The meeting had ran pretty late into the day so instead of staying up any longer the enlarged group went to bed except for Sakura who sneaks off to do her nightly ritual under the watchful eye of Shikaku when she came to Shikaku was staring at her and it made Sakura feel slightly self conscious "What is it Shikaku-san" she mumbles sitting up on her branch "Why do you pass out like that" he asks suddenly "Oh well when your a jashinist pain doesn't affect you instead it turns into pleasure" Sakura squeaks out blushing heavily at the admittance.
Eyes wide Shikaku grimaces 'I wish I hadn't of asked' he thought briefly "Come on Sakura" he sighs softly gesturing for Sakura to follow him as they head back to their rooms though laying in bed Sakura couldn't sleep to many thoughts were keeping her awake such as 'Am I really going to get married to Shikamaru' or 'When will I find out who I really am' and then 'STOP THINKING YOUR GIVING ME A FREAKING HEADACHE SAKU-CHAN' Inner yells from somewhere in her mind causing Sakura to wince at the volume but stop thinking and drift off into sleep.
When she woke the next morning Tsunade was leaning over her a scowl on her lips and Sasuke in her hand "Sakura if you don't keep this little brat under control" Tsunade threatened warningly putting Sasuke on the bed before glaring and stalking out of her room the minute the door shut Sakura couldn't help but let out giggles while dressing for the day "Sasuke you shouldn't bother Lady Tsunad she might squish you one of these days" Sakura scolds the ferret in her pocket while exiting her room.
Baki who had been walking by at the time pauses in confusion "I thought Sasuke was dead" he furrows his brows "Oh I named my pet ferret Sasuke because of their similarities" Sakura answers quickly this causes Baki to chuckle but pat her head and carry on his way "Where's Gaara" came next "Around here somewhere I'm sure you'll find him" he calls back turning down a hallway while Sakura searched for the red-head's chakra finding it a few floors down Sakura quickly heads in his direction.
One floor away Sakura runs into a giant road block Ay was standing in front of the door way his two escorts stood behind him while he argued with one of Mifune's underlings "What do you mean he's busy there is no possible way that Mifune is busy" Ay was ranting and raving apparently he wanted to speak with Mifune but Mifune wasn't in his office Darui who sighed turned at that moment and spotted her "Oh Morning Sakura-san" he grins politely at the young girl who smiles back.
Hearing Darui greet Sakura, Ay stops his argument and swings around this causes his two men and Sakura to back up in order to avoid being knocked down sneering Ay "About time you woke up" he snaps causing Sakura to grin widely and raise her hands "Sorry Raikage-sama" she bows her head offering no excuses, seeing the dumbfounded expression on Ay's face Darui and Cee back up knowing what was coming "You damn brat" and as expected slams his hand down on her head well tries to if it hadn't been for sand coming up to protect her.
"Sorry I didn't mean to sound so disrespectful" Sakura back-pedals eyes wide in horror this was so not how she imagined the Raikage being in fact her image of him had just been shattered "What the hell" Ay hadn't payed attention to word she said instead he was staring at the sand that stopped his hand "Ah sorry Raikage-sama, Gaara gave that to me and I'm afraid that it just comes up and protects me" Sakura explains all the while glaring at the sand on her wrist causing Darui and Cee to start chuckling.
Pulling his hand away Ay glares down at Sakura "Don't get smart with me next time brat" he snaps and stalks past her Cee following while Darui gave a small wave while Sakura turned down the hall and continued on her way entering the training room Sakura finds Gaara deep into a training session with Temari and so she sits leaning against a pole to watch the impromptu match several minutes later Gaara is deemed the winner as Temari falls over in exhaustion causing Sakura to laugh at her antics.
"Ahahaha" Sakura laughs drawing attention from the two and secretly everyone else in the room "Yeah laugh it up pinky" Temari huffs out pulling herself to her feet and trudging over to plop down next to Sakura while Gaara walks over and sits down as close as possible which meant that he was touching her not that Sakura minded it because she flashed him a smile which Gaara returned hesitantly "You fainted" Gaara frowns at her he finally had the chance to confront her about what he had heard.
"Ah I was just overthinking that's all Gaara" Sakura smiles reassuringly causing Gaara to sigh "If you say so" he examines her closely before deeming her alright before scooting even closer if it was possible before anyone could say anything else Ohnoki and Mei come into the room and spying the trio of youngins Ohnoki's mouth drops open in shock "What is going on" he asks utterly shocked causing the three to turn around and stare at him in confusion seeing his expression Sakura's eyes narrow in defense.
"Lord Tsuchikage no offense but you really shouldn't judge someone based on a few rumors you heard" Sakura snips out falling just short of rude before turning back around making a show of taking Gaara's hand and holding it just to prove that Gaara wasn't the same person he had been all those months ago seeing this Ohnoki swallows his pride "I can see that I was wrong" he apologizes just that once and Sakura turns back around a sweet smile on her lips "It's ok Lord Tsuchikage" Sakura nods releasing Gaara's hand and standing.
Smiling mischievously Mei prances over to stand in front of Sakura "So Sakura-san are you in a relationship with Gaara-san" she asks nonchalantly causing Sakura to choke on air "Ah no Mizukage-sama, Gaara is like a brother to me" Sakura coughs out rubbing her throat "Hmm" Mei gives a grin "But there is someone you like" she finally says which causes Sakura to blush "Yes there is someone in my village his name is" here she is cut off by Temari "Shikamaru Nara the guy with zero motivation" the blonde giggles out causing Sakura's blush to darken.
"Does everyone know who I like" Sakura suddenly stands throwing her arms up in the air exasperated no real heat behind the words and leaves the room chuckles following her as she heads outside and to the clearing she had been in several times sitting on the snow covered ground Sakura leans back and suddenly finds herself cloud watching again 'Everytime I don't want to think my mind brings up Shikamaru' she sighed to herself a few hours later Ay, Darui and Cee stumble across her napping form.
"Stupid kid" Ay snaps glaring down at her but regardless he settles against a tree Darui and Cee following him as they watch the girl a moment later Shikaku drops down from a tree "So she wasn't alone afterall" Ay smirks "She fell asleep after I got here" Shikaku sits next to Sakura while explaining "Why so protective" Darui asks suddenly "She's my son's well going to be my son's fiance" Shikaku shrugs "You'd marry your own kid to her" Ay asks he seriously wondered about the sanity of Leaf Shinobi "Yeah" Shikaku shrugs again un-concerned.
"It's not like Shikaku-san would be forcing him" Sakura responds without opening her eyes "Why do you say that Sakura-san" Cee asks this being the first time he had spoken to Sakura "Because he likes her and I'd be hard pressed to find someone else to marry my son to" Shikaku answers this time eyeing Sakura with something akin to amusement in his gaze "You Nara's" Sakura huffs finally opening her emerald green eyes "With you as his wife Shikamaru wouldn't find time to be lazy" Shikaku points out.
"Are you saying I'm a nag Shikaku-san" Sakura asks exasperated "No just that you'd find a way to make him motivated to do things like say talk about you all day" Shikaku smirks causing Sakura to blush bright cherry red "Your incorrigible Shikaku-san" Sakura throws her hands up heaving a great big sigh "Well at least this gives you sometime to get use to me" Shikaku shrugs nonchalantly "Actually probably as soon as we get back to the village I'll be leaving with Hidan to train for 3 years" Sakura turns her head to look at him.
"So we have a few weeks to set up the arranged marriage" Shikaku answers "True how do you think Shikamaru will take it" Sakura asks closing her eyes again "He'll probably just say troublesome but go along with it since it's you" Shikaku takes a moment to responds and sums Shikamaru up perfectly "Agreed" Sakura lets out a laugh "So Sakura-san what is it that your good at" Cee asks when there is a lull in the two Leaf Shinobi's conversation "You mean ability wise" Sakura asks her eyes popping open again.
Before she could answer the other Kage's minus Baki and Tsunade who were having tea in the lunchroom appear having been eavesdropping on the conversation thus far and were eager to find out more about Sakura "That's right Sakura-san" Cee nods "Well I have amazing chakra control" Sakura lists "I can summon a horde of poisonous plume moths and I can also summon Tomo-kun" she ticks off "I can heal as well as Lady Tsunade minus the strength" Sakura laughs shocking the others.
"What's your chakra nature" Ohnoki asks eyeing her curiously "I have no idea" Sakura rubs the back of her head sheepishly "Don't you want to know" Mei asks next "Eh it will come up eventually besides I'd like to hone my other abilities first" Sakura nods slowly but finishes explaining "I'm a good tracker almost as good as an Inuzuka" she finishes with her rather short list but it's enough for the people in the clearing to understand that this girl was a prodigy in her village.
That's how the next couple of weeks are spent and soon Tsunade was saying it was time to go only this time Tsunade wasn't angry about Sakura waking her up and so when they headed out late in the evening they had to make camp "You think you'll be alright to keep watch Sakura" Tsunade asks laying out her bedroll when Sakura jumps into a tree "Of course Lady Tsunade" Sakura calls down to her 20 minutes later the adults were asleep and Sakura gives a sigh of relief she was going to do a special ritual tonight.
Forming a few handsigns Sakura creates a genjutsu to cover the three and heads off into the dead of night they had been followed by someone and by the feel of the persons chakra he or she wasn't friendly so with a quick prayer she jumped down behind the person identifying them as a male "Heathen your a pathetic tracker" Sakura hisses in his ear causing the man to freeze he hadn't been expecting someone to find him so soon not willing to be intimidated he turns around and bursts out laughing.
Slamming her pike into the ground and resting her body on it Sakura glares at the man who dared laugh at her "Aww your so cute kid now beat it" and now he was mocking her "I wouldn't mock me if I were you" Sakura snarls at him her lip lifting up in a sneer while her eyes grew dark in anger feeling the killing intent wafting off the girl 'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to antagonize this girl' Kenshi thought as he backs up into a tree Sakura following him preventing him from escaping.
The man lets out a yelp when Sakura slashes his cheek with her kunai breathing rapidly Kenshi watches as Sakura stabs herself with the pike and makes a symbol on the ground in her blood "What are you doing" he stutters out in fear "Today's your fucking lucky day heathen because you get to meet my Lord Jashin" Sakura smirks emerald eyes glinting in the darkness licking his blood of her kunai Kenshi watches as her skin turns black and white markings appear on her face as she sits in the circle with an upside down triangle.
He watches in horror as she raises the kunai to her wrist and slashes it pulling a scream of agony from his lips "Why are you here" Sakura pauses to ask her question "I was hired to assassinate the Hokage on her way back to the village" Kenshi answers quickly only to whimper as Sakura slashes her other wrist "Who sent you" she asks "Orochimaru" Kenshi gulps seeing the fury in Sakura's eyes "I can't let you live now" Sakura hisses preparing to raise her kunai again when Kenshi calls out.
"Wait I'll do anything" he cries just as two others drop into the clearing "Sakura-san" Inoichi calls out shocked at what he was seeing "Inoichi-san, Shikaku-san he was sent here to assassinate Lady Tsunade" Sakura gestures stabbing her kunai into the ground "It's a good thing she is deep asleep" Shikaku pipes up in the following silence "What exactly are you doing Sakura-san" Inoichi asks curiously seeing the man's expression it was apparent that it wasn't something normal.
Like he had come to expect from Sakura in the past few weeks her answer was weird "It's the sacrifice ritual we can't afford to bring him back to the village with us and I sure as hell am not letting him get any where near Lady Tsunade" Sakura hisses killing intent flowing off of her in waves the more she said "Orochimaru sent him, Orochimaru was also the bastard who killed Sasuke" she snarls standing in her circle pure hatred in her voice as she mentions the snake summoner Inoichi cringes wondering where she'd learned that type of language.
Not willing to ask Inoichi leans back against a tree while peering at Shikaku who looked pretty used to this "Shikaku" he whispers "Yeah I've seen her do another ritual just not this one" Shikaku calls back settling against his own tree to watch, conversation over for now Sakura lets gravity do it's work and she falls back onto the ground jarring her wrists and a pained hiss from the man backed into a tree a few feet ahead of her which causes Sakura to smirk "It's gonna hurt a lot more than that" she laughs immersed in the ritual.
Deciding to draw it out just a bit longer Sakura trails the kunai up her arm breaking the skin and drawing another pained hiss from Kenshi switching hands she does the same with her other arm the pained hiss turning into a whimper smirking Sakura switches tactics and slams the kunai into her knee cap drawing a scream "Music to my ears" Sakura smiles yanking the kunai out harshly causing Inoichi to cringe 'That's not the same girl' he thought if only he knew how wrong he was Sakura was being herself in front of him for the first time.
Screams were torn continuously from Kenshi for the next half hour until Sakura felt it was enough to get her point across before raising the kunai one final time placing it right above her heart and the two men share a look of horror 'She'd kill herself to protect the Hokage' Shikaku thought and Inoichi well he really didn't know what to think as Sakura rammed the kunai into her heart all the way to the hilt all was still as both participants in the ritual slump over dead and then a few minutes later a groan comes from Sakura.
They watch as Sakura sits up somehow still alive and glowing purple with silver and yanks the kunai out of her chest the wounds fading and the blood drying up removing all traces of her ritual "Sakura how are you alive" Inoichi holds himself back from running over to the girl "Jashin gave me temporary immortality that's what that chakra was" Sakura huffs finally standing up and glaring at the dead body before wiping her kunai off on her pants "That makes 3 right Sakura" Shikaku asks nose buried in a book now that it was over they head back.
The next morning no one mentions what happened last night as the four sit around a fire and eat breakfast that Sakura had gathered "Mmm I might have to make you my personal chef" Tsunade mumbles around a bite of rabbit "Lady Tsunade" Sakura laughs lightly nothing like how she had been last night "Your a good cook" Tsunade huffs wiping her mouth with a handkerchief "There are better cooks" Sakura mumbles shyly finishing off her stick of cooked rabbit meat standing as the adults get rid of any evidence that they had been there preventing anyone from following them.
"Let's go" Tsunade orders taking off at a quickened pace they all wanted to get home none more so than Sakura several hours later they make camp again this time Sakura just does her regular ritual before going to sleep and then the next day they clean up and take off a few hours later they see the Gates of the Hidden Leaf Village in the distance and pick up speed so they could rest in their own beds crossing into the village Sakura stretches gazing around all while thinking to herself Inner agreeing as she thought 'Home Sweet Home.'