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Torima's Vessel	By : jenniferboka Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1195 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Torima’s Vessel

Chapter 2: The Secrets Within Kosenjou

Italics are thoughts. “Quotes” or ‘quotes’ indicate speech.

Thought doing this one from Sakura’s POV to start with would have made more sense. So I did.

The song later in the chapter is called Dúlamán and is sung by Altan on the Celtic Wonder CD. You can get it at Walmart if you want, it really is a good CD. The Gaelic lyrics were gotten off of the web, from Celtic Lyrics Corner (Don’t try to make sense of the sounds the words would make. You’ll just get a headache, unless you know the sounds by rote.) And now I have a third reviewer, jaki! Welcome to the club! Keep spreading the word around that this is a story to read!

O------------------------------------------------O

“Sakura-chan,” Shizune called out cheerfully. “Lady Tsunade’s ready to hear the report on Sandabado Kou… Where’s Kakashi?”

“I’m sure he’ll be here any minute,” she answered, sweatdrops dotting her forehead. Yeah, since when has Kakashi-sensei been on time for ANYTHING?! Tonton’d have to sprout wings and call me ‘Mama’ before that’d happen. Besides, I don’t want to go in alone and explain to Tsunade-sama why the mission failed. She glanced down at her hands in misery. The pain of what she’d done to Sano-sensei was still too fresh in her mind. She’d had nightmares the night before about Sano-sensei’s corpse being taken over by Akirarabe and chasing after her. Needless to say, she’d gotten very little sleep last night. So now, she sat patiently, waiting for her belated, perverted sensei. Probably reading one of his Icha Icha’s in a tree somewhere, making me wait.

Little did she know how keen her instincts were…except he wasn’t reading his Icha Icha. He was remembering the first day he’d spent in Kosenjou training to become an ANBU Black Ops soldier.

“Well… come on!” Sano-sensei’d yelled from the other side of what looked to be a very large, inverted blue fishbowl. Not more than a moment ago, she’d put her hand on it and pushed, the wall giving and melting around her just to resolidify as she reached the other side. His first impression of this was understandably around the lines of ‘what the HELL?!’

“Look,” she’d continued, indicating the interior of the fishbowl. What he beheld through the peculiar glass was a grassy field with a row of simple wooden buildings, the sound of a river flowing somewhere nearby. “THIS is Kosenjou. This is where you’ll be training, until I’m satisfied with you. Now, come on, it’s just a defensive barrier jutsu. Nothing you can’t handle.”

Seeing his sensei growing impatient and wondering at the nature of this barrier jutsu, he decided to press forward much like Sano-sensei had done, but the barrier failed to give way. No matter how hard he tried, the barrier refused him entry.

“Your first lesson about this place,” she said through the barrier, placing her hand against the other side. “Gather some chakra in your hand, and press it to the wall.” He did just as she said, and sure enough, the barrier let him through to the other side. “The jutsu this is based off of is supposed to be used to trap an opponent within, allowing time for escape and such,” she’d explained, removing her hand from the inner wall. “But bearing that in mind, I figured out how to let the barrier feed off of different chakras, so that it could be controlled by more than one individual.”

“And now the 'Bubble Barrier Jutsu' is used to keep us safe from ‘uninvited guests’,” interrupted a knowledgeable voice. He’d turned to see a tall, robust, salt-and-pepper-haired gentleman in a blue robe with gray stripes on the sleeves, and an Iwagakure hitae-ate on his forehead. Wait…a Rock Village shinobi?!

Without thinking his hand had drawn a set of kunai from his hip pouch, jumping back in anticipation of releasing them into the foreign shinobi’s vital points, effectively neutralizing the enemy. But before he was capable, his hand went limp, the kunai tumbling to the ground. His whole arm had gone numb.

“Are you done yet?” Sano-sensei’d said from behind him, fingers firmly pushing against the major nerve endings in his upper back. “What’s an Iwagakure shinobi doing here?” he’d angrily spat back at his sensei. “Well, Ko-sama is the resident medic-nin. Ko, this is Kakashi, my uncouth new apprentice. I was hoping to introduce you two later, though I guess this couldn’t be helped. And if he doesn’t want to be sent to Konoha for any damage he may receive,” she continued, twisting his dominant arm behind his back and sweeping his feet from beneath him, effectively grounding him with her on his back, “he will relax and trust me that I know you well.” Looking down at him with a snarl, she continued, “You think I’d let someone who’d kill me - or you - in here, when I’m the one who controls the whole barrier around Kosenjou?” She’d gotten off his back and with a sigh finished, as he’d risen to catch his breath giving his sensei a suspicious look, “You need to trust me here.”

“Well, since you’re here, Ko-sama, we may as well get started,” she resumed, turning to face him fully. “Kakashi, in order to determine what I need to teach you, I need to see what you do, and don’t, already know.”

“Then, what was all that back in Konoha?” he asked, his jaw dropping slightly.

“To see if you were worth my time or not,” she countered, hands flying in a whirl of seals, chakra encasing her body before dropping into a defensive stance. “Now… show me what you’ve got! Prove that you’re worth my precious time!”

“Alright, but remember… you asked for it, Sensei,” he smirked, vanishing in a cloud of smoke. She may know me as ‘Sharingan Kakashi,’ but I’ve more than a few tricks up my sleeve.

The fight had easily lasted for 30 minutes and he’d used most of the taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu tactics in his arsenal; but surprisingly, Sano-sensei hadn’t thrown one attack at him. She just stood there, taking the hits with her eyes shut the whole time.

“Sensei, this isn’t training!” he yelled at her, as she got up from the ground for the umpteenth time, not a scratch on her. “You’re just standing there!”

“You’re right,” she said, turning to face him again. “It’s not training until you get serious! So get serious! Give me ALL YOU’VE GOT! Or are you just a pathetic Jounin who relies on his special eye?! Where’d you get that freaky eye from anyway?!”

That had done it! He’d been transported back to the first mission he’d ever had as a Jounin; when Obito had been trapped beneath the Rock Destruction Jutsu that had nearly buried his younger self. His friend had managed to push him and their teammate Rin out of the way just in time, letting them escape serious injury. He’d given Kakashi the Sharingan in his left eye. His friend… Obito Uchiha… had paid the ultimate price for his friends. As Obito lay dying, he’d made a promise to himself: he’d not let his new gift go to waste, that he’d avenge his friend’s death. The target of his vengeance: an Iwagakure shinobi.

Unconsciously, his hands flashed through the motions of his only original jutsu, chakra gathering in his hand. Energy crackled and encircled him as Sano-sensei and Ko had looked on in amazement. “So, he’s a thunder energy like you, Sano-san,” Ko’d declared at precisely the wrong time, as his concentration shifted from his sensei to Ko. His unconscious mind called out one word only: ENEMY. “CHIDORI! 1000 BIRDS!” he’d shouted, his mind’s hand lashing out at the one who'd killed his teammate, while his real one struck a path straight for Ko’s heart.

True, Ko had in his prime been a formidable shinobi himself. But that had been decades ago; his speed and strength weren’t what they once were. That’s why Ko’d stuck to strictly medical ninjutsu for the past several decades. He wasn’t nearly fast enough to counteract the speed at which Kakashi was coming at him… and Sano-sensei knew it. In a swift movement that defied logical thinking, Sano-sensei’d gotten between the two of them and grabbed his Chidori-chakra-enclosed hand, holding him steadily back.

“Ko, move!” she yelled over her shoulder at the stunned medic-nin. She’d heard retreating footsteps as she swung her gaze back around, and in his faraway eyes she saw three things: anger, sadness, and confusion. She closed her eyes, gently probing his mind for what he was seeing, what had gotten him going. In his mind’s eye, she saw him stopped before his true enemy, but instead of – what she assumed was the usual pattern of this memory – a young girl with magenta stripes on her cheeks and medium-length, dusty-blonde hair held back his electric hand, much like she was doing, while the enemy slashed away at her back. But this one hadn’t given him the eye, she felt. In his memory, she swung around to see a male teen crushed beneath a boulder, the visible part of his face had the eye missing. He was obviously dead.

So that’s what happened, she thought to herself, as she slowly pulled herself back out of her pupil’s mind to look at him again. This is his drive. But, he needs to not let it affect his judgement. It’ll get him killed otherwise.

“KAKASHI, SNAP OUT OF IT!” she screamed directly into his face, her steady grip slipping slightly as she let her chakra enclose his dominant hand, her chakra swallowing his. His gaze changed to her now, and seeing this she smiled a devious smile. “Look down,” she smugly replied, looking down at her other hand herself to get the point across. For there, in her own hand, was his chakra in his same jutsu. She shoved it into his stomach, hurdling him back against the barrier with a thud, an obvious burn on the site of impact. At his look of surprise, she just smirked. “A lapse in concentration like that on a reconnaissance mission would kill you,” she said, clutching her wrist above her own burned right hand. “But at least you got serious about it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ko coming her way, medical supplies at the ready. Ko’d stood next to her, wet wrapping prepared, when she snatched a piece of it from him. Beginning to wrap her burned hand herself, she nodded toward her still-stunned pupil. “Take care of him, first. I can get this,” she said, as she smiled encouragingly at him. Acquiescing, he’d patched up the young upstart with minimal complaint. “You did well,” he’d heard the medic-nin say to him as he’d healed him.

In the comfortable tree, he smiled as he remembered the rest of the day.

Sano-sensei had showed him around Kosenjou all the way down to the Ookawa River. The wooden buildings had turned out to be a bunkhouse with eight beds and dressers – personal effects strewn here and there, a storehouse/kitchen, and a latrine for all the residents. With him there, it had then made nine, and she and Ko’d introduced them all to him, and him to them all, around the table at dinner that evening.

There’d been Byakko, his sensei’s second-in-command, as he shook the former Kumogakure tracker-nin’s hand from across the table. He’d explained to Kakashi that Ko, Seggi – the Kusagakure shinobi-turned-cook, and he’d come here to Kosenjou after seeing Sano-sensei fight in a tournament. After she’d won, he’d realized she’d had a fighting style similar to a childhood friend of his, who’d turned out to be Sano-sensei’s father, Osa. After he’d been told that Osa had died years ago, he’d decided to stay with Sano-sensei here to teach her a few things about her father’s style. His eyes had widened at that, earning laughs from around the table and a smile from his sensei. “Mostly everyone here is both a student and a sensei, Kakashi. So Sano-san might not be the only one here willing to teach you something. Just keep your eyes and mind open here, and you’ll learn more than you ever hoped,” he’d told the auspicious student with the scar over his left eye.

Ko nodded his agreement, saying he’d been a medic-nin who’d overseen the contestants’ care before the tournament. Seggi’d explained that he’d wanted to kill his sensei at first for killing his best student, Sorren, in the tournament, but quickly covered his mouth with a look of horror, as his sensei rose from her place with a look of misery on her face and exited the room.

Shouts of "You idiot!" and "Heartless!" were quickly thrown along with various utensils the cook’s way, quickly catching each one, as he’d attempted to speak above the crowd. “What was that about?” he’d asked, more than mildly confused by his sensei’s actions. A look passed around the room, before Ko spoke up, “That’s something we’d rather have you ask Sano-san, Kakashi. It’s not our place to tell you. The tournament Sano-san fought in was called the Taikai Heiwakokka and was held after the Second Great War, before your time.” He’d nodded remembering the little bit of history he’d known about the Second Great War, but never had he heard of this tournament. Ko, looking in the direction Sano-sensei had left, continued, making a motion to have him keep his seat, “Just give her some time. She’ll be alright.” But he was still confused as the introductions continued.

The next to introduce themselves were Banyuu and Wonigiru, Takigakure ninjutsu and taijutsu specialists, respectively. They were brothers and were also sent to kill Sano-sensei in revenge of their Village’s one-time best kunoichi who’d fought in the Taikai Heiwakokka years previous, Nirra. “And if I remember right, she soundly beat the sense out of you two with a single bolt, when you fought her. The two of you weren’t capable of sitting for two weeks,” Byakko stated simply, earning another round of laughs around the table. “The Ying-Yang Brothers strike again,” laughed a pair of Kemurigakure kunoichi on either side of him, raising their fingers high into the air, as the laughter got louder and the taller, blonde, blue-eyed Banyuu and the shorter, brunette, green-eyed Wonigiru blushed.

The laughter quieted some as the two young women introduced themselves. Simultaneously, no less.

“I’m Kiyuri,” said the redhead on his right, a large pouch slung over the back of her chair.

“I’m Wabichi,” said the midnight on his left at the exact same time, an equally large pouch over the back of her chair.

“I didn’t meet Sano-sensei, at first. It was Byakko-san who found me at the river with a knife in my back, and Ko-sama patched me up,” explained Kiyuri, looking around him at her friend. “Apparently, the village sent Wabichi to find me after I was missing for 4 MONTHS.”

“Hey, I told you I tried to get them to send me out sooner, but they wouldn’t let me,” Wabichi’d exclaimed in her defense back at Kiyuri.

“Anyhow…” Kiyuri’d continued, a slow, seductive smile starting to form, lashes lowered partway over mystic gray eyes. “Sano-sensei’s been training both of us, and it looks like you’ll be our new plaything during instruction. Hope you’re ready.”

Caught offguard, he’d said the first thing that’d come to mind, “If so many of you were sent here to kill her, why haven't you all killed her? Why'd you all stay?”

“She defeated me, then released me to go home, after having Ko heal me. I came back wondering why she hadn’t killed me,” came the unisoned reply around the room, as everyone began laughing again. The answer was just as confusing as many of those he'd gotten before, but that wasn't enough to stop the laughter's infection from getting to him, too. They act like they're a family, regardless of their original homelands. They're strange. But I could get to like this place, he thought as he finished his dinner with the rest of them. He’d been given his sensei’s bunk that night. Saying she’d rather sleep in the trees than on ‘that uncomfortable mess,’ she’d done just that, for the whole time he’d trained there.

“KAKASHI-SENSEI!” came a scream that knocked him back into the present, and nearly out of the tree. As he righted himself, he saw Sakura angrily crossing her arms as she stood on the balcony outside the Hokage’s office, Shizune just now coming to her side. “You’re a half hour late! Hokage-sama’s waiting for us!”

“Sorry, checked the progress on the West Wall before getting here. Took longer than I thought,” he lied, jumping the remaining distance to the same balcony, and Sakura knew it by the incredulous look on her face.

“Anyhow, Lady Tsunade’s ready to hear the report,” Shizune retorted irritatedly.

Sakura shook her head in annoyance as Shizune escorted them into to the Hokage’s office. But in that twenty minutes they’d been waiting, Sakura had also though of her first time seeing Kosenjou, only a month ago.

O------------------------------------------------O

“We are low on competent, high-level help, thanks to Sunagakure’s betrayal,” the Godaime Hokage had started bluntly, fingers steepled beneath her chin, eyes staring seriously at the two shinobi before her. “Kakashi… I’ve heard you know a former ANBU Black Ops Squad Commander by the name of Sandabado Koumori. Is this information correct?”

“YOU KNOW AN ANBU COMMANDER?!” she’d screamed his way, pointing an accusing finger his way, never having guessed this of her always-late, depraved sensei. Neither he nor Tsunade-sama had acknowledged her question.

She’d seen a disturbed look on her sensei’s face, but he’d dutifully answered like any other shinobi to his superior, “Yes, Lady Hokage, I know her. She was my sensei, at one point.”

“I’ve been told that she knows an unbreakable barrier technique that few have found capable of penetrating. Is this information correct?”

“I wouldn’t call it ‘unbreakable’, per say, Lady Hokage. But, yes, as far as I know she knows, and still uses, that technique.”

“What do you mean ‘per say,’ Kakashi?” Hokage-sama’d questioned, turning her head to one side, but keeping her eyes firmly fixed on her sensei.

“From what I can remember, she told me that only certain people could open the barrier.”

“If you were her student at one point, then I’m sure she’d probably still trust you over any others I’d send,” Hokage-sama’d mumbled, reaching into her desk and extracting a scroll container, handing it to her sensei. “Since the West Wall is still under construction and we are low on higher-level shinobi, your mission is to go to Chuuritsumen and bring Koumori-san back to Konoha. She is needed to help protect the Village while the West Wall is still under construction.” Pointing to the scroll he held, she continued, “The scroll is addressed to her specifically. Its contents explain the situation we’re currently in. You two have seven days to get Koumori-san and bring her back.”

“Forgive me, Hokage-sama. Why am I going?” she’d asked with a quizzical look, pointing to herself.

“This is about as close to an S-rank mission as you’ll get for a long time to come,” Hokage-sama had answered, returning her hands to their steepled position. “It’ll give you some higher-level escort experience, something every shinobi needs to learn, at some point or another. And at this point, I don’t have any other choice. The two of you have worked together well in the past, so you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I’ll send another out after you, as soon as someone’s free to do so. You’re both dismissed.”

Both had bowed swiftly before leaving the office. Once outside, her sensei’d given her brief instructions: “Pack enough kunai to bring down an army, if necessary. Otherwise, the usual mission supplies for two days time should be sufficient,” he’d stated concisely. “We’ll meet at the West Gate in two hours. See you then,” he’d finished, before departing.

“Knowing you, I’ll be waiting twice as long,” she’d mumbled under her breath, taking off in the direction of her own home.

Mostly as predicted, she’d been waiting only about an hour, before her sensei appeared in front of her, placating eye crease and raised hand in place. “Yo! ...Sorry, had to help an old lady carry her groceries back to her home on the other side of town,” he’d excused, as angry eyes met his.

“Whatever, Sensei,” she’d fumed, furiously trying to keep her temper down as she turned to the view outside the gate. “Which way do we go from here?”

“Kosenjou is around two-hundred miles northwest of here,” he stated, setting the pace already as he jumped to the trees and took off, leaving Sakura to follow a short distance behind.

“Kosenjou? I thought we were going to Chu …Chuuri…”

“Chuuritsumen. They’re one in the same place. The Hokage calls it by its proper name, but I’ve always known the place by the name Sandabado gave it, 'Kosenjou.'”

They’d traveled about 80 miles, the first day, before they made camp just inside the woods. They’d slept ‘til dawn, and then traveled the rest of the way, over the Fire Country border and into the unclaimed territory where Kosenjou resided. And she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that they had been followed since they’d crossed the border. She kept looking over her shoulder, but saw no one.

“Kakashi-sensei, how much farther?” she queried, an uneasiness penetrating her voice.

“I feel them, too, Sakura. Don’t worry, just another mile yet.”

Luckily, the chakra signature she’d sensed before hadn’t been able to keep up with them. The last mile went by in a flash, and by 5 o'clock that evening, they finally reached what looked like an inverted, blue fishbowl large enough to hold a small family of blue whales. But instead of blue whales, inside she saw what looked like a battle going on. A group of four shinobi – two Amegakure kunoichi, an Iwagakure kunoichi, and a Sunagakure shinobi - on one side fighting against a lone woman on the other. From the looks of it, the group was giving her a run for her money: three attacking from the front to distract her, while another raced behind to land a crushing blow to her spine. The blow landed, flinging the poor woman forward, landing with a thud on the ground.

“Sensei, we gotta help her!” she’d quietly yelled at her sensei from her spot in the bushes, as she looked over to see him just leaning there against a tree watching, hands - as usual - in his pockets and a bored look on his face.

“Look out above,” her sensei had muttered quietly behind his half-mask; ignoring her exclamation as the woman on the ground vanished in a puff of smoke and the small group looked around trying to find her.

Sure enough, as the group congregated together, backs to one another, a figure shimmered into place above them, catching them off guard. She smiled down at them, pointing to her feet as a set of thick vines sprung up from the ground to wrap themselves around the groups’ feet, effectively grounding them. A scream of “What’s this?!” was heard through the barrier as her sensei chuckled, and a barrage of kunai were thrown at the group, only to embed themselves within the thick vines around their feet. Not too long after, the lone, hovering woman fisted her right hand, and a shot of electricity zipped down the metal wire she’d apparently connected to the handles of the metal kunai. Screams of agony were followed by the stopping of the electric flow and the kunai being pulled back out of the vines to allow the group to fall to their hands and knees. A gray-haired Iwagakure gentleman was soon on the scene, bandages at the ready, as the floating woman drifted slowly to the ground, shaking her head in disapproval with a scowl on her face.

“Why would an Iwagakure citizen help an Amegakure shinobi? I thought they were enemy nations,” she’d whispered quietly to herself.

“Good to see that some things never change, Sano-sensei,” Kakashi-sensei’d shouted loud enough to be heard through the barrier, stepping out of his supposed hiding spot. “You always did say to ‘think outside the box.’ I see these four haven’t taken it literally, yet.”

The lone woman, who’d until then had turned her back toward them, then spun around, a look of surprise on her face as she stepped closer to the barrier. Upon catching sight of her waving, smiling sensei, she’d folded her hands across her chest and smiled rather salaciously. “Well, well, well. Look, Ko-san, it’s Kakashi,” she mocked rather convincingly, earning a ‘So it is’ from the gray-haired gentleman before he returned to bandaging the burned and defeated shinobi group. “What took you so long to get back here? Did they just now let you in the Konoha Military Police Corp, after training with me 5 years ago?” she finished.

“That’s Kakashi?” came the question from one of the Amegakure kunoichi, as a hand from the Iwagakure gentleman covered her mouth to hush her.

“Actually, it was for the ANBU Black Ops. 10 years ago, Sensei,” he corrected her gently.

“Oh, I guess I forgot,” she feigned innocence, her tone not changing in the slightest. “Well, Kakashi, come on in. It’s been a long time, after all. You remember how to get in, don’t you?” she’d questioned in the same tone, leaning on one hand against the barrier.

“It’s been 10 years, Sensei,” he continued, scratching his head sheepishly. “You really don’t expect me to remember how to get in, after all this time, do you?”

“I guess not. Okay, Kakashi,” she replied, raising her visible eyebrow, “I’ll just have to let you in the old-fashioned way. Put your hand opposite mine against the barrier.”

“Okay, Sensei. If you say so,” he’d answered, doing just as she’d asked.

“NO, SENSEI, DON’T!” she’d screamed too late, as she left her hiding place and the woman shot her hand through the barrier, grabbing her sensei by the collar. She pulled him just far enough through that the barrier re-solidified around her sensei’s upper torso, effectively trapping Kakashi-sensei’s arms inside it, the woman pulling out a kunai and sticking it to her sensei’s exposed throat.

“DON’T MOVE ANOTHER STEP OR YOUR ‘SENSEI’ HERE GETS IT, GIRL!” the woman commanded, the irises of her eyes changing from brown to an eerie mix of orange and yellow and her brown hair and olive skin both turning a sickly green color. She’d complied, stopping in her tracks as she heard her sensei pipe up from the other side of the blue wall, looking over his shoulder at her, “Sakura, it’s okay. Trust me.”

“SHUT UP, YOU!” the woman shouted, jerking her sensei’s head around to look her square in the face and holding it there, the kunai pressing close enough to let a trickle of blood pass beneath it. “I’M TIRED OF YOU OTOGAKURE ASSHOLES TRYING TO PASS YOURSELVES OFF AS ONE OF MY STUDENTS!”

“But it’s me, Tsukashi, Sano-sensei,” her sensei’d tried in the best placating voice he could muster with a kunai against his throat and a forced smile on his face. She could see the sweatdrops forming on his forehead as the scowl on the woman’s face deepened.

“That’s it,” the woman’d continued in a conspicuously calmer voice, pressing her forehead to his, “I know who my students are, and there’s one memory I have that JUST the REAL Tsukashi and I share. If I don’t find it in your memories… you and your ‘student’ won’t be able to tell your brain from scramble eggs!” The woman’d promptly closed her eyes, her sensei following suit with a pained look on his face.

She just stood there, a look of anger and indecision on her face. The woman was distracted. If she could just get to her, she could save Kakashi-sensei from whatever she was doing to him. However, with the number of strange shinobi on the opposite side of the barrier surely higher than the five who were keeping an eye on her movements at the moment – most not too kindly - she had very little chance of rescuing Kakashi-sensei successfully by herself.

After a span of about a minute, but what felt like an eternity, the woman had pulled back with a mixed look of surprise and horror on her face. Her hand had reached up to pull up her sensei’s hitae-ate, revealing the Sharingan eye on the left side of his face. She saw the woman run her right index finger over the scar on his left eye tenderly, which – understandably – kinda creeped her out.

“Oh my God, it IS you!” the woman’d breathed a sigh of relief, placing her hand against the barrier again to let the rest of her sensei through the barrier. “Tsukashi, I can’t believe it’s really you!”

“Believe it, Sano-sensei,” Kakashi-sensei’d smiled heartily, pointing to her over his shoulder. “But I can’t leave Sakura out there for Akai to snack on.”

“Who’s Akai?” she asked from her position, as the weird woman once again turned her way.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the chakra signature that’d been chasing them before suddenly flared to the forefront of her mind. It was close…way too close, she realized as she reached into her hip pouch quickly drawing a pair of kunai out, one for each hand as she lowered to a defensive posture.

A trio of earth-toned flashes with bared teeth leaped from the bushes she’d been, just moments before, hiding in, landing just feet infront of her, growls resounding. The three wolves slowly began advancing on her as she tried to back away. Unfortunately, not two seconds later, she inadvertently tripped over her own feet, crashing to the ground with a shriek of dread. In a matter of seconds, the wolves charged, until a yelp was heard from the largest one as she saw him flying through the air and landing just inside the bushes, the other two cowering back at the loss of their leader. All this happening as the woman from before advanced on the trio of wolves and Kakashi-sensei kneeled at her side, reassuring himself that she was okay and helping her to her feet.

“OIDE, AKAI!” the woman yelled, stopping feet in front of the bush in which she’d seen ‘Akai’ disappear as the other two prostrated themselves before her – a fawn female and a splotched black-and-gray male. She promptly ignored the other two as a large blue wolf came limping out of the bushes to sit, almost shamefacedly, at her feet his large light gray eyes meeting hers. She’d then stepped back from Akai, making sure the creature kept his eyes on her as she began a slow circle around both herself and Kakashi-sensei, never taking her eyes from Akai’s, before she finally stopped directly in front of them and let out a primal yell. As if daring Akai to make the next move.

Drawing herself up to her full height, she then pushed Sakura through a door-sized opening in the barrier that hadn’t been there before with the instructions to ‘don’t even look at them,’ Kakashi-sensei right behind them, and the wolves – Akai, Akui (the fawn), and Yale (Akai’s splotched black-and-gray son) following a few paces back.

“Stupid wolf-dog. Too old for his own damned good anymore,” she’d heard the woman known as ‘Sano-sensei’ mumble as the barrier quickly resealed itself into a solid wall again behind the wolves. Turning to Kakashi-sensei and herself, ‘Sano-sensei’ stated bluntly, “Sorry about that earlier thing. We’re getting idiots coming it seems every few weeks or so pretending to be you. Like I wouldn’t know my own students, former or not! Well, if you’re both going to be here for a while, we might as well get you two a couple new chakra flowers.”

“Actually, Sano-sensei, we can’t stay all that long…” Kakashi-sensei’d replied, scratching the back of his head in obvious discomfort. An “Oh?” was uttered as she continued walking in the direction of a row of simple-looking wooden buildings.

“Then why did you come, Kakashi?” the now-bandaged Sunagakure shinobi asked, a hint of spite detectable in his voice, the rest of the group they’d seen through the barrier joining them and welcoming back Kakashi-sensei.

“We have a message from the Hokage for Sandabado Koumori,” she finally spoke up, extracting the scroll case from her hip pouch, handing it over to Kakashi-sensei. Sano-sensei promptly stopped, turning to face them as Kakashi-sensei handed it over to her.

“You mean YOU’RE Sandabado Koumori,” she asked incredulously, jaw nearly dropping to the grass.

“The one and only, and call me Sano, for now. Too much of a mouthful, otherwise,” Sano-sama’d returned with a small smirk. “Anyhow, can’t read this now,” she continued, tossing it back to Kakashi-sensei. “Seggi’s cooking tonight, and I’m starving. Besides, it’s The Night of Nakama. I expect you both to be there.”

Her sensei’d promptly stopped in his tracks a look of mild antipathy showing in his visible eyes.

“Kakashi-sensei,” she’d stopped as usual by her sensei’s side. “What’s The Night of Nakama about?” “You really don’t want to know,” Kakashi-sensei’d alleged as haunted eyes turned her way. A sigh escaped him and the haunted look faded as he resumed walking toward a simple clapboard building around whose entrance many different shinobi had gathered, “But I’m sure you’ll figure it out, if she ‘expects us to be there.’”

After dinner had been finished and introductions, old and new, had been made, the group of 12 shinobi – including herself and Kakashi-sensei – filed out of the building that was part dining area/storehouse/kitchen. Sano-sama hadn’t said much about herself other than she’d once been a respected ANBU Black Ops operative in Konohagakure when she’d been younger, and left by her own choice after about a year and a half of service in the ANBU. Not much more. But, she’d gotten to know a bit about the other different shinobi that resided here in Kosenjou, but she was mostly interested in the stories of the four she’d seen fighting Sano-sama earlier. Surprisingly, all of them were no more than 2 years her senior.

Takeshi was the only Sunagakure shinobi in the whole of Kosenjou from what she’d observed at dinner. He seemed proud of the fact, actually, boasting that he’d been the one to land that kick to Sano-sensei’s neck when she’d first been watching them practice. Claiming to be the youngest son of a respected shinobi family in Earth Country, she was more than a little confused as to his reasons for being here. Was he really trying to improve his technique by training with Sano-sensei, as he’d addressed her question point-blank earlier? Or was there something more to it? Was he kicked out of Earth Country and ended up with the others here? It seemed the more questions that were answered with this particular shinobi, twenty more popped into her head. After the leers he’d none-too-inconspicuously thrown her way over the table at dinner, she decided it would probably be best not to get too near Takeshi, at all.

Ryoji was an Iwagakure kunoichi – just like Ko-sama, the resident medic-nin – and like Ko wanted to be involved in the healing arts a shinobi was capable of using. Even though Ko’d told her it would take her quite a while to learn these particular arts, she said she was more than willing to be patient and learn them right. But also by understanding these techniques, she’d explained, she aspired to find more subtle ways to bring down an opponent. Eventually wanting to find a way that even the most experienced of eyes couldn’t perceive how the deceased had been killed. “I don’t like the thought of someone dying in a mess of blood and such. Too acrimonious,” she finished with a wave of her hand, taking a bite of slowly-cooling dinner as a couple of the other shinobi forcibly pushed their plates back.

The last two to introduce themselves had been the two Amegakure kunoichi named Shina and Ange. They’d said they had showed Sano-sama around their hometown of Ookami when she’d been there on ‘business’ one time several months back. She’d befriended them after she’d saved them both from a terrible man who used to beat them near to death, daily, if they didn’t make enough money to buy the food to feed his unsatisfied stomach. She’d offered to teach them how to defend themselves against such a horrible fate, if they’d just follow her back to Kosenjou. When the man had tried to stop Sano-sensei, they’d continued with the story, she’d made him a deal: If she was able to get enough food for him to satisfy his great hunger by nightfall that evening, he’d release the two of them into her care; if she failed, she’d stay and take the punishment they received daily if they didn’t succeed in their task. Looking at each other, they’d finished, “We don’t know how she did it. But somehow Sano-sensei found enough food to satisfy Udo, and here we are. Never to be slaves to that insufferable man ever again.”

The three kunoichi, she’d noticed as she followed behind her sensei out of the building, seemed to have formed a clique somewhat along with a Kemurigakure kunoichi around Kakashi-sensei’s age named Wabichi. Wabichi seemed a very solemn individual, hardly saying a word all through dinner, just one-word answers if she could help it, it seemed.

After a walk of several yards, the group stopped at the edge of the river where a circle of logs were set around unlit campfire tinder, each taking a seat as Sakura sat next to Kakashi-sensei. Seeing that everyone was seated, Sano-sama had then stood up in front of her seat. “If someone would be so kind as to start the fire, we’ll get this Night of Nakama started off right.” No sooner were the words out of Sano-sama’s mouth then Seggi’d said “Tora” and a small trail of flame shot from his mouth into the tinder, a decent flame ascending to lick at the twilight just now gathering above them through the blue barrier.

“This Night of Nakama is a special one, because we have friends – old and new – joining us here tonight. For those of you who may have forgotten or have never experienced this before, the Night of Nakama is a night to remember those before us who have fallen and invite them to visit while the fire here lasts. But also this night is a night to exhibit skills – hidden or otherwise – you’ve learned to the others, and a night to offer to teach and/or learn skills for the taking until the fall season changes to winter. Also, offer up ideas for a new jutsu, because we all know that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. Since there are a few new ones here tonight, I’ll offer this,” Sano-sama’d turned, staring straight across the flames at her and Kakashi-sensei. “You don’t have to participate in anything, if you don’t wish to. But if you do choose to join in, be advised that none of us will go easy on you.” She’d then shifted her gaze to only her, “Sakura, a pact I’ll make with you: if you aren’t able to master a technique your sensei teaches you – if the two of you chose to keep training as long as you’re here – while you’re here, I’ll teach you a jutsu you don’t know of any kind you like. Do you accept?”

A sharp gasp at the prospect had spilled from several mouths as they eyed her for her answer. The bargain had been dealt out so suddenly that she’d been incapable of doing anything but nodding her agreement in awe, even as she’d glanced briefly sideways to guess her sensei’s reaction. As usual, he had a very bored look upon the part of his face that she could see.

A small smile spread across Sano-sama’s face as she took her seat again and strangely began humming a pretty tune to herself. As the tune progressed, she noticed several strange yellow, blue, or white orbs floating around the area, ducking even as one dive-bombed her heading toward where Wabichi sat. For the first time that day, she saw Wabichi smile a big smile as the white orb seemed to hover just in front of her, bouncing in the air ever so slightly.

She’d then caught Wabichi stealing a glance at Kakashi-sensei and then smiled even wider saying, “Hey, Kakashi.” At that, her sensei’s gaze had shifted from the dancing flames to the Wabichi’s uplifting smile, “Someone here’s been waiting to see you again for a while.” She’d slowly cupped the white orb in front of her as if it were a ball. “She wants to say ‘hi,’ herself,” she’d finished, underhanding the white orb over the flames in the direction of Kakashi-sensei. Instead of bouncing into her sensei like a ball – as she’d thought this strange white orb would have done – after arcing over the flames, it simply hung in midair, almost as if trying to confirm that this really was Kakashi-sensei. The weird white orb then began pulsing its white light. It did this only twice, but it was enough to freak Sakura out into scooting away from her sensei, slightly. It then circled her sensei’s head several times before stopping in front of him again. At this, she noticed her sensei smile genuinely as he lifted his hand, palm toward the white orb and said, “Hello to you too, Kiyuri. It’s been a while.” ‘Kiyuri' had then pressed itself once against Kakashi-sensei’s hand before returning to Wabichi’s side of the fire.

Still quite a bit confused, Sakura repositioned herself next to Kakashi-sensei again, leaning over to ask incredulously, “Did you just call that thing ‘Kiyuri’? What are these things anyway?” she finished, as she glanced around the circle at the various orbs and their smiling, laughing hosts. Smile dimmed, he answered, “You wouldn’t believe me, even if I told you, Sakura.” After seeing all of this, she believed him. Her glance shifted to the flames and through them to the pensive face of Sano-sama. She seemed memorized by the flames before she finally stood and began singing an age-old song.

Sano-sensei: A'níon mhín ó sin anall na fir shúirí

           A mháithair mhín ó cuir na roithléan go dtí mé

Dúlamán na binne buí

            Dúlamán Gaelach

                        Dúlamán na binne buí

                        Dúlamán Gaelach

At the end of the chorus, her meditative gaze swept the whole of them, her gaze seeming to ask a question that the song encompassed.

            Tá ceann buí óir ar an, dúlamán gaelach

                        Tá dhá chluais mhaol ar an, dúlamán gaelach

At the end of the second verse, Ange got up and kicked up her heels and spun in dance to stand next to Sano-sensei’s right side, the side of her face that wasn’t covered in her long brown hair. Sano-sensei turned to meet Ange’s gaze as Ange took up the chorus at the same time.

Ange:              Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

Sano-sensei’d acknowledged Ange briefly with a nod, before returning her gaze to the rest of them. Her eyes and the song asking another question.

Sano-sama:     Rachaimid 'un an Iúr leis an, dúlamán gaelach

Ceannóimid bróga daora ar an, dúlamán gaelach

Finishing the verse, Sano-sama’s hand had shot up high as a few other hands joined hers, including Ange’s.

All whose        Dúlamán na binne buí

hands were     Dúlamán Gaelach

raised:             Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

The next verse brought Sano-sama’s gaze around to those whose hands remained unraised. Her eyes and the song asking yet another question.

Sano-sama:    Bróga breaca dubha ar an, dúlamán gaelach

Tá bearéad agus triús ar an, dúlamán gaelach

Then all joined in this last chorus – those who knew it anyway and were able to fairly easily pronounce the smooth sounds falling from Sano-sama’s puckered lips. Hands of those who hadn’t raised their hand were left on shoulders of those whose hands were raised, inevitably forming a jumbled connection between everyone who participated. Most ending up on Sano-sama’s shoulders, but a few placed elsewhere on others’ shoulders.

Everyone, except her: Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

Dúlamán na binne buí

Dúlamán Gaelach

At this point, she was thoroughly confused by the words, but a niggling thought in her head distracted her at the moment too much to ignore. In her mind, it was almost if Sano-sama was talking to her directly, but she couldn’t have been. Sano-sensei was still singing the words to the song.

Sakura, I can see you’re confused by all this, she heard inside her head. This song is only a method we use here to figure out who should teach and who should learn in a given season. If you want to learn something from one of us, just place your hand on the shoulder of the one you want to teach you. That’s all there is to it. She looked over at Sano-san, a broad smile on the woman's face, confusing Sakura all the more. Did she really just talk to me?

Before she could accept or deny the fact, Ange came around in front of her, standing her up and spinning around with her with a big smile on her face, all the while singing the next verse herself, Sano-san staring a little dumbfounded at the two of them for a moment.

Just Ange:      Ó chuir mé scéala chuici

Go gceannóinn cíor dí

'Sé an scéal a chuir sí chugam

Go raibh a ceann cíortha

Everyone:       Dúlamán na binne buí

            Dúlamán Gaelach

                        Dúlamán na binne buí

                        Dúlamán Gaelach

Sakura got the idea behind this part: they were welcoming her and asking her to join in. And even though she still wasn’t capable of pronouncing the words, she felt herself smiling through the rest of the song, dancing around a little with the ‘Four Fabulous Femme Fatales’ as Ryoji, Shina, Ange, and Wabichi had declared themselves. The last of the song seemed to her to be sung by those around as if they were making a promise, the chorus being their agreement to the terms of said promise.

Sano-sama:     Caidé thug tú 'na tíre? arsa an dúlamán gaelach

                        Ag súirí le do níon arsa an dúlamán maorach

Everyone:       Dúlamán na binne buí

            Dúlamán Gaelach

                        Dúlamán na binne buí

                        Dúlamán Gaelach

Sano-sama:     Chan fhaigheann tú mo 'níon arsa an dúlamán gaelach

                        Bheul, fuadóidh mé liom í arsa an dúlamán maorach

Everyone:       Dúlamán na binne buí

                        Dúlamán a' tsleibhe

                        Dúlamán na farraige

                        Is dúlamán a' deididh

And all at once, the singing was over and the exhibitionism began. The few who’d raised their hands giving cryptic clues as to what they would teach, as everyone sat back down. Sano-san’s had particularly intrigued her. “I’ll be teaching a variation of something I’m sure most of you know already. BUT, in order to master this technique, in particular, one requires immense chakra control, the ability to shift your chakra to any point in the body at random or in combinations and maintain that level for extended periods, and… you can’t be acrophobic.”

Can’t be afraid of heights?! I wonder what she’ll be teaching? she thought to herself, as she raised her hand to speak. “Excuse me, Sano-san.” When Sano-sama’s sights immediately shifted to her with a ‘what is it, Sakura?’ she continued, “You said I could learn something from you, but…would I be allowed to observe how you teach? Just to get an idea of what I might want to learn?” Lowering her hand, in her peripheral vision she saw Kakashi-sensei smile quickly beneath his ever-present mask. “I don’t mind,” she replied back, shifting her gaze to the inconspicuously smiling lump next to her. “Tsukashi, you’re welcome to join us.”

Kakashi-sensei’d quickly raised his left hand in a placating manner, “Thanks, but no thanks, Sano-sensei. I’ve had enough time to know how you teach.” Many around the dying fire laughed at this, including Sano-san. The sound echoing into the night.

About an hour later, she watched from the shadows as Kakashi-sensei once again handed Sano-san the missive from the Hokage, and this time she actually read it. Sitting on the lowest branch of a maple tree, she was easily 15 feet off the ground, but that didn’t hide from her the look on Sano-sama’s face as she shut her eyes and rubbed at them with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, her left hand holding the re-rolled scroll penned specifically to her.

“This couldn’t have come at a more awkward time,” she muttered as she shook her head side-to-side as if to clear the cobwebs. “How long before you and the girl have to be back in Konohagakure?”

“Four days starting tomorrow, two with the usual trip back,” her sensei’d replied seriously from his leaning position against the same tree, hands in his pockets. “So you can see we’re in a bit of a hurry.”

“So that leaves us one day, at least, to start the training and pack,” she stated, removing her fingers from her eyes as she sat, back flush with the trunk of the maple. “And another handy, just in case. To get enough food for the two day trip is a feat, in and of itself, considering how most of it has gone missing lately. Not into Seggi’s cooking or other stomachs – including Akai, Akui, and Yale – from what I can tell. So I guess that extra day will have to be for supplies shopping before we go.”

“Sounds good to me, Sensei,” she heard Kakashi-sensei rejoin as he leaned to look up at Sano-san. “Then it’s a plan,” Sano-san’d finished, placing her hands behind her head and closing her eyes with a yawn. “See you in the morning, Tsukashi. It’s good to have you back…even just for a little while.” Returning the good night, he’d moved toward the bunkhouse, passing her within inches. “Hey, Sakura-chan,” she heard her name called seemingly from right behind her, making her jump from her hiding spot and into the open. “You know you really gotta work on not spooking so easily,” came the voice of Sano-sama from her hiding spot, before a ‘poof’ was heard and she looked up to see the Sano-sama in the maple tree with a broad smile on her face, even if her eyes were still closed. “I give my protégés nicknames to go by instead of their real names, for obvious reasons,” she said, rolling her head toward her and finally opening her right eye to look her way. “What do you think of the name ‘Kine’ for a nickname?”

“I think it sounds… kinda pretty, Sano-san,” she replied, a little embarrassed at being caught offguard like she had.

“Alright, then, that’s my new nickname for you,” Sano-san’d replied with an air of finality, turning her head and closing her eyes again. “Goodnight, Kine-chan. Sleep well.”

Second chapter’s done! WHOO HOO!

*When thinking of the Bubble Barrier Jutsu, think of how the spirit barriers in Inuyasha are except that the barrier is more condensed.

*I’ve tried the technique she’s uses on Kakashi before on my boyfriend. I was giving him a back massage and the fingers on my right hand were kinda splayed around his shoulder blade when it happened. He said his arm went numb. So I think it’d be possible to make someone’s hand go limp, if you pressed hard enough.

*Blue doesn’t mean blue like the sky. It’s a kind of grey-blue color like the Cornflower Crayola crayon.
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Torima's Vessel