A/N: to all who reviewed…………you guys are freaking awesome. Now I was asked if I was going to make this story longer than entailed. I want your guys' opinion. Do I leave it with an epilogue or go on and continue after Sasuke returns to Konoha? Just put it in a review, my lovelies.
Disclaimer: do I freakin' look like Kishimoto to you? No, didn't think so.
Tsunade sat at her desk, back facing the door, looking at the window. Konoha looked as strong as ever with the Hokage mountain standing proudly. This was her village, the village she had found love, loss and then left. She was responsible for every person that lived there, but she failed one of the one's that meant the most to her.
Sakura. Sitting at her desk wasn't going to find Sakura and Tsunade knew it but she couldn't leave the village again either. She'd had a concussion that Shizune had worried about and Tsunade was allowed no sudden movements or sleep without being woke up every hour.
The team sent to find Sakura had so far turned up nothing. They went to the bombed base and said they had found her tail, but it disappeared in the surrounding woods. The woods weren't even that thick, how could they not find her, damn it.
Tsunade lifted the bottle of sake she had been holding at her side and took a long swig of it. She licked her lips to make sure no sake went to waste. Tsunade sighed and took another drink. This wasn't the best way to deal with no news of Sakura or her concussion but reason was thrown out the window when loved ones became involved.
A knock on the door came and Tsunade didn't bat an eyelash or turn around. She just allowed them in. Tsunade heard the clacking of heels and knew it to be Shizune.
"Lady Tsunade, what are you doing?" Shizune asked coming acrossed the room to stand beside Tsunade. She flashed a bitter smile to herself.
"What I do best," Tsunade answered, drinking more. She didn't look at Shizune or the sake bottle, just the Hokage heads. She'd put money on it that her grandfather, the first Hokage, hadn't let this happen to one of his students. Shizune stared out the window, a worried expression came over her face.
"Getting drunk isn't what you do best, it's what you like to do," Shizune reasoned looking down at her blonde Hokage.
"What are you here for?" Tsunade asked flatly. She wanted to be alone, couldn't anyone see that? Shizune was taken aback by the abrupt question but quickly recovered.
"The team sent after Sakura has found nothing of her yet," she reported. Shizune saw Tsunade get slightly irritated.
"If they have enough time to report failure then they should take that time and find Sakura," Tsunade said with light menace. Shizune looked worried once again.
"Drinking isn't going to bring her back," she said gently. A bitter laugh escaped the Hokage's throat.
"Of course it won't, but what else can I do? Sakura is missing and I failed to find her and bring her back. She could be dead or dying and I couldn't do a damn thing about it, could I?" Tsunade asked rhetorically, squeezing the sake bottle just a little tighter.
"That's what this is about? You 'failed'? You can't be guilty over things you have no control over," Shizune said, almost exasperated with her.
"No control my ass. If I hadn't sent her on that damn mission then she would still be here right now and I could be doing paperwork," Tsunade argued.
"If not Sakura, then who? Sakura's strong, she can deal with it. If anyone else went then they might not have made it because they might not have had Sakura's willpower. Sakura was kidnapped by Orochimaru for a reason. He would have just waited until another mission to take her. She was singled out, that's not you're fault," Shizune preached. There was no way Shizune was letting Tsunade blame herself and sink into depression.
"Who's to say it's not?" Tsunade countered.
"Who's to say it is?" Shizune returned. "Look this will not help Sakura in any way. Go to sleep and I'll be up to check on you in about an hour or so." Shizune walked acrossed the room but made it half way before stopping at Tsunade's voice.
"Did I fail Sakura? As Hokage?" Tsunade asked quietly looking at the rising morning sun. Shizune turned slightly to see the back of her master's chair.
"I don't think you could fail Sakura as Hokage," Shizune told her just as quietly and walked out, shutting the door behind her.
Tsunade watched the sun turn the sky from pale pink to a bright orange, she sighed. At least she knew she could always count on Shizune. Then, she took another drink of sake. No point in letting it go to waste.
Two men dressed in dark robes walked out of a town near the Village hidden in the Clouds. One carried nothing while another carried a wrapped up package on his back. Both had an ominous aura of evil and power. But in the forest the only things that ran away were the animals.
They walked at a slow pace, in no hurry to get back home. At their 'home' there would surely be hell to pay knowing they failed once again. They would require preparation to plead their case, so they would not get killed.
"Hey, Itachi, what are you thinking?" Kisame asked, his blue skin appearing lighter in the just risen sun.
"How to make sure we stay alive," Itachi answered. He rarely spoke, much less answered questions, but he knew if Kisame didn't know what he was thinking then he would surely blow the plan that Itachi was cooking up.
"We failed again, so how exactly will the Leader not skin us alive?" Kisame asked sarcastically but fear under lay in his tone. Everyone did or should fear the Leader, he was cold, ruthless, and very polite while he was doing it.(A/N:I don't actually know if Pein is polite while he's evil but we'll just say he is for now)
"We will set him up with a proposal," Itachi said, slightly getting irritated that he had to talk. The silence was so much better than when Kisame opened his mouth.
"A proposal of what kind?" he asked, intrigued.
"The killing kind," Itachi answered cryptically, hoping Kisame would just let it go. This was not the case.
"Specifics, Itachi," Kisame requested. Itachi let out an inaudible sigh, there was no getting around a curious Kisame. His eyesight went out of focus but he blinked a few times to bring it somewhat back. Itachi knew that it was only a matter of time before he went completely blind.
"I'm going to suggest that we attack the hidden Leaf village," Itachi answered, bluntly. Kisame was at a loss.
"That's stupid, we'd all get ourselves killed one way or an other," Kisame reasoned. The dirt path they were on was leading them away from the closure of the forest and into the flat plains.
"I won't explain now, it's too open, we could be overheard," Itachi cautioned. Kisame looked around and decided to drop the subject.
Naruto stepped out of the shower in his orange towel, then walking to his dresser to find clothes that he could wear to Ichiraku's. With Hinata having his favorite jacket, he settled with an older one, a black undershirt and a new clean pair of orange pants.
Naruto walked out of his apartment and locked up. He hoped that Ichiraku's would open this early in the morning, it was just barely after sun rise. Naruto ran down the path that he had taken almost every morning and stopped in front of the Ichiraku shop. The lights were blazing and the smell was to die for.
Naruto seated himself and made a miso, beef, chicken, and rice ramen order for the shop owner. The order came up within five minutes. Miso was his favorite so he saved that for last and chowed on the chicken ramen. The sound of moving fabric made its way to Naruto's ears and he turned to find Hinata.
"Hey, Hinata. What are you doing here? I thought you were at the hospital and all," Naruto asked mouth full of ramen. Hinata blushed a little and gave him a small smile while she sat beside him. Naruto instantly remembered what happened the last time they had ramen together. His face had a pinkish tint as he turned to Hinata.
"I'm on break, and the hospital is slow right now so my superior said I could go out for breakfast," Hinata softly replied.
"Aww, that's cool. So do you normally eat breakfast here, cuz I'm here almost every morning and I don't see you," Naruto asked after swallowing the last of his chicken ramen.
"No, I, um, usually don't but this was the closest place," Hinata said, looking him in the eye. She felt butterfly wings flutter in her stomach, her heart had started to race in her chest. Naruto just grinned in answer and picked up the rice bowl of ramen.
"Naruto, I heard that you weren't supposed to go on the mission to find Sakura. Why did you end up going? The Akatsuki--," Hinata was cut off.
"That's all I ever hear is Akatsuki this and Akatsuki that. I'm not letting those punks ruin my life. If Sakura's in trouble then there's no way I'm going to sit by and watch her suffer, that's not my nindo," Naruto explained looking down at the ramen, but not touching it just yet. He looked up at her. "Wouldn't do the same thing if it was Kiba or Shino?"
Her response was immediate. "Yes, I would." Naruto grinned and turned back to the bowl in front of him.
"See, there's your answer," Naruto then proceeded to take a huge bite of his rice ramen.
"Are you going to go after her again?" Hinata asked. She was curious and her butterflies in her stomach were becoming increasingly noticeable.
"Yeah, after I finish here then I'm going to go to Granny Tsunade's and tell her I'm going," Naruto said slurping up more ramen. Hinata swallowed and set her jaw.
"Good luck, Naruto," Hinata said, looking at him more intensely than necessary. Naruto looked up at her tone. He had to admit to himself that it was kinda sexy, he then blushed a little himself. Naruto, then had no idea what he was doing, and found himself embracing Hinata.
He held her tight, his hands were wrapped around her back, his face almost on her shoulder. Hinata had had her hands in front of her, now they were between Naruto and herself. He was warm and smelled fresh. Hinata's hands gripped the front of his jacket. She unconsciously buried her face in Naruto's chest.
"Ahem," someone from the door interrupted. Naruto and Hinata turned their heads to one ticked off looking Neji. "Hope I'm not interrupting something." There was a muscle ticking in his eyebrow.
"No, cousin, I was just going," Hinata responded. Reluctantly they let go of each other and Hinata went back in the direction of the hospital. Neji turned to Naruto.
"What were you doing to her?" he interrogated. Naruto didn't see what he was so pissed about, it was just a hug. A nice, soft, warm, intoxicating…..Whoa, slow down. Bad train of thoughts.
"It was just a hug, don't get your panties in a knot," Naruto said setting aside the empty bowl that was once rice ramen.
"Don't lead her on," Neji cautioned. His lilac gaze seemed to look through him. It was very unsettling.
"I'm leading anyone anywhere," Naruto reassured. Naruto could deal with Neji, but it was Hiashi that was the problem. Neji walked away with one last glare sent in his direction. Naruto ignored it and went back to beef ramen.
Now that Sakura wasn't yelling anymore, she didn't have to be carried by Sasuke again. Though when she was over his shoulder she did get a good view of his ass. But that train of thought, she had to shake off. Sasuke knew what was up with her just by looking at her face.
He'd definitely be able to tell that she was thinking perverted thoughts. Blame Kakashi, she had went to his favorite book store to buy him a new Make-out paradise novel for his birthday and just couldn't help but read it a little. Sakura had never seen such porn in her life, she didn't even know you could have sex like they described and depicted in those books. It wasn't funny, it was disturbing.
Forcing her thoughts back to the present, Sakura jumped to the next tree. They were in Waterfall Country now, three hours before they hit the Fire border. Sasuke didn't even seem to mind going back the gates of the village he left. At least that was what it looked like, but looks can be deceiving.
Sakura looked at the sky again, blood red. The sun was setting on another day. Sakura hadn't even noticed that they had been traveling almost all day. It appeared that Sasuke wanted to travel through the night too. Guess he really wanted to kill his brother. Sakura stole a peek at Sasuke.
She gasped. His left arm was holding his right side, which was bleeding like mad. Sasuke was sweating and it went down his cheek, to his neck. How long had he been like this?
"Sasuke, are you alright?" Sakura asked slowing to a stop. Sasuke stopped on a branch in front of her. He didn't turn.
"Fine," he answered shortly. Sasuke was panting, dragging in each painful breath. The wound had ached before but then it reopened and started bleeding again. Sasuke was aware that he was sweating but the wound seemed to tear more with every breath he took.
"Don't lie to me, Sasuke," Sakura said, coming up in his left. She stepped in front of him and took his hand away from the wrapped wound. Blood darkened the already black bandages and was slowly running down Sasuke's side like cold syrup.
"I'm fine, let's keep moving," Sasuke insisted. Sakura gave him a what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you look. There was no way in the deepest bowels of hell that he was running all the way to Konoha like this.
"You're moving straight to a bed tonight," Sakura demanded. She took his left arm and put it around her shoulders. He just glared at her, but didn't make a move to stop her.
"Sakura there is no bed around here," Sasuke pointed out. She gave him an exasperated look.
"Not even half a mile to the east of here is a village, we get a hotel room and I find normal medical supplies," she told him. Her tone left no room for argument and Sasuke just went along with it, the pain was catching up to him, going straight to his head.
Twenty minutes later, they were on the outskirts of a town that appeared to be a merchant exchange. The sun had fully set by now and the town seemed to be alive. Lights danced in every corner, people swayed on every street, and the whole town was pumped and alive.
Sakura half carried Sasuke in the shadows and avoided people at all cost. She dragged him through a quieter part of town and found a twenty-four hour cheap hotel. They walked in and clerk looked at them in amazement. Obviously this didn't happen to him a lot.
"We need a room for one night," Sakura told him, strained. She smiled at him, trying to appear like she didn't have some hot sex god oozing blood and glaring because of pain on her shoulder.
"Darling, it looks like you need a hospital," the man replied. He was gay, from the way he spoke. His eyelinered eyes widened upon examining Sasuke more.
"No, just a room," Sakura smiled bigger, faker. She wanted to do anything but smile. He gave her a skeptical look but got a room key anyway.
"Alright, but don't get any blood on the floor," he cautioned, putting his semi-long brown hair behind his ear. "Room seven, honey. Shout if you need anything." The clerk looked at Sasuke's glower and shivered.
"Thank you," she told him, relieved and hauled a semi conscious semi glaring Sasuke to room seven and unlocked the door. She pulled him in and had no time look at the pastel colored walls or the beige comforter on the bed. Sakura pulled Sasuke to the bathroom and set him down on the edge of the bath tub.
"Sasuke, take a shower and I'll go and get bandages," Sakura explained. She turned but Sasuke grabbed her wrist. She looked down at him, he looked up intensely.
"Be careful," he warned. She smiled, he was worried for her at time like this? It was enough to make her heart melt and soul sing. She leaned down and kissed him on his lips, just for a moment, and pulled back. His eyes seemed a little more wide, but other than that he acted like he was used to her kissing him.
"I will, promise," she told him. His black eyes seemed to soften as she shut the bathroom door. Sakura power walked down the hall and out the hotel door to find a twenty-four hour convenience store.
She didn't have to look long, three blocks down there was a little shop open. Sakura went through the door and walked through the aisle looking for the medical aisle. She stopped at the sixth and turned to get a better look at its contents.
There, Sakura found gauze, healing ointment, band aids, and antiseptic. She took the gauze, antiseptic, and healing ointments for Sasuke and went to the counter. She took the money out of her bra, where she stored it, and paid the old man who was working the register. With her bag in hand Sakura left the quiet store made her way down the street.
Only a block away from Sasuke and the hotel she let out a breath of relief. These streets made her a little nervous. Not that she should, but she left the ninja tools she stole from a sound ninja with Sasuke in the room and she still had the damn choker on her neck.
"Hey, Pretty thing. How'd you like a night with The Man?" a thug asked her. She instantly froze and looked up from the road she'd been staring at. Three punks in black were in front of her. She took in their appearance.
The one that spoke was tall, dark haired and a disgusting grin on his face. The other two were twins, both almost blonde and dressed in, what looked like, black leather. She inwardly cringed at their intention, but three little punks shouldn't be too much to handle.
"'The Man' doesn't interest me much. Get out of my way," she demanded, her hold on the bag tightened.
"Don't be like that, Baby," the leader said, walking closer to her. She stood her ground, not letting him back her in a corner. The other two snickered. "You don't know how fun it'll be."
"Not interested," Sakura told the still advancing leader. Just a little closer and she could hit him, then run for it. The guy stood in front of her now. He smelled of alcohol and her vision went out for a moment. A second later she got it back.
"Who said you had a choice?" he whispered. Sakura took the heel of her hand thrust it in his nose. She heard the bones crack as he cried out. Sakura side stepped him and ran for it. One of the thug twins blocked her way, she went up and he tried a right hook that she dodged.
Her hand was caught behind her and twisted painfully, almost to the breaking point. The bag dropped from her hand and landed on the ground. She was turned around and the leader came up holding his nose.
"Bitch. You'll pay for that," he declared, almost close enough to hit, but he had learned his lesson, obviously and stayed out of her reach. She snorted at him. The man closed the distance between them and raised a hand to slap her.
But the hand seemed to caught on something, then a foot came from behind the guy and hit him in the head, knocking him sideways. The grip on Sakura loosened and she took advantage and wrench her from one of the twins grip. She turned and kneed him in the stomach. He fell to his knees. Sakura looked up to see Sasuke punching the other twin's jaw. He, too, fell to the ground.
Sasuke was clutching his right side as he turned to look at Sakura. She grabbed the bag and ran to him, looking over him for anymore injuries opened.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked as she braced him on her shoulders and started back to the hotel. The sooner they got out of here the better Sasuke would feel. No one touches Sakura like that. They better be glad Sasuke was injured.
"What? No 'thank you'?" Sasuke asked, a little sarcastic. He limped on with Sakura's help. In truth his gut had told him something was wrong. He had stepped out of the shower and donned clothes, then just had to find Sakura. When he did find her she was held by a couple thugs and there was no way he was just going to watch.
"Thanks. Now why are you here?" Sakura pressed. The dumbass shouldn't be walking around staining himself and his injuries. He could pass out from blood loss or some such thing. Sasuke sure as hell shouldn't be fighting thugs, even though the gesture was a sweet one.
"I just thought you in trouble," Sasuke answered truthfully, seeing no point in lying. He had already swallowed his pride.
"How?" she asked, looking confused.
"Probably the same way you knew I was leaving Konoha the night I left," Sasuke hissed, a wave of pain just swept through his body, making him tremble a little.
Sakura smiled. "Thank you, Sasuke."
Yeah, maybe that was it, the bond they still shared. They were at the hotel doors and thankfully the clerk wasn't there. They hobbled down the hallway and stopped at the door with a number seven on it. The door was unlocked and Sakura took Sasuke to the bathroom. The bleeding wasn't stopping and she needed to change his bandages.
Sakura shut the bathroom door and put Sasuke on the edge of the tub again. She took off his hatori and sliced through the make-shift bandages with a kunai that was on the bed.
Sasuke was stiff, the pain had ebbed off a little but was now back in full force. It was hard to ignore and Sasuke tried to feel the hands that moved so gently on his chest. The breath that caressed his shoulder, and the small movements of the woman in front of him.
Sakura had taken a wet cloth and wiped off the blood that was seeping out of the gaping wound. She, then, sprayed antiseptic on it and heard Sasuke take in a sharp breath. She let the foam eat away the germs on the wound and sprayed it again. She put the healing ointment on the gauze and wrapped it fully on the wound. She made sure to cover every inch of the wound.
Sakura stepped into the tub and behind Sasuke. "This will hurt worse," she told him. Sasuke just nodded his head, throwing his spiked hair in more disarray. Sakura sprayed the antiseptic on the wound she had stitched up and Sasuke's eyes scrunched up in more pain. Sasuke felt her wrap that wound too.
When she was done she stepped out of tub and faced Sasuke. She knelt down to his eye level. "Are you okay?" she asked gently. Sasuke opened his dark eyes to look at her. Those eyes studied her face then looked down at his bandaged wound.
"I will be," Sasuke told her. She smiled a little and brought him up to stand. Sakura blinked a little fighting off the dizziness she suddenly felt. She led Sasuke out of the bathroom and onto the bed. Both needed sleep, that was something they couldn't argue about. Sakura turned around but Sasuke grabbed her wrist.
"Stay here," he said, and pulled her to the bed. She looked at him, surprised. But then she crawled on it and looked at Sasuke like he lost his mind. He just smirked and closed his eyes, instantly falling asleep. Sakura took the opportunity and snuggled up to him. That was how they slept throughout the rest of the night.
A/N: damn, that took forever. Especially the NaruHina part, first I edited it, then reedited it, then while I was doing a read through, I screwed up the placement of the words (somehow) and had to retype the neji part. See, I originally wanted neji to interrupt naruto and hinata in the last chapter at the hospital, but it would have killed the moment, so I figured they could meet at Ichiraku's.
Oh and don't forget about the question up top and visit my profile. There's a poll I'd like you guys to vote for. It's for when I'm done with this story. So, you'll be reviewing right about now.