Boulders

Serpentinite

(Warning. This chapter is a little bloody....)

Sakura was alone.

She had watched as the two sand ninja carried an unconscious Gaara away. She hadn't been able to stop shaking the whole time.

Kankuro had given her a piteous look before they left.

She had fallen to her knees when a sudden soft, warm feeling encompassed her. She felt safe and secure and-

No. That was wrong.

Sakura had almost died. She shouldn't feel so...

"Kai," she managed, moving her fingers into the proper positions. The sleepy feeling dissipated. She went back to the shaky, I almost died feeling. Sakura wrapped her arms around herself and felt a few tears leaking out of her eyes.

A warm hand was set on top of her head. "Maa, Sakura-chan. You did good."

Sakura glanced up and felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. "Kakashi-sensei!"

"We should probably get out of the open," Kakashi remarked. "We're being attacked by Sand and Sound shinobi, so we should stay out of the way."

Sakura tried to clamber to her feet, but all the adrenaline in her system was gone and she felt all shaky. The gloves had changed from weapons to simply cumbersome. She fell back before she had made it to even half way up.

Kakashi-sensei reached down and scooped her into his arms, then moved smoothly from the field.

He set her down in one of the first few rows, then gave her instructions in a low whisper. "Wake Naruto, Shikamaru, and then head after the Sand shinobi. Sauske is already in pursuit."

"What about Toph-sensei?" Sakura managed.

He looked over at where Toph had been sitting, but all you could see was Ino's long blonde ponytail. "Leave her be. She's not a ninja, and odds are that if she heads out into the battlefield she'll become collateral damage."

"But I can't just leave her here all alone," Sakura managed before the look her sensei's visible eye shot her down and shut her up.

"I'll take care of her." Kakashi-sensei said slowly and with a voice made of steel. "Now do what I told you to."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei," Sakura bowed her head. The instinct to obey was so deeply ingrained that she only cast one last, scared look at where Toph had been, then she turned and fled towards where she had last seen Naruto.

▪▪▪

What are you doing?

Why are you sleeping here when there are things you need to be doing?

Wake up!

Toph's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. A second later her hand snatched a throwing knife right out of the air before it could hit her head.

It was the oddest thing her feet had ever seen. There were light stepping ninjas battling and fighting and dying over sleeping people. She sat for a moment, trying to gather her bearings.

Move.

Toph shot to her feet and stumbled out of the row of seats before she realized what she was doing, the kunai clenched in her fist.