I hope you all have liked my story so far. It is getting difficult to

think of anything to type. Oh well. I'll manage.

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Chapter Five: Her Confliction

On their way back to Naruto and the others, Sakura tried not to think of what had just passed. She wasn't so successful, because her mind kept going back to it, no matter how much she tried to avoid it. Stupid, stupid, stupid…you should have went with them. That way you could see Sasuke-kun again. No, he would probably just call me annoying and avoid me again. This was for the best Sakura; you must maintain your mask. She didn't like this thought too much though, and she was about to go into a state of depression. Her teammates looked at her with sympathy, thinking it best not to say anything.

She wasn't able to stay in a depression long, for the call she knew so well brought her up from her down. Sakura looked up and smiled, forgetting, for the moment, her dilemma. There was Naruto running to her and yelling. "SAKURA-CHAN!" The blonde ran and glomped her, almost knocking her down. Sakura sighed. "I see you're back to your usual cheerful self Naruto." "YES I AM, AND IT'S ALL THANKS TO YOU!" He then proceeded to hug her even harder. The others walked up to them and Tenten rolled her eyes. "You don't have to scream it to the whole world you knucklehead." During this little speech Hinata was watching Naruto and Sakura. Her eyes widened. Apparently Naruto was hugging Sakura a little too tight, because she was now turning blue. "A...ano...N...Naruto-kun?" Said boy looked around at her. "Yes, Hinata-chan?" "I... I don't think Sakura can breathe." "Huh?" He looked back at Sakura and found she was indeed turning purple by now. "AHH, I"M SORRY SAKURA-CHAN!" He hastily let go causing Sakura to fall to the ground.

Panting, she stood back up and glared at Naruto, and then she bonked him on the head. "Naruto, you baka! You didn't have to squeeze me so tight." Holding his head, he only smiled at her sheepishly. Sakura just shook her head. Same old Naruto…even if he's just gotten out of a battle, he still manages to act like a knucklehead. She smiled. He wouldn't be our Naruto though, if he wasn't a knucklehead. The others seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Sakura, because they all shook their heads and grinned at Naruto to.

"Well, it is nice to see so many smiling faces after a battle as hard as this one." The rookie nine all turned to see who the source of the voice was. It was the hokage, Tsunade. "I am proud of you all, I should promote all of you to ANBU level, but I know some of you don't want that." She looked toward Choji and Ino as she said this. "That's not what I'm here to talk to you about though, the village needs repairing." "So you're saying you want us to help rebuild the village tomorrow, instead of going on missions?" asked Kiba. Tsunade nodded. "I don't think there will be too many missions any time soon Kiba, the village is top priority right now. I know today has been tiresome for you, that is why I'm sending all of you to bed early. Get a good night's rest, and be ready to start work in the morning. Sakura, I want to talk to you for a minute, the rest of you are dismissed." They nodded and left.

Sakura looked at Tsunade. "What did you want to talk to me about?" "First of all, I want to know why you went off and fought an Akatsuki member by yourself." Sakura looked down, then back up at Tsunade. "I informed you about a year ago of my past, and how I remembered it. Well, Konan was the one who tried to kill my family for the post of leader. I didn't know she had become an Akatsuki member and when I saw her that just made me angrier, so I confronted her. She left and I had to follow her. That's how I ended up on the other side of Konoha." Tsunade looked grave. "You could have been killed Sakura, and you know you're like a daughter to me. I'm just glad you mastered that dragon form kekkei genkai of yours." Sakura smiled at that. "The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was the three visitors you just went to see about. Who were they and what did they want?"

Sakura's smile slid off her face. Memories of that encounter now came flooding back to her making her sad again. She told the story to Tsunade though, to the best of her ability. She told her about how they would not tell Neji and Shikamaru their names and she had to go down and drag it out of them. She told her how they looked and acted, and then about the information they had for her. Tsunade's eyes widened at the part where Sasuke supposedly found her good enough to join team Hawk. She then got angry but didn't show it to Sakura. "Well, that is an interesting story, but I'm glad you declined it. Are you alright?" "Yes, I'm alright Tsunade; it just came as a shock to me that's all." The hokage nodded. "I have one favor to ask of you, and then I shall not impose upon your rest any longer." Sakura cocked her head. "What's that Tsunade?" "Tomorrow, instead of helping out rebuilding with the others I would like you to help me with the patients." "I shall be pleased to do that Tsunade." She nodded, relieved. "Very well then, you are dismissed." She then disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Sakura walked home.

That night, after she showered and got dressed for bed, Sakura sat on her window seat looking up at the stars. She thought over all the day's events, starting with the fight with Konan, then getting Naruto back to normal, and lastly, Team Hawk. It has been a very long day. I wouldn't be surprised if we were all tired in the morning, no matter how much sleep we got. Sakura thought. Her thoughts then turned over to Sasuke. She didn't know how she should feel after finding out he watched her fight. The conclusion, she supposed, didn't turn out too well. Why would I want to join Team Hawk when they already have four perfectly good ninja? If she were to see any of the members of team hawk again she would just have to turn around and go in the other direction. No matter how much she wanted to know of Sasuke's condition. This stinks; all I want to do is go with them and at least catch a glimpse of Sasuke. I can't do that though, because if he thinks I'm still a fan girl he would probably send me away, or worse, leave me again. She thought of that night he left and how silly she acted then. She should have known he would reject her, but no she had to go and confess her love to him!

Sakura could feel tears starting to come to her eyes. Weird, I haven't cried in almost two years, why now? Why does anything considering Sasuke always do this to me? She decided to just let her tears run down her face for awhile. About an hour later she wiped her red and puffy eyes and got into bed. She was so tired that, when she closed her eyes, she fell asleep immediately. Tomorrow she would once again have that emotionless mask on. Tomorrow she would not think about Sasuke, if she had to say anything she would call him "Uchiha-san". Tomorrow she would be healing the ones who got wounded in the fight. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.