Truth

Sakura felt like she had been stung. It hurt. Sasuke had been treating her coldly for a while now, and he had only been at the battleground for a few hours. He was making sure that she could not help anyone, and that she could not get out of his susano'o. He was treating her as if she were some little child, and she did not like that.

Kakashi had the same fate, and he had given up trying to get Sasuke to let him out. Instead, Kakashi was watching the fight, and probably analysing the situation. The roseate had asked why Kakashi had decided to just sit back, but the copy-nin merely said that the battle was not in their hands anymore, and it was merely up to Sasuke and Naruto.

… Sakura felt weak again. Behind her team. Not worth being there. And many other negative things. Why was she always the one behind both of the boys? It was not fair. The roseate had deactivated the diamond seal on her forehead, the form returning into the large blue diamond, rather than the streaks that had covered her face for quite a bit.

"Sakura," Kakashi called, "Stop thinking about it. We have to put our trust in the both of them."

The teenager glanced over at her teacher, biting her lip in hesitation. Should she? Of course. But… she wanted to fight with them. She was a part of team 7, as much as those two were. Kakashi should have wanted to fight as well.

The silver-haired jonin decided to move closer to her, the dark walls of the susano'o making things quite hard to see, but basic shapes and colours could still be seen. The masked-man patted the girl's head, and gave her a smile, although she did not see it.

"… They'll call on us when they need us, Sakura," he was about to leave again, but stopped, "Oh, and stop doubting yourself with Sasuke."

The kunoichi looked shocked, "W—What are you talking about?"

"He was the one who tried to make sure that Madara did not cut you down earlier, not Naruto. Sasuke pushed you away, to try and land a hit on Madara. Sasuke is the sort of person who will pay more attention to the battlefield, so don't think that he doesn't care," Kakashi did not know if he was telling lies, but that was his own interpretation of what had happened.

Within seconds, the Uchiha that they were talking about appeared in the susano'o once more. His arm was heavily bleeding, and the limb looked as if it had been sliced into by a katana. Probably was. Sasuke looked at her, silently asking. She nodded her head and crouched down in front of him before ripping at the shirt, tying it into a knot around his arm to stop blood flow.

She then did a few hand signs before her medical chakra flared to life in her hands. The roseate began healing the man's arm, watching as the flesh pulled back together, to cover the muscle, and to stop the blood from flowing as freely as it had been. Sakura then pushed away, she wiped her bloody hands onto her apron.

"Thanks," Sasuke said quietly before standing up.

He reached his own hand down, offering for her to take it. However, Sakura looked away uneasily. The Uchiha let out a low rumble in his throat, and she finally took his hand as he pulled her up. Kakashi, from the other side of the chakra deity, watched what had happened silently.

A smile graced his face; maybe Sasuke could be redeemed. Just maybe. And Sakura might play a part in it, that is… if he lets her.

Sakura was about to leave again, not wanting Sasuke to see her look upset. However, he stopped her.

"Matte," he said quietly, "I said that wrong," he frowned to himself, "arigatou."

Sakura's breath hitched. She wanted to tear herself away from him, but she refrained from doing so, only looking at the ground. Why did… Sasuke decide to do that?

"… and gomen."

Now that one gave Sakura the most shock; she stared at the usually quiet Uchiha. His eyes were not stormy, and she noted that the eye that had been crimson with the sharingan, was now a deep onyx that Sakura had grown to love. But now, those eyes were the eyes that haunted her at night. … Even though she still loved them.

"Why?" Her voice was breathless.

"… If we die, I want you to know that," the Uchiha murmured, "… but if we live, don't run from me."

"Sasuke-kun?"

"I… care… Seeing you stabbed like that," the Uchiha shook his head, "Iie. I don't want to see that again. I've said before that I've never wanted to see a trusted comrade die in front of me… And yet you… risking your life like that… even if it were for a distraction…"

"… I wanted to make an opening, but I just… I was just useless."

"Useless…? How are you useless? You tried to do something; you went up against an enemy that you clearly feared…"

". . ."

"… Stay behind so I can talk to you when we win this war, Sakura. Got it?"

"… Hai."

And Sasuke vanished again.

Kakashi chuckled from his side, "Told you so."