Starting AN: Oh no. I've left all you poor reviewers for over a month! I'm so sorry! What took me so long, I really don't know. It was probably a combination of ridiculous amounts of school work, me being away, and the fact that I finished watching 2 whole Taiwanese drama series (which I totally don't regret because those things are awesome). Anyway. Enough of my useless life and onto the chapter! Again, thanks to all who reviewed. You all get… um, a shred or my love!

Chapter 3
Conflict Resolution

Sakura's walk home seemed longer than it should have. Perhaps it was because she'd been walking at a moderate pace, or her thoughts had just made time seem to move all the slower. In either case, when she reached the front door, she was anything but in a good mood. She could only imagine what her face looked like at the moment.

Sluggishly, she fished out her keys out of the deep pocket of her faded jeans. "I'm home…" she said to the empty house.

At least, it was supposed to be empty. Walking into the kitchen, Sakura found her father reading the daily paper. A plate of food and a cup of tea sat in front of him, completely untouched. She didn't understand what the man was still doing here. It was night number three. That was practically his record, or at least from the memories she could recall.

What were the chances, she wondered, that she could pass through unnoticed upstairs? It was worth a try. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. "Where's that woman?" her father asked, before she was halfway across the kitchen.

Sakura sighed, and looked back at the table. It seemed as if he hadn't even lifted his head. She couldn't help but sigh. "Mom has a job, you know. She can't wait on you, hand and foot, just because you decide to come home every so often."

There was no pause before he posed the next question. "Where have you been for the past few days?"

Sakura turned around fully this time. Where had that question come from? "I'm twenty-two, Father, I can take care of myself."

"That wasn't what I asked."

Sakura frowned, and before she could bite her tongue, words began spilling from her mouth: "Since when did you care? You can't just show up again and run the household. I don't have to answer anything."

This time, her father lifted his head. His eyes looked quite deadly, standing out because of his gray hair. Sakura unconsciously took a step back. "Young lady, while you live under this roof, keep in mind who's paying the bills. And like it or not, I am your father."

"Well maybe I'd see you more as a father if you'd have spent more time at home rather than elsewhere, most likely sleeping around." After saying those final words, her set of green eyes widened. That had always been a fleeting thought on her part, but she never meant to say it. In any case, the comment had silenced them both. There was absolutely no noise within the household.

Ashamed of her words, a moment later Sakura had turned on her heel and dashed up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once she'd closed the door, she slumped to the floor. "What have I done?" she whispered to herself. Not only had she more-or-less torn apart the new Nara family, but she was messing up hers as well. What a day.

The next morning, Sakura woke up with a start. Frantically, her eyes darted around her room. She was sure she experienced another one of those odd dreams. Only this time, much to her relief, she couldn't remember it.

Sakura was a strong believer in logic. While the fantasy life and surrealism was something that interested her greatly, logically, things of that sort didn't happen. So when coming down to the subject of believing in messages in dreams, usually she'd laugh it off. Dreams were just fragments of the imagination.

So why did this seem like something more?

Whatever it was, it was clear to her that the current chain of events was clogging her head with useless thoughts. She figured a trip to the hospital (volunteering was a requirement for medical school students) and see what was happening there. It wasn't as if she was needed back at Sharingan.

She dressed in army-green cargo pants, and opted for a white sleeveless top. She grabbed her usual items, including her cherry flip-phone, keys, a change pouch, and her usual screwdriver, and threw them into a white handbag. With a confident nod of her head, she proceeded down the stairs.

Much to her relief, the house was empty. Where her mother was?—she didn't quite know. Her mom was prone to disappearing for days at a time, more so when Sakura wasn't home on a regular basis. She couldn't blame her mother either. Being alone in a house was well… lonely?

Her father didn't seem to be around. Truth be told, Sakura didn't feel like seeing him anyway. Their conversation hadn't been one of the best they'd had. Though, thinking about it, they never did talk much—ever. Still, she had no idea how to act if she saw him again. Or when she'd see him again.

The hospital wasn't too far from her place. Only a ten-minute bus ride away. It was a rather large building, contrasting to the unoccupied land around it. With a sigh, she entered through the glass revolving doors.

The receptionist, a woman in her late thirties sporting an almond colored bob, greeted her brightly. "Ah, Sakura! Long time no see. How are you doing?"

Sakura smiled, as usual. "I'm doing well, thank you. Enjoy your day, okay?"

"Right!" the lady responded all too brightly, rather, a little too brightly for Sakura's liking.

As soon as the pink haired woman rounded the corner, the smile instantly dropped from her lips. It simply didn't seem like the right moment to smile. She continued to walk with her head down, until walking into the locker room. The staff had been nice enough to lend her a locker earlier in the year. Though, Sakura probably figured it was simply because they had the room to spare.

Upon entering the 'Authorized Personnel Only' door, she caught a figure already sitting on the long bench at the center of the room. She recognized him from her volunteer work during her school year.

Doctor Kamizuki. Age: 34. Special trait: Always wears the same blue hat.

Not really a special trait, Sakura thought, as she recited her usual analysis of everyone she'd come in contact with. However, it was something she could recognize him by.

His dark eyes lit up at the sight of her. "Yo, Sakura! We haven't seen you around in a long time. What brings you all the way here?"

Sakura reached her locker, and with a couple flicks of her wrist, the lock snapped open. "Nothing much, Doctor. I didn't have much to do today. So, might as well stock up on those volunteer hours." She made a motion with her hand, which was a cross between a 'thumbs-up' and a 'leave everything to me' gesture. Only after she'd done so, she realized how weird it must have looked.

She figured she should start up those acting lessons again.

However, it didn't seem like the doctor had taken notice. He simply continued to grin. Actually, maybe she should have changed his special trait to: Always grins when he's about to ask a favor of someone.

"You said you weren't busy, right, Sakura?"

The pink haired woman was hesitant to answer. "Um, yeah?"

"Wanna do me this huge favor?"

She could have seen that one coming.

Five minutes later, she found herself in Doctor Kamizuki's office, which he shared with a couple other of the younger physicians. There was a stack of paper, about thirty centimeters thick pilled on the cluttered desk. What was it about paperwork that made people not want to fill it out when they got it? Surely they knew that it would be fifty times worse if they let it accumulate.

And what was it about doctors and dumping the stupid paperwork on first year med school students anyway?

But, she figured, it was better off to do said work. It gave a reason for the doctors to recommend her when hiring became an option. That is, if she was going to work in her hometown. The thought of staying permanently at Sharingan had crossed her mind several times. However, a certain someone hadn't ever mentioned it. And she sure as hell wasn't going to bring up the subject.

With a shake of her head, she tried to rid her mind of the gravely escalating thoughts. All that really did was toss her already less than perfect pink tresses into her view. "Damn it," she cursed mildly, now all too frustrated to care if her vision was obscured.

And in all that time she'd managed to finish a whopping whole three documents. Now, she figured, only four hundred and seventy seven more to go.

"Hey, Ugly," a familiar voice cooed, causing Sakura to sit up straight in the rolling chair.

She whipped her head around and saw who she expected. Name: Sai. Age: 25. Special trait: The biggest, and bluntest jerk on the face of the planet. He wore his short dark hair gelled down, as always, and had opted (to no surprise) in a tight black shirt and jeans.

"What the hell? It's just you, Sai? Jerk-face," she said jokingly, turning back to her (rather, Doctor Kamizuki's) paperwork.

"Well I'm ecstatic to see you and your forehead too, Ugly." The young man walked over, and placed a hand on the back of Sakura's chair. He leaned over her shoulder and asked: "What are you slaving over?"

Out of the corner of her jade eyes, she noted he was reading over her writing. "Like you can't read. It's Kamizuki's paperwork again. Lazy guy just dumps the stuff on me."

With a tiny chuckle, Sai moved back. After a quick silence, he changed the subject. "It's almost lunch time. Want to take a break?"

She blinked once in his direction. It was rare for Sai to invite anyone anywhere. Must have been something on his mind. "Uh, sure, I guess."

Sakura hadn't known Sai for that long. He was two years her senior, and was going to specialize in therapy through visual art. The two hadn't gotten off to a great start. In fact, she couldn't quite remember how the two had gotten to be… well, friends perhaps wasn't the right word. On better terms was more the idea.

The cafeteria was at the back of the hospital. Thankfully today, it didn't seem too crowded. The two picked out a table. "Stay, I'll get something," he said, giving a smile. Albeit it was fake, it was a smile nonetheless.

Sakura did as she was told, and grabbed a table in the corner. She watched Sai's retreating form for a moment, before turning away. The first time they met, she almost mistook him for Sasuke. The two shared similar features: hair color, eye color, height, and their voices were slightly similar as well. It was quite scary.

But in any case, she preferred not to think about the Uchiha at the moment. While she was still quite fond of him (fond perhaps being an understatement), thinking about him was distracting. Distracting and somewhat unnerving at times too. But that wasn't entirely his fault. He did have a multi-billion dollar corporation to run.

A tray was dropped in front of Sakura's face, causing her to snap out of her trance. She glanced up at Sai, who had brought back a pair of wraps with some sort of fish as the primary filling. "You're spacing out," he commented, sitting opposite her.

She gave a smile back. "I guess. But you know me; I'm always doing that. Thanks for lunch." She didn't hear any reply, but took her wrap and ate quietly. After a moment, she realized the second one hadn't been touched. Gazing up, she found Sai staring back, that usual sly smile apparent on his face.

"What?" she questioned.

"Nothing. I'm just looking," he replied. Somehow, she suspected that his comment had a deeper meaning than she thought, but wasn't about to go around in circles with the man's mind games.

Sakura, in turn, set her food down, and smiled. "Tell me something, Sai." She paused for a moment.

The onyx haired man kept the exact same expression on his face. "And what is that?"

Sakura rested her chin atop her folded hands. "Why is it that you try so hard?"

There was still no change in his façade. "I don't think I know what you mean."

"On the contrary, I think you do. But just for good measure, I mean your smile. It's clearly a front. What's with that?"

Again, his expression never faltered the least. "You're still as clever as ever, I must say, Sakura. But, I can also counter with the same question. Why is your smile fake?"

Sakura continued to smile, making her it was her turn for her façade to remain unchanged. So, he'd noticed. He was the first one. "Don't try to change the subject."

"I didn't change the subject. It's still relevant. It's just directed at someone else, hmm?"

Sakura sighed. It was obvious she wasn't going to get an answer out of Sai unless she said something first. And like hell that was going to happen. "You know what? Forget it. I honestly don't care." Slightly miffed, Sakura grabbed her wrap once more (now she identified it as tuna salad), and stuffed it into her mouth.

After swallowing, and nearly choking on the rest of her meal, she looked up once more. Her lunch date still hadn't touched his food. "Why did you buy two if you aren't going to eat it?"

He reached out a pale finger, nudging the remaining wrap to one end of the plate. "I don't like to eat around other people."

Sakura raised an eyebrow (something she'd gotten good at over the past few years). "So, you bought lunch, basically, to watch me eat."

"If you'd like to put it that way, then yes."

Right. She forgot how weird this man could get. "Listen. What do I owe you?"

He shook his head, and fake smiled again. "Nothing. I invited you."

"I insist," she persisted.

He shrugged. "Well if you insist. I have no use for a significant sum of money, but I had some leftover paperwork sitting on my desk. I think that should cover the cost of lunch."

Sakura was sure Sai was partially glad he was smiling with his eyes closed. Because if not, he'd be seeing the death glare she was giving him. Why had she insisted again?

"Thanks. I love you too, Sai…"

Sakura had meant to travel back to Sharingan earlier that week. However, every time she'd tried to leave that hospital, someone had shown up to ask for her help. And being the naturally helpful (though she rolled her eyes at this at times) person she was, obliged and promised to be back the next day.

Though, it wasn't as if they needed her at the moment back at Sharingan anyway. Everyone had their own cases to take care of, just like how it was before she was ever brought by Uchiha Sasuke to the company. Speaking of the devil, she'd heard he had come back already. It was so nice of him to call. (Of course, she scoffed at her own sarcasm.)

Mornings in her house had become rather eerily odd. Her father was still at home. It had now been over a week. She'd wanted to talk to him about things. What things exactly, she didn't know. Anything really. Her father was a complete stranger. Plus, their small dispute had dissipated over the days. However, the two had never gotten passed 'hello' or 'good morning'.

Sakura sighed at her thoughts, as she walked up to the hospital doors. Thank God, it was Friday. Tonight, for sure, she vowed to go back to Sharingan. She'd even arranged the train for ten that evening.

But until then, it was more hospital work for her.

Not that it was all bad. It turned out Sai had nowhere else to be either, and spent most of his time there as well. Surprisingly enough, he was quite the conversationalist, when he wanted to be. Those times usually included when Sakura was trying to concentrate on paperwork, or trying to keep to herself. Come to think of it, she realized, that the only times he was actually quiet was when he was drawing. She would have wanted to know what it was exactly he was sketching every so often, but every time she came around, he slammed the sketchbook shut.

Today, however, Sakura opted for simply asking.

"Sai, what is it exactly that you're drawing?"

Once again, the dark haired man shut his precious pad of paper. He looked up, and smiled (with another of those plastic grins, of course). "Are you interested, Sakura?"

The pink haired woman blinked. Obviously, she was interested, she figured, or she wouldn't have asked. "Uh, yeah?"

"Oh. I was kind of hoping you'd say no," he rubbed the back of his head, mock sheepishly. "But I still can't say."

"Um, why?"

"Because I don't want to."

Honestly, she internally sighed, sometimes everyone around her were nothing more than kids in adult bodies. 'Because I don't want to' sounded like something Naruto, and oddly enough, possibly even Sasuke would say.

Come to think of it, she assumed Sai and Naruto could become friends. It was only her assumption though. She wasn't so sure of Sai and Sasuke though…

In any case, now fed up of Sai's childish ways, she decided to call it a day and head home.

Seeing that it was well before she had to be home, (Sakura had picked up the personal philosophy of not coming home before six in the evening), she decided to visit Ino. The two hadn't spoken since the day Shikamaru had left for his 'mission'. That still sounded quite strange to her. Shikamaru and mission usually didn't fit in the same sentence. Never mind that, but it they also didn't fit in the same paragraph.

So she hopped on the bus, and got off one stop earlier than if she was to go home. On the short walk down the street, Sakura tried to sort out what she was going to say to her long time friend. "Hey, how's it going now that you're a free woman AND a millionaire?"

She paused in her walking.

Somehow, she didn't expect that said sentence to go over very well. Unfortunately, it seemed as if she'd have to wing it at this point, for the familiar Nara household door stood sturdily ahead of her. Inhaling, she brought her fist up to knock on the door.

At first, there was no answer. Sakura didn't expect Ino to be working at the flower shop. Ever since Mikoto was born, she spent most, if not all, of her time at home. And now with Shikamaru gone, she was sure the doting mother would be cooped up all hours of the day.

Sakura opted for the doorbell this time. Perhaps Ino was in the basement, or something. Much to her relief, (because she didn't want to have gone out of her way for nothing) she heard the door unlock.

The pink haired woman was about to greet her friend in quite a cheerful manner, but swallowed her words upon seeing Ino's distraught face. Her baby blue eyes orbs surrounded with irritated-looking lids. Her pale face was lined with dried tear lines.

Sakura had imagined Ino would be a little upset about her new husband leaving for an extended period of time without so much as a phone call, but her face showed emotions more than just 'a little upset'. "Oh, Ino…" Sakura said quietly.

"Ah, it's you, Sakura?" Ino furiously dried a fresh tear that clung to her long eyelashes. "Sorry. Come in, come in."

Sakura obliged silently. Her friend floated deep into the house, seemingly towards the den, as the sound of the television was heard. Slowly following, Sakura wondered how to comfort the blond woman. Having taken a psychology course earlier in her studies, she could classify her friend's state, and knew primarily how to go about it. However, what she was really experiencing, Sakura concluded, was something she couldn't understand.

However, her sympathy for Ino faded the instant she walked into the den. For Ino was curled up on the sofa with a bag of popcorn, watching the old movie Love Story.

"Oh…" Sakura said, with a tiny hint of a sigh, "That's why you're crying."

Ino reached for the remote and paused the movie. "But of course. What else is there to cry over?"

The pink haired woman gave her a knowing look. Ino sighed. "Okay, so Shikamaru's gone for a bit. But who'd cry over that guy? Certainly not me. I'm a free woman, after all."

Sakura really did know her best friend a little too well.

Sakura had managed to convince Ino to set aside the depressing movie (though, it had taken five minutes, the former being forced to hearing arguments such as: But it's only the most romantic movie of all time!) and settle for chatting over a cup of tea.

"So, I don't see Mikoto around anywhere," Sakura commented.

Her friend gripped the sides of her cup, warming her hands. "Yeah. My mother decided it was granddaughter-grandmother bonding day. So, that little child is off my hands for the day."

"You sound relieved."

Ino simply smiled, and then stared at her reflection in her untouched drink. There was a long silence for awhile, before she actually decided on speaking. "Maybe. But… it's a little lonely sometimes."

It was Sakura's turn to look up. "Lonely?"

The blond nodded. "Yes. Mikoto is a sweet kid, but really, staying home without her around it lonely. Plus Shika is gone too…" Ino then shook her head from side to side vigorously. "Wait a minute. What am I saying?"

Sakura felt her chest tighten. It was quite familiar, or at least it had become quite familiar. Loneliness? Is that what the feeling was? "Ino I…"

A familiar ring tone cut the woman off. Giving an apologetic look, Sakura reached into her purse and fished out her cell phone. It was Hyuuga Hinata, once again. In a cheerful voice, Sakura said: "Hey."

There was a pause on the other end. "Uh… Sakura?"

"Yup?"

"I… I hate to b-be the bearer of bad news, b-but there's another situation here…"

This sounded fun, Sakura thought sarcastically. "Yeah? I'm listening."

"W-well… another employee came to the infirmary t-today… saying something about a sore neck… and… um…"

As a medical student (which is probably the only reason Hinata kept informing her in the first place), Sakura could guess where this was going. "Don't tell me…"

"Y-yeah… viral meningitis…"

Sakura covered the phone with one hand, and spoke to Ino. "Apparently there's a little bit of trouble where I work… So, sorry I have to cut this visit short. I'll come by again in a few days, alright?"

The blond smiled. "Anytime. I'm not going far."

Sakura gave a final smile, before bidding farewell and rushing towards the door. "Hinata? You still there? Good, okay. This is what I need you to do…"

AN: My goodness. I'm so glad that chapter's out of the way. Another chapter, another illness. Oh dear. And as I promised last time, I introduced a new character. Our beloved Sai. I'm not so great at his character, as he is rather new to the series (plus he's been MIA for a many chapters now). Oh well. I'll try my best.

So, as for next time: It's been awhile since our loved Sasuke had made an appearance. Guess he'll just have to wait until then to bless us (and Sakura) with his presence. But you know how first meetings are. They don't exactly run as smoothly as intended.