In the end, Sakura's heat lasted a whole week.
Seven days.
Seven full days of coping with a feverish body that leaked slick and begged to be bred, where she tossed and turned in her nest and the Omega in her whimpered of its empty womb between frenzied bouts of masturbation, all of which provided only a half hour to a full hour's worth of relief before the next burst of desire hit her.
Six full days without the presence of Gaa… An Alpha.
On the eighth day when she was finally starting to feel like herself once more, Sakura spent it dutifully tidying up her heat room. The fastidious side of her wanted to put everything back in place and have everything spotlessly clean once more; the embarrassed side of her wanted to erase all traces of her lack of self-control as she mopped up another small puddle of slick, and she scrubbed her sexual aid clean before tucking it at the bottom of her nest, away from prying eyes.
Not that anyone would pry, for that matter.
Or perhaps she wanted it within easy reach the next time she…
Nope. Not going to think about that. It was a one-time thing, and I'm going to throw it out later tonight.
The Kazekage has ruined you, her Omega whispered in defiance, Now you will want only to be bred during your heats. No more trying to meditate or ignore your way out of it.
That's not true, she told herself. In the three days that she spent fucking herself boneless on that poor substitute of a real cock, not once had she pushed the imitation of an Alpha's knot into her body; did not want the experience of having what the Omega inside of her really wanted - to be so satisfying knotted and held close while Gaa… her imaginary Alpha pumped her full of his seed. If she did not succumb to those sensations, she would never want an Alpha's claim, she reasoned.
You were born to take an Alpha's knot, and if only you were not so stubborn, you could be curled up next to him now. A child in your belly, a lover's mark that you can wear proudly on your neck…
I am not his to claim, she told herself, only to look down into her hands to find her fingers twisted into the silk of the Kazekage's scarf. She dropped it as if burnt; whether it was out of concern from damaging it with her fidgeting hands, or if she wanted to stop her body from involuntarily seeking out his presence, she had no idea.
Staring at the pooled scarf at her feet, she found herself devoid of all answers.
I should throw this out.
The second she finished that thought, the taste of bile worked its way up the back of her throat. It would be foolish to discard something with such political significance, she reasoned, and she carefully folded it up into a tiny square before stuffing it into the confines of her medic pouch; one did not treat a Kage's attire so carelessly and with so little gratitude. Her wanting to keep it close to her had nothing to do with the sense of comfort invoked by his scent that was worked deep into its fibres, that she was certain of.
The Omega inside of her chuckled.
Shaking that traitorous voice out of her head, she ascended the stone steps to the main floor of the Hokage building. After each of her heat, Sakura would fall back into her normal routine and depending on the time of the day, would either seek out Tsunade to resume their training, or would go to the hospital to work her shift. It also lent credence to her cover story as a Beta who had been caught up in too much work to remember to return home, or meet up with her friends; Ino had some choice words on how Sakura had conveniently avoided her past attempts at introducing her to a nice man, with all those instances somehow coinciding with her heats.
Shizune intercepted her as she rounded the corner to the exit of the building, seeming surprised to see her, and she was promptly informed that her mentor was waiting to see her. That's strange.
And it was definitely stranger that once she was allowed to enter Tsunade's office, her pack Alpha was waiting for her as well. "Kakashi-sensei," she greeted, then turning to Tsunade, she added a bow, "Tsunade-shishou, I'm sorry that I've been unavailable for longer than I expected, but I'm ready for whatever you need me to do, now."
"No, it was exactly as I expected," Tsunade's reply gave Sakura pause, and her brows knitted together in confusion as she glanced from her mentor to her packmate. The blonde Kage's facial expression was pinched, and the way her brown eyes seemed to darken hinted to Sakura that Tsunade was mulling over something she found distasteful to broach.
"What do you mean, shishou?"
Instead of replying, Tsunade ducked her head as she rummaged through her drawer. The sound of scrolls rolling around and knocking into each other could be heard, and after what felt like forever, she held out one of the scrolls to her student. Sakura did not immediately reach for it, and chose to study the appearance of the scroll being offered to her; it was bound with a dark green cord similar to the shade of green that the Kazekage wore - why was she thinking about Gaara, and ah, of course - the Kazekage's seal was stamped on its side as well.
Still, she resisted taking it, her hand coming to rest over her heart instead as she asked in a quiet voice, "Why am I being handed a Kage-level communication?"
Tsunade clicked her tongue, tapping the scroll against the table once as she said, "Because it pertains to you."
A thousand different thoughts ran through Sakura's mind at once, causing her anxiety level to spike and her scent to sour. Kakashi's nostrils flared under his mask, and he itched to enfold Sakura into his arms to reassure by scenting her; the disapproving look his Hokage sent his way was a signal that he was not to do so, and he who had been privileged to speak with the Hokage prior could only stand back resentfully, knowing the absolute hell that awaited Sakura once she read the scroll.
She managed to keep the shaking in her fingers to a minimum as she plucked the scroll from Tsunade's hand. Breaking the Kazekage's seal with a flick of her thumbnail (she noted that it came off easily, which meant that Tsunade must have read its contents more than once), Sakura unfurled the scroll and read it silently to herself.
One minute turned into two, then into three.
Tsunade stared unblinkingly at her student, chin resting atop her laced fingers. She knew Sakura was a speed-reader, and the only reason why she was taking so long to digest those three paragraphs of information had nothing to do with her reading ability and absolutely everything to do with her suddenly upturned world.
"I don't understand." The pink-haired kunoichi's voice came out meek, her eyes betraying bewilderment as she lowered the scroll to regard her Kage.
"Which part didn't you understand?" Tsunade's tone was brutally frank. "The part about the Kazekage's Alpha rut being triggered by you, or the part about him asking for your hand?"
"Esteemed Hokage,
I am writing on behalf of my brother the Fifth Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, on a matter of great import. As he is undergoing his rut, he is currently unable to address the matter himself.
The Kazekage presented as an Alpha tonight, having spent the day in the presence of your student, Haruno Sakura. I have ascertained for myself that Sakura is the Omega responsible for triggering his rut, as Gaara has challenged the pack order to establish himself as the dominant Alpha once I detected her Omega pheromones.
Per the laws governing the rights of Alphas in the Land of Wind, Gaara would like to take Haruno Sakura as his chosen Omega. Understand that this is just a formality on his part, as he has already claimed her. He will be corresponding with you directly once he is able to, and he looks forward to the agreement.
Fifth Kazekage Proxy
Sabaku no Temari."
At Sakura's continued muteness, Kakashi finally stepped forward to place his hand on her shoulder gently; she whipped around to face him so suddenly that she almost lost her balance, and Kakashi's arms shot out in time to wrap her into a loose hug, keeping her upright as he read every beat of her thunderous heart against his flesh.
Unconsciously, she reached up to the junction of her neck and shoulder, squeezing down on it as she argued, "That's not possible. The Kazekage did not mark me. He doesn't have a claim over me!"
Instead of replying, Tsunade tapped her index finger at another scroll that she had placed in Sakura's line of sight. "This is a mission report from the Suna council, since they were the ones to hire us to rescue the Kazekage. They have detailed your miraculous feat of reviving the Kazekage, but I don't want to hear their jabbering about medical stuff they have no understanding of. I want to hear it from you, instead."
Faced with the strange direction that Tsunade was taking the conversation in, and with the crazed notion of being asked to marry Gaara still at the back of her mind bothering her, Sakura detailed the process of how she had resurrected the young man. There was a pronounced frown on Tsunade's face when she described how Gaara's chakra system had flooded her own in an answering recoil; there was definitely a deeper frown when Sakura mentioned how Temari had remarked on the change in Gaara's scent. To that, the Hokage simply turned her attention to Kakashi, who nodded before confirming the matter with his next few words, "Sakura's scent has changed, as well."
Wordlessly, Tsunade rose from her seat and rounded the table to stand in front of Sakura. Though the Hokage was now not much taller than Sakura, she still carried with her an imposing presence that made her student shrink back into herself in reflex. The blonde Hokage made a tsk-ing noise before bringing her hands up to Sakura's jawline, and moments later, Sakura could feel the familiar hum of Tsunade's chakra as her mentor prodded gently and carefully into her chakra system.
With the green chakra faded from Tsunade's hands, she lowered them to rest on Sakura's trembling shoulders, squeezing them as a riot of emotions tore through her face - disbelief, fear, joy, pride, and finally, resignation.
"Have you heard of Soul Mates?"
Sakura slow-blinked, and she wondered if she should answer that she had read about them in raunchy romance novels that she had no business knowing about. She finally shook her head.
Tsunade's expression turned wistful. "When two highly compatible Alpha and Omega meet, they don't simply feel a fierce attraction to each other like what most Alpha-Omega pairs do. Beyond the physical connection, there is a spiritual one. I remember one poet describing it as 'The reconciliation of two halves of one soul'. That's how the term Soul Mate came about."
Oh, Sakura realised. That type of Soul Mate she had heard about from a girls' sleepover. Tenten had brought out a well-worn magazine which they giggled and gossiped over. The part that they had all fawned over was about Soul Mates - an extremely rare occurrence when an Alpha and an Omega were so perfectly in-sync with each other that it was as if they both shared one body and one mind. Since all of Sakura's female yearmates were Betas, all they could do was sigh forlornly at the idea of never experiencing an earth-shattering romance that having a Soul Mate would entail; on her part, Sakura had spent the next few days wondering if she was Sasuke's Soul Mate, and her training under Tsunade suffered until she physically smacked herself out of those daydreams.
"When Soul Mates finally meet, heart recognises heart through many ways, the most intimate of which is the meeting of their chakra systems. Gaara's body may have been dead, but his chakra system was still able to react to yours because of how compatible the two of you are. By reviving him, you effectively interlaced your chakra systems," Tsunade's right hand twitched as she met Sakura's increasingly startled gaze, "I can feel his chakra inside you right now."
No, no, no! It can't be!
Inhaling sharply, Sakura drew her hands up to her bosom and pushed some of her exploratory medical chakra into herself. She was intimately familiar with her own body and chakra network, having relied so heavily on it in her training to become an exceptional medic-nin; if she wanted to, she could detect a virus in her own body before it had the chance to make her fall ill, and eradicate it before it took hold. For her to miss that her chakra system had been compromised by a foreign chakra source…
There.
There it was.
So minute a presence, that had she not been deliberately searching for it, she would have missed it. Trapped just above her stomach, pulsing red and bright - a spark, a seed.
Gaara's chakra. The tiniest pool of it, but a source that was clearly sustaining itself within her. Her own chakra system wove and curled around it, not once recognising that it was a foreign presence, and was in fact treating it like a part of her that had always existed.
Kakashi's arms tightened around her, and he pulled her bodily against himself. Through the clothes on her back she could feel a rumble building up in his chest as he growled deep in his throat. Alpha displeasure radiated off his skin as he snarled, and he pressed his nose firmly into her scent gland at the back of her neck. She still bore that familiar wine and berry scent, but there was no mistaking the hint of blood and copper that he had smelt on Gaara that was now inside her pores as well.
"The Kazekage can't just mark her without her consent," Kakashi bit out, and even without having to look at him, Sakura knew that her pack Alpha's Sharingan must be lighting up red right now. He was every part the Alpha upset at having his Omega stolen out from under him, except that Sakura was not his to claim in the way Gaara had claimed her.
"Get a hold of yourself, Kakashi!" Tsunade's tone brooked no argument, and though she was a Beta, she still managed to conjure up an air of domineering superiority while standing in place. No, she was no Alpha, but Kakashi would be a fool to think he could challenge a Kage-level shinobi and come out ahead.
Slowly, he peeled his arms away from Sakura, and the loss of his touch made Sakura whine high in her throat; her resulting embarrassment went unremarked by the two shinobi in the room, and she could only blame the fact that she was fresh off her heat that made her so empathetic towards an Alpha's temperament.
"Sakura, Kakashi," Tsunade sounded strangely defeated as she addressed them, "Soul Mates are so rare an occurrence, that we just don't know enough about them. We only know that they exist, and that prolonged separation between the two could kill them both. Gaara and Sakura's chakra systems and pheromones are intertwined now, and I don't know of anything in the world that can break such a bond."
"Am I to blame?" Hot tears were slipping out the corner of her dull green eyes as Sakura hiccupped. "Did my foolish attempt at trying to save the Kazekage cause this?"
"I don't know."
At least Tsunade was sincere in her honesty.
I should have let Chiyo-sama save him, she scolded herself, and just as quickly, she bit the inside of her cheeks in shame. No, she could not… She would not let someone die, not when she could do something to stop it.
Even if it meant sacrificing herself in exchange.
Sacrificing her envisioned future with Sasuke.
Kakashi's shoulder sagged visibly, and he asked in a bitter voice, "So that's just it? We offer my Omega up to the Kazekage like a pretty little plaything, to keep his Alpha tamed and our relationship with Suna cordial? Let Sakura give up everything that she has ever worked for, just to become a broodmare to the Kazekage?"
Gunpowder. Overpowering and dangerous.
Dammit! I didn't train so hard for this! Kakashi, Naruto… the three of us were supposed to find Sasuke and bring him back! Sakura's dawning realisation of what her being mated to the Kazekage meant for her only made her shake harder, and Kakashi curled an arm around her waist to draw her close to his side.
"I can refuse him if you'd like, but it won't be pretty," Tsunade spoke as if it was never even an option in her mind, but she had to say it anyway. "Or, I can try to buy you time, to see if there is a way to break this soul bond, in the same way one might break an undesired mating bond. But there is barely any research on Soul Mates - which most scientists don't even believe in the existence of - and I am not optimistic about us finding a solution before Gaara comes to stake his claim."
It was only five years ago when Suna made an attempt on destroying Konoha, the attempt going awry only because no one had factored in Naruto's ability to reach out to the humanity in the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. In the time since, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki had ascended to the title of Kazekage, and had fortified the strength of their shinobi army.
Could Konoha stand against Suna today?
Not when they were already expending resources on tracking down Akatsuki and their agents; to what ends, Sakura knew only in vague terms. She hung her head as she realised how she only cared to learn about Akatsuki's plans if they involved Sasuke or his brother who was currently a member of their organisation.
"The Kazekage… would he bring war to our village?" Sakura asked quietly.
"I don't think he would risk our alliance. Although his sister invoked the Alpha laws, she did stress that Gaara was hoping for an agreement. It would not be a good look for a Kage to mate a foreign shinobi without their consent, after all."
Sakura brought her thumb up to her mouth to nip at her fingernail, several solutions running through her mind as she replayed her mentor's words. Breaking a mating bond was a gruelling, trying process for both the Alpha and the Omega, their bodies fighting to maintain claim over each other while forcing their body chemistry to ignore their bond. For the newly-mated, the act of physical separation over a period of time would dull the call of the mating bond, weakening it enough for its final traces to be removed through medical ninjutsu. Those who have a stronger, more ingrained bond sometimes resorted to mutilation of their mating marks as the first step to erasing the bond before undergoing a long, gruelling process of detoxifying their mate's presence from their physical forms. Unsuccessful attempts usually resulted in the Omega succumbing to the madness of craving their Alpha's touch, with some wasting away to their deaths from the grief of their Alpha's abandonment. Crazed Alphas who have lost their mate have had to be put down like rabid dogs, as they carved a path of destruction in search of what was taken from them.
All very unpleasant outcomes if a bond could not be broken, to say the least.
But… Gaara had not marked her. Not in a way in which she could scrub off her skin, or purge from her body. This vague idea of a soul bond - sitting deep inside her chakra system that was part of her life's blood - how does one break something that you cannot even tangibly take hold of?
"Can I… Do you think I can go to him, and buy myself time to break the bond… And somehow not mate the Kazekage?" A pause, and she clarified further, "No marriage, no mating mark. But as an… Omega rut partner?"
Kakashi's hand slammed down hard on the Hokage's desk, causing several scrolls and empty sake bottles to bounce about. The clear anger in his visible eye was in stark contrast to Sakura's despondent resignation and Tsunade's grim scowl. "Are you planning to martyr yourself, Sakura? We just fought two of Akatsuki's members and you even killed one of them."
The rest of his statement went unsaid, but Sakura heard it in her head communicated by the harshness of Kakashi's gaze - "You always said that once Naruto returned from his training, that you want him as part of our Team Seven pack, and that we'd work together to bring Sasuke back to the village. Akatsuki is finally making their move, we have proven that we have a chance against them, and you are choosing this course of action?"
Tsunade decided to answer in Sakura's stead. "Her body has already been altered by the presence of a compatible Alpha. Both Sakura and Gaara are ticking timebombs now. Without a partner close by for their next cycle, she will pine away, and he will seek her out; failing which, he will go on a rampage until he either finds another equally compatible Omega mate, or he is put down. We should count our blessings that the Kazekage had not sought her out for his first rut, but he most certainly will for his next. If she goes with him for the time being, at least they will both keep each other sane while we try to find the means to break a soul bond." Then turning to Sakura, Tsunade could not hide her small grimace as she added, "You do know that even without actually being mate-marked by him, there are expectations of your respective roles, right?"
Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat that was threatening to choke her, and her voice came out slightly shaky, "I already said I'll serve as his rut partner, didn't I? And he will be expected to comfort me during my heats, too."
Her mentor did not reply, instead opting for a small nod; Sakura released the breath that she had unknowingly held, and her shoulders curled forward in surrender.
Whatever she was saving for Sasuke, whatever parts of her she held dear - all these she would have to give to Gaara instead. Bile churned in her stomach as Sakura realised that fact; even if the memories of her single intimate (fine, risque) encounter with the Kazekage still made her toes tingle and her face flush with warmth, the idea of voluntarily falling into his arms while no longer under the influence of her heightened hormones weighed heavily on her heart.
Yet the young kunoichi understood that she was in a very privileged position of still possessing her chastity at the age of eighteen. Tsunade never assigned her to any seduction missions, nor was it part of her education whilst training under the Hokage. Every active kunoichi was expected to hold their virginity in little regard, because aside from the prospects of facing a dishonourable opponent wielding rape as a weapon, there was no guarantee if they would survive any mission they were assigned to. Most of her female yearmates had a laissez-faire attitude towards sexual encounters with the exception of Hinata (her father would probably have an aneurysm if the clan heiress accidentally fell pregnant), and Sakura herself sometimes felt like the odd duck out, keeping her virginity steadfastly for the Uchiha avenger whose whereabouts were sporadically reported at best.
"Then… I agree to go to the Kazekage's side, to serve as his rut partner. I will find a way to break the soul bond, and once that is done, I will beg his forgiveness and ask to return as a Konoha-nin."
The mixture of pride and despair in Tsunade's warm brown eyes was clear as she clapped Sakura's shoulder firmly, and she spoke with a sad smile, "We will find a way to fix this, Sakura. You are one of the most promising medic-nin of your generation, and your reputation and abilities will give you some leverage over Gaara and his council. I'll see to it that your training continues even when you are in Suna, so Kami forbid if Gaara doesn't turn loose of you afterwards, you can still knock him out and run your tail all the way back to us."
There was a sound of splintering wood, and when both women turned to face the source of it, it was to see Kakashi's hand crunching down on the back of the visitor's chair as the man glared.
"Why are you both talking like the Kazekage is an unstoppable force that we must bow to?" Kakashi snarled. "He lost his Bijuu, and is no longer a Jinchuuriki. Does he even have the ability to keep his title, or keep Sakura safe? Are we sending Sakura to him and risking her life if he is overthrown?!"
"If Naruto believes in him, then I have no reason not to. He is the strongest shinobi in the Land of Wind, and you've seen his command of sand even after losing his Bijuu, Kakashi-sensei. His council still defers to him, and Temari said that he is now the dominant Alpha in their pack," Sakura chose to focus on provable facts in counterpoint to her pack Alpha's more emotional reasoning. "Also, Naruto told me that Jiraiya keeps in touch with Sunagakure extensively about Akatsuki's movements."
It would put me in the best position to learn the newest intel about Akatsuki… about Sasuke's plans.
Kakashi's visible eye widened minutely, and in the next moment, he ducked his head and stormed out of the Hokage's office without another word. The stench of volatile gunpowder trailed after him, and Sakura was struck with the urge to press close to her pack Alpha, to reassure him with her gentle Omega presence.
"Leave him be," Tsunade scoffed, then she sat back down in her chair and pulled up a fresh scroll. "I will have to figure out how to word this to the Kazekage. Send Shizune in after you go."
"Of course, shishou."
"And Sakura?"
The kunoichi stopped in her footsteps, hand hovering in the air as she was reaching for the doorknob. Tsunade tapped the end of her writing brush against the table, and muttered, "You don't need to hide your Omega status any longer."
Sakura's first stop was at her family home, and after requesting for both her parents to not interrupt her, proceeded to speak to them in their small living room. Her parents listened with matching astonished expressions as she revealed to them the truth of her secondary gender; their expressions swiftly transformed to one of dismay when she explained why she had to leave Konoha in the near future (while carefully omitting how she had triggered the Kazekage's rut, because there were some things that one's parents never needed to hear about, ever).
Once she was done, she placed her hands on her lap and gazed resolutely at them while keeping at bay the urge to fidget. Her father's face had tipped forward since she mentioned Gaara, and he was the one whose thoughts on the situation mattered most to her.
"Dad?"
Another minute of silence, then - "When's the wedding?" Kizashi finally asked.
Sakura's mouth promptly fell open, and she gaped like a fish for several seconds as a mad blush bloomed in her cheeks. "W-wedding? What do you mean, wedding?"
Kizashi folded his arms over his chest. "If the Kazekage wants to take my only daughter as his wife, then I fully expect a grand wedding. Seven days and seven nights of celebrations, the works! Or is he so backwards in his ways that he will move right on to the mating?"
"Are you planning on eloping?" Mebuki chimed in, and she began shaking her head in admonishment even as Sakura turned even redder, "I don't agree with your father's idea of a full week of madness, but he will at least come to us to ask for your hand, right? That's the least I expect of a son-in-law, let alone a Kage."
Wedding?
Wedding?
Oh, stars. I can't actually marry the Kazekage! It will make leaving him impossible even if I manage to break our bond!
Sakura was aware that she was starting to hyperventilate, and she moved her fist over her mouth to gnaw on her knuckles in order to stop herself from outright screaming. She had barely reconciled with the idea that she would have to be intimate with Gaara, and to have to tie herself so irrevocably to him… She would lose her Konoha citizenship too, would she not? If she was merely sharing her cycles with him, she could at least still maintain dual-citizenship, but a Kage's spouse could not do so without appearing disloyal.
Did Gaara mean to offer her marriage as well? Or was he looking only for a mate? Someone compatible to sire children through? Would he accept her offer as being his rut partner and nothing more?
The separation of spouse and mate was rarely used nowadays, but in the past, an Alpha was allowed to have a spouse while having one or more mates, provided that they were able to take care of the entire family. After all, a spouse did not guarantee exceptional offsprings, but an Omega mate chosen by biological compatibility usually meant strong, healthy children; a way to secure one's family line. Over the course of time, as the Beta population worldwide rocketed, such practices became frowned upon, and the Beta norm of marriage being an exclusive arrangement took precedence. Today, only a few Daimyo's and powerful Alphas had more than one permanent coupling partner. And a Kage of Gaara's abilities certainly marked him as a powerful Alpha.
Would someone like Gaara even know what a love-match was? After all, as a boy he had only the most twisted understanding of what love was, until Naruto showed him that it was something precious to be freely given and received.
Marriage is supposed to be about love, the naive part of her whispered, And I don't love Gaara.
"I'm only going to him as an Omega, dad," Sakura finally found her voice, and when she looked up into her father's face, it was to see a combination of sadness and anger. "I don't think he plans on marrying me."
If she was expecting her father to throw a tantrum and demand the Kazekage's head on a silver platter, Sakura was only somewhat disappointed at her father's loud sigh of defeat. Kizashi narrowed his eyes at her, that familiar paternal severity making her feel like a little girl of six once more, and he finally said, "I'm not happy about this, but you are a kunoichi, Sakura-chan. I have no doubts in my mind that the Hokage asked this of you to ensure our alliance with Suna stays peaceful. Even if I were to refuse as your father, the Hokage's word outweighs mine."
Rising to his feet, he walked over to his daughter, and when he came up to her side, he paused. "The only thing you need from your mother and I is this - the promise that our door will always be open to you, should things not work out."
Kizashi retired to his room before Sakura could respond, and he did not need to be present for it; Mebuki was the only one who ever knew how to handle Sakura's tears, anyway.