Chapter 21

Misunderstandings

True love is like a ghost; everyone talks of it, few have seen it.

-La Rochefoucauld

-xxx-

Kakashi fed a stick to the flickering campfire almost idly, watching the wood catch alight and listening to the crackles and snaps it produced.

They had set up camp where Sakura had fainted – mainly because she obviously wouldn't be able to travel any further, and it would be difficult to carry her back to Konoha – but also because Kakashi wanted to get a reading on Sasuke's companions before he let them anywhere near the village.

And a read on Sasuke.

Frankly, Kakashi didn't know what to make of the silent young man who had trailed Sakura into their midst. Sasuke had always been quiet, but it had never been so raw, so rife with pain and confusion.

But of course, this was Sasuke, so while Kakashi had noticed something was definitely wrong, and he was sure Naruto had too, he doubted anyone else had seen anything amiss.

He glanced towards the small group on the other side of the fire.

Sakura was curled in a sleeping roll, huddled beneath a blanket in the cooling night, still unconscious. Hinata had verified that she was in no immediate danger – her body just needed to recharge and replenish the electrolytes that had been consumed in the purge.

And it was on Hinata's orders that Sakura was being propped up, half-conscious, and given a glucose drink every hour.

Kakashi had expected her to stir during those sessions, but apparently now that Sakura was unconscious, her body had decided it was going to remain so for some time.

Sitting beside her was Naruto and, strangely, Sasuke. The Uchiha was still in chains – Kakashi's naturally cautious nature wouldn't allow him to dismiss that fact that this could be a ruse – but he had been permitted to approach the medic, though that was largely due to Naruto's intervention. After Sakura had been settled in a sleeping roll and the blonde had calmed somewhat, he had noticed the way that Sasuke was staring at the unconscious medic, seemingly oblivious to everything else – the chakra-draining shackles on his wrists, his protesting teammates, and the cloud of Shino's insects hovering above him, ready to pounce if he made a hostile move.

Naruto's exact words had been 'Let the bastard come over here – what's he going to do to her?'

Kakashi had thought of several rather grim replies to that question, but beyond his ingrained wariness and his ninja instincts that screamed at him that the enemy should never be allowed anywhere near a fallen comrade...there was still a small kernel of warmth for his former student. In spite of everything he'd done (and all he hadn't done), Kakashi wanted desperately to believe that Sasuke could be redeemed.

In some way, he envied Naruto's firm belief in Sasuke's rehabilitation – to the blonde, Sasuke's return had never really been in doubt, it was just a question of how and when. Naruto's firm, unending loyalty hadn't allowed him to even consider any other path.

But Kakashi had. More than once during this mission, he'd been forced to contemplate what he would do if Sasuke refused to let Sakura go, or if he tried to kill Naruto again.

Kakashi had spent much of the mission trying to prepare himself for the possibility that he might have to kill Sasuke. He had tried to beat all hope for Sasuke out of his mind, so that if it truly came down to it, he'd be willing to strike a fatal blow.

And now that he learned he didn't have to...the urge to give into that hope was far too tempting, far too blinding, to risk. He had to keep a clear, level head, and remind himself that Sasuke had willingly walked out on Konoha, had tried to kill Naruto, had held Sakura captive, and could very likely be playing them like fiddles for his own purposes.

But something told him the Uchiha wasn't. Something had happened – Kakashi didn't know what, yet – but something had happened, something that had chipped away at the foundation of Sasuke's being.

He just hadn't figured out what yet.

As he watched, Sakura tossed in her sleep, rolling over in her makeshift bed and dislodging the blanket from her shoulders. Naruto reached out, but surprisingly it was Sasuke who had moved first, snagging the corner of the blanket with one hand (the other was holding his shackles to ensure the heavy chain didn't bump against the sleeping woman) and lifting it up to her neck again.

His fingers brushed over the bare skin of her throat, apparently accidentally, as he withdrew, which didn't go unnoticed. Kakashi couldn't recall ever having seen Sasuke being so gentle with someone before, and that touch...that hadn't been the actions of the aloof, distant boy he'd known. Sasuke had never been fond of affectionate physical contact, so why had he stroked Sakura's neck? The action had seemed almost involuntary – the gesture of a man who unconsciously wanted contact.

Naruto appeared just as shocked as Kakashi felt. He was openly staring at the Uchiha, even though he wasn't saying anything. It was rare for Naruto to keep his silence, but at the same time, Kakashi wasn't really surprised. Sasuke had returned, yes, but there was still tension between him and Naruto.

And there would probably be tension for a very long time. No matter that Naruto had always believed in Sasuke, had always fought for his return to Konoha...Sasuke had still tried to kill him on multiple occasions, and Kakashi knew that you didn't just forget that kind of betrayal.

Naruto might be trying his best, but the white-haired man knew it would be a while before he felt completely comfortable in Sasuke's presence again.

At that point, Kakashi realised he was overanalysing his students to an unhealthy degree. He had wanted to wait for Sakura's story, to hear Sakura's account of her experience with Sasuke before he took any action regarding the accusations, but it seemed she wouldn't be waking up for quite a while.

So Kakashi would do the next best thing – he'd interrogate the people Sasuke had brought with him. He wanted to have some idea of the person Sasuke was now before he got the Uchiha's side of the story.

So he rose from his position in front of the fire and made his way to the small huddle of prisoners, closely guarded by Kurenai's students, and gestured for Sai to join him.

-xxx-

Sasuke was only dimly aware of Kakashi leaving the small circle around the fire. It was almost time for Sakura's next glucose drink, and he was already working on propping her up so Naruto could trickle the liquid down her throat.

The shackles made it rather awkward, but Sasuke managed to lift Sakura into a half-sitting position against his chest while the blonde gently opened her lips to accept the cup he pressed between them. Sakura made a faint noise, but didn't react beyond that.

It made Sasuke wonder just how exhausted she'd been. He should have noticed – why didn't she say something?

But Sasuke remembered her obvious joy at reuniting with the others, and knew she would have walked barefoot over razors without a complaint if she was seeing her friends on the other side.

Naruto watched the last of the glucose drink slide into Sakura's mouth, watched her throat work as she swallowed automatically, and leaned back, taking the cup away and gently releasing her chin. Her head sagged bonelessly against Sasuke's chest, and the Uchiha lowered her back to her bed with another show of surprising gentleness.

Naruto watched his former teammate and resisted the urge to bite his lip. Sakura was back, Sasuke was back, everything was as he'd always hoped it would be...so why did he feel so unsettled?

Maybe because, in all Naruto's imaginings, he had always seen himself as the one bringing Sasuke back, and this new scenario left him with the feeling that he'd somehow failed in his promise to Sakura. Maybe it was the idea that Sasuke had gathered a team – a team! – without them.

Or maybe it was because he could barely recognise his teammate in the man sitting beside him. Sasuke seemed so closed off, so defeated, that Naruto had to wonder what had happened.

But then something made him look towards Kakashi, only to find that his former teacher and Sai had taken the one Sakura had introduced as Suigetsu aside, apparently for interrogation.

Naruto wondered what they were interrogating him about. Sensing Naruto's gaze, Kakashi glanced towards him and gestured for him to join them.

Suigetsu watched the blonde approach and leaned back against a tree, staring wistfully at his sword, which was propped up carefully by the fire and well out of his reach. He wanted it back. He knew Konoha had a reputation for being soft, but it was still unsettling to be cut out of the group by a small contingent.

He knew that he was probably going to be interrogated. He wasn't surprised at that, but he was surprised that he was being interrogated so quickly. He would have thought they'd at least make an attempt at working Sasuke over first.

"So...what do you want to know?" he asked, trying to get it over and done with. It wasn't like he was holding any information he wanted to keep secret. Sound was gone, and he owed the Akatsuki no loyalty.

His plan was to make nice, show them how much of an asset he could be...and maybe they'd give him a shot at Kisame. He'd heard Konoha was after the Akatsuki, after all.

Kakashi told himself he was interrogating Suigetsu first because he wanted to get a feel for Sasuke's treatment of Sakura, and these strangers would be less likely to lie to him. They gained little benefit from making Sasuke out to be either better or worse than he appeared.

And if he kept telling himself that, he might be able to ignore the real reason – he was trying to avoid talking with Sasuke.

He started the interrogation with a small question, trying to gauge how cooperative Suigetsu was going to be.

"How long were you traveling with Sasuke?"

Seeing as Sakura had already told them his name, this seemed like the logical choice.

Suigetsu shrugged. "Maybe a week or so, give or take a day. Not too long."

Kakashi made a mental note of that – he hadn't been with Sasuke for the duration of Sakura's disappearance. The shinobi seemed cooperative, and though he knew it wasn't advisable to trust your instincts about someone in this situation, he needed to get an answer as to Sakura's treatment...even if that answer was a lie.

"Firstly...did you hurt Sakura?"

Suigetsu knew it probably wasn't appropriate for the gravity of the situation, but he couldn't help it – he burst into laughter.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed dangerously, obviously wondering how this situation was funny.

"Do you honestly think I'd be sitting here, alive and talking to you, if I'd hurt her?" Suigetsu asked. "Hell, no – Sasuke would have scattered my body parts across three different countries by now!"

Naruto was grinning. "I knew the bastard wasn't going to hurt her – I knew it!"

Kakashi opened his mouth to warn him against being hasty, but Suigetsu spoke first.

"You guys are interrogating me to find out if Sasuke hurt Princess?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow – the man was perceptive, he'd give him that.

"Princess?" Naruto echoed.

"Another nickname?" Sai asked, sounding nothing but innocently curious.

"Fits her a lot better than yours," Naruto muttered.

"Did he?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the two boys. "Hurt her? Our intelligence tells us that she was handed to Sasuke for a very specific purpose..."

"You're asking me if they had sex," Suigetsu said bluntly.

Steely silence on the part of the older ninja, awkward shuffling from Naruto, and an unsettlingly blank yet calculating gaze from Sai.

"They haven't," he assured them. "Unfortunately. Certainly would have cut down on some of the tension, and it probably would have done Sasuke a world of good."

Suigetsu could sympathize with the shocked faces around him – if an adolescent Sasuke had been anything like he was now, they were probably astounded at the idea that there would have been sexual tension anywhere near his vicinity.

So, being Suigetsu, he couldn't resist the urge to stir the pot a little more.

"Yeah, I was right there with you," he nodded at their stunned expressions. "He always had women hanging all over him in Sound – Karin, for example – but he never paid them any attention. Princess is the only one I've ever seen get under his skin."

He laughed – a short, self-deprecating laugh. "And all this time I thought he was either gay or had some sort of hormonal imbalance that resulted in a complete lack of a sex drive. But it turns out, he just has particular tastes. Real particular."

The expressions on his interrogators' faces were still rather skeptical, so Suigetsu decided to be honest. Because the sooner they realised none of the members of Team Hebi had harmed Sakura, the sooner he was out of the stupid chains.

"Look, I'm not going to say he treated her like a princess, because he didn't. He refused to let her go no matter how often she asked him, he had a habit of grabbing her arm and dragging her wherever he wanted to go, said some things to her that can only be classed as cruel...but he never hurt her, and he never allowed her to get hurt. It wasn't coincidence that after his battle with Deidara, Sasuke was beaten six ways to Sunday and Princess was only dusty and a little tired. And while I've seen him almost kill men who insult his family, Princess would scream curses down his ancestors for minutes at a time, and he never once hit her. He never even threatened to hit her."

Suigetsu grinned, and delivered his first solid impression of Sasuke and Sakura with more than a hint of smugness. "I piss him off, he wraps me with a snake and threatens to kill me. She pisses him off, and at most, she'll get a glare. If I tried to attack him, he'd grind me into the floor. She tries to attack him, all he does is tell her not to do it again. I'm not saying he's the nicest guy in the world, but if you're looking for the one who knocked Princess around, I guarantee you're looking at the wrong guy."

-xxx-

An hour later, and Kakashi had no idea what to think. Reports on Sasuke said one thing, the interrogations of his teammates said another.

"Sasuke wouldn't have hurt Sakura," had been Juugo's quiet reply to his questions. "He loves her."

Understandably flabbergasted and trying not to show it, Kakashi had asked him what he based that assumption on.

"You could see it when he looked at her, sometimes. It was like he wanted to smile, but was afraid to, in case something happened and took away his reason for smiling."

Karin had done her best to downplay the medic's importance to Sasuke, but even she had admitted Sasuke had never hurt Sakura.

However, Kakashi couldn't discount the possibilities that they were either making Sasuke out to be better than he was in an effort to appear better by association, or that Sasuke was deceiving his teammates about his true nature and intentions.

After all, none of them had been able to explain what had happened to cause Sakura's bruises, or why she was dressed in Sasuke's shirt. Hinata had also taken him aside and mentioned that, when she'd lain Sakura on the sleeping roll, the shirt had shifted and enabled her to catch a glimpse of what was clearly a bitemark, and Kakashi wanted an explanation for that as soon as possible. Bruises could be explained by a simple battle...but a bitemark? Either Sakura had grappled with her hypothetical opponent in very close quarters, or...

Kakashi was endeavouring not to think past that 'or'.

Naruto, for his part, hadn't been happier in weeks. He saw this as final, definitive proof of Sasuke's reform.

Now it was just a matter of time before Kakashi came around. He could tell by his former teacher's air that he wasn't ready to let go of his suspicion of Sasuke, and Sai...well, no one ever really knew what Sai was thinking.

But Naruto knew he had been right, and couldn't stamp out the cocky swagger in his steps as he walked back to the fire.

-xxx-

"What do you guys make of this?" Kiba asked in a low voice.

"S-Sasuke seems willing t-to return with us," Hinata said quietly. "Maybe he's r-realised he was wrong?"

"Yeah...but why now, of all times? Itachi's dead, and suddenly it's all 'hey, I'm gonna go back to Konoha'? So, what, he was always going to come back but decided to go to Orochimaru for the hell of it?"

"I think something happened," Shino commented. "Either during the battle with Itachi or afterwards, but something happened to make Sasuke decide to come back."

He glanced towards the dark-haired man at the fire, sitting vigil over the unconscious Sakura. "And I think Sakura may have had a lot of influence on his decision."

"But on the other hand, he could be acting docile in an attempt to lull us into a false sense of security," Yamato pointed out.

"B-But why?"

"At one point in time, he demonstrated a desire to kill Naruto," the older ninja said bluntly. "What better way than to get under his guard, then strike when he isn't prepared?"

Kiba and Hinata both looked startled, as though they hadn't really believed Sasuke would contemplate something so heinous, and while Shino's high collar and dark glasses hid his expression, Yamato thought it would have been a muted version of his teammates'.

It didn't really surprise him. In spite of their obvious suspicion, they had known and trusted Sasuke at one point, which meant they naturally wanted to believe the best of him.

He, however, had never known the Uchiha, except as an enemy, and he was not about to dismiss or ignore the possibility that this supposed 'return' could have very dark ulterior motives. Part of being a ninja was trying to think like your enemy, anticipating every possible plan.

But at the same time, he knew he would like to think that Sasuke had truly returned, if only for Sakura and Naruto's sake. At first, he had thought them nothing but nuisances, being with them an essential baby-sitting job, but he had found himself gradually becoming attached to them. Reluctantly fascinated by the way they accepted and adopted both he and Sai simply because they were part of Team 7.

And intrigued by the deep bonds of loyalty that tied both to each other so tightly. At first, Yamato had assumed Naruto and Sakura were in love, but over time he had realised they shared a deep friendship that was very easy to mistake for love, simply because few platonic bonds with the opposite gender became that strong.

Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi were bound in a team circle that was extraordinarily tight-knit, even among Konoha. A circle that they had expanded to include he and Sai without question. So it was for their sakes that Yamato found himself hoping that Sasuke was sincere.

And yet...some part of him couldn't help feeling that this scenario was a little too neat and easy.

-xxx-

Sakura opened her eyes, at first bewildered to find herself horizontal...until she realised she must have fainted.

The idea irritated her, and when she noticed the darkness enshrouding her and the campfire a short distance away, her irritation only deepened – she must have been out for a few hours, at least.

She smothered a yawn with her hand, started to roll over...

"Sakura!"

And nearly jumped out of her skin as someone bellowed her name right next to her ear and swept her into a hug.

While Sakura was touched by his affection, Naruto's aim was off – instead of flinging his arms around her shoulders, he'd caught her neck, and was currently throttling her.

"Na-ruto..." she wheezed painfully.

"You're choking her, idiot," came Sasuke's scathing comment.

"Oh, sorry."

Coughing a little to ease the sting in her lungs, Sakura still managed a grin. In retaliation, she looped her arms around Naruto's chest and squeezed hard enough to make ribs creak.

Sasuke watched them – Naruto smiling like a lunatic even as he pleaded with Sakura to let up, Sakura's grin partially hidden in the blonde's jacket, her shoulders shaking with laughter – and felt a swift stab of envy. Some part of him couldn't help but wonder how close Naruto and Sakura had become over the years...

And then Sakura's arm reached out and hauled him into the hug in the same manner she'd dragged Sai into the earlier one.

Naruto was surprised when Sasuke not only didn't shrug her arm off, but made no move to break the embrace. He allowed Sakura to settle his chin on her shoulder and, unless Naruto was mistaken, he actually leaned his cheek against her hair.

And Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that everything was finally alright. In spite of everything that was to come – Sasuke's trial, whatever punishment he was going to get for being a missing-nin – that this was how it was meant to be. The three of them, together again.

"Hey, she's awake!" came Kiba's shout.

Sakura moved back from Sasuke and Naruto as heads turned towards her. Hinata hurried over to check on her patient, as Yamato, Kakashi and Sai approached at a slightly more sedate pace. Kiba started to move towards the group, but Shino tapped him sharply in the back and reminded him that they had to guard the prisoners.

"You think she's okay?" Suigetsu asked the others, staring at the small knot of people around the fire.

"She'll be fine," Karin grumbled. "It was just a purge – I don't get why everyone's making such a fuss about it..."

Suigetsu smirked. Watching Sasuke root himself firmly to Sakura's side meant the white-haired man had a good idea where Karin's quiet bitterness was coming from.

So, of course, he couldn't resist the impulse to rub it in her face a little more. "Told you he had a thing for her."

Karin shot him an ugly glare, but didn't actually say anything.

Suigetsu wondered if she was slowly coming to the realisation that had struck him within his first hour of meeting Sakura – that Sasuke was well and truly taken.

Then Suigetsu realised Juugo was being unnervingly quiet, and cast a swift glance at him. If he'd learned anything about Juugo, it was that the large man was closest to a rampage when he was eerily silent.

But Juugo didn't have that aura of psychosis he usually seemed to project before he snapped. Instead, he was gazing at the gathering of Sakura's friends with a sort of despairing longing. As though it was something he'd always wanted, but had long since given up hope of having.

It was when Suigetsu started feeling a little sorry for the guy that he realised Princess' whole 'soft touch' thing was contagious and tried to stop thinking.

-xxx-

Kakashi let his team fuss and worry over Sakura (or at least, fuss and worry as much as Sai and Yamato ever did), and then quietly took her aside when everything had settled down a bit.

Of course, Naruto had protested, loudly asking what was so secret about their discussion, and Sasuke had...twitched, for lack of a better word, as though he wanted to protest but was silencing himself.

Sakura, apparently noting his dark look, had told him to cheer up, had smiled at him...

And then Kakashi had seen it – that look Juugo had described. The slight softening of Sasuke's eyes, the barely-visible relaxation of muscles around his mouth; it was as the blonde had said, as though if Sasuke had been a different sort of man, he would have smiled at her.

But Kakashi didn't let his surprise deter him from his objective; he needed to ask Sakura about her experiences as a captive. No matter how distasteful the answer.

He was ready to discard the idea that Sasuke had raped her – no one was that comfortable with their rapist, and some part of Kakashi had never really accepted that Sasuke could have done something like that – but just because Sasuke hadn't violated her, didn't rule it out. Sound had gained an ugly reputation in its treatment of captured kunoichis...

But when he asked about what had happened to her in Sound, Sakura gave him a penetrating gaze, apparently understanding what he was really asking, and shrugged.

"It wasn't pleasant...but I wasn't raped, if that's what you're asking," she said quietly. "I managed to transform myself into a boy before I was caught. Not that it ruled it out, but it made it less likely, statistically speaking. And there was no way I was going to get caught as Haruno Sakura."

Something in Kakashi relaxed, a tightness he hadn't known was there melting away at her words. "What happened after you were caught? And for that matter, how were you caught?"

"I was really low on chakra when I left that village Tsunade sent me to, and when I saw a small caravan train being attacked, I just kinda jumped in without thinking about it." Sakura flushed a little at the memory of her own foolishness. And yet, considering the end result, she couldn't bring herself to truly regret it.

A reprimand was hovering on the tip of Kakashi's tongue, but he didn't want to waste his breath. Sakura's compassion was a part of her, and no amount of reprimands were ever going to change that.

Sakura related her tumble into the river, transformation and capture. She described the collar that had been placed on her, how Sasuke had picked her as his personal slave, how her identity had been revealed by Orochimaru and Kabuto, and Sasuke had then placed her in his room.

"And Orochimaru allowed this?" Kakashi sounded skeptical.

Sakura flushed. "Well...he was planning on getting something out of this. I mean, we all know Orochimaru can only use his vessel for as long as that body will live, right? So he'd need a vessel after Sasuke. Sasuke and I only really cottoned on after Kabuto gave me what he said was a contraceptive-"

Kakashi had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"-but was really a kind of fertility drug, if you get my meaning." Sakura's blush darkened further. "So, we figured Orochimaru wanted Sasuke to get me pregnant, and thus, provide him with his next vessel."

Her nose wrinkled briefly in disgust before she went on. "And once I was in Sasuke's room, everyone just left me alone because they were afraid of pissing him off. So don't worry Kakashi – the whole slave experience wasn't fun, but no one did anything to me."

"Finally...why are you wearing what appears to be Sasuke's shirt?" This question was probably unnecessary, but Kakashi was curious.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Umm...Itachi sort of...kidnapped me-"

Kakashi stiffened.

"-and he wanted to ensure Sasuke would be willing to kill him, so he...he made it look like he'd raped me. He wrecked my clothes, so Sasuke gave me his shirt to cover me."

"So that's how you got the bruises." It wasn't a question, and there was a dangerous sort of tension in Kakashi's voice and stance. "And that bite."

"That's how I got the bruises...and the bite," Sakura agreed, covering the imprint of Itachi's teeth self-consciously. She made a mental note to heal that before they returned to the village. "But I wasn't really hurt. Not then or...well, ever. Strange as it seems, Sasuke looked after me." Except for that beating she'd gotten in her early days, but she wasn't counting that – it wasn't like Sasuke could have done anything about it anyway.

And Sasuke really had looked after her, as best as he was able. He'd protected her from the other ninjas in Sound, shielded her from Orochimaru's and Kabuto's machinations, done his best to ensure she never came to harm during her travels with him...

Sakura knew Sasuke's re-integration into Konoha would be anything but smooth. But some part of her had accepted that. Few things worth gaining came without a fight, and Konoha was her home territory – Sasuke had protected her on his turf, but now it would be the other way around.

Now, it would be her turn to protect him.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about that has to be so secret, anyway?" Naruto whined, appearing beside Sakura so suddenly she flinched.

"Kakashi was just asking for my report on what happened to me," she answered bluntly. "I gave him the basics."

"Oh, good – does that mean we can eat now?"

-xxx-

"You okay?" Sakura asked Sasuke in a low voice.

The others were happily eating and laughing around the campfire, and with the din created by Naruto's whining that he'd forgotten to bring his instant ramen, she was quite certain no one could overhear them.

Since she'd woken up, Sakura had noticed that Sasuke had been rather withdrawn, even by his standards. She recognised the blank look in Sasuke's eyes – he'd worn a similar one after Madara had dropped his bombshell in the cave. It was as though he wasn't quite sure what he was doing anymore, like he was traveling through a minefield while blindfolded.

Sakura had a feeling that Sasuke hadn't even begun to work through what had happened, what he'd learned. It would be a lot for even an emotionally stable person to swallow (it was a lot for her to swallow, come to that), let alone someone who had a history like his.

Sasuke had never really dealt well with emotional connection in the first place. Some part of her thought that might have contributed to his departure from Konoha – he'd been trying to get rid of her and Naruto before he grew too attached to him, trying to shed love and compassion because he'd learned that all it ever gained him was pain.

And to take a guess, Sakura would say that most of Sasuke's conflict came from what Itachi had done. He'd built his life around the pain of losing his family, but now that he knew why Itachi had done it, he probably felt as though all the hurt his brother had caused was suddenly invalidated. That he had no right to resent what Itachi had done, because his brother had loved him.

Which was ridiculous, of course – he had every right to feel hurt over what his brother had done – and he'd surely realise that if he was thinking straight...but Sakura had a feeling Sasuke wouldn't be thinking straight.

Sakura wasn't sure exactly what she could do to help...but she could at least offer him a friendly ear.

Not to mention, she was still waiting for an explanation for the kiss. She wasn't going to let him get away with ignoring it and doing nothing – he'd kissed her, for god's sake, and he was either going to tell her what he'd been thinking or she was going to make him!

"I'm fine," Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah, right," Sakura said, sarcasm in every syllable.

Sasuke expected her to follow that up with a lecture as to why he wasn't okay and an insistence not to lie to her, so he was surprised when she didn't say anything after her rather inelegant statement.

Yet he was grateful for it. Sasuke didn't know if he could have coped with conversation right now – he was still in shock. Now that the crisis of Sakura's collapse had passed, his mind had slipped back into the dark mire.

The pillar of his existence – the one thing he thought he was true, was absolute, that he had built his life around – had been toppled and broken into pieces.

Itachi had loved him all along. All of Itachi's crimes could be traced back to the orders of those council members.

He had a feeling that, in time, this black hole of despair would transform itself into murderous anger at those three elders, but for now, the fury he felt towards them was dim, smothered by sorrow.

Some part of him still couldn't accept that his father and mother (and indeed, the rest of the clan) had been willing to start a civil war. Sasuke had never really questioned all the clan meetings his father had held – to him, that had simply been the way his clan worked. But now he realised many of those meetings had probably been councils held to plan for their coup.

It was his parents who had been willing to induce bloodshed and violence. It was Itachi who had wanted peace.

Itachi had tried to protect him for years, had been prepared to die so he could return to Konoha...and had tried to impart one last lesson before he perished.

What are you thinking of?

Sasuke had gone to Orochimaru with the belief that cold, calculated focus on a single goal was the path to power. That you either obtained strength on your own account and for your own sake or did not obtain it at all.

And yet...

He had been determined to kill Itachi in the name of vengeance, and he had thought that dark, oppressive need could never be surpassed. But it had. It had been swallowed in that moment of pure, blinding resolve when he realised that more than his vengeance hung in the balance, that Sakura's life hinged on the outcome of his battle.

Even now, even knowing that Itachi had not truly harmed her, he could still remember that moment. When he had been so tired, so close to giving up in front of a seemingly-invincible foe...and then he had heard Sakura groan, and purpose had thundered through his veins like lightning, cool and calm and blinding in its clarity.

He had stood his ground not out of a desire for vengeance, but from a need to protect Sakura.

Not she needed his protection that much anymore. In their brief battle, Sakura had kicked him around like he was a stray pine cone.

Another thing Sasuke was having trouble digesting. In spite of all she had done, some part of him hadn't been able let go of the old Sakura, the one who had hung back on the sidelines, who had cried when she was injured...

At least, he hadn't been able to let go until he was on the ground with her above him, his limbs useless dead weights at his side.

He had been clinging to the past, still unwilling to admit she was different now. Because if that had changed...how much else had changed?

She hadn't said a word about the kiss. He had expected something; a demand for an explanation, a hint of starry eyes perhaps...but there was nothing. She hadn't mentioned it once, hadn't made any sort of reciprocal gesture, hadn't given any sort of indication his rather impulsive action had been welcome.

Which was probably her polite way of telling him to forget the whole thing. Trying to say that she didn't want that – didn't want him – anymore, without the sting of outright rejection.

It hurt, but some part of Sasuke could admire the fact that she was trying to be kind to him – he'd never offered her the same consideration.

She was too good for him. He had always known that.

But it still hurt.

Sasuke was so immersed in his thoughts that he started when Sakura spoke again.

"I think you can still hate what he did, you know? Even taking into account that he was ordered to do it, that he loved you enough to spare you...I think you can still hate that he killed your family."

And once again, Sasuke was left staring, uncomfortable at the level of insight Sakura seemed to have into his mind at times.

He could understand when Naruto and Kakashi did it – they'd lead similar lives, after all. But Sakura? Was she just that intelligent, just that compassionate...or did she just know him that well?

Something told Sasuke it was probably a mix of the three.

Sakura offered him a small smile, and – in an effort to be comforting – leaned against his shoulder. Not hugging him, but still allowing him to feel her presence and support.

She was left staring into the crackling fire for long moments, but eventually, she felt Sasuke move to rest his head against hers.

-xxx-

"For love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive…"

-Louisa May Alcott

-xxx-

AN: Thanks to justcallmefaye for beta-ing, as usual.