So funthing: I tried to update this story so that it would post as having been updated 6 of December, 2011 to officially mark a year that this story has been in progress. But that didn't work out because no one wanted to talk to me for most of yesterday and today, so here I am at about 1:30 my time posting chapter 22. But yes, this story has now been in the works for over a year now. I want to also give you a little snippet from something I said last year too: "Yeah, it's a problem, and it's not even finished yet." How true, oh how true. We're getting kind of close to the end but nothing really, really close to the end.

Now, this chapter jumps quite a bit between people and places so please forgive me for that. I wanted to achieve a very specific progression of events in your minds, and huge POV chunks that I normally do just weren't cutting it. So these smaller POV chunks are what I settled on. Now for your funfacts!

Funfact: Letters took a long time to get places back in the day, they just did. I'm trying to hammer this home for a future plotpointhing. It matters, trust me.

Funfact: The Meireki Fire burned for three days, the first day it blew one way because of the winds. The second day the winds shifted and it blew the other way. The third day the winds started to die down and so did the fires but not before burning a bunch more of the city. It took a week for the smoke to clear enough for priests and people helping them to be able to sift through the wreckage for bodies which were then buried in a mass grave near the Sumida river. Really, really horrific stuff.

Funfact: The shogun's castle would have burned as well, but he was the shogun and that kind of stuff just doesn't happen to him. But since everyone's efforts were directed towards saving his housepalacething, the surrounding homes of his retainers and and high ranking samurai kind of got met a fiery end. So yeah. Good to be (basically) king, not good to be almost (basically) king. Remember that.

Funfact: You actually did have to have papers identifying who you were to be able to travel in Edo-period Japan. They were specific to your journey, usually, so I am fudging this a little bit. (Jedi-mind-control-no-jutsu!)

Funfact: Dejima or Deshima or Desjima, depending on how you prefer to spell it, was the formerly-Portuguese-permanently-Dutch trading outpost/island in the Nagasaki harbor. It was here that the Dutch and the Chinese would trade with Japan, since Japan had said GTFO MAI SANDBAR to basically everyone else (To the Portuguese and Spanish because of that whole Catholic thing they wanted to export to Japan, and the English because of reasons).

Funfact: This is in my opinion apocryphal because I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but the shogunate back in the day (as in before Samurai is set) heard some interesting news about the Spanish. This Spanish captain was standing off to the side with a Japanese official as the cargo was offloaded, some of that cargo being a bunch of Jesuits and their crap, and he offhandedly remarked that the Jesuits would ruin the peace in Japan, start wars, and enslave everyone if they were given half a chance. Once this was translated for the official he kind of was like "...Huh." And promptly told the shogun who was not into any of those ideas.

Funfact: I'm jedi-mind-controlling with fudging events, specifically an event which happened in the summer of 1600 and that is literally all I am telling you at the moment else I spoil the surprise. I'm well aware that I am going to be mashing the event and the story, which are nearly 60 years apart, into the same space.

Funotherstuff: Sai be creepin'.

Without further ado,

Enjoy!

When Kakashi woke the morning he was supposed to leave, he didn't immediately get up. Instead he wrapped his arms around Sakura and held her close while she slept. The day before he had begged Sarutobi-sama to send another samurai looking for Iruka, even admitting Sakura's condition to sway the man's opinion. All he'd gotten for his trouble was a small congratulations as well as the assurance that his family would be cared for in his hopefully short absence. He knew he was the best suited for the search, but Kakashi was having a hard time telling himself that this morning.

"Kakashi?" Sakura was just starting to wake, burrowing a little closer to him under the covers.

"Yes?"

"Will you write to us when you get to Edo?" he smiled and nosed through her hair to kiss the back of her neck.

"Of course—will you write to me?" she hummed agreement as she took his hand and pressed it low on her belly. Of course she would write to him as soon as she was sure of her pregnancy. Kakashi wondered how her body would have changed by the time he came home—on one hand he hoped it changed dramatically, and on the other he hoped that Sakura didn't change all that much. The first one was a sure sign that they would soon be parents, while the second one meant that he hadn't missed anything.

"I will try to return as soon as I can," he murmured, resting his cheek against her shoulder blade. The cover of darkness didn't hide the hitch in her breath as she tried not to cry.

Later on in the morning he got ready to leave. He had packed last night, and today strapped his travelling bag to Sarutobi-sama's horse. Sakura stood petting the animal, keeping it calm as well as creating a reason to be near him. Her hair nearly glowed in the weak sunlight, a beautiful otherworldly pink. Kakashi double checked that he had the money given to him for the journey as he stepped over to Sakura. He took her hands and kissed them both.

"It will be at least a week before any letter reaches you, I am going to send them enclosed in my letters to Sarutobi-sama, and maybe another week before your reply reaches me. I asked your father to visit as soon as he could, so that you won't be alone," he let go of one of her hands to brush his knuckles along her cheek.

"I love you, Sakura."

She only nodded, unable to speak because she was fighting against crying. He kissed her hands once again before stepping back from her and taking the reins of the horse to lead it out to the road. He mounted and gently urged the beast into a canter towards town. From there he would take the South East Road almost straight to Edo, a two or three day ride from Fujimi.

The fire had started earlier in the day, and it was easy to see the smoke rising above the city as the high winds swept it over the rooftops. It moved ravenously fast, according to Nobu who had sent his household servants to aid in fighting the fire. It was because of their absence that Nobu and his family were dining with Shisui and Rin—there weren't any prying eyes or wagging tongues about, so it was safe to eat in the regular dining room. The smell of smoke diminished everyone's appetites as it had gotten stronger throughout the day, and everyone picked at the evening meal rather than actually eating it. By nightfall it was hard to see the bright red glow of the fire because of all the smoke being blown across the city.

Shisui prayed that the fire would be controlled or satisfied soon. But the steam of people who were fleeing the fire said otherwise, and he told Rin to pack a bag for the two of them as he went out to the stable to ready horses for both them and for Nobu and his family—just a precaution, he said, for if the fire started towards them. They went to sleep uneasily that night, and woke to find that even their room—as deep in the house as it was—had been clogged with smoke. Shisui almost panicked, thinking that the house was on fire, but Rin calmed him down by taking him to the front gate to see the streets similarly choked.

"Can we go? Please, Shisui, let's go before the fire gets worse," her words were muffled by the damp cloth she held over her face. Shisui shook his head while he coughed.

"No, we'll stay a little longer," he said as he led her back inside to wait with Nobu.

Kakashi was incredibly sore by the time he arrived in Edo—it had been years since he'd travelled by horseback, and his body was unused to the strange gait of a horse coupled with the long hours he'd kept on the road. As he'd gotten closer to the city it had been more and more difficult to find a bed in a ryokan, and the night previous he had ended up sleeping out in the open curled up to the horse's flank for warmth. The wind had started howling, and those he briefly conversed with on the road had said that the fire in Edo had been stoked and fueled by the winds—the winds had briefly died down enough for the fires to die themselves, but had quickly started blowing again. The only luck had been that those left alive had been able to fully quench the fires, and so the fires had stayed dead.

The people he spoke with who had escaped the city were haunted by their recollections of the destruction. He felt bile rise in his throat more than once at the thought that Iruka might not be alive when he reached the capitol. The homes of the shogun's retainers and many samurai had been utterly demolished, even the castle had been damaged somewhat.

He had known he was close to Edo simply because of the distance he had travelled over the day, but it was the haze of smoke still hanging over the valley of the city that tipped him off as to how close he really was. The smell of charred fat and incinerated hair, however, didn't reach him until he had descended into the desolate outskirts of the city. Peasants picked through the burnt remains of their homes, and women wailed in mourning over lost husbands, mothers, fathers, and children.

Staying in a ryokan was out of the question, he could tell immediately. Even if one had survived the fire, it would be full of refugees. Kakashi stopped briefly to ask directions to perhaps part of the city which wasn't quite so…destroyed. From the hills he'd topped at around midday it almost looked like the entire city had burned, but far off he could make out some parts that weren't leveled, just singed. He got directions through the city, and counted his coins quietly as he decided he would ask to stay with a family who had perhaps had their home survive the fire.

It was late in the day when he encountered a slightly burned-out house where people were still living. The woman was just coming back from the river, carrying fresh water so she could wash the ash out of her family's clothing, and the husband was on the roof rearranging the thatching so that it covered the livable portion of the home better. They'd exchanged long looks between them at his request, shifting a little on their feet.

Rin woke up coughing, and that was what tipped her off that the house was on fire—no matter how thick the smoke had gotten the day before or even overnight, she hadn't started coughing as incontrollably as she was now. Turning over she shook her husband's shoulder to wake up while reaching for the small cloth she'd been using to cover her mouth. They'd gone to bed having been assured by Nobu that an official had assured him that the fire was moving north once again, that the house was not in danger. They'd all had confidence that that was the case throughout most of the day, but here they were, just after bed with the house on fire.

"We have to wake Nobu," Shisui said tersely as he picked up the bundle she had packed for them, "you go make sure they're awake, I will get the horses. Meet me outside as soon as you think that they're awake, we can't wait."

"Shisui, the house—" Nobu yelled as he ran down the hallway towards their room.

"We know, I'm getting the horses!" Rin took the bundle out of Shisui's arms, knowing there was no need to see that Nobu knew about the house. Shisui was quickly dressing and she noted that for the first time since they'd gone into hiding, Shisui had strapped his swords to himself, preparing for the worst.

"You can use this to get out of the city, here take these," Nobu thrust a packet towards Shisui. It was hastily wrapped in thick cloth, Rin noted as Shisui briefly looked at it before passing it to her as the three of them hurried towards the stables where Nobu's eldest son was getting the mounts out as quickly as he could.

"What are these?" Shisui seemed not to care, but she needed to know—she wasn't taking anything with her that wasn't going to be useful.

"They're my traveling documents—the house isn't going to be saved, there's no one to save it at this point. I can say that they burned up in the fire, but for now no one knows that I'm going to say that—you can use them to get out of the city and through the country safely. You could go south, to Dejima and escape—you won't have to hide if you go to live among the foreigners. Please, this is the only chance I can give you," he said as they steadied the horses. Shisui pulled himself up onto his horse and then he and Nobu helped Rin up as well.

Once they were properly mounted, Shisui reached an arm down and around Rin towards his friend. They clasped one another's elbows fiercely for a moment before letting go.

"Thank you, for all that you've done, Nobu. For being our friend in our time of need—I know I can't sway your faith, but I believe that you will be rewarded for your goodness." And with that Rin had to cling to Shisui as he spurred the horse down the lane of houses. The air was thick with smoke as they went, and she coughed even with the cloth over her mouth. Shisui had the lower part of his face pressed into her hair to minimize how much smoke they inhaled.

The world was black with ash and soot as they fled for the northern edge of the city.

Finally with a lot of hemming and hawing the couple agreed to let Kakashi stay with them for a few coins a night. They were jittery, but showed him around the still habitable part of their home, cautioning him against exploring the parts which had been damaged by the fire. The small loft on the second story was his to keep for the time being, and they left him to get settled. He decided, as he rubbed the horse down and tied it out front, that it was too late in the day to start looking for Iruka. Besides he was coughing terribly from the smoky air. According to Inoue-san, the head of the family, the smoke had only started to lift a few days ago. Before the streets had been literally soaked with it, and going outside without something to cover one's mouth was akin to suicide.

As he was going back inside, he heard a cough from the nearly collapsed back half of the house. Inoue-san had said his three sons were out for the day looking for their friends as well as helping the priests move the dead to the mass grave which was being rapidly filled with bodies. There should have been no one inside. He therefore stepped lightly towards where he'd heard the sound. A tiny shuffle and a better muffled hack could be heard and Kakashi took slow, silent breaths as he stealthily crossed the house.

If it was a robber, he was certainly going to give them the beating of their life—trying to steal from people who barely had a home left. He halfway hoped that the couple were hiding someone he knew—Shisui's face, as well as Rin's flashed across his mind as he reached towards a few leaning boards and threw them aside. His hands shot forward into the dark and seized onto an arm, and a young man's yell followed before he dragged the person into the light against their every struggle.

And he promptly let go in shock as the light fell on his captive. His tall, yellow haired captive.

"Go-men, go-men!" the man said quickly as he waved his hands in the air, his words terribly familiar yet terribly strange to Kakashi's ears. The syllables were the same, but were mashed together completely wrong. He started speaking but what came off his tongue was foreign, unintelligible save for a few understandable words here and there. The loud crash of the boards as well as the young man's raised voice brought Inoue-san and his wife into the house towards them. Kakashi could only stare dumbly at this foreigner, who was obviously meant to remain unfound and hidden.

Once Inoue-san and his wife found them, he stopped talking and they remained silent for a long moment before Inoue-san cleared his throat awkwardly.

"He escaped from the shogun's jail as it burned—they let all the prisoners out rather than let them burn to death. He was half-dead already from the smoke when Kanna found him. I've tried to tell him that they'll find him eventually, he can't hide forever, so I understand if you have to turn him in although I'm not sure that he will." Kakashi thought of Sakura, and of the terrible scare they'd had in the fall because of her hair and her heritage. This man was not much different.

"I see nothing wrong with sheltering a spirit to watch over your house in these dark times," he said finally as his hosts shifted from foot to foot and their yellow-haired guest fidgeted in much grander terms. Inoue-san and Kanna-san let out their breaths in relief, understanding somehow what he meant. The foreigner looked curiously between them with wide blue eyes, and Kakashi's mouth ticked upward in a smile as he was reminded of Sakura's grass green ones. He had a duty to protect this man, just as he had a duty to Sakura. Besides, passing a foreigner off as a demon had worked once, right?

He offered to go to town once more for them, as well as to pick up a bolt of cloth for Sakura who was set on making him a properly fitting kimono rather than castoffs from Tenzou who was quite a bit taller and broader than himself. He was rather narrowly built, and of average height—he was ideal for his line of work, being small and easily forgettable. He was also under orders to look for any letters from Sakura's father.

Hatake didn't trust him any farther than he could throw him, and he admired the man's patience with that feeling. That distrust, however, meant that the grumpy samurai had written to ask for back-up during his absence. This would have been annoying under normal circumstances, but the expected letter gave him an excellent excuse to pick up letters for the Hatake homestead and, as he had hoped, a letter from his master was awaiting him there.

While in town he smiled to those he encountered and answered their cautious questions about the Hatake family. Yes, Hatake-sama had been sent to Edo in search of Sarutobi-sama's son. No, the planting wasn't started yet but Sarutobi-sama's nephew was planning on coming to town soon to hire help. Yes, Asuma-sama's wife was in good health. He answered jovially to all comers, because he was the addled guest of the rather strange, white haired samurai and his demon wife. The question that gave him genuine pleasure to answer, however, was the one asking after the finely embroidered clothes he wore. He'd been found with no money, no papers—there was no way these were his clothes, which generated a lot of curiosity. He'd worn these specifically to generate interest, to maybe bring Sakura a little bit of work to help with filling the family's coffers.

"Oh, Sakura-san patched this together from one of the servant's old things. She did the embroidery herself, within just a few days she had this finished for me." Their eyes would widen as they quietly asked if they could inspect his sleeve, or for him to slowly turn about so they could get a better look. He nearly grinned at their hushed awe of Sakura's work—for she was truly gifted, and he knew he would miss her beautiful stitches once he returned to his master in Edo.

With the instructions of not a few women to pass on the word that they would visit the demon woman with shichi-go-san kimono commissions for their children, he cheerfully bid his goodbyes to the various villagers of Fujimi and turned his steps back towards the Hatake farm. The letter from his master was tucked carefully into his kimono. As soon as he was far enough from the town to not be bothered by passerby he took it out and unfolded it. His master's powerful, lyrical voice sounded in his head as he quickly read over the letter.

My dear son,

It was gratifying to hear that you are well and are being cared for. I feared the worst after your long absence as well as the long wait between your letters. I hope the goods are in fair enough condition to travel well, as I will be transporting them as quickly as I can rather than a drawn-out carriage ride.

I trust you have heard of the terrible fire here in Edo, and that you will understand why I will probably not make my way northwards for at least a few weeks here. My duties here are of greater care to me than the safe arrival of my property. My mind rests easy knowing that you are caring for them in my absence, and that you would sooner die than see them come to harm.

Should their maker arrive in Fujimi and demand their return, however, I hope you will set him to rights that his claim to them has long been forsaken. He was, after-all, the one who put them up for sale when he sent them to Fujimi.

I look for your next letter eagerly, and I hope that you also look for mine with such emotion.

Your father

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