A/N: So I wanted to try my hand at writing something a bit dark. It did not work out that well so if you want to stop reading right now please do so.

Also I have never written a fanfic that had not been set in an alternate universe except perhaps a one-shot or so and this is serving as my attempt to merge what they do as ninjas with a more modern world and maybe take on a crisis of belief as well. Okay now I'm just confused.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot. Obviously.


The pink-haired woman with the gun clutched loosely in her hands was shaking. Eyes wide with shock, she continued to stare at the corpse that lay in front of her, a pool of blood around it reaching, drenching the knee of her jeans in deepest crimson. From where he stood Itachi saw the blood splatter across the front of her otherwise white shirt. The other officers came in closely behind him snipers in hand, vests with the word ANBU written over them marking them out as Konoha's elite. The scene they walked into wasn't perhaps surprising to them but it was no less gruesome than they expected it to be.

After a quick check of the surroundings Itachi put his gun down to analyze the crime scene. Bodies hung around them in bags most of which were bound to have vital organs missing if the reports were anything to go by. He checked the entire property assigning different officers to their own stations and returned to the fresh corpse to id it.

He found all the officers determinedly ignoring the pink haired girl who had been disarmed but otherwise untouched. He rolled his eyes in consternation but found that he could not really fault them. Although they were highly capable as investigators and agents not one of them had a clue on how to handle her. After all it wasn't often the ANBU had to deal with people who were living.

He bent down to his knees next to her and asked for her name in a low soothing tone. She continued to ignore him and at first he thought she had suffered a breakdown due to the shock but as he leaned in a bit he heard her muttering something under her breath. By now the corpse had been moved and her stare seemed unfocused and disoriented.

"Ma'am I need you to tell me your name? Ma'am?" He gently placed a hand on her shoulder breaking her out of the spell she was in. She turned with a snap of her neck, eyes dilated far too much to be normal. He was in the process of bringing his torch up to inspect it further when a hand on his wrist stopped him.

"My pupils have been dilated, if you bring the torch any closer I'll be too busy screaming my head off to be of any help."

The response was brief and to the point. Itachi was surprised that she was capable of coherent speech as only a few seconds ago she had seemed to be in a state of acute shock.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I killed that man, Kabuto he called himself, about fifteen minutes before you all came in through the door. I had been rendered incapacitated at around six-thirty yesterday morning by a taser and kidnapped, after which I was given drugs via an IV drip a side effect of which is the dilation of pupils. I am a diabetic so could you please find me some insulin?" A slight shiver in her voice alerted Itachi and she was taken down to the EMT.

"Naruto, Sasuke I want you to stay with her the whole time until I tell you otherwise got it?" He ordered and once the two left in pursuit of the girl he resumed his investigations.

This seemed to be more than a serial killer's work.


"Have you ever killed anyone?"

The girl in the stretcher with a needle in her arm asked the two stoic agents who were with her in the van. While the blonde had flinched when the needle pierced her skin Sakura herself had no reaction to it whatsoever. She's so tiny, Naruto thought, why does she seem so big then? Indeed she seemed to occupy a lot more space than just the stretcher that she was occupying, with her head tilted backwards and staring at the white ceiling of the ambulance.

Her pupils had reverted to normal now and they could see that she had viridian eyes.

"That's classified information." Sasuke answered from beside him.

"It's a yes or no question. I'm not asking whom you killed I'm asking if you've ever put a bullet through someone and not felt guilty afterwards." She said gruffly losing patience with the two. They continued to be silent although Naruto struggled to maintain a straight face. In truth he hadn't killed many people, certainly not as many as the others he worked with might have. But he had never felt guilty, not when the people he'd killed were serial killers rapists and mob bosses. He hadn't felt guilt since the first time he'd killed and that had been quite some time before he was ANBU.


She was alive. She was still alive. Somehow that thought wasn't as comforting as it should have been.

It wasn't like the movies. When she'd pulled that trigger and the bullet had gone through his head it seemed to take only a second. The next thing she knew she was looking at a dead body and breathing hard. There was no relief, shouldn't there have been some relief? Shouldn't she have felt like she was finally safe?

And then another question started looming in her head. Shouldn't she feel guilty? Or at least remorseful that she'd taken a life? She was doctor for God's sake! An oath had been taken not that long ago that stated 'Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God'.

She had played God.


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