So, this chapter officially marks the longest story I've ever written. Proud moment, proud moment. Again, thank you for your wonderful reviews! And again, I'm going to apologize for the delay, but life comes before this story unfortunately! I really wish I could just stay at home and write all day X3

-EM

"The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you."

-John E. Southard

My Darkness: Chapter XIV

Be Grateful

xx

Sakura hesitated in front of the gates, sparing a look to Sasuke who was effortlessly holding his emotionless mask up. She did wonder though, if his outward mask portrayed the same feeling of calmness that he felt inside or if he was just very good at looking so nonchalant.

She knew the answer to that.

They were both going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble when Tsunade got to them, how could he not be the slightest bit worried? If anything, he should be panicking more than she was; he was already on an intense kind of probation and disobeying orders was not going to bode well for him.

Sasuke was the one to break her train of thought and started walking first, a surprised Sakura followed after him, shocked to see how eager he was to listen to Tsunade rant on about how stupid and irresponsible the mission had been. Not eager exactly, because Sasuke would never be mildly excited about anything, but he was prepared for the wrath that was sure to become both of them.

Well, she sure as hell wasn't.

Tsunade could be terrifying, even Naruto said that sometimes the Hokage scared him even more than Sakura did. Apprentice or not, Tsunade wouldn't let her get away from her punishment unscathed. Hell, she might even get it worse than Sasuke just because the Hokage felt like Sakura should have known better.

Sakura knew that it would take long for Tsunade to sniff them out and force them to join her in her office, and for once in her life she was ungrateful to be right. There were five shinobi altogether, stern eyes and tense muscles approached them, hesitating immensely around Sasuke as if he might blow up in their faces.

Even with an extra guard on him, Sasuke still seemed perfectly fine. Sakura on the other hand felt like she was sweating bullets. She'd never had to be escorted to the Hokage's office before, and trying to prepare herself for the scolding of her life on top of that was starting to kick her ass mentally.

They stood in front of her desk as the Hokage watched them both with level eyes. But Sakura knew that the level stare was only a cover up for the rage that was brewing behind it. She was pissed... she was very, very pissed.

Shizune stood in the corner, eyeing Tsunade like she was a time bomb just waiting to explode, and clutching Tonton to her chest like she was her shield. Things were not going to be good.

"Irresponsible. Rash. Ignorant. Foolish. There is a long list of things I could say to you, Sakura Haruno but I know that none of them would matter because given a second chance you would do the exact same thing." She wanted to retaliate and defend herself, but it was the truth, and so she stood still and quiet.

"You were to report straight back to me, Pakkun relayed my orders, did he not?" She rose a challenging brow, daring them to tell her that she was wrong and that they'd heard nothing.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura said, nodding her head once. She was going to have to be extra respectful if she wanted to get out of this with minimal punishment. Some form of punishment was inevitable, but maybe she could lessen the brunt of it with respect!

Tsunade turned to Shizune and gestured to Sasuke. "Wait outside with him in the hall." Shizune nodded and Sasuke followed her obediently to the door.

Maybe not. Maybe her punishment was going to terrible respect or not.

"Please explain to me why you thought it would be a good idea not to inform anyone of this. Why you attacked Kiba for information and left the village with someone who is still a big glaring question mark to us, Sakura. I've spent a long time trying to figure it out and still I've come up with nothing."

When Tsunade was really, extremely mad, she wouldn't throw tables and yell and scream, that was only when she was frustrated and upset. But when she was mad, Tsunade usually didn't yell. She spoke sternly, and with a look that could kill, but there were no projectiles or death threats. Because if you got the Hokage mad enough, you knew that some kind of terrible punishment was coming that would make an outburst look like a picnic.

"I wanted to save Tamaki, Hokage-sama. He was the mission target and it was my fault he was taken."

"Kiba told me about the attack." She muttered like it was a trivial matter. "Regardless of whose fault it was, you never should have taken Sasuke with you. You should have returned to me and we would have set up a team to retrieve him. Putting your life at risk accomplished nothing."

It was ironic that she was charging Sakura to save Sasuke from himself, and yet was now reprimanding her for taking him with her on her bizarre and irresponsible mission to retrieve the tea farmer. She was going to need to tread carefully.

"We saved Tamaki, Tsunade! How can you say we accomplished nothing?" She argued in a louder than she'd intended, instantly recoiling at the sight of her mentor's flared nostrils.

"You disobeyed my orders, Sakura. Purposely and without a valid cause. You know had you asked I would have said yes. I would have sent you with more protection." She scoffed and swirled her chair around, staring out the window. "Instead Sasuke decides to join you, violating his probationary terms. It's going to cause an upset with the council."

Sakura felt something clench around her heart. The council was ruthless, especially with Homura and Koharu at its head. It was obvious enough that neither of them trusted Sasuke, and this would give them cause enough to suspect that he was a loose canon; to deem him unsafe in Konoha.

"I made Sasuke go with me." Sakura said, clenching her hands into fists behind her back. "I threatened him, and made him go with me."

Tsunade whirled back around again, her brows knit together. "You what?"

"Sasuke's strong. I needed his powers and I needed to leave as soon as possible. He wanted to return and report our findings, but I made him leave. Don't blame him for this."

"Though I realize that the brunt of the blame falls on you, Sasuke isn't going to get out of this unscathed. He is more than capable of making his own decisions, and while you may have threatened him, he was free to do what was right. Instead he chose to follow you. Curious, that."

"I made him go with me." She repeated, meeting the Hokage's eyes.

Even if she didn't really make him, he'd tagged along because she was going in the first place. If she had listened to orders, if she hadn't been stupid and reckless neither of them would be in this mess. She would have received a slap on the wrist, some major downtime from missions and then it would be done with.

Tsunade ran a hand over her face and sighed, making a shooing motion at her apprentice. "I don't want to deal with you right now. Get to the hospital."

"Tsunad-"

"Go."

Without another word, Sakura left, a startled expression on her face. Either she wanted to speak with Sasuke first or Sakura was getting her punishment postponed. Which she didn't mind, but then being sent to the hospital? That wasn't much of a punishment at all. She practically lived there when the time called for it, so what did Tsunade have in mind?

xx

"I want to be furious, and I am, but not in the right way." Because Sakura was doing exactly what she needed to in order to save Sasuke. She lied to her own mentor in order to keep him out of trouble and if that wasn't progress she didn't know what was. However, the fact that she had openly disobeyed the rules and the fact that Sasuke had willingly gone with her was not to be excused.

Shizune nodded, letting Tonton down to the floor and watching with a slight smile as the pig trotted around. "I know what you're thinking."

The Hokage sighed and waved her hand at her assistant. "Let him in. Might as well get some yelling over and done with."

Sasuke didn't hear everything she was sayi- yelling. But from the look on her face and the vein that was protruding above her temple inclined him to believe that none of it was good. She would stop occasionally, her nostrils flared as she glared at him with eyes that he knew would make others tremble. But he wouldn't tremble; he never trembled.

That was for the weak and Sasuke Uchiha was anything but weak.

Except when Sakura was involved.

Which infuriated him to no end, knowing that he could take an entire army on himself and yet be proven weak and at the mercy of a woman.

"If what Sakura says is true, though I find it increasingly hard to believe, then I will speak to the council."

The mention of the pink-haired kunoichi caught his attention, and he found himself trying to listen. "What did she say." Not a question. Because an answer was never optional, it was demanded.

"She explained that none of this was your fault. That it was her decision and her decision alone to go after Tamaki, and she forced you to go with her. She said she threatened you."

Sasuke nearly scoffed at the idea of him feeling threatened by Sakura. Weak, yes, but never threatened. He wondered if there was some deep purpose to her saying this, or if she was trying to make herself feel powerful. Was he meant to go along with what she was saying or should he set the Hokage straight.

The Hokage smirked then and nodded to Shizune. "Your punishments will be dealt with tomorrow. For now," she stood up and motioned him over. "Hold out your hands."

He grimaced as the Hokage fastened two thin chakra blocks on his wrists. That was punishment enough in his mind; not being able to flex his chakra when he wanted to, incapacitated if there was an attack. He was always on alert; there was no way to feel completely safe, not with the life he was leading.

"It's just to give the elders peace of mind." She said, sitting back down in her seat and shooing him away. "Get out of my sight."

He wasn't going to make her ask him twice. If his punishment was being delayed, he wanted to stay as far away from Tsunade as possible until it was. But what was he going to do? Run from her until tomorrow? There would be anbu guarding his house again, and as much as he knew he could do it, there would be no fighting them. At least not with chakra blocks on.

That didn't matter though. What mattered was that he gave Sakura a piece of his mind. Why had she done that? He didn't want her protection, and she shouldn't have given it without asking. He could take care of himself; if he hadn't proven that over the years then he was doing something wrong.

Damn her for making him feel like a child that needed her help. Never again. He should have set the Hokage straight when he had the chance. But saying so now would do nothing.

It wasn't supposed to work that way. She wasn't supposed to be the one protecting him; he had made it part of his duty to be that person to her. To be the one keeping her out of harm's way. How was he doing a good job if Sakura was having to save his ass?

There was no doubt in his mind that he should have stopped her from going, but he knew that his words would have had no effect on her. She was too strong minded for that. There was also no way that he could have let her go off on her own. If anything that would have only made his return less welcome by the Hokage.

It was all too complicated to be dealing with for one woman.

xx

Sakura was surprised to find that she wasn't even given the dirtier jobs in the hospital. Instead, she was sent to her office to sort through some of the paperwork that had accumulated in her absence.

She still hadn't adjusted to having her own office. Having people knock on her door for help. She had a spot of power and yet she'd still felt intimidated by the other ladies in the hospital. She'd hid in a closet for crying out loud.

The paperwork seemed like punishment enough, after she'd glanced at most of it. She was going to have to put all of the records on file, and then go to each of the rooms on her floor and put the folders in the corresponding slots on the doors and then check up on each of the patients and record their progress. The entire process took about four hours; long enough for Sakura to wish that Tsunade would be feeling merciful tomorrow. It may just be paperwork, but if Tsunade decided that she was banned from missions, if tomorrow was going to mean the dirty jobs in the hospital, she would take the paperwork any day.

Sakura had been banned from missions too often lately, and it wasn't good for her. She was anbu. And as much as she loved being in the hospital, she needed to be out kicking ass.

Not that she'd done much of that lately. The only time she'd been prepared to fight Sasuke had decimated an entire hallway of people. Without even batting an eye. It was almost embarrassing to admit that she had been truly afraid of him when that happened. It didn't matter that he was doing it to protect her, the fact that he wielded the power to massacre such a large group of people without even thinking about it was intimidating.

Everything about him intimidated her. The memories she had of him were intimidating; the looks he cast her way, intimidating, his presence intimidating. She shouldn't be letting herself feel like that around him. She wanted him to be scared of her so he knew that there would be no fucking around with her emotions this time. Not again.

But it had been happened already, hadn't it? They'd been so close too many times, his breath had tickled her skin, she'd been close enough to feel his heartbeat and those moments had been enough to send her mind reeling with possibilities and consequences.

With a frustrated sigh she let her head fall to her desk, ignoring the sharp pain as it made contact and almost laughing at herself for letting it happen. It was a jolt back to reality; like getting someone to pinch her. But instead she was letting her head slam on her desk.

Reality was what she was going to have to face tomorrow when Tsunade's real claws came out. She still needed to inform Tsunade of Orochimaru's involvement with those men. With another frustrated sigh she forced herself up; the Hokage would even been more angry because she'd been reluctant to tell her earlier today. She should have, it would have been the clear and obvious thing to do but the wrath from her disobeying orders seemed bad enough. Now she was going to have to deal with twice the anger tomorrow.

Walking through the hospital made Sakura feel like she was parading around naked. It was clear that word had travelled already and she did her best to ignore the curious glances that the other women shot her way. She just wanted to get home and sleep until tomorrow came, those women could stuff their judgmental thoughts in a very uncomfortable place.

Just a quick trip home and she would be away from their watchful eyes.

Of course, a short trip with no disturbances would have been far too easy. There had to be someone waiting for her when she left the hospital; someone with a stern face and eyes that made her want to turn and run back inside.

Sakura stopped in front of him, hoping that he would say something, do something other than stare at her with that calculating gaze.

"You told the Hokage that you forced me to go." He said suddenly. She scoffed and started walking again. She hadn't been home in almost two weeks, and she knew that her warm bed would be beckoning to her. "Why." He demanded.

"You know, I wouldn't be totally against a thank-you." Sakura muttered, continuing on the path to her house. She knew he was following her, and she could only imagine the looks people were going to be giving them at the sight. The women of Konoha listened to enough rumors to know the state she had been in with Sasuke when they left for the mission. Seeing them together would give them a lot to talk about.

"I didn't want your help." He said in a low, angry voice that made her want to smack him.

She whirled around and would have hit him in the jaw with her fist had he not moved in time. "And what makes you think that I wanted yours?" She countered, taking an angry step towards him. "You gave me no choice, and so I'm not going to give you any either."

"I was saving your life, Sakura. It's completely different."

"It is not!" She yelled, advancing again and making him take a startled step back. "If I hadn't lied to her you wouldn't have been sent away with chakra blocks on. You would be in a cell! You would have a meeting with Ibiki and probably the council again! And do you know what would happen? They would say that you're untrustworthy. That you're just going to keep breaking the rules and I'm not going to be there to get them to spare you." She hissed, jabbing a finger into his chest. "For once in your life, Sasuke, be thankful for what I did and move on."

She froze after she said that, a painful memory blinding her vision and blocking out all other senses.

"Sakura..." he whispered. "Thank you for everything."

No, she didn't want any thanks from him anymore. Thank yous from him only led to pain and heartbreak. She knew that he rarely ever said it to anyone; he didn't want to be in debt with them, didn't want them to have something to hold over his head. Her eyes landed on his, fury forgotten, and wondered for a brief moment what he would say to her now if he left again. She still didn't understand why he'd thanked her the first time, and didn't even want to think about there being a second time. Naruto was kind of happy to have him back, and though she didn't really want to admit it she was as well.

Sasuke watched her with calm eyes, like he was waiting for her fury to disperse, which was probably the better idea. With a few calming breaths, she dropped her hand and took a step away, shaking her head. "You know, sometimes you need to realize when you need help, and accept it when it comes."

She turned away from him then, and wasn't surprised at all when he didn't follow her or make any more protests. She like to think that he had been the intimidated one in that scenario, at least for once.

All she wanted now was her bed and sleep. No Sasuke, no Tsunade, no nothing but her. She wanted to be selfish for a little while and focus on what she wanted.

But what she wanted was relive the moment with Sasuke when they were honest. When she'd been in his arms and didn't feel completely terrified about it. No, that wasn't completely true. She was still terrified, but only because she felt so comfortable there. How did he go from the flash of gentleness she'd seen to this ungrateful twit?

xx

"Soon." He muttered, watching the candle cast flickering shadows against the dark walls of the room.

"How soon." His associate hissed, growing more impatient at each passing day. If they wanted to succeed at all they were going to need to act fast. Konoha had already discovered and destroyed the brunt of their Second Division.

"When he's ready." The first man said back, still completely calm despite the enraged state of his accessory. That's all he was. An accessory that he would gladly dispose of when his usefulness ran its course. "Good things come to those who wait."

The other man looked unsteady on his feet as the imfamous Sharingan landed on him. It wasn't just the eyes either, it was the man behind them. He was twisted, corrupt, and though he thought he methods just, they were anything but. Yes, they shared the same views, but there were other ways of going about it. Ones that didn't rely on an eighteen year old boy. Powerful or not, he was still impressionable, and risking the prospect of someone changing his mind was too much.

It could ruin everything they'd been building.

If he had any say in the matter, they would drag that idiot back under their watch until the time was right. It was careless of them to let him out of their sight. Ready or not, they needed to start moving or it was going to be too late.

xx

"While we are free to choose our actions,

we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions."

-Stephen R. Covey

xx

Ah, it's kind of short and is rather pointless until the end. BUT HEY, THE NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD BE GOOD, NE?

Oh snap, I can only imagine how terrifying Tsunade would have been. AHH.
And who are these mysterious men? WUT DEY WANT?

Sincerely,

Your Faithful Reviewer

I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO RIDICULOUSLY LONG. SORRY. SEW SAHRRY.

-EM