Chapter 2

The walk over to the Hokage's office was eerily silent, each of them knew something treacherous was lying ahead for all of them. Sora began to tremble slightly besides Sasuke as they walked, the threat of what could happen is enough for her to be afraid.

The raven haired boy felt the shakes coming from the panic-stricken girl walking slowly beside him. He eyed her carefully, evaluating every slightly jerky movement she made to the side, and all her shudders. Pity washed through him, and genuine concern filled up his heart, an emotion he hasn't felt in such a long time.

Slowly he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, and gently rubbed her arm in reassurance. At first Sora stiffened at the gesture, but as she felt Sasuke's warm skin against hers she relaxed a bit, slightly leaning into his touch.

This made Sasuke's heart jump, and nearly stop beating, his composure never faltered, no visible sign of his surprise, just a slight smile appeared on his lips. He never let go of Sora until they reached the door of the 5th Hokage.

The ninja that escorted them back to the Hokage's office made a light rapping noise on the door, "Come in" a feminine voice called out. The shinobi walked in first, followed by Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and finally Sora Tsunade looked up just in time to see Sora walk in, she immediately noticed her distress, but she shook it off there was no room for nerves right now.

"The mission I am about to send you 5 on is of utmost importance, and can not be failed. The severity of your failure will be unlimited, along with the negative repercussions. Do I make myself clear?" she watched as all 5 nodded their heads at the same time, "This mission will take place in the Village Hidden in the Flower." Tsunade stopped there, and looked swiftly at the now tense Sora. She continued, "There have been attacks from an unknown rogue ninja, I want you guys to go down there and do as much as you can to figure out the identity of this person, and terminate them."

The room was silent, and everyone's eyes were on Sora, who was staring into the eyes of the Hokage. She searched her eyes for any hint of humor, trying to find the joke, no matter how sick a joke it seemed, she would rather that.

"Sora, I know how you must be feeling. Why I chose your team is because of your knowledge of the village, it will provide useful in this mission." she stopped, assessed her reaction and finished. "I know what this must be putting you through, but I need you on this mission, you are our one glimmer of hope. This is a A-ranked mission for a few reasons, the first is they are murdering people." Sora's breath was caught in her throat as she comprehended those words.

"The second, is they are leaving messages written in blood where the corpses are found. These corpses aren't only drained of blood, but their faces are next to unrecognizable because they are being skinned. And lastly, because I am certain the Akatsuki are behind this." Tsunade sat back in her chair after she was done, "Now, go". He voice sounded awfully cold coming from the usually warm Sannin, but she had to harden herself for this mission. It was of dire importance that this task be completed, and there was no room for screw ups, she knew how badly this will affect Sora's progression, but it must be done.

Little did anyone know, Tsunade knew exactly who this person was that was murdering citizens, and only someone who possessed the same kekkei genkai that Sora possessed could even hope to bet this person. Even though the identity of this person may not sit will with Sora, the Hokage is hoping she doesn't find out until after this person has been killed.

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Team 7 was making their way over to Fiore, Sora's home, in a very proficient pace, already half way there and they've only be on the road for around thirty minutes. The stillness in the air was very distinguished, Sasuke kept on sneaking glances at Sora, trying to gage her reaction. He was sincerely worried about her, he knew about her past and what this means for her.

It was for the fact that he went through this exact thing that he is capable of feeling sympathy for this girl. This small brunette who he tried to ignore up until now, this girl who has yet to show interest in him, the only girl he would be upset if she didn't accept him into her life. How he longed to reach out and touch her cheek, embrace her and promise that everything will be ok, and he will keep her safe.

Sora stared dead ahead, not daring to allow her gaze to wander any further than the unknown point she was looking at. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists, she felt something warm and wet envelope both her hands and she decided to take the risk and look away.

The dark haired girl held up her still clenched palms and saw blood cascading down her hand and now her arms. Wincing as she gently she lifted her long nails out of the skin of her palm, the teenager saw the 4 half inch deep gashes that decorated both of her palms. Sora slowed to a stop and just focused her attention to her self inflicted wounds, not really having a thought pass through her mind.

Kakashi was the first to hear one less set of footsteps walking, he turned to see one of his two female students standing behind them staring at her palms, positioned around small circles of her blood. Within the same second he saw her he was in front of her, his uncovered eye appraised her wounds. He then noticed the blood on her fingernails, he gently cupped his gloved hands around the upside of her palms.

Sora slightly tensed at his touch but looked into his uncovered eye, her own eyes started to show emotion, the feelings she had tried desperately to hide for the past hour. Her gemstone colored eyes started to become shiny, her heartbeat became audible through her chest and her silent hysterics began to shake her entire body. She never allowed one tear to fall down, she resisted any temptation to show any more weakness than she was already showing.

Kakashi felt such overwhelming sadness for the crumbling girl in front on him, he wrapped his strong arms around her back, rested his head on top of her own and held her close. Never had he felt such a strong urge to just hold someone, especially one of his students, but he welcomed this new feeling with quite literally open arms.

Sora leaned against Kakashi's chest, which led her palms to be pushed into her chest, lucky for her, her hands narrowly missed her clothes and ended up resting on her exposed throat and chest. In this different type cradle she felt the same hint of warmth she felt from Sasuke, she wished the ember would grow into a flame, but she settled for this dimly lit ember.

Sasuke looked back at them, and a sense of jealousy exploded through him, this jealousy was a dangerous violent storm inside him. He wanted to run up to his sensei and rip him away from Sora, he didn't feel like sharing in any way. But he let this brief hostility boil inside him, he didn't want hit his teacher for comforting his own student. He just watched and wished it could be him holding her in this moment.

Kakashi slowly pulled away and placed a gloved hand under Sora's chin lifting her face so she would be looking into his eye, "Sora I understand the pain that must be ravaging you internally, if that happened to me I would never want to return back to the place that brought me so much hurt. But I know you understand your duties as a kunoichi, and the ninja way. So I am confident that you will be fine, all four of us are here to help you through this no matter what, ok?", he waited patiently as his words soaked into her.

She nodded slightly, "I understand." she voiced softly, almost timidly at her sensei. His eye crinkled, which meant he was smiling, and she smiled back.

Sora watched as he slowly bent down to her, in the process pulling his mask down over his chin, and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. She closed her eyes as he did this, not wanting him to break his comforting kiss, but to her dismay he did.

"Now, let's get going, shall we?" he said pulling back up his mask. Sora stood motionless for few seconds with her eyes closed, almost hoping that the darkness she is seeing behind her lids will stay there forever.

Kakashi-sensei was right, it was her duty and she knows her ninja way, and yet she can't bear the thought of returning home. But another part of her knew who's hands she was in, Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura, all these people are her friends. They were all putting their life on the line, along with herself, and would do anything to make sure that each other including herself was safe. This thought alone willed her eyes open, and willed her feet to move forward and join the people she grew to love, and they grew to love her in return.

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They neared the gates to Fiore, Sora recognized the flowers lining the path they were walking. An assortment of floral garnished the gates to her old home, she recognized one as her favorite, a purple and black flower known as heaven's kiss. She smiled slightly as she felt the comfort of her home as she stepped through the gates, 'It hasn't changed' she thought to herself.

But her thought was quickly proven wrong as she saw the faces of her town, each was stricken with fear and loss. She may not recognize any of them, she felt sympathy for them, and herself felt a loss. What followed next completely took the team by surprise and had them dashing in that particular direction.

High pitched screams were being sounded approximately 50 feet north east, Sora guessed, and with that she ran as fast as she could ahead of her team.

She reached behind her and grabbed the bow that was strapped to her back, and snatched 4 flower stems from a pouch that was strapped high on her thigh. Naruto took notice and went to catch up with her, she needed him for this technique, he had to protect her.. Naruto and Sora were the first to arrive and the bloody scene at the end of an alleyway.

A young woman, no older than 14, lay motionless in front of them. The left side of her face completely ravaged with cuts, along with a trail going down her neck and stopping at her collar bone. The ground was completely soaked with blood, the woman's eyes were wide with shock, but neither of them could tell if she was alive or not.

But that wasn't why they had stopped dead in their tracks, what did was a dark looming figure standing over the mangled body of that young woman. In his hand he held a kunai knife that dripped the bright scarlet blood of his victim, and in his other hand he held what looked like a long piece of gelatin.

But Sora knew better what the mystery object was. This attacker had skinned his victim alive, but they both interrupted him, lucky for that girl. They finally saw her chest rise and fall in a normal rhythm, both of them sighed in relief.

Sora pulled one stem up to the bows tight string, "Naruto, GO!" she yelled just as her stem glowed a bright green as she braided some chakra around the flower. Watching Naruto run she waited until she saw him pull back for a punch as he landed his punch onto the face of the attacker she let go, and released her arrow "Flower Arrow!".

Sora's eyes seemed to glow, and the air around her seemed to move in rapid currents, whipping around her. As she released the string, she no longer saw the arrow until it appeared again on the figure in front of her right on his shoulder. 'Yes.' she boasted inside her head.

But this assailant didn't seem affected by her poison at all, he pulled the arrow out and let out a dark laugh. "Come now, dear Sora, did you truly believe someone from the Village Hidden in the Flower would be affected by it's own poison?".

Sora stood there staring at this man who mocked her, her eyes widened in terror and she digested this information. "You are…from this village…." she choked out, Naruto turned back to look at her. "…and you are murdering your own people." her fists began to shake violently, "TRAITOR" she screamed at him as she charged full force at him.

She gave her bow one hard jerk and all the shuriken latched up, "AH" she shrieked and she came within striking distance. With all the power she could muster she swung fiercely at the object of her animosity.

Naruto watched through wide eyes as his teammate struggled, and fought ferociously against this man. He observed her speed that rivaled his own, he noticed that she was almost completely different. She didn't land one blow on him, but he felt some fear of her. Her commitment to trying her hardest shined through as she fought this murderer, no matter how she failed to hit him once, her enthusiasm never faltered.

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura rounded the corner just in time to see Sora taking a punch in her throat, they stood frozen as they watched their teammate struggle to stand back up again.

Sasuke started to stalk forward but a hand stopped him, "Let her fight this battle, she needs this." his sensei warned him. The sharingan wielding boy scowled, he knew it was wrong of him to just stand there watching her suffer.

Within the second she got up the attacker shot 4 kunai at her, she only managed to dodge one. The other three dug deeply into non vital places, one in her upper thigh, one on the right side of her collar bone and the last her upper torso.

Sore felt the kunai cut through all her layers of skin, and two of them even pierced the muscle. She cried out in pain as she fell to one knee, frustrated but she accepted defeat, she had no other choice this was her only option. The brunette stared down at the 2 wounds she could see, she smelled the rusty thick liquid that secreted from her gashes.

The more she stared, the more blood she saw pool around her, she closed her eyes to relief her slight dizziness, she suddenly felt a new pain burning high on her left breast. Her eyes shot open as she gasped in anguish, she was met by the left side of her reflection, Sora followed it up until she saw the man.

In the seconds she had her eyes closed the man quickly and silently had pulled his blade and with inhuman speed and had shoved it through her chest. The pain she was feeling was beyond any words she could come up with, nothing could even compare to this feeling. She couldn't even open up her mouth to scream, no way to release how much pain she was in, the air had a deadly stillness to it.

Kakashi watched as his student was mortally wounded with wide eyes, he quickly pulled up his headband exposing his lone sharingan eye. The silver haired jonin had just enough time to summon the chidori before the traitor of Fiore extracted his sword from Sora and disappeared.

"Sakura go to the woman first! I'll do what I can for Sora until you are finished with her!" Kakashi screamed as he ran to his injured student who laid crumbled in on herself. When he reached her an overwhelming rush of emotions flooded his body, sorrow, sympathy but the one that was the most noticeable was guilt. He stood there, thinking he had to let Sora fight her own battle, but this is what the decision led to.

Kakashi knelt down and tenderly flipped Sora onto her back so he could assess her wounds, 'Damnit….this looks horrible, all this damage…and it's all my fault.' he told himself in his head. "Sakura come here now! Naruto, get that woman to a hospital as quickly as possible." the copy ninja yelled, then turned back to look at Sasuke.

The look on his face, Kakashi has never seen these emotions before, let alone any emotion. Sasuke looked truly pained and troubled by what he just saw, his eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes so gentle. "Sasuke, come here I need you." his sensei said quietly.

The chunin ran over as fast as he could, "What can I do?" he asked eagerly as he appraised Sora's mangled body.

"Lift her head, and make sure she keeps breathing." Kakashi told him, he watched as Sasuke's pale arm snaked around her neck and lifted her up gingerly. He then looked over to watch Sakura pull out the kunai knives, and watched each jerk Sora gave as her muscles were relieved of the foreign object. He winced as he saw her body react to Sakura's chakra, although it was helping her, her body still was suffering from the other wounds that had yet to be healed.

"Alright, I have stopped the bleeding. That sword narrowly missed her heart, thankfully, but that wound will be the longest one to heal. She will need a lot of bed rest, but now she is stable." Sakura announced. Her heart felt heavy, she did all she could, but she wishes she could do more for her fallen comrade. "Sasuke, could you carry her to the place where we are staying, please?" Sakura asked as she looked at him.

She saw the way he looked at Sora, and her heart collapsed as she realized what this must mean, her affections will never be returned. She was used to this rejection, and she had gotten used to it throughout the years, and right now her duty was to help Sora and to kill the man who did this to her. No room for compassion for Sasuke on this trip, only vengeance could occupy her heart.

Sasuke nodded as he carefully cradled Sora in his arms and began walking towards the hotel, leaving Sakura and Kakashi in the alleyway.

SOra faintly heard the door creak open, it was pitch black so she could only vaguely see a shadow walking towards her. Her heart pumped hard, she felt no threat, and yet she was so frightened since she was weak and still injured, she could not fight this person off.

The looming figure stopped as they made it to the bed she saw the eyes then, one invisible and the other one glowing a bright red. 'Kakashi…' she sighed loudly as she spoke to her teacher "Hello sensei." she voiced tiredly. She heard him chuckle as he reached for the lamp next to her bed, when the room was illuminated she looked at Kakashi.

Something different was behind his eyes, a new emotion she had yet to encounter. It made her curious as to what was brewing behind is mismatching eyes. "What is it, sensei?" she asked him. Her eyes grew large as she saw his hand reach up to her face, and felt herself stiffen as his rested his palm on her cheek. Silent questions were being screamed through her eyes as she felt them smolder, a new desire ripping through her.

She knew her feelings for Sasuke and would never want anyone but him, and somehow in this moment she wanted someone else. The brunette continued to stare into the eyes of a man nearly 14 years her senior, in that instant she felt something inside her that willed her body forward towards him.

Her hand lifted weakly up and was on his cheek as well, looking like opposites. She never recalled ordering any part of her body to move, still they moved involuntarily. Sora welcomed this new feeling she had that pulsated through her veins, making her blood almost boil inside her, but not in anger, instead in lust.

Before she could grasp why her body was reacting this way Kakashi removed his mask with his free hand, and Sora saw a sight she never thought she would.

Kakashi's face was stunning. Perfectly outlined jaw, amazingly high cheek bones, full pale pink lips, he was beautiful.

She barely had enough time to memorize his face before his lips crashed down onto hers with enough force that made her fall back, bringing Kakashi with her. His lips were soft and yet dominating, hot but gave her the chills. So many conflicting emotions it was hard to sort them out and distinguish each of them, but somehow she was able to. Pleasure and pain, rapture and hatred, bliss and grief, and lastly willingness and regret.

Sora loved Sasuke, and Kakashi was her teacher and so much older than her, this would be looked down upon by anyone.

He finally pulled back to look at her, he exuded passion that was almost a visible aura. She didn't know what to do, or even what to say, she just continued to look deep into his eyes. She looked over him face what seemed like a million times, she wanted to remember the planes of his face, his lips, just the sight of him without his mask Finally after what seemed like hours to Sora, Kakashi parted his lips and spoke.

"I know that it doesn't feel right to you, and I know how much you love Sasuke, I've just been needing to do that for so long. And I've need to do this also…" his voice became a soft whisper as he brought his face down to hers once more.

At first his kisses were feather soft, just brushing his lips against her cheeks, her lips, her eyes, the bridge of her nose, her jaw, just lightly grazing them. But as he reached her neck they became more urgent, he nipped and ran his tongue lightly along the length of her neck, and kissed her adams apple. Once her got to the crook of her shoulder he stopped and gave her collar bone a longer, more drawn out kiss, right where the kunai had pierced her. His kiss gradually became an open mouth kisses as he circled her still healing wound, and engulfed it with his mouth, sucking lightly on it.

Sora's mouth was open slightly as she quietly moaned as she felt the small sting of his saliva on her wound, and the throb of pain and he sucked on her laceration.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt his warm hand pull down her shirt slightly and his lips explored looking for her second wound that was located on her chest. He found it right above her left breast where the sword had nearly killed her, he repeated his kissing that he had done on the opposite side of her chest plate.

Sora let her head fall back onto the pillow, and allowed her hand run through his silver hair. Every once in a while she would tug slightly on his hair, just to go back to preening his mane. She nearly stopped breathing as she felt his hand pull down the blanket and run along her side, down her hip and to her thighs as he pushed her shorts up exposing her ravaged leg.

Kakashi hovered his lips down the length of her body until he reached his destination. He gingerly licked the entire cut, that sent chills through Sora's body. Gave light kisses around her wound, and left her thigh with one last kiss.

"It is my fault you have each of those wounds, and for that I deeply apologize." he whispered as he met her gaze, "I had to…do what I could to make you feel the slightest bit better. Not sure what kind of damage I might have done, or what good I have done. It eases my mind to know I've done what I could." His lips pulled up at the corners to reveal a breathtaking smile. "I know your feelings for Sasuke, and if I have done something that might have faltered that love, I'm so sorry. It was killing me inside knowing what I have caused, and I had to act in some way. To show you how sorry I am, and how much I care for you. I might care too much, but I accept the fact I will never have you. But if you end up choosing me, I will never let you regret it."

The silver haired man crooned the last sentence to her, he gave her once last kiss on the cheek and exited her room.

Thoughts were scrambling throughout Sora's mind, buzzing around like bees. What had she just allowed to happen to her? What was that feeling she let overtake her body? She loved Sasuke, but now lusted for Kakashi, her sensei and teacher. What has she gotten herself into, what kind of hole has she now dug for herself?