Chapter 4
It took them two days to get to the border.
The first day was fast. And horrible.
Kakashi had driven them hard, and the run was longer than anything Sakura had ever done. She had not even eaten lunch yet when he had come to find her, and okay, maybe it was good for her diet, but it was still exhausting.
The first hour or so had passed in a sort of tense silence, but Sakura had been too consumed by her own thoughts to really notice. Thoughts like: what are we going to do? Where are we going? What is it like outside of Konoha? Will mom be worried?
An hour was not a long run, really, but the rhythm was fast, and by the time Sakura had pulled herself from her own thoughts to consider addressing her team, she found herself too short for air to talk.
It took enough effort to focus on other thoughts, like: how much longer? Will we get a break? How much longer til a break?
She focused on the pattern of her breathing, let herself sink into the tune of a running cadence. Occasionally, she took a greedy gulp from the flask of water at her right side, and wished she had remembered to refill it. Her legs ached.
She thought:
Burn the village, kill the people, throw some jutsu at the square. Do it on a Sunday morning, do it on their way to prayer.
One foot in front of the other in time with the beat, she ran.
Ring the bell inside the schoolhouse, watch those civvies gather round. Lock and load your tag explosive, blow them little motherfuckers down.
A glance at the boys showed that Naruto, on the left, had regained the energy he had been lacking earlier. He was breathing lightly, running with an absentminded smile on his face, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond his surroundings.
The words started to mix in her head: burn the village, ow, my legs ache, throw some jutsu at the ow.
It was harder to look at Sasuke, who was positioned in the back of their diamond formation, but she could hear the steady thud of his feet as he hit the next stop on the tree road exactly two heartbeats after she and Naruto left it behind. She was trying to control her breathing, but could not help occasional instinctual ragged wheezes for air. She could not hear Sasuke’s breath, but she imagined it was even.
Burn the well, burn the farmhouse, watch those civvies hit the ground.
Sakura found herself struggling to keep her mind on the words she had known by heart since she was young enough to count. She let a few notes escape her mouth in a hum, helping to focus her even as she lost precious air.
“The ‘C’ in cadence stands for silent!” Kakashi called, not bothering to turn around.
Together, she and Naruto hit the branch a second behind him.
“What’s wrong with that guy?” Naruto huffed, turning her way.
Sakura was not going to waste the breath to answer, but she met his eye and pulled a wry smile.
His grin was all blinding white teeth in return.
They were slow in hitting the next branch – Kakashi was already two ahead.
“You’re losing the beat,” Sasuke’s voice was too close behind her.
“Ugh, shut up,” Naruto said, making a sound between a whine and a groan. But he turned his focus back to the path in front of him.
Sakura turned back to the branchroad as well. She fell back into the familiar rhythm, and it was not hard to imagine Sasuke singing the same song inside his head.
Together they ran, silently.
Silently, while the warm afternoon began to cool with an evening breeze, and the shadows of the trees around of them grew longer, casting the forest beneath them into darkness. Silently, their own flitting shadows and the occasional squawking bird the only mark of the presence.
The evening stretched into the beginnings of a chilly night, and the lights of the stars, twinkling beyond the sparse canopy still above them, grew brighter. It was only when Sakura had finally reconciled herself to the idea that they might really be running all night long that Kakashi’s pace slowed to a loping jog, before he finally raised the two fingers that meant Sakura was free to collapse bonelessly down from the branchroad onto the ground and into the warm embrace of the scratchy bark of the tree trunk in front of her. The evening had completed the transformation into night, and she was satisfied that it was a final resting place and not a break.
That meant she could almost spare the breath to complain.
“You’re a jerk, sensei!”
For the second time that day, Sakura thought she might actually like Naruto. She saved her breath to finish off her water flask, and let his boundless energy carry her complaints for her.
Sasuke had dropped against a tree nearby her, still panting lightly, but he grunted his agreement as Naruto continued to harangue their teacher, arm thrown out in a dramatic accusation.
Neither Naruto nor Kakashi even looked winded.
“––and you could at least tell us anything! Like, what was Sakura-chan supposed to tell her mom, huh? What’s it even mean to not really be a mission, like, are we ever gonna do anything cool at all? I’m totally ready and we haven’t even––”
Sakura appreciated that Naruto’s ranting seemed to tire him out more than the run had. His voice flowed over her like a wave, but she was too tired to bother picking at the rambling words for meaning. She closed her eyes to appreciate the cool breeze against her sweaty skin and savor the last of the water still lingering in her throat.
Kakashi interrupted, finally. There was some noise, as though he was rummaging through his pack, but Sakura could not work up the energy to force her eyes open and see what he was doing. She rolled against the tree trunk until it was against her back, tilting her head back to catch the most of the wind trickling down between the branches to them from above.
“We’re headed for a border outpost,” he said. “I have some work there – routine – but it could take a while, and the area’s safe, so I decided it was time for you to get some experience. We’ll talk more about your duties once we’ve arrived.”
There was the clink that Sakura recognized as the opening of a tin can. The idea of food was tempting, but not enough to motivate her to move.
“If it’s soo routine, then what’s the rush, huh?” Naruto sounded suspicious. This time, when Sasuke grunted in agreement, Sakura’s grunt was in harmony.
“Hm? Well, I told you we would take it slow today, didn’t I?” Kakashi’s voice was light and empty.
Something inside Sakura imagined punching him into the dirt, stepping on his face and screaming her rage into his bloody ear.
“C’mon, kiddies, if we were going at a real pace, we would be there already. At this rate, we won’t even get in until tomorrow evening.”
Sakura imagined another day of the same. She was not sure whether to vomit or cry.
“But,” Kakashi said, “I guess you could say we’re trying to make up for the fact that I was supposed to be there three days ago.”
Yep, it was a habit. Naruto audibly spluttered in rage. Sakura could imagine the look of constipation on his face well enough by now, and she smiled at the mental image.
Nice to meet you, I’m Haruno Sakura, she imagined saying. I like sitting still and this tree. I dislike people that are always late.
“I’ve got some spam; you should all eat. Have some of my water, too,” Kakashi said. And then, because kindness was out of character: “Now who’s up for first watch?”
I’m Haruno Sakura. I like sitting still and this tree. I dislike people that are always late. My dream is to go to sleep.
.
.
.
The second day was slow.
That was good, because Sakura was aching so badly she did not think she could go fast. Sasuke was moving normally.
Kakashi did not say anything as she winced her way through rolling up her sleeping pack the next morning, sore from head to toe, even in her arms. He made no comment, but his gaze was heavy, as heavy on her back as the weight of the katana in its scabbard, secured into place by a crisscrossing double set of straps.
She tightened her ponytail, fussing with the stray strands that escaped her bangs to hang limp across her forehead. Even those small motions were enough to make the undersides of her arms twinge in protest, and she bit her lip to suppress any sound of complaint.
It was obvious that the pace had been slowed for her. When they moved into their regular formation and she could feel Sasuke’s looming presence, slightly behind her left shoulder, she could not shake the feeling that he was glaring. When she worked up the nerve to turn to glance at him, though, his eyes were fixed on the branches ahead.
She rearranged her hitae-ate, making sure it covered as much of her forehead as possible. Now that they were moving, the small motions no longer raised such complaints from her tired muscles. But they still hurt.
Of course it was Naruto who mentioned it. She no longer liked his tactlessness.
“Kakashi-sensei, hurry up already! I wanna get there tonight, so we can sleep in real beds!” He said. “Wait a second, is that why we’re going so slow? You said yesterday we could get there before night, but now you’re not even trying!
“You bastard!”
Just as he was working his way into an impassioned rant, Sakura interrupted.
“Naruto, shut up!”
Then she slammed her mouth shut, horrified. She nearly missed the next branch, falling out of rhythm in shock at her own behavior. She had never been so rude to him, you were not rude to him, why would anyone be rude to him, why had she said that she did not know what was she thinking?!
But Naruto did not seem angry, just perplexed.
“But he’s messing with us, just like yesterday,” Naruto protested. “Don’t you want to get there tonight, Sakura-chan?”
Sakura could not help her mortified rage. She struggled over the start of a sentence.
“I… You…”
Then Kakashi chuckled, a dry and false sound, like all his attempts at friendly behavior.
“I meant at this pace, Naruto. Did you forget that I’d promised we would take it slow?”
It was Naruto’s turn to be incoherent with indignation.
But just because he was stupid did not mean Sakura was. Kakashi was saying that he had never even imagined she could keep up. He had planned for her to slow them all down.
Sakura felt the heat of an embarrassed flush on her face, and bit the inside of her cheek, hard.
The pain was not enough to distract her, and she had to blink hard to rid herself of the warm tears of frustration pooling at the edge of her vision.
Her fists clenched.
The second day was slow, and the relaxed pace meant there was space for conversation. The branchroad twisted and turned in large arcs to avoid areas where the forest had been cleared for the growth of local villages, and with enough pestering from Naruto, and occasional questions from Sasuke, Kakashi was willing to share some information on their surroundings. Sasuke perked up especially when Kakashi talked briefly about the role the region had played in the Warrior States Period before Konoha, when some clan or another that must have meant something to Sasuke lived in the area. He pointed out a plume of smoke that they could all see rising above the tree crests to the north, marking it out as the village in question.
“Of course, they were all killed in the Third War,” he said dismissively. “Too close to the border with Rain. The surviving family moved to Konoha: there’s still one left, nowadays.”
Kakashi asked her to explain the weather patterns in the region, in response to something Naruto had asked. She answered, but kept her response textbook short, because she did not want to gasp for breath between sentences. Not when it would be so obvious that even Naruto would see. Naruto chatted on obliviously.
Yes, the second day was slow, but it was far worse than the first.
They stopped for a break at some time around noon, and refilled their flasks at a nearby stream, that Kakashi said was called the Kamo.
“It’s a branch of the Shinano – the biggest river in the Elemental Nations,” he said. He looked at Naruto.
“The Shinano’s mostly in River, which is where River gets its name,” Sakura added at the silent prompting.
Sasuke rolled his eyes: “The other main branch that flows into Fire is the Sumida.”
“Huh, it’s not that big, though,” Naruto said, kicking a pebble above the river with enough force that it hit the other bank.
“The Shinano is the big one, idiot,” Sasuke repeated.
“Whatever.”
Naruto downed his flask in one long gulp, and then refilled it a second time. Kakashi’s single visible eye, fixed on Naruto, blinked slowly, but he said nothing.
Finally, Kakashi turned away, bending down to unseal the storage scroll he had been using to keep extra water. He waded into the river with the first of the now empty jugs stored inside, leaving the three of them behind to eat their ration bars on the bank.
It made Sakura feel slightly better that Naruto did not seem to understand that these obvious informational reviews were solely for his benefit. Only slightly, though, because while she liked having the chance to show what she was good at, she could tell the frequency of what she had been thinking of as Kakashi-sensei’s pop quizzes was annoying Sasuke.
She busied herself adjusting the straps holding her scabbard rather than look at him. She was probably annoying him more.
When Kakashi was done and they had all eaten a bland tasting ration bar or two, they continued at the same relaxed pace.
Kakashi seemed to know the region well, and he did not hesitate, even after they turned off of the well-worn branchroad and dropped onto the ground. The trees had started to thin out, and long stretches of grassy hills dotted with small huts and dirt shacks amidst patchy clusters of trees formed the new landscape.
They moved onto a dirt road for a while in order to avoid the chest-high grasses and maintain pace, but though the road looked well used, they did not run into anyone else en route. Sometimes, Sakura thought she could see figures moving in the low hills around them, or smokestacks rising from houses near the road, but by the time they approached, all signs of life had been extinguished.
She preferred the trees.
Just as Kakashi had predicted the day before, they arrived in the early evening, before the sun had finished setting, but when the half-moon was already brightly visible in the still-blue sky. The outpost was guarded by a tall wooden wall, easily fifty feet high, leaving the only thing visible within a single tower behind the entry gates that reached above the wall’s heights by a dozen or so feet. The gates faced them, but the tower was clearly built to provide a vantage point in the other direction. Sakura squinted forward, but looking into the gently sloping foothills in front of them, she could not tell where the border line was drawn.
“Wait here,” Kakashi said, when they were a couple hundred feet from the gates.
He disappeared in a puff of smoke before getting their acknowledgement. Sakura had the nasty thought that it would be just like him to leave them there all night, but he was back in a few minutes, walking them through the gates in his normal lazy slouch, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
No one stopped or questioned their approach. They passed through the wooden gates and into a courtyard, lined with short wooden buildings that barely reached half the height of the wall around them. Despite the large size of the yard, it was deserted. Sakura thought she saw a shadow through the window of one of the buildings, but when she stopped for a second glance, she could not tell for sure. The emptiness gave the yard an eerie aspect, and she quickly hurried to fall back into her position nearer to Kakashi.
She cleared her throat to ask something, but he did not turn to look at her, continuing his course for the tower at the far end of the courtyard, so she let the question subside.
Naruto was looking around with a strange expression as well, and when she slowed to get a better look at Sasuke she could tell he was unnerved as well. But for once, Naruto decided on tact. She was always changing her opinion about that.
Kakashi pushed open the door to the tower with a gloved palm, revealing a medium-sized foyer. There was a desk littered with a few stray papers pushed against the left wall, and two chairs facing uneven angles sitting near it. Besides that, the room was empty save for a spiraling wooden staircase leading towards what must have been multiple upper floors.
Kakashi stopped suddenly, tilting his head to the side. Sakura froze, tension enveloping her, every aching muscle protesting. The boys stiffened as well, and Kakashi exhaled a quiet snort. His eye curved into the familiar half-wink. It could not quite pass for a smile, but Sakura still found herself relaxing.
Then Kakashi’s hand was around her shoulder, she was pressed against his side –
– and she could smell Sasuke, that unique tang of smoke and something vaguely minty, feel the warmth of his body against hers, and she grabbed for it as she was pulled into a tunnel, twisting, flying through the air, the world falling away before her like time was moving backwards, the ground disappearing into shoots of wood that left bright afterimages when she closed her eyes against the sudden wave of nausea while she spun and spun and spun –
She opened her eyes after the Body Flicker and found herself on the observation deck of the tower.
She swallowed down the bile that had risen in her throat, and Sasuke quickly pushed away from her.
She could see Naruto jumping away from Kakashi’s other side, but she moved away more slowly, waiting to feel steady on her feet.
The room looked the same as the foyer, with the same two chairs, but there was a large open window facing west, just an opening in the wall, and no desk in the corner. Above them, the ceiling rose into a peaked roof, and she thought she could see nests for carrier pigeons in its nooks.
The staircase they had bypassed was to their right, and in front of it two figures were standing. A dark-haired man in uniform stood, his back to them, facing a middle-aged female. Her features were obscured by the man’s figure, but it Sakura could see part of a lined face, long brown hair, and some kind of threaded sack clutched in her hands.
There was a second in which the two figures stayed in their silent stand-off, oblivious to or ignoring their presence.
“Yo.”
Kakashi cleared his throat exaggeratedly, and both heads turned.
“Fuck, captain, I’m glad you’re here,” the man said, taking a step towards them.
The woman dropped the bag she had been holding to bury her head in shaking hands.
“Why won’t you monsters just leave?”