Hey guys. I don't know what came over me when I wrote this. Sincere boredom?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"No, Sasuke don't!!" Sakura screamed, launching herself at the Uchiha prodigy. She grippd his shoulder's cloth in her fists and pulled, begging. He threw her aside angrily and she hit the wall with a thump. "Don't be stupid, Sakura! And stay off me! You have our orders, if you're too afraid to follow them then wait outside!" the man yelled. His arm cut threw the air and his kunai followed, cutting more than just that. A shriek later the figure in fron tof Sasuke was dead. Sakura screamed and crawled to the person. She ripped open the dark blue shirt and placed glowing green palms to the long, bleeding gash. Both people in that room, though, already knew it too late. The enemy was dead. Sasuke growled in frustration and grabbed Sakura. He pulled her to her feet forcefully. "No, Please!" she yelles, hitting him.

"Stop Sakura!"

"He'll die! He'll die! Sasuke please, just let me help him!!" She pulled on him and tried to climb over his shoulder to get at the dead cloud member.

"Sakura!! It's too late. He's gone. You can't help him now, and it's useless to try!" Sakura hit him one more time and fell into his arms, sobbing, every now and then mustering energy to weakly hit him.

"Our orders," Sasuke began slowly, "are to kill every inhabitant of this village unless they give us information on the Akatsuki. It's there choice, Sakura."

"But Sasuke...oh Sasuke...why? Why do we have to kill them? He was...he was just a child! He didn't know."

"Every inhabitant." he repeated. "Or else we won't get the information we need. The Akatsuki will kill Naruto, do you want that?"

"No..."

"It is our duty...to follow orders...Sakura." he said slowly. Sakura gave another small sob and her fingers slid up Sasuke's body to grip his bloody shirt. She sobbed into it while Sasuke kept his arm around her hips to keep her standing. He touched his earpiece. "Shikamaru. We can't do it. I need to take Sakura out...She can't, she broke down...No...No...You heard me Shikamaru. I'll do it or noone will...alright...good luck." Sasuke removed his earpiece and shifted Sakura. He pulled her away from his chest and lowered her Konoha headband over her eyes. She kept her hands on his chest to keep her bearings as he removed his backpack and put it on her belt. It was light, only holding ninja tools. Sasuke couldn't be burdened with anything else. He knelt and Sakura climbed on his back. he placed his hands beneath her and straightened, running towards the window.

In a few moments he was running across rooftops without noticing the death and decay around him. Shikamaru's team must've been busy. Sasuke could feel Sakura's face presses into his back. She was trying not to see or smell the death, while Sasuke remained indifferent to it. Stupid Nara. He shouldn't have sent her with him. They were opposites. Sasuke wasn't indifferent too her, no he actually was affected by her quite a bit. Just like now he felt so dirty. Not because he killed that kid, but because he didn't care that he killed it. That's what is was to him, an 'it'. Not human. Just something that kept information of his hated brother from him.

They were outside the Kumogakure now. Sasuke hoped they were far enough so that the wind could no longer carry the smell. Sasuke let Saura off his back and onto her butt. He removed her headband from her eyes, placing it on her forehead. He kept his face cooly emotionless as he sat on his haunches in front of her, inches from her face. She refused to open her eyes. He said her name and she shook her head. He said it a little more forcefully. "I'm so sorry Sasuke. But I can't look at you. So please...please don't make me!"

"I won't." He sat back on his butt in front of her. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed long and hard. Sasuke idly sat in front of her. He took off his shirt and poured a bit of water on it, hoping to clean it a bit. It didn't work. He sighed and threw it in the forest. He gently removed his pack from Sakura's belt (where it had repeatedly hit him in the back on the ride) and pulled out a spare shirt. He hated being covered in it. It made him feel too warm. He pulled the shirt over his arms, then lifted it over his head and onto his body. After a moment he murmured "I'm clean now...so if you want..." Sakura nodded and pulled her hands from her eyes. She looked at him.

"Your nose is running."

"Bite me." she grumbled. "I'm sorry for hitting you. It's not your fault. You're just following orders. I just...I can't bring myself to do it."

"I don't care."

"What?"

"I don't care why you can't do it. Your 'why' s mean nothing to me."

"Oh Sasuke..."

"What?"

"You sound... no, forget it."

Sasuke rose an eyebrow but wasn't sure he wanted to know the ending to her sentence, so he let it drop. His eyes next sought the bush behind Sakura as they rustled. 3 people emerged. A chinese women; a white-eyed boy; and a child with black hair held on top of his head. Commonly known as insert last name ;bTenten, Hyuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru. Tenten took one look at her distraught friend and hit her knees next to her. Tenten clutched Sakura tightly and she returned it with the same vigor. She had no more tears to shed but she buried her face into Tenten's shoulder anyway. "How do you do it, Tenten? How do you watch and even participate in this-this--red dragon!!"

"I...I don't know how. I guess I just learned to push it deep inside of me. But it'll come out at some point." She whispered the last part, forgetting about her earpiece and not knowing the team all heard it. Sakura nodded into Tenten's shoulder and then allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Neji murmured something about reinforcements and Sakura agreed that it was time to go. Shikamaru quickly took command. "Sakura and Sasuke on the right. Tenten on the left. Neji take up the back and keep your eyes EVERYWHERE. I'll take the middle. Let's go." In an instant the group had left a whisper of leaves behind and were bounding through the trees. Not a rustle of word was heard to reveale their position.

It was late in the night when they could no longer go on and Shikamaru called for a rest. Sakura and Sasuke built a fire (fire jutsus, very useful). Tenten went for water with Neji who said he wanted to search for food (though everyone knew he just wanted to protect his teamate). And the Nara unpacked some rashins and the sleeping bags.

Sakura sat on a blanket and sent her teamates a smile. "Ok. Who's first?" Tenten plopped down next to Sakura who started healing a gash on her leg. Sakura simply wrapped minor injuries. Then Shikamaru's sprainged wrist. Neji's injuries were a little more serious. He had a few long gashes on his forearms and in his side; they had been amaturely wrapped by Tenten. Then Sasuke. He had a gash on his shin and his chest. Once Sakura was done Shikamaru spoke up from the log he was sitting on. "Uchiha. You didn't bring a sleeping bag, did you?"

"I don't need it."
"Tonight you will. Get one."

"Where? I don't need it anyway."

"It's an order." he glanced at the others "So who's sharing a sleeping bag?"

Silence.

"Ok, ok. Tenten and I will." Sakura said. She got out of it and handed Sasuke her sleeping bag, he grudgingly grabbed it. He layed it out under a tree next to Neji and Shikamaru. The girls were under another tree with Tenten's feet near Sasuke's. They finished off a meager supper and got into their sleeping bags. Tenten had a larger sleeping bag then Sakura's so the two fit into it easily. Tenten and Sakura giggled and talked until Neji called for quiet. The ever-vigilant shinobi woke at the smallest sounds and the girls were making more that enough to bother him. Finally the two girls settled down and slept.

There were 3 long strands of her pink hair in the zipper. There was an indent in the pillow where her head would lay. It was warm from her lingering body heat. Her lavender shampoo filled the space with her familiar smell.

Sasuke flipped over for the millionth time that night and finally sat upwith a growl. How, on god's green earth, was he supposed to sleep in a sleeping bag covered in reminders of Haruno Sakura? He growled again and turned to grab his leg holster but instantly froze. The Hyuga next to him had his white eyes wide open and staring at him. Sasuke stared back and might have continued if he hadn't heard a small snore escape Neji. Sasuke sweat-dropped. He stood with his holster and walked away, grumbling something about 'sleeping with his eyes open', 'untrusting stick-up-the---" He saw out of the corner of his eye the two girls. Tenten, as demure as she looked, was somewhat of a hoyden and even her sleep showed it. She was spread out in her sleeping bag and slept with her mouth wide open. Sakura layed on her shoulder and looked even more beautiful in her sleep (when she wasn't talking).

Sasuke plopped down next to the river only a few feet from the camp site. He pulled a white cloth from his pocket and started pulling out kunai. He rinsed and washed them of the caked on blood. He watched the stained water flow down the river, swirling through the silver shimmer in the full-moon lit water. "You should be resting for tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke turned half-around to see Sakura standing in the shadow of a tree. She walked forward out of the shadow and the light cascaded over her. Sasuke had to turn back around to keep from staring. She wasn't making this easy fo him though. She sat down next to him and watched the kunai-cleaning shinobi. He glanced at her and saw his blades sparkling in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I'm sorry...again."

"It's fine. It's not like you haven't hit me before." she giggled.

"So...couldn't sleep?"

"..."

"If you tell me the truth I'll tell you the truth."

"...No. I couldn't sleep. You?"

"I couldn't either."

"...Because of today?"

"Yeah...you?"

"No. I just don't sleep much."

There was silence for a long time while Sakura swished her feet in the water.

"Sasuke...do you ever...have nightmares?"

"...No."

"Oh...yeah. I guess it's kind of stupid for a shinobi to still have nightmares."

"No. Is that why you're up?"

"Y-yeah. I had a nightmare."

"Are you...alright?"

"..." She didn't respond. Instead she fell over onto Sasuke's shoulder. She laid there for a moment.

"Sakura..." he warned. This was wrong. He was bad for her. He would only end up hurting her. Why did she do things like this? After all these years Sakura still seemed to be attracted to him, but how deep were those feeling? The crush she used to have? Or did she just want to flaunt him like a piece of jewelery? People always did it--saying what they wanted around him. Girls had always wanted him. Just so they could tell their friends about the 'hottie' they had bagged. Give this, take that, like he was a gift. Sakura had never done that though. So he didn't know how to react when she did these things. All he could do was let himself react, and he did that well.

So when Sakura looked up at him with that look in her eyes he already knew what she wanted. When she lifted herself to her knees so she was taller than him, his arms found her waist. When she brought those perfect lips to his he knew just how to kiss her. And he did. He did all she wanted. He owed her that didn't he? For being the only one to see him as a person?

Sasuke turned her legs and made her fall into his lap. He gripped her leg with one hand and supported her back with the other. There he kissed her fiercly. He kissed her until his lungs cried for air and they had to part. Even then they kept their faces close, gasping eachothers' air. Sasuke wanted to kiss her again, and would've if it wasn't for the warm thrum behind his heart. It warned him without words.

Sasuke pried his eyes opened and stared at Sakura. He lowered his lips to her ear. "Not now. Not here. When we get home. Okay?" She nodded up at him and he pried his hands from her body.

"Can we still stay here? Just for a while?"

"Yeah. Alright."

Sakura refused to budge from his lap so, chancing a glance at Neji and the others, Sasuke let her stay, secretely taking comfort in the small form in his arms. So much comfort that he didn't feel the angry white eyes drilling into his back.

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OK. So I got a little lazy in the middle there. Review if you want. Doesn't change the fact that I'm going to write this because I really want to.