Chapter 9

Picking up the Pieces

The council members walked into the room to their respective seats, their faces betraying nothing. Tsunade remained standing as the others sat. She looked around the room, her eyes catching on Naruto's and Kakashi's. She couldn't catch Sakura's eye, because she was still staring down at the ground.

…

…

…

"Uchiha Sasuke, please stand."

He did so.

Tsunade unraveled the scroll she held and read.

…

…

…

"Uchiha Sasuke, you have been found guilty of treason to Konohagakure."

The room was filled with a shocked silence as everyone turned to stare at Tsunade.

Even Sakura lifted her head to stare at her shishou, a look of confusion passing across her emotionless face.

The Konoha twelve were sitting with their mouths open. Naruto leapt up, face outraged and hurt.

"That isn't fair Tsunade-baachan!" His voice was panicked. "You can't execute him! You c-can't!"

Tsunade shot him a glare, which shut up Naruto momentarily. "Uzumaki, sit down." She snapped. Naruto would have opened his mouth to yell back but Choji and Kiba pulled him back down into his chair and Ino put a hand over his mouth hissing out, "don't talk, you idiot!"

Tsunade waited until Naruto was properly restrained before she spoke again, looking to Sasuke—who seemed to be taking the verdict in stride, to his three teammates. Karin was biting her lip, as if to keep from crying. Suigetsu was staring down at his hands, and Juugo closed his eyes with a sigh.

"The council has agreed that the proper punishment for Uchiha Sasuke and his teammates is this: they shall be stripped of all shinobi status until further notice, with a two-year probationary term. Afterwards Uchiha Sasuke will be allowed to hunt for his brother with a well equipped ANBU team. Team Hebi will be allowed to stay in Konohagakure under a shinobi guard until their intentions have been evaluated." Tsunade almost smiled at the looks the shinobi in the room shot her—including Sasuke and his team.

Karin's jaw had literally hit the floor, and Suigetsu's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. Juugo just seemed confused at the whole ordeal. Sasuke's eyes had widened for a fraction of a second before he became emotionless once more.

"He won't be executed!?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Tsunade finally gave a grin. "No. He won't be executed."

"Teme's back!!!!" Naruto jumped up from his seat, dancing around. "Teme's back!"

The rest of the Konoha 12 stood to cheer.

"Party time!" Ino shrieked.

The others hurried to agree. The room was buzzing with excitement as the ANBU guards undid the seals upon Sasuke and his team.

The only one who wasn't celebrating was Sakura who merely stood, face emotionless. She stuffed her hands into her pockets, walking to the door.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinning as he ran up to her. "Sakura-chan we did it! And it's all thanks to you! Teme's safe because of you!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room turned to look at her. She remained emotionless, her tone bland as she spoke.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto. You have your best friend back." And then she walked out of the room.

There was a moment of hurt silence as Naruto's face scrunched up and a few tears swam in his ocean blue eyes. She'd fulfilled her promise to him. Now she seemed to be walking out of his life forever, as if it had been her last debt to him to be repaid.

Sasuke watched her go, some unknown emotion flashing through his eyes before it disappeared.

Tsunade looked from Naruto to the door that Sakura had walked through. I knew you would lose one of them, Naruto. I'm so sorry…

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto made to run after her, but Kakashi gave a small sigh and shook his head.

"She needs time to think, Naruto." His eyes trailed to the stoic Uchiha. "I think she'll need a while to cope with all this change."

Naruto nodded slowly, before he gave a shaky smile. "Let's go welcome teme back, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled from beneath his mask. "Let's go." And the two walked down to where Sasuke and his team stood, the others following.

Sakura sat in her bed, blankets wrapped tightly around herself. Damn you…damn you all… She didn't know whom she was damning, but she didn't really care at the moment. She just needed to yell or break something. Instead, she let herself cry. One emotion was enough.

She was surprised she could cry. Ino had often joked that Sakura's didn't have actual tear ducts anymore.

Naruto hadn't come running after her. Part of her was relieved. But she was also deeply hurt. She knew he must be at the party with their old friends—his friends, welcoming back Sasuke.

They were probably sitting at a table, laughing and joking. Shikamaru would be talking tactics with Shino and Neji.

Hinata would be blushing while she listened, enraptured, to another one of Naruto's wild tales.

Choji, Lee, Tenten, Ino and Kiba would probably be dragging Sasuke into one of their nonsensical drinking games. He'd deny it of course. Maybe Sasuke's teammates would join in the festivities.

Ino would be trying to hit on Sasuke, no doubt. She didn't like him anymore, but she'd probably do it just for the sake of flirting.

Sakura couldn't help but give a small smile, however dry it may have seemed. That would ruffle Karin's feathers. She could just picture Karin steaming, latched onto Sasuke's arm. He'd have that annoyed look on his face, too. It was probably the whole reason why Ino would flirt with Sasuke in the first place.

Kakashi and Gai would probably be having one of their little contests—Gai's idea of course, and Yamato would be the referee. Asuma would be with Kurenai. They'd be in a small corner, talking and holding hands as they pretended to pay attention to everyone else.

Sai would probably be giving Sasuke and team Hebi nonsensical nicknames.

And Sakura was sitting in her room.

Alone.

Sakura grabbed the beer from the side of the table, taking a long swig. Cheers. She seemed to have picked up her shishou's drinking habits. She never drank more than one beer, usually, but tonight she wondered if she should maybe get drunk.

No. That wouldn't solve her problems.

Sakura wrapped her arms around her knees, which she had brought up to her chest.

She wondered if there was anything that could solve her problems. Even if she'd won the case for Sasuke and Naruto, why did it feel like she had lost?

Sakura merely slipped out of her clothing, leaving herself in her chest bindings and her underwear before pulling the blankets around her as she curled into a little ball. She stared out the window at the moon, her mind brooding.

I'm not like them Sasuke…I won't forgive you so easily. I don't know if I can ever forgive you.

Don't expect my sympathy. I won't welcome you with open arms.

You're still a traitor in my eyes.

She tried to be happy for Naruto and Kakashi. They had their teammate back.

That would be the right thing to do…Sakura's hand wrung the blanket. Then her fingers relaxed, as she gave a sad smile. A genuine one, but a sad one. Her eyes filled with despair and sadness, as well as a bit of irony, as she gave a small sigh.

She could at least pretend to be happy. She could scream and cry and shout in her mind, as long as she kept anyone else from noticing. As long as, on the outside, she pretended not to care.

She'd already masked her emotions once. What was one more mask?

Team seven will never be whole again. There's too much pain between us now.

I'm sorry Naruto.

The party was just like Sakura had described it.

"C'mon teme!" Naruto hiccupped as he took another sip of his beer. "Live it up! It ain't every day ya get to get drunk as a skunk! Hey, tha' rhymed!"

Hinata smiled at him. Unlike the others, she had only drank a few sips of her beer—at Naruto's request. She was probably the only halfway sober one there. And that wasn't saying much, because she was starting to feel tipsy. She didn't have a high alcohol tolerance after all. At least it wasn't as bad as Lee's. The poor guy couldn't even have a drink. He was sipping a glass of tea, not understanding why everyone was acting so strangely.

"Hn."

Tenten, Naruto, Ino, Choji, and Kiba were singing a rather lewd drinking song—and surprisingly Suigetsu was signing along with them. There had been a bit of awkwardness in the beginning when the rest of team Hebi had arrived with Sasuke at the bar. But after a couple drinks everyone had loosened up considerably.

"C'mon Sasuke-kun!" Karin giggled, flushed from the drinks as she hung on his arm. "Let's go dance!"

"Ha!" Ino snorted. "He wouldn't dance with you if you were the last woman alive, Karin. Naruto has a better chance of gettin' into his pants."

That caused Naruto to burst into laughter, while Sasuke shot him a dubious look and Karin glared at Ino, who merely smiled evilly.

"Ha! I'll drink more than you, Kakashi! And then it will secure my victory of 67 wins to your 66!" Gai grinned.

"You're on." Kakashi commented coolly.

"Chug it! Chug it!" Kurenai and Asuma cheered, both a bit tipsy as well.

If any of them had been thinking clearly they would have taken this time to look at Kakashi's face beneath his mask, but they were all too drunk to realize he didn't have it on, and they probably wouldn't have remembered what he looked like in the morning anyway.

Juugo was staring at them all, perplexed at the entire situation. He had decided not to drink either, and he, Yamato, and Lee were merely sitting to the side of the room, commenting on how weird everyone acted when they were drunk.

Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru were murmuring amongst themselves over what looked like a battle strategy, but all three were a bit red in the face from their drinks and seemed to have a hard time focusing on the drawing for more than a few minutes at a time.

Sai was sitting with them, giving a comment every once and a while with that fake smile of his. Out of all of them he seemed to least effected by the alcohol—well, him and Sasuke. Both of them were as emotionless as before.

He was currently thinking up nicknames for Sasuke and his team and was having no luck. He'd have to consult his books again later that night to come up with something that fit.

Sasuke gave a small sigh as he took a sip of his glass. He was silently thankful that Ino was dragging Karin into a nonsensical argument about who would have a better chance of having sex with him. He'd noticed, however, that Ino didn't have a crush on him anymore. He was also silently thankful for that. One fangirl was more than enough.

I wonder what Sakura's doing right now.

Hn. It doesn't matter.

His jaw tightened as he gave a soft sigh. Training with Kakashi and Naruto is going to become difficult now. Especially if Sakura keeps avoiding me.

A part of him realized that training with Sakura would probably help him even more than training with some of the others. She had defeated him. He had to beat her if he was going to regain his honor. It had stung his pride a bit that he'd been beaten by the weakest kunoichi of the Konoha 12.

Deep down he had always realized that Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura meant more to him than just teammates. They were family. And it had angered him—no, it had frightened him. His family had been killed long ago. One side of him was mad at himself for finding their replacement so quickly; while another was afraid he'd lose them just like he had his real family.

Naruto and even Kakashi seem to have accepted me back without a second thought…he gave an annoyed sigh. Why is Sakura acting so cold? What happened to her after I left?

Around four in the morning, the only people left in the bar were Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. ANBU had come to ask the other members of team Hebi to go and speak with the Hokage.

Lee had taken the unconscious Gai home after he'd lost the little drinking contest with Kakashi. Kurenai, Shikamaru, Neji, Shino, and Kiba had all left earlier in the night due to missions.

The others had slowly dispersed until only the three original members of team seven remained.

"So, now that you're not a ninja anymore you'll have to start off as an academy student." Naruto snickered at Sasuke. "How hilarious it that?"

"Hn."

"I can just picture you sitting in a room with all those little kids." Naruto guffawed once more, taking another drink of his beer.

"Does Sakura have a mission tomorrow?" Sasuke asked casually.

Kakashi and Naruto both blinked. Naruto shook his head, "Nah. I don't think so…" he trailed off, and Sasuke saw the pain well up in his eyes at the thought of their missing teammate. At the sound of her name the room had felt empty.

"So she will be at training tomorrow." Sasuke stated.

Kakashi shrugged. "Sakura doesn't always come to training anymore. She has rounds at the hospital as well as her work at the interrogation base."

Sasuke winced a bit at the mention of that place. If he never had to go back it would be too soon.

"Tomorrow we're going out for ramen at Ichiraku." Naruto grinned. "And don't worry, Sakura-chan will be there. She promised."

And she never breaks a promise.

Those words hung above the three of them, unspoken but understood.

"That was before I was found innocent, dobe." Sasuke muttered.

"Ha!" Naruto snorted. "It doesn't matter. She'll come."

Kakashi nodded, "She just needs time, Sasuke."

"Then we'll be team seven again!" Naruto cheered. "And you didn't get to talk to Sai and Yamato, did you? They're cool too. Although Sai can be an ass."

"Hn." Sasuke had heard that Sai had been his replacement. He already disliked him. He'd disliked him even more after hearing that everyone thought the two of them resembled each other.

I don't look like that. He thought grumpily. The alcohol was starting to affect him after all.

"Tomorrow I'm gonna kick your ass, teme." Naruto continued. "And then you can get Sakura to heal you afterwards. You guys can play doctor." He winked, apparently thinking his little joke was hilarious. Kakashi just sighed and Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow.

Of course, he couldn't get the image of Sakura in a skimpy nurse's outfit out of his head.

She awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm. She turned it off slowly and deliberately, slipping out of bed. She headed into her shower, taking off her chest bindings and underwear as she went. She looked down at her body with a small sigh of despair.

She would never get rid of the scars. She could feel the ones on her back, from missions that seemed to have happened an eternity before. They tingled as she traced the new one on her hand from Sasuke's chidori. Tsunade said it would disappear almost completely, but Sakura would always know it was there. And it would always still be visible, even if just a little bit. A reminder.

As if she needed another one.

Sakura would never be flawless and beautiful. She'd given up that thought years before, however. She knew she wasn't pretty like Ino and she didn't try and pretend that she was. The others merely told her she was beautiful to make her feel better, even if it was unneeded.

If men stared, it was merely because of her bright pink hair.

She stopped looking at herself in the mirror for a second at that thought, eyes darkening. No, I suppose that isn't true. I was pretty enough for those missions, after all.

Sakura stepped into the shower, washing away her worries and early morning thoughts. She would deal with everything as it came. When she finished, she wrapped her robe around herself as she headed back into her room.

No doubt the others were all waking up to sever hangovers at the moment. Sakura almost smiled at that. She also knew, however, that Naruto and Kakashi would head to the team seven training grounds no matter what their condition was…and most likely Sasuke would be there with them.

I won't avoid him like a scared little girl. She convinced herself. But I need a little while longer to compose myself before I see him again. I'll wait until lunch at Ichiraku.

And so she slipped on her hospital uniform and walked out of her house. She could do this. She had to.

"She isn't coming." Sasuke mumbled as he took a bite of his ramen.

"Yes she is!" Naruto defended. "She's just a little late!" There were already three empty bowls sitting in front of him, and he was hurriedly eating his fourth. Sai was still picking at his, face emotionless.

Kakashi looked over at Sasuke and Naruto, giving a small sigh. "Shizune said that she's been at the hospital. Tsunade requested that Sakura be the one to work with Juugo on his emotional instability one on one."

"That Karin girl is the one who seems emotionally unstable." Naruto grumbled. He then grinned, fluttering his eyelashes in his best Karin impersonation. "Oh Sasuke-kun!"

"Dobe." Sasuke gave a small snort. His eyes narrowed a bit as he looked to Sai, who was sketching something out on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" He still couldn't believe that Naruto had invited Sai to their 'Ramen Reunion'.

"I'm drawing, SasGay, what does it look like?" Sai cocked his head to the side with that fake smile of his.

Naruto burst into laughter at the nickname. "SasGay, how'd you come up with that one?"

"Sakura helped me." Sai's smile turned into a bit of a smirk as Sasuke's narrowed even more. The two began a glaring contest. It was unsettling, since neither Naruto or Kakashi had ever seen Sai glare before. They just continued eating their ramen in silence, ignoring the death-filled glares that passed over them between the two black-haired shinobi.

"It's good to see I'm not late for the party." Came a monotonous voice from behind them. All four whipped around in their chairs—or rather, Naruto whipped around and the others turned their heads—to see Sakura standing on the packed earth road.

Sasuke immediately noticed her nurse outfit—and he had to push down the thoughts that had surfaced last night after Naruto's suggestion—and gave her a curt nod in greeting.

Sakura sat down in the only available seat…beside Sasuke. She didn't seem to mind as she ordered her drink. Of course, it was very difficult to tell, with her face an emotionless mask.

"How was your shift at the hospital?" Kakashi asked conversationally. Sai seemed to have become inspired as he began scribbling away in his sketchpad.

"Juugo is doing much better. Suigetsu's burns have been healed completely and he will be ready to begin his training again in a few days." Sakura informed them, taking a sip of her tea.

"Will you be able to train with us tomorrow?" Naruto asked hopefully. Sakura turned to look at him and nodded, ignoring the fact that Sasuke was watching her expectantly.

Naruto whooped for joy. "YES!"

Sai looked down at the picture he'd drawn and gave a tentative real smile from beneath the fake one. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi were all sitting down at the Ichiraku counter. Naruto was talking animatedly to Sakura, who was smiling--even if it was a fake smile. Sasuke had a scowl on his face, and Kakashi had just started to pulled down his mask to eat his ramen.

"Oh look, you got Kakashi-sensei without his mask!" Naruto exclaimed. "Awe, you still can't see anything!" Sasuke looked over his shoulder, a bit of curiosity sparkling in his eyes.

Sakura gave a small sigh. "You shouldn't worry about it. Kakashi-sensei's face is overrated." She gave a small smirk in Kakashi's direction as he pretended to be hurt at her comment.

"Please Sakura, you didn't see me at my best." He defended.

"YOU saw Kakashi-sensei without his mask on?" Naruto asked in awe. Sasuke turned to her as well. Sai looked up from his sketch—where he'd been making a few adjustments—to look at Sakura interestedly.

Sakura merely took a sip of her tea.

Sakura slumped to the ground beside Kakashi, clutching her arm with a wince.

"You ok?" Kakashi asked hoarsely. His throat was dry and he swallowed to wet it, but it only made the cut on the side of his neck throb.

"I'm peachy." She answered back casually with a hint of sarcasm. She touched her glowing hand to her arm and closed the wound. "That last ambush wasn't expected."

Kakashi nodded. "Well, we're always supposed to expect the unexpected." He gave a soft laugh at her snort.

Sakura's eyes grew a bit dim. "It's my fault Isao-san and the others are dead."

Kakashi shook his head. "Not it isn't, Sakura."

"We're the only two members of a five member squad to survive." Sakura's voice was cold. "I lost three teammates due to my ineptitude as a shinobi."

"That's foolish, Sakura." Kakashi spoke sternly. "You can't blame yourself for every death of a Konoha shinobi just because you're a medic who couldn't heal someone. Not all wounds can be healed."

…

"Do you have the scroll?"

…
Kakashi let out a small laugh. "Don't worry Sakura. Mission successful." He waved the scroll in front of her, before giving a small groan. "Damn I'm sore."

Her chakra filled hands touched his side, healing the broken rib. He wished she could see the appreciative smile beneath his mask, but even if he hadn't been wearing one she wouldn't have seen it. Her head was bent in concentration.

"The scroll isn't that important, I suppose." He heard Sakura murmur.

"Eh?" Kakashi asked confusedly.

And then Sakura pulled down his mask and gave him a peck on the cheek, a ghost of her old smile drifting across her face. "Glad you're ok, Kakashi-sensei."

"That is so unfair!" Naruto mumbled under his breath. He saw Sakura's dark gaze and sighed. "Sakura-chan, we're team seven again. Stop being so cold!"

"Why did you become emotionless?" Sasuke asked, his own voice bland.

There was a moment of silence as Sakura continued to drink her tea, seeming to ignore the question.

"What a stupid question, teme!" Naruto grunted. "We all know she became emotionless to get over you."

Sasuke 'hn'ed and took a bite of hit ramen. "That is a foolish thing to do."

"Don't flatter yourself, Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura spoke, placing her money for her food on the table and standing. "I didn't become emotionless for you. Don't be so self-absorbed to believe you're the only reason good enough to have emotions training."

"Then what made you wish to become emotionless?" Sai asked. He had never asked her why when she'd come to him asking for help. He, like the others, had assumed that it was because of Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes had narrowed a bit at Sakura's cold comment.

Sakura looked to them and they saw something glitter in her eyes, as if she wanted desperately to tell them something. But then it was hidden beneath hard jade that merely reflected their own faces. Blank and protected.

"It is something that none of you could possibly understand." And then she walked down the street, leaving them to ponder her words.

(A\N: Ah, the tension builds! It will definitely take a while for Sakura to finally open up to everyone again. WAH! We want our little Sakura-chan back:(

Sasuke may be emotionless but he's a pervert. I can just imagine what he thought of when he imagined Sakura in a little nurse's outfit. :P

Well, I hope you all enjoyed!

Sincerely, Lady Hanaka

Pick-up line: You're so hot you must be the reason for global warming.)