..Chapter Nine..

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Hours later after a shower, a change out of her hospital garb and Sakura was heading towards the Tower. She'd packed what she considered important since the details of the mission hadn't been given yet. She figured if she felt she needed anything else she'd just grab it on their way out. She doubted Kakashi would mind all that much. He hardly seemed to mind much from her outside of training.

She'd taken her latest uniform and put it on for this mission. The rest of them needed to go back to HQ to be recycled so she could get a few more. It never did well for an agent to wear a tattered, overly stitched outfit. It hardly looked professional and reflected badly on the organization. In turn, all of her uniforms were free so long as she had one to exchange for another newly acquired one.

She'd just been so damned busy lately...

She resisted the urge to yawn as she glanced up over at the sun setting. It had long since fallen behind the walls of Konoha, but the yellow light from the orb in the great distance danced along the edges of the stone barrier. She placed her hands behind her back as she drew closer to the Tower. Her eyes changed directions to look on at the half shadowed, half illuminated monument.

She grinned at the visage of her Shishou and wondered, briefly, how silly Naruto might look up there one day. Would he look silly at all? Would his face be the first one to grin? Would he defy obvious convention in regards to that or take on the stoic pose of those who came into the title before him? One had to wonder.

She stretched her arms outward as she entered the twin doors before her and headed up the stairs that would lead her to the Hokage's office. She dug her hands into her pockets as she rounded the corner and came within three or so feet of the door.

She jumped very suddenly when it slammed against the wall open. Her wide, unexpecting, eyes were greeting with a curious sight.

Kakashi stood there, rigid and in full regalia. She swallowed slowly at the very raw heat pouring off of him. She felt like she was once again staring a beast in the eyes as she had that morning long ago. Then, she'd been angry with him and adrenalin had made her brave.

A strength she'd acquired from him over the last few months kept her from stepping back from that heat of his contained rage. If she'd come up here to find him like this months ago, not knowing or understanding this side of him... she'd be shaking at the energy drifting off his honed form and around her.

Inside she was shaking.

If he noticed her he didn't say so. He drifted past her in a sweep of movement so soundlessly she felt like death itself had walked by her. Once he was gone, long taken the stairs and out of the Tower it was then she found the ability to exhale and shut her eyes to relax. She wasn't sure what she would have done if he'd glared at her. She liked to think she would have been strong enough, or, too frozen in place to move.

Tentatively, she moved towards the door he'd opened and slammed against the wall. Her eyes shifted to the side to gaze at it as she passed by. Her lips became a flat line as she noted the split in the wood. It wasn't enough to make one replace it... but due to the force of that alone... she wondered how mad Tsunade was within. Just what had the woman said to make Kakashi so unnaturally angry? She'd never seen him leave any ally's presence save her own so... visually frustrated.

What an understatement.

The room appeared undamaged, she noted as she came in. It was mostly dark save a light on her Shishou's desk. There was nary a soul in sight save the Slug Princess sitting behind it there. This, was the first thing Sakura noted out of place aside from Kakashi's blatant anger. Her teacher was hardly ever seen without Shizune somewhere beside her, fretting.

The very darkness of the room had her feeling on edge and wondering what was wrong. Trepidation seized her almost instantly.

"Close the door and sit down, girl," she spoke out with a force in her tone. It was different from what Sakura was generally use to and made her hasten her orders.

Seconds ticked by on the clock behind her after she'd taken a seat. Tsunade appeared as tense as Kakashi but not angry. More or less troubled and worried. It had Sakura more curious than before.

"How long have you been on ANBU trainee status?"

Sakura paused at the question. Shouldn't she know? She answered after a quick calculation or two, "Over five months. Not much more though by a few days." She resisted the urge to ask why. She'd find out she assumed; at least, by the tone of the room.

Tsunade sighed and shifted in her seat. "Rin sent me a stack of missions back this morning from HQ with agents tagged to them. I didn't notice yours until later." She paused. "I'm so busy that, like yourself, I hardly know the passing of time... I had been hoping it'd only been a month or so since you'd joined..." She frowned. "But it hardly matters now. If I reassigned this mission it'd be considered favoritism. That aside... you knew it would come eventually. Getting it out of the way now is better than later."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Tsunade-sama?" She sounded more as though she were speaking to herself.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as her apprentice questioned her.

Angry, worried, irritated, pissed off beyond reasoning with--these were all things she'd experienced from the strong woman across from her. Stress made her drink heavily. Gambling helped her escape her own sorrows and forget the past. However... the look Sakura saw behind her teacher's eyes, the feelings she appeared to be trying to hide... this was not something Sakura was use to.

Fear?

Seconds ticked on still and Sakura waited patiently for her teacher to say something. Anything. She felt fear in her chest growing. She was drawn into wanting to know what she had to say while, at the same time not wanting to know at all. Keeping silent kept her from making a decision about either.

She watched as Tsunade bent to her left slightly and opened a drawer at her desk. A saki bottle was set on the top. Next, came the tiny cup that went with her three piece set. Sakura's eyes remained fixed on her actions as she slowly poured, set the bottle back down and took the cup into her manicured digits.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Shishou?"

She eyed her own cup a brief moment. "When was the last time you had sex?"

Confused by the unusual question, Sakura found herself having to think about it. "Almost six months ago, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade took a shot sip from her drink. Her eyes narrowed on the pinkette once more. "You didn't ask why..."

Sakura said nothing.

The older blond sighed and leaned back into her chair. The swiveling thing creaked under her as she did so. It was nigh the only sound in the room, making the air seem that much more... thick. "I looked over you last couple of missions with Kakashi," she remarked offhandedly.

Sakura nodded, not quite sure where this conversation was going. Her teacher had changed topics twice now.

Tsunade flipped open a folder on her desk and stared down at it. "He tells me your excelling in swordsmanship far better than he anticipated."

Sakura's chest swelled with the compliments. She had no idea he felt that way. She couldn't help the warmth that surfaced to her cheeks. "I wasn't sure I was doing that well."

Tsunade nodded and shut the folder. She tapped a few fingers on the desk. "I say these things because the mission you're about undertake will test certain limits for you, Sakura. You might--no, you will--find yourself in a position where particular talents may not be of any use. Do you understand?"

"Not... quite.." she allowed slowly, face awash of more confusion and now apprehension. The very idea of being without the use of her chakra or her weapons had her under a sense of alarm.

"I'm not sure you're ready for it, quite frankly. I don't think anyone is; even the most experienced of courtesans. Sakura," she asked with a heavy tone in her voice, "have you ever had sex with someone you didn't like, someone you found you had one thing to gain from doing so?"

Sakura now had a better idea of where this conversation was going. "No, I never have. Not unless you call mutual loneliness a gain, Tsunade-sama." Her voice sounded dejected.

A sad smile crossed her lips, as if she understood. "I think we all do that once in our lives, Sakura. There's no shame in it."

"I know," she whispered, trying to sounds strong about this. The fear wasn't present in her chest anymore. The questions as to what was to be explained evaporated. Now, all that remained was the will to overcome and accomplish what she'd boldly said she could if she had to over five months ago.

"I love you like a daughter, you know. That's why this isn't easy for me. If I could, I would send this mission back and ask that someone else be assigned to it. Sadly, that's not the way things work in ANBU. You take any mission you're given--."

"Without question or complaint," Sakura finished, "I know." Her green pools met with her shishou's. "I appreciate you worry and fear, Tsunade-sama. But, this is something I've been thinking about for a long time. I'm not sure I'm ready for it... but I'll do my best to forefill the mission requirements."

"That's what I worry about about," she muttered, lips in a flat line.

"What?"

Tsunade sighed. "You've always been an excellent student. You soak up information like a sponge and always do what's asked of you. You've never complained or cried. You've never said anything was too hard for you to do. You throw yourself into your work in a way that has me wondering if you ever get any sleep.

"I know you'll undertake this mission with your best foot forward, even if it takes a part of you away by the time you're done with it. You'll handle it with grace and maturity, even if it breaks your insides. And it will. No matter how good you are, no matter how many times you've done it or do it... you'll come back with a piece of yourself lost.

"I'm not afraid you you doing well. I'm not afraid of you completing the mission successfully. I'm afraid of you coming back as someone I'd don't recognize."

Tsunade's open, honest, hearfelt words washed over Sakura. She'd never heard her be so open in her presence about how she felt towards her.

On the outside she remained tried and true to her own inner strength. However, in reality her teacher was voicing her own fears. There were many things Sakura could handle. There were many things she had tackled and overcome no matter how bad things got. But this... even this had her doubting.

Still, she smiled brightly. "I'll be alright."

Tsunade nodded and took a scroll from her desk. She held it out to Sakura who stood and took it.

"All the details are contained within that, as well as, your alternate identities. But, I'll give you a breakdown," she explained, sounding a little more like herself and a little less morose. "You and Kakashi are to travel to a town twenty miles from Konoha in the east. The map and directions on how to get there are in the scroll. When you get there you are to seek out an establishment known as Luna Lounge.

"The woman who runs the lounge is whom you'll be working for. Her husband is your target." She paused long enough to take another sip of her saki. "She seems to think he's been cheating on her with other girls in the lounge and wants some sort of evidence."

Sakura's brows rose. "Why not just hire us to observe him? Seems like it's overkill to have someone sleep with him..."

Tsunade nodded. "I thought the same as well. But, from what I've gathered she''s tried hiring private detectives. They haven't managed to come up with anything. Neither have the lower rank shinobi she's hired either."

"Why does she think he's cheating her?"

Tsunade sighed. Here came the hard part. "According to Rin, who met with her about a week ago, her husband is a bit... two faced." Sakura's expression seemed to radiate more questions and she went on to elaborate, "The owner is from a very wealthy merchant family. She's the sole benefactor after her grandfather passes away. The lounge she owns reflects that same wealth, despite being, for the most part, an escort service with benefits.

"When she married her husband is wasn't out of love. A major part of the marriage agreement was his fidelity. He agreed to give her heirs to continue the family line and she agreed to make sure he never went without."

"Al...right," Sakura edged with narrowed eyes and parted lips, still looking lost. "What does that have to do with him cheating on her?"

"Her husband is a man who came from the same circles as herself. He's a gentlemen in those circles. She's known him for a long time. Long enough, that she knows his feelings on women beneath his rank."

"Meaning?"

"This is where the fidelity part comes in," she said coolly, filling her cup again. "During the time of her grandfather and father, although it's not nearly as practiced anymore... it was understood you made love to your wife as modestly as possible while you took out your more ...violent urges on lesser women, ladies of the night.

"I'm not being literal here. Most people aren't." She waved her hand idly as she spoke, as if trying to convey the utter farce laden in those words. "But her husband's father did take it a bit more literally than most. His son reflects the same thinking on the matter.

"When a few of her girls came up suddenly with bruises and scratches far bolder than usual she started to worry it might have been one of the clients being too harsh. But, when she questioned them about it they made all sorts of things up. Although, she stopped questioning them further when the ones she did question further wound up with a large sum of money, enough to leave the club and move."

Sakura allowed the information to sink in before speaking. "So, basically, she thinks her husband has been manhandling her employees, the women, and threatening them if they told anyone. Then, to further hide his screw ups, he's sending them away."

Tsunade nodded.

"That still doesn't explain how no one's caught him yet... I know quite a few Jounin who specialize in information gathering. If he's just the son of a merchant it shouldn't be a problem..."

"That would be the unknown variable I'm worried about; the wife seems to be too. Hopefully you can find out during your mission there and take care of it."

"Do you think it's possible he's a shinobi? A missing nin?"

Tsunade shrugged. "Who knows."

Sakura nodded as she stood up. "Is there anything else?"

"No, you're dismissed." She waved her off. "Be careful."

"Yes, Shishou," the pinkette murmured as she left, closing the door behind her. Silently, she hoped whatever the mystery was... it wouldn't swallow her whole in the process.

ooo

Kakashi waited at the gate, his single coal-grey orb jumping to look upward at the night sky. His expression lacked real emotion. His stance was that of his standard laziness where he leaned back in between the large entryway and waited for his partner. His hands dug nonchalantly into his black pants while one foot pressed into the large frame behind him. Bits of his shaggy, spiked, silver mane tickled his features and danced on the errant night breeze.

He wasn't quite sure how long he'd been there; perhaps an hour, perhaps longer. He would've stood there all night if it meant he didn't have this mission. He'd give his other good eye if it meant he could rewind time and find the right words to say to her, to keep her from doing any of this.

Five months... for five months he'd been lying to himself. Everytime the thought returned he told himself he wouldn't worry about it. Everytime he went into HQ with her to submit another report and eyed the stack of missions on Rin's desk he'd told himself it wouldn't be her. Not this time. They'll get someone else to do it, he'd reflected. And as more time passed he'd convinced himself she'd never have to do it. That, perhaps, in being Tsunade's apprentice they'd make an unwritten exception.

Kakashi removed a hand from his pocket and wiped it down his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then used both hand to rub the heel of his palms into his closed eyes. The action caused a hundred varying colors to appear in the darkness behind his lids. It barely eased the longing he wished to deny, the frustration he experienced on a daily basis.

He hadn't touched her again as he had that day. He's smelled her hair when she stood next to him, cherry blossoms assailing his senses. He'd brushed thighs with her when they ate in some nights, ignoring the shock waves shooting up his veins. He'd stayed up on his watch, looking at her for hours as she slept, as her breath fanned across her arms. He'd let her caress his body when she tended his wounds, staying his place and forcing it all down to the deepest reaches of his mind. He'd done so many things without reaction. However, there was just one thing he didn't know he could stand to watch without breaking entirely. It was that one thing that had him wishing he could stand there all night.

"Ready?"

He'd heard her, felt her, long before she'd made her presence known. His gaze swept towards her, once again allowing nothing to show but his cool indifference. He nodded and pushed off the wall.

The barest of moments later they were off and running.