Training was the last thing Kaiho would've put on her to-do list after they'd left Sora-ku. Sasuke had seemed to be in such a hurry to leave that she'd assumed he'd put his priorities at the forefront.
She'd been proven completely wrong.
The days after departing Sora-ku were packed with some form of training along with travelling. On some days, that consisted of physical workouts with Suigetsu; on other days, it was chakra sensing with Karin. Sometimes, she was left to her own devices. Hours like this involved learning from her scrolls with Jugo at her side.
Today involved training with Sasuke.
At present, they were in a small clearing surrounded by a dense foliage of trees. The sun beat down upon Kaiho, drenching her neck and slip of a dress with sticky sweat.
"Sasuke's at least twenty feet away," she murmured, aiming a roundhouse kick at Suigetsu's midsection.
"And what"— he gritted out —"will you make of that information?" With his half-closed eyes and casual demeanour, it felt as though he was barely trying.
"Keep tracking him," she panted. "Make sure he poses no harm to me." Thankfully, it was just Sasuke she had to be careful of. Karin had chosen not to get involved at all. With a sneer, she declared that helping a runt of a ninja wasn't what she'd signed up for. She sat outside the range of the spar area with Jugo, watching the fight with disinterest.
Kaiho huffed. A runt! She'd show her.
Suigetsu was a strong fighter but a very straightforward one. Once she'd pinned down his style of feinting, his attack patterns dwindled down to the basics. Internally, she couldn't stop herself from feeling gratitude towards Sasuke for his brash advice. Studying the other scrolls alongside her medical ninjutsu had increased her skills by a fair amount.
But where was he? Kaiho dodged once more, pivoting her chakra into her senses. Her ears detected the soft groan of a branch.
Ten feet.
She blinked.
Four feet, two feet... one.
She leaped out of the way, hearing the crackle of electricity whizz past her temple.
"You pass for today," said Sasuke, landing gracefully on the ground. Kaiho tucked the singed strands of hair behind her ear, trying to ignore the mild stench of fumes. Practice or not, Sasuke didn't mess around.
Suigetsu groaned. "I didn't even get to show off my new technique!"
"We have something more important to focus on. The Akatsuki." He beckoned Jugo and Karin to join them. "Last I heard, they were seen around this area. Best if we split up to cover ground." Eyeing her with an intensity she hadn't observed before, Sasuke continued. "Kaiho, you're going with Jugo. The rest of us can go alone."
Karin frowned. "You're being ridiculous! If he loses control, he could hurt Kaiho."
"Jugo is capable of handling strong opponents. I don't think he would lose control without provocation. In any case, Kaiho would be quick enough to warn us."
Kaiho's head shot up in astonishment. "Uh, sure I will," she replied, flustered by the off-hand compliment. She gestured to Jugo gently. "Then, I guess we should get going."
A single stride Jugo took was the equivalent of three steps of hers. Jogging behind him, she made no move to tell him to slow down. It was just intuition, but she was positive that he was uneasy around her. Regardless of the time she had spent in his company, it seemed his first instinct was to avoid all unnecessary conversation.
"Hey, Jugo, where are we going?"
"After Akatsuki."
In comparison to Karin's jabs, Suigetsu's taunts and Sasuke's dry comments, these deadpan replies had a different sort of sting altogether.
On the other hand, she'd just seen him converse with a sparrow. The way it had perched on his shoulders, without any fear, showed Kaiho a side of him she hadn't seen before.
She took a deep breath and tried again. "I meant, where exactly... And Jugo, why are we after them?"
"Don't know. I'm just–" He turned rigid. Deep lines of red began to glow on his body, twisting into the marks Kaiho had become accustomed to. Her mind went blank as she stood still, watching him writhe in agony.
"Run," he managed to whimper.
Run... yes. Go. Flee...
No!
Snapping out of her trance, Kaiho grasped Jugo's hand. Searing chakra pierced her skin and entered her body. She let out a gasp. Every part of her felt as though it was on fire. Kaiho's vision became blurry. This was excessively powerful; there was too much to control. Concentrating every bit of energy she had, she placed her palm on her ground and began forcing the foreign chakra out. Her hand throbbed fiercely. Seconds trickled by like years, each one sensitizing her further, but she refused to let go of him.
It was only when she could no longer feel the strange chakra cut into her hand that she relinquished her hold. Wiping her wet cheeks, Kaiho scrutinized Jugo. His marks had faded away and his eyes were returning to their usual colour.
"I'm–"
"It's nothing," she interrupted. "It's not your fault." The last thing she would do was see him hate himself for something he had no control over. After experiencing a taste of his personal hell, the knowledge he'd been exploited infuriated her more than ever before.
It should've never happened.
"But I could've," he attempted, his feeble voice shaking. "I co–"
"I'm okay!" Kaiho rubbed her palms together. "See? I know it wasn't intentional. I believe you, Jugo." Her gaze flitted to the ground she had touched. It had turned to stone.
That chakra wasn't normal by any means.
"Your hands, I'll bandage them later," Jugo offered. The guilt he carried was evident on his face.
She returned a weak smile. "I–"
A deafening BOOM resounded in the distance. The blinding flash attacked Kaiho's eyes, making her shield herself. In that instance, she knew where it had come from — Hebi's last position.
"We should go," Jugo mumbled. No further words were needed.
They both took off.
A spread of wasteland greeted Karin as she neared the site of the explosion. The clearing and trees had been obliterated by the blast, leaving a massive crater in its stead. Karin's heart pounded against her chest.
She could still discern his chakra, so he wasn't dead. He was weak but alive. So long he wasn't gone, it would be alright, she reassured herself.
He couldn't die. Not this easily.
Karin made her way through the thick smoke and rising dust clouds, drawing closer to the crater. At its edge, she spotted an enormous snake, Suigetsu and a figure covered in ash.
Her breath hitched. That was Sasuke. Sasuke, who was supposed to be infallible, the best of Orochimaru's students and test subjects. This was the same boy with confidence bordering arrogance and the skills to match, and he couldn't even stand. He bore several second-degree burns on his body. Each breath he took was laboured and shallow. One hand covered the gash on his shoulder blade in a vain attempt to hide it, but that did nothing to slow the bleeding.
For a brief moment, she couldn't move.
A lithe figure dashed past her, reaching Sasuke first. Karin recognized the entrant instantly. Kaiho.
The girl rested a hand on Sasuke's chest, looking at him in worry. "Akatsuki?"
He gave a slow nod.
She knew it was standard medical procedure, but something about Kaiho touching Sasuke rubbed Karin the wrong way. Moreover, Sasuke was allowing her to do so. If only he hadn't gotten himself beaten up!
Karin moved closer. "Kaiho, I'll patch him up."
"No," Kaiho whispered. Her face turned ashen as she stared at Sasuke with growing horror.
"What do you mean, no?" Karin demanded. Fleeting though it was, Sasuke's expression showed that there was something Kaiho had figured out.
"YOU IDIOT!" she roared. "What were you thinking?! You aren't immortal, you know!" Sasuke's face betrayed a second of astonishment. "Lightning... Sasuke, on your own body. I couldn't have possibly imagined you were this insane!"
"I had to–"
"Risk your life?" Kaiho admonished.
There was something odd about this, Karin realized. She exchanged a confused glance with Suigetsu. For once, he was as quiet as Jugo, with an unusual lack of commentary.
"Wasn't it possible for you to reach us at all?"
That was when it hit her.
"And what would you have done, if we hadn't reached you in time?"
It wasn't strange that Kaiho was berating Sasuke. Not at all.
"Just–" Kaiho paused, losing her breath.
Sasuke was letting her do it.
"Value your life, you ungrateful git," she finished, shifting her gaze to his wounds.
Perhaps, Karin reasoned, he was simply too exhausted.
"Karin," Kaiho addressed, in a volume much lower than the one she'd used a second before. "You can't help this time. Sasuke's heart won't be able to handle the surge of extra chakra."
The tension in the air was palpable, but Karin turned a blind eye to it. Above all, she was piqued. The girl had no right to be on the team, much less play the medic.
"If I control the amount that enters his body–"
"I said NO." Karin noted the edge of steel in her calm voice. "If you want what's best for him, back off."
Karin nodded submissively. She did want Sasuke to regain his health. If the midget was promising just that, she would believe it. It didn't suit him to look so vulnerable.
"You got beat up too easily. I can't believe you defeated Orochimaru," she muttered.
Karin saw herself as a self-assured woman, confident in herself and her abilities. She had no reason to be envious of a girl who was still learning basic ninja techniques.
What she abhorred was the helplessness she was confronted with — the knowledge that she hadn't been able to do a damn thing.
