Fade In

Fade In

Chapter Six – Touch

…

East.

They were traveling east of Konoha to get to Moon Country. The island in the shape of a crescent and surrounded by the bluest waters. The same waters that Sakura had swam in during an unexpected vacation so long ago.

Worry. Dread. Fear. Anticipation. They coursed through her in dizzying waves, made her legs push harder, her feet move faster. Anything to cut the time and get them to the ferry quicker, bringing them ever closer to the small island nation riddled with an unknown illness and dotted with mysterious murders.

Sakura had sped back to her apartment and hopped into the shower in record time after leaving Tsunade’s office. Donning a fresh ANBU uniform, she had packed everything she needed, double-checking all the medical supplies she might possibly need but even still, with next to nothing to go on concerning the sickness, how could she know what to bring with her?

She had wracked her brain for illnesses that could kill in three days, but then again, almost anything could. Poison? A common cold somehow evolved perhaps? Some man-made affliction? There was just too little information and until she could see it up close and personal, she would have to make do with just shoving all she could into her black pack. But the Land of the Moon was a wealthy country so Sakura wasn’t too worried about not having the necessary medical equipment on hand.

Sakura lifted her ANBU mask and let it rest on the side of her head. Popping a soldier pill into her mouth, she let the force of her teeth grind it into tiny pieces. She threw one each to her teammates, hearing the familiar crunch a few seconds later. She glanced at Kakashi questioningly and saw him shake his head, refusing her offer with a small smile but his eye clearly told her that he disapproved, which she answered with a roll of her eyes. It wasn’t like he really needed it anyway. Hatake Kakashi wasn’t even breaking a sweat at the speed they were going.

They had four hours to get to the eastern borders of Fire Country and make it onto the ferry that would then take them to the white sand beaches of Moon. It would be half a day’s journey on water and then about another five hours to actually get into Getsugakure. They wouldn’t arrive there until late tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

To Sakura, it felt like a lifetime had already passed since they’d first been given the mission a mere two hours ago. But she was already going as fast as her legs could carry her, the straps of her ninjaken sheath and black bag secured over her shoulder and across her chest. She fell back in line with Kakashi, letting Kano and Aki take the lead.

“So what do you think?”

Kakashi tossed her a thoughtful glance before looking forward again. “A power hungry lunatic bent on taking over the village?” He offered.

Sakura snorted. “Maybe, but the idiot won’t have a village to rule over if all the people are dead.” She bit her lip in thought. “There has to be something more to it. The murders. The sickness.”

“So you think both are linked?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Sakura replied.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Kakashi watched her from the corner of his eye as a comforting silence settled between them. He could tell she was tense by the look of her body. Tight shoulders. Clenching hands. Stiff jaw. The Copy Nin wasn’t going to blame her though. Getsugakure had been a home away from home once.

“Do you think…do you think they’re okay? Michiru and Hikaru?” She asked quietly.

The gray-haired shinobi gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure they’re fine Sakura.”

But he could tell she wasn’t reassured at all.

“What if we don’t get there in time?”

Always the healer. Always wanting to save everyone. Even when she was still so far away.

And then Kakashi breached the distance between them and took her hand. He didn’t like to touch very often, but he had learned once upon a time that he didn’t mind it so much if it was Sakura. And he reasoned, during stressful times a little bit of touching comfort usually helped calm the nerves.

“We will and then you can save everyone with your superb medic-nin abilities and maybe even fatally maim the bastard behind this.” He squeezed her hand and was about to let go but found that he couldn’t.

“I’m happy you’re with me—with us.” She corrected, flustering slightly. “Thank you Kakashi.” She let go of his hand and giving him a heartfelt smile, covered her face with her ANBU mask and jumped ahead.

Sakura imperceptibly flexed the hand that had been encased in his just moments ago, Kakashi doing the same.

Warm. Safe. Soft. Strong.

…dangerous things…touch…names whispered like soft caresses in the night…very dangerous things…

…

The steady rock of the ferry as it glided through the sparkling water had a lulling effect on Sakura. Her head nodded off sleepily, the arm on the boat’s railing supporting her weight slipping and causing the upper half of her body to slowly make its way over the side.

“Get some rest. You’re going to need all your energy and chakra once we get to Moon.” Kakashi said as he came to stand next to her.

She jerked upward, narrowly missing his head. Recognizing his tone as one that wasn’t asking but rather ordering, she huffed. “I’m not a genin anymore Kakashi.”

“You don’t expect to live off soldier pills for the rest of your active duty life do you?”

Sakura scowled and glared at him, quickly rubbing the last traces of sleepiness from her jade eyes. “I’m not tired.”

“So says the kunoichi who almost fell over the side of the ferry.” A smirk played on his lips beneath the mask but his gaze was unrelenting.

“I agree with Hatake-san Sakura.” Aki looked imploringly at her when he stepped to her left. “The bags under your eyes aren’t very fetching.” He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at her acrimonious expression.

She turned on her teammate, mouth agape. “He’s infected you too?!”

The violet-eyed shinobi raised a brow in confusion as Kakashi ran a hand through his gray locks.

Sakura narrowed her eyes in betrayal. “I’m twenty three, an ANBU kunoichi who’s also the best med—”

“We know dearest, but the last thing any of us needs is a sleep deprived medic-nin low on energy and chakra who can’t keep her eyes open long enough to get anything done.” Kakashi placed his hand on top of hers, running smooth circles with the pad of his thumb along her soft skin.

She stilled at the contact, not quite sure what to make of it or the tiny tingles the seemingly innocent gesture caused. He was touching her again, as if it was the most natural thing in the world and a little part of her couldn’t help but think that it was.

“Please Sakura-chan. I know you know we’re right.” If it was possible, his eye beseechingly drooped a little more and it reminded her of Pakkun and she never could resist that cute little bundle of fur and paws.

Giving them both another dagger filled glare, she grumpily sighed in defeat. “Fine. But I’m not happy with it.” And for the second time that day, the pink haired kunoichi slipped her hand from Kakashi’s and stomped off towards the little room they were able to acquire for the half-day journey while muttering her displeasure and something about overprotective males being complete asses.

Kano was almost run over by his storming captain as he came around the corner, sidestepping quickly so as to avoid her flailing arms. He saw the other two shinobi and looked inquiringly at them as he approached and stood on Kakashi’s right.

“Just told her she needed some sleep.” Aki explained.

“I see.” The black haired ninja said in understanding before relaying what little he was able to discover during his quick recon of the ferry. “Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Though we did draw attention from the other passengers. That’s to be expected of course considering we’re in ANBU gear. However, it appears that no one is aware of the mysterious sickness ailing Getsugakure.”

“Probably because those who’ve gone into the city are either dead or dying. No doubt they’ve closed off the city to prevent anyone from coming or going.” Aki leaned forward, rubbing his temples as he inhaled the scent of the ocean surrounding them.

Then a question suddenly struck the sienna haired ninja. “Do we know if it’s contagious or not?”

Kakashi slouched and ran a callous hand down his masked face. “That has yet to be determined.”

“So essentially we may be walking right into an epidemic.” Kano stated rather than asked.

And quite suddenly, the whole mission seemed a lot more daunting than just a few moments ago. A somewhat awkward silence then descended on the three shinobi as the sun slowly anchored in the horizon, casting orange yellow hues onto the water’s shimmering surface.

“Hatake-san?”

“Kakashi. I’m not really one for formality.” The silver haired jounin voiced.

Aki nodded and continued, though a bit wary. “How long have you known our captain?” He glanced at his teammate and found him equally attentive.

“For about ten years.”

“We’ve always wondered how Sakura was like when she was younger.” A wistful smile lifted the corners of Kano’s mouth. “She was never one to divulge though.”

Kakashi’d always wondered what her ANBU teammates were like. On past missions, it was always just Sakura and another jounin, usually Genma or sometimes Raido that made up the team. He’d never actually had the chance to engage in friendly conversation with her ‘boys’, as she’d like to call them. Sakura talked about them on occasion and Kakashi had to admit that he was always a bit curious about them.

Tall, broad shouldered with pitch-black hair and amber eyes Kano Morishita and lanky with sienna hair and blue violet eyes Aki Shimizu. Two very fine ANBU shinobi who came from mediocre but honorable families within the village. They had excelled in the art of ninjaken and dagger wielding respectively. And if he read the profiles correctly, both were decent in taijutsu and could hold their own in battle. He didn’t doubt that. They hadn’t died yet on a mission so that said something about their skills. They were respectable shinobi and he’d come to the conclusion (though it took a fair amount of self convincing) that they were good for Sakura.

However, he couldn’t help but dwell on the thought that if Naruto and Sasuke hadn’t left, that maybe it’d be those two standing on either side of him instead of Kano and Aki, the two new men in his cherry blossom’s life. Kakashi knew Sakura held them close, much like the way she once had with her genin teammates.

But everything was so different now. Events beyond anyone’s control had swept in like a whirlwind, shaping and molding and scarring. If anyone had asked him where he thought Haruno Sakura would end up in ten years, he would’ve easily said the Konoha hospital working her healing magic on patients fortunate enough to come under her care. Not on a ferry heading for Moon Country as a hardass ANBU captain who’d already experienced and seen too much to make even the most hardened ninja grit his teeth.

Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. He could tell they were almost dying to know any tidbit of info about their captain, what with the slight squirming Aki was pulling and Kano’s furtive glances aimed at his person. Did Sakura tell them nothing? And she used to be such a talker too. But that was before her life took such a tragic turn and she clammed up.

He should know cause he was just as tragically flawed and impervious. But they had a right to know. After being on a team with her for almost two years, he felt they deserved some sort of compensation for taking care of her when he couldn’t. So what if Sakura was unwilling to tell them, it didn’t mean that he was and if he suffered the consequences of his abnormally talkative self tonight, then so be it. He had seen her at her absolute worse. Torn, bloody and broken, so he was pretty damn sure he could withstand her wrath of fury if she ever found out.

“Sakura was different back then. She was bubbly and whiny and naïve. She loved easily and cried easily. And she was blinded by all the pretty things, the idealistic things, never really considering the true reality of the world. That’s what really set her apart from us. From me, from Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. She hadn’t really experienced loss, pain or loneliness, something that the three of us were already so familiar with.” An unidentifiable emotion flickered across his eye so quickly that Kano thought it was just his imagination.

“And what did you three do? Leave her on bench somewhere and ignore her because she wasn’t as jaded?” Aki said, letting his sudden anger color his words. He wasn’t used to hearing Sakura described like that so he couldn’t stop himself from automatically rising to his captain’s defense.

Kakashi steadied his gaze on Aki as a detached coldness overcame his features. These kids didn’t know shit about anything. But it wasn’t that they were assuming. He had fully expected them to defend Sakura. It was just that Aki had hit a little closer to home than Kakashi was willing to admit.

Kano expelled a pent up breath and leaned against the railing tiredly. “Aki doesn’t mean to be presumptuous. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’re a bit protective when it comes to our captain. We owe her a lot and so to hear anything contradictory to what we know firsthand, it’s a little disconcerting.” He explained, though he had the snaking suspicion that the Copy Nin had already predicted their reactions.

Kakashi wordlessly accepted the small apology, ignoring the blue-violet eyed ninja’s soft grumbling. He couldn’t hold it against the two ninja though. If in their position, he would’ve reacted the same way. But he didn’t want to base anything on lies regarding Sakura, even if the lies sounded much better than the truth.

“We really didn’t ignore her. At least not in the sense of giving her the cold shoulder. We left her to get stronger cause none of us were capable of helping her. She felt weak and useless even though she had the best chakra control out of all of us. But Sakura still had a lot to learn.”

“And that’s when she started studying under Hokage-sama.” Kano murmured as the last rays of sunlight disappeared into the horizon.

Kakashi nodded. “She broke a little when Sasuke and Naruto left Konoha. She felt bitter and betrayed.” A nostalgic smile touched his lips. “Nearly took down her whole apartment building when she found out. But as with everything else that’s happened to her, she got stronger and decided to try for ANBU after finishing her training with the Fifth and other jounins in the village and to the surprise of many, succeeded. And then her parents died, followed by her first ANBU team and I think that’s what finally made her break, made her close herself up and lose hope. She couldn’t keep living in her idealistic world. A shinobi’s life can’t afford that.”

His gaze wasn’t there with them anymore. Instead, it was distant and unreachable. A million miles away without a look back. Oftentimes, Kano would see that expression on his father’s face. It was one filled with ghosts of the past and all the shortcomings and regrets that piled up along the way.

Aki sighed, the breathy sound slicing through the slight tension that had built up around them. “We figured she lived a regular life. Boys and friends, you know, what young kunoichi like to do.”

“She did…for a time…”

Before the Chuunin Exams…before Orochimaru and Sasuke…before she lost her important people one after another…

“And you were there for her…at least tried to be.” Kano whispered. “She talks about you often. Whether she realizes it or not is a different matter.”

“We’ve been through a lot.”

And through it all, he wondered when the strait clear path had bent and twisted and curved until the lines were blurred and he didn’t quite know what Sakura meant to him anymore. Or maybe what he wished she might be to him. Something more. Something less. Warm and soft. A beautiful tragedy blossomed from the harsh reality of the shinobi’s world, where death was your close companion and life the light at the end of the tunnel.

When had his feelings become so complicated? When had he ceased to be the platonic Kakashi who avoided such things and simply enjoyed the wonderful and stimulating images brought about by words in black ink? When had he started wanting more, but felt so undeserving, of just her smiles and friendly greetings?

‘…when I became a shoulder to cry on…a sake drinking companion during restless nights plagued by demons…the first time my heart was gripped by such blatant fear for her rapidly dwindling life… when she was no longer beautifully innocent but now…beautifully scarred… when she bared her lonely soul for me and I held her…touched her…’

His inner balance abruptly thrown off kilter, he shifted and stepped away from them, tossing a light wave over his shoulder as he casually strolled away and around the corner of the thrumming ferry, as if he hadn’t just let loose a past a certain pink haired kunoichi would rather keep in the dark.

He distantly hoped they understood more clearly why their captain was the way she was…but he also hoped that they would keep and cherish the painted image of a once bubbly, naïve, and idealistic Sakura. Before she wasn’t so jaded and gave up hope for missions and blood. Before the sparkle in her eyes dimmed and she didn’t smile as brightly as she once did. Keep and cherish. Cherish what he, Naruto and Sasuke hadn’t cherished when they had the chance.

Sakura dreamed of an infuriating silver-haired Copy-Nin running long strong fingers across her skin that night as the ferry parted through the glimmering waters towards Moon.

And Kakashi…Kakashi dreamed of long winter nights with nothing but his cherry blossom to keep him warm…

…

As they waited for the Getsugakure gates to open after a long discussion proving who they were to the skeptical Moon Country shinobi on duty, Sakura kept stealing glances at her former sensei. She really didn’t understand why she was doing so in the first place, but Kami help her, it was starting to grate on her nerves.

“See something you like?” The Copy Nin shamelessly whispered into her ear.

She sputtered and all her vexation was instantly replaced by annoyance as she swatted him away. “Now isn’t the time.”

“Right. You can let me know later and we’ll see what I can—”

Rolling her jade eyes, she placed her finger on his covered lips, the action akin to shushing a small talkative child. “Shut it Kakashi.”

Sakura heard the heavy wooden gate creak open and chased all thoughts of the silver haired jounin away from her mind. Now was not the time. There were sick people dying and murders being committed just beyond the barrier that stood between them and the village.

“Once we’re inside, I don’t want anyone getting close to the sick until I find out what exactly is happening. Kano and Aki, I need you both to scout around the village. Find out all that you can. Report back to me in three hours at the hospital.” She looked at Kakashi and saw him waiting patiently. “Can you meet with Michiru and Hikaru? Tell them we’re here, if they don’t already know, and have them brief you on anything that might help.”

The three nodded and she gave them all a fleeting smile before they entered through the open gates of Getsugakure.


…to be continued…


A/N: More of an insight chapter than anything, with small steps taken between them. Much appreciation for reading and thank you to all those who reviewed the previous chapter!

-hasu86