Chapter Five

Sakura had never been this angry with Kakashi before, not even that time he had made her show up for training at four in the morning to prepare for the Chuunin exam the second time, and hadn't bothered to show up until almost nine – and had the nerve to say he'd overslept.

Kakashi supposed he deserved her anger. He had followed her team in secret, promising himself he would not appear unless the situation warranted it. He had been impressed by the way Neji and Lee had teamed up together, but Sasuke wasn't an ordinary shinobi. Kakashi had felt it right to end it there before things went too far.

Now, however, he was sort of wishing that he held off a bit longer. Lee and Neji seemed to have had the situation under control, but the feeling that Sasuke had once been his student and in some ways still was, had caused him to act.

"Does Tsunade know you're here?" Sakura demanded to know.

"Ah…well, she planned on sending me and Gai on a separate mission, but when I found out what she was asking of you, I asked to be removed from it."

"I see."

"Sakura, retrieving Sasuke is a Jounin level mission at the least and Tsunade knows that. Even the ANBU have had difficulties tracking his movements," Kakashi tried to reason with her.

"So what you're saying is you thought I would be incapable of handling this mission – that I would fail. You, being the caring sensei you are, thought you'd follow along to make sure I didn't screw up," she snapped, her voice shaking with hurt and anger. Hurt because even after the years of grueling training and proving her worth as a Chuunin, Kakashi still doubted her abilities.

"I deserved that," Kakashi said, letting his shoulders sag. "It's my own fault you would think I believe in you so little." He put his hands in the pockets of his Jounin uniform pants and looked her in the eye. "Sakura, I wish I could take credit for the person you've become, but I can't. I wasn't a good sensei. I spent so much time training Sasuke and worrying about Naruto that I didn't pay enough attention to you. I didn't encourage you the way a teacher should encourage their student. The time you've spent training under Tsunade has made me realize that. She's made more of an impression on you then I ever could have, especially these last few years because I've been away so much. I've never doubted your skills or who you are for a second." He looked away from her before saying, "I'm proud of you."

When she looked up after hearing those words, he had already vanished from the room.

It was after midnight when Sakura approached the guards who had been posted outside Sasuke's room. She had undressed for bed, but found she was unable to close her eyes long enough to even attempt sleep. That was when she decided put her Chuunin uniform back on and confront one of the reasons she was sleepless in the first place.

"The Uchiha's not allowed any visitors," one of the Sand shinobi guarding the room informed her.

Sakura was sure that order had come from Kakashi. "I'm not here to visit. I have orders to bring him back to Konoha. I want him to know he's coming with us." She shot both guards her most threatening look, something she had borrowed from Tsunade after having spent so much time with the Hokage. It was one of the few times that look didn't work and she was forced to resort to other measures.

Sakura closed her eyes and placed a hand on each of the guards chests. By that point, any reaction on their part was pointless. She had slowed their heartbeats enough that their bodies would be tricked into falling asleep – something she had learned from Tsunade.

Sakura didn't know how much time she would have before someone showed up to relieve the guards, so after a brief hesitating moment, she pushed open the door to the room.

It was dark inside, save for the moonlight that poured in through the drawn curtains. He was sitting slumped in a chair in the corner closest to the window.

After everything she had gone through to get in there, now she wasn't sure why she had wanted to see him in the first place.

"Are you just going to stand there?" His voice startled her.

She had no reason to be startled by his voice, he was the only other occupant of the room after all, but it felt strange to hear him speak to her after all this time. She remembered the last words he had spoken to her before leaving –thank you. At the time, she thought those words had meant he would stay, that everything she had said was enough for him – that she was enough for him. She had been a fool to think that.

"I can't go back with you to Konoha," he said after some time had passed. "I don't belong there now any more than I did before."

She wondered why he hadn't broken out of the room yet. "What have you done since you left?" She questioned.

"Nothing important," was his distant answer.

"It was so important for you to leave and yet you've done nothing except run away!" she cried.

"I told you I could never walk the same path as you or Naruto. It's your own fault if you can't accept that."

"Why do you cover your face like that?" She asked, walking further into the room.

When he didn't answer, she took it upon herself to find out. She kneeled down in front of him and reached for the hood. Her hand had moved no more than a centimeter when he grabbed her wrist. His head was lowered so she wouldn't see his face, and the grip on her wrist was painful. Instead of fighting it, she used her free hand to push the hood back.

She emitted a low gasp and he released his grip on her.

"It doesn't disappear anymore, does it?"

He stared back at her but wouldn't answer.

The curse seal covered his entire face. She wondered what he had involved himself in that it failed to recede when he wasn't using chakra.

"You let Orochimaru do that to you?"

"Sakura," he started, saying her name for the first time, "there are some things you can't understand."

"That's not an answer," she said back to him.

"If you want to believe I betrayed Konoha's secrets to Orochimaru, you're free to do so."

That wasn't much of an explanation, but Sasuke had never been big on words. Even when she had hated him for leaving, she never wanted to think he would so openly betray Leaf Village and everyone in it to fulfill his destiny as an avenger. After seeing how he had allowed the curse seal to spread throughout his body, she wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"I don't know what to believe because you won't tell me anything." Taking a different approach, she said, "why did you attack those Sand ninjas out in the desert?" A part of her thought their might be some hope left of getting the old Sasuke back if he had gone out there to rescue them.

"Because I was there," he replied simply.

Empty silence filled the room now. She should have known that after being gone for so long, nothing about him would change. He was still cold and distant, but unlike back then she knew there was nothing she could say, nothing she could offer to make him stay. She wasn't even sure she wanted him back in Konoha, but she swallowed her own feelings. Tsunade had given her orders and she intended to follow them, even if no one thought she was capable of it.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as she moved her hands towards the curse seal on his neck, but he made no move to stop her. She almost laughed at the irony of it. He was the one person who seemed to trust her.

She let her hand hover just above the mark, before closing her eyes and whispering, "I'm sorry."

She closed her palm over the curse seal…

Ten months earlier…

Sakura sat in Tsunade's office, waiting for her daily training to begin. Since it was Friday, they would probably make their way to the Konoha hospital, where Tsunade would allow her to work on some of the less critically injured ones.

"We won't be stopping by the hospital today," Tsunade informed her then.

"Why not?" She said, disappointed.

"Because there's one other aspect of healing I have yet to show you."

Sakura's disappointment turned into curiousity now and Tsunade picked up on that.

"Don't get too excited because this is something you will rarely ever use," the Hokage said to her. "Up until now, we have only focused on the physical aspect of healing – things that you can see – broken bones, open wounds, and torn muscles to name a few. Psychological healing is on a whole other level. It can be extremely dangerous and most shinobi who have ever been gifted at healing have been reluctant to teach it."

"Why?" Sakura asked, intrigued. "If it could save a person's life or rid them of any psychological damage, why wouldn't they use it?"

"It involves invading the the neurons in the brain. One little mistake and you could cripple someone for life or cause other forms of permanent damage. Not to mention, this puts an enormous amount of strain on the medic nin performing it. It requires much more concentration than the healing that one normally does. There are only a few successfully recorded cases on record."

"If you don't think I should ever use it, then why are you telling me about it?" Sakura asked the Hokage.

Tsunade lowered her head. "During times of war there have been shinobi who were emotionally traumatized but carried information vital to the side they were serving. Medic nin's would attempt to heal them in order to retrieve the information. So, you see there are important reasons for it to be used."

"Have you ever performed this on anyone?"

Tsunade hesitated before answering. "Yes."

Sakura couldn't bring herself to ask if Tsunade's reluctant answer had anything to do with the fact that it didn't work.

"There's also another side to this," Tsunade said a moment later. "While the sole purpose of our time together has been to train you as a medic nin, so that you may prevent loss of life on missions, you must also learn that healing can be your most powerful weapon."

Sakura's head snapped up at hearing this. Healing as a weapon? She didn't understand.

"Sakura, your healing abilities have grown so rapidly I feel it is necessary to show you the other side of your gift. Because what we do requires us to have chakra control of the highest level, it makes it a deadly weapon as well. If you can control the chakra flow to repair broken blood vessels, you can also use it to make them explode or destroy internal organs. It can make the person feel terrible pain or even induce the brain to make the person relive the worst moments of their life – something a shinobi will have plenty of. If needed, it can be used to kill in an instant. As it requires you to touch the other person, it is only a close combat technique, and is therefore best used for undercover missions.

"This is not something you can learn by testing your powers on an animal or a human. I would not permit that and I know you wouldn't do it. It is strictly for use in real life combat situations only.

"As for the mental aspect of healing I explained to you earlier, psychological healing is difficult to control under the best of circumstances. It's not to be used on your friends or anyone else. I forbid you from using it unless it is the only choice left."

Present…

Her mentor's warnings and trepidations rang loudly in her ears, but Sakura had already made her choice.

She didn't think the pain was going to be like this, but she didn't stop. The chakra leaked out from her open palm and in to Sasuke's body. Moments after Sasuke lost consciousness, she passed out as well.