Authors Note: Hello there. This is my first chapter of this story, and I haven't written in a good while! After this chapter, things will be getting a little more interesting! Enjoy!


The air was thick, and cold. A small bag was slung over my shoulder, which was covered by a tank cloak with long, vertical red striped that protected my body from the snow Konoha had been blessed with only a few days ago. It rarely got cold in Konoha, but I had noticed a dramatic change in the weather patterns this year. The summer wasn't as hot at the previous year, and the winter was much colder than last years. My back was rested against the wall of the Konoha gates. I had been waiting here for a long time, almost an hour. Maybe I had arrived a little too early, but now even Sasuke and Naruto were a bit late. After letting out a small sigh, I could see my grey colored breath spread out in front of my mouth. Just as I rested my head back against the cold wall, I could hear my name being shouted in the distance.

"Sakura," the person shouted. I quickly got up, and straightened myself. Finally, Naruto had arrived, and walking slowly and silently behind him was none other than our returned teammate Sasuke Uchiha. I was very surprised that Tsunade had actually let him back in the village. Sasuke's homecoming wasn't a very welcoming one. Everyone in the village had glared at him, knowing the things he had done in his few years away. Not one single person welcomed him back at first besides me and Naruto. Even Kakashi-sensei had kept his distance, but still watched out for him, making sure this wasn't an act or something. One by one, our peers had welcomed him back. At first, Sasuke didn't have anyone trust. But, that was two years ago. It's been two years since he's come back. He was still the same as ever.

Sasuke still had that emotionless expression on his handsome face. His hair had been a bit longer when he first came back, but soon enough, he joined Naruto to get a haircut. He had come back after getting what he wanted—killing Itachi. Now that the Akatsuki and Madara were taken care of, the Shinobi world was peaceful for a moment. Until trouble began to arise in Kirigakure; which was the place we were headed to right now.

Tsunade had given us a mission to find out if Kumogakure and Iwagakure were making an alliance against Konoha, and planning to attack Konoha for not sending troops as fast as we could when Kumo was attacked by some of Orochimaru's old followers.

I swung the other strap of my backpack on my shoulder and waved lightly to Naruto. He had a stupid grin on his face like always. Something's just never change I suppose. It wasn't until then that I noticed that in his hands he was carrying two silver bottles, which let out steam from the top.

"Look Sakura-Chan! Sasuke got us some hot chocolate!" he said, running up to me, slightly spilling some of the contents out of the cups.

Sasuke followed close behind Naruto, and then lightly sipped on his own silver cup. He nodded after Naruto's words and, then grabbed a cap which was connected to the top of the cup by a small plastic strip, and closed the bottle.

"Thanks Sasuke," I said to him as I took the cup from one of Naruto's hands.

We all stood there in a small circle, slowly sipping on our hot chocolate for a few moments until Naruto had finished his. He let out a strong and heavy sigh which let out a slight chocolate scent into the air.

"Okay, let's go!" Naruto yelled, throwing a fist in the air and jumping up.

"Be quiet, loser," Sasuke spoke as he attached the hook of his cup to a strap on his black backpack.

I smiled, and felt a feeling of nostalgia come across me. It was just like the old days, back when we were genin. Now, we were all newly ranked Jonin and eighteen years of age. We had all matured a little bit more. Sasuke was a bit more conversational, and cracked a few jokes every now and then. He was currently debating whether or not to join ANBU or stay a Jonin. Naruto was still as annoying as ever, but he had a more serious tone to him. He was gladly working his way towards proving himself worthy of Hokage, which in my opinion; he had already proved himself more than Hokage ranking. As for me, I'm a nurse at the Konoha Hospital. I go on missions with Naruto and Sasuke to assist them if they get hurt since they seem to have a bad habit of getting injured on every mission. If it's not a tiny scratch, it's either a broken limb or an inch deep wound. I didn't really mind though. I enjoyed the company of Naruto and Sasuke—mainly Sasuke.

We walked out the gates, me in between the two.

"So Naruto," Sasuke asked, pulling the thick hood over his head, covering his black, spiked hair. "You and Hinata, how's that going for you?"

I looked up to Naruto, who now had a big, goofy grin on his face. "Well, if you really wanna know, she's been opening up to me a lot more!" he said with a laugh. "We've gotten so close, and loves when I take her out to Korean barbeque!"

Sasuke nodded, looking straight ahead at the long snowy road ahead of us. I stayed silent for a while until I noticed that Sasuke was looking down at me. Looking back up at him, I smiled awkwardly.

"How long is it going to take us to get there anyways?" he asked me, the blank expression on his face.

"Two days, if we keep the pace we're going at."

He turned away, and sighed. We walked a few more hours, talking until we began to notice the fog get thicker and thicker. I kept close to Naruto and Sasuke, continuing our conversation about stupid things Kakashi-sensei had done over the years. Every now and then, my hand would brush against Sasuke's. Soon enough, the fog got too thick, and that's when I had this strange, ominous feeling that we were being watched. Pushing the feeling away, I still made my way to Kiri with Naruto and Sasuke.

A few moments later, I could still feel the tingling sensation going on deep in my stomach, and just as I was about to warn Sasuke, I turned to see a pair of red eyes glowing in the distance. I took a step back and gasped.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto questioned, raising a blond eyebrow at me.

"You didn't see that?! Those eyes!" I responded, looking around in the dark, hazy mist. Turning my head all any ways, the glowing disappeared. Sasuke swiftly pulled out his katakana, and pointed it straight ahead.

"We have to be careful… Someone is watching us…," he said, turning to me and Naruto. "This chakra is familiar, but I can't quite make out who it is exactly."

We walked in silence until Naruto, being the idiot he is, decided to turn to Sasuke and ask him something that shouldn't be asked.

"So Sasuke, you killed Itachi right? Is there anything he said to you before he died?" Naruto inquired as he scratched the back of his head.

X


X

I stood next to Naruto, holding the papers that contained details of our last mission with Team Guy. Kakashi sat in the window behind Tsunade's desk. I could tell she was irritated with the heat. In the summer, Konoha got so hot. Earlier that week, the air conditioning had broken in Tsunade's office and she was too cheap to hire someone to fix it. Tsunade had her arms crossed over her huge chest, her eyes closed and an annoyed look on her face. I looked closely at her, and saw a drop of sweat flow gently down her forehead.

"So, what you're saying is that Sai broke his leg and you can't heal it Sakura?" she said lowly, then lightly slamming a fist against her desk. I saw the pens and papers shake, and jumped a little.

"It's on that Tsunade-sama," I said slowly. "I mean, it's just a broken leg. It'll heal in a few weeks."

She got up, and leaned against the desk with her two hands. "Team Seven's next mission will need Sai! Sakura, you do know who you're going after again, right?!" she yelled, trying to keep her temper.

I looked away, and down at the floor. I could see Naruto also turn away from her. He put his hands in his pockets, and sighed.

"Sakura, not only do we have the Akatsuki still on the loose, but Sasuke too!" she said sitting back down in her huge chair. "I've been getting far too many reports of that boy for far too long now! Next week, Team Seven is supposed to be going after him again! Naruto," Tsunade said, now directing her anger towards him.

I looked at him, holding my hands in front of me. Naruto looked up at Tsunade, his posture straight, but his face hurt by the mention of our old team mate.

"Y-Yes Tsunade-sama," he said, a little scared.

"I know Sasuke is your friend, but we can't have you letting him get away every time you get all mushy over him! He is a criminal!" she yelled at him.

"But Tsunade, Sasuke hasn't done anything!" Naruto and I both yelled at her in unison, trying to defend Sasuke, the one person we had been after and craving for so many years.

I shut my mouth, and looked at Naruto, who held rage, anger and hurt in his eyes. "He hasn't killed anyone! The only thing he did was runaway trying to find that damn brother of his! If anything, we should be after Itachi!" he yelled at her, clenching both his fists. "Sasuke is like a brother to me! He's taught me so much… I can't just let him go like that, Tsunade-sama."

Naruto looked down at the ground. Both Tsunade and Kakashi sighed. That's when Kakashi got up and walked over to Naruto, patting him gently on the back. Tsunade has a look on her face; looking a bit guilty for the words she had told Naruto.

"Leave... I and your sensei Kakashi will handle this... Maybe you two shouldn't go on this mission..." she said coldly, putting her elbow on the desk and resting her head on her hand. I looked at her one last time. Maybe the head was getting to her? Naruto and I nodded then turned around, when suddenly the door slammed opened. It was Asuma-sensei and Guy-sensei.

They both had a surprised and worried look on their faces.

"Tsunade-sama!" Guy said his voice a little shaky.

"What is it?!" she said looking up at them with a slight glare.

"It's Sasuke,"

"He's returned to the village," Asuma said, moving out of the way, letting two ANBU through the doors, holding Sasuke in their hands.

I looked closely at him, my heart beating fast. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach awaken, and my head begin to spin. My eyes were wide, and my face was red. I stood there, motionless. He stood there, not fighting them, just standing there. His head was down. His black, spiked hair was a little messy. Sasuke's clothes looked a bit dirty. The white collared shirt he wore showed his bare chest.

"Sasuke..." Naruto said breathless. I looked over to Naruto, whose eyes were wide and teary. He took a step back, unsure of himself.

Looking back at Sasuke, he slowly lifted his head and a smirk gently came across his beautiful face. His eyes were dark, but something had changed... I didn't see hatred in those eyes anymore. He looked straight at Naruto, and then turned his head slowly to me.

"Sakura," he slowly, gently spoke. I studied his face quickly. His face was covered in cuts and bruises.

My heart stopped for a quick second before a tear gently fell from my right eye. After years of searching, crying, and chasing after him, Sasuke was back. He stood there, in front of us.

X


X

Sasuke avoided the question, and kept walking in silence with his katakana out. I tugged on Naruto's shoulders, letting him know that the question he had asked was wrong, and very rude. He nodded, and awkwardly grinned at me before a sharp and fast kunai hit the ground which landed before Naruto's very feet.

"It's an ambush!" Sasuke said, throwing off his cloak and pulling out a kunai with his spare hand.

Suddenly, before I knew it, it was an almost rain of shuriken. Quickly, I focused my chakra into my fists, and punched the ground, preventing any kunai from hitting us.

"Sakura, are you alright?!" Naruto asked, before making a shadow clone.

I nodded until a few seconds later; I felt a sharp sting in the back of my arm. I had been hit by a poisoned kunai. My body became weak quickly, like a paper hitting rain in a thunderstorm. I fell to the floor, my body not being able to the difference between numbness and pain. Slowly, my eyes began to close and the last thing I saw where Naruto and Sasuke's feet.

Waking up, I felt people poking and shaking my limp body. The area I was in felt very humid and hot. I couldn't feel my right arm, where I had been hit and I couldn't move my body, only my eyes and mouth. I licked my lips before I felt a sharp slap curse my left cheek.

"Wake up!" someone yelled, standing over me. My eyes were half open, and I could see was a blood soaked black cloak with a red linking at the bottom. Letting out a shriek from the slap, I felt another slap grace the other cheek. "Shut up!"

I was then kicked over. Feeling came back into my hands; I felt ropes, tight around my wrist. I slowly opened my eyes the rest of the way to find a man, with slanted blue eyes and long, blond hair looking down at me with an evil smirk.

"Now you're awake!" he smirked down at me before slapping my face again once more. I grunted softly, spitting out some blood on the dirty floor beneath me. "Look guys, she's finally awake! Come here!"

I tried rolling my body over, and on the opposite side of me, there was a man with silver slicked back hair and pink colored eyes staring down at me. My eyes widened, when I realized who these people were.

"N-No… This can't be!" I mumbled to myself. Standing over me were Deidara and Hidan, two members of the Akatsuki… Hidan saw the fear in my face, and put his famous scythe to my neck.

"Okay gorgeous get up!" he ordered me. I tried pushing my body off the ground and only fell back on my side. Soon, more of them came up to me. Sasori, Kisame, Konan, and Kakuzu gathered around me, sneering and laughing at my condition.

"Look at her, she's so helpless. Why don't we just kill her now?" Kisame chimed, staring down at me. I turned away from his fishy face, only to see Konan's face in front of me. She was so pretty. I don't understand how a girl as beautiful as he was in such an awful organization as this.

"Shut up Kisame, you don't treat women like that…" she said, helping me up and cutting the ropes off my wrist with a small, single paper. I rubbed my finally bare wrists, and realized that I had let my guard down. I quickly backed into a wall, staring at them. Reaching down, I realized that my weapons pouch wasn't there. Of course they took it.

Deidara began to shake his head, laughing at my weak self. "Don't think you can escape princess! We're not letting you go that easily!"

"Why am I here?! What do you want with me?!" I yelled, looking at them, scared for my life which seemed like it could end any moment.

Konan appeared in front of me, and grabbed my hand, leading me away from the men who threatened my life. As we walked away, I could hear whispering and laughing.

"Don't mind them," she said in a mellow voice. "You've been requested."

"Requested?" I questioned, trying to yank my hand away from hers.

"Yes," Konan said, not letting the grasp on my hand go.

I gulped, before she led me to a large, black wood door. "Go in here; Nagato is waiting for you with Itachi-san…"

"Huh?" I said, as she opened the door and pushed me inside.

She shut the door behind me, and locked me inside there. The room was lightly dimmed, and there on a huge bed was Nagato, barely being able to breathe. He was coughing and in the corner of the room, was a tall man, wearing black clothing and his long, black hair tied up in a low pony tail.

"Sakura," the man in the corner said. His voice was smooth, honeyed and gentle. "Finally, you're here."


Authors Note: I hoped you enjoyed the first chapter! There will be many more chapters to come. This story is going to have lots of romance, secrets, lies, drama and action! I hope you liked it and stay tuned for future chapters!

Also! Please review! Thank you dears! Bye 3