Night, Day and Sunrise

Stay tuned after the chapter for an important announcement. Enjoy!

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"Sakura," her former sensei asked once they were alone in the team tent, "what were you thinking, disobeying a direct order from the Hokage?"

Forcing herself not to revert to the easily-frightened little girl of yesteryear, the medic addressed the question carefully, though the initial answer seemed flippant. "I thought I would be needed here, and I was right."

"Needed or not, you were ordered back to Konoha, and you refused. Fortunately, Tsunade has only given a verbal order so far, but you can't count on that to save you. She told me this was your last chance. If you ignore her this time, she will send written orders, with a time-table for your arrival. Should you fail to appear at her office in the time allotted, you will be AWOL, and she will have to act accordingly."

"I already gave her my answer to her ridiculous summons, via Neji, though I don't know if he actually sent it."

"Oh?" the older man was intrigued, while Sasuke seemed to be doing his best to stay out of things entirely. "What was the answer?"

"Hell, no."

Kakashi had never heard his female student use such strong language and, secretly, he was proud of her. But this was not the time to let her know that. "Sakura, I think she needs a little more information to go on than that, if you want to stay in the field."

"She already has all the pertinent information, or would, if she added things up. I can't blame her for trying, but she can't blame me for refusing. I'm not going back. Period. End of discussion."

Now he was confused. Sakura was acting very defensive, and Sasuke looked almost guilty. A little prodding was in order, he decided, to get under their skin, the first step underneath the underneath.

"Come on, Sakura," he teased, though his tone was serious enough that it usually took her a while to sort out if he meant what he said in this voice. "You don't need to feel ashamed. Tsunade-sama won't kill you on sight, though she probably will kill Sasuke for letting it happen."

The sudden cessation of motion, even breathing, was his first clue. The terrified look Sakura shot her teammate, which he - shockingly - echoed, was the second. A hand pressing lightly against her abdomen was the third. Something here was definitely fishy, and he was starting to see what it might be. Oh, no. Not that. Please, Kami-sama, let me be wrong!

After a few more looks exchanged between the couple - pair, he hastily corrected himself - Sakura finally turned her attention back to him, though most people wouldn't have thought that, considering her gaze was locked on a stain on the tent floor.

"So she told you?"

Kakashi could honestly say he had never heard Sakura sound so afraid, not even on the day of Team 7's first bell test, when he'd pulled that nasty trick with genjutsu. But this fear was on a totally different level. To loose someone to death was one thing. To loose their respect was another matter entirely, and not one he wanted to contemplate.

The last piece slid into place, and there was no denying it now, despite frantic hopes to the contrary. Oh, sure, he still had tons of questions, but most of those could wait, at least for now. If he never got the chance to ask them, the point would be moot, anyway.

"No," he replied at last. "You did."

"Is it really that obvious?" she cried, meeting his one-eyed gaze at last, tears streaming from her jade pair.

"No," he negated again. "It's not obvious, unless someone knows how to read you well. Honestly, I was just guessing. Your reaction told me everything I need to know."

At last, perhaps tired of being ignored in this conversation, the third person in the tent spoke up. "She's not going back."

"That's hardly for you or me to decide, Sasuke," the older jounin corrected as gently as he could.

"I know that," came the reply. "But I already tried to talk her out of this. There is absolutely no point in trying to change her mind. There is no real reason for her to go back, and every reason for her to stay with us.

"I understand Tsunade's worries and am grateful for her concern, but I must respectfully request that she mind her own business, as I am minding mine. If I put the mission, or anyone involved, in additional danger with my presence, or even run the risk of doing so, I will withdraw immediately. But I can drag Naruto out when the Kyuubi takes control of him. Yamato-Taichou isn't here, and he's our only other hope. I can't leave when I know there's a strong chance my being here could make the difference between his life and death."

Shaking his head, Kakashi leaned back on his hands, searching the weather-stained ceiling for inspiration, help, anything. Memories assailed him - his own teammates, losing Obito and what that did to Rin, Kurenai losing Asuma, Kushina losing the Yondaime and then dying herself, Sasuke losing his family and then his brother turning out to be innocent, Tsunade and Naruto losing Jiraya - flashing through his mind in an instant, but it took him a while to sort through them all to find the important and relevant pieces of information.

When at last things had settled into some semblance of order, the Copynin sighed, knowing the time had come for him to ask some of those difficult questions. First and foremost was, "Who's the father?"

Any doubt in Sakura's mind that he had correctly identified the situation fled with those three little words, and she swallowed hard. For the first time, she was going to have to tell someone about the very complicated relationship amongst Team 7, and she wasn't sure how to do so, or even if Kakashi-sensei would understand.

"Does it matter?" she asked plaintively, praying the answer would be no, knowing she hoped in vain.

"Yes," their teacher answered firmly, refusing to allow her any wiggle room. "Naruto has had feelings for you as long as I've known you all. He's going to be in a very delicate state when we find him, and seeing you pregnant might not be the best thing for him, especially if we don't find him before you're obviously showing."

"Even that might not help, Sensei," Sasuke put in at last. "The Kyuubi gave Naruto some of his traits, to help him survive. One of them was his sense of smell. He'll know, even if she's not showing."

That stopped Kakashi short for a moment, and he took an experimental sniff at the air in the tent. His contract to summon dogs had likewise given him certain canine attributes, one of which was an advanced sense of smell. He couldn't track anywhere near as well as the Inuzuka Clan or his own summon dogs, but he could identify pheromones, poisons, and odd scents.

"You're right," he concluded after a moment's analysis. "He might not know consciously what her changed scent means, but the Kyuubi will. There'll be no hiding this from him, even if we wanted to, unless Sakura goes home now. Even then, we'd have to wash all our belongings, including the tent."

Sakura nodded firmly. "So there's no point in sending me away. It won't make any difference."

"Yes, there is," both males spoke in near unison. After a moment, Sasuke motioned for Kakashi to continue, though whether that was because he felt the older man could word things better or he'd rather avoid as much of Sakura's formidable wrath as possible, the Copynin wasn't sure.

Deciding to phrase things a delicately as possible, Kakashi hoped he could make her see his side. "Sakura, the point in sending you back to Konoha isn't just because of Naruto. It's also for your own sake, and the baby's."

"I can take care of myself," she asserted crisply.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but you can't promise that, Sakura. I know you've worked hard to be a ninja, and no one could be more proud of you than me, except maybe Tsunade. But she didn't see you when you first graduated from the Academy. You've grown so much since then, and if it was only your own life you were betting with, I wouldn't have any objection. But you no longer have that luxury, Sakura. You're not a single entity anymore. You're a mother, and if you want to keep this baby, then it's needs and safety must be your top priority."

Their pink-haired medic sat there for a full minute, seeming to process the words she had heard. Finally, tears started rolling down her face, which she hastily covered with her hands.

"Sakura?" her teammate asked, putting a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Daijoubu?"

In a flash of green, she turned her eyes to his, but the emotions there were too numerous for him to read. After another few moments, she spoke, barely in a whisper.

"I'm a mother."

The words carried more weight than anything else that had been said in her entire life, and Sasuke was the one person in the tent who understood what she meant by them. Perhaps even the one person in camp. He'd had a similar revelation the night he'd discovered her condition, but apparently things hadn't sunk in for her in quite the same way until now.

"Hai," he answered, though his voice was unusually husky. Clearing his throat, and praying Kakashi hadn't noticed, he continued. "You're a mother. Now what are you going to do? What's in the best interest of your child?"

Shaking her head, the tears flowed with renewed force, and she moved, burying her face in his chest as she flung her arms around him.

Kakashi watched, trying to remain as detached as possible. Analyzing their body language, he only grew more unsettled as Sasuke put his own arms around her shaking shoulders, patting her back with only minor awkwardness. That was a far cry from the usual behavior of the sole surviving Uchiha.

"Sakura," their sensei interrupted what was obviously an emotional moment, before they did something that they would regret letting him see. "Who is the father?"

"I..." she attempted to speak, but words seemed to have deserted her. Finally, she forced her voice through her tears, but it still sounded broken and it was difficult to make out exactly what she was saying without careful attention.

"I don't know!" she wailed.

That was the last thing Kakashi had expected to hear, and probably the last thing he wanted to hear. How could she not know who she had slept with? Unless, of course, she had been... no. There was no way something that traumatic had occurred without me being aware. Right?

"Sakura, were you... raped?" He prayed he had misunderstood.

Fortunately, she laughed through her tears, and his prayers were answered. "No, Sensei, I wasn't raped. It was completely consensual, though they did kind of ambush me the first time." That last contained a hint of laughter mingled with tears.

He was imminently relieved, at least, until he processed what she'd actually said. "They?"

"Umm," she prevaricated, looking to Sasuke for assistance.

"Us," he stated firmly.

Still uncomprehending, Kakashi echoed, "Us?"

Nodding, Sasuke tightened the arm around Sakura's shoulders. "Naruto and I."

Kakashi's one visible eye glazed over as his skin went ashen with the shock. If she hadn't known exactly how good of condition he was in, Sakura would have feared they had given their erstwhile sensei a coronary. As it was, she merely waited, clinging to Sasuke as if to a life line, for the older male to regain his composure.

It took a while.

When at last he was able to speak, he excused himself and was gone for several minutes. Detaching himself from Sakura, Sasuke followed to make sure he was alright.

He found the Copynin in the latrine, splashing water on his face. His bare face. It was the first time Sasuke had seen his teacher without the mask, which should have been quite the shock. Surprisingly, however, time and maturity really had changed him, to the point where Kakashi's was just another face. Oh, sure, he could admit that the shape, complexion and condition were incredibly attractive, but he didn't really swing that way.

And so he watched detachedly as Kakashi continued attempting to wash his troubles down the drain. Unfortunately, most problems weren't so easy to deal with as the sweat and dirt of travel.

Finally, Kakashi straightened and Sasuke tossed him a hand towel to dry himself. Turning to face his student, he finished patting off the excess water and tossed the towel back. Leaning against the sink and crossing his arms over his chest, Kakashi fixed his student with a level stare.

Sasuke knew he was in for the grilling of his life. But somehow, he was glad to get this all off his chest.

"How long?"

The younger man didn't waste a moment pretending he didn't know what the other was talking about. "Almost a year now. Since that delivery mission to Hidden Stone with the invites to the Chuunin exam."

"Wasn't that your first overnight mission with just the three of you?"

"Hai," Sasuke affirmed.

"And you both have been with her recently enough...?" the Copynin fervently hoped he didn't have to explain the birds and the bees to his student, especially not at this age.

Nodding, Sasuke tried his hardest not to look ashamed, but it was difficult to do considering he barely talked about these matters with his lovers, let alone with anyone else.

"Naruto almost always uses a condom, though," he volunteered, though it pained him to admit he had not been so careful.

"But not you," it was a statement, not a question, but the ravenhead nodded anyway. "Honestly, Sasuke, were you trying to get Sakura pregnant?"

"No!" the answer was venomous, but the potential-father-to-be soon forced himself to calm down.

They both fell silent as that information was absorbed and computed, and then the silver-haired jounin headed for the door.

"Kakashi-sensei, wait!" Sasuke called, stopping his teacher with a hand mere millimeters from the handle. "Your mask."

Blinking, it seemed only then that Kakashi noticed his somewhat altered appearance. Grinning sheepishly, the most mysterious face in Konoha was again covered from view, and the twosome made their way back to the tent.

Sakura looked relieved to see them both, though still anxious. Neither of the men could blame her. For all she knew, they had spent the entire time they'd been gone concocting various schemes to send her back to Konoha.

"I'm not going back," she announced immediately upon their arrival. "I've gone over it from every angle, and I can't do it. No offense, Kakashi- sensei, but neither you nor Sasuke have the expertise to do what I can, nor does anyone else we can send. And I'm the only - and I do mean only - person capable of verifying blood trails. Even if you have copied the technique, you don't have the control or medical knowledge to use it effectively."

Taking a deep breath to calm the slight shaking in her limbs, Sakura forced herself to face her friends - a far scarier adversary than any enemy - with a confidence she hardly could pretend to, let alone feel.

"I am staying. End of discussion."

Before either of them could get in a word edgewise, she pulled out the duty rosters from the last several days. "Now, we have eleven slots to fill in our search party. I suggest we get started."

"Ten," Kakashi corrected mildly, deciding to leave the argument where it lay for now. Neither side had agreed to anything, so tabling the discussion until Sakura was more amenable to compromise was as good a stopping point as any, at least for that night. "Gai is here, too."

Both his former students sweat dropped at the mention of Konoha's self- proclaimed Beautiful Green Beast, but they had to admit he would be a helpful addition to the search party. And so long as they could properly channel the energy expended, his competitive nature could come in handy.

The rest of the evening was spent whittling down the list until they had thirty possible candidates. By that point, it was well after midnight, and Sasuke declared it was more than time to rest. He only had to go a few steps outside the tent before he found one of the genin Gaara had brought along as runners and errand-boys. Handing the youngster the sealed scroll containing a copy of the list, as well as a request for Gaara's assistance in cutting the number to ten from Sunagakure, Sasuke gave the boy his instructions, and then retired to the tent for the night.

Before Kakashi's arrival, the two members of Team 7 had shared blankets every night. Now that their sleeping quarters were no longer private, Sasuke wasn't entirely sure continuing the practice was such a good idea, but the look in Sakura's eyes as he turned around from securing the tent flaps convinced him otherwise. She was so lonely, so scared.

Like a two-by-four between the eyes, it finally hit him what she was so frightened of. She had told him before, the night he found out she was pregnant, but with everything else going on, it hadn't really sunk in.

Sakura would never go back to Konoha without him, because she couldn't stand the idea of losing him, too. Nor could she let him go through the potentially scarring ordeal of finding Naruto without her there. The temporary loss of all sight after he doused the lantern was nothing compared to the blindness he felt without her around.

Their child's health was important, but Sakura's well being necessitated his presence. And her mental and physical state affected that of the baby. Sending her back to Konoha wouldn't really help anyone, at least not until they got close enough to Akatsuki to risk being attacked.

As much as he wished he could send her home, Sasuke had to capitulate to her unspoken arguments as he climbed into their bed and put his arms around her in the darkness. He would talk to Kakashi in the morning.

He just hoped he could get their sensei to understand.

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I like to work on multiple projects at once. Call it a weird mix of ADHD and OCD. Anyway, the other story I'm currently posting is coming to an end. This means it's time to decide which story I'm going to start posting next. However, I'd like some feedback before I make this decision. So please, my dear readers, tell me what you think. Here the the sumaries of stories that I'm ready to start posting. The first one is finished (I'm kind of leaning toward it), but the other two are still in the works.

"My Own Worst Enemy" (working title) - When Sakura goes missing in an area rife with Akatsuki activity, everyone fears the worst. Then after months of searching, Sasuke finds Sakura leading a life of degredation and slavery, and he brings her home, hoping to resume life as normal. But can anything be normal again when her worst demons walk in the night and even her own mind is against her? Warnings:Darkfic, F/M, rape, violence, slavery, lime, lemon, and complete and utter mind-fucking. Finished and ready to post.

"Sweet Scarlet" - When several up-and-coming musicians go missing, Team Kakashi is brought in to solve the case. But to do this, they'll have to go undercover... as a punk/rock band. Will Sweet Scarlet be able to keep from becoming targets themselves? Can they even carry a tune? And can they find freedom in the music? Find out! Warnings:F/M, violence, lime, lemon, drunkenness, drugs, bondage and more to come!

"Pretext" (working title) - Sick and tired of making a fool of herself over Sasuke - not to mention being sick and tired of his attitude - Sakura decides a little payback is in order. So she strikes a deal with her new teammate, Sai, who agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend. What she wasn't counting on was how much she'd enjoy the ruse. And what does Sai want from her in return? Warnings:F/M, lime, lemon, drunkenness, and probably more as the rest gets written.

So there you have it, the three stories I'm willing to put out there on "teh interwebs" for all to see. In the interest of being fair, I'm more likely to update frequently if I've already finished a story; otherwise, I constantly worry that I'll use up my cushion of pre-written material. But if one of the other storylines appeals more, then so be it.

Thank you again to all of you who read and review. Honestly, that's what keeps me coming back and posting more. I'm not going to be so crass as to say that I won't post without reviews, but I have to admit, my ego does like being stroked. When I see the happiness that is a new review, I get inspired to work even harder on my stories and put them up there, because I know people actually care about what I'm doing. So thank you, and please keep reviewing.

Also, I do not delete reviews, even the rude ones. The only thing that might prompt me to delete a post is if a flame-war starts on the review page. But so far, there have been no calls for alarm. I respect your opinions, even if I disagree, and I enjoy hearing views that differ from my own. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment. So please, any thoughts that occur to you - good, bad, whatever - please feel free to share. I like to think of myself as a professional, and with that comes the responsibility of being able to take negative criticism. Besides, how can I improve my writing if you, my readers, don't tell me what you do or don't like? I'm always out to better my writing, so please help me in that.

Anyway, this author's note is startling to resemble a chapter in and of itself, so I'll end. Please review, and please, please, please let me know which of the stories summarized above appeals most! Thanks.

Have a great day and good reading!

Crimson Iris