White Rabbit

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call
And call Alice, when she was just small

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit Lyrics

She had been tying up her hair when she heard the knock at her door. It would be hard to mistake his thundering bangs as belonging to anyone else, so Sakura slid in the last bobby pin and went to let him in.

Kakuzu didn't smile as she greeted him and invited him into the studio apartment that was little more than the bare bones of what someone needed to survive with. Most of her things had already been packed up, and the last few things that weren't were half in boxes or duffles next to the door.

Kakuzu glared at her luggage. Kakuzu glared a pretty much everything he looked at, but he was a tad more fierce with his gaze when he saw her things packed up.

"You're really going to take that job." It wasn't a question, but it came out sounding like an accusation.

"Hello to you too. Are you going to be here for tea or should I ask you to leave with your negative ass?" Sakura sweetly chirped, knowing her friend too well to be intimidated by him.

Kakuzu dropped his head and closed the door behind him. His frame nearly filled it. "Tea please."

Sakura turned back to the kitchen and pulled her kettle out of the box by the stove. She filled it with water and set it out to boil. When she turned back she saw he was sitting at the counter on one of the two stools left. He was still scowling, but that was such a normal thing for him, and he always looked worse when he wasn't please on account of the scars around his face.

Kakuzu might have been what others called handsome once upon a time, but accidents left his face less than ideal. It had been one of the reasons he had so few friends. The other reason was his sour personality. Luckily, neither were reasons Sakura saw as good enough to hinder their partnership during their year long internship. Kakuzu didn't have many friends, but the few he did have he kept close.

"You're taking that job offer." Once more, it wasn't a question.

"Ma, you didn't even wait till the tea was finished before asking such personal questions."

"Sakura-"

"I know." She huffed, propping her head up with her hand as she leaned on the counter. "Yeah, I had my phone interview on Tuesday and he wants me to start before the week is up. I just got the call yesterday."

"I thought you would work at Pioneer. You did so well there during our internship."

"I nearly had a mental breakdown and suffered weakly panic attacks," Sakura laughed. "You call that doing well?"

He grunted and she knew he was remembering the same sorry state he found her in more than once. He had talked her down on more than one occasions. "You managed well through it all, and your numbers were the best out of everyone there, next to mine. With experience the panic attacks should fade."

Sakura stood and pushed her stool back so that is scraped the floor on a loud whine. "I'm not going to live like that. If that's what it takes to be successful I don't want it. I don't need to be rich in order to survive."

Kakuzu watched her as she rounded the counter and reached for the kettle just as it was about to scream a high pitched wail. There were already two cups out that she poured her tea into. One she kept at her place, the other she set in front of the taller man.

"Here, drink."

"Your tea always tastes like hot water."

"That's what it is," Sakura sighed, stirring in a second spoonful of honey. When she passed it to him Kakuzu turned up his nose and picked up his own cup to sip from. Sakura finished her own tea and then took a third spoonful from the honey jar to suck on, just because she could.

"You're going to rot your teeth that way."

"I'll never get anything bad from honey," Sakura laughed with a knowing glint in her smile. "Don't you know it's good for you?"

"You'll grow bored at such a slow, unchallenging job. When you're bored, call me. I'll find a place for you." His words are hard and she knows he means each and every one of them.

"You don't need to do that."

"You think I would for just anyone?" He almost rolls his eyes at her. "Hardly. I think you're worth it, that's all. I know you'll do a competent job. I've never seen you make a mistake with numbers."

Sakura sucked the rest of the honey from her spoon. "Yeah," she mumbled around the metal. "I guess I'm sort of amazing."

"Hardly modest is more like it," he mumbled under his breath.

"I'm not about to deny something that's already an established fact. That's why I had so many job offers."

"Yet you chose the most obnoxious one of all. You know how few people are financial aids to only one client at a time? Even if he is providing you with room and bored, you're going to be bored out of your mind in two weeks time."

"The estate's finances are in a mess and have been back up for years. I hardly think the problems will be fixed with two weeks of work." She peeked over at Kakuzu and grinned. "Don't give me that look. I've worked hard to earn this rest and I'm going to take it. Don't make me feel bad for it. I'm not like you. The city would kill me."

"You chose a crap career for it then."

"I like numbers, okay." She waves the spoon in his face and he leans away, grimacing. "And it was so much cheaper than nursing school. I could have never afforded to become a doctor."

"You could do anything you want after a year working at Pioneer. You'd make enough money to buy your own nice house, to go back to school, to train to be a doctor. You've never been so rich, you don't know what it's like, or how it feels to loose it all. There's freedom and then there's slavery."

It was as close as he ever came to talking about his past, and Sakura never asked for more than that. He never offered so she never pried. It was a favor he returned by never asking or caring about her own history. She appreciated that.

"I guess I'll miss you." Sakura looked down at her empty spoon and wished it was full of honey again. "I'll come back to visit. Will you see me?"

He huffed a low breath and glared at her sideways. "What do you think?" When she chuckled he turned his face away. "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow, before noon. It will take several hours by car." After she finished speaking Kakuzu stood and pushed in his stool before removing the outer layer of his gray thread suit jacket. Sakura blinked in surprise. "What are you doing now?"

"You'll need help packing and loading the rest of this. I have nothing better to do." He started to roll up his sleeves and paused only when he caught the way she was grinning up at him from her stool. A flush of pink spread across his face. "What?"

"Nothing, I'll just miss you when I'm gone."

They had called it a castle, but it was really nothing more than a grand old house with too many rooms and nearly too many windows. All of this was set on a modest lot of a fog choked moor in the New England Lands far from the city. In the daytime it was charming, but locals were quick to warn visitors to stay indoors during the twilight hours when the fog came in thick enough to make a blind man lose his way.

In spite of its degradation, the old house was an eerily beautiful example of the wealth of European Americans in the early 1800's. It had been passed down through the various generations, serving a variety of different functions in each lifetime, some interesting, others bizarre.

Sakura doubted her stay would leave any significant impact on the home's history.

Sakura checked her phone's GPS and saw she was in the right location before getting out of her car to open the black gate and make it possible to drive onto the grounds. She felt odd about letting herself in, but the instructions had been fairly clear about that step.

From a distance, on the other side of the black iron gate the estate seemed almost enchanting, crossing the threshold and then closing the barrier behind her did nothing to diminish her perspective on the manor. It almost made her think that her job would be worth turning down the position alongside Kakuzu in the city, managing the financials of firms that sneezed millions like it was nothing.

Sakura pulled her car up the driveway and turned of the circular path to park underneath the arch on the side of the house. Before she could cut her engine the side entrance door had opened and a man stepped out, smiling and heading for her direction.

'Not the owner,' Sakura mentally noted. He was too young and too pretty looking to be the owner of the manor.

Sakura grabbed her phone and keys before throwing them into her purse and shouldering it just in time for the man to open her car door and usher her out.

"Ms. Haruno?" he asked with polished words.

Sakura stepped out of her car and let him shut the door before nodding. "That would be me. Would I be wrong to assume you are Mr. Sarutobi?"

He smiled softly in a polite way that didn't reach his eyes. There was something cold about him that wasn't quite off putting, yet at the same time she couldn't call it welcoming. It might have been just her, reading too deep into it, but Sakura resolved to keep up her best business face around this man so long as he did the same. She could tell he was treating her the same way employees treated customers in a convenience store, only in nicer clothes.

"You would, but you flatter me nevertheless. I am the head manservant of the manor, Uchiha Itachi. I oversee the managing of the estate and was the one who contacted your school's employment office. You came highly recommended."

His flattery felt flat. She doubted he meant any of it but resolved not to care. "Thank you. I believe your email stated that Mr. Sarutobi wanted to speak with me himself before I began my work here."

There was a half second too much of a pause before itachi nodded and answered her. "Yes. I'm to escort you there. When you are done meeting I will see to any other accommodations that need be put in place."

Sakura returned his smile with one of her own that she hoped was just as polite and just as shallow before following him inside.

The entered through a side entrance that Itachi assured her was far less grand than the north or main entrance, but Sakura was impressed all the same. It was kept neat and clean, a sign that someone was an excellent cleaner on the estate.

Itachi led her up a single flight of curved stairs to the second floor where a hallway stretched down to a room with it's heavy oak doors left open for Sakura to see into. Itachi stopped at the threshold and rolled his knuckles over the wood of the door, knocking fancifully. A second later he stepped in and beckoned for Sakura to follow.

The room was more of a study than a library, with each wall set up with build in bookcases and a circle of Chesterfield sofas with their backs all around a supporting beam in the middle of the room. There were free standing globes and plants scattered about, making the enormous room seem a little less massive. It wasn't crowded, but it was certainly filled.

Far in the back, sitting on the bench under the window, an old man sat smoking a pipe while reading a book that was decidedly newer than most of the others in his library. He looked up when he heard them approach but didn't remove his pipe or stand to greet them. His face was tan and leathery through all his wrinkles, making his smile stand out all the more when he looked up at them.

"Itachi, you're surly in trouble now." Sarutobi removed the pipe from his mouth to hold while he spoke, his old eyes twinkling with mirth. "You didn't tell me our guest was such a handsome young woman."

"To be fair, sir, he didn't tell me I was handsome either." Sakura grinned, feeling easy in her skin once more.

Itachi had put her on edge, but Sarutobi felt like sunshine and old cotton. It was a relief to know he wasn't a grouchy old man, or worse, a twisted old leech like Kakuzu had warned her about. No, something in her gut told her Sarutobi would be a man she could trust in time. For now, he was a perfectly safe employer.

Sarutobi's eyes went wide at her remark, shining brighter until he threw his head back and laughed, exhausting gray, tobacco clouds from his mouth like a dragon as he cackled. Itachi seemed to deflate from over Sakura's shoulder, provoking Sakura to grin.

"Itachi, you'll have your hands full this time. She's not intimidated like the rest of your staff, eh?"

"Please, sir," Itachi sighed, lowering his head. "That is quite enough teasing. I must see to the young lady's things and prepare her quarters."

Sarutobi waved Itachi off with a chuckle leaving the pair of them alone in the cluttered study of oddities and nick- knacks. He sat up and stood, leaving his book behind to step over to a oak desk not far from the windows. He gestured to the opposite side were a pair of olive green Bergere armchairs were set for guests to sit comfortably in while business was discussed.

"You have a lovely home," she admitted easily, taking in even more of the opulence around her.

"I'm glad you like it, I'd imagine you'll be seeing even more of it during your stay here. I hope to impress."

"Speaking of my stay here, I'd like to ask how soon I can get started by seeing your books. I understand you're quite backed up."

"We've filed an extension every year for two years and poor Itachi has done his best to scrape together what heads and tails he can make of it, but he's a man suited to managing the other affairs of my house. I'm afraid it's become too much for him and we are in need of your professional help."

Sakura shifted and set her purse down at her feet to allow her arms even more room on the chair's armrests. "As I understand it I will be needing to train Itachi after I am able to clean up the books on this property. How long do you see me staying here for? I'm not going to slack off, but I'd like to try my best to meet your expectations once I know them."

Sarutobi's eyes grow pensive as he looks down at the notebook left open on his desk. The day's date was marked at the top but the entry was blank. "I'm willing to provide you with the finances for an entire year and then two additional months to train Itachi. I don't know how long this mess will last, but if it lasts longer…"

"That's fine, sir." Sakura held up a hand to stop him. "I should be able to clear things up in far less time."

"I had heard you were quite extraordinary, but I would value accuracy over speed when it comes to these matters."

Sakura couldn't help but grin. "Sir, I don't make mistakes when it comes to numbers. You won't have to worry about something like that with me."

"Quite confident, are you?"

"When I have reason to be," Sakura admitted with a shrug and playful blush. "I see no point in proclaiming false modesty to an employer."

Sarutobi took his pipe and turned it over before tapping the loose ash out into a silver tray shaped like a sea shell. "I think I'll like having you here at the manor, my dear. Carnation Manor has been dreadfully droll theses last few years. It will do to have some energy again. Let me tell you a little about this place. You'll be staying here so why not learn the gossip right away."

Sarutobi began with a brief history of the house, listing all details Sakura had found on her own when she researched the validity of the estate. He then told her that maybe six years ago they started to downsize and close off sections of the house to save on heating costs and other such things. He showed her a small map of the home's layout and pointed to the West Wing where the house had been completely shut off, warning her to stay away from that part of the house citing repair damage in addition to his heating concerns.

"And I'm sure you've heard from the locals about the fog…" he began.

"So thick it could confuse a blind man, or something like that. I'm not one for exploring the outdoors these days so I don't think you have to worry."

Sakura glanced out the nearest window and frowned at how clear and bright everything seemed. The warned about how the fog would roll in without warning, but she had a hard time believing it such a green could ever be anything other than clear. Not far from the estate's lands there was a modest copse of trees, almost a woods.

"Come, walk with me, I'll show you some of my favorite spots before Itachi gives you boring version of a tour. Please feel free to roam as you wish and treat this place as your home. In addition to your own suite you'll have a private study to call your own."

Sakura took the old man's arm when he offered it and noted he was not much taller than her in his old, stooping age. At one point in his life he had been taller than her, but not by much, and not now.

He took her down the hallway with smoking rooms, game rooms, a trophy room from the last century, a weapons room and even the entrance to a menagerie that was home to only a handful of exotic birds these days. "It's used mostly as a garden these days. Itachi spends much of his time attending to the plants here. Out Landscaper is contracted out biweekly. Aside from Itachi and myself there are only four other residents you may run into while living here, two of them are part time help, one is my son, and the other my grandson."

Sakura filed that information away neatly to be used later. "Itachi sounds like a busy man. I can understand why he wouldn't have time for the finances."

"You don't think he tried? It drove him nearly insane on top of his already abysmal health." Sarutobi laughed at something he added in his mind, smiling secretly with only a hit of sparkle in his eye. Sakura felt an under layer of regret there and suspected her new employer had a soft spot for the pretty Uchiha.

"Speaking of the devil." Sakura looked up when she heard his footfalls. The polite step of his polished shoes on wood made her glance down the hallway ahead of her before she ever saw him coming.

Itachi carried one of her traveling suitcases under his arm leaving the other free. He stopped outside a room with the door partly left open and waited for the pair of them to join him. He inclined his head to Sarutobi and then turned to Sakura. "Your things have mostly been set up in your own suite. After you are settled I will take you to the secretary's office where our finances are kept."

"Only so that she knows her way around. That should be enough excitement for one day," Sarutobi cut in. "Afterwards you may show her the way to the east's dining room where we will have an early dinner. I expect the both of you to be there."

Itachi's expression never shifted or changed during a single moment in his reply back to Sarutobi. "Asuma and your grandson are out, I had not instructed the cook to stay for tonight. I will prepare something for us in his absence."

"Excellent."

Sakura looked between the two and felt a sliver of embarrassment cut through. "Nothing extravagant, I hope. If Itachi is as busy as you say he is that surely he needs a rest more than I do."

"No need," Itachi stiffly interjects, looking almost offended at the idea of needing a rest. "I shall have dinner prepared promptly at half past five."

Sakura kept her mouth shut when she saw on her wrist watch that it was already a quarter past four. If he wanted to be a super butler she wasn't going to stop him.

Itachi brushed past them and pushed aside the half opened door to step into her suit and deposit her luggage off to the side against the wall. He stood stiffly and folded his thin, gloved hands behind his back while he waited for her to follow him in. Sarutobi dropped her arm to let her go on ahead of himself while he made an excuse about seeing to the matters of his missing son and grandson.

Sakura stepped into the room and decided she would have to marvel later when Itachi wasn't present to see her drool over such finery. It was fit for a princess and something young inside of Sakura ached.

"I think it will do," Sakura murmured softly, noting the white cloth still draped over the vanity mirror and the free standing mirror in the corner of the room where a screen had been set up for changing ladies.

Itachi noted her stare and frowned. "They are made with antique glass that warps in light. You may remove the cloth when you have need of the mirrors, otherwise I will assume the room is adequate for your needs.

Sakura nodded, spying the bathroom off the way. "Very," she only murmured, walking out with stars stuck in her eyes from all the pretty things she never had growing up.

Itachi led her down the hallway to the previous wing she had just been to with Sarutobi. A door she hadn't entered before now stood out as Itachi unlocked it for her and handed her the key. It was old and thick, feeling of iron. Inside the floor was thick wood, leading up to half a handful of stairs where an elevated level sported a study fit for a man to manage an estate as grand as Carnation Manor. Sakura's desk was made of red oak and smelled rich of timber.

There was no laptop or personal computer to use and she remembered that the books were all physically recorded and no electronic file of them remained. In the middle of the desk sat a thick landscape sized ledger with cream pages. Sakura reached for it and flipped it open to the last page and found the account of all the home's purchases lined up neatly in fine handwriting.

The last entered date was almost a year ago.

Sakura slid her eyes over to the side where several banker boxes had been labeled for record keeping and left untouched. It was what she would expect for such an establishment.

"It might be a while before I can enter anything. This will take a while to sort and put in order." Sakura pulled off the lid to another banker box and sighed at the lack of organization. Bank statements were mixed in with invoices and receipts alike. "I would like to get started right away, regardless of what Sarutobi told you. I won't sleep easy if I haven't put in some effort here."

"As you wish. I will inform Sarutobi of your decision." Itachi half turned towards the door but paused to look back at her before adding. "Dinner will be shortly. I'll fetch you for then."

Sakura had nothing to say in reply, but even if she did she wouldn't have had the opportunity to reply. Itachi was out the door a moment later, leaving her on her own with a mess of finances that would take months to untangle and set right.

Elsewhere in the house Itachi let himself wander the halls with no destination or aim. All roads would lead him to Sarutobi if he thought of the man. He turned into a broom closet but at the touch of his ungloved hand, pale flesh on brass, the door became the one outside Sarutobi's study.

The elder man didn't look up from his journal entry when Itachi let himself in, didn't even glance off the page when Itachi flicked a wrist at the fireplace to restock the sparsely supply wood with stock summoned out of shadow. With a sigh, Itachi replaced his glove and neatly buttoned it at the wrist as he sank down into one of the chairs opposite Sarutobi's desk.

"You tire yourself needlessly," the old man huffed, sitting up and reaching for his smoking pipe to puff before going back to his entry.

"What of your son and grandson?"

The scratching of the pen stopped but Sarutobi didn't look up from the pages of his journal. His eyes were dim and far off, seeing something in his mind. "They will not be returning to the manor until the spring. It seems the last dregs of summer were not enough to secure their residency."

"It always grows harder to keep the house quiet past September. You feared this much."

Sarutobi set down his pen and sat back in his seat. "I hadn't expected it to get this bad. After so many years the activity is unprecedented. I had hoped we had seen the worst of it last winter."

Itachi's gaze turns dark. "I fear not. Closing off the West Wing is only a temporary measure. They will spread to the South Halls next if the mirrors are not warded and their numbers grow strong enough for it."

"You said they wouldn't."

"That was before what I saw on Yuletide." Behind him the fire flared dangerously in time with Itachi's agitated speech. Itachi forced himself to slow and keep his words even and level when he next spoke. "But this is nothing that can not be dealt with. I doubt any of them can touch us on this side of the looking glass."

"I am worried for our newest guest."

Itachi waved a gloved hand dismissively. "Unbelievers are always helpful, especially those who actively choose to not believe. It is a reason why your son and grandson left. They saw too much not to believe. Our world was too close to them. The servants as well…none of them are superstitious enough to tempt the other fay."

Sarutobi looked down at his notes. "She's a kind sort of girl, even after what she's been through. I don't want to see any harm come to her because of mistakes my family made. You've set her room up with the warped mirrors for protection, but still, keep an eye on her. I won't blame her for it, but accidents can happen and I'd fear what would befall someone as lovely as her. Your kind always liked the green eyed ones."

Itachi slanted his eyes sideways. "I hadn't noticed."

Sarutobi grinned, looking up from his notes. "I doubt that old friend. You think she's fair for someone who's not fay folk, otherwise you wouldn't have been so dull with her."

The fire behind him crackles. "I fail to see how I was dull."

"Of course you did," Sarutobi absently comments, tapping out soot from his pipe into the silver ash tray. "That's why you're hopeless."

Itachi tapped his knee with his index finger before standing and pulling his heels together in stiff formality. Sarutobi recognized both nervous traits. "I should leave you to your notes. I have a dinner to prepare and shadows to watch."

"Yes, you do. Go, I will meet with you soon."

Itachi was nearly at the door when Sarutobi called out once more, causing Itachi to pause with one hand raised towards the brass handle. Sarutobi was standing, holding his book between his hands. He blew and the ink from his page rippled. Seconds later the page tore free and folded in mid air into a sleek black raven, as dark as the ink from the well. The bird circled once and then darted out the doorway.

Sarutobi nodded, approvingly. "Let that one out when you find a window. I fear I'll be needing more than what we already have on the west grounds if our fears are to be proven true."

Itachi nodded, stepping into the doorway threshold before calling back to the old master of the manor. "I'd hardly believe there was a wizard better suited to the work than you, sir."

I

Sakura jerked upwards, feeling her arms fall limp and dead from cut off circulation. Her eyes were cracking open and the evidence of her impromptu nap turned sleep weighing her down. She could feel it on her face even if she couldn't see it.

She sat up and straightened out, taking note of where she was and what she had been doing when she passed out atop the messy desk. Her papers were all still out and decorated in colorful sticky notes that helped her date and prioritize the most important parts of the estate's financial standing.

The books were a mess. Sakura knew the books were going to be a mess, she anticipated the books being a mess, she expected the books to be a mess, but none of that softened the blow of what she saw and continued to see the rest of the week. It almost made her head hurt to see such messy work, but the worst part wasn't the missing work, but the shoddy work.

Sakura almost didn't hear his approach until Itachi was right in front of her, setting down a silver tray on the only side table not cluttered with paper. Sakura jerked to attention, back away while Itachi ignored her in favor of pouring the tea.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, feeling the corners of her eyes stretch stiffly. She had fallen asleep in the study again.

"You have been quite the distress to your employer with you habits," Itachi replied in monotone. He stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea and let it swirl into a soft mix of green and gold.

"I'm a bit overwhelmed with starting the work in the right place. It's only for a little while longer and then I'll be able to take breaks again."

"You are not under any rush. Your haste is unnecessary." He held the fine china cup by the saucer and turned his wrist before setting it down on her desk, atop a pile of papers.

Sakura glared at the cup, feeling her mouth fill with want. "How did you know I would want tea? I never asked for it and you even prepared it with honey."

Itachi raised a single brow in question. "Should I not have?"

"No, I'll drink it."

Sakura reached out and rotated the cup to grab the handle and lift it to her lips. It was still warm to inhale and when she took a sip she found it as strong as it was hot. She could feel Itachi's stare calling her an idiot for drinking too soon. She set the cup back down and turned to look up and see he was still beside the tea set. He was watching her with a stare that carried literal weight. Sakura felt burdened by it and ducked her head.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked.

"Not at this moment, but if you should find the task worth of your time, you may see fit to to join Sarutobi in the menagerie. He's not had company apart from my own since our dinner together."

"That truly must be a trial," Sakura murmured, not caring that her sass came out on it's own.

Itachi's look was smoldering and taunt. Sakura couldn't decide if he was more like a wire stretched enough to nearly snap, or a hot iron hovering over her skin. Most days he was both.

"He gives you no pressure to finish quickly, only well. See that you are resting frequently. Join him if you see fit, remain here otherwise." Itachi turned, facing away from her towards the door. "Excuse me."

Sakura rolled her eyes and stood, calling out. "Wait."

It was enough to make Itachi pause and turn back to look at her. He didn't ask or voice an opinion.

"You said he didn't have anyone else to talk to. What happened to his son and grandson? I thought they were going to be staying in the house as well, but I haven't seen either of them. They out?"

"They are retired for the season. They will not be returning for the rest of the year."

Sakura frowned, sitting back down in her seat. Her hand gravitated towards the cup on her desk table top. "That sorry to hear. I can imagine it can be lonely without family in such a large house. But, he does have people visiting him nearly every day."

Itachi nodded, conceding that point. "On occasion men on business do visit."

That was an understatement. Sakura had tried to track Sarutobi down the other day to ask about a collection of invoices she had come across only to have Itachi turn her away in the hallway. Friends had come to visit and their laughter was thicker than the walls, echoing down the corridor. The invoices were still in the suspense folder on her desk, growing larger with every hour.

She grabbed the teacup and held it back to her lips, inhaling she could smell the sweet honey infusing the jasmine tea. She took a sip, and then another. "You said he was in the menagerie?"

"The same one." With that, Itachi tipped his head and turned to make his way out of her study.

Once Sakura was alone again she took her cup and saucer away from the desk down the landing to the opposite end of the room where a chaise lounge had been set up under the window. Sakura sat down and inhaled the tea once more, letting the aching parts of her body sag in relaxation while the rest of her unwound a little.

Sakura closed her eyes and kept them closed until she couldn't see the numbers anymore. She forced herself to forget. She didn't need to see them anymore. She was going on a break. She knew how to take those.

It wasn't like she didn't take breaks. Sakura knew she had a few reckless habits when it came to work; it was one of the reasons her moods had been so unbalanced during her internship alongside Kakuzu. She got tunnel vision bad when it came to numbers. She had been like that ever since she could remember. It was the oddest of traits that neither of her parents shared or knew what to do with.

'Spill a handful of salt over your shoulder when you fear the fair ones are on your back, as they've a compulsion to count, just like you,' her grandmother used to tease. It was a silly superstition that didn't make any sense.

A bolt of pain seared the inside of her skull and Sakura felt the aftershock of her budding migraine warning. She set her near empty teacup on the table and turned her body into the couch's arm, groaning. Her eyes were overworked. Too many tiny numbers, too many small details. She was tired. Maybe Itachi was right about taking a break, though she doubted it was so much about her health and more about pleasing Sarutobi.

After a handful of minutes Sakura rolled over on the lounge and reached for her cup. Finding it mostly drained, she tipped it back and let the last heavy drops fall off the rim into her mouth. It was heavy with honey and it was enough to make the pain behind her eyes all but disappear for a moment.

It was time to track down Sarutobi.

Walking out, she slid the band of her watch around her wrist and worked to clasp it with one hand while she searched for the hallway with the menagerie. It was only one turn and long stretch from her office and hard to miss.

There was an entrance on the second and the first floor to the three story glass enclosure. The second story entrance led Sakura out onto an iron balcony leading to a twisted spiral staircase that looked like it was crafted from rough and hurried hands. Sakura took the stairs down, dipping between the heavy branches of a banana tree. She heard the far off coo of a bird and then saw a flash of brilliant blue dip between the trees. Sakura saw a number of doves up ahead in the trees and followed the path they took off over.

Sarutobi was on a bench writing in his journal with a medium sized parrot on his shoulder sporting iridescent green feathers. It had been the one Sakura noticed when she first entered the indoor gardens.

It looked up at her before Sarutobi even noticed her approach. With a great ruffling of feathers the bird took off over Sarutobi's shoulder, unsettling the older man as it flew up to the tree tops, suspicious of the new arrival. It was enough to alert the old man to her arrival.

"Sakura!" He stood up suddenly, nearly dropping his notebook only to bumble and catch it at the last moment. He seemed surprised to see her.

"I needed a break and Itachi mentioned this place. The numbers were just about ready to make my eyes bleed." Sakura let her hands slid easily into the front pockets of her jeans. "He also mentioned I might be making you nervous."

"Me, nervous?" he chuckled, folding his notebook back up and tucking it under his arm. "Hardly. I'm quite content to let the experts handle their business however they see fit. How is that work progressing?"

"It's…progressing. I'm anxious to really dig into it because for now I need to familiarize myself with what has already been entered and find a good place to start. The further back I go the less holes I find, but I'm still finding holes even after going back two years. I also have a number of files I wanted to ask you about when you are free."

Sarutobi eye her kindly and the smile on his face felt like sunshine to her. "I vaguely remembered being warned about your tendency to be a perfectionist," he teased.

"Only with numbers."

"So you say." He stretched out his free hand to gesture behind him. "Well, at least you give yourself a break now. Walk with me? This is one of my favorite parts of the whole house and one of the few I frequent daily." A loud caw overhead from the same brilliant green bird punctuated his sentence.

Sakura glanced upwards into the canopy but stepped forward to draw even with Sarutobi as the most beautiful birds hid themselves from her. "That's probably a good thing, since it looks like your pets crave the attention. How many exotic birds do you keep here?"

"Exotic birds? Only three. The rest are common and choose to come and go as they see fit. There are exits in the glass for the smaller doves to get through, and I think even the Eclectus Parrot and the Macaw could slip through if they tried, but they have no desire to leave our nice warm house for the misty cold of these moors.

Sakura whistled low. "That's pretty generous. I heard those kinds of birds were expensive pets to keep."

"I hardly know what that word means these days," Sarutobi chuckled. "You balance my books. You should have an idea of what I own."

Sakura nodded. "Touchè."

"Money is a horrible subject for such fun company. Let us talk of something more delightful. What do you like about Carnation Manor? Are your rooms still to your liking? Do you require anything?"

Sakura couldn't help but let loose a burst of laughter when she heard how concerned he was. It was such a stark opposite of how her last boss treated her and the other students during their time as interns. Sakura felt very much like a number that was never high enough to be pleasing to anyone. Her concerns had never been taken into account and she doubted the man who oversaw her internship even remembered her first name, much less her opinion on her work.

"If only you knew how pleasant it is for me to be here. This is much more my speed and you can't beat the setup." Sakura grinned, knowing her smile was crooked. "All my friends back home are jealous. I told them I'm living in a castle and all they ask for now are pictures."

His eyes seemed to dance with interest. "Have you sent them many?"

Sakura paused to pull out her phone and open the photo app. She scrolled through and showed the handful of photos she took of her room, her work area, the dining room, and some of the hallways. It was only as she was scrolling through did she realize how few photos she had.

It was only worse when Sarutobi looked up from the photos with a frown and admitted. "I'm very disappointed of your lack of creativity. For one, you didn't even take any of Itachi-the one thing that is sure to make your girlfriends jealous."

Sakura almost dropped her phone as her whole body exploded in a laugh that filled the menagerie up to it's glass ceiling and walls. She covered her face with one hand, knowing for certain it had gone red the way it always does when she laughs or screams too much.

Ino would flip out if she saw a photo of Itachi and then it would be a hell storm of messages that would never end. Sakura didn't think the other girls would take it so terribly, but even the more conservative ones were sure to tease her about it if they knew. There would be no peace for Sakura's phone if ever Itachi got into it and ended up circulated among her friends.

"What would you suggest I do, other than risk my life and take a photo of Itachi, to be popular with my friends?" Sakura teased, pretending to plead.

"You're not willing to risk it with Itachi?"

Sakura shook her head, eyes growing wide.

"Then maybe the armory or the tapestries might be more entertaining. Tell me if you're too old for stories now before I change my mind. I want to show off my collection." He reached for her arm and threaded it through his, guiding her back up the path to the exit.

She hummed in good humor. "I am old enough for fairytales again I think."

Sakura followed dutifully on his arm up to a separate hallway she had never been down. It was only when they were on the threshold of a brand new room did she realize why she had never been down the hallway.

"We're in the West Wing!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I thought this section was condemned. What are we doing here?"

Sarutobi replaced the silver key he had used to open the door back into his pants pockets. She heard his dismissive chuckles he drew her further into the new hallway. Nothing about the interior of the room seemed to signify it needed repair in any way. Everything looked in near perfect condition.

"Not this section. I keep up the pretense for this room because of it's content, but the rest of the wing really is a rotting mess. I've done my best to preserve these tapestries. They've been in this family since before the manor was planned. I take a lot of pride in these pieces, though they aren't the flashiest."

Sakura inhaled and tasted the texture of the room as it filled her lungs, age and dust were accents to the rich woody smell of the room, punctuated by lavender from the dried out wreaths over the door. The room felt like it inhabited a space separate from the rest of the manor and it made Sakura feel like she was caught in cotton. "Show me your favorites," she whispered, not trusting her voice to leave the haunting atmosphere unbroken.

There were plenty, but Sarutobi went to one of the largest tapestries and tugged on Sakura's arm until she was centered in front of the woven image. In the center of the tapestry there was a well with a broken pitcher set aside it. Off in the corner there was a house as well, looking like it was surrounded with silver water, bloated wood, and a loaf reddish brown bread cooling in the window.

Around the well were twelve different women, each sporting a different number of hours from their skulls ranging from one to twelve; each one having a different number. Between them stretched all the pieces needed to weave cloth; wool, yarn, a wheel, and a spindle. A woman and two children were woven into the tapestry off to the side, eyes closed, glittering amber cloth over the place where their mouths should be.

"What does this one mean?" she asked, feeling something deep in her ribs echo like the last thick strings under the hammer on a piano.

"The horned witches in this one…" his voice sounded a bit rougher when he spoke, as if he was falling back into an old accent, a long forgotten brogue. "In the story, the lady of the house woke in the night and answered, a thing you should never do, not even if it's your long lost mother coming back from the country. But this woman thought it might be her neighbor, so she opened the door and like that she was in the witch with one horn's thrall, a thing not easily shaken."

"What did the witches want?"

Sarutobi shrugged his shoulders and then lifted a wrinkled finger to the spinning wheel. "To spin under her roof. All of them together worked on the spinning. The woman and her sons were bound in silence while the horned women worked."

"That makes sense for how I see their mouths. They couldn't speak, could the?"

"That's common enough in stories of fairies and witches." Sarutobi pointed back to the well and spoke on. "The spirit in their well was the only thing that saved them, telling the woman what to do once she had the chance to sneak out and pretend to see the witches' home burning. That was all it took to send the ladies scurrying."

"But what happened when the witches realized their house wasn't really going up in flames? I doubt they were happy about that."

Sarutobi laughed. "Nothing they could do about it the second time. All their tricks couldn't let them back in once the lady bolted the door and dispelled their enchantments with the aid of the spirit of the well. The horned women moved on, able to complete their work. It's not so rare a story for the old country, but it's not common here."

Sakura shook her gaze free and turned back to look at Sarutobi. His eyes were wistful and far off. "It sounds like it was important to you…the story, that is."

"All these stories are precious to me in one way or another. This one here on the wall beside it is of the green man and Iron John, the one next to that is of the Lindworm, a prince cursed in ugly, beastial form until a changeling girl breaks his curse. Wedding night, she wears seven dresses, and right before he eats each of his wife, the worm prince asks them to shed their robes."

"I've heard the story before," Sakura interjected, grinning slightly.

Sarutobi looks surprised for only a moment. "Really now, tell the rest to me then. Our versions might be different."

Sakura had heard the story when she had been only a girl, but later in life the version matured and more details came out. When she recalled the story, she liked to recall the version her girlhood self remembered.

"The prince was cursed because his mother the queen didn't follow the rules after asking a fairy woman for help having children. She had two sons, the first one was born an ugly dragon worm. It as their curse to try and break before the second son could marry, but the eldest prince just kept eating all his brides when they couldn't match him on their wedding night. A girl is wise enough that she wears those seven dresses on her wedding night to the beast, and for every dress, he must shed a skin until she's bare as the dawn and he's a naked mess of magic for her to hold onto until the magic leaves him. He changes shape all night long, and she holds onto him still. That's a common enough trope. There are plenty of stories where girls hold their husbands made out of magic."

"You've heard many fairy tales then?"

"You could say that. We weren't very well off when I was just a kid, but the library was always free and stories are a cheap escape no matter where you are." Sakura let her shoulders roll. "It's been awhile since then. I've forgotten most of the stories, unlike you."

Her eyes drifted over the images until one snagged her like a hook on thread. She stopped breathing for a moment and Sarutobi noticed. "Which one has you bewitched?" he joked, glancing up at the tapestry depicting two fairy courts opposing each other. One was led by a fairy queen and king dressed in white, the other had a king and king dressed in shades of night. Each queen held a rabbit in her hands to match their dress. On the ground were rabbit skulls.

Sarutobi watched her and there was a shifting of his features, as if he were preparing to reply, but a knock at the door interrupted his intentions. Itachi stepped in a moment later, noting Sakura's presence with a scowl before turning the fullness of his attention to Sarutobi.

"Itachi?" Sarutobi was long past being ruffled by the younger man's darker expressions.

"Unexpected visitors have come for business."

Sakura was too sensitive not to notice the way Sarutobi's eyes cut over to her in a subtle study of her expression. It was only for a moment, and then the pleasant smile was back. "I'll see them in the Blue Room on the first floor. Bring me my books." Sarutobi held out his arm for Sakura, planning to let her walk out ahead of himself. He would be the last one in the room. "I must apologize. I had not expected to be called away. Your short lived break was cut short on account of me and we never got to those documents of yours."

"I'm sure they'll be there when you're free, but I should get back to my work." Sakura left ahead of Sarutobi

Behind her she could hear the two men scurrying off down the opposite hall as soon as it split. Something about the way they hurried set her on edge. Sarutobi had guests often enough, and men and women came on 'business' calls multiple times a day, but Itachi sounded like today's visitors were more than just unexpected.

It took a little longer with her leisurely pace, but Sakura returned to her room first to find her phone charger and freshen up. Ino had sent her a couple text replies to the photos Sarutobi made her send of the tapestries. Sakura smiled and replied to each one and then debated texting Kakuzu before ultimately giving up and turning off her phone's screen. The idea of texting Kakuzu with anything other than meaningful questions on tax returns made her feel silly. He was her friend, but not in the same way Ino and the other were.

The hallway grew colder, the way a room chills with a window left open. Sakura looked up and noticed the door to her room had been left open even though she knew she never left without closing the door behind her. That was a rule of hers whenever she had important documents left out.

Sakura pushed the door open, stretching her hand away from her and keeping her distance. She didn't cross the threshold, but waited for the door to swing open on it's own. "Itachi?" she called out.

There was someone at her desk, but it wasn't Itachi. The room was cold, but no windows were open.

He straightened and turned and suddenly there were birds coming out of the bookshelves, peeling out from the very pages like they were made out of ink there were four, and there there were more; ten, maybe fifteen more, all stretching out of their pages.

Sakura thought the birds might multiply once more and swarm the room, but the man waved his hand with his back still to the the door and silver chains, glowing like mist in the light, bound the birds by their beaks and wings.

The man at her desk turned and at first Sakura thought he was Itachi, but his face was wrong for it, even if the features were strikingly similar. Same color of hair, differently styled, but the cheekbones were still high and sharp making him almost a doppler for the moody Uchiha. When he turned his head to peer down at her she felt more than just chilled.

"You're not the boy."

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, knowing with all the fibers of her body and bones that the situation was more than just precarious. Her nerves were vibrating with the warnings for danger.

Run, run, run, run…

The man turned as if hearing something from far off. "And the old goat's reneging on our accord again. He promised a half hour." His eyes cut back to her, slightly unfocused. "You might do, though."

'Shit nope!'

She reacted like a reflex, jumping backwards and pulling the door closed behind her as she turned and ran without limits screaming only once before all the air in her lungs went into pushing her body forward.

Somewhere in the mess of her mind she remembered the Blue Room on the first floor being so close to the mud room at the back of the house, not far from where the stairs ended. Her feet took her there on her own, even as the sound of her door flying open under the pressure of a million feathers and dark laughter. She was making enough noise on her own, he knew where she was. If he wanted to, following her would be easy.

The hallway opened up to a stretching staircase she flew down, taking the steps three and four at a time, skipping the last five altogether. The old wood of the house was forgiving on her ankles when she landed, but not that forgiving.

She sprinted in pain, seeing the door to the blue room open and a figure emerge. Sarutobi stood there with his sleeves rolled up and blood coating his forearms, darkest and thickest around his fingers. His eyes were wide but not like hers. Still, she heard him whisper a curse under his breath as if the sight of her triggered a foul memory.

"What the hell," Sakura gasped, crashing into the wall alongside him and spinning around before sliding down the wallpaper surface. "What-the-hell?!"

"Who did you see?" he asked, stepping around her and crouching down, keeping his hands elevated and away from her. "Did he ask about my grandson?"

"The fuck?!" Sakura hissed, eyes suddenly narrowed in anger. It slipped her mind that his grandson wasn't supposed to be in the house anymore. "Who the fuck was that? Who the fu-ugh, damn it, stitches." She whimpered, holding her sides as she looked down at her ankles and saw one was already starting to color from the abuse she put it through.

Sarutobi was faster, waving his bloody hand over her and crossing his fingers in a sign before the pain turned into heat that flared under her skin and then disappeared. When Sakura looked down again, her ankles looked as good as they felt.

"I apologize. This wasn't supposed to happen. I've not been tricked like this in years, and I never expected you to be caught up into this. He's looking for my grandson to spirit away. Wait inside the white circle in the room. I need to join Itachi and see if I can drive him away."

He nudged her with his elbow, smearing a small amount of blood on her shoulder before she stood and hobbled into the once fine room. She almost tripped when she saw the mutilated body on the table, still dripping blood.

"He's alive and he will live. The wounds are closing slowly because fairy wounds are always that much more complicated to counteract. Sakura there, no here, stand here and stay inside this circle. You'll be safe here."

"What the hell is going on?" Sakura hissed, backing up against the table, careful not to disrupt the ring of salt on the floor. She was shivering.

Sarutobi regarded her mournfully and then shook his head. "You won't remember any of this in the morning, I promise you. I had to borrow magic and in exchange I grated the fay access to my home, but I never swore to him safety."

Sakura realized something. "Where's Itachi? He's not here and that guy looked just like him."

Sarutobi backed up and held the door in one hand while he painted symbols with the other onto the wood's surface. "He left to ensure my grandson is safe. I must go to meet with him before I drive out our house guest. Stay here please, these will keep you safe."

And then he was gone, leaving Sakura to collapse silently into herself as her brain drowned in panic triggered chemicals and flashes of images she didn't want to sort through. Sarutobi borrowed magic from a fay, from a fair folk, he used magic that wasn't his. A wizard or witch, they were one in the same beyond gender roles and he was one.

Sakura turned to look back over her shoulder at the body on the table and fought back the gag when she saw the old lines where his wounds had once been. As Sarutobi had explained, the body was healing slowly right before her eyes. In a few seconds the wounds would be closed completely and he would be a messy middle aged man again. No other means could accomplish such a feat.

The man on the table stirred and Sakura jumped back, close to the ring on the floor but not close enough to disturb or breach it. His eyes fluttered open and in place of the normal components, his pupil was completely gone, and only a widening iris of blue broke up the whites of his eyes. When he moved his arms were like doll components, stiff and jarring and completely unreliable.

"Dude, you need to lie back down." Sakura winces when she saw one of his wounds spasm like a sagging bandaid, threatening to break and spill blood again. His head lolled to the side and his eyes refused to focus, but he stood and stumbled from the table to the wall, his feet shuffling through the salt ring and breaking it.

Sakura cursed and trotted over to him, hoping that the ring could be fixed if she just pieced it back together. Something was wrong with the man Sarutobi brought in and she guessed the guy would do more harm than good if she let him out. She reached for his arm but he didn't even react, just kept walking towards the door with a strength she couldn't understand. 'Not normal.'

At the touch of her he whirled around and grabbed her wrist, twisting it painfully. "Where is the boy-where is the iron?"

"Why the hell do you think I would know something like that. Get off of me," Sakura snarled, grabbing his wrist and twisting it as hard as she could. He didn't even blink.

Ignoring her, he pushed open the door and dragged her out into the hall, past the symbols on the door. Sakura kicked at his shins and she saw him flinching from the contact, but his face never shifted, like he couldn't feel the pain she was causing him.

He gripped her tiger before tugging her to his side and then hauling her by the arm into another hallway, and then into a room and out into a different hallway. Each new setting made him pause and sway on his feet a bit before turning in a new direction and heading off.

Sakura had no idea what he was doing until he stopped at a door and began to lean towards it. Sakura saw a vein of metal under the door lining the wood. Before she could try again to pull free the man punched his hand clean through the door to the other side, twisting and reaching for the knob to unlock. Sakura heart fell in her chest when she heard the scream from inside.

Pushing the broken door aside he dragged Sakura in and then threw her to the floor before striding forward. Sakura looked up and cursed at the sight. Konohamaru, Sarutobi's grandson sat on a couch inside a metal cage made out of what Sakura assumed was iron. She remembered the stories about fay and fairies being unable to touch metals like iron. Silver on werewolves, iron on fairies, it was an acid burn waiting to happen.

"This is so effed up," Sakura murmured, watching in morbid fascination as the man reached for the bars and began to pull on them. Enchanted or drugged didn't make a difference; he was human so he could touch the bars.

From inside Konohamaru screamed again. "Do something! Get my grandfather, get Itachi. He's going to take me away if you don't!" Tears made his face a mess. "I don't want to go to the bad place!"

"What are talking about?" Sakura hissed, pushing herself up off the floor. She was sore but still able to move, nothing was broken. "There was a guy that looked like Itachi in my room asking for you."

Konohamaru whimpered. "I don't want to be taken. He said he would take me for his game."

"What game?"

"The rabbit game!" More of the metal bends backwards, but the man's hands are bleeding now and Sakura doubted he would be able to peel all the metal back on his own. The bars are wet and hard to grip with just flesh and willpower. "He wants me 'cause-cause-cause of a game."

Sakura screams when the man tearing at the cage grabs a fire poker from beside the hearth and begins to break the cage apart with it. Sparks fly. He's getting much closer to destroying the hinges of the door and opening a way up to the boy inside. The child was crying harder now, less tears and more heaves of air.

Sakura felt frisson in her spine and jogged over to the same fire place and grabbed the remaining tool, a shovel. Turned the right way it would be a heavy enough weapon. She looked up, chose her target, grounded herself and then put the fullness of her strength into her swing.

The metal door fell apart and the middle aged man collapsed atop it, bleeding from his nose, knocked out cold. Sakura stood on top of him, heaving a little as her hands trembled around the metal. She dropped it and instead reached for the sharpened fire poker. When she looked up the grandson was staring at her wide eyed, finally silent.

"You're way too much of a crybaby to make a good rabbit," Sakura snorted, reaching out for his arm and pulling him towards her. "Come on, follow me, we need to make a salt ring."

"We're not close to the kitchen."

Sakura snorted, yanking the eight year old along behind her. "That wasn't very smart of him then. It sounded like he expected invading fairies too, if that was me I'd have salt in every room of the house." Sakura frowned when she felt the hand wrapped around her palm squeeze her back. The boy's head was down but he was leaning into her as they ran. She winced at the frame of such a child. He was rightly traumatized. "Eh, you remember who I am, though, right?"

"You're the money lady." That was a fun way of putting it.

"My name's Sakura. Try saying it, I hate repeating myself."

He mumbled her name at first and then Sakura yanked him closer making him yelp and repeat her name louder the second time. "Don't be mean to me. You work for my grandfather."

"Your grand daddy is in for an earful when that half hour is up. I did not sign up for this sort of shit storm and hazard pay was never discussed in the hiring process. He should have at least warned me there might be a chance of my life being put in danger like this, but noooo, all I packed were yoga pants and skinny jeans thinking this was some chump desk job." Sakura pulled the boy close to her side and paused in the hallway to listen before crossing over. "I can't believe my luck on this. I knew it was too good to be true."

"You're not going to remember any of it anyways. You'll get your memory erased just like the maids and be gone in a month," Konohamaru snapped shaking her hand but refusing to let go of it. "This is my life."

"Yeah, and that sucks cause you had no choice in it, but someone in your family did. Relationships with fairies, deals with the fay people aren't ever a good thing. I don't care what any of the stories say," Sakura hisses, pulling him close. She stops to glare at his face. "But I do know my stories and I do know that this Itachi clone isn't here because he wasn't uninvited. Magic isn't free and someone had to pay."

Sarutobi's words make her skin crawl. "You won't remember any of this in the morning, I promise you. I had to borrow magic and in exchange I grated the fay access to my home, but I never swore to him safety."

Stupid old man.

The jogged out from the hallway into the main hall and Sakura could see the bend leading to the kitchen not too far, but it was at the other end of the open hall and they were exposed to too many angles and alcoves for her liking. Konohamaru felt it too, the openness pressing on on them from all sides.

They weren't a quarter of the way across the hall when the air twisted in a chill ahead of them and the man from before turned around to greet them, looking as if he had been standing there all along and not simply hiding between the atoms of space and time. His grin was wide and made him look so much more distinguished than Itachi, there was no confusing them now.

"Look how well you did!" he cheered, clasping his hands in front of his chest and leaning backwards on only one heel, swaying like a schoolboy. "My thrall couldn't have done such a neat job and looked that good doing it. I'm so grateful."

"Wh-where's my grandfather!" Konohamaru cried out, eyes wide with fear as he pressed closer to Sakura. She brandished her iron poker like a rapier and held it ready.

"Who are you?" she demanded, baring her teeth.

The man giggled into a closed fist and then rolled his shoulders back before dipping into a low bow. His free hand swept out across his chest in an elaborate flourish. "Uchiha Shisui, the black rabbit champion of his kind."

Sakura felt parts of her go cold at the title. Black rabbit, the thing Konohamaru feared becoming. "You're an Uchiha like Itachi?"

"My precious cousin didn't tell you he was fay? He's always been far too modest for his own good."

"You both look too much alike, but he never smiles." Sakura kept a minimum of motion in her hands, waving the poker slightly to keep it fluid. "Was he really that much weaker than you to not be here now?"

"Ah, I admired my cousin for all his talents, but he could never best me in one and that is this: I have always and will always be faster than him. No point in waiting for that slowpoke now, or the old coot. Let me have the brat and we can chat at our leisure you precious thing," he all but purred, straightening up and eyeing her like a cat eyes a mouse. Her poker meant nothing to him.

"I don't think I will."

He laughed and sauntered closer, but stopped before he could be considered close. She'd have to lunge far to reach him with the tip of her poker, and that would put her off balanced. Not good, not good, not good, where was Itachi?

"You're human, you such a fleeting thing, but you stand up like you're something more than a flower in the field. Ah, that's okay, I like flowers." He eyes her poker like some joke. "Even the ones with thorns."

"Stop. Last warning." Her words came out sounding more like a plea than anything else, and they were, they were, they were…

His grin was blinding and time seemed to slow. Sakura felt the metal leave her hands and there was a searing sound as Shisui tossed the metal rod away. His hand was burned, red and blistered across the palm, but he grinned through the pain. "Still warning me, darling?" He pressed his hand to his chest, hiding the red streak with a grimace. "If you want, you could come along with the kid, keep him company."

Itachi wasn't coming. Sarutobi was nowhere to be seen. There was no more time and there were no more options.

Sakura knelt down, knees trembling and grabbed Konohamaru around the waist and pulling him close. He was shivering again and almost tried pulling away, but Sakura forced her hands to be firm. "I'm not letting you go with him," she hissed, teeth bared. "Just hold on."

"Shisui!" Sarutobi's voice from overhead boomed, sounding brittle at parts. There were bird feathers flying everywhere and silver mist leaking over the banister, but the old man could barely move.

The grinning Uchiha looked up at the old man, saluted mockingly, and turned back to Sakura and Konohamaru with knees bent and poised to dash. Sakura didn't blink, but saw the moment he lunged from across the room and saw the first step he took. Mortals didn't have a name for that speed. It wasn't a short distance, but he crossed it in less than an instant, dodging the claw and beaks along the way. He reached out and wrapped his hand around thin air.

"No!" Sarutobi cried out, missing the part where Shisui fell through thin air. Both males blinked in question, turning and searching the room for the girl and boy.

"Where's Itachi?"

Sarutobi jumped at the voice so close behind him and whirled to see a figure unlike the one who had just disappeared with his grandson. "Sakura?" he breathed, stunned at the sight of her.

Her clothing had melted away, leaving her in a short, white dress of billowing chiffon, cut off just past the middle of her thighs were similarly colored shorts protected her modesty. Her feet were bare, but like her hands, a strip of lace wrapped around the underside like a band.

The outfit change was impressive enough, but the rest of her was truly a sight. Her eyes were bleeding red and her hair had lost all but of a hint of it's original color, going stark white up to the tips where it presented a blush of its former color. On her face a mask sat atop her skin, gold and finely framed to rest over her nose and encircle her eyes. It ended in a pair of points shaped like rabbit ears above her forehead.

Her skin seemed to glow.

"You're a-" The memory of the tapestry flashed back to the both of them and Sakura nodded.

"I was. Now, Itachi?" Her words were clipped and short with irritation, but beyond that there was something else, something unearthly in her words.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shisui hisses, flashing into a blur that materialized at the end of the hallway behind Sakura.

She turned partially to view him out of the corner of her eye. For the first time the expression on the Uchiha male's face was one of shock. Sarutobi had never seen such a sight. Shisui Uchiha was a creature that was angered and upset, but never shocked. Sakura doesn't so much as blink at his reaction, unfazed by it. Still, her legs tense, getting ready to run.

"How much longer on your stupid agreement?" Sakura hisses over her shoulder, knowing the answer can't be too much. It's been awhile since she first walked in on Shisui in her study. She didn't need to hold him off for long, just until his time ran out.

"Six-no five minutes. Itachi…I left him behind in the menagerie. I don't know where he is now." Sarutobi's voice grew stronger. "Itachi was a hunter, he's much stronger than Shisui. He'll be able to put up a decent fight if you can find him."

"Old man, don't think you can run your mouth off on things you know nothing about!" Shisui snapped across the space between them. His expression was still sour. "I wanted an answer. We had a contract so what is going on?"

"I'm not associated with this house," Sakura interjected, standing to face Shisui fully. "And had I know the situation, I would have never walked into this manor and interrupted the dealings between you. Still, I'm not going to let you take another child into your world if I can help it."

"You're human!" Shisui breathed as the revelation stunned him. "A human rabbit, what court are you from?"

"I doubt you'd know of it, as I've never heard of you." Sakura evaded easily. "But that's not important. Like I said, you're not getting the kid."

"Fine."

Sakura blinked, red eyes blown wide in shock. "What?"

Sarutobi's voice was an echo. "What?"

Shisui shrugged, his shock melting way to a more even, neutral expression. "What, it's not like we'd be in trouble if we had to wait another decade or two to start the game up again. There are other things we could do instead."

"I don't think I want to know." Sakura growled, feeling her back tingle right up to the base of her skull where a bundle of nerves fired off in warning. She was in danger.

"Sarutobi, you can keep your brat kid. I want your white rabbit instead."

Sakura snarled, taking an aggressive step forward. "I am no one's to give, you bastard, and there is no way in hell I'm going back to your god forsaken lands and your god forsaken parties in your god forsaken worlds." She held up a single palm as if ready to brandish a sword in it. "I've won my freedom."

"Eh, but you've never been to a Uchiha party! We do things differently under the mountain, you'd like it."

Sakura felt her bones splinter and petal beneath her skin in agitation. "I don't do anything under the mountain." Nothing good rested beneath stone. The mask brought back memories she shook from, memories she'd rather forget. Nothing good rested under the mountain. Nothing good lives beneath stone.

Come under the mountain, under the mountain, under the mountain, come under the mountain…

"Shisui!"

Itachi entered the hallway behind his cousin, missing the pieces of his everyday clothing. Like Sakura, his dress was fairy made and magic spun. A cloak of feathers split down the spine into two billowing pieces flapped as he stalked. The rest of him was black with night. There was a wildness in his black eyes as he narrowed them, a wildness Sakura had not seen before.

"Move an inch on the family and I'll pull your liver from your gut." Itachi held his body prone, ready to back up such threats.

Shisui cursed, turning briefly to glance back at his cousin before shrugging. "Like you're here to do anything in my last minutes." He turned his attention back to Sakura and Sarutobi as silver mist began to seep out of the air around his ankles. His time was drawing short. "I'll say this, I am not the only Uchiha to strike deals with men, and you are not the only house to call on my aid. I might be the only one interested in a good, distracting game, but I'm not the only one making deals."

The mist around his ankles grew thicker but Sakura stayed tense. It would be easy for him to use the distraction to nab the boy behind her legs. He was fast enough for that. She had to be faster.

"What's your name?" Shisui asked. "I'll not touch the boy again with the intention of spiriting him away, I swear, but give me your name, White Rabbit…"

Sarutobi stiffened behind her, knowing as well as she did that his word was as good as law. The fay couldn't go back on deals and they couldn't break their words once given. All she had to do was share something that was common knowledge and the boy would be safe.

Too easy.

Her heart lurched in her throat. "Sakura."

Shisui seemed to deflate into the mist, expression content and happy. "We'll see each other again, Sakura."

And then he was gone.

II

The magic melted off of her and in a moment she was back in jeans and converse. It was a rush as the mask melted away and suddenly Sakura was cut free. She staggered, falling against the railing, vision swimming. The recoil hit her like a freight train and she gasped soundlessly as she experienced the crush of it.

It sent spasms throughout her body and she knew what she looked like, knew what she sounded like. Lightning was racing through her mind and all the atoms that made up her physical form were unlearning their immortality with great resignation. She was mortal once more, free in a body of aging, decaying flesh, and she was dying from it.

All humans die a little bit each day, cells age and are replaced in every moment, but that wasn't true when Sakura was a White Rabbit. No, when she was full of magic she was cosmic, she was overwhelming and near divine. Loosing that was to experience death.

Vomiting on the carpet in the hallway was the least of her concerns as another shockwave rocked her.

It had been years since she last donned the mask, years since she last pulled up the magic like drawing water in a bucket from a well. It had been eons since she expanded beyond the limits of man and death. Why? Why would she ever give up such power for something so hideous? She was dying and she could still feel it!

"She's not sleeping."

"She won't. She has to ride this out, she's mortal now. Your magic won't be any good for now."

The voices were angry thunder in her ears and Sakura prayed she wasn't frothing at the mouth this time. Bile was in her throat and her gut contracted painfully. Salt crusted under her eyelids, refusing to fall with the rest of her tears.

This had happened before, when she was a girl, and again when she was almost a woman. She had been a fool both times, caught up in the wanting so vivid it made her bite her hands until she bleed. She wanted so badly to be amazing again, but with the mask came memories, and other things.

Her fits could last hours. The first one did, when she still had the undeveloped body of a girl who remembered aging in another world and becoming a woman. That time had been the worst, and she hadn't thought of the mask or the speed again until many years had passed to dull the memory.

She had been alone for the first fit, but the second drew a small crowd and she remembered their stories of it. The way she screamed, the way she cried, the way she collapsed like an ancient ruin on the face of the earth. But that was then and this was now and her lungs were so much larger and her cries were that much more piercing.

She was dying, dying, dying….

"Here… This isn't fairy magic."

"That's-"

The world dropped away. Pain dropped away. Awareness dropped away. Sakura floated in the great maw of oblivion and sunk like a dead weight into sleep.

There are dreams, there are memories, and there are the things in between.

They made her wear a mask and told her it could never come off until the game was done, but the game went on for days and months and even years. She would try and claw it off any given day or night but the effect was always the same.

And just like she is unable to claw off the mask, she is unable to drown out the beating of the drums and the chants and the callings of all the airy voices sewn into the mist. Her lungs echoes their truth and she knows she is cursed.

Come…drink this, young one and become our champion. Run for us, run far, run wild, run forever. Escape the black court and all her dark winged horrors if you can. Run, run white rabbit, win our chase. This game is your fate forevermore. Become who you were meant to be, changing child. You were chosen for this.

Cursed, cursed, cursed.

She awoke in her bed with the moon heavy in the sky outside her window. Hours later, or days?

She tasted bile on her teeth and pushed back the sheets, knowing she needed to brush her teeth. Swinging around she found her shoes gone, but nothing else of hers had been touched. She felt dirty though, and doubted she had slept for any little amount of time.

She hobbled into the bathroom, walking on legs filled with lead. She was so heavy. Every movement made her world turn a little harsher. She felt like she was wading through murky water.

So slow.

She turned the light on and hissed, hating how harsh the light was on her eyes. She squinted down and fumbled around for her toothbrush and paste. She found it all blindly and set about to cleaning herself, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Eventually they did and she was able to see herself in the mirror. The sight made her wish she couldn't see again.

'Should have expected as much,' she thought to herself before spitting.

Her hair hung limp, her eyes were rimmed in red and shadows, her skin was pale enough to see the veins through it. Maybe she wasn't so horrible to look at, but she remembered quite clearly what she had been before. She remembered her weightless hair curled around her perfect skin and gloss colored lips. She had glowed with immortality and a power not even the fay could rival. She was human, but not. She was more.

Her knees trembled and she smacked a hand over the glass, covering her reflection. Sakura closed her eyes and cupped water to her mouth to rinse. When she looked up again she found herself able to stomach the sight of her human self a little better. Sakura hated how she reacted and how she felt-it didn't make logical sense to be so disgusted-but she knew she would recover again with time. She was strong enough to move on.

Walking back to her bed she crossed in front of the mirror with the cloth still left over it and paused. Her heart hammered in her chest and she grabbed the fabric of her shirt before lifting it over her head to toss to the bed. She grabbed the covering next and pulled it away. Her reflection showed off herself, showed the dark black lines of the tattoos across her chest and the brilliant veins of gold hiding under her skin.

"Antique glass my ass," Sakura hissed out loud, eyes narrowing in anger and she watched her reflection glimmer with dormant magic.

The mirror had been enchanted to show things that had been concealed. Sakura heard of wizards lining their homes with such things to protect themselves from surprises or deception. That meant they either suspected her from the beginning, a guess she doubted, or they were meant to protect the guest from wandering fay. Fay hated truth telling mirrors with a passion. The smell of one was enough to keep them out of most rooms.

Over her heart the skull of a rabbit was inked in never fading black. Behind the skull the pattern of a honeycomb dripped with sweet honey down the valley of her breasts. The rabbit's skull grew a cluster of crystals, and the whole crest was framed with a stalk of foxglove and yarrow on one side, and mistletoe and thorny hawthorn details. Underneath the silk of her black bra she could see the end of the wishbone peaking out, but didn't bother to expose the rest of it. She knew what her sigils were. She knew what her markings meant and where they came from. It would be awhile before they faded again.

Magic fed them, after all.

She yawned and looked back to the door, frowning at the sounds she heard on the other side of it. It would be awhile before her extra sensitive hearing went away too.

"I can hear you there," she called out, knowing her voice was raw and soft. It would be enough for Itachi to hear at least. She doubted his hearing was as common as a human's.

The door's handle turned as Sakura pulled her shirt back on. By the time her head poked through Itachi was standing in the doorway, watching the spot on her chest where her tattoos were. She straightened out her shirt and pulled it down, knowing it wasn't enough to hide everything.

Itachi at least had the decency to avert his eyes and look down until she was done straightening out. "I intruded too early."

Sakura pulled her hair out of her shirt and fluffed it from underneath, knowing it was still mostly limp. "Nothing to intrude on. "How long have I slept?"

"Eight, nearly nine hours." Itachi lifted his eyes and there was a little less animosity there. He nodded towards the window where the moon hung low. "Konohamaru has since gone to bed. He is safe and whole."

What went unsaid between them was 'thanks to you,' and Sakura didn't miss it. But there were other things that went unsaid between them as well.

"What?" Sakura asked after a moment of too long silence. Itachi had questions, she could tell.

But for all his curiosities, Itachi didn't ask a single one. Instead he stepped to the side to make room for her in the doorway. "Sarutobi is entertaining guests. I believe it would be beneficial for you to intrude."

Sakura let her head lull to the side. "Intrude? You didn't come here to summon me?"

"Sarutobi doesn't expect you awake so soon. Magic would not put you to rest, so he forced an alchemist's elixir on you."

Sakura felt a single brow rise. "He's both a wizard and a man of the minor science? It's rare to find someone so open minded. Usually the two sets are bitter antagonists to each other." Sakura swallowed, tasting nothing left in her throat. That was dangerous. "What did he feed me?" She reached for her head again, feeling the phantom pain of her too sharp senses dulling. "I feel awful." She didn't mention how she looked, but she knew Itachi's eyes were sharp enough to draw his own conclusions.

"Is there any other way to feel after such an encounter?"

If it had been anyone else Sakura would have glared, but Sakura knew enough of Itachi after a week of living together to understand his personality didn't allow such 'human' speech. It almost sounded like he was joking with her. His tone was even lighter. It was enough to make her drop her hands to her sides and stare. A moment later she remembered she needed to respond.

"Oh, you're the expert, eh? How many mortal rabbit champions do you know who phase in and out of their fay woven bodies every once in a blood moon?"

He shifted the weight of his body from one leg to the other. "None, and while I have heard of fairy courts using changeling humans as their rabbits, I've never heard of one being crowned a champion. What court did you come from?"

"I wouldn't expect you to know of it. I was from a highly matriarchal court in Virginia." Sakura felt her hands find the skin under the collar of her shirt all on their own and then stray downwards. Her fingerprints found the black lines of the foxglove markings and froze there. "But I will save the details for when I am in front of Sarutobi. The least he can do is keep me from having to repeat the story so many times. Where did you say he was?"

"Entertaining guest. Please, follow me."

Sakura didn't question the sudden change in Itachi's attitude towards her, suspecting it was stemming from a place of almost guilt. At least she hoped he felt a little bit guilt, because she felt a lot of anger for the way things had played out, and there was no way he missed that in the way she carried herself.

Itachi led her down a hallway she didn't recognize until she realized she was in the section of the house she had been warned to stay away from. She mentally kicked herself for not realizing it sooner after waking up. There was no distress or water damage or restoration in process. Whatever excuse they invited was only there to cover for the fact that the west end of the house was thick and choked with the scent of fay magic. Sakura wondered if once her senses dulled back to their usual level, if she would be able to sense the magic.

Itachi opened a set of double wooden doors that led to a room no bigger than most closest, but at the end of this room was another set of double doors. Sakura stopped walking when she noticed what they were made out of.

"You need me to open these for you?" she asked, pointing to the heavy doors made out of iron.

"I wear gloves for such purposes," Itachi answered, tugging on the white fabric at his wrist before pulling open one door with minimal strain. Sakura heard the old iron groan in protests as it swung open. Her nose wrinkled in distaste when she smelled the way Itachi's skin burned in agitation to the ghost contact. Even with wizard gloves fay and the fair folk were highly allergic to iron and shrank from it like moths in the sunlight.

Sakura stepping first, quick to keep from making Itachi wait at the door. She heard him begin to pull it shut while her eyes focused on other things.

Sarutobi stood up straighter from behind the long table where too many charts had been unrolled and laid out on top of each other. Some were mats, others were painted full of stars. Alongside the old man were a pair of males that were unmistakable father and son. When Sarutobi straightened both males merely raise an eyebrow.

"Sakura. What are you doing awake so soon. It's only been a few hours." Sarutobi walked around the table, but doesn't approach her a single step more after reaching her side of the table.

"Then your brew was weaker than the stuff I'm used to, sorry." Sakura nodded to the two new men. "More friends I should be wary of?" she asked, looking to Sarutobi.

The old man flushed, but clasped his hands behind his back and did his best to kept his face from flushing. "No true friend of mine would ever give you reason to be weary. I trust the Nara. You can too."

Sakura heard the final click of the iron door falling back into place, but when she glanced backwards there was no Itachi. She guessed there was something going on with the walls or under the floorboards that banned his kind from entering the room. It was a safe rom.

"That's the funny thing about trust, though. Trust should never be admitted on default. I don't trust you and I wouldn't trust your friends. No matter who you are, you've not done enough or worked long enough to earn my trust. Few have."

"You're upset. I can understand that."

"Upset is too humble a word for what I'm feeling right now." Sakura swallowed, feeling her nails dig into her arms as she crossed them in front of her. "But I'll keep that all in check because there's no way you could have known who I was when you hired me, right? Just like there was no way you could have known that wild fay would endanger your household and live in employees."

"None of that was intentional, I swear to you that. Neither Itachi or I knew you were…what you are." His hands are up, palms out, expression pleading. There's guilt in the lines of his eyes.

"You didn't know I was a white rabbit, but you suspected I was something, didn't you?" Sakura guessed, feeling bile in the back of her throat.

At this point the younger of the two strangers spoke up. "That's my job. I look for people who show patterns of behavior consistent with changeling children. You were one of the stronger candidates."

Sakura glared at him, hating how she didn't have a name to place with his face. Sarutobi had called him a Nara, but that didn't mean anything to her. Was that his last name, his title, his fairy court? "Why would you do something like that?" she asked in measured impatience. "Changeling children are usually too traumatized to be of any good."

"You did an excellent job in school though," the older Nara chuckled, smiling easily. He was the only one in the room impervious to the tension. "Perfect math, right? Never made a mistake? You had quite the reputation among your peers and professors. It's not ever changeling child that comes back with such a fascination for numbers and counting."

Sakura rolled her shoulders, nails still in her arms. "Fay love to count things. It rubbed off on me. Is that why the books are such a mess? It's like someone went through them on purpose, trying to make them as convoluted as possible."

"That was Shikamaru's job," the older Nara chuckled, slapping the younger on the back. "He could have done better at making it look more natural, right?"

"Shut up, you troublesome old man. It did what it needed to do," Shikamaru hissed with a look that made his relationship to the other Nara clear: father and son.

"Still doesn't answer my question."

Sakura's eyes cantered towards Sarutobi. It was then she realized what was different about him from before. The glamor he wore around himself to make others more trusting was no longer in place. This room nullified magic and allowed her to see him clearly. The sunshine and warmth were gone. He was just an old man not above manipulating others. No wonder she felt so comfortable with him so quickly.

"What do you want with me?" Sakura asked, keeping her tone in check. She did her best to maintain an low, even volume that did nothing to betray her agitation. "What do you want with changeling survivors?"

She paced off to the side, closer to the table while keeping the men around it at a distance. Shikamaru's father rubbed his jaw while his son just sighed, rolling his eyes off to the side like he was tired of the whole ordeal and wanted his part to be over.

"We're the clean up crew." Shikamaru might have felt guilty, but he didn't sound it as he avoided her eyes.

Sarutobi swallowed before adding his own explanation. "It's not common practice, but many courts still abduct children to keep for years and return without a care for their memories or mental well being when back in the human world. Like you mentioned earlier, many are traumatized and unable to function properly. They are then shown a new way to live."

He made it sound so soft and kind, but Sakura's lips curled on their own, like a dog raising his hackles. "You wipe their memories to keep from talking."

"Basically," Shikamaru admitted with a shrug. Sarutobi frowned but the boy just went on. "They do more harm than good and the world ought to be separated anyhow."

"And you're the grand, impartial judge and jury for this?" Sakura tilted her head to the side. "But you didn't try to take my memories. Is that because you were waiting for the right time or you weren't sure I had them?" She doubted Sarutobi would try to do anything to her now, after she put herself between his grandson and certain abduction.

"It's not so straightforward," Shikamaru's dad interjected. "Our main concern was to help others, and provide a sort of transitional therapy that suited their individual needs before the memory wipe. That would come later…and almost always with consent."

"There were those who didn't want to keep quiet about what happened to them?" Sakura guessed. She could imagine the type. Fay abducted children all the time for play, for torture, for loving, for amusement. Sakura was selected to be a white rabbit, but other children were taken without such grand plans. They were abandoned and returned quickly enough. "Did you think I would be one of them?"

Shikamaru looked down at something on the table and picked at the papers until one with her photo stood out. "Maybe. You didn't loose any time in the human world when you were taken, which means you were taken to the courts directly. Those cases are statistically the messiest. But you got through school without any arrests or public breakdowns…ah, minus that one."

Sakura could guess what he was looking at was about the time she tried to transform and ended up scaring everyone in her dorm with how the recoil tore her apart.

"That was until today." She blinked and looked for a window or clock but found none. "Or maybe that was yesterday by now. I've no idea what time it is now."

"Shisui's interruption was not planned nor was it anticipated. He's not been such a pest lately and my efforts to keep him at bay have never faltered so poorly until today. You were not supposed to get involved, at least believe that much. I had no idea you were a white rabbit."

"A white rabbit champion, thank you very much," Sakura corrected, feeling bitterness mix in her mouth alongside her words. "And one that made a promise with an unseelie fairy for his freedom."

"Your own fault," Shikamaru muttered, covering his mouth with his fist to hide his own yawn. "No one asked you to go so far for a stranger's kid."

"I'm not saying I'm sorry I did," Sakura nearly hisses, eyes tight with anger. "But that doesn't change the fact that I was lied to and manipulated to this spot. I've mixed myself up in your problems, like it or not, and I want to know what you're going to do about it, Sarutobi."

"I won't touch your memories."

"Not that I thought you could."

He nodded before going on. "But I won't drive you out if that's what your expecting. I'd still like to see the home's finances go back into order and try and help you."

"What do you think I need help with?"

He turned around and picked something off the table. Sakura felt her spine turn to ice when she saw what it was. He held the broken rabbit mask with both hands and nodded to it. "You're human at the core, but harboring great power meant for a game you've long since left. Using such a power is painful for a reason. It has no right to be in your body. You're safer keeping lightning in a bathtub."

"But you can fix me?" Sakura guessed.

"No one can fix you with that," he answered without hesitation. "It will kill you one day if you try to call upon it too many times. Each conjuration is just another chip in the marble masterpiece. One day there won't be anything to chip away at."

Sakura inhaled and held the breath hostage in her throat before exhaling a beat later. "Makes sense. They let me go home, should have guessed they had a reason for being so generous." Shikamaru's father had the decency of looking down when she glanced at both him and his son. Shikamaru just stared. "I didn't plan on using those powers anyways."

"What happens when you go too long without reaching for them? Nightmares? Hallucinations? Anxiety you can't explain."

Cursed, cursed, cursed, cursed….

Sakura waved her hand in front of her face. "Nothing I can't deal with and nothing that's worse than dying."

Shikamaru interrupted. "That was before you made a bargain with an Uchiha." He picked up another paper. "And don't pretend you don't ever touch your powers. You use them plenty often, not just as flashy as transforming."

He flicked the paper across the table to land close enough for her to read the titles. It was Ino's medical records. Sakura reached for it and even saw copies of doctor emails on the back, talking about her paper was tossed her way, and then another. One belonged to her aunt, another to her teacher from senior year.

"Should I go on?"

Sakura felt hot and her chest throbbed. "This is an invasion of privacy."

"Yeah, duh."

A heavy hand came down to slap Shikamaru upside the head. The boy reeled, hissing to turn and look at his father. Shikamaru cursed and gave his father a look but the older Nara didn't budge and his stare was one that could make milk spoil over ice.

"It's unfortunate, but yes, this is a necessary invasion of privacy that helped us confirm your identity as a changeling," Sarutobi interjected. "But the worst thing you could have done for yourself was try to use fay magic to heal them while still a human."

"You think I should have let my friend die of cancer before she was old enough to spell it?"

"No." Sarutobi was quick to answer. "I'm not saying that, but transforming into the White Rabbit to use your powers slows down the degradation. That's one of the reasons it is so painful. You're using magic in a proper body that's meant to handle it. The only times that you're really chipping away at your life force are during transformations." He put the mask down. "Please let me help you repair some of the damage while you continue to work for me. I know I've made mistakes and I know you don't trust me or approve of what I've done, but it was always my desire to help. I want to help you."

He sounded honest enough about believing he was only trying to do what was best. He had done a good job of justifying his own actions, even the morally gray ones. But, in spite of all that Sakura knew it wasn't enough to trust him so soon. Maybe he was really just the old soul who wanted to help others out of the goodness of his heart. Maybe he really was a good guy.

And maybe he wasn't.

He could just as likely be the sort of person who didn't play for the sake of justice and goodness, but rather self interests and the status quo. Keeping others silent could just as well be a favor he fulfills for the conservative, more secretive fay. Who knows if such a deal existed between a wizard who was also an alchemist, and any number of fay. It was unsettling to know that he had a fay servant so close acting so devoted.

Either way…it wasn't a decision she was going to make tonight.

"I'll sleep on it. Give me a few days to focus on your financial work before I make a decide on whether or not to involve myself with your family and friends any more than I already have. You hired me for a job and I'll keep my end of the contract up by doing it, but I need time to see if I'm willing to do anything more, much less believe what you just told me."

He seemed to deflate in relief. "Thank you. I won't ask for more. You must be exhausted. Do you need Itachi to escort you to your room?"

"I remember the way, and I can see myself out. I'll get right back to work once I wake, whenever that is."

Sakura raised a hand and waved to both Nara boys before turning on her heel and heading back towards the iron door. It was just as heavy as she remembered it being. On the other side she closed it as far as it would go without latching and left it there for a solid minute. Once the door sealed she wouldn't be able to hear what was said inside.

"So you're not going to tell her about the four sleepers or the Uchiha's stupid plan to end the damn world?" Shikamaru asked in a tired drawl. Sakura heard another heavy slap before the son cursed at his father again.

"That's not a problem we wanted to drag anyone new into," his father replied.

Shikamaru's tone was more of a whine than anything. "We decided that before we knew she was a White Rabbit."

"That doesn't change anything. It's not her problem. If anything, she deserve to be more free of their wretched world than any of the others. We stick by what we agreed to originally."

Sakura left after that and slept for twenty nine hours.

III

Sarutobi didn't bother her about her past after that, he never mentioned it or even brought it up when she went to him with questions about the finances. So a week passed without incident.

People came to the house and she heard the visitors at the door, but that didn't have anything to do with her so she didn't leave her study for any of it. For all she knew it was all legitimate issues for his business or property management, and had nothing to do with the fay or that interloping Uchiha. She ignored the way magic turned the air in the house and made her think she was eating rotten apples whenever she swallowed. Plenty of honey in her tea and she was as good as dumb.

It was actually the old man's grandson that bothered her the most. The first few days after the incident he was too shy to do anything more than hide around corners. Eventually he got brave enough to let himself be seen in her doorway, but when she never commented on his lingering or acknowledge his presence he ran off after long.

One day she did come back from a walk to find her desk disturbed in a way Itachi never did. Where she worked was a plate of cookies and a hand draw thank you card complete with misspellings. Her papers had been pushed aside to make room for the plate and a glass of half filled milk.

Sakura drank from the glass before grabbing a cookie and letting the chocolate taste wash away another wave of rotten apples in the back of her throat. Years ago it had been necessary to know when others were using magic around her, but there had been a reason that she tried so hard to block her senses once back in the human realms, once back from her time in the fairylands. That was then and this was now. She didn't have anything to do with the wizard or his family problems.

A scuffling at the door made her look up and see the half hidden figure of the grandson on his belly peeking into her room from behind the door jam. She took another loud bite of cookie and washed it down with milk before deciding to do something different this time.

"You." She nodded with her chin. "Come on in here."

He came in, standing up from where he had been hiding on the floor and brushing the dust off the front of his shirt. Once spoken to his hesitancy seemed to melt away. He came right up to her desk and stopped with his chin resting on the edge.

"Did I mess up our work?" he asked, glancing sideways at her papers and then at the plate of cookies she was still eating from. "It kinda looked like a mess."

"It is a mess, and it's more of a mess, but at least I have cookies." Sakura licked her lips clean and washed down the taste with a sip of milk before narrowing her eyes over the glass at the way the young boy was studying her. He wasn't glaring, but his look was close to intimidating. "What is it?"

"You're magic, but you're not a fairy like Itachi. How'd that happen?"

She shrugged, replacing the milk glass on the coaster. "How much did your grandfather tell you?"

"He doesn't tell me anything. I'm not supposed to know about this sort of stuff anymore. Like, before Itachi came he told me stuff, but now he says I don't have to know and Itachi won't say anything about it." He put his hands behind his head and interlocked his fingers to keep his arms up. "Except when a bad thing happens, then they tell me to run and hide, but nothing else."

"That's frustrating," Sakura murmured, already guessing the real reason why Sarutobi's grandson was sniffing her out. "It sort of sucks to not know what's going on around you or what's happening."

His eyes stayed oddly fixed on her, like he was watching something that might disappear if he blinked. "Yeah…but you know something, don't you?"

"I know lots of things. Why should that matter?" she teased, smirking in a knowing way.

Konohamaru let his arms drop so he could grab the edge of her desk and pull himself up. "I'm already eight years old, I think I should know stuff too. What's going on?"

Sakura laughed before reaching for a stray crumb left behind on her plate. "I'd like to know that too. I was tricked by your grandfather into coming here. I can't tell you what the old man wants or what he's doing."

"Then what are you doing?"

"His finances."

Konohamaru slapped the table with both his palms. "No. What are you doing with your magic? Pops won't show me how to use any and he blocked all mine when Itachi showed up, but I know you have it. I saw it when you rescued me. What are you?"

"I'm a human girl who is working on cleaning up your grandfather's books," Sakura started to say, but stopped before she could finish with a snappy remark.

Biting her lip she looked down at the boy who looked barely old enough to see over the top of her desk. She could only assume what it was like to not know so much and still fear it all. He was older than she had been when they took her, but not by much and she remembered what it felt like to have an ocean of questions under her skin, each one more impossible to ignore than the next.

"How much do you know about changelings?" Sakura asked, sitting down into her chair.

Konohamaru trotted around the high edges of her desk until he was behind it with her. She was pulling blank papers out of a notebook and laying them out flat. "Is that the shape shifter or the fairy fakes?"

"The second one." Sakura began to sketch. "Changelings are humans who are taken from this world and raised in the fairy world alongside fairies, or they are fairies raised among humans in the human world. Basically, a changeling is a person who changed places from where they should be to where they shouldn't be."

"Is that what you are?"

"Yes and no. I was taken from my family when I was a little younger than you and I grew up in a fairy court." She stopped sketching to point at him and make sure he was still watching her and listening. "That's important because fairy courts aren't touched or affected by human time."

Konohamaru nodded mutely and she began sketching again.

"The fairy courts have this game they like to play, where each court picks a fairy or a changeling child and gives them the title of White Rabbit or Black Rabbit."

"Like in chess?"

Sakura thought of the pearl and obsidian chess set in Sarutobi's study. She had one of her own in the far corner, but the pieces were carved out of light and darker wood. "Yeah, there's a white court and and black court and each one picks a rabbit to race."

"Is that what Shisui is? I heard him talk about it once when he was shouting at Itachi. They said they wanted a rabbit for the races. Were they talking about me?"

A lie would have been sweet, and he might have even believed her. Sarutobi and Itachi were already lying to him, trying to protect him and keep him safe in his innocence. "Yeah, they were probably talking about taking you for that reason, but I'm not positive. Your grandfather didn't know I was a White Rabbit when he offered me this job."

"Was it bad?"

Sakura blinked. "What part?"

"Being a White Rabbit. You still have powers, right? Isn't that a cool part? I remember being able to use some of my-being able to do things before all my abilities were sealed up." Konohamaru reached down and tugged up the hem of his white GhostBuster tee shirt to show off a seal that swirled in on itself like the cyclone's eye. He poked the fat of his belly before dropping his tee shirt down over it. "I can't do anything now."

Sakura swallowed and took another long sip of milk, washing down the taste of magic with another cookie and drink. Konohamaru seal was, without a doubt, magic. "You're different from me. You were born with magic, I had magic put into me to make me into the White Rabbit for their games."

"Do you miss it?"

Sakura might have staggered if she wasn't sitting down. Her head throbbed with the memories she couldn't forget. "No, I'm very glad to be back in my own world in my own time with people who aren't trying to murder me."

Konohamaru frowned, inching closer. "Not that part, I mean about using magic. You have to miss it or else you wouldn't have used it when you rescued me."

"Kid, I used my magic so you wouldn't die, that had nothing to do with wanting or not wanting."

Konohamaru leaned forward on the balls of his feet, tipping a bit. "Yeah, but you missed it, didn't you?"

Sakura snorted, hating how his questions made her skin crawl. She remembered the itch, the watering of her mouth, the widening of her ribs as a new force filled her and made her feel strong. She was strong, she was powerful. No one could hurt her, no one could catch her, no one could make her scream anymore.

She could run.

Sakura had to shut her eyes to the memory of the world running into a watercolor blur around her as wind made a pair of wings over her shoulders in the draft she cut. To run, to fly with feet over the earth…no matter how horrible everything else was, running was never terrible.

"Maybe, some of it was nice, but I'm not in that world anymore, and I have a human body. Using magic isn't easy anymore, and there's a lot of kickback if I transform." She tapped her pen to that paper, watching the design come together. "Your grandfather wanted to show me how to get around that but I've no need of magic anymore. I'm better forgetting about it and leaving it all behind me."

Konohamaru kept quiet, watching her sketch a few more lines across the paper, hatching in between the darker lines to show shadow. "If I was taken would I have been made into a White Rabbit like you?"

Sakura didn't stop sketching, but she frowned at the direction their conversation turned. "No. I came from a different court. Shisui is from the court that would produce a Black Rabbit, but even if you were taken there is no guarantee you would survive long enough to become their Black Rabbit."

Sakura put the pen down and blew across the paper, helping the ink dry. Konohamaru inched closer, looking over her shoulder at the design. "What is that?"

Sakura hummed, smiling sardonically. "Guess he didn't tell you much. Well, these are icons, more specifically they are victory icons. Humans are mostly born without magic, and fay are born with only a set amount of magic depending on their station. Noble fay aren't allowed to play in the games, so only the lesser fay with weaker magic can be chosen. Before the games, fay compete in trials to win new magics. Winners get victory icons. Sometimes they have to kill others for these and at the very end, the strongest one left standing is chosen as a Rabbit. This is the part where you likely would have been killed. Traditionally, White and Black Rabbits are almost always fay."

"You're not."

"I'm an anomaly. I also lost a lot of the games to qualify."

"So, what did you do?"

Sakura huffed, licking a finger and dragging it across the now empty plate of cookies to pick up crumbs. She dragged her fingers over her teeth to catch the last bits. "Kid, I'm not here to tell you stories."

"But you're the only one who talks to me and want to know." He rocked back on his heels, grabbing the edge of his shirt above his belly button. Sakura though he might try to lift it up over his seal again. "It's not fair I don't get to know."

"My history is my business, you don't get to demand I tell you anything about it," Sakura sternly replied, making sure her voice was even and her eyes met his. "There are a lot of things that happened that I don't ever want to have to remember, much less share with someone else. I'm not telling your grandfather any of this either."

The eight year old blinked, dropping the edge of his shirt and bouncing up and down in place with a new thought. "I wasn't going to blab to him, honest! I'm not a teller. I won't tell on you, I promise."

"I wouldn't care if you did or didn't." Sakura waved her hand between them. "But my history is off limits. You can ask about other things, but my history is mine. You got that, kid?"

Konohamaru nodded, mouth closed. Sakura sighed and grabbed the cookie plate. "Fine, then get me more snacks. I'm starving for sweet things up here."

"Then will you tell me about the fairy games-not the ones you were in, but like…maybe the kind Itachi would be in?"

"I have no idea what that stuff does, but I'll tell you about the Rabbit races, just make sure you have those cookies. I don't feel like working on tax codes anymore."

"Yeah, you got it boss," Konohamaru chirped, ignoring the way Sakura made a disgusted face at the endearing nickname. He was way too friendly for being so short in her opinion. Since when did she get along with kids?

Still, he asked interesting questions for being only eight years old. When he pressed her about missing the magic…she felt like she was talking to someone who could see right through her. It was probably because that's how he felt about his own magic being sealed up, but it made the truth no less real for Sakura.

She looked down at the ink drawing and grimaced at the familiar pattern of her icons. The same pattern had been inked over her chest in magic and stitched into the fabric of her victory cape, a red cloth hanging heavy over a snow white dress sewn with pearls and lace. She remembered too clearly the feel of her icons' stitching.

Her mouth watered and she felt her breastbone hum as heat bloomed around the marks on her skin. The Yarrow for a wand, the mistletoe for a blade, the hawthorn for a snaplock rifle, the foxglove for-for-for a…

Her head split with ringing and she hissed, reaching up to hold her skull, fearing it would fall apart in her hands. Was she bleeding or were the memories just so red. She counted backwards from thirty and the pain lessened, so she did that one more time. At the end she was able to look up again. The room was still too bright, but her head wasn't falling apart into her hands.

Sakura crossed her arms on the desk and laid her head down, closing her eyes and resolving to wait until Konohamaru came back with more cookies. She felt like spoiling herself a little. She had already finished so much paperwork. A few breaks wouldn't put her too far behind.

Sakura stood and rounded the desk, shoving her hands into her pockets as she stepped out of the room with the knowledge that if she didn't start moving or doing something active, she would fall asleep at her desk again.

She ended up in a hallway close to the front lined with suits of armor. Sakura used her phone to snapchat a story for each one that ended in a horrible joke that was sure to make Ino laugh only because they were so bad. Sakura joked like an old man.

'This one's named Americano, this one Fernando.'

But even that got boring so Sakura left and wandered a bit more, ignoring the texts demanding more paparazzi shots of Itachi from the blond with a seemingly one track mind. Sakura had accidentally shot a pic with him in the background and like a shark with blood in the water, Ino was zeroed in.

"Oh."

Sakura turned on her heel, lazily spinning until she was face to face with the aforementioned Uchiha who was coming up behind her with a pitcher of water for the indoor plants. She couldn't' help it, she grinned teasingly.

"Aren't you supposed to be conspiring with Sarutobi?"

If he could, Itachi might have flushed at her accusation. Instead, he huffed a quiet breath in mild irritation. "Hardly. I do have duties aside from mischief." He held up the pitcher of water.

"Aren't there servants for that?"

"I am the servant for this. The season is too volatile to risk further human lives."

"Oh," Sakura teased, voice low and lids lowered. "But I guess my life is fine to risk. Not like I can't handle my own."

Itachi lifted the pitcher higher in his arms, frowning at her accusation. "That was not our intention. Changelings and fay survivors come all the time to Sarutobi for help managing their trauma."

"I've managed my feelings just fine," Sakura snorted, rolling her eyes and fitting her hands over her hips.

Itachi raised a single brow and drew a long gaze up over her that ended with her eyes. "Clearly." His voice dripped sarcasm that made her bristle worse than usual.

"I never said I was perfect. I said I was managing. This is what managing looks like, asshole."

Itachi blinked, and then his brows furrowed in hurt. Sakura noticed it was at the insult that he took offense and wanted to bite back her words. She wasn't normally so testy with people until they started insulting her first. Itachi didn't seem like he was used to getting cursed at by human girls in the hallway.

"Sorry," Sakura muttered, looking down and then away. "That came out harsher than I meant it."

Itachi nodded his head, accepting her apology. "You are within your rights to be upset, and I will easily admit that your ordeal is considerably more extensive than what we've seen before. I've only seen what Black Rabbits go through. I can imagine it's no less harrowing for other courts who take in mortals."

Sakura subconsciously reached up and caught herself, moving her hands from her chest to her shoulders, hugging herself and ignoring the tattoos on her chest; the yarrow, the foxglove, the hawthorn, the mistletoe…She swallowed on reflex and breathed a little easier when there was no rotten apple taste to rock her.

"Heh, maybe we should compare notes sometimes," Sakura joked, trying to make the mood light. Itachi was the wrong person to try that with and she dropped her hands from her shoulders when he saw the weight of his gaze on her. He would notice. "It's been better since my body's caught up with my soul. When I came back I was an eight year old girl again and all those years meant nothing. I did all these things and endured all these trials but I still needed a booster box to reach the sink in the bathroom."

"You mean it's been easier to hide things, now that you're older."

Sakura forced herself to laugh and roll her shoulders. "Sure, whatever." She closed her eyes to the memory and shook her head, feeling her hair slap her cheeks.

"How are the night terrors?" Sakura didn't answer and her easy facade slipped away. Itachi pushed on. "The migraines, the disassociation? Last year a woman came to us who had developed a secondary personality that made her sleepwalk miles after midnight, and she just got stuck at one of their parties for a few years. She didn't have magic screaming in her bones, everyone knows that's worse."

"It's been better," Sakura admitted.

Not touching the gifts of the Fay as like sinking. The longer she went without using her gifts the further she deseeded and the more pressure piled up atop her. Using her gifts to remove a tumor, to do a little something extra was like letting some of the pressure off, but there was always the recoil to contend with, and the recoil was always worse than the pressure. It was better to go without touching those damned gifts than to feel their withdrawal.

She was still tasting rotten fruit in her mouth days after transforming and running in the mask. How much longer before the heightened senses faded? At least the night terrors weren't as bad, but there were still migraines when she remembered things.

"Traditionally, magic conflicts with the moral form. Your human body wasn't made for magic, not like a witch or wizard's. The only time you can use magic without the side effects would be in your transformed stage. The only drawback there is when you force yourself back into your human form."

"Yeah, that's super fun."

"Exhausting yourself or using your magic would help ease the transition. Also, the more you transform the easier transition will become in the mortal realms."

Sakura huffed. "I never had such an issue when I was in your lands. But I don't have a reason to use magic anymore and I don't want to be put in a situation where I have to. I deserve my peace."

"Have you found it?"

"What?" Sakura blinked, confused.

"Have you found peace?"

No. The voice in her head laughed and Sakura forced herself to smile. She had a sarcastic answer ready but the back of her mouth prickled and she nearly gagged at the strength of the taste. Her hand snapped over her lips, afraid she would gag from tensed, sensing it too.

Itachi moved to see the water pitcher on a nearby table, careful that the base rested on the doily and not the wood. His voice was hard as he brushed past Sakura towards the manor's entrance. "That's not Sarutobi."

"Shisui?" Sakura feared how her voice shook.

"Not nearly as much of a headache."

Sakura followed Itachi to the stairs and down to the main hall, hand hanging on the banister when Konohamaru met her at the base of the stairs, a plate of cookies in one hand. He grabbed her shirt sleeve and tugged hard.

"Kid?" Sakura's eyes were hard.

Itachi turned and smiled back at her over his shoulder. "Please, would you take him to your study. Danzo does not have the patience for children. Sarutobi will be here shortly."

"And I do?" Sakura snorted. When she glared down at Konohamaru he just grinned up at her and offered her the plate of cookies. Sakura huffed and picked one up. "Fine," she relented heading back up the stairs to her study.

The young boy followed, but she stopped him before they could disappear down the hall. He gave her a look but she held his shoulder and pointed to the doorway with her chin.

"I wanna watch." Konohamaru didn't fight her on it. Minutes later the guests swept in, trailing the lingering wisps of fog on their heels. There were two of them, a man older than most grandpas and a kid.

The man in the hallway was tall, taller than Sarutobi, and dressed in a long wool coat draped over the shoulders. It was a sooty gray, same as the rest of his clothes, but under the collar rested a white, thin scarf that trailed down his front on either side like a death flag. Behind him trailed a younger boy, maybe sixteen, dressed in faded jean and a graphic tee.

Sakura staggered where she stood, eyes hooked on the younger boy. He looked like he was trying so hard to be normal, so hard to be inconspicuous, but everything about his was wrong.

She grabbed Konohamaru by the shoulder and pointed down at the pair and hissed quietly into his ear, "Who's that?"

"Itachi told you, Danzo came and he brought his son with him."

"Not Danzo, the boy. Who is the boy? That's not his son." Even if it was possible a man as old as him could father a child, there was no way they were related. Wrong ears, wrong eyes, wrong chin. Sai had features Danzo didn't.

Konohamaru winced at the hand on his shoulder and Sakura dropped her arms back to her side. "That's…um, I think his name is Sai. He's been away. I only tried talking to him once when he came over, but he was like a robot and it freaked me out. Danzo never brings him."

A burst of black feathers and then Sarutobi was there, standing atop the pile of feathers that faded from under his shoes one by one. A burst of magic made the taste in her mouth bitter.

Itachi stood in front of Sarutobi and gestured to a nearby room. Grudgingly, Danzo nodded and swept past the Uchiha to lead his son into the room and wait for the other two before the door shut, sealing them inside. Sakura could probably make out a few things through the walls, but her hearing wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best without the full extent of her heightened senses.

"How much you wanna bet they're talking about you?" Konohamaru asked. Sakura grimaced and took another cookie. The chocolate was almost as good as honey.

She took the boy back to her study and put on music before pulling out some papers to work on. She didn't see what exactly Konohamaru was doing, but it involved something on his smart phone. Sakura only glared at him once and stopped herself from making a comment about how, 'when I was your age we didn't even have cell phones.' It was only when the static of his device made her ears ring did she look up and glare.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, glaring.

He touched his bottom lip and grinned. "Trying to listen. Sometimes they don't bother to seal off the room and the microphones still work."

Sakura didn't move. "I think you should stop before you get caught."

"You're not going to stop me, or tell me it's a bad thing?"

"I just told you I thought you'd get caught. I'm not your mom, don't expect anything more than that." She flipped another paper over and flattened it out, looking for the date. When she saw it was from last year she sorted it into the basket pile on her desk. Everything else went into a new banker box.

"What's the Witch's Sabbath?"

Sakura looked up from her papers. "It's a section of a symphony." She shouldn't have known that specific detail, but she did. "Symphonie Fantastique, composed by Hector Berlioz, there's a part called the Witch's Sabbath. Why?"

"They're talking about it."

Sakura huffed. "It's a nickname or a code for something else. There's no literal sabbath for witches. They have their own holidays and traditions but I've never heard of a literal sabbath…though I'm no expert. Fay didn't like wizards or witches much."

"Why?"

Fay don't like being bound and wizards and witches can do that, they can summon a fairy against his or her will and bind them to be a servant or ask them for stuff. No one likes that."

"Itachi's not like that."

Sakura snorted. "Sure, yeah, whatever. They're all a big happy family. What else are they talking about on your phone?"

"You."

Sakura rolled her eyes. He was watching her with a impish grin, happy to have something he thought was important to share with her. Smug.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Danzo wants you to work for him."

"I'm busy with the finances here, thanks." She turned over another paper, already knowing where the date would be.

Konohamaru shook his head. "Not like that. He wants you to work on the Witch's Sabbath for him. Actually, he wants to talk to you himself but pops is saying no. Oh wait, that was Itachi. Pops said no too…I think. Yeah. Now they're talking about Shisui and that's a bad word I can't repeat." He leveled a fake serious look her way. "You'll have to use your imagination for that."

Sakura felt like rubbing her face, instead she just stared at him hard. "How old are you?"

"Um…I have a girlfriend, so I don't think it's a good idea you hit on me." He sounded so proud of himself too. Sakura wanted to smack his head and then laugh.

"That Uchiha Shisui creep dodged a bullet with your smart ass."

He squirmed in his seat a bit, fighting to hide his smile. "I'm not supposed to hear that word." He sounded like he was trying not to laugh. Sakura just snorted and went back to her work.

Minutes later Konohamaru went stiff in his seat. He strained to hear what was coming through his phone and Sakura frowned at his look of concentration before the ground in front of her buckled and snapped with a flash. Konohamaru screamed and jumped back but Sakura just reached for a letter opener and slid her hand under the desk, ready to flip it.

"So this is what the Uchiha have been so upset about," Danzo rumbled, his voice a grave of low tones. Sakura felt the graveled texture of his words fall over her skin.

"You want something with me?" Sakura hissed, spotting the shadow behind him move.

Sai stepped out and stood off to the side, face empty and expression blank. Her heart stuttered for his voided expression. He was maybe fifteen, still coming into his limited acne. He was a kid, just a kid.

"No, not especially. I've needed some help but Sarutobi is keeping you to himself and I'll be borrowing Itachi for my job. No, I'm here to introduce the both of you." Danzo nodded to the boy at his side and Sai stepped up. "This is Sai, he'll be left behind in Itachi's place to provide some mediocre support. He's a little better than pathetic, so don't expect much, but you should be able to survive with Sarutobi."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Danzo watched her for a moment before humming. "He's really leaving you alone, isn't he?" Outside Sakura heard footsteps on the stairs. "What a wasteful fool. I suppose you shall see for yourself what the Witch's Sabbath will be."

"I don't have anything to do with that."

"How convenient. I suppose if you don't like mornings we should stop the sun from rising too. Terrible news, but the world still turns and the wicked still rot regardless of if you get out of bed or not. Stick your head in the sand if you must, but the earth will still crack and the sky will still fall."

Danzo leaned his head back just as the door fell open to let Itachi stalk in. Sarutobi trailed behind, looking murderous.

"This was not what we agreed upon, Danzo. Your business is with me."

"And so it shall be." Danzo turned, leaving his back open to Sakura even as Sai refused to move, standing like a statue that never blinks, staring at her. "To apologize for my ambition I'll leave the boy with you a day early. Do with him whatever you please. Return him if you please, it won't matter to me one way or the other. I doubt he'll make it as a black rabbit at this rate."

Sai doesn't react and there's not a sign on his face that he heard anything. His eyes went on forever and there was nothing to them. Empty all the way through. He was a soulless thing for all appearances. Sakura's heart pinched painfully within her ribcage and swelled against its walls. It's been so long since she last cared like this.

"What the hell is wrong with you, fuckjar?" Sakura seethed. The room went quiet after that. Itachi and Sarutobi watched her with muted expressions while Danzo turned back to her slowly. Sakura set her jaw and her hands found her hips to settle there. "Are you really that much of a tin-brain or do you really not care that Sai's standing right there and can hear every hurtful thing that comes out of your mouth?"

Sai still didn't react and Sakura heart hurt so much more. He was so deep inside himself she doubted there was anything that could reach him anymore. "And you," she bit, pointing directly at Sai. He didn't react and the pain in her chest doubled. "Don't think you're not here for this. You're not put on this earth to suffer. Say something."

"Foolish child." Danzo breathed, exhaling like it was such a burden. He turned to glare down at her the way a parent would glare at an unruly child. "He's not made to respond for himself. He's perfect in obedience and he need be nothing else. Waste your breath if you wish." He turned back to Sarutobi and nodded. "Until tomorrow's tomorrow."

With a nod he was gone, but the pain in Sakura's heart remained as Sai stared blankly ahead.

IV

Sakura glared at the tapestry in front of her, keeping her arms folded. "No, I remember the story, you don't need to explain it again."

Sarutobi chuckled, holding on to his good humor as Sakura stewed. "Regardless of the validity of the story, there's a tribe of such horned women who practice such magic in this area. They only cross over during the autumn season on specific days. Each day is a day Danzo and I ward our houses heavily."

"So why did you have to send off Itachi?" Sakura asked, peeking back over her shoulder at the stoic Uchiha who accompanied them.

"Additional protection. The Horned Women are not a force to be taken lightly. My wards are stronger than Danzo's and if I can survive Shisui a couple of horned women should be a walk in the park. He's helped me in the past so I owe him."

"Horned women aren't witches or humans, they're creatures all upon themselves. I'm pretty sure the Fay like to avoid them so just having one on the property should be enough, but Sai and I aren't Fay, no matter what we look like. We're no deterrent."

"Is that why you asked Itachi and I to set time aside before he left?"

Sakura glared sideways at the older man while he just stood there, taking it. With a huff Sakura dropped her hands and turned to him, scowl lessening. "I don't think it's wise to rely or trust Sai. I don't think he's in his right mind no matter how well he may work on projects or in fights. It's not right to rely on him, he's a mess."

'And you're not?'

"He's been doing well with Danzo from an objective standpoint. He does all that's asked of him with-"

"That's bullshit I don't care about," Sakura hissed, glaring back at Itachi who didn't flinch. "He's barely sixteen. He's a kid. He doesn't deserve this. What the hell are you people thinking? He's a kid. I don't want him fighting." Her heart was still a bleeding mess in her chest and she wished it would just heal up already. She didn't like hurting so much for a kid she barely knew.

"It's all he knows," Itachi tried, his tone softer. "He won't know what to do with himself."

"Has anybody tried to let him figure that out on his own?"

"What Danzo does…" Sarutobi let the sentence trail off and Sakura didn't want to hear the rest of what the old man wanted to say. For a human, the man they called Danzo was pretty soulless.

"Yeah, I get it," Sakura lied, not getting or understanding any of it. "But it goes back to not trusting Sai to be the only one we rely on. I know I said I didn't want to have anything to do with this, but I'll make an exception this one time." Sakura held up a finger for emphasis. "Just this one time. I'm not making a habit out of this."

"I wouldn't want you to." Sarutobi reached out and placed a hand over her pointed finger, rubbing his thumb into her skin. The old leather of his skin was more comfortable than she wanted to admit, and it stirred up an old memory of her own grandfather from before she was older than six, doing the same thing. "I'll show you how to control your powers better and maybe you could help show Sai something of your own."

"Sure," Sakura huffed. "What does that look like?"

Sarutobi pulled something out of his breast pocket, pushing back his tweed jacket to reach the inner layers of his vest. Below the pocket a slip held up the gold chain of a dangling pocket watch. Sakura inhaled as he uncorked it and remembered the last time he forced something down her throat.

"That's the stuff that knocked me out after my last recoil." She didn't remember it's taste or if it burned going down, but she remembered what happened to her afterwards.

"The last time you transformed you drew on precious little of your powers and it was all the more for you to try and force back when you reverted back. Itachi's already told you this, but using your powers and exhausting yourself will help with the transition."

Sakura waved her hands between herself and Sarutobi, eying the vile with hesitation. "What if I don't need to use my powers, or how will I know how much to use to avoid the recoil?"

"There are no known answers to your questions until we practice. That is what Itachi will be helping you with. I'll be here in case we need this."

Sakura turned to face Itachi but when she moved the room around her spun, melting into something else. She staggered and took in the trees, the foliage, the earth, the sky. They were in the courtyard outside. Sarutobi hadn't moved, but he was smiling kindly while Itachi took a step towards her, palms out. Black birds were circling overhead.

"Will you trust me for this?" Itachi asked, taking another step. He was little more than an arm's reach away from her. If he lunged he could have his hands around her neck. He didn't take another step.

Sakura didn't ask what, didn't question it anymore, but squared her shoulders and set her jaw. "Tell me what to do."

"Just watch me."

Itachi rippled and Sakura tasted sweet apples in her mouth as the feathered cloak billowed out behind him like a pair of split wings. His eyes were spinning red and she recognized all the signs of a Black Fay Hunter, the fay designated to hunt White Rabbits in the games; light armor, soundless footfalls, eyes like kaleidoscopes.

Her heart refused to hammer as she grappled for courage.

He advanced upon her and lifted his hands to her face. Sakura doubted she even breathed as he cupped either side and tilted her head back so she stared straight up into red, spinning eyes. Her hands were warm through the gloves and she felt free to relax into them even though her heart would never allow it.

'Fall into a world all my own' they seemed to say.

So Sakura did.

Sakura landed in a bed of dried German Statice in shades of pearl and lavender. The petite flower blossoms shattered when she moved and dropped from their stalks as she stood. The world was dead all around her and she struggled to breath, inhaling a familiar decay.

Itachi touched down a handful of paces away from her, the breeze of his landing blowing away the dead, dried flowers. Sakura saw rose heads scatter amidst the mess. There was nothing else but rolling tan fields full of dried flowers and grasses. The sky was a tired blue with sick stars hanging low, dripping under their own weight in melted agony.

It was a dead world as far as the eye could see, and a perfect place to decimate.

Sakura inhaled and realized the world she was in wasn't connected to the land of the Fay, this was somewhere else; a place all Itachi's. The recoil would still haunt her here.

Itachi held out a hand and above his palm appeared the hilt of a sword. Gasping it firmly, the blade materialized out of curling statice flowers.

Sakura took half a step back. "I'm a White Rabbit, not a fighter. What do you expect me to do?"

The iris of his eyes glowed like rare rubies while the lids and surrounding skin grew darker as blackness spread across the top half of his face. His features were birdlike and Sakura didn't doubt the petite fangs in his mouth any more than the teeth lining his throat.

"Run."

Her heart picked up, holding a beat, ready to drop, ready to pump, but before it could there was gold in her veins as thick as honey and she was no longer a creature of the bitter blood but something far faster.

Her feet dug deep into the earth for traction as her whole body followed. Only the first few tracks betrayed her, after that she was wind gliding over surface, hardly touching down as the world around her blurred.

She felt it deep inside her, seeping out through her skin. It burned her to ignore it, so she didn't. Her nature was not her own anymore. Her nature was a single command. She was made of this command. She was made of one word. She was only this:

Run.

Sakura ran. It was as simple and complicated as that. The universe was unfolding all around her in a mess of wet watercolor colors as she traversed the stars. Gravity couldn't touch her as she made friction out of air and climbed it like stairs. She knew what she was doing in her body before her mind could catch up, and before she knew it she was wheeling sharply in space to turn towards the copse of trees, nearly dead and heavy with dried leaves refusing to fall.

She slipped between impossible spaces twisting herself between dead trunks and over debris, deeper into the dark and dead woods until hands made out of bark looped her ankles. Sakura fell into a roll and sprang back up, pivoting to see faces in the bark, arms in the branches, and bodies between the trees.

Not a woods.

A Brace of Dryads surrounded her and she didn't doubt this was set up by Itachi. There was no way he could have caught her on speed alone, no hunter is ever that fast, but traps were not against the rules. It was one of the main ways hunters caught rabbits.

Sakura pushed out with her magic against the victory icon on her chest. She felt the tattoo of the yarrow twig hum with power before it appeared in her hand as a branch, young with tiny yellow buds along the length. The Dryads didn't notice or didn't care. Their eyes, typically bright with life, started dark and dull straight ahead as they moved with withering bodies. She doubted they were truly alive.

More magic pooled in her palm and she shook the yarrow branch. It melted in flickering yellow light, revealing the pointy wand polished and engraved around the handle. Sakura swung it once and felt her whole arm vibrate.

Yarrow, for magic.

Smoke curled around her fingers and she grasped the wand firmly, focusing on channeling her honey magic into a needle's point. The tip glowed red and she saw with her mind's eye what she wanted to happen next before she released her hold over the magic and let it run wild from her wand's tip.

The world around her burned. She was an inferno, a flickering white spirit amid the red flames.

"Good."

She turned, smoking wand raised and posed in elegant form. Itachi stood at the immediate end of it. A step forward and it poked into his shirtfront. She hadn't heard him move and never knew he had been so close. Seventeen years ago this would have gotten her killed.

Not caring it was Itachi she fired a beam of unfiltered light from her wand's tip-the easiest thing for her to manage in an instant that would actually cause some damage. It shot Itachi back and he hit a tree hard, sending out black smoke and red embers from where he struck the burned thing.

Sakura whirled around again for another strike but Itachi's sword was up and the lightning from her tip fed right into the metal of his weapon with a horrible cackle and snap. She rounded on him again with fire, but that was even worse. His eyes glowed as his sword took in even more of her magic.

Sakura felt her heart hammer in familiar panic. She knew precious little aside from the most basic and minor of spells. The Yarrow Wand was one of the most draining out of all her victory icons, but it was also the most destructive. It had just been so long since she last used it, calling forth elements to manipulate was all she could manage.

Itachi didn't press forward, but held his ground, digging in as her fire sputtered and turned rocky. She screamed, fire flickering into viscous magma that broke apart the ground under Itachi and left him on a path of earth in a lake of lava.

Sakura poured even more into her yarrow wand and choking black clouds seeped from the sides of the wood as sparks of lightning danced out from the tip.

Angry, angry, angry, the sparks thickened and clattered together into the coiled form of a cobra rising up, hood spread. It sprang with a clash of blinding light amidst the smoke and Itachi had to swing to deflect it this time. When he brought his sword down there was smoke, but no more magic. Another swing of his blade and the black clouds parted, but there was no Sakura.

The choking woodsmoke made scent tracking nearly impossible.

"What a lovely trick," Itachi murmured aloud, stepping forward into the lava that didn't burn. Uchiha could never be harmed by fire.

Magic had a scent of its own and she was heavy with it, she knew. He would find her out, sooner or later, but he wouldn't catch her. All she had to do was run. All she had to do was keep running. All she had to do to win was run forever.

She told this to herself as she pushed on, staying in motion for what seemed like hours until the ground turned to mud around her and sank her to her ankles. She reached for her Yarrow Wand again, shaking it out of the summoned tree branch and turning the tip red with the idea of fire before setting the earth around her in a blaze. The mud turned hard around her legs and she shattered it with the but end of her wand, climbing out and continuing on.

She remembered more and more the further she ran, like she was traveling into her memories from so long ago. She remembered deciding on the first day what sort of rabbit she was going to be. She hid well, but never well enough. She hadn't won the most trials out of all the other rabbit contestants, her victory icons numbered a mere four. She knew she wasn't fay like most of the others, and that the Black Rabbit running was bred from a fairy bed for this day.

How had she won?

'You're a desperate thing, something we don't know how to be until we meet your kind,' Mito cooed into Sakura hair, brushing it with her fingers. 'We'll learn desperation from you.'

Sakura felt sick in her belly at the memory of her Fairy Queen from so long ago. It made her knees shake as she stopped to strangle the memory and banish it from her mind. Mito laughed louder and louder and it was enough to made Sakura's heart hammer. Her skin was glowing and perfect in the immortal form of a White Rabbit, but it still shook from the memories of a moral human girl.

Mito's hands had been in Sakura's chest and-

She couldn't breath.

Mito's laughter was the sound of metal ringing dull in sunlight. A mighty woman more awesome and beautiful than all before her. Sakura had to turn her head to look away, but there were dead bodies all around them, and they were all staring back at her. Sakura knew their names.

Mito's hands were in Sakura's chest and they dug deeper and deeper-

Itachi tackled her to the ground, hands at her wrists, pinning them to the baked mud below her. His fangs were bared but Sakura couldn't see them. She was barely breathing, gasping shallow breaths and shaking as her eyes stared out, beyond his bird like face.

Itachi hesitated, feeling her skin grow cold under his hold and growled in recognition. His hands moved to her face and reached for her mask, but it was a part of her and he couldn't peel it back now, only rub circles into her neck and the bottom half of her cheeks where tears were leaking from. He pulled himself up and over her, looming higher until he was all she could see. Still her eyes were wide and wild from seeing something else.

Hands dug deeper, wet and roaming. Sakura's chest was open and too many pieces were missing.

"Look at me," Itachi growled, hands on her neck, keeping her straight. She stuttered on a wet breath and he pressed the top of his head against hers. Their eyes were level. "Look only at me. Don't see anything else. Only me, look at me, Sakura," he growled.

"Please," Sakura stuttered, words wet and wobbling. She was seeing him now. "I don't want to remember anything more. Her eyes were glittering red and leaking even more tears. "I don't want to see any more of it. Please, don't make me remember."

Her hands found the front of his shirt and tugged on the fabric. He let her. She was so small under him, she seemed to be shrinking. The girl of fire and smoke who ran like the devil was breaking apart under him and all he could do was watch.

Itachi swallowed, moving of to the side and bringing her with him. He sat back on one leg and pulled her onto it, supporting her body as it naturally curled into his. He leaned his face down to rest atop the crown of her head, avoiding the points of her rabbit mask ears. He pulled her closer and draped his cloak over them. Unable to help himself he rubbed circles into her arm and kissed her hair.

He didn't have words for her. Sarutobi was supposed to be the one who dealt with this sort of thing. The old man was good with traumatized men and women. He could talk them through it. Itachi was more often the trigger, never the comforter, especially not for White Rabbits. Wasn't she supposed to be terrified of him?

"Shhhh," he whispered into her curls, struggling to find words. "Shhh, that's a heart, shhh, there you are. Yes, there you are." He shifted his other arm so his hand was in her curls, fingers brushing through. "You're safe now. I'll not let anyone touch you now. You're safe with me. You're safe now."

Her sobs ebbed into whimpers and the hick-ups and then nothing. Still, he held her until she wanted to be let go. When she didn't tug or pull away he held her closer. She made a sound of contentment and it caused something to pinch deep inside him.

Oh.

"I can't do it."

Itachi blinked at the sound of her voice as Sakura closed her eyes and balled her fists in her lap. She bit her lip and he heard her whisper a curse. He combed through her curls and rubbed her scalp around her mask.

It was a moment before he found words to answer her with. "You can do what you believe you can do. What is it?"

Sakura swallowed, refusing to look up. "I was so stupid. I thought I could…I could take Sai's place and act as his replacement. I thought I could do this again…like I did it all once before. I didn't-I-it's so much worse remembering it. Why the hell did I have to remember? Why the hell did I choose that?"

"You didn't choose anything."

Sakura shook her head at his words and his fingers fell through her curls. "No, I did, I chose it." She touched the inked wishbone through her white dress. "They gave us a choice. I never wanted to forget or have my memories taken o-or altered."

A wishbone for memories. Sakura heard the words clearly in her mind and saw just as clearly the room full of potential White Rabbits; most fay, some human.

"The other kids, most of them chose to hide their memories at the end of it. That was the choice."

Itachi's eyes narrowed in understanding. It was a fay trick, a test of sorts that many courts used to find the right Rabbit candidate. "It wasn't truly a choice. What happened to those who chose the easy comfort of forgetting?"

"They left the game. They were disqualified as rabbits."

"And they lived happily ever after? No such thing with fairy games. There was nothing you could have done, but that's behind you now." His words felt hollow and he swallowed, reaching for something else to say. "I've pushed you too much for one day."

Sakura hummed and silence stretched between them until she spoke up. "Sorry. I hadn't meant to-I haven't had a panic attack like that in years. I didn't mean to fall apart like that."

"You're human."

Sakura chuckled dryly, glancing down at the glow of her skin. "Maybe not quite."

Itachi gestured for her to stand and she turned off his knee, staggering to her feet on her own. "You've more than exhausted yourself. We should see you return to your human self."

"I think I can do that," Sakura admitted, taking a step back. Her hands were empty, the yarrow wand returning to a mark on her chest.

Itachi stood, following her. "The recoil shouldn't cause as much of a shock. I hadn't expected you to use so much energy in your escape."

"Did your White Rabbits not fight back?" Sakura asked in a forced airy voice.

He couldn't help but grin. "Never so beautifully."

Sakura felt her cheeks burn and reached up to rub them with the heels of her hands, glancing down until the tingling faded. Itachi failed to notice as he stood in front of her and crossed his arms.

"I will be ending the illusion now. Once we're back in the courtyard you'll drop the form and return to normal. If Sarutobi needs to, he is standing by with the tonic that will put you to sleep."

At the mention of sleep Sakura felt her jaw beg for a yawn. "I could use a good nap."

"Are you ready?"

Sakura licked her lips, hesitating. Itachi stood across from her, waiting expectantly. The dark marking on his face were still present, but the sharper angles that made him seem birdlike had softened or lessened. He was different and a part of her wanted to keep watching until she found all the places where he changed.

"I'm ready," she answered, averting her eyes.

Itachi crossed to stand directly in front of her and lifted her face with two fingers under her chin. His eyes were glowing like rubies trapped in the light and they were spinning.

Sakura fell from his world and the darkness between There and Here wasn't nearly as expansive as it had been the first time. When she landed this time her feet touched down on stone like feathers and her hair fluttered behind her just as light. Itachi appeared a moment later, but the raven cloak was gone along with the markings and he was as human looking as she remembered him being.

"Your turn," he evenly stated, nodding to her.

Sakura held her breath and felt the magic in her break apart and seep back like water in a basin with a drain. It came so much easier this time and Sakura had control of it all the way through. Her mask broke up and her dress began to glow too bright to look at. The change felt gradual this time, but in a eye's blink she was back and staggering in her jeans and sneakers.

Sarutobi caught her by the elbow and she chuckled at the help. He lifted the ready vial. "Do you think you'll need this?" he teased, eyes twinkling with the knowledge that she wouldn't.

Her laughter was answer enough.

Sakura awoke later that night and stumbled into the bathroom, feeling like she was going to vomit. Instead, she gripped the edge of the porcelain sink and braced herself, staring into the mirror.

"She will never touch you again," Sakura hissed at her reflection. "Never again. You will never be so powerless."

Her reflection stared back at her and Sakura waited before repeating the mantra again, believing it a little bit more. She remembered running in a white dress for the first time and she repeated the mantra a third time.

"You will never be so powerless."

She remembered looking at her friends at the beginning of the trials and then carrying their bodies off the field, or what was left of their bodies.

"You will never be so powerless again," Sakura hissed, staggering.

She remembered the burning of each brand, and then the last mark that made her a White Rabbit. All others had been performed by an artisan fay, but this last honor was always reserved for the High King of Queen of the court.

Sakura's knuckles were white and close to bursting through her skin as she whispered the words one more time.

They were taken under the mountain. She remembered her High Queen smiling down and then-

The memory came like the bursting of a helium balloon and she fell to her knees, retching into the nearby toilet as a laughter that sounded like ringing metal echoed all around her.

Chapter

V

There were twelve days in the Witch's Sabbath and Sarutobi didn't expect anything of consequence to transpire until the seventh. Their power builds throughout the week, but it is only worth noting after six days. Before that they are hardly harmless. From day seven and on there would be need for caution.

"Do you think you're up for the task?" Sarutobi asked Sakura the day after her training with Itachi. Itachi had respected her privacy enough to not mention her panic attack to the older wizard. Still, she could tell he suspected something wasn't quite right. He didn't believe in her false confidence.

"I…might be." Sakura chose her words carefully, glancing sideways at the the nearly mute boy who hung close to Sarutobi with void like eyes and a plastic smile. Sai kept himself busy in the corner reading books and drawing in a sketch pad.

'You think he knows about the retching and the mirror?' a voice inside of Sakura's head snickered.

"I mean-" Sakura sat up a little straighter and licked her lips, trying to find better words. "I don't know what to expect. I think I should be fine."

Sarutobi's smile was as kind as gingerbread as he nodded. The pair of them sat on a covered bench in one of his larger libraries left open to guests. There were no magic books, but there were still plenty of tapestries with secret stories to stare up at. The bench they sat on was close to the windows and far from the door where Sai sat, reading.

"Tonight is the safest night. Konohamaru is even having his friends stay over. I'm sure we'll do exceedingly well."

Sakura felt a worm of unrest in her gut. "He's having his friends over, as in…more kids? You sure that's a safe idea?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly, looking down at his hands. "I've been quite unfair to my grandson. I'd like to protect what I can of his childhood. I was worried about his ability to make friends."

"Itachi mentioned earlier that he and your son…Asuma?" Sarutobi nodded and she knew she got the name right. "Yeah, Konohamaru and Asuma leave for the fall and winter months. Is there a reason Konohamaru is staying here now?"

"Asuma has found himself sufficiently occupied before taking on his nephew, so I offered to watch Konohamaru while he settles in with a new friend."

Sakura blinked, feeling like she stepped through a hole somewhere. "Wait, Asuma isn't Konohamaru's dad. But I thought…wait…"

"Asuma is my eldest son, but I had two. Konohamaru's mother and father passed away several years back. It's been the three of us ever since."

Sarutobi readjusted himself in his seat before reaching with the can he held between his knees to push open a window. Crisp air made the room a little more awake feeling. Sakura pulled up her hoodie's front, making the opening tighter by pulling on the drawstrings.

"I'm sorry to hear that." It was the most automatic thing she ever said and Sakura hated how little her heart lurched for the man. She didn't want to ask how they died, already suspecting it had something to do with the family's relationship with the unseen world.

Sarutobi let his can rest on the window sill as he stared out over the hills behind his manor, thin with only the memory of fog. Most of it had dissipated by ten and it was already noon.

"We all have demons to wrestle with. There's no shame in bringing that fight out into the light and accepting help."

"Why do I feel like this is the first step in a therapy session?"

"Itachi mentioned little of your adventure, respectfully so, but he did mention you have victory icons."

"Mortals couldn't hope to compete in the games without some," Sakura murmured, hands itching to hold something. In her pocket the paper she had sketched her icons out on wrinkled further as she crossed her legs on the bench.

"Yes, I suspected as much. It's been so long since I've met a human with more than one. I wish I could have seen it." His voice is old and Sakura suspects she imagines the note of longing.

Her hand itching, Sakura raises her left palm up and when her fingers curl there is a yarrow branch in her hand, blooming tiny yellow buds. Slowly, the buds being to open and Sakura shakes the stick as soon as the flowers are in full bloom. There is a polished wood wand as long as her forearm in its place. She heard Sarutobi inhale behind her.

Sakura smiles at the comforting weight. "I can do this much without transforming, but I guess you're going to tell me it's more harmful on my body this way, right?" She swings it once and tiny lights appear at the tip, populating like bubbles.

"You're no wizard, so that would be true." Still, his voice is far from patronizing. He's not telling her to put it away, instead he leans forward, dragging his can off the window sill. "What did they teach you?"

"Nothing complicated. I can do stuff with nature and the elements, make clouds, bubbles, fire, water, light, smoke, combustion reactions, uhhh…" she tried to remember what else she could use her wand for. "Lightning and storms and other things. The complicated stuff like manipulating memories or objects, transfiguration and the advanced spells were never touched upon. I tried fixing a lamp once, but I made it catch on fire."

"That sounds like something Konohamaru would have done before his powers were sealed." He stood, leaning on his cane for support. "Come on Sai, we're moving to the courtyard."

Sai closed his book and followed wordlessly, perfect in his obedience. Sakura heard scurries further down the hall, btu Sarutobi led them down the stairs and out to the back courtyard were Sakura had been yesterday when Itachi spirited her away to his own made world. Itachi wasn't here anymore. He was at Danzo's manor across the moor and wouldn't be back for twelve days.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, stopping at the edge of the courtyard. Sai was a few steps off to her left, neither ahead nor behind her. Far in the background she heard scurrying and guessed it was Konohamaru and his friends.

"Magic." His smile was childlike. He seemed so much younger when he grinned.

"I thought you said I shouldn't do that unless I'm transformed."

Sarutobi waved his cane and it melted away into something shorter and made of metal. Iron to bind magic with authority. "There is no one here who will stop you from doing so. What? You thought yesterday would be the only day for practice? I'll promise not to be so frightening."

Sai moved from alongside her and Sakura felt his gaze settle on her with a new sort of weight. Sakura stared back at the younger boy awkwardly. "What?"

He didn't reply right away, and when he did it was to produce his own wand of iron. Sakura bit her lip, realizing two things at once. First, Sai wasn't as empty as she once feared him to be, and second, he was more than just a child spirited away by fay; Sai was a wizard.

"Fine," Sakura begrudgingly conceded, feeling funny about the idea of not trying her best in front of Sai.

She raised her hands high above her head and felt the magic run down from her fingertips. Her body snapped and in a blaze of light she was glowing with white hair, curled and full, and eyes red behind a rabbit mask.

Sai was still watching her and she felt her cheeks burn at the weight of his gaze. He looked more like a child than ever, but his eyes weren't empty anymore. Maybe it was worth it if he showed he could react a little.

"Now what, old man?" Sakura huffed in a playful tone.

She summoned her yarrow branch and pumping it full of magic to make the buds bloom. A second shake and the polished wand of wood rested in her hand. Her magic came from the fay, she needed an earth element to control it. Sai and Sarutobi were wizards, or had wizard blood, they needed iron to control it.

"Well, for now, how about we just play?"

Sarutobi's grin was equally playful before a burst of white bloomed at the tip of his wand. White fell down all around them and Sakura screamed when it fell onto her arms from the too low clouds overhead. It was snowing. Her distraction cost her as another burst of snow from his wand hit her in the back. Sakura staggered and turned to see Sarutobi spinning his wand around a ball in the snow. He winked playfully before it followed his wand's tip and flew straight for Sai.

By the time Konohamaru and his friends found them Sakura was buried in snow, laid out on her back staring up into the artificial clouds that lazily spared drifting snowflakes for their courtyard.

"That's the one you're shipping with Itachi?" a tiny girl voice squeaked from not too far off.

Sakura didn't stir, waiting to hear if Sarutobi would get off his bench and shoo the kids away. Sai was over by the fountain, creating animals out of ice.

"Don't make a face, she's cooler when she's not so scary looking." That had been Konohamaru.

"I like the mask." A new, boy's voice. "My dad said his grandfather once borrowed magic from a White Rabbit."

Sakura closed her eyes, relaxing a bit more. It sounded like the kids were immersed in the same world as Konohamaru and Sarutobi. No wonder the old man let them come over. They also seemed to know about Itachi.

"Itachi's too pretty for her."

"Hey! You're supposed to be my girlfriend."

"Yeah, but that's only until we get older and it's not weird to date adults. Sorry Koco, but Itachi's tall."

"I'll be tall too!" Konohamaru whined. "And Itachi's already-mph, ow!"

"Don't fight you guys, please…"

Sakura let her arms rise up in the snow and she felt the drifts pile up around where she lowered her arms again. Up and down, she made angel wings in the snow. It was strange how even though it was cold and she was wearing so little, the snow didn't bother her. She could sleep in it and not mind. The magic in her veins was thick like honey and kept her warm.

The clouds above her broke apart violently and the snow under her hisses in rapid melting as Sarutobi jumped up and Sai followed, standing at attention. Sakura felt groggy, but the nerves down her spin made her follow their actions and stand at attention too. Apples had been in her mouth all day long, but now the taste was turning from sour to sweet. Was someone trying to use magic to harm her?

"Sarutobi?" she growled, hands empty from releasing the Yarrow wand after their snowball fight.

The old man's voice was as straight and hard as his spine. He stood with perfect form, wand at the ready. "Someone is inside the grounds. Sai, take the children inside and into the iron room."

Sai moved to do just that as Sakura summoned her branch and poured magic into it. She turned slightly, red eyes roving before the blossoms were full and another shake turned the branch into a wand.

Sarutobi muttered under his breath and a silver mist seeped from his wand's tip, spreading like fog out into the house, searching for the intruder.

Sakura noticed a murder of crows scattering overhead in agitation, left behind by Itachi and created by Sarutobi's magic. The house was guarded by these birds like sentries and they were agitated. One of them split away and touched down on the edge of the still frozen fountain and tapped the water with his beak.

Sakura charged the tip of her wand with heat and pressed it to the ice, making it crack and splinter. Her wand melted more of the ice and the crow squawked happily before reaching forward for some water. She watched it blankly while straining her other senses for sign of an intruder. She had a hard time hearing anything odd or unusual.

"Sakura." She turned to see Sarutobi's fog thick at her feet and curling upwards. "Get away from there!"

Before she could understand that she needed to move the fog was blown away in a gust and from behind her legs and arms reached down. Sakura felt herself picked up and struggled at the sound of Shisui's giggle. The feathers from his crow form were still falling away as he pulled her onto his lap, perched on the edge of the tallest point of the fountain.

"Shisui!" Sarutobi shouted. "You have no right here. Go, I have warded this place against you."

Sakura twisted as much as she could and pushed against his chest. Shisui pouted, coy and teasing, but didn't let her go. His eyes found Sarutobi and his pout turned into something a little more sinister. "No, old man, you didn't. You warded your house against kidnappers and child stealers. I've already sworn to you that's not my aim, so your wards have no power over me…anything else is too weak to hope to bind me. But go ahead, hide your children, that's not what I'm here for."

"He already told you that I'm not something he'll give to you," Sakura hissed, feeling her hands shake as they press against his chest. Her nails were claws and her teeth were petite fangs. Her veins were thick with honey magic.

Shisui laughed and it sounded like a child before he pulled her to him and lifted her over his head, resting his head against her stomach. "Silly Rabbit, I'm not so impatient to ask the same thing twice." He kissed her navel through the fabric of her dress. "I'm here to offer you my services."

Sakura reached out and felt her hand wrap around the handle of her Mistletoe sword, glittering with Ivory and Mother of Pearl decorations. She leveled the blade with his neck and he stiffened. "What makes you think I need your services?"

Shisui shivered against the blade and looked up, baring his neck even more. His eyes were wide, beautifully black, and darkling. "I don't think you need anything, not me, not the old man, not even my foolish cousin. But, wouldn't you rather have someone else fight your battles for you?"

"Not for free, you wouldn't." Sakura pressed her blade closer to his skin and it prickled, honey smelling red-gold blood bubbled along her blade. He gasped at the feel of it. "I'm not stupid enough to put myself in debt to you."

"That a mistletoe blade by any chance?"

"You want to find out?" Sakura almost cooed, angling the blade so more of his immortal fay blood ran down the length of it. She knew he could feel it.

"I'm not here to hurt you, sweetheart. I just wanna help."

"I'm sure," she said, sounding doubtful.

He let go of her wrist and loosened his hold around her waist. She kicked off, striking the center of his chest with the ball of her foot. Turning over in mid air, she landed like a cat and adjusted her rabbit mask. Shisui watched her move closer to Sarutobi as he ran a thumb over his cut. His thumb was wet with his honeyed blood when he brought it to his mouth to suck clean, eyes fixated on her as the digit slipped between his lips.

"You alright?" Sarutobi asked, glancing at her once.

Sakura snorted. "Creepy guys hitting on me isn't the end of my world. I think I'll live through this."

"I wasn't hitting anyone. I was being completely civil," Shisui interrupted, flushing slightly at the misunderstanding. It almost made Sakura snort again, but she schooled her features into another mask of indifference.

Shisui pulled his hand away and stretched his neck, but the cut was already healed and shimmering in white. He felt for the bump and frowned. Mistletoe would take longer to heal completely. He played at looking around comically and made a face when he couldn't find whatever it was he was looking for.

"Itachi's not here, otherwise he would have tried to take my head off by now. You're without your best man on the first night of the Witch's Sabbath?" Shisui asked, addressing Sarutobi.

"You're worried about it?" Sarutobi mocked.

"You're not?" Shisui's tone was short as he stood up on the edge of the fountain. "You remember last year, old man? The eleventh woman made a meal out of you. Those ladies are no joke, even to Fay. What are you going to do without a fay guardian?"

"You're not Itachi's equal."

Shisui was a flash before stepping in front of Sarutobi, standing tall and looming. "Nor is he mine," he voiced.

"What danger is a wolf when you already have a fox in the henhouse?" Sakura interrupted, bouncing her sword in hand and staring hard at Shisui. "Your ability isn't in question here, but your motives."

Shisui steps back from Sarutobi and turns to Sakura. Some of the harshness of his features fades before his eyes are wide with an idea. He snaps his fingers and bounces onto one foot. "You'll trust me if it's a trade."

"What?"

In a blink Shisui was behind her, then in front of her, grabbing her wrists and spinning her like they were kids under a Maypole. "You can trust me if it's a trade, a trade! Fay can't go back on their words."

"I don't want to give anything to you."

Sakura pulls her wrists apart and it sends the Uchiha off balance for only a stuttering moment before he is back in front of her, standing on both feet.

"I'd gladly give up years of hunting a child for your name, what makes you think I would ask for anything you weren't willing to share with the old man or my cousin? It's not fair they get to spend so much time with you while I'm locked and warded from the grounds."

"No. Eventually you'll ask for something I'm not willing to share." Sakura sounded so confident, but in the back of her mind the other voice laughed and replayed the memory of her panic attack in Itachi's arms. The voice inside Sakura head laughed harder and taunted.

'You think you'll be fine without help?'

Sai and Sarutobi would help, but they weren't Itachi; both were human.

"Then you say no. I'll be as gone as sunlight. You won't hear a peep from me." He stepped backwards, rocking on his heel before leaning in again. "But you know enough to know what Fay want more than anything else."

Sakura rolled her eyes, turning her sword down so that she could cross her arms without stabbing herself. "Fun. More than anything you Fay want fun, to dance forever in rings, to throw endless parties, then always enjoy yourself. Yeah, that sounds harmless enough, but I also know more than just that when it comes to Fay natures. Who else thinks it's fun to burn children alive and make them dance in shoes of heated iron? Don't sound so innocent. Your definition of fun could be just as sick as anyone else's."

"A hunter maybe, but not a rabbit."

"You're still fay."

"Itachi's fay, but you keep him around. He even left you when it was most important for him to stay. He's so unreliable and yet you'd choose him over me, wouldn't you?"

"You forget what Itachi has done to prove himself to me," Sarutobi cut in.

Shisui slated his eyes sideways at the older man in irritation. It seemed as if he was upset his conversation had been interrupted by a third party. "So? He's not done anything for Sakura, nothing like that." He turned back to look at Sakura. "You don't have a reason to trust that guy any more than me."

Sakura unfolded her arms and waved her sword back in front of her. "What do you know of that? How would you know if Itachi's done anything for me or not?"

"Cause I know Itachi and he's a stiff," Shisui laughed.

"I still don't trust you."

Shisui huffed, hopping back onto one foot again. "You just need to be desperate enough. I'll be back, and when you need me I'll have an offer you can't refuse." He started to laugh but the sound faded out when he saw the expression on Sakura's face. She was stone still and stiff with eyes blow wide.

"Get out." Her voice was a growl and the hand that held her sword began to shake. Shisui didn't move and the shaking of her fist increased. Her teeth turned sharp as she bared them, red eyes bright with anger. "Get out now!"

She swung and this time her blade sang with honey power. A golden beam cut the air and Shisui cursed before ducking under it, fast as a rabbit. Sakura swung again and he was gone, flashing away on steps she couldn't see. Sarutobi came up behind her and turned his wand into a cane again, whispering words of power before striking it against the ground. Swarms of blackbirds, crows, flew out cawing like mad.

"He won't be able to come right back in, we're safe for now. Sakura?"

Sarutobi came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder as she heaved with the effort it took to breath. Sakura shuddered under the contact and threw away her sword. It turned into white berries in midair and then became nothing before it could hit the ground. She gasped and the breath came out ragged like a tearing bed sheet. Her mask broke up and the rest of her faded back to human.

"I'm not-I'm not powerless, never again."

"Sakura?"

She was sinking, sinking, deep and dark, sinking down, down, down. Under the mountain again, there was someone laughing.

'Not now,' the voice inside her head hissed, and Sakura felt a metal wave of cold water snap her out of the toxic spiral. She blinked, remembering where she was. There were crows overhead and Sarutobi had called her name a second time. He would be worried about the possible recoil, she could hide this near panic attack if she played her cards right.

'Never again.'

She closed her eyes, breathed deep, and then pushed herself off the ground, dusting off her hoodie. "I'm fine. Ugh, just annoyed. The recoil isn't that bad, but it was better last time. I'm going in to take a nap and then you can wake me at sundown. I'll stand guard with Sai tonight. It's the easiest night, right?"

Sarutobi hesitated, but lowered his hand at last and nodded in agreement. "As you wish. I'll be back in the study if you ever wish to speak with me. You can talk to me."

Sakura forced another smile and closed her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later."

The air around them smelled like metal and something else Sakura didn't want to name. She swallowed and hated how inhaling meant she could taste the death that hung in the air all around them.

Her body hurt, and she wasn't sure she was still in one piece as she reached for her friend's hands. Karin was already by the wall, but Kin wasn't moving. Sakura would have to drag Kin the rest of the way. None of the girls were stronger than Sakura, not even the fay girls. Sakura would be able to do it, even as exhausted as she was. Fay were as light as leaves, and Kin was even lighter than most.

"Come on," Sakura gasped, digging in her heels and pulling at her friend's arms. Kin didn't move on her own, so Sakura pulled harder until the girl's body made a trail in the sand.

There was so much acid in the air, turning it humid. Sakura felt her toes burning and her lungs baking from the effort. The desert was killing her and it was only a matter of time before her body fell apart. But it wouldn't be instant. Sakura had time before her body gave out, she could make it to the wall. Her eyes burned but she could do it.

Sakura reached deep and found a well of untapped strength and dug into it. Kin bumped something and the dragging got easier. Sakura shut her eyes, feeling them burn from the acid and screamed as she ran backwards, dragging Kin towards the wall.

"Damnit-Sakura!"

Hands on her back stopped Sakura mid step and she teetered, sensing the wall behind her. Karin was there. Sakura cracked open her eyes and saw the ivory gates. She opened her eyes more and saw Karin's tear stained face. What was she crying for. Sakura made it. The three of them were going to make it. Karin's voice broke on a sob.

Sakura looked down at Kin and stared. Kin's beautiful face was still, her enchanting features were unmoving and her beautiful hair was a haloed mess around her head. Kin was always stunning. Sakura's eyes traveled down from Kin's face to her chest to the stub of her spine sticking out from the hole that opened up and separated the bottom half of her body halfway through the desert during her drag. Her intestines trailed out like sausage links, wet and glistening. Kin's legs were gone. The bottom half of her body was gone. Half of Kin was gone.

Karin continued to sob, but Sakura could only stare.

'Where did she go?'

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she looked up to see Sai in the kitchen making dinner. Night was soon coming and the family was eating all on their own. Sai had offered to make dinner for her and Sakura since they would be staying up. He made eggs and sausage for her and never noticed how her mind wandered.

"Is something the matter with your food?" Sai asked when he turned and saw she hadn't touched anything.

Sakura blinked. She stared down at the sausage links and then lifted her fork. She pierced one and lifted it to her mouth to bite and chew. She finished off the first sausage without a sound. When she noticed Sai still watching her she forced a smile.

"It tastes amazing. Thanks."

Sai watched her a moment, eyes voice and deeply fixated on her smile. A second later his smile mirrored hers. Identical fake smiles.

"I am glad to hear that." He turned back to the stove. "We have one hour until the horned woman arrives."

Sakura glanced at the clock. "It's elven. Midnight is the witching hour, isn't it?"

"Technically the Horned Women are not witches. The Ladies of the Woods are not witches either. They are beings that do not meet the qualification of a witch's definition. They are not human."

"You sound like a textbook," Sakura snorted.

"There are many useful texts and guides I utilize for such reasons. I will share with you their titles if you wish to also know more about these things."

"You haven't told me anything I don't know already, kid."

Sai paused in the scrambling of his eggs. "I am a kid?"

Sakura shrugged. "You're almost nine years younger than me. You're a kid to me."

Sai glanced back over his shoulder and watched her with something less than his void empty eyes. "You are not so young."

It took a moment for her to understand, but when she did it was enough to break her into a real smile. Sakura nodded at Sai. "Yeah, I'm much older than this. I was eight when they took me, and after ten or so years, I was put back into that same eight year old body and forced to grow up again. Time was not my friend. I don't know how old that makes me, but I'm not ancient."

"I aged when they took me."

It was the most human sound Sakura ever heard out of Sai and she wanted to capture it in a box and hold onto it forever and ever. Her heart swelled a bit at the sound of his confession. She hadn't asked, but he had shared with her.

"If you aged then they didn't take you to a court, they just took you to the Fay Lands. Only a king or queen has the authority to remove time's power over a mortal." Sakura poked at her food. "Did your books tell you that?"

"Yes."

"You know a lot then?"

"I do."

"Do you think you know more than me?"

Sai moved his scrambled eggs from the pan onto his plate and added the sausage links. "I may possess a vast knowledge obtained from study and application, but I will not say I know more than anyone else. I know much. That is all."

"Why?"

Sai looked up from his food, expression blank. "Explain."

"Why do you know so much. Don't answer how, I already know how. I want to know your motivations. I want to know why." Sakura put down her fork and leaned forward, across the table. "You've been through hell and you're still there. Why would you still stay so close to such an ugly world? Why would you try to learn so much about it? Why?"

"Because Danzo requires it. I have no one. I rely on Danzo and I assist Danzo with my efforts. Do you not do the same for Sarutobi?"

Sakura snorted and her face was a mess of offended expression. "Hell no. I never intended to work for the guy like this. When I took this job I thought it was only going to be his books I balance. I'm good with numbers, a habit I picked up from the fay I guess. But after I came back, I tried my best to forget and move on and never have anything more to do with the fay. I was…tricked."

"Sarutobi is a well known wizard. There are not many who do not know of his reputation."

Sakura shook her head and wiped away the expression on her face, least it stick. "Yeah, well I didn't know jack shit about the guy. If I knew he was a wizard looking for people like me I would have taken a job elsewhere. I didn't want to come back to any of this."

"Then why did you stay?"

The voice in her head sniggers. 'Why did you go back for Kin, why is Karin still alive?'

"Because it was the right thing to do."

Sai watches her and for a moment Sakura wonders if he will ask her something more, but the glimmer of light she thought she saw in his lifeless eyes dims and he is back to fake smiles and vacant expression. "Of course," he offers, looking away as he sits down to eat.

Sakura finishes first but waits to leave the table until Sai is done. She washes both their dishes. There are still suds on her hands when the clock begins to chime for midnight.

Sai rises from the table, bringing his wand with him. Sakura dries her hands before following him into the main hall. He stands still, unnaturally so, and waits. Sakura doesn't summon her yarrow wand, but instead takes up a seat in the hall and crosses her arms over her chest.

The clock quits its chiming and there is silence. Sakura hates how it stretches. Time is an elastic band, pulled taunt in silence. Disruption will be violent.

Sakura hears it before Sai does, but he tenses on his own before Sakura can alert him. Outside a torchlight crosses the marsh. It could have been a will o the wisp, swamp gas making it's own light, but Sakura knows it is not by the way it travels. The light draws near and then it is gone from the windows, but not far.

There is a knock at the door.

"Who is there?" Sai asks, speaking first.

"I am the woman of one horn. Open, open."

"No."

Sakura sat in silence as the woman knocked again, hand heavier on the wood. "Open, open!"

"No."

There was a horrible hissing sound followed by angry words. "Open, feet water, open wood and tree and beam. Open, blood of babes, open, open."

Sakura felt a soft ripple of magic and relaxed. There was nothing to this woman. Sarutobi was right. The first night would be a piece of cake.

Sai denied the horned woman once more and there was shrieking like never before as a fire flared and the woman spirited off into the night. And just like that the first night's dangers were avoided.

Sai nodded, seemingly content with his performance. Still, he kept his wand out as he turned to Sakura. "She is gone to torment the other homes, but they will not be able to hear her."

And that's how it was for the second night and the third night, each with a progressively stronger horned woman coming to the door with her weaker sisters trailing behind. Sakura mentally estimated the strength of the twelfth witch with the rate change of the first three witches and decided that she really didn't have anything to fear. Shisui was making a big deal out of nothing.

After the fourth night Sakura thought she would never have to worry if the women kept coming the way they did.

Sai seemed to deflate after the woman with four horns ran away screaming.

"That's it?" Sakura asked from the chair in the hallway. She always sat in the same one and never drew her wand. She looked relaxed but it was all just boredom. Sarutobi trained and worked with her in the mornings and so her guard duty at midnight was dull in comparison.

"That is all," Sai answered.

Sakura leaned her head on her hand and snorted. "Cool, I guess that's it then."

Sai dismissed his wand and turned partly to the side, regarding her anew. "What will you do now?"

Sakura rolled her shoulders before standing. "I'm going to get a drink and then go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." She began to walk away but stopped when she heard Sai following her.

"I also want a drink," he explained when she shot him a look.

"Kid…ugh. I'm not getting a water, you know. I'm gonna raid the booze cellar for a nightcap to help me sleep. Don't follow, you're underage and I don't think Sarutobi would be all that pleased to hear about his precious spirits going missing."

"I've had fairy wine. I doubt Sarutobi's collection is much worse."

Sakura frowned, pointing to the stairs where his guest room had been set up. "Doesn't matter, you're not in fairy land anymore. You're a minor here, and that means no drinking. Go to bed."

"You can not give me orders."

"I'm not-wh, you little punk." Sakura was flustered, not understanding where this was coming from. "I'm not giving you orders, I'm just telling you what you can't do because it's illegal, it's the law, not my law, THE law."

"I am not bound by such things."

"What the hell, kid?"

Sai brushed past her, heading where he knew the booze would be. Sakura wanted to stop him for no reason other than his newly developed attitude, but a part of her didn't care enough to actually do anything. 'He's not my kid, not my problem.'

Sakura grumbled, heading out on her own to the section of the manor that led down to the cellars. Sarutobi had a neat collection that ranged beyond just wines. Sections of the cellar were dedicated to bourbons, vodka, ales, and even beer. Most of the room was meant for wine

Sai was already ahead of her and before she could stop him he was pulling the cork out of something that popped and frothed up out of the tip and over his hand. Sakura groaned at the mess it made on the cobblestone floor and turned around to pull napkins out of the cabinet in the stairwell. Sai ignored the mess and had already filled a pair of flutes with glittering champagne.

"You couldn't have gone for something cheaper, like maybe the hard cider?"

Sakura grumbled, taking the glass he held out to her. She wasn't going to waste what he already poured. It wasn't her favorite, but she did enjoy a good bubbly drink every now and then. And what kind of kid goes for Champagne in a cellar full of booze?

'The kind that's used to drinking fairy wine.'

"You do not like the selection?"

"No, it's fine, but it's not right for the occasion. Champaign is for victories, celebrations, and romantic evenings. You drink it on New Years, at weddings, and at parties where you want your guests to know you're made out of money."

Still, Sakura lifted the flute to her lips and drank.

Sai watches her. "We were victorious tonight."

"Hardly." Sakura almost laughed when she lowered her glass from her lips and licked away the excess collecting on the rim. "Victory implies effort. We did nothing worth celebrating."

"Each night is a victory or a loss. Tonight we won." Sai empties his flute and pours for himself another, aware of how Sakura watches in disapproval. He turns and holds out the bottle to her. "You should drink to our future victories, and past ones."

"I'll drink to sleep." Sakura downs another glass and accepts his bottle to pour for herself more. He watches as she drinks, eyes heavy and unfocused on anything but memories.

"How much do you remember?" he asks after a moment.

She holds the rim of her flute underneath her lips before lifting it enough to sip. "Too much. And it's been more since coming here and dipping into these powers." She lowered her glass. "What about you?"

"I remember all of it and never forgot a moment. That was the whole reason of my taking." He speaks as if is the most obvious thing. "I've spoken with several of the changlings who come to see Sarutobi, but I've never been impressed with any of their journeys."

Sakura felt like she suddenly understood a bit more of Sai. "Were the others too boring for you?"

"Yes. They were not worth listening to."

His words are blunt and she knows he doesn't mean for them to be rude. Sai doesn't mean for a lot of things, he's all void and abyss on the inside. Sakura hopes that changes a little.

Instead of speaking she grabs the bottle back from where it sat on the counter and filled her flute. "This is the wrong drink for stories," she says.

But still, she pours and sits back before beginning with the least harmful of her memories. She speaks of the splendor of the inner queendom where the High Queen ruled. The Fay court Sakura had wandered into was a matriarchy and it was more beautiful than anything Sakura had ever seen. The more Sakura described, the lighter she felt.

Not all her memories were waiting to break her.

"All the constellations in the sky had different stories."

"Tell these to me. I do not know them."

Sakura does.

It's nearly morning when she finishes the stories. When she looks up, Sai is asleep against the wall. She puts what is left of their drink away, washes the glass flutes, and carries Sai to bed. He's light as a child in her arms and she worries he'll dream of nightmares, but his face is smooth in peace.

When she dreams there are terrors, but for once they stay bound and leashed enough to pretend they aren't even there.

Chapter

VI

Sakura slept through breakfast but came down for lunch. She came down to make herself a grilled cheese sandwich and found Sai and Konohamaru already in the kitchen, preparing their own meals with stiff shoulders and sullen expressions. Well, Sai's face was mostly blank, but he looked more sullen than normal with the barest of a downturn to his lips and a wrinkle between his brows.

Before, Konohamaru and Sai had barely acknowledged the existence of the other, for better or worse. As Sakura watched the pair of them make food it was obvious they were both very aware of each other.

"There a reason like you both ran out of toilet paper on the pot?" Sakura asked, snug in her oversized sweater and jeans. Her socks were mismatched but she didn't care.

Sai perked up, but it was Konohamaru that actually jumped down from his stool and ran to greet her. "Boss, you're awake. You've been sleeping all morning. What happened? Sai's not telling me anything but I know something happened."

"Yeah, don't worry, the horned woman weren't that bad. We stayed up telling stories and Sai's just trying to make you jealous. Did it work?"

Kon looked up, expression sour as he tugged Sakura down to his height. He pull on her sweater until her face was close to his and he could reach her ear without straining. "I don't like him. When is Itachi coming back?"

"Soon, just a few more nights and you'll see him again." Sakura straightened and then went to the bread box to take some bread for herself. She nodded to Sai. "Good morning, any news from Sarutobi? He mentioned something about tutoring today?"

Every day since the horned women's visits Sarutobi had taken some time to tutor the both of them in specialized wand magic. Sai took to it faster than Sakura, but once she had something down her spells came out better.

Sakura was also hoping Sarutobi didn't notice the missing of an expensive bottle in his cellar.

"Danzo called him. They are discussing plans for the twelfth night."

"Plans?" Sakura glanced sideways at the wizard's grandson, but Konohamaru just shrugged. "What plans."

"The twelfth night is supposed to be extra difficult so Danzo wanted to combine efforts at his estate and stand together. Sarutobi is discussing the details for this."

"That's a…" Sakura shifted the weight of her body from one leg to the other, trying to digest Sai's words. "That would be a lot of effort to protect each individual." It's one thing to ward a house with four or five bodies, but if you had over a dozen people in a place that's a dozen more ways a horned woman could get in. For every person Danzo takes in he would have to ward against."

"It is something Danzo and Sarutobi could do easily."

"Oh yeah?" Konohamaru frowned, crossing his arm. "Then why they never do it?"

Sai does not answer the boy, but keeps his attention on Sakura. "The two have not always been so agreeable with each other. But the other elders of their community would attend as well. It would be more than just our two houses."

Sakura glances down at the bread in her hands. There are two slices, but she wonders if she should take more. "Is Sarutobi really so worried?" She holds up the bread and nods towards Konohamaru, seeing his plate empty of food. "Do you want a grilled cheese, kid?"

The boy nods, hopping in place a little bit before reaching to grab the peanut butter and grape jelly from where he had assembled them on the counter. He replaces them in the fridge as Sai turns back to his own sandwich. Sakura doesn't know if Sai was interested in something different, but she felt bad for not offering. "Sai, I'll make you one as well if you are hungry after your sandwich."

Sai looked down at his sandwich and did not meet her eyes. "I already have food. I do not need more." He picked up his plate and hesitated before leaving. "Excuse me."

Sakura didn't think anything of it and let Sai go on his own before turning on the burners for the stove. There was a griddle in the lower drawers she used, coating thinly with butter. As the griddle warmed Sakura retrieved a bag of shredded cheese from the fridge, noting how the contents were less than usual. They would need to buy food soon.

Sakura made two grilled cheese sandwiches and cut both of them into quarter triangles. If Sai wanted some she could share more easily. Grapes in the fridge were washed and set into a bowl Sakura set down at the table to pick at while Konohamaru devoured his sandwich in messy bites. Sakura picked at hers slowly.

She straightened when she heard the footsteps and Sai slowed in his own eating, noticing the way she watched the hallway. Sarutobi came through it a minute later, newspaper tucked under his arm and a empty coffee mug in the other hand. He dropped the paper at the head of the table with a smile and stopped behind the chair.

"Sleeping beauty finally awakens," he teases with a knowing smile that makes Sakura gulp. "Did you have an exciting night."

Sai is the picture of calm, munching away at his sandwich while Sakura has to remember to force herself to smile and not forget to breath. Sarutobi was smiling and she could tell by the way he watched her, he knew. Somehow he knew. Oh God, and she was the adult. She was supposed to be the adult.

"Just fine," Sakura answered, picking up her grilled cheese and holding it close to her mouth like a shield. He wouldn't be able to see how fake her smile was. "How was your phone call? It sounded like you were talking a while with whoever."

Sarutobi's eyes twinkle as he leaves to wash his coffee mug out in the sink. "It was productive. I was able to speak with Itachi as well."

"Is he coming back soon?!" Konohamaru asks, jumping up.

Sai looks off to the left, expression still blank as Sarutobi comes over to ruffle his grandson's hair. "We'll actually be seeing him before he comes back. At the end of the week on the twelfth night we're going to Danzo's manor with several other families to celebrate. Ah, Sai and Sakura, you will be joining Itachi in his efforts to bolster the barrier. Between all our efforts I'm sure it will be no problem."

"If you say so," Sakura answers, looking down at her plate. The idea of eating is suddenly not as appealing as another wave a unease echoes throughout her. Only a fourth of her sandwich is gone.

"Is it going to be a party?" Konohamaru asks. He begins to bounce in his seat. "Like the Yule parties?"

"Yes, and you'll be allowed to attend this time."

"Yule parties?" Sakura echoes, remembering that Yule happened in December and it was only October. Yule was a big deal to people who interacted with the fairy world, however. Of course Sarutobi would celebrate it.

"You've not had the pleasure of enjoying a Sarutobi party, my dear. We give the fairy courts themselves something to rival. Many years ago it was said our family parties were the reason the fay came to make contact with us. Nonsense, of course, it was summoning and incantations that did the trick, but we were well know as having the best parties this side of the moor."

"Oh."

Any longer appetite drained away as she folded her hands under the table and held them tight. She could feel her knuckles turning white as the bones pressed up against skin. It was another memory, but it wasn't the kind that ended in blood, only shame. She remembered well the music and dresses and bubbling drink as lace and pearls dripped from all the hidden places her eyes could find. She had been young once, with the heart of a girl, with the heart of a child. Parties didn't scare her, but she hated how she still loved the idea of them.

'The other girls stepped through their hedges and mirrors for far better reasons. All you wanted was to be a princess.'

Sakura looked over at Sai's plate and saw his food was gone. She pushed her plate towards him and he looked up at her, eyes questioning.

"I'm not hungry anymore. Do you want any more of my grilled cheese?"

Konohamaru sat up and started to raise his hand, likely to offer to take it, but Sai moved away his plate and dragged hers in front of him. He finished one quarter piece before glancing up at Konohamaru. The younger boy was scowling. Above him, Sarutobi watched on with new interest.

"Sai, how are you doing apart from Danzo? I hope your stay has been comfortable," Sarutobi says, watching the young boy with eyes too keen to miss any detail.

"I am doing well, sir," Sai answered robotically.

Sarutobi nodded politely before turning to Sakura. "And you, my dear. How are you enjoying your stay? You haven't been out in a while."

In all honest Sakura had never been closer to a complete mental collapse since coming to this manor, but she wasn't going to just admit to something like that. She smiled and it wasn't as fake as Sai's, but it was still a lie on her face. "I'm getting used to it here. It's fine I guess."

Sarutobi didn't believe her, but he glanced between her and Sai, who was also watching her when she spoke. He must have seen something there that pleased him since he consented and left them to their devices.

"If you're feeling well enough for it, would you be willing to join us on a day trip to town. We've a few errands to run and would appreciate the company. It can get stuffy in this old house for so many weeks on end."

"There will not be more training today?" Sai asked, glancing between Sakura and Sarutobi, the two people he usually spent his days with while Konohamaru went to school. It was a Sunday, so the boy had off.

"Tomorrow we will resume."

Sakura glanced down at what she was wearing and frowned. She hadn't taken much with her when she moved from one place to the next. A lot of her things had been left with her mom and there was no way she was going back there for anything. It might be good to get out and shop. It was something she used to really enjoy with Ino.

"When would you leave?" she asked.

"As soon as you were ready."

Sakura stood and pushed in her chair. "I'll be ready in ten minutes. Let me just go change real quick."

Konohamaru looked at her funny. "You look fine. Ugh, do you need a new shirt or something, boss?"

Sakura just grinned, picking up the empty plates from in front of both boys and depositing them in the sink before leaving. In her room she changed out of her sweats and tshirt, missing the feel of their comfort already. She had never been a slob in Sarutobi's house, but since the exposure of his true intentions she had cared less and less how professional she looked when he checked in on her each morning. It was very different from how she was at her last job.

Sakura dragged a brush through her hair, making the curls soft all the way over her shoulders before slipping into a navy and white striped long sleeve shirt that complimented her figure nicely. Sakura smoothed her hands down the sides and nodded in appreciation of how it still flattered her figure. She was worried about rapidly losing weight after the first night transforming, but she was doing much better than last time.

Black, high waisted skinny jeans paired nicely with her ankle booties of the same color. She grabbed a black peacoat from the closet, and then hesitated. It wasn't cold enough for coats, but an extra cardigan would work just as well. Unfortunately, she didn't have a cardigan. Those were left at her mom's. Sakura choose an extra warm scarf instead and resolved to brave the early autumn chill.

Everyone local was waiting for the snap of seasons. It was unusually warm so late in the year. Sarutobi wore a sweater that reminded her of Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood and Sai had a light jacket.

"Sakura, cold an old man ask a favor?" Sarutobi held up the keys to his car. "Itachi usually drives us and my eyesight isn't what it used to be."

Sakura glanced sideways at the other two companions and realized, once again, she was the adult. Didn't they know she was too much of a mess to be responsible?

"Sure, as long as you tell me how to get there," Sakura answered, taking the car keys and checking her purse for her own ring of keys. It had been a while since she had to drive anywhere.

"Of course," Sarutobi chuckled, leading her into the detached garage out the side entrance Itachi had first meet her at.

Sai and Konohamaru followed close behind as Sarutobi held the side door open and flicked on the lights. Sakura took a few steps in and stopped.

"Damn old man."

"What was that, Sakura dear?"

Sakura faked another smile, this one too sweet to ever be convincing. "Nothing."

She hit the unlock button and a car towards the back beeped. It was closest to the garage door and would be the easiest to get out and park. Sakura didn't know a lot about cars, but she knew that most of the ones he had in his garage would cost more than her whole annual salary. Too many of them were elegant or sleek. Sakura looked over the one she would be driving and swallowed. It was an older model Bentley big enough for the four of them.

"You'll do fine," Sarutobi chuckled, patting her shoulder.

Sakura grumbled something about rich old white men but climbed into the driver's seat and adjusted it to her height and arm length. With Sarutobi in the passenger seat Sai and Konohamaru buckled up in the back as the garage door began rolling up.

The car handled like a dream and Sakura found herself missing the feel of it when the pulled into the outlet mall's parking lot. She parked the car where Sarutobi instructed her to and began to hand the keys to him when he chuckled and refused them.

"I'm not driving back. You should hang onto them."

"You want to know how nervous this makes me feel?" Sakura asked, dropping the keys into her purse.

"You want to know how little I care?" Sarutobi countered. "You saw my garage. You think I'll miss this?"

Sakura thought of her own car, sitting wherever Itachi parked it, unused and just as ugly as the day she bought it second hand from a friend of a friend. "You know when I was younger my family barely had enough to afford a station wagon. People like you made me jealous."

"And now?"

"Jealousy didn't do me any good," Sakura admitted, climbing out and locking the shut door behind her. "What did you need here, specifically?"

"Ah, well I am actually meeting Itachi here." Sakura felt her lips twitch downwards as she hurried to wrap her head around what Sarutobi failed to mention until just now. "He is escorting someone you might be interested in seeing. Here, for you."

Sakura took the small gray envelope and looked inside before raising both brows high. "All this?"

"It's for a dress. You don't have anything appropriate for Danzo's."

"I didn't think I would need one. I'm on duty, remember?"

"Only around midnight. You're allowed to have fun before that."

"And I?" Both Sakura and Sarutobi looked over to see Sai watching and following their conversation with veiled interest. "I am allowed to attend as well?"

"Of course," Sarutobi replied, sounding a bit perplexed. "It's your home. Of course you would be allowed to attend."

Sai simply nodded and returned his attention to the walkway ahead of them, leading to the outlets. Sakura missed how he slowed to keep pace alongside Sakura, but Sarutobi didn't.

"Are you gonna split up from us boss? No offense, but I don't want to go dress shopping," Konohamaru whined, scowling at most of the shop windows. "Also, girls take too long to try things on."

Sakura pushed open the glass doors before Konohamaru could walk into them, glaring when he stumbled after not looking where he was going. His smile was sheepish as she replied. "I guess I might, but I don't know. You'll have Itachi, though, so you won't be bored."

Inside the first thing they saw was a short row of restaurants and eateries. It was only an outlet mall so there was no actual food court, but the smell of food was in the air and plenty of people were sitting outside the shops on benches eating things like chicken, pizza, and sandwiches.

Itachi saw them before they saw him. He stood from the bench behind the potted plant and raised a single hand to wave down Sarutobi. Konohamaru cheered before skipping towards the Uchiha and Sai stayed beside Sakura as the group headed to the benches. Halfway there another figure stood and Sakura felt her stomach roll.

"What the hell," she breathed, feeling way too many things to name. It was an accusation more than a question.

Sarutobi's voice is hesitant and tentative as he stops alongside her. Sai is there too, but Konohamaru has already run up to Itachi. "I apologize for withholding this from you. It was…how we were able to find you initially."

"Sakura?" Sai calls her name, glancing between her and the new woman. He doesn't understand and Sakura can't find it in her to care enough to explain to him why she's the way she is.

She takes a step forward and the girl does as well. They meet somewhere in the middle and Sakura can't bring herself to take the last few steps, even when Ino smirked and fists her hands over her hips.

"What's with that face, didn't think you'd see me again so soon?"

"Ino, how do you know them?" Sakura asks, hating the fear that blooms like a rose in her heart.

Ino frowns. "You knew I was a…you know I'm a witch, why are you surprised?"

"Not that," Sakura said, pointing back over her shoulder at Sarutobi. "Them. You know them? You knew where I was going to work and you didn't tell me. You knew what they were going to ask of me?"

Ino's eyes widen with newly discovered worry and it's enough to make Sakura's chest feel light. Ino hadn't betrayed her. "Sakura, I would never! No, I didn't know it was the same place, and I had no idea they were looking for you. It-I'm sorry. No, please don't think that. I've never actually met Sarutobi before today. Only my dad knows him by reputation."

"Reputation?"

Ino's eyes grow wide. "Yeah, he's sort of like a legend of sorts. Everyone in the community knows about Sarutobi. No one has been able to come close to his skill. My dad looks up to him more than the president. I didn't even make the connection after you snap chat me all those photos. I'm sorry. I'm a horrible friend. I should have known better. Is that why you haven't texted? What happened?"

Sakura dropped her head onto her friend's shoulder and breathed in. Ino smelled good and her shoulder was the same shape and size Sakura remembered it being. It was the perfect place for Sakura to rest her head. "Don't ask. I don't want to think about it. You're here."

Ino pulled Sakura into a full hug, not caring if there were people watching. Sakura sagged a bit in her friend's embrace. When she closed her eyes she could pretend the mall wasn't there and the people had all left. Ino was safety.

"Sakura?" Ino asked after a moment, still holding her friend in a hug. "Should I be worried? What did they do?"

Sakura pulled away and rubbed her face, grateful there weren't tears. "Nothing. No, Sarutobi is actually trying to help me, but it was kinda sprung on me."

"That's what my dad said, but they're not making you do anything you don't want to, right?"

"Nothing I'm not comfortable with," Sakura admitted, rationalizing it out in her head. She didn't want to think about how much of that was the truth and how much of that was a lie just yet. She just didn't want to hurt anymore.

She didn't exactly want to do a lot of the things she was doing, but she understood that in order to heal and get better, it might require some difficulties. And while she never really sat down and formally agreed to put in the effort to heal with Sarutobi's help, she knew that it was mostly because she was still upset about being tricked and lied to.

"You heard about this party on Sunday?" Ino asked, taking a half step back and putting her hands back on her hips in her typical power pose. "I heard that's the reason I was so kindly summoned."

"No, I think it's just because I needed a friendly face."

"Don't diminish my importance. I'm too impressive for just that."

"You have a nice face," Sakura admitted with a shrug.

"I have a gorgeous face."

"Eh."

Sakura waved her hand as if she wasn't really convinced and Ino huffed, flicking Sakura's forehead in play. She looked like she was going to say something else nasty and teasing when she caught sight of the man behind Sakura's shoulder and shut up. Sakura turned to see Sarutobi there. Sai was standing between Itachi and Konohamaru looking as sullen as Sakura's ever seen him.

"Hello Ino. I don't believe we've met. Did you have any trouble finding the place?" Sarutobi asked, extending his hand.

Ino took it after a moment of hesitation and shook her head before replying. "I found it okay. Nice to meet you to, sir."

"I'm so glad to have met you. I know Sakura treasures you as a friend so I hope you two will enjoy yourself for the next couple of hours. Sakura, if you need me you may phone either I or Itachi. We will be together."

"Yeah, okay." Sakura turned around to face Sarutobi. "Two hours from now?"

Sarutobi hummed, stroking his chin. "If you need more time you may take it. You have the car keys. Itachi can drop us off along the way. It's been awhile since you had a break from work. You even worked on the finances yesterday, when it was Saturday and a day meant to be taken off."

Sakura feels Ino smack the back side of her shoulder and winces. "I'll send her back before dinner, I know she has an important job," the blond but in, a little less awed and star struck but the wizard's presence.

"That is agreeable." He winked at Sakura. "Have fun."

He turned back to his group and Konohamaru looked pleased enough to get moving, sliding up to Itachi right away going off about something that happened while Sai hesitated. Sakura saw him glance between her and Sarutobi's group before he took one step away from her, and then another.

Sakura didn't know why, but it was hard to watch Sai walk away. He looked so lost and unsure of himself. He didn't seem to know what he was doing or what he wanted to do.

"He's cute, for a high schooler. Robbing the cradle a little bit, are you? Isn't that illegal?" Ino's words in Sakura's ear made her wince.

Sakura waved her friend away. "Ino, don't be gross. Why is everything sexual with you?"

"I had to sit on a bench for twelve freaking minutes with Itachi Freaking Uchiha. You tell me how I should behave, because, ah," Ino groaned suggestively, clutching her heart in dramatic fashion. "That's a screen door I would just love to bang. How can you keep your hands to yourself with that sleeping down the hall, likely defenseless and shirtless? You think he sleeps shirtless? Boxers for sure."

Sakura rubbed her eyes, hating the mental image Ino summoned. The blond witch just laughed and pulled Sakura along.

They first stopped in an outlet store for basic everyday clothes for Sakura to browse. Ino stayed close, more so there for Sakura than the jeans they both tried on.

The next stop was a higher end Dillards knock of type of store where Ino showed off what it was like to be in her element. Both girls tried on dresses together before Sakura settled on one for formal occasions and another for less formal occasions. She didn't have many dresses left.

Sakura was very efficient about her shopping, and the pair ended up finished before two hours had passed. Ino was about to recommend another store for accessories when Sakura's stomach reminded her she hadn't eaten much. The pair got Italian dinners and ate in a restaurant that was nearly empty.

Sakura realized in addition to how much she missed Ino, just how much she appreciated Ino. Living in the manor with Itachi and the others was fine, fun even, but Ino was safe. Sakura felt free to be herself around Ino, and that included the messy ugly self that doubted and cowered and even cried sometimes. Ino knew it all. Ino was one of two people Sakura had shared her experience with, and the only one who actually believed Sakura.

"You know that once this horned woman nonsense is over I'm coming to visit every week. You'll need me."

"I'll need you?"

"If you're doing what I think you're doing, then yeah. How many breakdowns have you had so far?" Ino looks up from her food and her blue eyes are hard. "You've been through more shit than anyone I know. You'll need me if you're digging into it again."

"I'll be nice to see you around," Sakura admitted. "Just as long as Sarutobi is okay with it."

Ino hummed. "Did he know you were a White Rabbit when he put you on his 20 days to health and recovery rehab plan?"

Sakura snorted. "What do you think?"

Ino shrugged. "Yeah, I guess there's not many of you out there. You tell him what court you came from, anything like that?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, but I bet they could figure it out if they did some digging. How many courts do you think have had a champion White Rabbit that also happened to be human on their payroll? Bah. It doesn't matter."

"Do you want him to know?"

"Ino,' Sakura sighed her friend's name like a surrender. "I don't know what I want anymore. I just thought I wanted a stable job and maybe some better working conditions, a health plan, a dog… I had enough of the other world, I just wanted to be normal again, cause normal is-."

Her words end abruptly when Sakura heard Ino's muffled snort. Narrowing angry green eyes she glared at the blond until Ino finally relented and gave up an explanation.

"Normal was never what you wanted, otherwise you wouldn't have tampered with the yarrow and mistletoe all through school. You would have never touched you magic and you would have never known how to save me. If normal was what you really wanted than you would have never put on that rabbit skin again. But you did…twice before Sarutobi. Normal was never what you wanted. You just wanted to not hurt anymore, and then after that…"

Sakura waved a hand in the space between the two girls. "What? What do you think I want?"

Ino shrugged and the smile was infuriating. What made it worse was how likely she was to be right. No one knew Sakura better than Ino. No one knew Sakura's secrets like Ino did.

"You tell me once you figure it out, forehead."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

Sakura grumbled, stuffing her mouth full of bread from the free bread basket. They were still warm and made Sakura feel like melting. Ino was staring at Sakura and with every passing second there was more weight in the look. When there was only one roll left in the basket Ino relented and reached for it.

Sakura wouldn't need to ever tell Ino anything. Ino would already know log before Sakura ever discovered the truth for herself.

After food they went to get their nails done and Sakura felt dread pooling in her gut when she thought about having to leave Ino. She dragged her feet and pulled handful of excuses out of her bag, but soon it was twilight and Sakura knew she had to leave.

The friends parted before the sun could set and half an hour later Sakura was pulling into the garage. She killed the engine and clicked the garage door button from inside the car before turning off the lights and climbing out.

She expected it to be dark in the garage with only the low lights on, but the overhead lights came on, making Sakura wince and blink against the sudden brightness.

"Sai?" The young man stood on the steps to the side exit with one hand still on the light switch.

"It was dark," he explained stiffly.

He started to turn and then glanced back once before stepping out. Sakura watched him go before following him out of the garage. Closing the door behind her she saw Sai waiting at the next door leading into the house, watching her.

"Were you waiting for me?" she teased, trying to be light.

"You were later than two hours."

"I wanted to visit my friend longer," Sakura said, walking in with him as the door shut behind her. "I haven't seen her in a long time and she's very dear to me."

"How did you make her into your friend?"

The exited in the hallway outside the kitchen and Sakura stopped, tugging at the scarf around her neck. Sai's question struck her as odd. The way he asked it was not how she would have expected a person to word it. "We met when she felt me practicing magic with my yarrow wand. I couldn't control it very well when I got back. I had to relearn everything."

"That is how you met. That is not how you became friends." Sai stands firmly in the way. "I wish to know how you established a friendship."

Sakura's mind went blank like a computer overloading and forcing a shutdown. When did she and Ino become friends? How did they establish their friendship? It all just sort of happened and it would be easier to find the exact place where the color of the sky changes at sunset than it would be to find the exact moment friendship started between the two girls.

"It's not an easy question to answer…" Sakura began but the look on Sai's face made her want to try and go on. He rarely looked so invested in a conversation. "But I think it started when she helped me. When she helped me I felt kindness and because of her kindness a friendship was able to bloom. The friendship was reciprocated when I showed a kindness back to her and we grew together after that. I wanted to be around her and she wanted to be around me. Friendships also are about liking the other person. Ino and I liked each other right away."

"Are all friendships started with a kindness?" Sai asks.

"No, not all. Most of my friendships start this way though."

Sakura thought of Kakuzu and the subtle kindness that drew them together in the first place. He was gruff, but he was fair and he helped her when she needed it. She liked Kakuzu as a friend and worked hard to be someone he liked having around. At best he tolerated most people. Sakura was the exception.

"For friendships to establish there must be kindness and interest," Sai summarized, sounding thoughtful. The idea of friends sounded new to him.

"Sai?" He looked up when she called. "Do you have friends?"

"I have never had need of friends before."

"Would you like friends?"

Sakura shook his head briefly. "No, I have no need for multiple friendships when their nature is still so unknown to me. I do not need friends in order to achieve my objectives."

Sakura heart always seemed to hurt for the boy broken by fairyland. He was so lost. She wanted to erase all the horrors of his time as a plaything for those fiends and replace those years with ones of comfort and care. What kind of kid thinks of friendships as unknown and unnecessary? The kind that doesn't know any better.

"Sai?" He watched her, waiting for her words. "I want you to be my friend. Will you be my friend?"

If he was expecting to hear that from her he hid it well. For normally being so expressionless, she saw the way his eyes widen and his lips parted. His chest rose on a caught breath for a moment longer than usual before the breath came out, shuddered and uneasy. He almost took a step back, but stood in place, swaying slightly.

"You have need of my friendship?" he asked, still not understanding her request. What a broken boy.

"I don't need your friendship, that's not how it works. I want to be your friend, Sai. I like you enough to want to see you again and hang out and talk. Maybe not with so much booze next time, but I do enjoy your company. It's not something I need, but something I want."

"Want." He repeats the word like it's something new to him.

"Yeah. Um, just think about it, kid. It's not a big deal." Sakura still had bags in her arms that she remembered when one started to slip down her arm. "I'm just going to go up to put my things away, but I'll be back down here at the usual time."

Sakura bruised past him to head up the stairs when he snapped back to attention and moved to stop her, grabbing her by the wrist with impressive speed. She stopped and waited for him.

"You're my friend as well."

Sakura felt a little less pain in her chest when she looked at Sai and smiled.

The fifth, sixth, seventh, and even the eights horned woman came without major issue. Sakura had worried about the seventh and eighth horned woman, but all it took was an additional barrier and little more concentration to hold the binds in place. That was nothing Sai and Sakura couldn't handle together.

After struggling for so long the woman with eight horns relented and sank away from the wards and the barriers. Sakura felt their humming lessen as a stillness took over. The horned woman was still close, still near, but there was nothing she could do to break what Sakura and Sai tried so hard to maintain. If the horned woman attempted another assault she would only end up exhausting herself.

Sakura didn't leave the halls, stalking the presence from inside, following along the windows as close as possible. She ended up in a west facing parlor with windows as high as the ceiling would allow. The woman with eight horns stood just beyond the boundary laid out behind the hedges, floating on feet that didn't touch the ground.

Sakura stared back, seeing her one reflection caught in the glass like a ghost. She was just a girl in bare feet, a loose shirt and slouching sweats. She didn't look intimidating, but she knew how she could change that in a moment. All it took was a thought, and admission deep in her heart, and the foreign magic that waited like a well behind her ribs would tip and spill and fill her full. No longer a girl, she would be something otherworldly, caught somewhere between fully fay and fully human.

The woman with eight horns lifted her head and listened to the shrieks of her lesser sisters. They floated like wraiths back into the mist and were no more. Sakura sensed it too, how they went from being on the breath of their threshold to far, far away.

The night is safe and her watch is over, but somehow Sakura can't put her heart to rest. She turns from the room and finds herself back in the main hall where she left Sai. He's already gone, but that's fine. He stayed up with her late last night asking questions and prying stories from her with greed. He had to be exhausted after so many late night.

The house was quiet.

So why wasn't her heart?

"I'm almost upset I haven't been summoned yet. You know the Jacob Sigils are out, right?" Shisui asked from over her shoulder.

Sakura caught herself from snapping in reaction and forced herself to turn in a measured speed that betrayed her shock, giving her an appearance of calm when she really was anything but that.

Shisui was wearing a new suit with shoulders capped in gleaming feathers to match the plume sticking out of his breast pocket. He grinned wide at her and leaned like he was a model on the cover of a high end fashion magazine. He looked like he put calculated effort into his appearance this time.

"Miss me?" he cooed.

"What was your name again?" Sakura asked, voice blank.

It did the trick as all the confidence and snark dropped out of him. He staggered off his heels, hands sweeping for something to hold onto, eyes wide. A moment later he blinked and almost glared. "Oh, you minx. You're a sly one."

Sakura shrugged. "There are few things the vanity of a fay can suffer that's greater than being forgotten. Your kind just loves to make an impact."

"You make light of my horror. To be forgotten by someone you wish to make harmony with is a devastation. It's only worse when that someone is a person you hold with high regard."

"You can save your flattery. What do you want?"

Shisui took a half step forward before rocking back onto his heels, holding his hands behind his back as his eyes flashed over her form, searching for something before settling on her face. He seemed to be weighing his words before he opened his mouth to speak. "I can not see you without reason?"

"You have a reason." Sakura made sure there was no way he would misinterpret her look of disbelief. "It's late and I wish to sleep."

He grinned mischievously. "I could help you with that." She didn't doubt his words meant to say, 'I could do that with you,' or something like that.

Here eyes were narrowed pools of emerald fire. On the beach driftwood a sick colored green and the equal to that brilliant, living color was found only in her eyes for such a time as these. "I will wake the house and chase you out."

"You're stunning, pale creature," Shisui sighed, holding the side of his face as he stared down at her, lifting up onto the tips of his feet. "I've come to offer you more of my aid."

"I don't need it."

"You've only seen eight nights. You have several more to go. You think the woman of eleven horns will be turned over by anything so mediocre? The next night there will be hell with the ninth woman, if not her than the tenth. You need all the help you can get and Itachi's not by our side." He stepped forward, leaning over her, bending slightly. "But I am. I'm here. Use me as you will and you need not fear a one hundred horned woman."

"How kind of you to offer such help from the goodness of your heart. You haven't even mentioned the reward you expect for such a deed." Sakura was not one to be intimidated as she stood where she willed, refusing to surrender an inch.

"You trust me so little, and you've that right. You're too smart to give in so easily, but I'll prove to you I'm worth the price."

Sakura feels her lip curls and recognizes the sensation of revulsion stirring in her gut when she remembers all the good that came out of deals with devils. Fay are no better. "Humans are so easy for you to tease. You promise them glitter, the health of their mother, the success of their brother, a yield for their withered crop, but in the end what we gain is never as great as our loss." Sakura didn't expect to, but she felt a swell of anger lick her belly as she turned on her heel and glared sharply at the intruder. "I'll not be ruined a second time."

Shisui stands still for a moment, no longer dancing on his heels or striking poses in the hallway. He's still and it doesn't suit him. "I wouldn't want to ruin you," he admits after a while. "It's just a rule."

She knows he's referring to the aid he wishes to give her. Fay are creatures of great, raw magic, more than any human or wizard. But with that magic there are strings that no one knows the origins of. Just as humans grapple with the meaning of life and the existence of higher powers with names and boundaries, the other words grapple with the old laws from the time before time, and the strings that bind them like iron barriers.

"You've nothing to gain from me, Uchiha. Seek your fortune elsewhere."

She turned towards the stairs, hands going into her hair to scrunch it in agitation. She was tired, she looked like a mess, and she felt like she needed a shower. Shisui was the last person she wanted to be talking to at one in the morning.

She stepped onto the stars but stopped when she saw Shisui land on a step several ahead of her. He came closer so they were only a couple apart. His palms were up, defensive. "Wait, what did you mean by that? You don't think I couldn't just want to help you because you're like me?"

"I'm not like you."

He took another step towards her, they were one away with him towering over her. There was a mask over half his face, trimmed in gold and shaped like a rabbit. Sakura inhaled sharply, back going stiff at the sight. He waved a hand and the mask was gone, along with the outfit for a male Black Rabbit.

"You know we've played the Rabbit Games for as long as we can remember? The game before mine was a lost, and I think the one before that we won, but it's been too long since I've met someone I think I could…relate to. I've never thought well of anyone before, and I think you could understand that. They made us wear masks and run. You understand what that means. You understand what that feels like."

"I'm not like you," Sakura repeated, nearly snarling the words as her fingers itched for a handle of ivory and the smell of burning mistletoe.

Shisui almost bristled at the force of her words, looking a cross between hurt and angry. "What do you know about me? You won't even get to know me or let me try. You're not this cold to Itachi."

"Itachi doesn't go kidnapping children for murder games."

Shisui looked like he felt the sting of those words, glancing down. When he lifted his eyes again they were red and spinning, not at all the way rabbit eyes are red. His red eyes were the mark of an Uchiha.

"And what would you know of Itachi?"

Sakura fell into a world not unlike the one Itachi sucked her into so many days ago. The world where he was a hunter and she a rabbit, a world that wasn't fairyland but no less dangerous. Sakura knew she was in the world of an Uchiha's mind.

Cursing, Sakura reaching for that power behind her ribcage and felt it burn her humanity away as the mask of the Rabbit once again set atop her face. She smelled burning and grabbed the hilt of the mistletoe sword as it emerged from her chest, peaking like the mast of an ocean ship from between her breasts. Drawn so, it emerged with a gleaming edge that hadn't been present when she quick drew it.

Sarutobi had been with her last time, and Itachi had taken her into his world with her permission and consent. This time was different. She didn't trust Shisui and she was alone.

Itachi's world had been dead and dying, but Sakura turned and saw plenty of rolling green hills filled with flowers as a near black dusk dragged the sky down with the weight of so many stars. Shisui stood not too far away, still dressed well and missing his mask. He had watched her become a rabbit and he had watched her draw her sword the same way he had watched her turn towards him; completely transfixed and unmoving.

"You're not in danger here," he said as she leveled her sword and bent her knees.

"You wanna know how many times I've been told that?"

"I don't want you harmed. I wouldn't do that."

A part of Sakura feels the truth of his words. She understands that whatever his aim or goal might be, her injury wouldn't play into it. The part of her ruled by logic understood this, but it was the part of her that was wild and hurt and feeling that she listened to when she lowered her sword. Shisui wasn't going to hurt her, but she didn't have to trust him.

"You brought me here without my permission." The words are less harsh than before, but do not lack bite.

His shoulders relax and his face becomes a little softer. "I'll send you right back, but these are memories. I wanted to share these with you."

He extends his hand to her but Sakura doesn't take it as she begins to walk in his direction. He drops it right away and hurries to keep pace with her, walking alongside her so close that their elbows brush at times. When they crest the hill Sakura sees the ruins of Roman columns that once supported a pantheon's frame. Chalk white stone lay in scattered cubs and broken bits all along the way. There is a path to the ruined temple but it's so overgrown Sakura can't see it. She only knows it's there when she feels the texture of walking over it.

There is a figure at the end of the temple and Sakura stops dead when she feels the fear pool like a peach pit in her gut. All the hair on her arm stands up and her mouth is sick with the taste of rotting apples. Everything about her tells her to run, to get away, and she knows that't the rabbit in her.

There's a taunting in her brain. 'Look away if you can't take it.'

But Shisui was still advancing on the image of the figure so Sakura squared her fear away in a box that could come undone later and put one foot in front of the other. One foot, one foot, one foot… Shisui stopped close enough to still be considered far when he turned to the side and offered her his hand.

"I won't let any harm come to you here."

Sakura doesn't take it, but doesn't move away from him either, and her sword has been gone for long enough for her to have forgotten dismissing it.

"Itachi."

She says his name but he doesn't hear her because he is a memory. Itachi looms and Sakura sees only a flash of the white body in the grass. There is nothing domestic about Itachi. He is all fay with dark pools of eyes and claws looking like they were dipped in soot as his armor strains with his bending down. A trail of raven feathers falls from his shoulders in two flaps as he reaches into the grass.

Sakura hears a whimper and then Itachi is hissing, lips pulled back and fags bared. There is the sound of shattering and Sakura feels her stomach roll. She nearly staggers and Shisui holds her around the waist as she watches Itachi pull the shattered mask of the White Rabbit up from the dead boy's face. The shattering of a mask is only one of many ways to end the life of a rabbit, so long as it's done the right way. Sakura sees the blood on the inside of the mask drop down Itachi's clawed hands.

'But this isn't the first time you've seen a hunter kill a rabbit,' her inner voice mocked, tone lighter than usual. It's almost enough to trigger the memory of a boy in gold ripping apart the midnight in front of her.

Sakura bolted.

Itachi was a memory in this world but memories had already hurt her so much. One foot in front of the other, bare heels to the wind she dug in with the front of her feet, scratching away the earth in speed surpassing most fay. Sakura ran. She ran, and ran, and when she thought she might reach her limits, she kept on running. When she ran her brain was zeroed in on seeing the world as it blurred past her. There was no more room for idle thought.

Sakura fell apart under a grove of trees and let her body vibrate with the bound up energy. Her panic was well distributed now. She reached up and felt her mask. There were details in the edges painted with gold. She had won, her mask was much finer than the one Itachi shattered. Once upon a time that had almost been her.

There is movement off to the side and Sakura turns to see Shisui, but he is a memory. Shisui is younger with a mask of black and the fitted black uniform of a Black Rabbit. He pants under a tree, choking on his own panic as he holds his head. There are bodies around him, she notices. Sakura sits up to see the rest of the scene. The bodies are both black and white in uniform.

Somewhere along the way, during her staring, her heaving breaths matched up with the memory of Shisui and they both breathed out in ragged gasps until their gasps were soft and their breathing a little less haggard.

She notices he's young in this memory. Fay age so well it's hard to tell, but Sakura's been around enough to recognize the marks of youth. He's little more than a child here. He should have been in high school, but he's sitting in a pile of blood belonging to a man he used to know.

Itachi walks out from among the trees and his hands are wet with blood. He says something and Shisui looks up, eyes wide. A moment later he nods and climbs to his feet. Sakura knows what he will do before he even moves. It's a rule that rabbits and the hunters of their own court can not travel together. Sakura was not allowed to hide with any of the girls from her own court.

Shisui takes off and Itachi wipes the blood of his hands on a white fay's shirt. Sakura feels so lost in the same clearing as a being she never should have felt safe around. All of her nature told her to fear this creature above all. This creature exists only to kill you, her training taught her.

There is a real rustle in the grass behind her and Sakura knows it belongs to the Shisui that isn't a dream. She turns to face him.

"Why have you shown me this?" Sakura gasps, hating how breathless she sounds in hear own ears.

"Itachi did this for me. I was the fastest and chosen for this role when I had no desire to bet my life in one of their games." Shisui tugs on her wrist and she staggers. He holds her shoulders and turns her towards him. "I had no stomach for it and neither did Itachi, but he became a hunter for my sake. The reason I'm alive today is because he became a killer to save me from being killed. But that was only the beginning."

Sakura looks back to the scene but the pantheon is gone from around them. They're in a field. A table is set with food and flowers are woven into wreaths that hang from trees. Itachi stands with a simple mistletoe sword soaked in gold blood. Around him on the grass, on tables, on chairs, the bodies of so many other dark haired fay lie. Itachi looked up and saw one man left. He raises his sword and brings it down with the caw of a crow.

It was a massacre.

"This was his family. The only one who lived was his brother."

Sakura remembered somewhere in the back of her brain Sarutobi telling her about this. Itachi had a younger brother. The reason Itachi served Sarutobi was because the old man had taken Itachi's younger brother out of fairyland and helped the younger Uchiha set up a life living as a human.

"Why the hell am I seeing this…why the hell are you showing this to me?"

"You trust Itachi, but you don't know anything about him." Sakura turns to face him when she hears the envy that had been folded and hidden so carefully under his words. "He plays the part of a pacifist, but he's washed his hands with blood more than anyone else I know."

"That has nothing to do with how I see you," Sakura snarled, hating how the sights made her sick all over again.

"Itachi betrayed us, he left and killed his whole family. You think you're safe with someone like that at your side, living in the same house and under the same roof? He became a hunter for the games but when the games ended Itachi didn't change back, he couldn't. It was my fault, but he became a monster seeking blood."

Sakura remembered the panic that hit her when she first trained with Itachi and how he pulled her onto his lap and held her. He never told Sarutobi about how poorly she fell apart. He was everything she feared but…

"This isn't him anymore."

"You're not safe with him or that old man. You think you are, but that place wasn't made to help you, but to use you. You'll never be safe there." He reached for her hands and held them, thumbs rubbing the underside of her wrists where her veins were flushed and wide with honey gold. "You could come with me."

Sakura threw her hands off and shook off his hold, jumping back at the implication. "Not a chance in hell!"

"Not in the fay world, not like that, no!" Shisui was waving his hands and trying to step closer to her again, but each step he took she took one backwards. "I wouldn't you take you back there where they could find you. I'd keep you safe in my own world, in my own kingdom."

"You've got so many things loose in your head if you think for a bloody second that I would ever consider such a farce," Sakura hissed, hand to her chest to quick draw her sword. "You've done nothing but instigated my anger tonight, Shisui."

He looked as if she had struck him as he switched the weight of his body from one leg to the other, searching for some sort of balance. "Would you have rather not known?"

The sound of his voice struck me and Sakura suspected that there was a layer of regret to his words. But was it regret for his choice to show her, regret for her reaction, or regret for his decision to slander his cousin? Itachi had become a hunter for him. There was no way Shisui didn't feel some sort of guilt over that. Yet, he was still willing to throw his cousin under the bus for his own gain.

"Frankly, yes. Itachi's not the only one with gold blood on his hands. You think a human rabbit won without effort? I've reached my own hands into death often enough. I don't care what he's done. I'll judge what I see with my own two eyes."

Shisui goes back to pacing and almost stammers when he speaks."I-I'd take good care of you. There would never be anything you wanted that I didn't provide for you. We'd be safe there, together. You're not safe in your own human word. Look how easily that man found you. Do you really want to keep being used by him?"

Sakura wanted to bite out how she wasn't being used but she knew that wasn't true. Maybe Sarutobi really wanted to help her, and maybe he truly wished to ease the pain of PTSD survivors from fairyland, but she was being used.

Sakura remembered something and looked up. "Tell me about the Uchiha's plans to destroy the world by waking the sleepers."

Shisui blinked, startled. "The what?"

"It's what Sarutobi fears. He hasn't shared this with me because he doesn't want me involved with it, doesn't want to take advantage of me. He's using me, but he's not abusing me through it."

"You want me to tell you about the four sleepers? Why does Sarutobi think they have anything to do with anything?"

Sakura rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "You're supposed to tell me that."

Shisui huffed and then turned sharply as the scene around them shifted. Sakura saw stone as high as the sky stretching on forever in caves that ran through the heart of the earth. Sakura recognized the marks from the myth. Shisui waved his hand and they were at the end of a great hall overlooking a pit. Sakura stared into the pit and swallowed. Football fields could span the width of the chasm, but it's depth was another story twice as impressive.

Less a pit and more a bed, the chasm was the perfect place for the giant the slumber. Somuns, the father of time who alone knows the hour of the unending. Shisui knew where one of the four pillars of the end of the earth slept. Maybe Sarutobi had a right to worry.

"There is no way to wake him, and there is nothing we would do to provoke such a thing," Shisui sighed. "It would mean our ending as well. We're not stupid, we know that. In the past many have sought the pillars of the ends of the earth and desired their power for themselves, but not one has survived such an endeavor. The Uchiha would not be so foolish."

"You know where he sleeps."

"Of course." He almost grinned, looking down at her. "It's our job to protect him, after all."

He spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world to admit. Sakura knew there were families from the fay tasked with keeping watch over the giants and monsters that make up the pillars of the ends of the earth, but she hadn't expected to meet one, or for the Uchiha to be one. The sleepers at the end of the world were a myth all fay children and changelings knew. Four beings tasked with sleeping for all time until the hour arrives when the earth is to be shook to destruction. It's a belief for some and a fairytale to other. Some fay believe the sleepers are no more agents of fate than their own willies, while others rise cults in the name of Sommuns and his brothers. Sakura never gave the stories so much thought before. Maybe it would be better to ask for Sarutobi's version.

Sakura blinked, glancing at the giant and then at Shisui. "You didn't ask for anything," she admitted at last.

Shisui blinked and then his eyes widened in recognition. "Ah, I forgot to ask."

"Did you, or were you hoping I'd notice and think better of you for it?"

"Was I successful?"

Sakura turns her sword around in her hand to have better mobility as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. She tilts her head to the side and stars at the slender Uchiha who looks as smitten as a kitten. "Huh."

He reaches for her hands again and takes only one this time. "I would share so many more secret just for the sound of your voice in my ear. Say my name and I am debased, sweetest one. Never doubt this."

Such honey words.

"You still took me against my will and showed me things I had no wish knowing," Sakura began, voice still hard.

Shisui flinches but a memory stops her from saying more. She remembers the way he ran, young and scared and looking ready to cry as Itachi killed in the background. She remembered the kid in the rabbit mask running for his life, and more than anything, she understood that feeling. There was no way she wouldn't know that feeling. She didn't doubt there were other memories of him looking worse, throwing up in fear, crying silently, begging to the forces above for luck and favor, praying for one more day of running.

"Take me back," Sakura just said, sounding too tired to be angry.

The flirty air was gone when Shisui took her hands and then her shoulders. He cupped her face and tilted it back. His eyes were spinning and she fell into them, not caring if her own were filling with tears.

Sakura staggered. She was back in the hallway and Shisui stood an arm's reach away, looking like he wanted to steady her, arms outstretched but hesitant. She waved him off, sitting down on the steps as her mask faded away with the ret of her power. The recoil hit her like the fist of a small child and she was glad for it. A moment and the pain passed.

"Sakura?"

She looked up and saw him kneeling.

"I've upset you." It wasn't a question.

"If you're ever to show me secrets again, make sure they're your own. I want to be alone right now."

"I'm coming back tomorrow night." Sakura glared at him and he went on. "If I was able to slip in after that woman tomorrow you will have another fight on your hands. You can hate me if you need to, but I'm going to be here and I hope you don't hate me anyway."

"That's not my concern. You should take that up with Sarutobi. This is his house."

"I'm not helping for him."

"You're not helping for free either, are you?"

His face colored with a pretty blush. His black hair was curled to prettily around his fay face. It was unfair how lovely he was to look at. "I'll do it for you. I'll do it without asking, without reward."

That's what he said, but it wasn't entirely unselfish. Even his offer to do it without payment was because he wanted something. He wanted her good will, her trust, a closer bond like the one she had with Itachi. She was the reward.

Sakura felt her eyes narrow. "Why?"

"Cause that's what you want and I don't care about making anyone else on this earth happy." He reached forward to kiss her jaw, light and soft, and then he was gone.

Sakura stumbled into her bed and turned the alarm clock away, hating how the angry red letters of 2:59 glared at her. She pulled up her covers and sank into them, resolving to think about all that happened tomorrow.

Chapter

VII

Karin's nails were broken and bleeding, having been stripped and shattered down to the nail beds. Still, she clawed and grabbed with the last of her strength. She was slipping and Sakura watched from above. If Karin fell it would mean one less contestant in the trials. But, if she fell it would also mean death.

There were dogs howling far off and then the yips of victory. The pack had found another girl. How many were left now? How many were still alive? How many would be standing when the game came to an end?

Karin screamed as one of the rocks fell from under her hand and she swung wildly on the cliff. Even if she was fay, this was too much for her already tortured body to take. She had been bull headed, stubborn and stupid. It was her own damn fault she was in the state she was.

The barking grew louder. The dogs were coming closer. Did they smell her?

Sakura was running out of time and she couldn't waste anymore of it. She needed to get to the tower in the woods and pass the trial before someone else claimed the victory icon. Sakura had lost the first victory game. There were only nine and every test she failed made her weaker.

She wasn't like the other girls. She wasn't a fay. The other humans had already died by now, Sakura was the last one alive.

Karin cried out again and it almost sounded like a sob.

Cold ass Karin crying? Karin who took so much pleasure in stomping on the competition, that Karin was crying?

The dogs were close, Sakura could hear their barks. Soon there would be victory yips and sinking teeth and the snarl of ripping flesh.

"It's your own damn fault for choosing to scale the cliff," Sakura hissed , forcing herself to look away.

Sakura turned.

The rocks gave out from under Karin's bloody hand and she fell with a scream.

Sakura awoke with a roll in her gut that warned her she might be sick if she moved too suddenly, so she shifted only slightly and pressed her head back into the pillow and closed her eyes. It was maybe afternoon if the dull light from her windows told her anything. She cracked open a single eye and sighed when she saw how late it was. She had slept thirteen hours. Maybe that recoil had hit her harder than she thought. Or maybe it was her depression keeping her in bed.

The was a shift in the bed next to her and she turned, a little faster than she should have, to see Sai sitting atop her covers with a sketchbook and ink pen. He paused, pen hovering over paper before he put it away. "You're awake."

"Sai?" Sakura blinked, hating how messed up her head felt. Her stomach rolled. Oh, her stomach was messed up too. "What are you?"

"The child got angry at me when I tried to wake you, so I've kept watch since."

"When you tried to wake me?" Sakura blinked long and then opened her eyes to see the clock on her nightstand once more, glaring angrily at her in harsh red numbers. "When was that?"

"Several hours ago. I've had plenty to hold my attention." He pushed the sketchbook aside and scooted closer to her side as she struggled to sit up. It seemed as if he was about to hold her and help her up, but he kept his hands to himself as Sakura pushed herself up on her own.

"I've been tired."

"You went to bed several hours after I or anyone else in the house." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

Sai frowned at her lack of explanation. "Why?"

"I had a visit."

Sai leaned forward, expression muddled between annoyance and despondency. "Shisui."

"Yeah, how did you know?" Sakura asked, pushing away the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stood and felt the aches in her back snap and pop. She smelled a little and knew she needed a shower. She had been too tired last night to risk it, but she probably wouldn't fall asleep in the shower now. She was pulling clean things out of the top drawer when Sai's words made her flinch.

"He's still downstairs."

Sakura spun. "What do you mean he's still downstairs?"

Sai blinked. "He is still downstairs," he said, voice low and words slowed. "We are upstairs. He is downstairs, currently."

"What the hell is he doing here in this house? I thought Sarutobi was going to keep him out."

Sai shrugged. "Itachi was here earlier but you were asleep when he asked for you. Shisui appeared after that."

"What did they talk about?" Sakura had the clean clothes in one hand as she searched for a set of matching socks. She pulled out a pair of blue ones with narwhals and mermaids.

"They said nothing to me and I was not privy to the details of their conversation." Sai shifted on hr bed. "But it was mostly about Shisui helping us tonight with the horned woman. He thinks we are incapable."

"You got all that from your little ink spies?" Sakura hummed, eyeing his sketchbook. Sai sat up straighter and Sakura waved off his unasked question. "It reeks of magic and Danzo left you behind to spy on us in the first place. It would make sense."

"How could you know that?" he asked, face filling with panic and color in equal measure.

Sakura blinked, still feeling a bit unsteady as she leaned against the door jam to her "You think you were subtle?"

Sai slowly stood and Sakura tasted the magic in her mouth but didn't move. "You are mistaken."

"Sarutobi knew it too," Sakura said around a yawn. "But he also knew you were a mess and even if you were here to spy on us he hoped to help you."

"And you?" Sakura blinked in question so Sai repeated himself. "And what do you think? When you told me you wanted to be…" His voice stops and he looks away. "Did you always know."

She rubbed the side of her face, feeling the last threads of sleep tug on her again. "I knew when I told you I wanted to be your friend, and I meant it when I said that. I don't care what you're doing or who you're working for, that doesn't change the way I feel." Her heart would always hurt for Sai. "But I need to take a shower. Is it dinnertime, is there food? You wanna eat something once I get out?"

"I-yes. I-I would like that." Sai's voice was thin and he looked down. When he heard the door to the bathroom shut the sound of him falling back onto the bed was loud enough for Sakura to hear.

She turned the water on, stripped, and stepped in. The water was warm and she could feel so many parts of her coming undone under the water. It felt good so she lingered. Later when she was out and brushing through her hair in a town and her unmentionables she was quiet enough to hear the knocking at her bedroom door.

She paused, brush held frozen in place as a figure, likely Sai, got up from the bed to answer the door.

"Where is Sakura?" The voice belonged to Shisui.

"She is not here."

"What are you doing in her room?" Shisui's voice seemed clipped. Sakura wondered if he was impatient for something. There was a movement and Sakura suspected Shisui had brushed Sai aside and entered the room on his own.

"Drawing."

"Hn. You can't do that somewhere else?"

Sakura heard a louder scuffle and almost moved to open her door and see what it was from when she caught herself. It might not be the best thing for her to go out just yet.

"That is not yours." Sai's voice was hard and there was more of a scuffle.

"You were drawing her? What is this? The last few pages there is hardly anything else."

"It's not yours. Return it to me."

"What are you doing with these? Are you planning on hurting her?"

Sakura heard paper ripping and nearly opened the door when the scuffling was loud enough to make her think they had overturned furniture. She paused, hand on the handle and waited to hear what would come next.

Her hair was wet over her shoulders, soaking the top of her shirt. She needed to finish brushing her hair and braid it before it soaked much more but she didn't want to move her hands.

"I would never do that. You are the one everyone wards against. You are the dangerous one here."

"Right that they should fear me, but it's the snake in the grass that feels giants." There was the sound of papers scattering and a sketchbook falling to the wood floor. "Stay away from her and stay out of her room."

"I won't leave her to you and you can't tell me what to do. You have no authority here. Itachi hasn't given you his permission to stay."

Shisui snorted. "As if I needed his permission. I just need Sakura to agree and the others won't ward against me anymore. I'm worth too much to turn away right now."

"We could manage without you."

Another sound of derision from Shisui. "I'm sure you'd like that too. Just you and her, alone at night? Well, otherkin, horned lady number nine and ten are going to kick your ass. If they don't, lady eleven will wipe the floor with your remains. You don't remember what it was like for this house last year. It's built on too many veins of power to be ignored like Danzo's house is."

"Sakura will be fine with just me."

"For being a soldier stripped of emotion, you show your true heart too easily. Give it up, otherkin. She doesn't look twice your way."

"She's my friend."

"So?"

"Your presence aggravates her. Itachi's presence unnerves her, but you are worse."

"And what, you're the healing balm she's been looking for this whole time?" Shisui snorted. "Don't make me laugh. Where is Sakura?"

"I've already told you, she is not here."

And it was just Sakura's luck, that the shampoo bottle on the edge of the counter decided to slip the rest of the way down the slick surface. It clattered to the floor loud enough for boys with normal hearing to hear. There was no way Shisui or Sai missed it. She shut her eyes and reached up into her hair to scrunch it in agitation as she heard them shuffle outside.

"You said she wasn't here."

"She's not," Sai insisted in his reply. His tone was back to being clipped and cold. "This is her bedroom. She is not here in the bedroom. Other rooms are considered elsewhere. You should leave before Itachi comes to retrieve you."

Sakura missed the part when she heard about Itachi still being in the house. Wasn't it late? He would need to go back to Danzo soon. She should probably go down to greet him before he left.

She grabbed a towel, not caring if she was noisy, and draped it over her head, using it to ruffle her hair dry. One hand still in her hair, she opened the door to her bedroom and let the steam out. Shisui and Sai straightened at the sight of her and she glared at the mess around their feet. Many of Sai's papers were in shreds on the floor and her armchair was on it's side. She eyed the armchair pointedly and Shisui rushed to set it upright.

"I'm going downstairs to talk to Itachi if he's still here. If you have something to say to me you can say it outside of my bedroom after I finish talking with your cousin."

She let the towel slip off her head and caught it before it could hit the floor. She balled it and tossed it back onto the tiles of her bathroom before turning towards the main doors. Sakura knew Shisui would follow her, but when she didn't hear Sai' footsteps she turned to see him kneeling on the ground, putting together pieces of paper that looked like the were once a part of his notebook. Sakura saw on a scrap of a piece the lines of a face and knew it had been a portrait.

Damn.

Sakura's heart hurt for the kid. She left the doors and shouldered past Shisui to kneel beside Sai and pick up what she could. Sai refused to look at her as he accepted the pieces she collected. He made an effort to turn away from her whenever she picked up a piece that might have been a portrait.

"I'm sorry about your art pieces." Sakura turned one over that wasn't a person and saw the outlines of a crow sketched in ink. "This one is lovely."

Sai huffed, taking the piece of paper from her hand and then carrying the mess over to her room's trash bin. Sakura flinched when she heard his book hit the bottom of the bin. Sai wouldn't look at her as he brushed past and left out the way she had meant to moments earlier. Sakura watched him go, holding herself back. He needed alone time, or time to himself.

When Shisui tried to come up alongside her she flinched and turned to glare. "Don't you ever do something like that again. I don't care what your reasons are. You had no right to destroy his property." When he opened his mouth Sakura knew what he was about to say and pushed his face away with the palm of her hand. "I said I don't care for your reasons. Why do you think you can talk to me."

Sakura left and Shisui followed, but at a distance. Sai wasn't in the blue room when she entered, but Sarutobi was there with Itachi. Both stood up when she entered and both stiffened when Shisui trailed in after her. Sakura frowned at the trio, expecting as much tension. There had to be more history between the three than she knew.

"You three already spoke while I was sleeping, didn't you?" Sakura asked, eyes still heavy as she reaches for a parlor chair and sinks into it. She's still heavy in her body and light in her brain.

It's Sarutobi who takes his seat again and answers her. "Here is where we stand; Shisui has come asking to aid you and Sai tonight. Sai is opposed to the suggestion." He gestured to Itachi. "Itachi is conditionally supportive, and I am neutral on the matter until I hear from you."

"Oh?" Sakura watched Sarutobi, gesturing for the old man to go on.

Sarutobi carded his fingers over his chest. "Ah. My feelings are against the decision, but logically speaking it is only to your benefit. I believe Shisui when he gives his word on this."

"What word?" Sakura echoes, still feeling too light and too heavy in all the wrong ways. She holds onto the arms of the chair and sits up straighter, keeping her spine straight and posture deceptively alert. All she wants to do is sleep a little more and maybe not wake up for a few decades, but she hides that on her face. She wears a mask of wakefulness and plays the part like a master actor.

Still, she can feel the way Itachi watches her, like he knows better. She's not fooling him. Or maybe it's because she's hyper aware of where his eyes land and where his hands rest.

She wants to curse Shisui for this new wave of fear or paranoia that taints her thoughts. She's not in the game anymore. She doesn't need to be afraid of Itachi anymore. She's not a rabbit anymore. He's not a hunter anymore.

"It will be harder tonight," Itachi finally adds, leaning against the table in the middle of the room. "I don't doubt your victory, but you will be spent if you start stretching yourself thin on this day. There are still four more nights."

"Three," Sarutobi corrects. "The last night we will be together and it will not be so terrible."

"Regardless…" Itachi lets his voice trail off. He nodded towards his cousin who rested his hip on the molding that crept around the fireplace. Shisui smiled impishly at the other Uchiha, causing Itachi to look away with a disgruntled expression. "I do not believe Shisui means to do anything to earn your ill will."

Sakura watched Itachi watch her. The way he turned away from his cousin and regarded her made her suspect he knew nothing of what Shisui had shown her last night. It made her skin crawl even more than when she thought of him as a hunter. She had secrets she didn't want others knowing, (one of the many reasons she was so hesitant to work with Sarutobi), and the idea that she knew some of Itachi's made her feel dirty. Wrong. She was wrong and the guilt was gnawing on her bones.

"Sarutobi, can you and Shisui wait outside for a minute. I want five minutes alone with Itachi."

Shisui startled where he stood, brows drawn together as he glanced between her and his cousin. Sarutobi, to his credit, didn't ask any questions, but agreed to her request all the same. He rose from his seat like it was the most natural thing and let himself out. Before crossing the threshold he turned back and waved to Shisui, who compiled a minute later. The fay boy left with his shoulders hiked and a dark look marring his features.

The door clicked shut and Itachi turned back to watch her, waiting for an explanation. Sakura touched her fingertips together and then dropped her hands altogether as she stood from her chair.

His head turned towards the door slightly and Sakura shrugged in reply. No one had warded the door so of course Shisui and Sarutobi would be listening. As kind as the old man was, Sakura knew he was a wizard and wizards were nosy as hell. She didn't care. She just didn't want them watching her while she confessed.

"Shisui showed me your past last night and I saw things I thought I shouldn't have. Did he tell you that?"

There was a moment of silence that was loud enough for Sakura to hear the unspoken answer. No, Shisui hadn't told Itachi what he showed her in the dark. "That explains the exhaustion." He shifted, regarding her from a new angle. "As well as the hesitancy. It was a memory from my days as a hunter in the Rabbit Games?"

Sakura frowned, but nodded. "One of them."

Itachi waved her words off. "I can guess with ease what other memory he showed you. There are little other scenes as damning as ones where son's murder their parents." When she didn't stiffen he almost smiled. "Aren't you curious enough to ask me about it?" He gestured to the door. "We are alone."

"I won't. That wasn't my intention in asking for your privacy. I only wanted you to hear that I knew and how it happened. It wasn't my wish to pry into your affairs."

"My pride suffers. Even with my cousin's troublesome meddling, you're still not interested enough to ask about me?" His voice is light enough to be teasing and she can tell he's not troubled.

"If you feel the need to tell me, you can make that decision for yourself on your own time. I'll not pry the answers from you." Sakura reached behind her and felt the arms of her chair before sinking back into it.

"Would you make the time to listen?"

"Of course." She didn't even hesitate. Itachi wasn't Sai, but for some reason Sakura felt a twinge of pain when she thought about the fay man in the service of a wizard. How had that happened? Why had that happened? Regardless of her best guesses, she doubted the truth was anything pleasant.

He almost smiles at her, like there's a promise between them. "I'll seek you to share my burdens after this horned women nonsense."

"Speaking of which…" Sakura inclined her head towards the door. "Your thoughts on the matter change any since then?"

"No. I'm not surprised. Shisui is my older cousin by a flower's time, but he is not my equal in maturity."

"Real mature of you to admit that," she drawled sarcastically.

"It doesn't take maturity to admit what the blind can see. But if anything, I'm now more in favor of him staying here. He was foolish and taxed you needlessly. You'd be better to abuse his favor tonight in recompense."

"I'll be fine by midnight," Sakura grumbled, leaning back into the chair.

She knew the lie was a lie before it even formed in her mouth. She was sluggish and needed more rest. In addition to all the magical crap and taxation on her physical human body, seeing Itachi in the dream and in real life taxed her anxiety to an awful degree. If for nothing else, the nightmares wore her thin too. She needed to ask Sarutobi about that.

"You may, but you need not be." He took a step towards the door and paused. "See what a Black Rabbit can do and abuse his kindness for one night. If what you told me is true then he is desperate to win back some favor. "

"How kind of you to throw your family under the bus for me."

Itachi's hand was on the door and he was close to leaving when he looked back over his shoulder and smiled secretly, as if to himself. "Ah, I would throw far more precious things under the bus for you, my friend, but Shisui is not so precious I fear."

He'd never called her friend before, never labeled what sort of bond existed between them, and Sakura found herself grinning at the sound of it. "Friend." She tried the word out and liked it even more.

"Indeed." His hand was still on the handle but he didn't turn it or moved to let himself out. "Before I go, as one of those close enough to call you such, I'll ask for a dance on Sunday's gathering. You'll save one for me?"

"I don't dance."

Itachi almost snorted, but the sound was too elegant to be called something so crude. "Oh no? And how long did you spend in a fairy court?"

"I never said I couldn't dance." She leaned her head back in the seat, feeling heavy and light all at once. "One dance, that's it."

"That's all I ask."

Sakura closed her eyes and heard the door open and Itachi step out. Words were exchanged and someone came close to her and touched her shoulder. She couldn't find it in herself to stir for Shisui, but after the second shake she cracked open an eye. He was crouched in front of her, eyes wide and pleading.

"Tonight?" He wanted to know if he could stay.

Sakura felt him reach for her hands and take them into his. She felt his thumbs brush over her knuckles and rub circles. Sakura pulled her hands away and stood, forcing herself to move. "Hn, why don't you pull your own weight and show us how well you can manage a nine horned woman."

It wasn't a question, but it made him blink in confusion and then happiness all the same.

"You won't regret it," he declared in confidence.

Sakura didn't think she would.

Itachi left soon after their meeting and when Midnight drew near Sarutobi actually bothered to stay up with them and watch from a distance, offering no help as the trio took up positions around the front door. Sarutobi warned them that at least one layer of the barrier would break tonight, but the others were a mystery.

Sai was still sullen in a muted sort of way, refusing to show emotion or expression. He kept his face turned towards the corners of the room and the walls whenever Sakura looked back at him. He hung back, making sure Sakura was always between him and Shisui.

Shisui was more than content with the proximity he was allowed. He drifted close to Sakura and at times was almost a fraction of a hand's reach away from her. She felt him like a ghost and turned only to find him a respectable distance apart from her, smile full of mirth and eyes full of knowing.

There was a ripple and then Sai was a hunting dog on alert at her side, pointed at the source beyond the door with piercing eyes. Sakura felt her own body go rigid as Shisui turned towards the source of the disturbance.

"Showtime," he murmured, stepping forward and flickering right out of view. Sakura felt the rip as he stepped over the barriers and outside into the night full of horned women.

"What the hell is he doing?" Sakura hissed, jolting forward to the nearest window and drawing the curtains aside. They had never dared go outside themselves. She felt Sai press close to peer out the same window.

"Showing off, I would assume," Sarutobi answered, peeking out a second window with light interest. "He knows he is not Itachi's rival in power, but he seeks to demonstrate his own brand of strength." Sarutobi let the curtain fall back as he stepped away from the window. "As long as he comes back alive I don't think we have need to worry."

"Why do you say that?" Sai asked, voice heavy with sharp edges that betrayed his sour mood.

Sarutobi turned and started heading up the stairs to his room, back bending even more as he ascended the stairs. He paused on the second step to look back and answer the boy's question.

"I've never seen him want something so well. I'll be the first person to admit not wanting to trust a cad that steal children from homes, but once a creature is understood the fear and hate of said creature is misplaced. I don't like Shisui, but I know enough to understand he is not a danger."

"He's lonely," Sakura finally added, looking back out the window.

Sarutobi hummed, nodding once before chuckling to himself. "That might be one word for it."

The old man seemed to think something more of it, but Sakura understood what it was like to feel set apart from the others and desperate for some familiarity. At one point in her life all she wanted was to see another human girl to know she wasn't truly the last one alive in a sea of fair folk. It was only worse after becoming a White Rabbit; a pariah among wolves. If she lost she would be the reason for their embarrassment. There is no love for the rabbits until they win, and even then it's not true love.

Sakura moved, body still slow and heavy, head still light and floaty. She felt the door handle and pulled it open before taking a breath and stepping over the barriers of the threshold. Sai was close behind her and ready to follow her out but she pushed him back with only the pads of her fingers to his chest.

"One of us should stay inside. I will not go further than the steps here."

Sai looked past her to the figures dashing about in the dark and fog. "He will not be able to see you if you stay so close."

Sakura thought she heard a sneer but didn't look behind her to confirm it. Sai could be bitter if he wanted to, that was his right. She would no doubt be just as upset towards a person that destroyed her personal property. Sai didn't mention it, but Sakura could tell he was still upset about the earlier incident.

"Hey." He looked down at her when she called from the third step down. "Thank you for trying to protect me when I was in the bathroom. I appreciated the extra time."

Some of the hard lines in Sai's eyes faded. "Ah."

Sakura chuckled. "That's what friends do for each other. I'm glad you see me as a friend."

Sai's pout was back, familiar and honest. "Of course. I said so, didn't I? You had better not think I'm a liar."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Sakura then reached for the ground and lowered herself onto one of the steps, stretching out. She kept her body ready to spring into action, but something told her there was enough to distract the women with horns without her. Shisui seemed to enjoy toying with them so openly. Not only was the woman with nine horns present, but several of her sisters as well. None of them could touch the blur that was Shisui, and all they suffered for it was bruised jaws and breastbones.

Sakura felt a thrill and saw a glint of ebony in the blur. For a moment he was still long enough to taunt the woman and be visible. Sakura saw his mask and the sleek black costume that hugged so closely she could see the shape of his biceps through the fabric.

For a moment he hesitated, hands at his sides, looking cocky. She thought she saw him see her, but then he was a staggering blur between the women and then there was lightning that rained down between them with the high pitched chatter of what sounded like a hundred screeching birds. It came in a strike of silver and black, exploding on impact when his hand touched the body of the nearest woman. There was smoke and screaming and then there was running.

Sakura watched it all.

"The One Thousand Chattering Birds."

Sakura turned to glance back over her shoulder as Shisui blurred between the bodies of the women. One wielded a scythe now and the other a sort of war hammer. Their weapons were impractical but they were magical, so it didn't count.

Sai pointed to the one woman with five horns that was sobbing from the pain of the last blow. She wouldn't fight again for the rest of the night. "It's a Uchiha exclusive attack that was cultivated many years ago by extracting the secrets of flight from a thousand birds, they say. It's a scam of a story, but the ability is taught to Uchiha Fay. Itachi's is legendary. Shisui is faster though."

"Naturally." Sakura glanced back at the fight. "I've not heard of such an exclusive ability. Is it just manipulating lightning or electricity?"

"I think we can do that." Sai shifted from where he watched behind the door's threshold. "No it's not so simple, but I do not know the secret to it.

Sakura felt her head swim a bit so she lay down on the steps and turned her head sideways. She felt vulnerable and a part of her was frightened by how little she cared. But Shisui was no mere fay, and he held the woman off with brilliant showmanship. Sakura suspected if he was serious the fight would have been over by now.

Time to end things.

Sakura stood, hating how her tired body protested, and turned back to head inside. There was screeching behind her but Sakura crossed the threshold before the horned woman could make a grab. Sakura turned and saw it was the woman with four horns. With a minimum of effort she summoned her Yarrow Wand and turned it on the woman.

"Burn."

Flames erupted, simmering and turning the very air around her wand hot. The woman fell down the stairs burning and surprised. Sakura didn't doubt she would recover alongside her horned sisters, but it wouldn't be for another night.

The flames ended and Sakura staggered where she stood, feeling her head spin. With a grimace she turned away from the scene and headed back to the stairs.

"Sakura?" Sai's tone was questioning.

"I'm still not feeling well. This is Shisui's punishment for wearing me out last night. I don't get to see the end of his play fight with the women."

"Tomorrow night we'll do drinks," Sai offered.

Sakura smiled at the idea. "Yeah right, you're still a minor."

"And you still can't stop me."

When Sakura awoke in the morning Shisui's face was on the same pillow, eyes closed, body relaxed. His head was a tousled mess of curls around his too perfect face and Sakura felt a hot spike of envy for how lovely he looked on her pillow in her bed.

'Oh no, what did we do now?' the voice in her head chuckled slyly in a way that made Sakura's stomach sink.

She inhaled, blowing up her ribcage with the effort of holding such a large breath, and she felt one of his hands close to her arm. She exhaled and started to pull away, scooting closer to the other side of her bed. One of his legs caught her's and she realized with a disgruntled sigh, that his ankles had been intertwined between her own. When she moved the shifting was enough to cause him to stir.

His eyes were bright pools of glossy black and she was caught. Sakura froze instantly, the way prey animals freeze when they know they are sighted. Her body was taunt like a drawn bowstring ready to spring. But when his lips broke into a sly grin she felt some of the tension diffuse into apprehension. Less likely to bolt, she braced for what was to come.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

Sakura felt something uneasy curl in her stomach at the sound of his voice.

"You're in my bed."

Her voice didn't shake and she was so glad for it, but also surprised. Her insides were a mess of chaos and confusions as her brain scrambled to try and make sense of what she was seeing and experiencing.

"Mmn," he hummed. "I am." When he rolled his shoulders they popped at the joins and she glared when she saw they were bare. She didn't want to find out how far down that trend continued.

Sakura started to scoot away and Shisui sat up even more, reaching for her arm and catching her wrist. She glared at the contact, but he was gentle, loosely holding her so that she could throw him off if she wanted to.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, keeping still while she waited for an explanation.

"You left so early last night. You were cruel and didn't even stay to the end." The way he said the world cruel made something in her bones tingle. It was the roll of the words off his lips, the swell of the sound in her ears.

Sakura shook his hand away and scooted to the far end of the bed, turning her body away while keeping her face turned towards his. She wouldn't look away. Pray know better that to do something so foolish. "And who's fault do you think it is that I felt so terrible and had to leave early? Trust me, it was hardly a choice with the way I felt."

"You were feeling terrible?"

He sat up more and the comforter started to slide down and Sakura couldn't help but look away with a snap of her neck.

'So much skin.'

She pushed herself off the edge of the bed and pulled the loose sleeping braid over her shoulder and started to undo it, threading her fingers through larger and larger chunks and avoiding eye contact with the fay in her bed.

"I was just tired and you looked like you had things under control. Nothing left for me to do." She almost glanced back over her shoulder but caught herself before she could. "What are you doing here? Answer me for real now."

Shisui leaned back down into the sheets and Sakura heard the sound of fabric being pulled as he moved. There was a creak and she did turn this time when she heard him standing up from the bed, directly behind her. He kept the sheet over his middle until the last possible second before letting it fall away to expose silk lounge pants that fell down to his ankles. His chest was left bare, but at least he wasn't nude. Fay had a horrible habit of foregoing everything when they slept unless it was the highest grade silk boxers or negligee.

"Disappointed?" he purred when he caught her staring.

"You haven't answered my question."

Shisui rolled his shoulder and took a step towards her. She tensed but his hand went for the reach of hair she had been smoothing out. His fingers curled into her hair, brushing it out. "I wanted to see you, but you make it sound like I have ulterior motives or need some extra specific reason for wanting something so simple. You know the whole reason I'm here, abandoning my quest for the wizard's brood is you. Why act so surprised?"

"I know what you're trying to make this sound like," Sakura said, pulling her hair away from his hands and moving to the closet where her handful of meager belongings hung or rested in a pair of shabby boxes.

She reached down and pulled a loose gray sweater from one of the boxes and a pair of black straight leg jeans from the other. She glanced back over her shoulder and sighed. Shisui hadn't moved.

"Look, I'm not as young as you think or as stupid if you believe your honey words are going to get you anywhere. I'm human, I know how your kind sees us."

He looked so honestly offended by her words. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't believe you're honest about being so interested in me, or at least not in the way you want me to think. You're a whole different race of biological beings that live in glittering castles and immortal flower fields of never ending beauty. You're iridescent creatures that bleed gold." She rolled the closet door back with the heel of her foot. "Humans are just a convenient plaything for you to find entertainment in. I've seen Fay delight in luring young girls in with pretty words never meaning a single breath of them. Humans are…we're…I'm…a dying life force. There's nothing attractive about that to someone like you."

"Who told you that?" Now the offense was in his tone. He sounded so appalled by her statement.

"Experience." She dug into the second box looking for a bag with jewelry.

"What a load of shit." He shifted his stance, fitting his hands over his hips like they belonged there. "Only the youngest and most foolish fay would ever see things so blandly. Dying life force? What makes you think we don't look at you and see a glittering, immortal soul so pure and strong no force of our makings could ever touch. We're made of magic and there's room for nothing else, but the magic that makes you up is so much wider and sweeter. Nothing can bind it, nothing could compel it. Bodies rot and flesh decays, but your soul will never die and that is…"

Sakura turned to look over her shoulder when his words trailed off and saw that his face resembled a boy's. She was struck with a memory of Sai before Shisui's face changed back to a better show of casual.

"I didn't know you were of the spiritual sort," Sakura huffed. "Didn't take you for the type."

There had been so few fay who even considered the existence of souls when Sakura had been made into a White Rabbit. She felt like a fool even more when she prayed for grace or favor in those moments when she felt sure her life would end. Immortals never had to ask for such a thing, at least not the ones she grew up alongside.

"Why are you so surprised? You're the same as I in this. What else could a rabbit do when running is all we have?"

Sakura found the bag, grasped it, and pulled it free. "I had more than just running. It would have been a slaughter otherwise."

"But you understand how terrible it was. You understand how much of a laugh it was for them to watch." His easy smile was back, but the glint in his black eyes was so much sharper than before. "I can tell. You're a mess and you hide it so poorly. I love it."

Sakura bit back a laugh and instead forced herself to glare. "Wow. You're coming on a little strong there. You and me…not going to work like that. You don't get to pretend we're the same and then insult me for it." She shook her head. "You can't even hit on a girl right."

"I'm not hitting you!"

She rolled her eyes, remembering how he had misunderstood the statement another time as well. "Uh, no. It's a term that means flattering someone you're attracted to. Don't take it literally."

She brushed past him and headed towards the bathroom, tossing her thinks onto the counter around the sink and reaching for the door to close herself in and take up some privacy. Shisui was there, toeing the threshold and ready to catch the door if she tried to close it.

Her voice was hard. "Move, I need to change."

"You admitted it though, just now. You admitted I l-"

Sakura shoved against him hard and the door followed before he could stick his foot in the way. She took her time getting ready and when she eventually emerged it was maybe half an hour later and the room was empty.

It was the middle of the day , meaning she slept in later again, but this time when she woke she felt better rested. There was still weight in the back of her body, reminding her of her limits, but Sakura felt like she wouldn't have to worry about the woman with ten horns once she came to call. Two more nights and then it was over.

Shisui had, for whatever reason, taken up position alongside Sarutobi who tolerated the invader better than Sai or Konohamaru. Sarutobi was old enough to recognize when it was beneficial to get over something, and his treatment of Shisui was evidence of that.

Sai asked her to help him practice his ink magic, and when she told him she wouldn't be joining him in their usual lessons, he asked that she just watch and provide him with critical feedback on his form. Konohamaru joined her in this. The pair of them sat on the wall to the courtyard gardens and watched as Sai worked to reduce the time to summon different creatures out of his ink.

"My grandfather can do that with crows, but he doesn't do any other animals."

"Sarutobi has a contract with Itachi, so he can borrow Itachi's magic to summon animals that Itachi has sway over. I've noticed that different courts are more particular to manipulating different animals, like wolves or foxes or cranes or bears." Sakura tugged at the leather cord of a rune necklace Ino had gifted her with a long time ago. "Sai's just extra special."

"It explains why he sucks so much at everything else."

Sai's ink tiger fell apart in a splash of black and the younger boy turned angry eyes on Konohamaru. The grandson just smirked and stuck out his tongue. A new tiger sprang up and reared, but a look from Sakura and Sai had it running laps while Konohamaru reveled in the strength of his 'boss.'

"Kid, go get me more water, I'm out," Sakura instructed, holding up her empty tumblr. She shook it once and the plastic straw rattled against the sides painted with cats.

Only for Sakura was Konohamaru content to perform the menial chore. Once he was out of sight Sakura left the wall to go stand beside Sai and give him some pointers she didn't feel like pointing out while Konohamaru was present. Sai seemed to appreciate it, and reflected on her suggestions before implementing them, but she still waited until there wasn't an audience.

"It's smoother now," he commented after another tip.

"Yeah, you're smooth with the delivery, but keeping your guard up is something you have to keep in mind as well."

Sai nodded. "I'll put it into practice tonight as well."

"You think we'll have to?" Sakura glanced upwards at the windows and searched for a peering face she sometimes caught staring down at her and Sai. There was none now.

"If not tonight, then tomorrow for sure."

"Then it's good we have the days in between their visits to rest. I don't have the stamina for anything other than running. Magic was always secondary."

"Is that why you're not practicing with me?" Sai asked.

Sakura nodded. "I want to play it safe." She grinned when she saw Konohamaru running up to her with her tumblr in hand. She greeted him halfway and thanked him extra for bringing a bat of pretzel sticks to snack on until dinner. Sakura took one between her lips to suck the salt off of and glanced upwards to see Shisui in the window. She cooly averted her eyes and bit off the end of her stick. She didn't look up again until they turned in for dinner that night.

Shisui didn't eat with them, but joined them as Sakura and Sai came back down to stand watch in the hallway. Sai had a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and Sakura carried the mat for the children's trading card game. Shisui hung back and the pair ignored them while they set up the game and played a few rounds. But after the first game, which Sai won, Shisui pulled up a chair to their table and sat to Sakura's left.

"What are the rules?" he asked, eyeing the mat.

"It's pretty straightforward," Sakura began, shuffling Sai's cards while he shuffled hers. There are three main types of cards: Monster, spell, and trap cards. There are others but those are the three main ones. Monsters are played in either face up or face down position on your own side of the field. If they're face up they can be in attack position or defense position. If they're face down you can only do defense position." Sakura handed him a few cards out of Sai's deck as she further explained the rules.

Sakura took the cards back and then asked Sai if she could show Shisui her own cards. Shisui compared the two and mused on how dark and ugly Sai's cards were. "That is what a fiend deck consists of," Sai answered evenly.

Shisui sent Sai a sideways glare before returning his gaze to the cards on the table. "Sakura's cards are much more pleasing to my eyes."

"I have a…fairy deck," Sakura admitted after a moment of hesitation. "It's not as strong as my Amazon Warrior deck, but I left that one behind when I left home. I didn't expect to be playing again. These are just my sentimental memorabilia. I thought they would be enough to win but I was mistaken."

"Your Injection Fairy Lily costs too much to maintain," Sai huffs.

Shisui picks up the card and holds it up alongside Sakura, smiling slightly. Sakura curls her lip and wrinkles her nose when she sees him grin.

"What?"

"She looks like you. You both have the same color hair." He tilted the card sideways. "She even sparkles like you."

"That's because she's holographic and a rare card," Sakura muttered, looking down at her other cards as she pretended she wasn't flattered to be compared to one of her favorite cards.

Shisui returned the card to her deck and Sai started to shuffle again.

"I thought you would be disgusted by fairy representation, even if it is wildly inaccurate," Shisui commented after a pause. He nodded to Sai. "The youth surely is."

The clock was ringing a quarter after eleven. There was time enough for one more round as the pair began to draw their respective hands. Shisui leaned in to see what she drew, still clueless to the value of her cards. There were several fairy cards.

"It's not so straightforward," Sakura admitted, watching Sai play a trap and a facedown monster. She drew a new card and played a magic card that raised her life points by 800. "I have no love for the fay who stole me away on misleading promises, but at one point in my life, when I was a true child, this had been what I dreamed of," Sakura admitted. She held out her cards to him in emphasis.

"Yet you spurned my advances."

"I know better than to believe in them."

Shisui pouted, glaring at the cards on the field as Sai smugly activated a trap and summoned a five star fiend without sacrificing. He attacked one of her monsters and Sakura was forced to flip her Mysterious Elf into face up defense position. Sakura drew and played another fairy monster that would raise her defense points every turn so long as it was on the field.

"You still have a soft spot for us," Shisui said.

"That's not enough to make me foolish again," she answered in a whisper as Sai destroyed her fairy monster.

It was a quarter till when Sai wheedled her down to her last few life points and at ten till Sakura lost for the second time that night.

Sakura left the room first, abandoning her cards where they lay, saying she would get them in the morning. Sai cleaned his up and met her by the front door.

"Shall we not keep them waiting?" she asked as he joined her and Shisui.

Sai didn't look at the man over her shoulder, but stepped closer to Sakura and nodded. Sakura missed the way Shisui rolled his eyes and made a sick face behind Sai's back.

There was already a thick roll of clinging fog when they stepped out. The strolled down to the last few steps on the front stairs and waited for the fog to reach them. Behind them the clock struck for midnight. Sai readied himself with his wand, ready and dripping at the tip with ink. Shisui leaned in, vibrating with magic ready to be unleashed, but he turned to look back at Sakura and grin.

"Are you ready, sweetheart?"

Sakura ignored the nickname and covered her face with her hands. She felt the magic build and when she opened her eyes and dropped her hands there was a mask already in place, accompanied by a chiffon silk dress of white and lace around her near bare feet. Shisui made a noise of pleasure alongside her before his own mask materialized.

The first woman appeared.

Sakura felt the energy in her chest and formed it into what she knew a sheath felt like. Closing her eyes and leaning back the sword emerged between her breasts and she pulled it free like King Arthur's sword from the stone. It came out shining and strong.

Shisui cooed out in a mocking way before leaping from the base of the stairs alongside Sai's ink tigers as a third and fourth woman emerged. Sakura was a step behind them until she saw the woman she wanted and then she was faster than either of them.

There was really only two of the ten women that were a challenge. The others were distractions more than anything. Sakura found the woman with ten horns and thrust forward with her glowing blade while Shisui tangled with the woman from last night. Sai fended off the other women with his ink beasts.

They weren't witches, and they weren't fey, but the women in horns were something in between. They were creatures of magic all on their own and they were ancient and undying. They had existed for centuries, bound by the same laws that kept them subdued and bound until one twelve day period each year. They were terrifying in their own way and Sakura knew better than to take them lightly. She could feel the woman she tangled with was stronger than all the others and the margin was greater than the ones in the past.

Sakura felt the magic in her hands keep her steady as she pivoted into a turn that caught the woman's trident mid reach. Sakura grunted and pushed up before turning and the woman had to do the same or risk losing her weapon. But like a gladiator, she was spry in her black robes and came back for Sakura with speed and agility. She was impressive enough that Sakura felt forced to move like a rabbit again.

'You're not made for fights, you should just run away,' the voice taunts in Sakura's mind when she misses an opening.

A second later she feels a cut open on her jaw as the sharp parts of the trident catch her skin.

Inside, deep where all the nasty things lived, Sakura knew it would be smarter to just run away. She had been unmade and remade like a caterpillar in a chrysalis before emerging as a butterfly. White or Black, Rabbits weren't meant to fight and everything that made them rabbits helped them do one thing only: run. It was the trials that gave Sakura the victory icons and it was the trials that taught Sakura how to use her new magic in a way that appreciated it better than anyone born with it could.

"You're a desperate thing."

"We'll learn desperation from you."

Sakura almost stumbled from the force of the memories. Her eyes were wide and red and gasping as the trident came down. Sakura caught it at the last second with her sword but one of the points cut across the back of her arm. She could feel it vibrating with the horned woman's own power and realized that her distraction had been more than just costly; it had been noticed.

'You need to run away now.' The voice was mean. 'Run and save yourself. What do you owe the old man?'

There was a memory of Karin falling. There was a cliff and there were dogs. They hadn't been friends then. Sakura would have been smart to let the redhead keep falling.

'Run!'

But Sakura hadn't let Karin fall. She had reached out and caught the redhead at the last second and together the two fended off the dogs and made it to the tower, losing a chance at a victory icon but winning something else.

Sakura screamed and it was deep like thunder all through her body.

When she swung the woman caught it with her trident but trembled behind the pressure. Her weapon came close to breaking and when Sakura forced it into the ground the pole cape open in a splintering gasp. The trident's head stayed buried in the ground as the woman dropped it and retreated. Sakura advanced and the woman countered with fire between her hands. Sakura didn't hesitate, she cut through it, feeling the flames shy away from her glittering skin. She was the Mistletoe sheath, there was no way she would burn.

There were black clouds and ask but Sakura cut through it all, making the surrounding area clear enough to see the retreating figure of the woman with ten horns. Sakura was screaming and there were fangs in her mouth, but she was just as much at war with herself as the woman in horns.

Her blade came down in a glowing arch of light and she roared through the swing. It cut her open like a bleeding fruit and she went down with a blood curling shriek before a pair of woman in horns descended upon Sakura. They had no weapons and Sakura readied to cut them open before their chains of gold caught her tight. She looked down and cursed at the seal under her feet, fed by the blood of the ten horned woman.

A trap.

Shisui and Sai were caught alongside her as the women hurried to lift up the fallen bodies of their sisters. The woman with one horn stood on her own, set apart from the other.

"What is she saying?" Sakura growled, hearing the chanting and fearing the curse.

The answer came in the sky. Sakura cried aloud when she saw dawn break faster than it should and the sun rise. The women fled before the light and the sun climbed high, higher, higher, higher, and peaked at the top of the sky before falling down again.

"She's advancing time around us," Shisui breathed in wonder. It was an amazing ability to warp space and time and no one suspected the weakest of all the horned women to have such an ability.

"That means…" Sakura's words trailed off as she remembered how little time their immortal bodies needed.

"The eleventh woman is coming," Shisui finished. He chuckled dryly, sounding out of breath. "You're not tired, are you?"

They would have to fight them all again plus the strongest horned woman yet.

"Fuck," Sai breathed, sounding only slightly troubled.

Sakura felt him touch the back of her hand as the sun bit into the far horizon and dragged dusk along with it. Soon the stars started to come out. Sakura reached back and caught Sai's hand in a reassuring hold before letting it go to return her sword to her chest and fill it with more power.

The witching hour broke and so did the seal that bound them. The fog came up to them in curling waves.

"Leave the eleventh woman to me," Shisui said, standing close to Sakura. His hands were shaking.

"I thought she gave Itachi a hard time last year?" Itachi was supposed to be stronger than Shisui.

"Don't think so little of me," he joked with a flirting wink. "I want to show off, there's no way I'll lose with you here. Rely on me."

"Don't forget about me," Sai interjected. But Sakura didn't miss the way he sounded winded. There was a limit to his magic's supply and he would reach it soon.

"Ah, look," Shisui chuckled, pointing overhead. Sakura glanced up and saw a growing swarm of blackbirds. She didn't know if they were from Itachi or Sarutobi. "We have friends."

"Who?" she breathed.

"The old man," Sai supplied, sounded more disgruntled than before.

"Heads up," Sakura cautioned. "They're here."

The fog glowed with a highlight of blue and Sakura felt ice in her blood. Soon.

'You should have run when you have the chance and you should run now.' The voice in her head was meaner and sharper before. Sakura wondered if that was because she was scared. Sakura was both tired and scared.

"I'm not going to run," she said out loud.

Shisui chuckled from beside her, touching his mask for luck. "Me neither."

The first woman came at them and Sarutobi's birds were a single force that dive bombed straight for the eyes. The avians picked and cawed and Sakura saw meat and blood as the birds took apart the woman with two horns.

Sai crafted a vulture with eight glowing red eyes and two sets of wings to claw at the other woman while a fusion of other mythical monsters emerged from his wand, more hideous and terrifying than any of the animals Sakura had ever seen him summon before. Sai's eyes were wide and his skin was taut as he put even more of himself into his magic. His creatures didn't go down easy and the sky split open to let free a Cthulhu like monster that ate up the four and five horned women.

Sakura laced her left hand with magic and spread it over her blade until it glowed gold with sunlight.

"Sing, Mistletoe!"

She screamed before slashing the air and sending an arc of gold through the air. It took down a woman with seven horns but behind her the woman with ten horns stood, using her sister like a shield as she heaved up her trident.

"This time won't be any different," Sakura growled, angry at last as he body burned with new energy.

There was no sign of the woman with eleven horns and Shisui was engaged with the woman of nine horn.

They clashed and Sakura was still shockingly hot with power like never before. It had been so long, so many years, since she felt so angry and so free to scream about it and destroy with her own hands. Her mouth was full of fangs all the way down the back of her throat.

Sakura swung and the force sent the woman back into a tumble. Her trident landed in the grass next to her several feet away. She struggled getting up again.

"Shit!"

Sakura turned at the sound of Shisui's voice and saw the woman with eleven horns run her sword through the woman with nine horns. The weaker sister gasped and shuddered before going too pale to see. The elder sister glowed with the new power and tossed her near dead sister off her sword and loomed, bigger, dark, more fearsome than the others. Her horns were curved and sinister as her eyes glowed like sick yellow lights between strands of stingy black hair.

"She's ugly," Shisui laughed, no trace of fear in his smile as he readied his hands for chirping birds and lightning.

Sakura heard another shout and turned to see Sai's ink beasts falling away as his concentration and power pooled into the last creature that separated him from the woman with ten horns. Another woman, one with two horns rose up from where she had been struck down. Sai tried to fend her off, but his concentration snapped and Sakura saw the trident thrust.

Sakura was there before it could catch Sai and she felt it land in her stomach and lift her up off her feet, high up, higher in the air like a flag on a pole. She grabbed at the base of the trident's head, trying to keep the points from going any deeper into her body, but she could feel the front of her dress turn red and wet. Someone was screaming her name.

'You should have run when you had the chance.'

Somewhere behind her there were chirping birds and the woman with ten horns burned up beneath her and Sakura felt herself drop. Something inside her was broken but she hadn't lost her sword. It was still in her hand, held by a death grip. Blood was on her lips.

'You should have run when you had the chance.'

Sai held her up and pulled her onto his lap as Shisui dropped down in front of her. Sakura cold feel the enemy looming close but both of them were surrounding her. They weren't pressing in on an advantage. She couldn't hear what they were saying but Shisui was touching her face, trying to wipe the blood away with one hand while pressing his free palm to the points on her chest where she had been pierced.

Rabbits had so little armor and all of it was on their face.

She heard Shisui shouting at Sai and Sai shouting at him to just stop the blood and she didn't understand why they were so upset over such a little thing because this was not the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She had run away from worse, she had stood up from worse, she had survived far worse, but they seemed so distressed at the sight of her covered in red. Was it the white dress that made it stand out so much?.She was in a fay body now, this was nothing.

"The eleventh," Sakura hissed, shifting where she lay and moving her head to glance behind Shisui in time to see the woman with eleven horns stab her sword into another one of her lesser sisters. "She's getting stronger."

"You need to call Itachi here," Sai hissed at Shisui. "I can't summon anything more."

"He won't come."

Sai was quick to snap back. "He will if it's for her."

But that didn't make any sense because Itachi didn't seem particularly eager to fight, so why would Sai say that. Did Itachi have history with this horned woman? Why would Sai think that Itachi would come back if it was for her.

Shisui looked ready to protest but then his face broke. "I-I can't."

Sai cursed.

Sakura pushed herself up more. "Shisui, your hands." She reached for them with her free hand and held them at the wrists. They were black like flesh from a fire. His hands were charred. "From the last attack?"

"I-I can't use it more than once," he admitted with a twist to his lips. Sakura guessed that Itachi didn't have such a limit.

"Help me up."

Sai sounded scared of the idea. "You'll bleed out. That was-"

"I won't have the luxury of such a neat death if you don't help me up. Sarutobi will fix this later, but I can last longer and you're both drained."

"You're hurt," Shisui argued, reaching for her arms all the same. Sai made a noise of protest but Shisui did as she asked and helped her up.

Sakura felt the breaks in her chest but she felt something else. She felt heat in her veins. Her blood was honey and when she breathed it came out that color. No more red, her dress turned a shade of gold at each piercing site. Even with the physical wounds Sakura felt oddly alive. Hurt, she felt more whole. The pain brought her a sick sort of clarity that made her eager for life.

She pressed her free hand to her chest and summoned her hawthorn branch. She held it over her head and poured energy into it until it bloomed and became a ornate French snap -ock fowler rifle from the 17th century. Where it wasn't wood it was gold.

The woman with eleven horns seemed to smell the new magic as she turned back towards them, the house behind her forgotten. She advanced and Sakura leveled the gun with her sword still in hand. The blade fit nicely under her rifle as the horned woman walked straight into Sakura's sights.

With a shot like thunder the gold bullet full of sunshine exploded from her gun's barrel and landed in the woman's face. There was honey and light and then woman screeched. Sakura wanted to smile, but what should have killed the woman only staggered her. She had the strength and life of two other horned women absorbed earlier. Sakura charged for another shot but it was slow loading.

"I'll keep her from you," Shisui promised, kissing her hair and taking off like a rabbit. There was no more lightning in his hands and he was hurt as well, but he put himself between her and the danger.

Sakura narrowed her sights and poured more of her magic into the chamber of the snap lock fowler until it was enough to shape a bullet, a trick few other fay could manage. All the other girls who won the Hawthorn Trials got arrows and bows. Bows fired faster, but there was hardly as much of an impact. Only one other girl could manage a pistol that made Sakura feel envy. Still, that girl hadn't survived the next trial, so Sakura had no right to such feelings.

"Sakura…" Sai behind her drew in closer, ready to catch her if she was going to fall. She wasn't.

"Almost."

She breathed deep and her red eyes flashed as the bullet fully formed. She leveled her gun again and when she could she fired. There was a horrible screech but then more screaming. It wasn't enough to bring her down. It almost made Sakura nervous. One bullet was supposed to be more than enough. A third charge would really come close to draining her.

"One more," Sai encouraged her.

Sakura scraped herself near dry, searching for more magic in places where she knew it settled and hid inside of her. She found what she could and she poured it into her gun. More and more, she kept searching and she kept finding more. She believed that there was no end to her magic, she pretended there was no limit, she pretended that she wasn't already close to being empty. There was no way she would ever be empty.

Sakura poured more of herself into the last bullet but held onto her sword. She pulled away the magic that was working to close up the holes in her chest and then there was enough for one last bullet.

Shisui was doing a fantastic job of darting around the horned woman like black lightning. Occasionally he would slash at her back with his knife, but she was nearly made of stone to his blade, so it did no good other than to distract her and piss her off. No wonder Itachi had a hard time with her last year.

Shisui saw something and ran too close, blade raised and coming down fast on one of her horns. It snapped free and she roared, catching him in the gut with her free hand to throw to the ground. Shisui tumbled through the grass and lay motionless.

Sakura screamed and fired her last bullet, the one laced with everything she had left. It burned like sunlight in the air and exploded in a solar flare of gold. She roared and staggered and burned, and stood again.

Sakura wanted to sob.

There was nothing left in her that wasn't keeping her standing. She was bleeding out of her middle and spent past her limits, but it hadn't been enough. She staggered and Sai caught her. Sakura was shivering.

He called her name and Sakura tried her best to hide how much she wanted to fall apart on him.

"It's going to be okay," he lied to her. He was human, he could do that.

She wanted to say something mean to him about it but he left her side and before she could stop him he stood out in front of her and pulled out the last of his ink tigers. It was stained red in places where it should have been black, a sign of how close he was to his own limit. He was spent, maybe more than her.

The woman with eleven horns seethed, shuddering from the last attack and losing one horn. Sai engaged her as confidently as he could and his tiger was a brilliant agent of ink destruction. Sai screamed and poured the last of himself into his ink creation. Sakura saw gold eyes bleed and one more horn break as the woman stagger so close to her end.

She reached out in what seemed like pain, but then she brought her sword down through the tiger and Sai shuddered with the recoil. He fell like a tree in the grass for her to step over on her way to Sakura.

Oh

Oh

Oh

'Run away!' The voice inside her was angry. 'You need to run away now. Look, look at what good it did to stay. Run away now and they'll never know. Better to be the coward that lives to see another day.'

The horned woman advanced and Sakura staggered backwards a step with an empty gun and her mistletoe sword, too heavy to lift anymore.

'You were made to run, so run away. Run away.'

Sai and Shisui were out in the grass and she didn't know for sure they were even alive. What would happen to them if she saved herself like they wanted her to in the first place? What about Sarutobi and Konohamaru?

'They're safe and sound in their house while you bleed out on their lawn you fool. Look what you give up for the undeserving strangers. They played you like a chess piece and you're going to die like a pawn.'

Sakura took another step back and the horned woman advanced. She was close. A few more seconds and she would be on top of her. Sakura had to run now if she wanted to live. She could do it. The woman wouldn't chase her. The woman would feed on Sai and Shisui and leave Sakura to escape.

'Run!'

Sakura remembered what it felt like to grab Karin's hand and what it felt like to drag a dead Kin through the sand. Never again.

Sakura screamed, breaking her sword and rifle down into pure magic before pressing them together. It hurt and bit like the devil to try on the fumes of her what was left of her power, but Sakura heaved the gun-blade with strength she shouldn't of had.

The woman was on top of Sakura and she had no time to aim or swing. Sakura just stabbed. She hit meat and she kept going, feeling the blood run faster out of her middle from the effort. The grass was red and gold from it. Sakura felt tears in her lashes and copper on her teeth. Her hand reached around the hilt of her new blade and found the trigger. One shot.

She looked up and saw their faces were inches away. The impact would take them both out.

Karin's voice was in Sakura's head, screaming for her, but Sakura remembered what it felt like to loose something more precious than her own life.

'I'll show you desperate.'

Sakura pulled the trigger.

Chapter

VIII

She didn't wake up in a bed, or at least not the type she was expecting. When Sakura turned there were no sheets but the stems and stalks of flowers bent under her movement. She inhaled deeply and reached out to feel soil under her nails when she grabbed for something. The taste in her mouth was of rotting apples.

The area was saturated with magic.

Sakura remembered the trident running into her gut and lifting her up like a victory flag. She pushed up on her elbows and looked down to see her red stained dress was gone, but there were bandages wrapped around her middle and a sort of button front denim shirt left mostly open. Her legs were bandaged too, in places she hadn't even realized she was hurt.

She looked down at her arm and saw a large square bandage and remember being shallowly cut there. She itched to take the bandage off and before she knew to stop herself Sakura and peeled it away. There was no more cut but a faint pin scar that would fade in another day's rest shined on her skin.

'Healing magic.' No wonder she was in a flower bed. The plants were assisting with her recovery.

There was a caw overhead and Sakura looked up in time to see on of the crows take off for the rest of the house. She was in the greenhouse by the look of it.

Moments later she heard the patter of footsteps and recognized the size at once. "Boss, you're alive!" Konohamaru shouted from the doorway before he ran the rest of the way to reach her. Sakura pushed herself up on her elbows to greet him and grunted only slightly when he hugged her shoulders.

"Konohamaru!" Sarutobi sternly chastised from the same doorway. "Let her go, she's still hurt."

The young boy dropped her like a hot potato and back up, face flushed in embarrassment. He giggled to himself and then wiped the underside of his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Glad to see you up in time, boss."

She reached out to ruffle his hair. "Oh, what does that mean? What am I in time for?"

"You've been asleep for two days, it's finally the night of the party!"

"The twelfth night?" Sakura felt thrown and looked up to Sarutobi for clarification. "How does that make sense. We fought for two nights. If I slept for two nights that would mean I missed it."

"Not quite. The time around you was altered and changed so two nights worth of women came at you in a matter of hours, but once they were done away with time snapped back and you were no longer under their influence. You've been asleep since the tenth night, straight through the eleventh day and night. Today is the twelfth day."

Sakura stared up at the glass ceiling and saw a mid day sun.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?"

She touched her stomach and thought about the barely there dull throb of pain that wasn't worth mentioning in comparison to how clean her brain felt. She felt better than she had since-

"Sai and Shisui!" Sakura flinched hard, reaching to hold her sides. "The boys, where are they and are they alright? I saw them both fall before me, but I can't remember anything after that. What happened?"

Sarutobi offered her a hand and led her to a bench close by to sit down on. Konohamaru stayed close but kept a respectful distance as his grandfather helped her. Sakura could feel Sarutobi's magic seeping into her body and repairing what little remained of her wounds.

"Not nearly as much to worry about in their cases. Neither was run through with a trident and their last ditch efforts did not result in a point blank explosion that obliterated the eleventh horned woman for the rest of her night. Sai woke up yesterday, waited for you to wake, but went back to Danzo this morning to help prepare for tonight. He'll be glad to hear you've woken up I think."

"Shisui?" She remembered seeing him get hit and not standing back up again. She remembered him offering up himself to play a distraction, and she remembered how he fought alongside her, bleed with her, stayed with her. "Is he-is he fine as well? Where is he now?"

"Out and about on the grounds. I had to ban him from this room when he got too frustrating. All he would do is ask questions about you. I told him you wouldn't wake for another week and I'm surprised to actually see you up. I truly expected you to need the extra rest. You spent yourself."

"Yeah, but I feel great for it."

When Sarutobi looked at her oddly Sakura had to laugh.

"No, I mean my body is still sore and my bits hurt all over, especially my gut, but I feel better than before I got beat up. My head is not so much of a mess. I feel refreshed for once. Could you have guessed it?"

"How odd."

Sakura reached up and felt the leaves and twigs in her hair before pulling them free. Her fingers seemed to comb through the strands forever. She blinked at how much longer her hair was before remembering something like this happening before. A long time ago she woke up with hair down to her hips when the day before it had been only to her shoulders. Using so much magic wouldn't do it, but nearly dying would. This time her hair only reached her elbows. It hadn't been a big deal for her fay body to heal.

"Do you feel like attending tonight or would you prefer to rest?"

The question threw her off. "Attend what? The Party? Why wouldn't I still be going? I feel fine. I might even talk to some people." Sakura reached out with her hands and laced her fingers before popping her shoulders. She sighed in relief before settling back into the bench seat.

"Then I think it best of I insist on Shisui leaving ahead of us. I will call to have your friend come here and see to your arrangements. Her name was Ino, correct?"

"Don't pretend you don't already know, Sarutobi." Sakura grinned slyly. "The act doesn't flatter my image of you anymore."

Sarutobi watched her wearily and Sakura recognized why. Maybe she hadn't nearly died, but she had come close for his sake and he knew it.

There was no way Sai would have been enough to fend off the horned women. Even with Shisui it had been an ordeal. Maybe it would have been different if they didn't run out to meet the women head on, but no one wanted to wait inside and see if the seals did or didn't hold. How Sarutobi survived all the years up till now was a testament to Itachi's strength. No wonder he was a hunter.

"Would you like me to send Shisui in to see you now?"

Sakura thought about it and decided she didn't understand what she felt for the Uchiha anymore. He had nearly died for her last night and that made it hard to almost hate him. She needed more time to figure out how she felt about him and if he really was the friend she wanted to believe he was.

"No, tell him to go ahead and if I wake up I'll see him tonight. Don't tell him I'm awake." Sakura waved her hand in front of her face, grinning at Konohamaru. "That goes for you too."

Konohamaru made a zipper sign over his mouth and grinned slyly.

Sarutobi and his grandson left her to rest in the garden on her own after that and Sakura waited until the crows overhead cawed to signal Shisui's departure. It didn't come right away and actually took a good long while. She wondered if that was because Shisui took convincing.

Sakura almost closed her eyes again and laid down on the bench but she tasted rotting apples and sat up. Ino floated through the doors to the garden a moment later, her hair perfectly curled and eyes bright with accenting lines of blue liner. She wore a pair of floral shorts and a sweater, but looked like she was already ready to dance with the fairies.

"Damn," she breathed, seeing Sakura.

"I look that good, huh?" Sakura teased.

"Yeah, you do."

Sakura blinked, not catching the joke. She was wearing wrinkled things and her hair was loose and there were bandages everywhere. Was Ino just being kind?

But the blond took Sakura by the wrists and led her up the stairs into Sakura's bedroom and pulled off the sheets to the floor length mirror. Sakura saw what Ino meant in an instant. No wonder Sarutobi hadn't pressed her more on how she felt. Sakura couldn't remember a time her face looked so alive or her eyes so bright. Her skin was happy and all the edges of her were soft with the lingering effects of content fairy magic. Sakura looked like someone who swam in magic.

"What did you do?"

"I thought I died."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, don't do that again, but damn girl…I'd hit that."

Sakura grinned out of the side of her mouth and leaned over to bop her head against Ino's. "You're sweet."

"And hella gay right now. Someone said something about helping you get made up for tonight, but I'm not going to lie, I just want to take all this off." Ino blinked and then shook her head, taking a step back.

Sakura frowned at the look of pain flashing across Ino's features. "Ino? Hey, you okay?"

The blond nodded and then shook her head again, trying to shed a layer of dizziness. "Yeah, I'm fine but… Whoa, that's some strong allure you're soaked in, girl."

"But I'm not using magic right now." Sakura wasn't in her fay form and using magic while human required so much focused concentration there was no way she could do it without knowing it.

"Yeah, it's not intentional, it's a side effect I think. It'll fade with time. Here, let me cast a dampen spell so I can help you out without accidentally jumping your bones." Ino murmured something else about not normally being attracted to girls so strongly, but pulled out her wand and cast the spell all the same.

Sakura felt it settle over her like the thinnest layer of flexible ice. She felt safe under it for some reason. Sakura tasted old apples in her mouth and glanced back at the mirror. She was more human now, but still soft and bright eyed.

Ino made Sakura shower and then after Sakura was done the blond parted and did Sakura's hair until it shone brilliantly in the fading light. There was little magic worked, but Ino had some of her witch things out on the vanity surface all the same. Something in the glass dish burned up and smoke came out, drifting like a long gray snake towards the doorway.

"Hang on, I'm going to get a dress for you."

Sakura sat at her vanity in a silk robe and panties, waiting for Ino to come back with the dress, but Ino didn't come back , instead Ino left out the door, down the hall and after a minute Sakura realized her friend had really taken off without explanation.

Sakura jumped up from the vanity and followed the scent of Ino, something strong enough to follow even without leftover rabbit senses. The trail led Sakura to the west end of the manor where Sarutobi kept all the doors locked. Ino was in one of those rooms, searching through an open wardrobe.

"Ino!" Sakura called from the threshold. "What are you doing here?"

"Your dress won't work with your knees still so scraped up."

Sakura glanced inside the room that was mostly covered up in sheets of white. It looked old and smelled like dust and mothballs and old spices. "Yeah…what does that have to do with this? Why are you in here when Sarutobi has the rooms on this end of the manor locked up."

"Like I'm going to let the old fart hold out on you after all the shit you've been through. I want the best and what we picked out at Dillards is Prom Trash. Here, we're going to be dancing with Uchiha tonight."

Ino stepped away and pulled something glittering with her. The long dress came out like a ghost, twinkling and mocking Sakura with memories of unending dances and balls and diamonds hanging in the sky and pearls and lace and white blinding skin so soft Sakura wanted to kiss those lips and heels on glass floors with pressed flowers in between and-Sakura stopped the voice before it could drag Sakura any further into those memories.

Sakura's voice was small. "That's a fay dress."

"No, there's a tag inside it. But yeah, it looks that nice, doesn't it?"

"What kind of spell were you burning in the glass bowl?" Sakura asked, stepping into the room and hesitating only once before she came up alongside Ino.

"A wishing spell. It led me here." Ino didn't say anything more than that but reached for Sakura's robes. "Try this one on. I think it was made for you."

Sakura looked up into the wardrobe as she peeled the layers of her robe away and let it pool around her ankles like liquid silver. There was nothing else in the wardrobe even remotely feminine, but Sakura chose to ignore that. However Ino got the dress, Sakura wouldn't ask. If Ino wanted to share she could.

It fit her like a glove and Sakura felt herself go light as the zipper closed her in. Something clicked and Sakura felt right. There was no magic to it, there were no rotting apples in her mouth, but it was a different kind of power called Confidence that made her light and tall and strong.

Ino pulled another sheet off another mirror and Sakura saw herself dripping in starlight and silver. The bodice was tight but not constricting, forcing her breasts up while the skirts flared out in beaded folds. She expected the skirts to be heavy, but when she turned they followed with little resistance, almost as if they were made of air.

Ino lowered a white fur coat over Sakura's shoulders and it was enough to make her remember other things.

"It's the sort of dress that makes men desperate.' The voice was back and mocking. 'It's the sort of dress little girls dream of wearing when they think themselves princesses.'

Sakura smiled at Ino and lied. "It's perfect. Now, do my hair."

The sun dipped and bled low into the sky as the girls cleaned and painted and styled. Sakura helped Ino with the girl's deep blue dress of full skirts and long slits. Ino pulled Sakura's hair back and choked it with pearl pins that held the elegant rolls up in place. Ino made her eyes dramatic but didn't dare do the same for Sakura. Sakura's eyes were already too bright.

Sakura looked into the mirror and heard the voice again. 'It's the sort of night when men realize how desperate they are for someone they could lose.'

Sakura tugged the lace, fingerless gloves on and pretended the voice wasn't there, because it didn't matter anymore. She woke up feeling great, she was going to stay that way. The black outline of her other self wasn't going to change that.

The girls climbed into an older model of a Rolls Royce and giggled about how Sarutobi had gone the extra mile to send a driver to the house to pick them up. It was twenty minutes to drive to Danzo's estate, but Ino begged the driver to go the long way around, letting the girls enjoy the ride and the peace for another forty minutes more.

"There are going to be so many Uchiha tonight. You've only seen Itachi and Shisui, but half the Uchiha court will be present tonight. It's to honor their contracts with all the local families."

"Not because the party is just that good?"

"They only have to come when summoned. There is no law requiring them to stay."

"What else are the old going to do with all their money?" Sakura chuckled.

"Spoil us pretty girls?" Ino cooed, petting back a curl of her honey blond hair.

She looked picture perfect for the night and it was more for herself and less for the fact that she wanted to be wanted by an Uchiha for a dance. It was such a honor to have a Fay want you when you were human, it seemed. Sakura didn't see the appeal anymore. She had played that game before, and found the ending not quite worth the suffering.

The lights leading up the driveway came up before the manor was even visible. Hanging lights stretched out for almost a solid mile before a turn revealed the manor behind a modest copse of trees dripping in hanging lights.

"Oh," Ino breathed, transfixed.

Sakura could only smile for her friend, thinking Ino's happiness was much more lovely than all the lights and dazzling elements of the old man's party.

The car fell into a line and inched along before the girls were up by the front. Ino slipped out first and Sakura followed. A man closed the door behind them and pointed out the way for them to follow. It wasn't hard, the lights were direction enough.

"Sakura."

The two girls stopped before they could even remove their coats at the coat check. Itachi was standing by the staircase balcony that overlooked the grand hall below. Days ago it had been full of sitting furniture, not it was a dance floor.

Ino murmured some sexual innuendo under her breath before grinning and moving to check her coat ahead of Sakura. Ino paused before leaving and then laughed, calling to Sakura that the dampening spell was over by midnight. Sakura cursed her best friend playful as Itachi walked over.

"You're well," he breathed, voice soft with unbelieving. He looked her over and Sakura wondered if he was looking for injuries or just admiring her. There wasn't a lot to see until she did away with the coat, so she pulled it tighter.

"I woke up this morning but wanted the time on my own. I asked Sarutobi for that. Did he not tell you?"

"He mentioned scarce little, only that you were well and not to worry. Shisui seemed incensed with that precious little to go on, but I was quite annoyed as well when I received no further details. I thought Sarutobi would trust me at the very least."

"I'm here now," Sakura conceded.

"You look well."

Sakura rolled her eyes and ignored the butterflies in her belly. "I wasn't horribly disfigured. Why do you sound so relieved?"

Itachi curved a single finger and brushed it up under her chin. "I heard too many terrible details and I remember too vividly how you trembled on my lap last you practiced fighting with me."

"Not my best moment, let's agree on that."

"Not your worse, either. I didn't mind."

Sakura felt dangerous with the way Itachi watched her. He was dressed well in a formal tux of black and white, hands gloved, hair pulled back tight, eyes bright and teasing. Sakura thought he felt looser around her and didn't want to point it out for fear of scaring Itachi back into his stiffer self.

'Desperate men.'

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek and tore her eyes away from the Uchiha in front of her in time to catch sight of a trio of Nara heading to the coat check. Sakura recognized Shikamaru and his father and startled to remember that there were other people in the room, in the the world aside from her and Itachi.

"Did you have any trouble defending the fort here?" Sakura asked, steering the conversation back to topics she felt safer in. "I was a bit overwhelmed with the might of the horned women on that last night. I shouldn't have underestimated them."

"I heard you did better than the other two."

"You heard wrong." Sakura reached up for the front of her fur coat and eyed the coat check. "Speaking of which I think I should find them so they don't think I'm dead."

Itachi held out his hands to take her coat and Sakura turned out of it, letting the fur thing slid off her back and expose the bare shape of her back, spine and shoulder blades rolling sensually out of the coat. When she turned Itachi was still watching her, coat folded up in his arms.

"I'm glad I was right about him, though I don't see how I ever could have been wrong."

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"Shisui. I told you he wouldn't betray you."

Sakura nodded, walking with him over to the coat check. "Yes. I'll admit that after watching him almost die to keep me safe I'm a lot more inclined to trust the guy."

She kept her lips still as Itachi registered her coat and kept the card for her hanger. When she reached for it he slid it away in his pocket, claiming she could get it later at the end of the night when it was time for both of them to return to the same place. His voice was melted and husky in her ears.

Sakura felt the butterflies turn to bats in her belly and didn't doubt her face was a little red.

He took advantage of her flustered state to drape her arm over his and lead her to the stairs, tugging her close when the walked across the balcony. She could smell the scent of him and it was the scent of moist earth under a pine tree in winter. He was crisp and clean and the closer she was the more he began to smell like wood fire. She remembered his red eyes and the flames from when he chased her.

Of course.

Sakura moved her eyes and saw across the floor Ino dancing with an Uchiha. Her partner couldn't have been anything or anyone else. He was dark haired like Itachi and unmistakably fay. Not far from her Sai leaned against the wall, face blank and eyes dull. He looked up like he felt her eyes on him and she expected him to smile, or maybe loosen the forlorn expression, but she only saw his eyes widen and something sad come into them.

Itachi pulled her closer as the crossed the middle of the stairs and advanced towards the bottom. She felt him bend and his lips were by her ear. "I don't know who else you promised a dance to, but the first one is mine."

"I don't dance-" Sakura tried to say, but the words were so soft and breathless she doubted he heard her.

She felt light when he tugged her onto the dance floor. There was already music and not as many bodies as she suspected. It was too easy to slip in between them and follow Itachi's lead. He was close and pulled her closer, on hand at her waist, fingers spread wide, the other holding her hand out. She felt her body move with the memory before her mind could catch up.

'This is how you make them learn what it feels like….'

Itachi seemed to radiate with a night's worth of light, the cosmos glittering in his eyes as he danced her across the polished floor. Her heels were mute chimes only she could hear as they passed between fey and mankind alike.

There were so many Uchiha that Sakura wondered if the whole of Itachi's home court had attended. Many of the Uchiha wore masks or half masks, a thing fay did when they believed their beauty too overpowering for mortals. It was a show of vanity and nothing more.

Sakura feels Itachi tug on her hand when she's looked away too long. She grins, thinking the action childish. He's like a boy that can't stand his friend looking to anyone other than him. He pulls her closer and lowers his face. It's harder to look at anything else with his lips so close to her face. Sakura inhales and smells more woodsmoke. It makes her woozy.

"Do you trust my cousin now? He seems to adore you." Itachi's lips are on her jaw, her voice in her ear. She feels him kiss her skin and shivers. "Did you see him yet? He's been watching us since we stepped out onto the dance floor but you're in my arms now."

"Itachi." It's a weak word and she doesn't know what she wants it to mean when she says his name.

She wants to ask him why he sounds so strange to her, but she enjoys it too much. She bends her neck a bit to the side and Itachi doesn't disappoint, kissing it greedily.

"It's so remarkable." His words are breathy as she struggles to breath. "I've always wanted this pale flesh, I've been bred to chase it, but now that you're here in my arms all I want to do is spoil you. Is this why they made us run after you, because you were such a prize? I'm so happy right now. I almost have everything I never knew I wanted."

She wants to tell him he's getting ahead of himself, that he's getting carried away and she's not so easy to take, but it's been too long for her to feel this good and she just wants to hear him tell her sweet things until she can't hear anymore. His words are stirring dangerous things within her.

'They will learn to feel desperation at last,'

Behind them the bells for midnight chime and Sakura is at a loss for where the hours in between went. She meant to find Sai and Shisui, she meant to make sure they were okay and ask Sai why he watched her so sadly. She meant to tell Shisui she trusted him now and she wanted to be friends. She meant to tease Ino about her dancing. She meant to find Sarutobi.

Itachi kissed her jaw and she felt herself shiver as the chimes for twelve finished and faded away.

"Wait," Sakura said, sounding as dizzy as she felt.

The fairies will dance forever. They'll dance you to death. She remembered this, but this wasn't a fay party and this wasn't a random fay, this was Itachi and Sarutobi was there in the corner. She saw Sai watching her and there were others she recognized as she spun in Itachi's arms. She was supposed to be safe. This was the victory party. She woke up and felt better than she had ever before. There was no taste of rotting apples in her mouth. There was no magic in the air aside from the spell of Ino's breaking up and off her skin.

Ino's spell was almost gone.

"Itachi, this isn't you," Sakura tried to say, thinking it funny how haughty she had to have been to think he meant his words. "Itachi you need to remember yourself better."

"It's a simple allure, not heaven's magic, Sakura," Itachi chuckled. "I've seen my fair share of allure's shining far brighter and I'm not one that can be swayed with something so trite. You think I didn't feel this way before I even saw you tonight?"

"You're just saying that to me."

"Let me kiss you so that you may know my truth."

Sakura chuckled, shaking her head and looking away. Itachi tugged on her hand, the one he held, and she looked back up at him and grinned out of the corner of her mouth. "Having only Danzo for company must have made your stir crazy." She saw Shisui and started to tug away. "I need to see the others now. It's been more than just one song."

Itachi held her tighter and swayed away from where she could see Shisui. "Not yet."

"Itachi!" She wanted to get away but Itachi held her closer. She smelled more of him and it still made her dizzy.

"Not yet."

"What are you talking about? When were you planning on letting me-?"

The floor under them shattered and out of it there was a massive cloud of ash and black that choked out the world around them. Sakura felt it roll over her as Itachi tugged her closer off her feet. She heard the screaming and then the cries of pain. There were people running through the smoke and something taking them down. Someone was calling for her. She heard her name and Itachi growled. Sakura looked and saw his hands were claws around her, darkly colored at the points. His fangs were out as well.

The smoke turned to feathers and the crows flew away, leaving behind a scene of chaos. The horned woman stood around the room, all twelve of them. Between the eleventh and tenth stood Danzo, looking bored. Sakura turned to look out across the dance floor and gasped at all the Uchiha bound in silver chains that smelled like burning iron.

"What?" This couldn't be happening.

"Do you have that one?" Danzo asked Itachi.

Itachi tugged her to his chest and leaned his head down to shield her. "She's mine. We had a deal."

Sakura felt parts of her body shake in shock. Her brain was releasing chemicals for fight or flight but Itachi kept her pinned close to him. There was nowhere she could go and nothing she could do other than blandly parrot the words she didn't believe. "Deal?"

'Desperate men.'

"Danzo!" Sai stood out from between two horned women, glancing at Sakura and then his old master. "You said she wouldn't be harmed."

"Sai?" He was alright. There were other who stood out looking unharmed, but all were looking to Danzo for direction. His network of spies stood at attention. They were his army.

Danzo flipped his hand over his shoulder as if the question was a fly to bat away. "She shall not be harmed too terribly, I'm sure. Itachi doesn't seem the sort of beast to break his own toys."

"That's not what you told me." Sai breathed, looking to Sakura with more emotion than she remembered him capable of. "She was supposed to be free."

"That was before I knew how key a piece she was. No, Itachi has done well enough to earn his reward. He can keep the girl. I've got what I want. There has to be an Uchiha here who can tell me where the sleeper is."

Sakura remembered the old giant at the end of the world sleeping deep and far away. It wasn't the Uchiha looking to wake him for power, but the alchemist Danzo. With so many Uchiha bound in iron, what was left of their courts was a ghost force. The other courts could…

"Danzo!"

Sakura turned and saw Shisui free from the iron chains, breathing heavy. He had been too fast to be caught. Behind him the humans were frozen in time. Sarutobi and Ino remained still as stone while ivy grew around their ankles. More and more green swallowed the humans up. Sakura couldn't find Konohamaru.

"This was a trap." Sakura breathed and looked up at Itachi who bent over her. "You knew."

"Itachi," Shisui seethed, sighting his cousin. "Let her go!"

Itachi chuckled low and it was more a purr to Sakura's ears as he pressed her closer. "You're outmatched and outnumbered. Even if you were my equal the horned ladies would kill you." A bit of the humor left his voice. "And don't think you could take her even if that wasn't the case. I've given up too much to not have this at least."

"Itachi, Sarutobi and Ino, what's happening to them?" Sakura's eyes were wide as Ino continued to be swallowed by green. She was still so lovely between all those leaves.

Danzo left his spot between the woman and stepped closer to a figure choked in ivy. Sakura remembered it was Sarutobi under all those leaves and grimaced at how little there was left to tell him apart from the others.

"The humans will not be done any harm, but I can't have them free while I set my plans into motion." Danzo leaned in closer to the ivy as he spoke, keeping his back to her as he ignored Itachi and Shisui. "Madara is finally vulnerable and any one of these fools could warn him of my aims. They'll not be disturbed until we see to the end of my goals. Is that not our plan, Sai? Behold, your revenge is before you."

Sakura looked to the younger teenager and struggled to find a scrap of anger at his betrayal, but all she could feel was hurt when she looked at Sai. She had trusted him, cared for him, and fought alongside him. She had thought he died after he spent the last of his magic to shield her. She couldn't not trust him.

Yet, here they were. Sai had betrayed them, had been planning to betray them from the beginning.

"You look shocked, but Sai told me you knew we were in communication. Did you think I was concerned for the youth?" Danzo asked, tone mocking. He eyed Shisui who circled on the other side of the room, ready to leap. "No, this night was years in the making. Is that not right, Itachi? I tried so hard for so long to win you over and now I've done it."

Sakura turned around in Itachi's arms, as much as he would let her, and looked between Sai and Shisui. Sai looked sick where he stood, mere feet from her. Shisui was still crouched and taunt in the far corner. He was watching Sakura, looking for an opening.

"The horned women will take care of the remaining intruders," Itachi commented, reaching up to pet back Sakura's hair in love. "There is no more need of us here. Are we permitted to leave?"

"You're not taking Sakura anywhere, bastard!" Shisui seethed.

Danzo waved them away, turning back to look at Sarutobi's ivy clad self. "See to it. If you're to deflower her you might as well do it where I can neither hear nor see you both."

Sakura tensed in Itachi's arm, sick from the words all of a sudden. Shisui screamed curses from the other end of the room even as some of the horned women began to move.

Itachi hummed something soothing and tugged at Sakura to come with him but she struggled. He cooed in her ear and laughed about how she struggled when there was no point. She shouldn't want to get away, there was no way he wouldn't worship her and love her in her own time.

"Don't listen to him, he's no mind for romance. Come now, dearest, don't struggle," he chuckled.

Sakura twisted, ready to bite if she had to, but it was an ink tiger that came between them. Itachi hissed at the iron nails in the tiger's paws when it tore the pair apart. Sakura stumbled free and Sai was beside her, wand ready, body trembling.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked in wonder, not understanding why he would choose to save her now, to switch sides when it was least opportune for him to do so. He had nothing to gain if he switched to the losing side now.

"Don't forget to look at me too. I'm not fay like them, but I am not worth forgetting. I'll show you." Sai keeps himself between Itachi and Sakura, even as some of the horned women turn to face him.

Itachi holds the part of his arms that bled and wiped the blood away. His cuts healed, but slowly. He watched Sakura stand behind Sai like it was a personal betrayal. When she didn't move back to him his clawed hands trembled.

"Sai!" Danzo turned and the look on his face was probably the first emotion Sakura ever saw on the old man. "What is the meaning of this. Did Sarutobi get to you, too?"

"Hardly," Sai bit, glaring back over his shoulder. "I've just found my own voice this time. I'm not here to follow you or Sarutobi. I'll go as I please and do what I want, and right now I want you to leave me and Sakura alone."

Sakura reached for her chest and felt the small power from deep inside. Her icons were still so faint. You couldn't see them on her skin but she could feel them. It probably wasn't enough for her to summon her Yarrow Wand just yet. There was little she could do to help.

"Take her and escape, but where will you go, what will you do?" Danzo mocked. "I gave you purpose. You are nothing without me, boy."

"You're outmatched, Sai, even with the Black Rabbit," Itachi added. His eyes turned soft on Sakura. "You resist now and there is no going back to days of peace. You're not a war fay. You deserve to be spoiled for once. You've done enough, stop running."

He took a step, reaching out and Sakura felt the butterflies again.

But Ino and Sarutobi and Konohamaru were still in ivy.

"Shisui," Sakura called. She saw him look to her and listen. Her eyes met his. "Run far."

It was the last thing he wanted to do, but there was no nonsense in her words and a second later he was sprinting for the door. Itachi snorted even as Sakura took a stance.

Danzo huffed in annoyance. "Enough of this, ladies, take them."

Itachi growled, springing and ready to get to her first but Sakura was faster. She grabbed Sai and pulled the Foxglove stick out from her breast and shook it until it became a silver bell in a wreath. There were Unicorns and skulls etched in the metal and it was angry with unnatural power. Sakura raised it high and screamed before swinging it down and making the bell inside clang.

"By the power of the Foxglove Harrowing Bell, I banish thee, I banish thee, I banish thee!"

The shock was instant. The horned women were block away from the first wave of force and Sakura swung again to force Itachi and the other remaining fay in the room to collapse. Even Danzo staggered.

It was the last of her victory icons. The one she swore she would never use again. The power was heavy and loud all around them. She knew it stretched far and prayed Shisui had enough luck to be too far to be crippled by it. Fay hated bells, no matter what kind. Most silenced the bells they heard, but even if they didn't there was very little a normal bell could do to harm a fay.

Sakura's foxglove bell was not so normal. Naruto had called it an evil banishing bel and told her that it was how they would be able to find her. It was made to banish evil and it was almost too powerful an item to be allowed in the games, since it forced away the fay as well.

Sakura swore, swinging it once more and feeling the stripping feeling as Itachi screamed from where he lay on the floor. It was tearing up his brain and soon he would be forced to flee.

Sakura stayed human, didn't dare touch her fay magic of transformation, but forced her arms to swing. "I banish thee, I banish thee, I banish thee, I banish you!"

There was a wave of yellow light and Sakura heard the bees humming in her ears. Itachi was passed out on the floor, the women were gone, and the few remaining operatives who spied for Danzo like Sai had were struggling where they stood. Even Sai seemed weak from it.

Sakura let the bell fade away and donned her rabbit mask before reaching for Sai and shifting him up onto her back. She could smell Shisui and knew he wasn't far, but far enough. She would find him. She could run faster than any of them, even with Sai on her back

Her brain was heavy from the images she saw and the memory made her sick. 'Desperate men will be what breaks this war in our favor, Sakura. Look at what you made them do. What a treasure you are.'

"Come on Sai."

Sakura took off running, leaving the chaos behind them.

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call
And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

-Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit Lyrics

There we go, Happy Halloween guys!

A while back I did a little short story for UchiSaku week called If You Go Chasing Rabbits and this novel came from that original idea of black and white fay courts playing a game with rabbits.

I hope you liked it. Reviews feed my soul!

-Vesperchan

OMAKE

UchihSaku Week: Day 5 Silk & Lace
Pairing: ShiSaku

The Unseelie Court's Black Rabbit is a boy locked up inside the flesh and bone of a man, wild and wicked in ways only the young of heart can be. He greets the front of the Seelie Court with eyes dismissive of all but the one who is his paradox, his paragon opposite. She's a girl faced beauty with the eyes of a crone. It will be a miracle to see her race.

The glittering fairies nominate their White Rabbit for the game and sit back on their high thrones to watch the tradition unfold once more. She is a trouping fairy while he is solitary. She is kind to all but one, he is cruel to all but her.

True to the rules of the game, their attraction is inevitable.

Shisui believes he might have died again when he first sees her prance over the moss, pale body white like moonlight in lace. She's dressed in glittering silk spun from the fattest mother spiders, just as stark white and clean as the rest of the procession she leads. At the head of each court is their rabbit, he knows behind him is the rest of his family donned in midnight and swathed in pitch. His own tunic's collar is threaded with obsidian beads that make him an image of darkling beauty.

She stops at the edge of the forest, just beyond the trees and out in the open where she would be exposed. The rest of the courts hang back in their thrones of trees and thorns. Only the rabbits are out to be seen tonight.

Cocked to the side and hanging over one half of his head is the rabbit mask, trimmed in silver and gleaming wickedly. She already wears hers in place, white and gold, crafted with black glass for the eyes.

Shisui swallows, wishing for a slip more of her face before he reaches up to tug his mask into place. He is thankful their masks end at their noses, leaving the lower halves of their faces exposed. He's able to see her lips, the only dark things about her, glossy and red like heart's blood.

She moves first with all the grace of a deer, bowing low with her arms out, an imitation of swan wings. "Well met, Black Rabbit of my Enemy's Court."

He falls into the mirrored bow too easily. "Well met, White Rabbit of my Enemy's Court."

She straightens with poise, keeping her hands crossed in front of her like the folded wings of a bird. "May the game be worthy."

"Worthy indeed," he finishes, invoking a voice of authority as the old magic runs beneath them.

He steps forward first as he is the last to speak, and extends his hand. She takes it and they are connected for a moment. It is tradition and it is ritual, but Shisui just finds it thrilling to touch the girl he's been dreaming about for nearly a year. It's almost trilling enough to cause him to forget what the fay have in store for them.

Dawn is moments away when they begin to circle each other, hands still connected. Once the sun breaks their magic is loose and the game is set. She will be left for the Unseelie Court to chase, while he is to be the pray to the Seelie Court; white hare in a black land and a black spot on a white domain.

It's been decades since the last time a white fay caught the Black Rabbit. And just like it's been decades since the last time the glittering court won, it's also been decades since the last time a White Rabbit was spare after having been caught. It simply isn't in the nature of dark things to be kind, not even for pretty white rabbits.

"You're quite brave. I'd thought you'd tremble for me here," Shisui chuckles, watching their hands as if the connection still mystifies him.

"I have no fear from you," she answers in an even is small, thin, and bright with wide eyes. He is tall, lithe with eyes as dark as pitch. The opposites of their beings do not end there. He became what he is on a wish for his own gain, she fell into the courts of the fair folk kicking and screaming. He's found no great pleasure with his lot, where as for her, it is the only life where she has found respect and peace…if only for a little while.

But for all their mirrored differences, there is a truth in their cores that they share, fed and fueled by their need. The truth is called victory, and feeds on their hearts fat with longing.

They say this will be what decides their victory more than any other element of the character, not their training or upbringing or even their otherworldly nature, but how badly they want victory.

Shisui smiles wide, bowing his head over their hands as much as he dares without disturbing the rotation that winds up the spring of the earth before their launch. "You think you're so fast, do you?"

She tilts her head and her mask followed, frustratingly keeping her face covered. He can't see her eyes like he wants to, but he still continues to watch her, transfixed. When she quirks her lips up it is enough to send his heart fluttering.

"I've heard of your speed, but rumors of your cleverness have failed to reach my ears."

"I didn't think I had to be this good looking, fast, strong, and crafty like a devil. There's only so much perfect you can expect from a changling. We're still human, after all."

"I only believe that on days when I loose," she says, voice hardening into something stronger than iron. "I am no mere mortal."

"My dear White Rabbit, there is nothing mere about you. I'm tempted to spirit you myself and take you far away from all of this. I almost think I could if you asked me to."

"There is nowhere on this earth you could hide from their eyes."

Behind them the sun grows brighter beyond the lip of the surface. Soon it will break and spill and the hunt will begin. Soon their hands will fall away and their short encounter will be cut. Soon his family will uproot the earth for her. Soon her court will scour the earth for him.

"We would never be able to hide, but I can run better than any of them." He leans closer. "It's the gift they gave me and you, don't you know? Use it forever and never be a day without me."

She looks up and for a split of a seconds the sunbeams hit her face just right and he can see her wide eyes through the glass in her mask. But sunlight is his enemy, and she's gone from his hand in a flash and it feels like loosing the veins in his body, like the blood of his wrists is literally ripped out from him.

The White Rabbit bounds away and he feels his heart break.

It is enough to convince him he can run forever, if he has her, he can run until the end of time if it is for her.

That is why he is the Black Rabbit.