Disclaimer: Naruto!!! NARUTO!!! I totally bought episodes 1-53 on Ebay!!! .. But I don't own the copyrights or nothin'. I just thought I'd brag a bit, is all ..*cheesy grin*

Warnings: Long. Angsty. Kind of AU-y cause I don't exactly know when it would take place. You know. Um. Shonen ai ish... a little straight. A little violent. Not very waffy. Hell, I don't know.

Pairings: I don't know yet. But definitely SasuNaru..

Intro: I thought I was over my CLAMP stage...... all inspired, oddly enough, by this quote: "You got plans? What, you think we'll find a cure, save the world? Or maybe just fall in love and fuck? Plans are pointless - staying alive's as good as it gets." - Selena, 28 Days Later.

"Ornament"

By GK

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It was the sound of footsteps running on water. Sakura tensed. Ready? Aim. The target fell before the kunai even left her hand. Kakashi looked up at her with the same slow look he used when she was still a student. She bristled, but said nothing, more concerned about the trembling bundle at her feet.

Sakura launched into automatic, tending the fire, clearing a space for sleeping. Bad form to camp so close to a fight. Ninjas were a bit like vultures... they could smell a good kill. She glanced down at the child sleeping curled around the fire like a stray dog. The blanket slipped, one arm (one bloodstained bandage) revealed.

It couldn't be helped.

Falling behind. She was used to falling behind. When she graduated, she was never paired with anyone her own age or younger. At first she was proud. Later, she understood the shame of it. She was intellectual, the brains of the operation. She was often rescued, last second, pulled back from disasters by the smallest of fractions of mistake. Her eyes burned; the fire popped and her skin felt the heat of it.

A slight noise. The child murmured in her dreaming. Sakura's face twisted into something like a smile. She was very young; perhaps seven. The daughter of a wealthy client of the village, she had been kidnapped by renegade Mist Ninjas. Together, Kakashi and Sakura were taking her home-

The slightest bit of movement and her kunai was out and ready. A slight deprecating laugh... mocking and all too familiar.

"Jumpy, Sakura?"

Sakura turned away from him, her expression set. Her eyes lightened. The kid really was cute. She reminded Sakura of herself, when she was younger. She had always been a cute kid... it was later that everything started to go wrong.

A hand lighted on her shoulder. She tensed, then relaxed. Kakashi had always been terribly informal... no concept of personal space. She was often paired with him; his overwhelming strength and flexibility made him a wonderful fighter, while Sakura-

She noticed, dimly, that his hand hadn't moved. Unusual, because Kakashi was ever moving, a fluttering moth that danced around until Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to smack him Naruto style or-

Uncomfortable, suddenly, in the heat of him, she moved away. Closer to the child. She fussed with her blankets halfheartedly.

"Sensei," she began, rising and turning. He was already there, inches away from her. Her heart thudded loudly in the back of her throat. Sasuke was latent, half forgotten behind years in her mind. Sakura closed her eyes and inhaled slowly.

"Sakura," he said, his voice impossibly soft. Kakashi reached for her as she slid the kunai between his ribs and into his heart.

"You shouldn't have underestimated her."

Kakashi stood in the tall tree, looking down on the scene as Sakura watched the Mist ninja's illusion fell away in his death throes. She watched the man die because it was better than looking up. Because she knew that he could and would say something thick and cruel and cutting against her, and she would bow down and take it. He was a thousand years older and a thousand times better than her, and it hurt just to breathe too close to him. She knew.

"Your first kill." His voice was impassive. Methodically, she withdrew her kunai and began cleaning it off. The moonlight was forgiving, it glossed over the harsh red blood, masking dark spots on the grass. A thin sound caught her attention, and she looked up. The child stared at her in horror, and she almost smiled. She could feel the other man's blood in her hair and in her skin. The white spots on her dress weren't anymore. Kakashi moved towards the girl, comforting, and Sakura melted back into the shadows, uncomplicated.

She was rather good at that.