Hello all! I'm back! And guess what? I still own nothing! Yay me!...Wait, that can't be right.

Oh, and thanks for the reviews. I love them, and I'm so happy you guys like my story. Thank you!!!

Sakura woke up. It was now a week after Naruto had returned with Sasuke. Kakashi was being released from the hospital today, and Naruto had been out (although not officially) for a few days. He and Hinata were now dating. Turns out that she had confessed in his hospital room the evening after Shizune had dragged him out of Ichiraku earlier that morning. Hinata had brought him three bowls of ramen and she had blushingly told him she loved him. Naruto had been so shocked he had dropped his ramen.

Sakura was immensely happy for them, but she had yet to tell him about Shuensha and her parents. She had consulted the star demon on the matter, and she had agreed to tell Naruto.

Sasuke had woken up, and he hadn't been the happiest camper in the room. He attempted to strangle the nurse, Kaori, after she had told him he was in the Konoha hospital. His teammates had been tended to by a few medic-nin. They were all alive and being hospitalized. Juugo, the huge one who also seemed to kind to be a ninja, was having his seal studied by Tsunade and Sakura.

Sakura was now heading to Ichiraku to find Naruto. She knew Hinata would probably be with him, but she also knew that she had to tell him before she turned and ran. She was very nervous.

Sure enough, the blonde loudmouth was sitting there with Hinata, slurping his ramen.

"Hi, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan," Sakura greeted.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," Hinata said.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's greeting was louder.

"Um, Naruto-kun? May I speak with you when you and Hinata are finished?"

"Sure! I need to walk her home, though."

"That's fine. Can you meet me at the training grounds?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Sakura left the ramen shop. She went home, grabbed the scroll containing the information on her and her brother's note, and then went to the training grounds to wait for Naruto.

When the blonde boy got there, it was turning dark.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I can't tell you. I don't know how, and I don't have the courage." Naruto's face became worried and confused.

"But here."

Sakura handed the scroll and note over to Naruto. He read the note first, as she had done. His eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened.

"Read the scroll," Sakura whispered. She was becoming increasingly worried. Would he hate her? No, he wouldn't. He had the Kyuubi. But Sakura was still nervous.

She watched as Naruto's eyes read the scroll, widened, and his jaw dropped. Sakura looked down to the right, her hair hiding her face from view.

The pink-haired medic could feel Naruto's eyes on her. She felt tears form in the corners of her emerald eyes.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Naruto-kun. I-I didn't w-want t-to keep it a s-secret from you. I-I understand if you d-don't l-like me anymore."

She felt herself be enveloped by a pair of arms.

"How could I not like you, Sakura-chan? You're my sister."

Sakura turned to Naruto and hugged him back, burying her face in his chest. Her unshed tears seeped into his signature orange jacket, but none fell. They stood there like that for a bit, until Sakura withdrew. She loved Naruto so much. Whoever her brother was couldn't come close to how comforting Naruto was. He was always there for her. Always accepting.

Naruto smiled at her. His killer smile. He really was a great guy. Hinata was lucky to have him.

"Thanks, Naruto-kun."

"No problem, Sakura-chan. I'm here for you."

Sakura smiled back at him. Everything seemed good.

Pein sat in his office, reading through an old scroll that he had found lying around. He needed to get his mind off of Sakura. His brain was starting to hurt.

The scroll was blabbing on and on about something stupid. An old order of monks. Basically, old men in 'robes'. Dresses if he ever saw one. Well, it was going on and on about the order, the life, the priests and monks, the travelers, the ninja, the wars, and…a cat. Pein was about to put the stupid scroll down when a paragraph caught his attention.

'…and so, the ninja attacked! We had a scroll, an ancient scroll, full of forbidden jutsu. This was true. We must now rid ourselves of it before it comes to more attention. This was a surprise when the cat, Suzu, gave a display of power. The cat killed all the ninja. That is when we discovered that the cat must be a demon of some sort. One of the older monks thinks it to be Shuensha, a star demon. We have sealed it away to keep ourselves safe. It has been sealed into a crystal ball and locked away deep in the heart of our order. This is to remain a secret, yet I write about it. How can I let such important history go to waste? The order…'

Pein stared at the paragraph. Another demon? This 'Shuensha' wasn't one of the nine. He already knew where most of them were.

It was time to do some research on 'Shuensha'.

Sakura was happy to have Naruto know. He never spoke about it and never told anyone. But he was always there.

Sakura was currently eating lunch with Ino. The blonde kept jabbering on about something. Sakura had long since stopped listening. Now she said an agreeing 'yeah' or 'uh-huh' or 'really' every time the pretty ninja paused for her opinion. The only thing she had really paid attention to was the Summer Bash Ino was planning and had wanted her help with it.

"-and then Ten-Ten got back from Suna, and apparently Gaara and his student Matsuri may have a more meaningful relationship, if you know what I mean, but Matsuri denies it and Gaara just stares at you like you grew another head, so who knows. Kankuro's latest girlfriend apparently was sent out on a mission, so you know Kankuro. He found some other girl at a bar and-"

Will she never stop? Sakura inwardly moaned.

You can always say you have to meet someone somewhere.

That's risky. Ino knows everything about everyone.

Well, let's review. Ten-Ten is training with Lee and Neji, Naruto and Hinata are probably at Ichiraku, Kiba's on a mission with Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji are probably at a barbeque restaurant, Tsunade is probably drinking sake and avoiding paperwork, Shizune is probably nagging Tsunade to actually do the paperwork and stop drinking sake, and who knows where Kakashi is.

Ugh! I like Ino, don't get me wrong, but she talks more than Naruto!

Yeah. Oh, she paused. Say 'I know.'

Sakura said what Shuensha told her to and Ino seemed content before continuing on her rant.

Do have any idea of how to get out of here?

Sorry, no. Say you have paperwork or you have to work at the hospital.

I'll go with the paperwork excuse.

"-and Temari was like 'BAKA!' and sent Hisao through the wall. No one's been brave enough to ask her out since, but it sounds like he totally deserved it. You know how Temari is so protective of Gaara, and normally a person would have enough common sense to know not to insult him. Now if Kankuro is the one being insulted, she doesn't really care. Of course, he is a player and probably even more annoying then Naruto-if that's possible. Hinata must have so much patience-"

Oh it's possible! Shuensha said.

"-and Kiba actually liked her more than a friend for a while, you know, but Hinata-"

"Um, Ino?"

"-I mean, he's nice and all, but he smells bad. And he's a bit-"

"Ino?"

"-that can be a good thing, though! I mean, he is hot. Have you-"

"Ino!"

"Huh?" Ino asked.

"I'm sorry to end our lunch, but I have paperwork to attend to at the hospital. Tsunade's probably piled it up sky high."

Ino nodded. "Probably. We'll have to have a longer lunch next time. Ja!"

Longer?! That was over an hour after we finished the food!

I know.

"Yes. Ja!"

Sakura left some money to help cover the bill and then, without a choice, left for the hospital. There probably was a good amount of paperwork for her to do, anyway.

Sakura was greeted by many people at the hospital. She was, after all, a well known ninja. She stepped into her office and was surprised to see Kaori there.

"Hello, Kaori. What are you doing in here?"

"Oh, just tidying up, Sakura-sama. I arranged your paperwork. There was also a scroll on your desk that is from Tsunade-sama."

"Arigato, Kaori."

The young brunette nodded, gave a slight bow, and left.

Sakura settled down into her desk. She picked up the scroll. It was one about Shuensha.

She read the note attached.

Sakura-chan,

I wasn't able to find much, even after consulting those miserable old geezers. Sorry. I put what I did find on this scroll. Maybe Shuensha herself could give you more information. And there's detail about how she was sealed into you, just in case you were curious.

Tsunade

Sakura smiled and began reading the scroll. It wasn't very long and just stated a few old myths about the star demon, the fact that a cat was supposed to represent her, and how it was found by ANBU, brought back, and sealed. One myth that Tsunade had bothered to copy down caught her attention.

'-Shuensha was cast down from the stars. How is unknown. Perhaps she banished herself. Maybe other demons cast her down, away from their heavens, for a bad deed. Shuensha may spend only a year here, although that is unlikely, or she could be here for millennia. Either way, Shuensha has not been spotted since her appearance to the Hyuuga clan during the Great Ninja War. It is rumored that she was sealed into a child of their clan. No proof for this rumor has ever been found. Shuensha is associated with a cat for that was how she appeared to the Hyuuga clan. After a great display of power against a rival clan, the star demon vanished. No one knows where to or why.'

Another story made her read closer. This was most likely taken from the Hyuuga clan itself.

'-a cat appeared. It seemed lonely and my child fed it and cared for it. Then, one night, a surprise attack killed several clan members. As the ninja approached my husband, sons, and my daughter, the cat leapt in front of us. Chakra unlike any other drove the enemy off quickly, killing many. My clan has been saved by a cat! I believe this cat to be a demon of some sort, but I shall never know. This cat was unable to be found after the battle, and my child was quite upset, but we are alive. All because of a kind deed. I truly believe that my child saved our clan. The Elders are trying to take the credit, but the true hero is the cat and my child. Where would-'

Sakura skimmed through the three other short paragraphs and a few of Tsunade's notes and the Elders' words, along with Danzou's.

At around three, Sakura put her paperwork and her scroll on Shuensha away.

Is all that true?

Most of it.

How long will you be here?

I'm not sure. Either I will die with you or I'll leave your body and wander the earth.

Why not return to the stars?

I banished myself for five centuries. I made a bad decision that was almost fatal to my stars. They will be fine until I return to guard them.

Oh.

Sakura walked home. She has no clue whatsoever where Kakashi was, and she didn't want to interrupt Naruto's time with Hinata.

She flopped on her bed. It wasn't super late, but there wasn't much to do. Where was Sai? Oh yeah. On a mission with Yamato.

Sakura decided to go find Lee and practice taijutsu.

"Pein-sama," the young raven-haired woman said, bowing before him.

Pein remained silent, only nodding his head to acknowledge her presence.

"I have information on Shuensha for you."

"How did you get it?" Pein asked, taking the scroll that was in her outstretched hand.

"A spy named Kaori found the information."

"And she is positioned where?" Pein's voice was cold and demanding.

"Konoha, Pein-sama."

Pein nodded. "Dismissed."

The woman retreated, leaving him to himself.

Pein opened the scroll. His ringed eyes widened as he read.

The demon Shuensha has been illegally sealed in the renowned medic, Haruno Sakura. She has recently been told of this fact and that she was adopted and her older brother who left her in Konoha is unknown. Shuensha has been sealed within Sakura her whole life. The person who sealed it is unknown.

The scroll said a few things about the star demon, but Pein was nearly speechless. His little sister, his last blood relative, had a demon sealed in her. He had been trying to protect her and now look. Pein gripped his desk so hard the wood cracked.

He sent up a chakra flare. Konan was there in less than ten seconds.

"I am going for Sakura. Expect me back in no less than two weeks."

Pein kissed his blue-haired lover on the lips before departing.

Konan watched Pein depart. Then she smiled. She was in charge of Akatsuki for at least a week. Time to put the members to good use.

Sakura was currently training with Hinata. Naruto was with Sasuke in his secured hospital room and so this left the two girls to train. Sakura found Hinata's byakugan quite the challenge, but Sakura's medical ninjutsu wasn't easy to deal with either. Sakura was currently winning.

"You're good, Sakura-chan," Hinata said breathlessly after a close combat round with kunai. Hinata had leapt away before Sakura could land a punch.

"You too," Sakura agreed. Shuensha was thinking of ways to get around the Hyuuga heiress.

We could always see how my power works.

That's unfair. We'd need to work on that alone.

I am not like the Kyuubi. I can control my power, thank-you. I'm also not looking for a way out.

Good point, but still. Let's train on it a little before using it.

Okay, okay.

Sakura dodged a jab to her ribs from Hinata before retaliating with a roundhouse kick, which the heiress ducked under and aimed for the back of her knee. She hit her target, but Sakura grabbed her arm and within two seconds held a kunai at her neck. She was standing on one leg, seeing as the circulation had been cut off to the other one.

"Okay, Sakura-chan. You win."

"Thanks. You did great, Hinata-chan. Next time hit and run," Sakura advised, healing the blood vessels.

"Okay."

After Sakura had treated all of their wounds, she offered to take Hinata to a neat tea shop that Sakura had taken a liking to. Hinata agreed, happy to eat something besides ramen.

"So, Hinata-chan, how are things with Naruto-kun?"

"Good. I've always wanted to date him. Ever since the Academy, but you know how shy I am."

"Yeah. You've gotten better, though. Anyway, Ino's holding a Summer Bash with ramen, miso soup, rice balls, fish, sushi, breads, desserts…well, you get it. Wanna help us plan it? It's gonna be kinda of formal, but not bad. The guys will probably be in nice capris or pants with a short-sleeved shirts and the girls in dresses. It should be fun."

"Sure, Sakura-chan."

Sakura and Hinata chatted idly about things. Temari and Kankuro were going to be in town for the party and Temari was going to be in a dress, whether she wanted to be in one or not.

"So, we'll meet tomorrow at Ino's apartment to discuss arrangements, right?" Sakura asked.

"Hai."

"Okay. See you later, Hinata-chan!"

"Bye Sakura-chan!"

Sakura headed back to the training grounds for some training with Shuensha.

Pein stared coldly at the Konoha ninja in front of him.

"Tell me everything you know about Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura…Haruno?"

"I don't like repeating myself."

"H-Hai! She's a m-medic-nin who's p-passed Tsunade-sama! A-And she's in ANBU and a best f-friend to Naruto Uzumaki."

"Her personality?"

"I-I don't know her p-personally, but she's said t-to be very n-nice and cheerful."

"Best friends?"

"Naruto U-Uzumaki, H-Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Y-Yamanaka, and many more."

"Name them if you wish to live."

"Shikamaru N-Nara! Kiba Inuzuka, a g-girl named Ten-Ten, T-Temari no S-Sabaku, Neji Hyuuga, a b-boy named Sai, Rock Lee, Sh-Shino Aburame, Chouji, a-and Gaara no Sabaku."

"Where does she live?"

"I-I don't know. I-I do know that I-Ino Yamanaka w-will be hosting a s-summer party and she w-will be there."

"…Do you have any more details on this?"

"N-no. I'm s-sorry. It will b-be held within the n-next week."

Pein nodded before killing the worthless jounin-new from the looks of it. So a party, huh? That would be easy to sneak into. Put a high-level henge or genjutsu over himself, saying that he was a friend of 'Ino's'. No, that would look suspicious. He should get Konan and pretend to be a couple that she knew. Pein bit his thumb hard enough to make it bleed, made a few hand signs, and soon there was a brown hawk in front of him. He hurriedly wrote a message to Konan before sending the bird to her. Konan always liked getting dressed up, but rarely had the chance. This would be a chance for her.

Pein turned to face in the direction of Konoha. He had to get his sister out of there. They had sealed a demon in her. What else might they have done?

Sakura-chan…I'm coming for you.

Sakura was at Ino's place with Hinata. Ten-Ten wasn't able to be there because she was on a mission, but she should be back in time for the party.

Ino was listing off food they needed. Hinata was carefully making the invitations and Sakura was helping. She wasn't a bad artist at all, but Hinata was one of the best in Konoha. Sakura just drew a few doodles on the fronts so they looked well-crafted.

"-and sushi! With soy sauce! We should have spicy sushi, normal sushi, sweet sushi…all kinds of sushi! And we need rice balls. Do you think we could put them in different shapes? Like, suns, hearts, triangles, stars, and those kinds of things. Oh! And we need-"

Why do you hang out with her?

She's my best friend from the Academy.

And she drives us insane.

That may be, but she's a really good friend.

Shuensha sighed.

Sakura doodled a cup of ramen on Naruto's invitation as Ino excitedly continued speaking.

"-almost everyone in Konoha, and some of my friends and connections from around the fire country and the other countries. Like the Sand Siblings. Gaara probably can't come, but I don't want to be rude. He is hot, anyway. What do you guys think?"

"Sounds great, Ino-pig," Sakura said, drawing a spider in Shino's invitation. Hinata's delicate calligraphy lined the page neatly.

"Where will all this be held, Ino-chan?" Hinata asked.

"Good question." Sakura said.

"Hm…outdoors with an indoor area maybe, but not that big. Anyone think of anything? I thought about begging Shikamaru to lend us the forest, but that could be dangerous and it's not open."

"Um, the training grounds?" Sakura thought.

"That could work," Hinata said.

"Yeah! Good thinking, forehead!"

"So the training grounds. We'll need to set some things up, but it should be a good spot," the pinkette said.

"Yeah. Oh! We'll need flowers, lanterns, streamers, balloons, banners, chairs-"

Sakura went back to tuning Ino out as she made her long list of things needed.

It was the day before the party and Sakura was helping Ino, Hinata, Ten-Ten, and Temari set things up. It was depressing to think that she still didn't have a dress. Ten-Ten and Hinata had gone shopping, and it surprised Sakura when Temari said that she had brought a dress from Suna already, but Ino didn't have one, either.

Hinata's was a pretty royal blue dress with white-and-blue flowers in a neat diagonal line wrapping around it. It had spaghetti straps and fell to her knees.

Ten-Ten's dress went a bit past mid-thigh. It had short sleeves that barely draped off of her shoulders. The dress was light pink and had a white dragon wrapping around it before the head ended near the top. It drew some attention to her covered breasts, but it fit Ten-Ten's style.

Temari's dress was a gift from a tailor's family. She had apparently saved their son from ninja before and in return they had made her a pretty, thick-strapped dress that fell to about her knees. There were three purple dots placed on it-one on the bottom right corner, one on her left hip, and one on the top right corner.

Sakura hadn't really bothered looking for a dress, but she was getting desperate. She was going to go with Ino in a bit to try and find one.

I told you that you should've gone sooner. Shuensha told Sakura as she tied a balloon down.

Hai, hai. I know. The party just came up so soon and I had that mission.

Sakura had been sent on a short, two-day mission and had just gotten back yesterday. She had had to assassinate a business owner who made weapons because he was proven to be a spy for Akatsuki. She had easily slit the man's throat. He had been skilled with weapons, but knew next to nothing about the arts of jutsu. Ten-Ten had more talent with weapons than he had, so she had killed him quickly, left his body in a weapons closet, and departed.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, why don't you two leave early and go find dresses? The party is tomorrow, and it's already three in the afternoon," Ten-Ten said, making a clean cut through a too-long ribbon that was hanging off of a tree.

"Sure," Ino said, finishing her last rice star. She had a talent for cutting them into shapes.

"Okay," Sakura agreed.

The two made their way into town. Ino rushed all about, going into stores and trying on dresses. If being a ninja hadn't given her arm muscles, Sakura was sure that carrying all those clothes around would.

"What do you think, Sakura?"

Sakura turned-for the thousandth time-to face Ino. She wore a skimpy bright green dress which had slinky straps and a flaring skirt that barely touched mid-thigh.

"Too revealing."

Ino pouted. "I liked this dress, though! Well, I guess it is a little showy, but it is a party."

"Do you want a reputation of a slut?"

"Well, no, but the dress is so cute!"

"I'm sure we can find something better, Ino. What about…this one?"

Sakura randomly selected one from the enormous pile of clothes that Ino had stacked up.

The dress was a pale pink with a cute trim, but the design of hibiscus flowers all over it was a tad bit too overwhelming.

Ino wrinkled her nose. "Pick another one. It looked cuter on the rack."

Sakura shook her head before digging through the clothes. Finally, she emerged with a dress.

It was a light yellow and had no straps, but it didn't look like it was going to fall down. The top wasn't high, but also it didn't dip down on the breasts. It looked like it would reach about her knees, maybe a bit lower, and the skirt part of it was very flow-y and flexible. It had barely visible curving white lines up to the waist and Sakura liked it immediately.

Ino's blue eyes widened a bit as she studied the dress.

"Give it here, forehead!"

Sakura smiled at Ino's new enthusiasm and handed the dress to her.

The blonde disappeared into the fitting room, only to emerge seconds later.

Ino looked stunning. The dress looked great on her, emphasizing her body in a respectful yet sexy way.

"Ino, that dress was made for you."

"You think so?"

Ino looked so beautiful at that moment that Sakura was threatened to be overcome with jealousy, or as it was also known, 'the little green monster'.

"Ino, if you don't take that dress, I will buy it and make you wear it."

Ino smiled. "Thanks, forehead."

"Any time, pig."

Ino left the mounds of clothing to the poor worker and went to buy the dress. When that task was done, the duo set off to find Sakura the perfect dress. Inwardly, Sakura doubted that there'd be a dress that could look as good on her as Ino's dress did on Ino.

It was getting late, and though Sakura had tried on dress after dress, none of them seemed right.

"Ino, why don't we just go back to that one other store and get the dress there? Nothing else is popping up," Sakura said. They had found a reasonable dress at some store. The dress there was very basic-black and green-with short sleeves and a mid-thigh length, and it looked good on her, but she wouldn't stand out. Ino was determined to find Sakura the perfect dress, saying that black wasn't a summery color, and continued their search. The stores were closing and their chances were dimming.

"No! Come on, just this one last store. Then we'll go back and get it. Come on, Sakura. Just this last one. Please, please, please, please, please?"

Sakura sighed. "Okay."

"Yay!" Ino cheered, grabbing Sakura's hand and dragging her in.

Sakura tried on a faded purple dress, a red dress, a bright green dress, and a blue and pink dress, but none of them worked like she wanted it to. She was about to buy the purple dress, but then Ino called her name.

"Forehead?"

Sakura turned.

Ino was holding up a dress. It was pink with spaghetti straps, lime green flowers in a neat line crossing over the stomach area, and below that the skirt was silky and flowing, probably going to half-way in between mid-thigh and her knee. It was a very cute dress.

Sakura touched it reverently before taking it into her arms as if it was a baby.

"What are you waiting for, forehead? Try it on!" Ino demanded.

Sakura smiled before heading into the dressing rooms.

The dress looked gorgeous on her. She looked innocent and pretty, but not sexy. Okay, not pretty, but kind of…beautiful. It was strange for Sakura to think of herself like that. She had always thought she was pretty, but not beautiful, even though everyone told her she was.

"Wow, forehead. That's your dress," Ino said.

"…Yeah…"

The two girls bought the dress, took their shopping bags (Ino had bought more than just that dress) and headed home for the night.

Pein stared at Konoha. He hated it with a passion, and it was an effort to not attack it, but he reminded himself that Sakura was there, and before he could launch his assault on the powerful village, he had to get his sister back.

Konan was there with him, and she was currently sleeping. Her beautiful purple-blue eyes hidden from the world. Pein loved Konan. Many people believed him to be emotionless and hate the world like the Uchiha under his command, but that was not the case. Itachi actually didn't hate the world. He wasn't power-hungry like so many believed, either. Itachi just didn't like bonds. Pein guessed that Itachi wasn't solely responsible for the Uchiha massacre, and he had left Sasuke alive, so Pein thought that he still, on some level, cared about the his younger brother, although Itachi would never admit to it. Itachi hated weaknesses of any kind, and although Sasuke may fall into that particular category for the elder Uchiha, no one would ever guess it. Of course, Itachi never really bonded with anyone anymore. He didn't want people like Deidara or Kisame to die, but he wasn't close to them.

Konan stirred in her sleep, catching Pein's attention. Konan was a very powerful ninja, and Pein loved that about her. She was so kind and…perfect. In his view, anyway. He didn't mind the whole Akatsuki knowing that they had a close relationship. He didn't really mind if everyone in the world knew, but he liked that they didn't. He wasn't ashamed of his love for the blue-haired Akatsuki, but he didn't want any harm or threat coming near her.

Pein watched her for a moment before turning back to Konoha, absent-mindedly running his rough hand through her silky hair. It was short, reaching just a bit below her shoulders, but he didn't mind. Konan had always kept it short, and he wanted her to be comfortable with what she wanted.

Pein stared at Konoha. Tomorrow, he would finally get his sister back.

That was a long chapter! For me, at least. It was 14 pages. I'll try to make the next one longer. Next chapter will be the party, and Sakura will end up with the Akatsuki. As much as I want chapter 3 to be long, it probably won't be. Well, thanks for reading and please review! They encourage me to write and make me feel so good about my story. So review!