A/N: NOPE, NOT THE BETA'D VERSION. Seriously guys, stop sending me pms about updating. I'm flattered you want to read the story but if i rush it, it won't come out as good as it should be. But you don't mind as long as you get your update right? Just expect grammatical and words errors, okay?

Review Corner:

SasuSaku lover: You want fun? I'll give you fun! XD

pinkypinkypinky: I wished Karin changed too. Kishi is such a cold heated author! Change her dammit! at least make her back off when she sees the awesomeness of Sasusaku in battle!

Guest #2 (number depending on who reviewed first to last): I really wished the things i wrote to happen. at least some of it does.

Guest #5: They would...just not now. Keep reading and you'll find out! :D

Enjoy!

Behind The Cold Eyes

Sakura panted heavily as she stared down at the dead man below her. Her eyes were half-lidded, showing her tiredness. The pinkette heaved a sigh and looked up at the sky, closing her orbs. It's over, it's finally over. She let out a soft laugh, shaking her body lightly with her action. They had won and Sasuke helped them succeed.

Sasuke…

The medic turned around and looked for her former teammate, seeing him standing just behind her. His dark orbs gazing down at Madara with a blank stare. A large grin crossed her lips. Not being able to stop herself, Sakura got up and ran over to the Uchiha, throwing her skinny, blood stained arms around him. Exhaling his scent, she felt him tensed little but ignored it. The girl was too happy to think about that.

A few seconds passed away until she felt his arms leisurely returning her embrace, pulling her a little bit closer. The grin on the kunoichi's face grew even bigger. She pulled away and looked up at him since he was still taller than her over the years they were separated. "Thanks!" she whispered before burying her face into the crook of his neck again. Sakura briefly wondered why he didn't push her away, not that she was complaining though.

"Hn…"

Closing her eyes again, she squeezed him tighter. "If it wasn't for you, we would have never won!" The medical ninja giggled into his skin, her voice slightly muffled. "I'm glad you decided to help us!"

Sasuke said nothing, just stood there and let her hugged him as much as she want. He wasn't actually sure how to feel about this. This was different from what he felt. It wasn't like when Karin was clinging to him, that feeling was weird and…he didn't know what to say. The Uchiha was uncomfortable with the red head near him, it wasn't right. The reason why he even didn't push her away was because Sasuke knew she would sulk and not help him and that was bad since he still needed her to lead him and the Hokage to the battle field.

This though, it felt like home. Warmth was spreading throughout his entire body, generating from where her skin was touching his. It made him a bit dazed. Sasuke hadn't felt this way for a very long time due to him distancing himself from others. He didn't want to do anything but to stay this way, even it's just a short time.

"Say…" Sakura's soft voice brought his attention to her. "What makes you change your mind in the first place?" she asked, her lips moving against his neck as she mouthed out her words. Sasuke stiffened a bit at the question before relaxing.

"The Hokages…" the young man gulped down his saliva for a second and continued. "…made me realize something. My brother tried his hardest to protect this village…and me." Sakura's emerald eyes flew opened at what he said. She made a mental note to ask her teacher about it later concerning Itachi because she knew Sasuke wasn't in the mood to relive whatever his brother had done for him.

"So it's only reasonable for me to take up his unfinished job." He finished. The dark haired nin felt her moving against him but didn't pulled away.

"That's good." Sakura smiled. "Since you helped us and all, you'll be coming back right?" Her giddiness couldn't help but show in her voice. Sasuke was coming back. All of her and Naruto's efforts had paid off. Their goals came true. Team Kakashi was getting back together again. Thinking back to how happy they used to be made her want to squeal. She couldn't wait to experience it again with her crush coming back.

When he didn't answer for a long time, she frowned. Suddenly, Sakura felt it again, that feeling when Sasuke was leaving the village. Panicking, she pulled away quickly but didn't react in time when his fingers came up to her neck and pressed against a knowing joint, sending her to darkness. The only thing she heard before completely losing consciousness was a soft "Sorry…"

Sasuke caught the limb body from falling, remembering the similar situation that happened three years ago. He pulled her body against him closer, staying like that for a few minutes, relishing the feeling of warmth she emitted even while being knocked out cold. Sighing, the missing nin laid her down against the fallen body of the Juubi.

After pulling back, he stared at her, his eyes softer than he would have liked. Not that he noticed though. Sakura looked just like before, when he put her down on the cold hard bench. This time, her eyes were free of tears. Sasuke thought it was because she didn't have time to shed it yet, she didn't even have time to notice what was going on.

A smirk appeared on his face. She looked better with no tears streaming down her cheeks. At least now it wasn't so hard to leave her like how he did years ago. Subconsciously, Sasuke let his fingers wander to her face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his handlingered there for a second before pulling back and stood up fully.

The last Uchiha glanced around, finally noticing what chaos their battle had done to the forest. It was over now; they didn't have to endure it again. Without another word, he walked off to another direction, away from Konoha. Sasuke didn't want to go back, the place held too much painful memories. Besides, he knew he couldn't escape the trials so why bother? The dark haired teen didn't want anything to do with the village anymore.

In the back of his mind, Sakura's words from that night crossed his mind.

"If you stayed here, we would be happy!" he remembered her teary face as she pleaded. "Because everything we do will be something fun! I swear!"

Sasuke knew he should be staying with Sakura and Naruto but he couldn't. Something was stopping him and he didn't know what. The man knew he couldn't go back to the village and those two were too loyal to Konoha to abandon it just to follow him, now that he saw how much they would go just to protect it. The village was much more important than he was now. It's better not to make them choose and just forget about everything.

With a bitter smirk, the ex-member of team 7 continued to walk away, anywhere away from here.

He didn't notice a pair of eyes watching him the whole time.

A gasp was emitted from Sakura's dry mouth as she shot up from the bed, the hospital bed. The girl cursed when her visions blurred, touching her temple with her fingers. She couldn't feel any energy left inside her. Momentarily forgetting what happened, the medic closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to recall the events happened before she lost consciousness.

It made her eyes snapped open. "Sasuke-kun…" she found herself saying quietly. Not wasting any more precious moments, the Kunoichi threw the covers away and got up from the bed, running to the exit of the medical tent, ignoring the pain coursing through out her entire body. If she hurried, she might still make it in time to stop him from leaving again.

In her haste, Sakura didn't notice the presence that was coming over to her place, making her bump into that person and fell back. Even as she fell down, all her mind could think about was Sasuke. The pinkette was about to get up and sprint away again but a hand caught her wrist, which probably belonged to the person who she ran to.

"Sakura-chan, stop!" Naruto said as his grip became tighter. Sakura glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes.

"Let go, Naruto! I have to stop him!" she glared.

"He's gone!"

"B-but if I just hurry then—"

"Sakura-chan, you've been in coma for two days." Her blond friend sighed, silencing her completely. Two days? Was she knocked out cold that long? It was normal considering the amount of Chakra she had used in the battlefield, not to mention the fact that she had been fighting straight without sleeps for days.

"B-but that means…that…" Tears started to appear in her eyes, slowly crawling down her cheeks freely. "He's gone…" she whispered helplessly, feeling herself being pulled into an embrace. Sakura could only sob desperately as she clung to Naruto, wrapping her arms around him tightly and he didn't seem to mind. He also needed the comfort.

"Shh, Sakura-chan. Everything's gonna be alright…" the Jichuuriki tried to assure her, although he wasn't convinced himself. When the girl in his arms began to cry harder, her sobs rocking both of their bodies, Naruto just laid his head upon her pink one, closing his eyes. Why did Sasuke leave again? They helped them win the war and he just left like that. The blond didn't know what the hell his ex-rival was thinking. If this was how it turned out, he would rather fight his former teammate than having him leave them, Sakura especially.

The pink haired medic fisted his orange fabric, her teeth gnashing together. "Why? Why?" hiccups erupted from her mouth, which caused her to stop her helpless questions and stayed silent, not even bothering to try and hold back her tears like how she used to. Sakura hated crying but she couldn't stop the trails of warm water running down her face. The situation was too much for her.

She thought Sasuke was going back with them so the team would be together again. He had helped them in war after all. What was the reason that made him turn away from them again? The girl didn't get it. The Uchiha wasn't the type to leave without explanation. Last time, he left because he wanted power. Now he got his revenge and wasn't against the village anymore so why?

Sakura's eyes widened in realization. Yes, there had to be a reason why. She wasn't going to let him turn his back on her like years ago. The pinkette was determined to get answers from him and convinced him to come back to where he belonged, with Naruto and her.

"Hey, Naruto…?"

"Yeah?"

She pulled away and looked into his blue orbs with a serious face. "After we recover, we're going to ask Tsunade-shishou for mission to get him back okay?" she said.

Naruto only smiled, understanding her determination. "Right!"

Sasuke watched the pair silently from above the cliff of the mountain, noticing the bandages that was wrapping around Sakura's forehead and other injured parts of her body. From how she was walking, he assumed she was recovering well. That's good. He didn't know what was keeping him from leaving them, not until the dark haired man know for sure that they were fine after the battle. He never bothered to think about what it was that drive him to do this, he believed that it would only bring questions he didn't know the answers to.

Without a word, the missing nin disappeared without a trace.

Chapter 10: Lead

Puffs of breath left Neji's mouth. The veins that appeared around his eyes from using the Byakugan started to throb as pain ran through his head. He was using too much chakra. The long haired Jounin turned around swiftly and punctured the approaching enemy's chakra points his two finger tips, paralyzing him from moving. The missing ninja fell to the ground, coughing blood.

The Hyuuga heir glanced around the forest and scanned for his teammates, seeing Tenten fighting off their enemies with her weapons successfully. Kakashi on the other hand was facing off with Aoi, both of them looked tired and out of breath.

The two strong ninjas head against each other fiercely, weapons and techniques going everywhere. They dashed towards one another, creating a clash of kunai and senbon. Even their hands shook from the power they used.

Kakashi, even though was panting pretty harshly, managed to bring out a chuckle. "I see you're out of Chakra." He grinned behind his ripped mask.

"Don't get too cocky, you're out of breath yourself." Aoi countered, his glare directed to his opponent.

The silver haired nin's expression turned from one of easy-going to a serious one. "Just give it up." He advised. Turning his gaze slightly away from Aoi and towards what's going on behind him, the man smirked. "Your allies are all defeated now." He looked back at the green haired shinobi. "I'm sure you'll turn up the same." Kakashi jumped away from him, landing next to Neji in a crouching position.

The missing nin in front of them cursed, his hand holding onto his stomach that was bleeding like waterfalls. He felt the energy leaving his body so he had to use the umbrella to support himself. It wasn't supposed to end up like this, he had underestimated them. Aoi was sure Sasuke's going to kill him for failing. Damn those leaf ninjas, they were stronger than expected.

Wordlessly, he got up and jumped to a tree before disappearing out of their sight.

"Good, he's gone now." Tenten muttered breathlessly, walking over to her male team members. "Come here, guys." She gestured for them to sit down as she brought out her medical kit. The men didn't say any words, just letting her do whatever she could to heal all the wounds they had received during the battle. It took less than half an hour before the weapon master completely patched up all their injuries.

Standing up, the bun haired girl put her supplies back insider her pouch. "Let's go." She walked over to the forest, where she remembered Naruto and Kiba had gone to.

"Wait, Tenten. We should rest first." She heard Kakashi grunted. He was still a bit tired from his battle. Tenten gritted her teeth and glared down at him.

"What are you saying?! We're already wasting enough time! Sakura's probably far away by now!"

"Naruto and Kiba went after her. We shouldn't worry too much." Neji stated calmly, looking away from the narrowed eyes that's being sent his way by his teammate.

"B-but, what if they need help! We should go—"

"Do you think you can go in your condition?" Tenten abruptly shut her mouth at the harsh tone Kakashi used. "Just look at yourself, Tenten." The girl did as she was told and observed her body, covered with bandage and tattered clothes. "With our chakra, we'll only get in the way. We should rest first and send help."

"Kakashi's right." Neji chipped in. The brunette woman said nothing and nodded.

Naruto sighed as he walked around the small village with Kiba and Akamaru by his side. After helping out the villagers clearing the damaged caused by the explosion, they had no luck finding Sakura and her kidnapper. The man, whoever he was, was still trying to hide his scent so the tracker ninja couldn't tell his identity. Narrowing his blue eyes, he stopped and looked up at the sky. 'When will I catch up with you, Sakura-chan?'

Kiba tugged his sleeves, catching his attention. "Let's go ask that guy." He pointed to an old man, who was selling pork buns near the exit of the village. The two made their way over there, making sure not to bump into the many people on the streets.

The man at the small food stand looked up from his counter and at the two males standing in front of him. By their outfits and headbands, he guessed they were ninjas. Nonetheless, he put up a smile he always showed his customer. "Welcome, what can I do for you?" the old man asked in a polite manner.

"Have you seen a girl passing by here?" Naruto asked. "She's about this height." The blond used his hand to indicate how tall Sakura was. "She's probably wearing a cloak or some kind." He added just in case. If she was captured then the kidnapper would try to conceal her under some clothes, he was hoping it was a cloak.

The old seller rubbed his stubble in thought. "Hm…" When he finally remembered something that's a use to the two young men, he snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I saw her!"

Kiba and Naruto's face instantly brightened at this. "Really?"

"Yup!" the man nodded. "I think she was traveling with this tall man. They're heading west."

"What does he look like?"

"I don't know. He's wearing a cloak. But by the way they talk; I think they know each other."

The blond ninja bobbed his head up and down at the information. "Is that all?" when the man in front of him said yes, he and his friends thanked him and walked away to the direction of where the old man pointed to. Finally they found a lead.

"Boy, I'm stuffed!" Sakura patted her full belly and grinned at the man sitting across from her. The glare on his face was a little bit amusing than scary. "C'mon! Don't look like that!" she frowned.

"You know," Sasuke started, closing his eyes. "You eat like a pig." The man was surprised that there was money to spare after all the food his former teammate had ordered. She must have been pretty hungry. It was strange since back in the days when he was still in Konoha, she never eaten anything and was always on a diet.

The pinkette gasped dramatically. "Are you saying that I'm fat?!" she slammed her hands on the table; earning looks of surprise from the other customers as well as the waitress who was walking pass them.

"Stop it, woman. People are staring." He responded coldly, looking away from her flushed face. The dark haired nin ignored how close her face was to him and how much her large collar was showing off her breasts. Why did his body felt hot all of the sudden?

Sakura was about to open her mouth to say something back but stopped immediately when she felt something. Something wet between her legs. Panic filled her at first but she managed to control herself and thought about what was going on. Blood drained from her face when she finally realized why this was happening.

"Er…" Sasuke looked at her expectantly. The pink haired kunoichi blushed. "Can we…er…go to the bathroom?" she asked in a quiet voice, praying that he wasn't going to question her and agreed to her request.

"Why?"

She resisted the temptation to slam her head against the table. "Just…" Sakura croaked out. "Just please can we go to the bathroom!?"

The last remaining Uchiha raised his brow at how strange she was acting. The look on her face was weird and her voice was desperate and serious. Was something wrong with her? Sighing, he got up and motioned for her to follow him to the bathroom. He was shocked when a pink blur ran passed him in a fast pace. The next thing he knew was the door of the restroom slamming shut.

Blinking, Sasuke stepped closer to the door and leant against the wall next to it. He could feel the stare people sending his way, wondering why a cloaked man would be standing next to the bathroom like that but the young man didn't care. He couldn't risk Sakura playing tricks on him and tried to escape.

"Fucking hell!" he heard from the other side of the door, the voice of Sakura was slightly muffled. Another minute of absolute silent came after the curse, making him slightly worried about how she was doing in there. He suddenly felt the need to knock on the wooden door and ask what was wrong.

"Sasuke-kun?" she called, in an almost hesitant voice. There was pause as Sasuke waited for her to finish. "Can you…er…go to the store…" A sharp intake of breath was heard. "Buy me some tampons…?"

Silence…

"What? Why!?" Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Don't ask me 'what', you asshole! You perfectly know why I need it!" Sakura yelled angrily, obviously pissed off at his response. "Just go and buy me some! And a new pair of underwear while you're at it!"

The Uchiha furrowed his eye brows. "There's no way I'm leaving you here!" he shouted back. "Besides, why don't you buy yourself?! I don't fucking know what the hell it looks like!"

"There's no fucking way I'm going out there with blood stain on my pants!" Sasuke shut his mouth and looked away. She had a point but he couldn't just go and leave her here. Something might happen. She had no Chakra, if someone was to attack, she'd be dead and—

"You fucking bastard, don't just stand there and do nothing! Hurry the fuck up and go!" With a sigh, the missing ninja turned on his heel and headed to where he thought the store was. Things couldn't get any worse today.

When he reached the store, the feeling back when he was buying undergarments returned. This would be embarrassing, it's better to get it fast and over it. Walking around the store, his eyes scanned the labels and searched for his needed item, fully aware of the eyes that were on him. Sasuke twitched as he found them. There were too many brands and types! Which one did Sakura used?!

He wanted to yell out in frustration but decided not to. The ex-Konoha shinobi was already glad he wore a cloak and nobody could recognize him. He couldn't live through the humiliation if people found out about this. Snatching one package quickly, Sasuke made his way over to the cashier, picking out new woman underwear while doing so.

The man on the counter eyed him funnily as he handed out the items but with a frightening growl, the scared cashier put the goods in a bag as fast as he could and gave it to him. The Uchiha threw the many on the table and dashed out the door, leaving a trail of dusts and winds behind. That was one of the most horrifying experiences in his life.

Meanwhile, Sakura was tapping her fingers together impatiently as she waited for Sasuke to arrive with the things she told him to get. Why oh why did she have to have her period now? It was so embarrassing having to ask a guy to buy tampons for her, especially if the person was her former teammate who also happened to be a missing ninja. She couldn't hold the snicker when an image of him buying her woman product entered her mind. Poor guy. It's his fault anyways.

The hard knock brought her attention away from her thought. 'Finally!' she sighed in relief, opening the door only a small bit, just enough to pull the package Sasuke handed her through the small hole. It took her a few minutes until she changed. Sakura felt a little but more refreshed than before now. Opening the door, she stepped out and looked at the broody dark haired teen next to her. The girl grinned, a small blush on her face.

"Sorry about that." She scratched her head sheepishly. He said nothing and walked away, expecting her to follow. The medical ninja just giggled at how flustered his face was and ran after him.

Tsunade blinked warily at the paper in front of her. Her visions were getting all blurry with all the reading and paper work she had been doing today. Leaning back against the seat, she sighed and rubbed her temples, closing her honey colored eyes, trying to clear her mind. Even though she hated working, it's only thing the female Hokage could to distract her mind from her missing apprentice.

It's been so long since she had sent her rescue unit and she received nothing in return. No response, no nothing. Her worries had gotten worse that she couldn't even sleep at night, which was a bad thing because Tsunade was the protector of the village. Lack of sleep made her slack off. Shizune was doing as much as she could to keep her master in check.

Sitting up, the blonde woman stepped over to the glass window and looked upon the village. Throughout the whole years she had been here, nothing had changed about the Konoha. People were still the same, the shinobi were still loyal to them. Right now they were helping each other rebuild the destroyed houses after the war.

Thinking about the war, Tsunade was glad that it was finally over. It had been going around for so long and now everything's been solved. All of the nations were allies now and she had nothing to worry about. Maybe the after the math of the war wasn't so bad after all, people had come to understand one another, just like Jiraiya said.

A frantic knock on the door reached her ears. Without turning around, she uttered a soft "Come in." The door flew opened, revealing her first apprentice, Shizune, looking very scared. Tsunade raised her eyebrow slightly at the frightened look on her face.

"Tsunade-sama!" The black haired woman wheezed out. "We need to send back-up to help Kakashi's team!" Honey colored eyes flew opened at this. The worries she had been trying to push away came back tenfold.

"Why? What happened?!" the Hokage quickly asked.

Shizune panted, still trying to recover her normal breathing. "He sent a message, asking for help."

Tsunade bit her lips. She had sent the strongest ninjas on this mission. How long they were taking to accomplish this was already a bad sign, the woman had no idea it was this bad. Looking up at her apprentice, she narrowed her eyes. "Shizune, I want you to call some people for me."

"Are you still mad?" Sakura asked her kidnapper (or more like traveling companion) as they tried to make their way out of the forest. It's been almost an hour since the whole bathroom moment and he still hadn't talked to her. At first, the pink haired girl brushed it off, thinking that it was normal for a prideful person like Sasuke to feel this angry because of buying woman stuff like that. It was taking a bit too long now.

"Hn…" he grunted. An angry vein popped on her forehead at the lack of response. So much for trying to cheer him up. Giving up, she decided to take the time and looked around at the scenery, which was nothing but trees and grasses but it was better than facing the tense atmosphere. Too engaged in her own world, she didn't notice Sasuke stopping. Sakura bumped into him.

She rubbed her head and glared at the man in front of her. "Hey! If you gonna stop, tell me!" she hissed, soothing the pain in her throbbing forehead. It was already big enough as it was, the girl didn't need it to grow any bigger with all the bumps and accidents she had, which always had to injure some part of her head.

Sasuke stood there like a statue, his brows furrowing at the sudden movement he felt coming from his pursuers. They were catching up to them. Even though the distance was still long, the Uchiha couldn't risk anything involving Sakura. He turned to her and said, "Come on, let's walk faster."

Sakura blinked a couple of times until the information sunk it. "H-hey! Stop walking too fast, dammit!"

...

..

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A/N: Yeah, i embarrass Sasuke on purpose. I just want to make things as realistic as possible and things like that are gonna happen if you're traveling with a girl. A girl whose bag that is full of needed materials you threw away. Let that be lesson to you, Sasuke. A girl's bags are always important. Hmm who do you think Tsunade will send?

On a different side note, did you read the latest chapter of Naruto? (of course you did) It's fucking amazing. I'm sure you all agree with me. Sasuke's back! Sakura's gonna kick some ass, like i always wanted her to! Team 7 is back together again! Yay! I'm sure you noticed the sasusaku interactions in the manga, right? Right!

Every sasusaku fans out there must be screaming their heads off right now! Because i was the moment i saw it. Such feelings~! I'm drown by it!

Like i told you, this isn't beta'd.

Important: I have a poll at my profile concerning one of the main plots in this story. It's called 'What gender(s) should Sakura and Sasuke's child/children be?' the story depends on you so go vote while you can. For guests, just put them in the review and I'll count them in too! You can send the votes through PMs or my email if you want.

Bye!