Teach Me

Clubbing

Sakura hummed softly to herself as she put her makeup on, forgoing the usual music she liked to play when she was home. Since that night she couldn’t bear the loud music when she was alone. She was too afraid that he would come back and she wouldn’t hear him until it was too late. She felt like a coward, knowing that, as a kunoichi, it shouldn’t matter if anyone snuck up on her. Shinobi made it their business to be the best at sneaking up on people after all. Despite that, the fear was there.

With the apartment quiet she immediately heard it when her front door opened and Kakashi’s lazy “Hello?” floated down the hall. Unlike last time, he wasn’t taking any chances of being caught unawares. Of course he’d seen her naked and more since the night he’d caught her frigging herself senseless.

“Back here Sensei!” she called, dropping her eyeliner on the vanity and picking up her brush.

“I wish you’d stop calling me that,” he sighed, wandering through her bedroom door. “You’ve seen me naked, fucking another man. I’m pretty sure that constitutes a title change of some sort.”

“Man whore?” she asked teasingly, tugging her hair up into a high ponytail and working it into a messy bun.

“Kakashi will be fine,” he grunted, sitting down on her bed and watching her with droopy eyes.

“Kakashi then,” she said with a laugh. “What brings you here so early?”

“Why are we going out tonight?” he asked quietly.

“To have some fun,” she said turning around, hands falling from her hair.

“I’m just not sure you’re ready for the kind of fun you want to have,” he said dropping back on his elbows and watching her move towards him.

Sakura stopped in front of him and smiled a little. “I know what you’re thinking. Maybe I shouldn’t be rushing into anything physical after what happened, but it’s been a month already and I’ve had sex with Kiba since then. I don’t want to dwell forever on what happened. I want to get on with life, have some fun, and get better at my job. I can’t let those men ruin my life, I won’t let them ruin my life.” She dropped to her knees and smiled wide. “So tonight we’re going to dance and drink and then you and Kiba are going to come home with me and spend the night.”

“Why us though?” he asked reaching out to stroke over her cheek,

She sighed, and leaned down, laying her chin on her hands over his muscled belly. “I trust you two, but also I know that you’ll both push me just enough that I’ll learn something. I want you and Kiba to teach me what I need to know to make it as a skilled ANBU kunoichi.”

“We can’t teach you everything Sakura,” he sighed.

“Naruto and Sasuke are training me hard during our sparring sessions, and I hope you’ll join us in that as well now that you’re home. But…I don’t know if I can be with them in the way I’ve been with you. Naruto is with Hinata anyway and would probably pop an artery if I even thought to ask it of him. Though it’s a shame that I can’t see how his tenet would affect the situation.” She bit at her lip and then shrugged. “I’ve thought of taking Sasuke up on his offer for more…but I think he wants more, you know? He’s getting a little antsy about rebuilding his clan, and I’m one of the few women he can stand.”

“He’s mentioned it,” Kakashi said with a sigh and a nod. He petted her hair gently, not wanting to disrupt her progress on her hairstyle, but wanting to touch her anyway. “What I’m trying to get at, is even Kiba and I can’t teach you all you need to know about sex Sakura. There are some proclivities that I just don’t have. I don’t mind a little light bondage, but I’m really not into the hardcore S&M scene. You’ll have to go to someone else for that. Ibiki would be my suggestion or Anko.”

She blanched and then sighed. “I know. I’ve already thought of them. I’ve also considered asking Sasuke if he could just simulate it in my head with the Mangekyou Sharingan mind fuck.” Sakura was fairly sure Sasuke would refuse to use the nasty bloodline skill on her, but she’d been working up her courage to ask him, for a few days now, anyway.

“There is that,” he sighed, nodding slowly. He tugged his mask down and pulled her up his body, hugging her close. “Do you really want this?” he asked kissing her forehead gently. “ANBU is a great opportunity, but it’s not for everyone.”

“It’s what I want,” she replied softly, scooting up and kissing him slowly on the lips.

When they pulled apart, he sighed again and nodded. “I will help train you. You can come to my bed when you wish to, ask me for advice, whatever you need to do. I will push your limits as best I am able to and give you small missions to test what you’ve learned. That’s the best I can do. Love isn’t part of the deal, however,” he warned.

She shrugged and nodded her understanding against his chest. “What kind of missions?” she asked pushing up on her forearms and looking at him curiously.

“ANBU kunoichi are usually pretty good at seducing their targets, so that’s what you’ll need to do. I’m thinking Neji might be an excellent target to test you on,” he said with a small smile.

“Neji?” she squeaked. “But he’s so serious and uptight.” Neji rarely had a hair out of place, let alone had his guard down enough to have sex with anyone; or at least that’s the Neji she always saw.

“So are most of the lords you’ll probably have to deal with. If you can crack Neji, you’ll be fine,” he said with a teasing smile.

She sighed, “Well at least he’s pretty.”

“Yes he is,” Kakashi said with a laugh. “He’s very pretty.”

“Would you sleep with him?” she asked sitting up and looking down at him in delight.

“Oh definitely,” he said on a slow purr. “In a heartbeat. Wouldn’t you?”

She tilted her head and shrugged, “I guess so. I grew up with him, so we’ve been more colleagues than anything else, but I’ll admit that Ino and I have talked about him a few times in a less than professional manner.” She laughed a little and shrugged. “When am I supposed to do it?”

“Not yet,” he said with a shrug, tugging her back down. “I’ll let you know. In the meantime we have half an hour before we’re supposed to meet Kiba,” he said with a teasing grin.

She grinned back at him and leaned in to kiss him deeply. “You know,” she said pulling back and sitting up again, “I’ve been working on one thing in particular that I’d like your input on.”

“Hmm?” he hummed curiously. “What’s that?”

“Do you remember that day I came looking for you and asked you about wanting to thank Kiba for being so wonderful my first time?” she asked, smiling when she recalled she’d actually made him drop his book in surprise that day.

Kakashi smiled slowly and nodded once. “Yes I do.”

“I think I still need a little bit of advice on that,” she said reaching between her spread thighs and unbuttoning his black Jounin pants. She slid her hand inside and wrapped her fingers around his warm trapped length, tugging it free gently.

“So far so good,” he said with a small shiver.

With a teasing smile that made his cock twitch, Sakura slid to the floor once again, settling a pillow under her knees so she’d be comfortable as she explored. She pumped her hand over him slowly, bringing him to full hardness, testing the length and weight of him curiously. Kakashi had a beautiful body and this part of him was no exception. He was long and fairly wide, and the skin was soft and lightly flushed. She’d never really thought a penis could be pretty, but Kakashi’s was close. “You have such a nice cock, Kakashi,” she purred softly, leaning forward to run her lips over the flushed head.

She’d done this several times with Kiba and honestly she rather enjoyed it. There was just something about the light masculine taste, the contrasting hardness and velvety skin, and the groaning reactions she could create, that drove her wild. Humming in soft excitement she rubbed her cheek against him, her eyes sliding shut as he shuddered and groaned. Titling her head to the side she nipped at the base, drawing another groan and a jerk from the silver haired man.

“Sakura,” he pleaded softly. “Don’t tease.”

“Yes sensei,” she murmured nipping at him again, then moving upward to take him deep into her mouth. She hummed softly in pleasure as the thick weight of him filled her mouth and twitched gently against her tongue. There was something alluring about making a man like Kakashi melt into her bed with such a simple gesture and definitely something hot about getting a man like Kakashi into her bed in the first place. He was notoriously difficult to seduce, preferring to pick his own lovers. With her, though, he came easily and it made her feel like the goddess Kiba had named her.

Sakura wrapped her hand around the base and squeezed lightly, drawing a grunt from him. Moving up and down smoothly, she sucked and lapped her tongue over the wide head with each pass, tasting him and exploring his flesh.

“Fuck,” she heard him groan softly and strong fingers slid into her hair gently. “Deeper,” he coaxed. “Relax and you can take me deeper.” She would have smiled at his attempt to coach her, with his cock in her mouth, had it not been for the cock in her mouth.

Sliding her hand from around the base of his length, she splayed her fingers in the coarse hair of his groin to keep him in place. With a deep breath she slid deeper, trying to recall all of the times Kiba had coached her gently on this, or sometimes not so gently. She tilted her head for a better angle, relaxed as best she could and pressed forward a little more until she felt the choke point. Hearing Kakashi gasp in excitement she took a breath through her nose and pressed again, finally feeling him slide into her throat.

“Oh fuck me,” Kakashi groaned, his grip tightening in her hair. “That’s just…fuck!” He arched his hips and thrust, unable to control the reflexive jerk.

She choked slightly and pulled back until she could breathe again, before pressing forward again and taking him deeper. A quick glance up showed her something that made her body clench. Kakashi’s eyes were shut, mouth open slightly in a soft pant and body arched slightly upwards. Sakura thrilled at the loss of control she was creating in the normally cool, collected man. She swallowed and smiled inwardly at his reaction. His bottom lip sucked inward, between his teeth, and a groan from deep in his chest slid out.

Sakura continued to tease him slowly for several minutes, alternating between lapping the thick head, sucking teases and deep, swallowing caresses. It wasn’t long before he was clenching his fist in her bedspread and gasping out praises and curses, his cock thickening in preparation for what promised to be a stunning orgasm. “Sakura,” he groaned. “I’m gong to come…soon…now,” he gasped, jerking his hips as she took him deep one last time, swallowing him whole.

Sakura felt the thrilling pulse of his cock and the slide of his cum against her throat and the back of her tongue as he cried out raggedly and came hard in her mouth. She sucked gently as she moved up his twitching, sensitive length, sucking every drop from him like she would a straw. Finally he fell free of her lips with a shudder and relaxed into the bed humming contentedly. Moving up his body she kissed him hard, letting his seed slide over his tongue as she opened his mouth wide to her invasion. He groaned again and slid his tongue into her mouth, the bitter taste of him shared erotically between them.

When she finally pulled back and smiled at him, he was looking at her curiously. “What?” she asked gently tucking his wilting length back into his pants and buttoning him up.

“I don’t know what I can tell you that would have made that any better,” he finally said. “Where did you learn to do that? I certainly wasn’t of much use there.”

“That’s not true. I learned it from you and Kiba,” she said with a shrug. “You did it to Kiba and he loved it so much, with a little practice we figured it out together.” She smiled up at him tentatively. “You liked it then?”

“Yes!” he said emphatically. “My god yes!” He sat up and kissed her long and hard. “You’re stunning Sakura, you know that right? You’re becoming a truly amazing woman.”

She quirked a smile at him, “Of course I am, and I’m glad you liked it.”

“Do that to Neji and he’ll be yours forever,” he said with a teasing grin.

“There are a lot of weapons and hostility between me and his cock, but thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said with a laugh. She jumped off is lap and wandered back to her mirror. “Now be good and let me finish getting ready.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a lazy salute from her bed.

***

“You’re late,” Kiba said gathering her into his arms and planting a loud kiss on her lips as they approached the doors of the popular club. He pulled back and grinned at her, “And you smell like Kakashi and cum.”

Sakura grinned at Kakashi and then shrugged, “I got sidetracked.” Apparently it didn’t matter that she’d washed up and brushed her teeth afterward; at least not with Kiba and his sense of smell.

“I’ll bet you did,” he snorted glancing and Kakashi and then smacking her on the bottom. “Let’s go get your dancing out of the way so we can go home and do something more interesting.”

“I thought you liked dancing!” she said in surprise, pulling him towards the door and waving for Kakashi to follow.

“I do, but I like fucking more,” Kiba said with a teasing grin and a shrug. “Dancing is the closest thing to having sex in public, without getting nasty stares or big fines, but it’s still not quite as nice.”

She shook her head and smiled, waiting for Kiba to hand some money to the man at the door. There were perks to going out with guys, instead of Ino, namely that she never had to pay. It should have bothered her independent, kunoichi sensibilities, but frankly, it didn’t. Free was free, and she automatically had someone to dance with and go home with. Really her night could only go down from here.

As they moved inside and started looking for a table, the night got even better when she saw several of her friends sitting together; Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru and Ino in all. The guys were all laughing and drinking, watching Naruto wave his arms and tell some animated story of adventure and intrigue, no doubt. Ino and Hinata were speaking with each other a little away from the men, Hinata flushing gently in her usual way and Ino smiling and explaining something to her. Sakura had no doubt it was about Naruto.

Naruto had shyly told Sakura that he and Hinata finally slept together a week ago, after months of dating, but he said it had been awkward. He’d complained that it hadn’t gone at all how he’d planned and she hadn’t been able to orgasm. He even confessed to coming a little too quickly. Of course he’d admitted all of this when Sasuke was several meters away, meditating and cooling down for the day.

Sakura sighed and looked and the blond with a smile. Really he’d only been with Sasuke the one time and no one else that she knew of. With his small amount of experience, it was given that he wouldn’t be as smooth as some of the other guys around him. She knew exactly how that was herself, but she’d gently told him it would get better with a little time. He’d given her a small frustrated smile, but had nodded and thanked her. Now it looked like Ino was giving a similar pep talk to Hinata.

Casting a smile at the two women as she approached the table, she leaned in to give Sasuke and Naruto a peck on the cheek. “How are my boys?” she asked with a smile, plopping down into a chair across from them, Kiba and Kakashi continuing on towards the bar without her.

“Couldn’t tell you, they went that way,” Naruto teased, waving his hand at Kiba and Kakashi’s backs.

“They’re not my boys…” she started, “Well maybe Kakashi is I suppose. What I meant is how are you two doing?”

“Fine,” Sasuke said with a shrug. “Naruto was just regaling us with the story of our first mission to Wave Country.” Naruto grinned and shrugged in response.

“That one where we fought Zabuza and Haku?” she asked. With a small sigh she leaned back into her chair. “That was, what, ten years ago? It’s hard to forget that one isn’t it? What a tragic pair those two were. I wonder if Haku even knew how much Zabuza loved him?”

“Oh ew, he was like fifteen!” Naruto groused.

“That’s not so young, and Zabuza was only like twenty five or six,” Sakura defended. “Besides loving someone doesn’t mean you want to sleep with them. I love you, Naruto, but I won’t be sleeping with you. Maybe if they’d lived longer it would have been like that, but I think he just really cared for Haku, you know?”

Naruto blushed at the mention of sleeping with him, but nodded gently anyway. “Yeah, I know. That’s what teammates are for. We take care of each other,” he said with a sad smile. Over the years they’d lost a couple of friends and several who could have become friends. It was part of their way of life after all. They were bringers of justice and if not that, death.

“Yeah, we do,” she said so softly, she doubted anyone could even hear her over the music. Sakura glanced up at Sasuke and sighed. “Sasuke, dance with me?”

Sasuke looked at her steadily for a moment and then nodded. “Sure.” Unfolding his long body and then tugging her to her feet. He knew very well that she knew he didn’t care to dance, so whatever she wanted to talk about must be important enough that she didn’t want Naruto to know about it.

He led her to the dance floor, nodding briefly towards Kakashi and Kiba as they passed, ignoring their speculative gazes. Finally he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her, thankful it was a slow song, for lovers, at the moment. “What is it?” he asked seriously.

“What, I can’t just ask one of my boys to dance?” she asked too quickly. He could see her nervousness in the set of her shoulders and the way she bit at her bottom lip.

“Yes, but that’s not why you asked me out here. You have Kiba to dance with if that’s all you wanted,” he said tilting his head and raising a brow at her. “Have you reconsidered my offer? Is that what this is about?”

Her mind stuttered to a stop for a moment, entirely unprepared for Sasuke to ask for a more serious relationship again, and so forwardly to boot. It’s not that it was entirely out of the realm of possibility. Sasuke was good looking, rich, and an excellent shinobi. He couldn’t be more perfect for her, as a possible husband, aside from his serious lack of a sense of humor. Yet she knew she wasn’t going to settle down for quite some time and didn’t know if he’d wait for her that long. She shook her head gently and sighed. “No…well yes, I’ve thought about it, but I can’t do it right now. Not in the way you want at least.”

“Why not?” he asked carefully, not showing an ounce of the gnawing hurt he felt that she still wasn’t ready to be with him, and despite her vague hints that she might, probably would never be. He was only in his early twenties, but with increasingly dangerous missions coming his way, the need to produce several heirs was becoming more pressing. He was very nearly to the point of simply accepting one of several dozen marriage offers from local nobility. Even Hyuuga had offered a marriage contract on seventeen year old Hanabi. He could do worse there. She had turned out pretty enough and she was a decent kunoichi, though not anywhere near Sakura’s level.

Sakura sighed and snuggled into him a bit more. “I love you Sasuke, I really do. We’ve been teammates for over ten years now; how could I not? But I’m training to be in ANBU now. What would people say if the Uchiha matriarch was caught screwing around with six different guys or, worse, got killed while on a dangerous mission?” He opened his mouth to respond, but her hand flashed up and covered it. “No, listen. I’m not going to drop ANBU for you, or any guy, not yet. I need to do this for me.”

He pulled away a bit and studied her. “I need an heir Sakura, several of them, in fact. With you I could sire some of the most powerful shinobi the future will see. With my bloodline and your incredible skills…the village needs such people.”

She nodded, “I know that Sasuke. I really do understand, and I know that you can barely stand most other people.” She sighed again and bit at her lip. Finally she said, “After I finish my training and run missions for a few years, perhaps…perhaps I’d be willing to take a year off and give you a child.”

Sasuke blinked and let his arms drop. “I…what?”

“I can’t marry you Sasuke, not now…maybe not ever, but I can give you a child if that’s what you really want. Lots of women would give you a child if you’d only relax a little and look around you,” she explained. “They might not have the same mother, but they’d be Uchiha and they’d be diverse enough that you could easily rebuild your clan to its former glory, after a few generations were born.” She placed her hand on his chest, “Or you can forget me and marry someone else. Ino, Hanabi, TenTen, any other kunoichi would be enough to kick-start your line again.” She patted his chest with a small smile of regret on her face. “That’s not what I had intended to talk to you about though.”

“If you didn’t bring me out here to talk about us, what did you bring me out her for?” he asked a bit testily.

“I need you to use your Mangekyou on me,” she said softly in his ear.

Sasuke jerked back and looked at her in shock, something she rarely saw on his face. “You…you want me to use what?” He grabbed her arms and jerked her into him, hard. “Do you have any idea what that’s like, what it can do?”

“I asked Kakashi and Naruto about it once, I understand, but I need you to anyway,” she said eyes wide in surprise at his fierce grip. “I need you to simulate things that would normally injure me in real life,” she explained.

His eyes narrowed, “What kind of things?” He didn’t bother mentioning that the Mangekyou could do quite a lot of damage ‘in real life’, figuring she knew that he’d never use it to its full potential on her anyway.

“Mild torture…maybe harsher if you can take it, and some…some bondage stuff,” she said flushing slightly. “I don’t want to do all of that for real, not yet, but I need to be ready if it happens on a mission.”

He blinked and released her, studying her thoughtfully.

She pressed on quickly, “Anko and Ibiki have been suggested, but I don’t think I could handle Ibiki’s brand of training. Anko scares me just a bit…plus I’m just not quite ready to be with a woman yet.”

He sneered at the mention of Ibiki, inwardly quailing at the thought of the scarred man ever touching Sakura in any way that wasn’t professional. Ibiki was well known for his ruthless style of torture and very strange idea of what made for good sex. He wanted to smack whoever dropped the bald man’s name to Sakura. He hated using his Mangekyou, but anything was better than sending her into that monster’s arms.

“Very well,” he said with a serious nod. “If you don’t find another way, I’ll help you. In the meantime Kiba and Kakashi seem to be looking for you,” he said with a small snort.

She turned and saw Kiba, grinning wide, coming towards her, Kakashi following lazily behind. “Mm, want to join us tonight? Three guys might be interesting,” she teased.

“I’ll pass,” he replied with a small smirk. “I’ve slept with a few guys but have found it’s not really my thing long term. Have fun though,” he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, and then wandering away.

“Did we scare off your third toy, Sakura?” Kiba teased, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the same spot as Sasuke. It was like he was remarking marked territory and she very nearly laughed at the odd action; next he’d be peeing on her and growling at anyone who looked at her funny.

“Yes. He didn’t want to share me,” she sighed, tugging him down and kissing him fleetingly.

“Can’t say I particularly want to share any woman with Sasuke anyway,” Kakashi said with a small smile, leaning in to tug at her hair playfully. “I can’t imagine having thee fourths of the team in bed together would help teamwork much.”

“What about one half?” she asked cheekily.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Kakashi said with a small shrug and what could have been a wink, but it was hard to tell, what with one eye being covered.

“I don’t have a problem with sharing,” Kiba said, letting his hands slide down to her bottom. So what was with the kiss thing a moment ago? He cocked his head and looked across the room to where Sasuke was once again sitting next to Naruto. “And he’s not bad looking. He’s kinda pretty actually.”

“Yeah say that to him within hearing distance,” Kakashi snorted, shaking his head slightly. “See if you come out of it with your tackle intact.”

“Well he is,” Kiba insisted with a grin. He grinned wider when Sasuke happened to glance their way, raising a brow at Kiba’s frank and blatantly sexual perusal. A second later Kiba was snatching a kunai from that air and laughing. “And feisty.”

Sakura sighed and shook her head, taking Sasuke’s kunai and dropping it in her purse to return to him later. She sent a warning look towards Sasuke, who studiously ignored her, before turning to poke at Kiba. “Why don’t you concentrate on the toys you already have, instead of looking for more?”

Kiba shrugged and slid behind her. “Fine then, I’ll settle for two, I suppose,” Kiba murmured in her ear.

“How about one for now?” Kakashi hummed lazily. “I see Asuma and Kurenai over there,” he waved vaguely at the back of the club where a group of older shinobi were watching their young peers in amusement. “I need to catch up with them on a few things.”

“Alright,” Sakura said, feeling a faint twinge of disappointment. Kakashi was fun to hang out with, his sense of humor always refreshing and entertaining.

Kiba grinned at the older man and nodded, leaning in to nibble on Sakura’s neck. “We’ll make do,” he said cocking his head and giving Kakashi a teasing once over, “Somehow.”

“No doubt,” Kakashi said with a small crinkle at his eye that indicated his own grin of amusement. He waved casually and then made his way across the room towards his own generation of shinobi.

Kiba turned his attention back to Sakura. “He’s done with us I think,” he said with a loud sigh, though it had to be as loud as the music was.

She shook her head, “No he said he would train me.”

“Tonight?” Kiba challenged in a husky voice, tickling her ear. “Is that what you were doing then; why you smell like him? Is that why you were late tonight?”

Sakura blinked and turned to look at him curiously, catching his eye in question. Was there a hint of jealousy in his tone? Surely not…. “No, we were just fooling around and I went down on him. Nothing special.” She turned fully and cocked her head, “Are you jealous of Kakashi?”

“No!” he denied, looking genuinely surprised by the question.

“Then why would you say he’s not going to be with us anymore and why did you sound like a jealous boyfriend just now?” she asked pulling back a bit. “You kind of did it when Sasuke left too.”

“I-I don’t know,” he said blinking and frowning. “I like Kakashi, but I guess…” he frowned thoughtfully. “I just meant that he escaped awfully fast tonight. Why would I be jealous of a guy who bails on the girl I like, the first chance he gets?”

Sakura studied him for a moment and then nodded, “Of course. I’m sorry Kiba. Tonight has been a little weird for me.” She hugged herself and then nodded her head towards their friends. “Maybe we could just go sit with everyone else and have some drinks, okay?”

Kiba nodded and smiled sheepishly, “Sure. Sounds good. Sorry I killed the mood.”

She shook her head, “You didn’t, it just passed. It’s okay. It’s nice to know you…you know…care about me.” She shrugged and then smiled, “Buy me a drink?”

“Sure,” he said with a big grin. “I’ll get drinks for everyone and meet you over there. It looks like Ino and Hinata are a bit outnumbered and could use your help anyway.” He gestured towards their friends where Naruto was clasping his blushing girlfriend in his lap and Ino was trying to climb into Shikamaru’s. Sasuke appeared to be having a rather tense conversation with Shino, as well, making their table a rather loud center of attention for the patrons all around them. Not that they could be heard very well over the music, but they were still entertaining to watch.

“We’d best save them from themselves I suppose,” she sighed, brushing off the slightly awkward moment with Kiba from moments before. It was best not to think of Kiba in terms other than a guy to play around with. Everyone was less likely to get hurt, most especially her. “Hinata at least,” she said with a laugh. “She looks like she’s about to faint from embarrassment and we really can’t have her ruining her good track record, can we?”

He smiled and dipped his head to give her a peck on the lips. “See you over there then. Go save Hinata from her blond brute.”

Sakura made her way back to her table of friends, sitting between Sasuke and Shino, who had resorted to giving each other annoyed glares, though it was harder to see in Shino than Sasuke. “Are you getting along boys?” she asked sweetly. “No fighting right?”

“Sure,” Sasuke said tightly, standing and walking away stiffly.

“What was that about?” she asked the young insect master.

Shino studied her for a moment and then shook his head and sighed, “Doesn’t matter.” He reached past her, picking up his water, his soft voice and unique earthy scent filling her senses as he moved and brushed against her.

“At least we aren’t going to kill you. You should be thankful of that at least. This won’t be so bad, I assure you.”

“Like you’d know,” she said bitterly. “Have you ever been raped?”

“Yes,” he replied, shoving his hand down hard on her back so she was firmly pinned in place. The second man watched from a few feet away, waiting to see if he’d need to help his partner, but otherwise remaining silent now. “His friends held me down while he carved ‘whore’ into my skin with a kunai,” he said softly before shoving himself hard into her unprepared body.

She suddenly had to fight the urge not to scream, but couldn’t quell the backward scramble that sent her tumbling to the floor.

It was just a few scant seconds, she was sure, but in those seconds she met the sad, knowing eyes of Naruto, Sasuke’s heated stare from across the room, and then Shino’s hidden gaze. “You,” she found herself saying, shoving herself away from his grasp as he reached down to help her up. “It was you!” She looked around at the men she knew were in ANBU, “And you knew. You knew!

“Sakura,” Shino said hesitantly, “I didn’t want…”

“Shut up,” she said in a voice so deadly and quiet it couldn’t hope to cut through the din of the room…but it did. Suddenly her boisterous group of friends were silent, Hinata and Ino staring at her in confusion, Shikamaru’s face carefully blank and Naruto looking supremely uncomfortable. “Don’t you dare,” she said standing slowly and looking at Shino with far more confidence than she felt at the moment. “Don’t you dare say another fucking thing to me.” Without another word she turned on her heal and walked out of the club, leaving all eyes to turn on the slumped form of Shino; the man who didn’t want to do it, but did anyway.

***

AN: Normally I don’t do reviewer responses, preferring to e-mail them directly, but TT, Kiyasume Senritsu no Yokobue, and earthbender068 didn’t leave their e-mail for me and they gave very helpful reviews.

TT: Thank you so much for your review. It was so wonderfully honest and helpful, and actually very nice. I appreciated you mentioning where things didn’t flow and what you liked and what made you feel something. I love reviews that say ‘good job, keep going’, but it’s your kind of review that makes me actually want to keep going. It’s also your kind of review that helps me to focus again. I’m so glad you mentioned that part about hardening Sakura up, because in my latest chapter I’d lost that and things were getting fluffy and forced. I need to go back and rewrite it before I can post it (which has become this chapter). Thank you thank you thank you.

Kiyasume Senritsu no Yokobue: You’re the only one who guessed Shino. :) You actually made me decide who to choose too! I’d written the scene a few months ago and then taken it out, but now it’s back. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

earthbender068: I’m glad that the characters are staying on track! Sometimes I go off on tangents, so let me know if a characterization is WAY out there. I’m glad you’re enjoying the story and thank you for your feedback.

If you have any other feedback, please e-mail me at bean120001@yahoo.com or mlwritings@yahoo.com. Thank you everyone for your support and I hope I’ll hear more from all of you. :)