Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Strawberry Secrets ❯ Chapter 7

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimers: All characters, besides Akiko, Tami and Maki are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. I'm not making any money off of this, although I'm sure Masashi-san is.

Chapter 6

After the drama that had ensued of the past few weeks because of her adult form, Sakura should have been happy to get back to her normal self. She sat in the corner of the staff lunch room and pressed a finger up against the frosted glass, watching the ice melt around her fingertip. For some strange reason, since getting back to normal, she felt that something was strangely missing. Whatever it was, it was making her slip deeper into a depression with no end in sight.

“Hey, Sakura-chan.” Akiko said softly, a warm hand pressing on her forearm. “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk to Maki-sensei about going home early?” The medic-nin asked.

“No,” Her green gaze left the window and travelled to the nurse’s kindly face. She smiled before saying, “I’m okay. I need to finish my volunteer hours.”

“You are already ahead by forty hours, Sakura-chan.” Akiko pointed out.

She shrugged, “I’ll just bank them for when I need them.” Sakura stood and stretched, glancing at her watch as she lifted her arms over her head. “Time to get back to work.”

The hospital was quiet. It had snowed virtually non-stop for the past two weeks causing everything in the village to grind to a halt. So if no one was going outside then that meant that no one was getting hurt in training, which cut down on their injuries by more than half. There was still a small percentage of mission injuries but there hadn’t been anything serious for a while. The staff was getting bored and when the medical staff got bored, they usually got carried away. Their antics could be heard from a vacant examiners room where they were watching a movie that had come on the television. Sakura walked by the room and glanced inside, seeing one young medic-nin with a bedpan on his head tossing a wad of bandages at an unsuspecting orderly. Mostly harmless pranks and comradery brought them closer together, another reason why Sakura enjoyed the life of a medic-nin so much.

“Sakura, there you are.” Tsunade’s stern voice echoed down the hall. Sakura looked up the hall and saw the Hokage walking full tilt ahead with Tonton and Shizune in tow.

“Tsunade-sama.” Sakura bowed to her teacher respectfully.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” The blonde woman huffed, “I have a mission for you.”

“What is it?”

“Search and rescue. Seems that some of our men were coming home from a mission and were caught in an avalanche. ANBU is going but we need a medic on hand. There might be some injuries, we don’t know how critical though.”

“So you want to send me?” Sakura asked faintly, “But what if they are critical?”

“We have faith in your abilities, Sakura.” The Godaime said encouraging, squeezing her shoulder. “And if you do well, we might even consider starting you on some missions as a medic-nin.”

Sakura grinned, “Alright!”

“Alright, no time to lose. Get ready and meet the team out at the gates. You better be ready to keep up with them.”

Not even twenty minutes later and Sakura was standing at the only exit to Konoha, wrestling with the mammoth-sized butterflies threatening to erupt from her stomach. ANBU! She was going on her first serious mission as a medic-nin and she was going with none other than the legendary Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai!

“You are the medic-nin?” A soft, muffled voice asked behind her.

She jumped and whirled around, coming face to face with a man who had a wolf mask on. He was swathed in a heavy black cloak that was loose enough not to constrict his movements. The hilt of his sword was visible over his left shoulder. “Yes I am.”

“Put this on. You can’t stand out, you’ll be a target for anyone who might be waiting.” He handed her a black bundle. She pulled the pack apart and put on the cloak, it was warmer than she had imagined. She stroked the fur lining, it was black wolf fur and smelled slightly musky. She took the mask that looked suspiciously like an otter’s face. She glanced at the unmoving ANBU member before donning it and tying the ribbons to hold it in place. The hood went up, covering her pink hair and effectively warming her already chilled ears.

“You will keep up.” A statement and not a question that brooked no argument. “Listen to what I say and that means if I say to scatter, you scatter. Don’t be a hero and try to fight. A dead ninja is a useless one.”

The journey was quick but left Sakura’s legs feeling wobbly. They stood at the base of the mountain two hours later and she looked up at the loose snow that decked the side of the mountain. None of the ANBU team had spoken to her since their departure; in fact, the only ANBU she had seen was the one in the wolf mask. She had sensed the other three fleetingly, but if she hadn’t definitely known that they were around her, she would have doubted their presence.

“They are up there, according to our tracker.” Wolf-mask spoke, pointing up to a ledge that was barely visible through the snow.

A simple exercise in expanding her chakra and sweeping it over the side of the mountain like a radar and she sensed the faint throb of two balls of chakra, too big and powerful to be an animal. “There’s two of them and it’s faint.”

Wolf-mask nodded, lifting up a hand to signal the unseen entities that camouflaged themselves in the trees. Another shrouded individual appeared at his side, wearing the mask of a bear. “Recce reports there was a squad of four in the area a couple of hours ago. They found someone dead. His throat cut out. One of ours.”

“Take her into the trees and have the other two sweep the area. Don’t come out until I come for you. They are still here.”

“But I didn’t sense them.” Sakura spoke up, worried that any moment lost in fruitless persuit of an enemy long-gone could lead to the death of whoever was caught in the snow.

“Don’t argue. Just do it.” Wolf-mask said calmly.

She wanted to argue more but felt his stare behind his mask. She reluctantly followed Bear-mask into the woods and squatted down in the hollow of a tree. Bear-mask disappeared immediately after she got herself settled but she could feel his presence regardless. An hour later and the forest was deathly still. Her feet were cold, she tried to channel chakra into them to keep them from freezing but got a curt warning– a shuriken aimed closely to her head. So instead of using her chakra, she rubbed at them desperately from beneath the warm fur lined cloak.

Bear-mask appeared suddenly in front of her, his large body blocking her from the approaching stranger.

“It’s safe now.” A voice said from beneath a rabbit mask.

Without a word Bear-mask launched a kunai at his fellow teammate. The blow was anticipated and Rabbit-mask drew his sword before attacking. Sakura pulled out a kunai but was too confused to see what was going on. Why was Bear-mask attacking Rabbit-mask? She stayed out of the fight, but gripped her weapon as the silent battle raged on in front of her.

Bear-mask took a swipe across the chest, Sakura could hear Rabbit’s blade scrape across the plates in his flak jacket. Bear was barely able to deflect another sword swipe but had managed to get out a shuriken and throw it at Rabbit. It hit the left shoulder and stuck, soon the black material was shiny as the blood soaked through. The injury didn’t stop the attacker but had rendered his left arm useless. The battle was too near for the ANBU to use Genjutsu as it required both hands to preform the seals, which were currently holding the hilt of his sword.

Clapping her hands together, Sakura performed her own ninjutsu. With a deep breath, she launched herself at the fighting pair, her hand lashing out at the Rabbit-masked ANBU member. With surprise as the main element to her attack, Rabbit-mask was caught off guard. She drove the tips of her fingers into his right shoulder, solar plexus, groin and both thighs in a movement so fast that it could barely be followed. He dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks as his muscles were severed completely. She realized that by hitting his solar plexus with the powerful attack, she had severed his heart as well. With one full twitch and a rattling sigh, Rabbit-mask lay still.

“I just killed him!” Sakura said in shock, staring at Bear-mask who wiped the snow and blood from his blade with the fallen man’s cloak. “Why? Why did I kill an ANBU?”

“You didn’t kill an ANBU.” Bear-mask grunted, pulling off the mask to reveal the very dead face with the sound-nin hitai-ate tied around his forehead. “Our leader said he would be the one to come for us when everything is alright.”

She watched Bear-mask sheath his sword, the susurrus of the blade sliding home made her shiver. That sound would surely haunt her for the rest of her life, she thought grimly. “Is this a trap?”

“Yes.” Bear-mask nodded, “We suspected that the sound-nin were using our trapped men to flush out more Leaf-nin to kill. They have been doing this for quite some time now.”

“Sound-nin have been attacking our men and we’ve been doing nothing about it?” Sakura asked, again shocked.

He shook his head, “We have. ANBU has been taking care of it”

“So we are just letting them attack us? We aren’t doing anything about it? Shouldn’t we be appealing to someone, or- I don’t know, doing something?” The Kunoichi asked, feeling helpless.

“Like what? This is what war is about, young woman.” She felt ashamed of her ignorance. “Did you think it would be loud and full of clashing swords? Screaming? No. Our wars are fought in the shadows, as silently and efficiently as possible. Without the knowledge of the public.”

“You’ve been fighting and we don’t know anything about it... you’ve all been giving your lives and we don’t even...” She trailed off, recalling the last time she had visited the memorial rock. More names had appeared on it, names that she hadn’t recalled being there before. She realized why there had been no mention of the additions to the rock.

Wolf-mask appeared in a blur of black cloak. “It’s okay. We suffered a few casualties but most of them are dead or have fled. We are pursuing them right now. This is the chance to get our men out of those caves.”

Sakura nodded and followed the two visible men to the foot of the mountain. There were already ANBU members on the ledge, blasting away at the rock and snow that had formed a barrier over the mouth of the cave. When she climbed up to the working ANBU members, she helped as best she could.

“Can I use my chakra, now?” She asked Wolf-mask who stood behind her, watching the others work.

“Yes.”

“Then stand back, everyone.” She said, clapping her hands together. Her mind had already worked out the solution to the problem. The ledge was holding the heavy snow and rocks, her eyes followed the pathway. “I suggest you all get off this ledge and away from mountain. I’m going to knock the ledge away.”

The ANBU members dispersed and when Sakura had deemed it safe enough she took a deep breath to help channel the chakra to her arms. Crouching down, she laced her hands and brought them over her head. With a shout, powering as much of her energy as she could into her muscles, she slammed her hands down on the ground, simultaneously releasing the chakra. With one quick push, she threw herself off the side of the mountain as the avalanche rumbled down the steep slope. Powerful arms wrapped around her waist as she plummeted through the air, she knew she was safe with the ANBU around her. Wolf-mask settled her on a branch and they watched the snow and debris settle at the foot of the mountain.

The remaining ANBU quickly made it to the mouth of the cave. Inside, there were four bodies, two of which were frozen and dead, but the remaining two where still clinging to life, just barely. One, a badger-masked individual reached down to pick up one of the unconscious ninja. “NO! DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Sakura yelled. “Don’t touch him. He has severe hypothermia. If you jostle him, you’ll kill him.”

“But he needs to be in a warm place.” Badger-mask insisted.

“Listen, you guys fought your war. This one is mine. Leave this to me.” She said harshly as she placed her hands over the chest of the other unconscious man. “If you want to be a help, loosen his belt, bandages or whatever might be restricting blood flow. We need to get their blood circulating properly.” Warmth licked up her arms, she pushed it gently into his the unconscious man’s torso. She closed her mind and focussed on his heartbeat, listening to its irregular, faint beating. A few hours later, she was interrupted by a stern voice. “We’ve got to hurry up, there is a storm coming.”

Sakura nodded. “He’s almost ready to be transported.” His heartbeat was stronger and he showed some signs of life. “Take him but be careful. Don’t jostle him. It’ll cause his heart to stop.”

An ANBU member took the unconscious man and Sakura moved onto the next. She pushed her hands beneath the cover of his shirt, resting her palms against chilled skin. Quickly, the chakra pulsed between her hands and his flesh before bleeding into his body. Sakura slowly warmed the blood, a process that took a while since warming too quickly would cause temperature shock.

“We’ve got to hurry.” Wolf-mask said, his face turned to the opening of the cave where a few wisps of snow floated downwards.

“I can’t hurry this and we can’t move him. If we do, it’ll cause his heart to stall. I can’t speed up because he’ll go into temperature shock.”

“Then leave him. We can’t afford to lose anymore men.”

“No! I will not leave him!” She yelled angrily. “If you are so worried about losing more men then you go.”

Wolf-mask turned to his men, “Give her your cloaks.” He ordered as he took his own off, “And build a fire for her. Collect wood and if you have food, leave it here. We don’t know how long this storm will go on for.”

The men left but not before covering up the front of the cave with a stone wall technique, leaving enough room at the top of the entrance for the smoke from the fire to escape. They had taken the frozen corpses of the fallen-nin with them. She had a chance to glance at them, half dreading the possibility of recognizing any of them. None of them were familiar to her, but her relief was soon chased away by her guilt. It didn’t matter who they were, they were Leaf-nin and their deaths could have been prevented. Shaking her head, she turned back to the shinobi that lay beneath her hands. He had painstakingly been moved onto the thick bed of cloaks that three ANBU members had provided.

His skin was losing it’s bluish touch as she urged the slowly warming blood to his major organs. She glanced up at his face, Sakura realized belatedly who she was touching. “K-kakashi!” She cried.

The ANBU teams had pulled his mask away from his face, it lay loosely around his neck. His hitai-ate was on the floor beside his head. She hadn’t recognized him at first because his telltale silvery hair was covered by a thick, woolen toque that was pulled down over his left eye. Obviously, when someone had put the hat on his head, they knew that he always kept that eye covered. She found her focus dwindling as the panic and fear started to rise.

“Focus, Sakura!” She hissed, freeing one hand to yank the mask off of her face.

Renewing her efforts, Sakura took a deep breath and slowed down her heart, which she was using to sync Kakashi’s irregular heartbeat. Another hour and the cave had gotten darker as night settled in. The fire was dying and slowly the cold was starting to seep back in through the hole at the top. She left him for a moment, feeding the fire some more wood that the ANBU had collected before returning. With a silent prayer, she went back to her careful ministrations.

When finally she had done all she could and night had settled in, Sakura wrapped the Jounin warmly in all the cloaks she could find and then went to sit by the fire. She was tired, very tired. The non-stop action from this afternoon and the heavy usage of her chakra were taking its toll. She ate only because she knew that she needed sustenance in order to maintain her strength but after finishing the rice ball, she realized if she fell asleep they would risk losing the fire and both of them would end up dying of hypothermia.

She carefully dragged Kakashi’s body over to the fire and then settled under the covers, shivering as she did so. She had divulged the man of his flak jacket and sweater, both of which had been frozen. Sakura kept her t-shirt on for the sake of her modesty but had taken off both cloak, sweater and pants in attempts to share as much body heat as possible. She put on the knitted cap that wolf-mask had given her and wrapped her arms around Kakashi’s torso. With one last prayer, a promise to god that if she and Kakashi got out of this alive, she’d set things right between the two them, Sakura fell asleep.

TBC