Tsunade stared down at the young woman lying in the hospital in front of her. When Tsunade saw her stirring, she wasn't sure whether to break into a grin or wear the glowering look she normally reserved for Jiraiya.
Sakura's eyes squinted open and eventually landed on Tsunade.
"Tsunade?" She blinked in confusion. "Where am I?"
"Konoha hospital. You've been unconscious for a week."
"A week?" Sakura cried and bolted up in bed. She instantly regretted doing so when the feeling of a kunai stabbing through her skull made her clutch the sides of her head in pain.
"I would have woken you up but I wasn't sure what kind of damage you had inflicted on yourself."
Sakura tried to avoid the reproachful gaze of her teacher without success.
"You recklessly endangered your own life," Tsunade reprimanded. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about completing the mission you gave me," she answered.
Tsunade decided to borrow the glower she saved for Jiraiya and use it on Sakura. "At the expense of your original mission? You were unconscious and therefore unable to escort the Kazekage to Konoha. You forced your teammates to divide their attention between looking after you and their assigned duty. You made yourself a burden for your team."
Sakura looked down at the covers on her bed. "I didn't think about that," she said in a low voice.
"There's still the matter of the technique you used on Sasuke."
Sakura wondered if there was any way the pain in her head would become unbearable enough that she would lose consciousness. Physical pain would be nothing compared to the punishment Tsunade would give her for what she had done.
"I don't know what possessed you to think you could close the curse seal Orochimaru put on his body, but it was beyond foolish. If Kakashi was unsuccessful at permanently sealing it, what makes you think you would be able to?" Tsunade sighed and her voice had softened somewhat when she spoke next. "Nevertheless, the curse seal seems to be dormant for the moment. I've examined Sasuke's body closely, and there's something different about his chakra flow."
"Different how?"
"I'm not sure yet. It's the chakra closest to the brain that seems to be affected. I won't know until I examine it further, which isn't possible at the moment."
Sakura looked at her expectantly for an answer. She didn't know why the Hokage was hesitating.
"Sasuke regained consciousness a few days ago. Once he did, I ordered him to be placed in ANBU custody. I want to believe that Sasuke has done nothing to jeopardize Konoha, but I cannot in good conscience as Hokage, let him roam free until he's been questioned. After that, I'm not quite sure what to do with him."
Sakura agreed that Tsunade had no other choice but to let the ANBU take him. But there was no telling how long he could be in ANBU custody.
"Once you're released from here and the doctors clear you for active duty, you'll be on guard duty for two weeks."
Sakura groaned. There was no worse job then patrolling the Hokage palace at night. It was an assignment generally reserved for inexperienced Chuunins or those ninja that were listed as being on 'light duty'. It was more of a ceremonial job then anything. Nothing ever happened. It was a slap in the face that Tsunade was assigning her such a menial task.
"Perhaps you would prefer I suspend you from active duty altogether," Tsunade said based on Sakura's response. "You disobeyed a direct order I gave you not to use your healing powers as a weapon except in combat situations," said Tsunade, growing angry once again. "Fortunately, the Sand's Kazekage is holding no grudge over your actions that rendered two of his shinobi unconscious."
Sakura didn't complain about her guard duties anymore. She knew she should be facing much steeper punishment for her actions. However, the fact that Tsunade looked severely disappointed in her was punishment enough.
"Oh, and I've arranged with Iruka-Sensei for you to act as a substitute for my medic nin class as the Academy," Tsunade added. I will find myself very busy with the Sand treaty so I thought it best to give them someone who won't have so many responsibilities for the next little while."
Though teaching at the Academy wouldn't be so bad, Sakura highly doubted Tsunade would be so tied up with the negotiations she couldn't take three hours out of her time two days a week to conduct medic-nin training.
"Now that we've sorted through that, perhaps a visitor might cheer you up," said Tsunade, moving towards the door.
Sakura wasn't so sure about that. After having been scolded by Tsunade and then being given temporary guard detail, there was little that could cheer her up – except for the tall, spiky, blonde-haired young man Tsunade brought into the room with her.
"Naruto!" She cried out in surprise.
He hugged her tightly and Sakura winced.
"Hey! Naruto, be careful," Tsunade scolded.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, wearing a sheepish grin as he released her.
She took a good look at him, seeing how much he had grown in the more than two years they'd been apart. He was much taller now and his hair was longer. Despite how his facial features had matured, the stupid grin he wore on his face made him look like the boy that had once been the bane of her existence.
"When did you get back?" She asked him.
"Just yesterday. We would have been back sooner but Ero-Senin made us stop at a spa on the way," he said annoyed. "But I heard Sasuke is back," he said, quickly changing subjects. "No one would tell me anything more than that. They kept saying I didn't have clearance or whatever. Even Granny Tsunade wouldn't tell me a thing," he said, jabbing an angry finger at the Hokage.
Sakura had forgotten that he was still just a Genin. He had left with Jiraiya before getting another chance at the Chuunin exam.
Sakura looked at Tsunade and the older woman nodded, silently giving her permission to tell him. It would be the only way to get Naruto to stop badgering her for information. Tsunade had refrained from slugging him so far, but there was only so much she could take. It looked like his time spent with Jiraiya had done nothing to stop his over-excited nature.
"I need to check in with Shizune at my office," Tsunade said to the two teens. "Sakura, I'll have one of the doctors check on your later."
She wasn't done reprimanding the rosette haired young woman, but she understood better than most what is like to have the people you were close to go away. Naruto and Sakura had a lot of catching up to do.
"So… Sasuke finally came back?" Said Naruto, sitting on her bed when Tsunade had left.
"It's not like that," she said to him. She told him all up her mission to the Sand, including Tsunade's separate instructions to her beforehand and about running into Sasuke. She told him she had used a technique she had learned from Tsunade on Sasuke, but she didn't go into details. Naruto would probably react in much the same way Tsunade had – and she had enough lecturing for one day.
"What is ANBU going to do with him?" He asked curiously.
Sakura shrugged. "They'll want to know where he's been, who he's been in contact with. They'll want to know if his actions have placed Konoha in danger."
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a smile. "Sasuke may be an idiot but he's no traitor."
She gave him a small smile in return. "I believe that too, Naruto."
"I promise everything will be better now," he said, his expression resolute.
"I will definitely bring back Sasuke! That's the promise of a lifetime!"
Those words still rang clearly in her head. She had believed him then and even if it hadn't come true, she knew he had done everything possible to keep his promise. He would have to try just as hard this time.
Sakura ignored the knocking sound on her door. It was probably her mother, and if she didn't answer she just would assume she was asleep.
The knocking seized but the door to her room crept open.
"Sakura, I know you're not sleeping."
Sakura groaned and rolled onto her back. Her mother couldn't even follow the simple request that she didn't want to see anyone. "Go away, Ino."
Ino regarded the rosette haired girl lying on her bed. "You were released from the hospital two days ago and you're still sulking?"
"I'm not sulking!" Sakura exclaimed, sitting up.
Ino snorted. "Could have fooled me."
"What do you want?" The sooner she figured out what her friend wanted the sooner she could get rid of her and yes, the sooner she could get back to sulking.
Ino dropped down onto the bed, causing the other girl to glare. "Well, you know that it's customary for us to have lunch together whenever one of us comes back from a mission – and I know you were recovering and everything," she babbled on, "but you can't stay locked up in here forever."
Want to bet on that? Sakura thought.
Ino didn't think she should bring up the mission to the Sand yet. If she was going to convince Sakura to leave the house, it was best not to mention that just yet. "Look, I'm meeting Shikamaru and Chouji, and you're coming even if I have to take control of your body and walk it down there myself," the blonde girl said stubbornly. "You should see if Naruto wants to come along. That guy would never turn down food."
Sakura realized she had no choice but to cave and agreed to go with Ino. But first she needed to make herself at least decently presentable. She changed into something that didn't look like she'd been lying around in it all day and threw her hair up into a quick bun she offer wore for early morning training sessions.
She left with Ino ten minutes later, her mother not saying a word as she walked out of the house.
Ino had been right about Naruto not turning down food – not like Sakura had any doubts to begin with. As soon as they stepped in the pub he left to take care of their orders.
While they grabbed a table off to the side, Sakura said to Ino after looking around, "I thought Shikamaru and Chouji were meeting us here?"
Ino sat down saying, "what a surprise, they're late. I don't even know how Shikamaru became a Jounin in the first place. Oh, wait I know," she said, pretending to think it over, "because Tsunade made him."
Sakura cracked her first real smile since Naruto had visited her in the hospital. She knew that despite Ino's words she had a great affection towards her teammate.
Ino glanced over her shoulder to where Naruto was placing their orders at the counter. "Naruto sure has gotten cute, don't you think?"
All Sakura could do was roll her eyes. "Don't you think there should be some shinobi in the village that you haven't dated?"
Ino went through boyfriends faster than Lee could run laps around the village. She had even dated Kiba for a short time. If Sasuke and Naruto hadn't left she would have dated them too. Well, that probably wasn't exactly true. Sasuke had never shown an interest in either one of them, and together she and Ino had made a pact to move on and forget about him. Their friendship had grown stronger because of it and Ino was happy to date anyone who caught her eye at that particular moment in time. For Sakura, at almost sixteen she was still waiting to have her first date.
"Oh, come on, I was kidding," said Ino with a laugh. "Besides I haven't dated everyone. There's Shino, Shikamaru, Lee," she said, ticking off the names on her fingers, "but Lee's too hung up on you to even notice anyone else. And there's Neji," she said, ending her short list. "I always thought he was wound a bit tight, but he's kind of gorgeous."
"Ino, you're hopeless," Sakura said with a shake of her head.
"You must have noticed, you train with him all the time and you're always going away on missions."
Sakura would admit – and only to herself – that there was a possibility Neji was good-looking but she was definitely not attracted to him. "We're teammates, that's all. I'm not sure if I could say the same about you and Shikamaru," Sakura said with a knowing look.
"Oh, please," Ino said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "What a lazy bum. He's too busy with that Sand shinobi anyways."
Sakura thought she detected a hint of jealousy in her friend's voice. "Who, Temari?" When Ino nodded, she said, "you think there might be something going on between them?"
Ino shrugged. "Tsunade's always pairing them together to plan out missions, but I doubt it's anything more than that. Temari always looks like she wants to kill Shikamaru when I see them together."
"Who wants to kill me?" Said Shikamaru slouching into a chair beside Ino.
"No one," Ino answered. "Took you long enough to get here," she scolded him.
"You only told us to meet you here for lunch, you didn't say what time."
"Where's the food?" Choji asked
"Naruto's getting it," Sakura told him.
Choji scoffed. "I'll make sure he's getting enough," he said and walked off.
"So how are you feeling, Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, earning himself a smack in the arm from Ino. He shot her a look. "What was that for?"
Ino sent a glare his way. She was trying to avoid talking about Sakura's mission, but Shikamaru in his insensitive and ignorant way had ruined that. But now that he had brought up the subject, it had given her the opening she had been looking for.
"You know, Sakura, it's not the first mission you've had go badly," Ino started off slowly. "You're also not the only ninja to ever screw up."
Sakura frowned. "You will get to the part where you're going to make me feel better at some point, right?
"The point is look at Shikamaru, he screwed up his first mission as a Chuunin leader. He almost got Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Naruto killed and he failed his mission to bring Sasuke back – "
"Hey, Ino, you really need to stop telling that story every time you're trying to make someone feel better," Shikamaru cut in, sounding embarrassed.
Ino ignored him. "Sakura, it wasn't a complete disaster. You brought Sasuke back."
Sakura had yet to tell anyone of the technique she had used on Sasuke to try and close the curse seal on his body.
"How long will ANBU hold him?" Ino asked Shikamaru.
"It depends," he began with a shrug. "If he tells him what they want to hear they may release him. If they're not satisfied with his answers they could hold him indefinitely."
That wasn't the answer Ino had been hoping for. That news wouldn't make Sakura feel any better. "He saved you from those Sand ninja, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but I don't think that was his intention."
"If they release him, that probably means he'll stay."
Sakura knew her friend was trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't working. "It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care about Sasuke."
Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably. Geez… why do they have to have these girl talks when I'm around? He just hoped Chouji and Naruto would hurry up and come back with the food.
"Sakura," a new voice said.
The trio turned their heads to see Neji standing beside their table.
"Can I speak with you a moment?" The white-eyed young man asked looking only at Sakura.
Sakura nodded and stood up, though inner Sakura was screaming for her take what was left of her dignity and run out of there. She hadn't spoken to Neji since returning and she had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say to her.
"Sakura-chan, where are you going?" Naruto asked, bringing Chouji and their ordered food to the table.
"I just need to talk with Neji and I'll be back," she said to him.
Naruto gave both her and Neji a puzzled look, wanting to know what they had to talk about that couldn't be said in front of everyone else.
Neji led Sakura over to a more quiet area of the restaurant, which wasn't much better than where they had been since it was the lunch hour rush.
"Have you been cleared to return to duty?" Neji asked her.
"Y – yes," she stuttered, taken aback by his question. "Tsunade has me on guard duty though, starting tonight for the next two weeks."
Even without the aid of the Byakugan he could tell she was caught off guard by the question. She had obviously been expecting him to criticize her about her actions during the Sand mission. He would never believe that he was the right person to tell her the team wanted her back and one mishap wouldn't change their view of her. Tenten had thought otherwise, however, and had cornered him into the situation he was currently in.
"Neji, she needs to hear from you that we're not holding a grudge or anything for her not telling us about Sasuke, and doing whatever it was that she did that knocked them both unconscious," Tenten said to him.
"I think she would rather hear that from you or Lee," was Neji's curt reply.
"That wouldn't work because Lee and I are already close to her. It's your opinion that matters to her right now. Lee, help me out here." She turned a pleading look on their friend sitting close by.
Lee gave a quick nod of his head. "I agree with Tenten. Sakura-san needs someone that normally wouldn't side with her. It would make the gesture more meaningful."
Neji had still disagreed to their plan. He didn't think Sakura would care one way or another what he thought. She never had in the past. More to the point, no one forced Hyuuga Neji to do anything – except Tenten. She was the only person who would dare do it and more times than not he couldn't refuse her anything. She was closer to him than anyone, but he didn't let that on. It was no one else's business to know his personal life.
He spoke again before the silence could stretch too long. "Tomorrow we'll be training at our usual spot in the morning."
"I'll be there," she said, the sound of a promise ringing in her voice.
She glanced at her table momentarily to see everyone eating and talking happily. She turned back to ask Neji if he wanted to join them, but he was already gone.
Why does everyone keep doing that? she thought in annoyance.
Guard duty turned out to be exactly what Sakura had been dreading. Her shift had just began and she was already anxious for it to end. It was the dead of night and herself along with twelve other Chuunins patrolled the Hokage building in their assigned areas. In times of war, Chuunins or Jounins would patrol in teams of two. In peace times, like they were now, the duty was more honourary than anything else. She wasn't likely to see much action this way, which frustrated her to no end. She had already been off for more than a week, how was she to make sure her skills and reflexes didn't go soft? Especially in instances like this when someone managed to sneak up on her. However, Sakura refrained from letting her surprise show and simply ignored that person altogether.
"Ah, Sakura, you're not still mad at me, are you?" Kakashi said, chuckling nervously.
"No," Sakura answered after a short pause and stopped walking.
Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile. "That's good to know."
"Did Tsunade send you to see how I was enjoying my duty?"
"Actually, no," he replied. "I wanted to tell you that ANBU has recommended to Tsunade that Sasuke not be released."
"What's going to happen now?"
Her sensei shrugged. "Sasuke hasn't been doing anything to help his situation since he hasn't answered any of ANBU's questions regarding Orochimaru or what he's been up to all this time."
That news did not surprise Sakura in the slightest. She didn't expect Sasuke cooperate with ANBU, even if it meant they wouldn't release him. "Is that why we brought him back? So he could be interrogated and held indefinitely? How does that help Sasuke or Konoha?"
"Sakura, every mission has a purpose," Kakashi said her. He didn't want to raise any false hopes by saying there was still a chance for Sasuke to get back on the right path. That is, if he wasn't too far gone already.