So… tired… More Breaking Benjamin. And also Paramore's old album.

Disclaimer: Continues to not be mine.

Dedication: To free Broadcasting/Art classes.

---

The four of us decided to split up and meet at my house, because, well, to be blunt, it was the best stocked with the things that'd we'd need. It had weapons by the heap, and it was full of food. And I was hungry.

Hinata and I went together, to find Tenten. I'm not sure where Naruto and Sasuke disappeared to, but I didn't really care. I liked being able to be normal, and not feel watched, because when Sasuke was around, that seemed to happen a lot.

Anger.

I watched Hinata flip over her cell phone (I'm so happy I don't have one; Anko would be able to contact whenever she wanted, and that was a scary thought. I'd never be off the phone), and her fingers danced over the keys as she dialed what I supposed was Tenten's number.

"Tenny, get down fifth, and you'll come to a turn, and then a line of houses. Fourth one on the right, the door'll be unlocked. If you can, get away from Neji."

Hinata went quiet, obviously listening to Tenten speak, and then she mumbled an affirmation, and then she hung up. O-kay, whatever.

"I'm hungry," she said.

"Me too. There's some ramen-"

"Hell no! I've had enough ramen to last me a freakin' lifetime!"

I snorted a laugh at her. "That's what you get for loving Naruto. A lifetime of ramen. Well, I hope you can cook, because I can't, and I don't feel like burning the house down. I'm not a ninja, or anything."

Hinata smiled. "Well, I can cook. Lady lessons, y'know. Another reason he's not happy with me right now. I'm missing all the important things he had planned for me, but he can't exactly tell Tsunade 'no', because he knows if he does, she'll send him on an excruciatingly boring mission."

We grinned at each other, silently thanking Tsunade. The woman was a crazy bitch, but it was all for a good cause. Killing leeches, skipping school, and telling parents what to do! Mwahaha!

Fairly quickly, we slipped into my house, after unlocking the door, and setting the traps off. I don't see why we need locks, not when we've got the place turned into a living death trap. I rolled my eyes at Anko's obsessive-compulsive paranoia. Ever since the time when Argent had gotten in, Anko did not like leaving the house undefended.

I didn't see how we were undefended, as two of the most notorious leech killers lived in this house. It just didn't make sense to me, but whatever.

I led Hinata to the kitchen, and she immediately started poking around. I let myself be shunted to the side, and I looked out the window.

The sky outside was a dizzy mess of purple and black clouds, and off white patches where the sun seemed to be shining through. They were swirling, thick and, well, actually, they sort of looked like sour milk, with the way they were curdling. Oh-kay. That's really weird. The weather doesn't normally change that fast.

I stood there for how long, I don't know, but I was transfixed by the strange mutations in the sky, and eventually, I heard the front door open, but I barely registered it, and until Tenten came in, soaking wet, with a snarl on her face.

I mildly turned around, and blinked at her. "Hello."

"Oh, hey Sakura, this is your house then, I take it?"

I nodded at her, but then Hinata came over, and ordered Tenten to take off her coat, and then gave me a pleading look. I squinted at Tenten, and figured her to be roughly the same size I was. I told her to go grab some of my clothes.

She grinned at me, and she pulled her hair out of the strange two buns on the top of her head.

Wow. I didn't realize that her hair was that long. Hinata, too, looked a little stunned at the length of the other girl's hair. Obviously, she'd never seen it before either. Okay then. I pointed Tenten in the direction of my room, and off she went.

And then I decided that I ought to help Hinata cook, considering she'd be cooking for five people, six if Neji showed up (I had a sneaking suspicion that he would. Boys are weird like that, and my sneaking suspicions tend to be dead on).

Not a smart idea. Ten seconds later, she shooed me out, not liking the way I was holding the kitchen knife. So sue me, I can't cook. Haven't I said this many times before?

So I curled up on the ugly orange couch that I loved so much, and waited for Tenten to come downstairs. I didn't know her so well, but I had a feeling she'd be fine with my clothes.

I'm not exactly the preppiest of people. Actually, preps kind of scare me. They're so… happy. No one should be that happy.

So when Tenten came down, plucking at the sleeves of one of my favorite shirt, a grin on her lips, I knew she'd be a cool chick. If she could deal with my clothes (which are often more extreme then I am), she would be worth talking to.

She sat down on Kakashi's squishy chair next to me, and continued to grin. "I like your clothes."

"Thanks, I'm glad they fit." I paused, and thought of something. "Although, if I don't get that shirt back, I will not be happy. It's one of my favorites."

She nodded, and we blinked each other for a minute. It was somehow awkward, and yet, not at all. She dew her knees up to her chest, and started humming to herself. We were both waiting for Hinata to get here and to the introductions again, because, let's face it, Tenten and I didn't know each other at all.

But there were always ways to break the ice, so I poked her. It was fairly unimaginative3, but I had no motivation to do something spontaneous. And just the fact that I'd thought about it killed the spontaneity of the situation.

"Yeah?"

"I dunno, tell me something about yourself."

"Well… I like sharp, shiny things? Does that work?"

My eyes lit up. I had something she might like. "Hold on a sec, I want to show you something. Actually, you know what, no, come with me." She blinked at me, confused, but I got up, and dashed off, and she followed after I gave her Anko's patented finger-crook.

I led her to what was supposed to be Kakashi's secret hiding-place-for-weapons. It was, and it wasn't. It was also his secret hiding place for his porn, because the one time she did find his porn, she gave him a weird look, and he turned pink, and then told me, very unhappily, to burn it.

I don't think I'd ever had so much fun. Seriously, the dude needed a better place to hide it, because loose boards in the floor did not deter a determined-twelve-year-od. And I'd used it as blackmail ever since.

But anyways, back to the situation at hand. I pulled a still-confused Tenten into the room, and flicked on the light.

The fluorescent (how I hate fluorescents… they don't make people look pretty,) light glinted off the hundreds of knives, swords, and other-deadly-sharp-things. I normally don't come in here much, not unless I need to re-stock my supply of throwing knives.

I prefer guns, on the whole. Not as messy.

But Tenten's eyes had gone wide as soon as I'd flicked on the light, and she looked amazed. Actually, she looked like a kid in a candy shop with an unlimited amount of money, she looked so gleeful. "Hatake, this is amazing. There are- Oh, my god, look at this, black silver. Do you know how hard it is to find good black silver?"

I shrugged. "Take it then. No one's ever gonna use it. And my name's Sakura, just the head's up."

She shook her head, almost experimentally, but she obviously did not have the will to put the black length of sharpened metal down. "No, I couldn't, it's too rare."

I shrugged again. "Kakashi said I could have those ones a long time ago, but I never used them, because I like blowing leeches full of holes. So keep 'em, for all I care. There's a twin, too, if you want it."

She looked awed, and gently traced her finger down the flat of the katana's blade. It was slender, and half as tall as she was; I knew the twin was half again as short as that one, but still of the same black silver make.

She continued to stare at it, so I supposed that I ought to get her the other one. I wasn't sure where it was, because a while ago, I'd thrown it over my shoulder in an effort to find some more of the weird enchanted knives that I liked pinning my hair up with. I had been standing in the far corner, so it should be… just to my left…

I spotted it amid a jumble of other thrown sharp objects. I carefully scuffled through the clutter, because I didn't want to bleed on anything if I got cut (blood rusts faster then water. Blah,), nor did I want to lose sight of the short black katana.

After pushing aside an ugly old rapier that I was sure was for decoration only, I gently tugged it out of its stuck-in-a-pig position. I noted that this one still had it's sheath, and went to find the other's one sheath as well.

When I finally did, and got back to Tenten, I wasn't surprised to see that she was still staring at the sword in her grip, as transfixed by it as I had had previously been by the weather.

I poked her with the sheath. "Hey, here's the other one, and that one's sheath."

She took it from me with a reverence one usually reserved for one's gods, and she held the two black swords like they were the most precious things she owned. For all I knew, they might be.

"Sakura, how can I ever-"

"Don't thank me; they were just gonna sit there until they rusted if you didn't take them. Oh, Hinata's probably looking for us."

I pulled Tenten out of the room with unsurprising resistance. She seemed to like sharp, shiny things as much I liked shiny toy guns. Yay, another girl who's as violent as I am, and that's rare to find, because most girls seem to think violence is not the answer.

And it's not. It's the question. I'm sure I've said this before.

The answer to that question is, of course, yes. Even if the situation doesn't call for it, a gun pressed to someone's head will usually bring about good results. I don't know why this is, because it's not like I'm going to kill anyone, but really, it works miracles.

You'd be surprised, actually, how willing leeches are to give you what you want if you threaten to kill them in painful ways. And then, of course, it's up to you, to decide whether or not you want to kill the leech.

Of course, as a hunter, I technically have to.

And besides. I hate them.

I blinked slightly, because when we got back to the kitchen, Sasuke and Naruto had finally showed up, with the boy I remembered as Neji with them. He looked sober this time. Damn.

That's no fun, because sober people tend to get mad if you draw all over their faces. Sigh. That makes me sad.

He looked at me blankly for a moment, and then Tenten got into the kitchen behind me. It was like he couldn't take his eyes off her. It was like he was staring right through me. I think I understood what Hinata meant when she said he'd go wherever Tenten went.

He looked at her like Kakashi looked at Anko. Like he was going to keep her safe for ever and ever and ever. I felt an odd ache in my chest, because I felt like I was looking at the way the world was supposed to be.

Tenten's eyes lit up as soon as she saw Neji, and she jumped on him without another word. Neither of them said anything, and they just looked at each other.

Hinata rolled her eyes, and dragged me out of there. I blinked at her, silently asking what the hell that had been.

She shrugged. "Tenten says it's physically painful to be away from him. I don't understand that, but it's always been like that between them. As soon as they first met, before my uncle died and Neji stopped laughing, they were the only for the other."

"I totally don't understand that, not even a little bit."

She nodded sagely. "I know, it's a little weird. But they've always been like that, like I said."

"Weird," I muttered, unsure of this situation. "Oh, where did Naruto and Sasuke get off to?"

Hinata rolled her eyes again. "They're probably still in the kitchen, stuffing their faces, completely oblivious to Neji and Tenten shoving their tongues down each other throats."

I grimaced. That was a lovely mental image, that was. I wrapped my arms around myself, still more then slightly disgusted. Why can't boys get a clue?!

"Well then, I suppose we should go and break in on their little reunion, shan't we?"

Hinata looked at me liked I'd gone mad, and I was gripped by an insane urge to giggle. Damn. Where were these inane urges coming from?! First the whole Sasuke-making-out-in-the-middle-of-the-dark-kitchen-thing, now this Why god, why? Why me?

Hinata shuttled me into the kitchen, and I blinked as I realized that Hinata had been right. Maybe Neji's tongue wasn't down Tenten's throat, but it didn't look like he'd be letting go of her anytime soon, and Naruto and Sasuke were, unsurprisingly, stuffing their faces.

Yummy. That was a mental image I had no desire to have verified.

I twitched, and looked around me. Next to me was the counter, and on the counter was… ah, that'll work. Even if it is gross, it'll work.

I grabbed one of the spoons that were sitting there, and the bowl of congealed porridge sitting next to them. I wrinkled my nose it. I didn't like porridge; I never had. This has probably been Kakashi's, as Anko only liked overly-sweet things.

I spooned a clump of the nasty stuff into the spoon, repulsed, and yet fascinated, by the way the old-snot-coloured stuff stuck to the spoon. It made from a great catapult.

Oh dear, that couldn't be a good thought… Now I have even more ammo to use.

I bent the spoon back, carefully analyzing how much force was being applied on the spoon, and wondering how much more I'd need to hit my target.

I bent it back a little more, and decided it was good enough. I motioned to Hinata to grab the other spoon, and to do as I did. She grinned maniacally, and I think she became my best friend in that second.

No one had even noticed us, yet.

Under my breath, I murmured "Three… two… one… Fire!"

And then both Hinata and I let the spoons go, flinging the nasty gelled porridge at them And, just on target, mine hit Sasuke in the forehead, just as Hinata's hit Naruto over the head.

We broke down giggling as we watched the goopey, gooey stuff slide down their faces, Naruto getting it in his hair. Very fast, our giggling turned into full-blown laughter, and it was bad enough to the point that neither of us could move because we were laughing so hard. My ribs actually started to hurt.

Even Tenten and Neji disengaged from each other long enough to find humour in the situation. Neji's lips twitched, and Tenten was quickly on the floor laughing with us.

I was clutching my sides, I was laughing so hard. It was just funny. There was no reason for it, but it was. And it might have been the fact that the whole lot of us were letting go of the tense nervousness that preceded danger.

Eventually, when the laughing fit had finally passed, and we got up, and just looked at each other without laughing (it took a long time. Most times, you find something far funnier in the company of another person), Hinata ordered us to get packed up, and ready to go.

Something told me that moments like this were going to be few and far between from now on. Sigh.

---

When we finally left my house, we were traveling light. It wasn't like we were going far, anyway, but we all had plenty of weapons on us.

I found, to my pleasant surprise, that Neji and Tenten had been working together as a fighting team for long time, and that their fighting styles complimented each other, Tenten with her twin long-and-short swords, and Neji with a strange pair of curved knives that looked liked they'd swirl around his arms if used properly that I'd never seen before, but I'm pretty damn sure Kakashi had a pair sitting in the arms' room.

Hinata had the chain-and-gun ensemble that I liked using, and Naruto had a really huge broadsword. How the hell did he hold that? Better question; where was he going to hide it? Actually, you know what? I don't want to know, because the next time I looked at him, I couldn't see it anywhere on his body.

Unnerving much?

And Sasuke was Sasuke, and I was me, and we were ready to go.

I blinked when we got out the door. There was a strangely strong wind that whipped my hair around my face, and I stared up at where the stars should be. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten, I suppose, because the sky was dark, and the sun had left my line of vision, leaving only a thin line of golden light hovering against the gloom.

I smiled at the irony. The light was beating pointlessly against the dark, only managing to barely hold it off, intermingling and making the most beautiful colours I'd ever seen. But it was pointless, and the sun knew it.

So why fight?

Because if we don't, the sun says, the dark will win, and there will be no chance of freedom and everything we work for. So fight, little one, fight as hard as you can.

I nodded to the sun talking in my head (okay, I'm crazy. Enough is enough, seriously), and I knew it was right.

Time to call Silver.

---

Everything was ready. I was sitting in a park, on a swing, gently pushing myself back and forth. Part of the ashes of a young female leech was sitting in a bag in my right hand. I'd need them to have something to tempt Silver with.

They were in the sealed plastic bag to keep him from differing the scent from this girl from his beloved's Argent. I knew, as well as Silver did, perhaps even better that Argent had had a very distinctive scent. It was what drew Silver to her in the first place, I think.

And he'd never tell me anything that I wanted to know, not if he knew Argent was still whole and safe in her Toronto grave.

But he didn't trust me, and as much as I hated him, he was pretty good for randomly showing up when I wanted to talk to him. This would only be the second I'd actually wanted to talk to him.

The first time had been after Argent's death. I don't think I'd ever seen someone so tortured, and a dangerous part of me wanted to watch him hurt.

I'd locked that part up, to keep her from hurting anyone else, and the only time she ever broke free now was when I was in the middle of fighting, and I was so exhausted I could barely move. That was when I let her free.

I smiled, and let her free.

A snarl-smile etched itself across my lips, and I called softly, sing-song, into the descending blackness. "Sil-ver, Sil-ver, why don't you come and play with me? I'm bo-red."

And then he was, materializing out of the darkness, black-streaked-electric-blue hair, white skin, and the only silver pair of eyes on his kind. And I think I hated him with every fiber of my being for a second. I wanted to kick him.

He's just so easy to hate.

He was smirking, and he eventually ended up leaning against one of the bars that held the swings up. "I take is you wanted to speak to me, your Highness?"

I smiled sweetly at him, hating him more then I'd ever hated anything in my entire life. "Yes, I did want to talk to you. Tell me what's been going on."

"And just why should I do that, little one? What's in it for me?"

I half-smiled, and held up the ashes. "You always wanted to know whether I had anything left of her, right?"

His eyes had bulged as soon as he saw the plastic bag, and I was pretty sure he would have simply attacked and killed me had I been anybody, or anything else. But I already had a gun pointed lazily at his head, and I was swinging the ashes around carelessly.

"Stop… that," he hissed out, and I was satisfied with his response. Poor boy. He didn't even know if it was her or not, and he was getting all worked up. Of course, I'd certainly made it seem like they were hers.

I stopped swinging them around, and simply let them dangle from my fingers, and I smiled savagely. "So, you wanna tell me what I want to know? Or do I open this bag and let the wind take these ashes away?"

He snarled, and my words were punctuated by a particularly strong gust. Tee-hee. I love perfect timing.

"So you want to know why I was so far away from Argent, so far into lands I despise?" He said, and I almost had the grace to wince. Poor boy, he still spoke of her in present-tense.

Then I remembered how much I hated him, and the dangerous girl that was in control of my body giggled happily, and I giggled along with her, if only because she was me, and I was her.

"Yes, that's what I want to know."

"Because I had no choice in the matter."

I blinked, slightly taken aback. No choice? That didn't make sense, Silver was… well, he was Silver, and no one told him what to do. Never. "What'cha mean?" I asked him.

"I mean I had no choice. It was go see them, or die. And I have no wish to end this life just yet."

"And why was that?"

"The nobles wanted to congregate, and one simply does not ignore the noble families. And, as I am one of those nobles, I was forced to attend."

I smiled. So easy. "And what were they congregating about? And why here, why now?"

"About a very strong danger to our world, among other things. Here, because we have access to vigorous human blood, and also because this is your human Headquarters. Now, because they think you humans have posed a danger to us long enough."

"Are you lying to me, Sil-ver?" I tipped the still-sealed bag upside down, and I could hear his breath catch in his throat.

"Why would I lie, Highness? Why would I lie, when you carry part of the only thing that matters to me?"

I didn't care to correct him. It wasn't Argent, but he didn't have to know that. "Is there anything more?"

He tipped his head, hatred still blazing in his eyes, and he said "I suggest you be wary of snakes, little one. Snakes and rulers with pink seem not to like each other all that much."

I sighed. "I guess you can have her, now." And then I tore the bag open, and let the wind pick the leech's ashes up, and flew them off on the wind.

Silver eyes bulged again, but then the scent of them reached him. He shook his head, confused, for a moment, and then he started to laugh.

"Well played, little one. I'd forgotten how dangerous this side of you is. Say hello to Kaeleo for me, won't you? I'm sure you know of whom I speak, yes?"

And then he disappeared, leaving me to my thoughts, and my hatred of all things that walk the earth un-alive.