Chapter 27: I Won't Let Go At Any Price

Shikaku surveyed the field in front of him. Satisfied that he had placed his paper bombs in all the necessary locations he started to head back to the rendezvous point at the top of the cliffs towering along the coastline where they could observe all the explosions as they occurred. Inoichi had taken the second set of fields and Chouza was covering all the warehouses.

They had debated on the way in from Konoha as to whether the best way was to eliminate the targets one by one or in a coordinated fashion by carpeting the areas in question with paper bombs then sychronizing their detonation. They had decided to go with the simultaneous approach. The upside was that if they didn't do them this way but rather did them one after the other, they ran the risk the Wave police force and hired security would sacrifice one area to save the other by ignoring the fire and concentrating on preventing any further attacks.

Attacking them all at one time reduced the chance of that occurring. The areas were covered very thoroughly – when the bombs went off there wouldn't be a lot of salvagable area no matter how quickly the security forces arrived – the initial blast alone would take care of the majority of the spaces. The downside of course was that it split his team up even more.

Shikaku had been troubled enough when Yoshino set off from them but he did see the necessity of her carrying out her assignment alone. But to have them all four in separate locations was unnerving – no one had any backup. He would be relieved when this was all over. Of course, once this specific mission was over, they'd all have to go back to Konoha and face whatever fallout occurred.

That topic, the fallout from all this shit, had been the focus of his own silent internal debate on the way here. Well, in all honesty, ever since Jiraiya had confirmed that he was destroying Tsunade's lab he'd been mulling this topic over in his head. He felt like he had a shogi board set up in front of him but the pieces were…wrong…somehow, like there were too many on the board – set up for two and a half players or something. He thought he knew what the rules were but then again…not.

He checked the field once again. Time to go back to the meeting point. He hoped no one else had run into any problems or delays.

Being the first to arrive at the designated location put him even more on edge. His teammates always swore he was the last to arrive and the last to complete a mission. Usually he would have just considered it odd if he were ever the first one to show up at something but tonight…he did not like them all being separated like this. From his high vantage point, he watched the evening activity in the village below, wondering if it would be possible to even determine which of the little specks moving in the moonlight was one of his friends.

Flicker of motion across the way from his location caught his eye. Someone was coming. He waited, trying to see through the darkness who it was. He, she, whoever it was stumbled and caught a tree to maintain their balance. Whoever it was they were hurting. Too slim to be Chouza, not tall enough for Inoichi…shit, Yoshino? He prayed to whatever gods there were that it was someone else, not a member of his team, as he silently slipped over to the person hanging on to the tree for support.

Fuck! It was Yoshino.

"Yoshino," he whispered, rushing over to her, "what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Disoriented, she looked around, trying to locate him by his voice. "Shikaku? Is it you? I'm not hurt, I just…don't feel so well." She turned toward him, momentarily releasing her hold on the tree and promptly pitching forward.

"Yoshino, you look like…," Shikaku reached to catch her, "Shit! You're burning up!"

She gave a weak laugh at his chest. "Are you saying I look like shit, Nara ?" she mumbled against him.

"No! Shit! I mean, dammit, you're feverish. You're burning up. What happened?"

Shaking her head, she mumbled, "Dunno, memory seals, released wrong, or some…thing…feel sick."

"Memory seals? I've never heard of any seal release causing an effect like that. Maybe you might feel weird, but they're not going to cause a physical reaction like a fever. What happened?" And where the hell were Inoichi and Chouza he was wondering.

Yoshino was slumping in his arms, he let her settle to the ground, squatting down beside her. "Got…papers," she whispered patting her bag weakly.

"Yes, but what happened to you? Did you run into anyone? Was there any trouble?"

Faintly she managed to shake her head. "No one…just Tsuyoshi…over and over…"

"What?" She was slipping into delirium now and Shikaku was wondering where the hell the others were so they could get the hell out of this place.

"Tsuyoshi. Over again and again…couldn't stop it couldn't stop thinking about it. Trapped. That's when I got sick."

"Shit!" Shikaku tried to push one of her sleeves up but frustrated with the bunching fabric, he ripped it down from the shoulder seam instead. Nothing. He ripped the second sleeve down to reveal what he feared the most, a three-pronged injection mark on her left shoulder, red and raised it must have happened recently. He ticked back the hours in his head – they'd separated from Yoshino about four hours ago.

Crap. He knew the pathology of this disease, the speed of progression, assuming she'd been infected as soon as she left them, and he had to assume that was the case, she was four hours into it max. Near as he could tell from the timeline he'd pieced together, Asako had been dead from it in about fourteen hours tops. Based on what he saw in the lab, though, vital systems would start shutting down, organs failing, in less time than that.

Sitting back on his heels, he let her rest her head on his knees while he took off his vest and laid it on the ground, then eased her down gently so that her head was resting on it. Patting her face gently, he tried to rouse her. He'd fumbled around in his med-kit and found the aspirin. While certainly not a cure, it was undeniably an anti-inflammatory and anything would help while he tried to sort this out. He tried to get her to swallow them but she was so delirious by now she didn't even understand what he was asking of her. Finally, he slid them between her lip and gumwhere they could at least be absorbed as they dissolved.

What had happened to her? She didn't recall meeting anybody but she kept talking about being trapped in that memory. Was she right in what she'd told him at first – had something gone wrong with the memory seals and their releases? But undeniably the injection site was there. No way that was a psychological effort of memory manipulation jutus. That was as real as the marks on Asako's arm.

But she had kept talking about the Tsuyoshi memories, how she felt trapped in them. PTS? Or maybe…

Another flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye and Shikaku sat still, fighting his natural inclination to look up since he was expecting his teammates back. Maybe the reason Yoshino didn't remember encountering anyone was because she hadn't, at least not in normal-time. If someone had caught her gaze, trapped her with Tsukyomi, while they injected her, forced her to relive a painful memory over and over, then maybe she'd never even be conscious of the most recent physical encounter, her brain overloaded on the Tsukyomi experience.

Shikaku forced himself to keep his eyes down as the intruder approached silently. It was definitely an intruder, Inoichi or Chouza would have headed straight over here, seeing Yoshino down like this.

"Nara Shikaku," a faintly familiar voice said. "I have orders from the Hokage to retrieve the documents Sakamoto Yoshino has stolen and to return them to their proper owners."

Now he could place the voice. It was the same ANBU that had picked up Inoichi and Chouza. The same one who had picked up Yoshino. Mugato Uchiha.

"She has orders to return them to Ko…noha," he had to stop himself from saying Koharu's name. No need to say more than was absolutely necessary.

" Nara , I know what you're doing here tonight and I'm telling you it can lead to war. I have to stop it. You can hand me the pouch with the papers or I can take it."

Shikaku relaxed his posture. He didn't want to actually move yet, didn't want to provoke a reaction from Mugato as long as the guy seemed to want to just talk for the moment. And besides, being tense wasn't exactly the best state of readiness for him.

This was going to be tricky. He'd be fighting at a double disadvantage – he'd have to keep his eyes away from meeting Mugato's to avoid Tsukyomi if possible. And his shadow possession was at its strongest when the difference between the light and the shadow was greatest. In moonlight alone, he could still manipulate them, but the effect would be weaker.

"War?" he asked Mugato. "That's just what you'd like, isn't it?"

" Nara , you sound crazy. Why would I want a war?" stepping closer, Shikaku could see his feet and legs now, dared to lift his gaze up to see what weapons the asshole may already have in his hands.

"Well, it occurs to me," Shikaku drawled, trying to draw this out. Dammit, he needed Inoichi or Chouza up here now! "That you're only interested in the documentation. I don't see you actually trying to do anything to stop the acts that could lead to war."

"If you're talking about your pathetic attempts to destroy the fields and the product…"

Bingo! Shikaku thought. He DOES know about the rest of our mission. Interesting that he referred to it as 'product.' But does he know about the other sites? "No, what I'm talking about is your lack of an attempt to prevent those attacks. It would be pretty convenient for you if the fields are destroyed tonight and Wave security finds Konoha shinobi bodies to blame the attack on. War-inducing indeed – isn't that what you want? Especially if you have safely spirited away the documents you need. Too bad Yoshino didn't get them all…"

"What? Which ones?"

Too easy, Shikaku thought, the man kept giving himself away. "If she didn't get them, what difference does it make? They just won't have to be returned, right?"

Provoked, Mugato lunged toward him, Shikaku saw his feet move, kunai in his hand. Shikaku threw his own weapon then, behind him. It was a flash bomb. The momentary burst of light strengthened his shadow as well as temporarily blinded Mugato. Shikaku caught him with the shadow possession jutsu. Holding him in the shadow bind he managed to get in a swift punch to the gut before Mugato was able to block it.

Mugato doubled over and Shikaku sprang up, delivering a kick under his chin that sent the man sprawling. The flash bomb's effect was fading fast, it only lasted a few seconds. Warily, Shikaku approached, realizing he was triply at a disadvantage – he couldn't out and out kill the guy – he might have an antidote for Yoshino's fever. Crap, shadows weakened, unable to fully use his own eyes and unable to take out the opponent even if an opportunity presented himself.

Shikaku tried to relax in a fighting stance again, trying to plan his next move. To his surprise, Mugato, rather than rising to his feet as soon as he could after the kick, instead rolled over to Yoshino, grabbing both her and the pouch. Kunai in the hand he had wrapped around her chest, under her arms, he struggled to his feet,slinging the pouch over one shoulder with the other hand. "Stay back, Nara , or I'll kill her."

"Fuck, Mugato. Can't you see she's dying already," Shikaku began, starting to take a step toward the pair.

Mugato motioned with the tip of his kunai as Yoshino lolled again him. "Don't even move, not even a fucking finger."

Shikaku froze, trying to think of a plan. For now, all he could come up with was 'stall him.' "Okay, look, explain it to me again. I don't want to start a war. If your way will prevent it, explain it to me again."

In the back of his mind, tickling at the edge of it, her heard a familiar voice…'Shikaku, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into now?'

Inoichi! If Inoichi had ever read his mind uninvited before, he certainly wished, no prayed, that he would do so now. 'Inoichi we need him alive. We can't kill him. Yoshino's been poisoned, infected. Don't kill him he might have an antidote. Don't kill him. Don't kill him.

He hoped Inoichi was getting the idea.

"Look me in the eye, Nara , and I'll explain it to you." Mugato laughed.

"You know, I just can't do that right now. Yoshino may be delirious, but she was saying some whacked out stuff, and I just can't do that right now, you know," he replied.

Mugato took a few steps back near the edge of the cliff, dragging Yoshino along with him. Shikaku winced to hear her moan as he jerked her roughly along with him.

"I'll tell you what, Nara ," Mugato jeered, "I'll let you pick. The mission or the girl."

To Shikaku's horror, Mugato pushed Yoshino over the edge of the clif and turned to run down the cliffside path down to the village below.

Inoichi! Catch him. Don't kill him don't kill him don't kill him. The thoughts raced through his mind directed toward Inoichi as he himself sped to the cliff's edge and leaped over.

The cliffs were over 150m high, although the fall might seem instantaneous, still it took a certain amount of time to cover that distance starting at a free-fall. Approximately five seconds given the standard rate of acceleration. Five seconds to come up with a plan, during which time of course he was in free fall himself.

But that was just it, he couldn't be in free fall or he'd never catch her. He needed a way to overtake her. Launching another flash bomb behind himself to create the strong shadows he needed, he sent one shadow to the ground to pull himself down, providing the additional acceleration beyond the constant of gravity that he would need to descend faster than her. A second shadow he sent caught her, once he was ahead of her in the fall, he began to pull her to him, changing to send chakra through his shadow connected to the ground to now push them back, in effect slowing their rate of descent and hopefully also cushioning the blow when they landed.

The pulling himself to the ground and pulling Yoshino to him through the shadow were new to him. Pushing against the ground was a more familiar feeling – kind of like walking on water. Except that he was much farther above the ground than he had ever been above the water. And the stakes were much greater if he did this wrong and he and Yoshino were slammed into the ground. F=m*fucking_a.

He had Yoshino now and the push against the ground with his chakra felt like having the wind knocked out of him by a good solid blow to the gut, only he kept on feeling it as he tried to slow them as much as possible. He wouldn't be able to do this much longer. But that was okay because the flash bomb only lasted a few seconds and the ground was rushing up to greet them.

With one hand extended behind him to push through the shadow for all he was worth and his other arm wrapped around Yoshino at last, the flash bomb faded out and Shikaku had one last thought before he hit the ground…

Man, this was going to hurt like hell.

Shikaku awoke to Chouza smacking him lightly about the face with one heavy hand. "C'mon Shikaku, wake up. That was freakin' incredible. I saw the whole thing. I didn't know you could do that. "

Shikaku went to wipe his face with one hand but winced as he realized he'd landed on that hand when he'd finally collided with the ground. Blinding stab of pain and he groaned, realizing it was probably broken. He raised his other hand from off of Yoshino and wiped his face, trying to clear his eyes and his thoughts.

"Chouza? Where the hell were you? What happened?" he asked, struggling to sit up.

Chouza gently lifted Yoshino off him and carefully placed her back on the ground at his side. "Oh," he smiled, "had a little trouble with one of those ANBU jackasses who hauled Inoichi and me in that night. He won't be interrupting anybody's weekends anymore. But what in the hell happened to you and Yoshino?"

"Yoshino, she's, she's," he winced in pain as he brought his hurt arm in front of his with his good hand. "Where's Inoichi? Have you seen Inoichi?"

"Here," Inoichi said, coming up the same path Chouza had just travelled, with Mugato shuffling along besides him, obviously struggling against the shintenshin no justu as Inoichi directed his movements. "So what did you need this fucker for?"

Again, Shikaku passed his good hand over his face, and took a deep breath. "Yoshino's been poisoned, infected. We need to know if there's an antidote. We…we don't have time to get her back to Konoha, she won't last that long."

Inoichi nodded, then turned to his charge, "Okay, 'fess up motherfucker, where's the antidote?"

Mugato just sneered, "Make me," he snarled, trying to activate his sharingan but being prevented by Inoichi's control over his body.

"Okay," Inoichi agreed pleasantly.

"Yeah, as if you could…" Mugato started, then stopped, looking at Inoichi in terror.

"Surprise," Inoichi whispered. In the moonlight Shikaku saw Inoichi's eyes go an unnatural shade of red flecked with black whorls.

Mugato's shrieks split the night air, they were nothing short of bloodcurdling.

In a short while, the ANBU-captain collapsed to the ground, blood droplets at each nostril, saliva collecting at the corners of his mouth. Inoichi turned his strange red and black gaze to his teammates. "Yes, there's an antidote. It's back in town, in the tower. I can be there and back in a few minutes."

Shikaku watched in amazement as Inoichi's eyes faded back to their normal blue. "What in the fuck did you do?" he whispered hoarsely.

Inoichi smiled at him, "Long story, I'll fill you in after I'm back with the antidote for Yoshino."

Shikaku nodded weakly. "Okay, but take Chouza with you. I don't want us split up any more tonight than we need to be."

"Huh," Chouza said, "And who'll stay here with you two? You're in no condition to defend yourself if anyone should show up."

"Look, I can keep watch, I can stand, I can still use my one good hand to throw a kunai or a shuriken. And if anybody appears, I can always use kagemane not jutsu to hold them until you get back."

Chouza sighed and looked at Inoichi reluctantly, "Okay, guess I'll tag along with you, blondie. By the way, should we tie this guy up?" he asked, toeing at Mugato who still lay slobbering on the ground. "How long's he going to be out? Will Shikaku need to worry about him?"

"Ummm, he's not coming back," Inoichi said simply.

Chouza whistled, "Inoichi, you are one bad-ass. So it worked, huh?"

"The hell!" Shikaku snapped, "What the fuck are you two up to?"

Inoichi just grinned and shrugged.

Shikaku sighed and settled back down sitting on the ground. "Well, whatever it is, thanks. I owe you. Oh, and Inoichi, remind me not to piss you off."