Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

A Mistake

"Ouch, you're hurting me!" Sakura complained. She was very fond of her fingers and did not want them broken, not even in an illusion. Besides, she was getting very annoyed with the situation. This was not at all what had been described in the book!

"You're a medical-nin from Konoha?" Kakashi asked, letting his mismatched eyes glide over her headband, her forehead with the chakra seal and somewhat rudely down her body.

"Yes, obviously, Kakashi," Sakura said, trying to wiggle free, but he did not remove the knife on her throat nor did he slacken his painful grip, quite the opposite.

"How do you know my name," he rasped, pressing down on the blade. A sharp pain and faint trickle down her throat told her he had cut her skin.

"Ouch!" she cried. "Are you crazy? Because we know each other! I'm Sakura!"

"That's a lie," he said coldly, "I have never seen you before and I don't like it one bit that you pretend otherwise."

Oh great, Sakura thought, again feeling like laughing and crying at the same time, this Kakashi doesn't know me. What have I gotten myself into... WHO is controlling this illusion?

She shifted her eyes to get a better look at him in the gloomy green darkness that surrounded them. A grey flak jacket with no collar, naked shoulders revealing a muscular biceps, arm guards that went up to his elbows. Spiky silver hair, as unruly as ever above the kitsune mask that hid his entire face. Clearly an Anbu uniform. There was a lot of blood all over him too and if she wasn't mistaken...

"You're hurt," she said. Badly so, she realized with a sinking feeling. Wasn't this shared illusion supposed to be pleasant?

Now that she was paying attention, she felt the faint trembling of his arms. He was weakened, probably from blood loss. Should she try to break his hold? She was sure that dying in the illusion would have no real effect on her since she was fully aware this was only an illusion. If he cut her throat, it might hurt and be unpleasant, but she assumed she would just wake up back in her office.

"I can still effortlessly kill you," he informed her coldly, "don't even think about it."

"Let me help you," she suggested instead, a doctor's instinct and a good way to buy herself some time to find out what was going on.

"How did you find me?" Kakashi asked, still not letting go.

"I was sent to help you," Sakura lied, immediately chastising herself for not thinking this through. He could so easily check whether she knew the necessary code words Shinobi exchanged as a safety measure for these kind of meetings.

"Oh really?" he snarled, not even bothering with that, "you are a bad liar. Nobody knows I'm here and nobody cares. I live in the darkness."

The trembling in his arms got stronger. He seemed to be at his limit. Surely, having his Mangekyō Sharingan activated didn't help. This Kakashi, what was he? A guardian of the seals? Would the illusion collapse when he 'died'?

Before she could make up her mind what to do, there was a rustling sound near them and he went entirely rigid. The next moment, Sakura was catapulted upwards, then sideways, just in time to dodge a shower of shuriken. A dizzying series of jumps later, Kakashi stopped on the thick branch of a massive tree.

"Dammit," he coughed, still holding on to her tightly. "I knew you were a trap."

"That's bullshit!" she protested, "it's your thick blood scent that is like a beacon. Just let me heal you."

He just glared at her through the slits of his mask. Illusion or not, she knew how stubborn he was when it came to accepting help.

"Create shadow clones," she told him with authority, "the enemy will be confused. I'm fast, I won't need a lot of time."