Black

Water was dripping deafeningly into a pool in the corner of the cell. Suigetsu's grey eyes studied the almost exaggeratedly slow fall of the droplets with obsessive fascination. The Mist shinobi was silent, simply breathing and watching the water. His mind was obviously far from the small, dank cell. He wasn't seeing moldy, waterlogged walls and years of grime coating super reinforced bars. The captive nukenin was contemplating a fortress of a shinobi and his pink haired medic. He was wondering whether Sakura would be able to save the Uchiha heir from himself. Suigetsu didn't know how long he sat, thinking.

The Mist nin had been a captive for almost his entire life, in one form or another. First he was a no name prodigy swept into whirlwind politics and backroom alliances of Kiri. Then he was the kidnapped protegee who fell from Orochimaru's favor when his 'abilities plateaued.' So, when he was approached by Sasuke with the proposition of wandering with Team Hebi...the sharp toothed teen had agreed. The prospect of being free, at least in some respects, had a sweet, alluring ring.

He'd in many ways admired his team leader. At first because of his sheer presence and strength and later for his intelligence and ability. The dark man was the only one Suigetsu knew who could cull a raging Juugo with a simple look. It seemed physically impossible, but the former Leaf shinobi had done it. Months of travelling made him wonder at the strange assortment of ninja Sasuke had chosen for his team. Karin's tracking and Juugo's sheer strength weren't especially rare traits. Even his own swordsmanship wasn't stellar. Then he'd seen the members of Team Seven.

Uncanny resemblances were evident to the Mist shinobi. Karin's bright hair and his own habit of yelling paralleled Sakura's pink mane and Naruto's personality. Suigetsu wondered if Sasuke had purposely chosen them as a sort of replacement or if the whole thing had been subconscious. What he did understand were the occasional instances where Sasuke allowed Karin to fawn over him. She reminded him of Sakura. The kunoichi were fairly similar in stature, though their dispositions were almost polar.

The pinkette's introduction to the team had been an interesting development. Suigetsu had never seen Sasuke as often as he did once Sakura joined them. The shinobi had even begun to sit through meals and speak a little more often. The Uchiha's almost aggressive protectiveness had taken the Mist ninja by surprise, though. The confrontation over finding the green eyed girl in his chambers had been unexpected to say the least. Being impaled for interfering during their argument hadn't been all that enjoyable, either. The grey eyed shinobi winced a little at the memory. The only beating he'd really deserved was the one he got for sneaking into the master suite after being explicitly told not to. He should have seen that one coming.

But something about the petite medic fascinated Suigetsu. He'd dwelt on it on more than one occasion, trying to pinpoint just what it was that enthralled him. The reason still eluded him. He assumed it had something to do with her kindness. Sakura was sympathetic but not doting, something that shinobi appreciated in a medical specialist. It didn't hurt that she was gorgeous, either. Something about the soft femininity of her features attracted the Mist nin. Her unique hair color and emerald gaze had immediately interested Suigetsu as well. He was honest with himself about the fact that he liked the kunoichi a little bit. However, he was also straightforward in admitting to himself that she would never be his.

No, Sakura Haruno was already taken. Grey eyes wrinkled amusedly at the thought. She'd more than likely been claimed years before he met her, without her knowledge. There was something in the way the Uchiha survivor stood when he was in the pinkette's presence that radiated possession. Maybe it was the set of the dark haired male's shoulders toward the short kunoichi when he spoke to her or the way his eyes seemed to subtly follow her fluid motions. Suigetsu had known early on that there was something between the two, though. He'd simply never pieced together just how evident it was if one took a close enough look.

His white head thumped back against the soggy wall behind him. The water spots on the ceiling were no more entertaining than the liquid pooling opposite him, but it was better than nothing. Juugo's deep voice from the cell next to his cut into his thoughts. There was a slight clink of something metallic agiainst his teammate's bars, intended to get his attention, then the large man whispered, "Someone is coming."

Suigetsu rolled to his feet. He wanted to be ready for what he was sure was an interrogation squadron. His sharp features were arranged into strong lines when a figure appeared in front of his cell's door. The figure was strangely slim and seemed a little nervous as it reached toward the slot to slid something into his cell. Narrowing grey eyes, the Mist shinobi stalked toward the tray being pressed through, grabbing it roughly. A petrified squeak sounded from the decidedly female jail attendant. The nukenin blinked. They'd sent a terrified female to gain information from him?

A dark look clouded his features. They obviously didn't take him very seriously, but he could fix that. In a motion that was untraceable to the untrained eye, Suigetsu's well formed arm slipped between the bars before him, extending through past his elbow. His grip on the thin female's shoulder was vise like. Tugging her effortlessly toward him, he paused a moment in shock when her hood fell away to reveal her face.

She had delicately wrought features to rival Sakura's. High cheekbones and a dainty chin, her eyes were almond shaped and deeply set. Thick eyelashes framed brown eyes so dark they seemed black. Her shocked expression gave way to fear as she tried to wriggle free of his hold. Coming back to his senses, Suigetsu snarled, "Who sent you? What are your orders?"

The girl looked ready to cry as she babbled, "Kaede-baba sent me! I'm supposed to deliver meals! I'm sorry! I-"

The nukenin felt heat begin to rise to his face. He'd attacked a kitchen girl? That would explain the lack of muscle definition in the shoulder he was holding. His paranoia at being trapped in Konoha's prison was rising to all new heights. Retracting his grip and tsking at the girl, he replied, "Obviously you're civilian. You walk like a rhinoceros."

Twin spots of color rose high in the girl's cheeks. Sputtering for a moment and recovering a little, she replied, "Well! I-I..." She collected herself and jibed, "It wasn't even you that heard me coming! It was your big friend next door!" At the declaration, she pointed defiantly to the left of his cell, which actually housed a different prisoner, as Juugo was to her right. Suigetsu was smirking, about to tell her so when a voice down the hall sounded.

"Wench! Are you done yet?"

The mahogany eyes of the female civilian widened considerably as she hurriedly shoved the tray remaining in her hands into Juugo's cell. Once her task was complete, she called back, "Yes, sir! All finished!" Shooting the white haired Mist ninja a sour look, she quickly trotted off, back toward the ramp that lead to the exit. Once she was gone, Suigetsu was surprised to hear his teammate's voice once again. "She was entertaining."

Sakura was positive that she was dreaming. There was a sort of airy disconnection between what she was thinking and what she was experiencing. The leather wrapped grip in her hands didn't have the correct texture and the weapon itself had a strange almost fluid weightlessness. Her point of view was floating above her body, almost as if she were watching a stranger operate it. Sensations seemed muffled, as if they were being experienced through a veil. As her consciousness looked on, her physical form crested a hill she'd created. From her position, she could see Sai painting away on his scroll as her body crested the pile of boulders.

The dreaming girl felt her stomach drop with realization. She was watching the fight between the members of Team Seven, as she'd experienced it. Her body was standing at the top of the hill now, looking down toward Sasuke. She could just see the dark, swirling form of a fuuma shuriken curving up the steep incline, on a direct path for her physical form. As the spinning blade dew close, her vision blurred and refocused. Sakura was seeing from her own eyes once more.

All at once she was peering down the jagged slope, her axe braced before her as the fuuma shuriken impacted. The screeching of metal was absent, even as the impact of the weapon shoved her back. The pain she hazily remembered wasn't present either as the windmill curved around her side and up her back. No, the only detail in the dream was the bright red of Sasuke's eyes barreling up at her. Everything around her was black and white, washed out and indistinct. Everything but his eyes. They were boring into her as she dropped her axe and let her knees crumble under her weight. Following her descent as gravity took hold of her body.

Then they were gone, replaced by an explosion of color as her memory of the moment convoluted, skipping backward. Suddenly she was uninjured, standing before the same man as he grasped her chin. His eyes were black, untainted by the curse of his Clan as his lips begin to form words that were never finished. A different voice was the first one in her dream. Naruto's strained, angry tone broke in, "TEME!"

With that single word, every detail absent rushed back in extreme clarity. Sound, texture and color returned as Sasuke stepped between she and their third teammate. His muttered "Dobe." rang magnified in her ears. The same frustration rose in Sakura as she watched the friends fight. The blonde shinobi descended on the dark haired one in front of her only to be tossed back. The ninja still loyal to thier Village roared, "YOU BASTARD! GIVE SAKURA BACK, SHE BELONGS IN KONOHA!"

Sakura hardly heard the exclamation. She was staring at the impassive, stoic man blocking her from Naruto and trying to ignore the anger and futility pooling in her mind. The defined lines of the muscles that divided Sasuke's back were falling in and out of focus. Even in her dreams, the pinkette couldn't escape the emotions he inundated her with. She remembered what she'd said next. The suffix she'd given Naruto's name. It was the same one she now refused to add to Sasuke's despite what the past would suggest. She could see in her mind's eye the nukenin's back going rigid as she spoke it.

"Naruto-kun!"

It was so simple and at the same time so torturous. The simple additional syllable had been something she'd reserved for Sasuke in their Genin days. Something that set him apart from any other male she addressed. In her mind, the suffix had an almost taboo restriction to the man before her. Even years after the Uchiha had abandoned Konoha, she'd refused to use it for anyone else. The kunoichi knew that she held it in her mind as something that she shared only with her first love. But as she stood, barred from her hometown and everything she'd ever been loyal to by the very same man...she found herself left with only the desperate urge to understand.

She wanted to know why she'd been chosen to travel with Team Hebi when there were surely Village-less medic ninja willing to do the job. She needed to know if he cared for her at all or if she was just a means to an end once Itachi had been defeated. But even as the impulsion struck her, Sakura knew that finding the truth would be impossible. She'd never get the answers she wanted from the impenetrable fortress that was the shinobi in front of her. Sasuke would ignore her. He would never face her and say what he felt or thought. Suddenly anger poured in where longing had once lain.

The green eyed female had spent years of her life trying to first gain his attention and then to become strong enough to drag him home. Years that she could never regain. And still he ignored her. Still he underestimated her. His bottomless black eyes still saw nothing but a worthless, mediocre kunoichi that he was responsible for. She was only a burden in his eyes. Sakura no longer cared for Sasuke to confide in her. No, she wanted to cut him.

Not in a physical sense. Never that. She just wanted to shake him to his core--force a reaction from his stony facade. So she took the one thing she associated with him and attached it to his rival. In the acerbic split second between her words and Sasuke's reaction, Sakura wondered if he'd even notice. But then both men were still, the weight and gravity of her form of address taking both by surprise. The slight falter of the nukenin's grip on his kusanagi spoke volumes. He had noticed and he was not pleased.

What she remembered most vividly was the feeling of vindictive glory tinged with bitter regret. Victory in the fact that she'd forced Sasuke react, regret in that she'd made him angry. It was the same feeling in different parts that filled her as the fuuma shuriken tore up the incline toward her shock frozen body. The emotions had returned, reversed when his weapon lurched toward her. She'd felt enormous regret that she'd made another mistake by stepping into its path, a hint of pride when she watched Sasuke's eyes go wide past the deforming metal of their colliding weapons. He did feel. His humanity wasn't gone completely.

In her half cognizant state, Sakura reasoned that some of that emotion, some of the emotional connection had to be associated with her. The thought filled her with more satisfaction than she felt was acceptable. But the sleeping girl's dream scape streaked and smeared, colors and sounds distorting as the memories she'd been experiencing fell away. She didn't get the opportunity to analyze the matter further as black flooded her field of vision as she fell into a dreamless slumber.

"Hatake Kakashi, Elite Level Jounin and former ANBU Squad Leader. What brings you to our chambers this day?"

Hands tucked deeply into his pockets, the grey eyed man tipped his head back amicably to observe the man who'd spoken. "Ah, honored Council members...I'm afraid that I've come to contest a ruling you have recently passed down."

From high on his bench, a particularly wrinkly old man raised a white eyebrow and creaked, "You question our judgement, Jounin-san?"

Kakashi just shifted and glanced confidently up to the elevated, semi-circular tier seating that housed the Elders of the Village. "Of course not, Your Honor. I would never do such a thing." Though he was smiling and for all intents and purposes completely sincere, the shinobi still managed to somehow seem politely mocking. "I simply dispute your decision."

The old man from before retorted, "It is a close thing that you propose."

Chuckling, the wizened shinobi agreed, "Close, but not one and the same." He drew his hands from his pockets to fold them over his stomach. "I'll cut straight to the matter at hand. You recently convicted a Chuunin kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura as a traitor to our Village." The man paused completely, his sole eyes sweeping over the assembled Elders as he summarized, "You made her a nukenin."

A new member, an elderly female this time, jumped in. "I remember the case. She was a delusional girl! Obsessed with that traitorous Uchiha boy." A razor like gleam came to her glassy eyes as she commented, "Hmm, they were both students of yours...were they not, Hatake-san?"

His smokey gaze was infinately harder, though his expression did not change as Kakashi replied, "They were."

The female Councilwoman's smirk was pleased though her tone was falsely concerned. "Then I hope that your judgement is not what is clouded in this matter." She settled back against the plush cushion she was seated on as she added, "After all, this Coucil's time is valuable. It would be a shame to waste it with emotion fueled appeals at perfectly justified rulings."

The Copy Ninja felt his sloth like demeanor begin to slip at the blatant attack on himself and his pupils. Rather than rising to the bait, he simply continued, "I assure you this appeal is based in fact and not emotion, Madam Councilor." Sure that their were no further interruptions, Kakashi began his argument. "I reviewed the transcriptions of the hearing conducted for Miss Haruno. Several high profile ninja testified in her favor. Even the Godaime herself was among them."

"The popularity or political standing of witnesses have no weight in this court, Jounin-san." Gnarled hands shook as an Elder planted his hands on the bench before him and leaned forward. "If the defendant is guilty, than a testimony from Kami-sama himself could not save them from the justice that this Court would pass down."

The catty woman from before added, "The Hokage's treasured deciple or not, that girl showed little respect for this Board on more than one occasion."

"So you BANISHED HER? YOU'RE CORRUPT! I-" Naruto's outburst was cut short as he was dragged from the Chamber by armed guards. Kakashi ignored the exclamation, trying to tamp down his sudden urge to strangle the loudmouth blonde.

The Councilwoman was borderline gleeful as she hissed, "Another of your students, yes? What an exemplary bunch you've fostered."

Kakashi's patience had worn thin. "My students are indeed exemplary. Each and every one is-"

"Disloyal or utterly tactless, from what has been observed by this Court. Now, is there a matter to be addressed here, or is Karou-san's worry realized? Are you simply wasting our time?"

Setting his jaw and locking his gaze onto the polished floor at his feet, the silver haired shinobi gritted out, "I move to gain permission from the Board to cross-examine a prisoner in conjunction with this case. Her only known title is 'Karin.' She is believed to have been a member of Team Hebi and was apprehended by a team I led into Rain Country. I have reason to believe that she is withholding viable evidence that was not entered into the hearing of Miss Haruno's case."

Councilwoman Karou's silky voice floated down like a venomous gas to Kakashi's ears. "I'm afraid that is impossible." When the elite ninja's head snapped up to face her, she explained, "That prisoner is currently...unavailable."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Kakashi had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer, even as he asked for it.

"Prisoner 787, or 'Karin' as you've called her, was chosen to complete a task for the Board as part of her punishment." Karou's milky blue eyes found Kakashi's grey ones as she clarified, "She is tracking Uchiha Itachi."

DUN DUN DUN! The plot thickens! It's only gonna get uglier, so hold on for the ride! Sorry about the delay, that Sakura dream sequence bit nearly killed me. There'll be SasuSaku interaction in the next installment, I promise!

Next chapter Monday evening or Tuesday.

Thanks for reading and please review!