A/N: Because of your wonderful reviews and a great old song by Boston, I am inspired to write. Thank you all. You have no idea how much your simple gift of words and time meant (and mean) to me.

Now, for all of you love-birds, hope you had a happy Valentine's Day.

For all of you free-as-a-bird people, hope you had a happy Singles' Appreciation Day. This chapter is dedicated to you, because "We must all hang to together or we will all hang separately", to paraphrase Ben Franklin.

So, whether yesterday was perfect of left much to be desired, may the fluff I intend to include in this make your day :).

Stirrings

Sasuke didn't go through with the jutsu.

He let the sharigan fade from his eyes as a new wave of self-loathing washed over him. He should have done it, and set the world to rights again. Sai and Ino could have stayed like they were; unhappy, but alive. In fact, he could even arrange it where Sakura wasn't his wife, and she could go back to flirting with Dog-boy. Or whatever it was she had done before the whole fiasco of their "marriage" began.

Ideally, that's what could've happened. But Sasuke had learned long ago that this was not an ideal world.

Truthfully, the sharingan probably wasn't that strong. Plus, he was selfish. In some way, he needed Sakura to love him; not that he wanted a fangirl, but he needed to know that he meant something to someone- that if he did die she would care. She would cry for him. So he didn't perform the jutsu. Sasuke told himself that it was because he felt guilty enough already, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her any worse. But that was only a partial truth.

The dramatic moment was interrupted when the machines Ino was hooked up to went haywire.

Tsunade walked past him into the room and hastily shoved the tear-drenched Sakura toward him. Sasuke caught her and cradled her against his chest to keep her from falling. "Get her out of here," the Witch ordered.

So he did.

He ushered her out into the hall, past a dumbstruck Naruto and into the waiting area he had noticed before on the way in. She leaned against the wall like a wraith. Honestly, it scared him. Perhaps this had all been too much for her and she had given up the will to live. Then he would have to add killing Sakura to the list of his sins. Frustrated with himself for thinking such ridiculously absurd thoughts, after all, it was just the guilt talking; he turned and searched for a door. Surely they had those here. Apparently not. Well so much for privacy.

He was unsure of how to continue. Uchiha Sasuke was no fool. He knew that their relationship had somehow shifted. He also knew that he somehow had to deal with said changes or they would lose the "relationship" they had. His problem was he had no idea how to do it. Neither the Academy nor Orchimaru had offered "How to Deal with a Broken Ex-teammate/Wife 101". Obviously, his human experiences up to this point hadn't dealt too much with the issue either. Instinct was a dead-zone as well.

Sasuke glared at the sanitize-dispenser. There was no way this could end well.

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered hoarsely.

He blinked. This was…unexpected. She hadn't done anything wrong. It was his fault Sai had done this, no hers.

"I'm sorry I'm such a crybaby. And you probably think I'm a fangirl too." She snapped her head against the wall with an audible "thwack" and closed her eyes. Sasuke could still see the tears streaming from them underneath her eyelashes. "Since you left, I've tried so hard to make myself strong. And after four years, I'm still just an annoying burden. I'm still so weak." She growled out the last part.

So this was what she had thought of herself all these years? Her words struck a cord because it was close to what he'd felt all those years as well. Too close.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. And she was apologizing to him? He inwardly winced. Besides, it wasn't like she was really sorry anyway. He knew first hand that regret was different from complete sorrow.

"Don't." Sasuke snapped. "This," he gestured vaguely, "is not your fault. It's mine. So stop apologizing."

She jumped and blinked those owlish eyes. "What-"

"That's right," he continued, cutting her off. "I gave Sai his emotions back. Sai attacking Ino was my fault. Ino being emotionally wrecked is my fault. You-" he stopped there, because although this was his moment of confession, he didn't want to open that can of worms just yet. So he settled for snapping, "It's my entire fault, so quit blubbering." Sasuke couldn't help that last barb. It had slipped out, and old habits die hard.

He had purposely not addressed her original comment. Sakura seemed confused by this, but with any luck, she wouldn't bring it up again. Silently, they sat there for an immeasurable amount of time. Sasuke frowned. Although he didn't want Sakura to re-open certain subjects, he wanted her to say something after a confessing he had practically killed her best friend. Naturally, Sasuke told himself that it didn't matter how she felt about it, but ultimately, it mattered a lot. Trying not to growl out something he would inevitably regret, he glared down at his taunt knuckles and waited.

"Why?" She finally asked

Finally, she had spoken, and his genius response was, "Why what?"

"Why is it your fault? Just because you allowed Sai to feel, doesn't mean you forced him to do this. You think too much of yourself, Sasuke! Everything has to come back to you." She snapped back.

"Oh, so I suppose you think that if she dies it's your fault for not being able to heal her. That way, it comes back to you."

Sakura laughed darkly. "No, Sasuke. I'm just saying that you shouldn't give yourself credit before it's due. I mean, how long will it be before you do that to me? You've already tried to kill me before."

He turned and glared at her. "Is that what you think of me?" he spat.

"What else am I supposed to think?!" She retorted.

Sweeping his right arm out, as if to wipe away her words, he responded, "The whole reason I was telling you this in the first place was because I was just trying to comfort you!" He paused. In the heat of the moment, he hadn't realized what he was saying. He felt sick as he realized what he'd said was true.

She blinked like an owl; then she looked down. There was another long pause; until, "Thank you."

Sasuke told himself that the heat he felt on his face was merely a result of the warmness of the room, nothing more. "You're….welcome," he whispered.

They sat there in relatively companionable silence, compared to what it had been. Glancing over, Sasuke noticed Sakura was crying again. Inwardly he sighed. Once you got her going, you just couldn't make her stop could you?

A moment later, when Sasuke wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him so she could cry into his chest, he told himself if was out of guilt, and nothing more. But something whispered, in the lowest depths of his heart, that this was a start. By some miracle, they might actually make it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It has been mentioned that my title doesn't really fit this story. That's true. I shall try to remedy this, but I also want to point out that "You're Not Sorry" is also one of my themes. Sasuke mentions that Sakura doesn't really mean it when she says she's sorry. This is because I've noticed that we say we're "sorry" a lot when we feel guilty or have regrets, but true sorrow is something different entirely. A lot of this people in this story feel guilty or have regrets, but not true sorrow for their actions. That is the main point of this story. Just something to keep in mind.

As always, reviews are awesome. They inspire quicker updates. :)