A WEEK OR SO EARLIER

It started with porn.

Mostly, it started with Kakashi, but porn and Kakashi simply went hand-in-hand, and Sakura wasn't about to nitpick.

It was that little orange book she always saw him have. It was small for a book, only about two-thirds the size of a normal paperback, and much smaller than some hardbacks she'd seen before. Sometimes, Kakashi would put in a half-hearted attempt to hide what the book was by placing another book cover over it, but mostly that was in the presence of Yamato, and even then it was a half-assed effort.

Bright orange, though. Really, was there any other color that could draw a person's eyes as easy as neon orange? Sakura didn't think so, and she'd been around Naruto and his neon orange jackets far, far too long to think otherwise. Orange was for a certain kind of person, someone sun-bright and loud as hell, someone with a persona like Naruto.

Orange, apparently, was also the go-to color for porn books. Or, "mature fiction" books, as Kakashi was constantly correcting her. Really, was there a difference?

Which didn't make sense that Sakura was having a difficult time not always noticing when Kakashi was following her. At first, she thought she was imagining the feeling of being watched, that slight itch behind her eyes, but Sakura had been on high alert since her attack in the dirt parking lot two weeks ago, and she wasn't really one to ignore her instincts.

But it always just seemed to be Kakashi, who would pop out of nowhere when she felt that itch behind her eyes, offering to walk her to class, talk to her as she waited in line to order her coffee. And he always had that ugly little orange book in hand, not even trying to hide it away.

It bothered Sakura. Not that he read his "adult literature," but because someone carrying a neon orange book like that, wearing a black scarf covering half his face and white hair sticking up every which way should really stick out among people in a crowd. But Kakashi didn't. He blended right in like it was nothing, and no one even gave him any weird looks about his appearance unless he was talking to Sakura and drawing attention to himself.

It irked Sakura. She knew what to look for in a crowd, and yet a lot of the time she never saw Kakashi until he wanted her to. And if his little eye crinkle was anything to go by, he knew it.

He had first started to truly inundate himself in her life the day after her little meeting with Pein at Red Dawn, and while Sakura didn't think Kakashi was privy to details of what happened, he was smart enough to fill in the blanks of the important parts.

And, oh, was he smart. It took Sakura a bit to really figure it out, and mostly she had taken things at face value, at how Kakashi would lean back in his seat and kick his feet up on a desk during lectures and let Professor Yamato do all the work, only throwing tidbits out when it suited him as almost a reminder that, yes, he was actually supposed to be teaching and not letting Professor Yamato do all the work.

But once Sakura began to grudgingly accept his presence in her life whether she liked it or not, and began to have actually conversations with the man, Sakura was smacked in the face with Kakashi's ability to turn all her long held ideas and thoughts upside down. They debated on the pros and cons of gene splitting and animal cloning and everything near and dear to her heart.

It seemed to Sakura that Kakashi did not, in fact, have true opinions on anything. He simply threw out arguments and theories and underhanded remarks about the topics they conversed about and made Sakura think. Really think. They had discussions that most professors would never dare get into with a student, if for no other reason than to prevent any offense being taken and because holding differential opinions on almost anything would prove to start an argument, and then an argument would start a heated, angry battle of wills of both parties because it appeared that no one in the world could take and coddle an opinion not their own anymore. Everything was offensive. Everything was held back with too tight grins and beaded eyes, and Sakura had never been one to hold things back.

Neither, it appeared, did Kakashi.

Kakashi was not so much interested in changing Sakura's opinions on things so much as making her think in new lights. He gave her pieces of research and other findings in the world at large and asked her opinion. If she didn't have one on the matter, okay, they moved on. Sometimes Sakura would ask Kakashi his own opinion on things, and sometimes -though rarely-would he indulge her and weigh the pros and cons on medical treatments and researches that many scientists and doctors in the departments responsible would scoff at or have a mere aneurism over, if only spoken in hushed tones in their presence.

Kakashi was not afraid to offend Sakura. And she was not afraid to offend Kakashi. They did, however, get into debates about many, many things. Though they never led to getting offended, but left Sakura's mind whirling about new topics that she'd always taken for granted and at face value before.

She also knew that was exactly what Kakashi wanted to happen.

It began slowly, as all things did, with Sakura beginning to ask the correct questions at the right times, and she slowly-ever so slowly-watched the spark in Kakashi's eyes flash before her, more and more.

Maybe he was always gearing her up for this, she wondered. It wouldn't surprise her.

Over coffee dates and short walks to classes made longer by both unconsciously taking the longer routes. Sakura and Kakashi came to an unspoken agreement never to repeat their "talks" with anyone else. The only other person privy to what they were doing was Yamato, and that was only because he was not, in fact, an imbecile, and knew Kakashi too well not to see the same spark in his eyes as Sakura did. It was not difficult to put two and two together.

"Is it consensual?" was Yamato's first question to Sakura when he asked her to stay after class one day.

"I'm sorry?" she said slowly, blinking rabidly.

Yamato took a deep breath, his face beat red as his owlish eyes flicked back and forth between Kakashi-who was still lounging in his seat with his nose buried in his little orange book-and Sakura, who was still just blinking stupidly at him and wondering if he was asking her what she thought he was. "Is. It. Consensual," he repeated, even slower for her, and lowered his voice like Kakashi hadn't already heard his question the first time.

"Maa, maa, Yamato-senpai," Kakashi drawled. "You're confusing the poor girl."

"I-I just-" Sakura took a deep breath and started again. "Are you asking me if I'm seeing Professor Kakashi . . . romantically?" She had to physically stop the uncomfortable giggles trying to make their way up her throat.

Yamato just stared at her with his owlish eyes, and Sakura couldn't hold back one sharp laugh that was too rough for her dry throat. "I'm sorry, but-no, so many no's"

Kakashi looked up enough that his crinkled eyes could look out at her from the top of his little orange porn book. "I think I'm slightly offended."

Sakura laughed harder.

Yamato swallowed. "So . . . you mean, you two aren't . . . ?"

"Romantically involved?" Sakura finished and shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Now I know I'm super offended."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

Professor Yamato looked like he had just swallowed something sour, his lips puckered and face slowly losing color. Sakura looked at him in concern.

"So all this time, you two have been doing . . . what, exactly?" Yamato finally croaked out, and Sakura wondered what his reaction would have been had she actually confirmed that she and Kakashi were indeed romantically involved. She thought that particular reaction might have been hand-in-hand with choking on his own carbon dioxide.

"So nosy, Yamato-senpai," Kakashi drawled. Sakura could see his eyes crinkle in amusement.

"Talking," Sakura said. "That's all."

"Talking," Yamato repeated, slower. Kakashi made an hmmm sound. "Why?"

"No-Sy," Kakashi repeated, slower.

Sakura ignored him. "Because he's been stalking me, and I'd much rather him stalk me and be able to hold a decent conversation than let him continue stalking me when I'm not noticing."

Yamato blinked at her.

Sakura peeked over at Kakashi, who still looked amused. "Sakura-chan, you would never have noticed me stalking you if I didn't want you too."

She pursed her lips. "My point exactly."

Yamato was looking back and forth between them, slightly frantic.

"So . . . you two aren't involved romantically, but instead you've come to some sort of agreement that he-" he pointed accusingly at Kakashi, "-can continue following you everywhere so long as he's a good converser and you're just . . . ," he waved his hands in front of Sakura like it was supposed to mean something to her and God above, "okay with that?"

"Well," Kakashi drawled, "we're also going to break into a seemingly abandoned warehouse tonight that may or may not be notorious for black market dealings. One that also may or may not deal with stolen kidney's and questionable chemicals and mysteriously obtained cadavers and scientific journals that could give Josef Mengele a run for his Nazi money." His eyes crinkled even more.

Sakura blinked at him. "Well. Why the hell didn't I know about this?" she growled out at him, clenching her fists.

Yamato had at some point during Kakashi's speech sat back on a desk and looked like he was weighting the pros and cons of getting a new job. And maybe new friends. Also, maybe, changing his name and moving somewhere Kakashi couldn't track him down and scare him half to death by pouncing through some window on the eleventh floor.

Sakura wondered if she could come with him.

"Did you know," Kakashi continued like everyone in the room besides him wasn't wondering about how to go about changing one's name legally and how much the whole process would cost to move out of the country, "that there is some real good money in human body donation? Really. I mean, you could make a few grand on a woman's ovaries and uterus and internal organs. Even blood can go for a pretty penny, if taken from the right person."

"Given," Sakura said. "Don't you mean, 'If the blood is given by the right person?'"

Kakashi just blinked at her and cooed like she was something adorable.

"Just to be clear," Yamato spoke up from where it looked like he was trying very hard to make himself soak into the wood on the desk he was leaning against, "you're not joking about this, are you?"

Kakashi turned his attention from cooing at Sakura to glaring pityingly at Yamato, like he really should know better.

Sakura took a deep breath and looked to heaven. "Do I have a choice in this?"

Kakashi looked at her, shocked, and Sakura couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "Of course you have a choice, Sakura-chan. You can either come with me and find out more information about your notorious Akatsuki fan club and why you were attacked, or you could go home tonight and work on memorizing the glands of the human body. Your choice."

Sakura bit back the remark about how she already knew every gland in the human body, and what hormones they produced, and what those hormones acted on and did, and so on and so forth. But she didn't.

So they went.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Unfortunately, Yamato tagged along.

"If you two think for even one second that I'm going to just sit by and know the idiocy that you're up to, you've got another thing coming," Yamato chastised as Sakura strapped on a thigh holster and stuffed a pocket knife inside her bra, reminiscent of a mother-hen. Kakashi oh-so politely pretended not to watch her shove odd weapons inside her shirt.

"Maa, maa, Yamato-senpai. You worry too much; it's not good for indigestion."

Sakura paused at the resemblance that statement had to one Tobi dropped in the middle of a rousing breakfast at the Uchiha mansion, and felt a punch to her stomach. She didn't comment.

The warehouse they were all apparently going to break into that night was not, in fact, a creepy old thing located in the middle of nowhere, where screams could be muffled and no one would ever be able to get service on their phones.

No, instead, said warehouse was more like a renovated townhouse in a nice, little rich-y part of town. It was not, in fact, in the middle of nowhere-quite the opposite, actually. Sakura found this all a bit discouraging.

"Wait," she had said, slowly, when Kakashi had shown her on Google Maps where they were going. "This is it? It looks like something a normal family would live in!"

Kakashi eye-crinkled down at her.

"And it's practically got neighbors!" While the homes and buildings around the so-called warehouse were not right next to each other in the way middle-class homes were, it was by no means next to sprawling land. "Don't people wonder why random people are walking in and out of there in the dead of night? There's always that one nosy neighbor."

"Well," Kakashi said, eyeing the warehouse on Google Maps, "they actually kind of own the place, sooo . . ."

Sakura blinked. "Don't tell me the people we're about to ambush and are friendly with the neighbors."

Kakashi blinked down at her and shrugged.

Sakura squinted at him. "They're in on the whole black market thing too, aren't they?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Probably."

Yamato had been watching them with a mystified look on his face.

Now, though, Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato were all armed to the teeth, and Sakura would lie if she didn't say she didn't feel just a little badass.

Before they left in Yamato's car because apparently Kakashi had his license revoked again due to questionable reasons that Yamato would not tell her and Kakashi just cooed at her for asking about it, Kakashi stopped them both by saying, "Ah, also, Orochimaru might be there tonight. Something about a certain something he wanted handed to him in person . . ."

Yamato punched Kakashi in the jaw.

Or at least Sakura thought he did. Honestly, he'd moved so fast and Sakura hadn't been looking at the right moment that all she saw by the time she turned towards them was Kakashi getting thrown backwards and Yamato looking more terrifying than she'd ever seen him look. She may have backed up a step.

Kakashi chuckled. "Did I forget to mention that?"

Sakura swallowed. "Who's Orochimaru?"

Yamato turned to look at her, incredulous. "You didn't tell her!?" he bellowed, glaring at Kakashi. "You were going to lead her into that warehouse with that monster in there without telling her what she was getting herself into? Has it not occurred to you in that giant head of yours that maybe this is exactly what Orochimaru wants!?"

Kakashi was still on the floor, and he chuckled as he propped himself up on his elbows, looking for all the world like he hadn't just been punched by his closest friend. "Don't be so blind, Yamato-senpai. Sakura-chan understands more than you give her credit for. Not knowing the name of the monster won't make any difference."

Sakura eyed them both wearily, coming to rest on Yamato, whose breath was coming in short puffs and whose face was turning redder by the second. "I think," she began, "that you give me more credit in all this than I deserve."

Yamato turned his head to glare at her. "Oh, really? You were targeted by this monster because of your ties to both the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan. Has it not occurred to you the position you're in? How you have seamlessly gained the attention and affection of some of the most powerful people in the world? For Kami's sake, Sakura, you're best friends with an Uchiha clan heir and the sole Uzumaki clan heir!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him and said in a deathly calm voice, "I understand perfectly the position I am in, thank you very much. I have been reminded of that fact by both the elders of said clan and by a most recent attack, in case you have forgotten. But that's not what I meant. If Orochimaru wanted so badly to send a message to the Akatsuki and send them a nice little hit to the Uchiha clan, he didn't need to go after me to do it. And have either of you actually considered everything that happened? From what I understand this Orochimaru knows what he's doing, and so why would he send one man to grab me in the parking lot of a popular college, where anyone could see us? When the one man wasn't even trained, from what I could tell, and I doubt Orochimaru was foolish enough not to do his research on me, on the training I've had. For Kami's sake, I've practically been trained by both the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan, and I doubt Orochimaru is naïve enough to not understand what that would mean!"

Sakura waved one hand towards were Kakashi was still positioned on the floor, staring up at her. "Not to mention me being followed by both the Akatsuki and the people they've hired! There were too many variable, too many possibilities for mistakes to happen if Orochimaru actually wanted me hurt or dead."

Yamato blinked owlishly at her, and Kakashi just continued to stare up at her, eternally amused.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable," she muttered, and started to head for Yamato's car, getting into the passenger's seat without asking.

Finally, both Yamato and Kakashi got in the car, though not before exchanging some heated words beforehand, if what Sakura saw out the window was anything to go by.

The car ride was silent. There wasn't really a plan to go by, sans not getting killed and/or captured. Mostly because they all knew whatever plan they laid would just go to hell in the first few minutes, likely because both Yamato and Sakura understood Kakashi would do his own thing and ruin anything they planned.

Kakashi whistled some tune in the backseat until Yamato looked ready to burst.

Once they arrived, Yamato parked some blocks away and turned off the engine of the car. They walked towards the warehouse, and Sakura figured that if anyone ever saw them like this, dressed all in black with obvious bulges hidden under their clothes, there may be police called.

Seeing the warehouse painted an off-white color, obviously newly refurbished, was a little off-putting. Whoever owned this place had money to spare.

Sakura looked around for a moment, thinking. When she looked up and noticed that the place was two-stories, she smiled.

Without waiting for Kakashi or Yamato, Sakura climbed the large oak tree next to the warehouse, lifting herself easily enough to reach the topmost branches. She heard a muffled curse word from below, likely from Yamato who was asking what the hell she was doing.

Sakura ignored him and reached towards the side of the warehouse where the branches meet. The second story was full of windows, luckily. Sakura pushed on the ones she could reach before realizing they were all locked.

"Need some help?"

Sakura forced herself not to jump in shock at the voice that was right next to her ear, so close she felt his breath on her neck. She made an annoyed sound.

Kakashi chuckled. He scooted her back on the branch-making her aware of the fact that Yamato was up there too, lounging a few branches away-and pulled something from his pocket. A few moments later, a window popped open.

Sakura blinked at him. "How did you-?"

But Kakashi was already inside.

She felt Yamato move next to her, giving the silent command to be the next one inside. She muttered incoherently under her breath.

It was dark inside, almost no light visible. Most of the second story was made out of windows, and the moonlight from outside gave just enough illumination for Sakura to see that there was, indeed, a floor underneath her feet when she lifted herself over the side of the window. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura caught a quick flash of white hair.

A hand grabbed her elbow, and Sakura almost flinched at the contact. Kakashi pulled her silently over to one of the corners, and only stopped when Yamato caught up to them both.

A silent conversation seemed to pass between Kakashi and Yamato, because in the next second Sakura was being placed between a banister overlooking the ground floor and the wall. She was tucked into just enough space that unless someone knew exactly where to look, no one would see her.

Yamato made a 'stay' motion with his hand-which Sakura did not appreciate, at all-and both he and Kakashi set up their own spots around the second floor. Sakura watched as Kakashi easily flung himself up into the rafters and lounged against a wooden beam, and as Yamato blended into the shadows along the opposite side of the warehouse than Sakura was at, slipping behind a wooden pole. Sakura blinked, and both of them were gone.

And then they waited.

None of them moved from their spots for the next two hours, and Sakura was beginning to get some serious cramps in her legs when the first sound of footsteps were only barely heard downstairs. Sakura froze.

The long metal chain that had been holding the doors of the warehouse close before were dropped loudly on the cement floors, and Sakura almost winced at how the sound bounced off the walls. She had been positioned in the same spot, without moving or making one single sound for nearly two hours, and hearing such a careless, harsh sound was a shot to the senses.

It seemed that there was only one man to come through the doors, but Sakura didn't trust the sound of footfalls to tell her how many people were around her now.

The man-if the heavy thunk of the footsteps were anything to go by-seemed to be pacing below. She couldn't see his face, and his body went in and out her line of sight often enough. He kept wiping his hands on his pants and running a hand across his head, that of which Sakura could see was bald. Her hand kept going to her pocket.

It was another half hour before anyone else showed up, and when they did, it was only two more men.

One was tall and lanky, with long inky hair trailing behind him-or her. Really, Sakura couldn't tell. The other walked a few paces behind, looking around them and up at the ceiling. Sakura held herself as still as possible.

The man who had already been there stopped pacing and widened his stance. Sakura recognized what he was doing. Tring to make himself appear larger than he actually was, even though he was already a rather large, bulky man to begin with. It didn't take her too long to figure out that the man with the long hair was the one to worry about. And if he was the one to worry about, Sakura assumed he was Orochimaru.

To be honest, Sakura had pictured this all a little differently. She'd expected there to be more men present, mostly. Backup and intimidation, and all that. But it seemed that Orochimaru didn't need more than himself to appear intimidating.

Even though Sakura understood what this man was and what he was capable of-Kakashi had shown her pictures and documents earlier, enough to make her understand exactly what she may be coming face to face with-Sakura didn't feel one bit of fear. There didn't seem like there was an aura of danger coming from him, but maybe that was just because she wasn't close enough to him to feel the disgust she should in his presence.

But then again, Sakura never felt fear or intimidated around the Akatsuki or the Uchiha clan members, and you didn't get much more intimidating than they did.

What Sakura felt was cold. And numb. The cool air from outside had been steadily creeping in ever since they arrived, and Sakura could no longer properly feel her fingers or toes, despite her warm socks and gloves.

Sakura licked her lips and felt the desire to put her hands around this man's throat and remind men like him what it feels like to be vulnerable.

Sakura could hold a grudge. For a very long time.

When he spoke, it slithered over her skin and made her heart pump faster. Her mouth opened just slightly.

This.

This was the man of nightmares.

But not Sakura's.

"What do you have for me, Jirōbō? Something good, I hope, for calling me out here."

Sakura's eyes darted up to look at where Kakashi was perched, only to find his gaze not below, but on Sakura. He must have seen something in her face, because he narrowed his eyes minutely at her, as if pondering something.

The person who entered alongside Orochimaru stepped forward and pushed his glasses up his nose. Jirōbō pulled out what looked like a notebook-no larger than the palm of his large hand-and held it out. Sakura blinked at how white the hair of the boy was-and he was a boy, Sakura could see that fairly easily now, not much older than Sakura herself-who had pushed his glasses up on his nose. His face curved into a smirk, and it was from this boy-not Orochimaru-who Sakura felt the first pang of fear run through her.

Sakura searched for a name in her mind-Kakashi had shown her a file of names and pictures and, for some, a list of crimes and activities, some known and unknown.

Kabuto.

Sakura inhaled slowly, and exhaled even slower. Kabuto might be the worst of the bunch of underlings under Orochimaru. Shit past-hell, heartbreaking past-but arguably more ruthless than even Orochimaru.

Kakashi hadn't specified, but he'd told her a vague description of Kabuto's crimes and monstrosities towards humanity.

Sakura had nicked his file- thicker than the others-when neither Yamato nor Kakashi had been looking, and had found herself dumbfounded and even a little-just a little, just barely, but enough to note-intrigued. Impressed in suppressed ways.

Animal and human dissections. Trying to implant a deer heart into a baby girl's body. Seeing if animal and human body parts could be swapped. Seeing if chromosomes and gene splicing worked in new, disturbing ways. What would happen if a shark brain was switched with a toddlers? Man-eating tendencies? Chunks of frontal and temporal lobes switched and removed, added and subtracted to see what might click. Adding blue dye to a person's eyes.

There had been pictures.

Nazi doctor, indeed.

Sakura had felt something rising to the surface when she'd read his file and studied the bleeding bodies of his victims. What was left of them, at least, and only of the ones anyone could find. It appeared that Kabuto was a not a fan of wasting material.

She felt mostly disgust, surely . . . but also intrigue. Because seeing if a baby who was born with a malfunction, a hole in her heart that would kill her before she could walk could have a deer heart transplant, and be able to lead a mostly normal life because of it? That was interesting. That was something to be impressed by, even though Kabuto's ways of going about his experiments were more than a tad disturbing.

When Kakashi had seen her looking through Kabuto's files with mismatching emotions playing across her features, he'd simply taken the file out of her hands and said, "Not everything is as simple as the world would have you believe, Sakura-chan. Look underneath the underneath, and even then, don't be hasty to judge."

Now, Kabuto handed the tiny notebook to Orochimaru, who flipped through it idly before tucking it into his front pocket. It was only then that Sakura noticed that he was wearing a formal suit, black tie and all.

Kabuto shifted a little closer to Jirōbō, and the moonlight that had been steadily getting bright as the night went on, lighted up his clothing. Also formal, black tie event worthy.

Also covered in blood.

Jirōbō must have just noticed this as well, because Sakura watched as his shoulders twitched in shock, and watched Kabuto's lips curving up even more because of it. A mistake. The shark smelt blood in the water now.

Orochimaru chuckled, and it sounded like the tinkling sound Sakura's attacker had made as she had her hands wrapped around his throat, chocking him. "Ah, please excuse our less than presentable attire, Jirōbō. An unhappy customer, you understand."

Jirōbō nodded like he was a toy on too loose springs. Kabuto quirked his head to the side as the moonlight caught his glasses.

Sakura gritted her teeth together at his face. Something about him set her on edge in the worst of ways.

"Now, let's discus your team member's less than ideal position as of now," Orochimaru hissed.

Kabuto started to walk around Jirōbō, slowly and methodically. It was something Sakura had seen Deidara and Hidan do with their opponents when dueling. "Kidōmaru has found himself in something of a legal bind, hasn't he? Not smart, attacking the girl in the parking lot like that." Something wicked curled and licked around the shadows of his face. "He always did enjoy prolonging the pain, the horror of his victims."

Orochimaru chortled. "Come now, Kabuto. You enjoyed watching little Sakura-chan's fight with Kidōmaru far more than that."

Kabuto cocked his head to the side, still grinning.

He'd been there. Watching everything play out. And it appeared to be shocking new news to Jirōbō as well, if his reaction was anything to go by.

Jirōbō began to stutter. "Y-You told us to take care of the girl-if the Hatake bastard hadn't been there-"

"Little Sakura-chan would have gleefully choked the life out of Kidōmaru," Kabuto finished happily. "Quite the site to watch. Kidōmaru and the hands he'd always taken so much pride in-breaking people, moving quicker than he should be able to-all for not because of one little pink haired girl. Now, what does that say about his usefulness, hmm?"

Orochimaru was watching the scene with obvious glee on his face.

Sakura thought once again about her arms, and her attacker's-Kidōmaru, she corrected herself, finally having a name to her nightmare-hands scratching at them, tearing flesh and spilling blood, and she thought she understood what Kabuto meant about the pride in his hands. Even if Kidōmaru hadn't succeeded in getting what he wanted from her, he still left his mark on her through his hands.

"We can get Kidōmaru back," Jirōbō began.

"No," Orochimaru hissed. "The boy has outlived his usefulness. He's in the clutches of the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan now. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of his apparent suicide any day now. Of course, no body will ever be found to either confirm or deny that."

Sakura focused on her breathing. It was so cold, but there was a heat behind her eyes that hadn't been there before, smothering her senses and moving down to her chest.

Jirōbō reared back at this. Sakura waited to see if his loyalty to his team member would outweigh his fear of Orochimaru.

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama," Jirōbō said, no hesitation in his voice. Sakura narrowed her eyes. Fear, then.

Orochimaru cocked his head to the side, listening. Sakura held her breath.

Kabuto walked back over to Orochimaru's side, seemingly bored with the turn of events.

"Are we to still go after the girl?" Jirōbō asked.

Kabuto paused as Orochimaru continued to leave the warehouse. He turned his head to the side, his back still to Sakura and Jirōbō. "Your usefulness has expired, Jirōbō-san."

Jirōbō's voice hitched, but Sakura ignored it as Kabuto turned and looked right at Sakura's hiding place. She froze, and didn't relax even as Kabuto's gaze moved around the top of the second story, coming to rest on certain spots before moving along.

Kabuto sighed and looked back at Jirōbō, who-to his credit-was not trembling or giving almost any obvious signs of panic. "If you are able to ensure that no one leaves this place alive, you may live." And he turned and walked out the doors. "Until next time, Sakura-chan~" Kabuto called out gleefully.

It took Jirōbō less than five seconds to understand Kabuto's meaning, and all of a few seconds for Yamato to jump down from the rafters and slit Jirōbō's throat.

Sakura moved her hand down to her side and picked up the video camera, checked to make sure it had recorded and saved everything, flipped it off, and then made her way down to the first floor, where Kakashi had procured a cloth found on one of the crates and offered it to Yamato to clean the blood off his face.

Sakura walked over and looked at Jirōbō's open throat and swallowed thickly. She waited for the guilt or disgust to come, but it never did.

She wandered over to one of the crates, tilted her head at how nice they looked, how there wasn't any dust covering the tops of them. She put her fingers underneath the lid of one and gave a cautious tug on it, surprised when it easily lifted away.

The smell hit her first. She had been in the presence of cadavers often enough, had dissected and had both her hands buried in them enough, but those had always smelled of formaldehyde and had never bothered her before.

But this. This she knew was the smell of rotting flesh, and even though Sakura had never smelt it before, she knew instantly what it was. There was no mistaking it.

The shock of the smell made her drop the lid back onto the crate, but even then the smell still lingered. Sakura breathed through her mouth and blinked back the tears in her eyes and lifted the lid once again.

She couldn't even tell what was what. Obviously, it was full of body parts, but Sakura couldn't tell if they were human, animal, male, female, or all of the above. All it was was blood and gore and skin and things that had obviously come from the inside of a living creature.

Sakura saw movement out of the corner of her vision, and watched as Kakashi looking over the side to see what the smell was coming from. He narrowed his eyes at it, and something sparked through his body that Sakura hadn't seen before. She looked back down, her eyes drawn again to the gore in front of her until she couldn't take the smell anymore-even though she wasn't breathing through her nose, but it was so strong that it leaked into her eyes to make them water and seemed to permeate through her skin until Sakura was sure she was choking on it.

Kakashi was watching her, and after a few seconds of staring her down and Sakura not backing down, he eye crinkled at her and gestured to her video camera. "I look forward to seeing the reactions of the Akatsuki." He then went on to pull out his little bright orange porn book and discuss clean-up methods with Yamato-who had also seen the insides of the crate but had instead backed up a few steps unlike Sakura and Kakashi-weighing the pros and cons of burning the place to the ground or leaving the body be and letting someone else deal with the mess.

Sakura made sure to get the contents of the crates on camera, opening others by herself to find more of the same, some in glass jars, some pieces more taken care of than others. She blinked back tears from the smell of it all, had to sometimes go outside for clean air, but never gagged.

It wasn't until they were leaving in the car, a towel placed under Yamato to prevent any blood getting on the seat, that Sakura realized the tune Kakashi was annoyingly whistling.

"Leaves from the vine
Falling so slow
Like fragile tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
Little soldier boy says
"Carry me home"
Sleeping soldier boy
Is carried home."

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

6224 Words