"You were so cool, Sasuke-Kun!" she spoke, a smile placed on her lips as usual.

"Remember how you showed me what it means to be alone?!"

"Sasuke-Kun, thank you for saving me…" turning to face him, she closed her eyes in a smile as she thanked him, unaware of whom it was who really saved her. Who it was who was able to save her…

"I've…I have family, and friends…but Sasuke, if I lose you, I…I'll be…I will be very lonely."

"Please…stop…" hugging him from behind, tears streaming down her face that was buried into the back of his shirt, she begged in fear for him to return to her.

"I'm so in love with you I can't even stand it! Sasuke-Kun!"

Her smiling face began to fade into the single light in the midst of the darkness, as she waved in hope for him to follow.

"Stay with me, and I'll never let you regret it! We'll have fun every day and…and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it!"

Her smile faded, along with the images of her happiness. She was left broken, falling away from the darkness that broke her.

"I'll do anything for you Sasuke! Just please…please, please don't go!"

Sasuke woke up with a jolt, sitting up in bed with his arm reached out as far as it could go. His eyes were wide as he huffed for air. Slowly, he pulled his hand back, resting a side of his face into his palm. The rest of Team Hawk slept soundly around the dimming fire. He observed each one of them as feelings of regret tugged at his conscience. He sighed, lying back down on the very uncomfortable mat he had grown accustom to as a ninja. He stared into the fire, the images of his dream flowing through his mind. He clenched his fist;

"Damn it..!" he hissed through his teeth, as he closed his eyes, trying to force himself into a dreamless sleep.

- - - - - -

Sakura walked through the familiar door leading into the Hokage's office. Meeting the gaze of her friend, Ino, she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Tsunade, catching both her and Ino's full attention.

"Sakura, Ino, it seems the Land of the Waves fell under attack not long ago. They were able to work their way through it, but have been left with many injured. I would like to send the two of you there to help them get things back in order, and see what you can do for the ones who were hurt. You'll need to leave by tomorrow, as early as possible."

"Ye--…" Sakura's voice trailed off, she found herself unable to continue. The memories forced their way into her mind. Team 7's first official mission…

"Eh, yes, Tsunade-Sama." Ino bowed, eyeing Sakura suspiciously through the corner of her eye.

Tsunade dismissed Ino, needing to speak to Sakura. Considering what Kakashi had told her of the events that had happened there, she knew Sakura would need a bit of a push if she was to go through with the mission with her full efforts. Sighing, Tsunade placed her glass of tea—that held a suspicious hint of alcohol in its scent—on her desk before speaking;

"…Sakura…" Sakura's head lifted up enough for her to make eye contact, "I talked to Kakashi, and I know what this means for you. Excluding your exceeding medical ability, that's part of my reasoning for sending you."

"What…I'm sorry, Tsunade-Sama, but I don't really understand…" Sakura's voice was involuntarily shaky as she spoke.

"Sakura, look at you. Sasuke has been gone for three years now." The words caused a terrible pain in the pit of Sakura's stomach, she winced slightly, unnoticeable to Tsunade as she continued, and "I know you'll never stop searching for him, neither will Naruto, but you need to realize how his memory is affecting your performance as a ninja." Tsunade sighed, "I'm sorry, but I need to you go on this mission…you're dismissed." She ended the conversation, to Sakura's relief.

"Yes…thank you, Tsunade-Sama." Sakura bowed before walking out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. Her hand hesitated on the doorknob; her eyes were blank as she stared at the cracks in the floor.

'Performance as a ninja, huh…?' The words echoed through Sakura's head as her hand finally let go, and she continued on her way home.

- - - - -

"Sasuke…!" Sasuke flinched at the way the girl said his name. It was far too familiar, and reminded him too much of his past. Karin ran to catch up with him as he tended to walk faster than the rest of the group. She placed a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch away from the touch. Karin pouted at him for a moment, before giving up and continuing what she had been doing.

"Why are we taking this route to Konoha? Won't it take longer than it needs to?" She spoke faster than she really needed to; something Sasuke took note as one of her many annoying factors. She pouted again, but again soon gave up. Sasuke never really paid attention to her unless he needed to; he kept his gaze on the path. He wasn't planning on answering her, after finally accepting that, she took her gaze off of him, focusing on checking for any nearby chakras.

Soon enough, Suigetsu and Jugo caught up to them, talking amongst themselves. Sasuke had tuned them out to the point of their voices being mere echoes. Letting his eyes wander to the sky, he lost focus, allowing his dream to come into his mind.

'Please, please don't go!' His eyes fell back down to the ground, still keeping the emotion hidden. His memory of that night was so vivid, how he felt at every moment. He remembered how the sound of her choking back tears made his stomach turn. He hated when she cried for him. Turning around to see her face was one of the hardest things he had ever done, let alone keep his composure. She looked so torn, as the tears continued to fall. Being so close to her, thanking her was all he could do. What else could he have said? He had little hope of returning alive at the time, the best thing he could have done for her, was let her live her life in the village and move on from him. She would find someone knew to love—

"Sasuke?" Karin's voice rang through his silence, pulling him back into reality. "Sasuke, what's wrong? Why'd you stop?"

Sasuke looked around; he had stopped in the middle of the path. Jugo was at his side looking confused, as Suigetsu looked back at him from where he stood a few feet ahead.

"Uh, come on Sasuke. You said yourself we have to get to Konoha as soon as possible!" Suigetsu called out, his toothy grin creeping up on his lips. Sasuke nodded, trying once again to erase the memory. Team Hawk continued on, Suigetsu testing Karin's anger as usual as Jugo tried to calm her down; Sasuke walked ahead, his eyes focusing on every rock he passed, staying occupied.

- - - - -

"Sakura!" Sakura caught Ino's eyes as she walked up to the Village gate. The sun was barely risen, the sky still dark. Her face gave away her questioning at Ino's obviously annoyed expression.

Ino sighed, shaking her head, "this is very out of character for you, Sakura. You're late!" She made her voice stern as she waved a finger at Sakura.

"Oh…sorry; I couldn't sleep very well last night…" Sakura's head tilted just slightly to the side as she looked away in thought, aggravating Ino even more.

"Ugh! Fine, let's just get going! I want to make good time." Ino spoke as she turned around, picking her pace up into a run. Smiling, Sakura waved goodbye to the gatekeepers, then quickly caught up with Ino. As they flew easily through the trees, undetected, Sakura's mind began to wander, to things she should have probably kept out of her memory;

"This is pretty easy!" Sakura sat up on a high branch. Sticking her tongue out, she taunted her teammates.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto called out, obviously impressed by her. He and Sasuke had barely gotten up five feet. A wave of disappointment hit her, as Sasuke looked down, refusing to look back.

A smile formed on Sakura's lips as she remembered. She thought he just didn't care, wasn't impressed. But, even Sakura had times where she surpassed Sasuke, making him jealous. Making him angry; she made him feel closer and closer to being weak as well as Naruto, although her part may not have been as big. Her smile was not one of pride; it was simply the feeling of warmth she felt at the time. Laughing down at them, so happy she was able to show off in front of him. But what she hadn't realized was that she was hurting him.

"Sakura…your arm's heavy…" Sakura looked up, tears still flowing from her eyes. She felt his heart beat pick up again, the warmth beginning to come back to his body. Her stomach sank, her eyes wide with shock, as she realized what she had almost lost. What she thought she had lost. She never wanted to feel that way again…

"Sasuke-Kun! Sasuke-Kun, Sasuke-Kun!" without thinking, she hugged him, her mind had gone blank. She cried aloud into the bridge of his neck. He lied there, frozen as she leaned against his wounds, crying his name in relief.

"Sakura…that hurts…" he mumbled, looking at her. Sakura couldn't help smiling, she had never felt so happy. He was still with her, but at that moment, she realized how much she depended on him to be there. At that time, she decided to take her title as a ninja more seriously, just like he did.

"Sakura!" Ino's voice pulled Sakura back into the present. She looked up as the wind brushed past her face. Ino wasn't there. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her arm as she fell into the side of the tree abruptly hitting her head on the bark. She looked up to yell, but was stopped with Ino's hand over her mouth. Glaring, she gestured down at the ground. Sakura followed with her eyes, catching a glimpse of red hair flowing behind a girl with the wind. She wore black rimmed glasses, short shorts and a revealing shirt that cut up to the middle of her back, letting out on each side. She glimpsed around, seeming to be in search of something. Sakura and Ino had their chakras suppressed, frozen where they stood. Her face had a natural glare to it, which grew harder as she seemed to become more frustrated. She turned, running back. Ino relaxed, stepping out of their hiding spot, but Sakura gripped her shoulder, shaking her head. They both looked in the direction the girl had run; she had three accompanying her in the distance.

"Sasuke! I don't sense any strong trails of chakra, just small hints, but their locations are kind of muffled. What should we do?" the girl called out, Ino let out a small gasp, looking at Sakura.

Sakura was staring at the one she called out to, hoping for the names to be the only similarity. She searched him over, same clothing, hair, same composure as far as she could tell from where she stood. It was him. Her breaths became quick, difficult to take in. She clasped her hand to her collar bone, she couldn't think, couldn't act. Her control over her chakra began to waver as she fell against the trunk of the tree. Ino began coaching her through her panic attack, trying to calm her down.

"Wait, I think the chakra is getting closer…? It seems to be becoming stronger in waves…" she struggled to explain when Sasuke's eyes shot up to where they hid.

'Shit…!' Ino glared back at him from behind the leaves, quickly, she grabbed Sakura and went to the left, running through the trees as fast as she could with Sakura's arm slung over her shoulder.

"Um…" Karin looked around confused.

"Jeez, what is it, woman?" Suigetsu asked her, annoyed.

"Shut up!" Karin glared, unsure of her pathetic comeback, "the chakra's are fading. Whoever it was ran away. They sure sucked at suppressing their chakra." She chuckled proudly.

"Hn…" Sasuke looked back dazedly, unsure of what he saw. But still, it didn't concern him at the moment. He walked further, glancing up at the trees as he passed.

Miles away, Sakura fell to the ground, huffing for air, the attack passed; now allowing her to realize how horribly she had just messed up. He was right there. And she reacted in fear and disappointment. The way the girl had said his name, so familiar. The number of people, the way their chakra levels leveled out, they were a team. He had a new team. Sakura looked at her feet sprawled out in front of her. She wouldn't cry. Not in front of Ino, not now.

'Performance as a ninja…' Tsunade's voice rang through Sakura's head.