New story - new couple - new ideas!

I'm going to kick myself for having two stories on the go... But I had to get it OUT.

Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, but the plot and events that occur are all from my lil' ol' mind.

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Dawning: Chapter I

Target Acquired

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Have you ever seen the dawn?

And not when you're groggy with lack of sleep and hectic, mindless obligations that you barely note that the sun is about to rise over the mountains. You haven't actually seen it unless you watch it with absolute clarity and perception. A dawning that you observe degree by degree, and realize the true beauty of the world is, and always has been, right in front of you.

The quiet, peaceful seconds when the only thing you can hear is the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees, and the quiet chirping of a bird that refuses to sleep. And then before your eyes; light. A soft, filtered light that slowly encompasses the whole valley the village is built in. The dark night sky slowly turning a soft blue as the sun began its rise to make an appearance.

A moment of unexplained newness, that you always knew was coming, but never expected the outcome to be so... appealing. The dawn brought a fresh slate, a new day that had no mistakes in it yet, a blank page in the diary of your life, lying waiting for you, perfect and unspoiled. You can almost forget what happened in the days previous, any grievances, any heartaches. But when the sun rises, and the sky is blue, all you can do is wait for the day to come to a close, so you can be up and watching the same, radiant scene all over again. Whatever comes in between, well that's your life falling into place.

Her mother used to tell her that. Every day.

"Haruno." A voice interjected, disrupting her reverie. "Hold back with me." He turned to the rest of their group. "The rest of you, advance to the next checkpoint." His voice had always held a tone of clear superiority, even when it hadn't been his station. Through their childhood, their academy years together, and in the years up to that point, he had always held himself at a higher level than anyone else in their graduate year.

Except Naruto of course. Because Naruto was in a league of his own.

She flicked her mask up, resting it on the side of her head. "What is it?"

He watched her for a moment, taking into note the slight puffiness of her eyelids and the redness of her cheeks. He knew the signs of a woman after a night of crying. She could lie to him all she wanted, but he needed his team to be on their game. They couldn't have any mistakes, he wouldn't tolerate it.

"Are you sure you're fit to join us?"

He was her captain, and normally she gave him the respect that his position demanded. But the way he was coddling her like an infant and questioning her ability to perform made her want to use her legendary strength to send him flying into a tree. People died all the time. And people grieved, dealt with the loss, and moved on.

"I'm fine." She said coolly, slipping her mask over her features and dissipating in the air to join the rest of their teammates. He followed soon after, a disapproving frown on his face, hidden by the white mask.

They had been preparing for this mission for a month and a half. Studying the movements of their target, the movements of his guards, the change in shifts, the routine nightly inspections of the perimeter. They were so prepared, and he refused to have everything ruined because of an emotional woman.

He was in the room when she was told that her parents were dead. Murdered, on a simple, two day mission. She had been calm at first, like any Anbu was trained to be. Let go of all emotions, focus on being a precise, tactless killer. Get the job done without compassion getting in the way.

The moment the news was delivered, she had the face of a kunoichi that had been rigorously trained not to let her emotions get in the way. Though he knew that the second she was alone in the safety of her home she would let it all out. She would let her repressed emotions consume her. It didn't matter how stone cold she had become for the sake of her job, she was still a woman.

Neji didn't remember his mother, and what he knew of his father was select and muddled from an undeveloped child's brain. He didn't know if he would be emotional like she was, having lived with the love of your parents only to have it ripped away from you, or if it wouldn't have phased him. He had advised the Hokage multiple times that it was a bad idea to have her remain on the squad in her state, especially on such a delicately laid out mission. But no matter his own thoughts, he couldn't go against the word of his leader, even if it was questionable at best.

She'd specifically asked to remain on the mission, to not be given time for grieving and mourning. She didn't want to waste a month and a half of preparation because people thought she wasn't in the right state of mind. Sakura was using the mission as a distraction, though it should not have been treated as such.

He tried to be attune to his teammates emotions, so he could get someone else to help them and fix the situation - helping himself would undoubtedly make the situation worse - and get his team back on track as soon as possible. In normal situations, the shinobi would accept his proposal for them to sit out a mission and regroup, but Haruno Sakura was adamant that she didn't need to take time off, and had not so subtly told him that numerous times.

He'd sent Ino to talk to her, to try and convince her to take a few days before going out on another mission, but she refused.

Perhaps it was an issue of her proving to herself that she could continue on through anything. The last time she had been out of commission, it had been because of the Uchiha abandoning his village. She had been in a pitiful state, and she didn't attend training for almost a month. Maybe she was counteracting her inner demons that were taunting her to relapse into that state, determined to soldier on and complete the mission they had all been planning for so long.

Her reasoning didn't really matter to him. The only thing that mattered was her ability to complete this mission with no mistakes. He didn't want to fail the mission and realize that they would be faced with an even bigger challenge, invading a compound that was expecting an attack.

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The mission up until a certain point had been going flawlessly. The whole squad was moving together, the compound was functioning in the same way they'd been planning around, and they could move in, grab their target, and get out as efficiently as they'd been hoping.

Everyone was in position, Team A was inside the compound, ready to move in on their objective. Team B was waiting just outside, ready to move in at the slightest sound of a battle to ensure the security of their target and to provide back up for their comrades. Team C was with Neji, surrounding the compound in a much larger berth, assuring that nothing got in or out without them knowing. They had this compound under lockdown, and its inhabitants had no idea.

The first sign of a problem came from Team C, when Neji sensed that the compound had hundreds more mercenaries than they initially thought. After a month and a half of planning, he was going to make them postpone the entire thing because of a few hundred mercenaries that were on the other side of the compound from their target. Which is where the second problem came in; Sakura and her stubbornness.

"Team A, get out of there. The mission has been compromised." Neji's voice crackled over her earpiece. "Regroup at camp." Even through the microphone she could hear his I-told-you-so attitude. The mission hadn't been successful, the target was out of position. He was walking down the wrong hallway, and the thought of these mercenaries had their Captain spooked. And while it hadn't been her fault in any way, she couldn't stand the idea of Neji even placing a sliver of the blame on her. She couldn't stomach the idea of a month and a half going down the drain because some fat serial killer didn't walk to same path he had every day leading up to that moment.

"I've got a clear shot." She whispered, finger looping around the kunai strapped to her belt and pulling it from its holster. "I can take it." There were only two guards, and then their main target. It would be an easy, quick, kidnap and she would rejoin her teammates.

"Negative. Do not engage." His tone was final. But she could do this.

She was in the perfect position to drop down, incapacitate his guards, and take the man as a hostage. She had the skills, she could do it. "Engaging target in three..."

"I gave you an order." He stopped in his tracks, landing on a thick tree branch and signalling for the rest of Team C to stop with him.

"Two..."

"Haruno, get out of there. It's too dangerous."

"One."

"Sakura!" But his angry voice was lost on her as she dropped from the rafters. She would show Neji that she was capable of working under stress. People died all of the time. They'd all had to deal with it. And she would be damned if Neji thought she couldn't handle herself on a mission so soon after someone's passing.

She landed on one of the guard's shoulders, knocking him to the ground and expertly snapping his neck. She leapt forward, wanting to keep her element of surprise as she and the second guard tumbled to the ground. He drew a kunai as they landed, but she grabbed his wrist, snapping the bones there with a surge of chakra and grabbing the weapon that clattered to the wooden floor beside his head. She threw it to her right, aiming for the leg of her main target as he tried to run away from her. The sound of the man falling with a cry of pain was the only confirmation she needed that her hostage had been hit.

Summoning chakra to her fingertips, she pressed her hand against the guard's chest pinned beneath her, effectively stopping his heart.

Sakura remembered how people had laughed when they told her that her medical background wouldn't be of any use to her in a fight. And she remembered how she had explained to every single one of them who doubted her exactly which bone she would break in their body to make sure they could never walk again, which artery to cut that would make them bleed out in seconds, which nerves would stop their motor functions, which tendons would restrict the use of their hands.

And then she asked them all if they wanted to spar.

She never had anyone doubt her abilities again, and proved them all wrong once more when she was accepted into the Anbu as a fighter, with the additional bonus of an extense medical background.

Neji barking demands to the rest of their team to compensate for her disobeying his first orders echoed in her earpiece, but she ignored him, striding towards the man still trying to outrun her with a kunai in the back of his knee.

"I'm impressed." She said casually, grabbing the back of his collar and throwing him to the ground. "I just severed your lateral ligament, you shouldn't even be walking, let alone trying to run." Though it was admittedly a pathetic sight.

"What do you want from me?" His voice wavered. He was scared of her, and he had every reason to be. But she was used to the pathetic cries of 'who are you', 'what do you want', and to be quite honest, she found that they didn't phase her anymore. She had toughened up in her career, and now all she wanted to do was get the job done. It helped that the man lying helplessly before her, about to be begging for his life, was a self-proclaimed serial killer. Though she could see that such a lifestyle was in his past. He was a pudgy man now, with thick, sausage-like fingers that curled in front of his face, expecting the worst.

"All in good time, Nashimura." She pulled him forward suddenly, lifting his robust body up slightly from the ground so she could send a wave of chakra through his neck and spine, overloading his nervous system and rendering him unconscious.

"Sakura, report." From the tone of her captain's voice, she was going to guess that he had been asking her that for a while.

"Target acquired. Returning to camp."

"Team B, regroup with her outside of the compound." He was irritated, and she knew she was going to get an earful from him later, but for now she expected him to at least be grateful for her for finishing the mission. Even if he had deemed it unsafe.

It was a good thing she was strong, because lifting Nashimura onto her back any other way wouldn't have been possible. She would have had to wait there for the backup of her disgruntled teammates, and she didn't want to face them until they were at camp and she could easily excuse herself to be on guard duty all night. Which she was going to do anyways.

When she had her hostage securely on her back and was about to begin her exit from the compound and ascent up the mountain back to their camp, she froze, the ground starting to rumble under her feet.

Uh oh.

They rounded the corner before she had a chance to conceal herself or jump out the nearest escape. Which happened to be a window twenty feet from where she was positioned. But there was no way she was going to fit out that with Nashimura as extra baggage.

Their cries of rage as they saw her with their leader were enough to send her running. She had to find a door, find a balcony, something to get her out of the building as soon as possible. If they knew she was there, they were going to call for backup. And she couldn't be anywhere close when that happened.

She turned a sharp corner, their hollers echoing down the hall - she knew they weren't far behind. But even with the added weight she was still fast, and if she could just find a way out they wouldn't be able to catch her. She had spent so many nights studying the blueprints of this place, but nothing was the same when you were actually inside, scrambling for an escape.

"Slight problem." She muttered into her microphone.

"We're on our way." One of the members from Team C said.

But Neji's much angrier voice drowned him out. "What's going on?"

She wanted to roll her eyes. Sometimes he was just so demanding. "There were a few extra soldiers hanging around."

"A few? How many?"

Sakura spared a brief glance behind her before she rounded another corner. At least two squadrons. "Maybe twenty?"

"Dammit, Haruno." A pause. "Take a left."

So he was using his Byakugan to spy on her now? She knew he had mastered his Byakugan to reach well over 8 kilometers. She wondered belatedly if he was already back at camp, or had moved closer to her position after she decided to disregard his direct orders.

But she knew he wasn't going to lead her into a trap, and she needed to ditch her twenty or so followers, so she skidded to a stop, making a harsh left turn and sprinting to the end of the hall. She could see a balcony, and she was going to jump.

She was so close, one more room to go through and she would be at the balcony. She heard a distinct yell from the pack rampaging behind her that made her blood run cold.

"Kasumo, she's heading in your direction." A beat. "We'll surround the area."

So they had a squadron ahead of her. "Neji?" She said frantically into her microphone as a thick, opaque fog rolled into her view. She'd taken note of the room she'd entered just before the fog blocked her vision, and she knew that if she kept running straight, she would be able to find her way out. She was waiting for Neji to tell her how many people were in that room, and if she was even going to make it in time.

"Six men in that room. Keep going straight. You're almost there."

All fog was made with moisture, and in an attempt to alleviate it she tapped into her water style, creating a visible path for herself as she sprinted through the room. She could see the light from the balcony now, and she sped up in anticipation. She was almost out; the mission was almost complete. None of them would follow her from a jump off the fourth floor. They were mercenaries.

Something slammed into her side, knocking her off course and forcing her into a wall. It broke her concentration and she was enveloped by the mist once again. She held tightly to Nashimura, refusing to lose him in this fog and slightly grateful that he took the brunt of the hit. But the wind was still knocked out of her. She jumped to her feet, now pushed off course.

"Move along the wall to your right. 25 meters." She started in that direction, suddenly grateful for Neji's presence, even if he was stoic and irritating at his best.

Something sliced into her side, and she grimaced in pain, but refused to call out. Chances were, they couldn't see her any more than she could see them, though she had the ability to sense their weak chakra levels, and the sounds of weapons hitting all throughout the room proved her right. There were six of them, positioned around the room in a hexagon, and she was lucky enough to have been positioned right in between two of them, the door so close. An easy escape.

Another weapon sliced her arm, and she was surprised that they were blindly throwing weapons around when they knew she had their leader on her back. He could already be hit, and she wouldn't know until they were safely out of the compound. She needed him alive, and she wondered if they knew that and were purposely trying to kill their own leader.

Then something bigger and longer cut into her side, and she let out a whimper of pain, trying to focus chakra from her body to that area to heal the damage. But as she reached for the weapon to remove it, she found it being pulled out itself.

A chakra signature flared to life in front of her and she felt herself panic slightly.

"Team C, head to the west wing. She's in the first room on your left."

His voice was almost comforting, and she knew that Team C was close for reinforcements, but that didn't exactly get rid of her immediate problem, the giant man standing before her with a sword still dangerously close to her chest. He must be the one that caused the fog, because there was no way in hell that he could see in this thing otherwise. What kind of jutsu was it?

"Anbu." His voice was deep and reverberated in her bones. "Interesting."

He shot the sword forward again, and she dodged to the side, kicking out at his knee and continuing along the wall as fast as she could. She heard a grunt, and she knew that her kick had connected with something.

Sakura drew two kunai from her belt and threw them back in the direction of the stronger chakra signal. The clang of metal hitting metal filled her ears, and she cursed him for blocking them. She threw three more interspersed with a few specifically aimed senbon. If she could hit his pressure points he would fall unconscious.

She could feel the chakra of her teammates, advancing quickly to her location and she let out a sigh of relief as she started to see the light from the outdoors again. The weapons were still being thrown all over the room, and she was still shocked that they hadn't stopped. How many weapons did they have?

Something grabbed hold of her ankle and she fell to the ground, Nashimura falling from her grasp as she was dragged a few feet back. Her teammates were in the room now, and she let out a low whistle, signalling them of her location as she kicked wildly at the beast with his hand wrapped around her ankle.

"Kotetsu, grab Nashimura and get out of there." Neji's voice barked over the earpiece. "Irochi, get Sakura."

Her eyes caught sight of a small, red glow as she was dragged back, and she cursed herself for not realizing it earlier. Each of the weapons that they threw were connected to chakra strings, and attached to the ends of the weapons were explosive tags, half of the tag still intact. Were they going to blow up their own compound, with their own men still inside? Were they that desperate not to have Nashimura get out alive?

The sound of men's cries erupted through the room, and she knew that Kotetsu and Ichiro were slowly taking them out. She knew they would have noticed the tags and the strings already, and she could only hope that the timer on the tags gave her enough to get out of there.

With the cover of the men's screams, she turned around in her opponent's grasp, sending a chakra infused kick to the side of his head, smirking as it connected and she surged forwards. She sensed Kotetsu's chakra outside on the balcony, and she prayed that he had Nashimura safe.

Irochi's hand came in contact with her shoulder and she gripped his forearm as the two of them leapt to the high rafters of the room, escaping the chakra strings and enabling them to move quicker. "Kotetsu, move to camp." Sakura said hurriedly, catching sight of one of the tags burning through the fog. It was about to explode, and take the entire room with it.

The alarmed noises from their enemies in the room told them that it was time for them to leave as well.

"Through the roof." Irochi said suddenly, and she realized he was right. They weren't going to have enough time to exit through the balcony. She nodded once, squeezing his forearm as her acceptance. "On two."

"One."

"Two." She released him and braced both of her forearms over her head, using them to take the brunt of the force that shattering the wooden ceiling would require.

It took less than ten seconds for the building below them to explode, and an extra push of energy from the explosions sent her flying further into the air. She twisted her body, attempting to straighten and avoid the pieces of wood that were moving at too fast speeds around her. If one of those hit it would be almost as bad as a kunai, possibly worse depending on the size.

Sakura tried her best to land on her feet, but the force at which she was falling caused her to lose her footing and duck and roll to avoid tumbling uncontrollably down the hill. The only reason she stopped sliding was her coming into contact with a thick pine tree. She grunted at the pain, and gasped as she found her eyes drawn back to the compound. Pieces of wood and ash were falling around her, and what had once been a tall tower extending from the compound had disappeared, leaving only the stone foundation it had been built on.

A small smile graced her face as she located Irochi about twenty feet away, moving towards her. He looked a little filthy, but otherwise unharmed. They'd finished the mission, and their enemies had succeeded in blowing up their own compound.

And while the explosion hadn't been part of the plan, but an intentional thing exercised by their enemies, it did make escaping back to camp a lot easier.

Everything had worked out just fine.

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-EM