Chapter Eleven—Revealing I

"You seem suspicious of me."

Glancing over, Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Hana spoke from where she was sitting quietly within a field gathering flowers. Turning her hooded face towards him, she tilted her head. "Why is that?"

Sasuke looked away. "You've been here for two weeks, yet you've done nothing to reclaim these missing fragments." He looked back. "You wander the village under guard and play with the children."

"Is that a crime?" She asked softly.

"You tell me, your nation is the one in danger." He snapped.

She was silent for a moment before a low chuckle emitted from her. He shot a glance over startled. Why was she laughing? Her shoulders shook as she stood. "You're such a fool sometimes Uchiha." She turned away. "It's hard to believe you possess the mastered Sharinghan."

Stiffening Sasuke growled. Queen or not, that was it. He leapt at her done with always staring at the hidden confinements of her face, but came to an abrupt halt as the cool steel tip of a sword suddenly rested against his throat, the glowing amber eyes within the hood of the mysterious queen stared at him silently as she held her weapon with ease.

"It's rude to attack the queen you know." A female spoke. Glancing over Sasuke found a masked guard of the Moon nation standing meters away with an arrow drawn and aimed at them.

"You'd know wouldn't you?" Sasuke retorted sharply. The female snorted before she let her arrow fly. Stunned, Sasuke watched as it flew straight at the queen and pierced through her hood as she turned her face to the other female. Stunned, he watched as her body fell limply to the ground and abruptly disappeared.

"What…?" He stared.

"So…you do still use those skills." The female observed.

"I'd be a fool to trust even those around me." Hana's voice spoke softly from the side. Sasuke turned to find her standing with the wolf Kage at her side her sword bared at her side. The female pulled away her mask and narrowed purple eyes on her. "I should have known you'd resort back to those disgusting ninja ways." She snarled. "Tsukasa told us never to trust you for that."

"Tsukasa didn't know what he spoke of, he was controlled by the Inuubi after all." Hana replied quietly. "He realized his mistakes in the end."

"He did what he did for the people. You killed the only one that could have saved us!"

"I did no such thing. Tsukasa died by his own hand." Hana retorted sharply. "He killed himself because he was pushed too hard at such a young age. You played a part on that death Tomiko."

"I would never kill him!" Tomiko raged drawing up her bow and arrow angrily and shooting at Hana. Lifting her hands, Hana made a single sharp seal and the air shifted as a shield formed and caught the arrow before it hit her. Snarling Tomiko leapt forwards. "It was a mistake to place you on the throne," she attacked Hana as the other female leapt away flipping in the air gracefully. "You've done nothing but wrong!"

Sasuke stared frozen in place as Tomiko raised her hands shouting in a strange tongue and threw a ball of energy at Hana. Landing from a fall to avoid getting hit, Hana twisted a fraction to late and threw up one hand saying a sharp word to place up a weak barrier before the blast was upon her. As the smoke cleared, they looked for her body, but only found the charred remains of a log.

"Replacement jutsu." Sasuke breathed stunned.

"That's a forbidden Ability Tomiko." A deathly quiet voice sounded in the trees above. Looking up to glare, Tomiko began muttering and in moments, another Tomiko stood at her side. "I will kill you…" she promised. "Now die!"

Leaping down, Hana brought up her sword as the two females rushed her, and twisting feinted a right before she jumped into the air and came down driving her sword into the duplicate of Tomiko. Shrieking with pain, the actual female twisted and raised her twin swords up and slashed at Hana. "Die! Die! Die! Die!" She screamed.

Falling back Hana stood a moment with slashes ripped through the material of her cloak. "You've gone too far Tomiko." She whispered with a hiss. Reaching up she pulled the cloak off of her and threw it away revealing her features. From the side, Sasuke froze as his eyes widened in shock as blood drained from his face at the sight of the small female before him.

"Sakura…" he whispered.

Standing straight, her emerald eyes glowed flicking amber as she stared at Tomiko. "I gave you a chance Tomiko." She warned in a low voice. "All this time, you carried one of the final pieces to the crystal, yet you kept it to yourself. Akio always wondered how it was that your minimum powers had gotten so strong within such a short time. But he never counted on you being a follower of Tsukasa either."

"And you did." Tomiko bared her teeth. "Such a clever queen."

"You can redeem yourself now Tomiko." Sakura held out her gloved hand to the other female free of her sword. "Give me the fragment."

"So you can taint it?" Tomiko gave a shrill laugh. "You really are pathetic Sakura!" Lifting her hands she narrowed her purple eyes with hatred. "This is where it ends!" Drawing out a glowing shard she bit her thumb and allowed blood to form over it as she brought out a small coin shaped object and began to chant.

Watching as the wind blew past ruffling her pink hair, Sakura closed her eyes. "So be it." She whispered.

"Sakura!" Sasuke finally snapped out of his stupor and rushed forwards.

"No!" Akio suddenly appeared and blocked his way. "You cannot enter." The red head glanced over his shoulder. "There's a powerful barrier up." He picked up a stone and threw it lightly at the air. Suddenly it was caught within energy and exploded disintegrating. "Nothing is able to penetrate this barrier without that happening."

"Hey!" Naruto popped into sight. "What's going on?" His gaze went to the distance and he blanched. "Sakura…" he took in her clothes and his eyes widened with realization. "Sasuke…Sakura…she's…"

"She's the queen of the Moon nation." Akio finished regarding them. "Yes."

"But…how?" Naruto asked confused.

Akio sighed. "It's not for me to explain to you." He looked to regard the standoff between the two females. "Tomiko is going too far with this." He frowned grimly. "If she survives the summoning, she'll still have to face Sakura afterwards."

"Summoning?" Naruto frowned. "What is she summoning?"

"A demon."

"What kind of demon?" Sasuke asked sharply.

Akio glanced over. "You possess what is known as the nine tail fox demon within you is that correct?" He stared at Naruto as the blonde narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, so?"

"The demon Tomiko is summoning is of that ilk, only less as powerful, slightly." Naruto stared as Sasuke's jaw tightened. "How is Sakura going to fight something like that on her own?" Naruto demanded. He received no reply as Akio turned his gaze back as a crimson fog seeped slowly from around Tomiko and rose up billowing out as a savage snarl emitted. Tomiko appeared lifting her arms up as her chant rose up to a hoarse shout.

"She did it." Akio breathed. "She used the strength of the crystal. What a blind fool I've been…" making an odd gesture he lifted his arm straight into the air, and abruptly sparks shot up into the air flaring out brightly to hover in the air. Almost immediately, the guards of the Moon nation were present surrounding the area and looking on.

"Tomiko…" a female appeared at Akio's side narrowing her grey eyes as her dusky purple hair blew up with the stirring of the wind. "She's summoning a forbidden demon…" she stared and let out a hiss. "Taigaa! That demon is far too powerful for her to control!"

"Tomiko carries one of the crystal's fragments." Akio told the female lowly as he watched intently. "She uses it to control this summoning."

"Fool." The female hissed softly. A concerned look passed over her features. "Sakura…will she…?"

"She may not have the choice." Akio replied.

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded. "Dammit, tell us what you know!"

Glancing over sharply, the female scowled at them. "This does not concern you." Sasuke pinned her with a deadly look. "Sakura does concern us." He countered coldly. He looked to where the pinked haired female was standing calmly looking at the summoning before her. "She will always concern us."

Regarding Sasuke for a long moment, the grey-eyed female's expression showed nothing before she turned away. "With our nation, there are differing levels of what we call the Ability, as there are jutsu's you ninja's here use. There is the old Ability, which is all but forgotten, but carried within the royal line, there is the common Ability, which is Gifted, and then there is the forbidden Ability. This," she gestured. "Is a forbidden Ability, the demons are not to be summoned without consent of their will, or from our ruling miko, and only in an emergency."

"Wait…did you say ruling miko?" Naruto repeated. "As in…a priestess?"

"Yes." Akio looked over his eyes shadowed. "Sakura is our lands priestess and ruling queen."

Naruto stared in shock. "How did she get to such a title…?"

"She was born to those titles." The female looked edgy. "She's the descendent of the goddess which protects our nation." She paused and shifted. "Tomiko is becoming reckless." She muttered staring. "She has no real leash on Taigaa."

"Sakura will be able to handle it." Akio voiced firmly, despite the shadows in his eyes. "It's only one demon this time…" he added.

"That doesn't reassure me." His companion snapped half-heartedly.

Within the barrier, Sakura lifted her chin to regard the billowing clouds of crimson before her and lifted her hand to wave at the air, creating a wind to gust out and part the clouds to reveal Tomiko wearing a mad grin on her face as a giant blood red tiger panted and stared down at Sakura with a bloodlust glint to its unnatural red eyes.

"Taigaa." Sakura greeted lowly dipping her head as she lifted her palm to her heart. "We meet again."

The tiger snarled and crouched as its tail lashed. "Priestess." A horribly raspy voice sounded grating in a snarl. "Why have I been summoned?"

"This is not of my accord Taigaa." Sakura rested her hand causally on the sword at her side.

"I summoned thee Taigaa!" Tomiko smirked as the fragment in her hands glowed. "Now I command you, kill the priestess, and I will free you!"

Snarling the tiger demon froze and strained as if trying to break free of invisible restraints. "A lowly Gifted thinks to control me with the shard of the broken crystal?" The tiger roared causing a torrent of wind to blow up as flames exploded up around flaring into the sky as trees fell while the ground was ripped apart by unknown forces. Her madness fading, Tomiko fell to the ground with a helpless cry as fear crept through her, the control slipping on the demon as it fought.

Sakura stood calmly with Kage against her side watching without expression. "Taigaa." She called. "This is not your time to be called forth."

"I have no wish to be sent back Priestess." The tiger snarled turning its deadly gaze on Sakura. "I crave blood."

"Blood is given to your alter every day to tame the bloodlust you are cursed from." Sakura stepped towards the giant demon slowly with the ki wolf at her side. "You know this."

"It is not enough."

"It's enough. You are greedy." Sakura countered narrowing her eyes. The demon snarled at her and swiped out its gigantic paw, only to miss as she and the wolf leapt smoothly out of danger. Sakura held up her hand before her and withdrew a dagger cutting her arm. "Go back Taigaa." She ordered firmly. "Take my offering with you until I summon thee."

"NO!" Tomiko screamed as the tiger demon lunged forwards at her causing a strangled cry to emit from Naruto, but the demon only swept out its tongue to catch the flowing blood from her wound before drawing back as a crimson black cloud surrounded it. "I'll take the offering…for now…"

Disappearing with a last snarl, the darkness faded allowing sunlight to spill down as Sakura closed her eyes. Looking down she passed her hand over her wound, green chakra spilling over the bloodied mess, healing it. Hearing the moans, she turned her attention to the female rocking on the ground, and walked closer. "Tomiko…" she murmured, dropping to the ground.

"Gone…gone…" Tomiko sobbed. Looking up through her bangs, Tomiko's purple eyes stared at Sakura with a broken light. "It's all gone…" she whispered. "I can't feel…"

"Tomiko…" Sakura's eyes filled with pain. The other female shrunk into herself hugging her body tightly staring out at nothing. Standing nearby, Kage glanced over as the barrier faded, allowing the others to move closer.

"Lady?"

Sakura reached forwards to take up the fragment from Tomiko's hands, gently brushing back the other female's unruly bangs before she stood. "Rika, I want you to take care of her. She's broken now. She can't do anything."

"Broken…?" Rika's grey eyes stared at Tomiko with a horrified look. "Are you sure?"

"It was too much for her Ability." Sakura replied her voice soft with sorrow. "In the end, fighting with the crystal against Taigaa burned her completely and broke her Gift, and her mind."

"What will you do?" Akio asked quietly.

Sakura looked over, her eyes calm as she turned her attention to the two males staring at her. She gave a pained smile to the red head. "I have business to finish here." Akio looked over his shoulder to find Naruto and Sasuke's eyes firmly fixed on the small female. He hesitated. "Sakura…must…you?"

Her emerald eyes flitted to him, and he saw the swirl of amber appear briefly. "Yes." She answered calmly. "I must."

Rika looked up from where she tended to Tomiko an unsaid worry filling her face, but she said nothing as Sakura turned with Kage at her side, and slowly walked in the direction of the two Konoha ninja's waiting. "What will happen?" She asked Akio softly. He watched on and shook his head. "I don't know." He answered. "I really don't know…"

Okay, first up, I'd like to thank all of those who corrected my dismal spelling with Gaara's rank, Kamikage...what was I thinking? In my defence, long days, nights, LOTS of information with a lot of stories. Thanks again guys!

Storm