It had been a month since Sakura left the front gates of Konoha village for her mission and her body was beginning to break under the constant strain. They had been ordered to recover the forbidden scroll that had been stolen off of Sasuke's body at any cost and found themselves entering into Grass country territory in the pursuit of the three ninjas they tracked. They had come close to ending this many times before, but the enemy always seemed to slip from their grasp much to Sakura's frustrations. She had grown cold and harsh with thoughts of revenge consuming her every waking moment. She rarely spoke to her two other team members, but neither party seemed to mind.

Sakura could remember her feelings of anxiety when she had first met them at the gates not recognizing a single face. They had recently lost their medic-nin and had no interest in getting to know a newbie who would surely die on this mission. But she had surprised them including herself when they had been ambushed and she managed to fatally wound many of their enemies and save one of her own team mates from death. Now her team was indifferent to her presence.

The rain had soaked through her uniform and Sakura shivered, but she didn't know if it was from the cold or the anticipation that coursed through her body. From the amount of blood that they were following it looked like Horun had fatally wounded one of the trio they were after. Saijou pulled up his hand, commanding them to stop and Sakura could see a man slumped against a tree blood pooling beneath him.

"What are your plans for the forbidden scroll?" Sakura could see the man lift his head and a malevolent smile graced his lips, but he remained silent. "Give us information and your death will be painless." Saijou continued. She heard the man let out a hollow laugh.

"Why do you think I am still alive?" He laughed again pushing himself from the ground and panted heavily from the effort.

"He doesn't know anything." Saijou muttered darkly to Horun and began to unsheathe his katana. Sakura quickly placed her hand on his and Saijou gave her a small nod. She came to stand in front of him and removed her mask shaking her wet pink hair from her face.

"I have a question for you." Sakura hissed to the injured man watching his every move. "Which one of you killed the Uchiha?" She kept her voice steady suppressing the anger she felt when he gave her a greasy smile.

"What is your name?" He asked slowly clutching his wound on his stomach. Sakura narrowed her jade eyes angrily at him. "Could it possibly be Sakura?" Her eyes widened slightly in surprise and the man let out a malicious laugh. "How sweet. You've come to avenge your lovers death." He spat out menacingly. "How does it make you feel to know that in his lasts moments he thought of you and pathetically begged for his life? Begged Kagoshi to spare his life like a coward." Something snapped in Sakura and she drew her katana and drove it through the man's chest. She felt him splutter blood onto her neck while his breath grew ragged and she heard him laugh slightly before slumping onto her dead. His hot blood stained her hands as she removed the katana and pushed him to the ground. Horun handed her a cloth and she wiped the blood from her neck and hands then finally cleaned her sword. Sakura tossed the blood stained cloth onto his body before turning to her team mates. Saijou gave her a small nod and quickly sped off into the forest signalling for them to follow. She hung back slightly and felt her lust for blood grow deeper.

The rain had finally stopped and the clouds cleared to reveal a starry night sky and Saijou halted in a small clearing ordering the rest of the team to stop.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked breathlessly coming to a stand beside him.

"Nothing. We are setting up camp for the night." He replied calmly slinging his bag off his shoulder. Sakura looked at him in disbelief feeling the enemy slip further from her grasp. "We all need rest including you. They will be there tomorrow to kill as well." He finished darkly seeing the look on her face. She nodded her head in agreement feeling her body ache with pain.

Sakura settled around the small fire vaguely listening to the mutterings of the two men while she ate. She could feel her eyelids growing dangerously heavy and found herself resting comfortably against a tree until she heard a twig snap behind her. She wheeled around in surprise to see three ninjas approaching, but was relieved when she saw the familiar uniforms. She turned her attention back to the fire when one of the men began to remove his mask.

"Izumo, Kotetsu, and Kakashi. What happened to your fourth?" Saijou asked lazily and Sakura immediately stiffened at hearing Kakashi's name.

"Sent him back to deliver some information for us. What are you guys doing way out here?" Izumo asked while taking a seat by the fire and Sakura watched Kakashi lean against a tree.

"The bastards we're tracking are proving more difficult then we first suspected." Horun muttered darkly. Sakura could feel a familiar ache seep into her chest as she watched him from the corner of her eye but he didn't acknowledge her.

"I'll take the last shift." Sakura mumbled quietly before slipping away to her tent to quell the emotions that were beginning to rise in her. She found herself slipping into an uneasy sleep.

Sakura heard Horun call out her name and sat up shivering from the cold that took hold of her. She rubbed her eyes feeling them sting from the lack of sleep and slipped out of her tent. "The other group what happened to them?" She asked quietly studying their small camp.

"They all ready left." Horun replied trying to suppress a yawn. Sakura gave him a small nod feeling her heart drop a little and watched him crawl into his tent before rolling up her own.

Only four hours till sunrise. She told herself glumly shivering from the cold. She continually found her mind wandering to Kakashi and chastised herself harshly. Throughout her whole mission she had kept her thoughts only on avenging Sasuke's death and had successfully ignored any feelings that she had about Kakashi. Sakura decided that she would deal with them if she made it back to the village alive, but seeing Kakashi and how he ignored her hurt her more than she was willing to acknowledge. One more hour and we'll leave. They were so close to finishing this Sakura could taste it on the tip of her tongue. She longed for this to be over because she was tired of holding onto something that was no longer there. Sakura tipped her head back closing her eyes and allowed her mind to wander imagining the feel of Kakashi's arms around her.

"Sleeping on the job, now that just won't do." A malicious voice whispered into her ear while pressing the edge of a blade into Sakura's neck. She opened her eyes slowly to feel the mans hot breaths curling in her ear. "I wonder how sweet your blood tastes?" A grin escaped from his lips as he pressed the blade harder into her throat.

"Behind you." A voice whispered. The man widened his eyes in shock, but Sakura had all ready stabbed a kunai into the side of his chest and gathered her chakra to her foot using it to send him flying through the air. Sakura's clone disappeared as he brutally crashed into a tree causing it to crack loudly. "Saijou." Sakura yelled as she crossed the distance to the man sprawled on the ground. He stumbled to his feet and Sakura withdrew the katana from its sheath. "Where is Kagoshi?" She asked him harshly seeing Saijou and Horun emerging from their tents.

Sakura felt herself being torn from the ground and her body slammed forcefully into a tree. She fell to the earth and the outer edges of her vision began to fade to black. Sakura gasped for air while slowly pulling herself to stand feeling her knees shake violently and a ringing in her ears from the impact. She could see Saijou leaning onto a tree for support and Horun sprawled on the ground a few feet away. A flicker of movement caught her attention and Sakura turned to see the man, who she had attacked earlier, sprinting towards Horun with his weapon drawn. MOVE! Sakura screamed to herself and concentrated her chakra to her legs. She was behind him in a second ready to attack when he turned slicing his weapon through the air. She stumbled slightly feeling the tip of the blade cut through her uniform as he jumped out of the radius of her attack. Sakura came to a halt beside Horun dropping to her knees and rolling him gently onto his back as Saijou came to stand in front of them. She checked his pulse relieved to feel that it was strong and his breathing was normal. Great time for you to be unconscious. She bitterly thought to herself as she came to stand by Saijou preparing to attack.

Another man emerged into the clearing smirking and Sakura felt her breath catch in her chest."I think it's time we end this game." He muttered darkly to them and Sakura could see Saijou sway slightly beside her. I need to buy us some time. She thought desperately to herself.

"What it's no longer fun for you?" She asked, the ringing in her ears disappearing slowly. "I thought it was just starting to get interesting."

"We've been at this long enough and now that I've found a buyer I don't need this entertainment anymore." Kagoshi concluded with a bored tone.

"We all know you're just a pawn in a much larger scheme." Sakura yelled out knowing that Sasuke was after his leader.

"But aren't we all?" He asked with a smirk. Sakura saw Saijou give her a slight nod.

"I'm going after Kagoshi." She muttered quietly to him while gathering chakra to her foot. She slammed it into the earth causing it to crack almost consuming the startled men in front of her and leaped into the air bringing her katana down on Kagoshi's head. He blocked it easily and sprang away from her jumping into the trees. Sakura cursed and followed him only catching glimpses of him ahead of her. Damn it he's to fast. She thought desperately to herself feeling her revenge slip from her grasp yet again. She felt something tear through her right shoulder and stumbled down to the ground breathing heavily.

"What's the matter. You can't be finished all ready." She saw Kagoshi land in front of her with a smirk on his face. "I was hoping to have a bit of fun with you before I killed you." Sakura pressed her hand firmly to her shoulder feeling her blood seep through her fingers and let a smile escape from her lips. Good looks like I will get my chance after all. She drew her katana and charged him slashing it through the air while bringing her fist charged with chakra to his chest. She felt his bones crack under her force and sent him flying through the air to crash into the trees.

Sakura could feel the pain shooting through her right arm, but didn't want to waste any of her chakra on healing her wound. She watched Kagoshi stand up smiling as he wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth.

"You're not much like your friend. He begged for his life, pleading pathetically to me. Said he would tell us anything we wanted as I drove this katana through his heart." Sakura said watching his expression sour and congratulated herself on wiping the smile from his face. She saw a blur of movement and instinctually raised her katana to block his swing. "Oh does that anger you to know your friend was a coward before death?" She asked malicious intent clear in her voice. Kagoshi gave her a low growl and narrowed his eyes in a scowl at her. They flew into a frenzy of attacks metal clashing loudly through the forest as she felt her strength and chakra slowly draining from her. Sakura felt her heart grow heavy as she realized there was no other way for her to win this fight. She felt the handle of her katana slip from her hands as cool steel pierced through her flesh with a searing pain and she could her a malicious laugh ring in her ears.

"You were better then I expected." Kagoshi said quietly to her and Sakura looked up at him. She concentrated her chakra to long sharp points to the tips of her fingers and thrust them through his neck seeing his expression turn to surprise. He coughed spluttering Sakura's face with droplets of blood and she could hear a gurgling in his throat as he choked on his own blood. His grip loosened on the hilt of the katana and she released her chakra panting heavily as he fell to the ground. She pulled the katana from her with a cry of pain before plunging it deep into Kagoshi's heart and watched as his eyes glazed over.

Sakura dropped to her knees clutching her wound and could feel her life drain with the blood leaving her body. She fell on to her back breathing heavily trying to focus her chakra on her wound, but she didn't have enough. A tear slipped from her eye as the familiar metallic scent curled in her nostrils with the hot liquid pooling underneath her and blackness encroached her vision. Maybe it's better this way. Sakura mumbled hazily to herself as her vision darkened. She could see the faint outline of someone coming to stand over her. "Sasuke." She breathed before letting the blackness consume her.

I made up Sakura's ninja team and enemy because I couldn't really find anyone from the show to match well with this minor roll. Hope people don't get to mad at me.

Cance