I don't know how much time I will have in the near future with finals comming up but I will try my best!

As a big thanks to FlyingSilverDreams for being my amazing beta reader!


What an odd feline indeed, the Third thought quietly to himself while watching the others in the room yelling and cursing said-feline to hell and back. Who knew, maybe she was really a hellcat?

From the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto go from being angry, to hurt, and then back once more. It was like he didn't even know what to feel anymore. The Third had definitely seen that before.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. Naruto' lovesickness could become… quite problematic.

"She is strong. I can see why the Uchihas would raise her."

He turned around and looked at his old student, Tsunade. She looked beyond irritated, most likely from being outsmarted by a kitten. He couldn't blame her. She was quite a proud person after all and losing to someone who severed the Uchihas? That would need time to heal.

Most of them had left by now, not thinking that anything else would happen.

"She never said that the Uchihas were the ones to take her in and raise her," he replied after some time, closing his eyes. The Uchihas were most likely not the ones to raise her.

Granted, she had said that she lived among the Uchihas, but that didn't mean that they had raised her at all. While the Uchihas was not liked by many, the few allies that they had were very strong and loyal to a fault, never giving anything away, not even under brutal torture.

"For all we know, she could have been raised by the Nara or Yamanaka Clans."

"We will need a new hearing in place in a couple of days, and this time fewer people in attendance, made up of only our most trusted Clans…" At that, Hiruzen could feel everyone's eyes on him. They all shared a glance as all knew who he wanted to keep away from the hearing.

The next day, Itachi quickly moved past the guards and down to the dungeons, where a young brown-furred fox sat. His long ears were moving on the top of his head, constantly noting all the sounds around him. He let a smile come on his face when he noticed the dragon's dissatisfaction.

"My, my, Itachi-san. I didn't expect to see you here," The fox said with no real hate. The Uchihas weren't the worst creatures to be around, once you had gotten over their grumpiness. He smiled friendly at the dragon. They gave him food, at least three times a day, sometimes even sweets, and he got to get outside once a day, too. All in all, they treated him way better than his friends would treat an Uchiha or any other dark creatures, really, with the expectation of demon foxes that still chose to live in the dark lands.

"Neh, where is Sakura-chan? Oh, don't tell me you finally lock her in a tower, and she is simply waiting for me to save her!" He eagerly continued in a friendly joke that was between him and the Uchihas. Itachi was one of his favorite dragons to be around, but Sakura was his best friend.

"No, that is, sadly, not the case. Your… friends are keeping her prisoner right now as we speak."

"What? How the hell can you lose her?" The boy behind the bars growled angrily at the dragon, his hair rising on its ends with something akin to a growl leaving his lips.

"I need you to do something for me. Will they kill her?"

"No, but I don't think they are above torture if she knows something… After all, you weren't allowed to kill, but they never said anything about torture… I'm not even going to promise that they won't rape her."

"I see."

"Oh, and Nawaki, the game has begun."

Itachi stood, satisfied, outside in the open air once more. Things were working out like he planned… well, almost.

He gave a small grunt before making his way to the throne room once more. They need to understand that Sakura needed to be saved, or else, he would go about saving her, alone… and Shisui would follow, like the foolishly-loyal friend he was.

A couple of days later, the only ones in the throne room were Jiraiya, Tsunade, Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, Kushiro, Obito, Kakashi, Naruto and the third, himself.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jiraiya asked while they were, once more, waiting for the feline to get in the room. The last words she spoke kept ringing in his ears. He knew very well what they meant. What Hiruzen wanted to know was how she knew those words… She was way too young to be a spy.

That left only two explanations: the first one, was that their spy trusted her enough to let her help or care a lot, at the very least, and the second, was that the spy had been found and was now dead… but that would pose another question. Just how much of their information was correct?

"No, but we do need some answers, and if we can't get them willingly, we might need to use force."

Right before anyone could object, the doors were opened, and Sakura was thrown into the room. The accompanying guards bowed to their king and left the room shortly after.

"Damn, even we treat our prisoner way better than this. When I get home I will so make sure Madara-sama hears about this," Sakura mumbled, more to herself than them, before getting up on her own.

Those jerks!

"I highly doubt that." Tsunade all but sneered that out, and if Sakura didn't have such good hearing, she would have missed it.

"You're right. Why would you ever believe a dark creature like me?" Sakura sneered right back at the blond fox. Her voice had an awfully bitter tone to it, but she could care less. Tsunade was a gray creature after all, not dark but not light either, just like the humans.

"But, believe it or not, our prisoners get food at least twice a day. I have yet to even get one meal, and I have been here for some days now, I just can't wait to get home."

"Oh, just so you can return back to that cold stone cave, full of reptiles and slimy snakes?"

"Snakes? Orochimaru is a very loyal person!"

"Please, that snake know nothing of loyalty."

"Wait! You mean, you don't even know why Orochimaru left?! Oh man, this is just rich!"

"I highly doubt that he left for anything noble!"

"Let me-!-… No never mind."

They watched in interest as Sakura's amusement from just a second ago was disappeared. A grimace was in its place instead, as she turned to look out the window with a longing look in her eyes. She was clearly missing someone, back at home.

Naruto didn't want her to feel like that for long and went for a distraction instead. He didn't like to think about, who she was thinking about back at home.

A thought hit him then. She might have said that she didn't have a mate, but that didn't mean she couldn't be in love with someone back at her place! There was no way, she would simply tell him, and so he just needed her to trust them.

"Don't worry! You can trust us Sakura-Chan!" He said with a big smile that usually made any female weak in the knees. Sakura didn't look like she was affected by it or impressed with him at all.

Maybe dark creatures looked for other things in their mate then the light?

Instead, Sakura gave off a bitter laughter, and he couldn't help but cringe a bit at the sour sound.

"Trust you? Please, I would much rather put my life in Sasuke's hands, and that should say a lot since he only thinks of my usefulness as a breeding mare" She had a neutral face when she said it like that was common knowledge. Naruto had to admit that they were not much better. They both expected their future mates to have at least two kids and keep away from the battlefield.

"How can you say that you would rather be working under a man like that? And calling him the king, no less!"

What was it with blond foxes? Were they just made to irritate her? She liked the brown fox back at home way better. Ugh, were foxes not supposed to be red anyway?

"Okay, first of all, Sasuke is NOT the king. He is nothing but a spoiled prince with a stick so far up his ass that he can't even walk straight."

"Second, I would never ever trust a kingdom that is unaware of the starving people in their lands-"

"There are no starving people here!"

"Oh, but there are. Close to the Grayland, where the border to your white lands ends, your people are desperate enough to turn to the Uchihas for their livelihoods. You should feel grateful that the Uchihas are more than happy to provide them with food, in return for their loyalty of course."

They couldn't hear the last bit that she had mumbled so quietly, but the first part had been heard as clear as day.

Ah. This was more fun than she thought it would be.

Karin walked down the cold hall of the cave, her red tail waving from side to side in somewhat of an old-fashioned show of nerves.

Sakura had yet to return back, and the Uchihas were extra careful of what they told her in return. The red fox was fully aware that the only reason that she was still free was because of Sakura's declaration. She clearly remembered the day that Sakura claimed her under her protection, and from that day onwards, no one could touch her without Sakura's approval.

Before Sakura had come along, Karin had been a slave, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.

The Uchihas had been less than happy when Karin had come back, and she had, in the beginning, thought that she would be sent back to that horrible place, but the cat stood her ground and hissed right back at them like it was the most common thing.

Sakura was strong, brave, bold, caring, kind and beautiful; overall, she was simply amazing, so Karin wasn't too surprised when she found herself falling in love with her.

For Karin, she would do anything in her power to help her with whatever Sakura was dealing with. If she had to betray the Uchihas, then so be it.

She took a deep breath before walking down the stairs towards the cell she knew held a brown fox.

"My, my, I didn't expect to see you again."

The voice took her away from her thoughts, and she turned to look down at the other fox.

"What, they got tired of the little pet? Or, could it be that, you got tired of being a lapdog? Hmm…"

His dislike for her was no secret. He felt betrayed by the fact that Karin had chosen the Uchihas over her own kin. Taking a deep breath and counting to ten, Karin calmed herself before talking with this insufferable fox.

"I need your help."

Nawaki looked surprised up at the red vixen. Things had to be bad for her to be so desperate as to turn to him for help. For once, he kept quiet and waited for her to continue talking.

"You know where Sakura is."

It wasn't a question, but he nodded his head anyway. He took in a deep breath and let her smell come to him. She smelled faintly of vanilla, but it was hardly there as her own smell of pine and Uchihas of fire was most present.

"You will lead me to Sakura, and I will in return set you free in return"

Nawaki snapped his eyes up to Karin and looked at her. She was even more desperate than he had originally thought.

He had also forgotten that while she took the Uchihas' side, she was still very much a demon fox. Karin was loyal to a fault, just like the rest of them, and she had given that loyalty to Sakura, meaning she would give anything for her.

The game had begun indeed, but Itachi seemed to have forgotten about Karin. He couldn't help but wonder how the game would end now.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal."