NOTE: This chapter is long. LONG. It is twice as long as previous chapters. I couldn't split it without ruining the flow, so just a heads up, especially in light of a recent anonymous reviewer who found the fic "boring". If you've found earlier installments boring, this will be just the same. So do yourself a favour, and quit reading right about now.

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Chapter eleven
Breaking

----

Sakura slept on it and awoke refreshed, ready to put her theory to the test. She had worked late into the night drawing diagrams and making notes until she was completely satisfied with her as yet unproven theory. It was the first entirely restful night she'd had since they'd come to stay, and she was grateful - if a little embarrassed - to wake up and realise she'd slept until nearly noon. Kakashi had gone, of course, off to do whatever it was that he did while she worked on Izanami.

He hadn't said anything, but she could tell his patience was wearing thin. Every evening when they both returned to the room, he'd give her an expectant look, waiting for her to tell him she'd managed to crack the case. Every evening she had to look away, unable to meet the query on his face.

She glanced down at the paper held tightly in her hand. Today...maybe today was the day. No, not maybe. Today she'd definitely succeed. If there was one thing Haruno Sakura excelled at, it was book smarts. She may not be up there with the best in the practical arena, but it when it came to theory, she really knew her stuff. She trusted in her logic and now all that was left was to apply it to the situation.

She reached her destination and knocked on the door. "Izanami-san?" she called. No answer. She tried again. "Izanami-san?" Still no response. Slightly worried, she pushed aside the fusuma and stuck her head inside. The room was empty.

Scanning the space, she double-checked, eyes travelling over the unlit brazier and dismantled kotatsu. Nope. She's definitely not here.

Where would she have gone? She knew Sakura was coming over this morning; it was their routine, after all. But - oh. Sakura bit her lip in consternation. Dammit, she'd slept in. She was hours late for their usual meeting time. Possibly Izanami had tired of waiting and gone to check the room and they'd managed to miss each other in the massive, labyrinthine homestead. She tucked the paper into her pocket and set off, jogging back to her room.

"Izanami-san?" Again, nothing. She checked inside but it was exactly as she'd left it, tidy and unoccupied. She had no idea where their hostess had gotten to, but it really was unlucky timing, now that she finally had a theory to go on. Her pleasure at having slept in was evaporating quickly, and disappeared altogether after combing the house to no avail. She was about to give up when it occurred to her that Izanami had mentioned in passing how nice the view from the back verandah was. It took her some time to map her way there, and she was considering just going out a side door and walking around the outside of the homestead when she felt a rush of fresh air and found herself at the rear of the house.

Izanami was right - the view was nice. In fact, it was more than nice - it was glorious. Kakashi had said the gardens were extensive and beautiful, and she could really see that, given the opportunity. If she lived in such lush surrounds, Sakura told herself, she'd never go inside.

"Sakura?" She turned and spotted Izanami kneeling to her left, a blanket protecting her legs from the hard wooden porch slats. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was looking for you," she replied, before rushing to apologise. "I'm sorry for not meeting you at the usual time, I slept in and -"

"Sakura." Izanami's voice was soft but her tone was resolute and Sakura tensed, fearing she knew what was about to come.

"Yes?" she answered weakly, hoping to not get put on the spot.

"You've been keeping your observations from me."

Sakura said nothing - it was the truth, after all.

"I want you to tell me honestly, sparing no thought for my feelings, exactly what is the problem."

She'd rather not. "I really think -"

"Please." Now her voice was pleading, and Sakura couldn't help but notice a sheen of tears over Izanami's eyes. "I want to know. I need to know. Tell me what you see."

She'd never liked saying things that had the potential to offend other people. She had always thought one thing and said another, because it was easier to play nice and say what they wanted to hear rather than to take the chance and tell the truth. Fence sitting had always worked for Sakura in the past, but she knew it wasn't going to cut it this time. The circumstances were far too serious to consider hurt feelings or harsh honesty. This time someone's life was in the balance, and Sakura was going to have to come clean, whether she liked it or not.

For the record, it was definitely not.

"It's hard to say," she hedged, and it was; she wasn't sure how to word something she didn't quite understand herself. "You said you've been ill for a number of years now."

Izanami nodded. "For some time. You've known this from the beginning, though."

Well, yes, but... "And have you ever had periods you can't remember immediately afterwards, or the next day? Blackouts, so to speak?" Akio had said she didn't know about the fits, so it wouldn't be much help asking her about them.

Now she looked agitated. "I - I have. They occur infrequently and I am always fine the following day, so I have not given them much thought." She paused and something seemed to occur to her. "But how did you know about them? Did Yasuo-kun tell you?"

Tact, Sakura! "Er, well. It just seemed to explain a lot about the state of your body. Your cells, tissue, muscles - they all have a strange feel to them. I wasn't sure what it meant so I did some working out and this is what I got."

She pulled the crumpled sheet from her pocket and passed it to the other girl, walking over to the railing and resting her elbows on the edge. She continued as she gazed out over the gardens, having committed the contents of the paper to memory by now. "As you can see that's a rough diagram of the human body." She hadn't bothered filling in chakra lines and the inner coil system - for a non-shinobi, they didn't come into play. "I've noted the major organs and their key functions and labelled any basic processes that pertain to your condition."

Behind her she could hear the paper crackle and move as Izanami flattened it on her knees to get a better look.

"Your symptoms as you described to me are many and varied. You get lightheaded; have migraines; catch colds and common illnesses easily; are much weakened; can't eat great quantities; sleep only rarely and even then in fits and bursts...the list continues and can be attributed to any number of things. You could have anything, from anemia to leukemia, but if you did, I would know. I would have been able to divine an existing sickness and could have worked against it from there. For some reason, though, I couldn't, and it's been eating me up inside."

Again she heard the paper shifting but she didn't turn around. She was finally explaining her theory and she needed to expel it in one big whoosh, to get it out into the open where it could be judged as worthy and workable, possible and true.

"Every time I looked inside you I wasn't quite sure that what I was seeing or feeling was real. I could see on the outside you were moving and talking, breathing and living. I mean, of course you were - are - living." She laughed weakly, hoping she didn't sound too stupid. "But for some reason whenever I descended into you, all I could see was death."

She waited for a sniff, a gasp, some exclamation or protest. There was nothing, so she continued, still unwilling to turn around.

"It didn't make sense. I could understand if there were parts of darkness, if pieces and components had seized up and stopped working over time. But it was nothing like that at all. Instead of one cog rusting over and ceasing to function the whole machine had shut down instead. For some reason your body had convinced itself it didn't work any more; for some reason, it thought it was dead."

Her mouth was dry and cottony from talking too much and too fast. Without a response from Izanami she was still obligated to go on, words tumbling from her lips with no thought or direction as she kept her train of thought going.

"Then I remembered something Akio-san said, that you have periods of ma-- of blackouts, things you couldn't recall, and I wondered if your body had become confused when faced with these. I guess I mean your mind here, not your body...no, your body and mind combined. It's a stretch but there's a theory that within a body many minds or personalities can co-exist. Usually one mind is in control and these other personalities are repressed and hidden, sometimes never gaining the upper hand."

Inner Sakura nodded despondently but she ignored the distraction, pressing on.

"And then sometimes this other, latent personality comes to the fore, drowning out the regular mind and gaining control for a while." Finally the crux of her argument approached. She could feel it, almost taste it, and it was good to be this close.

"So I believe that within you exists a duality, Izanami-san. I think that you, like many others, possess this second personality, and while it remains for the most part passive, occasionally it surfaces, inducing these blackouts from which you suffer. And I have hopes that your dead-seeming tissue and parts are caused by this other personality convincing your body that it is the true you, and has taken all your life force to fuel it, instead. Your body has been fooled, completely and utterly, and to combat this all I need to do is enter this regressive personality and order your proper body functions to return."

There. She was done. It had taken her hours to sort out and piece this theory together, but felt good and right and she was nearly one hundred percent sure it was entirely correct. There was nothing she could think of more plausible than this and she hoped Izanami had understood and thought the same.

She was contemplating finally turning and facing her patient when she heard the paper rustle again and this time, fall to the ground. The blanket snagged on the wood as Izanami got to her feet and came up behind her, stopping so close Sakura could feel the chill of her body through their layers of clothing. Her skin prickled. Izanami was freezing! She was about to admonish her for not looking after herself properly when thin arms snaked around her and Sakura was pressed into a hug.

She stiffened. This was...strange. She'd never considered Izanami to be a physically affectionate person, and Sakura had never been one either. In fact, the only girl who'd ever hugged her like this was Ino, and that had felt a lot different.

"Congratulations," Izanami whispered, her breath tickling her ear. The other girl was half a head taller than Sakura, making her mouth close to her chin, and she felt a sudden uneasiness without quite knowing why.

"Oh, er...I don't know if I'm correct or not," Sakura said, a false note of cheeriness disguising her discomfort. "We'll have to wait and find out."

"He was right, I see." Sakura shifted slightly, wanting to move but not knowing if that would be perceived as rude. And who was right? Akio? "He said that you were the smartest, smarter even than the Uchiha. I didn't believe him at first, but your theory was certainly well-informed."

She froze. "What did you say?" Her breath was coming in shallow pants now but she was surprised she was managing to breathe at all. Izanami had just said...well, she wasn't sure what she'd said.

A laugh, close to her ear. Hair brushed her face. She was suddenly more frightened of Izanami than she'd been of anyone in a very long time.

"Very imaginative," the other girl continued, amusement plain in her voice. "I expected you'd take much longer to sort something out and so I'm still rather ill prepared. My reinforcements aren't due until the week after next, so I'll have to take care of you myself."

Sakura choked. Ill prepared...reinforcements...and Izanami was going to take care of her? None of this was making any sense, but one thing was for sure - she needed distance, and now.

She tried to withdraw from the embrace but other woman's arms held firm, trapping her within. She pushed again, harder, but still couldn't get loose. For a sick and weakened woman Izanami felt almost stronger than herself.

"Oh, Sakura," she said, and the amusement was still there. Her voice sounded different, though, strong and harsh. Still unsettled, Sakura struggled further, but Izanami's hands were like a vice and she just couldn't get free. "How simple it is to subdue you Leaf shinobi," she continued, and Sakura stopped fighting, shocked, because the jig was up, so to speak. "I should have told Orochimaru-sama that Konoha could have easily been his, and all for the price of a hug."

----

"...then who is with Sakura right now?"

Kakashi stared down at Akio, his words hanging in the air. He felt like all of the blood had rushed from his face and gone straight to his heart, which in turn pumped frantically, making his breathing shallow and fast. Something was about to happen - had already happened - and if they didn't start moving now it was going to be too late.

"Get up," he ordered the policeman, who was still hunched over on the ground. Akio had turned away and was gazing down at Izanami's barely recognisable form, sobs once again racking his frame.

They didn't have time for this. "Get up!" he commanded, voice loud in the quiet wood. Akio didn't move. Kakashi understood the other man's grief but there was a time and place for everything, and this situation afforded them neither. He had no room for pleasantries and it looked like he was about to come across as the bad guy again.

He took a deep breath and reached down, grabbing Akio by his starched collar and pulling him up off the ground. Akio's hands came up and slapped uselessly at Kakashi's own, while his legs flailed helplessly half a metre above the grass.

"I'm going to give you an explanation because you don't deserve to be treated like this, but be aware I am wasting valuable seconds by telling you this before we move." Kakashi's voice was low and urgent and he felt the policeman calm somewhat as he continued to speak. "We've just found the body of your fiancée lying out here in the garden, and as we're both men who've seen death we know she's been out here for some time - more than a week, at the very least. Sakura and I have been staying here in the same house as that woman and I swear to you I saw her and spoke with her last night. Something here does not make sense, but one thing is clear - if this is the real Hirogari Izanami, then the one back at the homestead, the one Sakura is trying desperately to heal, is not your fiancée at all but is an imposter, a fake so powerful they have fooled my ninja senses." And not for the first time.

He couldn't believe it. After the ambush he had sworn never to be tricked again, and he'd walked out of one situation only to be hoodwinked into another. This was his punishment for not taking the original fight seriously enough, for not thinking further on the how's and the why's. But there had been no sign, dammit, no indication that Izanami was anything other than what she had appeared to be. How had she managed to deceive him again?

And why was he thinking about it now, of all times? They needed to get a move on; they couldn't keep standing around all day.

"Do you understand?" he asked Akio. He just didn't have the time or inclination to tell him that again.

Akio was silent for a moment, his limbs slack, and Kakashi wondered if the shock had been too much for him, sending him over the edge. But then he moved slightly as if waking, and bowed his head. "I understand," he said dully. Kakashi nodded. It would have to do.

"Hold on, then," he said, and they disappeared, the puff of smoke they left behind drifting in the sudden wind.

----

They burst in through the foyer and raced down to Izanami's room. It was empty and looked like it had been so for the entire day, at least. He spun on his heel without a word and navigated back to his room, thrusting the fusuma aside with such force the wood cracked and splintered, the door wrenching from its channel and flying off down the hall.

This one, too - unoccupied, but it couldn't have been for long. He could almost taste that Sakura had been here recently, half an hour ago at most.

"Right," he said under his breath, and had tensed to shift and leave when their travelling packs caught his eye. He wondered if they'd brought anything that would be of any use. Nothing came immediately to mind but far better to more prepared than less, so he grabbed them as he turned to exit, looping them over his shoulder without another thought.

Still in the ruined doorway, Akio was shaking. "Where are they?" he asked, his voice painfully hoarse. Kakashi spared him a glance.

"Let me check."

He sped up the usual descent into his core, snapping from alert to inwardly focussed in the blink of an eye. A shock akin to whiplash stung his body and he knew he'd be feeling this later, but there was no time for protocol and from here on in he'd have to wing it.

Expand, he told his chakra curtly. Lines stretched out from the sphere within, breaking through the walls of flesh and then wood, and speeding off into the far reaches of the house. No need to stuff around with searching manually, when he could pinpoint their exact location like this.

He inhaled and the lines retracted, slipping back inside of him in the space of that single breath. He turned to Akio, who was clammy and white. "They're out the back," Kakashi told him quickly, before scanning the room and considering their options. They could go the long way...but it would be much easier to just...not. He took a deep breath and pressed back on his heel before springing forward and throwing himself out the window, landing in a crouch outside. Glass tinkled around him, dusting his shirt and hair. He reached up and slipped the eye patch off from around his head - no point in wearing it now, after all - and turned back to Akio, pinning the suddenly dumbstruck man with his black and scarlet gaze.

"Come," he said, and the policeman hurried to comply, clambering awkwardly through the window frame and joining him outside. "Hold on," Kakashi instructed and when he felt Akio's trembling fingers grip tight around his bicep he pushed off, boosting his jump with chakra so as to land lightly on the roof.

The house was big and the roof was vast, a sea of corrugated iron that stretched out in all directions. The sense of Sakura's location was still strong in his mind and he followed his instinct to the area his chakra had projected, coming to a stop at the very back of the house. The roof felt thinner here with no extra ceiling to hold it up and he could tell they were over a verandah that faced a garden he'd seen from a distance before.

She was here; he could feel her, nearly right below where he and Akio stood now. He honed a thread of chakra and sunk it down through the metal, pushing and feeding it through until it emerged on the other side, allowing him to see.

Sakura was there, pressed between the railing and - he stiffened - Izanami. This version was living, of course, but a vision of the real one flashed across his eyes before he could avoid it. There was no doubt about it. They looked to be one and the same. This woman had pretended to be their hostess, had kept the act up for a week and more and he was still unable to tell that she was a fake. He kneaded the skin under his left eye, then closed his right, looking down through the chakra thread with the Sharingan alone.

He took another skein of chakra and fed the Kekkai Genkai, changing how he viewed the image by bending it to his will. He waited as colour bled from his vision; greens, browns and purples leeching from his surrounds until everything was etched in black, white and grey.

Now, show me, he told it, concentrating on the two girls. Blue returned, a blaze of aquamarine crystallising into existence and forming an aura around Sakura's form. It hardened and coalesced, darkening to a rich azure before settling into a midnight blue, a shadow of sapphire that seemed to shine from her skin. She was unhurt, then, and healthy - her chakra hummed with life.

He transferred his attention to "Izanami" and waited for the same to happen to her. At first there was nothing, then a gradual onset of colour appeared, the bluish green of an old bruise shading her body in patches. To his heightened vision it looked like she'd been sewn together, crudely moulded with the chakra of at least two other ninja, while within her also burned the last of the life force of what had to have been a human sacrifice.

He swallowed, with difficulty. It was just as he'd feared. Whoever the person down there with Sakura turned out to be, it certainly was not the Izanami that Akio had been engaged to. This was a forbidden jutsu at work, and damned if he knew what to do about it. In fact, the only thing he really could do was --

"Hatake Kakashi." Izanami's voice carried up to him as the vision faded and he found himself staring at the roof once more. "I know you're up there. Why don't you come down and join us, so we can reminisce about old times?"

Akio twitched beside him, clutching at his arm with white-knuckled fear. "T-That isn't Izanami! Her voice doesn't sound like that!"

"I know," Kakashi said, extricating himself from the policeman's hold. "Stay here and don't move." He slipped the pack straps from his shoulder and handed them across; Akio accepted them, fingers curling around the fabric as if needing to cling to something, anything.

Kakashi stood up and jumped down, landing softly on the grass where the verandah opened out.

"Kakashi," Sakura breathed, her face frightened and pale. He looked past her to where the imposter smirked, face half hidden behind Sakura's head.

"Let her go," he suggested reasonably enough, the fingers of his left hand twitching slightly.

The fake smiled, stepping to the side a bit, her mouth stretching wide. "Or you'll what?"

His hand twitched again; he fisted it, and then pressed it flat against his thigh. "Or I'll be forced to take drastic measures."

Arms wrapped tighter around Sakura, who continued to stare at him - past him - in shock. "Like what?" the woman queried, almost teasingly, as if all of this was a game.

It wasn't. Not to him. Not to Akio and definitely not to Sakura, who looked as if she was frozen in fear, unable to move.

"Like this," he said, as light spun and crackled into existence, forming a sparking ball in his palm as the sound of a thousand birds filled the air.

----

Sakura fought against the panic rising in her chest. She didn't know what was happening to her, why she felt so weak, but the rush of relief that she'd experienced when Izanami said Kakashi's name both comforted and shamed her. She was glad he was here, secure in the knowledge that his presence would make things right again, but she was embarrassed, humiliated that a chuunin such as herself required saving from any situation.

She tried to move again and found she still couldn't. This was ridiculous, she knew the names of every single piece of muscle, every bone, cartilage, synapse and nerve end and yet she couldn't get her damn body to get itself away.

She felt like she was paralysed, or watching the scene from beyond her flesh. She felt distanced yet weak. Technically she knew she was a strong kunoichi, and of course she'd been taught by none other than Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin, after all. For some reason, though, she was unable to use that knowledge, that belief in her own power. She simply couldn't move; she was frozen where she stood and as the sparks flew and gathered around Kakashi's hand she wondered if she'd ever be able to do anything at all.

There'd been a dream like this once, hadn't there? No, that didn't seem right, surely Kakashi had never invaded her dreams. She usually slept without dreaming or forgot them upon waking, but what was this intangible feeling of something just out of reach?

Izanami jerked her roughly to the side and her body followed unwillingly, still trapped effectively by the other woman's strength. There was no time for dwelling on memories and dreams. The now, this reality, was far more dangerous than they could ever be.

"Sakura." He didn't raise his voice but she could hear him perfectly all the same, the low intonation carrying easily across the space between them. The Chidori chirped and whistled in his palm but he ignored it, looking at her questioningly, worry evident in both eyes.

She stared back at him, fixing on his now familiar face like a lifeline in the fear. Why couldn't she do anything? Why was she still so weak?

Can you move? he seemed to be asking, and while she wanted so much to say yes, she could, and then punch Izanami into next week; all she could do was hold his gaze and shake her head. He nodded as if expecting it and her heart sunk at his foresight, his perception of her inadequacy, her inability to be of use. She was facing Kakashi but suddenly in her mind's eye all she could see was his back as he and her two teammates moved ever forward, while she stayed behind.

"Close your eyes," he instructed and she was almost tempted to rebel but then remembered he was her sensei and was therefore nearly always right. She closed her eyes as he started running and the Chidori grew louder, air snapping in protest as the chakra ball sliced through it. He was almost here now, close enough to reach out and touch and why was that familiar and birds can be awfully loud --

And then came a light so bright it blazed across her vision even with her eyelids closed. Flesh hissed and burned beside her; a choking gurgle came close to her ear. The sound and light both fizzled out as the jutsu faded from Kakashi's hand. Liquid warmth - blood, perhaps - soaked into her shoulder while a dead weight slumped over on top of her even as the grip slackened around her arms and waist. But she still couldn't move and stood there trembling, her eyes still clamped shut against it all.

"You can open them now." Kakashi's voice came again, breath once more tickling her ear. She shivered for a different reason and tentatively followed his instruction, blinking back into daylight and a chest that was really very close. She stared at his adam's apple, needing desperately to focus on something and that may as well be it.

He was reaching behind her and she wasn't sure why but then the slack grip around her loosened entirely and he stepped back, having freed her from Izanami's disturbing hold. A thump came from behind her but she ignored it, unable to concentrate on more than two things at once.

"You choked up," he said matter-of-factly. There was no judgment in his tone but she almost wished there was because she'd messed up and he'd been forced to come and save her again.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, unable to meet his gaze. Even now it was all she could do to look away. Moving her body seemed entirely out of the question.

"Don't worry, it happens to everyone at some point."

A faint hint of something took offence at the words, even though he didn't say them in a patronising way. She hoped it was anger because that had always given her strength in the past. "I bet it never happened to you." She still wasn't looking at him but she felt his head turn and knew he was giving her a considering look. Damn their proximity, she could gauge his reactions now.

"It has," he replied evenly, but there was a raw quality to his voice that sounded a bit like...pain? She glanced up unthinkingly but he was looking past her and she took a deep and steadying breath before turning to follow his gaze.

She gasped. Once Sakura had been plucked from her grasp there had been nothing holding Izanami upright, and her inert form now lay crumpled on the floor. The Chidori had made impact just below her left collarbone and bruised flesh spiralled out from a centre point, marring her chest and arms. Sakura didn't know if the girl had deserved the attack but found she didn't care, staring down at the sprawled body with a kind of chilling numbness. Why had she done that? Why had she said something about Orochimaru? And why was her face changing like that?

Even as she watched, the skin on Izanami's face bubbled and distorted, rippling like a still pond that had just had a stone thrown in. The flesh stretched then crumpled, as the skin changed colour and features sharpened, wrinkles appearing gradually upon the once-young face. Soft arms hardened into thin and sinewy ones; the curve of her breasts receded and became a hollowed out chest. The pale legs beneath her kimono shortened and shrunk and the dark fall of her hair decreased to a few graying wisps on the top of a bald head. The only thing that remained constant was the burnt epicentre of the Chidori wound, and when everything had finished changing, Sakura found herself staring down at the withered corpse of a very old man.

----

At the last second before impact Kakashi held back a bit, so the wound would be a surface one as opposed to anything too severe. There was no doubt in his mind that this was an imposter, that the dead Izanami they'd discovered under the trees was anything but the real thing. And yet he'd felt a moment of remorse, a second of pity for poor Akio, who was about to have his fiancée ripped from him for the second time in one day. Life wasn't fair, but he'd known that, of course. Just sometimes events played out to remind him of the fact.

To his eyes, Sakura seemed okay, but he knew she'd be beating herself up inside. She'd choked - they all did at some point. He told her that, however she remained unconvinced, and he probably would have reiterated it but then the jutsu started unravelling and all he could do was watch.

When the process was over he was surprised to find a familiar face - it was the old man from the inn, the one from the first occupied room. His thoughts flashed back to that chance encounter with Taro and how the innkeeper had mentioned the drunkard had gone missing. Another piece of the puzzle, he thought, hoping death had come swiftly to the old man. What a waste to have been spared the fire only to walk straight into the waiting arms of their unknown enemy.

Sakura shifted and looked up at him, some of the glazed shock fading from her eyes. Their situation looked to have hit home and she was slowly processing things, returning to the strong, capable Sakura he knew had been in there all along. He didn't know exactly what had caused her temporary freeze but she was going to be fine if they stayed out of trouble.

"She said," she began, then paused to clear her throat. "She said she communicated with...Orochimaru."

Kakashi blinked. Another puzzle piece snapped into place. He opened his mouth to reply but then he felt a ripping, tearing at his shoulder and had to grit his teeth against the sudden onset of pain. Shit, he'd almost forgotten about the curse seal. It had stopped hurting a few days after the ambush and he'd convinced both himself and Sakura he had managed to subdue it entirely.

Apparently, he had not.

Breath hissed between his teeth as he stumbled backwards, away from Sakura and down the low steps. He fumbled behind him, slapping a hand at the approximate location, prepared to try and contain it again. A new burst of pain radiated from the mark and he barely registered the whistle in the wind that signified a set of approaching shuriken. He managed to avoid their unexpected appearance and spun in the direction they'd come from, slitted eyes marking the approach of another oddly familiar man.

He remembered the first time they'd met Izanami back in Akio's office and when she'd fainted, a man - Hoshi? - had come to take her away. Now, like everything recently, events had come full circle and a chance encounter had turned out to mean more than it seemed. They hadn't seen him again but the meeting had been so brief Kakashi had never noticed his absence. It didn't matter this time, really, since it wasn't that man anyway. This time, if he wasn't mistaken, the other man's features shone to his Sharingan with the telltale glow of a transformation jutsu.

"Your Henge doesn't work on me," he called out before the man reached him. "You might as well dismiss it and save your chakra for later."

"Hoshi" chuckled. "Very well, if you insist." He brought his hands up and made the seal; with an audible poof the jutsu was discarded and when the smoke cleared they were afforded their first real view of the enemy.

He'd been right back then, at least partly. The ninja was a woman. She looked older than Sakura but younger than himself, of average height, with average features. Dark eyes returned his gaze coolly as an indolent hand reached up to tuck a few errant strands of pale hair back under her hitai-ate, the metal plate stamped with the symbol of the Sound. "We meet again, Hatake Kakashi," she said, tilting her head and giving him an appraising look. "And I just wanted to say I love what you've done with your hair."

"We meet at last," he corrected her, ignoring her other remark. "And I just wanted to say it's impolite to keep calling me by my name when you haven't even offered me yours."

"Nonsense!" she returned, pulling a kunai from her hip pack and twirling it casually around one finger. "I'm insulted you've forgotten our last rendezvous, especially since I gave you such a wonderful present." Her eyes glittered as the pain in his shoulder returned and intensified. He tried to ignore it and concentrated instead on the external threat that was the woman before him.

"And your name?" he queried again, in an effort to block out the pain.

"Call me Yumi," she suggested, before glancing back, behind where he stood. "Although I'm more than willing to put on Sakura's face whenever you want."

----

Any lingering trace of physical apathy vanished from Sakura's system at the woman's strange, confusing words. "Why would you want to put on my face?" she wondered aloud, noting Kakashi's set shoulders and a seeming reluctance on his part to turn and meet her eye. "Kakashi?" He tilted his head in acknowledgement of her question but didn't look away from the enemy-nin, even as Sakura descended the steps and crossed the grass to where he stood.

On the other side of the garden, the woman was watching their exchange with apparent interest. "You haven't told her, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, mock scolding in her tone. "Now that's just rude. Especially when she was so important in your eventual defeat."

Okay, now she was really confused. How could she have contributed to Kakashi's defeat when she'd been off trouncing those other nins, albeit accidentally? By the time she'd gotten back to the clearing he'd already suffered through an attack and had been on the edges of consciousness. She'd rushed forwards, catching him before he collapsed entirely. And then, he'd said something, hadn't he? What had it been?

That's right. "Is that you?" he'd asked and she'd paid it no mind, too frightened for his safety to worry about any strange things coming from his mouth. However, even remembering it didn't help at all since she couldn't see what the other woman was getting at. She did understand somewhat that this kunoichi had been the cause of Izanami's death and she rounded on her furiously, anger kindling and strength returning as she felt the other woman's amused gaze.

"Yumi, was it?" She didn't wait for an answer; she'd heard her the first time. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but too often things were put off until later and then an opportunity never came for them to be addressed again. She settled for the current and most obvious one, something she wanted to know right now. "What did you mean by put on my face?"

The nin considered. "I don't know if I should be the one to tell you, Sakura-chan. If dear Kakashi-sensei here hasn't seen fit to share it with you, maybe you're just not old enough to be told." The words were cruel and she felt insulted; how dare this woman tell her something she'd been trying to ignore herself.

"I'm not a child," Sakura replied frostily. "I only asked for elaboration on a comment you made. If anyone is being immature here, it's you for failing to answer me."

Dark eyes slid from Sakura to Kakashi and the woman quirked an eyebrow at him. "I'm sure she'd prefer it coming from you, Hatake, but I'm more than happy to tell her myself."

"Don't bother," he said, fingers flexing again. "It's not important."

"I beg to differ," she returned condescendingly. "How can Sakura concentrate with unanswered questions between us? And I'm certain you're curious as to how exactly I pulled the wool over your -" she paused for greater effect," - eye."

Sakura resisted the urge to roll both of hers. Why did enemy-nin have to be so damned theatrical? It was like they weren't able to really get into a fight until they'd listed all their achievements and gone into just how they managed to triumph until now. She was interested as to how this woman - Yumi - had fooled Kakashi and taken over Izanami's life, but it wasn't idle curiosity. In this case she needed to know so she could figure out how much suffering she'd be forcing upon this disgusting enemy-nin. To have killed at least one innocent - and it was more than likely more - as well as putting a man as nice, if somewhat boring, as Akio through all this was unforgivable, and she was going to pay.

Guilt stung at her, and a little voice told her it was partially her fault for wanting to stay, for demanding to stay, but she quashed it for the time being. Regrets came after a battle, not during. They would have to be patient and wait their turn.

"So get on with it," Sakura said, her voice bored. "I'm sure we're going to have to sit through a monologue vaunting your skills anyway, you might as well make a start now."

To her surprise, Yumi laughed. "Oh, aren't you precious!" She turned to Kakashi. "I can see why you keep her around."

Sakura gnashed her teeth. If she hadn't already hated the woman, she would have started to right about now. Sadly she didn't have time to dwell on her dislike - she'd rather know the how's and why's, or failing that, wanted to fight. Fury, slow and roiling, grew in the pit of her stomach and snaked through her muscles, priming her to fight. She hadn't felt this pumped about hurting someone since her last spar with Naruto. And she still needed to work off the irritation left behind at her weakness from before.

"Will you be explaining yourself any time soon?" Kakashi asked, with a hint of asperity. His hand clenched and she heard his knuckles crack. Good. He was as angry as she was.

"I had no idea how eager the two of you were to fight, but I suppose I can tell you a few things." Yumi inspected her fingernails, almost thoughtful. "The hardest part is where to begin...I guess I'll let you in on the fact we knew your moving position for a week before we attacked."

Sakura tried to hide how she blanched at the words but sharp eyes picked up on it, moving to pin her with their amused gaze. "There's a reason you're still a chuunin, precious. I'm sure your sensei knew we were there, but our intentions would not have been obvious until that last night."

Kakashi made no reaction, so the woman continued.

"We weren't sure how to attack, so I hung back to formulate a plan. I watched as my subordinates were easily overpowered, and though I knew how much chakra I'd lose, I decided to use the technique developed and passed down through my family - the Shoten no Jutsu."

Blinking, Sakura tried to process. Shoten no Jutsu? A technique of sacrifice...of death?

"You killed one of them," she breathed, the cogs turning. "You killed one of your own comrades in order to get the power to trick Kakashi."

The woman shrugged. "You'd wounded him anyway. There was no point in him just sitting there, bleeding. He gave his life for a good purpose in the service of Orochimaru, our leader." Her lips bared in a feral smile. "And what a handsome leader he's come to be."

Sakura stiffened and would have rushed at her had Kakashi not put a restraining hand on her arm. He shook his head slightly, features expressionless. It's what she wants, his face told her, and dammit, she knew that, but it didn't make bearing it hurt any less.

"Don't make your weaknesses so obvious, precious," Yumi taunted. "And that goes for the both of you."

Huh?

"How do you think I got close enough to stab the great Copy-nin, Sakura-chan? I'm not so confident as to believe I'm on equal footing as him. My brother has beaten me every single time we've sparred, and I would say he has comparative skills to Hatake here."

Sakura's mind whirled. There was a brother now? He was as powerful as Kakashi? It was too much, too fast. This was getting out of hand. "I don't know how you got close enough," she replied evenly, trying to keep focus on one thing at a time.

Yumi laughed, delightedly. "Oh, this is fabulous! I can't believe you didn't tell her." Again, Kakashi said nothing, and Sakura wondered how bad it could be. Why had he kept it from her and why was he still so reluctant for her to know?

"You see, Sakura-chan," the nin said, tilting her head. "I got close enough to injure Kakashi by giving him a hug."

A hug. A hug. She'd never really hugged him and yet this enemy claimed to have done so. Some emotion reared within her but she ignored it, staring at the nin.

She was still watching, gauging Sakura's reaction.

"And he let me do that, precious, because when my arms went around him and I pressed against his chest, he thought that it was you."

----

Kakashi flinched. Damn. The main reason he hadn't wanted to tell Sakura how he'd been disarmed was because he knew she'd feel guilty by association, despite none of it being her fault. The other reason was one he hadn't let himself dwell on, and was that he was afraid he'd sound somewhat perverted, lowering his guards by getting up close and personal with his student. The way Yumi had described it, by way of omission, was everything he hadn't wanted it to be.

Sakura was still standing slightly behind and to the left of him. He looked over at her from the corner of his eye and the Sharingan whirred and focussed in, counting the number of strands of her hair and noting a loose thread on the bottom of her shirt. It took her heart rate and observed the increased speed of blood running through her veins. She took a shocked breath and his eye saw too clearly the surprise on her face; she thought to look at him and he glanced away before she could, unwilling to meet her gaze.

"Thought it was...me?" she echoed, unbelievingly.

And then, it sunk in. Her head snapped up, eyes blazing. Fury made her body tremble, her hands fisted at her sides. "You...you managed to look like I do, put on my face, came up and hugged Kakashi, tore down his defences and then fucking stabbed him while he thought you were me!" She sounded beyond outrage. It looked like Sakura had seen red.

Across from them, Yumi blinked at the force of her anger. "Well...yes..." she said slowly, as if speaking to a dull-witted child. "It was all I could think of."

"You should have thought harder!" Sakura roared, pushing off. He watched with some surprise as she activated the Kumokasumi Senko no Jutsu, shifting from one spot to another in a brown edged blur. Their enemy started and looked around for the girl, who reappeared beneath her, crouched on the ground, one leg scissored upwards in a familiar lion kick. The very edge of Sakura's sandal caught on Yumi's chin, and had the woman not already been leaning backwards to avoid the contact, the force behind the attack would have surely crushed her jaw. As it was, it flung her across the yard, arching her upwards before she angled down towards the grass. She somersaulted weakly before impact and landed awkwardly on one foot, lurching sideways before settling into a more stable crouch. She touched her jaw and regarded Sakura with something akin to respect.

"Well," she said. "I may have underestimated you, precious. You've managed to interrupt the flow of my story, though, so I can't remember what I was up to."

"Like I care," Sakura spat. "I lost interest when you stabbed Kakashi while he thought you were me." She rubbed violently at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Kakashi."

He looked at her, surprised. "There's nothing to apologise for, Sakura."

"No, there is!" She turned back to him imploringly, and he was shocked to see tears threatening at the edges of her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to think, even for a moment, that I had betrayed you like that."

Something hot had lodged in his throat and he swallowed, trying to move it. It stuck firm and he coughed a bit, but still it stayed in place. "I -" he started, before being interrupted by Yumi.

"He didn't doubt you," she said, and her tone was strange, as if he had disappointed her. "As soon as I attacked him, he knew it wasn't you."

Some of the tension drained from Sakura's face and relief took its place. "Really?" she breathed and he didn't know how to respond, so he looked at Yumi instead. Her interest appeared caught by something behind him, but he was unwilling to turn around lest it be another trick. Then he heard a scrabble of limbs and a scraping along metal and it dimly registered there'd been someone else just as Akio slid completely off the roof.

Shit. He'd completely forgotten about the policeman, and he couldn't have returned at a more inconvenient time. Kakashi debated whether or not to turn and see how much Akio had injured himself from the fall when the man pushed past him, running towards the enemy-nin.

She watched him approach with barely concealed amusement. "What do you hope to achieve?" she asked curiously as he crossed the distance between them. "I am a kunoichi and you are just a man. That is a world of difference; there is nothing you can do."

Akio faltered and stumbled, tripping onto the grass and lying there panting, one of their packs still looped incongruously over his shoulder. He slapped the ground bitterly in a gesture of frustration and Kakashi couldn't help but notice the man had injured himself and was bleeding from a long yet shallow cut along his palm.

"Did you kill her?" Akio cried, pushing himself to his knees. "Did you kill Izanami?"

She regarded him pityingly. "Yes," she said simply, and he froze in horror. Sakura gasped and even Kakashi could sense Akio was about to break.

"That's enough," he found himself saying sharply.

Yumi looked at him, the amusement back on her face. "He asked a question, Kakashi-sensei. I was just answering him, like your student wanted me to do before."

"Some questions don't need to be answered," he replied, and his tone was final. Without taking his eyes off her, he called out to Akio, "Are you all right?"

The policeman ignored him and clambered to his feet. "She killed her!" he shouted, no longer the neat and fastidious man they had come to know. Kakashi felt sorry for him, he truly did, as Akio was the real victim here, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Yes, she's gone," he said, as gently as he could, still watching the enemy for signs of a forthcoming attack. He needed Akio out of the way before he could do something. There had already been too many civilian casualties.

Sakura moved back behind him and he almost started at her sudden reappearance. She'd remained silent throughout the exchange and it looked like something had been bothering her the whole time.

"So it was you as Izanami that day at the police station," she said, her posture stiff.

"Yes," Yumi replied. "I had already put things into motion at that point."

Sakura nodded, processing. "And what if I hadn't agreed to heal you? It all would have come to nothing, and Izanami still would have died."

"There was never any doubt. All you good shinobi are so predictable in your compassion. If it was just Hatake on his own, I wouldn't have taken the gamble, but you, precious - I knew you'd be a soft one."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "I see. Thank you for clarifying that."

"My pleasure."

"But let me assure you," the girl continued, "I will not make this mistake again."

Yumi laughed. "But that's what makes it so fun! You will make this mistake again, over and over no matter what the situation. Your hearts are all too kind for this world and that will always be your downfall. The only love a ninja is allowed to feel is the love for their village. You shinobi are always tripped up by the ties that bind and they will eventually lead to your death."

"Then at least I will die for what I believe in," Sakura retorted, apparently unimpressed. "And how can you talk about this shinobi feeling, that ninja way? You said before you were a kunoichi so why the sweeping generalisations of which you are no part?"

The other nin's mouth set into a tight line. "Right. Regardless, it seems I underestimated you. It is time for me to withdraw and regroup, because I for one want to live and see another day. Until next time, both of you."

She reached into her thigh holster and withdrew something, but he was so surprised at her sudden admission of weakness it wasn't until she'd thrown down the smoke pellets that he realised what they were. She disappeared as a black cloud filled the garden.

"Sakura, wait here," he said, tensing to jump. "I'll follow her."

"Wait!" came another voice, and he found he'd forgotten Akio again as the man dragged himself from the danger zone. He still had one of their packs - his, he could tell from the faint singeing on the bottom pocket - and it hung mournfully from his shoulder as he made his way towards them.

----

She's getting away, Sakura thought angrily as she watched Akio hobble towards them. She inwardly cursed his dreadful timing. How long had it been now, twenty seconds, thirty? Who knew how far away Yumi was by now. Kakashi was the fastest ninja she knew, but it was becoming painfully apparent there were many ninja she didn't know out there, with skills and abilities she couldn't hope to comprehend.

It was possibly too late already, and she saw her struggle reflected on Kakashi's face as he looked off in the direction the enemy-nin had gone.

"Don't go," Akio cried, reaching them at last. "Don't follow that woman, Kakashi-san."

Sakura was surprised at his sudden turnaround. He'd been so angry just before, it was a relief to see there was forgiveness in him as well. It made a person stronger, in the end.

"She's mine," he continued, fury setting his jaw. "I will make her pay for what she has put Izanami through."

Then again, maybe not.

"But Sakura-sama, first you have to come with me."

She looked at him, confused. "What do you mean, Akio-san?"

His eyes glittered. "You need to come with me and see Izanami. She needs healing."

Her heart sunk. She glanced up at Kakashi, who turned regretfully from the direction Yumi had fled in, and sighed. "She doesn't need healing, Akio. She needs burying, and some prayers, if you'd like. She's gone. We've been through this."

The policeman's lower lip trembled. Sakura spoke carefully, not wanting him to break down again. "I'm gratified you have such faith in my abilities, Akio-san, but Kakashi is right. If Izanami is gone, there is nothing that can bring her back."

His shoulders sagged and the pack slipped off, the straps scraping down his arm before it thumped onto the ground. The top flap hadn't been fastened properly and a blue mission scroll fell out, rolling in a loop before coming to rest at his feet. They all looked at it for a moment, until Akio spoke.

"One of these should work - one of your scrolls can bring her back to me." His eyes were bright and his face was flushed, as if feverish.

"No," Kakashi said calmly. "Sakura told the truth before. Nothing can bring the dead back to life."

"You lie!" Akio screamed. His voice cracked and Sakura realised this time he'd gone to far to listen to reason. Veins stood out on his temple and the cords on his neck were stretched tight with anger. He bent over and rummaged through the pack, Kakashi's belongings getting flung to either side. His fingers closed on something and he withdrew a small black scroll she'd never seen before.

Beside her, Kakashi stiffened. She didn't recognise the scroll but he appeared to know what it was, if his reaction was anything to go by.

"What is it?" she asked, indicating the scroll.

He seemed not to hear her, horror on his face. "Put that down, Akio."

He ignored Kakashi, bringing a hand around to undo the bindings. She registered dimly he'd cut his palm somewhere along the way as a weak trickle of blood slid down his palm and made an inexorable journey towards the parchment.

Kakashi blurred from her vision. She wondered if that was the fastest she'd ever seen him move but at the same time it seemed he shimmered in slow motion, afterimages of him racing to Akio burning the air as he passed through it. Her head felt huge and heavy, swivelling slowly and awkwardly to watch him go, her thoughts sluggish and lazy and not understanding why he was trying to get there so fast.

Akio pulled the scroll open. Kakashi reached where he stood. The drop of blood traversed the gap and splattered onto the parchment, echoing loudly in the suddenly quiet garden.

A second of silence.

And then noise returned and intensified, pressure appearing and multiplying in a fraction of an instant. Sakura clapped her hands to her ears as a sudden wind screamed into existence, ripping the grass from the ground and pelting her with dirt. She slitted her eyes against the onslaught and tried to see through the ripping wind, managing only to make out the largish blurs of Kakashi and Akio a few metres ahead. She stumbled forward, trying to reach them, but the pressure was intense and she could only inch over, a mammoth effort to lift each leg and press onward that way.

As she got closer she realised the scroll was the centre, the eye of this strange cyclone, that while she was being torn mercilessly by the cutting breeze the men seemed still and untouched. She squinted and it looked as if Kakashi had gotten to the scroll in time, his hand was splayed over Akio's and gripped onto the parchment as well.

Just in time, she thought as the gritty wind subsided. The air melted around her and sound faded once more. Kakashi looked up and they locked gazes, his eyes widening at her approach. She was close, so close now, but for some reason he was motioning for her to get back, go away!

She didn't understand. What could he mean, what was he saying? Fear etched his features and his eyes seemed so sad. His lips mouthed her name but it was still silent, so quiet and she didn't know why...

...and then they were torn from her vision in a blaze of green light. She blinked once, and then a second time, as water came from nowhere and filmed her eyes. It was hard to see through the strange wetness but even when blurred she could tell she was alone in the garden.

"Ka...Kakashi?" Her lips were cracked and her throat didn't want to work. She swallowed, and tried again. "Kakashi?"

Nothing. Nothing but silence. She stared unseeingly as the black scroll, the perpetrator, rolled down the slope of the grass and halted in front of her, its path cut off by Kakashi's abandoned pack. After a while - seconds? hours? - she reached out, picking it up with trembling hands. She forced her eyes down, afraid of what she'd find.

Like all scrolls, it had some kind of label on it, to avoid confusion. Some had only a pictogram while others had the name of the jutsu painted onto them. This one afforded her no illusions and she crumpled to the ground, flinging the scroll away as if it would undo the action and bring him back to her.

Painted boldly in small, neat kanji was a word that allowed her no compromise, and pained her, tore her, right down to the depths of her soul.

Ka...mi...ka...ze.

Kakashi was dead.

END OF PART ONE

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Notes on terms:

fusuma - rice paper sliding doors
kotatsu - a low table with a heating element in the middle

--runs away--

So, part one is over and done with, and hopefully everything's going to pick up in part two. A few questions have been answered and a few more have popped up, and I don't want to come across as (particularly) cruel, but I'll be taking a two week break from now. I need to sort out some story ideas and make sure everything links in, so unless my muses copulate wildly and provide me with a several chapters in the space of a few days, it will be pretty safe to assume it will be a fortnight between this update and the next.

Thanks for everyone's patience and support with this, especially (as always) Nushi, icarust and darkenedsakura, as well as theblackestfaery, whose drabble will come, once day. Until next chapter. :D