(FFML)Suiren, Chapter Nine: Distance…

DISTANCE…

“Grrr- this is pointless!”

With a snort of disgust, Sakura slammed the notebook shut and dropped it to the floor next to her cot. It had never been her intent to replicate the Shintenshin, so her research notes were woefully inadequate to the task of explaining how her version of the technique actually _worked_.

Flopping back down onto her pillow, the pink-haired girl yawned and rubbed her eyes. Her internal clock told her that she’d once again wasted most of the night, and dawn was fast approaching. Blinking blearily in the gloom cast by her flashlight, Sakura wondered if there was still time to get some sleep.

She got her answer when the thick metal grating in the ceiling flickered to life, bathing the room in harsh white fluorescence. “Ugh….” Rolling onto her side, Sakura covered her head with her arms, but the light pressed down on her with almost tangible force, like a clingy silken sheet; mildly stifling and impossible to ignore.

Sluggishly crawling out of bed, Sakura smoothed out her pajamas and staggered over to ‘assume the position’ opposite the cell door, waiting for the morning security check to begin. The drowsy kunoichi twitched in surprise when she heard the scrape of a lock being turned. She hadn’t felt the characteristic prickle of the restraining wards being activated.

“We can turn them on if you’d like,” Yoshinari’s voice offered in a bland, honest tone that made Sakura wonder whether or not he was making fun of her.

“I’ll pass,” Sakura replied dryly, turning to face her jailer.

Sakura found the monkey-masked man standing just inside her cell with a tray of food in one hand and a bundle of black cloth under his arm. Yoshinari was wearing standard ANBU armor today, rather than his ‘office’ uniform. Beside him, a petite woman wearing a rat-styled mask and a khaki cloak was carefully turning over Sakura’s bedding.

Sakura hadn’t heard either of them come in, but that wasn’t unusual. “Good morning Hyuuga-san, Asano-san,” she greeted with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “Something special happening today?” she asked, squinting at the tall man’s garb.

“Sandaime Hokage-sama’s funeral,” Yoshinari replied evenly, handing her the bundle of cloth, which she now recognized a funeral robe. “I _did_ promise that you’d be allowed to attend, provided that your condition remained stable.”

“Oh.” Already agitated by the smell of food, Sakura’s stomach twisted queasily; it would be nice to get out for a while, but it was hard to feel happy about it when he put it like that.

“So, how did you sleep?” Yoshinari inquired, setting the tray on the small desk beside the door and crossing his arms. “No strange dreams?”

“Um… I didn’t really sleep last night,” Sakura admitted, looking down in embarrassment.

“Trying out your new toy?”

Turning around, Sakura blushed beet red when she saw the small pink cylinder that Asano was waving under her nose. “Aaaaah!”

“I don’t remember this being here yesterday,” the Hunter nin observed slyly.

“It’s- It’s not mine!” Sakura blurted, leaning away. “It’s Anko’s!” Sakura grimaced in disgust when she realized how much worse that made it sound. *Dammit, I can’t believe she left that thing behind!* Anko must have hidden it in her blankets when she wasn’t looking.

“Hmm….” Glancing at the vibrator, Asano gave a tiny shrug. “Well, I suppose I could let it slide, just this once. It would have been nice if Anko-sama had bothered to clear it with me first, though.”

Before Sakura could protest that she didn’t even _want_ the nasty thing, Yoshinari interrupted. “It may not matter. Morino-san wants to see you this morning, Sakura-chan. I believe he wishes to personally evaluate your state of mind before he authorizes your release.”

“Really?” Sakura instantly forgot about her instructor’s latest act of mischief as the promise of freedom was suddenly dangled before her, but she cautiously reined in her enthusiasm. “It’s only been three days, though,” she noted in confusion. “You said I’d be here for at least a week.”

“The village council has authorized the assignment of low-level ANBU to B-class missions, to help alleviate the manpower shortage,” Asano replied candidly, startling Sakura when she pressed the incriminating ‘toy’ into the pink-haired girl’s palm. “This facility is jointly run by the Hunter nins and the Interrogation Squad, and Interrogation is mostly chuunin, so we’ll be understaffed.” Folding Sakura’s bedding under her arm, the older kunoichi moved toward the door. “Maybe Ibiki thinks he can kill two birds with one stone,” she mused, giving Sakura a sideways look.

Something in the small woman’s voice made Sakura nervous- a hint of cruel humor and… anticipation? “So, I’m going back on active duty?” she asked hesitantly.

“I’d presume so. You haven’t displayed any signs of degeneration or given any reason to doubt your loyalty,” Yoshinari conjectured. “Unless there is a reason you didn’t sleep last night?” The Hyuuga gave Sakura a probing look that she could feel even from behind his mask.

Shuddering, Sakura quickly shook her head. “No! No, nothing like that; I was just up all night studying.”

“‘Studying,’ eh?” Asano chuckled, and Sakura could tell she was eyeing the pink plastic wand in Sakura’s hand. “Well, try not to ’study’ too hard, Sakura-chan; you could go blind!”

§

Glancing over the top of his freshly-minted copy of the newest ‘Icha- Icha Paradise,’ Hatake Kakashi frowned in disappointment. *Did he _really_ beat the Hyuuga kid?* With a sigh, the gray haired ninja cleared his throat and motioned for his students’ attention. “Another point for Sakura,” he declared, giving Naruto a flat stare as the mob of orange-clad genin started throwing another tantrum.

“But Kakashi-senseeeeei!” the real Naruto whined, taking a step forward, “Sakura-chan ain’t even hit me _once_!” He gestured at the ragged ring of pink-haired clones that encircled his huddle of kagebunshin. “How come she keeps gettin’ points?” he demanded.

“Idiot! She’s-” A warning glance silenced Sasuke, but the Uchiha heir still allowed himself a snort of disgust before he resumed scanning the battlefield. He wasn’t participating in the sparring, but Sasuke seemed incredibly agitated for some reason.

Turning to the two young ninja in the clearing, Kakashi peered speculatively at one of Sakura’s remaining bunshin. Sakura was dressed oddly today, having replaced her usual red blouse with a gray hooded sweatshirt and her running shorts with a pair of faded blue jeans. She was also wearing her forehead protector properly for once, and had a katana tied across her back.

The clone’s sword was sheathed as it faced Naruto head-on with needles fanned through the fingers of either hand, but Kakashi could see that the real Sakura had her sword drawn and ready. She was poised to cut down her unsuspecting opponent from behind, just as she had ‘killed’ all of the kagebunshin that had been struck by her decoys’ illusory projectiles.

*Misdirection and concealment.* Sakura’s mastery of basic ninja tactics and Naruto’s lack of perception were more evident than ever when you threw a cloaking genjutsu into the mix. The mismatch was almost painful to watch.

Looking over Naruto’s shoulder, the jounin lowered his book and smirked indulgently through his mask. “That’s an impressive trick, Sakura, but try something else now,” he commanded, surreptitiously observing the body language of the raven-haired boy at his side.

“Alright, Kakashi-sensei!” one of the Sakura doppelgangers acknowledged, before the mass of them dissipated in a thick cloud of smoke and the real Sakura moved away from Naruto to find cover.

As Kakashi panned his gaze across the smokescreen, he noted that Sasuke’s eyes traced the same path as his own. While Sasuke was trying to seem casual about it, the boy’s stare was intense and searching. *Ah… well, I suppose he’ll have to learn eventually.*

Sasuke had activated his Sharingan shortly after Sakura had scored her first point on Naruto. Despite this, it seemed that he was having trouble throwing off the pink-haired girl’s technique. Sasuke gave a start of surprise when Sakura dropped down from the branches of a tree at the opposite end of the field from where they were looking. Having been found out, he favored the elder ninja with a glare.

Kakashi simply shrugged. “You’re going to go cross-eyed if you keep squinting like that,” he pointed out, brushing off the unspoken accusation. “Genjutsu is nothing to scoff at. Even those eyes can only do so much.”

In response, Sasuke frowned deeper and focused on his teammates once more. *Always so stubborn,* the jounin mused ruefully.

While Sasuke fumed at the unwanted attention, Naruto seemed infuriated that he was being ignored. “What’dya mean? What trick?” the blonde boy persisted, absently dispelling his own clones. “I dunno what you’re talkin’ about!”

Turning back to his noisy pupil, Kakashi placed his hands on his hips and sighed again. “That’s why I let her keep using it, Naruto. If you still don’t know what’s going on, you need to pay more attention.”

“C’mon- lemmie try one more time!” Naruto pleaded, obviously riled by the look of disdain Sasuke was directing his way. “I just need a hint! Pleeeeease?”

Though Sasuke hid it well, Kakashi detected a hint of anticipation from the Uchiha heir at this suggestion. Perhaps he would give them another chance. Those two always did shine brightest when they were pushed into a corner, and Sakura’s new technique was proving an unexpected challenge.

*Could be interesting.* The masked ninja shrugged in defeat. “Alright, once more,” he agreed. Turning to the patiently waiting kunoichi, Kakashi gave her an appraising look. “You can use that technique one more time, Sakura.”

Her expression unreadable, the pink-haired girl nodded silently. Sakura would’ve had trouble against Naruto without her concealment genjutsu, but if the restriction had troubled her, she hadn’t shown it. Kakashi could hardly believe that this was the same excitable, insecure young girl that had been assigned to his team barely three months ago.

“Hey, what about my hint?”

If only some of that maturity would rub off on her teammates. Kakashi considered denying Naruto’s plea, but Sakura’s streak of easy wins was making it difficult to judge just how far the pair had progressed while he was away. As unlikely as it seemed, Naruto simply wasn’t pushing Sakura very hard.

Perhaps it was time to turn up the heat a bit. “Take off your coat, Naruto,” he suggested.

“Huh?” The blonde boy asked intelligently, blinking in confusion.

“Just… trust me.”

Reluctantly, Naruto complied. “What does this have’ta… eh?” The short ninja paused, his face betraying puzzlement as he stared at the back of his bright orange jacket.

There, displayed for all the world to see, were five small strips of paper. Each one was approximately the size of an explosion note, but instead of seals they bore inscriptions like ‘BOOM!’ or ‘HI, MY NAME IS CHARCOAL.’

“AAAAAH?! WHAT THE HELL?!” Rounding on the two ‘geniuses,’ Naruto held up the vandalized article of clothing. “Wh-where’d these come from? Sasuke, you bastard, did you do this?”

Sasuke snarled in contempt. “Sakura did it, moron!” he snapped.

“That’s enough, Sasuke,” Kakashi warned, glancing at the dark-haired boy. “I think Naruto can figure out the rest.”

Naruto’s expression crumbled in disbelief as he stared at the pair. “Eeeh? No way!” Turning to his object of desire, he gave Sakura a hurt look. “Sakura-chan?”

Green eyes flashed with mischief as Sakura gave him a small, mocking smile. “Surprised, Naruto?” she asked. “I _am_ your opponent, you know. I haven’t been slacking off, either, so you’d better start taking this seriously, or I’m gonna make you look _really_ stupid.”

Kakashi watched in amusement as Naruto’s face underwent a series of strange contortions, like he couldn’t decide whether or not to be offended. Even Sasuke looked taken aback; Sakura was always on her best behavior when he was around, so this was a side of her he’d seldom seen.

“How about we have a little bet?” Sakura continued, before Naruto could make up his mind. “Loser of this bout buys the winner a bowl of ramen!”

As she uttered the magic word, all indecision vanished from Naruto’s face. “Ramen? Alright, you’re on!”

“_But_, to make it interesting, I propose a restriction,” Sakura added, confidently riding over Naruto’s enthusiasm. “Kakashi-sensei wants to see how we’ve improved, so I think we should both stop leaning on our strengths: I won’t use genjutsu this time, if you don’t use ninjutsu.” A cunning grin crossed Sakura’s lips as the jaws of the trap started to close.

Naruto wasn’t completely oblivious, however. “No ninjutsu?” he asked uncertainly. “That ain’t fair, Sakura-chan. I wouldn’t be able ta do Kagebunshin or-”

“How is it unfair?” Sakura pressed, her good humor evaporating in an instant. “All your best techniques are ninjutsu, while all of mine are genjutsu; that sounds like an even trade to me,” she pointed out, crossing her arms and frowning testily.

“But-”

“Unless you think my skills aren’t worth much?” Her tone growing bitter, Sakura fixed Naruto with a venomous glare. “I may not be able to go toe-to-toe with any _monsters_, but so far I have a pretty good record against slow, loud-mouthed genin.”

Naruto’s jaw dropped, and for several moments he could do nothing but open and close his mouth like a dying fish. “W-what did you just- hey! That’s- it’s not- Aaargh!”

Visibly torn between striking back and trying to placate the hissing pit viper that had replaced his kind, wonderful Sakura-chan, the blonde ninja turned to his teacher in search of support. “Kakashi- senseeeeei!”

“You should probably just agree, Naruto,” the jounin offered sagely. It seemed like the only safe option, since even _he_ couldn’t tell if the girl was acting or not.

“Stay out of it, broom-head,” Sakura snapped angrily. “If he hasn’t got the guts ta face me without his _precious_ Kagebunshin, then let him use it. I’m gonna kick his fuckin’ ass either way.”

*’Broom-head?’* One bushy gray eyebrow twitched a hair higher. *So much for sorting this ‘mentor’ thing out before she picked up any bad habits,* the copy-ninja observed, sighing in chagrin.

The way Sakura was baiting Naruto made a bit more sense now: she was emulating Anko. The wild woman of Konoha was frightfully adept at driving people to distraction, and Sakura had always been a quick study. Indeed, Sasuke was now staring at Sakura with an expression like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice down his shorts, and Naruto…

“Ha! I thought somethin’ weird was goin’ on!” the blonde boy barked, glaring suspiciously at the surly kunoichi. “Is that you, Kiba?”

Reeling, it was Sakura’s turn to gape in disbelief. “W-what the hell! Are ya _really_ that stupid?” she screeched. “Why the fuck would ya think I’m _Kiba_ of all people?”

“You’re always doin’ dumb crap like this, like that time that ya pretended ta be Sakura-chan and gave me a rice ball filled with hot pepper sauce!” he accused. “You’re not gonna fool me again, though! Sakura-chan would never talk like that!”

Sakura seethed for a moment, but then a wave of realization broke across her face; definitely not a reaction that Kakashi was expecting. The rage returned, but now it was tempered by hurt and frustration.

“Grrr- shut up and fight!” Sakura roared, surging forward with surprising speed. Caught off guard, Naruto didn’t have time to form any seals before the pink-haired girl was on top of him, and then he had his hands full.

“If ya wanna fight, at least change back- OW! Dammit!” Naruto winced as Sakura feigned into a nerve strike that rendered his left arm numb and tingly from the shoulder down. Stepping back, he tried to put a little distance between them.

Sakura stayed right with him, however. Twisting around Naruto’s foreshortened palm strike, she changed her footing to catch his legs and then slid her left hand to the side to grab his shirt, pivoting into the blonde boy’s guard.

Instead of following with a throw, however, Sakura pulled her other hand back for an elbow jab, distracting Naruto as she freed her legs and tripped him onto his butt. Sakura’s follow-up kick missed Naruto’s face by less than a centimeter as he leaned away. Rolling to his feet, Naruto rubbed his nose and squinted warily at his opponent.

Relaxing her stance, Sakura gave him a playfully sadistic grin. “What, ain’cha gonna use your favorite fuckin’ trick?” she taunted in a mocking singsong. “C’mon- If ya don’t, yer gonna loooose!”

“Ya only hit me twice!” Naruto barked back, flexing the fingers of his left hand to show that feeling had already returned to his arm. “Kagebunshin ain’t all I can do, either! Watch this!” Forming a different set of seals, Naruto growled in concentration- and then promptly collapsed to his knees, slowly toppling forward like a felled tree.

Cupping a hand behind her ear, Sakura cocked her head to the side. “Sorry, I didn’t hear that last part. Wanna run it by me again?” After waiting a few moments, she sneered in disdain and turned to peer expectantly at Kakashi.

“He doesn’t need to go to the hospital, does he?” the jounin deadpanned, giving the pink-haired girl a skeptical look.

“Naah, he’ll be fine in an hour or so,” Sakura assured him. Crossing her arms behind her back, she leaned to the side and stuck out her tongue cutely. “Sooo… are we done?”

Frowning, Kakashi reached up to scratch his head. “Well, if he isn’t going to wake up for a while, I suppose I ought to get going.” He might not be late for that mission debriefing after all.

“Could you maybe drop Naruto off at home on your way to HQ?” Flashing an innocent smile that seemed at odds with the mocking leer she’d worn just moments before, Sakura gazed up at him with huge, pleading green eyes.

*That’s even creepier than when Anko does it,* Kakashi thought, turning his involuntary shudder into a shrug of ambivalence. “I guess,” he conceded.

“Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!” Beaming, Sakura turned to her conscious teammate. “Do you want to go get something to eat, Sasuke-kun?”

Though Sasuke had long since regained his composure, the dark-haired boy didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gazed in mild apprehension at Sakura until her smile started to wilt around the edges.

“Okay,” he finally agreed. Turning, Sasuke stalked off without looking back to see Sakura breathe a sigh of relief and jog after him.

*So much for being on time.* After the pair disappeared down the path, Kakashi ambled over to the fallen boy. Kneeling down, he turned Naruto over to check him for injuries. As expected, the two ‘hits’ that Sakura had landed were nothing to worry about; neither of them had done enough damage to even leave a bruise. More troubling, however, was Sakura’s ‘third’ attack.

Pulling aside the collar of the black T-shirt that Naruto wore under his coat, Kakashi carefully fingered a pair of small, closely spaced puncture wounds in the soft spot of skin and muscle under the boy’s left collarbone. The holes were tiny, and there was hardly any bleeding, but Naruto still should have noticed them.

She’d done it as she was brushing her hand to the side to grab his shirt. The nerve strike hadn’t been meant to impair Naruto at all; the numbness had masked the sting of the needles, while the aborted throw and jab to the ribs had taken his attention away from his shoulder.

After that, it had just been a matter of keeping Naruto distracted until the poison took effect. It appeared to be the same poison that she’d used on the Sound nins she’d captured, but diluted enough to make it ’safe’ to use on her teammate. Like before, with the explosion notes, Naruto had never even sensed the ‘killing’ blow.

*There’s no way she learned to fight like that from Gai,* the gray- haired jounin decided. On top of the way she tried to trick Naruto into forsaking his favorite techniques, the careful and premeditated use of poison didn’t fit Gai’s style.

Sakura hadn’t mentioned training with anyone else while he was gone, but Kakashi was starting to suspect that her apprenticeship to Anko wasn’t as recent as he’d been led to believe. *Why would she want to hide it, though?*

Kakashi wasn’t fond of Anko, but he didn’t begrudge Sakura’s decision to find herself a mentor. Anko was a competent ninja, and as long as she hadn’t taught Sakura anything _too_ dangerous… Frowning, Kakashi hefted his unconscious student. The more the thought about it, the less he liked where this might be headed; this definitely merited looking into.

§

“C’mon, man! Ya can’t just leave it at that!”

“There is nothing more to say.” Calmly ignoring his comrade’s whining, Shino took a sip of his cold barley tea.

Snorting, Kiba turned away. “Yeah, right!” The dog boy was getting a bit frustrated with his teammate. At their meeting after the Hokage’s funeral, Shino’s had given his team a brief account of his part in the battle. Some of the parts he’d glossed over had piqued Kiba’s interest, but dragging details out of Shino was like squeezing blood from a stone.

Slurping up another mouthful of steaming noodles, Kiba chewed thoughtfully. Shino claimed that ANBU had ordered him not to reveal too much, but he _had_ let slip that Sakura had helped him beat two of the Hidden Sand genin team. After months of working with the Aburame clan heir, Kiba was finally starting to get the hang of reading Shino’s mood from the bizarre melange of scents that the bug-user gave off, and there was no doubt about it: Shino was definitely uncomfortable whenever Sakura came up.

Was it possible that he liked her? That would be kind of weird; Kiba just couldn’t picture Shino getting all gushy over a girl. “So after ya dragged the blonde outta the river, then what? Did’ja have ta give’er mouth-to-mouth or somethin’?” he prodded anxiously.

As a hint of pink appeared on Shino’s cheeks, the answer struck Kiba like a lightning bolt. “Or hey- did _Sakura_ do it? Hah, that’s it, ain’t it!” Shino’s expression didn’t change, but Kiba’s eyes grew wide as an vivid, tomato-red blush blossomed on the quiet boy’s face.

*Holy crap! He’s totally freakin’ out!* Kiba had never seen Shino react like this before. “Jeeze, what else did she do?” he demanded, wishing he had a camera so he could capture this historic occasion for posterity.

Brows furrowed in annoyance, Shino reached for his chopsticks, read to give Kiba the cold shoulder once again. As he lifted his head, however, he froze, staring past the dog boy in shock. “Ask her yourself,” Shino stated softly, looking down at his bowl as the acrid scent of discomfort moved to the fore of his strange olfactory symphony, mingled with something else that Kiba didn’t recognize.

“Hmm?” Twisting in his seat, Kiba glanced over his shoulder to see Sasuke lifting aside the shop curtain with Sakura right behind him. Conflicting signals bombarded Kiba’s chakra-enhanced senses as a breeze blew past the pair; Sasuke, cool and aloof on the outside, was actually a seething cauldron of irritation, while Sakura’s bright smile was at odds with the unhappiness that swirled around her like a bitter, mossy fog.

“Huh…wonder what the deal is with them.” From what Kiba had seen, it was rare for Sasuke to be alone with a girl, even Sakura. It was also odd that Sakura seemed upset with this new arrangement. Whatever their problem was, it was a perfect opportunity. Sitting up straight, Kiba waved to get the pink-haired girl’s attention. “Hey, Sakura!”

Flinching at the loud interruption, Sakura turned to look their way. As she stared at the boys from team eight, glancing from one to the other, the sharp tang of fury scraped down Kiba’s sinuses like a rusty iron spike. “Sasuke-kun, go ahead and order. I’ll be there in a sec,” she called to her companion, her cheerful mask unfaltering, but Sasuke was already moving toward the counter. With a despairing sigh, Sakura stalked toward them.

Shino seemed to sense the change in her mood as well, for he was the first to speak. “I didn’t say anything,” he mumbled flatly, though his fading blush exploded back to life.

Stopping beside their booth with her arms crossed loosely behind her back, Sakura regarded Shino for a moment, a smirk appearing on her lips. “Thank you, Shino-kun. I knew I could trust you to be discreet,” she purred sweetly. Leaning forward, Sakura dropped her gaze a fraction. “Maybe you should wait a bit before you stand up, though- we wouldn’t want you to have another embarrassing ‘accident,’” she teased.

Before Kiba could figure out what they were talking about, those smiling jade eyes fell upon him. Suddenly, he could almost _feel_ Sakura’s teeth sinking into the soft flesh of his throat as her lips pulled back in a thin mockery of a smile. “Kiba-kun,” she greeted casually, every syllable fairly dripping with menace, “I hope you haven’t been talking about me behind my back again.”

Kiba found himself shaking his head automatically, praying that she would believe him and just _go away_. “That’s good,” she praised, allowing his insides to unclench for an instant. Then her voice dropped to a breathy, sibilant hiss that made him feel like there were centipedes crawling in his ears. “If I were to find out that you’d started any more horrible rumors about me, I would be _very_ unhappy.”

Pouting cutely, Sakura reached up to secure a cotton-candy cowlick behind her ear, and an involuntary shiver raced down Kiba’s spine as he noticed the sword-hilt peeking out from behind her shoulder; that thing looked awfully familiar. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple as Sakura’s fingers lingered beside the weapon for just a heartbeat too long.

Then, as suddenly as it had gripped him, the spell was broken. Sakura’s smile was just a smile, and no hungry, murderous beasts lurked behind her eyes. “Sasuke-kun is waiting for me though, so I don’t really have time to talk right now. I’ll see you guys around, okay?” Giving the boys an apologetic little wave, she turned and strolled away.

Collapsing in on himself as the tension evaporated, Kiba looked down to see that his hands were still shaking, and he’d snapped his chopsticks in half. “Shit! That was _her!” The ‘foreign swordsman’ that he’d bumped into on the day of the exam had been _Sakura_! There was no he could forget that almost tangible aura of malevolence. “What the fuck?”

She had to be using some sort of technique; there was no other explanation. “Like hell I’m gonna let her get away with that!” With a growl, Kiba started scooting out of the booth to go give little Ms. Sneaky a piece of his mind. When he looked up, however, he found Sakura glaring straight at him, her face hard with disapproval.

The next thing Kiba noticed was a ribbon of silver light flickering toward his throat. A puff of cheap foam padding tickled the back of his neck as the vinyl head-rest behind him split open lengthwise like a pair of lips. As Kiba turned to look, a rush of vertigo hit him, and he suddenly felt like he was falling forward, right into his half- finished bowl of noodles.

§

“You’re not serious.” Kakashi favored the brunette with an disbelieving stare. Could it be that straight-laced Kurenai had finally grown a sense of humor? Had Anko put her up to this? Had she gone insane?

None of these seemed sufficient to explain the tawdry tale of forbidden love that the earnest young jounin had just recounted to him. Stolen kisses in back alleys, illicit torture-chamber trysts; if she had _this_ much imagination hiding behind that chaste, reserved facade, then maybe she wouldn’t be such a bore to work with after all.

There was such a thing as going too far, however. “If you don’t know what’s going on, then just say so,” he suggested.

Frowning, Kurenai glared at the masked man. “I’m only telling you this because she’s your student, and because the stories you’d get from the rumor mill would be far worse,” she snapped, crossing her arms in indignation. “I witnessed the kiss behind the restaurant personally.”

Despite her annoyance, Kurenai’s red-eyed gaze grew doubtful. “I’m not sure what to believe. Anko wouldn’t give me a straight answer when I asked her, but Kiba claims to have seen them doing… various things together, and Anko accompanied Sakura both to and from her fight with Ino.”

This gave Kakashi a moment of pause. “She had another fight with Ino?” That little detail must have slipped Sakura’s mind when he’d asked her what she’d done while he was gone.

Kurenai nodded. “The day before the third test; there was quite a crowd.” Blinking, she turned to regard a team of lightly armored ninja that were filing out of one of the nearby briefing rooms. “ANBU even brought a security team in, just in case they had to break it up. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it.”

“I seem to be the victim of a conspiracy,” Kakashi deadpanned. Taking a step toward the departing ninja, he caught the attention of a tall man wearing a dog-styled mask. “Excuse me, but do you have a second?”

“Captain.” The ANBU nodded in recognition as he approached. “What is it?”

“Do you know if any disciplinary reports have been filed regarding Haruno Sakura? She’s one of my students.” When ANBU didn’t react, Kakashi elaborated. “She was in the chuunin exam; bright pink hair.”

“Ooh, her.” The dog-masked ninja nodded in understanding. “Yes; I believe she was released from custody this morning,” he explained.

“Custody?” Kakashi’s brows knitted in confusion. “I was told that Sakura was in quarantine, not being interrogated.”

“Hmm….” The ANBU’s body language became slightly guarded, as if he were deciding how much he could say. “My unit wasn’t involved, so this is second-hand information, but it sounds like it had something to do with the enemy ninja she’d captured.”

Kakashi had figured it was something like that, but it was still worrying. “Have you had any other problems with her?”

“Not really,” the ANBU replied, but after a moment he seemed to reconsider. “Nothing major, at least. Anko-sama brought her in for questioning about a week ago, but she was released the same day. A few days later she challenged Yamanaka Ino to a public fight, but I don’t think either of them were seriously injured.” The ANBU shrugged helplessly. “Anko-sama has been handling all of the paperwork. That’s all I know.”

“I see,” the one-eyed man replied distractedly. “Thanks; I’ll let you get back to work.”

Nodding, the ANBU turned to go. “Not a problem. Don’t be a stranger, Captain.” he added with a parting nod.

“I’ll work on it,” Kakashi assured his former subordinate. When he returned his attention to Kurenai, the gray-haired jounin wore a bemused expression. “It look’s like I’m going to have to ask Anko,” he observed.

“Ask me what?” Coming out of another door further down the hall, Anko waved and started walking toward them.

Kurenai’s face screwed up in confusion as she stared over Anko’s shoulder. “Isn’t that Homura-dono?” she asked, and Kakashi’s gaze was drawn to an older man that had just exited the same conference room Anko had been in. “What are _you_ doing in a briefing with the head of the village council?” the genjutsu master queried.

Anko didn’t seem to take offence at the thinly-veiled jab. “Actually, I was going to talk to you about that. Are you planning on going anywhere for the next couple weeks, Yuuhi?”

Kurenai’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “No, I was going to try and do some training with Hinata, so I requested local missions. Why?”

Anko’s face broke an ‘innocent’ smile. “Ah, it’s just that I got assigned a long mission, and I was wondering if you could keep an eye on my student while I’m gone- you wouldn’t have to teach her or anything,” Anko hastily assured her friend, looking the tiniest bit guilty. “Just check up on her once in a while. She’s got a habit of doing stupid things when nobody’s watching.”

“Well, I suppose that might be-” Kurenai began, considering the request. “Wait! _You_ got a student? How?” she demanded in disbelief.

“Y’mean broom-head here didn’t tell you?” Anko replied. She jabbed a thumb at Kakashi. “I’m training Sakura-chan now, ’cause Hokage-sama decided _this_ idiot was too irresponsible to handle it.”

“Too… irresponsible?” Flabbergasted, Kurenai turned to Kakashi, her wide crimson eyes begging for an explanation.

“When did this become _my_ fault?”

§

Sliding into the water with a heavy sigh, Sakura lay back and closed her eyes. She didn’t usually take midday baths, but it had been a while since she’d had anything but a quick shower, and she desperately needed to relax after the rotten morning she’d had.

The Hokage’s funeral had put her in a strangely sour mood, and when Kakashi had asked them to meet afterward for a ‘progress evaluation,’ Sakura had welcomed the chance to work out some of her frustration with her favorite blond punching bag. Then Naruto had ruined it by making her mad, and she’d ended up cursing like a sailor in front of everyone.

Now Sasuke-kun was being cold to her, and Naruto was being stupid. *He didn’t have to call me a fake!* Like she wasn’t already insecure about her identity! Squirming uncomfortably, Sakura sank deeper until her eyes were barely above water.

Of course, then she’d gone and make it worse by threatening Kiba. *I could have handled that better,* Sakura mused. All she’d wanted to do was scare the dog boy into keeping his mouth shut. Left to his own devices, Kiba was bound to say something crude in front of Sasuke that would ruin her reputation forever.

Then she’d lost her temper… again. Kiba was apparently too stupid to take a hint, so she’d tried to silence him with a genjutsu-enhanced glare. At the same time, she’d been thinking of how satisfying it would be to just kill the pervert- and suddenly Kiba had screamed, grabbed his throat, picked up his bowl of ramen and dumped it over his head.

It wasn’t hard to connect the dots after she thought about it for a moment. Her killing intent must be magnified by the intimidation technique- enough that he’d actually _seen_ her gristly assassination fantasy, like a weak version of technique Orochimaru had used to stun them during the survival exam. Kiba’s reaction was hilarious, though. She must have laughed at him for a full minute before she realized that everyone else in the restaurant was staring at her in horror. It wasn’t so funny after that.

She really needed to figure out how to limit that technique to just one victim, instead of broadcasting it to everyone within range. The restaurant owner had asked her to leave because she was scaring the other customers, and Sasuke-kun hadn’t even spoken to her when she’d asked him if he wanted to go eat somewhere else.

“He must think I’m some sort of sadistic monster….” Twitching, the pink-haired girl turned around to rest her chin on the edge of the bath. “That’s your cue to say something witty and mean, you know,” she added, glaring at the entrance to the changing area.

Craning her head around the corner, Anko peered at Sakura curiously. “How’d you know I was here?”

“I noticed the air had suddenly gotten cooler, so someone must’ve opened the door, but I didn’t hear it or sense anyone else in the room,” Sakura explained, feeling slightly smug about catching the special jounin’s slip.

“Hmm….” Shaking her head, Anko stepped fully into the doorway. “Pretty paranoid, kid. You’re gonna get gray hairs before you’re twenty.”

“It’ll be your fault if I do, stalker woman,” Sakura countered, favoring Anko with a disparaging look. “You’re still dressed. Weren’t you going to sneak in and grope me or something?”

The brunette smirked mischievously. “Do you want me to?”

“Not right now. I have a headache.”

“Aaaaw- tease!”

“Exhibitionist!”

“Drama queen!”

“Psycho- and you’re one to talk! You chased me halfway across town over _dango_!”

“You knocked me into a puddle too,” Anko countered accusingly. Moving to the edge of the bath, the older kunoichi crouched down to look Sakura in the eye. “So they let you out early for good behavior?”

“Something like that,” Sakura agreed.

Anko’s mouth stretched into a huge, predatory grin. “Oh well, I hope I helped make your last night memorable.”

“I’ll bet you’d know if I… if I’d done that,” Sakura grumbled, blushing. “It’d be like naming a devil.”

“Aaaw!” Pouting, Anko crossed her arms over her knees. “I’ll bet you do it in the bath. I should’ve gotten you one that doesn’t take batteries.”

Snorting in disgust, the younger kunoichi stood, holding her bath towel closed as she stepped out of the water. “Why are you here, Anko? Weren’t you supposed to be in a mission briefing this afternoon?”

The examiner frowned, puffing up in mock indignation. “Hey, is that how you address your superiors? I thought we talked about this.”

“I am _not_ calling you ‘Mistress Anko’,” Sakura declared icily.

An exasperated note entered Anko’s voice as she followed Sakura over to the locker where the pink-haired girl had left her clothes. “Can’t you at least call me ’sensei’?” she pleaded.

“Teach me something and maybe I’ll consider it,” Sakura deadpanned, pulling on her pants.

“Well, if you’d like to come to my apartment, we could-”

“Something about being a _ninja_!”

“Bleh, you’re no fun.” Frowning in annoyance, Anko glanced at her watch. “Alright, fine; I guess we have time for that too.”

“Huh?”

§

“Do I have to sign these forms every time I come here?” Handing the thick sheaf of non-disclosure agreements and liability waivers back to Anko, Sakura noted that they seemed to get heavier with each visit. *ANBU must have some sort of ‘red tape’ jutsu that makes bureaucracy seem more tedious.*

Flipping through the signature pages, the examiner shook her head distractedly. “Nah, this should do you for a while.” Anko pushed about half the stack across the desk to the guard on duty and waved for the pink-haired girl to follow her inside. “Okay, let’s go.”

This time, instead of the cells or torture chambers, Anko led Sakura to a small, windowless office on the second floor of the building. A single naked bulb hung from the ceiling to illuminate the room’s sparse furnishings; a heavy wooden desk dominated the room, vying for space with a small, uncomfortable-looking chair and a half-dozen cardboard boxes.

“These,” Anko explained, gesturing toward the boxes, “are the mission requests, surveillance reports, profiling, interviews and other prep- work done for twelve of the small-squad missions that ANBU has accepted in the last four years.”

Opening one of the boxes on top, Anko extracted a long, cord-bound scroll and offered it to her student. “Your task is to write me a proposal detailing how you would complete one of these missions solo. I’ll allow for any reasonable amount of pre-mission support, but I want you to assume an insertion team composed only of yourself. You should include as much contingency planning as you deem necessary and you can consult anyone you want for general advice, but you are forbidden to ask about these specific missions. I also want you to catalog all of your sources. You have three weeks to finish this task. Any questions?”

For several seconds, Sakura was at a loss for words. Hesitantly, she stepped forward, reaching for the scroll. She retracted her hand quickly when she noticed the nasty-looking protective ward that sealed it shut. *Those things are real!*

Disbelief shone in Sakura’s eyes as she looked up at her mentor. “You’re not serious, are you?” Anko’s expression didn’t change, and the pink-haired girl’s voice rose in shock. “But that’s insane! ANBU only handles A and S class missions, and you want me to figure out how _I_ could do one of them _alone_?”

“Consider it a challenge,” The interrogator offer with a droll smirk. When this failed to mollify the younger kunoichi, Anko frowned contritely. “What’s the big deal? I thought you loved this sort of thing. Iru- er… your file said you were always doing extra credit research papers and stuff when you were in the Academy.”

The grimace that flashed across Anko’s face made it clear that she didn’t share Sakura’s ‘enthusiasm’ for studying, but Sakura was more interested in the woman’s poorly hidden slip of the tongue. “You spoke to Iruka-sensei about me?” she asked curiously. Checking up on a student’s past performance was a logical, sensible step for a new teacher to take, and thus completely out of character for Anko… unless… “That’s a sneaky way to get a date,” Sakura observed, grinning from ear to ear.

Shifting in discomfort, Anko scowled and slapped her palm down on the desk. “Hey, give me some credit! I just-”

“-Bumped into him,” Sakura guessed, “at his _favorite_ ramen shop, which you happened to be passing by, coincidentally?” The brunette’s reaction was guarded this time, the merest twitch of an eyebrow, but Sakura could smell blood in the water.

“Jeeze, you’re pathetic!” Sakura sneered. “You act all wild and scary and shameless around everyone else, but with Iruka-sensei you’re like some shy schoolgirl who’s read too much romance manga!”

“You’re one to talk!” Anko sputtered, going red in the face. “Your record’s not the only thing I’ve been checking up on, and it’s pretty disgusting the way you fawn over that Uchiha brat, even though he obviously couldn’t care less!”

The truth stung, but Sakura pushed it aside. “At least I’m trying! Besides, I’m thirteen years old! What’s _your_ excuse?”

For a few moments it seemed like she’d stumped Anko, for the jounin’s face went blank. Then a chill settled over Sakura as Anko’s expression hardened. “You, of all people, should know that,” the tall woman snapped, her voice cool and controlled, but with an edge of bitterness.

“Oh.” The electric thrill of triumph evaporated when Sakura realized that she’d managed to really hurt Anko’s feelings. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” she apologized sheepishly, “but, I mean- he has to know what you’re like when he’s not around. If you want to know if he could return your feelings, shouldn’t you just be yourself with him?”

“So what am I _really_ like?” Anko countered. “Do you think I’m just _pretending_ to-” She stopped abruptly, biting her lip and looking away in frustration, as if she felt like a fool for trying to justify herself to a child.

“Not pretending, maybe just… trying too hard.” Frowning, Sakura leaned against the edge of the desk. “You should try to relax a bit more.”

“Hypocrite,” Anko needled, peering querulously at her charge. Though she was clearly still angry, the accusation was more tinged with annoyance than hurt.

Sakura breathed a sigh of surrender. “Maybe.” Meeting Anko’s gaze, the green-eyed kunoichi ventured a small, melancholy smile. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know who I am, or who I should be, so it’s hard for me to let my guard down and just be ‘myself.’”

Sensing that the conversation had become too personal, the two kunoichi shared a moment of uncomfortable silence, but then Sakura remembered something that she’d wanted to ask her teacher. “I didn’t see you at Hokage-sama’s funeral. Are you okay? I mean with, you know….” she trailed off uncertainly as Anko’s expression sobered.

“I was on guard duty,” Anko explained, glancing down at her feet. “A few dozen of us volunteered to stand watch while everyone else was at the ceremony. We got to pay our respects later.” A sad smile tugged at the corners of Anko’s mouth. “Besides, a lot of folks probably wouldn’t have been happy to see me there. Normally I’d say, ‘Fuck ‘em!’ and go anyway, but….”

Sakura gazed silently at the older kunoichi for several seconds as she wrestled with a dozen comforting platitudes that would all probably come out tired and useless if she said them aloud. Then, sitting up, she walked across the room and wordlessly wrapped her arms around Anko’s waist.

The brunette looked down at her in confusion. “What?”

“Nothing,” The pink-haired girl murmured, her cheek pressed against her mentor’s chest.

Anko stared at Sakura for a few moments before placing her hand on the back of the shorter girl’s head. “Thanks,” she whispered in gratitude. Then her melancholy expression twisted into a familiar, devilish smirk. “Just don’t go thinking you can wiggle outta one of _my_ assignments that easy, Sakura-chan.”

Lifting her gaze, Sakura flashed Anko a pleasant smile with lots of teeth. “Shut up, Anko-neechan.”

“That’s all I’m gonna get, isn’t it?” the special jounin asked with a dramatic sigh.

“For now,” Sakura affirmed, now wearing her own mischievous grin. “Or would you prefer ‘Anko-baachan’?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Hah!”

“But why can’t you call me ’sensei?’ I’m trying to do teacher stuff.”

“And what exactly am I supposed to learn from this-” Sakura’s voice was laced with sarcasm as she peered out of the corner of her eye at the boxes of scrolls. “-this exercise in futility?”

“How about we both learn what you _think_ you’re capable of.” Anko countered smugly.

For the first time, Sakura was a little impressed; she hadn’t expected Anko to come up with such a plausible answer. *Well, I guess she _is_ an examiner. She has to know how to test people, at least.* Sakura wasn’t ready to give up, though. “There are less time-consuming ways to learn that,” she pointed out. “I mean, you say three weeks, but I could probably work on this for _months_ without making any progress.”

“It’s not that bad,” Anko dismissed, though her face said that she would enjoy watching her pupil suffer. “Besides, there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect plan.’” Suddenly, Anko’s expression turned almost guilty, and she paused to take a deep breath before adding, “Plus, it looks like I’m not going to be able to teach you anything else for a little while.”

Sakura grimaced as her stomach did an uncomfortable flip. With hooded eyes, the pink-haired girl glared suspiciously at her teacher. “What did you do now, Anko?” she demanded.

“Hey! Don’t just assume it’s _my_ fault! And what happened to ‘Anko- neesama’?”

“Don’t push your luck- and don’t change the subject!”

§

*Dammit!* Reflexively ducking low as Ino turned her way, Sakura suppressed a growl of frustration. *Too close!*

When Ino led her into this overgrown gully, Sakura had immediately realized that she’d stumbled into a trap. The shoulder-high grass did an excellent job of ruining her concealment. When she moved, it created a physical tell that her genjutsu didn’t compensate for, and the densely-packed brush it made it hard for her to use bunshin as distractions.

Sakura hadn’t given up the chase, though; you didn’t always get to choose your battlefield, and Sakura was impressed that Ino had already worked out a way to foil a technique she’d only seen once. Plus, Sakura had figured environmental factors would hinder Ino almost as much as her, reducing the fight to a test of close combat skills.

She couldn’t have been more wrong; the half-dozen bunshin sweeping the area around her didn’t seem to have _any_ problems navigating the tall grass. They just pushed through it like they were solid, circling inward in a cautious search pattern that made it very hard to tell which, if any of them, was the real Ino.

Cringing as the grass started rustling a few yards to her left, the pink-haired girl took a chance and quickly slithered away on her side, cutting the narrowest path possible as she moved to a safer distance. *How the hell is she doing that?* she wondered for the tenth time, straining her senses for any hint that Ino had spotted her.

Ino didn’t have the stamina for Kagebunshin, but Mizubunshin was possibility. It was a common jutsu among the villages that favored water element techniques, and Sakura could name at least one person in Konoha that knew it. They also might be genjutsu illusions, but Sakura didn’t know any specific counters for that type of trick, and she couldn’t use Kai without cancelling her own genjutsu.

Mentally cataloging her scant remaining equipment, Sakura considered her options. She had four simple exploding tags, but no sentry tags, so she couldn’t set up a perimeter. She also didn’t want to hurt Ino; she still felt terrible about how she’d gone berserk the last time they’d fought.

She could probably force Ino to surrender by planting a dummy tag like she had with Naruto, but that was a risky proposition unless she could single out the real Ino first. Caltrops were normally a good solution for bunshin disposal, but they were impractical in this terrain. The thick grass could neutralize them as easily as it concealed them.

She had plenty of senbon, but Sakura didn’t know how long her concealment would hold on a thrown projectile. When she’d put down her sword during her fight with the Hidden Sound, her opponent had noticed it immediately. Without bunshin to throw ’shadow’ needles, Ino might be able to triangulate her position from the direction of her attacks.

Her best option was probably the same tactic she’d used against the Sound nins: create a momentary distraction and initiate a running offense to thin out the opposition. She’d know quickly whether they were genjutsu or clones by how they ‘died.’ She couldn’t use a clone of her own, however; she hadn’t created one beforehand, and doing so now would give away her position.

*Unless… crap, did I bring any of those?* Rooting through her equipment pouch, Sakura noted in relief that she still had a single flash bomb. She’d had to sacrifice some of her basic gear since she’d started carrying poisons and the tools to prepare them, and her bulky, delicate flash bombs had been among the first things to go.

Bouncing the plum-sized paper sphere in her hand, Sakura took a kunai and trimmed the fuse down to a tiny stub. A quick glance around confirmed that her targets were still searching in the same pattern. The flash would only blind Ino if she looking Sakura’s way; a bunshin created during the distraction would hopefully fool Ino if she wasn’t blinded, but that wouldn’t hold up for long.

There was also the chance that Ino wasn’t one of the copies. If she was hiding out of sight, the flash might still catch her, but that would make Sakura’s task much harder. Training with Gai had improved her stamina, but maintaining her concealment genjutsu for very long was still draining. She had to find Ino as soon as possible.

Lighting the fuse, Sakura closed her eyes and tossed the bomb into the air, blazing through the seals for her ‘improved’ bunshin technique as she felt a brief flash of heat from above. Standing as her decoy leapt high into the air, Sakura launched a pair of needles with a flick of the wrist, skewering two blonde kunoichi.

The copies vanished in twin puffs of smoke as Sakura’s needles stuck. *They’re just bunshin after all! But how?* Spinning to face her third target, Sakura bounded toward a rotting stump that would partially relieve the pressure on her concealment justu.

To her shock, the stump wavered and vanished an instant before she landed, revealing Ino. The blonde girl’s hands were locked in the ‘release’ seal, and victory shone in Ino’s sapphire eyes. Springing away, Ino formed a short, unfamiliar set of seals and planted one hand at her feet with a cry of, “Kusashibari no jutsu!”

*The grass!* Sakura realized, too late to correct her trajectory. As she touched down, the field beneath her came alive, snarling her legs in a hungry, tangled morass. Bending her knees, Sakura tried to keep her body upright, but momentum forced her right shoulder to the ground as she hit.

Groping for her sword with her left hand, Sakura recoiled as the grass all around her began to lick at her limbs like straw-colored flames. Within moments she found herself completely entangled, face down in the dirt with both arms pinned, her behind waving in the air like a flag of surrender.

“Fuck!” the pink-haired girl spat, not caring who heard as she strained against her bonds, but the chakra-enhanced fibers were as strong as steel. Blushing, Sakura calmed her struggles when she felt the bottom of her sweatshirt slip down to pool at her breasts. “W-what the hell?” she growled, glaring at her rival out of the corner of her eye.

“Come on, Sakura-chan, it’s not that hard to figure out,” Ino replied teasingly. The nearby grass clung to the blonde kunoichi like it was attracted by a static charge, but it didn’t seem to hinder Ino as she stepped closer. “I’ve used this on you before,” she hinted.

Sakura’s brow crinkled in confusion, but then realization dawned on her. “That ‘hair rope’ trick?” she guessed.

“Bingo, got it in one!” Ino congratulated, dropping to one knee beside Sakura’s head. “It’d be a pain if I had to grow out my hair again every time I used it, so I found a better way.”

That was possibly the biggest understatement Sakura had ever heard. The original technique was already powerful, but to turn a simple snare trap into something that could hold an opponent completely immobile- beneath her anger, Sakura couldn’t help but feel twinge of awe. *Ino-chan is still incredible.*

Her eyes must have betrayed her, for Ino’s smug smile grew to a full- blown grin. “Impressed?” Ino asked, eliciting a scowl from her red- faced captive. “Didn’t you say something about ‘moving on?’ It looks to me like you didn’t get very far.”

Wincing, Sakura looked away. Ino had always had been able to read her with painful ease. *I guess I deserved that.* Her words before their last fight had been chosen specifically to make Ino mad, but Sakura could admit that she’d acted like total jerk.

Besides, Ino was right. This was the third time an opponent had pushed her into a corner by piercing her concealment genjutsu. Without that, how much had she really improved? *Not much,* she concluded glumly; clearly not enough to say that she’d ’surpassed’ her rival in any real sense.

As disheartening as that was, she wasn’t going to just stand by and let Ino rub it in her face in it. “You’ve made your point! You win, now let me go!” she demanded, praying that the blonde girl wasn’t in the mood to gloat.

Unexpectedly, Ino’s expression softened. “I’m willing to call us even,” Ino offered, reaching down to brush Sakura’s bangs from her eyes with surprising affection. “You _have_ come a long way, Sakura- chan- but I haven’t been standing still either!” Smirking, Ino gave Sakura’s cheek a firm pinch. “Did you think I’d give up just because you beat me once, forehead-girl?”

Unable to jerk away, Sakura grit her teeth and tried to ignore the ache of her abused cheek. “No,” she mumbled grudgingly.

“Then stop sulking!” Ino scolded, pinching harder. “It’s making me mad! In fact-” Reaching behind her, Ino produced a disposable camera. “I think it’s time for some payback!”

Paling in horror, Sakura tried to bury her face in the grass. “Iiinoooo! Please, no!”

“What? You humiliated _me_ in public, but I was nice enough to challenge you to a _private_ rematch, so I need some sort of proof that I won.” Letting go of Sakura’s face, Ino sat back on her heels and snapped a few shots, grinning madly as the pink-haired girl squirmed.

When she was finished, Ino didn’t put the camera away. Instead, she crouched down and poked Sakura in the cheek with it. “See, that didn’t hurt so much, did it?” she taunted.

Biting back tears of shame, Sakura pouted and glared at her rival. *Dammit, how long does she plan to keep me like this?* Testing her bonds, Sakura found them as firm as ever. Even after all the training she’d done, Ino’s chakra reserves were still better than hers, she noted bitterly. *This fucking sucks!*

When Sakura didn’t reply, Ino frowned and poked her again. “Hey, do you _really_ want to keep these pictures a secret?” she asked, waving the camera where Sakura could see it.

“What the hell do you think?” Sakura snapped. Muffled by the grass, her voice sounded whiny and pathetic in her ears.

“Then I’ll make you a deal,” Ino purred slyly. “I promise I won’t show them to anyone if you promise to get me a date with Sasuke-kun.”

“What?” For a moment, Sakura was too stunned to respond. Ino had just defeated and humiliated her, and was now blackmailing her into playing matchmaker? “Like hell I will!” Sakura snarled.

“Why not?” Ino demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glowering down at her captive. “Why do you care who he dates? You don’t even like boys!”

And here they were again. “I do so like boys!” Sakura snapped defensively. Even though Ino had accepted that she wasn’t dating Anko, for some reason, her friend had latched firmly onto the idea that she was a lesbian.

Anko had suggested that she try convincing Ino with actions rather than words, but she still had to defend her territory until she could win Sasuke’s heart. “Even if I _did_ like girls, which I _don’t_, who says I can’t like boys too?” the pink-haired girl growled, blushing deeper.

Ino’s cheeks reddened as well, though it was hard to tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment. “Now you’re just being greedy!” she accused. “You’ve had plenty of time to win him over! If he doesn’t like you, why can’t you just give up and move on?”

“Why can’t _you_ give up?” Sakura countered scornfully. First Anko and now Ino; did everyone think chances with Sasuke were a joke? “If he won’t go out with me, what makes you think he’ll go out with you? He hates annoying girls, and you’re a hundred times more annoying than me, Ino-PIG!”

Twitching at the familiar jab, Ino huffed and crossed her arms. “Oh, really? Then what kind of girl does he like?” she challenged.

As she opened her mouth to reply, Sakura found herself stumped. Back in the academy, she’d heard that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, but that was just a rumor. Other than that, she had no idea what he liked; in fact, he never seemed to show any interest in girls at all. *How did he react to Naruto’s Oiroke-no-jutsu?* That would at least tell her if he liked big boobs.

Wracking her brain, Sakura almost managed to tune out her anxiously waiting rival- at least until she saw the calculating gleam in Ino’ eye. *She’s fishing for info! That sneaky bitch!* Hiding her surprise, Sakura decided that two could play that game. She’d just tell Ino that Sasuke-kun liked all of the things Ino _wasn’t_. That would drive her rival mad!

She had to be careful, though; rather than blatantly bashing Ino, it would be better to list good qualities that Ino didn’t possess, like modesty and patience and… *There has to be more than that!*

Naming physical traits that Sasuke ‘preferred’ would just force her to put herself out of the running as well, but personality-wise… Ino was proud and headstrong, but she was also loyal and kind. A great friend and a natural leader, Ino was intuitive, clever and decisive, and always seemed to know what to do.

Sakura had worshipped and idolized Ino as a child, and she hadn’t been alone. The blonde had always been one of the most popular girls in the academy. *And I was always just, ‘that weirdo that hangs around Ino.’* Even thinking about it was depressing; it was enough to give a girl an inferiority complex.

“Well?” Ino prodded impatiently, interrupting Sakura’s thoughts. “I’m waiting.” Frowning, the blue-eyed kunoichi gave Sakura a look of disdain. “I’ll bet you don’t even know what he likes,” she scoffed.

Sakura was getting really tired of people reading her mind. Flustered, she sneered in defiance. “If I did, why the hell would I tell _you_?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll show everyone how badly I beat you!” Ino reminded her angrily, gesturing with the camera for emphasis.

“Like you weren’t planning to just _tell_ everyone anyway!” Sakura accused. She hadn’t missed the fact that Ino hadn’t promised to keep her shameful defeat a secret; just the pictures of it.

Finally hiding the camera when she saw how Sakura was eyeing it, Ino leaned forward until their faces were just centimeters apart. “I’ll give Kiba copies!” she added in a threatening whisper. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to show them all over the village! He’ll probably even keep a few for his ‘private collection.’”

“I don’t think he’ll be a problem,” Sakura hissed, her lips compressing into a thin smile. “I’ll just tell his sister that he’s been spying on me. Once she’s done with him, he won’t be able to look at a girl straight without his balls shriveling up like raisins.”

Sakura wasn’t certain it would actually happen that way. Though Hana had been her brother’s keeper for as long as Sakura could remember, the Inuzuka siblings had always struck her as a little odd. Given their entire clan tried to emulate the qualities of wolves, who knew what they considered acceptable behavior towards the opposite sex?

Fortunately, it seemed her bluff had worked, for Ino was trembling in frustration. Clearly nearing the end of her rope, Ino took a deep breath and almost closed her eyes, then seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” she spat tersely. “If you don’t want to cooperate, we can do this the hard way.”

Straightening, Ino began walking around Sakura until she was standing in the pink-haired girl’s blind spot. No matter which way she turned her head, Sakura couldn’t see what Ino was doing. She got a jarring hint when she felt Ino’s hand brush against her shoulder and the weight of her sword disappeared from her back.

“Ino? What are you doing?” she asked with a guarded frown, shivering involuntarily when she heard the rasp of the blade being drawn from its scabbard. “Ino?” Sakura asked again. The setting sun was directly at her back now, but the shadows cast on the tall grass were too broken up to make out.

“C’mon, stop it. We both know you won’t do anything to me just because I won’t fix you up with Sasuke-kun, so stop playing and let me go,” Sakura reasoned, trying to sound calmer than she felt.

Ino struck without warning, her fingertips dancing lightly down Sakura’s bare sides and over her stomach like a swarm of spiders. “Bwah!” Barely stifling a guffaw, Sakura clenched her jaw and squirmed, desperately struggling not to cry out under Ino’s assault.

“What’s his favorite food?” Ino grilled, leaning down to tickle under Sakura’s arms. “What kind of music does he listen to? What kind of hair gel does he use? You must know _something_! Start talking!”

“N-never!” Sakura bleated stubbornly, unable to hold back a torrent of giggles when she opened her mouth.

Unrelenting, Ino moved in for the kill, reaching back to feather the crook of Sakura’s knee. “Is he a dog person or a cat person? Can he cook? Boxer or briefs? Tell me and I’ll stop!”

Barely able to breathe, Sakura felt her head start to spin. Flailing about for any means of escape, she remembered how Ino had recoiled from her touch back at the hospital; maybe she could shock Ino into letting her go! Wriggling backward, Sakura clumsily lifted her butt to rub her hips up against Ino’s.

Unfortunately, a muscle spasm caused by Ino’s tickling made the motion more forceful than she’d intended, and apparently Ino’s legs weren’t quite where she thought they’d be. “Aaaah!” Sakura cried breathlessly as she felt Ino’s knee grind hard against her crotch.

Instantly, the tickling  stopped, but after a pregnant pause Sakura started to feel something not quite like killing intent emanating from girl bent over top of her. It was frightfully intense, and the blonde had once again gone silent.

“Ino?” Sakura’s hesitant call went unanswered, but the other girl slowly, deliberately began to extricate herself from their messy embrace. “Ino?” Sakura asked again, growing worried. She could practically feel Ino’s smoldering gaze, like it was burning a hole in the seat of her pants.

Sakura squeaked in fright as the blade of her katana slammed into the ground just a hair’s breadth from the tip of her nose, but then she sensed Ino’s presence start to recede. “Ino, I’m sorry!” she called over her shoulder, still unable to move. The rustle of the grass was her only reply. *Fuck, that was dumb!* Now Ino would think she was a pervert- again!

She had to catch Ino and apologize! *Dammit, why hasn’t the technique ended yet?* Maybe Ino was still nearby, watching her. Now that she thought about it, her butt still felt like it was roasting, too. Running gaze up along the polished edge of her sword, Sakura choked when her eyes caught the distinctive flicker of firelight.

“IIINOOO!”

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