Sooooo my lovely readers, here is another chapter! Yes, I know, 'YEAY!!!!' and all that Jazz. Anywho! Hope you like it, please review...uhm...the next one is gonna be a crazy blast! uhm...that's it, and no, won't say anything about the next chapter...But you'll know where it's going by the end of this chapter. =D

-Lady of Laughter

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Now that he knew she wasn't blind, Sasuke figured he wouldn't have to protect her. She wasn't blind and he was sure that the whole 'night fits' were part of the charade, so that meant he had to follow the rules, and he would. But he would get some answers from her, and then he would continue in his endeavor to reinstate himself as a loyal, law abiding citizen. As soon as he could, he would get the one person he felt even slightly friendly towards besides Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura, out of Sound for good.

Why he was suddenly feeling like he needed to regain their friendship was beyond him, and he didn't know what it was that made him protect Sakura, or go after her like this, all he knew was that he needed to protect her. He had made vows as a child, and had fulfilled all but two. Protecting his friends, which he would start to do again now that he was home, and rebuilding his clan. These promises he made again. Sakura's fierceness and Naruto's joy in having him home was bringing out feelings he had buried long ago.

Even Kakashi with the familiar, despicable though they were, books made him wish for the old days when he trained with them and sat picking on Naruto with Sakura following him like a fangirl. Now she was anything but that! She of all people had tried to kill him of all things, of all the ways to say welcome home, she sure knew how to make hers loud and clear! He would never admit it aloud, or to himself after this moment, but for this second he had to let himself think it. She was some woman!

Gone was the weak girl, even the strong one who searched for him. In that place was a woman, with curves to make even a blind man drool, and a fighting spirit and ability that was rarely seen. This was not the girl he left behind, this was someone not to be taken lightly in a battle, or in anything for that matter. But she could be useful he admitted, maybe he shouldn't try to kill her just yet. He would watch and see how everything played out. She was incredibly smart and strong, she could be valuable to him and his plans.

And he couldn't help but feel a twinge of, was it pride? When she had landed that blow to Karin's face? That woman had truly bothered him, like all the fangirls of his childhood, but in a more subdued following of his every word. Sure he had considered Karin for being the one to restore his clan, but she was vile and fell much too short of the mark for being acceptable as matriarch of the clan. Not to mention he'd rather Chidori his head off before having to touch her like that! Even thinking of it now made him shudder with the repulsiveness of the idea.

Sakura on the other hand wasn't like any of them, and that appealed to him. She wasn't weak, easily taken advantage of, afraid of a fight, and she most definitely was not a child anymore. Not if her figure, were any indication. No, she was a full grown woman, and beautiful to boot! Even if he wanted to deny it, Sakura was one of the very, very few women he had met that met the mark he'd made in being worthy of his clan. It did gall him that she was the only one he had met who surpassed the mark, as if she was too good to be matriarch of his clan. Yes, she was one to be cautious of, of that she was also worthy.

And he put that caution, however arrogant and seemingly nonexistent as it was, to use when he finally spotted her, crouched on a large branch of a Sakura tree in a park. Her long hair gently moving in the breeze, taunting him, and as he settled onto a branch close to hers, he batted an errant thought away, he would not think about touching her hair to see if it was as soft and silky as it looked! Neither would he allow himself to go near the irritating thoughts of what her skin felt like, even worse, what she felt like in his arms. He wouldn't do it, he refused!

He had better things to do, and that included acquiring the information from her he needed. He would sort out, and destroy any feelings, thoughts or emotions later, when he could thoroughly drive them from his thoughts forever. He expected her animosity, and he was not to be disappointed. She was furious. "Are deaf or just dumb? I said, Leave. Me. Alone. I said I'd break Naruto's arm if he came, but since it's you, I'm thinking maybe I'll just break your face instead!"

Flipping out of the tree and landing in a crouch at the trunk, Sakura pulled out a scroll. Rolling it out she bit her thumb, already scared from this same action, and slammed her hand into the scroll. A puff happened as Sakura sat down, cradling in her arms a slug the size of her forearm, and rested her head against the tree as a gentle, feminine voice spoke. "Hello Little Mistress, you have need of me?"

She very rarely called for all of Katsuyu, but Katsuyu often allowed one piece of herself to be summoned. It was a good way for her to keep up on news, and keep track of where Tsunade or Sakura was. And she had grown as fond of Sakura as she had Tsunade. But Tsunade was always Mistress or Lady, Sakura only allowed Katsuyu to call her Little Mistress. Anything else was reserved for Tsunade.

Sakura let out a sigh, Katsuyu in a piece of herself, slowly made a track up Sakura's arm to rest on her shoulder. "What am I going to do? I don't know what to do anymore Katsuyu. I need some advice again!" Sakura's groan had Katsuyu rubbing her head on Sakura's jaw. Her soothing voice, and gentle presence was helpful to Sakura at any time. Now, with every nerve taught and skittish, she needed Katsuyu and her wise advice.

Sasuke couldn't believe it, she was asking advice from a slug? Sure, he knew she could summon Katsuyu, that was an inevitable occurrence. She had Katsuyu, Naruto had Gamabunta, sometimes, and he had had Manda before his death. It was no surprise, he just wondered what would convince her to ask for advice from the slug. Couldn't she talk to Ino or something?

What Sasuke couldn't know was that Katsuyu's voice and gentleness reminded Sakura greatly of her mother. And in that Sakura found comfort in Katsuyu, and the slug was very wise, she had seen much of life and almost always knew how to instruct Sakura. And with her being Tsunade's apprentice, Kastuyu had long ago come to adore the pink haired woman who had seen such great tragedy and pain in her life.

Katsuyu knew of the tragedy, a piece of her had been there watching over the girl from a hidden place during the tragedy, unable to help. It was Katsuyu who had explained to Tsunade what had happened when Sakura was found. At that time Sakura hadn't been able to speak of it, she had been in need of great healing. It had taken Tsunade and Shizune a month to get her back to her old self, physically anyways.

Mentally she still battled the horrors. But physically, it had taken days to heal the outward and internal wounds. And even though Sasuke didn't know, Sakura had been blind for a short time. It had taken them a week to find the cause and fix her eyes. But the thing that had kept her in the hospital the longest was the two weeks she was in something of a coma, the time during which her wounds were healed.

She had been unresponsive to everything, but her constant screams of agony, stream of threats and pleads had gone on and on. She had relived that tragic night thousands of times. Each moment, every breath, word, thought, groan, scream, wince, evil laugh and smirk was engraved on her mind. Those scenes had played over and over and over again, in perfect detail, nothing missing. Not able to escape the details, events, and evil that had done such things to her, had driven Sakura to lengths that had people frightened.

She had tried to kill herself, but had been stopped. She had tried to go after the ones responsible, but again had been stopped. She had done everything, even going so far as to volunteer to go on suicide missions, she wanted them. Yet, she came back every time, unable to let go until she could get her revenge. Her life had become the training grounds. Not until the year before had she snapped out of whatever held her in such a state, Katsuyu was the reason she had regained her sanity. Her constant anchor to reality had finally managed to bring her out of her haze.

Neji and TenTen's wedding had also helped her to come back, she was focused on happy events with friends who never gave up on her. She had promised to never allow such tragedy to happen again, not to her village or her friends, and she meant to keep it, even if it meant killing the one her heart still loved. Her heart had been shattered millions of times at every hurt that haunted her days and nights, gone she would have said, a black hole that even now beat again, against her will.

It began to beat and mend, for the one she didn't want to remember, or trust. She couldn't afford to! But she owed it to her friends to keep her head on straight and not do anything drastic. But if Orochimaru had somehow taught Sasuke to steal souls, and he tried it on her, so help her she'd rip him to pieces. Reigning in her thoughts Sakura acknowledged to herself that she was letting her mind go to drastic places, steal souls indeed!

Dropping down beside Sakura, Sasuke settled into a crouch, watching her. Katsuyu gave a squeak at his appearance. "Uchiha Sasuke! I see now little mistress. But you know I can do nothing, this is up to you. You need to do this on your own." Katsuyu looked at Sasuke, still crouched besides them listening, before she went on. "You should talk it out, if you can, and try to get along. My instincts tell me that he wants to stay here, he's finally returned home. From the look in his eyes, it's for good. You owe each other that much, you're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on, it's best if you try to get along as best you can."

Sakura groaned, this was not what she wanted to hear! "Katsuyu, I don't want to speak to him! I want to kill the-" Sakura stopped, glanced at him and went on, "well, I just don't want to talk to him!" She didn't care that she sounded like a spoiled child, she just wanted to make it clear that she didn't want to speak to him. Maybe he'd leave? When he made himself comfortable in a sitting position, watching her she admitted that he wasn't going to leave. Well, one could hope right?

Katsuyu merely laughed quietly into her ear. "I know you do not wish to talk to him. But you do not need too, just show him. Starting from when he left, until know. Let him see and feel all that you have gone through little mistress. I must go now, you know what you must do." Reluctantly nodding her consent, Sakura let Katsuyu go. And in a little puff the slug was gone, leaving her and Sasuke alone. And her with a task she did not want to complete.

With a groan, Sakura turned towards Sasuke. With rough movements she grasped his face in her hands and forced him to look her in the eye. His onyx orbs met her dull emerald eyes. He had noticed how, when she was upset her eyes grew darker like emeralds, while they seemed more like jade when she was bright and cheery. "Well I don't want to do this, but I have no choice. I won't talk about it, so just…Look!"

Her voice grated, like she was forcing the words through clenched teeth. Even though she was ordering him to look and see, something he wasn't sure he wanted to do, he knew that until she opened her eyes, it wouldn't happen. Then she opened her eyes, a look he had never seen before entered her eyes. The only thing that came to mind was, death, and he recognized that look from his childhood.

He had seen it in his own eyes, but hers held so much more pain and anguish that Sasuke wasn't sure if his horror even compared to hers. But he was soon to find out just how truly deep she was, in a living nightmare. Of a deep and hurtful anguish that held her soul in constant agony, and a night that left her life in shambles for so long. Her nightmare of a tragedy was soon to be relived, with him watching from her eyes, the whole thing.

Before he could think too deeply about it, she let out a shuttered breath and glared at him. "LOOK!" At her yell he did as he was told, but what he saw, he never expected. And as everyone would see, from this point on, Sasuke would no longer be the same man he had been before, not with Sakura at least. And her memories started the day he left the village, as did twinges of every emotion, mental and physical thing she felt.