Chapter Ten

As Above, So Below

The sun was arcing in the western sky, signaling a loss of a few hours that had not gone how either Sakura or Kakashi anticipated. They stood in a small hut across from one another with a dead enemy-nin between them. Sakura reached up with her left arm, removing the porcelain ANBU mask from her face and setting it on the counter. "I need you to put my shoulder back in place," she said, stepping away from the dead man on the ground. He wasn't much older than her, and that was always disheartening. Sakura hated killing, but hated it even more when someone was dying for a cause that would do more harm than good, and in this case, more harm to the entire continent. "I need both hands to heal you."

Kakashi removed his porcelain mask and set it aside, leading Sakura away from the arrangement of broken glass littering the floor of the hut. He gripped Sakura's elbow, gingerly extending her arm as he palpated the joint in her shoulder with his other hand. "Ready?"

Sakura nodded once, squeezing her eyes shut as the Copy-nin slammed her shoulder back into place. She groaned as her vision went black at the edges, and stumbled forward, gripping Kakashi's armor vest as she rested her forehead against the protective plate on his chest. Her shoulder possessed its own heartbeat. When the wave of dizziness subsided, Sakura reached up with her left hand, charging it with healing chakra, and laid it on the joint of her bare shoulder. Dimly, she was aware that one of Kakashi's hands was set against her waist – probably keeping her upright after he'd put her shoulder back in place. "Why would Hattori send a scouting squad into River Country?" she wondered aloud. "He said they were specifically watching for Konoha nin leaving Fire Country and entering River."

"Arata claimed he didn't know Hattori's intentions for stationing them here…" Kakashi dropped his hand from Sakura's waist and walked over to the dead man on the floor and began searching his pockets.

"Hattori knows that Konoha is the biggest threat to his supposed claim on Rain's throne, but stationing a squad in River Country doesn't make any sense…"

"It does if Konoha shinobi decide to enter Rain from River's borders as a sneak tactic," Kakashi said, finishing his search on Arata and coming up empty.

"This far South?" Sakura countered as she finished healing her shoulder.

Kakashi paused, lifting his chin as a thought dawned on him. "Hattori might expect someone from Konoha would be trying to make an antidote to the poison. He could have come to the same conclusion that you did, Sakura."

Sakura nodded slowly. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"Let's get these nin transported back to Sasuke and send word that we may need backup. We don't know how long we'll have until another squad comes to relieve the one we just took out. If Hattori thinks we're after the purple–"

"–Violet."

Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "Regardless, we don't need to be caught out in the open when we're hunting this thing."

"Then we'll have to extract it tonight." Sakura shrugged. "I think it's safe to assume that Hattori doesn't have enough manpower to dispatch squads all over River Country, but we have no way of knowing when the next unit will arrive like you said. I'm willing to bet when they show up and find their teammates missing – they aren't going to waste any time reporting back to Hattori. And if he's smart enough to be thinking about Konoha creating an antidote to his poison, a missing squad will probably confirm his suspicions."

"There's no betting on Team Kakashi," he reminded her. "Hattori will have no way of knowing for certain what happened to the scouting squad. It'll buy us some time."

Sakura pushed her fingertips into her temples. "I don't like this, Kakashi."

Kakashi gently set his palms on Sakura's shoulders. "He's highly intelligent, Sakura. This is why the ANBU are handling the mission to eradicate Hattori and his followers. I would expect a worthy adversary to be thinking several steps ahead… He knows Konoha will come after him, he just doesn't know when or how."

"Not making me feel better," Sakura said with a defeated sigh as she met his eye. "All right, armor vest off. I can't dig that shuriken out of your shoulder with that in the way."

"I don't know that I can lift my arm over my head to get it off…" he admitted grudgingly.

"I'll help you." Sakura grabbed Kakashi by the wrist and walked through the small hut until she came upon the makeshift kitchen. It was small, but at least there wasn't a dead ninja in the room with them now… Sakura pulled herself up onto the counter to have a better height advantage, and dug a small pocket knife out of her weapon pouch. "Turn around, please." Kakashi turned so that his back was facing her. Two of the shuriken's blades were buried in Kakashi's skin, and a dark pool of blood had completely saturated the fabric of his gray armor vest. Sakura pushed the tip of her pocket knife into the space between the blades and tried to cut the fabric away but it was too thick. "I'm going to pry the shuriken out and then remove your vest so I can reach the wound to heal it, but it's going to hurt… a lot."

"I can take it," Kakashi told her.

He barely even made a sound as the shuriken came free. Sakura tugged on the hem of his armor vest, lifting it over his head and setting it aside as a fresh river of blood spilled from Kakashi's shoulder and dripped down the back of his arm. Sakura guided him to turn into her, snaking her hand into the sleeveless opening of his ANBU shirt and pressing her palm against his shoulder blade. The shuriken had been less than an inch away from doing severe spinal injury. She flattened her left palm against his pectoral muscle, using it as an unnecessary perch to keep him centered between her hands. "Thank you, by the way… If you hadn't knocked me out of the path, our roles would be reversed and you'd be digging that shuriken out of me."

"I might not always be fast enough, but I'll always try to protect you." Kakashi dropped his chin to his shoulder, lifting his gaze to meet Sakura's from under a fan of long black eyelashes. The air in the room went still. Their faces were separated by a couple inches at most, and it was the intimacy of that look – the softness in Kakashi's gaze that had Sakura's fingertips curling tenderly on his chest in response.

Kakashi slipped his gloved hand below the one Sakura had positioned on his chest and swept his thumb along the inside hollow of her palm. His rough fingers traced over the back of her knuckles, slowly, as if he wanted to memorize the lines of her hands. He lifted her hand to his face, brushing his masked lips over the tips of her fingers before letting go.

Sakura's heart was in her throat… She sat frozen, unable to look away from his face as he pushed out from the counter. "We still have a lot of ground to cover," he said. "Come on, Sakura-chan."

oOoOo

Sakura finished writing her missive in the transport scroll, explaining in short what she and Kakashi had encountered in River Country and prepared to send it (and the seven dead bodies) back to Sasuke at ANBU Headquarters. Kakashi was loading the last of the dead nin onto the scroll, and Sakura flexed her fingers. She could still feel the ghost of the kiss he'd brushed across the knuckles below her fingernails, wondering all the while, what it could have meant.

Kakashi was less affectionate than Naruto, and to some degree, even Sai… If the kiss had come from either of them, Sakura wouldn't even question their motives or intentions. But this kiss, as chaste and innocent as it was, had come from Kakashi.

Something had been slowly building between them for a while now, and it was different from their playful flirtatious games. While the games had been fun and exhilarating, Sakura could admit that maybe, just maybe… she wanted more.

Did he?

Kakashi performed the necessary hand signals to send the scroll off, and it vanished in a cloud of smoke. "We should probably get cleaned up," Kakashi said. "There's a smaller creek just south of that tree line. I doubt it will have your salamanders, but we can use it to wash up."

"Good idea," Sakura agreed. The less blood they left behind for their enemies to track, the better. Sakura and Kakashi gathered their bloodied weapons and remaining gear before heading through the tree line. She was also eager to put as much distance between them and the little outpost hut as possible – just in case any of Hattori's men came to relieve the others…

It wasn't long before they came upon the twisting creek bed, and Sakura was grateful for the surrounding trees and stone outcroppings for the protection they provided. She knelt on a large flat rock, unravelling the length of cloth she used to wrap their bloody weapons and set them out before her. The sun warmed the top of her head and caused small beads of perspiration to collect on the surface of her forehead. She swiped at them with the back of her forearm, catching sight of Kakashi out of her periphery as he stripped out of his armor. She'd barely noticed the cut on his bicep earlier. His whole arm was stained in blood, but she wasn't sure if it was his or their enemies.

Kakashi pulled the sleeveless shirt over his head, removed his boots and pants, and waded out into the creek. The water wasn't deep – maybe reaching his hips in height, but he sank down low enough to let the water wash over the rounds of his shoulders.

Sakura nearly nicked her finger on the kunai she was rinsing and mentally scolded herself for not paying closer attention to the weapons. "Cold?" she called out to him.

"It's a little chilly." Kakashi scrubbed at the blood that had dried on his arm, and Sakura watched as a wound reopened and fresh blood began to seep down his arm.

"You are positively hopeless Kakashi," Sakura chastised in a teasing tone. "Get over here and let me heal that before you attract a river purana." She was making that last part up, but giggled when Kakashi put a little more pep in his step and nearly tripped over a rock in the creek bed.

"There's not really puranas in here… right?" he asked when he reached her. Water dripped from his lean body, and tiny goosebumps rose on his flesh from the cold.

"Maybe." Sakura shrugged. She finished rinsing off the last weapon before rising to meet him. She called healing chakra into her palm and laid it flat over the curve of his bicep. "How'd you get this one?"

"Oh, that little thing? Couldn't tell ya'."

Sakura giggled. "You really are getting slow."

"Hey…" she felt him go rigid under her hand.

"I'm kidding." Sakura swept her fingertips over his bicep in a placating sort of manner. The cut was suturing under the guidance of her ninjutsu, allowing Sakura a moment to become distracted by a pearl of water that trickled off the side of Kakashi's neck and dripped over the curve of his collarbone. She rolled her lips between her teeth, and had the strangest feeling that Kakashi was watching her… She looked up on impulse, immediately feeling a wash of color dust her cheekbones. "Stop staring at me Kakashi, or I'll poke your good eye out."

Kakashi chuckled. "Come on. Let's go find your purple salamanders."

"Okay, now I know you're just saying it to get under my skin… Violet, Kakashi, violet-spotted salamanders."

oOoOo

Sakura and Kakashi spent what was left of the daylight hours hiking to a remote location within River Country. Dozens of waterways intersected here, spilling from creeks and streams into the great Stone River that undulated through the lush green countryside. The sound of rushing water filled their ears, muffling the songs of crickets and other night creatures hiding within the brush. Because the waterways were out in the open, the Konoha nin waited until nightfall before beginning their hunt.

"According to my research," Sakura said, "the salamanders are nocturnal, which bodes well for us, but they are extremely reclusive and hard to find. They're sensitive to movement and spend most of their time under rocks in the riverbed."

"So move the rocks slowly, got it."

"And what ever you do, do NOT touch them with your bare hands, Kakashi." Sakura pulled a pair of black latex gloves from her medical kit, a pair of tongs, and a flashlight, and handed him the goods. "If you see a salamander, use the flashlight to stun them."

"Beg pardon?" Kakashi started, his eyebrows raising towards his hairline.

"With the light, obviously," Sakura said. "You didn't seriously think I wanted you to whack them over the head with the flashlight, did you?"

"With you? – hard telling." Kakashi removed his fingerless gloves and began snapping the latex gloves in their place.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one." Kakashi offered her an eye-creasing smile. He pulled the armor vest over his head and set it aside, then placed the tongs and flashlight in his front pocket before taking the first step out into the river.

Sakura followed closely behind, bidding the warm dry clothing she was wearing farewell, and grit her teeth against the cold river. They left their boots on, too. They couldn't risk an accidental injury by going in barefoot. Luckily, the moon above was a waxing gibbous, and provided plenty of illumination for them to see far from the light pollution in the city.

"Shallow or deep water?" Kakashi asked, stepping carefully as the current pushed at their legs.

"Deep, unfortunately." Sakura shivered as the water rose to her waistline. "The flashlights are waterproof."

Kakashi inched forward, instantly sinking down into an invisible drop off that swallowed his shoulders. Sakura squealed from the cold, her feet leaving the riverbed and forcing her to swim. Kakashi's hand found her forearm, wrapping around it as he pulled her across the deeper water. "Nothing like a frigid midnight swim to get your blood flowing," Kakashi said.

"Not the kind of midnight swim I had in mind," Sakura said through chattering teeth. Kakashi let go of her arm when they'd crossed the deepest part of the river. She pushed chakra through her body to keep from shivering to death and found her footing on the riverbed. There was an island in the middle of the river, dense in places with reeds and cattails. The water was calmer there, too. Sakura took off her backpack, setting it on the bank before preparing a transport scroll. She wanted to make sure it was ready for when they did find the salamander.

Kakashi was wading through waist-high water without making a sound. The moonlight refracted off the surface of the river, casting moonstone-colored light swirls against his mask. Sakura waded back into the river, careful not to make too much noise as she began inspecting the riverbed for the perfect rock habitat a violet-spotted salamander might be hiding under.

An hour passed.

The nin carefully turned over rock after rock, disturbing river snails, clams, burrowing fish, frogs, and crawdads, but not one salamander had been seen. Owls took flight overhead, hunting for fieldmice and smaller critters that lay in the open field beyond the river systems. It seemed the bigger predators were catching their prey effortlessly, but the same couldn't be said for she and Kakashi. After the second hour passed, Sakura straightened, rolling her neck and shoulders in attempt to relieve the ache settling in her upper back.

"What if they've gone extinct, Kakashi?" her voice sounded loud in contrast to the nature sounds, though Sakura barely spoke above a whisper.

"We'll turn over every rock in the river before coming to that conclusion," he told her. "And if we don't find one, we'll find another way."

Sakura couldn't help but to smile at the confidence of his tone, though she suspected he'd conjured the optimism on behalf of her rare burst of pessimism. They were good teammates in that way. He never let her doubt herself, and made sure to dial up the notch of support whenever she needed gently reminded. In turn, Sakura hoped she did the same for him – both on and off the field.

Kakashi's whole body went still at once. He was hunched in the water, his arms hidden beneath the surface. Sakura saw the light from his flashlight click on, and felt her lips parting as her stomach bottomed out in anticipation. Slowly, Kakashi began to remove the tongs from his pocket, and when he emerged from the water, he held a violet-spotted salamander between the two spatula-like ends.

The salamander was about as long as Sakura's forearm, black in color, and covered in small violet spots containing the creature's poison. It squirmed halfheartedly in capture, still half-stunned from the light Kakashi was shining on it. "Well," he said, "guess we don't have to turn over every rock after all."

"I could kiss you right now!" A rush of dopamine ignited Sakura's system, flushing her body with a burst of adrenaline. "I was beginning to lose hope. Kakashi, you're the most wonderful human on the whole continent!" She danced in the water, squealing in excitement.

Kakashi was laughing as he waded towards the bank. "Well if I'd known catching a salamander was going to make you this happy…" he trailed off, grinning, as he placed the salamander on the scroll that Sakura had already prepared along with special handling instructions.

Sakura weaved the proper hand-signals that would send the scroll straight to the ANBU Headquarters laboratory, and promptly screamed at a pitch she didn't know she was even capable of. When the scroll vanished in a cloud of smoke, an enormous water snake that had curled up beneath it lunged at Sakura with a hiss that had her jumping backwards! She crashed into Kakashi with enough force to knock the air from his lungs, and the two nin fell backwards into the deeper part of the river.

"IS IT IN THE WATER!?" Sakura began flailing, her toes unable to reach the bottom of the riverbed. Kakashi recovered in an instant, scooping the pink-haired woman up out of the water, and hoisting her into his arms. She locked her legs around his waist, half climbing him like a tree to put as much space between herself and the snake she'd lost track of.

"Shh, Sakura, hold still," Kakashi braced a solid arm around her back, pinning her to his chest in attempt to keep her from panicking. "It's okay, it's gone. The snake is gone."

"What do you mean gone?!"

"It swam down the river." Kakashi jerked his chin in the direction of the current, away from where they were standing in the water. "I think it was afraid of you." Kakashi chuckled.

There was something about his laughter that brought Sakura back to the moment at present. Sakura's hands were clutching the fabric of Kakashi's sleeveless shirt, her legs were wrapped tightly around his hips and were locked at the ankles. The gentle current pushed at their twined bodies, the water lapping around them like a cold caress.

"Since when are you terrified of snakes?" Kakashi's arms were buttoned around her waist, pressing her flush against his chest.

"You mean nope ropes?" Sakura released the death grip on his vest, relaxing her hands and letting them go around his neck for better purchase.

Kakashi laughed, his thumb sweeping along the side of her ribs.

"I haven't liked them since Orochimaru," Sakura admitted, shivering a little, but not because she was cold. Kakashi could have walked them back to the bank, but he seemed to be in no particular hurry to release her from his arms. She felt weightless in the water, aware of her body in only the places it was touching Kakashi's. Aware that she could feel his heartbeat through the thin, soaked material of his shirt. That was a really nice feeling… The moment seemed amplified somehow, slowed by the all-encompassing cadence of the lifeforce between them. It was a gift, Sakura realized, to feel the pulse of someone else's heartbeat – if only because of the exchange in vulnerability.

Sakura arched in his arms, just a little – just enough to sweep her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. Kakashi closed his eye at her touch, tipping his head until their faces were touching at the temples. Sakura pushed her fingers further into his hair, gently dragging her nails across his scalp. Her breath quickened, spurred by the acceleration of her pulse.

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she closed her eyes, pressing her face against Kakashi's masked cheekbone. Gods it felt good to be this close…

What was happening here? Did she dare to name it?

She could easily see herself letting go and giving in to the desire that was sparking in her veins, but Sakura was not a heedless woman. If she let go… it would change her friendship with Kakashi forever… and she wasn't sure she could handle losing him if… if whatever was happening turned out to be a mistake. He was too important to her.

"Sakura." Her name left the back of Kakashi's throat like a raw plea, and the sound of it nearly broke her… She shifted her grip, her hand skating down his ribs and tracing a path towards his thigh… Kakashi groaned when her hand came between them, the tip of a kunai pressed to the tender skin of his jugular. "You don't fight fair," he said, tipping his chin up to avoid the sharp bite of the blade.

"Ninja," Sakura replied, and pressed her lips to the underside of his masked jaw, right where the kunai had been.

oOoOo

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for the comments: Gojo Girl and kcann17 - I love hearing from you guys!

XOXO,
~Sparrow