Author's Note: Look! Look! It's not a month/two months late!

I feel accomplished. And I'm getting somewhere with this story!

Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

So who started school? I don't start until the 18th for Ramadan-related reasons.

Chapter Ten
…:::Acrimonious:::…

The Feudal Lord took it upon his duty to show the team around first thing in the morning, after yet another lavish meal prepared for them. He showed them the frozen lake and the children that played on it so joyously in their ice skates, the plantation of evergreen trees and the dirt of the plantation where fruit trees had once blossomed in the spring, the old-fashioned marketplace that was bustling with morning energy as villagers reached over carts and stands to purchase their freshly grown necessities.

Some of the teammates could care less.

Sai was somewhat intrigued by the sights, his mind translating each image into an art piece. He mentally picked out the medium he would use for each sight (Watercolor for the frozen lake? Seems appropriate), the angle (If you look at that apple stand from this side, the sun catches it just right), but knowing he would never paint any of the silent portraits anywhere other than his mind. Not entirely part of the mission, however, he continued to nonchalantly wander behind Jun as he introduced each new sight.

Sakura, as she had done the second she woke up, was contemplating what had happened last night. Part of her was unconsciously imagining every muscle that stood out on the Feudal Lord's bare arm as he pointed to a lavish tower in the distance and explained it. Another part of her was shaking in terror. The largest part of her, however, was attempting to assess the situation with a calm, reasonable, rational mind and conclude that should Jun try anything again, she would simply have to tell him that she was here for business and could not partake in romantic endeavors.

Yeah, that was it.

It was much better than what she had first come up with: a bubble of the remains of Inner Sakura had burst and shouted within her, KICK HIS ASS!

Kakashi was just wondering what the hell they would be doing in a village like this for the next four days.

"Jun-san, I really believe you should rethink your decision to stay here for another four days, as the enemy may return –"

A merry jingle of laughter. "I understand your concern, Hatake-san, but my villagers need me."

Kakashi looked around at the villagers who simply waved, bowed, or exchanged bellowing greetings of good morning at the Feudal Lord as he walked by. What did they need him for? Decoration? But Kakashi sighed regardless, remembering the slogan of a restaurant he had once eaten at. The customer's always right.

The team stocked up on medical supplies at a local pharmacy, each of them buying their own necessities before allowing Sakura to gather the bulk of the supplies for her own inventory. It was all they could stock up on. Being a village lacking ninja, there were no weapons, no tactical items to purchase. Kakashi would have to do inventory on their weapons sooner or later. Surely they were low on them.

And that was it. That was all they could do in that village: look around and stock up. Meals were taken care of by the Feudal Lord. Entertainment consisted of ice skating, cafés with their doses of guests, and playing in the park on the wintery fields, and although the team was leaning towards any one of the three, they had to stake out the entirety of the village for the first day in order to gain a sense of its environment, its possible entrances, its weaknesses, and its villagers. After all, they would be staying and protecting Jun there for the next four days.

With the coming of dusk, Jun had requested that they follow him to the hills on the other side of the lake for the most marvelous of all sights in the entirety of his village. He came to an abrupt halt at the top of the highest hill, sat down directly in the mounds of snow, and crossed his legs as he stared forward.

Confused, the rest of the team did so as well.

"Wait for it," he said breathlessly.

It was the sunset. At just the right angle of view, the sun's rays of orange, pink, purple, and red hues scattered over the horizon and shone delicately onto the surface of the lake to create a miniature aurora borealis. The ice gleamed as if the lake was made of crystal and diamonds rather than frozen water, and where the light of the sunset hit the cracks reflected a small-scale rainbow that curved to the next crack.

Sai watched with an indifference façade. Sasuke could not have cared less. Kakashi was intrigued. Naruto smiled giddily. Jun was in absolute awe, his hazel eyes twinkling with the colors of the sunset. And Sakura? Sakura could not see, but she was in awe nonetheless – not at the beautiful sight that Jun described to her beneath his breath that left her breathless and wanting to shake Sai into painting it for her.

She was in awe at Jun. He was the perfect character in a romantic novel: handsome, chivalric, gentlemanly, and romantic. He had proper manners, he showed everyone respect and did not take his own by force, he saw the beauty in sunsets, and he could charm her until her knees were weak. And he treated her like she was the world. Sakura was surprised she had not fallen in love with him then and there, with the way his hazel eyes lit up at the sight of the falling sun, or the way he smiled pensively as he watched.

But she didn't.

She didn't fall in love with him, however close she was, and she could not for the life of her figure out why. He respected her, and that was all Sakura ever wanted: to be respected, to be seen as an equal. So why was it that she was not head over heels with the man?

He was perfect. Maybe too perfect.

Kakashi still wondered what they were going to do in four days, but he stopped wondering after he began to visit cafés at night with Jun and Sai, and sometimes Sasuke. They would sit in the cushy seats over tea or hot chocolate and not only talk amongst themselves, but with what seemed to be the entirety of the village. The villagers were friendly, pulling up their chairs next to the Feudal Lord and sharing their own stories about the other villages and towns and ninja, and Kakashi found himself learning information he had never known.

Sasuke did not want to stay alone in the Feudal Lord's residence. He did not trust the place. Every night, he felt an odd presence in his room, leaving him to jerk into a sitting position, his heart hammering in his chest. And every night, there was nothing in his room upon inspection. But he did not like the hustle and bustle and overall overly happy nature of the café where he would have to keep his Sharingan on display in order to keep up with every conversation, nor did he enjoy ice skating and playing at the park. So he was stuck wandering around the town in his own solitude every morning and every night.

Naruto was out to have his fun.

"Sakura," he mouthed out of habit, knocking on her door on the second night as Jun, Kakashi, and Sai were getting ready to leave.

"Naruto? Is that you?" She cursed her jumping heart thinking it was Jun.

The blond entered the room, taking her hand gently in his and doing his best to write in her hand: I-C-E S-K-A-T-I-N-G-?

Sakura laughed slightly. Music to Naruto's ears.

"I don't think you'd like it if I went ice skating, Naruto," she said, taking her hand back. "You'd have to be pretty patient with me."

Naruto frowned. He wanted to tell her that of course he'd be patient, just for her. He'd wait for the end of the world, just for her. But it was too much to write on the palm of her hand and so he tugged gently on her wrist, hoping she got the hint.

"Are you sure? I could always just go with Kakashi, Jun, and Sai –"

Naruto tugged once again on the wrist of her hand. He led her out of her room where she felt the sting of the winter against her unprotected face, to the shack by the lake where an old man allowed him two pairs of ice skates for a small fee, and to the bench by the lake where they sat, tying the skates in their silence.

"Have you ever been ice skating before?" Sakura asked him, turning her emerald eyes in his direction when she had finished tying her skates. Naruto reached out to shake her head, no. He had never been ice skating, ever. Not even normal skating. His childhood had not called for it.

Sakura smiled.

"So wait, you're the one that's going to be leading me, but I'm the only one out of us that's ever been ice skating?"

She didn't catch his sheepish smile, but she knew it was there. She imagined him, How hard can it be? Even with her doubts, she let him pull her up and guide her to the surface of the lake where he stood steadily, Sakura's fingers slipped between his own.

"Standing is nice," she told him with a laugh. "But it's called ice skating, not standing, Naruto."

Naruto opened his mouth to give a silent bout of laughter, tugging on her hand again as he put one foot forward. But he slipped, falling with Sakura still holding tightly onto his hand so that she, too, fell, in a pile of limbs and laughter.

It was like that for the whole morning, the two of them holding onto each other for support – Naruto because he did not know how to skate, and Sakura because she did not know the way. They slipped and slid and skated and stopped and snorted and snickered until the sunset came again and they left for dinner back at the residence before Kakashi took them to train in the shadows of the night.

Sasuke felt like he was being watched again, that night. And again, he shot up in bed, looking around. And again he spotted a shadow lurking, this time just outside his window. But again, the shadow was gone, trying to force him to think that it was just a figment of his imagination, and he laid his head back on his pillow, yet his eyes were wide, wide open.

Then came the third morning. Sakura bounced playfully into Naruto's room, asking him if he wanted to go to the park with her because really, it was the first time they had had a break and so much fun in a long time. Naruto, of course, could not disagree, and the two of them soon found themselves challenging each other to see how high they could swing.

"This challenge is useless!" Sakura cried with a laugh as the air whipped past her ears. "I can't see if I beat you or not, and you can't even say if you beat me!"

They kept swinging anyway. Naruto let Sakura beat him, but she would never know.

Sasuke did not jerk forward that night. He had never gone to bed. He had simply moved an armchair in his room to barricade the door and had sat in the armchair all night, wide awake. There was one point where he swore – he swore! – he saw a shadow moving outside, but upon further inspection, there was nothing.

Sasuke had to get out of that house.

The fourth morning came, and Naruto stood in front of Sasuke's door holding Sakura by the wrist.

"Come on, Sasuke!" he whined, still managing a grin. "If you don't like ice skating, we can go swing or play on the slides!"

Sasuke adamantly denied.

Sakura giggled inwardly, trying and failing to imagine Sasuke gliding along the icy lake or trying to swing as high as he could.

"But all you do is walk around all day. It's kind of lonely, don't you think?"

Lonely? Sasuke thought, his facial expression remaining the same despite the screaming sarcasm. Lonely? Being with two guys and dozens of to-be-killed prisoners for a few years. Oh hell no, that's not lonely at all!

"Please? You don't have to play, okay? You can just watch and talk to us and we can keep you company. Please? Please? Please? Please?" Naruto went into a chant of pleases and Sasuke knew he would not stop until he agreed. With a sigh, he turned around to grab a random shirt to throw over his head (he had been training alone and did not bother putting one on, knowing Sakura was blind) before he left his room. It would be good to not be paranoid for a few moments.

Sasuke did end up playing with them, however. He had climbed up on top of the monkey bars, sitting there in his silence as he watched Sakura and Naruto compete against who could swing the highest. He frowned slightly, watching Naruto stop swinging for a few moments so he could watch Sakura soar past him before he would continue again.

Naruto had jumped off, declaring in his silence that Sakura had won. He turned to face Sasuke and waggled his eyebrows.

"I bet I could beat you, Uchiha," he said. "I bet I could jump off the swings and land farther than you."

"I won't be tempted by your petty ridicule," Sasuke replied with an arrogant smirk. He crossed his arms over his chest and swung his dangling legs from the monkey bars.

"Come on, Sasuke," Sakura joined in (to Sasuke's surprise). "Whoever wins gets a prize."

"What prize?"

"Ramen!" Naruto suggested. "The other person pays for ramen!"

"I don't live off of ramen, you idiot."

"Fine! You pick something. It has to be food-related, though, or else that's not fair!"

Sasuke smirked. "I have to abide by your gluttonous standards?" But he heaved himself off of the monkey bars to land on his feet in front of Naruto. Their noses were inches apart. "Tomatoes," he said. "A package of them."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They shook on it.

Sakura stood between their swings as they settled themselves, acting as the referee. It had been years since Sasuke had been on a swing. He gave an experimental swing of his legs, finding that he did, in fact, remember how to swing, and brought his eyes to Sakura.

"No ninja jutsus," she said. "No chakra pushes. Just raw power. Whoever lands the furthest has to pay for the other's food of choice. Okay?"

Two pointless nods of agreement.

"On your marks! Get set!"

Naruto and Sasuke pulled their swings back, locking their knees to hold their positions. They shot each other smug glances.

"Go!"

And they were off.

Naruto had too much adrenaline to feel the nostalgia of the moment. It would only be until later, when he was safely in his bed and staring at the ceiling, would he think back and be emotionally moved. He and Sasuke were competing against each other again, like they had done years back. They were neck-in-neck, acting like the innocent fools they had once been, trying to beat the other in a show of who was more powerful. Except this time, they knew they had grown and progressed and strengthened.

This time, it was just for fun.

"On three!" Sasuke shouted after several minutes of swinging. He turned to Naruto, waiting for the blond's nod of approval, and focused all of his concentration on jumping over the monkey bars. If he could just make it to the monkey bars . . .

"One! . . . Two! . . . Three!"

The two boys thrust themselves forwards, soaring through the air with their legs just ahead of them. Sakura laughed as she felt the wind from their launch, turning around to follow them unconsciously. She heard one pair of feet land gracefully to the floor, and then a CLANG! of metal as a body came into contact with the monkey bars. Her heart thudded irregularly for a second.

"Oh gosh, Naruto, are you all right?" she cried, running to the monkey bars.

A hand caught her shoulder and she turned instinctively, feeling Naruto reach for her palm. But if Naruto was the one who had landed on the floor, that meant . . .

Naruto's mouth suddenly opened in a roar of silent laughter at the sight in front of him. "Okay, okay, you win," he mouthed when he could breathe. "But –" chuckle "- where's a camera when you need one? Or Sai! Oh my God, Sakura, get Sai!"

But Sakura did not hear him, nor did she understand what was going on. She could not see the Uchiha dangling upside down from the monkey bars, one leg stuck and hooked behind one bar and the other bent in the air. His hair was comically stuck up in all places, his face – from what Naruto could see that was not obscured by his wrinkling shirt – red from the blood quickly flowing to it.

"Just shut up and help me," Sasuke snarled at him, not amused.

It took quite an effort for Sasuke to become untangled from the monkey bars, during which Sakura finally understood what had happened and had laughed enough for both her and Naruto. Sasuke crossed his arms and attempted his best glare.

"A little more and I would've made it past them," he tried to reason. Naruto just slapped him on the shoulder, mouth open in laughter, and led the way to the market place. Sasuke was going to think about sharing his tomatoes, but now . . . oh no. They were all his. Naruto be damned.

That night – their last night – came quickly. Dinner was served, the team was stuffed, and they made their ways to training with Kakashi. It was especially rigorous, that session. Kakashi wanted to take advantage of the fact that it was their last night for a few days to train, and so he worked them out to their very core until their clothes were soaked with sweat and they stumbled to him when they were over.

"No one needs a piggyback ride?" he asked jokingly when he saw them bend over to regain their breaths. He received glares from all three of them. Sai had stayed with Jun. "Okay, okay, come on. We'll finish early today so you can get a good night's rest."

A good night's rest was what two of them did not get.

Naruto had gone to sleep almost immediately, his body too tired after giving it his all during the training session and a relaxing warm shower. Sasuke, loathing his room and dreading his return to it, had taken a quick shower and had gone wandering about the entirety of the Feudal Lord's residence. Sakura soaked herself in a bath.

When she stepped out, her bedroom yukata tied tightly around her waist and her hair wrapped in a towel, she jumped slightly. There was a presence in her room. And she knew – she just knew – it was Jun.

"Jun-san," she greeted, hoping her voice did not betray the confusion and chaos that was going on in her mind.

"Ah, Sakura, I thought I would stop by again," he replied, but his reply was not loud enough to mask the soft click of the lock from the door. Sakura's heart suddenly began pounding wildly in her chest.

"Jun-san, please." She backed up slightly. "I'm very tired tonight, and I honestly don't think this should be going on in the first place. You're a very charming man, but –"

He was right in front of her all of a sudden, a finger to her lips.

"But what, Sakura?" he asked softly. One of his hands brushed against her cheek when it found no stray strand of pink hair to brush away.

She turned away, her hands coming up to push lightly against his chest, telling him to please, please go away because she really was not in the mood and she did not like him like that.

"Please, Sakura," he pleaded right back. "You're beautiful. Inside and out. Never before have I –"

"I have to go," she told him before she sidled against the wall and moved to grope blindly for the door. It was futile. From where she moved, she did not know the direction of the door, or where the nearest wall was, or why her heart was seconds away from exploding in her chest.

"Sakura, if you would just let me –"

"Jun, stop."

No suffixes. No fear in her voice. But she was shaking ever-so-slightly, and he knew it.

"Please, do not be afraid . . ."

She was Haruno Sakura. She was a ninja who had killed, who had beaten enemies with the might of her inhuman strength.

But she was blind, and unbearably tired.

And the door was out of her sight.

Jun was backing her into a wall again. Every time Sakura felt his hot breath (it wasn't warm anymore, like it had been once against her freshly showered body; it was hot, hot, hot against her flushed skin) on her bare neck, she stepped back, and he stepped forward, and the cycle would begin again, until she felt her back against wood.

"Jun, really, stop," she told him, bringing her hands up to push his chest from hers. "This is inappropriate."

"What is so inappropriate about love, my dear?"

And he bent down to kiss her neck.

Sakura could not help the yelp of surprise she uttered at the touch of his lips to her neck. It had been such a different touch from before. This one felt wrong. So wrong. She pushed him violently from her and ran to her left. She wished at that moment he was not the Feudal Lord, that she was not protecting him, and that she had not wasted most of her chakra on their training session, or she would have gathered the power to her fists and launched him through four walls of the mansion.

Fear tore away at her from the inside. Her breath quickened, and she stumbled over air, crashing into the nearby wall head-first. The towel had long since unraveled from her hair.

"Now, now, Sakura, please, don't –"

"Jun!"

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Sakura –"

"Jun-san, stop!"

The concern was there in his voice, no doubt, but so was what she thought was lust. He kept his voice to a low, tender level, but he did not stop. She felt his body hovering over hers. Hands grabbed her waist, pulling her up from the floor, but she struggled as viciously as her aching limbs would allow her. Her voice rose with every call of his name.

"Sakura, please, don't be this way."

It disgusted her how calm he was.

"Just stop struggling and I promise I won't hurt you."

The bruising grip on her waist said otherwise. Her thighs came in painful contact with the sharp corners of the bed and, paralyzed by the sudden pain, she collapsed forwards onto the mattress. Powerful fingers closed around her wrists, turning her over. Her knees were bent over the edge of the bed.

"JUN!"

He closed the gap between his body and hers with a crushing push, his hands holding Sakura's wrists to the sides of her head as she struggled from his grip.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Sakura," he said, his eyebrows up in feigned sorrow. "Really. I can treat you right –"

"This isn't the way I want to be treated!" she screamed at him.

She was seconds away from discarding his title as Feudal Lord and punching him straight in the face with what little chakra she had. It would be enough.

"You're beautiful," he told her, and he bent his face down so that his nose hovered just above the dip of her neck to her shoulder, inhaling softly. Sakura shivered in disgust, but her sightless eyes opened wide as the brunt of the situation finally hit her.

And she was helpless.

She wouldn't let the tears come, no, but she was so angry! So angry that she always managed to land herself into situations where she was completely helpless. So angry that no matter what she did, not matter how much she tried to show her male teammates that she was just as good as them, she was always the one in need of help. Her eyes stung with the unshed tears, her teeth gritted at the thoughts and at the strain of her struggles. She didn't care if Jun called her beautiful. She didn't care if a Feudal Lord was infatuated. As long as she was helpless, and as long as she continued to feel helpless, she would never be able to live with herself.

He had pinned both of her hands above her head now. She felt his free hand move up, and up, and up, along the sides of her body, and his face was nuzzling her neck. She fiercely tried to push him off, calling his name, screaming, but she was too tired, too tired, too tired –

And suddenly, he was off of her.

Sakura blinked in bewilderment and sat up suddenly when she heard the unmistakable crash of a body against the walls. A pause, and then what sounded like glass shattering.

"U-U-Uchiha-kun."

Sakura's heart beat even more wildly than before. She heard, through the deafening silence that followed, Sasuke's unmistakable hiss.

"Don't you fucking lay a hand on her."

"I was not trying to –"

"You're not the deaf one here!" His voice rang out in an angry bark. "If you weren't part of the mission, and I wasn't trying to make a good impression on the Hokage, I would rip your throat out and punch it through your heart –"

"This is no way to treat your elder!"

"That is no way to treat her, either!"

The silence that followed was a painful one. Sakura could feel the tension pressing her into the bed. Sasuke's breathing was audible as well: fast, harsh, loud. She wondered what he had done, and vaguely wondered why he was so angry, or how he had known Jun was in her room.

"Sasuke."

She knew he had turned to face her. She could imagine the dangerous swirl of his Sharingan.

"It's okay. Really."

Please, please let me leave with whatever dignity I have.

His bitter reply was immediate. "It's okay for him to take advantage of your disability? To try and rape you?"

"I was not trying to –"

"You shut up!" Sasuke roared, and even the windows rattled in fear.

Jun listened for the sake of his life. The insane glint in Sasuke's eye frightened him, but he would never admit it.

"I want you to get out."

Jun adamantly remained.

"If you get out now, I will not tell Kakashi about this, and I will resist the urge to give you up to the enemy should they ever decide to attack again.

"You would not dare," Jun spoke threateningly.

Sakura did not hear the three steps Sasuke made to stand in front of Jun. She did, however, hear Jun grunt in what she knew was pain, glass falling to the floor in paradoxical chimes.

"Sasuke, please, you can't hurt him –"

"Sakura."

The tone of his voice was ominous. Sakura imagined Sasuke holding Jun by the front of his shirt, suspending him several inches above the ground. That was exactly what the situation looked like.

Sasuke, standing near the door that had obviously been kicked open, Sharingan eyes activated in ominous warning. The Feudal Lord, blood flowing sickly from his nose and trickling down the side of his face, raised several inches into the air by Sasuke's hand that shook under the stress of his weight and of the day.

"You expect me to listen to you? I treat her like royalty. I recognized her existence," Jun spoke. It sounded to Sakura like he owned her. She was revolted. "She is but a teammate to you." He turned his pleading eyes to her, but she could not see them. "But she is so much more than that to me."

"You know what? Good for you," spat Sasuke. "Fucking great. But if this is the type of respect you give to women you like, you're going to get nowhere. Get the hell out of here before I force you, and you certainly wouldn't want Kakashi to know what you've done, now would you?"

They had a staring contest in the tensioned silence that followed, but Sasuke, with his flaming red eyes, won. He set Jun to his feet. The man gave Sakura one last, long look before he bid her goodnight and left with his dignity trailing behind him like the shattered glass that littered the floor.

Sakura did not know what to say in the silence that followed.

"Sasuke . . ." she tried, but still had nothing to say.

"Did he hurt you?"

"What?"

"Did he hurt you."

"No, I don't think so –"

He was pulling on her wrist now, forcefully dragging her from her room, and for a moment his hand was on the edge of her yukata to yank it down and oh God that was embarrassing and her face was heating up and she was wondering if the rest of her outfit showed anything else at all and all she wanted to do was hide her face at the fact that she had, once again, been caught helpless by none other than Uchiha Sasuke and in her yukata nonetheless and her wrist was starting to hurt and ow ow ow ow ow –

"Sasuke, let go!" She tried to wiggle free. She did not know where they were going.

But Sasuke could not hear her. Did not care. He pulled her by her wrist and tore down the hallway, entering furiously through Kakashi's door. Kakashi turned around, visible eye glinting with curiosity.

"Sasuke, what –?"

"Take it off," the Uchiha demanded, pushing Sakura forward.

Bewildered because the only thing on Sakura to take off was her yukata, Kakashi said, "Take what off?"

"Her blindness!" He knew his voice was louder than usual. He did not care. "Make her see again! Take it off right now, Kakashi."

Kakashi frowned. "I don't understand why –"

"Sasuke, please, stop," Sakura pleaded at the same time, suddenly feeling small and exposed and just stop the shame, just end this day, please, please.

"Take it off, Kakashi, or I'll find a way to do so myself –!"

"Sasuke, calm down. What's going on?"

Sasuke was frustrated. He turned around for a split second, hands diving to his hair, before turning back and wanting Kakashi to understand but not entirely sure if he should. Kakashi was utterly confused and honestly, he was somewhat worried. Sasuke had never shown so much concern towards Sakura in a long time. He had never shown so much concern period. Just what had happened when he was away?

"Forget it," said Sasuke, and he turned around to leave.

"Sasuke, no, just wait –"

"Kakashi, forget about it."

"You can't just forget about something like this!"

He left, anyway, leaving behind a worried Kakashi and an ashamed Sakura.

That night, Sasuke seated himself in a new position.

He walked from his room, stood in front of Sakura's door, and sat down. And he did not leave. He leaned against the wall of the hallway, hands behind his head, eyes lidded from physical and mental weariness. He wondered just what he thought he was doing, staking out Sakura's room for any signs of Jun. It wasn't because he cared. Really. It wasn't – right? It was because of all things people thought they could do, taking advantage of other people was the lowest of the low.

Sasuke would know.

His mind quickly hopped on to another train of thought when he felt the oncoming shudder at the memories.

Sakura knew he was out there. She did not know how, but she could practically see his body through the broken door, most probably staring right at the door without moving. Knowing him, he would not sleep, and if her tired limbs were aching, Sasuke's probably were as well.

Mustering up whatever strength she had left after the long, long day, she lifted herself from her bed and moved to the door to open it slightly. Pink hair peeked out from behind the barrier, catching Sasuke's eyes.

"Hey," she whispered, knowing he was staring at her. "Sasuke, you really don't have to do this."

Silence.

It makes me feel bad enough. Don't babysit me.

"Please, just go to sleep?"

Silence.

Sasuke inwardly snorted. Sleep. Good one, Sakura. But she did not know he could no longer sleep. Only Naruto and Kakashi knew.

"I'm staying," he whispered back to her. "Just because I don't like my room, anyway."

She pursed her lips, inwardly wondering if arguing with him was the best idea. He would never leave, she knew it. But a part of her wanted to argue, wanted to show Sasuke that she really didn't need his help anymore, that she could do things on her own.

One in the morning, however, was not the time.

She didn't say anything. She just closed her door and went back to her bed, but not back to sleep. Not tonight. She could still feel Jun's hands and lips on her, tonight.

Jun's breakfast was the most lavish of all, because it would be the last breakfast he would have at his residence for a long, long time. Sakura was completely silent, slowly nibbling on her food because she did not feel hungry in the least. Sasuke was seconds away from a permanent glare on his face, keeping his head down and his hands off of the food.

"You're not hungry, Sasuke?" Kakashi leaned in to whisper to him, growing more concerned with the Uchiha by the second. Naruto heard the whisper and looked up, furrowing his eyebrows.

Sasuke shook his head.

"You need to keep your stamina and health up, Sasuke," Naruto tried to reason with the boy, but Sasuke did not hear him.

Sai watched with a mischievous glimmer in his eye, taking note of the way Sasuke and Sakura sat furthest away from Jun and across from each other when Sasuke had usually sat alone and Sakura had usually taken a place near the Feudal Lord. Jun tried his best to play off any uneasiness, but Kakashi and Naruto did not seem to notice.

When their breakfast plates were being taken away, Kakashi put his hands together to begin informing the others of the layout for the next few days.

"There are four more checkpoints to reach until we finally make it to Konoha," he said, passing his eyes over each seated member at the table. "The first one will be a cabin, the next two will be villages, and the last will be a cabin."

"I shall be leaving for another week or so," Sai added with a slight bow of his head, eyes closed. "My separate mission calls for me to return, and I must do so immediately after breakfast."

Conversations broke off after then, Sai speaking to Jun about his position in Konoha, Naruto speaking to Kakashi about their upcoming disabilities, but Sasuke stayed in his brooding silence and Sakura kept to her awkward peace.

They were to head to their rooms to finish packing up and would meet back in half an hour. Sasuke did not need to pack up, he thought. His belongings, save for a spare shirt and pants, were still packed in his backpack. He sat on his bed, inwardly relieved to be leaving the haunting residence of the Feudal Lord.

A shuffle. Sasuke jerked his head to his door, Sharingan activated suddenly, but it was only Sai smiling back at him eerily.

"I don't like him," the odd boy said to Sasuke, coming in and closing the door behind him so they would not be overheard.

Sasuke thought it was a complete invasion of his personal space. Sai made himself comfortable on the chair in the corner of Sasuke's room, crossing his legs nonchalantly and splaying his hands on the hands of the chair.

"And I hate you." His smile was still in place. "But I do not trust the Feudal Lord, so I'm going to trust that you do not let any harm come to Sakura or Naruto."

Sasuke's glare hardened. "Why don't you run off and tell Kakashi instead if you hate me so much?"

Sai began to pick at his nails. "Hatake-san has not grown entirely suspicious of the Feudal Lord, and should he do so, the mission may take an unwanted twist. The Hokage still needs her information from the man."

"I am not a babysitter."

Sai stood up (smile, smile) and walked so that he stood in front of the seated Uchiha. With a movement too quick for Sasuke's naked eyes to comprehend, Sai grabbed the front of his shirt, face eerily indifferent and smile officially gone but eyes betraying the slightest flicker of anger. He leaned his face close, his voice barely a whisper.

"I need to know you're worth saving, Uchiha."

And he let Sasuke go, turning around and walking from the room.

Confusion, to Sasuke, was an understatement.

No enemies in sight.

The Feudal Lord had returned to his village for five days, encountered the enemy directly before returning, but did not once encounter any enemies during his stay in his village or an hour into their departure from it.

And Kakashi was suspicious.

There was something wrong with the way the enemies were behaving. Surely they would have taken the Feudal Lord's vulnerability in his own village to attempt an attack. If not, then surely they would ambush them when they left the village, almost immediately. But it had been an hour since they had packed up and taken to the icy snow, and there was not a chakra trace in a mile radius.

Kakashi squinted ahead out of thought. There was something wrong. Some ulterior motive to the enemies that they were not aware of. Something was driving them away from the Feudal Lord. Another part of the mission? A deal with some distant enemy? A ransom? Kakashi stayed in silence for another hour, his mind turning his cogs a mile a minute so that he came to several conclusions, none of which he knew was correct.

He would need more clues, he thought, and so for the time being, he changed his thoughts to someone else:

Sasuke.

Something was haunting the Uchiha. Yes, Kakashi was somewhat overjoyed to see that he had actually showed some concern for Sakura, but a part of him was concerned as to what had brought it up (and a part of him was somewhat dejected at the fact that his students had grown up slightly and he had not been around to witness the process). He knew he should not pry, but still. Kakashi was their leader, their sensei, and he cared far too much about the wellbeing of his teammates and students.

"It's been two weeks," he spoke as they walked. Sasuke did not turn around to look at him. Kakashi did not bother him. "That means when we reach the cabin at nightfall, you will each be given your third stage of disabilities – your toughest ones to deal with."

Naruto would be deaf, Sakura would be mute, and Sasuke would be blind, he thought. It would not pose as too much of a hassle for Sakura unless someone was injured, something Kakashi – with their unbelievable bad luck beneath ironic circumstances, as if they were storybook characters – was sure was inevitable. With a lack of enemies, Naruto and Sasuke would not be in too much trouble, either; Naruto would not need his stealth, and Sasuke would not be in dire need of his eyes.

Kakashi turned his eyes to Jun. He was oddly silent, walking painstakingly slowly in the snow, his eyes less lambent than usual. A part of Kakashi believed it was because he had been forced, once again, to leave his village. A different part of Kakashi, however, felt it was for some unknown reason.

The silver-haired man sighed and ran a hand over his masked face. There was a lot to figure out, and he just wasn't sure he had enough time left.

Nightfall of the fifth day they had been at the village. They had reached the cabin carrying a thick blanket of silence around their shoulders. Kakashi set his bag down inside a room he would be sharing with Jun and Sai and set to work preparing a fire just outside of the cabin. Sakura set one of her bags on the table instead and began groping blindly inside for ingredients she had stocked up on to prepare for dinner.

A finger suddenly poked her in the back and she gave a startled jump, and twitched slightly when her hand was pulled away, palm faced up.

I-L-L M-A-K-E D-I-N-N-E-R

She grinned. "Are you sure? The most I've seen you make is a bowl of instant noodles."

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, looking to Sasuke for help. The Uchiha smirked ever-so-slightly, one eyebrow lifting above sunken eyes.

"It'll be a lot easier if you let us do it," he spoke in monotone. "You'll be working with fire."

She backed off, not wanting to take ages having someone guide her hand over the fire. "I'll help Kakashi gather the wood," she said, turning to leave.

Can you see the wood? Sasuke thought wryly as he pulled the rest of the ingredients from her backpack. She had bought bread, turkey, lettuce, cheese, and – to Sasuke's silent delight – tomatoes. There was, however, several cans of soup (That must have been heavy, he thought, but Sakura had showed no discomfort) that would last them for three days. Sasuke set to work opening five cans and heating them over the fire as Naruto prepared the sandwiches.

"Would you like some help, Naruto?"

Jun had walked over with an uneasy smile, hands wringing. Naruto smiled brightly and moved aside to allow the man to pick up the ingredients to form sandwiches. They were silent for a few moments until Jun said, rather dejectedly, "I miss my village."

Naruto slid in a slice of turkey before glancing up at him with a softer smile. "I miss mine, too," he mouthed, hoping Jun would see. Without his voice, he wasn't very good at comforting. He trusted Jun would understand what he was trying to do.

"Ah, well, it was nice to be back for a while, I suppose." He managed another smile – there were smiles going around all day, it seemed – and finished up a sandwich. "I suppose I cannot complain too much in your presence. After all, you saved me."

"Naruto," Sakura called from outside, blatantly ignoring Jun. "The soup's done. Come on out so we can eat dinner."

Jun watched the blond leave to her before closing his eyes in a sigh. It could not get too awkward . . . could it?

The night seemed to dull. Sasuke found himself staring, bored, into the fire, allowing his mind to be taken siege by his thoughts and memories. He left his soup half-uneaten in front of him, hoping his blond teammate could finish it off for him before Kakashi found out but knowing Naruto would make more of a fuss than his ex-sensei.

Kakashi was growing tired of his thinking, of his progress-less contemplation, and of the silence that descended upon the team. He brushed away the snow from his knees and stood up, his tired, tired eye(s) roaming over his students and over the Feudal Lord sipping his soup beside Naruto.

"It's time," he said softly, clapping his gloved hands together once.

Finally, thought Sakura. Sasuke dreaded the time. Naruto did not care too much, glad to have been blind at the beginning.

There was no grand show of it this time. Everyone seemed to be tired – not physically, but just in general, of the mission and of themselves and of the drama they had endured as members of the world. Kakashi moved to Sakura first, whipping his fingers into invisibly fast seals and placing his hands over her eyes before placing them over her mouth.

She blinked away the darkness, not feeling quite dizzy since the darkness of the night eased the return of her sight, but her throat constricted, taking away from the moment. She found herself staring with slightly widened eyes at the Uchiha – was that even Sasuke? – as Kakashi placed his hands over his ears and then over his sunken eyes. He had had no previous weight to lose, Sakura had thought, but she was staring at a body that proved her wrong. The Uchiha looked entirely worse for wear, completely taking away from the handsome visage he had once been.

Sasuke braced himself for the coming of permanent darkness, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he sighed. Nothing. He blinked a few more times for the hell of it, but the result was still the total darkness. Panic? No, not really. The full extent did not reach him, and he doubted it ever would, even if he was engaged in battle. It would be an easy week, he thought to himself, the ghost of a smirk playing with his lips.

But why, why was he so tired? His mind wanted to explore the pros and cons of being blind but he found himself unable to, his body telling him to sit back, lay back, close his blind eyes and sleep.

"Wait, wait, Kakashi-sensei! . . . Aaaaaaah . . ."

Naruto had his mouth open wide, letting out the continuous drone of noise with his head back. Kakashi had just finished blessing him with his voice once more.

". . . Naruto . . . what are you doing?"

"Wait! I want to hear my voice before I go deaf!"

Kakashi quickly put his hands over the ears of the blond.

"And now that that's done," he said, "It's time to head off for some rest. I'll be on duty first. Then Naruto, it will be your turn to be on duty for the rest of the night. Sasuke, you are to take my bed to ensure Jun has some protection for the night."

He did not miss the slight twitch of Sasuke's fingers at this command. Jun fidgeted nervously.

"Come on," Naruto said, laying one hand on Sasuke's shoulder so that he could guide him around the fire. "We've got a big week ahead of us!"

Sasuke cringed. "Idiot, your voice is louder than usual if you can't hear it."

"What's that, Sasuke? Your lips moved too fast."

Oh joy . . .

There was, of course, no sleep going on. And Kakashi knew it. With no enemies in sight (and still no enemies in sight, from what he could sense from his seat on the snowy roof of the cabin), their day tomorrow would not be too strenuous on the students who had just received their new disabilities. He knew Sakura was in her room figuring out hand signals. He knew Naruto was walking on tiptoes around the house to work on his stealth. And he knew Sasuke was sitting in Jun's room, eyes closed but senses wide for any sign of the enemy.

"Kakashi."

. . . Or maybe not.

Kakashi turned around, mildly surprised to see Sasuke on the roof with him, although the Uchiha groped carefully in front of him, fingers shaking from the cold of the melted snow.

"Sasuke," he frowned, "you should be watching over Jun."

"Naruto's doing that. I wanted to talk to you."

Sasuke had been wanting to talk to the man for a while, ever since he was back in the corner of his rented apartment with the ANBU surrounding him. Without his sense of hearing or ability to speak, however, he did not want to waste the energy. Being blind created the perfect opportunity, and he wanted the talk out of the way before the mission's danger turned high again. The casual night proved the prime opportunity.

"Oh?"

Kakashi raised one eyebrow and scooted over slightly to make room for Sasuke, his eyes still staring into the distance.

"What brought on this unexpected talk?"

Silence. For a while. Sasuke's eyes were looking in the same direction as Kakashi's, as if he, too, were searching for enemies in the distance. He shrugged ever-so-slightly with his bony shoulders, suddenly feeling tired again.

"You were ANBU once," he whispered instead. His eyes still focused on the trees in distance.

"Once," Kakashi whispered back, his shoulders tensing at the unexpected topic of the conversation. He suddenly felt the sting of the ANBU tattoo on his arm.

"If you'd never been my sensei . . ." Sasuke swallowed thickly there, eyes finally shifting to where his shaking fingers were curling into fists. "And you'd been one of the ANBU watching over me . . . what would you have done?"

Oh.

That.

Kakashi found himself looking into blank black (finally, black) eyes, trying to decipher the question further.

Would you have treated me that way?

Would you have hurt me like that?

"Turning rather sentimental, aren't you, Uchiha?" Kakashi wanted to say, to tease the boy, but the situation did not call for teasing and smartass remarks. The former sensei was rather worried about his former student. Uchiha Sasuke was not sentimental. Uchiha Sasuke did not get angry and storm into his room demanding things. Uchiha Sasuke did not have sunken eyes and choppy hair and a skeletal body.

Kakashi went into thought for a long time, staring into the distance harder as if it would give him inspiration. He sighed.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

Sasuke waited for the yes. His teeth gritted in a snarl and his hands curled into fists. Yes, yes, yes –

"No."

He knew he looked surprised, but Kakashi did not turn to stare at him. The man was still staring into the distance.

"The ANBU that handled you were young, some of them prodigies and others in their early twenties. Far too young to understand the extent of the Uchiha massacre." He saw Sasuke tense out of the corner of his eye. "But they'll do anything for Konoha, so they don't understand why you would possibly want to leave. But I . . ."

His eyebrows furrowed.

"I was very familiar with the Uchiha clan." A grinning Obito flashed before his eyes. His heart sank. "I know what they live for. What they strive for. And even if I didn't know who you were, I'd understand what drove you. And even if you were a traitor, I wouldn't make you suffer any more than you had to."

He turned to the Uchiha – finally, finally turned away and looked long and hard at the shell of what his former student had been and said, "Sasuke, what the hell did they do to you back there?"

But Sasuke stood up, face expressionless. He gave a whispered (sincere?) thanks to Kakashi, didn't know what else to say, and turned to leave. Kakashi cursed. Everything he had done to try and reel the Uchiha back to earth had failed, from the Chunin exams to now.

He felt like a failure.

"Sasuke, really, stop." He reached forward – reached out to him, just one more try, one more try – and grabbed the boy's wrists to pull him back. "Come down and eat with me. Or at least have a talk with me. You're not looking too good –"

"Kakashi –"

"Don't 'Kakashi' me, Sasuke. I don't think your body can wait until we get back to Konoha –"

"Kakashi, really." His eyes were staring right at him. "Not tonight. I'm really tired."

That's what I'm worried about, Kakashi thought, but he watched Sasuke leave.

He really felt like a failure.

Naruto woke up, rejuvenated from his weariness and his odd bout of depression. He smiled warmly as he stood up, rubbing his eyes and making his way clumsily to the other room so he could say good morning to Jun and Sasuke.

His jaw dropped.

Sasuke, the boy he had seen sit in a corner every night for three months, who had given a new definition to the word 'insomniac', was sleeping. He lay flatly on the futon a few meters from Jun, on his back, and he was sleeping, mouth open and eyes closed and eased breathing and all.

Naruto grinned. Maybe, just maybe things were starting to finally look up for them.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto ran out of the room, his eyes wide as he practically crashed into the dining table where Jun, Kakashi, and Sakura sat.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he cried in desperation. "Sasuke isn't waking up!"