Author's Note: Sorry for such a long wait. Thanks again for your patience. I try to update during the school breaks. I'll try to update again during Thanksgiving break or will at least be working on it. Keep reading and letting me know what you think. All of your feedback helps motivate me as a writer to keep writing.

P.S. Going off of research, I am trying my best to not take too many liberties with Kaguya's dimensions but am sticking closely to what we already know about them. Let me know what you think.

Pairing: SasuSaku

Chapter 19: Face Value

Sasuke stopped his long trek in the Kaguya's core dimension.

Finally, they reached the spot he was searching for. It was a small tower, a lookout that Sasuke had stumbled upon during his investigation of this realm a year ago. Being the link to all the other dimensions, Sasuke wasn't surprised that there was a base here. What he had been confused about, was that the tower was shorter and built parallel to a mountain that rose above it-not really an ideal spot for a lookout. It was also the same color as the red mountain that it was assembled against, as if it were constructed to be concealed rather than used to spot enemies. Realizing this, Sasuke had assumed it was one of Kaguya's hideouts rather than a battle fort. This just strengthened his belief that Kaguya was fearful-afraid of something more powerful than herself.

"What is this place?" Sakura asked beside him as they peered up at it.

Sasuke made for the entrance, a discreet crack between the mountain wall and the tower's side fortification. It could only be seen from behind one of the large boulders flanking the cylinder framework. No one who didn't know it was there, would be able to find it.

"I think it was one of Kaguya's holes she liked to crawl in when she wasn't causing terror back in our world."

"Oh," she gulped. Sasuke smirked and motioned for her to follow.

"It's safe," he reassured her. She stumbled after him.

They had been walking for hours since their last conversation. Sasuke had felt just a little bit guilty for his comment earlier about not wanting her with him for this (even if it was true, he shouldn't have told her) and not to mention the way he reacted when she had grabbed his hand. It was because of his guilt, that had Sasuke trying to smooth things over by teasing her and then letting his fingers remain too long against hers. To be honest, he had been afraid she would never grab his hand again… And it was thoughts like this that made it essential for Sasuke to prevent any further touches like that between them.

"How did you find this tower?" Sakura asked when they slipped behind the large rock and discovered the crack that led to a narrow cavern.

"By accident," he responded. There was nothing else to explain. Now, how he found the entrance? That was a puzzle that took him a full day to put together.

Once they made it inside the connecting cave, the darkness engulfed all of their senses, consuming any light that made it through the fracture. On instinct, Sasuke activated his Sharingan which helped his vision in this blackness. Sakura, however, was walking slowly and cautiously behind him.

Sasuke turned and carefully grabbed under Sakura's arm so she wouldn't make a wrong step in the darkness. He told himself that this was okay, considering he was helping her. And it would be a pain, if she got injured and slowed them down even further.

"You are certainly brave." Sakura announced, her voice echoing off the cavern. She kept her hand on the wall as Sasuke helped her maneuver her way to the entrance.

"Ninja aren't supposed to be scared of the dark," he teased her.

The Uchiha could just picture her glare when she replied, "I'm not."

Sasuke let go of her arm when they made it to the door at the end of the tunnel. He pushed firmly against it and the bottom of the door grated against the floor with a loud scuffing sound. It had been awhile since anyone had entered.

Even when the door opened, there was no light. Why?-Because there wasn't a single window crafted into this tower. Sasuke had learned that the first time he came here. If he hadn't been so accustomed to navigating Orochimaru's hideouts, he would have never discovered the torch hidden on the back of the door-which he grabbed and lit with a spark of his fire style. It was a flame that burned up more of his fading chakra.

"The darkness is all a part of this place's design," he communicated to a curious Sakura. "Kaguya didn't want anyone finding the entrance. And if they did, the darkness was meant to deter them from reaching the top."

"I see," she replied, shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness of the flame. Their faces were a lot closer than they had expected, and they both immediately took a step back away from each other.

"But why is this place even here?" Sakura quickly asked, peering into the darkness that circled their sphere of firelight.

"I believe," Sasuke replied, leading the way by flame. A few embers left a trail as he walked, "it's because Kaguya needed a place to rest when she ran out of chakra."

She nodded and bit her knuckle in deep thought. "Obito did tell me that it was an immense time-space to connect and travel to, and that it would require a lot of chakra to do so. It would make sense if she had to hole up somewhere in-between."

"My thoughts exactly," he announced when they came upon a stairway. The only strange thing about it was that the first step was 7 feet off the ground. Someone feeling their way around in the dark wouldn't have been able to locate it. When Sasuke had first found it, he had mused that the attempt to hide it had failed, considering how easily he had found it.

Sasuke jumped up and landed on the terrace with two feet. He turned to reach down to help Sakura, but she was already behind him. He jerked his hand back under his cloak before she noticed. Even though Sasuke considered her his equal, he found himself falling back into his old ways of attending to her like Sasuke, Naruto, and even Kakashi had when they were genin.

It seemed that Sakura was analyzing this funhouse, too, for she laughed to herself and said "It's like she wanted to mess with someone's head."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, wondering what secret Sakura thought she was on to.

"This stairway is a distraction," she said suddenly. "If someone happened to find the stairwell, they would think that they had outsmarted Kaguya by doing so, despite it being 7 feet off the ground. They would come this way, thinking that it was the entrance they weren't supposed to notice. I mean, that's what it seems like-a trick."

"What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously, squeezing through another discreet crevice to the right of the top step. On the other side was another stairwell, except it was above the exit you just came out of. So in order to find it, you would have to turn and look up as soon as you finished the firt stairwell, in order to find it.

"Think about it. What's the point of it? The entrance and even the torch was hidden in a place where if someone looked hard enough, they would be able to find it."

She jumped and grabbed the bottom step of the new stairwell and swung herself inside. "This is a joke!"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose. This all made perfect sense. This place wasn't a hideout, like he had thought. It was a maze. When he had first located the tower, Sasuke had analyzed every corner. There wasn't a single thing in this place. If Sakura was right, then this probably wasn't Kaguya's hideout at all, but a fake. If Kaguya's enemy found this, they were supposed to be distracted by this place, thinking they were one step closer to having her in their grasp, all while being led on a wild goose chase. This would be a perfect scenario if Kaguya were to make a quick get away.

The design wasn't supposed to keep people from discovering it; it was just difficult enough so that when someone did, they thought that they weren't meant to. So, he hadn't found it by accident at all. It was subtly thrown in your face. Brilliant. Sasuke had completely fell for it.

Sakura, however, had realized it immediately. Sasuke had truly forgotten how perceptive she was. Her discernment was truly off the charts. And to think he had been stumbling blindly for years, believing everything for it's face value. How much time had Sasuke wasted in this dimesion only, not including the others?

"The good news is," Sakura voiced in the dark, a step behind him now. "that there are probably several places out here like this, so if anyone's looking for us, they have a few to choose from."

Sasuke scowled. It was one of his biggest frustrations, but he had never found anyone else out in any of these dimensions. Each one was deserted. It was also his greatest relief that he hadn't come across anyone yet. It was that double-sided coin where he didn't want to ever find someone with the hope that the threat wasn't real, but yet, he searched for it because he wanted to eliminate it.

After the fifth set of stairs and several more obscure-but not that obscure-passageways, they came to a small chamber. It was a round, somewhat duty space, not larger than 15 feet in diameter. Their light barely illuminated it, revealing the dun-colored stone walls and floor. Besides the carved swirls etched into the stone, there was nothing else in the room. It was the end of the road. Sasuke set the torch in a hook, then slumped down the wall and sighed, completely exhausted from using his Rinnegan.

"We're stopping?" Sakura asked.

"I need to rest for a few minutes." he admitted, embarrassed because his pride stung by having to do so. She responded by sitting down across from him, as far away as she could get without leaving the room. Which bothered the Uchiha. It had to be because he snapped at her earlier. It was probably for the best.

"I had chakra pills in my bag, but it's back in the hotel room," she replied across from the wide space between them. He could barely see her because she sat just outside the firelight's circumference. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" he grumbled, feigning annoyance.

She dropped her voice as if she were trying to be less noisy to avoid bothering him. "If you need my chakra to get back, you can have it. . . All of it."

Sasuke remembered her Strength of a Hundred Seal that she inherited from Tsunade, and how she had used it in combination with Obito's Kamui to rescue Sasuke from Kaguya's desert dimension. "No," he replied immediately. That would only leave her vulnerable. "We'll just spend some time here until I recover."

"Is this how it always is?" she asked boldly and Sasuke frowned. "Do you have to rest after you use the Rinnegan each time?"

"It's unwise," he began, trying to play this answer where he still came out looking good, "to travel to more than one dimensions at a time. I have to reserve just enough chakra in case I come across an enemy. It's not enough to go back in one go. After I rest for the night, I should have enough to send us back soon."

"We could stay," Sakura offered, fingering the ends of her hair shyly. Her statement had Sasuke jerking up his head to acknowledge her statement in surprise. Why would she possibly be offering to stay in this horrible place? "I could help you, you know. It's why I am here. It's not my intention to be a useless weight to you."

"Sakura-" he began, then stopped. Could they stay? If Sakura were with him, maybe he'd be able to find out something important he had missed. Was that a selfish thought? Using her genius to help his goal? That's something the old Sasuke would do, wasn't it?

"No," he continued. "Staying here for too long, is a risk."

"Even if it's just a couple of days?"

"No."

She leaned forward, her face finally coming into the light. "But-"

He snapped again, "I'm not risking it." He glared at her, daring her to argue with him again. She had that stubborn set to her jaw that made Sasuke panic.

His voice grew quiet as he explained. "It was foolish of me to bring you here. You're in more danger here, than you were back in that hotel room. You were never supposed to come back here. I'm sorry."

"See," Sakura said, pulling her chin to her chest, resigned to let him have his way. "It's when you say stuff like that, that I—"

She bit her tongue to stop her speech and looked up at him to gauge whether or not she should finish what she was about to say. Sasuke didn't ask, and Sakura didn't offer anything more than a redirected gaze. After a minute, she leaned back against the wall and her face was shrouded in darkness again. The only thing Sasuke could see was the outline of her shadow and her illuminated legs as they were crossed at the ankle.

"We'll go back in the morning," he finally spoke. The flame was dying and Sasuke didn't have the energy to keep it lit. Fortunately this place was neither hot nor cold, so they wouldn't freeze to death without a fire.

He expected her to argue; to say that they had unfinished business here, but she didn't. All she said was, "To the Sand, it is." Sasuke nodded and leaned his head back against the wall.

….

How could she convince Sasuke to let her help him? How could she make him realize that Kaguya had created an elaborate mouse trap when she made these dimensions? The more Sakura thought about all of the different realms and thought back at her time in them, the more firmly Sakura believed there was a secret to them.

All these thoughts Sakura had as she watched Sasuke drift off to sleep. The Uchiha had taken an arms-crossed, eyes-closed, casual posture against the far wall, and it took her a minute to realize he had actually fallen asleep since there was no change in his stance to indicate the shift. Sasuke often had the likeness of a statue without any feelings.

She sighed quietly to herself. Sakura had almost told him that when Sasuke sounded worried for her, she often believed him to have feelings for her. She almost confessed how confused he often made her and that he reminded her of this place: full of tricks. Sakura didn't know if she should be trying to figure out if his feelings were more complex than what he displayed to her. Sasuke, too, was a mystery that Sakura just couldn't figure out.

And if she couldn't figure him out, how could she ever hope to help him reach his goal? Sakura had been excited when she realized the purpose of this tower. She had felt useful to him for just a minute, until he had told her that she was in danger here. If Sasuke constantly felt concerned for her, then she was never going to earn his respect.

A sudden fire bursting to life within her, Sakura quietly stood to her feet. The torch had almost completely faded, and like the ninja she was, Sakura used the darkness to her advantage. She glided silently through it until she reached the door. Let Sasuke get his rest; if they were going to be leaving for Suna tomorrow, then Sakura only had a few hours to make the most of her visit to this dimension.

The door conceded without so much as a squeak from its dusty hinges.