You guys are the best reviewers in the world, so I'm so sorry about taking so long for this chapter! Although I do have excuses – school and unwanted socializing and the always-dreaded Writer's Block. But now I'm back – and on a deadline, so I'll be getting back to weekly updates, I think. I hope.

Also, this chapter's kind of short, and heavy on the info, but the next one really will have more action. Should be good stuff? :D

And, question: I don't plan to get graphic with this fic, but it will be somewhat dark. So, judging by this chapter, tell me if you think I should up the rating?

Serendipity
Chapter Four

Sakura couldn't breathe.

Luckily, Kiba seemed to recover from whatever had caused him to let go of her, and he took her by the shoulders and yanked her, hard, away from Sasuke. Sakura stumbled, but didn't drop her gaze from Sasuke's cold, dark eyes.

How had he known?

"Sharingan, right?" Kiba said. Sasuke didn't respond, and Kiba breathed a bitter laugh. "Of course. You are an Uchiha."

What did that mean?

"Sakura," Sasuke said in a low, menacing voice, ignoring Kiba. "Why is there a genjutsu around you?"

People were starting to watch them curiously. They probably made quite the sight: Sakura – the new It Girl on campus – caught between Sasuke, the real perfect ten, and Kiba, aloof and mysterious.

"Maybe we should find somewhere else to chat," she said. Her voice was shaking. She hoped the others didn't notice.

"Or maybe not," Kiba said. "Let's go, Sakura."

Sakura bit her lip, glancing from Sasuke to Kiba and back. Sasuke looked impatient; Kiba looked expectant. Sakura was confused.

"I…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow; Kiba furrowed his. Sakura took a step back.

"I have a class." Before either boy could stop her, she spun on her heel and all but flew down the hall, hair fanning out behind her.

She didn't really have a class, though. Sakura just needed to be left alone so she could catch a breather – the air around those two was suffocating. She just wanted to think things through herself.

Sakura went to the library, sat at a carrel by the big windows on the third floor, spread out her books so she looked busy, then pushed her earphones in and stared out into the crisp, late-March afternoon, and tried to understand.

But as hard as she tried, she just couldn't make sense of anything. Not Kiba's motives, not anything that had happened since Thursday… and not Sasuke.

Sakura had to admit to herself, as shameful as it was, that a part of her had wanted Sasuke to see her as Kiba had made her – so exquisitely beautiful he couldn't resist her. But it appeared that the genjutsu wasn't good enough for even that.

What was it good for? What was the point of Kiba making her beautiful?

She needed answers.

But no sooner had she left the building to go search for Kiba than Sasuke was in front of her, pulling her around the corner and pushing her roughly against the brick wall. Her head knocked back against it, and she blinked, dazed.

"What is going on?" Sasuke demanded. "What is Kiba doing with you?"

"I don't know!" she choked, pushing at him until he loosened his grip in her forearms. She felt the blood rush back into them and noted, not for the first time, what an unusually strong grip he had. "I just woke up like this one day."

"After he rated you," Sasuke clarified.

He had been there, Sakura remembered. Of course. They rode the same bus. "Yeah. And then the next evening, I found out about this stupid genjutsu," she said. She couldn't hold back a scowl, recalling the evening everything was shot to hell. Sasuke noticed this.

"Why did he put it on you?"

"I don't know," she said again, frustrated. "He won't tell me anything."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Then why," he wanted to know, "Are you still with him?"

"He knows what's going on," she reminded him. "No one else does – except you, anyway. Kiba says he can't take this genjutsu off me."

Sasuke scoffed. "Maybe he can't. But I can." He backed away from Sakura. "But first, we're going to find Kiba."

"I was going to do that," she said. "But I don't know where he is."

"I can find him through his chakra," Sasuke said, eyes tightening in concentration. "Come on," he said after a moment, cutting across the front of Sarutobi Hall to head to the library. Sakura scrambled to follow him.

"Will you really take this thing off me?" she asked tentatively.

"It's dangerous for you," he said without looking at her. Sakura couldn't help but notice his eyes on a group of boys sitting outside on the benches, watching her.

"Kiba promised to protect me," she mumbled. Sure, Kiba had pretty much ruined her life, in her opinion, but he hadn't been such a bad guy. Not really. She felt that she had to stand up for him, at least a little.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, and Sakura squirmed. "Then why would he put the genjutsu on you in the first place?"

"That's what I want to know," she said. Then, glancing around, she added, "We're going to the dorms?"

"Kiba lives here, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but—"

"I thought you wanted answers."

Sakura had to hurry to keep up with Sasuke's brisk strides, and she fell silent until they hit the path leading to the front door of Kiba's building.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"When did you figure out the genjutsu?"

Sasuke didn't answer for a moment. Then: "When Naruto pointed it out to me at lunch. I couldn't see what he was seeing."

His words stung, somehow, even though Sakura knew they weren't meant to. "And then?"

"And then I felt the genjutsu on you," he said, leading her through the door, down the hall, and up to the elevator. "Tell me something," he said.

Sakura glanced at him, surprised. "Anything."

Sasuke's eyes were dark, probing. "What exactly did Kiba say he would protect you from?"

Sakura cast her eyes to the floor. "On Thursday night, there was this guy," she said quietly. She cleared her throat and went on, louder, "He attacked me. He – I don't know what he would've done, but Kiba found me before he could, and he promised to keep me away from guys like that. He was really the only one that could, you know?" She peeked up at him through her eyelashes. "He was the only one who knew what was going on – well, aside from you, I guess."

Sasuke was frowning. "What?" she asked, just as the elevator doors slid open onto Kiba's floor and the two of them stepped out.

"It's suspicious," was all he said, however, quickening his pace. Sakura followed, baffled, until they reached Kiba's door.

He didn't look surprised when he opened the door. "I figured you'd be here soon," he said. "How was class, Sakura?" His tone was sarcastic, and Sakura flushed a bit at being caught in her lie so easily.

"We want answers," Sasuke said, ignoring this.

Sakura attempted a smile. "Can we come in?"

"Four hundred years ago, Konoha was a hidden village," Kiba began.

"I know that," Sakura said impatiently. She had learned about it back in elementary school – the wars between nations, the creation of hidden villages made up of shinobi to protect those nations, and the ultimate disintegration of the system when new technology was created and shinobi were no longer needed.

Kiba shot her a dark look, and Sakura flinched back.

"In the village were a few prominent clans of shinobi. The two most powerful were the Hyuuga—"

"And the Uchiha."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke. He was watching the two of them carefully, still standing by the door. He hadn't moved since Kiba had let them in, hadn't spoken up when he asked them what they wanted, hadn't even changed expression when Sakura, flustered at being caught by surprise, demanded why he had put the genjutsu on her.

So far, what he was saying seemed to have no relevance.

Kiba didn't even look at him. "Aside from them were the Akimichi clan, the Yamanaka clan, the Nara clan, the Aburame clan… and the Inuzuka clan."

Sakura's eyes were wide with surprise. Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka? She had never known her friends were descendants. Then again, she supposed it made sense – Konoha was a small town, and most of the people she knew had been born and raised there. Sakura herself had moved to Konoha from Suna when she was seven.

"The majority of these clans lost their abilities as the years progressed. The shinobi way of life died out." Kiba locked eyes with her. "For all but a few families."

"Like yours?" she guessed.

Kiba nodded. "Sasuke's, too."

It was quiet for a moment before he went on, "About thirty years ago, a man named Danzo started rising through the political ranks. Danzo knew about these shinobi clans – and he saw them as a threat."

Kiba's expression darkened, and Sakura's stomach turned. She didn't know if she wanted to hear this…

"Danzo's an attack first, ask questions later type of guy." Kiba smiled thinly. "He requested, received permission, and oversaw the operation to wipe out those shinobi clans."

Sakura's breath caught. Sasuke's jaw was clenched, hands fisted.

"But you—Your family—"

Kiba nodded. "My family," he confirmed. "Fifteen years ago. I was six."

Sakura felt sick. This didn't make sense. "And Sasuke…?"

Sasuke looked at her. "I was eight. Danzo couldn't get past my brother."

Sakura rubbed her temples. "I never heard about this."

"Well, it's not something anyone wanted to get out," Kiba reminded her. "It was all very hush-hush."

Still, Sakura was unsure. "So… are you telling me you're a ninja?"

"That is exactly what I'm telling you," he said. He nodded at Sasuke. "That guy, too. The Sharingan is his family's legacy."

In response, Sasuke locked gazes with her – and then his eyes turned completely red, but for three black commas.

Sakura sucked in a breath.

"Sharingan," Kiba repeated, sounding amused. "Unique to the Uchiha line. It can perform a number of functions useful for battle – it can copy any jutsu, can use a form of hypnosis, and—" Kiba grinned—"It can see through genjutsu."

Sakura was wavering, and Kiba noticed. "Still don't believe us?"

It wasn't the most shocking thing she had heard lately, that there were two ninja in her school, so she shook her head, even though she still wasn't entirely convinced that anything was real anymore.

"Where do I fit into all this?" Sakura asked instead, though a part of her really, really didn't want to know.

Kiba's eyes gleamed. "Like I keep telling you, people will do anything for a beautiful girl. People will lose their minds and give in to their urges. You can bend any man to your will and, fortunately, the higher-ups in the government happen to be comprised of, primarily, men."

Sakura's jaw dropped, and she looked to Sasuke for help. Surely, Kiba couldn't be implying what she thought he was implying.

Sasuke wouldn't look at her. His gaze, onyx again, was intent on Kiba, expression unreadable.

"So what do you want me to do?" Sakura asked tentatively.

Kiba smirked – and Sakura knew. Not just what she had to do, but that Kiba really was the dark, sadistic person she had caught a glimpse of that fateful Thursday when he revealed his genjutsu to her.

When he confirmed her suspicions, Sakura thought she might be sick.

"You're going to do my dirty work, get into the upper branches of our sick government, and bring it down," he said, brown eyes boring into her wide green ones. "And you're going to do whatever it takes to do it."

He was sick. Sakura glanced again at Sasuke. He caught her eye for only a second, then looked away. She was on her own.

Sakura swallowed, steeled herself, and stood. "I refuse. I won't do it." Her voice shook when she added, "You're a sick, twisted sociopath, and you need help." She turned for the door. Her pulse was racing.

But then Kiba was in front of her, having crossed the room in a split-second, and she flinched back from surprise. He looked furious, his mouth twisted into a scowl.

"What makes you think you have a choice?" he demanded, and before Sakura could react, he had reached out and wrapped his hand around her neck, cutting off her air supply.

"I can kill you in a hundred different ways, and make them all look like an accident," he said to her in a low voice. Sakura was frozen, unable to believe how quickly things had turned around. Why wasn't Sasuke helping her?

Kiba let her go, and she staggered backwards, eyes wide with panic. She looked to Sasuke again. He was looking at her this time as he pushed away from the wall.

"Sakura," he said evenly. Sakura stared up at him, and he seemed to hesitate a moment before saying, "I agree with him."

To say that Sakura was shocked would be an understatement.

"Wh—what?" She couldn't believe her ears. "You want me to—to—" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

Sasuke nodded. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

Kiba snorted. "Of course he agrees. He went through the same thing as me, remember. We both know the current order needs to be changed – forcibly."

Sakura was still staring at Sasuke. She felt so betrayed. She had never spoken much to Sasuke, but she had still always known – always thought – that he was a man of morals. She didn't think, for even a second, that he would let Kiba do this to her.

"I thought you were going to take this genjutsu off me," she whispered miserably.

Sasuke didn't answer; instead, Kiba spoke up. "Tell you what," he said, "You do this for us, and I promise to take off the genjutsu. I'll never bother you again." When she looked at him, he added, "But for the next year, you're mine."

Sakura licked her lips. "And if I don't agree?"

Kiba smiled pleasantly, looking every bit the laid-back, amicable student he pretended to be. "You think I was joking?" he said. "I'll kill you. I have no problem with it and to prove it, I'll tell you this."

He stepped closer to her, leaning down so his mouth was to hear. When he spoke, his lips crushed her ear lightly, and chills ran down Sakura's back – particularly when she deciphered the meaning behind his words.

"That guy who tried to rape you? I sent him."