Title: Sakura's Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I don't own anything about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...
Rating: K+ Warning: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.
Summary: Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.
Authors Notes: GOO, It's been HOW long since I updated? I am so sorry, but I swear I've been trying to get this chapter up for like a week now - that's all on not me. And as you have all noticed, I've switched my format, so it looks more offiicial-ish. At least that's what I think. I've been depressed lately, what with my life completely being ruined and all, so good news - I've made great progress with the nearly unbearable angst still yet to come. I do hope everyone likes this! AND I SWEAR - the next update will be soon!

Chapter 8 – Hope

She looked up into his slightly darker eyes and wondered if that was Sasuke looking out at her. She imagined that part of him was still living on in Naruto now, and that was more comforting than thinking that all traces of him were gone. But she let that thought pass as she waited for him to explain why Kakashi's condition was also his fault.

"Kakashi-sensei was there that day. He used his Mangekyou Sharingan on Itachi after my demon was removed. But Kakashi-sensei never woke up. He's like that because of me, because I wasn't strong enough to defend myself." She stepped back from him to examine the man he'd become. Time, and heartache weighed heavily on his shoulders, and the lonely fear that lingered in his eyes did remind her of Sasuke. He was lost, and in so much pain. She knew then that she would do anything for him.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let Kakashi-san die." She stood confidently and faced him. He raised his face to her, and she could clearly see his hope returning to his bleak features. She could heal practically anyone, providing that she wasn't the one who drained their life-force. "Let's go see the Godaime." And she was off, leaping from roof to roof. She didn't have to wait for him, she knew he would follow.

She was getting used to his new chakra. It was no less powerful than before, but now she understood why it was so strange. It was a mix, not like it was before. It was integrated, like every particle of chakra had three different kinds. He truly was a mixed breed now, but not with a monster anymore. He was the integration of 3 great shinobi, and she thought that someday when he learned to harness the power of all the chakras at once, he would be more powerful than even her.

They arrived at the headquarters together a few minutes later. It looked much it did five years ago, with a little more wear on the exterior. Without waiting to thinking about what she was walking into, she let her eager feet quickly climb the long stairs that traced the side of the building. But it was the figure at the top of the stairs that finally made her stop. The blond hair moving with the rhythm of the wind, the honey brown eyes, green robe and blue diamond was right out of her memory.

She stood ominously, with her hands on her waist, staring down at the student she used to take so much pride in. Sakura could feel Naruto only a few steps behind her stop as well. She took a long, deep bow as she addressed the Godaime. "Tsunade-sama, good morning."

"What business do you have here?" Tsunade's voice was strong and forceful, much like it often was, ringing in her mind. She remained bowed and perfectly still. She maintained a constant chakra output close to nothing, so she wouldn't present a danger. She knew how fiercely the fifth would fight to protect her village.

"I received a message requesting my immediate return." She spoke quietly, but loud enough for her soft voice to travel up on the wind to Tsunade. "I arrived and was taken to Kakashi-san."

"I brought her here to save Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-obaa-chan." Naruto's voice came thundering past her, but she remained bowed with her eyes down. She winced at Naruto's lack of respect. She still remembered what it was like to be her student, and how harsh she could be sometimes. That residual fear lingered now in her formal stature.

"She was not granted official permission, Naruto. She is a wanted criminal in this village." Sakura couldn't be sure, but she thought she felt a familiar chakra join Tsunade on the steps of the headquarters. Since she was trying to suppress all her chakra, her sensing abilities were minimal at best. It had also been a long time, and it was a chakra that she was never very familiar with. But the last time she was here, he wasn't even a genin yet. Still there was no mistaking the remnants of the third, and the slight mischievous, uncontrolled chakra.

"Konohamaru!" Tsunade's voice was shrill as she screamed at the headstrong young shinobi. Apparently, not only had he joined her, but he was also now charging down the steps at them.

"How could you bring her here, Naruto!" the male voice echoed off the building as she felt the person lunge forward. It was obvious that he'd grown more powerful, in fact he was probably just about to take the chuunin exam in the next rounds. She heard the faint clink of metal as he reached into his pouch. He'd drawn a kunai; she could here the wind moving differently around the slicing metal than his flesh. He wasn't headed for her, though. Instead she could sense him directing the weapon at Naruto. But faster than the boy could reach him, Sakura was in front of him.

She felt the metal slice into her upper forearm, and the blood begins to flow. She stood in between a shocked Naruto and the very frightened eyes of a now, thirteen Konohamaru. His eyes went almost completely white as his pupils retracted at the sight of his knife in her arm.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto's soft, concerned voice drifted on the breeze past her face like a soft hand. The pain wasn't all that bad; after all, she'd been wounded much worse before.

"Why?" Konohamaru's word reminded her of the young boy in front of her. She gave him a soft smile as she placed her hand over the kunai and her arm which was now slick with blood.

"He is an important person that I must protect." She said in her best imitation of what her mother used to sound like: soft, with not the slightest hint of regret, anger or fear. She was completely in control of her emotions, which was a lesson she could see that Konohamaru had yet to be experienced with.

She slid her hand down the blade, dragging her blood with it. Her now red-soaked hand gripped his as he still held the knife. He was trembling, so she did her best to steady him. Slowly, painfully slowly, she slides the knife from her flesh with a sickening squish.

The kunai hit the concrete steps with a lonely clink as it slipped from his bloody hand. She placed her hand over the wound which was now bleeding even more than before. And with only a second of concentration, her wound was healed and the pain was gone. It was a strange sensation to heal herself, and it often took more energy than it did to heal another person, but with an injury so small there was almost no effect on her.

"Sakura…" Tsunade's voice took a curiously soft tone as the young shinobi fell back to sit on the steps. Sakura ignored her for the moment and knelt down to look the boy in the face.

"Konohamaru-kun, please learn to be more careful when you decide to use a weapon. If you are not prepared to see blood then you should not draw. It is not a choice that you should take lightly. If you mean to hurt someone, which sometimes you must, then you must also expect to see blood on your hands." With that, she took his hand in hers and used the hem-line of her outfit to wipe their hands. In a moment, his hands were clean but she left the knife on the stair covered with her blood. "Wash you kunai, I didn't come here looking for a fight. I came back because I was asked, and I will stay to save another person I must protect."

"Sakura, I can not allow you to heal Kakashi with your forbidden jutsu." Tsunade spoke again, but closer this time, and more confident. Much like the leader she was. She hadn't expected this to be easy, but for some reason having to look her former sensei in the eyes was more difficult that she would have liked to admit.

But she stood, and looked past the broken boy on the steps at her feet. Tsunade's warm brown eyes were filled with all the anger she'd held for five years. Sakura knew that her presence wasn't easy for her, but she also knew that she had a mission to do. "I will not let him die." She spoke in a hushed voice, but the resilience was palatable.

Tsunade sighed; she knew well enough the streak of extreme stubbornness that ran the length of Sakura's heart. "You can not use your jutsu, and he refused to have the sharingan eye removed." She lowered her eyes to look vaguely at the boy that sat between them. Sadness filled her features, and Sakura knew she was suffering as well. She never doubted that. The great slug healer, a member of the Densetsu no Sannin: Tsunade-sama; and she was unable to heal one of her own, and was forced to watch him die. "You can't save him Sakura."

She was defeated, broken, and utterly devastated. She mildly thought that there might have been part of her that would have let her use her jutsu if it meant saving him. But Sakura also knew who the true powers were in the village, and there was no way the council of elders, one of which was a family member of the person she killed, would allow Tsunade to let her.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama, I can." It was a thought she'd gotten the moment she realized what was happening to Kakashi. It was far more dangerous than she would have liked, for her, but that didn't really matter anymore. "I won't remove his eye, and I won't use my jutsu – but I can save him." Sakura's seal covered face met with Tsunade's fleeting hope as it danced through her eyes, taunting her, forcing her to consider Sakura's words.

"How?"