Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Pink Thread Of Silk ❯ Family Resemblance ( Chapter 4 )

Pink Thread of Silk

 

Chapter 4: Family Resemblance

 

Kakashi pushed Sakura under the droopy blanket of the Willow beside a raging river. The noise of the water hitting its banks was noise enough to conceal them, which was all Kakashi could do at that very moment. Sakura could no longer walk, even though the slash wasn't deep, it was right at the joint of two muscles which made it more painful to move.

 

Dipping a piece of cloth Sakura had just ripped from her already shortened kimono in a rock pool a little away from the river, the silver haired nin walked back under the curtains of the willow and crouched down in front of the rose haired woman.

 

“Can you do this yourself or do you want me to do it?” Kakashi asked.

 

“I can do it,” Sakura replied, for one she could bandage wounds since she was little, she always thought she had a talent in it, and then even at the Uchiha mansion, Itachi only ever allowed her to clean his wounds, never any doctor that came. The second reason was because they had no clue who had come after them and if they were still around. If this hunter was chasing them then he knew damn well that they were hiding in the foliage of this willow tree. Sakura only wished she would live for at least another day and not die in a place like this.

 

Sakura took the damp piece of material and dabbed at the already drying blood on the top of her calf. She winced slightly at the pain but bit her lip and continued with no further showing of emotions.

 

Kakashi stood giving the rose haired woman a once over before slowly pulling back the sheet of willow branches and peering out. He could sense that person again, he knew that this hunter was watching them but he wasn't sure where he was, why he was doing it and when he would attack next.

 

He turned back to Sakura who seemed to be done and needed him to wet the cloth again.

 

“I haven't got any antiseptics for you to put on it, but the town is close now, only an hour or so away, you can get it cleaned there,” Kakashi said taking the blood stained piece of cloth and stealthily going back to the small rock pool, all he senses working double time to figure out when the next attack would be.

 

Sakura nodded slowly as Kakashi handed her back the damp cloth which she wrapped around her wound. She looked back up at the silver haired nin and waited for him to make a decision. He looked puzzled and Sakura was almost starting to loose hope of surviving this. Was this why Itachi had sent her away, he couldn't be bothered to kill her himself so he sent her off to get killed in the middle of nowhere?

 

Sakura smiled. Well it is better than to die in that prison of his.

 

Sakura's emerald orbs flicked to her companion as he seemed to snap out of his thoughts with a decision made. He lifted his thumb to his lips and bit down on it before performing a few hand seals then pressing his thumb against the ground.

 

Sakura almost gasped when a very large and very shabby looking dog appeared. She had never seen this breed before, but whatever it was, it was massive, it reached three quarters up Kakashi's body in a sitting position.

 

“Kakashi,” The dog nodded his head which Kakashi reflected. “How may I help you today?”

 

Kakashi almost smiled at the shocked expression of the rose haired woman when she heard Mugen talk. He guessed being locked away in the Uchiha mansion with only her pretty kimono's and hair pins had really caused a turn in her ninja experience. His eyes turned back to the massive mahogany coloured St Bernard that he knew as Mugen.

 

“Let her ride on your back to the next city, she can't walk and I need to have my hands free in case of an attack.” Kakashi said as he watched Mugen eye up the forest eyed woman.

 

“Your call,” The dog said in his deep gruff voice as he turned his back on Sakura and waited.

 

Sakura's eyes looked confused as she they turned from the Kakashi to the dog then back.

 

“Sakura, you can't walk let alone run and I can't carry you, so get on Mugen's back and hold on tight.” Sakura didn't bother to argue, if this was going to get her out of here alive then she was up for practically anything, even riding on the back of a talking dog.

 

She crawled over to the large dog keeping as much weight of her injured leg as she could. She grabbed onto the strong and grand build of the canine. Mugen stood up on all fours to let her find a comfortable position or as comfortable as she could before grabbing onto his large spiked collar.

 

“Come on,” Kakashi muttered as he looked back at his two companions from peering out of the curtain of willow. He couldn't sense the hunter anymore, just like before he seemed to have disappeared of the face of the earth. But Kakashi wasn't fooled.

 

Flinging back the sheet of willow branches Kakashi ran out, Mugen on his tail with a slightly shocked Sakura on his back. Kakashi jumped into the camouflage of the tree branches in the direction of the next town, Mugen running stealthily on the ground below him, and Kakashi just like Sakura, couldn't wait to get to Konoha.

 

After fifteen minutes of Mugen's constant running and her dodging stray branches Sakura's emerald orbs began to close slowly, the little sleep she managed to get the night before catching up to her and the sudden awakening in the early hours of the morning, then the work out she received as well as injury had worn her out. As Sakura's orbs closed and her face fell into the thick fur of the beast she was riding she could admit to herself that out of all the people she knew, she was glad she was in this scenario with Kakashi.

 

***

 

Sakura groaned, her hand flying to her forehead to run down her face as the light from the sun somewhere in the room hurt her eyes. Getting slowly use to it she managed to peer from under her eyelashes at the fact that she was in a room, on a bed with a pillow under her head.

 

“Konichiwa!!” A girl's voice broke through her thoughts as her eyes widened at the face that popped into her line of vision, directly above her face. “So you're the third geisha for the mission huh? Haven't got much gear now have you?”

 

“Huh?” Sakura asked, her brain still trying to process her surrounding and not quite catching onto whatever the blonde haired woman was saying.

 

“Ino, leave her alone, she's Uchiha-samas private possession,” She heard a familiar voice and instantly sat up; regretting it later when the top of her calf stung and she winced in pain. Sakura wasn't too sure which Uchiha Kakashi was talking about either.

 

The blonde woman, Ino, turned from Kakashi at the door, back to the rose haired woman she was sitting beside as her eyes narrowed looking her over.

 

“What are we going to do about that cut of yours?” She asked thoughtfully. “We can sort out kimonos and all that, Itachi-sama can pay for any expenses, but a geisha must be flawless and well you can't walk.”

 

Sakura's orbs fell on the sheet she was covered by to where her calf lay. She narrowed her eyes bit her lip and slipped out of the bed. Slowly she stood on both legs, ignoring the pain shooting up her leg.

 

“This is nothing,” Sakura said with a small smile at the blonde woman who watched her wearily, but smiled back.

 

“Well then we haven't got any time to waste, Temari-chan is already getting ready and we still have to fitt you into one of my kimonos,” Ino sighed giving the rose haired woman a once over. “So much work, so little time,” Her attention turned back to Kakashi leaning against the door frame reading his perverted book in silence. “Kakashi, make yourself at home downstairs and leave us to our girlie things,”

 

Kakashi looked up from his book and looked from Ino to Sakura then nodded, turned on his heel and walked down the stairs into what Sakura presumed was the rest of the house.

 

“Isn't he a cutie?” Ino asked as Sakura's eyes turned from where Kakashi had last stood to the bright blue eyes woman.

 

“What?” She asked amazed as her brain digested what the woman in front of her had just said. She understood Kakashi was good-looking, but she wasn't about to share that with a complete stranger, no matter how friendly she was.

 

Ino sighed as she got off the bed and signalled for Sakura to follow her. Sakura on the other hand took a deep breath, swallowed hard and bit her lip once more before following Ino out of the small minimalist room and into the room right beside it, filled to the brim with geisha gear.

 

Sakura almost gasped at how much there was of it. The walls were stacked with cases filled with kimonos, shelves full of different types of sandals. There were two mirrors; the tables they stood were filled with all essential makeup and draws full of hair pins and combs. Whoever this blonde woman was, she was definitely a master geisha.

 

“Hmm… this one should fitt you,” Ino commented as she pulled a case off one of the shelves and opened it to peer inside. “You're about my size apart from in the bosom area, but this one should do… come on, you need a bath first.”

 

Ino set down the case with the kimono as she walked passed the cherry haired woman back to the original room they were in and followed Kakashi's path down the stairs. Sakura right on her heel, the pain from her leg seemed to numb as she got use to it and could walk more freely. She still had a long way to go to get her old stance back though.

 

***

 

Sakura looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, she looked flawless once more. Her hair was tied up even more decoratively by Ino who had done her outmost best on the rose haired woman. Sakura after all was the bait, the eye candy, whilst Ino and Temari were the taste of the goods.

 

“What do you think?” Sakura asked the silver haired ninja sitting on the floor by the door, his back leaning against the wall, one leg straight and the other bent allowing him to rest his arm on it. His ink black eye rose from his book to gaze at the rose haired woman and stared at her dumbly. Sakura was almost about to give up, she wasn't expecting any compliments but at least an `okay' would be nice. Sakura wasn't even sure why she had asked, but she guessed that for some reason, she needed his approval.

 

Kakashi seemed to slip out of his daze because he smiled at her from behind his mask, his eyes crinkly at the sides as he raised his thumbs up before returning to his book. Sakura sighed knowing that would be as much of anything Kakashi would give her.

 

“You ready?” Ino called from the small hall as she walked elegantly into the room. Her pale blue kimono decorated with deeper blue and silver flowers made her already bright blue eyes stand out further and with the black makeup around them they looked alluring even to Sakura's eyes. She looked back into the mirror she was standing by and looked herself over. The deep scarlet kimono suited her hair well, she had hundreds of kimono's back in the Uchiha mansion in exactly the same colour, but something about this one made her feel calm. Not like the other ones, she felt irritated whenever she wore them, but not with this one. Her slightly paler obi provided the right contrast and the pink and silver flowers decorating the outer layer seemed to give it a touch of flavour.

 

Sakura nodded. She was finally going to meet the second Uchiha in her lifetime and she knew he would be the last; no other Uchiha's had survived the slaughter Itachi had committed them to.

 

“Kakashi, the carriage is waiting outside,” Ino said looking down at the silver haired ninja who nodded wordlessly closing his book and walking out of the room to the carriage Ino had spoken of. “Come on,”

 

Sakura once again followed the leadership of the blonde haired woman as they met with another in the hallway. Sakura suspected she was Temari, the third and final geisha assigned to the mission. This woman didn't have the kind look of Ino even though bother were blonde and about the same height. She was wearing a pale ivory kimono decorated with autumn leaves and a matching fan in her hands. Sakura's eyes met hers but neither said a word as they watched each other wearily.

 

“Good you're done too,” Ino said with a smile as she led the two women down the stairs and out of the wooden gates that lead to the exit of the house. Like Ino had said earlier, the carriage that would take them to their destination was already there, Kakashi sitting on top of it, once again his book in hand. Sakura couldn't help but get slightly peeved at how much attention he could give to one book when there were three gorgeous women who had trained to lure any man right in front of him.

 

Ino climbed into the carriage first, followed by Temari and Sakura was left till last. She gazed through the window at the busy people all around, the atmosphere; this amount of life was something that Sakura had not been accustomed to for a long while now. But she was growing to like it again.

 

“Where are we going?” Sakura asked as Ino gave her a side glance. Temari on the other hand didn't seem to hear either of the two women and continued to stare out of the window.

 

“Uchiha Sasuke's home, he and a few business companions of his are having a celebration.” Ino stated.

 

“What are they celebrating?” Sakura asked. She needed as much information as she could to help her formulate a plan to hide her true identity.

 

“The eradication of sand nin Protestants that went after the Kazekage,” Temari had finally spoken up and it had taken Sakura by surprise. She noted this new information in her head and found new questions she wanted answered. But too many questions led to suspicion and she wasn't going to jeopardise her relationship with the two fellow geisha when she was suppose to act like she knew nothing of what was going on in the world around her.

 

“Uchiha Sasuke is the Konoha Anbu captain, he led the attack,” Ino finished off.

 

Sakura nodded slightly before letting her gaze fall back to the town she once had called home. It had changed slightly, most of the building she had known as a child were rebuilt, she ever recognised a few old faces that had somehow survived the onslaught of the Uchiha genius. The town had changed, but to her it still felt like home.

 

She had barely enough time to remember happy memories that lined each street because the carriage had stopped and her mission began. Kakashi had jumped down from the driving seat of the carriage and opened the door offering his hand to Sakura to help her out. She took it and gracefully slipped out of the carriage.

 

“Arigato,” Sakura muttered to which Kakashi merely nodded then continued to help the other two women out as well.

 

Sakura gazed up at the home of the younger Uchiha brother. It was obviously smaller than the mansion of his older brother. But it did not look any less cold and uninviting. Sakura guessed all her assumptions were about to be proved right as the wooden door of the house slid open and the face of a young girl popped out to greet them. She bowed respectfully as the three women walked in past her and slid off their sandals. Kakashi the last to enter the home followed after the woman as they were lead by the younger girl deeper into the mansion.

 

Sakura couldn't stop her heart beating so hard, she couldn't stop her breathing from being so uneven. Was she stupid? She was going from one Uchiha monster to another?! Why hadn't she just run away when she got the chance to? Any chance to? Though she knew in the back of her mind that she had no chance, not with Kakashi close by.

 

Her forest orbs were glued to the ground as they walked quietly and gracefully along, the sound of men enjoying themselves was growing louder and as they stopped before the door of the source of all the noise, Sakura thought she was about ready to faint. She had never been this scared of a ceremony before, she had performed hundreds, all were flawless and left the men that watched them begging for her attention. But this time, she was practically shaking from fright. Part of it was because she didn't know what she was getting herself into, Uchiha Sasuke could be the kindest man in the world, (though she doubted it) or he could be ten times worse than the monster she had left behind.

 

The younger girl that reminded Sakura so much of Mako-chan, slid open the door and bowed once more as Kakashi took the lead this time and the three women followed. The noise didn't die one bit, only seemed to rise as the men began to discuss the three beauties that had just walked in on their celebrations. Sakura had survived this many times before, and on her own so she wasn't the least bit bothered about it. What bothered her was that they had grown to a stop, in front of a man.

 

Her eyes continued to be glued to the ground as she waited for Kakashi to speak. Ino and Temari were on either side of her, both holding their posture to the outmost perfection that left Sakura lagging from fright.

 

“Sasuke-sama,” Sakura heard Kakashi say but didn't look up.

 

“Kakashi-sensei,” The voice of the second man was deep and smooth. But then something hit her… SENSEI?! She couldn't believe it, Kakashi had taught this Uchiha monster?!

 

“No need to call me that Sasuke, I haven't been your teacher in years,” Kakashi replied with a slight laugh.

 

“No need to be so formal either Kakashi,” The Uchiha man replied. “So these would be the geisha you brought for the entertainment?”

 

Sakura's jaw tightened as she could feel herself go light headed. She was chanting in her head not to faint, it would more embarrassing to faint now then not come at all.

 

“Yes, Sasuke, this is Ino, Temari and Sakura,” Sakura was confused as to why Kakashi had left her till last when if he said it in order she would be second from whichever side he started from. But that flew out of her mind as she bowed slowly with the other women. Her eyes needed to rise, she need to look him in the eyes however much she didn't want to. Forcing her orbs to rise up the male physique of the man before her she took in his ink black yukata, his pale but strong looking arms, his built chest through the material of his clothing and then, those onyx black eyes, framed by his raven black hair.

 

Sakura almost gasped but held her posture, smiling lightly at him. She could definitely see the family resemblance, and she was scared it would not only involve his looks.