Hello, loves. It's crazy to actually be writing a story. I haven't posted one in years, but I am still an avid reader of fanfiction... Naruto fanfics at least. But, I hope everyone enjoys.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

She has been gone for two months. It was supposed to be two weeks, at most. However, missions rarely ever go smoothly when you are in the ANBU rankings. Sakura could feel the weariness in her bones as she tended to a shallow gash on her arm. Using a tree to support herself, she slowly removed the old wrapping.

"Great, it's infected," Sakura thought with an annoyed sigh.

Not only had the mission gone horribly wrong, the sight of yellow puss oozing out of her arm just put the cherry on top just served as a painful reminder of how wrong it ended up being. The information they received from the client was faulty all the way through. The payment being offered was the only reason that each detail was not inspected thoroughly before Tsunade sent Sakura and two other ANBU operatives out into the fields of Grass.

Sakura's eyes began to water and it was not from the pain that should could feel in her arm. Shikiro and Natsume would not be coming back to Konoha with her. She was still slightly doubtful that she, herself, would be making it back. A choking sound escaped her throat as the tears began.

Punching the ground with as much force as she could without chakra, Sakura was sure that she could feel something fracture. Silent tears turned into a full blown sobbing. Her eyes were screwed shut as she tried to block out the sights of her teammates being brutally cut down by enemy ninja. She was a medic-nin, dammit.

The team of three, one member short of the usual ANBU squad, had been caught off-guard when they were roughly twenty miles into Grass. Fifteen Grass-nin, all Jounin level or higher, relentlessly attacked them. Shikiro was taken down with three sound jutsu that were aimed at him simultaneously. His ear drums exploded upon impact and he was left on the ground screaming in pain while Sakura and Natsume were targeted by the Grass nin.

The rest of the fight went by in a blur for Sakura. She remembered trying to take care of Shikiro's damaged ear drums while five of her clones and Natsume fended off their attackers. Before she knew it, Natsume was taken down, a kunai to her carotid artery. The eagle mask that she had been wearing prevented the kunai from embedded itself in her neck, but the cut on her neck still managed to bleed profusely. Momentarily stunned at the sight of so much blood, Sakura's hesitation was cause her her capture.

That was four days into their mission. The past fifty-two days spent in a drug-induced state, in and out of consciousness. The Grass-nin ended up being followers of Kabuto, whom had taken over Grass after Orochimaru's death. The three were not specifically targeted, but Kabuto was very pleased when the pink-haired medic was brought it with her two nearly dead teammates.

Sakura's crying ended with a small whimpering noise. The only reason she had escaped was because one of the lackeys assigned to keep her drugged and drained of her chakra forgot to give her, her second dosage in the evening. Even in a slightly dazed state, enough chakra had returned to break his skull. And thirty others. She never saw Kabuto as she made her way out, but she was able to find her comrade's bodies, two sealing scrolls, and a well stocked first aid kit to survive the trek home.

And now, three days after her escape, Sakura's emotional instability was finally catching up with her. Yes, she had seen teammates die before. Yes, she had been captured and tortured before. Yes, she had been along and injured in enemy territory. The two months she had been gone from Konoha, however, was the longest she had been gone due to being captured.

Thoughts of Naruto, Ino, Tsunade, Kakashi, Sasuke, and the rest of Konoha's 12 kept her sane enough to endure the torture. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Sakura returned to tend to her arm. With infection setting in, Sakura knew that she had to get out of the forest as soon as possible. The first aid kit she had stolen was well stocked, but there was not enough to really judge the severity of the infection. What she needed was a bath. One with lavender scented bath salts and vanilla candles and Naruto there to give her a massage afterwards.

That thought alone was incentive enough to finish wrapping up her arm with clean bandages. Although she knew that she would have to have a long talk with Ibiki down in T&I, Sakura also knew that Tsunade would make it as short as possible for her apprentice. After putting away the excess bandages, Sakura used the tree to support herself as she stood. Sakura let out a sigh. She was so exhausted. Two more days and she would be back home.

Two more days.

Sakura did not quite make it back to Konoha on her own. After indulging on a fourth soldier pill, Sakura's body gave up on her within minutes of ingesting the pill. She was only a few short miles away from Konoha but her body refused to respond to her. Laying face first on the ground, Sakura really hoped that someone on patrol would find her. And soon. Blood was pooling on the ground from a broken nose that she obtained on her descent down from the trees.

The pinkette let out a long groan. She just wanted to be home.

"Haruno-san," a shocked voice called from several yards away. "Oh my.. uh... Kotetsu! Over here! No. Now!" Sakura identified the voice to belong to Izumo, one of the gate guards that went on the occasional mission with his partner-in-crime, Kotetsu. "Oh shit, Haruno. You look like hell," he murmured the last part.

Sakura let out a shaky laugh as she succumbed to her body's need for sleep. The last thing she saw was Izumo and Kotetsu running up to her side.

Yelling. That was all Sakura could register when she began to slowly wake up. Her mouth was dry and her eye lids were heavy. The hospital bed she knew she was laying on was so comfortable and she tried to make herself fall back asleep to escape the loud voices. But alas, Sakura's eye lids betrayed her and opened to Tsunade, Kakashi, Naruto, Ino, and Sasuke crowded in her hospital room. Tsunade and Naruto were yelling at one another over the quality of the hospital food.

"Well if you would just get them to add a little salt to the food then maybe more people would eat here!" Naruto yelled.

"The hospital is not a damn five-star restaurant, boy!" Tsunade replied, attempting to smack the blonde boy on his head.

"Well, duh! Everyone knows that!"

Kakashi was currently leaning against the wall, looking out of the window, his posture slightly tense. Sasuke was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room with his eyes closed. Sakura knew he would be awake. Sasuke was not a light sleeper and would find it impossible to even try to nap with the two blonds yelling at each other. Ino was busying herself with the various bouquets that littered the small dresser to the left of Sakura's hospital bed. Absorbing the scene before her, Sakura smiled slightly at the sight. She was home. She was alive. Her precious people were still the same.

Adjusting herself to sit up in the reclined bed, she received everyone's attention with the slow movement.

A chorus of "Sakura, how are you feeling," "Stop moving, you'll rip your stitches," and "Goodness, Sakura! We were so worried," was yelled by the three blondes. Kakashi's posture was now relaxed and Sasuke's eyes opened to stare at her.

Clearing her throat, Sakura managed to let out a raspy "Hi," which resulted in Ino's eyes tearing up and Naruto's full belly laughter resonating throughout the room. Sasuke got up from his chair and walked into the bathroom for a few moments. When he returned, he walked right up to her bedside to present her with a cup of water. Helping her sit up in a better position, Sasuke gave her a small kiss on her forehead and exited the room with a small nod to everyone in the room.

Sakura sipped her water as Tsunade and Ino fussed over her vitals and making sure that she was comfortable. The five shared small conversation, mostly Sakura just listening, about what had been happening in the village since her botched mission. She knew that they were trying to keep her mind off of the inevitable.

However, Kakashi let her know after Tsunade left to continue her Hokage duties that Ibiki was coming later in the evening to take her down to I&T. It was supposed to be classified information but when it was Kakashi Hatake, a lot of information did not remain classified. Whenever it dealt with Sakura, Naruto, or Sasuke, Kakashi was the first to know. When it came to Naruto's Hokage training, Sasuke's clan troubles, and Sakura's overworked schedule, Kakashi was the one that knew every bit of information about his kids.

When he became this over protective father figure, he still does not even know. It was shocking to his trio at first when they realized how much he involved himself in their lives, but now it was extremely comforting. He was the closest thing to a father for Naruto, the comforting father instead of the overbearing one that Sasuke had, and the loving and understanding father for Sakura.

Sasuke's family was overbearing, pushy, selfish, and several other undesirable adjectives. His mother was the only slightly normal person in the Uchiha clan. However, even she had her terrifying moments as the Uchiha matriarch. His father was raising his sons the same way that he was raised. It took years for Sasuke to come to terms with that, and when he did, he was finally able to let go of the anger he felt for his father. He took solace in the small family that had taken him it when he was assigned to Team 7. He grew to love them and break down his barriers when he was with them. Only them. Once Sakura got over the school girl crush she had for Sasuke, he was able to open up to her. Now, Sakura was like the sister that he never had. Naruto was the brother that Sasuke wish he had. Itachi was a good brother, but it was seemingly impossible to get past the competitive nature between the two of them.

Sakura continued to nod at Kakashi who was slightly prepping her for the interrogation. He had told her that they had tried to push it back until she regained her strength, but after two weeks of being out cold, Ibiki was getting impatient. Sakura found out that the infection she got from a gash on her arm should have killed her within the two days that she traveled back. The soldier pills that she had been taking sped up her metabolism just enough to keep the infection from spreading to the lethal amount. Along with the infection, Sakura had four broken ribs, a slightly deflated right lung, was severely dehydrated, had damaged chakra coils, and a mild concussion. the one thing that she remembered being glad for in the time of her captivity, she was never sexually abused. Kabuto was a monster, but he had at least that small amount of decency to not allow his men to abuse the pinkette in that manner.

In the two weeks of being out, Tsunade had managed to fix the majority of her injuries. Healing her chakra coils would take the longest and would be painful, but she was expected to make a full recovery.

"Well, Sakura-chan. I'm going to have to be on my way now. There's this old lady that I promised I would help across the street earlier, but then I remembered that you were here," Kakashi spoke, his visible eye crinkling as he smiled at his surrogate daughter.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love you, too. I'm really sorry, again, for making you and everyone else worry," Sakura said, reaching out to hold his hand.

Kakashi gave in to her request and he stood there for a few minutes holding her hand in a meaningful silence. Naruto and Ino had long since left the room by then and it was very comforting for Sakura to have just Kakashi in the room with her. Of course she loved Ino and Naruto just as much, but there were times where these silent moment with Kakashi was all that she needed to remain level headed.

"I'll come back either later tonight or tomorrow morning when Ibiki is done talking with you," Kakashi said, kissing her cheek before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Smiling to herself, Sakura closed her eyes in attempt to take a small nap before she was taken down to T&I.

"Sakura! Get your ass out of your work clothes and put on the dress that I laid out for you on your bed. We're going out tonight whether you like it or not," Ino yelled from the pinkette's kitchen.

Sakura had literally just closed her apartment door before she heard the Yamanaka's demanding voice. Sighing, Sakura mumbled an affirmative that she knew Ino would hear. Sakura had just gotten off of a twelve hour shift at the hospital. Going out was the last thing that the young woman wanted to do tonight. However, Sakura was not going to protest this time. It had been three weeks since Sakura had been back in Konoha, not including the two weeks of being knocked out in the hospital. For Ino's sake, Sakura would go out to humor her friend.

Stripping off her work clothes, Sakura turned on her shower to its hottest setting. Once Sakura was cleared by Ibiki and various other people to continue her shinobi work, the twenty-one year old dove headfirst into the pile of work that had accumulated in her time away. She took a quick shower, not really thinking as she went through her normal routine. Wrapping her hair in a towl, Sakura walked down the hallway to her room naked. Even if Ino was in her apartment, it was not going to ruin her bathroom routine.

Moving mechanically, Sakura dressed herself in a form fitting black dress that had barley enough material to be considered a dress. The back of it was cut out to expose her back right above her butt. The black fabric came down to about her mid-thigh to where Sakura would have to be aware of potentially flashing someone every few seconds. With the black push up bra that Ino laid out for her, Sakura's modest B-cup breasts appeared to by a full C-cup with the help of the padding and under wire. She supposed she looked good. However, Sakura could not help but wonder how Ino excepted her to stay in the four inch red heels all night.

"Damn, Sakura. I sure know how to pick out clothes for you," Ino wolf whistled as she came into the small bedroom.

"Yeah, I can finally go back to working my corner, now. Thanks Pig," Sakura joked, taking her hair down from the towel.

"Well you're welcome, Forehead. You obviously need to money. You need to upgrade your living space desperately." Ino was now rummaging through Sakura's makeup while the pinkette did her hair. Picking out cherry red lipstick, black eye liner and mascara, and concealer, Ino motioned for Sakura to sit on the bed in front of her.

"Hey, I love my apartment," Sakura defended.

Sure, her place was a little small and had a lot of plumbing issues. But, Sakura was attached to the "crappy" apartment that she began renting when she was sixteen. It had one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room big enough for one couch and a coffee table, and a kitchenette that allowed three people in it at a time without risk of knocking over everything. The walls were decorated with various photos, posters, and certificates. If it were anyone else's apartment, it would look like a hoarder lived there, but Sakura took pride in being meticulously clean and organized.

"You're never going to land a real man with a place like this," Ino scolded as she started doing Sakura's makeup.

"Wouldn't the man have to have a nice apartment and make me move in with him because he would be too stubborn to move out?"

"Well, you're too stubborn and your never going to leave this hole-in-the-wall place," the blonde continued.

"Whatever, Pig. I'm too busy to even thinking about getting into a relationship, much less move out of my quaint little apartment."

Ino said nothing after that, which was shocking for her. She finished Sakura's makeup in record time and then moved to the living room to change into her outfit for the night. Sakura dried her hair quickly and then tied her waist long hair into a loose side pony-tail, her hair hanging over her left shoulder. Looking in her full-length mirror, Sakura smiled in approval. It was nice to dress up for a bar night every now and then. It reminded Sakura that she was still lady-like even in her particular profession.

As Ino was in the other room getting ready, Sakura sat down on her bed and grabbed a bottle of red nail polish. She figured she might as well match her nails with her lipstick and heels.

"I'm so glad you came out tonight, Sakura!" Genma slurred as he leaned over in the booth to put an arm around the young woman.

Currently, she was wedged in between Genma and Shisui. Somehow, she had managed to get stuck with two of the biggest flirts in Konoha. She had to admit, they were attractive, but the nagging from either of one of them for her to spend the night with them got old fast. However, with a few drinks in her, it was proving harder and harder to fend off their advances.

"Me too, Genma. It's nice to see everyone," she said politely, taking a sip from her sake dish.

"It's been forever since I've seen you. And you look killer in that dress," he said, moving to nuzzle and kiss her neck.

"Hey! Genma no fair! We agreed that we wouldn't hit on her like that if she was drinking sake. Not right, man," Shisui said, looking horrified that Genma was breaking their pact.

The pink haired woman let out a light laugh and she lightly pushed Genma away. She did not realize there were rules that the two males had in their competition to sleep with her. It made since though. Now that she thought about it, Sakura could not recall a single time when they were hitting on her when she was beyond drunk.

"Well aren't they sweet," Sakura mused, excused herself from their table.

Ino had disappeared shortly after they arrived at the shinobi bar. She had recently broken up with her civilian boyfriend and was in need of a rebound guy for the night, or a few nights. Sakura was not one for one-night-stands. After the first, and only, one-night-stand she had, she made a point to cut herself off from drinking. Not only was Sakura embarrassed from the night, but her boys decided to beat up the unlucky Jounin that dared to sleep with their intoxicated teammate.

Catching Kakashi out of the corner of her eye, Sakura moved through the crowd of sweaty bodies to where he was sitting. Taking the empty seat beside him, Sakura nodded in greeting to Asuma, Itachi, Shikamaru, and Shizune. It was odd to see Itachi and Shikamaru at this bar. As far as she knew, Sakura never saw them out, especially the Uchiha heir.

"Glad to see you're okay, Sakura-chan," Asuma spoke, raising his beer to toast her.

Smiling, Sakura drank straight from her sake bottle in response. "Thank you, Asuma-san. My recovery went smoothly thanks to Tsunade and everyone."

Itachi made eye contact with her after she said this. She could not quite decipher the meaning, but she assumed it was slight relief. Although Sakura and Itachi were not close in their own personal relations, Itachi was updated about Sakura and vice versa through Sasuke almost constantly. When Sakura was missing for those two months, Itachi was one of the main people that Sasuke went to, to express his worries. Itachi could not remember a day from those two months, when he was not on a mission, when Sakura was not brought up by his younger brother.

"Shika, have you seen Ino? She disappeared a while back," Sakura asked, turning to him as he took a sip from his rum and coke.

"I'm pretty sure that I saw her leaving with a Chuunin from the academy," he said, her brow furrowing slightly.

Sakura felt bad for the man. Ino refused to acknowledge his feelings for her and continued to date and hookup with guys who were not good for her. However, it was only a matter of time before the blonde accepted it and reciprocated his feelings.

"Oh, well that's a shame. She's the main reason that I came out tonight," Sakura said, slightly disappointed as well. She missed being able to see Ino frequently. Whenever they could see each other, it was pretty much like this night. Ino would make her get all dolled up, they would share a drink or two at the bar, and then she would disappear with her boyfriend of the week or a random guy. Sakura did not know why Ino felt the need to hookup with so many men, but Sakura figured it was her way of coping with the atrocities she saw on missions and in I&T.

Swirling the sake, Sakura took another gulp. Shizune and Kakashi were currently joking about a recent mission that they went on together. Their client was a complete dunce and could not get the location of their mission right. It was supposed to be a simple, week long mission. But, it turned into three weeks as they explored the country land looking for a small boarder town.

Normally, Sakura would include herself in the conversation but tonight she wasn't feeling up to it. She was perfectly content with drinking her sake, listening to her group talk, and attempting to ignore the curious looks she was getting from Itachi. Ever since she woke up in the hospital, she had not been up for socialization nearly as much. Even her temper had simmered, something that Naruto was very thankful for. However, the less bumps on his head he got, the more concerned that he, along with everyone else, got.

Sakura recognize her attitude change and she knew it was from being held captive. Staring at her sake, she let out a shaky sigh. It was hard sometimes to go back to normal after particular missions. She was trying to remain level-headed about everything and keep her emotions at bay helped. If she began to overreact, she just reigned in her temper in order to keep herself from crying. That's all she felt like doing lately. But, she had too many responsibilities to allow that to happen.

Downing her sake, Sakura realized that she had already finished her the full bottle. As she was about to go to the bar to get another, a beer was placed in front of her. Looking up, surprised, Sakura was met with Itachi's infamous smirk. The beer was obviously just opened, but where he got it, she was unawares. Sakura had spaced out for so long that she did not even notice until now that Kakashi, Shizune, Shikamaru, and Asuma had left the table. Left alone with Itachi, Sakura just stared blankly at him while he continued to smirk.

"If you keep staring, your beer will get warm," Itachi said, his tone teasing.

"Oh, right. Uchiha-san," Sakura replied, unscrewing the top of the beer.

"Itachi," he corrected, the smirk gone.

"Right. When did everyone else leave?"

"Only about a minute ago. They went to go get a few round of shots, I believe," the eldest Uchihia replied, taking a swig from his beer.

The two sat in a comfortable silence until the other returned to the table, with enough shots to get all of them wasted. The song in the bar changed abruptly, causing most of the bar's occupants to groan. Seconds later, the music returned and the crowd cheered at the song. It was a popular Konoha song that was upbeat and seemed to be many kunoichi's favorite song, including Sakura. Beaming at Kakashi, Sakura knew that it was him that requested the song. Picking up a shot, of what she would never know, she held it up and let out a loud "Woo!" The group following suit and the shots soon turned into a drinking contest between Sakura and Shizune.

Itachi sat back, sipping his beer and taking the occasional shot, and watched the pink haired woman. She was finally unwinding again. He had not heard from Sasuke or seen her being this carefree for a long while. He had never found himself so intrigued with someone until this moment. He knew so much about her already from Sasuke, but he found himself wanting to really get to the pink haired beauty that was almost falling out of the booth. Smirking to himself, Itachi let out a small chuckle when Shizune was declared the winner of the drinking contest and Sakura let out a loud cry of "no fair!"

Kakashi, who was at the bar getting another drink, narrowed his visible eye at the Uchiha. Itachi did not know what was coming his way if he decided to act on the new found interest towards Sakura that the copy-nin was picking up on.

A/N:

Sooooooo, this is what I'm starting out with. Let me know what y'all think so far. I'm thinking Ita/Saku, but I don't have a definite direction I want to take this in. Please Review! Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors.