Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Sorry that this was quite late.

Thank you to the new reviewers (and of course, the people who have reviewed since the beginning).

Rated M. Right now, it's for swearing.

Chapter 14

I'll be Stronger

(o)(O) 1:23pm –, 1 days later (O)(o)

Sakura woke up a second time – or was it her third?

She felt lax and she had a crick in her neck; she turned to the side she figured would alleviate the uncomfortable feeling. When she turned to her left, she met red eyes.

"Hello" the voice was smooth and toneless. His hair was jet black – like they'd poured black paint over it and left it – and his features were set into an almost grim line, "You must be Sakura"

His tone was polite, and she immediately though that it must be Sasuke – not because he was polite, but just because the tone was exactly like Sasuke's – but she noticed that his hair was longer, just enough that it passed a little lower than his shoulders.

He seemed to notice the slow direction of her gaze and swept it back; she thought that he might have been self-conscious about it, but then she looked back to his stony features and she reminded herself that with a look like that, it must not really bother him.

She might have been silent for too long than was polite because he stated again, "Can you speak?" It might have been a rude comment meant to goad her intelligence, but she didn't think much of it –goddamn it, she was just too tired for this at the moment.

"Yes" she finally said, and her voice sounded almost gravely and especially tired because the man shifted and waited for her to speak – he was on the chair Naruto had used earlier when he had been talking to her. For a brief moment, she wondered where Naruto was, then her brain immediately backtracked and made her wonder where Sai was, and where Sasuke was, and Hinata too. Again, Sakura knew she was being rude– her mother wouldn't have liked that – and she attempted a few words: "You must be Sasuke's brother, Itachi." She paused, then continued, "We met your wife."

There –she noticed – his grim look was back, and the only reason she realized that it was more severe than the one he had seconds before was because of the slight lowering of his brows and the sudden notice of the frown lines cornering his mouth, "Yes, my Temari" and in the way he'd said that would have made her laugh at how familiar it was, so much so, that it was painful.

"Yes" she said again, and wasn't sure where the conversation was going, but at the same time, she knew: "We apologize for…" she wasn't sure what for yet and for a second, her heart just about stopped because she suddenly remembered that she had heard screaming, back at that mansion, that place, that place, that place, that place…

Itachi allowed a simple nod and his tone was a dead pan suddenly, "That's interesting, I would have thought that they'd give you some shock training." He seemed to look around the room, but Sakura was really just trying to get her heart starting again. When his gaze was back to her, he looked disinterested, "It's another problem with the system."

Now she was sure he was goading her.

"As expected though-"

"Look" she cut in, but her voice wasn't quite as strong as she would have liked it to be, "We did our best, and if you want honesty right now, since this place seems to fuckin' lack it, Sasuke told us to do it, and if you want to complain, look for him."

She almost immediately regretted it because, if evidence didn't evade her, he was a ninja and was a part of a very elite section of the ANBU, and she was a fresh analyst out of the institute, unattended and weak in a hospital.

He smirked – and god, it was so painfully similar to Sasuke's.

Then a knife – it was a kunai - was at her throat and she was damn well sure that her heart had started up again.

"I'll try not to blame you right now, but it's a little hard to get an audience with Tsunade and Naruto's really the last one I need to speak to. And Sasuke" his look was solid again, "Of course, is unavailable."

Then he retracted the weapon and sat back down like it had meant absolutely nothing – she could have bit out that he'd essentially just threatened a woman sitting in a hospital bed, but she remained silent and stared; she was sure that her eyes were still wide and dilated.

Itachi's lips curled downward and his attention was lost to her.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Naruto spilled in.

"Oi, bastard, why are you here?"

A pause. "Of course, I just came to see the revered analyst trained by Tsunade herself." The raven-head's words were all sharp corners and polite intonations.

"Yeah, well, I don't know if I'd trust you with your completely deranged-oh, Sakura!" She felt the bed dip and suddenly large blue eyes filled her field of view, "I'm glad you're awake again! I told the nurse that she'd given you way too many drugs, but I'm glad you're ok and – oi, you bastard, you're still here?"

Naruto's tone seemed to shift and she wasn't sure when exactly he was talking to her or when he was talking to Itachi.

"Naruto?" she managed out, voice still a little hoarse, whether from yelling or having a blade dug into her throat for a fraction of a second, she wasn't quite sure.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine in no time" and he turned away so all she could see was blonde hair. There was the sound of rustling and she could see him changing the bag filled with a clear liquid to her side. "The next batch of drugs should kick in soon. I guess you'll need to rest again, not that I have a say in this. Tsunade did her best with the healing."

He made a dismissing gesture before she could ask him questions – no – form questions for him to answer; pressing ones, she was sure.

"Still here of course." There was that drawl again from behind Naruto.

"Yah, I get that, but I think we should take this talk outside…bastard"

"Really, I don't see how my little brother can stand you. Your retorts are absolutely eloquent"

"Well, when I'm angry, I also like to pick on girls in the hospital"

"Really? I never would have guessed"

"Your wife is fine. Didn't you hear that she replaced herself with a clone jutsu when that ninja attacked? There's no point to this"

"I thought you'd want to take this outside? It's quite rude to bring up personal matters in the presence of another patient" A slight creak and Sakura assumed it was the door. "Now, why don't we take that walk and I'll talk about your team's incompetency"

She heard the door shut behind her and wanted to call him back in, but ended up looking to the roof to try to count the tiles that neatly decorated it, despite the whiteness all around her.

She was sure that she fell asleep when she saw Sasuke in the distance, and he was smiling and waving to her.

(o)(O) 6:43pm – the previous day (O)(o)

Hinata was sure this time that Sasuke wasn't the only one in the house. She could hear more than one set of footsteps; this one was slightly heavier and the voice was rougher.

The footsteps stopped at her door. She heard the male hum in front of her –separated by the door of course - and she automatically hopped a step backwards, skidding a bit, once again reaching for that non-existent kunai and instead, had to compensate by crouching a little lower and holding her fists up.

There was a click of what she presumed to be the lock and when the door opened, she flew at him with a flat palm.

"Shit" and the male dodged by a hair breadth and backed up.

She immediately made a dash around him.

She heard a soft swear and those footsteps were following her.

"Hey!"

Hinata only sped up, rounding a corner, kicking open a door to land into a simple looking kitchen. She spotted another door to the side and broke through it with her elbow –chakra powered as well – and made a right. Behind her, she could hear the wall smash and another, "Hey, I said wait! There's no point in running!" but she was already making a left into another twisting corridor and suddenly, she was slowing down.

"Wha-?" she began slowly, eyes growing larger and oh god, please don't tell me this is it and oh god.

The footsteps behind her slowed and she could hear the person's harsh pants – or maybe it was just her breathing harder.

"I know this place. This place, it's-"

"Otogakure. Home sweet home, I know"

She finally turned to the person who'd been chasing her.

(o)(O) 3:23pm –, 1 days later (O)(o)

Sakura was shaken awake by large arms which easily hoisted her into a wheelchair. Her gaze shifted from disoriented to double vision and she fought hard to not vomit at the sudden change of pace. Her hands felt dry and they shook as she positioned them to lean on the hand rest of the chair. She closed her eyes and opened them again, feeling only slightly less disoriented; the double vision was still there.

"Lady Tsunade requests an audience with you immediately." Sakura couldn't see the person's face that was strolling her out of the room and down sterile corridors, but she didn't think to because craning her neck was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was silence on her end as she was eventually pulled into another room, empty, except for Tsunade sitting on one of the beds shuffling through a stack of papers threatening to spill off her lap, and Naruto pacing in front of her, hands rubbing his face in a strictly annoyed motion.

Tsunade looked up. "Good, you're here" she looked to the person behind her, Sakura assumed, "put her there. Yes, good. That's all. Thanks."

The analyst was stationed in front of the older woman, and the large hands that had been by her side disappeared. She heard the sound of the door shut behind her, an eerie creak.

Tsunade was the first to speak, lips pursed and hands crinkling the papers she was holding, "How come we didn't notice this before? This is stupid and so rookie and-"

"What is?" Sakura croaked; the double vision really wasn't helping.

Naruto was beside her in a second to steady her, then he folded himself neatly at her side, look mirroring the other's.

Tsunade frowned deeply, "You've been tracked"

"I thought that was obvious. You keep trackers on all ANBU"

"No, Sakura, you were being tracked by someone other than us"

"I-what?"

"See, it was obvious. Mission reports shouldn't have been neglected. Information can't be left out!" Tsunade thrust the papers into the analyst's hands, and in seeing the slow way Sakura was trying to make sense of the words, she pulled it away and said, "Your name. They've been tracking it. That's how Itachi's house was found."

"How?"

And Naruto, who had been biting his nails, cut in, "At the airport. Remember? There was that man who was waiting for us with the limo. Our names were on that board he was carrying."

Sakura only stared at him.

"Sakura, our names were on the board. We're ANBU, it'll put us in danger if our names are so freely exploited like that. Not only can they track our family, but also track us. Trackers, Sakura, and not those machines that we keep in our pockets, but through a vast database that can find us anywhere at any time. Something the ANBU can do – exclusively them." He took a deep breath, "Of course, I-I didn't think anything was wrong because it's normal that when people get out of the airport, they should have a ride, and the only way they can be found is if the names of the people are held up…but that shouldn't have been the case for us. They should have already known who we were and should have known how we looked."

Sakura added quietly, "But if we're – I'm – being tracked, then why would they need to put the sign up in the first place? If they already knew my name…"

"Confirmation" Tsunade cut in. "They can match a name to a face in their database, but nothing confirms it better than people walking to a sign with their name on it." The blonde woman continued, almost quietly now, "But they would have known the risks of doing that. We would find out eventually, but not quick enough" and Tsunade was looking at her again, "Ok, we're going to rewind Sakura. Do you remember the way the man had looked who was driving you, Naruto and Sai back to the ANBU headquarters?"

She paused, and Sakura tried to look through her fogged mind for something, but her head really hurt and she could only bite her lip, "I don't. I mean, I remember that he said we had an audience with you-"

"And he shouldn't have known that because we went through our database and it said that Dou, the person who was supposed to pick you up at the airport, hadn't received the message from me, nor did he even know who you three were."

Sakura tried to breathe, but Naruto did it for her, "Shit. Sai usually reminds us about keeping our names"

"And he was quite sloppy this time" Tsunade agreed and her lips were back to being pursed, "Sakura, try thinking before that, in Amegakure when you had that lead on Hinata. What happened there?"

"I- I" and Naruto was looking at her earnestly, and they both looked so tired: "I spoke to Hinata, but she already knew my name and she just wanted to talk." Sakura added quietly, "She gave me a USB. It was code named the Attraction Effect."

There was a crack and Sakura looked up too quickly – for a chilling second, she was distorted – and she noticed how easily the iron part of the bed had just dented under Tsunade's grip; malleable and susceptible to her anger, "And where's that USB now, Sakura?"

"I hid it in one of my sweater pockets. It's back at our base."

Tsunade cursed and made a note on a piece of paper, mumbling to herself, "We'll find that"

Naruto answered, "Hinata was the guinea pig." He continued as Tsunade stood and took her turn to pace, "We thought Hinata was getting intel on names, specifically yours, so more resources were pooled to try to catch her, leaving a lot of gaps. We assumed that since Hinata had been at the mansion, she had backup who were following her to get to Itachi."

"And I thought," Tsunade added, "Why would she possibly want Itachi? And then it made sense. Not her, but Orochimaru? It's always been power for him"

This is sounding so much more dangerous.

And Tsunade looked at her, "I used to work with Orochimaru, hell, we were once partners in the ANBU. But, away from that now. Evidence had been pointing to Hinata. That she'd figured out your name. That she'd been the one to send that driver. That she'd been the one to launch the attack on Itachi. But, someone's using her as a convenient distraction."

"At first," Naruto cut I bitterly, eyes a darker shade of blue then she remembered, or maybe it was because his face was lowered with eyes barely visible, "We thought it was Sasuke. I mean he's missing right now-"

"Wait, Sasuke's missing?"

The blonde continued and Sakura could have yelled at him, but he really did look tired, "And though he hadn't been with us for a while, there wouldn't have been a point. Why trick the ANBU when he's using it to find her? We scratched him off the list then." A sardonic laugh, so painful, Sakura thought he was crying, "But now, he's missing, and he's definitely on the list now, a different one though. And then it made sense, you know, but I think it's worse this time, because Sai did it. And now, he's missing too."

"What?" the analyst started slowly, and her hands were shaking harder now on the wheelchair rest, "What? How?" but the gears in her head were already moving.

Naruto said exactly what she was thinking, "He had also graduated at the top of Tsunade's institute. Orochimaru disappeared a year after. The year following, Sai advanced to the ANBU combat squad, working side by side with Gai, my trainer. Few years later, I'm on his team. Sasuke joined shortly. Hinata was then put under our protection. A few months after, Sai had unlimited access to all ANBU files. He had advanced high in Tsunade's books, so of course he had that privilege. Year later, and Hinata's missing, her information cleanly wiped off the database. You join then and by that time, Sasuke's lost it. Sai's in the best position. We're not functioning properly and with a new rookie on our team and the ANBU paying so much attention to Hinata because a scroll's missing, he's able to send your name to whoever he's working for; it's Orochimaru. They can then track our every move through you. Remember that phrase, 'we stick together?"'

Sakura didn't want to listen to this, but she watched as Naruto let out another choking laugh and then, he was shrouding his face away from the light through the window she had never paid attention to, "The worst part is, Hinata couldn't talk to us because we would have told Sai. Sai had his laptop with him all the time. We never questioned it. He wrote out our mission reports –changed them to fit the story. The mansion was burnt down. Field analysts could get nothing from it. No Orochimaru, no video feeds, no bodies, but yours, mine, and Temari's. Itachi found us like that and he hasn't said much about the incident since."

Tsunade sat back down and cradled her head in her arms and Sakura thought that this must have been a thousand times more painful for her because she'd never seen such a proud woman look so pale.

(o)(O) 6:50pm – the previous day (O)(o)

"You" Hinata said, and she backed up.

She knew that short hair, almost cropped with raven locks at the front. Dark eyes so black and expressionless that she immediately felt hopeless. "Hinata" he said, and his smile was fake and so wrong.

"Sai" she managed out weakly, "I thought…"

"That I'd be too busy to make sure you weren't getting yourself into trouble." He deadpanned, "No, I think Sasuke agrees that you cause far too much trouble for someone so tiny. I think it's about time you went back to your room so he doesn't go on another rampage to keep you locked up in a cage somewhere" he looked to the roof in a semblance of an eye roll.

In that time, she turned and raced for one of the large windows. She rammed into it and bounded off like a fly, landing into Sai's arms and when he whispered into her ear, she finally felt the chills, "I'm starting to think you like the chase. Oh yeah, the windows are chakra proof so you can't break it unless you get a boulder." He let her sit down on the floor because she couldn't quite control her legs and he let her down in such a mock show of gentleness.

"There you are" she turned and she was sure she got whiplash from just her hair alone. Sasuke was dressed casually, t-shirt, black pants, and his eyes were so soft and happy when he saw her that she could almost drown in them, "Running away again I see."

And she yelled because she was sure she could hate him more that way, "You hypocrite. Hypocrite! Hypocrite!"

She wasn't sure how much longer she'd screamed at him because Sai had backed away and she was suddenly warm and wrapped and safe, like a baby again, and Sasuke was telling her that it was ok if she said that because for once, he'd try to listen to her.

Hours, or seconds later –she wasn't sure - she told him that she'd like to see Naruto (because he was so bright and pretty and strong and everything he embodied was good), but Sasuke said no.

Sorry it took so long. I had to go through old reviews to even draw up the inspiration to get this done, so thank you, they really do help. Hope it wasn't too blocky. I'm a little tired right now, sorry.

Reviews are loved.