A/N: Hey guys. Second chapter is up and I'll admit, it's a bit longer than I usually make my chapters. Also, it's up a bit sooner than I expected, but this chapter seemed to come easily to me. I'll go ahead and explain that this story in particular will focus on the views of only four characters, and that's Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi and Karin. They'll be the only ones who really matter in that since.
Thanks for viewing! So review for me! I love you guys! Enjoy.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.-Buddha
Karin awoke abruptly, jolted by the heavy footsteps of the person carrying her. She was being held uncomfortably under someones arm, more like a sack than a person really.
Considering this, she wasn't surprised to notice, when craning her neck upwards, that it was the impassive form of Uchiha Sasuke lugging her around. She felt her chakra tingling as it returned throughout her body. Uphead she could sense Juugo, but Suigetsu was strangely absent.
Moments later Sasuke seemed to sense her renewed state of consciousness and set her down roughly. Remembering the childhood memories that had been shared with her, Kain looked up at Sasuke in wonder.
They resumed travel, in silence for at least a half hour before she spoke.
"Where is Suigetsu?" she asked.
Neither of the men made a move to answer. Karin snorted.
"Where is he?" she asked again.
Juugo slowly turned towards her, a frown stretching slightly across his face.
"You'll have to see for yourself," he said softly.
They landed at their current encampment, the third member of team taka lay sprawled next to a dwindling fire. He was groaning quietly, his face contorted in pain.
"I got him away," Juugo continued, his voice echoing behind her as she knelt by his side.
"He wouldn't have lasted…they would have brought him down."
Karin glanced back briefly; Sasuke stood silently, truly like a hawk as he watched their exchange.
"Who's 'they'?" she asked, visually examining Suigetsu's injuires.
To her surprise it was Sasuke who answered, causing her to still.
"Team Kakashi."
Karin looked to Juugo, who nodded in affirmation.
"First it was the Kyuubi, but as soon as I got there the other two did too," he said, rough anger overwhelming his tone.
"Hatake Kakashi, and Haruno Sakura," sounded Sasuke. Karin spun to see his face, which was still impassive despite the thick annoyance that coated his words.
Shivers shot down her spine as she remembered the kunoichi with the pink hair. Her strange gift of memories and ambigous request.
"What are yours?"
She wondered if she knew Karin's memories of Sasuke were all tainted. Smeared with blood, terror and fear?
In truth, she had almost no fond memories of Sasuke. She loved him, but it didn't mean Sasuke was kind to her in any way. In fact, he barely let her touch him.
She scanned through the memories of Sasuke with his old team. His faint but present smiles, not a picture of hapiness exactly, but not the utterly devastated youth that she knew.
Karin realised that she probably didn't even have one memory that could even begin to compare to the pink haired kunoichi.
She looked up at Sasuke, who stood glaring at the sky, fists clenched at his sides. Briefly, wondered at the cause, but quickly realized that even if she asked him, she wouldn't get an answer.
Why won't you tell me anything?
It made the ache more bearable, knowing that Sasuke treated the other girl the same way. They were alike she guessed, loving the same man, too dispassionate to love them back.
Kakashi felt his resolve crumbling as he knelt by the base of a tree, watching silently as Sakura finished healing Naruto. She kissed him on the head softly and ordered him to sleep.
He felt his façade slip further as she walked quietly over to him, face smudged with dirt. Her hands brushed softly over his shoulders, glowing blue as she probed his body for wounds, switching to green periodically as she focused her healing chakra.
"Today was nothing to be proud of," she said quietly, her eyes not meeting his. With his Konoha headband loose in his hand, a lone sharingan eye peered at her, spinning slowly.
He gave her a gentle smile.
"Cheer up Sakura-chan. We caught up to them, that's a step forward."
This was true. Team Kakashi had been searching for Sasuke and his team for months now, they had never been that close, not this close.
They had found them. Even though they didn't find Sasuke himself, his allies were more than enough proof of their proximity.
"We let them get away." His student said, her voice wavering.
This was why he couldn't seem to hold his own around her. She was so delicate with him and Naruto. Reminding him of how attached they were to one another.
Sakura wouldn't be caught dead showing weakness in front of anyone else. As a tear slid down her face Kakashi encircled her shoulders, pulling her to him.
Her tears were silent, her body limp. It pulled at his heart strings at a way he could barely stomach.
After a time, he decided to break the silence.
"We'll catch him."
Images of a boy he'd thought of like a son flickered through his mind.
Now…how much more mature and incredibly powerful Naruto was, and Sakura, he didn't even like to think about her. Mostly because when he did think about her, he realized just how much his opinion of her had changed over the years. No longer a child, no longer the adequate, but never exceptional student. No longer that Sakura.
She was a grown woman now, a grown woman who very often slept in his arms. She was doing such at this very moment.
Looking down at her, a smile spread across his face. He shifted her to a comfortable position on his lap, yawning as he drifted off to sleep, chin resting atop her head.
He awoke the next morning to the sound of both of his teammates bickering about which one held their own in the battle they had yesterday.
Apparently, Sakura let Naruto win, saying that the punch he landed to the red haired male was definitely better than the bone shattering grip she had on the white haired shark man's ankle. Though Kakashi didn't quite agree, he let it go as he stood with a yawn, stretching as he walked towards them. The morning sky was a dark, misty gray and it smelled like rain.
They smiled and waved as a unit. "Kakashi-Sensei," Naruto grinned, still referring to him as Sensei even though they were the same rank so it wasn't necessary. "How'd you sleep?" He asked leaning down and folding up his sleeping mat.
Sakura also gave him a warm smile as she pack up her own things with little fuss. It didn't seem like she was in a good mood, despite her smile and her releasing of frustrations in her crying last night. He could tell by her stiff movements that she was disappointed in herself. After all, they knew each other better than anyone else.
"Oi, fine." He replied, and after only about an hour, the three were sprinting off in the direction of the Uchiha's scent, which Pakkun, who was obviously displeased, told them was "all over the damn place".
The little dog was bounding forward in front of them when he so happily informed them that Sasuke traveled the area frequently that night, because his scent was everywhere and very fresh. He snorted as he continued on.
Naruto grunted from Kakashi's left side. "Maybe he was trying to confuse us cause he knows we'll have Pakkun. He's probably trying to throw us off." He said, his face serious as it always was when he was talking about his absent best friend.
Kakashi nodded. "Maybe."
Sasuke Uchiha was very angry. Actually, that didn't quite elaborate his emotions properly; Sasuke was absolutely livid.
He was so angry that he hadn't been able to sleep the entire night, and in trying to cope with his dilemma he cut circles around the immediate area, trying to rid his mind of thoughts about his ex-team.
He was angry at a number of things. At his team mates for being so weak as to be defeated by his old friends so easily. At himself for thinking about them all night. Certainly at the entire situation in general.
Most assuredly he did not agree with any of it.
Karin's voice broke him out of his mental brooding as she shouted from behind him. "Sasuke, I can sense them."
He nodded. He didn't need to ask her where for her to know immediately that was what he wanted to know. "To our left, about 97 meters away. They're going to close in fast if we don't do something."
He scowled. "Why didn't you notice them sooner."
"I think something was covering their chakra. I can't be sure if they've recognized us or not, but I think their coming this way." She sounded almost afraid and he wondered why for a moment before it finally set in what situation he was in.
They'd actually found him. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi were actually going to corner him.
His veins were absolutely thrumming with anticipation as he stopped on the branch. "Good."
Karin's gasp was louder as she stopped on the branch right beside him. He heard the slight crack and strain behind him as Juugo and Suigetsu, who was still recovering, stopped as well. "We fight." He said quietly, his voice dull despite his excitement.
"We can't fight them." Karin pleaded, her voice rising in tone. "Suigetsu is hurt and he will be at a disadvantage with the lightning wielder. Juugo can only last so long himself. The battle yesterday really drained his chakra, he isn't fully recovered." She paused for a moment, "I can't win against her." She added almost as if it was an afterthought, her voice lowering considerably. He did recognize that it was against her character to admit something negative about herself.
Sasuke tried to remember the aftermath of Sakura's punch, which he'd never seen firsthand, but had accounts of its power. "I know." It was doubtlessly the truth. Karin was his sensory expert; She had never been a very good fighter.
Beside him, he saw Karin flinch as if words hurt her. This was odd because he would assume she'd be used to him by now. "I will fight Naruto." He said evenly. "I don't care what you do to the others, or what they do to you, but Naruto is mine." He grimaced. "I won't run." After a moment of silence, he looked down at a shivering Karin. Had Sakura really frightened her so badly yesterday? "How far?"
She answered with no hesitation. "56 meters and closing. I sense a chakra flare in the Kyuubi." She said weakly.
It was true. The normally warm and friendly chakra she'd felt before was gone, replaced by an eager red chakra that craved for Sasuke's attention, his blood. Sasuke himself could feel Naruto's chakra enclosing in.
"The Copy nin is flanking the rear, and their medic"- he heard a harsh swallow from her- "Seems to also be building chakra. I'm not sure what she'd doing, but there is almost as strong of a chakra signal as the Kyuubi is sending out." And that's when it hit her, it must have. Sasuke heard Karin inhaled and as he turned to her, her red eyes were wide. "I can feel her chakra. She's pinpointed us." Karin took a step back as if she could see the strand of Chakra approaching her. "We won't be able to shake her now. She's locked onto our position."
It was at that moment, that Sasuke felt his own chakra spike along with his adrenaline.
"29 meters" Karin said softly, whispering as if she thought they'd hear her talk.
Sasuke felt his lips pull into a tight and almost deranged smile. "Good."
