We're halfway through!

Please read, review & enjoy!

Squished

Sakura doesn't like Suigetsu or Karin.

Suigetsu is vulgar and psychotic. He's obsessed with those stupid ninja swords, and takes every opportunity to make obscene comments.

Karin is loud, violent, and neurotic. She's always screeching about something only she cares about or making Suigetsu's head explode. Perhaps most irritating of all, she can't seem to keep her hands off Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun," Karin whines, clinging to his arm. "This is so boring. Let's go do something fun."

Sakura rolls her eyes at the all-too obvious meaning behind the other girl's suggestion. "Karin," she snaps. "Stop slacking off. You're supposed to be on look-out."

Grip on Sasuke tightening even further, Karin sneers, "Whatever. You're just jealous, Pinky."

Face contorting in contempt, Sakura turns back to her own task. As she continues pouring over the tomes in the abandoned Uchiha base, she can't help but hiss, "As if I'd ever be jealous of some crazy, thirsty-ass bitch."

From a few feet over, Suigetsu snickers at her remark. His razor-sharp teeth glint in the torchlight.

Another four hours of scouring the repository later, Sakura finds Sasuke in a dusty corner of the depot. "I don't think there's anything here on Itachi's techniques," she tells him, making sure to keep her tone from turning sympathetic. Sasuke doesn't take well to anything reminiscent of pity.

"I think you're right," he divulges, standing from his crouched position on the floor.

She steps to the side as he comes nearer so he that can pass her. Unexpectedly, he dips forward as he approaches, one hand slipping around her waist and the other coming to grasp the back of her neck. His lips slide over hers in a languid caress.

Sakura smiles into the kiss. It's been quite a while since they've indulged in such simple pleasures. He presses her into the bookshelf behind her, kissing her harder. Their noses bump and their teeth clack. As his lips move from hers and begin to slide down her neck, the hand around her waist comes to grasp the flesh of her hip. She groans into the stuffy air of the old library at the sensations being wrought upon her.

When she tilts her head to nuzzle Sasuke's wild mane of hair in affection, he abruptly pulls away, putting her at arm's length. She makes a small noise of confusion, but he doesn't respond, choosing to turn and stride away instead.

She only waits between the stacks for two minutes before wiping her tears and joining the rest of her—new—team.

Sasuke's fight with Diedara is brutal despite his victory. Sakura puts him on indefinite bedrest, which he agrees to on the condition that they'll head out as soon as they get a lead on Itachi's location. Over the first few days, she notices that Sasuke seems to be healing at an accelerated pace. She also notices that Karin seems cheerier than usual and wonders if the girl has a new bite mark or two, much to her displeasure.

As she sits at his bedside in small town hostel, she struggles to hold her tongue about the issue.

Sitting across from her, Suigetsu gripes, "Karin's taking too damn long. How long does it take to run a couple of errands?"

Sakura sighs. "You know how she is." Rolling her eyes, she adds, grumbling, "Probably planning to ravage Sasuke-kun again."

Suigetsu laughs. "Well, I'm gonna see if I can find her." He turns to Jūgo, who's sitting on the windowsill. "Do me a favor and keep yourself under control, okay?" Jūgo assents with a nod. Satisfied, Suigetsu reaches for the sliding door, but it slams down on him as Karin suddenly kicks it in. Surprised, Sakura and Jūgo turn to observe their squished teammate. In the midst of being crushed, Suigetsu wheezes, "What . . . the shit. . . ."

Unperturbed, Karin addresses Sasuke. "We've been followed. What should we do?"

Sasuke, still lying in bed, turns his head to regard the redhead. "We run for it. Get everything ready. Jūgo, grab the map and mark the location of every Akatsuki hideout you learned about."

Once at the village gate a few minutes later, Sakura asks, "All set, Sasuke-kun?"

"Yeah." He throws his cloak over his shoulders. "Absorbing Orochimaru's abilities really increased my healing power."

Uncomfortable with Sasuke's statement, Sakura turns her face down to hide her grimace.

Karin pipes up with her two cents on their pursuers. "It could be Akatsuki or the Leaf, but it doesn't really matter." She looks up at Sasuke from under her eyelashes. "The Leaf might have info on Itachi, so maybe we should try to ambush them. What do you think, Sasuke?"

"If there are as many people as you said, then odds are it's the Leaf. Akatsuki only moves in two-man teams," Sasuke affirms.

Suigetsu points out that "ambushing them would be a waste of our time."

Sasuke concurs, "Agreed. We don't bother with the Leaf."

Despite herself, Sakura can't help but feel a tinge of disappointment knowing that this is yet another day she'll go without seeing anyone from home.

Konoha, she corrects herself, and I have Sasuke-kun.

"What do we do then," Karin asks.

Sasuke reaches into his cloak. "Find Itachi. If we find him, then the worst case scenario is you four having to fight the Leaf ninja." He pulls out a wrapped scroll. "For now, we move as Hebi and follow up on what Jūgo learned."

Ostensibly hesitant, Karin accedes, "Okay. . . ."

Without wasting another second, Sasuke turns and passes through the gate, cloak billowing around him. "Let's go." Hebi follows suit. Upon the team's arrival at the dilapidated shrine in the forested mountain range to which Jūgo's intel had led them, Sasuke nods towards a statue shrouded in shadows up the cliff side. "Up ahead." All of them look at the entrance of the shrine. Part of Sakura expects Itachi to pop out at any moment, sharingan blazing and swords swinging. Sasuke instructs, "You three stay here and wait for my orders. I'll check it myself," and starts forward.

Courage bubbling up in her chest, Sakura wishes him "good luck" in the cheeriest voice she can manage under the circumstances.

Sasuke doesn't pause or look back.

Sakura doesn't see Sasuke for two days and worries ceaselessly. She certainly isn't comforted by the untrustworthy cretin Tobi's reassurances, especially after he explains the ordeal with the Uchiha massacre and reveals the fact that he's Uchiha Madara. Even if Itachi truly had good intentions, why should they trust the man that helped him slaughter their own kin?

When Sasuke finally meets with his team—now Taka—again, Sakura is rattled by the change in him. He's crying so openly, and it's not the first time it feels wrong to comfort him, but it is the first time she doesn't even want to.

She's absolutely appalled at his declaration that the team's efforts will now go towards destroying Konoha, and a cold feeling settles in her stomach.

Sakura isn't sure how much longer she can go along with this, in love or not.