Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Pink Thread Of Silk ❯ Don't Want But Need ( Chapter 3 )

Pink Tread of Silk

 

Chapter 3: Don't Want But Need

 

“You understand what you have to do correct?” The cold voice of Itachi commented as he walked further into his mansion. In the shadows a sickly smirk appeared on the face of a monster.

 

“Yes Itachi-sama,” The man replied as he slinked into the shadow of the powerful Uchiha nin. He was buzzing inside. He prize was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel and he was going to do anything and everything in his power to get it.

 

“I don't care what happens to Kakashi, but anything happens to my slave and I will make you regret being born,” Itachi turned his full attention to the man behind him as he smirked back.

 

“You can count on me, no harm will come to the woman, I can't promise anything for anyone else.” But Itachi wasn't stupid. He knew at the first chance Orochimaru got at killing his cherry blossom, he would take it without a second thought for the consequences. That was why Kakashi was there, and that was why he had taught her the art of self defence over the many years she had called him mansion her home.

 

Itachi also knew Kakashi was against him, but he understood he wouldn't let anything happen to the young woman whilst she was with him. Orochimaru would watch the nin, whilst Kakashi would protect Sakura and kill Orochimaru if he got the chance. He was going to get rid of one annoyance that was sure.

 

“Your brother's body will be mine as we agreed?” The monster continued with his sickly sweet voice that just seemed to ooze out of him like the terrible smell.

 

“Once I kill him, I don't care what happens to his body,” Itachi replied, his cold voice nearly echoing through the deserted marble corridors of the home. “But don't let them out of your sight.” Who ever dies first was none of Itachi's concern. Sakura will be safe either way.

 

Orochimaru chuckled as he turned away from the Uchiha genius and left through the front door on his way to tail the carriage holding the rose haired woman.

 

***

 

Sakura sighed for the fourth time in a row at the lush greenery surrounding her. Kakashi had stopped for as he said it; `Nature's call'. Sakura really didn't want to think about what that implied. She had stepped out of the carriage and made her way onto the field of wild growing flowers and tall grasses. She hadn't seen something like this in years, and she loved the way the sun sprayed on her skin, turning it a slight golden colour.

 

“You like flowers huh?” Sakura's head turned to look at her intruder and only half smiled when she realised Kakashi was back from his `call'.

 

“Maybe,” She replied. She wasn't in the mood to talk and especially not to a man, whatever man it may be. She just wanted to get further away from the hell hole she had been stuck in for what seemed a life time.

 

Standing up with a few wild flowers in her hand, Sakura walked back to the carriage and allowed Kakashi to help her in once more. She was glad that the nin didn't ask too many questions. He seemed to like his own space, but what he seemed to like more was the orange covered book that Sakura hadn't quite managed to catch the title of yet. But the older nin seemed to be entranced by it and paid more attention to it than the bumpy road they were driving on.

 

Sakura, with a lack of anything better to do, began to think about what lay before her. In her own mind it seemed to her that she was going from one monster to another. They were related after all, only so many differences can break down the similarities.

 

And what about Kakashi? Sakura wasn't naïve anymore, she saw clearly how the older nin seemed to dislike Itachi over the expected standard of any of the other nin visiting the mansion. He reminded her of a few other nin who had come to kill Itachi before. Sand nin's, Konoha nin's, Star nin's and a whole range of others. The silver haired nin was one in the many.

 

A head popped out in front of her as the man in question smiled and lifted two fingers. “Yo.”

 

Sakura would have jumped back if she hadn't had gotten use to her reflexes from the constant use at her prison. Kakashi was staring at her but he was upside down. Popping his head into the carriage whilst the rest of him was perched on the roof.

 

Sakura was about to give him a small smile when she remember who they were and exactly why they were here. She merely returned the older nin's gaze and stared at him expectantly.

 

“We're going to set up camp here; it's dangerous to be travelling around here during the night. Is that alright with you?” He asked jumping off of the roof to land graciously on the ground. The carriage had stopped whilst he was talking.

 

Sakura nodded grabbing the wild flowers she had picked earlier and stepped out of the cart. Kakashi had disappeared through the shrubbery of the forest that lined both sides of the small rocky dirt path they were on, with only enough space for the carriage to ride through.

 

The rose haired woman hadn't even noticed the sun was going down. They had spent hours on the road. She suspected it was taking longer than usual to get to the next village as she was in her full geisha gear and in a carriage that stood out from miles away. But she had to keep in character, and even if it did take longer than it should, it would mean she was away for longer. Which was fine by her.

 

She walked into the shrubbery, following the sound of wood hitting wood which meant Kakashi was busy setting up camp. It almost surprised her he bothered, that he didn't make her do it instead. He wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight anyway as he would have to watch over her, so camp was pretty useless to him.

 

Sakura guessed he was just kind hearted and didn't want to see her struggle with a tent she hadn't practiced to put up in over five years.

 

Pushing away the leaves and stiff branches of the bushes that blocked her way, she finally managed to enter a clearing. It was beside a stream, a clear little spot. She immediately found Kakashi, unusually to her eyes, he was busy.

 

He looked up at her and stared dumb founded.

 

“That was fast,” He said sounding truly surprised.

 

Sakura offered him a confused look as she locked herself in place. Maybe she was supposed to have waited at the cart?

 

Kakashi picked up the nin shirt he had thrown carelessly on a rock near him when he began ripping whole tree branches off the trees around them, and put it on.

 

“I was giving you another ten minutes or so and a few `ow's' and `helps', especially in all that,” Kakashi had muttered as he walked up to her and inspected the woman for any bodily harm. He truly was surprised she had walked through all those sharp ending thorn bushes without a hair out of place. “I was going to get you after I finished.”

 

Sakura didn't know if she should have taken the first comment as a compliment to her ability, or take offence to his thoughts on her being a scared little girl. She had been through too much shit to care about a few thorny bushes. But she no longer had the will to live and all she wanted to do was take all of her stupid geisha gear off.

 

It was true that Sakura had loved training to be a geisha when she had been younger. But the Uchiha genius had knocked the sense into her, literally, and now she hated the thought of it. It was a way to bring a woman down to servant level; at least it was for Itachi.

 

She lifted her hand to her hair and pulled out the pins that had held her hair in place as well as the comb she hated more than life itself. Another expensive present from Itachi, which she couldn't stand. Kakashi receiving no answer from the woman went back to setting up her sleeping arrangements. He honestly couldn't understand how a woman could stand to be dressed up like that all day, but it wasn't his problem, as long as he didn't have to run around in those layers of material he was fine with what came his way.

 

Sakura sat down on the bank of the river that was running steadily down the small hill they were currently occupying part of. Sakura turned her head to her only companion and sighed, he was sitting on one of the branches in the trees where he could keep a close look out, reading the book she had seen his eyes never leave during their travels. She suspected it was either a ninja handbook with new techniques you could learn (though she doubted that since a) Kakashi didn't look the sort of person to read that crap and b) he wasn't making any movements apart from his eyes moving from word to word), her second and more plausible thought was that it was some kind of porn.

 

Dipping her feet into the stream she sighed, the pain of the sandals that had been digging into every possible piece of flesh on her foot, finally subsided from the coldness of the water. Sakura looked back up at the older nin and gave him a questionable look.

 

“What are you reading?” She asked, she really didn't want to know the answer if her assumptions were correct, but she hated the silence that his hobby forced on them both. She didn't feel like talking, but she hated the silence more than she hated to open her mouth a socialise.

 

Silence.

 

Sakura sighed again and she adjusted her legs in the first layer of her kimono, the other two lay on the rock close by.

 

“Why are you working for Itachi-sama?” Sakura tried again, but again to no avail. He was too far gone into whatever fantasies that book caused him to dwell into and mere little questions that could provide Sakura with interesting answers and things to think about weren't going to snap him out of his little world.

 

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the silver haired nin and finally decided on one last tactic.

 

“Throw me a kunai,” she said innocently. Kakashi's eyes were immediately on her and narrow with suspicion.

 

“Little girls shouldn't play with big boy toys,” He replied in a nonchalant voice but Sakura couldn't help but frown at his statement. Was he implying she didn't know how to use a sharp object? She would have used her own dagger if it wasn't for the need to keep it a secret. It was wrapped around her upper thigh where she could access it in times of need and where no man would ever think to look on a geisha.

 

“I'm not a little girl and I've lived with Itachi for most of my life, do you think I haven't been taught how to defend myself?” Sakura replied folding her arms over her chest as she glared lightly at the silver haired nin.

 

“I'm here to defend you so you don't need to worry.” He answered his eyes already focused back on that book of his.

 

“I don't need it to protect myself, I need it to cut some of this fabric off so I can move in it freely,” She replied rolling her eyes as she watched the nin think it over. After a few minutes his hand unbuckled the pouch at his hip and took out a single kunai which he threw in her direction. It landed mere centimetres away from the hand she was leaning on to keep her upright, but if she was surprised by his actions, she didn't show it.

 

Taking the kunai into her hand she began to tear at the thin pale pink material that held her legs so tightly together. She cut it off at her knees and sliced a slit just high enough to let her legs move freely. She could feel Kakashi's gaze on her as she continued to shorten the kimono and cut free her limbs. Next she cut off the sleeves to give her arms enough space to work with. Once she was done she admitted to herself that it wasn't the most fashionable look, but it was the most practical. Her rose coloured hair fell to her waist before she took a bit of the fabric she had just cut loose and tied it up in a neat ponytail. She smiled in satisfaction and gazed at her reflection in the water she was sitting by.

 

“Thanks,” Sakura said as she stood and walked closer to the tree Kakashi was occupying. She grabbed the kunai and threw it back at the silver haired nin who was once again deeply engrossed with his book. He caught the kunai between his fingers and placed it back in his pouch without ever looking up. Sakura sighed.

 

“I'm not sure if that look is what Sasuke-kun is looking for,” Kakashi commented as Sakura was about to turn and walk into the tent Kakashi had set up for her.

 

“This is only the first layer of my kimono, the other two are fine and I have plenty more of these where this one came from,” Sakura replied grabbing the piece of rose material to signify her point. With that she grabbed the two outer layers of her kimono from the rock and walked into the tent. She lay on her blankets for what seemed like hours before she finally drifted into a light sleep, afraid the nightmares of what her life was and will be like once more once she returns to the Uchiha genius. But she was happy in the knowledge that for now she was safe…

 

***

 

“Sakura,” A male voice hissed, Sakura groaned in her sleep. Her arm was shaken a few times before the male voice repeated himself. “Sakura, wake up,”

 

Sakura's emerald orbs flipped open as they met the inky black eye of her companion; she gave him a puzzled look when his finger covered her lips to stop her from speaking. Quickly Kakashi stood once more and gazed slowly out of the tent. Sakura gasped when moments later a kunai flew directly into the tent, missing Kakashi's head by mere millimetres and slicing into the ground between Sakura's parted crouching legs. A bit more in either direction and either Kakashi would currently be a corpse or Sakura would have a kunai stuck in her left leg.

 

Kakashi lifted his finger to his lips stopping any words that the rose haired woman was once again dying to say. Kakashi looked back out of the material of the tent and looked around in the direction he knew their intruder was attacking from. The attack had subsided for the moment, but Kakashi knew it wouldn't be too long. He grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her out of the tent jumping into the foliage of the trees around them as the emerald eyed woman struggled to find her balance on the tree branch. Just as she had managed what she hadn't trained in years, Kakashi was on the move once more, pulling her along as he jumped from branch to branch.

 

She followed him the best she could, trying to find the rhythm she had lost over the years of being unused. Sakura was surprising herself at how easy it was all coming back to her; if it wasn't for the mystery hunter behind them she would have actually admitted to herself that she was enjoying it. But these times as always stopped any happiness to enter the once warm heart of the young woman.

 

Sakura gasped as Kakashi pulled her behind a particularly chunky tree pressing her against it and pressing himself against her. It took all of her will to not punch or knee the nin before her but she had chosen the lesser of two evils. However uncomfortable this made her, it was nothing to how uncomfortable it would be to either die or get sliced and diced within inches of death.

 

“MOVE!” Kakashi yelled as another kunai narrowly missed his head and hit the tree a few inches above the emerald orbed woman's. He pushed her onto the next branch before pulling her arm again and dropping down to the forest floor dodging another array of steel metal.

 

Sakura hissed as the sharp edge of one of the kunais sliced through her upper calf and she fell to the ground grazing her knees on the dirt, leaves and twigs that she fell on. Kakashi turned alarmed as he kept his senses switched on for any movement around them.

 

“Get on my back,” He said as he kneeled down in front of her.

 

“No, I can run,” Sakura said determined, she tried to stand but hissed again from pain, her efforts only causing more blood loss.

 

“Get on my back Sakura!” Kakashi hissed again, he wasn't taking any refusals.

 

Without another word she wrapped her arms around his neck as he hitched her legs to straddle his waist as he pushed on. He jumped up into the foliage of the trees once more, the slight weight on his back not slowing him down. Pulling a kunai out of his pouch he slung it in the direction the enemy chakra flow was coming from, hoping it would slow down the intruder and give him enough time to get the rose haired woman and himself out of harms way.

 

Dodging a few branches he slipped into another small stream. Kakashi was sure they were now far away from the coach and all of Sakura's belongings, but he was also sure she couldn't have given less of a damn about them. Then suddenly, as if what had just happened was a figment of their imagination, the enemy chakra was gone, gone without a trace, but Kakashi knew better then to stop. It could be a trap to make them think they were safe, and the silver haired nin was in no position to take chances. He needed the rose haired woman as much alive and the Uchiha genius wanted her to be.

 

“Are they gone?” Sakura dared a whisper but Kakashi did not answer. His only thoughts were who exactly was on their tail, and why they had chosen to attack them once they left all their valuables behind. This person wasn't a thief, this monster was a hunter.