Sorry for the wait.

I've been really booked lately and any spare time I've had has gone towards Mist Maiden.

Normally, I'd respond to my reviewers in this chapter, but for some reason my account is screwing up.

Oh, don't worry.

I will be able to read your reviews for this chapter, but not until I've posted the next two.

I have no idea what's going on.

So, to reviewers of chapter eight, I can see that you've left a review.

I just can't read them until after I've posted chapter ten.

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"If you have the courage to love, you have the courage to suffer."
Author Unknown

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Sakura was not happy.

"What do you mean," she growled dangerously through gritted teeth, "my clothes are too revealing?"

Both males visibly flinched.

Perhaps mused the cringing Nara male I should have put a little more thought into my greeting. If the glare Neji was directing at him was any indication, he thought so as well.

Still, despite the death glare she was currently pining him with, he had to admit she looked stunning. The clothes fit her like a glove and accentuated her figure and coloring beautifully, making her already dazzling emerald eyes even more radiant.

That added to her anger flushed cheeks and her eyes ablaze in fury, made her simply…

Breathtaking.

Could he really be blamed for wanting to keep such beauty to himself…or attempting to at least dim it a little in the eyes of others?

His possessive nature didn't think so.

Unfortunately, Sakura didn't follow his reasoning.

…at all.

Hence, his current predicament.

Said female currently pinned him with a death glare, nonverbally demanding a response to an impossible question.

Beads of perspiration gathered on the increasingly nervous man's forehead, damning evidence of his building fear.

How the hell the Nara thought, mind racing furiously do I answer that?!

"I'm still waiting for an answer." The medic's eyes flashed in warning.

Sakura couldn't believe the gall of that bastard.

How dare he?!

Here she was, already in foul mood from her earlier encounter with her charming ex-teammates, sporting both turbulent emotions and a rapidly worsening headache, and the first thing he does is insult her fashionable -for once!- outfit!

Were all men complete idiots?!

"What I meant was…," the terrified male desperately searched his mind for a believable cover-up. Brain he inwardly pleaded don't fail me now.

"Was?" the furious rosette prompted with a hiss. "Please Shika, do go on. I'd love to hear your reason for being so fucking inconsiderate."

Normally, the medic wouldn't be so sensitive -or bitchy- about such a slipup; but her emotions, already on edge from her earlier encounter, had simply snapped.

Shikamaru's comment -unfortunately for him- had just been the straw that broke the camel's back. If Sakura had really stopped to think about it, the Nara wasn't really even the one she was angry at.

She, however, didn't, and the shadow master was stuck bearing the brunt of a testy medic's fury.

Swallowing thickly, and studiously ignoring Sakura's fierce scowl, the Nara tried again. "The clothes are perfectly decent," encouraged by the easing of her glare, he forged on, "I just think you got them in too small a size."

A deadly hush swiftly followed his words.

Sweet kami a wide-eyed Neji cast a disbelieving stare Shikamaru's way did he just…did he just call her fat?

Judging from the Nara's profusely sweating brow and trembling hands, this was indeed the case. That the brunette thought with profound pity for his male comrade is a dead man.

Said man felt a lead weight settle unpleasantly in his stomach. Please the Nara fervently implored any listening deities please tell me I didn't just say that out loud.

Shaking his head in amazement of the normally intelligent man's blunder of epic proportions, Neji viewed the Nara's frantic attempts to piece together an explanation or apology…or escape plan, he wasn't really sure.

The sight of Shikamaru's panic, however, triggered a memory of himself in a similar position; of the shadow master leaving him high and dry to face a fire breathing Sakura all by his lonesome. And, just like that, all his sympathy for the man evaporated.

Karma he thought in satisfaction is a beautiful thing.

He cast a smirking glance Shikamaru's way. Let's see you get out of this one Nara. The Hyuuga, still quite sore at the Nara for abandoning him earlier, now took pleasure in the shadow user's dilemma.

Shikamaru saw the glance.

So much for help in that quarter he grumbled inwardly.

The momentary distraction, as he soon found out, would cost him.

Mind still scrambling for a feasible plan of action, he looked up just in time to see a chakra-laced fist.

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"Hidan?" A still snarling Naruto viewed the -suppose to be deceased- nin through angry slits. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Shikamaru had buried the Akatsuki member alive years ago and they, after wiping out the rest of the organization, had later laid him to a more…permanent rest.

So there was no possible way the bastard could be nonchalantly standing before them.

At least…no way Sasuke could fathom.

"A better question," frosty Sharingan glared at the man, "would be what the fuck are you doing alive?"

Said man, unfazed by the four pairs of eyes boring into him, merely blinked in confusion.

"Hidan?" puzzled violet eyes peered curiously at them. "Who is he?"

The question gave the Leaf shinobi pause.

He the startled artist nin thought has to be fucking kidding.

"Do you," Sai's eyes narrowed even further, insulted and angered at the man's pathetic attempt at a defense, "take us as idiots?"

"No!" the man's eyes sparkled in sincerity, "I don't think you're dumb at all!" The Hidan look-alike chewed his bottom lip nervously, "Sakura-neechan taught me that I shouldn't be quick to judge people, and, since I just met you, I can't tell for sure if you're idiots or not."

His answer was almost laughably genuine, but its honesty was wasted on the four shinobi. The minute the man said Sakura's name, their vision became clouded by fiery rage.

Already testy from their kunoichi's earlier departure, they weren't in the mood to passively endure a dead man's bullshit; especially when it involved Sakura.

"You," Kakashi's soft voice held deadly promise, "picked the wrong time to be funny."

Bewildered eyes widened at the malice dripping from the copy-nin's words. Are they he wondered innocently mad at me?

He didn't know what their problem with him was; he hadn't done anything to them. He had just met them for Pete's sake!

So why were they glaring at him so evilly?

Maybe he mused they missed their afternoon nap? He knew he got cranky when he missed his, so perhaps that's why they were being so mean.

Before he could further contemplate the reasons behind their treatment of him, however, the objects of his musing charged.

Violet eyes widening in slight fear, the man viewed the rapidly approaching forms in total bewilderment. What he wondered frantically while viewing the murderous intent in their eyes did I do?!

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"Choujiiiiii!"

The harried male glanced up at the call, instantly recognizing the voice. Rolling his eyes, and looking to the heavens for patience, he replied to the bellow. "In here Ino!"

Within seconds, an extremely pleased blonde strut into the kitchen, looking every bit like the cat who had stolen the cream.

A look that had the Akamichi male tensing in trepidation. "Ino," he leveled hard eyes towards his oldest female friend, "what have you done?"

Pasting on an utterly scandalized expression, she shot a hurt glance his way. "Why do you always think the worst of me Chouji?" Faux tears glistened in her eyes as she continued her overly dramatic charade, "I've always done nothing but try to be an excellent teammate and friend to you, and this is what I get in return," her chin trembled, "distrust and undeserved reprimands?"

The act left Chouji, seasoned with years of witnessing similar theatrics, unmoved.

"Yes," he answered shortly, "this is exactly what you get. Now," he turned a serious face towards her, "what have you done?"

She flashed him a winning smile, "Aww, come on Chouji! Don't be like that." She, with an impressive hair flip, hopped up on the counter. "I didn't do anything horrible! In fact," her voice dropped to a conspiring whisper, "I did something that will make the males of Konoha worship me for eternity."

A sense of impending disaster weighed down on the apprehensive male. "And just what," he asked a bit nervously, "is that exactly Ino?"

Practically beaming with satisfaction, the preening blonde airily replied, "Oh, nothing really," she made a show of inspecting her fingernails, "I just gave Sakura a drool-worthy makeover."

"You what?!," he stared at his teammate in horror. "Do you realize how pissed Shikamaru's going to be once he finds out it was you?! Worse still," he added in a terrified whisper, "when the others do."

Oh, Chouji wasn't blind. He knew exactly how his fellow nins felt towards the rosy-haired medic. And it was for that reason that he currently feared for Ino's well-being.

"Hey!," the affronted kunoichi exclaimed, "I wasn't the only one who did it! Hinata, Tenten, Shizune, and Lady Tsunade helped as well!" The indignant female jabbed the male in the chest, "So there!"

The Akamichi sighed wearily, "How you always manage to get yourself in these situations is beyond me, Ino." So is he mentally added with some disgruntlement how you never fail to tangle me up in them as well.

Resigning himself to helping his blonde friend out of yet another scrape, he rubbed his forehead. "What in the world," he asked in aggravation, "causes you to always be in the middle of all this drama?"

She sent him an unrepentant grin while shrugging carelessly, "I'm just special that way."

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Panting heavily, Kenji ran shaking hands through his blood-encrusted locks.

Just what he wondered hysterically the hell did I just fight?!

That creature, that thing, had been unlike anything he had come across before. It wasn't human, he wasn't even sure if it qualified as an animal.

The creature had had the basic outline of a human body; the standard two arms, two legs, one torso, one head.

That, however, was were the similarities ended.

Its discolored skin, a mottled mosaic of purple and gray tones, had been freezing to the touch; so much so that he was burned whenever they came in contact.

The obvious irregularity in its body temperature, however, hadn't been what had sent a horrified chill down his spine. No, that had been the creature's face.

Or rather, lack of one.

It had had no apparent facial features; no eyes, no mouth, nothing.

Which begged the question; just what the fuck was it?

Bracing his quivering legs, willing them to steady, he slowly moved to stand. Immediately, four of his men rushed to his side, offering their shoulders as crutches. Mind too jumbled to appreciate the gesture; he waved them off distractedly without a glance in their direction.

I have to inspect it he firmly reminded himself. Father will expect a full report on my return.

So, heart still furiously pounding, he slowly made his way to the carcass of his opponent.

Kenji's eyes were transfixed on the body, his feet carrying him to it of their own accord; this was fortunate, since his mind was too focused on other matters to bother with something as inane as rudimentary motor skills.

The ghastly sight as he came upon it temporarily stopped him cold.

Muscles still sporadically spasmed on the stiffening corpse and a thick, puce colored liquid sludged out of the several gaping wounds on the body.

Reigning in the first signs of hyperventilating, Kenji mentally gave himself a good shake. Get a hold of yourself man he harshly commanded himself it's not as if it's alive to hurt you.

So, pep talk done with, he kneeled down in the muck of bodily fluids and tissue beside the dead creature, beginning to meticulously examine the body for telltale signs of origin or species.

Just as he reached over to flip the body onto its side, however, his wrist was suddenly captured in the steely grip of the thought-to-be-dead thing.

Think yourself pretty clever don't you a gravely voice rasped in the confines of his mind. Think yourself capable of discovering just what I am with that 'intelligent' brain of yours.

A guttural rumble of laughter erupted from the creature. Silly, pitiful man it tsked in reproachment. You have no idea of the danger you're getting yourself into.

Kenji felt the thing smile wickedly in his mind. I was merely a low-level soldier it gleefully informed him you stand no chance against the higher-ups.

What do you mean? the young Kisaragi lord demanded. What happened here?

The births were successful it replied simply in an eerie singsong tone nothing else matters.

The births? Kenji's brows furrowed in confusion. Who or what was it that was conceived?

The births were successful it repeated nothing else matters. Its voice took on a feverish pitch as it continued to repeat the chant. The births were successful nothing else matters. The births were successful NOTHING else matters!

Tell me the young lord commanded icily what was born.

The thing, instead of complying, simply laughed. Wouldn't you just love to know? it cackled. And, with a triumphant mental smirk, the thing disintegrated right before his eyes.

I Kenji thought uneasily need to get back to the palace.

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Oh.

Fucking.

Hell.

Temari quickly took in the scene before her with panicked eyes. Why she thought resentfully do I always get stuck dealing with shit like this?

There before her eyes, to her intense displeasure, stood an extremely terrified Mamoru. A terrified Mamoru who was desperately fending off four enraged nins.

…and the poor silver-haired man was faring badly.

He had lacerations running the full length of his body, bruises littering every visible surface, and a right arm that was hanging at an odd angle.

In short, the man looked like hell.

Sakura the blonde thought with an inner shiver is not going to be happy.

Unfortunately, during the time she took evaluating the situation, Mamoru was forcibly slammed into a tree with a sickening crack.

The blonde kunoichi, upon hearing the sound, snapped her head in that direction. Shit! Shit! Shit! She thought as she frantically scrambled to come up with a plan of action. Sakura'll kill me if I let them kill him!

Not having time to contemplate any options, and lacking the calm to come up with any, she dove headfirst into the frenzy. Sweet kami she begged in a quick, silent prayer please let me survive.

She vaguely noted her teammates' brief hesitation before plunging after. It's good to know she thought fleetingly in dry amusement that they didn't stick me with complete morons.

That, however was her last conscious thought, the one-sided fight below her demanded all her attention. She, while free falling in the air, rapidly scanned the area immediately underneath her in search of the perfect landing spot.

Just as she was about to say the hell with it, she finally located her target; a narrow gap between the two parties. Offering up pleas to any listening deities that she'd land with the limited time slot the gap existed, she angled her body to that location.

Quickly steeling herself for impact, she effortlessly placed herself between Mamoru and his attackers.

…and up close and personal to a fully formed rasengan. I she thought with morbid fascination as she stared intently at the swirling mass of chakra am going to die.

The kamis, however, seemed to favor her that day.

"What the fuck," a still crimson-eyed Naruto demanded as he lowered his attack, "do you think your doing Temari?"

"I think," she hated she slight tremor in her voice and swallowed thickly in an attempt to level it, "that I'm keeping you from attacking an innocent man."

"Innocent?" Kakashi questioned in a lethal whisper. "That 'innocent man' was part of the Akatsuki organization. There," he stated decisively with slight disgust in her direction, "is nothing 'innocent' about that."

Akatsuki? She wondered in confusion. Where did they-?

Oh.

Oh.

Her face lit up in understanding. So that's why they attacked him. She hadn't remembered how out of the loop those four where with the daily happenings in Konoha, of course they wouldn't know about Mamoru.

"You've got it all wrong!" She said in earnest explanation. "This man isn't who you thin-!"

Sasuke coldly interrupted her near hysterical explanation.

"Unless you have a death wish," fierce sharingan glared at her, "I suggest you move."

"But you don't understan-!"

Sai, impatient with the senseless conversation -and her in general-, took advantage of her inattention to charge the bewildered Mamoru.

Only to be promptly knocked back by the sudden appearance of a massive tree.

"Have all of you," an hard voice harshly questioned from the tree's branches, "completely lost all reason? Because that," the deep bass added, "is the only plausible explanation for your actions."

Four heads immediately snapped in the direction of the sound, instantly recognizing the speaker.

"Yamato," Kakashi greeted in a deceptively bland tone, "I wondered when we'd run into you."

"I was hoping," Naruto quietly growled, "that it would later rather than sooner."

Said man smoothly walked down the length of the tree, paying little mind to their anger. "Don't act too happy to see me," he dryly told the glaring males. "Now," he serenely commanded Temari, "why don't you continue with your explanation?"

Slightly fidgeting in discomfort as the focus of four murderous nins shifted to her, she took a deep, fortifying breath and began a brief rundown of the situation while quietly wondering why Yamato hadn't done it himself.

"This," she pointed to the beaten man behind her, "is not Hidan of the Akatsuki, but rather Mamoru of Konoha." Seeing the protests on their faces, she hurried on before they had a chance to interrupt.

"Approximately a year ago, Sakura, Lee, and Gai found him wandering the desert as they were returning from Suna. They, like you," she shot them a meaningful glance, "thought that he was Hidan and engaged him in battle. They found, however, that this 'Hidan' fought and acted differently than the one before."

Temari, to her relief, noticed that the killing intent in their auras had lessened. "They, curious as to the change, brought him back to Konoha with them. And, after running various medical tests and after putting him through several interrogations, Tsunade and the council deemed him safe."

She again rapidly continued since she saw them practically brimming with questions. "It just wasn't possible that he was Hidan. Mamoru, unlike that Akatsuki has no advanced regenerating abilities in his dna makeup; he isn't immortal."

"He also lacks the capability to perform Hidan's style of offense; his body just can't fight effectively while sustaining those types of injuries. So," she gave a dismissive shrug, "short of swapping bodies and adopting a new form of channeling chakra and a new fighting style, there is no way they can be the same person."

To her surprise, some lingering traces of aggression could still be noted on their forms. Now she wondered in exasperation what's their problem?

"What exactly," Sai's eyes glittered in barely repressed ferocity, "is this Mamoru's relationship with Sakura?"

The question startled her. Of all the random- Her musings, however, were cut short by Yamato's contemptuous snort.

"You four," glowering dark brown eyes narrowed at the males, "lost all rights to jealousy years ago."

Temari, feeling as though she were intruding on a private moment, silently gathered her team and Mamoru for departure. She had already quieted her conscience, now it was time to complete her mission. I'll let them sort out their own problems she decided as she moved to leave the Konoha nin behind I have enough on my plate.

Their departure was barely noted by the males, they had more pressing matters on their mind.

"You know why we left her behind Yamato," the Copy-nin snarled, disliking the other man's condescension towards them.

"What I know," he coldly replied, "is that you left a perfectly capable kunoichi behind due to unfounded fears and lack of faith in her abilities."

"That," slitted crimson eyes became more bestial, "is a load of bullshit."

"Is it?" The brunette calmly regarded them with disdain. "Leaving like cowards in the dead of night without so much as a goodbye is not what people generally do to valued teammates."

"Bringing that up again, huh?" Naruto sneered at him. "We explained our reasons to you then," the blonde snapped. "You know we wouldn't have been able to leave her behind if we saw her face to face, and you know the danger bringing her along would have placed her in!"

"I'll tell you now what I told you then," he pinned them with a hard glare. "How badly you damage your ties with Sakura is your own business, but don't expect any understanding or compassion from me."

Yamato's glare narrowed. "She's happy now, if you do anything to change that," he warned in a deadly whisper, "I'll rip all of you to shreds."

Blazing sharingan eyes fearlessly met his gaze, "You can't keep us from her."

"Oh," he replied with a mirthless chuckle, "I won't be alone."

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Sakura silently took in the madness before her and felt her weariness weigh more heavily upon her. It looks like I'm not going to be able to make it to the party after all she thought in resignation.

Lines of injured shinobi stretched out as far as the eye could see, some bodies mutilated until they became impossible to identify. Harried medics, looking overstressed and sleep deprived, dashed here and there in a vain attempt to keep up with the flood of patients.

Despite the chaos, her presence was quickly noted.

"Sakura-sama!" Multiple voices from multiple locations yelled her name in relief and, before she knew it, she found herself bombarded on all sides with questions and patient cases.

Taking a brief moment to allow all the day's emotional turmoil and insecurities to melt into her subconscious, she closed her eyes and deeply exhaled. Heal now she commanded herself dwell later.

With that, she swiftly fell into her collected, analytical, and objective medic persona; the persona she needed to endure the next several hours.

Pushing open the hospital doors, never ceasing in barking orders to her fellow medics, Sakura felt at peace. Strangely, though surrounded by death and suffering, she always felt right at home in this place.

This, this was her element. This was her domain; the place where she was most in control.

And right now, she was needed.

Unceremoniously stripping off the outfit she had cooed so long over that morning, she put on her customary medic gear.

Softly sighing, she reached up and rubbed her slightly throbbing temples as she headed to the emergency room. Something tells me she thought sardonically as she viewed the constant influx of patients that I'm not going to sleep much these next few days.

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Kudos to anyone who can guess who my inspirtion for Kenji's surname was!

Sorry that a confrontation between team seven and Neji and Shikamaru didn't happen.

I just couldn't work it in!

So, til next time.

Later.