A/N: Another chapter brought to you by ObsidianSickle and her cruel mind. My editor is constantly telling me that I'm so mean to Sasuke. I suppose I am in a way…but that's what happens when you make bad choices…they come back to bite you. But I guess what happens in the following chapter isn't a result of his mistakes… That's just me being mean… again :p
Before we begin, a couple of announcements to make:
-Koo2Koo1Ka2chool gets a cookie for being my two thousandth reviewer
-Message to "Angry Reader": I already updated a week early. I was on vacation. Deal with it. I'd like to see you try and make me. Ha.
-People dwelt too much on the anomaly signature, no it's not magical Kisame, sorry. Don't find out till next arc. :p
Chapter Thirty-Six: Slipping Between Fingers
The journey back to Konoha was proving to be a slow one after they had left. No longer in a hurry to meet any deadlines, Sakura had ordered the group take it slow, as they had missed a day of rest that she had originally planned in Kumogakure. But Sasuke knew the story a little differently from the upfront reasons she had given both he and Naruto. Sakura was trying to make the duration of the trip longer in order to knock off some of the hours Sasuke owed to the village. Additionally, the extra time allowed for healing sessions when they stopped for the night, and Sakura was not left nearly so drained.
Neither of them had spoken to Naruto about what they were trying to do. The prospect of Sasuke's eyes being able to see again was still quite a small window, which wasn't even open all that wide. They both knew that Naruto would be overly optimistic about the idea if he found out, and if they failed, he would be as crushed as any of them. They didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, even if they had observed a small improvement. The few extra hours of rest were proving to be productive though, as there had been even further developments in the restoration of Sasuke's sight, even over the past few days.
It was the third day since they left Kumo, making it twelve days total since they left Konoha. The weather had improved immensely, and in the lower valleys of the Land of Lightning, the snows were gone. At the moment it was warm and sunny out as they traveled back down that path that they had trod on not too long ago. Sasuke found in himself small out-of-character bursts of excitement as he subtly opened and closed his eyes, observing the changes. He had deactivated his senses so that he could pay better attention to them; he was hanging onto Sakura's hand as they walked, trusting her guidance. The world was still black, but when he opened his eyes, there was a significant change in how black the world actually was. He was enjoying the fact that when he closed his eyes, the world was dark, and when he opened them it was slightly lighter.
"What are you doing, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, seeming to have noticed what the said Uchiha was doing, and finding his behaviour strange.
"The air is drying my eyes out," Sasuke replied in an irritable tone, as the back of his neck felt warmer.
On his right, Sakura giggled; Sasuke gave a lopsided smirk and squeezed her hand knowingly.
"You know, you're so cheerful nowadays—I see you so much happier than when you were first found," Sakura said pensively, with a touch of amusement, "But you still don't smile quite right. It's too bad, because you're so close too."
"Who, Sasuke? Cheerful?" Naruto said dubiously, then the next part was directed in Sasuke's direction, "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?"
"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke retorted, but made no further jibe.
It was true that he was feeling more cheerful, he felt so carefree at the moment, it was nice feeling. Maybe just for one day he could suppress and lock away all the horrible thoughts that lurked in the corner of his mind. For once maybe he could rationalize the world and pretend for a moment that nothing mattered; it was just him and his two teammate, his two best friends. Of all the long-forgotten emotions he had trapped inside of him, the emotion of indifference was the one that had collected the most dust. He hadn't felt like this since before his family had been killed; there had always been something to worry about, to care about, to be determined to achieve. Right now, not having a care in the world, was the most wonderful feeling he had experienced.
Good things never last forever.
It was then that two chakra signatures had just arrived within his range of awareness, not that this particularly was bad—they had been passing people a lot over the past few days—but what made it worth attention was that one of the signatures was ridiculously powerful. This was not the signature of a merchant or traveler—only shinobi training and regular use of chakra could expand the amount of chakra one had. Whoever was coming their way was powerful—so powerful in fact, that he had only encountered two signatures that had surpassed this one. One was Naruto's—when that strange red chakra engulfed him—and the other he had sensed in Kumogakure. He stopped dead in his tracks, analyzing the signatures, unsure of how to access the situation.
"Sasuke?" Sakura had stopped because he had, her voice sounded confused.
A frown descended upon his brow; the two signatures were a ways away, but they were drawing nearer—which meant they were traveling the same road as them, except in the opposite direction. They would undoubtedly meet up with them eventually. Had the Raikage changed his mind? Were these two people after them? But there were no signatures coming from behind, they weren't surrounded.
"Sasuke, answer Sakura-chan's question, will you?" Naruto grumbled impatiently.
The world made itself known to him as he activated his senses, "There are two people coming down the road towards us, one of which whose chakra is extremely powerful."
Sakura's face was considerate for a minute, she looked like she was pondering the idea carefully, "Just two?"
He nodded once.
"Are they hurrying?"
"No, they're moving at a normal pace."
"They could possibly be some Cloud shinobi returning home," Sakura said with careful consideration, "We'll just pass them by and hope for the best. If they give us trouble, then it'll be war with Kumo for sure."
"That is if they are Kumo shinobi," Sasuke heard Naruto mutter, and despite Sakura being closer to Naruto than he was, he didn't think that she had heard.
He himself merely nodded, but said nothing more. He dropped Sakura's hand and shoved his own deep in his pockets. Behind him, he was aware of Sakura's face falling in disappointment, and he almost decided to grab her hand again. Almost. He remembered what Naruto had said to him a number of days ago. Don't give her hope. He wondered if he had been blurring the line a bit by holding onto her hand earlier. He hoped not.
He had let go of her hand because he felt wary of the two who were coming their way. He hadn't really meant to drop her hand, but it had been an automatic response to avoid showing any sort of weakness around people he didn't know. They ambience hadn't changed really though. He was slightly wary, but still in a carefree mood. Once the people had passed, he would be able to relax again, and if Naruto didn't shoot him any warning glances, maybe he would offer Sakura his arm.
"So I dunno about you," Naruto said conversationally, "but even though the Raikage may be a sneaky underhanded twit, I still think he's crazy."
Sasuke smirked; twit was actually the perfect word to describe the Raikage.
"Well, he definitely seems to have two sides to him," Sakura commented, seeming pensive.
"Just like you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto laughed, and then was forced to dodge a swing at his head.
"I do not! Right, Sasuke?"
He didn't say anything; he knew very well that Naruto was talking about the entity that he had come to identify as Demoness Sakura, which thankfully, thus far, had not turned her fury upon him. However he had had the opportunity to see her unleashed upon other poor unfortunates, primarily Naruto, and Sakura's father.
"Right, Sasuke? …Sasuke?" Sakura asked again, her voice faltering.
He smirked to himself, chuckling slightly under his breath. Sakura's expression changed from defensive to annoyed; raising her arm, she aimed to punch his shoulder in irritation. At the last moment before it connected with his shoulder, Sasuke sidestepped it, and grabbed onto her fist, causing her to trip forwards. With a quick motion, he caught her to keep her from falling.
"You missed," he informed her in amusement, not letting go of her.
Her arms were trapped uselessly at her sides, and she struggled vainly. Naruto, taking advantage of her helpless state, jumped over to the two of them and gave Sakura a noogie. Once her hair was sufficiently untidy, Naruto stopped and Sasuke let her go.
She scowled at the both of them, fixing her rumpled hair, "Grrr…stop it with the grins, you two." When neither of them responded, she made a face und turned to Sasuke, and asked him grumpily: "What's the progress on our two visitors?"
"You're just mad because for once it's us ganging up on you, Sakura-chan," Naruto laughed, starting to walk onwards again.
"Hmph, maybe I am," she smirked, "Just answer the question anyways."
Sasuke hadn't really been paying too much attention to the signatures, accepting Sakura's guess of them being Kumo shinobi as a valid one. Now he turned his attention back to them; the path must bend, he noted, because they would be close enough to be seen by now. However, there was nobody on the horizon just yet.
"We'll see them soon," he told her, and she nodded seriously, but her expression was peeved.
He knew she wasn't really mad, so he just kept his smirk to himself, and ignored the look on her face. He was rather amused by it; actually, she looked…how could he put it? If 'cute' had been within Sasuke's vocabulary, he would have found it relatively easy to describe her. She looked cute when she was irritated. However, the word was not within Sasuke's mental vocabulary—if it ever had been, it had been very much forgotten—and the descriptive word eluded him. However he soon forgot about trying and finding the perfect word, as his mind went numb with shock as the two people came into sight.
All of Team Seven had come to a standstill. Naruto and Sakura were too far away to see the faces of the people, but they recognized the garb immediately. Sasuke, however, could not see the colours, but that meant very little to him at the moment. No matter how far away the people were, his senses gave him the exact details like they were standing right in front of him, and he would recognize one face anywhere. He could never forget that face. It was impossible for him to forget.
It was Itachi.
He felt something come out from inside of him and envelop all other emotions he had been feeling, wiping them out. His hatred for his brother replaced every thought, every feeling, everything that he had been feeling a few moments previous. His fists clenched at his side, and his face hardened; he automatically adorned his face with the most hateful glare he possessed.
"You!" he growled, the words leaving his mouth almost in a snarl.
The two members of Akatsuki stopped walking once they realized that the three down the path from them were all facing them. They were not far, within talking distance, but there was a wide enough distance between them to prevent any attacks from being launched unsuspectingly. Sasuke was doing everything in his power to keep his feet firmly planted where they were, opposed to attacking his brother right away. Attacking would be stupid at this point, and he knew he would lose instantly.
His brother studied him with what was mild interest by his standards, "Hm, you are not as dead as those in Oto would believe you are. I did not believe you would be. After all, you have a purpose to fulfill."
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruto demanded, with rage that was almost comparable with Sasuke's. The back of Sasuke's mind registered this question, though his conscious mind did not waver. If he had not been so angry and filled with loathing, Naruto's anger would have surprised him. He did not know why Naruto held his own hatred for Itachi, nor did he really care at the moment. What he did make note of at the moment though, was how he could sense the red chakra suddenly slipping out into Naruto. He was really pissed.
"I have no reason to explain our intentions to you, Naruto-kun," Itachi replied evenly, "We're not after you today, so move out of our way and let us pass."
Sasuke felt his anger begin to boil, his fists were clenched so hard that his nails almost were breaking the skin in his palms, "After everything you've done, you expect me to let you pass by here! Don't you ignore me and walk by like I'm not even here! I have sacrificed so much for this day! Today you will die!"
The other man called Kisame, he remembered vaguely, gestured at Sasuke's headband, "Look at that Itachi-san, your brother's gone off and run back to Konoha."
"So I see," Itachi acknowledged, blinking slowly and impassively, "That was indeed foolish, little brother."
"Don't you tell me what is foolish and what is not!" Sasuke exploded, at the same time that Sakura shouted: "That is not your place to say!"
Sasuke was surprised enough to let Sakura continue what he had started to say. The level of anger in her own voice was apparent as she spoke, her voice harsh and dripping with venom.
"You have no right to govern or judge his decisions," she said fiercely, "It would only be a foolish decision if he knew he would not be accepted back!"
"Maybe. But he will never be able to gain enough strength to kill me if he cannot make up his resolve over something as important as where his loyalties lie," Itachi replied, his face seeming like it was made of marble.
"My resolve to kill you has never wavered!" Sasuke spat, "Ever since that day, ever since you killed them all, I have only sought one goal, and all roads I have taken will lead to that goal: your death."
Sasuke tensed his body, but Sakura looked sharply at him, "Sasuke, don't."
"I have no intention of dying today," Itachi said passively, "And you are delaying us in our journey, so remove yourselves from our paths."
"You off to ruin someone else's life? Going to take them away and kill them too?!" Naruto snarled, the chakra a blazing inferno within him, "Just like Gaara, just like however many other people you've taken?!"
"Naruto, stop," Sakura ordered, but it seemed he was paying as much attention to her as Sasuke was.
"Today you will die, and it will be by my hand!" Sasuke said, throwing in the last bit with emphasis. He didn't care what quarrel Naruto had against his brother, but he was going to be the one to kill him, without help from either Naruto or Sakura. This was his battle, this would be his kill. It was his clan, his revenge, his purpose. He was an avenger—a title that could only be given to one person alone.
"As I have said, I will not die this day, and do not claim that I will, my brother," Itachi said icily, his face hardening ever so slightly in Sasuke's senses, "I am not blind: I can see clearly that you are."
Sasuke faltered.
"You can never hope to kill me," Itachi continued with a tone of finality, "No matter what you have sacrificed, not matter what you have given up, you have lost the one thing that gave you the slightest chance of achieving your goal. I will not fight against someone as weak and as handicapped as you—you were too pathetic to be killed back then. Now you have become even less that that; I once considered you almost worthy of fighting, but now you are too pathetic for even that. You are not capable of victory."
Anger was coursing through him; hot rage shook his very existence, he could feel his blood on fire. What had he gone through those past few months for? What had he sacrificed his eyesight for? What had he joined Orochimaru for? What had he hurt his friends and betrayed everyone for? For this. For this moment. For his brother. He had lost everything, sacrificed everything, thrown everything away so he could kill his brother. So he could fulfill his dream. He would not be told he could not do it. He could kill Itachi, he would prove it to him. Right now.
He shifted his footwork so that he was ready to spring at this slightest change in his brother's features. Itachi's face was unmoved, his expression passive; his gaze seemed even more empty and blank with Sasuke's senses—he could not see the Sharingan, only the blank white surface of his eyes. He allowed himself a sadistic smirk as he knew his advantage—he could not be caught in his brother's genjutsu, he would never be subject to the Mangekyou ever again.
"Sasuke," Sakura's voice came to him after a long period of silence from her. It sounded far away and quiet to his ears, where the blood was pounding loudly, but it was firm, "Stop this right now."
"Stay out of it, Sakura," he snapped at her, paying hardly any notice to her.
He was waiting for Itachi to do something—anything. One more comment, one movement, one smirk—one final thing—that would set him off. That's why he paid little attention when she extended her hand towards him; he knew she was going to try and calm him by putting her hand on his shoulder, but that would not stop him. He prepared himself to shrug it away, but then something happened that Sasuke hadn't expected.
What happened, happened so quickly that it would have only been able to be caught with the Sharingan, so Sasuke had no idea what had happened until it was too late, until he realized with horror and outrage that he had been thrown into the deep depths of one of Sakura's genjutsu.
With cunning skill and practiced speed, Sakura flicked her wrist sharply as she reached for Sasuke's shoulder. The movement redirected the trajectory of her fingertips and they instead went to the back of Sasuke's head; with her mastery of chakra, she was able to send it to her fingertips at a speed that was just surpassed by the speed of sound. Sasuke wouldn't have been able to stop her even if he had tried, the movement had hit him in the back of his head too quickly—he wouldn't even have had time to think about reacting. It had been her second strongest genjutsu too—it would take him hours to get out. Uchiha Sasuke's body slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"What the—Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, alarmed, not yet realizing what was happening.
The instant that the loud-mouthed ninja had whirled to see what had happened to his best friend, Sakura saw with a jolt that already his eyes had turned red, the whisker marks had darkened, and his canine teeth had grown more prominent. She had been concerned that his anger would awaken that side of him, and she knew that she shouldn't have been so surprised to find that indeed it had already happened. Acting quickly, she tapped the back of his head as well, and before Naruto knew what was happening, he joined Sasuke on the ground, unconscious as well.
"Very powerful genjutsu," Itachi commented, observing what she had done—he sounded a little impressed as well.
"That was curious behavior," Kisame grinned, seeming amused.
"Shut it!" Sakura yelled angrily at the two of them, "Just leave my friends alone! Stay away from Naruto and stay away from Sasuke. You have no idea what you've done to them—especially Sasuke! Don't you dare go calling him pathetic, he's got worth in one of his hairs than you do in your entire body, so just stay away and stop making his life worse!"
Using her brute strength together with her chakra to increase her power, she picked up both of her unconscious teammates like they were two sacks of grain, slinging Naruto unceremoniously over her shoulder. She fumbled clumsily with her kunai pouch and withdrew a smoke bomb.
"Just stay away from us," she hissed before dropping the small item, and being enveloped in a cloud of smoke.
And it was because she was making her escape under the cover of smoke, that she never got to see Itachi's expression after her departure. She never saw the small smile on his face and the pleased 'hm'.
The sun was starting to dip into evening before Sakura stopped. After dropping the smoke bomb, she cut through the woods and came out around the bend of the path they had been following. She traveled a long ways down the path, almost three hours, putting as much distance between the three of them and Uchiha Itachi and that other guy. She did not wake Naruto or Sasuke from their illusion until she had stopped; she wouldn't put it past them to try and go back if the distance didn't seem all that far for them. But using chakra to transport two fully grown teenaged boys was taxing.
It was at an old picnicking spot that she stopped. It was off-season for regular people to be camping or picnicking, so the place was deserted. Setting Naruto and Sasuke down on a patch of grass in a break in the trees, she took a few-minute breather. She was reluctant to wake either of them right away; she wasn't mentally prepared yet—she knew they both would be angry with her and she figured Sasuke even more so than Naruto would be. Kneeling down between them, she took a deep breath and tapped their forehads at the same time.
"Kai."
They both opened their eyes at the same time, but Sasuke was the only who to sit up instantly. He was scanning around with his senses so intently that he was growing careless—Sakura could feel it; it sent an involuntary shiver over her. Naruto, on the other hand, seemed to still be trying to figure out what happened.
"Where's Itachi?" Sasuke demanded harshly.
Solemnly, Sakura turned her head and looked straight into his blind eyes, "Miles away, Sasuke."
His face became with an expression of stony wrath, and expectedly leapt to his feet and stormed off, leaving her and Naruto alone. She wasn't worried; he wouldn't leave—she knew him well enough now.
Slowly Naruto sat up, and when he met her eyes, they were not full of anger, but full of hurtful despair. It hurt her deeply too receive the look he was giving her, even the saddened eyes of a broken-spirited animal came nowhere close to the wounded look she received.
"Don't—" Sakura started, interrupting Naruto as he began to open his mouth, "I know you wanted to fight back there—I understand why. I know that someone else is now going to die because of them. You managed to save Gaara, yes, but you can't possibly save all of them, Naruto. We could have fought them, I know, but can you look at me now and tell me that we would have won?"
Naruto closed his mouth and looked away, his face hard and eyes glassy with unshed tears.
"If we had fought them, we could have all ended up dead, and the poor person they're after would be taken anyways," Sakura said gravely, knowing that the truth was hurting the person she considered her second brother, "I made a strategic choice—a shinobi's choice. Keep us all alive and let Itachi go, or all end up dead and the Jinchuuriki too."
There was a pause from Naruto before he asked: "Where's Sasuke?"
"He went that way," Sakura pointed in the direction he had gone, the roof of a picnic shelter visible above some trees, "He isn't taking this well."
Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet, sitting on the ground, staring at his hands. She let it be that way for a few minutes before standing up wearily, feeling a heavy weight on her shoulders as she did so. The sun was just beginning to grace the horizon—it would soon be dark.
"Come, help me set up camp," she said in a gentle voice.
Wordlessly, Naruto got to his feet, and together with Sakura, they went to unpack.
Naruto was quiet during the entire time they set up came, a grim aura hanging heavily around him. Sakura felt badly for him; he of course would understand better than anyone what it was like for a Jinchuuriki, and he knew that one was now condemned to death. It wasn't until the entire camp had been set, firewood gathered and the sun glowing orange as it sank halfway over the hills, that Naruto finally spoke.
"Is Sasuke going to be okay?" he asked grimly, placing a slight emphasis on Sasuke's name, knowing that he was going to be fine, but he wasn't so certain about his best friend.
"I…" Sakura started, and then paused, "He will be…but I don't know how long it'll take. I wish we had never run into Itachi… Today was the first day that I saw Sasuke act like a normal guy, a guy having fun with his teammates—he almost smiled today. And then out of all the people we had to run into on the road today, it had to be his brother."
Naruto nodded grimly, and gazed off at the picnic shelter. Wherever Sasuke had been, he had returned and was now sitting on the porch outside of the shelter, just within their view. They were both sitting now on the ground in front of the pile of wood that would be their fire when lit, casting the occasional glance at the lone Uchiha.
"What happened to him?" Naruto asked after a moment, "I mean, other than…well, you know…"
Sakura sighed heavily, "I think he's had a sort of relapse. He was getting so much better, becoming much more open and almost smiling. I was seriously beginning to believe that maybe he could let go of the past, maybe forget about his revenge, or at least leave it alone. I was hoping maybe he would think he didn't need it, and on the day where he possibly could have started to believe that… I'm sure he was reminded of everything that happened to him, and now I don't know if he'll go back to being the way he was when he first was brought back, or if he'll even dare open up again like he did."
"What are we going to do?" Naruto questioned miserably, tearing his gaze away from Sasuke and looking instead at Sakura.
"I don't know…" she whispered in reply, "I think…I think I'll go talk to him."
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Naruto asked, casting a glance in Sasuke's direction.
Sakura got to her feet and sighed, "Well, he's probably mad at me, so it might not go well… Maybe it'd be better if you went and got us some water."
"Will you be okay?" Naruto got to his feet as well, stretching slightly.
"Yeah… I've lived with Sasuke for how long now? I think I'll be okay."
Nodding, Naruto turned and went over to their backpacks, pulling out the water canteens and slinging them over his shoulder, "Good luck Sakura-chan."
"Hey," she called out, stopping him before he got to far away, "Thanks for not staying too mad at me."
"Iie. You made the best choice," he shook his head slightly at her, and then added: "Even though it might not have been the right one."
Sasuke saw Sakura approaching with his senses, drawing near to where he sat on the ledge of the picnic shelter, but he did not acknowledge her as she came close. He simply sat with his legs crossed, his fingers laced beneath his nose, and a relatively blank expression on his face, marred only slightly with the signs of anger. Sakura wore also a relatively blank expression on her face as well, save hers was marred with the slightly showing expression of melancholy seriousness; she said nothing to him when she came over to where he was, but stood directly in front of him, her hands at her sides as she looked down upon where he sat. He was off the ground a few feet, so she wasn't towering over him—his head was about the same height as her shoulder—but he still didn't like the fact that she was there, looking down at him.
After a long pause where neither of them moved, finally, Sasuke was the one to break the silence.
"Why did you do that, Sakura?" he asked her, his voice quiet.
She let out a quiet sigh, "Because our primary goal right now is to return to Konoha and report the mission completion, not your revenge. And because that is our mission, I will not allow you to go off and kill your brother."
Her words angered him. Right now he didn't give a damn about their stupid mission; he didn't care that that was what they were supposed to be doing. It was not their primary goal right now—or at least it wasn't his. His brother's death came before all things, his brother's death was always first for him, it came before all other things, nothing would stand before it.
"It is none of your business what I do!" he snapped at her, dropping his hands and turning his head towards her.
Her voice grew cross, "It is very well my business what you do. I am the team leader, and that makes me the one who is responsible for you while on probation. I'm your rehabilitator, teammate, and friend. Don't tell me that it's none of my business. For all of those reasons it is my business whether you try and kill him or not."
"And now, because you made it your business, he is still alive—because of you!" he exclaimed angrily at her, his fists clenching at his side.
"And so are you!" she retorted, her expression not changing even though her voice was growing angry as well.
His fury flared in his stomach, "And what the hell are you implying by that? That you think that I can't kill him?"
"No, you can't!" she told him haughtily, putting her hands on her hips, her eyebrows coming down in the start of a frown.
"Oh, and why not?! Why don't you think that I can kill him?" he demanded back, turning his head away from her. He would not give her the satisfaction of making it seem like he considered her his equal by arguing to her face. He was so angry right now—he didn't care that she had possibly saved his life by throwing him in a damned genjutsu, she had saved Itachi's as well that day.
"Because you're not ready! You're not skilled enough yet! You don't have the strength required kill him, not now. He's right about that, even if you want very much to deny that!"
He lost his temper. Without even thinking, his hand lashed out at her, seizing the front of her shirt at the base of her neck. The grasped the fabric tightly, and he could feel his hand going numb with the amount of strength that he was putting into it. A burning sensation was creeping around on the spot where his curse mark was, but it did not spread; he could feel the seal doing its work, even though it burned. How dare she tell him that he was not strong enough yet? Especially after his brother had already gone and told him so already.
There was silence after that, and even though his face was not turned towards her, he could see her with his senses. She was back to wearing the expression of melancholy seriousness, and she did not try to struggle free from his grasp. Her chakra died back down to calmness, and he noted that she didn't even look alarmed at what he had done. She was regarding him carefully, and he felt, under her gaze, like she pitied him. The seconds ticked by: one…two…three……fifteen…twenty… And then slowly she did something that he hadn't expected in the least, she slowly put her arms around him and pulled him into an embrace.
His head lay on her shoulder, and his fist was trapped between them; he was so surprised by what she had done, and after a time, the death-grip he had on her clothing slackened, and fell away. And then slowly, without knowing why, he put his arms around her waist in return; his arms were shaking.
His anger was still there, though it was no longer directed at Sakura; it was anger born out of sheer frustration of not being allowed to kill his brother. Itachi had been right—it had not been his day to die, and the fact that he got away alive, proving him right, frustrated Sasuke all the more. Frustrated anger was only part of what he was feeling though—the other half, he could not really identify. It felt like there were a million little hooks embedded in his heart, and each was pulling painfully in every direction.
"You might not be strong enough yet, but I never once believed that you were pathetic."
He tensed slightly at her words. He didn't know what to say, or do, in response to what she said, if anything. He wanted to cry. Uchiha Sasuke didn't cry, let alone want to. Yet he felt the huge weight of grief suddenly build in his stomach, and sit there heavily, despite that. The thing was he didn't even know why he wanted to cry. It was like someone had opened the cell where he locked his emotions and they were slowly escaping. He began to panic slightly, doing everything in his power to get his emotions back under control again.
It was a long few minutes before he managed to regain his inward composure, and when he did, he realized how tightly he had grasped Sakura in his state of panic. Yet she had not complained once about this grip, nor had she done anything to loosen it, just waited patiently until he let go of his own accord. And he did—he slowly let go of her, embarrassed by his moment of weakness, but she said nothing about that either. She never judged him.
Instead she came and sat down next to him on the porch, staring out into the western sky, which was black to his senses. Without being asked, she began to describe it to him, telling him of the oranges and yellows that painted the sky. When she was finished, she turned to him, her expression serious. All these months he had trusted her, all this time she had helped him and guided him, he had trusted her and she had not failed him. He must not hurt her now—he wouldn't hurt her now. If he pushed Sakura away, then there was nobody left, he would never kill Itachi. He got it now; she had made her point.
"I'm sorry," he muttered so quietly, that it was barely audible to his own ears. Shamefully, he turned his head away from her, and extinguished his senses; he couldn't bring himself to look at her right now, not after almost hurting her right then.
Sakura gazed upon Sasuke with sympathetic eyes, but she still knew she had made the right choice. She knew Sasuke had been very close to attacking her, yet somehow she had not been afraid for herself. What had really frightened her was when she saw the curse mark on his neck turn red, and begin to swirl within the black barbed seal. The tomoe were pressing against the walls of mark, searching for a weak point to escape, but there were none.
After a while, she spoke, "Don't be sorry. You were angry, and it was my fault. But I knew what I was doing when I took both you and Naruto away. Itachi fights unfairly, and he would have taken advantage of your blind state. His genjutsu are powerful, and even though he might not have directed his attack to the back of your head, I'm sure one of his genjutsu would have severely thrown your other senses off for a bit."
He faltered for a moment, and finally he turned his head towards her again, a frown on his face, "How would you know? You've never even met my brother before today."
She shook her head at him, "I have. And I was able to watch him fight, as he fought against Naruto and Kakashi-sensei."
Sasuke tensed quite visibly, looking as shocked and surprised as Uchiha Sasuke ever could appear to be, "When was this?"
"It's complicated, so I'll just start from the beginning," Sakura said contemplatively, staring at the hills, which now had an orange glow above them, now that sun had disappeared entirely, "It all started about a year ago."
"Six months before your were found and brought back, Naruto and I saw each other for the first time in two and a half years. We had each gone our respective ways deciding to train and hone our skills, and we each had our own teacher to instruct us. Naruto was taken on by Jiraiya-sama, while I went to Tsunade-sama to train my medical skills. The ultimate achievement was to bring you back home, when we were strong enough to do so. As it was, at the time, what attempts we made already were simply not good enough, and it disheartened us greatly," Sakura started, her eyes loosing their focus as she was caught up in her memories of the past; it was only a year ago, but sometimes it seemed like yesterday, "I never really did find out what Naruto actually did, but I myself built my skills up in everything. I was seriously lacking in taijutsu skills, as you may remember—" Sakura smiled to herself at this part, "—so Tsunade-shishou rather forced me into becoming better."
"She was a tough instructor, and if I couldn't avoid the projectiles, block the punch, or move fast enough, I paid for it. Also, we discovered that because of my ability to control my chakra so well, I was very good at genjutsu. It was one of my stronger points, so I spent time with both Tsunade-shishou and Kurenai-sensei practicing and eventually developing my own types of genjutsu. I became able to manipulate them how I wanted—whether I would actively control the illusion, or whether it would use the victim's own mind to spin a web of misapprehension. Sometimes if I could even hear the thoughts of those who were trapped in the genjutsu, but that drains a lot of chakra, and I don't like doing that," Sakura said placidly, and she glanced at Sasuke, but his face was masked of emotion, "Enemy or not, I believe one's thoughts should be private. Anyways, that was my genjutsu training. And then there was the medical training. Countless hours of reading textbooks, practicing on injured animal and birds, working up to more complicated animals, and finally people."
"The first time that someone died, when I was trying to save them, was very hard on me," Sakura remembered in her mind's eye a shinobi that had been brought in for emergency after a mission had turned horribly bad. There had been more blood than she thought possible to come out of a person. The features of the face hadn't faded with time, because they were already so disfigured from injury that she couldn't forget them. She remembered doing everything she could, and even though Tsunade had been by her side, assisting her through the procedure, the life had slowly faded. She remembered the cold shock that she had felt quite clearly, "I felt like everything that I had been learning up to that point hadn't been good enough. I had tried so hard, but it amounted to nothing, I was wondering if I would ever be able to be of use. If Orochimaru had possessed you when Naruto and I eventually found you, would I be able to remove his soul from you? That was my ultimate fear, and my ultimate goal. I did not want that to happen to you, but if I could find, or create a technique, that would remove him from you, then I would have considered myself good enough."
"I became a Chuunin and passed the Exam with flying colours, I had done very well, and Kakashi-sensei told me he was proud of me. I was beginning to gain more confidence in myself, and my family was proud of my accomplishments. But even so, I missed both you and Naruto, and sometimes I grew lonely. When my brother was home, I spent time with him, but a lot of the time I spent with Team Gai, Team Ten, and sometimes Team Eight," she recalled all the times that she had spent with the individuals of each team. Friendly competition between her and Ino as they refined their medical techniques, discovering the joy of watching clouds and even daring to try snack foods again, despite calorie content. Or getting to know Hinata better, seeing beyond her shyness and learning more of her deep feelings for Naruto, laughing with Kiba as she discovered his great sense of humor, and growing slightly more accustomed to Shino and the bugs living in his body and clothing. And Team Gai—befriending Ten Ten and even the distant Hyuuga Neji, who she hadn't really known before, and Lee, who had always been a good friend to her, became even more so in those two and a half years. Then there was those a the hospital too, people from work whom she had gotten to know through her experiences, "My training wasn't entirely finished, but I gained a certain amount of independence and got a job at the hospital. I was one of Tsunade-shishou's few pupils, and I was her best. The staff at the hospital respected me greatly and often asked me for advice. To a lot of them, I was just as good as Tsunade-sama, though I still don't think I even deserve to be considered second best."
"Then Naruto came home," Sakura said with fondness as she remembered the day clearly, "We hadn't seen each other in so long, but when we looked at one another, we knew that we hadn't really changed—we had just become more mature, and more determined. It was like he hadn't been away at all, and we were talking and joking like we had been before. He was very disgruntled to find out not only that he was the only genin left over from all the rookies, that Neji had even become jounin, and his friend, Sabaku no Gaara, had become Kazekage of the Sand Village."
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Sasuke smirk to himself, obviously amused by Naruto's behaviour, which was just like the loud-mouthed ninja. Sakura grinned to herself and gave him a light reprimand, "Don't look so smug. Now who's the only genin left over?"
Sasuke let out an incoherent grumble that sounded like: 'yeah, yeah,' which caused Sakura to laugh.
"Anyways," Sakura continued, still smiling to herself, "What was left of Team Seven was brought together, and Naruto and I were to go up against Kakashi in a final test. Remember when we were supposed to get the bells from him, when we first became genin—?" Sasuke nodded "—Well, Naruto and I had to do that again, and this time, Kakashi didn't go easy on us—he used his Sharingan. But we passed—even though we did play a little bit dirty."
"How did you do it?" Sasuke asked, sounding genuinely curious, though Sakura doubted he had purposely let his confusion show; the question though was understandable. How could you cheat at getting two tiny bells?
"Well, Jiraiya-sama had written a new one of those books that Kakashi-sensei always reads, and he hadn't read the newest one. So, Naruto pretended to know how it ended, and started to tell him—and with the Sharingan, Kakashi-sensei could read his lips. He was so worked up about not being told any spoilers, that he closed his eyes and cover his ears," Sakura found herself smiling at the memory, the sheepish look on Kakashi's face had been worth it, "After we got the bells, Tsunade arranged for us to become equals on a new team: Team Kakashi. No sooner had the team been formed, but word arrived from the Village Hidden in the Sand that Akatsuki had captured their Kazekage, and our first mission was a rescue mission."
Sakura paused in her tale, turning towards him, "Sasuke, have you ever heard about the Bijuu?"
He looked puzzled for a moment, and after a while he said: "It sounds vaguely familiar."
Another memory suppressed by Orochimaru, Sakura guessed, so she explained: "It's top secret in Konoha, but I'm sure that Naruto would have wanted you to know, so… In this world, there are nine demon creatures, each with a certain number of tails; these are known as the Bijuu. I don't know all of them, but I do know of at least two, and you've heard of the same two as well. These demons possess an incredible amount of strength, dexterity, and most importantly, chakra; that is why if they are sealed into people they posses abilities far beyond that of a normal person."
"Though I don't know the entire reason—I'm not sure anyone does—Akatsuki is collecting this animals for their own purposes, and by the sounds of things, they've got a few already. Ichibi no Shukaku was sealed within Sabaku no Gaara, and he was captured by Akatsuki and taken to their hideout. It all became one mess after that. Naruto, Kakashi, one of the Sand Village's elders—Chiyo-baasama, and I, ran into your brother. It took Kakashi and a number of Naruto's bunshins to beat him, and after that, we discovered that the person was fought was an animated corpse, given Itachi's appearances, chakra and abilities," Sakura gave Sasuke a serious look as she said this last little bit. When they ran into Itachi that day, she remembered the fight that Kakashi and Naruto had endured and the cold nervousness in her stomach returned. She did not want to have to engage Itachi in combat, because she knew that there was hardly any way they could have won, "That's how I know how he fought, because he caught Naruto in a genjutsu, which left him badly shaken afterwards. I didn't want something like that to happen to you."
Sasuke was silent for a while afterwards, thinking deeply. She wondered what he was thinking, but dared not ask. She had done enough today already without delving into his thoughts. She did not want to give him reason to be angry with her further. She looked away to the horizon again, not expecting him to say anything in return, probably too proud or too angry with her to want to say anything, but surprisingly, he did.
"What happened after that?" the words were quiet, almost reluctant, but she was willing enough to give the answer.
"Well, to condense the tale, Team Gai came for backup, Naruto and Kakashi ended up fighting Gaara's captor, while I and Chiyo-baasama fought his partner, and killed him. That was one of the toughest and most painful fights I have ever endured, and one of the first where I could have almost died. Eventually, we rescued Gaara, but he was already dead; Chiyo-baasama sacrificed her life to bring him back, and he's still the Kazekage to this day. We returned home and continued on with our lives."
"But the reason that Naruto was so adamant about rescuing Gaara, and the reason he was so angry at your brother today is because… The strongest of the Bijuu—the nine-tailed fox that attacked Konoha seventeen years ago—was sealed in Naruto. I never knew why the adults hated Naruto, but I just knew that he was bad news and stayed away. I never realized the burden he carried. That is why he was so close to Gaara—he knew what it was like for him, growing up."
Her voice grew ashamed when she spoke next, and guilt was set in her heart, "I should have been a lot nicer to him. I wish I hadn't been so mean."
"Kyuubi…" Sasuke muttered to himself, and she didn't know what emotions he was feeling, "That explains a lot."
She glanced at him curiously, "Like what?"
"Like how Naruto always seemed to be better than me at moments when it really mattered, like when we were in the Forest of Death, when we were fighting Sabaku no Gaara—or that Ichibi demon, I guess, and when he fought me in the Valley of the End…" Sasuke's voice faltered slightly as he listed the last one, but quickly recovered, moving on. Whatever had happened at the Valley of the End, Sakura realized that he did not want to share it, "On this mission, when you were hurt. And it explains when I last saw Itachi, why he had more interest in Naruto than me. He had that thing in him the entire time, and it was helping him…"
'It must have really bothered him when his brother ignored him and wanted Naruto instead—Naruto, who he thought, at the time, was nothing more than the near-dropout of our class,' Sakura thought to herself, staring penetratingly at Sasuke.
"And after the Kazekage was retrieved?"
Saddened slightly that he wouldn't open up to her about how he had felt, but she answered his question anways, "There was talk for a time of having your position on Team Seven replaced, but something was decided in by the higher ups, and it never happened. In the meantime, we were kept appraised of what little information we got about you, and practiced our techniques together as a team, ready to go after you at the drop of a hat. Six months passed without enough information, so Kakashi-sensei became busy with jounin missions, and I resumed work at the hospital. All the while, we were all waiting. And then one day, who did Kakashi-sensei bring home? You. To me, nothing else mattered after that. The rest you know."
"Thank you…for telling me," Sasuke replied quietly, seeming lost in thought, "Tell me something, though."
"What?"
"When you cast that genjutsu on me today, how did you do that?" he sounded frustrated, most likely because he was perplexed over how she had managed it, that Sakura couldn't help but grin.
"In the six months between Naruto's return and yours, I took up some training with Hyuuga Hinata, who disclosed as much as she dared about the Hyuuga fighting styles. Tsunade-sama recommended that I learn some for this one technique. It makes invisible extensions from my hands that act like scalpels, and can be used to cut tissue without opening up a patient. I don't like doing that technique because it doesn't feel concrete, but I enjoyed training with Hinata, and as a result, Naruto got to know her better as well."
"I see," Sasuke muttered, "So that's how he knew the Hyuuga girl."
"You don't think that Naruto's smart enough on his own to ask Hinata out without having being exposed to six months of obvious affection, do you?" she asked Sasuke grinning.
And much to her relief, she saw him smirk in amusement, "Of course not."
A/N: Finally done this chapter! Some of you may have noticed that I switched between Sakura calling Tsunade 'shishou' and 'sama'. When Sakura is talking about Tsunade in the context of being her teacher, she uses shishou, but all other times 'sama'. Sakura calls her 'sama' now because after Sakura was on Team Kakashi, she looked at her more as the Hokage than her teacher.
The last part was hugely dialogue, sorry :/ That's all. And the mission arc is officially over! New arc starting next chapter. Now we've had our action, and a share of fluff, now we move onto angst and fluff! My favourite XD
Oh, and I know upon defeating Sasori that Sakura and Chiyo received a reward of information, but for Blind, he died before he could even choke out anything else, so they never found out about the spy at the Heaven and Earth Bridge. Basically what happened:
Sasori: …I… have a reward for you…for…defeating me…
Sakura and Chiyo: (insert suspenseful anticipation and sounds of heartbeat here)
Sasori: (dies)
Sakura and Chiyo: Nooooooo D:
Please review.