Chapter 5

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Do you taste?

Do you taste the iron?

Do you taste the warmth?

Do you taste?

~0~

"This heat is barbaric." A feminine voice spoke through gritted teeth. The trees did nothing to shield the beating sun's heat as the woman roaming the forest floor concluded. Her satin dress cut to her thighs did nothing to help as she continued to walk through the thousands of trees. Her long pink hair was tied up off of her neck with a ribbon with her pack strapped around her chest and back she trailed on.

Her green eyes scanned the area around her at every sound she heard. She was not scared, she did not fear what was the unknown… She was looking for a quick meal, anything to keep her from collapsing from starvation. However, she did know there was a price on her head. A very large one from the many men whom have come after her over the months she has been running.

She smirked at the ridiculousness of it all, but deep down she was wounded… Sharp pain that perused her heart as she heard the news about her bounty; the man she had once loved had put a price upon her head. The very man she had met when she was only a child, the very man she had wed, the very man she thought would finally cure her of this curse.

"Well, well, well… Look who we found, mates." A gruff voice sounded behind the pink haired woman. She stopped and rolled her eyes. The four idiots had been following her for the past three days and they think she hadn't noticed? Hadn't smelled them from a mile away?

She turned to look upon the men that stood in front of her. All four of them were armed with weapons. Two of them had daggers in each hand. Another had a three foot sword and the last man had a short sword that looked like a large dagger. They all had their weapons pointed at her.

"Your highness… If you would be so kind as to come with us, we won't hurt you." The woman looked at the man who spoke, clearly being the leader of the group. She blinked as they all stood there.

She smiled dangerously, "you best be going before I have to kill you," the men laughed.

"We don't think so," one of the other men spat. She glared at them, waiting for one of them to charge at her.

"I give you fair warning… Turn back now and forever hold your tongue or I will kill you." Three of the men laughed and they charged. The woman seemed to disappear and reappear as she grabbed two of the men by the neck and slammed them into the ground. Their heads cracked opened as they hit the forest floor, their daggers flying out of their hands. The third man raised his sword and swung, he only barely sliced her. The woman stopped only a few yards away as she raised her hand to her sliced bicep.

The two remaining men stood opposite of her and watched. The woman's wound seemed to dissolve as if it were never there. It didn't even take a full three minutes before the wound was gone, nowhere in sight. She turned and glared at the remaining two, the one with the short sword slowly started to put it on the ground before the leader barked out, "What do you think you're doing?! We're to fight to the death until the girl is captured alive."

The man with the short sword shook his head. His hair was dirty, but she could see it was silver. It seemed to stay stuck in the air. She continued to look at him, his face was covered by a scarf and his right eye was covered by an eye patch. He seemed to be the smarter of the four as he disarmed himself, however he was still possibly dangerous.

The leader scoffed and turned back to the woman. He raised his sword again and began to charge, the woman beat him as she rushed forward and sliced his chest open with her hands. He fell where he stood, and she looked at the last remaining man. He sheepishly put his hands up to show he surrendered.

The green eyed beauty turned and pulled the man with the sword up, she then sank her teeth into his throat and drank. She drank until his body was completely emptied of all blood and then dropped his lifeless body onto the ground before standing. She turned as she heard the last man gasp at what she had done.

"I shall let you live… For you were smart enough to surrender before the fight was over; go back to where you came from and you shall never speak of what you saw. Am I clear as to what I've explained?" Her gaze was fixated on him and he shrugged. She frowned.

"Do you not wish to live?" The woman was confused. A man who had just watched her drink the blood of his leader and she said she would let him live and he does nothing but shrug? She disappeared before him only to reappear merely inches from his face. He didn't even flinch and she tilted her head.

"You are not afraid of me?" Her voice came out as a whisper and he shrugged again. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before she stood. The woman wiped the blood off of her beautiful face and turned. She had the remaining three days before she made it to the next village and she would use every minute of the day; she started walking when she heard the man get up and follow her.

She looked back at him from over her shoulder and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? I am coming with you." She corked an eyebrow at him, but did not continue the conversation.

"My name is Kakashi… Hatake Kakashi, if you were wondering. I already know your name, Haruno Sakura… Queen of the Lands, wife of—" His rough and flirty voice was cut off as Sakura's hand pressed itself on his mouth. There was fire in her eyes, rage and hatred burning behind the depths of her beautiful green eyes.

"Do not speak his name in front of me if you so wish to live, Hatake." He raised his hands in the same surrendering gesture he did before. She let go of his mouth.

"Alright, name forbidden, I understand." Sakura turned and he was whipped in the face by her long pink hair. He smirked.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, where are you going exactly?" He put his hands behind the back of his head as he walked behind her, his sword swinging back and forth with every step. She didn't answer him right away.

"…I am going to a small village that is three days away, so if you are coming with me, do not slow me down." She spoke cautiously. He shrugged again and continued to follow her.

They traveled for hours, stopping only for necessary purposes. The stars had covered the darkened sky as they continued to travel at night. They spoke briefly, only when Kakashi opened his mouth for some ungodly reason. Sakura was unsure as to why she had let him come with her for so long. Never in her long years would she have thought she would travel with a human. Let alone one who almost tried to capture her, which this had made her curious and she had asked him that very night as they stopped to make camp.

Kakashi was poking at the fire as Sakura was reading over a map when she looked up at him. "So… Hatake, why did you come with me?"

He took his eyes off of the fire to look at her. His lone black eye staring into her green ones. He didn't speak for a moment and she figured he wasn't and almost went back to her map when he did finally speak, it was not what she had expected.

"It was the way that you didn't show mercy that probably drew me in… I'm an older man, thirty-three to be positive… I've been in battle before, and you remind me of it. I sometimes crave it… The fighting, the energy after every kill… Sometimes I just can't help it, that's why I was with those hunters. They provided the battles and the hunting…" He spoke in a low voice. He never drew his gaze from hers and she nodded.

"I see…" She didn't speak for a few moments. "Make sure you get some sleep, we'll be heading out in the morning." And she turned over and went to sleep, leaving the man to his haunting thoughts.

The day came faster than Kakashi had predicted, but he still rose as he heard his traveling companion moving about their small campsite. He could feel her gaze upon him.

"Good, you're awake. We're moving out, so pack your stuff." He sat up, groggy from the rough night's sleep. He watched as she put her items in her sack and the way she stretched. It fascinated him. She was like a cat. Cold, silent, flexible and fierce; she drew him in. It didn't help that she was beautiful and her curves were sinful.

"You gonna get up or do I have to leave you behind?" She asked him. He gave her a lazy smirk and she wrinkled her nose at him. He got to his feet and picked up his sack. Sakura poured water on top of the small fire before walking east; he followed suit.

It was their third day traveling together and he had learned all but nothing about her. He observed her and the way she'd walk or the way she'd crack her knuckles when she was thinking hard. He smirked when he finally caught her humming a small tune when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

"You've got a nice tune; where'd you learn it?" He asked and she tensed. She must have not even noticed she was singing and turned to glare over her shoulder at him.

"I'm… I'm not quite sure where I learned it… It's just one of those things you know, but forget where it came from." He shrugged in response.

The day was hot and long. They stopped for a short lunch and break. He thought it was mostly just for him. Whenever he noticed her she never seemed to falter, but maybe he just couldn't read her as good as he thought he did.

He would watch her face and it seemed to hold back everything; it made him frown.

"You don't let anyone tell what you're thinking, do you?" Sakura looked up at him and tilted her head at him. She sighed.

"It's better to not let the other person see what you're thinking if you're not very close with them, is it not?" He could agree with that. He never let his guard down, but he would with only her. She somehow made him feel comfortable and he met her only two days prier.

"I've always let my guard down with you, and I don't even know I'm doing it." He replied a few moments later. She looked at him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, he couldn't tell what she felt, but it never really seemed to bother him.

"You're a strange one, Hatake… Very strange." She spoke in a tone he had not heard her speak with before. It… It almost sounded like she was… Teasing him? Was she actually teasing him? He looked into her eyes and there it was. A small glint of mischief, his eyebrows shot up. She turned away, but he could see the small smirk that played at her lips.

"Are you teasing me, Sakura?" He asked in a flirtatious voice. She looked at him from the corner of her eye with the small smirk still on her face.

"We're leaving soon; better pack now." His smirk slowly fell from his lips before he stood. Sakura's back was to him and he watched the way her moved.

She was swift, in complete balance and she carried herself with elegant grace. Her arms were muscular from harsh fighting and her legs were smooth and toned from moving place to place. Her cut-off dress did her backside justice as she walked. It covered just enough to keep herself covered but also to keep cool and move with ease. He smirked at the way the dress was so formfitting, showing off all the right places.

"What are you looking at?" His attention slammed him back into reality as he looked up into her narrowed green eyes. He moved his gaze elsewhere as he slid his hands into his pockets.

"Nothing in particular…" She gave him one last glare before moving out. They had less than one day till they made it to their destination.

The sun wasn't as bad as it had been the last few days, but it was still blazing hot. The skies were cloudless and bright blue. The trees were the only thing keeping them a little cool as they continued to walk. The leaves on the ground were dried up and making crackling sounds as they marched on.

The pink haired beauty and the mysterious silver haired man were traveling for few hours before they were only twenty minutes until they would make it out of the forest and could see the village. Sakura stopped and Kakashi followed suit. He gave her a questioning look when she turned her head to look at him. She moved her finger to her lips to have him say silent as she listened.

She knew something other than the two of them was moving throughout the forest; she had merely thought it was a wild animal until she listened more closely. It sounded like human feet… And more than one human. She felt a strong gaze upon her when she turned to look at the south of her. Her eyes narrowed before she moved closer to Kakashi.

He watched her as she moved closer to him. He saw her hand twitch dangerously close to her sword at her hip. He looked over to whatever area her head was turned at and squinted into the distance. His guard had immediately gone up as he spotted a man hiding behind a large tree watching the two. His gaze moved over to another less visible man hiding in the branches of a tree. A little over he spotted another doing the same. He moved down to see a couple others poking out from behind a few trees behind the other man.

Kakashi blew out a sigh and Sakura looked up at him. He lowered his face to her ear and whispered, "We have to fight, don't we?" She pulled her head away from his and nodded.

Then in a flash, the large group of men was upon them. They had the two circled while holding dangerous weapons of all kind: swords, knives, chains and axes. Kakashi wanted to sigh again. Six men to one man and one woman; life really was unfair to some people. Sakura looked at each individual man before calculating a plan.

The group of them didn't look as easy as the group Kakashi had come from, however Sakura had dealt with worse situations. A tall, ugly man caught her attention as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, this is a surprise… The bounty says you're traveling alone, yet you seem to have a man with you. Cheating on the king, your highness?" Sakura's eye twitched at that; Kakashi merely shrugged his shoulders. Sakura shot him a look. He raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning manner.

"We'll talk about that later," she said while glaring at his laidback attitude. He smirked under his scarf.

The leader of the pack narrowed his eyes and let out a low growl. He didn't like the way they were ignoring them when they should be fearful. He pulled his axe off of his back and gripped it. Sakura and Kakashi looked over at him as the rest of the group followed suit.

"Well, your highness, I think it's time we captured you and your little friend… Your bounty is our ticket to riches." She's face was expressionless as always. Kakashi looked down at her, seeking an order of what to do. Sakura gave him a small nod before she vanished. He blew out a sigh.

The group of men looked around bewildered at the fact that she just vanished into thin air. They all turned to the man in the middle of their circle; he gave them a shrug before they whipped their weapons out and charged.

Kakashi easily jumped up and landed on top of a man's shoulders before he flipped over him and landed a few feet from the group of men. He turned just in time to see the pink-haired woman reappear and stab a man in the chest with her hand. He dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. That brought the attention of the others as she disappeared and reappeared again and again; punching, kicking, clawing. She was like an animal, ripping throats out with her hands, biting into the flesh of others.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed at her skill. Months of running must have hardened her and made her strong. However, he couldn't let her have all the fun. Two members of the small group turned to face him and all three of them charged at one another. His sword swung in the air connecting with the man on the right as he punched the one on the left. He slid his sword out of the man who fell to the ground while the one left standing charged again.

They were almost evenly matched, swinging their swords back and forth for a while; neither man landing any heavy hits. The ugly blonde haired man was barely keeping up with Kakashi. Swords clanged, breaths were heavy and bodies moving swiftly. Kakashi could hear the fight between Sakura and the rest of the men that was left standing. From what he could hear there was only three left, counting the man he was facing off with at that moment.

He slid his body over to the right to avoid a heavy blow from the blonde. A gut piercing scream was heard from the man Sakura had just taken down and it distracted the man for a brief moment. It was the best opening Kakashi could get and he took it.

He swung his sword from the right, knocking the man's out of his hand while he sliced open a deep wound into the man's arm. He jumped back, but Kakashi had him pinned to the bark of a tree. He lifted his sword once again and stabbed the man into the chest. He coughed up a small puddle of blood and went limp.

Kakashi sagged while he had his sword pushed into the man's chest. He heard the last body drop to the ground and turned his head to see Sakura standing tall amounts the pile of men at her feet. Her head turned to look at him, her eyes slightly glowing ire green. He stood straight and pulled his sword from the blonde's chest and walked over to her.

She was unharmed like always. No scratch, no cut, nothing. Her flawless skin only gleamed with the small droplets of sweat from a work out. Blood ran down her arms to her hands and dripped onto the ground. Her dress had smears of thick red liquid as well as her shoes. He shook his head and she gave him a look.

"Let's go, your majesty." He said in a teasing tone as if nothing happened. She raised an eyebrow before rolling her eyes. He smirked behind his scarf while she turned to walk. He followed suit before something slammed into his back and he fell to his knees. Sakura turned in a flash.

An axe was stuck in his back. The leader she had pierced with her hand had sat up. His hand was over the whole she had made into his chest. Heavy bloodied coughs were heard before Sakura ran and cut his throat to shreds.

Kakashi fell to his hands and knees; he was breathing heavily as Sakura ran to his aid. He looked up at her as she was kneeling in front of him. Her face full of worry and concern; small tears were forming in her eyes.

"Kakashi…" His name fell from her lips. His eyes widened. She had never said his name before it had only been his last name. He tried to give her a reassuring shrug, but he couldn't. He fell to the ground, no longer having the energy to hold himself up.

"Kakashi! No, it's okay! I'll save you, you're not going to die, I promise, Kakashi!" Sakura was yelling as she pulled the axe from his back and threw it into a tree. Her fear filled green eyes darting to his back and his face repeatedly. Tears fell from her eyes as she swallowed heavy breaths.

"It's okay… Sakura… It's…" He spoke before a gush of blood spewed from his mouth into his scarf. She screamed; Sakura scrambled to flip him over and pull his head to her lap.

"Kakashi…" She cried out while drops of salty tears hit his face. He looked up at her through his lashes. She ripped his scarf away from his handsome face. He gave her a small smile before his eyes closed completely.

"Kakashi… Please forgive me…" Sakura spoke as she pulled his sword from his limp hand. She sliced her wrist open and poured the blood into her mouth. She breathed in deeply before she lowered her mouth to his. The red, sticky liquid pooled into his mouth; she helped it go down his throat before she pulled her bloodied face away to stare down at him.

"Please… Please come back to me, please!" Her cries coming out harsh and shallow.

The two of them sat there for what felt like eternity before Kakashi coughed and spazzed out. His body flailing in every different direction as she held him down; he went still after a few minutes. He was breathing heavily and his throat felt like it was burning. His whole body felt like it was burning from the inside out. He could hear Sakura crying and feeling wetness hitting his face.

He breathed in a shallow breath before he slowly opened his eyes to look up into her red, puffy green one. Sakura bent down and hit her forehead against his; her fingers digging into his torn shirt as she continued to cry.

"You know… You're not… Pretty when you cry…" He spoke through heavy breaths and she let out a small, watery laugh.

~0~

Do you taste?

Do you taste the heat?

Do you taste the humidity?

Do you taste?

~0~

A/N: I'm really sorry that this is all that there is for this chapter… This is almost 4k words in this one chapter and I didn't want to make it too long… Besides, I couldn't think of anything else to add… The ending for this chapter was rushed, I know. It was bothering me that it hadn't been finished yet and I was frustrated that I couldn't come up with anything!

And, yes, I know that my "battle" scenes are lame, you don't need to tell me. lol. I'll try to work on it the best I can. I'm not much of a fight person. I'm a peace not war kinda girl.

ANYWAYS, thank you so much for reading! I hope to start chapter six soon!

Much love,

MidnightPublisher