Eimii wrote:

dis�claim�er: n.
1. A repudiation or denial of responsibility or connection.
2. A renunciation of one's right or claim.
[Middle English, denial of a feudal claim, from Anglo-Norman desclaimer, 
to disclaim, denial of a feudal claim ; see disclaim.]

Disclaimer: Wheeee! Apply happy educational material above to the phrase 
'all characters portrayed in this work of fanfiction,' and you'll 
understand how much of this i actually own...

Spoiler and Continuity Warning: This chapter doesn't spoil the story any 
more than the one immediately previous to it, though if the last chapter 
gave you an acute case of continuity confusion, get ready to be baffled 
anew!

You're probably in the wrong place if you want Yaoi Warning: You know 
the drill. By now, I fear i may have already lost everyone who's been 
waiting patiently for this disclaimer to go away, ne? ^_^;

You also may be a little miffed if you're expecting 'Hardcore Yuri 
Action' Warning: Okay... so i _do_ like to tease a bit, and there's a 
ton of innuendo in this fic, but this _still_ isn't quite yuri... or 
lime... i think -_-;...

Harsh Language Warning: Sakura-chan discovers fun new ways to degrade 
the people around her. Yaaaay!

'Interlude' Chapter Warning: After all the action in the last chapter, 
i'm sad to say that this one might strike a lot of you as a bit... 
well... dull. This chapter was originally two chapters, 'Release' and 
'Home,' but considering some of the changes i made, i'm tempted to name 
it something else entirely...

Speaking of changes, there are a lot of them this time... again. >_<; I 
_thought_ i could revise this chapter without breaking it, but i may 
very well have been wrong. There's a lot of brand new and reorganized 
material in here, and i didn't have access to any pre-readers for the 
second half of this, so it may very well suck. A lot.

That being said, C&C is always appreciated, and i'd really like to know 
what older readers think of the changes. We're getting closer to the 
'present' in the story, too, with only a few of the old chapters left to 
revise. Huzzah! Not sure whether i'll start working on a new chapter 
after this or try and finish up the revisions. While i'm off in the 
corner agonizing over that, please sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

~Eimii





RELEASE...



"-Wha'dya mean, 'tired?' Why the fuck ain't she awake yet?!" Holding 
open the swinging doors that led deeper into the hospital, Temari 
gestured rudely at the doctor's departing back.

"Cock sucker!" she spat, storming back into the reception area. "Next 
time I see that lazy bastard, I'm gonna rip 'is nuts off and shove 'em 
so far up his ass, he'll be able ta-"

"You need to calm down," Anko interrupted with a snort. Pushing off of 
the nurse station beside the doors, she fell into step with the fuming 
young kunoichi. "It hasn't been _that_ long, and you're making me look 
bad."

Is that possible?

Temari favored the brunette with a venomous glare. "What the hell is 
that suppose'ta mean?"

"It means as long as you're wearing this-" Anko reached over to tap the 
blood-smeared fox mask that covered the blonde's face, "-you could stand 
to be a bit less of a screeching little harpy. You're lucky I even let 
you come here." Glancing at Temari out of the corner of her eye, Anko 
wore a testy frown that practically dared Temari to argue.

With difficulty, the possessed Sand nin forced herself to look away, 
growling in frustration. It stung, but she knew she owed Anko a lot. She 
probably would've been dragged off to some ANBU hell-hole by now if Anko 
hadn't vouched for her. The examiner had even found her a cloak to wear 
so she wouldn't stand out so much.

*She better not be holdin' out fer a fuckin' 'thank you,' though.* Maybe 
she was being unreasonable, but she didn't have an ounce of gratitude to 
spare at the moment. Quickening her pace, Temari elbowed her way through 
the press of bodies in the hospital lobby, angling for the exit.

To her despair, green-haired girl that lay sprawled on the bench outside

"the green-haired girl"...and hasn't that worn off yet?

the hospital doors didn't look like she'd moved an inch since they'd 

That hospital must be really small if they can't even find a spot in a 
hallway for her.

left. Putting an ear next to Sakura's mouth to make sure she was still 
breathing, Temari sighed and sat on the armrest above Sakura's feet, 
slumping in exhaustion.

Leaning against the back of the bench, Anko glanced down at her 
temporary charge. "You heard what he said, it's not as bad as it looks," 
the brunette murmured quietly,

"Well it looks pretty fuckin' bad!" Temari snapped, not looking up. 
Instead, her eyes fell to the pile of shredded cloth at her feet. What
remained of Sakura's clothes were stained completely black with crusty, 
dried blood; they'd had to _peel_ them off of her so the doctor could 
treat her wounds.

Underneath, the damage wasn't as dire as it had seemed, but it still 
wasn't pretty. Even Sakura's dark complexion couldn't hide the rapidly 
purpling bruises that covered her body from head to toe, and her skin 
was slashed in half a dozen places by long, thin cuts from that Sound 
nin's wire.

Most disturbing were the bite marks; clustered on Sakura's arms and 
legs, they were small and shallow, but Temari could tell by the tooth 
pattern that they'd been made by snakes. She was sure Anko knew 
something about them, but after examining Sakura, the jounin had refused 
to say more than 'She's fine,' all the while scowling like she was 
having trouble swallowing her own bullshit.

"What the fuck happened to 'er?" Temari wondered aloud, peering 
helplessly at the slumbering kunoichi. Curled up on her side with Anko's 
coat tucked under her chin, Sakura looked like she'd just closed her 
eyes for a quick nap, but she'd been that way for over three hours now, 
and nobody seemed to know why she wouldn't wake up.

"Is she sick? Is it poison? C'mon, gimmie somethin'," Temari begged, 
turning to her 'mentor.'

"I told you, she's fine," Anko snapped, frowning in annoyance. "That's 
all you need to know right now."

"Like hell it is!" Hopping to her feet, Temari stood on her toes to get 
up in Anko's face. "You just don't wanna say that yer fucked-up clone 
went berserk or somethin', cause that's the only thing I can think of 
that could'a done this!" the blonde girl growled, returning the 
examiner's disdain with interest. "So what did it do, summon a bunch'a 
fuckin' snakes and try ta kill 'er?"

"I dunno, why don't you ask _her_? It's not my fault that you can't stop 
messing with things you don't understand," Anko hissed, shooting the 
Sand nin a glare that would have made her soil herself a week ago.

By the way, I'm not entirely comfortable with referring to Sakura's 
secondary personality as though she really is the host she's taken over. 
   At the least, at the moment Temari is not a "Sand nin".

"Maybe if I had a fuckin' _teacher_ ta _explain_ things ta me I wouldn't 
have ta figure shit out by myself!" Temari countered acidly, not giving 
an inch. "Ain't that how it's suppose'ta work- or did 'Orochimaru-sama' 
do it different?"

Anko's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That's-"

"Am I just a fuckin' toy ta you?" Temari guessed. She knew she'd crossed 
the line as soon as the words left her mouth, but she was too tired to 
care. "Is that how it is? Ya get ta kick me around 'n watch me do stupid 
shit 'till I manage ta fuckin' kill myself? I'll bet it feels good ta be 
on the other end 'a the-"

The brunette was on top of her in a flash. "That's _it_! That rotten 
thing's comin' out, right now!" Anko growled, reaching for Temari's 
mask.

*Fuck, she's got a short fuse today!* Toppling backwards, it was all 
Temari could do to twist out of Anko grasping hands as she tried to 
crawl away, but the jounin was too fast. Grabbing the Temari by collar 
pinning her on her back, Anko tore off the mask and tossed it aside.

"Keep yer hands ta yerself!" Temari managed to snarl, before the Anko 
got hold of her face and she was forced to struggle in silence.

"-unngAAAAH! FUCK, MY LEG!"

I find this confusing.  Mostly because I wouldn't think that Sakura's 
primary personality would ask people to fuck her leg particularly when 
the other one is out and about.

Brushing his cloak aside, he reached up to scratch his stubble-shadowed 
cheek, and it was as if a spell had been broken. With just that simple 
action he'd managed to shrug off the entire daunting weight of history 
and prestige that hung on his family name like a shroud, and suddenly he 
was just another battle-weary ninja in need of a shave.

"You seem well, Haruno-kun," he observed, "though it sounds like I'm 
going to have to stop trusting you to keep out of trouble. I hear you've 
had another 'accident?'" He gave Temari a significant look.

This time, Sakura was faster on the uptake. "You're the expert they sent 
for?" she asked, her face brightening at this odd coincidence.

"There aren't many things that these eyes miss," the ANBU pointed out 
gamely, 

gamely?  Why "gamely"?


"and not just in combat. The ability to observe and control the

flow of chakra through the body can be used for many things-"

"Like medicine- or torture?" Temari supplied with a knowing smirk. 
"Should I call ya 'Doctor Monkey-man,' then?"

"I'm technically a 'specialist ninja,' not a doctor," Yoshinari 
corrected, shrugging as if say he had no secrets to hide. "Are you ready 
to go?" he asked, holding out the fox mask.

"Go?" Temari replied, standing. Accepting the fox mask, she reached down 
to give Sakura a hand up as well.

The green-haired girl made some interesting faces as Temari pulled her 
to her feet, probably discovering a plethora of injuries that she hadn't 
realized she had. Frowning, Temari turned back to the torture 
specialist. "Can't we do it here?" she asked.

"Here?" Anko gestured toward the mobile triage center. "Oh, that sounds 
like a _great_ idea," she drawled sarcastically. "I can't think of a 
better place to wake up our 'guest' and tell her that her side lost and 
she's been captured. Maybe she'll even volunteer to help with the 
wounded."

"Oh..." Grimacing, Temari looked to the patiently waiting ANBU. "So, 
where are we goin', then?"





"This brings back memories," Sakura mused nervously as she walked down 
the dark, featureless hallway beneath the ANBU interrogation facility.

Not much had changed since she'd last been here. A few more of the cells 
looked 'occupied,' but as they passed by the room with the trap door in 
the floor, it appeared that nobody was using the genjutsu maze at the 
moment.

"We can come back later if you'd like to 'play' some more, Sakura-chan," 
Anko whispered naughtily, leaning over her shoulder to see what she was 
looking at.

Congratulating herself on not flinching away, Sakura gave the jounin an 
incredulous look. "You just want a rematch because I won last time," she 
decided, giving Anko a smug smirk that she didn't really feel.

A cold sweat started tickling down the back of Sakura's neck when Anko 
just stared at her speculatively, rather than replying. *Don't tell me 
she's actually considering it...*

"Hey, what's the fuckin' holdup?" Temari barked, leaning out of a 
doorway a bit farther down the hall to glare at them impatiently.

"Shut up, already! I'm coming!" Sakura called back. Thankful for the 
interruption, she broke eye contact with Anko and began shuffling toward 
the door the blonde girl had disappeared into.

Though Yoshinari had assured her that her legs were just 'badly 
bruised,' they felt like they were about to ready fall off. Anko still 
refused to tell her how she'd gotten so beat up, but she could guess; 
the blood on her skin had picked up an awful lot of sand before it 
dried.

*Gaara...* Thinking about it made Sakura's skin crawl, but she was 
probably lucky to have gotten away with nothing more serious than a few 
cracked ribs.

*So why don't I _feel_ lucky, dammit?* Sakura grunted as lance of liquid 
fire pierced her right side. She'd have to ask for some painkillers once 
they were done; surely, ANBU would have something on hand in a place 
like this.

When she arrived, Sakura found the white-eyed Hyuuga scrutinizing Temari 
carefully. "It doesn't look like they missed any hidden weapons," he 
noted in approval. "On the face of it, though, I can't find any 
indication of how you're controlling her."

Stroking his chin, Yoshinari nodded toward the imposing metal slab that 
dominated the center of the room. "Undress and get on the table. I'd 
like to observe you for a little longer before we try anything, but it 
would probably be best if you were restrained."

"Ooooh, kinky!" the fair-haired ninja quipped, pulling off her boots and 
shucking her lavender dress without complaint. While Temari was working 
out how to remove the hated body stocking, she noticed that the ANBU was 
still watching her every move.

"Keep it in yer pants, ya damn dirty ape; she's all yers after I'm 
done," she teased, shimmying suggestively out of the see-through 
undergarment and kicking it off into the corner.

Blinking, Yoshinari watched for a couple more seconds as Temari climbed 
up onto the table, then turned to smile uncomfortably at Anko. "You 
know, the resemblance is almost frightening, Anko-sama."

"Hey!" Turning over and propping herself up on her elbow, Temari glared 
daggers at the ANBU. "What's that suppose ta- OW!" Rubbing the shoulder 
that Sakura had just punched, Temari scowled at the green-haired girl. 
"What the fuck was that for?"

"You were about to pick a fight with him!" Sakura accused.

"He said I'm like _her_!" the blonde protested sorely.

"Hey, I'm the one that should be offended here!" Anko snapped. Crossing 
her arms, she squinted threateningly at her co-worker. "What part of 
that foul-mouthed, body-snatching little freak resembles me?" she 
demanded.

"Bite me, ya monster-fuckin' whore!"

Tilting his head, the ANBU hummed thoughtfully. "You share the same 
'unique' of sense humor," he decided. "I was also told that she'd 
experienced some mental contamination, and was exhibiting signs of 
sadism, heightened aggression and emotional instability."

"That doesn't mean she's acts like me."

she's acting like me
she acts like me

"Yeah!"

"I'm starting to wonder about that," Sakura mused with a weary sigh.

Gaping, Temari turned to stare down at the green-haired girl. "Dammit, 
whose side are you on?" she shouted.

"Well he's right," Sakura replied, stiffening defensively. "You _do_ act 
a lot like her." She shot the two older kunoichi a silencing glare when 
it looked like they were about to argue.

"Everything else he said is true, too. You know how bad my temper has 
been, and remember what happened when I fought Ino? How do you wanna 
explain that?" She gave Temari an expectant look.

"But that's- I didn't-" Watching the struggle on Temari's face, Sakura 
could imagine what the blonde girl was thinking. She desperately wanted 
to deny it, to say that it wasn't her, but she could remember that 
shameful day just as well as Sakura could.

"Dammit, that time was different! You know that!" Temari pleaded, 
looking slightly ill.

"Oy, oy- hold it!" Raising a hand for their attention, Anko pinned 
Sakura with an accusing stare. "Aren't we forgetting something here? You 
went ballistic on me in your girlfriend's flower shop, and Yamanaka-san 
said he'd seen you like that before! He also said you had some sort of 
split personality. That was before you possessed me, so it can't be my 
fault."

Now I'm wondering whether they have the concept of a split personality. 
  Ino didn't put it in those terms when she talked about what the inside 
of Sakura's head was like.

"I never said it was," Sakura stated evenly.

"You just did!" Temari cried, balling her fists in frustration. "Make up 
yer fuckin' mind!"

Crossing her arms, Sakura looked away. "No, I didn't. I just said you 
act like her; I don't think you _are_ her- no more than I am, anyway."

The dark-skinned girl felt her cheeks warm as she plucked up the courage 
to say what came next. 

Will that frickin' disguise come off already?  Its plot purpose seems 
totally served out and it's annoying to read Sakura being identified by 
physical traits she doesn't in fact have.  It's like having Lina Inverse 
being described as buxom or blonde all the time.

Smirking, the ANBU crossed his arms over the chair back and leaned 
forward, his brow wrinkling in amusement. "well, you're kind of famous 
around here," he explained.

Sakura frowned in confusion. "Famous?" _That_ didn't bode well. Sakura's 
head started to spin as she tried to figure out what she might be 
'famous' for. *Did they hear about what I did to Anko? Did she tell them 
I was her student? Did they see the see the video?!*

extra "see the".

Fortunately, Yoshinari was kind enough to explain. "You captured five 
enemy ninja. That's pretty impressive for a genin," he pointed out.

*Five? Oh yeah- those guys I poisoned.* Someone _had_ mentioned that, 
now that she though about it.

"I upset that I got stuck with such a freak for a student," Anko 
complained sulkily. "What the hell am I supposed to do with you? You're 
always getting into trouble and nothing you do ever makes sense."

"Well- that goes double for you!" Sakura countered with an indignant 
sniff. "Do you think _I_ like the idea of having a 'teacher' that acts 
like a bratty child most of the time?"

"Hey, I can be an 'adult' when I need to be," Anko whined. "Speaking of 
children though-" Anko reached up to cup Sakura's breasts. "Hmm... I 
guess do have them after all, or is this just swelling?"

you do

"Stop that!"

"What, don'cha wanna grow faster?"

"W-What does that have to do with anything?"

"The key is good chakra flow, so if you rub them like so-"

"Bullshit."

"No, really- look at that Hyuuga girl. She's waaay ahead of you in this 
department, isn't she?"

"Hinata-chan? Well... yeah. So?"

"The Hyuuga start doing chakra exercises when they're really young, so 
their bodies grow fast. Next time you see her, why don't you ask her how 
old she was when she started wearing a bra."

"I- I couldn't do that! She'd think I was some sort of pervert!"

"A pervert? It's not _that_ weird a question, Sakura-chan. Unless... Do 
you _like_ shy little Hinata-chan? And here I figured assertive girls 
were more your type..."

"AAAAAAARGH! DAMMIT, Don't you ever _shut up?!_"





-     S     U     I     R     E     N     -




To be continued... 


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