A/N: Things are about to get dark, or at least that's my attempt. Buckle your seatbelts, kids.

Disclaimer: Each character belongs to their respective creators. Naruto characters and plot belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 24

The Battle Field is no Place for Your Feelings

Darcy's POV

"How many times do I need to tell you to be careful, Kisame?" I grumbled, bandaging up yet another gash, this time on his right arm.

"Heh, the guy's dead, isn't he?" Kisame responded, showing his usual toothy grin. "Ow! Not so tight."

"I wouldn't have to bandage up anything if you would just be careful!"

"Are you almost done? We need to move," Etsu said.

So far, the war seemed to be going in our favor. As soon as we saw people struggling, we would swoop in and save the day. Well, Kisame and Itachi would. Etsu and I always acted as back-up, being medical ninja we tried our best not to put ourselves in too much danger. But I could see it beginning to take a toll on the two men. Not just their injuries, either, though Itachi had managed to stay away from any serious injuries. They wouldn't admit it, but I could tell their chakra was getting low. I wanted to say something, but I wasn't sure the best way to bring it up without hurting their pride.

"We can't fall back until we're ordered to," Etsu said, catching me looking at her. We were running behind the two men, but I wasn't sure if they could hear us or not.

"But maybe just a little rest?" I asked. "All this fighting is taking a toll on them."

"All this fighting is taking a toll on everyone," Etsu said. "Our job is to help where we can."

"But how can we help when we're tired?" I countered.

"That's when we switch it up," Etsu said. "We've been staying out because we're medics, but it's time to switch things up. I hope you're ready."

"As I'll ever be."

That's when we saw a team of three, fighting against a giant crab. As we got closer, I saw the leader was Asuma, flanked by two young looking ninja, one boy and one girl. They were backed into a corner.

"How the hell are gonna fight a crab that big?" Etsu asked.

"I've got this," I said. I hope, I added as an afterthought. I bit my thumb, hands forming the necessary signs quickly. I slammed my hand on the ground. "Summing jutsu!"

A giant, ice white polar bear appeared, three times the size of a normal polar bear. Not quite as big as the crab, but hopefully big enough. He had leather armor covering his back and chest, and leather greaves covering his front and hind legs. He barred his fangs, and looked on at the crab with beady, black eyes. He was the biggest polar bear, and one I had trained with while away with Kisame. His brothers and sisters called him the King, but he wasn't their leader. Just the biggest and the strongest.

"Think we can handle that, Kita*?" I asked.

"When will you stop underestimating me?" He growled, then looked down at me. "You, on the other hand, will only get in my way."

"I'll give you a life time of fish if you quit saying that," I bartered.

"I don't eat fish," he said.

"And what about crab?" I asked.

"I eat seal. But I'll make an exception today. Get on."

"Back me up, guys," I said, jumping on Kita's back. The second I was on his back, he lunged forward, charging past three very surprised ninja. With strong hind legs, Kita catapulted himself up towards the crab. As he reached the height of his jump, I stood. Using my chakra, I lunched myself on top of the crab. Pulling a scroll from one of my pouches, I quickly unrolled it, swiping blood across, and releasing a pair of katanas.

I couldn't find any weakness in the shell, so I ran to the top of the head. I was probably a good hundred feet up, so I had to be careful with how I fought this thing. I skillfully twirled my blades in each hand, spinning them so they lined up with the crabs eyes, and with one smooth movement, I stabbed downwards. I crab flailed, letting out an ear splitting screech, and I nearly fell off. I dropped to my knees, holding onto the shell, trying not to get knocked off.

I'm coming down, Kita, I said through the mental connection I had with the King polar bear. Get ready. I pulled my swords from its eyes, causing the creature to admit another screech. I flipped off, facing the creature. Quickly, faster than I had ever managed to do in training, I tossed my swords into the sky, and quickly performed a series of hand signs. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" A powerful blast of water exploded from my mouth, causing the crab to stumble backward, and fall over. I caught my swords as I fell, and looked down. The ground was rapidly approaching when Kita jumped up, catching me on his back. He landed with a thud on the ground.

"Ready Kita?" He let out a low growl, and I started forming hand signs as the crab got back up, making its way toward us. I finished the hand signs, and placed my hand on Kita's back.

AT the same time, we shouted, "Snow Style: Snow Shuriken Barrage!" A wave of snow shuriken exploded from Kita's mouth. The crab was knocked back, but as soon as the jutsu stopped, regained its balance. It stood there for a moment before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"That was… easy," I said, feeling uneasy. "Kita, do you sense anything nearby?"

"No, it seems the crab is gone," he said, nose in the air sniffing.

"That was impressive, Darcy," Etsu said, coming to stand next to me.

"Thanks," I said, glancing around.

That's when I sensed something not far from where the crab disappeared from. I reached for my swords, ready for whatever came, but Etsu was quicker, throwing a kunai at the incoming knife, knocking it down with a clink.

I looked up past the fallen kunai, seeing about forty men coming at us.

"Get ready," Etsu called.

I jumped onto Kita's back, Kisame and Itachi to my left, and Etsu and Asuma's team to my right.

I pulled out the scroll that had been holding my katanas. I bit my thumb, using the blood to reseal the swords, and replaced the scroll in its pouch.

"Let's do this, Kita," I said, leaning down as he charged to lower the wind resistance. I flipped off when we were right in front of the enemies, kicking and punching, leaving a trail of unconscious men and women as I went. A very small trail compared to the trail of dead bodies left Kisame and Asuma.

From the corner of my eye, I saw one ninja raise a hand to throw a kunai at Asuma's back. Acting on instinct I threw a few senbon, hitting the ninja's throwing arm, causing him to drop his knife. I was about to take him on when I saw another ninja charging at me. He swiped at me with a kunai. I reached across my body, stopping his arm, and reached out to pull his head down, slamming him into my knee. I let his unconscious body fall to the ground, and I turned to help Asuma… just as the ninja I had earlier disarmed pierced through Asuma's knee with a katana.

He let out a grunt, but spun around, kicked his leg up and used the ninja's sword to cut off his head.

The scene left me frozen there. I knew this was war, but that seemed like overkill.

My mind was racing, questioning if I was prepared to make the sacrificing that war demanded of me, when there was a roar behind me, and the thud of a body, followed by the thud of paws. I turned to see Kita towering behind me.

"You need to focus, or you will die."

I shook my head. "Right. I've got an idea." He nodded at my telepathic communication, the type of communication I had with all of my summoned polar bears. "Everyone fall back!" I called, as Kita ran to stand in front of all of them, which I formed hand signs. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Again, water exploded from my mouth. I performed another series of hand signs, placing my hands on Kita's shoulders. "Ice Style: Piercing Icicles!" The blast of water I created solidified, and split into thin, razor sharp, chakra enforced icicles. Most of the ninja standing in front of us were knocked down, those who weren't fled.

"Nice going, Darcy!" Etsu congratulated.

"Thanks," I said, jumping of Kita. I put my hand on his head, and said, "Thank you."

He gave a short growl, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Everything happened faster than I could comprehend as I turned to face everyone. I saw Asuma holding his shoulder, clearly in pain. I knew our orders were to only help fighting, but we were here. I was about to offer help when a large puff – well, cloud more like – appeared behind my fellow shinobi.

Faster than I thought possible, before I could even shout out a warning, the giant crab swung its front leg. Etsu, Itachi, and Kisame managed to dodge – barely. Asuma's injured knee prevented him from being able to jump out of the way. I watched as his two subordinates froze, torn between jumping out of the way and helping him, but the crab's leg was moving too quickly, and in the split second they were trying to make their decision, all three were hit and flung against a nearby cliff.

I watched in horror as all three bodies fell, blood from their faces splattered on the side of the cliff.

"Darcy we need move!" I heard Etsu call, but I couldn't make my legs move, I couldn't make my mind focus on anything but the smear of blood on rock.

"Come on, kid," I heard Kisame say, and the next thing I knew I was being flung over a shoulder.

I woke up on the ground, but I didn't want to open my eyes. If I kept them closed, I could pretend that what I had just seen wasn't real.

All too soon, someone was shaking my shoulder. I tried to ignore it, but they persisted. I shrugged their hand off and sat up.

When I opened my eyes, I saw we were in a clearing by a river.

Etsu gave me a small smile.

"How are you?"

"Tired."

"There wasn't anything you could have done," she said.

"If that crab hadn't shown up again, everything would have been fine," I said.

"Exactly, you can't blame yourself for this," Etsu said.

"I'm not blaming myself. I'm just… shocked."

"People die in war kid." I looked up to see Kisame leaning against a nearby tree. Itachi sat on the ground next to him. "You can't let it get to you. Certainly not in the middle of a battle."

"I just… felt so helpless," I said. "I know it's not my fault, but to just… watch someone – someone I know, sort of – just… die… I'm a medic and I watched someone die… We just left them there… dead…"

"The first mission I ever led as a Chunin… I failed miserably," Etsu said. "I made a mistake, and sent a subordinate in the wrong direction, causing her to die. She was nine. I've had to live with that my whole life. It took me years to accept this, but we're ninja. We are faced with the death of comrades every day, and we can't let that slow us down. It sounds cold, it probably is cold, but if we can't move past these deaths, more people will die."

I looked up at Etsu, and then down at the ground.

"Look, we need to keep moving," Etsu said. "I can contact Shikaku and say you need to be moved to the medical tents, if you want."

No. I didn't want that. I told Gaara I would be fine, so that's what I had to be. I shook my head. "Let me get some water, and I'll be ready to go."

Etsu nodded.

I walked to the river, and knelt. I cupped water in my hands and splashed my face. Cupping my hands again and slurped.

I wasn't anywhere near ready for this war, but I had to be. I closed my eyes. Any part of my mind that doubted I could handle what was to come, I blocked off, locking it in a box deep within my mind. I would probably come to regret this decision, but I couldn't worry about that. All I could worry about was the task at hand.

I returned to my team. "I'm ready, let's go."

We jumped into the trees, looking for the next group that needed our help.

A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed!

*Kita means north in Japanese.