Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

Embracing Darkness

Sakura hesitated before her next leap. Itachi was gaining a lead, but Hinata was beginning to lag behind.
“What’s wrong?” Sakura could see the mess her chakra was in as it passed beneath the old wound.
“Nothing!” Hinata snapped, “Don’t let me drag you back, I’ll catch up. It’s not like you guys can hide, even in this rain.”
Sakura held her ground, “Your shoulder never did heal properly, did it?”
Hinata tried to glare. Met Sakura’s eye. Her resolve faltered, “You’re only a medic, right? But don’t get so tore up, it’s a minor detail!”
Sakura poked the wound, glaring harder as Hinata winced. “Minor my ass! I should have opened that back up months ago! Why didn’t you say anything while it was fresh?”
Hinata looked away, her hand cradling the old wound. “…Hanabi could see it… Told me it was screwed. I didn’t want you standing within arms’ reach of death on my account again.”
The sharp slap cracked in the rain sodden air. Hinata met Sakura’s eye, matching glare with glare.
The pink haired woman took Hinata into her arms. “You’re my friend first. Always. I just wish I didn’t have to hit you before you’d hear that.”
“I’m still not going back.” Hinata pushed Sakura back, “I’m here now, so fuck that idea ri…”
A wave of chakra hit Sakura, flashed over her and left her beside Itachi as the echo of a great explosion rocked the skyline.
Hinata fell to her knees, fingers clawed into her shoulder.
Itachi stood over them both, a long bladed shuriken bearing a hilt in his fist. The blades were closed, the cutting edge leaning forward.
“Is that her shoulder or a jutsu?”
Sakura followed the voice. “Shika… You bastard!”
“It wasn’t my jutsu that brought the whelp to her knees.” He sang back. “The bomb tag, though, that was mine.”
Itachi stepped closer to the center of the rooftop, “Why flap your jaws when we can fight?”
Shika pulled out the odachi with flourish, “So forward. Nothing like young Sasuke. But then, avengers are so easy to manipulate.”
Shika drew a thick scroll from his vest, “It’s too bad Lord Hitake fell so mangled. He would have loved this.”
Itachi held, his hair tossing as he scanned the rooftop. His eye met hers. “Sakura, MOVE!!”
Sheets of ice lanced out of the ground, twisting around as they rose, the sharp points joining at the peak, smashing together, sealing her within the prison.
Hinata peeked between the panes, her shadow casting a hole of clarity against the thousand reflections, “You alright in there?”
“Just watch your back.” Sakura gave the slivered ice a heavy punch, the construction solid and unyielding.

Itachi and Shika stood, eye to eye. The distance between them little barrier.
The young captain’s shadow twitched, quivered. But it was weak. And weakening as the rain came harder, blotting out the thin moonlight.
“It would have been such fun…” Shika sang, “To chase you about with my shadow… But it seems that the one time I do not chose my field, the damnable thing is against me.”
“You could always run.” Itachi smirked, “It worked so well in the past.”
Shika held one hand into the rain, never breaking his gaze from Itachi. His palm quickly filling, “Actually… I think I’ll stay.”
The arm raised slowly and the mask dipped.
The silver streak was away before Itachi heard the chakra powered weapon fire, the fletchette shrieking as it passed Itachi over the shoulder, pulling against the ground to drop below the attack.
Shika laughed, dropping his arm, “You are fast, Uchiha. But how much is due your sharingan?”
Smoke flashed as the anbu teleported.
“Eyes open!” Itachi scanned the rooftops in rapid circles.

The sound reached her ears, a whisper in the rain. Hinata turned, seeking the sound and the impact was so slight she wondered if it had been her shirt creasing. The cotton was soaked and sticking to her skin.
And then a second hit her shoulder and the world exploded in pain.
The ground greeted her as she fell hands and knees, falling against the wounded shoulder.
“Hinata!” Sakura glared between the panels of ice. The blood wasn’t pooling, the rain washed it away too quickly. Hinata jabbed herself with a stiff finger crying out as she closed tenketsu.
“Hang on!” Sakura stepped back, charged her fist and ran at the mirror. Her body leaned into the throw and her feet were glued to the ground. The impact shook the ground she stood on, but the ice prison stood strong.

Itachi slid back as smoke billowed under his feet, Shika rising from the ground fist first.
The low hand caught the foot the swept toward him and he dodged the fist coming from the other side.
The surge of chakra. Substitution. And Itachi’s blade severed the head of the doppelganger.
Shika stood twenty feet away through the clearing smoke, his chest puffed out. He vented the breath through a block of wood, scores of thin steel blades flitting into the air.
The tiny butterfly razors gathered in a cloud around Shika’s head before they rushed Itachi.
The thick cloth of his jacket swept many aside, though a few punched through, slicing through his shirt and drawing blood.
The flutter of the blades as they flew was muffled by the heavy rain.
The Uchiha flinched as chakra flashed behind him. The sheet of water on the rooftop rippled from the shock of her attack and he could feel her force rising with each blow.
The fletchette swarm came back around in a wild spray. A water clone absorbed most of the attack as the wave passed.
*Don’t piss her off… Gods,… Don’t let this fool push her over the edge…* Itachi pulled a brightly polished kunai from behind his back.
Shika conducted the swarm of tiny blades into two groups, sweeping them around to attack from each side.
Itachi leapt, his feet cresting over his head, canceling the energy of the rapid rise, the fletchette shredding the tail end of his jacket.
The sword shuriken in his hand opened and flew, the polished kunai still solid in his fist as the wide trio of blades buzzed through the air toward Shika.
The swarm of razors swept around, tracking Itachi as he fell back to the ground. The shuriken sailed over Shika’s head as he ducked low, hands converging as the razors bore down from above.
The kunai in his hand tugged and Itachi spun back, drawing the ninja wire across his shoulders, a thin umbrella of water shielding him from the rain of steel.
The wire thrummed taut, the shuriken in Shika’s hand. “Your sharingan is strong, Uchiha…” His free hand lifted, the sodden razors coming to life, lifting into the air, “…but mine is stronger.”
“One of us has been reading too many kung-fu novels.” Itachi triplicated, the doppelgangers walking away, circling Shikamaru. “You have only just scratched the surface of the sharingan’s true potential.”
“You speak as if you know something, Uchiha.” Shika snarled through the mask, “What fuels the erroneous belief that I am inferior to you?”
Itachi smirked ever wider, “First; you are not an Uchiha.”
“Oh, naturally.” Sarcasm dripped form behind the mask.
“And second; my Great-grandfather had forgotten more about the sharingan than you think you know.”
“Senile old fart. Alzheimer’s?”
Itachi’s face hardened. “That was too far.”
The fletchettes overhead chimed in the rain as Shika rubbed his eye with a knuckle, “Boo-hoo. I’m still immune to your most powerful sharingan techniques. Who else can say the same?”
“Only the Hyuuga.” Itachi’s hand snapped open, a plume of brilliant white fire erupting from his palm.
Nara turned away, his hand trying to block the light that burned his eyes.
The loop in the line traveled quickly, closing around Shika’s throat and the Uchiha pinched the wire between his lips and hands flashed jutsu as Nara’s hand closed on the wire.
The thin cable itself combusted as the dragon’s flame raced along the length, searing the grasping hand and setting the paint of the mask and the flak vest ablaze.

Sakura let her foot fall from the reflection, the ice still humming from the last impact. The stone of the roof had begun to crumble, yet the ice remained as solid as ever.
And her chakra was raging about within her. She had drawn more than she thought she would ever possess and it wasn’t burning away properly. Or perhaps the air around her was so steeped in the expended energy it was leeching back into her body.
Whichever was true, if not both, her chakra was still roiling like a storm cloud, aching almost physically for release.
*Fucking ice!* Sakura wove the chakra into a spike over his fist and nailed the ice sheet again, the shards of energy fizzling into the air and her knuckles impacting firm ice again.
“Hinata? How’re you doing?”
“…nnn…” Hinata lay on her side, face down in the rain. She was hard to sense, her chakra simply bleeding away like a lamp flame. “…It’s dark, S’kura…’m cold…”
“Keep it together, Hinata!”
A rush of flam and a howl like a death wail cut the air. The scream shifted from shock, to pain, to rage.
Through the sheets of her prison, Sakura could see Shika. Doubled over, the captain’s mask fell to the ground, the edges still on fire. As was his flak vest and chest plate.
Shika roared as he stood, hands rising into the rains, a swarm of glinting steel rising as well.
A hand in an anbu bracer shot out of the stone roof, wrapping around Itachi’s ankle and the storm crashed over him.
“Itachi!!” Sakura grabbed the sheets of ice, trying to pry them away, her hands slicing on the edges and running blood.
The swarm of fletchettes vanished. And Itachi still stood. He jerked as his breath choked in his throat. He tried to cough, a jet of blood spilling over his lips.
“You won’t read that in any kung-fu novel.” Shika stepped forward, heedless of the doppelgangers that fell apart behind him. He put a hand on Itachi’s shoulder, his charred face cracking as he grinned. “I told you my sharingan was stronger.”
The thump of a blade landing in flesh was swallowed by the rain. Shika simply gazed down at the kunai planted to the hilt in his side, biting deeply into where a kidney should have been.
His hand filled with throat and Shika pulled the knife from his side. “That which is immortal cannot die.” He glared into Itachi’s eyes. “But if it’s any consolation, it still hurts like fuck.”
Sakura opened her mouth to scream, to wail, to curse. But her voice was as silent as Itachi’s, the tall Uchiha falling as Shika pulled him down. And he lay in the rain, the downpour pinning his jacket to the rooftop.
The missing odachi came to Shika’s hand from behind his back, chakra smoke still clinging to the blade.
He faced her, his face breaking anew as he grinned, “Now I can show you why I love my newest technique. I call it the Ice Maiden.” He stepped into the mirror, his shadow becoming reflection a thousand times.
The tip of the odachi came down and began to creep out at Sakura from every side, each reflection of the sword pressing in upon her.
A score of voices laughed cruelly, “I just rubbed out the Missing Hyuuga, the prodigy Uchiha, and the mighty Hanuro. It has been a good day.”
Sakura felt her face draw tight, the dark chakra from her heart mixing into her overcharged body. The chakra ignited across her cracking knuckles, spreading up her arm as something more than chakra spilled through the limb. Something more than malice.
The fist crashed into the mirror, the usual sound of her chakra flaring sounded with a whumph more like a fire taking a deep breath.
The next blow came from her other fist, just as silent. The huff of an inferno, the snap of breaking ice.
Sakura reached over the slowly growing blades, her body rolling fluidly with the strike, the crack breaking louder, a thin line of miniscule fractures left behind.
“Get your sorry ass in here so I can tear your heart in half!!”
Shika laughed at her openly, “I am not so chivalrous or stupid, fool Hanuro! You are the prey now, and you shall die slowly.”

Hinata could feel the chakra. Dark. Feral. Primal. The deepest parts of her mind whimpered in fear, found strength where there ought be none. She wanted to run, to hide. And her rage at being frightened burned the fear like coal dust.
Her numb hand found enough purchase for her to lift herself out of the cold water. The dark crimson taint of blood only just visible.
“…’tashi…” She opened her eyes. He lay face down in the rain. The byukaguran slipped on. He was dark. Darker than even Hinata herself…
Her ears buzzed and her head swam. The sound of a cold laugh. So much like heartless Neji…
But he had loved Tenten… Looked out for the clan…
Hinata’s focus was narrow, turning to the voice as roars of an enraged hellcat broke the rhythm of the laugh.
*…Smug bastard…*
Hinata came to her knees, dragging one forward, putting her weight on a foot she couldn’t feel.
*…underhanded…*
Her eyes were consuming the last shreds of her chakra quickly. She could make out the central source of the chakra that held the ice trap together.
*…cowardly…*
Weight shifted and Hinata stood. Her stance weaved drunkenly and the kunai sword came to her hand as she stumbled forward, her bloodline eyes flickering out as her body overrode the mind, trying to save the last ounce of chakra, trying to preserve itself despite her commands.
*…shit sucking… turd burglar…*
She reached out for the back of Shika. Her shoulder was the only part of her body she could feel, the pressure on her feet and in her clenched fist all the other sensation.
Two more steps… one… her hand slipped under the surface of the ice, the cold registering belatedly in her mind.
“… pissin’… me… off…”
The shoulder wailed protest as the bloodied arm wrapped around Shika’s neck, the long blade of Hanabi’s kunai sword plunging forward.
Shika howled as Hinata gave the blade a thrust. “…’s a thousan’ years uh pain…” Hinata leaned back, dragging the anbu from his jutsu.
He twisted in her grasp, both falling as the blade swung wildly in her limp arm.
The fall took far too long and the impact was distant.
“…asshole…” Hinata cursed the man who lay on her good arm, twisting the limb painfully.
The thin blade stuck out through his throat, his face raging silently though his corpse was as motionless as Itachi…
“…oops… was a accident…” Hinata gave out, rolling to her back, the wrench in her arm forgotten and getting further away.
The tinkle of glass scattering flooded the air and Sakura blocked the rain over Hinata’s face.
Hinata sighed, “…Yer blockin’ my view, S’kura…” She couldn’t muster the strength to throw a punch, however weak. “Like I wanna die looking atchyer mug…”
“No!” Sakura’s hands were blessedly warm, lacing lovely warm chakra into her cold body. “I won’t let you die here!”
Hinata swept Sakura’s hands from her chest and belly, “Knock it off!” She winced as her shoulder moved, bled anew. “Ye nearly killed yerself last time… Jus’ back offa me…”
Hinata looked over at Shika. Smirking at his state, his jaws ranting soundlessly, she gave him the bird.
The pale eyed girl looked back up at the raining sky and relaxed. “…I jus’ want ye te know… Ye really piss me off sometimes…” Her eyes closed, too tired to remain open, loosing focus, “…An’ I really loved ye for it… honest…”
“Hinata…”
“Lemme finish!” Hinata swatted over her head, her hand getting caught. She left it hang in Sakura’s grip. “…Ye did more fer me an my sister than I ever woulda as’ed uh anybody… Like we was yer sisters… An’ one time… ‘kay… more than once… I wished ye was a guy… even with tha pink hair… ‘cause I wanted te marry you… I love ye tha mush…”
Hinata sighed, letting her limbs fall numb again. “… I jus’ two thin’s from ye, S’kura… I wan’ choo te do righ’ by yerself… do whatche gotta do… an’ hol’ me close, eh? …’s damn col’ out here…”
Sakura felt one hot tear streak across her temple. “Yeah…” her voice closed up as she croaked out the lone word. Hinata was light in her arms and slid a little too easily.
Cradling the woman in her lap, Sakura warmed herself with chakra, laying the aura over them both like a blanket.
She brushed a stray hair out of Hinata’s face as the girl sighed softly.
“… tha’s nice S’kura…’s warm…” She sighed again. “…I coul’ sleep like this… always wan’ed te fall ‘sleep in man’s arms… little nip a sake… an’ a lull’by… But chool do…’cause I love ye, S’kura…”
Tears blurred her vision as Sakura took a trembling breath. “H-hush lil’ ninja, don’t you cry…” Her voice broke and she sniffled, rain and tears falling from her cheeks.
Hinata smiled, “…heh he… no sake…?”
Sakura slipped her hand into the medic pouch at her back. “It’s for wounds,” Inner Sakura seized the voice that eluded her, “But it’s sake.”
She popped out the cork and touched the lip of the small bottle to Hinata’s lips, tipping a small burble into her half open mouth.
Her throat worked and she coughed, her hand clenching over the wounded shoulder. “Damn… tha’s good… I always hated swee’ sake anyhow…”
Sakura tossed the bottle to the side, holding her last friend closer.
“…I’ll avenge your death with a sharp kunai…”
The ghost of a smile twitched on Hinata’s lips. A single crimson tear pooling a the corner of her eye.
“Into final rest you fly…” Sakura drew the last verse from her heart as tears chased it from her eyes. “…I’ll meet you there… By…and by…”
Hinata sighed, turning her head into Sakura’s arm, “…g’nigh’…S’kura…”
“…’night…” The kunoichi voice crumbled under her tongue again. She felt Hinata’s heart stop. Saw her blood and her chakra still.
The one sound of teeth clicking turned her attention to Shikamaru.
Her heart ignited within her chest, her sorrow flashing over as she gently laid Hinata down.
*…sakura…?* Her inner tickled at her mind. *Sakura…?*
“Don’t bother me now.” A steel tone as dark as the fire in her heart echoed through her voice. “I have work to do.” She grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling the body to sitting and ripped the kunai sword from his neck savagely, the corpse falling away as the head remained in her hand.
Shika’s eyes were wide and she slammed the long blade into his screaming mouth.
She pulled out the Hyuuga eye, throwing it away. The eyelid over the sharingan was a futile barrier as she pulled it out as well.
Sakura pulled the blade from his mouth, “If you weren’t such a fool, your torment would have ended long ago.”
It took her seven long paces before she knelt beside Itachi. She pulled him over, seeing the dozens of tiny wounds that peppered his chest and arms. She pressed his eyes closed and leaned over him, kissing his cold lips. “Good night, Itachi-kun… Don’t wait up for me, I’ll be there soon enough…”
Hanuro Sakura stood, taking up her grisly trophy and the borrowed blade. Her eyes burning brightly as her gaze fell upon Hokage tower.


Patient Measures

The door at his back opened quietly and silent feet entered, the subtle click of the latch as the door closed again.
“Hey, Gaki…” The woman’s voice was soft, “Aren’t you supposed to be halfway to Suna?”
The boy in orange sighed, “He is, baa-chan. I’m just a doppelganger.”
“That’s an incredible strain…”
“He knows.” The clone interrupted her. His gaze never left Sakura. And perhaps never even blinked.
Tsunade sighed as she knelt beside the chair. “If I swore she would be under watch by friends, would he relax?”
The doppelganger hesitated. Shrugged. His vigil his only purpose in existing.
*To be so certain of one’s duties and goals… and his love…* “He has my word.” Her fist dispelled the clone before he could react. The cloud of smoke thinning quickly.
“Anbu…”
Tsunade’s pale eyes watched Sakura as the masked guardsman appeared.
“It’s almost creepy how close one of you always is…”
“Lady Hokage?”
Tsunade smiled, “Never mind… I want a member of the Rookie Nine or Team Gai posted here constantly, no exceptions, no breaks. Except Lee.”
The anbu nodded, vanishing away.
Her eyes had remained on the sleeping Hanuro. “You’d better wake up soon, girl.” She sighed, rubbing her temples, “The brat’ll kill himself with worry otherwise.”
Sakura moaned softly, head turning, a tear spilling from her eye. Tsunade felt her protégé’s chakra flare weakly.
Chakra flared, blinding her sense as the anbu returned. Beside him, and still in her night gown, stood Yamanaka Ino, looking confused and lost as she rubbed sleep from one eye.
“Lady Tsunade…?” The blonde sobered quickly, trying to brush down bed head with her fingers, “What’s going on?”
The Hokage smiled and gestured to the chair, “Have a seat. You will be relieved in a few hours when another designated member is awake. Keep an eye on Sakura and call as soon as there’s a change in her condition.”
Ino blinked, but sat in the chair, “Very well…” She looked her former rival over carefully. “She still hasn’t woke up?”
Tsunade sighed, “Naruto still has hope. If for nothing more than his sake, stay with her. His shift has been too long.”
Ino glanced back down at Sakura. Then back up. She nodded once and settled herself in the chair.
The anbu waited until Tsunade acknowledged them again, nodding once and teleporting out again.
Sighing to herself, the Fifth Hokage used a more conventional means of exit, quietly closing the door behind her.
Alone with her longest friend, Ino scooted closer.
“You’ve gone and done it now, billboard brow.” The blonde kunoichi pushed a stray hair back into place, “You’d better wake up soon. The rest of us have lives to live…” She looked around guiltily before leaning close to Sakura’s ear, “And Naruto’s been in a bad way without you…”


Wrath as a Sin

The overstuffed leather chair creaked slightly as the snake sannin settled himself into it. The chakra that approached him was female, and quite powerful. And pausing the shake his tower every few moments when one of his guard squads got in the way.
“Guard… laughable…” Though he wasn’t laughing. “Regulation jonin. They couldn’t fight their way through a wet paper bag.”
A scream that ended in the man drowning in his own blood sounded outside the door.
The heavy thud rumbled through the chamber.
The second was joined by the splinter of wood and the crunch of concrete.
The third sighed with groaning steel and the doors slammed to the floor, rattling and knocking up dust.
“It was unlocked, you know.”
“I beg pardon.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm, “I suppose I shouldn’t have knocked so hard.”
He could feel the migraine building. Only two things relieved this particular brand of stress. And the failed miasma experiment had killed everyone in the city, including the shady district. The other option was violence. But if he destroyed the tower, there was no one left in Konoha to repair it.
“Spare me the humor and be about your business. I have far too much to deal with right now as it is.”
“Humph. I just wanted to return this. Sorry to have bothered you.” The woman’s statement was followed by a semi-wet plap on his desk.
“For the lost love of the gods!” Orochimaru pushed back his long hair, “Did you have to throw that damned thing on the paperwork!?!?”
And she actually laughed, “I intended to throw it in your lap, but you’ve been facing the wrong way for our whole meeting. I though the Hokage would have better manners.”
The snake sannin growled, one hand clutching loosely at his face. “Enough with the banter. I assume the miasma had caught your attention?”
“Yes, I had noticed it.” She chimed.
“And how is it holding up under the rain?”
“Not well at all. The downpour has all but washed the petulant fog away, exposing the crime and the bodies to the world.”
“Damn you, wench! Can’t you act a little more mature right now?” The sannin shouted, “I am in no mood for your games or perversion! So just enlighten me as to where Jiriaya is so we can go had have our spat. So long as it’s outside of the city, I don’t care.”
“How the fuck would I know where the sannin are?”
The large chair swung around easily. The bright pink hair shouting against the black funeral suit. Long boots with greaves and heavy bracers attached to thick gloves and a polished leaf headband tied on as a belt holding the kunoichi gear around her waist.
A kunai with three feet of blade was held tight in one fist and a wide windmill shuriken hung at her hip.
And her eyes blazed as brilliant a pale rose as her hair. Her scowl could turn senbon aside as it bored into the sannin.
“My sincerest apologies, Ms. Hanuro. I mistook you for another.” he looked down, intending to sort through the ruined paperwork. “That is not a slug…”
Shika’s empty eyes pleaded from a charred face. The sannin frowned and picked up the oozing flesh and dropped it into a waste basket. “So what was the young captain’s mistake?”
Sakura shot a gob of phlegm on a high arc into the can. “He assumed all of the fallen were dead. Hinata came at him from behind and took him down single handedly. Literally. She only had the use of one arm at the time and had lost quite a lot of blood, as well as all but the last shred of chakra needed to survive.”
The old sannin frowned in thought. “Such a strange circumstance… Luck was against him.”
“Arrogance.” Sakura corrected. “The same sin as your own mightiest fault.”
Orochimaru beheld the young woman. “Really? If my sin, then, is pride; What would yours be?”
She shrugged, her featureless eyes drilling into his own, “I was never much for lust. Though envy was quite high for a long time.” He face hardened, “But today’s sin would have to be wrath.”
“I don’t suppose you would be interested in greed? Sloth, perhaps?”
She shook her head slowly. “Just wrath.”
“Very well.” Orochimaru nodded, “But I would like to know what drives you right now.”
She leaned against the desk with one boot, “That would be reckless courage.” she glared down at him in his chair, “Over the last week, I have lost all that was dear to me. Friends, family, my home. Even the worthless title the ‘noble’ ilk crowned me with. Life gets pretty empty with all that loss.”
He returned her glare. “So you came here to forfeit your life?”
“Hahaha!” she leaned over her knee, “You couldn’t get that lucky, scales. I invite you to try. I’ve got nothing left and I don’t give a bitter damn about what I destroy, so long as your black heart is somewhere on the list.”
The desk shot back, the legs squealing against the marble floor.
Orochimaru braced himself against the edge, stopping the large wooden barrier. He pushed it to one side, standing and stepping around it. The slit pupils of his yellow eyes tried to cut her with sheer malice.
“Very well, child.” Orochimaru slipped out of the Hokage robes. The simple tunic beneath and the large viper wrapped around his waist revealed.
The snake sannin reached into the opening mouth of the serpent, withdrawing Grasscutter from the belly of his familiar.
Sakura turned her profile to him, holding the kunai as though it were sheathed, wrapping her fist around the blade. The blade came back forward slowly, growing longer, wider, a blade of silvery ice grown along the steel. Straight as an arrow, four inches wide, five feet long. A bright arc of lightning shrieked like a falcon as it danced the length of the jutsu sword.
“Impressive.” Orochimaru dipped the razor tip of Grasscutter, leaping with the blade diving for the quick kill.
Steel and ice grated as Sakura crossed the blade and lifted it up and away.
The lightning arced at the sannin from the tip of her blade, flashing in his eyes. The kunoichi stepped in with a hard left in a tight arc from the floor.
The sannin lifted into the air limp.
The large ice blade ripped the air in a pair of howls as the force of the swing growing and passing through the huge desk as the furniture fell to the floor.
The snake sannin stood in a settling cloud of paperwork, rubbing his jaw. “That’s quite the punch. I’m familiar with the taijutsu style, though I can’t recall from where.”
Sakura pulled the large shuriken from her hip, snapping it open, “It’s an old style. You go ahead and underestimate me that badly again. I’d love to show you more.”
Orochimaru sighed and took up his stance. “You have no idea the box of snakes you have opened, child.”
She sneered, “Big bad sannin gonna teach me a lesson? Eh, old man?”
Four copies of the sannin fanned out. “I’ll show you another old technique.” The five lunged, encircling her, each blade coming from a different angle.
Sakura lashed out, forcing the sannin and his clones into staggered defense. The windmill shuriken buzzed and the sword shrieked as the dance to parry the attacks.
Her heel rose and whipped down, catching a blade as it fell and crashing into the floor, the marble floor shattering and coming to pieces, all six falling as the floor gave way.
The shuriken sailed for one of the sannin, severing his leg before the clone dispelled.
The ground hit her hard, folding to one knee. Four of Orochimaru landed more nimbly, each with his blade crossed over his arm, the tip lined up with her heart.
The scroll ripped form her pocket, charged with chakra as she spun to standing, the wave of kunai, shuriken, and senbon shredding though the clones around her.
She stopped, dropping the exhausted scroll. Four still glared at her, a small pile of weapons on the ground before each of them. None much more than scratched.
“Clever. But futile.”
And Sakura exploded.
The wave of chakra from the clone bomb throwing sannin, stone, and dust throughout the room cluttered with debris for the story above.
Orochimaru hit the wall and fell to his feet, one hand in the loose rubble. His clones were smoke clouds on the walls. “Fine work, Hanuro.” He stood, spitting a jet of blood, “I should have killed you in the Uchiha Complex myself.”
Arms lanced out of the wall and floor, ensnaring the sannin, dragging him into the stone.
Hands blurred and in a flash of smoke, a large serpent had taken his place, the boa hissing and growling as it writhed in the grasp. A snap of bone sounded and the summoned creature vanished, weak daylight from the brightening horizon shafting into the dusty gloom.
Shinobi and kunoichi both stood in the center of the room, inches apart.
Orochimaru held his glare against the gemstone eyes. “Well, well…Interesting…”
Sakura held dead still, “You should be more careful when you teleport. This could have ended very suddenly with no victor.”
“Indeed.” The sannin’s fangs flashed as he spoke. His fist shot out, grabbing Sakura’s belt and his neck followed his head as he struck out like a viper, the long fangs clamping down over the nape of her neck.
Smoke flashed and Orochimaru stared into the glassy eyes of one of his female jonin guards as the body fell limp. Steel clattered and ice skipped as the blade fell from her hand.
And another hand took the sannin by the hair, pulling him away and smashing him into the floor.
“That one’s already dead!” Sakura lifted the body and hurled him to the wall, charging after him, “Why are you even a sannin?”
He hit and Sakura’s shoulder crushed bones as she followed.
The wall cracked and the sannin fell to the floor coughing, his own blade forgotten in the rubble someplace.
“I had no idea the righteous could sink so low…” He spit blood again.
Sakura waited for him to meet her eyes, “I’m just here to kill you. The whole damn city could burn for all I care.”
Orochimaru snarled, chakra flashing as he teleported. Sakura lifted her foot, lashing out behind her, the clone bursting before it had fully formed, a kunai digging into her side before her fist swung over, sweeping the air as the sannin dodged back.
She came back to her feet, pulling the knife from her side and one of her own from the pouch.
“Hesitation?” Sakura smiled widely, “Afraid?”
“Even I can grow cautious.” Orochimaru poured more malice into the words.
His mouth opened, the long tongue shooting out at her, a kunai wrapped in the saliva slick grip.
Sakura caught the knife in her own teeth, ripping the two she held at the sannin, drawing a fist full of shuriken and flinging them underhand in a wide arc as she reached up to grab the tongue.
A blur of green looped over her hand and around her throat, the green head of Orochimaru’s belt peering at Sakura, turning to bite her hand as she reached for it.
The serpent tightened, choking her, threatening to break her arm and crush her throat, fangs buried deep and firm in her other hand.
The sannin still stood, holding his belly, a thin line of blood running from the wound.
Sakura could feel her body burning chakra to breathe. And the smirk on the snake sannin’s face grew wider. He held the kunai she had thrown and chuckled as she spit out the steel.
“The price of distraction, child…” Orochimaru pulled the shuriken from his belly, casting it to the ground, “…is death!”
He leapt, coming at Sakura from high, the arms crossed and ready to slash her to ribbons.
*Distraction!* Inner Sakura laughed as the signs formed.
Thin smoke flashed and the Oriki no Jutsu appeared before her, the ample bosom catching the kunai as the snake sannin slashed wildly. The doppelganger cried out as she burst and the sound of the sannin hitting gravel was her target.
Sakura’s boot spun through the veil of smoke, connecting with jaw, the pulse of chakra snapping his head around.
She changed feet, her heel falling, catching his shoulder, spinning the sannin to the ground.
Leaping with the last of her momentum, Sakura was over Orochimaru as he came squarely to his back.
Her left foot was low, the pointed toe extended and aiming. Her right was high and chakra smothered her leg from toe to hip, every shred she could summon pouring into, down, and flooding her leg.
The pale rose fire filled her aura to bursting, straining to burst away.
His yellow serpents eyes widened as his hands flashed signs.
*Too late.*
The attack uncoiled, her foot rocketing down and the gathered chakra rushing from her like lightning.
Each tongue of flame cut into his flesh and the torso of the snake sannin rippled before liquid flesh and spend chakra blasted out across the floor.
The echo of the blast crushed her ears and the viper tightened down on her like a twisted rope.
She could feel the panicked pulse of her heart trapped underneath the coils.
*No blood… too long…* She stepped out of the entrails, tripping over the disembodied arm, falling to her knees. Her head swam and her vision was closing down.
Her limbs were going numb.
*Hinata… Itachi… Ino… Lee…* She gaped for air, knowing it was futile, but trying anyway. *rest avenged.*
Her heart had slowed and Sakura felt herself sigh. A cool breath slipping in past her lips.
*Death sure is peaceful…*

Coming Home

Sakura left herself drift. It was like when she was little, able to swim in the adult’s bath. She just floated there. Breathing sweet, cool air, wrapped in warmth. Not a single ache. Not a twitch of pain.
And something changed. A sweet, spicy, peppery scent found her.
Just a whiff.
She sniffed again, catching more of the scent.
*That smells good…* Her mouth watered warmly.
Her belly rumbled. *Can you be hungry…?*
*I think we can say yes.*
The quiet grumble quickly grew to ravenous, gnawing, raw desire to consume.
*If I’m not dead… Someone must have found me then… Healed me…*
*Can we get up and go eat, or are you going to lay here and starve to death?*
*Pushy, pushy…*
Sakura groaned as she sat up, her arms stretching up as the blanket fell away.
“AAHH!! SAKURA!!!”
She opened her eyes and turned to the right.
A heavy set young man in a black t-shirt with thick blonde hair sticking up out of a sweat band stared at her openly. His jaw had fallen open. Right over the top of a steaming ceramic bowl, filled with dark rice and thing bits of meat. The sharp tang of lemon pepper drawing her attention more than Choji’s reaction.
The chopsticks slipped form his hand, their clatter shaking him from the shock induced trance.
“You’re awake!” he looked down at the bowl in his hand, thrusting it toward Sakura, “I wasn’t gonna eat it, I swear!” He blushed, “Alright, I was! I’m sorry!!! I just couldn’t bear to see it go to waste!!”
Sakura took the hot bowl, sucking back a wave of drool, “Oohhhh… Soo good…” she plucked a bundle out with her fingers and chewed the tender meat, the rice melting on her tongue in a blast of salty sweet teriyaki.
“It looks like vomit… but it’s sooooo goood…” Sakura took another heavy pinch.
Choji looked down at the bowl. He seemed almost to long for the contents. “Naruto made it… who knew he could cook…”
“Naruto?” The thought of his blonde hair and great big grin drove hunger from her mind.
Choji was still staring at the bowl. “He made it for you, but Tenten didn’t want to upset the nurses…”
“Where is he?” Sakura dropped the bowl in Choji’s lap, leaping out of the bed.
“Mint green… I… hate…mint…green…” Sakura moved to the wardrobe and threw the door open.
Nothing but more mint green pajama’s greeted her. “Where are my clothes?!”
Choji looked up from the steaming bowl, “Forensics took them when you got here. They’ve been trying to pull a chakra signature from the smoke residue for almost two months.”
“I’ve been out for two months?” Sakura put her back to the wardrobe. “I’ll trade you the food for your shirt!”
Choji looked down. Shirt. Bowl. Shirt. Bowl. He set the bowl down and pulled the shirt off.
Sakura ripped it out of the air as Choji attacked the rice bowl with the chopsticks.
*Thank the merciful gods for three XL…*
Choji pointed down at his scarf, “Mmph, hmm-hum-mmff…”
She plucked it form the floor, wrapping the wide cloth around her waist three time before tucking it in.
“Thanks Choji. It’s great having friends that are pleasantly plump.”
He swallowed quickly, “And if he’d just done it, you would have had to have borrowed Sasuke’s shirt. That would have been a real fancy treat.”
Sakura kicked the disgustingly green pants away, raising one brow.
“He paid me to take his shift.” Choji blanched. “Um… I’m sure he had a good reason…?”
“The cold bastard had better have one hell of a reason…” Sakura turned for the door.
“Wait!!” Choji slid to a stop between her and the door. “Don’t confuse this!” His eyes were clenched shut, “Beat Sasuke sensible if you want, but go out the window! Lee’s downstairs. If he sees you…”
Sakura smiled, “Hehehe… Good old Lee…”
Choji peeked, “So how long do you want me to wait before I call a nurse?”
The door opened.
“Choji… you’re in the way…” The slow drawl. The unkempt topknot. The lazy eyes that peered over the portly boy’s shoulder.
“…I came all the way up here… and she’s awake…?” Shikamaru turned away, “How troublesome…”
Sakura jumped, pulled the window open and was away into the afternoon, the long hem of Choji’s shirt fluttering in the wind.
“What Behold!!” The familiar shout called behind her, “Our beloved cherry blossom blooms again!! Sakura has awakened from her… Wait!! SAKURA!!!”
“Catch me if you can!” *Oh, now that was COMPLETELY unnecessary!*
“I accept your challenge, Glorious Lady of my Heart!!”
*Run faster!!*
Sakura blasted through the streets, bounding to the roofline, thick pads of chakra under her feet softening her landings.
Lee was hot on her heels, hair fluttering and grinning like a fool.
Sakura hit the street again. *Distance… he’s too close!*
The crossroad was ahead. And a puddle had formed where someone had poured out an old rain barrel.
Sakura hopped, stuck to the water, the pool lifting as she came to a halt, and she exploded away, the spray of water soaking the street behind her. Lee shouted in glee as he came around the corner. Sakura looked back. Watched as he stepped on the puddle. His foot hydroplaned, “Daahhh!” And he fell hard, skidding into a wall, the windows rattling.
He looked up at Sakura laughing and was up and after her again.
With one mighty leap, Sakura rose, peaking as she came level with Naruto’s high balcony.
Her hand planted on the railing and she dropped softly. The windows were dark and the room she could see empty.
Lee’s impacts echoed up the building and he shot past her, looking down in shock. He landed against the wall, higher up and slid down, crouching to one knee before popping up, one fist raised into the air.
He was panting lightly, and dusty from his slip, but hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“Ho, Sakura!! I don’t know what you have done in the time in which you were hospitalized, but you have certainly become stronger!!” He lowered his hand, one finger pausing before touching lightly upon her shoulder. “Ha, ha!! I’ve caught you! What is my reward for such a display of my magnificent show of passion and taijutsu mastery!!?”
“You get…”
*A swift kick in the tights!*
“…to answer a question!”
Lee smiled, took a deep breath to shout in joy, and then he looked very confused. “A question?” And then he posed, “Ask any question and I shall answer it to the greatest of my ability!” he looked like the thinker.
“Where is Naruto?”
Lee leapt, “Naruto can be commonly found in many flavors of ramen and soup, as well as in many other dishes where noodles or seaweed are commonplace!”
“No, Naruto the blonde!”
“AH!!” Lee pointed, “He has moved! You are most fortunate!! I helped him to secure a new apartment after this dwelling was declared unfit for living, due the large jutsu seal and level of anbu investigation involved!! Of all of our comrades, he will certainly be most eager to see you are awake and well!! Follow me, my newest rival, and I shall lead you to the newest lair of Uzumaki Naruto!!”
Lee bounced over the rail, leaping downward, a green blur, his words trailing after him.
*Rival? One ‘catch me if you can’ and suddenly we’re rivals?*
Sakura sighed and followed Lee over the rail, *He could have declared me the only woman he is capable of loving since only I can challenge him.*
Lee had hit the ground as was darting through the streets.
Few other options, Sakura gave chase, ducking through the alleys and flitting over awnings in his wake.
The training grounds were ahead and Lee blasted past a group of cadets throwing kunai without mercy.
Sakura tracked past him, wincing as a small boy was knocked over by their passage.
“Sweet gods…” The voice of Iruka followed them, “There’s two of them…”
Lee was making a wide loop around a pair of jonin sparring.
Sakura aimed to the other side, hoping to close some distance.
Lee spotted her and cut the arc closer. The shinobi in combat hadn’t seen them yet and Sakura rolled to one side as a nindog broke from the surface.

Gai ducked as the charge of summoned canines flew over his head, not surprised when Kakashi caught his low to high kick.
A green blur ripped past the ninja, a trail of footprints in the grass and dust in the air.
“Lee?” Gai looked the way the gust of energy had gone. “How odd… He us…”
A second blur rocked the ninja, black and pink with a swatch of yellow.
“Sakura?” Kakashi gazed after his former student.
Gai looked back. “Her training with Tsunade-sama have borne fruit.” Gai grinned, “Fruit filled with the essence of youth and…”
“Let’s just catch them.” Kakashi left his headband up, “She’s supposed to be in a coma. Not chasing Lee through the streets.”
“Perhaps we now know why Lee was forbidden entry!” He laughed. And both shinobi teleported away.

Sakura saw Lee lean back, his feet skidding against the cobbles as he neared a dead end. The low fence as hardly an obstacle and Lee bounced over the house beyond, rolling through the air in a tight ball.
Feeling her hair flutter, Sakura followed, one hand pressing the wide hem of the borrowed shirt to her thighs.
Lee appeared as she crested the house, posing triumphantly. Right where she was going to land.
“Lee!”
He turned in time for Sakura to come down on his shoulders, bearing him to the ground.
Lee was still grinning like a fool, looking up at Sakura as she sat on his chest. “While I find this a most agreeable position, My ever lovely cherry blossom, My honor must ask you to please stand and stop straddling me!!”
“That’s a damn foolish thing to tell a girl.” Sakura looked up. Jiriaya sat on the stoop, pouting. He had a pen in his hand, but the notepad was ignore in the other.
Lee bounded to his feet, catching Sakura as he threw her off and setting her down.
“Toad sannin!!” Lee bowed, “We are sorry to have disturbed your research! Please forgive our antics!!”
Jiriaya smirked, “That stunt there gives me some excellent ideas, I’m just out of blank pages.”
Lee smiled widely, “Wait!! I have a blank scroll I could gift to you, Sannin Jiriaya!!” Lee opened his legwarmer and drew the narrow scroll from within, rushing to hand it to the white-haired man.
Jiriaya was grinning manically and his pen twitched as he opened the scroll.
He was writing as though his had was having a seizure before Lee could finish his bow.
The door opened and Tsunade looked down, “Who gave him that scroll?” She glared at Lee, the obvious culprit.
“Hey!” Sakura waved, “Naruto lives here, right?”
Tsunade closed her eyes to growl, “That depends purely on… Sakura!!” The slug sannin had Sakura in her arms, hugging her tight before the girl could blink.
“Help…” she waved to Lee, “I’m gonna hafta go back if you… crush me…”
And Two bodies came over the house.
“Look out!!” Lee shouted, “Gai-sensei!!”
Sakura felt the wave of a substitution jutsu hammer her and suddenly, she was falling into Kakashi’s arms.
He pulled down the headband as he set her down.
Gai was in a similar position, cradled in Tsunade’s arms. She simply dropped him on his ass.
“Elite Jonin and you two can’t watch where you’re going?” Tsunade scowled at them all. “Why is it everyone is suddenly here?”
Lee pointed at Sakura. As did the jonin.
She blushed as Tsunade turned to her. “…Teriyaki something or other…?”
“And who actually has business here?” Tsunade was smiling now, winking at Sakura as the men behind her blanched.
Kakashi and Gai vanished in clouds of smoke.
“I live just down the street, Sakura! I await your next challenge with trepidation!!” And he ran, leaping over the fence.
Jiriaya shrugged, rolling the scroll. “I was forbidden from leaving your sight.”
Tsunade rolled her eyes. “Oh, get out of here, you old pervert.”
The toad sannin was gone in a flash.
“With any luck, he’s really gone.” Tsunade laid a hand on Sakura’s shoulder, “The gaki’s inside. I nailed him pretty hard with a sleep jutsu, but knowing him, he’ll be awake in a while anyway. Just pull the tag off him and wait.” The hand gave a gentle squeeze. And the woman strode away.
Sakura ran up the steps and pushed the door open.
The small duplex was neat and clean to a degree Naruto probably didn’t usually possess.
The door to his room was open, the low cot on the floor with the thin blanket that he lay on.
The paper tag on his brow fluttered as he snored softly in his boxers.
*Aww… how cute…Let’s paint his toenails while he’s vulnerable!!*
Sakura chuckled and looked around the room. It looked like everything was spread out, Like his attempt at decorating was to spread his stuff out to fill space.
Even the old school texts, battered and worn, were neatly lined up on a shelf.
*I like that thought!! Let’s do that!*
The mischief pasted on her face was plain as she pulled the scroll she needed from the shelf and carried it into the kitchen.

‘Naruto…’
“Hmm…” He moaned in his sleep. *Stupid dreams…*
‘Naruuutooo…’
“Whazzit…?”
“Damn it, Baka! I’m awake and you have the gall to be napping!” A fist to his head brought the blonde awake painfully.
“aww…. Right in the spot…” Naruto held his abused skull as the throb faded. “Whacha do that for?”
“I’m awake, and I’m hungry!”
“You know I can’t cook!” He rubbed his head, feeling the old lump rise where it belonged. “Why would I cook for you anyway?”
Hands grabbed his face and warm lips pressed down on his.
Naruto gasped, opening his eyes in shock and falling back as Sakura laughed at him, her deep green eyes sparkling. “I thought that’d get your attention.”
“Whose shirt did you steal?” Naruto stared, “That thing’s huge!”
Sakura pouted theatrically, “after all that… all you see is Choji’s shirt? I came over to make sure you kept your promise…”
“Ahhh!” Naruto bounced forward, grabbing her hands, “Don’t cry, Sakura-kun! I’ll cook1 I’ll cook anything you want!”
She turned watery jade pools on him. “…Even teriyaki…?”
“huh?”
“…Like the stuff you left me at the hospital…”
Naruto blinked. “That’s what woke you up? Gaara’s teriyaki lizard?” He stood, running a hand through his off colored locks, “I can’t believe the sandy bastard was right…”
“Hey!” Sakura threw his pillow, nailing him in the back of the head. “I’m being cute over here!”
Naruto turned around, an ‘oh, yeah’ expression painted on his face. “I still have some in the ice box. You want me to heat it up?”
Sakura shook her head, giggling, “For the things I have in mind for you, You’d better get something to eat too.”
Naruto blinked again.
Sakura sighed, “It’s all about womanly desires, Naruto. You promised you’d love me forever and that starts today.” She stood and sashayed over to him, drawing the shirt tight against her front as one hand gathered folds of cloth, “You have some very specific duties to fulfill…”
“…Duties…?”
“Oh, yes…” Sakura licked her lips as she leaned closer to him, “Breakfast is only the beginning, Naruto-kun.”
“Uh…’kay…” He stepped back, “I’ll um… just warm it up then… yeah?”
Sakura giggled, “It’s just about ready, I think. She flicked her gaze down, than back into his eyes, “You’re pitching a tent, Naruto-kun.”