The Dolls

by pommibee

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

She had always been a bit superstitious, but she was never a firm believer with the paranormal or any supernatural events. But, as Sakura woke up this morning, she could sense that there was something off. What it was? She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was just definitely something wrong. Her gut was already twisted in knots by the time she got out of bed, and the hairs on her body stood upright with suspicion.

It was only until she opened the front door to her apartment, that she found the cause of her discomfort.

Set in the middle of her warn out 'welcome' mat was a plain, postal package. There was no recipient name indicated and no return address, so Sakura was skeptical that the package was intended for her. Upon opening it, however, it was clear that it was indeed meant for her. Inside was a small, meticulously stitched rag doll, and it looked remarkably like Kakashi. Sakura was puzzled, to say the least, but she could relax a bit now that she found the source of what had her so troubled. It was still unnerving, to have a doll of her former sensei, but she didn't have the time to worry about that now. She had to cover Tsunade's place at the hospital today, while Tsunade finally filed the year's papers and bills that had been previously shoved in office cabinets. Shizune had such a fit when she found her paycheck within the 'junk bills' pile.

Quickly putting on some clothes and tying back her hair, Sakura slipped on her sandals and walked out the door. Although, she was kind of nervous leaving the little Kakashi doll sitting in her home, she hoped the weird vibe that was upsetting her stomach and nerves would cease by the end of her shift.

By lunch time, Sakura was still feeling like something was off about her day. She put the blame on finding that doll on her doorstep, but knew the types of looks she would get if she told anyone about it. Even Ino would stare at her funny.

"Ugh, I can't eat another bite of this slop," she groaned to herself. The frozen meals, that were served daily in the hospital, weren't playing nice with her already upset stomach. Having had enough of the bland food, she grabbed the plastic, blue tray, and shook the rest of her lunch into the trash bin. Placing the tray on top of the bin with the other dirty dishes. As she walked out of the hospital's cafeteria, she hung up her medical coat on the nearest clothes hanger and made her way out of the hospital's front doors.

It was a Thursday, and, around this time of day, Naruto would be at Ichiraku enjoying a bowl of ramen for lunch. Sakura had hoped he would be there, because then she would at least have a satisfying lunch and be able to talk to someone about the doll she received this morning. Naruto may shoot her a weird look, but he'd be more comforting than any other person. They've been through too many different situations, it'd be hard for him not to find a way to console her.

Sakura didn't even need to pull back the cotton flaps to see that Naruto was already eating at Ichiraku. She took the moment to surprise him, and lightly poked his right shoulder. Before he looked over, she quickly moved to his left side and laughed when he fell for her trick. When he finally looked to his left, and saw her standing there, he gave a cheeky grin and greeted Sakura warmly.

"Hey!" he bellowed out with a light burp, "You know I don't like it when you pull that shoulder trick on me!"

"It's not my fault you always fall for it," Sakura laughed, "besides, your reactions are just too priceless," she admitted as she took a seat next to her old teammate. As everyone grew older and moved up in the ninja ranks, the former teams of the rookie nine branched off and were more soloists when it came to missions. Either that or the members they were matched with were other shinobi. Most times it was a rarity to be paired with your original teammates. Even though they were all separated by their professions, the entire rookie nine found time to get together, whether it was the big group or just the teams themselves.

"Yeah, well, one day I'll get you back!" Naruto vowed as he took his bowl and sipped at the remaining broth. "Say, do you want a bowl? My treat!" he chided as he moved his eyebrow provocatively at her. She gave him a light shove with her elbow and shook her head.

"I'm fine, thanks," she refused, "I had hoped I'd be able to stomach some ramen, but I don't believe I'll be able to now that I think about it," she confessed as she rubbed her stomach.

"Why? Is everything okay? Are you sick or something?"

"Not really, I mean, everything is okay, but I'm not sick or anything,"

"Okay, what's going on?" he asked. He could tell she was freaked about something, Sakura usually couldn't eat anything if she was sick or if something was troubling her. She heaved a sigh and leaned her head into her palms.

"I felt weird when I woke up today, like something was going to happen, and as I checked outside of my door, there was a package,"

"A package?"

"Yeah. No recipient address, or return address, so I thought it wasn't for me. But, I decided to open it, since it was on my doorstep. And when I did, I found a doll in it," she told him, glancing over to see what his reaction would be like.

"You're kidding!" He exclaimed, nearly dropping his bowl onto the counter.

"No I'm not, and don't think I'm crazy but —"

"No, no, I don't think you're crazy! I got one this morning too!" Naruto interrupted.

"What? Are you serious?" Sakura gasped. She thought she had been the only one to receive a package this morning. To find out she wasn't the only one was much more comforting, now knowing she wasn't alone in the strange phenomena.

"Yeah! I went out to get some milk and bread, and when I walked out I tripped over a box. I thought the same thing as you, but when I opened it I knew that it was meant for me!"

"Same thing! My package had Kakashi inside of it,"

"Kakashi-sensei? Why would you get him?" Naruto asked.

"How should I know? I didn't ask for a Kakashi doll to be given to me," Sakura snipped back. How was she supposed to know why she was given Kakashi instead of someone else? She was still trying to make sense of why she even got one in the first place. "And he's not our sensei anymore,"

"I know, I know. Just a force of habit," he said, "but, if you got Kakashi-sens, er…Kakshi, then I wonder, who did he and Sasuke get?"

"Are we even sure they got one too?" she said, skeptical.

"Sakura, if you and I both got one, I'm pretty sure the others must've gotten one too,"

"I guess you're right," she agreed, "it would be pretty weird if we were the only ones to get them,"

"I think it's pretty weird we got them at all!" Naruto exclaimed, chuckling a bit. He gave Ayame the money due for his bowl and guided Sakura to follow him outside.

"I wonder why we got them, or who even sent them to us. What do you think they're for?"

"Beats me, maybe they're just a prank or something,"

"A prank? If it is a prank, it's a really bad one," Sakura laughed to herself. Who in their right mind would think to prank the former members of Team Seven with dolls that resembled themselves?

"I don't know, maybe they're our fans and made dolls of us," Naruto guessed, "but, they just gave the wrong ones to the wrong people?"

"That's a possibility, but really creepy. I'd at least like to know who my fan was before I received anything from them," Sakura added. Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, me too. Or, you know what, maybe they're voodoo dolls!" he exclaimed excitingly. Sakura shivered at the mention.

"Voodoo dolls? You can't be serious, Naruto,"

"Well, do you have a better idea of what these could be?"

"Not really," she admitted. But, she'd rather have the reason be a creepy fan trying to flatter them rather than it be some weird voodoo or witchcraft. A shiver ran up her already chilled spine just thinking about it. Sakura decided to switch the conversation up a bit.

"Who did you even get, Naruto?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I got Sasuke,"

"You got Sasuke?"

"Yeah," he answered. When he looked over and saw the look on Sakura's face, he wanted to try to cheer her up, "why, where you hoping I got you?" he asked flirtatiously. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitched into a half-smile.

"Kind of," Sakura chuckled. After the war, Sasuke had returned to the village with the help of Naruto pleading and coaxing him into staying. Sakura knew he would've rather been on his own, traveling the world. But his fighting expertise was needed within the ANBU ranks and although the elders of the village had been strictly against his return, they eventually settled on allowing him to return. But he'd have to remain a chuunin for two years before he'd be able to work his way up the ranks. And, even though her feelings had changed for him throughout the years, she still loved him. Not romantically, like how she did when she was young and foolish, but loved him like family, just like the rest of her team. But he still found ways to belittle her and just blatantly not care about her. She shouldn't take it so personally after all the times he previously tossed her feelings aside, but he acted differently with her. He was fine with the other men of the team, but always when it came to her, his mood changed slightly.

He had praised her modestly before about her new strength and abilities, but that was the end of that. Whenever they were able to work together, Naruto and Sasuke both would push her aside and complete the mission on their own. They were a two-man team and they didn't need anyone else assisting them. That thought alone always took a stab at her heart. She had worked and trained so hard to be on Tsunade's level, and even when she reached that level, she was still three steps behind Naruto and Sasuke. That reason alone made her retreat from the team. She had been the first to resign and it was shortly after that the rest followed in her footsteps. Naruto was always busy training and going on high ranked missions. He believed it would promote himself for the future Hokage position. Sasuke was training to finally be on the same level as his comrades, but everyone knew he was way above their level. Chuunin was just a label for him and he will surpass it as soon as he is able. He also just keeps to himself and rarely comes out to group functions with the rest of the rookies. And Kakashi was learning the ropes on becoming the Sixth Hokage. Tsunade had had her fun of governing the village, but it was time to hang up the curtain. She didn't know what she'll do once her resignation was set, but she was thinking about resuming her travels with Shizune.

Everything had changed so drastically after the war, it was somewhat hard to cope with the first few months. Sakura missed her teammates, but being away from the most powerful shinobi in the village actually helped her become an even better ninja. The teachings that Tsunade gave her were more than helpful, and was what made her so powerful, but it was time for Sakura to create her own jutsus and learn more techniques on her own. Her own progress got her the recognition of the ANBU force, and that alone she was proud of. She couldn't take up the offer though, she enjoyed the hospital much more than being an assassin for the village. Helping others was much more satisfying than assassinating them. The assassination job would be better for Sasuke than her.

"Look, Sakura, I know you and Sasuke have some sort of thing going on, but —"

"We don't have a thing going on, we're just former teammates and friends that's it," she interrupted.

"Yeah, but I know he's a real ass sometimes. And, I know you're over him, but you still care for him and the way he treats you isn't right," Naruto said firmly.

"Thanks, but it's fine. We're no longer a team and we all have our own lives to take care of. I do still care for him, but I can't change the way he is," she replied. "Look, we'll talk about the dolls later okay? My lunch break is over, and if I'm late, Tsunade will have a fit with me,"

"She being nagged by Shizune again?" Naruto smirked. Sakura gave him a mischievous grin back.

"She found one of her paychecks in a stack of junk files and bills,"

"Oh man, she must've been pissed!" Naruto laughed. Sakura gave a nod and chuckled.

"Of course she was, and now they're both on edge and you don't want to get on either of their bad sides this week!" she said. She gave Naruto a quick hug and started making her way back to the hospital. "I'll talk to you later, Naruto!"

"See ya later, Sakura!"

Her shift at the hospital had been anything but enjoyable. Sakura had hardly eaten anything during the day, and even when she tried to snack on something small, her stomach would protest against it. Then, a trainee had passed out after watching her cut into a patient that had been poisoned with a serum laced kunai. He was a nurse trainee but hadn't realized he had hemophobia. She then had to heal his head, after her poisoned patient, because no one was expecting him to lose consciousness, and let him fall to the ground. It was a small concussion that was easily fixed. Then, Kiba had rushed in with a broken arm, but was so frantic about it that he actually ran into a patient with a wheelchair and ended up injuring the two of them further. It had been a day just full of mishaps.

Sakura still blamed it all on the doll that mysteriously showed up on her doorstep.

As she entered her apartment, the Kakashi doll was the only thing to greet her, it lying on the table next to the box it came in. Her spine rattled at the blank stare it gave with its stitched, black eyes. She decided to ignore the little piece of combined cloth for the time being, allowing herself to relax and settle in before she did something with the doll. She had an enjoyable, hot bath and had changed into comfortable clothes. Simple, lounging clothes that way she'd just hop into bed when she was ready to turn in for the night. As she was wrapping her growing pink colored hair in her bath towel, she walked across her living room and stopped to look at the doll sitting comfortably on her coffee table.

Sakura fixed the towel so that it would stay wrapped around her hair without her assistance, and picked up the Kakashi doll. It fit perfectly into the palm of her hand, and only slightly went over the tips of her fingers. Whoever had made the little doll, paid particular attention to detail and it captured Kakashi's resemblance almost exactly. They made sure to give the doll's left eye a scar and Sharingan and upon further inspection, they even made tiny scars on the rest of his body.

She had only looked at his back, and the front of his chest, but was still surprised that there were details on the rest of his doll body. Any normal doll would've just been simple pieces of fiber woven together, but the doll Sakura had in her hand wasn't a normal doll. As she inspected it, she noticed that the sewer gave the doll abs, and even the dimples on his lower back. Sakura didn't dare remove the pants, fearing that the person who had created the doll paid specific attention down there. She had seen naked men before, intimate and non-intimate, but this was her former sensei, and it just seemed weird looking at a rendition of your sensei's genitals stitched onto a doll.

But, if there was an aspect of the doll she wanted to see, it was what was underneath the mask. She knew it wasn't the same as seeing Kakashi's real face, but Sakura knew that if he had any deformity, the mysterious person would've added it onto the doll. Pulling down the thin fabric of the doll's mask, Sakura was somewhat disappointed with her findings.

It was just a thin, solid black line for his mouth.

There weren't any moles, or warts, his lips weren't huge, or tiny given that they only stitched a line to emphasize his mouth. And there weren't any buck teeth either. Sakura gave a huff, but noticed that he had defined cheekbones, and the detail made the doll look cute. It was like it was trying to look tough and rugged, but only made itself look cute and adorable.

"There's no way you could be a voodoo doll," she chuckled at the small doll. It stared at her back, its lackadaisical eye gazing onto her face. She set the Kakashi doll back down onto her coffee table and picked up the empty package instead. Right before she was about to throw the box into her recycling bin, a small note slipped out from the underside. Sakura threw the box out, and carried the note inside.

"'Fun Felties: Here for your own fun and enjoyment and free to manipulate however the owner pleases. Be careful with your feltie friend, the actions you give will affect the person your doll is based off of! Enjoy!'" Sakura read aloud. She gave a quizzical look in the direction to where the doll was sitting in her living room. Was this some weirdo magic warning for the doll? Maybe Naruto was right; the dolls were voodoo dolls.

"Yeah right," Sakura scoffed immediately after the thought, "why would someone just make voodoo dolls of us all?" Note still in her grasp, she grabbed the doll by its hand and made her way upstairs. She shut off all the lights for her downstairs, and entered her bedroom. Shutting the door, she lightly chucked the doll onto her bed and walked over to her lamp on her nightstand.

"Okay little Kakashi doll, let's see if you're mixed in with some voodoo mumbo jumbo,"

Sakura flipped over the small slip of paper and noticed small writing on the bottom edge.

Activation: Control is in my hands, manipulating them by knotted strands. They're wrapped around my finger, the affects on them shall linger. Ancient magic will now unfold, desires and treasures will be told, so long as I have the power in my hold.

"Oh of course," Sakura groaned aloud, "alright, if you really are some doll mixed with magic, let's activate you right now," she began reading the activation incantation on the back of the note. " 'Control is in my hands, manipulating them by knotted strands. They're wrapped around my finger, the affects on them shall linger. Ancient magic will now unfold, desires and treasures will be told, so long as I have the power in my hold'."

Sakura waited for a bit, waiting for some spark of a reaction to occur. Maybe a spark of lightning would reach the inside of her house and bring the doll to life. Or something like that anyway. But, nothing had happened after she read it, and once five minutes went by without any sort of reaction, Sakura gave a hearty laugh.

"What kind of activation mantra is that?" she laughed, "Control is in my hands, manipulating them by knotted strands? You've got to be kidding me!" Sakura mocked as she flopped onto her bed. She turned her head towards the Kakashi doll and smirked. Sitting upright, she took hold of it and just held it in her hands.

"Hmm, I didn't see any sparks, so I doubt you're even going to work," Sakura spoke to the doll directly, "but, let's see if you do cause a reaction with the real Kakashi,". She smirked as she laid the doll and herself onto the bed. She reached over and flipped the light to her lamp off and cuddled with the small doll. "Since you're only a doll, and I doubt you'll even work, I don't think you'll mind where I place my hands," she laughed as she lightly put her index finger to the front of doll Kakashi's pants.

Kakashi jolted up, startled from his position on his sleeping bag.

Genma shot him an annoyed look from under his own sleeping bag. Kakashi ignored him, more preoccupied with the burning sensation coming from the area between his thighs.

"Did you leave your stove on or something?" Genma grunted.

"No," Kakashi replied sternly. "I'll be right back," he said as he stood up on his sleeping bag. Kakashi unzipped the entrance of the tent and stepped out into the dark, open air. Yamato gave him a questioning look.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just gotta go to the bathroom," Kakashi replied hastily. Yamato nodded and went back to keeping watch of the camp while the other members tried to sleep.

Kakashi pushed away thin branches and nearly leaped over stumps of trees in order to get as far from the campsite as possible. He wouldn't go too far into the woods, not that it would matter since he would find his way back, easily, but he didn't want the others out searching for him. But, he had to be far enough away so that the rest of his team members wouldn't hear him relieving himself of the discomfort in his loins.

He was greatly puzzled with how such a burning erection even occurred. He hadn't even been daydreaming or reaching his raunchy book. Even then it took a really steamy sex scene in order to get him up. But since he wasn't, he was troubled with what brought it on.

"Just gotta get rid of it," he rasped under his breath to himself. His hands unclasped the button to his pants and unzipped the zipper. He gave his pants a light tug, and let them slouch down to his knees. There was no need to take off his boxers, for it was already greeting him once he pulled down his pants.

Kakashi pulled down his mask, and let the cloth bundle around his neck. He lightly spit into his right hand and soon grabbed hold of his swollen erection. He gave a grunt of satisfaction and continued to stroke himself until he could release himself into the bushes.

Yeah, I know, I suck. Sorry guys, missed ya, fanfiction! :)