A/N: Hi! So this will be my first Sasuxsaku fic, though I call myself a big fan; pretty sad, right? Anyways, the only reason I made time for this fic is because my friend maica-chan (or you might know her as kia.511) asked for a sasuxsaku fic. And since she's my buddy, I decided to give it a try! So I hope you like my story!

What else to say…well, lets just say that after the killing of Itachi, none of this really follows the plot, because it's a FANfiction, and I'm making it up...actually, if I even talk of the fight, or a little before it, it will be off…so no flames or reviews on the matter, unless you have a SERIOUS question that needs asking!

Disclaimer: I don't own…because if I did, I would be the luckiest bitch in the world, and you know it…

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Prologue

He slowly limped through the forests, broken leg dragging behind him. Tightly gripping his left arm, he grimaced, teeth still gritted, as he held still the severed muscle in his shoulder.

Frowning, Sasuke narrowed his crimson eyes. Where were those damn ANBU, he couldn't be far from the village. They were usually out scouting the surroundings of the village (at least three to four kilometers out) at this time of night.

Finally defeating his brother, he saw that he had no purpose in being away from the village, except to think over how his brother had not, in fact, killed his clan off in cold blood. It had taken a few weeks in wandering around, in what seemed uselessness, before he decided to make the trek back to Konoha, and reluctantly take whatever punishment that would be bestowed upon him. After all, he had no one else.

Orochimaru had been done and over with for almost a year now, and the most of Team Hebi was dead, as well. Karin had been killed in the cross-fire of his and Itachi's fight, while Suigetsu, upon seeing Kisame, had foolishly run off to fight with him over something as barbaric as the acceptance into some swords team that had been finish for years now. It was a couple hours into the battle with his brother, that he had felt the disappearance of the white-haired boy's chakra signature, and knew he was dead. As for Juugo, he was probably still out there rampaging and causing havoc, trying to find someone to kill to settle his nerves. If Sasuke were right, he would end up dead, as well.

They wouldn't be coming back to bother Sasuke about leaving them, and that was just fine to Sasuke.

There was a soft ticking sound to his left, and he quickly halted, crimson eyes shooting to where the sound came from. He stood straight up, looking into he trees, his jaw clenching. Finally, the fucking ANBU…

"State your name and purpose!" ordered one in a lion's mask.

Sasuke tilted his face so it could be seen in the moonlight. "Hn," he grunted condescendingly.

A soft gasp was heard to the right of him—a woman by the sound of it. "Uchiha…Sasuke?" she questioned mostly to herself.

There were a few grunts and gasps of surprise as the lot of the ANBU grasped at their kunai and katana instinctively. The woman ANBU from before turned to another in an eagle's mask. "Taichou?" she whispered harshly.

"Capture him," he commanded.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed once again, the infamous sharigan swirling in those orbs. His hand made it's way to his kunai pack almost as instinctively as the ANBU, but then he paused, tips brushing past it. Sweat rolled down his brow as he struggled to keep standing and breathing correctly. He couldn't attack, not if he didn't want to start a commotion, and wanted to be accepted into the village.

Besides, he was fatally injured and low on both chakra and energy. He didn't stand a chance against ANBU at this point. He would have to surrender, even if it was the last thing any egotistical and proud Uchiha like him—and every other, for that matter—would want to do.

"Tch…" He stood straight again, out of his fighting stance. Oh, shit… His eyes widened, as the sharigan flickered before disappearing into obsidian depths, and then fell to the ground, face first.

Sasuke grimaced and then grunted as the hit forced him to remember the broken rib that had punctured his lung, leaving it hard for him to breathe in the first place. As soon as he made contact with the ground, the other side of his bone had punctured through his torso, blood pooling underneath him.

Speaking of which…Blood splattered from his mouth, as he metallic taste of it filled his mouth, burning his throat.

Sasuke's teeth gritted as he saw the boot of an ANBU come into sight, chains hanging in front of his face threateningly.

"Hey, hey…that's not who I think it is, is it?" inquired a vaguely familiar voice from the trees. A small chuckle. "If so, I never thought to see him injured." A hearty bark followed the statement.

A dog?...An Inuzuka…thought Sasuke.

The capturing of the young Uchiha halted. "Inuzuka-san…" acknowledged somebody. "What are you doing here?"

"Why are you capturing him? He's injured badly," asked the Inuzuka boy, intently, as he ignored their question.

"That might be true, but this is Uchiha Sasuke!" protested one of the ANBU worriedly, her voice cold as she spat his name.

"Hai," seconded another. "He is an S-class criminal, originally from Konoha, and we have orders to capture him if he is found from the Hokage, herself, Inuzuka-san," he informed.

"Yeah," chuckled the Inuzuka. "But his is Naruto's best friend who is injured." He paused. "And do you really feel like having an angry Naruto on your ass?" reasoned the boy with an uneasy yet knowing tone.

Scoffing slightly, the Inuzuka chuckled again, "I didn't think so." The ANBU stepped off of Sasuke a little and smirked. I owe you one, Kiba.

"ANBU captain, please send your fastest to summon one of the most experienced and prominent med-nin you know—either Shizune-san or Sakura!" ordered Kiba.

"They are both on missions," spoke a blonde ANBU.

The brown-haired Inuzuka sighed. "Then get Ino!" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The Uchiha's eyebrows furrowed from where he lay, face down. Ino and…Sakura? They must have either come a long way, or The Hidden Leaf was lacking…

The captain turned to two of his group that seemed to be the fastest. "You heard him!" he stared pointing his hand toward the village. "Bring Yamanaka-san here at once. Tell her it is an emergency," he ordered sternly.

"Hai!" they confirmed with a bow.

"Dismissed!" And they were off.

Akamaru barked at his master, a whine of protest following. "I know, Akamaru, but they're fast enough. If we move him too much, he'll lose too much blood, and we can't risk that," Kiba explained, hands on his hips. He sniffed the air, his nose wrinkling at the stench of blood left in it. Man, someone really fucked you up, Sasuke…

He frowned as another scent came to his nose. Itachi…His eyes then widened as realization hit him. You couldn't have…! Kiba shook the present thoughts out of his mind. There was time to think of this later. After all, he would never get answers if Sasuke were dead.

He pointed at one of the ANBU closest to the Uchiha. "You, feed him two blood replenishing pills!" he commanded. He glanced at another with stern eyes of a leader. "And you, lay him on his back, and elevate his head and leg. It should make it less painful for him…now!"

"Hai!" The two ANBU quickly did as they were told.

"Slowly!" called the dog-boy, eyes wide as he noticed how uneasy the onyx-haired boy looked.

Suddenly, a flash of blonde appeared next to him in a battle ready position.

"Look who finally decided to show up…" sneered Kiba with a small smirk, showing off a canine-fang.

The blue-eyed medic pouted. "Shut up!" she bit out, putting two small fists on her hips. Kiba couldn't help but chuckle. "Kiba, what's going on here?" Her voice and facial features changed from 'snappy bitch' to 'worried villager'. "I wake to two ANBU telling me there's something urgent on the outskirts of Konoha?" she asked exasperated.

Kiba gave her an awkward look. It was only about 8:00, after all. But then he got a gander at the monster bags under Ino's eyes. No doubt from filling in Sakura's place at the hospital while she was busy with other priorities that needed to be attended to. The dog-boy only smirked. "Heh…take a look for yourself…" he threw his shaggy locks towards the man on the ground.

Ino quickly glanced at the Uchiha, eyes lingering on the figure. Then she looked back at him with a questioning gaze; she found the chakra signature familiar, but Kiba could tell she hadn't totally figured it out yet. "Is it really that bad?"

Kiba scoffed. "Yeah! Why would I call you of all people?" he questioned.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Wow, I'm flattered…" she stated dryly. She was flattered, she was just tired. She hopped of the tree and confidently walked over to her newest patient. The young kunoichi brought her hands up, cracking her knuckles and then paused about a meter away from the boy. She stiffened, paling noticeably, eyes widening slightly. I knew that chakra felt familiar…

There he was; onyx, flowing hair, with matching eyes; perfect pale skin, accented by his toned muscles. Sasuke…She hesitated before continuing towards him, muttering a harsh "move" the ANBU's way, eyes hard again.

"Of course, Yamanaka-san…" The young ANBU scooted over, allowing the heir to the Yamanaka household to kneel next to the last Uchiha.

The blonde reached out her hand, palm shaking slightly. She hesitated for another second before gradually touching his cheek, eyes saddening a little as she looked at his bruised, nostalgic face. Ino glanced over at Kiba, same look in her eye, and he only nodded knowingly.

Getting back to the task at hand, she lowered her digits down to his neck. "His pulse isn't erratic, but I should finish him up quickly…" she murmured mostly to herself, but the two ANBU next to her nodded affirmatively.

She looked up at them. "Has the Hokage been informed about this?'"

The one to her left with dark, chocolate hair nodded again. "Hai, someone has already been sent," he replied.

Her hands began glowing green as she gave a nod of her own. "Well, I think I can handle things here, now, you may go back to your scouting." Her head snapped back to her previous engagement. "Though I don't think you'll find anything quite as…" She hated the use of this word, but…"troublesome as this…" she said, bitterly glaring at the boy she was healing.

"Hai!" And the ANBU disappeared.

Moving her hands to his shoulder, she began to mend the damaged muscles there. She looked into his onyx eyes emotionlessly, his were half-lidded and twitching in pain.

There was a short silence, before she spoke in a whisper. "Your eyes hurt, don't they…?" He grunted slightly, and she scoffed. "You'll go blind if you keep overusing that damn sharigan like you've most likely been doing…" she berated in a quiet, yet harsh voice.

Sasuke glared. If he were strong enough at this moment, he would be attempting to strangle the bitch, right now.

"Just like your brother…" she continued. Ino knew he wasn't able to talk back during the predicament he was in, so she would take this time to get things straight. "Just when I thought he was the one you despised, he was the one you wanted to kill; you turned out just like him, didn't you?" she asked as she ever-so-roughly moved from his shoulder, brushing past his lung, and arriving at his broken leg where she did not even think to numb the pain with her chakra. He hissed softly.

"How dare you betray us—for that snake bastard, no less?" she asked hotly. He noticed tears shimmering in her eyes, but never falling. And then her voice reached a level of coldness that he was not fond of hearing from the usually loud, perky girl. "But I and the rest of us will make sure you will betray us no longer, for Sakura and Naruto's sake…and for yours." Her scornful frown soon turned into a small smirk as her glowing green hand came up over his eyes. "Sweet dreams, traitor…" she chimed, sadistically. And he was out.

Step forward: he had finally reached Konoha; steps back: apparently the most of Konoha was angry, and he was sure it had a pink-haired inhabitant that seconded that…

A/N: So, hoped you liked it! I worked hard on it, and it took longer than I thought it would…BUT ANYWAYS!! Plz review, peeps!! Luv u and laterz!

--SAYURI--