I know this chapter is late. But my laptop broke and I had to use my old one. My old laptop is still functional but God bless its poor soul it is in horrible condition. Only half of its screen is functional and it refuses to let me type the letters 'C,' 'Z' and 'T.' Can you imagine just how much I butchered Itachi's name, and how much blasphemy I brought on the Uchiha name. So I eventually gave up and decided to wait till my baby gets repaired.
So I am very sorry for the wait, I had hoped to keep to my weekly update schedule and to only stray from it if I decided to post a couple of chapters in the same week. But hopefully things would go smoothly from here on out.
Now there is one more thing for me to address in this impossibly long author's note.
It's about Sakura's use of Henge. If you are not interested in this and have neither questions nor concerns about the matter then please skip ahead to the beginning of the chapter ;)
I was happy when you guys brought this up in the reviews because I wanted to address it but there was no occasion for me to do so in the story. So here we go.
The question is: can the Henge escape the Sharingan's notice?
Now the answer to that question is not very clear cut. The argument still rages on the Naruto forums with some people saying:
*Possible spoilers ahead*
"Naruto used the Transformation Technique during his battle against the Six Paths of Pain several times without Nagato noticing anything," which means that the Rinnegan cannot see through it. And we all know that's the grand-mommy of all ocular powers.
Also during the wave arc Kakashi had his sharingan activated yet was not able to see through Naruto's Henge. Now keep in mind Kakashi's awesomeness and absolute bad-assery.
And again during Killer Bee's bijuu extraction sequence, Madara himself carried the fake Bee. I mean…
And many more, for example after spending way too much time with Orochimaru, Sasuke remained clueless as to his real appearance. And he could not see through the Ame Ninja Henge and kinda focused on its flaws (in the forest of death).
Not to mention that the sharingan operates by detecting Chakra patterns, a Henge placed on an object that does not have chakra would be easy to detect. But that placed on a human-being who naturally has chakra might be much harder.
Finally, I do not believe that this particular Henge is genjutsu. Genjutsu works by tricking the onlooker's mind into perceiving something that is not there without tampering with reality itself. Henge works by actually physically transforming the reality. So it has been pointed out that Henge is more Ninjutsu than Genjutsu. So in this story, Sakura's body actually transforms into that of Sou, it is not an illusion.
So my conclusion and the one I choose to operate on in this story is that the sharingan would be able to see through a Henge if the wielder of the sharingan knows the person who is impersonated and is very familiar with their chakra patterns or is very familiar with the person doing the impersonation.
Other than that, and as long as the Henge user has efficient Chakra control, like our Sakura, it should be alright.
Sakura did not sulk very often courtesy of her deeply held belief that one should always strive to forgive and forget, lest they become too tangled up in negativity to see all the potential they are surrounded with.
But desperate times called for desperate measures and the girl decided to allow herself a highly deserved 'sulking time' as she let her head rest on the glass of one of the windows in the first floor living room.
It was well after 2 in the morning but the girl just did not manage to sleep. Her head was filled with thoughts about the party and others about her upcoming infiltration attempt. Not to mention that her mind tormented her with images of all her friends making it as Anbu while she is left behind after failing the impossibly dangerous task that she so smartly handpicked for herself.
*Well done on that,* inner Sakura mocked with a sarcastic slow clap. *You could have decided on any task for yourself, any….task,* she added slowly, *but you decided to undertake an impossible task that could get us killed, I mean, why not? It's just the assignment, our anbu standing, and our very lives that you're gambling with here. Stakes have never been lower… go for it…. Yay… yay for you…* inner said bitterly.
Sakura sighed, pressing her head further into the cool glass. Inner was normally snide, but she only got flat out bitter when she detected impending doom.
The girl entertained herself for a second with the droplets of rain that were sliding down the glass. It was one of those rare nights where Konoha actually saw rain. Sakura always liked nights like that, but tonight her mind was full of thoughts.
And if those thoughts were not annoying enough, her traitorous mind kept mentioning Itachi and Eri and wondering at their relationship.
Sakura shot those thoughts down the second they popped up and assured herself that she did not care and that it did not matter one way or the other. She was not going to punch Eri in the face like inner advised and she was not going to ask Shisui or Sasuke about it like the calmer part of her psyche suggested. She had bigger fish to fry and more important things to worry about than that. So as long as Eri remained publicly respectful of her and Itachi's relationship and did nothing to compromise how people viewed their union she did not -and should not- care about anything else.
Sakura wrapped her arms around her legs. She was sitting on a small wooden ledge by the window. She had managed to sneak out of bed without Itachi noticing her, which she viewed as one of her bigger accomplishments in life.
It took a lot of stealth on her part to accomplish and somehow it made her feel a tad bit better about her ability to sneak her identity by an entire police station filled with savvy Uchiha.
After finishing the invitations, Sakura had excused herself and went upstairs where she studied up on manipulation techniques and espionage related Jutsu. She also made a huge list of supplies that she needed to get for the party and an even bigger list of questions that she had about what such parties normally entailed.
Sakura then fell asleep halfway through cursing Madara for forcing this party on her and contemplating sneaking into his house and replacing his shampoo with pink hair dye so that he'd have to go through the compound being mistaken for her twin.
That was a comforting thought and it managed to lull Sakura into sleep. That was of course until she felt Itachi walk into the room.
She held completely still and pretended to still be asleep. She found herself unwilling to have a conversation with her husband. Her mind was way too full for that.
So she waited and marveled at how quiet the man was: he actually managed to shower, change and slip into bed without making a single noise. If it wasn't for the fact that it was Friday night and Sakura was expecting him to spend it in bed with her, like he normally did on weekends, she wouldn't have detected him as he entered the room.
Silently, Itachi had slipped into bed with her and she felt herself relax as he switched off the lights and sunk deeper into the bed. He normally threw an arm around her as they slept but she remarked that he did not do that, probably in an attempt to avoid waking her up.
Sakura managed to fall asleep again for a couple of hours, but this time her mind proceeded to shower her with a myriad of possible horrifying scenarios, so she allowed herself to get out of bed and sulk.
And there she was, trying very hard to escape her thoughts and focus on the droplets of rain.
*so beautiful,* the girl remarked watching them cascade by. Rain always fascinated her. To a fire country resident rain was a peculiarity and people tended to either love it with all their hearts or harbor unbridled hate for it and regard it as the antithesis of everything that the fire country stood for.
It was almost the start of winter though and as a devout lover of that season, Sakura felt herself relax slightly against the windowsill. She wrapped her arms around her legs tighter. She was cold since she was still wearing her summer-time striped pajamas but she did not care.
She was finally experiencing some calm.
"Sakura,"
'was' is the operative word.
"Itachi," the girl said, straightening her back and shifting her attention to the approaching Uchiha. She hadn't heard him coming but she never does. She was used to it by then. "Why are you up?"
"I would like to ask you the same question," he intoned, walking towards her and coming to a stop a few steps from where she was sitting. He gave her small figure a quick scan. "Are you not feeling well?" he questioned.
Sakura shook her head, "I am perfectly fine," she said. "It's just that you were moving around a lot in your sleep; kicking and screaming and mumbling all sorts of strange stuff," she added as an afterthought. She was in the mood to mess with him.
As a response, her shirtless husband tilted his head to the side, "was I?" he questioned.
She nodded.
"What did I say?"
Sakura racked her mind, "umm, you said that I was the most beautiful woman in the world and that you are very lucky to have me as your wife and that you think I should be the commanding officer on this assignment because I am so capable… Oh, and you also said that you changed your mind and would want to take over the party preparations instead of me because it is what a loving husband would do," she said, offering him a sweet smile. "Also, you said the strangest thing, you said you'd do away with all the Anbu rules and put me through to the next stage… I don't even need to do the project," she finished, allowing herself to lean back against the windowsill.
"So those are the things you are worrying about," Itachi concluded, offering her a thoughtful look.
Sakura blanched.
She had not intended on telling him about her worries, she was just joking around and she ended up divulging everything. *Quite a fine spy I would make.*
Itachi eyed her for a long moment waiting for a reply, instead he watched as the girl shifted her attention away from him and past the glass window.
Sakura felt Itachi draw an armchair and move it so that it was plopped right next to her, facing the window. The Uchiha then sat down.
She expected him to talk but he did not.
After a minute she shifted her eyes to him and found him silently watching the rain.
She drew in a breath and looked outside the window again.
"Do you like the rain?" she questioned.
"I do not hate it," Itachi replied.
Sakura shifted her attention to him with an amused look, "wow, even though you answered my question I still don't know where you stand on rain. So that's how you respond to a question without divulging any information," she pointed out.
Itachi gave her a small smile, "yes, that is the art of discretion," he allowed.
"I've gotta learn how to do that," she remarked.
Itachi regarded her thoughtfully for a second, "you do not need to hide the fact that you are worried," he said. "Any smart person would be. The important thing is to not let that worry stop you from doing what you need to do."
Sakura smiled, "you could be a motivational speaker," she teased.
"I could also throw you out that window," he deadpanned.
"Such a short fuse," she said laughingly.
Itachi's expression shifted though, "do you need help?" he questioned, sounding more serious than he was a second before.
Sakura gave him a long look before shrugging, "nah, I've gotta do this myself."
"We are partners Sakura, you need to be able to ask me for assistance when you need it," Itachi offered.
Sakura was about to smile, but much to the Uchiha's confusion, her expression darkened instead.
"Right," she said. "We have got to be able to do everything that partners do, and make it all seem believable."
Itachi blinked, her sentence made sense: she used the correct words, but something about the way it was spoken took him off guard and he could not, for all his intelligence, figure out what it was.
"What is the matter, Sakura?" was his confused retort.
"Nothing," she said, "I am agreeing with you," she added and watched as Itachi gave her one of the strangest looks she has ever seen him give. He actually narrowed his eyes at her as if trying to see through into her mind. He was eyeing her like she was a puzzle.
She sighed, "I am fine, Itachi, really. I am just a bit tired and more than a little cold, I also have a lot on my mind."
"I see," Itachi said, evidently not convinced. He was confused and that was an unfamiliar feeling for him. Itachi was never confused he was always sure. But something seemed off with Sakura and he couldn't put his finger on it. "Should I warm you up then?" he questioned, leaning forward in his chair.
"Nah, I'm good," the girl said, getting to her feet. "I've gotta get to bed. Long day tomorrow," she said, starting to walk towards the door. "H…Hey!" she exclaimed as she felt Itachi's hands around her waist hoisting her up over his shoulder as he stood up. "Put me down! What are you doing…?"
"Taking you to bed," Itachi said.
"I can walk," she said crossly, feeling his hand settle across her legs, a little under her backside, as he started walking.
"You are short," he declared.
"Wh…What…?"
"Your steps are rather small and inefficient," he said. "This way we would get there faster."
Sakura almost laughed at that one. "You have a logical explanation for every insane thing you do, don't you?" she questioned, settling her stomach against his shoulder.
"If you can deliver a semi-reasonable explanation then it is no longer insane," he said in a light tone.
"Wonderful logic."
"Thank you."
In the few moments that followed, Itachi set her down on the bed, climbed in, and drew her back against him in a warm embrace that quickly lulled her into a much needed sleep.
.
Sakura was awoken in a rather peculiar way. She was used to having Hana saunter in and tell her that "her master" told her to wake her up. Or to waking up with a start to find that she was running late. Hell, it wasn't even farfetched for her to awaken to Shisui crouched in bed next to her and "watching her sleep."
But the way she woke up was completely different from anything she ever experienced since she got married. Or maybe it was too normal for this particular marriage.
First she felt a gentle touch to her head, which was followed by some soothing tousling of her hair. Sakura tiredly opened her eyes only to see Itachi sitting on the bed next to her.
She gave him a questioning look and he just slid off the bed and walked around the room.
Sakura sat up and watched him as he sat down next to a fully laid out breakfast table.
She rolled her eyes, "do you want me to comb your hair again?" she questioned, given that that was the thing he asked of her the last time he was sat in that particular position.
"Unfortunately you will have no such pleasure today," he said, before fixing his eyes on her, "will you join me?" he added.
Sakura blinked. "For breakfast?"
He gave her a tortured look which in human-speech meant: 'of course for breakfast you idiot, why do I have to spell everything out for you.'
Sakura nodded and got out of bed.
Hesitantly she sat down next to him, giving him a weary look as he picked up his fork and started eating.
After a while of just watching him, the girl picked up her coffee and in a few more minutes she started picking at her scrambled eggs, all the while expecting the other shoe to drop. She never really just had a proper meal with Itachi. Most of the time their meals were very tense courtesy of other people being there, or were used by Itachi as opportunities to torture her.
But being woken up to a companionable breakfast was not something that she expected out of Itachi or out of their marriage for that matters. It might be a simple act but in Sakura's already strained mind it seemed quite unusual.
"When are you going to attempt to kill me?" she said abruptly, mid bites.
"That will always depend on how you conduct yourself," he replied without missing a beat.
"Are you being nice? Is this you being nice? Waking me up to have breakfast and not torturing me and all? Cuz I am ok with that… it is actually quite pleasant. I would just like a heads-up that you're being nice cuz I need to brace myself," she blurted, pointing her fork at him accusingly.
Itachi gave her a look that could pass for a very mild form of exasperated. "Just eat your breakfast," was all he said.
And she did, all the while eyeing him like he was some sort of exotic creature. "You're not even gonna nag me about organizing my drawers?"
"I do not nag…"
"You always nag,"
They glared at each other.
After a second they both went back to their breakfast.
"So no massages, no ponytail tying, no drawer nagging, no ordering me around, no spreading rumors about us, just… breakfast?" Sakura said again in utter disbelief. "Just… breakfast?" she added.
Itachi clenched his jaw. "Yes… just breakfast," he intoned, voice strained.
"You're just being nice."
"I just want to eat breakfast."
She squinted her eyes at him.
"What's your agenda?" she questioned. "You're hiding something aren't you? You're gonna add 300 more people to the party and want me to write all the invitations by myself, right?"
"Just eat your food," Itachi said, eyes boring into hers intimidatingly.
But her mind was overrun by paranoia now, Itachi and having a nice breakfast just did not mix.
"You're toying with me right now, by pretending that this is just a simple breakfast… right? Right? That's what you're doing… right?"
"Sakura," Itachi started.
"Yes?"
"Stop talking."
"Well, that's very rude…I…" she trailed off as his eyes flashed crimson for a quick second.
"Fine," she said begrudgingly. "You're right, I am just being paranoid because things have not been easy lately and a simple breakfast with you seems a bit farfetched. But you're right… I'll just…"
He gave her a look.
"…I'll just stop talking now," she finished flashing him a big smile.
They fell back into companionable silence for a few seconds; only the sound of cutlery sliding on plates could be heard.
It was nice, really… until…
"Honestly though, what is this about?" Sakura questioned despite herself.
"That's it," Itachi said, getting to his feet.
"Wha… Itachi, what are you…?" the girl trailed off as Itachi hoisted her up by putting both hands north of her waist, a bit lower than her chest, and drawing her up into the air. "Itachi… put me down… put me down… what are you doing?" she questioned as her husband stepped over to the balcony, kicked the door open and proceeded to walk over to the railing and dangle her over the side of the house. "You cannot throw me off the balcony!" she warned, eyes widening as she started struggling in his grasp.
"I cannot?" he questioned, eyes fixing her with a challenging look.
"You won't I mean, I am your wife, you can't throw your wife out of the balcony," she said frantically.
"Hn," he said, and just like that Sakura felt his hands loosen around her waist, as Itachi simply let go. "Good luck on your first day of the project, Sakura," the Uchiha intoned, watching as the girl flailed around in the air before channeling her Chakra with ease and landing swiftly on her feet after the one storey drop.
"You!" she declared murderously as she watched her husband calmly step back into the room and close the balcony doors behind him.
*That damned demon king!*
.
An hour after being flung from the balcony by her husband, Sakura started making her way out of the Uchiha compound.
The police force's headquarters was actually near the Uchiha compound. But, Sakura needed to head to her/Sou's apartment first.
And so the girl found yet another public toilet, made sure she wasn't watched, performed her henge, and then transported herself into Sou's apartment and snuck out of there without the landlady seeing her, because she just did not feel like being hit on that early in the morning, especially by a woman.
And so, less than 5 minutes after walking out of the compound, Sakura found herself standing in front of its gates once again. But this time she was a silver haired, grey eyed, 19 year old boy.
"Good morning," she/he said, coming to a stop in front of one of the intimidatingly large gates and greeting one of the guards.
The man walked towards her without returning the greeting. "Who're you?" he questioned.
"Sou… Sou Kanata," she said, once again glad that her manipulation of her vocal chords yielded such successful results. She then handed the man some of the identification papers she made for herself.
"And why are you here, Sou… Sou Kanata," the guard questioned, obviously entertained by the Bishonen who dared approach the Uchiha gates. Non Uchiha were normally too intimidated to do such a thing unless accompanied by an Uchiha.
"I am here to apply to the police force," Sou declared.
Now Sakura wasn't expecting the reaction she got, for the guard just froze watching her speechlessly for a second.
A second later he started blinking at her, before turning his head to the side and exchanging a quick look with the other guard.
Sakura looked between them before almost jumping as the two broke out in uproarious laughter.
"Nah, really," the guard said, "why are you here?"
Sakura gave him a confused look.
"To apply to the…"
"You're kidding right?" the other guard said, walking to her. "You actually want to apply to the police force?"
"Yes, I…"
"What are you like, 9?" the first guard questioned.
"I am 19 and I am a Jonin," Sou said, affronted.
They exchanged another look and started laughing again.
"My age is not a concern for…"
"It's not your age, it's the fact that you're… well, you're… you see there are only like two non-Uchiha on the force, and they are… special," the first guard said.
"Special?"
"Don't," the second guard warned the first one, now re-assuming an air of professionalism. "Listen boy, this will not work out for you, it'd be much better for you to just go home. Maybe apply to the regular forces or something."
Sou shook his head, "I would like to apply to the police force," he asserted.
The two guards exchanged one more look before the first one shrugged, "your funeral," the man said, standing back and gesturing towards the gate which opened as if by its own volition. "I'll walk you to where the station is," he added, stepping after Sakura who took her first steps into the compound as Sou.
.
Because they were very close by, people often assumed that the station was inside the compound. This misconception was not helped by the fact that most people did not know how to access the station and had to actually go to the compound's gates to ask for assistance. Thus, Sakura followed the man into the compound, before he led her to a carefully hidden underground tunnel.
When she emerged she found herself standing in front of another gate, which she assumed was a little distance to the west of the compound's gates.
Sakura concluded that the station was in fact behind the compound, and connected to it through the tunnel, and potentially more tunnels and gates. They were connected but they were not one and the same.
The police force had its own gates; the guard who accompanied her, led her up to the gate, exchanged a quick word with the policemen who guarded it and then walked away.
The policemen snickered at her for a second before waving her through. She could feel their eyes on her back as she stepped in.
She was greeted by vast expanses of sand, it was a rather desolate scene, with very few buildings in sight. The sandy spaces were being used by police cadets to train. A grueling training that even from a distance Sakura could tell would give her a run for her money.
Sakura walked by and headed -as instructed by the guards- to the main building, all the while remarking on the way the policemen eyed her like she was a deranged deer that willingly walked into a lion's den.
They opted to say nothing and she just returned their glances with an expressionless face, glad that she chose to model her persona after Sasuke, for if she had gone with Naruto she would have been compelled to pick a fight.
In no time Sakura found herself standing in front of the main station.
It was a midsized, three storey building with high fences surrounding it. The fences were adorned by barbed wire all around.
Policemen were walking in and out, punching each other in the arms and laughing companionably. From the looks of it, the girl could tell that even though this was a primarily Uchiha-run force, it did have a very different feel from the Uchiha compound. While at the compound everyone acted in a reserved manner, this place felt more like a frat house, with boys shoving each other and cracking jokes.
Sakura wondered if there were any girls on the force, before reminding herself that she was a guy and it should not matter to her if there were girls there for her to make friends with.
Sakura eyed the iron door that led into the station warily for a second.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, the girl steeled herself and walked in.
The inside of the station was nothing like it looked on the outside: it was very modern with tiled grey floors and a black and white motif running through the entire place. The majority of the place was filled with desks where operatives sat. Most of the desks were not separated by walls or cubicles or anything of the sort.
The closest policeman to the door sat on a high counter. The man looked like he was barely in his thirties. He eyed Sakura/Sou with a dark expression on his face as he approached.
"Good morning, I am Sou Kanata, I am here to apply to the apprenticeship program," Sou said.
"That program does not exist. Leave," was his curt reply.
Sakura stopped herself from giving any overt reaction.
"I know it exists, I was told…"
"You were misinformed, leave," he ordered.
"Officer, please, I came all the way from Earth country to apply. I left my whole family behind. This is…"
"Then go back," the man said, face filled with nothing but disdain.
"But…"
"Leave."
"I don't understand this, I know that this program exists, why aren't you letting me at least apply. I will go through whatever test you put me through and I will prove myself. Just give me the chance to do this," Sou pleaded, eyes fixed on the man.
"Leave," was his reply. "This is a police force, you are wasting our time."
"Please just give me an application and I will…" Sou trailed off as the man got to his feet and walked around the counter.
The girl/boy stiffened as he wrapped a hand around her arm and dragged her towards the door. She dug her heels in the ground in an attempt to resist, but the man brought his other hand to the front of her white shirt and dragged her out with more force.
A second later, she found herself being flung out on the floor in front of the iron doorway.
Sakura blinked as police officers merely walked around her, barely sparing her any attention as they made their way in.
She got to her feet.
She expected to be put through a grueling testing procedure. But she did not expect being denied entrance from the get go.
How could she possibly infiltrate the police force if she wasn't even allowed through the front gate?
If this was a regular undercover mission where all she needed was to gather some information she might have attempted to impersonate someone in the force after maybe incapacitating that person and assuming his identity. But that was out of the question. For one, impersonating someone was highly risky given that they would most probably be a sharingan wielder which she just could not fake.
Also, this person's friends would easily be able to tell the difference in his demeanor and their sharingan would allow them to observe the subtle differences in his chakra use and patterns.
And of course, Sakura was not an offending Kunoichi. If she were to attack an officer or do anything that would be classified as aggressive it would have a detrimental impact on both her assignment as Itachi's wife and her Anbu project.
Sakura got to her feet and dusted her jeans off. *Could it be that the program really has been cancelled?* she pondered. *But I checked recently and its status is ongoing. Not to mention that the people at the gate let me in when I told them I wished to apply.* She paused eyeing the door. *Could it be that that person just does not want me to get in? A discrimination thing maybe? Something about not wanting non-Uchiha to join?*
Sakura glared at the door.
She needed to get in. She couldn't give up just because some idiot is being unnecessarily territorial.
And with that thought in mind, the girl marched in again.
The man looked up from his desk, giving her an angry once over, "what are you…?" he started.
"I want to meet your commanding officer," Sou said.
"If you are so desperate to get inside the station I would be glad to put you behind bars," the Uchiha threatened, eyes glistening with malice. "Now be a good little boy and walk yourself out before I pummel you all the way back to Earth country," he added before retuning his attention to the paper on his counter.
Sakura gave him an icy look.
He raised his head again, ground his teeth, and got up, "so be it, I'll show you how the police force deal with toddlers who don't know their place…"
"I am a citizen of Konoha!" Sakura/Sou screamed at the man, her voice suddenly rising high enough to stop him in his tracks and have the officers shift their attention to her, "how dare you say that I am not allowed to file a complaint against someone just because I remind you of your last boyfriend!"
The man froze.
"The hell are you saying boy?!"
Sakura heard a few people chuckle and some whispers.
Emboldened she/he pushed on, "I told you I am not even into men, and all I want is to file a complaint."
Sakura saw the man's face redden as he looked around him and exchanged looks with his amused colleagues, "are you insane boy?! I said no such thing!" he yelled, before grabbing Sakura's elbow again. "I am going to kill you," he hissed in her ear.
"What's going on Goro?" A male voice sounded from behind Sakura and the man's hand immediately fell to his side as he straightened up and saluted the new comer.
Sakura turned around to see a tall man, who appeared rather young. He was an Uchiha, as evidenced by the slight flash of crimson that had quickly crossed his eyes as he talked to the man named Goro. But his hair was rather lighter than that of the average Uchiha, it was almost brown and so were his eyes once they returned to their normal color.
"Captain Naoki," Goro greeted. "This boy…"
"I want to file a complaint," Sou stated, addressing the man.
"This is the military police force, young man, as a civilian you cannot…" the man known as captain Naoki started.
"I am not a civilian," Sakura said, pushing a few papers towards the man. "I am a Jonin. I might not be an active member of the Seiki Butai but I am definitely not a civilian."
The man browsed the papers for a quick second before nodding. "Come with me," he offered turning around and walking into the station.
Sou flashed Goro a victorious look before following the man into the station and leaving an annoyed Goro to endure the comments of the officers who had gathered after the outburst.
.
"Have a seat," the man said as he closed the door of his office and walked in. It was a medium sized office with walls made entirely of transparent glass so you could see all around.
Naoki assumed his seat behind the desk and Sou sat himself down in front of him.
"So, you would like to file a complaint against someone,"
"Yes,"
"Who?"
"That man outside, I believe you called him Goro," Sou said confidently, sitting back in the chair and folding his hands in his lap.
"You want to file a complaint against an officer?" Naoki said, furrowing his brow. "Why?"
"Because I want to join the police force's apprenticeship program and he won't let me," Sou declared.
The man's expression changed to that of shock for a second before he recovered himself and gave the young man in front of him an amused look. "So he tried to stop you from joining and you accused him of making a move on you to get past him."
Sou simply nodded.
The man laughed. "You're quite the trickster," he allowed. "But don't you think this could come back to haunt you? If you do join the force, he will come after you."
Sou shrugged.
"You're being very impulsive here," Naoki said. "It's Sou isn't it?"
The boy/girl nodded.
"I see from your papers that you've lived in Earth country for a while. So you might not know this, but the police force is not really the friendliest of places. It is quite ruthless and as you have just seen, strangers are not very welcome and newbies are not easily accepted. All the rookies, even those that come from the Uchiha clan are horribly tormented at the beginning. Your situation would be even harder. Don't get me wrong, it is my job to encourage people from outside the clan to join, but I always make sure to give due warning. You're obviously a courageous young man, but I would advise you to take a moment to think this through."
"I want to do this," Sou said. "I am well aware of everything I might have to go through."
"Are you sure?" the man said with a solemn expression on his face.
"Yes," Sou said.
The man nodded and a second later, Sakura heard a knock on the door.
Naoki gestured for the person at the door to enter, "Shin, this is Sou, he wants to join the apprenticeship program. Take care of it."
"Yes, captain Naoki," the other guy said and Sakura looked around to see a red haired, blue eyed, guy in his mid-twenties. She was taken aback for a second at seeing that rare creature: *a non-Uchiha police officer!* inner marveled in awe.
"Come along," Shin offered, and Sou got to his feet and followed along but not before offering Naoki a brief bow. "So, you wanna join us hah?" Shin said as they stepped into the corridor.
Sou nodded.
"Ya think you can do it?" Shin questioned, grinning at Sou.
Sou took in his challenging tone, "well you have done it," he/she said mirroring his tone and falling silent to emphasize the heavily implied 'how hard could it be.'
And much to Sakura's surprise Shin actually laughed, a booming sound that was shortly followed with a heavy handed slap to Sakura's back. "At least you've got the attitude for it," he said merrily. "Listen, I am Shin, myself and the other non-Uchiha officer are the ones running the apprenticeship program now."
"She's a captain though so she's busy. You might get to see her if you actually make it through your first day," Shin declared.
"So, what does my first day entail?"
Shin gave him/her a compassionate look, "I would tell you if I thought it would help you to know," he said enigmatically. "Just keep this in mind: all you have to do is make it till the end of the day without uttering the words 'I quit.' Just make sure you don't say those words and they'd have to hand you over to me, got it?"
"A… Yes, I got it," Sou/Sakura said as she tried to ignore the sense of dread that started rising in her heart.
"There we go," Shin said, stopping in front of an aluminum sliding door. "You're on your own from here on champ, remember what I said Ok? I would like to add at least one non-Uchiha to the force this year."
And with that, Shin turned around and started walking away.
In his wake, Sou stood still for a second, contemplating the closed door that had absolutely no markings on it.
Inhaling deeply, she raised her hand and knocked.
Nothing.
Giving the door a confused look, she waited a few seconds before knocking once more.
"Just enter princess this ain't a fu**en bedroom," she heard a gruff voice echo through.
Sliding the door open, Sakura walked in to find a shirtless muscular man standing in the midst of a huge room. The room was completely empty and covered in black carpet. The walls were all made of metal which gave the room a rather eerie air.
"I am…" Sou started.
"I know who you are princess, and I am here to show you who I am," the man said morbidly as he eyed the boy in front of him like he was something to be eaten.
"Is this some sort of entrance test?" Sou questioned, stepping into the room.
"Close the door princess," the man ordered.
Sou did as instructed, before turning back to the man.
"Are we going to fight, am I expected to…?"
"You're expected to do nothing, fresh meat, just stand there and let's see just how much of this you could endure before you're crying for your mama to come get ya."
And on that note, doors started sliding open all the way around the room revealing equally shirtless, ridiculously muscular men. The smallest one of those men weighed twice as much as Sakura and the biggest, well, the biggest had an arm that weighed twice as much as Sakura.
She gulped.
"Now, princess, if you so much as use a single jutsu or move a muscle to defend yourself, we're gonna toss you out the door on your ass and we won't let you spend the week with us as our apprentice," the man said with a predatory look in his eyes as he advanced on Sou. All around the room twelve other men did the exact same thing, walking slowly towards the girl/guy who was turning around in circles trying to keep tabs on everyone. "Now, of course the princess can always shout out 'I quit' and walk away. You know, you can go home and comb that pretty hair of yours. A feminine looking young boy like you has no place on the force," he added with a sadistic smile. "Now what do you say? You wanna go home."
Sakura looked around her warily; she felt her heart rate quicken, "I am not going anywhere," she declared.
The man smirked, "we'll see about that."
And on that note, everyone pounced on Sou.
In no time the girl was doubled over after receiving a knee to the stomach. She felt hands crashing on her torso and legs ruthlessly knocking her down on the floor.
It took all of Sakura's willpower to not fight back. Every instinct she had was telling her to kick out and hit the men, show them what she could do. But the instructions were clear and she knew that they might actually love it if she were to disobey.
She couldn't afford to take the risk, and so all she could do was crawl into the fetal position on the floor and do her best to protect her face and all that is vital as the men mercilessly kicked every ounce of her that they could touch, including her head.
Sakura didn't know if it was a result of the repeated kicks to the head or the unbearable searing pain that she endured when one of the men managed to break three of her ribs with a single blow, but she slowly felt herself drift into unconsciousness.
She welcomed it with open arms.
And after a period of time that she could not determine she felt herself coming to.
Someone was healing her. She hesitantly opened her eyes and saw nothing but fuzzy shapes. She hadn't yet registered where she was and what had happened to her when the pain resumed. She was hauled up and flung at a wall and then again grabbed by the back of her now short white hair and slammed into the same wall again and again.
And once again she felt her grip on reality slip.
If asked, Sakura would never be able to quantify how many times she was knocked out and brought back. All she knew is that sometimes when she woke up she was aware that she was Sakura who was acting as Sou in an effort to infiltrate the force. And at others, her mind felt too hazy to even form thoughts, she was just a person in pain; and pain was all there was.
She held back her screams and cries and endured and that was all she could focus on as she alternated between intense pain and bouts of merciful unconsciousness.
A while after that, the girl woke up to find herself slouched on a chair in a dark room. She blinked but saw nothing.
"Who are you?" she heard a voice say.
"Sa…" she started before her brain raised a red flag. "Sou Kanata," she said.
"Why do you want to join the force?"
"Policemen saved my parents back when we lived in Fire country. They were walking back to the station when they saw my parents crouched on the floor, my mother was crying and my father was desperate. We were very poor at the time and my parents had gone out to sell some fruit but thugs assaulted them and stole their merchandise and their money," Sou recounted in a very weak voice, it was all he could do to stay conscious. "The policemen went after the thieves. They didn't have to do that, they were off duty, but they still brought the money and the merchandize back to my parents. They were the only people who were kind to us back when we lived here and I have vowed, since I was a kid, to one day return and join the force," Sakura finished exhaustedly.
Her wounds stung and she could feel that despite someone's best efforts to heal her she still had numerous bruised ribs and a small concussion.
It didn't help that the next thing she felt was another blow to her head and with it she fell unconscious.
When she woke up again she was in the same black-carpeted room she was in before. She was lying on the floor and the big man from before was standing over her. "I must admit, you're one stubborn bastard. You have broken all the records for passing out, yet you won't give in. But don't you worry, I have just what it takes to convince you to hightail it out of here."
And with that, Sakura felt electricity run down her spine. She didn't know where it was coming from but all she knew was that she felt overwhelming pain and lost all control. She didn't know if she was screaming or not and neither did she care, as her vision turned white despite her eyes being wide open.
A second later she could breathe again as the Chidori-like electrical current receded from her system.
"This is level one of ten levels of pain," she heard the man's voice declare. "Now, a good policeman needs to be able to handle pain. If you can't do that then you won't do us any good even if you are strong. It would just take a bit of torture to break you. You're not a policeman little boy, so you don't have to endure all ten levels, you can call it quits now and go home, get a nice shower and slip into your comfortable bed and sleep. All you have to do is utter the magic words, say: 'I quit.'"
The man waited, but Sou said nothing, squirming on the floor in sheer agony and utter silence.
"Suit yourself," the man said and Sakura saw another man step into her field of vision. And just like that the unbearable pain returned.
Sakura felt as if she was dying as the two men channeled their tormenting chakra into her. It felt as if they were frying every cell in her body.
When they retracted it for the second time, it was all she could do not to cry.
"So, you gonna cave now, or should we kick it up another notch?"
Sakura did not reply and her stomach churned as she heard another man step up.
The pain returned triple fold and Sakura felt her body convulse violently.
A thought entered her mind, a voice telling her to stop, to quit, to just walk away.
This was too much pain for one person to endure and seven more levels of that remained. She was a soldier but she was also human. She had endured pain, even torture, but nothing felt that agonizing or that intense, mostly because she usually got to use her chakra to alleviate the pain, or to counter the blows. The thought of being able to fight her way out and escape almost always gave her enough courage to endure the pain. Even if the pain was unbearable, being able to fight gave her hope and made her feel strong. But the very concept of having to sit there and take it was in itself unbearable. She felt helpless.
But that meant that she could handle pain, it was the helplessness that was too much for her to tolerate.
*It's in my mind, it is all in my mind,* she thought. She needed to recall the mind retraining techniques she read about in the espionage books.
*Mind over matter,* she chanted in her head.
She didn't need to use any chakra, she just needed to gather all her concentration and center herself.
The pain returned again and Sakura let go of her body, no longer trying to control it. Instead of fighting the pain she embraced it telling herself that it is a testament to her strength, assuring herself that it would end soon, reminding herself of what she was fighting for, and recalling the faces of her loved ones and the good times she has had in the past.
*It will end,* she chanted in her head, feeling her teeth collide with each other at the strength of the fourth level of absolute pain. *It will pass, I can handle this, it will be all over soon and it will be nothing but a memory. It will all be OK.*
More pain came Sakura's way and along with it came more chances to escape by saying: 'I quit.'
But the girl bore it.
She couldn't abandon her duty. She wanted to infiltrate the police force and that meant becoming a police officer, and if that was what police officers did, then so be it.
.
Sakura didn't know when she passed out but she suddenly found herself alert as a cold sensation ran through her body. *Cold water,* she concluded as she opened her eyes.
The next thing she became aware of was an overwhelmingly noxious smell.
She braced her hands on the wet tiled floors and pushed up.
Looking around she found herself in a bathroom with various stalls that all appeared inhumanly filthy.
"Here," she heard the voice of the burly man who had been tormenting her. The man slid a bucket and a tooth brush her way. "Every bathroom in this building," he said. "I want them all to shine. If a single tile has a stain on it you will redo the whole bathroom again."
And with that he turned around and walked away.
Sakura blinked after him.
She braced her hand on the sink as she slowly and rather painfully rose to her feet.
She looked a mess, but thankfully her henge held, and she was looking like a drenched and thoroughly bruised boy. Her white shirt was now muddy and grey and filled with holes and her face was all puffy and covered in small bruises.
Letting out a tortured sigh, she bent over to the floor and picked up the small tooth brush and started scrubbing one tiny fraction of a tile at a time.
She had to bring her shirt up to cover her nose at some point because the stench was overwhelming, and at times she had to move her hands very fast because some of the officers actually attempted to stomp on them as they walked by. She also endured intense back pain given that she had to sustain that uncomfortable position for long. And God was it rough when she actually had to clean the inside of the urinals with the tiny toothbrush.
She almost threw up on many occasions and was traumatized more than once when she accidentally looked up while one of the men was using the facilities. At that point she actually had to remind herself that she was a medic and if she had seen that in the hospital it would not have any impact on her composure.
Other than that, Sakura felt very good.
*This is good, this is progress,* she chanted in her head.
*You are insane,* inner accused miserably. *You're taking the mind-over-matter-positivity thing too far. This is horrifying… This is the worst thing ever.*
*But we conquered physical abuse and the ten levels of pain already,* Sakura retorted. She needed to stay positive otherwise she would break. And if that meant deluding herself, then so be it.
And so the girl scrubbed away, moving from one toilet to another, without any of the officers sparing her anything more than a passing glance.
Her last toilet was, thankfully, a women's bathroom.
Sakura was happier in the women's bathrooms not only because of the familiarity but because they were decidedly much cleaner.
The only inconvenience though was that she had to step outside every time a woman walked in to use the facilities. It was crude for a man to be there while a woman was attempting to get comfortable.
Sakura once again heard footsteps approaching and she got to her feet, abandoning the tricky soap stain she was attempting to extract in favor of stepping outside until the lady is done.
"Are you ok?" Sakura/Sou heard and it took her a few seconds to realize that someone was actually acknowledging her existence. Confusedly, she stopped walking towards the door and turned towards the girl who addressed her.
She was almost Sakura's height with shoulder length dark hair and the Uchiha's patented pale skin, her eyes were a bit on the grey side though and she was eyeing Sakura with unmasked concern.
Sakura/Sou blinked at the girl, she had been through a lot of cruelty that day that the very concept of being treated like a human being seemed a tad bit foreign.
"I…" the Uchiha started before trailing off. "Here," she said holding her hand out with a small sandwich.
"For me?" Sakura said and her male voice seemed much more strained than she had originally made it. It must have been because of all the screaming.
"Yes, I… I have been watching you all day… what they're doing is a lot. We all go through grueling entrance tests but they tend to put non-Uchiha through much tougher ones. They think that the apprenticeship program, and the leadership's eagerness to have non-Uchiha join, make it too easy for them to get in. They are afraid of allowing subpar candidates in, but this is still… a bit much," the girl said, and Sakura remarked that her voice was rather soft. "Here," she said again, offering the sandwich to the boy who was eyeing her with a vacant expression. "No one is coming, I made sure of it."
Sakura extended her hand and took the sandwich. It was only then that she realized just how exhausted and absolutely famished she was.
She brought it to her lips and bit in, not having the presence of mind to even thank the girl who was watching her closely.
"You are the first person in a while to make it this far into the first day," she said as she watched the boy scarf down the sandwich in a few hurried bites. "Here," she added handing him a small can of juice, "sugar will help."
Sakura nodded and took the can, drowning it in one long gulp before exhaling and leaning against the wall.
"Are you ok?" She repeated her questioned.
And this time, Sakura was replenished enough to actually nod and offer an answer, "I am much better," she said before bowing to the girl, "thank you so much," she/he added sincerely.
The girl smiled, "I am Aika I am also a new officer. I have been here for 8 months. I… I am a medical officer. I was the one who healed you when you passed out."
Sou's eyes widened, "I am Sou," he said, "thank you so much for all your help," he added bowing again.
The girl nodded. "Good luck Sou," she said before heading for the door. "See you around," she added as she walked out.
Sakura sighed before smiling at the door. She felt replenished and a bit happy. *I told you this is good, I can do this,* she said, addressing inner as she once again bent down to the floor and started scrubbing.
*Greaaat,* the alter ego said sarcastically.
.
It was around four in the afternoon when she was done with all the bathrooms on all the floors of the station.
The man who was handling her torture, who she learned was called 'Sergeant Lou,' came back and started examining all the places she cleaned. He looked very closely in an attempt to locate even the slightest of mistakes. But Sakura had extraordinary attention to detail and she was a master of boring tasks so she had made sure that she missed no spots, even the floors of the once filthy men's bathrooms were now clean enough to eat off of.
Well, maybe not to eat off of.
After inspecting the last bathroom the man turned to the tormented boy.
"Well, I have to give it to you princess, you're one tough little m*******," he said crudely.
"Thank you sir," Sou said tiredly.
"Look at you being all polite," the man said mockingly. "You're not done yet, brat," he added, handing Sakura a few papers stapled together. "There is one hour left until the end of this day. In this hour I want you to fill this out."
"This is…"
"I want you to count all the tiles in the bathrooms, all the cabinets, all the pens and all the files in the cabinets, all the windows and all the doors in this place, and one other little unmentionable that you'll find in those papers. Write the numbers down next to each item."
Sakura's eyes widened. This was a three storey building, that job would be exhausting.
"And you have to do it all in one hour, if you don't finish in that time, or if you count anything wrong, you're out on your ass," the man warned before startling Sakura to no end by reaching backwards and smacking her ass really hard and walking away.
It was all she could do not to gasp in shock.
*This is impossible, we can't possibly…* Inner Sakura started but Sakura mentally smacked her upside the head. She had no time to second guess herself, she needed to get started.
So the girl started running across the place like a chicken that got her head cut off. She started with the bathrooms, she quickly developed a shortcut to help her count all the tiles based on the area of the place and the dimensions of the tiles. She did that with all the bathrooms before stepping outside to count the other listed items. Counting the cabinets, the windows and the doors was easy –relatively-. But the pens and the files were much harder given that they were inside cabinets.
She expected the officers to try and intercept her as she did or to mock her or something. But they just stood to the side even as she pried their cabinets open.
*They must have been ordered to stand back,* she deduced, but was too busy panicking over the size of her task to further think about it.
It was five minutes to five and Sakura was on her last cabinet, counting all the files that it contained as the officer whose cabinet it was eyed her with a bemused look on his face.
*Done,* she finally concluded allowing a smile to grace her face, before a dreadful thought entered her mind. *He said that there is one more unmentionable that I needed to count, didn't he?!* she remembered now frantically flipping over to the last piece of paper in her hand. And just as she expected there was a final item listed there.
But for the life of her Sakura could have never imagined that it would be something so cruel, "paperclips," she said in a ghostly tenor. "Th…They want me to count all the paperclips," she said disbelievingly, looking at the clueless officer next to her as if to seek confirmation.
He shrugged as a response to the question that he did not understand.
"Paperclips!" she yelled at him like a crazy person. "Give me your paper clips!" she ordered and the man quickly handed the insane boy the requested items. The clips flew out of Sakura's shaky hands and fell on the floor and she fell to the floor next to them proceeding to count through them.
*Damn it…. Damn it!* she mentally exclaimed in utter frustration. *This is it, I am doomed!*
"Time's up," the miserable girl/boy heard Sergeant Lou's despised voice from above her.
She/he looked up, paper clips in hand.
The man just looked at her for a long moment.
She wanted to speak, to tell him to please give her a chance and she would count all of the paperclips in the place even if they numbered at a trillion. She would do it even if she had to spend the next two weeks doing it. But she couldn't utter a word, she was exhausted and frustrated and her entire body hurt and her mind was too battered to even force her lips to move.
Lou shifted his eyes from her to someone who was coming up behind him. And a second later Sakura identified the redheaded Shin who she saw earlier.
"Look at his pathetic little face," Sergeant Lou said, "he was really gonna count all the paper clips," he added with a sardonic laugh.
Shin gave Sakura a sympathetic look before shifting his eyes to Lou, "you said you'd let'em through if they don't quit. And this one didn't till the very last second."
The big man shrugged, "fine, suit yourself, you could keep him around for the rest of the week, but if he fails any task we give him he's out."
Shin nodded, "A'ight, but if he does everything right till the week ends you invite him to join."
"Those are the bloody rules," Lou said before giving Sou/Sakura a quick once over, grinning at him, "welcome on board princess," he said before walking away.
Sakura looked at him as he walked away before shifting her eyes to Shin who was walking towards her.
"Welcome to the force buddy,"
Ta Daaa!
Excuse my dramatic tendencies, but I have been planning for this chapter for too long I almost can't believe it has finally been written.
I hope you guys liked it.
I was hoping to include another ItaSaku scene at the end but this just ran too long.
So it will be relegated to the next chapter.
Please Review.