Waking alone and thus a little disappointed, Sakura pushed back a blanket considerably softer and warmer than the one she'd left behind at the barracks. The black and white quilt smelled like him, smelled of them and it brought a warm, languid smile to her face. Just the memory of him opening the window and pulling her into his arms made her want to melt back into the covers and wait for him to come back; she could "apologize" again for last night. Darui had proven quite receptive to her first apology - though she'd had to wake him quite early to offer it.

The cloud-filtered sunlight breaking through the window and the sound of unfamiliar birds chirping outside, made her feel like she was still within a hazy dream; but she wasn't, and there were things that needed doing. Off to the left, Sakura could hear movement mixed in with the low drone of music from the radio out in the small kitchen. He was making something in there, though she didn't think she'd have time for breakfast.

Time, what time is it?

As she sat up and drew her hair together over her shoulder, her eyes flicked to the small, dented, silver clock sitting atop the antique scroll chest across the room; it was a little after eight o'clock. She didn't have much time until she had to go back. Darui had mentioned they would be at the same briefing at nine, and she had to return to her men before that.

Thinking of her team made her clench her teeth. She was thoroughly annoyed with the three of them being so overprotective to the point that she couldn't move on her own any longer. It had been this way ever since she'd returned to Konoha. She had been forced into taking extreme measures this time, and she wondered if her little display of power would make them more or less tractable.

It hurt that Kakashi had proven that he could not be trusted at all to obey her. She was still angry with him for that. Sakura knew it was partially her own fault for teasing him, favoring him like she had in the past. Letting him kiss her was just the last leaf to fall off the tree. He existed in that uncomfortable spot in her psyche somewhere between child and partner, and continued to try to establish himself in the latter category. She wondered if their talk last night was enough to convince him it was futile.

Sakura rubbed her eyes a second time and slipped out of bed, looking for her clothes. The red and white and black items of her usual outfit remained pooled conveniently near the foot of the bed where she'd discarded them. As she finished dressing, the scent of tea wafted in and with it Darui. He was shirtless and had a mild, sleepy look on his face as he offered her the steaming earthenware cup.

"Good timing," she said, finishing the buckles on her second knee-high boot and accepting it. Tea was often served cold in the Lightning Country and generally later in the day; people here had coffee in the morning instead, but she never acquired the taste for it. It was nice of him to remember.

"I try," he said, grinning down at her like he couldn't quite believe she was sitting there, nor that she'd so boldly come to him. Darui pulled the chair over from his desk and sat down across from her, putting his feet up on the bed.

She couldn't help admiring him either; his pale, shaggy hair was still wet from showering, and he wore only a loose pair of dark gray track pants, so she had a good view of his nicely-muscled torso. He looked so at ease, she wondered how he could be the same guy who supposedly took down the entire Muboshi Clan for insulting the Third Raikage, when he was a kid. She'd wondered before how much of that story was true, but she'd never asked him about it.

Sakura had plenty of unpleasantness in her own past, and it couldn't all be written off to self-preservation. She was still referred to "Heart-cutter Sakura" in certain parts of the Earth Country, after a fight where she judiciously if somewhat bloodily applied her knowledge of medical jutsu. There was always more to stories like that – and anyway, she'd cut out that bastard's kidneys, not his heart. The heart was much harder to get to.

"What?" Darui said, noticing her staring and the dark shift in her expression. "Having regrets already?"

"No, just thinking too much. I missed you," she said, and flashed a desirous smile at him over her tea. Sakura had taken what she could get, but now it felt like a few hours with him wasn't going to be enough; it was a greedy fire she'd just fed.

"I kinda got that vibe when you were knocking on my window this morning," he said, nudging her thigh with his big toe.

"If you only knew how glad I was you actually woke up. You always sleep so heavily," she said, teasing. He motioned for her to come over to him.

She stood up and moved to loop a leg over onto his lap, facing him. Wanting her hands free, she set her cup on the smooth intersection of stone between the two big, black-and-white, cloud-patterned carpets that covered most of the floor, then he had her full attention. Darui wrapped his arms around her tight like she were something precious he had to hold onto or lose, and pressed his face into her hair. She'd missed this embrace.

"Not to guilt trip you or anything, but I wasn't sleeping too well after we talked last night," he said, running his hands softly over her back and making her sigh.

"I wasn't at my best, I'll admit. I promise I won't do anything like that again." If she could have this moment, anything was possible.

"I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner."

She gave a little laugh, and nuzzled into his neck. "How long has it been since I left - nineteen, twenty months maybe?" she asked.

"Sounds about right. Don't worry, I wasn't lonely," he said, with a small uneasy laugh.

Sakura pulled back from him a little to look him in the eyes. "I didn't expect you to be. I knew you'd be all right without me." She certainly hadn't abstained, since she hadn't thought she'd ever return.

"You didn't give me a choice," he said, and his tone edged over into resentment. He was usually so easygoing it was difficult to believe she had hurt him so deeply. There was anger in the set of his mouth, behind his eyes. Not the violent sort, though she'd seen that face before, too, in other circumstances.

"There was no choice," she said, frustrated, feeling some of her own resentment boiling up. "Konoha can't afford losing me. Your village didn't get destroyed twice in three years; that was bad, but then the war happened. It will take years to replace the thousands of skilled people we lost. That's the worst part for me, Darui - every time I go into Tsunade's office anymore she asks me if I'm going to push out a brat for her before I die. It's not exactly a pleasant situation, but am a Konoha kunoichi first and above all."

As far as having a family, Tsunade couldn't force her; but now that the reconstruction was well underway and the the Shinobi Alliance hadn't completely collapsed into yet another war, Sakura apparently had no reason for not doing her part to help restore the population. If there were a single person in Konoha she was interested in sharing parental responsibilities with, perhaps it wouldn't have been such an issue, but there wasn't and it was.

Darui nodded and sighed, leaning his head against her shoulder. "Let me know if you ever want my help with that last bit," he said, making her laugh nervously as she kissed his hair. This morning must have addled his mind – this relationship, whatever it was, wasn't worth getting into that much trouble over.

As a Kumo ninja bearing a kekkei genkai, there was no way he could or even should say something like that lightly. She'd never have even considered sleeping with him if she thought her contraception could fail. Then she'd be well and truly stuck in Kumogakure - at least until the child was born. From there she'd have to decide whether to stay or go back home alone.

"Even if I did – even if we could, I thought you said you already did your duty for your clan." She knew he wasn't married, but he'd mentioned in the past having a son who he didn't get to spend enough time with.

"Doesn't mean I don't want a family with somebody I like. Sorry, I'm not talking about breaking the law, but if you change your mind."

"You're serious, aren't you?" This went way beyond just wanting her to stay.

"Sakura-" he started to say, when someone began knocking on the front door of the apartment. "Shit. It's Shii." They heard the door open, and she moved to stand, but Darui's hands held her hips firm against him. He smirked in amusement at her as she narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't have time to get into it with his partner.

"Darui, are you up?" Shii yelled from the main room, knowing Darui's tendency to oversleep as well as Sakura did.

She glanced over her shoulder at the wide-paned row of windows, her intended escape route. "I should get back."

"Not even going to say hello?" he said.

"I'll wait until the briefing. Kiss me. After this it's strictly business." Which would be good, because then she could delay processing what he had just proposed.

He did and released her. "I am serious," he said in parting, as Shii appeared through the bedroom doorway.

Sakura smiled and winked at them as she jumped backwards out the window into the gray morning; she somersaulted and then used shunshin no jutsu to bound away, leaping between the narrow curves of the roofs built into the round peaks, and back to the heart of the village.


Geared up and ready, her team was waiting where she left them, but the mood in the barracks was tense. None of the three looked any worse for a couple extra hours sleep, but by their sullen expressions she supposed they didn't appreciate her methods.

Kakashi glowered at her, but said nothing. She felt a twinge of guilt at her harsh treatment of him the night before. There was really nothing else she could say to him though, that wasn't better off dealt with after they returned home. She'd rather he be angry with her than infatuated – then again there was no reason he couldn't be both she supposed. She'd have to hope he didn't push her again.

"Can I have a word with you, sempai?" Yamato asked, as they waited for their escort. She nodded and they stepped out into the barren, harshly-lit hallway, well away from the other two. Sakura leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, and waited for him to say his piece.

"I hope whatever you were doing this morning was worth it. Don't ever do that to us again." Yamato said us, but she heard me, which was fine, the rest of their unit was likely just as indignant but she'd known him the longest and could least afford his antipathy.

"It was. I dealt with some friction left over from my stay here a couple of years ago, and I couldn't afford to have any of you interfere. After you let Kakashi go out last night against my orders, I wasn't sure if I could trust you to act as second-in-command. You are supposed to uphold my authority," she said.

Yamato shook his head. "I told him to stay out of trouble and if you caught him it was his problem."

"So you did let him out."

"He said he was going to provide back-up if you ran into any problems. I didn't believe there was any reason to restrain him," he explained.

Sakura frowned at him. "Ridiculous insubordination. I thought out of the three of you, you were the one I could depend on most," she said, poking him in the chest. "I understand your need to be cautious, Yamato, but next time obey me. I promise I've taken care of all that tiresome business I had - there won't be any more opaque actions from here on out."

"I'll hold you to your word, sempai."

"Do," she said, and put her hand on his shoulder, looking up at him her expression grave. "Tell me that I can trust you."

His dark eyes held hers, shining like she'd said something very different. "You can, just don't go off alone anymore. I can't help feeling like this place is hostile," he said, and she could swear he was blushing a little.

She nodded, and patted his shoulder as she turned away. "It is - for you. We're going to head up to the entrance and wait for En, I think. We have a long day in front of us and I don't want to start it off by angering the Raikage by being late."


They were late, though it wasn't their fault.

En, Bee's student, didn't show up until nearly nine, and they were meeting up at one of the auxiliary gates, well away from where they were staying. Sakura had to restrain herself several times from clouting the younger shinobi on the head. He didn't seem to understand how embarrassing it was for them, or perhaps he did and he didn't care – or even worse he'd done it on purpose.

Even if it was only a few minutes, as soon as she saw the Raikage waiting there in his hat and long white robe, she wanted to sink into a hole and die, and pray her ancestors would forgive her. Darui and Shii and a kunoichi Sakura didn't recognize, all stood near Ei in the flat, barren area around a small stone door, looking bored. The corner of Darui's mouth quirked up a little as their eyes met, and she had a fleeting moment of reassurance. Very fleeting.

"YOU'RE LATE!" roared the Raikage, wearing his usual scowl.

En quickly stepped in front, between them and Ei. "I apologize, Raikage-sama, the delay was entirely my fault," said En, kneeling down on one knee on the rough stone in shame. "I-"

The Raikage interrupted before he could elaborate. "Don't make me regret putting you on this assignment, En," he said, his lip curling in disgust and displaying his prominent canines.

Sakura frowned at the news that this troublesome kid was coming with them. He looked about the same age as Kakashi, if shorter. She didn't complain, there was still plenty she didn't know about him, including En's skills.

"I won't, Raikage-sama," En said.

"Go stand with the others," ordered the Raikage, and then he turned his fierce glare onto Sakura. "Haruno Sakura, tell your men to remove their masks."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "But Raikage-sama, they are Tsunade's personal-"

"NO ARGUMENTS!" he said, the volume of his voice making her wince.

She had agreed to acknowledge his authority, but she hadn't thought he'd ask the others to sacrifice their anonymity. Being faceless was important if they wanted to avoid having the price on their heads in the black-market bingo books go up. Kakashi already had a twenty million ryo bounty and he wasn't even old enough to drink legally.

There were psychological reasons too - actions taken while wearing the mask, like assassinations, belonged to the mask, to the Hokage and to Konoha as a whole, not the hand carrying them out. Creating such a partition allowed them to maintain good soldiers who were also relatively sane and willing to take those sorts of missions again.

"May I at least ask why?"

He growled a little at her impertinence. "This mission was meant to find out who killed our Daimyou and eliminate them - but due to pressure from both the Hokage and Mizukage and their superiors via messages sent early this morning, we are to attempt to re-establish the cease-fire as well," he looked extremely displeased about this most recent development.

"The Mizukage?" This was good news. Terumi Mei was much more cool-tempered than the other two kages involved, but no less shrewd. If she could defuse the Raikage's attempt at seeking revenge, all the better.

"Yes, she claims to have certain trade agreements that would be disrupted if an extended conflict were to erupt. Given the weakness of their economy, I doubt they can afford it. If they hadn't lost that particular island in the first place, perhaps they'd be in better straits."

"I see... but-" Sakura tried to say.

"WOMAN, I'M JUST GETTING TO THE POINT!" he shouted, and Sakura's mouth snapped shut. "We're splitting the eight of you into two teams, one for hunting down the assassin, the other for negotiating with the leadership in Noumugakure. Darui will lead the first team, you will lead the other."

Noumugakure must be their hidden village, but Sakura had never heard of it. If they had a hidden village perhaps they held to other customs of the shinobi system. "So, this has become a Shinobi Alliance mission in essence."

"It has," Ei said, crossing his hugely-muscled arms. She noticed he had a different prosthesis today, a thick golden hook with a wicked point at the end of the curve. It made him look even more terrifying if that was remotely possible. "You will be covering for Darui's team, acting as envoys, while they search for more information. Your main job will be to get them to either hand over the killer or inform them that we'll find him ourselves and deal with him. Also, find out how the hell they got through our defenses. The team investigating it in the capital is still baffled. It has to be a new jutsu."

She was curious herself about what technique had been used to kill the Daimyou in such a violent and untraceable manner. "What about the cease-fire?"

"The business with the cease-fire will wait until I'm satisfied that justice has been served," he said, ignoring Sakura's frown. He couldn't expect her to ignore the will of both the Hokage and the Mizukage. She supposed it was a good thing she'd be handling the negotiations instead of him.

Darui spoke up. "Is the Mizukage sending anyone, boss?"

"She is. You will rendezvous with her people when you reach the coast. I'll leave you two to decide how to incorporate them into the mission once you've determined their usefulness," he said derisively, implying they would be of little to no use at all.

"How much do we actually know about the Fading Island, anyway?" asked Shii, grinding his heel against the fine gravel underfoot. Sakura thought that he was either irritated, or troubled at how blind they were going into the mission. She was a little relieved he didn't know more than she did, which was petty, but Shii had liked to hold things like that over her head in the past.

"Not much. It's a closed society, in far more of an extreme capacity than we have ever attempted or known in our villages. What we do know is in the mission files, which you will have a week to review while you travel." The Raikage produced two scrolls from inside one of his voluminous sleeves. He tossed one to Darui and the other to Sakura.

Sakura resisted opening hers, tucking it away in her pouch, though she had many questions. Their teams would be traveling together for a while yet, at least until they reached the island. From there she would have to navigate carefully, though she doubted anything they threw at her could possibly be worse than what the Akatsuki had had to offer.

The Raikage caught her eyes and gestured with his hook. She turned to her men, not hiding her reluctance. "It seems we have no choice. Remove your masks."