Thank you lots for your reviews! Love them! Love you! Chapter 6 has been updated. I think there is aLOT of hints of Sasuke x Sakura. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto.

Chapter 6

Sakura ran blindly in the dimness of the forest, her heart pounding so hard that she thought it would burst. It was getting dark already, making it harder to see. She pushed away the scratchy branches as she made her way quickly as she could. Her senses were on high alert and every single sound whether it be an animal or just the wind, it triggered a blaring mental alarm in the jounin's mind.

Temperature dropped ten more degrees, chilling Sakura's skin beneath the thin silk shirt and pants. Her only weapon of defense was the kunai that she stole from one of the guards she knocked out. Her breath was vaporized in white clouds with each exhale and her fingers were numb.

She felt a compressed chakra behind her, a definite first sign that the person was not a friend. The medic nin was partially shaking from the cold and the fear. Her hands gripped the metal weapon desperately as she tried to get past a stubborn pair of bushes. The other ninja behind her felt closer.

"Arg!" She screamed as she whirled around, using her momentum to stab the kunai into a body part. It was knocked away and she followed with punch to the face. It made a direct contact. Sakura didn't hesitate. She didn't want to stay and fight too long. The noise would attract attention. Dashing to the opposite of her still unseen enemy, her hands flowed easily into hand seals of ram, horse, tiger, horse, tiger, and bird to summon a technique that Tsunade had taught her a year ago: Satsugaite no Jutsu, the Killing Hands technique (1). Perfect chakra control, she repeated in her mind. Pale pink chakra swirled at her palms. She launched off a tree straight at the enemy who faced her head on.

Sakura's deadly hands grazed an arm and chest. It was dark and she could hardly see, but the kunoichi knew that her last attack hurt. She was about to strike again, this time to finish it off, but her adversary struck first. By the shadowy outline of the figure it was a man and he kicked her armed hands, breaking her constant flow of chakra to them. Distracted for a split second, Sakura now found herself pinned to the ground, with her attacker holding both of her wrists down with his shins trapping her legs down so that she couldn't hit him below the belt.

Even in the darkness she saw the same Sharingan eyes, and her thoughts swam dizzily from the fear she felt now. Itachi…Without realizing it, she snapped her head up and bashed her head with the nose of the man that currently held her down, causing him to stumble back in surprise. Sakura was trying to get oxygen to her lungs as she felt terror conquer her body. She weakly crawled to where she saw a glint of metallic on the ground and picked up the kunai again.

Holding it to his face, Sakura shakily stood on her feet, her breathing labored and her hands tired. "I'll kill you now." But her words were not even considered by the other ninja when he whipped out another kunai from his pouch and equally stood with her, while criminal and ANBU debated what to do in their heads.

Clouds swept past and the moon shone brightly on their clearing. The soft white light illuminated her pink hair and pale skin, as her green eyes stared lifelessly at her captor once more.

"Sakura?" The voice whispered, almost fearfully.

The Konoha ANBU member's mind somehow registered that it was not Itachi. Her eyes became focused again from their blind rage mixed with fear and they stared into the face of Uchiha Sasuke.

The first emotion that the Uchiha saw flash in her eyes was longing but that disappeared and one of anger replaced it. Sakura was determined not to cry. In fact, she was so determined that she couldn't speak.

"I heard you were with Itachi." He said being careful that his voice was void of any emotions.

"I was." She replied calmly as she could and without stuttering. Sakura tried to steady her heart.

"You're ANBU now?" He didn't mean it as a question. Those Sharingan eyes noticed the Konoha ANBU tattoo on her right upper arm.

"I've earned my place." She said with her eyes narrowing, quickly angered by his statement that questioned her place in the ANBU squad.

Sasuke was still holding the kunai at her and she at him, but he still had no intention of dropping it. She was strong, stronger than he'd ever thought she could be, and that jutsu she had performed had almost been fatal. He was angry at himself that he didn't even recognize her or that she had not recognized him. It annoyed him.

The reunion with him and Sakura…it was different than what he imagined. He had always pictured himself standing and she was at his feet, kneeling and begging. But this was not so. Now she was standing on the cold ground in nothing but a silk shirt and pants, her face now smeared with dirt and fresh scratches from branches. And this Sakura was not begging, but angry and ready to fight him if necessary.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" He asked coldly.

"Taking a stroll." She said softly, her eyes traveling to the weapon in his hand.

"You look tired." He stated.

"As do you."

"Where is Itachi?"

"I don't know."

Sasuke's eyes flashed. He stooped quickly and grabbed her wrist painfully. "Tell me, Sakura."

Her eyes met him squarely and they hardened. "I can't tell you information I don't know."

"You know, Sakura. I know you know."

His dark bangs brushed against her face and he straightened up to his full height. Sakura couldn't help but watch his face.

They still held the boyish look from long ago but it became more angular than she last remembered it being. His eyes were spinning red and his fine eyebrows arched gracefully above them. Sasuke was officially a good head taller than her, and his build filled out to his stature very nicely. His attire consisted of a simple black mesh shirt under a light, black sweater of sorts with sleeves cropped off to have them reach the middle of his upper arms. On back of the sweater bore the Uchiha symbol, a red and white fan right side up. He wore steel forearm protectors and a gray weapon pouch on his right thigh strapped over his dark pants. By the look of his face that was marred by light cuts, she could tell he had gotten in a fight before hers. Even his breathing was abnormally heavy.

But Sakura couldn't bring herself to ask nor care because she was just simple too tired.

"Go to sleep, Sakura." He said, making it sound more like a command. But she took it as the best piece of advice she had ever heard. Grasping her sole weapon in her hand, she laid down to sleep.

Sasuke couldn't believe that this was the Sakura that he saw two years ago. But she mostly looked the same with her unforgettable pink hair, her face soft and perfectly oval. Her lips were a shade darker than her hair with a redder hue and she possessed a small, lithe figure that was excellent for fast travel and agility. Her hands weren't those soft ones he recalled five years ago, but rather calloused and rough, though they weren't disfigured by the hard calluses. Sakura was dozing off, not trusting herself to fall asleep completely. It was strangely…admirable to see her as a true ninja.

He massaged his aching arm and chest that were slowly bleeding from her Killing Hands jutsu. Damn, he thought, where did she learn that jutsu? Even a graze like that hurt madly. It felt like his skin was painfully being eaten away slowly. Sasuke remained calm as he pulled up his arm sleeve to examine the wound. His seemed as if an acid was burning away his skin layers. It hurt like hell. Sitting down on a stump of a tree, on the far side of where Sakura was sleeping, he searched his weapon pouch for a knife. Finding it, he eyed the lesion before probing it with the sharp point of his knife. He let out a sudden hiss at the furious pain it ignited and it felt like it had been set on fire by his strongest Katon.

"Here," a quiet voice said beside him. His head snapped up to meet Sakura's tired face. His eyes followed her movements as she knelt down beside him. Placing her hands on his chest and his arm, she hesitated when he flinched and glared at her hands suspiciously. Sasuke relaxed when he felt there was no hostility in her chakra and calmly sat, his body language giving her permission to continue.

The pink-haired jounin quickly and flawlessly formed the seals of bird, tiger, horse, tiger, horse, and ram and formed a small ball of healing chakra in her hands of the Chiyute no jutsu (2). It was quite hard to reverse the Satsugaite but with enough concentration and focusing on mending it, it could be done. After ten minutes of working to heal his damaged chest and arm, she could feel sweat trickle down her forehead. She wiped it away by shrugging her shoulder and rubbing the perspiration off. Taking a deep breath, Sakura steadied herself and reengaged her work.

Sasuke saw that she was really intent on fixing him back up. He could almost smirk at the irony. She was the one that gave him the wounds and now she was healing them. But he couldn't deny that she was efficient. He had watched other medical shinobi before, but Sakura was truly remarkable.

"Who trained you, Sakura?" He inquired carefully.

She did not answer, but instead concentrated harder on what she was doing. In another minute, the cell destruction stopped along with his pain. There was a silence when the pair did not speak. Suddenly she said, "Tsunade-sama." Her tone was in the same cautious manner as before.

The Uchiha was caught off guard. He had never known that she had been trained by the Hokage herself. But it would explain her increased chakra reserves and her skills. He nodded in understanding and grasped the formerly injured arm gently, but the arm felt as good as new.

"Let the arm rest for twenty four hours before you train it again. Your muscle tissue is still trying to heal." Sakura got up from her knees but Sasuke caught her wrist before she could turn around without receiving his gratitude. She let her gaze fall at his feet.

"Thank you." It was said so softly, his voice deep, rich velvet, but the ANBU jounin found herself smiling tearfully at those words.

"I remember," she started slowly, still not meeting his eyes but looking at the ground, "when you said that before you left." Sakura threw her head up at the starry sky, and chuckled without any humor. "It all seems like an eternity ago. It was all you could say before you left Konoha."

The missing-nin merely remained silent. "I don't remember that." He drawled thoughtfully. Sakura felt a slight sting of pain inside. "I remember you standing there in the moonlight. I remember you telling me that you'd rather go with me than stay at the village alone. I remember when you said you…loved me." He said the last part almost inaudibly. He looked up to meet her eyes.

"I…" She trailed off. There were no words to be said.

"I know you don't have a place inside there for me anymore, Sakura. I already know." He said, a smirk escaping as he closed his eyes and turned his face away.

Do you, Sasuke? No, you know nothing because I still have a place for you…forever. She thought as she stared at his handsome face. When Sasuke opened his eyes again, they were not red anymore; however, they were black as night and they gazed at a tree behind her. The hand that was holding her wrist loosened and slid down to grasp her hand gently. All movement stopped there. A breeze swept past, caressing their cold bodies.

Sakura was looking at him, but he did not look at her. Sasuke's smirk lightened up a bit into a smile that barely existed. But it was there. She could tell. His body was slouched resignedly while sitting on his stump and his free arm was resting on his knee.

"Do you have any other injuries…Sasuke?" The medic nin asked.

"No," he replied easily, "just get some rest. I'll keep watch."

Sakura's leaf green eyes flashed challengingly. "I can keep watch, too. Wake me up in thirty minutes. You need to catch up on your sleep."

An eyebrow was raised questioningly. "Oh? And how would you know?"

Her eyes now glinted like she knew something that he didn't. "First, your body says it all. Second, your chakra is traveling slower than usual, signaling that you're exhausted. Third, your wound didn't heal as fast as I expected it to. This means that your immune system isn't as active due to sever sleep deprivation. Lastly, you just…seem tired." She gave him a small, genuine smile.

Sakura shivered slightly as her body came in contact with the hard, cold ground. It was highly uncomfortable, but she was in no position to complain. She still kept her kunai with her and she supported her head by her arm. As exhaustion swept over her, her heavy eyelids closed and she drifted off to sleep.

Uchiha Sasuke noticed very quickly how much she was quivering from the cold. He figured that the wind brought in more cold. In fact, he was freezing himself. Survival technique one: stay warm. Rubbing his arms to keep his circulation going, he exhaled, watching his breath escape in white clouds. He glanced down at the sleeping woman near him and sleep seemed like such a brilliant idea just about then. Sighing and giving up a part of his dignity, Sasuke went over to Sakura and placed himself back to back with her. Perhaps this way, he could keep warmer.

In two seconds, he was out like a light.

Neji had his Byakugan activated and surveyed the area around them. Tenten was still sleeping off her exhaustion from the day before wrapped in a blanket. Lee was doing several taijutsu drills, keeping his body warm. The Hyuuga itched to train, but Tenten seemed like she wasn't going to move for awhile. Not that he minded…

Suddenly, the weapon expert stirred, her chocolate eyes fluttering open. "Neji?"

He smirked. "You're awake?"

Tenten's face creased into a frown. "What does it look like, genius?"

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

She rubbed her eyes. "Like I got run over by a stamped of bison."

Lee saw them talking and he went to join them. "Tenten, you're finally awake. I can almost see you burning back alive with the flames of youth!" He stopped and gazed at her and then looked away.

The kunoichi sat up quickly. "Sakura? What has happened to Sakura?"

"No word yet." Lee whispered painfully. Tenten had never seen him so helpless in her life. Her stomach felt like it dropped into an abyss.

"What have we decided to do?"

"Shikamaru is working out a plan." Neji replied.

"Sasuke was really angry. He's out there looking for Sakura too." She said, her eyes cast to the ground. Neji took her hand reassuringly.

"Haruno will be fine."

"I hope so, Neji."

The three of them grew silent and Neji watched the woman in front of him carefully. Her face was drawn in distraught, obviously bothered.

"Tenten, she'll be alright." He whispered kindly into her ear. The woman wrapped the blanket around her tighter even though she was warm enough with Neji embracing her. His arms were firmly set about her, making her feel secure and comforted.

Itachi sat in his empty room, gazing at the folded futon in the corner of the room. His eyes were hard and angry. But his cool exterior gave away nothing. His robe gently swished as he got up to his feet and evenly threw two shuriken to his right and embedding them a painful centimeter from Kisame's head.

"I told you that girl couldn't be trusted. She knows where we are quartered. She's going to bring her entire ANBU team here." The shark man hissed.

Itachi looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "No," he responded softly, "it's not what she's here for. Rather, Sakura-san and her friends appear to be planning something other than that. Truly, Konoha ANBU aren't that stupid."

The Uchiha's companion smirked idly and patted the large sword strapped on his back. "We can hope, Itachi."

"Perhaps, Kisame, but for now, I would like to find Sakura-san again." He swept out of the room gracefully with Kisame trailing behind. Itachi nodded at the guards outside a steel door. It was opened for him to enter.

"Itachi-sama…please, spare us…we won't fail you next time." A raspy voice belonging to a hanging body begged.

The two guards that were knocked unconscious by Sakura were hanging by their hands tied with fraying ropes. They were both stripped to the waist, bloody gashes decorating them sickeningly, and they were groaning softly. Their eyes rolled to the back of their heads, showing the bloodshot white area.

Itachi indifferently gazed at them. "Of course…because there won't be a next time, I'm afraid." He turned around, their pleas falling on deaf ears. The Sharingan eyes briefly met the narrow ones of Kisame.

The doors closed while two tortured screams floated through it and Kisame's laughter echoed down the hallway, but it was all the same to Itachi: unimportant.

Stepping out in the night, he disappeared in search of the cherry blossom that was scattered by the wind.

Author's Notes:

(1)- Satsugaite no Jutsu, the Killing Hands technique is basically what it is. A small ball of killer chakra is summoned and it deteriorates cells of the enemy that is touched by it. My reference is I made up the hand seals for it, but if you want to see more, just go there.

(2)- Chiyute no Jutsu, the Healing Hands technique is also self explanatory. It is the exact opposite of the above technique thus the opposite order of the hand seals that I made up.

Well, chapter 6 at your service! I hope you liked it! Lots of Sasuke x Sakura at the request of many reviewers. Speaking of reviews, thank you so much for them! You all bring joy to my life! --;; That's so…cheesy, but as you all know, I get emotional when I'm happy. Thank you all!