The little Katsuyu slid down her fingers and into her palm. The slug looked up at her, two gooey eyes appraising her curiously.

"We were under the impression you were dead, Sakura-san," Katsuyu explained. "When you failed to return from your mission, the new Hokage sent a few squads for your retrieval. We received confirmation from Sasuke that he had killed you. I am surprised to see you are, indeed, alive. Was the Uchiha lying?"

Sakura sighed, "Sasuke wasn't lying. He did kill me…but something unexplainable happened and I ended up here. The remains of my own body merged with the Sakura from this dimension."

"That is certainly strange. I assume once I inform Tsunade-sama of your vitality, she will demand all the details," Katsuyu explained. "And I suppose the Hokage, too, when she certainly tells him."

Sakura couldn't help but smile. Kakashi. She didn't know how he would react, but he'd definitely be happy. He had lost too many teammates.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Sakura laughed.

"I must ask why you waited so long to contact me. It's been almost six months," Katsuyu stated.

"I didn't have access to my chakra until just recently," Sakura admitted. "I've only ever had enough to summon you within the last week and I'm afraid, well, it slipped my mind that it was even remotely within the realm of possibility to summon you. I've grown complacent in this new environment and I've been distracted."

"I see," Katsuyu responded. "Regardless, I am personally relieved to see you are alright. I will inform Tsunade-sama with haste. I ask you to summon me within in a few days in order to make certain this information gets across. I cannot appear of my own volition in this realm. Is there anything else you would like to ask me before I go?"

Sakura wiped at the fresh tears in her eyes, "Yes. How is everyone? Are they…okay?"

"I'm afraid I don't know much. I only know what I have heard from Tsunade-sama," Katsuyu replied. That made sense. Why would Katsuyu be concerned with her family and friends? "Everyone is alive, however, but beyond that I have no idea."

"That's more than enough, Katsuyu-sama. Thank you, may I request a report on the wellbeing of my friends and family as soon as possible?" Sakura asked.

"I will bring that up with Tsunade-sama as quickly as possible," Katsuyu replied. "Is there anything else?"

Sakura swallowed. She wanted to know…but at the same time she didn't. But she had to ask. She would regret not doing it.

"Is there any news on Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I figured you would ask about him," Katsuyu admitted. "Immediately upon hearing of your disappearance, Naruto returned to the village, but Tsunade-sama informs me he is on the verge of defecting in order to track Sasuke down. There is much unrest, but I am sure he will be quelled when he learns you are alive."

Sakura couldn't help it. She wailed. Using the hand not holding Katsuyu, Sakura furiously rubbed the tears away. She couldn't help it. She was just so relieved. Naruto was alive. Naruto was okay. She had wondered for so long, but he was okay. He was home. She sniffled, "I'm so glad."

"I am very relieved to see you are okay," Katsuyu said. "I must inform Tsunade-sama at once."

"Wait," Sakura requested. "Just one last question."

"What is it, Sakura-san?"

She took a deep breath, "Do you think it's at all possible for me to get home from here. I don't know the first thing about space and time jutsu, but I'm not even certain if that would help, so please tell me Katsuyu-san. Can I get home?"

Katsuyu paused for a moment, "It is possible. But it won't be easy. There isn't a jutsu in existence that allows for this kind of travel, sans the kuchiyose no jutsu. However, I don't doubt everyone will work until there is a jutsu that will allow for your safe return."

"Thank you, Katsuyu-san," Sakura smiled.

"A jutsu of this caliber, even with many geniuses working on it, could take months, perhaps years to accomplish," Katsuyu added.

"I don't mind. As long as I can return home one day I don't care," Sakura laughed.

If Katsuyu could smile, Sakura is sure she would have. Before disappearing in a puff of smoke, Katsuyu said, "Remember, summon me in a few days once I am able to get everything settled with Tsunade-sama. I suggest you begin writing a full report on your experiences here. I am sure Tsunade-sama and the Hokage will want one, and I will try to get you a full report on the status of your friends and family. See you soon, Sakura-san."

For a moment, Sakura just stared at her empty palm. She could go home. She could go home. Even if it took her months, hell, years to do, she could do it eventually and that was all that mattered. Her thoughts flitted to the Task Force, to her family, to Ryuu, to L. She would have to take this body with her. Likely, she would completely disappear, and maybe even before solving the Kira case. The case…

Could she really, in good conscience, leave before whoever was committing such atrocities were dead? It was in Konoha's nature to help those in need, it was in her nature to help those in need, even if it didn't fit "mission requirements". Would she ever forgive herself if she just left the Task Force behind to deal with such a mess?

There was the question of her family too. Maybe if, when they time came, she left a note telling them she was alive, just moving on and not to try and find her? They would still be heartbroken, worried, too, but at the very least they probably wouldn't think she was dead. There were too many unknown variables.

But she couldn't stay. She knew it would cause her family strain, and would probably be a cause of concern for the friends she had made, but she would never belong there. She wasn't the Sakura that was supposed to be there, she wasn't their Sakura, and it wasn't fair to keep pretending. She'd already stolen the other Sakura's body and life, she couldn't just live her life amongst people that didn't really love her or know her.

When the time came, Sakura would go home. Hopefully by then she would have tied up all of the loose ends. She leaned back in her desk's chair, knees drawn up to her chest, and smiled hazily at nothing. It would probably be a good idea to begin her report of what had happened since her apparent death. But where to begin? And what to include?

If she wanted to be brief, she probably could have finished it up within the night, but she wanted to take her time. So much of what had happened to her was so new and strange that it would only make sense for her to add detail to everything. She would spread it out over a few nights, of course she would begin that evening, but first she had to make sure that Ryuu returned safely.

She was mostly sure he would make it back on his own, but if he didn't return, she would have to go looking for him.

Mizuru, you know him better than I do? Do you think he'll come back soon?

Nothing.

Why did she keep doing that? Mizuru was gone, he was in a better place, hopefully, but he certainly wasn't there. He had moved on. She needed to stop acting like he was going to reply. Something thrummed inside of her and Sakura decided it would be better to just find Ryuu right then. She would begin her report first thing in the morning, after organizing her thoughts a bit better.

Sakura gave her door a quick glance. Trying to leave through the front door would just prompt questioning from Haruno Akemi, and it was getting dark, so she doubted Akemi would even let her leave anyway. The window it was. She tried not to think about how Mizuru would screech in worry about her injuring herself.

She slipped out the window, sleek as a cat. Her body's natural reflexes were still a bit off due to lack of practice, but it was more than enough to sneak out of the house. Heading in the direction of the station would probably be her best bet. But she hadn't made it much further than a few steps before a figure stepped into view. Ryuu. It seemed she'd worried for nothing.

"What are you doing?" Ryuu seemed surprised to see her, but his voice was cold. He was still mad at her, not at all surprising.

"I was worried about you, so I went looking for you," Sakura replied.

"How did you even make it home before me, anyway?" Ryuu raised an eyebrow.

"That's not important right now," Sakura swallowed. That really would be hard to explain, now that she thought about it. "You should know better than to run off like that."

"What? Are you going to lecture me about wanting time to myself now?" Ryuu snapped. Sakura really wanted to yell at him, tell him that he was still just a civilian and a target because of her involvement in the Kira Investigation, but she kept her mouth shut. It wouldn't do any good, even if she could reveal all of that information.

"No, I'm not," Sakura kept her face stern. "I'm not going to lecture you at all, actually. I just want you to be careful, okay?"

"Oh wow, I can't believe the person who's barely around actually cares," Ryuu rolled his eyes.

"I know you're mad at me, but can we focus on what you're really mad about?" Sakura asked. Her patience was waning. Why did she have to have such a short fuse?

"I am mad about that!" Ryuu shouted. "I'm mad that you've barely been around the last year with no explanation, I'm mad that you're suddenly acting like nothing happened, and I'm mad that you had the audacity to insult the thing I've spent my entire life working on to my face when you haven't ever cared or watched me before!"

Sakura just stared at him, eyes widened, and jaw a bit slack. He wasn't backing down any time soon.

"You saw me make ONE MISTAKE and just decided that I didn't care enough! I'm mad that you didn't think it was okay for me to be upset about losing and not getting to play! I'm mad that you're a shitty sister that's just now starting to give half of a crap about anything and acting like you have any right to say anything to me!" Ryuu's voice kept getting louder and louder until he finally screamed at her.

Ryuu breathed heavily at her, his eyes full of burning fury. Even after his exclamations, he didn't seem to have calmed down whatsoever. Their mother was going to interrupt them any minute now, so if she wanted to say anything, it would have to be now.

"You're right," Sakura replied, her gaze still hard. "I'm sorry. I didn't have any right to say anything. I guess I was just projecting on you."

To Sakura's surprise, Akemi was not the one to come rushing out at the sound of her son's yelling. It was Daisuke, tired eyed and stern. He was prepared to break up whatever confrontation had occurred, but he didn't seem too surprised to see it was happening between his two children. In fact, it looked like he had expected it to happen.

Daisuke stood off to the side, wispy blond hair falling into his pale pink eyes. Albino. He looked at Ryuu, expecting him to finish what he'd started.

Ryuu had lost a lot of his steam with Sakura apologies, but he still looked furious, "It's not just that! It's not just about what you said! Where have you been the last four months? What have you been doing?"

Her family must have been pretty close for Ryuu to be acting this way. It would make sense, of course, considering how they'd almost lost a member all those years ago. How did she even answer that? She didn't really have much of one, at least none that would make sense to her family. Somehow she knew the excuse of a boyfriend wasn't going to cut it.

"Four months ago, I saw the face of my kidnapper and Mizuru's killer on TV," Sakura admitted. It wasn't a lie. Technically, that statement was entirely true. It was time at least her family knew a bit of the truth. Both Ryuu and Daisuke were silent. They stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. Daisuke silently motioned them inside, and there was no debating whether or not they would follow.

Akemi was inside, setting out dinner dishes, and looking up curiously upon seeing her family's grim faces. Akemi slowly put down the last bowl, eyes wide and full of confusion.

"Akemi," Daisuke said softly and that was all that needed to be said. In a few moments, they were all on the couch, surrounding Sakura in a tiny little half circle.

"What's going on?" Akemi asked staring uneasily between the members of her family.

"Sakura says she saw the face of her kidnapper on television a few months ago," Daisuke explained.

Akemi's mouth parted in shock, eyes bulging out of her head in horror. She covered her mouth with her hand.

"Wh-What?" Akemi stammered. "Was it some sort of editorial about what happened? I would think they would have to ask us for permission first…"

Sakura shook her head, "No, the man blamed for the crime wasn't the one who did it."

"And you never said anything?!" Ryuu snapped, standing up and looking beyond disgusted. But Daisuke and Akemi looked guilty. Of course they would've known, but then why were they still acting like she didn't?

"She did," Akemi finally admitted. "The man who did those awful things…he was locked away, but the public never knew the truth. We were told that he was needed for some purpose, so they had to keep him secret. We didn't like it, but…"

They had to have been given something for their cooperation. Clearly not money, Daisuke worked nonstop and he didn't seem like it was for fun or appearances, but something worth their silence. Somehow she knew Daisuke and Akemi weren't about to give any explanations.

Ryuu looked numb, "So why did you see him on T.V.?"

"He was used as the fake Detective L for that Kira broadcast. Lind L. Tailor, if you remember," Sakura's nose scrunched up in distaste.

"A-Are you serious?" Ryuu choked out.

"Yes," Sakura replied. "It reminded me of some bad memories, so I started working harder at learning how to protect myself. That's all there is to it."

But Ryuu must've assumed there was more to it than that, because he didn't look angry anymore. She didn't know what assumptions he was making, but she wasn't going to counter them. After all, she couldn't be honest, much as she wanted to.

"Why did no one tell me before now?" Ryuu snapped.

"I'm sorry, Ryuu-chan," Akemi looked guilty. "We decided to leave you out of it. We tried to avoid bringing up what happened in front of you, including that."

"Plus we thought you wouldn't be able to keep your mouth shut about it," Daisuke added. Everyone stared in shock. Sakura was pretty sure that was longest sentence she'd ever heard from Daisuke.

Ryuu was shaking, his hands fisted at his sides. His hands kept clenching and unclenching, as though he was unsure about how he wanted to handle this situation. He glared at everyone furiously through his dark red bangs, "So you think it's okay to just keep secrets from me? Not to mention you've just been making excuses."

"I know," Sakura sighed. There was no excuse. If this was an undercover mission, she would have doubtlessly failed in, completely incapable of fitting into the role of the other Sakura. There was no excuse, her performance was just pathetic. But there was no way she could explain she had just been thrown into a life that wasn't hers and that she hadn't been equipped to deal with it. She couldn't explain that she'd cared more about finding Kira than she had about her family.

"Ryuu-chan, you have to understand that this happened when you were so little. We were bound to silence, we couldn't risk telling you," Akemi attempted damage control, but it just appeared to infuriate Ryuu even more.

"So what's the excuse now? Did you guys just plan on hiding this from me forever?" Ryuu snapped.

The silence said it all. Ryuu let out a humorless laugh. Without another word, Ryuu ran up the stairs, leaving the rest of his family behind. Akemi buried her face in her hands and released a shaky breath. She didn't sound like she was going to cry, but it definitely wasn't a happy sound.

"Akemi," Daisuke said softly. Akemi ran into Daisuke's chest and clung to him. Sakura felt like she was intruding on a very private moment.

She silently excused herself and slipped up into her room. There was no mention of dinner, no noise from her family for the rest of the evening. Ryuu refused to even show his face. Something needed to be done, but Sakura didn't know what would appeal to Ryuu.

In the following few days, Sakura spent them writing a thorough and detailed "mission report". She used that term loosely, VERY loosely, as it turned out to be more of a letter than anything else. She couldn't help but get lost in her giddiness. She'd felt so alone and frightened for so long, and now there was hope. And even if she never could go home, at least she could keep in contact with them. That was better than what she'd expected the rest of her life to look like.

But she made sure she didn't shirk on any details in her letter back home. She explained everything she knew about Tokyo in vivid detail, told about how she'd meshed together with the other Sakura, and all about the Kira case and the people she'd met so far. The only thing Sakura omitted was the existence of Mizuru, partially because it involved explaining how she could understand him (inner Sakura) and also explaining why she hadn't destroyed him immediately.

She filled the holes by saying she hadn't had access to her chakra until recently, so she hadn't been able to summon Katsuyu sooner and left it at that. She didn't omit anything about the genius known as L and how much of an insufferable prick he'd turned out to be and Sakura was very sure to include how she'd ended up in this world.

She didn't want Sasuke getting away with it, after all.

She added her own questions about home as well, mostly about how everyone was doing and requesting Tsunade reassure them she was okay. Sakura was relieved that Naruto was alright, but she wanted more detail, as in where he'd been and how much he knew. And how he felt about who killed her.

It was a little bit cruel, really, but she needed to know the answer. She needed to know who Naruto would choose in the end, her or Sasuke. Somewhere, deep and fearful, told her Sasuke would always come before her, no matter what it was, that the bond between Sasuke and Naruto could not be broken through her death.

But she needed the answer. She needed to be sure, for once, on who Naruto would choose if prompted. If he would still forgive Sasuke, even after he'd killed her.

On the third day, one day before she'd summon Katsuyu to collect her letter, she started writing about her new family. She took to opportunity to ask about her own family, how they were getting on without her, before going into the details about the one she had now. She wrote about Haruno Akemi, supportive and eccentric, and how as sweet as the woman was, she would never overshadow Mebuki. Then she moved onto Haruno Daisuke, who was always quiet and drowned in work. She still couldn't remember having any real conversations with the man, in stark contrast to Kizashi, who never stopped talking.

And then there was Ryuu.

Sakura specifically saved him for last, because she still wasn't sure what to say about him. Ryuu was the only member of her family that didn't feel like a replacement to her. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the little red-haired boy had wormed his way into her heart and she couldn't help but start to view him as more than just a boy she had to fake being siblings with.

He felt real, like her true little brother, which made her feel incredibly guilty, because Ryuu didn't know she wasn't the Sakura he'd grown up with. She wasn't his real sister, his real sister had died the second she'd opened that door, but Ryuu didn't know that and she could never tell him. She knew he deserved to know, they all did, but she couldn't tell them. They'd never believe her, and if they did, they'd just think she was a killer.

Which was true, but that didn't mean she wanted them to know that.

Sakura wrote about Ryuu's impressive failure in the game called soccer and her stupid way of handling it, and just as she did so, she felt her little brother peer over her shoulder.

"What are you writing about?" his eyebrows furrowed together. Neither she nor the other Sakura had ever been much of the journaling type, so claiming it as a diary entry would not work.

"Just writing a letter, what's up?" she asked and pushed the papers out of his view. Ryuu's eyes stayed trained on the letter, but he eventually tore his eyes away and took a seat on her bed. Ryuu had still been furious with everyone in the household, opting to give everyone the silent treatment so seeing him approaching her was beyond surprising.

Not that she blamed him. It had probably taken a lot for him to have acted so normal around her for all those months she'd been a flake. So it was a step in the right direction that he had actually seeked her out for a conversation.

"It's stupid, but..." he sighed. "You know what, just forget it, it doesn't matter. I doubt you'd even care anyway."

Sakura frowned, "This seems like it's bothering you. I know you're still upset with me, and that's fine, you can still be mad. But I'd prefer if you got this off your chest."

"It's just...earlier today there was this guy, asking about a girl with pink hair," Ryuu admitted.

"Maybe he wasn't talking about me," Sakura offered.

Ryuu shook his head, "No, he was going around showing your picture and someone told him your name, but I don't think anyone's gone farther than that. I wonder how he tracked you down to Daikoku..."

"About me, huh? He must've seen me go in the other day for your practice match, or he was asking around at every high school," Sakura deduced, and then her eyes narrowed. "What did this guy look like and did he mention what he wanted?"

Ryuu shook his head, "He was wearing a lot of punk clothes and he was really tall. He had brown hair with the tips dyed a lighter color. I think he had some piercings, but I kind of avoided him. I really didn't want him to follow me or something."

That did not sound familiar whatsoever, "Did anyone say what he was asking about or did he just want to know where I was?"

"I think he was just asking where to find you," Ryuu explained. Sakura worked her lower lip. This was certainly a problem, this random guy just bothering students looking for her? On one hand, she wanted to confront this mystery man, but on the other hand, she really didn't want to add fuel to the fire. It was possible he could just go away if he couldn't find her.

Or he'd find out about Ryuu.

Sakura flinched and stood up from her desk, knocking down a book or two, but she didn't care. This couldn't go on. She didn't know what this creep wanted, but if his intentions were poor then Ryuu could get hurt. That was the last thing she wanted.

She would deal with the creep, one way or another.

Ryuu stared at her, a mixture between anger and concern in his eyes and Sakura coughed awkwardly, realizing she'd just made a scene.

"Thank you for letting me know, I'll take care of it," Sakura did her best impression of calmness. Now it was Ryuu's turn to make a scene, he stood up from her bed, eyes narrowed and hands fisted at his sides.

"Oh no, you are NOT getting involved!" Ryuu snapped. Sakura blinked, realizing he would never know she was infinitely better suited to handling this situation than he was.

"Then why'd you tell me?" Sakura asked.

"Because I wanted to warn you!" Ryuu exclaimed and then sighed, "I'm still pissed at you, but you at least deserved to know."

"Fine," Sakura conceded without having any intention of actually giving in. "But promise me you won't confront them, promise me."

"No way!" Ryuu exclaimed. "I don't want them finding out I'm your brother. Then they might follow me home."

"If you see him again, try to get a discrete picture," Sakura said. "I wanna see if I recognize this person. Of course if you can't get the picture, don't try."

"Just promise me you won't try to confront them," Ryuu replied. His eyes glazed over, a sad look on his face. Sakura recognized that look, he was remembering a trauma, probably having something to do with when she went missing. Ryuu may have been mad at her and he may not have forgiven her, not that she expected him to, but he still cared. Sakura could tell that Ryuu was intending on trusting her not to do anything stupid. She didn't want to lie to him, but she also couldn't just not promise him either. Being a sibling was hard. It was pretty clear if she betrayed his trust here, it would cause irreparable damage to their relationship.

"I won't confront this person," Sakura assured. Of course, it would be entirely different if the person approached her first, not that she would say that.

Ryuu gave her a look like he was trying to look through a lie, but when he found nothing, he just sighed.

"Okay, I'll believe you," Ryuu replied.

"I'm sure it'll all work itself out. Don't worry about it for now," Sakura smiled.

"Okay, but if this gets worse we're telling our parents," Ryuu said.

"Okay," Sakura nodded. Ryuu gave her a look, narrowed eyes and a tight-lipped scowl, before leaving her room. Once she was sure he was gone, she flopped her head down onto her desk, papers fluttering and she just laid there for a moment, forehead pressed down firmly into the desk. What a huge mess she'd created.

"Well," Sakura breathed, lifting her head up, "best finish up this letter."

…

One more day. One more day and she could get some well needed information on her home and deliver her mission report. It felt ages away and her body couldn't stop twitching in excitement and nervousness. What if something had gone wrong? She had to accept the possibility that maybe no one could help her. Her thoughts were swimming in doubt.

She gnawed on a baby carrot, part of her lunch, and tried not to freak out about it too much. Chances were, everything would be fine. Everything would be fine…

Sakura almost choked on her baby carrot when her phone went off. Flipping it open, Sakura tried to sound like she hadn't just inhaled halfway chewed carrot, she said, "Hello?"

"Sakura," L's voice sounded in her ear.

"Do you have the body?" Sakura asked.

"I could've been calling about anything, but yes, you're correct," L sighed from the other line. Sakura grinned smugly and shoved another baby carrot past her lips. She couldn't think of any other reason L would be randomly calling her.

"Perfect, I'm assuming his eyes will be examined sometime soon?" Sakura asked.

"You'd be correct in that assumption," L responded. "I have every intention of being there to observe."

"And no one in the Task Force knows about this except us?" Sakura chewed on her bottom lip.

"Yes, and Watari and the small legion of medical professionals I've employed to study his eyes and body," L confirmed.

"Good," Sakura nodded to herself. "Request for the address to the facility so I may observe as well."

"There's no need for that," L breathed. "Please exit your house promptly, before I change my mind."

Sakura was only confused for a second, before she recognized L's limo parked in front of her home. It stood out, so Sakura had to rush out and into the limo before people started to notice.

"Alright, let's go," Sakura beamed.

"You seem awfully excited for someone who's going to watch some eyes get cut open," L remarked. Sakura shrugged, unable to offer any rebuttal for that. She was excited in all honesty, she could have the opportunity to examine them herself, after all! Plus, it was something to get her mind off of all of her worries. Nothing like good, old fashioned medical examinations of corpses to put her mind at ease.

"How many medical professionals will be present?" Sakura asked.

L gave her a sharp look, "Four, and I handpicked all of them, myself. This issue will be handled with the utmost discretion. Anything we find out in there will not be leaked."

"I believe you," Sakura replied. "I was just curious. Have they started yet?"

"No," L bit his nail, "I wanted to be there to supervise."

"That's probably for the best," Sakura nodded. "I assume you'll be supervising from a distance?"

"If I can't trust them with my face, then I wouldn't be able to trust them to keep this information to themselves."

A fair enough point, but it just seemed a little bit risky.

He shrugged, "Besides, as far as their concerned, I'm just an underling working for L, just like you."

Sakura wasn't exactly thrilled by him calling her an underling, but she couldn't disagree either. The rest of the drive was mostly silent. L appeared to be deep in thought, probably considering the various types of results this diagnosis could warrant and what they'd do when they were done with it.

It took a while before they reached the facility in question, but that was hardly surprising. What was surprising was how discreet it ended up looking on the outside. Watari parked their car in back, where it would be hard to spot, and they all walked up to what appeared to be a small, white building. The kind of building someone would open a travel agency or something. There were no windows, though, so that sort of dampened any friendly atmosphere the place had.

Walking through the door, Sakura could tell this place was state of the art. First off, the door was steel plated. You wouldn't have known from the outside, but touching it made it abundantly clear that this thing was not only weighted, but durable, and covered in an abundance of locks.

Another thing not apparent until entering was how thick all the walls were. They were obviously soundproof and it would take a good few hits for most things to break through, like wrecking ball good hits.

As they walked, Sakura asked, "Are you sure no one else knows? And no one else is going to find out?"

L gave her a side glance, "No, that would be impossible. All of these doctors have signed secrecy contracts and of course there will be no record of this ever having happened."

"Hm, so no cameras?" Sakura laughed.

"No, having that kind of physical proof could prove disastrous in the wrong hands," L replied. And they continued walking.

The whole place was alarmingly clean, not that Sakura was complaining, and quiet. It had more doors than expected and it took a bit of maneuvering to reach the door where the body was being held. It surprised Sakura a bit when Watari didn't follow them into the room, instead tailing off in a different direction, but she didn't think much of it.

In the room, lying a metal table, was the body, not even covered by the respectable white sheet. Sakura had seen her fair share of male bodies in her days, but wow, was this one mutilated. It looked as though his entire body had been set ablaze and hadn't been healed properly.

In the room was already a set of four doctors, hands already covered in gloves and thoroughly sterilized. They'd all clearly been waiting a while and had already prepped the body for a secondary autopsy. Right of the bat, aside from the mutilation, something stood out to her. His eyes, popped wide open, were still very much alive and pumping out a dark, sinister chakra like its host was still alive.

Nevermind the fact that nobody dead should still have chakra flowing anywhere in their body, the amount of chakra was strikingly reminiscent of a doujutsu, which is exactly what it would've been considered back home. There was no way to tell what it did, however, until she researched it more thoroughly. Like the kind of thorough that meant she would have to have her chakra probing at his eyes for hours on end to get a full picture of their function.

She'd had the opportunity to mess around with a few doujutsu before, so she knew exactly how to determine a function, but it took a long time and she was hardly an expert.

She was so focused on the body, she didn't hear the doctors introducing themselves to L, and to her. Of course they thought his name was Ryu Ryuzaki, an associate of L just like her. But she snapped out of her trance when she heard the doctors chuckling in amusement.

"I know how jarring seeing a dead body can be," one of them jested, a man with light brown hair. Ah, they must've mistook her concentration and interest as horror. But did they really find that so amusing as to laugh at her? She felt like scowling and telling them how easily she could make them mirror the man on the table, but she kept her cool.

"Sorry about that, but I'm sure my associate has introduced me while I was distracted," Sakura said.

"He sure did," one of the doctor's smiled, she was older, with greying hair.

"Alright, with everyone present, I'd say it's time to begin," the doctor with light brown hair said. He eyed Sakura, "If you can't handle it, please don't be afraid to leave."

She ground her teeth, reminding herself that he didn't know she was a celebrated medic and had done and seen far worse than an autopsy, "I'll be fine. Thanks for the concern."

This was her chance. In the room with the body. Ensnaring a bunch of civilians in a genjutsu would be simple. The medical staff was beginning the approach the body when Sakura formed the necessary hand signs and pushed the right amount of chakra into it. A seamless genjutsu spread over the occupants of the room like blanket. In their minds, they would still be discussing the procedure and what they were going to be doing to the body. Tricking their minds was too simple.

Sakura rushed to the body, giving it another quick onceover before calling chakra to her hands and doing a more thorough examination. Most of the organs seemed completely fine, aside from the whole not working anymore thing. Then she reached the heart.

The lifespan of a shinobi was significantly shorter than that of the lifespan of a civilian. This was indisputable fact and, quite frankly, obvious. Shinobi were constantly putting their lives on the line, they could die on any mission, no matter how powerful they were, because nothing was ever guaranteed. But what most people didn't know was that there were also two other main contributors to shinobi deaths. Stress and suicide.

To be a shinobi, it was a stressful, pain staking job. Even in the safety of one's own home, surrounded by a myriad of traps, most would still be terrified. They would still keep their eyes wide open in the middle of the night, because, even in the village, you can never know for sure when someone is coming after you. Sakura knew shinobi who could only get through a few hours of sleep a night, and that was actually progress from what it could have been.

Under that constant duress and constant terror, it was bound to be stressful. There was so much pressure, so much fear to stay alive, that health problems were bound to arise from it. The sheer amount of shinobi that succumbed to stress induced heart attacks was astounding. Many, unless they'd had one before or had enough medical experience, wouldn't understand what was happening. It wasn't uncommon for them to assume panic attack first and eventually die from the lack of medical attention.

Then there was suicide.

Shinobi being forced to hide their emotions no matter the situation, pretend everything was alright when it wasn't, surrounded by constant death and terror and anxiety, it was bound to take its toll. And not everyone could handle that toll, which was to be expected.

Until Tsunade became Hokage, this trend just continued happening. The actual numbers were suppressed so no one would suspect anything was wrong, but it was. And when Tsunade came into power, everything changed. Alongside her training of Sakura, Tsunade also made a few changes to the status quo. Within her first few months of power, Tsunade required health assessments for all shinobi, regardless of age, twice a year, and psyche evaluations once a month or, in some cases, after each mission.

The psyche evaluations could be lessened if the shinobi proved to be okay, but the the health evaluations were non-negotiable. And if any shinobi tried to avoid these, Tsunade would strip them of their right to go on missions. For many, many shinobi, especially in those first few months, they were very unhappy and very vocal about it.

Most shinobi tended to be private people and preferred to keep everything bottled up and suppressed. If they accepted Tsunade's orders, it would mean admitting they all had a weakness. Which, of course, many refused to do.

Regardless, the rule remained intact and death rates plummeted. Of course there was still the occasional one, but no one could argue with results. Far less frequent deaths and far less frequent suicides. In those years of her apprenticeship and a few after, Sakura only ever had to heal a handful of heart attacks. They were downright rare.

But once Tsunade retired and Kakashi took her place, everything took a turn for the worse. With Tsunade's retirement also came the retirement of the rule that required frequent health examinations. This was no surprise, considering Kakashi's abhorrence of hospitals, and though both Sakura and Tsunade insisted he keep in, in the end Kakashi refused to listen.

And within a year, shit hit the fan. Sakura found herself healing more and more heart attacks, found herself shoving healing chakra into chests in an effort to jumpstart their hearts. In that one year, Sakura saw enough heart attacks to know everything about them.

In the end, the rule went back up, and though Sakura wanted to be smug about it, in the end, Sakura just felt exhausted that so many people had to die or brush death for Kakashi to finally listen.

So why did that matter? Well, Sakura could tell within seconds if someone's cause of death was a heart attack. She knew what the signs looked like. She could even tell the difference between artificially induced cardiac arrest and natural cardiac arrest.

But this? This serial killer's body, apparently killed by Kira, Sakura had never seen anything like it. Sakura had seen enemy medical nin try to shove their chakra into someone's heart and force cardiac arrest, and though it was certainly an effective way to kill someone, there was an easy way to counter it. All you had to do was destroy the foreign chakra in your body.

Easy for another medical nin, but almost impossible for any other nin. For someone like Naruto, with the Kyuubi chakra, any attempt would just burn up, but he was an excpetion, not a rule. For any other nin, all that needed to be done was for an allied medical nin to destroy the foreign chakra and stabilize the heart. Easier said than done in the heat of battle, but then again, it wasn't exactly common for someone to let themselves get touched so easily.

B.B.'s heart was coated in a thick layer of black, sludging chakra, but it didn't make sense. For this to work, the chakra would've had to go inside the heart, not just cover it. It made her wonder, if she destroyed the foreign chakra, would the heart work again? It was worth a try, right?

Sakura let her chakra seep into his body, careful not to make any mistake due to her being out of practice. She let it build around the dark, sludging chakra. Her original plan had just been to build enough around the chakra before releasing it, but even the slightest bit of her chakra around the black sludge seemed to disintegrate it. As though her chakra were some sort of acid eating away at it.

It took less chakra to heal a papercut to destroy this foreign chakra. Of course, it could've been a different matter if the chakra was active, but for now this was good enough.

"If I just coat my own heart in chakra, will Kira be able to give me a heart attack?" Sakura whispered.

Even though he wasn't a trained ninja, L was starting to slip out of her genjutsu. She supposed that was the beauty of a high intellect, but she just needed a little bit more time. She eased her chakra a bit more into the man's chest, just a bit more, when finally that foreign chakra was gone. And for a moment, nothing happened.

And then the man's heart beat a Sakura almost had a heart attack herself. It puttered out seconds later, never to start again, which made perfect sense. More sense than it starting back up, that was. Without the foreign chakra, the heart just worked right back to normal, it seemed, but of course it was impossible for this man to live. First off, after the initial heart attack, the lack of oxygen flowing to his brain killed him long before Sakura could've done anything to help.

Not to mention he'd been frozen solid for months and then thawed. No matter what bizarre theories people believed about being able to awaken after being frozen, the current medical capabilities did not include awakening frozen bodies. No matter how well preserved.

But if she could get to someone while they were still being attacked by Kira and destroyed the foreign chakra then, it would be a different story.

As much as Sakura wanted to spend more time, especially on the eyes, she knew it would be only seconds before L escaped her genjutsu and saw the rest of his professional medical staff in catatonic states and noticed her glowing green hands hovering over the body. That was not an image she was willing to let him see.

So she reluctantly took a few steps back, staring helplessly at the eyes still swirling with chakra, and released her genjutsu. The medical staff all blinked confusedly before shrugging off whatever had just happened and approaching the body. L, however, didn't just brush off her genjutsu like it was nothing. He was looking around, confused and alarmed.

Sakura didn't know what he was expecting to find or what he was assuming happened, but when he looked at her, she just innocently tilted her head in confusion. Let him think that she didn't have any clue what was going on either.

He clearly didn't buy it, but he also didn't have enough proof to call her out on anything.

"Stop," L said. The medical staff looked clearly startled as they were just picking up their scalpels and surrounding the body. "Something strange is happening. We should try this again at a later date."

Sakura almost wanted to argue, but the idea of trying again at a later date and getting a better look at those eyes was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"But Ryuzaki," a woman with blonde hair in a ponytail piped up. She had a striking resemblance to Ino. "We've already prepared the body and-"

"It's for the safety of everyone here and for the best possible results. As I said, something strange is going on and we should wait to study the body until the facility has been more thoroughly cleared," L replied.

The medical staff didn't seemed thrilled by this news, but they also didn't argue. They all slowly put down their scalpels and filed out of the room. Once they were out of sight, Sakura fixed him with a quizzical stare.

"What's this about?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I'll have to check the video footage," L replied. And it was like her entire world spiraled around her. Video footage? She'd thought she'd thoroughly examined the room and L had even mentioned earlier that having any recording of what they were doing would be risky. Had he lied to her? What if this was all just a trap? She just had to stay calm.

"Video footage? But you said-"

"I know. That was a lie."

Of course it was. L was impartial to lies. How could she have been so stupid? She knew her genjutsu wouldn't work on technology. They would see everything she'd done, and what then? No, she had to get to it first. Destroy it before they could find out anything. Maybe that would be even more suspicious, but it was better than the alternative.

"Okay," Sakura swallowed, her best poker face on, "let's go check it out."

"No, someone could be waiting for us outside. I'll just have Watari check it out and alert me of anything suspicious. We should both wait here in the meantime," L replied.

"And the medical staff? You just let them walk out of here knowing there could be a threat?" Sakura asked, hoping that this was a hole in his plan. That maybe this was all just another lie.

"If there is something going on, the target it is likely you or me, possibly the body," L explained, already taking out his phone to dial a number. "It would be foolish to walk out now and leave the body unattended."

It made logical sense, and though Sakura would've never let innocent people go out into potential harm's way, even if she knew they weren't the target, that certainly fit in line with L's morals. She had to do something, but what? What could she possibly do?

L put in the last digit and held the phone up to ear, "Yes, Watari, I need you to watch the video footage and inform me of anything off. Thanks."

He flipped the phone shut and Sakura felt like pacing. There was nothing she could do now. She was trapped in this bad situation and there was no way out. She couldn't get to the video footage in time, she wouldn't have even known where to go, and even if she did, L wasn't letting her leave. Another genjutsu wouldn't work. L would be expecting it and he seemed bizarrely skilled at breaking free of genjutsu considering his lack of training.

She couldn't put him under a genjutsu, leave, destroy the video footage, and make it back in time. She felt like gnawing anxiously on her thumbnail, but doing so would only prove her guilt. Would only make her seem suspicious. But at this point, what difference did it make?

L's phone went off and it sent a jolt through Sakura's taut muscles. If it came down to it, if he thought she was some kind of monster or criminal or tried to apprehend her for study, she could punch her way out. These walls were sturdy, sure, but she'd punched her way through sturdier. She thought of all the innocent people in the building. Well, if she needed to, she could punch some doors in, even if they were made out of steel.

He held it up to his ear in that strange way and remained curiously silent. Sakura waited for what would surely come, the look of clinical interest or an accusatory glare. L's dark eyes met hers, he raised an eyebrow, a lot of something between understanding and something close to concern. There was no doubting it. He knew.

"I see," L replied to the other line. "Please get down her right away. Thank you."

He hung up the phone. Even though he hadn't outright asked for backup, Sakura wasn't stupid. It was plausible Watari was coming down with a legion of armed guards. Or maybe L was trying to lull her into a false sense of security before shoving a syringe full of unfamiliar liquid to knock her out to take her to some facility for experimentation.

Her best shot at maintaining her current, and tentatively stable, position was to start explaining now. Going on the run would just be a high pressure situation and, if there was a chance at a jutsu capable of taking her home, bouncing around from place to place would just make it harder to pinpoint her position and add that to the algorithm necessary in making sure she got back to the right place. Or, if they sent someone for her, making sure they got to the right place.

"O-Okay, I can explain," Sakura swallowed. She backed up against a particularly sturdy wall. The kind that couldn't be easily broken into. There would be no surprise attacks, here. "I know I haven't been entirely honest with you, but I assure you that I've been on your side this whole time. Maybe it doesn't look like that on the video footage, but I swear that I've only been trying to do what's best while also protecting myself."

"Please do continue, Sakura-san," L replied, looking like he already knew what she was about to say. Alright, she could just talk about supernatural powers. Keep it as close to the truth as possible without bringing her home into it.

She took a deep breath, "I've...always had abilities. I can, well..." She summoned the familiar green chakra to her hands. "W-When I do this, I can heal people and, um, examine people's bodies very thoroughly. It's hard to explain, but I knew I needed to get a good look at the body, so I...just put everyone in a little trance. Just enough to get a few minutes to do my own examination."

"Why have you never mentioned this to anyone before?" L asked, but his face was strangely blank.

"Are you kidding me?" Sakura snorted. "Who would've believed me? And even if I did, I would've just been turned into some government lab rat. I'm fairly certain that these abilities can't be recreated, so I would've just spent the rest of my days being poked and prodded in some padded facility. That's not the kind of life I want for myself."

"And what about us, on the Task Force?" L asked, he seemed almost...agitated. "Knowing of this ability would've been useful."

There was an unspoken Ukita in there. Sakura knew he felt at least some level of guilt about Ukita's death, just as she did, but for both of them it was detached. Neither were close to him, but both were in their own position to help.

"The Task Force would've just been suspicious of me. Don't deny it, I'm sure even you're suspicious of me now that you know I have these powers," Sakura laughed humorlessly. "I wish I could've helped Ukita, but I didn't know that he was going to get killed when he left. And even if I did, what good would it have done? I still don't understand how Kira kills and I don't know how to heal what he does either. I'm not even sure everything he does can be healed. I tried to go with Ukita, you stopped me, and we both know that I would've just been killed too."

L didn't say anything for a moment, "What else can you do?"

"Besides healing? I can put people in light trances. It's more hypnotism than anything," a lie, "and I can sense people's spiritual energy."

That was a completely simple way of putting it, but she doubted L would understand what she meant by chakra.

"Everyone's?" he asked.

"No," Sakura admitted. "It's only within a small radius and it only works on living beings, so anything dead or, well, not living won't work. Everyone has their own special energy, but it's impossible for me to differentiate certain people unless it's really unique or I know them very well."

"I see," L appeared to be deep in thought. "What did you find out about the body when you examined it?"

"I'm surprised you even believe me," Sakura snorted.

"I don't, necessarily, but I'll admit what you're saying is possible. Nobody can just make their hands glow green, though I can't say for sure that you can really heal things," L replied. Sakura rolled her eyes, but she understood his apprehension. Keeping her back to the wall, Sakura circled around until she reached the little table full of scalpels and held one to her arm.

"Don't."

But Sakura did anyway. It was a shallow cut, one she probably could've healed just by concentration of her chakra rather than using her hands, but she was proving a specific point. She raised her glowing green hand, making sure L could clearly see what she was doing, and let the flesh knit back together.

He stared at her with fascination, like she was an incredible discovery. But it was relieving to see that he wasn't looking at her like she was a test subject either. L didn't seem like the type to be interested in that sort of thing unless it pertained to a case.

"The body?" L asked again.

"His heart was coated in some sort of energy, likely what caused the heart attack and killed him," Sakura explained. "It's like spiritual energy, but also...not. Its not natural or human, that's for sure. As for his eyes, well, there is something strange about them, as they're practically churning out spiritual energy, which shouldn't be happening at that rate even on living human eyes. Not only are his eyes still alive, somehow, but if I had to guess, I would say that there is something strange about them. Whether that's being able to see their names and death dates remains to be seen, however. I would need at least a few hours with the eyes to be able to determine their function."

"Being able to do that at all would be extraordinary, though I'm not sure I'm convinced you even can," L replied. Which made perfect sense. It would've been weirder if he wasn't skeptical.

"I know it'll be impossible to trust me after this," Sakura admitted, "but I hope we can at least still work on this case together. Regardless of what you may now believe, I want to catch Kira."

"No, I know you're not affiliated with Kira. However, you are correct about my not being able to trust you," L responded. That actually hurt way worse than it should have. She was a kunoichi, dammit, she needed to get used to people not trusting her, and it's not as though she ever fully trusted L either. "From what I've witnessed so far, you need to be present in order to use any of these abilities. Kira does not, besides, the surveillance set in your room already disproves you of being Kira. Though I still doubt you are being completely honest with me, I also don't think you're completely lying either."

"You set cameras in my room?!" Sakura almost screeched. She should've checked for those, dammit!

"Don't worry, they've since been removed. But your reaction leads me to believe you have more to hide."

Sakura ground her teeth, "No, it's just an invasion of privacy and I don't need a bunch of old men creeping on me."

"I'm sure the men on the Task Force would be happy to hear that, Sakura-san."

At least he still joked with her, no matter how dry it may have been.

"Am I still permitted to be on the Task Force, even?" Sakura asked. "I would understand if not, but I would still request time with the eyes to confirm what they do. I know what they look like and I'd be able to tell if another had them."

"I still believe you'll be useful on the Task Force and it would be beneficial to keep an eye on you," L replied.

"Oh gee, that's nice," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I hope you can at least understand why I hid this."

"I do," L said. "Oh, and by the way, Sakura-san. There was never any video footage of this event. I made it up. Now, I think it would be best to save the examination of the body for another."

That sly bastard played her. And she'd fallen for it.

"A few days ago, you lost that game on purpose," Sakura realized, "because you knew if you won, I'd just be more careful around you."

"Choosing when to win is far more important than winning everything, Sakura-san."

"Oh, screw you, Raccoon Eyes."

…

Hey guys. I'm sure you're wondering where I've been and what took so long with this newest chapter. It's just these past few months have been rough. This has been one of the hardest semesters of my life. I keep having allergic reactions and we still don't know what's causing them. It's just been really, really rough. I had most of this chapter written by March, and I probably could've finished it back in April if I'd forced myself, but I just didn't have the time or motivation and I didn't want to finish and post this chapter until I felt I was in a better place to actually focus on this story. I feel like I'm at least close enough to that place to post this new chapter, and hopefully I can maintain my promise of finishing the story by the end of the year.

That aside, I considered leaving this chapter off on a cliffhanger, but that just seemed way too cruel after leaving you all hanging for so long.