Please remember that this story is NOT cannon-compliant.

Chapter Nine

Sakura's lids snapped open and her eyes darted around the darkened room. In every shadow stretching across the floor loomed - in her mind's eye - an enemy.

Her frantic search jerked to a halt when she met a pair of glowing red orbs.

All she could smell or taste was bitter, coppery blood. Blood - why was there so much blood? Blood belonged inside her, didn't it? Not splattered and speckled and puddled on the ground. The pain, the pain, — no - the utter agony. Oh how she wished it would stop! Stop, stop, stop, for the love of Kami, someone make it stop, please! PLEASE!

Pulse pounded in her ears and bile rising in her throat, Sakura scrambled for a weapon - the smooth slide of sheets against her bare legs a mocking whisper of her current state of disarmament.

Something pointy, something sharp, something pointy, something sharp-

Fuck that. Inner snarled. WE'RE the weapon, bitch. Wring their fucking necks!

"Dammit Sakura!" A pair of pale hands darted out and restrained her.

Hands. Twenty-seven bones in the human hand; fifty-four in a pair. So many tiny, fragile bones… so easy to break… crush the hands first and then go for the eyeballs - nice and soft and squishy and very effortless to burst. Maybe then the cervical spine? Quick twist - snap, crackle, pop. Threat eliminated.

"Calm the fuck down! It's just me!"

She vaguely recognized gruff, irritated voice and she raised her gaze from his hands. Breathing harshly, her eyes finally adjusted to dim lighting - the demons lurking in the shadows faded. Blinking heavily and trying to tune out Inner's purred encouragements at the prospect of killing a man with nothing but her bare hands, she slowly recognized the person eyeing her suspiciously.

"S-sasuke…?" She panted, sweat trickling down the nape of her neck.

"Obviously." He rolled his eyes, scowl twisting his features.

Well shit, that's definitely the cocky Uchiha we all know and love. Or rather despise, if I do say so myself. Inner sneered.

Shaking her head to clear the lingering fuzziness, Sakura tried to gather her bearings. She was sitting on a futon in the team's shared room, blankets pooled in her lap, and a large navy shirt - likely one of Kakashi's - dwarfing her otherwise naked body.

"I- I'm sorry… I just…" Sakura shook her head sharply again to try and clear the cobwebs that were muddling her thoughts. "The Sharingan - I've only ever seen Kakashi-sensei's - And he's only got one, ya'know? — and that's new, I mean for you. Right? Never seen you use it - I just really wasn't expecting to - Does that make sense? Yes? No, fucking Kami-sama, I'm not making any sense." She laughed sharply and reached up to cradle her aching temple.

The prick of stitches against her fingertips sent a jolt through her. Sakura tentatively traced the line down to the edge of her jaw and felt the longer, larger echo that inched and burned down the length of her back and leg.

Sasuke flinched at the mention of his kekkei-genkai and his eyes quickly faded back to onyx. "It manifested when Naruto and I fought Zabuza's apprentice- accomplice- whatever the hell he was. It's still… unpredictable."

Releasing his hold on her hands - now apparently convinced she was conscious enough not to try and attack him, he settled back into his position at her side. "What woke you?"

A brief nightmare-image of sharp teeth and beady eyes flashed through her's mind. She swallowed down her rising nausea and let her hand drop from her face to tightly fist the blanket in her lap.

He's dead. Dead, dead, definitely dead. People just don't live without their heads fully attached to their bodies.

"I don't know." The lie tasted sour, cowardly.

Her gaze flicked over to the window where light was weakly filtering through blinds. "How long was I out?"

Sasuke cocked his head. "A couple of hours? I think it's just past noon."

"Where's Naruto? And Kakashi-sensei? Are you guys okay?"

He frowned deeply, dark brows furrowed. "Naruto's keeping Inari occupied. Kakashi's in the shower. You're the one that got sliced. We're fine - cuts and bruises mostly. Nothing that won't heal in a few days."

Me thinks the princess doth protest too much.

She hummed in agreement and raised a slim pink brow at Sasuke's clearly prepared response.

Scowling at her expression, Sasuke turned his head away, the muscles in his jaw twitching. Dark purple bags under his eyes stood out harshly against his ghostly complexion and the acidic smell of smoke permeated the room.

"We're as fine as can be expected." He unwillingly admitted.

"Kakashi's avoiding everyone as much as he possibly can. Naruto can't stand to be idle for a moment, rushing from task to task - trying to postpone the inevitable breakdown I'm sure. And I- I can't get the smell out of my head…

I remember being so anxious and proud to learn the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - it's required of all Uchiha before they can be officially recognized as part of the clan… Itachi-nii mastered it age five and I didn't want to disappoint my family, even though it was Otou-san who refused to teach me until I was seven… It was amazing, I've never felt more gratified than when I finally grasped the technique and that ball of flames blew from out from between my lips…

But I never thought I'd be using it on corpses."

There was a moment of silence where Sakura just blankly stared at his hunched shoulders and processed his unexpected, rabbling confession.

Hmmm… I can see why the elder brother is considered the genius. What a fucking idiot. Inner snipped.

Sakura's eye twitched and her lip curled. "Sasuke. Have you ever considered what would happen if you actually hit someone with one of those oh-so-impressive fireballs? 'Cuz that seems like a pretty good way to end up with a fragrant, crispy carcass to me." Her words were jagged and dripping with false sweetness.

Sasuke's teeth clinked together, eyes narrowing, and expression frosting over at her tone. "What the hell are you implying?"

Her blood absolutely boiled. The pompous, self-centered, egotistical, Uchiha idiot!

"That you shouldn't use a technique if you haven't stopped to consider its consequences!" She snarled, having finally reached her limit with his seemingly-deliberate ignorance. "We're shinobi, damn it! At least half of the shit we learn is to kill or maim! It's an even bigger fucking pity that I have to spell that out for you! I can almost guarantee that your A-rank shinobi of a 'nii-san' has roasted his fair share people, both dead and alive! If you have such an issue with the smell of burning flesh, I suggest you find a different fucking occupation 'cuz you're sure as fuck not going to make it very far with that goddamn attitude!"

Sasuke jerked back as if physically struck.

He hissed out a low breath and was no doubt about to issue scathing retort, but soft sound of padding feet on wood had them whipping their heads toward the doorway where Kakashi appeared.

"Ah. I thought I heard my cute little students' voices. Glad to see you up Sakura-chan." Kakashi's eye crinkled as he rubbed a towel over his damp silver hair. "Shower's free, Sasuke. When you're done, go ahead and help Naruto and Tsunami in the kitchen. Sakura and I will try to be in shortly."

"Fine." Sasuke spat, casting a parting glare at her over his shoulder as he rose. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he brushed past the tall jonin.

Kakashi just sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"Alrighty, Sakura-chan. Let's try and get you up and dressed, shall we?"

She blanched at the painfully-sound suggestion, her earlier burning fury instantly squelched.

Nope, nope, I think we're perfectly happy here on the floor, thanks, but no thanks. Inner shook her head frantically.

Kakashi paid no mind to her panicked expression and hummed a short tune as he crouched behind her to slip his arms under hers.

"On the count of three, I'm going to lift up. I'll support your weight, so just focus on getting your feet under you."

"Kakashi-sensei, are you sure-" She tried to protest.

"Now, now, Sakura-chan. You can't scold Sasuke for not confronting the realities of shinobi life and then not be prepared to face your own." Kakashi said, voice low and biting.

She flinched. Fucking hell. "Yes, sensei."

"Good. Now, on three. One. Two. Three."

Grinding her teeth harshly as he lifted, Sakura pushed through the renewed pain lighting her nerves on fire and concentrated on straightening her legs and planting them firmly beneath her.

"There now. Told you you could do it." Kakashi's mask wrinkled with a smile as he circled her trembling form.

Sakura was panting heavily and glaring daggers through the pink strands that had fallen over her eyes. "Oh, yes, lets please ignore the fact that my legs are shaking like a fucking newborn dear's and that I'm likely incapable of taking a single fucking step."

"Language, Sakura-chan." He corrected calmly, squatting to dig through his bag.

"That cut extends from your temple to your jaw and then from your shoulder to just above your knee. You were leaning forward and moving away when the blow hit you and Zabuza swung his sword in a vertical arch, which means that the injury to your face, shoulder, and leg is relatively shallow, only maybe a centimeter on your top half and three centimeters on the lower. Which is fortunate because your shoulder blade, ribs, and jaw bone were only grazed and not cleaved in half. He also wasn't able to hit any major organs or arteries."

Kakashi paused his explanation to turn back to her with a small jar and several rolls of fresh bandaging in one hand and a kunai twilling in the other.

"You shoulder muscles are frayed, but largely intact. However…your backside curves out a bit further, so the injury is much deeper there, probably closer to ten to twelve centimeters. In addition, the gluteus muscles don't run up and down like your hamstring, so they were total severed. Your shoulder and upper leg will recover relatively quickly and wouldn't keep you down for very long."

Her mind whirled through the basic anatomy she knew, hearing the silent 'but' hanging on the end of his sentence. "…but if the majority of my glutes were sliced, I probably won't be able raise my leg. Walking will be… difficult, at best."

Damn it all to hell. That was listed as incapacitation method number seventy-three on the scroll Genma-senpai gave me. Sakura thought, scowling at bitter irony.

Humming an affirmative, Kakashi gestured for her to raise her arms so he could remove his t-shirt dwarfing her small body, which she did begrudgingly, resigned to the fact that her sensei had already seen her naked.

He quickly pulled the shirt off and then kneeled to begin cutting away her saturated bandaging.

I'm pleasantly surprised he hasn't been a pervert about all this. Inner mused. Not that we have anything worth ogling.

Sakura mentally groaned and rolled her eyes. He's our fucking sensei for Kami-sama's sake. Kakashi's at least twenty-five, which means he's at minimum thirteen years our senior. He might be a perv but he's not a fucking degenerate.

"If we were back in Konoha," he continued, oblivious to her mental conversation. "- or any other major city for that matter - it wouldn't be a big deal. We'd just drag you to the local hospital and the medic-nin on staff would put you back together in no time. Sadly for us, the local doctor was run off by Gato - not that he'd be likely have the skill to heal this this kind of damage if he was posted this far out in the boonies. Getting any closer to Kiri would be unwise. We have a treaty with them, but the Mist is notoriously well know for viciously hating all foreign shinobi - even if we managed to make it to the actual city, they sure as hell wouldn't hesitate to slam the gate doors in our faces."

Setting the tangle of soiled bandaging to the side, Kakashi scooped a generous amount of green, herbal smelling goo from the jar and started smearing it up the back of her leg.

She twitched and hissed at the sting of the salve settling in.

"Stay still, Sakura-chan. It's a necessary evil to prevent infection." He chided. "The bleeding has stopped for now, but we'll have to wait until we get back home before you can be evaluated by a qualified med-nin for the muscle repair. I'll give you some exercises to keep your incision and any scar tissue supple so you'll be able to recover faster."

A scalding blush bloomed across Sakura's checks and she involuntarily squeaked as his hand travelled higher and applied another glob of the vile sludge over her backside.

Kami-sama, this is mortifying!

You're being fucking ridiculous! Get ahold of yourself! We've already established the old geezer has zero fucking interest in your ass!

I know, I know. It's not like the academy didn't warn us that modesty wasn't something shinobi bothered with, but I didn't exactly expect to be standing bare-assed in front of my sensei five weeks after graduation! She mentally hissed back.

You wanted to be a shinobi, dammit, so fucking deal.

"Sorry. It's been a long time since I had to get used to being in various states of undress around my teammates. Doesn't phase me now, but this can't exactly be the most comfortable thing for you."

"Do you keep the mask on? Around your teammates, I mean. And the medics." Sakura asked curiously, hoping to take her mind off his fingers traveling up her back and the sting of the salve.

"Often, yes." He shrugged. "Jonin don't regularly have the same teammates on missions, if they have any at all. There's only a handful of people who've seen me without it and I'd like to keep it that way."

She hummed, already well aware that if she inquired as to his ridiculous attachment to the black scrap of fabric he'd just give another false justification like he'd done every time one of the genin asked.

Sakura's nose wrinkled in distaste as the thick, sticky salve was applied down the side of her face, the strong, earthy smell burning her sinuses.

Gross.

Once finished, Kakashi efficiently wrapped her back up and helped her into one of her tank tops and a loose pair of sweats.

Sakura cautiously tested her shoulder and rotated her arm in slow, increasingly large circles. The stitches pulled down the length of her back and she grimaced at the stabbing pain the movements generated, but Kakashi was true to his word and she found the joint had minimal loss of range of motion and she suspected it would only take a week or so for the majority of it to heal.

Her sensei's quiet cough pulled her attention back to him.

"Before we go meet up with the boys, I think we should take a few minutes to discuss the events on the bridge." Kakashi said.

Sakura's back stiffened at his words and she focused her gaze on the small sliver of bare cheekbone just above his mask, unable to meet his eye.

Aw, shit. Here we go.

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall. "First - I'll start by saying that I'm proud of all three of you for the way you handled the situation. But I'm sure you're familiar with the protocol."

"Yes, sensei." She replied thickly, her mouth suddenly dry. "A field assessment is necessary after any student's first kill. It's performed by the team lead within twelve hours of the incident, unless extenuating circumstances make meeting such deadline impossible."

"Correct." He nodded. "I had hoped we wouldn't be having this conversation so soon… But you've proved far more competent than expected. By my count, you managed to not only make your first kill but your first four."

Senbon-to-the-eyeballs must have kicked the can.

Her fingers twitched and she clasped her hands together to still them. "Yes, sensei." Sakura said quietly.

"Sasuke managed one and Naruto two… how does that make you feel - outpacing your teammates? Do you regret your actions? Reconsidering your choices?"

Her eyes snapped up to meet his lone gray eye - dark, cold, and observing her closely. Not the evaluating gaze of sensei, a teacher and mentor, but the unrelenting, critical stare of a team commander, a jonin superior, and an accomplished comrade in arms watching for any cracks that would shatter and make her unfit for Konoha's forces.

"No." Her voice was sharp and her shoulders squared firmly. "I have no regrets. The people I killed were in direct opposition of our mission to protect Tazuna-san and ensure the completion of the bridge. Either I was going to kill them or they me."

Kakashi raised a dark brow. "Hmm… And have you taken into consideration the consequences of an rookie genin bringing back the head of an S-rank missing-nin? Particularly one belonging to the Demon of the Hidden Mist."

There's still a head? She thought, momentarily distracted and horrified.

He wouldn't have let pussy-Uchiha to burn it. Gotta have some kind of evidence for the mission desk before they hand over the blood money.

Sakura's stomach twisted, but she raised her chin defiantly in response to her sensei's provocation. "I did not seek Momochi Zabuza out. I returned an opponent's attack with equal lethality, as I did with others. W-Whether that will set certain… expectations of me is beyond my control… I am a kunoichi of Konoha first and foremost; the mission will always come before any personal consequences."

Kakashi's arms tightened across his chest and his eye narrowed.

For a second she thought he was angry with her response, but why would he be?

After a tense moment he just sighed heavily and scrubbed his hands through his already unruly hair.

"Given that Zabuza was being restrained by the ninken and my position as your genin-sensei, I will be listed as an assist for the kill. Because of the S-rank, you'll have a separate evaluation when we get back to the village."

He eyed her tiredly.

"I will request that it not be posted on the HQ notice board as normally done for bounty collections. But that will only postpone the information getting out until the next Bingo Book update at on October 1st. They listed the recently deceased in the back."

Sakura's blood ran cold. Even with Kakashi listed as an assist, it'll be my name front and center on that bounty collection. Oh Kami-sama, all of the jonin and chunin will get a copy of that damnable book.

Great, then we have a little over four weeks before everyone starts assuming we're capable of taking on bat-shit crazy swordsmen.

"I understand, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you." She replied numbly.

We're so fucking screwed.

His mask wrinkled with a smile and his eye creased into a familiar crinkle. "No problem, Sakura-chan. Now why don't we go grab some grub, hmn? I'm sure the boys are comping at the bit for us to join them."

Sakura nearly stubbled at the sudden flip from cold, intimidating, serious jonin to the warm, lazy, easygoing sensei.

Alrighty then. Welcome back, .

Inner nodded sagely. Fucking crazy bastard.

. _ . _ . _ .

After hobbling awkwardly - and painfully - to the kitchen table with Kakashi's assistance, Sakura spent the majority of lunch avoiding the visual kunai Sasuke was throwing her way and bushing off everyone else's concerned questions.

Yes, she would live. No, she wasn't going to have her leg amputated. Yes, the stitches itched like a bitch. No, she was not aware that she looked like a zombie, she hadn't exactly had the opportunity to look in a mirror, but thank you for that kind commentary Naruto.

"I bet you're gonna have a badass scar!" Inari yelled, leaping up to stand on his chair and throw an excited punch into the air. "No one messes with a ninja with badass scars!"

"Inari! Get down from there! And watch your language!" Tsunami scolded, exasperated.

Sakura froze, chopsticks halfway to her mouth.

"I have to pee." She said suddenly, pushing away from the table.

"Oh, I'll help you Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "Uh… not with the peeing thing… but I can help you to the bathroom." He laughed sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head.

She only nodded and let him ease an arm around her waist so they could shuffle down the short hallway, their sensei's gaze burning into her back the whole way.

. _ . _ . _ .

She looked horrible.

Hands shaking and lips trembling, Sakura ran her eyes over the ghastly reflection staring back at her in the mirror.

The first thing that she noted were the sutures - dark, thin strands crawling up her face like tiny little spiders. They stood out against the green-gray of Kakashi's dried poultice and emphasized the pale, sallowness of her skin. But while they had a structured, medical look to them that she could have stomached, it was the raw ugliness of the bruises that made her catch her breath.

Spanning the majority of her face and neck - a dark purple encircling her eye and the right side of her nose and stretching from hairline down to just above her collarbone. When she tentatively reached up to touch her check, Sakura flinched at the deep ache.

All in all, Naruto's comparison of her to the walking dead wasn't far off.

A sudden flare of nausea had her gagging and rushing to the toilet to empty the contents of her stomach. Tears burned her eyes at the force of the heaving and silent tears slipped down her face, dipping onto quivering forearms.

Kami-sama, I'm pathetic. Sakura thought miserably, resting her throbbing head against the cold porcelain.

Come on Haruno, get your ass back up. It's just a face. It'll heal. Inari's right, we'd look fucking badass with a scar. The motherfucker who did this is rotting in hell and we're not gonna give him the satisfaction of breaking us down.

. _ . _ . _ .

Six days.

Sakura had been stuck in this motherfucking house for six days.

Thump, thump, thump. Three senbon hit their marks, piercing the anatomy scroll she had taped to the wall.

Heart. Lung. Jugular. All lethal, particularly in combination.

Thump. Liver. Extremely painful, but unlikely to be deadly with prompt medical attention.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Bilateral wrist and elbow. Enemy unable to wield weapons.

Hmmm… I don't know about that last one. The boys have been known run around with a kunai in their teeth before. Doubt their dentist thanks them.

THUMP. A frustrated throw had the last three senbon buried halfway up their lengths, clustered in a tight triangle between the drawing's eyes.

Skull impact. Frontal lobe. Requires chakra enhancement and multiple needles for success. Traditional kill shot.

"Sakura-chan, it's eight o'clock in the morning. You're setting Tsunami-san's teeth on edge and I'm afraid she's going to burn our breakfast. Let's try to limit the senbon throwing, hn?"

Huffing, she pushed herself up off the floor to hobble over and yank her weapons out of the wall.

"I don't suppose you have any other suggestions for keeping myself sane?" Sakura snipped, turning to regard her sensei.

He had yet to darn his flax jacket and the dark navy of his shirt was pulled taunt against the contours of his arms and chest. Kakashi was surprising well-built and lean without the bulky vest obscuring his physique.

But I can totally see why it's part of the uniform. Inner mused. Besides the handy storage capacity, it makes killers-for-hire look a bit less threatening. Good for public relations.

"I assume you've memorized Genma's scrolls?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Completed your stretching? Strengthening exercises?"

"Yes and yes." She rolled her eyes. "Even did them twice."

"Hmm…" Kakashi's eye regarded her skeptically. "Well… if everything goes to plan, we'll be able to leave tomorrow morning. But since I can't have you wrecking our host's home on the last day of our stay, I suppose you can borrow this."

Sakura's eyes lit up and she was quick to snatch the Bingo Book from his hand, running her fingers reverently over the worn spine. But she hesitated, eyes squinting up at him. "You're not going to lecture me?"

"Nope." He shrugged. "You're bounty collection habit seems to be limited to luck for now, so I see little point. Have fun. The boys and I will be back by dusk. Don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

She made a shooing motion with her hand, already intending to spend her day up in a tree, with the sun shining on her face and nose glued to the pages.

"Sure, sure. Thanks sensei. Have fun with the idiots."

That last comment earned her a chuckle, before Kakashi turned back to the kitchen and left her to re-familiarize herself with the little book.

. _ . _ . _ .

"No, absolutely not. I refuse." She crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Sakura-chan…" Kakashi sighed. "Either you get on or I'm going to summon Bull. You'll only risk further injury if you try to travel back to Konoha on your own."

Ew, no. The last thing we need is to stink like dog.

Just barely containing her frustration, Sakura cursed under her breath as she gave in and looped her arms around his neck.

"If I strangle you, it's your own damn fault." She grumbled.

"Man, I'm jealous Sakura-chan." Naruto whined as Kakashi passed off their packs to the boys. "My feet are going to be falling off by the time we set up camp."

"Weakling." Sasuke sneered at him.

"Enough. We haven't even left and you're already being annoying." Kakashi said sharply, gently wrapping his hands around her knees, careful of her injured leg. She cringed as the muscles and stitches pulled painfully, but was grateful that her position on her sensei's back impeded his view of her expression. He'd likely offer to hold her princess-style if he knew of her discomfort, but there was only so much her pride could take, so she kept silent.

Tsunami and Inari giggled at the team's squabbles.

"Thank you. All of you." Tazuna said, bowing deeply at the waist. "The bridge would never have been completed without your assistance."

The old man's gaze flicked up to her. "And I am truly sorry, Sakura-chan. You have my eternal gratitude for saving my life and my eternal guilt for the injury you received in the process. I will never be able repay that debt, but I will forward on the money for a completed A-rank mission for you and the rest of your team as soon as the funds become available."

"You have my thanks, Tazuna-san." She inclined her head, stomach twisting at the thought of taking his money but knowing it would be incredibly disrespectful to refuse the offer. "I hope that the bridge ensures that you, your family, and your village flourish."

A small smile flickered across his dark, wrinkled face. "May you have a safe journey home."

Total Word Count: 4,596

A thousand apologies, my dear readers! I can assure you that I still receive your reviews and they bring a smile to my face every time one pops up in my in-box! You are truly the force that drives me to keep writing! ^_^

Much love,

Mistress-Kakashi

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