By the time the pair got back to their room and explained the situation to Naruto and Sai, the sun was resting somewhere overhead and the village had begun to stir. Team Kakashi were sitting on the floor, staring out the window at the building commotion and trying to listen for any angry mobs that may be headed their way.

"It's going to look bad," Kakashi had told them. "The way that alley was damaged could only have been done by a ninja. They will be suspicious of any newcomers to the village, which means us."

Naruto had been holding open Sakura's med kit as she used it to dress her wound. "But the feudal lord knows we're here to stop the problem," he said. "He wouldn't let the villagers arrest us, would he?"

Kakashi paused, thinking. "It looks bad," he finally repeated. "But I don't think the feudal lord would give us away so quickly. We should be alright if we lie low until nightfall. Then we can go meet the demon head-on."

The bandage Sakura was carefully unwinding fell from her grasp and rolled to a stop at Kakashi's feet. He handed it back to her, taking a closer look at her burns as he did. The skin was red and blistered but she bit her lip and began binding her left arm without a sound. Once again the jounin was reminded how far his once-student had come.

"Kakashi," she began, looking up at him with an unreadable expression.

"Mm?"

"I don't think we can fight this one."

"What do you mean? Listen, I know your chakra's still depleted, but you shouldn't worry. We'll give you plenty of cover."

"That's not it at all!" Sakura cried angrily, leaping to stand toe-to-toe with him. "Didn't you notice? Didn't you see how it acted?"

"Sakura-" Naruto began.

"It was backing off! It had me cornered, then suddenly it lost interest!" her eyes were wide, trying to make the copy-nin understand. "It stopped fighting when I did. Then when you arrived, it didn't attack you, it attacked me again."

"Because you were closer."

"No! Because I was scared!" The word reverberated around the room like a curse. Every ninja knew it was shameful to admit to fear, but Sakura was desperate to make them understand.

"Before you got there, I had given up. I had come to terms with what was about to happen, and I stopped feeling afraid of dying. But then, when you shouted my name, it all came back. All my fear came flooding back, but not for me. I was terrified that it would kill you too, that it would be my fault you died! And then suddenly, it was like it could see me again. That's how it hunts! It preys on fear!"

The three shinobi stared at her. It sounded unlikely, but Sakura seemed convinced.

Naruto was the first to speak. "But Kakashi would have been concerned for you too. Why didn't it attack him when he became the easier target?"

Sai stepped forward. "I believe I understand. Kakashi is an elite ninja that has spent years compartmentalising battlefield emotions like fear and worry. Sakura, on the other hand, has always had difficulties with this."

Naruto and Kakashi winced, expecting Sakura to knock the boy's teeth out, but she just smiled triumphantly. Sometimes it paid to have someone so frank and insultingly honest on the team. "See? It makes sense. I was at my limit, on the brink of defeat. My nerves were stretched to breaking point. Kakashi's arrival was just the last straw."

Kakakshi thought back on the way the demon had acted. It did seem possible, but it unsettled him too. What idea was worse? That Sakura had been ready to die, or that he hadn't felt true fear for her? He had always prided himself on his mastery of distracting emotions, but to see it in such stark contrast to Sakura's own compassion and concern made him re-evaluate his priorities. What did it truly mean to be a good ninja? Those who don't follow the rules are trash. Sakura's actions last night had definitely broken the rules. She had snuck out without telling her teammates, attacked an unarmed civilian, and chosen to fight the Nibi without him, even going as far as tackling him to the ground to keep him safe. But he had also learned the hard way that those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. Did Sakura see his fearlessness as a lack of concern for her? Did she feel abandoned? He hoped she knew that Kakashi placed her life, all their lives, over any mission.

"The logic is sound," he finally said, wishing he knew what more he could say. Sakura nodded, resuming her first aid. She tried to wrap the bandage around the top of her shoulder, but it kept coming loose and chafing against her skin. Taking it from her hands in one fluid movement, Kakashi began binding her arm more firmly with well-practised ease. She dropped her hand, letting him take over, though he noticed how tense she felt. He wondered just how badly demon-chakra wounds hurt. It seemed unfair that the girl had to experience it twice in her short life.

He tried to be as careful as possible, but every now and then she would flinch, biting her lip and trying not to jerk her arm from his grasp. "Sorry," he would murmur every time, and Sakura knew he was apologising for more than just the pain. It seemed they had been apologising to each other a lot lately. It was strange, really. It made them awkward and distant whilst still drawing them closer together than she had ever known them to be before. She thought about it for a moment and decided that the sparring and yelling was just as fun as it was painful. Even this, quietly sitting while he bandaged her arm and discussed strategy with the others, was nice. It wasn't the first time they had been that close, but it was the first time it had felt… more than obligation. It was as though they finally saw each other as equals. Sakura was no longer a student and Kakashi was no longer a teacher. They were simply teammates. Or was 'friends' a better word? She wondered if Kakashi would think so.

The door to their room creaked and ninja reflexes had them on their feet before it was fully open. It was not an angry mob that stood in the doorway, but it was not the maid either. Three men with serious faces and the Crane Lord's crest stamped on their uniforms stepped forward into the room, assessing them. It was clear they knew who the ninja were.

"His excellency, Lord Kimofu of the Crane Village, requests an audience with you," the middle man said, moving aside to let them pass. It did not escape the ninjas' notice that the men regarded them warily, and kept their hands on the hilts of their swords.

The walk to the Feudal Lord's palace at the centre of the village was long and silent. The guards kept to the lesser-used streets, trying to avoid making a scene. But even the few passers-by there were did not stop to question the men or the group of 'travellers' in their custody. They kept their faces down and hurried about their business. Kakashi wondered if it was the palace uniform that intimidated them, or him and his teammates.

The climbed the steps and waited in the palace foyer, which was far grander than the unassuming village suggested. After a few minutes, their gruff entourage lead them through a series of mazelike corridors to the Feudal Lord's meeting room. This was their first glimpse of the man who had hired their services. He was squat and dark-haired with a pair of pince-nez glasses and expensive turquoise robes that showed off his power and influence. He scowled at the four ninja, who bowed respectfully before sitting.

"So you are the ninja from the Hidden Leaf. The ones who were to be our salvation," he said gravely. Team Kakashi remained silent, though for Naruto it took effort. "Your village and ours share a long and prosperous history, as we do with many of your strongest allies. When your men went missing with several of my people, I placated the crowds, allowing yet more ninja entry to prove the innocence of your men. I see now that this was a gross error of judgement on my part."

His self-deprecating words hung in the air like a shadow. A feudal lord did not readily admit mistakes. Sakura cringed inwardly; he must have been more upset about the alley than they realised.

"And so I stand before you, Leaf nin, and ask; what are your demands?" The lord stood as resolute and dignified as ever, but Sakura wondered if she didn't see something deeper. His eyes were smudged with grey, as though he hadn't slept very well, or had been under recent stress.

"Demands?" Naruto asked, eyes narrowing in confusion.

"I cannot say that they will all be met, for I must always be a lord before I am a father." Sakura felt her heart sink at those words. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next. "However, we are willing to consider any reasonable request in exchange for the safe return of our people, and my daughter."

The little body with long hair, Sakura thought, though she had been trying to get the image out of her head. It was his daughter.

"My lord," Kakashi spoke up, placing his hand over his heart in a gesture of honesty, "I can assure you, we are not the enemy here. On the contrary, we have been doing all in our power to protect your village from the true abductor, at great personal risk." He glanced meaningfully at Sakura's bandaged arm.

"That is not proof of your honesty, only of your incompetence," Lord Kimofu spat, eyeing the kunoichi with derision. For all that he seemed a devoted father, it was clear what he thought of female warriors.

"Sakura does not get injured easily, and certainly not from incompetence. That is no normal wound. It is the result of direct contact with the chakra of a tailed beast. That is your true enemy: the two-tails demon cat," Kakashi explained. Sakura silently unwound her bandaged arm to reveal the curious burn pattern to everyone. It coiled around her bicep like a snake, and the blistered skin glistened with the oily salve she had cleaned it with.

The feudal lord stared at her arm with an unreadable expression, until one of his advisors stepped forward to whisper something in his ear. His gaze shifted to Naruto.

"You are Konoha's jinchuuriki," he said stabbing the air with an accusing finger. "Aside from the Cloud's eight-tails, you harbour the only demon left in our world. Yugito Nii is dead, and the two-tails with her. It was you that caused this injury, to trick us!''

Naruto stood up so fast that Kakashi almost didn't grab him in time. Placing a restraining hand on his chest, he spoke softly but firmly. "Don't do anything that will make our situation worse, Naruto. We know you didn't hurt Sakura, and once we leave here we can prove it. So don't get us arrested just yet, okay?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment, before returning to his seat with a curt nod. Sakura blinked back tears of pity for her friend. He had hurt her once, and even though it had long-since healed, she knew he had never quite forgiven himself. The feudal lord's accusation only reminded him of his failings.

"My lord?" Sakura spoke up for the first time. Kakashi gave her a warning glance, but did not move to restrain her like he had Naruto. She hoped she wouldn't embarrass him like she had at the bar.

"My lord," she began again, "you are correct in saying that the two-tailed cat is no more." The man's perplexed expression gave her the courage to continue. "This creature was nowhere near as powerful as a normal free demon. If it were, your city would not be standing now. I- we believe, that it was something similar to an imprint of the residual, unsealed chakra of the two-tails; something that is called a demon cloak."

Naruto gave her a thumbs-up and Kakashi nodded approvingly. She had explained well, albeit out of turn.

"I fought this creature myself, my lord, and I saw the way it steals people… the way it stole your daughter."

"You saw my daughter?" Kimofu asked sharply, all pretence gone. His advisors muttered amongst themselves at this revelation.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "I- yes, my lord, I believe so. At least, I saw a small child with long hair. I can't say for sure if she was the princess."

"Mariko," he trembled, adjusting his spectacles as though his daughter were standing before him, just out of focus. "My Mariko."

"There was nothing I could do to save her," Sakura continued awkwardly. The man did not respond. "It was just- the demon cat already-"

"There is no demon cat!" Lord Kimofu cried, slamming his hands on the armrests of his chair. With his glasses askew and his face twisted with rage, he suddenly looked quite alarming.

"You little lying witch! You've stolen my Mariko with your ninja magic and won't give her back to me!" His nails dug into the gilded wood and left marks there. "But I'll make you give her back. I'll make you pay!" He flung himself forward and for a moment Sakura was too stunned to respond.

Within the space of a heartbeat her vision of the feudal lord was obscured by the backs of her teammates. Kakashi, Naruto, even Sai stood protectively to block the man. She looked down and realised she was standing too. Being a ninja meant that sometimes your body didn't wait for your mind to catch up before responding.

"Stay away from her," Naruto growled.

"Guards! Kill them! But I want the girl alive! She needs to tell me where she's taken my daughter!"

Chaos erupted as his men moved to respond. Though the Hidden Crane had no ninja of its own, its local guards were well-trained and disciplined soldiers. They attacked as a swift and unified force, swords bared. Team Kakashi were not there to fight. Turning for the exit, they faced only those they could not easily evade. Sakura thought she would draw the worst of the attack toward her, but the guards were smart. They knew it was harder to capture an opponent alive than it was to face them on an equal standing. Sakura was halfway through the ornate wooden doors before she realised her team wasn't with her. Cursing under her breath and unwilling to waste her few concealed weapons, she doubled back.

A sword came out of nowhere and she side-stepped it just in time to enter another's path. Parrying it with a kunai, she turned its momentum back on itself, toppling its wielder. Leaping away before the guard could recover, she used the shoulders of another to boost herself up and over a wall of men that surrounded Naruto. His expression was one of enthusiasm. Though he had taken his share of lives, fighting without actively trying to kill his opponent was the perfect arrangement for the kind-hearted boy. He was having far too much fun dumping people on the ground one after another, making uncharacteristically neat piles of unconscious bodies. Sakura had to wave to get his attention. Naruto gave a sheepish smile, kicking one last guard before heading off to the entrance.

She felt a hand rest on her uninjured shoulder and was about to detach to from its owner's arm before she realised it was Kakashi.

"Time to go," he told her, steering her forward, "Sai's got the rest covered."

Glancing behind her, she caught a brief glimpse of Sai's ink dogs tackling the remaining guards to the ground, and the feudal lord's beautiful robe stained with black.

As the guards were cleaning themselves up, Team Kakashi was escaping the village. There was no hope of going back to The Rocking Horse for their packs, so their journey across town was swift and unburdened. Before anyone seemed to notice four ninja fleeing the feudal lord's palace they were on the edge of town and hiking through the muddy marshlands. The adrenaline the unexpected battle had provided was sapped within the first five minutes of trudging through that sticky brown landscape. Sakura felt like she had grown five inches in height from the mud clinging to the soles of her boots. And still they walked, Kakashi in the lead, looking for a dry place to set up camp.

"We should just continue on," Sai said, rubbing insect repellent on his arms, "if we kept a reasonable pace, we'd be halfway to Konoha before we had to stop."

Without warning, Kakashi swung around to face them. "We're not going back to Konoha yet."

"Why not?" Sai asked, swatting at a particularly persistent mosquito. Though the insects were plaguing them all, they seemed to prefer Sai for some reason. His exposed skin was already covered in itchy red bumps. "Our client just tried to kill us. The mission is over."

"The mission was to clear the names of our comrades and find the lost villagers," Kakashi countered, "and since we've done neither of those things, we're going to stay." His tone made it clear that the idea would not be put to a vote.

"Exactly!" Naruto agreed. "It doesn't matter what the feudal lord thinks about us, or if we get paid. Granny Tsunade would want us to stay."

Sai seemed perplexed by this idea but did not challenge Naruto. Kakashi shrugged, his usual aloof self once more.

The place they finally found was both dry and sheltered by several tall trees. They sat in the lee of a rock about twice the height of Kakashi, protected somewhat from the rapidly-cooling breeze. All their supplies and provisions that made camping bearable were safely locked in their room at the inn, which Sakura thought about longingly. They had collected twigs and branches from the fallen trees and lit a small campfire as the sky became dark enough to hide the smoke. All that was left was to wait. They did so in a tense silence punctuated by the soft crackling of the not-quite-dry wood. Not even the birds were calling.

"This reminds me," Kakashi spoke up suddenly, "of one of the first missions I ever went on."

Sakura sat up slightly, intrigued. She knew Kakashi was only speaking to break the tension, and any story he told would probably be made up, but it was a nice surprise to have their stoic leader be the talkative one for once.

"It was just going to be a simple overnight mission to get us acquainted with the idea," he continued on, his eye losing its focus as he looked back to the past, "but one of my teammates had a knack for getting us in trouble."

He began to tell them about how his teammate dropped his pack in the river and almost drowned himself trying to retrieve it. He'd had to sleep soaking wet and without any bedding.

"I wouldn't let him share my supplies," he said, half smiling half sad. "I said he had to learn his lesson, or he'd just do it again next time."

"Now I know that's story's made up," Naruto laughed. "That doesn't sound like the great 'friends before missions' Kakashi we know."

"Well, I was stupid and selfish back then," Kakashi said soberly. Then, clapping his hands together, he said, "but a really good story is the time that Sakura stole my Icha Icha book."

Just as Sakura was about to throw something at him, a rustling in the trees made them all pause. The noise intensified until it was all around them, getting closer with every passing second. Sakura, who had been starting to feel the drowsy effects of sleep- and chakra-loss, suddenly felt wide awake. They waited in the greyish half-darkness, squinting through the trees and keeping close to the fire and each other, for their enemy to reveal themselves. After what seemed like an eternity, the rustling turned into half-formed shadows, which broke into the circle of the clearing and became people. But they were not the squadron of soldiers that the ninja were expecting. They stumbled along in a disorganised crowd, men, women and children of varying ages. They seemed unaware of their surroundings, gazing with blind, lifeless eyes as some external force drove them on.

A small boy got close enough to Sakura that she could have reached out and touched his shoulder. But he did not notice her, passing by as though she were little more than stone. In fact, it was the large stone they had been sheltering beneath that he and the others seemed to be heading for. They clustered around it, scraping their hands along its rough surface, all jostling to be closest.

"The villagers," Sakura whispered hoarsely. "What are they doing?"

But then the night erupted in blue flame and she understood.