First of all, thank you guys so much for the reviews! I'm definitely feeling the love. ^_^ So much so, in fact, that I really got into getting this next chapter out. This one, however, was the hardest one to write. I hope it comes across the way I want it to. ^_^;;

I guess that's all I have to say, so let's get to it!

I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't go on a three week vacation when the Naruto-verse is *spoiler* at war, people!

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that something wacky has happened, and that for a while, you guys couldn't read this chapter. I did not take it down; this was all due to the lovely ff dot net for reasons unknown to me. Sorry for any inconveniences, and I hope that this does not happen again.

"Ooh," Ino grinned. "I hope there's some sexy sensei action."

Sakura flushed. "Shut up, Pig," she snapped. "You have no proof of that."

"Whatever, Forehead," Ino retorted. "You should be happy that a hot piece of man like that wants you."

"Ugh!" Naruto yelled. "Kakashi-sensei? You don't even know what he looks like!"

"Doesn't matter," Ino pointed out. "That man is sex personified."

"That's true," Tenten agreed. Neji looked at her blankly. "What?" she asked. "I can't look?"

"He probably wears that mask because he has no teeth," Sai mused.

Sakura pointed at Sai, adding his comment to her list of complaints. "Is that what you want, Pig? For me to end up with someone with no teeth?"

Ino scoffed. "Stop being so dramatic. The rest of him is more than up to par, so what does it matter?"

Naruto made a face. "I think I threw up a little in my mouth."

"It matters," Sakura hissed, "because this is my life we're talking about!"

"So the only problem you have with this guy is that he might not have teeth?" Temari asked.

Sakura nodded. "Or he might have fish lips. And let's not forget that fact that he's Kakashi-sensei! The man is a pervert! And a good fourteen years older than me, not to mention my teacher!"

"My parents were eleven years apart," Hinata said quietly, apparently having recovered.

Ino gave Sakura a look that clearly said I told you so. "And you can't play the teacher card. He hasn't taught you since you were twelve."

"I'm not listening. I'm not listening to this," Naruto said loudly, plugging his ears with his fingers. "This is like incest or something."

"I agree!" Sakura yelled. "Incest!"

"Me thinks she doth protest too much." Ino smirked.

"Yes she has." Tenten turned towards her friend. "Come on, Sakura, don't tell me you've never thought about tying him up."

It was silent. Everyone looked at Tenten.

She blinked. "Tying him up and slowly slashing his mask to ribbons to see what was under there? Come on, don't tell me I'm the only one who thinks about that."

It was still silent, most of them giving Tenten bewildered looks.

"Yeaaaah," Sakura said awkwardly. "I think I'm just going to go now." She filled the orb with chakra.

But no one was prepared for the first thing projected.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered.

Sasuke sat on the chair, his hands bound by chakra-draining restraints. His hair was much too long—he clearly hadn't had a decent haircut in a while.

Sakura fingered her own shoulder-length hair nervously before forcing herself to stop. She sat in the jail cell with him, her chair across from his, unnerved by the gaze he was giving her.

"Maybe it's not a good idea to watch this," Ino said cautiously.

But it fell on deaf ears. Naruto stared intently at the screen. Sakura's eyes glazed over, as if she was in a trance.

"You've been sentenced to ten years in prison, and five years of house arrest," Sakura said cooly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"You got off easy," Sakura said quickly, as if he had protested. "Sharingan or not, the council wanted to kill you. You are a traitor."

Even while being restrained, Sasuke maintained an air of superiority, his face blank. "Why wasn't I killed, then?"

"Naruto."

"Naruto," Sakuke repeated, clearly thinking that she was kidding.

"He's next in line to become Hokage," Sakura responded carefully. "Tsunade-shishou is training him. His opinion matters, and he was able to change their minds."

"What is wrong with me?" Sakura asked no one. She had noticed how detached her future self was being, how emotionless. "It's Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun."

Ino knew why. She could tell by the look in his eye that the man in the projection was no longer her best friend's "Sasuke-kun."

He was a traitor.

"I think you should turn it off too, Sakura," Tenten said.

But Sakura was in her own little world. She bit her lip, eyes focused on the projection, her hands visibly itching to touch the man in it.

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked.

It was then that a pained look crossed her face. "He doesn't want to see you right now."

Sasuke averted his eyes slightly, choosing to look at the wall behind her instead of at her. "Dobe."

Naruto made a noise that sounded like he was choking.

Hinata watched worriedly as he pounded his fist into the floor. "Sakura," she pleaded.

Sakura took a breath to steady herself. He would not sway her. "During the house arrest, a person will be assigned to you. Whenever you are outside your house, this person must be with you. Your sentence may be lessened down the line with good behavior."

Sasuke's eyes flicked back to his former teammate's. "Why are you here, Sakura?"

That startled her. "I'm here to tell you the terms of your sentence."

"That's it," Sasuke deadpanned.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, refusing to give in. "That's it."

Sasuke averted his gaze again.

It was silent. Deciding her job was done, Sakura stood, turning towards the bars and nodding at the guard waiting behind them.

"Sakura."

She paused, but didn't turn back around.

"Will you wait for me?"

Sakura had the same reaction as her projection counterpart—her breath hitched, eyes widening.

"Oh no," Temari sighed.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, curious at her sudden drop in mood.

Her cerulean eyes flicked to his. "This can only end badly."

Sakura whipped her head around. Sasuke's gaze was intense, and she felt her resolve breaking. "What?"

He didn't repeat himself, but he didn't need to. She turned back to him, standing beside her chair. Conflicting emotions flashed across her face as she stared at the floor. Finally, she raised her gaze to meet his. "I've waited this long," she quietly choked out.

Sasuke smirked.

Sakura wasn't allowed to touch him, but she had never wanted to more than right then.

"We'll only be thirty then. We'll still have time."

"Time for what?" she asked, smiling happily.

The look he gave her made her feel stupid for asking. "Kids," he said.

Sakura giggled. "Is that all you think about, Sasuke-kun?" she teased.

"Sakura!" Ino tried again.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively in Ino's direction, eyes glued to the projection. "Shut up, Pig."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I have to restore my clan."

Her laugh caught in her throat at the seriousness of his statement. "Well, if that's what you want," she replied slowly. "I love you, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke averted his gaze. "I know."

Slowly, Sakura's eyes narrowed confusedly. She knew that Sasuke didn't like to express his emotions, but what other time would they have? He was going to prison, and they wouldn't see each other for ten years!

Sakura waited, along with her future self, but Sasuke didn't say anything else. Hurt invaded both of their faces, but Future Sakura hid it better.

Temari sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly with her fingers.

Sakura smiled weakly, her tone cautiously playful. "What, I'm just a babymaker to you?"

But Sasuke didn't smile back. "I thought that was what you wanted."

Both Sakura's stopped breathing.

Without her noticing, all the kunoichi had surrounded Sakura, blocking her view of the projection.

"We all knew he was a douchebag," Tenten told her, a hand on her shoulder.

"I knew that the first time I met him," Temari added. "I mean, yeah, he's hot, but you can do so much better."

"Turn it off," Hinata said soothingly. "We don't need to watch this."

"Yes, please," Ino scoffed.

But Sakura pushed from the circle. She wanted to see.

"I wanted you to want me," Sakura replied quietly, the hurt and anger burning in her words. "And not just because I have ovaries!"

And she was so angry, mostly with herself for being so stupid, that without thinking, her fist flew into his face.

"Whoa." Kiba cringed. "That's got to hurt."

The guard raised an eyebrow, interested, but not going to interfere. Satisfyingly, Sasuke's nose gushed blood, a striking red on his pale skin. But he just looked up at her, his face still impassive.

This further enraged her. Her green eyes glistened with tears that she refused to let fall in front of him, and she opened her palm, about to strike him once more.

Her hand never made it.

Sakura turned, snarling at the man restraining her. "Let me go, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Now, now, Sakura-chan," Kakashi chastised. It was evident in his voice he was having a hard time restraining her. Still, his visible eye smiled at her. "Calm down."

Sakura made a choking sound, clearly about to lose the battle with her tear ducts. Taking a deep breath, she responded, "If you do not let me go, Kakashi, I will break your arm."

His eye widened, more at her deletion of the honorific than her threat, although he knew she was good on it. He sighed, seeing no other way, and turned her to face him.

Sakura looked at him confusedly for a second before she realized his intentions. "Don't you dare!" she hissed, eyes flashing.

But it was too late. His hitai-ate was pushed up with lightning speed, and though she struggled, she soon found herself forced to stare at the slowly spinning tomoe of his Sharingan.

"Bastard!" she screamed in frustration. Then, without warning, her body went limp. Kakashi caught it as it slipped towards the floor.

Slowly, he turned his attention to Sasuke, his gaze lazy. The blood had stained the whole lower-half of the rouge nin's face, and his shirt as well. "You're lucky," Kakashi said, scooping the unconscious Sakura up into his arms. "If she had slapped you, she would have broken your neck."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Kakashi turned, nodding at the guard to open the cell door. It wasn't until he was about to leave that he heard Sasuke's response.

"I can't love her," he said quietly. "Everyone I ever loved is dead."

And he cared for Sakura far too much to let her come to the same fate.

"Stop," Sakura gasped, tears running down her face. "Stop. No more."

A/N: If I wrote that correctly, Sasuke, although a douche most of the time, wasn't being one this time. And you feel bad for SasuSaku. :(

Why did I do that, you ask? Because, besides the fact that I'm totally into KakaSaku right now, I have pretty much given up on SasuSaku. It was so promising at the beginning of the series, and then Sasuke had to go and be all ridiculous and emo. For a while, I was holding on to it because I wanted poor Sakura to be happy. But I've come to the realization that Sasuke won't make her happy. Too many events have occurred, and frankly, he's not good for her. The potential for that relationship is going downhill, and although it makes me sad, I think it opens up new opportunities for Sakura. *cough*Kakashi*cough*

(What, a fangirl can dream, can't she? XD )