Chapter 21

"The whole system has blacked out!"

Kakashi watches as the intellectuals around him buzz. The monitors show a dire situation—Sakura's been captured and she's choking to death right on in front of them. He slams his fist against the middle table, sending coffee and paperwork to his sandaled feet. "Then shut it down."

Really, how can things go from bad to worse so quickly.

"If we do that," His assistant says, adjusting her clipboard to her hip. "All of Konoha will power down. That one stray canon blast from Cybernetic-Language Bot 1 hit the sweet spot of the dome. Even our generators won't be able to withstand this outage—the hospitals will short-circuit and it will cause mass panic. They have to defeat their opponent…or… "

"Who created such a puny device?" Kakashi asks. It was supposed to be designed to withhold all types of ninja—even Bijuu! "You're telling me that, by chance, this dome's only weakness was hit from the very thing designed to work within it?"

She dips her head low and her heart-shaped buns bounce in return. "I'm sorry, sir. It needed to be tested further, but everyone was anxious to start."

"Their anxiety will kill my students." And my students will kill us all.

He hated the idea of this whole thing. Why did everything have to be big, and new, and shiny? Why did these Chunin have to fight…robots and cyborgs and all sorts of strange mecha's that they'd never use or see again? The village council hadn't had such a good track record in the past, (mainly because of Danzo's influence), so Kakashi had a sinking feeling from the start.

Being a ninja wasn't about flash and showmanship. In fact, that was the opposite of what their beliefs were!

In the end he was Hokage, and he had the final say in all matters. The blame could only be placed upon his shoulders. Kakashi had agreed to this new setup. It was a blatant show of their newly acquired funds—what with all of Konoha being rebuilt at the Uchiha's expense. With their excess money the elders saw to it that they would become the wealthiest of nations. This meant extravagance.

"The entire database has glitches." A man hollers. "The environment is still there…but the trees and grass and ponds, even Cybernetic Language Bot 1—they're all completely invisible."

"Separate Sakura from it." Kakashi barks. As their fingers fly on the keys around them, more bad news spreads.

"We can't. Everything is askew."

The Hokage growls, letting the rumble roll deep within his throat. "Which means?"

This time, the man doesn't need to explain. On the high definition display, Sasuke runs towards them with his chidori sparking. He's stopped by nothing, as though an object battled against him.

The fact that Sasuke could use his old move more than once made something pop into the Rokudaime's head. "I thought we couldn't remove their chakra bands?"

"We can't. He's…he's breaking through them, Lord Hokage."

Sasuke never ceased to amaze his old teacher. In the direst of situations, the boy had always come through. "So what are we supposed to do? Watch this play out and twiddle our fingers?"

When no one answers, Kakashi lets out a defeated sigh. "Get Shizune…I have a feeling this will not end well."

The false scent of the world he'd been forced into for the past four days wafted away almost immediately. He should have noticed the smell of the people bombarding them—camera crews who had witnessed the scene play out helplessly, the sterile aroma of the nurse that ran up towards them—but Sakura's blood filled his nostrils and it was the only thing that mattered. He dropped to his knees, keeping her tight within his hold.

"I'm fine, really. We did it!" Her hand clasps his shoulder as she steadies herself. That last rush of chakra sent her reeling. She wouldn't able to properly stand for much longer.

Sasuke hated that she was struggling so much. He'd made it to her just the blankness of their landscape fragmented back into reality. The second everything imploded around them, they were surrounded.

The crowd is getting too close. Sakura's head lolls and Sasuke barely manages to capture her before she flops to the ground. People shove cameras in his face, bombard him with questions that don't matter. Can't they see she's hurt? Do they even care?

He searched the horde for someone he knew, someone that would help. A woman walks up, extending her hand. Sasuke jerks Sakura away.

"Sasuke, it's alright. I'm a friend."

A friend? His chakra shifts menacingly, and thankfully, the group of reporters and random extras scramble backwards. "Fuck off,"

Her soft face turns angry in seconds. Shizune points an accusational finger right into the Uchiha's face. She's not scared in the least. "If you don't give me Sakura she could get very ill! We need to get her to the hospital!"

When she tries to take the girl forcefully, Sasuke unsheathes his sword in seconds and lays the blade on her neck. Everyone around them gasps, deciding to either freeze in place or run to safety. He would kill her if she touched Sakura again. He didn't know her.

"Sasuke?" This voice is familiar. In his traditional cloak and hat, Kakashi walks through the parting group and holds up his hands in submission. Submission—the Hokage—to Sasuke Uchiha. "This is Shizune, she's Sakura's friend. Hand her to me, we need to get her checked out."

But Sasuke is still reluctant to pass her off. Where the hell was Kakashi when that robot squeezed the life out of her? Kakashi had made such a big show of modifying everything in the arena. Did he think Sakura's life could be pawned? Did Kakashi have some sort of agenda against her?

"We could have been killed." He snaps, wrapping his arm tighter around Sakura's waist. Her knees buckle. She's already passed out. "You're the last person I'll hand her to."

"I can explain everything to you." He begins. "But we have to get Sakura—"

Over the mobs murmurs, Sasuke hears Ino Yamanaka's voice. She's calling out to them, and Sasuke doesn't care who he shoves into or sidesteps to get to her. He knows that Ino and Sakura are friends—and Ino could help him.

She'd stepped in to save Sakura in The Forest of Death. Ino was good.

"S-Sasuke what…?" Her voice trails off as he thrusts Sakura forwards, into her arms.

"Fix her," Sasuke demands so rapidly that she almost can't understand. The whole thing is weird—she's never seen such a look on the man's face. The dark-haired Uchiha was livid and impassioned all at once. Sakura's head bobs.

Ino and Choji had failed just as the second robot appeared. Choji had finished off the first taijutsu thing in a flash, but the genjutsu had been too strong for him and Ino had already projected her Mind Transfer Jutsu. They were both left vulnerable. She woke up only a few hours before with a big-ass migraine and a big-ass attitude.

The blonde had been at the hospital with Shizune, taking over Sakura's shifts, eating soggy noodles and complaining about how oblivious Sai was when an official summon led them straight to the battle arena.

"It's Sakura and Sasuke." Shizune had said.

So, with her big-eyed, too-thin friend safely curled into her grip, Ino obeyed. "S-Sure, I can fix her, no problem."

Shizune comes up from behind with a stretcher and together they heave the girl onto the tarp. "I'll check her vitals, let's take her to the emergency unit after." Her teacher says, barking out orders as she looks over the pale girl laid out on the ground.

Sasuke glares as the woman reaches out. He asked Ino to help—not them. Sakura's on the cold floor, her skin is bluish, her face is red and she needs a bed.

When he takes a step forwards he's stopped by Ino's hand. He lets his eyes snap towards her, not bothering to hold back the revulsion that radiated off of him. Don't touch me.

"S-S-Shizune is Tsunade's…um…underling…" Ino explains, stuttering over his words at his intense gaze. She's never been so nervous in her life. "We'll take good care of Sakura, I promise."

Kakashi comes up to them. He's not offended by the earlier back talk from his former student. The man points to Sasuke's shirt and speaks with authority. "You need to worry about yourself before you do anything else, Sasuke."

Sasuke whips his head around to glare at the Rokudaime. "You need to worry about yourself, too."

Such a ballsy threat. Kakashi knew he meant every word of silver-haired man waves his hand around nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders and letting a sigh escape past his mask. "Yes, yes, you're going to kick my ass. I'll explain everything. But we need to get you to the hospital first."

"I don't need a hospital." Sasuke hadn't been injured. Sakura had protected him and she'd already healed his shredded arm. But when Kakashi points to the dark patch of blood on his black shirt, Sasuke wonders why he didn't notice it before. He pulls up his top and sees unmarred flesh. If the blood didn't belong to him—

"It's from Sakura." He says, remembering the wound on her stomach from the night before. He'd seen the patch on her towel. His eyes scanned her bare stomach but there was nothing there. Her skin was taught and bruised, but not bleeding.

Then where…?

He shrugs his shirt off completely, laying it over her bare abdomen out of respect. His hand brushes against the top of her shorts, and by chance Sasuke looks lower. He scans her leg wound. It's completely healed and bandaged properly.

Then he sees it. There, on her upper inner thigh is a pink smeared patch. His hand parts her leg and he stares at her middle. Her blood had seeped through her own black bottoms and transferred to his clothing. Had she been cut? He reaches to remove her bottoms but he hears Kakashi clear his throat.

He looks up to a blushing Ino, and Shizune moves his hand delicately, so as not to anger him. She squeezes it in a way that reminded him of his mother when she tried to get a point across. "That's nothing to worry about—we'll get her all fixed up. Okay?"

Sasuke didn't like this.

He had a hard time trusting people, especially himself. In all, Sasuke's almost killed Sakura a grand total of five times and that's something even hardened criminals couldn't brag about. Surly these medical ninja were safer for Sakura to be around than he was.

Sasuke lets them take her, watching as she disappears from the dome, and follows Kakashi. He had a lot of explaining to do.

It was raining. Humidity engulfed Sakura, making her hair stick to her forehead and her lips crack. She woke up slowly, recognizing the smell of her hospital and the threadbare sheets that were tucked around her. Oh, not this again.

"So, the beast finally arises."

Sakura turns her head towards Ino, who pops bubblegum and flips to the next page of her magazine. Her bangs are covering her eye and she licks her finger, dog-earring the photo she was looking at. "It took you long enough."

"What's going on…?" Sakura asks. Her voice is scratchy and she needs a glass of ice water. The sweating, clear plastic up next to her would have to do. It's lukewarm but wet enough to quench her throat.

"Well, you keep almost dying and it's kinda pissing everyone off."

Sakura nods, remembering the sudden blackout. "It's kinda pissing me off, too, pig. How's Sasuke?"

Ino shakes her head, letting her eyes downcast as she reaches for her friend's hand. The licks her lips before she speaks, as if her lie needed lubrication. "Oh, it's just awful. He's gone on a rampage, destroyed the entire village, poisoned our water supply and—"

Sakura tries sitting up, but the IV in her hand protests. She reaches out to smack her friend. "Shut up! This is serious!"

The woman cackles, throwing her long ponytail back over her shoulder. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'd be more worried about your period all over the front of his shirt."

A blush creeps over the bridge Sakura's nose and she hides her face in mortification. "I didn't…please tell me I didn't."

"Honey, honey, honeyhoneyhoneyhoney, you totally freaking did." She grabs the pink plastic cup and pours ice from her own drink in it, offering her best friend a piece of gum. "Take it, your breath reeks. You've got a lot of talking to do and I'd rather not pass out."

Sakura groans. Her whole body is stiff from being suffocated and there's a deep pain in the core of her womb where his bullet passed through. She'd been thoroughly beaten and her body told all. Her hand reached up to her throat, to the sore yellow-blue stains that littered the skin, and she rubs it sympathetically. Poor me… "And what exactly do I need to talk to you about?"

Ino pulls the sheet away from Sakura and disconnects the port of her IV. She's dressed in her scrubs, so she was either in the middle of a shift or she'd just gotten off of one.

"Let's go to my house."

Ino's home always smelled exotic. It was large and built for a massive family—she had all sorts of aunts and uncles and cousins that Sakura could never remember. They walk into the lobby and past the rows upon rows of photos and potted plants until Ino's messy, pigsty of a room appeared beyond the open door.

Although Ino was 20, she still lived at home. Traditionally a woman wasn't supposed to leave until she was married, and Ino had been on the lookout for a shotgun wedding with a handsome suiter. Mostly so she could have an entire house to herself, but also because weddings were such fun. "I have like, no room for my clothes. I've already filled the hall closet. This is really ridiculous!"

Sakura didn't understand why Ino had so many outfits anyways—she only wore purples and whites and the same style since they were kids. Sakura pushed aside a pile of unclean linen and plopped down, letting her aching joints ease into the lambskin chair. She would never let one of her patients leave the hospital in such a condition.

Ino didn't seem to care.

Ino Yamanaka was a medical ninja now, too. Sakura had trained her before the war, and Shizune had taken over with the basic on poisons and autopsies. The tall, curvaceous woman pulled out a heating pad and plugged it into the outlet closest to Sakura, laying the mat directly over her bellybutton. "I thought you were done having your period?"

During her fight with Sasori, Sakura had stepped in front of Lady Chiyo to block his sword. It's a move that she would not ever regret—but that didn't change the hurt of her forever empty womb. Once the uterus had been pierced, it was impossible to heal by medical standards, even if it was just the outer corner. Standard medical ninjutsu could not reverse time. "I thought so, too. It's been six months since I last "spotted", and now it's a full-blown—"

Ino waves her hand in the air. "I get it, I get it."

The blue-eyed woman looks at her slumped friend, who'd been through the ringer. Life had not been kind to her—or anyone else. Sakura had always been a sensitive soul, even as a child and the cruelties of the world chipped her heart. "He could still choose you, you know. You should have seen how he acted when all of those people gathered around you."

Sakura wasn't as childish as she looked. She might have daydreamed of impossible things every once in a while, but she couldn't even imagine this unobtainable fantasy.

Sakura had thought of having sex with Sasuke. Sometimes the touches and kisses were so real that she woke up feeling…gooey. She thought of fighting beside him, groaning underneath him, and even morbid things like dying by his blade.

In all of her foolish woolgathering's, Sakura had never dreamed of becoming the Uchiha matriarch. Pregnancy was a figment of her imagination. It would be hard enough to find a common man that wouldn't mind her unfruitful woman—much less the crown prince.

No…that's not right. Sasuke Uchiha was King to his clan. He was no prince—he was all that was left. That lowered the possibilities all the more.

"He has to restore his clan, someway. Even if he did chose me…I wouldn't have the heart to keep him from obtaining one of his goals. It would be so selfish of me."

Ino leans into her mattress, toeing off her socks and dragging down her skirt. She's only in a frilly pair of panties and a purple crop-top, showing off unmarred skin and well defined muscles. "Well, then don't marry him. Be his mistress. You could be my kid's rich aunt that spoils them and everyone would know but wouldn't say anything because you'd either smash them into the ground or Sasuke would like, throw a planet on top of their heads."

Sakura couldn't help the laugh that erupted. Her eyes glossed over, and her eyebrows dipped together, and suddenly it wasn't so funny anymore… Her chest hurt. She looks up at the ceiling, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it all. "It seems that life is running away from me. Naruto and Hinata are married; my friends are getting into serious relationships and talking about families, homes, forever's. I feel so left behind."

Ino props her head on her hand, offering her full attention.

"If I don't become a Jōnin, I won't be able to run my children's hospital. My short-term goal is to pass these Exams, and my long-term goal is to make Konoha a safe haven for those in need—the poor, the sick, the orphaned. But I…I want those sort of things too. I want to have a little house in the middle of town to come home to, that isn't empty and sad. I don't want to be a mistress."

"Can I ask you something?" her friend says, exhaling a slow sigh. "Why does it just have to be…him?"

"There isn't anyone else. I love him. That's it."

Sakura is quick to respond, and it makes Ino irritated. The blond didn't care for cliché's. They were adults now, they had seen death and delivered life into this world of hardships and misfortune. People rarely got what they want. Sakura's response is too easy—love was never so clear-cut.

"This is why people always see you as a child, you know that?" Ino can't help it. She's always been brutal, but honest. "You aren't going to get a fairytale ending. None of us are. If you want to open an orphanage, you take the steps you need to do that. Do you want a family? Find someone who can give it to you. Are you alone? Find someone that makes you feel better. Sasuke needs to love himself before he can ever love anyone else. I'm not sure he'll ever get there, girl, and I'm sorry. I can't stand seeing you shrink back into yourself like this."

Crying now, not even bothering to wipe the tears, Sakura looks towards her beautiful friend and steadies her voice. "What am I supposed to do? I saw his mind, Ino."

"His…his mind?"

"I heard his thoughts. When I finished off one of the droids, he…he projected something to me. I know that on a physical level, he's attracted to me. That makes me even more hopeful than ever before."

"You're attractive," Ino remarks offhandedly, never one to lead someone on. "Being attracted to someone doesn't mean that you'll ever entertain the thought."

Sakura opens her mouth to say more—to try and explain all of the little things that she saw passing between her and Sasuke. It felt…futile. It felt as though she really were reading into things that weren't there. Two adults, attracted to the opposite gender, constantly placed in intimate situations…couldn't anyone feel this way?

Standing suddenly, her friend seems full of determination. "If you ask me, you've got several different directions you can take this." Ino counts down the options with her fingers. "One, you can focus on moving on. Open your heart, try to accept some mindless flirting. Kiss someone for no reason, go back to their place, stop being so innocent and live a little."

Sakura visibly winced. "Two, if you know for a fact that Sasuke at least thought of you in that way once, expand on that. Seduce him. Give in to your heart's desire and stop feeling guilty for being human. Don't worry about the future. Don't worry about forever. You could just enjoy the time you're given now, and see where things lead you."

"Oh, yeah, right." Sakura rolls her eyes. "Seduce him, just like that." She snaps her fingers for emphasis. "You do realize I'm not…I don't have any business in that sort of thing. I have no idea where to even start! Am I supposed to put on a thong and drop a kunai in front of him? As if!"

Ino sends her attitude right back. "You wouldn't even know what to do with it, even if it got that far. And maybe that's why he's not willing to bite the bait. He still sees the squealing Sakura of our academy days. When you battle, you don't worry as much. You just run on instinct because you're seasoned. Sasuke might still see you as a young girl, and that's a huge turn-off for men. You just…have to prove to him that you're a woman. If you're serious, be serious. "

"I am serious! How do I do that?"

The blond bombshell across from her had always been blessed in the male department. She was the type to play the field—completely confident in her sexuality and never one to become bashful, (except in the presence of Sai). She knew how to attract others, how to use her sensuality. "Well, first off, you can't just wait around for your first kiss to be with Sasuke. Stop treating it like it's some sort of prize."

"So who should it be with?" the pinkette listened intently, making sense of the words her best friend spewed.

"Anyone, really…anyone you can stomach. Think of it as a mission. Learn your target, get into their head, play them like one of Kankuro's puppets. Hang out with Ten-Ten and I tonight. There's a party at the bar by Ichiraku's. "

Sakura wasn't sure about any of this. It didn't feel right—playing with another person's heart for her own personal gain…doing things she wasn't comfortable with just to get Sasuke to notice her as the adult she was. But what other choice did she have? The only reason Sasuke was so open with her (if open was what you could call it) was because they were practically forced to be.

It was the real world now, and Sakura didn't think she could go days without seeing Sasuke knowing he was only a stairs-climb away…knowing that he had craved her body and purposely snuffed out the flames all because she was an inexperienced and needy.

So, why couldn't she? Why couldn't Sakura go out and have fun, make love with someone that wouldn't care how strong she was, wouldn't care if she could have children, and wouldn't care if she left the next morning without looking back?

"Okay," She says, making sure her voice wasn't shaky. She refused to be afraid of this. Her whole revolved around Sasuke and Naruto—she would do anything for them. But, she wanted happiness too.

She deserved it.