Catharsis

Author's Notes: Leaving things for the future again. =] I can’t unravel characters all at once, that’s too sudden. XP I’ve been heavy on drama lately, but I promise to bring in more action in upcoming chapters. That’s one thing I can promise. How often I can update, I’ve figured out I can’t make promises on that.

Chapter 9.Responsibility
The three-day journey to Suna was surprisingly uneventful, despite them crossing over several areas that were said to be hostile. While it was rather boring, it was good for them and the Suna forces that greeted them at the Ginyama Pass several miles away from the encampment that was their destination.

The leaders of the two cells that rendezvoused with the Konoha forces stepped forward and greeted Kakashi with a bow. “Hatake Kakashi-taichou,” said the taller of the two, a woman with short black hair. She tipped her head at him in recognition. “Hayami Azusa. This is my fellow captain, Nikaido Teru. We’ll escort you to our camp from this point.”

Kakashi offered his hand. The woman looked at it for a moment, clearly recognizing the gesture, but outright ignored it. The gesture had been a mistake. Kakashi chuckled, embarrassed that he made such an error, and continued, “Right then. Ah... Daruma-san?”

Without missing a beat, the Suna captain answered, “Daruma-san ga koronda.” [1]

“That’s good, you’re exactly who you say you are if you know that,” Kakashi said. “Captains, please step forward when I call your name. Yamato. Tanaka Hiroyuki. Shirota Abe. Asao Reina. Hibashira Shizuka.”

At the mention of Shizuka’s name, Azusa stared at the brunette, the look in her eyes incomprehensible. Was it sympathy? Was it fear? Was it loathing?

The connection between their eyes only lasted for a few moments, before Kakashi called for Azusa’s attention. “We’re a little bit late, so would you like to leave right now? You can tell me anything you need to tell me on the way to the site.”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Azusa replied. “Teru, can you take the rear? I’ll take the front with Hatake-taichou, and I’ll explain the situation to him on the way there.”

Nikaido Teru complied, by was stopped by Azusa, who beckoned him to come close. While she whispered something into his ear, she stared at Shizuka again, that unfathomable look in her eye as she glared at her out of the corner of her eye. Teru looked reproachful as he replied to her, he too looking over at Shizuka. Azusa repeated whatever she had told him, more firmly this time judging by the expression on her face. With the final warning, the other captain gave up, almost sullenly retreating back to his team.

“Provided nothing happens to us, the rest of the journey should only take a few hours—four, at the maximum,” Azusa explained. “We asked you to meet up with us at this pass so we could bring you to the encampment without a high chance of being discovered or spied on. We’ll lead you there. Teru-san, I’ll leave now.”

“Hai, hai,” Teru sighed, clearly unhappy with being ordered around by Azusa.

The Ginyama Pass was a long stretch of rocky landscape, covered with desert plants like cacti and low-lying shrubs. Compared to the scorching temperatures of the hot desert region they exited late the previous night, the mountainous desert gap was much cooler and much more bearable. However, what the pass lacked in climate, it compensated with the landscape, and the Konoha shinobi went through it with some difficulty.

“Are you alright, Hatake-taichou?” Azusa asked as they went over a particularly steep rise. She offered her hand to help him up, then withdrew it and ordered someone else to stop and pull him up over a ledge.

“Is this the most difficult part of the journey?” Kakashi wondered, taking his headband off to wipe the sweat off of his brow.

“More or less,” replied Azusa with a hint of a smile. She turned to look at the group behind them; the first thing that caught her eye was her fellow captain, Teru, chatting amicably with Shizuka, and the trace of any smile vanished immediately.

Azusa asked Kakashi, “That squad leader—the pretty one with the violet eyes. You said her name was Hibashira?”

“Yes. Hibashira Shizuka. Is something wrong?”

The dark-haired woman shook her head. “No, I just thought it was strange since Hibashira-san possesses a kekkei genkai, does she not? No one in Konoha’s been kidnapped yet, but you’d think you would want to protect your special clans and restrict their movements?”

Kakashi answered, “We do want to protect them, so we’ve assigned certain shinobi to always accompany clan members on missions and such. For example, Yamato and I are assigned to act as Shizuka’s ‘bodyguards,’ in a sense. Restriction of movement was a proposed measure to protect them as well, but it would be suicide since we’re spreading our forces quite thin as it is.”

“I see. So Hibashira-san would be your responsibility then?”

Kakashi was slightly perplexed. Why was Azusa asking this? “Yes...”

“She would be your highest priority?”

“Yes... she would. Why do you ask, Hayami-taichou?”

“I was just wondering.”

Maybe it was just Kakashi, but for the rest of the journey, Azusa’s inquiry about Shizuka bothered him. What was she so concerned about?

It was only in the last hour, when the sun had finally set, his worries left him for the time being. They finally saw a light glittering through a wall of craggy rocks—they were drawing near the campsite. He had other things to concern himself with—especially working with the gorgeous blonde woman that met them once they passed through the rock and sand walls into a well-lit clearing lined with tents.

“Konoha nin! It’s about time you got here, you slowpokes!”

A blonde woman approached the group, grinning from ear to ear, and introduced herself: “I’m Kuroda Ai, commander of the Sunagakure forces here. Yoroshiku. I’ll brief all of you later tonight on all the details, but in the meantime, please get something to eat. There’s plenty since we got more supplies earlier this morning, so make yourselves at home.” [2]

Yamato looked away, somewhat exasperated, as Kakashi dismissed the Konoha forces. Their men swarmed around two things: the food that had been brought out for them and the blonde captain, Kuroda Ai. Admittedly, she seemed far more interested in Kakashi than in his subordinates. Kakashi remained his detached self, but anyone who knew him knew that there was more to him and Ai’s interest in him.

Shizuka walked up next to Yamato, gazing dispassionately at the distance between Ai and Kakashi. She tittered coolly, “Ara ara ara. One of Kakashi’s conquests, I presume?” [3]

Yamato swallowed and nodded.

He could not understand why Kakashi liked the women he liked. Sure, Shizuka, Minami, Ai, and whoever else the infamous copy-nin set his sights on were all beautiful, with bodies of lingerie models: slender, leggy women with enviable curves. Those women all had long, impossibly silky hair of some rich color, pouty lips, sculpted features, beautiful skin, and a permanent, smoldering "come hither" look in their eyes.

As beautiful as they were, the type Kakashi liked were multi-faceted and complex. While they were charming and outgoing, they were also quite guarded and mysterious. They were a mix of sweet and poison: one would think they would be the last people to claw someone's eyes out in a fight, but they would do it without hesitation--and without breaking a nail. They would help others without a question, but they would argue an issue into its grave, until they got what they wanted or—God forbid—had to make some sort of compromise.

What defined them was an unusual quirk. Shizuka was unreadable and a mystery to even Kakashi. Minami used to be a hopeless romantic who possessed a cunning only matched by her mother’s. And Ai?

Ai was simply a blonde bombshell: blonde hair, golden skin, piercing blue eyes... and, if the rumors were true, she apparently had a voracious sexual appetite.

The description hit the bull’s eye. Anyone could have figured it out, it was so obvious. Already, Ai had marked her target, and her plans for him were in motion. Shizuka noticed it too, and she walked away with Reina, an impassive expression on her face.

Yamato hated how he could never tell what Shizuka was thinking. Did she care? Was she pissed and jealous as he found women tended to be about “their” men, even if those men were exes? Or did she simply not care since she had Kakashi for almost four years, compared to the one night that Kuroda Ai had Kakashi?

“I’m assigning you and Kakashi to protect Shizuka while you’re out on missions. The two of you should know what to do.”

Why did he have to work with both of them? If he could be so bold, Yamato thought that the assignment description was a half-lie. It was more like, “Protect Shizuka while you’re out on missions. And keep her and Kakashi from killing each other if the situation calls for it.”

Luckily the situation didn’t arise—yet. (Without a doubt, Yamato had a feeling that they were saving the blows for another time.) Even during the captain’s meeting after their dinner, Shizuka didn’t say anything to argue with him. To his surprise (and the surprise of every Konoha-nin there), Shizuka quietly agreed to everything Kakashi proposed if it had to do with her—but maybe it was only because she was tired from the long journey.

Then again, it couldn’t have been that if she could argue with Azusa, who called her out for playfully flirting with Teru and another young Suna captain after the end of the meeting.

The short-haired woman glared at the brunette as she stood up, effectively ending the arm-wrestling match between her and the other captain. Shizuka smiled, and objected, “It’s only a bit of fun, Hayami-san. I’m not doing anything to ‘interfere’ with them.”

“Your very presence is interfering with our mission,” Azusa returned. “Instead of focusing solely on the defense of Kaze no Kuni, now we have to split our attention with protecting you as well because of the kidnappings that have been going on.”

Teru demurred, “Oi, Azusa, relax a little, will you? We’re the ones who approached her first, yell at us if you have to.”

“Teru, you’re not a part of this. Moreover, it’s only natural that you’d defend her since you just want to get some ass.” Azusa crossed her arms tightly against her chest and continued to glower at Shizuka. “I don’t appreciate the fact that you’re here distracting us.”

Shizuka straightened up, as if to make it known to Azusa that she had no intention of bending to the other woman’s will. Very calmly, she said, “Do I really come off as some slut? I hate that... In any case, I’m not here for sex, so you can pull that stick out of your ass. What do you have against me? You’ve been giving me the evil eye since we met you and Teru-san in the pass.”

“You’re in the way.”

Shizuka crossed her arms, and shifted her weight on her legs so her hip jutted out. An icy edge to her voice, she challenged, “How so?”

Azusa took a few steps closer to the brunette, smacking her palm on the table when she was two feet away from her. “You’re in the way just by being here. Go home.”

“Azusa, stop it!” Ai marched over to stand in between Azusa and Shizuka. She pleaded to her comrade, “What’s the matter with you?”

Azusa only talked over the Suna commander, walking around her so she was face to face with Shizuka. “Just because you’re a little bit pretty, don’t think I’m like the guys that you’ve already charmed. Cover up your fucking tits, they’re hanging out like you have melons attached to your chest and you’re distracting my men. I’m not going to accept you just because you’re a little bit pretty.”

Offended, Shizuka wrapped her arms more around her chest. What did that have anything to do with it? For the record, she wasn’t as naked as Azusa made her sound, as if she were falling and spilling out all over the place. Her breasts were covered, any skin that was shown was the area from her collar bone to the point where her arms extended from her shoulders. The accusation was unjustified.

To say the least, she was pissed, and, poison lacing her words, she replied, “I’m sorry but my breasts have nothing to do with this. If you’re just pissed because yours are like mosquito bites, you can argue with me about it in a more appropriate place. Anyway, you haven’t answered my question.”

“Who says I have to answer to you? Just go home, you shouldn’t be here.”

“Says who?”

“It doesn’t matter, just leave! I don’t care if your Hokage assigned you on this mission; she chose the assignments carelessly, without thinking about the condition we’re in.”

“Now you’ve done it.”

Shizuka cracked her knuckles threateningly—and cracked a sharp punch across Azusa’s jaw. There was a rumble of footsteps as the other captains stepped forward, wary of a fight.

Advancing, Shizuka continued, “You bitch—insulting me is one thing, insulting the Hokage is a completely different matter. You have a problem with me, so don’t get other people involved.”

“It’ll make your life and everyone else’s a lot easier if you just leave. We can replace you. So hurry up and go already.”

“I haven’t done anything to you,” Shizuka growled. “What’s your problem?”

To the shock of the Suna-nin, Azusa picked herself up, and immediately returned the punch with a sharp slap across Shizuka’s cheek, then took her jaw, squeezing her face unpleasantly. “We need Konoha-nin for support, but not if they’re paying more attention to you than to an ally. Taking away attention from the main goal is exactly the reason why our forces were wiped out in the last battle. I might not be the commander of the forces here, but anyone wouldn’t want that to happen. If anything happens, you had better take responsibility for it.”

Azusa practically threw Shizuka aside before marching to the tent’s entrance. Just as she reached the other side, she glared at Shizuka once more, and added bitterly, “I’m sure you won’t have a problem with that, taking responsibility for the lives lost because of you—I mean, you must be used to it. You’ve already taken care of your mother’s death, and the rest of your old team’s. The loss of a few people completely unrelated to you can’t be any worse than that, can it?”

Deep scarlet camellia petals raining down...

The world seemed to freeze. Shizuka lost all sense of existence, who was there, where she was, who she was. Why did she feel so heavy? Why did her chest hurt? Why did her own breathing sound like banshees were screaming all around her?

It was so hot, it was burning...

She didn’t even know what she was doing.

A tree trunk painted red...

Her fist connected to a jaw, but her brain didn’t process the action. Someone walloped her in return, but the pain that resulted stopped short of her nerves. She was pushed down, that same someone yanking her long hair. Her fist hit something again...

Kakashi and Yamato dove into the scuffle, yanking Shizuka away as soon as Azusa tumbled back from the blow to her chin. Teru quickly used a Temporary Paralysis Jutsu on the still spitting snake of a woman; holding her back would have been impossible.

Ai shoved her way through the fray, clearing a path for Kakashi and Yamato to carry Shizuka out of the tent. “We have to get her to the medical tent right away,” Ai ordered desperately. “She—”

The brunette went limp, and slumped down. Kakashi caught her, his visible eye dilated with worry. He shook her as she stared off into space, yelling, “Shizuka! Get a grip! You didn’t do anything!”

In Kakashi’s hands, with the way she was at that very moment, Shizuka was like a rag doll, bending too easily to the forced movement, completely unresponsive. Her eyes were blank, gaping at a horror scene that Ai, Kakashi, and Yamato could not see.

Screaming. A woman was screaming. It was so hot. Her entire body was in pain, and the pain only grew with each passing moment. There were giants all around them, their black silhouettes looming underneath a blinding white light.

“I didn’t do it.”

Red standing out against the green grass, deeper than the petals that accompanied it. A loud thud—the wind was knocked out of her. The silk was soaked, cold and wet. A white hand streaked with shining blood reached behind, hiding her, pressing her into the tree trunk as if she could push her inside it.

“I didn’t do it.”

Covered in dirt. Crawling over to the shattered body at the foot of the tree trunk. A pair of wide, lifeless brown eyes gaped back at her. When she touched him, his body was cold. When she spoke, he didn’t answer. When she looked at him, he could only stare back.

“I DIDN’T DO IT!”

Kakashi almost choked when Shizuka suddenly returned to the world, clutching his vest for dear life. Tears streaming profusely down her cheeks, she sobbed, “I didn’t kill them! I didn’t do it! It wasn’t my fault! It wasn’t my fault!”

The only thing Kakashi felt he could do was let her cry. He pulled her in, her sobs muffled as she buried her face in his chest. Yamato could only watch, his chest in pain.

Ai’s chest heaved as she played witness: Shizuka was a sobbing heap, Kakashi held onto her, Yamato looked on with regretful comprehension. Her voice cracked as she repeated softly, “We have to bring her to the medical tent.”

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Translation/Cultural Notes
1. “Daruma-san?” // “Daruma-san ga koronda?”: As some of you may have figured out, the “password” given to determine identities amongst the Konoha and Suna forces. I never really established that, but I figured it would be a given that they would have checks to make sure. Anyway, “Daruma-san ga koronda” is the phrase spoken by the person who is “it” in the traditional Japanese game of the same name, which is similar to the American red light-green light game. It means “The Daruma doll fell down.” You can look up the game and Daruma dolls on Wikipedia, since it’s too tedious for me to explain it myself. XD
2. Yoroshiku: Something like, “Pleased to meet you.” There’s a million ways to translate this.
3. “Ara ara ara”: My, my, my.