HOWLING LOVE :.

Chapter Two xx Infiltration

The kunoichi ran a course hand through her streaming locks of bubblegum-colored hair, finding the way her bangs hung think in front of her eyes annoying without the constant aid of her steel-plated Konoha headband. She flicked the strands away with a rushed swipe of a hand and sighed as they slid right back into place.

God damnit... The Haruno cursed inwardly as she dove her hand angrily into her weapons pouch and yanked up two little black hair clips. Without any sort os hesitation she pulled back her bangs one at a time and messily clipped them up and away from the shining portrait of her face. A triumphant grin spread across her lips as she closed up her weapons pouch once more and continued on her way.

Though the hair problem had been the only noticeable drawback, the kunoichi had actually switched her entire outfit. She was not wearing an outfit even close to her usual get-up consisting of the red, thick-strapped tanktop, her black spandex, and the pale shinobi-style skirt. No, on this mission she was wearing quite a different jumble of apparel, or rather, quite a different disguise.

Sakura wore a very thin, silky black yukata with a black sash to match that went down to just above her pale knees. Though black wouldn't have been her first choice, it actually looked surprisingly good on her. Underneath she wore a long pair of black leggings that went just past her knees. She wore a pair of open-toed boots that went up to her knees as her last ones had, but instead of just having a series of buckles had bright purple laces winding up the middle. To match the purple, the Fifth had given her a pair of purple studs to put in here ears and several purple and black bracelets. All in all, the Haruno looked pretty important in her all-black outfit. That and the completely out of charater expressions that she had been practicing for hours beforehand would prove to be her aces later on.

The assignment had been simple: A band of S-class criminals had been capturing famous shinobi from across the Fire Country for the past several years. The wereabouts of the captured ninja were unknown, though several reports had stated something about some sort of screaming heard from beneath suspected hideout buildings. One of these suspected hideouts had recently been confirmed as a legitimate criminal base by a band of Tsunade's ANBU, and so the duty of investigating the place by impersonating another criminal lord had fallen to Sakura. She was to impersonate a young Hamasake Hotaru, who apparently had been close to the ringleader of the criminal operation. ANBU had intercepted letters and telegrams between the two, and though the two had never met in person before, they both held a high respect for the other. It was the perfect opportunity for the Haruno to sneak in and sniff around.

Since this was indeed an A-ranked mission and a hard one at that, Tsunade had given her explicit instructions to bail if anything went remotely wrong. There were several reasons behind this order, the most prominent being the risk of blowing cover and putting the whole village at risk. Plus the Fifth couldn't have losing one of Konoha's best medics, but at that time they were running low on the much-needed shinobi.

Sakura bowed her head at the honor, proud that the Hokage had entrusted her with such a job.

The kunoichi then shook her head to rid the thought, pressing on to the task at hand. Even though she already had a full, well-thought-out game plan, she still felt the need to go over it time and time again as she continued sprinting towards the hideout coordinates.

Everything was set up perfectly for her. The criminal lord that she was impersonating had recently been captured by yet another squad of Tsunade's ANBU, and was currently being held by the Interrogation Squad. All of the information that she was relying on had been supplied by this female lord through means of severe torture. The information was one-hundred percent reliable, so honestly, why was the Haruno worrying? All she had to do was get to the darn place, pretend like she was en evil woman who enjoyed watching other people's pain, sneak into the hideout, learn as much information as she could, and then slip out unnoticed.

She let a short grunt escape her lips as the complexity of her mission stretched itself out in her mind. She had a lot of work to do.

Sakura sighed it off, rolling her thin shoulders to lessen the stress that was starting to build up around her joints. She had been sprinting and leaping from tree branch to tree branch for hours, and her sore feet were beginning to ache. She yearned to lean over and give them a good rub, but that would be a delay that she could not afford. She idly wiggled her toes in a vain attempt to get her blood flowing as her swirling cerulean orbs finally taking notice of the trees around her.

She skidded to a halt, her hand already flying to her weapons pouch to grab a kunai, just as a force of habit. She sheepishly retracted her hand, letting out a sort of laughing exhale as she continued on at a walking pace. The kunoichi's had seen no attack, but had noticed the metamorphosis beginning to take place in the sprawling forest around her. The trees were beginning to thin out and grow farther and farther apart, signaling to her that the edge to the seemingly endless wood was getting close. The Haruno sucked in a nervous breath and replaced her tired expression with that of confidence and grace. She needed to appear strong and arrogant, yet still remain cautious and careful.

The Haruno leaped off from the branch on which she had stopped on and landed easily onto the mossy earth below, a slight grin spreading across the etchings of her lips as a small building came into view. It was more of a shack, really. It had a door that looked as if it might just fall of its hinges at any given moment, and a single window on its side that had several long cracks down its panes. The faded white paint had begun to peel which revealed the chewed wood beneath to an extent where seeing the wood was more common than the paint. The kunoichi glanced at the ground beneath her feet, frowning slightly. This little shack was supposed to be some sort of cover, at least that was what she'd been informed. The real hideout was beneath her feet, and her whole body tensed at the prospect of being so far underground.

Without any further hesitation the kunoichi strode up to the door and rapped her knuckles across it, waiting with a curt expression on the portrait of her face as she waited for an answer.

The door immediately opened to reveal a short little man wearing traditional Japanese robes and a long trailing beard. He had a completely unreadable expression on his face, and his beady eyes examined her quickly.

"State your name and purpose." His voice was gruff, slightly on edge. He's probably here to prevent travelers from stumbling upon the entrance to the hideout...Clever..

"Hamasake Hotaru. I was told that this is where I am to meet with Katsuo-san." Sakura put a sly edge to her voice to appear more dangerous and coy than she normally would have, and then just for kicks, added a slight smirk to her expression. It felt odd, doing such a thing with her lips... It reminded her of someone...

She snapped to attention as the man bowed his head deeply, opening the door to her. She passed through it quickly, nodding as he closed it behind her. The little man stood cast away the cane he had been leaning on and straightened up, sighing deeply. This time he spoke in a much younger, more youthful voice. Again, a very clever move, to have him appear old. These criminals were not to be taken lightly.

"It is a pleasure, Hotaru-san. Do follow me, and I'll give you a quick tour of the facilities. Katsuo-sama is at a meeting with one of our prime investors at the moment, but he will most likely be finished by the time we're done. Right down here, watch your step." The man's hands flashed as he made a made a quick series of hand seals. Instantly the configuration of the room began to alter, and several floorboards which previously have been nailed down and together separated to reveal a dark, winding staircase. Somewhere near the bottom a yellow light shone, revealing the start of a cavernous hallway.

The little man nodded, and made his way down the winding staircase, humming a faint tune to himself. Sakura frowned and reluctantly followed, still somewhat nervous at the prospect of being underground.

The hallway itself was dimly lit by a sparse amount of flickering torches that lined its walls. On either side of the corridor were doors, many doors all lined up with about five feet apart from each other. They were all fixed with heavy sets of locks and bolts, and some even went to the length of having giant steel bars stretching across in front of them. Near the tops of each a small, foot by foot bared window would be set, letting the yellow firelight stream into the darkened places beyond. The kunoichi blinked, expecting to here voices from inside the cells... but all was silent. Where were the people?!

"I assume that the master explained the state of our prisoners..?" The little man turned to her, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

The kunoichi raised an eyebrow right back at him, crossing her arms firmly across her chest in an attempt to appear like the criminal lord whom she was impersonating.

"Katsuo did no such thing. He said that he wanted to show me himself, so I didn't pry." She followed it with an annoyed, and very girlish little 'hmph'.

"Of course, Milady. I shall explain, then." The man waved his hand at the nearest cell, gesturing for her to look through the bars. The Haruno approached and peered in, her swirling viridian orbs widening slightly as they took in the sight before her.

It was a great lioness, backed up against the corner of the darkened cell. Her enormous head lay on her giant paws and her long tail lashed out behind her rear every so often, as if flicking away an invisible fly. The female's gleaming maroon optis narrowed as a low growl emitted from her throat, followed by a blatant display of her row of giant teeth. Her shimmering golden fur rippled as she moved in an absolutely stunning showing of sheer beauty.. Sakura looked up to the great feline's eyes once more, finding herself frowning as she continued to stare. They looked strangely human, not anything like those of a feline. The kunoichi drew away suddenly and fought to keep her expression from contorting into disgust.

She understood now, and the frightening realization shocked her.

"Ever heard of Shiaku Ayume? That's her. She'd been running around with her malevolent band of thieves for years, thieving, raiding and pillaging, all without consequence. So we caught the bitch and turned her into that." The man grinned maliciously. "We do it with all of our captives; turn them into a creature and then cage them until they learn their..." he paused, fingering his chin thoughtfully, "...Manners. Then we sell them to the highest bidder." The man chuckled again, continuing down the hall at a brisk pace.

"We make the world a better place, and then get paid for it." He added, chuckling to himself as if his words were actually funny.

He stopped suddenly, interrupted by a giant boom sounding out from deep along the hallway. A giant ripping sound followed, and then another thing, this time with a softer sound, landed with a thud. Silence.

And then a high pitched, screeching howl broke the looming quiet and echoed its way faintly down the curving hallway. It sounded lonely, saddened, as all wolf cries usually did, yet this one seemed to hold even more.

The Haruno had heard wolf cries only once in her lifetime, and she'd been nine-years old and at a friendly zoo in the heart of Konoha. It had made her start crying into her mother's arms, just because of how sad the creatures sounded. Of how lonesome and depressing they seemed to be...

A huge jumble of scrabbling and scratching followed shortly after the end of the mournful howl, and the little man in front of her tensed, paused, and then squinted down the passage as he tried to see around the curve of the hall. A yelp sounded, this time louder and much closer than from where the source of the howl had been. A fierce, rippling growl proceeded, and the Haruno stepped back, suddenly afraid of what was obviously coming closer as the seconds flew by.

"Stop him! Stop him! Stop that animal!" A frantic scream, obviously a man echoed out, followed by the sound of several pounding footsteps. Out of nowhere, a raven-black wolf came tearing out from behind a blind corner and came ripping towards them at a break neck speed. It's long, agile legs were a blur as it sprinted and its sleek, obsidian-black pelt was blown back from the sheer velocity of its run. Its normally pointed ears lay flattened against the back of its low-held neck, and every so often one would flick up to listen to the people hurrying along behind him, still out of sight. It's kanine lips were pulled back to reveal rows of sparkling pearly-white teeth, and as if to solidify its superiority above his followers, emitted a low, feral bark. It easily sidestepped the little old man, then all too quickly was right alongside the kunoichi. His eyes were beautiful; deep and charcoal black ,full of a sort of graceful solemnity... They seemed to talk to her, as if pulling her into their endless depths. She recognized them; knew them from somewhere...A faint tinkling of metal sounded as her eyes caught onto the sight of a small chain necklace looped around his great neck; a small red-and-white fan dangling from its end.

Sasuke-kun.

Sakura joins the fray. :
There shall be a lot more dialogue next chapter, don't you worry. :3
Please review, and I hope you enjoy!

-- xxIndigo