Chapter One: Superficial

Sakura felt an odd sensation building in her gut as she drew closer to where she knew Sasuke lay.

It wasn't quiet dread, or anticipation. Sickness, disgust, fear, none of these things seemed to fit it either.

It just was.

The pink haired Chuunin pushed aside the strange churning, it didn't really have any baring on her current mission, and it was distracting her, bringing her close a few times to becoming disorientated and loosing Sasuke's trail.

Psychosomatic, she wondered, her extensive medical knowledge providing a possible explanation.

Could it be part of her didn't want to find Sasuke? If there was it never succeeded.

She cleared the last of the underbrush, picking irritably at leaves that had somehow clung to her hair as she had made her way there. It wasn't exactly a dignified entrance for a matured shinobi but that hardly mattered under the circumstances. Sasuke would most likely be unconscious if he had half the injuries she suspected, and if he wasn't….

Sakura's eyes fell on the fallen traitor, battered and bloody, sweating more than the moderate spring heat warranted, he was looking back at her with slightly widened eyes, as close to surprise as she could recall him expressing.

It was also probably the most he had reacted to her in the time she had known him, excluding a few times she had discounted over the years for various reasons. It should have caused something stirring even now surely, a twinge of excitement or vindication.

There was nothing.

She stared at him, waiting for a blush to colour her cheeks as she inspected his finely toned muscles, or for her stomach to flop when she noticed him inspecting her body, but not likely for the same reason.

Still nothing.

She waited for the fact that the team-mate come traitor was at her mercy, ready to be brought to justice any way she saw fit to fill her with a sense of responsibility, perhaps a little sorrow, or empathic compassion.

Nothing.

They continued to stare at each other, eventually Sasuke's surprise seemed to fade and his face resumed the impassive observation of her that she had once thought so dignified, so cool. It was the same expression she was unconsciously mimicking, the one that had him frowning below the surface.

"Sakura", he said coolly, exerting more energy than should be necessary to nod curtly in her direction, trying to give the air that he was lying there because he desired to, not because he couldn't move. Years with the Sound had reinforced his beliefs about showing weakness.

"Sasuke", she said with a dryness that shocked them both.

The young Uchiha heir hadn't exactly wanted her to go fangirl on him like the old days, but this demeanour was unexpected from any medical specialist, especially Sakura, even if he was supposed to be a traitor. He glanced at her then back at himself, raising an enquiring eyebrow.

"Oh, don't get up on my account", she spoke again, her voice almost lacking inflection, making the comment almost scathing rather than joking.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously but she didn't seem impressed as she knelt at his side, hands a blur as she began a series of seals he wasn't familiar with. When she was done she held her hand above forehead and began sweeping it downward slowly.

Sakura felt like a stranger in her own body as she talked to her former crush in short, almost callous words. She would have understood if she had felt anything like hate or resentment toward him, but all she could sense inside herself was that disturbing emptiness.

She cleared her mind as she began delving him, wincing at the data that flowed back to her along the pulses of Chakra she released into his body.

There was little of him that wasn't damaged.

Muscles had been ripped, tendons snapped, bones shattered. By some miracle there were no fatal internal ruptures, and those that existed she could seal with minimal effort. What did concern her were the burns, not just those visible on his skin, but those she could sense inside his body.

Just how much Chakra was he channelling from that thing?, she thought, purposely avoiding the seal on his neck. She had no idea what would happen if she delved something like that, and didn't want to find out first hand. With the damage he had wrought on his Chakra circulatory system he would be lucky to survive the night without immediate and prolonged treatment.

Sakura sat back on her hunches, scanning the area.

This clearing wouldn't do, but luckily she had found the somewhat damaged remains of an old cabin on her way here, perhaps one of Kiba's Clan's old homesteads. That should work just fine as long as she could heal him enough to make sure moving him wouldn't kill him first.

Green light shrouded her hands as she lightly pressed them over the most troublesome areas, gently infusing his damaged body with healing energy, buoying his own reserves and systems just enough to ensure transport wouldn't kill him, but not enough for him to move under his own power. She was practical, not stupid.

Inner Sakura tried to get her attention, unnerved by her sudden lack of compassion. She knew better than anyone how much it must be hurting Sasuke not to be able to even stand under his own power.

Sakura trembled a little as she lifted him up, draping his arm over her should to support her.

Once again, even with the sudden proximity, or the oddly intense look the raven haired boy was giving her failed to elicit anything like her former responses.

Without even a word to check whether he was comfortable, she took off.

What's wrong with me?
The Uchiha heir bit back a creative curse as the first of his fellow shinobi's leaps jostled seemingly every injury he had accumulated.

He actually felt a little better, whatever she had done it was so smooth and well practiced his body had barely noticed the presence of foreign Chakra as the healing energies suffused through his system, reducing his tiredness, easing his breathing and reducing the pain enough for him to be able to concentrate more effectively, to plan.

Sakura hadn't fully healed him, that would imply that his injuries required greater attention that she was willing to give in such an exposed area.

Either that or she had only patched him up enough to see that he lived until she could hand him over.

He mentally shuck his head. She wasn't that devious, or rather she hadn't been.

Sasuke was forced to acknowledge that if she had changed he was doomed. A short trial and an even shorter sentence awaited in Konoha.

He dismissed various escape plans even as the surfaced. He wasn't interested in getting away, and even should he change his mind, he wasn't going anywhere in this condition.

At that moment he probably couldn't have worked a fire technique strong enough to light a candle, let alone the more powerful jutsu's that would be needed to disable her if she took exception to his leaving this time, and something told him she would.

Hey let out an involuntary cry as she landed hard on a low hanging branch, not quite catching her weight properly.

She glanced over at him in a cursory fashion.

Sasuke glared back defiantly at the pink haired girl who just looked away unapologetically seeing that he wasn't suffering any greater damage from the landing, and braced himself as she leapt again.

Another series jumps over the course of an hour finally brought them to the medical nin's destination.

The rotting wooden structure had seen better days, but there were no obvious holes and what little of it he could see in the setting sun didn't look like it would fall if the breeze got too strong.

Sasuke breathed a little easier. It looked like his first guess had been correct. Sakura was taking him to a secure location to work on his injuries. That didn't mean he was home free, she could still leave him to go get an ANBU squad or three to escort him back.

Sakura shifted his weight on her shoulders as they approached the structure, sparing him a glance he couldn't interpret before kicking the door open with a single swift move.

The inside wasn't in much better shape than the outside of the building. Dusty and run down, most of the remaining furniture in the cabin's single room was in pieces. The only standing piece was through some twist of fate, a wide bed, covered in moth eaten sheets.

Sakura moved over to the wall, propping Sasuke up near the door while she wrestled it back upright with amazing ease for one so slight.

Another trait she shared with her teacher.

The former door acting like a crude shutter she left her patient in his resting spot while she investigated the bed.

The covers were dusty but otherwise clean, but hardly the sanitary conditions she would have liked.

Tsking to herself irritably, she took them and threw them into a pile to be dealt with later as she continued her investigation.

There was a small table and chair remaining intact, and her brief overview of the room turned up a small wood burner in the corner opposite the bed.

Sakura crouched down, opening the heavy iron cover and peering inside. There was enough wood to warm the cabin for a few hours or so should they need it and a few more pieces stacked in a small pile next to a rather primitive stove on the far wall.

First thing's first

Returning to where she had left the raven-haired boy she hefted him back to his feet, lugging him over to the bed and lowering him carefully onto the bed, swinging his feet into place, smiling a little at the flash of annoyance his invalid status provoked in the proud man.

"Comfy?", she said, fighting the urge to laugh as he gave her a look that might have sent others running in fear.

Part of her was enjoying this more than she should, Sakura knew that but she couldn't really bring herself to a stop. Without this banter she wouldn't have anything left to focus on but the numbing feeling threatening to engulf her.

She ran a critical eye over her patient. There were no new injuries, or any signs that the patch job she had done on his internal injuries had ripped.

She nodded in satisfaction, almost missing his shiver, quickly suppressed.

"Cold?", she asked, her voice carrying a small note of concern, the first emotion she had expressed toward him so far.

He refused to look at her. His pride no doubt preventing him from admitting that he to could succumb to something as mundane as the elements, even in this state.

Sakura tested the air.

It wasn't exactly cold, but neither as it warm, and it would only get colder this time of year as the sun continued to set.

In his condition it wasn't wise to push his body unnecessarily.

Sakura stepped over to the wood burner, fumbling around in her hip pouch for a moment to locate the steel and flint all shinobi carried as basic equipment.

After a number of attempts she managed to light a small fire, poking at it until there was a healthy blaze going within the burner, leaking warmth into the small room at a steady pace.

Sakura hugged her knees in front of the fire, staring into the leaping flames as the surreal nature of what she was doing began to filter in.

She was alone in a remote cabin with one of Konoha's most wanted criminals, the traitor progeny, Sasuke Uchiha and her former love interest since her early childhood, the only person for miles capable of healing his injuries.

She shook herself mentally and physically as she stood, turning back to the task in hand.

Sasuke glared at her retreating form as she moved over to the small wood burner.

It had been a long time since anyone had dared to tease him, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it, especially not from a girl who had simpered around him along with all the others before he had left the leaf.

In a way it was…intriguing…

No, that's not the right word it's just…

Sasuke growled at his inability to explain why Sakura's actions had been bugging him since she had found him.

She stood, framed in the firelight due to the minimal light the cabin's dirty windows allowed in.

Sasuke felt his eyes lingering longer than they should have on his former team-mate before turning away.

He listened as the floorboards creaked with her approach.

There was a scrapping noise as she dragged something next to him, most likely the chair he had seen and sat down, her hands planting themselves lightly on his chest as a warm sensation began to fill him.

"Do you want to talk about something"

Her voice turned his head, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"It helps me concentrate for some reason", she explained, her eyes on her hands as they traced small patterns over his chest, the lines of his Chakra system.

He looked away with a small snort.

"You never were very talkative I guess", she said quietly.

Sasuke felt a small pang of guilt. This was his first conversation with a team seven member since his battle with Naruto, and the pair's rivalry had helped him ignore what he was doing even if it had ultimately prevented him killing the blond.

However, with Sakura his last talk with her magnified the feeling to uncomfortable levels.

---"Thank you"---

Why had he said that? He still wasn't sure why he had thanked her for showing the strange obsession that had so annoyed him in other girls, including herself as best he remembered.

Still the fact remained it had comforted him somehow, actually made the choice easier for some reason.

It wouldn't kill him to repay that by playing along.

Anything that heals me faster, he reasoned.

"What do you want to know", he said, gazing at he and Sakura's shadows on the wall.

He couldn't see the way the pink haired girl's surprised eyes flickered up to his face before turning back to her task.

There were a thousand and one questions, each one seeming to vanish as she tried to grasp it, leaving only one.

"What…what have you been doing?", Inner Sakura slapped her forehead.

Nearly three years and that's the best you can come up with?

"…Getting stronger", he paused and Sakura had to hold back the urge to sigh. She shouldn't have expected better.

"Oh…", she frowned as she lost track of her work for a moment, halting her Chakra flow until she located where she had been and continued to explore the damaged system, mapping out various blockages by pouring her own power though the metaphysical pathways.

"I suppose that's good…you can finally complete your mission".

Sasuke seemed to squirm uncomfortably for a moment, and she cut back her ministrations, afraid she might have triggered something in a moment of inattention.

"Sasuke?", he frowned deeply, "Sasuke, if something hurts, you need to-"

"He's dead", he said, and both were silent for a moment.

"…Who is dead?", she asked, feeling a morbid curiosity even as the most likely answer sprung to mind.

He couldn't mean him…could he?

"Itachi…", Sasuke said taking a deep breath, his eyes flickering her face, "Itachi is dead…I killed him".

Sakura withdrew her powers, trying to catch his gaze again but he was avoiding her face again.

"…How?", she asked after an indeterminable period of silence.

Sasuke glanced at her again, "The power of the seal. Once I understood it I began to train with it, mastering the power it gave me".

Sakura's brow wrinkled in disgust. How could anyone abide using the kind of power that came from something like that, no matter the reason.

"You don't believe me?", he asked, mistaking her expression in the dim light.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, bracing himself for the pain he knew was to come trying to do this in his current state.

"Sharingan!", his eyes snapped open again, but now gone were the black orbs that usually gazed out at the world from his face, and in their place were read irises. Red irises with…

"Three", Sakura breathed, counting the number of black dots now visible in the Sharingan user's eyes.

Sasuke managed to avoid gasping as pain racked his body, his ravaged Chakra system objecting to the power he was trying to use, releasing the Sharingan before he did more damage.

The look on the medic's face showed she knew what this meant. The full power of the Sharingan could only be accomplished by killing someone important to you. Itachi's death had granted him that power.

The sole remaining Uchiha shuddered lightly as he remembered his brother's dying words, watching the third mark appear in his red eyes.

---"Your hatred of me has made you as strong as I has hoped. You are now the perfect weapon my little brother"---

"You really did it, you became powerful enough to kill him"

"Orachimaru was an excellent teacher", that statement had her glaring at him angrily but he carried on regardless, "Insane as he was I owe him my thanks at least".

Sakura withdrew her hands, she couldn't believe he was praising the criminal who had killed the third and wanted to raise Konoha, Sasuke's home, her home, to the ground.

"At what do you plan to do now?", she spat angrily, her body trembling. Catching sight of the Sound village forehead guard he wore on his brow, glinting in the firelight she felt her fists clenching so hard the knuckles turned white.

His answer took her by surprise.

"I don't know…", the admission was so frank, so out of place coming from one of the two most driven men she knew that her rage momentarily vanished.

"I…was, an avenger…", he spoke slowly, as if discussing something new to him, "I'm just happy that my family can rest in piece…I had never thought what I would do after that was accomplished".

"Oh", she said, an unexpected wave of depression settling over her.

That answered her last unvoiced question. Sasuke had never planned to return to her, no matter how much she might have wanted to think that's what his last words had meant.

"So there is nothing else now?"

He continued to stare at their shadows on the wall.

Sakura's head dropped, pink bangs hiding tear filled eyes.

What am I doing. I didn't even feel excited to find him, so why am I so upset that he didn't plan to come back to me after all this time.

Sakura swayed in her chair, gasping a little as the world blurred for a second, a strange numbness spreading through her limbs.

"Sakura?", as quick as it happened it was gone. She looked up to find Sasuke staring at her questioningly.

Is that concern Sasuke? Or are you just worried I might not be able to heal you if something is wrong with me.


Sasuke tried to ignore her latest question, the only answer he had came in the form of a repeating flashback that made no sense.

---"Thank you"---

The strange feeling that had given him more conviction than the thought of gaining the strength to kill his brother was back, and it still made no sense to him.

It flared when Sakura had mentioned the future with that hidden note of expectation, and now it refused to fade.

His train of thought was broken when he heard her gasp, his head snapping round, eyes alert for danger, not that he would be any help against it in his current condition.

"Sakura?", her head came up as he called her name, mint eyes looking around as if wondering where she was for a moment before settling on his face.

"I'm ok", she said, re-working the seals to activate her healing technique and returning to her ministrations as if nothing had happened.

It didn't fool him. Even in the dim light he could see the unshed tears in her eyes.

She always was a cry baby, he thought, shocked by the fondness in that thought as he remembered her reactions to his various injuries and close calls in the past.

Needing to distract himself he asked the first thing that came to mind.

"What about you Sakura?"

"What?", she asked as if surprised to hear his voice.

"I can see you became a medial nin…I suppose that makes sense, you always had the best control".

She nodded, "Yes, I trained under Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san, in fact I missed my lesson coming out here to find you".

"So that means they will be waiting for you to return", the only person waiting for him would be Orachimaru, and he was more than happy to disappoint the body swapping bastard.

Perhaps some good would come of this after all. If he was arrested then the snake master couldn't perform the ritual's final step.

"Yes…they'll be the only ones though", Sasuke looked down at her as she said that, but her bangs once more hid her face from him.

He felt as strange compulsion to understand what she meant by that, "Why do you say that? I would have thought there would be…someone, else waiting".

Why did I ask something like that?

Sakura stiffened where she sat but didn't answer.

"The dumbass at least would be upset if you went missing", Sasuke said quietly, watching for her reaction.

He yelped in pain as the light surrounding her hands flared for a moment, pouring more power into his system than it could currently handle.

"Sorry!", she said, quickly correcting the flow and checking she hadn't accidentally done more harm than good.

Sakura bit her lip. That had been a foolish overreaction to a statement Sasuke couldn't possibly know the implications of.

"I'm sorry Sasuke", she said, missing his frown.

Why does it bother me when she speaks my name?

"Naruto…Naruto doesn't…", she scolded herself when she felt tears building again, gritting her teeth she pushed on.

"Naruto isn't interested in me anymore", bile built in the back of her throat and she almost missed a blockage as a fresh wave of grief flooded her mind.

Sasuke was silent, he knew that now was not the time to ask questions.

"When you left, I spent that first year completely isolated in my studies, I had lost a…friend", she cursed her inability to state it more clearly, "I couldn't let anyone get close to me, even though Naruto tried at first, before he was taken away by Jiraiya-sama to train".

She deftly cleared the obstruction, and began working her way to the others.

"During the second year they came back every few months or so, and he would always spend almost all of his free time with me, trying to cheer me up with his stupid jokes and pranks", she laughed half-heartedly remembering one such prank that had left Tsunade's hair bright blue in hue, "Ino used to joke that we were almost dating the amount of time we spent together".

Sasuke frowned again without realising, but she didn't see.

"Perhaps that's what finally gave her the nerve…When the third year rolled around and she confessed to him…I…I got…jealous. I realised how much I had liked all that attention and affection, how much it…how much Naruto had begun to mean to me", she felt her jaw clench, "It was a strange time, I found myself competing against another girl for of all people, Naruto's attention. That was almost as strange as my 'rival'. For such a timid girl, Hinata was determined to win, even though I was sure she didn't stand a chance… She won. She deserved it I suppose, all of us knew how long she had pined after him".

She felt a tear tracing a path down her cheek.

"I lost another person dear to me…so to answer your question, no. There is no one else waiting for me back in Konoha".

When Sasuke didn't respond she dared to peak at him from around her bangs, wondering what level of contempt he would be eying her with.

Sasuke wasn't looking at her with contempt. He wasn't looking at her at all.

His eyes were rolling wildly and his body was convulsing beneath her hands.

Sakura's training kicked in even as her mind froze, delving into him, she found the problem. She had opened one of the blockages to early while she was distracted, and the resultant surge had nowhere to go but straight to his brain.

The medical specialist worked frantically, a hasty application of Chakra resealing the bl;ockage even as she began draining the damaging energy away from his brain.

Abruptly his convulsions ceased.

Everything ceased. Sasuke drew in one rattling breath and went limp.

No

Sakura moved her fingers to his neck.

No pulse.

No, please, no!

"Sasuke? Sasuke!".

Sakura ran down her list of options. She wasn't skilled enough to attempt to jump start his functions with Chakra, so that only really left one option.

CPR.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, her mind drifted back to the time she had almost drown during their mission to protect Idate Morino, the runner and former ninja.

Lying on the beech, she had thought Sasuke was preparing to give her mouth to mouth to revive her and had decided to fake unconsciousness to prevent him from stopping.

Of course that had almost backfired on her, bringing her dangerously close to being kissed by Naruto instead, something she would actually want to happen later in her life but never get.

She roughly crushed such opportunistic thoughts, ashamed that she could think that way with another person's life on the line.

Tilting his head back to clear his airway, Sakura took a deep breath and pressed her lips to her former team-mate's before she could chicken out.

Her stomach fluttered and pleasant shivers ran up and down her spine, causing her to gasp out rather than blow out the life giving air into Sasuke's lungs.

The numbing void she had felt previously around the dark haired boy shuddered in time with her suddenly pounding heart, almost threatening to crack.

She released her lip-lock, pressing down hard on his chest five times and placing her ear next to his mouth.

An odd mix of relief and disappointment filled her when she heard him gasp, his breathing returning to normal after a few shallow gasps.

A quick check showed a strong, steady pulse.

Standing, Sakura staggered away from him on shaky limbs, not even stopping to check if he was awake or not as she removed the barricade from the entrance way and stumbled outside, dropping down next to a large rock and leaning against it as if it were the only life raft in a violent storm.

Sakura's mind rambled at her, vague, disjointed thoughts about leaving the healing of his Chakra system to be completed by Tsunade, as the image of her lips on Sasuke's, and the echo of what she had felt replayed over the top of it all.

What…What was that?, she wondered, panting as if out of breath, her eyes glazed.

She had thought herself over the boy when she hadn't felt even a spark upon seeing him again in the clearing, but that…

Did this mean…did it mean she still held some feeling s for the traitor? Buried after all these years so deep she couldn't consciously get in touch with them anymore. Surfacing only when she had been forced to...

The memory of the kiss surfaced again, and she felt her cheeks reddening.

Her head dropped forward, her hands coming to her face.

It was true then, she still held feelings for him after all this time. Feelings for a traitor she was duty bound to bring back to stand trial for his crimes.

Sakura's hands hit the dirt with muffled thuds, her blush, her feelings of exhilaration crashing down.

Traitor.

Yes, Sasuke was still a traitor regardless; he was still going to pay for his crimes.

She was going to loose him again…

The numbing feeling returned as her body began to fade away.

Yes, that would be easier; she would escape to that world of mists, and try to leave the pain behind…


Sakura stood, her stiff joints protesting.

There had been no escape there, in that realm only she had probably ever seen, the images had followed, tormenting her, and now back in her body, the void awaited, numbing her soul.

She couldn't even summon the strength to cry as she shuffled back to the cabin, skin fridged from the cold night air.

The inside of the cabin was dark, only the faint glow of the burner remained.

Sakura shivered violently, clutching at her arms as her legs carried her toward the warmth she needed.

Not the burner, almost dead now. She was too tired to re-stoke it.

No, she kept moving until her shins banged against the edge of the bed in which Sasuke lay, light snores showing that he was still unconscious.

Even as her mind began to question it, her body moved of its own accord, lying next to him, hands gripping his vest as she pulled her shivering body as close to him as she could, trying to escape the numbing chill of the void.

The sensation seemed to retreat a little, as if wary of Sasuke's presence.

Sakura sobbed.

This wasn't a happy moment. If only Sasuke could drive away the emptiness that had become so strong without her noticing until now, and he would be gone again for good soon…

Sakura cried herself to sleep.


---Author Notes---

Hey folks, this will be the last chapter without reviews, so help me out here

Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell