Breaking News

By Bashfulglowfly

Sakura Haruno, one of the younger reporters at Konoha News Network, had hired a boat to take her cameraman and herself to Mizunokuni. The island chain, normally cold and wet, had been suffering a drought and the day before, the main island caught on fire. Winds from a passing storm whipped the fire into a raging inferno. The resulting flames raged across the island. The ambitious woman was determined to be one of the first, if not THE first, newsperson to step foot on Mizunokuni's main island and make a report.

It was still unknown how many people didn't escape from the flames, but survivors were telling harrowing tales of their escape.

"Make sure you have everything." Sakura said to her cameraman.

Kakashi Hatake raised an eyebrow at her. "And you need to put on your mask."

Sakura pulled her N95 mask over her mouth and nose. She could see the ash drifting in the light breeze.

The captain of the boat they rented pulled up as close as he could without getting grounded on a beach about a kilometer from the town of Kirigakure. Landing in the harbor was impossible since the harbor had also burned. The piers that they would have normally used were piles of rubble in the water.

Kakashi looked over the side of the boat and nodded. "I'll go over the side. You hand down our equipment."

Sakura nodded and watched as the silver-haired man jumped into the water. She could see that it was up to his thighs, so it would probably come up to her waist or higher. It was a good thing that she was wearing high-waisted waders. She was clearly going to need them.

After handing their equipment to Kakashi who temporarily placed their things at the water's edge, she turned to the captain. "Thank you. Please come back for us around 5 p.m."

The captain scowled at her. "I want my money, so I'll be back to get ya. Let me know if you want to leave earlier."

Sakura nodded. She didn't think they'd leave early unless they were caught and ordered to depart by the authorities. She climbed overboard and landed in the water with assistance from Kakashi. The water along the shore was murky with ash. She was rather glad to get out of the water.

"The high tide line is there." Kakashi pointed to a line in the sand. "We'll place what we're not immediately using above it close to the seawall."

"Okay." Sakura grabbed their backpacks and the cooler that she had packed with food and drinks in anticipation of their hours long stay on the island.

Kakashi grabbed the rest and they slogged up the beach. After placing their belongings next to the seawall, Sakura pulled off her waders, revealing the denim jeans and t-shirt she was wearing. She pulled her hiking boots from her backpack. The fire had burned clear to the ocean, so even the steps to the beach were gone. She was glad that Kakashi insisted that she pack the boots rather than the sneakers she originally planned to bring.

She made sure that the laces were tied and securely tucked away so they wouldn't snag on any debris. She looked up and saw that Kakashi had removed his waders. But instead of wearing denim like she was, he was wearing military-style pants with pockets along the legs and a matching t-shirt. "Oh, I should have thought about pants like that." Said Sakura. "What do you want me to carry?"

"Got your microphone, windscreen and extra batteries?"

Sakura nodded.

Kakashi handed over a few extra battery packs for his field camera. Sakura tucked them into her backpack along with extra water. She shrugged on the backpack and made sure it was comfortable and secure. Kakashi settled his own backpack and shouldered his camera.

Carefully the pair climbed the rocks to the road above. Kakashi began filming the scorched and burned asphalt while Sakura consulted the map on her phone. "Let's go that way towards the harbor. From there, we might be able to get to the restaurants that were nearby as well as the two museums that were in the area."

Kakashi simply nodded and the two made their way into Kirigakure. They climbed over fallen trees as well as power and telephone poles. Walking past a line of burned-out cars, Sakura paused for a moment.

Kakashi could see her eyebrows pulling together. "What's wrong?"

Sakura turned slowly around. "I smell…meat. Did someone survive? There's no power so how could someone be cooking in all this? And where?"

Kakashi looked at her. "It depends on your definition of someone cooking." He replied slowly.

He could see the realization then the horror in her eyes.

Sakura almost ripped the mask off her face as she bent over and vomited.

Kakashi waited until he was certain she was finished then handed her a bottle of water. "Rinse and spit a couple of times then drink the rest."

Breathing deeply, Sakura obeyed. She watched as Kakashi put down his camera and started looking in the burned-out cars on either side of the road. "What are you doing?"

Kakashi didn't answer as he looked into one car, then reached into one of his pants pockets and pulled out a can of spray paint.

Sakura watched as he shook it lightly then sprayed symbols in red paint across the car. He did the same with two other cars.

"Kakashi," Sakura knew what he was doing but she had to ask, "What do those symbols mean?"

Kakashi put the can back into his pocket. He picked up his camera then looked at her. "They mean that there are bodies inside."

She took a deep shuddering breath. "Will the Search and Rescue people know what they mean?"

"If they have a military background, yes. It's sort of standard across the board anyway."

"You were in the military. Before you became a news cameraman."

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"Military stuff."

Sakura had worked with Kakashi long enough to understand that he wasn't going to talk about it anymore. So, she simply nodded.

"Sakura."

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go on?"

Sakura took another deep breath. Then another. "Yes. We have a job to do."

"Okay."

The pair turned and walked into Kirigakure. Kakashi looked into each car they passed but thankfully he didn't pull the spray paint can from his pocket again.

As they approached the waterfront district and harbor area of Kirigakure, Kakashi began filming again. Sakura stood back as he did his job. Looking around, there was nothing that she recognized from the photos that she'd studied on their way to the island. There was nothing standing except for stumps of telephone and electrical poles, cars, and where buildings used to stand, the metal remains of what she assumed may have once been restaurant refrigerators, freezers and stoves.

Kakashi finished filming then turned to her "You want to make a report?"

Sakura nodded. She pulled her microphone out of her backpack and pulled the windscreen over it. Making sure it was working, she positioned herself, removed her mask and nodded to Kakashi. When he gave her the go-ahead she began to speak. "This is Sakura Haruno reporting from the fire ravaged town of Kirigakure…"

888888

A few hours later, Sakura and Kakashi were back at the beach. Both were soot stained and tired. They had sent their reports and camera footage, crossing their fingers that the newsroom director would receive it. They semi-smiled at each other when they received a return email that the reports had been received.

They also received a strongly worded email from their boss, Tsunade Senju, saying that their expense reports were to be very detailed and to get their butts back to the mainland asap.

Then they both received a text from Tsunade "Good work."

Kakashi sent a text to the boat captain to come get them, then put away his phone. He looked down at Sakura who was stretched out on the sand. Her eyes were closed but he could see a tear wash a narrow track through the soot on her face. "Are you going to be okay?"

"No."

Kakashi ran a hand gently through her hair. "First time being near bodies like that?" The bodies in the cars weren't the last bodies they'd come across. They had sent their first few reports and had decided to enter a residential neighborhood. Sakura had been walking down the remains of a sidewalk when she almost stepped on a body that was on the walkway.

Kakashi had to pick her up and carry her down the street. He ended up having to slap her to end her hysterics. That was when he informed her they were going back to the beach.

She didn't object.

"Yeah. I've reported on deaths before, but I never saw the bodies. They've always been in body bags. And, familywise, the Haruno's are a healthy lot. The only death that that wasn't because they were elderly, was a cousin who decided that it was a good idea to go to Suna and play with some of the snakes they have there."

"Was he a snake handler?"

"No, he was an idiot. He went out into the desert and captured a Suna Sand Viper and thought it would be a good idea to record himself swinging it around his head." Sakura opened her eyes just in time to see the dumbfounded look in Kakashi's eyes. "Yeah, his body wasn't found until about a year later when hikers came across his bones. They found his cell phone and the authorities were able to recover the data. His official cause of death, I shit you not, was 'stupidity.'"

Kakashi snorted. "That sounds like Suna."

"Yeah." Sakura sat up and looked at Kakashi. "'Kashi…"

He pulled her into his lap as she began to sob. He held her until she was finished. He tilted her chin up so he could look her in her eyes. "Don't ever lose this, Sakura. Please. Don't become the sort of reporter where Death no longer affects you. Promise."

Sakura stared at him for a moment. "I promise." She leaned up and pressed her lips to his.

They spent a few minutes gently exploring each other's mouths with their tongues until they heard a boat horn.

It was their charter boat.

"Time to go." Kakashi pulled Sakura to her feet.

The pair put on their waders again, gathered their belongings and made their way through the murky ocean water to the boat.

The captain helped them onboard. "Just saw one of the reports you made. Worse than I thought." He sighed. "I thought you were scumbags just out for a story, but it was…decent reporting."

"Thank you." Said Sakura quietly.

The captain simply nodded then went back to the helm, turned the boat around and headed for the mainland.

Sakura and Kakashi stayed on deck and let the clean wind attempt to cleanse their minds and souls.

Author's Note: Yes, this is based on the Maui fires. I wrote this just after it happened but sat on releasing it because what happened on Maui was, and still is, heartbreaking. I have some...strong...feelings about the local response but my prayers are for the survivors who lost loved ones and everything they owned.