Chapter 6: Saved

[Now the moment we've all been waiting for…I think… xD Drumroll~]

I was able to drop to the ground just in time to avoid a hooked hit to the cheek and roll away before Kakashi could kick me down. My stolen katana whipped out to slash him across the side, no intention of really hurting the man, but aiming for places that would merely knock him aside. Even so, he moved along with the motion of the sword and avoided its blade.

I frowned ever so slightly as my mind pondered a multitude of things that could have been going on at the moment.

For one, unless Kakashi had been supremely rash in taking action, there should have been some form of backup with him. There were no other chakra sources in the area other than his and the faint traces of those that lingered within Kana. Of course there was also the dormant chakra that lay within Koharu, but other than that there was no way to sense another presence. So what kind of trap could this be? The second thing that crossed my mind was that Kakashi was not a man to harm such innocence as neither Koharu nor Kana, but if he associated Koharu with helping a criminal, what would happen to that boy? Surely I would not care for his wellbeing, however, it was the mere feeling of debt that had me worried.

If I were to possibly lure Kakashi away from the home then he may not take Koharu into accountance…However that also meant I had to retrieve Kana from the home and leave instantly without Kakashi's knowledge of having a house nearby. This obviously meant that I had to escape from his sight if only for a little while.

It was unfortunate for Kakashi that I was not a combat kunoichi, but one built for stealth.

While the quick witted shinobi formed hand seals for the lightning blade I took the opportunity to use a swift substitution jutsu, landing me a place deep in the branches of the trees. Whether Kakashi had caught onto that substation or not, this was not the time to ponder.

My feet left the tree branch before a blink could be created and silently landed on another branch in order to make my escape. I flew from branch to branch as though I were merely a passing spirit, hardly touching the bark or acknowledging the multitude of branches and leaves that whipped themselves against my pale face.

By the time I had dropped from the trees onto the ground once more in front of Koharu's home I had small cuts scattered about my skin, but I took no time to care about them. I entered through the same window I had from before and followed koharu's scent into the same room he had allowed me and Kana to stay in.

It appeared as though Koharu was attempting to slip some milk into kana's mouth through a baby bottle, which she was bluntly refusing, before I took her back into my arms and once more gave Koharu and blank stare.

"This must be swift. I have to thank you for your hospitality towards myself and my child," I bowed my head slightly to show the light gratitude I held, "but we must depart now. Stay inside for today and do not do anything to give yourself away." With that I spun around and maneuvered my way throughout his home before reaching the window once more.

Koharu of course had to chase after me with his mouth gaping slightly open, "Wh—Yasha where are you-?"

I disappeared before Koharu could finish his sentence without looking back twice.

Whatever happened to that boy next was no longer my concern for I was fixated on driving Hatake away from the area. I had no doubts that he would not hurt Koharu, however, a shinobi does what one must do.

While a very little space of my mind was occupied with scurrying away from the premise my senses were all on high caution. My nose was tricking to pick through the sweet smells of the outdoor air to reach Kakashi's scent, which proved to be a failed endeavor. My ears were perked up to their full height as they attempted to isolate any sounds of movement that came from neither myself nor simple animals. My eyes were darting from the sky to the ground and to either side, constantly flickering about the moving landscape, working together with my nose and my ears to locate the shinobi which proved to be a very difficult task.

Either Kakashi was not following me or he was being exceptionally quiet, but regardless I had to continue moving. Staying back and fighting would be an out-of-the-question option as I had Kana with me now, but stopping was also intentional suicide.

"He's close on you," Nekomata mulled in the back of my mind, warning me of an attack merely seconds before it happened.

I was able to hold up a one arm guard in front of my face as Kakashi burst from the ground with a kunai in hand, aiming for my throat. My forearm caught the blow of the blade and blood burst open through a deep gash that was created. I simply frowned at the assault, pleased that it had not hit my throat, but bothered that now I would have to deal with an open wound.

Still it gave my mind no excuse to wander. My body acted instinctively against the attack I maneuvered myself about Kakashi as he was released from the rocky hideaway underneath my feet and came up about his back. With this quick movement I yanked the katana out of the make-do sheath on my waist and went to make a clean slice through Kakashi's back.

He, however, seemed to have planned for such an action for when the blade was about to make contact I was suddenly tripped and forcefully thrown to the ground. My eyes widened slightly as I realized the immediate danger Kana was in at the angle of this fall.

With what little time I had I was able to twist my body so my side was crushed against the rocky terrain, but Kana was unharmed.

I stared boredly down at my feet when I realized that the reason I had tripped was because there was a thin wire wrapped around my ankles. This same wire, popularly used among shinobi, was just now visible to the eye as the sunlight hit it in just the right angles. It had gotten caught on my feet because it was not solely in that area, but it was stretched and wrapped around the bark of many of the trees, covering much ground area and air space.

While I quickly raced through my thoughts to ponder about what it was I could do to make a clean escape without the mess of being tangled within these wires, I took the katana and slashed through the wire at my feet, deeming myself free.

That did not mean Kakashi meant for me to be freed.

When I tried to stand once more there was another entourage of wires that shot out from an indecisive location and once more got snarled in my ankles, knocking me back down to the ground.

I heard a distinct crackling sound from up ahead, but not with enough time to dodge this battering.

When I tilted my head up to see a blinding white light merely inches from my face accompanied by a searing heat I knew there was no way I could completely avoid a painful blow. All I could do was make sure that Kana was out of the way of the path of this destructive jutsu, and so I had to hold my body over hers while attempting a roll-away, waiting for the pain of the jutsu to enter through my back.

A few seconds passed… Only a few before I realized I was not harmed at all.

With a soft blink I held my head above to the light of the waning sun, when, what I saw was not the sun nor was it Kakashi rearing for an attack.

Facing me was a back that donned a gray, high collared shirt and above it was a tuff of scruffy black hair now just settling into place as it seemed to have been in motion.

My heart almost stopped, wondering if that was just an illusion or if it was reality, when my eyes locked onto the Uchiha symbol located on the back of the shirt. That was when my mouth slightly gaped open.

"S-Sasuke?" I yelled in my mind, too shocked to speak as I stared up at his god-like silhouette, his arm extended towards the crackling light that was held in Kakashi's hand. It seemed that Sasuke had grasped onto Kakashi's wrist at the last second and was somehow unharmed by the jutsu. Maybe that was because of Sasuke's lightning nature that it was no problem to control something as such.

Almost as though Sasuke had read into my thoughts, his head slowly began to turn back to stare at me.

I held my breath, apprehensive about what would happen when he turned. Would it be his face that I saw, or would it all be some sort of mistake?

Finally those agonizing seconds went by, much slower than they should have been, and when they did there was a single blood red eye glaring at me at just the corner, a drop of raven black hair to cover most of the half that I should have been able to see. The eye held deep despair and anger as it stared me down, eye contact not breaking.

"…Tch…Useless as always," Sasuke muttered before closing the eye and turning back to Kakashi who seemed just as shocked as I was to have Sasuke blocking his attack.

The leaf jonin took this as the perfect opportunity to back out of the blocked grip, and did as such, but not without showing his surprised side.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi exclaimed as though he had seen a ghost, his normal and sharingan eye wide with astonishment.

From even back here I could sense Sasuke staring daggers through Kakashi's soul, because that was how this atmosphere was depicted. If anything there was a deadly aura protruding from Sasuke's body that threatened Kakashi full well. However I cannot say that I was well aware of this at the time. I was mostly fixated on the surprising appearance of the Uchiha and the perfect timing of it all.

"…Kakashi I didn't expect you to be attacking her…" Sasuke noted threateningly in that monotone, his hands hanging limply by his sides as though he needed only his glare to get Kakashi to run.

"I thought somebody was paying close attention to the village," Kakashi sighed, "I'll take it that was you, Sasuke."

"Hn," Sasuke huffed, neither admitting nor denying.

I could only tilt my head in confusion at such a thought. Kakashi had sensed somebody keeping a close eye on the village and then Sasuke had so suddenly just turned up in between us… Did that mean Sasuke had been the one watching the village? Had he ever really left me in the first place?

"Well congratulations on your child…Though I never pegged you for the type to do that. I'm sure Sakura is fuming back in Konoha," Kakashi said with an air of gentle conversation, one that was simply something to be spoken of over a meal and not in the middle of a quarrel. As though he were once again speaking to the Sasuke that had been in Konoha…Whoever that was.

The Uchiha did not take too kindly to the speech, in reality his tone darkened considerably as he turned to look back at me, those ruby eyes now stone cold, "…My child? You don't mean that thing, do you?" His eyes flickered towards Kana and then back up to my own eyes.

I gave the impression to be one lacking of maternal instincts for I did not even flinch when Sasuke called Kana a "thing," however I did falter my glare when Sasuke turned his on me.

"… I suppose this will have to wait, I don't have time for you, Kakashi," Sasuke said, speaking to the shinobi behind him while still keeping his gaze locked on my eyes.

I tilted my head ever so slightly at the comment Sasuke made. Did that mean he was leaving?

Before I even got the chance to second guess myself I soon found myself being pulled off the ground by my waist and hoisted over the Uchiha's shoulder in one smooth movement with his shoulder digging into the center of my stomach. It did hurt somewhat but I concentrated myself on keeping from falling off from the unbalance even though Sasuke's was holding me in place. I also had to make sure Kana did not become released from my grasp on her from this awkward hold.

"I don't think so!" Kakashi argued, stepping forward with his hand grasping a kunai at his side, tensed up, but Sasuke would hear none of that.

I am not sure how that came about, but Sasuke turned himself around so that I was now facing away from Kakashi and stayed silent except for his usual "hn," before I felt a sudden intense heat rise from our area. There was a gasp of surprise coming from the jonin, but I got no time to imagine why for Sasuke turned around once more and I saw sheets of black fire swarming the area.

It derived from the ground and shot upwards in large columns of black flames, entirely engulfing all the space that could possibly be seen.

My mouth gaped open slightly as I took this in, though Sasuke had taken off with my over his shoulder not long after that.

I dealt with the pain of his shoulder against my stomach as well as holding kana up with a bloodied arm as Sasuke whipped through the forest, weaving in and out of trees to dodge slamming into them or tripping over the rigged wires that were still around, though vaguely. Through keeping breakfast down in my stomach and biting my lip to ease the pain in my arm I had no chance to talk to Sasuke until he stopped running.

When he did stop these abrupt movements he let me down none too lightly.

"What was that about?" He growled after dropping me off his shoulder, now glaring at me from my spot on the ground, his arms crossed in dissatisfaction.

I averted my gaze to stare downwards at the now grassy terrain, not saying anything. I was sure that my heart was sending too much blood to my brain to allow me to think properly since I felt the pounding in my chest.

"Yasha…" Sasuke pursued, his tone threatening now.

"…What was what about….?" I questioned lightly in return, eyes barely flickering up to meet his that had toned down back to their usual obsidian black.

Sasuke glanced at Kana quickly before he looked back at me, advocating me to speak with his clue on what he was speaking of. Of course it had to be about Kana…Sasuke did not know about her birth since he had left the night after. He did not even know I was supposed to bear a child, however, it happened, and here he was, just now finding out.

"…You remember…Do you not…?" I snapped my gaze back down on the ground in almost a shy manner as I brought up this subject.

"Tch…You've got to be kidding," The Uchiha groaned.

"Sasuke…?" I asked hesitantly, now standing up carefully as to not make the bleeding in my arm worse, but I wanted to be closer to Sasuke to ensure that this was him. There were always ways to find traces of a transformation jutsu or some very well put out con artist…But with that Amaterasu….

Sasuke noticed my kunai wound instantly and his eyes narrowed, "…You're hurt."

"It is nothing-"

"Sit," Sasuke demanded, sternly pointing at the ground.

I frowned but knew that there was no way I could deny the Uchiha and I collapsed upon the ground in subtle defeat.

Sasuke silently knelt down by my side and lifted aside the sliced up, bloodied sleeve. I winced once when his finger brushed the open gash to determine its depth. When he pulled his finger back out his eyes met mine, and he was much closer this time.

"…It's not that deep," he concluded before pulling off one of the wrappings on his wrist and tightly wrapping it around my arm to stop the bleeding. Kana was still held in my other arm, but he appeared to ignore her as he concentrated on covering the gash.

Once my entire forearm was covered with the cloth off Sasuke's own arm, he took one quick glance at me before he raised his hand.

I looked up at it curiously with blank eyes before I felt a searing pain across my cheek, my head now turned the other way along with Sasuke's hand.

My mouth gaped open.

Did Sasuke just…hit me?

[SORRY FOR THE CRAPPY END TO THE CHAPTER! I'm going to be out all weekend and kinda wanted this out xD So-yeah! It had to be done so fast, but, hey, it's something!
-Ju
P.S …Reviews are always welcome here :D ]