Hello everyone! I'm updating late...yet again. I know I'm sorry! I swear I'll devote a tad bit more time to this. I know the feeling when you want a story to continue but see that there are no more chapters to read.

Sasuke: glare

AznxAngel: .() I think I've angered my favorite character ( --- kissing ass)

Sakura: He's just mad because you've got another guy going after me smirk

Sasuke: snickers

AznxAngel: rolls eyes Anyway back to the main point...the story! Hooray!

Redemption of the Heart

At the sound of the low, masculine voice, Sakura felt her heartbeat quicken tenfold. She noticed that Sasuke and Ichigo were already behind her, more than likely taking on a defensive stance but she took her time as she turned her body slowly. She felt she had no reason to rush, that voice was just dripping with malice and hate, why rush to greet it's owner? She swallowed roughly and found that indeed her suspicions had been correct. Sasuke stood in front of her, stooping low to the ground in a defensive stance with his sharingan eyes activated and ready to strike, while Ichigo stood a few feet in front of him to her left.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke shouted angrily. He didn't like this man one bit. He had said two things wrong in his eyes. He had claimed to have a non-existent victory against the Uchiha and second, he had made a claim on Sakura's life. Both of which were unforgivable.

The man who had introduced himself clearly looked excited that a hunt was about to ensue. His eyes glimmered in the growing sunlight as he perched himself on a tree branch looking quite comfortable.

"Strange, I'm almost positive I had introduced myself just moments ago, but I guess the natives to Konoha are more deaf than they are dense!" He laughed to himself as Sasuke struggled to hold back a low gurgling growl. "Aside, from that I'm sure it's blatantly clear that my business is with the the little blossom standing only a few steps behind you. Of course, I'll take the pleasure of spilling unnecessary blood, if you insist that is," Sasuke didn't hold back his growl this time. The man threw his head back and laughed full heartedly. His deep sea green hair stilled as his laughter subsided when a clear and confident voice interrupted his show.

"Fuyu, your attempts will turn out to be a waste of time, turn back and return to the Village of Ice before you really piss me off." Ichigo stated sternly.

"Ah, Ichigo Nagusame. I remember you as a child. I'd wander around the villages after a hard day of training with my father," he began. "I'd wander around trying to cover the bruises that littered my body, but I always found you and your silly father holding hands lovingly and strolling around the park. You Nagusame never did know the toils of struggle," Fuyu spat, the anger creeping into his eyes. "Your father always had that damn goofy smile on that handsome face of his, but I must say I never did like his smile until now. He looks quite charming smiling like that as he lay his casket, of course that is, after the village found the rest of his body." He laughed once again, the hollow chilling sound, echoed through the peaceful forest.

"Fuck you and your blood lust!" Ichigo shouted. "I'll tear you to shreds for his death!"

"You would think with all the money the Harunos poured into your family's bank account, you could afford a better education. I mean, your language is just distasteful." Ichigo narrowed his eyes as a smirk spread across Fuyu's face.

"Enough! If you're here to claim Sakura's life I suggest you start digging your grave because before the end of this day, I'll be sending you straight to hell." Sasuke stated flatly. Sakura felt a slight tug inside of her heart. Had Sasuke actually let his concern for her spill out into the open? She felt a tear form in the corner of her eye as she felt the tension inside of her melt. She felt no terror anymore. Sakura was confident that he would protect her with his life, even if it wasn't because he cared, in a rivalry, he always won.

Sasuke cringed inwardly as he listened to himself speak. Had he sounded that...concerned? There were way too many things wrong with this picture. First off, he was protecting Sakura at a very close range. Now protecting Sakura isn't the problem, but the fact that he was closer to her than usual was not only because of the threat on her life but something about Ichigo bothered him and he would never admit that the great Uchiha was jealous. Second, he actually shouted angrily, hell he sounded completely impatient and annoyed. But to top it all off, even amidst all this chaos, Sasuke found himself distracted by the flowery scent that Sakura's hair expelled as the gentle breeze blew. Sasuke had this last thought run through his head and creased his brow. He was definitely becoming way too soft.

His train of thought was broken when Fuyu had disappeared silently after dispersing several gleaming senbon his way. Sasuke leapt out of the way, dodging the weapons to the left. He landed softly and spun around to feel Fuyu's ominous chakra emerge behind him. Fuyu materialized behind Sakura, laughing as he sent a flurried attack of kicks and punches. His speed was almost demonic as she saw what she could only assume were his limbs as the blurred color of flesh rapidly moved to land a punch. Sakura tried her hardest to block the full assault but was caught off guard when Fuyu landed a strong punch to her chest. Sakura went flying backwards roughly knocking her back into the bark of an old tree. She coughed painfully into her cupped hand and grimaced as she felt a warm spray of fresh blood erupt from her throat. She looked up just in time to see Sasuke reach Fuyu as Ichigo ran to aid her.

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked concerned. She nodded and licked her lips removing the speckles of blood left on her mouth as she wiped her bloodied hand into the dirt.

"Just fine, he landed a lucky punch is all." Sakura smiled weakly. She could hear metal clashing as she stood. Sasuke threw two shuriken easily at Fuyu as he moved closer to the two resting at the base of a tree. He smirked as the two split into opposite directions when his fist came into contact with the tree trunk, sending splinters and wood chips all over the near surroundings. The slight distraction of exploding tree bark cost Sakura three good seconds of her attention but it was too late. She could feel his breath lurking coldly on the back of her neck. She knew her speed was not nearly up to par with his and so forced herself to find a way to run without letting him lay on a finger on the two strong men she cherished.

"You know, you're really giving your family a bad name. First, you can barely put a fight against me and second, you'd think although you specialize as a medic, you have no tricks up your sleeve." Sakura hissed as she felt him send a senbon into her upper back with lightening speed.

"Shit," she hissed again. With her medic skills she could feel that he had only missed puncturing her lung by mere centimeters but left enough damage in the firm muscles lining her shoulders. Another injury to tend to, on top of the others she needed to care for at the hospital. Fuyu laughed hauntingly in her ear as he heard her faintly curse under her breath.

"Gentleman. I don't see why you waste your time. I'm only here for one reason." Fuyu looked at Sasuke as he spoke. Fuyu's ice cold fingers danced their way up from Sakura's back to her neck wrapping around it in a vice like grip. "Her pulse is just jumping with life, and my hands are just itching to end it. You have no idea how exciting it is to feel your prey's heightened heartbeat. The thrill of feeling, just how much they fear the death you're about to bring. Truly entertaining, you should try for yourself sometime." Fuyu laughed giving Sakura's delicate neck a firm squeeze. Sakura's breath hitched in her throat as the gasp of air she was trying to swallow, was cut short by his hands. Sasuke could only stand meters away watching the scene unfolding before him. Ichigo stood grasping tightly onto his shuriken as Sasuke held a few senbon between his fingers. Sakura grimaced knowing there would be no way Sasuke or Ichigo could approach them without sheding blood, perhaps even risking their own life. She licked her parched lips and looked dead on at Sasuke. At first, he couldn't understand what she was doing. He could sense her gathering a small amount of chakra to her shoulder. He stared back at her as the silence between the whole group seemed to be lengthening out to an eternity and then it hit him. The way she had just sent chakra to her shoulder, the way her feet were planted into the ground and her tensed muscles. She wanted him to throw a senbon, more specifically right through her shoulder and into Fuyu's chest. Sasuke knew if he didn't act fast he'd miss his opportunity.

"Sakura, you really are dense. Sending healing chakra to your shoulder won't help if it's on the wrong side." Fuyu smirked, truly thinking Sakura was that dumb. "I've heard that blondes are dumb, but never pastel haired women."

"That's what you think!" Sakura forced through her teeth. In that moment she spoke, Sasuke had leapt into the air, carefully tucking the senbon into his headband, concealing the weapons. Fuyu twisted his body and Sakura's to face Sasuke, thinking to use her as a human shield, but Sasuke brought on the long needles and sent them flying towards the two. Two senbon went through the rough material of Fuyu's leather coat and planted the two against the trunk of a tree.

"You missed." Fuyu smiled as his own heartbeat began to quicken. Before Sasuke landed, he sent his last senbon flying with lightening speed. Sakura braced herself for the hit. In the exact moment that the senbon pierced Sakura's soft flesh, she concentrated on healing the injury moments after it was made. The light blue chakra worked quickly to close the skin around the senbon, but unfortunately for Fuyu the senbon went clear through his chest and anchored his back right into the tree. Sakura sent a few quick punches to his chest as she turned away from his grasp and leapt backwards into the air. She stood on shaky feet as she looked into the pale face of Fuyu. He grimaced as his lips slimmed out into a flat thin line. A small trickle of blood escaped from his lips and trailed down his chin and dribbled down even to his throat. "This is far from over..." Fuyu coughed aloud as more blood sprayed from his punctured lung. His voice seemed to gurgle as he continued, "You may have bought enough time to return to the safety of the village, but you haven't seen the last of me. I have a feeling that Sakura herself will be the one to seek me out." With that, Fuyu disappeared from the tree trunk only to leave the three senbon embedded deeply into the bark, and the traces of blood from his wound. Sakura finally let out a shaky breath of relief and collapsed to her knees.

"Sakura! Are you crazy? You shouldn't have let him do that! What if he missed and killed you in the process?!" Ichigo shouted angrily looking every now and then between the two.

Sakura just closed her eyes as a tear slipped from her dark lashes and down her cheek. She shook her head lightly as she spoke. "It was the only way. We didn't know who he was and how strong he was, to challenge him and risk seeing the both of you get hurt..." she took a moment to remember how demonic his movements were and gulped. "I..I just...I just didn't have the heart to risk it. I wasn't going to stand by and be responsible for the two of you getting hurt. I'm a medic I heal, not cause harm."

-------

An hour later Sakura was healed thoroughly and dressed into clean crisp clothes before reporting to Tsunade. She knew that once she entered the bustling area of the village to get to the hospital, word would spread that Tsunade's beloved student had fallen under attack inside the Konoha gates. Kakashi had been the one to notify her. She sighed knowing full well what to expect. She approached Tsunade's door and proceeded to straighten out her top before entering. She was surprised to see Kakashi, Ichigo and Sasuke all snap their attention to her from inside the room.

"Tsunade-sensei, you called for me?" Sakura asked closing the door softly with a click behind her.

"Yes, Sakura, I did. I wanted to speak to you about what happened today. Sasuke and your friend Ichigo have already filled me in on the details of the attack, but I wanted to ask you a few questions." Tsunade said adjusting her glasses so they rested on the bridge of her nose. "First of all, I wanted to say you did well in your choice of tactics for this afternoon's attack. I'm sure because you are a kunoichi you understand fully well that you needed to protect your fellow Konoha friends." Sakura's ego slightly soared as she heard the praise from her teacher. "But sometimes I wonder, how dumb you can be! You risked yourself without even allowing Sasuke and Ichigo to go to their full potential to protect you. Now that this, Fuyu character, has already gone through our gates, who knows when this bastard will be back and what kind of havoc he will reek later!" Tsunade shouted taking her index finger and poking the report that had been left on her desk.

Shot down. Sakura lowered her gaze as the tension in the room began to thicken. "I'm sorry Tsunade-sama, but you know I can't bear to think that because of me those two would get hurt." Sakura said as her eyes began to water. She cursed herself saying she wouldn't dare let a teardrop fall in the presence of these three courageous ninja.

"Sakura," Tsunade spoke softly, "I don't know if you understand the full extent of the situation. It seems that in order to protect those two, you are now risking the welfare of all the citizens of Konoha. We just don't have the resources or money to risk having some sort of war break out. Not now, we can't afford it. You know full well how much damage our village has taken after defeating Orochimaru and the attacks from Atatsuki."

Sakura cut Tsunade off in the middle of her speech, having the feeling of her stomach drop. "Tsunade-sama, what are you saying?" She could only fear the worst was to come as Tsunade sighed heavily rubbing her temples as she continued.

"It seems that your very presence is a threat to Konoha." Sakura had her jaw hanging open as she heard what came next. "I think it may be best if you were relocated." Kakashi, who was currently leaning against the wall looking out Tsunade's office window snapped his head in mild shock while Sasuke's face tightened with a frown.

"What do you mean relocated? You mean I'm being thrown out of the village? This is my home!" Sakura said not being able to help the tears of frustration. Why in God's name was all this shit happening now? As if she asked to be part of some ridiculous ancient family. She didn't want anything to do with the old Harunos anyway!

"Sakura, I know it sounds ridiculous, but we barely have information on this person and from what we know so far, he probably has an army gathered and enough resources to give us a rough time. You know how people from the Village of Ice are! It's for your own safety and for Konoha that you be relocated. I can't guarantee for how long you have to be away, but I promise the minute we have gathered substantial information on Fuyu and he is detained, you will be immediately escorted back. We just need time to dig up some dirt on this guy and we can't risk having you inside the walls of our village, it would be like putting ourselves in a trap and I won't have it." Tsunade sighed heavily knowing full well that this banishment of sorts, was crushing her student as she spoke, but it was true. If they kept Sakura in the village, all they could do is anticipate an attack, at any day, and any time. Who knows what sort of dirty tricks this Fuyu character would bring. Tsunade just couldn't risk bringing war to their village and surrounding neighbors, not even for Sakura's sake.

Sakura said nothing but slowly slid into the chair that rested in front of Tsunade's desk. She tilted her chin lower, letting her pink locks cascade over her face like a curtain. She tried her best to keep her whimpering to a minimum but slipped a few times. She just couldn't believe that in the last few days, her life would end up like hell. "Think of this as, a mission of sorts. Yes, Sakura, the biggest mission you have ever had to accept." Tsunade said thoughtfully, hoping that Sakura's ego would take the bait.

"Tsunade-sama, this is far from being a mission. This is asking me to walk away from my life. These walls have been my home for my entire life! Inside these walls I've felt protected, felt like I had a goal to strive towards, these walls protected the dearest of friends..." Sakura's breath quickened and she could feel her heartbeat become erratic from the anxiety and pain she was experiencing. "These walls contain all of my fondest memories and you're asking me to leave everything behind for God knows how long! I may as well walk up to Fuyu myself and let him end this! Asking me to leave this place is asking me to bury Sakura here among the other dead and walk away forever!" Sakura shouted angrily. The days of stress and heartache was finally catching up to her. She had always known herself to be an emotional brat when she was younger, but she had thought she'd grown out of it. But today was an exception. She had witnessed her family home burn down and had been attacked and a long history of her family had been revealed. She just couldn't handle the idea that those who loved and supported her would be left behind, so she could cope alone, within the cold walls of another village.

"She obviously can't go alone. She needs to be protected while she resides in the other village, so who's going to be doing this?" Kakashi asked rubbing his masked chin.

"Well, Ichigo has graciously offered to stay with Sakura for as long as she lives outside of Konoha. I think Ino has also volunteered stay with Sakura for her first month outside of Konoha and then from there on, I will assign two more to rotate in and out every month." Tsunade said reviewing her files. Upon hearing this, Sasuke's heart constricted. Should he ask to be part of the rotation and be with Sakura for a month, risking to tread on the unknown grounds of letting his emotions get the best of him? Or was he to keep his mouth firmly shut and let this pass and continue on living as the frigid ice block everyone knew? He was teetering on the boarder of no-man's land and he was truly in a dead lock.

"You have five days to prepare yourself for this journey. Report back to me tomorrow with Ichigo and I will discuss the exact destination of your new residence. I meanwhile, you say goodbye to friends and pack your things. That is all for now. All of you may go" Tsunade said fixing her glasses again before proceeding to write things in a fury of hand strokes onto a scroll.

The three men followed Sakura out of the room. They made their way down the hallway and back out into the streets of Konoha where the streets were busy with life. They were surprised to see Ino, Shikamaru and Naruto fighting about who would pay for the next round of ramen. Ichigo and Kakashi joined the group hesitantly as Sasuke approached them a little bit slower. He looked over his shoulder to peek at Sakura who was currently dragging her feet along like a slug, with her arms hanging lifeless at her sides. He sighed heavily and joined the rest of the group. The three men knew better than to probe around and ask Sakura is she were alright. They knew she wasn't, and acting professional about the whole ordeal and trying to discuss mission plans was just out of the question. Sakura lifted her eyes for the first time since the brief meeting with Tsunade and saw the group that stood only a few feet ahead of her. The hazy afternoon sun made them all glow. It was almost like looking into a distant memory that she had stashed away in her mind. The beautiful buildings, the trees and cloudless sky as a back drop and her friends among all the beautiful scenery made her heart ache again. She ran a shaky hand through her hair before realizing what Tsunade was asking of her; to walk away from this, her life in Konoha. Sakura choked back a sob.

"Oh God, what have I done?"