Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 7: We Really Need to Talk

Sakura walked around Konoha the next afternoon in a semi-daze.

Her upper bicep hurt from the recently placed ANBU tattoo, but it was nothing compared to the throbbing of her brain as she tried to assimilate all of the information Tsunade stuffed into it during her mission briefing.

Yawa Temeki was really Uchiha Sasuke…and had been from the very first moment she rode through the gates of Konoha six years ago with Kina and Gaara.

Yawa Temeki was also Zannen, one half of the fiercest and most dangerous hunter nin duo to work in any of the Hidden Villages. Her partner, Aitou, was really her foster sister Sabaku no Kinabuhi.

Yawa Temeki, Uzumaki Naruto, Sabaku no Gaara, Sabaku no Kinabuhi, and her, Haruno Sakura, were all key players in the plan to take down Akatsuki.

Yawa Temeki was also the woman who had kissed and come onto her a few months ago at Temari and Shikamaru's wedding.

Sakura blushed at the memory. She reddened even further as she looped back to her first thought.

Yawa Temeki was really Uchiha Sasuke…

She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the person walking toward her until she bumped into him. If it weren't for the strong hands that grabbed her arms, Sakura would've fallen over.

Unfortunately, he grabbed her arm on the exact spot her new tattoo resided.

"OW!"

The hands immediately let go and a frown line appeared on the man's brow.

"I didn't even grab you that hard, Sakura-chan," Shino said softly.

Oh, CRAP! Inner Sakura yelled. RUN!

I am not going to run, you idiot, Sakura berated her inner self. It's just Shino.

But you broke up with him last week remember?

Oh, yeah, Sakura replied.

Shino stood patiently until the blank look on Sakura's features cleared. After knowing and observing the girl for the past seven years, he knew that the moment would soon pass. It wasn't as if he didn't have a few quirks of his own, so he didn't mind when other people showed theirs.

"Hi Shino!" she finally said, smiling brightly at the man. "Didn't see you there!"

"Obviously," was the answer.

Sakura's eye twitched. The bug user's habit of one-word conversations was one of the reasons she broke up with him.

But Sasuke is pretty much the same, Inner Sakura said.

I thought you didn't want Shino, Sakura shot back. Shut up now. He's looking at us funny.

"Where're you headed, Shino?"

"I was going to your apartment, actually."

Wow…a sentence…Inner Sakura chuckled.

I thought I told you to shut up!

"Why?"

"Lunch."

Sakura sighed. "I thought we went over this."

"It's just lunch."

She was about to answer when she saw Temeki walking towards them. The other woman's face was a mask of determination and Sakura recognized the possessive look in her eyes.

How did I not notice that before? Sakura asked herself. Her eyes have the same look as Sasuke's…it's so obvious now.

Temeki stopped next to Sakura and looked Shino up and down. "Aburame-san," she said coldly.

"Yawa-san," Shino replied, equally cold.

Temeki turned from him with a flick of her long hair and stared at Sakura. "We need to talk," she said.

"Sakura-chan and I were going to lunch," Shino said, reaching for Sakura's elbow. Temeki blocked his move by placing her arm around the pink-haired woman's waist and pulling her body close to hers.

"Gonna have to pass," Temeki sneered. "Girl stuff…you understand."

Before Shino could answer, Temeki and Sakura disappeared in a large gust of wind.

00000000000000000

When Sakura and Temeki reappeared, she tore herself from the woman's hold and leaned against the Memorial Stone.

"You didn't have to do that," she gasped at the Suna nin.

"Yes, I did," was the answer. "CD!"

Sakura gasped as Temeki fell to her knees and transformed into Sasuke.

"We need to talk," he repeated.

Sakura felt anger pour through her and started in on the boy she missed so much.

"You're damn right we need to talk!" she said, somehow remembering to keep her voice low enough so that they wouldn't attract attention. "Six years, Sasuke! Six fucking years!"

Sasuke looked down and had the grace to look ashamed. "We wanted to tell you."

"All you did was treat me like a friend as I told you about Sasuke and you were really Temeki all along," she ranted. "You saw how depressed I got whenever news came back about Sasuke! Naruto kept looking and I kept looking, but you were in Suna all safe and sound! I—huh? We? Who's we?"

"That finally got through to you, huh?" Sasuke asked. A small smile floated over his features and Sakura was reminded of the same smile on Temeki's face.

"Who's we?"

"Basically everyone who was in the Uchiha's chamber last night," he answered.

Sakura reeled as the meaning of his sentence got through to her.

"Tsunade-sama knew? Kakashi? Naruto knew?"

"Yes. He wanted to tell you, but we all agreed that the fewer people who knew, the better."

"Why wasn't I told?" Sakura absently traced some of the names on the Memorial Stone. Her head came up sharply at a stray thought. "Was it because I wasn't strong enough?"

"NO!" Sasuke yelled. "You're strong, Sakura. You're heart, mind, soul…in everything that matters, you're strong. Stronger than I was…"

She stared at this new humble version of Sasuke and gaped.

"You could have told me," she whispered. "You could have visited."

"No I couldn't," Sasuke stated. He sat down against the wooden pole Kakashi had tied Naruto to so long ago. "Not until my sentence was finished."

Sakura walked over to the Uchiha and knelt down next to him, but slightly facing him so that she could look into his eyes. His hair was long now—as long as Temeki's hair really was, Sakura realized. The look should've been ridiculous on him, since Temeki's hair ended at her knees. But somehow it worked on him.

He's still gorgeous.

"Sentence?" Sakura prompted when he stopped talking.

"I was guilty of leaving the village, Sakura," Sasuke said, leaning his head back and staring at the clouds. "I went to Orochimaru. I hurt and almost killed Naruto. I had to be punished somehow."

She nodded and looked at her lap. She knew what he said was true.

"I was exiled from Konoha for six years," Sasuke said. He looked over at the woman next to him and smiled again. "For six years I couldn't enter Konoha as Uchiha Sasuke."

"But Yawa Temeki could," Sakura realized.

"Yes, Yawa Temeki could," he repeated. "I learned so much whenever I visited here in her body. I saw the village through different eyes. It was like getting to know everyone again. Only this time I got to know the real people instead of the polite masks everyone wore for the last Uchiha."

Sakura remained silent. She slowly understood the situation. Tsunade was a smart woman. She knew that Sasuke was an important asset to the village. What better way for Sasuke to get over his attitude problem than to adjust his thinking?

But what a screwed up way to do it, Sakura thought.

"What about that time?" Sakura asked, softly.

"You mean the kiss?"

That's Sasuke for you, Sakura mused. Blunt as ever. Come to think of it, Temeki is the same way.

"Yes, the kiss. Did you mean it?"

Sasuke took her hand and looked at their entwined fingers. He was silent for so long, she didn't know if he would even answer.

"For as long as I can remember, you've said you loved me," he started. "I always thought you were kind of annoying. But at the same time, you were always there. When I left that night, I thanked you. Do you remember?"

"You knocked me out."

"Yeah…" a rueful smile played over his lips. "I thanked you because when you said that you loved me, I believed you. And it made me warm."

"Then why did you leave?"

"At the time, I didn't think that warmth was enough," Sasuke admitted. "And now that I've had time to think about it…I left to protect you."

Sakura pulled her hand out of his grip and frowned. "You were a cold bastard, Sasuke."

"Glad you knew it," he said, taking her hand again. "Sometimes I wondered."

"How did leaving protect me? I felt like dying Sasuke!"

"I know…and I'm sorry," Sasuke raised her hand to his lips and gently kissed her fingers one by one. "But I was messed up about things then. I thought that if I cared for you—if I cared for Naruto or Kakashi—then Itachi would come and take you away. It would have been so easy for him to do that. I couldn't bear the thought of losing any of you. So I left to get strong enough to kill him, to protect you."

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Sasuke sighed and spoke again.

"Even then I loved you."

Sakura had nothing to say to that.

He looked into her green eyes and touched her cheek. She watched his eyes widen a bit and then he whispered, "CD."

When Sasuke looked at her again, it was with ice blue eyes instead of onyx ones.

"Someone's coming," Temeki whispered.

Sakura nodded. "Keep talking to me, please." She placed her hand over Temeki's on her cheek and looked tenderly at the other woman.

"I learned to love you even more when I knew the real you, Sakura," Temeki continued, staring intently into her eyes. "I never knew that you were so funny or great to talk to or that you swore worse than Ino and Naruto combined when you're frustrated."

"Ino had to learn it from someone," Sakura joked.

Ice blue met mint green for a few moments before Sakura closed the distance between them and kissed Temeki.

Temeki's heart pounded as she returned the kiss. She wrapped her arms around the other woman and raised herself so that they faced each other on their knees. Sakura buried her hand into Temeki's long hair and kissed her way to her ear.

"We really need to try this when you're a boy," she whispered mischievously.

Temeki laughed and pulled Sakura to her lips again. "You bet," she replied before taking the kunoichi's mouth once more.

They didn't hear the approach of the trio of jounin who stopped in their tracks at the sight.

"Holy shit!" Asuma said, the cigarette falling out of his mouth. "Is that Sakura?"

"Can't be anyone else with that pink hair," Kurenai answered. She stomped out the small fire her husband's cigarette started and pressed the flowers she held closer to her chest.

Kakashi just remained silent as he smirked at the sight. His little—okay, big—perverted mind enjoyed the scene and he felt the telltale dampness of a nosebleed soak through his mask. Even though he knew the truth about the situation, it was still amusing to watch the proper Sakura make out with the brash Temeki.

It was when he noticed Temeki's hands running over Sakura's back that he decided to clear his throat.

The two women broke apart and stared at the older group. Sakura turned bright red and then took Temeki's hand, a look of defiance in her eyes. Temeki simply stood up, taking Sakura with her, and smiled happily at the trio.

Kakashi had never seen such a bright smile on the former Uchiha's face—in either incarnation.

"If you're going to continue that, you might want to pick a different spot," the Copy Ninja drawled to his former students. "Lots of people are likely to visit the Memorial Stone today and innocent eyes might be scarred for life."

Temeki merely snorted elegantly. "Like yours?" she asked.

Sakura looked at the flowers in Kurenai's grasp and asked, "Who are the flowers for, Kurenai-senpai?" (1)

Kurenai looked down at the half crushed flowers and winced. "They're for Sandaime-sama," she answered.

"That's today?" Temeki asked, all traces of smugness and teasing gone.

"Yes," Asuma said, looking off into the distance.

Sakura's heart ached especially for the man. The Sandaime was his father, after all.

Temeki bowed low to the trio and Sakura followed suit.

"We are sorry for the disrespect," Temeki said softly, still bowing and looking at the ground. "We will leave you to your prayers and return later to pay our own respects to the dead."

Asuma realized that they were addressing him. Although everyone knew that he was the Third's son, they rarely awarded him this type of respect.

"I'm sure that Sarutobi-sama wouldn't mind," he said. "He probably would have a good laugh about it."

Right after he cleaned up his nosebleed, Asuma added silently. He didn't want to disparage the memory of his father, but he had no illusions as to how hentai the older man became in his old age.

"Nevertheless," Sakura said, slowly standing up straight. "We shouldn't have been acting that way here."

The older jounin nodded and watched as the couple walked away hand in hand.

"So what do you think of that, Kakashi?" Kurenai asked her friend.

I think that things will become more interesting and complicated from now on, he thought.

Out loud, he said, "I'm just happy that she's found someone besides Shino."

"No offense, Kurenai," Asuma said, shuddering lightly. "But your ex-student's a bit creepy."

"Now if only a certain baka blonde would open his eyes and look at one particular dark-haired heiress," Kakashi murmured.

Kurenai laughed and knelt in front of the Memorial Stone. After a quick prayer, she stood up and stared at the man.

"Sometimes, I think his head is as thick as this monument," she said.

"Hinata could be a little more aggressive," Kakashi said, defending his idiot ex-student.

This time it was Asuma who laughed. "You haven't been paying attention, Kakashi," he said. "She's done everything except get the boy drunk and dressing in a micro-mini."

"It might work," Kakashi replied, still trying to defend Naruto.

"The key word is 'might,'" Kurenai giggled.

The gray-haired man sighed. When his friends were right, they were right.

A/N:

Okay? Well…not too bad, right? Please review…I'm getting kinda down. (Writer's are a fragile species.)

(1) Senpai means "upper-classmen" or "elder" in Japanese.