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Opening her eyes to see she was on Sasuke's futon now, and his eyes were open. He was looking at her. Without saying anything to him, Sakura just relaxed, and rested her head on Sasuke's chest. Feeling happy.

A few hours later, Seven o'clock in the morning

As her dream faded away, Sakura felt the presence of someone close to her. Sasuke. She thought, vaguely remembering coming into the room to go to sleep. She remembered Sasuke pulling her over to his futon, before she had fallen asleep. Opening her eyes, she realized she was laying with her head resting on his bicep, and he was laying flat on his back. Noticing that his eyes were still closed, she carefully slipped off his futon, and rolled back onto her own.

Her futon was rather cold, and it made her miss the warmness she felt being near Sasuke. Sucking it up, she laid on her back, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Looking at the clock on the wall, it read that it was a little past seven in the morning. I believe it's the 23rd today. So that means that my birthday is a week from today. We'll have enough time to get home and be in Konoha before then.

Saku Inner: Not if you keep wasting time out here.

Sakura: Inner, I don't need you to tell me what I already know. Besides, no one is going to be wasting time.

She didn't receive a response from her inner then which made her smile. Sitting up, she looked around the room a little. The natural light from the sun filtered in through the windows, and gave the room a beautiful glow. Her eyes glanced over the other seven sleeping people in the room, before a grin spread across her face. "Get the hell up!"

At the sound of Sakura's yell, everyone shot up immediately. Sasuke had a hand on the hilt of his katana. Neji had a kunai in hand. Shikamaru had moved to sit up, his eyes on Sakura. Naruto and Ino had literally jumped up to their feet, and had also turned to look at Sakura. Tenten had sat up with a hand on a scroll of weapons. Hinata was the only one who didn't move an inch. She still laid underneath her blanket.

"What in the hell is wrong with you Sakura?" Tenten asked, dropping the scroll she had grabbed back in her bag.

"You're being unnecessarily loud for it to be this early in the morning," Shikamaru said, grunting as he rubbed the back of his head.

"For real Sakura, I barely got any sleep last night," Ino groaned, falling back against her futon. "Waking up to your loud ass voice is not what I need."

"You all are being ridiculous," Sakura told them, moving to her bag. She started to dig through it for some clothes. "Hinata didn't even get up."

Everyone's eyes went to the female Hyuga in the room. She was still laying on her futon, her blanket over her, and her eyes closed. "How did that not even manage to stir you?" Neji asked his cousin, noticing that she was indeed awake.

Without opening her eyes, Hinata yawned. "Well, I've been around Sakura long enough to know the difference between when she's screaming if she needs something or when she's just doing it to be a pain in the ass."

"I'll have you know that I did it so everyone would get up," Sakura told Hinata, standing up with her clothes in hand. She noticed the dark blue haired girl wasn't planning on getting up. "You can't go back to sleep. We've got to get out of here and starting traveling back to Konoha. Everyone else is awake now, so you need to be too."

Hinata chuckled at that. "Unlike everyone else here, I was dragged to the sunroom around three in the morning to go drink bourbon and scotch so you would have someone to drink with you," she told Sakura, still not moving from where she was laying down. "And I didn't go to sleep until an hour later, so you might be able to understand why I'm tired."

"You two went downstairs to drink?" Ino asked, suddenly seeming more awake as a smirk played at her lips. "Sakura I could believe doing something like that, but Hinata… that wouldn't even cross my mind."

Sakura laughed this off, and skipped to the door. "Don't underestimate Hinata. One minute she's a quiet by the book kind of girl the next minute she's a loud, rule-breaking, badass."

"Oh please," Hinata said, rolling her eyes. "With your bad influence you could probably make everyone like that."

"I'll have you know that I'm a very good influence," Sakura told Hinata, sliding open the door. "I just like to have fun. If you happen to be around me when I want to have fun, then you're going to find yourself having fun too." Stepping out in the hall then, she looked back at the others. "I'm going to go change. When I come back, everyone better be up."

After Sakura was gone, the others slowly started their way up. Shikamaru groaning as he stood up, mumbling "troublesome woman" underneath his breath. Naruto sat back down on his futon, yawned, and then stretched. Ino and Tenten both got up to go walk out on the balcony. Neji had looked from the doorway to Sasuke. "The fact that you can manage her wildness is one of the things I admire about you Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked at this, and stood up. "I knew what I was getting into. Ever since I returned to the village," he said, moving towards the door as well. Out in the hallway, he walked to the guys bathroom to change. Coming back out, he moved in the shadows in the hall when he heard Sakura's humming.

When Sakura came out of the girls bathroom, she was running her fingers through her hair, and wasn't really paying any attention to her surroundings. So when she was suddenly against the wall, she was forced to drop her pajamas that were in her hand on the ground, as her eyes snapped up. "Sasuke?"

"Well I hope you weren't expecting anyone else," Sasuke replied with a smirk. Seeing a smile edge on her face. "Someone is acting differently this morning."

"Am I being punished for being happy? Because if so, I haven't heard of that logic before, and you're going to have to explain it to me," Sakura told him, her smile remaining.

Sasuke's smirk grew as he leaned a little closer to her, and kissed her. A long kiss that they stopped when they both need air. "No punishment necessary. You look brighter. I like this version of you a lot better."

Laughing when he stepped back and let her go, Sakura propped her hands on her hips. "You won't have to worry about that. I know it's hard to believe, but I actually enjoy feeling happy." Moving forward again, this time she pushed Sasuke so his back was against the wall. Resting her hands on the sides of his head, as she stood a little on her tip toes, and kissed him.

Sasuke had just brought a hand to her waist when he heard the sound of the door to the room being opened. Before he knew it Sakura was away from him, had her pajamas back in hand, and was walking away. Getting to the door just as Naruto walked out. As Sakura passed by Naruto, she whacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for Sakura?!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Because I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that you're alive and well," Sakura told him, a smile on her face.

Naruto continued rubbing the back of his head, as he walked past Sasuke towards the guys bathroom. "Sakura, why do you hate me?" Was all Naruto mumbled before walking in the guys bathroom.

Sasuke glanced from Naruto to Sakura who was standing by the open doorway to their room. She waved her fingers at him, before moving to walk in the room. A mischievous smile on her face.

Walking in the room, the others had started to get up and get their stuff together. Everyone except for one person. "Hinata Hyuga! What did I say before I left?! Get up!"

Around an hour later

Having finally finished breakfast, Sakura had went to the front desk to check out of the hot springs while the others started walking to wait around the exit of the hot springs. Hinata had been the only one to wait for Sakura as she signed out. When the pink haired girl did, they both turned and left. "What did you do with the scrapbook?" Hinata asked.

"I sealed it in a scroll so it wouldn't take up too much room in my bag," Sakura replied as they started down the path that led to where the others were.

"Something's on your mind," Hinata told Sakura as they started down the stone steps that led down to the hot springs exit. They were still pretty far from their friends, so she wanted to go ahead and question Sakura before they got there. "I noticed during breakfast that you were spacing out. Want to tell me what's going on?"

Sighing, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "The rinnegan was apart of opening the place where I got the scroll. But, I've only been dreaming of the sharingan and byakugan. What if that means that I was dreaming of them for a different reason? What if there is some significance to it?"

"Maybe you just got to the place before you had a chance to dream about the rinnegan," Hinata suggested, moving to walk a little slower as they reached the bottom of the stone steps. Sakura slowed down as well, so she continued. "I mean you still have a week until your birthday, so maybe your dreams were just coming to you assuming that it would take you longer to find the place. You didn't have any other dreams about it when you were sleeping did you?"

Shaking her head, Sakura's frown still remained on her face. "No, but that doesn't mean-"

"Sakura, unless you have other dreams or visions it is safe to assume that the only meaning of those dreams was because of finding your scroll," Hinata interrupted her, turning her head so she was looking in the distance at the sun rising over the trees. "Talk to your inner if you have anymore doubts."

Scoffing at this, Sakura closed her eyes. "She's about as useful as it is asking Naruto to help me solve the formula for an s-grade poison. She only makes her presence known to piss me off or to give me riddles that will piss me off."

Saku Inner: Gee thanks a lot Sakura.

Opening her eyes at her inner's words, Sakura smirked. "I guess I'll just have to forget about the dreams. I mean your explanation of them not meaning anything anymore seems to be the only one that makes sense."

"Hey would you two hurry up?!" Ino called from ahead of them.

"Yeah! Sakura, you're the one who rushed us all to get ready this morning!" Tenten exclaimed.

"Okay! We're coming!" Sakura yelled back at them, before looking to Hinata. "You and Neji need to figure out how to distract the team sometime before tonight. I can get myself away fine, it's the distracting that is your job."

Nodding her head once, Hinata looked away. "Will do."

Catching up to their team, they had managed to get out of the hot springs, and travel a good twenty minutes away from the village before Sakura began to feel an uneasy feeling. "Let's stop!" She called to the team, jumping to the ground. Dropping her bag to the ground, she pushed her hair back behind her ears so she could hear better. It was faint, but she could hear the taps in her ears again. Kneeling down, she pressed her hand flat on the ground, and it seemed that the vibrations of taps were being made. "Looks like whoever you guys were fighting with last night are back."

Everyone looked around them, not able to sense what she was. Although both Neji and Hinata were already activating their byakugan, and the others were already preparing. However Naruto was the only one still looking around. His eyes landed on Sakura. "What are you talking about? I don't sense anythi-"

"Trust her Naruto," Hinata interrupted him.

"I can see them heading towards us now," Neji added, looking into the forest behind him. With his byakugan he could count at least fifteen people following them. "We're outnumbered. There is twenty of them and only eight of us. However I believe if it's the same people from last night, we have an idea of what they are capable of."

When the people finally made it to them, there was hardly any pause before the first kunai was thrown. Only two minutes into the fighting, Sakura had taken down the person she was fighting, and surveyed the area for her next target. Her eyes catching onto Neji who was easily taking down three of the attackers. However the glint of metal lighting up in the trees behind Neji caught her eye. She moved over there swiftly. Getting behind Neji in seconds, and deflected the kunai that had been aimed at his back.

"Thanks," Neji commented, finishing off the three he had been fighting. Watching as Sakura took the other one down who had tried attacking him.

"I owed you one," was Sakura's reply before she was off, seeing another ninja in the forest.

Neji watched Sakura go. That's right. Back when we were at Hana's she said that she owed me one when I distracted everyone away from her so she could leave from dinner. He thought, before shaking his head. Turning swiftly he caught the fist of the attacker behind him, a smirk on his face.

Around ten minutes later the last of the attackers had been defeated. The team had looked around to make sure that there was no one else. It wasn't until Sakura gave the all clear that they started to put their weapons awake. Sakura had been looking at her teammates one by one to make sure no one was hurt. The last person she looked at was Naruto. He was wearing a dark grey short sleeved shirt, so the long slice down his arm was more than obvious. Picking up her bag from the ground, she walked over to him. "Sit down. Let me look at that." She pointed at the slice on his arm.

Naruto looked to his arm to see the wound. Not really noticing he had it until she had said something. "I'm fine Sakura. The Nine Tails chakra heals me-"

"Obviously you are not fine!" Sakura interrupted Naruto, pushing him down by his shoulder so he was sitting on the ground. "Your breathing is getting heavier, and your pupils are starting to dilate. You've been poisoned!" She half yelled at him, before sitting down beside him. Taking his arm in her hands to observe the wound.

"What?" Hinata asked, coming closer to Naruto and Sakura then. Her eyes going to the wound on Naruto's arm. "They had poison on their weapons?"

Sakura nodded, easing up with her grip when she noticed Naruto intake a sharp breath in pain. "I noticed it when I was fighting with one. I touched one of their weapons and I sensed it," she said, letting go of Naruto's arm to go through her bag. "I'm assuming most of them had poison on their weapons."

Naruto laughed, sounding a little nervous. "You're honestly making a big deal out of nothi-"

"No she's not!" Hinata, Tenten, and Ino exclaimed.

"Being poisoned is never something to take lightly," Hinata told Naruto, her hand resting on the shoulder of the arm that wasn't sliced.

Ino squatted down next to Sakura, and looked at Naruto's wound. Lighting her hand with medical chakra, she placed a hand over Naruto's wound. She only had it on it for a moment before pulling back. "That's a tricky poison Sakura. It's metal based, but I'm feeling there is some tricky herbs mixed in with it."

"Wait it's metal based?" Tenten asked. When Ino nodded, she frowned as she looked to Sakura. "You better find out the antidote fast, it'll attack his heart if it spreads farther."

"Wait! What?!" Naruto asked, his laid back attitude about this switched in a blink of an eye. The expression on his face now was full of panic.

"Leave it to the dobe to get poisoned," Sasuke muttered, a smirk on his face.

Naruto ignored Sasuke's jab, and flailed his uninjured arm a little. "I'm going to die!"

Sakura pulled one hand out of her bag, and smacked Naruto on the back of his head. This him to stop flailing around. "You're not going to die baka! I have the stuff for the antidote already. Just stop yelling!" She then pulled the bag that Tsunade gave her before they left on the mission.

"How in the he-" Tenten started, but Sakura stopped her.

"I was on a mission with Ibiki, Anko, Izumo, and Kotetsu a few months back. We were around this area and had come across a rather odd group of rogue ninja. A mixture from a few of the hidden villages. They had poison on their weapons, and everyone except for myself and Ibiki had been affected," Sakura started, pulling out a few small containers from inside the bag. "We were literally in all forest, and there was no civilization for miles. I studied the poison, and was able to come up with an antidote. Ibiki watched over Anko, Izumo, and Kotetsu. Then I went to go get the stuff for the antidote."

"How would Tsunade even know that you would need this specific antidote?" Shikamaru asked, watching Sakura open some of the small containers.

"She didn't know," Sakura replied, starting to mix some of the contents of the containers together in a small little bowl. "She gave me a bag full of herbs that would be ones that I wouldn't be able to find so easily. Just in case something were to happen, no matter what the poison, I would be able to have access to these herbs." She pulled a syringe out of her medical bag then, and then filled the syringe with the antidote.

Naruto was looking to Hinata. "This is going to fix this right? I'm not going to di- ow!" He yelled at the top of his lungs when he felt Sakura insert the needle into his shoulder. "Ow Sakura! Thanks for the warning!"

Sakura just laughed as she took the needle out of Naruto's shoulder. Her laugh increased when she saw the small pout on his face. "Geez, you big baby! It's just a shot." She looked to Hinata then. "Can you heal the actual wound?"

Hinata nodded, and moved around to the side that Sakura was on. She switched places with Sakura, and brought her hands to Naruto's arm to start healing the wound.

Sakura started putting stuff back in her medical bag, as well as putting the left over herbs back in the white bag that Tsunade had given her. As she put them in her bag her eyes grazed over the scrolls. She had kept the pink and gold scroll, and right beside it was the gold and beige scroll. Putting her medical bag down in her bag, she grabbed the gold and beige scroll. Just below her medical bag and the pink and gold scroll was the box. Just waiting to be opened.

"Have you opened it yet Sakura?" Ino asked, noticing that Sakura was looking at the scroll in her hand.

Hearing Ino's words, Sakura only shook her head, and shoved the scroll back into her bag. Grabbing the straps on her bag, she swung it onto her shoulders. "No," she replied simply, before walking a little away. "If you're done being over dramatic Naruto, it's time to go!" She called over her shoulder to Naruto, before turning her head back forward. Her mind going back to the box and the scroll.

Saku Inner: Why not just open the scroll now? I don't understand why you don't want to open it.

Sakura: I want to open the scroll. I really do. It's just I want to be in Konoha when I do. You already know my reason for that.

Saku Inner: Yeah, but I'm just trying to get you to think about it.

Sakura: Think about what? The scroll? The reason why I won't open it until I'm in Konoha?

Saku Inner: The reason why you won't open it. I don't believe it's because you want to be in Konoha because you'd feel safe if you opened it there. I think it's because you're afraid to open it.

Hearing this made Sakura stop, and intake a sharp breath. Her eyes widening at the thought. Feeling her team come up behind her, she only jumped up in the trees before someone could question her. "Let's go," she said, feeling the team move into the formation they had been in throughout the mission. Her mind barely focused on traveling, as all she could think about was the box and the scroll.

Later on that evening

They had traveled a good distance since that morning, and had only took a few breaks here and there. They would be in Konoha the day after tomorrow as long as everything went as planned. Which them getting home the day after tomorrow wasn't really that certain considering that there was no telling what could get in their way to stop them or slow them down.

"Damn," Sakura muttered suddenly. They had been sitting around a fire they built, having just ate. It was pretty quiet, and her voice was heard clearly despite her trying to say it under her breath.

"What has you in a mood?" Ino asked from across the fire they built. The blonde was laying on her stomach on the ground next to where Shikamaru was sitting. She had been casually tracing around his hand in the dirt with her finger tip, and her eyes went to Sakura when Sakura had cursed.

Sakura just sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I just keep thinking about how much stuff I have to do when I get back. I'm going to have to look through reports in the hospital, and then I'm going have to organize the reports for the village that Tsunade just leaves around. I also have to start working on the situation with Karin, Jugo, and Sui."

"Sui?" Ino questioned.

"Suigetsu," Sakura replied, a smile on her face. "I started calling him Sui and I keep forgetting that the rest of you won't know who I'm talking about."

"What about me?" Sasuke asked, his eyes on Sakura. "Am I going back to restriction?"

Sakura looked beside her to look at Sasuke. "I'm pretty sure you're going to be off the hook, but I don't know yet. I'll have to talk to the council, and do a whole new set of paper work. It's my number one priority to make sure you, Jugo, Karin, and Sui will get out of restriction. I know that Jugo, Karin, and Sui would like to start new lives, and it's hard to do that when your restricted."

"You would know what that's like," Tenten mumbled to Sakura, a smirk on her face.

"What?" Sakura asked, an eyebrow raised in Tenten's direction. Then she remembered what Tenten was talking about, and she gasped. "Tenten, that's no one's business."

Tenten laughed, and before anyone could ask she explained. "Tsunade had to ban Sakura from the library for a week because Sakura had been there three days straight trying to research this new medical technique. She didn't get any sleep, and barely ate anything."

"And that week was the longest week of my life!" Sakura exclaimed, making everyone laugh. She giggled herself, and when she stopped she sighed, looking to her bag. "Most importantly I'll have to find out what's in that box."

"You sound so depressed," Ino noted, before thinking a little. "Well more confused than depressed."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, and looked up to the sky. "It's because I am. I want to open it to find out why in the hell this mark is on me. But, at the same time, it's dangerous to find out what it is," she said, uncrossing her arms as she stretched them above her head. "So many people have already came after me, and it makes me wonder what will happen when I figure out what it is." She sighed then before closing her eyes. "Before I can think of any of this I have to think about my parents."

"When are you planning their funeral?" Hinata asked softly after a moment of silence at Sakura bringing up her parents.

"I received a message from Tsunade a few days ago that I didn't tell you guys about," Sakura said, her eyes going to look at the fire. "She informed me that my parents will be buried the morning after we arrive back in Konoha…" she trailed off. Not explaining any further.

It was quiet for a moment, the others feeling the rather awkward silence that started once Sakura brought up her parents. Hinata's eyes focusing on Sakura's expression, she could tell it made Sakura sad just mentioning her parents. "Sakura, I thin-"

"I'm going for a walk," Sakura interrupted Hinata, as she stood up. Her eyes connected with Neji's when she stood up. She narrowed her eyes a little before looking to Hinata and doing the same thing. Turning away then, she started towards the forest.

"You're not going by yourself," Neji said, moving to stand up. "It's getting dark out and it's not safe for you to be alone. I'll go with you."

"Thanks for your concern, but I think I can handle going on a walk by myself. I didn't get the title of Jounin by sitting around doing nothing," Sakura retorted, adding a bit of spice to her tone to make sure it sounded like she was getting slightly irritated.

Neji was suddenly in front of Sakura, stopping her from walking. "You want to go off by yourself right when you just said a few minutes ago that people are after you. That's really smart of you," he said sarcastically, having to hide the smirk that was coming onto his face. "I'm going to go with you no matter if you like it or not."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Neji's words. Not liking how Neji kept insisting to go with her. Of course he wasn't usually so over protective, but ever since Neji had punched Sakura he had been rather watchful towards Neji when he was around Sakura.

Hinata could see that Sasuke was going to intervene, so she stood up as well. "Neji is right Sakura," she said, agreeing with her cousin. "You really don't need to go anywhere by yourself when you're getting so close to your birthday, it's dangerous. If it makes you feel better, then I'll go with you."

"It's really not necessary," Sakura said through gritted teeth.

"Why do you insist that it's not necessary?" Neji countered.

"Because it's just not necessary!" Sakura snapped, turning on her heel, to start going into the forest.

Hinata just scowled, and walked forward. "Good job Neji. You made her run away," she said, before picking up her pace to go after Sakura.

Neji only hummed with annoyance. "How is it my fault? You didn't have to intervene!" He called after Hinata before he started running after her.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence that had started after the other three left.

"Obviously, Hinata and Neji are going to go apologize to Sakura," Tenten said, her eyes looking from where the others had gone to Naruto.

"So you don't have to go after them Sasuke," Ino added, receiving a glare from the Uchiha only made her smirk.

In the forest

Hinata and Neji were running side by side. Finally reaching Sakura after a good minute of running. She was standing with her arms crossed, waiting for them. "I thought we agreed that you two were going to stay behind to prevent them from coming after me. It was never the plan for you two to actually come with me."

Neji smirked at this. "Well you just weren't invited to the little meeting Hinata and I had when we decided that it would be better for us to be here with you. Just incase another Akatsuki member was to come along or some of those people after you."

"Yeah," Hinata agreed with Neji. "If it's some people after you, we could get rid of them while you are still healing Itachi's eyes. If it's an Akatsuki member, we'll pretend that we were confronted by Itachi, and then we'll leave."

"If that happens, you'll just have to plan to meet Itachi later on in the night," Neji added.

Sakura sighed. She wanted to be angry, but she had to admit that it was a good idea. "Alright, but the whole time I'm doing the healing keep watch with your byakugan. I can't risk getting interrupted right in the middle of healing. It would be nice to have a warning."

As the three started towards the direction where Sakura was supposed to meet Itachi, Hinata looked to Sakura. "We'll do whatever you need us to Sakura. Don't worry about it."

They finally arrived along side a river. Stopping, Sakura looked down at the ground. A silver kunai was sticking out of the ground by the river. "Itachi?!" She called out, leaning down to pick up the kunai, and looked at the trees around them. "It's okay Itachi. I asked them to help me. They are here to look out for anyone."

A shadow appeared on the other side of the river. Under the branches of the trees. When the figure walked closer to the bank Itachi's features began getting more noticeable. When his whole figure was visible he stopped. "I don't have a problem with them. I was meditating, when you called."

Sakura tossed the kunai to Itachi, and it landed in the dirt by his feet. "Well if you're ready to start, we might as well go ahead."

Itachi appeared suddenly standing beside Sakura. "Very well."

Sakura looked to Hinata and Neji. The two Hyuga's had their byakugan activated, and had moved a little bit away to start keeping watch. She turned to Itachi then. "Sit down," she said, moving to sit down on the ground. Reaching in her pouch to take out a scroll. "I took notes when I was healing Sasuke's and Kakashi's sharingan. If you see me jot something down, don't think I'm going to write about you, and share it with the world." She moved a little closer to Itachi then. "Close your eyes."

Itachi didn't hesitate to close them. "You are not nervous," he said after a moment of silence as she began to work on his eyes. He was surprised she wasn't afraid to be so close to him, but of course she was different. She had proved that over the past few days they had traveled together.

"Because I've spent the last few days near you, and I know your not a bad person," Sakura replied. Focusing on his eyes, she began breaking down his eyes. Learning the way his eyes work, and where the damage was. "Will you deactivate your sharingan?"

Itachi opened his eyes, reached up, and took her hand off his eyes. His eyes bore into hers, still red.

Sakura could tell without him having to say anything that he didn't want to deactivate his sharingan. She chuckled softly. "You and your brother seem to be even more alike than I thought. Always making sure that your guard up," she said, smiling. "Hinata and Neji are going to protect the both of us. We'll be just fine. Trust me."

Itachi hesitated, his eyes looking into Sakura's for another moment, before deactivating his sharingan. The strain his eyes had been holding on him was gone. The headache it caused him to use his sharingan seemed to start to lessen.

"It feels better, doesn't it?" Sakura asked, smiling more. "Now close your eyes, I'm going to start the healing process now." Once Itachi closed his eyes, Sakura placed both hands over his closed eyes. In her mind she imagined bringing life to the damaged and dead nerves in his eyes. Already starting to notice improvement.

Twenty minutes later

Sakura smiled when she fixed the last damaged nerve. "I'm finished," she announced, probably sounding more excited than she meant to show. But, it didn't bother her too much, she was proud of her work. When she moved her hands away from his eyes, she smiled when he opened them. A little surprised that he hadn't immediately activated his sharingan.

Itachi could tell there was an improvement in his vision over all. He could see every detail like he used too when he was younger. Like before he had even first activated his sharingan. When his eyes went to Sakura he took in her appearance that was no longer fuzzy looking. Her features were sharp, and there was this glow about her features he hadn't noticed before. Like the way she seemed so happy, her eyes lit up even in the dark. "I can see clearly."

Sakura nodded with a grin on her face. "Do me a favor and activate your sharingan."

Itachi didn't hesitate, and soon his eyes were red again. He didn't feel any strain when he activated his sharingan. "I don't feel anything, there's no strain like there was before."

"There shouldn't be for a long while," Sakura said with a happy sigh. "I know you will probably ignore what I'm about to say, but it might be a good idea to give your eyes a break from your sharingan every once and a while. I'm assuming you constantly keep your sharingan activated to intimidate those around you. But, if you ask me, I don't think it's necessary. You excelled really quickly when you were younger, I don't think you need to depend on your sharingan as much as you think you do."

"I'll keep that in mind," Itachi said, nodding as he stood up. Deactivating his sharingan when he did. "I am expecting to hear from you soon."

Sakura nodded, but before she could say anything, both Neji and Hinata appeared beside them. "Sasuke and Naruto are heading this way," Neji informed them.

Itachi turned away, and jumped back across the river to leave. But, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder at Sakura. His sharingan still deactivated. His eyes connecting with Sakura's before a poof sound was heard, and he disappeared. A group of black crows flew up to the sky from where he was standing.

Sakura turned back to Hinata and Neji. "They'll be here any time now. Just pretend that you've already apologized, and we're just talking."

"How did it go?" Hinata asked.

"Very well," Sakura replied, a grin on her face. "I was able to heal all the damaged nerves. I didn't tell him, but I strengthened the nerves as well. So they will be able to stay strong for longer time. When we get back to Konoha, I'm going to have to start thinking of the plan to get him out of the Akatsuki." She could sense Sasuke and Naruto about to come into the clearing, and stopped from saying anything more.

Neji sensed them as well, and smirked at Sakura. "Don't run off like that again," he told her, as Naruto and Sasuke came through the trees.

Sakura caught on quickly at Neji's subject change, and just playfully punched his shoulder. "You already know I like messing with you two. It's very easy to piss the both of you off."

"Believe me we know," Hinata retorted. Turning towards Naruto and Sasuke then she faked an expression of surprise. "Look who decided to join us."

Almost as soon as Hinata finished speaking , Sakura spun around. Her eyes going to see Sasuke, acting as if she had no idea he and Naruto had been heading in their direction. "Sasuke! You came out here just for me. I'm so touched," she said dramatically, making the others laugh. Skipping happily over to Sasuke, she dramatically hugged him. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but let his arms wrap around Sakura anyways. "Drama queen."

Sakura grinned, moving so she could look at his face. "Carry me back?"

"Or I can drop you in the river again," Sasuke countered with a smirk on his face.

Sakura frowned at that. "I don't like that idea. My idea is better."

Sasuke felt himself rolling his eyes again, as he turned. "Fine then-"

"Yay!" Sakura exclaimed, interrupting him. She jumped on his back before he could change his mind. She turned her head and stuck out her tongue at Hinata. "This is why I have the best boyfriend in the world."

Hinata rolled her eyes, and grinned. "You're so immature sometimes Sakura."

"No, I just like to have fun," Sakura told Hinata, a smile on her face. "I know that word is like banned from your list of vocabulary, but it's highlighted several times at the very tip top list of mine."

This made Hinata laugh, as she took Naruto's hand, and looked at Naruto and Neji. "I'm thinking that we take a different path back to camp or else I'm going to strangle her."

With that said, they separated. Neji, Naruto, and Hinata together, and then Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had her arms wrapped loosely around Sasuke's shoulders to keep herself up, and she had her chin resting on his shoulder. "We are finally getting to go home."

"Where I'll get to spend a lot of much needed alone time with you," Sasuke said, smirking when he felt her fingers run through his hair a little bit.

"Aren't you forgetting Sui, Karin, and Jugo?" Sakura asked, before yawning.

"Damn it," Sasuke said, as if he was really disappointed.

Sakura laughed at that, and kissed Sasuke's neck. "I love you," she said, laughing as she let her arms wrap loosely back around him. "I really do." She let her chin rest on his shoulder, and closed her eyes. Feeling tiredness hit her. Just before she dozed off she could faintly hear Sasuke whisper back to her that he loved her too. Making her smile as she fell into the world of slumber.

A/N: Yay for the SasuSaku moment at the end! Loved writing that part. What do you all think about the trip home? Do you think they'll end up getting to Konoha when planned? Or do you think something might happen that would

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