Sleepwalking Past Hope

Chapter 4: Second Chance

In our hearts love keeps sweet-talking to despair
And goes on sleepwalking past hope.

-HIM

"I'm sorry Sakura." He let her wrist go and stared at her green eyes looking for something in them, anything, but he found nothing.

"Save your apologies for someone who cares Uchiha." She hissed at him before opening the door to her house and shutting the door in his face without so much as even a glance his way. It was somehow ironic for Sasuke how their roles were for a moment reversed, where she would be the cold one walking away from him and he would be the one who watched her leave.

The next morning Sakura said good bye to her parents before leaving to the Konoha gates bright and early. By six fifty she was already there waiting for her team mates, a while after she got there Naruto and Sasuke showed up nearly at seven. Sakura saw them arrive but kept away from them and Naruto was surprisingly smart enough to stay away from her upon sensing her mood.

Naruto noticed Sakura hadn't slept well and that she wasn't in a good mood at the moment. He had learned in mornings like this to stay away from her for his own good. But he wondered what caused her foul mood; he couldn't help to think it had something to do with Sasuke who seemed in a worst mood than usual that morning as well. He knew he had to ask Sasuke what had happened after he left them alone yesterday in the ramen stand. Maybe it hadn't been his best idea.

Sakura saw Naruto watching her from afar and she knew he was wondering what was wrong with her but she didn't want to deal with his questions so she directed her gaze forward. She was dreading the mission, having to work along with Sasuke after that argument wasn't going to be easy, she didn't want to even see him.

After she closed the door on him she had gone to her room and released tears she hadn't known she was holding. She had cried and cried until she could cry no more. She cried because she was mad at him, mad at him for leaving and then expect things to be the same as before. She had changed, she was no longer the lovesick girl trailing behind him. She wasn't sure she even cared for him as a friend anymore.

"You, Sasuke Uchiha don't mean a thing to me anymore."

She had told him and at the moment she could have sworn it was the truth, but after thinking about it she didn't know. At least she knew it was the truth on the most part, she didn't care for him like she did before, that she knew. But did that mean she didn't care for him at all?

"Naruto! Sakura!" Sakura heard her name being called and turned to where the voice had come from and she came to face an old man she remembered well enough. It was the man from the Land of Waves mission.

She stood up from where she sat as she made her way towards him who was near Naruto and Sasuke. "Old geezer!" Naruto yelled pointing a finger at him in disbelief.

"Tazuna." Sakura smiled surprised she remembered his name, but how could she not? That was a mission she could never forget. The old man smiled back at both of them and it was then that Sakura understood. He was the client. How fitting, their client for their first mission as Team 7 once again was none other than him.

"You've gotten taller, brat." He said to Naruto chuckling under his breath and Sakura couldn't help but smile. "And Sakura, you're even prettier than last time." He smiled at her. She remembered last time they saw him; he was helping rebuild the village along with everyone else. Tazuna then turned to Sasuke. "You must be the other brat. I haven't seen you in a while, you've grown"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as if that was a reply.

"Well I should have imagined." Kakashi said nearing their team mates and the client who were exchanging pleasantries. "Tazuna." Kakashi recognized nodding over at the old man. "I think this is a good fit for our first mission as Team 7 once again." He looked over at the three who had once been his students. They had grown; they weren't the same brats they were back then.

Naruto beamed in delight remembering how excited they had once been when they received the mission to the land of waves. Sasuke looked around seeing how his team mates, former teacher, and client had changed since last time; he somehow felt out of place, like he didn't belong. Sakura just looked down toward the ground; she had both good and bad memories of that mission.

Kakashi opened the scroll to view the details of the mission; it was a simple escort mission to the land of waves and protect the client from thieves if necessary. "Anything else we need to know about the mission?" Kakashi asked his eyebrows raised and everyone turned their attention to Tazuna. "Are there ninjas after you this time too?"

"No, I don't think you'll have any trouble this time. It's just taking me back home and that's that." Tazuna chuckled.

"Well we should leave now." Sakura spoke with a smile on her face, but as Sasuke looked over at her he could see that smile wasn't genuine. Kakashi nodded to her and started walking out the village with her close behind. Tazuna followed next while both Naruto and Sasuke stayed behind together.

A few hours later they were still walking, they hadn't encountered anyone. No ninja's trying to kill Tazuna and no thieves either. Naruto talked without stopping and Sasuke had to wonder how the dobe could talk so much, he never seemed to shut up.

Eventually he just stopped listening to Naruto's rambling and would nod or grunt making Naruto think he was paying attention. But his attention was really on the pink girl haired that walked between Kakashi and Tazuna. She had ignored both he and Naruto the whole way, talking to Kakashi and the client.

The girl he had remembered leaving unconscious on a bench really had changed; and he wondered the real extent of it. Did she really not care about him? He found that hard to believe after she had once confessed her love for him. But back then…they were only twelve. He had hold on to the memory of the friend and the girl who loved him unconditionally; Naruto and Sakura.

Her voice broke his train of thought then. "Can't you wait a few more hours Naruto?" She asked; her hands on her hips as she stared at Naruto awaiting an answer.

"No! I'm hungry now Sakura-chan!" He complained clutching his belly. Sasuke blinked noticing what was happening. Naruto was complaining about needing to eat, that was the only reason Sakura was now facing their direction slightly glaring at Naruto for not being able to hold on with an amused Kakashi and Tazuna behind her. He did however; notice how her gaze wavered to him for no more than just a second.

"Fine Naruto. We can stop and eat, but after this we'll only stop at night so no more complaining." She agreed rolling her eyes. Naruto beamed at the chance to eat and Kakashi nodded smiling from behind his mask. It was then that Sasuke noticed that even though the captain in the mission was Kakashi Sakura was the one that decided in these kinds of things and no one questioned her orders. Unlike back then…now she called the shots.

Some hours after eating they stopped, it was late and Kakashi said it was time to set up camp for the night. None of them complained, they had been walking most of the day and though they could have kept going they knew Tazuna couldn't; he was even older than last time, he didn't have that kind of strength anymore.

"There are two tents." Sakura explained and Naruto groaned but then his face lit up.

"Well we'll have to be two in one tent and three in the other tent." Naruto grinned and Sasuke wondered what the problem with the tents was.

"No, the four of you will sleep in one while I sleep in the other one." She smiled and Naruto groaned again, it was just as he feared. She wanted a tent to herself.

"But Sakura-chan! Aren't you being a bit mean? You should share the tent." Naruto whined and Sasuke sighed he couldn't believe Sakura wanted to stuff them all in the same tent.

"Naruto when I sleep with you in the same tent you kick me in your sleep and sometimes you even talk in your sleep." She sent Naruto a scowl. "Kakashi woke me up once with his giggles and I woke up to him reading porn in the same tent with me, I am not going through that again." She glared at Kakashi. "And I'm sorry Tazuna, but I am not sharing a tent with the client." She spared Tazuna an apologetic glance and though Tazuna could have demanded to get a tent for himself he knew better than to question a woman in things like that.

"Well then you can sleep with teme, I've seen him sleeping and he sleeps like the dead." Naruto nodded and Sasuke shot him a glare that went unnoticed. If he hadn't seen Sakura's hostility towards him he would have thought it had been an act to sleep with him, but he saw the frown on her face when Naruto mentioned his idea.

"Yeah, Naruto's idea is actually good. You can't sleep with Naruto because he'll start kicking you and it'll result in a fight like last time and well I'm not sleeping with you last time I slept horribly; whenever you felt me beside you elbowed me and I paid the consequences." Kakashi explained and he earned a glare from the pink hair girl.

"Whatever. Set up the two tents, I'm going to wash myself up." She spoke before turning around and walking away. "Oh, and I better not catch any of you trying to follow." She said before disappearing from view.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her last words; did she really think any of them would try to peek at her? Kakashi noticed and chuckled under his breath. "We were once escorting a young man who became enamored with Sakura and when she went to wash up he sneaked away from camp to try and get a peek at her. Sakura didn't care he was the client, she beat him up to a pulp and he didn't even get a glance at her." Sasuke was impressed though he would never admit it; Sakura knew how to defend herself. Naruto laughed in the background recalling the moment while Tazuna looked surprised.

Later the tents had been all set up and they had already eaten. Naruto was stretching ready to go to sleep while Kakashi and Sasuke cleaned up the mess from when they ate.

"Well the sleeping arrangements will be: Naruto, Tazuna, and I share this tent;" Kakashi explained as he signaled the bigger tent on their right. "and you Sasuke and Sakura will share that tent." He finished signaling at the other smaller looking tent across from that one.

Kakashi watched the uninterested expressions from both Sasuke and Sakura. If it had been another time Sakura would be jumping from joy and Sasuke would glare, now Kakashi could see no expressions on their faces. Yet, he knew better than that; there was something going on.

"We have to take watch and so I will take the first shift." Sakura spoke sitting on the ground laying her back against a tree.

"Very well, I'll take second watch, Naruto will take third, and Sasuke you'll be on the fourth watch." Kakashi ordered.

"Well I'm going to bed, I'm beat. Good night Sakura-chan, Kakashi, teme!" Naruto waved before rushing toward the tent. Tazuna had already gone to bed being the most tired of them all.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he made his way to the tent he and Sakura would share.

Kakashi decided to sit beside Sakura on the tree, but she was lost in her thoughts. A while after he decided to break the silence between them. "How are you?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" She looked up at him who was staring at the smaller tent where Sasuke was. "Oh…that. I'm surprised he actually came back." She spoke amusement in her voice.

"We all were, but he came back willingly. He asked for you back then, you know…" Kakashi commented watching Sakura closely for any sign of emotion and he saw what he was looking for. Surprise flashed in her eyes for a moment before it once again disappeared.

"I don't care about him anymore Kakashi, or at least not the way you're thinking about." She managed to speak and avoided his gaze.

"You can try and fool everyone with that, but you and I both know it isn't true." Kakashi said smiling sadly at the girl who had once been his student.

"Well maybe it is a lie… The truth is, I don't care for him like I did before." She chuckled, humorless. "I talked to him yesterday and he apologized… I told him I didn't care about his apology, but I did; it angered me beyond belief that he thinks after all these years he can just walk right back and expect nothing to change." She whispered.

Kakashi was surprised Sasuke had even apologized, he knew he regretted having hurt them all, but to apologize was a lot. "He's made mistakes Sakura, but he wants to mend them. Revenge was a road he needed to walk on to realize everything he had. You were important to him, maybe not in the same way Naruto was, but in a different way entirely. You were always the one he strived to protect." Kakashi finished standing up from where he sat beside Sakura.

"Give him and yourself a chance Sakura, you shouldn't deny yourself the opportunity to get your teammate back. Oh, and wake me up when it's time for my shift." Kakashi said before walking away.

Sakura was left alone pondering on Kakashi's words and knowing he was right. Once she had wanted nothing more than for him to come back, for everything to go as it once was; yet now she was the one pushing him away when he wanted to make things right. He deserved a second chance more than anyone. After all he had suffered because of his own home he was still there trying to make amends, to get a second chance. Who was she to deny him that?

A/N:

Well thanks to those who reviewed in the last chapter, I still can't believe it! 18 reviews, wow! So thanks you all. You guys are the reason this chapter was posted and I hope you all liked it. :)

Next chapter will be on its way soon enough. There was a reviewed who guessed about the mission so congratulations, was I being too obvious though? :P Anyway well again, I hope you like how things are going in the story. While next chapter is up you're welcome to read my other stories of course. :)

Any ideas, comments, questions or anything else you know what to do. :D
You review, I'll update.

Deal? ;)