Accidents

It wasn't her fault he was her teacher. He wasn't to blame when she became his student. Is it possible it's love's fault they're trapped in this accident?

Chapter 15- Too Close For Comfort

Sakura tried to steady her heartbeat as she took deliberately slow steps toward the ANBU headquarters looming ominously ahead. Her breath was strained and she was sure her face was contorted uncomfortably from the rising panic tightening in her chest. She tried to take no notice of the three figures that kept up a steady pace with her, hiding in the dark shadows of the trees and buildings, their eyes following her every move. She shifted her shoulder bag carefully and zigzaged through the infastructure leading to the courtyard of the ANBU headquarters. The front doors were lit, meaning there were still people going about their business within.

Sakura took a deep breathe. Her feet crunched over the gravel, her shoes scuffling over the ground. She hesitated outside the large tinted front doors, her hand shaking slightly as she reached for the silver handle. A static buzzed in her ear and her hand froze.

" What's the delay Sakura?" came Naruto's voice from the ear peice she wore hidden behind her curtain of pink locks. She brushed a strand of hair back to eliminate the static interference and sighed.

" This might not be such a good idea. I mean if we're caught it'll be worse than me being shipped away," she muttered. She could hear Naruto repeat her words, a breif struggle, then the sound of a rough smack. The clearing of a throat came through and Sakura nervously smiled.

" I know this might be scary Sakura, but remember. You're a top ninja. This is a mission on your future. If you really don't want to go through with it, you need to decide now. Because once you step through the doors, that path is the one we take, no turning back," Kakashi said carefully. Sakura nodded. She wasn't sure which was the smarter choice, the one with less reprocutions. Either way, the odds wieghed more heavily in her mind toward stealing the scrole and trying to find out how she could possibly stay in Konoha with Kakashi and her friends.

Then again, was it such a bad idea to have a change of scenery? Sakura quickly pushed that thought under the rug. Her heart said stay, so stay she would. She took a deep breath, feeling her pulse slow steadily and wrapped her fingers around the cool metal and pulled the handle down.

She could hear Kakashi mutter something to Naruto and Sasuke and she caught out of the corner of her eye the sight of them darting to the back of the building to wait for her to allow them into her office. She fixed her eyes ahead and steadily walked into the lobby, nodding and greeting the few Jounin she met on her way upstairs. She climbed the marble steps slowly, keeping her cool as she trancended the last step to the hallway containing the door to her office. The lights were off. The beams of the moon pooled out over the polished marble floors, the ethereal glow giving Sakura the goosebumps.

She quickly and silently made her way to her door, the jingle of her keys disturbing the terrible silence. She slid the key into the lock and pushed the door open, snapping it closed behind her. Her eyes adjusted to the pale light filtering through the dark glass that served as the fourth wall to her office and made her way around the desk to look out onto the dark forest. A dim flash of light breifly caught her eye and she backed away as Kakashi and the other landed lightly along the rim of the glass. Sakura carefully deactivated the alarm on the small door on the window and unlocked it.

It was barely large enough for Kakashi to squeeze through, but with the flexiblity of a cat, he ducked and manuvered till his body was in the room. Sasuke followed easily and stood beside Kakashi as they waited for Naruto. He smiled triumphantly before ducking in and not a moment later felt his torso wedge itself uncomfortably in place.

" Oh this is just great," he whispered angrily as he struggled to free himself. Sakura chuckled nervously as Kakashi and Sasuke pushed and pulled him. He finally tumbled silently into the room, getting up huffily while dusting himself off.

" Better lay off the ramen, Naruto," Sakura teased, poking his stomach. He pouted and turned away, crossing his arms.

" I'm not fat... just taller than the rest of you," he said defensively. True to his word, Naruto stood a good inch over Kakashi and almost a foot and a half over Sakura. Sakura thought it humorous how he went from being the runt of the team to the tallest member.

" Lets get to work," Sasuke whispered, shoving Naruto to the center of the room. Naruto shot a nasty look his way before succumbing to the command. Kakashi joined the two and formed a circle large enough for Sakura to fit into. Slowly, they formed their seals, silent as ghosts. Sakura watched them work, their jutsu's creating a blue hue around them. Slowly, they worked one at a time, forcing their chakra at the ceailing. Chunks of plaster fell to the floor, eminating no noise suprisingly.

Sasuke moved away from the three after they had made headway, breaking through the thin plaster layer and into the marble floor of the Hokage's office. He stayed near the door, working a barrier gen jutsu around the room upstairs and Sakura's office to prevent the noise of chunks of the heavy marble falling to resognate any farther than the two rooms. Sakura waited with bated breath as they worked, perfect team work and within 5 minutes they broke through the floor, the ceailing of the Hokage's office becoming clearer and clearer as they widened the hole.

They stopped their labor and Sakura carefully tiptoed through the rubble to gaze up through the hole in the cealing. It was just large enough for her to sqeeze through. She hesitated and glanced at Kakashi, her seafoam eyes glittering with fear in the moonlight. He gave her a comforting smile before the three ninja hoisted her up. She sat unmoving atop Kakashi's shoulders then was lifted carefully up into the hole, her hand gripping the broken marble rim of the hole for security from tipping over. With a nudge she lifted herself up into the office.

She staggered to her feet, careful not to fall back into the hole. With slow steps, she crept over to the vacant desk sitting grandly before the large windowed wall. Her stomach tossed and turned, tying itself in knots. Her heart leapt into her throat as she spotted the scroll lying atop the neatly polished oak surface. Very carefully she lifted the delicate paper. She licked her lips uncontiously as she tugged open the paper's end, pulling it open to read the sloppy kanji. What she read made her hands shake so uncontrolably, the scroll slipped from her hands and landed with a clatter to the floor.

She blinked her wide eyes as she staggered backwards, trying to catch herself on anything as the room began to spin, her vision tunneling and regaining focus over and over. She wasn't going to Mioki. She was being given as a P.O.W. in exchange for a captured Konoha Black Opps ninja. There was a secret war being waged that she didn't even know about. No wonder Tsunade looked so grave each time she saw her. Sakura's eyes filled with tears and she crumpled to the floor.

They were sending her to her death ultimately. Everything over the last few weeks suddenly became so clear to her. Tsunade's opposition to her and Kakashi's relationship, the fact that she received pitiful looks from her co-ninja. She sat shaking, her wide eyes staring at the simple paper that ruined her life, her future, her love. Tears ran over her cheeks, soaking through the thin cloth of her shirt.

This was the end. She knew she couldn't escape this fate. A Black Opps ninja was more valuble than her, a special Jonin practicing medicine. They needed him back to protect the village's secrets. She never thought, in all the years that she was growing up training to be a ninja, that she would actually have to sacrifice her life for her home. It was always something the teachers said to frighten students, to discourage the ones who only took being a ninja as a joke to drop out of the academy.

The faces of all her friends, her family, ran through her head in a cinematic reel. She could picture Ino spinning in the sundress Sakura had gotten her for her birthday, her happy eyes always a safe haven for her and her darkest secrets. She saw the laughing bright smiles of her team, Naruto and Sasuke running around as children, teasing each other and wrestling. And of course Kakashi. Her heart clenched and her tears ran in torrents down her flushed cheeks and dripped rhythmically from her chin. His face would forever haunt her now until the day she died.

How could everything just dissapear like this?Wasn't there any other choice? She wasn't ready to give herself up, no matter how selfish the thought was. She wanted to live, to grow, to experience life with Kakashi. She would never have children, raise a family and settle quietly in the peaceful village she loved. She couldn't stop the violent hitching of her body as she gasped and wept openly.

" Sakura?"

Her eyes, glazed with warm tears, peered up in the darkness at the form crouched before her. A hand extended her way and she eagerly accepted it. With a gentle pull, she was embraced carefully in the arms of her unknown confidante. The soothing words of the stranger were of a female, but she couldn't quite grasp who it was, or why they were there.

" Who are you?" Sakura said shakily, the secure hold on her retreating as the woman stood. She gently reached out and took hold of the string to the lamp atop the desk and tugged it down gently, flooding the room in brilliant light.

Sakura gasped, her heart growing heavy and fearful as her seafoam eyes took in the form of Tsunade, an anxious Shizune behind her. Shizune scooped up the scroll at her feet and handed it to Tsunade who looked from the parchment to Sakura. She shook her head, her hazel eyes settling on Sakura finally.

" You really shouldn't have seen this Sakura," Tsunade said with a grave voice. Sakura shrunk, her tears still spilling down her face. She felt nauseated and bubbling with anger.She knew she was in deeper trouble than she could imagine. Breaking and entering into the Hokage's office was a crime of treason, but the only thing running through her mind was being sent to her death. It only took a second for her fear to be replaced with anger.

" Yo-you!" she screamed suddenly, her finger pointed accusingly at Tsunade. The blonde Sannin took a cautious step backward as Sakura's face contorted, her eyes narrowed and ablaze. She gritted her teeth, rising from the floor to lean weakly against the desk. Her breath came in ragged gulps, her fists clenched at her sides.

" I trusted you! AND YOU LIED TO ME!"

Sakura's screams from upstairs reached Kakashi and the others below. So far they hadn't been discovered, but it was only a matter of moments before Tsunade was on to their plans. Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Naruto, his intense eye focused on the shaken boys.

" Go now, leave this to me. We'll meet in the Uchiha complex on the far edge of the village," he whispered and the two nodded and darted for the window. In a flash they were off through the forest to find refuge in the abandoned Uchiha complex.

Meanwhile, Sakura's head was reeling as she staggered forward. She felt her balance elude her and she could feel all her weight shift forward, an uncontrolable motion she couldn't stop. As suddenly as she was sure she'd crash to the floor, an arm wrapped about her waist and drew her upright. Her faded vision managed to make out Kakashi's hidden face behind his catlike ANBU mask before darkness seemed to flood the room.

Kakashi lifted the uncontious woman into his arms, her long rosette locks draped softly over his forearm and hanging like a gentle curtain. He peered at Tsunade through the slits in his mask, her terrified face returning to a grim facade. She watched him, carefully studying Sakura in his arms. She seemed hesitant to punish them, but once the shock of seeing Sakura's emotional breakdown wore off, she'd be furious and all hell would break loose.

She then studied Kakashi. The black hood of the mask was pulled over his silver locks and his eyes were shadowed by the lack of lighting in the room. She squinted, trying to make out just whose face was conceiled behind the thin material and paint.

" Who are you? Take that mask off," she demanded, but the authority seemed lost on her voice and it seemed more of a request than a command. He shook his head slowly and she sighed and drew her hand to her face, her fingers rubbing her temples sorely.

" Take her from here, don't tell her what's happened if she doesn't remember. That paper was not final, it was a foolish demand my understudy figured would work," Tsunade said harshly, looking over at Shizune. The woman grimaced at the peircing glare and bowed her head remorsefully. Tsunade turned back to him and held out the scroll.

" Here, I want you to read this. If you're her rescuer, you have a right to know what she saw that caused this tonight. But assure her it's false. I could never allow this."

She turned from Kakashi, but turned her head and smiled. " You'd better go before the Black Opps team gets here. I summoned them before I realized it was Sakura. Once the order's made to arrest you, I can't lift it till you're captured."

Kakashi nodded and walked forward to drop silently through the hole, holding Sakura tight to his body. With quick strides, he dove through the window's opening and plumetted the 5 stories to the ground with Sakura in his arm. As they fell silently to the forest floor below, Sakura turned and clung to Kakashi. He watched her serene face, her hair whisping over her features. If what Tsunade said was true, then Sakura wasn't really leaving. That put some sort of release of the iron clamp on his heart.

He flipped in the air and landed neatly to his feet and within seconds he was sprinting through the underbrush, his feet pounding the earth at a pace that seemed unhuman. He pushed all the chakra he could to his legs, surging through the forest like an unseen dart, a streak of black going to and fro. In a matter of minutes he had reached the desolated part of town that had once belonged to the Uchiha family. The buildings stood silent and untouched.

He slowed to a walk and entered the front gates to the small community. The moon hung low in the sky, lighting his surroundings in a pristine glow that made the ghost town seem even more haunted. His eyes searched everywhere for Naruto and Sasuke, but he only saw empty houses and desolate streets. His feet moved slowly over the ground, careful to leave barely an inprint in the soft Konoha sand.

The scenery was all the same. Houses upon streets, all boarded up and forgotten. Feeling completely exposed in the empty street, he turned up an alley that sudenlly merged with a stone pathway. He followed it curiously. The other alleys ended with wooded walls, but instead tall fences rose to each side of him and he felt as though he were being led through a maze. The land sloped and rose and Kakashi followed the path obediantly.

Suddenly the fences dissapeared and he stood at the opening to a garden. Its landscape was delicate. An extensive koi pond stretched throughout the entire garden, small bridges linking the peices of green land together. The walls of the garden were guarded by immense trees shrewn with vines with blooming pink buds. The whole garden was secluded. He followed the continual path, over small bridges and up and down small hills and valleys dotted with white delicate flowers. It never seemed to end. His eyes followed the winding trail that continued on into the distance.

He stopped on one of the many bridges on his way and set Sakura down atop the railing, holding her body steady. Beneath them, enormous koi circled and swam, their scales reflecting the moon's rays in shimmering beams.The entire surface of the water glowed and Kakashi, out of shear curiosity, settled Sakura on his knee as he crouched and reached out to touch the water.

" I wouldn't."

Taking Sakura quickly to his side, he swung around to meet the speaker, kunai in hand. Sakura's limp form molded to his side and her head lolled on her shoulders, her flowing pink hair swishing out over her shoulders to revealing her porcelain face. Her eyes moved ceaselesly beneath their lids as though she were deep in sleep. Her fingers unconciously clung to the ANBU armor strapped tightly to his muscular frame, her thin fingers wound about the shoulder straps. Kakashi could feel her breath splash over his skin in warm waves, the hair on his bare arms raised with gooseflesh.

Across from him stood Naruto and Sasuke, just as they were, wearing their ANBU masks atop their heads. Sasuke's eyes were locked on Sakura. Naruto wore a sheepish grin, his hands behind his head in their usual fashion.

Kakashi relaxed upon seeing the two and quickly satchelled his weapons and drew Sakura closer, supporting her with both arms. Her head came to rest lightly against his chest and he smiled. She was safe, that's all that mattered. From the second they fled the ANBU headquarters, his nerves were steel and he had this fear that constricted him as he took Sakura as far from that place as possible.

" She okay?" Sasuke nodded his head at Sakura's unconcious body slumped comfortably in Kakashi's arms. The silver haired Jonin nodded and tugged his mask off, his hair illuminating the night, his messy locks resuming their usual unruly standstill atop his head. He let the hooded mask hang against his back before lifting Sakura into his arms.

" Is there some place here we can stay till things quiet down?" Kakashi asked, looking at the quiet Uchiha. Sasuke nodded and casually walked off the bridge and up the path to a small house in the center of the garden Kakashi hadn't noticed till just then.

" This is the garderer's house but, well, it's been decades since this place had a caretaker," Sasuke explained, sliding open the door. A single tea lamp was lit in the center of the room. It was simple, but the furnishings were elaborate and typical of the Uchiha's to lavish on a simple caretaker.

" It's not very big, but it'll work," Sasuke said in a weary voice before dropping into a chair beside the door. " I'll take first watch."

Kakashi grunted his approval and hoisted Sakura further into his arms, her head laying gently against his chest. Sasuke watched him carefully.

" There's a bedroom at the end of that hall. The bed's been made up. I figured we'd need a place to go," he said with a wave of his hand.

Following the long corridor, Kakashi found the bedroom at the end of the hall. The bed was made up perfectly, as though it had been in use even up to this day. Kakashi moved to the bed and layed Sakura down. He pulled the comforter over her slight frame and watched for a moment while she took a deep breath and settled further into the matress. It warmed him to see her safe. He swept back her hair from her face and left a small kiss on her forehead before pulling back and looking at her face. The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile and he felt his heart jump into his throat. She sighed and rolled over, her chest rising and falling with her small breaths.

He left the room, closing the door quietly behind him and entered the front room to find Naruto in a corner snoring and Sasuke's dark eyes following him.

" How is she?" the brooding man asked as Kakashi took a seat on a mat across from him.

" She'll be fine by morning, possibly a little shaken, but I'll explain everything to her," he said quietly before pulling the scroll from his satchel. Sasuke eyed the paper curiously. " What is that," he asked as Kakashi unrolled the paper and skimmed through it. His face fell to disgust and he tossed the paper over to Sasuke. He caught it carefully and read over, a sneer forming his mouth.

" What is this shit?" he asked bitterly, tying it back up and rolling it over to Kakashi. Wordlessly the Jonin returned the scroll to his satchel and stood.

" It's something Shizune wrote, or so the Hokage said," he said bitterly as he leaned against the window and looked out onto the garden.

" So what are we going to do about this? Obviously Shizune has become a problem," Sasuke commented as he came to stand opposite Kakashi, his onyx eyes searching the darkened landscape.

" I'm not sure yet, but this is going to end."

Author's Notes:

Holy moley! haha finally i finished this chapter. good gracious this took me forever, but i wanted as much as i could cram into it so i worked on it as much as possible. I'm pretty satisfied with it, if i do say so myself.

well well well, our favorite couple of ninja have found themselves in a whole new pot o' stew haha. Kakashi grows aware that shizune a sneaky little... well lets just say she's not a nice lady.

Sasuke is jealous of course cough cough like you couldn't tell haha. but he wants what's best for dear Sakura, so thats that. pft and naruto is just...awesome haha.

SO- next chapter!!!!!

CHAPTER 16!!!!- A Meaning For All Time

hope you guys are psyched, i know i am!!!

thanks for your patronage and patience, i know i've been a little slow with updates, but i graduate this year and i'm freaking out! so besides my sporatic updates, your stories with remain as intense as ever!!!

with love

-Black