A/N:

Hajimemashite and Konnichiwa! Welcome to the newest chapter of The Dance of Fate! I'm sorry for the really late update but I had been pretty busy with school and my semifinals just finished. And also our electricity just got fixed… Okay so it was like our electricity goes on and off every now and then for 4 freaking days… so please don't sue me yet… Anyway… thanks to all the readers and reviewers who had been pretty patient in waiting for my new chapter… Anyway… I hope you'll like this new chapter… Please read and review! Constructive criticism is welcome!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto… (sighs)

Chapter 21: Her Friends and the Unanswered Questions

Sakura was walking quietly back to her apartment. She was too immersed in her own thoughts that she hadn't felt the pair of eyes, make that pair of onyxeyes, watching her every move.

She was thinking how she would be able to hide the truth from her two other teammates, namely Sai and Sasuke. She sighed as she thought of ways how she would escape their interrogation, especially Sasuke's. She knew how stubborn he could get. Before she could walk any further, something caught her eye that made her inner self curse loudly. She should have noticed it right away but she had been careless.

She threw a kunai to said thing that caught her eye and that said thing blasted into ink. She sighed yet again before calling out to the person that had been watching her. "Sai, I know you're there," she said as a boy of her age jump down from the roof where he had been.

"You should have been more observant, Ugly," Sai said as he put his fake smile on. "If it weren't for that mouse then you wouldn't even be able to notice me," he even added. He now knew why Sakura was acting like this and why she disappeared for weeks. He already knew what the Hokage and the older ninjas had been hiding from his age group.

Sakura flinched the slightest bit as Sai stopped fake smiling and she realized what this was all about. Of course he would know sooner or later. He's a freaking Anbu after all. "So what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked as if she still didn't have a clue of what this was about.

"Don't play dumb. You might be a hag but that doesn't change the fact that you're smart," Sai replied seriously. "You know what this is all about so stop pretending that you don't," he hissed.

Sakura was confused by Sai's behavior. Since when did he become this emotional? But then again, constant exposure to Naruto must have had an effect on him. "Since when did you...?" Sakura kept her question hanging since she knew that Sai already understood it.

"Just now, I had my mouse follow you and Naruto when you were walking towards the Hokage tower," he explained briefly. He had this sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't even distinguish what it was. He had read in a book that people would normally experience that sometimes but he just couldn't tell if that was really what he was experiencing right now.

"Sai… I'm sorry for hiding this from you but…" Sakura said as tears started forming in her eyes, "I'm just not yet ready to tell this to you guys…" she finished.

"Then why did you tell Dickless about this but not me? Aren't friends supposed to tell their problems to each other?" he asked in a strangely hollow voice.

"S-sai…," Sakura choked out before sobbing a little. She then hugged Sai. Sai was startled by this foreign gesture but complied nonetheless. "I know that friends are supposed to tell their problems to each other but hell, even Ino-pig had no idea about this… And she's my best friend since I was young," she said as she let go of Sai.

"I understand," Sai said as he smiled his real yet awkward looking smile. "I respect your decision. Sorry for invading your privacy. And I won't tell this to anybody," Sai said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Unknown to the two of them, a certain person was watching them not from a far. That person could hear every word that they were saying and could see their every move. The only consolation for the two of them was that at least, they hadn't talk about Sakura's sickness straightforward or else, it would just bring much more problems to Sakura.

That certain person who was Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Sakura and Sai hug each other for a brief moment. But he let those thoughts slide for now seeing he still had more pressing matters to think about.

Sasuke stared intently at Sakura as she continued on walking back to her apartment. She knew that something was wrong since according to Naruto, Sai was an unfeeling bastard as the dobe so likely put it. He also knew that Sakura wouldn't just hug somebody so randomly like that, well not really randomly but it was more like it after all.

Sasuke then proceeded to making his way to Naruto since he heard that Naruto already knew what was going on with Sakura. He was quite frustrated as to why Naruto and even that Sai already knew what was happening while he was still left out in the dark. Why won't anybody tell him what the hell was happening?

Sasuke ran all the way to Ichiraku only to see that the dobe was not there. He cursed as he looked for Naruto's chakra signature. He also noticed that Naruto was now the one talking to Sakura. He ran to where they were as fast as he can and then proceeded to masking his chakra.

"What do you mean Sai already knows?" Naruto asked Sakura who just sighed. "When did he know? Who told him? If nobody told him, how did he know?" Naruto continued on bombarding Sakura with questions.

"He had his mouse follow us just before we went to shishou's office," Sakura said in a voice just above a whisper. "Naruto we have to stop discussing over this matter right now. For all I know he might be hearing what we're talking about right now. You knew how stubborn and stealthy he could be," Sakura said as she cast a wary look on her surroundings.

Sasuke who was hiding not far from them instantly froze. 'Were they talking of me?' he wondered. If they were talking of him, then why did they need to hide this thing from them?

"Sakura you knew that you have to tell him sooner or later. You're just breaking him much more than he already is. He loves you Sakura," Naruto replied quietly as Sakura stiffened at his last sentence.

"Naruto, of all the times to tell me that, why now? You know how much I suffered because of him and now that I knew that he already loves me, I'm already…" Sakura voice trailed as she stifled a sob. Great, now she was going to cry again.

Naruto hugged Sakura and rubbed her back. "I know it's going to be alright Sakura. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, it's the promise of a lifetime," Naruto said warmly.

Sakura couldn't help but cry a little more at what Naruto just said. Those six words were what he had said to her when Sasuke had gone to Sound and Naruto had his first attempt at bringing Sasuke back to Konoha. "You're right Naruto, everything will be alright," Sakura said as she let go of Naruto.

Sasuke tried to process everything that he had heard from the two of them. He knew that it was him they were talking about. He was quite shocked at how Sakura knew that he loves her. Sure, he knew Naruto would discover that sooner or later but Sakura? And then there was the fact that he had gotten so close to knowing what was wrong with Sakura but no, she just had to keep her sentence hanging just like that. Then he sighted Sakura and Naruto approaching his hiding spot. He had to get out of there right now and so he disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to appear in front of the Uchiha manor.

He had so many questions in his mind but he hadn't even found an answer to any of those questions. But he would, tomorrow on their mission, he would confront Sakura. He would have his answers even if he has to force them out of Sakura.

A/N:

Another chapter done! I hope you guys like it! Please read and review! Constructive criticism is welcome! Ja ne!