The Red Maelstrom

[45] Transpiration

Kohana saw the darkness overshadow the light in Sasuke's eyes and discarded her hope of a victorious celebration with him by the way he'd dumped the limp body of their hostage onto the grass. She looked back at Fume curled over Kouki, who was wailing and panicking at the unknown weight pressing down on him from all sides. Because Fume couldn't embrace her daughter—couldn't comfort her while Sugi, poor Sugi watched a stranger weep over her. What hurt Kohana even more was to see the once vacant Harukichi pawing feebly at his granddaughter's hands, incapable of vocalizing his anguish, his confusion. And their cries were (too) loud for Kohana; they rang in her ears the way her teammates' cries of pain had never quite left her memories even in the quietest and most peaceful days. They also reminded her of the very same cries heard in the hollow hospital halls at the night of the siege.

Their cries left her cold and feeling more frightened than she could ever consciously admit to herself. In the hopes of distracting herself, Kohana chanced a look at Naruto.

Naruto's own expression mirrored Sasuke's: a distinct spill of mourning amid turbulent rage. His emotions were in danger of overflowing when he cast his gaze over to the body that had been brought back to them. The unconscious Ame-nin was but an offering of penance to the Hamasaki family at this point, never mind that they hadn't prioritized the capture of another ninja Kohana had felt watching them.

Something touched Kohana's elbow. It was Sakura, whose joyous relief at their return had been doused soundly by Sugi's abrupt and cruel loss of memory, and it was all Kohana could do to hold her friend's wrist in her fingers to bring Sakura some measure of comfort, while all she could think about was how they'd taken too long to come back to the others. The enemy had succeeded in their mission to stall them until whatever they had forced upon Sugi took effect. They'd slithered along the boundaries of law to avoid a cause for war and conflict... at what cost? The people of their village whose best interests should have been placed above all else? A family who only wanted the peace Amegakure should have afforded them in the first place?

Akano knelt down next to Fume, whispering words of reason rather than empty ones of consolation while Hana and Shina tried to calm Harukichi. Even Ueda was digging through his bag of oils and fragrances to find something he could offer the grieving man in place of his inadequately expressed stumbling sentiments.

There was regret in Kakashi's visible eye, and there was little doubt in Kohana's mind that their sensei was feeling the anger and frustration she felt at having failed to prevent this outcome. And perhaps to mitigate his emotions, he sauntered over to the fallen Amegakure-nin and dragged him far away up to a tree and out of Fume's sight for a binding. Kohana approached him quietly, unable to take more of Fume's and Kouki's tears and Sugi's endless questions.

"Isn't there anything we can do for her, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets as he studied their hostage. "It's either we return to Konoha where Ibiki-san can examine her, but they would be untouchable in Yugakure." It goes unsaid that even Konoha's hands would be free of dirt should they accomplish their mission and bring the Ame refugees to their intended destination, but Kohana was no fool. Now she understood how the boundaries between villages worked, and why everyone was so keen on keeping them. And if Kohana had already felt helpless a few seconds ago, that disgusting feeling multiplied at the realization that she—nor even Kakashi had a say in the matter.

"Shinobi are just tools," Zabuza had said. Those words had struck Kohana during that battle on the bridge because she'd hurt on Haku's behalf. That Zabuza had always held such beliefs about himself—about Haku, whom he'd been afraid to love and openly cherish—cut into Kohana's heart. Since then she struggled to understand where Zabuza was coming from and what he'd seen to harbor such a deplorable view of shinobi. Now, those words began to ring truer than Kohana ever thought possible.