Chapter 2 - Sacrifice 2: ANBU

Sai was waiting for the two of them by the gate. When he saw them coming with those deadpan stoic looks on their faces, he sought out his book on friendship. He never seemed to notice that following the book’s advice got him into trouble.

Let’s see… “When a friend is troubled, it is beneficial to call him or her by the nickname you gave them (see chapter three), and then to hug your friend and tell him or her that you’re with them.”

As Ryouko approached with Sakura, Sai broke into a smile.

“Hello, plain (Sakura)! Hello, single (Ryouko)!” Sai exclaimed, moving to hug Sakura. Ryouko was surprised to see Sakura let Sai hug her. He stopped being surprised when she picked him up and squeezed him until his back cracked with protest.

Man, if I ever DO get to sleep with her…when I’m aware of it…I’d better be very careful. If she hugs too hard, she’ll snap me in half, Ryouko though, slightly mortified at the thought of that. Not to mention what people would say about finding his body...

“Okay then. Sai, Sakura, for now I’m the ranking member. I know we can work together, so I’ll skip that end of the pep talk. Now, this is a grave situation. We have to stay together. If you leave the group, you’ll have to identify yourself to be allowed back in. That goes for all of us.”

After a pause, Ryouko continued.

“We’ll head to Tanzaku town and lose ourselves for a few days. During that time, we can plan on what to do. For now, we can’t discuss anything else here. Let’s get moving.”

Ryouko started to move, but his back locked up.

“Damn it!” he cursed. This was a bad omen, especially at the start of their journey.

Sakura reached down and tapped Ryouko’s spine just so. His back unlocked. He nodded his thanks, promising to give her a smile of gratitude later. For now, he had to look tough. He had two people to protect, and then himself. Damned if he was going to let some crooked ANBU agents take him down without a fight!
--

That night, they had traveled halfway to Tanzaku town. They were going to camp in the woods for the night. That was incredibly nerve-wracking, knowing that they were being hunted. It was too much like a B-grade horror flick. But in this case, this was the sort of thing they had all trained for.

“What do you two usually do when Team Kakashi is camping out?” Ryouko asked. He always did everything himself, since he worked alone. Teamwork was a new thing to him, so he decided to follow the lead of his two friends.

“We both gather wood, usually…” Sakura informed him. “Captain Yamato takes care of our lodgings. Naruto goes hunting, if we need that. And Kakashi-sensei…does nothing but read his stupid pervy books.”

Ryouko chuckled a little at that. “Well, we shouldn’t need any elaborate houses tonight. In fact, I’d like to get going before the night is over. We’ll just rest for a couple hours, then take off.”

Ryouko didn’t hear them protest, but he would have if he were them. Maybe that’s why he said “I’ll take care of the first night at a hot springs resort once we reach Tanzaku town.”

That made his two compadres very happy. They could all use a good night like that. Especially if the worst came to pass, as Ryouko suspected it would. They should have fun and make memories now.

Lady Tsunade may have told me to take her and run, but the second I’ve got a good plan, I’m going back to liberate the village. I’m not going to let that crusty old warmonger own my home!

“If we’re going to be on the lam, perhaps we should have a cover story, Ryouko?” Sai suggested, smiling his ‘is it real or is it fake’ smile.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s see…Sai, you’re my younger brother. Sakura, you’re going to be a childhood friend of ours. If anyone asks, you and I are close to being boyfriend/girlfriend.”

Sakura blushed suddenly. She was thankful the flickering light from the fire was questionable at best so the others wouldn’t see her blush.Boyfriend/girlfriend?! Me and Ryouko?! First that smile earlier, then this ‘relationship’ stuff? No, no, I’m reading into the wrong stuff! It’s just a cover story! It’s not like we’re actually like that! Stop acting like a giddy teenage girl!

Ryouko, meanwhile, had to go for a walk. He wished he had a cigarette right now. He only smoked when he felt himself losing control of his anxiety, which wasn’t often. But something like this pushed him to his limits.

Too bad all my stuff got destroyed after my injury. Damn it.

He leaned against a thick, old oak tree. It’s rough bark dug into his palm. He hadn’t had time to replace his gloves. Or his sandals. He didn’t like the standard issue sandals much. They were impractical if you kicked in combat. That, and blue sandals didn’t mesh well for his stealth work.

In his head, Ryouko mapped out their route to Tanzaku town. There was actually a nice, straight, clean path that took a couple days to hike, if you went straight to Tanzaku town. Obviously, for three people traveling under the radar, such a path wasn’t an option. They had to take a roundabout route through the woods. While you were more likely to leave traces that you were there in the woods, the forest had an inordinate ability to swallow up paths and evidence both in a short amount of time.

Nature’s adaptability is fascinating at times. Hopefully it’ll ‘fascinate’ any pursuers we have off our trail.

Ryouko peeked over his shoulder at his two teammates. They were settling down to rest for a couple hours. That meant that Ryouko was going to stay on guard duty. Like he could have relaxed, being the one in the crosshairs.

I can relax once we get to Tanzaku town and get lost in the crowd. A few nights in a hotel to relax, then we take our time to plan. What can we do from the outside to get our home back?
…
I’m gonna get court-martialed for going back. Best case scenario. Worst case, I’m killed on site. But that beats letting those bastards corrupt the Leaf Village. If I have to disgrace myself to save it, I will.

Now, to a matter that’s been in my head for a while- I need to get the guts up to ask Sakura out. Man, if she says no, this is going to be one akward trip…so I won’t ask yet. But before this trip is over, I’ll have asked out my first girl! It sure seemed like Tsunade was okay with it. All that about ‘protecting her the way I want to’ and all…

Ryouko had his fist clenched in determination. At least, he did until a second thought struck him:

Why did that seem like a horribly ‘un-joninish’ thing to think? (sigh)
--

After their short rest, the three took off through the trees, aiming to reach Tanzaku town by daybreak. With a festival going on, no one would think anything of three travelers showing up that early in the morning. It would be easier to lose themselves in the early morning light anyway. The town would be lit up all night long, no doubt. So they had to pick the moment when the natural light was just strong enough to drown out the streetlights. It was people seeing them up close that was dangerous.
--

“No, that’s not what I said! Don’t misunderstand me!”

Ryouko was currently trying to outline to a particularly belligerent hotel clerk that he did not want the honeymoon suite.

“But sir, you have such a lovely young lady with you! You should give her the best. That way, she’ll give YOU the best!” the clerk protested, wagging her finger at Ryouko like he was a naughty dog.

Ryouko shook his head- this lady wasn’t getting it! “Look, we’re traveling with my younger brother. We’re not going to be doing anything above a PG-13 rating here!”

“We have a special deal on children’s rooms. And for young couples, it gets even better!”

Ryouko gritted his teeth, putting a hand to his forehead. “Listen, just give me a regular room. Three futons. I’ll be sure to take good care of my girl without the honeymoon suite. She really doesn’t like that sort of thing- besides, she’s always telling me to be more spontaneous. How can I be more spontaneous if the room is screaming ‘have sex’ everywhere we look?”

The clerk nodded, a dead serious look on her face. She bowed her head a little as she spoke. “I see. You, young man, are an excellent boy for such a classy girl! You make such an adorable couple! How old are you two? Sixteen? Fifteen?”

“She’s twenty; I’m twenty-one. Why the hell would you try to sell two minors on a honeymoon suite?!” Ryouko couldn’t help saying that last part- what was this lady trying to pull?
I hate to lie, but I can’t give our real ages. Even that tiny scrap of information could lead ANBU to us. In fact, when we switch hotels tomorrow, I’ll have Sai check in before us to break up our group a little.

“We don’t judge here, sir. Love is love, at any age,” the clerk laughed, holding up a hand as if to say ‘age, shmage!’.

Ryouko really didn’t want to stay here after hearing that. God only knew what went on at this place! And of course, Ryouko didn’t understand ‘morally casual’- if he saw something illegal or immoral, and he couldn’t do anything about it, it would bother him to no end.

Sakura stepped forward and grabbed Ryouko’s arm. “C’mon, you promised we could stay here! And you said you wouldn’t fight with the clerks anymore! You remember what happened last time. My Dad won’t bail us out again if you cause more property damage!”

It took Ryouko a second, but he remembered that Sakura was playing a part- the same as he was.

“Oh, yeah…I keep trying to forget that. Thanks for reminding me, beautiful.”
Ryouko tickled Sakura under the chin, doing his best to smile one of those goofy ‘I’m-in-love-and-I-don’t-give-a-damn-about-anything-else’ smiles that every couple seemed to wear when they were around each other.

Sakura stretched her neck out happily, keeping the show going for the irritating clerk. In her head, though, there was another story:

Do I LOOK like the kind of girl that would want to be in a honeymoon suite?! Your perverted old bat!
--

Up in their room, Ryouko, Sai, and Sakura made their plans. It was easy this first day- time in the hot springs, check out the festival, go to sleep early, stock up on supplies first thing in the morning, then head to the next hotel.

Having time to yourself was going to be practically non-existent for a while. But no one seemed too bothered- when you looked at the big picture, it was better this way. Besides, to Sai and Sakura, this was a chance to help one of their friends.

It was easy to tell Ryouko was lonely these days. Whereas he used to study for hours without stopping, these days he seemed to stop and sigh a couple times an hour. Sometimes, he would stand up on a roof at night, just staring at the moon. Sometimes he had a cigarette; sometimes not. He usually only smoked healthy chakra stuff. But Sakura had caught him with a couple real cigarettes lately. It was not a good sign for someone like Ryouko.

Sai wanted to be friends with Ryouko, too. He had tried talking to Ryouko, and found that the older boy was quite knowledgeable about some things. He was also more readily accepting of Sai’s personality than Naruto. In fact, Ryouko had offered to help Sai understand ‘bonds’ better. Though Sai thought that was kind of ironic- it was clear that Ryouko didn’t quite understand bonds himself.

Sakura was worried about Ryouko’s health. They had dodged a bullet the other day, but Ryouko’s back might still be a problem for a while. And he couldn’t be allowed to hurt it again for a while.

But beyond that, Sakura found herself thinking about Ryouko as a friend. It was pretty obvious the guy couldn’t make friends with people near his age. The older jonin- no problem, he charmed them easily. But people his age weren’t impressed by his studying, and they rarely got to see the results of his studies because he worked alone. And kids, of course, could be cruel. No one had ever said ‘let’s not include Ryouko!’, but no one ever seemed to go out of their way to include him.

As for Ryouko…well, he certainly had his mind of Sakura some of the time. The words he needed to tell her had never been so close. But for once, he had a legitimate excuse for not asking her out: He was in charge. He shouldn’t get Sakura worked up without good reason. Dating would certainly fall under the ‘stressful’ category- wouldn’t it? Or was that just for Ryouko personally?

Looking past that, he had the stress of running this team when he was the odd-man out. Plus, he was given the special mission of being Sakura’s guardian. That meant things like watching her all the time, sleeping near her, and so on.

“Can we hit the hot springs now?” Sakura asked, stretching her arms above her head. “I’ve been dreaming about them since you mentioned it in the woods! Besides, it’ll be good for your back.”

Ryouko wasn’t a medical ninja, so he couldn’t dispute the healing properties of the hot springs. Nor did he really want to. He was a fan of hot springs himself.

“Sure. We could all use a good soak to unwind.”
--

Ryouko and Sai went through the men’s entrance; Sakura went through the women’s entrance. In a festival town, at this time of day, they would likely have the hot spring to themselves. Most people would be out on the streets browsing stalls; others would be sleeping off whatever they did last night.

Sai settled into a corner, his sketchbook with him. Ryouko waded toward an end. He liked to lay his arms over the edge while the rest of his body was in the spring. That way he could lay his head on his arms.

It was warm and silent. Perfect to think. So when a couple new people came splashing across the springs, Ryouko gave them a mild gaze before settling back down onto his arms. But before he did, he noticed something.

They had tattoos on their upper arms…they looked like ANBU tattoos. Damn it!

Ryouko tried to play it cool. Sai hadn’t noticed anything yet, as he was scribbling away in his sketchbook.

Sai looked up once in a while. But he mostly kept himself busy with his drawings. He didn’t understand friendship very well, because he was drawing a naked portrait of Ryouko. He had finished it, deciding to give it to Sakura later.
“Friends always respond well to personal gifts…” That’s what chapter five said…So this should make Sakura happy.

Ryouko steadily reached for his towel. When a kunai was quivering in the ground inches from his hand, he knew the jig was up. Time to get into combat mode.

“Sai! Cover me! …Not with your hands, you idiot! I mean, draw!”

While Sai’s lions came to life and attacked the ANBU agents, Ryouko dove for his towel. He had kept his clothes bundled up inside them for just such an emergency. But the agent’s kunai knives kept him away. So he scrapped that plan. He would have to fight naked.

“Sai, get dressed! I’ll keep them busy!”

Ryouko made the handsigns necessary, and from the water came two water clones. Each clone paired off with an ANBU agent and began to attack.

“Summoning Jutsu!” Ryouko barked, smashing his hand down onto the ground. Out popped his sarcastic dog summon, Holly. Immediately warding off the rant he knew she would go on for being summoned somewhere so hot, he pointed to the fence.
“Go! Give that coat to Sakura, and tell her to meet up with Sai outside! I’ll join them in a minute!”

Holly really liked Sakura, so she readily obeyed for once.

Meanwhile, Ryouko’s two water clones had bitten the dust. Now he had two ANBU agents charging him with swords. He was unarmed, so he had to deal with very carefully. Catching one sword on it’s back swing, Ryouko snaked his arm around the agent’s arm. He gave a sharp jerk, snapping the arm. The other agent was aiming for him with a cut, so Ryouko spun around, dragging the ANBU agent with him as a shield. The agent with the sword stopped in mid-swing, working against his own momentum. Ryouko took advantage of that and shoved his partner into him. They both hit the ground with an ‘oof!’

“Water Style: Tidal Wave Jutsu!” shouted the uninjured agent. Ryouko spun to see a giant wave of water coming at him. Kicking backward, he made the handsigns necessary, and countered:

“Water Style: Water Wall!”

The water wall protected him long enough for him to plan his escape. He couldn’t leave the others alone, or they would move on without him. Summoning two more water clones, Ryouko hid them below the surface of the water as he ran across it. The agents gave chase until the water clones popped up, stunned them with kicks to the stomach, then dragged them underwater and held them there.

Ryouko knew his clones wouldn’t kill the agents unless necessary, so he ran off without letting that concern him.

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