Bitch Nights

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait; I got sidetracked by other animes, other life crises. I’ve also been studying hard, learning to write hiragana and katakana from a book I bought from my trip in England. Got through it in five weeks, and then it suddenly went missing . . . weird. Oh well, at least I got everything out of it.

And on a side note: Why in the hell can I never seem to post until Sunday night? I always intend to do it on Friday evening, so that I can enjoy the influx of hits and reviews that’s sure to occur over a weekend . . . and it hasn’t happened once, yet.

Oh, and another side note: THANK YOU SO MUCH for all my reviews! I’ve decided that if I go over the 100 mark, I’ve got a couple of little side fics in this same universe that don’t really fit anywhere, so I might as well post them anyway! I figure one side fic per 50 reviews would be a modest number; it’s taken me a few months to get as many as I have.

Oh, and side note three: My friend, Raithe, made me my very first fanart! *squeals* I put it on my MySpace account(such as it is, I'vr hardly used it until recently). You can find it there: www.myspace.com/blackwidina

I’ll respond to individual reviews at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to my reviewer Nadene.


Chapter 9 - Sibilance

Sakura gulped in the fresh air outside of the prison. God, she hated it in there. It wasn't even like it was dirty or anything (Tsunade, despite being pretty tough on criminals, wouldn‘t allow that,) but the sense of desperation in the criminals lent an oppressive weight to the atmosphere. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke's delicate nostrils flare as he drank in the scent of freedom too.

For being such a pretty boy, he was certainly looking a bit worse for wear after three days in a cell. He'd been placed in a high-security ward for S-ranked criminals, which meant constant restraints, plus a chakra inhibitor. As a result, he was looking less than his perfect self. His clothes were grimy and wrinkled, his hair greasy and more disheveled than usual, his face smudged.

He looked like shit. And smelled.

Feeling a spark of pity for the usually composed bastard, she made an executive decision. As she watched him blink, adjusting to the sunshine, she crossed her arms over her chest, "All right, I'm supposed to take you straight to the hospital for your physical, but we're going to stop by the place you'll be staying first. That way you can shower."

He flashed her his classically indifferent look, but she caught the gleam of appreciation in his eyes. "Hn."

The prison administrator had given her a bag with Sasuke's personal effects, and she handed this to him. "Here. Carry your own shit. The weapons will be delivered to Kakashi's place later."

He shouldered the bag, "Hn."

She rolled her eyes, then pressed the 'talk' button on her radio's neckband, "Haruno, checking in."

There was a faint crackle of static, then Naruto's voice came on. ‘Saaaaaakura-chan! I seeeeee yoooouuu!’ he told her in a sing-song voice.

Training kept her from cracking a smile or looking for him. "We're taking a detour. Copy?"

‘Hai! He looks like crap. I didn't know it was possible for an Uchiha to look like he'd slept in a Dumpster. And I should know, remember that one time when we were genins, and I threw him in one? Came out smelling like pissed-off roses . . . He sure as hell smells now, though. I'm downwind.’

Dammit, she was NOT going to laugh, she was better than that! " . . . Be serious."

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll be at your eight o'clock. You going by the high or low road?’

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, who was obviously trying not to look impatient, "Think you can keep up if we go by rooftop?"

He glared.

"That's an affirmative on the higher altitude. ETA five minutes." She started gathering chakra to her feet, "You'd better keep up." Without further ado, she launched into the air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, she was cursing Sai as she rummaged through her kunai pouch for her key-ring. "Figures he wouldn't be home." Finally grasping a key amidst a jumble of shuriken and senbon, she carefully extracted the damn thing, and located the key to Sai's front door.

"You . . . have a key." It was the first whole sentence he'd said to her since they'd set out.

The look on his face reminded her of when he'd seen Sai comforting her at her place. Sakura's cheeks reddened. He probably thought the two of them were . . . well, he'd be right, wouldn't he? Just not at the time of the initial assumption. And if he was jealous of her and Sai, wait till he found out about . . .

[Oh. Migod.] Inner Sakura shrieked. [Let's FUCK with him!!!]

Noo . . . that was too mean! But at the same time, she felt a shy little smile to match the blush on her cheeks appear on her face. She let out a nervous giggle as she turned the key in the lock. "Well, we all have keys to each other's apartments. Y'know. To . . . water the plants."

She noticed with suppressed glee the way he visibly relaxed. She'd lumped Sai in with the others, which meant he was 'safe.' Sasuke would never suspect that she'd have the brass to sleep with all of them at once.

Time for a lesson in assumptions.

Leaving the key in the lock, she carefully disabled the electrical trap around the doorframe and the exploding tag under the doormat. Then she turned the key counterclockwise until it clicked twice, pushed the door open, extracting the key after it had swung open past six inches. That was another reason she usually preferred windows: they were less of a hassle. "After you."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at how nice Sai's place looked. Sakura could tell that Emo-sama felt right at home with the stylish black and white decor. Not to mention the fact that they were both neat freaks. She inwardly snickered at the thought of his reaction when he would be moved over to Naruto's shitty little apartment in a few days.

Sasuke placed his rucksack down on the couch and gazed intently at the walls. Sai's 'favorite' paintings (a constantly changing assortment) were on display. There were a couple of abstracts, a few of animals or flowers, and a few more of the Team Kakashi members.

Sakura knew most of Sai's art by heart, now. It was no secret that she loved loved looooved his work. She'd been caught peeking into Sai's sketchbooks more often than Jiraiya at the bathhouse. In fact, she'd even posed once (in a non-perverted sort of way.)

In a drunken game of Truth, she'd confessed (after forcing the boys to take an oath of silence) that she actually liked not only pink, but sakura blossoms, a fact that she felt was both cliché and girly. As a result, Sai had managed to blackmail her into posing for him during the Konoha Cherry Blossom Festival. She'd spent close to six hours sitting a damn tree blossoming with her namesake, dressed in a formal kimono, no less, while Sai sketched her. To top it off, Kakashi and Naruto apparently gave Sai a 'tutorial' concerning birthdays, so she'd received one of his paintings of her very own for hers. She kept it in her bedroom.

But what caught Sasuke's attention specifically was a half-finished painting set up on the easel next to the living room window. Sakura's was caught as well, since she recognized it as being drawn from a real photo Naruto had insisted they take together as a team. Each of them had a copy of it: Sai, Sakura and Naruto stood in the foreground with the Kyuubi vessel in the center, grinning from ear to ear, one arm around each of the other two. Poor Sai looked uncomfortable as hell with Naruto's arm across his shoulders, while she was rolling her eyes good-naturedly. Kakashi and Yamato stood behind them, looking every bit the part of the proud senseis.

Sakura grinned. The younger half had all been sixteen when that had been taken, and in the middle of a growth spurt. That had been the last time Naruto had been able to squeeze into that orange and black jumpsuit; the pants had suffered a tragic yet hilarious death during their very next training session, and the jacket had followed soon after. She’d decided to grow her hair back out shortly before, and it had taken on a transitional poofiness that was blatantly unattractive. She didn't care; it was still one of her favorite pictures.

The painting she liked better though, not only because Sai had aged them accordingly, but because he had added to it. Beside Kakashi and Yamato stood Jiraiya, Tsunade, Iruka-sensei, Ayame and Teuchi from Ichiraku, and several of the other chuunin and jounin that they'd come to know as friends and comrades, like Genma and Raidou, Izumo and Kotetsu. And in the foreground, surrounding Naruto, were the ninja of their generation, including Konohamaru's group and the Sand Siblings.

It was Naruto's family. Sakura felt herself tearing up a bit.

"Ohayo, Sakura. You're early. What's that smell?"

She jumped at hearing Sai's voice from just behind her. She whirled around to see the raven calmly setting down a shopping bag brimming with art supplies on to the nearest flat surface. "Sai, is this for Naruto?" She pointed at the canvas.

He followed her finger, then smiled and nodded. "I thought he would like it for his new house. It should be finished by then. Please don't tell him, so it can be a surprise." He paused, looking worried, "Do you think he will like it? I read that moving into a new residence requires some sort of gift-giving celebration; is this appropriate enough?"

Of all the . . . "Yes!,"she laughed, throwing her arms around his neck. "He'll love it! You know how he sometimes feels alone. This'll remind him that we're all his family. It's perfect!"

Sai gave her a genuine smile and hugged her back. "Good." Still smiling, he brushed his lips to hers, gently, then pulled back. "Now, seriously, what is that odor? We just cleaned last night. Oh, Duck-Butt, I didn't see you there. Never mind, then."

Abruptly, she remembered the ex-missing nin, and quickly extricated herself from Sai's grasp, giving him the hand signal for 'talk later.' The other raven was obviously trying not to look at her, focusing his glare on Sai, but she recognized the firm line of his mouth, the brooding, angsty look in his eyes.

Uchiha Sasuke was a jealous, jealous little bitch.

Life was just too sweet.

On impulse, she slid her hand into Sai's, giving it a squeeze. "All right, Sasuke, we need to hurry. The bathroom is just down the hall, first door on the left."

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it with a 'hn' before all but stomping in the indicated direction.

Like the good little shinobi they'd been trained to be, neither of them spoke until they heard both the shower running and the sounds of someone in it. Just in case, though, they double-checked the hallway. Once satisfied, Sakura pulled Sai down onto the couch next to her. "He's jealous!"

Sai blinked. "And?"

"Honestly, Sai!" she couldn't help but roll her eyes. "He's this pissy just because he thinks you and I are a couple; how do you think he'll react when he finds out that the rest of the guys are involved?"

The light clicked on, "Ah. You want to see what happens."

"Oh yeah." Quickly, she outlined her plan to him. Sai, of course, then had to be explained to about why antagonizing an ex-missing jounin-level Uchiha was such a great idea. Sakura, for once, was happy to oblige. She wasn't shy about her need for vengeance. That was why she'd never tried to fully exorcise Inner Sakura. She was comfortable with her more bloodthirsty side.

In any case, Sai seemed to understand the concept of a prank well enough. After all, he'd been Naruto's victim/protégé/unwitting accomplice for the last three years. As she explained some of the more complicated maneuvers, she could see the smirk spreading across the artist's face and grinned to herself. They'd really corrupted this kid.

Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke emerged from the bathroom to hear hastily muffled whimpers coming from the living room. When he poked his head around the corner, he was greeted by the sight of Sai pushing Sakura back against the arm of the couch, kissing her thoroughly. Sakura was the one making the noises, and it was clearly due to whatever Sai's hands were doing between her legs.

Sensing Sasuke's presence by the sudden, massive spike of killing intent, Sakura behaved exactly as the Old Sakura would have done: her eyes flew open, she shoved Sai abruptly away and stood, a guilty blush spreading across her face. She cast her eyes downward, assuming a mortified expression, "Uh, S-Sasuke! We were, um, just, it's . . . it's not . . ." Ugh. She sounded just like herself at twelve years old. Perfect for her purpose, yet annoying. "Well, um, if you're ready, let's go."

Sai, of course, decided to add his own blunt wit, "Your smell is much less offensive, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's eyes flashed red momentarily.

Ignoring the seething Uchiha, Sai turned back to Sakura. "Perhaps you could spend the night, Sakura? I know we've been assigned someone else, but I'd enjoy the chance to bond further with you. " He smiled, the cheesy fake smile that was guaranteed to irritate any who looked upon it.

Its power was indubitable as Sasuke's eye twitched. Sakura almost felt a pang of sympathy at the constipated expression the normally handsome Uchiha had.

Almost.

Making a passable effort at 'pulling herself together,' she primly clasped her hands in front of her, and scolded softly, still looking at the floor, "Sai-kun, we made the schedule for a reason. And . . . and I think we should wait until your houseguest leaves before we do that sort of 'bonding' again." She allowed herself to flinch and blush as Sasuke turned that burning gaze to her again. Inner Sakura preened at her acting skills, and started rehearsing her Oscar acceptance speech.

Sai gave her his patented 'confused' expression. "That's . . . because . . . oh, yes! It is impolite to bond in front of other people, right?"

She nodded, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. His orders were to basically act like when they'd first met him, always needing explanations as to how to act and interact with other people. She really hadn't noticed until this second how much he'd really improved. "That's mostly right, Sai. Friendship bonding is fine, but, ummmm, further bonding should be kept private, okay?"

Sai smiled again, looking every bit the socially retarded android-wannabe.

Sasuke was all but squirming in place. "I believe we have an appointment," he reminded her bitingly.

She made a properly chastened face, and reached up to her neck to signal Naruto. "Checking in. What's your position?"

Naruto's voice came in immediately, "Top of roof directly east of Sai's place. Lovely view through the living room window, by the way."

In other circumstances, she'd have teased and asked if he were jealous, but with Sasuke less than ten feet away, she could only say, "Oh?"

"Oh hell yeah, Sakura-chan. You two should make out more often. That was fuckin' hot! When do I get some of that?"

She smiled. "You had some last night, remember?" Glancing at Sai, who'd raised an eyebrow in inquiry, she mouthed 'Ramen.' He caught on, rolling his eyes.

Sasuke saw as well, and she was surprised to note that a lot of the anger dissipated, to be replaced with something that looked almost like fear. "Naruto is our escort."

Hmm. Interesting reaction. "Yes."

"Hn."

Damn. She could almost feel the stone walls going up around him. Knowing better than to prod further, she gestured to the door, "After you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura left Sasuke in one of her nurse's capable hands and went to wash up. Grabbing her medic uniform out of her locker in the staff room, she quickly donned it. Naruto snuck in while she was putting it on, and she filled him in on the most recent happenings in between his attempts to get underneath.

"Dammit, Naruto! I'm going to get you on medication for ADD, I swear to God!"

His mouth was buried in her neck, muffling his reply, "Won't work. Kyuubi metabolizes it too quick." His hand started sliding up her thigh, and she had just enough presence of mind to smack it. "OW!"

"Serves you right for accosting me at work."

He glared, rubbing the reddened skin. "Jeez, Sakura-chan. I thought you'd be less of a violent bitch after all that hot, sweaty sex we had last night!" He grinned, vindicated, as Sakura emitted a muffled squeak of outrage, checking to see if anyone was in possible earshot. He pulled her close, ignoring her half-hearted struggling. "Besides, I'm all worked up from watching you and Sai tonguing each others' tonsils." His voice had dropped almost an entire octave, making Sakura melt a little, "I kept waiting for one of you to break and try to sneak in a quick fuck right there on the couch, with Sasuke showering just a few yards away." His lips brushed her ear as he spoke, sending little shivers along her spine.

Abruptly, he stepped back and gave her the Uzumaki Shit-Eating GrinTM. "But I like your idea too!"

Growling in frustration at her unwilling arousal, she jabbed him in the chest with her finger, "Then you better play your part!"

He mock saluted, then grabbed her hand and slid her finger into his mouth, causing her stomach to flutter as she vividly remembered all the things that mouth and tongue . . . could . . . do . . .

Forcing herself out of her lust-induced haze, she used her other hand to delicately thump his chest, sending the kyuubi flying back into the wall, "BAD Naruto! No Sakura for you!"

Even doubled over potentially cracked ribs, gasping for breath, he still managed a sexy pout. Then he smirked, "Hey, I'm not just sleeping with you, ya know. My closet door swings both ways, remember?"

He eyes widened as she considered Naruto and Sai . . . or Naruto and Kakashi! Inner Sakura squealed like a fangirl. Outer Sakura had to clutch at the nearest piece of furniture to compensate for her weakened legs.

So far, aside from foreplay and some fooling around, the boys really hadn't done much with each other. When she'd asked why, curious, Kakashi had laughed softly, and said something about 'breaking in the newbies.' Naruto had nearly hurt himself laughing, which, as he'd been deep-throating Sai at the time, had resulted in some inspiring firework-style reactions from the artist.

"Dammit, Naruto . . ." she protested weakly. She couldn't even manage to stay pissed! Was this what sex did to people? Before, she'd have cheerfully chakra-slammed his ass through a wall. Now, she just wanted him to bend her over and slam HER.

The culprit just grinned harder and leaned close to her ear, "You better be ready, Sakura-chaaaaan. Sensei and I agree that next time, we're going to up the stakes." With that, he swept past her and out of the room. Leaving her red faced, nose trickling, thighs clenched to try and quell the urge to just jump Naruto's sexy ass.

'Where in the hell did THAT come from?' she wondered. 'I've seen Naruto be a lot of things. Dumb, brilliant, funny, serious, happy, angsty, the occasionally unintentionally sexy moment . . . but where in the hell did this 'super-sexy bisexual gigolo' version come from???'

[It's not FAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIR!!!] Inner Sakura howled.

Shaking her head to clear it, Sakura pushed thoughts of hot man-sex out of her head and tried to collect herself enough to walk back in the same room as the One Who Willingly Walked Away.

She snorted. Duck-Butt had NO idea of what he was missing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When she finally stepped into the examination room, she was greeted by a highly agitated Uchiha (which wasn't unusual) and a fiercely blushing and obviously guilty group of three nurses huddled against the opposite wall (which was.)

She blinked, taking in the scene Three young, female nurses. Standing together with that ‘red-handed’ look. Sasuke, looking flat-out furious, still fully dressed. The duck's ass even looked fluffier than usual, as if it, too, were enraged, and about to attack. "Can I ask just what the HELL is going on in here?"

One of the girls started to stammer out something, but Sakura quickly raised a hand to silence the girl, instead looking at Sasuke.

He didn't answer, but the snarl comprised of mixed anger and disgust was reminiscent of their youth. "Fangirls, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." He compressed his lips and turned away.

She nodded. "Ah. That would explain the inordinate amount of female nurses I saw loitering in the hallway on my way here," she replied dryly. She turned to the girls, "You're lucky today, ladies. I'm feeling benevolent. If you can answer these questions correctly, we can pretend this never happened. Question One: did any of you actually get his vitals?"

One of them squeaked a 'hai!' and handed over the clipboard with the information on it. Sakura took it, noting that it was the same nurse she'd left Sasuke with in the first place.

"Thank you, Naomi. Now, second question: Did any of you touch him inappropriately? By TSUNADE-SAMA'S definition."

Silence greeted her, and she slid her gaze over to Sasuke. He looked angrier and they looked guiltier. "Answer enough. Third: Is Yamanaka working this shift?"

They blinked together in unified surprise, then shrugged.

"Then you're fucked. Well, not you, Naomi. Go find Yamanaka to replace you. If she's not here, send for Shizune. You other two had no business in here. Go report directly to the director's office. I'll be going to Tsunade-sama myself. You'll be written up for harassing a patient. Now go." As the others vanished quickly enough to put the Yondaime to shame, Sakura glanced over the chart Naomi had provided. "All right, Sasuke-san, as soon as my replacement nurse gets here, we'll finish this up. Let's go ahead and get you undressed so I can weigh you." She glanced up.

Sasuke's incredulous look stopped her dead. "You're a medic? I knew you had learned some medical ninjutsu, but . . ."

WRONG thing to say. "But?!? But what?" She snapped. "Just because I was supposedly weak when you left means that I'm still weak now? Your head was obviously too far up Naruto's ass to notice the rest of us kicking the shit out of Orochimaru's minions. They crumbled like burned paper!" She sneered, "But noooo, that must have been Kakashi and the new guys. Sakura's weak, they must have brought her along to sit on the sidelines and clean up the mess after the fact, right?" Furious, she whirled away and slammed her fist into the surface of the little end table in the room, remembering just in time to pull most of the chakra out of the punch. Instead of obliterating the metal table, she merely left a fist sized dimple in the three-inch steel plate that made the top.

There was a knock on the door, forcing Sakura to exhale and count to three before answering, "Come in."

The door opened, and Ino popped in, quickly shutting it behind her. "Oh, it's you, Sakura. Some nurse came into the ICU and told me to get up here and find you. Oh! Sasuke-kun! You're really here! The rumors are true! I'd heard-well, nevermind, but-"

Sakura stopped her with a meaningful look. "Ino-pig, I need you to assist me with his physical, please," she said briskly. "I assume you can handle that?"

Ino rolled her eyes, "Yes, ma'am." She tossed Sasuke the nearby hospital scrubs. "Put that on, so we can weigh you. Just go behind that curtain. I promise, no peeking!"

Still looking miffed, but in a softer sort of way, Sasuke moved in the indicated direction, and they could hear the rustle of cloth.

Grinning, Ino looked over Sakura's shoulder at the chart. "Blood pressure's high."

"Just got out of jail. Met Sai. Fangirls. Totally understandable."

The blonde laughed, "Sai, huh? Yeah, I guess I can see that. I don't know what everyone has against him, though. He was absolutely sweet to me."

Sakura was tempted, once again, to enlighten her friend, but decided to keep the peace. "Tsunade wants the full battery of tests; you're in charge of drawing blood while I do the rest. I'll have to recheck the old records, but I think he has a history of low blood sugar and iron."

"Hai."

"She wants the results last week, so put a rush on it at the lab."

"Lab's been backed up for the last month. They may not get to it for a while."

"Tell them I sent you. They'll make time."

"Must be nice, being the Hokage's personal bitch."

"No, that would be Kotetsu and Izumo."

"Beloved assistant, then?"

"Nope, that's Shizune. I'm the lowly apprentice. That grants me more respect than her bitches, but lets her assistant pass all the shit she doesn't want to do onto me. Which I then pass on to said bitches. Shit rolls downhill, Ino. Especially in the beaurocracy."

There was an amused snort as Sasuke emerged from the curtain, dressed in the white hospital scrubs, his regular clothes folded neatly under his arm. Ino took those and set them on the damaged end table.

She eyed the dent, "Damn, Sakura. Bad day?"

"Don't ask. Sasuke, please step on the scale."

Sakura quickly jotted down the measurement; "I can already tell you, you're underweight. What have you been eating lately?"

He managed to refrain from rolling his eyes, but the silent aura of 'Duh' accomplished the same message. "Fruit, berries, game. I've been on the run, Sakura."

Ino guided Sasuke to sit on the exam table, and began prepping his arm to draw blood. There was more than one reason that Sakura had picked Ino out of the available nurses: Ino was, despite the familiar playful banter, a complete professional. And she was a damn fine nurse; it was almost a pity she'd decided not to progress past Chuunin-level. More importantly, she was still the notorious gossip Sasuke was sure to remember. He wouldn't dare risk saying anything that would almost certainly be repeated-loudly, and multiple times-to anyone who ventured within a twenty-foot radius of the woman.

That, and Ino knew Sasuke almost as well as anyone outside of Team Seven could. There wasn’t much history between Sasuke and Sakura that Ino hadn’t heard about at some point already, so if anything DID get brought up, she‘d be the least likely to be surprised.

Once Ino got started, Sakura went through the familiar ritual. She checked his heart, ears, eyes-including his sharingan, while Ino watched carefully for any sign of genjutsu use-reflexes (always an interesting endeavor with ninja), and hearing. His throat was scarred from countless fire jutsu, and there were striations in the tissue that suggested that his throat had been abnormally stretched. Sakura was reminded of several of Orochimaru's more advanced jutsus, and made an encoded note in the scroll she was to send directly to Tsunade.

Now for the really awkward part.

Sakura composed herself, and calmly looked the Uchiha in the eyes. "Sasuke-san, as part of the physical, I am required to catalogue identifying features."

She could faintly hear his teeth grinding, "Yes, I am aware of that." His posture positively screamed his discomfort. And she knew why. It was the same reason he'd stopped wearing those ridiculous looking open shirts.

Vanity, thy name is Sasuke, she thought wryly. Then she remembered a certain Akatsuki member, complete with purple nail polish. Scratch that; thy name is Uchiha.

She gestured to his shoulder, "I'll need you to let me see the seal. And your scar." She noted Ino tensing out of the corner of her eye. Ino knew this story.

As Sasuke grudgingly removed the shirt, a scar was revealed: claw marks, gouges really, extending from his left shoulder, nicking his collarbone, all the way down across his muscled torso [Now THAT’S a nice view] ’Shut up, you!’ to his right hipbone.

Unwillingly, Sakura's mind went back . . .

~Flashback~

Team Kakashi flew through the treetops in what had become their standard non-formation: Naruto, agitated and emotional, kept in the lead easily. The other four didn't even bother yelling at him to slow down or save his energy; they just took turns holding second place, so that he was at least in sight.

They'd finally gotten a solid lead on Sasuke's whereabouts, but they'd been forced to leave immediately in order not to miss the opportunity. The only think keeping them going at this point was the soldier pills Sakura and Sai were providing the others. Poor substitute, especially since they were hurtling headlong into what was likely to end up being another showdown.

Sakura maneuvered closer to her teammates so they could hear her. "What do we do if he won't listen to us, like last time?"

Kakashi's gaze was worried, "We don't have a lot of time. The three years is up; the transfer will happen any time, now."

Naruto, his face already beginning to transform from emo-overload, glared over his shoulder at them, "No shit, sensei." He growled. "I don't care what we gotta do; I'm NOT gonna let him go this time!"

"Easy, Naruto," Yamato cautioned, edging closer to the kyuubi container. "If you can't control yourself, they'll sense us coming."

Sai moved in closer, "What should we do if they retreat? Do we try to stop them?"

"How?" Sakura asked, "If we harm Orochimaru, he'll be forced to use Sasuke that much sooner, even taking Kabuto's medical skills into account."

Kakashi, "Perhaps if we can take out Kabuto first . . . Hai, if we have to eliminate anyone, Kabuto would be our best bet. Sai, your specialty is assassination; I want you to focus on him."

"He'll be difficult to take out, senpai," Yamato warned. "Sakura would be best used as backup, as she can neutralize or counter most of his techniques."

"Hai, Captain Yamato."

"Naruto, I'm not stupid enough to try and ask you to stay away from Sasuke, but please keep in mind that we do not want a repeat of last time. Yamato, stick with him and be ready should Naruto start sprouting tails." Kakashi's voice was grave.

"Hai, Kakashi-sempai."

". . . Did you just tell Yamato to watch my ass?"

" . . . Yes, I suppose so."

Sai spoke up, immune to awkward silences, "Hatake-san, the probability that they will have additional Sound Ninjas is high. Tsunade likely sent a back up team, but they will not arrive till later, or not at all. It may be prudent to make a more decisive strike."

Sakura snorted. "Again, I ask, how? You can't be decisive or make surprise attacks when Naruto and Sasuke are required to stand there and be all emo."

"That's the idea. Strike during the lull in the action, while they're busy staring at each other and being introspective."

"Did you just accuse me of being as emo as Sasuke? Fuck you, I'm not that bad."

"Says you," someone muttered.

"Strike WHAT, Sai?" Sakura asked, exasperated. "Just because they're held immobile by the Power of the Emo doesn't mean Orochimaru and Company will be."

"Orochimaru has the advantage. He's essentially holding the Uchiha hostage. Therefore, we remove the hostage from the equation."

Sakura was so surprised she slipped on the next tree branch, but was rescued by the other four grabbing her before gravity had fully taken its hold. They came to a halt in the tree so that she could regain her bearings. "Uh, thanks guys. Sai, did you essentially just say to shoot the hostage?"

Naruto was furious, "We're going to SAVE him, you idiot! Not kill him!"

"I never said kill him. But I know you're willing to hurt him to bring him back, yes?"

"But-"

Kakashi broke in, "He has a point. You do recall threatening to 'break Sasuke's legs' in order to make him return, right? I assume this is sort of the same thing. You tried reasoning last time, to no avail. Maybe more extreme measures should be considered."

Yamato 'hmmed' in agreement. "If we do decide on that course of action, Kabuto is still a factor. He would, naturally, rush to repair any damage done to Orochimaru's chosen vessel."

Sakura sighed, "He's too good of a medic. No matter what we could do to Sasuke-kun, he'd be able to heal it almost instantly. He's better than me, or was the last time we met."

Yamato suddenly started eyeing Sakura's left arm, "Not at everything."

She followed his gaze, then gasped as she caught on, "OH! That might work!"

Naruto was, naturally, clueless, "Wha?"

Sai rolled his eyes, one of his most recently learned expressions. Unfortunately, he'd picked it up from Ino, so he was combining it with this little girly hair-toss movement that made the whole thing unintentionally hilarious. "If you were to damage Duck-Butt while wearing the demon cloak, Kabuto would be unable to heal the wound completely, as he was unable to heal the wound you inflicted on Sakura."

Naruto flinched at the reminder.

"Just make sure you use a lot of chakra to inflict the wound," Yamato ordered, "It's the Kyuubi's energy that makes the body resist healing techniques." He paused, then added as an afterthought, "And don't grow more than three tails."

Naruto gaped at the ANBU captain for half a second, before yelling, "WOULD YOU PEOPLE MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MINDS?!?"

Sakura socked him in the arm, "Do you mind not giving our position away? I think they heard us in Suna!"

The blonde grabbed his scalp in frustration, "Iruka-sensei acted like Kyuubi didn't exist. Kakashi acts like it exists, but we don't talk about it, we don't train with it, we just ignore it and hope I don't get pissed off enough to break the seal. Ero-Sennin spends nearly three years telling me to USE the Kyuubi chakra, that I'll never be strong without it, then I get back from him, and Captain Yamato's all 'Don't use it, you can't control it, save Sasuke with your own strength, not Kyuubi's' and now THIS!?! You people WONDER why I'm so fucked up?

Plus, I've had Kyuubi in my head since I was twelve, and he's pulling the same, 'Leave me alone, no wait, use me! No, deal with it yourself, wait! Let me handle things!' crap in my head to go on top of it all, and I‘ve HAD IT! That's IT! FUCK this shit! After this mission, I'm doing whatever the fuck I wanna do with Kyuubi! The rest of you can kiss my ass! Whatever the rest of you say, the demon is inside ME, and any deals we make are between ME and HIM." He finally ground to a halt, panting.

The other four were huddled against the trunk in tight formation, waiting for the shit to hit the fan in a more bodily-harmful sort of way.

Instead, Naruto managed to calm himself, calling upon the willpower he was famous for. Still looking disgruntled, he glared at them all. "So, what? We run in, I bitch-slap Sasuke, we grab him and run?"

Kakashi shook his head, "You bitch-slap, Yamato suppresses, YOU grab him and run, Sakura follows to heal the both of you. Yamato assists Sai and myself, who will be trying to hold off everyone else."

"Sounds like a plan. A fucking insane plan. But a plan."

Sakura eyed her ex-sensei suspiciously, "And when it's time to withdraw and run for it, you're going to run with everyone else, right? Even if you're not sure where everyone else is?"

"As team leader, my duty is to make sure everyone-"

"Which includes you! As nice as the whole 'I won't let my teammates die' sentiment is, if you do something stupid, I'll kick your ass myself. I'm sick of carrying you home to the hospital. You wouldn't get hurt so often if you didn't take on as much responsibility as the rest of us put together."

Kakashi gave a short laugh, "You and Naruto couldn't manage to kick my ass together in a straight up spar."

Her eyes glinted malevolently, "I'll burn your Icha Icha. Every last book."

His eye widened, "You wouldn't dare."

She smirked, "You land yourself in the hospital through stupidity, and I'll burn them in front of you while you watch, helpless, from the bed."

" . . . There's no smoking in hospitals."

"I'll stand outside your window."

" . . . You've been around Tsunade too long."

"Yes, I know I'm a bitch. Just be careful, all right?"

Yamato coughed, "If you can stop being a mother hen, Sakura, we need to get going."

Naruto clenched his fist, "C'mon, guys. He's not walking away this time . . .

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been messy. As planned, as soon as Emo-sama froze at the sight of his ex-best friend, Naruto released the Kyuubi chakra, keeping it to three tails through sheer force of will. He still managed to cause massive amounts of damage, including the near-disembowelment of Uchiha Sasuke.

They'd been so close. Sakura had held the unconscious Sasuke in her arms, frantically healing both him and Naruto simultaneously from the most life threatening of their wounds. Luckily, there were no other Sound nins present, so the other team members had launched their best attacks all at once, causing critical damage to Orochimaru and Kabuto, Then, they'd fled as soon as the raven wasn't actively dying, rushing to put as much distance between themselves and the pissed-off Sannin.

Ultimately, though, they'd had Sasuke back for less than a day. They'd been forced to stop multiple times to let Sakura heal what should have been a mortal wound. Their trail was bloody from both Naruto and Sasuke, and they were exhausted, having used most of their chakra and energy in their initial attacks.

The Sound ninja found them.

Team Kakashi had barely managed to escape with their lives, and even so, were all five destined for an extended stay in the hospital (though Icha Icha escaped destruction, owing to Sakura being there, as well.) The only reason they managed to survive at all was because Kakashi had thought to leave Pakkun with the Godaime, to lead the back-up team. In typical Konoha fashion, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino and Lee had arrived just in time to save the day, kicking ass and taking names.

Sound had retreated, but they'd taken Sasuke with them.

~End Flashback~

Sakura sighed to herself.

They'd won. Sort of. Their plan had worked like a charm. Orochimaru had been forced into another body while Sasuke recuperated. And Sasuke had been forced into a wardrobe change.

A small victory in itself.

She felt her heart twist as she laid a hand on where the claw marks started, pushing chakra into her fingers. Slowly, she moved from top to bottom, feeling just how deep the scar tissue went, remembering the feel of his vital organs as they'd shuddered, leaking onto her hands. Then she carefully ran her hands along every limb, every plane of his body, forcing herself to think only of what she was doing. She carefully scanned every bone, making sure that every one of the multiple fractures had healed correctly.

Sasuke sat completely still through the whole process, the only sound his soft breathing.

Finally, she stood straight again, and looked at Ino, who was standing completely serious, pen at the ready. It took two tries to speak, and when she did, it felt distant, like she was listening through a tunnel. "Patient shows signs of numerous repeat fractures indicative of shinobi activities. All have healed cleanly. There are . . . he has had multiple ruptured organs as a result from the main chest injury, but they have also healed adequately."

"Got it. I've got all the blood samples required."

"All right. One last thing, then." Carefully, she eyed his shoulder, noting that both Orochimaru's cursed seal and the one Kakashi had placed over it were still intact. She knew better than to fuck with the original, but she carefully pushed a little bit of energy into the outer ring. "Kakashi's suppression seal is still good; we'll have to wait until Jiraiya comes around to take a look at the initial one. I imagine he and Tsunade-sama will want to examine it together."

Finally, she was able to stand back and breathe. "That's it; we're done for now. You can go get dressed."

"Hn," was his only reply.

He was silent until minutes later as they stood outside the front doors while Sakura radioed in to Naruto. After listening to Sakura's one-sided bantering for a full minute, he finally snapped, "I already know it's him. Why not just have him escort us in person, rather than hiding up in a damn tree or whatever?" Then he smirked, the Old Sasuke smirk. "Unless he's afraid to face me after me kicking his ass every time in the last few years?"

"Care to compare scars?" Naruto hissed from directly behind him, his voice low and dangerous.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't move otherwise, though the blonde was close enough that his breath was tickling the raven's neck. "Naruto."

Naruto deliberately walked around in front of Sasuke, "This better?"

" . . . Hn." The Uchiha seemed to be having trouble breathing.

Not wanting to risk an actual confrontation, Sakura gently grabbed Naruto's jacket, nearly cringing as her hand ventured into the aura of Unresolved Angst that currently crackled between them like an unleashed Chidori. On that thought, she actually glanced at their hands, just to make sure. "C'mon, Naruto. Ignore him. It gives us a chance to walk together. We haven't had a chance to do that for a while." She pouted, "Unless you have other plans?" Subtly, she reminded him of their plan.

Naruto visibly calmed himself, then blatantly turned his back on Sasuke and smiled at her. "Of course I do, Sakura-chan." He glanced at Sasuke, his gaze cold. "I love being with you."

Flashing him a brilliant smile, she grabbed his hand and they started walking companionably down the street. About three yards, and they noticed that Sasuke had remained motionless, simply staring at them with a slightly bemused expression on his face.

Naruto glared over his shoulder, "You comin' or what?"

Sakura met Sasuke's gaze, glaring a warning. "Come on; we're expected back at Sai's." She made sure to give her best imitation of Tsunade's Don't Fuck This Up glare.

Still looking confused, yet curious, and annoyed at both emotions, Sasuke followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N: WHEW, I’m glad to have that finally done! Oh, and in case it’s a new vocab word for anyone here, the title, Sibilance, means ‘Characterized by a hissing sound, like those in the letter ‘s.’ Basically, the ‘s’ sound. I considered it appropriate since this chapter deals with Sasuke, Sai, Sakura, scars and seals.

And flashbacks. Gah, I don’t like flashbacks, but I considered this one important, so . . . I hope the humor lightened up the usual ‘gloom and doomness of it all.’

All right, to my beloved reviewers:


-xyz-: Working on it; have patience with me; I’m still getting swamped with plot that needs to get the hell out of my way.

Dragonangelx003: Thanks! I’m loving your story, too. Keep it up!

Nadene: That review was EXACTLY what I needed to hear to get me off of my lazy ass. When I got it, I was actually in the middle of checking AGAIN to see if J-Pop Princess or nimblnymph had updated THEIR fics, and it made me feel so . . . kinda thrilled, kinda guilty, really, to think that I was having the same effect on someone else . . . Anyway, I dedicate this chapter to you!

Prepare yourself; there’s been a bit of a turnover in my mental muse hierarchy. You may be quite surprised by the next chapter. Stay tuned!

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