Sheep's Clothing

A/N: Happy holidays, everybody! Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed the previous chapter! Here, at long last, is the second installment. This was originally written as a one-shot series as oppose to a multi-chapter (hence the point of view shift).

Here's the secret that nobody knew – Sakura's mother was non-dynamic.

Nobody knew why some children were born like that – not a dom, not a sub, not even a switch. It was considered a mental disorder by most. An imbalance of the brain chemicals that effected only one in five thousand people. Those born non-dynamic tended to be less empathetic and more prone to sociopathy and to have a difficult time interacting with other people socially in general. There was an old wives tale that said non-dynamic children were the result of an unhappy or unfaithful collaring, but nobody believed that anymore. Still, it was a phenomenon that was surrounded with social stigma.

Sakura's father was a civilian merchant, a switch who married for status and business contacts. Her mother's dowry had been as impressive as the textile empire Sakura's maternal grandfather had run. Her mother wore her father's collar to keep up the pretext that she was a sub, and she certainly knew how to play the part well, but she didn't understand it. For wealthy civilians, even in a hidden village, dynamic was an elaborate and intricate social dance. Gender (which shinobi tended to ignore unless excess nakedness was involved) played just as large a role in how civilians were expected to behave in public as dynamic. Somehow, somewhere, in Sakura's mother's mind, she had come to equate "sub" with "female." And since she had a daughter and her daughter was obviously female, that must mean that her daughter was a sub. Therefore, her daughter ought to act like a sub. (It never once crossed her mind that her daughter could be a dom.)

It probably wouldn't have been a problem if Sakura's father didn't spend most of his time on the road. He was doting but distant. The only way he could support his own dynamic needs without anyone questioning his wife's collaring was by being out of town.

Most of Sakura's formative years were spent ruthlessly crushing down her aggressive urges and learning to simper and fawn and expose her neck in a way that made her stomach feel sick. And when Sakura complained to her mother that it didn't feel right, didn't feel natural, her mother had responded sharply that of course it didn't – nothing about dynamic was natural.

"If you don't learn this now, you'll never catch the eye of a wealthy dom!"

Sakura wanted to wail, 'But I don't want a dom!' She didn't say it, though, and she didn't bring up the subject again.

(Sometimes Sakura wondered if her mother resented her. Resented Sakura for fitting into this confusing world that she herself had no hope of comprehending. Other times, when she was being scolded for being too forceful, for not being sweet, Sakura wondered if she didn't resent her mother a little bit in return.)

After a while, the urges that Sakura was forced to ignore became a screaming voice in the back of her head. It shouted comments and opinions and suggestions that Sakura would never dare to act on no matter how appealing they were. (Sometimes, it scared her, that voice. Like another Sakura was trying to rip free of her brain. She tried not to think about it too hard.) The first time she gave into the voice's urgings, Sakura presented the paperwork necessary for her to apply to the Academy to her father without telling her mother. Her father beamed at her and signed the papers without any protest and told Sakura that she was making a good decision.

"Even if you eventually decide that you'd rather be a merchant, like me, instead of a shinobi, the baseline information you'll learn at the Academy will be very helpful to you in the future."

By the time Sakura's mother found out what she'd done, Sakura had already been registered, and Sakura's father had left the village again. (Sakura got in so much trouble, but it was worth it.)

"You'll figure it out soon enough," her mother snapped. "A rough shinobi life has no place in it for a girl like you."

Oh, yeah? Well then, I'll just make one! snarled Inner Sakura.

Outer Sakura remained silent and broke eye contact. (She was still exactly on time for the first day of class.)

Sakura was both thrilled and mortified by her genin team. On the one hand, she was on the same team as Sasuke! Something about him made her want to comfort him, want to… hold him down. (She'd read books. Apparently that was a perfectly normal fantasy for a young dom to have about a sub, even if she didn't know what to do with such impulses.) Sometimes she braided grass collars the way Ino had taught her to when they were still friends and pretend that she was going to give them to Sasuke. She never followed through, though. Every time she was around Sasuke, her mother's training kicked in, in full force. But maybe if she spent enough time with Sasuke as a teammate, he'd actually go out on a date with her and maybe he'd even let her go so far as to hold his forearm. (Which sounded weird, but once again it was a dom thing, and it made her fingers tingle just at the thought. Inner Sakura had an awful lot to say on the subject.)

Then there was Naruto, who regularly ran roughshod over Sakura's self-restraint and let Inner Sakura escape. It irritated the hell out of Sakura (even if a little part of Sakura felt less tight afterwards and Inner Sakura seemed a little less loud). Naruto was obnoxious and loud and incompetent. (And maybe, just maybe, she envied just how easily and exuberantly Naruto knew how to be himself. At the end of the day, Naruto was always true to himself and who he was. Some days Sakura stared at her reflection in the mirror and didn't even know who she was.) But at least Naruto was a switch and not another dom. According to what she'd read, their team was, theoretically at least, well dynamically balanced. If they ever figured out how to work together, they would do well. (That didn't seem like a very likely possibility, though.)

And then there was Kakashi-sensei, and he just… didn't make sense. Sakura was fairly certain that he was a dom, but something about him poked at the back of her brain like an itch, and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Maybe he was a switch. (She was wrong on both counts.) Whatever he was, he was frustrating and always late and always gave Sakura this look that seemed to say, 'I don't know quite what to do with you.' It made Sakura want to grind her teeth and scream.

Sakura's feet dragged on the road back from Wave Country. She felt… empty and kind of cold.

Useless.

She hadn't been able to protect anyone. She'd just been a liability. Inner Sakura had been screaming at her to move, to do something, to act until Sakura's mind was practically deafened, but she hadn't been able to. Inner Sakura had been so loud that she hadn't been able to focus. Her teammates and sensei had all nearly died.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto was walking next to her, looking more thoughtful than usual. Sasuke was walking ahead of them just slightly behind Kakashi-sensei and staring at him so intensely that Sakura was a little afraid Kakashi might actually burst into flames. "What's the big deal about Kakashi-sensei being a sub? I mean, I couldn't tell, but I can never guess dynamics."

"Well," Sakura hesitated, "some people have views about how subs are supposed to act. Kakashi-sensei doesn't act like that."

"Like how?"

Sakura didn't say, 'Like me.'

"Demure. Quiet. Respectful."

"What's 'demmer'?"

"Demure," Sakura corrected automatically, too mentally exhausted to be annoyed. "It's sort of like being shy but flirty."

"That sounds dumb – believe it," Naruto declared. "Kakashi-sensei's still Kakashi-sensei. Why should he act like something he's not?"

"Yeah," Sakura mumbled. "Yeah, it is dumb."

(Sakura had spent all her life not being herself. She was afraid it might be too late to start now. But maybe she could still learn to get stronger.)

Sasuke had been acting different since they had gotten back from that disastrous Wave Country mission. He wasn't not acting like himself, but it was like something had changed. He seemed a touch softer around the edges, a little more relaxed. Sometimes he even smiled. Sakura hadn't thought it was actually possible for him to become more handsome.

Sakura stared at her reflection in the mirror. She'd started training more rigorously outside of the time she spent with her teammates. It didn't feel like enough. There had to be more she could do. (Some way to figure out who she really was. Even just a hint.)

She sighed and picked up her brush. Her hair was always such a tangled mess after training these days, but her mother had always insisted that she wear it long.

Just chop it off, snapped Inner Sakura.

Sakura froze mid brush stroke. Part of her thrilled at the defiance of the thought, but her mother-

It's isn't her hair! It always sticks to the back of your neck and gets all knotted. What kind of shinobi has long, pink hair, anyway?

Sakura blinked at her reflection. It was only hair. It would grow back either way. To hell with it. She pulled a kunai out of the pouch still strapped to her thigh. She pulled a lock of hair tight, brought the blade to about an inch below chin level, and sliced. Pink strands of hair fluttered to the floor.

Sakura smiled.

(She didn't think that she imagined Kakashi's approving look at training the next day.)

Perfect chakra control, Sakura reminded herself as she frowned down at the scroll for what felt like the millionth time. Kakashi-sensei said that I have perfect chakra control. I can do this – I really can.

The chuunin exams were coming up, and Sakura knew that she couldn't just rely on Academy basics to see her through. She needed more, something extra up her sleeve. (She wouldn't be a burden to her teammates. Never again.) She'd been working hard on her taijutsu, but she always seemed to falter when it came to actual spars, like her mind and body were out of sync.

Having a few extra jutsus in her arsenal would help a lot. Even just having one would be better than only Academy basics. Sakura had given it some thought and decided that learning an earth jutsu would be best. Sasuke used a fire jutsu which was good for offense, so an earth justsu that was good for defense would give their team better balance. She'd picked two to learn. The hand seals had been simple enough to memorize.

Tiger. Hare. Boar. Dog.

Her fingers flew through the seals that she'd been practicing for days and then she slammed her palms into the ground.

"Doton: Doryuheki!"

The earth rippled. A tiny earth wall only five inches high rose and then immediately fell.

Sakura sat back on her heals and sighed in frustration. It felt like every time she went to release her chakra for the jutsu something in her head blipped and threw her off. It was just like her taijutsu. What the hell was going on?

Well, it was a B-ranked jutsu. And she was making progress.

The other earth jutsu she had selected was done with Naruto's distracting Kage Bunshin in mind. Moguragakure no Jutsu was only a C-rank, and she was getting pretty decent with it as long as she wasn't, say, trying to use it in a spar. (Why did that always happen? Why were her mind and body never in agreement? Why did Inner Sakura distract her so badly?) Being able to tunnel up underneath your enemy while they were distracted by a bunshin was a very useful skill to have.

Sakura ran through the hand seals again.

Tiger-hare-boar-dog.

"Doton: Doryuheki!"

Again, a disappointingly small stone wall that sank away almost instantly. She gritted her teeth. Maybe she needed to be using a touch more chakra. Once more.

Sakura would protect her teammates. She would not be a burden.

Sakura stared at the package Kakashi-sensei had handed her doubtfully. Naruto had one, too. Sasuke hadn't received a package, but he was sporting a new pair of leather wrist bracers studded with short, mat black spikes. (Inner Sakura thought that the bracers were hot. Outer Sakura agreed, but also recognized them for the protective armor they were.)

"Cool!" Naruto cheered. Sakura had expected him to rip through the paper, but instead he had carefully pulled off the piece of tape keeping the package closed. He held up a pair of new armor-backed black gloves. The metal plates were engraved with the leaf symbol and looked similar to the ones Kakashi wore. "Thanks, sensei!"

Sakura opened her own package. She stared at the armored gauntlets for a long moment before slipping them on. They covered her arms from wrist to elbow. Three metal plates overlapped each other like scales, creating light but effective armor, and the material they were attached to was thin and flexible, conforming to the shape of her forearms.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. What's the occasion?"

"The chuunin exams are brutal," Kakashi shrugged, "and arms and hands are important. You never know what might be helpful."

Naruto had already pulled on his new gloves and started enthusiastically shadow boxing an imaginary opponent.

Helpful, huh? Sakura glanced at Sasuke's new wrist bracers again. Helpful or a clever diversion? After all, Sasuke would look less like he was hiding something – a weak point – if both of his teammates were wearing some sort of arm armor as well. She looked down at her own gauntlets. So wearing these would help keep Sasuke safe. Yeah, she could get behind that.

(And deep down inside, a quiet, soft, half-forgotten voice whispered, I think they suit me.)

Sakura had not expected the chuunin exams to be easy or uneventful, but this was just horrific. She knew who Orochimaru was. She had been paying attention during the 'Powerful Missing-nin from Konoha and Why You Should Run If You Ever See Them' lecture back in the Academy. Orochimaru had been one of the Sanin. His power was on level with the Sandaime. Three genin didn't have a prayer against that sort of might. (And Naruto was unconscious now, pinned to a tree by several kunai through his jacket. It was really only the two of them.)

Inner Sakura was screaming so loudly that Outer Sakura could barely hear what Orochimaru was saying. Something about Sasuke's eyes. And then,

"No, it can't be – you're a sub? What a waste of a perfectly good pair of sharingan." The pale man's hands blurred through a complicated set of seals, and Sasuke abruptly collapsed to the ground unconscious. Sakura let out a yelp of shock and darted towards were Sasuke lay crumpled on the ground. Orochimaru turned his back on them and called out, "Clean up this mess. Hide the bodies, and bring me the Uchiha's head. I'll just have to transplant the eyes into a more appropriate subject." He carelessly tossed Team 7's scroll on the ground and disappeared in a flash of movement too fast for Sakura's eyes to follow.

Who was he talking to-?

And then Sakura was surrounded by three leering shinobi with cruel faces.

"Well, at least he left us a little bit of fun," smirked one of the young men. Two male doms and the young woman was a switch if Sakura was any guess.

Sakura pulled out a kunai and gripped it in white knuckled hands. Inner Sakura was still screaming. She couldn't focus. (She needed to protect her teammates.)

"Aw, lookit that," guffawed the other young man. "She looks like she gonna cry!" The young woman snickered.

Sakura lunged with her kunai. (She wasn't sure what sort of jutsus these people used, but if she kept things close by using taijutsu, maybe she could keep them from using any jutsus at all.) But it was happening again. Her body and mind were out of sync as Inner Sakura yelled and Outer Sakura tried to hit and kick. The young man with the holed metal device on his arm snorted, caught her easily by the back of the neck and threw her to the ground.

"That was just pathetic." Sakura tried to rise, but before she could make it past her knees, he caught the back of her neck again and held her in place. "Don't bother." Sakura's eyes widened. He was- He was trying to- "I don't even know why they let pathetic little subs like you out in the field."

He was trying to force her down, because he thought she was a sub. He thought she was a sub.

"Maybe, if you're good, we'll kill you first," offered the smaller young man. "Or would you rather watch your teammates die? It could get messy – especially the Uchiha." He sounded keen on the idea.

"Yeah, just go down like a good little sub," sneered the young woman.

Sakura's entire body started shaking. Inner Sakura was suddenly silent, but she'd been replaced by another voice. Her mother's voice.

That temper of yours is nothing to be proud of, Sakura.

Rage was building in her bones.

Smile sweetly, dear. You want to attract a good dom, don't you?

Her free hand clenched, fingernails biting into the earth.

Tilt your chin, expose your neck – they find that attractive for some reason.

The edge of her kunai was biting painfully into her fingers, drawing the tiniest trickle of blood.

Of course you're a sub, Sakura. Don't be ridiculous.

White hot fury ignited her soul and muscles and spread up into her mind.

Of course it doesn't feel natural! There's nothing natural about dynamic! It's a perversion. Now be quiet, and do as you're told!

"So what do you say?" The young man leaned down close to her ear. "Are you going to watch your friends die, or are you going to do as you're told and go down like the pathetic little piece of subby nothing that you are?"

"I'M A DOM, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" The kunai slammed through the top of his foot and into the ground below before he had time to so much as twitch.

There was no Inner Sakura. There was no Outer Sakura. There was only Sakura, burning bright and furious, one cohesive whole as she grabbed another kunai from her pouch and sliced across both of his Achilles tendons. He shrieked in pain, but Sakura was already out of his grasp and moving, her body for once in perfect harmony with her mind. With a final flick, she lodged a kunai in his throat before he had time to come to his senses. (He had been going to hurt her boys. He didn't deserve to see another sunrise.) The other young man raising his hand for some sort of jutsu. (Naruto and Sasuke were still unconscious, vulnerable. She had to lead the enemy away, protect her teammates.) Her fingers flew through the seals that she had spent so much time practicing.

"Doton: Doryuheki!"

This time, for the first time, there was no last minute blip in her concentration. The tall earth wall rose up smooth and perfect and just in time. The tidal wave of sound impacted against the wall with the force of a catapult. The vibrations shook painfully through Sakura's body and crumbled the edges of her barrier. Then the young woman was attacking Sakura from the side, a vicious strike opening a bloody gash over Sakura's eye as she dodged out of the way. Her earth wall collapsed. The young woman threw something at her, but Sakura was already flinging herself out of the way with a shunshin. (A tiny, distant part of Sakura wondered at the sudden surety and confidence that filled her, the quicksilver swiftness of her reactions. Was this how Naruto and Sasuke felt all the time? No wonder they loved to fight.) The attack hit the woman's teammate in the shoulder instead.

"Damn it, Kin! Watch where you're throwing those things!"

But Sakura wasn't listening to them. She was forming the seals for a bunshin and then (Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu) she was underground and digging.

(She couldn't keep this up forever. Her chakra was going to run out soon – too many jutsus in a row. She had to protect her boys. Protect, protect, protect.)

Sakura felt her bunshin disperse, just as she rose from the ground behind the second man like an avenging angel. He started to turn, kunai flashing out-

"Oh, fu-!"

She slammed her armored forearm into the side of his head knocking him out cold. His kunai caught her across the stomach on an angle as he fell, but it was a shallow wound.

Sakura turned to face the last standing Sound-nin. Sakura was bruised, bleeding, and verging on chakra depletion. Adrenaline was pretty much the only thing still keeping her upright. The other young woman scowled at her.

"I'll admit, you're better than I thought, but nothing short of a miracle is going to stop me from-"

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

A fire ball bloomed bright and beautiful from where Sasuke still lay on the ground. The woman dodged out of the way with a shriek. Sakura didn't spare any time to rejoice over the fact that Sasuke had woken up. She snatched the opportunity that she had been given with both hands and darted forward. She slammed into the other woman's back and grabbed the back of her neck as tightly as she could. (The young woman was a switch. Sakura knew she was a switch. She was gambling everything on her being a switch.)

"DOWN!" Sakura ordered with every ounce of force and power and authority she could muster. The young woman froze, muscles trembling and uncertain. "DOWN!" Sakura bellowed again. This time the young woman practically collapsed in Sakura's grip. Sakura wobbled slightly at the unexpected head-rush it gave her. She walloped the young woman over the head, rendering her unconscious, then turned and-

Oh. Woah. Her knees were not so steady any more. And she felt really sick. Really, really-

Sakura leaned over and threw up.

"Sakura? Are you all right?" Sasuke was up and obviously still fighting for complete control of his legs. Sakura really wished that she wasn't feeling so nauseous, so that she could properly appreciate that expression on his face which looked suspiciously close to awe. The taste of bile in her mouth really detracted from the moment.

"I'm not sure what happened," she admitted dazedly. She glanced around the clearing and then mumbled, "I think I killed somebody." (And she didn't regret it either. Wasn't she supposed to regret it? Maybe that came later.) "We should get their scrolls."

"I will. You need to sit down and have some water."

"Okay."

Sakura allowed Sasuke to take her hand and lead her over to the tree that Naruto was still pinned to. Sasuke kept shooting her sideways looks. She was too disoriented to notice that Inner Sakura had absolutely nothing to say about this.

They had both scrolls. Now they just needed Naruto to wake up so they could get back to the tower. Sakura supposed that they could have carried him, but she and Sasuke both needed the rest as well. She leaned back against the cave wall and closed her eyes. Sasuke had volunteered to take the first watch.

Her head felt… quiet. It hadn't felt like that in more years than she could remember.

(This is me, whispered something soft and quiet deep down in Sakura's chest. This is really me. This is who I am.)

A/N: So I have a prequel to this story that I can post (because this was originally supposed to be about Kakashi until Sasuke hijacked things) and have a third segment which continues with the chuunin exams in the works (switching back to Sasuke's point of view). If y'all continue to be interested, we'll see how things go!