It had been almost twenty-four hours. They had been on the river since after sunrise that morning, and the sun had long since set. The moon was surprisingly bright over the water but it did little to ease Naruto's anxieties about being followed or attacked.
Somehow, he had taught himself to walk on water fluently. In the middle of a crisis was apparently the best time for him to learn a new skill. Naruto carefully climbed into the rear boat once he had given the lead another running push. The water was so stagnant in the area he kept having to push them to get enough momentum to move at a reasonable pace.
He didn't want to row with an oar because it was too loud and it would distract him from their surroundings. He still held on to it and occasionally even used it, but the water was so still in the area that it was easier to just push. The fog was also especially thick over the water and it was probably the only reason they hadn't been found and killed yet. Surely there would be more after them soon. Surely it was only a matter of time before the bad guys caught up to them.
After the clones he'd sent to retrieve Kaisuki dispelled, he'd acquired the awareness that there had been someone watching them from afar. Whoever they were, they knew the team was incapacitated. They had the upper hand and Naruto didn't even know who they were or where they'd been watching from. His clones had only gotten the sense that they were being observed and followed.
But we still haven't been attacked...
Regardless of that fact, he'd loaded everyone up on the boats as quickly as possible, with Sakura giving him directions.
He still had plenty of stamina and chakra to fight if need be but he also didn't know how much further they had to go. If he had to keep going the same way for another twenty-four hours, he didn't think he'd be able to stay alert the whole time. Fighting with Kyuubi had taken a lot more out of him than he'd thought it would. They'd never really done that before. On top of that, he hadn't slept all night and he hadn't eaten in... a bit too long, at that point.
They were almost home free, though! Sakura had been telling him that for hours. He was having trouble not doubting her, even though he knew she knew what she was talking about.
"Sakura-chan, are you sure this is the right way?" he asked softly for probably the hundredth time. His anxiety would not let him rest unless he asked her if they were still on the right course every two to three hours. "The scenery really doesn't seem to be changing and..."
"I swear it's the right way," Sakura replied, brushing Kaisuki's sweaty hair out of her face. She straightened up just a little and looked around, nodding approvingly. Naruto wasn't sure if she was doing that for show or not. "I know it's slow but you have to understand, we walked for three days to get here. It's going to take at least half that time to get to where we're going, and that's still..."
He knew she was doing her best and he knew she knew where they were going. He trusted her intellect and knowledge more than he trusted Kaisuki's support. Sakura's mind was more reliable than the entirety of ANBU, in Naruto's opinion.
She looked up at him again and her eyes had filled with tears that threatened to spill out. He wanted nothing more than to be able to teleport them all home. He wanted to cry too. Sasuke had lost a lot of blood and was sleeping slouched up against an equally unconscious and bloodless Kakashi in the lead boat. Kaisuki had gotten restless and sicker sitting next to Sasuke for some reason, so Naruto and Sakura had made the decision to keep the Yurei with Sakura, in the rear boat.
Sakura had positioned them so she could keep her sitting upright, so Kaisuki was laid back against her chest. When he'd first found his best friend, she'd been spitting up fluids about every five minutes, until blood started coming up in chunky mouthfuls and it seemed like her body genuinely couldn't force anything else out of her. Since he'd gotten her back to the boats, she'd spiked a fever and had been consistently sweating, but the vomiting had stopped (thank the gods). Periodically she would wake up, delirious and restless and talking to Sakura and herself and her spirits and possibly straight up hallucinations.
She was "critically dehydrated" in the words of Sakura, and she had expressed that Kaisuki was in more danger than Sasuke and Kakashi even though they had internal damage. She had been able to stop their bleeding, but nothing from her small medical kit had any effect on the symptoms Kaisuki was exhibiting and if she didn't get proper help in a real hospital soon, she'd die of dehydration right in Sakura's lap.
The fear for their teammates' lives had suddenly become something they had in common.
"The best we can do is give her water whenever we can," Sakura had told him anxiously. "I... I don't... I don't have the stuff to run an IV line, I-... I'm sorry Naruto, I'm... she …"
"Could she... really die out here?" Naruto didn't think he'd ever forget the feeling of asking that question.
Nor would he ever be able to forget the look in Sakura's seafoam green eyes when she looked him in the eye and imparted to him: "If we don't get home fast, they could all die out here."
Sasuke and Kakashi had stopped bleeding - Sakura had been able to "cauterize their wounds with irou-ninjutsu" (a sentence which had not been explained to Naruto). Apparently, that treatment was only enough to keep them alive for so long: they were in pain, there was a very high risk of infection festering in the amount of time it would take them to get home and, beyond all of that, Sakura's remedy for their bleeding wouldn't hold out forever. If they were jostled too much, their wounds would reopen.
"Eventually they'll start getting worse again and when they do, they'll... they'll die quick."
He hoped his mentor and best friend would at least live long enough to find out that he had taught himself to walk on water.
Don't say hope. He'll live. They'll all live. They'll all live or I'll kill everyone and then myself.
"Not to be dramatic, or anything," Kyuubi snickered at him.
Naruto breathed out a tired sigh. The Kyuubi wasn't typically so talkative. He didn't understand why, but he knew the Demon Fox was worried about Kaisuki too. He just wanted to get there already. If every minute counted, they were taking way too long right? He hadn't even realized his expression had shifted into a stony look of fear and despair until Sakura spoke up.
"We'll get them there, Naruto," she promised, touching his shoulder. "I ... I'm sorry I couldn't... that I can't..." He looked up at her, looking her in the eye, and saw tears falling one after the other down her cheeks.
She swallowed and forced out brokenly: "I'm sorry I was so useless."
Naruto stared at her, shocked. She felt useless? She was the only reason they were even alive! If it had been him alone, Kakashi and Sasuke would've bled out! He wouldn't have known what was even wrong with Kaisuki. He wouldn't have known where the boats they currently rode in were. He wouldn't have known which way to go to get home! He had been hopelessly useless the whole time, not her! So why...?
"N-no, what are you talking about, Sakura-chan?" He asked with genuine confusion. "If you weren't here, I don't even know what I would've done... or could've done."
Sakura smiled ruefully at him. She still looked so sad. "Well, you probably would've gone the wrong way on the river, at least."
He grinned at her, stood up from being on his haunches, flexing his biceps. "Most directionless ninja to ever live!"
She laughed at that, and that was honestly his goal in that moment so he considered the interaction a success.
"I'm gonna go back up to the front," he told her before he slowly climbed out of the boat, careful not to rock it.
Naruto checked the rope connecting the two boats as he walked past it on the water, making sure it was still good and tight. He swallowed the lump in his throat, pressing a hand to his chest and feeling his heart hammering away. Taking occasional breaks to talk to Sakura was probably the only reason he hadn't lost his mind and had a breakdown.
He climbed into the lead boat and immediately pulled down the blanket covering Sasuke and Kakashi to check on them. Their faces were still a normal amount of pale. The shadows under their eyes hadn't changed. Sakura had explained that if they started panting, or if their faces got sweaty and flushed, then they were in the danger zone. So, Naruto checked on them periodically, listened to their breathing, and pressed a hand to their foreheads to monitor their temperature, and of course checked their pulse.
He was so stressed. Sasuke and a lot of his other peers had made it look easy to take charge of a situation, accomplish the mission, and protect everyone. It seemed to come naturally to some of them, though he knew they were all trained from an even younger age by their parent's high expectations. Was it something innate that made some people better able to handle a stressful situation? Was it experience? Maybe it was because of Sasuke's past that he tended to do well in emergency scenarios that Kakashi planned for them?
Well, to be fair, those are fake scenarios.
"I'm sure Ino would say 'because he's a prodigy'", Naruto muttered bitterly to himself, mocking her tone of voice as he peered through the fog, picking up an oar and sticking it in the water. Very little movement was required to steer the boat so he kept the oar mostly still and just used it to occasionally push off the ground. "Fuckin'... meaningless word."
Nearly every kid with a well-known family (which was his whole class) was declared a prodigy or genius by their parents while in the Academy, to the point that the word meant next to nothing to the class failure. Being known as a prodigy to the village was honestly just a red flag for a pretentious jack-...
"N-Naru... to..."
Naruto turned around a little too quickly at the sound of someone saying his name and the boat rocked violently. For a moment, he was certain that the boat was going to flip and send them all to drown in the river. He reached out with both hands to steady himself with the rims of the boat as it rocked. The splashing was truly excessive and in the dead silent of the night it sounded nearly like a stampede of wild horses.
"Who said that?" he hissed, as the boat settled again, getting low and creeping over to the blanket, pulling it down. Sasuke was still out cold. Kakashi was peering at him with a half-open black eye. The orange-clad ninja wasn't sure what to do; Sakura hadn't mentioned the possibility of either of them waking up.
"K-Kakashi-sensei? How are you feeling?" He began uncertainly. Nurses asked those kinds of questions to gauge consciousness, right? "Do you know where you are?" Hadn't he heard that during one of Kaisuki's fainting spells once? Maybe?
"I... nevermind that," his teacher breathed out, his one eye closing and his eyebrows pulling together. Naruto could barely hear him. He looked out over the edge of the boat. It seemed like the water was starting to move more in this area. Didn't that mean they were close? Or did it mean they had another few hours? He couldn't remember, there had been so many details he'd been trying to go over in his head for hours and...
"Listen, Naruto," Kakashi's hand grabbed his collar and yanked him forward with surprising strength. He groaned at the movement though when the boat rocked further. "This is... important. Can you remember?"
"I can remember." He said immediately, leaning forward more so he could hear better.
His sensei stared at him, and Naruto recognize doubt and worry in his mentor's gaze. Why would he look like that? Naruto felt his stomach sink as the possibility that even his sensei didn't think he was capable as a leader sank in.
No, that can't be right...
"You're no idiot or airhead."
"You'll need a password to be allowed on the docks," Kakashi whispered to him, drawing him back out of his thoughts. Naruto swallowed and nodded.
He wasn't sure how his sensei knew which docks they were even going to, let alone the specific password they'd need while he was missing two pints of blood or more. Naruto had hoped that showing off his Kyuubi chakra would be convincing for a password. Then again, in retrospect, that was very clearly a bad idea and might get them killed on sight.
"The password - are you listening?"
"I'm listening," Naruto assured his sensei again.
"The password you will need is: red mountains, blue fish, yellow sun, black moon."
His mentor sounded a little out of it now. Naruto peered at his face carefully. "Are you okay, sensei?" He asked softly.
"Repe... repeat it back," Kakashi breathlessly forced out in reply, dismissing his concerns. "Red mountains, blue fish-..."
"Yellow sun, black moon, I got it." He promised. "Red mountains, blue fish, black, er, yellow m-uh, sun, yea, and, black moon. I got it."
Kakashi gave him a look that clearly said he wanted to continue the conversation but Naruto could see his consciousness fading again. He leaned forward and repeated it again, this time clearly and close to his mentor so he could hear. He didn't want the old man to be fretting about it.
"Red mountains, blue fish, yellow sun, black moon." He recited. "Also, everyone's alive."
When he pulled back to look at his teacher, the man had passed out again, his tense expression seemed just slightly more relaxed. Naruto sucked in a breath and sat back on his haunches. He dug a hand into his kunai pouch, searching around for a writing utensil and a notebook. He always carried one, as per Sakura's suggestion soon after they'd started training together.
He hastily scribbled the words down, rewriting it a couple times on clean pages until he was satisfied with the clarity of the message. He ripped out the extras and stuffed them in a pocket of his pants. The notebook he slid into his main pockets, where he would normally leave his hands in cold weather. He would remember it there.
He finally turned back to the front of the boat, carefully this time so as to not shake it again. His hand reached out blindly for the oar, his eyebrows coming together as he peered around in the dim light, before it very suddenly clicked in his head exactly what had happened – he'd dropped it in the river when Kakashi had called his name.
"Ah, FUCK!" he hollered before he could stop himself and panic surged through him. He'd lost the oar. Oh, gods, he was an idiot. He sucked in a breath, thinking of a solution. Was there a second oar? The water was picking up more. Sakura had mentioned rapids, hadn't she?
He carefully moved around Sasuke and Kakashi, going to the back of the boat and out to Sakura. "Sakura!" He whisper-yelled. He didn't think she'd hear him the moment he spoke. Not loud enough. "Sakura!" he called a little louder.
"Naruto?" She called back. "Wha- what's wrong?"
"U-um..." he realized only at that moment that he would have to admit that he'd lost the oar in a very stupid way. His heart sank. Just when Sakura was starting to think he was kind of cool. "I ... Kakashi-sensei woke up and I dropped the oar because I was in a rush to get over to him. I... Is there another oar in your boat?"
A pause. He could almost hear her calling him a moron in her head and he sighed loudly. "N... Oh! Wait, here," she called back. She didn't sound as annoyed as he thought she would be. There was movement, and she crawled over to him, handing him a half-length shovel. Why did they have a half-length shovel? To bury the team with?
"I- what..."
"Its not perfect," Sakura explained sheepishly. "But, I mean, you can use it in a pinch, right?"
He blinked, his lips pressed together as the urge to cry came up his throat. He swallowed it down and took the shovel from her. The boats rocked a bit.
"We're hitting faster waters," Sakura said. She looked at him. "I think there's like, mild rapids? But they might be a bit long. And right when the water calms down again, that's where the access to Konoha's docks will be."
Naruto clenched his teeth, breathing through his emotions. She was so nice to him. "Okay. Hang on to Kaisuki, this might get pretty rough with two boats." He warned, "I gotta..."
"Go!" Sakura urged, and started moving away as well. He took a breath and quickly moved back to the front of the boat. They rocked a bit but he was careful not to make it worse than it already was. He took just a moment to tuck the blanket hiding Kakashi and Sasuke down, putting travel bags in both their laps in the empty hope that it would hold them down. Sakura had said "mild rapids" so maybe it wouldn't be too bad, but he wanted to be ready for anything.
Especially since he was so well-known for his failures and mistakes.
Well, don't decide it ahead of time, me.
He pushed the thoughhts out of his head, reminding himself of what he'd been told since graduating the Academy, rather than what had been said while he was still there. He could do it. He knew he could do it and he was going to do it. If he didn't, everyone was going to die. He quite literally did not have a choice but to succeed. The rushing waters seemed to be moving almost in slow motion, his heart racing and his blood pounding.
He could be the hero he had imagined himself as a child. He could do it.
"I've got this," he said to himself out loud. "I've got this."
"You've got this, boy," the Kyuubi purred in his head. "You're no idiot, you know."
"You're no idiot or airhead, Naruto."
"I know you're capable of this; will you trust me?"
"You're a lot cooler than you give yourself credit for."
"Let go of your wounded ego and acknowledge yourself."
He squeezed the handle on his makeshift oar, focusing on the waters and the task at hand. Don't break the boats, don't let the boats flip, keep everyone alive, try not to make it too rough on his passengers. The waters looked like much more intense rapids that Sakura had said they would be. Maybe by mild she meant brief, rather than actually mild. He glanced back at the motionless forms of his friends. His team. His family, even if they didn't quite feel that way. He was genuinely their only hope. He had to. There was no question.
Don't think; just do it.
He leaned forward, placing a hand on the rim of the boat, watching the waters. They were moving downhill. That was why the waters were speeding up.
Naruto spotted a rock incoming and jabbed out with the shovel, hitting the rock with enough force to ricochet the boat away from it without touching it. But a moment later, he heard a sharp yelp and a slamming sound - the second boat had jackknifed into the rock.
But Sakura didn't keep yelling. So her boat was okay.
But this isn't gonna work with two boats...
He needed to steer from the back but...
An idea sprang into his mind and he didn't think about it. He released his chakra and was immediately almost thrown to his butt. But he maneuvered himself out of the boat as quickly as he could, running alongside the boats until he was parallel to the back one. He would need more control. A hand-seal later, there were 10 Narutos and they all grabbed different parts of the boats, running alongside them. The water splashing him and his 9 clones was colder than ice and it took an immense amount of physical strength from each individual clone to actually control the boats, but he was doing it. He was doing it!
A grin appeared on his face. He was doing it! He just needed to get past the rapids and they'd be home free. So close. They were so close!
He looked into Sakura's boat, seeing that she was watching him and smiling as well. Kaisuki had opened her eyes and was staring at the sky. They would be okay. Everything was going to be okay. It was fine. He could do this. He could protect his team, get them to safety, get them the medical assistance they needed, and most importantly get them all home. He could do it. He could do it.
.
The rapids were pretty mild as rapids go, as Sakura had said, but they were long. After about 15 minutes of running alongside the boats and controlling their movement, Naruto felt weak and faint. He hadn't eaten in hours and last time he had it was soggy noodles that had been in his backpack, from the start of their boat trip over 24 hours ago. But they had to be close. They had to be.
"Naruto, I can see the end of the rapids!"
He hadn't even realized his eyes were closed. He opened them quickly. Indeed, he noticed then that the water seemed to be slowing down. He needed to stop. So close. So close.
Being the original Naruto, he traded places with a new clone and hurried to the front, climbing in. He was so tired. He kept pushing his clones though. He could feel their fatigue and knew it was only a matter of moments before he lost them all. But they were so close!
He grabbed the front rim of the boat. His clones started moving to brace for an abrupt change in water movement and with a lot of shaking and splashing, they cleared the rapids. He immediately let go of his clones, wheezing and breathing heavily. He was exhausted. So tired.
"Where have you come from, traveler!" Someone shouted from far away. Naruto sat up, eyes wide in shock and immediate fear.
"Who's there!?" He hollered back, jumping to his feet and nearly dropping back to the ground immediately from the shaking of the boat. "Hello?"
"Where have you come from, traveler?" They repeated more clearly. Something was nagging in Naruto's head.
"The password, boy." The Kyuubi reminded him with a snicker.
"Oh!" He exclaimed, reaching into his pocket. His eyes widened. The book was gone. Where did it...?
"Ah, FUCK!" he yelled again, patting himself down. It must've fallen out when he was running along the water. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
"Where have you come from traveler?" Their boat was slowing down rapidly, very clearly artificially. If he messed up the password would they all be executed immediately? Why did this dock need a password, anyway?
"Uh, uh, oh, I, uh, I come from... I uh..."
"Just say it!"
"R-Red, uh, mountains, blue... blue fish!" Naruto yelled back to voice on the other side of the fog, "And uhh... Y-, bla... oh! Oh, yes! Okay!" He was so anxious. He wiped his sweaty hands on his pants, not caring in the least if the gods themselves saw it. "Red mountains, blue fish, yellow sun, black moon!"
He had been expecting an instant reply, at least within a couple seconds, but there was none. Was stumbling over his words not acceptable? Had he said it wrong? Did Kakashi give him an old or incorrect or incomplete password? Were they at the wrong docks? If they gave that password to the wrong dock, would they be imprisoned or killed or something? Where they even in the right country?
He realized abruptly that he was shaking head to foot. And after a good minute and a half there was still no reply. "Hello? Red mountains, blue fish, yellow sun, black moon!?" He tried again. "Uh, is... should I be, uh, doing something now? I'm Uzumaki Naru-..."
"Please hold!" The voice that had shouted to him before hollered at him from on high. He took in a shaky breath and looked around, though he wasn't sure for what. Would they care if he checked on his team while he waited? Hopefully not, because he hadn't gotten a chance to since they'd been in the rapids.
He held up his hands looking around into the fog. Would there be people watching them? Maybe. Better to move slowly and deliberately so they didn't think he was trying something funny. He walked over to the blanket hiding his sensei and teammate, very carefully pulling the blanket down on Kakashi's side. He slowly peeled the fabric down, noticing that it was damp.
Kakashi's face was gray and he was breathing so quickly and shallowly that at first Naruto couldn't tell if he was breathing at all. He lowered the blanket more to check his side, but his mentor's clothes were wet. Naruto carefully tried to peel his shirt up but the spandex was so tight and he didn't want to jostle anything when he didn't know what he was doing. Regardless of whether he could see the wound or not, Kakashi was getting worse like Sakura had said he might. He pulled down the other side quickly to check on his other passenger, but Sasuke seemed fine. He was breathing a little heavily and he was definitely pale, but not in the same shape as their sensei by a long shot.
Dropping all the pretenses he'd been keeping up for the snipers he was sure were watching, he vaulted himself out of the boat and ran over to Sakura's side. "Sakura!" he called in a what could've been described as panic, "K-Kakashi-sensei is-..."
He thought he heard approaching footsteps but he ignored it and climbed into the boat. "Naru... what's wrong?" Sakura sounded startled by his sudden shout and appearance. She looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.
"Kakashi-sensei looks really bad, Sakura," he panicked at her.
"Bad how?"
"Uh, like," he didn't know how to explain it in her medical terms. "He looks like a corpse? And he's breathing really heavily. And I think he's bleeding again but I couldn't check, plus he's wet and kind of cold... I-is... is Kaisuki okay?"
"She seems to be staying stable for now." Sakura replied, "But... I dunno, it seems like her body is in some kinda stasis. Her heart is beating on a perfect rhythm with mine and I'm afraid if I let go of her..."
"How... can she be in a stasis?"
"I don't know, she... she woke up and was doing something weird earlier, but I didn't think anything of it because you... you know, we're in emergency mode but I... I... I'm really worried, Naruto, how long until we can get them...?"
"I dunno, they said to hold and that's why I'm-..."
"Aka Ned Ban Uni - Wolf!"
Naruto held up a finger to Sakura and stood up so quickly he almost fell and had to make arm circles to gather his balance. "Uh, y-yes?"
"Confirm password!"
"R-red mountain, blue fish, yellow sun, black moon!" He had it memorized now, of course. "Please, my sensei is, he's getting worse! I'm his student, Kakashi-..."
"Hold information!" The person was beginning to sound annoyed but Naruto pursed his lips and waited for what seemed like an eternity before a pulsing light appeared in the fog.
"F-... Should I follow the light? Or is it... is it another code because I only got one from my sensei and..."
"Follow!" Now they were definitely annoyed. Naruto hopped out of the rear boat with a quick, relieved glance at Sakura, jogged up and grabbed the side of the front boat and started dragging it towards the light. It moved now, with ease, and he started walking with it. His legs felt like jelly. Almost there though. He hadn't been this drained... possibly ever, if he truly thought about it.
He felt nauseous but not... not like a normal nausea. "Hey, Kyuubi?" he called out. "Any chance I could get a hand here?" No response. He frowned but ignored it, pushing himself into a run to get them moving and then jumping back in the boat. He didn't think he'd be able to do that again. Not without spitting up his nonexistent lunch anyway.
He felt so tired. And... warm. He touched his hands together. They seemed pretty cold.
He shivered. "Kyuubi?" He looked around for the oar before remembering that he'd lost it a century ago. Do I have enough for... maybe three clones? To walk the boat? He looked around at the water helplessly. Maybe he should ask for help. Was he allowed to do that?
He looked at Kakashi. He couldn't tell if the man was even alive. He summoned two clones and sat down so he could give them more of his chakra. He kept his eyes closed, concentrated on what they were doing to conserve as much as possible. He really didn't feel well. He'd never had chakra exhaustion before. Usually he made a point to keep his body from running out, since the Kyuubi might...
His mind sort of blanked out for a moment, and he felt someone grab his arm a bit roughly. A surge of anger hit him almost as soon as he woke up and he snarled at the hand that had touched him with a viciousness that he didn't even know he'd had the energy to preform.
"Easy," the voice that spoke was familiar. Naruto stared into Iruka's eyes for a long time. Why was his old teacher here?
"Why?" He heard movement and turned around. There were people touching his friends. People he didn't know. Why he was so hot?
"Naruto," Iruka called to him, and he turned to him. "Listen. The village heard about what happened on the border ... gods, days ago. We've been searching for you all. I..." Iruka let out a soft sigh, a breath that sounded winded, but not from running. "It's genuinely lucky that I thought maybe you'd take the water back, so I stayed at this post even though all the search parties kept telling me they were finding trails of you elsewhere."
Naruto felt confused for some reason. "Where are my... clones?"
"Naruto, you just blacked out from chakra exhaustion," Iruka told him, "Y... listen, your seal... I need to take you to the hospital separate from everyone else. You... the ..."
The man looked like he was hiding something. More movement tore his attention away from Iruka and he spotted a stretcher carrying Kaisuki and a pale Sakura go by. Sakura had her wrist pressed up against Kaisuki's chest and her whole arm was glowing. Naruto felt only more confused. Why did he feel so freaked out?
"Iruka," a voice spoke. He turned to see a white mask.
"Wolf," the Chuunin instructor replied. "I've got this. They all need hospitals first."
Naruto didn't know what that meant and his hand clenched into a fist without him thinking about it. He felt the skin on his palms break and start to bleed. "Where are my friends going?"
Iruka looked at Wolf with visible irritation and the man turned and walked off, waving the hostility off with a dismissive hand. "They're going ahead of us. You and me are riding with Kaisuki and Sakura, don't worry about a thing. We have this whole escort thing going on to keep you all safe, it's okay, Naruto. Will you come with me?"
Hearing that he was going with Kaisuki made him feel better. Naruto nodded stiffly, still watching that Wolf person as he walked off. Naruto was sure he'd seen the man around but he couldn't remember where or when. Wolf, huh? He'd remember him.
Iruka's hand gingerly touched his shoulder as they were getting onto the docks and Naruto instinctively jerked away. He didn't want to be touched. He still felt... hot and bothered, he supposed.
He smirked at his own humor and noticed that his face felt wrong. He slowed to a stop. "Iruka... sensei..." he said softly. Using his voice felt wrong. "W-... something's wrong, right?"
Iruka didn't turn to him right away. When he did, it was a stiff movement. "You feel it, right? Don't pretend you don't. And please don't ask questions, just come with me, okay? You know how it goes."
Naruto wasn't sure what he meant but he followed him. He could trust Iruka, even if the man seemed ... nervous.
They got into a large wheelbarrow of a wagon, pulled by horses. Naruto was beginning to feel more alert, but... in an anxious way. "Where's Sakura and Kaisuki?" He asked, looking around. Hot anger was bubbling under his skin and it was uncomfortable. He needed to keep track of his friends. He couldn't lose track of them. He couldn't lose track.
"They're coming," Iruka replied as he dug around in a cooler, his voice still tense but somehow friendlier now that they were on the wagon. Something was itching at the back of Naruto's mind. But he pushed it down. He felt like he should. He felt like something like this had happened before. Chakra exhaustion? He didn't feel like he was low on chakra.
Iruka stood up from the cooler, a drink in hand. "Kaisuki needs to be loaded up with chakra and some fluids before we can move her. It was dangerous for her to be on the water like that, she's..." he smiled a little sadly. "She's tough. But she'll be a few minutes, probably, and Sakura's gotta stay with her until they can stabilize her heartbeat."
Naruto frowned. But he nodded nonetheless and took the drink. He was very thirsty.
Something was telling him not to but he was so thirsty, so he tore to cap off with his teeth and drank the whole bottle in what felt like exactly one huge gulp.
Immediately, he felt tired. "Wh-what... wa...wasssat?" He slurred as his knees buckled, sending him towards the wooden floor of the wagon. Iruka rushed forward and caught him before he hit the ground. He was so tired. Why was he so tired?
"I was trying to explain, Naruto," Iruka said as he was falling asleep. "You're suffering from chakra exhaustion. You're... dangerous right now."
His eyes closed.
...
He supposed it must've been parenthood if they were the very first thing he thought of when he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes, already knowing he was in a hospital. To his right, he immediately saw a window. He lifted his head a bit, still laid back in bed and spotted Sasuke and Sakura on the other side of the room... but only the two of them. Ignoring the pain in his side, the white-haired man sat up.
Sakura, who had been hunched over her knees, sat straight up with wide, watery eyes. Sasuke noticed her movement and followed her gaze, spotting their awakened instructor.
"S-sensei!" Sakura gasped out, relieved as she stumbled to her feet. "You're awake, thank gods-..."
"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked right away. The two of them nodded and he followed with another question: "Where are Naruto and Kaisuki?"
There was a pause as Sakura's lip trembled at him, the despair and distress on her face leading him to fear the worst. Hadn't he spoken to Naruto just a while ago, though? Had it been a dream? No, it had been so real. What about Kaisuki? He had only recalled seeing her on the ground, barely moving. Did that mean...?
"We're all alive and well, Kakashi," Sasuke answered him. He sounded as cranky as he looked. The boy had always hated being in hospitals, even when it was just to visit his older brother. He'd been the same when he was too little to understand why his brother was always so beat up.
"They won't let us see Naruto or Kaisuki." The Uchiha ground out, personally offended.
"They were just like, 'oh yea, they're both fine, don't worry about it'!" The hurt and frustration that Sakura's trembling lip had implied exploded out of her all at once, tears and gesticulating included. "I mean, I don't understand! If they're fine, why the heck can't we see them?! Last time I saw Kaisuki she was... and I thought that... and Naruto's...! It's just so stupid! H-how could they-..."
"Woah, woah, slow down," Kakashi held up a hand, "I'm sure it's alright, and they might let you see them if I come with you. But... first, will you tell me: what the hell happened?"
.
Naruto looked more uncomfortable than Kakashi had ever seen him and the Jounin understood why his Genin students had been disallowed from seeing him. Aside from the fact that he was in a bank vault-styled observation room made to contain him if he lost control of the Kyuubi, of course. The blond looked pale and washed out against the off-white floors and walls.
Naruto was bouncing a tennis ball off the glass between himself and whoever was on the other side. Clearly, he couldn't see Kakashi and Sarutobi because he was throwing it at the glass a couple feet to the right of them. His vividly blue eyes and expressive face seemed dull and pallid compared to his normal sunny attitude and sun-kissed complexion.
It was Kakashi's first time seeing one of the vaults. He had known of them, being former ANBU, and he'd even known who they were for - but he had never seen them in person, let alone in use. Now that it had been thrust into his face, as a simple result of being assigned to their particular team, the apathy he'd had about the existence of the prison cells specifically for children had been melted by a simmering, awful hatred of the village he had grown up in and served his entire life.
What the fuck are we doing here?
"Can he see us?" Kakashi asked stiffly, his hand clenched into tight fists in his pockets. It was difficult for him to keep his tone neutral and free of inappropriate language. Knowing about the vaults was one thing; seeing them in active use when there was no need for it was another thing entirely. He could probably have brought Naruto and Kaisuki out of it if he'd been conscious.
These old bastards...
"No, no of course not," the Hokage responded with a chuckle that sounded far too lighthearted considering they were watching a child in a prison. "I'm not that cruel. He'll never know you were here if you don't tell him. He may ask, though."
For a brief second, Kakashi wondered if Iruka knew about the vault. He had only learned of it after joining ANBU. Iruka shouldn't have the clearance to know about it, which meant that …
You've been enduring this silently, too, haven't you?
His teeth hurt from the force of his clenched teeth. He made himself relax his mandible long enough to ask in the most neutral tone he could: "He's been... what's the word you like to use... well-behaved?" Despite his efforts, the dryness of his words was unmistakable.
The Hokage sighed, looking almost human for a moment. As if he could actually feel guilt, for just a moment. "I know what you think of me, Kakashi. But I do this to keep the village safe."
"And what have you done about Asuma?" Kakashi hissed in response, his fury simmering. Why were his kids being punished when they hadn't done a single thing wrong? When it was the fault of the village that they had wound up in such grave danger in the first place? "I understand your intent, Hokage-sama but..."
"I am doing something about him, Kakashi, relax," the old man sighed, turning to him with a conniving smile on his face that Kakashi hadn't seen since the last war. His stomach twisted and the anger in his belly seemed to be consuming him. "He seems dormant for now, but he's being observed. Trust me on this."
Treason is starting to sound like a good idea.
Kakashi's gaze remained cold and neutral as he stared intently at the Hokage. He wondered if the old man could tell that he was nearing his last straw. He wondered if the old bastard loved anything as much as he loved going to war.
"Don't use my kids as bait, old man. Don't." He breathed out through clenched teeth in a tone he had never used towards the Hokage. He realized a little belatedly that he had made a silent threat. "Just... please don't."
Don't accidentally commit treason, me, at least do it on purpose.
"Just," the old man replied, holding up a finger to his lips, "trust me."
The Hokage then took his leave. Kakashi was left standing there, staring after him, his chakra swirling around just behind his Sharingan. It would be so easy to just...
He looked back over to where Naruto was and winced slightly when he saw the blue-eyed boy was looking in his direction, though not directly at his face. Had he felt that? He hoped so. He wanted Naruto to know he was there even if it was technically disallowed. Kaisuki was downstairs and Saeka could probably sense him even as far underground as he knew she was compared to Naruto. He wondered if she knew that not even he was allowed in to see her. The Hokage had said she was still sleeping and possibly unstable but Kakashi didn't believe it for a second. Most of the officials still seemed to be operating under the assumption that if Kaisuki wasn't specifically in control of her body, then she was a dangerous threat.
They've changed nothing and clearly read none of my reports.
He clenched his fists and started walking down the hall, in the opposite direction of the exit. He wasn't allowed to see her, but...
.
"W-we can't..." Sakura softly admitted. Kakashi's eyebrows came together in immediate confusion. "I-I mean... t-they told us..."
"We can't talk to each other until we debrief the Hokage," Sasuke filled in for Sakura again. He seemed calm, though his tone reflected his own frustration. He clearly didn't like the ruling that had been made. Kakashi didn't blame him. It was absurd to tell them they weren't allowed to talk about what had happened. How was he supposed to do his due diligence for them as the only adult in three of their lives if he wasn't allowed to speak frankly with them?
"And they wouldn't let you see Naruto or Kaisuki, either?" Kakashi asked them, reaching up and pressing his hand to the hospital mask that had replaced his normal one while he was unconscious. He noticed a flicker of shame in Sakura's eyes as she watched him adjust it around his nose bridge. She must've put it on for him, meaning she had seen his face. Of course, the nurses didn't care to put one on him after removing his usual one. He wasn't exactly the most respected person in the village.
He was grateful that she had thought of it, though.
"No," Sakura answered softly when Sasuke looked to her. "They wouldn't even tell me where they were in the hospital and I-..." she looked towards the door to see if anyone was nearby and leaned over Sasuke's bed to say quietly to Kakashi, "I snuck around a little, and I guess... I guess a lot of our class is in the hospital, right now. So, I went around to give, y'know, flowers from Ino's shop to everyone while you two were still... a-anyway, I looked everywhere I could go, and I swear they're not even in this hospital."
Kakashi knew right away where they were. He knew about the facilities underground made to house them when they seemed unstable to the aged minds that ran their village. He lowered his eyes to the floor, wishing there was something he could do to get them out. How did such a policy and facilities have any place during peace time?
"You don't need to panic," he told them with a heavy sigh. "I know right where they are. I don't know if they'll let me see them, but the two of them should be let out in a day or two."
Sakura gave him a look that very, very clearly stated that she was not reassured by his words. Sasuke had fallen silent. It was possible that Kaisuki had told him about that place. Kakashi tried to play it off but it was hard to look them in the eyes.
"They will be okay," he repeated. "I know that for certain."
.
Kakashi walked up to the door at the end of the hall. The door to Kaisuki's vault had been updated and looked a lot more hi-tech. It could probably withstand a lot, but... after what he'd seen the other day, he had a feeling even that wasn't enough.
There were three guards at the door. No one he knew. He walked up to the door. He knew they would turn him away but he needed Kaisuki to know he had tried to see her. He didn't want her to think for even a second that he was even remotely okay with the way the village treated her and Naruto... or the way it had treated Uchiha Sasuke and Itachi, or Kakashi's own father.
He walked up to the guards. One of them, a person with purple hair and a badger mask, stepped up to him, looking intimidating despite being a solid three inches shorter than him. "What do you think you're doing, huh? You know you're not allowed through here, Hatake. Nobody is."
Being referred to by his last name still felt like a slap in the face, but he pretended it didn't bother him. "Well, I guess I was hoping that maybe it was someone I knew guarding the door so I could bribe them like any reasonable guard, but it figures that that's not the case." He said with a sigh. He pressed his palm to the back of his head, noting right away the way they all shifted, expecting him to make a move. "There's really no way I can see her? Can't even get a message down? Could I write a note to put on her lunch tray? I think I have a notebook, if you don't mind?"
She wouldn't know that he'd been by otherwise. There was a lot of ninjutsu and metal between them specifically so Saeka couldn't escape or tell what was going out outside. It had been tested, and granted, it was possible that Saeka had flat out lied but... they'd taken measures to make sure it was accurate.
The guard who had stepped forward relaxed only slightly when Kakashi slowly lowered his arm again. They really were expecting him to make a move. Geez, what was Danzo telling ANBU about him? Was he also considered a Dangerous Person to ANBU, just not enough to make the public version of the list?
The two guards in the back exchanged an uncertain look. "Fine, Hatake," one of them, the Bear, said. "Don't touch your pockets," he walked up, pulling out a small notebook and a little pencil. "If it'll prevent an incident, yes, you can write her a short note. Just so she knows you tried to come by. Yea, I know that's why you're here."
Kakashi paused, before he slowly received the pencil and book. He nodded slowly, feeling bitter but understanding they were just doing their job – even though he hated them for it. He pressed the notebook up against the flat wall and scribbled a brief message to Kaisuki, telling her he had tried to come by and hadn't been allowed, and that the team was thinking of her and they'd be happy to see her soon. He signed his name on the back of the page, stepping away from the wall and passing the implements to the ANBU guard.
"Thanks, I... really appreciate this," Kakashi said softly, softer than he had intended. The ANBU guard regarded him for a moment before he nodded stiffly and waved him off.
"I'll make sure she gets this."
Kakashi wasn't sure if he even believed that they would really pass her that note. But nonetheless, he turned away and started walking. Kaisuki was a good hundred meters deeper underground than Naruto, so Kakashi waited until he was passing by the blond's room again before he put his hands in his pockets. He paused, looking into the room housing his other student. Naruto had stopped throwing the tennis ball and was instead slowly rolling it against his leg with his palm. He looked impossibly bored.
He thought of his father. He wondered about the rules he'd broken, about the events that had led up to his questionable death. Had the decision he'd been forced to make loomed over him for weeks in advance, like Kakashi felt right then? Or was he just being dramatic? He just wanted his kids to be safe, even though that was objectively impossible in the world of Shinobi.
He sighed softly.
…
Even after the hospital had stabilized her, Kaisuki didn't wake up. On occasion, Saeka would take control of the body to ensure that their needs were being met. The nurses had expected them to remain unconscious, and when Saeka had come out to use the bathroom or shower, they were always startled. It was sort of amusing to the youngest despite the pain that even she found difficult to move through. Kaisuki didn't like people being afraid of her but, to Saeka, it felt like safety – if everyone was afraid of her, no one would try to hurt or mess with her.
They were in the hospital for a whole day before being moved to the underground vaults. Kaisuki remained asleep through all of it. Two ANBU agents and two doctors with Jounin-level skills were planning to carry her on a stretcher, probably tied down. Instead, she opened her eyes when they came in and very calmly agreed to follow them to the vaults if they agreed to not tie her down to anything.
For some reason, they listened and so she had the pleasure of taking that long walk herself. She wondered if they had simply been weighing the options and had decided that refusing her request would be more trouble than it was worth. She was trying to be better about her emotions and hostility. Khrai had talked to her a lot about it and while she personally didn't care to change their reputation, she did want the Yurei to be trusted at least by the people who interacted with them most frequently.
It hadn't bothered her for a long time but, after their latest mission, Saeka realized that she didn't like Kaisuki being afraid of her. She didn't want the Yurei to hate her. She didn't want that rejection.
"Kaisuki's just as much a kid as ye are, but since yer bot' so young t'at just means ya both have tons o' room to grow and improve yourselves."
She hoped she was improving. Sometimes it was hard to tell.
.
If it wasn't for Saeka watching over the body and keep track of the external environment, none of them would know how much time had passed. The young girl made sure they made it to the bathroom, took showers, ate and drank, and so on. Khrai was thankful for the fact that at least one of the four of them had such a high pain tolerance – though it broke her heart to know that Saeka had been through so much. She really adored the kid.
It had been three days since they had made it back to the village. They spent a day in the hospital and it had been almost two days since arriving in the vault. Saeka only occasionally came down to check in with them, usually just sending her reports through the grapevine from Kaisuki's consciousness to her subconsciousness. That way, Khrai and Izumi were aware as well.
The two of them hadn't spoken much since their first interaction. After she had snarled at the younger spirit, Izumi had taken a step back. Khrai was appreciative of how aware Izumi was of others. She was still upset and didn't want to get into a row with their newcomer. Kaisuki already struggled with relationships, internal and external, and Khrai definitely didn't want to be the reason that those relationships got worse in any way.
She picked at her nails, chewing on her cuticles until they bled. Even though she couldn't be wounded as a spirit within the Yurei, her image still reflected the mess she had made of her fingers. Izumi was watching her and Khrai was refusing to make eye contact.
Hurry up and wake up already, kiddo. It's too quiet in here without you.
"Kakashi-san tried to visit us," Saeka's voice echoed around them. She sounded tired. "He sent a note down with our lunch to tell us everyone survived and they'll be happy to see us again when we get out."
Khrai's head snapped up in surprise. Everyone survived? Not just the Yurei herself, but also their team? Even Kakashi, who had been standing far too close to them at the moment she detonated that spell? It was like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She let out a long breath of relief, her forehead finding its way to her palms.
"T'ank ye, Goddess," she quickly whispered in her native tongue. Her shoulders were shaking. She hadn't realized she had been holding in so much. "Fer blessing us wit' protection."
She heard movement and felt a hand on her forearm. She didn't have to look up to know it was Izumi. She was expecting judgment or another lecture perhaps, but when she lifted her head to reveal her moist eyes and trembling chin, she only found relief and sympathy reflected in Izumi's green eyes.
"I'm relieved too," she quietly said, leaning her head on Khrai's shoulder. "I'm glad things worked out this time, even with the consequences."
Khrai nodded and sniffled. "Aye," she responded thickly. "Me too."
.
In the vault, there was a single, thick mattress on the floor. Saeka had laid them down on it for a nap, as even she wanted to get away from the pain she could feel when she was piloting the body. To an ignorant party, it simply looked as though Kaisuki was sleeping deeply. However, anyone who knew about the Yurei was aware that, just because she appeared to be sleeping, did not mean that she was actually vulnerable.
Saeka was always keeping watch and if she picked up on anything she would rouse them and take charge of any situation if needed. Just opening her eyes with Saeka's hot-pink irises was a deterrent in and of itself.
Kaisuki wouldn't be allowed out of the vault until she took back control and retained it for at least twelve straight hours. That was quite a tall order considering the condition she was in but she couldn't just stay in the vault forever. At some point she had to get up and get back to work. They had been attacked by a horde of demons and, if she was away too long, they might make another attempt while she was unable to help.
She was certain they weren't after her. Khrai had said it was possible but if they had wanted her dead or wanted to capture her, wouldn't they have had someone lying in wait for when she exhausted herself? No such attacker appeared, though, so the only other possibility was that they were after someone else and the person lying in wait had gone after them while she was unconscious.
She needed more information and she wasn't going to get any of it staying asleep.
Kaisuki took a quiet breath and sighed it out. First, she needed to talk to her Guests about everything that had happened and what would be next. She didn't know what she was going to do yet. Would she be able to continue as a Shinobi? Would she be in and out of hospitals for the rest of her life? Would she have to take medication?
In addition to that, she didn't know what the demons' next move would be. Would they hide in waiting for the next opportunity? Would they wait until the next time their team was called out of the village? Would they attack the village to get at their target, whoever it was? There were so many questions and she didn't know if she'd get answers at all, let alone in time to save people.
For the time being, though, she needed to talk to her Guests about something a little closer to home.
"What," she finally spoke. Khrai and Izumi's head snapped up and they watched her carefully. "Is wrong with my body?"
Khrai stiffened visibly but didn't speak, instead looking to Izumi. Since when did Khrai defer to anyone?
"Allow me to introduce myself first, then," Izumi replied to her. "My name is Tachibana Izumi, I'm from the Moon Country. I'm a druidic medic, or an irou-nin as defined by the Shinobi Nations."
"Nice to meet you, Izumi," Kaisuki smiled tiredly at her. She'd been sleeping for days and she still felt like she could sleep for another week. Was the fatigue permanent?
"Do you know how your chakra circulatory system works?" Was Izumi first question. Kaisuki licked her lips and nodded.
"It's the system that carries our chakra throughout our bodies," she answered right away. "It's most similar to the cardiovascular system, or at least that's what Sakura says."
Izumi looked very pleased by her answer and nodded enthusiastically. "Precisely. Next question; has Khrai explained 'chi' to you yet?"
Kaisuki opened her mouth and then closed it. "I... don't think so, no, at least not in-depth. It's basically the Elfin version of chakra, right?"
"Yes," Izumi told her. "Chi is the Elfin version of chakra, that is also my understanding. The main difference between chi and chakra, is that Elves didn't have a circulatory system that carried it. It inhabited their entire bodies. That's why they were so strong."
Did Khrai talk to you about this? Why didn't she talk to me about it?
Khrai cleared her throat. "Before you ask... yea, me and Izumi have met before. Very, very briefly."
"Yes, that's why I'm so upset with her," Izumi added but didn't elaborate. "Chi is far more potent than chakra. If your chakra was as potent as Elfin chi, your body wouldn't be able to contain it at all. You'd turn to a human icicle because you're an ice-type."
Kaisuki nodded, following along easily thus far. Izumi continued. "In particular, Khrai's chi has properties similar to highly caustic acids. That's why it rips you apart when she uses it and that's why you already had nerve damage in your left arm before all this happened."
Izumi took a breath, her eyes betraying the fact that there was something very wrong, just not normal wrong. "Because she flooded your body with her chi, she damaged nerve endings from the tips of your fingers all the way to your spine and brain. Your heart was also damaged but it seems like Sakura and the doctors in the hospital were able to reverse that. Nerve pain is much trickier, and in your case, Khrai's chi melted off important, delicate parts of your nervous system that aren't responding to irou-ninjutsu at all."
Kaisuki was chewing on her lip. "And that means...?"
"You will have chronic nerve pain for the rest of your life," Izumi stated with a sigh. "You're lucky the nerves themselves weren't ruptured. In some cases, injuries like this can heal on their own, but..." She paused, shaking her head in disbelief. "This is beyond severe. Khrai's chi didn't just damage your nerves; it ripped their structures apart, from the nerve fibre to the myelin sheath. Some of your peripheral nerves aren't working at all, and when you wake up you will probably notice patches of numbness across your body."
Kaisuki stared at her. "W-wait... isn't that really bad?"
Izumi nodded a bit erratically, her displeasure showing in her face. "Usually, yes, this level of damage to your myelin sheaths and nerves ought to cause all kinds of issues, including death. You shouldn't be able to move, Kaisuki, but you can and you have been. Saeka has been moving your body around this whole time even though that shouldn't be possible. You're breathing normally, your heart is beating normally, your brain stem is still working just fine."
Kaisuki blinked at her. "That doesn't make sense, Izumi."
"I know!" Izumi threw up her hands as she exclaimed in both excitement and confusion. "I'm not entirely sure how this is possible, but it seems like your chakra has already started adjusting to keep you alive. It can't actually do the exact same job, but it is definitely interacting with your nervous system in ways I don't think I've ever seen before. Your body is compensating very well. It's not going to get rid of the pain but it will allow you to continue to function normally. I don't expect any issues to arise as long as we maintain your chakra levels and avoid chakra exhaustion."
So, she would be in extreme pain for the rest of her life, but at least she could still move and function. Didn't that mean she was a walking dead person? If her chakra was supporting her nervous system and she ran out of chakra... her heart would stop, wouldn't it? She swallowed, her mouth dry. It was worse than she had expected. She was basically on life support, only thanks to her chakra.
She wondered if any medical professionals at the hospital had noticed. It was sort of strange how much Izumi could tell what was going on despite not taking control of the body at any point.
"So," Kaisuki started and stopped, pursing her lips as she considered what she wanted to say or ask. "The pain is permanent and... even now I can feel it. Will I have to quit being..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. After dropping out as a kid and then persuading herself to rejoin the ranks, after putting in so much effort to catch up to everyone – which she still hadn't done! - was she really going to have to quit?
"No," Izumi's reply was more direct and straightforward than Kaisuki expected. She blinked at the irou-nin, waiting for her to continue. "As I said, Kaisuki, I'm an irou-nin. In my home country, I held the title of Druidic Medic. Thanks to a special ability my family has always had, I can grow any plant from the ground without a seed, as long as I've eaten or studied it. Which means," she continued as confusion began to bring Kaisuki's eyebrows together. "I can make you medicine, Kaisuki. Pain relief medication effective enough that you can continue on your path. It might take a little trial and error to figure out the perfect cocktail of herbs for you, but this is my specialty."
So I will have to be on medication... The thought bothered her even though she knew it ought to make her happy. She could continue being a Shinobi and the only thing she had to do was take medication. She could get rid of the pain. She could still live her life with minimal interruption. She wasn't going to die tomorrow and she wasn't going to be left bedridden either, so long as she managed things properly.
Still, the idea of it seemed to hang over her head like some kind of death omen. She was extraordinarily lucky as a Yurei to have a healer as one of her Guests. She ought to consider herself blessed!
But …
.
Izumi watched Kaisuki carefully as she spoke. She watched the girl's face shift from confusion to thoughtfulness, but now the Yurei's red eyes had dropped from making eye contact to staring at the table. There was a tempest of emotion reflected in her eyes, her brows pulled together and her lower lip pouting just slightly.
"Kaisuki," she spoke up to pull the girl out of her thoughts. She knew without having to ask that Kaisuki was distressed about the news. Izumi had worked with many, many young people who had developed chronic illness for a variety of reasons, from genetics to incompatible chakra development. She had seen that lost, frightened expression before.
Kaisuki stiffened when Izumi said her name, but she didn't look up again. "It is my opinion that you should share this information with your team."
"Why? Is it really wort' it if they can't do not'ing to help? They're just gonna be uselessly worried." Khrai interrupted with such a brash, unhelpful question that Izumi wanted to reach across the table and slap her across the mouth.
She understood that the Elf didn't exactly have an agreeable personality, but really? Izumi directed an icy deadpan gaze towards her, shifting her lower jaw to one side, lips pursed to accent her fury, eyebrows raised to illustrate her incredulity and hopefully inform Khrai that she had said the absolute wrong thing for that moment.
She cleared her throat loudly and responded to Khrai's statement. "It's true that your team can't make the pain go away or repair the nerve damage for you, but Khrai is mistaken about making them worry." She stated matter-of-factly. "They will worry for you but, if you don't tell them something's wrong, and something happens to you because of your injuries, what are they supposed to do? How can they support you and keep the team dynamic safe and effective if you're hiding things and lying to them?"
Kaisuki finally looked up at Izumi, her eyes a bit wet. The medic made a crooning noise and moved around the table to sit by Kaisuki, pulling her into an embrace. "I know we just met, but please believe me, Kaisuki. You aren't the only young person I've treated for chronic ailments, I know that face too well."
Kaisuki slowly turned into the embrace, hugging Izumi back as she trembled with soft sobs. "You're not alone, darling. You have me, and Khrai, and Saeka, of course, but more importantly there are people on the outside who love and cherish you.," she imparted warmly. "They want you to be okay and they want to help you and support you the same way you help and support them."
"Khrai," Izumi continued but this time she looked over at Khrai directly. She sympathized with the Elf. They'd only met once before, and only briefly. At the time, Izumi had been alive and they'd had a reasonably good working relationship. However, there was an incident that Izumi wasn't present for that resulted in the Elf accidentally killing her Host. Izumi didn't know exactly what had happened and perhaps Khrai would never speak on it, but she saw the aftermath.
She remembered seeing the sweet, red-haired young girl, an orphan known only as Machiru to the village, turned into nothing more than a dark red smear of flesh in the center of a small crater. There weren't any whole parts left. Not even fragments of bone or strips of skin could be identified. It was as though the girl had been melted and blended into a cherry red smoothie.
Machiru had been so young and so small when she died. Izumi had never forgotten that. She had never forgotten Khrai.
The Elf was gazing back at her, waiting for her to say her piece.
"The most important thing," Izumi continued, her words measured carefully, "is that you cannot fight anymore. I know," she raised her voice when Khrai opened her mouth to unleash her usual torrent of fury and strangely, the Elf fell silent while she continued. "I know that this sounds harsh, but you are simply too powerful, Khrai. And unless you want to erase your Host from existence again, you need to take a step back. We should focus on training Kaisuki herself and helping her develop the skills and strength she needs as a Shinobi and as her own person."
Khrai swallowed but still didn't speak. She looked very upset. Izumi sighed and continued. "As we build up Kaisuki's chakra resevoirs, she'll be in less danger of chakra exhaustion and she'll be able to do much more."
"Since Kaisuki is an ice-type, I think the smarter thing for us to do as internal, experienced mentors," she softened her tone a bit and Khrai looked her in the eye again. "Is to help Saeka and Kaisuki perfect their teamwork. Saeka's chakra is very hot, but I believe Kaisuki's has the potential to become as cold as Saeka's is hot. If we can achieve that, Saeka's chakra won't be so hard on Kaisuki."
The Elf blinked, slowly taking in Izumi's words. Kaisuki was still pressed against the irou-nin's bosom and she had gone limp again. She must've passed out. She had only just woken up internally and the pain from her body had to be exhausting. It had been exhausting for Saeka as well.
.
On the other side of the door to the kotatsu room, Saeka sat with her knees against her chest and her palms pressed against the ground she sat on, talons splayed out, back to the door. She'd put the body down for a nap and had decided to step away from the reins. The pain that Kaisuki was experiencing was intense. Saeka had had worse in terms of intensity but the difference was that the pain in their Host's body was constant. It didn't ebb and flow like broken bones or stab wounds. It wasn't something that would go away with healing or treatment like a chopped off limp or severed tongue. It wasn't localized to one area like a whipping. It was the entire body, vibrating with agonizing electricity, invisible pins pressed into every bit of flesh, inside and out.
She had wanted to go into the kotatsu room to sleep but instead had come in time to hear Izumi mentioning her. Izumi was still very new and Saeka wasn't sure about her. She'd been so angry at Khrai but it sounded like she was calmer now. She was still shy about interacting with the woman though. She gave off a presence that Saeka wasn't familiar with. It felt comfortable in a way but she didn't like it because it was so foreign.
Khrai was easy to get to know and trust because she was exactly the kind of person she presented herself as. Whatever she did or said was a direct reflection of her general attitude.
"T'at's a damn good idea, Izumi," Khrai sounded a bit surprised by the fact that she was conceding. "If we can all work toget'er, and if t'ose two can work out their issues wit' each ot'er..."
"Kaisuki already has the potential to be an unstoppable force as a Combat Yurei," Izumi returned. Her voice sounded like she was smiling. "If she and Saeka can work together effectively and efficiently, they could do nearly anything."
"Saeka uses her chakra ta boost her speed," Khrai replied. "If Kaisuki flushes her legs wit' her own chakra while Saeka's doing t'at..."
"Exactly," Izumi agreed. "That and so much more. But it's going to be up to you, me, and Kakashi to raise these two up properly."
"Aye, yer right," Khrai sighed out heavily, though her tone was lighthearted. She sounded relieved. "Yer right and ye should say it. I'll work wit' ya, and I already know Kakashi will too. Between t'e t'ree of us, they'll have to listen."
Khrai knew about the demons and had known about them longer than Saeka had existed at all. The Elf was keen on defeating her age-old foe and Kaisuki seemed to be on board even though she was afraid. Even Izumi seemed to be ready to face a threat that the majority of the world didn't seem to be aware of.
I don't want to do this...
She knew she didn't really have a choice. She would have to fight, lest Kaisuki be killed or worse. It wouldn't be unthinkable for the Yurei to be taken captive, especially if they found out that she was hosting Saeka. She had to protect Kaisuki from them. Eventually, she might have to admit her own ties to the monsters Khrai wanted to eradicate.
At some point, she would have to face him again.
"This should activate your Sharingan."
It was warm, and then it was hot, and then hotter and hotter and hotter. Her skin felt like it was going to melt off, her mouth opened and she was sure her lips had stuck together, flesh nearly fused.
"B-brother, it's so hot..."
Why was it so hot? Why wasn't he making it stop? She couldn't tell if she was screaming or not but lava seemed to flow from her throat – or was that just boiling blood?
"What the hell is-...! Saeka? Saeka! Oh, oh, no, no, no! Shit! Shit!"
She didn't remember moving but somehow the cool air was against her burning hot body. She felt like she was melting into a liquid. Someone make it stop, please, someone, brother, help me, please help me, it hurts, it hurts, it-...
A thin, white blade and a brief instant of pain.
Hot tears were leaking out of her eyes. Why had she been pulled into a Yurei so soon after dying? Why this Yurei? Why did she have to walk back into the horror she'd escaped via death, so soon? She wasn't ready to see him again. She didn't think she would ever be ready to see him again. Whether her memories of him were accurate or not, the pain he'd caused her was real and unforgettable.
I don't want to do this...
Saeka stood up quickly and forced herself back to the external world as she sensed approaching chakra sources. She assumed control of the body again as the ANBU guards and a specialized nurse came into the cell. They always seemed so wary around her but they had no choice but to deal with her. She wasn't bothered as much by the fear anymore. She didn't like it but it wasn't so painful and upsetting. It didn't remind her of the expression on his face when...
When what?
She offered the nurse a nod of acknowledgment and disregarded the existence of the ANBU man. They were only ever there to defend the nurse if something went south. She had spoken to the doctor the previous day about Kaisuki's pain levels and explained that she wasn't able to wake up because of it. He had been very kind with her and had promised to send along a prescription for a pain killer to help her. Izumi would apparently make something up for them once they got out but, for the time being, they needed to get their Hostess back into reality so they could get out of that godsforsaken vault.