Hey wassup! I've been very busy with school lately and I've decided to finish this fic (Dont worry it's not gonna be very long) and then write the last chapter of 'One To Remember'. Yes, most of my fics are coming to a close. Well anyways, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: NARUTO IS NOT MINE. -sobs-

Chapter 3: What Happened?

What had happened? First, Sasuke was cheery and happy, and the next, he's strangling Sakura and jumping away in darkness. Sakura walked home alone. She was holding in her tears, for she didn't want to be seen as the little helpless and emotional Sakura she was 10 years ago.

"Hey. You all right?" Sakura recognized the voice as Shikamaru's. He had walked up next to her.

"Oh yeah. Thanks Shikamaru. I'm just a bit overwhelmed so I'm going to go home." She fiddled with the tips of her long hair.

"Okay. If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here." He assured her. She nodded and turned a corner, disappearing into the bright white of the snow. Shikamaru really was a great friend when you needed him. Sakura walked quietly up the walkway to her front door and unlocked the latch with her house key. She walked in and locked the door behind her. She took off her jacket and scarf, warmed some water on the stove and sat down on her couch, turning on the TV.

Click.

Click.

Click.

There was nothing very good to watch. The teapot whistled and Sakura turned off the stove. She poured the water in the cup on the coffee grounds and mixed it with a spoon. The aroma filled the house. It felt and smelled so good to her.

"Just got to push those thoughts out of my mind…" she whispered to herself, taking a sip of her coffee. She heard a tap on her window. She set down her coffee and walked to the window. Maybe it was just a tree branch…no there wasn't a tree branch at that level of the house. Maybe…hail! No it's not raining.

…

She grabbed a bat and walked cautiously to the window. As she got to it, she opened it and looked around.

"HEY SAKURA!" a figure appeared out of no where. Sakura swung hard and the figure landed on the ground with a big thud. She looked down to see a twitching Rock Lee. His hair still bowl shaped and those ugly caterpillar eyebrows. He looked more like Gai now.

"Wow! Your youthful soul still burns with the fire of youth!" he rubbed his head. "Nice swing!" he smiled sheepishly. Sakura gasped.

"Lee-san!" she climbed out of the window and helped the jounin on his feet. Lee brushed off the snow on his butt and back.

"That's alright! I would've done the same thing!" he smiled, giving a thumbs up. Sakura sweat dropped.

'I can't believe he still does that.'

She sighed. "What are you doing Lee? You almost gave me a heart attack." Sakura sighed.

"Well, I wanted to stop by and say hi! We haven't spoken in so long!"

"Um…it's only been a week." Sakura gave a confused look.

"That's too long to be away from you my love!" he grabbed her hand and fell on one knee. "Please marry me!" he proposed, flushing. Sakura got a stress mark and knocked him up right in the head.

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm crazy in love with you!"

"Ugh…Lee, please don't make me make you feel rejected and sad."

"Oh I get it. You've been seeing that Uchiha ne?" he nudged her. Sakura flushed a little but then quickly recovered.

"No. We've been hanging out a while, but there's nothing going on between us. He's just…well…might I say a book that's extremely hard to open." Sakura grinned. Lee chuckled.

"Well, I'll be going then. Nice seeing you Sakura-chan!" he waved and disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sakura climbed back in through her window and closed it. She looked at the clock. It read 7:30. She went to her room and took a nice hot bath. Once she was done, she put on her pajamas and went into the living room to finish her coffee. It was pretty cold so she put it in the microwave.

"Lee you are really weird." She laughed to herself, blocking out the thought of Sasuke and his emotional rage. Someone knocked on her door. She walked over and opened it. Sasuke was there, covered with snow and shivering like a drenched cat. His eyes in sharingan style. He stared at Sakura and then finally spoke.

"Please...help me…S-sakura…" he dropped to his knees from the intense cold. He had obviously been out all day, plus he was wearing a t-shirt and very thin pants.

"What have you been doing?" Sakura dragged him inside and put him by the furnace. She disappeared and came back a few seconds later with a thick blanket, which she wrapped around him. She took her middle and index finger and felt his pulse. It was extremely fast, the blood rushing through his body trying to warm him up.

"I…t-t-tried…t-to…f-f-follow him…" He stuttered. "S-sakura…my…a-arms…th-they're…n-n-n-numb…".

"Hold on!" she kept her body close to his and performed some hand seals. "This won't hurt, but it will knock you out for a few minutes." She stuck her two fingers under his chin and a very thick wave of chakra shot through his body. His eyes closed and he almost fell on the floor until Sakura caught him and rested him there. He still shivered. Sakura performed more hand seals and put one hand on his stomach.

'Atsu-sa no jutsu!'

The shivering immediately ceased, and Sasuke lay still. After a few moments, he shot up in surprise.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" she asked. Sasuke looked at her and bent his head down.

"Why'd you save me? After what I did to you." His voice was very deep and cold. He's back to his old self again.

"Who did you follow? Sasuke you can't stay out in the snow like this! You'll die!" he got up.

"Itachi…" he whispered, saying his name sharply and coldly.

"What! But he's dead! You said you killed him!"

"I saw him." He was staring at the wall, having a glaring contest with it.

"Sasuke…" she got up. "You can't let these things tear you apart! It'll kill you!"

"I need to kill him! Or else my promise will never be kept, and I'll live in the dark forever." He sighed. "Sakura…I'm sorry you're in the middle of this, but I don't need your help or anyone's for that matter. I need to kill him, and I will." He walked to the door, but a firm arm stopped him.

"You're not going."

"Sakura don't be stu—"

Sakura handed him a thick black jacket. "The sooner you get this done, the sooner you'll be better." Tears were about to flow out of her eyes, but she kept them in. Sasuke accepted the jacket, put it on and left. Sakura went into her room and sat on her bed. She could no longer hold the pain so she let it out through her eyes. Her sobs were quiet, not wanting anyone to hear what she really feels. A few minutes later, she had fell into a deep sleep, whispering Sasuke's name.

NEXT DAY

Beep

Beep

Beep

Be—

Sakura pressed the snooze button on her alarm clock and got up. She yawned and opened her curtains. The sunlight flooded into the room and caused her pupils to shrink. She groggily took off her clothes and got into the shower. After her shower, she put on her medic-nin uniform and left her house, walking towards the hospital. The snow was starting to melt but it was still very cold. Her thoughts were scrambling everywhere. She could hardly remember what happened.

"Ohayo forehead-girl!" a blond kunoichi ran up next to her. Well if it wasn't Yamanaka Ino.

"Ohayo Ino-pig." Sakura smirked. Ino smirked back. "So what's been up with you? Shikamaru told me you looked down in the dumps the other day."

"Well…I prefer not to talk about it if you don't mind." Sakura grinned, hiding her thoughts.

"Okay." Ino smiled. She looked at the village clock. "I better get to work. I have a mission today. I'll see you when I get back alright?"

"Sure Ino." Sakura smiled at Ino's retreating figure. She kept walking silently, until someone appeared in a poof of smoke in front of her. She grabbed a kunai out of her holster and got into her fighting stance.

"Ms. Haruno!" the man said, bowing. Sakura put her kunai back in its holster and bowed back.

"Izumo. What is it? I'm on my way to the hospital right now."

"Tsunade has decided to give you the day off. You wouldn't answer your phone so she sent me to look for you and tell you."

"Wow. That's a lot just to tell me I have the day off."

"She wants you to rest since…well you know." He said. Sakura knew what he meant and nodded.

"Arigato Izumo." She bowed and he bowed back.

"Have a nice day." And he disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sakura turned around only to be greeted by a tall blond haired man.

"Sakura! What's up!" it was Naruto, with that giant smirk across his face. Sakura grinned.

"Nothing much. What about you? I read in your file you have a mission today. How is it you got the mission 2 months in advance?"

"Well, Tsunade-baa-chan grants me special privileges." He snickered. Sakura smiled.

"I know that. She really loves you, you know."

"Yeah I know." He rubbed the back of his head. He glanced at the clock tower. "I better be going. I'll see you later kay?" he smiled and started walking away.

"Okay. Bye." She stared at his retreating figure and frowned. "Well, at least most people in Konoha are feeling good." She murmured to herself and walked through the busy streets. Merchants were shouting great deals and showing their produce. Sakura ignored them and continued walking. She felt a heavy gaze at the back of her figure, and walked into a forest. The strong chakra kept following her, so she stopped at a river bank and took her kunai out of her holster.

"Come out. I know you're there." she said coldly, turning around. Just then she heard bushes rustling. Out walked no one other than Uchiha Sasuke. His red eyes were as crimson as ever. His stoic expression was fixed fully on her. "What do you want?"

"I need your help." He was dead serious about this. "I need you to test my brain waves."

"What for?" Sakura was surprise.

"Please. I'm starting to worry." He was stubborn but after a while she accepted and re-holstered her kunai. She led him back to the hospital and into a room that would test his brain waves. She put suction cups on his temples, as he sat down on a bed

"I need you to lie down." She instructed. He nodded and did so. She walked over to a computer and typed in something. A machine started up and she pressed enter. Sasuke could feel a tingling sensation where the suctions were. It felt weird, but he didn't mind too much. She was observing the screen. It showed a chart sort of thing and what she saw made her gasp. Sasuke's attention turned to her when she did.

"What is it?" he was worried.

Sakura took in a deep breath. "Your brain waves show TONS of stress and all that stress is taking the form of an illusion. So…" she gulped. "I'm thinking this whole thing with Itachi is…nothing more than an illusion."

"But how did I gain so much stress?" his eyes were wide.

"You could be overwhelmed since you have been looking for Itachi mostly your whole life, and now that he's gone, your brain is taking a while to accept it." She walked towards him and took the suction cups off of his temples. "You'll need to take some pills for a few weeks." She took out a notepad and jotted something down, then ripping it out and giving it to him. "It'll make the stress levels decrease."

"Listen Sakura…" he grabbed her hand before she could turn and leave. "I'm…really…s-s-…-sigh-…sorry." He stared at her straight into her eyes. Sakura was wide eyed, surprised that he could muster to say those words that meant the world to her.

"Okay. Lets go get your pills and I'll take you back to my house." She smiled and hugged him. He grinned and they walked out the door together. After they got the pills, they exited the hospital, heading towards her house, but what will happen there?

TO BE CONTINUED

Please review!

Zuan