AN: plenty of you wanted a serious KakaSaku plot point, so it won out in the voting, but they were still quite a few who wanted some stuff from the other couples. There is some (hopefully) very nice NejiTen in here and a bit of explanation for ShikaIno last chapter, but it is very Sakura focused I'm afraid.

3250 words in this chapter

Unmasked

Chapter 27- Hurt

"I… I can't move…" She visibly struggled to lean any closer.

"Ino, move backwards" Shikamaru suggested, figuring out the problem in his head.

"What…? I thought you wanted to…"

"Of course I do, but I think I might know what this is"

She sat back slightly, with ease, and seemed shocked that she could do so, unlike Shikamaru who had been expecting that outcome.

He nodded to acknowledge his thoughts.

"It's Daddy isn't it?" she frowned "this is what he meant"

"It seems that any kind of intimacy will cause whoever instigates it to freeze"

"That's not fair!" she glared up at the ceiling like she hated it more than anything else in the world, determined to make it pay "we can't even kiss properly!"

He sat up off the bed with a deep sigh. "I'm not sure this bodes well"

"Of course not! This is horrible!"

"No Ino… I meant that we didn't even notice before now. We've been engaged for well over a month and we haven't tried to kiss that passionately since"

"Oh… it didn't even cross my mind…"

"It never does…"

"Shika-kun…" she came closer and held his hand gently "are you alright?"

He hated to hear her upset over him, so he gave her a weak smile. "Sure I am, I just get a little worried at times that's all."

She blinked hard, taken aback "About us?"

"Hai and other things… Everything is changing; I just guess I'm feeling it too much"

The phone began to ring and as much as she wanted to ask him more, she couldn't ignore it. With a deep sigh she lifted herself from the bed and went to answer it.

Shikamaru waited patiently while she talked down the phone.

"Hai… no, it's not the time… me?" she frowned "… what is it?" her eyes went wide "… what? What happened? … You aren't going to take advantage are you? … Is she there now? … Why did you call me? … Well of course, I need to talk to her right away … not thinking straight? If she's there with you, she's gone completely insane… hai, arigato…" she sighed again, seemingly angry at whoever it was on the phone "fine"

Concerned, Shikamaru stood up to face her once she had put the phone down, "what is it Ino?"

"It's Sakura… she's a mess"

"What kind of mess? Is it bad?"

She placed a hand to her face to calm herself "let's just say, she hasn't been this bad since…"

"Christmas" he finished, knowing what she was hinting at with her voice

Less than half an hour ago, Neji had limped in after her, determined not to let her walk away in anger. He had attempted to remedy his earlier mistake in irresponsiveness, but it had never evolved into another spat like he had expected it to. It seemed that she was just fed up of storms in teacups, and they both decided that until it was something huge and drastic, most of their problems were probably not worth worrying about.

It also helped that she noticed the blood coming from his injured foot and insisted that he should sit down while she sorted it out. They were now left sitting together on a sofa in one of the many lounge rooms in the Hyuuga estate, his bandaged foot elevated onto her lap as they held hands.

It was only a slight show of affection, but it was enough to make them feel connected much more than they had been in previous weeks.

Tenten, sweetheart, you have no idea what this means to me. That I can hold you close like this, and that you smile back, comforts me more than I ever expected.

No one has ever held me like you do, and no one had ever tried as hard with me as you have in this relationship.

We are equals now. Two souls bound as one, neither one fighting for control over the other…

"Are you going into your inner monologue again?" she asked, looking up with a smirk.

"Don't worry; my attention is still on you" he assured her

"I have no doubt. It's still eerie."

"What is?"

"Knowing you are talking about me in your head. You could be saying anything and all I see are the facial expressions you go through"

"I do not express my thoughts externally" he insisted, a hint of a scowl ghosting his lips to the contrary.

"You do." she couldn't help but to tease "Not a lot, but for someone who has seen a lot of your face, the changes are noticeable."

"Hn"

She giggled slightly at his reaction and snuggled closer to him, letting his foot down on a nearby cushion to give her more flexibility.

"I wonder if I will ever understand you…" he scanned his eyes over her as he let a hand move along her shoulder

"Don't try" she told him "it will only make that oversized head of yours hurt"

He glared at her, un-amused by her taunt, but actually only made her giggle again rather than making her stop.

"Drop the stick up your ass Neji, both of us know you can be a lot freer"

"It is…"

"Unnecessary?" she cut him off with a smirk

"Actually, I was going to say inappropriate"

"Such an improvement" she intoned sarcastically

"It still applies"

"Why? Because it's not night time? Because we are not actually inside a bed?" she deliberately dropped the hints to make him blush.

"No"

"Then why? We are still alone, not likely to be disturbed, and you still have the same feelings for me." She ran her spare hand along the outside of his thigh as it rested across her "Why can't you loosen up?"

He swallowed his breath to calm himself "It will only lead to more intimate connections, which I am not prepared to conduct in this environment"

"You are such a boring arse" she let go quickly but kept the lighthearted nature of the conversation with a sweet smile.

"You love it" he attempted to joke back, but it just sounded like a really bad impression of Kiba

"nice try Neji." She giggled again "Not yet"

"But you said…"

She rolled her eyes "stop it. If I ever do fall for you, and it's certainly going to take longer than a few days, I'll tell you, all right? Don't fret about it. I'm happy at least, and I like seeing you happier than I have in a long time. That's what matters."

He sighed and let a loose smile form at the edges of his expression "I love you Tenten"

Slipping his hand from her shoulder to wrap softly around her waist, he kissed her on the cheek amorously.

She tensed for a second, as though something was making her uncomfortable, but quickly re-adjusted herself and smiled back again. "I know you do"

Sakura wandered back into the room to find him silently sitting on the edge of the bed, a still expression on his face. She wondered for a second what had happened, but the sight of a familiar book lying at the end of the bed made her freeze. It was closed now, but it was not where she had left it.

"Wha… Kakashi, what's going on?"

"I need a shower" he quickly went to leave, finally noticing her appearance.

"No you don't" she stood in the way of the door with her hands crossed over her chest "tell me what the hell my diary is doing there."

"I didn't mean to…" he muttered

"What? You just slipped it from under the bed to on top of it by accident?"

"Sakura, don't get mad"

"What am I supposed to get?! Did you read it?"

"Did you really mean what you said?" he looked down at the floor, shocked and saddened.

"Dear Kami- why?"

"Why did I want to know?"

"No! Why did you read it?"

"I uh… I was looking for something…"

"What?! What could you possible want that I couldn't tell you?"

"Why you married me…" he continued, trying to ignore her own questions "are you pregnant?"

"What?! Of course not, why would you think that?"

"It's why you married me right?"

"Oh Kami" she threw her hands in the air in frustration "I can't deal with this right now"

"When Sakura? When were you going to tell me?"

"Never" she grabbed hold of some clothes and locked herself immediately into the bathroom.

Letting a tap run to cover any sounds she would make, she looked long and hard into the mirror as a tear ran down her cheek. I'm so stupid…

He shouldn't have read that… there is nothing I can do now. He knows I didn't marry him for the reasons he thinks I did, and he probably thinks the worst. I can't speak to him… what would I say?

"You didn't love him and he was stupid to think so?"

Shut up, I didn't ask you!

"You needed to though. If you'd have asked me I would have just said get out once we fucked him"

But I didn't want to…

"You didn't want to marry him either"

That's not the point

"What is the point then?"

I'm a schizophrenic head case who doesn't deserve him, and now I've probably broken his heart

"You forgot 'workaholic', that's what got you into this mess"

No, Gaara got me into this mess, he suggested it… and he let it go ahead…

"Sure, blame Gaara"

Argh! Leave me alone!

She threw on her clothes hastily and wiped the moisture from her face before she let her emotions take a hold of her. Having forgotten to pick up a top, she had to keep his jonin shirt on,but she was far too concerned with getting out as soon as possible to trouble herself over it.

As she swung the door open, she came face to face with him as he attempted to block her exit.

"Kakashi, let me pass" she warned in a taut voice

"No, I don't think so. I want an explanation" he told her harshly

She tried to dismiss him "Enjoy your birthday. Genma wants to get you drunk"

"Sakura, don't change the subject" he frowned "how can you…?"

"Just shut up…" she snapped, and let chakra into her palms to push him out of the way.

He fell back fast against the bed, stunned that she would take to force like that.

She couldn't stand the sight of him looking so pitiful so she ran, and ran fast.

Nothing had prepared her for this eventuality and she had no idea what to do as she ran out of the apartment and down the street. She knew exactly what he must have been thinking, but she couldn't come up with anyway to explain it to him without forcing them further apart.

Knowing it was the closest place to go, Sakura did one of the most stupid things she had done for a while, and headed for that familiar doorstep.

She forced her emotions as best as she could to indifference as she knocked on the door awaiting an answer and tried to get her breath back.

Crashing sounds came from inside as the muffled voice called out in reply, "bloody hell… ah! Just a…"

The door was swung open a little wider to reveal a half naked jonin, barely covered by a bed sheet around his lower torso.

"I'm interrupting" Sakura sighed and slouched her shoulders dejectedly.

"Fuck, Sakura…" his eyes went wide as he blushed at her appearance.

"Gomen…" she muttered carelessly "I'll go somewhere else"

"no… wait…" he glanced back inside his apartment nervously, before a girl pushed out passed him, undressed and flustered as she sped passed Sakura.

Her own eyes went slightly wider "was that…?"

He nodded with a deeper blush and she nodded back.

He opened the door wider to let her inside, still clutching the sheet to his body tightly as if he was expecting to lose something down there if he didn't.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly

"Hai" he forced a smirk "I'll go and get dressed… or not…?"

She barely felt like glaring at him as she fell onto his sofa in a slump. "Arigato Kiba"

He frowned at her for a second curiously before heading into his bedroom. He returned a little while later in just a pair of loose trousers and stared at her as she sat with her head in her hands. "What happened?"

She lifted her head slightly "huh?"

"Well you haven't lectured me about sleeping with your staff so I figure that something has upset you" he sat beside her casually

She shrugged "Haruka can look after herself"

"Why are you here Sakura? You wouldn't ever come here unless you were too upset to think or you had no where else to turn"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"So there is something?"

"I just… I can't go home…"

"You need to stay here?" he raised an eyebrow

"I don't know where else I could go where no one would look for me" she gave him eye contact, conveying all of her feelings of confusion and hurt.

He froze "Kuso, this is serious. What did you do?"

"Nothing criminal, I just… Kakashi found out something I really didn't want to know and I have no idea what to say to him about it."

"So you came here"

She nodded "so I came here"

"You are hiding from your husband" he was visibly struggling from hiding his amusement

"Don't mock me Kiba." She started, but then shook her head to forget about it "can I use your phone?"

"Why?"

"I need to call someone" she glared incredulously

He sighed, realizing that it was probably the best explanation he was going to get, and then signaled to his phone on a small table beside the sofa.

"Arigato" she had to lean over him to reach it, then dialed the number and waited for an answer

"Hokage's office" came the reply

"Shizune, I need to speak to Tsunade"

"Sakura? It's Kakashi's birthday, what are you doing calling here?"

"Please, it's an emergency"

"Alright, I'll see what I can do" a little while later, Tsunade's voice came down the phone, "Sakura, if this is another joke…"

"It's not Shishou, I promise. I'm just… I won't be able to come into work for a while, and I'm not at home"

"He found out about the project, didn't he?"

"Hai, in the worst way possible, and I lost it" she surrendered, figuring that Tsunade had already gone through her research notes.

"Where are you?"

"I can't tell you that"

"Of course… well I hope you sort it all out without becoming a missing Nin" she said, with no sincerity in her voice at all

"Arigato" Sakura hung up with a sigh.

Kiba glared "you lost it?"

"I may have used some chakra to get passed him"

"You are psychotic"

"You know what? I don't care. I didn't come here to be judged Kiba" she started to fiddle with the bottom of Kakashi's shirt

"You should at least tell Ino" he suggested softly

She didn't seem convinced "why?"

"It's one week before the wedding and you are the maid of honor. She might need to know where you are"

She nodded reluctantly and he handed her the phone again. Dialing the number, she handed it right back to him.

He gave her a confused look.

"I can't do it" she explained "it's safer if you tell her"

"Fine" he sighed and waited for an answer "Ohayou Yamanaka-san is Ino there? … Oh, do you have his number? … No? Well, sorry to bother you sir…" he was hung up on, then turned to Sakura "she's at their new place with Shikamaru…"

Before he could even finish she was dialing a new number to give back to him before sinking more comfortably into his sofa.

"Yo Ino" he replied once she answered "…don't hang up I need to talk to you … you, you, this isn't an ANBU matter … it's Sakura … I'm not sure, she's had a fight with Kakashi about something but she won't say what, so she's staying with me for a while … no, of course not … no, she's um, in the bathroom … I just thought you had better know in case you needed to talk to her … I wouldn't try today if I was you, she's not thinking straight … whatever Ino, at least you know … I've got to go … bye" he hung up and glared even harder at Sakura. "You owe me"

"I do, I really do Kiba" she smiled sweetly at him "you don't know what this means to me"

"Any other time I would demand action out of this you know?"

"I know, and I almost would, but it'd only make things worse"

"You would?"

She nodded and leant against his shoulder.

"Even though you are a married woman?"

"What would you say if I told you I only married him for my career?"

"Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised"

"I thought so… that's why I thought it might be ok…"

"Thought what might be ok?" he worried

"That I came back here. You never get tired of being an escape route, so you have no complications"

"I'm simple, nice." He laughed "You're right though; as long as I have a gorgeous kunoichi under my arm, I'm happy"

"You don't mind me staying here?"

"May I point out again" he smirked, looping an arm over her shoulders "gorgeous kunoichi under my arm. What have I got to complain about?"

"I know you were jealous of him. I saw it in your eyes. Don't say you never wished there was something else between us." She looked up at him carefully.

"Sakura, you read too deeply"

"And you aren't nearly as arrogant as you act. You aren't Genma"

"He's just perverted" he scoffed

"Exactly. You aren't. It's more to you than just carnal desires; there's respect. You only pretend that you don't care."

"You are only saying this because you are over-sensitive at the moment."

"I am not! I'll prove it!" she stood up from the sofa and began to un-button Kakashi's shirt "fuck me now"

"What?! No! Have you gone mad?" he sat up straighter in alarm

"Why not Kiba?"

"You are married, I can't"

"Why not Kiba?" she fastened the last button back up again

"I won't do it when you are upset like this." He looked down at the floor "I can't take advantage of you like that"

She smirked, knowing that she had won "you see? If you were really that selfish and disrespectful, you would have accepted that offer, no matter what state I was in. You care Kiba, whether you'll admit it or not"

"Why do you always do that?" he frowned

"Do what?"

"Your life is a fuck up so rather than doing anything about it, you settle for trying to fix everyone else"

"You don't know what you're talking about" she sulked and sat back down again.

"Don't I? Isn't that why you became a medic in the first place; to help people because you felt useless fighting?"

"Leave me alone" her voice cracked in annoyance

"Fine" he stood up and walked towards his kitchen "just call for me when you are done wallowing in self pity"

AN: I'm so sorry- don't kill me. You asked for a big plot point so you got it, and it's not out of the blue, I have scanned all of the details and it is concreted completely in fact and evidence from previous chapters. I really wish I didn't revert to angst and negatives every time I want to progress something, but it always happens.

Yes, everyone is getting OOC but that's because of the events around them more than anything else.

I couldn't resist bringing Haruka in for a quick cameo, and all that stuff about Kiba is just things I've been thinking, realizing after the last chapter just how similar I write him and Genma.

Anyways… feedback is a must, as is visits and comments on my website, and I am going to be putting a poll up on the MIA page asking for couple choices and things.

Kami I wish I could just write romance without the drama… oh well…

Ooh... but... 250+ reviews! yay! Arigato to kiniara once again for reaching that mark. You are all loverly beautiful people.

Stay shiny and show the luff

Xx Belizma-chan xX