Holidays. I'm moving to Uni next year so I may not be able to get on the internet except for assignments. I don't know how I will survive. Oh and you know what, Sakura actually pisses me off, her character and everything. I mean she's better than she once was but she's still too mean to Naruto. I love Naruto; she needs to be nicer to him.

'This time baby, I will be, bulletproof.'

I'll protect you, always

It had taken few moments before the kunoichi followed her sensei in. Locating her team's chakra, she found them in a large, circular room, eerily familiar to what Shino described. This had to be where the organization had sat.

"What took you so long Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. Glancing quickly at Kakashi then looking back to Naruto, Sakura shrugged.

"Just making sure everything was empty like you said."

"I'm not an incompetent idiot you know."

"Ooh, big words Naruto," Kiba taunted. Everyone paused, trying to keep the grins off of their faces. Naruto, who had become slightly more aware in his later years, noticed everyone's reaction.

"Shut up dog breath! I know big words!"

"Ahh," Kiba nodded, a glint in his eye. "But do you know what they mean?"

Hinata, quick to consol her beloved jumped in saying, "we know you are not dumb Naruto-kun and definitely not incompetent. Y-you are very strong." Only one stutter.

Amazing.

At this the fox-boy let go of his irritation, not wanting to distress Hinata any further. He felt his heart want to burst with love because she defended him, because she had always been there, from the very beginning. Snickers came from Kiba.

"She didn't say anything about you not being an idiot though." Kakashi, Shino and Sakura left the two boys to squabble with Hinata refereeing, in order to talk.

"They have left. Most likely after having sensed Shino's spies," Kakashi assumed. Shino and Sakura nodded in agreement. There was no way that they hadn't been able to sense that someone had fallen into the trap, especially a nasty one like that. Together they made a plan to stop the organization before they kidnapped the daiymo's daughter, later this night. Sakura was focused but she felt a familiar urge.

An urge she had not fixed since the Anbu had collected her from her house.

Her scars tingled, begging to be opened again, to bleed.

Oh, she wanted to bleed.

Her thoughts, once focused, had now turned sour and she was almost grateful for the attack. Almost.

With ninja reflexes, everyone defended themselves as three enemies ambushed them. How the three thought they could beat six Konoha jounin was a mystery. Sakura wasn't arrogant but three against six, highly skilled ninja's was in Konoha's favour. But ambushes considerably lowered their chances of winning.

Shuriken released from time traps and were barely avoided by Hinata. The stones moved underneath Shino, Kiba and Akamaru's feet. Water tried to drown the rest of them. The medic-nin fought back, creating a genjutsu of her drowning (it's odd seeing yourself die) so that she could sneak up upon her opponent; the water user. It was the rogue assassin who attacked them a day ago, the one Shino had tortured. She watched as he smiled at her death, obviously not the genjutsu expert of the team and the other wasn't either. It filled her with a tiny sense of relief to know that such an amazing genjutsu-user, one who had crippled them all, was no longer their enemy because they had killed him.

Quickly pulling out her kunai, she felt a burst of satisfaction from the blood pouring down the rogue's throat. The kunoichi did not have to channel his thoughts and feelings to feel happy at this shinobi's death. She was perfectly fine knowing that he wouldn't ever be able to hurt anyone she loved again. A medic-nin she may be, but some archaic, primitive part of her would always, always, rejoice in the feel of her enemies' blood.

She looked over at the others. Those who had been attacked by the water-user were free, now that he was dead. Hinata had killed the other rogue and had turned to face the blue-haired women but she got no further. She stood beside Kiba and Akamaru; they were trapped in stone, only their faces visible.

Everyone paused.

"So," the blue-haired woman declared, "you are the shinobi from Konoha." She looked at each of them, condescension on her face. "Pity. I thought there would be more of you. It's so much more interesting when I get to kill a large group of ninja's."

No one made a sound, to wary of what she would do to Kiba and Akamaru.

"What? You're speechless?" She mocked, lifting her hand. "Well, that's okay, I'll just make sure you remember who killed you!" On her hand, tattooed, was the number 11.

"I suspect you are the eleventh of your group then," Kakashi declared impassively. "Meaning you are the weakest of them all."

The woman bristled at that before regaining her calm. Making a show of tightening the stone around Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata, she laughed.

"Well, the weakest of my group is the one who is going to kill you," then she attacked them all. Stone rolled everywhere and all Sakura could see was dust. Each time her punches broke the blocks of stone attacking her, the dust grew heavier and heavier. Sakura felt herself being pushed further and further away from everyone else. Loud noises still echoed within the cave but she couldn't sense the others anymore; as if they had cloaked their chakra or . . .

'Don't think that. They are strong. They will be alright. He will be alright.'

Stuck in a defensive stance, the stones had stopped attacking her. She could not see for all the dust in the air but she had long ago started to rely on her other senses. That was when the medic-nin realized she couldn't move, couldn't breathe. It was as if her own body had turned against her, turned to stone. Chakra below the surface, she tried to break free but her blood, her chakra had turned rock hard.

Sakura was dying and she couldn't save herself.

The blue-haired woman, number eleven, appeared from the dust. Eleven, as she had named her, was grinning a triumphant grin. The sound of fighting and breaking stone still littered the cave.

No one was here to help her and she was too weak, too pathetic to fight her way free. The pink-haired nin felt tears rise to her eyes but obstinately kept them down. She had told herself she would never burden anyone every again. Reaching, reaching, she almost had her chakra; almost had the strength to break free. However, eleven, whose teeth were bared, leaned closer and the jutsu grew in power. She wasn't going to make it, her heart was nearly at a stop.

At least, the kunoichi thought with eyes closed, I'll be free of him.

As she waited for death to take her, Sakura was startled when her body unfroze and air filled her lungs. Eyes snapping open, the sight of a kunai protruding eleven's throat surprised her. With a merciless yank, the kunai was pulled free and Sakura saw her savior. There stood her teammate, covered in blood.

His eyes the red of Kyuubi.

Naruto lost sight of everyone as stone smashed down on him. He had to use all of his speed just to avoid being crushed. Hinata was somewhere out there, fighting in the dust. He hoped she was all right and placed his faith in her strength and determination.

The fox boy needed to find eleven. If he defeated her, the stones would stop attacking him. With all his strength, Naruto broke through the layers of stone that had tried to encircle him, (it was as if they had a mind of their own.) This woman thought she could beat him, that she could beat six Konoha shinobi. Naruto was determined to break her delusion.

Another stone propelled itself at him, its shape similar to a hand; a hand reaching out to kill him. Moving quickly, a wind jutsu momentarily cleared the surroundings of dust.

The blonde felt his heart stop.

He had found eleven, but she was not alone.

Sakura, his self-proclaimed sister, stood frozen in front of the blue-haired woman, eyes closed. He could see that her chakra was lacing her body, trying to do something, anything that would save her.

She won't make it, he thought frantically. No, that couldn't happen.

Sakura was one of his precious people.

His to love . . . to protect . . . to kill for.

'Ours. How dare that filthy ningen, that filthy human, raise a hand against our bitch. Hill her. Kill her. Tear her heart still beating from her chest.' Kyuubi roared, his anger washing over Naruto. Naruto did not bother to fight him, for he and Kyuubi were in agreement.

Although he did not refer to Sakura as his bitch, even if it sent a thrill through his body, but that was all Kyuubi's influence on him. Mostly.

Canines lengthened, fingers turned to claws and eyes went blood red. Kyuubi's thoughts mingled with his as they both ran full out to eleven. She was going in for the kill when he reached her, kunai already digging into the back of her neck. Satisfaction and hunger flared as eleven's blood was spilt.

Dead, dead, dead,' Kyuubi growled gleefully in the background, his 'eyes' glinting violence and amusement.

Naruto/Kyuubi looked over to their bitch/sister. Her eyes were staring at him, shocked, mouth open in dismay. They would make sure she was not hurt.

At Kyuubi's urging, his kit went over to Sakura. He caught her before she fell. Her tiny body trembled and they pulled her into their lap. Some of the blood from eleven had landed upon their sister's face.

They licked the blood off, they nuzzled their face in her hair all the while telling Sakura, "ours to protect, ours. Only we can hurt you, but we won't, you heal us, you fight with us. We will tear apart anyone that will harm what is ours. We will roll in their blood and savour their death. All ours. You are all ours."

Naruto knew that he and Kyuubi were too closely entwined but he did not care. Kyuubi was not trying to escape and Sakura seemed content to stay in his arms. After all, he and Kyuubi were becoming closer, more a part of each other, everyday.

Then he caught another scent. This one was sweeter, smelling of vanilla and apples. It was her, his lavender-eyed princess. Kyuubi purred in satisfaction as they drew Sakura in closer and looked up.

There she was, blood on her cheeks and eyes a little wide. The others were with her, but he did not care. They did not care.

"Hinata," they purred, eager to hold her too, "come and let us see how bad you are hurt. Then we will you as we hold this one in our arms." Her eyes widened and her body shook but she moved forward.

The others tried to stop her but Naruto/Kyuubi growled at them. She stood next to him and he grinned, canines sharp and visible.

"Sit." She sat and they pulled her close, breath fanning across her face, before on strong lick swept across the blood on her cheeks, sucking on the wound, healing it with his chakra.

"Ours," they murmured. "Ours to protect. Ours to fuck." Hinata gasped and Kiba choked on air.

"Mate." He nuzzled and licked her, checking for injuries but keeping a hand on his Sakura. Voices in the background confirmed that the threat had been eliminated and that a scroll left on eleven's body contained all the information they needed to destroy this organization.

Naruto/Kyuubi didn't care; the one who had hurt his precious people was dead.

They curled up into a ball, four fully-solid tails popping out and dragging Sakura and Hinata into him. Naruto and Kyuubi had slowly been transfusing through the years, so he was not alarmed like everyone else.

This wasn't the first time solid tails had appeared. They both liked it. After all, apart from being an extra sensory limb, the tails was strong and the fur wonderfully soft. They inhaled, reveling in Sakura and Hinata's scent. They were surrounded by their precious people and strong allies, 'friends' Naruto added, who would make sure they were not vulnerable while they slept.

They smiled as Hinata buried her face into their chest, closing her eyes. Weary and warm Hinata fell asleep, and they soon followed.

Sakura lay in their arms, flying the heights of the unconscious mind.