Sakura ran as quietly and as quickly as she could toward the garage door, rubbing her tears off her face as she went. She could hear Shisui hot on her heels but she didn't care. Her father, who has long ago been use to a loud house with 17 kids was a heavy sleeper so the running wasn't going to wake him up. The garage door came into view, a beam of light shining through the crack at the bottom. Right as her hand touched the door knob she felt arms circle around her body and spin her around. The young girl gasped quietly and looked up into Shisui's distressed eyes as he came to a stop before her.

"Baby what are you doing up right now?" Why are you running?" a voice whispered in her ear. Instantly she recognized that it was Yahiko and relaxed slightly in his gentle grip.

"You're leaving and I'm coming with you."

She felt her older brother stiffen and saw the heartbreak in Shisui's eyes even in the dim lighting of the hallway.

"Bring her into the garage Yahiko."

Green eyes filled with determination glanced over in surprise at Izuna, not realizing he was standing right next to them. He had the same look in his eyes just like his younger full blooded brother standing in front of her.

"Izuna I don't think that's-"

"No she needs to see."

After a long pause in which Yahiko and Izuna had a stare down, Yahiko sighed and picked her up gently. Sakura squinted in the darkness to see his face but he refused to look down at her as Izuna opened the door for them. She looked away from her brothers closed off face and froze. There was a table in the middle of the garage where there dads Honda is usually at and on that table were guns. And ammo. Knives. Hammers. Brass knuckles. A tazor. Bats. There were other items too that little 13 year old Sakura didn't recognize. And around that table putting bullets into guns were Pein, Genma, Deidara, Sasori, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Gaara. Konan was bent over a plastic storage bin with a clipboard and a pen. Madara, Itachi, Kiba and Kakashi were loading a huge U-haul looking truck full of bags and boxes at the open garage door. All of them froze in shock at seeing their youngest sibling and everything was silent for a long moment. The first to respond was Pein. His shocked expression morphing into anger as he carefully set the machine gun back on the table.

"Get her the fuck out of here Yahiko!"

Sakura flinched, her small hands clenching the material of Yahikos shirt in surprise. Yahiko remained expressionless at Peins outburst but his body was tense. The others slowly started setting their weapons on the table and Madara and Kakashi dropped their bags and stormed up to Izuna and Shisui who stepped in front of her and Yahiko.

"I woke her up! I couldn't just leave without saying goodbye. That isn't fair to her." Shisui had his hands up in front of him in a placating manner but that didn't stop Madara from grabbing the front of his shirt and getting in his face with a snarl. Kakashi tried to shove Izuna out of the way to get to Sakura and get her the hell out of the garage but Izuna stood like a statue. Immovable.

"I'm coming with you." Sakura said with a small but determined voice. That snapped her brothers jaws shut before they could start snarling at one another. Sasuke, who was helping Genma quickly throw a tarp over the table, snapped his head towards her.

"No you are not!"

"Sasuke shut up!" Deidara snapped as he pushed an open bag under the table out of view. Konan was putting a hand on Madaras shoulder whispering words of calm until he slowly started to let go of Shisui's shirt.

"She needs to see how dangerous this is. So that she'll understand why we won't bring her with us." Izuna's calm voice stated.

"So bringing her in here with a bunch of automatics is going to make her understand? Get her out of here Yahiko. Turn around we can talk inside." Kakashi said in an equally calm voice as he looked past Izuna's shoulder to his younger siblings.

"It's not like I've never seen guns before. I just want to go with you so I can help patch you guys up when you get injured. I won't be in the way. I won't ask why you need all those weapons on that table. You don't have to tell me any details regarding gang buisness ever again. I just want to be with you and make sure your safe."

Another long silence. By the looks on their faces it almost seems like her words are causing them physical pain.

"Sakura babe…" Genma started but seemed to choke. There it is. That same heartbroken look. All of them were wearing it now.

Sasori walked around Izuna and Kakashi to take one of Sakura's hands in both of his "I love you little sister. You have my heart and soul. You're everything to me and more. Every single one of us feels the same way. Where we are going we can't bring you because you will get hurt if we do. And there is nothing that we need and want more in this world than your safety."

Sakura was in so much shock that she was speechless. She never thought…that they would say no. That they wouldn't bring her if she confronted them about going with them. Taking advantage of her silent shock, Madara shoved Shisui aside and held his arms up in silent demand to Yahiko to give Sakura to him. Sasori kissed her forehead and let go of her hand to let Yahiko duck his head to give a lingering kiss to her temple then handed her to the eldest. When Madara started to walk back into the house is when Sakura finally snapped out of her daze.

"Wait-"

Madara closed the door behind them and started speed walking up the stairs.

"Madara stop!" She started to push against his chest and when that didn't work she went to punch her elder brother in the face.

"Sakura. Please don't."

She stopped her punch but she still felt herself working up to a whole new level of mad. Madara was now staring down at her with heartbroken eyes. Sakura was sick of seeing that look! There the ones making this choice!

"Family is supposed to stick together!"

They were in her room now and he laid her down in her bed. At his silence she went back to trying to punch him in the face. He held her wrists easily in one hand above her head.

"I promise you we will come back. Every single one of us. Please be cautious without us here. Take care of yourself and…forgive us." Madara said with a passion and conviction she's never seen from him before. Then his hand was covering her nose and mouth with some kind of weird smelling cloth and she lost consciousness.

She woke up the next morning to her father screaming.

Xxx

Sakura awoke to the bell with her heart pounding and sweat glistening on her forehead. Once realizing class ended she gathered her things in her school bag and made her way to the cafeteria with her dream/memory replaying in her mind. The first four periods of the school day flew by, mostly because Sakura fell asleep in all of them. The ones she was awake in she just sat aimlessly thinking about how things were going to change with this new "threat". And if her brothers are even going to tell her the truth or any kind of details about what's happening in there organization. Before they left they would tell her some things like the general gist of what they were doing and who they were selling to. Are they going to let her in more now that there back and she's older? The nerves she was able to ignore came back the moment she saw Ino waiting for her by the cafeteria door way. She gave her best friend a stiff smile as the blonde hooked her arm through hers. As the two were heading toward the line Ino whispered quietly in her ear.

"Forehead you need to get out of your head. You just need to take things one step at a time with your brothers. Don't lose your cool till you get home. Then lay it on them."

Sakura grinned. "Sometimes I feel like you know me better than I know myself pig."

"Or I just have wicked telepathic abilities."

Sakura rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Sakura."

Said girl turned around with a raised eyebrow at the quiet voice and saw Gaara.

"Will you eat with us outside today?"

Her mouth opened with an automatic no but then Gaara reached across her to grab a tray.

"I do not want to pressure you, but the others will just sit with you regardless if you say no." He said quietly while handing his sister the tray before grabbing himself one. The girl huffed and just continued on to grab food along the line. Gaara was definitely one of the more considerate out of the youngest brothers but the others knew that and probably sent him to ask her. Out of all of her siblings Gaara and Konan are the hardest for her to be mad at. They are calm, considerate and very caring. Those two are the ones that she can honestly say she never gets into fights with and very rarely small arguments.

"You gonna eat with them?" Ino asked quietly as the two were grabbing a fruit from a basket. Gaara was still behind Sakura, looking at the pizza.

Sakura sighed, "Yeah or they will sit at our table."

"Okay I'll see you in gym."

Sakura nodded then went to pay for her meal. Gaara came up behind her and Sakura couldn't help the surprised look on her face at all the food on his tray.

"You trying to bulk up or something? Your tray looks like it could feed 4 people."

He just gave her a small smirk as she waited for him to pay for his ridiculous meal.

"This is not just for me."

"Good cause I think you'd puke if you ate all that."

His smirk widened as he pushed the doors to the outside patio. He led her towards the farthest table where her other brothers already sat with their food. Sakura ignored the stares from other students but when her brothers looked at her she felt her pulse quickening just a little. Sakura sat down next to Shikamaru then sat her bag on the ground. The second she sat up straight Gaara was already putting some of his food on her plate. Sakura raised her eyebrow at the stoic redhead.

"Gaara why are you-"

"Were you really just going to eat a banana and a bag of chips?" asked Shikamaru with a raised brow and a bite of an onion ring.

"…Yeah?"

"You realize that's not a meal." Sasuke said with a slight glare.

"Well yeah but I-"

"It's because you don't have money." Kiba said that like it was a fact not a question.

"Stop interrupting me!" Sakura huffed. The nerve! She forgot how annoying they could be. They waited with expectant looks on their faces and eyes full of amusement.

"I'm saving money. I'm budgeting."

"For what?" Shikamaru asked as he took one of her French fries and practically shoved it into her mouth to get her to start eating. Sakura slapped his hand away with an annoyed look.

"Mmm I don't know. New book? Maybe a car one day?" Sakura shrugged her shoulders hoping to look indifferent. She doesn't know how they would react to her saving money to move out once she is emancipated.

"You don't have to do that anymore." Kiba said around a bite of his sandwich and looking everywhere but at her.

"I can pay for my own stuff." Sakura said matching Kiba's forced nonchalant tone.

"We'll help you."

"I've been doing just fine. I don't need help with money or anything like that."

Gaara glanced at Sakura out of the corner of his eye while the others shoved more food in their mouth to stop any response. Shrugging she ate as much as she could stomach while Kiba made small talk about the school and asking Sakura what has changed. As soon as the bell rung she was the first to leave, speed walking out of the cafeteria to her next class.

Xxx

"Sakura!"

6 year old Sakura turned at the sound of Sasuke's voice and grinned at her new friend, "Oh maybe Sasuke could help us! He's my brother and he can be very mean sometimes but he's good at building things and games!"

The blonde boy with whisker like marks grinned back, "Call him over! We'll make the biggest sand castle ever!"

"Sasuke over here!"

9 year old Sasuke walked around the slide with a smile that quickly diminished to an angry sneer when seeing his younger sister wasn't the only one in the sandbox. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his dirty shorts and walked over to the two.

"Sheesh you weren't kidding Sakura he looks grumpy and mean."

Sakura was too busy packing the sand into her bucket to look up but yelped when she was pulled out of the box by her arm.

"Ow why did you do that?!"

"Hey! Don't be mean to girls pal! What's your problem?!"

"She's my sister. Don't play with her."

Sakura was rubbing her arm, looking at Sasuke with confusion. Usually her brothers were fine with her playing with other kids at the playground as long as she stayed with in eye sight of them. Glancing at the benches Izuna was talking to an elderly man with a cane sitting next to him.

Sasuke blocked her view of the two with his face and glared. "Who is this? Why are you playing with strangers?"

Confused she glanced at Naruto who was standing next to their sand castle with a scowl. "He's my friend Naruto. He makes really cool sand castles. Do you want to play with us? We're trying to build a palace."

"I don't wanna play with this jerk if he's gonna be mean to you! I bet he sucks at making sand castles too!" Naruto yelled pointing his plastic shovel at Sasuke.

Sasuke glared back and yanked the shovel out of his hand, "I can make a better sand castle than you any day."

Sakura cheered while two tried to one up each other in there sand castle competition. When they wouldn't stop insulting each other she'd throw sand at them and tell them to stop being mean. She had to do that 3 times till the two would settle on grumbling and silently glaring at each other. Sakura brought Kakashi over who was playing basketball with Pein, Genma and Yahiko to judge the winner.

The 15 year old rubbed the back of his head and raised his eyebrow down at the two before looking at Sakura's expectant face and sighed.

"Mmmm this is a hard one…"

"C'mon it's clear who the winner is! Me right?!" Naruto said with a proud grin. Sasuke snorted.

"Tchh like you could ever win at anything. Your castle is pathetic."

Kakashi glanced at the unfinished palace they were making before the competition and grinned under his lower face mask that was connected to his hoodie.

"That castle over there is the best. That is definitely my baby sister's handiwork. Sakura is the winner." He said before bending down to ruffle said sisters head. He didn't stay long to hear the boys whine before jogging back over to the court. Sakura turned to the two with a grin, "I didn't even know I was playing and I won! Woo!"

Xxx

"Did you finish those worksheets for World History?"

"Yeah and I've finished the project so I wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend. I have an intern shift tomorrow and babysitting on Mrs. Gerards kids on Sunday."

"Damn forehead even when you sleep in class your still ahead."

Sakura smiled at her as the two were heading to their last class of the day. But then she asked the question that was in the back of her mind.

"Have you heard anything about Naruto and the boys yet?"

Ino shook her head, "No but remember Naruto said he had that thing with his dads work so he didn't get to school till after lunch. You know a fight is going to happen as soon as Naruto see's one of them, right?"

Sakura sighed, feeling a knot of worry curl in her stomach. "I know and it's not going to be like the fights they use to get into. It's going to be serious. I just hope-"

"BASTERDDDDDDDDD! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Both girls stopped dead in their tracks, side glanced each other before looking down the hallway where the source of the screaming could be heard. Through the crowd she could see a head of blonde in the face of what Sakura assumes to be Sasuke, his midnight spikey hair a dead giveaway before heads blocked her view.

"Oh no…" Sakura said brows furrowing with worry for her friend. She knows that out of all the younger boys Sasuke and Kiba will not sit and take a punch from anyone. Even if they know they deserve it. And right now Naruto is dead set on beating the shit out of his best friend. Sakura knew this fight was coming and so did the two involved.

Both Ino and Sakura moved down the hall, squeezing past people to get to the front of the crowd. As they neared they could hear the shouting from Naruto a lot more clearly.

"You think you can just get up and go whenever you please asshole?! HUH?!"

Naruto's face was red from yelling, his nose almost touching Sasuke's. Sasuke just blinked at him, seeming unfazed. But Sakura could see his jaw clenching slightly, see his eyes slowly getting harder and harder as Naruto continued to scream in his face. She could see his hands were at his sides, ready for the punch that was sure to be sent his way.

"Answer me basterd!"

When Sasuke continued to just stare at him, Naruto took a deep somewhat calming breath readying himself for what he was about to say. The silence felt like eternity. No one in the hallway dared to make a sound.

"Don't you know?" He said in a low voice. The tone sent shivers down Sakura's spine. She never heard Naruto speak like this.

"Don't you know how worried we were? More importantly how worried you made Sakura?"

That caused a reaction out of Sasuke. His eyes immediately bled red and he felt a growl threaten to make its way up his throat.

"Shut up. You know nothing."

"No you know nothing. You have no idea how much pain and suffering you've caused her since you've left."

It probably shouldn't have surprised Sakura to see Sasuke throw the first punch. She just figured Naruto would've because he was the impulsive one out of the two. But it did and she gasped when Naruto fell back into lockers behind him. But before Sasuke could land another hit, Naruto jumped up and tackled the tall boy into the other set of lockers. As the two were beating the crap out of each other, effectively damaging the lockers, the trashcan and knocking surrounding student's aside, Sakura was mentally telling herself to not get involved. She wanted so badly to get in the middle and stop the fight. Especially when she saw Naruto get a split lip. Even more so when she saw Naruto dodge and her brother's knuckles split when his fist smashed into a locker so hard it almost broke in half.

Don't get involved Sakura. They need to fight it out.

The pinkette kept telling herself as she clutched her History book to her chest in anxiety. But then Naruto mumbled something to Sasuke that made him completely freeze up mid punch. It was maybe only a second that he stopped before he opened his hand and grabbed the blonde by the front of his shirt before slamming his head into his knee. Sakura immediately heard a loud crack and ran in front of the blonde on his knees holding his face. She stood in front of him and watched as her brothers red eyes widened in shock, stopping his punch a couple inches from her face.

Sakura stared, wide eyed at his hands before looking into his eyes. Her brother dropped his fist, jaw clenching as he looked down at her.

"Move Sakura."

"No." His eyes narrowed as he took a step closer toward her.

"Move."

Sakura clenched her jaw and resisted the urge to step back. Her own eyes narrowing in defiance. Sasuke always tries to intimidate her to get his way by standing close to her. When they were kids it was more cute than scary. But considering he was a good head taller than her and a lot bigger than her, he definitely is pulling off the intimidating vibe. But she wouldn't show him that it was working. She could hear the blood dripping on the ground behind her from Naruto's broken nose.

"No."

His glare deepened. The black in his eyes swirling. Sakura tried a different approach. Her own glare softened into a pleading emerald.

"Please Sasuke."

That did it. Sasuke stared for a moment longer before his eyes stopped spinning. He closed his eyes and when they reopened they were dark once more. He looked back to his younger sister before nodding. Sakura instantly turned around helping pick up Naruto's right arm as Ino grabbed his left. But before they started toward the nurse's office, Kankuro a senior that was friends of Naruto and Temari's brother stepped up and took Naruto's right side for her.

"I got him girls. I'll take him to the nurse's office." He said, with a grin towards Sakura. Ino offered to go along and make sure he was okay. Sakura smiled at them in gratitude before turning back towards Sasuke.

The crowd of people were long gone and it was just the two of them in the hallway. To Sakura's surprise Sasuke spoke first.

"Sakura don't ever get in the middle of a fight like that. I almost hit you."

Sakura sighed as he walked up to her taking her book bag off her shoulders to carry. She glared at him, retort forming on her lips when he surprised her again. He grabbed the back of her neck and bent down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She took a step back in surprise, eyes scanning the hallway. But only the two of them were left. The first bell having already rung for class.

"You can't do that in public Sasuke. As a matter of fact, don't do that ever again."

She tried to grab her book bag back, but Sasuke just started walking with it. Glaring at his back and doing her best to ignore his slight limp, she followed.

Xxx

Sakura sighed when she sat in her seat next to the window. She really felt like she needed a cigarette right now, which was a rare feeling considering she only ever smoked when she was drinking or really stressed out. Which happens to be one of those times right now. Ino, who was sitting in the seat next to her, gave her friend a knowing look. Sakura started rubbing her temples to try to alleviate the headache, pushing her thoughts and questions about this 'new threat' aside and focus on the new project that there teacher was explaining. Not long later she felt something push her arm, when she turned to look at her best friend the girl flashed her a cigarette she was trying to hide in her cupped hand. Sakura smiled gratefully at her and when the teacher wasn't looking, took it from her offered hand and stuck it in her bra strap.

"Excuse me could I use the restroom?"

The teacher nodded and continued with her monologue. Sakura gave Ino's shoulder a little squeeze in thanks before walking out the door and down the hallway toward the back of the school. When she was about to turn the corner she stopped in her tracks and pressed herself against the wall to hear the quiet but recognizable voices.

"There back man. Is it even safe enough for me to deal anymore? If they know who I'm working for-"

"You have two options. Deal at this price or figure out if you're safe enough to deal with them if you don't."

I know that voice from somewhere.

The scared one quickly agreed and the two parted. Sakura tried to sneak a peek around the corner but all she saw was a somewhat short boy with greyish hair wearing a hoodie and jeans. He quietly slipped through the back entrance to the school.

Someone's dealing within Akastuki territory.