Sakura Trees

Chapter Three

Sakura leaned against the wall next to Kakashi's door, breathing heavily as her teacher went to get her something that would supposedly "make her feel all better." She scowled in the direction Kakashi had gone. How would he know what was wrong with her? How would he know that she had been about to attack her best friend, as well as any number of villagers along the way to his house, without a clue as to why? Sighing, she slid down to the floor, hands covering her face. The problem was that he probably did know, and had sent Ino anyway.

"Here. Just don't think about it too much when you drink it."

Sakura took the glass from Kakashi and, without so much as a glance at its contents, chugged it down rather ungracefully. She blinked, face screwed up in a mixture of disgust and confusion. "Kakashi-sensei, what was that?" Granted, she felt a bit better now, like he'd said she would, but the taste left in her mouth was coppery, and reminded her a bit too much of . . .

"Blood. It's not human, but should do for now," Kakashi replied nonchalantly. He grinned some when his student immediately began spitting out what she could of the drink. It was a bit amusing to see his normally relatively together student falling apart just because of a little blood. Still, it was getting his floor dirty, and blood didn't smell very good if you left it there too long.  Shaking his head, he grabbed her arm and pulled the newly-made demon to her feet. "Don't do that – it's going to make up a little more than half your diet from now on, so you should get used to it."

Sakura looked aghast. "Half?" she croaked. She had vague memories of drinking the demon's blood, but they didn't count for much – she'd been almost dead at the time and couldn't help it. Regaining some of her composure, she shook her head in revulsion. "Kakshi-sensei, what am I now, exactly? She died before she could tell me. And why did you send Ino to me if I was going to be like this? I almost killed her!" she cried, composure lost once more.

Her grey-haired teacher yanked her closer, gripping her chin with his thumb and index finger and tilting her face up to his. "Look at me," he growled. Her eyes snapped open, and he watched them intently. After a moment he relaxed. While her chakra was just about exploding from her body – it was burning him to touch her even this much – her eyes remained green and without the changes in pupil-shape so common amonst those who've let the demon gain control. Kakashi smiled. If Sakura could control herself just a little longer, she'd probably be all right.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He snapped out of his reverie at the sound of her voice. She sounded sacred and more than a little shaken. Cursing himself for forgetting that she was just a kid and wouldn't understand what was happening to her, he let go of her chin and jerked his head towards his room. "Come on – I'll tell you in there."

Sakura followed him, head bowed. She felt more than a little ashamed at her outburst. This was Kakashi-senei, after all. He wouldn't do anything to hurt Ino or her without a good reason. She needed to trust him more than she had been so far if she was going to bring Sasuke back. Sasuke! She froze. She'd forgotten all about the youngest remaining member of the Uchiha clan. Hurrying after Kakahi, she wondered how she was going to bring him back. Would she go after him, or would he somehow know that something was different and return on his own?

Sakura smiled, picturing her love walking in with Naruto as if nothing had ever happened. She would ask Sasuke to go out with her, and he'd ignore her, like always, looking cool, calm, and collected. Then Naruto would ask her out and she'd – she shook her head, clearing out the impossible daydream. Sasuke wasn't psychic, as much as she'd like to say he was. He didn't even particularly like her; even if he were psychic, he probably wouldn't care about what was happening in Konoha in his absence unless he had some way of measuring her newly gained strength against Orochimaru's. "Kakashi-sensei, if Sasuke's going to come back, I'm going to have to go after him, aren't I? I mean, it's not like he'd just appear back here because I'm no longer human."

Sakura was surprised when Kakashi whipped around, visible eye narrowed in anger and perhaps a bit of disappointment.

"Don't ever say that you're not human. I didn't send you out there to become a demon – just to get the strength of one," he growled. His expression softened some. It wasn't that he was mad at her really, just himself. He hated having to lie to her, even that much, but if she truly though that she had ceased to be human, she would be difficult to keep in line. He didn't want to have to kill her because she decided to do the "demon" thing to do and destroy the village.

Sakura winced, but didn't back down. "I read her journal, Kakashi. She said at the very beginning that I should leave out any thoughts about not being a demon." Was it possible that Kakashi hadn't realized what Aki was? She threw that thought away – it was more likely that he was simply trying to make her feel better.

It seemed he did know about Aki, because his anger disappeared instantly at the mention of her name. In its place was a look that seemed somewhere between sad and something else that Sakura couldn't quite identify while he had his mask on. He bent down, reaching under his bed, and pulled out something. Sakura looked closer.

It was an unassuming metal box not much bigger than a sheet of paper. There wasn't even a very strong lock on it. Kakashi opened it. Inside were pictures and documents, and more than a few crumpled up notes. "Sakura," he started, noting how she jerked to attention, "do you recognize these people?"

Sakura knelt as well, taking the picture from the masked jounin. It was of a girl and boy no older than herself – possibly younger. They were grinning and waving at the person taking the picture, the girl's arm wrapped around the boy's shoulder. Sakura smiled – they looked like they were friends like she and Ino had been, before Sasuke entered into the picture.

"Well?"

Brow furrowed, she studied the kids' faces. The boy only bore a slight resemblance to someone she'd seen before, but the girl seemed extremely familiar. Sakura frowned and flipped the picture over, looking for some clues and blinked, suddenly feeling a little off balance. Two words were there, written in what looked like Kakashi's handwriting: Second Hokage. Sakura turned the photo over again and looked at the boy. Sure enough, now that she knew where she'd seen it, she could easily connect the stone monument at the edges of the village with the boy in the image. The ages were different, but some features had remained the same.

"He's the second Hokage." She frowned. "But he lived a long time ago, and we didn't learn much about his personal life in school. How would I know the girl then?" Even as she asked the question, it was becoming obvious. When all she got was silence from her teacher, she handed the picture back. "Sonoda Aki. That was before she became a demon, wasn't it?"

Kakashi nodded happily. "From what she told me, she was friends with him. She's the one who gave me this." He paused, sensing that his student wasn't seeing the point. "Sakura, she was like you – she made friends, she laughed, she smiled, and she made mistakes. She was human."

Sakura nodded. "And she was human when she died, too. But she wasn't human for all that time in-between. That only proves that I'm not human either."

Shaking his head, Kakashi pulled out another picture. This one was drawn by Aki – the style was the same as in the pictures in the former demon's house. Sakura looked closer, trying to make out what it was a picture of, for only a moment before turning away. She felt sick.

"She didn't tell me what she did to the first person she saw after becoming a demon. She showed me. The reason I sent Ino to get you was to make sure you were still human. She's still alive, so unless you ran into another human on the way here, you're not entirely a demon. You have one in you that could possibly become you and will certainly alter you, but for now you're still Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi shoved the pictures back into their box and kicked it back under the bed as he stood up. "As long as you don't think of yourself as a demon, you'll stay human. Don't lose control, don't listen to it when it tries to convince you otherwise, and don't drink the blood of anyone you kill. Follow that and you'll be able to remain a human."

Sakura frowned, still confused. "If I'm not a demon, then what am I? What do you mean by 'it'll alter me?'"

Kakashi led her into another, smaller bedroom. "You're a girl whose soul is very close to mixing with that of a demon. It alters you because no matter how good you are, there will be some blending. The result of that is changes in your body that make you require the blood the demon part of you needs along with the food the human part of you needs." He smiled, nodding to the bed. "You're right about one thing though. Tomorrow you'll need to leave to bring back Sasuke . . . but for tonight you'll stay here."

Sakura hesitated. Although she knew that she couldn't go home now, it felt weird to be staying at her teacher's place, especially since he was a male. Besides . . . "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you worried that I'll attack you or something? I mean, I'll be half asleep and. . . ." she trailed off, not sure how to tell someone that you might accidentally kill them.

She needn't have worried. Kakashi just laughed and ruffled her hair, much to her displeasure. "If you need more blood I'll leave some in the kitchen. Besides, my room's not that easy to 'accidentally' break into." With a wink, he disappeared – supposedly to his room.

Sakura's lip curled some. Had he been hinting at something perverted again? Rolling her eyes, she crawled into bed without changing. No sense giving the pervert a chance to make any more of his comments. Shuddering in disgust, she glared up at the ceiling. Then, as she thought about it, a smile crept over her face. Trust a pervert to take her mind off the important things. That thought in mind, she fell asleep for the first time since becoming a demon, or whatever she was.

In his own room, Kakashi was also staring up at the ceiling from his bed. He could kill himself for all the lies he'd had to tell her in just under an hour. He turned to his side. Hopefully she'd never need to know just how much of her soul was "blending."

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he jumped out of bed and sauntered into the kitchen. Almost on autopilot, he pulled some more pigs blood from his refrigerator and warmed it. Still not thinking about it, he performed a jutsu he'd developed especially for Sonoda-san. It kept the blood from clotting, and was useful not only making mid-night snacks for newly made demons, but also for helping his enemies to bleed to death.

It was only when he looked down and saw that he'd positioned a kunai over his arm that he snapped out of his daze. Blinking, he shrugged and stabbed himself, letting the blood pour into the cup, filling it just a little bit more. He stopped the bleeding as quickly as possible, not wanting the smell of fresh blood to wake Sakura.

He glanced at the red liquid, contemplating throwing it out in favor of one without human blood in it. Finally though, he decided. It would be good for Sakura to learn what human blood tasted like while he was there to stop her from taking more. He smiled, remembering the last time he'd had a demon in his house.

"Please, Kakashi-san? Just a little – you won't even feel it."

"Why do you have this obsession with my blood? Is it really that much better than the pig's blood I get you?"

She grinned, pointed teeth making her look even more wicked than usual. "Yeah, Kakashi-san. It's just that good."

Author's Note: originally this was a bit shorter, but then I got the It's just that good' line stuck in my head and had to write it. Anyway, this chapter is a lot of talking, but oh well. It's a necessary evil – sort of like bad writing. It just has to happen sooner or later. . . . Heh. Anyway, yeah. I hope you liked this chapter – if you didn't, tell me why and I'll try to fix it.