Author's Note: Again, I apologize for not having this out until now. I have been absolutely swamped. I am hoping my time will free up a lot this summer. Thanks for your patience.

Pairing: SasuSaku

Chapter 20: No More.

Sasuke thought it was the sudden light of sunrise that was signaling the instincts within his body to wake. That is, until a growing warmth began to bloom over his face and a sweat beaded across his forehead.

The Uchiha sucked in a sharp breath and opened his eyes. An orb of orange flame hovered a couple of feet in front of his face and Sasuke had to blink several times before his eyes could adjust enough to recognize the stooped frame illuminated just behind it.

Sasuke jerked back away from the flame as he croaked hoarsely, "What the-" He coughed on his own words, his throat strangely dry.

"You're finally awake," Sakura's voice floated softly across the short space between them. Finally, the torch was withdrawn and Sasuke let out a small sigh of relief. The torch was quickly replaced with a pale hand that touched the sweaty plane of his brow. "I'm starting to think that you might be sick."

"I'm starting to think you're annoying and crazy," he moaned, glancing around him. It took the Uchiha a second to recall where exactly he was. They were still in Kaguya's tower, up the stairs and in this pitch-black room. He couldn't tell how much time had passed since he'd fallen asleep.

"You've been asleep for almost 24 hours!" Sakura whispered loudly, almost as if she was afraid to overwhelm his senses. Sasuke was grateful because he suddenly felt a little disoriented-perhaps he had exhausted himself more than he had thought.

When Sasuke thought about it, more time usually stretched between his uses of the Rinnegan. Yes, he had spent almost a week and a half in the village and had roamed aimlessly outside of the realms for a week before he had even decided to turn towards Konoha. So essentially, he had had almost 2 and a half weeks to recover most of his chakra just to blow it on coming here. Thankfully, by only teleporting to the core dimension, Sasuke had only used 1/4th of the reserves he normally spent. It was a complicated math problem: his dojustu needed enough chakra to get him to the core dimension and then enough to open any of the other connected realms (all of which used varying levels of chakra) and still more to do those same steps but in reverse-not to mention, that he needed chakra to save in case he encountered an enemy.

This was Sasuke's biggest problem while searching for Kaguya. He felt like so much of his time was wasted just on letting his body recover enough to jump between realms, and the Uchiha already felt like time was slipping between his fingers. Just how much longer did he have? This was why they needed to leave—to go to the Sand village so that Sasuke might conduct an experiment and test a theory of his.

Lost in thought, Sasuke's eyes had drifted closed again despite the glaring light of the flame in front of him. If he was this tired, he must have emptied himself more than he thought, probably not taking into account that he had to use extra by bringing Sakura with him here. Would he have enough to take them home?

Suddenly, a green glow replaced the flame's brightness and Sasuke jumped when the palm on his forehead pressed harder. Without meaning to, Sasuke leaned into the cool, green brilliance of Sakura's fingers. When Sasuke's head began to clear, he let himself absorb the chakra, his body greedily accepting it. But then, an image of his former red-haired teammate pushing her scarred skin between his teeth had Sasuke reaching up and pulling Sakura's hand down.

He wasn't the person to do that sort of thing anymore. "That's enough," he croaked, throat still scratchy from little use.

"Don't be silly," she whispered again as her fingertips moved to his throat and began glowing again, healing this part of him too. "We need to get you out of this room."

Sasuke stared up at her. Her face was dirty, and he was suddenly aware of just how long 24 hours must have seemed like to her-and in this perpetual darkness. "You could've woken me up sooner."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Says the grump who growled at me just seconds ago for waking him."

In answer, Sasuke growled. Just for good measure—so the pink-haired kunoichi wouldn't forget.

That bright sound of her giggle escaping her mouth had the thought of smirk coming to Sasuke's mind, but when the kunoichi reached out, grabbed his tunic and practically lifted him to his feet, Sasuke snarled again, all joking aside. That damn strength surprised him every time—not to mention that by doing such a thing, she made Sasuke feel a little feeble.

He hissed when his weight settled to his stiff ankles. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck to disguise the sound. Sakura giggled again, obviously taking much delight in his current predicament.

"Come on," she tugged on his elbow—purposefully avoiding his hand—and Sasuke began to walk forward, focused on the woman in front of him.

…..

Little steps, she almost said to him after pulling him forward. But with her hand on his arm and their bodies so close in this dimness, Sakura didn't let the words escape her mouth in case he might misread her meaning.

In truth, she was starving. It was the reason she had finally woken him. Now the way in which she woke him could have been different, but the medical side of her couldn't help but make an experiment out of it though: seeing how his body would respond to the light after being submerged in night for a 24-hour period. It took her a long time to re-ignite that infuriating torch so that she might mimic the sun.

Sasuke didn't know—hadn't realized that he had been by himself for hours at a time during his deep sleep. Sakura had left him soon after he had gone under. Sakura had left that room with a sense of thrilling determination, eager and hopeful to finally prove her usefulness to the Uchiha. However, after marching aimlessly around for hours, Sakura found—well, not much. Okay… she found nothing.

She had searched for 3 hours inside this confusing maze of a tower looking for everything and anything that might be useful to them: structures, forms of writing or symbols, patterns of similarities or differences. There just wasn't anything.

At best, Sakura was able to figure out and easily navigate this entire damn maze within that time. Each tunnel and every turn brought her back to that single room in which Sasuke remained sleeping. Each time she reentered, Sasuke would stir, years of ninja instincts alerting him to her coming and going.

"Sleep," she had whispered as she placed her glowing hand over his eyes and sent a soothing sensation down through her chakra, and he had fallen back into sleep. Sakura did feel guilty for that—coaxing his body back into a sleep. She had only done it once, but Sasuke had stopped stirring after that. So Sakura had taken advantage of the situation and left the tower completely.

She was gone for four hours that time. Wherever the light was coming from, Sakura didn't know, but it never darkened in this dimension—a sky always alight with a sun that never warmed or set. The medical ninja didn't like it, but the tower's darkness made a lot more sense taking that fact into consideration. But why? Who, other than Kaguya had ever made use of it?

Sakura had been determined to find something out. It was with this conviction, that had the kunoichi marching through the rising and falling dunes for two hours after that, looking back and forth for a sign of anything-anything at all. But this dimension was like a red, rocky desert that never changed. There wasn't another tower within that two-hour radius like she was hoping. She had even kicked through the dirt in search of any living thing, but there was nothing, so she stomped her foot into the red rock and turned on her heel back towards the tower.

When Sakura had arrived, Sasuke still slept silently and soundly in the dark, so she had curled up against the opposite wall and let her frustration pull her own body under. When she woke, Sakura sat up and was surprised to see that Sasuke still slept. It was then that she suspected her influence earlier had placed the Uchiha in a deep sleep—a sleep his body desperately needed. But she also wondered if he were sick, which was why his body was so eager for the rest. So she watched his even breathing for another hour or two, but then her empty stomach began to growl.

Now, as she led Sasuke through the maze, she desperately wished she were leading him to some big discovery, or some secret she had found. This was what she had wanted, and now felt disappointed because she was missing out on the chance to do so. Sakura supposed it made sense that if Sasuke hadn't found anything, she wouldn't have had much of a chance either. He had been doing this for quite a while.

So she was going to pretend that none of it had happened. It was far less embarrassing to act as if she hadn't searched at all than to admit she had and didn't find anything. She sighed.

"I've never slept that long at one time," Sasuke admitted curiously to her, which was unlike himself. He never admitted to anything at all, let alone force it to sound somewhat sorry for it. Was he suspicious of her actions. There's no way, she thought to herself.

Sakura forced out an innocent laugh. "It's a good thing to catch up on some much-needed rest. Take it as advice from your doctor."

The Uchiha scoffed but didn't say anything else after that, even though Sakura could feel his scowling stare between her shoulder blades. She just kept marching.

When they finally made it to the cave, Sasuke turned back towards the tower's hidden door, firmly snuffed out the torch, and replaced it back in its hidden position behind the door's frame.

The sudden blackness around them afterwards was suffocating, but when she felt Sasuke's fingertips brush her elbow—in the same way that her own had reached for his over and over—Sakura let her smile break the seam of her own lips. It was short-lived, because Sakura froze when her eyes adjusted enough to make out Sasuke's Sharingan—which almost seemed to glow in the darkness—watching that smile. She knew the Uchiha had seen when he withdrew his fingers. She regretted the smile, then.

"Come on," he said emotionlessly, walking ahead of her in the gloom. This time, he didn't grab her arm or help her stumble her way out as he had helped her when they had first come upon the cave yesterday.

There was no wind that hit them when they finally walked into the light, but rather a brightness that was dead and airless. It didn't fill Sakura with the warmth that she had instinctively expected it to.

Sasuke finally spoke, announcing, "We need to make it back to the same spot in which we teleported."

Sakura snapped her head in his direction, "What for?" That would mean they would have to trek for several more hours.

"It is much easier to connect a vast time-space if you teleport through a door that was previously opened before," Sasuke explained, running his palm through his hair. "It's almost like once there is a rip in space, it leaves a wound that can be reopened."

He was speaking in a language that Sakura could easily understand, being a medical ninja. If the skin has been recently penetrated, it is easy to reopen. But once the skin scars, it becomes stronger than before.

"But then," Sakura assessed, "if too much time has passed…"

"Exactly," Sasuke confirmed her thinking. "The seal becomes almost permanent. It would take a vast amount of chakra to break back through it again."

"Makes sense," she replied, shuffling her feet in the dirt. "It's a lot more complicated than I had imagined."

Sasuke nodded, took a breath, and took the first step of their lengthy hike across the dunes.

Sakura observed his fixed posture and confident step, but the dark-haired ninja wasn't fooling her. She knew he was trying to figure out how to get them home without completely draining himself of chakra. But there was something she hadn't yet considered.

Catching up with him, she leaned forward and asked, "If we go back to the hotel, won't we be walking back into an uncertain situation? I mean, those ninja could be waiting for us."

"Perhaps," Sasuke admitted. "Hopefully enough time has passed for them to have moved on, and they might not be expecting us to return there. But you are right. We need a plan."

Suddenly, an idea began to form within Sakura's mind. She halted in her tracks, a bit of dust rising around her, and said, "I have one."

Stopping too, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. He was waiting for her to explain, which was a nostalgic feeling for Sakura. He was listening to her again, like he had when they were genin—taking her opinions into consideration and contemplating her viewpoints.

"What if I helped you," she announced hopefully, "like I offered before." If she used The Hundred's Healing Mark, then they might have enough chakra where they didn't have to make the journey.

"Absolutely not," Sasuke deadpanned, instantly turning off his reception of her by rotating away again.

Sakura set her teeth in fury and frustration, but she didn't move her body an inch. Her plan made the most sense! Sasuke was low in chakra while she had been slowly storing a mass amount of it in the seal on her forehead. If she let Sasuke rely on his power alone, then they were forced to use their previous door because it took the least amount of chakra to access. By doing so, their location would undoubtedly put them at a disadvantage if their foes were still occupying that space around the hotel. And it would leave Sasuke vulnerable if his power was back at zero.

She didn't really understand why Sasuke was saying no to this. He had slept for 24 hours just so they wouldn't have to rely on her Strength of a Hundred Seal. Whether it was because he was being noble or something else, Sakura didn't care. If she let him use up his chakra, how was she any better?

Sakura Haruno glared at Sasuke's back. She was quite tired of seeing it—seeing him leading the way before her. As a kunoichi, Sakura thought she had proven herself—was going to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Naruto and Sasuke from now on. But there he was, marking the path ahead.

No more. No more.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There was a sudden wind that brushed the back of Sasuke's neck and he felt a silent roar of chakra spread across the range of ground behind him. He turned, taken aback and clenched his teeth in surprised irritation at the teammate whose beaming grin glowed as brightly as the tangible chakra emanating from her body.

Those searing, bright green eyes were directed towards the sky as she flexed her hands—open, close—open, close. Sasuke followed her gaze when it fell to the black marks running from her palms, up her shoulders, and to the crisscross "x" on her brow. Then her eyes landed on him.

Sasuke had to admit that the kunoichi was honestly quite brilliant to look at like that: rejuvenated by and delighting in her own power—feeling it electrify and exhilarate her as it began coursing down the pathways. But his annoyance with her focused his mind and Sasuke glowered in response.

She was defying his wishes and purposely breaking the seal to force him into a decision. Sasuke didn't quite appreciate that, but was he going to waste this opportunity? Yes, he was. He would prove to her once and for all that he was changing. That he was done using people.

She began to walk towards him, and Sasuke didn't break their mutual stare, hers one of mighty determination and his an icy challenge. He'd be damned—damned if he used her power.

Coming to stand before him, in all her strength, Sasuke broke her gaze to focus on that glowing purple diamond in the center of that large temple of hers. Everything about it was so… so… "annoying." It came out as a stuttering hiss.

She grinned wickedly at the word and reached out, taking his hand firmly in her own. Her grip was so firm that Sasuke couldn't jerk away this time. He found himself glowering viciously, all amusement gone from his red and purple eyes.

"You are annoying," she said softly, letting her chakra graze against his skin in silent offering. "Let me help you. Quit being so damn stubborn."

Sasuke set his teeth again. He almost said no, without giving her any further explanation, but then Sakura spoke again, as if their linked hands were somehow transferring his thoughts to her. "Relying upon your friends is not the same as using them. Let us work together so that we can complement one another's weaknesses with our strengths. Become each other's balance."

Sasuke stared at this woman who was offering him a partnership that depended on one another—like they had had in the past. It had existed between them before—that bond of friendship that seemed to connect the two of them not only in ability, but emotions as well. He had tried to sever that type of partnership with her before. If he did this, would he be letting her in? Would he be acknowledging that bond of comradery between them? What if he let her in and then she was taken away from him? What would that do to him, them, by working together now?

"Open the portal."

Another minute of hesitation. His jaw loosened and Sasuke took a nervous breath as he replayed her words over and over.

Relying upon your friends is not the same as using them.

Let us work together.

Become each other's balance.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "Open it."

Sasuke's tilted his head so that his hair fell away from the Rinnegan. His breathing turned shallow as he finally conceded and a black pinprick in the air around them began to expand. A sudden rush of energy flowed into his veins as black stripes began to spiral slowly up his arms. He looked at his teammate in amazement—at their joined hands now being wrapped together with bands of black chakra. It almost looked like they were being tied together.

When the markings reached his neck and crawled up his chin, Sasuke inhaled sharply, as if he were getting his first full gulp of fresh air since being in this damn place. His exhausted body welcomed the chakra, feasting on it as it had back in the tower. He flinched in self-repulsion, but Sakura breathed hard and directed more of her power into him. Where his body begged, her chakra was there to instantly feed it.

When the strips of charcoal reached his own forehead, Sasuke focused intently on the portal. It jumped in response to Sakura's chakra, flaring and expanding large enough to finally walk through. He glanced back at her and noticed a sheen now coating her own forehead. That's when Sasuke suddenly realized what she was doing.

The justu demanded chakra and she was acting as a direct current, bypassing Sasuke's chakra entirely, not allowing any of his energy to be used, but hers only. She was sending it all—every bit of her own chakra to back the jutsu.

Now in a sudden panic, Sasuke breathed "Stop. That's enough."

Sakura's green eyes became unfocussed and her heartbeat quickened rapidly. Her breathing came in sharp inhales and exhales.

Yelling now, he warned, "Sakura! I said stop!" He couldn't let go of her hand.

Sakura wasn't listening to him. She was dedicating her entire focus to the jutsu. Sasuke did the only thing he could think to do. He wrapped his fingers up and around the wrist of her clasping hand and pulled them through the portal.