The silent formation of shinobi flew through the air, only a blur to those few woodland animals that had been out, gone before the leaves they disturbed made it to the ground.

Sakura, to the left of the leading scout shinobi, twisted her head to look behind her.

They were treating him like a criminal, and sent him looks every so often, even though he surrendered without a confrontation. Sakura knew in her head that it was justified behavior, but her heart was shouting that he wasn't a traitor or a threat.

Sakura had been glad at first, just about overjoyed to see them, but then things between Sasuke and herself had stopped.

Sasuke had clammed up in the presence of their rescue squad, no longer sparing her a glance, his gaze affixed ahead of him. The only proof that he felt anything was the faintest hint of a scowl on his otherwise blank face. Sakura almost winced from the frostbite his cold emotionless face radiated.

Back in the meadow, she had finally caught a glimpse of the Sasuke she had known as genin, the boy she had thought long dead. She desperately wanted it to be true; that Sasuke was once more her teammate and friend. But now, when they had at last made some real progress, all of her hard-earned work could be undone in a moment by the very people that had come to save them.

Sakura returned her focus to what was in front of her, frowning at the problem. But what could she do about it? As the saying went, Sasuke had made his bed and now was the time to sleep in it. But even so, there was a part of her, the part that no matter how low or far away Sasuke could get, was dead set on defending him. So Sakura continued to steal glances at him over her shoulder, dissatisfied.

Sakura sighed to herself, resigned to allow whatever was necessary to bring Sasuke home once and for all. After he was home, she herself would personally ensure that he never strayed again. She smiled with a little joy back in her heart at the thought.

Abruptly, Sakura was struck with a cold feeling of dread.

She may not have been a sensor ninja, but she did get bad feelings that were often justified. 'Just like it did that night, Sasuke, do you even remember it? Do you ever think of those words I said when I tried to get you to stay?'

Not a second later, Sakura felt the creeping yet gentle sensation of genjutsu permeate the area around them. She let it continue to build up around her but prepared some chakra to break through it or block it as it took effect.

Sakura was about to say something in warning, when one of the trackers gave the commander a sign that they were being followed. The commander then gave the halt signal. Sakura felt the adrenaline begin to flow as she prepared for the worst. She had just known it was too good to be true: Madara would not simply let them go. Perhaps he was the one who was preparing the genjutsu around them.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably as the chakra in the air became more tangible; but no one spoke about it, they merely waited for the user to initiate whatever jutsu they were planning, prepared to defend themselves. The young tracker knelt and preformed his jutsu. After a few seconds, he reported his findings, "There are at least twenty white zetsus below and behind us. Three meters down and forty meters back, slightly to the east of our current position."

Sakura only half-listened to the tracker, her attention mostly taken by Sasuke, who had finally shown some more emotion on his face. He was looking straight into her eyes, and even though she could never remember a time that she could read him, it was like now he was letting her in on some of what he was thinking.

He never changed his facial expression, but his eyes, they were so full of something and he was trying to tell her. Sakura shivered involuntarily at the intensity of his gaze. He was trying to say important she was sure, but the only thing she could feel from that gaze was what strangely sounded like good-bye.

She was still trying to decipher what he was trying to tell her, when the captain broke her line of sight with him. And then, the terrible cold feeling returned tenfold, just like before he left the first time, and she forced herself to swallow at the hard lump in her throat. When she made eye contact with Sasuke again, the genjutsu was in effect, and Sasuke wouldn't look at her anymore.

She narrowed her brows as she listened back into the conversation, puzzled by Sasuke's behavior, and saddened by her inability to understand him. But far more than that, she was terrified that he was really trying to tell her goodbye and that somehow, he was leaving soon. Even then, the question that weighed heaviest on her mind and threatened to crush her was whether or not Sasuke was working for Madara.

Her heart shuddered at the mere thought of it, but it was a valid (not to mention important) concern. She turned once more to look at him, but try as she might, she could read nothing from him. He seemed somewhat off though.

If he is to betray us, she thought, it will be soon.

What was he going to do? Would he fight them, or wait until they were distracted by the genjutsu or the Zetsu following them? She honestly didn't know which would be better. She bit her cheek as she fought down the panic, thoughts running through her head, 'I won't let him. Somehow, I'll stop him. I'll make him stay.'

She looked over at him one last time, and then it hit her: Sasuke was gone.

It was his genjutsu clone she was studying now. Was that what he was trying to tell her? Was it really some twisted remake of the last time he left her? His words to her then floated into her mind like a taunting chant, 'Thank you, Sakura. Thank you, Sakura. Thankyou,SakuraThankyou,SakuraThankyouThankyou.'

The mission leader, Koichi, Sakura believed, interrupted her thoughts again, clearing his throat and stroking his chin in thought before he, like Sakura, switched his intense gaze to Sasuke. 'I have to be wrong, I have to. Sasuke wouldn't. He just wouldn't, right?' Sakura waited anxiously to hear what the man would have them do, knowing that the same suspicions she had, he must have in spades.

Koichi addressed the assembled team, "Sasuke" still in the center of the guard formation, "Listen up; Sasuke, Sakura and I will head left, while Yuina, Hikaru, and Yoshiro will go right from our current position for ten meters and then regroup. Yuina, give Yamato to Sakura. Go."

Sakura followed him and "Sasuke" to their left with Yamato on her back. After the others were out of sight, Koichi held up his hand for them to stop, and all landed soundlessly on the branches of an old tree. Turning to Sakura, he began, "You are the apprentice of the Hokage, and I expect you to act as a Konoha shinobi and a member of the joint shinobi army in the event your former teammate should prove to be against us."

Sakura swallowed thickly but nodded her head in agreement. Should she say something, or was the captain testing her? Was that why he had them split into groups that didn't exactly make sense?

The next instant however, "Sasuke" disappeared.

Sakura stared where he had been standing, the faintest hint of tears in her eyes, even though she had known for a while that it wasn't really him. Her thoughts dully echoed, 'No, no, no. Not again. Please Sasuke, not again.' But she resigned herself to the inevitable: Sasuke left her-them...them, again.

Koichi however, was rather calm, and addressed her sternly, "Calm down Haruno. You know as well as I that he used a genjutsu. You know when the real Sasuke slipped away earlier too, but we wanted him to think we were fooled. What he doesn't realize is that we are already following him. Whatever he is up to, we'll know shortly."

"The real issue here is where your loyalties lie. I know that he was your teammate, and I also know that your Hokage did not put him in the Bingo Book as a criminal when she had the chance on behest of you and your other teammate. I know that your record is spotless as far as can be known, and that you are the apprentice of the Hokage, as I said before. But since we have found you, you have consistently taken the criminal's side, even though his is our enemy, and a member of the Akatsuki."

He made to leave, but headed in the wrong direction to pursue Sasuke, "Wait," Sakura cried, panic creeping into her voice. When he kept going, she tossed Yamato as gently to the ground as she could in a hurry, and grabbed his wrist, "Are you going after him now?"

Koichi shook his head, "I'm taking you to HQ first, and then I'll rejoin my team to take down the Uchiha."

Sakura did her best to keep from begging, but she couldn't restrain the desperateness of her voice as she asked him, "Please take me with you. I can talk to him and at the very least, wouldn't I be a distraction for you? I'll do whatever you say, if that's what it takes, but please, please just take me with you to go after Sasuke!"

Koichi shook his head sternly, a frown etched in his face, "You may be an excellent medic, but I have one enough, one who's combat skill surpasses yours. I have no need for a burden that has no control over her emotions. You let them cloud your vision and fog your mind when it comes to the Uchiha." As Sakura's face reflected her crushed heart upon hearing the description that had so haunted her and driven her to become Tsunade's apprentice in the first place, his face softened a fraction.

"You are beyond a doubt a good shinobi, your skills reflect that, and you are an even greater medical ninja. As you are now, I have no doubt you would make an outstanding Special Jonin in medicine. But no matter how good your skills are at this point it doesn't matter when you are facing opponents who are greater shinobi. Fight only those battles you can win, or you will die quickly and pointlessly. The Uchiha is far above your level, and even if he wasn't, you would be crippled by your feelings for him. There is no particular shame in this, but the job you have already failed at is best left to someone who is not burdened by those feelings. Besides, you have a patient right now who needs you more," he finished by motioning to Yamato.

The first tear finally slipped from its vault and slid down her cheek, quickly followed by its neighbor on the other side. Koichi said nothing for a moment, giving the girl a chance to compose herself. He motioned her to follow him, and begrudgingly, Sakura complied, snagging Yamato up as she went.

While they began their travel to HQ, Sakura set her lips into a grim line, her face a little pale, but her resolve determined. She did not make the choice easily, but she was convinced it was the right one.

Once Koichi was assured she was obediently complying, Sakura took out one of the senbon her rescuers were so generous to arm her with, and threw it. Sakura then landed on the branch just before Koichi did while avoiding her senbon, and promptly hit his pressure point before he could turn around and stop her. Snatching him up before he fell, Sakura retrieved her weapon, and carefully laid both unconscious men under some vegetation where it would be harder to see them.

She felt the string of guilt, but quickly crushed it down. He may have been a kind and sincere man, one that she might have come to view as a father type like Kakashi, but Sakura's heart was in charge now. She would not waver.

Sakura then took off running heedlessly in the direction she felt Sasuke would be in, so much like the night he first left. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, and her emotions were running at an even faster pace. His handsome face flashed through her mind, from back when they were genin. From the times he would smile faintly at the antics of Naruto after a successful mission, or when he laughed at some seemingly trivial thing, (those moments few and far and in between). The times when he would compliment her or let her cling to him. She thought of the times when Team Seven would lay beneath the stars and drift peacefully to sleep. Or even the one time that Sakura woke up after a chilly night to find herself snuggled up to Sasuke, his sleeping face relaxed and peaceful, the faintest hint of a smile gracing his lips.

'Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke,' her mind and heart cried almost helplessly, 'It doesn't matter to me, the price I have to pay, what I might be giving up for you. I love you so much, and I'll do anything, anything, if it would make you stay.'

Then, off in the distance, at the edge of the woods, she faintly saw the outline of someone concealed in the shadows. As she practically flew towards the person, Sakura fought back tears, because so much like that night, she had found him. But this time, she would not let him leave without her. No matter what that might mean.

"Sakura," he said without looking at her, his back to her.

"Sasuke," she answered, her voice trembling as she stood only a few feet behind him.