Sasuke continued to observe Sakura over the next few days as they traveled towards The Land of Lightening. He was consistently impressed and amazed by how many lives she had touched for good as they went from village to village. Kakashi had been dead on about how things would work out. Doors that normally would have been slammed in his face never to be opened again, were coaxed open by her reputation and demeanor. The more time he spent with her, the more at ease he felt and he gradually felt like he was returning to his former self faster than he had while traveling alone.

"Team Kakashi certainly made a name for itself while I was away." He commented after another stranger had recognized the pink haired medic on the street, shoved gifts of gratitude into her hands, talked and then left again.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah. It's kind of hard not to make a scene with Naruto though."

"So how do you and Sai get along?" he asked.

The pink haired medic blinked and cocked an eyebrow. "Where's that coming from?" she asked.

"Well, I know that he was handpicked to take my place on Team 7." He explained. "I also met him shortly after he was first put on your team. He said something about Naruto not liking him but he didn't say anything about you."

Sakura chuckled. "I'm not surprised about that. He knew of the close bond you and Naruto had. He was probably just trying to get on your good side by saying that." She glanced up at the sky. "I was the annoying fan girl that tagged after you. Mentioning me probably would've just annoyed you and he knew it."

Sasuke looked down at the ground. "That's probably right." He admitted. He looked over at her and she met his eye and sighed.

"To be honest, by the time I met Sai, Naruto was already raving mad at the guy so my first impression of him was a little conflicted. He looks and sounds a lot like you after all and you and Naruto fought like cats and dogs. Part of me was excited hoping that maybe he'd be able our old team dynamic back." Sasuke's brow wrinkled, he wasn't sure if he liked where this was going. "Then he opened his mouth and called me ugly. It was all downhill from there."

Sasuke smirked. He might have shoved her off and called her annoying but he'd never outright insulted her like that. He'd never thought of her as ugly either. Sure her hair was a strange color, and her forehead was a little wider than most but it had never bothered him. It was different than the dark hair and eyes he'd been surrounded by as a child, not bad just different.

Sakura looked down at the road and giggled. "It was quite funny though. Naruto who always went on and on when we were younger about how annoying, stuck up, and irritating you were immediately began singing your praises after meeting Sai. I remember him saying 'Sasuke's way cooler than that Sai guy!'" she looked over and grinned at him. "It was pretty funny to see him try to insult and praise you at the same time."

The Uchiha almost smiled at that. Naruto was always working hard to make sure there was a place for him to return to, even on their team.

"When we were sent on our first mission to intercept a spy Sasori had in Orochimaru's organization, things only got worse." She scratched her cheek. "I punched him in the face less than three hours after leaving the village actually."

Sasuke looked over at her and noticed the subtle hint of pain in her eyes. It must have been out of anger that she punched him or she wouldn't be feeling guilty about it now. "Why were you so angry with him?" he asked.

She sighed. "I'm not sure how much you know about Sai, but he was taken in and raised by Donzo's organization, The Foundation, after he was orphaned. As you know, Donzo wasn't happy with the way things in the village were being run. After you left the village, he called for you to be eliminated when our attempts to retrieve you failed. Lady Tsunade, Kakashi, Naruto and I along with most of our class obviously fought it and we got our way, but Donzo..." Her eyes narrowed. "He never hid how he felt about you. As his subordinate, Sai carried the same negative feelings towards you. He started running his mouth about how you were nothing but traitorous scum that had given himself over to the enemy and needed to be eliminated." Her hands balled into fists. "Naruto and I who knew better, who knew you and knew the real reasons you left and loved you…" she took a deep breath. "You know better than anyone how Naruto feels about his friends and those who insult or threaten them. He was about to snap and I was raving mad myself. So I restrained Naruto and apologized to Sai and flashed him my greatest fake smile. Then when he returned it like it was no big deal, like he didn't give a damn about how the rest of us felt, I let him have it."

"I see." Sasuke said lowering his head a little. They were both such idiots for defending him like that. What Sai had said was right, he was just traitorous scum. Even so, he couldn't help but feel warmth in his heart. "You two are both like Itachi." He said suddenly.

Sakura blinked and looked over at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"He said he'd love me no matter what I did." He said glancing up at the sky, his brother's face forming in his mind. "You and Naruto seem to feel the same." He smiled gently at her. "Thank you for that."

The medic blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Yeah. You're welcome." She said quietly. After taking another deep breath she continued to talk. "Anyway, that entire mission turned out to be a total disaster. Sai left me to die on a bridge to sneak into Orochimaru's ranks and assassinate you. Naruto lost control of the Nine Tails and nearly killed me when I tried to stop him. We found you only to have you try to kill us." She touched her forehead and shook her head. "Ugh. Even now, thinking about it makes me irritated."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Wait, Sai left you to die and Naruto nearly killed you on that mission?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Naruto immediately lashed out at Orochimaru as soon as he saw him. The fight started on Tenshi Bridge and one of his attacks hit Kabuto. Kabuto went flying and hit me in midflight knocking me out. The bridge started to collapse with me on it and Sai escaped but left me behind as I began falling towards the river below. Captain Yamato had to save me."

"Where was Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Trying to destroy Orochimaru." She explained. "Like I said, he lost control of the Nine Tails. When I tried to stop him and bring him back to his senses he attacked me." She lifted her arm and pointed to an angry looking but mostly faded rust colored mark on the back of her bicep. "Captain Yamato saved me again and Kabuto started healing me but as you can see, it didn't heal well. We had to stop several times for me to keep the pain and muscle spasms under control. It gave me trouble for weeks after."

Sasuke's eyes widened. That meant she was injured when he'd first encountered her on that same mission. He hadn't even noticed, he bowed his head, no that wasn't it. He'd probably noticed but just hadn't cared. He was too focused on killing Naruto and getting rid of any irritants he brought along with him, like her.

"Anyway, after that mission Sai seemed to change." She said moving her cloak back to cover her arm again. "Maybe it was because he saw firsthand just how badly Naruto and I wanted to save you. Perhaps he was just curious about our bonds and wanted to learn more about them first hand, but he stuck with us after that." She smiled. "He said we were his first friends. In the foundation, they're raised as siblings and then forced to kill one another." She explained. "That way it kills all their emotions. When he was with us, he realized that we didn't work that way, instead we treasured our emotions and feelings. Sai is actually a very sensitive person, he'd just been forced to keep that part of him below the surface. With us, he felt like he could be himself and learn about normal relationships in a safe place."

Sasuke nodded. "It sounds like you became rather fond of him." He said noting the small and increasingly familiar and frequent pang of jealousy in his heart.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "I am fond of him." She replied. "I trust him completely. He's a little clumsy with his words and feelings, but he's honest." She cringed. "Sometimes brutally honest. That's a trait he shares with you though I guess. He was never afraid to call me out. I really love him for that."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. She loved Sai? And what was this about him being honest? He wasn't honest at all really. Not about the important things like how much he cared for his friends and the feelings growing inside him for her.

"He's like a big brother to me now." She said with a smile.

Sasuke would never admit to another living soul how much more relaxed he felt when she said those words. He was about to reply when he noticed unnatural movement in the grass near the roadside. He instinctively activated his Sharringan and Sakura noticed right away moving closer to him scanning the roadside herself.

"How many?" she asked quietly.

"Two." He replied. "I'm guessing they're the rouge ninja Sora warned us about." He said pulling a pair of shuriken from his pouch.

"We know you're there!" Sakura called out. "Show yourselves!"

"You caught on to us pretty quickly, but I'd expect nothing less from two of the legendary Sannin." A man with limp, long blonde hair and green eyes said as he straightened from where he was crouched behind the grass.

"I think I've seen the broad somewhere before." The second man, a bulky man with light brown hair black eyes and a stringy mustache with a massive sword strapped to his back said materializing next to his partner.

"Do you recognize them Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he shifted closer to her.

"Not really." She confessed.

The man's eyes lit up. "I remember now! You were with that group of ninja that was involved in the Box of Paradise fiasco." He smirked. "You socked me pretty hard too while you and your little buddies were rounding all of us up."

"What is this guy talking about?" Sasuke demanded.

"It's a long story. Naruto went undercover to a prison to investigate a box, found the box, and before he could destroy it, someone opened it releasing a monster of catastrophic proportion nearly ending the world as we know it." She explained quickly.

"Why does that not surprise me?" The Uchiha muttered. "So what's that have to do with these guys?"

"I'm pretty sure they were inmates at the prison where the box was hidden." She replied. "Why they're out now, I don't know."

"So you do remember us? How sweet." The blonde said with a smirk. "Sorry about this darling but we've been hired to take out the Uchiha scum standing next to you. Be a good little dear and step aside will you?" he said pulling an umbrella from his cloak.

"Not happening." She replied firmly as she pulled a pair of leather gloves from her pocket and slipped them over her hand. "I happen to be this guy's escort at the moment. I can't just let you kill him."

"Escort huh?" the bulky man said unsheathing his sword. "Let's make a trade, we'll take his head and then you can escort us instead."

"Sounds like a fair deal to me." His blonde partner agreed spinning his umbrella. "I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Pigs." She muttered under her breath.

Sasuke's blood boiled lightning crackling in his hand and heating up the shuriken as he waited gauging their next move.

The blonde smirked and Sakura's eyes widened. "Sasuke!" she exclaimed turning and slamming a chakra infused fist into his back.

He grunted as he went flying and flipped in midair noting that his injury had been healed as quickly as it formed, though his muscles ached. He turned his focus to Sakura his mouth opening to demand and explanation when his eyes widened in horror as a flurry of throwing needles, shuriken and kunai rained down on her form from above.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed his blood running cold at the sight of her bloodied body lying in the road. His brow furrowed and he flipped in midair throwing his shuriken at the man with the umbrella and drawing his sword to block the blow from the other man's massive sword.

His enhanced eye caught the pop and puff of smoke as Sakura's body turned into a log and breathed a sigh of relief. 'Substitution.' He thought before turning his attention to the two rouge ninja. "Cheap tricks like that are going to get you killed." He hissed as he changed the angle of his blade and slid up the length of his massive sword with his own and rammed his shoulder into the man's gut sending him staggering back. Before the bulky man had a chance to regain his balance, he leapt up and slammed his foot into his face knocking him back several feet.

Sakura appeared from out of the trees and lunged at the blonde man who barely dodged the fatal punch. Her fist instead connected with the ground splitting the earth and sending the man flying. While he was still airborne, she threw a paperbomb at him smirking when it stuck into the umbrella he used to block the attack and exploded sending pieces of it and his clothing flying. He crashed to the ground near his partner and groaned.

"You fight pretty good for a medical ninja." He muttered. "That substitution was well timed too." He grinned, "but it's still my victory."

Sasuke glanced towards the blonde from where he stood in front of his partner and then gasped as Sakura dashed over and knocked him to the ground and hovered over him on all fours.

"Sakura! What the Hell!?" he snarled. "What do you think you're-" his voice died and his eyes widened when the smell of blood filled his nose and he spotted the crimson liquid running down her arm.

"Are you alright Sasuke?" she rasped. "None of them hit you did they?"

He scrambled out from under her and stared in horror at the sight of kunai, shuriken, and throwing needles protruding from nearly every inch of her back and the back of her legs. With his sharringan he quickly realized that they were weaponry that had been controlled using chakra strings wielded by the man with the sword. Immediately he realized their strategy. The blonde would deploy them in the usual fashion and draw the attention of one attacker while his partner with the sword distracted another. Thinking the sword was his only weapon and the other projectiles were his partners, both he and Sakura had let their guard down.

"Sakura!" he exclaimed rushing towards her only to have his way blocked by the first man.

"Ah ah!" he cooed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you?" he said.

Sakura suddenly let out a scream of agony as the sword wielding man twitched his finger and one of the kunai twisted in her back in response. His vision became tinged with red as the desire to wipe the men from the face of the earth roared within him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them again his eye pattern changed as he activated his mangyeko sharringan.

"Move away from my companion now or you die." He snarled in a voice tinged with some of the manic blood lust from his rouge ninja days.

"Oh, getting serious are you?" the sword wielding man said with a sneer. "Good because some of those are coated with poison you know. What will kill her first? The blood loss or the toxins?"

Sasuke whirled and looked the bigger man straight in the eyes and immediately placed him under genjustu. In a matter of moments he knew the names of the poisons used and had forced the man to remove the weaponry from his companion using the chakra strings he had controlling them. He then hurled the man into a world of nightmares and turned away as he began to scream while tugging on his hair.

The blonde man backed away his eyes wide. "You really are as powerful as they say. I'll be going now."

The Uchiha ignored his words and cast a similar genjutsu on the man who immediately fell to his knees clutching his head. The enemies neutralized, he swept forward and rolled Sakura onto her back his eyes wide with fear as he found her eyes closed and her skin pale.

"Sakura? Sakura!" he exclaimed shaking his fallen companion. "Answer me!" he demanded. He reached out and touched her neck his heart pounding out of control when he found no pulse. "No." he whispered. "This can't be happening!" he fell forward his body covering hers, his head on her chest, a lone tear slipping from the corner of his eyes. The girl who had always chased after him, waited for him, and loved him was fading right before his eyes and there was nothing he could do. The Uchiha were powerful ninja with incredible chakra and a natural talent for combat but none of them knew or had bothered to learn medical ninjutsu. He was no exception. Even knowing the names of the poisons didn't help if he didn't know the antidote let alone how to make it. His mind began to break as visions of his parents, and his brother dead on the ground flashed through his consciousness. Images of all of his crimes moved to the forefront of his recollection making his body shake. Was this divine punishment for all of that? His hand clutched at her shirt as he silently vowed to make her happy if she came back to him. His eyes widened when he felt her chest rise beneath his head.

"Sasuke?" Sakura rasped. "It's hard to breathe with you on top of me."

"Sakura!" he exclaimed sitting up and looking down at her half lidded eyes. "Are you alright!?"

"Not exactly." She replied in a weak voice. "Tell me, do you know if any of the kunai, shuriken, or throwing needles were poisoned? It feels like they were."

"Yes." He replied quickly. "Nightshade, Mercury, Lead, and Hollylock." He repeated from the man's memory.

"Lead and Hollylock are slow acting. It's the Nightshade and Mercury that's making me feel like garbage." She muttered. "Gotta hand it to that guy for having all of his poison bases covered though this is nothing compared to what Sasori cooked up." She gasped as she arched up her hand jerkily reaching for the clasp of her cloak.

"Stop moving!" Sasuke snapped. "Tell me what you need and I'll get it for you."

She nodded. "Take it off." She gasped. "The cloak I mean."

He nodded and quickly unsnapped the clasp holding it in place his hand balling into a fist at the sight of her blood seeping through her clothing.

"Ok, now on my belt in the back is a large pocket. Inside it, is a leather pouch. Pull it out for me." She explained.

He obeyed doing his best to move her as little as possible. He showed the folded leather pouch to her. "This one?" he confirmed.

She nodded and shivered likely an effect of the poison. "Ok. Unfold it and you'll see several hypodermic needles lined up in two rows in the middle. I need you to pull out the ones labeled UAMB and UAPB. The first one is a brownish colored liquid and the second is clear."

Sasuke scanned the rows of hypodermic injections until he found the two she mentioned holding them up to her for her approval.

"That's right." She said with a little nod of her head. "Now inject me with both of them. It doesn't matter where."

He bit his lip and quickly jabbed the two injections into her bicep twitching a little when she winced at the sensation. When they were empty, he removed them and put them back in their rightful slots.

"Now what should I do?" he asked as he put the leather pouch in his own bag so he wouldn't have to move her again nor chance forgetting it.

Sakura sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't reach to heal myself. I guess I could release the seal-"

"Don't!" he protested reaching out to still her hand. "I'll take care of it. You're not in grave danger are you?"

"No." she replied. "Though we should probably stop the bleeding soon."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. "Right. Can you sit up?" he asked. "It'll be easier to wrap the bandages that way." He glanced down the road. "There's a village less than ten miles from where we are now. We'll do a rough job here and then take care of it properly in town."

"Good plan." Sakura agreed. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to move for a little while."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"It's a side effect of the poisons and the antidote. Temporary numbness and loss of motor functions." She replied. "Sorry for being such a burden Sasuke."

"Don't say that." He muttered. "You saved me. You're not a burden." He reached out and gently pulled her upright and let her rest against his chest as he fumbled in his own bag for clean bandages. Once he'd found them, he held them between his teeth and unsnapped the thick belt around her waist. He put it inside his own bag and then reached for the clasp that held her top in place his fingers pausing for a second as his heart rate skipped a beat. "Sorry." He muttered quickly before he unclasped her top, pulled the zipper down, and pushed it off of her shoulders thankful that her chest was already bound with bandages.

He took the bandages from his mouth and anchored the new bandages to the ones already covering part of her torso. "Can you hold on to me?" he asked.

"Not very well." She admitted as her arms jerkily moved forward and gripped his cloak.

"That's fine." He replied. "It's just in case you lose your balance. This will be rough because I'm in a hurry."

"It's ok Sasuke." Sakura replied softly the medicine taking effect and slurring her voice. "I trust you."

His throat tightened a little at her words as he quickly went to work wrapping the bandages around her as quickly as he dared. Once he was finished, he moved down to her battered legs and decided to wrap them over her shorts for the sake of time and to save them both from the awkwardness. The sun was getting low and with Sakura out of commission in the middle of the road, they were far too vulnerable for his liking. When he finished, he took a deep breath and studied the half-asleep girl shaking her a little to wake her up.

"Sakura, we need to get to the next village." He said. "Can you stand?"

She shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry." She chuckled. "I should have let them hit you. I could've healed you easily and we wouldn't be in this mess but…" a tear slid from her eye. "I remembered that day in The Land of Waves on the bridge and my body just moved on its own."

Sasuke's eyes softened. He understood. During the battle against Madara, he hadn't been able to stop himself from protecting her either. Even though his one and only priority was to save Naruto. It hadn't even been a conscious decision, his power had just naturally responded to the feelings he'd buried in the deepest corner of his heart and enveloped her in the protective wings of his Susanoo. It was a good thing too. No matter how much she slighted herself, the fact remained that the world would have been lost without her.

"Don't apologize." He said kneeling down in front of her studying her medicine, and pain clouded eyes. "Rest. I'll take care of things from here."

She smiled and her eyes closed as she gave herself over to the medication and her injuries. As well as he could with one arm he took off his own cloak and wrapped her in it before slinging her limp body over his shoulder. His jaw clenched as he began to move as quickly as he could with his precious cargo towards the nearest village. He really wished that he had a replacement limb right now. She deserved much better treatment than what his one arm could offer. A little pang of regret hit him as he realized that he'd never be able to carry her the way he had when they were younger.

He reached the village just before sunset and did his best to ignore the gasps and whispers that followed him as he searched for an inn. He knew they both looked terrible and suspicious but it didn't matter. She needed a safe place to rest where he could clean and treat her injuries. As he glanced around, he saw several anti-government messages scrawled on the walls and sighed. Finding place to stay as two elite soldiers was going to be a challenge. Finally seeing an inn, he dashed inside. It was old with a musky smell lingering in the air. He approached the counter and immediately noticed the dark look the woman at the counter gave him as her eyes found the Uchiha crest on his shirt.

"Get out." She snarled. "I don't want anything to do with you. Is that your latest victim on your shoulder?"

He took a deep breath and stood his ground. "My traveling companion and I were attacked on the road here." He explained quickly. "She's badly injured and needs a place to rest and recover from her injuries. Please let us stay here."

"She you say? Do you think you'll earn sympathy by claiming that you're traveling with a woman?" the woman sneered. "I bet this is just a trick you're pulling with those demonic eyes of yours."

Sasuke's jaw clenched. The only reason his sharringan was still active was to keep an eye out for enemy attacks. He didn't go around casting genjutsu on everyone he met, though he could understand the woman's skepticism. Sakura shifted on his shoulder and moaned capturing his attention completely.

"Sasuke? It hurts." she whimpered trying to lift herself from where she dangled over his back. Glancing around, he found an empty arm chair and quickly walked to it and set her down gently.

"What hurts?" he asked pushing the hood of the cloak back and out of her face so that he could see her properly. "How can I help?"

Her emerald eyes, glassy with pain and exhaustion found his. "Pain medicine. In my bag." She rasped.

He nodded and reached into his own bag where hers was stored and showed it to her. "In the front pocket. The powder in the white packet. It needs to be mixed with water." She explained gasping. "Maybe I should just release-"

"Don't!" he ordered. "I'll take care of it." She wasn't wasting her life force in a situation like this where they could take care of it themselves. It's not like they were on the battle field or anything. The enemy had been defeated and they could rest normally.

The old woman had approached during their conversation and she gasped. "That hair!" she glared at the Uchiha. "You bastard! What did you do to Sakura Haruno!?" she shouted her hand whipping back to slap the former avenger.

"Don't!" Sakura rasped reaching out to try to shield him. "I'm with him by order of the Hokage. Please don't hurt him. He's trying to help me." She gasped and fell forward, the cloak slipping from her body, revealing the back of her bloodied, tattered shirt as Sasuke reached out and caught her.

"Stop moving around!" he growled in her ear as she slumped unconscious against him.

The woman's eyes widened. "Dear God. What happened to her?" she glanced around the lobby and then sighed and marched over to the desk and grabbed a key from underneath the counter. "Follow me." She said quickly.

Sasuke nodded and quickly repositioned Sakura on his shoulder, slipping the pain medication into his pocket.

"Hurry it up!" the old woman growled.

The Uchiha bit back a growl of his own and quickly followed her up the stairs and down the hall. She stopped in front of the door closest to the wall and strode inside motioning for him to follow. The old woman quickly laid out a futon and covered it with several sheets.

"Lay her down here." She instructed sharply.

He nodded and carefully shifted Sakura off his shoulder allowing to old woman to help him lay her down. The old woman quickly stripped off the now stained cloak and frowned as Sakura winced and shifted in her half-conscious state.

"She asked for pain medicine." Sasuke said pulling the white packet from his pocket. "Do you have water I can use to mix this?"

The older woman nodded and left the room. Sasuke noted sweat beading on Sakura's forehead and used the handkerchief he'd found in her bag to wipe it away. On impulse, he swept the blush colored locks from her face and studied the diamond on her forehead. If she released it, they'd be out of here quickly but the risks… They were far worse than the mangekyo sharringan before he'd received his brother's eyes. Going blind was one thing, shortening a person's life span was another. Even so, seeing her like this made him angry, guilty, and sad all at once. His gaze flickered to the door as the old woman returned with a large tray in her hands. He noticed a pitcher filled with water, a glass, along with a large basin filled with steaming water that smelled a little acidic, several rolls of bandages, a needle and thread, and some rice balls.

"Your eye isn't red anymore." The woman noted as she poured a glass of water for him to mix the medicine with.

"There's no reason for me to have it activated now." He replied simply.

"Aren't you going to turn the purple one off too?" the woman asked.

Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes. "That one doesn't work like that." He replied. Once the medicine was mixed, he reached out and gently shook his companion. "Sakura. The medicine is ready." He said gently.

She groaned in response, her eyes flickering open as he and the woman helped her sit up. He gently put the glass to her lips and tipped it back frowning when she turned away before the glass was empty coughing. He clenched his jaw, biting back his words of worry as she took a deep breath and then pressed it to her lips again doing his best to make sure most of it ended up in her mouth. When the glass was empty, she sighed her lips working to form words. Trying to thank him he was sure.

"Don't speak. I already know." He said gently. "I'll clean and dress your wounds now."

She merely nodded in response her eyes sliding closed again. He reached for the buttons of her shirt when the older woman's hands slapped them away. "What do you think you're doing!?" she demanded. "She's a lady! Show some respect."

Sasuke cocked a brow. "I need to clean and dress her wounds." He said in a matter of fact tone. Hadn't the woman just heard him?

"I'll do that." The old woman replied. "I own this girl more than you know. Get out of here, I'll take care of her."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. "She's my companion." He protested. "She was injured while protecting me." His hand balled into a fist. "I refuse to leave her side."

He trusted the onery hag about as much as she trusted him. There was no way in Hell he was going to leave Sakura alone with her. Especially while in a state where she was unable to properly protect herself.

The woman's eyes widened before a smirk touched her lips. "Very well then. At least turn your back during this part then." She said moving her hands to Sakura's tattered top.

Sasuke did as he was asked not bothering to argue with the woman. She had two hands, that alone would make it easier for her to take care of Sakura's wounds. His own hand clenched at the thought. If only he hadn't been so stupid, he'd be better able to care for her. The woman's sharp intake of breath caught his attention and he turned back towards her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. His own eyes widened as he took in the sight of Sakura's back and legs. They were riddled with gashes of all shapes and sizes and his eye nearly turned red as the desire to hunt down the fools that had done this to her and rip their arms off roared within him.

"What awful injuries." The woman murmured. "I understand why you were in such a hurry to get her somewhere safe." She quickly went to work dipping a wash cloth into the warm antiseptic solution and rubbing it over the medic's injuries. Washing away the dried blood and revealing skin beneath.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Sasuke asked his muscles clenching when Sakura hissed in pain.

The woman glanced at him. "Do you know any medical ninjutsu?" she asked. He shook his head. She sighed. "I thought not." She admitted as she continued to clean the woman's wounds. "You're Sasuke Uchiha right?"

The raven haired man nodded. He thought she'd already known but it was possible she could have mistaken him for his brother since he'd popped up during the war. That damned jutsu of Kabuto's had caused long lasting problems for all of the five great nations. Even after the jutsu was stopped, rumors that those he'd resurrected were still wandering among the living still persisted especially in villages like these that were on the fringes of things.

"I thought so. Go ahead and sit by her. Comfort is about the only thing you're good for right now." The woman said as she reached for the needle and thread.

Sasuke blinked in surprise. He'd never really thought about comforting her, mostly because he never really comforted anyone. He wasn't really sure how it was done. He moved to the side where she was facing and sat down beside her. "Sakura." He said softly.

Her eyes flickered open and settled on his face, hazy from the medication she'd taken. "Sasuke?" she replied softly.

His jaw clenched. He hated how useless he was when it came to this sort of thing. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

To his surprise, she reached out and clasped his hand linking her fingers with his. "Don't go." she whispered.

He cursed the heat that rose to his cheeks and nodded. "I'm not going anywhere." He said simply.

A little smile touched her lips before her eyes closed again. The old woman chuckled as she worked on stitching the worst of the medic's wounds up. "You know, you remind me a little of the two boys she was with last time she was here." She said. "Like the blonde one, you hover around her and only seem to be good a fighting, but like the pale one, you're clumsy with your words and emotions."

He sighed. He didn't need an old lady to state the obvious and being compared to the loser and his replacement irritated him.

"You know, Sakura saved this village." The woman said suddenly.

He glanced down at his companion and then over at the old woman. "The entire village?" he clarified.

She nodded. "Yes. A strange illness had begun to spread here. People were dropping left and right too weak to stand. Some of the elderly and children were even worse developing terrible coughs. A doctor appeared around the same time with a miracle cure for the illness but the payment he demanded was too outrageous for most of us to pay. When we didn't pay up, groups of bandits began to attack as well. It was a nightmare. Our village leader sent for help from The Leaf and it was this young woman and her team led by a man named Yamato who responded."

Sasuke nodded. He'd met the man a few times. Captain Yamato had led Naruto's team on their second attempt to return him to the village. He'd also been assigned to be part of his best friend's personal guards thanks in part to his unique ability to control the nine tails gifted to him by the First Hokage's DNA that was within him. That same ability was the reason he'd been captured by Kabuto and used to finish creating the army of white Zetsu's and eventually, the divine tree. The process had been hard on his body. He recalled that he along with himself and Naruto were Sakura's most critical patient's when they returned to The Leaf. He and Naruto had recovered much more quickly as well. He remembered how worried the medic had been about her former captain's condition, frequently cursing Kabuto for putting her captain and trusted friend in such a terrible state.

"Sakura quickly determined that the illness was caused by a chemical that had been slipped into the public water supply. The culprit was the doctor himself who was actually the leader of the bandits that kept attacking our town." She smiled fondly at the young woman. "She created an antidote and distributed it as well as found a way to cleanse our water. Then she and her companions destroyed the bandits and their leader." She smirked. "This girl has some power in those fists of hers. Something tells me you have first-hand knowledge of that though." Sasuke merely shrugged in response before turning his attention back to Sakura who still gripped his hand tightly. "After that was taken care of, she went through and personally checked all of the patients. Two of them were my grandsons." The old woman suddenly began making hand signs and Sasuke tensed ready to fight but relaxed when the woman's hands glowed green. "She taught me some basic medical ninjutsu to help my grandsons recover since they were two of the worst off." She explained. "I'm not very good at it, and have hardly any chakra, but it helped. I'm happy to be able to return the favor."

After several minutes, the woman lowered her hands and wiped the sweat from her brow. "That's all I can do for now." She said putting her used supplies on the tray. "She'll need to rest for a while."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. Thanks for helping her."

The old woman scowled at him. "It's not like I did it for you!" she snapped. "I don't like or trust you but…" she took a deep breath. "It's clear you feel something for that girl and she trusts you so I'll let it go for now." The Uchiha nodded. "Those rice balls are extra from today. Do whatever you want with them." She added before she left slamming the door closed behind her.

He almost smirked as he reached over Sakura who had been laid on her back now that the procedure was done and picked one up. It was obvious the woman had brought them for him and based on the taste of the rice, they were pretty fresh too. He ate it slowly as he studied Sakura's hand, the slim fingers that had been locked around his own just minutes ago. It reminded him of their ordeal in the forest of death when Orochimaru had first inflicted him with the curse mark. She knelt beside him her green eyes wide with terror and begged him to tell her how to help him. Through the haze of agony he remembered her hand in his their fingers intertwined and how he'd held onto them like a lifeline. Used the sensation of her skin, her warmth, her voice, even the sensation of her bones shifting under his fingers as he squeezed to keep his mind intact through the searing pain that coursed through his entire being. He'd never shown such a weak side of himself to anyone up until that point. Though he found that instead of being ashamed of it afterwards, he was simply thankful she'd been there for him even though he was desperate for her to keep it a secret from everyone else.

He shook himself out of his reminiscing and walked over to where a second futon was folded against one of the walls. He laid it out close to the door and quickly changed out of his travel clothes and into his night clothes. When he put them away, it occurred to him that Sakura was dressed in only a pair of panties with her torso and legs covered in bandages. Ignoring the little flicker of heat that rose in his chest and belly, he reached for her bag and looked for something loose and large for her to change into, something that wouldn't put additional pressure on her wounds. With a little sigh, he cursed the ridiculousness of women's clothing and picked up his own bag. After a few moments of digging, he found one of his short sleeved shirts that he rarely wore. It wasn't a mystery that he was sensitive about his lost limb. He wore cloaks almost constantly to hide it. He'd learned over the past couple years that long sleeves also did a decent job of hiding the missing limb even if the flapping was annoying. He preferred the full coverage it offered as well. He hadn't worn a short sleeved shirt in almost a year but had kept a few. Now he was glad he had.

He studied her for a moment formulating a plan to get the shirt on her without greatly disturbing her rest or wounds. Deciding on his method of attack so to speak. He knelt behind her, his knees on either side of her head. He held the shirt in his teeth and gently lifted her up with his arm and shifted forward until he was kneeling behind her. He let her rest against his chest while he removed the shirt from his mouth and slipped it over her head. Then he pulled her arms through one at a time before holding her while shifting to the side and gently laid her back on the futon adjusting the blankets around her. He was about to move away when she shifted in her sleep.

"Sasuke." She sighed a little smile on her lips. "I have to tell him. Tell him how much I love him." She murmured.

Sasuke's eyes widened and blush tinged his cheeks. What was up with her and confessing her love to him in her sleep so often? Was she afraid to say it to his face? He cringed a little at the thought. It wasn't terribly surprising in all honesty. He had cast a genutsu in which he'd used his chhidori to rip her heart out the last time she'd seriously confessed. Any girl would feel a bit nervous about confessing after that. He looked down at her sleeping face, his eyes tracing over her features. The long eyelashes, the high cheek bones, her full lips. His gaze then shifted to her forehead, the one she'd been teased about as a child and now bore a prominent seal that marked her as one of the most powerful and influential women in the shinobi world. Something warm swelled in his chest. A mix of pride, respect, loyalty, and something he'd never felt around another person in his life except for her. Before he really understood what was happening, he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to her forehead.

As soon as his mind caught up with his body he stumbled back nearly knocking over the pitcher of water in an ungraceful manner that was unbecoming of an Uchiha. In fact had anyone seen how ridiculous he looked in that very moment; his eyes wide, his cheeks flushed, one leg up in the air as he tried to crab crawl away, only to realize he only had one arm and it was impossible; he probably would have died. Not literally of course, but he'd definitely wish he could. The Loser, in particular never would have let him live it down. Gathering what was left of his dignity, he rose to his feet and walked over to the lamp near the door and blew it out before laying down on the futon near it. He looked up at the ceiling and laid his arm across his forehead.

'What the hell was that?' he demanded of himself. When the only reply he got was an image of himself brushing his lips against the lips of the girl sleeping soundly next to him, he groaned and turned towards the door. It must be all of the trauma and lack of sleep lately. He decided. All he'd need is a good night's sleep and everything would be fine.

#%#

Sasuke glanced around his eyes adjusting to the dim light filtering through the leaves above him.

'Where am I?' he mused internally. The place felt and looked a bit familiar and a sense of dread filled him. Something deep within his mind trying desperately to remember something important he'd forgotten.

"Sasuke!" he heard a familiar voice shout. "Sasuke, what's wrong? What's he done to you!?"

'Sakura!' he immediately dashed through the trees towards the sound of her voice and found himself looking down at a much younger version of himself and Sakura huddled together on a thick branch. His eyes widened as he heard himself cry out in pain as Sakura reached out and pulled him into her arms.

"Sasuke! Hang in there!" she exclaimed her emerald eyes filled with agony and worry. "It's going to be alright. I promise!" she assured him as his younger self gripped her hand and screamed in pain before collapsing unconscious against her.

"Sasuke." She whimpered gathering his limp form as close to her own as she could tears forming in her eyes. Her entire body trembled as she cradled his head against her chest, her panic filled eyes darting around the forest warily as crows flew past frazzling her further. Her gaze fell on Naruto who hung limply against a tree trunk, a kunai embedded into the trunk through his shirt the only thing preventing him from falling to his death. "Naruto." She whimpered. "Sasuke's hurt! Help me!" the tears in her eyes spilled over as she clutched his younger self closer to herself as if she was trying to shield him from everything in the world. "NARUTO!" she screamed her body trembling with fear. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I need you." She whimpered.

"Sakura." He murmured. He'd never seen this. How was he even seeing it? He leapt from the tree above and landed beside the young girl and reached out. "I'm here." He said softly. His eyes widened when his hand went right through her though she turned towards the sound of his voice. Her eyes widened as she immediately drew a kunai and threw it at him. He jumped and blinked as it went right through him. Turning his head, he gasped as he realized what her target was. A giant, poisoned spider falling dead to the forest floor, her kunai imbedded in its head.

Sakura gritted her teeth. "I guess it's up to me now." She muttered. With the gentleness he was sure only a woman could possess, she pulled his unconscious form across her back and used rope to secure his hands in place around her neck and tied another length around both of their waists. Then she secured a grappling hook around the thick branch where they were perched and as quickly but gently as she could manage lowered them both to the ground below, her brow knit with concentration, sweat trickling down her face, as she worked to support both of their weight and not jostle him around. Once they were safely on the forest floor, she laid his younger self down against the tree trunk.

"I'll be right back Sasuke." She assured him. "I have to go get Naruto now." She brushed his sweat drenched bangs out of his face her lips trembling as she tried to smile. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything this time."

He watched in awe as she studied the tree trunk where Naruto was hung and climbed nimbly to the branch closest to him. She took a deep breath and walked onto the trunk itself her jaw clenched as she awkwardly secured him to her back before pulling the kunai free and half walked, half stumbled her way down the tree tripping at the end and landing awkwardly on the ground with Naruto sprawled out on top of her.

"Even when he's unconscious he's such a pain." She muttered as she shifted out from under the blonde boy and pulled him over to where his younger self sat. Clearly tired she sat down between them to catch her breath leaning her head back against the tree. "Maybe Kakashi Sensei was right, I don't think I was ready for this." She admitted a tear slipping from her eye. His younger self groaned beside her and Naruto flinched and she glanced worriedly at both of them. Her eyes suddenly hardened, the determination he knew she'd always had flaring within them. "There's no time to feel sorry for yourself now!" she growled slapping her own cheeks with her hands. "Get it together Sakura!"

He smirked as he watched her jump to her feet and scoured the woods for materials to build a makeshift sled. Once it was constructed, she moved himself and Naruto onto it and grunted as she dragged them both to the thick, lifted roots of a tree about a quarter of a mile away from where they'd been attacked by Orochimaru.

"It's almost dark." She murmured to herself. "I wish we could move further away but this is the best place I could find to rest." She said as she laid them each out inside the makeshift shelter. Her hand went to his forehead and her eyes widened. "He's burning up!" she exclaimed quickly pulling water and a wash cloth from her bag. She slipped the leaf headband off of his head and wet the cloth, folded it and laid it gently over his forehead her eyes willing with sadness when he whimpered in his sleep. She then moved over to Naruto and checked his vital signs a little sigh of relief leaving her lips as she found all of them relatively normal. After a few moments of watching them, her gaze flickered outside. "There's no way of knowing how long they'll be out." She murmured. "I better get ready for the worst."

Sasuke watched his chest tightening as she set up several traps around their make shift shelter, making sure to check on he and Naruto as often as she could throughout the long lonely night. He watched as she totally exhausted herself and began to drift asleep when morning arrived.

"Sakura." He breathed. "I had no idea." He admitted his throat tightening when he watched her face down the sound ninja alone. He felt a brief but fierce pang of jealousy when Rock Lee swept in and protected her. The boy had once promised to protect her with his life, now here was proof that he had. Now he understood why he and his team had been there when he came too.

His blood had boiled when he'd seen the sound ninja woman grab Sakura by the hair, threatening to kill her and her teammates. His eyes widening when she drew a kunai and sliced through the hair that she loved, hair he knew she'd been growing out for him and attacked the enemy. Anger, sadness, and guilt washed over him as he watched her take the blow from several kunai as she attacked the one threatening her fallen comrades sinking her teeth into his arm and refusing to let go even as the man hit her repeatedly.

"No." he said to himself taking a step forward as she hissed in pain. "Is this what really happened?" he asked his hand extending as her blood dripped to the ground. "You faced this kind of horror all alone? Protecting us?" he hissed and slammed his fist against the nearest tree irritation flaring further when his hand went right through it. "Bastards." He hissed.

He watched as some of their classmates had come to her defense as well, nearly rolling his eyes as Ino tried to cover up her concern with petty cattiness. His eyes widened as he saw his former self rise from the ground covered marks from Orochimaru's curse mark, dark chakra swirling around him. Noticed when Sakura called his name her eyes bright with happiness that quickly faded to confusion and fear.

"Sakura, who did this to you?" he heard himself demand in a voice that was clearly darker than his normal tone. Watched as his former classmates and Lee's teammates scattered obviously afraid of him. When she didn't answer, he asked again. "Sakura, which one of these people did this to you?" he demanded.

When the culprit proudly confessed to his crime, he watched with a mix of surprise, shame, and a twinge of satisfaction as he snapped the arrogant punk's arms before whirling on his remaining teammate intent on pulverizing him as well.

He watched as Sakura rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him begging him to stop his anger induced rampage with tears in her eyes. He recognized the look instantly, she'd had it the day she'd come with Naruto to Orochimaru's hideout when he'd declared that he'd give his life to the Snake Sannin to get the power to defeat Itachi. He'd seen it again in The Land of Iron when he'd been moments away from killing Karin, and later that same day when Naruto and Kakashi had whisked her out of harm's way, which was out of his reach. That fear mingled with agony that made him question what he was doing, if only for a moment. His childhood self, not yet fully tainted by evil nor under the direct influence of selfish adults who wanted his power for themselves, immediately reacted to that look in her eyes and the marks receded as he came to his senses and collapsed next to her.

His head bowed as the scene moved forward, playing the parts that he could recall himself. "Sakura." He murmured softly. "Why couldn't I see it before?"

"I can see now why Naruto stuck so close to that girl." A voice said from beside him. "Even back then it was clear that she was far stronger than anyone gave her credit for."

He turned, his eyes widening as he came face to face with Itachi. His brother smiled at him, his eyes warm and bright like he remembered them from before their clan was destroyed years ago.

"Itachi. Why are you here?" he asked.

"I just came to check on my favorite though foolish little brother." The older man replied chuckling a little. "It seemed like this part of your life was on your mind and I was curious as well." He turned his head to focus on the pink haired girl who was asking a younger Sasuke how he was feeling. "So this is what happened shortly after Orochimaru branded you with that curse mark of his?"

Sasuke nodded. "I was out of it for a while." He explained. "I never knew what happened while Naruto and I were out. Now I do." He lowered his head a little smirk touching his lips. "She's never been weak."

Itachi glanced over at him. "It sounds like you're feeling a bit guilty to me."

The last Uchiha chuckled. "Guilty doesn't even cut it." He muttered. "That girl… I put her through so much."

"You did that to a lot of people." Itachi replied. "Naruto, Kak-"

"She didn't deserve it." Sasuke said quickly cutting his brother. "Kakashi was my teacher and became almost like a father to me, someone I felt I had to surpass. Naruto… He was my rival. We're the reincarnation of brothers that had battled one another for centuries. It made sense that we'd clash. He could take what threw at him and return it to me as well. Those two were always pushing me to excel and after I left, they still pushed me even while chasing me down to try to bring me back to the village." His hand balled into a fist. "Sakura, all she did was love me. Tried to save me and protect me and all I've done in return is hurt her." His jaw clenched. "Why she still loves me I'll never know."

"Love is a fickle thing." Itachi said watching as Ino and Sakura squabbled. "It comes in all shapes and sizes and manifests itself in many ways. That girl, I can tell just by looking at her that at the core of her feelings for you is the desire for you to be happy."

"I know." Sasuke replied softly.

"So, how do you feel about her?" The older of the brothers asked.

The ink haired young man's eyes widened and then lowered. "I…" he clenched his hand into a fist. This was a dream and he knew it. There was no one else here but himself and maybe his brother's soul after all. "I've always cared about her." He admitted. "She was my teammate after all. It was all but ingrained in my bones to protect her." He sighed. "Ever since that day on the battlefield though…"

"What day?" Itachi asked.

"When I decided to join up with the allied forces against Madara." He replied. "I wanted to take over The Leaf Village and decided to fight alongside them again. Team Seven was reunited and we rushed in with Naruto leading like the showoff he is." He smirked. "Just a few moments after the fighting really got started I noticed Naruto look back towards the others. Then, one of the monsters we were fighting came flying past us and Sakura chased it down." His smirk widened. "She destroyed it in one punch and cracked the earth like it was nothing but thin glass and sent tens of the monsters around it flying. Then she stood there looking back at us with her face full of fierce confidence and challenged us to keep up with her." He chuckled. "I realized then that the little girl there," he said motioning to little Sakura who was thanking Lee for coming to her rescue. "was all grown up. She looked so… desirable."

"It sounds like you feel more for this girl than you're letting on." The older Uchiha said with a smirk of his own.

Sasuke nodded. "I left the village for two years and recently, an imposter using my appearance was spotted causing trouble all over the world. Kakashi asked me to return to the village and I refused. I was halfway around the world after all and everyone that knew me was sure I wasn't the culprit. I figured it would just work itself out. Then I got a letter telling me that Sakura had been kidnaped by the ones behind the whole scheme and before I knew it, I was on my way back to The Leaf ready to burn the fools to ash."

Itachi sighed and patted his brother on the back. "Little brother, that's what's commonly known as love. The romantic kind at that."

The ink haired man blinked and shoved his brother. "What would you know about it?" he muttered.

"More than you." Itachi replied with a smile. "I might not have had the opportunity, or rather, never gave myself the opportunity, to fall in love but I've seen my fair share of relationships over the years."

Sasuke looked over at Sakura who was seated beside him and Naruto, the latter of which still loudly demanding she tell him what happened while he was unconscious. "Even if you're right, I don't deserve her." He said looking down at his hand. "How can someone like me even hope to make her happy?"

Itachi chuckled. "I'm fairly certain women are more than capable of deciding what and who makes them happy. Particularly spirited women like her. Even if you decided not to reciprocate her feelings, she'll keep loving you. You and I both know she's had every opportunity and excuse to walk away leaving you behind. She could have had her pick of just about anybody, including Naruto and still she chose you in spite of your shortcomings." He smiled. "Like me, Naruto, and our parents, we will always love you no matter what you choose to do."

The younger Uchiha brother looked over at his brother and smiled. "You're all a bunch of idiots." He muttered.

Itachi laughed and then sighed. "Looks like our time is up." He said.

Sasuke glanced around as the world began to fade. "I see."

Itachi moved closer to him. "Denying yourself happiness isn't going to make anyone else happy you know. You were saved. Go ahead and make the most of it, alright?" he said with a smile. He reached out and tapped Sasuke lightly in the middle of his forehead. "Until next time." He said with a grin before the world turned to white.

^%^

Sasuke opened his eyes and glanced around the room his eyes immediately focusing on Sakura who slept just feet away. He sat up quickly and moved to her side reaching out to check her temperature. His hand on her forehead reminded him that he'd kissed it the night before and he blushed snatching his hand away.

Her eyes fluttered open and she winced as she shifted. "Sasuke?" she called out tentatively.

"I'm here." He replied quickly moving into her line of sight. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

She cringed. "Like someone took a cheese grater to my back." She replied.

He snickered. "It probably looks that way." He admitted. "Do you want some more pain medicine?"

She nodded. "Yes please. We should probably send a message to Kakashi too."

Sasuke nodded as he went to her bag and pulled out a package and held it up for Sakura's approval. "Is this the right stuff?" he asked.

The medic nodded and he quickly poured a glass of water and mixed the powder with it. "Can you sit up?" he asked kneeling at her bedside. She nodded but winced as she propped herself up on her elbows. "Don't push it." He chastised as he held the cup to her lips and helped her drink. "You don't have to prove anything to me you know."

She blushed and glared at him across the top of the glass as she drank the medicine down. When the cup was emptied he helped her lay down again. "Thank you Sasuke." She said.

"Don't mention it." He replied moving to where their bags were stashed. "Is there anyone else you want to send a letter to besides Kakashi?" he asked as he pulled out a scroll of paper.

She shook her head. "No." she replied quickly. "My parents or Ino might send something back though."

He nodded and pulled out a brush and began to write a simple message explaining their location, their situation, and past travels up until the point they were at now. He glanced up when Sakura gasped.

"What is it?" he asked after discerning it wasn't anything threatening and returning to his writing.

"What am I wearing?" she demanded.

"One of my shirts." He answered in a matter of fact tone enjoying the blush the tinged her cheeks at that. "All of your clothes were too tight to wear with those bandages."

"Oh." She replied biting her lip a little. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome." He replied his eyes flickering to the Uchiha crest embroidered on the back of the garment as she turned away from him likely trying to get into a more comfortable position. To most it was a hated and tainted symbol, but to him it represented his family, their pride, and his own determination to never forget where he came from as he moved forward. Most feared and respected it but as he watched a pink lock slide over the emblem, he wondered if she'd bear it as well, if he asked. After all, Hinata bore the Uzumaki crest with pride now.

A little embarrassed by where his train of thought was going, he quickly finished up his message and carried the scroll and brush over to where Sakura lay. "Here." He said. "Go ahead and add anything you want."

She nodded and read through it quickly. She lifted the brush and wrote a few words of greeting before pushing it towards him again. He rolled it up, formed seals, bit his thumb and slammed it to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" he exclaimed. With a pop a hawk appeared next to his hand.

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Wow!" she breathed. "It's beautiful."

He chuckled at that. "Did you hear that Mitsuhide?" he asked the bird as he secured the scroll to the animal's back. The bird clicked it's beak in approval and hopped up to the window sill. "Take it to The Leaf." He instructed the raptor as he pushed the window open.

The bird squawked and then sored gracefully out the window. Deciding the fresh air might help Sakura feel better, he left it open and sat down beside her. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

The medic thought for a moment. "A little." She admitted. "Are you sure I shouldn't just release the seal?"

He shook his head. "We're not in a rush to get anywhere. This isn't an official mission or anything."

She sighed. "If you insist."

He nodded and glanced up as tapping sounded at the door. "Come in." he answered.

The old woman slid the door open a tray similar to the one she'd brought the night before in her hands. "How are you feeling Miss Sakura?" she asked.

"Much better." The medic replied turning towards the older woman. Her eyes lit up. "Mrs. Mamiya!" she exclaimed.

The woman smiled. "You remember me huh? You really must be in better shape then." She said kneeling beside her. "Would you mind stepping out for a few moments?" she asked Sasuke her mood clearly kinder than the night before.

"Sure." He replied. It wasn't like last night where he was worried and wary. They were safe for the moment and Sakura deserved some privacy.

"Thank you for helping me." The medic said with a smile. "How are Ken and Ren?" she asked as the old woman went to work changing the bandages on her torso.

"They're back to being the rowdy trouble makers they were before that man showed up." She replied with a smile. "They're quite the characters. Ken is always painting pictures and trying to make them come to life and Ren runs around yelling Rasengan at everyone he meets."

Sakura laughed. "Sounds like Sai and Naruto have a couple of fans here."

The old woman nodded. "Definitely. How are those two young men doing anyway?" she asked. "I was sure you'd end up with the blue eyed boy."

Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly. It wasn't the first time he'd heard something like that, nor would it be the last. Even so, it irritated him to hear it.

The medic shook her head. "Oh no." she said quickly. "Naruto and I are like siblings." She assured him. "In fact, he got married not too long ago."

"Is that so?" the old woman said a smile on her lips. "Well good for him! Who's the lucky girl?"

"Her name is Hinata." Sakura replied. "She's as sweet as sugar with a heart of gold. They're so cute together." She said with a grin that showed just how happy she was for her two friends.

Mrs. Mamiya smiled. "That's wonderful to hear." She said her hands glowing green as she pushed her healing chakra into the girl's body. "What about that handsome, young, painter? He seemed fond of you as well."

Sasuke sighed. It seemed Sakura had all kinds of suitors.

"He's still single at the moment, but I don't think that'll last for much longer." She replied. "My girlfriend Ino has really taken a liking to him and recently she decided to do something about it."

"I see. Do you think there will be wedding bells soon?" the old woman asked.

"I hope so." She replied. "They both deserve to be happy. He's a great guy underneath that foul mouth of his and she's really nice once you get past her cattiness." She chuckled.

"It sounds to me like the great war heroes are starting to settle down. It's about time too. All of you have earned happiness." Mrs. Mamiya said wiping the dried blood from her back.

"I think so too." Sakura said with a smile.

"What about you sweetie?" Mrs. Mamiya asked. "When are you going to settle down with a handsome man and enjoy the peace you fought for?"

The medic blinked her eyes widening before they softened. "I don't know." She replied. "I've been so busy since the war ended, I haven't really had time to think about that sort of thing."

The old woman chuckled and nudged her. "You're not fooling me." She said with a grin. "You've got your sights set on a man, I just know it. So what's the story?"

Sasuke leaned against the wall outside, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened. He was far more interested in her reply than he'd dare let on.

Sakura sighed. "I've love him for a long time." She confessed. "When we were kids, he experienced a horror no child should ever have to and it changed him forever. He became moody and cold after that but somehow that almost made me like him more. Even though I didn't have a clue about what had made him that way." She chuckled. "We ended up on the same team and I fell even harder for him. I saw all of the different sides of him besides the cool one I liked so much and I grew to care for him a lot." She sighed. "Many things happened after that and it seemed like every evil person in the world was after him. He started to change in reaction to that, their evil literally seeped into him. It was painful for him and painful for me to watch. I tried so hard to help and support him but, he wanted to do it alone and pushed me away. Before I really realized what was happening, he was gone. I tried so hard to convince him to stay with me or at least take me with him but he refused and left me alone."

"How terrible. It must have been hard for you." The old woman said sympathetically.

"Yeah. It was hard." She admitted. "I decided to become stronger so that I could find him and bring him back, but he had always been stronger than me and I couldn't do it." Sasuke heard her draw in a shaky breath. "It was awful to watch. To see the boy I'd loved so much turn into someone that I didn't recognize anymore. To watch as wicked people used him and fed him to the darkness in order to control him. Even so, I couldn't stop loving him."

"Love works that way sometimes. It's a force that has no rhyme or reason and binds so tightly." The old woman said. "What happened to him?"

"After causing a lot of trouble, he came back to help us defeat our enemy during the war." She replied. "We fought side by side again. I can't tell you how happy that made me. Even though I knew he didn't really care about me, just being able to stand by his side again, made me so happy."

Sasuke's jaw clenched. He did care about her, he always had. Sure he'd gotten a little lost along the way, but at the core of his being he'd never stopped caring for the girl with pink hair and green eyes.

"I feel like there's a 'but' coming." The old woman said.

Sakura chuckled. "Yeah. But then after saving the world he decided he wanted to take it over and challenged his best friend to a death match." She sighed. "Knowing there was no way in hell I'd let both of them do something so colossally stupid, he cast a nasty genjutsu on me to keep me from getting in the way."

"Of course." The woman replied with a sigh of her own. "He sounds self-centered to me."

The medic let out a bitter laugh. "Yes. He's a self-centered, manic, reckless, mega jerk who put me through Hell and tried to kill me on more than one occasion." Sasuke cringed. He'd never heard her talk about him like this. He deserved every word of course but still…"And yet I still love him so much it hurts." She said softly. "I can't help but love him. I want him to be happy more than anyone else in the world."

The old woman sniffed. "You are such a wonderful girl." She said softly. "I can tell how much you truly love this man. Chin up child, he'll come around eventually. Just hang in there."

"I hope you're right." She said. "Sorry for rambling so much. This kind of pain medicine always turns me into a chatter box if it doesn't knock me out right away."

Sasuke smirked at that. It was only thanks to the medicine that he'd heard her true feelings. There's no way she'd let them out otherwise. Not with him so close anyway. She likely didn't even sense his presence thanks to the medication's affects.

"It's alright dear. Tell me anything you want." Mrs. Mamiya assured her.

Sakura sighed. "You know, sometimes I want so scream at him and punch him right in that pretty face of his." She murmured her slurred speech clear that the medicine was working near its peak. "To shake him and tell him that he has the right to be happy and that he doesn't need to spend his entire life wandering to make up for what he did." She sighed. "I mean yeah, he messed up. Big time, but it wasn't like it was totally his fault. He was freaking cursed, twice even. It was obvious that he was being corrupted and used by other people." She hissed in pain.

"Sorry dearie, this one was the worst of them. Keep talking, it'll help." The woman said.

Sakura took a deep breath and then groaned. "We didn't save him so that he'd spend the rest of his life wandering around punishing himself. All we wanted was for him to come home where he'd be safe and happy, surrounded by people who care about him. Not because he's powerful or has those special eyes that everyone and their dog wants so badly, but because we like him for arrogant, moody, guy he is." She groaned. "Damn it. Stupid Sasuke. People call you a genius but you can't even figure that out."

The woman laughed. "That medicine really did loosen your tongue. You'd been so careful not to mention his name until now."

Sakura hissed and then sighed. "What the Hell." she muttered. "What do I care? It's not like it's a mystery. Almost everyone in the shinobi world knows how I feel about him. I guess I'm one of those girls doomed to be in an unrequited love for all eternity." She muttered her words so slurred Sasuke had to concentrate to understand what she was saying.

"Go to sleep girl." The woman said. "I'll bring you something good to eat in a little while alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks Mrs. Mamiya." Sakura said softly before her breathing evened out evidence she was sleeping.

The door slid open and Mrs. Mamiya smirked at the Uchiha. "Did you hear all that boy?" she asked.

"Obviously." He replied.

"Alright just checking." She said her smirk widening before she leaned forward. "Don't make her wait too long." She said before she turned and walked down the hall towards the stairs.

His nose wrinkled at her words before he walked back inside and closed the door behind him. A couple of apples sat near her and he studied them for a moment unpleasant memories of his younger self slapping a tray of them out of her hands surfacing in his mind. That blasted curse, it had warped everything he'd seen, even her honest attempts to care for and comfort him.

Frustrated by the swirling negative emotions and feeling a little suffocated after being stuck inside for so long, he walked out of the room, down the hall, and the flight of stairs to the lobby.

"Going somewhere?" Mrs. Mamiya asked.

"I need some air." He replied. "Will you look after Sakura for me?"

The old woman nodded. "Be careful. Ninja are generally distrusted here, except for Sakura and her team."

His brow twitched at that. He was a member of her team. An original member at that. With a sigh, he nodded and pulled his spare cloak over his shoulders and stepped outside. He took a deep breath enjoying the slightly damp air the approaching storm had brought into the village. With no specific destination or objective in mind, he walked quietly through the streets doing his best not to attract attention while getting a feel for the settlement. It was a fairly poor village with few brick and mortar business. Most commerce was done via street vendors. As he walked, a poster plastered to the fence caught his attention. In the middle was an image of Sakura dressed in her signature red and white, one glove on while she pulled the other on with her teeth winking at the camera. Next to her, stood Naruto wearing his signature grin, giving a thumbs up to the camera as he leaned back to back against the medic. Across the top of the poster in bold letters were the words. 'As voted by you! The Land of Fire's most popular Battle Couple from The Leaf!' He nearly hissed in irritation. He knew they'd been in the public eye more and had become famous. There were enough twittering fan girls and obsessed boys that hovered around his two best friends to make that obvious, but he'd never expected this level of ridiculousness.

"Is that him? Sasuke Uchiha?" a shrill voice exclaimed.

He sighed and his shoulders instinctively shifted forward at the sound. Fan girls were the bane of his existence more often than not. He wasn't stupid, he knew that to most of them he was just a prize to be won. The ultimate arm candy. The 'bad boy' of the new Sannin. That being said, he had absolutely no interest in that sort of shallow affection.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" the girl called out rushing up to him. She was average looking underneath her thick makeup with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He could tell from her clothing that she was upper class, likely the daughter of a business owner. From the way she stood with her arms linked together in front of her in a way that tried to amplify her chest volume leaning slightly forward and the half lidded eyes she was giving him, she was likely the type of girl that was used to every boy she looked at falling at her feet. Why men found shallow beauty so appealing didn't make sense to him. Then again, he'd only found one woman interesting and she was currently resting in bed, at least he hoped she was.

"Do you need something from me?" he asked not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice as he turned and walked back towards the street market.

"Wow! You're even more handsome in person." She swooned. "What brings you to this village?"

"I'm just passing through." He replied stopping when a flash of silver and red caught his attention. It was a red hair clip with a cherry blossom charm in silver attached to it. He immediately imagined it against Sakura's blush colored locks and picked it up. Giving her a gift was acceptable right? Besides, if he was going to start being more honest with his feelings for her, he had to start somewhere. He set the clip down and pulled the money out of his pocked. He passed it to the man running the little booth and who thanked him looking genuinely thankful, it was clear he appreciated the ninja's business. Sasuke's eyes widened when the girl next to him reached out and picked up the hair accessory.

"So pretty!" she exclaimed. "I knew you had good taste in women but you even have good taste in accessories too! Thank you so much!"

"It's not for you." He said snatching it out of her hands.

The girl's eyes widened. "But I thought…"

He ignored the pleading puppy dog look in her eyes and turned away intent on heading back to the inn. There was no reason to put off giving it to Sakura anyway. He'd just tell her that he noticed it when he went on a walk, thought she'd like it and bought it for her. No big deal.

"Wait up!" the girl exclaimed. "Who is it for?" she demanded tugging on his cloak.

"None of your business." He replied. "Let go of me."

The girl glared at him. "Do you have any idea who I am?" she demanded. "My relative is a Lord you know!"

"I don't care." He said.

The girl hissed. "I'm richer, prettier, and classier than she is!" she shouted.

Sasuke's brow twitched. "I don't care." He said again.

The girl stopped in the middle of the street her jaw dropped before she turned red and turned away. "Arrogant bastard." She muttered.

He nearly rolled his eyes. That was the most common insult hurled at him. He sensed her still following as he neared the door of the inn and pushed it open. The girl had hardly any chakra and he could tell from her thin build that she was physically weak. She was no threat to him nor Sakura even in her battered state. He wasn't worried. It she wanted to stalk him that was fine, he didn't care. It wasn't like he cared about what she thought of him. His eyes widened in surprise and then softened as he found Sakura seated in the lobby in a soft arm chair with two boys that looked to be around age eight or nine sitting at her feet.

"Are you serious!?" the shorter of the two boys exclaimed. "The ANBU showed up?"

She nodded. "They did. We were so close to seeing his face too. Just a few more inches and we would have seen Lord Hokage's entire face."

"Then what happened?" the second boy asked as Sasuke moved forward nodding to the medic who smiled back.

"Well, at that point we realized there was no way we'd be able to see it using such an indirect method. It was quite depressing. We had to stop for the night."

"No way!" the shorter boy exclaimed. "Did you give up?"

She snorted. "Of course not! Do you think Naruto or I would give up that easily?"

The taller boy shook his head. "Of course not!" he said. "So what did you do then?"

Sasuke leaned against the wall near Sakura his gaze fixated on her as she continued to tell the boys about the personal mission she, Naruto, and himself had dedicated to finding out what Kakashi's face really looked like under the mask he wore. He chuckled from time to time remembering how dramatic the whole ordeal had been. They'd even enlisted the help of the rest of the rookie nine to help out but alas, Team Guy had shown up and ruined everything. Just like all of their previous attempts, they'd walked away empty handed.

"That's it!?" the boys howled in unison.

"That's such a stupid ending!" the shorter one wailed tugging at his hair in frustration.

Sakura smiled. "You're telling me. We were so disappointed. Alas such is life." She said with a long suffering sigh. "Sometimes even when you try your best, you don't always get the results you want."

"Lame." The taller boy muttered. "So you still don't know what Lord Hokage's face looks like?"

The medic giggled. "I never said that." She replied with a wink.

Sasuke smirked as the boys gasped at her words.

"No way! You've seen it!?" the shorter boy exclaimed.

She nodded. "It was easier than I thought it would be." She said with a wink.

"So what does his face really look like under his mask?" the tall boy asked.

"Yeah! Tell us!" the shorter boy exclaimed.

She smiled. "Where's the fun in that?" she asked.

"Aww! Come on!" he whined.

Sakura chuckled. "Alright, I'll tell you this much. He doesn't have blimp lips, buck teeth, or a tiny mouth."

The boys studied her for a few moments before the taller one spoke. "You're not going to tell us any more than that are you?"

Sasuke smirked and stepped forward. "That's more than what I knew until a few moments ago." He said stopping next to Sakura going along with her story.

The boys turned their attention to him. "Who's this guy?" the shorter boy asked.

"Remember the third member of my team?" she said. "Our 'best man'? This is him."

"Oh! So you're Sasuke?" the taller boy said studying him. "He's not nearly as scary looking as I thought he'd be." He admitted.

"Yeah." The shorter boy said. "I thought that a guy that controlled snakes would look… I don't know… Scalier? Skinnier? I guess?"

Sakura chuckled and Sasuke shook his head. It was true that Orochimaru and Kabuto both looked the part of snake master better than he did. Turning his attention from the boys, he studied Sakura his eye flashing red as he quickly checked out her chakra network.

"You seem to be doing much better." He said as his eye shifted back to black.

She nodded. "Even though I can't heal myself in the way I normally would, I'm still able to use my chakra to speed up the healing process." She explained. "It's the same technique Lady Tsunade uses to keep herself looking so young."

"That's a useful skill." Sasuke said.

Sakura nodded. "It is. Between that and Mrs. Mamiya's care, I should be ready to hit the road again tomorrow."

"That's good to hear." He replied smiling at her. Seeing her up and moving around was much more satisfying than he expected it to be.

"So where did you take off to?" she asked. "When I woke up you were gone."

"Oh. I just needed to get some fresh air so I went for a walk." He replied. Taking a deep breath, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the hair clip. "Here." He said offering it to her. "This is for you."

She blushed prettily and her eyes widened as she reached out and took the accessory from his outstretched hand. "For me? Really?" she said studying it. "But why?"

"No reason." He replied irritated by the blush that tinged his own cheeks. "I just thought of you when I saw it." He lifted if from her palm and slipped it into her hair smiling at the way the silver charm shimmered against her soft, pink locks. "Just as I thought. It suits you."

She blushed even darker, the tips of her ears turning red. "Thank you so much Sasuke." She murmured softly offering him the sweetest, most heartfelt smile he'd ever seen.

He reached out and laid his hand on top of her head. "You're welcome." He said. "I'm really glad to see you doing so well."

She nodded. "Me too. I don't like sitting around doing nothing." She admitted. "I feel much better when I'm in the thick of things."

Sasuke nodded and then sat down in the wooden chair next to her. "So, when did you see at Kakashi's face?" he asked.

Sakura laughed. "Oh that. It was shortly after the war." She explained. "All of the veterans had to have full physicals to make sure their injuries where healing properly and that no lingering effects from any enemy jutsu remained." She explained. "Kakashi just happened to be one of the ninja assigned to me. Checking his nose and throat were part of the exam so I made him take the mask off." She explained.

"So…" Sasuke probed. He'd caught a glimpse of the famous copy ninja's face by peaking in her mind using his sharringan but he hadn't had a chance to figure out how she felt about it.

The pink haired ninja smirked. "So, I understand why he keeps that mask on all the time." She said. "No girl could resist that face."

The Uchiha's eyes widened. "Are you saying you think he's that good looking?" he asked.

"Oh yeah." She replied instantly. "Drop dead, gorgeous with a sexy mole on his chin. If a group of kunoichi ever attack the village, all we'll have to do is unmask Kakashi Sensei and I guarantee they'd stop in their tracks and probably pledge their undying loyalty to The Leaf."

Sasuke chuckled. "Well, now we know part of the reason why he wears it."

"Oh?" Sakura replied glancing at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Kakashi's a lot like me. He doesn't like dealing with annoying situations and nothing is more annoying than a horde of obsessed fangirls."

The pink haired ninja chuckled. "You do have a point there. He'd be late even more often than usual if that were the case."

Sasuke nodded. "Even so, would it really have been such a big deal to let us see it back then?" he muttered. "I mean, we were his students after all."

Sakura smirked. "I bet he had tons of fun jerking us around like that." She replied. "Besides, it was an excellent form of training if you stop and think about it. We had to problem solve and break out our best shadowing techniques. It even helped build our teamwork."

The Uchiha snickered. "That's true. We worked so hard together coming up with schemes to get that stupid thing off his face."

The medic nodded. "Yeah. Naruto and I used to joke that if Kakashi offered to show you what was under his mask, that you'd come back to the village."

Sasuke glanced over at her his eyes narrowing slightly at the little glimmer of pain in her eyes. If only it had been that simple, so much pain and suffering would have been avoided. After a few moments, he came up with a way to change the subject.

"So, I was wondering. How did you figure out what that guy was up to during our skirmish the other day?" he asked. "I didn't even notice the chakra strings until you moved to take those hits."

Sakura blinked. "Oh." She replied. "Well to be honest I've seemed to develop a hyper awareness when it comes to the puppet master jutsu particularly chakra strings." She said.

"Why is that?" Sasuke asked.

"You know that I fought Sasori of the Red Sand and defeated him right?" she said. He nodded. "Well, I actually fought him along with Lady Chiyo from the Sand Village. After assessing the situation we realized that I was the only person strong enough to break the puppet Sasori was hiding in, but I didn't have the battle experience against Sasori's special puppets to get to him without getting hit by his attacks. It wouldn't have been so bad except Sasori had developed a killer poison and coated all of his weaponry with it. One nick would have been enough to take me out of the battle and potentially kill me."

Sasuke nodded. "That sounds a lot like the way Orochimaru fights. Dirty and underhanded."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. So Lady Chiyo who had taught Sasori everything he knew and I came up with a plan to take him down." She looked over at Sasuke. "She turned me into her puppet."

His eyes widened at that. He'd heard that she'd defeated Sasori, but he'd never heard much in the way of details about their encounter. "You were her puppet?"

She nodded. "I'm sure you saw it during the war at least, where puppet masters use their chakra strings to yank their comrades out of danger. Lady Chiyo just took it a step further. I was still conscious and everything but she controlled my body with her chakra strings. We fought several rounds against Sasori that way. He had 298 puppets after all and was a member of the Akatsuki. Anyway, ever since that battle I seem to have become hyper sensitive to chakra strings. Probably a side effect of having them manipulate me so much under such intense circumstances."

Sasuke nodded. He was sure he'd become more attuned to the use of different jutsu particularly Naruto's Rasinshuriken from fighting with and against it so much. He was fairly certain he'd be able to pick up the sound of it from miles away, just like he knew Naruto was hyper sensitive to the sound of his Chidori. A thought occurred to him as his mind went back to Sakura's battle with Sasori.

"Sakura, how did you know how many puppets Sasori had?" he asked. "I remember seeing some of them in one of the Akatsuki's hide outs when I was a member and I joined after you killed him."

The medic blinked and scratched her face, a nervous habit of hers. "Well, it's really weird but when we faced off against Sasori he revealed that he used live humans to make his puppets. I think I told you before."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he remembered the faces of the two puppets he'd seen. They were a young man with black hair and an old man with light blue hair. He'd thought that they looked pretty lifelike but he'd never even considered the possibility that they'd once been living beings. "No way. That's twisted." He murmured he remembered her mentioning it recently. "Even so what does that have to do with you knowing how many puppets he had?"

She sighed and raked a hand through her hair. "Sasori said that he wanted to kill Lady Chiyo and I quickly so that he could turn us into puppets too. The two of us would bring the total in his collection to 300." The Uchiha felt a cold sweat slither across his skin at the thought. Sakura, a lifeless puppet used to do battle and who knows what else, manipulated by a puppeteer. The thought made him sick and angry at the same time. "Creepy right?" she said with a little shudder. "Good thing we won."

The weight of the three years he'd been away from the village came crashing down on him again. While he was off chasing his vendetta she'd nearly been killed and turned into a weapon. The girl that was so full of life and warmth, turned into a lifeless, cold doll. Without really thinking, he reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulders laying his head against her.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?" Sakura asked questioned reaching up to press her palm against the back of his neck likely checking his temperature.

"I'm glad that he didn't turn you into one of those things." He said quietly.

She blinked and then smiled patting his head affectionately. "Me too. He explained the basic gist of the process. It didn't sound pleasant at all." She chuckled. "The way he said it was like he was expecting us to feel honored that he was going to turn us into one of his 'works of art'."

Sasuke leaned away and shook his head. Incredible, she'd faced down one of the Akatsuki and was able to laugh about it now. She was much stronger than people gave her credit for. "They were all a bunch of fanatics in one way or another. Sasori sounds like he was as obsessed with 'art' as Deidera."

Sakura nodded. "That guy pisses me off." She admitted. "When we walked into that cave to save Gaara, he was sitting on his corpse." Her hands balled into fists.

The Uchiha sighed. "That sounds just like him." He admitted.

"I heard you defeated him around the same time we were looking for you after you killed Orochimaru. We even went to the battlefield where that explosion took place." She said. "How did that battle go? Naruto couldn't even take him down."

Sasuke sighed. "I'm not surprised Naruto couldn't defeat him. I only won because my lightning style was able to neutralize his earth style detonating clay." He said. "Without that and my sharringan, I definitely would have died. Even then I still had to pull a dirty trick to survive that battle."

"Some sort of transportation jutsu right?" Sakura said. "We figured that out after observing the blast site."

He nodded. "I summoned Manda and used him as shield." He admitted. "I actually ended up killing him. Orochimaru is still angry at me for that I'm sure."

Sakura chuckled. "I can imagine. Lady Katsuyu told me about that snake. She said he was nasty, arrogant, and rude but very formidable in battle."

Sasuke nodded. "It was the only thing I could think of."

The pink haired medic nodded. "I know. You don't like killing anything if you can help it."

His eyes softened as he looked over at her. She knew him so well.

"So, do you want to hear about how Team Azuma and Team Kakashi beat the Immortal Duo of the Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakazu?" she asked with a smile.

He nodded. "We can talk about it over lunch." He said extending a hand to her. "Do you feel up to going out?"

Sakura nodded. "Sure, I don't even mind if it's ramen." She said with a wink as she used his hand to stand.

Sasuke smirked. "Even so, let's not. I saw a BBQ place near the village entrance. Let's go there."

The medic nodded as they walked towards the door but stopped when the girl from the market place jumped out and glared at her. "I'm not giving up!" she declared.

"Giving up?" Sakura replied her brow knitting in confusion. "On what?"

"Sasuke is mine you dirty tramp!" she snarled.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously while Sakura sighed.

"Do you know this girl Sasuke?" she asked.

He shook his head. "She's been following me since she spotted me on the street."

"Oh, one of those." Sakura said with a sympathetic nod of her head. He nodded and the pair of seasoned shinobi walked right past her. "So the reason Team 10 went after them in the first place was because Azuma sensei was killed by them during an operation to keep them from coming after Naruto."

Sasuke nodded. "Their tailed best hunt was in full swing at that point if I remember right."

"Don't ignore me!" the girl shrieked.

The two shinobi didn't even glance back as they walked down the street without a second look totally focused on one another.