Title: I Don't Know You Anymore

Author: Rose Of The Phoenix

Rating: M

Chapter: 1- Assassination and Sasuke's return

Disclaimer: unfortunately we don't own Naruto.

Summary: Sasuke returns to Konoha but Sakura can't handle it anymore. So she decides that it's her time to leave and show Sasuke what he put her through but she never expected to end up in Akatsuki along side the eldest Uchiha. Slight SasuSaku. ItaSaku

Ragged pants escaped her lips as she sat down, her pink hair tousled from all the running she had just done. She grabbed the flask from around her waist and took a mouthful of water from it, a drop trickling down her chin. She poured some water into her hands and splashed her flushed face, trying to cool down. She was near Konoha. She closed her eyes, wiping the excess water from her 17 year old face.

She was coming back from an A-ranked mission. She couldn't wait till she got home and crawl into her bed for the well deserved rest she earnt herself. She leaned back against the tree, allowing her body to rest for a few minutes. Her face pointed to the canopy as the shadows of cherry blossoms danced across her face. She opened her emerald eyes as a cherry blossom fell onto her nose. She let out a soft giggle as she picked it up, delicately, and blew it back into the air, watching it float back down. She sighed as a smile appeared on her lips as she leaned back again. It was peaceful there yet she missed Naruto and Kakashi, both of which had been assigned another mission. She closed her eyes letting the images of the said teammates float through her mind.

"Sakura-chan," a voice pierced her thoughts. She opened her eyes watching as the hyperactive blonde run towards her. She smiled at him as he stopped in front of her.

"Hey Naruto-kun," she said in a soft tone. He blinked up at her before wrapping his arms around her. She stood still blinking for a second before slowly returning the hug.

"What's this for?" she asked, looking up at Kakashi who had landed in the small clearing.

"We came across a building that had been destroyed by Akatsuki. Medic nins said that they could sense the dying chakra of a female medic inside," Kakashi replied. She looked back at Naruto.

"And you thought it was me," she let a small chuckle out, "You finished your mission?" Naruto nodded as he pulled away, wiping the last of his tears away. She envied Naruto for that. After Sasuke had left it seemed her tear ducts had dried up. She had yet to shed a single tear since that day.

"Come on then. I'm heading back as well," she smiled as she nodded to Kakashi before turning and jumping into the trees again with Naruto and Kakashi behind her.

----

After reporting both missions as being successful, Kakashi vanished, saying he had things to do, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone.

She sighed, "I know you're dying to have some so you wanna go get some ramen?" At that word, Naruto nodded and begun dragging her to Ichiraku. She gave a small laugh as she allowed him to drag her. Her inner self sighing in irritation of the delay to get some rest. Sakura shrugged her inner self off as she sat down and ordered.

"I'm glad it wasn't you," Naruto said in a somewhat serious tone, "I don't know what I would do if I lost you as well." She nodded, understanding what he meant as a faint smile present on her lips. He had definitely grown a lot after training with Jiraiya.

"I know. Do you...do you think we'll see him, Sasuke-kun again?" she asked as she picked up her chopsticks. Naruto looked at her.

"I'm sure," he said, "I've still gotta keep that promise to bring him back." She nodded before she started eating. Naruto watching her before slowly dipping his chopsticks into the ramen and he too begun to eat. He knew she was hurting inside and he wasn't impressed that she didn't cry over Sasuke like she used to. He let out an inaudible sigh, he would never truly understand the mind of Sakura, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked after they finished. She looked up from her empty bowl and smile.

"Sure why not," she replied as she paid for both of them and stood, Naruto beside her as they headed towards her house.

"Are you going to try for ANBU?" she asked, breaking the silence. Naruto thought for a minute.

"Only if it'll get me one step closer to being Hokage," he said, a goofy smile on his face as he placing his hands behind his head.

"Typical," she mumbled as stopped and looked up at her house that was plunged in darkness. She now fully understood what it was like for Naruto to live alone. Her parents had died during a mission a year ago, but even then she couldn't cry for them. She wanted to but her tears wouldn't flow.

"Arigato Naruto-kun," she said before walking into her house and switching a light on before heading to the bathroom and having a shower, scrubbing herself clean of all the dirt that managed to cover her.

She yawned as she got dressed into a white tank top and light blue pants before slipping into bed and allowing sleep to consume her.

----

"Sakura-chan," Naruto's voice broke her dream of Sasuke. She rubbed her eyes, looking at the clock.

"Sakura-chan," came his voice again.

"I'm coming," she yawned as she stood and made her way to the front door, almost tripping over her pants. She opened the door and tried to glare at him. He blinked at the sight of her.

"Uh Sakura, I never thought you wore skimpy tops," Kakashi smirked appearing next to Naruto. She gave him a confusing look before looking down, noticing her tank top had ridden up and was resting just underneath her breasts.

"Hentai," she yelled as she pulled the top down and storming back inside, getting dressed into her normal clothing. She walked back out, giving Kakashi a filthy look before turning to Naruto.

"Another mission huh?" she asked, ignoring Kakashi. Naruto nodded.

"Tsunade-sama said it meet at the Hokage's tower," he said. She nodded as she grabbed the 2 and headed towards the tower.

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura knocked on the door, walking in when she received no answer. Blonde hair was sprawled over the paperwork that her head was resting on. An empty bottle of sake laid on her desk.

"Tsunade-sama," she yelled in her ear, walking the blonde in an instance.

"Huh. What," the Hokage looked around with a confused look in her eyes.

"You said something about a mission?" Sakura asked. Tsunade nodded shuffling the papers around until she found the A-Ranked mission she was to send Team Kakashi on. She cleared her throat.

"You are to search for this missing person," she said, showing a picture of the man they had to find, "once found; kill him. He has valuable info of Konoha." Kakashi took the picture and info from the Hokage.

"Hai Hokage-sama," Naruto said as he followed Kakashi and Sakura out the door.

----

The mission led the 3 man cell to the icy regions of Yukigakure. Sakura rubbed her arms, cursing herself for not wearing warmer clothes.

"H...how long is...is this going to ta...take?" she asked, her voice indicating she was freezing cold. Kakashi looked over at her.

"Not long," was his reply as they entered an inn and obtained a room for the night, the exact same in as the guy they were pursuing was in. The warmth of the fire that crackled in the fireplace spread over Sakura. She watched as the bluish hue slowly disappeared from the tips of her fingers as her blood warmed up.

She followed Naruto and Kakashi up to their room where she found another fireplace. She placed a couple of logs in it and lit the fire before she sat down in front of it for a few minutes, allowing her body to reach the average temperature. Naruto sat down beside her, the palms of his hands facing the fire. She looked at him and smiled.

"Much better," she said, breaking the silence as she stood and walked over to a bed and sat down on the soft mattress.

"Which room is he in?" Naruto asked, looking over at Kakashi who was sitting in a chair, observing the papers that Tsunade gave him.

"Naruto how the hell..." she was about to finish but noticing that Kakashi had lifted his hitai-ate from his Sharingan eye.

"2nd floor, 4th room from the stairs on the left," Kakashi replied after a few seconds. Sakura smiled.

"Which one will kill him?" Naruto asked, almost like his younger self would have acted.

"Doesn't matter as long as the job is done," Kakashi said as he stood and folded the paper and placed them back in his pocket.

"Let's get this over and done with," he said walking to the door. He looked over his shoulder, "Well you coming?" Naruto leapt from the floor and fell over the leg of a table. Sakura giggled while Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. Naruto groaned as he pushed himself off the floor and followed Sakura out the door. They devised a quick plan: Kakashi enter the room through the window while Sakura entered from the door. Naruto would use a clone to help Sakura while the real Naruto went outside with Kakashi.

Sakura took a deep breath as she and the Naruto clone walked up the stairs.

"4th door on the left," she mumbled as she counted the doors until she stood outside the correct one.

"What if he's not in there?" she asked out loud as she raised a fist and gently knocked on the door. She heard shuffling from inside and her hand immediately went for her kunai. Her thumb gently glided over the blade as the door opened.

"What do you want?" the man asked; alcohol on his breath as he stared at Sakura.

"Ah house keeping," she lied, having to think on the spot. The man eyed her before finally allowing her in. She lead out a small sigh of relief as she and the clone entered the room. The clone went into the bathroom and opened the window for the real Naruto to use while Kakashi entered silently through the main window.

Sakura saw the shadow of Kakashi for a brief second before he disappeared, waiting for Naruto. Sakura pretended to be cleaning up as she gripped the kunai tighter in her hand. She was glad the man was intoxicated otherwise he would have noticed her hitai-ate and the kunai pouch. She saw a small movement coming from the bathroom, indicating Naruto had managed to get in silently. She turned her back to the window and looked down at the photos on the bedside table, not noticing the man had stepped up right behind her until he placed a hand on her hip. She sensed Kakashi and Naruto's chakra across the room and so without thinking she whirled around and stabbed the man with her kunai.

"Don't touch me," she snarled as she raised the kunai again, ready to strike. The man caught her wrist, making her drop the kunai as he pulled her closer. She looked around the room, wanting Kakashi or Naruto to help her at this very moment. Instead she noticed that both of her teammates weren't moving to help her and she came to the conclusion that they must have discussed that they would allow her to kill him. She sighed.

"Fine," she said in a very low tone as she curled her free hand into a fist and punched the man, sending him flying from the force of her chakra. She picked up her kunai and advanced on the man. Before he could get up she had straddled his waist and thrusted the kunai into his heart, allowing blood to fill his chest cavity and kill him. She wiped the kunai on his shirt and smirked as she stood. She looked at Kakashi who stood up from his hiding place.

"Good job Sakura," he smirked, "I'll deal with the body, you go back to the room and rest, you too Naruto." He threw the keys to Naruto as the 2 teens walked out.

"That was awesome Sakura-chan," Naruto smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," Sakura smiled as she entered the room and headed straight for the shower.

----

She sighed as she stood in the Hokage's office, listening to Kakashi tell Tsunade that the mission was a success.

"Very well. I will give the day off," Tsunade said, waving her hand, indicting she had finished talking. The 3 bowed before heading out.

"I have something to do, I'll see you later," Kakashi said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sakura walked with Naruto in silence for a while.

"Wanna go get some ramen?" he asked, breaking the silence after a while.

"No I think I'll pass on that this time," she said, smiling at him, "I'm going to go for a walk." Naruto nodded before running off to Ichiraku.

Sakura shook her head before she headed towards the forest. In the heart of the forest was a clearing. She would sit there and think for ages. She had found it the only comforting place she could truly be alone.

She sat down, her back against a tree trunk as she stared at the small stream that ran through the clearing, watching as the crystal clear water flowed so freely. She sighed, closing her eyes.

"Sakura."

She opened her eyes and blinked. She didn't know whether the voice was in her dream of from the world of reality.

That sounded like..., her inner self couldn't finish her sentence.

Yeah was her reply to inner Sakura.

"Sakura."

The pink haired kunochi scrambled to her feet and faced the tree she had been leaning on. She slowly looked up the tree and emerald orbs widened at the sight in front of her. She raised her hands and rubbed her eyes before looking back up at the tree.

"Sa...Sasuke-kun," she whispered, not exactly believing what she was seeing. The youngest Uchiha smirked down at her as he jumped off the tree, landing in front of the pink haired teen.

"Hello Sakura," he said, his voice was more deep and rugged now. Sakura gulped.

"Wh..what are you doing here?" she asked, mentally cursing herself for stuttering like Hinata.

"Returning to Konoha," he replied.

Snap out of it Sakura, inner Sakura yelled in her head.

"Why?" she asked, getting over the shock of seeing him for the first time in years.

"I got bored with Orochimaru and so killed him and left, ending up here," he shrugged like it was nothing. She blinked at him before sighing.

"I guess I better take you to Tsunade-sama," she said before she turned around, taking him to the Hokage.

ROTP: hope you enjoyed the first chappie. Please, please R&R. The more reviews we get the faster we update.