Comfort In Surreality

by Mellow Penelo

After a series of chance encounters, and one of Kisame's more capricious decisions, a pink haired girl has become Akatsuki's newest tool. What? He's the one that has to deal with her? Damn it, he really should have paid more attention in that meeting.

4. Chapter 4

A/N – Life is too hectic.

.Disclaimer.

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.Chapter Four.

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Kisame closed the door to his room, running a hand through his damp locks. After training and a refreshing shower, it was time for a meal.

He scratched his chest absently, and licked at his teeth. He was in the mood for udon, specifically wakame udon. Though, in order to acquire some udon, he'd have to head to the nearest village which was two days of travel away…

Though he could make the trip in three hours if he booked it… Nah, Kisame didn't really feel like doing that. That restaurant didn't even serve wakame udon, being so far away from the sea.

Kisame let out a soft growl. Why did he have to be part of a top secret organization that insisted on having their hideouts in remote locations?

Really, it was such a hassle. He'd have to settle for the old standby, whatever meat they had in the freezer. He made his way to the kitchen, his mood already souring at the dismal meal.

Out of habit, he scanned the compound for chakra signatures. He was mildly surprised to find that every member was present. It was a rare occurrence. Everyone always had missions and were away for weeks at a time, sometimes even months.

But it did happen. Kisame didn't mind the close quarters when everyone was on site, but some did.

A door opened down the hall and Itachi's head popped out, "Who used up all the hot water?" As usual his tone was calm, but Kisame picked up the tight lift of irritation.

Itachi turned and those black eyes locked suspiciously on Kisame's clean wet hair.

"I took a cold one." Kisame assured easily.

Hidan chose that minute to saunter out of the hallway bathroom, steam billowing out of the open door. At this base, Hidan was the only one that didn't have a bathroom conjoined to his room. Being Hidan, he found the need to take out the small inconvenience on everyone. Every chance he got.

The door to the bathroom happened to stand between where Itachi's room was and were Kisame stood. So as Hidan walked towards Kisame with a smug look of satisfaction, he got to see the slight narrowing of Itachi's eyes.

Few people, on the entire face of the earth, ever slighted Itachi. Whether it was because of their own intelligence, or even the fact that Itachi was rarely ever fazed, not many people managed to get off of Itachi's indifferent side.

However, if something, or someone bothered Uchiha Itachi, he would deal with it. And not in the way most of his enemies would have expected. Because the truth was that Itachi didn't like to kill unless it was necessary.

Kisame only knew this after years of both interacting and observing Itachi. And the way that Itachi did deal with small irritants, was to get even.

The fact was that Itachi could be rather petty. He was a particular and meticulous person. Itachi liked things done a certain way. Itachi was far from forcing his ways on other people of course, maybe because he never really had too; He hardly ever interacted with people longer than necessary. Kisame was the person he dealt with the most and Kisame went with the flow. He didn't care how things were done, just that they got done. So they never really had many problems.

However, when everyone was at the compound, Itachi did have to deal with people that he would have avoided otherwise. Hidan was one such person.

Ironically, it wasn't Hidan's personality, like his brashness and arrogance that bothered Itachi. Well, not exactly. It was the little things.

Granted, it was the annoying things that got on everyone's nerves. Like the fact that Hidan would trail blood into the hallways after his rituals. He would leave his dirty plates in the dining room. He left doors and windows wide open. In the kitchen, he'd never close any cupboards, drawers and cabinets that he went through. In the library he would leave out every book he pulled off the shelves (which was always an odd and numerous amount). He would slip hand-written Jashin notes under people's doors (usually some scripture or other about repentance). And lately he had been hanging rosaries on the coat hooks by the front door.

Kisame didn't mind that much, because everyone did annoying things. Zetsu picked up things that were lying around and put them away in places that didn't make sense. Kisame had forgotten a book in the commons room once and found it weeks later put away in the pantry. Deidara always had some clay residue on his hands which got on the remote, books, scrolls, kunai, everything; not to mention the slobber his hand occasionally left behind. Sasori left the lights on, the TV on, and every once in a while left wood dust or splinters on the couch.

It was all little things, that didn't really bother Kisame too much. Plus, he liked being in a place that looked lived in.

Itachi dealt with these annoyances with a good deal of patience, but that was because everyone did usually try to stay out of each other's way. But Hidan made no effort. Actually, he had no consideration for the other people in the compound and was completely unapologetic about it.

Therefore, Itachi had no such patience for Hidan's maddening tendencies. So the more Kisame thought about it, maybe it was about Hidan's personality. Well, Kisame just had a good feeling that Itachi would go out of his way to bother Hidan for the next week, or until Itachi was sent on a mission.

The kid just had a penchant for passive aggression, which translated into the petty. He would probably mess with Hidan's hair products; that's where Kisame would start.

With one last promising glare, Itachi went back into his room. Kisame stepped politely aside to let Hidan pass.

"Hey Kisame, how you doin'?" He asked as he made his way down the hall.

"Fine, you?" Kisame nodded with a toothy smile. While Hidan was usually a pain, he was rather well-meaning towards Kisame. He could be rather agreeable if you treated him nicely. Actually, most of the members were like that (so Kisame didn't always understand why everyone just didn't get along).

"I haven't seen Kakuzu all week, excellent." Hidan called and made a fist pump.

Kisame smiled and turned the corner to the kitchen, glad that he got along with Itachi. He really couldn't imagine having a partner that he hated. That would suck.

Entering the double doorway, he saw Deidara leaning on the center island. He was peeling a bright green apple and looked like he'd rather be eating cardboard than the apple. However, when he saw Kisame, his face lit up.

"Kisame! What are you up too?"

"Hello Deidara-san," Kisame nodded, eyeing the boy rather warily. He knew what that hopeful look meant, "I was just gonna grab a fish," He went to the freezer against the far wall.

"Well, why not grab two-"

"Raw," Normally Kisame might have gone ahead and made an extra fish for him, but if he wasn't in the mood to cook one for himself, then he wasn't going to cook one for someone else.

Deidara's response was a much exaggerated sigh. "I'm sure it'll taste better cooked, and it won't be much work to-"

"Deidara-san, I'm sure you can make your own fish," Kisame pulled out a salmon the length of his arm and the width of his skull.

"You know I'm not allowed to anymore!" Deidara finally whined dramatically.

"Oh yeah," Kisame let out under his breath. He went the cupboard and grabbed a serving plate that would accommodate his meal

Deidara just didn't have the patience to cook. He would always wander away and then get distracted and come back hours later to find his meal missing or charred. Though what got him banned was when he decided to put a little clay bird under the grill frame.

Needless to say what resulted was not a deliciously cooked chicken. Usually it was just Pein, Kakuzu, and occasionally Konan, who got the most irritated when stupidity led to senseless destruction of the compound, but since this one involved the kitchen, Deidara had to be sent out on a mission for his own safety.

"You know, Kisame, you've always been my favorite around here. We're buddies, you and me." Deidara gave him a cheesy grin.

"Shut up, Deidara-san," He said easily as he rolled his eyes. Deidara would say anything for a meal.

"Oh, just make me something! I'll starve! Is that what you want?" Deidara flopped pathetically against the counter.

Kisame rolled his eyes again. Knowing Deidara he probably ate an hour ago. Oh, the drama of youth.

Then Kakuzu leaned his head in the kitchen's doorway. "Meeting," He said simply before carrying on down the hall.

Kisame looked down at his meal with longing. Now that the raw fish was being denied, it suddenly became very appealing. Why must that always happen? They weren't allowed to eat during meetings. For some reason, if someone was eating in that room, they always chewed obscenely loud, and no one could ever concentrate what was being said.

"Ha, you have to wait!" Deidara said smugly.

"So do you," Kisame responded, slipping his meal into the fridge.

"Yeah, I'll be thinking about this apple the whole time," Deidara said sarcastically, placing his peeled apple on a plate and handing it to Kisame. He placed it in the fridge alongside his own meal without much ado.

They both made their way down the hall and to the briefing room.

Most of the organization was already there. Kisame took an open seat besides Sasori. When Hidan lazily strolled in, the meeting began.

"With most of the Jinchuuriki officially located, it's now time to move into phase three," Pein began unceremoniously.

Kisame face remained smooth, but inside he was idly wondering when they had entered phase two… And completed it… Was that what locating them was? He could have sworn that was phase one….

"In order to extract the bijous from them, the King of Hell Statue is required. At the moment, the scrolls required to summon it are scattered throughout the countries," Pein turned his attention to Zetsu.

"I have located three of the scrolls, however they are sealed. Theses seals are extremely powerful and if they are not removed-" It was at this point that Deidara opened his mouth with a suggestion, a bored look on his face, Zetsu spoke over him. "in the proper method, it could prove disastrous to our goal."

Deidara rolled his eyes and placed his cheek in his palm, looking completely bored and done with the conversation.

Kisame was a mildly surprised when Konan spoke up. She seemed the type that never spoke without purpose, and it was Pein that usually led the meetings, "I have looked at these seals and it seems as if we need someone with absolute chakra control."

"Someone that can die," Zetsu's black half threw in.

"Someone expendable," Kakuzu corrected, looking over at Hidan. Kisame had a feeling that Hidan wasn't suggested because of his immortality.

Hidan caught that drift too, and moved to defend himself, but Pein cut him off, "Hidan does not have the proper chakra control."

Hidan's annoyance, originally directed at Kakuzu, whirled onto Pein, "What did you say?"

The room became very still. Hidan's feelings for Pein were well known. Like all of Hidan's opinions.

Pein was used to this behavior from Hidan. He spoke with the patience and firm strictness of a father putting a rebellious teenager back in place, "Hidan, you have not the patience, efficiency, speed nor endurance to open these seals. The seals are very complicated and require expert control. Not to mention that a massive amount of chakra is needed."

Konan spoke again, "It seems that the chakra required is around Kisame's level."

The whole room turned to him, and like anybody who was suddenly put in the spotlight, Kisame awkwardly looked around with shifty eyes.

"However, Kisame does not have the control required to break these seals."

Everybody kept looking at him. Even after all these years, all the sudden attention made him want to run a hand through his hair, looking off to the side. With a bored look on his face, he resisted. Then Konan's comment sunk in.

"Konan-san, I have excellent control." He said politely, not really miffed at her. He just felt the need to say something since she had just announced that in front of everyone. Granted Hidan's shortcomings were pointed out as well…but still. She nodded in acknowledgement to him.

"Yes," Pein went on "but the level of these seals are that high. In fact, the chances of finding someone of this caliber, someone we can control, are extremely low. Therefore we will find someone with the capacity to learn this level of control and you will aid them, Kisame."

Everybody looked back at him again. Kisame raised a brow, forgetting the stares. Him?

"The person will likely run out of chakra while going through theses seals, therefore they will use your practically endless reserves."

Kisame couldn't help making a face, someone else using his chakra? That was kinda...personal… Was it even possible? Deidara beat him to the question.

"How the hell is that suppose to work, un?"

"That is being researched," Pein said with the tactfulness of a politician, "It is known to be possible, however."

"The seals have levels. Naturally starting from simplest to the difficult. It will still take some time to work through all the seals. By the time we get to the most complex, we will have the means to dispose of them," Konan concluded with such graceful finality it was impossible to contradict her.

Which was really rather absurd, because it wasn't a concrete answer or plan at all. It was just assuming that they would miraculously know what to do when the time came. Man, if Kisame had said that, he would have gotten ridiculed out of the room. But since it was Konan...

"That leads to the next issue. We must find a tool," Pein said looking over the group.

It seemed outlandish to Kisame that nobody here could do it. Weren't they the most powerful organization in the world; each one of them capable of wiping out countries? Really, someone should qualify for the job…

Sasori had the same idea, "I believe I would be able to do it."

It was then that Kisame was bombarded with an image of Sasori's chakra stings connected to his own, controlling him. Kisame's face contorted with subdued revulsion. He didn't mind Sasori that much, but the idea of anyone controlling him like that was out of the question.

Before Konan or Pein could speak, Kisame spoke briskly and with an edge of steel, "No."

The room turned to look at him again. While Sasori and Itachi looked a bit amused, they were as surprised as everyone else. In the compound, Kisame had the reputation of being reckless, and a bit of a wise-mouth, but he was also known to be quite easy-going and polite. Very, very rarely was Kisame short with anyone. He simply didn't like to offend people.

"I mean to say, Sasori-san," Kisame began again in his usual disarming candor; he paused on how to go about this… He did live with the guy and had to deal with him on a fairly regularly basis.

Pein stepped in for him, not caring much about offenses, "Sasori, while you do have superb control, you cannot open these seals because you do not possess a human body-"

"I do," Sasori corrected calmly.

"I mean your own," Pein said, just as calm. Sasori paused for a moment, and then spoke again, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"Why would that be a problem?"

Konan took that question, "I have looked through many manuscripts and they all state that in order to control someone else's chakra, not their body, you need to become one. In breath, heartbeat, chakra flow, everything physical."

Kisame couldn't help himself when he let out a snort of disapproval. He didn't want to be that close with anyone. His mind whirled over all the reasons about why that was so explicitly wrong. It went against his very grain.

Konan's lips lifted in a subtle smiled, "It is not as intimate as it sounds, Kisame-san. It's just a matter of timing. Sasori-san cannot do this because he does not have the means."

"Wait a minute," Deidara popped back into the conversation, "Sasori-dono, I thought you could control people's chakra, in a sense. Your puppets do the same techniques they did in life."

"Their chakra is long gone, but their bodies still have the means to execute their personal jutsu; it is just my chakra that fuels them," Sasori explained rather patiently

"Now, we need a vessel," Pein spoke again, "Any suggestions?"

---

Sakura let out a long yawn, and idly turned to the window. The sunbeams broke through the thin clouds, providing a pleasant warmth over Konoha. Sakura's gaze glided back to the piles of paperwork she had on the desk before her. Gah, being the Hokage's assistance wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Shisho, more often than not, pawned off as much work as she could on Shizune, who in turn tossed it on Sakura. And Sakura was the bottom of that chain.

Most of it was hospital budget, supplies and inventory. It was a lot of paperwork, filing and a ridiculous amount of tedious double checking. With free healthcare to both shinobi and civilians alike, the organization had to be immaculate for it to run as smoothly and efficiently as it did. Sakura had to personally make sure all the numbers added up and then she gave the official document to Shisho to sign. Apparently, Sakura was one of the very few the Hokage placed complete and utter trust in to do this. Joy.

Sakura scribble down calculations on some scratch paper, the help of an old abacus at her side. She glanced at the clock and decided to take her lunch later-

"Hello!" The door burst open with a gush of air and in swaggered Anko Matarashi.

"Anko?" Sakura let out, surprised. The recently promoted full-fledge Jounin was supposed to be on a mission.

"Sakura! We got back early and you're just the kid I wanted to see," Anko said jubilantly, that wolfish grin of hers in place. She closed the door behind her and then gave the room a quick scan. She looked like a predator searching for prey, and her gaze finally settled on Sakura.

Sakura let out a sigh. As if she didn't have enough work to do as it was. However, the paperwork Anko brought was much more interesting than the endless numbers she found herself shifting through, so Sakura easily pushed it aside the calculations. Besides, Anko's company was always welcomed.

Shortly after Sakura had come back from Suna, she was assigned a mission with Anko. Her other teammates were Ino and Lee, and oddly enough, Anko was the one she related to the most.

When Anko said something cynical and morbid that left Ino and Lee exchanging glances, Sakura saw the odd logic in it. When Anko made a wiry and inappropriate joke, Ino and Lee gave nervous smiles or blank stares while Sakura was doubled over laughing. When Anko made a slightly offensive remark to their irritating client, Lee and Ino looked mortified while Sakura was glad someone had said something.

When Anko jumped through conversational topics like a flea jumping from host to host, it was Sakura who able to keep up with her erratic train of thought.

Sakura's quick thinking found it easy to adjust to Anko's explosive energy. She understood that Anko saw every possibility, and wanted to execute every single one, attack at every angel, now. Therefore Sakura wasn't surprised and could follow her lead without a hitch while Lee and Ino were left scrambling behind.

At first, Sakura really couldn't pin point why she could get so in sync with Anko, like two puzzle pieces sliding into place. Then she realized that it was Lee and Ino that were used to a familiarity with their teammates. They didn't know how to expect the unexpected from an ally, from a leader.

They each came from an established team. They were used to adjusting to other people, reading their allies, used to planning together, used to even predicting their teammates next step and the next. Therefore they understood each other. They had the same train of thought. And the more Sakura thought about it, the more she realized that this was a natural thing that almost every shinobi in Konoha had, except Anko.

Those shinobi that did have this teamwork mindset found it child's play to make new teams and work together. They could connect with each other and often the connection could last past the purpose of the mission. Anko on the other hand…

She didn't think like that at all.

Anko was used to depending on herself. And it wasn't as if she was rude, arrogant or hostile about it, not at all. Actually, Anko was really rather friendly and outgoing. But rather... most Leaf-nins knew how, and were used to, fitting themselves into teams that worked like well oiled machines.

Every knob and screw had its place and purpose, every cog fit into place and worked together. Anko just didn't know how to be a knob, screw or a cog. She was a self-contained machine and didn't know how, nor cared to, become part of the grand scheme of a team.

It wasn't exactly a bad thing. It was just that while a mission was successfully completed, her teammates were left apprehensive for the next time they would be assigned with her.

Sakura on the other hand, had found an odd affinity with not only Anko's personality, but also her approach to battle.

They understood that they didn't know everything about the other, that's why they expected anything and everything. They weren't completely dependent on each other either. They both constantly had a Plan B building in their minds at the same time of executing Plan A. Yet, they also trusted each other to get their part of the plan done. No more, no less. They accepted failure and success, because both were equally expected.

However, the more missions Sakura got with Anko, the more they did expect of the other. The more trust they had in each other. But it was different than those other teams. They didn't become one machine. They were each self-sufficient machines. Sakura found herself becoming her own person, more and more.

Actually, Sakura liked working with Anko more than anyone else because it was so much easier to be her own, when Anko was too. When she would work with other teams, she couldn't help the subtle feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach as she watched them become one, while she remained on her own. And in those cases, a machine had exactly the number of parts that it needed, another cog, another knob or screw, was just awkward clutter.

It didn't take long for Sakura to realize that feeling in her stomach was jealousy. And then she realized what exactly had made her identify with Anko.

Anko placed a melon Ramune on Sakura's desk. Sakura grinned at the carbonated drink; melon was her favorite.

"Thanks, Anko," Sakura reached for the drink and popped the marble top. The drink fizzed and shot in the air and dribbled down the sides.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but laughed, "I should of known, you punk!"

Anko laughed heartily, handing Sakura a handkerchief, "Yeah, you should off. Don't let all that paperwork dull your senses."

Sakura cleaned up the small mess. "Great, now my desk is going to be all sticky," None of her paper work was damaged and she placed it aside for the time being, "What do you have today, Anko?"

Anko pulled out a little scroll from her belt pouch, "Nicked it from a Lighting-nin, but I don't think it was his," She leaned against the chair set in front of Sakura's desk, absently cleaning her fingernails.

Sakura took it from Anko and looked over the markings and the odd symbol. She traced her fingers around the triangle in the center.

"What makes you think it wasn't his?" Sakura asked curiously.

Anko shrugged, "He didn't know how to use it properly. I figured you could take a look at it."

Anko had a habit of bringing back scrolls of all sorts of Justus to Sakura. More often than not, the scrolls contained dangerous Kinjutsu. The first time Anko brought a scroll like this Sakura was understandably apprehensive.

Anko had nonchalantly reminded that there was no law against knowing or studying forbidden jutsus, just against execution. Besides, the law was full of loopholes. After all Naruto's Kage Bushin was a forbidden and even Rock Lee's Lotus, and the two of them used those quite frequently. And don't even get her started on the amount of forbiddens Kakashi and even Tsunade knew.

Sakura, who had not needed much convincing in the first place, quickly gave in and examined the scroll. These powerful techniques gave ninja's an edge, and quite frankly, they were fascinating.

And honestly, whoever gave them the name forbidden, was just asking for it.

Ever since that first scroll, Sakura couldn't help but have an appetite for learning more jutsus; Anko shared that. Once, briefly, it had occurred to Sakura that this lust that Anko had, was something that had been instilled by Orochimaru, something that Anko couldn't ever really gouge out of herself like all the other things she had picked up from him.

However, this thought was gone before it really registered. And besides, Sakura shared the need to actively try to improve herself. And every little jutsu helped.

"I gotta run, kid, but how 'bout we meet up for dinner? Hmmm?" Anko suggested.

"Sure," Sakura murmured already opening up the scroll, "Usual place?"

"Always," Anko ruffled Sakura's hair and was out the door.

Absently, Sakura took a drink from what was left of her Ramune. Her eyes ran over the writing in the scroll. She lifted a brow at what she found. Yeah, she'd be taking her lunch now.

---

Sakura turned over the peach in her hand, examining the flesh for any flaws. The felt of the skin ran smoothly against her palm and fell into the awaiting basket. She reached for a reddish peach and her hand bumped into another's.

She looked up to see Kakashi on the other side of the cart, "Good afternoon, Sakura," He said pleasantly, his eye closing in a smile.

Sakura smiled back politely, "How are you, Kakashi-sensei?" The sensei was added more out of habit than anything else.

"Good, good," He said with a bobbing of his head, "How has your training been with Tsunade-sama?"

"Good," Sakura said automatically.

There was a pause, where neither of them spoke…with a blink Sakura realized she had nothing more to say. Her eyes slid to the side as she raked her brain for something of interest... Uh… What had she been doing lately? Training, working at the hospital, filing papers… Not worth discussing. Anything new? She bought a different brand of shampoo.

Sakura opened her mouth to tell him that, then snapped it close. That was lame, there had to be something more to talk about- Her jaw went slack. She was having trouble with small talk, with her sensei, as if he was just anybody to her. With a start she realized he was.

His eye opened and his brow creased, "Something wrong?"

Sakura didn't know how her face looked, but she quickly smoothed it into a smile.

"No…" A pang of pain echoed in her heart, and before Sakura could even understand the sudden, even desperate urge, she blurted out, "Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?"

He looked surprised, but then the shadows on his masked showed her a welcoming smile, "I'd love to Sakura. What brought on the sudden invitation? Missing your old teacher?"

His tone was warm and even affectionate. Sakura smiled back, "Ha, maybe. Of course, Anko will be joining us, but I doubt she'll mind your company."

"Anko?" Kakashi's eye opened in surprise, "You're having dinner with Anko?"

Sakura nodded. Few were aware of their little friendship. "Is that a problem?" Sakura said with a little more oomph than she meant too. She couldn't help but feel a little bit defensive for Anko. People were more wary of the women than she deserved.

"Of course not," Kakashi assured easily, "I like Anko. I just can't see you two having anything in common."

For some reason that comment struck her, "Of course not," Sakura repeated with a sweet smile, "See you at Mitsuko's at seven."

And with that Sakura walked away.

It wasn't till she was home, feeling bruised and empty that she realized why that comment had bothered her so much.

He really didn't know anything about her. Yes, two years ago she wouldn't have had anything to do with Anko, but now—Sakura dropped her groceries on the counter.

He still saw her as that little girl that would go chasing after Sasuke. The little girl that had to be pulled out of danger, while everyone else had enough sense to jump out of the way.

The very idea of Kakashi still seeing her that way made her so angry, that tears began to well in her eyes. Sakura let out a growl of frustration and wiped them away before any could fall. For some reason she wanted Kakashi to see her as someone strong. Someone that didn't need saving. Someone he could depend on.

However, if anyone in the village remembered her as she was, as that sniveling foolish girl, it was Kakashi. Sakura couldn't help but feel that once he saw how she changed, that it would then be true.

Angrily she wondered why she invited him to dinner in the first place. If she had stayed to chat longer today, their small talk would have turned awkward, both having very little to say to the other. Her hands stopped putting the groceries away.

Sakura suddenly grasped exactly how strange they had become to each other. She had acknowledged that fact before, but for some reason it became so much more real when she was in his presence. And then that desperate, intense, desire to bring Sasuke back clawed at her insides, and now that desperate, intense desire swiped to get Kakashi back too.

Because Kakashi was gone now too, in so many ways…

Sakura scowled at herself. Why was it that she was so frantic, so obsessed with reuniting Team Seven? So scared of losing anyone else... She didn't understand this sudden need to pull Kakashi back to her because... he had been absence from her for two years now. Just like the boys.

And she knew that. But standing there in his presence, and still having him so far away made her realized that that wasn't how she wanted them to be.

And that urge was confusing, because not that Sakura would ever admit it to anyone, but a part of her was intensely bitter towards Kakashi.

It was always clear in her mind that first and foremost, Sakura was to blame for all her faults. However, as her teacher, wasn't it Kakashi's job to help eradicate her of those? For those months together, she could only remember being scolded about her girlish fantasies on a few occasions. And not once did she remember being pushed as hard as the boys.

No. Kakashi was satisfied with her mediocrity. When it was made clear that Sakura had an edge with chakra control, Kakashi didn't help her take advantage of it. Actually, he used it to push Sasuke.

Granted, back then she would not have pushed herself to reach the tops of those trees like the boys did, because she herself was satisfied with just reaching that middle branch. But as her teacher, Kakashi shouldn't have been. He simply sent her to go guard Tazuna instead of pushing her to train. She wondered if she would ever forgive him for that...

In fact, even the flaws that Naruto had, the jumping in before he knew what he was doing, the hot-headedness, the outspokenness that got him into trouble, were ignored or brushed aside by Kakashi.

But in the meanwhile, Sasuke's flaws of teamwork and arrogance were treated. Kakashi spent more time teaching Sasuke than Naruto and her combined.

And back then she had been able to justify it. Kakashi saw himself in Sasuke. Sasuke was a prodigy; it was best to give him all the advantages possible. Sasuke had so little flaws that Kakashi would finish mending them quickly. Then he would work on Naruto, and then her.

All those seemed so absurd now, because they were all for naught. Sasuke left.

And Naruto left. And she was still there.

And to be honest, it was unfair to her and Naruto. Luckily, Naruto had the potential and the ability to make up for all the neglect he suffered. But Sakura had to scramble and beat her heart out to catch up and make up for it. At least she hadn't been neglected at the academy like Naruto was.

Sometimes Sakura wondered how Naruto was so strong. She doubted she would ever be able to catch up if she had been forgotten at the academy. Even now, deep down, in the dark recesses of her mind she was still terrified she'd never catch up to them.

But Sakura wasn't going to blame everything on Kakashi. Because she did understand that she had been spoiled and arrogant. Perhaps Kakashi may not have seen her as ready or strong enough for the grueling training methods he made Naruto and Sasuke go through…

But wasn't it his job to make her ready? To get that arrogance and childish out of her? At least...try?

Each team had a strongest and weakest member. And the more Sakura thought about it, only two teachers had actually done a good job of dealing with them.

Gai taught all of his students differently, but he didn't neglect anyone. He taught them exactly how they needed to be taught. Lee was given someone to emulate, someone to look up to, because for whatever reason, Lee was the last person he wanted to be. Tenten was given the opposite, given a mentor to contemplate, not to blindly follow, because the first person she needed to be was herself. Neji was given cool guidance, a hands-off approach, because no one needed to reassure themselves of freedom like Neji.

Kurenai had a balance of stepping in and teaching her students and stepping back and letting her students learn. And like Gai, she gave her students what they lacked, what they needed. Shino needed more warmth and cordiality. Kiba needed discipline and control. Hinata needed strength and confidence. Kurenai also understood that these were things that a team learned from each other.

Those two teachers understood that everyone learns differently. Needs to learn different things. Asuma and Kakashi on the other hand…

Asuma lucked out. He got to be laid back with his students because they were already a proven, tested team, miniatures of their parents. Each kid had come from a shinobi clan and had a specialized technique. They had parent's teaching them; parent's who knew their strengths and weakness. It was also very lucky that Shikamaru, Ino and Choji had been best friends. Asuma reminded them of this, helped solidify this and added the finishing touches to their teamwork, but he didn't start it.

However, there is not a shadow of a doubt in Sakura's mind that Team Ten would not be where they were today if it wasn't for Asuma. He saw what their parents were blind too. He knew that Shikamaru was hounded at home and needed a break at training. Knew that Choji simply needed opportunities to believe in himself, not just assurances. Knew that Ino's petty arrogance needed to be nullified by having to depend on her teammates. And frankly all of those needs were met with gentle guidance. Asuma's laid back style happened to be exactly what Team Ten needed.

Kakashi…he was given a bunch of misfits.

The stoic number one rookie with a disdain for attachments and a horrific family history. The plain, run-of-the-mill kid, with a penchant for girlish delusion and snobbery. The obnoxious bottom-of-the-class loser with an annoying streak and a starved appetite for attention.

Yeah, a laid back approach did not work. Who in their right mind would say, "Hey, here's an idea! Let throw these three together, just to see what happens!"

Sakura scowled at her thoughts, but allowed a mirthless chuckle.

Almost all of the rookie nine came from ninja families, therefore had two teachers. Their assigned teachers and their parents. Except for Team Seven. Sasuke, because of the Uchiha Massacre, had no one at home. Sakura was the daughter of civilians. Her parents had already taught her anything that could be remotely useful to a shinobi and it helped her excel in class--that is, on paper. And finally, Naruto had no family to begin with.

Kakashi was their only teacher, the only hand guiding them. Then again, maybe that's why she shouldn't be so bitter, so hard on Kakashi. A teacher's guidance can only reach so far before the pupil has to make his or her own decisions.

And after all... there was a time when Team Seven was whole, and happy, and complete.

So maybe that idea was just crazy enough to work. Because, for awhile… it did… Despite Sasuke's arrogance, Naruto's annoying tendencies, Sakura's outright foolishness and Kakashi's favoritism, it had worked.

Sakura put a carton of milk in the fridge and finished putting away the groceries. She glanced at the sink, spotting her dirty coffee mug from that morning. Absently, she set about to washing it.

Sakura wondered, sometimes, how life would have been so much different if the teachers were different, if the teams were scrambled. It's hard to imagine, and in the end despite everything and everyone, she can't help but feel possessive of Team Seven, of her boys.

She didn't want Kakashi to teach anyone else. She didn't want Naruto to learn with someone else. She didn't want Sasuke to fight along someone else. And in a shinobi village it's irrational and unrealistic, but it's there. The fact that deep down Sakura feels that Team Seven belongs to each other. Even if the members don't agree.

And that last fact, the one were Sasuke thinks he's his own island, the one were Kakashi thinks he can move on, go back to how things were before he had a team, the one were Naruto thinks he can bring back Sasuke by himself, it's the one that hurts the most.

Sakura watched the suds of soap slide down the curved ceramic of the mug and down the drain. As she reached to turn off the water, a tapping was heard of the window before her.

The minuscule dipping of her brows was the only outward sign of the sudden annoyance she had for herself. So deep in thought was she that she didn't even notice a shinobi crouched in the window right in front of her. She looked up away from the sink, and luckily, the ninja she saw made her smile.

There was Kiba stooped like a frog, his forearms on his knees and a fanged grin on his face. His hood was up and it made him look like a lion about to leap threw the window and devour her. Akamaru stood beside him, his tail wagging. He was out of his puppy years and outgrew riding in Kiba's hoodie. With Kiba crouching down, they were the same height.

Sakura opened the French window and stepped back, "What's up Kiba?"

Kiba let himself in and jumped over the sink, Akamaru following behind, "Hey, Sakura!" He began rather jovially.

"You're in a good mood," Sakura said with grin, her previous dark musings being carried away with the warm breeze. Kiba's moods were always contagious.

He gave her a fanged grin, "We got a mission, and your services are requested."

---

He didn't mean to involve her. Really he didn't. In fact, he hadn't thought of that girl in a year. It was just a single comment that had inadvertently reminded him of her.

Everyone was discussing potential vessels, when Deidara spoke up. Man, couldn't that kid just keep his whining to himself?

"I don't know of anyone, so can I just go? I'm starving, un."

How exactly had that reminded him? Well, Kisame's mind works in mysterious ways.

He instantly thought of that salmon in the fridge. He was rather disappointed that that was the only thing he had to look forward to eat. He'd rather have had a Yakizakan with a misosake marinade. Then he tried to remember the last time he had one of those. Felt like forever-- Wave Country-- Then bam!

Kisame remembered her. And in less then a second, his mind was flying to Suna and that battle. He was very good at connecting the dots (in ways few people could even conceive), good at finding ways to meet his goals.

At the moment, Akatsuki's goals were his goals. So in this case, the dots weren't very far from each other and happened to be numbered. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the girl was a good candidate. And it was always the very simple plans that made Kisame overlook the consequences.

Therefore his mind was a backward shot to the goal. She was young and a very good medic. Meaning two things: good chakra control and book smarts. Ping!

And not even a heart beat after Deidara had spoken; he capriciouslythrew her to the wolves.

The second he realized what exactly it meant to bring her up, he kinda regretted it. He preferred her alive, didn't he? It wasn't really good for someone's health to get mixed up with Akatsuki. But it was too late to take it back. Not to mention it would have looked rather… odd.

Kisame was impulsive. And the only reason he ever stopped a train of thought, was if the end was absolutely detrimental to his own life (and we're talking certain death). Otherwise, Kisame just dealt with it.

Well, there was still hope. She wasn't the only one suggested. Some kid from Earth Country and another from Lighting were being watched by the other teams.

And here he was, sitting at a tea shop just down the block from her apartment. They had been watching her for a month now, and how no one took notice of two black cloaked men, Kisame would never know. Honestly, what was up with Konoha? They slipped through pretty easily last time too. Kisame figured they'd amp the security. Well, it's not as if they were out frolicking down the streets, they did stay low. They weren't renowned criminals for nothing. Still, Kisame often wished he wasn't quite so good at his job. Was it too much to ask for a challenge?

Itachi sat across from him looking down the street at nothing in particular. Absently, Kisame wondered if Itachi was feeling nostalgic about being in his hometown. He wasn't last time, was he? Though Kisame had a feeling he did. In fact, every now and then Itachi's gaze would focus on certain people that were walking down the street. He figured they were people Itachi once knew.

Kisame's mind went back to his own village for a moment. A couple scenes came to his mind's eye. He looked up at the ceiling and sucked on his teeth. It was easier to remember the bad times than the few good, and Kisame never liked to dwell there.

He reached for the last mochi cake and Itachi snatched it at the last second. Calmly, Itachi put the whole thing in his mouth, his eyes pointedly on Kisame. He then slowly chewed it, as if saying "There."

Kisame rolled his eyes. Itachi didn't even want it. He was such a light eater. However, he would eat it just so Kisame couldn't. And being the senior of the duo (in membership years), Itachi held onto the money, so Kisame couldn't order anymore. Kisame took a disgruntled sip of tea. Sometimes it definitely got annoying answering to someone six years your minor… The things he put up with.

Itachi had not been very pleased with Kisame when he found out he left that little girl alive. It could have endangered them and caused unnecessary obstacles. Itachi was nothing if not thorough.

But nothing had come of it. Which was why Itachi didn't bother with a verbal reprimand, just his passive exasperating tendencies.

Akatsuki had not been implicated and Kisame knew she kept her mouth shut. Hell, he was sure she even lied for him, which was why he actually did find himself hoping that one of the other prospects would be chosen. Not many people had actually done that for him without motive. Or was she scare—Kisame preferred to think that she hadn't been.

No she hadn't. She smiled— the corner of Kisame's lip reeled back in self annoyance. The more he thought of her, the more he wished he hadn't mentioned her. There was still some chance that one of the other prospects would be chosen, right?

However, as Itachi had stated once they gave her information to Zetsu, "It's not looking good for your little friend."

He wasn't malicious about it; in fact if Kisame didn't know better, he would have thought that Itachi was… sympathetic? No, that wasn't the word. Rather, he was slightly empathic. Itachi was always the intuitive one.

Kisame absently picked at his teeth with a toothpick. With each day, it became more and more apparent that they hit the jackpot with this girl. Man, it was as if she was made for this one purpose.

During that month, she was assigned on one week long mission and two short two-day missions. They followed her on all of them and she did her job excellently. Even Itachi found her chakra control to be quite extraordinary for her age.

She came from a civilian family, so no worries about clansmen guarding her or even family being capable of coming after her. According to Zetsu, that was a problem with the other prospects.

Good grades at the academy. Her evaluation stated that she was very smart, but not exactly good at applying what she learned on paper in real life situations. Which meant that she would learn what they taught her, and she wouldn't be able use it against them.

She was a rising medic, trained by the Hokage, which happened to be one of the best medics in history. There were comments in her file, made by the Hokage herself, that she had an extraordinary potential.

And the most convenient part, the one that was actually rather baffling, was that she was almost always alone. All the other prospects were with their teachers, teammates, or family, but she wasn't.

And it wasn't a self-imposed isolation like Kisame had seen so many other ninja do either. In fact… after both observing her habits, her relationships, and reading her files, it was almost like… neglect.

As if Konoha didn't really know what they had. Really, it was all too easy to just whisk her away.

Though, it wasn't as if no one would notice, quite the contrarily. She put in endless, crucial hours at the hospital, examined a forest worth of paperwork that was essential to both the villages finances and healthcare system. Kisame found it easy imagining the chaos that would ensure should she would suddenly disappear.

Maybe he was reading too much into it (he didn't have much else to do during surveillance). Perhaps it was just a thankless job that fell on to an unusually capable Chuunin. Maybe it wouldn't have seemed so thankless if she wasn't always alone. She was just a kid. And maybe she was just a victim of circumstance, so rather than outright neglect; it was just someone that fell through the cracks.

Because while Sakura was apprentice to the Hokage, her teacher was just that, the Hokage. She couldn't exactly spend that much time training with her pupil; she had the equivalent of a small country to run.

She didn't regularly train with a team either. Her team had broken up. The irony of it all was that her teammates had been Itachi's little brother, Sasuke, and the resident Jinchuuriki. Her former teacher was Copy-nin Kakashi. They had fought that guy before (and Itachi owned that battle). But her teammates were gone, who knows were. Actually, last Kisame heard Sasuke was with Orochimaru (Kisame had a feeling Itachi was rather disappointed about that) and the Jinchuuriki was gallivanting around the world. And her teacher did his own thing too.

There wasn't much to say about her parents. She seemed to make a small effort to visit them once a week, usually for lunch or dinner. They called her often, though the conversations didn't last long.

There was one Jounin that she met with, rather infrequently since she was often out on missions, but it turned out to be Orochimaru's former pupil. Small world…

So she spent most of her time training in an empty field, working solo in a busy hospital or cooped up in her office doing paper work. It wasn't to say she never went out with friends or anything.

But she kept mostly to herself. She met with friends from her academy days once a week, two times at most. She acted different when she was with her friends. It was hard to pinpoint, since Kisame didn't exactly expect her to smile and laugh by herself (which would have been strange). But it was almost like two different people.

With her friends she was easygoing and quick to smile, sometimes arguing with that blond friend of hers or just laughing along while someone told a story.

When she was by herself, she seemed more serious, even intense. She was always in her head, a soft frown constantly on her face.

It was odd to see someone like that at her age, especially a girl. He'd seen a lot of loner boys in his day (hell, he was one), but not girls. Shy girls maybe, but not focused like she was. From what Kisame had seen, they were supposed to be talkative. Oh, and they constantly surround themselves with people to give them attention, and enjoy purchasing useless things, right? Right?

She wasn't like that. Actually, she seemed to dislike those frivolous things. Intensely.

Kisame took a sip of his tea. The point of knowing all this was to find some leverage. Sure, it was simple to just take her and threaten her life to do what they said, but Pein was usually much craftier than that.

It would also be much more efficient if she helped them willingly. She would learn the jutsu faster; they wouldn't have to keep her on a short leash. It would have gotten troublesome having to baby-sit her.

Kisame's eyes slid back to the front of the tea shop. By now her chakra signature was imprinted into his memory. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Itachi shift ever so slightly. They watched her walk by, her hands full of groceries.

Kisame raised a brow at her. Today she looked even more withdrawn, even dejected. She was looking at her feet, her brows dipped and her mouth in a small frown. Absently, Kisame wondered why.

Itachi motioned for them to move and in a second they were gone. They found themselves perched on a tower that had a perfect view of her apartment. They melted flawlessly into their surroundings, via genjutsu. Kisame watched her put groceries away and quickly grew bored with much of it.

A shinobi from the east caught his eye, leaping over the rooftops with a dog beside him. Kisame recognized the boy; his antics always made her laugh the hardest.

They watched as he perched himself outside her window and tapped on the glass. She opened the window with one of those real bright eyed smiles on her face. Like the one she had givin Kisame those years ago...

The boy leapt into her apartment and the dog followed.

Kisame felt Zetsu's chakra subtly brake through Itachi's small genjutsu. Itachi had been expecting him after all.

"He picked your medic, Kisame," Zetsu said straight to the point.

The corner of Kisame's lip lifted up in disapproval. Oh well. It was sorta nice having someone on the preferred alive list for awhile… But all things must come to an end.

---

An hour later Sakura stood with Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba and Akamaru in front of the gate. It was a simple scroll delivery. They were to be back in three days. So without much ado, Shikamaru sent them up in a quick formation and they were off.

They stayed quiet for a little bit, just getting comfortable with their pace and formation. Sakura moved effortlessly through the branches, observing her surroundings. Under the vibrant green canopy there was a gentle breeze and a cool ambiance. Strong beams of sunlight broke through, looking like pillars of light.

"Hey Sakura, have you heard about another diplomatic mission to Suna?" Kiba called back curiously.

Sakura landed and threw herself into another leap; her eyes locked on Kiba's quick form ahead, Akamaru just a step behind him

"No," Sakura turned to Shikamaru, who leapt along beside her, "Have you?"

He had almost as much access to the information that went though the tower as she did.

However, Shikamaru shook his head. Though his dipped brows showed he did have an interest in the topic; and Sakura, being a teenage girl, wondered if it had anything to do with Temari.

"Would you guys listen to me? I have insider information!" Kiba called back impatiently, as if they had just gone off in a whole tangent about some frivolous topic.

Though, Sakura knew that Kiba just got annoyed that she assumed Shikamaru knew more than him.

"What kind of information? Is it reliable?" Lee spoke up from behind. Kiba was indeed known to present absurdity as fact. He was never malicious; he just tended to exaggerate things. He called it spicing things up.

"Of course it is," Kiba also got excessively offended when you question his information, especially if you had good reason. He went on slyly, "I can't exactly name my sources but-"

"Was it your sister?" Shikamaru cut it calmly.

"No!" Kiba said in such a way that made it clear that it was, "But it doesn't matter. It seems that they've been having trouble with spies and infiltration in the government."

"Wait a minute, isn't that highly classified information?" Lee asked, his tone worried. Sakura paused as well. She hadn't heard anything about that. However, the information Kiba got from his sister was always true. Maybe distorted by Kiba in an effort to make it more exciting, but basically true. So chances were that a single Chuunin or other lowly official was under vague suspicion, with no actual investigation going on.

"We're their allies," Kiba rolled his eyes and used a much exaggerated tone to show just how silly Lee's worries were. He even felt the need to go on, "We won't use it against them."

"Still Kiba, way to discuss that out in the open," Shikamaru said, not deterred by Kiba's tones. After all he was Shikamaru; no one could try to act like they were smarter than him. Especially not Kiba.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm sure Suna's enemies are going to follow a group of mediocre Leaf Chuunins, and me and Akamaru for information about Suna," Kiba's tone was by now just slightly belligerent. He was obviously not pleased with their scolding.

Though that wasn't why Kiba called them mediocre, that's just the way he was. So the boys took no offense, knowing they were quite good ninjas. But Sakura couldn't help rolling her eyes at his quip. She wondered when she wouldn't need to tell herself not to take things personally. She knew Kiba didn't mean anything by the comment.

But something about the words mediocre, average, common… Something about them just bothered her to no end.

"Anyway," Kiba said nonchalantly, his annoyance already forgotten, "I brought it up because I thought Sakura might know something about it."

Her brows dipped and her jaw tightened. Her tone perfectly natural, "Since when are you so interested in politics, Kiba?"

"There's more to this hot bod than charm, Sakura," Kiba said, a smirk in his voice.

He then took the time to stop so that Sakura's quick leap brought her beside him. Sakura was already smiling at his humor. With an overly sleazy grin and a mock-lecherous look in his eyes, he wiggled his brows at her just in time for Lee to crash into him.

Kiba let out a loud, "Umph!" all his limbs flying behind him as his body lurched forward with Lee at his back. The two toppled to the ground in a fantastic ball of appendages and with a loud crash made it to the ground with the gracefulness of a hippo.

Sakura was left struggling to breath, wheezing with laughter. Her eyes clenched shut and her arms wrapped around her stomach, her shoulder leaning on a tree trunk.

Shikamaru stood beside her, shaking his head in disapproval. Despite himself, his shoulders were shaking with mirth.

After a few moments of watching Lee and Kiba untangle themselves in a daze, Sakura still couldn't breathe.

"Wow," Shikamaru shook his head, "Kiba stop messing around. We got a job to do."

"You guys okay?" Sakura gasped out, wiping at a few tears.

"Sorry, Kiba! I didn't realize you stopped!" Lee apologized, obviously feeling quite distraught over completely taking Kiba out.

"Yeah, well…." Kiba just murmured, rubbing the back of his head. He was just a little embarrassed, "Don't worry about it. It was my fault," Kiba dismissed, hoping to salvage his dignity.

"So what else is in that bod of yours, Kiba?" Sakura called, a big grin on her face, "It's definitely not grace."

"Shut up, Sakura," Kiba said. He and Lee jumped back up to the branches where Akamaru waited. Then muttered under his breath, "I'll show you grace."

That sent Sakura into another fit of laughter. Shikamaru chuckled, while Lee let out a hearty laugh and even Akamaru's tailed seemed to wag faster with amusement.

Once again they were off, back into formation. They listened to the air whipping past them, and the sound of their feet landing on the branches.

Sakura kept a soft smile on her face. There were still a few people around that made her feel like she was back on Team Seven. And Kiba was one of them.

Almost everything he did, she could easily see Naruto doing. Looking back, a lot of the things that Naruto had done or said that had annoyed her, were actually rather funny in their absurdity.

Everything he did… Sakura let out a sigh.

Really, she didn't realize how Naruto had become such a big part of her life till he was gone…. She didn't notice at first. Didn't notice how her days became… quieter… dimmer….

Till the days became a monotonous routine, it was like her world was diluted with gray.

Naruto was such a vibrant ball of energy, a constant source of activity. There was never a dull moment with him. With him gone, Sakura was at a loss.

But Kiba... Sometimes, the way Kiba moved, with so much life, or the way he would get determined and rush head first into a goal, made her feel like she was with Naruto.

Being with Kiba also made her wish she had been more patient back then. It made her wish she could have just laughed at the stupid things Naruto had done, not felt the need to correct them.

She scowled at herself. Who was she to correct anybody-- to think it was okay for her to smack him at the slightest annoyance --she stopped herself.

Sakura, quite frankly could spend the rest of the day berating herself with regrets over attitudes and actions.

She needed to let go of the past and just work to be better. Unfortunately, the three most important people in her life were in her past now (or might as well have been). When she remembered them, she remembered how she was. How she didn't appreciate people, or see them for what they were, or even see them at all.

She had vowed to herself to never, ever, do that again.

So when Kiba said something dumb without thinking, or did something that would have instantly been avoided, if he had paused to think, Sakura could only laugh and appreciate the boisterous chaos that ensued.

She wondered if she would have been closer to Naruto if she had done that back then...

"Anyway, do you know anything about it, Sakura?" Kiba spoke up again.

"Huh?"

"About what's going on in Suna!" Kiba said his tone exasperated, and then went on more calmly, "You were the one we sent last time, on the diplomatic meeting. Didn't you get in trouble or something?"

"No," Sakura's face went instantly neutral, "My team just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

It was something Sakura had said every time the question was brought up. She said it was such a tone of nonchalance that no one ever asked for more. And really, they didn't expect there to be anything else but that.

Lee began to asked questions and pretty soon they were talking about Gaara being Kazekage.

While she was usually very vocal in that topic, feeling personally connected and proud of Gaara, Sakura's thoughts couldn't help falling back to that last battle in Suna.

It would have been a highly successful mission. And in the report it was. Every objective was met, and Sakura proved to be quite useful, and arguably, essential to stabilizing the financial crisis in Suna. The small party sent to help relieve missions handled an impressive workload and had a 98% success rate. All in all, it was the diplomatic mission countries dreamed off.

Except on the way home, Sakura was detained and interrogated by Sand ANBU under suspicion of treason. Which had almost set off an entire war all over again.

She remembered sitting on a small island in the middle of a flash flood, tired, drained and ready to pass out.

She remembered telling him she wouldn't speak a word to anyone, watching him disappear into the horizon. Then tall dark shadows towering over her.

In her mind it was in slow motion. Sakura turned toward the shadows, her wet hair stuck to her face, her hands clenched, feeling sticky blood in her palms, and then a menacing group of ANBU.

They took one look at the four dead bodies. Three littered the ground, one floated in the water. One Leaf-nin, three rogues. One kid drenched in blood, barley breathing. And Sakura. Who had a single sword slice on her calf that she got on accident.

Sakura, having something to hide, pushed it far from her mind. She shouted at them that Kyo was worse than he actually was, shouted that he needed to get to a hospital, hoping that they would let her take him.

They decided to interrogate her themselves right then and there.

It was one of the shadiest moments in Sakura's entire life. She was kneeling on the floor clutching Kyo like a security blanket and five impossibly intimidating, exceptionally trained ANBU circled around her. It was like vultures hanging over dead meat.

They're tones were clipped, straight to the point and something in the tenor promised disaster if she didn't give them the right answers.

Sakura could only scramble quickly for half-truths and try to invent a straight story on the fly. She was so chakra drained by then, that she didn't shake, she didn't stutter, she was calm and looked straight into the dark slits of their masks.

All her inner panic didn't show, she told herself to relax her grip on Kyo and her body listened.

Sakura erased the two missing-nins and created another rogue that took off with the valuable artifact.

A few of them believed her, others didn't. They kept asking and prodding, making her repeat herself, twisting their questions hoping she'd fumble, contradict herself.

It was when they began to ask her about the manner in which both rogues were killed. As if a wild animal had eaten then alive, their intestines and organs torn and ripped. Right when she was going to tell them she had a technique like that, she remembered one of the sand-nins had those same wounds.

Instead, she told them the last rogue had turned on them, something about getting a bigger cut of the profit. A few shuffled their feet in annoyance and Sakura narrowly avoided a war.

She didn't even want to think of the full magnitude of what would have happened if they caught her lying.

Finally, Kenshi and Ametsu came to her rescue. Kenshi had been outraged to see Sand so suspicious of their allies after all they had done to help rebuild Suna. Questioning a fresh Chuunin while her teammate lay dead a few yards away and the other was barely holding on, looked like a slap on the face. Being a former ANBU captain, he was quick and infallible in his logic and diplomacy.

Sakura had expected to be taken back to Suna, if not to be further questioned, for Kyo's sake. She had told them that Kyo was badly injured, and he was quite the gruesome sight. However, she had a feeling that once there, Sand would not let them leave so easily.

Kenshi seemed to have the same idea and with a few more diplomatic maneuvers made the reluctant ANBU members bid them a safe trip.

With a quick bird summon, the entire team was on their way home. Sakura then had to relay the entire thing back to Kenshi, then to Shisho. Sakura supposed the reason she was so heavily questioned was because it involved two countries, and that artifact was practically a national treasure.

The whole ordeal made her second-guess everything.

Who exactly was Kisame?

As soon as she got home and the fiasco died down, she began to research. Being the Hokage's assistant had its downs, but it definitely had its ups. She had almost infinite access to files, histories and records of every ninja in the village, every known country, every foreign nin and every missing-nin.

After Sakura had stayed late to finish some boring paper work, she sneaked into the records and found him there.

Hoshigaki Kisame.

In all honestly, it wasn't difficult to pin point him. She knew he was a missing-nin from Mist Country, and his first name. In actuality, all she needed was the word blue. There was a large folder for missing Mists-nins, and all alphabetical by last name. That could have taken a wee bit of time, but all she had to do was reach for the one with the blue Post-it note.

Ping! There he was.

She didn't know why exactly someone felt the need to put that there, maybe their own little joke. But she didn't dwell on it when she looked through his file.

It was protocol for a country to announce missing-nins and to send their picture and a small amount of info to their allies. Telling them to be on the lookout and not to trust them if the shinobi came in their Country's name.

Sakura remembered pulling the little picture out from its paperclip and holding it closely. It was his I.D picture, probably his official Jounin picture. He was in his late teens, 16 or 17. He wore a plain black T-shirt with a fitted white taiko happi coat. Instead of the headband he had now, he had a simple one around his upper shoulder. His hair was a spiky blue tuft at the top and bangs hanging rather pleasingly around his eyes. It was long at the sides and brush against his high cheekbones.

There was something really different between this Kisame and the one she had met; something in his eyes. They looked more human. Softer. Sakura had wished it were a bigger picture so she could pinpoint exactly what it was.

But the question remained, what had he done? What was he going to do that warranted such a hostile interrogation? What did he need an ancient Teapot for?

It was only months later that she found out that the teapot they stole was the very same that once housed Gaara's demon, Shukaku.

Which threw her for another loop. For the life of her she couldn't think of what one would need with it. It wasn't as if the demon was in there now. It was in Gaara.

But then she remembered that ninja, missing or not, were tools. It was the client's business why someone was needed dead, or why they needed someone alive. The client's business what the purpose of a scroll was, or why a delivery was so important. It was not a ninja's job to ask questions of their leaders. Orders were orders.

Really, if Sakura thought of it, was a Missing-nin's job really all that different from hers, or the boys around her?

But there was something about missing-nins... What was it that made them leave their home, the place that made them who they were? Perhaps it was the money. She only got a quarter, if that, of what the client actually paid for the mission. While the price of the missions fluctuate depending on many circumstances. Sakura was paid a fairly consistent rate based on a missions level. D being the least lucrative and S the most, with a number of factors considered or bonuses added.

A missing-nin must of made a bundle with no middleman. But Kisame didn't seem the type to be that interested in money...

Sakura audibly scoffed at her thought. As she would know anything based on three chance meetings-

"What's that suppose to mean, Sakura?" Kiba called back, a playful smirk in his tone. Sakura suddenly became aware that she had cut into their conversation.

"It means that your plan is ridiculous," Shikamaru supplied for her. Sakura just glanced between them trying to figure what she had missed.

"It would never work," Lee threw in, laughing.

"It's fool-proof! Fool-proof!" Kiba cried out, Akamaru barking enthusiastically side him.

"It was made by a fool," Shikamaru muttered rolling his eyes, but Sakura caught the smile he was fighting to keep of his lips.

"I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Sakura said shaking her head with a smile. And she never would.

With narrowed eyes, Sakura jerked to a stop as she sensed a genjutsu, "Kiba!" She called, her eyes swiveling to him.

His back was to them, and he was in a crouch just having jumped to a thick branch. Rigidly, his body straightened and his spine became stiff. Akamaru stayed on the branch Kiba was at just a moment before, a low growl in that back of his throat. He stopped just before the wall of the genjutsu began.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru hissed from beside her

Sakura nodded, closed her eyes and slapped her hand together to dispel the jutsu off him. She sent out a strong chakra wave, and opened her eyes to see Kiba stock-still. Akamaru was beginning to whine at him.

Shikamaru pulled out a shuriken and quickly hurled it. He grazed Kiba's arm, hoping that the pain would shake his body out of it.

And Kiba reacted, but not in the way they planned. The very second the shuriken cut through his jacket and grazed his skin he whirled around in a fury, launching himself at them with a bestial roar.

The sound was so rough and horrific, that it must have been like grinding sandpaper against his throat as it escaped him. Sakura's eyes became impossibly wide and her breath caught thickly in her throat. Her body tensed to stone, her joints locking. Her blood froze as her eyes where pulled to Kiba's.

His eyes were nothing but black holes, as if his eyes had sunken away. Both that sight and the terrifying scream completely removed her mind from her body and Sakura was singularly petrified with fear. She was aware of nothing, but that monster about to collide and shred her neck apart with its teeth.

Then from the right, a blur of white collide with it like an arrow, slamming it out of the air with amazing force. With the eyes out of her field of vision, Sakura's mind numbly crawled back to her. She was dimly aware of Shikamaru's ragged breathing beside her, absently noting that he had been in the exact state she had.

She heard chaotic noise, like two wild animals fighting on the forest floor below. That horrible screaming, roaring, growling kept her mind from any clarity. It sent raw fear clawing at her insides. She didn't shake or tremble, the echoes from the first roar kept her body locked. Then before she could notice anything else, a rough slap of chakra hit her back.

Like emerging out of water, Sakura gulped at the air and collapsed into fit as her body came to life again. It was as if all her bodily functions, her heart beat, the movement of her lungs, the flow of her blood, the currents of electricity in her brain, everything had stopped at the sound of that roar. And now with the warm hand on her back everything revved up into overdrive immediately.

The fear that had been clawing at her insides snapped and ran rampant, adrenaline shooting through her veins. Her heart was in her head and her body shook with violent tremors. She was on the brink of losing herself, but with sheer force of will her mind fought against the overload of sensations.

She was on her hands and knees, her eyes clenched. Trying to gather her wits, Sakura planted chakra to her hands to keep from falling off the wide branch she was on.

"-kura!" She heard a voice yelling in a panic. "Shika-"

She heard sputtering and heaving beside her. Her jaw was clenched impossibly tight and Sakura was glad she didn't bite her own tongue off. Fighting for control of herself, she sent a gentle wave of chakra through her body, wrapping it around her lungs and heart. Her heart began to calm and with a deep breath Sakura's mind was back, and her breathing leveled.

She looked over to see Shikamaru thrashing. Lee, who realized she was back to normal, tried to steady him and keep him from falling.

Below herm the screams and growls were intensified. The sound sent fear into her heart and threatened to freeze her all over again. She sent a frequent wave of chakra to filter though her body, keeping that genjutsu from her touching her senses.

Lee's attempts to calm Shikamaru down were becoming sluggish and his body was becoming stiff and frozen from the screams below. Sakura quickly, but gently grabbed his calf and sent a controlled wave of chakra through his body. His body went back to normal and he shot her a thankful look

It was nothing like the frantic wave that Lee shot into them, accidentally sending both their bodies into shock.

Shikamaru was writhing with pain and panic on his back, Lee just barely keeping him from falling off the branch. Sakura tried to reach a glowing hand toward his heart only to receive a long set of scratched on her forearm.

"Lee!" Sakura shouted, panic giving away to frustration, she could deal with that, "Just grab him, you won't hurt him!"

With the assurance, Lee's fear was quenched and he quickly grabbed Shikamaru's wrists holding his arms out of Sakura's way. His torso was thrashing and Sakura was forced to straddle him to pin him down. She reached to plant both hands on his heart.

It was beating furiously and Sakura was quick to send a gentle wave of chakra. Slowly, his body began to still and his breathing leveled and Sakura and Lee let out a sigh of short relief.

Below the growls and screeching were getting worse and Sakura got off of Shikamaru and looked below.

There were two Kiba's down there. One was fighting like the Kiba she knew, using his Gatsuga jutsu. His body was spinning chaotically into black twisters. When he crashed into a tree he sprang back growling, his teeth bared. Still, this Kiba was the more human of the two.

The Kiba she knew was actually the boy that went to the academy with her... Sakura tried to concentrate on his form. His body was twisting and jerking unnaturally.... It was a terrifying thing to watch, and Sakura had trouble keeping her eyes on him. He hurled himself like a weapon, with no regard to his own safety, as Akamaru just barely moved out of the way; Kiba crashed into tree trunks and boulders, taking them out like nothing.

He moved so oddly Sakura couldn't wrap her mind around it. It was like all that power and energy came from his torso. His torso controlled every movement and his limbs were thrown out like a whip.

"It's a berserker jutsu," Shikamaru whispered beside her. She turned to look at him to see that he was pale, but had gotten a hold of himself. His brown eyes locked with hers, thanking her.

Sakura nodded and her eyes shifting back to the scene, "How do we break it?"

"I think the same way you, took the terror genjutsu off us. You have to physically touch him and push the chakra into him," Lee said, his eyes narrowed on the fight below.

Sakura nodded. The two boys stood by her sides, all of them watching the battle below with barley controlled terror. Akamaru dodged again and Kiba rammed into a boulder leaving a devastating crater and then shot of again as if he had bumped into a cloud, "That's not his power; the genjutsu is fueling him, sending his adrenaline into overdrive," Sakura murmured.

His roars and screams were beginning to get to them and Sakura felt her body begin to stiff. In an instant she grabbed Lee and Shikamaru's wrists and sent a wave of chakra through all of them.

Both boys let out a sigh of relief and sent Sakura another grateful look. Sakura's eyes were locked on Kiba. Her heart was beating harshly against her ribs and Sakura couldn't will that away, it was her own fear.

"We gotta do this quick…" Shikamaru closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Akamaru is getting tired," Lee said worriedly, and sure enough Kiba back-fisted Akamaru into a tree. The crash boomed through the air and Lee and Sakura moved to aid him.

"Wait!" Shikamaru grabbed onto Sakura's wrist and stopped Lee with his shadow jutsu, "We can't just jump in. I know we have to help Akamaru, but we'll be no use if we get caught again."

Sakura and Lee settled back onto the branch, worry and tension etched on their faces. They looked away from Shikamaru and back to the clearing. Kiba had become very still again.

Their breath caught and Sakura's hands clenched onto the boys' wrist. Kiba's head fell forward and his chin hit his chest. Disturbingly, he turned his head to look over his shoulder at them.

"Don't look at his eyes…!" Lee hissed. Sakura looked down at her own feet, knowing that his eyes would pull them into that Genjutsu. Lee whispered, "Look at his chest, his feet, not his face…."

Akamaru began to stir and Kiba shot into action again. Sakura narrowed her eyes, barely able to keep her body from jumping down to Akamaru's aid. But why didn't Kiba attack them? He looked straight at them, didn't he?

"Okay, I got it. We have to do this now to save them both," Shikamaru quickly ran over the details of his plan and the three shot into action.

Kiba was about to bash his best friend's head in when Lee's fist crashed into his face. He flew into a thick tree and brought it down with him.

Lee hissed and shook out his hand, "It's like hitting steel!" He shot off after Kiba and Sakura quickly rushed to Akamaru to check his vitals.

He reverted back to his natural form and whimpered as Sakura tended to him. He was very bloody and then Sakura realized that Kiba was using his claws and even teeth to fight. Her brows dipped as she sent out a chakra scan. She frowned.

Sakura was not a vet she wasn't quite sure if any organs had received any blunt trauma- Sakura gasped. She didn't need to be a vet to notice the tree branch piercing his liver. He was not lying down on it and it did not pierce through him, so she didn't see it immediately. Sakura's frown deepened as she did a more extensive scan. It was not a mere twig that was lodged into his liver, it was a splinted spike the length of her arm, 6 inches of it embedded in Akamaru's body.

The bile canaliculus was what was punctured. Bile seeped out into his body, risking infection and septis. Sakura's mind shot to the solution and she quickly and clinically executed it.

Gently, but firmly, she pulled Akamaru off the wooden pike and placed him in the grass. Blood seeped out and began to pool around them. Sakura's eyes widened and a small cry escaped her. Did the pike piece a major blood vein?! She knew nothing about dogs!

She placed her hands over the wound and began to seal the vessels, stitch the skin together. Blood steadily seep out but began to slow.

Sakura ignored the crashes behind her, not flinching when she felt a sudden breeze whoosh behind her, or paying any attention to Shikamaru's shouts.

With that wound closed, Sakura turned her attention back to his liver. Closing her eyes and seeing the wound outlined she began to close it with chakra threads. She willed Akamaru's own chakra to accept hers. Sakura clenched her eyes shut; Kiba would never forgive her if anything happened to him…

Fearing infection, Sakura began to extract the bile out from his abdomen. She had to get every drop. Like poison, she pulled it out in thick globs. She threw the acidic liquid away from them; Sakura scanned and rescanned. If Akamaru got an internal infection, it risked death. Not only that, bile was made to help digest. If it were anywhere other than his stomach and liver, it would eat away at his unprotected organs. His tissue already exposed to it had traces of what looked like burns.

Sakura took the last bit of bile out and let out a sigh. He was steady; she got him into a stable condition and now she had to make sure the others were okay.

She affectionately rubbed behind Akamaru's ear, "You did great Akamaru, it's gonna be okay. Kiba's going to be okay," She promised. Sakura wouldn't lose anyone else.

She turned to see the last phase of the plan executed, just in time for her role. Shikamaru was in position and Lee finally lured Kiba within reach. Lee let out a sigh of relief, making sure to keep his eyes on Kiba's torso. Sakura shot into action heading straight for Kiba.

Lee was yelling to her, "Sakura, quick! He adapts. Fast. He became immune to my attacks. You might only have one chance before he's immune to you too!"

Within seconds Kiba was locked in the Kagemane. She bolted past Lee, gathering chakra in both her hands.

Before Sakura saw Shikamaru's face, she knew something was wrong. Kiba hadn't resumed the starting position of the Kagemane. He was frozen in the same rigid stance this had all started in. Regardless, Sakura didn't slow down; in fact she sped up. She was just in arms reach to release him of the horrible genjutsu--

Then before anyone could react, Kiba roared. It was the same roar from before, that bestial horrifying scream that had locked Shikamaru and Sakura. Although Sakura was the closes, she was prepared. With a second skin of chakra, she blocked the genjutsu.

Lee on the other hand, froze. In a single instance, no struggle what so ever, Kiba broke out of the Kagemane and was hurtling towards Lee.

In one fluid motion Sakura gather chakra in her fist and before Kiba could get past her, she threw it into his rib. Kiba flew back like a kunai, straight into another tree completely destroying it.

Without missing a beat Sakura was charging after him. If Shikamaru's justus wouldn't keep him still, Sakura had to. And she had the brute strength to do it. Her mind went to Lee for a fleeting second, but she concluded that the genjutsu only froze him; he hadn't looked into those soulless eyes. Lee would be fine once she released him form it.

But right now, Kiba was both in, and the, immediate danger.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru called out. She ignored him, completely pushed it out of her mind. She couldn't let this opportunity go by. She couldn't allow this berserk Kiba to get used to her fighting style, to adjust to her strength. She had to take him out now. She had to save Kiba.

She summoned more chakra to her skin, thickening the armor. She tapped into her reserves. There was only one chance, all or nothing. Sakura used almost all of the chakra she had been reserving since she first started her training with Shisho.

Her whole body glowed and shimmer with it. Her breathing came out ragged, but adrenaline kept her for noticing. Her skin already felt raw and was turning red. She wouldn't be able to keep this up, not even for a minute. Luckily she didn't have to wait.

He leaped out of the carnage and began to run at her.

Sakura saw those hollow black eyes, and the inky depths seemed to be spreading out from his eyes and along his cheeks. The darkness seemed to want to engulf him whole.

Each of them was sprinting at the other with devastating speed. Kiba's whole body was wrapped in a smoky darkness; it trailed behind him like a comet. Sakura had her fist reeled back and was covered in chakra, protecting her both physically and mentally from him. The air sizzled and cracked with chakra and with a colossal explosion of power, they collided like stars.

And Sakura was the one left standing.

Kiba was left in the heap of broken trunks and branches. Dizzily running on adrenaline Sakura had enough sense to remember what she needed to do.

She had done what Lee did to her and Shikamaru earlier. She pumped his body with uncontrolled chakra, literally slamming the foreign chakra, that darkness, out of him. No doubt he would be going into shock right now.

She threw herself to his side and saw him convulsing like Shikamaru had been, however his seizures were so much more violent, slamming his body into the debris around him.

Extremely, dangerously, chakra drained, and disoriented, Sakura managed to pull a thrashing Kiba out of the broken tree trunks and place him on the smooth grass. With sheer will, Sakura pushed her weariness away. Sakura was running on pure reserves. She sent scan.

His heart was beating so fast it was a single flat-line. He was hyperventilating like none of the air was reaching his lungs. His movements were so quick and frantic that he managed to claw a long gash along Sakura's collar bone. The blackness of his eyes was fading to grey and then the only darkness there was his unseeing pupil.

Seeming to get over their shock, Lee and Shikamaru were there by her side instantly. Lee held Kiba's hands over his head while Shikamaru pinned down his ankles.

Sakura quickly sent a wave of pulsing chakra through Kiba, desperately trying to claim his heart and lungs. It wasn't working, she couldn't calm his heart down enough, his lungs were constricting and releasing to fast to get any air into his body, at this rate-- For a millisecond Sakura's calm clinical approach cracked and she feared Kiba was too far gone for her to save.

But Sakura didn't even allow this subconscious feeling to rear itself in the front of her mind. She couldn't even consider that. With a will of steel, without accepting any other possible ending but Kiba alive, she looked for another solution.

As she raked her mind, Kiba suddenly stilled. Sakura's heart dropped into her stomach.

"Kiba…?" Lee whispered in horror

"Sakura!" Shikamaru shouted frantically. Sakura couldn't hear them. She couldn't hear anything. Kiba's heart stopped. It was too much.

Instantly Sakura's hands were flying through seals and she slapped her hands together, sparks of lighting cracked and snapped between her palms. Firmly and swiftly, she thumped both sides of Kiba's chest.

"Check his pulse!" Sakura shouted, before she even finished the sentence Lee already had his fingers to Kiba's neck.

"…nothing," He whispered, tears in his eyes.

"Again!" Shikamaru shouted, Sakura didn't need to be told. Kiba's body jolted with the contact.

"There's a pulse!" Lee shouted, his eyes wide and his mouth open in a breathless grin.

Sakura clapped her palms together and clenched them, releasing the lighting jutsu. Sakura stared at Kiba's chest, watching for his breath. Too many seconds passed and Sakura let out a groan of desperate frustration.

She gently tugged at Kiba's jaw and plugged his nose. Placing her mouth on his and one hand on his chest, she sent two breaths into him. She felt his chest rise with air and placed both hands on his sternum. Quickly, she pumped his chest, counting to thirty, her eyes locked on Kiba's face.

Shikamaru and Lee watched helplessly as Sakura gave him another breath of air. As the seconds went by Sakura's clinical demeanor was beginning to turn frantic, making tears roll down Lee's cheeks and gather in Shikamaru's.

Sakura pumped at Kiba's chest for the fourth time. Two minutes. Two fucking minutes had passed and Kiba still wasn't breathing. When this last minute was up, Kiba's brain, his mind, his personality, everything that made Kiba Kiba, would be dead.

Sakura gave him another breath of air and her mind darted, reeled over what more she could do. What else she could do, what else could she do?!

Frantically, Sakura gather the last of her reserves. Her palms still on his chest, Sakura sent chakra to his lungs to help him breathe. The green chakra wrapped itself around his lungs, applying gentle pressure. As the seconds slid by, Sakura pushed harder against his lungs, and then suddenly took off the pressure. Sakura let out a hoarse and desperate scream, "Kiba!"

With a cough, Kiba began to sputter. Everyone gave a sigh of intense relief. His lungs expanded and sucked at the air. Sakura tried to keep helping him breathe, but her hands were shaking. The chakra around his lungs seemed to evaporate away.

Sakura let out a shaky breath. His eyes were open, but he was unresponsive. But he was breathing and his heart was beating and he was alive.

Now that his breathing and his heart were stable, Sakura was left to survey the other damage. Heart beating in her ears, Sakura took deep breaths. Her vision was doubled and wouldn't focus. She was so chakra drained, but she had a job to finish. After a second of steadying herself, she went on.

Lee and Shikamaru were too busy looking over Kiba to notice Sakura's barley controlled tremors.

He had many broken bones from both fighting them and bulldozing through their surrounding environment. His skin was already blacking to form ugly painful bruises. It was less than what she expected and she was just relieved to see that nothing was fatal. Her eyes swiveled back to Kiba's. They looked up at the patch of clear sky he had made, the former canopy was now on the forest floor, surrounding them

Sakura now had to worry about his mind and what a berserker jutsu could have possibly done to it. She heard a simpering and turned to see Akamaru limping towards them.

Then Lee stood up shakily, jumping back away from Kiba.

"Lee! What's wrong?" Shikamaru called in alarm. Sakura stood, her eyes locked on Lee in confusion. Wait a minute—

"Did you get Lee out of that petrifying jutsu?" Sakura asked Shikamaru without looking away from Lee.

"I tried…" Shikamaru murmured, gritting his teeth with tension and worry, "Did I hurt him?"

Sakura took a deep breath and pushed herself up, and moved to scan Lee. It took an immense effort to gather the chakra for a simple scan; it was like scraping a ladle along the bottom of a bowl.

"You just didn't expel the chakra from his body; you pushed it away from his mind."

"Damn it," Shikamaru let out under his breath. Lee was beginning to stiffen again.

"It's okay, Shikamaru. I got it," Sakura gave him a quick assuring smile. Lee was in no real danger now, but it was still a horrendous experience being locked in a jutsu. She wouldn't leave him like that.

"But your chakra-"

"Keep an eye on Kiba." Sakura told him and walked over to Lee. . She could hold on a little longer. When she found herself walking towards three Lees, it began it began to sink in just how much she had used to protect herself from the collision with Kiba.

She reached Lee and placed her palms on his chest. She closed her eyes, she could do this. Just one last gentle wave. This time it physically hurt pulling the chakra from her body and gathering it to her hands. It was like dragging shards of glass threw her blood, all the way from her heart to her palms. Sakura clenched her teeth.

Finally Lee let out a shaky breath and leaned against her. Sakura started falling backwards when he caught hold of both of them.

"Lee? Are you alright?" Sakura ventured softly, her eyes closed.

Lee nodded shakily; she felt his bangs brush against her forehead "I think I need to sit down."

They held onto each other and both all but collapsed on the ground. He leaned against one propped up knee, the other folded before him. Lee never did do very well with genjutsu. Sakura couldn't even imagine how he would have been if he had gone into shock like they all had.

Sakura stayed on the floor in front of him and let out ragged breaths, her hands felt like they were on fire. She leaned on Lee and looked back to see Shikamaru and Akamaru hovering over Kiba.

What the hell was that genjutsu? Why didn't anybody sense it before Kiba was caught?

Sakura should have sensed it when they were within at least 10 feet of it... Who had the power to set up something so subtle?

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment then she heard Shikamaru calling to her. Her mind went in to its clinical mode. She had to heal Kiba enough to move him. She lurched up to her feet, very unsteady and nearly tripped over Lee.

Lee caught onto her knee and calf, stabilizing her, "Sakura, "He said firmly, "You need to get your chakra back. You got Kiba stable, he can hold out a little longer."

Sakura was taken aback by his reproachful tone. She supposed if anyone knew her tendency to go past her limits, it was Lee. He understood why she did it better than anyone else. It was why he was the only one she paid any attention to when she was told to let her reserves build up.

His eyes were still closed, so she let out an "hmmm" of understanding.

He let her go and she slowly walked toward the others.

Then she saw feathers slowly drift down to the forest floor.

Her eyes widened in alarm and with a shot of adrenaline instantly dispelled the sleeping jutsu. She looked around to see that Lee was knocked out and then turned back to lock eyes with Shikamaru.

In one instant an understanding passed between them.

Shikamaru was a strategist; there was only so much he could do with only his own arsenal at his disposal. Like in Shoji, he only had one piece left protecting the king, their precious people. And as she was, Sakura was only as good as a pawn.

Despite all this, their eyes stayed locked with resolution. It was up to them to protect their teammates.

Sakura stayed near Lee, Shikamaru by Kiba. Akamaru, who had been licking at Kiba's face, was overtaken by the jutsu and laid asleep, his head on his master's shoulder.

"Sakura..!" Shikamaru hissed. Sakura glanced at him and instinctively caught the miniscule object he hurled at her. She opened her palm to see one of Kiba's soldier pills. Sakura popped the pill in her mouth, feeling her chakra temporarily flare. It wouldn't last long, and really it was just enough to straighten her vision.

Sakura slid into a defensive stance, her eyes searching the forest for the enemy.

Damn it. She couldn't even deliver a powerful punch, her reserves were keeping her alive and conscious.

"I have to say, I'm impressed," Drawled a smooth and arrogant voice. With a poof of smoke, there stood a guy in his early twenties. Sakura quickly scanned for a headband and found it wrapped around his thigh. He was an Earth-nin.

His eyes were naturally wide and were rimmed red. He had heavy shadows under them and looked like someone who hadn't slept for a week. There was something about him that made Sakura believe it too. He seemed… off. Crazed.

He carelessly walked towards her, his hands twitching at his sides.

Sakura glared at him, gripping a kunai. "What do you want?"

The question seemed to please him and he grinned at her, he ran a jerky hand threw his crop of scraggily hair. "My buddies want that scroll." He drawled out the last word, teasingly.

Sakura glared. His whole demeanor was unnerving. Something was definitely off about him, yet his casual demeanor both sent her on edge and drew her in.

He moved closer to her, five yards away now. Suddenly his body froze midstep. If possible his eyes got even wider and he looked between his feet and saw a thick shadow there.

Sakura traced it back to the line of the forest behind him and knew it went around the clearing, snaking through the debris and back to Shikamaru. A shadow hand reached up from the shadow to grip at the Earth-nin's neck.

He lost that quirky casualness immediately, his body stiffing in and all too familiar manner. "Bad move." He hissed his voice suddenly rough and deep. He snapped his head up to Shikamaru, his eyes those horrible black holes.

Sakura's eyes fell to her feet as if they were magnets to metal. She managed to protect herself again, but nearly fainted from the sudden drop in chakra. When she looked up again, she was alone.

She looked around with wide eyes. Her eyes shifted to where Lee had been, to where the others had been. The movement made her light-headed, but she could still think clearly.

Her body was coiled ready to protect herself. She heard a rush of feet and turned to see the Earth-nin. The world seemed to turn black, white, red.

Sakura moved her hands up to block, a kunai in her hand, but he was too fast. With a jolt of white hot pain, he pierced through her heart with his claws. Sakura's mouth opened, letting out a soundless scream. Her eyes wide, she looked to see his wrist jutting out from her body and followed it back to see those black holes, his eyes.

Sakura fell back, her world gone.

---

.To Be Continued.

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Thank you so much to the people that are still reading! Alright people we've reached the steady flow of things. Yay! Next chapter is Akatsuki filled of course!

And for the record people., I LOVE Kakashi. That whole contemplating on Kakashi spiraled out of control and into a completely different direction then what I intended. Don't worry he might redeem himself in the far future.

What do you think of Anko/Sakura friendship? I freaking adore Anko, anybody else? What about the Akatsuki scenes? As usual if anything seems off, weird, or if you just plain didn't like something, let me know! I'll see what I can do.