Hello everyone, I'm back. I know, I'm horrible for not uploading for so long. I had a lot of stuff to deal with, but honestly I had time. The biggest problem was that I got stuck. I had an idea for where this story should go, but I wasn't sure anymore. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to change direction a bit. I can no longer guarantee that there will be no death and if needed I will change the rating. I'll try not to tho. Neji won't die! That stays. My darling will stay in this story till the very end hahaha. But for rest I can't say the same for sure because if something happens to someone, there won't be that anticipation and tension. Everyone will know that character will be okay in the end. And for me personally, that anticipation is what makes me read the story till the end. There are a lot of things I want to say, but I will stop after one more thing. Thank you so much for the reviews. That's the reason why I'm uploading this now. I will address the rest at the A/N at the end so please read it. Thank you so much guys. Now enjoy!

~x~

"Don't give me that look... please" Sakura sighed, trowing her head back and closing her eyes. Looking at her best friend again, Sakura almost winced at the look she was giving her. "Say something Ino."

She was getting nervous. Ino being silent with the shocked/stunned and somewhat hurt look wasn't good. Her childhood friend was never silent.

"Sakura... WHAT THE HECK? YOU ARE JOINING ANBU BUT DIDN'T TELL ME?" Ino pinched her nose to calm down when she saw Sakura wincing at her tone "And now Shikamaru is angry with you..."

Now it was Ino's turn to exhale in rather dramatic matter.

"Ino, you know I shouldn't tell you that. I didn't even take test yet and even when I do, I'm not supposed to tell."

"I know, I know. But everyone eventually finds out. Tsunade-sama knows that every jounin knows who is in Anbu even if that's supposed to be a secret. Heck, you even knew that Kakashi-sensei used to be a part of Anbu when you were genin"

"Yeah... I'm sorry for not telling you and for keeping you in the dark for so many things. You know none of it was intentional. There are just so many things going on, my mind is all over the place" Sakura put her head in her hands and squeezed her knuckles while her hair was in them and stared at the table.

They were currently at Ino's place. Few days have passed since Shikamaru found out about her possibly joining Anbu. Sakura tried to come up with a way to go and apologize but none of the ideas seemed right. She basically broke a few rules by telling Ino about it since she's not a part of her team and she's not a part of Anbu but Ino was right. Eventually everyone finds out. If nothing, Ino would have seen her tattoo when they went to hot springs.

Sakura hasn't seen Shikamaru anywhere and she didn't know if she was grateful for that or not. It was a good thing because she still doesn't know what she would do if she saw him. She would apologize of course, but she didn't know how she would do that. A simple 'I'm sorry for not telling you about Anbu, even if I should have but didn't want to burden you and for listening Neji even tho he knows you much better than I do and...'- wouldn't do. If she was going to apologize like that she should at least know how to end it. Shinkamaru might not even listen to her, and that's something that she couldn't handle right now. Or possibly ever. It's something that never fails to tear her apart. She couldn't handle her friends being angry with her. On the other hand, she misses him. She misses bumping into him in the Hokage Tower or finding him in front of hospital waiting for her.

A gentle hand that settled on hers broke Sakura from her thoughts. She looked up and to her surprise found a gently smiling Ino looking at her.

"Don't worry about that Forehead. I'm used to it. You always cover yourself with work and you have a very little free time. And I completely understand that. What you do is extremely important. Heck, if it weren't for you who knows how many times cemetery would have been visited by everyone. As for Shikamaru, I can see both of your sides. He cares for you and will always be concerned about you, as we all will. That's how it works with connections as deep as ours. I will admit it's uncharacteristic behavior for him to just disappear like that, but he is hurt. You remember when our late sensei died. This just shows how much he cares about you. And you said that even Tsunade-sama asked you if everything was okay because he isn't as efficient as he usually is.

Come on, we are talking about Shikamaru here. He is the definition of level-headed person who never let's emotions and personal issues affect his work. So as I said, this is deeply affecting him. I can see that you see your mistake from what you told me, and Shikamaru will come around once when he cools his head a bit. If he doesn't, I will throw him in an ice bath and make him stay there until he realizes that he is, in fact, overreacting."

"I don't know if I should feel about 'I'm used to it' part, but thank you Ino. I really don't want for him to be angry at me and I want to fix this as soon as possible but I don't know how." Sakura smiled sweetly at her best friend and rival. Despite how Ino can be at times, she always knows what to say and how to put her at ease. And Sakura will forever be grateful for it.

As Ino opened her mouth to say something, the door to her house opened and Sai walked in. Ino immediately jumped off of the chair and almost tackled her boyfriend when she jumped on him. He greeted her with the soft kiss on the lips and even softer smile and it warmed Sakura to see Ino that happy. Her friend deserved nothing less and if Sai didn't treat her as he did, there would be a lot of lengthy conversations which would possibly end up with a few broken bones, depending on the direction which those conversations took.

When Ino decided it was time to get off of her boyfriend, but not let his arm of course, Sai turned to Sakura.

"Ugly" he nodded his head " It's unusual to see you her."

"Hi Sai. Well we didn't have much time to catch up, so I thought why not visit Ino while she's off work"

"So it doesn't have anything to do with Shikamaru being all grumpy and actually working to avoid talking to anyone?"

At this, Sakura stilled. Ino smacked Sai's hand and he smiled at Sakura "Ah, I thought so"

After that, silence feel over them until Sakura got up and headed to hug her friend.

"Thanks Ino, I needed this. I'll be going now, I have a few things I want to do."

"You sure Forehed? You can stay if you'd like. You didn't even finish your tea" Ino hugged her back.

Sakura understand message behind her words. Ino wanted to know if Sakura was okay and if she wanted to hang around others a bit to get her mind off of things.

"Yes Pig, everything is fine. I'm working today and I want to go and get some herbs before my shift starts. And you know that the pharmacy is not that near when you're going from your house" They let go of eachother but Ino squeezed Sakura's hand.

"Whatever you say. But everyone know's that you'll be there at least an hour before your shift starts."

At this Sakura smiled sheepishly and bid her goodbye's to Sai before exiting Ino's house and heading for the pharmacy, feeling better and knowing that thighs will possibly end up okay in the end. And that is much better than what she felt when she got to Ino's place.

It was simple things that made Sakura happy, really. For example: going to pharmacy and finding out that herbs she was waiting for for weeks have arrived. Or kids greeting her on her way to hospital. Or work. Work made her feel extremely happy and fulfilled.

To many people it was quite strange. Why work? Isn't it nicer to relax somewhere rather than spend up to 16 hours (sometimes even more) rushing all over the place, occasionally listen to kids cry or people attacking you and demanding something be done abut the current situation that their loved one has found themselves in. That's something Sakura found really annoying and disrespectful as well. It's the same as attacking cashier for the prices at the store. Well something like that. But putting that aside, when she found herself cover with work all of her worries disappear. Mostly because they are pushed aside by others, but still. And there is nothing more rewarding than seeing people's smiling faces. In this world painted with dark colors of war, hurt and death, knowing that despite all that you made someone happy simply gives you hope. Sakura chuckled to herself slightly. Every time she's walking to her office at the hospital, thoughts like this enter her mind.

She froze mid-step on her journey and turned towards the room where all the poisons, potions and antidotes are held. That room is connected to the laboratory where all of the dangerous substances are as well. It was very secured part of the hospital. Arguably the most secure actually. Only Tsunade-sama, Shizune, Sakura and 2 more high positioned medics have an access to it. And something was wrong. There were traces of chakra signature that belonged to one of the medics that had an access to the room. She wasn't sensory type, but this was her floor. Her and Shizune's. It's only natural she would pick up on different chakra, even if it was a bug. And there was no need for anyone to be there. Since the room was at their floor, only Sakura and Shizune actually went in there. Slowly approaching, Sakura put her hand above the wall next to the door and let a bit of her chakra surge trough it. It was the only way to access the room. When Sakura pushed the door open and walked in, everything seemed normal.

That was until she saw a movement at the corner of her eye and quickly ducked under the fist coming her way. Dropping her files, she spun on her leg, trying to throw her opponent off balance. He jumped away, landing into fighting position. Sakura did the same, placing herself between the intruder and the door.

Choking sound caught her attention and that's when she saw it. Hakumi Tomuro, the medic who had access to the room, chocking on her own saliva and shaking furiously in the corner of the room. Wide eyed, Sakura looked her opponent, anger swelling inside of her.

"What have you done to her and what do you want. There is nowhere for you to go so I suggest you answer n o w!" Sakura growled at him.

"Me or her, choose."

Silence fell over them, until a few seconds later her opponent spoke up again.

"I can stand here all day or we could fight. But can you really fight in a cramped up space like this where if the wrong bottle is broken, we could all be dead in the matter of seconds. And I don't think she can wait that long." He crocked his head in the direction of the medic in the corner not breaking eye contact with Sakura. There was no mocking or triumph in his voice. It was calm and calculated.

He was right and she knew it. But she can't just let him go. Not when she doesn't have anything on him. He has that mask over his face that isa bit similar to Anbu, but not theirs. It doesn't belong to Anbu root either. Plain black with two slits for eyes and little holes where mouth is, enough for sound to go through and make what is said understandable, but impossible for voice to be recognized. On the other hand, the medic won't hold for long. It was obvious what she should do.

Sakura hissed. Damn it .

Not taking her eyes of of her opponent, she jumped next to the lying medic. The moment Sakura moved away from the door, he was gone. Sakura jumped to the wall opposite to her and put her hand on the wall, triggering alarm that alerted other medics in the hospital that something was wrong, as well as the Hokage and shinobi who were responsible for keeping hospital safe. This was new mechanism that was installed not too long ago. There are special places in the hospital where invisible seals were placed in case of emergency or for opening really secured doors. Emergency ones every medic had to know.

Immediately she started examining her comrade. It was as she though, a deadly poison which worked extremely fast, attacking organs directly. Jumping to her feet once again, she ran to the opposite side of the room and took little bottle from the middle row with blueish liquid in it. Returning to the medic's side, Sakura quickly made her drink it.

As soon as the last drop was drank, 5 Anbu shinobi appeared in the room alongside Kakashi.

Kakashi was next to her in less than a second when he saw her kneeling next to horribly looking medic.

"Sakura, what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Kakashi-sensei" Checked the pulse of the girl lying in front of her, she relaxed slightly when it ended up returning to normal. "There was a breach in security. Hakumi-chan was the intruders way in, but there was no way she would do it willingly. She is one that helped me out when Tsunade-sama had too much work to do. She's 10 years older than me, but she spends as much time as I do here. She was poisoned-" Sakura lost herself in thought for a moment, before she turned her head towards Kakashi "- it was fast acting poison that needs to be tended immediately but once cured, doesn't leave any problems behind. Poisoning her was to get me out of the way, without actually harming her. He-"

"- knew what he was doing" Kakashi finished for her, and she slowly nodded.

"He did indeed." Sakura looked back at the medic in front of her "This poison is really rear. It can't be found in many medical books. I have a really bad feeling about this, Kakasi-sensei."

So here you have it. It's maybe not anything special, but some real stuff is slowly building up.

Now the other things I wanted to say. First of all- big thanks to the Red Reaper88, Kayna96, MyFandoms7 and Sandy Spade for reviewing! If it weren't for you, I would have probably abandoned this story because I felt horrible for not uploading for so long and honestly, I felt like a failure. When I get like that I usually tend to drop whatever I'm doing. It sometimes happens with school, but of course it's something that I pick back up. Stuff like this, not so much. So knowing that someone is actually reading and wanting to read more when not obligated to do it (like for example when you ask your friend to read it so he does and gives you comments and thoughts because that's what friends do) makes me so happy. Like someone is actually taking time to read and leave review on something I did. Your reviews really mean a lot. Thank you sou much.

I also want to thank everyone who read and followed my story. It motivated me a lot as well because when I almost forget about story, I get an e-mail that someone saved or liked this story.

That's all for the moment. I really hope you like this little... lets call it introduction to what is to come and thank you all once again. I promise I will talk to you soon. Leave a review letting me know what you think and if you have any thoughts on what might be happening, tho it might be a bit early for that. And I'm curious, do you think Sakura and Shika will resolve what they have quite easily, they are both smart and selfless after all. Or will it be a bumpy road despite it all.

Kisses