A Golden Gray Mourning
Chapter Five
Istoria

Sakura held onto the skull tightly and looked from her sensei to the ground.

Nozomi told us she would be okay and for whatever reason, Kin and I believed her. Believed her as they took her away and believed her when she said she would be back for dinner.

But that was how Nozomi was. She wasn't strong or exceptionally smart but she tried her hardest. She might be afraid but she never showed it. She didn't pretend to be anything more then she was. Simple, beautiful Nozomi.

Kin and I were polar opposites. He was all brawn and I was brains. Nozomi was the bridge between us, the one thing we agreed on. In the academy, Kin made sure the bullies were kept at bay and I helped her with her studies. I don't know how it worked, really. Kin and I should have hated each other but with her, it just seemed right.

When we graduated together, it was no surprise we were a team. Sensei was impressed with the way we worked and told us that with some training, we'd be ready for the chuunin exams in record time.

We practiced every day after missions. Kin was impossibly strong. He could pick Nozomi up with one hand and twirl her over his head. I was good at genjutsu and it used to amuse her to watch all the illusions I could make. We were happy, the three of us.

We weren't as strong as some of the other teams, we had no geniuses or bloodline children. But sensei put us up our rookie year for chuunin. If Nozomi was nervous, she didn't show it. And it wouldn't have mattered. Kin and I would be with her and neither of us would let anything happen to her.

A few weeks before the exam, sensei called us for normal training. Only when we arrived at the meeting spot, there was a squad of Anbu there. Sensei was yelling at them and arguing with whatever they had just told him.

When they saw us, they walked up to Nozomi and took her away, talking to her while a couple of them kept the rest of us away. Kin punched one of them, cracked his mask right in half. It was mayhem after that. By the time Nozomi stepped in, I had a black eye and Kin's jaw was obliterated.

"It's okay," she said. "They just want me to help them with a mission."

But neither of us was convinced.

"It's just a mission," she smiled. "I'll be okay. I'll be back for dinner. So don't worry, ne?"

What else could Kin and I do? If all of sensei's yelling had changed things, what could we do? Besides, these were Anbu, whatever they wanted had to be the result of an order from the Hokage himself.

So we let her go. I remember how she smiled, promising to fill us in as soon as she got back. And we believed her. We just watched as they took her away.

They brought her home that night, hidden beneath a white sheet and whisked away to a temple for funeral rites. They never let us see her, never explained what happened to us but sensei told us later.

"Bait," he said. "They needed her as bait to lure an assassination target out. He had a thing for pretty blonde girls but was too smart for illusions, so she was perfect. They knew he was in Takamizu, she just had to get him to notice her and the Anbu would take care of the rest. That was all she was supposed to do."

But the Anbu had lost her in the crowd. Just for a moment. But it had been enough for him to take her to the back alley. By the time the Anbu found him, she was already dead.

They burned her body the next day. Kin was gone by evening. I wasn't surprised. She was the only thing that had kept us together. And when she was gone, nothing mattered anymore. Not being chuunin, not even being ninja. Everything became meaningless.

"So I ended up here," Kanaye said, a sad smile on his face. "Where else could I go? Everything I learned was useless. Everything I had dreamed was an illusion." He paused, hands gripping the sill tightly as he stared at the window. "I loved her. And she was gone."

He fell silent again and the nurse attempted to talk with him. But he was silent, eyes glazing over as he returned to his catatonic state.

Ibiki put a hand on Sakura's shoulder and slowly led her out. She was silent, trying desperately not to let the story affect her. She needed to be rational to think things through.

Ibiki eyed her as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. But when she turned to him, he could see the glistening of her eyes. Somehow, she managed to keep the tears at bay.

"Can they really do that?" she asked. "The Anbu, that is."

"Yes," he replied. "The Anbu would have been clear on the danger and Nozomi could have said no. However, a ninja must always be prepared to accept whatever mission is given to them. She understood the risks but her dedication to Konoha superceded it."

"She was only... she was only my age." Sakura slowed her steps and looked around. Ibiki slowed his steps and looked at her, preparing himself for the deluge of emotion.

Instead, she looked at him, sadness hidden beneath her eyes. "They never told us at the academy. That you could die so young. We all just assumed that was something that might happen later on, when you were a jounin or something. It never crossed anyone's minds that we might not even make it that far. Until the chuunin exam, that is." She paused and put a hand to the wall. "And they never told us about a place like this."

"They don't tell you a lot at the academy," he said. "Some of it, for your own good." He looked down the hall. "This place is not someplace you want to know about. It's easier to believe that it's not needed."

He took in a deep breath. "As ninja, we walk a very dangerous path. Some excel and lead Konoha to glory. Others fall and become hunted for the rest of their lives. And there are those who just stop moving all together. No longer civilian but no longer a ninja, they need some place to be."

He looked at the clock on the wall. "You need to get going. Can you find your own way out?"

Sakura nodded and started to walk away.

"Haruno," Ibiki called and Sakura's feet came to a stop. "Hokage-sama was right about you. If you still want, I'll teach you."

For a moment, Sakura's face lit up and then it faded quickly as she nodded. With a gruff nod, Ibiki sent her off again.
Kakashi frowned as Naruto launched into another tirade at Sasuke. Sakura was already putting herself in the middle as she tried to stop the impending fight. The scene played itself out every day, but Kakashi never grew tired of it.

He turned and waited for whoever was approaching to materialize. A puff of smoke later, he found himself face to face with someone he could have done without seeing.

"Ibiki," Kakashi said, keeping a reserved stance.

"Kakashi," Ibiki replied. "I'm here to talk about our student."

Kakashi's face frowned a bit. "Ah... so she's agreed."

Ibiki nodded. "It seemed like the thing to do." He shifted his weight as he sat down. "I know you might not agree."

Kakashi shrugged. "It's not my decision to make."

"It is... you are their captain."

Kakashi let out a breath. "Their academy sensei tried to hold them back from taking the chuunin exam. And I told him they weren't his anymore, that they were my soldiers." He paused as he looked at three genin. "Now, I know that they're Konoha's soldiers." He smiled a bit. "And that they need more then me to grow strong. Only, at the same time, I think I understand Iruka's position a bit more."

"They say being a sensei to genin is the hardest thing for a jounin to do," Ibiki said.

"It's true," Kakashi replied. "But not in the ways you think." He paused for a moment. "Still, if something were to happen..."

Ibiki shook his head. "Nothing will."

Kakashi smiled. "That's good. Because I wouldn't be the only one coming after you."

In the distance, Naruto and several clones were yelling as Sasuke launched a fireball at them and Sakura jumped to get out of the way.
"NARUTO!!!" Sakura yelled, charging at the only remaining version of him. The rest of the clones had disappeared on impact. "Stop picking on Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto flailed backwards, waving his arms. "It's not my fault he's in such a lousy mood. You're the one who's keeping secrets and making us all nervous."

Sakura came to a stop and frowned. He had her there.

"Like why were you late today?" He whined. "Even Kakashi-sensei was here before you."

"Sakura-chan has a new sensei," Kakashi said as she rejoined them.

Naruto paled and even Sasuke looked a bit disturbed. "Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, looking at her with glistening eyes. "You're not going to be on our team anymore."

"Baka," Sakura retorted. "I'm just getting another sensei like Jiraiya-sama."

"EH?!?!" Naruto said. "Sakura-chan is being taught by a pervert??"

"Ibiki-sensei is not a pervert!!" Sakura yelled.

The group fell into silence as Ibiki's name echoed in the clearing.

"Ibiki?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence. "The man who gave us the first part of the chuunin exam?"

Sakura laced her fingers and nodded proudly. See, Sasuke-kun. Someone realized I was strong and wants to teach me. And he's a great jounin to boot. But he didn't look impressed at all.

"No way," Naruto said. "What can he teach you?"

Sakura paused and shrugged. "I don't know yet but Hokage-sama was the one who requested it." Sakura let out a gasp. "Hokage-sama! I was supposed to go talk to her today."

"I suppose our day was over anyway," Kakashi said and in a flash she was gone.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked. "Sakura-chan's acting weird."

Kakashi looked and was astonished to find that it was not only Naruto that was listening for his answer. The jounin sighed. "Give it a week and I'm sure Sakura-chan will explain everything."

He looked up at the sky and frowned as he heard the eagle's call. The circling pattern it flew could only mean one thing.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, watching the expression on his teacher's face change.

"Go home," Kakashi said. "Both of you. And don't come out until I tell you to."

Sasuke looked up at the sky and saw the hawk. "What does it mean?" he demanded.

Kakashi looked at them. "It means exactly what I said. Now go!"

A bit taken a back by the tone in their sensei's voice, the boys had no choice but to do as ordered, leaving just as their sensei disappeared.
There was something wrong. Sakura knew it the moment she rounded the corner and saw the Hokage's offices come into view. There were people amassed outside it, yelling at the jounin guards who tried to keep them out. From the look of it, they were all civilians and based on what they were screaming, Sakura suspected that news of the serial killer had leaked.

She tried to get up the stairs but a wall of people prevented it. Letting out an exasperated breath, she was about to jump over them when a solid hand on her shoulder pulled her back.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"You need to go home," he said.

Sakura was about to question him when she saw the motion in the sky. She looked back at him and shook her head. "I need to see Hokage first."

"Hokage sent the hawk meaning she's already got too much to take care of," he said. He was about to pull her away when someone grabbed Sakura's other arm. Kakashi looked up, eyes looking with Ibiki as the other man held onto Sakura.

"Your sensei is right," Ibiki said after a moment's pause. "But Hokage said to give you this." He handed her a scroll.

Sakura's brow furrowed as she tried to put the pieces together. She looked at the hawk in the sky and then back at the crowd. Her mind drifted back to the map on her wall and she let out a little gasp. "There was another murder. In Bokuma." Ibiki nodded slowly. "That means Konoha's next, right?"

"Curfew at sunset for all chuunin and below," Ibiki said. "If Kin has managed to elude the hunter-nin for this long, then only a jounin could match him."

"So you think it was Kin too," Sakura asked.

"Ah," Ibiki nodded. "After I told Hokage that Nozomi was killed in Takamizu, she was in agreement. But until they catch him, stay at home. Understand?"

Sakura frowned but Ibiki let go of her arm and Kakashi didn't spare a moment whisking her away.
Her mother was still thanking Kakashi as Sakura ran to her bedroom. It hadn't taken long for word to spread. A killer was on the loose in Konoha and everyone was to remain in their houses until the all clear signal was given. No doubt every street in the town would be under watch.

"So stay here and don't even think of leaving," Sakura's mother started as soon as she reached her bedroom. "Your father already left and from what he tells me, the jounin have been ordered to use any force necessary to keep this town safe."

Sakura frowned but nodded all the same, hiding the scroll under her pillow. "I'll just stay here and read."

Her mother eyed her wearily but left without pressing any further. Sakura let out a short breath and quickly retrieved the scroll. She might not be able to help them patrol the streets but maybe she could do something with this.

The sun had just kissed the horizon when Sakura finished reading through the document. As she had promised, Hokage had sent information they retrieved from the skull. A lot of it, she didn't understand. Most of the terminology was the stuff that only medical-nin would know.

Beyond that, the report was pretty useless in terms of identifying who the skeleton had been. The skull belonged to someone who was somewhere between twelve to fifteen as the twelve year molars having not come in yet. There was no significant damage to the skull so apparently they hadn't been killed by a blow to the head. In fact, the only thing that was odd was that mandible had been broken and a few teeth were missing.

Sakura frowned a bit, trying to remember enough anatomy to place the mandible. She walked up to her bookcase and pulled anatomy book from there. She flipped the index and found the page she needed.

The book started to shake in her hands and Sakura dropped it to the floor. The page fluttered in the wind but the picture of a jaw was still there.

By the time Nozomi stepped in, I had a black eye and Kin's jaw was obliterated.

Sakura shook her head and ran back to her bed to get the report. She reread it, reading the physicians scrawl as they speculated that the jaw had been broken recently. In other words, the skull they had retrieved at Takamizu was from a twelve to fifteen year old who had just been punched in the mouth.

It wasn't possible, she rationalized. It could be anyone. It didn't have to be who she thought it was.

But could she really believe that there was that much coincidence in the world? More importantly, if Kin was the one in the koi pond back in Takamizu, then who was responsible for the murders?

Sakura jumped off her bed and ran to her window. The sun was halfway down and she didn't even know if she could make it to Hokage's offices. And she wasn't even sure if this meant what she thought it was.

Her mind drifted back to finding out about the Funari murder, how upset she had been when she thought it was her fault another girl was killed. Now, she had another chance in Konoha.

Sakura looked at her room for a moment longer before deciding. She jumped out the window and took off running, medical report clutched to her chest. The sun's setting rays were bathing Konoha in an eerie golden red hue as she moved, leaving a wake of dust behind her.

The Hokage's office came into view but the crowd was long since gone, stuffed back into their homes before curfew took effect. The two jounin standing guard there stared at her and moved quickly to stop her as she came barreling at the door.

"Hold on!" one of them yelled, grabbing her before she cleared the door. "What are you doing out? You know that there is..."

"I need to talk to the Hokage!" Sakura yelled.

"No, you need to be home."

"HOKAGE!!" Sakura screamed, yelling at the upper window where she knew the Hokage's main office was.

"Hey!" the jounin protested, trying to cover her mouth. But Sakura bit down hard on his hand.

Not this time, Sakura thought. I won't let him kill another girl this time.

The jounin removed his hand, cursing as he did. "HOKAGE!" Sakura screamed again and there was movement at the window.

Tsunade came out onto the balcony, Shizune at her side. Looking down, she found the source of commotion.

"Sakura?" she asked, watching as two jounin tried to wrestle the girl to the ground.

"It's not Kin!" Sakura yelled, trying to struggle free. "Kin's dead! The skull... the body from Takamizu is Kin! You're after the wrong person!!"


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