The chakra restrictors around his wrists had him raw within days, how long had he even been there? Days? Months? Time had no factor in captivity, especially underground when there was no day or night. Food came once a day, at different times so there was no way for him to really track the length of time. All he knew was that it had been a long time since he had had any human contact of any kind. He'd been the distraction. Done the thing any sensei should do for his students. Bought them enough time to escape. And apologized to Obito in his head a thousand times over for not being able to fulfill his promises. But Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had gotten away. And he'd been thrown in here. So, it came as a surprise when the door opened and a Zetsu stood waiting for him. "Get up, Kakashi." The girl's voice said. He knew that voice. One of Gai's students. The one with the twin buns on her head. A weapons master.

Kakashi came to his feet uneasily and moved forward on shaky legs. "Move." She said, indicating ahead. He gave the Zetsu a once over. No trace of her remained. Except the voice. Kakashi did as instructed. Following her instructions to turn and move.

Finally, the reached two large double doors and the white hand reached forward to knock twice before pushing it open. The room was dimly lit by candles but Kakashi saw clearly and he couldn't stop his eyes widening. Orochimaru stood facing him. His long, dark hair streaked with Kaguya's light. Her horns on his head. His face was his own though.

"Kakashi. Please, come in."

Kakashi stepped inside and the Zetsu closed them in.

"You probably have a lot of questions."

Kakashi said nothing. He just watched Orochimaru through wary eyes.

"Well?"

"Why am I alive?"

"What would I have to gain from killing you?" Orochimaru didn't wait for an answer. "You will make a good bargaining piece, maybe not against Sasuke-kun but definitely against Naruto-kun. We all know he has trouble making the…necessary tough choices."

Kakashi ignored that and moved on to the most important subject.

"I once asked you why you were after Sasuke." Kakashi said. "You said you wanted the Sharingan. You told me that Sasuke was a supreme piece in achieving your goals."

"Ah, yes. I remember."

"You weren't talking about destroying Konoha."

One side of Orochimaru's lips lifted. "You would have been a powerful piece. But, unlike with Sasuke. I realized it too late. The darkness in your heart wasn't the type I could manipulate."

"Your goal has always been…this." Kakashi gestured to Orochimaru's body and Orochimaru gave a chuckle. "How is Sasuke a supreme piece if he wasn't your goal?"

"It is true that Sasuke was the supreme piece but he wasn't my goal. No. My goal has always been to take the body of the Sage of Six Paths. Luckily, it seems that I got something better. But there were two things I didn't factor into my plans. The first has been most favorable. The second…not at all. First, was Kaguya. She, overall, was stupid. Easily manipulated. But her chakra carried on certain wills that I must live out for her."

"And the second thing."

"Not capturing the medical ninja along with you. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun are quite protective of that one. No matter," he smiled. "I will have her soon enough. Then my experiments can finally begin."

One Step Closer

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Chapter 12 – Somewhere I Belong

"I wanna heal,

I wanna feel – what I thought was never real.

I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long.

Somewhere I belong."

Sakura swallowed. "Because Orochimaru tries to take her body."

Sasuke waited for more information, but Sakura offered none. "And? Does he succeed?"

He answer didn't solve anything for him, but somehow, looking at her. Seeing the scars on her pale face and in the tense, heavy way she walked. They way her long hair drifted slightly in the breeze. The answer left him cold.

"Yes."

And Sasuke knew Orochimaru better than she did.

Sakura stood outside for the longest time, leaning against one of the steadier walls of the Uchiha Shrine. She hadn't told Sasuke everything and she could see it on his face when he very reluctantly returned inside. She'd failed in the one thing Sasuke had asked of her. All that training, all that preparation and she'd just…been as useless as he'd always thought she was. Sure, she was more than capable – but as usual it had been impossible to execute for her. But there was one clear difference now. She didn't have the option to simply fail. There had to be something else she could do. Finding Orochimaru would have seemed like the best bet, but Sakura had no possible way to track him. How many around the world had he given the cursed seal? He could have surfaced from any one of those.

She dragged a frustrated hand through her hair. Her only option was to stay with Sasuke now. And wait. But that gave another problem. Sasuke would soon want answers. How would she be able to tell him that even if Orochimaru were gone – that she would only condemn them from one horrible future to a possible other? He would be furious, but overall they had decided that taking out Orochimaru seemed like the only possible option.

Sakura sighed and headed back down. Four Hokage stood in front of Sasuke. The first to the fourth, who looked so much like Naruto that it was a bit eerie. The second – Tobirama, faltered when she made an appearance. His eyes caught in to her form and stuck. Hashirama's story cut short when he noticed his brother's reaction.

"Doesn't she look just like-?"

"Continue with your story, brother." Tobirama snapped, shaking his head and after a moment, Hashirama continued.

Sasuke's eyes watched her as she found a place in the corner and leaned back against the wall before he returned his attention to the Kage. The First Hokage's story was at an end though and Sakura could just make out the smile on Sasuke's face as he spoke.

"…But perhaps, I was more naïve than any other shinobi." The Third was saying, "I wasn't able to continue the Second Hokage's task of village-building skillfully enough. Which is how I ended up burdening Danzo with the village's darkness."

"I killed Danzo in vengeance. Until the end, he spoke that he would protect the village, no matter how dirty the means."

That only seemed to down the Third more. "It seems I failed miserably time after time as the Hokage. I guess I'm responsible for creating the situation that exists now."

"No," Minato was quick to say. "You're not to blame Sandaime. You did everything you could for the sake of the village respectably. I'm the one who died during the Kyuubi's attack on the village! You had such high hopes for me as the Hokage…and I couldn't live up to them." The Fourth paused. "Had I lived, perhaps I could have helped to foil the Uchiha's plans for a coup d'état much sooner…" Minato turned to Sasuke, blue eyes meeting his levelly. "But regardless… what happens next is up to you. What will you do now that you know?"

Sasuke's head dropped slightly and he closed his eyes. Sakura knew what was going to happen but she still held her breath. She stepped forward and out of the shadows soundlessly, wanting to see him clearly and it felt like an eternity before those eyes she loved snapped open and the look she saw in them was the best one she'd ever seen him wear.

"I'm going to the battlefield!"

The way he said it had chills rising along her skin.

"I won't let the village and Itachi become nothing!"

Slowly, before she could stop it, a grin rose along her face. It felt weird since it had been so long since her last smile.

The First Hokage shared her expression. "It's decided then!" he stood. "Tobirama! Prepare to fly us outside!"

"Even if I wanted to use Flying Raijin, I'm bound right now."

Hashirama turned to Sasuke.

"I expect you'll want to come with me." Sasuke nodded, and Sakura assumed he'd released them.

"E-Ehhh? Juugo, what about you?" Suigetsu was freaking out again.

"I'm going too. It's my job to protect Sasuke."

After a moment, Sasuke turned and took the path up again and Sakura was the first to follow.

"My decision has nothing to do with what you said before." Sasuke told her when she stepped into the night. "I know." For a long moment they seemed to stare each other down before the others surfaced.

x-x-x-x-

"Ooh! This view brings back memories!" Hashirama said.

And that's when Suigestu made an obvious run for it. Everyone turned as he scampered away. A figure jumped out, kicking him across the face and sending him spinning back. "I knew it was you, Sasuke-kun, you bastard!" Karin began beating Suigestu to a pulp. "I sensed your chakra and couldn't believe it, so I backtracked and look what I find!"

"Karin." Sasuke sounded surprised. Sakura threw him a glance. Had he thought she was dead?

"You bastard…" she stood, pounding a foot on Suigetsu's face. "I'll never forgive you!"

"I'm sorry, Karin."

Sakura glared at his back. That fucking bastard. He never apologized to her so easily.

Karin faltered. "You…bastard. As if a simple apology will get you off the hook….you good for nothing."

Karin moved over to them. "Juugo! How dare you team up with Sasuke-kun again! He stabbed me!"

"I'm helping Sasuke. It's my job to protect him."

"I…guess I have no choice." She threw her arms around him, moving in excitement and that was the moment Sakura turned away. She didn't have to look at that. Or the fact that Sasuke wasn't pushing Karin away. Or that it took him months, nearly a year to talk about that day and he never once used the word 'sorry'.

"Judging from that chakra and her red hair, she's from the Uzumaki clan." Tobirama said. Sakura didn't turn to look back at Karin, but did this mean Naruto had family? She was sure that he would be glad to know it.

A hand landed on her shoulder as Sakura was looking out to the village.

"Sandaime!"

He had the saddest look in his eyes as he looked down at her. "Sandaime…what?"

"Sakura…?"

Sakura looked away, immediately realizing what he was seeing. The scars must've looked startlingly pale in the moonlight. There was a long silence between them as the voices around them carried on.

"This is my fault…" he said lowly.

"No, Sandaime…it…"

"My weakness."

"That's not…"

"If I'd only killed him when I had the chance…"

"How did you…"

"I know my student well enough to notice his work. Not many things can scar a medical ninja."

Sakura's eyes moved back to the village so she could hide her tears from him but his hand tightened on her shoulder.

"They don't bother me anymore." And the words would have meant something had she sounded strong. She'd told herself over and over again that they didn't matter, so many times that she thought she'd believed it.

Everyone had looked at her scars since she'd arrived but no one had said much about them and…the Sandaime caught her off guard.

"A scar is only a scar as long as it hides the turmoil that flows beneath."

She hadn't told anyone of what had happened to her, how she'd gotten the scars, Sasuke had asked once, around a fire while she was trying to heal herself. But she hadn't been able to tell him. Instead, her hands had dropped from trying to heal what she couldn't and she'd cried before she could stop herself.

Now, as much as she wanted the tears to go away, they were too thick and too many to stop, so she turned her head up to the sky, staring up at the moon. The tears flowed down the sides of her face.

"Thank you, Sandaime." She whispered, patting his hand on her shaking shoulder and slowly, she brought her face down to look at the village again. "There's a part of me here that hasn't experienced what it means to be a Shinobi and I want to keep her from that for as long as possible." When she finished speaking, Sakura realized that things had gone quiet around them and that the others had been listening as well and she brought a hand up to wipe her face even though she was sure the Senju brothers had seen her crying.

"Thank you, Sandaime." Sakura said again. "We should…" she gave his hand one last pat before she stepped out of his hold.

"Yes, we should get going," Karin said.

Sakura could hear Sasuke moving towards her and she turned to glare at him over her shoulder. He stopped but he didn't look away and after a moment, she gave him a smile and a nod. Hoping the awkward moment between all of them would pass.

Hashirama smiled and nodded at her, the fire returning to him. "Fellow Hokage! As we stand atop the Great Stone Faces that have watched over the Hidden Leaf…let us burn this sight of the village out of our memory!" Tobirama turned his head away in embarrassment and stepped forward, placing a hand on his brother with a sigh before they disappeared. The Fourth did the same with the Sandaime.

"I'm finally going to see my son!" the Fourth's voice carried up. "Naruto, I wasn't able to do anything for you as a father. I'll make it up to you by bringing you a big present!"

Sakura could hear the Sandaime saying something but her attention turned towards Sasuke as he stepped up next to her, his shoulder brushing hers.

"You haven't told me everything, Sakura."

"I wasn't planning to." Not yet, at least.

x-x-x-x-

Oki, so I succeeded in writing a longer chapter! For those of you who also read Wherever You Are, I mentioned that I'm having to make some major changes in my schedule. Which means that I won't be updating both stories on the same day anymore. I'm hoping for a Monday and Tuesday update and will be working for that. Writing one a day might actually get longer chapters out and it worked for this one.

-The scene with Tobirama and Sakura was just me agreeing with theories that Sakura might be related to the Senju clan in some way. Maybe I'll add more of it later in the story.-

Thanks for all my reviewers, love you guys to bits! Please keep em coming!

Zana-Lee

xoxo