Chapter 2: On a Boat
It took them two days of non-stop travelling to arrive at Kaikou, a port town on the east coast of Fire Country. Every civilian they had seen seemed to be following the guidelines Sakura had sent out, wearing white clinical masks. Sakura had put hers on while Kakashi was always ready for such a situation.
"I have a new theory for your mask," said Sakura conversationally to him.
He glanced to her, surprised she was talking to him after forty-eight hours of uncomfortable silence. "Hm?"
She did feel bad for being so rude to him in Tsunade's office, especially since he had arrived at the village gates dead on three o'clock. She should not have let her feelings of Kakashi stealing her thunder interfere with this mission, nor her residual abandonment issues. If Kakashi hadn't dropped her without so much as a 'Good luck, kid', she might never have become Tsunade's apprentice and unlocked her true potential in chakra control.
The only thing that she really took exception to was that while he was ignoring her in the street, he was still acting overprotective of her. If not for Tsunade's drunk rambling about his interference a year ago when she requested to join ANBU, she would have assumed he had forgotten she even existed.
The one thing she anchored herself to after the war had been her identity as one of the most powerful kunoichi in the continent who did not need her teammates for back-up. It made the nights easier when she would dream of what could have been and yet never was. When she and Sasuke had fallen out, ANBU had seemed like a good idea. It was something to take her mind off the last Uchiha and keep her out of the village.
She had been wrong. Kakashi had been right. And that had pissed her off more than anything else. He hadn't believed in her, and he had been spot on.
Sakura wasn't even meant to know that he was the only one that had opposed her promotion. The voting was supposed to be anonymous among the current ANBU captains and elite jounin and even the blabbermouth Tsunade did not recall telling Sakura the results. They had both been incredibly drunk, commiserating Sakura's utter fail of her first and only ANBU mission.
"That brat Kakashi was right the whole time. He was your teacher for what... six months? You've been my apprentice for five years and I pushed you into doing something you weren't ready for. Damn geniuses... genii... Fucking know-it-alls. "
Despite the inebriation, Sakura remembered. That night she had gone home and sobbed, covering her sofa cushion with tears, saliva and mucus. Not for her failed mission but for succeeding in meeting Kakashi's low expectations of her. She had felt too embarrassed to confront him and that was when she decided to treat him like-for-like.
However, this was going to be a long mission and they needed to get over this awkwardness. She had to move on to show him she could succeed when it mattered. She had grown beyond the insecurities that had plagued her as a child.
"You're mysophobic." At his blank stare, she clarified, "You're a germaphobe. It explains everything: your refusal to show your face and you skipping out on your hospital check-ups."
"You've got me," he admitted flatly. "It's also why I hate children and bio-yogurt."
"Yogurt?" she questioned.
"The bacteria."
"Ah," Sakura grinned. "I've finally cracked the case. I guess Naruto's theory of you being horrifically ugly is totally untrue then?"
Kakashi chuckled. "Absolutely. I am a gorgeous specimen of a man."
Even with the resentment she felt for this man who had not believed in her and been proved right, she found herself grinning at his lack of modesty. He did have that effect on people. While Kakashi and Sasuke both had that 'loner' personality, Kakashi still managed to come off charismatic while Sasuke rivalled Sai with his inability to take part in friendly banter.
"Why don't you show me?" she teased. The masked ninja rubbed his jaw; even covered with black cotton, his former student could see it was made of sharp angles to complement his chiselled cheekbones. She imagined there would be a slight tan line but it must not have detracted from the beautiful visage he was bound to have if the number of swooning women were anything to go by.
"With all these germs around? No thank you."
She was grateful for the joke to come to an end. If she spent much longer staring at his face, she might have reached over and yanked the mask down without permission. It wasn't healthy to fantasize how soft your former sensei's skin might be.
If Kakashi was afraid of germs, she would certainly understand that sentiment here. The town seemed to have a thin layer of filth spread across everything. It was a stark contrast to the pristine condition of their Hidden Village. Of course, it often was the civilians that took the longest to rebuild after world-changing events. Poor Tenzou was used extensively to the point of abuse whenever Konoha needed his 'skills'.
The sun was setting on the horizon and the numerous ships docked cast long shadows along the rows of rowdy taverns and seedy brothels that had managed to survive the political unrest. After the threat of almost dying, there was nothing like alcohol to dull the senses and a warm body to work off the adrenaline. It was why there had been a baby boom nine months after Madara had been defeated.
With the amount of people walking around in masks, it was ironic that some obviously had no qualms exchanging bodily fluids in the pursuit of a good time.
Now they had reached the port, the effect of running straight for two days finally took hold of her as she leant against a brick wall. The pungent stink of dried urine assaulted her senses even through her mask and she immediately pushed away in disgust. She considered asking Kakashi which tavern he thought looked the least sordid for booking rooms but they could sleep on whichever ship they took to the island.
It would have been much faster to travel on foot over the sea but if the waves grew too strong, they could become stranded. It would also be a little hard to keep their identities as ninja under wraps should one of the island's many patrol ships – used to ensure the strict fishing regulations were being adhered to – come across a man and woman walking on water.
They had left Konoha already dressed in 'civilian clothes' but they hadn't put much effort into it, just removing their hitai-ate, bandages and flak jackets. Kakashi had managed to brush his hair over his left eye to hide the scar; the fact that Kakashi could tame his hair (somewhat) was a bit of a revelation to Sakura, who had assumed he hadn't touched a brush for years. She had also swapped her usual combination of beige skirt and black shorts for her 'everyday' black skirt.
After checking with crew of the ships, they were surprised to find almost every ship was going to the island Shima, their very destination. Most were carrying people at reasonable fares but spaces were limited.
One crew member elaborated the reason. "Apparently, they haven't had any cases of this flu going round. Some people told me they're working on a cure or a vaccine or something. Sounds like crap to me but gives us plenty of cash to just ferry people over."
If they weren't already convinced something or someone on this island was an integral part of the bio weapon plot, these rumours might as well have been a huge red arrow pointing in Shima's direction.
They had more than enough money in their mission budget to cover the cost of passage to Shima. That did not stop Kakashi insisting that they sneak their way onto a ship. The fake identification papers they carried were good as back-ups, but he did not want anyone to scrutinize them too carefully. She did not bother protesting; keeping under budget was fine with her and as mission leader, she was able to decide which would be their transport.
Naturally, she picked the most expensive looking ship. Their crew was dressed in matching forest green uniforms with white gloves and shiny black boots and the passengers had the porters carry large rucksacks and suitcases aboard the ship. A few even had heavy trunks of their personal items.
They slipped into their old Team Kakashi dynamic easier than Sakura would have thought, forming the three seals without any need to consult the other.
Dog. Bear. Ram.
7 o'clock.
They were behind schedule and in the waning sunlight, Torao was finding it difficult to consult his chart of very important things to do. He squinted at his own messy scrawl as he tried to interpret what the next item on his agenda was. Was that 'buns' or 'bins'? Meanwhile, one of the other porters approached him.
"Mr Rekkusu, Lord Aruji is requesting help with his luggage."
Torao did not look up from his clipboard. "Didn't I send Souta to take care of that?"
"Yes, sir. Souta is already carrying one trunk but he has another one that he needs on the ship."
At that, Torao did look up. "Another one? The rules were two items each. We don't have space for any more of his luggage. Let me guess... He told you he has an 'agreement' with the Captain?" At the nervous porter's nod, he sighed and looked around, wondering if they could spare anyone when they were already running late. Every man was already lugging other travellers' baggage or loading supplies onto the ship. Every man except the tall dark-haired man and the shorter blonde man beside him walking quickly towards the ship.
"Hey!" he called out. The blond whirled around, green eyes anxious. His taller friend seemed to try to drag him away but Torao managed to catch up to them as they deliberated. He looked them up and down; their uniforms were immaculate but they did not yet have name badges. New guys, he guessed. "What are you two doing?"
"Boarding the ship," the older man replied authoritatively. He certainly didn't sound like a fresh recruit. Even he, as one of the most senior members of staff on board, felt the need to call him 'sir'. He would happily put him in his place.
"That's 'boarding the ship, sir'. What are your names?" he questioned, his pen ready to scrawl their names in red ink so he would remember to make their first voyage as difficult as possible.
"Shikamaru and Chouji," the dark-haired man gestured to himself then his timid companion who proceeded to give him an evil glare. Not so timid, apparently. Shikamaru seemed to add as an afterthought: "Sir."
If he wasn't so behind schedule, he might have launched into a long lecture regarding the proper manner in which to talk to superiors on a luxury liner such as Emerald Princess and that failing to follow these simple rules would have resulted in strict punishments including but not limited to cleaning toilets. And did he mention that some toilets had a tendency to get blocked?
As it was, he just pointed over to Lord Aruji standing impatiently next to a trunk large enough to contain a horse. Dealing with the snobbish aristocrat was punishment enough.
"Well, boys, take that to Lord Aruji's quarters. And then head to the kitchens and help them gut the fish." Strictly, only the kitchen staff dealt with food preparation and porters would sometimes help with the dishwashing. They didn't need to know that.
He swore he saw a flash of relief in Chouji's eye before they marched over to the lord's luggage. He was shocked to see the short man lift the huge leather trunk with ease on his own. Shikamaru instead took Lord Aruji's smaller suitcase and nodded pleasantly when the nobleman threatened to sue them if anything was damaged in transit.
In his astonishment, he failed to notice that the nib of the pen he held to the clipboard had leaked red ink over the page, ruining his vitally important to do list.
After her long, hot shower and wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe, Sakura was ever so pleased with her choice of transportation. While still under their transformation jutsu, Sakura had managed to obtain a list of unoccupied rooms that did not require bed linen. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of cabins and no suites. None of them were close enough for them to have separate rooms but she'd shared a two-person tent with Kakashi as a genin. She'd also shared a double bed with Naruto, though she'd threatened him with the loss of whatever body part touched her in the night and he had wisely heeded her words. With Kakashi's reputation in the village (that he wasn't interested in you unless you had Icha Icha printed on your body), she didn't even feel the need to warn him.
Her point was proven as she spotted him sitting on the edge of the bed with his nose in his dirty book. She jumped onto the queen-sized bed, hugging a soft feather-filled pillow to her body. She had never stayed in such a fancy room and that they had snuck on made it that much sweeter. She had always been an inner bad girl.
Evidently put off by Sakura's bouncing and happy sighing as she rubbed against the pillow, Kakashi left the book on the bedside table and went into the bathroom.
She glanced at the book, wondering what it held to captivate a man such as Kakashi who was in all aspects other than punctuality and hospital manner, a perfect ninja. He held no real emotional ties, had experience, was fast, intelligent and well-respected and possessed one of the most desirable bloodline limits.
Of course she had read Icha Icha. She'd read one of Naruto's copies – not that he'd known that she'd taken it – and it hadn't been that enlightening. There were a lot of crude jokes, a lot of fighting and a lot more sex but it hadn't really appealed to her. Admittedly, she'd only had one sexual partner and he hadn't exactly been the sex god Jiraiya's main character was purported to be but she could never imagine launching herself at a mysterious man as soon as she saw him in the way every kunoichi in Icha Icha seemed to do.
There was also the fact that every one of the female characters was described by their ample bosom first, which made Sakura and her very average chest feel inferior. Thankfully, as a medic-nin, she'd seen her fair share of breasts and while there were Anko's, Hinata's and Tsunade's, there were also Tenten's, Shizune's and Hana's. With big boobs came back pain and too-small jounin flak jackets; with small boobs came perkiness and the ability to fill out a larger bra with those rubber things Ino had brought back from Iwa on one of her 'diplomatic visits'.
She had actually arranged to see her pen-pal but returned home disappointed when the pictures he sent her turned out to be about fifteen years out of date. She'd teased the pig mercilessly about exchanging dirty letters with an old man for weeks on end and still liked to bring it up when Ino got too annoying.
Kakashi emerged from the bathroom, already wearing his pants and sleeveless vest with his trademark mask. His hair was comically wrapped up in a towel to stop it dripping onto his black shirt. At first, she was staring at his quasi-turban while stifling giggles but stopped when they made eye contact.
Both his eyes were open, and both were a dark shade of brown.
In a move that rivalled the kunoichi in the Icha Icha novels, Sakura launched herself at Kakashi and pulled on his neck to bring him down to her eye level.
They weren't exactly the same colour – Kakashi's own eye was a warmer coffee hue whereas the other iris was darker, almost black. At Sakura's attack, the other eye bled into red and the three tomoe slowly span around the pupil. It was a sight that would turn most men to quivering wrecks but Sakura was fascinated.
"H-how?" she stuttered, watching with rapt attention as Kakashi blinked and the taupe colour returned.
"I was having trouble with my vision and chakra stores last year, so I sought help," he explained. "After a couple of months, I managed to control it. The sight is still poor though and sometimes I get double vision, which is why I keep it shut."
"I can't believe I didn't know!" she exclaimed, letting her chakra into his optical nerve without asking. The Sharingan activated again and she explored the damage along his chakra pathways. Unfortunately the nature of chakra burns was that the scars could not be healed completely; the eye itself saw fine but the message passed to the brain was distorted by the damaged tissue. "You didn't even come into the hospital to show me? Why didn't you come see me?"
"Ow," said Kakashi, blinking away tears when Sakura's chakra touched a particularly sensitive nerve. "I thought Sasuke would have told you he was helping me."
Sakura's hands dropped from his face and her chakra dissipated, along with any trace of excitement at this new revelation.
He had never approached Sakura asking for help, yet he had approached his obviously favoured student. She was the medically trained student and he hadn't even told her he had been having issues. Begrudgingly she recognised it probably made more sense to talk to the person who had experience in the bloodline limit.
"It still would have nice for you to come see me anyway," she muttered as she returned to the double bed. He either did not hear her or pretended not to; he picked up his favourite reading material and sat on the other side of the bed. The rest of the night was silent where she pretended to fall asleep quickly but did not actually drift off until Kakashi had turned off the light.
All her nightmares seemed to merge as one that night. She dreamt she was on a hospital rooftop, standing over the terrified boy with the slashed out hitai-ate on his forehead.
"Do it, Bird," someone with a tiger mask called and chakra enveloped her fist... But the scene changed and she was standing over Naruto in the Forest of Death, aware that with the poisoned sword in her abdomen she had only moments to live yet she had to save him. Then the blade was gone and she held Naruto's heart – no, it was hers – in her hand, trying to pump it manually. Sasuke stood in front of her, his arm through her chest and the song of a thousand birds in the air.
"You won't need this," Kakashi insisted with his trademark eye crease as he took the organ out of her hands.
She tried to protest but no words came out, her blood pressure plummeting and her eyelids growing heavy. Sasuke laid her on a wooden bench under the full moon in a careful movement that was at odds with the gaping hole in her chest. The male members of Team Kakashi stared at her, emotionless.
"Thank you," they chorused before the darkness overtook her.
A/N: Did you guys see my cameo? Teehee.
So guys, how was your week? My cat had kittens. My other cat had kittens five weeks ago. I'm in kitty heaven/hell. I haven't decided which yet ('cause fluffy balls of fluff=heaven and poop&crying=hell). I might now have ten cats in my house but I'm not a crazy cat lady, honest.
I really appreciate each and every review – it's really useful for me to see how people are finding the pacing and length of chapters – so please drop me some feedback. Or we could talk about kittens, whatever.
Next chapter: Alcohol is never the solution