Title: Determination

Summary: She was the only bond he could save, the only bond he can't let go. But she loves someone else, and he is determined to save her from Sasuke. SasukexSakuraxOC

Pairings: SasukexSakuraxOC

Genre: Romance/Angst

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I'm working on it.

Chapter 7: You just can't ignore

"Hey!"

Ketsui looked up and grinned. "Yo! Whiskers…What the heck happened to you?"

Naruto tried to grin back but winced. "Just got friendly with the Kumo nin."

A week before, Naruto had urgently returned to Suna, finding out that Pein has almost pulverized the whole village. With his newfound strength, he had convinced Pein to give up, and those who were supposed to have died were resurrected. But, Tsunade had sacrificed herself to heal the villagers, and was now in coma. For some reason, Danzou manipulated himself to be the temporary Hokage. Added to that, some ninjas from Kumo had arrived and started asking information about Uchiha Sasuke.

Ketsui returned to sharping his Kunai. "I still don't understand why you guys are so touchy on that Uchiha guy."

"He's my best friend…and I sort of understand why he is doing this."

Returning his kunai in his pouch, Ketsui stood up. "Fine. So why did you come here?"

"I'm leaving for a little while, when I get back, let's look for Sakura-chan and Sasuke again. We'll save them both!"

"So, he's a missing nin?"

Sakura nodded.

"And you are still trying to get him back?"

"There are many kinds of bonds, Ketsui-kun. And this bond between the three of us, I guess, is really hard to explain." Chukling, she smiled. "The relationship between us is really complicated."

Nodding, Ketsui walked away. He understood what Naruto wanted, but he still believes it is nothing more of a foolish action. Both of them are idiots, he decided. The idiocy was definitely their defining point, but it's still nothing but a foolish hope. Sasuke is a curse to both Sakura and Naruto, He broke himself and his team-mates, and if no one does anything soon, the three of them will remain broken.

He knew was strong, but so was Sasuke. He also saw Naruto's fight against Pein, and he became stronger than he ever thought the blond could be. The villagers were talking that Naruto deserves to be the next Hokage. He didn't know if he should smile or not. Sakura had told him of Naruto's dreams and struggles. But deep inside, he felt resentful. Even when he swore not to, he was being left behind.

"Yamamoto-san."

Sighing, Ketsui turned around. "Looks like I'm popular today. What do you want old man?"

Danzou stood firm. "As you know, the Kage's meeting has been delayed several times and Suna has been cancelled as the venue in light of the recent attack."

"Get over the recap already." Ketsui replied lazily. "What do you want this time?"

"The next venue has been changed to Iron Country. And we want you to be the representative of the Yamamoto clan."

"Tsk, whatever…"

As Ketsui walked away, a ROOT member whispered something to Danzou.

Nodding, the new Hokage motioned two others to join him.

o0o

Sakura played idly with a dead root she found on the cave floor. It has been like this the past few weeks, moving from one cave to the next. Still drained of chakra, Sakura had no choice but to have herself dragged forcefully to the next destination blindfolded. Sakura has never felt so disoriented, not knowing where she is frustrated her, but she could guess from the cold weather that she was somewhere up north.

Leaning against the cold cavern wall, she glanced at Sasuke who was sitting idly by the bonfire.

A few hours ago, he had offered her his cloak, but she refused the Akatsuki cloak outright. Then, he offered her another cloak, this time with the Uchiha crest on it. Sakura just glared at him and after several moments of unbearable cold, she grabbed the Akatasuki cloak, returned to her corner and resumed glaring. Sasuke looked like he wanted to smirk at her antics but there was an annoyed glint in his eyes that Sakura would rather wear the cloak of her declared enemy rather than something with his crest.

Since she last saw Naruto, Ketsui and the others, Sakura tried ignoring him. He was always nearby, giving her meals and even attempting to start a conversation. She has no idea who is becoming crazier at a faster rate, her or him.

"Here." Sasuke handed her some cooked fish.

With a nod, Sakura accepted it, her eyes momentarily meeting Sasuke's. She is sure that his eyes are bothering him. Anyway, she didn't really care.

But still, throughout her captivity, Sasuke had been nothing but kind to her, well except for the forceful dragging and chakra draining. If Sakura tried to understand him, she could see that he is really trying to rekindle their friendship albeit in a twisted matter. She couldn't hate him because of that. Sasuke has been through so much, and yet, what he is doing is still wrong and Sakura will not just give in.

However, if she could somehow show that she cares for him, maybe she could convince Sasuke to forgo his plans. Naruto has always believed in him, maybe she should somehow give him a chance.

"Sasuke-kun."

His eyes were wide with surprised as he looked up.

"Show me your eyes." Sakura motioned him to come nearer.

Nodding, Sasuke, knelt before her as she tried examining his eyes. After a while, he felt a warm trickle of chakra. Sasuke closed his eyes and opened it abruptly as the warmth disappeared.

"I healed some of the optical nerves." Sakura explained as she leaned against the wall, panting slightly. I could do more if you give me back my chakra, but it will also help if you stop overusing your sharingan, which I presume is the cause."

Nodding. "Why?"

Sakura looked away. "Don't misunderstand. I do not like what you are doing and in no way do I plan to stay with you. But…"

Sakura was panting on the ground, wide eyed as she saw the brunette shielding her from the enemy nin's explosives.

"Why?"

"Don't misunderstand." Ketsui grinned. "I won't risk myself getting hurt for strangers but I'm not going to ignore someone who needs my help."

"…I'm not going to ignore someone who needs my help." Sakura finished.

"Sakura…"Sasuke started but the sound of footsteps interrupted him.

"Sasuke-san."

Sasuke immediately stood up and joined Juugo at the outer areas of the cave.

"What is it?" He asked as he met his team.

"Madara said that Sharkface will take over the hunt for the Eight tails." Suigetsu informed him. "Instead, we will be going to the Kage's meeting at Iron Country."

"Why?"

"Danzou will be there."

At the mention of the ROOT commander's name, Sasuke's eyes bled crimson.

A/N: I'm back! I'm taking advantage of my Day off to update, and the looming one-year anniversary since I started writing Naruto fanfics helped motivate me too. However, I'm still not sure when I can update again. Maybe I can have multiple updates in a month, and it may be erratic, and it may not always be the same story. But I'll update! I love the concept of this story too much not too. Just give me time to adjust to my dream job's schedule. :)

I thank mimelove, cool44, Jupiter Pickels, Kaelin The Black Swan, SerenityBloom, ace77, divinemendy, louisedue, ??? (whoever you are), Daniellle, ShyGirlTeshii dominiqueanne, Kunishi-San, xemotionallyCONSTIPATEDx (I'm sure you were waiting for this for a long time XD), sins-of-the-innocent (The tenses are usually my problem, but I'm working on it), MadamObscurum and Camisado. Thank you for your reviews, it makes me work harder to know a lot of people like my stories. I also would like to thank everyone who added me to their alerts and favorite lists.

I know the update was really short, I'll make up for it next time. Anyway, there's a sasusaku here, I hope you guys enjoy it. The final pairing is still open, but it depends on the story's pace. The next chapter will be action packed, I hope I can pull it off. :)

Anyway, any questions, comments, suggestions, reactions, smileys and 'update soon's, just press that review button below.

Thank you very much.

~Chantrea