Author's Note: Hey, my dear readers! It's been a long time. Real life update? School has started and has proven itself to be a living hell. Timetables are just impossible this year, and it's kinda difficult to actually sit down and write right now. Still, I wanted to finish this chapter, so here I am! I really hope you like it, and thank you for reviewing and adding this story to your favs (: 'Nameless Blossom' asked me what the quotes at the beginning of each chapter meant, so I should answer, right? Well, they're quotes of both Sasuke and Sakura that they'll say later in the story. Just a hint of what might happen next. There! That's the meaning of the quotes. Thanks for asking, I actually though I had clarified it in some author's note or something.

"Who are you!" He yelled.

Tsubasa
By Ailu Chan

She winced. He never yelled. "I don't know."

.Part Four.

Sakura had this strange ability of forgetting (or forgiving) pretty fast, Sasuke realized the following morning.

After their brief exchange the day before, Sakura had used the knives to clean up his wound, poured alcohol into it (and it had hurt like a bitch) and had professionally bandaged it up. She had done it all in a dead silence, a silence she only broke to tell him he would only start taking the antibiotics the following day, since she needed to pick them up from the hospital.

She had never smiled again that night, not even once. He didn't mind, not at all, but the sight was a little different — she did the same things she did every day (reading, cleaning, cooking, gardening and reading once again, perhaps). But instead of that slight curvature on her lips she always wore, there was a furrow on her brows and her eyes were distant, glassy. When she looked at him, her green eyes seem dead.

That morning, however, she was completely different. The shy smile was back on its place once again when he entered the kitchen, and she had made breakfast for him. Sasuke eyed her curiously, trying to decipher whether that smile was fake or not. He couldn't tell — not this time.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast?" he asked. Then, he smelled something unfamiliar. "Is this tea?"

Sakura smiled, "No, and yes, it's tea. Hope you like it, I've never done it before."

"Have you done this before?"

Her smile faltered for a second. His eyes flipped to hers.

She tried to smile once again, but her lips wouldn't move, so she just wished he would look away, try her tea and fuck off. His eyes were still charming, but how could she be comfortable when he hide everything from her and kept pushing her away? She couldn't stand his gaze anymore, she was sad to admit.

Finally, finally, he took a sip. "It's good," he found himself replying. "I thought it was too expensive."

"It is, it is," she smiled, taking the opportunity and looking away, "I've cultivated it, and I've been drying it for two days outside." Okay now, how come he hadn't noticed that? "— funny thing you haven't noticed!"

Sasuke frowned in annoyance. This was starting to irritate him.

"What's with that face? Am I annoying you or something?" So now he just wanted to break something in frustration. How does she do that?! He clenched his teeth and glared at her. "Well, if that's the case, you'll just have to deal with it," she grinned.

"It's nothing," he cut her off, before she drove him insane. "Did you grow the tomatoes as well?" he asked, recalling how she had told him they were expensive too.

"That's right," she nodded, still grinning.

There was a sliced apple next to his cup of tea, so he took one — he had to take advantage of her peeling and slicing fruit.

"Why don't you ever have breakfast?" he asked after he swallowed. The question had actually been on his mind for some time — he woke up every day at seven in the morning and she would always be already up, preparing his breakfast. Then she would go off to the hospital, leaving lunch in the fridge for him; and wouldn't be back until about three.

"Oh, aren't you talkative today, Sasuke," she chuckled. She turned around and started washing dishes he didn't even know that were there, and he had this feeling she would evade the question, so he insisted.

"I'm just curious,"

He realized he was just being plain stupid, and regretted ever saying those words out loud. He didn't even know what he was doing, and he panicked — just a bit — at this. He felt like he was losing control and was about to bring up his defensive methods, but she spoke first.

"I think we've had this conversation before," she said casually, looking at him in the eyes (which weren't as hard as she thought it would be).

She had seen that look on his face — he had it every time he was about to say something not nice to her. She felt the urge to interrupt before he was able to speak. He could hurt her in the most stupid ways; and she wasn't going to just let him.

"I am curious too. We're even, Sasuke."

He almost shivered at her voice. It was so cold — he could've thought she was pushing him away.

When Sakura entered the cafeteria that day, she truly wished she had at least one friend to talk to. It was one of those days in which she allowed herself to envy her coworkers and their talkative friendships. She made her way to her table — well, it wasn't hers, technically, but no one ever sat there anyways — and started to eat her sandwich slowly.

"You look troubled, Sakura-san," she heard, and looked up. "Is everything okay?"

So it was this new guy again. He was a medic who came from another village and evidently hadn't heard anything about her — yet, at least. She forced a smile up her lips, because he was a medic — with a beautiful diploma from the Kumo University of Medicine, or so she had heard — and she respected medics very much, since they were everything she had ever wanted to be.

"Nothing's wrong, Takashi-san," she said, shaking her head, relieved that she had remembered his name.

"Okay then," he smiled. He's a good guy, Sakura thought. However, he dangerously approached her table, causing her proximity alarm set off. "May I join you?"

"Wha— Um, I'm sorry, I just finished," she replied shyly, blushing when Takashi looked down to her half-eaten sandwich. "—and my shift starts in three minutes anyways, so…" she saw the pained look on his face and smiled. "I'm really sorry, Takashi-san. I really am."

He chuckled and nodded, embarrassed. "Don't worry. Three minutes? You better get going, Sakura-san. Have a nice day!" he waved, as he walked to the other medics.

Sakura stood there a few seconds. That had been the first time someone had wished her a good day in such a long time. Then she walked off, remembering how their conversation had started, and wondering if she actually looked that bad because of it.

Now that she thought about it, she found out she was troubled. She usually felt upset when she argued with other people, but somehow she felt even worse when it came to Sasuke. She had told herself that, in order to maintain the status quo, she shouldn't speak too much about herself and that she should be somewhat mysterious in order to keep Sasuke talking.

She was wrong — as it evidently wasn't working.

A few weeks ago he was just a stranger and he had practically kidnapped her (the fact that she was being kept in her house didn't count at all), but her anger had faded (though she doubted she had ever been angry in the first place, but whatever) and she liked his company. Kind of, that is. It was not like his presence was very noticeable — he barely spoke, and he was so silent.

It was different for her, though. Coming home after work while knowing that someone was inside (he wasn't waiting for her, but still) felt a lot better than entering the house alone and cooking just for herself. Someone was there, and that was all that mattered. And now she wanted to know about him. Everything she could.

Okay, so maybe she was nosy, but she couldn't help it. It was her nature, she told herself. As a matter of fact, Sasuke made her feel so damn curious her heart tingled when she knew he was hiding something. She could make him trust her if she trusted him, right?

It didn't matter — she was going to try anyways. She didn't want to continue like this. As soon as the right moment came, she would tell him everything.

And there was a lot to tell.

He was bored. Bored to death. He was feeling better but the fever was persistent (annoying him). There was no television (not that he was the kind of guy who just sat and watched TV, but still) and the books Sakura had were incomprehensible for him — so he found himself wandering through the empty house.

He knew he was probably invading Sakura's privacy but he just couldn't help himself. Besides, she did say once that he could explore the house, right? Right.

Of course he didn't actually believe that included searching her wardrobe. Then again, she would never find out, so he shrugged off the thought when he saw a flat wooden box lying right behind a pile of what he supposed were T-shirts (which by the way, were so well-folded and ironed he was actually wondering if she had an obsession with order or something).

He leaned into the wardrobe and cursed Deidara when his wound sent a sharp pang through his spine. He seriously should have evaded that stupid kunai — honestly, who on earth got wounded with a kunai these days?

He carefully grabbed the small package and sat down on her bed. It was black, but it still had those lines that defined it as wood. In the middle there was a white ring, but it wasn't painted — it was white wood that perfectly fitted in. He wondered what it meant, but he was sure he wouldn't find out any time soon, so he opened it.

Inside, there were exactly ten kunai — made of silver.

Sasuke frowned. This was probably a gift for her parents, and he didn't know why she would keep such a (valuable) thing. Now that he thought about it, she should have sold these and go away with the money, he knew she needed it. Above all, he wondered if she had them with her when they first met, because they were heavy enough to cause a headache in a travel on foot to any civilian. Especially with the packaging and all.

His hand moved carefully and grabbed one, and he read the single word engraved on the blade — Haruno. It was written in kanji, which meant it was a family name. Sasuke smirked. If that was Sakura's last name, it surely fitted the name he had called her. Haruno Sakura. Spring's cherry blossom. And he still couldn't believe her hair.

Two weeks and a few days later, Suigetsu was back. Sakura still hadn't managed to tell him anything, and the guilt was eating her alive — she was starting to feel uncomfortable around Sasuke. Suigetsu's arrival, however, had somehow eased up her tension. He and Sasuke were talking in the garden, and she was watching them while drying the dishes. She couldn't listen to them, but she was able to see Sasuke's (still beautiful) features tense up and she was afraid his glare would set on fire the grass or something.

Suigetsu's grin had vanished as soon as he had started to talk and she knew whatever it was, it was important. Perhaps they were talking about Uchiha Itachi? Sasuke had said they should look for him, but he had also told her he needed to work on a plan — and he hadn't been able to train much, due to the wound on his side. He was much better though, she would have to completely remove his bandages soon, but he had lost valuable time, that was for sure.

Suddenly, Sasuke looked up at her and she automatically lowered her gaze, realizing she had been staring all along. Then she heard Suigetsu's loud chuckle and a low thud, to which she looked up again and saw Suigetsu rubbing the back of his head and glaring at Sasuke, who was already standing and walking towards the door. She chuckled softly.

He entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, pouring water in a glass. His aura was dark, she realized. He usually turned like this when she mentioned Itachi — which of course wasn't very often, but sometimes she just wanted him to talk about something. She had quickly realized it didn't work at all — he just turned more silent and more… Dark.

Suigetsu followed him in and Sasuke gave him the glass of water, and then he just started drinking from the bottle. Placing the last plate inside the cupboard at her left, she finally turned to them, and realized they were staring at her intently. Suigetsu, amused: and Sasuke, troubled. Or something like it. She really couldn't tell from his face.

"Is something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Suigetsu said, "could you make me some cookies? Sasuke says you're a good cook," he smirked.

"I did not," Sasuke spat, glaring daggers at his subordinate, "Shut up."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "So I'm not a good cook, huh," she glared at Sasuke.

He glared back. "That's not what I meant," he shook his head slightly. Sakura opened her mouth, smirking. "Drop it," he warned. She pouted and crossed her arms. Suigetsu chuckled and Sasuke suddenly remembered what this was all about. "I'll be away for a couple of days," he told her.

Her eyes widened. She was about to ask what had happened but she knew she wouldn't get a proper answer; so instead she said, "…but you're coming back, right?"

"Hopefully yes," he said coldly.

She bit her lip. Technically, she was the hostage there and he could do whatever he wanted to do, so there wasn't really anything she could say. Let alone argue. "O-okay… Am I supposed to do anything in particular?"

"I'm a terrible cook if you ask me, so you'll have to cook something for me! We'll have so much fun, Sakura-chan!"

Wh-what? Sakura-chan? She faced Suigetsu and stared at him incredulous, her lips slightly parted. The only person alive who called her that was the shop keeper.

"You don't have to do anything," Sasuke continued, ignoring Suigetsu's comment. "Suigetsu is staying with you for safety purposes."

She looked back at Sasuke completely taken aback. So this man was staying with her? Well, she surely got on better with him than with Karin, but still! How could Sasuke do this to her? He knew about her insecurities and yet he shoved a stranger into her house.

"…safety purposes?" she cursed inwardly at the slight anger that filtered into her voice.

"Yes. You're…" He paused. "Useful. Suigetsu should be able to protect you."

Useful? So that's what he thought of her. He was so weird and bizarre — one moment she'd think he cared for her, and the other it seemed he didn't care at all. Weird, and just a little painful.

Sakura kept silent, as she had nothing else (nothing useful) to say. "I'll take care of you, Sakura-chan, don't worry," Suigetsu grinned mischievously. She smiled weakly.

"When are you leaving?" she found the strength to speak once again.

"In a few minutes." He surprised her yet again.

Sasuke looked at her. The way she was biting her lips, searching with her eyes for some distraction that would keep her away from thinking. She probably wanted to know what he was going to do, because he knew she cared. "If you want to know something then ask," he said bluntly. Suigetsu gaped.

She gaped too, looking at him. His eyes wouldn't meet hers — again. "I was wondering what was going on… But it's okay — it's none of my business."

The shark-teeth boy closed his mouth and kept wisely silent, waiting for Sasuke's response, his eyes narrowed. Then Sasuke spoke. "There are rumors in a nearby village that say Itachi has been sighted. The bartender that probably served him doesn't want to talk, probably because of Itachi's…" He narrowed his eyes. She had seen his eyes, he remembered. He quickly came up with a lie. "…eyes. None has been able to make him talk, so I have to go and use a jutsu on him."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Perhaps she was a bad liar, but she could surely tell when someone was lying; and she quickly related Itachi's eyes with Sasuke's that night. He was the one who urged her to ask what was going on, why was he lying to her? It made no sense. She played fool, of course.

Suigetsu opened his mouth to point out the inaccuracy of what he had said but he quickly understood. This girl didn't know the whole story and Sasuke wanted him to know in order not to screw it up.

"I see," she said, disappointed. She thought he trusted her. "Do you trust me, Sasuke?" she blurted out, before she could help herself. She made a mental note to work on that later — she wasn't sure she wanted to know that just yet. Then again, it was probably for the best. She needed to know where she was standing anyways, right?

"No," he said casually.

Well, that could surely explain a lot of things.

Knowing that he didn't trust her devastated her. She wasn't crying, she barely cried by now, but she felt a knot in her throat and her chest felt heavier than usual. His departure that afternoon eased her a little, and gave her time to think. She didn't know what she had been expecting, of course he didn't trust her, and that was why she wanted to tell him more about herself in the first place! She regretted asking him — that ill feeling in her stomach was completely unfounded and made no sense at all. She felt stupid.

She was absently sweeping the kitchen — she seemed to spend a lot of time there — when Suigetsu appeared by the door.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling, pulling up a chair and sitting comfortably. "He doesn't trust anyone. Not even us, probably."

Sakura smiled, and shook her head softly. She was probably looking troubled again, she thought. "Don't say that. He entrusted you with the searching of Uchiha Itachi, after all. It seems very important to him."

Suigetsu chuckled. "Yeah, I guess, but how can you tell? You don't really know him. Neither do I, nor does any on our team, for that matter. Naruto was the one who knew him well."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, interested.

"Of course he didn't tell you," he said, amused. Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Naruto was in his team, and their sensei was Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja."

"Never heard of him," Sakura shrugged.

Suigetsu widened his eyes and paused. Then he shook his head, chuckling again. "Right — small town," he said, apologetically. "Everyone knows Hatake Kakashi. He killed my sensei."

"Really? That's awful. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Actually, my sensei was evil," Suigetsu said, remembering Zabuza. Sakura stared, bewildered, and at a loss of words. "Anyways, we'll never get to know him as he really is."

"That must be sad," she said. Teammates usually care for each other.

"Nah, he's just a little brat. We're only with him 'cause he's freed us in some way — well, except from Karin. She probably would follow him no matter what — that whore."

Little brat? She wondered, staring; but nodded nevertheless. Suigetsu started chuckling.

"You know, when he recruited us, a few months ago; Karin practically tried to rape him," and he continued giggling to himself.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean…?"

Suigetsu's eyes widened a little. So she didn't know. Dammit, he had just screw up. "Is that an apple tree? The fruit looks delicious," he said, stupidly; giving her a perfect opportunity to play dumb.

The girl wondered for a few seconds if this was one of those things it was better to don't know about. Then she decided that no, she needed to know. She needed to know how many lies Sasuke had told her. Of course she understood there were things Sasuke wasn't about to tell her, things Sasuke was resolute to hide from her, things Sasuke wouldn't doubt in lying about — she understood indeed. But that didn't make it any less painful, and she wasn't going to come to terms with it just like that.

"Suigetsu… Sasuke told me he was seventeen. Is that a lie?"

A straight question, she would be able to see clearly whether or not Suigetsu was lying to her. She was tired of being lied to.

Suigetsu glared fiercely, trying to intimidate her and perhaps she would drop the topic if she was scared enough. She didn't step back, instead she stepped forward and crossed her arms. She wished she had something to threaten him with, because he could overpower her in a matter of seconds, but he was sitting still in his chair — he probably wasn't allowed to lie a finger on her. She took advantage of that. "Is that a lie?" she gritted her teeth.

"Tsk," he looked away. "He's fifteen. You didn't hear it from me, understood? No one knows."

"How do you know?" she asked.

Ha. Smart girl. Suigetsu smirked. "Because I know Itachi's age and I also know he's five years older than Sasuke."

Sakura raised a brow. "Interesting." She didn't know how Suigetsu knew that, and she didn't knew how Itachi's age was related to Sasuke's either, but she did know Sasuke was going down. He was going to pay for every single lie he had told her — she didn't care about what she had lied about anymore. "So all of you are older than him."

Suigetsu shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Age is not important within shinobi, though — he's the most powerful among us. It's still embarrassing, I might add," he chuckled, in spite of himself. "In actuality, we're older but just by a matter of months. Juugo is eighteen, though. We tend to lie about it, so as to say we're legal, you know. We avoid trouble, since Sasuke doesn't want to attract attention."

"Legal?" Sakura laughed.

"Yeah, I know how that sounds," Suigetsu chuckled again.

The oven's alarm clock went off. Sakura smiled. "Cookies?" Perhaps the fact that he lied to everyone made her feel better. As messed up as that may sound.

"I can't undo the jutsu," Sasuke said, his teeth gritted.

"Your brother is very skilled. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't know," Karin said, crossing her arms, trying to ease Sasuke's mood.

Every single time he thought he was close, that he would find him and finally kill him, Itachi was prepared and surprised him with a messed up way of telling him he was still ahead of him. It was getting under his skin. Red eyes glared at Karin, and she immediately shut up.

Juugo was different — he didn't fear his eyes, perhaps because the Sharingan was the only thing that kept him sane when he'd thought he'd lose it; so he wasn't afraid of talking to him. "We still know he was around here," he added. "At least we can narrow the search area."

Sasuke considered it for a moment. In any other situation, he'd think this was more than likely a trap, but this time Itachi didn't know where he was. He had kept a low profile for the last month, had given no sign of existence in the world. He hadn't left Sakura's house until that very moment. He was sure — there was no way Itachi knew where he was, if he was following or not, that shouldn't be a trap.

He glared once more at the man sitting in the only chair there was in the hotel room, though he wasn't really mad at him. If only his eyes were a little more powerful, he could have access to whatever information Itachi considered important enough to erase from that man's memory.

Damn the world.

He stared, paying attention at the wounds and bruises the man had, probably due to his team's beating. He hadn't told them they could just go and beat anyone who got in their way — okay, maybe he had, but still. "Karin, heal this man,"

Karin opened her mouth. Then closed it. And then she said, "But — hell no," She wasn't going to let him suck her blood.

"You don't have to give him your blood. Find a way. Find a medic—" a sudden picture of Sakura flooded his mind. "—Just heal him, understood?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes and nodded.

Two weeks later, Sakura sent Sasuke to the grocery.

He had scowled at her, then glared, then crossed his arms. She forced back the laughter. "Really? That's all you got? People just give in to you just because of that face?" And she couldn't resist it anymore, so she laughed. "C'mon. I've even made you a list!" She grinned, pointing at the little piece of paper lying in the kitchen table. "I'm making cupcakes and I can't trust you to know when they're ready."

Sasuke glared harder. He didn't like going out. "Fine," he spat. Sakura giggled. "And stop your stupid laughter," But she went on, so he left, snatching the small paper from the table.

When the door closed loudly, Sakura sighed.

So this was the day. She had about fifteen minutes; perhaps half an hour; to think what she would do to let Sasuke know she had lied to him as well. She really hoped he wouldn't get that mad at her, it wasn't so bad after all. She didn't even know why she kept it a secret, but then again, she didn't know why he had kept such things as his age a secret either.

Perhaps she could just let him see her chopping vegetables with a knife, she was sure he would be able to differentiate someone who has trained with knifes from normal people. She wanted it to look as an accident, or perhaps not? If it appeared to be an accident, then she couldn't argue that he had lied to her, because she would have had no intention to reveal her own lies to him. But if she just sat him on the couch and told him, or deliberately showed just one of her skills to him, then he would have to accept she wanted to tell him.

Still, she didn't quite believe she'd be really able to tell him, to spoke her mind openly to him just like that about something so serious, something she had never talked about to anyone. Maybe she could just flare a little of her (oh so tiny) chakra, and she was sure he would notice right then, without further explanation, but she feared his reaction. What if he felt threatened and left? No, he could never feel threatened by her, but what if he thought she was spy of Uchiha Itachi? She had told him she had met him once, it could be easily misunderstood.

Sakura bit her lip. It didn't matter — she had lied and now she should face the consequences. Just like Sasuke would, when she told him she knew.

Checking the oven once again, Sakura decided that the flare of chakra was the best choice. She could be standing, defenseless, and he could be near, and he'd feel it right away — but he wouldn't think she was a threat or something. It was just chakra, and she really hoped he'd catch the message. Smiling a little, she also decided the cupcakes were finally ready.

When Sasuke finally opened the door, Sakura felt like hyperventilating. Her hands were sweating. He had taken more time than she had expected him to, but she was glad. Lunch was already on the table so they just needed to sit down and eat it. She looked at him. Expressionless. She wondered if he ever smiled. If there was a time in which he smiled every now and then. The pinkette bit her lip once again, because this could go well, or terribly wrong. Uncertainty was killing her, so it was better to end with it quickly.

Sasuke nodded towards her, it was his way of thanking her for the meal, as he sat down on his place at the table. He noticed how nervous she was, and he wondered if she had tried something new with the food, or something. Sakura always worried about those things. She turned to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water, and just when the bottom hit the table, a flare of chakra filled the room.