Chapter 4

A:N: Hi! Thank you to anyone who read, reviewed, faved, or followed! I really appreciate it! I hope you all like this chapter! -Lizzie.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

A big hand made out of lightning thrust out of the ground, grabbing Kakashi, dragging him into the ground. "Kakashi sensei!" Sakura screamed. They all tried to get to him, but were too late. Kakashi was gone. "What are we gonna do?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"We should camp here. It's getting hard to see. We should also send a messenger bird to Konoha to see what they say. If someone was strong enough to kidnap Kakashi, then we might be dealing with some real problems." Pakkun piped up.

"But, we can't abandon Kakashi sensei! One of the first things he taught us was that those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon even one of their friends is worse than scum!" Naruto argued. "He's right! We need to help Kakashi sensei!" Sakura agreed.

"Also, by the time reinforcements from Konoha arrive, it'll be too late. We probably should rest for a few hours though." Sakura added. Pakkun sighed in resignation. "Naruto, Sasuke, is that okay with both of you?" Sakura asked while looking at the ground.

Naruto grudgingly murmured his assent, Sakura still caught his grumbling of, "We still have to wait." "Naruto she's right, if you all keep moving nonstop, the enemy will kill you. And you'll leave Kakashi In the enemy's hands." Pakkun supplied.

"I guess you're right." Naruto murmured.

Later that night. Blood stained wooden floors, two corpses rested on top of each other, blood gushing out of both of their wounds. Sasuke recognized those people. They were his parents after all. Itachi walked into the light. "Big brother what happened? Who did this?" Sasuke yelled.

"Foolish little brother." Itachi replied then sped towards him, shuriken poised to strike. Sasuke woke up gasping for air. His bedroll was covered in sweat. Without thinking about it, Sasuke pulled his shirt on roughly and started to take a run, the cold air ripping through his breath.

One of the few things Sasuke liked was running, he liked the freedom of it. He liked the wind rushing through your air as you pushed your legs to their limits. It was also a sweet release for stress for Sasuke at least. It was also useful for training, it made your legs stronger and the muscles in them stronger too.

Sasuke took in the cold air, he always had preferred the cold over the hot. He liked a cold day more than a warm one too. He started slowing down and stopped.

He stopped in a clearing gently shaded by trees, but not completely shaded. He looked around, there was a girl sitting on a log, looking up at the stars In deep thought, said girl was Sakura. "Sasuke, what are you doing here?" She asked. She walked towards him, stopping a few feet away.

"Why?" He asked suddenly. Sakura's head whipped up in surprise. "Sasuke what do you mean?" She replied quickly, intentionally avoiding eye contact. "Why didn't you take the chunin exams?" He asked. "Well I well um you see, the reason why, I just kind of-" Sakura was interrupted when Sasuke cut in with, "Sakura, I want the truth, I don't want your lame excuses."

Sakura's face fell. She lifted her head. "Fine, if you really want to know here's the truth. I didn't take the chunin exams because I thought that I wasn't strong enough! I thought you and Naruto could handle yourselves!" She yelled.

"Don't you realize what that meant for me and Naruto? Our promotions were stunted by you. It's your fault that we have to wait even longer to fulfill our goals!" Sasuke replied bluntly. It felt good to put air to the wounds that had been inflicted.

"Why are you so obsessed with your goals? Don't you care about anything else?!" Sakura yelled. "My whole life is for one and only one purpose, to kill Itachi. If I took the chunin exams I would've passed and been one step closer to completing my goal! But no, you just messed that up!" Sasuke replied harshly.

"Your "goal" isn't a goal at all. It's just revenge! Even if you get that done. You'll be completely empty! There's more to your life than revenge! What about team seven? What about the village? What about your friends that care about you?" She asked.

Sakura was panting harshly. "My goal comes first." He replied simply. "You can't just say that! What about when you protected Naruto in the Land Of Waves? Didn't he matter? Or when you jumped in front of me on the way to the Land Of Waves? You do care! You just won't admit it!" Sakura screamed.

"I wasn't thinking." Sasuke denied. "You don't mean that! You don't! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I ruined your plans! I'm sorry I'm so weak! I'm sorry that all I do is mess things up! I'm sorry I can't change what I did! I'm sorry that I'm not a help to our team!" Sakura cried.

Soft tears gently dripped down from her green eyes, she dropped to the ground, sitting on her folded legs. "I'm sorry." She whispered, tears making her voice sound squeaky. "It's all my fault!" She added softly. "I promise I'll get stronger so this doesn't happen again! Just please forgive me so that we can go back to how we used to be! I can't stand this!" Sakura exclaimed through her tears.

She dropped her face in her hands, sobbing. It caused a surge of guilt to rise in Sasuke. Sasuke walked until he was next to Sakura. Gently, he draped his arm around her shoulders. Sakura was surprised to feel an arm around her shoulders. She realized it was him. Hoping that he wouldn't push her off, Sakura put her hands around him and put her head on his shoulder, still sobbing.

"I forgive you." He whispered in her ear. His lips accidentally brushing the skin on her cheek, causing Sasuke to widen his eyes in surprise. "What?" She asked under the cover of her tears. "I forgive you." He said again. She lifted her head off his shoulder. "Thank you." She said softly, blushing subtly. Quickly, she kissed him briefly on his lips, blushing after. His eyes widened in surprise, there was a scolding on his tongue, but he decided not to say it, he caused her enough grief for one night. Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes. "Let's go back." She suggested. "Yeah." He replied. Then she grabbed his hand and held it tightly, expecting Sasuke to brush her off.

Sakura was surprised when Sasuke didn't shrug her off. Then together, they started walking back.

After getting back, they were lucky, Naruto was still sleeping, snoring loudly. Pakkun was asleep too, curled up in a little ball of fur on the grass. "Sasuke, goodnight." Sakura softly said. "Goodnight Sakura." Sasuke said after a small pause.

A few hours later, they woke up and ate an impromptu breakfast of instant ramen that Naruto always brought on their missions. "Naruto, why do you always bring ramen?" Sakura asked curiously. "Oh? That's easy! Ramen is my absolute favorite food that I can never forget to bring!" Naruto replied. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Sakura laughed. Naruto noticed how the air had cleared between the two of them. He wondered what had occurred. "Pakkun, can you smell Kakashi sensei?" Sakura quired. Sniffing deeply, Pakkun informed them by saying, "Yes, but their scent is pretty faint. They are a while away. By the time reinforcements get here, we'll be long gone. Are you all a hundred percent sure that you want to do this?"

They all nodded. "Let's go!" Naruto said.

A/N: Hi! First of all, I want to say that I am really sorry about this chapter not being that long. I'm just really busy. I hope you understand. I promise that they will be longer in the future. I also want to say thank you to anyone who reviewed, faved, read, or followed this story! Hope you all have a great week! -Lizzie.