A/N: I'm drown in my Sasusaku feels!

Enjoy!

Behind The Cold Eyes

The first time Sakura and Naruto went out on a mission to find Sasuke was near the land of the Wind. It took a very long time, but they managed to find his whereabouts. Surprisingly, when they discussed about this with the Hokage, Tsunade, she easily agreed after finding out that the Uchiha lend a helping hand during the war. Of course, even though the current leader of the village approved, it wasn't so easy to convince the elders.

"We disapprove." The two elder shinobi stated with a stern look. Sakura remembered how disappointed her and Naruto's faces were when they said this. "Uchiha Sasuke has committed crimes not only against Konoha, but all of the nations in the world. People still holds countless grudges against him. We're already doing enough favors for him already by letting him off the hook." Homura sneered, looking away from the two members of Team seven and the blonde Hokage.

"But he helped us! If it wasn't for him, all of us would be dead right now!" Naruto protested heatedly, slamming his hands on the tables that separated him and the elders. The Hokage advisers weren't intimidated by his outburst. The looks inside their eyes were getting even bitterer by the seconds. Sakura clenched her fists, trying her hardest not to do the same thing her teammate was doing right now.

"That doesn't make up for the countless of lives that's been lost by his dirty Uchiha hands." The Kyuubi container breathed out heavily. It was a wonder steams weren't coming out from his ears by how red his face was. Koharu coughed and glanced at the three ninjas in front of her. "Homura's right. He joined forces with the Akatsuki, captured the Tailed Beasts and even plotted to destroy Konoha."

"And he changed his mind in the end." Tsunade interrupted with a hard tone of voice. "It's true that he did all of those things but what matters the most is that he chose our sides in the end."

The grey haired adviser snorted at her reasoning. "He only did because we're of use to his revenge. Madara was also his enemy and he took your powers for granted to make it easier for him to kill that man."

"That's not true! He did it because he wanted to help this village! He told Sakura-chan that by himself!" Naruto pointed to the unusually quiet pink haired girl by his side, who hadn't said a word since this whole argument started.

"And you believed him?" The distastefulness inside their voice made Sakura sick. Her teeth grinded against each other, her knuckles already turned white by how tight she clenched her fists.

"I do!"

The elders looked away. "Che. Preposterous. The Uchiha clan is a cursed clan, filled with no one but power hungry creatures."

That's when Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

The pink haired girl stood up from the chair, the abrupt action caused the seat to fall down to the ground with an echoing clang. Everyone in the room looked up in shock at the medic, whose chest was heaving up and down in rage. Her emerald eyes were vicious as she glared at the two elder people in the office.

"You…" she hissed. "Have no right to say things like that! Especially after all the things they did for this village!" the anger was evident in her voice. 'Especially after all that Itachi did.' These words were left as an afterthought. Kakashi had already told her about the whole massacre story. Even Tsunade and Naruto were surprised at how different she was being. They knew the only female member of team seven was short tempered but they had never seen her this way.

"How disrespectful!" Homura narrowed his eyes at her through his glasses.

"Is this how you trained your apprentice Tsunade?" Koharu averted her eyes to the Hokage.

Sakura sighed in frustration. "You know what? Screw this! Screw all of this!" turning around, the small heels attached to bottom of her boots clacked loudly as she stomped her way to the door. "I don't fucking care what you think! Let's just go, Naruto!" the blond got up from his seat and chased after his teammate, who was already out the room.

The Kunoichi was shocked when her master approached her fifteen minutes afterwards as she was about to walk out the exit of Konoha. Imagine her surprise when the Hokage said that the elders approved of the missions.

"Well, technically, they didn't." Tsunade let out a soft chuckle. "You two should have stayed and look at their wrinkled faces. They looked like deer in headlights. I guess they're a bit scared of you and told me you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't involve them and the village." She smiled.

And here they were, jumping through countless trees as they head to the village they were informed of. Sakura was glad that some of the Konoha 11 agreed to come along with Kakashi as captain. Tenten, Shino, Hinata and Kiba were just jumping a few trees behind them. The others were either on a mission or still held a bit of bitterness against Sasuke.

Once they stepped foot inside the small village near Suna, the leader of the mission turned towards his team. "Okay, first let's split up and look for Sasuke." The Jounin pulled at his communicator attached to neck. "When we find him, inform the team immediately." After receiving nods from his co-workers, the copy ninja threw his arm in the air. "Let's move!" they scattered to different places as assigned in the plan they made before leaving Konoha.

Kiba was on his own, as well as Kakashi since each of them a tracking dog of their own. Hinata, Shino and Naruto were told to cover the east and north side of the village. Tenten and Sakura were asking information in the west and south.

They continued seeking for the whereabouts for the missing ninja until sunset, with no luck of finding anything. Sakura sighed and slumped down on the lump of tree behind her. She didn't know how they got to the forest outside the village but it was better to cover all of the places than some parts. Tenten craned her neck and sat near her friend.

"God, my legs are killing me." The weapon mistress groaned as she messaged her sore feet. All the walking they'd done made her want to just give up and went back home but she knew how important this mission was to Sakura and Naruto, and she wasn't going to be selfish about it. The brunette didn't know what she would do if any of her teammates went missing either.

"Do you think he's really here?" She heard Sakura asked in a soft voice. The bun haired girl turned to look at the pinkette, only to see her bangs covering half of her face as she looked down. Shrugging, Tenten continued her actions on her feet. "I don't know. But we have to have faith. Isn't that what you always say?" She nudged the girl beside her, earning a laugh.

"Yeah, you're right." Sakura smiled and looked up at the dark sky, noticing the lack of stars above her. She just hoped that Sasuke was out there, still near their reach after all that happened. The movement next to her caught her attention. The pink haired medic glanced at her friend, seeing her standing up and scanning the area cautiously.

"Did you hear that?" she asked. Sakura got up, standing back to back against Tenten, her emerald orbs moving from places to places in alert.

Whoosh!

Her pink head perked up at the sudden rustling coming from the trees on her right side. "I am now." She whispered. Her gloved hands maneuvered themselves to the weapon pouch, ready to pull out a kunai and attacked. The rustling came closer and closer towards them. The two girls kept their guards up for the enemy, eyes darting everywhere.

Tenten gulped down her saliva unconsciously, her grip on the Kunai tightened. Sweats dripped down her forehead. She felt a little bit suffocated in this situation. The brunette hadn't been in this type of combat for a long while, she's afraid she might be losing her touch. Leaves falling from above her caught her gaze. A gasp escaped the young woman's mouth as she felt herself being pushed to the side.

Hitting the ground, the bun haired girl used her palms to keep her face from hitting the soil. Something warm hit her back, something like liquid. When she turned around, her brown eyes widened in horror.

"Sakura!"

Sasuke sat quietly in his seat on the stool, gulping down the water occasionally as the people behind conversed back and forth about the current news. He wasn't interested in that, the ninja was only here to eat something since he hadn't had anything since this morning. It was already dawn now. The young man made a mental note to rent a room once he left.

"Hey, didn't you hear?" someone from his side asked his friend. His body reeked of alcohol, which made Sasuke crunched his nose in disgust. He hated Sake. The missing ninja had no idea why people favored it so much. The smell was awful. Being raised by his mother and her precious teachings, he was taught to stay away from anything addictive as much as possible. Even though Mikoto died early, she managed to convince Sasuke enough to stay away from drinking.

"Hear what?" Came the other man's response. After emptying another bottle of Sake, the man who started the question chuckled. "I heard from the people in Suna that Uchiha Sasuke was part of the reason why they won the war."

"Uchiha Sasuke?" the drunken said his name like a plague. "That traitor? No way!"

"It's true! The Kazekage even said it himself!"

"Che. Yeah right. Even if that's true, that fucking bastard and his clan can just die for all I care!"

The two men jumped when Sasuke slammed his money on the table, walking away with a killing aura around him. The dark haired nin wasn't mad when they badmouthed him, but when they said something about his family, his bloodlust came back but he didn't act on it. After weeks of calming that side of him down, the teen was able to control himself not to lash out at anyone if it's not necessary. Right now, Sasuke just wanted to lay low.

The last Uchiha stepped out from the stand and walked through the forest, hoping to find a nearby village so he could rent a room. He didn't know why he left the previous village so soon, which was near Suna, but something was telling him not to. Shrugging, the man continued his way to the exit of the forest when a scream was heard.

"SAKURA!"

Sasuke stiffened; the feeling from when he was fighting Obito came to his mind. The voice didn't belong to ex-teammate but the Nukenin couldn't help but become worried. It sounded horrified and frightened; he actually believed that something was happening to Sakura. His instinct kicked in and without thinking, he rushed towards the direction of the words. Even though he knew there would be hundreds of Sakuras out there and the girl might not be his teammate. There was only one thing on his mind.

Blood leaked out of Sakura's mouth as her hand went behind her to pull out the sword that was struck to her body by the attacker. Tenten quickly aided her by helping her to her feet, looking up at the enemy with her fierce brown eyes. He smirked and launched at the two Kunoichi again but stopped abruptly when something punctured his neck. Coughing up blood, the man fell down on the ground, his breathing stopped in seconds.

Tenten blinked, staring at the dead man across from her. She squinted her eyes and saw a small needle attached to his neck, which she concluded was the weapon that ended his life. 'Who did that?' The chain of cough coming from her friend alerted her of the pinkette's health. She moved Sakura so she could inspect the wound on her back. It was deep and looked like it was affected by poison, judging by the purple skin around the injury.

'Shit!' the weapon mistress had little knowledge about medical ninja but this was beyond her level. She needed to get Sakura to the hospital and fast. When she felt something whisked just right near her ear, Tenten gripped her weapon and was about to turn around and attack but once she recognized who the person was, her jaws dropped.

"S-sasuke?" the Uchiha didn't even glance at her as he made his way to Sakura, kneeling down next to his former friend. She had already fainted through the pain. Cursing, Sasuke carried her up with his hand under her knee and his other one supporting her back, walking towards the small village where he just left, remembering there was a small hospital there. The doctors weren't skilled, but they were trained enough to get the poison out.

Tenten finally snapped out of her reveries and recalled what she was told to do when she encountered the Uchiha. Reaching her hand up to her neck and pushed the small button on it, her eyes flew opened when she realized it was gone. The girl looked around frantically and saw it on the ground, cut to small pieces from the use of a sword. The missing ninja knew she would try to inform the others of his presence.

"Coming?" Sasuke called out in an annoyed tone. The brunette nodded and stood up. Whatever he was planning, she didn't care. All she knew about was Sasuke wasn't going to let Sakura die.

When Sakura woke up on the hospital bed of Konoha with her teammates waiting in the room for her, two words entered her mind.

"I failed."

Chapter 11: Gone

"I'm tired." Sakura said, trying to get Sasuke's attention. When she assumed he didn't hear (or ignore) her, she tried again. "I'm tired." No response, as she expected. Annoyed, the pink haired girl walked past the cold man and stepped in front of him. The rogue ninja raised his brow at her. The action caused a vein to pop out on her big forehead. "I'm tired." She fumed. "Let's rest."

Sasuke glared at her but it didn't faze her like when they kids anymore to his dismay. "The next village is just a couple of miles away. We're already wasting time. Stop complaining." He uttered.

Sakura finally snapped. "I'm a woman, dammit! A woman who's on her period! You don't fucking know what's it like having blood rush down your body twenty four hours a day for the duration of almost a fucking week!" Her outburst almost, almost made Sasuke want to cover his ears with his hands. She didn't have to tell him, his mother had taught him enough everyday whenever she complained on her time of the month.

"I get cramps sometimes and it's fucking painful! Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a woman? No! I guess you don't because you're the great Uchiha! You're the manliest man and always believed that woman is the weakest sex! Well, I'd like to see you fucking say that again when you're giving birth! I'll bet you'll just faint during the whole process and die! And then—"

"Alright! We'll rest, just shut up!" Sasuke ground out, obviously his ears were going to bleed if she kept going on and on about how hard life was being a female. Of course he knew this, the man had Uchiha Mikoto for a mother after all. She had always taught him about to respect woman and the equal of sex thing. Now since the dark haired teen was a good boy, he took his mother's teaching to heart and did as she was told.

He did respect woman…who deserves to be respected, which was a few in his life (by a few, Sasuke meant there were only two females who's like that). There's no way he's going to respect fangirls or slutty woman. That would be awful.

"Great!" Sakura beamed, her face was bright as sunlight. Glancing around, her smile stretched wider when she caught sight of a small hot spring hotel nearby. What a great coincidence! Skipping, the medic turned around and flashed him a big grin. "Come on, let's go!" she then returned to her happy world full of great foods and hot spring, running even more faster to the place.

Sasuke sighed and walked after her, trying to ignore the money that were slowly slipping away from his fingers every day. He needed to get some more soon.

Naruto was furious. He thought he was having a good lead that's going help him find Sakura but this lead seemed to lead him to a forest, where there's nothing but trees and grasses. There were the occasional teahouse and hotel but they didn't find any clues and the people kept saying that had never seen a girl with pink hair passed by. Of course they wouldn't, she wore a fucking cloak after all!

"I'm done for, let's take a break." Kiba slumped to the ground, sighing tiredly as he panted. They already walked a good distance away from their last stop and he was dying for a break. His stomach growled, causing the poor hungry tracker ninja to groan. "Naruto, let's eat at the next teahouse we see." He suggested, pushing himself back up from the dirty road.

The blond sighed and nodded. "Alright." Finding Sakura was the priority of this mission. They need to keep track of her sense of smell so they wouldn't lose any lead, but doing that with an empty stomach wouldn't help much. Soldier pills weren't one hundred percent good for your health either, as he recalled what his pink haired missing friend told him whenever they're on missions. Sakura hadn't been missing for a month and Naruto already missed her terribly already.

The two continued their search for a teahouse, and Sakura, and successfully found one. To Naruto's delight, they sold Ramen. The friends sat down on one table and ordered their desired food.

"So, Kiba. Where's Sakura heading now?" the Jichuuriki asked as they waited for their order. Kiba sniffed a good three seconds before answering him.

"She stopped."

"Stop?"

"Yeah, seems to be resting or something."

Naruto nodded. "Oh…"

A couple of minutes ticked by as Kiba bit his lips. Something was bothering him for a while but he chose to not say this to Naruto seeing as he was too engaged in finding his precious teammate. "Hey, Naruto?" he called. The Kyuubi container grunted, showing him he was listening as his blue eyes watched the people around them.

"When that old man told us about Sakura's interaction with her kidnapper, do you think it's strange?" The Konoha hero turned his gaze back to his friend attentively.

"What do you mean?"

Kiba rest his finger to his chin in thought. "Well, when we asked him what that man looks like, do you remember what he said?"

Naruto stared in space for a moment, trying to recall what happened a while ago.

"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."

By the way they talk, they know each other.

His eyes flew opened at what Kiba was trying to tell him. "D-do you mean the one who's been keeping Sakura-chan hidden is someone she knows?"

The brunette shrugged. "Probably." His animalistic eyes then narrowed. "But if they know each other, he wouldn't keep Sakura away like that. Except maybe they're old friends and are just catching up with each other?"

Naruto shook his blond head. "No, Sakura-chan's not the type to abandon her mission for something like that. She would have sent a message to Tsunade-baachan if she did. And she's not the type to leave without properly telling all of us about it too. Remember what Kakashi-sensei said Kiba, she's kidnapped. It's the only reasonable thing; otherwise she would have already delivered the scroll and came back home right now. Whether he's friends with her or not, she's still in danger."

"Well, if she's kidnapped, why is she acting so calmly about it and probably talked to her capturer like they're really friends?"

"Sakura-chan always surprises us with new things."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm thinking too much." Kiba sighed, putting his head on the table. "But still, I can't get this icky feeling in my stomach. This whole thing just confuses me!"

The blond ninja looked down at his lap. "I know what you mean. Let's wait for Kakashi-sensei and the others to discuss about this first."

If anything Kiba said was true, then there's only one person Naruto could think of that's close to Sakura other than her friends who's not in the village…

He shook his head. 'Nah, it couldn't be him…'

Tenten tapped her feet impatiently on the ground, standing with her hands on her hips, eyes closed and brows furrowed. Kakashi and Neji watched the slightly fuming girl with mild interest as the two Jounin rested against the tree, the three of them waiting for their reinforcement to arrive though it was taking a little bit too long for the weapon master's liking.

"They're late!" she stomped her sandals to the grassy ground, finally had enough. It's taking awfully along time, those back up should be here right now. Anymore waiting and Sakura would be gone from their reach. The brunette was hoping that Naruto and Kiba had caught up to her, even it's just a little.

Kakashi sighed at the brown haired young woman. She's hanging around Sakura too much, he thought, the pinkette's short temper was rubbing off on her. "Tenten, calm down. It's only a while ago since we sent the message to the Hokage. It will take a long time for them to get here." Her rush and worries were clouding her mind.

The only female of the three huffed and sat down next to Neji, crossing her arms, mumbling things to herself. Neji heard something along the lines of 'tardiness' and 'stupid perverted sensei for acting too calm'. The Hyuuga man nodded to himself, yes, she was turning into the second Sakura, just minus the super inhuman strength part. It was something he was thankful of.

"I wonder how Kiba and Naruto are doing." The silver haired ninja asked out loud, staring at the setting sun. Tenten glanced at him for a few seconds before turning away.

"Hopefully getting closer to finding Sakura." She said. The sensei chuckled. "I hope so."

"Well, you're awfully calm." Neji smirked, staring at the man sitting across from him and his teammate.

The copy ninja only let out a small laugh. "I've been in this situation where a teammate had gone missing a lot of times. This doesn't frighten me." He turned his face away from them. The two young teens didn't notice the slight narrowing of his one visible eye. 'But if my guess is correct and he's the one who took Sakura, I don't know if I should be worried or happy.'

The set of footsteps approaching them made the three shinobi turned cautious, thinking that they were enemies pulling another ambush or Aoi coming back with new allies. They were too tired and weren't properly healed yet so they weren't ready for another battle. All of them heaved a sigh of relief once familiar faces appeared from the bushes.

"Tenten! Neji-kun!" Lee ran over to his teammates and hugged them, tightening his hold even when they protested and tried to struggle away from his dead like hug. The jumpsuit wearing shinobi had missed his friends dearly, even though it was only a few days since they left. When the Hokage had called for him to assist Kakashi's team on a mission to find Sakura, the bowl-cut teen didn't hesitate to go.

"Lee…" Tenten chocked out. "I can't breathe."

"Lee! You're killing them!" Ino yelled, walking over to the Taijutsu master and his almost out of breath teammates. Pulling his Chunin vest, the blonde girl pulled until his grip on the two released, ignoring the waterfall tears that were running down from his round eyes. 'What a weirdo.' She thought.

"You must be the ones Tsunade-sama sent to help us right?" Kakashi's eyes moved from the Yamanaka girl to his rival's favorite pupils and onto the two last people behind them. He could recognize one to be Sai and the other one was Hinata.

Sai nodded. "We're here to help you. I never realized that Ugly had gone missing." The nick name that he had given Sakura had never disappeared, even when he was turning to a normal person who had emotions, well almost.

"I was told Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun were with you." Hinata's soft spoken voice was heard. "Where are they now?"

Tenten, who was finally catching her breath after her teammate's death grip, decided to explain their situation. "Well, we were ambushed and decided to let those two go first so we don't have to waste any more time."

Ino's blue orbs flew opened. "Ambushed?"

"Yeah. Probably that guy who's captured Sakura was the one who sent them." The brunette growled, feeling her anger coming back as soon as she thought about that bastard.

"Well, if so, does this mean that we're also wasting precious time to save dear Sakura-san?" Lee boomed, clenching his fists as he pumped them towards the sky. "Let us go!"

Everyone nodded, agreeing to the spandex clad ninja's statement, except for Ino, who was twitching at his attitude. 'I'm stuck with weirdoes!'

"Whoa." Sakura's jaw dropped as she opened the shoji door that led to her and Sasuke's room. It was freaking huge and beautiful. It's better than any hot spring resort she had ever been to. Sure, the beds were simple Japanese futons like any other traditional hotel offer but the designs on the cover were so enticing. They looked comfortable enough to sleep for twelve hours without waking up. There were a few ancient ornaments on display in the room but the only thing that captured her attention was the balcony.

Dropping the backpack Sasuke ordered her to carry, the medic sprinted to look at the scenery outside. It was a good thing they were staying on the fourth floor, which gave them a good view of the nature. She would have been fooled by how small and simple this hotel looked on the outside but it turned out, it was this great! How much money did her former teammate need to spend for this room anyways? Not that she cared much, the girl just wanted to have a good time here.

The Uchiha had rent it for them to stay in for a while, until her period decided to go away for her and his sake. He told her to come here first, saying that he had something to do. The pink haired girl only shrugged in response and took the bags from his shoulder and the key. Once she stepped into the room, any plan of running away escaped her mind. All that was left in her head was enjoying this as much as possible.

The sound of the shoji door sliding opened caught her attention as she glanced over her shoulder and saw Sasuke approaching her, carrying what seemed to be a wooden bowl filled with hot water. Her nostril wrinkled as she smelt the scent of herbs, probably coming from what was in the missing ninja's hand.

"What's that?" Sakura pointed to the bowl of water as he was near her.

"It's for you to shower." Sasuke replied monotonously. A pink brow was raised.

"What?"

The dark haired teen sighed. "This water is from the hot spring. The herbal ingredients in here will help the cramps you're complaining about." If the Haruno girl looked closely, she would have seen the small red tint on the Uchiha's ears, but the Kunoichi was too touched by how caring he was than notice something like that.

"Wait, you did this…for me?" she pointed to herself, feeling her face heated up a little. Was he listening to all of her complaints during the whole walk?

Sasuke looked away and pushed the bowl into her hands. "Just shut up and take it." When he assumed her hands had enough strength to hold it, the young man let go and walked back inside the room, sitting in front of the table, leaving a dazed Sakura on the balcony alone.

Blinking her emerald eyes rapidly, an enormous grin appeared on the pink haired girl's face. She had an idea that Sasuke still cared for her a bit after the whole confrontation back at the previous village, but this was touching. The medical ninja didn't seem to know that the thought of faking to earn his trust and escaping weren't on her mind; it was replaced by great warmth she hadn't felt for years.

Still smiling to herself, Sakura stepped in, walking passed the silent Uchiha sitting on the floor and into the bathroom.

The water felt good on her skin more that it should have.

When Kakashi thought about who Tsunade would send to help them, he actually had an idea who she'd pick. Sai and Lee had unique skills of their own and he didn't doubt their experiences in battle. Hinata would be great to have since Neji was a little bit drained after his battle with Aoi, and from what Ino and Tenten said, he couldn't use his blood line trait for at least a day or so. They were young but these groups of ninjas were more powerful than anyone gave them credit for. Someday they would surpass their mentors and became the better generations of warriors.

"Hey, look!" Lee's loud voice yelled, pointing at the direction in front of them. The others followed his finger and onto the small teahouse located just a few meters away and immediately recognized the two sitting in one of the tables were Naruto and Kiba. The yellow hair and bright orange jumpsuit couldn't be mistaken as someone else. After confirming that it was indeed their two friends, the seven ninjas walked at a normal pace towards them.

Sensing multiple presences approaching them, the blond Jinchuuriki and the tracker ninja averted their attention from the finished food and at the people coming their way. Naruto's face brightened when he recognized all of them. Sitting up from the table, he stumbled over to them.

"Guys! You're alright!" the Kyuubi container let out a sigh of relief, glad that his sensei and the rest of the team were okay after fighting with the missing ninjas. Tenten and Kakashi smiled at him as Neji grumbled something incoherently to himself. "What happened to Aoi?"

"Ran away." Tenten replied quickly. Her eyes widened once she realized something. Naruto and Kiba turned confused at how fast her smile was wiped off from her face, a very angry expression replacing it. She was about to open her mouth to snap at them but someone beat her to it.

"You idiots! I thought you're going after Sakura!" Ino screeched, stomping over to the two and whacked them on their heads, not paying attention to the painful groan they made. The blonde girl grabbed their collars and brought them closer to her face. "Why are you eating here like there's nothing wrong when Sakura could be dead right now, huh?"

Naruto brought his hands up and shook them in front of his face in defense. "W-we were! But Kiba complained too much about his feet and I had no choice but to rest and wait for you guys!"

"Don't blame this on me! You're the one who said we should wait for the others before going alone!"

"Shut the fuck up! It's both of your faults!" The Yamanaka woman hissed, silencing the two bickering shinobi.

Kakashi coughed loudly, catching all of their attentions. "This isn't the time to argue, I suggest we go after Sakura now before it's too late. You two can tell us about your progress along the way." He decided. Ino let go of Naruto and Kiba, nodding politely at the captain as Hinata rushed over to her crush and teammate, helping them getting up from the ground.

"Now, Kiba, where's Sakura heading now?" Tenten asked. The dog lover shut his eyes and tried to seek for Sakura's scent using his nose again. His blood ran cold.

"Guys…" Everyone tensed, feeling something bad was going to happen. Naruto pushed his way towards Kiba and shook his friend's slumped shoulder frantically.

"What?! Did something happen to Sakura-chan?!"

"Her smell is gone…"

The sound of the water stopping coming from the hotel bathroom alerted Sasuke of Sakura stepping out. His dark eyes stared at the door blankly as it slid open, out came the pink haired girl wearing a robes with a towel drying her hair. She gave him a big smile when she looked at him, which he responded with nothing but turning his gaze away.

Sasuke's nose twitched slightly at the scent of herbs surrounded the room, taking notice that the floral scent his former teammate always carried was replaced. The young Uchiha smirked inwardly at this. His plan worked. Bathing with the hot spring water did cover Sakura's natural scent completely. It wouldn't last forever but at least he got another few days or so until the mineral smell fade away and he had to resort to running away again.

"The water felt so good!" Sakura hummed contently as she stretched, missing the heated look on Sasuke's face as she pushed her breasts forward. She may not know it but the medical ninja could easily seduced men unintentional with the littlest innocent things she did. When her eyes finally landed on the young man, his face was turned away from her. His messy black hair covered the blush on his ears.

"I wished I saved some for you." She said afterwards, crossing her legs under her body and looked at the dark sky through the balcony window. "You need it after traveling for so long." A grin made its way to her mouth. "And for putting up with all my mood swings." Her fingers fiddled with the fabric of her robe, something she always did whenever she was bored. Sasuke said nothing.

The silence in the room wasn't tensed, but it was nice. It's almost comforting as they finally stayed together without fighting. The two ex-teammates enjoyed the quiet atmosphere as Sakura continued to gaze at the stars outside while Sasuke sat, thinking to himself. The moment was ruined when someone knocked on the door.

"Your dinner is here!" A friendly male voice said from the other side of the room. The dark haired missing ninja got up from his place and stepped over to the door. Sliding the door opened, the young face of the servant greeted him with a polite smile and a tray of delicious and expensive food. Sakura's mouth watered as the enticing scent of smell reached her nostrils.

Sasuke took the tray from the young lad and turned around to set the food on the table, having the servant close the shoji door for him. He could barely stop the smirk from coming when he felt huge familiar emerald eyes followed his every move. Before the Uchiha knew it, a pink haired girl had sat herself in front of him in less than a second since he set the tray down.

"Holy crap, this is unreal!" Sakura awed, staring at the many type of things in front of her. The girl hadn't had a proper meal since she was captured other than dango, which she admit that she was getting a little bit tired of. This meal must have cost a fortune. "How do you afford all this stuff anyways?" her curiosity made Sasuke tensed, but the Kunoichi was too engaged with the food to see.

"Don't ask too many questions and just eat." He growled. The Haruno girl wasted no time picking up the chopsticks and went for the fried lobsters. "This is so fucking good!" She couldn't help moaned with how great it tasted in her mouth. This was better than anything she had tasted in all the hotels she stayed. The pinkette reminded herself to ask for the name of this place so she could come back later (if she could).

Dark pair of eyes watched her every actions as Sasuke drank the tea he poured himself just now. This was like how she ate at the teahouse just hours ago. How big was her stomach? He sometimes wondered where she stored all of the food she ate. Sakura was lucky since her kidnapper was him, otherwise she would die from starvation by now.

"Say, how long are we gonna stay?"

"When you decide your time of the month ends." He answered bluntly, almost causing Sakura to blow the water she drank from her mouth. Coughing repeatedly, the girl managed to choke out a few words. "Hey! Don't blame me! It's mother nature's fault!" the blush covered her cheeks as she looked away.

Sasuke chuckled lightly at how easily flustered she became. She had always been amusing since the academy days. Her caring side and compassionate personality was something that attracted people to her. Sakura wasn't beautiful but still cute in her own way. That scary temper of hers was frightening but interesting at the same time. Although naive, the medic always tried to understand people and help them even when they pushed her away. It's not a wonder Sasuke always felt at ease with her.

"Don't you fucking laugh at me!" she shouted when she noticed the smirk was still on his face. "How I wished you were born a girl!"

"I think we can establish it's not gonna happen."

"Gaah!" Sakura groaned in frustration at his comeback. The only thing that was heard from their room was the sound of the pink haired girl lecturing Sasuke about how to respect a woman and what not to say to them when they're on edge if he didn't want to die. He was slightly listening, just nodded occasionally so as not to awoke her wrath.

The plans that were constantly stuck to their minds flew out the window, replaced by the sound of laughter and warm moments and not even one of them noticed.

...

..

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A/N: Everyone is starting to get an idea of who's capturing Sakura. So who was right guessing the people Tsunade's sent? Didn't expect Tenten to see Sasuke in flashback, did you? I love my plot twist!

So yeah, a little spoiler. The lemon is just a few chapters away. Be patient and keep reading, kay?

After watching the last few chapters of Naruto, i think i degraded Sakura in my story. She has the Baykugou now, and even has the summoning jutsu and all i gave her was the 'heaven kick of pain' technique. That's why i hated writing fight scenes because i don't know what powers they hold yet.

This isn't beta'd. I think my beta is busy and i don't wanna bother her.

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! Don't forget to keep inspire me with your reviews. Most of the time when i'm facing writer's block, an idea or two from you reviews gave me ideas so don't be afraid to send them.