It has been a rather exhausting few days for Kakashi.
"You look like shit," Asuma says.
Kakashi goes over the file in his hands once more—the one handed to him after an emergency summons from the infamous department of Torture and Interrogation.
Asuma scoots in to take a peek.
"So they found one of your kids, huh?" Asuma asks.
"It seems so," he says.
"You don't seem too happy to find out that your students are alive," Asuma asks with a smirk.
"I never once believed them to be dead," Kakashi answers.
Asuma flips his lighter with a *click*.
"Oh really? Then why the long face?" he asks.
Kakashi folds the file under his arm.
"Why are you here?" he asks.
Asuma takes a second to digest the [mind your own business] look.
"Shikamaru was close by where Sasuke went missing," Asuma says.
"So was Neji Hyuga," Kakashi adds.
"Along with Choji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka," Kakashi mutters.
"What? They are coming here every day?" he asks.
"Probably trying to get a statement out of them," Asuma folds his hands.
"If they are allowing the other kids to walk around, then why is only my student being held in a cell?" Kakashi asks.
Asuma simply shrugs.
Kakashi scratches his head. Sakura is alive and Sasuke won't be dying unless he was jumped by at least a jounin or even a Kage.
Heck, if he is serious, even the whole ANBU force might have a hard time finding him.
That kid is really good at pulling stuff out of his pocket.
"Do they think he was kidnapped?" Kakashi thinks.
"What was that?" Asuma furrows his eyebrows as he can hear Kakashi's thoughts.
"Nothing," he says simply.
Asuma taps him on the back.
"Don't get any weird ideas. It's probably because she ran away from the infirmary when the... thing broke out," Asuma says.
"That's what we are calling it? The thing?" Kakashi asks with a deadpan.
The event of an attack at the heart of the village, trapping three Kage in a forest, has been reduced to a "thing."
Where there had been six chunin and two genin KIA.
Sakura was found today, so it leaves only Sasuke being dead.
"What do you think happened to Sasuke?" Asuma asks.
"I think he was kidnapped by Orochimaru," Kakashi answers.
"Whoa! What would he want with Sasuke?"
Kakashi sighs.
"I don't know. But the surveillance says he made contact with Sasuke," he answers.
"What did Hokage-sama say?" Asuma asks.
Kakashi stays silent.
He has been requesting an audience for days with no luck.
The water is getting muddy by the second.
A very familiar dreadful feeling shivers up his spine.
The fear of running out of time.
"I haven't brought it up with him yet," Kakashi answers.
The cigarette in his mouth folds as he bites it so hard.
"What? Isn't he your student? Don't you wanna save him?" Asuma asks with his nonchalant mood.
But he is rattled at his colleague's apathy.
"It's none of your business," Kakashi says it out loud this time as he starts heading for Sakura's cell.
Those who break the rules are trash.
It's time to become trash once more.
Kakashi makes up his mind to infiltrate the Hokage Tower once he is done talking to Sakura.
Asuma suddenly grabs his shoulder.
"Holler if you need us," he says.
Kakashi can only widen his eyes. All these years of wearing a mask made no difference.
His colleagues know him well.
######
Kakashi walks along the long maze-like hallway.
Ibiki Morino stands at the end of it with his ever-so-terrifying face.
It turns into a smile once he sees Kakashi approach.
"Took you long enough," he says.
"You know me... I got lost," Kakashi shrugs.
Ibiki smirks.
"She said so too," Ibiki says.
Kakashi simply does one of the few expressions he is capable of: raising his eyebrows.
Ibiki moves away from the door, revealing Sakura sitting inside an office eating like she had been starving for days.
She was so busy eating, Kakashi had enough time to get behind her and pat her head.
"Se...sei!" she turns with wide eyes, food in her mouth.
"Eat," Kakashi says with his upturned eye smile.
He throws the report file in the trash can by the desk and sits beside Sakura, overlooking Ibiki on the other side of the desk.
"Things are getting out of hand," Ibiki says.
"It seems so," Kakashi says absentmindedly, watching Sakura eat.
Heck! He can even feel his appetite coming back.
"Kakashi?" Ibiki pulls his attention.
"Yes... I am listening," he says.
"Hiruzen's life is in danger," Ibiki says.
"No shit," Kakashi says with a huff.
"Oh... was it that obvious?" Ibiki chuckles.
Kakashi rolls his eyes.
"Sensei! Sasuke... [khukk!!] is... [nom! nom]... " Sakura tries to say something.
"Eat first," Kakashi again pets her head.
Ibiki smirks.
"Yeah! Eat, girl... meanwhile our Hokage might be dead in a ditch," Ibiki slumps down in his chair.
"Won't we all?" Kakashi says with a sigh.
Ibiki furrows his eyebrows.
"Won't we all what? We all die?" Ibiki asks.
"All of us will die in a ditch," Sakura chimes in.
"Seriously, kid? You wanna die in a ditch?" Ibiki asks with an interested look.
"If sensei were to die in a ditch, I don't mind either," Sakura licks the rice stuck to her cheek.
Ibiki laughs loudly.
Then he looks at Kakashi.
"Kakashi! Tell your genin to spill the beans," Ibiki says with a serious face.
"Sakura, spill the beans," Kakashi says very softly.
"Uo u!" Sakura shakes her head.
"Sorry, Ibiki-kun. She won't be spilling the beans," Kakashi shakes his head in mock disappointment.
Ibiki can only smile wryly.
But the scars on his face are popping up like veins from anger.
"Why don't you just put her in one of your cells? Interrogate her the usual way," Kakashi slumps down.
"You want us to torture your student?" Ibiki says with sarcasm.
His hand is still on Sakura's head.
"My student or not... she isn't above the law," Kakashi answers.
Ibiki scoffs.
"We tried that. She just disappears and reappears in my office..." Ibiki slaps the table.
Kakashi chuckles like a proud father.
"Sakura..." Kakashi calls.
Sakura looks up.
"You can trust us. Let us help you," Kakashi says with a very soft voice.
She gulps down the rice.
"Hokage grandpa is in bad shape. Sasuke-kun is keeping him alive. But with the tools he has... it won't be enough. I need Mizuki-sensei to cough up one of Orochimaru's hideouts to hide Hokage-sama," Sakura spills the beans along with some rice.
Kakashi looks at Ibiki.
The only expression Ibiki has on his face other than anger is "I don't buy it."
"Hokage-sama doesn't have much time! Please, sensei! You said you would help me," Sakura holds Kakashi's hands.
Ibiki shakes his head.
"Tell us where he is," Ibiki is now in his interrogator mode.
Sakura looks at Kakashi with teary eyes one last time.
Kakashi, the street-smartest ninja to ever exist, is taking an awfully long time to make a decision.
The glint in Sakura's eyes slowly disappears.
Replaced by a terrifyingly cold gaze.
The soft kitten that was squirming with warmth under Kakashi's palms... slowly turns into a deadly panther.
"Sasuke-kun said not to trust anyone," Sakura murmurs.
"What?" Kakashi is at a loss, sensing the sudden change in mood.
An explosion shakes the room.
There was a blast in the distance.
It only took the moment of distraction for Sakura to slip away.
Kakashi can only flap his limbs at the empty air as Sakura's chakra signature, smell, presence—everything—vanishes... like she was never here.
"Where is she?" Ibiki sounds almost panicked.
Only three prisoners have managed to escape this facility in his whole career.
This will make the fourth.
An empty bowl twirls on the desk as he looks at Kakashi with disdain.
"You let her get away?" he asks.
Kakashi stays silent.
He was too late... yet again.