Yo! Sorry for the late update. I had a little foot injury to attend to ^ v ^
Thank you all so much for reading "Reconnaisance." * v *
Anyway, here's last week and this week's chapter (since I'm busy again and I need to get some nice and comfy bedrest).
"Those elders are giant lizards," Kiba said as they walked down the hall.
"Kiba!" Chouji hissed. "They might hear you!"
Houren burst into laughter. "That's one way of putting it," he said.
"Do all immortals here look like them?" Neji asked, walking beside Shikamaru and Houren.
They were on their way to the "Convening Hall," where the elders said they would discuss serious matters with Houren and Sasuke. Of course, playing vital roles in the "predicament," Naruto and the others were given an invitation to attend the meeting.
"No," Houren said. "Like I said, immortals here are of various kinds. That also means they have various forms."
"So the elders really aren't humans?" Chouji asked, walking beside Naruto and Kiba.
"Correct," Houren said. "Though they still share some biological traits with humans, they are far more… different than the general humankind."
"Superior?" Kiba asked.
Houren chuckled. "I wouldn't say that," he said. "They lack many of the marvelous things mortals, especially humans, have. So I don't consider them superior. They have not, for example, experienced hormonal surges and perversions the way all of you have."
"OI! I'm not a pervert!" Naruto, Kiba and Chouji yelled.
Neji and Shino ignored the comment. Shikamaru just sighed.
Houren chuckled.
"You're an immortal though," Shino said, walking behind Neji.
Houren nodded.
"You're like them," Shino continued.
"No," Houren said, smiling at him. "I'm very proud to admit that I have been human once!"
"Right," Kiba said. "You had a family in our world."
Houren nodded.
"But you're still and immortal," Shikamaru said. "You're like the elders too – massive, overgrown lizards."
Houren smiled. "Sometimes," he said. "But I'm not permitted to go out of the temple anymore so I stay in my human form."
"Because you had a family in our world," Neji said.
"Yes," Houren replied.
"Are the elders your biological parents?" Shikamaru asked.
Houren chuckled. "No," he said. "Thank heavens they are not. My biological father moved-on milleniums ago."
"You don't make girls here, do you?" Kiba said.
"Oh we've had plenty before," Houren said. "And since we don't really need them to procreate, we make them more for the sake of variety and balance than necessity."
"Where are they?" Naruto asked.
Houren smiled. "You're all very observant," he said. "Then again, it's quite apparent, isn't it?"
"So where are they?" Chouji asked.
"They were exiled," Houren said.
Naruto, Chouji and Kiba stared confused at Houren.
"Exiled?" Kiba asked. "Why were they exiled?"
"Was this after your sister's body was turned into relics?" Shikamaru asked.
Houren stopped walking. All casual cheer and warmth vanished from his face.
Naruto, Chouji, Kiba, and Neji stiffened. Chills were suddenly creeping up their spine. Shikamaru and Shino calmly watched Houren, curious as to how their host would react.
"You will not speak of this again," Houren finally said – his cold eyes fixed at nowhere. "The walls have ears."
He began to walk forward again. "Come," he said. "Sasuke should be done with their dinner."
Naruto, Chouji, Kiba and Neji couldn't help but give out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, about that," Naruto said. "Why didn't we have dinner with Sasuke and Sakura?"
"Don't worry," Houren said. "It's just Sakura's busy schedule and the arrival of the elders that kept them away from dinner with us. We'll have breakfast with them tomorrow."
Naruto nodded.
Chouji and Kiba glanced at each other. Both of them were wondering just how the breakfast would go with Sakura freaked out at them and all.
The Convening Hall looked more like a mixture of an arena and a justice hall, with audience boxes surrounding a vast space in the middle of the room, and four solid gold seats across the entrance door that seemed to be for the panel of judges tasked to declare a winner.
The four grand seats however, that rivaled the seats of mortal kings and emperors, were occupied by the four elders – each of them looking blankly at the space in front of them where Sasuke stood, as if he was a criminal attending his trial.
Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Neji and Shino sat on the audience boxes on the elders' right. Houren sat with them.
"Before we begin," the leading elder said, sitting straight and sharply on his gold seat. "We have guests that need to be introduced."
The three other elders turned to look at where Naruto and the others sat.
"These are ninjas from the village of Konoha," Sasuke began. "They were sent to the underground auction to gather information on The Trader."
"As planned," the lead elder said, smirking.
Naruto, and Kiba froze. They glanced at each other, then looked at Shikamaru.
He looked calm and composed.
Shikamaru knew the plan!
"He's got a lot of explaining to do," Kiba hissed.
"Hush," Houren whispered. "Remember what I told you?"
Naruto and Kiba stiffly nodded. Like in the usual justice court, none of them was allowed to speak unless they were spoken to.
"So they want to cooperate," said one of the elders – the one seated on the lead elder's left.
"They are willing to do so, yes," Sasuke answered.
"Your names?" said another elder, the one on the lead elder's right. He was looking at Naruto.
Houren loudly cleared his throat. "Introduce your selves," he said.
"Nara Shikamaru," Shikamaru said.
"Hyuuga Neji," Neji followed.
"Aburame Shino."
"Akimitsu Chouji."
"Inuzuka Kiba."
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, standing up from his seat – a feat that Houren told them not to do before they headed to the convening hall.
Houren glanced at Naruto.
His blue eyes were looking sharply at the elders.
"Sasuke and Sakura are my team mates," he said.
Sasuke frowned. Of course Naruto would break the rules. He wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't break them.
The elders eyed Naruto with disdain. "Stubborn," the lead elder said. "As expected."
"Sasuke's told you about all of us then," Naruto said.
"Of course," the lead elder said. "We wouldn't let you stay here if he didn't. We don't like having visitors from your world."
"And yet you want to keep Sakura here," Naruto spat.
Kiba and Chouji glanced anxiously at Naruto.
"Ah yes," the lead elder said. "Then again, she's an entirely different case, isn't she? She, afterall, has no memory of being… with you."
Naruto glared at the lead elder. But before he could reply obscenities to the old man, Shikamaru covered Naruto's mouth from behind.
"My sincere apologies," Shikamaru said. "He hasn't drank his medicine."
The lead elder grunted. "There is no medicine for stupidity," he said. "Then again, we're also being impolite so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hokuryu."
"Nishiryu," said the elder in Hokuryu's right – his voice soft and quiet.
"Azumaryu," said the elder in Hokuryu's left – his voice bright and lively.
"Minamiryu," said the elder seated next to Azumaryu. His voice sounded like it came from beyond the ground though he seemed to be the thinnest of the elders.
"We guard this realm," Hokuryu said. "…Each of us taking charge of our own territory."
"Who of you was in-charge when your trinkets were stolen and it brought problems in our realm?" Naruto asked sharply, hurling Shikamaru's hand away from his mouth.
"That is none of your business," Hokuryu answered calmy. "You are all here because Uchiha Sasuke told us you would be willing to cooperate to resolve this matter."
"Your things are messing up our people!" Naruto exclaimed. "We have a right to know everything about what's going on!"
Kiba sighed. Naruto had put their lives in jeopardy. Why couldn't he just shut his mouth for once?
Shikamaru was shaking his head. Covering Naruto's mouth was useless. "Couldn't you wait a little longer?" he hissed.
Naruto glared at him. "Well, you're not telling us anything, are you?"
"Dobe."
Everyone turned to look at Sasuke. He was looking up at Naruto with his calm dark eyes.
Naruto snorted and looked away. He knew what Sasuke wanted him to do and he didn't like it.
"They have not been fully informed on the matter," Sasuke calmly explained to the elders.
"As is proper," Azumaryu said.
Naruto folded his arms over his chest. "We're not going to help you old men unless you tell us everything!"
Kiba slapped his forehead. Chouji slammed his head on the table. Neji glared at Naruto. Shino sighed. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
Houren coughed, covering the smile on his lips.
The four elders glanced at each other.
Houren cleared his throat. "With all due respect," he began. "I believe it wouldn't be fair to keep them in the dark."
Hokuryu looked at Houren. "This coming from you," he said with obvious distaste.
Houren kept his composure. Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Neji eyed him wearily.
"But very well," Hokuryu said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you more than we planned to let you know. Houren has already given the information to someone else in your world anyway."
"What?!" Kiba and Chouji hissed.
"Who did Houren tell?" Naruto asked.
"Jirotaiku," Shikamaru whispered.
Naruto looked at him.
Jirotaiku… his name rang a bell- THE NINJA SASUKE SPOKE TO WHEN HE CAME BACK TO KONOHA FROM HIS MISSION! THE ONE SAKURA MUST HAVE BEEN WITH IN HER LAST MISSION!
…The one Houren also happend to know…
"Where should we begin?" Hokuryu asked. "Oh and do take a seat, Sasuke."
Sasuke bowed and sat down – a white mist quickly rising from the floor to support his weight. The mist acted like a chair that was similar to what the elders were sitting on.
"With your permission," Shikamaru said, bowing to the elders.
The elders bowed back, giving him permission.
"I implore that you begin with the theft of the artifacts," Shikamaru said.
Hokuryu nodded grimly. "Houren has briefed you about it though, I presume?"
"Yes," Shikamaru said. "He had been kind enough to fill us in with the gist of what happened."
"You wish to know the specifics then," Hokuryu said. "Fortunately, we who exist in this realm are bound by… special decrees. They forbid us from disclosing some of the important facts on that matter. However, as a keen one as yourself, you will know how to get by with that information."
Shikamaru nodded. "Thank you," he said, bowing again.
Hokuryu bowed back. "What we can tell you is that all the artifacts had been recovered, thanks to your friend, Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "Though we employed him to do so as payment for keeping Haruno Sakura alive, we are grateful for the extra efforts he had given to get the artifacts back before the time we've agreed upon. He was also able to warn us of the trouble with the relics before the situation became uncontrollable."
"You call this situation 'controllable'?" Naruto snapped. "Innocent people could be dying as we speak!"
"We know," Hokuryu said. "But if he wasn't able to find that bit of warning at the time, you wouldn't be here talking to us. Konoha would have been dust six months ago. And I mean that in a literal way."
Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Neji and Shino froze. Shikamaru frowned.
"It was a century ago when we sentenced a traitor from our ranks," Hokuryu said. "He planned on opening all the gates to your world, combining our dimensions into one singular realm. What he didn't understand was that our realm is too different from yours – that if his plan succeeded, our world will devour yours. Your world will cease to exist. And it wouldn't happen in one click. Every matter in your world will disintegrate. Your living beings will fall into decay while they breathe."
Silence filled the hall.
"Barriers between our territories were made for a reason," Minamiryu said. "And those barriers had not been raptured for trillions of years, allowing life to thrive in both our dimensions."
"The last time it was raptured, some of our kind spilled out to your world – giving birth to creatures that devastated your civilizations," Azumaryu said. "Your kind survived the chaos, however, which made us think your world and your beings could mingle with ours."
"But our essence is not the same," Nishiryu said. "You live your lives faster than we do. You grow and age at such short lengths of time and… you die or you are bound to die after living a shorter life than ours. And that limit – that mortality – made you all, by nature, selfish beings."
"OI!" Naruto shouted. "You're calling us selfish? What do you call yourselves?! You wanted to keep Sakura here as your own, when you know well she still has a family in Konoha!"
"We are enlightened," Hokuryu answered. "Tell me, Naruto. Are Sasuke and Sakura only your team mates? Are they not…Hatake Kakashi's team mates as well?"
Naruto stiffened. "Y-Your distorting my words!"
"No, I'm not," Hokuryu said, smiling calmly at him. "I am merely pointing out the selfish nature you mortals have. It's so innate to you that you exhibit it unconsciously, without you realizing it. Your life, your family, your property, your village – everything in your world always had to do something with you."
"What about here?" Kiba asked, standing up from his seat. "You call this your temple!"
"It is also the temple of anyone who wishes to claim it as theirs," Sasuke said.
Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Neji, Shikamaru and Shino looked at Sasuke.
"Anyone can stay in the temple, even you," Sasuke said.
Naruto stared confused at Sasuke. Had he been brainwashed by the giant lizards?
"You have wars and crimes in your world because you have that desperate need to make the most out of your short existence," Hokuryu said. "…Because living life to the fullest for you revolves around satisfying your urges and experiencing pleasure."
"What about sacrificing for the ones you love, huh?" Kiba asked. "We do that!"
"Ah! Love," Hokuryu said, chuckling. "…Such a selfish concept. When you say you love a girl, what exactly do you mean? Do you mean it would be alright with you if that girl shares intimate relations with another man? Do you meat it would be alright with you if that girl chooses the other man over you?"
Kiba froze.
"When you say you love your family, does it mean you can put them last?" Hokuryu asked.
Houren closed his eyes.
"Love is a selfish act," Hokuryu said. "It makes you think you own a person, when in reality you do not. It makes you think it is right to own a person, when in fact it is wrong. It makes you think a person has responsibilities of serving you, and making you feel happy. Love makes you think you're unselfishly sacrificing so many things in your life when in fact, you're just throwing all those things away for a greater pleasure – calling someone your own, assuring yourself the constant presence of that person for the rest of your short existence, and establishing a constant source of one of your social needs."
"That's not love!" Naruto exclaimed.
"What is it then?" Azumaryu asked. "Something to do with hugs and kisses? What do those gestures make you feel, exactly?"
"Pleasure," Shikamaru muttered. "Naruto, sit down."
Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "You're just going to let them degrade us?! Accuse us of senseless-"
"They are highly rational beings acting on philosophy and logic," Shikamaru said. "And you are acting on your emotions. We're not here to dissect each other's nature. We are here to learn how we can save Konoha."
Naruto frowned. "Tell them that."
"Oh we heard it," Nishiryu said calmly.
Shikamaru looked at the elders and bowed. "My sincere apologies for our rudeness," he said.
"No worries," Azumaryu said. "We didn't think that highly of you anyway."
Naruto glared at Azumaryu.
"Naruto," Neji hissed.
Naruto closed his eyes and sat back down on his chair.
"Where were we?" Houren said, looking at the elders. "The exile? The barrier?"
"Both," Minamiryu said.
"We began to…restrict visitations to your world," Hokuryu said. "…Basically because our interactions with your world still give us more knowledge. The restriction meant keeping your kind away from our world. But one of us told a group of humans about the portals we use to cross to your world – wormholes that appear on their own at specific points in time. Excited to give the humans a tour of Seiiki, that immortal-"
"She?" Shikamaru said.
"She secretly welcomed them to Seiiki and kept them in the secret rooms of the temple," Hokuryu said. "While hiding in the secret rooms, they decided to look for the 'artifacts' that she told them about. They tricked her into showing them the artifacts and telling them how they could be taken out of the temple. They took the artifacts when she went out of the temple for her regular morning rounds, and went back to your world using one of the wormholes."
"And you punished her for their crime?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"We had warned her time and again about the cunningness of your species," Azumaryu said. "She chose not to listen."
"We've established the loss of the artifact," Shikamaru said. "…And how the relics are formed. I would like to know who we are dealing with now – the one who summoned the relics to our world."
"His name is Oda," Hokuryu said. "Odayakana."
"Tranquil," Shikamaru whispered. Their enemy didn't seem like the type who would go on a rampage, based on his name at least.
"I bet you'll be forbidding the use of his name too," Naruto muttered.
"Of course," Azumaryu said. "…After he receives his sentence."
Naruto scoffed.
"Shut up, baka," Kiba hissed, nudging Naruto.
"Odayakana was our messenger," Hokuryu said. "When he came back from delivering notices to the farthest regions, she had already received her sentence. We sent him away to inform everyone in the region, of her fate and of the new rule that no one will be allowed to cross the borders to your world. When Oda came back, he stole the only relic we kept in the temple and crossed your world."
"Why do you think he did that?" Shikamaru asked. "And we're talking about someone different from the one who you sentenced a century ago."
"Yes," Hokuryu said. "Oda however seems to be planning on doing the same act the traitor we sentenced a century ago did. Why so, I cannot tell you."
Shikamaru sighed. He already had an idea why. He would just need to confirm it. "And now he's gathered supporters for his cause."
Hokuryu looked at Sasuke.
"Yes," Sasuke answered. "I've confirmed the presence of five rogue ninjas in his group – each one of them keeping and sustaining a relic. They've set up a temporary underground hideout near Oto."
"What?!" Kiba exclaimed. "We're basically dealing with Oto ninjas again?"
"No," Sasuke answered. "They don't have Oto ninjas in their group – at least not yet." He looked up at the elders. "They've gathered notorious ninja criminals as members of their group. The most prominent of them are given the title 'general.' Several towns across the fire country have established underground slave trading. They're selling human slaves to the group as sustainance for the relics."
Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, and Neji froze. Shino and Shikamaru looked grimly at Sasuke.
Slaves… those missing women and children..? Those missing ninjas..?
"I've sent a friend in Konoha to check it out," Sasuke said. "The Hokage should already be informed of the matter by now."
Shikamaru nodded. He meant Jirotaiku.
"Good," Hokuryu said, nodding. "All we need to do is strategize what to do. I'm assuming you, Nara Shikamaru, are the strategist in your village."
"One of the many, yes," Shikamaru answered, looking at Hokuryu.
"Let us then see what we can do to stop Oda and his group."
Sasuke watched Sakura run a comb through her long hair while she sat in front of her vanity mirror. She had been doing it every night before she slept, since she fully adjusted to living in the temple.
Sasuke took a deep breath of the cool evening air from the fourth floor balcony of the temple's inner building, and sighed as he noticed the anxiety in Sakura's green eyes. Despite the distance, he could still see the tension on her shoulders as she gazed at her reflection, even when he was just watching her through their bedroom window.
The last time he saw that tension on her was when she first met him in the temple.
"We had to hide her memories away," Houren's voice rang in his ears - the memory of staring confused at him after realizing Sakura no longer knew him, filling his thoughts.
He had been wanting nothing but freedom from Sakura's attention and affections since he was young, or so he thought. Then she died in his arms, and to his surprise, he sought for a way to revive her. He sawher again and learned she no longer wanted him. He was finally free from Sakura's affections and yet, instead of celebrating, he ended up grieving.
The pain surging through his chest was... indescribable …The experience – unutterable.
For the third time in his life, he felt his heart crumble. First on the murder of his family, second the loss of his brother, and third for losing Sakura.
When everything sunk in, he found himself lost – clueless on what he should do next. Sure, he thought about just doing what he and Houren had previously agreed on, but he wouldn't be doing it without seeing Sakura again.
And the sight of her pained him in so many levels and urged him to do so many things – one of which was make her remember who he was. And that was not a good idea. He had experience to prove it. So he wandered what he should do.
Then it hit him. He had always wanted nothing to do with Sakura. So why bother with how he should approach her?
So he decided to ignore her when he saw her in the halls of the temple, and not talk to her even when she asked him a question – things he had been doing since he met her in the academy.
Sasuke remembered her warm greetings, and shy smiles. He remembered how she tried to ask him how his stay in the temple was so far, and how he decided not to even spare her a glance.
Then one cold night…
"I'm sorry," she told him.
He was on his way back to his quarters when he saw her standing by the door to his room.
"I'm sorry I don't remember you."
And her cracked voice, her trembling shoulders, and the apologetic expression on her face shattered his resolve.
"I really want to remember you," Sakura said, her green eyes showing the weakness she was trying to mask. "I want to know you, and if you would only give me a chance-"
"Shut up," the two words that he knew would hurt her, and remarkably the two words he didn't want to say to her.
He remembered how taken aback Sakura was after that. For a moment, her green eyes glimmered in the faint moonlight.
Sasuke found the courage to walk around her and head to his door. He was about to open the door when Sakura reached her hand out to him.
"My name is Haruno Sakura," she said. "I don't know much about myself but I know that I like to help in the clinic and I want to be your friend."
Sasuke didn't know what to do again. He just stood frozen in front of his bedroom door.
After a moment or so, Sakura took her hand back with a sigh. "I'll see you around," she said, walking sadly away from him.
He remembered closing his eyes; feeling tears run down his cheeks… and feeling something crush his chest.
She remained friendly to him – greeting him whenever she saw him, inviting him to share dinner with her, and telling him some of her experiences in the temple.
He felt relieved when Houren and the elders finally gave him orders to retrieve the artifacts. He was rarely in Seiiki after that. It was like being on missions for Konoha. The only difference was he didn't really receive any monetary compensation for his work. He did receive allowances when he was out to retrieve the artifacts though.
Sakura remained warm toward him even then. She looked especially happy to see him when he returned to Seiiki.
One time, he came back severely wounded. He underestimated an enemy holding the artifact he was supposed to retrieve, and ended up getting a number of deep stab wounds, several broken ribs, a broken ankle and a dislocated arm bone. He fell unconscious the moment Fuyuki saw him on the roadside.
Sakura was always the first one to welcome him. She turned out to be keeping an eye on the entrance to the temple while she worked in the clinic. So when a group of villagers reached the temple carrying a bloody and unconscious Sasuke in their arms, she was the first to rush to the scene.
He remembered faintly opening his eyes to the bright light, hearing muffled noises around him and seeing a blurry image of Sakura's anxious face hovering over him.
"She was worried sick about you," Houren said when he saw Sasuke looking confused at the pink-haired woman slumped unconscious on his bedside. "She hadn't slept since you arrived."
"You should have stopped her."
Houren just smiled. "You know how stubborn she can be, especially when it concerns the one she loves."
"Stop it! She doesn't know me!"
"That doesn't mean she doesn't love you," Houren said. "Why do you think she's been acting like this toward you? This isn't just guilt and you know it."
Of course Sasuke had a hint on what was going on, but he didn't want to entertain the idea because one, remembering him might trigger her suicidal tendencies; and two, she was already free of the burden of loving him. Why take her back into that prison cell when she could fall for a man more suitable for her than Sasuke?
"This isn't right!"
"What if it is?" Houren asked. "You're not the only one who's wondering why she still likes you, despite the fact that she knows nothing about who you are and the fact that you've practically showed nothing but rudeness toward her. I've heard about humans and the power of the feeling called 'love.' I don't know that much about you mortals but that's the only explanation I can find."
"So what..?"
"So," Houren said. "I suggest you think about what you're doing. That last artifact you've risked your life to save contains further knowledge on memory. We've yielded the technique of forming a barrier in the mind. With your permission, we can set up a barrier separating her memories before she arrived in the temple, from her memories after she woke up in our care."
Sasuke didn't know what he felt upon hearing the news. At first he felt his heart skip – hopel. Then the consequences sunk in and fear, disappointment, guilt, and confusion filled his thoughts.
"There are two ways of looking at this," Hokuryu told him one evening when he visited Sasuke's quarters. "One is how it could be beneficial for our goal of reorienting Sakura back to her human life. If we establish you as a valuable and loyal member of her social circle now, there's a greater chance that once the barrier is diminished, she would doubt the traumatic false memory she has about you and thus prevent her from automatically killing herself."
Sasuke could only nod. He had decided then that creating a barrier in Sakura's mind was a good idea. Then he would have to find a way of being friends with her, without letting himself be too absorbed by his emotions. "What's the second way of looking at this?"
"The second is how it would be beneficial for both of you," Hokuryu answered. "We elders may be, as Houren calls us, 'ancient' but we are not blind. You both yearn for each other and this distance you're keeping is neither helping her, nor healing you. When you excitedly pranced up the steps to the temple that day, full of hope and anticipation, it was clear that you've decided to make it up to Sakura. The smile on your face was a clear sign that you were finally letting yourself live."
Sasuke sighed. "She doesn't know me."
"Her feelings for you didn't change though, did it?" Hokuryu said. "The best help and support a patient with amnesia can receive is the presence of his or her family – a reassurance that they belong in something. Sakura, though you may not notice, is afraid. Sure, we care and love her like family. But she does not know us and we've honestly told her that we do not know her that well. We are not her family, though we are more than willing to be one for her. When you looked at her like you knew all her life, she realized she wasn't alone in the world. She started to believe that somewhere in this existence she belonged to a family, to a group of friends, to someone's life – to yours."
Sasuke remembered the look on Sakura's face when he first called her name in the temple. And though there was confusion in her face, he remembered seeing a spark of excitement in her eyes.
"She doesn't understand how bad you could be to her," Hokuryu said. "Not when your existence meant so many beautiful things for her. She's not asking you to love her back. Nor am I asking you that. For goodness' sake, I'm an elder. You should be asking me favors. I'm just telling you what's going on and how you're being too… idiotic about everything. After all, dying for someone you love isn't the only way to express your love for them."
Those words were running through Sasuke's head when he introduced himself to Sakura one morning while she was checking his wounds. The elders had already created the barrier in her mind at that time.
Sakura froze for a moment, surprised and confused when she heard him say his name.
"I'm a Konoha ninja," Sasuke calmly went on, his eyes on Sakura's face. "I'm the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan – a family famous for the eye technique, Sharingan. I was in a genin team with Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura when I was younger. I went rogue to be stronger, and lived away from them for years. I murdered a lot of people, almost caused the destruction of Konoha, and I attempted to kill you several times."
Sasuke remembered the silence that crossed between them. He knew his introduction was wrong, but she had to know how awful he was to her. And perhaps that knowledge would make her see why she shouldn't bother to be friends with him.
But Sakura smiled at him. "You seemed very relieved to see me alive though," she said.
Sasuke knew she was referring to the first time he saw her in the temple. He couldn't help but look away. She was Sakura – stubborn and weak. She didn't care about the horrible things he did to her.
"So Konoha," Sakura said. "That's where we live?"
Sasuke looked up at her and saw nothing but curiosity in her eyes. "Yes," he said. "It's a hidden ninja village."
"I'm a ninja too?"
Sasuke allowed himself to smile. "…The most beautiful and the best medic ninja in the village."
He watched her cheeks blush. "Most… beautiful?"
"You had a lot of suitors."
Sakura shyly looked down at his hands. "You weren't one of them though, were you?" she sadly asked.
"I didn't want to."
Sakura nodded, smiling to hide the hurt she felt.
Things got better after that. For the first time in a long time, Sasuke found himself being friends with Sakura. They listened to each other's stories, though since Sakura was still more talkative than him, he ended up listening to her more. And he learned he actually liked listening to her. He told her some things about Konoha – what it looked like, what the academy was like, and how she was before. He left out the part where she was crazy infatuated with him though.
Even with the advanced medical techniques, it took him several weeks before he was allowed to start walking. He had a feeling it was part of Houren and the elders' matchmaking plans, but he learned to ignore it when Sakura eagerly took charge of his physical therapy. At least he knew who was treating him.
He did several artifact-retrieval missions after that. And each time he arrived in the temple, Sakura took it upon herself to check him for wounds or injuries. They had been closer than they were when he first arrived, and many of the villagers who knew them, openly rooted for their relationship to flourish.
One afternoon, while Sakura was patching up a gash on Sasuke's arm and telling him about Keiko's quarrel with a village boy the girl seemed to like, Sasuke threw all caution to the wind and let his lips touch Sakura's. He didn't know what he would do after that – when he was sure Sakura would end up either too stunned or too offended to move. But to his surprise, Sakura just kissed him back.
Sasuke smirked. They were both flushed and breathless when Keiko ran into the room - about to tell them about how the boy she admired didn't understand what she ordered him to do. He remembered how Keiko froze at the door and quickly said "Bye!" before she ran out to the hall.
None of them told each other they were officially together, but everyone in Seiiki congratulated Sasuke and Sakura for the new intimate bond they shared. He knew being in such relationship with her was like taking advantage of her, but he could no longer bring himself to leave her – not when she happily held him in her arms.
Sasuke watched Sakura sigh as she looked at her reflection on the vanity mirror. She looked down at the picture frame on the table – a photograph of the two of them taken one evening while celebrating one of Seiiki's festivals. He watched her smile and run her fingertips on the portrait.
"And now you're stalking her," he head Kiba say. He had sensed a group of chakra signatures coming his way, but chose to ignore it.
"I thought you're with her already," Kiba continued.
Naruto stood beside Sasuke, watching Sakura with him.
"So," Neji said, standing against the rails of the balcony. "She loses her memory and you two end up together."
"Does she at least know who you are?" Kiba said. "What you've done?"
"Some of them," Sasuke answered.
"You're taking advantage of her!" Kiba exclaimed.
"I'm not stupid," Sasuke muttered.
"Really?" Kiba asked, walking closer to Sasuke. "…Because you having this relationship with Sakura doesn't seem like you're not!"
"Kiba," Shikamaru called.
"Come on, Shikamaru!" Kiba cried. "You know this is wrong! Naruto, you too! You all know this is wrong! They erased her memory! Then Uchiha comes here and tells her he's her boyfriend?!"
Sasuke said, looking at Kiba. "That's not what happened."
"What happened then?" Neji asked.
"You don't understand," Sasuke said, before turning away, frustrated. "You won't understand."
Naruto looked at Sasuke. It was as if his best friend was reliving a horrible memory.
"Make us understand," Chouji said. "What happened? Why did you let them take her memory away? I mean, Sakura's a strong ninja. And with you around-"
"She almost died," Sasuke said, looking grimly away. "They brought her memories back a week after I arrived, just to see if my presence would make a difference. It did."
Shikamaru sighed and looked up at the night sky. He knew, by the tone of Sasuke's voice, what might have happened.
"She talked to me," Sasuke said. "She assured me that everything was going to be alright – that she was going to make sure she would die the next time she attempted suicide."
Chouji, Kiba and Neji froze. Shino looked away.
"She was smiling at me," Sasuke said. "She was holding my hand and telling me I wouldn't get killed by anyone…that she'll break the constraints she put on my chakra."
Naruto looked out at the window where Sasuke kept his watch on Sakura. Sakura was smiling and looking around. It was as if she was waiting for someone.
Thinking about her telling Sasuke that she would take her own life for him just seemed so… impossible.
"I froze," Sasuke continued. "I didn't know what to do. I told her I didn't want her to kill herself. But she just smiled at me and said she understood…That I don't have to feel guilty and pretend. I held her arms to keep her from jumping out of the window, but she threw me across the room. When I got up from the floor, she was about to pin her head under a slab of concrete wall."
Chouji, Kiba and Neji looked away from Sasuke.
He could still see it - the massive hole on the wall when he sat up from the floor... the massive stone debris around him... the slab of concrete Sakura hurled to the ceiling... how she closed her eyes and waited for the slab to crush her...
"The only way we could save her was to sedate her," Sasuke said. "And lock her memories of Konoha and me away. The elders retained her memories of being here in the temple though so she wouldn't have to reorient herself again."
"How did you two end up together?" Kiba asked.
"That immortal whose body was turned into relics," Shikamaru said before Sasuke could answer Kiba. "It's Houren's sister?"
Neji and Shino looked at Sasuke. Kiba, Chouji and Naruto looked confused at Shikamaru.
"Yes," Sasuke answered, looking at Shikamaru. "Her name is Shirayuri."
