Title:

Broken Cadence
Author/Artist: HarmonyRose
Claim: Sakura Haruno and Neji Hyuga
Theme: # 27-Violin
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Would I be writing this if I owned Naruto?
Summary: The end of all things should have come to a close under the prevailence of peace. However, history will forever repeat itself, and the ceaseless threat of war is continuously just over the horizon.

A special thanks to my betas Popping Fresh and Kinky-Nami-Lass for putting up with my terrible grammar. Also, a thanks to Lady Kaliska for suggesting this little plot bunny and putting up with me while I figure everything.

Also, a thanks to -delicatedesires ( wouldn't let me put the dot in) for leaving a very nice review that got my rear in gear about writing this chapter. Therefore I'm dedicating this chapter to her. Thank you!

Chapter 7: First day of Training

Neji awoke to the loud thudding of someone knocking on the door to his study. He hadn't even been aware that he had fallen asleep. His sleep was dreamless and deep. Neji abruptly sat up in his chair, noticing that the spare pillow and blanket he'd had a servant take into Haruno-san's bedroom pooled gently around his waist. Why would Haruno-san provide him with those? She was confusing the hell out of him; one minute she was all fiery-fury mixed with frigid ice at the same time and the next she was as mild and welcoming as spring. She was a very… varied individual; that was for sure.

Another thunderous knock resounded through the small, wood-panelled room and Neji quickly put the pillow and blanket under his desk to conceal it before clearing his voice and calling out levelly, "Come in."

The polished metal doorknob turned clockwise and Hatake Kakashi slouched lazily into the room, seemingly grinning behind the navy mask and forehead protector that covered the majority of his face. What any girl would consider a bad hair day was his norm. Kakashi's long, grey hair poofed up and leaned over to one side in an interesting display of defiance. His travelling clothes consisted of a dark-navy outfit that one could easily mistake as black, pants, and long-sleeved undershirt with a puffy, camouflage green vest which covered his lithe, but powerful body. His outfit was neat; nothing was out of place. Lazy was what Kakashi always was, but there wasn't a time he wasn't impeccable in his appearance…or at least what one could see of it.

"Hello Neji," Kakashi acknowledged the other male in the room.

Kakashi took a brief but habitual glance around the room and noticed only one thing out of place, a straight-backed chair in the corner of the room closest to Neji's desk near the lone window at the back of the room. Silently Kakashi wondered if, perhaps, Neji had had some company earlier. Kakashi resolved to squeeze the information out of the tight-lipped private man later.

"How late are you?" Neji asked curtly.

"Just an hour," Kakashi said, with a slight grin making itself visible even through his mask, "I was-"

"Save your excuses. I have a favour to ask of you." Stress lines were obvious on the young man's face as he spoke. This entire situation was wearing on him oppressively.

Kakashi nodded as a gesture to continue. His look had turned utterly serious, almost as if someone had flipped a switch.

"I have to train a spy for a mission involving Uchiha Sasuke. I am unaware of their actual skill level, but it is my guess that it's rather low. Would you be willing to train this person? They demanded that their teacher was someone higher than a Chuunin rank to get the most out of their training," his voice was serious as he spoke, and tension seemed to stream out through his voice. Neji could feel his headache returning to haunt him. The pounding anvil in his head was making no subtle attempts to surprise him. Neji had a feeling that, no matter which answer Kakashi gave, this entire thing would be a fiasco.

"I won't be busy for the next month or two," he answered. Kakashi shrugged out his next reply, "It's not like my kingdom will need me." He paused on that cheerless point and then lightened the mood; "I think I can manage to teach one more brat in my lifetime."

Kakashi hoped that whomever he trained was able to bring them all one step closer to ending the chaos Uchiha Sasuke had started. Heaven knew that he felt guilty enough that one of his previous students had gone rogue and that he, the legendary Copy-Ninja had given him the tools to be able to do so. Unfortunately, Kakashi didn't really believe that any man, no matter how trained he was, could bring back or take down Sasuke.

"Can you start this evening?" Neji asked, now returned to his stoic nature after Kakashi's poignant reminder of how devastating and costly the last war had been.

Kakashi nodded. He had rather suspected as much. With the conclusion of that matter the two lords began their scheduled routine meeting.

After an early dinner alone, Sakura donned on her newly cleaned pants and grabbed a tight shirt that had been loaned to her by Hyuga-san. On closer inspection of the shirt, Sakura had to guess that the pink Chinese styled top was most likely from the female god of the hunt, Tenten, whom Naruto had mentioned was a friend of Neji Hyuga and had a strange dressing habits. Of course, the irony of the situation was that it was Naruto telling her this, so he might as well have been calling the kettle black. He didn't exactly dress normal either with his fluorescent tangerine training jumpsuits. Her blond friend could be quite oblivious, she mused.

Just as she finished with her thoughts, there was a knock on the door. Sakura threw her hair into a high ponytail and crossed the bedroom with unclad feet. She opened the door and a young girl walked into the room, presumably a maid. Sakura knew the girl was a nymph by her facial features. She had strawberry blonde hair. A delicate facial structure and knowing hazel eyes that seemed much too old for one so young. It was vaguely eerie, the girl was maybe seventeen or eighteen, but her piercing sad eyes looked much older than that. Like the many weary war-torn soldiers, she looked as if she had seen half a lifetime already. Sakura mentally shrugged it off; she supposed she, herself, had seen more than enough for one lifetime, so it wasn't impossible that the girl had too.

"Haruno-san, I'm here to take you to the training grounds. You will probably be waiting awhile. Neji-sama doesn't appear to be done with his meeting just yet," the maid said uninterestedly.

Sakura nodded and the two headed out of the room and down multiple, drearily decorated hallways. She was lost in thought, wondering about her teacher and excited about the possibility of ninja training, something she had been denied as a child because she was a girl and from a prestigious family. She had always desperately wanted to have ninja training, she understood why she couldn't be a ninja, but it didn't help any. When she was younger, she had often gotten into fights with her parents about it; until she learned that it only made her parents more adamantly against it. Of course, she had secretly trained with her best friend Naruto, but he wasn't the best teacher. His personality was suited for it, but he was still too immature to be able to handle that kind of task.

Underneath her excitement, Sakura was apprehensive. What if she wasn't truly fit for ninja training? She was part nymph and though they traditionally had quite a bit of chakra, they often couldn't access it well. She supposed that she could be like her father's human side too and have access to her chakra but have very little. Even though she could use her chakra to some extent and Naruto had always told her that she had better chakra control than he, what if she wasn't as fit to be a ninja as she thought? Self-doubt assailed her mind and it warred on her face, in the form of a creased brow and a gnawed lower lip, as she walked onto the in-closed training grounds.

"I will leave you now," the maid addressed Sakura emotionlessly, "Neji-sama should be done anytime soon." Sakura glanced around and looked at the surrounding land. There were few trees, except for the one no more than twenty-five feet away from her. She slowly made her way toward the tall oak tree, still deep in thought. She gathered chakra to the bottom of her feet and rapidly released it to help her push off from the ground and land on the lowest hanging branch. She sat unceremoniously with her back against the rough bark of the tree.

Sakura was still worried about her aptness, but as the door began to open she schooled her features. Deciding she would cross that bridge should she ever cross it, she sat straighter and relaxed the muscles in her face.

Hours later Neji and Kakashi walked in and zeroed in on her unhidden chakra. Ever since that particular incident in her youth, Kakashi had always had been able to track her chakra extraordinarily well. Not because it was overly visible, but simply because he had been attuned to her chakra to help guard her after her incident. He was delightfully surprised to find out who his new student was. He had at one point asked the Lord and Lady for permission to train their daughter and had been denied.

"You're late again Kakashi-sensei," Sakura's voice carried over to the doorway.

"Hello Sakura-chan. I saw a weltering plant on the way here and I couldn't just leave it, I had to transplant it and nourish it," he started to explain.

"Liar," Sakura mumbled quietly. She was quite used to his excuses.

"I guess I do get to train you after all," Kakashi said with his one uncovered eye crinkled up in a gesture that suggested he was smiling.

Neji, who had been silent through all of the exchange, was secretly disappointed. He had hoped that the girl wouldn't know what she was in for. It appeared however that since she had a previous acquaintance with her new teacher that she knew just what to expect. Neji sighed, "I will leave you two." He walked silently back out the door.

Sakura hopped out of the tree and landed on the hard packed ground on the balls of her feet and with her knees bent to absorb the shock. Kakashi pulled out his explicit orange covered book and propped it in front of his face. "Alright Sakura, you know the tree climbing exercise. Show me how well you can climb up the tree," Kakashi said.

He was met with a blank stare. Sakura asked, "What is the tree climbing exercise? Naruto didn't mention that."

Kakashi was quiet for a moment; he had assumed that she had sought out her own teacher of some sort, since her chakra was well developed. She hadn't though; she had gotten advice from the most inept person to teach, her best friend Naruto. Kakashi grimaced internally; he might have to start from scratch as it was unlikely Sakura would be able to get up the tree today. Kakashi sighed gently, before putting his book into his kunai holster.

He walked up to the tree and then proceeded to walk up the tree smoothly without breaking the rhythm of his stride. He walked on the underside of the second branch to hang upside down. He opened his mouth to speak to explain the process when Sakura interrupted, "Are you gathering your chakra to the bottom of your feet and using it to stick to the tree?"

Kakashi nodded and then bent to grab the branch before swinging himself into a sitting position on top of the branch. He took out his orange book again and glanced down at his student. "Practice that till you get it right. It might take awhile…" his voice drifted off as he noticed that she wasn't really listening to him. She was staring unseeingly at the tree. Her gaze was unfocused and she was chewing unconsciously on her bottom lip as she thought.

"You can take a running start," Kakashi spoke up after a minute not bothering to spare her a glance. Sakura walked up to the tree and as she reached it she activated her chakra. She placed one foot on the bark of the tree and then melded her chakra to be similar to the trees so that her chakra and the tree's were flowing between each other. She placed her other foot a little higher on the tree and connected her chakra once again to the tree's life force. Gently she severed the connection between her bottom foot and placed it above the topmost foot. She continued her pattern as Kakashi watched on. He'd never seen anyone meld their chakra to a tree on their first try tree climbing. Granted that wasn't exactly the way he wanted her to tree climb, but it was impressive nonetheless. He'd never taught a forest nymph either and he supposed that her special display might be a result of her heritage.

Sakura reached the branch where her sensei sat and she grinned triumphantly at him. "That was good, now walk on that pond over there," Kakashi pointed out a small pond a good hundred feet away. That way Kakashi could see how good her chakra control was without having the extra distraction of her combining her chakra with another life force; that was a whole other advanced skill altogether. Kakashi leaped down and landed gracefully on both feet before he began walking toward his student. As he neared her he watched her walk carefully around in a loose circle. Her chakra created tiny ripples where she stepped. After seeing that she wasn't in any danger of falling, Sakura became more bold launched herself up into a jump before landing safely on the surface of the pond. Now she was doing the kind of chakra control exercise he wanted.

"Alright let's go to the field, to see what you can really do," Kakashi said with a sigh, he had really wanted to get some reading done this evening. Her control was impressive and he already knew she had a good amount of chakra, but he needed to know how well she could harness it to her needs and what her repertoire of jutsus was.

Kakashi breezed into Neji's study, prepared to brief him on his student when Neji quietly interrupted him, "How do you know Haruno Sakura?"

Kakashi sighed, all pretences of whimsicalness erased, "There is something you need to understand about Sakura. She's been hurt in the past and blames herself for uncontrollable circumstances. She has been a sarcastic old woman since eleven years of age and a jaded woman since age sixteen. She hasn't had an easy life."

"Who has?" Neji asked in retribution. What had she had happen that was so much worse than everyone else's experience? Clearly Kakashi was just making excuses for this girl and allowing her to wallow in her self-pity.

"Do not mistake me. I do not believe she should wallow in the past, making herself feel guilty for the sins of others, but if you knew her story and mindset, you would see the reason."

The God of the Underworld merely raised his brow and asked, "Pray tell, what happened to her then?"

Kakashi responded, "It isn't widely known and if Sakura knew I told you this, she would quit and you'd be out of one hell of a spy. Plus she would probably literally kill me." The masked ninja gave Neji a stern look, "Do not let her even guess that you know her story. Especially not the version I'm going to tell you. That would give me away immediately."

"Get on with the story," Neji mumbled impatiently; stupid old ninjas and their need to make things overly-dramatic.

Kakashi started his tale, "Sakura…"

Was just eleven years old at the time. She and a visiting friend of the same age had gone out to the green pasture just outside of the castle walls. They were running through the field, giggling with grass jewellery hanging from their necks and tied around their wrists.

A ninja garbed entirely in grey, suddenly appeared in the field and grasped the shoulders of Sakura's friend. Sakura asked politely if the man would please let friend go. He laughed, a dark sound erupting from his throat. Sakura grew scared; this could be one of those strangers her mother had warned her about. The captured girl let out a small whimper and then man sneered at her, "I don't think so."

Sakura swallowed the fear lodged in her throat and wanted to scream. "Now, now no screaming there is no one to hear you and besides you wouldn't want your friend hurt would you, Miss. Sakura?" the man asked mockingly.

Sakura shook her head. She wouldn't let her friend be hurt. "Come to me or else," he fingered the grass necklace on the girl in his arms and moved his hand to her neck, two fingers placed on either side of her windpipe, "you get the point."

Sakura stared wide-eyed at the man and even though every instinct in her body told her to run away from the man she walked near him and tugged on his sleeve. "Please don't hurt her, I'll come easily."

He grinned maliciously, "I knew you would see it my way." The ninja flickered himself and the little girls to a facility. He held them roughly by the forearms, bruising the tender skin. He half dragged them down a long hallway, his strides too long for the girls to keep up with. He kicked open the third doorway before the end of the hall and shoved the kids inside. "My part is done. Hand over the money," the ninja said to the man in charge.

The man in charge was a heavy set man, but by no means was he a weakling. He was buff, but looked as if he just enjoyed being in charge. He was tall and had a husky frame. His eyes were a steely grey and his hair a jet black. He waved the man out and motioned for the two girls to step forward; they did so hesitantly. He smiled insincerely, "Come with me."

He walked with them toward a side room; scared stares watched his back and eyed the other leering men in the room. The two girls grasped hands and walked to the closed doorway that the man had walked toward. He opened the door to reveal a gloomy staircase. He held the door open for the two little girls, like a gentleman would for a lady, but he was no gentleman. The girls treaded carefully down the steps and the sight which greeted them when the reached the bottom truly terrified them. There was a man down there. He was naked, tied at the hands and feet, and his eyes were dilated with raw fear. The man came up behind them and pushed the two girls forward into the room. The force of the push nearly separated them, but they held to each other tightly.

"Alright little pink-headed wench, do you know why you're here?" the man sneered at her. Sakura shook her head, her eyes widened, she was in so much trouble. She shouldn't have wandered off when her mother told her to stay in the castle walls. She should have listened, but she didn't and now she was afraid she would die and drag her shy friend down with her.

"No? Well let me inform you. You're here, because your daddy won't surrender in the war and he's starting to win, so you see you're here as a little warning to him. Now, just write your daddy a little note telling him you're in trouble and for you to be released he'll need to surrender" the domineering man told her.

Sakura whimpered out, "No." She wouldn't do that, this war was very important to her daddy and the people of her province. She was no traitor and Sakura knew first hand just how many husbands, sons, and women were dying in the battle field. She saw bodies get buried almost everyday when she snuck into town. She couldn't say yes to this man, it would be unfair to all those people who died.

"Well, I didn't expect you to say yes when I asked, so…" he smiled evilly, "I brought some persuasion." He gestured over to the tied-up man. Sakura backed up toward the wall, but the man snatched her hand and dragged her to him. She let go of her friend's hand. The man pulled her to where the man was lifted him into a sitting position; his back leaned against the wall. The man took out a kunai, grinned maliciously, and asked, "Okay princess, this is your last chance to say yes. Otherwise you're going to kill this man. What do you say?" He twirled the kunai on his fingers.

Sakura couldn't speak she was too frightened. She looked at the man with sorrow, truly sorry for what the man was going to do to him, and shook her head. Her captor dragged the sharp kunai in between the prone man's hands and the man began crying as he watched the blood drip from his own hands. Sakura tried to jerk away when her captor pried her hand open and forced the bloodied kunai into it. "No, you don't. I told you, if you refused you were going to kill this man. I wasn't kidding. I'm not killing him; you are," the man told her with a crazy glint in his eyes. He was enjoying this.

He gripped the wrist with the kunai and brought it toward the man's neck. Sakura was desperately struggling against him trying to prevent it. The knife met the man's neck and Sakura stopped moving afraid any motion would slit the man's throat. Her captor held her hand there and stepped behind her to grab her other hand. Sakura was frozen in fear. This wasn't supposed to happen. She cried out in her mind for someone to save her. He put her other hand to the man on the floors pulse. Sakura could feel only three things; utter terror, the cold metal of the kunai in her hand, and the man's racing pulse. The captor pressed her wrist into the man's neck. Crimson blood flowed from his neck and Sakura felt his heart rate slow to a stop and heard his last breath. Sakura was stock still and the evil man tossed her in front of her friend, kunai still in her hand. The kunai cluttered to the floor and she stared at her hands. There was blood all over them and a drop fell from her pinkie. There was a man's blood on her hands. She brought her palms closer to her face and then the shaking started; she was scared, shocked, and had just killed a man.

The fear was overwhelming her and she continued to stare at the crimson on her pale hands, and the man laughed. She tried to call for help from anyone, but her voice wasn't working. No sound came from her mouth except whimpers and rasping breaths. "Little girl, it's your turn now. Come on now, don't you want to please me? I might let you go if you do." The sneer on his face was repulsive and degrading, dirty even. There was a disgusting eagerness on his face, to kill, to hurt, to terrorize, and to see other souls suffering. The small girl was in no condition to listen. Her heart beat rapidly; what had she done to deserve this and her sweet friend had been dragged into this too…whose fault was this? Was it hers? She prayed that it wasn't, but knew that it was.

Sakura could hear her friend whimpering like a kicked puppy behind her that was horribly terrified of another kick. The man moved agonizing slow toward the girls trying to prolong their suffering. He reached Sakura and grabbed her wrist again, "You and I are the same now child. We both have blood on our hands." He traced her palm with a finger, smearing the blood farther.

Sakura became uncontrollably angry and spat, "I am nothing like you."

He chuckled, "Oh but, you are." He jerked her closer to him and in her anger Sakura felt a staggering energy flow through her. In blind instinct she utilized the power and channelled it through her captured hands. The man's eyes stared at her and he fell to the ground dead. His hands where she had released the energy into him were raw and bleeding. Sakura staggered back in terror. There was now more blood on her hands. She fell to the ground crying. She was like that man she had killed two men that day and one she had murdered willingly. She sobbed brokenly, tears falling on her palms and mixing with the blood. The blood and her guilt sickened her and she threw up. And she screamed.

She wasn't sure how long she sat crying and staring at her hands. It could have been hours or days, but she had no idea; time seemed to pass her by. She could still distantly hear her friend whimpering somewhere behind her, but she was too caught for it to register. The sole window leading to the outside broke and a ninja climbed through it and looked around for anyone who would try to stop his mission. The ninja was dressed in a black ANBU suit with a whiter than snow mask on.

He saw the two dead men on the floor and then looked to the sobbing pink-haired girl. He was confused and then he saw the blood and understood. He gently grabbed the girl and transported her outside the compound. Once out he whispered, "Hush, it'll be okay now. You did what you had to."

As if just noticing she was in someone's arms, her eyes widened and she punched weakly at his chest. "Let me go. I don't want to be touched. I don't know you. Put me down," she screeched in terror. Quickly he tore off his ANBU mask, so she could she his face. His head band was across his forehead and a pair of mix-matched eyes looked down at her. Realizing she was in emotional turmoil, he hushed gently again and sent in another person to get her dark-haired friend.

"Shh, you do know me. I'm another Lord. You've met me before. It's Kakashi Hatake, I work with your father," he tried to get through to her. A fresh wave of tears started at the mention of her father. She didn't want to face him. This was all her fault and she had murdered men.

"It's okay. You did what was necessary. Your father will still love you," Kakashi whispered. He looked toward the compound and wondered what was taking his fellow ninja so long. Just then a thundering came from the building and the ground shook. In just a blink of the eye the compound collapsed. He set Sakura down and told her not to move. She stared at him and cried out, "I can't stand another death on my conscious. Please find my friend!"

He nodded. He searched the rubble, but could find no trace of his man or the other little girl. It was getting dark and he went back to Sakura. She had dead look in her eyes as she said, "You should have gotten her out first. She wasn't tainted." She cried no more.

Kakashi's heart bled for the little girl and he whispered, "It's not your fault."

She gazed through him, "Yes it is."

Kakashi sighed and he hoisted her back into his arms, before beginning the long trek home.

For many months afterward Lord and Lady Haruno, out of fear of another attempt on their daughter's life, kept Kakashi as their daughter's bodyguard. He had stayed for the girls comfort.

Kakashi had finished his long tale and sat silently for a minute, before he spoke once more, "You have to understand that if she makes a certain connection she will no longer feel comfortable in this house." Neji eyed Kakashi confusedly. Kakashi sighed, "Her friend who died in the collapsed building; her name was Hinata Hyuga, your cousin. Do not mention her to Sakura ever." Neji nodded, he barely remembered Hinata's death, it was many years ago, so it wouldn't be hard not to mention it.

"Thank you for letting me know her story. It goes a long way to understanding why Sakura seems so cold," Neji said dismissing Kakashi as it was getting late in the evening.

Kakashi stood and on his way to the door he turned and said protectively, "One more thing. She's had enough hurt in her life. Do not play around with Sakura like you do your other women. I know you well enough to know you couldn't ever be serious about a woman. You hurt Sakura and I will not hesitate to heap retribution."

Neji scoffed, "Have no fear. I do not plan on taking interest in a woman again until this Sasuke situation gets taken care of."

Kakashi gave one last threatening glare and then headed out of the room.

Thanks for reading! Please Review

HarmonyRose