Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto as always... (cry)

I ownerz my original characters (grin) i still haven't come up with the dark dude's name yet hehehe...(s-drop)

Lady Rine: I'm so sorry that my chapters are getting shorter... it's hard to keep writting chapters and uploading as fast as i can.

Which had pretty much been like every day...

anywho. i update fast because it buggs me when you read such a an interesting story and you have to wait for the next bit and it takes sooo looooooooooooooooooooooooong! it's one of my biggest pet peeves.

like waiting for the naruto manga to come out at the end of the week! SOOO LOOOOOOOOOONG!

so yah...

yay you guys got a taste of the lemon to come...

BHAHAHAHAH! i'm not spoiling anything (grin)

anywho yeah here's another chapter:

YAY! i know you SasuSaku fan will (heart) this one.

A/N: do you guys reallydislike Jin that much?


Act 19: Mission Escort (Part 7) – Easier said than done.

"We've been here for two days now and nothing…" Naruto became aggravated. He wanted to go home… he wanted to get home to his bride to be.

"Relax… I don't think they'd attack without the red-head." Jin said actually sounding remotely intelligent. "Sakura did some damage on him. He'll take a few days to heal, and even to recruit more men."

"Heh, you actually sound logical for once." Sasuke scoffed.

"Where is Sakura-chan anyway?" Naruto asked realizing that this meeting only consisted of the males.

--

Sakura sat silently on the railing outside the main house. Her back leaned against a pillar, one long perfect leg swung over the rail and dangled perfectly like the locks of her pastel hair. The other was bent, she was crouched over, her arms crossed and resting on her bent knee, her head rested on her crossed arms and jaded orbs watched the slow steady current of the water beneath. She was thinking again. Thinking about random things.

Her dream brought back memories and issues that she had thought she had buried a long time ago. For instance… why didn't Itachi kill her? Sakura knew that going after Itachi was suicide and yet he had let her live. He let her kill him.

"I don't kill innocent people." She remembered him say.

"I'm not an innocent person anymore…" She mumbled to herself. "I'm cold and independent, and I do nothing but break people's hearts." She thought of Tsunande whom treated her like a daughter and she had repaid her by jumping on the first opportunity out of Konoha. She thought of Kakashi who she promised she wouldn't change for anything. She thought of her girlfriends whom she said absolutely nothing to before leaving. She thought of Naruto who did everything for her, and she just kept rejecting him. And Jin who she asked to wait because she couldn't come to terms with herself. And of Sasuke… who had broken her heart so many times and she had taken away his ambition of killing his brother.

"I cause so much trouble…"

"You're weak!" the phrase just seemed to pop into her mind.

"I am weak…" She sniffed. "I don't deserve to be here… I don't deserve to live."

"You are different from us Sakura-chan… But you can't avoid your destiny. You're a Haruno! YOU'RE NOT A NINJA!" The mighty words of her grandfather. A man she admired, but had the same mind set of her mother. When he told her that, she felt like she had betrayed her family.

"Did I make the right choice?" She wondered.

Time stood still for her… a breeze flew by her and her hair swayed in the wind, tickling her exposed back because she was wearing a white halter that day.

"Why did I become a ninja again?" Her thoughts trailed back to when she was a just a kid. A small blonde little girl ran up to her…

"NEH NEH! SAKURA! I'm going to be a ninja! What are you going to do?"

"Eh? I don't know Ino… I want to be a ninja too!" She said trying not to be left behind.

"Are you just saying that!" Ino teased.

"NO! IT'S MY DREAM!" She yelled back.

"That's why… 'It's my dream'…" She closed her eyes and a lone tear trickled down her face. For some reason she felt like she was living a lie. "Why choose a dream?"

"Because you can share it with someone." His words echoed in her mind.

Sasuke appeared in her mind.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Go away!"

"Sasuke-kun?"

"You're annoying!"

"Sasuke-kun?"

"YOU'RE WEAK!"

"Sasuke-kun?"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!"

"I love you…"

"Thank you…"

"I had a dream once… but that died when he started hating me."

"Sasuke cares about you Sakura! Don't you see!" Ino's blue concerned eyes could see right through her.

"When is he going to stop playing games with me!" She squeezed her head trying to get rid of the thoughts and memories that were occupying it. "When can I let him go!"

"Sakura?"

"Eh!" She looked up startled. She hopped she wasn't talking to loud to herself. She was surprised to see him.

"We were looking for you."

No response, she looked at him blankly.

"May I join you?" Sasuke stood by her, his back leaning against the same pillar, but he stood.

"Whatever…" She replied. Looking back at the water beneath her.

Silence…

It felt like an eternity.

"Say something!" Sasuke scolded himself.

"Ehh… Sakura?"

"What?"

"…" He hadn't thought that far.

"What is it Sasuke?"

"Umm… do you hate me?" It slipped out. "WHAT THE FUCK AM I THINKING?"

She was shocked at the question. And remained silent. "He thinks I hate him?"

"Do you hate me Sasuke?" She shot the same question back at him.

"She thinks I hate her?" Sasuke was caught off guard.

"Why would I?"

"Because…" She didn't want to say it, but it's what she thought. "Because I killed Itachi…" She lowered her voice to almost a whisper.

He was silent. "She did kill him… Not me… Sakura killed him…"

"No…" He replied.

"Eh?"

"No… I don't hate you because you killed my brother when I couldn't." His tone was so mono and unemotional that she couldn't tell what he was feeling. "It took me a while to get over it…" He confessed. He didn't care it was out of character… there was a reason he went looking for her and he wasn't going to punk out. "But I'm over it… And I don't hate you."

"I see…" She hadn't even looked at him yet.

Silence again.

"I don't' hate you Sasuke…"

"Aa…"

Silence… (Cue crickets…. Tee hee!)

"Sasuke…"

"Aa?"

"Why did you leave all those years ago?"

He paused. "Shit…" He didn't know how to answer that without giving away his feelings about her. And he just admitted it to himself last night.

"I was mad at myself."

"Oh…" She clenched her fingers "Typical Sasuke… it's all about him."

"Why do you ask?"

She couldn't hold back anymore… she wanted to yell at him for breaking her heart yet again. She wanted to yell at him for leading her on. She wanted to yell at him for making her waist all of this time chasing a dream that would never come true when she could have just said yes to Jin. That's it… she had made up her mind, she was going to accept Jin's proposal.

"I just needed to know."

"…?" He was puzzled.

"Neh Sasuke…"

"Yeah?"

"Will you…" She paused, there was no turning back now. "Will you walk me down the aisle on my wedding day?"

"What?"

"I'm going to accept Jin's proposal..."

"WHAT!" Sasuke was stunned. "WHY!"

"Because he loves me…"

"Don't marry him Sakura." This angered her.

"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHO I CAN OR CANNOT MARRY!" She said jumping off the railing and pinning him against the pillar. He grabbed her wrists calmly he could see the tears forming in her eyes. She wouldn't let them fall.

"Sakura just trust me… don't marry him…"

"WHY NOT!"

"DO YOU EVEN LOVE HIM!"

She paused. "Don't cry! Don't cry! Don't cry!"

"yes…" She whispered looking down.

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. She started trembling.

"Do… Do you really mean that?" He asked mentally scolding himself.

She didn't answer for a long time.

"Yes…" Eyes still down.

"No you don't."

She became angry again.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW!" She screamed at him.

"BECAUSE YOU HESITATED!" He grabbed her shoulders. The tables turned, Sakura was now the one pinned against the pillar. A few tears broke through her barrier and trailed down her face. "SAKURA LOOK AT ME."

"No…"

"LOOK AT ME!"

"NO!"

"SAKURA LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE HIM!"

"NO!"

"WHY NOT!"

"BECAUSE!" She became weak in the knees. And more tears flowed down her cheeks. Sasuke loosened his grip on her and she slid down to the wooden floor. He knelt down in front of her.

"Sakura…" He whispered regretting what he had done.

"I can't…"

"You can't what?"

"I can't look you in the eyes and tell you that I love him…" She said sobbing.

"…" He looked upon her. She wasn't cold… she wasn't distant. It was like it should have been 5 years ago. He touched her face. Whipping her hot tears away with his thumbs.

"Why were you going to say yes?"

"Because he's the only one that loves me that way…"

"That's not true…" This was it… he was going to tell her… no turning back now.

"Oh no? Sure it is…" She looked up at him. She studied his face. Simple and handsome with sharp features. She wanted to touch him, but she couldn't. She didn't want to chase an unreachable dream.

It was automatic. He was drawn to her eyes. Those beautiful big emerald eyes. Sasuke gazed into him and saw in her the one thing he wanted the most…

Happiness.

She was drawn to his eyes. Those deep dark mysterious eyes. They weren't cold as she thought it would have been, instead they were welcoming and warm even loving. As she peered into him she saw what she wanted the most but felt could never have…

Happiness.

"Sakura…" He leaned in.

Her eyes started to close slowly as the heat of his breath cam closer.

His lips brushed against hers slightly. He paused.

Her lips parted slightly inviting him.

She leaned in more.

Their lips met, and locked together.

She enjoyed every second of it.

He enjoyed every second of it.

Reluctantly they drifted slowly apart.

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Sakura…"

Her eyes opened slowly… green eyes meeting black ones.

"I love you."


to ashwings101: I don't know how i do it... i just do it? I don't know... i guess it's because people are asking for more. (grin!)

Saki-16: teasing you guys is sooooooooooooooooo much fun (evil grin) muahahahahaha!

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYONE!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

(heart) always.

Lady Rine