Akira stood with her hands over their target's chest. The room around her was dark, and the only sound was the target's breathing. Chakra glowed red beneath her palms, casting eerie shadows around the room. Her own breathing was shaky, and she chewed on her lip. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck. This was it. Everything was riding on whether or not she could complete this jutsu successfully, without them getting caught.
Kakashi stood at the man's head, ready to intervene and knock the man out if necessary. His body was stiff, and his hand hovered over Eto's neck. The practice round had not been entirely smooth, but Akira's technique was still their best option. Akira hadn't taken into consideration how much pain a person could be in from a heart attack, and the traveler they had caught had had a very intense death. Kakashi knocked him out during the process of the heart attack alone three times. Not to mention the handful of times he'd knocked him out while Akira was performing the jutsu. The traveler had also started to fight at one point. Thankfully, Seek hadn't been in the area at the time, but the man had sat upward and started swinging at Kakashi. Akira promptly knocked him back out, but it badly rattled them both. The two shinobi decided they wouldn't tell Seek about the interaction, and if it happened with Eto, they would just deal with it quickly.
Seek was on the rooftop of the mansion, suppressing his chakra signature but keeping watch for trouble. Kakashi was also suppressing his signature, leaving Akira as the only one who was actively using chakra. And thus, the only one at risk of being detected by a sensory shinobi. From their surveillance, it didn't appear as if any of the guards were sensors. But the three leaf shinobi knew better than to assume that there weren't any present. Akira was especially worried about that. She was relieved that Seek and Kakashi were able to hide, but she herself was not able to do the same. It was a loose end in their operation that there was no way of tying up.
The two days they had spent in the other village in the Land of Water had been the longest two days of Akira's life. After coming up with a plan, it had just been a waiting game. No matter what she did, Akira just couldn't find a way to pass the time any faster. But when Seek finally said that they would be heading back to the Mist, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.
Don't get nervous, get excited, she told herself. But what would happen if she screwed up? What happened if the man didn't die? Akira always had syringes and needles tucked away in her pocket. If her technique failed, she could create an air embolism in an artery, but there was no guarantee that would work either. What then? Suffocate him with his pillow? Push him out a window? There were only so many options on short notice that would make the death look like an accident.
For the first time on a mission, Akira couldn't turn her nervous energy into excitement. She desperately wished that she could spar with Kakashi again. The feeling she'd been left with afterward had been like the highs she'd get while running. It was exhilarating being able to actually train after not being able to for weeks. Seek had allowed them to work out, but no martial arts allowed. And absolutely no weapons. It had been torturing for Akira and Kakashi. But at least, here they were, finally doing the assassination.
It had been easy to get back into the Mist Village. They had once again slipped in with a crowd of tourists, easing their way past the guards at the gate that afternoon. It was now well past midnight, and the village outside the window was finally winding down from a long night of partying. Voices carried from outside, drifting in through the open window. Despite the risk of getting them caught, Akira and Kakashi had decided beforehand that leaving it open would be more beneficial. They would be able to better hear if Seek gave them a warning call, and it was an easier getaway should something happen.
The man stirred below her, face twisted in pain. Kakashi rolled the man's head to the side and delivered a hit to the pressure point of the back of his neck. Eto promptly fell back unconscious. Akira didn't even glance at Eto or Kakashi, trusting that the latter would prevent anything from happening like what the traveler they'd killed had done. Besides, she was almost done. Eto's artery was almost closed. Just a little bit more.
A door slammed down the hallway, and whispers echoed toward them. Both shinobi listened intently, but the voices passed by the room without issue.
Akira breathed out slowly in relief. She only needed a couple more minutes to do the jutsu, then the hard part was over. He just had to die, and they would be able to leave. They were so close to being able to go home.
She missed her friends back in the Leaf. It had been weeks since Akira had seen or spoken to Ranka, Yuhi, Guy, and her teammates. This mission was so important to the Leaf Village, that the three of them weren't even permitted to contact anyone within the Land of Fire at all. Seek was desperately missing his wife. His patience had only grown shorter, increasing the tension of the mission.
Eto stirred again, prompting Kakashi to knock him out once more.
Akira grit her teeth in frustration. If he could just hold still for one more minute...
"Yes!" She hissed excitedly.
"Done?" Kakashi whispered.
Akira nodded and pulled her hands away from Eto's chest. She wiped away the sweat that was beaded on her forehead. "Now we wait." She crossed to the window and cupped her hands around her mouth. Akira let out two hoots, imitating a native owl. After a few seconds, Seek responded with the same call. They were now waiting for the heart attack to occur.
To her surprise, it didn't take very long for Eto's heart muscles to start to die. After only a few minutes, a significant amount of damage had been done. She figured he must've had some health issues in the past, and thus had a weakened heart now. He woke up three times over the next fifteen minutes, but Kakashi was quick to put him out each time.
After a few minutes of silence, Eto suddenly sat bolt upright, clutching at his chest. He gasped for breath then grit his teeth in pain.
Kakashi raised his hand, but Akira stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He glanced down at her and slowly lowered his hand. Akira could easily feel his chakra signature, and it was growing steadily weaker. She doubted Eto even had the strength to yell out for help at this point. Apparently, he was in much worse health than he appeared to be.
Eto gasped again, but his arms went slack and dropped into his lap. He slumped backward into his pillows. His chakra signature quickly faded to nothing.
Akira smiled, proud of herself. This round with her jutsu had gone much better than the last one. Now the biggest threat to the Leaf Village was dead.
Ten more minutes passed. Akira and Kakashi had agreed to wait that long to ensure that Eto dies. It was a tense ten minutes. If a sensory shinobi was present somewhere in the mansion and they suddenly stopped feeling Eto's chakra signature, they were screwed.
Luckily, it didn't seem that there were any present, because no one came to check on Eto, and the time was finally up.
Akira let out a sigh of relief. "He's dead," she whispered.
"Good. Let's go home."
Akira nodded in agreement. They left through the window, sliding it shut behind them like they had found it. Kakashi released his chakra suppression jutsu so he could climb the wall to the roof. Seek met them at the edge, and the three of them jumped away from the house into the forest. They moved through the trees until they reached the edge of the village.
They hid in the forest until morning, taking turns keeping watch while the others napped. When the sun was just barely beginning to rise, the three shinobi made their way to the village entrance, where they were able to pass through without issue. But the nerves didn't subside until the three of them had traveled well aways from the Mist Village. They stopped for the night in a village along the main road, heading back in the direction of the port they had entered the country at, and starting their journey back home.
+++
"What do you mean, there's no boat to the Land of Fire?"
Kakashi crossed his arms and glared at Seek. "Do you ever listen to anything we say the first time we say it? Good grief."
Seek narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. "Drop the attitude."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Akira stepped in between the two boys and held up her hands. "Let's not do this right now. Sukea, why aren't there any boats to the Land of Fire?"
"The impending war. The Land of Water doesn't want anyone from the Land of Fire entering the country."
Seek groaned and turned away. "Okay, we need to come up with another solution then."
"What if we just take a boat to another country and then go from there?" Akira proposed.
"But which one? Lightning, Frost, and Hot Springs all have ports on this sea, but the countries closer to the Land of Fire are farther away from here. So do we do a shorter boat ride but have to travel farther on land, or do we take the longer boat ride and have a shorter distance to travel?" Kakashi asked.
Seek spun around to face them. "I vote shorter boat ride."
Akira rolled her eyes. "We can't go to Lightning, that's super far away from home! We'd have to go through a million countries to get back."
"Hotaru's got a point. It's not a great idea to go to Lightning, you know that Dad."
Seek threw his hands up. "Fine! But we're going to Hot Water."
Akira and Kakashi shared a look but admitted defeat. They bought tickets to go to the Land of Hot Water and loaded onto the boat. Seek was seasick again almost immediately, and this time, only Akira stood with him while he threw up over the side of the boat. Kakashi disappeared into their room.
The tension between the two captains was almost palpable to Akira now.
She hated it.
Akira could sense their emotions, and the frustration they both felt was only growing. Despite having taken care of the assassination, they still had to get back home, and they had a lot of ground to cover. It would be weeks before they got back to the Leaf. She was prepared for a long journey of being bored on the boat. But the fourth morning of the trip proved to be a bit more eventful than she had expected it to be.
The rough, wooden frame of the bunk bed creaked loudly, startling Akira from a restless sleep.
"Shit," she muttered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Would y'all please quit making noise for one damn night?" Seek snapped from across the room.
"Can you quit complaining for one damn night?" Kakashi retorted.
Akira felt a shift in Seek's chakra signature, and she instinctively tuned in to it.
He was pissed.
She was suddenly very glad that it wasn't her on his shit list.
Seek sat up in bed and turned to face Kakashi. "You're crossing a line here, Dog. I've put up with your attitude this entire trip, but my patience is wearing thin. We may share the same title, but I am the senior-ranking member of this squad. Disrespecting me is disrespecting your superiors' decision. Am I clear?"
The bunk bed creaked again as Kakashi stood up. Anger radiated off of him like heat from the sun. Seek got up as well and took a step toward Kakashi.
Akira's blood ran cold. What the hell was going on? Neither one of them was acting like themselves. But there wasn't anything Akira felt she could do to ease the tension. She was part of the problem after all. Seek had been getting annoyed with her as well. Jumping in between the boys could end badly for her if things were to escalate. That, and it was a power struggle between two captains. It wasn't her place to intervene.
But they were also her friends.
She threw off her blanket and jumped down, landing in between the two men. Akira faced Seek and bowed to him. "It was me, it's my fault! The loud noise was me. I jumped up to the bed and it creaked when I landed on it. I'm sorry for waking you up, captain."
Neither man moved, much to Akira's dismay. She inwardly cursed at Kakashi for not backing off.
"Leave, Fox," Seek growled lowly. Akira inhaled sharply. "This doesn't concern you."
"Y-yes sir." She straightened and walked to the door without making eye contact with either captain. After pulling on her shoes she left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
The hallway was dark and empty. No other voices could be heard throughout the ship until Akira reached the deck. It was still in the early hours of the morning, and a million stars shone in the night sky. Somewhere above her on the upper deck, the captain and one of the deck mates were having a quiet conversation. About what, she didn't know. Nor did she care. It just gave her the cover she needed.
She moved silently across the deck to the main mast of the ship, then jumped upward from sail to sail until she reached the crow's nest. Akira swung up and over the side of it, landing lightly on her toes. She sat down and made herself as comfortable as she could, then looked upward at the stars.
Akira could still sense the turmoiling chakra signatures of her two angry teammates. She didn't doubt they were having a heated discussion about who was really the leader of the mission. Not that the result really mattered. In her mind, Seek was in charge, he always was. When it came to the ANBU, seniority played a huge role in rank. Members who had been there longer were oftentimes offered promotions before younger candidates. It was why Bear had been asked about the captain position before Akira, even though she was many people's first choice for it.
So why Kakashi was challenging Seek so much was beyond her. It almost seemed like he just didn't care anymore about how respectful he was to others. Akira was beginning to feel annoyed by it as well. Though Seek's attitude had been just as bad, if not worse. He'd had more angry outbursts on this mission than she'd ever seen the entire time they'd been working together.
And they say women are hard to understand, she thought in bitter amusement.
Sometime later, Akira had begun to fall asleep in the crow's nest when her peaceful stargazing moment was interrupted by someone jumping over the railing. She glared at the person as they sat down next to her.
"You guys sort out your differences yet?" She asked coldly.
Kakashi shrugged. His expression was unreadable.
"Am I allowed to sleep in my own damn bed now?"
No response.
Akira shook her head. "You're impossible." She shifted her position so that she was leaning up against Kakashi with her head resting on his shoulder. He glanced at her but didn't say anything. Instead, he moved into a position that was more comfortable for both of them. Akira stared up at the sky, tracing constellations.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kakashi spoke.
"Have you ever wanted to run away?" He asked softly. His voice sounded uncertain, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to have this conversation.
The question caught Akira by surprise. "Run away?"
"Yeah. Like from the village, from being a shinobi, all of it."
Akira sighed deeply. "When Sparrow and Bat were killed I wanted to run away. I wanted to leave and never look at the village ever again. I didn't want to face my team."
"What stopped you?"
"Naruto. He reminded me of Bat's son and leaving them felt like a betrayal of Bat. So... I couldn't."
He didn't say anything for a moment, only playing with the hem of his shirt absentmindedly, lost in thought.
"Why do you ask, Kashi?"
"I want to run."
"And go where?"
"Anywhere that's not plagued by war."
Not being threatened by war did seem like a dream come true at the moment. The stress that both nations felt, and the pressure put on their shinobi was immense. Running away did seem like a pretty good option. And least then maybe Akira could grow a garden or something and not kill all of the plants.
"That sounds nice," Akira said softly.
"We could just go. Send a message back with Seek and disappear."
"We?" She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Well yeah, I told you we wouldn't split up."
Akira smiled and settled back into Kakashi's shoulder. A breeze off the sea sent a chill down her spine, causing her to shiver. Kakashi draped his arm around her, pulling her a little closer to his side. The warmth from his body and her own embarrassment warmed Akira right up.
"One day I want to have my own library," Kakashi said softly. "I'll go to other lands and collect books."
Akira giggled softly. "I could totally see you doing that."
"I'll find a book on every possible subject. That way when you ask me a question about something, I can just give you a book for it."
"Rude!" She exclaimed. "I want to have a garden. I'll grow my own vegetables."
"Even eggplant?"
Akira smirked. "Everything but eggplant."
Kakashi nudged her. "Rude," he said with a smile.
"Payback." She closed her eyes and rested her head against Kakashi's neck.
"Whatever you say." He sighed deeply. "A library and a garden huh?"
"They could even be connected. The garden could be inside the library! That'd be so cool!" She could see it now. A big, beautiful room with mahogany walls and shelving, pockets of greenery on the walls and floor with sunlight streaming down from the ceiling.
Kakashi smiled. "It would have to be a big house."
Akira shrugged. "I'll build it with my bare hands if I have to." She paused for a moment, then grinned. "Or convince Tenzo to do it."
To Akira's surprise, Kakashi actually laughed. "Good luck with that one."
She looked up at him defiantly. "Just wait, I'll do it. You'll see."
He looked down at her, and Akira was reminded of the very first time she'd seen his eyes. They had been so dark and full of anger at the time. But now, a little bit of hope shone through and gave his eyes a sparkle.
"I believe you."