Sasuke laid on the ground a broken man. A rag was tied over half of his face to cover the empty eye socket. His hand desperately clutched the actual eye, terrified that Itachi might come back and attempt to claim it once more. Tears feel from Karin's eyes as she attempted to stop the blood gushing from his chest. Suigetsu watched wearily as two Konoha shinobi approached; there was no mistaking it they were Sasuke's original teammates: Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Without sparing him a second glance they walked straight for the long lost member of team 7.
"Move," Sakura demanded looking down at Karin.
Karin looked up in shock before her eyes narrowed at the sight of the Konoha kunoichi.
"Oh please, I've heard about you. You're worthless. Just leave and I'll save Sasuke-kun," Karin spat.
"Weak am I? Well I'm afraid your information," kneeling down on the other side of Sasuke she flicked Karin in the forehead and the hebi member went flying through the air, "is off."
Naruto cracked a grin as he approached Sakura and Sasuke. Suigetsu leaned against his sword as he was overwhelmed with laughter. Sakura's hands glowed green as they covered Sasuke's chests. She winced when she noticed how much the internal damage had been done to his body. For several hours she stayed there cut off from the world, focusing entirely on the wounds. Naruto, Karin and Suigetsu stood by impatiently. Finally the green glow faded and her eyes blinked open as though awakening from a deep dream. Reaching over she gently took his hand and attempted to pry the eye out.
"No," Sasuke said through a hoarse voice, attempting to jerk his hand away.
"It's alright, Sasuke," her eyes softening. "It's me, Sakura. I just want to put it back in for you. Won't it be harder to beat Itachi with one eye? Let me fix this, let me help you achieve your revenge."
His face furrowed for a moment in thought before he relaxed and opened his hand. Gingerly lifting the eye, she delicately pushed the hair away and undid the bandage.
"This will hurt," she whispered.
Becoming lost in focus once more Sakura began the painstakingly slow task of reattaching the ends of the occipital nerve to the eye. Sasuke winced slightly and clenched his fists as sharp pangs shot through his brain. Sakura grimaced at the sight of her patient in pain but quite honestly didn't have the chakra to stop his agony.
Eventually Sakura fell back in fatigue only to be caught in Naruto's firm grip. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out a chakra replenishing pill, something she had developed after studying the Akimichi's infamous pills. Shuddering slightly as she experienced the generally unpleasant feeling of her chakra returning at too fast of a rate. Shaking off the feeling she rose unsteadily to her feet.
"Sakura-chan?"
"I'm fine Naruto, the most important thing right now is to get Sasuke back to Konoha."
"No, I don't think so," Karin spat. Sakura turned and looked at the girl as though she couldn't comprehend what had just been said.
"Oh…you're still here," she yawned, "I thought you'd be halfway back to Sound by now."
"What…what are you talking about? I…I could never abandon Sasuke-kun!" Karin sputtered.
"Then I guess you're following us to Konoha. That might be a bad call on your part, we don't look kindly on followers of the snake."
"I said he's not going to Konoha! You've healed him, now we're leaving."
"Its true, I stabilized him…that could quickly change unless he comes to the hospital and is under the type of medical expertise only Tsunade can offer."
Naruto picked up Sasuke as carefully as he could and glared at his best friend. "You owe me for this one teme, I don't want to care your sorry ass all the way back to Konoha. Come on Sakura, if we leave now we can get home an hour or so after sunset."
Sakura nodded her head and wearily began to follow her two teammates. Her mind wandered to the events of today. They had retrieved Sasuke and the team was complete at last…but with Itachi still alive would he stay with them? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps behind them. Turning around she looked curiously at Suigetsu and Karin.
"Oh please, like I would leave Sasuke with a girl like you!" Karin stormed past her to walk closer to Naruto and thus Sasuke.
Sakura's eye twitched for a brief second before she focused entirely on Suigetsu.
"Come on, do you really think I would leave Sasuke with a girl like you?" a smirk played across his face as he wrapped his arm around Sakura's waste.
A look of pure fury crossed Sakura's face as she punched Suigetsu in the face, she watched idly as he went soaring through 4 trees.
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