Kakashi Hatake opened his eyes to the incessant sound of his alarm clock with blood on his mind.
The moon had not yet take it's leave, still painted lightly in the sky, when it was time for him to head out. After showering, his silver hair still wet at the edges, he sits on his couch, bandaging his kunai holder against his right leg carefully. Next came the armored plates of the Anbu, tugging it over the sleeveless black undershirt that he was required to wear. His swirled red tattoo, the mark of the Black Ops, showed obviously against his naked arm. A momento to the cold, stained existence of his younger self.
One so different than the one he leads now.
Or at least that was what he used to think.
He slips his mask over his face as he stares at himself in the mirror. The sharingan glints back at him uneasily. He hasn't seen the field in what seems like an eternal stretch, forced to stay in the village under the request of Tsunade.
She needs to keep her Commander close.
But today, it can't be helped. She needs this taken care of and Kakashi, she knows, will see it done. She would not be risking his well being, jeopardizing his upcoming role in the clandestine war looming over all their heads, if it wasn't imperative.
The copy nin places his weapons pouch where it belongs, straps his standard issue katana, and grabs the porcelain wolf mask sitting ominously on his nightstand.
It's been a good while since Kakashi has been forced to pick it up.
He holds it in his hand for a few moments, weighing it as if for some reason, it would grow heavier over the years as the blood on his hands kept thickening, calluses upon calluses of lives that he has taken. There was once a time when Kakashi and the Wolf were not two separate beings.
Today will be no different.
Kakashi puts the wolf silhouette to his face and it fits him closely, like an old friend.
On his way out, after grabbing the old black cloak from his closet, he pauses as dawn only begins to break over Konoha. The sky, which was previously dark blues and faint greens when he had first risen, has now been smeared with red amongst the golds and dark burnt oranges. A omen to the bloodshed he would undoubtedly leave in his wake today.
Maybe when you're a parent someday, Tsunade mumbles to him inside the quiet of his mind, you will understand.
He pulls the hood over his head and takes to the rooftops.
His team does not meet for another ten minutes. He has time.
The jonin, now under the cover of being just another Anbu, skids to a stop on a familiar house. Kakashi climbs easily down onto the balcony of the second story, his footsteps leaving not even a whisper, as Black Ops are trained to do. He peers into the slightly tinted glass of the sliding doors that lead into the bedroom and catches sight of her sleeping soundly.
One leg hangs over the side of the bed, snoring softly as she tends to do.
No bad dreams tonight, he concludes as Sakura continues to rest, completely undisturbed.
Yamato must be taking good care of her, he thinks to himself bitterly. But he brushes the thought away as he stands, preparing to take his leave.
He's made himself stay away from any of his social circles that might brush him up against either his junior or Sakura for the past two weeks to avoid this very occurrence. He has neither the mental capacity nor time to concern himself with any of this. As he made it abundantly clear to Sakura on that night, he does not wish to be involved.
And so uninvolved he shall become.
Except for this ritual. Thrice, Kakashi has been sent out into the field this week in order to scout ahead for the mission he has been assigned today. And every time, just before he departs, the copy nin tries his to luck to see if Sakura has decided to sleep in her own bed on the mornings of his missions. It has not failed him so far.
He watches her, only briefly, to check in.
And to remind himself that although he cannot be the father to their child that she wants him to be, ever present and enduring, he will carry his role in the shadows as a shinobi.
Kakashi heads out into the field, every time, with a glimpse of his unborn child and it's mother so that he can remember not to be too risky with his own life as the Hokage likes to put it.
He has a King to protect now.
"Taichou," calls a voice from above, barely audible. Kakashi glances up. Salamander stands on the ledge of the Haruno's roof, his two counterparts standing off to the side, trying not to pry in their leader's personal affairs. They shift a little uncomfortably. "It's time."
Kakashi gives one last glance through the glass. And for a second, just as he's about to launch up to meet his team, he swears Sakura's eyes opened.
He lands quietly next to his squad member, code named Bear, and nods.
"Move out."
Shikamaru and Yamato land simultaneously to the ground. Their third team member, a rather rookie chunin, stumbles out from the trees after them. He's got a bad limp from a fall he took yesterday.
The three of them, now that they're home, trek slowly back to the Main Gate.
Yamato is exhausted. His rolls his head over his shoulders, feeling the cricks pop and whine as he tries to flex the muscles in his bad hand. They whine worse than his neck does.
The men nod to Kotetsu and Izumo when they pass the watch station. Shikamaru gives a yawn, stretching his arms above his head tiredly. It's been a long week.
Between scouting for one of Jōmae's stakeouts along the Fire Nation's northern border, an objective that only the Team Leader was aware of, their simple assassination, and breaking in the rookie, Shikamaru and Yamato had their hands full. No doubt that all three men, including the dark blue haired kid who still has painfully more to learn after a trip to the hospital, are dying to go home and get some sleep.
"Hachiro," the older shinobi calls over his shoulder.
The boy tries his best to hurry to catch up but his leg slows him down. Yamato waits impatiently.
"Yes sir?" he asks timidly. He knows he screwed up. Shikamaru can't help but smirk as he casts his eyes downwards when the Captain looks, annoyed, at his limping leg.
"The next time you jeopardize a mission like that with me, I'll be sure to strip that flak jacket right off your dead body." He gives the boy the fear face which visibly makes him tremble. Shikamaru holds back his sniggering. "Now get yourself to the hospital."
Hashiro gives a diluted mumble of 'yes sir; and takes off in a run, his gait growing more obvious by the second.
"Man, I swear, I have never seen you this mean before," Shikamaru says with a low whistle before locking his hands behind his head, a familiar gesture for Yamato as they walk onwards to Hokage Tower to give their report.
The Taichou gives the back of his neck a nervous rub. Had he really been that snippy?
"Just tired is all," Yamato tries to cover up. The Nara boy hums his disbelief, too lazy to actually counter it.
It's early morning. The village has yet to fully come alive except for the few early bird shops here and there as well as shinobi heading out for their shifts. His keen senses pick up a sound that only Black Ops are trained to hear.
The whispers of their footsteps as they head out to the field. Yamato glances up, briefly, to see barely a glimpse of their porcelain masks and black cloaks as they dart above their heads.
Surprisingly though, they didn't go unnoticed by his companion.
"The Anbu have been on the move lately," he mentions quietly under his breath. "I don't like it." Yamato pretends to agree, feigning uncertainty as to why that would be. He knows, of course, but is sworn to secrecy.
"Yeah," he muses distractedly. "Me either."
Yamato doesn't feel like talking today. He's tired and wants to get the debriefing over with so he can go home and sleep. Or at least try to.
"I overheard my Dad talking to Kakashi sensei last night. Apparently, Lady Tsunade has got him leading an Anbu mission today. She must be real worried about something if she's making him dust off his mask and hit the field."
The older shinobi sighs. "That's classified information that you aren't supposed to be sharing just because you heard it by happenstance, Shikamaru."
He gives a lazy wave of his hand.
"Yeah, yeah. My point being, something is brewing and I want to know what it is."
Yamato sighs. He isn't far off the mark. The other shinobi are beginning to feel the subtle shift of concentration from simple missions to more aggressive ones with vague objectives. They're starting to notice.
And if Tsunade doesn't act soon, it won't be just the quick ones like the Nara prodigy to want to stick their nose into things where they don't belong.
"Taichou?" the boy asks curiously.
"Mmm?" he answers back smoothly as he adjusts his crooked faceguard.
"How is Sakura doing?"
It takes everything in Yamato's power to not freeze up on the spot. Her name sends acid down into his stomach where it doesn't sit well. He wants to be angry at Shikamaru for bringing her up but the boy doesn't know any better. He forces down the unbecoming words that almost came out of his mouth.
"I don't know. Why do you ask?" he answers truthfully. The chunin makes a scoffing noise.
"What do you mean you don't know? The two of you are dating, aren't you?"
Yamato's right hand tremors, once.
"As of recently, no," he says casually. The captain turns to him and gives him a small, sad smile. He leaves the sting of his own answer to invade into places that are not visible to the naked eye. Shikamaru blanches.
"Oh man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine, Shikamaru. Really." He gives the younger shinobi a clasp on the back. "It happens."
The Nara boy, his mind reeling, is unnerved at the captain's calmness. He's tempted to look beneath the underneath but he knows better than to pry. However, Shikamaru thinks to himself as he chews on the inside of his cheek, scowling up at the clear sky as he examines every angle that he can.
Sakura's behavior is starting to worry him. They've been spending a lot of time together lately, mostly because of Ino having a light couple of weeks in active duty as she helps out at the hospital upon Tsunade's request. However, his pink haired friend has been acting strange for a long time and it's starting to piece together, bit by bit, as he watches her from the corner of his eye.
She's more careful, it seems. Treading every word and every action with a caution that he has never seen her do. Always quick to give snarky remarks, and even quicker to hand out slaps, Sakura has been nearly subdued. She sits quietly, smiles at all the right times, and talks just as much. But it's so forced, Shikamaru wonders how he's the only one who notices.
He for sure thought that her boyfriend would provide him with some insight as to why Sakura has been acting the way she has. And maybe, Shikamaru sighed at the thought, he was simply being a better friend than he usually is and tried to cue Yamato to paying closer attention to his significant other. Sakura and himself have been indeed getting along but something clicked when he watched her cry over Asuma's grave. This kind of prying is not characteristic of him.
Something in his gut gnaws at him and lets him know that maybe Yamato isn't the best person to ask. Not just because he's no longer dating her. But because he has failed to notice that she is not the same.
"What's on your mind, Shikamaru?"
The boy glances at Yamato who by the looks of the furrow of his brow, has been watching him for awhile now. He gives a troubled sigh but waves his hand dismissively.
"Nothing. Just wanna go home and crash," he lies easily.
They walk on in silence, just about to reach the spiraling staircase up to Hokage Tower, when he bristles his pace and goes to stand in front of his junior, one hand on his hip.
"What's the matter with Sakura, Shikamaru? You're a smart boy, you chew your words carefully. You wouldn't have asked me about her unless you had a good reason to."
The chunin nearly jumps back at Yamato's abruptness. He's been caught. Leave it to the taichou, a king in his own game of subtly, to pick up on Shikamaru's train of thought.
It's the intent, concerned way that Yamato looks at him that gives the boy the incentive to trust him with what he knows. Even if they are broken up, he is her captain and he's too civilized, too kind, to hold a grudge against her.
Maybe telling him is a good idea after all. Besides, now that there is a distance between them, Shikamaru can safely ask for someone closer to her than himself to keep an eye out without worrying if they'll be rash and tell her what Shikamaru had said.
The spiky haired male mumbles something about all this being troublesome and puts a hand on his hip, accidentally mimicking Yamato's stature.
"She's not like herself lately. And it seems I'm the only one who has noticed but that's not my primary concern." He thinks of her hunched over in the distance, her head bowed to Asuma's grave and her shoulders quaking like they do when a person sobs. That's obviously private, a moment that he is willing to hold onto and not say a word about to another soul. She found comfort in his sensei and he would not take that from her.
"All I'm saying is that someone needs to keep an eye out for her. She's too quiet as of lately. It puts me on edge." He treads carefully. "I took the cue to be aware of her more thoroughly when I accidentally overheard her crying up a storm a few weeks back."
Yamato suddenly grows more tired than what he already is. He rubs the back of his neck and sighs.
What does Shikamaru want him to do? He hasn't spoken to Sakura since that day. And it's a little too soon for either of them to paying each other friendly visits just to check in.
The captain isn't even sure that he could handle seeing her just yet. The ache is still too raw.
But obviously Shikamaru is concerned and as her teammate, which comes before her lover, or ex-lover to be exact, he is suddenly pressed with the responsibility of keeping tabs on her.
Damn his inability to let this go. He shouldn't have asked.
"Normally I would relay this to Naruto before you because, well, I didn't know if it had something to do with you." He huffs, almost annoyed that he wasn't able to do so because he now has to have this conversation with Yamato. "But Naruto is an idiot who doesn't know a thing about subtlety. I mentioned it to Kakashi before he left my house yesterday but he shrugged it off, useless as always." Shikamaru scowls.
"You would think he would be the slightest bit concerned considering how much time him and Sakura spend together," he adds, a little spitefully to the permanent aloofness that is Kakashi.
This, for some reason, strikes Yamato the wrong way. It doesn't sound right and it takes him a moment to figure out why.
Kakashi doesn't necessarily pay alot of social calls to his two pupils willingly. And Sakura hasn't been training with him so why the sudden change in friendliness? The man has been practically a recluse the past few months.
But obviously just to him.
Yamato doesn't know that Shikamaru's intel is a little outdated. But it makes his shoulders tense anyway. Something ugly gnaws at the back of his mind.
"But anyway, my point being, I know you guys are separated or whatever but just-" Shikamaru searches for the right words as he starts heading up to the stairs for debriefing, "Watch her, okay? You're teammates." Shikamaru presses the importance of the word as he lazily climbs his way up to the Hokage's office.
Yamato can't shake this feeling in his gut that this conversation has left him with as he hurries after his companion.
Sakura waits patiently in the waiting room of a civilian doctor's office.
She feels awkward, an outsider intruding on something that the regular people of Konoha liked to keep for themselves. Ninja get all the medical care they could ever need with minimal tax requirements. The civilians are not as lucky. But they don't mind because the medical nin tend not to treat them due to the fact that their use of chakra based healing is uncomfortable and foreign to a body that does not use it.
The same way that being seen by a civilian doctor feels somewhat wrong. Let alone a gynecologist.
"You're a ninja," he says, a little bemused as he stares down at her chart after calling her into his examination room. He's an older gentlemen, around 50, with graying hair and soft blue eyes. It's the last and only time that he mentions her status in the village while he gives an examination. Sakura decides that she likes him right away.
Unlike what most doctors would do, he does not ask about the father. He does not ask about Sakura's decisions to keep the baby or pry into why she does not get the medical attention best suited for a ninja. There's hardly a difference between the them, really. Even for ninja, having a baby is happens the same way as a civilian.
If Sakura went to the hospital for this appointment, the kunoichi is required by law to be taken off of active duty. This would mean cornering her in a room with Tsunade, livid about the fact that Sakura could quite possibly ruin her career with this mistake. And then the questions about who the father is will come and Sakura does not want the Hokage bullying him into taking responsibility.
And if Tsunade knows, everyone will know eventually about Kakashi Hatake's child growing inside of her.
Sakura is simply not ready. She's bending the rules but this is her child and hers alone.
What's best for her right now, and Kakashi, no matter his absence, has nothing to do with making her pregnancy the spectacle that it would be once she's placed on maternity leave.
The shinobi world would have to wait.
"Okay, Ms. Haruno," Dr. Yoshida begins, pushing his glasses onto his head, "It seems that your first prenatal visit is a little late. You're about seven weeks along."
She guessed as much. Sakura is a medical ninja after all, she did the math and her guess was a just a week off, more or less. All the same, her arms go around her abdomen softly, still having to remind herself each and every day that this is real. His final assessment of the current longevity of her pregnancy is a harsh taste of reality.
By next week, there will only be 7 months left until Sakura holds her baby for the first time. It all seems too surreal.
Sakura suddenly has a headache.
"All your bloodwork came back fine. As expected of a kunoichi, your health is in mint condition. I've prescribed you the necessary prenatal vitamins that you are not to miss, not a single day. And I've gone ahead and rescheduled you for your next visit in about three weeks time."
Sakura nods, this rush of information a little too much to take in. Not that it's anything new or different. She's a medical ninja. Knowing the ins and outs of pregnancy is part of her job.
She just never thought it would be apart of her personal life so soon.
"Ms. Haruno," the doctor says cautiously. Sakura focuses her eyes back on his face and gives a sheepish smile, caught getting lost in thought. "I know that you came to me seeking privacy. And I have been respectful of that since you walked through my doors. But as your doctor," he sighs, closing her chart and taking a seat in his chair. He rolls over to Sakura and puts a warm hand on her knee. A simple, innocent gesture. Concern.
"As your doctor, I must insist that you report this to the Hokage. A pregnant kunoichi has no business in the field." He does not scold her. His voice is soft, almost reassuring.
"I am not trying to rush off and endanger my life, sir," she says slowly, no longer able to look him in the face. "Arrangements can be made for me not to leave the village on missions without needing to reveal myself so soon. I just-"
She looks up at him, almost pleadingly. And the look on his face tells her that Sakura isn't the first ninja trying to hide away the life growing inside of her. She takes comfort in this and surprisingly places her hand on his.
He's the only person in the world who knows besides the father that this life has been made. It makes Sakura eager to make him like her and to make him understand why this has to be done this way. But from the way he gives a small chuckle and reaches into his lab coat pocket, Sakura knows she doesn't have to.
She feels a little less alone.
"I understand. But please, do not make the mistake that some kunoichi have made in the past. Your body is athletic and combative in nature, which is why you have been spared from showing too much already." He finally finds what he had been looking for and hands it to her. "But don't wait until it's too late."
Sakura stares down at the print of the ultrasound he had gave her during his exam. It's mostly grays and blacks, curving and bending to depict the walls of her womb. But right there, towards the left hand corner, is her baby. It looks like no bigger than a blueberry. And if Sakura squints hard enough, she can see the beginnings of limbs.
It makes her heart jump once, nervously, but then it swells. Her baby has feet.
"There's two copies there, just in case you wanted to give one away."
He doesn't finish his sentence but Sakura knows his words anyway. She bites her lip.
When she stared at the positive pregnancy test, waiting for Kakashi to come home, she did not think that her first ultrasound would be experienced alone.
How foolish she had been.
Sakura tucks the two pictures into her pouch and gives Dr. Yoshida a bow.
"Thank you. I will see you in three weeks!" she calls, almost cheerily as she exits her examination room and back into the lobby.
Wow, her baby has feet.
A woman seems to begin to recognize her but she hurries her feet and is out the door before the civilian has a chance to confirm that it is the apprentice of the fifth Hokage walking out of a gynecologist's office. The kunoichi steps into the bright sunlight of midday and making sure that no one saw her, she takes to the rooftops and hurries over to the hospital to begin her shift.
Her thoughts drift to Kakashi and she nearly laughs out loud.
One thing is for sure. Their child will have no choice but to have an outrageous head of hair, either pink or silver. Sakura can almost begin to hear an indistinct cry of how all the others kids keep picking on the Hatake-No, the Haruno child because their hair draws too much attention.
What would've been a nice moment, a rare occurrence as of lately for Sakura, is ruined as she contemplates her previous stumble intensely.
The Hatake name is a proud one now. The name of an honored and powerful shinobi, followed by an unparalleled legacy that dates all the way back to Lord Third and soon to be Naruto.
It feels like a crime to strip her child of the name of their father before they are even born.
But not as wrong as it feels for Sakura to know that her baby was robbed of a second parent before they could even grow fingers.
She clenches her jaw, silently cursing Kakashi. It hurts to think about him. A burning, unfathomable anger at what he has done, what he has stolen from their unborn child bubbles up in her stomach with the acidic taste of rage.
But then Sakura feels guilty almost immediately as she leaps onto another rooftop and sees Kurenai down on the ground level, pushing her son in a stroller while Guy sensei tries to get him to laugh with funny faces. He's failing miserably, the almost toddler suddenly bursting into tears.
There are worse ways, Sakura realizes, to become a single parent.
Kakashi stares out at the nine enemies in formation. His Anbu team waits, their chakras flaring slightly with the adrenaline of the battle that is to come. Calculating, observing, he does not make the first move.
In the shambles of false talks of continued neutrality that Tsunade had so willingly told him about, another more sinister agreement had taken its place. His war was finally beginning to show it's ugly face as he realizes that this is what he had been truly sent out here for.
After weeks upon weeks of under the table attacks, a death here, a few there, it finally began to stitch together seamlessly. This would be the last straw. This would be the last half-hearted attempt to evade what was to come.
There would be no more supply disruptions. No more assassination attempts to distill the enemy forces from making any progress. The time for small, escalating skirmishes is over.
The Commander needs to shed the first blood of his own war.
He stares out at the Jōmae shinobi, caught red handed in the process of communicating their acceptance of the three way alliance between the representatives of the Waterfall and the Sound. Tsunade's fear has just been realized. And as ordered, Kakashi must put this down, frame the Sound for betraying both Jōmae and Waterfall so that Konoha can buy enough time to prepare to hit the Lock Village head on.
The copy ninja thinks of his unborn child.
Kakashi gives the enemy a hard look behind his porcelain wolf mask. He sees a Sound ninja stiffen at the bright gleam of the sharingan in the dark.
Not even bothering to look back at his team, Kakashi ignites a chidori in his open palm.
"Leave none alive."
Yamato somehow ends up at Ichiraku with Naruto and Sai before he has a chance to tell them that he is not in the mood. The prime hour of business for Konoha's nightlife has arrived as people spill continuously in and out of restaurants, bars, and anything else that is open, even if it is cold out.
The captain stares at his bowl of ramen, half finished. He didn't even want to eat the first portion of it but it would've been rude. Naruto had offered to pay for him just in exchange for Yamato's company.
Naruto was about to order his second bowl when a familiar voice drifts into the noodle shop, the door sliding closed softly behind the new customer.
"Sorry I'm late, Tsunade wouldn't let me leave."
Yamato nearly drops his chopsticks onto the floor but hastily recovers. There's an excited clamor from Naruto and the usual, polite yet contradictory insult from Sai.
Silence falls over the two boys as they wait expectantly for the captain to turn around in his seat and greet the remaining member of their team, no matter how much he doesn't want to. Already, maybe just from pure instinct now, he can tell that she had not anticipated him being there and began to shrink away from him.
How did she think this was going to play out? How well did Sakura mull over leaving him?
Obviously not well enough if she keeps failing to realize that incidents like these are going to continue to happen. Neither of them have decided to tell Naruto and Sai that they have broken up.
The awkwardness is thick in the air. From the corner of his eye, Yamato can see the sickly pale boy's face scrunched up in concentration as he tries to take away the social cues necessary to decipher this situation.
The captain, with an internally bitter sigh, turns around in his seat. He offers a pleasant smile, trying not to dwell over the way Sakura's nose has turned pink from the bite of the chill outside.
To all but her, Yamato can fool anyone into thinking that he is still being calm.
"Nice to see you, Sakura," he says smoothly, "How're you?"
He leans down and slurps up some more cold ramen, the noodles turning to ash in his mouth.
Sakura recovers quickly, taking his hint to hurry up and say something before things get unnecessarily uncomfortable for all them. She sits down on the empty bar stool next to Naruto and gives a strained smile.
"I'm doing great. I heard you went on a strenuous mission with Shikamaru this week from a very ill mannered chunin that ended up in my care today."
Teuchi, knowing his regular customer's order by heart, sets down a steaming bowl in front of Sakura. She breaks apart her chopsticks, hands shaking a little, and takes in a mouthful of noodles.
Naruto stares at him, sourly, when he takes too long to reply.
"Ah yes, Hashiro. A very green chunin. He took a fall from the treetops during a pursuit and nearly gave away our position. But we succeeded in the end so all is well."
He gives one of his signature soft smiles, closing his eyes as Sakura nods before turning away from him, deciding pleasantries were no longer necessary.
Naruto, thankfully, saves the captain from having to talk any further, giving the taichou a slight case of the cold shoulder.
"Sakura-chan, why didn't you come to Friday-Fun Day with us last night? Kiba sure missed you." The blonde says with a wolfish grin, eyebrows raised. Sai pretends not to notice that Yamato's right hand crushed his chopsticks into splinters.
But Sakura did. She keeps her shoulders from slumping, trying not to dampen the mood of her best friend as he continues to recount to her the antics from last night's weekly drunk fest. The pinkette tries to listen intently, laughing at the appropriate times while Sai continues to glance sideways at Yamato, watching his movements.
"Have you seen Kaka-sensei around? I've been wanting to train with him but I think he's been avoiding me." The jinchuuriki gives a slight pout. Sakura tries with all her might not to get angry about the mention of his name in the presence of Yamato. He doesn't even seem to be listening.
"No, I haven't seen him in a week or so, Naruto. He's been rather busy with-"
Yamato's shoulders tense. Kakashi's role in Jōmae's hostility has been kept classified. Sakura should not have even inkling of what he's doing.
The girl catches herself as she remembers that his ongoing mission, something she barely knew the details about but got the gist, was not information she should know. Her eyes flicker to the captain who stands, obviously getting ready to leave.
Naruto, now suddenly regretting his earlier actions to his teammate, puts a gentle hand on the captain's outstretched one, waving away his money. The kunoichi gives a sigh of relief as she jumps away from the conversation about Kakashi eagerly.
The ultrasound pictures attempt to burn holes through her pouch.
The gesture makes Yamato nearly sigh with relief himself as he sees Naruto drop some bills beneath his captain's empty bowl of ramen. Maybe he won't be shunned after all.
"Do you have to go so soon, Taichou? I wanted to hear about your mission with Shikamaru." The blonde gives an annoyed huff when Yamato stifles a yawn, stretching out his arms above his head.
"Maybe some other time, Naruto. I'm rather exhausted. But don't forget that we have our team training in a few days, alright?"
The jinchuuriki gives a grin, remembering their pending session, and gives a two finger salute. Coldly, the gesture reminds Yamato of the boy's sensei.
"Goodnight, Taichou," adds Sai politely. The captain gives him a nod.
A knowing look passes between them and Yamato shakes his head, almost unnoticeable except to the Root member's keen eyes.
Don't ask, the action says.
Sai drops his eyes to his empty ramen bowl in response.
The captain's fingers clasp onto the door handle as he begins to slide it open. But he freezes when Sakura speaks directly to him, her voice hesitant but clear.
"See you around, Taichou."
Reusing his formal title, something that has been foreign to her lips for quite sometime now, makes his insides twist. But he forces to make himself look at her, giving a kind smile.
Sakura tries not to stare at his almond eyes.
"Goodnight, Sakura."
And with that, the man takes his leave. Sakura wishes he would take this awful feeling in her throat with him.
"You two should really put your petty romantic relationship aside for the good of the team, Ugly."
"How did you-" she begins.
"Even Stupid over there could see that you two no longer have any interest in dating each other. I'm curious. Was it Yamato who broke it off or you? I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to keep seeing such an ordinary thing like you."
His words are harsh but Sai has yet to realize that the wound is still too fresh to give out insults as pick me ups like they usually do. He smiles in his plain, overly trying way.
"Oi, shut up, leave her alone!" says Naruto when Sakura's shoulders slump.
"No, he's right. I decided to break things off with Taichou. It just-" she chews her lip, hating having to lie to Naruto and his concerned blue eyes, "wasn't working out. But neither of us should let that get in the way of our team functions."
Worriedly, the blonde studies her face for a moment. He pulls Sakura into a hug and she stiffens, not used to the physical affection. But his ever present warmth feels nice and she buries her face thankfully in his chest.
Sometimes Sakura forgets how much she needs Naruto until he's standing right in front of her.
"So you're coming to train with us on Monday, right Sakura-chan?" he asks eagerly, putting her at arms length now to beam at her. "You and Taichou can work on not being so weird around each other then! There's nothing like a good sparring match to lighten the mood!" He gives another wolfish grin and Sakura tries to return it, although feebly.
The thought of being trapped in training with both Yamato and Kakashi in the same place, at the same time makes her want to throw her ramen back up.
The little life inside her seems to agree.
Yamato watches fire consume Akira until the boy's screams finally stop.
Water drowns him, tries to fill every single space and cell of his body until he stops being the forest and becomes the river. He can't breathe. But a part of him doesn't want to.
He stares at Raido from behind the wall of crystalline water, watching as his friend is pummeled into the ground with boulders bigger than his skull while he can do nothing but lie there and let his bones be crushed.
Dread fills Yamato, even in his sleep. He looks up at Yoshirou, his hand on the chakra cage, flowing his malice into it. He says something to the captured leaf ninja that can only be described as foreboding.
War will consume them all. Yamato feels it in his lungs that burn to take a breath.
But then the scene shifts.
He watches outside of his own body as he makes love to Sakura.
Out of the countless times, he remembers this one well. It was the night of the incident.
In horror, melancholy, anger, but most of all longing, he relives this moment. Sakura's pink hair is splayed artfully against the stark white of his bed sheets. Her lips curl in a moan and one smooth, creamy leg wraps around his waist. His shoulder blades contract with every meaningful push, head tilted back as he sees stars explode across the ceiling.
But watching from where he is, from the side lines of his own mind, Yamato sees it.
The clearness of her eyes. Not the cloudy haze of sex and release.
She looks up at Yamato almost sadly.
His hair begins to turn white at the roots, bleaching his chocolate hair and lengthening. Sun tanned skin becomes paler, the dimensions of his body lengthening or thickening to fit the frame of a man he knows well.
Kakashi Hatake hovers over Sakura, kissing her passionately as he tangles his hands in her pink hair. Yamato watches with a growing sickness at how the muscles of his strong back move beneath his skin the same way he had just seen his own do a few moments ago. His name falls off her lips and her toes curl, the wild insatiable film that she did not grant Yamato now covering her viridian eyes.
The captain wakes with a start.
He sits up in bed abruptly, sweat matting his hair down to his forehead. He shakes.
His eyes slide over to the empty side of the bed where Sakura once slept night after night, convincing him that no other woman would ever belong in his bed as well as she did.
The captain gets up and goes over to stand at his window. He leans his head against the cool glass while Yamato closes his almond shaped eyes and tries to shake the image of his superior laying her down and pouring every fiber of his soul into her. It haunts him just as much as Akira's screams.
The wood user's mind starts reeling, putting numbers and facts together until Kakashi's face as he throws himself over the ledge of his own pleasure is the only thing that he sees.
"You'd think he'd be more concerned considering how much time he spends with Sakura."
"No, Naruto, I haven't seen sensei in a week or so. He's been busy with-"
"Shikamaru, that's classified information."
"I got it, Yamato. I'm finished drinking for the night."
"Sakura, it's like you're a million miles away."
"I'm sorry, she's not here. She went home early this morning."
"Kakashi, I just want to take care of her."
"I know, brother."
Yamato swipes a hand over his nightstand, shouting angrily at nothing in particular when it dawns on him. Books and his lamp get thrown against the wall and Yamato can't help but slam his forehead against his own windowpane, trying desperately to get the truth to go back to where it emerged from in dark of his mind.
It was staring him right in the face and he had failed to see it.
But Yamato can't help but chuckle bitterly at the irony of it all.
The Great Kakashi Hatake. Once again proving why he will always be the senior.
The retaken Team Kakashi photo, the one that actually included both jonin this time, now lays on the floor in a shattered heap.
Kakashi's knees give out as he approaches the main gate.
The body of Bear, whom he had been carrying on his back, skidded a few inches away from him when he fell, unable to keep her in his grip. Her porcelain mask went flying and clattered to the ground in front of the guards who were immediately on their feet and running.
Sunlight blinds him as he rolls himself over onto his back, relieving the pain in his leg.
The copy ninja feels hands on him, trying to haul him up but he wrenches himself from their grasp.
"I'm fine, get Kagami to the hospital," he barks. "My second in command is 20 feet behind us, collapsed. Send someone-" Kakashi groans as he pushes himself up to stand, "to get him."
They're not moving fast enough for his liking.
"Now!"
"But Wolf-san, where is the fourth member of your team?
Kakashi's silence tells them all they need to now.
The guards take off sprinting while two others carry Bear, the girl who dubs herself Kagami, to the hospital. Kotetsu, recognizing Kakashi's voice, sweeps underneath his arm to help the copy nin, trying to secure him around the waist.
"Where is the Hokage?" he demands.
"Where do you think?"
Not meaning to be so harsh, but with urgency tinting his voice, he shoves his friend off of him, already limping as fast as he can into the heart of the village. Kotetsu, knowing better than to push his luck, simply trails behind him in case he collapses again.
He leaves a thin trail of blood in his wake.
They take to the rooftops once they get close enough to encounter civilians. Kakashi nearly loses his footing just as it passes over the ledge of the building. He almost falls, his body too slow to react quick enough. But Kotetsu is already there, grabbing the front of his armor plate and hauling him up to his feet.
Nodding to him, both men sprint as fast as Kakashi's injured leg can carry him to the hospital.
"She's been poisoned, her airway is constricting," says Tsunade calmly as she hurries beside Kagami's stretchers. Nurses and medical ninja alike prep the surgery room just as Salamander rolls in through the hospital doors on his own stretcher, seizing terribly, spit dribbling from the corner of his mouth.
"What've you got?" the Hokage calls to Shizune. The short haired medical nin pulls on gloves and takes the mask off of Salamander. He's a handsome young man with long black hair and vivid violet eyes that are currently rolling back into his head. Shizune's hands ignite with green chakra as they roll him into the surgical wing, just behind Kagami.
"Brain swelling from blunt force trauma to the head. His liver has been punctured by his rib and one of his kidneys has been compromised."
"Alright, take him to OR 2. Sakura, you're with me."
The pinkette merely nods, already sitting ontop of Kagami as she slices an incision into the woman's throat. Blood spills neatly onto the white sheets but Sakura is quick to but a thin tube into the opening, unable to ventilate properly through the mouth due to constriction. A pump becomes attached to the end of the tube that another medical nin adjusts for her as Sakura gives a loud pop to the woman's heart with her fist when it stops beating.
Accurately securing a pulse a few seconds after jolting the organ back to life, the kunoichi pumps air smoothly into the girl's lungs.
Bear's eyes are wide with delusion no doubt as effects of the poison. She keeps trying to lash about, attempting to throw Sakura off of her but the pinkette manages to sit on her legs to keep them from flailing anymore.
"Hold her arms down!" she demands as they're wheeled into OR 1.
"Keep that woman breathing, Sakura!"
"Yes ma'am!"
Other medical ninja begin to work on her severed arm. It's in danger of causing her to hemorrhage and bleed out. Sakura is surprised she hasn't already.
The smell of iron and urine permeates the air as the girl's bladder goes.
Tsunade, after swabbing a cotton swab into the girl's mouth between her trying to wrestle the medics and Sakura's hollering to keep her steady, the Hokage drops it into a chemical that instantly turns a bride shade of orange.
She's about to get started on an antidote when Kakashi Hatake bursts into the room. Hospital personnel race after him, screaming about how he has no clearance to be back here. Sakura looks up and her heart freezes in her chest like Kagami's did only a few moments ago.
This is his team.
The Black Op beneath her chokes beneath Sakura and she forces herself to look away from him, continuing to squeeze air into her lungs. Two medical ninja try to haul him out by his arms to get him treated but he slams one into a nearby wall and breaks the nose of the other in a blur of motion.
"Kakashi, get out of here!" Sakura screams at him, startled by his violence.
"Lady Hokage, it's begun," he pants. "We're at war."
His eyes slide over to the kunoichi straddling his teammate as he slumps against the doorframe. Their gazes meet from across the room before it drops to look at her stomach where his child is growing amidst the blood and sweat of a battle's aftermath.
Kakashi collapses.
Just as he is about to pass into unconsciousness, he swears he can hear Sakura calling his name.