A/N: (yes, this is a copy/paste A/N. I'm lazy. Sorry )OKI! So, I've been contacted by this really awesome author: The Crafty Cracker (check out her wonderful stories :D :D), who is now my beta! Ahh, so excited lol. As you may have noticed (which I am very sure you have) I haven't had a beta since my start at (many years ago :/) but now that has changed. So, expect cleaner chappies from now on for both Wherever You Are (My Road to Ninja Universe fic) as well as One Step Closer.

Nom de Plume asked: However, I have to ask how everyone, besides Sasuke, knew she was in love with him? Because you mentioned right after that she had only silently adored him…

I will be going more into detail on their feelings in a later chapter but I thought I'd give a quick explanation on how it's possible that Sasuke never noticed while everyone else did.

It does make sense if you really think about it. Even if he had feelings for her, Sasuke's personality in this world indicates that he has a lot of self-doubt. So it was noted that he found her attention was more sibling-like than anything else. And as for Sakura's feelings, it's pretty obvious, at least to those close to them that she was in love with him.

Take canon Hinata for example, many knew she was in love with Naruto, even if she never said it, but he was never aware of it.

As for her "feelings" for Menma. I never explicitly said that she had any, I only noted that there was a relationship growing between them but because of his feelings for Hinata – it never bloomed into anything.

The part about Sasuke being "Amazing" was kind of a sarcastic thought on Sakura's part. It just refers to Sasuke realizing that he was popular among the village girls.

The rest of your questions will all be addressed later in the story! Thanks for all the kind words!

Please refer to the reviews section to see all of Nom de Plume's thoughts!

WHEREVER YOU ARE

Haruno Sakura, daughter to one of Konoha's heroes. Uchiha Sasuke, Chuunin, who might just be more of a disgrace to his Clan than his brother. Sakura knew going on this mission with him would be a mistake. That she would fall in love with him all over again, and the worst part was - she was right.

Road to Ninja Universe. SasuSaku.

Chapter 2 – I ALMOST DO

"I bet you think I either moved on or I hate you,

Cause each time you reach out there's no reply.

I bet it never, ever occurred to you that I can't say hello to you –

And risk another goodbye."

Of course, it shouldn't have been a huge surprise to Sakura when Sasuke showed up for their Team 7 training the following morning. He hadn't shown up in nearly three years. His absence had started gradually, and the he just stopped coming altogether. In all that time he hadn't set foot on the training field – at least while they were there, so his showing up had been somewhat of a miracle. Sakura had been training with Menma while Kakashi oversaw, yelling out helpful tips to both of them. Her kunai clashed with his, sparks flying around them, before they sprang apart. Both of them were breathing heavily at this point. Sakura's grip on the kunai tightened.

"Yo."

Sakura's head whipped to the side. Sasuke stood there, one hand in his pocket, the other raised in greeting. An easy smirk was painted on his face as his eyes found her's. Sakura glared at him, moving up out of her crouch and brushing her hair aside in clear annoyance.

"Oh! Sasuke! What a surprise!" Kakashi was clearly ecstatic that Sasuke had decided to grace them with his presence after all this time. Sakura and Menma shared a look.

Kakashi was busy making his way to the Uchiha when Menma spoke up, "Sasuke, it's rare of you to come to training. What happened? Are you meeting a girl here?"

Sakura put her kunai away, coming to a stop next to Menma. Sasuke glared. "What? Can't I join my team for some morning training?"

"When," Menma challenged, "Did you decide to become a part of this team again?"

"Now, Menma-" Kakashi began but Menma stepped up, cutting their sensei with a look. "Why should we go easy on him, Kakashi-sensei? He quit our team."

"Quit the team? Come on, Menma. Now you're being melodramatic," Sasuke said with a shake of his head.

"So what was it Sasuke?" Menma demanded, ignoring the comment, "For what reason have you decided to come here, huh?!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to reply but Menma didn't give him a chance. "Are you trying to show off for someone? Or did you think all of us suddenly turned into girls? Because, from where I'm standing, Sakura is the only girl here. Have you finally decided that she's worth your attention?!"

"Menma!" Sakura snapped, grabbing his arm and yanking him back. Menma didn't sound angry, but she could see it in his blue eyes - years and years of anger towards Sasuke was surfacing now.
There was a long moment where Sakura and Menma simply glared at each other before he let out a sigh. "You're too forgiving, Sakura."

Kakashi seemed to take that the situation was resolved and punched out at the air in front of him. "Good! Now that the entire Team 7 is here! Let's get back to training!"

Menma sighed again, shaking his head and Sakura thought that everyone was aware that Sasuke had said nothing in his defense.

"Right, Menma and Sasuke-"

"I'll take Sasuke." Sakura blurted, her voice ringing through the clearing before she could stop herself.

Menma gave her a shocked look and she shrugged.

"Sounds good to me." Sasuke agreed, but his voice sounded a little strained with civility.

"A-Alright," Kakashi agreed. "I suppose I can spar with Menma."

Kakashi and Menma gave Sakura and Sasuke worried looks as they retreated to the other side of the training field. No one said much, and Sasuke and Sakura continued to simply look at each other over the short distance as the cool morning wind blew around them.

"So," He began, "What are the terms?"

Sakura pulled her weapons pouch from her side and tossed it away. "I'll give you a handicap. No weapons."

Sasuke scoffed. "Don't underestimate me. I think I'm going to surprise you."

Sakura shook her head, her hair rustling around her face. "Yes. You do have a tendency of doing that lately."

"Hn. Anything else?"

"No ninja tools of any kind."

"Basically any kind of jutsu then. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu only."

Sakura nodded and watched Sasuke toss his weapons away. Sakura untied her forehead protector and held it up, Sasuke gave a nod and then she tossed it into the air. There was an agonizing ten seconds before it hit the ground, and then the match begun. Instead of hiding, like her usual strategy had been, Sakura rushed right in and surprisingly, Sasuke was able to keep up quite well, managing to dodge all of her hits.

"I know why you're here." Sakura grunted between hits.

"…Oh?" Sasuke dodged a punch before knocking her arm away and leaping out of the way of her kick.

"Yes!" Sakura said, running up to him. Sasuke stopped dodging now, simply knocking her hits away and trying to get his own in where he could. "And, it's not going to happen."

Sasuke smirked, leapt back and threw his hands together in a series of seals that Sakura could hardly follow, but she saw the last one.

"That's…tiger! Shit!" she leapt back just in time as Sasuke's flames shot from his mouth. Sakura managed to escape, rolling to the side before jumping to her feet. From what she could remember before, Sasuke had only known a few basic Fire-based Jutsu, one of which included his favorite, the Uchiha Clan's signature Grand Fireball. But this was unexpected. This was a higher-level Jutsu. At least B-class. Sakura watched the dragon of flames dissipate, feeling her anger surge.

"I can't believe this!"

Sasuke glared. "What now?"

"You can't train with us but you can on your own!" she threw her hands up, thoroughly pissed off.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

Sakura growled before going at it again, she threw a hit at Sasuke but he dodged – which was exactly what she'd wanted, instead of punching him, she reached out grabbing his collar, and throwing a kick to his side. Sasuke flew back, hitting one of the trees hard.

"She's going all out!" Menma called.

Sasuke got to his feet, his head hanging low, his chest heaving up and down and when he finally looked up – Sakura could see the anger burning in his dark eyes but there was also resolve and determination.

"You don't get it." Sakura said through clenched teeth. "The reason I won't go with you is not because you're a liability."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "But you said-"

Sakura looked away from him, unable to look into his eyes as she told him this. Afraid that he wouldn't care. "I know what I said. But you know nothing, Sasuke. Yesterday when you said we weren't that close, I used it against you as a weapon, but the horrible truth is – it's true. You don't know me." Sakura shook her head, letting out a shaky breath. "I don't think you ever did."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You abandoned me!" She yelled, finally meeting his eyes. "You abandoned us." Her voice was softer this time, her eyes accusing. "I trusted you! Since starting Team 7 – the three of you were all I had! We became like family and…you just left!" Sakura grabbed a weapon's pouch off of the ground and attached it back to her belt. Maybe the problem was that she was in love with him and he'd abandoned her, that she had believed he could chase the loneliness away. But she would never tell him that. So, Sakura walked away.

"You have the entire village, being a hero's daughter. Stop complaining."

She stilled. "I never cared about that. You wouldn't understand. You have a family waiting for you at home."

"Your parents died protecting this village. Your father was Hokage. You should be happy-"

"Shut up, Sasuke! Just…" Sakura could feel tears prickling her eyes and she squeezed them shut. "A face on a mountain can't say 'welcome home', can it?"

Sasuke watched her go, disappearing into the trees around the training field, unable to call her back.

x-x-x-x-

Menma was sitting on his bed while Hinata sat on his desk chair, staring at the troubled expression on his face. His hands were clenched together, elbow resting on his thighs.

Hinata sighed. "Menma, what is it?"

His blue eyes moved to her slowly and he swallowed. "Last week…" he began a little awkwardly. "Did we…-"

"I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"That it wasn't you."

"And you had sex with him?"

Hinata looked away. "It's not like you've asked me to be exclusive or anything. And to me – he was you."

"But he wasn't!" Menma exploded, jumping to his feet. "He wasn't me! He was some stranger, using my bed, spending time with my parents, my friends and my girl!" his fists were clenched as shaking at his sides as he finished. "I hate him."

"Your girl?" she asked, standing too and closing the space between them.

"I can't stand the thought of him living my life." The troubled expression still stuck to his face and Hinata frowned up at him, her brows pulled down in worry. "Why does it bother you so much, Menma?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, turning his face away from her. "I don't know, Hinata."

"Don't shut me out, Menma." Her hands slid to his cheeks, turning him to face her again, but he wouldn't open his eyes. "Menma, look at me."

Slowly, those blue orbs slid open and he leaned down to kiss her. "I don't know." He repeated, kissing her again before going down onto the bed and pulling her with him until he lay flat on his back. His warm hand slid up her sides, over her bare skin. Hinata shivered and pulled away slightly. "We shouldn't. Your parents could be home at any time." She whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

Menma grinned slyly, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Don't worry, we'll be quick. They won't catch us."

"Yeah, that's what you said last time."

x-x-x-x-

Sakura sat in her apartment, carton of three berry ice creams on her lap, eyes staring blankly at the medical scroll in front of her, but her eyes kept going to the weapon's pouch not too far from her. She'd been so upset that she had taken his by mistake. The Uchiha symbol that was embroided on the top glared at her and she turned her eyes away and back to the scroll, shoving a spoon full of ice cream into her mouth.

Naturally, she regretted the entire conversation with him, however one-sided it was. Not because she felt bad, but simply because she wished she hadn't said anything to him. Sakura had made peace with what Sasuke was to them a long time ago and it was just like him to be selfish and to suddenly come and screw with that.

Sakura sighed heavily, taking another bite before closing the scroll. It was a lost cause, she wouldn't be able to concentrate tonight. Hugging the carton to her chest, her bare feet padded over the floor to the TV but she'd only made it two steps before the doorbell rang. Immediately, her eyes went to the pouch on the table before flipping to the front door and after a breath, she went over to it, going up on her toes to peep through the peephole. Surprisingly, it wasn't Sasuke. It was Kiba. Sakura found her lips tugging into a smile. "Who's there?" she called, biting her lips to stifle the smile in her voice.

"Your friendly neighborhood cat tamer."

Sakura pulled the door open. Kiba looked annoyed, but his expression smoothed a bit once he saw her. Akamaru nudged Sakura's hand and she scratched his ear before he moved past her and into the apartment. Kiba glared after him before lifting his hand. He was bleeding.

"He bit me." He ground out and Sakura sighed. "Again? What did you do this time?"

Kiba actually looked a bit guilty. "I may have said some things. Maybe."

Sakura took his hand (the one that wasn't bitten) and pulled him into the apartment, shutting the door.

"If you were half as nice to Akamaru as you are me, maybe you two would get along better," Sakura told him sternly, directing him to the basin in the bathroom to wash his hands while she sat down at the table. Akamaru was busy eating her ice cream, his tongue slopping into the mix.

Kiba sat down next to her after washing his hands and Sakura took his injured hand in her own and a green glow enveloped them.

"That wouldn't work out," he said referring to her previous statement.

"Why not?" Sakura challenged.

Kiba leaned in, as if confiding a secret. "Because I'm a special kind of nice to you." His eyes zoned in on her lips then and Sakura swallowed.

"You have some ice cream…" he trailed off and Sakura licked her lips. "Where?"

Kiba's eyes sparkled impishly before he reached out and swiped the ice cream from the corner of her lips. Sakura watched with wide eyes as he licked the pink ice cream from his finger and her eyes slid away, her cheeks pounding with heat. It was then that Kiba saw the weapon's pouch on the other end of the table. The Uchiha symbol unmissible.

Sakura noticed Kiba's sharp gaze on it before he turned to her. "I saw you leave with him last night."

Sakura sighed, pulling her hand from his. The bite wound now healed. "I didn't leave with him. Sasuke followed me out, but I left alone."

Kiba was silent for a long time before he reached up, almost tentatively, to brush her hair behind her ear. "I really want there to be an us, Sakura. Me and you."

Sakura turned away from him, her eyes sad. "Kiba…" was all she could say.

His hand dropped from her and he stood, placing a soft kiss on her hair. "It's really hard to compete with someone who's supposed to be out of your life."

Sakura listened to his footsteps, all the way to the door and then he was gone, Akamaru following only a moment later. She stood, heading to the door to close and lock it before she tossed the ice cream carton away and sat back down at the table, burying her face in her hands. The day was turning into a disaster. All she needed now was for Sasuke to stop by and it would turn into a complete catastrophe.

Sakura felt so damn stupid. She liked Kiba. Really, really liked him. So why did she turn him away like that? He was there, he wanted to make her happy, and Sakura was sure that eventually she could love him. But the ugly truth of it was, Kiba wasn't Sasuke. And she hated herself for feeling that way. She was sure that she absolutely wasn't in love with the Uchiha brat anymore, so why? Why the hell was he still haunting her?

Sakura reached out for his weapon's pouch, flipping it open and tossing the contents onto the table. Charka wire, various scrolls, shuriken, kunai and –

Sakura gasped, yanking the silver edged kunai from the pile. The small strand of pink ribbon was still tied around the top of the hilt. She had given this to both Sasuke and Menma the day all of them became Chuunin. Why did he still have it?

Menma had lost his years ago during a mission but this kunai, Sasuke's, looked really well-kept and cleaned. The ribbon was burned slightly where it began to tear to stop it from breaking. Sakura let out a growl, shoving everything back into the pouch and sliding it away from her angrily.

"I hate you," she whispered. Why had he kept it if he'd abandoned them? He had no right. He should have thrown it away and been done with it. Cut his ties with them completely instead of always leaving them with just a little hope.

Sakura was about to stand up to go to bed early but a rap at the window made her jump and she tensed, ready for some kind of attack. But it wasn't an attack, it was just her night going from a disaster to catastrophe.

Sasuke was at the window, staring pointedly at her to open the window and after a moment, Sakura stood roughly and yanked it open.

"I have a front door, you know."

"Would you have opened it if you saw it was me?"

"No."

"Exactly. You can't avoid me at the window."

Sakura turned away from him, swiping the pouch from the table and holding it out to him. "You're here for this, right?"

Wordlessly, he swapped her pouch with his and Sakura tossed hers on the table before looking at him expectantly but Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the wall.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked after sighing sharply.

"I wanted to tell you that you're wrong."

"About what, exactly?"

"The fact that I don't know you."

Sakura groaned. "I really don't-"

"Hear me out, Sakura. I know more than you think, the fact that you always eat extremely sweet stuff when you're really upset." His eyes went to the spoon on the table, pink blotches of ice cream still on it.

"Or that you have strange cravings for dango sticks in the middle of a mission."

"Those are…just observations,"

"Fine. I know that you push yourself in training, not because the village expects it or because your father was the Hokage or because you have something to prove."

Sakura felt her heart drop and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "You train because you hate coming home to an empty house. You can't stand being alone."

Sakura stared up at him wide-eyed, her eyes burning with sudden tears.

"I always knew you were alone, Sakura. You hid it well, and you never stopped smiling, but I could see it in your eyes."

"What did you see?" she whispered.

"The same look I had when my brother left."

"This solitude…" Sakura said, her voice hard. "You can't compare it to a level where you lost your brother. Not when you can still go home to a mother and a father who love you."

"It's true that I have that, and maybe I will never understand what you're going through, but haven't I been trying?"

Sakura scoffed. "No. You're only doing this because you want something from me. And you know what, I don't care anymore, your brother is-"

Sasuke's hand covered her mouth before she could tell him. "Come with me, Sakura."

Sakura shoved his arm away from her. "No. Why should I?"

"Because you want to see this through too, if nothing else. I know you can't resist that."

"Won't you miss all your girlfriends?" she asked snidely, but she realized, annoyingly, that she'd already made her decision when she found the kunai in his pouch, as much as it pissed her off. She still had a soft spot for him.

Sasuke shrugged, his eyes looking right into her own. And as always, Sakura was the first to look away. "I'll speak to Tsunade-sama. Be at the main gate at sunrise, and if you're even a minute late-"

"I know." Sasuke turned away but paused with one foot on the windowsill. "Sakura, thank you."

.

.

And then he was gone.