Bestial

AN: This chapter just did not want to be written. I have three, yes, count ‘em, THREE mostly complete yet entirely different versions of this chapter. And they’re all freaking long. The only thing they lacked was being polished. And then I decided I hated them all and wrote this one. And you all love me because I am pulling an all-nighter finishing the damn thing. Damn you chapter 7, you’re supposed to be my lucky number!

To my AFF readers: you have now been caught up to the story as it appears on FF.net. I usually update about once a week, or every week and a half. If you want to be alerted as to when I update, go to my FF user page (link is on my profile), click on my story, and sign up for a Story Alert. That is, assuming you have an account there. If not, it’s free, and you don’t have to write stories to have an account. Chapter Eight should be up by the end of the week.

Right, onto the good bits.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm Scene break

:: blablabla :: Inner Sakura

Soundtrack: Enchanted, by Delerium (oh Goth music, how do I love thee? Like a bloody rose with lots of thorns to represent all of my ANGST—oh fantabulous mockery.)

Chapter Seven

I pulled my senses in again, then wiped my hand across the sweat that was trickling into my eyes. To say that I was testing my limits was an understatement. I was so far beyond my usual boundaries I didn’t even know where I was. After Kakashi was satisfied that Hinata and I had recovered enough to heal the villagers, we did exactly that while he and Kiba patrolled the village and surrounding areas. I was trancing down and relaying the information to her as she flitted from house to house, her Byakugan able to see clearly whom I was referring to. I had never spoken while in a trance before, and the effort to use that tiny portion of my mind that was still in my body while still maintaining my stretch was beginning to wear on me. Periodically I would pull myself in and move to another location that I could stretch out from. I wasn’t sure what my current range was, but it was way beyond six feet. We had been working for hours; I’m sure Hinata was just as tired as I was. But all of the worst cases had been dealt with, and so had the children. We were currently working on the older portion of the population, then I would join her in healing the rest, without being in a trance. The trance helped me to monitor multiple bodies’ conditions at once, a good thing for senior citizens, because their bodies can somewhat unpredictably stop sometimes.

I stood and stretched, then moved to where I remembered there had been some older citizens. I sat and refreshed the vocalization jutsu on me— it amplified my voice so I didn’t have to scream to Hinata—and began to stretch my senses out, which was a relief, because I was starting to get hungry, and this way I didn’t feel it, except for a slight wisp of it on the edge of my mind. Once I had determined the status of the villagers in the area I was in, I waited for Hinata to enter my circle of chakra. As soon as I felt her now very familiar chakra signature I directed her to the oldest person in need—a woman at the very edge of my circle directly opposite of Hinata. My mind wandered as Hinata worked next to the old woman.

It seemed to me that Kakashi became more and more protective of us as we got older. Not so much of Naruto, but it was there all the same—the willingness to take a blow for us, the anger and concern when we pushed ourselves too hard or made what he thought were reckless choices. But we’re all like that. As we’ve grown older and lost more people we’ve known, we hold our so-called precious people closer and closer to our hearts. I do it when I lecture them as I heal them when they come back from missions, when I tearfully scream at them when I find out they didn’t check into the hospital after they’ve return and I run to their apartments in the middle of the night. Naruto, when he isn’t on my mission, is always waiting for me, unless he’s on a mission himself. Sometimes when I get back extremely late I’ll find Ino sleeping in my bed, a magazine lying across her stomach, or Lee or Hinata sitting in my living room drinking tea with Ino, or Kakashi waiting outside my door, leaning against the wall, reading a book. When Ino’s on a mission, Shikamaru and Chouji will come over to our apartment, and we’ll eat chips into the wee hours waiting for her to come back. Tenten often joins us, and sometimes Asuma will show up too. The day after a mission everyone not on a mission always gathers at a pub, to reassure each other that we’re all still alive and well. We’re a morbid lot after brushing hands with Death so many times.

A niggling feeling on the edge of my circle pulled me from my reverie. It was a…blob—for lack of a better word—of unfamiliar chakra. I concentrated on it in puzzlement. It wasn’t a person, it didn’t feel like a person. I wouldn’t know for certain until it entered the circle of my senses. I opened my mouth to alert Hinata, but it inexplicably sped up, and I realized it had honed in on me. I hastily began pulling myself in as I shouted a warning to Hinata, and I felt her dart away, then my awareness shrank until I surrounded my body and slowly began pulling my consciousness inside, not desiring a repeat of my practice session at the waterfall. I could still feel the chakra blob though, and it was headed straight for me. I tried to hurry a tiny bit, focusing on returning to myself. But it wasn’t enough. I barely had enough time to open my eyes and turn around when it hit me square in the chest and knocked me back into the side of a house. The air was forced out of my lungs and I struggled for air against the pressure that was being exerted on my body. It felt like the time when Gaara had me pinned to a tree when I was thirteen. The chakra blob pushed on me harder, like it was trying to get inside me, then slowly lifted—no, it slowly entered me! I tried to repel it with my own chakra but it didn’t work. Quickly, I went through the symbols for a purification jutsu and held my glowing hands to my chest, but it didn’t work. At least, I didn’t feel a difference.

Suddenly the pressure lifted, and I could breathe, and there was no hint of any foreign chakra. I applied the purification jutsu to myself again, but I didn’t feel any different after it made the sweep through my body. Had it been a warning? A flex of the proverbial muscles? I saw Hinata speed into view, Kiba with her, and Kakashi popped in to existence in front of me, his book not in front of his face for once, but he wasn’t in any offensive or defensive position that I could see, other than the fact that his Sharingan eye was uncovered.

“You don’t sense anything do you?” I asked. Maybe the foreign chakra had screwed up my sensing abilities. Maybe it had screwed up my ability to use chakra, and that’s why the purification didn’t work. I know I felt it entering me. But my hands had been glowing—maybe whatever jutsu it was hadn’t taken effect though. Kakashi shook his head and looked towards me. I held up a hand.

“Don’t come any closer. Not until Hinata looks me over and I am one hundred percent free of suspicion. Under Article 45, clause 3 of our bylaws, I am turning myself in as a possessed spy and a tool used by the enemy.”

Kakashi wordlessly used a jutsu, and I found my hands bound tightly behind me with chakra, one on top of the other so that I couldn’t form any chakra-focusing symbols. My legs were bound with chakra as well, and as I began to totter he tossed me over his shoulder. Talk about déjà vu. I could tell that he was not happy about this development at all. Kiba looked furious but didn’t say anything, and we headed to our base camp, Hinata looking concerned but keeping the Byakugan activated.

Once I was placed inside a circle that Kakashi inked out, Hinata began my examination.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

My jaw dropped. “That’s not possible! Trance down, do a full sweep Hinata.”

She gave me a strange look. “I did Sakura. Didn’t you sense me? And I don’t see anything different with your chakra either. Try doing a simple jutsu.”

A simple jutsu. Hm…I guess I could try a water jutsu, I tend to be pretty good at those. I went through the signs for a jutsu to produce a small amount of water, useful for those times when you need to re-hydrate and don’t have time to find a river. And…I got nothing. I frowned and tried again. I couldn’t even feel my chakra forming and gathering like it would under normal circumstances.

“Um…Hinata…what do you see?” My voice quavered a bit, but I got it under control. I refused to panic.

“It…it was like you weren’t even trying,” Hinata said, crestfallen. I tried a fireball jutsu, then a simple healing jutsu, then an earth jutsu. I tried the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin, and the Kuchiyose. Failure every time.

“I’m going to seal you anyway, Sakura, until we get back to Konoha.” That came from Kakashi, and I completely agreed. He had planned on sealing my ability to use chakra in case it was some sort of possession jutsu, which seemed like the best possibility. The only odd part was that you can usually detect possession jutsus, and they usually leave a mark. I had stripped down to my underwear and there was no mark. There wasn’t any bruising from the wall I had been thrown into by the chakra either. The only evidence that anything had happened was, according to Kiba and Akamaru, the faint scent of chakra in my chest region. And no, I really don’t want to discuss that particular bit of the examination. I had my bandeau and underwear on and that was about it. Over time, due to various circumstances, you see a lot of ninjas in various states of undress, and they’ve seen me, so the nudity isn’t that big of a deal—unless, of course, you have Kiba snuffling in between your breasts. That’s a horse of a different color. Thank god I had worn the red lacy boy cut shorts/thong underwear and not some boring cotton thing! I think I had a couple of pairs of bikini-cut underwear still…back from the dark ages before I discovered the wonder that is the thong. No panty lines make Sakura a very happy girl. What can I say, I like to show my best side as often as possible. Especially when I get to sit in my underwear for who knows how long and I have people and dogs sniffing at my chest area.

I had stripped off my bandeau after Kiba and Akamaru left to patrol the perimeter, because Kakashi said that putting a seal over the entry point of foreign chakra was convention, and I seemed to remember Tsunade saying something about that as well. I’ve never actually formed a seal on anyone. I’ve formed lots of chakra circles of various types, but usually that happens when I’m working on or with more than one person. Seals are really more of a Kakashi/Jiraiya/Naruto thing. So I knelt on the ground in just my underwear, my skin getting all goosepimply as the sun set and the temperature dropped. For the examination and sealing procedure my chakra bonds had been dropped. The chakra circle would keep me in anyway. That, and I would be getting some snazzy metal shackles shortly. The excitement, I tell you, was too much.

A few minutes later, and Kakashi’s bloody hand came to rest in between my breasts, his palm slightly under them. I saw the signs come rushing up my arms, my legs, but I didn’t feel the rush of chakra. Kakashi removed his hand and I had a handy dandy seal of my own, mostly under my breasts, but coming up slightly in between them. I could still wear the majority of my low-cut shirts. Of course there were a couple of shirts with a plunging neckline that went past my breasts but I really have no idea where those came from…really…

I sighed. Naruto was going to shit a brick when he saw the seal. And I say “when,” not “if,” because he’d read pretty much every scroll we had on seals, making him something of an authority on them. Amazingly enough, Naruto learned best by reading, not by hearing things and having them demonstrated, although the demonstrations helped. Have him read something though, and it’s almost instantaneous understanding. It turns out that he had been through the Academy classes so many times, though, that he just stopped reading the material, so by the time he was twelve he forgot it all. Oy.

But anyway, Naruto was going to be consulted because most possession jutsus used a seal of some sort, and Kakashi thought that the seal from the chakra entering me was invisible. And since Kakashi was more of a user of seals than a scholar, Jiraiya and Tsunade would of course be there. Actually, they probably would have been there anyway. Joy of all joys. Nudity for everyone. Maybe I should just take a picture and blow it up and stick a giant billboard of myself in the middle of Konoha.

The seal was some circular affair with scrolly spirally bits and some dotty looking bits and kanji type bits. It looked kind of like Naruto’s seal, actually. But obviously it was a lot less dangerous and life-threatening. Really it was just supposed to prevent me from using my own chakra. We use these seals on all of our ninja captives. For some reason, though I don’t remember seeing any up close. Oh, right, that would be because most of our ninja captives don’t live, and we usually don’t care too much about their health—heal them enough to keep them alive, that sort of thing. This is not an uplifting or particularly comforting topic. I mean, they’re not going to kill me, but I’m sure my life won’t be the sunshine and daisies it usually is until the problem is determined.

I pulled on my bandeau, black sleeveless mesh shirt, black pants, and jounin vest—have to wear the uniform while on missions. Black tee shirt or long sleeve shirt that goes underneath is optional. I have an ANBU-esque uniform as well for when I go on ANBU missions (I chose not to be in ANBU, although I received an offer to take their examinations, and they’re shorthanded on nins with medical knowledge, so I get borrowed occasionally—I think Hinata does too but since everything is hush-hush…well, you get the picture).

Kakashi pulled the aforementioned snazzy metal shackles out, and my wrists were cuffed in front of me, separated by a bar a few inches across, and my legs were separated my a length of black rubber-encased chain that was about two feet across. I looked at Kakashi and raised my eyebrows.

“In front of me? You know that’s not how it’s done.”

He rubbed his hand across his face. “I don’t feel like discussing this with you. Go to sleep.” I was dumped on my sleeping bag, and he melted into the shadows to take up his guard post. I kicked a rock.

“Well this sucks. You think you’ll be okay to handle the rest of the villagers, Hinata?” I asked, frustrated with the situation. Why me? ! I’ll allow myself a small pity party—someone needs to pick on the boys for a change. Is it the pink hair? Maybe I need to work on looking menacing. They should pick on Hinata, she’s shorter than me and therefore must look even more vulnerable. Except for the eyes—the eyes definitely creep out people who haven’t heard about the Hyuuga phenomenon. Damn. I need to get some contacts.

“Yes, of course. It will take longer, but…” she shrugged.

“Well we do have two weeks for the mission—and it’s been what? About five days?” Hard to tell when you’re unconscious for a large portion of it. “I think Tsunade anticipated this…plague. But the intel was awfully scarce. I wonder why he chose now to make an appearance. And why do what he does? It’s hard to deny the compulsion to heal, he must…he has to be really twisted.” My voice caught in my throat, thinking of other twisted individuals and other times I came into contact with them.

“It must be a grudge,” Hinata said softly. “This village must have done something to him.”

“Real or imaginary? We’re probably dealing with a psycho of Gaara proportions—before he met Naruto, that is.”

Hinata was silent in contemplation, and as I stared into the fire, I decided that sleep was probably a good idea. I really didn’t want to think about what kind of person’s chakra had entered my body.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I had finally dozed off after staring at the fire for what seemed like hours when I was pulled to my feet and I began walking. There is nothing that fries your brain like your body moving on your own. Oh…my…GOD! He turned me into a zombie! I opened my mouth to alert whoever was on watch but my mouth snapped close. My body walked for maybe fifteen minutes, and I struggled—I put my entire will into it, and my will is not to be taken lightly, and I got nothing. It must be the foreign chakra. It was definitely a possession jutsu. I was brought to a very small clearing, and a man—it was definitely a man-shape—leaned against a tree in the shadows.

“So…you are the girl I sensed earlier. That was quite a little operation you put together there.”

“I assume you’re referring to the reversal purification?” Ah, my voice worked again, thought it might. “I can really only take half-credit for it.”

He began to circle me, trying to make me nervous. Yeah, good luck buddy, you’ve got nothing. If it weren’t for the minor detail that he could control my body, I wouldn’t look twice at this guy. :: Yeah, come and fight like a real man! Asshole! ::

“That may be, but your little friend isn’t in your…unique…position.”

“Shall I assume that you’re referring to the fact that I’m possessed by you?”

He laughed. “Oh no, no, although there is that. I meant, my dear, your maturity. And yet you’re still fresh, young, and more importantly, untouched.”

Okay, I know I said I didn’t want to get involved with anyone, but the virginity thing had to go. It was annoying at best anyway—I wasn’t really saving it for anyone, and look at the trouble it was getting me into! This isn’t the first time I’ve been hit on for being a suspected virgin—it’s not even the first time it’s happened on a mission. Stupid men and their objectification of women. Well, I had a special punch just for this guy. Wait—my maturity—oh shiiiii—

“You can sense it?” My voice came out wispier than intended, and I hated that. Not what we were taught in shinobi school about not showing surprise.

“Of course. I am a chakra manipulation master.” Ah—that would explain why we couldn’t detect his chakra in my body, and why there was no mark. He had melded his chakra into mine. A chakra manipulation master specializes in working with raw chakra—he doesn’t need to form the hand signs in order to get the right jutsu. But from what I understand, it takes more chakra to do a jutsu without the hand signs even for them.

“So you’re not a medic-nin then.” He just fooled around with the villagers’ chakra systems then let nature take its course. Bad chakra system equals havoc on the body, you know.

Another chuckle. His laugh was really annoying too, it was high-pitched and kind of nasally. And he had a higher tenor-type voice too. It made me nostalgic for my growly men.

“Oh no, no. Just some rumors I put around, hoping they would send a powerful, talented medic such as yourself. I can’t believe you believed them. You’re a rather droll one, aren’t you?” His voice lowered a bit and took on a raspy quality. “You’ll make a perfect mate.” He darted towards me, but I dodged to the side.

His hold over my body had loosened since he was allowing me to speak. Unfortunately, due to the restraints, my movement was limited.

“How can you sense it?” I asked. Information is always good, no matter the source. “Do you have some sort of animal affinity?” And it’s a wonderful distraction device. I slowly kept moving away from him, watching carefully for any sudden moves. All I knew about this “taking a mate” business was that there was sex and a mark of some sort. I figured as long as I stayed away from him I’d be safe.

“No, of course not. You are a silly little girl, aren’t you.” Okay, his condescending tone was pissing me off. “As I said before, I am a chakra manipulation master. I could sense it in the way your chakra was so beautifully balanced with your body—it’s a work of art, the chakra flow in the body of a matured woman, the way it streams through your body, strong and ready to be used at a moment’s need—and of course I saw how effortlessly you used it.”

“Oh, that. I’ve always had good chakra control,” I flapped a hand nonchalantly. I had noticed that lately as well—it was even easier to mold chakra and control it—that is, until that rat bastard screwed it up. :: Yeah, I’ll give you an up close and personal demonstration of how good it is. Mess with MY chakra? ! ::

“Yes, well, it shows,” he sent an admiring glance down my body. Oh man, I really craved a hot shower right then. “But enough chitchat, now that I have found you, it is time.” Then I was frozen; he pounced and took me to the ground.

“Wait,” I gasped. “Don’t I have to be willing?” Yeah, I made that up.

He pulled back from almost kissing me—talk about a close call. “I hadn’t heard that before.”

“And really,” I babbled, “don’t you want a mate who can use their chakra?”

“Oh, that,” he smiled evilly—and not a sexy evil, the bad kind, like…Orochimaru, shudder. “When I melded my chakra with yours, I suppressed your ability to use your chakra. It’s entirely reversible, I assure you. But only if you have another chakra manipulation master who can unbind my chakra from yours. There’s also the added bonus, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, of me being able to control your body. It’s a bit like a possession jutsu, just more…organic…raw…unformed.” A lecherous smile crossed his face and he pushed his hips into mine. Oh great, a guy who got turned on by talking about chakra. A chakra manipulation master? Ugh. I couldn’t think of anyone like that in Konoha, but I was also slightly panicky.

I tried to push him off of me, but I still couldn’t move—with the exception of my mouth it seemed. That was probably a good thing. Let’s not anger the psycho.

“But why me, why not some other matured female?”

He looked surprised. “What do you think the purpose of this operation was? You were the lucky one who showed up.” Great. Give me a prize.

“Wouldn’t you rather have a responsive partner?” Grasping at straws here.

“I’m sure you’ll get the hint if I tell you how nice it was for your partners to restrain you for me,” he said with a glint in his eye. Great. This was my future. A BDSM maniac who could control my chakra and body. Brilliant.

“But…but…don’t you want to know my name?” Could we get any more lame? No, but we can’t get any more desperate either.

“Not particularly, but if it will put your mind at ease, you may tell me.”

“Sakura.”

“Cherry blossom, eh? How appropriate for someone who’s about to lose their virginity.” And he lowered his face to kiss me. That was terrible—how corny can you get!

“Wait! Don’t I get to know your name?”

“Rafu.” And then a hand came down on his shoulder and he slumped on top of me. I shoved him off.

“It took you long enough,” I said to Hinata as I brushed myself down as best I could given the circumstances.

“We had some jutsus to break through,” Kiba said, growling. “You need to bathe, you reek of him.”

“Well no shit,” I snapped, “considering that he wanted to make me his mate.”

Kiba frowned at that, and Kakashi knelt next to the man.

“How much did you hear?” I hope they hadn’t caught—

“Enough to know about his proclivities for bondage and virgins.” That came from Kakashi. Well, fantastic, that will just make them even more overprotective. Kakashi slapped some restraints on him—done properly, behind the back.

“He’s a chakra manipulation master, or so he said.” And Kakashi turned around and put chakra-sealing bindings on him as well.

“We’ll upgrade to a seal at camp.”

Kiba took me and Kakashi took Rafu and we set off back to camp, Hinata doing diagnostic jutsus on me as we went.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

“So it’s probably best if he just stays unconscious all the way back to Konoha,” I said, finishing up my tale of woe. You might think that was dramatic, but it was definitely woe—as in “woe is me.”

I got a nod from Kakashi, who told Hinata to see to it. We found the scroll on him, it was some ritual the temple did. As far as we could tell from speculation, he chose this village because they had the funds to hire us, he knew they would hire Konoha ninjas since we were in the same country, and because we had strong ninja—and apparently a higher number of kunoichi than other villages. This was debatable, because other villages hadn’t been as openly involved against Sound and the Akatsuki like we had been, so it was difficult to tell, other than at chuunin and jounin exams. But he was dangerous, so he needed to be brought back to Konoha to determine how much of a threat he was, if he could be swayed to work for us, if we needed to eliminate him, etc. Oh, and he needed to remove his chakra from my body—but I wasn’t letting him near me with a twenty-foot pole unless he proved himself to be trustworthy, which, as far as I was concerned, he couldn’t.

“But…I don’t know if we have any chakra manipulation masters in Konoha. Maybe the other villages…” I bit my lip as I trailed off. I would die if I could never be a ninja again. I was having a Rock Lee moment.

“Sakura,” Kakashi said. “What do you think the Raikiri is?”

I stared at him blankly. “Isn’t it raw chak—oh! You? You mean you can do it? But I didn’t think you were a specialized jounin! But you couldn’t sense his chakra.”

He looked amused—tired, slightly pissed off, but I definitely saw amusement there. “I’m not specialized, and I don’t manipulate raw chakra often, but I am capable of doing it. I was looking for a possession jutsu before. Now that I know what to look for, I can find it.”

I was gaping. Everyone knows that Kakashi can do a lot of stuff—hell, he knows over a thousand jutsus! But this was ridiculous! I can’t believe he was a chakra manipulation master too! Or a potential master. Whatever. Dammit, I want to be a genius! Whine, bitch, moan.

:: He…is…just…too…COOL!!! HELL YEAH, YOU GO, TEACH! ::

Kakashi finished sealing all of Rafu’s main chakra points—the man is not a pretty sight in the buff, let me tell you. He’s clearly not a ninja. I don’t know how he got to be so good a manipulating chakra, but the man was scrawny like a rubber chicken. No muscles to speak of. Talk about specialized.

“We’ll deal with your situation in the morning,” Kakashi said, looking a bit tired. Poor guy. It must be hard being so awesome, I mean, knowing everything. Ehh…maybe I’ll get him some porn as a thank-you.

“But for now,” he said, reaching into a pocket. “This will have to do.” He knelt in front of me and fiddled with my restraints. When he moved away, I saw a bell tied to the middle of the bar connecting my hands. Dammit! How does he move so silently when he has bells in his pocket? !

:: Forget the others, I want him to come after us! Heeeeellllllooooo, sensei! ::

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Will Kakashi be successful at pulling Rafu’s chakra away from Sakura? Will there be any negative effects? Was Rafu working alone? How did he get all of his information? Will Sakura ever get a moment of peace? Will Kiba get his bit of action? Find out in the next chapter!

So hopefully everyone has a greater appreciation for the awesomeness and the mysteriousness that is Kakashi. Damn straight. I chose the name Rafu because according to the Japanese baby name website I used, it means “net,” which I thought was appropriate because he caught Sakura, and was a pervert. That, and I really had the urge to say that his name was Ralph or Bob (and make this some sort of weird humor/parody fic) but luckily Rafu sounds close to Ralph.

As always, please leave a review for the yours truly, she loves them dearly! Thanks for reading (and reviewing) and stay tuned, same Bat Time, same Bat Station.