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: As promised... the next installment of Sakura's Home... and we finally get to see what Neji wanted... one reviewer was correct! Yay for you (you'll know who). And, as ALSO promised, the next chapter will be uploaded in exactly ONE week. So don't worry about the next update, it's a set date. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy (Alter Ego - I hope you like this chapter better. Sorry about the last one, I don't know what to tell you.)

Chapter 20 – Redemption

"What does she have that you want back?" Kakashi asked, still angry and pinning him with a furious glare.

"Hinata-sama." Neji was just as calm as ever, bored even.

"What?" Naruto finally let go of Sakura's hand and stood toe to toe with Neji.

"Sakura stole her–"

"That was five years ago, you just said so yourself. She's suffered enough." Naruto interrupted before Neji could even finish. But it didn't faze him; Neji just looked on, distractedly.

"Yes, I did say that. Because, it turns out that I was wrong about something." Neji pushed off from the wall and walked a little closer to Sakura.

Naruto growled, low, deep in his throat as a warning.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I told you, she's got something I want back." He pushed past Naruto, slowly and bent in front of Sakura's body.

"What were you wrong about?" Kakashi asked from next to him, still supporting himself with the couch.

"Hinata-sama was killed, but her consciousness is still alive." He was watching Sakura's face very closely with his Byakugan.

"What does that mean?" Naruto really had no patience for this kind of cryptic messages.

"It means," Neji turned, and his expression was no longer bored, but angry, "that Hinata-sama's mind is still inside Sakura."

"Like Rin." Kakashi said to himself, quietly.

"What?" Naruto didn't even hear Kakashi. He was still trying to wrap his mind around what Neji had said. "That's insane. How can Hinata still be alive inside Sakura-chan?"

"She's not alive. But her consciousness is. Just like Sakura's consciousness is inside of Kakashi right now, so too is Hinata-sama's consciousness inside Sakura." Neji looked past Naruto, to Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded. "And how is it that you know this?"

"Because, I can see Hinata-sama's chakra. It's very distinct, especially because she is a Hyuuga, it's easy to recognize." Neji stood up now, and deactivated his Byakugan.

"Wait, I don't understand." Neji and Kakashi were too busy nodding and agreeing to notice Naruto's confused face. He didn't understand. "But you said that Sakura-chan's consciousness would eventually be severed, because she wasn't with her body or something, so how can Hinata still be there?" he was trying desperately to understand.

"The connection to Sakura's body will be severed. But as long as a consciousness had a mind to inhabit, it still exists. Like the other consciousness inside Kakashi-san." Neji glanced at him. "I never noticed it before. I'd only known you with the other chakras, and I wasn't familiar with the other person." It almost sounded like an apology, like he was sorry for not seeing it sooner.

"Well, Rin and Obito have been with me for quite a long time." Kakashi smiled weakly under his mask and sat on the armrest of the chair. "So what you're saying is that Hinata is still inside Sakura?" Neji nodded. "Okay, but how are we going to get them back to Sakura's body?"

Neji smiled too. But it looked strange on his face, like he was plotting something. "With Juuken."

"The Hyuuga fighting style?" Naruto asked, still upset because he didn't understand.

"I don't know why I never saw it before. I suppose I was too upset back then." Neji seemed to be talking to himself more so than the others. "I don't know how it happened, or that it was even possible. But somehow, Sakura managed to use it without even noticing."

"What are you talking about!?" Naruto bellowed, and he balled his hands into fists and shook with fury.

"Juuken is used to block a person's tenketsu. Those are the outlets for a person's chakra. Only a Hyuuga, with Byakugan can see them. There are three hundred and sixty-one tenkentsu's in a person's body. But sometimes, a Hyuuga can do more than just block the tenketsu. On very rare occasions, usually in the Main Family, a person can manipulate the chakra using the tenketsu. But Sakura is unique."

"How so?" Kakashi asked, still sitting on the armrest, sounding very much like none of this was news to him.

"Sakura doesn't have three hundred and sixty-one tenketsu; she has three hundred and sixty-two. That means she has one more tenketsu than everyone else in the world." Neji sounded amazed as he glanced back over at Sakura.

"How is that possible?" Kakashi stood up now and moved back to his bed. His head was pounding.

"I don't know. I didn't even know it was possible to create a tenketsu, let alone what that could do to the person. Normally, it would have disrupted the flow of chakra so entirely, that the person would never be able to use chakra again. It's like an extra hole in a bucket; all the chakra would leak out, and without Juuken, the person wouldn't be able to control it." Neji started to pace, his bottom lip was caught between his teeth as he turned, deep in thought.

"But Hinata knows how to use Juuken." Naruto pointed out.

"Hinata-sama, of course. Her consciousness must be controlling the extra tenketsu, so that Sakura would be able to still use her chakra. But why? Why would she want Sakura to use her forbidden jutsu? It's what killed her." Neji looked angry again, almost murderous, like the day Hinata died. His hands shook and he took another angry step in the opposite direction.

"Well, obviously, Hinata doesn't think it's all that bad, not if she's been helping Sakura-chan control it all these years." Naruto looked angry too, still defending Sakura even after everything that happened.

"Naruto, you're a genius." Kakashi declared from the bed, forgetting his headache and walked to the couch. "I always wondered, all these years, how it was possible for Sakura to absorb chakra and not have it affect her. With her jutsu, it would have been like bomb just waiting to explode, all that unreleased chakra that she stores in her body, even with her seal, it wouldn't have been enough to control it. And I thought for sure Sakura would kill someone else, even by accident. That kind of jutsu she developed is triggered by emotion. That's why the elders were so scared of it. Because even with Sakura's exact chakra control, she wouldn't be able to control the flow of chakra, only certain members of the Hyuuga Clan could do that. It must have been Hinata, all this time. She's been helping Sakura control her jutsu, so that no one else was hurt." Kakashi looked livelier than he had since he woke up. And even though he hadn't been out of bed in a month, he was itching to do something. He could feel his chakra crackle though his veins in anticipation.

This was just crazy enough to work.

"Hinata-sama has been helping her?" Neji looked stunned. Usually he was more guarded with his emotions. But the idea that Hinata would help her killer was almost too much. How could one person be that good?

"So," Naruto rubbed his eyes and glance between Neji and Kakashi, "let me get this straight. Hinata's consciousness is inside Sakura-chan's consciousness, which is inside Kakashi. And we need to get it back to her body before the connection is gone?" they both nodded. "But that's impossible." They nodded again. "except for Sakura-chan, because she has an extra outlet that Hinata can control?" they nodded again, Kakashi looked excited that Naruto was finally catching on. "But I don't understand how you can use this extra tenketsu to get Sakura-chan's mind back."

Neji sighed heavily. "Hinata-sama's not the only one who can control a person's tenketsu."

"But I thought you said it was rare." Naruto interjected.

"I did. But I can also control chakra with the tenketsu. I developed my own style of Juuken; an adaptation of an ancient scroll is discovered in the Hyuuga shrine." Neji boasted and crossed his arms. "Which means," he continued, "I can use the extra tenketsu, where Sakura has stored all her chakra over these past five years, to draw her consciousness back to her body."

"And that's why you want to help Sakura-chan, because Hinata is still inside her?" Naruto raised a bright yellow eyebrow and waited.

"As a member of the Branch Family, it's my job to protect the Main Family," Neji didn't sound at all enthusiastic about saying it. "Which means that if Hinata-sama still exists, even inside another person, it's my job to make sure that I protect her," he sounded a little more convincing when he mentioned Hinata's name.

"So you're going to help save Sakura-chan by controlling her chakra flow with this extra tenketsu?" Naruto still looked skeptical.

"Not just that." Kakashi corrected him, "he's going to use Sakura's stored up chakra to draw her consciousness back to her body, like pulling a person through water with a rope."

Neji nodded. "Exactly, using all that chakra, I can pull her back to her body."

"With the extra tenketsu." Naruto looked just as clueless as ever, but nodded.

"Yes." Neji looked rather pleased with himself as he uncrossed his arms and stood over Sakura.

"And where is it, the extra tenketsu?" Kakashi asked, looking eager.

Neji walked over to Sakura side, Naruto didn't try to stop him. He bent over and looked at Sakua's face closely, and then reached out. He pointed at the very center of the winding seal on her temple, the place where five years ago, she only had a small green diamond. It was also the same place where, five years ago in a deserved meadow, another member of the Hyuuga Clan touched Sakura's temple in very much the same way. "Here." He said as he laid his finger against her warm skin.