Caged

Chapter 2: Never Thought He'd Do That

A/N: Thanks to all whose read & reviewed so far, I've appreciated and it helps motivate me! Apherion, lil sis, as always your inspiration is divine! I'm loving your one shot ...haven't got to finish yet.. but damn it's hot! Those of you wanting to read it it's called 'All In One Moment'. To Infinite's girl & SweetAssassin, thanx for your reviews and comments, it's for the three of you that I dedicate this chapter! Happy reading. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but wish I did. I do own 'Set Free' which is an original poem I wrote and decided to include with this fic. Isn't this disclaimer stuff a pain? Oh well, on with the fic...

The end of last chapter:

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Damn. She's gotten better. Sakura never used to be able o do that! I think it's time to bump up the stakes."

Shadow replications and other jutsus had been freed to work their purpose. Blows upon blows were constantly being exchanged and blocked time after time. Hours later, Sakura, soaked with sweat, still fighting, giving her all. She felt so weary but didn't want to give up and risk disappointing Kakashi. She glanced down at the ground for just a moment and when she looked back up; she froze.

'He wouldn't do that... would he?' Sakura wondered frighteningly.

She watched as Kakashi calmly slid his forehead protector up past his eye, baring his sharingan. ' Oh shit! I'm in deep trouble now.' Sakura desperately tried to think of some jutsu or something to pull off, but in her panicked mind, she came up with nothing. The last time she'd even been in it's presence, she thought she was going to die. Later she found out from Sasuke and Naruto that they believed the same thing.

Sakura watched at the sharingan activated and swirled, her fear building. Gravity weighing her down; pulling her to her knees. She closed her eyes and saw a whole different world in her mind. Sasuke and Naruto, being tortured, their screams piercing her ears. She saw herself, approached by Kakashi, but this didn't look like her Kakashi. This was an evil Kakashi. He struck Sakura, knocking her to the ground. Tears that had risen, now fell freely.

"Sakura...you know this is what you want. You want to be hurt." He taunted her further, " You're not strong enough to be a ninja. Everyone always rescues you and you never have to fight anyone or anything. Give up. Go home. Kakashi's voice became darker and louder, no longer teasing. " I could give you want you want, you know, break you in so to speak."

At this Sakura's mind snapped. Screaming, she opened her eyes once and the darkness began to envelop her. She felt strong arms catch her before she hit the ground.

"Sakura."

She heard a voice call her name. Someone was worried and that someone sounded like Kakashi! It couldn't be Kakashi though, because he never worried about anyone and always had this laid back attitude. Nothing ever fazed him.

Once again her name was spoken. "Sakura. Answer me. Are you ok?"

Sakura stirred and moaned. "Kakashi?"

"Yo.. I'm here, Sakura. Are you ok?" Kakashi really needed an answer from her. He wasn't sure what she saw but apparently it scared the hell out of her judging by her reaction.

"Kakashi? Is that really you?" She sounded doubtful but after what she saw; she wanted to make sure reality was well... reality.

"Sakura, it's me. What's wrong? What did you see?" He had to know so he could try to understand the things she saw and help her with the trauma of it all. Kakashi looked up at the sky then back at her.

"Sakura, you can tell me, you know. What's bothering you. What did you experience under the sharingan?" He regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth.

She tensed up so visibly and started shaking. Sakura thought to herself ' How could he do that to me? I never thought he would or that he could. He didn't even have to use that to win the spar, so what the hell was going on?' The more Sakura pondered on it, the angrier she got. Kakashi must have noticed and started speaking to her to try and calm her.

"Are you upset?" Needless to say, that was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. Kakashi hadn't stopped to consider that Sakura was known for having an explosive temper, and after training with Tsunade, well that made it ten times worse.

"Am I upset? Do I look upset? What's wrong with you?" Questions were being fired at Kakashi faster than if she'd thrown a handful of shurikens.

"Why?"

Sakura was really steaming now. ' Why? Why the hell did he think? Were men just extremely mentally limited when it came to women's feelings and intuition? That's it, I'm fixing to let him have it.' By now, Sakura was shedding a fresh batch of tears just running steadily down her cheeks.

"Kakashi, how could you do that to me? You didn't need the sharingan to win! What the hell's the matter with you?"

"Sakura, I just wanted to see if you'd been taught anything by Tsunade or Sasuke to counter the sharingan. But-

"But nothing. I honestly thought I was going to die and you didn't care! That's what hurt most." Sakura's eyes widened. ' I don't believe I just said that.'

Kakashi never showed any facial expression; his eyes seemed to widen in disbelief. "What?"

"Nothing... It's nothing. Just my after traumatic mind trying to catch up with the rest of me." She thought, ' I know he doesn't believe me not one word. I need to get out of here before I really incriminate myself.'

She stood up. " I've got to go, but just you know, Kakashi, you've broken something inside. Something very precious to me. My trust." Tears were falling even harder even though she tried to stop them.

"Something happened didn't it?" He questioned. "Something happened while I was using the sharingan, didn't it?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I can't talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. I want to be able to get over what you did today. You've hurt me worse than Sasuke or Naruto ever had. So why don't you take them out to ramen and brag about it. Maybe the three of you could compare notes!"

With that, Sakura jumped up and took off running towards the village.

Kakashi was up and running as well. "Sakura, wait! Let's talk about this." He was mentally crossing his fingers that she stopped. He got part of his wish.

She stopped and slightly turned her head, tears still in her eyes. "What's there to talk about? It really doesn't matter, though. I think for now we shouldn't train together and just do our own thing."

Kakashi was stunned. He didn't realized she'd been hurt that bad, especially mentally. Bad thing with the sharingan, the trauma could take awhile to recover from and you never knew when more might surface. His heart was sinking, feeling like he was the lowest creature on the planet.

"Kakashi, if you have any respect or feelings for me whatsoever, please don't follow me. I need to think and rest. Trouble is I can't do either with you around." Sakura took off running once again, hurriedly trying to get home. She had so much to mull over and she even wondered,' Can I forgive him for what he's done? I NEVER, EVER thought for one moment he'd do that to me.

Kakashi watched her small figure become even smaller with the increasing distance between them.'Damn it. How am I going to fix this?' He knew when, not if, but when her two teammates got ahold of today's event, he would really catch hell. Hopefully, Sakura would get over this in the next couple of days, if not, he didn't know what he'd do. He loved to train with her. Really he loved to train her. Help her to get better and stronger even more so with her training to be a medic-nin. That was another contention...Tsundade.. shit! She'd pound him into dust literally!

Looking up at the sky with it's beautiful hues, Kakashi prayed that Sakura would come to her senses. They really needed to air everything out. Something happened and he fully intended to get to the bottom of things no matter what! Regarding the object of his thoughts, he followed a few moments later, in the direction of their beloved Konoha. He had to head home and get some rest. Maybe tomorrow would see a better day and the beginnings of a healing friendship between him and Sakura.

'Who knows. Maybe tomorrow.' That being his final thought when he reached the village gates.

A/N: Another chapter done... sorry if it's still not long enough but I had people really wanting an update. Practically beggin for an update... :)

For Apherion, SweetAssassin & Infinite's girl; this chap was for you guys. I hope it's somewhat up to par. Now, if you want more... than R/R...

P.S. Apherion, I think I'm turning into a review whore... ;) luv ya!