A Heart Mislead

Chapter 1

Two years later...

Twenty year-old Haruno Sakura, dusted herself off as she picked herself up off of the ground. Her body ached all over, dirt was embedded under her nails, her bare legs were scrapped up in various places, but she was having the time of her life. She hadn't had a chance to spar in a long time, then again her usual sparing partner had been away for a few months. Now that he was back she was ready to inflict some pain. Her companion, who most considered a jerk, sneered a nasty remark at her causing her to glare angrily at the young man who stood no more then twelve feet from her. She smirked knowing that he was enjoying himself as well. "Is that all you have?"

"You lost, either you like it or not, ugly." The man retorted.

"Just admit that you resorted to cheating because you were about to get beat by a girl." Sakura watched as no emotion reflected across her companions features. It seemed as though his face had been frozen and never allowed to thaw back out.

"There is no cheating in the ninja arts only skill, if you were adept you would know this. Also, if you were a girl, I would still be fighting you right now. Seeing as your not I thought I would put you in your place."

"You really are a bastard, Sai. I don't know why I even attempt with you sometimes." She turned on her heal, ready to leave when Sai's next words hit her hard.

"Because I'm the only teammate you have left that's not dead."

She closed her eyes, keeping her back to him. A flash of two familiar faces that were slowing fading from her memory went through her mind, she could feel her eyes start to burn of unshed tears. He purposely threw that at her, knowing how badly it would hurt and despite it all, he was right. He was the only connection, besides Kakashi, to former team seven. But it wasn't only that, his uncanny resemblance to her lost love kept her coming back for more. "Yeah, well we can arrange that anytime now can't we?"

"Are you crying?" Sai taunted her. "Are you still contemplating on what could-have-been?"

Sakura whipped around and quickly approached him until she stood just before him, not caring if a tear or two slipped down her cheek. "My past is behind me. Why can't you move on, Sai? You couldn't be jealous, could you?" She stared him in the eye, waiting to see what he would say. Sai had always showed signs of annoyance when ever she brought up her past teammates. He remained quiet, his mask securely hiding any emotion he might be hindering. Standing on her tip-toes she kissed him on the cheek quickly before brushing past him to gather her belongings. She watched him out of the corner of her eye wipe the kiss from his face with a disgusted look. A sense of glee over took her when she finally got him to throw her a angry look, served him right for messing with hr. He never like physical touch unless he was instigating it and she enjoyed torturing him in the worse way possible.

"Does that mean you would like me to come over tonight?"

She froze upon his question, did he just say what she heard him say? She slowly glanced at him seeing as he had his attention on her entirely. There was a look in his eye that she had never seen before, had that been said in a seductive way? She had made a mistake once, allowing things between she and Sai to take a wrong turn. She had invited him over to her place, since he was always alone and no one took the time out of their day to befriend him. She made dinner, things were going pretty well until he came across a few pictures of team seven, excluding him. Sai became his typical self, insult after insult. Sakura felt the need to defend her former teammates and somewhere in the mix of their argument someone had kissed the other, luckily things hadn't gone much further then that. Once they realized what had happened Sai quickly left and neither had brought up the subject since. She wouldn't deny that she was attracted to him on some slim scale. But she would rather kiss Lee then to start anything with a man who would never give a damn about another living thing.

She glared at him, as she carefully placed her few weapons she had used during her sparing match in her weapons pouch. "Don't be a ass, Sai."

"I wasn't trying to be."

She could feel a lump in her throat start to form. What in the world was up with him, could it be possible that he was trying to "hit on her"? "I should get going, I have to meet up with Tsunade-sama in a bit."

"Sakura..."

She could see him start to approach her out of the corner of her eye. She could feel her heart start to pace faster, the palms of her hands started to feel sweaty with each step he took. Sai stopped close enough that he was clearly in her personal space upon his own desire to do so. Her eyes widened in response as he firmly grasped her left wrist and leaned closer to her. Her heart felt as though it stopped along with everything else around her.

"Wha...what are u doing?" She stuttered.

"Returning your kiss. I read it was the polite thing to do."

Everything that was logical told her to pull away, to not allow this to go on any further. The complications that could be inflicted upon the both of them if they were to take this kiss the wrong way. But her feet wouldn't budge, and she could hear the inner ramblings of her traitorous mind tell her to "go for it". Her body trembled, but she wasn't sure what was the cause, fear or the temptation.

His lips felt cool as they brushed against her own. He gently pulled on her wrist, urging her to step closer to him. Her eyes slid close as she pressed up against him. She felt his free hand gently come to a rest behind her neck as he attempted to make the kiss into something more. She slowly placed her right hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat rapidly under his shirt. Thoughts that she had long ago locked away filtered to mind. Thoughts of dark hair, dark eyes, a stubborn attitude and a symbol of a clan that had long ago been forgotten.

"...Sasuke.."

Sakura quickly pushed away, lowering her head in shame as she backed away from the man that stood shocked, even possibly hurt before her.

"I'm sorry, Sai. I..." The air seemed to build an unbearable tension between the two of them. The tears started to build, but she refused to cry in front of him. "I have to go." Without giving Sai another glance she quickly headed off to her intended destination. She had to get away and think about what had just about happened. If she could get to Tsunade perhaps she could convince the older woman to assign her a mission.

She rushed across the rooftops, glancing briefly at the people that mingled their daily lives below her. How she would imagine on cold lonely nights what her life would have been like if it were more normal. To be a young woman in training. Perhaps she would have been a doctor since she had a knack at healing. The thought of never have gone to the ninja academy, never becoming a member of team seven, nor meeting anyone else for that matter seemed almost pleasing at times. Things would have been differently, she wouldn't have been there to be their weakest link during times of need. Without her influence their lives would have been differently as well and perhaps her two former teammates would be alive to this day.

Upon finally reaching her destination she landed swiftly and quietly at the doors to the Hokage Tower. She nodded briefly at the guards as she entered and began to climb the long spiraling stairs to her mentors office. It was upon reaching the doors that she felt a familiar presence behind her. Had he followed her? Sakura turned to face Sai. Her heart felt as though it was going to climb out of her throat.

"Sai, what are you..."

"I was summoned to have a audience with the Hokage."

His demeanor had changed in the few short minutes that they had been apart. He was as uptight as the first time that she had meet him, and she knew that she had hurt him.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"Because you didn't exactly give me a chance now did you, ugly.

She clenched her hands in anger, damn him. She was about to retort back when the doors opened and Shizune stood before the two of them.

"Good your here, Tsunade-sama has been asking for the both of you. Hurry."

Forgetting about Sai, Sakura moved quickly into Tsunade's office. She could see the Hokage standing behind her desk bent over a scroll, a code translator stood quietly by the older womans side. She could see her mentor's hands grasped the paper tightly, crinkling it as she stood straight and looked at them.

"Sakura, Sai, thank you for coming so quickly. I have a mission for you both."

Sakura could feel her heart stop. "Both!" She was hoping to clear her head, now she was going to be stuck with the one person that she needed to get away from at the moment. "Tsunade-sama..."

"Sakura, this is of importance to me." Tsunade cut her off. The older woman rolled the scroll up then held it to her chest. "The two of you need to leave as soon as possible."

"What is it that you require of us, Hokage-sama" Sakura glanced over at Sai as he spoke. He had one of the most serious looks on his face that she had ever seen before.

"You are to travel as quickly as you can to water country. There you will meet up and escort back two rogue ninja. You will need to be on the highest alert around these two, use any force possible if the situation calls upon it. You will likely face confrontations, but no matter at what cost these two are to be returned. They have caused much trouble for this village. I will have the rest of the details drawn up and ready for your departure. You can pick up your orders at the check station when you leave. You are dismissed."

"Be ready in an half hour." Sai spoke before vanishing in a plume of smoke.

Sakura turned on her heal, ready to exit when Tsunade stopped her.

"Sakura... I need you to keep an open mind, and ear. Be careful to judge. And most of all, don't let your emotions get to you while you are out there."

She let her mentors words sink in, not understanding exactly what she meant by it but offered the older woman a nod in response. What exactly was written in that scroll that had Tsunade acting so strangely, did it have anything to do with the mission she and Sai were both being sent on? She quickly headed home to pack her supplies, taking note that it would be cold in water country this time of the year. The journey would take a few days if they were not to take rest for too long. She hoped that things went smoothly and these rogue ninja wouldn't be any hassle then she could take all the time she needed to think things over.

Once she was packed she quickly grabbed her pack and headed toward the front gate. Once she arrived there she was surprised to see Sai waiting patiently by the check station. He handed her one of two scrolls he had in his hands and proceeded out the gate. Sakura stared at the scroll in her hand then at Sai's back. He hadn't even said one word to her, perhaps they could get through this mission with out any complications between the two of them.

"Hey, Ugly! Are you coming or not?"

She thought too soon... Sakura clenched the scroll tightly in her hand before shoving it in her weapons pouch. She glared at the dark haired man that was staring at her a few feet away before finally moving to catch up to him.

"Look, lets just get the mission done and I promise you, Sai, when we get back we can talk about things."

"Who said I was even interested anymore."

Sakura growled in frustration and grabbed Sai by the shirt and gave him a good shake for measure. "Can you please, for once in your life just stop it with the insults. We have to work together for the next week Let's just keep things the way that it always has been so we can both get through this."

"Are you done yet?" Sai glared at her smacking her hand away. "You're wasting time you ruthless bitch..."

Sakura reeled her hand back ready to lay one on him when she suddenly stopped herself. Had she just caught a hint of amusement in her companions eye? Suddenly it dawned on her, did he consider this foreplay? Sai always had a weird way of showing affection toward people, he was never straightforward about anything. It is either he picked up his interaction skills with others by watching how individuals react toward others, or he picked it up from some damn book. She was so wound up in that thought that she hadn't taken notice that he now had a slightly upturned corner of his mouth on the left side until he pointed out that she was staring.

"Let's just get this over with." She said with a huff and pushed past him, springing to the treetops. No matter what she couldn't allow things to get any worse then what they were now. She had to make sure the mission was done as quickly and flawlessly as possible. There was no telling what awaited ahead of them and if the two of them were bickering it could cost them their lives. Besides they both needed to be on top of things, prepared to take any action that would be required when meeting up with the ninja they were supposed to escort back.

Who were they? What village were they from, and why did Tsunade request them to be brought back to Konoha?