The moon was shining in the sky when Sakura and Jiraiya made it to her apartment, the latter thoroughly plastered. Once they came to a stop in front of her door, she shook him to awaken him a bit and pushed him inside her home. Closing the door with her foot, she chuckled as she heard Jiraiya mumbling how nice it was to come in a woman's home invited, for once. Having had a drunk as a shishou had upped her tolerance to alcohol long ago, so she was not even tipsy while Jiraiya would have tumbled to the floor without her help. Unfortunately, a couch had not been part of her priorities to buy, so she only had a bed to put him in. Her bed, to be exact. She did not bother to listen to his drunken speech as she unclothed him, leaving him only in his pants, so that he would not have to wander around in crinkled clothes tomorrow. As soon as the man's head touched the pillow, he promptly fell asleep, a smile on his face. Sakura put a glowing hand on her torso and proceeded to cleanse his system of the alcohol he had taken that day. While it would not disrupt his sleep, he would thank her tomorrow when he didn't have a splitting headache due to the hangover. Feeling tired herself, she stripped down to her underwear and plopped down on the bed. Sleeping next to each other sure brought back memories, she thought as his slow and steady breathing lulled her to sleep.

She was in a sunny town, waiting for Deidara at a bar, having been ordered to meet him there to heal the injuries he had gotten on his latest mission. Part of the deal she had made with the association was that she would heal their members, but not fight alongside them unless she had no choice, for while she could heal others, she could not heal herself and they needed an apt medic. She was the strongest and most knowledgeable one around, so they had had no choice but to comply, knowing that her argument was wise. Thus, whenever a member was hurt, she would wait for him at a designated place. That was why she was sitting on a stool and doing her best to stay inconspicuous. It was also the reason she had taken to hide her face whenever in public. That way, her face could not be recognized and she would not attract hunter-nin. At long last, the blond showed up, having had enough sense to use a henge to hide his injuries. She brought him to a back alley and scanned him, after which she healed him, hushing him when he hissed in pain and berating him.

"You know, Sakura-san, you're like a mother hen, un," he joked.

She slapped him over the head and, satisfied with her work, told him that she was going to let him go back by himself, having already a mission to finish in town.

"Oh, yeah, one of those lucrative missions you do with Kakuzu to maintain our finances on the safe side, un?"

She just nodded and, with a wave of her hand, returned to her spot at the bar, where she later on saw a white-haired Sannin. She went to the bathroom. The one who got out of the stall was a purple-haired woman dressed provocatively who then proceeded to seduce the strong shinobi. Once back in her room, she gave him her report and they slept next to each other, her burying her head in his shoulder while he murmured words of encouragement, knowing they could not leave the room before dawn in order not to draw suspicion to themselves.

The scene changed and she was suddenly thrown back months before.

Those little bastards had been distracted by something, that much she knew. They had thought she was weaker than she really was, so they had not put as much of the chakra-suppressing drug as usual in her food, which she had not eaten anyway, pretending to be too feeble to lift a finger. They had worked quite a number on her the previous day, seeming desperate. However, they had expected to continue today, as they had repaired her hymen and begun healing some of the nastiest gashes and broken bones she had, so that they could inflict even more pain upon her later on. She had pounced on her opportunity when the medic-nin turned his back on her to take an antiseptic from his case. She broke her chains, using her superhuman strength, and, before he could see what had happened, she put a scalpel to his throat, whispering in a deadly manner in his ear.

"See you in hell, you pathetic excuse for a medic-nin."

Her scalpel had found his artery and she had been drenched in his warm blood, seeing the light of life vanish from his eyes with relish. She then had donned the tattered inner layer of a kimono that lay in the corner, loosely tying it around her waist. She noted that it fell to her shoulders instead of folding on her neck, sign that she had lost weight. They would pay for that too. The door was opened with the shinobi's key and she left, for the first time in seven months, her damp and cold cell. The corridor was made in stone and no light shined from any window. Her step echoed loudly in the underground base, mostly due to the chains still attached to her hands and feet. The few people she encountered were massacred without mercy, the first one with bare hands and the others with the katana she had taken from her first victim's corpse. On one of them, she found exploding tags that she sealed at diverse places in the base while looking for the man who had put the chakra suppressor on her neck. Finally, she found a man that, after peeing in his pants, motioned with flailing hands that the one she was looking for was probably at the entrance of the compound. Her fierce eyes turned in that direction and she went out of the building and onto the inner courtyard, dragging the terrified man with her. Eventually, tired of his attempts to escape her clutches, she sliced his throat without putting him down. She was conscious that she was fuelled only by adrenaline, rage and her strong determination and that she would soon collapse, her months of imprisonment catching up to her, but she was determined to bring down those bastards first. Behind her, the building exploded, flames erupting everywhere, but she remained unfazed, continuing to walk to the entrance of the compound, katana in one hand and bloody body in the other. Her hair fluttered in the wind created by the explosion. She did not know it, but people would later on tell her that at that moment, she had looked like a vengeful apparition. It was on that day that she gained a new nickname: the Deadly Blossom, although some also called her the Bloody Blossom. Her description as such would be added to the Bingo Books of the diverse countries and her status promoted to S-rank.

Suddenly, four figures appeared in front of her and stopped short at her sight. She easily recognized the ANBU she had thought she would never see again. One of them, a lanky one with gravity-defying silver hair, stepped forward and spoke a few words. As her grip went slack on the katana and the body, she whispered four words that froze their blood in their veins.

"I can't hear…anything..."

Kakashi had caught her in his strong arms as she lost consciousness. She would be told later that he had refused to put her down, except to sleep and to wash her in a river, stopping the other members of the rescuing team from seeing her naked, even though they were her own team mates. She would not wake up for days due to exhaustion, only to find, when she did wake up, her team mates around her who looked like they had not slept in weeks. She had admonished them, causing them to laugh happily, saying they were glad to "finally have their Taichou back", which had made her eyes wet. After those seven moths of hell, her hair never returned to its normal coral color, its whiteness a statement to everything that she had endured. Tsunade had then forced her to use a henge to hide its color and her scars so that her friends, who did not know that she had been made ANBU, would not guess that something had changed, all of them having only been told that she had gone on a long mission. Still, every now and then, she could feel dirty hands on her and had nightmares of those hellish months. However, among the ANBU, those who had thought she was too young to be part of their elite group and not suited to be a Taichou had finally come around and now respected her. Whenever she went to a bar with her team, modifying her facial traits, she felt as though she had bodyguards, or extremely protective brothers, as various ANBU members often strolled up to her to offer her a drink and flirt with her. Unconsciously, her body would tense and she would politely refuse, feeling only at ease with those close to her, such as Kakashi and her team.

Sakura woke up slowly, feeling a hand grope her left breast.

What the?!

Spooning with her, which must have happened sometime during the night, Jiraiya was sleeping like a log. She extricated her members from his and disappeared in the bathroom to take a shower and freshen up. Narabi looked up from his spot at the end of the bed and followed her, sitting on the closed lid of the toilet.

"You know, you shivered during the night. Nightmares?"

Stepping in the shower, she nodded silently.

"He woke up, you know. When you were shivering and mumbling in your sleep, I mean," said the fox while nodding toward the still sleeping man on the other side of the door. "He's a good man."

"I know."

When Jiraiya woke up, he noted happily that his head wasn't splitting in two and that nothing seemed to have died in his mouth.

Note to self: if you get drunk, get drunk with a beautiful medic-nin who'll cleanse your system of all the alcohol afterward. Especially if it's at her place and she lets you sleep next to her.

Swinging his legs on the side of the bed, he heard Sakura moving in the kitchen.

"Wow, breakfast, too? Nice!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Sit down, sleepyhead, I was just about to wake you up. Your timing is great."

After eating together in a friendly atmosphere, they walked together to the village gates.

"Will you still be here when I return?" asked Sakura.

"Maybe. I was thinking of staying for awhile and helping out with the war," answered Jiraiya nonchalantly.

"Well, you can stay at my place if you haven't got one, but if you do, I expect it to be clean when I come back."

"Aye aye, miss!"

She chuckled and swatted his arm playfully.

"Anyway, I've got to go."

"Wait, when will you be back?"

"I don't know, a week, maybe two? It could be more."

"Put a henge on your hitai-ate, alright? Wouldn't want you to be shot down by one of our own."

"Don't worry, I'm resistant."

"Be safe."

"Don't die."

They both smiled, though Sakura's grin was hidden beneath bandages. Narabi jumped on Sakura's shoulder, signalling that it was time to go and she left without turning back, running as fast as she could.

********************

Okay, now you know more of Sakura's past and why she acts the way she does. And if you want to see more of Jiraiya or not, you have to vote or to tell me so in a review. I hope it satisfies everyone and beg your foriveness for the lateness. I guarantee you that there WILL be a chapter posted this friday or this weekend as well, depending on my availability and your reviews. So review!

One last thing. Some of you seem to be wondering if Sakura will be paired with Kakashi because I posted a poll. The answer is: OF COURSE! The poll is just to see who else I will add. On that note, please answer this question: do you want Jiraiya to be paired with Sakura too or just be a close friend? THIS IS IMPORTANT!