"Buttercup, come back here!" Sakura laughs as she chases after the puppy, who barks happily as it trots farther away from her.

"Hey! Exactly where do you think you're going?" Kioshi's familiar chuckle sounds and Sakura rushes into their living room where the little puppy rested in Kioshi's arms, barking happily...

"Thank goodness you caught her." Sakura sighs with a small smile, approaching her boyfriend before pecking him on the cheek, taking the hyper little fluff ball from his arms.

They had recently gotten the little dog from England, after an old high school friend of Sakura's offered them the creature, having no more space for any more dogs. It was a girl, still young, but definitely adorable.

She was already named Buttercup, but Sakura thought it fit the little pup's appearance and personality, sweet and cute. Days in their home were now filled with more smiles and laughter than before after Buttercup came in.

It was a challenge at first, it was like taking care of a newborn baby. But Kioshi had always teased Sakura about it, that she should get used to it because soon enough, they would have their own little bundle of joy. But it wasn't going to be a pet of a sort.

His teasing earned him chuckles or giggles from his girlfriend, who agreed with a grin. 

~*****~

"Hey, I have to go to the HQ again. They promised this was the last night," Sakura poked her head into their shared room that night with a smile, dressed in her 'uniform' which was made of black leggings, a black/grey tank top and a black leather jacket to fit her form perfectly.

Her long raven hair was tied into a high ponytail, swept off to her left side, cascading past her shoulders and stomach. There were small hints of bags under her eyes, but nothing too noticeable. This was the third night in a row she was called to her team's HQ with no warning.

Apparently a group of mafia mobsters from Russia have been demanding business from them and after Sakura had rejected them, they have been sending death threats to the team, to which Sakura always had to reply to, scared that they would attack her beloved team.

But she never told Kioshi any of this, scared that he would worry too much, or worse, leave her because of the awful things she's doing behind his back. Kioshi knew she was a hacker, working for different people, but nothing 'illegal'.

He just didn't know the deeper meaning of her job. He didn't know about her associations to different black market auctions around the world, or her jobs for mafia mobsters and such.

"This is the third night in a week and in a row,are you sure everything's fine at work?" He asked worriedly, walking up to her to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"Yeah, just apparently a lot of clients have been asking for our services," she lied quickly, smiling weakly at him. "And with that, I have extra work, you know, being leader and all that good stuff."

"Okay," he sighed, returning the weak smile. "Just don't overwork yourself, okay? I don't want you passing out or anything. I don't want you getting sick..." he muttered.

"I promise, and if I ever get sick, you're in charge of me. And if I die, you get everything I own." she joked, grinning at the man, who slapped her arm jokingly.

"Sakura, that's not funny," he said seriously, glaring at her jokingly. "I don't want you to leave me," he said, lifting her left hand, where the promise ring he gave her was still around her ring finer. "I promised you I would protect you as long a this ring is around your finger.... But even maybe without it, I still would. And when I made those promises, I promised to myself that if I couldn't save or protect you, I would go with you and try to take as much of the pain as much as possible."

Even though he was being so cheesy right now, Sakura definitely still loved it, laughing as she hugged her boyfriend. "Alright, good job, you just melted my heart Mr. Charmer," she giggled, pecking his lips as she stood on her tiptoes. "Now if you'll let me go, I have jobs to finish. I'll try to be back as soon as possible, okay?"

"Be careful..." He said, hesitantly letting her go as he placed a final kiss on her lips.

"Have I ever been reckless?"

~*****~

"What's the problem now?" Sakura sighs as she enters the team meeting room. She tosses her jacket on her chair, pushing it away as she leaned over the long table, which was occupied by all member of the team.

Rin, Sakura's ever trusty right hand woman, stands with a small note in her hand, hand raised. "I can answer to that." she nods, taking a deep breath.

"Apparently, that same Russian gang sent another letter with a threat, saying they'll be sending a spy to the team to gather info." Rin says, sliding the letter across the table to Sakura. "That and if we don't agree soon, not only will they expose us, they'll also be assassinating us, starting with the lower ranked hackers."

Rin gestures to the trainees by the other end of the table, gradually nodding to all the other hackers, moving up ranks until she gestures to herself and Sakura.

Sakura ponders over her options for a moment. "...No more." she suddenly says, making everyone in the conference room look at her curiously.

"What?" "No more newbies." she answers simply. "The only way to get any closer to our business is through entering the team, we speak to clients through email and letters, meaning they haven't seen our faces before. And our delivery people wear masks when delivering info. So if we don't let any more newbies into the team, that would mean we would risk less of our members and ourselves."

Her simple solution had everyone calm down, but still hesitate quietly. They knew they could rely on their leader when needed but it was time they start being independent. Especially since they already know what's been happening in her private life.

"It's not that simple..." Rin says, "They run multiple businesses, meaning they could send an agent not from their team, but from their company, meaning they might be new to the world and we don't know them yet."

Everyone nods before Rin quietly continues with hesitance, unsure if Sakura would go this far to protect them by making this choice. "The only help we have right now would be from some old... contacts. Meaning to take this gang down, we need a gang stronger than them. I've tried the Bell Crickets but... They're too busy."

"And since this Russian gang is a pretty strong one, our second option was..."

Sakura's brain clicked gears as the answer instantly came to her mind. There was only one gang that they had decent terms with that was more powerful than this gang...

The Ice Dragons.

But the question was... After everything she's done, would Soryu still find the heart to help her after all the pain she's done...?