at a dangerous rate. She then saw that they both had senbon protruding from their arms and she cussed loudly as she realized they had been poisoned.
As quickly as she had deduced that they had been poisoned she felt the prick as a senbon landed in her thigh. She pulled it out as the next wave of enemies came, sending healing chakra to break down the poison that had entered her system. She realized that the next group was hanging back, most likely waiting for the poison to take effect, and she used that to her advantage.
Making her way over to the two panting men she laid her hands on their back, hoping that she could get to the poison and break it down before it did too much damage. She needed to act quick, because as soon as they realized she was a medic they moved forward to attack once more.
She pulled her hands back and allowed the two men to pull out their weapons once more, sending up a silent prayer that they could take care of this before her teammates fell.
Before the group could attack three masked ANBU hopped down in front of her team and her heart sang as she realized it was her ANBU team. The team she was most often assigned to when she took ANBU missions.
"Relax, Team Seven, we've got you." The man who spoke sent shivers down her spine, but she didn't let it show.
Falling back into the medics position, she moved to finish healing her two injured teammates as the new arrivals took care of the rest of their enemy. Sometimes when she was out with ANBU she longed to jump into the fight, but she knew even if she was allowed to fight, didn't always mean she should. It was a hard lesson to learn after she awakened her seal, but she found over time she didn't need to keep proving her worth - especially not with the team currently fighting.
"Sit down you two, before you make the poison move any faster through your system." She knew they hated being taken out of the fight, especially once Sasuke recognized his brother as one of the ANBU. He still felt the need to prove himself, though all he had to do was calm down a little and he'd have the same position as Itachi.
Well, maybe not as captain, but ANBU.
"Ne, Sasuke, calm down." She could feel his irritation at having been "saved" by his brother once again, even though if they would have had to, they could have finished the job.
Looking back at the last remaining enemy being struck down she was thankful that they hadn't had to resort to that, though their appearance made her even more curious as to what this Shinjo was hiding.
"Sakura-san, how much more healing will they need?" She looked up and gave the masked man a small smile.
"A few more minutes. The poison wasn't very strong, so thankfully it hadn't made its way to do too much damage yet."
"Ah, Sakura-chan, I could watch you bash in a mans chest cavity any day." She rolled her eyes at the familiar voice.
She watched as the ANBU captain made his way over to Shinjo, who sat shaking behind the numerous guards who had given their life for him.
"Shinjo-san, we will be continue to guard you until you reach the safety of your village."
The man nodded, almost as if he was in a trance, instead of opening his mouth.
Sakura finished up healing her old teammates before rising and dusting off her black pants. "So, how long have you been trailing us?" She directed the question towards the captain, raising a pink brow.
"Since you left the gates. Kakashi-sama was given word that there were a group of missing nin who planned on attacking your charge."
"Like we couldn't handle it ourselves." Grumbled Naruto, kicking the ground with his sandal.
"It looks like it." The voice, who had to be none other than Genma, came out teasing, though her teammates didn't take it that way.
"We could have! We'd already taken out half of them when you guys-"
"Shut up, Naruto!" She smacked him upside the head in irritation.
"Oi! Sakura-chan!" He yelped as he messaged his head.
"Let's go. We'll follow around you and once you make it back to his village we will depart."
Still grumbling Naruto nodded his head and picked up bus pack.
"Shinjo-san, we will not be able to transport your guards bodies, but we can move them out of the way and you can send other to collect them once you arrive home."
He looked up finally, glaring at the masked captain. "And who are you to give orders! I was attack!"
Sakura sighed and moved to collect her pack as well, making sure Sasuke did the same.
"I am the captain of ANBU team 3 and we were assigned to provide aid. As such, I hold higher rank and take command of your assigned team."
"I'm not paying for extra ninjas!"
She could tell by his posture that the ANBU captain wanted to kill the man. He was, if anything, protective of those he worked with and his brother added more of an intensity to that protective nature. She knew the man had lied about the danger to keep his cost low, but it no longer shocked her.
After all, it wasn't the first time.
"I couldn't care less if you were to perish, Shinjo-san. We weren't sent to protect you, but our own who's lives were in jeopardy due to you not disclosing the full extent of the danger you faced." He flicked his blade at that, flinging blood off before bending down to clean the remaining off on the grass.
"Come on, Shinjo-san, before we rethink protecting you the rest of the way." With that Sakura took off, rolling her eyes when the masked Genma yanked a strand of her hair as she walked by. Ever since she had joined their team on numerous occasions he had taken to teasing her, something that gave her endless reasons to roll her eyes.
"Sakura-san, you and your team be safe." The captain called as they walked by. She gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement before continuing on down the path, ready to be done with this particular mission.
..00..
"Home! Home sweet home!" Sakura called as she opened her apartment door and dropped her pack down on the floor. She would clean up later, but for now she wanted a shower and her bed.
"Do you celebrate every time you arrive home?"
She eeped when she realized she wasn't alone, spinning around to see her dark haired lover sitting on her couch.
"Oi! Stop doing that!" It wasn't the first time he had been waiting for her to arrive home, and he always seemed to like to wait to make his presence known until after she had said or done something embarrassing.
He laughed, the sound still foreign to her ears. "But I need to take whatever amusement I can get." He got up and walked over to her, stopping when he was almost on top of her. "Especially after I saved you."
She rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder before moving around him and making her way to the bathroom. "Not to be rude, but right now all I want to do is take a shower and go to sleep, Itachi. Can you save your teasing until after I've at least had a few hours of rest?"
He followed her as she moved about the small room, pulling a towel from the cabinet before starting the water. She ignored him as she pulled her shirt over her head and shimmied her pants down her toned legs, letting her parties follow before unwinding her bindings. She stepped into the warm water - not too hot, because it was already hot enough outside - and sighed as the water washed away the muck she had gathered from the mission.
She wasn't surprised when she felt Itachi join her, reaching around her to grab her soap.
"Are you going to help me wash off?" She asked playfully, tiring around to wrap her arms around his neck.
He grabbed her wash rag from the rack in the shower and poured the soap onto it, working it into a lather before slowing cleansing her back. "It kills two birds with one stone."
She arched a brow at him as he reached up to unwrap her arms from him, gently turning her so that her back was pressed to his front. He ran the rag over her arms, up to her collarbone and down to pass over her breasts. She closed her eyes and the feeling of the warm water and his warm chest caused her to relax and be turned on at the same time. There was something incredibly sensual about the fearless and deadly ANBU captain washing her off.
He bent down and nipped at her earlobe as he went farther down with the rag, swirling around her belly. She let out a small moan and pressed back into him as he finished washing her before moving her to rinse off the soap. He then reached down and turned the water off, pulling her out of the shower and wrapping her with a towel. She stared at the toned body of her lover, enjoying the way his lean muscles bunched as he moved to grab a towel for himself.
"You plan on staying a while?"
He reached over and pulled her close, tilting her head up so that her lips could meet his in an intense kiss. She loved the feeling of her bare breasts against his naked chest and pressed herself closer to the dark haired man. He in turn picked her up, never breaking the kiss and made his way to her bedroom, lowering her to the bed and following her down. He pulled away and hovered above her, rolling his hips into hers as she released a low moan.
"I've started too much to leave now."
After that thoughts of sleep vanished, thankfully, as she didn't fall asleep until much, much later.