Desert Flower

Waiting and Running

  "We've been expecting you." A shinobi stepped forward to greet us as we neared the walls of Sunagakure.

  "So you were with them, Temari?" The other questioned.

  "Please, come this way!" They rushed us into the village while quickly explaining what had happened.

  "What?! They got Kankuro, too?"

  "Yes, Lord Kazekage was taken, and Kankuro followed in pursuit. Kankuro was poisoned by the enemy, and we don't know how to neutralize it. At this rate....he won't...."

  "Damn it!"

  "Let's hurry, Temari. I'll take a look at him." Sakura furrowed her brows with determination.

  "Kankuro!" Temari shouted as we ran into the hospital room where Kankuro was being held.

  "You jerk!" An old lady ran right for Kakashi with a mean look on her face.

  "Huh?"

  "Prepare yourself!" She hollered, and Naruto quickly used clones to block her hits.

  "Why are you charging at Kakashi-sensei like that? You wrinkled hag!"

  "You dared to kill him back then, accursed White Fang of Konoha? I'll finally avenge my son today!"

  "No, wait, I'm-"

  "It won't work!"

  "Sis, look closer." An old man raised his hand to get the old lady to stop. "He might look the part, but he's not Konoha's White Fang. And this 'White Fang' died ages ago. When you received the news about it, you cried and regretted not being able to avenge your son, right? Right, sis?"

  "Yeah, right!" Her voice turned sweet as she dropped her fighting stance.

  "What....?" Kankuro groaning and grabbing at his throat brought everyone's attention back to our purpose of being in the hospital.

  "I'll do this." Sakura rushed over while tying back her hair.

  "Please!"

  "Everyone else, please stand back a bit."

  "Okay...." Everyone who wasn't a doctor or Temari left the room to wait in the hallway to give Sakura space. She'd been training with Tsunade, the best healer anyone knew, but was Sakura herself at a level to handle this?

  Kankuro began to scream even louder as Sakura went to work.

  "Hey, Kakashi-sensei...."

  "Huh?"

  "This oldie talked about Konoha's White Fang....who is he?" Naruto questioned while pointing at the old woman.

  "How should I say this? He was.... Well, basically he was....my father."

  "Y-You're....the White Fang's son?" The old lady pointed.

  "Yeah." Kakashi awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

  "So that's it. That's why you look like him." The old man nodded.

~

  By the time Sakura had extracted all of the poison from Kankuro, Temari had collapsed onto the floor with relief. She was giving orders to the doctors, asking for a log of medicinal plants in Sunagakure, telling them to get an IV drip, and ordering for new bandages on Kankuro.

  We also received word that Tsunade was sending a backup team made up of Guy, Lee, Neji, and Tenten. We were still waiting on word from scouting parties, and I just had to get away from it all just for a few minutes at least.