Look At Me

Hey all!
My computer was having issues. So this is rather late. it will be edited later tonight! This chapter is dedicated to my sister AJ for her birthday, and most importantly for figuring out that the author of this fic was her big sister. After the big sister gave her tons of over obvious hints of course.

i wasn't really sure about this chapter. AJ said she liked it, but i think this fic would be smoother with some editing that is not from me.

a beta with time would be amazing.

On another note... i was looking around for good fics and i kept finding tons of Sasuke Hinata fics! ugh i hate Hinata w/ any of the Naruto boys. she is an ok character but I don't think much of her as part of a pairing. mostly because she is so hard to write well; which leads to awful fics and because even when the author portrays her correctly; an accomplishment worthy of praise, you still feel like rolling your eyes at her shyness.

Melt me is a good het fic for those of you who are looking.

xoxoxo
Mia

Reviewers

Vahn Death Heart-
i fixed the Kunai /Kurenai problem and i felt quite stupid for not realizing my mistake earlier. Much love for the help!

Moiya Hatake-
Genma wasn't screwing an ugly woman. Sai's nicknames are just harsh. Like calling Sakura ugly. The nurse in question looks like shes had some botox her skins so tight. He called her saggy because Sakura told him to say the opposite of what he thought to girls! ha and thanks so much for the review!

refracted blur-
i need to fix that don't I? i'll get around to it eventually but my lazyness is overwhelming and i have so much to edit.

Jayderaven-
I would never do that to Genma. he doesn't seem like the type either. He's too hot to have to resort to drugs.

(Many people)-
Human trafficking is an extremely serious subject and it does need to be solved. the inspiration for this fic came from the story of a girl from South Africa. Date rape drugs are also unforgivable in my eyes. those are two things i would like to see fixed in my lifetime even though it is unlikely.

on that depressing note, on with the story......

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Sai knew he probably shouldn’t tackle this lackey by himself especially in the early morning. It wasn’t that he thought his own power was insufficient to take out the target; it was that no mistakes could be made in this recon mission and if this man were involved he would be wary of attacks in the early morning where most people were most vulnerable. If the bartender were to contact his superior and tip him off about suspicious activity it would mean the advantage of the element of surprise that the Konoha-nin currently had would be lost, because people who know they are being tracked are harder to track. Sakura’s chance of survival dropped with every slip up he made and he was still trying to understand why that meant something to him. Root was right; feelings were unnecessarily complicated.

He had two options. He could sleep and wait until tonight and ambush the target with Kakash or Sasuke and Naruto. Or he could use the only female bartender's taking to him and get information that way. Neither option was particularly hard but he’d rather not try to engage in what Sakura would call “Flirting” with the unataturally pale woman. So he decided that for now he would go home and try to sleep. Sleeping was better then spending unnatural amounts of time thinking about Sakura.

*****

Sasuke’s mornings had always been the same in the time since his parents had been murdered. He had never woken up slowly. Always quickly up and alert. In the Sound, attempts at his life were not unheard of. He couldn’t afford to relax and who could possibly relax in a house that their parents had been slaughtered in, by their brother no less! So the warm foggy feeling in his brain was an alien feeling to him. He felt it in his curled toes.

After the mist shrouding his mind had gone, he tried to get a bearing on his surroundings. To his displeasure, he found that he was tangled up in bodies. One of them was certainly male. His dark eyes stared up at the cheap apartment’s ceiling unblinking. He knew that the people lying atop and beneath him had to be Naruto and Sakura. Because he had been with them last night and more importantly, they were the only people that he talked to; the only human beings currently alive that could survive being cuddled up in his personal space. His icy bastard instincts were telling him to push them off him and walk away. However, he didn’t.

There was something about the position Naruto and Sakura were in. He stared at their peaceful faces. Sakura’s angelic visage obstructed by her bed messed hair and Naruto’s. She was curled up into Naruto’s chest with one arm laced through Sasuke’s more tightly then the Uchiha had thought a dreaming person was capable of. Naruto’s broad body squashed Sakura’s into the dark haired man’s body. He found that two legs were wedged in between his. One of the misplaced appendages belonged to the Kyuubi container’s and the other one slender and pale with pink toe nail polish that definetly did not belong to the ramen obsessed blonde. He had no idea how he had been able to sleep in this awkward position but somehow he didn’t feel the need to disturb this peace; his peace of mind as well as the others’.

In this moment there was no Sakura ‘the martyr’ trying to make everything fun and prove her emotional strength. There was no broken Naruto, who refused to fight back to even some of his best insults with his usual fire. Sasuke could honestly say he blamed himself and the others for what had happened and not keeping a closer eye on her at the bar. He trusted Sakura’s abilities as a ninja almost to the degree that he trusted Naruto’s, her medical abilities he trusted more then even Tsunade’s; Sakura was still the only doctor he allowed to heal him or examine him. In spite of this, he didn’t think she knew the first thing about men and what they were willing to do, despite being on an all male: except for herself, squad. He understood that she wasn’t a little kid, at the same time he didn’t think she knew how promiscuous she could act and what signal that sent out to men. She was still very naïve, and he had let her fall into this position.

Sasuke knew nothing of how scared she had to be. He could only guess what Sakura was thinking about, but he had read the mission scroll. It put her survival chance at 11/200, the lowest he ever seen the council print on a scroll. He would be damned if he let her die no matter the odds. Her death would mean Naruto’s, in spirit if not in flesh. The blonde would certainly never look at things in the same light again. It would ruin him as well. With out Sakura and Naruto his life was worthless. He figured that out when he went to the Sound Village. Naruto had shown him the difference between living and existing and that no goal was dumb. Sakura had shown him that people could change themselves. Sasuke wouldn’t let them die or break, because simply put they were his. His family, his competition, his companions, his friends, his annoyances, his constants, they were just his. They belonged to him, and with him. His possessive protectiveness may be slightly out of control but in his mind it was justified.

He refused to admit any of this craziness out loud though. There was no need to. On some level he was pretty sure that Naruto already knew. He and Naruto rarely had to talk when it came to Sakura. It was just understood. When Sakura had first come into herself and people began to notice it they hadn’t said a word to each other about what they were going to do. It was simply understood that people who touched or even looked at Sakura would suffer the consequences. For some reason it seemed to anger her when they got rid of the losers who stared at her. It was all part of her ‘I can take care of my self you dumb assholes’ philosophy. She always needed to prove that point home. Her latest attempt yet, had gotten her in a mess. He and Naruto were going to save her this time and regardless of the council practically getting ready to engrave her name on the KIA monument.

The longhaired Uchiha came out of his thoughts to see green and blue starting to open. Naruto stretched and slipped his clothes off down to his boxers and walked to his bathroom for a shower. Completely ignoring the other two staring at him. They heard the water turn on with a squeak and in minutes steam was rising from under the door.

Sakura and Sasuke sat in slightly awkward silence. Sasuke was lying moodily against Naruto’s bed in the small amount of clothing he had slept in. Sakura was doing her best to look at anything but him. She was more mature then that now she told herself. No matter how attractive the dark haired man was drooling was not acceptable. Only several months ago he still viewed her as a shallow little girl and she was not going to jeopardize the slight respect she had gained. Her thoughts were unpleasently realistic as she came to an unfortunate truth.

She knew that before she left for her the mission she was going to have to sleep with someone. There was no way she was going to have her virginity taken violently by some random man or worse by the person responsible for prostitution scheme, the thought made her sick. Even so, she didn’t think it could ever be Sasuke because he was extremely selective. She remembered a lot of what she had drunkenly said to Naruto. It was definitely going to be awkward when she asked him in a less smashed way for the favor she needed. Sakura knew he would agree. But it had to be this way; the memories of her and Naruto’s night would keep her sane in the weeks to come. She would be able to reason that she hadn’t been cheated out of giving her virginity to someone special. But if she survived the upcoming mission, her relationship with Naruto would forever be altered.

“Sakura.” Sasuke’s smooth voice pulled her sharply out of her disturbing thoughts. “Do you honestly think you could possibly handle a mission of this much importance?” To someone who didn’t know Sasuke, he seemed to be questioning her judgment not at all concerned with her well being. Sakura just moaned and tried to lie back down.

“I thought we said we weren’t going to talk about this.” Sakura groaned. She didn’t need him questioning her abilities when she herself was having doubts.

“I never said anything to that.” The Uchiha pointed out tonelessly. “Answer my question.”

“Does it matter if I think I can do it, Sasuke? Will it make a difference? You seem to have already made up your mind. It’s too early for this type of conversation. No matter what you say it won’t change my mind. I went to see Tsunade-sama before we met last night. It’s done now.” Sakura said fiercely. She saw Sasuke stiffen slightly delicately hinting at his anger. “ I have accepted whatever will come. I can handle it.” She bit out the last part mainly because she had not exactly ‘accepted’ that it was very likely that she would die next week or in the weeks to come. It was not something that anyone could come to terms with in a day and a half.

“You can handle it?” Sasuke said. It came out insultingly arrogant. Quick as lightning Sasuke had flipped her over on her stomach her wrists pinned above her head. She gasped loudly. She was going to have to get more prepared around her boys. First Sai, now this, what the hell was wrong with them these days?

Her awareness flitted back to the current situation and both of their lack of clothes when a firm hand traced its way up her thigh. She shivered and squirmed. His hand came to rest on her backside taking in the curve of her ass he moved his hand to the waistband of her underwear. He slid it down to bare her ass. He lightly traced a pattern on the shocked girl. Before she could get her thoughts in order he flipped her over again. This time expertly stroking the front of her underwear making her give a primal groan. Inside her stomach flipped and coiled. She stared wide-eyed in alarm and mortification. He moved to straddle her, his face to her neck. He lightly sucked a spot on her collarbone.

“Stop it Sasuke. You don’t lo-…….” She trailed off not wanting to let him know what she was thinking. “That’s enough.” She tried to free her hands. He smirked with out really looking happy and he didn’t move at all. He had proven his point. His arrogant smirk was almost unbearable for the pretty pink kunoichi. He might be right but she would not recognize it. It was excepting defeat.

“Your not as strong as you think Sakura. You’re a skilled kunoichi. But you are too sentimental. You need a physical relationship to mean something, realistically there is no way you could get through this mission with out being raped in the worst way. Don’t forget that these people can make you do anything they want. Can you handle the feeling of weakness from being violated and not having the power to stop it, can you cope with it? Or will you break? Don’t think that just because you say you have accepted whatever fate brings you means that he has. If you let yourself be killed it will break him.” Sakura stared enraged and shocked at the livid Jounin on top of her. She knew which 'he' Sasuke meant, his worry for Naruto was evident in his gaze yet there was something else too.

“ What are you trying to prove by touching me like that and talking to me like this? That without my chakra to defend myself men can easily over power a little girl like me? You’re telling me things I have already thought of. What do you want me to say? That I’m terrified? Should I tell you that I don’t want to die yet it’s unfair and that I don’t want strangers touching me? ” Sakura’s eyes burned into his she was practically yelling. “I’m giving myself up for the life of village… I made the right choice. What do you need to hear from me? I need to be at peace with you before I leave. I know this is melodramatic to someone like you, but it’s important to me….” Sakura finished off lamely. Not making eye contact with the man above her.

“I need you not to give up.” Sasuke stated simply and schooled his features back into his deadpan impassive expression his unbound hair falling on either side of her face when he looked down at her.

“I won’t as long as you don’t.” She meant that with all her heart, believing was so much easier when you had someone to believe in. Sasuke snickered humorlessly.

“The dobe never would.” The shower could be heard being turned off sharply. Sasuke slipped off her waist and gracefully grabbed a towel off the one clean shelf in Naruto’s apartment labeled “property of the bastard” in Naruto’s practically illegible scrawl. He stalked over to the bathroom and passed a towel clad Naruto on the way in. Sakura was still lying on the bed when Naruto came over to her saying her name a few times. Sakura didn’t hear his words because she was staring off into space.

Sasuke’s dramatic little fit had her incredibly distracted. By the Uchiha’s standard that is exactly what that open display of emotion was: a temper tantrum. She had no idea what she was supposed to conclude from his actions. Sakura had known Sasuke for a long time, but their friendship hadn’t truly been mutual until he was dragged home from the Sound. Was this his way on showing that he was worried about her? She knew he couldn’t possibly like her in a romantic way because the arrogant Uchiha probably still thought he could have her if he really wanted her in seconds. He might even be right, but then again, maybe not. Sakura wasn’t really sure what she thought. She didn’t have enough time to figure him out.

Naruto looked worriedly at the spaced out, pink haired girl. She was the example of natural beauty right now; hair waved and face clean of any make up. He had said her name loudly a couple of times but she didn’t seem to be responding. She must be stressed out. He had no idea how to relate to her. All Naruto could do was sit down beside her.

“Naruto.” Sakura said quietly when she noticed his presence. “I need a favor. It’s kind of a big one.”

“Name it Sakura-chan” Naruto said pulling his customary grin on to his face completely missing the serious tone.

“I can’t let these people have….” Sakura trailed off not knowing how to phrase the request. She looked up from the piece of wall connected to the floor she had been staring at. The kindness she felt when she looked at his face turned into heat on her cheeks. “I didn’t give it to them… I want you to have it….” Naruto had no idea what she was talking about. He had always been a little dense when it came to girls, particularly Sakura.

“What are you trying to say?” Naruto asked, not sure what to make of her blush and finger twiddling. Sakura inwardly cringed and reprimanded herself. She was starting to act like Hinata Hyuga. She pulled forth her strength and blurted out what she was trying to say.

“I need you to sleep with me!” Sakura yelled. Naruto saw in that second what he had missed so much and had only been gone a day or so. The fiery Sakura: the girl who didn’t give up on Sasuke and the one who usually beat him with in an inch of his life for being a pervert.

“Sheesh… Sakura-chan” Naruto said through a perverted leer.

“Naruto! This is serious. This is… was…. Very important to me… is it ok? I’m doing this because I trust you. Not because I’m….” ‘-in love with you’ she finished in her head. She didn’t have the heart to say it out loud. His grin faded a little. Naruto knew what she meant.

“Did you ask him first?” He asked her looking into her eyes putting emphasis on him. Trying to sense a lie from the women he loved.

“Sasuke? Uchiha Sasuke? He would go back to avoiding contact with me!” Sakura said exasperatedly. Naruto inwardly laughed. Sasuke was a heartless bastard sometimes but clearly Sakura had no clue how important she was to the Sharingan user and how wrong she really was. He knew the Uchiha better then anyone. He was Naruto’s best friend but…. that didn’t make Naruto feel like correcting her.

“Are you sure you want me?” Naruto asked Praying to god she didn’t change her mind.

“I asked you. Only you, because I know can trust you….. But I can’t tell you that I feel anything more then friendship towards you.” Sakura told him bot wanting to get his hopes up then crushed. She needed him to know that she was not going to have a relationship with him. If she did it wasn’t fair to him. “ So will you do it?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Naruto said. This was possibly the best favor he had ever been asked. “Come over tomorrow night.”

“Ok.” Sakura nodded and held back a blush. That was a huge weight off her chest so she could relax better. In another couple minutes of mindless conversation Sasuke came out of the shower. Looking at the seating arrangement he decided it had to change, he didn’t like the loser so close to Sakura so naked.

“Dobe why aren’t you dressed? Are you trying to impress Sakura with your bulky body.” Sasuke had never come to terms with the fact that Naruto was taller then him. He wouldn’t admit he was jealous of course, but the fact was that he wanted those four inches on Naruto quite a bit.

“I don’t need to do that bastard, because I’m already get-“ Sakura’s hand collided with the back of his head. She whispered something in the blond boy’s ear violently and he paled. “ -a better body then you dressed or not.” Naruto finished lamely he sounded like Ino. Sasuke just smirked in a mocking kind of way; Naruto normally came up with something better then that however he was fighting back finally.

Sakura decided it was time to leave the towel-wearing boys to there bickering. The medic-nin grabbed her own pink fluffy towel from the shelf labeled ‘Sakura-chan’. She went to take a shower in Naruto’s bathroom and decided to find Kakashi after she got dressed.

*****

Two and a half hours later, Sakura wandered the streets of Konoha looking for her onetime sensei. In her years of experience with the man he could never be found when he did not want to be. Just like Sasuke. Sasuke and Kakashi were very similar and still extremely different. However, Kakashi understood Sasuke better then anyone. If she wanted answers to what this mornings ‘talk’ had meant in Sasuke’s unique language, short of asking the Uchiha himself; who wouldn’t give her an answer anyway, she would have to ask Kakashi. Not only that but she wanted to see him, his advice had always helped her through the tough patches of her life and she felt a lot of affection toward the older man.

It had taken her an hour to convince her boys to let her wander the streets of Konoha by herself they kept saying the drug maker would come for her. She didn’t want Naruto or Sasuke to hear what she was going to talk to Kakashi about. That would be way too awkward, and this conversation was going to be uncomfortable enough. Normally, this type of question would have gone to her best friend. Sakura’s heart sank when she thought of Ino.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were all on a month long, diplomatic mission to the Village Hidden in the Mist. By the time they returned Sakura would be at the enemies base, even possibly already dead. Sakura had already prepared letters for Ino, Shikamaru, and her boys in the occurrence of her death. The uncertainty returned to her brain when the truth of the situation began to sink in, for the first time she really understood what could happen. She was undoubtedly going to be raped and it was highly probable that she would die.

She asked herself for the 100th time if she had made the right decision. Her mind had been in constant turmoil. She had made two major choices in the last 48 hours. The obvious one being her choice to go on the mission, and the other was deciding to have sex with Naruto. These were the moments she missed her mother more then ever. After Sakura’s dad had been killed in action when Sakura was 14, her mother had taken up smoking. She had died of cancer after only smoking for 4 years. She now needed a parent more then ever and she didn’t have anyone to go to. Tsunade-sama was not very motherly and very busy, Shizune-sempai was not close with her and also very busy, and Sakura hardly knew any other older women. So this awkward talk with Kakashi was necessary.

Sakura found him leaning his back up against the KIA monument. She briefly wondered why she hadn’t simply come here first. For once his ever-present book wasn’t out, and from the profile view she had of Kakashi’s face he looked relaxed and unknowing, but the fact was that Kakashi was rarely ever unaware.

“Kakashi-sensei do you have time to talk?” It wasn’t exactly a question. What else could he do but listen to her? Still the minutes dragged on between them in silence. Sakura recognized he was a man known for being late but never when answering a question. She curiously approached the masked man. Walking around his left side to stare at him straight on. He was asleep! Kakashi Hatake had fallen asleep against the Konoha Memorial. Kakashi rarely ever slept soundly. Sakura wondered what had made her sensei camp out at the rock that he visited religiously. Not that he never slept next to the monument it was just last night did not have sentimental value to Kakashi as far as Sakura knew. Glancing down at the masked man a twitch went through he body. She could take off his mask now and he could do nothing about it.

Her childish instincts were taking over her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this was a stupid thing to do. But what the hell she deserved some fun right? Even if it was only immature 12 year-old game fun and she knew there were other things she could be doing and that this was not how she should be acting if she was trying to prove she was respectable and strong, the urge was overwhelming. She reached forward and hooked her thumbs onto the sides of his mask, bushing his cheek gently. Suddenly she drew her hands away as if she had been burned. Would Kakashi be upset when he found out? The other Jounin had always been predictably unpredictable. She wasn’t going to take that risk. She sighed at the lost opportunity and reached forward to tap him on the head.

“Self control Sakura? Impressive.” Kakashi stated opening his visible eye. He had been awake since she had touched his face. He straightened upright to look down at her.

“Glad you think so. Do you always fall asleep on public landmarks?” Sakura countered. She had found that the best way to deal with her sensei when he said something sarcastic was to give it right back to him.

“Only this one when my apartment feels drafty. I find it helps my complexion.” Kakashi laughed quietly behind his mask. “You should try it, or are you blushing?” Referring to her reddened face that Sakura had burned under Naruto's faulty hours earlier.

“Sensei.” Sakura groaned. “I didn’t come here to battle your ever witty, aloof comebacks, I came to talk. And we both know I don’t blush anymore…. Well rarely now.”

“Aah. What well favorite female student of mine what is it?” Kakashi inquired. Behind his mask of distant indifference there was genuine concern. He had been up all night trying to figure out exactly what he could do to stop Sakura from being killed.

“Let’s talk about it over dinner. That is unless the infamous Copy Ninja is above sake and barbecue with an old student? Naruto and I used to beg you to eat with us and you always had a ‘mission’ and then somehow you were always very hung-over at practice the next morning.”

“Hnn. I could make an exception to my avoidance of students outside of missions and training rule.”

“Good because you didn’t really have a choice. I was just asking to be polite.” She smiled and led him to the favored barbecue restaurant.

*****

Sai had slept most of the morning and afternoon away. He knew he would have to go find dickless and ice-prick soon. They were probably at Naruto’s apartment. He robotically got out of bed. His impersonalized apartment was spotless. It took the artist seconds to find his sketchpad and a few kunai and then he was out of his home.

*****

“He got her! He had to have got her. Why would she go this long with out coming back? Now she’s gone…..” Naruto worried out loud. Sasuke scoffed. They sat on Naruto's couch that smelled strongly of beef ramen, finally fully clothed. The taller male was rambling again.

“You sound like her mother.” He mumbled. Though silently agreeing with Naruto’s concerns.

“Shut it bastard. I’m not an emotionless….” Naruto trailed off

“Bastard?” Sasuke asked in a mumbling tone looking past Naruto toward the door.

“Yeah! Emotionless bastard like you.” Naruto concluded. Completely misuderstanding Sasuke.

“No dobe. The other bastard is here. Though I don’t know why he thinks we will tolerate his presence more then I have to or Sakura makes me.” Sasuke stated coldly, but for once he didn’t cover up the fact that Sakura had some influence of him. It was ironic that she wasn’t there to hear it and Naruto was too dense to understand it.

“Naruto-san and Sasuke-san.” Stated Sai politely in greeting completely ignoring, or missing, the earlier slight. “I found out where the runner who drugged Haruno-san up is.”

He now had Sasuke and Naruto’s full attention. They listened silently as Sai explained the location and plan of attack. Sasuke just hoped that this subordinate was not expecting an ambush. Things could get messy for Sakura if the bastard was suspecting them.

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reviewing.... always appreciated, never necessary.

and critism is requested because with out it my work would be shit.... and AJ is no help....