Chapter Six: Mission Accomplished
Kakashi caught the scroll that was negligently tossed to him, breaking the seal to scan the contents. Partway through he found a phrase that interested, or rather annoyed, him.
“I thought this was going to be a quick and dirty solo mission.” He looked back up to the woman sitting behind the overloaded desk in front of him and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll need a medic?”
“The objective has changed. There are now twelve targets to be eliminated within no longer than a three hour time period. You’re the only trained assassin available for the mission so you will have to take out all twelve targets. Whether or not you choose to use your signature method, chidori, for four of them you’ll still be in no condition to return after such exertions, which is unacceptable. You are too valuable of an asset for this village to be thrown away on this type of mission. I have decided to send a medic with you to ensure that you do return.”
Tsunade thought of a certain pink haired woman who would never forgive her if she sent him off on this type of a mission without a medic, before continuing.
“You’ll be staying at a resort several miles away from the enemy shinobi’s compound. The medic will be stationed outside the main danger area of the complex itself since you do work better at these sorts of missions alone. He will maintain whatever illusion you should choose to utilize to alibi yourselves at the resort during the assassinations, then tend to you once you are through and back at the resort. Going by your past record on these sorts of missions, you’ll probably push yourself too much and will need to recover for a couple days at the resort before returning. If necessary your medic will help you return to Konoha should you be too injured for his field skills or in need of more aid than he can provide.”
“No medic.” Kakashi’s tone was flat conveying his complete distaste for the idea. This mission had solo written all over it, another person would only unnecessarily complicate things, even with the new objective, time period and mandate keeping the medic out of his way while he worked.
The older woman sighed. Somehow she had known the Copy Ninja wouldn’t willingly cooperate with her on this, even though an intelligent shinobi such as himself should clearly see the need for a medic. “My decision is final. However I will let you choose your medic. If he is available then you shall have him.”
He stared at her as though staring would somehow make her change her mind. After several moments of nothing he finally shook his head in annoyance. “Fine, fine...” He sighed almost in defeat. “I want Sakura.”
Tsunade had made the mistake of taking a sip of something that suspiciously smelled of sake just as he spoke. After a moment of choking, coughing and sputtering she was finally able to respond.
“I’m sorry?” the busty medic asked unable to hide her surprise.
Momentarily forgetting the new directive she had added to keep the medic safe, the blonde woman figured he would choose anyone other than his former student. The Copy Ninja had been quite determined to keep her as far away from any sort of dangerous missions as possible since the dissolution of his last team. Or rather, he had tried to keep her away from what he considered to be dangerous missions if he was not the one leading the team. She figured that he probably didn’t see this particular mission dangerous since he would be with her, and Tsunade belatedly realized with the new instructions the medic would also not be anywhere near the actual combat zone.
After the jailbait incident he had never really learned to trust any of the other team leaders with his only female student. This had caused no end of trouble for the clerks who usually assigned the more mundane missions, unbeknownst to the woman in question of course. She would probably have had quite an enlightening and most likely physical discussion with him over it if she had known of his behind the scenes meddling.
Though, the blonde Hokage had to admit he did have a legitimate reason to be upset over the whole jailbait incident. After all, Raido had asked to borrow the kunoichi from Kakashi’s team because he needed a medic, neglecting to add that she would be used as bait to catch a particularly nasty sexual predator attracted to girls not of legal age. Of course, Raido knew better than to tell the silver haired jonin the real reason he had wanted to borrow Sakura as the Copy Ninja had steadfastly refused anyone wishing to borrow her for anything other than her medical skills. He had denied all who had asked simply to borrow his kunoichi assuming they needed her for her kunoichi skills rather than her medical skills. Kakashi had also refused all missions requiring her to use any of her special kunoichi skills once she was considered to be of age to be asked to do so. Consequently he had been absolutely livid when an extremely apologetic Raido had brought Sakura back with telling injuries of just what sort of mission she had been on.
Regardless of the elite jonin’s motives she was beginning to become a little concerned about the somewhat atypical relationship between the former teacher and student. Whether or not he realized it, the silver haired man was getting much too comfortable with having her available to tend to his injuries; and the pink haired woman wasn’t helping matters as she seemed all too accommodating in making herself available to him whenever he needed her. Inwardly she shook her head as she realized he was speaking again and she should be listening to him.
“…Sakura, I’ll take her as my medic. I know she’s in the village; as I took her out for dango a couple days ago after I returned...”
Having convinced herself that it was for Kakashi and Sakura’s own good, the older woman shook her head stubbornly, feeling almost childish and obstinate. “No.”
“What? Why not? She is in the village. So Sakura should be available…” He narrowed his eye in suspicion. “You did say anyone…”
“Yes I did; anyone who is available. Sakura may be in the village, but that doesn’t mean that she is available. And, she’s not. So choose someone else.” Peevishly Tsunade found that the more he insisted the more she didn’t want to give in to him.
“No. I want Sakura.” Kakashi crossed his arms across his chest belligerently, feeling immaturely angry at not getting his way. “It’s either Sakura or no one.”
Tsunade’s annoyance was finally starting to break through her generally thin calm exterior. “Kakashi, I may let her spoil you rotten here in the village with the house calls and all, but I can’t afford to let you get her into the habit of doing it in the field as well.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what I said, Kakashi. You’ve gone a bit soft over your pink haired medic and that just isn’t going to cut it. Sakura isn’t always going to be there to patch you up. It’s bad enough that I already let her slink off to check up on and heal you whenever you return from a mission. I’m not going to let you get into the habit of keeping her as your own personal medic for your exclusive use in the village and in the field.” The Hokage sighed audibly. “You know she took herself off active duty after the last incident when you nearly took out that ANBU rookie who had been sent to take you to the hospital because Sakura was unavailable? Really Kakashi, how could you do that? You’re one of the most self controlled shinobi in the village.”
He opened his mouth to object, the stupid rookie had, after all, made a try for his mask, but she interrupted him before he could put voice to his protest.
“And, don’t you try and feed me some cock and bull story of how he went for your mask. Your mask my ass. More likely the frightened young fool was just trying to get a hold of you however he could.” She shook her head realizing she had somehow gotten away from the real topic of their conversation.
“Anyway, that’s beside the point. Sakura made the decision to restrict her mission activities on her own. I had nothing to do with that. I actually tried to get her to change her mind. She should have an active field career before settling down in the hospital with the old fogies. Though, with the good work she has been doing at the hospital and prospects of picking up a couple research assignments, I honestly don’t think she minded… But, I’ll be damned if I’ll let you prevent her from having a regular field career if she should change her mind. For some inexplicable reason the girl seems to be inordinately attached to her first team. If Sakura thinks there is a chance something may happen to one of the three of you idiots while she is away and you won’t seek help on your own, she won’t leave.”
Kakashi smiled, an expression he wasn’t particularly feeling. “Well then it should be good for me to take her out with me since she hasn’t been out as much lately. You’ve just said so yourself that you wanted her to get out on more missions.” He did his best to ignore what she had just said, knowing it was true and something he had consciously been ignoring since the dissolution of their team.
Tsunade sighed, speaking more to herself than to the man standing in front of her. “I just knew I shouldn’t have let this go on as long as it has … but, I just couldn’t seem to say no to her.” The Hokage shook her head in annoyance, and looked back up at the usually stoic shinobi before her. “I know you’ve gotten comfortable with having her tend to you, which is only natural since she was one of your students, but it can’t go on forever you know. Sakura will eventually find a life for herself outside of her old genin team, and she won’t always be able to drop everything for you, Naruto and Sasuke. Best to get used to it now rather than later when it actually happens and there are real consequences…”
~*~*~*~
“Tsunade? Last time I saw her she was in her office. I believe her last meeting was at eight this morning so she should be free until two or so when she is scheduled for a meeting with the village elders.”
“Right, thanks!”
The young medic made her way to her mentor’s office with an armful of scrolls waiting for the Hokage’s approval. It had been a long morning, just made longer by the rather invasive grope ending with a painful pinch she received while making her way through a patient’s room.
Sakura briefly knocked before entering; she always had access to Tsunade whenever she needed to see her medic mentor and the Hokage was in one of her offices. The perk could be a double edged sword though since people were always hitting her up for favors, either to deliver bad news to the temperamental woman or just plain getting something rushed through to her when she was unavailable to everyone else.
“We really need to come up with a better warning system for the patients with wandering hands,” the pink haired woman grumbled as she rubbed her rear. “You wouldn’t believe what the patient in 5F did…” Sakura trailed off with her hand absently resting in her derriere, realizing she was not alone with the village’s top medic. The kunoichi flushed upon noticing her silver haired former sensei in the room and hastily removed her hand from her bottom.
“Oh! Hello Kakashi.” Sakura smiled a bit self consciously at him. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m not interrupting anything too important…”
To her relief, Kakashi smiled and the blonde woman laughed.
“You’ve been by to see Mr. Shiranui then?”
The generally impassive jonin chuckled, having known the Shiranui family for quite some time. Given a young woman like Sakura, it would be more of a surprise if he didn’t make a grab for her than the apparent fact that he had.
Sakura’s eyes widened. “I was looking for a file one of the nurses misplaced…is that who he was?” She shook her head. “It’s no wonder where Genma gets it from. I should have guessed. He managed to make me feel sort of dirty before he even touched me!” She rubbed her rear again. “Ouch and he has really strong fingers… He needs an orange folder and a warning on the door.”
“At least you weren’t trying to examine his throat or mouth; those hands of his will go for any female anatomy within reach.” The brown eyed woman shook her head, feeling glad there weren’t too many lecherous citizens in Konoha. “What do you need Sakura?”
“Oh, um just your approval for these scrolls.” Sakura dumped the collection of scrolls she had been holding onto the blonde woman’s desk. “Those need approval before tomorrow; they’re the scheduled surgeries and assignments for next week.”
The busty woman sighed audibly. “Alright I’ll take a quick look at them right now – otherwise I might never get to them.” Tsunade turned to the silver haired man who had a hint of something she couldn’t quite read in his visible eye. “You wait here; this should only take a moment and we’re not done discussing your next mission.”
The pink haired medic turned to the older man and frowned. “Going out so soon Kakashi?”
“Apparently.”
“But, didn’t you only just come back after being away for about a month?”
He shrugged. “You know how it is Sakura.”
The pink haired medic sighed. “I suppose so.” She paused for a moment, “You going on another long term solo then?”
Kakashi frowned. “Why would you guess that?”
“That’s almost all you’ve been doing lately.” Sakura laughed. “If you don’t start spending either more time in the village or on team assignments you’re going to lose the few social skills you have left.” She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
He opened his mouth to retaliate but was prevented by his superior.
“Sakura, why aren’t you scheduled next week?” the blonde medic inquired of her former apprentice with an eyebrow raised in question.
“Oh, you asked Shizune to have me taken off the schedule for the next few weeks. Um, something about a new research assignment for me I think she mentioned? I’ve actually been meaning to ask you about it.”
The more senior woman looked at the younger woman blankly for a moment before a smile spread slowly across her face. “Oh that’s right, must have slipped my mind. I do have a new research project for you. But, something else has come up and it will be a couple weeks before you’ll actually be able to start with it.”
“Okay, so should I ask Shizune to put be back into rotation until I can start the new project then?”
“No, no… I have some other tasks for you to complete in the mean time.”
“Um, okay just let me know.” The younger medic gathered the signed, annotated, and approved scrolls from her mentor and stepped toward to the door. Sakura turned to the silver haired shinobi. “Be careful old man. I’d like you to come back in one piece.”
~*~*~*~
Tsunade eyed the stoic man in front of her. She kicked herself for what she was about to do, but was secretly pleased at finding a way around a potentially tricky complication of a future assignment. The Hokage also had to admit that part of her childish refusal had been rooted in the fact that she was irrationally a little bit jealous of how close the kunoichi was with her former sensei. “Are you still set on having your former student, impertinence and all?”
He frowned, wondering about her seemingly sudden mood shift. “I want Sakura, no one else.”
“Good, then you can have her.”
She smiled too sweetly for his liking. He opened his mouth to voice a sudden suspicion but was cut off before he could begin.
“Well, you can have her on one condition.” She amended, her sweet smile quickly turning smug.
He stared at her flatly, wary of what she could demand in return for letting him take Sakura with him and wondering if he would be able, and willing, to pay her price.
“Sakura has been working on the very edges of an interesting area of research in lieu of some of her shifts at the hospital recently. She was going to burn out at the rate she was going if at least some of her energies weren’t redirected to a less strenuous medical field. After reviewing her preliminary results I will be officially assigning her to continue her research on a grander scale and in greater depth. She doesn’t realize it now, but eventually she will ask for your help with her research. Sakura won’t want to, she’ll exhaust every possible alternative trying to get around asking you for help, but inevitably she will have to.” Tsunade smiled almost predatorily at the Copy Ninja. “I’d like for you to agree.”
~*~*~*~
“So where exactly are we going?” Sakura asked as they trudged onward.
She was wearing plain, almost overly modest clothing, hair temporarily dyed dark brown, and forehead protector secreted in a hidden pocket in her bag as he had specified before they left the village. As they made their way toward their destination she found herself stealing more than one glance at her former teacher. The pink haired medic had rarely seen him in something that wasn’t standard jonin or ANBU or even shinobi issue. Kakashi was wearing what was obviously a warrior’s clothing, though nothing that could easily be associated with a ninja, an eye-patch instead of his forehead protector and a wealth of bandages covering his nose extending down past the lower half of his face and onto his neck instead of his usual mask. Inwardly she had cringed at the result, reminding her vaguely of Zabuza. And, if the wardrobe change hadn’t been unsettling enough he had also dyed his hair black, she assumed or rather hoped temporarily. Clearly wherever they were going they were not going as themselves or shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
“I’ve already told you, to a resort at the border.” He didn’t look up from his ever present little orange book.
She sighed. “Not only haven’t you told me where we’re going, but you haven’t told me what we’re going to do once we get there and why we’re going in the first place.”
“Is that right?”
“Kakashi! At some point in time something will happen and unless you tell me what we’re here for I’m not going to have the least idea what I’ll need to do.”
He sighed and snapped the orange book shut. “All you need to do is come to the resort, enjoy yourself for a week or so, maintain clones there to alibi us while we’re away and then deal with me after I complete our objective.” The older man smiled at her. “Should be a pretty easy mission. You should be thanking me for taking you to a resort, even if it is for a mission.” He chuckled at her immediate reaction; Sakura appeared as though she had swallowed a lemon whole.
She looked at him suspiciously trying hard not to wonder about his word choice at the phrase ‘deal with me.’ Sakura really didn’t want to have to deal with something unexpected, but he didn’t particularly seem to want to tell her the objective of the mission. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”
Kakashi’s smile took on an innocent cast she knew all too well. “Nothing, there’s nothing I’m not telling you.” He shook his head as if in disbelief that she was questioning his integrity, though he knew full well that she had every reason with his rather extensive track record with her. “What makes you think I’m not telling you something?”
“Kakashi, Tsunade does not assign medics to go out into the field for pretty much the sole purpose of healing someone after they’ve completed their objective unless something seriously wrong is expected to happen. What’s this about alibis? Why should we need them? Just what is your mission objective anyway? And, why are we staying at a resort instead of camping somewhere?” If she hadn’t been so suspicious Sakura would have made a joke about him being too old to camp and sleep on the ground anymore, but there was just something not quite right about this supposedly ‘easy’ mission that made her reconsider.
Ignoring her questions he pointed in front of them. “Look we’re almost there.”
She could see the roof of what had to be the sea-side resort peeking above the trees maybe a mile ahead of them. “Hey! That’s not fair! You still haven’t told me...”
He cut her off. “Cover story is that you’re the daughter of a wealthy tea merchant on her way to visit some family in the Land of Water. I’m your guardian; your father doesn’t trust you to travel with a large group of people because he has trust issues – he fears kidnapers and irrationally figures larger groups of people tend to draw more attention than smaller ones.”
“Uh, okay works for me. How are we going to explain stopping here for a week or however long we’ll have to stay?”
“Right, we’ll be staying here until your ankle feels better.”
“What? Both my ankles are fi...” Sakura broke off with a yelp of pain as he moved quickly, grabbing a stick from the side of the road and pushing it in between her feet as she walked, tripping her rather forcefully.
“Sorry about that Sakura.”
“Kakashi!” she hissed through the sudden sharp pain in her ankle from her inelegant seat on the ground. “What the hell?”
He shrugged apologetically before bending over to remove her pack, scoop her up, minding her now injured ankle, and started walking again. “I’m sorry Sakura. We needed a legitimate excuse to stay. Now we have one. Besides, you can just heal it once we’re through here and until then it won’t particularly interfere with our objective – actually it will work quite well in lending credibility to our alibi.”
The irate medic slapped his shoulder, hard. “You moron! You should have just told me that!” She glared at him furiously.
Kakashi looked at her inquisitively, knowing that at least on some level he had deserved the slap.
Sakura sighed. “There’s more than one way to fake an injury and I know a much less painful one to sprain my ankle without actually hurting myself.” The kunoichi shifted a little in his arms to examine her ankle, which was quickly swelling and starting to turn an ugly color.
“You can actually do that?” He asked curiously, pausing to look down at her clearly angry expression with interest.
She hit him again. “I’m a medic! Of course I can do that!”
Kakashi sighed and rolled his eye. He should have expected her to react as she had, though the fact that she had mastered the tricky jutsu associated with fooling the body into believing it was injured without anything actually causing any damage had surprised him. It was not something usually taught to medics. He grinned to himself, realizing that he and Guy weren’t the only ones to teach their students things they probably shouldn’t.
Kakashi was brought back to himself as he heard her huff and shift angrily in his arms. “How many more times are you going to hit me before we can continue with this mission?” He sighed, wondering how long she would stay angry with him for underestimating her abilities.
Sakura flushed faintly before giving him one more particularly hard smack upside his head, knocking his eye patch askew. “Okay we’re even… But, I’m not dealing with crutches. As long as I’m injured, hardly worth healing it just to fake the same thing, you’re going to have to carry me.” She stuck her tongue out at him, not expecting him to acquiesce to her rather whimsical demand.
He shook his head, clearing the stars that had appeared when her hand had connected with his jaw. “Fine and good, your name is Riiko and mine is Soshi.”
She was surprised at his acceptance of her frivolous request but not quite willing to question it. Instead the medic nodded, watching as a spectacular bruise blossomed across the visible part of his face from where her hand had made contact with his bandage covered cheek. Suddenly feeling guilty, especially if he was going to be stuck carrying her around while they were at the resort, she tugged half heartedly at his shirt. “Wait, stop.”
Kakashi paused, looking down at her with some confusion.
She sighed and adjusted his eye patch before concentrating for a moment, carefully placing her hand on his bandage covered cheek. “Didn’t mean to hit you quite that hard.” Gently she ran her hand over his cheek, healing the bruise and crack in his jaw that she had just made. “But, dammit ask next time!” She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest belligerently once she was finished healing him.
He laughed and started once again toward the resort, choosing not to comment on the fact that as he traveled she almost hesitantly slipped her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against shoulder in the process. Silently he figured it must be the pain she was in due to her recently sprained ankle and felt a sympathy pang of guilt for having caused it unnecessarily. Kakashi felt her sigh softly against him and decided to find something nice to anonymously do for her once they returned to Konoha seeing as how she had just healed the cracked jaw and rather spectacular bruise that had been forming on his face. He also still felt a little guilty for what he had unintentionally done; it would seem that he had once again, albeit accidentally, underestimated her.
He knew she would never admit to him how much it bothered her that he could so blithely underestimate her abilities after all of the times that she had proved herself to him to be more than competent at her chosen profession. And, yet somehow he still managed to do it to her. Silently he resolved to make more of an effort to see her for what she really was and not the child he had spent years protecting.
~*~*~*~
She sat in the branches toward the top of the tree with her eyes fixed on the last target who was sitting somewhat less than soberly in the courtyard inside the secure enemy complex. …Although it wasn’t quite as secure as they thought since Kakashi had made his way inside just over two hours prior and started a string of well planned and timed strategic assassinations.
Absently she fidgeted a little and checked her watch again. He should have been there and taken out the last target twenty minutes ago. She couldn’t imagine where he was and what he was doing, or rather she could and it didn’t settle well with her.
Silently Sakura debated over going in and trying to find him despite his strict instructions to the contrary. She fidgeted again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other – having healed her ankle before leaving the resort that night – starting to really worry. The medic knew that he was good at what he did. Heck he was an elite jonin and former member of ANBU specializing in assassinations; of course he knew what he was doing. But, for whatever reason neither fact could assuage her growing sense of unease. She knew the mission required for him to stretch his abilities a little; she just couldn’t quite stop hoping that it wasn’t too much for him.
Just as Sakura was about to second guess his implicit orders she observed a shadow quickly detach itself from the wall surrounding the complex and stealthily sneak up behind the last clearly inebriated man and cleanly slit his throat. With the last target taken care of the shadow visibly slumped and quickly, but with an increasing lack of coordination, made its way over the wall. She silently met him, ready to provide him with whatever quick patch ups he may need before transporting him back to the resort where she could treat him more fully.
Her worry faded quickly and was replaced with anger at his condition as she used her chakra enhanced strength to almost carry him back. Between the amount of chakra she would need to get him back and the amount she had already used to create and maintain clones of both herself and her former teacher Sakura knew she wouldn’t be able to fully heal all of his injuries when they returned. After a preliminary check she knew the medic would have her work cut out for her. They would definitely need at least three maybe four days before he would be strong and healed enough to travel.
~*~*~*~
Kakashi couldn’t remember a single time when he had been happier to see a medic than the moment she had met him at the wall. Giving in to her insistent demands to accompany him at least as far as the enemy complex turned out to be better planning than he could have thought. The elite shinobi was absolutely exhausted, having been cornered into using his chidori three times and any number of other jutsu after underestimating a couple of his targets. Each movement reminded him of the injuries he had sustained: at least 3 broken ribs, something strained and or sprained in his right arm, a hit to the back of his head that had been hard enough to almost bring him down, surface abrasions with several deep and long cuts caused by shattering a pane of glass with his left hand, and a thin but deep slash across his back. In addition to his physical injuries his chakra was depleted to such a level that he was afraid to open his Sharingan for fear that it would suck up the last of it rendering him completely unconscious. If he hadn’t had a medic with him he would have truly had a hard time making it back to Konoha, never mind avoiding the pursuit that would certainly be sent after him once his actions were discovered by the other occupants of the complex.
The pink haired medic scanned him quickly before ‘tsk’ing angrily at him and taking one of his arms across her shoulders to help him back to the resort. It was a little awkward with the obvious height difference but he was in no condition to complain. They had maybe an hour before someone noticed what he had done and sent out search parties to apprehend the culprit. Kakashi had to admit that Tsunade’s idea of having them stay at a resort, leaving clones in their place, was a good one as now they didn’t have to hurry back to Konoha to avoid pursuit. Instead they would head to the close comfort of a soft bed and warm food not cooked at a hastily made camp and he could recover at his leisure. There was also the added bonus that if someone asked about them anyone at the resort would vouch for their whereabouts that evening.
He didn’t like to admit it, but he was grateful for the blonde woman forcing him to take a medic. Kakashi was surprised to realize how grateful he was that the medic with him was his former student, but what he found to be even more surprising was the reason: he trusted her. The Copy Ninja knew that on some level he trusted all shinobi he had been put on a team with, however, somewhere along the way she seemed to have earned more of his trust than almost all of the shinobi he had ever worked with and he found it faintly worrying.
He pulled his mind away from the vaguely troubling revelation before he could ask himself the dangerous question of why? Instead he focused on what his hokage had said of the young medic currently helping him back to the safety of the resort. On some level he knew that he had been using her, just a tiny bit mind you, as his own personal medic to the point where he refused treatment by anyone other than her, but he hadn’t really thought to care much about it since she never seemed to mind. Absently he wondered as they stumbled over some unseen obstacle in their path and he heard her curse softly if he had been holding her back from pursuing the sort of career she wanted; and even harder – what to do if he found out that he was.
