Author: Amaya
Editor: Aiko
Characters/Pairings: [Shisui x Sakura]; Uchiha Itachi, Team Seven
Categories: Romance, Drama, Action
Rating: Mature [See Warnings Below]

Warning: This story contains strong language, depictions of violence and mature sexual content including, but not limited to: breath play, superior/subordinate kinks, rough body play, power kinks and so on. You have been warned.

Full Summary: As the most elite of the elite shinobi to ever grace the village, Anbu operatives were easily some of the most frightening and striking characters one could come across. The way they protected the village while cloaked in shadows, appearing like some God-appointed deities when they were needed most and forgoing honor in exchange for anonymity—was as seductive as one could get. But to Sakura, the real allure lied in the deceptive red smiles painted on their masks, and in figuring out who was behind them. ["Don't start things you can't finish, Haruno."]

Kamen

Chapter || Five

It was no secret that Morino Ibiki, also known as the Scar Faced Bobcat, was one of, if not the most ruthless and menacing men on the planet. There were a thousand words that could accurately describe Konoha's head interrogator, all off which being synonyms for "scary" and "sadistic" along with a few other choice names, and they were all true.

However, the word that came to Sakura's mind whenever she thought of the six-foot-three boulder of a man was "creative".

Creative, because he knew over a thousand ways to extract information from a man, and still found the time to discover new ways of doing so. He liked to experiment, combine methods, customize each individual interrogation session to fit each person. Anyone can beat a man to death, but that could only get one so far. Sure, a few good jabs to the face, a punch to the chest and a few broken fingers were tried and true methods for the average person, but a few too many of those and not even the best medic in the world could save them. Physical beatings were messy, unnecessarily draining and time consuming. And then there were psychological ninjutsu utilized by clans like the Yamanaka and Uchiha, but those carried a risk of their own.

Ibiki was creative because he liked to strap his targets into physically stressful positions and leave them alone for hours at a time, soaking wet, in a cell cold enough to freeze their clothes. He was creative because he would lace his victim's fingers in thumbscrews, then force a tube down their throat to fill their stomach with blended meats and soups even when they threw it back up. He would have the arches of the intended's feet beat raw with bamboo rods, while his assistant drowned them via waterboarding. Then Sakura or another medic would come in and heal them just the way Ibiki wanted, so they could do it all over again. Sometimes, he'd resume his session before the medic even finished healing. Other times, he'd wait a few days, "rewarding the guest" as he would call it, with good food and pleasantries. It all depended on the person he was torturing, really.

A shiver clawed at the length of Sakura's spinal column at the recollection of a few particularly nasty sessions she had seen, but she managed to suppress it before it reached the back of her neck and refocused her attention on the captive on the other side of the glass. The would-be Sharingan thief was bound in a way that he had no choice but to kneel on jagged pebbles, his arms drawn back and his head craned so far back that his skull touched his spine. His jumper was soaked, face hidden beneath a towel that clung to him like a second skin with just his eyes left exposed. They were screwed shut, whether in fear or exhaustion or pain she wasn't sure. Meanwhile, Ibiki sat atop the steel table at the center of the room, arms folded across his chest, looking as if he were just waiting on a friend rather than in the middle of an interrogation.

"Still not ready to talk, are you?" Ibiki hummed, eyeing the shinobi almost appraisingly. A mahogany eye cracked open, tiredly, then narrowed into a defiant glare. Ibiki tsk'ed and raised a single finger from it's place atop his bicep; his assistant dunked a pail into the large barrel hiding in front of Ibiki's hulking form, then moved to stand over the prisoner. Sakura worried at the tip of her thumb as she watched the assistant pour the water over the towel plastered to the stubborn shinobi's face. They had been at this for three hours now. Soon, she'd have to end this.

"Haruno-san."

She reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the inquisition to acknowledge the man standing beside her. The wolfish shinobi stood just out of arm's reach, dark cloak secured at the neck and hood drawn over his head despite being indoors, his tanto secured across his back, over his cloak. Almost as soon as she noticed him, Sakura returned to her observations in the interrogation room. "Okami-san," She greeted, quietly, politely.

The Anbu officer regarded her with a slight nod, facing her fully, indicating he was there for a very particular reason. "Hokage-sama would like an update on the situation regarding inmate A0768," He informed, gesturing towards the captive behind the glass with a subtle inclination of his head.

Her lips set in a hard line, brows drawing together. "Now?" The officer responded with a nod, drawing a grumbled curse from her mouth, and then she rapped her knuckles against the mirror in code before dropping her hands to her sides. Ibiki excused himself from the room, instructing the young assistant to continue with his ministrations, before slipping out into the hallway with the two of them. He didn't bother acknowledging the Anbu with much more than a fleeting glance, just stared expectantly at the rose haired medic. "Lady Tsunade is requesting me. I'll return as soon as I finish with her."

"I'll try to refrain from overdoing it until you return then."

Her smile was more of a gesture of acknowledgment than a pleasantry, and melted from her face the moment she turned to follow Wolf back down the hall. She brought her fingers to her temples to rub circles against them, mumbling her annoyances under her breath. "I'm going to pick up a few things from my office," Sakura announced, pushing her hair back behind her shoulder. "There's some books and scrolls I need to give to her and since I'm visiting her now, I might as well grab them, if you don't mind."

If the soldier was annoyed at all, he didn't let on. Instead, he remained silent with his head tilted back ever so slightly, as if pondering her request. Finally, he clicked his tongue. "Allow me to teleport you then," He intoned, his hand already reaching for her shoulder. She hummed her acquiesce and before she could finish blinking, her stomach undulated and then the darkness of the tight hallway receded with the glow of the early-afternoon sun as they appeared in her office. The shades were partially drawn, just as she had left them, so the natural lighting that perforated though them casted the room in warm gold tones bright enough to ignore the light switch across the room. Smiling in thanks, Sakura rounded the edge of her desk then bent down to procure a stack of books from beneath it. She placed the short tower on top of her desk, then began rummaging through the drawers.

His movements drew her eyes to him, tearing away only when she realized he merely came to rest against her desk. She shifted at the proximity, a hardly there warmth blooming beneath her navel, unsure whether or not it was appropriate to scold him for being so lax. Ultimately, she decided against it. She fished out a scroll then unraveled it to skim it's contents before replacing it in the drawer and searching again. She repeated the process a handful of times, leaving the ones she needed on top of the desk and straining to ignore the exceedingly subtle shift in the atmosphere. Every so often, her stare would wander away from her task to take in the man sitting beside her, stirred on by a strange feeling that nipped at the back of her neck.

She wasn't sure what it was about him that made her so nervous.

Then again, all Anbu made her nervous. This one just more so than others. Being Tsunade's apprentice, she's run into her fair share of Anbu over the years, but always in passing and never with one enough to recognize them with just a glance. Anbu were cycled often, squads alternating in duty and sometimes members, their masks usually only gracing her memory once or twice a year each, while newer recruits were a little more of a commodity in their first three probationary months. Yet, in just a little over a moth she had seen this particular officer four times, including now. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed he had taken a liking to her.

Metaphorically shaking her head, Sakura tried to brush off her sentiment. She blamed the thick suspense that wedged between them on that God forsaken meeting earlier that month—on Naruto and Sasuke and their drunken antics. She wasn't a puritan by any means and had it been any other person at her doorstep, she wouldn't have batted an eyelash at her state of undress, but he wasn't any other person. He was a figure of authority, and he had appeared at her door when she was vulnerable, in the clutches of heat. At the time, she had been reading another chapter out of the fourth book in Jiraiya's series, so invested in the drama that was stirring between the fictional characters that her body reacted without her meaning to. She distinctly remembered laying in her bed, sheets bundled up along the edge of the mattress and her fingers caressing her flushed skin with lusty excitement when he arrived, scented with the forest and musk and blood, and that was all far more tantalizing than it should have been. So of course she would associate his presence with that memory—it all made sense.

But there was something else between them. Something dark and heavy and exciting. Something that may have been attraction.

There was another thing about this Anbu in particular that set her on edge. He wasn't rigid like all the others tried to be. On the surface he remained just as straight-laced, just as stoic, but there was a drop of personality in him that he didn't seem too concerned with concealing. Like now, he leant against her desk, casually. And when he had met her before her first session with their current inmate, he looked so indifferent, it contrasted with the stark white uniform. It almost felt like he was challenging her authority—and strangely, she sort of enjoyed that.

Upon finding the scrolls she needed and setting them on the desk with the books, Sakura quickly ambled over to the bookshelf along the wall, hoping the distance between her and the Anbu would settle the mood. She ran her slim fingers over the spine of each book, pausing only to remove whatever titles she was looking for. When she made to return to her desk, Okami was watching her from the slope of his mask's nose. The cords in his neck shifted, indicating movement in his jaw—a grin, a smirk, or maybe he drew his tongue against his lips. She struggled to avoid touching him as she gathered the books beside him.

"You can carry these," She decided, handing the stack to her escort and pleased that her timbre remained even, then went to fetch a thin folder from a different drawer.

Shifting the books in hand, the Anbu let out a grunt. "I find it more than a little interesting that you have the strength to shatter the trunk of a fifty foot redwood, but need me to carry your books." The harshness of his tone had fallen away with his inquiry, the notes of his voice a little more playful, a little more human.

Sakura looked back at the corps officer with a tilted head and a quirked lip despite the beating in her chest. "These books haven't done anything to piss me off," She lightly returned, more than a little amused by his casualness.

"Ah, I've seen what happens when you're angry," He husked, slowly, lowly. Oddly, Sakura just knew he was grinning even if she couldn't see it.

Sakura wet her lips, clamping down on a shiver his carefully heady tone nearly evoked. She brushed her fingers against her cheek to disguise the action of her looking away. "And yet you always seem to be around when I am."

"I'm not one to mind a good show."

She attempted to ignore the implication of his statement, tried to tell herself that her perverse imagination was running wild again, because there certainly wasn't a second meaning beneath his words. But she would be lying if she said part of her wasn't pleased with the idea of such attention. Flicking her hair over her shoulder and unsure of how to respond, Sakura scooped the scrolls into her arms. Okami didn't offer any other commentary, which actually disappointed her somewhat; he merely set his hand on her shoulder, and when Sakura blinked, she was standing in front of the door to her Shishou's office.

Kamen

It wasn't often that all the members of Team Seven got to spend time together.

Normally, at least two members (usually Kakashi and Yamato) were off on a mission. Sakura worked at the hospital while Sasuke took on training shifts at the Police Headquarters, and Naruto shadowed Iruka and Obito at the academy, and Sai did whatever it was that he did. They all tried to make time for one another to the best of the capabilities, but to have them all together in one place was rare. So when Sakura stepped out of the Torture and Interrogations Unit to find Naruto and Sasuke waiting outside, in the middle of yet another argument with Sai standing between them, smiling in that way of his, she couldn't help but stiffen, then smile.

She stiffened because she knew that the first thing they would be off to do was spar. Then she smiled because that was exactly what she needed.

Her session at Torture and Interrogations had run on longer than it should have with little results, so she should have been excited at the thought of going home. But she knew that all the time she would've spent in bed would've consisted of her rolling around in her warm bed sheets, twisting and grunting until she realized she couldn't get comfortable enough to relax. She had too many thoughts swirling about her head demanding attention while her body was wound a little too tightly, a little too tense, and there were only two ways she could think of to wind down. And unfortunately Kiba was out of the village and Kotetsu was on duty, while her squad was there.

They were quick to meander through the streets, chatting and discussing and catching up, and arrived at their usual training ground where Kakashi and Yamato were waiting. Sai and Naruto stripped off their jackets while Sasuke and Sakura caught up over stretches, and Kakashi and Yamato warmed up their joints. It was all so familiar, so comfortable—so them.

"Don't tell me you're scared of losing to a bunch of kids," Naruto teased Kakashi as he drew his right arm across his chest.

A chuckle rumbled in the silver haired man's chest. He didn't even look away from the passage of his book as he sighed, "Naruto, you should know by now that taunting your old sensei never works. It didn't work back then, and it won't work now."

Naruto threw his hands in the air defensively, but those impossibly blue eyes of his were alight with impish intent. "Alright, Kakashi-sensei, then I guess you won't mind a little wager, then!"

Yamato shook his head, laughing softly. "Naruto-kun, I think you've been spending too much time with Hokage-sama. You're picking up her bad habits."

"I suppose you would inherit Hokage-sama's poor luck as well, so perhaps a wager isn't the best idea, Dickless."

Huffing in annoyance that everyone seemed to be ganging up on him, Naruto crossed his arms and cocked his hip. "Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" He pointed a finger challengingly at their former sensei. "If one of us knocks you out, you buy dinner tonight, for all of us."

"And when I win?"

"I won't eat ramen for a whole year."

Sasuke, who experimentally twirled a kunai around in his right hand, scoffed at the declaration, or perhaps the sound he made was more of a snort. "Impossible."

Giggling, Sakura nudged the Uchiha, then widened her stance with her fists raised. "Maybe that's the incentive Naruto needs to take this seriously?"

There wasn't any hesitation whatsoever when the last person finally took up their battle stance. There was no coordinated "go!" or a curious "ready?", not even a shifty glance between them. They merely dropped their conversation, and then twisted roots exploded from the ground while black ink splattered against Sasuke's katana. Sakura back flipped as hands broke through the earth where her feet had been, and then shuriken grazed impishly against her limbs. The moment her feet touched down, Sakura threw her whole body to the left to dodge the flurry of shuriken Sasuke had pitched at her, just to adjust herself midair so she landed flat on her back when razor sharp wire tugged them back to their user. She rolled back onto her knees, just barely managing to brace her hands in front of her to block the upwards kick Sasuke had aimed at her chin, then brought her left arm towards the side to block his second one. With her right hand, Sakura awkwardly gripped his leg and summoned all of her might to hurl the Uchiha across the field.

Sasuke landed on his feet, a hand digging into the ground for purchase, then was on her before she could blink. He feigned striking with his elbow, actually thrusting his knee up into her stomach and following up with an axe kick that made her nearly drop to her knees again, but Sakura forced herself upright and retaliated by ramming the heel of her palm into Sasuke's nose, then strung two strikes with her elbow against his chest. He caught the second one, tugging her closer until her chest slammed against his, causing her to look up at him. A curse left Sakura's lips as she felt a nearly impalpable trickle of chakra weaving in and out of her vertebrae. She quickly disrupted her chakra flow, dispelling Sasuke's illusion to find that he had pinned her beneath him.

Their gazes clashed for a second time, conveying a silent taunt between the two—Sasuke haughty that he had even captured her in a Genjutsu and Sakura smug for breaking it—when Sakura propped her boots on Sasuke's thighs. She dug them into his legs, his hips, hoping to make him uncomfortable enough to shift back or push him away, but he responded by pushing his hand into her cheek, forcing her head to the side.

"Oh yeah, you're totally paying for dinner tonight, dattebayo! Ramen on Kakashi, guys!"

Sakura paused at Naruto's shout, tilting her head to glance in the direction of the blond's voice and prepared to respond, but was beaten by Sasuke, who looked over his shoulder to growl, "Shut up, Dobe!"

Exploiting Naruto's distraction, Sakura used a flower sweep to switch their positions so she was now on top. However she didn't get a chance to celebrate because the moment she straddled Sasuke's body, talons dug angrily into her shoulder, ripping her away from him.

"Oh shit!"

Her body jerked as a grandiose black and white hawk plucked her from the ground and took her into the sky. She thrashed in the beast's grasp, her heart dropping lower and lower into her stomach the higher it took her, until she finally managed to jab a kunai into it's leg. Ink splattered against her skin as she severed the bird's leg from the rest of it's body, but none of that mattered as much as the fact that she was plummeting back to the ground at an alarming rate. For a moment, fear coaxed her heart right back up into her throat and all Sakura could really do was curse and shout at Sai for his God damned stupidity, when arms entangled her body and she jerked again. There was another strange pull that nauseated her stomach and swirled her vision, and then she found herself staggering over her own feet.

"You guys started without me!"

She looked up sharply, already swiping her kunai at the older Uchiha and extremely unamused by the mirth in his voice. "You're late!" Sakura scolded, ducking his high kick and delivering a dispelling blow to an ink summon.

"I was helping Chihiro-obaachan with her groceries," Obito managed to say with a shrug, undisturbed by how close she came to slashing his cheek with a kunai. He plucked it from her grip and used it to deflect the stars Sasuke launched at him. Somehow Naruto's annoyed shout—"Liar!"—stretched across the training field. Obito's laugh was wholehearted and lively, even as he dropped to his chest to avoid the two giant Fuuma shuriken aimed at the back of neck and his knees. Still prone, he used his chakra to propel himself just high enough off the ground to simultaneously avoid the roots that shot out at him as well as the third shuriken that appeared from the second's shadow. He planted his hands firmly against the ground and swept his feet out from under him, performing an impressive windmill that expertly caught a third shuriken by its inner grip around his ankle. In one fluid movement, Obito swiveled and stood upright with that same weapon now in hand; he pitched it towards Kakashi with an enthusiastic growl.

Capitalizing on him having his back to her, Sakura launched towards him just to phase through his body. Obito wrestled her non-dominant hand behind her back, tugging it back unforgivingly, then hooked his leg around her ankle in an attempt at knocking her off her feet. They struggled for a moment, rocking back and forth, both trying to knock the other down until Sakura slammed her head back against his jaw. Obito stumbled back whilst shoving Sakura forward just as a dragon made of flames sliced the air between them, it's roaring flames lapping at Sakura's back mockingly.

Huffing in frustration, Sakura jerked her shoulders back to dodge the fist suddenly thrown at her face. Emerald eyes met cerulean. She couldn't help the smile that crawled across her face when Naruto grinned back at her, even when he followed up with another haymaker that would surely bruise when she countered it with her own. She narrowly evaded his roundhouse kick and his alternating jabs when Sakura found herself skidding across the ground thanks to a wayward strike by a clone. Rising to her feet, Sakura rolled her neck and raised her fists defensively, giving Naruto an acknowledging—no, approving—nod before launching herself at him to execute a pair of alternating jabs. He sidestepped the first then blocked the second, leaving his guard open to the uppercut to the gut; he latched onto the shoulders of her top, his foot finding her ankle, then pushed her back. She regained her footing a moment too late, as the next thing she saw was a boot clad foot catching her just beneath the chin, and then she fell to her back, groaning in agony.

Sakura stayed down for a minute, clutching her jaw and trying to fight down the pain while Kakashi moved on from her dirty takedown to trade blows with Naruto. She could hear electrified chirping and creaking wood and animalistic snarls in the background, followed by a loud screech that made her scramble to cover her ears. Cracking an eye open, she watched, wonderstruck, as Sai's hawk puffed its chest out, wings drawn back, then swung its wings forward, launching dozens of giant feathers all across the battlefield.

"Holy shit Sai!" She heard Naruto shriek, the excitement in his voice overpowering whatever fear he may have had.

With a low curse, Sakura slammed her fist to the ground, making a slab of earth crop out; she pressed her back against it, listening to the whistling projectiles as they embedded themselves around her. As soon as the whistling ceased, Sakura darted out of her makeshift shield and dove into the fray that was Kakashi and Naruto. She executed a forward roundhouse, redirecting her hips to complete a reverse one that both men managed to jerk away from. The silver haired Jonin didn't give her a moment to rest, swinging his left fist and then his right, then thrusted his knee up into her gut while Naruto bounced on his feet behind her, searching for an opening. She managed to bat her sensei's knee away and shove him back a few steps, then rocked on her heels to snap kick Naruto in the chest.

With both of them doubled over, Sakura put distance between them to catch her breath, but did not drop her fists. She watched as her teammates rose to their feet. They shared a glance with one another, and then they rushed her. The rosette hardly had a moment to think, let alone parry because between Kakashi's quick combination of punches and kunai slashes, Naruto came at her with a series of flash kicks that she couldn't completely avoid. One such kick to the side made her recoil, giving Kakashi the opportunity to completely surpass her guard and tackle her to the ground. They rolled over one another, both trying to pin the other, but Sakura somehow managed to snake her right leg around the left side of his neck so her knee cradled the back of his neck, and used her strength to force him down on his back, sealing her position over him with a slug to the face that made him reel.

Shooting to her feet, Sakura searched for Naruto, only to find him engaged in a bout with Sasuke and Obito. She looked for Sai as well; he was crouched in the background, his shoulders shaking and chest heaving for rest. She made to approach him, but found herself skidding to a stop when knotted roots shot up in front of her. Glancing over her shoulder at Yamato, Sakura clicked her tongue. This was gonna be a long night.

Kamen

Sweat beaded down Sakura's neck and chest freely, disappearing into the soft grass beneath her. Naruto was sprawled out beside her, breathing just as heavily and tanned skin flushed with exhaustion, but still beaming. On the other side of her, Sasuke dropped down into a sitting position, gulping down water as if his life depended on it before pouring the rest of the bottle over his head.

"Good job team," Kakashi panted, softly, already rifling through his weapon's pouch for his favorite novel. "At this rate, you'll all be leading your own teams soon."

Beside him, Obito stood with his hands on his knees and his lips quirked despite his erratic breaths. "Yeah, you actually almost had me there for a minute, Naruto," He admitted, making the blonde huff tiredly with laughter and launch a fist into the air before letting his arm drop languidly over his face. The older Uchiha then tapped Sasuke's back appraisingly.

Sakura took the water bottle Sai passed to her with a grateful smile, sitting up so she could down half of it in one go then jabbed the bottle against Naruto's side until he took it. "You guys are just getting old," She teased, earning a snort in agreement from Sasuke.

"You wound me, Sakura," Kakashi dryly retorted, daintily resting his hand over his chest in mock agony.

While she laughed, Naruto began to shake Sai a little too enthusiastically. "Did you guys see Sai today?" He asked, clearly still reeling over the technique the ex-Root shinobi had used. "That new jutsu was insane!"

Sasuke hummed, agreeing in the only way he could while Obito and Yamato patted their hands against the aforementioned nin's shoulders and Kakashi rubbed at his jaw pensively. "Yes, that technique was quite impressive. We'll need to figure out a strategy and formation for it."

"Sasuke managed to catch me in a pretty good Genjutsu," Sakura piped in, sending a proud smile at the previously mentioned teammate.

The ravenette's features softened slightly at the praise, both corners of his lips uplifting so minutely that it could have been brushed off as imaginary because as soon as it appeared, Sasuke had stood up and turned his head away from them all. "Yeah, and you broke out of it right away," He acknowledged, begrudgingly though not unkindly.

"I almost didn't even notice it," She admitted, scratching sheepishly at the back of her head. "You were able to take me down because of it."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it," Obito told Sasuke, slinging an arm around his shoulders. He pulled the younger Uchiha close so his forehead pressed against Sasuke's temple, then ruffled his hair affectionately, earning a growl. "Sakura has a natural affinity for Genjutsu. It'll take something a little stronger than a full-blooded Uchiha Sharingan to catch her. Trust me, I've tried."

After a few more minutes of prattling and lionizing, Kakashi clapped his hands around his little green book, the corner of his eyes crinkling with his smile. "Alright everyone. Let's head out. A deal's a deal. My treat—but only one bowl per person. And no appetizers. Got it Naruto?"

A laugh escaped Sakura's lips at the half-excited-half-dead cheer Naruto gave as he rose to his feet with a hand from Sai. She tiredly waved a hand in dismissal, leaning back so her palms planted into the grass behind her. "You guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna train a little bit more."

At that, both Naruto and Sasuke grumbled her name (and Sai canted his head disapprovingly) but she ignored them.

"You didn't get enough of a workout in?" Obito's voice was incredulous and twinged with amusement. Then he shook his head, emitting a short bark of a laugh. "Man, you kids are ridiculous."

The wood user chuckled quietly into his hand with a wistful gleam in his eye. "Oh to be young again..."

"Hey, I've gotta make sure I can keep up with you guys," Sakura returned. She raised her hand in the air, patiently waiting for one of the men standing above her to take it; Naruto gripped her at the base of her wrist and tugged her to her feet, then moved that hand to settle it loosely around her damp waist. Dusting off the back of her skirt, Sakura added, "I haven't been able to train much these last few weeks with all those extra shifts at T&I. I can't slack off now. You guys are getting crazy fast." She grinned at Naruto as she spoke, her fingers pinching at his sweaty cheek while he made a disgruntled face.

"Alright, but don't over do it, Sakura-chan." A hand flattened over the top of the rosette's head, the fingers entangling with her pink locks affectionately before disheveling them; Sakura huffed and smacked away Kakashi's hand, her nose scrunched up in distaste.

"Yeah Hag," Sai piped in, his smile a little softer and little more natural than usual. "It would be unfortunate for you to wind up in the hospital again."

Sakura clicked her tongue at that. That was one time. She broke out of Naruto's slack embrace, turning on her heel and waving her hand again. "Yeah, yeah. Go have a bowl of ramen and a shot for me," She laughed. "None of you need any healing, right?"

"You're sure you don't want to join us?" Yamato asked, cocking his head to side, clearly unconvinced and torn by her conviction. "Kakashi-senpai is actually paying this time."

"Taichou, I'll be fine. I'm all sweaty and gross anyway, so I'd rather not go anywhere except home," She said, gesturing to herself with her hands in a sweeping motion. "How about this: next time we all meet up like this, my treat, yeah?" That seemed to placate the group, because not too long after declaring her promise, the group collected their belongings and trudged through the training grounds, leaving her to her lonesome. She remained in place for a minute, eyes closed and head tilted up towards the sky, rolling her shoulders slightly. Once her breathing had regulated, Sakura raised her hands into a defensive position.

She lifted her left leg, bending it at the knee, but raised her knee as high as she could; her hands floated out on either side of her for balance. Once she found her center, Sakura slowly extended her knee until the flat of her foot was nearly level with her head. She held the position for a count, then lowered her foot, shifting her hips so she could suspend her leg a bit off the ground. After a minute, she executed a flurry of kicks at the air, twirling on her feet, thrusting her elbow at an imaginary being, jabbing at nothing.

Their sparring session had been one hell of a thing. They usually were, but today's was a little more than usual thanks to Obito. He was infuriating in battle, what with his skill set and personality being an even combination of Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke; but he also had his own unique ability to phase in and out of reality making it nearly impossible to land a hit on him. Partnered with him, he was great. Paired against him, she hated him. Like Yamato and Sai, the older Uchiha drifted in and out of training sessions and survival exercises whenever he had the free time to do so, but even less frequently than the two now that he had responsibilities at the Academy. A shame, really, because he always kept things interesting and was a pleasant disruption to the otherwise serious group of men in her circle—especially when Sasuke graced them with his presence. He strove to impress his relative to the point it was almost comical, and Obito was always willing to give him the praise he needed. Plus, Obito's friendship with Kakashi and his one-sided rivalry with Yamato were just as entertaining, if not endearing.

He may not have been an official member of the team, but Obito fit right in.

She loved the dynamic they had built up over the years, the trust, the friendship. She loved that they could joke around between punches but could still take each other seriously on the field. And she especially enjoyed the way they'd compliment each other and highlight each other's feats after every spar. It made Team Seven feel more than just a team, but a family. An abnormally big, annoying, awesome family.

"Haruno-san."

Sakura sharply glanced back over her shoulder, surprised to have been caught unawares and even more stunned to find an Anbu operative standing at the edge of the treeline, just watching her. The Anbu wore a white cloak, their hood drawn to cast shadows. A tanto was fastened outside of their cloak via a holster across their chest, positioned to the right, trapping the fabric against their back. Her back stiffened noticeably.

A captain.

"Taichou?" She immediately dropped her stance, turned to face him fully and bow. Her mind reeled as she ran through a handful of scenarios that would explain the masked man's presence, praying that it wasn't anything too serious. She curled her fingers into her palm, resisting the urge to wipe them against her thighs, hating how clammy they suddenly were. Then she cursed herself for once again, being addressed by a figure of authority while in just her dirty sports bra and usual skirt and shorts.

The officer didn't comment on her stiff greeting, apparently too intent on surveying the damage to the training field. He stalked towards her, slowly, with the intent of a predator, his gloved hands raised at his sides to caress the outcropping earth as he approached. "Looks like you had quite the spar," He mused, stopping several yards away and dropping his hands to his sides. "I'd hate to see the other person."

She shifted her weight anxiously, minutely aware of the upturning of her lips. "It was just another Team Seven survival exercise, sir."

Absently, she realized she had involuntarily gone rigid, straightening her back to the point that it was painful. If he noticed, which Sakura was certain he did, he didn't let on. Instead, the Anbu captain let out an amused hum and nodded to himself, the moonlight on his mask shifting as he tenuously scanned the area. When he tilted his head back, just enough of his mask was illuminated that she caught a glimpse of fangs. "I see you didn't hold back."

"I never do."

The captain didn't make a comment in response to her knife-sharp quip, instead letting one of his hands reach for the buckle for his harness around his chest. Sakura followed the movement with a quirked brow and hummingbird heart, every bit as unsure as she was curious. His fingers deftly worked the cinch of his harness until the leather slipped away from one another; he pulled his right arm from the harness, then tossed it haphazardly to the side. Something about the sound of his weapon clamoring to the ground made Sakura's chest tighten, but she quickly abandoned the thought. Next, the cloak slipped from his shoulders, exposing the whole of his uniform. His white chest plate contrasted greatly with the black shirt he wore beneath and was faintly stained with hardly there blood splatter. His shirt was sleeveless, revealing a sliver of muscled skin before disappearing behind mile-long gloves and white bracers, and had a high collar that hid his neck. His hair was dark, inky like shadows and wild in a way. But it was the form of his mask that really made her pause.

A wolf.

Author's Note

Okay. I know I promised spice in this chapter. But I realized when I was actually typing this out, that I had only considered the skeleton of the chapter's plot. I hadn't accounted for the actual details until I began fleshing it all out, and by then this chapter turned out being over 13,000 words! So I had to split it. So the spice will actually be next chapter.

But the good thing about it, is that the next chapter is already ready to go. I'll be able to post it within three days after this one, maybe sooner if I feel nice enough and you guys ask nicely.

Also on the upside, we got to see the rest of Team Seven! And Obito! Let me just say, I've never written such a complex fight scene with that many characters. It was really challenging but fun to write! I mostly added it because several people have pointed out how well I write fight scenes and I wanted to one-up my own abilities. And because I love the idea of Obito being a part of Team Seven, even if unofficially. So...yeah! That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed, and if you want me to post that next chapter lie right now, you know what to do!