A Blessing in Disguise
By crybabies
A/N: Danzo AU. I don't own Naruto.
Sometimes I post things without reading it over and realize all the little (and huge) errors I make. Oops :-(
I really love the whole idea of the Danzo regime thing; frankly I think that this should've been an arc in the real series. So much potential…gone. Oh well, that's fanfiction for yah! It would've been so interesting to read/watch, instead of just having him killed by Sasuke's chidori rage and never mentioned again. I also recently fell in love with kakasaku so I decided to add it in here too..heheheh. So, in this story, Danzo's coup happens a few years later than canon, so Sakura and the rest of Rookie 9 were 17/18 at that point.
Introduction: In Which She Lives
Ba-dump.
She stood there waiting, eyes locked onto cheap, chipping linoleum paint.
Ba-dump.
Ears straining. Breath hitching. She rubbed the golden band on her wrist and closed her eyes in deep anxiety.
Ba-dump.
There was only one thing she'd be called for.
Ba-dump.
BANG!
The door burst open, faulty bolts creaking and hissing from the sharp movement. A man – a tall man – stood at the doorway, with long pale hair wearing long pale robes and leered at her. Lips thin and pulled into a wide sordid stretch, his eyes became so slit that not a flash of white could be seen.
"You may come in now, Haruno," he all but cooed, motioning in to the cold, utilitarian room. Sakura nearly shivered from the steely – and was that supposed to be seductive? – voice that slid out of his throat as she felt herself step toward the man now leaning against the door.
It felt like fifty pounds were added to each of her legs with every step.
Her eyes darted upward and she regretted it instantly. If it was even possible, she felt even more disgusted after witnessing an awful come hither look twisted on his face. She nearly shook her head in disgust as she passed him. The only thing that stopped her from doing so was the harsh consequences of 'being unladylike' toward the 'men far superior than you.' No way in hell was she going to serve as their source of amusement again. She'd just be the bigger person.
But was she really? This, coming from the girl who, while not stooping to their level, was submitting to their authority and walking into a room to simply be an object of entertainment. Where she would inevitability sit herself down on the floor and silently wait for command from those bastards.
In what seemed like too short a time she found herself at the center of the room, knees folded and head bent low. She hoped to the gods that it wasn't that again. The taste of cock and blood in her mouth still made her nauseous from time to time.
Because some time ago, when one of those geezers first slammed her head into his crotch, she sunk her teeth so far through his wrinkly purple mass that his blood curdling scream could've been heard miles away. She remembered almost laughing at the disgrace of the situation as the streaks of red coated her cheeks like gone astray mustard – dribbling down her chin when she opened her mouth and spat the torn mushroom shaped tip back onto his lap.
On that day it had been three years since Danzo's coup – three years due of leaving the village. She tried to escape the very night he had taken over, she really did. But it was foolish of her to believe that she, as a single (albeit strong) eighteen year old girl, could fend off hordes of Root agents while desperately attempting to protect her tiring parents as well. It was all in cruel vain.
Well...wasn't it always?
Giggle.
It echoed through the room, despite volume of riches and silk flooding and overlapping from every corner. It was slow, hollow. Dirty.
It wasn't a good sign.
Sakura almost laughed at the perfect timing of her cynical thoughts. She found herself on the ground, wrists pinned and legs thrashing like wild bulls, shaking her head and screaming with pleas of mercy and forgiveness.
How had she stooped so low?
She couldn't fight. There wasn't any way to, what with all the bodies surrounding her – six, at least – and the absence of her chakra. They had pinned her in more ways than one; a polyethylene wristband sealed all of her strength, and she was pinned by the arms for an added dose of humiliation.
The sound of ripping tore Sakura from her bitter reverie.
In a second she glanced downward, eyes moistening from the sight of her bare breasts out for all to see. She scorned the way her nipples stood, pink and erect and tall without a hint of shame and she all but clammed her eyes from the humiliating sight. But it was without a passing heartbeat that her eyelids were ripped open, pushed and prodded none too gently by the pad of a rough thumb – and she knew there was not one thing that could be done.
"No need to look away, Sakura-chan," a man said. She didn't know his name but she knew he was old, old, old. His breath lingered over her face as he knelt forward her left breast, palm kneading into the supple flesh, staring with glee at her scrunched, drenched face.
"You should be honored," a voice rasped, its origin leaking from the apex of her thighs. Bandaged hands ran over the exposed skin of her navel, travelling in circles that were likely supposed to be sensuous and then reaching toward the pink patch of curls farther south. She flitted her eyes downward to the offending hand, narrowed with hate and burning with scorn. Hips thrashed away from the digits in a frantic attempt to avoid what was inevitable, but Sakura was well aware that he would always get what he wanted, if the village itself wasn't enough proof.
Somebody, save me…
But nobody ever did. And when she shut her eyes and counted the seconds it took for the fingers to intrude her vagina, a searing pain and shock washed right through her instead. She didn't need to see to know that he, the newly appointed Hokage, power hungry tyrant, traitorous lech, had slammed into her and was now pumping in and out of her folds like a mindless heated animal.
She was no virgin. But when Sakura felt the flesh inside of her rip and tear from the sudden intrusion, she nearly blacked out from the overbearing pain.
And though she eventually did, it was not before she felt the ribbons of heat shoot inside her, spurting against her walls, rapidly oozing itself out of her violated hole.
In a strange, detached manner, it was almost fascinating to watch such a large quantity of liquid gushing out like candy from a torn pinata. It almost, just almost, felt inhumanly possible. There was some sort of sick interest in the underestimated capacities of the human body – something seemingly finite and weak.
Alas, Sakura was far from detached. Spunk stuck to her body like a roll of cling rap and she wanted to scream and scream and scream and cry and just fucking die. All at the same time.
But...she couldn't. There were too many things that still needed to be done. It wasn't in her blood or herself to continuously lay and roll around like a dog.
No, she wouldn't dare to, despite how simpler it would be. Not after the humiliation that plagued her like an unforgiving leech. She refused to die in such a pathetic state, lest she lose the last thread of dignity that she, well, hoped remained.
Nope. Sakura was going to get the fuck out of here. As soon as she possibly could, she would get her shit together, slip by, and run as far she could away from this crazy shit town. It'd probably take a couple months. Half a year, at most. But at least she had something to look forward to now. And though it was quite a simplified version of the soon-to-be plan, it was good to have some sort of substance, at least.
In the end, her chances would be slim. She rubbed the ridges of the golden band above the restraints, lips stretching across her face.
She had nothing to lose anyway.
7 Months Later: En route toward Rain Country border
Legendary Haruno Sakura, apprentice of the recently late Fifth Hokage, should have been dead.
Dashes slowed to a limp, to a sluggish saunter, to a fevered struggle of grasping consciousness by its slick mane, and finally, to a slump garnering a slip out of the trees. Her small body crumpled toward the ground, landing into a pathetic heap without as much as a twitch. To the untrained eye, Sakura seemed as motionless and lifeless as a spoil of hunt. Mangled, bloody, definitely not alive. She did not hear the rustling of the trees from the mild breeze encasing her, nor did she hear the collective gasps of those who later stumbled upon her. Her ears did not catch the frantic pitter patter of sandals on earth that rushed to her body, lying questionably between the seams of life and death. A familiar relentless cry repeated her name as if it were a part of a broken record, but it did not reach her.
She already knew it wouldn't be long until they caught up. Even so, it was quite surprising that she even made it this far, what with the extra patrol groups by the exit, weakened strength, and weakened chakra. It was not long ago that she had finally severed the chain that restrained her chakra; Sakura had only gotten it removed merely a few hours ago; she nearly cut off her whole arm.
But there was no need for such a sacrifice…wasn't something a load of blood wouldn't solve…!
And when she finally lashed out and hurled a fist toward a cocky Root ninja, she was quite surprised to find herself circled by about eight of them. It was thrilling. It was rejuvenating. It touched something somewhere deep inside and nearly gave her a lengthy orgasm and she almost cried with unbridled mirth as heads started rolling by.
That didn't stop them from coming, though. Like damn cockroaches they wouldn't die. Like wasps, there would just be more and more until they overwhelmed. And if one head was cut off, two more grew out. It was almost funny how things came full circle – she would die the way her parents had without a speck of dignity remaining in her soul.
So it was incredibly surprising to suddenly hear her name, spoken almost like a mantra, from what seemed to be her surroundings. Sakura darted upward from the shock, surprised at the fact that she was not dead and instantly cringed as searing stings shot throughout her body. Her eyes danced downward, lingering on the bandages wrapping around her torso, idly noting on the poor workmanship of the wrapping. They looked bloody and worn. How long had she been out?
"It is best if you lie back down, Sakura-san." Said woman flicked her eyes back upward, searching for the origin of the baritone voice. There, before her eyes, was a pair of charcoal shades and some frizzy matching hair, held back barely by some tacky looking hood. It would've been easy, she mused, to mistaken this man for some cult member. His dark verdant hood seemed big enough to cover his whole head, only stopping at the man's eyebrows.
It was a damn shame. Sakura knew there was no way in hell she'd be able to tell what he was feeling…or really anything else.
"Shino…" Chapped lips breathed, barely above a whisper.
"May I ask what you were doing out here?"
Sakura swallowed in an attempt to moisten her cracking throat.
"I…I-"
"My insects tell me that you have been through many unspeakable things. How? In short, they are able to sense the severe imbalance of serotonin in your brain." He paused, gloved fingers reaching toward a dwindling pile of firewood. His fingers grasped around a moldy twig and threw it into the diminishing flame. "We only saw you when you dropped out from the trees. It was quite the fall. We were not the only ones to have seen you either. When we arrived to your destination, many of those masked men circled around you. We took the liberty of destroying them."
A knot began to form inside Sakura's chest. Whether it was from the sheer closeness of being dragged back to Konoha or ultimately being rescued, she didn't know. It idly occurred to her that, perhaps, it was a mixture of the two. And more. If there was something more.
Ah, there was always something more.
"I've…never heard you speak that much before in my life, Shino-san," she whispers, a small smirk finding its way on her lips. Said man looked at her, and Sakura felt that if he didn't have shades on, he'd probably be staring flatly at her either way. "Wait…who's we?"
"I travel with others, Sakura-san. They are other leaf shinobi who were fortunate enough to escape that night."
"Who…who are the others?" she half whispered, voice almost lost in the breeze. Her insides felt as if they were twisting and coiling in every which way.
"They will arrive soon. However for now you must rest. Why? Because we will only be staying here shortly." 'But wait…' She internally pleaded. There were still so many questions she wanted to ask. There were still so many things that she wanted to know. Was Naruto with him? Team 7? What about the jonin instructors? Everyone else? She needed to know. She was dying to know.
Sakura snorted inwardly at her own choice of words.
Influx of questions and what if scenarios pounded through her head; it was painful, searing, absolute torture. Did Shino think that she could really sleep at this point? She couldn't possibly fall asleep now...but then again...
…the weariness and the aches of her body was just too much to bear.
En route to...?
The stars seemed to be running away from her.
Strong flaps of coldness pulled – no, teared – harshly at her tangled tresses, slapping her cheeks until a reddened rawness glowed on her skin. She shifted her head from that awkward dangling position, courtesy of Shino's – well, whoever it was – princess hold.
She shifted again in those pale and slender arms, 'definitely not Shino,' she briefly thought, and earned a glance from eyes beneath tangles of midnight tresses. The woman squeaked in shock, widened opalescent orbs boring down into pools of green.
"Sakura-chan you're awake!"
"…Hinata?"
"How are you? I know you've been through a lot lately. I…I healed you up a bit before we started moving, well, after seeing how poorly you were patched up," someone coughed loudly, "and..uh…now we're on our way to the Waterfall border."
Sakura lifted her brow in curiosity, eyes glazed from a plethora of emotions, but refrained from making a sound. To her, the whole day had been quite the exhilarating information dump; she felt far too shocked to articulate the chaotic whirlpools that were her thoughts. Hinata's gaze softened in understanding as she began once more.
"We take refuge near this village called Kani. It's rather north of the border, but it's the perfect place for us to stay. It's mainly civilian, but there are so many eccentrics that, with a simple henge, we barely stand out…and-"
It was then that Sakura's voice and thoughts had recently been tangled in her throat, smoothed out. She aligned her thoughts as well as she could, and through a sheer sense of urgency she interrupted the briefing. "Wait, I'm sorry to cut you off…but…if you guys are all staying there, then why were you down near the Rain border?"
A single tearless sob burst from Hinata's throat.
"Naruto is missing," she whimpered out. Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"What?"
If anyone had seen Sakura's face, they would've thought she was a lime; only through sheer force of will was she able to hold the contents of her stomach from erupting out her mouth. Naruto was gone? Was he dead? What the hell happened?
Did it have something to do with that…that mummy bastard? Of course. Of course it had something to do with him. That…that…!
The woman squeezed her eyes shut through pure frustration and panic, once again uncertain of how to articulate herself, and Sakura felt herself pour all focus on the woman.
Hinata. Poor, poor Hinata. It was so heartbreaking to watch the woman's reactions – that of a broken lover who only had blind hope to rely on.
"N-nobody knows where he is. Him and Sai had agreed on some coordinates close to the remains of Tanzaku HQ, but he never arrived. We've been tracking him, but his chakra mark was just gone. T-there…" a tear slid down her cheek and onto Sakura's forehead, "was no body when we got there! He could be dead…!" The woman inhaled deeply, attempting to gather her concentration on jumping through the trees.
"Ah…But it's best not to think like that, don't you think?"
Is…is that…?
"K-kakashi…" The pink haired woman's mouth suddenly felt rather dry.
"It's good to see that you're alive and well, Sakura."
Her head shifted and her eyes bulged from their sockets at the sight of him. He didn't seem to have changed in the last three years. His hair was still an unruly, silver mess, and he still had that god forsaken mask.
The only difference was his attire. The hitae-ate that was usually hid his sharingan was replaced by a black cloth tied slanted around his head. No longer did he wear his usual jounin uniform, as expected; the blocky vest was nowhere to be seen. All was replaced by a cowl hooded tunic wrapped with black and colored navy, greyed pants, and neat bandages that met boots of a charcoal shade. There was a tanto attached to his hip, Sakura noted, and he almost seemed like any other rogue nin.
That is, if the fucking slanted cloth, mask, or silver hair didn't give his real identity away.
Hope he wears that hood…
Kakashi's one visible eye crinkled at her in the way that it always had, and he briefly lifted a hand in what seemed like a half-hearted wave. Even the one move seemed so graceful, so fluid, so enticing, and she suddenly couldn't help but think how long and strong his hands looked in those fingerless glo-
Holy shit, she really fucking needed to stop there.
What the fuck was she thinking? There was no room to dwell on some weird hand fetish.
And so she gathered up said emotion from the catastrophe winding in her chest and spat it out as with an acerbic shut up. It was immature, she knew. Probably shouldn't have said anything at all.
Now what would mother say? She mentally chided.
No. Her mother wouldn't say anything because she couldn't. Because she was dead.
Fuckers.
"Happy to see you too," he replied flatly.
For a split second she wanted to fling herself out of those slender arms and down the trees and just laugh and laugh and laugh. Laugh her head off, because of the effort the man put to remain as impersonal as ever. Or maybe there was no effort. She couldn't tell anymore, and really, after everything that happened...well, she just didn't have time for this shit.
She shook her head, silently hoping that it would be the end of the conversation. Maybe.
It was still a huge shock how everything had happened so fast. It was incredible to think that she was finally free. That she, quite possibly, would no longer feel that awful egging desire to die. That she was given a second chance, a chance to make the most of her renewed expiration date.
Sakura had been spared from the clawing hands of empty death – which was, indeed, a blessing in disguise. And maybe, she would make the most of it.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of dialogue, that'll come soon. So it's clear that there is some history between Kakashi and Sakura. How that happened? It'll be revealed eventually. There's definitely going to be a flashback scenario next chapter. Definitely some other major, quirky thing that'll hit you right in the face before ya know it.
Reviews are quite appreciated! Stay tuned haha
