Disclaimer: Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto

Intermittent beeping and the occasional turn of a page filled the still silence of the room. An open window provided a cool breeze but little warmth as the sun began to set, signifying the end of another day. I frowned. It had been four days now, they should have woken up already. I reluctantly pulled my gaze from my book and surveyed the room, my eyes lingering on two individuals in hospital beds, slowly breathing in and out. It was a little unnerving. I was used to seeing Naruto acting boisterous and lively and Sakura tending the injured, not being the injured tended to. Even though Naruto had been the most seriously hurt it had been expected that he would at the very least be awake by now and none of Sakura's physical injuries explained her current unconsciousness.

I couldn't help but wonder once again if I should have done anything differently on the mission. I felt I should have been there during their confrontation but I had my own ninja to fight and could not get there in time. Another part of me wonders if it would have made any difference at all.

A slight change in breathing caught my attention. With a few twitches and a change in position Sakura opened her eyes. She hadn't yet noticed me and had begun taking in her surroundings. I saw recognition in her eyes as she recognized her surroundings and then confusion as they landed on me. She hoisted herself up a bit.

"What happened? How did I end up in the hospital?"

"You were on a mission. Do you remember?"

Her brows furrowed thoughtfully and she shook her head.

I slowly exhaled a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. I'd had enough trouble trying to figure out what to say about the mission before finding out I had to remind her of what happened. I knew this wasn't going to be pretty. "You, Naruto, Yamato and I were on a mission to capture Sasuke."

"Who's Sasuke?"

I had expected tears, frustration, anger or sadness. Her calm query was the last response I'd expected. Not knowing how to respond I reached over and pressed the call button for the nurse and then I just sat there. Maybe she'd taken a blow to the head I hadn't known about. Sakura began to look irritated that I hadn't answered her question. Not long after that a nurse came in.

"Get Tsunade" was all I said before the nurse hurried off. I don't know what she saw in my face or eyes but hospital staff usually merely tolerate me, not hurry off to do my bidding.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

I glanced back in her direction and gave her a scrutinizing look. How could she remember my name and not his? The door opened and to my relief in walked the Hokage.

"Ah, Sakura. It's good to see you're up. How are you feeling?" I could feel the double meaning a mile away, yet it appeared Sakura didn't.

"A little sore and thirsty but that's it."

Tsunade seemed to wait for her to add to that and then sent a questioning look m way.

"What happened? How did Naruto and I end up in hospital?"

"Your team was on another mission to capture Sasuke in Sound. You and Naruto got separated from Kakashi and Yamato and when they caught up with you again you were both unconscious and Sasuke was leaving. We were hoping you could tell us."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't remember what happened... Sishou who's Sasuke?"

"She said the same thing to me," I said when Tsunade glanced in my direction.

"… Sakura in a moment I'm going to get you to perform some tests. Do you feel dizzy or nauseous? Do you have a headache?"

Sakura frowned. "No, why? And why won't you tell me anything?" she said starting to sound upset.

Tests and intensive questioning revealed that apart from a lack of memories or knowledge regarding Sasuke, Sakura had no other symptoms. Apparently she was under the belief that until the recent addition of Sai, our team had only ever consisted of two genins due to the number of graduates that year not being devisable by 3.

"I can't see any signs of head trauma. My best guess is that this is due to the emotional trauma of not getting Sasuke back again and is an extreme form of a coping mechanism."

I didn't know how to respond to that. "So…," I trailed off to be saved by the door opening. In walked a nurse.

"Naruto Uzumaki has also awakened… He also has no memory of Uchiha Sasuke."

"After my examination it appears Naruto has the same symptoms as Sakura. Two teammates sounds like a jutsu not trauma," Tsunade mused. "I'll get Inoichi to have a look at Sakura and Naruto and see what that tells us. I'd like to know how thorough this jutsu was and what else was affected. Any ideas on what he was thinking?"

"I think we should avoid making assumptions until we have Inoichi's assessment. This could be Orochimaru's work for all we know." In truth I really just didn't want to think about it. I'd never known Sasuke to enjoy fucking with people's minds but after spending time with Orochimaru that could have changed for all I knew.

"Hey Naruto, what do you think is going on?"

"What do you mean Sakura-chan?"

"Such as all the tests and how people are acting."

"We just got a hit to the head is all and they're just making sure that we're okay," Naruto dismissed.

I frowned. "No it's more than that. They're not telling us something. They aren't even allowing us visitors. They're hiding something from us," she insisted.

"That's just because we just woke up. They'll let us have some when we are feeling better."

Somehow I found Naruto's attempt to reassure me made me feel more alarmed. "We've been allowed visitors when waking before. We're not even very hurt anymore, in fact I've been healed enough that I would normally be discharged by now."

I watched as Naruto's brows faintly creased and I realized that I was getting through to him. "I think you're overreacting, but you're right, I don't see why we aren't being allowed visitors."

"Kakashi-sensei is acting weird too. He started telling me about the mission but then clammed up when I said I didn't remember it."

"What did he say?"

"Just that we were on a mission with him and Yamato to capture some guy called Sasuke."

"That's it?"

"Yeah… You don't think something bad happened do you? I didn't even think to ask sensei about Yamato until he'd already left."

"He's strong, I'll think he'll be okay, but you're right, we should ask Kaka-sensei when he comes back."

The door opened and a tired nurse in. "How are you both feeling?"

"We're fine. Is our teammate Yamato okay?" I was concerned because I didn't know if he wasn't visiting us because he wasn't allowed or because he wasn't able to.

"Your teammate is fine. Seeing as how you are both feeling well you'll be having a visitor soon to speak with you." Seeing Naruto and I shift our eyes to behind her shoulder she turned. "Speak of the devil here he is."

"Hi Mr Yamanaka," I nodded.

Assessing the room, the jonin strode in with a faint smile on his lips. "Hello Sakura, Ino sends her regards. Now do you both know why I'm here?"

I frowned feeling my forehead crease. "I'm guessing it's because Naruto and I can't remember our last mission although we seem to have no apparent head trauma."

"That's right. We suspect a mental jutsu was cast on the both of you and I'm here to try to determine the extent of the amnesia, who performed the jutsu and if there have been any other alternations to your mind. Now it's easier for me to do this if you're unconscious so Amiata here," he said gesturing to the nurse "is going to be giving you a sedative."

I watched him finish with a smile. It reminded me of speaking to my patients and let me know that although he meant nothing but the best for us, the sedative was in no way optional. "Very well then," I said holding out my arm "see you on the other side Naruto."

Somehow the pregnant silence seemed to be gaining weight as Yamato, Tsunade and I stiffly sat in the waiting are. None of us really knew what to say and didn't want to discuss the situation yet anyway. They had been in there a long time. As a general rule needing to visit the basement of the headquarters of Konoha's Intelligence for anything beyond delivering a message was a bad situation. Needing to visit because someone had fucked with half your team members' memories and may have also implanted false memories or imbedded commands is a breath away from your year heading a long way south very fast. Neither of them were the kind of people I'd want to have to hand over to the deprogrammers. But I would do it all the same if it meant I could get them back the way they were. Then again no one really ever comes back completely the same after visiting the deprogrammers. They were thorough with good reason and they did their job well, but well… they were thorough…

The door opened and I raised my head expectantly, dropping all pretence of reading my book. Inoichi strode in giving nothing away in his face. "I've given them both a thorough look and I can't detect any alterations to their minds except for the amnesia." We all relaxed while somehow remained tense, bracing ourselves for the possible bad news that would follow. "As far as I can determine the amnesia is selective to Sasuke Uchiha only and includes all things regarding Sasuke Uchiha. From looking through their minds alone, you'd never know he existed. You can tell something is missing and that the cause is a jutsu and not natural, but that is the extent of it."

"Can you undo what has been done?" Tsunade queried.

"At the moment no. This isn't a jutsu I've seen before although some aspects of it are similar to others I've encountered. I believe that given enough time, I will be able to remove the jutsu but certainly not within the month or possibly even the next few months.

"Any idea on who cast the jutsu?" I waited as Inoichi paused reflectively; I felt agitated not knowing what was going on. Memory erasing jutsu isn't the way most fights end. To say I hadn't been expecting this form of the unexpected would be an understatement.

"After looking at Anko's mind, this doesn't feel like the work of Orochimaru"

"So you think Sasuke did it," I stated.

"Kabuto's another possibility too as there was a period of the fight where I lost track of him." Yamato didn't seem happy with the idea he presented and I didn't blame him. I still hadn't forgotten the outcome of the last time I went up against him.

"It is a possibility that this is his work and that there may be more affected areas than what I've been able to see. However, this work appears to lack a subtlety that I'd expect from Kabuto. Instead it seems to be powered by a single mindedness that makes me lean to the idea of it being Sasuke's."

Sasuke… I pondered the idea for a moment. Was he really that desperate to stay away from here or was it more to do with him not wanting those two to follow him? Or was it something else altogether. Not for the first time I'd really love to know what was going through that boy's head.