Okay, I'm trying a fight scene. I suck at fight scenes which is why I've avoided them like the plague but if you have problems doing something, you need to practice it right? It makes it a bit longer than the other two chapters, just don't expect too much from it.
And yes there will be a practice lemon later.
Kakashi stared at the child that had been dropped onto his lap, obscuring his Icha Icha book from his sight. The child stared solemnly back at him. Well, at least he wasn't crying. Yet.
He took a cautionary glance at Sakura and was incensed to find she was smirking. Damn that girl, she was enjoying this!
Returning his attention to the child on his lap, he dropped his Icha Icha book so he could hold the boy better. One chubby fist reached out for his mask and Kakashi had to let go to wave a finger in front of his face.
"Ah, ah, ah. The mask stays on," he said. The child looked ready to cry and Kakashi knew he needed to think of something to do to entertain him quickly before he started bawling and drew any unwanted attention from passersbys. What was it he had done with Kurenai's child? Oh yes, that was it; hopefully it wouldn't send the kid off on a crying fit.
Keeping his hands wrapped around Yasu's waist, he experimentally jostled one of his knees, sending the child bouncing up and down on it. The giggle that broke from the little boy's mouth had him grinning behind his mask and when he glanced over at Sakrua, he was surprised to find her scowling at him and the child. Now what had he done? The boy let out another delighted squeal and it hit him.
Sakura was upset that he wasn't having trouble with their youngest charge! He smirked, giving her his biggest happy-eye-crease and turning the little boy enough to waive one of his little arms at her.
"Wave to Sakrua-chan!" He said in a cheerful tone as the baby bounced and happily squealed away on his knee. Sakura just rolled her eyes and started boiling some of the water Sasuke had retrieved from a nearby stream. Kakashi could hear her grumbles from where he sat and although he couldn't make out any of the words, he was pretty sure they were directed at him and were none too flattering. God, it was such fun annoying her sometimes!
After a breakfast of the warm rice cereal Emiko had packed for Yasu, and Sakura decided to feed everyone or told them they could fix their own damn breakfast, they started out on their way again. The pace set was rather slow, at least to team 7 and Naruto was constantly getting too far ahead and having to stop and wait for the others to catch up. For Jiro, it was slightly faster than he was used to and as he tired much easier than the well-trained nins who were used to such activity, the pace had to be set for his ability. Kakashi, as team leader, kept an eye on his team's energy levels and tried to unobtrusively slow his teammates down so as not to wear their slowest member out.
Naruto had started off carrying Yasu but in a matter of hours Sakura found herself with the child strapped to her front. She didn't mind so much as after their next break she was determined to have Sasuke carry Yasu and that promised to be entertaining. Besides, he was a happy little boy and was traveling better than could have been hoped. It was about midmorning when Jiro, who had been relatively quiet while trying to keep pace with the rest of the group, struck up a conversation with her.
"So, you're a female ninja?"
"A kunoichi, yes." Sakura turned to look at the man walking next to her.
"Aren't you rather young for that?" Jiro asked.
Sakura gave him a wry smile. "I'm twenty three. That's not so young, at least, not for a ninja."
"What about Kakashi over there? Doesn't that make him rather old?" Jiro nodded his head at her team leader.
"Kakashi?" Sakura asked in surprise.
Jiro nodded his head.
"He's not that old." Sakura smiled at the thought of Kakashi, of all people, being old. Sure, his former students enjoyed teasing him about his age, but the word 'old' didn't exactly apply. The man rarely got out of breath doing things that sent men half his age to the hospital. During sparing sessions, he was often the only uninjured member of the team. "His hair has always been grey and he's not much older than you are, I'd guess."
"But I'm thirty-five." Jiro replied.
"Right, so that makes him only a couple years older than you are. Genin are usually about twelve when they're assigned their first mission."
"Twelve?" The surprise showed on the man's face. He tried to remember what he'd been doing at age twelve. Playing with his brother and sisters? Sneaking out of the compound to swim in the river?
"By that age, they've usually completed a number of years at the academy so they can pass the test to become genin, the lowest rank of ninja. There are also chounin and jounin."
"What is your rank?"
"I'm a jounin, but I'm also a medic which is my primary job."
"And the others?" The man asked.
Sakura caught Kakashi's eye and motioned to the foliage next to the path. With a nod, he silently consented to a ten minute break.
"All jounin. Here," Sakura unwrapped from the cloth binding Yasu to her and handed his son out to the man. "Would you mind holding him a bit? We're going to take a break and I need to use the bushes.
The man backed away his hands held up as if to ward the child away from him. "Ah… no. I'm not very good with the boy."
"Surely you can hold him for a minute…" Sakura protested.
"I'd rather not…"
Surprised, she raised an eyebrow. Why didn't the man want to hold his own son? Come to think of it, they'd been traveling for twenty four hours and she hadn't seen the man hold him once. Still slightly confused, she called Naruto over and handed the child to the blond man. "Hold him for a minute, will you? I've got to use the bushes."
"Sure," Naruto held his hands out to the squirming child who's face lit up at the silly expression Naruto made.
When she returned, Naruto was sitting with Yasu on a dry stretch of gravel building him a small structure with some of the larger stones around them. Once it started to take form as a little fort, the child would giggle with delight as he knocked it down. Naruto would make a good father, she decided as she watched him patiently laugh and begin to rebuild the fort. He and Hinata would be quite happy if the idiot ever got around to proposing. She really needed to say something to him about it on this mission; after all, none of them were getting any younger and Hinata was at a good age for childbirth. Besides, the woman obviously loved him as much as he did her. Maybe it was her father that was standing in the way. Hiashi had recognized Naruto as the Fourth's son once the war with Sound had ended and the news of Naruto's parentage had come out, reluctantly allowing the two to publically date.
Her eyes moved to Sasuke, who was returning from the bushes on the other side of the road. She was having trouble imagining Sasuke as a father, even if he had warmed up a little in the past few years. What kind of father would he be? It was his remaining goal – he wanted to rebuild his clan and that meant becoming a father. Imagining him cuddling with a child, changing a diaper or rocking a baby to sleep was difficult. She could see him teaching a 5 year old how to throw a kunai or shurikin but the child had better catch on quickly, she figured, knowing Sasuke's lack of patience. Hopefully the woman he married would have enough affection for both of them.
Of course, she'd seen how children could change even the harshest people. Just look at Ibiki and Anko…
Her eyes wandered over to Kakashi, seated comfortably on a rock, his back pressed against a tree. What kind of father would he make? She'd always been a little surprised that he hadn't married and had kids yet but he was married to his life as a shinobi, wasn't he? He wasn't even dating anyone – at least not to her knowledge. And children? The way he'd amused Yasu this morning, had proved he wasn't completely unable to deal with children. And the thought of him, just as he was now, with a small silver haired toddler sleeping against his chest, the little boy's head curled under the Copy-nin's chin, well, it had her smiling at the image.
"Something amusing, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, his apparent inattentiveness belayed by his question.
"Just letting my mind wander, sensei." Sakura replied with a smile.
"Sakura…" His voice warned.
"Sorry, Kakashi." Sakura said with a smile. Kakashi had been telling her and Naruto for years that he was no longer their teacher and resented being called sensei. Sometimes she absentmindedly used the honorific when she wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. Other times she did it intentionally just to annoy him.
Passing the child to Sakura, Naruto took his turn in the bushes. Sakura sighed and decided to check the little boy's diaper before they went on the move again. Wasn't it just like guys to leave this duty to her? Fine. She'd do it this time but the next one she was leaving it up to one of them.
Dressing the little boy back into his clothes, she stopped suddenly. She felt something. Someone was watching them and they had a powerful chakra signature that they almost hid. Almost. But she was still able to sense it and, after a glance around, she could tell Kakashi and Sasuke also noticed it. Naruto was still in the bushes and most likely, oblivious. She loved the boy like a brother, but he had the observation skills of a houseplant. He was getting better though. Slowly.
Standing up, Sakura brushed any dirt off the backside of her skirt and bent down to pick up the little boy. Holding him tightly in her arms, she whispered into his ear. "Okay, Yasu, I need you to be really quiet for a few minutes. Can you do that for me?"
The little boy nodded his head vigorously.
"That's a good boy!" Sakura smiled. "Real quiet, remember?" She casually walked over to Ichiro and thrust his son into his arms.
Predictably, Ichiro held his son away from his body and tried to give him back to Sakura.
"Ahm, I-I can't hold him." The worried look in Ichiro's eyes confirmed her suspicions, but she really didn't have time for this now.
"You're going to have to for a few minutes," she said softly. "I'm going to need both of my hands in a couple of seconds. There are people, probably nins, approaching us and odds are they aren't dropping in for a friendly visit. Now stay close to me, I'll be the one guarding you specifically and you may want to cover Yasu's eyes because this could get messy."
Ichiro's head whipped around, searching the bushes for hostile persons, as if they would be standing up and pointing their fingers at him as their target.
Sakura closed her eyes and sighed, her head shaking back and forth. Well, so much for subtlety and not letting the enemy know they were aware of their presence.
At that exact moment, Naruto came bursting from the bushes with a yell of "Enemy nins! There's enemy nins coming!" He might as well have been using a bullhorn and spotlights.
"Yes, Dobe. All of us were aware of that but didn't see any reason to let them know that." The scorn in Sasuke's voice was even thicker than normal.
"Well, Teme, why didn't anyone think to tell me that?" Naruto asked indignantly.
"Because you should know enough by now to sense it yourself and stay quiet about it!" The black haired man growled, venom in his voice.
Sakura's hand slid to her hip, waiting for the first sign she would need her kunai. From the corner of her eye, she could see Kakashi and Sasuke disappear, already on the offensive and off to find the enemy. Naruto quickly followed, a determined look on his face.
Standing still, Sakura waited for the first sign of the enemy, her eyes flicking back and forth to take in as much of their surroundings as possible, her ears straining for the first sound of an attack. Then Kakashi was standing right in front of them, a kunai in his hand blocking that of the nin attempting to attack Sakura. The clash of the blades and the surprised grunt of the attacker gave away that he hadn't expected much resistance.
Turning slightly, she threw a handful of shurikins past Kakashi, watching as they impaled another attacker, stopping him in his tracks and knocking him over. The past few years Sakura had taken to dipping some of her weapons into a fast-acting poison and in only a few seconds her opponent would be paralyzed, quickly followed by deceased. As soon as she saw the weapons had hit their mark, she spun around to throw several kunai at another approaching nin.
The second man dodged her kunai and drew a katana from his back, leaving Sakura to draw her wakizashi to block his downward strike. With a chakra-reinforced kick, she sent her attacker back into a tree, knocking him out, but another opponent was close behind to take his place.
"That's it, it's getting too dangerous," she grumbled, rapidly forming a few hand signs. A second later, she watched from the bushes 30 feet away from where the fight originated as the forms of Ichiro and Yasu were grabbed and taken away by two of the enemy while a third engaged her shadow-clone in battle. Hearing a slight whimper from the real Yasu still clutched in the arms of his father who was hiding next to her in the bush, she took her eyes off the fight to look at the little boy. She swore to herself as she saw from his expressive face that he was seconds away from crying.
Opening the medic's pouch worn on her hip, she pulled out a small vial of powder, licked her finger, covered the top of the vile with it and quickly tipped it over to get a small amount of the white dust to stick to her finger. Before Yasu could make another sound, she'd formed a single hand sign and stuck the finger into the child's mouth. Yasu's eyes closed and he fell limp in his father's arms.
"What did you do to him?" he asked in a harsh whisper.
"Tell you later. Now shut up." She said softly. What was it with people talking today that they seemed to be determined to give them away? The illusion from the genjutsu wouldn't last forever and the longer she could keep up the illusion, the more confused they'd be when they figured out they'd just kidnapped two logs. Not being as gifted with shadow clones as Naruto was, her clone was going to disappear any moment, leaving a very surprised and angry nin. Or that was the plan at least. At that point, she hoped one of the boys would take care of that guy while she and the Takahashi's hid in the bushes.
Keeping her ears open for any signs of another attack, Sakura remained with Ichiro and Yasu in the bushes watching her teammates fight. She winced slightly as Sasuke's shoulder was sliced by a kunai, which only served to piss him off to the point where he nearly removed the arms his opponent. For good measure, he completely decapitated the next attacker. Naruto had half a dozen clones happily beating the crap out of four other guys while Kakashi, his face now pressed into his beloved Icha Icha book, disposed of the last two.
"Does he always read during a fight like this?" Ichiro whispered.
Sakura ignored the question, hoping her silence would stop him from talking. The fight was almost over, but there was always the possibility there were others that couldn't be seen yet. Even after the fighting had stopped, she and the Takahashi's remained in the bushes until the rest of team seven scouted the area to ensure it was safe for them to come out.
Naruto returned first and walked over to the bushes where Sakura was hiding. Pushing a few branches aside, he grinned at them. "You can come out now; all's clear."
"Thanks Naruto." Sakura took Yasu from his father's arms and wriggled free of the plants. She carried the limp little boy back to where their packs had been left. Pulling her cloak free of the straps, she arranged it underneath Yasu and laid him down to sleep comfortably.
"What did you do to him?" Naruto asked over her shoulder.
"I had to use a little of my sleeping powder. I've never used it on a child before but I didn't give him very much. Just enough to knock him out while the fight was going on. I hated to use it, but I didn't want him to cry and give away our location. It's perfectly safe but I'm unsure of the dosage for a child so I don't know when he will wake up. Actually, with him asleep, it might make it easier for us to travel." Sakura was riffling through her pack, searching for another powdered compound. When she found it and turned around Sasuke was waiting, shirtless, for her to heal his wound. Ten years ago, she would have been drooling all over Sasuke but, while Sasuke had a great body, Sakura just wasn't that interested in him anymore. Kakashi had also returned and was sitting where he had been positioned before, once again, his face pressed into the book in his hands.
Sakura took a moment to inspect Sasuke's wound, using a rag dampened with water from her canteen to clean around the cut, washing away some of the already clotting blood.
"Hmmm… it's fairly deep yet it doesn't look too bad… I think it might have nicked your subclavian artery which is why it bled so much. I'm going to try something new…" Taking a little bit of another powder from its jar, she patted some of it into the wound, staunching the renewed flow of blood. With a green glowing hand Sakura closed her eyes and touched the wound. Gradually, the powder started to glow and fuse the wound together.
"What was that stuff you just put on me?" Sasuke asked, trying to turn his head so he could see what she was doing.
"It's a new compound I've been working on for the standard medical kits. Its main purpose is to stop the bleeding and seal the wound temporarily until you can either heal or reach a medic nin, depending on the severity."
"You're using me as a guinea pig?"
"Well, your hair kinda sticks up like some of the ones I've seen…" Sakura said with a grin.
Naruto snorted. "You're right, it does!"
"Shut up, Dobe." Sasuke growled at Naruto as he turned to face Sakura. "Does this mean you're not going to heal me yet?"
"Well, no. I want to see how well this works and the next time we stop I'll heal you completely."
"Aren't you supposed to ask before you do that sort of thing to a patient?"
"Normally, yes. For you, no because I knew you'd refuse. I need someone in the field to test it on. Naruto's chakra heals him too quickly so I can't use him and Kakashi never tells me when he's wounded unless he's bleeding out on my floor and that's too late to try it. So that leaves you." Sakura smiled sweetly at him and handed him his shirt. "And myself, of course, but I'm not dumb enough to have gotten injured recently. I've been developing this for the general medical kits so nins on missions without a medic can apply it to themselves or other team members to prevent blood loss. All they have to do is put it on the wound and add a little chakra to activate it."
"I didn't realize you were doing that much research recently," Kakashi's smooth voice whispered over her shoulder, causing Sakura to jump.
"Damn it Kakashi! Stop sneaking up on me when I'm working!" Sakura turned her scowling face to look into his, his happy eye-crease annoying her even more.
"Why? It's fun." He said cheerily.
"Alright, that's it." She said, pointing at each of her teammates in turn, starting with Sasuke. "You, put your shirt on. You," she pointed at Naruto. "Pick up Yasu. And you," she said turning to Kakashi. "Stop being so annoying."
Sakura stood up and swung her pack up on her back, glancing around to find Ichiro. She found him sitting on a rock just watching her team get ready to move. Well, she'd talk to him in a second, first Yasu. She turned to Naruto who was holding the still limp child and she looked him over quickly. His color looked good and his breathing was regular so there seemed to be no adverse reaction to the sedative. Unfortunately they couldn't wait for him to wake up; the first group of attackers probably had friends that would come looking when they didn't return.
It was only after her inspection of Yasu did she realize that with Sasuke injured, he wouldn't be able to carry the child for the next portion of the journey. She grinned slightly when she realized who that left. Turning to face the silver haired shinobi, she gestured to Naruto to follow her.
Kakashi immediately caught on to their movements and the moment he saw the grin on her face he narrowed his visible eye. She was up to something. And his suspicions only increased the closer she came.
When she pulled the strip of fabric out of nowhere, Kakashi caught on. The first time he saw the child in that room at his father's home, he knew he would have to take his turn at carrying Yasu, but he didn't have to like it.
"Sakura… what are you doing?" her former teacher asked her, already knowing the answer.
"Helping you with the sling to carry Yasu. It is your turn after all. I mean, Naruto and I have both carried him twice already so that leaves you…"
"And Sasuke."
"Who's injured." Sakura continued for him.
Kakashi frowned, wondering if it was possible Sasuke had somehow foreseen his turn and had gotten wounded on purpose. Not that anything could be done about it now, he thought with resignation.
So it was Naruto who held the still sleeping Yasu against his chest while Sakura wrapped the cloth around him securing the child so he wouldn't flop about needlessly. During the process, Kakashi found he was having trouble thinking about anything other than how gentle and soothing Sakura's touch was around his abdomen, even when she was merely wrapping the dark fabric around him and not healing some injury.
Standing back, Sakura took a look at the obviously unenthusiastic Copy Nin, and smiled broadly at him. Naruto had already gone to talk to Sasuke and she'd turned to look for Jiro when she heard Kakashi grumble about not even receiving a kiss this time.
"You know Sakura, next time it may not be so easy to get me to do something I don't want to do. At least not without another incentive." His words were a hot breath whispered in her ear and she couldn't help but shiver at the interesting thoughts that came to mind. She took a deep breath and brushing aside those intriguing thoughts, she went over to talk to Jiro, who hadn't moved from his seat on a large rock since he left the brush with her and Yasu.
"Umm… Jiro-san? Is everything okay?"
"We were almost killed." He said, his eyes unmoving and focused on the base of a tree.
"Actually, you were pretty safe. That's why we're with you, to protect you and keep you that way." She said gently stepping over to rest a hand on his shoulder.
"But I saw all of them die."
"That's why I told you to cover Yasu's eyes, even though he's probably too young for it to have much effect on him." She said softly. "Try not to think about it too much, okay? We still have a lot of ground to cover today." She stretched her hand out to him and he hesitantly took it, allowing her to pull him to his feet.
"I've never had anyone attack me before. I'm afraid to say I've never seen anyone die like that before either." He spoke softly following the others down the gravel path. "I was the second son, the unimportant one, until my brother died childless last month. He was always the heir, the one who would become daimyo when my father died. I was the one sent to marry the daughter of the neighboring daimyo to tie our clans together."
He was silent for a few moments and Sakura walked quietly next to him, waiting until he was ready to continue his story. After all, she had wondered about the reasons of this mission. No more details had been given other than the fact there were powerful people who would do anything to capture or kill Jiro and his son. When it became apparent he wasn't going to explain further, Sakura felt the need to say something to reassure him.
"Never seeing anyone die violently is nothing to be ashamed of," Sakura said softly. "It's a good thing. One I wish I could claim. If at all possible, you should wish that for your son, as well. Natural death is something everyone encounters and must live with, but pain and death inflicted by others is something best to avoid for as long as you can."
"You're right, of course, but I still can't get the image of the lifeblood of those men pouring from their bodies."
"It'll lessen with time." Sakura smiled reassuringly. On impulse, she reached down and took the man's hand. He looked at her, surprised, but returned her smile and squeezed her hand firmly in his own.
"You're not too bad at this," he said.
"I've had a bit of practice, working in a hospital and all. Why don't you tell me about something you enjoy, something that makes you happy like your family, perhaps. Talk and get your mind off your worries."
Jiro agreed and started to tell him about his wife and what their lives had been like before she died.
Neither noticed the intense gaze of the copy-nin on them as they walked behind Naruto and Sasuke, and it was probably for the best that they didn't.
TBC...
Kinda wimped out, didn't i? I tried to put action in but I definitely need to work on it some more, don't i? and yes, there will be more KakaSaku in the next chapter, I swear. I had to build the back story a bit first.
Oh, well, please review and let me know how I'm doing! Encouragement is greatly appreciated.
