Okay, guys, people told me that the last chapter felt rushed. It's true. I also wrote it so that it felt that way, because I tried to incorporate Sakura's view of what happened. And I didn't like that part, but it had to be written, so…yeah, shame on me. This one is lighter, so take a breather and enjoy! By the way, I'll soon close the polls because they're going to come to use, so thanks for voting.

The silence was positively deafening. Everyone was watching, mouths agape.

Well, thought the Yondaime ruefully, I can understand why.

Moments ago, Kakashi had jumped into the fray, quickly making his way to Sakura, before jerking her off to the side and running away with her. And if that hadn't been surprising enough, when everyone had come to their senses and followed them, they had seen him press the white-haired ANBU to a tree and proceed to ravage her mouth with his own. Unfortunately, the blowing wind was making Sakura's long mass of hair flutter around the couple and prevented them from seeing the youth's face.

"Whoa," murmured Obito. "Who knew the ice prick had it in him?"

"I'm sorry. Kami, I'm so sorry I left you behind, Sakura-san! I didn't…I…"

Sakura hugged the rambling teenager more firmly, shushing him softly and stroking his hair gently.

"I don't hold it against you, Kakashi-kun…You merely followed my orders…I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry for everything…I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

And just like that, everything was alright once again. Hope bloomed anew in the village.

"I know you want to go back to your friends, Sakura-san," began Minato as soon as they got to his office, "but I need to know what happened after your ordered Kakashi-kun to come back alone."

She glanced at the silent Hatake beside her and nodded thoughtfully.

"Hai, I suppose you would wonder about that. Very well…let's see…we got separated when they brought me to a room with other women for a session of torture. There, I learned who the woman I was looking for was, so I took action, as we had already identified the other runaway. I used my summons to get the prisoners out, but I stayed behind to get back the chakra suppressor that usually stays on my left arm. It had been torn from my arm during the last torture session. As it seals a rather dangerous part of myself away, I had to get it back. However, by that time, I had become blind and was thus ill-prepared to defend myself against the crumbling facility. Some stone slabs fell on me and managed to injure me. Fortunately, I was only slowed down and knew roughly where the table on which my suppressor had been thrown. Unfortunately, the table had fallen to the side and the suppressor was lost among the diverse torture instruments that had clattered to the floor. With the way my arms were mostly disabled, I had a hard time searching through the instruments. And my hearing was failing…That's why…"

Minato and Kakashi waited anxiously as the strong woman regained her cool. They could see a muscle twitching in her jaw, sign that she was hiding how tense she was. What had shaken her so?

"I didn't hear him coming until it was too late…"

"What happened?" asked Minato after a moment of silence.

Pain suddenly flared in her neck, a pain she knew well. Her chakra suppressor was activating, cutting off her airway. Next to her, boots clapped on the floor. They stopped somewhere around her head and a crushing force snapped her right arm to the floor. Black surrounded her thoughts, her head getting fuzzy. Why couldn't she move? What had he done to her? Her wrist flared in unrelenting pain. Something was eating at her slowly. She had no more strength left to clench her teeth.

A howl of pain echoed in the room. Meanwhile, the saw continued to eat at her wrist.

"He… used a saw–at least, that's what I suppose it was, judging from the way it cut me–and separated my hand from my arm. I think he wanted to get the chakra suppressor that I had finally managed to find, but was unable to unclench my fingers from it when my body tensed–you've already seen what happens when the chakra suppressor on my neck activates."

Minato nodded pensively.

"Hai, your hand was brought back to us with it still clenched in your fingers."

Sakura nodded too, sighing in relief.

"That's good, that means he wasn't able to get away with it. Anyway…he left with my hand. I don't know why he ended up leaving it behind. Maybe he dropped it or was frightened by something."

In truth, she really did not know what had happened. The ceiling had fallen on top of her, crushing her body; she had blacked out shamefully and woken up some time later at the valley at which she usually went to change into a demon. In fact, when she had awoken, she had already regained her demonic form. Had he fled because he had seen her starting to transform?

She opened one bleary eye, wincing internally as she felt her bruised body. Even though her demonic chakra was healing her, there was only so much it could do in such short time about severe injuries. Fortunately, she could see blurry shapes and colours, meaning sight was returning to her. A good sign. And there were many moving shadows around.

"See? I told you the tailed beast appeared here every month or two! Now can I have my reward?"

"Hey, watch out, it's awaking!"

She had not noticed that it was time for her to return to the valley, nor that she had been seen before. Such a mistake could cost her dearly.

She tried to get up, but her injuries prevented her from moving much. She growled loudly and menacingly, warning whoever it was not to come any closer. In response, the shadows stopped moving, presumably preparing some jutsu or another. With another growl, she forced chakra in her limbs to move them and shook her head. It seemed it was all they needed to attack.

She flicked her tails, easily dispelling the jutsu coming at her, but did not attack. She did not have it in her. She was still so bone-weary and all she wanted was to curl up into a ball and sleep into the next century. Maybe the poison was still affecting her, after all.

Seeing that their attacks had not landed, the figures took out gigantic swords and ran at her, preparing to impale her. However, with another swipe of her tails, she sent them flying. Maybe now they would leave her alone.

Through her lethargy, she felt cramps in her womb and panicked. Was the stress too much for her body? Was she going into early labor or losing her babies? With a roar of pain, she curled up into herself, using her tails to cover her body.

The outsiders stopped moving and observed the strange scene. The terrifying beast had roared in pain, it seemed, although it was clearly winning against them, and had curled into a protective ball. Rapidly, the ball began to shrink, until the great beast was no more, but the shivering mass of tails did not move, hiding the body inside. Unsure if this was a trap, they approached carefully, one even going as far as touching one of the tails. To their surprise, the tails shifted aside until a beautiful woman with claws and fox ears was revealed. Her beauty was only marred by the numerous scars and open wounds her body sported. She opened her bloodstained chapped lips to speak and they heard a pain-laced voice whisper on the wind.

"If you're planning…on killing me…you're…too late…"

Her barely open eye closed for good, leaving them with an unconscious demon in humanoid form.

When she woke up, surprised at being still alive, she carefully examined her body and immediately noticed that her wounds had been wrapped in bandages. Why was that?

"Hey, guys, the lady's waking up!"

Her arm had been bandaged and she felt acutely the loss of her hand. And she felt her tails moving lazily around her. Shit.

Soon, seven men surrounded her, ranging from early teens to late twenties; all of them had gigantic swords strapped on their shoulders. She was sure that they would…yep. Mist hitai-ate.

"Hello, Seven Swordsmen of the Mist," she purred–being so long in demonic form was clearly affecting her. Why was it that she felt lust for strong men when she was in that form? Oh yeah, Narabi had said that foxes were extremely sexual creatures and that it would increase her libido. Well, she would certainly not jump on them. At least, not all at once…Whoa! Wrong chain of thoughts!

And yet, she was wrapped around what could be no one else than a younger Momochi Zabuza. Crap. Even her tails were trailing languidly over his tall, muscled form. The demonic chakra she was exuding kept them all rooted in place, or else she was sure they would have attacked her by now.

At least, it appeared that she had unconsciously broken her bonds while thinking, so she was no longer bound and a prime target.

"I suppose I should thank you for treating my wounds," she murmured, grazing his ear with her fangs. To her delight, he shuddered almost imperceptibly under her. "Although, I find it fair to warn you: I won't be used. And your rebellion against Mist will not work. If you truly want to leave Mist and find some place that won't kill you for having a kekkai genkai, maybe you should consider…another village…or none… or changing your own from the inside. Whichever you choose, Zabuza-san, I'll enjoy seeing you again."

With a soft kiss on his cheek, she disentangled herself from him and stepped away from the clearing, looking once over her shoulder.

"I'm always willing to accept misfits. And Time does not go back on her words."

She had disappeared too fast for them to answer. She knew that even though once her oppressive demonic chakra was gone, they would be able to move once again, but after hiding it, they would not be able to find her. After all, she had lived as an S-class nuke-nin for some time; she knew how to hide her trail.

"I escaped and met the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Don't worry, they don't know who I am. Anyway, after an altercation–minimally violent, I assure you–I found my way back here."

Minato was silent for a long moment.

"Kakashi said that you knew the man who tortured you. Apparently, one of his cellmates told him that you knew what to expect from the man. How did you know him, Sakura-san? Were you in contact with him when you were a nuke-nin?"

For a brief moment, he could see in her eye an inexpressible amount of grief and saw her lose her composure, but in the blink of an eye, she went back to being the aloof woman he knew. Had he not been a highly-trained ninja, he could have thought he had imagined it.

"Hai, I knew him. I spent seven month in captivity in his "tender care" after he put a chakra suppressor on my neck."

Wow, this chapter was hard to write! What do you think of it? Please review and don't forget the poll! It's getting pretty important!