Ehhhh, my head hurts...I need to just fall down into a large batch of ice cold water...yeah, that'd be nice. As always, have a happy reading.
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"H-hey, Sakura-chan?" Looking up at the sound of her name, Sakura was surprised to find Naruto facing her with a small frown on his face. His right hand tugged at his left sleeve nervously. Was something wrong? Or did he finally have a question about her being from the future? After she'd told Naruto and Sasuke, the subject hadn't been brought up again. Sakura wouldn't have minded all that much-the past was painful to think about-yet their silence on a matter this big disturbed her.
Placing her bedroll down, she stood up to face her blonde friend. They were in an in about halfway to Konoha, having decided to stay there instead of walking back all night long. Brushing a small amount of dust off of her pants, Sakura asked him, "Is something wrong, Naruto?"
His hand fell from his sleeve, "Uhh, no not really. I just wanted, er, me and Sasuke just wanted to talk to you for a bit. So, do you want to, uh, head back to our room then?" A frown similar to Naruto's marred Sakura's face. This wasn't like Naruto at all. His stuttering and timid voice raised warning bells in her head.
"Sure, that'd be fine," She followed him down the hall, wracking her brain for the reason behind this talk. Sakura was certain it had to be about her time traveling, why else would he be so jittery? Although...why would they leave Kakashi out of this little chat? True, their sensei had acted rather cruel the entire time they'd known him, so they had no reason to trust him. But that was just because he was undercov-oh. They didn't know that little fact. Now fairly certain what her teammates wanted to talk about, Sakura walked a bit more confidently to their room.
Once they got there, she saw Sasuke leaning against the window with his eyes closed. At the sound of their approach, his lids opened to reveal questioning eyes. Licking his dry lips, he opened them to greet her, "...Sakura." For a brief second, the night he left Konoha flashed before her eyes. Her body tensed at the memory, others threatening to spill over with it. Why, after all of these years, could she still not think of that time without her stomach clenching? Sometimes Sakura disliked herself.
"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto closed the door behind her, "What did you guys want to talk about?" She turned her body so she could see both of her teammates. They both looked rather uncomfortable.
Naruto was the first one to speak, "Well, it's about what you told us the other day..." Sakura nodded at him to continue. "You see, we were just wondering-
"What are you and Kakashi-sensei up to?" Sasuke cut in, his hand falling on his kunai pouch. Why did he still have that on? It was near midnight and she'd never seen him keep it on to sleep before. Usually he just kept a kunai under his pillow. Flicking her gaze to Naruto, she saw he still had his weapons with him too.
Her eyes went back to Sasuke, "Up to? What do you mean?" While she'd figured they didn't trust Kakashi, she hadn't thought they'd be suspicious of her. "Were not doing anything." Again, her eyes flickered towards their kunai.
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Sasuke took a step towards the girl, hand reaching in his pouch and grabbing a kunai knife. He'd noticed her staring at them, as well as the apprehensive look in her eyes. Was she worried they'd found out her plan to steal the Nine Tails? If so, he wasn't about to let her get away to warn Kakashi-sensei. Naruto spoke up then, "I was just-we were just wondering why you had to start taking the kuubi out of me now? Couldn't you have waited till we were older? Or at least had strong jonin to help us? Why are you in such a rush?"
Sasuke watched Sakura carefully, taking note of her own hand drawing near her kunai pouch. "Why am I in a rush?" Her hand touched the pouch, "You've been showing signs-" Sasuke was behind her then, right hand stopping her from grabbing a kunai, left holding his own against her throat.
"Don't even think about it." His grip was hard.
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Sakura watched as her clone stood in Sasuke's grasp, face dead-set. Sitting up in a tree outside of their room, she was able to see everything. Sakura made her clone reach for the kunai pouch to see what their reaction would be. Sasuke had reacted immediately, going in to stop her while Naruto'd blocked the door. They really didn't trust her then. It was obviously because of Kakashi's behavior and her now-revealed friendship (if she could call it that) with him. Still, she couldn't let them continue to be deluded by their previous perceptions. With a wave of chakra, she silently made her clone tell them the truth.
"Naruto's been showing earlier signs of the kuubi's control. When those two chuunin attacked us on the road to the Land of Waves, I saw the beast's influence. I couldn't...I can't watch my friend die all over again." Even a mere clone was heartbroken over the thought of losing Naruto.
Sakura saw Sasuke loosen his grip a little. His face was still a mask of doubt, "Then why are you so close to Kakashi-sensei? He's a complete ass and a shitty teacher."
"Because he's not. I..." The clone closed her eyes in frustration, "I can't tell you everything without his consent, but he's on our side." Her eyes opened, staring out at nothing, "You have to believe me. Losing both of you was one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my life. I can't see you two taken away from me again, and I'll do anything to stop it. So yes, if I have to take out the kuubi now, even if it hurts you, Naruto, I will. And Sasuke...I'm going to make sure you live to see your twenty-first birthday whether it kills me or not."
Sasuke let go of her arm, lowering his blade as he did so. Naruto let his kunai fall as well. Face a mixture of emotions, Sasuke took a small step back, "Sakura..." He pocketed the knife, "...thank you." Sakura never realized how much she hated those words.
Naruto walked up in front of her clone, frown disappearing from his face, "Yeah, thank you for telling us the truth Sakura-chan. I...I'm still not sure I believe in the whole time travel thing, but I trust you. If you say Kakashi-sensei isn't bad, then he isn't." Sasuke nodded at Naruto's words. Up in her tree, Sakura tried not to throw up as waves of horrible memories washed over her. She never wanted to hear Sasuke say thank you again.