DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any other characters belonging to the Anime series. However, I do own the characters that were created by me – they will make their appearances in the later chapters.

Summary: Sakura and Tenten – both FBI Agents – are on a vital mission to eradicate one of America's largest and most feared Mafia Gangs. Sakura has no memory of her past. What happens as she finds the missing pieces when she encounters the mesmerizing, drop-dead attractive, Sasuke Uchiha, leader of the gang? PAIRINGS: Sasuke/Sakura with an equal share of Neji/Tenten. More pairings are included.

WARNING: This Fan-fiction contains VERY explicit content in later chapters. If sexual content, mild violence and aggressive language bother you, then it is advised that you discontinue reading this fiction immediately.

NOTE: 'Inner Sakura

'Thoughts' (Except for the short preface at the beginning of each chapter & Flashbacks)

Narrator's POV

QUANTUM OF MEMORY: THE PENDULUM ARC
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Enchanting Emerald

Sasori waited until the group of people that were usually present at Sakura's ward had left before visiting said woman's room. Nothing had changed since she was hospitalized and to him, it appeared that things were going to be that way for a long time.

For a moment he simply stood beside her lifeless body, reminiscing on the little times he was grateful to share with her. Then he traced the frame of her body with his eyes, etching the architecture of it into his memory. Suddenly seeing was not enough. Slowly he unconsciously reached out to touch her pale but beautiful face…but stopped himself before his fingers could even touch her fair skin on remembering what an impassive Itachi had told him once before…

"If you really love her, you'd do what's best for her…"

If Sasuke had suddenly walked in on Sasori touching his wife, it would surely result in his immediate death, which would – in turn – probably cause Sakura a very heavy depression. Suffering…

"Hm…" Sasori muttered as he closed his eyes, "…it would be best if I just say that I anxiously await your return, Sakura…"

He lingered a bit longer before finally exiting the ward, never for once looking back…


In the morning, Sasuke arrived at the hospital with two Akatsuki members – Deidara and Itachi Uchiha. He appointed Deidara as a security guard for Sakura's ward and gave strict orders that only familiar faces from within Onikage were allowed to visit his wife.

He did not go in to visit Sakura and in fact left as soon as he informed Sakura's doctor and nurses of Deidara's purpose. Itachi did the same, which made the two brothers look very suspicious to Tenten and the others who were visiting. Still, no one said anything, saving both Uchihas from having to provide explanation.

Upon exiting the hospital's grounds, Sasuke began contacting other members of Onikage to start an immediate search for Orochimaru…

SIX YEARS AGO

Everything had happened all so quickly and Sakura felt as though she had lost her sense of direction in her life. As soon as they returned to their home in Washington, Sakura and Sasuke were greeted by Itachi who was accompanied by six bodyguards. Sakura had a clear understanding that these measures were taken because of the recent offensive occurrences that happened during their stay in Japan.

When they arrived at their house, Sasuke assigned guards to different locations in the mansion and confined Sakura to their bedroom in order to ensure her safety. After a few futile protests, Sakura eventually gave in to his instructions. Itachi already had their mother safe-guarded from potential danger as well.

Sasuke then met with Itachi downstairs shortly, along with other important members of the gang. Their discussion of assumptions, drawn conclusions based on gathered facts as well as carefully thought tactics began immediately.

Itachi spoke first, his voice maintaining its seriousness. "Through the information we've gathered and based on our current situation it's safe to say that someone wants authority over our organization. We have a name, however only little is known of his background history. It appears that he's been threatening our father to hand over leadership of Onikage, but as a result of our father's refusal to comply, he faced an untimely death."

"So who is this crazy ass?" Naruto asked frowning in anger.

"His name is Orochimaru," Sasuke answered from the far end of the long table and everyone turned to face him at the sound of his answer.

"We've been trying to locate his whereabouts, though that task seems quite taxing," Itachi informed earning the members' attention once more. "We did however manage to capture his two subordinates. Unfortunately the fools are very loyal to Orochimaru hence the reason we were unable to gather any information about our father's killer."

"Hn…who does he think he is?" Neji said, speaking for the first time, "Anyway, I don't find him to be a threat at all, now that we know of his intentions."

"Hyuuga is right…but this sick fuck is my father's killer, nonetheless, so I will hunt him down; and he will suffer the consequences," Sasuke spat venomously. And with that said, Sasuke soundlessly made his way toward the exit, leaving Itachi to handle other matters.


Sakura moved closer to the door, straining her hearing to know more. Although she was never one to pry into people's businesses, like before, this was a situation in which she preferred to be aware of. So far it appeared that Sasuke had found his father's killer. She heard Itachi's explanation of information he had collected and Sasuke's comments. She could not, however distinguish the other voices who had spoken their opinions.

The sound of the door beginning to creak startled her, disabling her senses for an instant. The moment felt like déjà vu – the way Sasuke stood, wearing his emotionless façade, only expressing a hint of shock through his onyx eyes. Being the calmer one, he spoke first.

"Didn't I tell you to stay upstairs?"

"Y-yes," she replied nervously, avoiding eye contact.

"Then why are you here?" His tone was brusque, just as it was in the meeting room previously.

Sakura held her breath. She was not going to lie to him. Lying was painful.

Somehow, by the look in his eyes, she knew that he was not going to reprimand her; he was not angry at her.

He sighed and placed his fingers to his temple. "It's late. Go to sleep," he said finally in a more subtle tone, before pushing past her and walking up the flight of stairs.

XXX

PRESENTLY

Tracking Orochimaru in the past years had been extremely difficult, making it also rather annoying. Sasuke had long forgotten about said man, thinking that he must have died. But now, six years later, the name reappeared along with more devastation. Sasuke had more questions about Orochimaru than he did before and had no clue as to where to start looking for answers.

"We couldn't find him back then, what makes you think we'll be able to do that this time?" Sasuke asked his brother, looking on ahead at the road through the windshield.

"Hiding does seem to be his area of expertise, but I assure you that everything will be done to catch him," Itachi answered before making another call.


Tenten woke to the buzzing of her cell phone. She let it ring, concentrating more on pulling herself together. Then she remembered everything that happened last night. She glanced over to the man sleeping beside her. Their actions had not gone past intimate kissing; and she was relieved at that. She needed things to move slowly in order for her to carefully judge the direction of their relationship.

Her attention was soon drawn to the vibrating phone that stopped just before her hand could reach out for it.

Sighing inwardly, she threw her body upward on the bed, carefully so as to not wake the sleeping form beside her, thinking that whoever was trying to contact her would call again later. After lazily getting off the bed, she grabbed her towel with the intention of taking a cool bath.

The warm water seemed to help wash away the tenseness that made itself present within her since last night; however a dormant worry resurfaced once her thoughts recalled the more serious matters occurring currently.

"Sakura…" she muttered, thinking out loud.

In the end, the warm bath that was momentarily a source of comfort fleetingly became a blazing sea of painful thoughts.


The day came to an end rather quickly, or at least it seemed that was because Temari had been asleep for most of it. It was normal for her to feel tired during her pregnancy. Ignoring the sound of the doorbell ringing constantly, Temari made her way downstairs as carefully as possible, to get something to eat.

The mansion was practically completely empty. It had been this way ever since Sakura ended up at the hospital. The memory of her friend's condition saddened Temari greatly. Sakura had been the one that brought light into her life when she had been engulfed in hardships; and for that Temari would be forever grateful…whether she survived…or died. The news of Sakura's pregnancy had hit her like a slap to the face. Temari had rising suspicions of it before, but as soon as she confronted her past colleague about it, she denied the idea at once, leaving no room for argument.

The doorbell rang again, breaking her from her thoughts. Temari sighed. It appeared that everyone was too busy to see to the visitors. Finding the noise irritating, Temari decided to answer the door knowing that it would be sensible to at least take a message for the busy Onikage members.

After making her way through a few dark hallways, she found the large wooden door and unlocked it, giving it a light push forward.

And the moment she did that, she silently regretted it…

"Gaara?"


Everything was not clear instantly; her mind was blank and her world was black. Then her body found some strength – not enough to move her arms and legs, but enough to slightly lift her fingers and eventually her eyelids. The darkness was overcome by a hazy view but the fuzzy image of a tall, lean, masculine figure stood motionless with his hands at his sides. His pale skin seemed to glow in the room painted in shadowy shades of grey…and some hues of dark blue.

Her lips parted and she fought for the strength to muster a voice, longing to know who he was, but failed miserably. She forced her eyes to move away from the man and try to decipher her location through the shapes and colors of the objects around her. Slowly her mind began to understand the things around her – the heart meter; the color of the curtains by the nearby window: she was in a hospital.

Bit by bit, her vision sharpened until she no longer had to squint to forcibly see clearly; and her gaze travelled back to the man standing at the foot of the bed, still unmoved. She was able to see his face now; those perfect facial features were familiar and soon it became painfully familiar.

"…ah…ah," she uttered, finding her voice, obstructed by the foreign object in her throat.

Suddenly, after flashes of memories of the last thing that happened in her life before she fell into her long slumber, her eyes became flooded with uncontainable tears…


He could not remove his eyes from the deep sea of emerald – a color he thought would never show itself in the dull room. Her eyes were what held him there; stunned him like an unbreakable enchantment. Sasuke heard the woman moan as if trying to say something, and then out of frustration, her dark green orbs became glassy which did nothing to faze its beauty; however it was able to break the spell, those powerful tears; it released the invisible binds that completely restricted his movement.

Sasuke left the hospital room just then and within moments, he returned with Sakura's doctor. After removing her life support and a thorough medical examination, the doctor instructed the nurses to arrange some nourishment for Sakura and asked for a quick word with Sasuke outside.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked the doctor as soon as they stepped out into the corridor, far enough from Sakura.

"She seems to be fine and should be discharged by tomorrow morning," Dr. Matsuda said, "However I wanted to advise you to refrain from informing your wife about her pregnancy in order to maintain her mental stability."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, despite the anger he felt whenever the loss of their child was mentioned.

After discussing Sakura's prescribed medications, Sasuke re-visited his wife's room. He found her awake and still teary eyed. Her hand was resting on her stomach as she pulled herself into a sitting position on her bed. Then she spoke, her voice coarse and trembling as she stared into his eyes.

"Is m-my…is my baby alright?"


Sakura knew that Sasuke had probably already come to know about her pregnancy and even if he had not, then she was not going to hide it from him any longer. She was also well aware of the damages she took to her stomach, but still she asked the question with some hope that the child inside of her had survived.

Sasuke did not answer. He did not need to say anything – the silence told her what she wanted to know. Though it was not what she needed to hear…and so, the tears came again, even more than before.


He watched her body tremble as she sobbed; he remained unmoved. At this point he was unsure of what he felt. There was no presence of pity; sorrow or even anger – all of that had already subsided. Sasuke looked at his emotional wife. She looked so pale and fragile; her hair seemed to have lost its radiant pink hue; it was reduced to a duller shade.

He could not speak to her, afraid that whatever came out of his mouth would only do more damage. But looking at his wife's state was becoming even more unbearable by the minute…and there was only one person he knew would do a better job at calming Sakura down.

Without hesitation, Sasuke called the woman who knew his wife better than he did…

"Tenten, Sakura has awoken…"


Sakura refused to eat anything the nurses brought her. Tenten had successfully calm Sakura, but since that, the recovered woman said nothing; ate nothing and drank nothing. She merely stared at nothing in particular, wearing a blank expression.

"Sakura…Sakura, sweetheart, please eat something," Tenten pleaded desperately for the fifth time, "You can't stay like this…"

Sakura remained silent…and her eyes stayed fixed upon the white-tiled floor.

Tenten raked her hand through her loose, brown hair before pressing her palm over her eyes. She could not hold it in any longer. When she got the call from Sasuke, informing her that Sakura had waken from her coma, Tenten felt relieved. But when she came to meet her sister, fully self-assured that everything was alright, her confidence became completely deflated. Seeing Sakura in her current state was the most heart breaking thing she had ever felt in her twenty six years of living.

With blood shot eyes, Tenten looked at her sister once more. She looked so pale; lifeless…like a doll that harbored no emotion; empty…hollow.

Then she glanced up at Sasuke, and after swallowing the lump in her throat, she spoke.

"She'll go insane…she's already losing it!"

The man said nothing. He even refused to look at his wife.

"We should take her home. Then we'll decide what we can do to help her," Tenten continued, getting off the chair.


Gaara tried to ignore the shock he felt at the sight of his older sister. Surely he had been expecting her to be residing at the criminals' mansion…however he was not expecting her to be pregnant.

"B-Brother –"

But before she could manage a whole statement, the pistol was at her head, forcing her to become silent in fear of losing her life and the child growing inside of her.

Temari shut her eyes, her thoughts racing, her heart pounding. She kept quiet, afraid that the moment she opened her mouth, Gaara would pull the trigger. It was in his nature to do such a thing.

"Don't utter a word to me, you disgraceful woman," her brother spat maliciously. She felt her stomach do a somersault. Usually when nervous, she would unconsciously place her hand over her full stomach, protectively; however this time she remained frozen. To calm herself her eyes drifted from the icy, light green orbs to the scenery behind him, distracting herself with the human-figured shadows of trees and statues. Then she noticed that her brother had come alone, which made her wonder how he was able to infiltrate the compound that had been so highly protected.

"And you shouldn't speak to her in that manner," said a familiar voice. It came from the little distance behind her brother, who she noted had become suddenly stationary and wide-eyed.

"Lower the gun…or I won't hesitate to shoot you through that thick skull of yours," the man spoke to Gaara again.

The sound of Naruto's voice brought immense relief to Temari and she felt even more relaxed when Gaara obeyed after a minute's hesitation.

With the use of a napkin, Temari wiped her sweat-drenched forehead and whispered a silent 'thank you' to her savior who was busy disarming her hostile younger brother.

"Where are you taking him?" Temari asked the blond man after some time.

"To the Interrogation Chamber," Naruto answered and added, "You should call Shikamaru..."


Matsuri looked up at the clock in her hotel room once more. Gaara had ordered that she wait fifteen minutes for him. Fifteen minutes had passed, and yet there was no sign of the man. She did not risk contacting him, nor did she request for backup from the FBI, knowing that both actions could very well lead to Gaara's death.

"I guess I'll have to go there myself," she muttered, referring to the Onikage mansion.

She walked over to her suitcase and pulled out a smaller case. Clicking it open, Matsuri scanned the weapons it contained, trying to decide the most fitting one to use on her new, self-assigned mission.

Just then, however her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen at once, with hopeful eyes that softened at the sight of the caller identification she wanted to see.

"Gaara…thank God! You got me worried there when you didn't show up –"

"Come down to the mansion unarmed. Bring nothing but your phone. Do not contact the federal authorizes," he interrupted her, speaking in his usual deadly, low tone.

The call ended abruptly with those three commands which she found quite strange

Was Gaara sending her an encrypted message? Or was he actually serious about the orders he had just given?

Then one question forced its way through, reigning above all others.

Would she follow, blindly, believing Gaara's every word…or would she give the situation a second thought and formulate her own strategy of approach?


A/N: This chapter was short and I know that was disappointing to almost ALL of you; especially since I made you wait so long (and for that I apologize). However, it was necessary for it to be of this length. The next chapter will be much, MUCH longer. From now on there will be Romance/Angst.

PLEASE EXCUSE THE ERRORS THAT YOU ENCOUNTERED. I didn't have much time to re-read :(

NEXT CHAP: 16th July 10, 2011

Until then!

-Iz.