Sasuke dreamt of dying, drained of chakra by the Mangekyou Sharingan, which he had foolishly used without really knowing how. Kakashi had warned him that weapons ill-used could turn upon their masters, but Sasuke was impatient, and his blind brother had seemed so weak and easy to kill. His vision, destroyed by the runaway jutsu, was fading into darkness. "Sakura!" he screamed, reaching out. "SASUKE!" she cried, but Naruto's hand was clamped around her wrist, Naruto was dragging her away, leaving Sasuke to die alone in the dark.

He shot awake, bolt upright and breathing heavy. "Sasuke?" came a timid query from the doorway. Sakura stood there, hesitant. She seemed to steel herself and walked in, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Sakura," he said, willing himself to calm down, to catch his breath.

She paused beside the bed. They looked at each other, frozen. It was so strange to see him again, like having a loved one come back from the dead. All those old feelings from years ago were beginning to stir up and float to the surface. She felt terrible. Here she and Naruto had gotten together and the moment she saw Sasuke, all she could think about was how gorgeous he had gotten in the last few years, and how being around him used to make her feel.

Sakura had been the one to heal him, when they brought him in. Being that close to him again had made her feel and think some strange things. She remembered the overwhelming urge to smooth her fingers along his brow when she was healing his eye, to kiss his scars.

Even now she was breathless with desire.

"Sakura, I'm sorry," Sasuke said. "I'm sorry I left the way I did. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to take that moment back." She remembered it, vividly, how she confessed everything, and then he was behind her, breathing, Thank you and then the heavy blow and darkness as she fell. It always confused her, and she thought of it often afterward, trying to puzzle it out, why he had thanked her, what he had thanked her for.

"Sasuke—" Sakura began, but he shushed her.

"Let me finish," he said. He took a deep breath. "I wanted to take you with me." Sakura's heart pounded in her ears, deafening her. "But I couldn't. You weren't strong enough, not then. You would have been destroyed, and I couldn't bear that. I had to be cold, to keep you safe, to keep you from following me. But the truth is, Sakura…" he paused. Sakura swallowed. "I love you."

"Don't do this," she pleaded voicelessly. It hurt so much to hear what she had longed to hear for so long. "Don't do this to me. Tsunade warned me you might try. I'm with Naruto now—"

"I know," Sasuke said, voice heavy with bitterness. "He told me. He told me how you talk to me in your sleep." He looked up at her, those dark eyes pinning her where she stood. "What do you say to me, when you sleep?" He took her hand. Sakura gasped. It was like electric fire pouring through her veins, waking everything within her that slept, that slept even during her most passionate moments in Naruto's arms. Just from the warmth of his hand in hers.

"Everything," she replied, trembling. "Anything. You're always there with me, wherever. All the time you were gone, I missed you so much, but I saw you every night when I slept. Even after Naruto and I…" she trailed off. She sank to sit upon the bed. Sasuke drew her close and held her. She didn't resist or protest. "Sasuke-kun," she whispered right before his lips met hers.

"I need more than your help, Sakura," Sasuke said when they drew apart. "I need you."

"I need you too," she said, the most true thing she'd said in a long time. "I never stopped loving you, at all."

Sasuke smiled. Sakura felt blessed by it, that expression that was ever so rare to see on his face. "The real reason I came back," Sasuke revealed, "was for you." His dark eyes threatened to engulf her. "Are you still willing to kill for me?"

Sakura thought she had gotten over all of that long ago, that she had ceased being the stupid girl who had tried to stop him leaving that night, who had cried those clichés that she loved him so much that she'd kill for him. He had left, she had gone on without him, burying those feelings deep, even taking up with another man. Now she stopped resisting and spoke the truth: "Sasuke, I'm willing to die for you." The joy in his eyes then was reward enough for her long suffering. "Tell me what I need to do."

"Help me escape from here," he pleaded. "Come with me, and help me take my revenge on Itachi. Then I finally can rest. Then we can be together."

"Do you promise?"

"I do." He squeezed her tightly; she could feel his heart hammering in his chest, the silken caress of his hair against her cheek. "If I could stop now, I would stay here with you. It's all I want. But I have to finish this thing first."

"I'll do it, anything. Just tell me what I need to do," Sakura said.

It took Naruto a moment to realize what Tsunade was saying, splintering her desk with her fists to punctuate the sentence, that Sasuke had escaped somehow, and had taken Sakura with him. Now she was berating Kakashi for believing that Sasuke would ever stick around to help them with his "genius plan" as she put it, sarcasm spraying from every word, and Kakashi was standing there like a tree in a gale, saying nothing, showing nothing.

That Sasuke had decided to go it alone, again, was no surprise, so what everyone but Naruto was trying to figure out was why he took Sakura with him. Half of them expected to find her not far from the village, ditched by Sasuke like she had been the first time. But Naruto knew better.

Always, in the deepest recesses of his heart, Naruto knew that there was the chance that if Sasuke ever came back, Sakura would leave him, that this was the price he would pay, that he couldn't have his friend and his girl both at the same time. And he'd slowly come to terms with that, and sleeping with Sakura in his arms didn't diminish his desire for Sasuke's return. As it was he was grateful that he'd been with her even as long as he had. It was worth it. And as he saw her turn slowly away from him toward the man who'd always had her heart trapped, Naruto nodded and knew that this was how it was going to be.

But now they were both gone.

Sakura was smart. For her to go with Sasuke willingly, he either put up a damn convincing act or it was something else.

Eventually they'd get around to making a decision, to send someone after them, to drag them back, but Naruto knew that wouldn't work, not last time and not this time, and he wasn't going to wait to hear what they cooked up.

"Where's Naruto?" Tsunade said, too late.

Naruto's eyes burned red, Kyuubi grudgingly lending him power so he could follow their scent, so he could tear through the forest at top speed. He didn't care if they wanted him with them or not, or if they thought he wouldn't want to work with his teammate and his decidedly ex-girlfriend, or if they thought he would be a drag. He didn't care; he'd prove himself to them, and they'd get this thing done together, and then they could return triumphantly to Konoha and get back to the business of normal life again. It was kind of thrilling, really, the idea of Team Seven, the real, original Team Seven, working together again. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke," Naruto said, "I'm on my way."

END