Suspicion and Denial

It felt strange to go back to her normal life, and for some reason Sakura couldn't erase what had happened. Now that she was aware she was wearing a mask it became increasingly hard to stay in character. It might've been paranoia, but she felt like if she stopped acting everyone would realize what a monster she was. So she still wore her red dress, even though she hated the color. She even visited Sasuke in the hospital, which was honestly a bit self punishing. She didn't deserve Sasuke, not anymore. No matter how hard she tried, all she felt was a sick satisfaction. She had been strong, stronger than those who wanted to hurt her. As she prepared to go to team practice, she couldn't help wonder if that was what it meant to be a shinobi, or if it just meant she was a monster. Either way Sakura would do what she did best, acting, and no one would see a difference. If Sakura couldn't fix her old mask she would just have to build a new one.

Kakashi wouldn't have believed what he'd seen if it weren't his Sharingan and the fact that he'd had to clean up the mess. To make matters worse, he found himself lying, rewriting their very first c-rank, as though Sakura hadn't even fought at all. He had hopelessly wished she would eventually reach chunin, and work as a gate guard or at a desk job, but now he knew her life couldn't be that simple. He had failed once to protect his teammates, but this time would be different. Kakashi could no longer hide Sakura from the harsh truth. There was no difference between an actual ninja and a monster. They were the same thing.

Sakura was in trouble. She'd faltered today, twice. The first time it had been as simple as eating something for breakfast. She hadn't done that since she met Sasuke, but now it felt rather hopeless to look nice for someone that she didn't deserve. The second time was at practice. Sakura had leaned down to do a stretch that was normally hard for her, and yet her body had easily fit into the almost impossible position. She'd been so started that she dropped out of form. Throughout the entire practice Sakura kept realizing that things she couldn't do before were now becoming easy. Hiding these improvements was an almost impossible task because she never had bothered to before. Still, Sakura's slightly paranoid nature didn't allow her to show any change, especially ones she had gotten from the incident. Everything was changing so fast, and for once Sakura felt completely out of control. It's very hard to hide when you don't know what you're hiding.

For Kakashi, the entirety of team seven's practice was spent staring at an orange book. In reality he wasn't reading pornography, he was making a decision. Kakashi was no fool, years spent as an Anbu captain had wizened him to the way Danzo worked. If he told the Hokage just how far south the wave mission had went, there was at least a 15% chance Danzo would know as well. Kakashi needed advice, part of him wanted to hide Sakura away, but logically he knew that was impossible. So dismissing his team early, he prepared to face the not only the hokage, but also the truth. Kakashi could no longer protect Sakura from becoming a shinobi.

Agent #548 was really bad at small talk. It was probably a good thing that he'd been placed in Anbu, because he found it didn't require any. His master liked to know everything about what was happening in Konaha, and he was especially interested in the Uchiha. That meant that when Agent #548 felt Kakashi of the Sharingan's chakra headed to the hokage's office, where he was conveniently 'stationed' he almost wanted to smile. He wasn't good at doing that either. So instead he focused on their conversation, and watched as the hokage expertly dealt with the copy nin. When he'd heard the whole story Agent #548 really did smile, a creepy fake sort of thing under his Anbu mask. His master would be very pleased, a new tool had just been left up for grabs. Nothing would please Danzo more then stealing a weapon right under the Hokage's nose.

Sakura may seem a little annoying now, and in the beginning of Naruto she was my least favorite character. I don't want anyone to just magically become a lot better. I'm attempting character growth! Just like with the last chapter, tell me if you know something that could be fixed, pretty please?

Thanks for reading, and for those who reviewed and helped me improve, you guys are AWSOME!

Suzululu4moe, you've helped me so much!

MewRose: I'm glad someone enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading!

-Obsession Comes From Question-