What's this?- an update when it's barely been a month?! Haha, yes yes, I felt compelled to get this one out. Things are coming along swimmingly.
Thank you guys so much for following and reading :) Enjoy


The two walked at a leisure pace as they headed towards a familiar destination they knew all too well.

Sakura glanced at the nightlife infesting the streets of the city. The occasional child ran past, yelling and laughing; restaurant owners called out to passing civilians, every other time announcing a deal that can't be missed; street musicians eloquently performed, and sometimes a passerby would drop in some left-over change.

Sai and she didn't talk for the entirety of their walk, and she was okay with that. It was times like this where she needed the silence to just collect her thoughts.

Sasuke's sudden death made her at a lost. There was a time where she had made him her world, and that world seemed unbendable and definite- until it wasn't. It took her the hard way to learn not to depend on any one person, but even now that was difficult for her not to do.

Her emerald eyes couldn't help but glance over at her male friend. Here she was depending on someone again. Although, right now, she was too mentally exhausted and too famished to care. The medic had just accepted it, if only temporarily.

Looking up at the dimly lit sky, she could barely see her breath. It was nearing December now. Although Konoha had the warmest and sunniest summers and springs, their winters were the complete opposite. It hardly snowed, but they got their fair share of below freezing temperatures. Their winters did, however pale in comparison to Kirigakure's, especially Yurigakure's.

They were in the autumn season now, so the weather was just starting to chill. The cooler air did her mind good- when compared to how she isolated herself in her stuffy apartment for days.

She hadn't felt this normal in a while, which was ironic given her current conundrum. Sai stopped momentarily a way in front of her to hold the white flap that read 'Ichiraku' open. She gave a polite smile in response, and it suddenly dropped when she noticed familiar company sitting in the chairs in front of her.

"How many times have I told you to stop making those noises while eating!" a shrill voice chided.

"Waht, I'm hunfry." Chouji spoke through his food. Ino scoffed and mumbled under her breath, "You're always hungry."

Shikamaru turned an eye behind him, when he noticed a sudden chill pass through.

"Ah, ohayo Haruno-san, Sai-san." He turned back around and started eating again. Sakura gave a weak smile in return.

The blond's brows pulled together as she heard her teammate speak. "Huh?" Twisting her body around so she could glance behind her, she saw a flash of pink from the corner of her eye and then met eye contact with the artist. Her eyes went past his in an attempt to catch the color of pink again. Her body leaned out of her chair in order to catch another glimpse.

Sakura sat down two seats away from the trio. She really wasn't in the mood to converse with them- especially now.

"Is that Sakura?" She heard Ino speak aloud. Sai had graciously sat on Sakura's left side, shielding her farther from their friends. "Hey! Billboard brow, long time no see!" Sakura almost visibly cringed at how loud and unnecessary the shout was.

Unfortunately for the medic, said friend decided to move to the other side of her.

She sat down with a clamor and noisily placed her bowl in front of her.

"Gosh, it's been forever since I've talked with you." Ino grinned and clasped her hands in front of her face. Sakura ignored her and gave her order to Teuchi after Sai.

"Oi! Forehead," Ino spoke again, snapping her fingers in front of the konoichi.

She looked over towards the blond with a controlled smile.

"Oh, sorry Ino. What did you say?"

Her friend gave an exasperated sigh and folded her arms on top of the table. "It's been so long since I've chatted with you. I've got so much to tell you," she said with a suggestive moving of her brows. A muted noise from the back of Sakura's throat was her response. "Act more excited! I, of course, have all the juicy bits."
"Ino, nobody cares." Chouji said in between bites.

"Of course, you wouldn't care. You're a guy," she retorted. She turned her attention back to her friend. "You wouldn't believe-"

Sakura couldn't have agreed more with Chouji's statement. She could care less about who was dating who, what recruit or foreigner was the most attractive, or which teams were having the most drama. The slug princess apprentice just wanted to fill up her stomach and be on her way out. She was half tempted to just leave the newly made ramen in front of her and go to a different stall, but she had left her money at home on account of Sai stating that he would be paying.

"-I saw her making out with this guy from downstairs! Then she had the nerve to threaten me if I told Juno, so I put her on interrogation clean up duty for three weeks- serves her right," the blond finished smugly.

"That's not very nice, Ino."

The girl leaned herself over the bar to give Chouji the stink eye. "She shouldn't have threatened me," she retorted.

"Ah," Sai spoke up with confidence," I have read that two wrongs do not make a right. Although, ironically, two negatives do indeed produce a positive." He continued to silently chew his ramen.

"I always knew you were the smart one, Sai." Ino casually winked in his direction, but it went unnoticed on his part.

"What's so bad about interrogation clean up anyway?" The larger shinobi inquired.

"You're kidding me?" Ino rose a sculpted brow.

"People assigned are responsible for cleaning up the messes made in the interrogation chambers." Shikamaru quipped up. "That's why it always smells sterilized, despite the conditions of the prisoners."

The lone blond gave a dramatic shiver as she crossed her arms, appalled. "It's awful," she added, "I had that duty for half a year when I first started. I would always come home smelling like a toxic blend of flesh and disinfectant."

The interrogation unit… Sakura had only visited the building a handful of times, and most of those times weren't spent on the level below. She's heard of various things that go down there, and Sakura was grateful that she did not put herself to be in the position of being down there. She was one for violence but not cruelty- no matter how much someone seemed to deserve it. She thought breaking fingers and splitting skin open was a huge joke from the interrogators. Making medics, such as herself, heal the tortured was unfair. This was the rift that always seemed to follow Sakura around. The konoichi in her knew that this was to be expected, but the sensible side of her, the protective side of her, acknowledged a long time ago that torture was inhumane.

Although, she hadn't felt that kind, motherly side of herself in quite some time- her principles had stilled and remained immobile. Recently, that seemed to be the only thing that she could truly rely on.

"Speaking of the interrogation unit," Ino leaned in for a low whisper, "I'm not sure if you heard already, but when I was out on my last mission," Sai's eyes glanced two, "we intercepted Uchiha Itachi." Sakura tensed. "It was crazy, he barely put up a fight and then passed out. Naruto had him ordered to be placed in the first interrogation level. I say he should've thrown him in the class A section down below." She muttered.

"Ino, did you really have to bring that up over dinner?" Chouji commented.

Sakura's stare remained straight and unmoving. Visions of last week repeated themselves in her head over and over and over and-

"-said that it was suspicious. I mean, we've been looking for the guy for years then he comes to us on a polished silver platter? I see no problem with the situation, but you know my dad. I'm just glad we have him locked up now after all these years."

She just wanted her to shut up. The grasp on the pinkette's chopsticks tightened to a dangerous degree. She could feel a speck of wood on the bridge of creeping under her skin.

"I wonder though, when word comes out that Uchiha is under the confines of Konoha, that Sasuke'll come back? I'm sure Naruto will be expecting that. It's taken him so long just to find his brother let alone kill him; knowing that he's locked up in one place, he'll probably-"

The pressure on her utensils was too great and with a loud noise they snapped.

At the same time, Ino stared at Sakura's clenched fist, startled; Shikamaru was suddenly standing behind the two, a shoulder laid on his blond teammate's shoulder.

"Ino." Shikamaru gave her a firm stare. Her blue eyes looked up at her teammate. There was something unspoken in his eyes. He wasn't saying anything though. She could feel heat emitting from Sakura, and the bland, deadpan face of Sai.

The blond's eyes made her rounds and locked eyes with Sai then Shikamaru, then looked at Sakura's frozen state, then back at the Nara.

"What," she stressed.

She looked at the two men again, frustration edging her towards an irate attitude at their silence. "What?" she tried again to no avail. "Hey," she turned to Sakura, demanding, "what is it you're not telling me?"

She wasn't going to tell her, she couldn't. It would be more encouragement for Ino to tell her to get over her now deceased ex-teammate. Once Ino got started on an idea, it was hard for someone to change her mind. "You need someone better," she says, "someone who appreciates you." She didn't have to say it, but each time, she could read in between the lines: "he'll never love you"- "you won't ever be his number one." Then again, was she number one to anyone?

"Oi, Sakura, I'm talking to you!" Her face was red and right in front if the pinkette's face when she turned her head. Seeing her friend's grave face deflated some of her anger. "What happened?" she questioned calmly. She waited patiently for an answer as Sakura collected her thoughts.

"Nothing," she spoke, grabbing a new pair of utensils, and returned her focus to her noodles, twirling them on her chopsticks.

"Damn it, Sakura!" Ino cursed.

"Ino-" Chouji tried to speak up to calm his friend but she spoke over him.

"You wonder why no one talks to you anymore, and this is the reason! You're so distant and gloomy. You don't tell me anything anymore," she fumed. "For the past two years, everyone has been worried about you. Don't you care how we feel? I know the whole Sasuke thing is difficult for you, it's hard on everyone. We knew him as well. And I'm not going to even attempt to compare your pain to ours, but you need to somehow cope with his defection. He's not the twelve-year-old boy you knew from back then. You need to accept that, because if you don't, you'll fall too deep into this hole you've created for yourself, and I'm not going to be there to see it." Sakura stopped her ministrations.

"You've changed. You're not the kind-hearted, temperamental, pink-haired girl I knew two years ago. Do you know who you're turning into?" she scoffed. Shikamaru saw where Ino was going with this and narrowed his eyes, disapproving.

"Ino," he spoke.

"Sasuke."

"Ino." A different voice stung the Yamanaka's ears. She closed her mouth to stare at her husband with silent words.

She promptly stood up. "I'm supposed to be your friend, right? Friends trust each other. I think you should readjust yourself before the next time we meet." Walking around she grabbed Sai's hand and went for the exit. Sai looked back at his friend's pole like posture. He noticed though, the small enclave of her shoulders.

He halted his steps much to the interrogator's chagrin. She met his eyes and his decision was firm. He wasn't leaving with her. He wasn't going to leave Sakura alone.

Her thoughts were once again proved correct when the artist gently let go of her hand.

She couldn't help the tensing of her jaw and clenching of her fists. The weight of the jewelry on her left hand felt heavier than ever.

A wry, disbelieving huff left her mouth, and in one motion, she pivoted on her heel and swung the flap open, the piece of cloth slowly fluttering to a halt after seconds.


Trouble in paradise, or is it even really paradise?

Reviews are welcomed; they really pump me up!
Interaction with Sakura and our dear Itachi will be coming up in the next chapter or two, so stay tuned :)

Until next time,
~WAC