ShipperTrish is amazing for beta-ing this baby! enjoy...
Chapter 4: The Land of Waterfall.
Behind the blanketing curtain of the waterfall was the entrance to Taki, a sprawling cave system reaching deep into the mountainside. Water dripped down the cold, stone walls of the large antechamber as they walked down wooden walkways illuminated by flaming torches drilled securely into the stone. Large crystal stalactites hung down from the ceiling and phosphorescent lichens shone with a ghostly green glow from small patches between the rock formations. Soon the great expanse of the cave was left behind. The walkway became thinner and darker.
Sakura pulled her arms around her against the sudden chill as they followed the passageway deeper, eventually reaching large wooden gates that filled the cramped space.
Tired looking ninja greeted them asking the usual: How long they expected to stay and their business, which Kakashi said was to establish trade relations between Konoha and Taki. This had apparently been very convincing and they were allowed passage.
When the big wooden gate had opened, Sakura had expected to see an underground maze of chambers and more stone corridors, but instead, she was met with warm air and blue open skies. The large sprawling town below her, apart from the architecture, looked very much like Konoha only a little smaller. The streets buzzed with life and she felt a twinge of excitement shoot up her spine at the prospect of a nice long soak at the bathhouses.
They wandered down into the town, passing market stalls and souvenir shops.
Naruto excitedly reached into his pack, bringing out his fat frog wallet and tapped it eagerly, eying up the shops in search for a ramen bar. He bent down, tightening his sandals and leaning for support against a carved stone statue of a nude woman holding a platter of marbled fruit.
"You filthy little pervert! Watch where you're putting your hands!"
Naruto yelped in surprise as his wrist was seized and the statue started screaming at him, the platter of ornamental fruit clattering onto the stone paving.
"I…I…I'm…sorry…I was j-just…" he stammered in embarrassment as he looked at his palm which was now smudged with silver-grey paint. He looked up with wide eyes as a very human nipple and its owner glared at him in hot rage.
"I'll have you arrested for indecency…No, for assault! Stop looking at them!"
"Sorry, m'am! It won't happen again!" Sakura interjected, giving her the most innocent smile possible while fiercely tugging Naruto away by his collar, his mouth hanging open like a trap door.
Fire-breathers, mimes, and other entertainers lined the streets as Sakura lead him quickly away from the irate spray-painted woman who was now swearing loudly and chucking glass grapes in their direction.
"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura huffed as they caught up to Sai and Kakashi.
They found a small hotel with three rooms available situated a few minutes walk from the main town. It wasn't particularly luxurious. It was cluttered and a little dingy.
Sakura left Naruto and Sai arguing about having to share a room and made her way up to her own room, which to her excitement turned out to be a double. She threw her bag into the corner and launched herself onto the bed, which creaked and sagged under her weight. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was going to be a lot nicer than curling up on the forest floor. She rolled onto her back and stretched her legs and arms out, trying to touch all four corners. When she found that she couldn't, she laughed happily to herself, drumming her feet on the soft mattress.
With a couple of hours to kill before they'd arranged to meet for dinner, Sakura changed into a simple white tank top and some lightweight linen slacks and walked back out into the bustling town, humming the tune Sai had played on the first night travelling.
An hour later, she emerged from the bathhouse feeling clean and refreshed, her towel-dried hair hanging above her shoulders. She smelled the skin on the back of her hand, enjoying the scent of the honeysuckle body scrub she had used.
Must get some of that…
She bought a blue Popsicle from an ice cream vendor and strolled down the street, pausing to look in shop windows at shoes she knew she couldn't afford. She stared longingly at the red patent leather and sucked thoughtfully on the cold lolly, wondering if she'd ever even find an occasion to wear them. She thumbed through the bank notes in her purse, remembering that Naruto and she had lost the race to Sai and Kakashi on the way up to Taki and would have to be splitting the cost of their evening meal. Sighing, she turned to head back to the hotel and bumped face first into the stomach of a man standing behind her. She grimaced as the musky smell of sweat invaded her nostrils. She pulled back, apologizing profusely and tried to wipe away the blue stain of the Popsicle that was now seeping into his shirt.
"I am so sorry," she muttered hurriedly.
"Watch where you're going, you stupid little girl!" he spat out, swatting her hands off him as if she were merely an annoying fly. He was a tall man who towered over her, blocking out the light from the slowly sinking sun. His greasy blond hair was combed over to cover a bald patch that was shining with perspiration. He stared at her through beady, dark little eyes as if she was something he'd just stepped in. His jowls were loose and slack and Sakura estimated that he was as wide as he was tall. For his stature, she supposed he was well dressed, wearing a black suit and tie that screamed expensive. He was dripping in ugly chunky jewelery and Sakura wiped frantically at her face, trying to eradicate the stench of him from her nose and mouth.
"I said I was sorry! You shouldn't be standing so close behind people like that!" she retorted, throwing her hands on her hips and clucking her tongue angrily.
Nice comeback, Sakura! she thought sarcastically, wishing that she had something wittier to say.
He leered at her, looking her up and down, lingering a little too long on her chest and legs before saying, "Well, aren't you feisty?" his thick wet lips curling up into some sort of smile.
She felt her face physically blanch as she spun on her heel and stormed back to the hotel, muttering about how everyone in this town seemed like an arsehole and how she now smelled worse than she did before she visited the bathhouse.
Kakashi had taken full advantage of the fact that he wasn't paying although he passed it off as a lesson to his two hasty students and he promptly chose the most expensive barbecue restaurant he could see within the square opposite them. Thankfully, it was a quiet night and they'd managed to find a small booth in the corner where they could talk freely without worry of being overheard. He waited till all the food had been brought to the table and the waitress had scuttled away before he began to talk.
"One week ago, an enemy ninja was caught trying to steal important documents from the archives in Konoha: blue prints, general statistical information, that kind of thing. Eventually, the enemy was neutralized and brought in for questioning. What we've learned is vague at best. She was from a base very close to this city and tomorrow night our mission will be to infiltrate that complex and assess how much information has been gathered on Konoha, what scale of attack has been planned, and who our enemy is. That's it. We go in, we get out, we go home."
"It was a woman?" Sakura asked.
"Girl. Only sixteen. She had been sleeping with one of the security guards. She followed him in, slit his throat and that of his partner. What's worse is she wasn't the first. We caught one a while back. We had her for three days, but she used a high level suicide technique before we could learn anything. The Hokage assumed it was a one-off until it became apparent that they were working for the same organization."
Sakura chewed her lip deep in thought while Naruto shifted and fidgeted beside her.
"How do you know the two are connected if the other girl didn't tell you anything?"
"Matching tattoos. Seems to be some sort of initiation brand, a lot subtler than a headband, that's for sure. What worries me most is that people had seen and met these girls over three weeks before either was caught. Perfect sleeper agents. Someone in Konoha let them in. There's no way complete strangers with chakra signatures as strong as those two would have gone unnoticed unless they had help." Kakashi said, stroking his chin lazily.
"So the Hokage assumes Root is behind this and why Danzo is having the Hokage's teams followed." Sai said matter-of-factly.
"It's a theory." Kakashi said. "So tomorrow night as soon as it's dark, we'll make our way over there. I'm partnering Sai and Naruto together and I'll be with Sakura. I'm teaming power types with stealth types to try and balance our strengths to our biggest advantage. Sai, your information gathering skills, I've heard, are phenomenal. Naruto, you'll follow him and be quiet. If there's trouble, I want it dealt with quickly and quietly. If it all goes pear shaped that's when you come into play," he gestured at him with a relaxed wrist.
Naruto nodded quietly, enraptured by the magnitude of what they'd inadvertently taken on.
"You're a powerhouse, so I want you to conserve energy until you absolutely need it. Sakura, you're around the same age and height as the girl we caught. So you will be disguised as her. You'll need to take this seriously because we need you to come into contact with whoever is in charge in there."
Sakura's eyes widened and she felt a slight tightness in her chest: Panic.
"We need you to pass over falsified documents so that they don't suspect that one of their girls has been compromised and glean as much information as you can about her mission as possible. Once that's done, I'll meet up with you and we get out of there. I want in and out in one hour."
They all sat in silence for awhile, unsure of what to say.
Sakura wondered if that was the most she'd ever heard Kakashi speak in all the years she'd known him.
So she was going to have to walk straight into the lion's den, pretend to be a girl she'd never met, and convince S-class criminals to tell her exactly what the hell they wanted with Konoha.
Piece of cake,she thought grimly.
"If you have a photo of this girl I can practice my Henge no Jutsu until you think I have it accurate enough, Kakashi-sensei, but talking and acting like a girl I don't even know is asking a li-"
"We won't be using Henge no Jutsu, Sakura," he cut in. "I have a better technique that I'll go over with you before we leave tomorrow night. It'll be fine. Don't worry about it. I'll be only a few rooms away from you at all times, I promise." He gave her a kind, reassuring smile through his mask, which made her feel fractionally better.
Walking back to the hotel seemed to take forever. Her limbs felt heavy and tired. Her mind kept churning over and over the few details she had to go on. She groaned inwardly and suddenly wished she were back in Konoha, struggling to find things to do. Yes, shopping with Ino sounded very appealing right now. Her brain just kept spinning over Kakashi's words, over the way he'd tried to pass off a relaxed smile. The way he'd…hang on a minute!
She broke into a brisk trot, leaving Sai and Naruto trailing behind her. She drew alongside Kakashi, trying to match him stride for stride.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes, Sakura?"
"How did you clear your plate at the restaurant? I mean, I saw you take your share of the food, but I didn't see you eat it. Your mask didn't come down at all. How do you do it?"
He looked at her quizzically and chuckled.
"Sakura, I'll tell you what," he replied smoothly. "If we get through this in one piece, I'll tell you how I do it."
She gave an excited squeak before asking, "If we get through this in one piece, can I see it?"
"No."
Sakura lay back on the saggy mattress fully clothed, staring up at the ceiling.
The room was completely silent apart from the gentle whoomp, whoomp of the slowly rotating fanlight.
She couldn't sleep. Her mind was just too preoccupied. She was a terrible actress and probably the most unconvincing liar in Fire Country. She'd always prided herself on being honest and hard working. She had no idea how she would pull off such a covert operation and felt a little bitter about having to shoulder most of the responsibility. She felt hot and sticky despite the fact that the air conditioning was chucking out cool air ten to the dozen and considered taking yet another cold shower just to give her something to do.
When she heard the gentle rapping at her window, she jumped so high that she fell in an uncomfortable heap on the bedroom floor with a sickening thud, cracking her knee against the ugly orange carpet.
"Dammit!" she hissed, rubbing her leg angrily and squinting up at the window. Picking herself up, she sauntered over, limping slightly to slide open the glass which creaked noisily in defiance. The warm night air filled her lungs as she peered out at the blond haired ninja who was hanging onto the drainpipe fiercely.
"What the hell do you want, Naruto?! It's ten thirty! We've got a busy day tomorrow!"
She looked down into the street to see Sai waiting patiently under a streetlight. The pale features of his face were illuminated brightly as he stared up at her. He'd replaced his normal attire with one of Naruto's brightly colored orange t-shirts which hung a little big on him. The corners of her mouth flickered into a small grin at the sight. She'd never seen him wear anything so loose fitting before. It was bizarre, like seeing a little boy dressed up in daddy's clothes.
"Shhhhh!!" Naruto hissed, pressing his index finger to her lips. "Sakura-chan, Sai and I are going to check out the nightlife. Wanna come?"
"Are you insane? Kakashi said we had to be well rested for tomorrow. I've got a splitting headache from worrying about this stupid mission and the last thing you two should be doing is going out partying!"
"I know you can't sleep when you're worrying, so let's take our minds off it and have a good time! And we aren't leaving tomorrow until dark, so you can sleep all day." He hushed his voice a little, but probably not enough. "Don't leave me on my own with him! Please…"
She looked a little doubtful.
"Please?" he said again, scrunching his face into what was supposed to be an appealing look. "When's the next time we'll be in a strange city with time to kill and a big wad of cash?" he declared with a feral grin, brandishing his frog wallet which was now looking slightly thinner after the meal. His hand slipped slightly on the drainpipe as he tried to maintain his balance.
"Have you ever thought of opening a bank account and saving your money, Naruto?" She rolled her eyes, but her disapproving expression softened a little. "I suppose you're right. I could use something to take my mind off tomorrow, but just one drink!"
She hoisted herself up onto the windowsill, gripping its frame tightly and gave a last regretful look at her double bed before slipping out and falling gracefully onto the concrete below. She waited patiently for Naruto to shimmy back down the drainpipe then linked her arm with his.
They strolled over to where Sai was standing and she offered her other arm to him with a raised eyebrow.
He looked down at it, a small frown creasing the skin above his nose before gingerly looping his arm through hers. He tugged the link at their inner elbows experimentally before nodding his approval and the three of them fell into step, strolling casually down the quiet roadside.
After a few minutes walk, the streets became thinner and the buildings lining them taller. Apartments with overhanging balconies were stacked almost haphazardly on top of storefronts. Intricate wooden latticework cast patterned shadows across the slated walkways. Thin brick chimneys that shot up into the starry sky sent up thin tendrils of smoke, which drifted idly across the town giving the night a faint yellow glow. The smell of fried tempura and noodles wafted down the alleyways, seeming to permeate every nook and cranny of the red brick buildings.
Sakura breathed in the complex smells and sounds, marvelling at how every town she had visited always seemed to have its own distinct set of aromas.
Naruto spotted a small tavern, which was squeezed in-between two large restaurants. A set of small candlelit lanterns framed the doorway and it looked warm and inviting dwarfed against the cold concrete exteriors of the restaurants.
It was crowded and slightly stuffy inside as Sakura's eyes adjusted to the dim light and blanket of smoke that filled the room. She gave Sai's arm an affectionate rub when he started shifting uncomfortably. He was still a little awkward around large crowds after having been trained in practical solitude for most of his life. His gaze darted around the room uncertainly as he tried to adjust to the many expressions and emotions that radiated off the inebriated punters.
She dragged him onto a table in the corner and sat him facing her and the wall so that his over analytical mind wouldn't be questioning everyone's motives.
"What are you having, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"Sake, please!"
"Sake? You really have been spending too much time around Granny Tsunade. Sai?"
"Water with ice."
"Sai-kun! You have to drink something! I am and you aren't supposed to let your friends drink alone." Sakura said, eying him mischievously.
"Oh." His eyebrows pinched together thoughtfully again. "Okay. I'll have what dickless is having."
He slipped a pencil and notepad out of his pocket and wrote down in neat clear handwriting "Consume alcohol as and when your friends do" before slipping the notepad back into his trouser pocket.
Naruto brought the drinks back, which sloshed a little onto the table: two large beers and a large ceramic flask of sake.
"A bottle!" Sakura shrieked, already feeling this was a bad idea. She poured the liquid into the accompanying choko cup. "Oh well. Cheers!" she said, holding it up and downing it. The bitter liquid burnt her throat on the way down, instantly warming her body and loosening her shoulders. The aftertaste of rice filled her sinuses and she coughed a little to clear her throat.
"…S-strong," she wheezed through watering eyes.
They chatted about every subject under the sun: How to de-mask Kakashi, how funny it was to almost get him dancing, what their friends were doing back in Konoha. They touched briefly on Sasuke, which had dulled the mood, leaving an uncomfortable silence before Naruto redirected them on his theories of who fancied whom and why, his voice growing ever louder as the alcohol loosened his tongue. Sai remained ever stoic, occasionally offering some clinical observation he'd made about other people's behaviour before growing silent again, nodding once in a while or swearing profusely if he disagreed. When discussion inevitably turned back to the impending mission tomorrow, they grew silent once again and Sakura excused herself to buy them another round of drinks. She pushed back against the table, allowing her chair to squeak against the parquet floor and swayed unsteadily holding onto Naruto's shoulder for support.
"Erg…I fink I'm a lil drunk," she slurred with a giggle as she stumbled to the bar.
"Another cup of sake and two friends for my beers, pleas-h-e," she rested her elbow on the bar and cupped her face in her hand and stared groggily at the mirror behind the bar. God, she looked tired. Straightening up again, she passed a handful of coins to the barman and waited for the drinks and change to be passed back to her.
"Well, well, well!" came a deep, throaty voice from behind her. "If it isn't the little firecracker from earlier."
"Oh, i-it's you," she stammered, looking bleary eyed up into the face of the man she had face planted into earlier.
He had changed his shirt and lost his suit jacket, but she couldn't help but curl her lip up. Even through her drunken stupor, he looked just as lecherous as he had earlier.
"How about I buy you those drinks as an apology for being so rude earlier," he said to her chest.
"How about no 'fanks?"
"Pink hair. I'd love to see if it's natural, hmmm," he drawled, his eyes casting down to her hips. "Unusual. I like unusual. I like feisty. What would it cost for me to secure you're attention for this evening? Come on, everyone has a price."
She felt a sweaty palm snake around her waist and under her top. Her mouth dropped open in outrage.
"Secure this, you ugly toad!" she screamed, pulling her hand back and then thrusting a fistful of drunken chakra straight into his face.
Then, several things happened all at once: The man rocketed backwards, his feet completely leaving the floor as he hurtled through the air, landing hard on a table behind him, which promptly splintered and collapsed, sending glasses and bottles smashing to the floor. She felt her arms yanked tightly behind her back and two men materialized as if out of thin air beside her victim to help him get up. She heard Naruto drunkenly shout the dreaded words "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" at the top of his voice and suddenly the bar was full to the brim with seething drunken Naruto clones who were standing on top of tables, hanging off light fixtures, and lining the walls.
"Let go of her, you bastard!!!" they all chorused, and then the bar descended into absolute madness.
A group of five Narutos ploughed into whoever was restraining her.
She looked up just in time to dodge a large torrent of water that was shot towards her from one of the bodyguards while the other helped his boss off the table and dusted shards of glass off his bloated figure.
The jet connected with some poor unsuspecting guy who was trying to enjoy his pint and was lifted from his seat and smashed unceremoniously against the tavern wall as water gushed and spewed around him.
She saw Sai get smacked hard in the face as inky snakes erupted from his open notebook, constricting their little bodies around the water jutsu ninja, effectively trapping his arms against his waist.
She turned in time to connect her foot with the guy the Narutos were holding firmly by the arms, sending him over the bar and crashing into shelves, sending a torrent of broken glass onto the ninja's shoulders.
They all heard the unoccupied bodyguard turn to his boss and say, "Time to go, Hiroto" and the four of them vanished as quickly as they appeared with a quiet poof, leaving Sai, Sakura, and about fifty Narutos to look around them at the water-logged devastation and looks of pure, unadulterated hatred that were being shot their way.
In the awkward silence that followed, a Naruto couldn't help himself and promptly threw up onto the wet parquet floor while another, trying to avoid the projectile liquid, clumsily slipped on a pint glass and careered into a third Naruto who wasn't paying much attention and who then fell into another Naruto, who then fell into another Naruto...creating a haphazard domino rally.
"Crap." Sakura heard her floored blond haired companions mutter in unison.
Naruto and Sai stood outside the locked hotel doors with Sakura draping one arm over each of their shoulders, her head lolling dangerously to one side.
"Filthy, stupid, pervert," she slurred angrily.
Sai rubbed his bruised cheek, wincing slightly at its tenderness.
"I don't think it would be wise to tell Kakashi-sensei about this," he said flatly.
"Hell no!" Naruto shook his head enthusiastically. His face darkened as he pulled out his now completely deflated frog wallet. "Although I don't know how we're going to afford breakfast, or lunch, or dinner if we don't tell him. Do glasses and tables really cost that much?" he grumbled sadly.
Forming chakra into both their feet, Sai and Naruto started walking up the side of the hotel towards Sakura's open window. They strained and grunted, pulling their intoxicated teammate up with them.
"Maybe she should lose some of that weight." Sai said dryly.
"I heard that."
They hoisted her head first through the window, her bottom hanging out in an undignified manner before climbing through themselves and pulling her up.
"Let's get her into bed and we'll get back to…"
The light flicked on.
Kakashi stood with his arms crossed by the light switch, his back against the wall and his book closed on the desk in the corner.
They stood in silence for a moment, which was broken by an audible gulp from Naruto.
"Bed. Now." Kakashi stated firmly. His voice held a threatening edge that was normally reserved for battle. He crossed the room with three long strides until his chest was almost touching their noses. His headband was discarded in the corner, allowing his Sharingan eye to whirl menacingly at them. He took Sakura out of their arms and they hurriedly retreated to the doorway. When Naruto tried to stumble an apology, he merely glared at them, instantly shutting them up.
With a strained whimper, they disappeared out the door, letting it click behind them.
When they were gone, Kakashi looked down at Sakura with a fierce glare and pulled her roughly into the bathroom. He sat her on the edge of the bath and she slumped with her arms dangling by her side, looking sheepishly up at him. Her teary eyes glistened as words tumbled out of her mouth.
"I-I'm so sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I was just so nervous about the mission and we didn't realize it would get out of hand, and a filthy toad man touched me up and -hic- I…I smacked him in the face…and…and now you must be really disappointed in-n-n me!" she wailed, pushing her face into her hands and sobbing uncontrollably.
He didn't look at her as he walked out the room and she felt the devastation of hurting someone you care about roll over her.
Her head snapped up when she saw him re-enter the room, holding out a glass of water to her, which she took with shaky hands and drank greedily.
He took the glass from her and sat it down in the basin. Turning around, he leaned in closer. He lifted her chin up gently with one hand and removed another handkerchief from his flack jacket pocket and wiped the tears from her face gently.
"You are many things. You are a stupid girl, you are an impulsive girl, and you are a temperamental girl, Sakura, and you'll have a hell of a headache when you get up tomorrow morning."
She looked down at the tiled floor again.
"But..." he continued, raising her head up to look him in the eyes before continuing in a kinder voice, "You are not a disappointment. Just don't let this affect your work tomorrow and I won't have a problem, and don't tell Naruto and Sai I went easy on you."
She bit her lip and smiled up at him. He'd given her a compliment, something he never did lightly.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." He pulled her up by the arms and let her lean her full weight against him as he led her out the bathroom and to the bed.
She swayed against him, feeling the warmth of his body through his clothing. She buried her nose into his jacket, inhaling his scent, thinking how good and safe he felt. Why hadn't she noticed how nice he smelled before? She pondered drunkenly.
He sat her on the corner of the bed and knelt down in front of her to take off her shoes.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes, Sakura?"
"Thank you for being so nice to me," she mumbled quietly.
"That's okay. Like I said, just don't tell anyone," he replied with an easy smile.
That's when he felt the hot sticky warmth of vomit hit him square in the chest.
"Sorry," she spluttered wetly as she dove off the bed and stumbled back into the bathroom.