Chapter 14: Last Gift

For Wicked Innuendo - Enjoy your coffee

Sakura awoke to find her stiff body still against the common room door of her elegant bedroom at the complex. She had spent the long night shaking with anger and fear for Kakashi as she listened to his anguished yells echoing through the darkened rooms. She knew it was him, even though it was difficult to tell, she knew. As the night wore on it had finally ended but in her empathy she couldn't move, her body lay limp against the door and she revisited the abyss of despair and powerlessness.

I'm so useless...

It ran through her mind as each yell pierced her heart painfully. Her pulse raced and she could feel the hot burn of hate within her. If she ran out she knew it would all be over, she would be found out and if he made it through the night there would be no chance for either of them. Wasn't that why she was here?

Hang on Kakashi ...just a little longer...

There was no window in the room and as she finally picked her form off the cold hard floor she could see the clock indicating 10:14 AM. She slunk to the bed; her feet dragging with each step, and lay down gripping the plush blankets and sheets in a twisted clump between her fingers. Teeth clenched, she dug into the bed straining her body and fighting the tears she refused to cry.

As she lay there she distinctly heard the common room door open up and someone enter. She looked up quickly to see it was the blonde woman from the day before and then lay back down. The blonde was wearing a green robe and her feet were bare. Ever so carefully she moved to beside the bed and touched Sakura's shoulder with her long slender fingers.

"Would you like something to eat?" she asked timidly looking at the state Sakura was in. It was obvious something was wrong.

"Are you frightened? You must have heard that last night. Don't worry, he won't hurt you like that...but..."

Sakura sat up slowly and looked at the blonde wondering how much she knew.

"Mikomi," her voice became low and her eyes watched Kanrei's bedroom door, "you should get out of here while you can. Run back to your husband or wherever you came from. Don't stay." Her face looked pained and nervous.

"Why?" Sakura asked almost distantly, she felt that familiar darkness playing on her and it fought against the demure Mikomi she was pretending to be.

"He's a monster. He seems wonderful now but he'll test you. He'll make you do things you'll hate yourself for. He'll make you ashamed of yourself. Run from this place...while you still can." Her head bowed and Sakura could see tears drop from her face.

"What kind of test?" Sakura continued.

"It will be the same test we all had. He will make you kill someone." Her voice shook now.

"Who will I have to kill?" Sakura asked quickly.

"Me." She said softly amid her tears.

So that's it, the test. This is what he gets the women to do. Bastard.

"Don't worry. I won't let him hurt you." Sakura said softly to the crying woman.

"You should leave. I don't want to live after what I've done. When it was my turn to be tested, I did it. I killed a woman I didn't know and now I deserve it too. The only thing I can do now is to warn you, and at least save one person from this hell." Her back hitched with her sobs and Sakura had a mixture of emotions about it. This woman killed another and now would become the victim. It seemed like karma but Sakura couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a regular woman stumbling in here with no way to defend yourself.

What kind of devil tempts women to be a killer in order to take another's place, in turn taking her place as the victim as well?

Twisted fuck.

"Ino, open up!" Sasuke stood outside Sakura's door again but this time he had Tsunade with him.

Ino cracked the door again. "Sasuke, please keep it down, she's sleeping finally. Oh, Tsunade, what are you doing here?" Ino felt the adrenaline run through her as the situation got a bit harder.

"Ino, please let me take a look at Sakura, I'm sure if she is that sick I can help her." Tsunade looked at her matter-of-factly and her voice had a tone of skepticism.

"Sorry Tsunade, Sakura would never forgive me if I let someone see her like that. She's all pale and crusty. She vomited in her hair and really I just can't let you see her." Ino began to close the door.

Sasuke put his foot in it.

"Don't you dare!" Ino shouted at him. "I'm just doing what Sakura wants, she needs to be left alone."

Tsunade piped up, "Sasuke, don't."

Sasuke removed his foot.

"Ino, there were some men looking for Sakura yesterday. We just want to make sure she is all right. We are going to post a couple of guards here. I'm glad you're here. If there is any trouble the ANBU will be right outside."

Ino's eyes went wide and fear began to grip her. "What men? What's going on?" her tone was sincere and washed away any doubts Tsunade and Sasuke had.

"I can't get into it but we have dealt with the problem, we just want to take precautions now." Tsunade raised her eyebrows and Ino nodded.

"Yes Ma'am" Ino responded. "I'll tell her when she wakes up."

The two intruders outside nodded and left and Ino breathed a sigh of relief. She felt the conflict of whether to tell them or not that Sakura had left and to where. She loved Sakura and trusted in her so she decided to follow her wishes, against her better judgment. She watched out the window as two ANBU guards moved near the building.

Who the hell is looking for her?

After picking at the breakfast that had been brought in for her, Sakura left her bedroom and wandered out into the common area amid whistles and stares from the ninjas. She loathed the attention and felt sorry for the women and the way they were treated. There did not seem to be a redeeming quality among any of the men and she was not surprised due to the nature of which they came to reside here. Her dismissive look did not quiet them any as she passed through.

Kanrei emerged from the room at the back of the complex and Sakura figured this was the doorway to the back area that led to the lower level. Her mind began to plot how to get in there, get him, and leave. She prayed silently that he was still alive.

"Mikomi, you are awake? How did you sleep?" he approached her and grasped her arm in his strong fingers, pulling her a little closer to him. He looked somewhat tired but seemed pleased with himself.

"I...I didn't sleep. I was frightened of what I heard. I'm sorry but I think I want to leave." She said with some truth. She watched his face for his reaction.

Kanrei began to survey her face also. "I understand how it could have disturbed you but you won't hear it again and as you may recall, you did agree to stay last night. Don't worry, Mikomi, it will be better than you can imagine." He had no intention of letting her leave but willing women were so much more fun than the reluctant ones.

He pulled her almost forcefully to him and kissed her slowly and deeply, feeling her body and mouth respond feverishly. He broke off and released her, a large smile on his face.

"You won't have to hear that again, I'll make sure of it." He smirked a little as he pulled her into an embrace.

She nodded her head with some difficulty. His kiss was so infectious; in those few fleeting seconds she could feel her body agreeing to anything he wanted. He was a powerful drug and she knew she would have difficulty stopping his advances. She was turned facing the door to the back of the complex.

Kakashi...

It was taking all her willpower not to kill Kanrei, to grab at him and slip her chakra claws into his neck but it was the wrong time. She felt the desperate minutes slip by and felt the time was pressing on her. She didn't know if Kakashi lived through the night but what Kanrei just said seemed to indicate that he might still be alive. Kanrei's eye was still gray so at least they hadn't taken the sharingan yet. It was as good a sign as any.

"Mikomi, we'll have dinner tonight, in your room. Just us. I promise you will be more comfortable, let's say 7:00 tonight. Until then, I have business so, please go back to your room or you may help the women with the washing if you'd rather have company." He pointed to a door off of the common room that lead on to a washing area. Sakura reasoned that she'd rather pass the time quickly doing something and felt maybe she could get more information through discussion and the women would have the inside track.

Kakashi finally opened his eye. He couldn't open the sharingan anymore and every breath he took was pained and difficult. His strength was gone. His body felt battered and he knew he must be bruised and cut throughout. He couldn't lift his head to see but he felt it, even if they unlocked the restraints now, he couldn't get away.

"Kakashi...you've been through a lot. I can see you are ready for it to be over, hmm?" the bald man said quietly. "It's been difficult and I must admit you have earned my respect. I've never seen anyone handle themselves as well as you." He had a senbon needle perched behind his ear like a pencil.

Kakashi could vaguely see the man hold up a syringe with some clear liquid in it. He tapped it with his fingers releasing any air inside it. He pushed on the plunger and a squirt of shiny droplets sprayed out.

He turned his face to the weak and battered Jounin.

"t...t..." Kakashi tried to speak.

"Time? Your usual question; it's 2:30 on Sunday afternoon." He replied happily.

Kakashi continued to watch him with one eye and tried to breath as shallow as possible, the pain was too much.

"Kakashi, I'm going to tell you what I am doing, alright? This agent will affect some areas of your brain. It will prepare your eye for the operation tomorrow. We have to dull the sharingan so that it will not be rejected when transplanted as you probably remember from when you received it initially. For the next few hours you won't be able to see, hear, smell or taste anything. You will be able to feel touch but the hard part is over now. I spoke with Kanrei and it seems that he just wants to progress to the operation. It also seems you scared his new girlfriend last night and she desires to leave so he's decided to end our sessions. I guess you have her to thank. It isn't very common for Kanrei to bow to a woman but he says she is exquisite. Hmm, I'll have to have a look at her." The bald man continued to chat as if he and Kakashi were friends passing time.

He poked the needle in Kakashi's arm, just below his tattoo, and pushed the plunger. Kakashi could immediately feel something cold moving up his arm.

The bald leaned his elbows on the table next to Kakashi's head. He drew near to Kakashi's ear and then spoke quietly.

"Kakashi, I just wanted you to know...before it's over for you. They didn't find your Sakura and the men he sent, they never returned. Seems he's given up. You can probably thank his new girl for that too."

Kakashi closed his eye in relief. He felt she was safe but it was such a relief to hear it. He wasn't ready to die yet, he needed to see her again, to ask her to forgive him for leaving her the way he did. He wanted to wish her luck with her marriage and show that he understood and wasn't bitter. He wanted to hold her one last time feeling her fingers gripping at his waist tightly and slide his fingers into her soft hair. He didn't want to give up but he had come to acceptance. There was no way out now, only death.

His eyes began to grow dark and his hearing became more muffled and as the minutes passed slowly. In a matter of an hour everything went to silent blackness. All he could feel now was isolation and cold, waiting for the end alone.

Sakura spent a great deal of the day washing up with the other women. They cleaned clothes and linens, towels and dinnerware. They were silent most of the time and did not really look at each other. They feared each other, knowing that perhaps each in turn would be killed, maybe by the other. There were twelve women there, and Sakura wondered how many others had come and gone in horrible ways. These women knew, but it was something they would probably never speak of.

Sakura was ignored most. Some gave her fearful looks, some angry, some just pretended she wasn't there, which was just fine. She passed the day quietly washing the clothes of the nasty men of this god for saken place.

After the long cleaning session, she made her way back to her room through the throng of Ninjas in the common room again and sat down on her bed, pushing her pink hair away from her face with wrinkled fingers. It had been a long boring day and Kakashi's fate played on her. She struggled with the thought that he was close by, suffering cruelly and that she should not hesitate any longer but the analyst in her told her that it was not the right time.

It was about 6:45 now and she would be having dinner with her new admirer soon. She would be alone with him, it seemed that it might be her only opportunity to kill him. Even if she couldn't get to Kakashi now, she would kill Kanrei.

It will be my last gift to you, Kakashi.

Lying back on the soft bed, she noticed a white box with a red ribbon sitting on the edge and leaning over slightly, she opened it. The card inside read: Please wear this for dinner.

She pulled out a lacy set of lingerie, black. It was a nice set, something she probably would have picked herself.

Sakura removed her black robe and slipped on the delicate set. The top was a black lacy bra and had some sheer material at the bottom that ran down her stomach with an opening in the middle, like a little curtain. The panties were like little shorts and were entirely lace. They didn't hide too much, she thought, and she pulled at them in the back as they rode up her behind.

She slipped the black robe back on, not bothering to tie it up. She sat back on the bed and played with her plan in her mind a little, when she heard the knock at the door. It was two ninjas, no one in particular. She sized them up as they entered and figured them for just Chuunin level.

They looked her up and down as they brought in a table and two chairs. They pushed in a steaming cart of food and then stopped momentarily to look again at the pink haired woman.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at them. She stood up, her bare feet stood lightly on the shiny floor, and she opened her robe to give them a full view.

"What do you think?" she asked uncharacteristically.

One man laughed. "Mm, I can't wait for you." He smirked and they both walked out smiling and watching her the whole way.

The women were given to the men after Kanrei was done with them, she had almost forgotten. Well it won't be this time, she thought to herself. She smiled at the thought that it would be easy to kill them and that their skill, combined, was probably no match for an elite like herself.

She walked to the cart with the food and opened the lids. There was a whole suckling pig with an apple in it's mouth atop a shiny silver tray. Sakura vaguely thought that if she lived she would become a vegetarian. There were vegetables and other various things that looked much better than the pig. The chopsticks were silver and extravagant as were the gold plates.

A last tray had strawberries dipped in chocolate and sat next to a bottle of wine. Her favorite wine, the same Kakashi had bought her for her birthday a lifetime ago. She stared at it for a while, reminiscently, until she heard the common room door open again revealing the grand design.

Kanrei stepped in and Sakura looked him over as his eyes drew down to the lacy black set she wore. Kanrei wore a long dark cloak with dark sleeves, somewhat woolly, and flipped it off as he entered the room. The shirt he wore was silky, black and sleeveless and was adorned with the red Kanji of 'death' on the shoulder. His pants were of the same material. The shirt was cinched at the waist with a red belt and he wore traditional shoes that most ninjas wore.

Sakura tried to smile as convincingly as possible at him and she pulled her black robe around her a little, closing it in the front with her fingers. His face showed his displeasure with this and he moved in front of her, using his long fingers to open it to his hungry eyes. He moved his fingers up and slipped them into the shoulders of the robe, letting the garment slide softly down her arms and to the floor. The coolness of the room tickled her shoulders under the tiny straps of the lacy top. It was always cold in Cloud, she thought distantly.

"Are you hungry?" she asked calmly, trying to sound vehemently interested.

"Yes, I am, shall we?" he motioned to the table and Sakura leaned down to pick up the robe to wear while they ate.

"Leave it there." He commanded. "I like you this way." His eyes glazed over her again resting at the lacy panties she wore.

She felt her cheeks redden and figured he thought it was a blush, not the disgusted anger she was filled with now. They ate quietly and almost said nothing to each other. He probably wasn't interested in conversation anyway. Each course took time and by the last course it was almost ten o'clock. Sakura could hear the rumblings of the drinking Ninjas outside the door and some giggles and yells from the women.

"Do you like strawberries?" Kanrei asked her softly. He stood from the table and picked up the opened wine and one piece of the chocolate covered fruit.

Sakura nodded and felt the inevitable had now arrived. She decided that, so that it would be unexpected, it might be prudent to kill him while they had sex.

It was a difficult prospect but she would do it even though she had sworn once that she never wanted another man except Kakashi, it would be all for him.

I am a tool, my body is just a tool, she reminded herself as she stood up from the table to face him.

He touched her lips with the strawberry but did not allow her to bite it. The chocolate slipped across her lips and before she could lick at it with her tongue his mouth was there. He ran his tongue across her pink lips and then pushed his mouth against hers. The strong desire ran through her and she grabbed his arms sliding her leg behind his, making their bodies closer.

He broke the kiss and she found herself inadvertently pushing away from him as she regained normalcy. Her senses were betraying her and her body had become her enemy. It wanted him and she knew that while that was happening she could not kill him, she would end up giving in to him completely. The lack of control scared her and she showed it in the small force she used to hold him away from her.

His hand slid into her hair and gripped it, somewhat tightly and more forcefully than a lover would. His free hand dropped the wine bottle and grabbed one of her hands from his chest and held it tightly. Wine spilled onto the dark floor freely soaking her feet.

Her head was pulled back so she looked up at him and could not look down.

"Don't you want me, Mikomi?" he asked, his voice displaying some disappointment or perturbation.

"Yes, Kanrei, I...I'm just..." she pleaded softly.

"It sounds as though you want to back out of our agreement." He bent to her ear and hissed in it softly, menacingly.

"No, I want you, I swear." She whispered back trying to find a way out of this. Her voice was still pleading to him, trying to get him to at least release her hand. She struggled against his to no avail.

He backed her to the bed and shoved her roughly on it, lying on top of her. His hands crawled their way down her and she gritted her teeth as his fingers reached between her legs.

My body is a tool...I'm just a...

"You swear it, do you? Will you prove it?" he asked and she could almost hear some sick enjoyment in his voice now as he continued his onslaught on her body.

"Yes, Kanrei, I'll do anything."

How many other women had lay there and said those words, trying to save their own lives. She felt a genuine understanding now, of all the women she had spent the day with and now comprehended their plight a little better.

"Anything?" he released her slightly taking his hands away from her body. He straddled her and sat up, looking at her again as if to merit that all this trouble was worth it. His eyes concluded that it was and a devilish smirk ran across his lips.

"There is something I want you to do for me. If you do this, I'll give you everything you've ever wanted. You are an exquisite woman, Mikomi, but you'll have to prove yourself to me." His voice was smooth and soft. He stood up from her and she felt some glorious relief, her chance had finally come. With the new opportunity she stood up hastily.

"Yes, Kanrei...for you." she tensed her fingers, she decided now was the time. She raised her hands together and watched him turn his back to her. She took a step forward and could feel the chakra energies mixing within her but before she could form the first seal he walked to the common room door and opened it. Many of the ninjas turned their heads in their direction and Sakura backed away from view.

"Come with me." He said as he opened it wider.

"I...I can't go out there... like this. Those men...I won't." she said firmly. She was trying to lure him back to the room.

He stuck his head out and shouted to the twenty odd men hovering around the common area. "I want every man to their quarters now, for the night."

Without question all the chairs began moving and Sakura could hear feet moving around the room and up the stairwells.

He lifted his gray cloak off the ground and wrapped it around Sakura's shoulders. "You have no reason to stay now, let's go."

He put his arm around her as they emerged from her room and she could see all of the women still sitting there, their mouths agape. The blonde was petrified but seemed to calm a little when Kanrei steered Sakura roughly towards the back of the complex.

"Where are we going?" she asked timidly but her heart leap as she realized they were heading to the back room with the weapon supplies. As they walked through the door Kanrei stopped and grabbed a double ended kunai from a shelf. Sakura could see the myriad of scrolls, spears, kunai and shuriken lining the walls, and a rack in the corner for swords.

It was coming together better than she had been hoping. Her bare feet were cold on the cement floor of the room and as they approached the stairwell at the back, she glanced briefly at the one guard by the top of the stairs.

Kanrei nodded at him as they walked past and descended the steps to the lower level. It was cold down there and the cracked stone floor was so frigid that Sakura's toes became numb. The gray cloak kept her warm but she was shivering with anticipation.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room and she could see a few lights lit at the other side. A man in a white coat was turned with his back to them and there was another figure lying on a wooden table, hands and feet in restraints.

Kakashi...

If her heart beat any louder she would have sworn that Kanrei could hear it. The ache in her resumed as she saw his body lying on the table, unmoving. A few senbon stood out from his arms and legs, and there was streaked blood on his body and on the light tattered pants he wore.

She halted in her tracks trying to prepare herself to move closer to him.

"What...what are we doing here?" she asked though her mind was moving in so many directions.

"You said you would do anything for me. I've saved something special for you." He almost laughed at his cleverness, being able to kill two birds with one stone. He pulled on the gray cloak from her shoulders and tossed it on the ground making Sakura's hands dart up to her arms trying to provide extra warmth against the invading cold of the lower level.

He grabbed her by the arm now and pulled her bodily to where Kakashi lay, until she was standing at the other side of the table near the man in the white coat. It was so close she could reach out and touch Kakashi's pale face. His eyes were closed and it looked as though he might be dead but his chest moved slightly so she knew, to her great relief, he was still alive. Her eyes moved over his body, the majority of him was battered and bruised. He had small holes about his torso, in his arms and where his legs where exposed, and Sakura figured they were from senbon. If she could channel her anger at that moment to burst forth she figured it would resemble Naruto's red chakra.

"Don't worry, he's drugged so he can't see you or hear you." Kanrei seemed proud of himself. He moved to stand beside Kakashi's head on the other side of the table and the white-coated man stepped away letting his eyes move over Sakura liberally, a giddy smirk of approval on his lips.

Kanrei used a finger to open Kakashi's scarred eyelid to reveal his sharingan, still in tact where it belonged.

"Remarkable, isn't it. This is called a sharingan and soon it will be mine. After he is dead, my colleague will remove his eye and implant it into me." He smiled widely, "This is where you come in, Mikomi. You said you would do anything for me." He held out the double-edged kunai to her.

"Kill him."

"What?"

"Kill him or I will know that you were lying to me." His gray eyes flashed in a way she had not seen yet.

If she were not a ninja, an elite, a trained killer herself, his look would have scared her. It was the same look that most likely scared all the women here into fulfilling his horrific requests.

She took the kunai in her hand from his and looked at it for a moment, she turned it over gently in her fingers letting the moment pass by slowly. The sharp edge glinted in the dim light and it felt heavy in her small hand.

"What is his name?" she asked as she raised the kunai above Kakashi, holding it over his throat.

"Kakashi." he replied quietly, his voice quivering slightly with his excitement.

Sakura raised the kunai up slowly watching Kakashi's chest move up and down in his blissfully ignorant sleep. She could only imagine what he would think seeing her standing there like that above him. The sharp tip aimed down towards his neck and Sakura held it there, in the air, for what seemed an eternity. She could feel their eyes on her, Kanrei and the bald man in the white coat.

"I...I can't." she said in a fearful tone and let her body shake from the cold. She watched Kanrei's eyes narrow and pierce through her with his stare.

"Please...I just can't...will...will you help me?" she asked in a quivering voice and she pulled the kunai close to her chest.

She saw the smile creep back to Kanrei's face as she ran her fingers along her tight stomach under the sheer fabric. He walked back around to stand in front of her as she turned away from the table and Kakashi. She smiled at him in an almost seductive way.

Sakura handed the kunai back to Kanrei and he watched her hands move to the table behind her, hoisting herself up onto it. Her lower thigh grazed Kakashi's fingers and her body nudged his leg over slightly as she sat next to him. She spread her legs wide and ran her hands down her thighs, inviting Kanrei to come closer.

He walked towards her, putting his body between her legs. He lifted the kunai up and cut a strap of her black bra and the side he cut slipped down slightly revealing more skin. She made a small noise of excitement when he did this. She ran her hands up his front and slowly untied the red belt around his shirt, opening it to expose his muscular smooth chest. Her hands guided the black garment off him and it pooled on the floor at his feet.

"Will you do it for me?" she asked seductively as her nails grazed over his stomach.

He smirked again and fumbled the kunai near Kakashi's neck.

"When this is over, you will never say no to me again." He said coldly as her fingers ran around his waist to his back. Her nails drew over his skin lightly as he held the heavy kunai closer to Kakashi.

Kanrei lifted the kunai up as Sakura now drew chakra, mixing her energies powerfully. It was quick and beyond his control as her fingers hit his back directedly. The quick seals she made behind him, as he lifted the kunai, were unnoticed and as the gen-jutsu took hold he froze, unable to move anything but his eyes and mouth. She pushed him lightly so that he fell to the ground, the kunai clattering to the ground beside him.

Sakura sensed the bald man moving towards her and she deftly turned, pulled a senbon from Kakashi's leg and in it's swift flight caught the man in his neck sending him to the ground also.

Sakura stopped for a moment to evaluate the situation.

Kanrei is in the gen-jutsu, bald man is immobilized, and guard at stairs has not come down.

She breathed out with relief and looked down at Kanrei, his body was still on the floor and he gave her a death stare as she locked eyes with him. The dark frown crossed her lips now and she turned and straddled his prone body, sitting on him and lowering her face close to his slowly. She let her tongue touch his mouth and felt the soft desire shudder through her again.

"It was almost the thing that stopped me, you know." She said softly.

His teeth gritted and he growled with anger. "Kunoichi"

"This gen-jutsu acts at the base of your central nervous system cutting off the impulses that tell your body to move. My chakra tie is strong so you cannot get out of it."

She turned slowly and pulled his dark sleeveless shirt out from under his legs and slipped it over herself, pulling it tight at the waist with the belt. The red Kanji partially sat under her long pink hair.

"It suits me, doesn't it?" She said casually.

"You bitch, what the fuck are you doing?" he spat out at her.

"It was your own weakness, you bastard. You let a woman get the better of you." she looked at him with dull anger and decided it was probably time to end the banter.

"You don't know what you had, I would have given you everything!" he hissed at her.

"Everything? What is everything in your opinion? What do you think everything is to me?" she laughed a little. "You think everything is being your whore for a few weeks until you get tired of me and then throw me to your ninja dogs for sloppy seconds," she said calmly then she lowered her face beside his ear and whispered, "You almost took everything from me, Kanrei, but tonight you will give it back." She smiled as she sat up slightly leaning on his chest.

"I don't understand, why are you doing this? I'll give you whatever you want." He strained against the binding gen-jutsu.

"Why?" she looked him over thoughtfully, "Well, I could say that it was for all the people you've killed and the families that you have stolen from and destroyed. I could say that it was for all the women here who never expected their young lives to end here, feeling dirty and scared. I could even say it was for the Cloud Hidden Village that you were planning to destroy and all the people there that you were going to kill." Her eyes moved over his face and then she sat back up fully. "But actually Kanrei, it's much more selfish than that." She turned her head in the direction of Kakashi although she couldn't see him, "It's for him... I do it all for him." She closed her eyes briefly and let the ANBU tattoo release onto her skin.

He watched the dark swirl emerge on her alabaster shoulder and his eyes showed enlightenment at what had just occurred.

"Sakura..."he whispered.

Ok, so I posted early...again, I just want to write this and finish it and then again I don't. So confused, can't break the habit, can't stop...help me...someone.

Ok anyway, thanks for reading and all the reviews. Looks like this fic is about to kick Left Behind's ass in reviews so double thank you.

Love Leafy. ( I could say i'll update in a week but you know I'm lying through my teeth so I don't know...maybe tommorow. Just kidding, in a few days.)