Blossoms & Ashes

Chapter 12: Stop and Stare

Sasuke woke up suddenly and noticed the lack of warmth on the bed in front of him. He blinked a few times as he noticed she was no longer laid in bed. He hadn't remembered falling asleep at all, it just happened and now he regretted it. It was disconcerting waking up and not knowing where she was especially after what happened. He was still wondering why she suddenly collapsed.

What surprised him the most was how he hadn't woken up when she decided to get out of bed. He had always been a light sleeper. He sighed as he stood up from the seat he had fallen asleep in front of her bed. He walked out the room hoping to find her; she would probably be in the kitchen or walking around the house.

"Oh, Sasuke!" Karin gushed as soon as she caught sight of him leaving Sakura's room.

If she had been walking around the house she was bound to have seen Sakura somewhere. "Where's Sakura?" He asked, not wasting any time and not noticing how desperate his voice sounded to Karin.

She pouted not liking the theme of conversation, but sighed before answering. "I haven't seen her, wasn't she still unconscious?" It ended in a question and Sasuke thought it was a stupid question at that, if she had been unconscious he wouldn't even be looking for her in the first place.

"She's not in the room anymore." Sasuke told her watching her reaction to see if it was in any way her fault, Sasuke knew for a fact Karin wasn't the innocent girl she wanted him to see. She didn't like Sakura and if given the chance she might turn against her, but as he watched her face for any hint of her being the one responsible for her disappearance all he saw was surprise flash across her face.

The surprise was only there for a moment before it was replaced with satisfaction. "Well maybe she got tired of being here; maybe she went back where she came from, back to the blond haired boy." She grinned, happy to be rid of her rival.

Sasuke's head snapped toward her and the grinned slipped away from her face as she caught the glare he was sending her way. The glare was cold and menacing, it filled her with fear. It reminded her of the Sasuke who had decided to take over his old home.

Karin watched as Sasuke breathed heavily on the ground, still unconscious, as he had been since he showed up almost dead. She had healed most of his wounds as best as she could, but he still hadn't woken up.

He had a fever and he was burning. She was beginning to think he was delirious because he was talking in his sleep. It didn't make much sense to her, mostly it was incoherent. It happened every few hours and then it would suddenly stop. But every time she would find herself listening in to whatever he said trying to make sense of it.

"No..." He whispered as he slightly shook his head, still unconscious.

It was starting again, she noted.

"My fault... mine." And she could just stare wondering what he was talking about, what it was he was seeing behind the closed eyelids. At first she thought it was probably something to do with his brother, Itachi. The one he had killed before he found out that what he had done had been by orders of the village he used to call home.

"Why...her?" She almost didn't hear, and though a flash of rage went through her at the mention of a 'her' she was suddenly curious as to know who he was talking about. She knew it wasn't her as much as she wanted it to be.

"Supposed...be easy...it...only supposed to be Danzo." Part of the sentence was lost, but she caught enough to know what he was talking about. His plan had been to kill Danzo and the elders after he discovered the truth about Itachi. He had already disposed of the elder and Danzo was the only one left. It was something against him only, not the village. From his words he seemed to have killed someone he didn't want dead, but she couldn't decipher who.

Who could make Sasuke Uchiha feel so remorseful even while unconscious?

"Sa-Sakura...why...get in the way..." The words that escaped his lips were almost gone unheard by Karin, but she caught the name. Sakura. If she remembered correctly it was Sakura Haruno, his old team mate, the one with pink hair. She wondered if she was the one he killed, if she was the reason he was like this. Full of remorse, something she thought she'd never see coming from Sasuke.

"Sorry...Sakura..." His words were choked proving Karin that Sakura was indeed the reason he was like that.

"Find Suigetsu and Juugo and the three of you come to my office. Now." He hissed before practically stomping away and Karin was left to watch his back, sure she had lost the fight. The girl had beaten her even when he thought her dead so now that she was alive Karin didn't have a chance. That was something she's had to accept.

Sasuke stood in his office pacing around unable to sit down quietly. He was silently hoping Sakura would be with either Suigetsu or Juugo as she normally was. Maybe she had gone take that walk with Juugo though the idea bothered him more than it should have. He was in reality getting impatient.

"Sasuke!" Karin gushed from the other side of the door before letting herself in his office with Suigetsu and Juugo following closely behind. But still there was no sign of Sakura with them.

"I suppose Karin already told you why you're here?" Sasuke asked both Juugo and Suigetsu.

Suigetsu in response shrugged and Juugo stared at him with a confused look on his face. "Not really, she just told us you wanted us in your office as soon as possible." Suigetsu answered and Sasuke threw a glare Karin's way before finally sitting in his chair.

"Have any of you seen Sakura?" He asked them both not sparing any details.

"No, last I knew she was in her room." Suigetsu answered.

"I haven't seen her either. What happened to her?" Juugo suddenly turned concern earning a cautious glance from Sasuke.

"She's missing, I was hoping she would be with one of you two, or at least that one of you would have seen her." Sasuke confessed his worrying suddenly getting worse, having no idea where she could be.

"Well I guess we can ask around, maybe she went to take a walk or something."Suigetsu commented raising an eyebrow as he noticed that Sasuke was indeed worried about the girl.

"Yeah, she did tell me earlier today she wanted to take a walk." Juugo added nodding his head in agreement.

"Are you really that worried about the girl, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked smirking; the idea of Sasuke worrying for someone was actually hilarious.

"Don't be ridiculous, if she is found by leaf ninja she might lead them to us. We can't risk that." Sasuke glared at the shark boy. "The three of you look for her through the compound and let me know if you find her." He ordered turning his attention elsewhere, a sign for them to leave.

Once outside Sasuke's office Suigetsu turned to Karin. "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" He asked sounding suspicious.

"No. I would never!" She made a face as if he had offended her, but a small smile graced her lips.

"You know if you did something to her and Sasuke finds out, there will be hell to pay." Suigetsu grinned making Karin's smile disappear and a glare take place.

"I do admit, I don't want her here, but I didn't do anything to her." Karin told him seriously. "But if she's really gone then maybe Sasuke will finally forget about her…" She added under her breath.

"So you really do think she's a rival?" Suigetsu asked a smirk on his face.

"You know the night Sasuke left to the Leaf Village alone… I'm sure it was her he fought, she was the reason he came back almost dead." Karin told Suigetsu earning a surprised look from both the shark boy and Juugo.

"Why do you think that?" Juugo asked his voice worried more than anything else.

"When he was unconscious back then he said her name… He said that she got in the way, that he was sorry. Plus, the fact that he's a different Sasuke since she's been here makes me think it was her." Karin shook her head hoping it was all in her head and that none of it was true.

"It would make sense." Suigetsu murmured. "We better find her quickly then." He smirked before walking away from both Juugo and Karin. Karin watched Suigetsu go and wondered what the pink haired girl had that she didn't. Juugo, Sasuke, and even Suigetsu had taken a liking to her.

"Lady Tsunade." Kakashi recognized in surprise as the blonde haired woman entered his room, he closed his favorite book before sitting on the bed and turning to face her.

"Kakashi." She smiled grimly. "I heard you're being kept here under Danzo's orders, I'm surprised his loyal dogs let me come in to see you." She added her voice clouded with disbelief.

"You'd be surprised, they're on our side." Kakashi smiled from under his mask.

"Neji Hyuga and Shikamaru, on our side?" Tsunade asked raising an eyebrow at his statement.

"Yes, they want to bring Danzo down as much as we do." Kakashi nodded.

"And are you sure we can trust them?" Tsunade asked laying against the wall behind her, she wasn't sure if to believe what Kakashi was telling her, it could all be a ruse. After all, they had handed Sakura over to the enemy. She hadn't seen Kotetsu who would normally keep her posted on things.

"Yes. And they told us that Sakura is alright, she's living with Sasuke, and he hasn't hurt her." Kakashi told Tsunade eyeing her reaction, but didn't see the relief he was looking for.

"I find that hard to believe." She scoffed, and Kakashi noted that her voice sounded bitter.

"Why do you find it hard to believe?" He asked her smiling sadly at the lack of confidence she had of Sasuke. Could it be that having been his teacher was clouding his judgement?

"He's hurt her time and time again Kakashi, he abandoned her to be treated as a traitor to the village, he killed the elders, and took over our village when we were the most vulnerable. What reason would I have to believe in him?" She asked him back, anger in her voice not directed at Kakashi, but at Sasuke himself.

"Sakura believed in him." He shot back at her.

"And even she knew when to stop believing in him." She smiled bitterly, after being treated as a traitor to the village for meeting up with a missing ninja she had changed.

"You really believe that? I don't really think Sakura ever stopped believing in him." Kakashi stood up from the bed his anger already rising.

"You told me that you had some theories about what happened that night. So what are they?" Tsunade asked, everyone still wonders what went on that night yet no one can figure it out. So she was curious to Kakashi's thought of things.

"Sakura was as loyal to the village as she was to Sasuke, she was always torn between us and him." Kakashi closed his eyes feeling that it was somehow his fault. "Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are lower than scum, I taught them that."

"We couldn't find her anywhere Sasuke." Juugo smiled sadly as he spoke looking at the ground and wondering where she could be and hoping she would be alright.

"Someone told me they saw a girl with unusual hair leave the compound but since it was so dark he couldn't tell me if she had pink hair." Suigetsu informed Sasuke who hands were balled into fist on his sides his back turned to them.

Karin stood her back against the empty wall besides the door watching them tell Sasuke what they found out. In reality, Karin hadn't even tried to look for her because she didn't care. She hated Sakura and she hope she wouldn't show up in the house again.

"I'll look for her myself." Sasuke stated finally turning around to face them and without another word he left his office leaving them inside. Karin couldn't help but feel envious of the girl, because she would give anything to be in her place.