Sakura started to dread the next few days, she knew what was coming, once her father heard of her switching sides, he was going to come see her face to face and find out once and for all what was going on.  She just hoped that none of the warriors would be around to witness it.  If they ever found out that she was Talpa's daughter, well she didn't want to think of it. The encounter came sooner than she had thought.  It was mid afternoon, when she went down to a stream in the middle of the forest when she heard her name being called.  She turned around to find herself face to face with the floating head that was her father.  Sakura groaned inwardly. This wasn't going to be good.

"You want to tell me what kind of game you're playing, Sakura!" her father demanded.

"I'm not playing anything." Sakura said, standing up. "I told Anubis to tell you, I'm not working for you anymore."

Talpa's red eyes flashed dangerously. "How dare you betray me?" he asked coldly. "Your own father. You can't do this to me."

"Just because I'm your daughter doesn't mean that I can't make decisions for myself, and I choose to fight against you." Sakura replied hotly. "You've lied to me my entire life; you said you wanted to make the world a better place.  That's a lie; Ancient told me that you just want to control it."

"How do you know that Ancient isn't lying to you also?" Talpa asked smugly.

Sakura thought about it for a minute, truth be told she didn't know if he was. "Well, maybe he is." She said. "But, both his story and yours clash, that means, one of you is lying, and I just have to choose the side that I feel is right." She finished.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Sage and Cye had come looking for her when she hadn't returned in a while. They came upon Sakura and Talpa arguing. Cye got ready to jump in and help Sakura, but Sage held him back.

"Look," he said to Cye. "They're arguing. Let's see what this is all about."

Cye nodded his agreement and the two hid behind a tree close enough to hear them. Sakura and Talpa, so involved with their dispute had no idea they were being listened to.

"You are my daughter!" Talpa said.

"Yes, I am." Sakura replied. "So what?"

"So you are going to find out the secret to the Ronin warriors, and come home and tell me.  Then we will defeat them once and for all."

Cye and Sage looked at each other, they had heard enough.  The two quickly hurried away to tell the others, missing the rest of the conversation. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I will not." She said. "I won't help you hurt them."

"Then you will die with them as well." Talpa hissed and quickly vanished from sight.

Sakura covered her face with her hands and sank to her knees.  She had just betrayed her own father.  She knew it was the right thing to do, but why did it have to hurt so much.  Kero came over to her and licked her cheek. She smiled sadly at him,

"Thanks, Kero," she said, "I needed that." She gave him a quick hug around his neck as Artemis, Talon, Draco, and Stormy all came out of the forest to comfort their mistress. 

Sakura smiled warmly at them all giving them each a hug as well. "Thanks you guys, who needs a father when I have friends like you." Standing up she turned to head back to camp. "Come on, let's head back to camp."

Once Sakura got there she was greeted by glares and stony looks. 'Oh, no,' Sakura thought. 'They must have heard me talking to father.' She gulped inwardly and addressed them.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Don't even speak to us you traitor." Kento said to her.

"We heard you talking to Talpa." Sage said. "Your father sent you to find out information on us to kill us all."

"No, it's not like that." Sakura said trying to catch Ryo's eye, who was avoiding her gaze.

"Do you deny that you were sent here to help Talpa get information on us?" Cye questioned.

"It may have started out like that." Sakura said. "But everything is different now, I realize that Talpa…"

"You mean your father?" Rowen spat.

"Yes, he is my father, but I'm not working for him anymore.  I haven't been for a long time.  Please you guys have to believe me." Sakura pleaded.

She looked around the group Kento, Sage, Cye, and Rowen had their arms crossed and was glaring at her. Mia and Yulie weren't sure whether or not to believe her.  White Blaze was growling at her and Ryo, her closest friend, the man she had come to count on wasn't even willing to look at her.  She ran to him forcing him to look at her.
"Ryo," she said her golden eyes pleading with his. "You have to believe me; I would never betray you or any of the others."

Ryo fought within himself.  He desperately wanted to hold her and tell her that he believed her, to tell her that he didn't care that she was Talpa's daughter, to tell her how he felt about her, but he couldn't.

"Why should we believe you?" he asked. "You betrayed your own father, what's to stop you from betraying us?"

Sakura's eyes welled up with tears; she slowly backed away from Ryo, and suddenly turned and ran.