Lightning Field

Chapter 10: New Model

"Lifelike and poseable,
Hopeless and disposable.
I'm the new, I'm the new, new model
I've got nothing inside.
Better in the head and in bed,
At the office.
I can suck it and smile.
New, new, new model.
Don't let them know how far you go,
Or that you use your "lovers."
Oh look, you're like a VCR;
Stick something in to know
Just who you are you."

-Marilyn Manson "New Model No. 15"

"Come on, Sensei! I can see the lights!" Naruto's excited form bobbed through the thinning trees, unable to contain his joy. Since leaving Tanzaku Gai, he had been doing nothing but reminiscing about Sakura. In that time, Kakashi had learned some useful information.

Apparently, almost everyone in Konoha had known about the relations he and Sakura had. Moreover, no one cared. He shouldn't have been surprised, considering the pinkette's best friends were gossiping bullhorns. That didn't change the surprise that had been evident to a blind person when the Kyuubi-containing young man had laid it all out.

"Seriously, Kaka-sensei, Iruka and Tenten have been doing the nasty for years! You really think you and Sakura-chan bumping uglies would cause much more than a raised eyebrow?" Naruto's amusement had annoyed him at first, until he realized the young man had a point. And was not using his fists to make it. Not quite what Kakashi expected. The euphemism, however, did cause his silver brows to twitch with disgust.

"'Bumping uglies?'" He repeated, absently. He had expected Naruto to start bludgeoning him with forest animals. Or throw a hastily made Rasen-shuriken at him. Something other than the flippant response he had received.

He was fairly certain the blond, regardless of his whirlwind romance with the former Hyuuga heiress, still had feelings for Sakura, so why the indifference?

He decided to ask, hedging carefully into a potential heart-to-heart with decidedly both his best and worst student.

"She was happy, Kakashi. Well, about as happy as Sakura could have gotten. She tried very hard to keep it low-key, but she was still happy, nonetheless."

"Was?"

Naruto sighed heavily. There would be no way to phrase what he was about to say tactfully, so instead, he tried to be as vague as possible. "We'll just say, it was easy to tell when your, uh, relationship ended."

Kakashi slowed even more, hands fisted in his pockets. He had a wonderful poker face, giving away none of the guilt he felt. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she worked a lot, taking doubles a few times a week, and when she wasn't working like crazy, she went out with Ino."

"What's so wrong with that?" Kakashi was unsure as to what the problem was with Sakura having a social life beyond his bedroom.

"Sakura is... How do I put it?" He fumbled a bit with words. Finally giving up, he stated bluntly, "She's you."

"Me? I know you're fairly certain you're being clear, but-" Kakashi was cut off by an annoyed growl from the young man next to him.

"She sits in the same seat at the same table at the same café every day, at the same time! She shows up horrifically late to social events, if at all, unless she's going out with Ino. Even then, she hands back, pulling out a small doodle pad or her book. She's even full of one-lined excuses about why she's late or how she should just stay home. I mean, she missed Hinata's birthday party, and, when I asked her why, she just scratched her head and mumbled something about a cat in a tree with claws like Ginsu knives."

"Ahhh, yes, that would be Widow Toriyomo's cat, Fluffles," Kakashi supplied, less than helpfully. "And what's so wrong with her wanting Sakura Time?"

"Um, well, when she reads at a club where everyone has to scream to be heard a foot away…?"

"So? Maybe she likes the ambiance." Naruto realized trying to explain this to Kakashi would be an uphill battle, but he was the Number One Knuckleheaded Ninja of Konoha! "What does she read, anyway? Self-help?"

Another snort erupted next to him, and Kakashi glanced over, hanky in hand. "Allergies?"

Naruto fixed him with a slightly disgusted glare and shoved his hands in his pockets. "She reads smutty romance novels."

They lapsed into silence then. Cicadas chirruped around the pair as they walked, night falling heavily between them.

Finally Kakashi spoke. "So… what's she doing in Kyoko-Gai?"

"She's a bartender, and she's in a band."

"…No, really."

Naruto's clear blue gaze met the side of Kakashi's face. "No, seriously. She works at a bar called That Place, and, on Fridays, her band plays."

"'That Place,' hm? Guess that makes meeting for drinks easier." He shrugged his pack a bit higher and minutely quickened his pace.

"It's not really that kind of bar."

Kakashi paused mid-step. "Is this like a riddle? You know, 'When is a bar not a bar?' And then you jump into the punch line, loudly proclaiming, 'When it's a stick' or some nonsense?" Naruto clapped him on the back, chuckling.

"No, I mean it's more of a nightclub or something, and less of a pub. And that made no sense, Sensei." The men reached the outskirts of Kyoko-Gai quickly, the lights glittering overhead.

While Naruto's attention was drawn by the various neon advertisements (Ramen, Ramen, RAMEN!), Kakashi focused on gathering information ('Where's That Place?' 'Which place?' 'That Place.' 'Uh…').

Finally, the two had their bearings ("turn at the girly club with the pair of legs in neon blue fishnet, go down three alleys, and it's on the left of the love motel with the picture of a croquet mallet. Oh! And if it's not on the left, look LEFTER!").*

Sure enough, That Place was not on the left. The two men turned another 45 degrees and found it was, in fact, lefter.

"Good directions," Naruto commented dryly. Kakashi nodded sagely and attempted to shake the feeling of oil that had seeped into his skin the closer they had become to the club.

"Quite accurate indeed." Both men shrugged at one another and entered.


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"Kabuto." She repeated his name, licking her lips to try and restore the moisture to them.

"Yes," he responded dryly, "I'm sure we've established who I am, Miss Haruno."

"But…"

"I'm simply travelling. Really, Sakura, no cause for alarm." She snorted at that. No cause for alarm? That was like saying 'Don't mind the bloodthirsty tiger in the room, go about eating your steak.'

"Excuse my disbelief, but last I heard, you were busy trying to keep a snake at bay?"

"Quite. In fact, I'm sure you'd find my achievements in that front remarkable, as a medic yourself." Kabuto was nothing like she'd remembered him. Sure, he still had silver hair, but instead of the shaggy ponytail he had once worn, this was shaven under and worn in a high fashion at the crown of his skull. His glasses were now thinned frames, and his clothing was… interesting to say the least. He wore his shifting cloak like a travel poncho. She caught glimpses of simple black pants with knee-high boots overtop, silver shin guards glittering in the light.

His was his face and demeanor that sent her mind reeling. Kabuto had always been a passably handsome boy, his dark eyes hidden behind glaring spectacles, a knowing smirk on his thin lips. When he had officially allied himself with Oto, everyone realized just how licentious his grin actually was.

Now, he stood before her, seeming not to have aged, save the slimming of his face and his newfound height. He stood at least a head and a half taller than she, and she eyed him as his lithe form hunched on the bar, resting on his elbows. It would be a crime to say he wasn't devastating.

She found herself blushing at his proximity, and moved back jerkily.

"Now, now, dear Sakura. Is that any way to treat an old acquaintance?" He smiled teasingly, and she was entranced by the slightly lengthened canines that appeared. She would be lying if she said she didn't find that the smallest bit attractive. Remembering her cover, she blushed once more.

"Sorry, um, can I get you anything?" She avoided eye contact, fearing the worst. As Sakura turned to retrieve a glass for him, a warm pressure found its way around her wrist. She turned back and eyed the hand holding her.

"A moment of your time."

"I- I can't," Sakura replied, eyeing the clock nearest her.

"Why not?" his voice teased her again, smooth and dark, like silk and chocolate and all things decadent. "Your boyfriend expecting you home? On a mission from the Village?" Sakura allowed a small frown to crimp the corners of her mouth and furrow her brow.

"Not quite, I have to be on stage in twenty minutes." She pulled herself gently from his grasp and walked away, feeling his eyes on her form. She denied herself the shiver the shook her to her very core until she was safely behind closed doors. In addition, with it, the low heat in her tummy threatening her sanity along with the voices in her head telling her every reason she should book it out of there.


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'What an interesting reaction from the little mouse,' Kabuto mused as he thought about her face after he mentioned the Village. It hadn't been difficult to ascertain her reaction was only half true. The slight hesitation before she pinched her lips together indicated either an unwillingness to discuss a difficult subject or an outright lie that would come out of her little pink lips. Instead, she had surprised him by simply moving away. The tenseness of her form hadn't escaped his notice, however.

He remembered Haruno Sakura quite well from past encounters. From the Chunnin Exams, where she had surprised everyone by making the Yamanaka girl knock herself out, by first rendering Sakura herself unconscious. The most delicious memory, however, was the battle on the bridge when her new captain had masqueraded (badly) as Sasori of the Red Sands. His serpentine lips twisted into a grin as he recalled how her eyes glittered like angry emeralds. He had been able to taste her relief after the Kyuubi had slapped her away like a mosquito.

She had been only so willing to learn vital medical jutsu, then. Now, she was away from her precious Leaf, and he had so much more to teach her.

Kabuto slid the cloak over one shoulder, leaning against the bar. In all honesty, he hadn't known she would be here, nor had he been actively searching for an apprentice, but now that he had stumbled across Konoha's Cherry Blossom, he would not be letting her slip through his fingers. He sipped on his sake, a low "Kampai" mumbled from his lips. What better way to get revenge on the village that had not only ostracized and actively hunted his shishou, but had condemned Kabuto himself for his knowledge, than to soil their would-be second generation Sanin with that which was denied to him?

"Perfect," he whispered when the lights dimmed. Her two teammates had come in and seated themselves in a darkened corner. Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi vessel, and Hatake Kakashi, the legendary Copy Ninja, would be the perfect witnesses to the eventual subjugation of their sinfully innocent, pink-haired counterpart.


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"Hey Kaka-sensei?" Normally, Kakashi would have allowed Naruto to babble mindlessly in regards to whatever was on his mind, but the tone of his voice implied something of a much more serious nature.

"Naruto?" Kakashi responded back, barely moving his lips. There was mixed company in this bar. Discretion was beyond necessary. When the boy didn't answer immediately, Kakashi's head turned toward him. In the dimmed lights, he could make out the terse straight line of the boy's lips. "What's wrong?"

The Kumo nin nearby tilted an ear their way.

Sorry buddy, nothing interesting here, just a couple of teammates out for a drink and a show. "Had too much already?" Oh, please, if the Fourth was looking over him at that moment, let Naruto get the hint.

"Must've," Naruto mumbled back. Yes! Kakashi's good mood was shot to shit when Naruto tapped a message into the back of his visible hand. 'Just me or something weird here?'

Kakashi used his sandaled foot to tap a message back, intending to come off as impatient. 'Chakra signature?'

'Familiar. Bad.' Naruto responded back. A pretty waitress approached their table to ask for their drink order. Taking in Naruto's had atop Kakashi's, and the insistent way Kakashi's foot met Naruto's, her smile dropped. After receiving their drink orders ("Shochu for me, and a bottle of sake with a saucer and a glass of water back for my companion."), she could be heard lamenting the apparent sexual orientation of all the cute ones as she walked away.

The two men quickly removed their appendages from each other with looks of disdain and appraisal.

"Not my type."

"Never in a million- WHAT?" Naruto's horrified screech resounded through the establishment, and Kakashi deeply wished he were somewhere else at that exact moment. After a moment of contemplation (and gagging), Naruto had finally reached the conclusion there were things about his sensei he wished to never know.

"You know, Naruto, there are many things you could learn in this world in how to please a woman." Kakashi said matter-of-factly, winking (or blinking?) at the pretty waitress who had returned with her drinks.

"Um…"

"Besides, those ANBU missions can get very long…" He commented, scrawling something on a napkin and handing it to her.

"Ergh…"

"And lonely…" Because THAT wasn't said with any amount of innuendo or general creepiness…

"Oh, fuck, make it end- HEY! She's coming on!" Naruto had never been so happy to see Sakura in tight leather pants. Or a white wife beater. When had she grown THOSE?

As Naruto had the epiphany that Sakura's normal outfit did her no justice, Kakashi was simultaneously wiping the drool from the table and trying to keep his eyes in his head.


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(This would be a great place to end, but I'm not that mean. I've left you guys with too many "GASP" cliffhangers. And I have so much more in me.)


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The first thing Sakura noticed when walking on the stage was the amount of teenagers crowding the front. The second was Naruto and Kakashi in the back staring wide-eyed, and Kabuto at the bar licking his lips. She shivered. It should be a sin to have three hot men focusing solely on her as if she were her last meal. Oh well, might as well give them a show.


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"If you don't know our name by now, you haven't been paying attention to the flyers. In which case, why the FUCK are you here?" She brashly commented into the mic, cheers responding in kind. "Hey, fuckers, I have some old friends here. Should we show them how we kick ass in Kyoko-Gai?" More cheers empowered her, and she signaled to the band.

Kakashi turned to Naruto. "What's her band's name?"

"Kokushitsu,**" came the faint response.

"Black lacquer? As in varnish or nail polish? I will never understand you kids."

Naruto snorted in his awestruck haze, never once breaking his view of Sakura. "You just dated yourself, sensei."


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The club quieted down as Sakura placed her lips on the microphone again and waited. "From dehumanization to arms production…" she whispered, gazing left and right. Hopefully these teenagers, the future of their world, would get the message. Peace could not be found in war.

Kaya plunked a haunting tune on the xylophone, sounding like a children's music box. The effect was chilling.

"Power, power, the law of the land. Those living for death will die by their own hand."

Rapt attention was paid to her as she repeated phrases to drive them home.

"It's your choice, your choice, your choice, your choice; peace, or annihilation."***

Naruto's jaw dropped. Everything he and Pain had discussed in Konan's paper tree. Everything Jiraiya had tried to attain and teach. She had put it to words to teach the kids who followed her.

Without any preamble, Sakura broke into a heavily distorted riff, making eye contact with Jingo. He took up the rhythm with Hoshi, and she allowed her hands to leave the strings. She may be talented enough to sing and play guitar, but playing lead and singing required more time than she had ever had available.

Grasping the microphone in one hand, she swayed her hips slightly. As the first verse progressed, she brought her hands back to the frets for the chorus.

"And I don't understand, and I don't give a damn, cuz it's making no sense to me. I'm caught in between your lies and my dreams…" A few of the teenagers sang along, having heard this song from her before. These voices empowered her, made her feel stronger than any jutsu ever could.

She stopped playing and held the mic to a girl nearby.

"And I don't wanna be the one you're not thinking of. I don't wanna be anywhere, and I need you. I'm sorry if I'm a little confused you're leaving…" Sakura raised the mic back to the stand and completed the line, staring dead at Kakashi's chakra signature through the bright lights. "

"You ever think, it was the wrong thing to do?"


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The show progressed with a fervor. The group of kids in front of the stage had grown steadily, nearly overtaking the whole club. They thrummed with every reverb, hummed with every bass line, and thumped with the tap of every tom and high hat. Kakashi had never seen such a mechanism of control save lobotomy to manage such a group, and yet, these children were led. Songs of rebellion, sex, drugs, and political questioning had them swaying and singing.

It would've sickened him to see such a display of mindless following, if Sakura hadn't have been the one leading it. Even then, there was something perverse in the idea that his little pink-haired student-turned-lover was amassing her own little disillusioned army of adolescents.

More than once, she had made eye contact with him, and driven her words into his chest, points sharper than any kunai. She was hurt, she was angry, and she was a woman who was not to be trifled with.

Every so often, he would catch a spike of chakra near the bar, and Naruto had been right. It did feel familiar. It felt dirty, oily, something made of death and sadism. Worse than the feeling of the chakra was the effect it seemed to have on Sakura. Each time it flared, her eyes glazed over and she stumbled with her words. She'd make eye contact with the figure at the bar, hooded and hiding, and would lick her lips. His gut flared with n unrecognized feeling, to stake his claim and take her off to some hidden dark place to have his way with her. To throttle the man at the bar and sink into the pinkette over and over without mercy.

Pure jealousy, he realized.

When the female drummer began a primal beat, thump… thump… thump, his attention was drawn back to the stage. He hadn't even realized they had been silent for so long. Banners dropped behind them of shadows of warplanes overtop fields of beautiful flowers and children playing. On another, the band was featured in crisp blacks and whites, clouds not dissimilar to the Akatsuki behind them, with their band logo at the bottom; a bloodied scrawl of the two Kanji characters that comprised their name.

The lead guitarist shouted wordlessly, and the bassist breathed heavily. Sakura marched out slowly from the wings, dressed in full military regalia, an unnamed foot soldier for any faceless dictator. She knelt toward the teenagers in front of her and placed a hand over their heads, offering solace.

"Don't fret, precious, I'm here. Step away from the window. Go back to sleep." A sick smile cracked her features, and, for the first time, Kakashi feared her. It wasn't every day one watched the woman he had helped train smile like the traitor she hated.

He watched silently as she tilted a younger chin with her finger, speaking directly to them.

The chaos of the song was beginning to give him a headache. She stood and saluted the crowd as she whispered, "Go back to sleep."

Her band mates tilted their bodies like puppets, and she moved her hands like the puppeteer. For a moment, Kakashi believed her to have that power. Silence overtook the stage momentarily as she sat on the edge, waving her feet like a child.

"I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons. I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason. I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices, son. One and the same, I must isolate you, isolate and save you from yourself."

The song quieted from there, silence ringing in the club. Thunderous applause erupted from nowhere, as loud and chaotic as the previous song. Sakura smiled prettily and thanked her crowd, bowing like the polite girl she once used to be. The image would never leave his mind, however, of Sakura parading the stage, bending the minds of mere children to believe what she wished.

Unfortunately, this would have to be reported to Tsunade. Especially due to the mixed company in the club. They would all report to their respective Kages what was witnessed in the small club in Kyoko-Gai. And the small girl in the small club who had the power to brainwash with words.


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She took the military jacket off (that thing was so hot!), and picked up her guitar. Only a few more songs to go before they could call it a night. She launched into another high tempo song, and hoped against hope it would lessen the blow of the politically charged song before. It had been Kaya who had come up with the idea of the military ensemble, including the banners, which had been dropped from the ceiling after the song was over. They now lay in two crumpled piles in the rear wings, and in their places, two distant gravesites, both artists renderings of the ones described by Sakura and Jingo.

One, if one knew what they were looking at, was the Uchiha family gravesite. In the center of the enlarged oil pastel was Sasuke's grave, a pace she had spent much time.

In the other banner, Jingo's own family site was illustrated. Three graves, overgrown with weeds, were clearly marked, 'mother,' 'father,' and 'sister.' When the artist had shown Jingo, the man had become even more quiet than usual. It had taken Sakura telling him about Sasuke, a more dumbed down version anyway, to get him back into the swing of things. Together, they visited his family, and she was introduced.

Now, he seemed at ease with the banners, if not a little too nonchalant, but Sakura couldn't push him into opening up about something he had already told her enough about.

She only hoped, now, that the repercussions of the song before would be slight.

Their up-tempo song came to an end, and the last two songs presented themselves. A heavy, sad song about loss and death was played, and Sakura couldn't keep her tears from showing. So much like Sasuke, the words alluded to a painful death of a loved one or lover. She had remembered finding him, how she held his hand and closed his eyes. She remembered his burial and the sad procession, how the Elders only mourned the loss of the Uchiha clan…

Refocusing herself, she played the last song, not wanting to shake her tears off. This was just as sad, just as poignant.

"What if I never saw you again? I'd die right next to you in the end. That place in my mind, is that space that you call mine." She made eye contact with Kakashi one last time. "I won't let you walk away without hearing what I have to say." He shifted in his seat and closed his eyes, lowering his head down and to the side. Too painful? Oh well, he would have to learn how to deal. These words were her heart, all the broken pieces of it, lain out for dissection. Every hug from Naruto, every scowl from Sasuke, and every eye crinkle from Kakashi. If he couldn't deal… well… finally, she felt confident enough to say 'fuck him.'

Applause followed her as they strode off the stage, and, for the first time since arriving in Kyoko-Gai, a truly happy smile lifted her face. She could finally say she didn't give two shits what Hatake Kakashi thought of her.


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TBC… DON'T WORRY, IT DOESN'T END HERE. This is a KakaSaku, for crying out loud. I wouldn't end it just like that. There's, like, a plot and stuff. Ha.

*Erm, yes, I have in fact received these directions. And it was not on the left. I looked lefter, and there it was. Poof, like magic. The difference? Mine was received in broken English from a Latino guy name Jorge. He was cool as hell. So, Jorge, muchos gracias por your directions.

** Her band, to clarify, because I screwed it up in the last chapter:

Sakura – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Hoshi – Bassist, backing vocals
Jingo – Lead guitarist, screamer (oh yeah, baby)
Kaya – percussionist (not simply drummer, she's multi-talented, take that as you will)

***Sakura's set list. I don't own these, so the correct artists are listed.
~"Annihilation" A Perfect Circle
~"Brake of Your Car" Lennon
~"New Model No. 15" Marilyn Manson
~"Fake It" Seether
~"Everything Sucks" Pitchshifter
~"Microwaved" Pitchshifter
~"Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon" Marilyn Manson (very explicit)
~"Rabbiteen" Jack Off Jill
~"Valentine's Day" Marilyn Manson
~"Tear Away" Drowning Pool
~"Slow" Professional Murder Music
~"Farewell Fix" Reveille
~"Dirty" Korn
~"Save Yourself" Stabbing Westward
~"Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums" A Perfect Circle
~"Fear of Dying" Jack Off Jill
~"So Cold" Breaking Benjamin
~"Danger – Keep Away" Slipknot