The Fragile

A.N. I sincerely apologize for the delay. Work and kids, ‘ya know. My husband wrote the bulk of this chapter. He will be writing some in the next chapter as well, but probably not to the extent that he did in this one. He will be focusing more on the action sequences that will follow. I edited and changed things here and there to mold it to my liking, but this chapter is still his. I hope that you enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.


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Kakashi didn’t sleep well. He tossed and turned all night while having the most horrible nightmare of his life. He dreamed of Sakura being tortured and raped, begging for mercy. He dreamed of her lifeless, battered body. He dreamed of her spirit crying, asking him, “Why didn’t you save us? Why did you let us die? You couldn’t save your comrades and you couldn’t save me! What about our child? Our child is dead and you did nothing!!” Sakura’s words were cut off by the sound of a baby crying. Kakashi was looking down upon a child in awe. It was a baby, a beautiful baby with silver hair. It was his child! He could feel it with every fiber of his being and it warmed his heart to look upon its angelic face. Suddenly a dark figure roughly grabs the child and yanks him out of the crib. The baby begins to wail. The dark stranger rasps out: “Konoha trash…. there is no reason for this child to live. It would just seek revenge when it’s older. Revenge is so cliché.” The figure calmly holds the baby up with one hand while forming a seal with the other. Everything goes dark. Silence. Nothingness. Suddenly Kakashi’s ears ring and his hearing is distorted by an unnaturally loud scream. A scream filled with hysteria and terror. It was Sakura.

Kakashi tore out of his tent, breathing heavily. The cold morning air blowing against the sweat he had worked up caused a shiver to run down his body. Shikamaru, Shino, and Kiba were awakened by his sudden movement and got up quickly, expecting trouble. Akamaru yapped and Kiba spoke up.

“What’s going on? Is someone near? Akamaru doesn’t sense anyone.” Kiba’s lips slowly turned down in a frown from Kakashi’s lack of response.

Kakashi unfastened one of the pockets on his Jounin vest and pulled out a scroll. “We need to hurry. This is taking too long and I’m afraid Sakura may not have much time left.” He then unfastened the scroll and pulled one end tight to unravel it. He bit the pad of his thumb and smeared a thick streak of blood on the unraveled scroll and quickly rewound it. Kakashi molded some chakra, forming a set of complicated seals, and summoned his entire dog pack in one seamlessly smooth set of motions. Once the smoke from the summoning dissipated seven dogs were visible, each a different size, shape, and type; all of which were wearing spiked collars and blue vests with a clumsy looking face drawn inside a red circle on the back. Shikamaru and Shino exchanged a look. Shikamaru furrows his brow for a moment in thought.

“Is there something we need to know about Kakashi? I’ve never seen you act this way before.” Shikamaru asks inquisitively, with intense concern on his face.

Kakashi doesn’t respond. Instead he turns his back and takes a few steps away. Staring at the ground, apparently deep in thought, Kakashi takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh.

In frustration Kiba nearly yells at him. “Well, aren’t you going to say something? What’s going on?”

Shino joins in. “You’re withholding something. It’s important that you communicate with us. We can’t work efficiently as a team without good communication.”
Shikamaru frowns and lets out a sigh of his own. “ I think I understand now. Should I tell them Kakashi, or are you going to be man enough to tell them yourself? Eventually everyone will know anyway.” Kakashi turns around slowly to face his team.

Pakkun broke the awkward silence. “This must truly be important for you to summon all of us. It’s been quite a while since you’ve had to use the whole pack. What is the situation?” the little pug asked Kakashi.

Kakashi looked first at Pakkun and then to his team for a moment and then simply replies, ”Sakura is pregnant...” Kakashi and Shikamaru share a long hard look, “… and the baby is mine.” Kiba and Shino can do nothing but stare with their mouths hanging open as if locked in some kind of binding jutsu. There is a long silence.

Kakashi snapped out of his daze and pulled Sakura’s shirt out of his pack before continuing. “Sakura has been kidnapped. It’s believed to be Akatsuki’s doing. There was a ransom note supposedly left by Uchiha Itachi.” He explained.

“Why would Itachi kidnap Sakura?” Pakkun asked, confused.

“Akatsuki wants the Kyuubi and they think they can get at Naruto by capturing someone precious to him. Problem is, Naruto is in the Hidden Village of Sand. And even if he was here, we wouldn’t give him up.” Kakashi responded. He held out Sakura’s shirt for Pakkun.

Pakkun sniffed at the shirt briefly before looking up at Kakashi, “You weren’t lying, she is pregnant.” Using his teeth, Pakkun tosses the shirt over his head to the pack. Akamaru lets out a few yaps. Kiba nods his head in agreement. “Now things are starting to make a little more sense. I couldn’t figure out why Sakura’s scent smelled so different, or why you were acting so strange.”

Kakashi looked meaningfully to his loyal hounds. “Pakkun, I need the pack’s help, now more than ever. Can you….” Before Kakashi could even finish his sentence the rest of the pack split up and vanished, as if blinking out of existence; each of them heading in a different direction.

Pakkun looked up to Kakashi, “As much as we’ve been through together you should know by now that you don’t even have to ask.”

Kakashi nods, “Thanks, my friend.” Pakkun bowed his head slightly and then was gone, just as the others.

As they broke apart to pack up their belongings, Kiba noticed that Shino was gone. “Where did Shino go?” He asked Shikamaru.

“He went on ahead.” The lazy genius responded nonchalantly.

“Why didn’t he say anything to anyone?”

Shikamaru nodded towards Kakashi, “Shino also had feelings for Sakura.”

“Oh…” was all the dog lover could manage. ‘Could this possibly get any weirder?’ His mind supplied sarcastically.

Without saying a word Kakashi put what little belongings he had removed back into his pack and started to make haste up the path, leaving Shikamaru and Kiba to get their things together. It didn’t take long for Kakashi to catch up to Shino. Shino either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He just continued to look at the ground as he made his way up the path, lost in thought.

“Shino…” Kakashi began.

“You don’t have to say anything.” Shino responded. “We can talk after we rescue Sakura. I was foolish to think that I stood a chance with her anyway….” He trailed off, sounding dejected. And with that he jumped ahead several paces to get away from the man who he knew held Sakura’s heart.

Kakashi watched on as Shino put distance between the two of them. Kakashi felt bad for Shino, but had a feeling that he would be okay. He looked to the sky and thanked Kami that now at least he wouldn’t have to compete with him. Shino was a man of honor. He wouldn’t pursue Sakura now that he knew the truth. Kakashi smiled only for a brief moment underneath his mask. He felt relief now that the truth had come out and he didn’t have to feel like he was hiding or ashamed anymore. ‘Never again… I will not be ashamed of my love for her. I will not be ashamed of my child…’ Kakashi vowed. Kakashi pictured a very pregnant Sakura smiling at him as she held her belly. He pictured her decorating a small room with soft colors and stuffed animals. And he pictured himself hugging his new wife and baby, and he knew that this was it. All or nothing. Life or death. Without Sakura and their child, he could not possibly live. The mental imagery pushed Kakashi into high gear. So much to do, so little time.


The team had been moving at a brisk pace all morning and they didn’t stop to eat breakfast. Instead everyone ate trail rations while keeping a good pace forward. Finally around midday a howl from a distance split the silence. The team immediately took to the trees and sped on ahead. It didn’t take long for them to cover the mile or so distance between them and the canine ninja.

Kakashi’s team dropped out of the trees and was greeted by a massive pit bull, one of the largest members of the dog pack. He let out two deep sounding barks and pawed the ground. Pakkun jumped out of a tree behind the massive canine and greeted the team, “It appears that our quarry has split from the trail here and has headed off deeper into the forest. We found a cave about 5 miles from here and Sakura’s scent seems to end there. There are no guards that can be seen and we haven’t detected any scouts.” Kakashi gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, “Good work, lead on.” Kakashi could feel a slight tingle go through his body. ‘We’re close. I won’t lose you Sakura. I will save you. No matter what the cost’

The team raced forward thru the woods, Pakkun leading the way until finally they reached the cave. The team spread out immediately looking for any signs of the enemy. There wasn’t anyone around. There were no traces that anyone was even here. Pakkun nodded towards the cave, “Sakura’s scent leads in there and for some strange reason we can’t seem to isolate where her scent ends.” “Thank you, Pakkun. You’ve done great. We’ll take it from here.” Kakashi replied. With a slight nod and a puff of smoke Pakkun was gone.

Kakashi entered the cave, followed by the rest of the team. Despite all the sunlight at this time of day the cave was pitch black inside. Kakashi couldn’t see 5ft in front of his face. Before Kakashi could light one of his own, Shikamaru fired up a flare bathing the cave in an eerie red light. The cave was wide and long. There were some stalactites and stalagmites, but not many. The team slowly made their way through the cave going deeper into the earth. They made no mistakes and searched the cave thoroughly, making sure not to miss anything as they continued on. After about a mile and a half the cave came to an end. Akamaru let out a few yaps and Kiba translated for them.

“Akamaru says this is where the scent comes to an end.”

Shino stepped forward and without a word, lifted his arms out parallel to the ground. Bugs start to pour out from under his clothes. Little tiny bugs, some flying, some crawling, but they all seem to be the same type of bug. They spread out and cover all the walls in the back of the cave. After a few minutes Shino finally points to his right, “This wall over here isn’t real. There is probably some kind of genjutsu masking the true surface of the wall.” Kakashi steps forward and lifts his forehead protector, exposing the Sharingan Eye. He carefully examines the wall and after a minute finds a small, hand sized hole.

“This Genjutsu wasn’t done by an amateur. There is at least one Jounin in this group and he is no slouch. Normally when someone masks something with a genjutsu I can sense the chakra residue, but with this I couldn’t sense anything. Even now when I know it’s there I can’t sense anything. From here on out we have to all be on our toes. This is where everything starts to get messy.” With that Kakashi removes his kunai from his pouch and starts to poke in the small opening. There is a loud click and almost immediately an uncountable number of senbon needles come shooting out of the walls to Kakashi’s left and right covering his body in the tiny sharp objects. The team instinctively jumped back out of the way.

“Holy Shit!” Kiba exclaimed. Shikamaru and Shino stare on in disbelief.

Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and Kakashi disappeared. In his place was a torso-sized boulder with hundreds of tiny needles protruding from it. Kakashi emerged from behind a nearby stalactite. “See…it’s going to get thick from here on out.” Akamaru let out a few angry barks and Kiba yelled out, “Shit man! I hate it when you do that!” Shikamaru and Shino let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Sorry…. habit.” Kakashi replied with a smirk. Kakashi calmly walked back up to the hidden space on the wall, “Since the trap has already been sprung it should open right up this time.” Kakashi slid his kunai into the small opening; feeling around for the trigger. After a short moment a distinct clicking noise echoed through the cave. On the opposite side of the cave one of the walls slowly slid down into the earth revealing a hidden passage.

Shikamaru held the flare so that he could see into the opening. The passage spiraled downward. The floor of the cave had been chiseled and carved into a rough kind of stairs. The ceiling was barely tall enough for Kakashi to stand up straight and the corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk down at a time. “We need to stop for a moment and come up with a strategy. How far can your bugs be used to scout ahead Shino?”

“I should be able to scout the entire cave if we have enough time.” With that Shino held his arms out and released a large swarm of insects from his body.

“We’ll give the bugs one hour to scout.” Kakashi said. “Then we’ll make our move. Check all your gear and leave any dead weight behind. Bring only the essentials. We will stash our belongings and grab them on our way out.”

The group retreated from the hidden passageway back into the cavern. Each started ridding themselves of their extra gear. The atmosphere was tense as if everyone could sense that something was about to happen soon. Everyone gave each other lingering glances.

“Remember our mission objective is to retrieve Sakura. Avoid confrontation if you can help it. We don’t know who or what we’re up against yet, and things may not be as they seem.” Kakashi wisely spoke. They spent the remainder of their hour talking strategy. They realized that it had been just over an hour and Shino’s kikai had not returned yet.

“We have to move ahead, we can’t afford to wait. We will just have to catch up with them.” Kakashi said. “Let’s go.” They all nodded their assent and followed Kakashi into the narrow passageway, each following stealthily along with their backs to the wall. Kakashi struck another flare and motioned for them to continue on. Kiba brought up the rear and as soon as he crossed the threshold into the passageway the trap door sealed itself quickly with a resounding bang.

“Shit. We’ve been set up!”

A.N. Hope that will satisfy you for now. I am starting on chapter 12. I will try to have it out by next weekend for you all. Please R&R, and remember that I am always open to suggestion!