Title: Anonymity
Summary: It was when she was on the brink of death that he realized what she had meant to him.
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.
Dedicated to my best friends, Ema and Angela.
Special thanks to my beta, Alice [nightserenade].
Chapter One
"… And that concludes my mission summary, Tsunade-sama," the pink-haired Jounin said, bowing her head respectfully.
"Very good work, Sakura," the Godaime praised, a proud smile on her face. She dismissed the kunoichi, but immediately called her back when her gaze fell upon the mission scroll lying on her messy desk. The smile quickly morphed into a frown.
"Yes?" Sakura asked, her hand slipping from the doorknob, and walked back towards the Hokage. She regarded her Master curiously, knitting her thin eyebrows together in confusion. "Is something the matter?"
Tsunade sighed and laced her hands together calmly. "I know that it was a difficult mission and you must want some relaxing time," she began, her grimace deepening with every word, "but I'm sending some ANBU members on a dangerous assassination mission, and currently, you're the only available medic-nin in Konoha. If we wait for another medic to come back from their mission, we might miss our chance."
Sakura visibly relaxed as she smiled slightly, trying to hide the exhaustion by standing up straighter. "I'll be happy to accept this mission," she said as she took the mission scroll from the Godaime's hand.
"If after you read the mission summary you find that you can't go through with it, I'll understand and wait for another medic to come back," Tsunade mumbled, averting her golden eyes. The kunoichi narrowed her own, once again perplexed by her Master's words and actions. Sakura knew Tsunade wasn't one to mumble, and sure wasn't one to excuse a ninja from a mission just because they weren't comfortable with it. With these baffling thoughts in mind, she excused herself and swiftly ran home, wanting to read over the summary in the privacy of her own apartment.
The medic found that Tsunade-sama was right about one thing after all. She didn't even get to the second sentence before promptly falling fast asleep.
With a start, Sakura woke up.
Realizing that it was dawn and she was supposed to meet the ANBU members at the front gate by 5:00 A.M., she cursed and started throwing random weapons and clothes into her pack. Having fallen asleep yesterday with her shinobi clothes on, she ran out briskly as soon as she was done securing the kunai holster on her thigh, only to have to run back to lock her door.
Not wanting to keep the ANBU shinobi waiting any longer than she already had, Sakura sprinted from her apartment, which was located near the south gate, to the main gate in a record-breaking time of five minutes. Huffing, she went up to the captain to apologize for her tardiness, only to pleasantly find out that none of them were irritated at her.
"Tsunade-sama already explained your case to us, and warned us that you were undoubtedly going to sleep in from your enervating mission. It's alright, Haruno-san," the captain reassured Sakura warmly. "You have no problems concerning the mission?"
There it was again, that befuddling question. Even if she had read the scroll (not that she would be telling the captain any different), what problems could possibly arise from an ANBU assassination mission? Though, it wasn't a normal one, as Sakura counted a staggering number of ten ANBU in the area. Including her, the medic, there were a total of eleven shinobi assigned to kill one person.
"Of course not," Sakura replied politely, laughing slightly to hide her embarrassment.
"Good. Then, you'll have no problems with us killing him." By now, Sakura really wanted to know who exactly this "him" was, but of course, she couldn't ask. "That reminds me," he began, motioning towards a female ANBU. She brought him a small set of the regulation ANBU wear, complete with an additional black cloak with a hood and a white cat mask. "This is for you to remain anonymous within the group. We can't have our medic injured," he explained, taking the clothes and handing them to Sakura. "You can go change behind those trees. We'll leave once you're done."
She accepted the clothes, trying to hide the giggles that were just bursting to escape. The end result was a maniacal grin, but Sakura didn't care. She was an ANBU!
Okay, not quite. But still. Wearing ANBU clothes? That was as close as being an ANBU as this Jounin was ever getting. 'Hah, wait until Naruto hears about this,' the pink-haired kunoichi thought gleefully as she stripped herself quickly and donned on the black shirt and pants. Even though she didn't really need it, since she wasn't going to fight, she put on the gray chest armor and metal arm guards. She left out the black gloves that went up to her elbows, opting for her own leather ones. The special ninja sandals with spikes that were only meant for ANBU to wear would have to go, too, since they were two sizes too large, and would thus hinder her mobility. Putting on the cloak, Sakura noticed with annoyance that it was much too large for her, and draped on the ground like some half-wit curtain. Actually, the whole uniform was much too large for her, and she cursed bad genes. Slipping on the cat mask (which, of course, was just a tad bit too loose), she pulled her pink hair back into a tight ponytail and lifted the hood up to cover her hair and forehead.
Of course, her disguise had flaws, too. If the enemy looked closely at her, they would be able to tell that she was only parading as an ANBU, since she had no tattoo, and instead of three pouches on her back-waist, she only had two. But it would have to do.
Stepping out into the open, Sakura felt a sense of adrenaline course through her veins as she grinning stupidly again behind her mask.
'This guy is going down,' Sakura thought, smiling as she set off with the ANBU.
Even though Sakura had a tough time keeping up with the ANBU - what, with the cloak acting up and tripping the poor girl every ten minutes - they reached their destination in half a day, which surprised the pink-haired medic a bit, since they were at the outskirts of Sound, a distance that would have normally taken her a whole day. The ANBU members piled around the cave restlessly, anxious for night to come. The target's hideout was a good kilometer away, but the squad leader had insisted on staying far from it, warning them that if they got too close, the target would most likely be alerted of their presence, and then the ambush would be completely futile.
'Must be some strong guy for the ANBU to be so cautious,' Sakura thought aimlessly as she shivered slightly in the damp cave. Even though wearing the ANBU uniform was cool, the kunoichi couldn't help but wish for her mesh undershirt back. The ANBU clothes were meant for easy traveling and fighting, not enduring the frozen hell that was a cave. Even the cloak, which Sakura had at first thought was thick, was a thin imitation, meant to disguise, and could be thrown away easily in the midst of a battle if need be.
The captain, noticing Sakura's displeasure, took a break from sharpening his sword to perfection with a rock to place a hand comfortingly on the female shinobi's shoulder. "We won't be staying here for long. We're setting out tonight, and if we're lucky, we'll be reporting back to Konoha tomorrow with one of the most formidable missing-nin's head in tow," he assured.
Although a bit embarrassed that the captain could see her dissatisfaction, she couldn't help the curiosity that bubbled within her. "If we're lucky?" she repeated, asking for clarification.
A dark veil seemed to shroud his eyes, and Sakura vaguely wondered if she had somehow stumbled onto dangerous territory.
"He's escaped us three times now. He's just too powerful for a team of four ANBU to take down. Luckily, we've never had any casualties in the past," another ANBU, who had heard the whole conversation, explained.
"So, this time…" she began, not seeing the need to finish her sentence, as the two ANBU beside her nodded.
"We have him cornered."
"Let's review the plan once more," the squad leader said, motioning for all the ANBU to come. As proposed earlier, Sakura would stay back while the ANBU charged forward in the dead of the night to ambush the target. If they got him, they would meet up with Sakura and let her heal their injuries before heading back to Konoha. If they failed, they would send Sakura and the injured back to Konoha for emergency back-up while the rest of the ANBU kept an eye on him.
After waiting a few hours, the birds finally quieted down and night cascaded over the skies. The plan, however, had to be changed when the first drops of rain fell down from the overcast clouds, morphing quickly into a full-blown out thunderstorm. If they succeeded in the mission, the captain would send up a red flare, signaling for Sakura to come to where the flare was. If they weren't back within a hour, the squad leader advised the medic to flee to the cave and send for immediate back-up from Konoha via a messenger bird.
Readjusting her mask one last time, Sakura set out with the rest of the ANBU. The rain made it hard for her to see barely three feet in front of her as she stumbled precariously from one tree branch to another. It didn't help that she winced and slipped a little whenever lightning crashed down with thunder rumbling behind it. She never did like thunderstorms.
When the captain raised a hand towards her, she nodded and hid among some bushes. The rain came down in sheets, and the kunoichi hugged the cloak tighter around herself, wishing for the first time that she was back in the cave. Or on the frontlines fighting. It was easier to forget herself amongst a battle, where landing a chakra-enhanced fist on the opponent was the first and only thing on her mind. Worrying about her drenched clothes would come later. Sakura's hiding spot was too far from the target's hideout, so she couldn't sense a thing. She didn't know whether the ANBU were winning or losing, and that thought unnerved her, but she shook it off. It wouldn't do for her to distrust in their abilities.
She was jerked away from her thoughts when a distant flare appeared in the sky, the sound muffled by the rain pounding in her ears and the bright spark outshined by the lightning. The shinobi took off, her muscles a bit stiff from crouching for so long.
It came as a bewilderment when she almost barreled into a bedraggled ANBU team, most of them limping and bleeding heavily. With widened eyes, she looked around, assessing their injuries with a brief sweep, noting that none of them were fatally wounded and on the brink of death.
"What happened?" Sakura asked, her breath raspy from astonishment. "The flare… Didn't you guys get him?"
The captain shook his head as he continued running, cradling his left arm, which had a large gash on it. The weapon used to pierce his skin was most likely poisoned, seeing that the slash was slowly turning a sickening shade of violet. "They were waiting for us. They knew about our plan," he whispered, his voice cracking.
"They?" Apprehension rolled around her gut. The mission had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
"There were four, including him. They were all too skilled, too powerful for us to take on. Before we knew it, they had already taken down half of the ANBU. We immediately retreated, but they're pursuing us. It's only a matter of time before they catch up. The red flare you saw… It must have been a trap to lure you out." With that, the captain fell down. His chakra was too low and the poison was spreading too quickly. As they had been trained, the rest of the ANBU didn't even spare a backwards look as they charged forward. It was better to sacrifice one and not ten.
Sakura, however, was never trained as an ANBU, and stopped to help the captain. She reached into her medical pouch and got ready to extract enough poison from his injury to allow him to walk again.
"Don't bother… I'm done for," the captain protested, an unsteady hand reaching out to deny her access to his arm.
"I'm the medic," she replied, her hands already glowing a green hue. "I need to heal you. Or else I'll be completely useless." His hand fell to his side as he allowed Sakura to extract the poison painfully. The procedure was almost done when the captain's pupils dilated in horror.
"HARUNO-SAN! BEHIND YOU!"
She whipped her head backwards reflexively, and bit back a terrified scream. A sword with the undeniable stench of blood coating it gleamed dangerously near her neck. The blade quivered slightly and advanced towards her. She heard the captain trying to get up to help her from her predicament, but Sakura knew that he wouldn't be able to stand for another fifteen minutes. If she had to choose between her life and an ANBU captain's life, she would undoubtedly choose his life over hers, and so with that thought in mind, she decided to run away and lure the opponent away from the squad leader.
Summoning the last reserves of chakra to her feet, she lunged at him. Their bodies tumbled in the muddy ground, and they rolled a safe distance away from the injured squad leader. Panting heavily, the female shinobi reached shakily for a kunai, but stopped short when the sword was back at her throat again, the tip piercing into her delicate skin and drawing blood.
"Your name." His voice rang faraway bells, but she had no time to immerse herself in past memories. Not when her imminent death was so close that she could almost touch it.
"W-what?" she mentally cursed herself for the cowardice that was positively dripping from her voice. If she was going to die, she was going to die honorably. A death that would make her Jounin status proud.
"Your name. Tell me your name." His face was shrouded by the darkness, but the pink-haired kunoichi could hear a harshness in his voice tinged with just a bit of excitement. Gulping, she held her ground, glaring back as fiercely as she could muster. The ANBU captain had warned her not to reveal her name in any situation.
"No." Even the kunoichi herself was surprised at how cold her tone was.
"You leave me no choice then. I highly doubt you're her anyway…" Before she could ask him what he meant by his statement, a cold metal stabbed her body, running all the way through her lungs. Widening her emerald orbs in shock, it took her brain seconds to recognize the pain. Screaming in agony, her body fell limp to the group when he yanked his blade out of her body. A paroxysm seized her as warm blood spewed out of the gaping wound. Coughing out blood, lightning struck again, and she got a good look at her perpetrator as he turned and walked away.
Eyes as red as the blood that was rapidly spilling everywhere from her own body.
Missing-nin…
If after you read the mission summary you find that you can't go through with it, I'll understand and wait for another medic to come back….
No problems concerning the mission…
You'll have no problems with us killing him…
Don't say your name…
Sharingan…
All the pieces of the puzzles seemed to click at that moment.
"Sasuke…" Coughing up a clot of blood, the lax mask fell off with the continuously pouring rain and sloshed in the mud. Her hood slipped down and the hair tie slipped off, unraveling pink hair.
The victim laid there, her own blood dying her hair red. Tears fell as she closed her eyes for the last time.
Sasuke had run his blade through her.
Sasuke had tried to kill her.
Sasuke was once again leaving her.
Sakura.
Author Note: I swear, this looked longer when I wrote it.
Without my beta-reader, this story would have been crap. Literally. I had so many mistakes. THANK YOU, ALICE. Go read her stories. They're better than mine.
Next Chapter: Two Weeks (If I put my deadline online for everyone to see, then I won't be able to procrastinate. Probably.)
