"It was Akasuna no Sasori

"It was Akasuna no Sasori. He stepped in and nearly knocked me off my feet. Turned out Sasori had placed his Human body in a time freeze, and he did a jutsu to transfer his sub conscious to his puppet of himself, so he could control the puppet from any distance. It really was the ultimate defence. When the heart of the puppet was destroyed the jutsu was cancelled and his sub conscious was sent back to his body, but Sasori had his body sealed in a time rift. The Akatsuki worked for years to retrieve Sasori, and finally a year before I left, they got him out. So now he was Human, and he was my partner."

Sakura continued, and told Ino every single thing. She told her how she and Sasori had hated each other at first, but on their second mission Sakura saved his life, and they eventually softened and became friends, then after a year of being Sasori's partner; he'd said he loved her. And 6 months after he said that, she realised that she herself was in love with him, but she just couldn't tell him. And how now she couldn't sleep, because every dream was a memory of the time she spent with the Akatsuki, and how she wanted more then anything to return to them as much as she loved her friends and village. She also told her about how Sasori had left her in the woods and made it seem like abduction

Ino's eyes were still wide with astonishment. Sakura had expected such. But what she didn't expect was Ino's next reaction

She leaned forward and pulled Sakura towards her and hugged her, "I'm sorry"

Now it was Sakura's turn to be surprised. Here she had just told a loyal medic-nin that she was an S-Rank criminal, and she was hugging her.

"I'm sorry, that I couldn't help you. That you needed to run away to find the comfort you needed. I never would have thought- I don't think anyone could have- that Haruno Sakura, The villages best medical Nin next to the Hokage, would have ever needed time to heal herself. It never crossed a single person's mind that" Sakura felt a water drop on her shoulder, Ino was crying, "that you would need our help to be strong"

Sakura's eyes softened and she wrapped her arms around Ino. Sakura realised the emotion she couldn't register of Ino's, was Guilt. Ino was blaming herself, for Sakura leaving. It was then Sakura realised that tears were escaping her eyes as well.

"You have nothing to apologize for Ino. Its no ones fault but my own. I made myself believe the only way to be strong was if I went out on my own and risked my life and honour, When actually in that year before I joined the Akatsuki I learned nothing that I wanted to. I learned a lot from them, but I know in my heart if I had stayed I would have learned it faster. But I also know that I needed to leave. I needed to discover who I was; were I belonged," Sakura let go of Ino and in return Ino let her go and sat back up. Both girls wiped away their tears and Sakura continued, "And I learned as much as I love Konoha and the people in it, I don't belong here."

I understand now. When Konan and Pein heard of Konoha's attack, she and Pein knew you would be concerned. So they had Sasori leave you hear, and gave you a chance to chose what life you wanted.

Just what you would expect from Pein…

Pein did become like dad to us. He always looked out for you. He wouldn't send you on something he didn't think you could handle, but always left room for you to grow. He's the kind of Father who the child would never realise cared, till they are old enough to understand….

At that moment, hearing what her Inner said, Sakura knew what she had to do. She needed to return to them; to be were she belonged.

"Well," Sakura stood up, "Just let me freshen up and we will get going" She put on a smile, and looked down at Ino, who was still stunned

"If you want, there's coffee!" Sakura said as she walked off to the bathroom.


Hours later Sakura stepped out of an operating room. Close to Two hour long surgery, because a little boy had appendicitis. It was a very severe case, and she'd basically held the boys life in her hands. She looked around for the boys parents, who stood up as Sakura entered the room, waiting for news of there son. Sakura hated this part, no matter the outcome of the operation. If the patient lived she was the family's hero, but if it died, the Doctor was the bad guy. Sakura walked over to the family and bowed in apology

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long on information, but I have some good news," Sakura stood up straight, "and some not so good news"

"Your son is fine. We managed to remove his appendix, but his body went into shock. We managed to stabilise him, but he will be out for a day or so, but I want to keep him in the hospital for a few days longer then we usually would, because I'm a little worried about the effects of the anaesthetics."

The mother had started right after Sakura said 'fine'.

"You're both completely welcome to stay at the hospital as long as you want with your son." Sakura stated putting a hand on the woman shoulder, which made her look up at her, with gratitude in her eyes

"You're an amazing Doctor," the father said, she could also see gratitude on his face.

Sakura smiled, "Thank you very much. My nurse, Miss Yamanaca, is just setting your son up on a gurney now, and you should see him come out those doors when they take him to his room. You can go with him the minute they bring him out"

Sakura gave a slight bow of respect, and turned to return to the operating room. As she entered the room, she saw 2 nurses cleaning the instruments and equipment, While Ino carefully lifted the boy off the table and onto a gurney. Sakura walked over and looked at the boy as Ino placed him softly down.

"It's sad to see children go through these things, eh? No matter how minor or natural, a sick or injured child is nothing pretty." Ino stated sadly. Ino had barley smiled today

"Ino I-" Sakura was cut off by the PA system

"Would Doctor Haruno and Nurse Yamanaca please report to Hokage Naruto as soon as possible please?" The PA woman repeated herself twice and then a click could be heard of the system being shut off.

Ino and Sakura looked to each other, the other nurses in the room looked to them, "Please take this boy to his room, then continue to clean the equipment," Sakura stated assertively. The two Nurses nodded and Sakura and Ino quickly left the hospital and headed for the Hokage building.