Frozen Inside (a Kakashi love story)

~2~But I Have Promises to Keep

Sora's P.O.V.

Jumping from tree to tree, I tried to get as far away from the hideout as possible. Knowing fickle underground organization leaders, I had probably made another lifelong enemy. I sensed more ninjas tailing me, which was bothersome, so I turned to face them. Might as well get it over with before I was tired from running.

I busied myself by making hand signs while I waited for them to catch up. As they came into view, it because obvious that the ninjas that were sent after me were not of the same level as the ones I had fought inside. They moved with a certain grace, a fluid confidence.

I braced myself and cast my jutsu right off the bat. I jumped up. “Ice storm!” Kunai made from chakra infused ice pelted them from all directions. A few got cut up a bit, but my attack was soon deflected with a well-chosen fire jutsu. I gritted my teeth. This was going to be a lot harder than I expected.

I wasted no time and I dove into the mess of steam before it cleared. I brought my leg back and kicked one of the ninja in the solar plexus, sending him barrelling through layer upon layer of trees. The ninja beside me was flying through hand signs in rapid progression, but I had no time to stop him, I had two ninjas on me from the side.

One wielding two broadswords came at me, using his weapon skillfully to both attack and to keep balance or change direction. Another bound my legs to the ground with an earth jutsu so that his partner could get a clear shot. The one with the broadsword leapt forward, swords gleaming wickedly and I ducked, but he sunk his one sword into the ground and swung around to deal a kick, which I barely blocked with my arm. I grabbed his leg and flung him across the clearing, only to be faced with a powerful fire jutsu that the fire ninja had been busy preparing. I scrambled to conjure an ice shield to block the attack. It was just my luck that they had someone specializing in fire ninjutsu. Regular fire jutsu could never melt my ice, but an attack of this severity was draining to defend against.

I watched helplessly as the earth ninja approached me with a sword. My feet were bound for the moment and I couldn't use my arms to defend myself unless I wanted break my shield and be torched. He swung his sword and I evaded as best I could. He caught my side and I clenched my teeth at the pain, but thankfully the fire jutsu let up before he could deal another blow. I quickly broke free from the binding jutsu and used ice shell on the earth ninja.

 I turned to face the fire ninja. He was trembling, but he made no move to run, which was admirable. He started making hand signs again, and I quickly countered with my own. I needed to end this soon. I was in no condition for a prolonged battle. “Dragon tomb!” I called forth twin dragons carved from ice and they spiralled towards my enemy, attacking from either side. They wrapped themselves around him despite the ninja’s moves of protest and tightened their grip, their razor sharp scales cutting into him until he stopped moving altogether.

Then I nearly doubled over in exhaustion. Swearing under my breath, I scolded myself for practising such draining techniques right before I walked right into the headquarters of a underground organization. Turning, I attempted at bandaging my wound. The sword had missed any major organs, but it was still painful. I had been using chakra to block out the pain, but exhaustion was getting to me. I needed to get medical attention soon. I decided to go through my options.

I couldn't go back to the village for medical attention, I had already stayed to long. There is always a chance that Hiroshi’s spies are in the village. If I went back injured then that would put me at risk. Besides, the village is way too obvious. It would be the first place Hiroshi would look for me. He would undoubtedly send more ninjas after me, so couldn’t exactly stay here and rest up. I was never properly trained in the healing arts so stopping the blood flow with chakra was the best I could do. The only logical choice would be to keep going through the forest. Even in my injured, exhausted state, I could out run the average ninja.

Kakashi P.O.V.

Before leaving, I visited the KIA stone. My first mission as a regular Jonin. Obito would have hated ANBU. Glancing at the time, I realized that i was late again. i was supposed to meet Kurenai and Asuma at one, and it was already three. Smiling slightly, I was drawn back to reminiscing again while walking to the gate as I remembered how Obito would often be very late for everything because he liked to help the elderly.

"You're two hours late!" screeched a very annoyed young woman with stunning red eyes as I reached the gate.

"So you’re the famous Copy-cat Ninja huh? Not a great first impression." A man smoking a cigarette sighed. So this was Asuma, The Hokage's son.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I started ranting. "Well you see, on my way here, a black cat crossed my path so I had to-"

"Whatever. Let's just go. We’ve wasted enough time as it is." Asuma cut me off, sounding rather bored.

I took the time to observe the two. They were obviously a couple. There was no doubt that I would end up feeling like the third wheel. Despite that though, this team was chosen wisely. I was the tracker, with my ninja dogs, and my Sharingan was the wild-card. From what I had heard, Kurenai was a genjutsu master, which would be ideal for a find and capture mission. Asuma was best for melee attacks and tai jutsu. Also he was a fire user, which would be good for the famous ice type user we were going to capture.

Summoning my ninja dogs, I gave Pakkun the scrap of fabric that was clipped to the folder. "Can you find her for me?" I asked him.

"Sure thing Boss." He replied, already sniffing the air.

"So we just follow him?" Kurenai asked as Pakkun took off, nosed barely leaving the ground.

I nodded. "So how do you think we should use as excuse to capture her? We are trying to pretend that we're trying to arrest her, right?" I asked.

Asuma nodded. "You have the folder, did she do anything that relates to Konaha or something that cause someone to call us for help?"

I scanned through the files and reports on her. There wasn't a lot to work with. A few known underground society run-ins and a known murder of a black market leader. She was pretty good at staying hidden. "The only things that we have records of are run-ins with black market organizations, and we can't say that we're working for them, can we?" I replied.

"Can we say that she's been accused of something?" Kurenai pondered.

I shook my head. "We're trying to get her to work for us, remember? If we falsely accuse her of something, she'll just be mad."

"We'll think of something when we get there okay?" Asuma said in a rather passive  tone. "She won't have much of a choice if we capture her."

After a few hours, Pakkun stopped abruptly. "She's just behind the beyond the clearing." He said.

"Okay, thanks Pakkun." I replied, smiling. We were very lucky. Usually tracking took days.

"Oh, and uh, boss? There's something you should know..."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"She's injured. Probably pretty badly from the smell of it."

I grimaced inside. I hated attacking already injured people. Especially injured young girls who has done essentially nothing wrong, but a mission is a mission.

I grabbed my scroll, smeared blood across it, and then summoned the rest of my ninja dogs with Earth release: tracking fang technique. I nodded to Kurenai and Asuma. It was time for action.