I really hope you guys like this chapter. Another one from the DoomBerry.

Disclaimer: IDNON!

Chapter 11: Surgery

"I can't change,

I'll replace the decay,

make you second guess your everyday.

I can't change,

I'll survey the damage.

Kill the narcissist with his reflection

until tomorrow.

Hold me under,

cut away this empty.

Hold me under.

Change the way I feel about you."

-"Surgery" Jack Off Jill

The bass-beat set the speed for the bodies writhing on the dancefloor. Limbs intertwined as two, sometimes three or four people danced in simulated passion. Hips ground together, circled away, and met again in heated friction. The lights above flashed blue, red, yellow, then back to blue, painting the masses of the sexually charged in an almost artistic rendering of lust.

When the deejay, a petite ebony haired woman, changed songs, cheers rose up from the crowd.

Kakashi had lost sight of Sakura in the crowd. Where her pink hair would have normally given her away, he found many of the youths from the bar had followed suit with their own hair.

He was at an impasse; if he informed Tsunade of the content of her music, she would be hunted down for treason at the behest of the elders. And if he didn't, another country's Kage would act accordingly. Such traitorous words only led to equally traitorous thoughts. That was what the Kages would think, at least, and they would inform each respected Daimyo.

She would be hunted and killed on sight.

At least in Konoha, she would be tried and the consequences would be lessened to prison time. Maybe.

The song changed once again, and he had finally found the roseate. She was being pulled onto a small stage with her band's drummer, laughing and shaking her head. He had briefly met the tall girl outside of That Place, and had a sense of deja vu upon seeing her. Upon serious recollection, he realized she had, at one point, been a stripper in another border city, along the strip of land between Tsuki and Oto.

Kakashi observed Sakura's form as it moved from hesitancy to confidence. The girls danced in unison with eachother, swaying their hips on either side of a silver pole spanning from ceiling to the floor of the stage. His jaw lay agape when Sakura bent her knees, slapped the floor, and pushed her ass in the air. It hadn't escaped his notice that Kaya, formerly Tsuki, had done the same simultaneously. Catcalls filled the air and the men from the band jokingly held up money. His blood boiled even with the apparent jesting.

How dare they mock his- his what? His teammate? Friend? No, he realized, this was much deeper than simple annoyance. He, upon introspection, was jealous.

The song-and-dance finished up and the girls were given a hand down by their male counterparts. Again, he lost her in the crowd.

"Go find her, Sensei." Naruto mumbled over a tumbler of scotch. Kakashi nodded and pushed himself off the stool.

"Brave words for the Hokage's apprentice." Sakura mulled over Kabuto's statement. She hadn't put thought into the songs she had sung earlier until Kabuto had nonchalantly informed her of their treacherous intent.

"You've been influenced by that Kyuubi boy, I'm guessing." More of a statement than a question, but true nonetheless.

She had pondered, in the weeks following Pein's invasion, the content of Naruto's conversation with the last of the Rinnegan bloodline. He had told her time and time again, but somehow, she was still missing something.

He had said shinobi were the pawns the Kages and, following that logic, if the shinobi villages and their Kages were decimated, there would be peace. Without anyone to hire out, the Daimyos would have to solve their problems the good old fashioned way; poorly written treaties full of loopholes. But, she had realized long ago, even if one razed the world of its shinobi population, there would always be someone willing enough to fight and die for a price. When it came to the beaurocracies which controlled the world, the moniker was true; money talked and shit walked.

After such an epiphany, the words came easily, the meaning even easier. The people in power were the ones creating the problems. Extricate them from the equation, and the rest of the dominos would fall. First, there would be chaos, then alliances would form and people would rise up in the wake of insurrection. Weapons of mass destruction would be destroyed to make way for smaller arms of militant groups. Eventually, the smaller groups would settle down, and the world would be peaceful.

She had explained this all to Kabuto, who had snorted and laughed at her. "Do you really believe the human animal is not opportunistic and violent to a fault?"

"What do you mean?" She had questioned, while removing her makeup. Her veridian eyes gazed back curiously in the mirror.

He met her stare with a penetrating one of his own, hands moving to brush through her hair. She fought a blush at his familiarity. "What I mean, dear Sakura, is that the human animal is cursed with sentient thought. It has the ability to do wondrous things and rise above its station in nature, and yet, it chooses to lay below what is considered a more primal beast. Other creatures in nature embrace the need to survive by embracing their instincts. We are the only creatures that fight and kill to protect our weaker-thans. Any other creature will kill its handicap in order to survive."

Her face reddened in anger. "What about your research, Kabuto? What about all the people you could have saved with your knowledge of genomes and cellular regeneration?" Her voice was hard, her eyes glittering emeralds.

His hands moved to her shoulders and rubbed them to relax her trembling body. She was ashamed to have enjoyed it. "My research is to better mankind by improving the skills of our best creatures."

"Your research... is...? You're... still...?" Sakura was gasping with the horror of her discovery. The man behind her simply smiled benignly, and moved one hand to her neck, rubbing circles in the muscles to placate her.

"That's why I'm here, dear. I'm searching for able-bodied, like-minded people."

"To do what?" She spun in her chain and gazed at him, hard. He knelt and placed his large, calloused hands on her cheeks. It vaguely entered her mind that his hands were not medic's hands. She concentrated on his eyes, so often hidden behind his glasses, and found them to be full of earnest.

"To evolve," he replied simply, darkly. Seeing no comprehension, he spun away from her and stood. He paced before her, each step driving deeper the meaning of his words, and the depth of his insanity.

"I'm searching for those who represent the best of their clans, villages, species. Often, they are disillusioned by the so-called perfection of the villages around them. Once I expose the lies and corruption, my subjects are more than happy to join me in my quest for true human perfection. They see the skewed moral compass that sways like a pendulum around them. The lies which are fed to the blind masses are uncovered, and my subjects come with me in order to have a chance to level the playing field."

"You- your subjects? Kabuto- are- are you stil conducting Orochimaru's research?" Sakura knew now Kabuto was the man she was searching for. He was now a man who was capable of anything, from the kidnapping of a high-ranking official's talented nephew to the slaughter of the many for the success of the few. She felt sick, and a bit intrigued. To imagine a level playing field between those in power and those that enforced it was indeed a utopian ideal.

"Orochimaru wanted his own army. Whether it be for his own gain of world domination, or for infiltration and the eventual downfall of the Hidden Villages, I will never know." He stopped pacing and stared off. Sakura's breath caught at the far off look in his eye. This was not the Kabuto she had fought against. He was not the man who had betrayed them at the Chunnin exams 10 years before. This new person before her had ideals, a goal. He had faith and was willing to die for it, not for some madman's sick excuse for medical developments.

Her next question surprised even her. "How far have you gotten?" She never bothered with questioning the contents of his research. She didn't want to know that he was quite possibly cracking the code to the human body.

"All of my subjects have lived." The roseate woman gasped and his head twitched toward her.

"But..."

"Yes, Sakura, I've unlocked the genetic code. I've found a way to alter it, and can award my subjects the maximum of their abilities. They can regerate cellular damage, use almost unlimited chakra. They are faster, stronger. Some are even telepaths or pyrokinetics."

She stood, then, and brought herself within a foot of the taller man. "That would mean..."

"I have perfected the human animal." He closed the gap between them. Fingering a lock of her hair that had slipped over her shoulder, he gazed at her neck. "There's only one problem."

"What's that?" She whispered, her heart racing. She felt like the rabbit running away from the wolf.

"They have no empathy. No compassion or mercy." He raised his eyes to her. She was so fixated on the slight silver flecks in his otherwise unremarkable eyes, so caught up in being this close to him, she nearly missed his following statement. "That's where I need you."

She had responded late, but had kicked and punched and thrown any object she could at him. When he had finally exited the room, much too calmly for a man who was being hunted for crimes against nature, he had simply asked her to think on it.

What made her even more nauseous, she thought as she gazed over the dancefloor from the VIP lounge, is that she was thinking on it. Sakura was more aware than ever to the fact that she could not return home to Konoha. Not without being tried for treason.

There wasn't a doubt in her mind as to whether or not Kakashi would tell Tsunade. He was a good shinobi. He personified nationalism in his occupation; he would do anything for his Country, including hauling Sakura in by her trademark Haruno clan tunic for terrorist sentiments. He loved his friends, but his love of Country far exceeded any adoration he had for the few people he let into his life. And despite their history together, maybe even because of it, Sakura knew she would be no exception.

Besides, this was her mission. Apprehend the mastermind behind the kidnappings. By whatever means necessary.

"Sakura." His baritone sounded behind her, and she jumped. The woman in question moved her head to the side to regard him. She stayed by the balcony.

"Kakashi?" She questioned, already fearing what the not-so-retired ANBU was to say. He could hear the betrayal already seeping into her airy alto pitch.

"You know what I have to do," he replied. That he would bring her back to Konoha went without saying. He moved to stand next to her.

She didn't reply. Only gazed back out over the people dancing and drinking. Her eyes paused on her bandmates at the bar, and once again on the man in the long, shifting cloak in the shadows by the stage. She had to do this.

Turning, Sakura appraised Kakashi. "You're a good man, Kakashi, and a good shinobi. I would expect nothing less from you." Her hand moved forward to graze his. She felt him ball his fist, rather than saw it.

"But?"

Stepping closer to him, she placed one hand on his shoulder, the other already behind her back placing one-handed seals. "I'm sorry, Kakashi."

His charcoal and burgundy eyes widened. Before he could open his mouth, she dissolved in a dustdevil, upsetting the napkins on the low table nearby. From the corner of his eye, Kakashi noticed a shadow shift, but by the time he turned to face the area by the raised platform, there was nothing.

"Your answer?" Kabuto's warm words filled her ears, sending shivers up her spine. His hands moved up and down her arms, and he drew her into him. Sakura could feel the hard planes of his stomach on her back, his pectorals giving warmth to her shoulder blades. She stared at the pair they made in the mirror of her dressing room.

As his nose nudged her head to a tilt and caressed her neck, she replied. "I'll do it."

Her eyes slid shut as his soft lips attacked her neck in featherlight kisses. A moan fought to break free.

"You won't regret this, my dear." His warmth left her and she could hear the rustling he made as he picked up her pack, already filled with her clothes. Before this moment, she had been so sure about leaving here with him. Sakura had packed her essentials, and left a note on the dressing table apologizing to her band. Now, though, as she slowly peeked her eyes open, she doubted herself. Before she could say another word, she was pulled into his lithe, muscular body. Her hands instantly braced against his chest, feeling the soft planes of his muscles beneath her petite hands. One hip was pressed tightly against his groin, and a spark of excitement rolled through her when she felt him twitch from their proximity.

The door burst open, and the last thing Sakura saw before she was whisked away in a teleportation jutsu was Kakashi's face.

The soundtrack to this chapter is very dark:

"Surgery" by Jack Off Jill

"Living Dead Girl Remix" by Rob Zombie

"Total Job Remix" by The Faint

"Effigy 23" by American Head Charge

"Trickster" by Kidneythieves

"Make Me Bad" by Korn

Thanks for reading!