Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. There, I said it.

A/N: I apologize in advance for not putting in more details for the battle. I would have if I thought I could do even a half-way decent job. So please just use your imaginations to fill in the gaps. I hope the chapter is still good enough, though, and it's the longest one yet. Please review and let me know!

Chapter 11: Fighting Words

Sasuke squarely faced Orochimaru. They were standing outside the complex the Sound were currently residing in. Both were grinning ear to ear.

"You didn't think I'd just let you take over my body without a fight, did you?" Sasuke challenged.

"Don't be conceited. You can't beat me, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru replied back. "But you're certainly welcome to try. Whatever you wish. And don't worry, I'll indulge you a little and keep this a one-on-one battle. No one attack until I say otherwise," he ordered the other Sound ninjas who had raised their weapons at Sasuke's announcement.

"You'll regret those words," Sasuke spoke as he rushed in toward the opponent he hoped to defeat.

Everyone watched as the two fought against each other. Snake jutsu flew back and forth, as well as the occasional fire and earth elements. After half an hour, neither had been able to land even one hit. Breathing heavily, Sasuke cursed himself for not being better than this. If I can't even beat Orochimaru here, there's no way I'll be able to defeat him…

Clenching both fists and renewing his intensity, he once again ran in to attack. However, Orochimaru just laughed.

"You'll never be able to beat me like that. Pathetic that you still need the curse seal in order for you to be strong. Allow me to help you open that up," Orochimaru offered as he smiled venomously. At his words, Sasuke cried out as the curse seal quickly flared up and spread out over his entire body. Doubling over in pain, he glared menacingly at the seal's creator. Orochimaru slowly approached his prey and called the order for his men to take Sasuke away to be locked up until the time for the body-switch arrived. Three days yet.

Two Sound nins complied and walked over to Sasuke and pulled him back up to his feet. He unexpectedly punched the one to his right and was about to attack the one on his left, but the pain slowed him down just enough that the ninja was able to block his attack as he looked over at his fallen comrade who was now standing back up. Orochimaru just laughed at his pupil's perseverance, and started to speak, "It was a nice attempt, but it looks like it's over-"

The snake man was cut off in mid sentence as the two Sound nins holding Sasuke suddenly released henge. His eyes widened as he recognized them before regaining his composure and letting out another laugh. "You would have been better off to keep your disguise and sneak him off when I wasn't looking. Leaf ninjas have always been so foolish," he commented. "Especially you, Naruto-kun. Was this your plan?"

"You better believe it!" Naruto responded. "And it was just because I wanted to tell you face to face that Sasuke is our teammate, and we will never let you take him over. We're a team, and we will defeat you!"

Sasuke showed no expression on his face, although he was internally relieved to note that the one he had punched turned out to be Naruto and not Sakura.

"That's right Orochimaru, we can defeat you with teamwork," Sakura joined in. "Nothing can break the bonds we share, not even you. We will always fight to protect each other no matter what, and that's something you can never understand."

"Yeah! We'll always be better than you because of that. Teamwork conquers all!" he shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. "Are you ready to fight Sakura-chan?"

"You bet, Naruto!"

Orochimaru waited patiently for the Leaf nins to charge in for attack, not even bothering to fall back into a fighting stance.

"Ready…and…go!" Naruto shouted as he rushed in for Orochimaru while Sakura dashed in the other direction, scooping up Sasuke and throwing him over her shoulder on the way.

"After them!" Orochimaru managed to shout before an enraged Naruto slammed into him with a punch. Immediately about half of the Sound nins who had been standing around watching the fight broke into a chase after Sakura and Sasuke, who had already managed a large lead due to the element of surprise and Sakura being able to increase her speed significantly with precise chakra control adding to her strides.

"Would you mind giving me a hand and doing something about them?" Sakura asked as she continued to speed up. From the awkward position of being carried, Sasuke managed to do a few seals and a massive fire element attack burst forth from him, completely blocking all the pursuers from sight.

"Perfect," Sakura commented as she used a burst of chakra to completely alter her path and jump up among the trees surrounding the complex while a bunshin continued running straight ahead. When she had felt they had gotten far enough away and weren't being followed, she finally stopped and set the Uchiha down on the ground.

"Why did you come for me?" he asked angrily.

"Hm, that doesn't sound like a very grateful tone considering the fact that we just saved you," Sakura replied casually as she pulled out a tarp from her pack and spread it on the ground. "Sit," she ordered.

"I would have escaped on my own," Sasuke muttered as he obliged and sat down in the middle of the tarp. I wonder what she has in mind, he started to contemplate as she walked up behind him. He noticed she kneeled down behind him followed by grabbing the bottom of his shirt to pull it up over his head.

"What, ah, what are you doing?" he called out in surprise.

"You want to go back and fight, don't you? And you should probably get this thing re-sealed before doing that," she explained, in reference to the markings covering his body, in a casual tone that surprised even herself since she could practically hear her heart pounding within her chest. He was here, right in front of her. She wanted to hug him and hold onto him so he could never leave her again, but she restrained because there were more important things at hand right now, and she wasn't sure how he'd react to her affection anymore. Not that he had ever really had a positive reaction to it.

"You know how to do that?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei taught it to me a while ago when I asked," she replied as she pulled out a brush and a container of ink from her pack. "Now just hold still as best as you can, this will take a little while."

He didn't make any attempt to respond. After a few minutes of silence, though, he finally spoke up again. "So are you just going to leave Naruto in there by himself?"

"He can handle himself. Besides-"

"Someone's coming," Sasuke interrupted suddenly as he strained to get up and stand in front of Sakura, holding out a weapon for defense. Sakura also got up and stepped up beside him and positioned herself in a fighting stance.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted as he dropped down from among the trees.

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief and pushed Sasuke back down into a sitting position so she could continue drawing out the symbols. "So has the attack begun already?" she asked him.

"Yes, it's started. And Suna has joined us as well, since they owe us from the Sound attack from before. And with the information you provided, Sasuke, everything should be ended quickly and with little damage to our side."

Sasuke just grunted for a response.

"How'd you find us?" Sakura asked.

"Well, it was hard to miss the katon…so from that I was able to catch sight of you and traced the path you took from there," he explained. "But enough chit chat. I should head over to the battle now. Just in case, can I borrow some seals in case Naruto…goes a little too far?" he requested.

"Yeah, sure," Sakura replied as she paused in her writing to pull out from her pack some seals to contain the kyuubi's chakra and handed them over to Kakashi. "And…make sure he's ok. Orochimaru should be a little exhausted from his fight with Sasuke, but he's still a formidable opponent."

"Don't worry, Sakura, I was going to check on him right away," Kakashi remarked with a cheerful smile. Turning more serious, he informed them, "We have a makeshift base set up about 800 meters from here in that direction." He turned and pointed as he spoke before straightening back up and giving his farewell as he took off in the direction of the battle.

Sakura was about half-way finished with the preparations for the seal when she finally broke the silence that had descended between them in the meantime. "Thanks for everything you left me at the inn. The information you provided was really useful."

"Hn," was his only reply. But a minute later he added, "That was quite a speech back there."

"Can you guess who came up with it?" she joked. "But really the whole plan was Naruto's idea, and it seemed to work pretty well."

"So how long have you and Naruto been here?"

"We killed those two and we've been disguised among the Sound nin all this week, but we found the hideout a week and a half before that. Since from your letter we knew that you didn't plan on attacking until sometime in the final week before the body-switch, we didn't infiltrate until then so it reduced the risk of getting caught, not to mention having the information to better impersonate two of the ninjas." She paused for a moment. "Um, thanks also for the letters you wrote. I appreciate everything you set up to make sure I was taken care of. And I can give you your money back. But for the second letter…"

"Forget about it, you don't have to thank me, and you can keep the money. You deserved much better," he cut her off. "I shouldn't have done it in the first place. But you don't have to worry about me trying anything like that with you again. Especially now since-"

"Did you really think just leaving me was the best thing to do? You didn't say a word to me, just left me there wondering what you were thinking…what you were feeling." Her voice was starting to rise in pitch.

"Well, you know now from the letter," he snapped at her. "Besides, it doesn't really matter anymore now. What's done is done." He let out a sigh. This isn't the way I wanted things to be. He tried again, removing the frustration that had crept into his voice. "I never should have done…never should have done what I did to you. Do you…hate me for that? Are you here only out of obligation to rescue your ex-teammate? Or just to stop Orochimaru?"

Sakura hesitated for just a split second in drawing out the markings before responding as she continued her work. "No, I don't hate you," she answered softly. "I just wish you'd talk to me about things. Especially before making a decision like breaking off our marriage. You should have discussed that with me first, asked me what's actually better for me."

Ouch. But I guess she's right, I should have talked about it with her first before leaving. "I'm…I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely.

"I know you are," she replied. "Well, I'm finished with the preparations, are you ready?"

"Yeah." He suddenly felt self-conscious and exposed, but maybe that was just due to being shirtless in front of Sakura with their past…situation…in mind.

"All right, I'm going to need you to help put the curse seal back as I do this. Ok?"

"Yeah."

Molding her chakra, Sakura formed the various seals just as Kakashi had taught her and slammed her palm down on top of his mark. She watched as the markings slowly retracted back to the source on the back of his neck and soon a circle form around it. She heaved a sigh of relief that she was actually able to do it.

"Well, it looks like you're all ready to go," she commented as she helped him stand up. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Thanks."

"Just trying to help. Remember, though, that it's dependent on your will, too."

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it." An awkward silence passed between them. He took a few steps and noticed Sakura wasn't following. "Aren't you going to fight, too?"

He actually acknowledges that I'm good enough to fight in this type of situation? Sakura held back the swell of emotions that rose up at the compliment. She had promised herself she wouldn't get emotional until after the battle; she needed to keep her head in a situation like this. "Um, sorry," she apologized as she snapped back into action and gathered up the supplies she had used for the sealing process. "I'm not going to be fighting. From what Kakashi-sensei says, there should be plenty for offense so my medical abilities will probably be more useful. I'm going to head back to the base."

Sasuke just nodded in response and started walking again. He had only taken a few more steps before Sakura nervously added, "That…and I shouldn't be fighting anyway. Because, Sasuke-kun, I'm…I'm pregnant."

His steps faltered for a moment before he picked up his stride again. So that explains why she's put on a little weight. "Make sure you take good care of yourself then," he warned before taking off at a full sprint. I suppose I should have congratulated her, for the marriage with Naruto and also now for the pregnancy, but I just couldn't find the words. When she had pushed him back down during Kakashi's visit, he noticed she was wearing a wedding ring, and it wasn't the one he had given her. She must have noticed it then, too, because she wasn't wearing it anymore after that. Well, at least she said that she doesn't hate me. Maybe if I ever return to Konoha, we can still pick back up as friends. But he temporarily pushed all such thoughts out of his mind as he prepared for battle.

Meanwhile, Sakura just stood unmoving as Sasuke's form disappeared from sight. Eventually, though, she forced herself to start walking, then jogging, then full-out running toward the base, anything in an attempt to not think about Sasuke's reaction, or lack of one, to the news she thought he would have been at least a little happy to hear. A minute later she had arrived to find that even more ninjas than she had expected had come to form the attack.

Sakura quickly found the hokage and prepared to make a quick report. "Tsunade-sama, I have taken care of Sasuke-kun's curse seal and he has re-entered the battle. Naruto was fighting Orochimaru when we had fled. I am ready to go wherever you order me."

"Good. Don't worry, Naruto wasn't fighting alone. But I want you staying away from battle. Take care of everyone's wounds as they're brought in. I'm leaving you in charge of things here."

"Understood. But shouldn't Shizune be the one in charge?"

"She didn't come," Tsunade answered plainly. "I'm counting on you." And with that she set off to find her own former teammate.

A few hours after Tsunade had received the information from Sakura and Naruto, she still sat at her desk processing all the information and the plan they had devised when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," Tsunade called out.

Shizune walked into the office and asked, "Have you decided on a plan of action yet?"

"No, not completely decided yet."

"I see. Well, the elders should be here in half an hour. Will that give you enough time, or would you like me to stall them for you?"

"Half an hour, huh? Well then I guess this will be it," Tsunade remarked as she handed a few sheets of paper over to Shizune. "This is a list of everyone I want to be on standby for the attack. I'd like those people to be contacted as well as someone sent to Suna to explain the situation and ask for assistance immediately after the meeting if the elders have no objections to my plan. Oh, and have Kakashi come see me right away."

"Of course, Tsunade-sama," Shizune complied as she glanced down through the list. A good number of the older ninjas were on there, along with Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai's teams. "Wait a second…my team's on here, but my name's left off the list."

"That's right," Tsunade replied.

"But…why?" her friend questioned.

"Because I'm going. And I need someone here I can rely on to take care of things, especially in the event that we fail and a battle ends up in Konoha."

"But with all the information we have, and not knowing any reason for Suna to not comply, we should have no trouble with succeeding in our attack."

"I don't know if I can trust this information. I don't know if we can trust Sasuke. This information may be something to entice an attack and end up being a trap. I have to go, so I'm asking you to stay here because you're the person I can rely on most. Please, do this favor for me," Tsunade pleaded.

"I understand, and I'll send for Kakashi immediately." Shizune bowed as she left the room and proceeded outside in order to await the arrival of elders, a small smile creeping into her usual worried expression at the great compliment.

Once she had the room to herself again, Tsunade called out in the general direction of one of her windows, "So are you going to join me in one last fight against him?"

A white-haired ninja flung himself up over the windowsill and landed behind her. "So you knew I was there. Hmm, my peeping skills must be slipping. At any rate, I will definitely join you as long as you promise not to poison me this time," he remarked with a smirk. "So, how exactly did you come across this information from Sasuke?"

"Well, it's a bit of a complicated story. Meet me later tonight and I'll explain everything," she commanded in her hokage voice as she heard a knock at the door.

"As you wish, Tsunade," Jiraiya bowed as he slipped back out of the room.

"Enter," Tsunade called to Kakashi, who seemed almost a little nervous.

"Is it what we suspected?" he asked her immediately.

"It is."

"So Sasuke did come back," he mused to himself. "So what's the plan?"

"I'm sending her and Naruto in alone, while we prepare for a full-scale attack on the Sound."

"Do you think that's wise? Do you think they can handle it?"

"They're smart kids, and Sakura will prevent Naruto from doing anything foolish…I hope. They sent me their plan, and it seems like it just might work, provided we get there in time."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with them at least?"

"No, I think they need to work some things out by themselves along the way. And we'll send someone in ourselves as soon as we arrive."

"The elders won't be happy about this."

"Of course they won't," Tsunade smiled deviously.

Just as predicted, Konoha and Suna easily overpowered the Sound ninjas, and there were very few casualties for Sakura to heal and even fewer deaths to report. As Sakura was just finishing healing someone, she overheard Asuma reporting that all the Sound had either been captured or killed, and all who remained were Orochimaru and Kabuto themselves.

Well, that's good and bad news at the same time, Sakura thought. I wonder how Naruto, Sasuke, and everyone else are doing. I haven't seen any of them come in for treatment, so that's probably a good sign. I wonder how Tsunade is fairing. I guess her battle's not over yet. I wish there was something I could do to help her…

At that moment a good distance away, Sakura was surprised to see a huge plume of smoke, and when the air cleared, she saw the form of a giant snake. A few seconds later, a giant frog appeared in the same manner.

"Could that be the Sannin?" Sakura overheard someone ask.

"No, it couldn't be, they're still fighting right outside the hideout, that's way too far away to be them."

Oh no! That must mean it's…

Sakura immediately took off in a sprint, slowing down just enough to hand her clipboard over to one of the upper medical nins and command him to take charge.

Arriving in the vicinity of the area, Sakura quickly made the deduction that if she didn't want to get trampled, she better summon her own animal. Pausing to mold chakra and saying a quick and desperate prayer that this wouldn't drain her too much and risk hurting the baby, she bit her finger, made the seals, and slammed her hand down to the ground. Seconds later she found herself standing high in the air on top of a giant slug.

Naruto and Sasuke, who were standing on their respective toad and snake, both turned in her direction in shock.

Naruto now was left to face Orochimaru right after Sakura carried Sasuke away from there; Orochimaru had already gotten up unharmed from Naruto's punch. Naruto paused for just a moment as Sakura's words replayed in his mind. 'Whatever happens, you can't let the kyuubi take over. Sasuke seems to be on our side, so there's no need to lose your temper,' she had warned concernedly. They had spent time everyday during their traveling working on him calling on the kyuubi chakra without it getting out of control. Every time he had failed. But this time it really counted, and for Naruto, that gave him the best odds for success.

The first thing Naruto tried was kage bunshin no jutsu. Immediately the area was filled with his clones. Although Naruto rushed in right away, Orochimaru quickly summoned kusanagi and began destroying the clones around him with the sword.

"Do you really think you'll be able to defeat me without turning into the beast like last time?" Orochimaru taunted him as he destroyed 10 more clones.

Ignoring Orochimaru's words and trying to think of a plan as quickly as he could, Naruto had 6 clones that were positioned behind Orochimaru form 3 rasengans. As they each rushed in from different directions, Orochimaru was able to effortlessly dodge every attack without even turning around to look and slid in next to one of his own men only to be caught off guard with a quickly formed, one-handed rasengan to the stomach. Unfortunately, Orochimaru was able to react in time and didn't sustain too much damage from the surprise attack.

"Not bad, Naruto-kun. I see you've learned some strategy from that fool, predicting my movements to push me toward that disguised guard. By the way, Jiraiya, no need to keep up the henge any longer," Orochimaru spoke.

The Sound nin who had just delivered a rasengan changed in a puff of smoke into the familiar form of Jiraiya. "How'd you know it was me…Naruto?"

"Easy, Ero-sennin. I caught you peeping on the girl's bath area earlier this morning."

Jiraiya just scratched the back of his head and commented to himself, "I guess my skills really are slipping. That's twice now I've been caught in a span of only several weeks. Ah well. Are you ready to die this time, Orochimaru, or do you plan on running away again like last time?"

At that moment, the rest of the ninjas from Konoha and Suna infiltrated the area for attack. Orochimaru growled in frustration and barked orders for everyone else to commence a counterattack. While everyone took off, Orochimaru and Kabuto were left to face Jiraiya and his student.

"Let me do most of the fighting. I have a feeling that woman's here somewhere, too, and your body is degrading worse by the day so you'll need to conserve as much as you can," Kabuto offered out of earshot of the other two.

"Kabuto, don't patronize me," Orochimaru warned creepily. "I want you to take care of the brat, I'll handle Jiraiya. It'll be just like old times," he reminisced.

After about half an hour, Sasuke arrived, followed by Tsunade a few minutes after him. She commanded Naruto and Sasuke to help out elsewhere and to leave this battle to her and Jiraiya. The two boys complied, although not without some protest from Naruto, and left the area to fight the other Sound nins, side by side.

When it seemed the Sound were all but defeated, Naruto turned to Sasuke and suggested, "Why don't we go check on Jiraiya and Tsunade. I bet those two old geezers could use our help."

"Probably not. Even with Kabuto in top condition, Orochimaru's body should already be tired from his fight with me and it's probably failing him by now. He can't defeat both of them in that condition. Besides, they wouldn't want us to interfere in their fight, I'm sure you can at least understand that. I'm leaving."

"What! After we came all this way to rescue you, you're just going to leave again? What about Sakura? Don't you care about her anymore? Didn't she tell you she was pregnant?"

So this is the game they're going to play. Hide their marriage and pretend that it's my child to convince me to go back with them. I didn't think they'd try deceit like that. "I haven't fulfilled my goal yet. I won't return until then." Sasuke immediately took off running, away from the battle scene, and away from his two friends who wanted him to stay with them.

Naruto wanted to check on Jiraiya and Tsunade first, but he was afraid he'd lose Sasuke's trail in the meantime. I sure hope Sasuke's right that they'll be fine. He quickly took off after Sasuke and was able to intercept him some distance away.

"Did you really think I was just going to let you run off again? You belong in Konoha, and I'm not going to stop until you agree to come back with us," Naruto shouted adamantly.

"I don't want to fight you, Naruto. Just leave."

"Never, jackass." Fury started to rise in his voice. "I don't understand what happened between you and Sakura, why you came back and why you left again. But if this is all that you're going to do, just leave without a word to her again, then I wished you had never come back in her life! I don't know why she ever covered for you!" She even kept it from me, he thought sadly. "She deserves better than you!" he shouted

"So then why do you want to stop me?" Sasuke challenged. "If I'm so horrible for her, then why not just let me leave and you can take care of her?"

"I'm bringing you back regardless. But if you don't even care about her anymore, then I'll make sure you really pay when we get back," he growled. "Sasuke!"

"Fine…Naruto!" he shouted although his thoughts were somewhere else. You're better able to take care of her than I am, Naruto; it's better this way. Not dwelling on that topic for too long, he quickly switched his thoughts over to tactics, How can I do this without trying to fight him? I guess I could always try that, and maybe I can make an opening to escape without having to hurt him this time. Sasuke lifted up his left sleeve to reveal a tattoo running up his arm. Biting his finger, he smeared his blood along his arm and summoned Manda. Naruto wasn't far behind with calling upon Gamabunta. They both stood their on their respective summons while they each plotted their strategy. A few minutes later before either had made the first move, both turned in surprise to see that another member had joined the battle as she suddenly was standing atop Katsuyu.

"Not this set up again," Gamabunta commented.

"Sakura-chan, since when could you...?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Don't sound so surprised, I've been able to do this since before you returned from your training. You didn't think I was going to let you two leave me behind, did you?" she asked, meaning both in training and this battle. She leaned down and whispered to the slug, I'm in no condition to fight, Katsuyu. I want you to mainly focus on defense, ok?"

"Of course, Sakura-san," the slug acquiesced.

"Heh," was Sasuke's only response. This is going to be even more difficult to escape without a fight. I suppose the best strategy would be to try to somehow capture Sakura and use her to get Naruto to give up the fight and make my escape. I'll have to be careful, though, not to hurt her…or their baby. With his mind set on his plan, Sasuke leaped from Manda over toward Katsuyu, but had to quickly change his trajectory when he noticed a glob of poisonous saliva heading his way and landed in a tree next to her.

"Katsuyu! What are you doing? I said defense. By all means, don't try to kill him!" she whispered emphatically.

"Forgive me, Sakura-san, you didn't specify not to hurt him. But that certainly makes defending you more difficult."

"I'm sorry, just do your best."

Sasuke, noticing that Sakura was in conversation took his advantage and jumped in from the side. He was about to pull her off when a yellow-haired blob came flying at him and both of them went soaring down onto the ground.

"How dare you even think of attacking Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed as he landed on top of Sasuke and began punching him furiously. And despite all the accusations he made earlier, he shouted at Sasuke, "I told her you cared about her. I thought she meant something to you, you bastard! I really believed that! Don't you care!" But Sasuke just lay there and took every punch without saying a word.

From on top of Katsuyu, Sakura murmured to herself, "This isn't right. This isn't how it should be. We shouldn't be fighting each other." She had just finished speaking those words when she watched in horror as Naruto was already growing one chakra tail. As the second one started to form, she instinctively reached in her pack for a seal. Shit! I must have given them all to Kakashi-sensei! What am I going to do? I have to stop him somehow. Pausing for just a moment, she decided it was worth a try.

Quickly jumping down from the slug, she ran over to the two boys, forming a number of seals on her way. "Naruto, stop! We're not going to do it like this. Can you hear me!" she cried. But already a third tail was sprouting. I guess I have no choice. Finally within reach, and with her left hand firmly behind her right, Sakura slammed her palm at the base of Naruto's spine, only to be flung back and knocked unconscious from the power of the kyuubi's chakra.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out as she sat up with a start. Taking note of her surroundings, she found that she had been propped up against a tree, and Naruto, who was still unconscious, was sitting next to her.

"I'm right here," Sasuke spoke from behind her.

Startled, she snapped her head around quickly to confirm with her eyes that indeed he was still there. "How long was I out?" she asked, still a little groggy.

"Just a few minutes. You burned your hand there pretty good doing whatever it was you were trying. I put some salve on it and bandaged it up. Your chakra is running pretty low, most likely due to the large summoning you did, so if the pain's not too bad I'd recommend letting someone else heal it. You really should take better care of yourself. What would Naruto say if he knew you took such a foolish risk not only of wasting your chakra, but…well you're lucky I was able to catch you before you crashed into anything and could have lost…"

"Sorry," she muttered. "I figured if I didn't summon Katsuyu, you guys wouldn't even notice I was there. What were you fighting about anyway? You weren't trying to run off again, were you?"

"Hn."

Sakura sighed and shifted her sitting position. I wonder why he didn't take off already, he had the perfect chance while we were both unconscious.

"So what was that technique you were trying?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Well, I didn't have any seals to stop his transformation with the kyuubi chakra, so I thought I'd try this jutsu I've been studying that's supposed to shut down the chakra system. It probably doesn't work if the chakra is a lot stronger than your own, though, as you saw the results," she explained. "But at least it stopped him," she added as she looked over at Naruto, relieved.

"What's so bad about it?"

"Well, if it goes too far, for one he goes into berserker mode. But being in that state also burns off his skin and shortens his life span."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and he does it for you, you know. In order to be strong enough to rescue you. But unfortunately he can't call on it without losing control." Another short silence passed between them before Sakura spoke up again. "So you're just going to take off again, huh?" She started to stand up and was about to bend down and pick up Naruto and return to the base when Sasuke gave her a surprising answer.

"And exactly what would I have to return to? Punshiment and being restricted from carrying out my revenge. Tell me, what reason would I have to go back now?" he prodded from her.

Leaving Naruto where he was, Sakura straightened back up to face him. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe a child on the way. I thought that might have at least made you hesitate and possibly consider returning. But then again, you were still willing to attack me, so I guess I don't know you as well as I thought I did," she retorted somewhat bitterly.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," he countered, although with a soft voice.

"Weren't you? You're not exactly clear in your intentions. Even in your letter. You explained you regretted ever coming to me in the first place, that you wanted me to be happy. But that's it. I still hardly know anything about what you think and feel about me. You still never open up to me." She was desperately trying to hold back the tears behind a wall of anger.

"Do you want to talk about being open? Then maybe we should start with you trying to hide you and Naruto being married from me."

"Trying to hide? What's there to hide? We're not married."

"So that wasn't a wedding ring that you took off and that he's still wearing." He pointed at Naruto for the last part.

"Ok, those are wedding rings. We had a wedding ceremony. But it's obviously fake because I'm already married to you."

"Maybe it's fake on a technicality, but you two slept together."

"All right. I admit it, we slept together. So? Is that such a big deal?"

"Such a big deal?" he exclaimed exasperatedly as he automatically stepped in a little closer to her. "What else is there to happen after that? Pregnancy? Oh wait, that happened, too."

"What are you talking about? You aren't making any sense."

"Stop lying to me, Sakura," he spoke with an authoritative voice.

"Lying? Lying?" The emotions were really rising now. "How dare you accuse me of lying to you!" she shrieked as a right hook met his face. "I agreed to marry you. You leave me. I get pregnant and don't have a clue what to do. So I come find you, save you from Orochimaru, and you accuse me of lying?"

Unfazed by her punch that lacked any chakra enhancement, he narrowed his eyes at her. "So you're trying to tell me your marriage with Naruto is purely fake. That you didn't kiss him and aren't sleeping with him. And I gave you somewhere to go if something happened."

"That's right, you had a plan. Well, I didn't think it still counted since you left me. I'm sorry, I should have checked anyway, but I guess I wasn't thinking straight at the time. You know, from discovering that I was…wait, kiss him? Where did you get that idea?" she asked cautiously.

"I saw you kiss him, in his apartment."

"Oooh, and when you said 'slept together' you meant slept together," she muttered half to herself as she instinctively stepped a little closer to explain herself. "I did kiss him, once, but that was it I swear. You picked a very bad night to stop by apparently. I was having a bad night, to say the least. I smashed my face into a mirror right before that if it makes you feel any better. Um…why did you stop by then anyway? If you were going to, why not a lot sooner instead of leaving me hanging for 4 months. And, um, sorry about your face, I guess you had good reason to think I was lying." She hesitatingly reached up and gently placed her hand where she had made contact with her fist. Well, that explains his behavior, he thought I had actually married Naruto in the meantime. Thinking back to a statement he had made earlier she wondered, Crap, I bet he thought this was Naruto's child, too. No wonder he had such a strange reaction when I told him.

In turn, Sasuke thought, The fact that she can pinpoint when I visited makes it seem plausible she's telling the truth, that that was the only time it happened. He started to explain, "Well, Orochimaru figured out what I was doing, you know, us. And he asked if you were pregnant after he ran into you during a battle. Anyway, when no word came from you, I assumed you weren't. But then I had this dream that you were pregnant and so then I began to think that maybe you were pregnant but something happened that prevented you from contacting me. So I decided to check on you just in case." He paused to see how Sakura was taking everything. Her wide eyes stared up at him.

"You had a dream, too?" she asked somewhat excitedly. "That's actually how I realized I was pregnant. It was the weirdest thing with Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei dancing and singing in female voices…it was strange. What was your dream?"

Recalling what happened, he opted for, "Uh, it was nothing. You were just there and pregnant."

"Oh, ok. Well, um, go ahead and finish what you were saying."

"Well, that's pretty much it. I saw you kiss, I saw Naruto say, 'The least I can do is carry you to bed,' so I assumed you two were…"

"Don't you mean you heard Naruto?"

"I read his lips. Yours, too." He noticed she was looking at him kind of funny. "I wasn't trying to stalk, I was trying to find out what happened. I mean, I hear nothing from you, come back and find that you moved out of your parents' place. I see Naruto walking home, so I figured I'd ask him and that's when I saw you were there. It was out of concern," he explained, although he felt a little embarrassed because it did sound a good bit like stalking. "And sorry about accusing you of lying."

"So why didn't you still come talk to me?"

"Well, it seemed you were well taken care of, so I just left. Oh yeah, and there was an anbu watching your apartment, too."

"Anbu?" Sakura slapped her forehead. "Well that explains the mild reaction."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, a little confused.

"Tsunade-sama must have realized that the marriage was fake and that really it was you. I can't believe I wasn't more suspicious of her tame reaction when I told her the truth." She sighed at her own ineptness. When Sasuke made no attempt to verbally respond, she thought to say, "So…were you jealous?" She could not resist throwing that one out.

"No," he replied quickly, turning his face away from her slightly. He was also still in the process of trying to deny the small sense of relief he felt at hearing that someone would think that she would be with him over Naruto despite appearances. And then it suddenly hit him. Wait, if she and Naruto never, then that must mean…
(Track 11)

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be jealous…" she murmured quietly. It wasn't like she was really expecting him to be anyway, or certainly not admit to it at least.

So she was a little taken by surprise as Sasuke grabbed her by the shoulders. "So you're telling me that…you're saying that you're pregnant with…from me…"

She just nodded at him, and Sasuke sat down on a rock that was a few steps away. "Sakura, I'm…sorry," he apologized solemnly, "I didn't mean for that to happen."

A little confused at the sudden outburst, and then the regretful apology, Sakura decided that she also needed to sit down. "You mean, you didn't even want this?" she asked despairingly. "I thought that was the whole reason you asked me to…but now it seems that you don't even want that…and if that's the case, then…then…" Without finishing her sentence, she quickly covered her face with both of her hands. She could not hold back these tears. At that moment, she suddenly really felt alone.

Sasuke quickly glanced in Naruto's direction only to see that the boy was still very unconscious. What do I say now? I don't know what to do in this kind of situation. But I have to do something. Rather unsure of himself, he turned to face Sakura and gently pulled her hands away from her face and wiped away her tears as he cupped her face with both hands. "I always seem to give you a reason to cry, don't I?" he spoke softly.

"Not always," she whispered in reply, staring back at him.

Letting his hands drop and turning slightly so he wasn't facing her directly, he confessed, "I did want an heir. You're right, that is what I wanted. But that changed. Or not so much that I stopped wanting an heir for my clan, but I no longer wanted it to be you." He paused for a moment. "I'm not saying this right. I guess I'm trying to say I don't deserve to ask that of you. I was hoping I could slip back out of your life the way I snuck in and you could go on with a better life without me in it. I wasn't counting on you getting pregnant when I came to that decision."

"That decision you made by yourself," she reminded him, although a little more gently this time.

"Yeah, you already scolded me for that one. I guess I'm just used to living on my own and making my own decisions, it's hard for me to change, I guess." He was about to stand up and say he was going to leave, but then he remembered what he had just been corrected on. "So where do we go from here?"

"If you won't return to Konoha, then take me with you," she spoke in all seriousness.

"No. I won't let you do that."

Feeling the tears well up once again, she choked out, "You can't leave me to deal with this on my own. Please," she begged him.

He just stood up and started to walk away. "I can't take you with me."

Seeing his retreating form, somehow she found her courage again. In an unyielding tone, she spoke out, "Whether you meant it to happen or not, I got pregnant. It was your idea to get married. It was your idea to have sex, which has resulted in this. Now, I consented to all of this, so I'm not putting all the blame on you, but you were definitely a part of it so you need to take responsibility for it and you're sure as hell not leaving me again."

"But that's no kind of life for you," Sasuke started to protest.

"So is it going to be Konoha or somewhere else," she presented, her eyes glaring fiercely at his back.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Sasuke turned and walked back to where she was sitting and offered his hand to help her up. She grasped it tightly, but she had only taken a few steps before turning around and looking back at Naruto's unconscious form.

"Don't worry, someone will find him. It would have been difficult not to notice the summons, so they'll find his location easily enough," Sasuke answered even though she hadn't said a word.

"Well, there's that, but…well, I would have liked to see my family one last time…I guess. And I could try to get permission from Tsunade-sama for leaving, and…"

"I don't think this is going to work."

"…Naruto would probably want to come, too," she finished after him.

He just stared at her for a while before answering. "Naruto's not coming. Fighting beside him is one thing, but I can't…I don't want to face him right now. Back when I left, the first time, I mean, well, at the Valley of the End-"

"I know, he told me," she interrupted. "But if you just talk to him, you'll see-"

"You want to say good bye to your family and everyone first, right?" he interrupted instead.

Sakura nodded.

Family… "Then will 5 days be enough? I'll wait for you at the Good Luck Inn, but I'm leaving at sunset whether you're there or not."

"Thank you," she shouted joyfully as she crashed into him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she gave him a hug.

I guess I can do something to make her happy after all, he thought to himself.

"Hey!" Sakura cried out.

"Hm?"

"The curse seal is gone," she informed him as she pulled back from the hug a little so she could face him.

"It is?" he asked, shocked. His right hand instinctively flew to the back of his neck as he made two realizations. He couldn't believe that he was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice when the mark had disappeared. He also didn't notice until he moved his right arm that he had wrapped his arms around her waist when she hugged him, and that his left arm was still there.

"That must mean that they were able to kill Orochimaru!" She smiled up at him.

"Yeah." Sasuke just stood there like that for a few more seconds feeling awkward and comfortable at the same time in the embrace with Sakura smiling genuinely at him. She hadn't smiled like that around him since before he had left Konoha. It was like how she smiled at Naruto when he had come to pick her up for their outing. A bigger smile in fact. Was it all because of knowing the battle was over, or was part of it because she was going with him? Can I really make her happy?

"Why don't you at least stay until Naruto wakes up," she tried suggesting, "I'm sure he'd want that."

"No, I can't. Someone's coming." He dropped the arm he still had around her and took a step back out of her embrace.

Sakura turned around and heard footsteps coming from behind her, and when she turned back, Sasuke was already gone. Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that he had agreed to meet her later, she quickly ran over to Naruto. She had just picked up his limp form when a Konoha ninja appeared in front of her.

"Oh good! I found you. The Hokage-sama needs your assistance right away," he reported immediately.

"What's wrong? Is she ok?" Sakura asked with concern.

"She's fine, it's Jiraiya-san."

"Here, take him," Sakura ordered as she passed Naruto over to him. "Where are they?"

"Where they were fighting, right outside the hideout."

"Thanks. Take care of him for me," she called as she was already running back toward the hideout.

Whatever it is, please let me make it in time, she thought to herself. I'll feel terrible if something happens because I was here talking to Sasuke instead of carrying out the duty Tsunade-sama assigned to me. She increased her speed with her ever growing sense of urgency.