A/N: so after everyone's life got on hold and nearly everyone is quarantined, I thought it was time to finish writing this chapter. Hope you like this. And hope you can get an even deeper understanding of Sasuke's actions with this. Have a nice time reading this, and I swear everything will be explained in a few chapters concerning this arc of the story! :)


Relief


Three days.

It took three days of hiding inside the hospital, of pretending to do anything useful, butting in during examinations and absently scanning over cases and reports, but only ever actually going around Juugo's room and sipping coffee from the cheap vending machine from the second aisle, the taste of emptiness striking her tongue with familiarity.

Three days since she hadn't seen Karin or Suigetsu. She knew they were around—Karin was there in the labor, testing and experimenting with different materials without rest, digging through archives and cases of poisoning she somehow got the permission to ram through. And Suigetsu, he was somewhere around always, out of sight, but not out of way, hidden in plain sight, but under ANBU supervision. Once, she had caught him lounging on the roof of the hospital. What he did there, now she had no idea. Or that how they got away with breaking the rules Kumo had set.

But most of all, it also meant three days since she had left Sasuke on the mountaintop.

Sakura sighed as she stroked down the blanket over Juugo's body. She knew he was close to awakening—she had made sure that his dose of sedatives were lowered and he received all the care Kumo's hospital was able to provide.

So when he, finally, after long hours of looking at his contorting face and as the painkillers burnt away in his system, woke up—it felt like relief. Similar to a fresh breath of air that flooded her lungs after long days spent in an industrial area, when she was finally away from it, in the woods and away from others.

It was a breath full of lightness and so much calm. Much like a breath she took when she saved lives. Because she had done it. She had saved Juugo.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" it repeated on her chapped lips as a broken prayer to some unknown deity, and Sakura could feel tears gathering in her eyes as she held his weak, but enormous hand in hers. With her voice raspy, she breathed out more apologizes to the barely-conscious man, who couldn't even focus his eyes on her as of yet.

She let her tears freely slid down on her face.

It took maybe over thirty minutes while he couldn't even recognize her, watching the crying woman at his bedside with his unseeing, glassy eyes, not understanding, but not without his senses as he didn't even register the warm hands embracing his with a crushing hold. Juugo was awake—but not yet conscious enough for reality.

And it was relief that made it impossible to make a coherent thought after endless apologizes. Because he was awake. Even if not okay and not ready for duty, not ready for being released from here and not ready for even understanding—Juugo was patched together, breathing and awake. And from that alone, Sakura somehow felt everything would turn out to be all right.

Suddenly, it was a sob that broke through her throat as she was finally able to let go of his hands and hugged her arms around herself, trying to keep that pure relief inside and controlled, under her own hold, but it was with little to no success. Sakura hiccuped in a way that made her throat dry and her lungs feel constricted and she wanted to do so many things to show how very happy she felt at that very moment.

"Miss Sakura?" The weak man on the bed asked after a while, now his wide pupils drawn to the pink of her hair and Sakura sighed, her eyes still red from crying and itching. In the end, somehow he was conscious enough, but not fully yet.

"I'm so glad," was what she blurted out, her entire body trembling under his heavy, lidded gaze. "Everything would be okay, Juugo, just a few more days," she breathed and he tried nodding to her, but Sakura only smiled, shaking her head and showing him with this that there was no need and she understood anyway.

And she knew how in-tune Juugo was with the world around him—Suigetsu had told her many wild stories with taming animals that had no business with getting chummy with humans—so it was really no surprise that he had picked up on her quite palpable guilt, even if he had just awoken from a week-long coma.

"You shouldn't be… feeling so—so bad," he offered her with his brown eyes unwavering, barely able to speak, his throat dry and his mind muddy, no doubt, but still, unable to lift a comforting hand on her shoulders. Maybe she would have been unable to bear its weight.

Or maybe, it was simply just that: an impossibility for the man as his entire body was so entangled in various beeping machines that he would have destroyed half of them had he actually made sudden movements.

But Sakura let a weak smile lift her lips upwards, "You've no idea." And she was very thankful for Cheetah as her loyal ninneko chose that moment to rub against her ankle. It saved the kunoichi from another sobbing session.

However, before he could have even entertained the thought of answering her, something crossed his features, a mixture of pain, confusion and despair as his eyes seemed to roll inside his skull and his lips whitened to sickly pale. As if he had just remembered what had transpired that faithfully day that had nearly resulted in loosing his life.

Sakura winced at the sight, her suspicion soon becoming their reality when she heard him heave short breaths, panic overwhelming his system and the beeping of the machines became erratic, suffocating, irrevocably hard to bear for the kunoichi.

She took action without a second thought, how it was written in the protocol, what she should do and so she willed herself to at first concentrate on her chakra, calling it out to the tip of her fingers, as she put her hand over his eyes, making him close his eyelids. She let the warm, healing green energy seep into his system, running through his chakra pathway, breaking down any kind of resistance Juugo's body created in a minute's notice.

The carefully enacted procedure let him calm his frantically beating heart, sedating him to a stage where he can do no wrong against his own healing. Where he couldn't even stop Sakura's chakra from working its magic with his organs and restoring blood vessels and remaining damages the angry poisoning had managed to cause.

She was hardly able to keep her composure remembering the last gaze he shot her way. He looked at her like one looked at an ancient and absolute goddess, with deep belief and wonder and Sakura took another breather before she started crying yet again.

Hardly believable, but Juugo somehow still found his strength as he whispered against her fingertips just a few second after she had a dose of her chakra run through his entire system, "What happened?"

"You're safe," she said instead, knowing he wouldn't, couldn't ask more questions as his eyes opening up with unfocused recognition and started blinking up at her slowly, the sedative in her chakra slowly lulling him into a deep slumber. "Everyone's safe. We did it. You don't need to worry, Juugo."

And she knows he couldn't have understood her last few words, but her patched-up, fragile heart felt so much more lighter, for the first time in so many week. Her chakra vibrated within her entire system in unresting buzzing that finally, something good had happened.

She was relieved—she realized, she hadn't been that for so long. Not happy, and definitely not at her best. But better—it was getting easier and so much lighter. It felt something like bordering on the slightest layer of happiness.

That day, she forewent coffee. Only this time—she allowed herself to feel better and refused coffee, even if it was a tempting option. Instead, for the first time ever since she had arrived at Kumo's hospital, Sakura turned towards the buffet, which was stacked with snacks to the brim, all colours and fats, something nutritious, something not so much, but manly energy boosters, the kind of things what probably most medics and visitors needed. A kick of energy from mostly junk foods, the breaching of healer's preachings of what was the law and order of a healthy diet.

And Sakura was, though prepared for that kick and quite tempted to go for Naruto's favorite instant ramen that threatened with unholy high level of cholesterol, but in the end, she decided against it.

Today felt goodbetter, too. The first time ever since she had stepped into Kumo, she felt better in her skin than in a long while, and she was not about to waste that and give in for more things that could be held responsible for her deteriorating health and muscle mass. So she decided, she needed something to celebrate instead.

So she asked for some pre-packed salad with a light dressing what she hoped wouldn't upset her stomach that had been starved for so long. Even if she hadn't noticed her ever-growing hunger, it was very present right now, her stomach rumbling audibly and demanding its fair share. And not just that! When Sakura had seen the sweets on display, she swore her mouth started watering! She just physically couldn't resist buying something from that rainbow-colored shelf—even if they did not have anmitsu, anything was better than nothing!

The müesli might have been for the best—she nodded to herself in confidence after a brief contemplation as she hoarded all her food back to Juugo's hospital room, giddy like a school girl after a successful day at pre-school.

Down by her ankle, Cheetah hissed in ire as Sakura nearly hopped on his tail, her steps just nearly missing the white fur ball. The last few days, interestingly enough, the cat hadn't left her side, he followed her everywhere, without fail and Sakura felt grateful for it—her companion always being by her provided her with the false sense of safety, even if she knew, inside Kumo, a Konoha nin could never feel welcomed, not even mentioning safe.

She smiled down at the cat apologetically, and Cheetah huffed as an answer.

"What are you playing at?" Sakura murmured to her beloved ninneko when they finally arrived back in Juugo's room, to which said ninneko had the audacity of grinning back up at her, but leaving her without any concrete answers.

"I have my reasons," was what he harrumphed her way. "Or I may just enjoy your company. You never know," he added cheekily, enjoying the way he confused his owner.

The kunoichi giggled at her absurd cat, welcoming him on her lap and offering him a small bite of tomato to which the cat managed to show his disgust just by his mimic alone. Sakura didn't know how he did these things, which seemed more human than pet-like—but it prompted a small laugh from her, that felt ever so liberating to the kunoichi, lifting some weight off of her shoulders.

Looking back down at Cheetah, her loyal cat looked like he had eaten not a canary, but at least a dozen of them.

"Seriously, Cheetah. Answer," she said with slight prodding in her tone and yet, the cat ignored her in a way he did best—pretending to be only an ordinary house cat, playing with her clothing and rolling in her lap in a contented way only a spoilt pet could have achieved.

"No," was what he meowed back and Sakura giggled once more, enjoying the lightheartedness and the her loyal ninneko's effortless nonchalance.

Deciding she could do absolutely nothing to get her cat to cooperate, Sakura popped an olive in her mouth—the tanginess, though stinging her tongue, it didn't take away from the relief of finally allowing herself to enjoy the moment for just a minute or two. The feeling of her stomach finally filling up and the lack of the obi around her waist that restricted her movements after two, long and rough months was welcomed and she relished these moments of calmness that allowed her to not think and shut the chirping of the chidori out of her mind.

Just as she hummed her contentment and was to rise to throw the box and remaining pieces of soggy greenery in the trashcan, Sakura froze mid-motion.

She felt them coming. She felt the ANBU coming, right towards her.

Around her. Every direction. Left, right, up, down, behind and from the front. Around everywhere—pressing towards her with their chakras, their unhidden, pressuring chakra signals that strained against her own.

They were close. So close in fact, that it shouldn't have been a problem to reach her before anyone else was able to.

And how did she not notice it before? They were well in the radius of her her chakra-sensing, trotting in her territory and wrecking havoc with making panic rise to her chest. There were over twenty signals close by—twenty, she could feel creeping closer and probably so much more than weren't so bold.

More who hid under the protection of shadows and blocking her out, avoiding the waves of her chakra and carefully sneaking under her exploration, avoiding that desperate, last minute attempt at trying to get a grasp of her surrounding, of exploring and of trying to protect herself.

They were no fools—Kumo ANBU, that was. They managed to pull this off. They were no fools.

And it felt hopeless to reach out to Team Taka. They weren't as close to get there in time.

She wasn't safe there. She already knew that—the minute she stepped inside the gates of Kumo, somehow, she already had the niggling suspicion that it wasn't safe, they weren't welcomed. They were nothing in the eyes of Kumo shinobi, of Kumo's citizens, yet, they prepared a smaller army against her.

Her patched-up, fragile heart fluttered in her chest, the tension building in her weakened muscles and her eyes tried to focus on every existing direction around her. It was not the time to panic—in fact, she refused to panic. She was the Fifth's apprentice, the head medic of Konoha and the strongest kunoichi of her village.

Sakura could feel Cheetah jumping beside her, shadowing her movements and already hissing even though the ANBU had yet to appear.

What did they want form her, anyway? What did she do wrong? They should have had no reason to go against her. To turn against her.

And what was she to do with Juugo? She couldn't effectively protect the both of them, him, Cheetah and herself, not without sacrificing something in exchange. Her attention, her skill, her proficiency could slip so easily when the floor was slipped under her toes.

She didn't have any part in Sasuke's former misdeeds. She didn't try to capture Killer Bee. And she didn't treat any other patients in the hospital beside Juugo. She couldn't have gone wrong with that.

But most of all, she couldn't understand what Kumo wanted. Just what did she do so wrong that could warrant the wrath of the Raikage?

'I won't say sorry for wanting to save and help her.'

The realization hit her in a way she was hardly able to keep her footing. Natsume. That little girl. That foolish, lanky teenager that knew nothing of the path she walked on. The one who lost the most during her mission—her life. That little girl who never should have been there, in that god-forsaken brothel, selling away her body, her soul and her entire being.

She bit the inside of her cheek. Natsume. She was the reason. Not Sasuke, or Team Take. Not even Juugo and him using up one room of that outdated hospital. It was Natsume and Sakura's nearly deadly mistake of believing in that innocent, kind face.

Thinking, thinking and not able to stop thinking, Sakura trembled in the hospital ward, her hand holding on the iron frame of Juugo's bed, gripping with desperation and trying to keep her footing, getting her body to work in the way her mind was urging it do so and bracing herself for the confrontation.

'I won't say sorry for wanting to save and help her.'

Natsume. It was all because of her stupidity. She could blame no one else.

"Sakura," she heard Cheetah try to gain her attention, but control, that precious control was slipping out of her very hands, however hard she was gripping the iron frame and she could do nothing as the silence kept stretching and stretching and her chakra rippling and fighting and not yet yielding to her wishes.

Once again, the pressure on her forehead intensified. Her proudest mark, byakugou, wanted to break free, cracking up on her forehead, begging to be released, all while the ANBUs were surrounding them, tempting her with the possibility of winning and Sakura was hardly able to stop it, and not crack it open.

She didn't let the byakugou, her proudest mark, gain its freedom.

Before she could blink, they were everywhere. Every side of her—just as she had thought, much more than twenty of them, cramped in the tiny hospital room and still, many more on their ways, coming to her exact location.

She heaved a breath.

"Haruno Sakura."

And she felt the blood freeze in her veins as she looked up with eyes alike a deer caught in headlights, unable to move, unable to rebel and unable to control and gain her footing, the ANBUs, feeling her doubts and uncertainty, circling around her like hungry predators ready for the kill.

She couldn't help but imagine, the feeling akin to the terror of a sheep thrown amongst a dozen of wolves. It was unreal. And yet, she could do nothing to stop it. She looked down at the floor's tiling, submitting and giving up, so weak and so helpless.

"We are under strict orders to deliver you—"

"Shut it."

Sasuke?

His cold voice, the cold voice of her former teammate's rang through a room. It seemed much like he didn't only command a measly team of four, his entire presence radiated the strength of a leader of thousands of battalions.

Sasuke was standing in front of her, his Susanoo alit and enveloping them in its protecting, lilac shine. His shoulders were tense, squared and clad in protective gear, not quite armor, but proper shinobi attire she hadn't noticed before under the heavy cloak he tended to wear to everywhere, be it summer or winter, inside or outside.

This way, everyone could see the several weapons not quite hidden from the eyes of professionals. The katana at his hip. The kunais around his belt and in his pouches, and the several tattoos that had been probably inked by a professional fuinjutsu master. It was unreal how he created a weapon even from his flesh and blood.

Then again, his deadliest weapons were too parts of his body. Sakura didn't need to see it to know that the jarring red of the Sharingan was ablaze and paired with the hypnotizing lavender of his Rinnegan, and all that, was enough to make the ANBU take collectively some cautious steps backwards.

And that was when the Raikage himself decided to join the bunch.

He strode in the room with his back straight and face stern, ever so regal and militaristic, starring them down with his eyes not even hiding, but rather, broadcasting his contempt and irritation with the pair of them. He had the distinct aura of all bad and dangerous and bloodied and dead.

"What is the meaning of this, Raikage?" That moment Sasuke didn't bother with exchanging pleasantries with a man whose guts he hated anyway, and so, he didn't bother with giving proper respect to the leader of the nation either.

To Sakura's ears, his booming voice felt equal to Kumo's first person's, anyway.

But the huge man's annoyance, paired with his fury was palpable in the air, his eyes refocusing on the Uchiha shielding the tiny medic, the strongest kunoichi with the healing touch, behind his back, hardly seen and noticeable and Sakura trembled under the heavy gaze of the Raikage, fearing for Sasuke, even if he didn't deserve it. Even if he didn't need it.

But instead, it was one of the ANBU on their far left that dared to speak up again.

"Haruno Sakura are to be arrested under the charges of betraying her village, ignoring the rules of the Allied Nations, direct causation of death and—"

And Sakura knew she should have listened, she knew she should have just shut it and accept the heavy list of her sins, but the word death had unhinged something and she was suddenly angry, so angry that she let her chakra roll over the room, malicious and ready to break free, in sync with Sasuke's own darkness.

The ANBU hardly perceptibly, thanks to the porcelain mask hiding his features, flinched.

"Death?" was what she muttered under her mouth, her eyes widening, not able and not willing to believe the accusation.

Her chakra was heavy in the air, and the pressure on her forehead returned, the byakugou, her proudest mark, audibly cracking, eager for a brief release and eager to mingle with Sasuke's to cause destruction to this wretched nation that had everything to do with that god-forsaken mission and the death of the innocent, little girl.

"The little girl. The leak. Remember?" The presumable ANBU captain added cockily, hiding his sudden, rising fear, his eyes glinting maliciously at the medic, as if he hadn't felt the roll of her chakra, eager for destruction, not yielding, but rather, blazing up even more.

Before she could answer with a physical blow and have that cocky ANBU thrown across some wall, but preferably through a few buildings, Sasuke stepped forward, letting out more than a whiff of murderous intent that had even the Raikage lose a snippet of his confidence.

"And under what regulations do you have the rights to do that?" His voice was ever so sharp, that cold levelheadedness was back and the tensing in his shoulders was expanding to his forearm, to his neck and to his jawline as he clicked his teeth together, hissing like a feral animal, ready to protect what he considered precious.

And it was only a Raikage that dared to answer, answer to the reformed criminal that alone nearly managed to rage a war against the Allied Nations. The traitor that had enough power to seal a goddess and the man that had experienced enough trauma to turn it to his advantages. The lost boy from the cursed clan wasn't known for giving up.

Yet, the Raikage fired his shot.

"She is in the land of Lightning," he snorted their way, his mouth twitching. Whether he wanted to restrain a winning grin or he was trying to mask his nervousness when faced by the two heroes of Konoha, Sakura didn't know, but hadn't really had the mind to speculate, either. "She is to play by our laws."

To no surprise, it didn't even take Sasuke a minute to refute his claims, his hand twitching for the kunai at his side, which obviously didn't go unnoticed by the hoard of ANBU that kept circling around him, but unable to reach and harm them.

"We're not you citizens." To which the Raikage harrumphed, in a way that was no way befitting of his social standing. "Neither are we your shinobi."

And it was the truth, even if the Raikage was fuming, and lightning was cracking by his fingertips, hardly noticeable, but still very present. Even if he was a leader of a shinobi village, he had no authority over them.

The answer was Sasuke's own chakra, his own, single hand also enveloped with the slightest cracks of lightning.

With the ever-so constant chirping of the chidori inside her head, Sakura bit into her lip, calming herself. That moment, she was very grateful for the existence of Susanoo. Nothing could harm her inside. Nothing.

Not even Sasuke.

"You're borrowed." The man clad in the white robes huffed, his patience waning. He strained to keep his head clear as he looked down at the pair of Konoha shinobi, protecting each other and at any moment, ready to release an apocalypse over his village just to spite him. "A special squad that was assigned under me for the duration of your mission."

Sasuke let the jarring red of his Sharingan refocus on him, his dark chakra swirling within the room which made a few ANBUs gag already and step backwards. He threatened with a genjutsu, toying with the people's senses around them, of those people's that were just installed there to be pawns in the game of kings. "We were assigned the mission by Kakashi. We owe you no explanation. Sakura did nothing to warrant your order against her."

"We're not repeating her charges. I ordered her arrest." And then, the Raikage looked right at her, his eyes diving right in as he tried to reason with her. "Haruno, you are talented for a kunoichi. Let us, Kumo handle this and the ANBU can find a solution to your sins. We can wash your name clean. We, Kumo, can fix it." And even if they were absurd reasons, she couldn't stop listening.

She couldn't stop listening, thinking and thinking and thinking, her patched-up, fragile heart thumping synchronised with the chirping of the chidori thundering in her ears and her forehead tingling with the byakugou wanting to get free and suddenly it was hard to keep her head held high while her patched-up, fragile heart was weighed down, down, down by the guilt eating her away from her very insides.

And then, the ANBUs, the few who hadn't got sick from the intensity of the clashing powers, of the darkness tantalizing her own lightness and combining them against the wrath of the Raikage, those who were ignorant of all these, were able to come closer and Sakura fearing the situation getting worse and dizzy from the pressure on her forehead, stepped just a barely out of the protecting veil of the Susanoo.

And she was unable to take a single step forwards to meet the damned ANBU halfway, before a kunai imbedded itself just right in front of her, in her path, making her instinctively back away.

Even if he did not indicate it, she knew the kunai was thrown by Sasuke. His angered gaze shooting her way was evidence enough.

"I am her squad leader. She does what I say." As if just to prove his claims, he ordered her. "Sakura, step back." And his eyes were back to the Raikage, his tone ever so dangerous and dark with ill intentions. Even though he hadn't said what he wished what happened to the Raikage, it didn't take a genius to know it was nothing good. "Whatever issues you have, you are free to talk it out with Kakashi. But not with us."

And it was easy to spot several of the ANBU being scandalized by the way Sasuke simply told their leader to fuck off.

"It's a mistake how he lets you roam freely, Uchiha." Was how the Raikage answered in his desperation, eager to draw at least the simplest of hit to the Uchiha, even if he was unable to deliver the main blow.

"The moment Juugo is ready for the journey, we're out of here, do not worry. Konoha will be more careful with aiding your village after this fiasco. The abduction-attempt at someone crucial to our village, for something that was ordered by you and forced on one of my men, huh," He sighed, and for emphasizing his point with a kind of theatrics, Sakura didn't know he was able to show, but she needed to realize there were many faces of Sasuke she hadn't yet seen or hadn't ever known or been aware of in the first place.

Wait. The Raikage's order forced on someone?

The Raikage cursed hardly audibly as he left the hospital ward with his cape billowing after his form and that very moment, when she was sure no one was paying attention to her, Sakura slumped down at the base of the bed, her hands still gripping the iron frame of the bed and Cheetah already up in her lap.

She wasn't even aware of Sasuke's continued presence in the small hospital ward or of the dent in the iron she had caused with her grip. It didn't matter she had so many questions she was craving the answers for. It didn't matter she couldn't understand.

There was only one things that mattered now.

The only one thought running around her mind, the one feeling overriding and overpowering everything else, every other sensation and any other of her thoughts.

Relief. It was pure relief that flooded her mind.

Thank god, Sasuke had managed to arrive in time.