Hey, folks! Sorry for the late update but my university finals were just killing me! I hope you like the chapter. I'm really sorry about the grammar and spelling mistakes but I don't have time to check it more than once. And I can't just possibly prolong the posting because it eats me up from the inside :D I don't know if any of you feel the same way.
PS I do not own "Naruto" it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto ©
Face it, you need to know
Faith is running low.
Ain't no good to you
I'm your anti hero.
The chances that I've blown,
The love I could have known
Can't do this to you…
"Anti Hero" by Marlon Roudette
Kakashi raised on his feet immediately as the chatter began and bowed to Tsunade, "Excuse me but I need to go to the restroom. For a while."
The Hokage grinned, "Say hi from me to the poor man.", she nodded in direction to the screen; "He'll be there too, probably. Even though that his work was finished."
Kakashi's face flushed above the mask, "My deepest apologies, Hokage-sama. But it's not what you think."
"Oh, really. I'm a medic, Kakashi, I think I can tell the difference between a boner and a flash-light in the pocket.", the blonde chuckled.
The Copy nin gasped for air at her words and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"My, my.", the kunoichi settled more comfortably in the chair, "At least he outran the others.", Tsunade murmured as she saw all of the men in the room excusing themselves for going to the restroom.
Kakashi ran down the hall in the Hokage tower, trying to suppress the throbbing in his pants. He passed by a few puzzled employees, who gave him curious stares. The Copy nin quickened his pace and prayed the men's restroom to be empty. Finally, as soon as he opened the door leading to the antechamber before the toilets Kakashi bumped into a short girl. The Copy nin cursed and stepped back to see her. His eye widened and instinctively he put his hands in the pockets, trying to cover the swallowing in his pants.
"Are you OK?", the voice of Sakura startled him even more and the jonin stepped back, nodding. The girl pulled the hem of the wrapper she was wearing, trying to hide her neck opening, which now was generously rewarding the man in front of her with a full view of her cleavage. She had taken off the bra.
"Nice performance.", Kakashi murmured and passed her by, entering the common hall, heading to the door for men's toilet, appointed with a small boy figure.
Sakura's mouth snapped open, "You saw?"
The silver-haired ninja froze in one place, slowly turning around and whispering, "Everybody in the room did.", he wondered why was she so surprised, Sakura knew that he was Tsunade's escort. Then it hit him, "You didn't know that the Kages were watching…". The look of embarrassment on her face gave him the answer.
"I thought that we had to extract the information. I had no idea that our methods were observed and evaluated", her voice was shaking, subconsciously covering her exposed skin with the robe, "If I knew, I would never…do this…"
Kakashi saw her face changing colours – from light pink to deep dark purplish red. He should have kept his mouth shut. "Sakura…", his words were interrupted by the opening of the door.
Both, Sakura and he, turned around, watching how the Raikage, Mizukage and the Tsuchikage entered the hall, followed by some of their escorts. All of them stopped and stared at the pink kunoichi. The silver-haired jonin glanced at his teammate and cleared his throat as he noticed how the blush on her face spread over her ears and neck as well. Suddenly, the awkward silence was broken by another shinobi entering the room.
Darui's eyes travelled on the gathered people and stopped on the petite girl in the middle. Passing her by, the other participant slowed a bit and bowed down to her eye level smiling, "Marvellous show.". He pinched her cheek playfully and disappeared into the men's toilet.
Sakura yelped and rushed to the exit, pushing away the silent men gathered in front of the door. When the kunoichi was gone and the door banged closed again, Kakashi gave the Kages an eye crease, "So…about the queue…who's in a hurry?"
"How could you not warn me about the cameras?", the voice of Sakura echoed in the office and her clenched fist bumped into Tsunade's desk. The pink-haired kunoichi was standing straight in front of it with eyes burning with anger and embarrassment.
"Calm down, Sakura.", the blonde woman smiled and crossed her fingers on the desk, "I thought you noticed it, more over why do you even let yourself to be bothered by what happened? You finished your task excellently without any remarks."
"But…"
"That's all that it matters, Sakura.", the Hokage eased her back on the chair, "You are a kunoichi. You shouldn't be embarrassed about showing a little skin. Being modest can cost your life."
Sakura's eyes fell. That was right, her body was just a tool. It was her best weapon, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
"What did you want to talk about?"
The pinkie sighed, chasing away her previous disturbances, "You suspect that something's going on under the cover of the tournament, aren't you?"
Tsunade bit her red polished thumb nail and nodded, without looking at her student, "The death of the girl troubles me."
"Do you suspect anyone of the participants? Do you think one of them is responsible?", Sakura's eyes narrowed as she sit in the chair next to her.
"This poison… I don't know who could possibly use it. The toxin is giving a great advantage to the village possessing it.", Hokage's caramel eyes crossed with Sakura's.
"Could it be Suna?", the pink-haired kunoichi whispered, "They are quite experienced with poisons."
"No. They are out of the equation. The question lies within Kiri and Kumo.", Tsunade sighed and stood up from her chair, turning her back to the girl.
"So you are sure that the tournament and intoxications are connected.", when Sakura didn't receive an answer, she went to her mentor. Her shishou was plotting something; she knew it, "What do you want me to do?"
"Investigate Darui and Chojuro.", Tsunade narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth, "But don't do anything reckless and suspicious which could disqualify you from the tournament or worse. If one of them is really indeed the killer and he notice you sniffing around him, your life could be in danger. I want you to get to know them. Spend a little time with them. Nothing more."
"Understood.", Sakura nodded and turned around to leave the office.
"One more thing…", Tsunade's voice stopped her in her steps, "Don't tell this to anyone. And when I said anyone I really did mean it."
"I understand about Naruto…but even Kakashi?", Sakura bit her lip. Her shishou was dead serious about this thing if she didn't even let her to tell this to the Copy nin.
"Even him."
"May I ask why?"
"Because when it comes to you I've noticed that his decisions aren't exactly rational. And I'm pretty sure that he would be against it.", Sakura could sense the half smile on Tsunade's mouth.
"We're just friends.", the young kunoichi murmured.
"I never said anything about you two being more than that."
Sakura blushed and bowed formally before disappearing through the door.
Walking down the crowded street, the pink-haired kunoichi stared mindlessly around her at the shop windows when suddenly a young boy's shouting caught her attention. When her emerald eyes travelled to him she saw him giving away newspapers.
"A special edition! Only now! See what happened yesterday on the first part of the challenge!", the blond boy was shouting with a smile, "We'll have another edition tomorrow with the results of the tonight's task! Don't forget to get it!"
Sakura drew closer and grabbed a copy of the newspaper. Probably it would be better if she read it at home. Who knew what did they write about her? Heading to her apartment, her clenched gut just didn't let her to breathe easily. The curiosity was eating her up from the inside. No, she had to see. Now.
"Whispers, needles, temptation and fear fill up the first part of the test!"
Sakura bit her lip anxiously. Quite a headline for the front page. The pinkie started reading the resume of the main article with clenched gut.
"The participants of the four nations finished yesterday's test outstandingly, absolutely living up to their leaders' expectations, even the young ninja from Kirigakure, Chojuro, who has been referred to as the weakest among them, collected the required information fastest than the other participants.
The test reached its peak and the air in the small dark room got heavy from all the tears and screams of the small innocent little girl, who was interrogated by the merciless shinobi of the Lightning country, Darui. The ninja extorted the information from his target by sticking needles under her fingernails. For readers' reassurance we talked with one of the medics in the clinic and she said that the physical and mental conditions of the girl were stable.
A nice change of the pace came with the performance of our representative in the tournament. The Hokage's apprentice, Sakura, used very unique, yet absolutely alluring, productive and responsive to the motto of the challenge method of interrogation, considered with the desires of her prisoner.
As well as his female competitor, the Sand shinobi, Kankuro, managed to collect the needed intelligence after a deep and detailed background check which allowed him to use the target's claustrophobic issues against him by trapping him in one of his war puppets… "
Sakura sighed in relief. At least there weren't any flourishing epithets about her performance. The kunoichi turned the first page and her eyes widened as she saw two huge pictures, filling half of the page. One of them was of a little girl in a chair with needles stuck under her nails and Darui who was kneeling before her. Sakura felt sick. How could he do this? He was a monster. When she read in the article, the pinkie assumed that the journalist was just hyperbolizing by his statement that the target was a very young girl. Her face was curved in almost unrecognizable frown. Even on the screenshot of the camera, the kunoichi could see her tears and the small tickle of blood, coming out of the corner of her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue or inside of her cheek. Whose sick mind would come up with the idea of putting a little girl for this kind of interrogation? Was she even a kunoichi? And for what? A stupid tournament? There was no excusable reason to do this. Ninja may be tools but they were people above everything else. They still felt the pain, fear and despair. They still bled when someone cut them. They still cried. Just because shinobi were supposed to be emotionless didn't mean that they indeed were. They were just good at hiding their feelings. Some better some worse. And they who claimed not to have emotions and use it as a reason to do such cruel things are just pure evil.
Sakura forced herself to move her sight away from the picture. Her eyes lingered on the other photo. It was her and Ino on the floor making out and the poor guy in the chair with a hand in his pants. They sure have chosen the best angel to capture the image. And it was supposed that the media should censor it. Bullshit. And on top of that Kakashi saw the whole thing. How was she expected to look him in the eye now? What would he see when he look at her? Would anything be changed?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a hard bump in her shoulder. Sakura turned around to curse the idiot who ran into her but when she recognized him, her only reaction was, "Oh."
"I'm sorry. I stumbled upon a rock on the street", the short boy with glasses murmured and blushed slightly, readjusting his huge sword on his back.
"No problem. Chojuro was it?", the kunoichi smiled. Now it was the perfect time to talk to him.
"Yes.", he quickly answered nodding, straightening his posture.
"I'm Sakura.", she grinned. Why was he acting that way? She wasn't going to hurt him or something, "So, where are you heading?"
"I'm looking for a smithy. But I still can't find my way in this village.", the Mist participant smiled slightly, revealing his shark teeth.
"If you want me I can show you one. He's really good."
"That would be a great help, Sakura-san."
"It's just Sakura.", the girl rewarded him with a bright smile, "So, I heard you finished your challenge yesterday first."
"It was some lucky coincidence.", the boy glanced to her face with a blank expression.
"How so?", the kunoichi shot him a confused and curious stare.
"An acquaintance of mine had some unfinished business with my target a long time ago. I just happened to know about it and just reminded him. That's all."
"I see. That friend of yours must be really scary.", Sakura smirked under her breath.
"He's not exactly my friend. We met just few times that's all.", Chojuro secretly grinned, taking a full view of the girl besides him, "But yeah, he is quite scary."
"Really? Can you tell me his name?", a smug appeared on Sakura's expression, "I'd like to meet him some day and see exactly how scary he is."
Chojuro chuckled uncharacteristically and smirked, "I'm pretty sure you will. He appears to like spending time with sweet kunoichi like you…judging by the last time I saw him. I'm certain that when he sees you, he will just want to eat you up. At least I do."
Sakura's steppes froze in one place and she stared at his back. What did he just say?
"I'm joking.", the shinobi giggled and pointed at the near building, "Is this the blacksmith?"
"Yeah.", the voice came out shaking of the pinkie's mouth, "I remembered I still needed to do some stuff for the challenge later tonight. See you there.", the kunoichi waved and turned around, trying to walk casually when in the inside she wanted to run, run away from him. He was giving her goose bumps but not those goose bumps you get from excitement of happiness but the type that make your blood freeze and your heart skip a beat. It wasn't only Darui she should be scared of. Chojuro was far more terrifying than the lightning participant. It was almost as if he had split personality. At one point he was shy, normal almost sweet guy and in the next…he turned up to be a freak. But she couldn't just accuse him for the poisoning cases. She didn't have any proof, just her guts telling her to stay away from him.
Sakura was always relying on her instincts and now they were yelling her to run as fast as she could, to never turn back. The kunoichi sighed and brushed the drops of sweat from her forehead. She had to think about the upcoming challenge. That was her priority number one now. Nothing else.
Sakura's heart jerked as she noticed the apologetic look in Kakashi's black eye. There was no escape, no other way but for him to cast the genjutsu. And the Konoha's kunoichi understood it, she knew he had no choice, the Kages forced him to use it on her, on all of the participants. Sitting, tied up in the chair, the pink-haired girl gulped difficultly, subconsciously recalling in her mind, the images of the other shinobi before her. They were screaming, begging, pleading and even she could swear that Darui was crying. Only Chojuro kept suspiciously silent through the whole ordeal and interrogation. But in the end they all spilled out everything – the names of five ANBU squad captains and their backgrounds.
Sakura had guessed as much that the second part of the test would be again about gathering information. But this time they had to keep it. Every shinobi at some point in his life could be captured by the enemy, it was crucial for them to keep their mouths shut. That was even one of the first things that they were taught in the Academy. She never expected her first interrogation to be at such circumstances, nor that Kakashi would be the interrogator. Would it hurt? The question wasn't leaving her head. Once again the cries of pain and despair of the participants before her invaded her thoughts. It would definitely hurt. The right questions were how much and if she would be able to withstand it without uttering a word. The Kages made it realistic enough by giving them a real top secret information. Sakura had no option but to keep silent. Even if she had to bite her tongue off, she wouldn't say a word.
But why did it have to be Kakashi? Why him? She never wanted to have a memory in which he cause her pain, no matter if physical or psychological. Once again she looked at him, failing to keep the fear and misery from her green gaze. She saw him twitching and jerking slightly under her glance. It was hurting him too. She knew because it would kill her from the inside if the roles had been reversed. Her emerald eyes travelled to the mirror wall in front of her, knowing that right now behind that mirror the Kages and their escorts were probably sitting in comfortable chairs, enjoying the sick show. There was a lump stack in her throat.
Sakura's sight lingered on Kakashi's figure again. The Copy nin drew closer to her and bowed to her eye level, whispering, "I'm so sorry… Forgive me.". Then the man raised a finger in a sign and a quiet ticking echoed in the room. The silver-haired jonin lifted his headband, uncovering his sharingan. Sakura gasped as she saw the three small commas, twirling, hypnotizing her. The girl smiled lightly, reassuringly to the jonin before her, her expression was telling him, "It's fine. I'm going to be OK." If she showed him her true feelings, he'd be devastated and even if she did forgive him, he wouldn't forgive himself. The kunoichi saw him doing some fast hand seals and slowly the world twisted and blurred, whirled and in few moments cleared again.
It was a peaceful spring night in Konoha, the wind was blowing gently, ruffling her long pink hair. She was standing on a side road in the park, leading to the gates. She knew that path. Her green eyes widened as she saw her twelve-year-old self staring at boy's dark eyes. The boy suddenly vanished and appeared behind the young girl, knocking her out unconscious. Sakura gasped for air and covered her mouth with hand. Why was she seeing her past? And why this moment exactly?
Then the surroundings once again changed and Sakura was now looking at the beaten Naruto, lying in a hospital bed. She remembered this. It was just after his fight with Sasuke in the Valley of end. Her younger self entered the room and sat beside the sleeping boy, "Oh, Naruto, I'm sorry.", she heard herself saying, "I'm sorry for giving you a burden to bare for your whole life." The emotions from that day flooded her, she felt the sorrow, the guilt and the heartache once again with their full power, as if it was yesterday. The time she spent healing her soul wounds had disappeared and she was once more the hurt, weak, crying girl. Sakura felt drawing near to the hospital bed without averting her eyes from the blonde boy. The presence of her younger self faded until it was only a shadow on the background.
Suddenly Naruto's eyes snapped open, startling her and the kunoichi stepped back, "Why did you let him leave? It's your fault.", Naruto's words were bitter and stinging, stabbing her right through her heart, "Only if you were stronger…only if you loved him a little bit more…"
Sakura yelped and her eyes got teary. It was just a genjutsu. She was aware of it, but still it hurt. It hurt so bad to hear the words she feared the most, coming out of the mouth of her best friend. A tear escaped her eye.
"Not enough…Not enough.", Naruto continued, staring motionless at her, "You never do enough…"
"Stop…", her voice come out weak and shaking.
"Not enough…"
"Don't…", she grabbed hair locks with her hands, pulling them, bending down, curling into a ball.
When Sakura lifted her head she was standing in front of the memorial stone. Her cheeks were wet and the tears were still flowing out of her reddened eyes. The girl sniffed and sobbed, trying to calm herself. This was only a genjutsu, it wasn't the real life. She was stronger than that. Her eyes unknowingly travelled over the carved names on the stone.
Suddenly her heart skipped a beat… Why was Ino's name there? Tsunade and Shizune's as well? They were alive, breathing. The girl kneeled in front of the memorial and traced with her fingers the names. That wasn't the past, she was seeing. It couldn't be. But could it be the future? She noticed how slowly another word was being carved by an invisible hand on the stone. She yelped as she read the names of her team mates – Sai and Tenzo. No, not them. She shook her head, choking on the lump in her throat, as she saw the carving of the next name on the plaque.
"Naruto… no, please, no.", she was openly crying now, staring at the name. Her mind was aware that probably that was the whole purpose of the genjutsu, to break her, shake her so badly that she wouldn't mind spilling out every word. But her heart knew different. It was jerking, trembling, beating irregularly, fastening her pulse. Some things just couldn't be ignored. And one of them was the sight of the gravestone with your friends' names carved in it. Probably it was because she knew deep inside her that some day one of them might not come back from mission, or it was just the constant fear for their lives that enhanced magnificently the horror of the image. When she looked again at the memorial another one was already there. Sakura cried out in despair as she read it. She couldn't take it any more, drops of sweat and tears were mixing on her face. Desperately she brushed her fingers over the rough surface, trying to erase it.
"He was the sweetest kill, I've ever had in while. Except Naruto, of course.", a boy's voice echoed behind her.
Sakura turned around and popped her wet eyes as she saw Sasuke standing with a smirk on his face. It took her awhile to realize that he was holding something, the kunoichi moved slightly and the blood froze in her veins as she realized that it was Kakashi's head, severed from the body, with blood, still dripping from it. The hand of the rogue ninja before her, was gripping the soft silver locks tightly, which now were dyed in blood. The black eye of the Copy nin was still open, but the usual flickering light had faded away. And now it was staring blankly at her, sending shivers down her spine.
"NO!", the girl lumped fully on her bottom on the moist ground, with widened in terror eyes, "Stop it, Kakashi! This is a lie! A genjutsu. You don't have to be so cruel! Kakashi!"
"Oh, please, don't you like it? I prepared it as a gift for you. After all we haven't seen for such a long time.", Sasuke smirked viciously.
"No…", Sakura shook her head in defiance, "He's not dead."
"I guess you don't like the present. Thank god, I've gotten you another one. Here…it's still beating…for you I guess…", the Uchiha shinobi pulled out something from his pocket and threw it in Sakura's hands, "He gladly gave it away when he heard that you're the receiver…well he did put up a little fight in the beginning but later everything came into a place…or should I say out of place…"
The girl screamed horrified as she realized that it was a human heart, still trying to pump the blood. She dropped it in her lap with shaking convulsing body. Her pupils were widened, chaotically moving, staring at the blood on her palms. Kakashi's blood.
"You see… When I shared with him my idea for a present he claimed that he didn't have a heart… He had given it to someone…", Sasuke continued, observing the horrified kunoichi, "I just had to prove him wrong."
Sakura sobbed and brushed her hands in her clothes, trying to remove the blood. But it was soaking in her skin, leaving permanent trails. The kunoichi sniffed and started breathing irregularly, continuing to try and get rid of the blood. Her strokes were becoming harder, faster and even more desperate as she realized that the red life liquid just won't come off.
"Do you know what his last words were?", the Uchiha smirked as he saw the girl in front of him going numb, still looking down, "He said: "Don't…hurt…Sakura". Can you believe it?"
"No!", Sakura whispered and a wrinkle appeared on her forehead, "He's not dead. He can't be dead."
Sasuke's face lightened up and the boy moved aside, pointing something on the ground behind him – a pile of limbs, clothes, flesh and bones, "I heard you were the best medical ninja after the Hokage, Sakura-chan. Can you fix him?"
"Kakashi!", the kunoichi screamed with rasped voice and widened eyes.
Kakashi bit his tongue, feeling the rusty taste of blood in his mouth as Sakura screamed once again his name. He knew it was hurting her, and if he could he would have cancelled the jutsu already. The face of the tied up kunoichi was curved in a terrified grimace, it was painful to just look at her, knowing that he was the one who was causing her suffering. The Copy nin was seeing in the back of his mind everything that was happening in her head. That was thanks to the sharingan. The jutsu that the Kages requested from him to execute was complicated and it was possible just because of his left eye. It was a fearsome genjutsu, a one that trapped the person, you use it on, in a parallel world, where their deepest fears are real and even worse, they are haunting them. There was no escape from them, and the worst part was that the genjutsu used the person's own sub consciousness to lure the fears out. Kakashi didn't need to know the participants so that he could use it.
But now with Sakura it felt different, more personal, even more when he found out that he was taking part of it. There was this sick part of him that liked what he saw. The fact that his death was one of Sakura's greatest fears was serving him as a huge ego boost. Another scream from the petite kunoichi tore him from his thoughts. The Copy nin stared at the clock, it's been two hours and thirty three minutes since her interrogation had started. A little more and she'd beat Darui's record of two hours and forty two minutes. Ten more minutes and he could release the genjutsu that was tormenting her.
"Kakashi, stop.", her voice was weak and the Copy nin's fingers twitched barely seen. Sakura's eyes were unfocused and wide open. Kakashi knew that it was time that he should start asking questions.
"I will. You only need to tell me what you know.", his words came out of his covered with mask mouth indifferently, rehearsed uncountable times, over and over again.
"Don't do this to me…", the silver-haired jonin saw a small wrinkle appearing on her forehead as she frowned.
"Just tell me and I'll make this all go away.", he continued with his lines.
"It's not true. It can't be real…", her lower lip trembled and Kakashi swore that he heard her sobbing. She wasn't even listening to him, there was no point in asking further. The Copy nin glanced at the clock, two hour and forty minutes. Three more minutes, he should keep it going for another three minutes.
"Come on, Sakura-chan. Tell me.", he drew away from her chair, facing the mirror wall, aware that he was looking straight into Tsunade's eyes. He turned around again, knowing that he had to keep this going.
Two minutes.
"No…no.", the kunoichi shook her head, repeating the same word again and again. That was her first movement since he casted the genjutsu, "No!No!", her voice was getting higher and she was now almost shouting.
One minute.
A cramp jerked her body, "NO! Kakashi you can't be dead!", she screamed and her head dropped down. With hidden face from his sight, the jonin could only hear her sniffs and sobs. She was crying. His Sakura was crying because of him. Unforgivable. The Copy nin glanced quickly at the timer. Thirty seconds left.
Suddenly she lifted her head, openly crying with tears, wetting her reddened skin, the girl yelped, "You said you'd always be here…"
The Copy nin's eye popped out and he froze in one place. He didn't expect her to say this. Not now. Not ever. At this moment a jiggling ring echoed in the room, announcing the end of the session. The Copy nin rushed to the girl and tore the ropes, carefully placing a palm on her wet cheek, sending a little chakra in her, breaking the genjutsu. She gasped for air but the light didn't come back in her eyes, her pupils were still wide and moving chaotically. The jonin heard a medical team entering the room but he didn't moved away, pushing away one of the nurses, trying to make him stand. There was no one in this world right now that could separate him from the girl.
"I'm here. I'm sorry.", he carefully pulled her in his embrace, lifting her motionless body, carrying it out of the room, "I'm not going anywhere. Forgive me."
On the doorstep, he saw Tsunade hurrying towards them, "How is she?", the voice of the Hokage was tense.
"I think she's in shock.", Kakashi whispered, looking at the terrified, crying face of the kunoichi, without averting his eyes.
"She is.", the blonde waved to the nurses to go back to the hospital and turned around again to the jonin besides her, "Take her to the clinic. I'll be right over once I finish the business with the Kages."
Kakashi nodded and walked down the corridor with the girl in his arms. She'd come to her senses eventually and when she does, he'd be right there next to her, amending for his sins and mistakes.
"How long has it been since he's inside?", Naruto asked, biting his lower lip, looking at Sakura's bed through the glass on the wall.
"He brought her here.", Ino answered and sat in the chair next to Naruto's in front of the door of the hospital room, where her best friend was lying unconsciously, "Kakashi-senpai hasn't moved an inch since he sat in that chair. It's been ten hours already."
Naruto followed the blonde's gaze through the glass. His ex-sensei was sitting motionlessly with closed eye. His head was bowed down, supported by his hands. His fingers were buried in his messy silver locks and Naruto could see how the grip was crushing some of them, "I'm going in. This can't continue."
The Jinchuuriki tried to stood up but Sai's hand stopped him from doing so. His teammate had been reading a book the whole time but now he averted his black eyes from it, glancing at Naruto's, "Leave them be. You can't do anything to make him leave."
"I agree with, Sai, Naruto.", Ino put her hand on the boy's shoulder, slightly pressing him down in attempt to make him sit again.
"But why?", the troublemaker sent the Yamanaka girl a confused look.
"Can't you see that he's feeling guilty about what happened to her?", Ino smiled sadly, "Do you remember the time when the kyuubi hurt Sakura? Well, Kakashi-senpai is feeling the same now."
"How do you know about that…?"
"Oh, please. I know everything."
Sai hmm-ed and the other two shinobi turned their heads to their comrade. He once more had buried his face in the huge book. Obviously, something was amusing him. And Naruto and Ino shared a puzzled gaze.
"I can't fully understand that part…", the former Root agent scratched the back of his head, "What "friends with benefits" means?"
"Sai! What the hell are you reading?", Ino awed.
"Handbook of relationship initiation.", the black-haired boy turned the cover to the girl's face so she could look at the title.
Naruto cleared his throat and scratched his tight even though it wasn't an itchy place.
"So,…what does it mean?", the boy looked at his two friends expecting an answer. When he saw that the blonde shinobi was too busy fixing the hem of his jersey, his black eyes averted to meet Ino's blue one.
The kunoichi rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, "It's used when you and your friend share a certain privileges. It's not just simple friendship."
"Like using one another's combs or receiving presents without a occasion?"
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, still playing with the hem. The girl sighed tiredly, she just had to spell it out for him, "No, Sai. Under privileges or benefits it's understood sex."
The blonde boy choked and covered his face with hands, trying to suppress the burst of laughter.
"But isn't that called a "romantic relationship" ?", the shinobi folded the edge of the page he was reading and closed the book, looking confusedly at the blue eyes of the kunoichi , who was now bowing her head, shaking it in defiance.
"You know what…? Why don't you ask, Sakura about it? I think she knows better what that means.", Ino stood up, opened her mouth to say something more but then frowning walked down the corridor, leaving the two boys alone.
Naruto followed with his blue eyes the figure in the distance when he felt Sai fixing him with his eyes. Slowly the Jinchuuriki turned his head to him, "What?"
" Sakura can't answer me right now and I need to understand it before I can continue with reading the book…"
Naruto stood up without uttering a word and walked away, shaking head in disbelief, leaving Sai alone in front of the hospital room.
"The results of the analysis are good, there isn't any visible damage to the brain or her neurotic system as a whole.", the Hokage turned the next page of Sakura's patient's card, "The irrigation of her blood cells is back to normal as well as her blood pressure. I think she will wake up soon."
"What was the reason for this?", the Copy nin glanced at the blonde kunoichi.
"Well, when someone is under a genjutsu, their brain activity is increased, so they can "catch up" with the surreal events that they're living. So in Sakura's case, she couldn't cope with the images in her mind and her brain just overworked and at some point it stopped the access of the oxygen to her brain cells. It's like an instinct of self-preservation of her body.", Tsunade raised an eyebrow and glared at the man sitting in the chair sceptically, "You're not allowed to blame yourself for this."
"But…"
"No buts, Hatake! We ordered you to execute the genjutsu and more over it was the jutsu itself that brought the images in her mind, not you. You couldn't have known how this whole thing could work out.", the old lady sighed and placed Sakura's chart on the night table beside the bed, "Would you mind telling her something? I need to go to an official lunch, again, with the Kages and participants as well and probably won't be here when she wakes up. "
Kakashi nodded.
"A themed festival would be held tomorrow night. The theme is: "Moonlight". Tell Sakura that her presence is strictly required. And also that she needs to find a date.", the Hokage turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Kakashi staring at the closed door, "A date?", the word echoed in his head.
The man shook his head, chasing away the disturbing thoughts. He eased his back on the chair and closed his eye. A separate, torn images were clashing in his mind. What Sakura saw under the influence of the genjutsu was horrific and cruel. Seeing the names of your closest friends, carved into a memorial stone and in the end it turned out that her ex-teammate had killed them was enough to break her down. And Sasuke's words were pestering him.
"Should I take the meaning hidden behind their conversations or just the whole context is important?", the thought just couldn't leave him in peace. Kakashi didn't find much meaning behind the violation of his dead body. In Sakura's eyes he was still one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha, no matter that she was now in the same category. It was natural for her to think that he would be the last man standing after a fight with Sasuke in which Naruto had failed once again to bring him back to Konoha. The only thing he couldn't understand was why would Sakura even consider him, giving his heart to anyone? Couldn't she see the self-loathing aura that was haunting around him everywhere he went? He didn't deserve love and he couldn't give any to anyone.
She may be able to make him feel a little bit alive and worthy for his beating heart but nothing more. His sins were still there, hovering above his existence and with every single minute that he spent besides Sakura's bed, they were multiplying. He vowed that his teammate and friends would never be hurt because of him and now that oath was broken. The silver-haired jonin ran his fingers through his hair.
Suddenly a smaller hand covered his. Kakashi immediately lifted his head and saw the pink-haired girl sitting in the bed, smiling at him, "Sakura…", his voice was shaking.
"I wish I could sleep a little more but your sulking and dark self-accusatory chakra woke me up… ", the kunoichi grinned and patted him on the head, " So, did I pass the challenge?"
The Copy nin sighed and bowed again his head, hiding his face from her.
"Hey, hey. What is it?", Sakura sat on the edge of the bed and reached to grab his chair. With a loud scraping and a small amount of chakra, she pulled the chair with Kakashi in it to her. The sudden movement of his chair made him lift his head startled. Sakura smiled softly, and pinched his cheek, through the mask, "So…?"
"Are you OK?", he murmured, unsure of what to say.
"Of course I am!", the girl smirked, "A weak genjutsu like that can't possible drive me crazy."
"But you…"
"Hush!", she silenced him, "I'm fine now, aren't I?"
"But I…"
"You did a great job.", the kunoichi opened her arms, "Come on, gimme a hug. "
Kakashi frowned slightly but obeyed and settled in her arms, placing his head on her chest. He felt Sakura burying her face in his hair.
The girl took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his hair, "I forgive you.", she whispered and felt how his body suddenly relax.
"Thank you.", a small smile formed on Kakashi's lips.
"We're friends, aren't we?"
"Yeah."
"Friends…my butt!", Naruto exclaimed, "There's nothing friendly in their behavior towards one another."
Ino smirked, "Well, I certainly don't behave like that with Shikamaru and Choji but you know Sakura… She's really affectionate.", the blonde kunoichi grinned, "But I wonder what Kakashi would make of her actions." Ino grabbed Naruto for his sleeve and pulled him away from the glass, "We'll come back later."
"Someone need to talk to her about her bearing.", the Jinchuuriki snorted, "It'd be really troublesome if Kakashi-sensei misunderstood it."
"You sound just like Shikamaru…", Ino growled, "And I think that even if Kakashi-senpai does misunderstand her, he'll just pretend that it's nothing."
"Yeah, because they are friends…", Naruto rolled his eyes at the word.
"Exactly."
TBC