Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. I DO own Youshi Garukin (Yes, he's back! It's the prequel silly.) Ai Mizuri (now known as Kaori) is owned by xEMOtIoNaLLyCOnSTipaTEDx-

Chapter Six - Explanations

Two weeks had passed. Two weeks of pure bliss as far as Sakura was concerned. True, no-one actually knew about her blossoming relationship with Sasuke but she had to admit, she kind of liked it that way. It was still so new, so special, that they were happy to keep it to themselves, their own little secret.

Sakura was trying so hard not to bounce as she walked down the street to Ichiraku. She had promised to meet the gang for lunch. Sasuke had promised to be there, for once, hence the reason she was in such a bouncy mood.

"Morning Sakura-chan!"

Sakura paused mid-step at the sound of the familiar voice. Turning slightly to her left, she saw Youshi Garukin coming up beside her. He was a nice enough guy, no where close to Sasuke of course, but nice enough. However, Sakura had never been all that comfortable being alone in his company. There was just something about the man that made alarm bells scream out in her head.

Sakura's Inner self didn't like him one bit. She was always shouting at him whenever he came near.

Always stands too close! Creep! Smelly little insect! Thinks he's all that! If he looks at us like that one more time, I'm telling Sasuke!

Sakura mentally cringed at the thought of what Sasuke would do to Youshi. The man had, technically, done nothing wrong but so much as one word from Sakura about feeling uncomfortable around him, and Sasuke would wipe the floor with him. He had told her outright that no-one but him was allowed to look at her like that, touch her at all! Sakura was flattered by his possessiveness but afraid of what he might do at the same time. She didn't want someone getting hurt just for looking at her.

"You going to the lunch as well?"

Sakura was pulled back from her thoughts at the question. To be perfectly honest, she had kind of forgotten Youshi was still there. She smiled and nodded in response. She instantly regretted it when she saw the darkening look in Youshi's eyes. He moved closer beside her, his arm continually brushing against her side. She didn't like it one little bit.

Sakura saw Ichiraku coming up on her right and tried to turn toward it. She froze. Two things had happened at exactly the same time and she didn't know which one was causing her reaction the most.

Just around the side of Ichiraku's building, Sasuke was standing very close with Kaori, his head dipped in towards her own. She only caught a glimpse of the heartbreaking view though. Youshi had stepped in front of her at that exact moment and was leaning in towards her. Shock overwhelmed her system as Youshi's lips pressed down on her own.

Inner Sakura was having a melt down. EEEEEWWWWW! Get off! Get away! Dirty! Dirty! Pervert!

Sakura pushed Youshi off of her and gasped in shock and fright. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she snapped, her tone angry and accusing. Youshi just smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't pretend, Sakura!" he boasted, reaching his hand up toward her face. "You wanted it as much as meeeeeeeeeee!"

Sakura looked on in utter shock as Youshi suddenly flew backwards and landed on his ass on the ground. A deep threatening growl rippling through the air. Youshi and Sakura both looked up at the same time.

Sasuke was glaring murderously at Youshi. Sharingan eyes burning with deadly intent. The growl still erupting from his throat as he spoke. "Explain!"

"Wow!" gasped Youshi, more than a little afraid at the moment. "Chill out, Sasuke! She can kiss who she likes!"

"Pervert!" snapped Sakura, now also glaring at Youshi.

Youshi just shrugged and slowly got back to his feet. "Don't get all pissy with her Uchiha. You're not in charge of relationships around here!"

The next words from Sasuke's lips froze the very air around them. The group waiting at Ichiraku gasped in shock as realisation set in.

"I'll kill you where you stand, if you so much as think about my girlfriend again!"

Sakura's eyes weren't the only ones to widen at hearing Sasuke's announcement. Inner Sakura was cheering and jumping for joy as the sound of anguished fan-girl's cries of despair reached her ears.

"You're what?!"

Youshi's eyes were wide and fear filled as the meaning of his actions finally dawned on him. His hands were raised defensively as he carefully and cautiously backed away from the furious Uchiha, who was still glaring directly at him.

"Congratulations." came a soft whisper to Sakura's right. She turned and her day instantly turned sour. Standing there before her, grinning like an idiot, was Kaori!

SLAP!

No-one knew who was more shocked by the impact. Kaori, whos hand shot up to her blazing cheek, or Sakura, who hadn't even realised she had done it until it was already over.

"Sakura-Chan!" gasped Naruto, only just seeing what had happened. Sasuke turned in her direction the second he heard the blow. Youshi took the chance while he could and ran for his life.

Sasuke marched over to the two shocked women, grabbed them both by the upper arm and dragged them away down a side street, glaring deathly at any who tried to follow them.

"What the hell was that for?!" demanded Kaori.

Sakura glared at the woman. "Call yourself a friend?! My friend?!" spat Sakura. Her hand was rising again but Sasuke spotted it and intercepted. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Sakura turned her growing anger on him then. She ripped her arm out of his grasp and tried to connect the building slap to his face instead. Yet again, he stopped her.

"How could you?!" Sakura nearly screamed as tears began to flow down her face. "You said you weren't with her!" her voice was dripping with venom as her glare flashed to the woman in question before locking with Sasuke's again. "But every time I turn around, you're getting up close and personal with her!"

"Excuse me?!" Kaori's voice was both shocked and furious at the same time.

Sakura turned to face her and the two women were quickly locked in a staring down contest, each trying to intimidate the other. A deep chuckle pulled Sakura back from her rage and dropped her firmly into confusion. She glanced over at Sasuke, only to find the man close to tears, he was laughing so hard.

"What's so fucking funny?!" she snapped.

"Wait…" came Kaori's voice, a strange knowing tone. "You thought… me… Sasuke…" Kaori couldn't get her words out, she was laughing so hard.

Sakura felt her anger fading in to nervous concern. It was obvious that she was missing something here. Sasuke fought back his laughter and moved over to her, ignoring her silent protests as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"I thought you were smarter than that." although his words weren't the kindest, his tone showed no hint of cruelty. He was not insulting her by his words. He tightened his hold around her waist with one arm while his right hand made its way to gently caress her cheek.

"I would never do that to you, Sakura." he sighed. "I waited too damn long to get you. I'm not going to throw it away now that I've succeed."

"But…" Sakura started but Sasuke cut her off.

"What you saw is not what you think was happening." he stated, locking eyes with her. Sakura felt herself melting as she saw no lies in his dark depths. Sasuke tenderly kissed her forehead then glanced over at Kaori, a silent question in his eyes. Kaori smiled softly and nodded to him. "She deserves to know the truth."

Sakura's eye narrowed at the sound of Kaori's voice but the rubbing of Sasuke's hands, now on her back, soothed her anger away.

"Kaori is a double agent. She was working for Konoha and Akatsuki…"

Sakura interrupted him with a gasp. "We have to tell…"

"Tsunade-sama already knows." replied Sasuke calmly. "Kaori is Konan's younger sister. Like me, she was torn between family loyalty and duty. The Water Village, where she's originally from, ordered her to kill her sister but she couldn't do…"

"So…" continued Kaori. "…I left. I made my way here, trying to start again but that ass-hole Youshi recognised me. I was pulled up in front of Lady Hokage and basically given a choice. Work for Konoha as a intelligence agent or be put to death."

Sakura gasped as Kaori continued.

"I agreed and Lady Hokage sent me back out toward the Water Village. I was to intercept the Akatsuki and join them. It was easier than I thought. My sister and Pein had already heard about Water's orders and my desertion. The fact that I caught and killed an assassin ninja before he could take out Kisame just made it easier to blend in with the group."

Sasuke pulled slightly away from Sakura, without letting go of her, and carried on the tale. "Sound and Akatsuki clashed several times. Kaori and I used those battles to trade information, each getting the news back to Konoha in case the other couldn't."

"But that wasn't the end of it." added Kaori.

Kaori took a deep breath before she carried on.

"Word reached us that someone inside Konoha was feeding information to Akatsuki. Lady Hokage sent orders for me to reveal secret information to the group, give them intelligence they could use to avoid certain attacks or patrols. It was never anything major but it was always confirmed by their inside source as being true. It gained me a position of trust within the group. I was getting close to finding out who their inside source was, then that idiot Youshi blew my cover!"

Sakura gasped but Kaori had a little bit more to say.

"Now, if I'm so much as felt by Akatsuki, they'll kill me. My own sister will end me. So I'm stuck here, doing security patrols with ANBU and trying to figure out who the inside man is."

Sakura pulled out of Sasuke's grasp, much to his disappointment. Her gaze was curious as she looked him up and down. "How did you survive Sound's destruction?"

Sasuke smiled softly at her before closing his eyes and sighing heavily. He shook his head, as if debating whether to answer her or not. Slowly, his eyes opened and locked with hers.

"Kaori sent me a warning. She didn't have time conceal it in anything. Orochimaru caught me reading it and my cover was blown. I teleported him out of Sound so he couldn't expose me to the others. He tried to take over my body but I fought him off, killed him. By the time I got back to Sound, the attack was already over and someone had stolen my sword. I tracked them down to get it back and found you."

Sakura suddenly felt like a complete idiot for the way she had acted. Her eyes locked on to the ground as she mumbled her apologises to them both.

"Don't worry about it." stated Kaori with a smile. "In fact, you reacting like that has given us the perfect cover for what we were really doing."

"How so?" asked Sakura.

"If people think we were fooling around behind your back, they wont figure out that we're actually trying to find a traitor." smirked Sasuke, wrapping his arms around Sakura's waist again and dropped a kiss to her forehead.

Sakura blushed. "But I've blown that for you. What do we do now?"

"You want to help us?" asked Kaori, slightly surprised.

"Obviously!" stated Sakura, insulted that Kaori would even ask. "If someone's selling out Konoha to the Akatsuki, I want to help bring them down!"

Sasuke smirked proudly and dipped his head to kiss Sakura's lips. The smirk grew as the kiss ended. "Looks like I've got some making up to do to you."

Kaori sighed heavily when she spotted the glint growing in both their eyes. "Oh please." she sighed again. "Do me a favour this time?"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at her questioningly. Kaori smiled, this was going to be so sweet! "Take her some place I don't have to patrol! I don't think my eyes could stand another one of your shows!"

"WHAT?!"

Kaori laughed loudly at the shock and surprise showing on both of her friends faces. Sasuke was the first one to recover. He simply smirked at Kaori and flashed a knowing look at Sakura.

"I know just the place!"

With that, he tightened is grip around Sakura's waist and the two vanished in a cloud of smoke. Kaori coughed and waved her hand in front of her face, a slight grin showing on her lips. She coughed again as the smoke caught in her throat.

"I hate it when he does that." she chuckled to herself as she leapt to a nearby rooftop and made her way to the Hokage tower. It was time for her to start patrol again. At least, this time, she wouldn't have to worry about windows falling on people.

To be continued…