Author's Notes: Oh my goodness… talk about a lag in updating! I'm afraid to say that it may be this way for a while longer; school is really biting at me. As much as I love Sasuke and Sakura, they do have to take a backseat to my schooling. But fear not, I do plan on finishing this story. I still have pre-planned scenes that need to develop! Thank you everyone who has stuck by and patiently awaited the new installment. IMPORTANT NOTICE: I have lost contact with my original beta, Only Secret. I've been scouring around for a new one. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Brandeis1 beta read this chapter for me. I hope it's still up to your expectations.

Sacrifice: Wilted Blossom of Spring

Chapter 8: Self Eviction

"Sakura-chan did what?" Naruto screamed, his face falling into a familiar shock-induced expression. "She loves being a ninja!"

His only exposed eye showing his own disappointment, Kakashi attempted to reason with him. "Not anymore, it seems."

"This isn't like Sakura."

Turning to face his other former pupil, Kakashi tried to dig through Sasuke's well developed ice wall. Those were the first words he'd spoken since the letter had been handed to Naruto to be read aloud ten minutes earlier. The noise that erupted from Naruto was deafening in and of itself, but Sasuke was unusually quiet. It was normal for him to spout his distaste or disgust at Sakura's weakness or lack of will, but he hadn't made a single stab at the girl.

"I'm sure Sakura has her reasons for resigning from being a kunoichi." Kakashi reasoned.

"Why didn't she tell us first, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto demanded, his voice raising an octave in his rage.

He sighed and shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Naruto slammed a fist into the closest tree he could find. "I'm going to talk to her! Sakura-chan has never been a quitter, she's worked so hard to get where she is now, why would she suddenly…"

"I'll talk to her." Sasuke stated out of the blue, pushing himself off the oak he'd been leaning against. "You're not calm enough, dobe."

"Sasuke-teme, you'll just make her feel bad!"

Kakashi watched the daggers flying from Sasuke's eyes in Naruto's direction. "Maybe it's better for Sasuke to talk to her, Naruto."

"She needs to be talked out of this!" he whined. "He's just going to convince her it's a good thing she quit!"

"That's why she didn't tell us, she didn't want you to change her mind. Haven't you ever noticed how she hates your noble speeches?" Sasuke stated.

With those words, he departed from the training field, hopping from limb to limb in the direction of Sakura's apartment.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto began. "Do you think this is because she was raped?"

He sighed, acknowledging that Naruto had guessed the same as he had.

"It's hard hiding this from Sasuke-teme."

Kakashi turned toward the direction Sasuke was traveling. "He'll find out soon enough, Naruto."

Sakura turned around in her room, a large cloth bag in her hands. Books, scrolls, kunai, needles, and other things were sprawled about, almost laughing at her. She started tossing her old ninja attire into the bag, shoving them deep down in a fit of rage. The decision she made was the correct one; now all she had to do was erase the links to her kunoichi past. Everything she'd documented through her years as a ninja found itself placed in her bag.

Walking across her room to the oak desk, she pulled open a drawer. Inside were photographs from Team Seven and others she had snapped of her friends; she tossed them into the rough burlap. Each picture both contradicted and supported her decision. One by one they fluttered atop the clothes and books, until she finally shut the drawer and headed toward another.

A few more books and scrolls fell out, along with a Konoha headband. Sakura stopped and lifted it up, her finger running across the deeply etched scratch across Konoha's insignia. It's was Sasuke's; Naruto gave it to her before he left to train with Jiraiya as a promise that they would train to find him. When she tried to return it to him, Sasuke had pushed it back toward her and said he'd just get a new one. He'd wanted a fresh start, and that included a new headband.

Even now she didn't understand why she hadn't just thrown it away.

"Sakura…"

She turned toward her balcony, where Sasuke stood against the opened sliding glass door. They stared at each other for a while, contemplating who would make the next move; in the end it was Sasuke. Stepping inside the room, he lifted the headband in her hands and dropped it into her bag. Sakura withheld the urge to pull it back out.

"You quit."

It was a simple statement, two words long with no real meaning other than a single failure. Sasuke always had a way of saying the smallest sentences that hurt Sakura the most; this was one of them. She smiled a little and turned her head toward the floor, distracting herself with the other things she needed to throw away. It was best to let his belittling be over before she spoke.

"Why?" he questioned.

Shocked that he had asked, Sakura stopped her movements and drew her hand back toward her chest. Now wasn't the time to tell him the truth; she needed to come up with a reason he'd accept.

She smiled again, and with her eyes closed, she said, "It's like you always said Sasuke… all I did was get in the way."

"It never stopped you before… that's why I respected you, the same way I respect Naruto." Sasuke stated. "I know that's not the reason you resigned."

"I don't want to talk about it. You should be happy; it's just one less person to hold you back."

Sakura walked past him and closed the window, then stepped toward her bed to shove the remaining things into the burlap and hefted it over her shoulder. Sasuke remained next to the desk, watching her movements and mannerisms. It was unsettling and caused her to twitch nervously.

"Hesitation… giving up… unnecessary self endangerment… nervousness… you haven't been yourself Sakura."

"I grew up and stopped playing in fairy tales. I'm not a heroine… I should stop trying."

He glowered. "Everyone has noticed this. Everyone else knows something I don't… what happened to you?"

She dropped the bag, her eyes going directly toward the floor and her arms around her body. Fighting to hold in her tears, Sakura sat herself down on the bed and started shaking. The fight within her body to keep herself composed was a lost cause; it was now or never. She'd have to relive her nightmare once again.

"I don't want to tell you, Sasuke."

Wringing her hands together, Sakura fought over if she should wait for his response or if she should simply tell him. Her eyes flew across the wooden planks of her floor, taking in details that didn't register in her mind. The thumping of her heart was louder than her thoughts and pulsated through her ears at a deafening tone. Pretty soon her breathing became erratic.

Sasuke watched, one eyebrow rising in question. This was not the Sakura he knew, and as much as his mind recoiled, he was a bit worried when her hands went to her head and tugged on her lipstick hair. Her eyes shined with the tears she held back.

"I… Sasuke… I was raped."

Konoha's streets were unusually cold that night. It irritated Sasuke to no end… enough that he had destroyed anything he felt was out of place on his steady trek home. As angry as he was, he actually wanted to cry. It had been so long since salt stung his eyes; he'd learned how to withstand pain and betrayal without a show of emotion, but when it came to someone important to him, it was different. He remembered crying on two other occasions- when his family died, and the day he thought he'd killed Naruto. Luckily for him, it rained both times. Tonight he was not as lucky.

"I… Sasuke… I was raped."

His heart stopped. Raped? Without realizing it, he'd allowed his eyes to grow into saucers and stare blankly toward Sakura. She turned away and began staring toward the floor again.

Sakura sniffled a bit. "It was the night of our first Jounin mission."

"How…? You were with Kakashi… Naruto and I… we would have heard you scream, Sakura! Why didn't you scream?" he responded, unconsciously reacting in a confused manner.

"It was my fault. I'd taken an unnecessary risk… and in the battle, managed to fall on my own poison needle and paralyzed myself. Kakashi had left me in order help you and Naruto… and I was told that if I complied, he would let you all live." Sakura smirked, her tears flowing freely. "Stupid of me to believe you were actually in danger and needed my help. This is the life of a kunoichi… and I'm not fit for it."

His mind was reeling… all the things he'd said about Sakura since that night, all the times he'd told her she was weak… he regretted them now. She wasn't weak… she wasn't a failure. Sakura was nothing he'd painted her to be in his mind. She allowed herself to be tainted in order to protect her comrades—that was more than he was willing to do.

"I'm sorry Sasuke… I can no longer be a ninja of Konoha." She stated.

Turning toward the burlap bag, Sasuke pulled out his scratched headband. He fingered it, watching the gleam on it change as he switched its position. Despite the years he had known Sakura and their friendship, he found it hard to look at her or get any closer to her.

"Kakashi-sensei saw the end of it… he knew. I'm sure he's told Naruto by now."

"Sakura…"

She turned to look at him; she was ashamed, but she'd hit rock bottom. There was no reason to hide from him anymore. Much to her surprise, he handed his forehead protector back to her, scratched side facing her so her reflection was separated into two pieces. His hand lingered above it for a moment as if he was afraid to move too fast.

He sighed. "You are stronger than I am. You kept trying… where I would have run away. There is no reason for you to resign."

Fisting his palm together, he stuck it into a fence. Why had Tsunade sent Sakura in? With a risk like that… if he'd only known, maybe it would have been prevented. He hated the feelings reverberating inside of him. Why was he feeling like a failure for not protecting Sakura better? She was hurt many times and he'd felt no shame before. Something in her face and posture triggered strange emotions.

It was pointless to hold it in any more. Sasuke started crying.

"Dammit!"

"Yo, Sasuke-teme! Did you talk to Sakura-chan yet?" Naruto asked, smiling as he came down the road. "I hope you didn't upse…"

A fist landed in his face, sending Naruto spiraling backward to catch his balance. Holding a hand above his nose, he looked directly at Sasuke with malice in his eyes. His expression softened when he saw the tears falling from his eyes.

"Oi… what has you all worked up?" he questioned. "It's not every day I see you cry."

Sasuke glared. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Naruto questioned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why didn't you tell me what happened to Sakura?"

"Oh… that. Kakashi-sensei said he wanted Sakura to tell you herself. We weren't sure how you'd react to the news… I haven't seen her since he told me. It sure explains a lot, huh?" he responded, his eyes dropping toward the cobblestones. "I never thought you'd cry over it."

Sasuke growled and took a hold of Naruto by his jacket collar. "Do you have any idea what that does to a person? Sakura will never be the same again!"

"Yes Sasuke, I know!" Naruto glared back. "I didn't trust you going to see her because I know how you are! I was waiting to hear you'd only made her feel worse by belittling her, or telling her she was weak!"

"I didn't say anything, dobe!"

Naruto stared. "You didn't say a thing?"

"What was I supposed to say, idiot?" he growled, finally letting Naruto go. "I don't know what's wrong with me right now."

"Well… if it makes you feel better… I cried too, when I found out."

Sasuke turned, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'd usually tell you to go away, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to go off on my own… you know, in case the curse seal starts reacting."

Naruto nodded. He knew what Sasuke meant… but of course, he'd never say it out loud. They needed to figure out a way to help Sakura, and neither one of them could do it on their own.

Author's Notes: Wow, this finally done. Sorry it too so long guys! Remember to read and review, you hear? Love ya all! Thanks for all the reviews too… they make me smile.

Love and hugs—

Crystal Renee