Present Day…
Sakura is reminiscent of previous missions she and Sasuke had worked together in the past as they speed toward Konoha. There was a certain comradery between the two of them now that hadn't been there on their drive to Suna. Which is surprising considering the events over sushi earlier.
After the call to Naruto they were quiet the rest of the drive. Sakura shooting off a new question for Sasuke every half hour or so.
Slipping Sasuke the paralytic agent over dinner had been relatively easy, a quick slight of hand while she used Sasuke's impatience to her advantage as she ordered her drink. It was prescribed earlier to aid the recovery of the Lux victims, and over the course of the day an inkling of a plan had started to form in the back of her mind. She hadn't had to fake how tired she was as she ordered her coffee, but she'd had years of practice keeping her mind sharp even as her body screamed at her for rest. Not to mention vending machine redbulls. So for just a brief moment, giving into that fatigue had been easy. And as expected, Sasuke had let his guard down and taken the bait, moving his attention away from her to order for them.
She had slipped the tablet into his water without him being any the wiser. It wouldn't act as quickly as it would have had it been injected; the ingested powder took some time to pass through the stomach lining and be carried to the blood stream where it targeted the muscle cells, blocking their receptors from binding the neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contraction - but the timing worked out fine just the same.
Her mind had been running a mile a minute since.
She knew this was her chance to rest, she had a few hours during the drive now before she would need to be alert and functional once again to brief Naruto and the team, but she couldn't get her brain to turn off. It was a stalemate between the physical part of her that knew she needed rest, and the mental part of her that no longer knew how to shut off. She knew she must look like hell – she sure felt like it – her eyes were straining to stay focused as they glazed over looking out at the land passing them by as they sped across the high way.
What she had learned today changed everything. But also nothing? It was a lot to wrap her mind around. Sasuke's betrayal had never made any damn sense, but if he'd gone through with it thinking it was the best option when there were virtually no other choices... That made more sense. It was such a god damn Sasuke thing to do, honestly. Sasuke played everything close to his chest and was never caught by surprise. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that he shared his plans with anyone else.
But it'd been a god damn year! How could he have kept this a secret from her this long!? He knew how she felt about him. She would've given anything for him. Followed him anywhere. He had told her he felt the same.
Leave it to this bloody idiot to think closing himself off from her so he could be some damn martyr would 'save the day'. It made her even more angry was that his actions were beginning to seem less and less unreasonable by the minute; but there were still a few things she wouldn't be so quick to forgive.
Every wound from a year ago had been ripped wide open again over dinner. Her blood felt too hot and not just because she was still hungover. She needed to hit something.
Preferably his stupid face.
But then again, she was torn between that and taking him back to her apartment for a few days so they could make up for lost time.
She was spiraling, hard. Once they filled in the team and heard Shikamaru and Naruto's perspective she would feel better. She was sure. Shikamaru could keep his emotions out of it entirely, and she could really use that kind of clinically detached perspective right about now. Naruto, now he couldn't keep his emotions out of it if he had too. That was just an impossibility. But somehow his emotions didn't cloud his judgement like it felt like it did for her. It wasn't fair at all really.
Her brain felt like a jumbled box of live wires, blowing a fuse with each new thought.
What Sasuke had said though, it meant the war had never ended. The implications of that were massive. While they had gone on with business as usual, regrouping and rebuilding; Recovering. Sound may have been preparing for their next attack for a whole damn year.
Not just Sound, but Orochimaru. And supposedly, this Madara character. She didn't understand how he fit into the big picture yet, but she was certain it wasn't good for them. His name alone gave her chills.
Then it all came back to this Lux drug. Which hurt her head even more, what the heck did that have to do with all of this? And Orochimaru wanting her vector trial? It was useless in its current condition.
Was it even Orochimaru now? Or was someone pretending to be him to keep the war alive? Maybe this Madara character? Hmm.
My poor head, she rested her forehead on the cold window for a moment savoring the feeling on her pounding headache.
The craziest part was how much had changed in 24 hours.
Sakura is jogged from her thoughts as the car decelerates down the off-ramp. Even the familiar route back to the Main House seems different to her now; she knows realistically nothing has changed in the two days since she left but looking out the window Konoha seems like a different city to her.
It's not long until Sasuke pulls into the garage under the base.
There's no one there to greet them, which Sakura finds odd all considering but she writes it off to the hour of the night.
As she climbs out of the low passenger seat and walks around to the hood of the car she watches Sasuke's fluid movements. Even at 6 foot something, he manages standing from the low seat of his sports car with grace.
When he looks up to meet her eyes, her face flushes but she doesn't look away. Her world has been turned upside down. She might've killed him – if she had run into him a few days ago. Or tried too; technically she was under orders too. But could she? Probably not.
Now, she felt safer knowing he was nearby.
He hesitates as she walks up to him, and she's alert enough to notice the pause but too tired to razz him for it. She's still surprised he didn't give her more shit for the stunt she pulled over dinner; she's still surprised she pulled it off at all if she's being honest. Sasuke wasn't someone who was bested often, or ever.
As she walks past him, he follows her silently up the stairs from the garage to the main floor.
At the top of the landing she hangs a right, heading to the functional side of the House rather than the bar cover in the front. On this side there are a number of storage rooms, medical rooms, meeting spaces and upstairs a number of bedrooms that members lived in. Ino had lived here briefly before she broke up with Kiba and needed multiple blocks between the two of them for a time. That was a messy situation.
She bee lines to where she knows Shikamaru and Tsunade were camped out before she left. Sure enough, as they approach she can hear the hum of voices. She's surprised to find two members standing outside the closed door. She looks at them curiously as they open the door for her to pass through.
Sakura strides into the room, Sasuke following a few steps behind her. As soon as they clear the door, two more members step in front of the doorway blocking their exit. The audible snap of cartridges being loaded echoes off the walls, all aimed at Sasuke. The room is silent as Sakura meets Naruto's eyes.
"What the fuck is this?" She demands, shifting her stance just slightly to place her body between him and Naruto. Sasuke wonders if she even moved consciously, or perhaps it was an old habit she never thought to break.
Shikamaru speaks up first, "We have some questions for Sasuke, some new information has come to light."
"Uh, yeah." Sakura looks at him incredulously. "Lower your weapons." She orders.
Reluctantly the guards lower their arms, but they keep their weapons out.
"Sakura," Naruto speaks up. "It's protocol. Sasuke knows as well as any of us."
She crosses her arms but doesn't argue, storming to the side to wait as they got on with things.
"Weapons on the table Sasuke." He looks past her to meet his friend's eyes.
Sasuke hesitates for a moment, before willingly pulling his firearm from the waist band of his jeans, hidden under his jacket. Followed by two more strapped to his chest under his shirt. Finally, he pulled several knives from his pants, shoes and one on his forearm. Stepping back from the table he raises his hands, palms open; a silent signal that he was ready for them to search him.
Kakashi steps forward, patting from his hips up, over his back and his chest, up under his arms and then down his biceps and over his forearms. He checks his pockets, and pats down each side of his legs, going so far as to run his fingers along the edges of Sasuke's shoes.
"He's clear." Kakashi clears his throat.
"Take a seat Sasuke." Tsunade commands him from where she stands next to Naruto.
He obliges quietly.
Shikamaru comes forward with the same folder he went over with Tsunade and Naruto earlier, dropping it on the table. He nudges his chin in the direction of the documents to indicate for Sasuke to open it and take a look.
He does so, flipping through the pages quickly before closing the folder and pushing it back across the table towards Shikamaru.
"Who did you acquire these shares from?" Shikamaru asks him seriously.
Sakura makes a noise and steps forward from where she'd been leaning against the wall. She flips the folder open, taking a look at the pages there. Then she looks up to meet Sasuke's eyes. Something passes silently between them, then Sakura stands up and clears her throat.
"Naruto, we need to speak privately. Senior members only." She meets his eyes, her expression serious.
They hold each other's eyes for a moment, the air tense. Before Naruto finally speaks, "You heard your VP."
At the confirmation of their captain there is a flurry of movement as a number of the guards holster their weapons and head out. The remaining members come closer to sit around the table Sasuke and Naruto sit at.
"Where the hell to start, okay…" Sakura mutters to herself, "There's a lot more to this than we've known about."
"Our war on Orochimaru back then was all a distraction. He knew he couldn't take Konoha by force. While we were focused on Oto, he was targeting the District. Fanning the malcontent to organize a rebellion to take us out from within."
Sasuke looks at her curiously, but what for was anyone's guess. Maybe he wasn't thrilled she was sharing his secrets.
"Sakura how do you know this?" Tsunade asks her slowly.
"She dosed me with something earlier and interrogated me over sushi." Sasuke says pinching his nose. "Orochimaru reached out to me some time after I'd caught onto the underground meetings in the District." He crosses his arms and leans back in his chair, "The rebellion was out of hand before it even began. He offered me his shares in Uchiha corp and in return the District would sit out the remainder of the war. Considering the threat the Uchiha posed to Konoha over their involuntary recruitment into the war in the first place, pulling out by choice and gaining complete control in return seemed like the best outcome in an overall catastrophic situation."
"I made a call." He sums it up.
The room is silent.
"Well, PHEW." Naruto rubs the back of his head, his grim face finally splitting into a relieved smile. "Sorry about the cold greeting Sasuke. Ahhh man I knew there was an explanation to it." He looks around the table at Shikamaru, Tsunade and Kakashi. "He's just socially impaired." Naruto shrugs like that explains everything, still grinning awkwardly.
The rest of the table aren't as quick to drop their suspicions, but the air no longer feels heavy with tension.
"I think I speak for everyone… when I say that is not what I was expecting to hear." Shikamaru finally breaks the silence. He leans back in his chair before continuing "Sakura," Naruto looks puzzled when Shikamaru addresses her first but quickly catches on, "What made you suspicious now?"
"As long as I've known Sasuke he's never been caught by surprise. At least, not entirely." She smirks, thinking back to when she pinned him at their initiation. "He always had contingencies in place."
"That and he thinks he's arrogantly more intelligent than the rest of us and that that somehow means he doesn't need to fill anyone in on his plans." She rolls her eyes.
Tsunade barks out a laugh, and Shikamaru scratches his nose to hide his smirk at her comment.
Sasuke just sighs.
"The Uchiha have wanted their independence from Leaf for generations. It was the best play."
"Did you lead Sakura to Orochimaru that day then…?" Naruto asks him.
"No." Sakura interrupts coldly. "He did not."
"I left her place to meet him. He had information he wanted to trade, more details about the rebellion in the district. It was a ploy though; or at least I suspect it was. I don't think he ever intended to share anything more."
"Then why meet with you? Had he met with you before?" Shikamaru asks him, he needed to know the extent of how much information Sasuke had hidden from them, and for how long it had gone on.
"Once. Then only through burner phones until that day. I'm not sure why he wanted to meet with me then. He was dead before I could suss that out." He gave Sakura a sidelong glance.
"Right, more about that. Jiraya confirmed Orochimaru is alive. How is that possible?" Tsunade asks, her golden-brown eyes flinty hard as she stares him down.
"I have a few theories on that. One is that it was never Orochimaru there to begin with. He might've known Sakura was following me from the moment I left her apartment." He suggests, "He had a number of illegal human experiments on the go then as well, a lot he performed on his own body. Whatever changes he may have made to himself may have allowed him to survive the shot. He was a man of unlimited resources."
Shikamaru groans, "This is a shit show." He states, rubbing his hand over his face.
"Sure fucking is." Tsunade agrees with him, her face still blank as she process all this new information. "I need a drink." She sighs as she stands, turning to the table across the back of the room and pouring herself a generous glass of something from a decanter. She lifts it in offer towards the rest of the room who shake their heads and Shikamaru who simply lights a cigarette instead.
"This changes things." Naruto speaks up as Tsunade sits back down, "Why the hell didn't you share any of this with us then?" He demands of Sasuke, standing up to lean his hands on the table. "Did Sakura know?!"
"It was a precarious situation. Orochimaru had to think I was acting alone, and the only way to guarantee that was to do so."
"No… Sakura knew as much as the rest of you." To someone who didn't know him, his voice was cold and even. But Naruto could hear the guilt in his words.
"Why keep all this a secret after he was assassinated though?" Naruto
"I didn't believe it could just be over that easily. And sure enough here we are."
Tsuande looks at him suspiciously, not totally put at ease with his answer. He was avoiding the question.
"What information did you share with him during the duration of your deal with him?" She asked him.
"Nothing. Information on Leaf was not part of the deal, only the complete withdrawal of the District."
"If they planned to use the District to win the war though, why make a deal with you for them to pull out?" Shikamaru follows up. His brilliant brain already dissecting the new situation.
Sasuke shrugs, "I wasn't supposed to find out about the rebellion in the first place."
"How did you, then?"
"The team you now call Hebi. I had inside men reporting to me from each meeting. The meetings didn't become organized for a long time, I'd had my eye on things for a while. When the recruitment phase of things ended and shit got serious, I knew it was time to act and things were escalating quickly at that point in the war."
"I have to ask then, where are the recruits of that rebellion now? Did they just get to walk after what they were involved in?" Tsunade speaks up after keeping oddly quiet for most of the conversation.
All eyes are on Sasuke as he looks at Tsunade. He pauses a moment before answering her, "No crime went unpunished, if that's what you're really asking."
"I'm gunna need more than that Uchiha." Tsunade growls.
Sasuke glowered right back at her. "I don't think I need to remind you what I gave up for Konoha to survive. Whether or not you agree with my actions." He said severely.
"Sorry, continue," Naruto gestured for Sasuke to continue and shot Tsunade a sidelong look.
"Where those members are now is none of your concern." He reluctantly answered, "Most were almost entirely innocent, they were led to believe it was the only way to a better life. There were a select few responsible that I brought in for questioning. They're either dead or under supervision."
"What did you learn from questioning them?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing useful." Sasuke answered quietly. "Orochimaru kept any sensitive information quiet, they didn't give up anything I didn't already know."
"Is it possible that he may be using the same methods as before? What would stop him from starting another rebellion?" Naruto stood abruptly, starting to pace about the room.
"If he had reached out to any of the same individuals as before, I would know about it." Sasuke doesn't elaborate.
"What? How?" Naruto comes to a halt next to Sasuke.
"Dumbass." Sasuke sighs, and it's almost comical to see the two of them fall right back into their old roles; almost. "Uchiha corp. owns one of the biggest surveillance companies in the country. There's not a lot they do that I don't have someone keeping tabs on. When Sound began to resurface I checked in with my security team personally; no one out of the usual has tried to contact any of them. If Orochimaru is going to try that route again, he's not using the same guys. But I doubt he would retry something that already failed the first time."
"Sasuke's got a point there." Shikamaru pipes in, "We're dealing with a genius. Someone as smart or smarter than this guy who fooled us all for the past - what this went on for two years?" He looks at Sasuke for confirmation then pulls out his lighter to flip open and closed awkwardly when Sasuke refuses to acknowledge the rhetorical question. "I would assume that Orochimaru would be smarter than to make any trouble in your backyard now that you have full control of the District when you were able to catch on to him just as easily before you had that control. Nah, he would stay away from you and your territory at all costs I would think." Shikamaru continues to think aloud, the click of the lighter lid closing and then the hiss of the fluid being ignited punctuating each of his thoughts.
"That was my thought too, until they ambushed Karin and Suigetsu at Clappison's Corner warehouse a few nights ago." Sasuke interjected.
"Anything of interest for them stored there?" Sakura chimes in from her spot leaning against the wall.
"Mostly company transport vehicles and some old weapons. Nothing worth stealing, and nothing was missing when inventory was done the next day."
They all look puzzled.
"That doesn't really make any sense then, does it…" Sakura trails off. "There's no reason to think this guy would randomly attack a warehouse of no importance to you and risk pulling you back into things unless it would benefit him to do so."
"Or it was meant as a warning for Sasuke, and Orochimaru just doesn't know who the fuck he's dealing with." Naruto smirks a little.
"Sasuke is there anything from Uchiha corp that we could leverage against Sound on the business side of things?" Naruto inquires curiously.
"I can assign a team to go back over the past 20 years of any records of business done between the Uchiha and Sound." Sasuke suggests, "That may give us some information, but that kind of search is going to take time. Some of those records will be old enough they're not even digitalized yet."
"Definitely. Keep me updated with anything as you find it." Naruto gives him a firm nod.
"Don't think for a second that we're done with this conversation Uchiha, but we have other pressing matters to cover tonight." Tsunade interrupts them, "Sakura, brief us on your research at the MG institute. Why the hell might Orochimaru want this stem cell vector?" She carries on business as usual, as if their whole perception of the world hadn't just been turned on its head.
From where Sakura leans against the wall, the florescent lights above exaggerate the bags under her eyes. After the past three nights of horrible-to-no sleep, it was difficult to tell which eye she'd taken a punch to at the Baron's and which was just from lack of sleep. Up close, her eyes were blood shot and strained as she forced them to open despite the bright ass light burning her tired eyes. But when she stepped forward she carried an air of authority he couldn't help but to be impressed by.
"It's something I started working on to address the spike in mental health concerns following the war. It's based around a viral vector that can pass the blood-brain barrier so that it can enter the brain and work directly. The delivery system was actually the easy part to figure out. The actual treatment has been hard. Using this vector, a specifically conditioned colony of stem cells is delivered directly into the brain's blood supply. With the conditioning I can essentially program the cells to target areas that have been damaged by trauma, long term anxiety and depression… all the things the people of Konoha experienced for years before the war ended – and then they begin to divide and replenish the damaged tissues there. Improving symptoms of severe PTSD, anxiety, depression, even schizophrenia." Sakura listed them off on her fingers.
"On a petri dish with dead cells, it works perfectly. Then there's been some success with live mice cells, and in live mice trials but for some reason when I expose the cells to live human cells something is interfering with the ability of the stem cells to recognize their target. We've been stuck on it for months, making no further progress."
"I can see why he may want a sample of that if I had been successful with it, but so far it's useless, and still years away from seeing human trials." She summarized.
"That's fascinating." Tsunade looks proudly at her old apprentice. "It wouldn't be a big stretch for him to gets those vectors to target other types of damaged brain tissues either… if it was finished. Are there any other uses it could be applied to? Is there any reason you can think of that would make this vector weaponizable?"
"Well, in theory the vector I used can pass the Blood Brain Barrier, that's unique; but not something I 'discovered'. He wouldn't need to get his hands on this specific sample to access that kind of information. The programming of the stem cells is something entirely new, but as I've said, it's not fully successful yet. And it's totally possible it may never be, that's what experiments determine. It's also programming in the most basic sense of the word. It's more like pre-conditioning in practice. This is so overly simplified, but I expose the cells to the specific kind of cell I want them to target; before they begin to differentiate and divide they are isolated and removed then added into the vectors and injected. So they seek out that target tissue and begin to divide like that process was almost put on pause. Does that make sense?" She looked around the room.
"You lost me at blood brain barrier and this Victor character, but the gist of it makes some sense." Naruto answers her.
"Yeah, I follow." Shikamaru adds.
"My only concern is the appearance of this new drug and his sudden request for this experimental vector that only a handful of people knew about. They may not even be compatible, but it seems too much of a coincidence."
"I hate the idea of giving this over to them blind, but we don't have a choice." Naruto says firmly.
"I agree, but is there any way we could give them the vector without actually giving them the vector so to speak?" Shikamaru prods Sakura.
"I was thinking about this on the drive back from Suna, I've kept samples from every stage of development. We could give him a vial from one of the less developed stages and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference until he tests it in lab. Even then, it's not an instantaneous reaction, he would have to observe the specimen over a few days so that should hold up fine in a quick exchange."
"Perfect." Tsunade splits into a Cheshire grin.
"If we had more time we could find out exactly how much detail he has; like does he just know that it exists or does he know the stages of research we've gone through? And then we could select the appropriate sample from there. 24 hours is too tight for that though."
"Can you have it ready by tomorrow evening?" Naruto asks Sakura.
"No problem." She answers. "Shikamaru have you found anything yet on the list of names I sent you?"
"Nothing interesting yet, but Sai is still digging. We're bringing them in for interviews tomorrow. If one of them has mentioned the trials to anyone outside your team we'll find out about it. It's only a question of when."
Sakura nods her appreciation, then turns to address the table again, "Now if you don't mind, I'm fucking exhausted and I don't think I can stand much longer. Do you need anything else from me cap?" She asks Naruto, pushing herself forward off the wall she leaned on.
"Nah get some rest Sak, your old room's set up upstairs," Naruto offers her fondly. "We're going to be here for a while, I can brief you on the rest in the morning."
She claps his shoulder gently on her way past him and towards the door, then waves a hand over her shoulder as she heads out. "Night guys." She sighs.
By the time her head hits her pillow she can barely even remember the walk from the meeting to her old bedroom. That should concern her more than it does, but she's had to work through harder days on less sleep. She brushes the thought off easily and just tries to quiet her mind so she can sleep.
The task turns out to be far easier than expected and in seconds she's out cold, still dressed lying on top of the bed sheets.
By the time they finally let Sasuke leave the meeting, it's early morning and the half hour drive back to his apartment sounds like the absolute last thing he wants to do right now.
Naruto must read his mind because he pulls him aside before he heads out to tell him that his old room was also prepared for him, since he would need to be back so early tomorrow anyways.
He almost can't believe he actually takes him up on it too, but then again, his old room was right next to Sakura's. And somehow his nostalgic ass weighed that pretty heavily on the scales of sleeping in the Main House of the team that a few days ago would've killed him on site versus his own bed, in his own apartment, in a building he owned, with a high-tech security system and 24/7 surveillance… yeah. Nostalgia was going to be the death of him, and she came with the body of a siren, the temper of a harpy and bubble gum pink hair.
He rubs his hand over his face as he walks down the hallway. He should be ashamed honestly, that it takes him as long to notice Ino haunting the doorway ahead as it does, but thanks to a lifetime of practice he keeps his expression blank.
"I hope you know what you're doing this time around." She says to him as he approaches. "She's never told me exactly what happened between you two, but I know what she's been like since you left." She continues ominously, Sasuke wonders if this is the side Sakura sees more of; since he can't ever recall Ino being so serious on someone else's behalf.
"I don't know how she keeps functioning, but at the rate she's working herself to death and trying to find some sort of feeling in the little spare time she does have; it's a miracle she hasn't hurt herself yet. And all I know is it started when you fucking left." She hisses the last sentence at him.
"Ino." He nods at her without breaking his stride.
It's a credit to her self control that she doesn't storm after him and rip his hair out or some of the crazier shit he's seen her do to some of the guys she's dated. Then again, he's pretty sure he's on a completely different level than any of those guys.
He's not sure how he feels about what she said, or really what to even think about it. It does sound like Sakura though, and it would explain the skeleton of a woman he saw come out of the hospital earlier that day. Which felt like days; holy shit what a day this had been.
Somehow, despite how tired he is or worried he was about, generally everything, he felt better than he had in a long ass time. Finally the people he cared about knew the truth of it all. Maybe not the whole truth yet, but they would in time.
As he walks up to his door he's surprised how familiar the whole thing feels. Walking through these halls to this room should feel alien to him. He glances over to the door next to his, thinking about Sakura sleeping soundly inside.
He wants so badly to open her door and climb into bed with her. Just to hold her as close as he can. He restrains himself though, thinking back to how she looked under the florescent lights earlier. Tired as hell. He was annoyed he hadn't put it together before, Sakura wasn't doing okay – despite how she held herself together. And it was his fucking fault.
It was a testament to her abilities that she had accomplished so much since he left, if she really was spiralling. The black eye too…
He opens his door and storms inside, careful to close it quietly despite his sudden anger. It'd been pretty damn naïve to think she would just move on after he left like that. It had been too easy to throw himself into the new responsibilities of being majority shareholder of his family's company over the past year. He had kept himself busy enough he didn't have time to think about Leaf, or about Sakura. About any woman. All he had known was the office and his apartment in the Uchiha complex.
Dismantling the rebellion had been no small task. Force alone would accomplish the task quickly but wouldn't ensure it lasted. Finding someplace in the middle involved a lot of politics. The one thing he hated more than anything else; sniveling men kissing his ass and saying one thing to his face and another behind closed doors. He was a majority shareholder now, and that gave him the one thing his family status alone couldn't: power. Every Uchiha was involved in the family business to some respect, as the CEO and owner Sasuke had a stake in every Uchiha's life now. For all intents and purposes, he was now the head of the family. Even if the elders hated that the young Uchiha was now their superior, they had to respect it. With that, rounding up the leaders had been easy. By pardoning every other member of the rebellion, he won the vote of the people; and with the severity of his punishment to the leaders he sent a clear message to any other company executive that he wasn't to be crossed.
And after all that was taken care of… well he had a company to run and he wanted to bury himself so deep into the task that he had no mental capacity left to think about what he was missing.
Yet here he was, back at Leaf again; working with Leaf again. With Sakura. He hadn't thought he would get that chance again, and he had no idea if she might ever forgive him. Maybe he could've handled things differently, but he was a big believer of leaving the past in the past. No point in getting hung up in what could've or might've been; because the reality of it was that had he made a single decision differently, maybe it all would've gone to hell anyways.
He had always suspected that wasn't the end of things; they had taken the head off the beast without realizing that in the shadows that the head had been a puppet and the roots went far deeper than they had imagined.
He would keep her safe; that was all that mattered. Not Leaf, not Konoha; not the District. She was why he had come back, and if he was being honest with himself – him coming back had always been inevitable so long as she was here.
At the first light of dawn Sakura stirs, cursing the nerves still jittering from last night that keep her from falling back asleep. Slowly she rolls onto her back, taking note of the clothes she's still wearing. She should be more tired, but there's an irritating itch all over her skin that tells her to move or the feeling might just eat her alive. She had never been great at being still. She'd tried one yoga class with Ino after Sasuke left to try and find some peace of mind and never gone back. Stillness made her feel like she was trying to contain fire, she needed to feel her muscles strain and her lungs burn; the pain in her knuckles when they met surface or the sting when she took a hit helped clear her mind; even if it was only temporary it was the only time she felt like she could process all the thoughts bouncing around unchecked in her mind.
She dragged her tired ass out of the small bed and looked around at her old room. Naruto had left it more or less untouched since she moved out; some of her old med school texts still sat dusty on the shelf, there was an old pair of sneakers by the door and gym clothes she had forgotten about entirely in the dresser. Photos of her and her friends still littered the wall above her bed; Ino and Naruto, even many with Sasuke from before and while they dated. She had thought they would get married one day; that it was inevitable then.
She reached out to run her fingers over their young faces. How naïve she had been; people like them didn't live to see happy endings. Jiraya, Hinata, Tenten… They were surrounded by so much death and suffering. That was why she loved her work at the hospital as much as she did. There she put people back together; every problem had a specific treatment. Like following a recipe. See this do this. It was clear cut and simple.
Nothing here was simple. While at the hospital she could bandage this and clean that; the problems here she wished she could cut out with a knife and be done with it.
She needed to work her nerves back into submission or this was going to be a difficult day.
Her bag from Suna was sitting by her door, so she pulled out a pair of leggings and a sports bra. She stuffed her feet into her old sneakers and made her way through the base to the gym where they had had their first meeting with Hebi not that long ago. She hoped it would be empty; but at this hour she needn't have worried. She very well might be the only one awake.
The light spilling in from high over the roof tops outside the windows warmed her skin, she could see the dust motes floating through the beams of light. It's been a long time since she was here this early. Before she moved out of the base; before she and Sasuke split; she used to come here at the crack of dawn nearly every morning. She like to get her training in before the gym filled with other members. She had fond memories of her self-imposed boot camp the months leading up to her initiation, when she trained here with Kakashi, Gai and Jiraya. She had other mentors too, but they had preferred other training locations. Tsunade was a particularly destructive teacher and had kept their training outside in wide areas wherever possible.
She did a brief warm up before she moved over to the heavy bags hanging from the rafters. She fell easily into a routine; jab, jab, upper cut, knee, kick. She danced from foot to foot around the bag as it began to swing. The burn in her muscles helped to clear her head.
She should be wearing gloves to protect her knuckle joints but the wap as she meets leather stings in a pleasant way; forcing her to stay present and react as the punching bag twirls and swings away and back towards her.
Her mind still feels jumbled. Her heart feels broken and yet more whole than it's been in a year.
She wants so badly to just be near him. But she doesn't know if she trusts him either. She had had no clue that he had been up to something before the fall out; all those months of taking calls from Orochimaru himself and she had never suspected a thing. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to move past that kind of betrayal.
She wasn't even sure what had prompted her to follow him from her apartment that one day. Certainly not because she had suspected him of what she had discovered. And the scariest thought, was what if she hadn't followed him that day? What if she had trusted him and ignored that unease in her chest that something didn't feel quite right? She was supposed to know him better than anyone, and still he had deceived her so easily. She still hated him for it; for fooling her, for lying to her. They were supposed to be partners, god damn it.
She hit the bag as it recoiled back towards her and finally split skin on her knuckles, the smallest stream of red running between her fingers. With a huff she side stepped the bag as it hurtled back towards her, letting it pass.
She was breathing heavy now, not sure how long she had been at it. Her skin was slick with sweat and her knuckles were sore.
He'd done it all to protect her, and his clan. It was hard to stay mad at that. Sasuke was a quiet guy… not to mention he'd seemed so mysterious growing up. But for all the bad rep he had always gotten but never bothered to deny; he had always been the most honorable of all of them. Of course he had thought he was doing the right thing; she just wished he hadn't felt the need to carry that burden all alone. And of course when they all thought he had betrayed them he hadn't defended himself with the truth. Instead he had taken the punishment and left, none of them the wiser to what he had just sacrificed in trying save them all. The whole thing was such a fucking matyr move and so fucking Sasuke it was infuriating.
God she loved that man, but she was also so fucking angry with him.
"What did that punching bag ever do to you?" A baritone voice broke the morning silence.
There he was, standing in the doorway. Dressed in all in black that somehow seemed to reflect the light, giving him an eerie glow. He had his arms crossed as he leaned on the door frame.
"Sasuke." She greeted him.
He pushed off the frame and took easy steps toward her. "Good morning," he replied. "Have you got something against sleep?" He asked her. In the past few days since they'd reconnected he hadn't seen her sleep more than a few hours each night. He himself was pretty guilty on running on the bare minimum from time to time, but he knew that the crash was always inevitable and rarely worth it. Ino's words from last night rang clearly through his head. Was this a regular thing for her now?
"Sleep isn't easy these days." She replied. "Easier to keep moving."
"Been up long?" He prodded.
"A while." She shrugged her shoulders, "It's still a little early for you to be back here isn't it?"
"I slept here."
"Oh?" She looked at him in shock.
"Surprised?" He nearly smirked, "I don't hate this place."
"Every word you say is more confusing than the last." She chuckles, but he can tell from her stiff posture she's anything but amused.
"Well, I'm glad you're here. This place needs you." She looks at him kindly.
"Maybe."
"No maybe. You can't fight Sound and Orochimaru and fucking Madara alone" she speaks passionately but softly so as not to be overheard by anyone that may be nearby, "and actually hope to win. You need us, and we need you."
He came in here feeling nostalgic; one night under this roof and his head is full and muddled with thoughts of her. He's not sure what he was searching for this morning, maybe he hoped in the dewy morning sunlight they would be able to talk without the weight of everything that's going on right now but he's just managed to piss her off again instead.
He purses his lips just slightly, and anyone else may not notice his discomfort but she does, "I know, Sakura. I know that now."
He cocks his eyebrow at her, "You didn't mention Madara to the team last night." Not a statement but not a question.
"Yeah I know." She says. Raising her hands she lines her body up with the bag again, preferring another round to continuing this conversation.
"I'm surprised you didn't." He walks closer and leans against a squat rack just off to the side of the thick mat she's on.
Sakura grunts in response as she swings and connects with the bag as it rebounds towards her.
"I was actually wondering if you would like to grab a bite to eat… with me." He asked her.
The way Sasuke looked at her made her heart skip a beat, and then take off at a thunderous pace. It was unfair for him to look so beautiful in this lighting. The way his hair was still slightly tousled make her heart ache as it reminded her of all the morning they had woken up together after a late night rolling around between the sheets.
"There's some time before the meeting this morning, and it's been a while since I've been here. Is that place around the corner still there?" He prompted her.
It took her a moment to catch her breath, but it was hard to look away from him long enough to think right now, "Uh, yeah, yeah. It is. Yeah, that'd be… nice." She smiled at him hesitantly, but it was one of the first genuine smiles she'd given him since he returned. His heart swelled a little at the site of it.
"Uhm, I just need to change out of these clothes." She looked down at her sweat drenched tank top and laughed. "I'll meet you out front in five minutes?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Sasuke was hopeful. This felt almost normal, between the two of them. It might be the only 'normal' they got today.
As soon as the rest of the house stirs and meetings begin, they were in for one hell of a packed day leading up to the trade off.
A/N I appreciate your support as always :)