A/N: Is this the devil's work? Has someone attempted human transmutation and lifted her from the dead? Whatever the case, I'm back with the 6th chapter that many people thought would never come.. To be honest, I didn't even know if it would ever come. XD I reread the story and cringed through the terrible writing, the poor plot development... I hope that this chapter is more well-written and redeems the story at least somewhat! Unfortunately, it doesn't push the story too much farther along the way, but it's an update! Lots of exclamation points.

–

Chapter 6:

It Begins

–

It was drizzling three days later on the morning that Sakura was to receive her first official ladynin mission scroll. She pushed aside the curtains in her bedroom upon waking up, only to see empty streets and drops of rain trailing down the glass surface of the window. Making a sour face, she pushed away and headed to the bathroom to get a shower.

She couldn't place the feeling or the reason for it, but the past couple days had been marked by a sense of heaviness in her chest. Filling out paperwork at the clinic that essentially signed away her duties to the next capable medicnin in the village during her mission leave, she first noticed the feeling that had taken up residence within her. She often felt it somewhere deep in her ribcage, and at first she panicked and mistook it to be an undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia or gall bladder disease before more sensible thinking took over.

From a lack of further symptoms to examine, Sakura had given in and labeled the feeling a mystery. Her career in medicine had given her the 'need' to diagnose every little thing she came across, and usually with highly accurate results. If there was one thing she didn't like, it was being at a disadvantage by not knowing what something was, or what to do to get rid of it.

After securing her hitai-ate in a tight knot at the base of her neck, she adjusted her bangs in the mirror and forced a smile. The effort didn't reach her eyes, which still looked tired and plagued with doubt. She groaned and knocked herself in the head with her fist.

"I have a mission to do, dammit!"

–

Sakura soon regretted her decision not to bring an umbrella in the current weather conditions. She grumbled and fixed her face into a tight scowl that lasted her entire walk to the Hokage tower.

She climbed the stairs to Tsunade's office, shaking rain-water out of her hair and then combing her fingers through it. She knocked on the the door, and received the usual bellow in response.

"Come in!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at her shishou's treatment of potential visitors, before turning the knob and entering. Tsunade was at her desk looking rather befuddled before a deck of cards spilled in front of her, a jug of sake not far. Shizune was surveying the scene with a look of helplessness.

"How do those damn geniuses count these cards?" Tsunade growled, picking up a card and flicking it across the surface of her desk. "They do it and then they win every time..." She reached over and took a generous swig from her jug of alcohol.

Sakura fought a laugh before striding over to the desk. "Tsunade-sama, I'm here for my mission scroll."

"Eh?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow from over the mouth of the jug before setting it down, a blush of drunkenness painted over her cheeks. "Oh, that. Right." She waved her hand in Shizune's direction, and the mousy brown-haired medic scuttled towards a fixture that looked similar to a filing cabinet, positioned to the right behind Tsunade's desk.

Shizune fumbled around in the cabinet, muttering about 'needs to organize as well as she drinks' before finally withdrawing a small scroll and handing it to Sakura with a weak but forced sweet smile. "Here you go, Sakura-san."

"Thank you, Shizune-san," Sakura said, nodding to the assistant of the Hokage before facing the leader herself. "Is there...anything I should know?" She swallowed in uncertainty, looking down at the slim scroll of parchment held within her hands.

Tsunade waved a manicured hand at the scroll. "Read it first before you ask."

Sakura carefully spread the tightly bound parchment, unrolling it enough to read the scrawl. As she intently read, Tsunade echoed the words in a colloquial fashion.

"You are to head to the Kusagakure with Anko as your leader, and your target is a man who goes by the name of Arima Hidetaro. He is wanted in 3 countries, as you can see, and he is a solliciter of prostitutes, a partner in the illegal drug trade... The usual fun stuff." Tsunade steepled her fingers and rested her chin atop them, suddenly looking vaguely sober. "Basically, it'll be a piece of cake. The guy loves girls who put out, and as long as you can get him to choose you then we're good. If worse comes to worse, we have Anko. If he dislikes both of you, then he is probably gay, and you can use a henge."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, glancing at the scroll one more time and then back up at her smiling teacher. "Wait. I get the basics of this target, but what I don't get is... What do you want me to do with him?"

Tsunade's face fell blank as though someone had just informed her that they believed the moon was made of cheese. She promptly poured herself a dainty cup of sake and downed it a single shot. Shizune was to the right of her, biting the inside of her cheek and wringing her hands in front of her as though she didn't know what to say.

"I'm supposed to know this, aren't I?" Sakura deadpanned, suddenly feeling quite stupid. Or maybe she was just in denial, a little voice wondered in the back of her head.

"I'm going to send you on this mission, and you can't even guess what I want you to do to the man?" Tsunade asked, her voice incredulous as she gawked at the girl before her.

The pinkette blushed a dark pink and looked down at the scroll.

"Get the man alone, and distract him with your body so you can kill him!" The blonde hokage cried. "Sometimes just flashing your boobs alone will get the job done!"

"Yeah, maybe in your case," Shizune snorted from her side.

Tsunade shot her a dark look before facing Sakura, who looked as though she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she clutched the scroll at arm's length, staring at the mugshot of Arima Hidetaro displayed as the header.

Her arms shook, and she looked up at her shishou before forcing the words out, "I have to sleep with THIS?"

Both of the women before her face-palmed and let out groans. Tsunade pressed on her temples and swished the remaining alcohol in her sake jug around.

"This is kind of what you signed up for, Sakura. I don't know if you remember correctly or not," Tsunade's tone was flat as her honey-colored eyes hardened as they examined the pink-haired girl before her.

The words hit Sakura right in the core, and she lowered the scroll to her side before letting her eyes wander to the window, watching the drops sluice down the surface. Her lower lip jutted out, and she chewed it anxiously. What had she gotten herself into? Blinded by opportunity... The chance for more in life... Being blinded had gotten her here, choosing to use her body to kill.

What had driven her to this point? If she looked back on her career, she should have been perfectly content with life as a medicnin. She loved medicine nearly to the point of obsession. She was world renowned for her expertise on poisons and other agents, and was the most skilled healer in the village having arguably surpassed Tsunade.

She was lonely. Life as a medicnin meant enduring long hours alone, coming home late to an empty apartment with perhaps only a pet cat as company. An angry, hungry pet cat. Dating didn't work out so well, as most boys were turned off by her schedule and also her abilities as a self made woman.

And then...

What cemented her decision was that one night...

"Would I suffice?"

The first time anyone had truly indicated an interest in her, no matter how forced. She couldn't turn down the offer, and she felt it hinted at what was to come. Men being interested in her, finding her charming.

She hadn't expected those men to look like this.

Flicking her eyes over at the picture of Arima again, she let out a quiet sigh. Then again, not every man was as attractive as Kakashi...

"You can always change your mind, Sakura. I can give you time to think about it," Tsunade said.

Sakura shook her head vigorously. "No, shishou. I've decided. I'm going to cement my original decision, and go on this mission." She gave her a broad smile before continuing, "No more doubt."

Tsunade returned the smile with an air of wistfulness. "Now that's the apprentice I trained." She rose from her seat and turned to look out the window, her expression slightly dampened by the equally damp weather outdoors. "You leave in two days, early in the morning. Coordinate with Anko and set an exact time." She glanced over her shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "Good luck, Sakura."

–

Sakura had set the mission scroll on her dresser while packing her belongings into an olive-colored knapsack that hadn't seen much action in months. A set of poison scrolls, vials of lethal poisons, antidotes, basic first aid kits and soldier pills. She had packed a spare change of clothes, having deliberated for a good fifteen minutes in front of her closet before yanking out the prettiest and most arguably skankiest dress she owned (a gift from Ino, no doubt), and threw in a pair of heels as well. She figured that it wouldn't hurt to have them on hand regardless of what Anko had told her.

"Don't worry! I got you got covered as far as what to wear," she had said with a wink.

Somehow she didn't quite trust Anko's sense of slut fashion. So thus, the unworn dress and heels remained. She wondered what this man, Arima Hidetaro really liked in a woman. It was made out to seem that he liked anything with two legs and a set of well-accentuated boobs, as well as a well-painted face. In Sakura's definition, he liked his whores. However, she wasn't quite acquainted with how that kind dressed. After all, her only real brush with 'loosely' dressed women was from Ino, and while it would be absolutely hilarious to call Ino a whore she wasn't quite sure that the two were one and the same.

She scrunched up the fabric of the dress in her hands as she held it in the bag, sighing. She supposed it was pretty, in a way. It was a hot pink halter dress with glittery fabric and a low V-cut front, definitely something that Ino would have purchased. She rolled her eyes and went on to pack spare weaponry, meanwhile reloading her own weapon utility belt and wrapping it around her waist.

When she was all done, Sakura hoisted the backpack over her and snatched the scroll, ready to head out.

–

Sakura was set to meet Anko in front of the village gates in less than half an hour, so she had some time to spare. She ducked her head in the Yamanaka no Hana shop to see if Ino was on shift, only to see her father Inoichi fluffing up the bouquets by the counter. She gave a wave once he lifted his head to acknowledge her lingering in the shop doorway, and he smiled warmly at her and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Heading out on a mission, Sakura?" He inquired, looking at the straps of the bag hanging over her shoulders and the belt of weapons and tags slung around the waist of her old chuunin-era uniform.

She nodded, grinning. Yamanaka Inoichi had always treated her like a second daughter throughout her childhood up until adulthood, no matter what terms she and Ino were on. She considered him a father figure that she lacked in her personal life, and appreciated the warmth he showed her.

"Is Ino around?" she asked.

Inoichi shook his head. "Afraid not. She's around town with the boys, doing some shopping I believe." He smiled, offering, "Do you want me to give her your regards before you leave?"

"Yes, please!" Sakura nodded. She looked at the clock on the wall behind the counter, which used different breeds of flowers to denote the hours of the day, only to find that she was running short on time. She gave a quick bow. "Sorry, Yamanaka-san, but I'm running late. Thank you, though!" She ran out the door while waving over her shoulder, leaving Inoichi chuckling behind her.

Sakura rushed down the main avenue that was already stirring with morning activity, and hung a sharp right past Ichiraku, pausing to wave at Ayame before continuing on her way and dodged figures that popped up in her way. At last, she saw the village gates in sight, as well as Anko who appeared to be flirting with Hagane Kotetsu on guard duty.

She had her arms crossed under her bust, pressing her bosom up to enhance her cleavage. Poor Kotetsu was trying to back away and avoid the enticing site she presented his eyes for the sake of his integrity, but seemed to be failing miserably under Anko's spell. It was amazing... Sakura approached slowly, feeling a part of herself wish that she had that ability to sway men so easily.

Anko gave a quick glance to the side and saw her partner, her previously coy smile transforming into a gleeful one as she lifted her arm and waved hello. "Oi! Sakura!"

Sakura returned the smile, and Kotetsu looked thankful to have attention taken off of him, scurrying off to the side to return to his guard post duties.

"I see you've come prepared... Are you ready to head off?" Anko gave a cheeky grin.

"You know it!" Sakura nodded firmly, gripping the straps to her backpack tightly.

Anko turned her head to the side inquisitively, surveying the girl. "Are you nervous?" she asked.

Sakura's first instinct was to shake her head, but upon second thought, she did feel a bubble of hesitance rising in her gut. She chewed her lip, and nodded. "Yeah... a little bit..."

"Don't worry! I was too on my first ladynin mission. What a lame name, don'tcha think?" At this point, Anko had started walking outside the gates, and Sakura had fallen into step beside her. The violet-haired Jounin flashed a toothy smile at her partner. "Like I said before, things rarely go wrong the first time. What could go wrong, really?"

Obviously, this woman didn't operate off of logic, but Sakura decided that for the sake of her sanity and comfort, it was best if she shut off her sense of logic as well for the duration of the trip. She drew in a deep breath, and plastered on a smile of confidence onto her face.

"I can do this," she asserted.

–

"I can't do this," Sakura said, shaking her head when she saw Anko's idea of a 'clever' disguise.

"Why not?" Anko shook the outfit, her lower lip jutting in a manner that was starting to remind Sakura of Ino. "There is no way you are going to convince him if you go in looking like that..." She gave Sakura the head to toe sweep. "Not to mention your Konoha-nin get up."

Sakura plucked at her shirt, making a slight pout at the jab. "So I have to wear that?" She gestured at the offending item held within Anko's hands.

"Come on, Sakura. It's not like I'm having you go in wearing a bikini and 4 inch heels," Anko dead-panned.

Sakura's face blanched at the mentioning of heels.

"You mean you've never worn heels?" Her partner looked stunned. "Why did they send you of all people out here? Why not that Yamanaka slut?"

"Well... I signed up for this, you know. I wasn't exactly forced," the pink-haired girl said, shuffling her feet.

"Are you really sure you have what it takes?" Anko pressed one hand to her temples, sighing, and then put a hand on her hip. She raised an eyebrow as a flood of different emotions crossed Sakura's face.

Fear, doubt, anger, sadness, worry... then confidence.

"How can I learn if I've never tried?" Sakura demanded. She snatched the garment from Anko's hands and stormed off behind a tree to change. A few moments later, she cleared her throat and very politely asked, "Could you please come help me?"

After successfully fitting Sakura into the outfit, she spent a couple moments admiring herself. It was a red cocktail dress that ended just above her knees, and she absolutely loved the way that the fabric swished and swayed with each movement that she made. It would have made the perfect dress for dancing, with the dramatic effect that the fabric created with each step, creating an almost dream-like effect. The dress itself was covered in sparkles, beads, glitter... Anything shiny under the sun, Sakura was willing to bet money that it was sewn onto this dress. Each time it caught in the sunlight, it glittered in a captivating way. It went from being just an unassuming red dress, to being entirely something else, and she was the lucky girl wearing it!

She couldn't remember the last time she wore something so pretty!

Anko cleared her throat after a few moments. "If you're done admiring yourself and prancing about like a faery, I believe it's time to finish the rest of your look. I think I'm going to have to train you a bit before we actually get any closer to Arima's position." She dug into her trench coat and pulled out a pocket watch, flipping it open, and smirked. "Which is fine, considering we have a bit of time to spare."

"No, now WALK. Walk. Walk, yes. Yes, like that."

"Like this?" Sakura stepped across the grass, her knees bent inward and her back hunched over in a crude imitation of walking.

"Something like that, yes," Anko said with a grimace.

Sakura sucked in her stomach and tried to straighten her back, her ankles wobbling as she did so. She struck her arms out on both sides to try and balance, and took two slow steps, carefully measuring where to step down.

"Hey, look who's doing better!" Her efforts were met with applause.

In a painfully slow act, Sakura was able to make her way back to her mentor, her face contorted in a look of agony the entire way. She collapsed to her knees at the last step, breathing heavily.

"God, I did it!" she gasped, wiping a hand across her forehead.

"You did!" Anko cried, clapping her hands. "I think you've got that one down okay for now, as you'll have something to hold on to when you're inside. Now we just have to figure out... make-up."

"Make-up?" Sakura's head snapped up. "What kind of makeup?"

"It's been mentioned in reports that Arima favors blondes..." Anko pulled out the mission file, flipping through the pages and stopping as her eyes lifted and locked on Sakura's, her lips curling and her eyes twinkling in mischief. "I wonder what you'd look like as a blonde, Sakura-chan..."

Sakura gulped, wondering what was in store for her.

–

"Is this permanent?" Sakura shrieked, tugging at locks of her hair as she looked at her reflection in a stream. Meanwhile, Anko stood behind her, looking somewhat proud of herself.

"Don't worry, it's just a jutsu. I learned it at the beginning of my kunoichi days. It's a lot less stressful than keeping up a henge the entire time, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't even give my consent!" Sakura snapped, massaging her now fair-haired scalp.

"Relax! As soon as we get back to Konoha, we can find the fix. You're a medic-nin, you should know how to fix it. I usually just let mine grow out," Anko said with a shrug.

"What?" Sakura bellowed. If there was one thing she didn't want, it was to be blonde alongside Ino. There was only room for one loud-mouthed young adult blonde vixen, and that was Ino. Sakura wanted no part in figuring out if blondes really had more fun or whatever nonsense people spouted!

Her lower lip quivered. "Does it look bad?" she asked.

"No!" Anko held up her hands, shaking them. "Otherwise, I would have fixed it. You actually make a decent blonde. It goes with your complexion, somehow."

How was she ever going to get her trademark Haruno pink locks back? She chewed her lip, and thought of Tsunade and all the tricks up her sleeve. Then she imagined herself collapsing before her ex-mentor, crying and blonde-haired and begging for a fix, bowing before her desk. Tsunade would probably sit there appalled, but there had to be something. It was just a jutsu. It was just hair.

"Now for your make-up. Here, look at me." Anko reached into a small canvas zip bag and withdrew a bottle of liquid liner. "You can't move at all while I put this on, you hear?"

Sakura made a face, but knelt down on the ground obligingly, still as a statue. Anko crouched down in front of her, uncapping the bottle and brushing off extra liner from the brush before giving out her first instructions, "Now, open your eyes, and look off to the side."

Once her eyes were lined, Anko moved on to mascara, which was even more awkward for her to put on. "Look up, okay?" Anko instructed. There was one time where Sakura blinked at the wrong time, and saliva was used to clean up the mess, much to Sakura's protests.

"That is so unsanitary, Anko! Do you know how disease spreads?" Sakura made a disgusted look before instantly relaxing her face into one lacking any expression as Anko resumed her handiwork.

"Perhaps all that medic-nin shit has gone to your head too much," Anko muttered, capping the mascara and digging through her bag until she found a shade of lip color that flattered Sakura's skin tone. "Pout for me. Shouldn't be too hard, considering you've been doing it the entire day."

Sakura started to glare but pursed her lips. Her eyes felt heavy from all of the make-up weighing down her lashes and caked on her eyelids. Anko had blended in some eyeshadow for a 'smokey eye effect', some terminology that was lost upon Sakura. She felt as though she was getting ready for some kind of school formal that non-shinobi teens often went to. The teens who weren't off saving the village and the world.

Anko smiled to herself as she spread the lipstick over the girl's lips. "You clean up nice, pinkie. Or should I say, blondie? Smack your lips together now."

While making a sour face, Sakura rubbed her lips together and smacked them, lifting a hand to touch before Anko batted it away.

"Don't ruin my hard work!" she said.

"Sorry..." Sakura mumbled. Honestly, she was curious about the process of making oneself up. While Ino often tried to give her make-overs, she never dared to use the same amount of make-up on Sakura that she used on herself. It was the first time she was wearing this much make-up. Hell, it was the first time for a lot of things today.

Anko handed her a mirror, smiling coyly. "Check yourself out while I go get myself ready. Try not to cry, it'll undo half of what I just did." She rose and walked away.

Sakura looked into the small mirror, not expecting to see much of a difference to have a reaction to, but she nearly dropped the mirror when she met her reflection. She let out a short, succinct cry of surprise, clapping her hand over her cheek.

She looked hot.

Even if she had pink hair, she still would look hot right now! Once the shock split into a big, cheeky grin, it couldn't be stopped. Eat your heart out, Konoha boys! She practiced blowing a kiss to the mirror experimentally.

Offhandedly, she wondered what Kakashi would think if he saw her now.

Big, cheeky grin aborted. Her face slowly inched its way into a look of pensiveness, and she lowered the mirror into her lap. Where had that thought come from? She had promised she wouldn't feel anything weird about him, and now here she was...

Hormones! She just lost her virginity, it's only natural. Hormones! That's all.

Sakura loved being a medic-nin sometimes. It gave her convenient excuses to intangible problems.

#

A/N: Yeah, this is where I'm cutting it off right now. But hey, I updated after a year and a half! I lost some of my original fic plans so I had to kind of sit down and mish-mash some together. It won't take forever to get a chapter 7 out, I'm pretty sure. I already started it! Please read and review!