CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THE ACCIDENT

It had been three days since their impromptu shopping trip. For those who had to wake up early for work that Tuesday morning, it was slow and tiring. While Sakura, Hana, Nagato, Itachi, and Sasuke were still sleeping in, the others were moving sluggishly around the house getting ready for the day. Kim did not have to be at work that day but still had to wake up early to run the shop while Ren was away.

Sasuke was yelling at Naruto to stop making so much noise when the blond hit his head on the bed above him. Nagato and Itachi were having the same problem with Deidara and Kakashi. Deidara was only making so much noise to bother Itachi. Kakashi was doing it for reasons unknown to them, but he was really enjoying it on the inside. Naruto probably was rubbing off on him, or maybe he was just a sadist; there was a chance that it could be both.

The girls were having little to no problems. The only problem they had run in to that morning was who got to use the bathroom first, though that problem was easily resolved when Kim had told them that they could use hers as well. Sakura had slept through all the noise, after years of camping with Naruto and enduring his loud snoring and sleep talking, she was pretty much used to all the noise. Kim was sitting at the kitchen bar trying to keep herself from falling asleep in her cup of morning tea.

"Kim," Jade shouted in said girl's ear, a musical lilt to her voice. The ebony haired girl jumped in surprise.

"Go to hell," Kim growled around a limb-stretching yawn. She sent a glare at the dirty blonde before resting her head down on the countertop.

"Well aren't you the a ray of sunshine this morning," Kakashi commented from where he was sitting on the kitchen counter beside refrigerator, working his way through a plate of sunny-side up eggs and toast curtesy of the resident Hyuga. Kim shot a glare at him, which he returned with one of his signature crinkled eye smiles.

"Does anyone want extra bacon," Hinata asked as she held up a plate. Kakashi and Jade both swiped a few pieces, and Naruto and Konan were having a stare down for the last one. Hinata offered the last piece to Kim, to which she just shook her head silently saying no. Deidara walked up and popped the last piece into his mouth. Naruto and Konan mourned the loss of the crispy goodness.

Kim stood up, deciding that it was time for her to start getting dressed. As soon as she stood she was hit with a feeling of lightheadedness. She lost her balance and had to grab onto Jade's shoulder to steady herself. When the others asked her if she was alright, she waved them off and told them that it was because she stood up to fast. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing about it.

Much too soon for everyone's tastes, it was time for them to head off to work and start the day. Jade straightened out her hot pink skirt and made sure her cream colored blouse was tucked in properly. She then started complaining about how Kakashi should take off his mask, with Naruto supporting her argument.

Kakashi just tuned them out as he finished his breakfast, tanking Hinata as he was his plate. Noticing the girl's struggles, Kakashi made his way towards Kim and helped her roll her long sleeves up to her elbows. He couldn't help but take notice of the weak stealing grip she had on his arm. When he asked if she was alright, she assured him she was fine, just tired. Reluctantly, he released the grip her hand on her arm, taking note of her racing pulse. She gave him a smile before telling the others she was heading down before walking out the door.

Half of the ten ninja and Jade slowly began their trek to work, pausing only to say bye to Kim as they passed her at the receptionist's desk.

Kakashi spent the entire walk to the mall reading his book, generally ignoring the others. Jade and Naruto were contemplating all the different ways they could get him to take off his mask, or see him without it on. Konan was trying to get Hinata to admit to her crush on Naruto by wiggling her eyebrows and motioning to the blond in question. Deidara was on another rant about his art that no one was really paying any attention to. Once the group reached the mall they all went their separate ways, aside from Jade and Deidara.

The work day had started off slow. There weren't many people out shopping that day. The people that were there, were aimlessly wandering around the mall looking for something new that apparently wasn't in any of the stores that the ninja and Jade worked at. With no customers to tend to, Kakashi was, yet again, reading his beloved orange book.

He paused in his readings, allowing his mind to wander off, though his thoughts alway went back to the same person. Ever since their conversation at the water fountain's edge, the majority of his attention had been taken up by Kim. He noted that she had been acting strange for the past few days. Thinking back, he came to the conclusion that her strange behavior had started the day after her date with Jake. Had he done something more than just reject the girl? Kakashi wasn't sure. She never talked about it, at least, not to him be beyond what she told him at the park. He remembered the promise she had made him make to her, that he would not tell the others of her bad date. He didn't know how it went bad, but it seemed to have a lasting effect on her. What happened?

He had been keeping an eye on her, which was something strange for him to do. Usually he wouldn't bother to care, much less, worry about someone else's wellbeing, especially when he didn't have to. He would just shrug off their problems as if they were nothing, they were of no concern to him, and be on his way. He blamed Naruto for that. The blond was rubbing off on him, though, admittedly, in a good way.

Sitting down behind the check-out counter, he pulled out his phone. Staring at the screen, he debated on what he should do next. He could call and ask Kim herself, but there was always the chance that she would deny anything being wrong, much like she had not to long ago. Then again he did tell her that she could tell him if anything was wrong. Maybe Jade had the answers he was looking for, but the fashionista seemed unaware of any strange behavior.

It was a possibility that, this was normal behavior for Kim. Thinking more on the subject, he realized that it was not normal behavior for anyone. With that in mind, he decided to search the internet. He had remembered back to when Ren was telling them about the internet. Ren had clearly stated that the internet had all the answers, and all he had to do was know which questions to ask.

Kakashi spent the better part of the morning searching the internet. He got on to Google, and started randomly asking questions. What he found did not make him feel any better. It only raised more questions, and served to make him nervous. All he could think about was how could something like that could happen to her. He prayed to Kami that he had come to the wrong conclusion. Being a child genius had its rewards, but it also came with a few drawbacks. Kakashi did not know if it could be considered a reward or a drawback.

Ever since they had been turned back into humans, none of the ninja had their guards up. They had felt safe, considering that they were the most dangerous beings around for miles. The shinobi part of Kakashi had started to sense danger. Not a danger to himself, but to Kim. He didn't know if he was just being paranoid or if the danger was real, but it wouldn't hurt to check up on her.

That was why he found himself heading back to the loft on an early lunch break. He clocked-out and left the store in a rush. On his way back he felt a sense of foreboding in the air. That was never a good sign. He kept sensing danger. Red flags were going up in his mind, but he just wrote it off as him being paranoid. He picked up his pace, wanting to get there faster. It seemed that everything was against him. The traffic was going by slowly, preventing him from walking across the freeway and over to the shop.

In the end he became impatient, and sprinted across. He pumped chakra into his feet to increase his speed, and became a blur as he ran. If anyone spotted him, he would have looked like a flash of white and write it off as nothing. He stopped directly in front of the building. It was almost as if he was afraid of what he might find inside. He knew she was in the shop and that there were other ninja around, but even ninja couldn't prevent everything. He also knew that Kim hated when people bothered her when she was busy and had taken the time to warn them against bothering her.

After a bit of stalling, he finally pushed himself forward. He walked straight through the front door making the little bell chime. Then he walked across the reception area and through the door behind the large desk and into the garage. When he first walked in, he heard no noises. The only sounds that he could hear were coming from the traffic on the freeway. He should have heard the sounds of tools clanging or tightening of bolts.

Kakashi froze, and his entire body going rigid. His sensitive nose picked up a scent, that as a shinobi, he was very familiar with. It smelled of a combination of rust and salt, the scent of blood. The scent was so strong that he could almost taste it. His heart started to pick up its pace, as his stomach jumped into his throat. He needed to find her. He needed to know that she had experienced a minor accident, resulting in a small injury.

He found her.

The girl he had, unknowingly, come to care about was splayed out on her back beside a small upended tool box and its spilled contents, in a pool of blood that seemed to be steadily growing by the second.

"Sakura," Kakashi shouted at the top of his lungs, as he quickly ran to her side.

Kneeling beside her prone form, he pulled her small body onto his lap. She was cold, her skin was deathly pale. Bringing a shaking hand up, he checked for a pulse. It was faint but it was there, and that was all that mattered. He began to take to take stock of her injuries while trying to surmise what had happened. As a result of her recent spells of dizziness, he figured she must have fallen on her way to find something to lean on. From the bruising on her arm coupled with the scrapes on both her palms, he assumed she must've tried to catch her self and possibly broken or fractured her arm in the process. Judging from all the blood soaked on the tools and the bloodstained wrench clutched loosely in her right hand, she must have landed on the open tool box and then at some point managed to pull the wrench out.

The sensation of her warm blood underneath his hand as he tried to staunch the bleeding brought back unbidden memories of another girl he once cared for. A girl he failed to save. He let out a deep shuddering breath.

"SAKURA!"

She had been in the middle of attempting to cook lunch with Nagato when she heard the distressed shout of her sensei, dread making her feel like someone had dropped a bucket of ice water on her head. Kakashi was one of the strongest ninja in their village... no... the Elemental Nations. If he was in distress... Dropping what she was doing, she rushed out the door and down the spiral staircase. Sakura along with those who were home trailing behind her, burst through the door leading to the garage.

Everyone but Sakura, who subconsciously entered medic-nin mode, froze at the sight of Kakashi trying to keep Kim from bleeding out; Kakashi panicking, Kim dying. The pink haired girl hurried over to the unconscious girl. Questions pertaining to Kim's injury rushed passed her lips witch her sensei answering the best to his ability. The slight quiver to her sensei's voice only served to make her uneasy despite her professionalism.