Kakashi slipped his hands into his pockets, seemingly unphased by the ANBU surrounding him. The copy-nin kept his Sharingan eye closed, not wanting to give the Hokage's guards a reason to attack.

"I can't say I'm at all surprised by this," the slug Sannin said calmly as she approached him, "given your family history."

Sakura watched as her shishou approached her ex-sensei. On the outside she looked shocked that her mentor knew about Kakashi's true self, but somewhere deep inside of her she knew the blonde Sannin had some knowledge about this. Her two teachers stood there looking at each other, their faces calm, plain. The ANBU who had the would be werewolf hunter slung over his shoulder 'poofed' himself away along with his charge.

"Shishou what is going on?!" she asked, whilst keeping an eye on the cat masked ANBU closest to her.

"Indeed, take him away," the Hokage ordered her men, "and keep him away from any reflective serifs."

"Very well, I will not resist Hokage-sama." the copy-nin did not move as the elite ninjas moved in on him.

It surprised the honey-eyed woman to see him react as a dutiful shinobi; she was expecting more resistance from him, considering his breeding.

The ANBU did not even have to raise a hand to the copy-nin, he kept a calm visage as they lead him away. Sakura stayed there rooted to the spot as the cat masked man seemed to ignore her to assist his team-mates. She missed the fact that Tsunade had moved next to her, the pink-haired medic only saw her ex-sensei's back as he was lead away, losing him was always a concern for her, but she always thought it would come by a shinobi's blade or Black Spiral claws but now she realised she could easily lose him at home. And what more it seemed to be happening right before her.

"Sakura." Tsunade's voice brought her around.

"What is going to happen to him?" she never looked at her mentor as she asked.

The silver-haired Garou seemed to sense her distraught state; he stopped walking and looked back at her. The medic's body tensed as his escorts stopped as well, but they did not attempt to force him along in anyway. She saw he winked at her, but it could have been just a blink, it was hard to tell.

"The ANBU blades are lined with silver," there was a hint of concern in the Hokage's voice, "but we both know he is smart enough not to try anything."

Sakura's body started to tremble as the masked elites started to move him along, "Y-You're not planning to kill him are you?"

The honey-eyed woman rose an eyebrow at her apprentice. "What would make you think that?" She turned away from where the ANBU and Kakashi where heading, "Sakura, come with me."

The pink-hared medic hung her head, causing some of the locks to fall across her face as she wrapped her coat tight around her body. The night had seemed to have got very cold very fast, the night he told her to go out and enjoy herself, and night planed for fun was turning into a living nightmare.

"Why did you not tell me anything about this?" Tsunade sighed, over the years she had become a second mother to Sakura.

"How could I? I promised to keep this a secret for Kakashi-kun, and even if I did tell you I thought you would think I was crazy."

"Are you Kin?"

Sakura gave a small nod, "Hai, I was there when he went through his first change."

"And he has never hurt you?"

"Never," her voice did not come out as strong as she would like, "Kakashi would never do anything to hurt me."

"You really think that?"

"No," her voice now had the strength she wished fore earlier, "I know he wont."

The Hokage sighed as the silences seemed to stretch between them, she was worried about her apprentice, but like Sakura she knew that he would never willingly hurt her.

"What about you shishou? How did you know all about this?"

The blonde smirked. "You will see, but lets get into somewhere warm, this could take all night."

They did not speak again till they were safely in the Hokage's office; Sakura gave a small sigh in comfort as they entered the nicely warmed room. Tsunade sat down in her chair as she quietly rolled open a scroll and starting writing. She stopped to glance up at Sakura, it had been a long night for her but all going as planed, it would be over soon.

"Where did you take Kakashi-kun to?"

The Hokage did not have to answer her, as soon as the medic had asked the room was filled briefly with smoke as two of the ANBU and the copy-nin jutsued themselves in. The silver-haired male did not have time to give his signature 'Yo' as Sakura threw her arms around his neck in a suffocating hug. They had been separated for only twenty minutes but to the medic it felt like days.

"I thought you said there was nothing between you two." The Hokage's voice had an edge of laughter to it.

Sakura's face went bright red, but no one could tell as she buried it into his neck. She felt more than heard Kakashi chuckle as he put one arm around her shoulders and placed his chin on top of her head. He could see the mixture of feelings in the Hokage's eyes, she would kill him for this, but she was pleased to see Sakura so happy. He put his other arm around her waste to pull her closer to him; he surprised a smirk as the honey-eyed woman scowled at him.

"Well if you two can pry yourselves away from each other so Sakura can hear me properly," she could hear Sakura make a small 'eep' sound before she turned around in Kakashi's arms, "before you ask yes I am Kin, all of our Hokage's have had some knowledge of the Garou, Kakashi. I'm sure you know that there is something odd about the ANBU masks."

He glanced down to the ANBU on one knee beside him, he remembered his own mask, a wolf, it seemed fitting. The mask always seemed to be imbued with some sort of jutsu, but he could never tell why.

"The masks have been designed to block the effects of the Delirium, and as you know there is silver mixed in with the metal of their blades."

"It sounds like the ANBU ranks where made to fight the Garou." Sakura's brow started to knit together.

"It was more of a defensive measure, when Konoha was first founded a lot of the clans had strong bloodlines from high ranking Garou, but it seems that training the chakra system had a debilitating effect on young Garou, to the point of having the possibility to make them just human kin. But no need to worry Hatake it only effects them if they have not already gone through their first change."

"So you mean chakra manipulation can decrease someone's chance of being a full Garou?" Sakura was now holding tightly onto Kakashi's arm.

"Exactly, and because of that the Garou blood in this village is slowly dying out."

"Was there a long-term plan to use the Garou as weapons? Like the tailed beasts?" Kakashi asked, trying not to sound like he was growling.

"BAKA! The secret idea behind this village was to get around the boundaries that had been put up between human and Garou, the ANBU were to fight off Black Spiral Dancers!"

Kakashi tightened his grip on Sakura, "You seem to know a lot about this, even about my father."

"I was in this even before I was born," she stood up sharply and slammed her hands down on the desk, "the plan was for Garou and Shinobi to face the coming Apocalypse together, the idea's laid down by the founder of this village - a Garou himself - the first Hokage."

Kakashi's visible eye widened, why had he not heard anything like this? Surely something as big as a Garou founding a hidden village would have sent waves across the Garou nation. Keeping something like this a secret would have been impossible too, as the spirits would have whispered about it. The only thing that could have made this happen was the first must have had full support from his Tribe.

The Sannin sighed as she sat back into her chair. "As far as we know, no other village has any knowledge of the Garou, but now lets get down to you two." She wrote something down in the scroll. "I'm surprised that you are Kin Sakura, but then again we have lost track of most of the lines. Kakashi you will be given solo missions from now on, only teaming up with Sakura or ANBU when needed. Now is there anything you want to add?"

Sakura bit her lip. "Umm, well we did run into some trouble, and we will need some contact with Caller-san and ahh..." Kakashi gave her a squeeze.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but we had a run in with Black Spirals and we fear that they may be waiting to attack us," he said plainly.

He could see the anger rise in the Hokage's eyes as her jaw clenched.

"Fine, Hatake you were poisoned on your last mission, Sakura as we don't know what kind of poison it was you are to temporarily move in with him for close observation.

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou."

"Also I will look the other way if there is need for you to leave the village." she said as she noted something down on the scroll.

Sakura took a sigh of relief and leaned back into the Garou behind her, they would not be separated at this point. She did not care that he was hugging her in front of her mentor and second mother, or worry about him getting hurt by a werewolf hunter, ohh ya the hunter!

"What's going to happen to Shiroi?"

"Do you really think I would let someone like that willingly wander about the village? After Kakashi's unnatural behaviour and knowing about his father I wondered if he was full Garou too, so I used her to flush out his true self." she smirked.

"Well then if there is nothing more you need us for..." without waiting for any word from the Hokage, the copy-nin 'poofed' himself and Sakura away.

The two ANBU who had been quiet and still like statues jumped to their feet.

"Leave him," Tsunade ordered, "just make sure our stray deer is taken care of. Dismissed."

--

The Garou and his kin were safely back in his apartment. Despite the familiar and safe surroundings she would not let go of him, Kakashi grinned to himself as he let her hold him. He did not mind this, he was happy to stay there with their arms around each other till she was done. The copy-nin rubbed Sakura's back in what he was hoping to be a comforting manner, he was partly at a loss on what to do, and he could tell she was upset but she was so, quiet.

"I was.."

"Worried about me," he finished her sentence, "I know."

"Look at me," she let go of him and rubbed her face, "I'm meant to be a strong kunoichi, the Hokage's apprentice and I'm falling apart."

"Hey, hey," he cupped her face in his hands, "You are not falling apart, you are Sakura and as long as I have known you, you have always worried about everyone you deeply care for." He ran this thumb over her cheek. "Thank you for caring about me." He gave her his happy eye crease.

She could feel the heat rise in her face, she could tell that the lines in their relationship were becoming blurred. Kakashi let his hands slowly fall away from her, he then backed away to look out the glass doors leading to his balcony, the sun was starting to rise, the cold blue light that was starting to seep into the deep sky.

"You should go to bed, it's been a long day for you." Kakashi said, eye remaining fixed on the sky.

"Hai, I should," she sighed, "things seem to be happening so fast."

He chuckled to himself.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-kun." she gasped realising what she just said, "This must be even worse for you!"

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing I can't handle."

There were a few moments of silences between them, the copy-nin keeping his gaze set on the early morning sky as the pink-hared medic closed the gap between them.

"Kaka-kun," she lent up against him, "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmmm." she knew that was Kakashi for 'yes'.

"Do you ever regret being Garou?"

"No," the answer was not hard to admit to, "weather I am Garou or not would not change the fact this is happening out there, at least now we have a chance to fight."

She gave his arm a squeeze, "I wonder if they will have to fight."

She did not have to explain who 'they' where, he know who she was talking about all to well, "I hope not."

"Are you coming to bed?" the way she said it made them sound like a real item.

"I will be along later, I'm just going to think over some things first."

She did not ask, Sakura knew she was lucky to get the man to open up to her as much as he had, "Night them Kaka-kun." She gave his arm a quick hug.

He looked down at his hand when he heard the door close. Watching his nails turn from normal to long black claws and back again, closely observing how the rest of his hand strained, not being allowed to shift along with them.

"Control comes later," he said to himself, "so why do I have perfect control at times like this, but when it matters I can feel myself on the point of frenzy!" He sighed, trying to remember what he was told about it. "Frenzy is a defensive mechanism, it can be triggered by extreme hunger, large amounts of silver nearby, being severely wounded or seeing a pack-mate wounded or any strong emotion like envy, hate or lust."

He froze, lust, would that mean that he could end up hurting or killing Sakura if they…. No. He was her sensei; he was too old for her, nothing like that could happen between them. Yet one part of him told him that he was Garou and she was Kin, Gaia had practically made it for them to be together. He raked his hand through his silver mane, his mind would straighten itself out after a good night's sleep. He stopped himself there, she was in his bed - damn - he crouched down onto all fours and forced himself into his wolf form. It was easier for him to be in the same bed as her this way, no human hands to wander in their sleep and he was sure she felt the same. Has she ever shared a bed with a man before? Sure their where mission that required them to share sleeping quarters but nothing like this.

Silently he padded into the bedroom; the shuriken-print cover was down around her waste. Slowly he stepped onto the bed, trying not to wake her in the proses.

"Kaka-kun." she mumbled in her sleep.

The wolf froze, even holding his breath till he was sure she would not wake up. When he was sure no movement would wake her he settled himself down, taking the covers between his jaws to pull them up over them. As he played his head down he realised that he would never get her scent out of his bedding.

--

Sakura stirred as she raised her sleep-ridden arms up to rub her face.

"Morning." a voice growled to her.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she saw the familiar sight of a silver-grey wolf sat on the edge of the bed. Looking about for his clock she saw it smashed on the bedroom floor, the back pulled open and teeth marks visible on the ceasing. The wolf's red and gold eyes where set on the window, keen, wild eyes that Sakura was happy to not have fixed on her. Yet a part of her wanted him to look at her with those eyes, like they would give her more insight into the man if she could gaze into them if only for a moment.

"What's the time?" she yawned, trying not to give anything away.

"Don't know," he snorted in a very wolf-like manner, "But the sun is starting to set."

"W-What?" she could not believe that she seeped all day.

"Don't worry about it," he flopped onto his back, turning back into his human form, "You heard Hokage-sama, I'm poisoned and need you to keep an eye on me."

"But I can't believe I slept all day I.. Crap Ino!"

"Hummm?"

"I was with her when Shiroi showed up, I said I would meet with her today!"

The copy-nin chuckled, "I'm sure she had found out where you are and has been informed about it, so she won't feel like you stood her up."

"I guess you're right." she said, trying to resist going back to sleep.

"We will have to get ready before its completely dark, they wont risk an attack out in daylight, the Wyrm does not want itself known any more then us Garou."

"Hai," she sighed, "Kaka-kun, as a Garou do you ever get any strange dreams?"

"Strange dreams?" he rose an eyebrow at her, "I do."

"I have been having this same dream, not every night, but most. I'm being chased by a giant black dog, no matter how fast or how long I run for I can't get away from it, when I think its just about to get me someone jumps in and kills it."

"Oh?" he rolled onto his front and held himself over her, hands either side of her head, "And who is this saviour of yours?"

She looked away from him, a slight blush on her face, "It's you."

"When did this start?" It was not really the dream he wanted to be in.

"From the point I first met you, but it was never clear that it was you till a few months before your first change."

"I see." he said as he pushed himself away.

Sakura slow sat up, dangling her legs over the side of the bed and resting her head against the top of his arm, "Things are going to get weird." she said, listening to the blood rush through his arm.

"More than you know," he glanced down at her, "More than you know."

--

Kakashi watched the stars sparkle in the night sky. It was a pleasant night or it would be if he could shift this feeling of dread. He had been constantly on edge and could not turn off no matter how hard he tried. Everything was telling him that tonight would be the night the Dancers make their move.

"I know that look," Sakura said, coming up from behind him, "And I don't even need to see your face, something it going to happen right?"

He raked his hand through his silver hair, "All of my instincts are telling me so, but we can't act on a feeling."

"But your feelings have never been wrong, remember back when we were in wave, and you had a feeling Zabuza was still alive."

"That was different."

"But you were still right Kaka-kun," she pulled on her gloves, "it beats looking over our shoulders day after day."

Kakashi picked at the flaking paint of the balcony railing and scratched at the exposed metal, she smiled at him. It was something he would do when he was deep in thought, she first noticed it when they where in wave, he would scratch at the metal guards on the back of his gloves.

"Don't worry Kaka-kun, you were able to kill one of them, now that we are better prepared we are going to be fine."

He was going to comment about her telling him not to worry for a change, when a long, deep howl ripped through the night.

"W-Was that them?" her eyes where wide.

"No, that was Caller-san's howl, he needs help."

She grabbed hold of his arm as he went to jump over the railing, "Wait! I'm coming as well, even if you do have outstanding healing I can still help."

"If the Black Spirals are there you could get killed! You must understand if we go neither on us could come back, this has more risk then a S-Rank mission!"

He did not have to tell her that, but by kami he was not going to let him go alone. Her grip on his arm tightened, maybe she should have thought it through more but she knew she would have regretted not doing it in the long run. Using her strength she pulled him towards her and pressed her lips to his cloth covered ones. He gasped but did not pull away, his body relaxed for the first time that night as he wanted to lean into her warmth, but his feet felt rooted to the spot. The death grip on his arm loosened as she pulled away leaving Kakashi with a great sense of loss.

"In case one of us does not come back." He could see the blush on her face as she spoke.

It almost killed him to see her shy away after being so bold. He cupped her face in his hands and slowly brought his lips to hers, kissing her as deeply and as tenderly as the mask would allow.

"In case we do both comeback." He whispered into her ear.

Sorry it has been so long, vistaing family so writing time has been limited. and your eyes are not play tricks on you, this Ch has been beta'ed

there may be a delay with the next part so in the meantime i have uploaded an old storythat i had on Fanlib, so feel free to check out How The Wolf Howls

stay safe out there Mistrunner