The journey to the Crane Country was as uneventful as it was long. At first they were making good time, flitting through the trees as they usually did. But as they got closer to their destination, the need to keep a low profile meant they were forced to slow down and start walking along the road. The humidity seemed to increase with every mile they travelled, and even Naruto's over-excited feet began to drag after a while. The people they passed were all families; harassed-looking mothers dragging petulant children, fathers and husbands glancing nervously at the team. Everybody seemed to be travelling in the opposite direction to them, and Kakashi got the sinking feeling that they were fleeing.

By the second day of walking like civilians Naruto and Sai's bickering was no longer amusing, and the Great Copy-nin was bored out of his mind. He had recited the entire Shinobi Code in his head three times already, and was just about to check that his hidden weapons were still hidden when he realised something. He kept his various pouches and holsters on him at all times, even in the village, and each weapon was always battle-ready. He had been fully-armed when summoned to Hokage tower to receive the mission, and hadn't bothered doing anything more to his appearance than removing his flak jacket and forehead protector and replacing them with a simple cotton jacket and a strip of bandage to cover his eye. He hadn't thought of removing the book.

Fishing it out from beneath the folds of fabric, he opened it to a random page and began to read.

'…Hideki leaned toward Sayuri as she turned to greet the newcomer, catching the smallest, most teasing breath of her floral perfume…'

Something was different. Kakashi's imagination was usually quite good when it came to the novels' 'colourful' imagery, but he had never been able to imagine the exact aroma of Sayuri's perfume before. Hence, he suspected it was his superior sense of actual smell that was being piqued instead. He held the novel closer to his face and took an experimental whiff. It was obvious now that he knew it was there. At the corner of every page was a familiar scent, as though that person had left a finger mark turning them over.

He grinned beneath his mask. He hadn't expected her to actually read the thing. He continued to flick through until he could no longer detect that Sakura had touched the paper. She'd gotten quite far in the few hours it had been in her possession. The fact that she seemed to have stopped before one of the more… climactic scenes didn't surprise him either. She had matured a lot over the years she had known him, but her transformation had been so marred by intense training and devastating loss that she had been too distracted to notice those men that had begun to notice her. Life as a ninja was crippling to one's perception of intimacy. He glanced in her direction and noted that her ears were turning the colour of her hair and she was determined not to look in his direction. He chuckled to himself and began to read where she had left off.

'"Do you really love me?"'

The Crane Country was tiny compared to Konoha, and was almost entirely marshland. The trees and mud and bugs were such a natural defence for the village resting in its centre that there had never been any need for local ninja. Instead, the civilians made a tidy profit by providing a safe outpost for the ninja of other countries sharing its border. The village itself was suspended over the mud by stilts with narrow bamboo bridges connecting each building. There was only one proper entrance to the raised village, and it was here that Team Kakashi had to bluff their way through by claiming refugee status; ninja had been refused entry until further notice following the disappearance of Konoha's men with several children and other villagers. The guards gave them a strangely pitying look, as though whatever war-torn land they had come from would be better than the Crane Village, but waved them through anyway.

"First things first," Kakashi told them once they were past. "We have to find an inn that has a bar." Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, who shrugged. "It's the best place to get information, that's all."

The pub's name was The Rocking Horse, and a worn-out replica of its namesake hung from a sturdy chain above the door. Sakura felt every single eye follow them over to the bar, and linger long after they had sat down and ordered drinks from the hairy bartender.

Kakashi acted cheerful despite the suspicion, drinking deeply from his cup and talking loudly to nobody in particular about what a nice place it seemed.

"You don't want to go drawing attention to yourself like that," someone murmured beside him.

Kakashi turned to find the stool to his right, which had previously been vacant, now occupied by a grizzled old man with hair the colour of dishwater. He was puffing on a long wooden pipe and watching the jounin disapprovingly.

"I'm just trying to make friends," Kakashi replied, feigning ignorance. "What's so wrong about that?"

The man huffed, blowing bluish smoke in his face. "What's so wrong is that round here, unwanted attention can get you killed. Something's happened to this village, and if you don't keep your head down you'll be the next to go."

"Go? Go where?" Kakashi asked, trying not to inhale the lethal-looking smoke.

The old man leaned in conspiratorially. "Nobody knows. People are simply vanishing; all kinds of people, from small children to hardened farmers to common maids."

"And nothing connects the victims?" Kakashi whispered like a fascinated tourist.

"Nothing." The man seemed to be enjoying the attention, waving his pipe theatrically toward a shadowy corner of the pub. A man was hissing angrily at a woman whilst another man watched on, stone-faced. It was to him that Kakashi was directed. "See him? His brother was taken just the other night. His newborn was up with a fever, and when his wife went to check them the baby was on the floor and he was just… gone." Kakashi watched the brother take a slow, numb sip from his drink, continuing to stare without really seeing anything.

Sakura, however, was watching the couple. She had been sitting far enough from Kakashi that the stranger paid her no heed, but close enough that she could easily hear their conversation. However, that shadowy corner of the bar had captured her attention long before it had been mentioned. The couple's whispered argument was like shouting to a ninja's ears, and she didn't like the way the brutish man was gripping the blonde woman's arm. She was more of a girl, really; she didn't really look much older than the kunoichi herself, but her mouth was harder and her eyes duller than a civilian that age should have. Nevertheless Sakura knew she wasn't an enemy threat; her pre-mature ageing had come from something that in some ways was much crueller.

The man she assumed was the blonde's lover tightened his hold, causing both girls to yelp; one with pain, the other empathy. He leaned in close, blowing a strand of hair with his breath. "Listen to me, you sorry tart: if you don't stop behaving like a spoiled brat and start showing some gratitude for the kindness I've shown you, then I'll throw you back in the whore pits where you belong. But before then, I'll make sure you can never trick another man with that pretty little face of yours…" he raised his free hand to stroke her cheek, and when she jerked her head away from him, changed it to a slap.

The dull smack rang through the bar like the toll of a bell, and for a moment silence reigned. Sakura was across the floor and gripping the man's wrist before she realised she had stood at all. A small, compartmentalised area of her brain knew that her low profile was rising by the second, but a much larger, louder part was screaming for her to break the bastard's hand. The blonde was gazing fearfully between the two while her partner took a moment for the unexpected interruption to sink in. When he realised that the girl grasping his wrist was doing so to stop him, he almost seemed amused. His eyes raked over her hard body and exotic hair, and every time he let his gaze linger on some feature the pressure on his arm increased slightly. By the time he looked her in the eye it actually took most of Sakura's willpower not to put any chakra behind her grip.

"Ah, sorry for my friend here," a silver-haired figure had arrived in Sakura's peripherals and was talking to the man, "poor Sakura's been on the road for a while, and would lash out at anyone."

The big man turned to the jounin and looked him over like he had done before. Kakashi had his arms raised defensively, playing the peaceful traveller. Beneath the apologetic façade was a look of faint annoyance, and Sakura was miffed to realise that it was directed at her.

"So your name's Sakura," the other man mused, putting a name to her face and liking the combination. He kicked his stool away and rose to his proper height, grinning down at the feisty girl. Her body tensed intuitively.

A gloved hand clamped down on her own, forcing her to obey. She refused to look Kakashi in the eye as he continued to hold on even after she had let the abusive man go. The man in question rubbed his freed wrist despite himself, giving Sakura an arrogant smile.

"You're lucky your boyfriend's here, girly," he drawled, "'cause I don't take kindly to people threatening me; even ones that look as sweet as you."

"Oh thank you, sir," Kakashi fawned. "She is sweet, but she gets these silly ideas in her head sometimes and does things that get her into trouble. Tell the nice man you're sorry, Sakura-chan."

The injustice of it all felt like a punch in the stomach that left you doubled-over and wheezing. She knew Kakashi was just playing a role really, but it still hurt that someone she trusted so completely wasn't taking her side. That the noblest man she knew would happily stand by and do nothing to defend the helpless blonde. That he would say aloud the thing that had secretly haunted her for years; she could only ever get into trouble. She stared back at the horrible man, grateful that there were no tears to blur her vision as she burnt his face and chakra signature into her memory. Then she took a deep breath and forced herself to look meek as she spoke those two repugnant words, keeping their cover at the price of her self-concept.

"I'm sorry."

Introductions had followed and a round of placating drinks was bought for the whole bar. Sakura had sat in the corner with Naruto and Sai, letting Kakashi do all the wheel-greasing and intelligence-collecting by himself. She had been determined not to show any emotion, but she couldn't help the hurt look she gave her ex-sensei when he glanced over to them once. Naruto explained that he had stood to go over and help her but Kakashi had beaten him to it. He agreed that Sakura had done the right thing about the blonde girl, who was now sitting in a similarly depressed state as the big man shared in another round. Sai was typically silent, but Sakura knew he would probably side with Kakashi.

The sun was well below the horizon when Kakashi rented a suite upstairs for his team to stay in. The second the innkeeper had left the room, Sakura rounded on the jounin.

"What the hell was that?" she asked him, green eyes blazing.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he responded calmly, "You almost completely blew our cover back there."

"Did you hear what that bastard was saying to her? Did you see the way he touched her? It was-"

"Yes, Sakura, I saw it. But did you hear Tsunade brief us about this mission? Did you understand how important it is that we succeed in finding our men and those people? We are ninja. We can't put one life over another's because of our feelings. We live for the mission." He didn't like telling her off in front of the others, but knew it would be worse if he took her aside like some misbehaving child after class.

Sakura stood firm. "But do you think it right? To stand by when we have the power to do something about it? He hit her, Kakashi. She was unprotected and helpless and half his size, and he hit her. I wasn't going to blow our cover if I could help it, but I wasn't going to sit idly by and let it happen in front of me either."

"Sakura," Kakashi's tone changed from lazy old sometimes-friend who read books and was late to everything, to elite, ex-ANBU jounin commander who was used to giving an order and having it obeyed. "Right and wrong are so far removed from anything a ninja does that they start to become the meaningless words they are. I know you understand how a person's feelings can be manipulated against them, so I am warning you now; don't let them show. Follow the mission and don't risk your focus on one girl who won't appreciate your help anyway." He breathed a deep sigh before taking his bedroll and setting it out on his tatami mat. "You're on the second shift after Sai. Then Naruto."

He then removed the strip of bandage over his eye and lay down, perfectly immobile. Naruto gave an apologetic shrug and followed suit.

Sakura continued standing for a moment before walking over to her own mat and lying down. It took a lot longer for her to fall asleep than it did for the other two, and it felt like no sooner had she closed her eyes than Sai was gently prodding her awake for her turn on watch. The quiet boy was as close to glad as he could be to see that the kunoichi seemed calmer and even smiled at him before taking up sentry. Perhaps it would be okay after all.

Sakura waited, mulling over the events of the day. Had it really been just this morning that Kakashi had pulled out that book and made her blush? She felt different now that she was here in the Crane Village, as though the mud were seeping into her and making everything grey. The only way to retain any colour now was to rebel. And so when her turn on watch came to an end, she grabbed a bundle of cloth and threw it out the window, before biting her thumb and making a series of seals with her bloodied fingers. She finished by pressing her thumb to the wall in front of her, leaving a perfect red imprint. The moment she moved from that position it was like having an out-of-body experience. She watched herself lean over and tap Naruto on the back. The boy groaned, opening his eyes and seeing nothing but the one girl.

"Time to go on watch," the genjutsu whispered, before slipping into Sakura's bed and appearing to go to sleep. The jinchuuriki rubbed his eyes and sat up, oblivious to the real Sakura sneaking past him and slipping, invisible, out the window. Landing on the ground two storeys down, she took up the handful of cloth she had thrown and checked to make sure nobody was looking out the windows.

"Sorry Kakashi," she whispered to the night, "but I don't want those words to become meaningless."