A/N: Sorry for the long wait everyone. In return, I'm making this chapter longer than I normally would as repayment for taking long.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Bring Me To Life
Summary: After Sasuke left, Sakura didn't know what her purpose in life was anymore. Her presence has becoming nothing. When three years pass, Sasuke comes back to Konoha. At his return, Sakura is at a mix of emotions"Save Me From The Nothing I've Become."
Chapter 16 – Disagreement
"What the Village Elders have decided for Uchiha Sasuke's punishment for leaving Konohagakure and becoming a missing nin is death." The words rang in Sakura's mind. When Tsunade had finished making her statement, she leaned back in her chair, curious to see their reactions.
The news shocked Sakura so much; all she could do is gape. All her emotions flew out of her mind. "Death?" she said quietly, until the actual shock from the decision entered in her mind. Then, her true reaction showed. "Death?! You can't be serious Tsunade-shishou! You have to be joking!" Sakura screeched, appearing in front of Tsunade's desk and slamming her hands down on the mahogany wood.
"I'm serious Sakura," Tsunade said calmly. "I'm sorry, but this is not a joke." The blonde-haired woman peered over to where the Uchiha was. She felt a knowing smirk forming on her face from his expression. 'A blank expression,' she thought. 'How typical of an Uchiha.'
The said man merely stared at the ground, his hard onyx gaze studying the carpet intently. Judging from the look on his face, he was deep in thought, but his outer appearance looked as though he was unfazed from the news. "You have no trial, Uchiha," Tsunade told him. "You can't do anything against this decision."
The sannin frowned when she saw her apprentice's shaking arms. 'Either Sakura's taking this too hard,' Tsunade thought, 'or she's getting very upset.' Tsunade knew the wrath that followed with Haruno Sakura got angry. The Hokage herself, and practically everyone else in the village, knew not to get the Haruno Sakura angry, unless they wanted to meet their deathbed early.
"Bullshit," Sasuke muttered, raven bangs covering his dark obsidian eyes. "This is all bullshit. I should've never came back to this damned village in the first place." Sakura's heart slightly wrenched at the words, but she did nothing in response to his harsh comment.
"When…" Sakura began, pausing and taking a deep breath before starting again. "When does he…?"
"For now, one year," Tsunade said, knowing what the skilled kunoichi was trying to ask. "Unless the village elders feel that they must shorten his time to live, he has one year to live." She turned to the Uchiha Prodigy, "Did you hear me, Uchiha?"
Sasuke grunted in response. Even though Sakura couldn't see his eyes, she just knew that on his eyes were the Sharingan, and the tomoes were swirling madly. "Carry a grudge on me Uchiha, but that will get you no where," Tsunade advised. "I already told you, I didn't have any influence on this decision. You should at least be grateful that the Village Elders' are giving you a year to live."
'Like that would make much difference,' Sasuke thought in his mind. He knew he still had his two life goals to complete, and damn it, one year wasn't enough time to finish it! He got off of the wall he was leaning against, and started heading towards the door, not bothering to listen to Sakura's calls of his name.
"Sasuke-kun! Don't leave, maybe we can work something out!" Sakura called out after him. 'I'm in no mood to beg him to stay right now,' Sakura thought. 'No mood at all.' 'Death is a little bit harsh for just becoming a missing nin, right?' 'That's what I think. But…he did commit treason…' 'Death is too harsh,' Inner Sakura retorted.
Sasuke left the Hokage building, Sakura could tell because there was an absence of great chakra in the air. She turned to her sensei. "Tsunade-shishou," Sakura began. "How could the village elders sentence death? Just because he became a missing nin…isn't that too harsh?"
"Sakura, becoming a missing nin isn't the same as your average crime," Tsunade started. "No matter what you do, what you say, or how you act, the Village Elders' will not change their minds. I know you have strong feelings for Sasuke, but not even that can stop them from their decisions. I'm sorry, but there's nothing anyone can do."
Sakura's sea foam green eyes looked down at her feet. She knew, deep in the back of her mind, that there was nothing that could be done. But the stubborn pink-haired shinobi refused to believe that fact.
"Right," Sakura said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Sorry for wasting your time." She exited the Hokage Mansion, looking around to see if Sasuke was around or nearby. Feeling someone's presence behind her, she turned around, and nearly jumped when she saw it was Sai. "Sai!" Sakura gasped. "I thought you were Sasuke-kun."
Sai raised an eyebrow, "Wow old hag, I've been on your team for months now, and you still can't tell the difference between me and that traitor?" He leaned closer to her, his coal eyes narrowing a bit as a small blush appeared on Sakura's cheeks. "You must be older than I thought." Sai smiled when he saw the vein form on Sakura's forehead, watching her apple green eyes narrow and her eyebrows furrow angrily.
"Damn it Sai!" Sakura shrieked. "I don't have time for your insults!" She stormed off, and Sai reluctantly followed her.
"What's with the bad mood, ugly?" Sai said, his voice smooth and crisp. He casually strode beside her, his dark orbs studying her composure. "You look upset today. Is it your 'monthly cycle' or 'time of month' or whatever it is you women call it?"
'Why that little…!' Inner Sakura raged on the inside. "No!" Sakura shrieked, then lowered her voice. "It's just…something happened today, and it's kind of big, and the news hasn't settled in fully to me yet."
Sai's expression was stoic as he quietly listened to her talk. "Let me guess," he began. "It has to do with the traitor's punishment?" He smirked when he saw her tense. "So it is about him," he confirmed from her reaction.
'How does he know Sasuke-kun's sentenced to death?' Sakura pondered in her head. "What's it to you whether it's about Sasuke-kun or not?" Sakura retorted. "Besides, it has nothing to do with him."
"You're lying," Sai pointed out. "You know old hag, you're a pretty bad liar." Sakura clenched her mouth tightly.
"Why are you even following me anyway? What do you want from me?" Sakura asked, beginning to get impatient with Sai's constant taunting.
"It doesn't matter why I'm here," Sai responded. "So, what happened with the traitor that has you so tense?"
'He's going to die, he's going to die, he's going to die, he's going to die, he's going to die!' her conscious mind screamed, but her mouth said otherwise. "Nothing happened," Sakura forced out. "Everything's fine."
"Didn't I already tell you you're a bad liar?" Sai asked. "So cut the lying crap and tell me what's really going on."
Sakura sharply turned at a corner, heading towards Konohagakure hospital. When she reached the entrance, she turned around, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked intensely at Sai. "I have to go work, I don't have time to chat," Sakura said. "If you want to find out what's going on, go ask Sasuke-kun, and leave me alone." She turned on her heel, giving him a quick fake smile and wave, and went inside the hospital, where she was immediately put to work.
Sai watched Sakura walk inside, a dull look on his face. "Go ask the traitor huh?" Sai said quietly. "Not a bad idea, ugly." He smirked before turning around, heading towards the training grounds to find a certain Uchiha.
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"Come in Uchiha," Tsunade greeted the Uchiha prodigy. The blonde-haired woman currently had her golden almond eyes currently focusing on her paperwork as she wrote on it rapidly. "So I see you decided to show up."
"It's not like I had a choice," Sasuke muttered. Then he said aloud, "What do you want?" Two ANBU appeared behind Sasuke, grabbing both of the Uchiha's arms in the blink of an eye and forcing them to stay behind his back.
Sasuke reacted; doing every strategy that came to his mind, until he noticed a jutsu had been placed in Tsunade's room that prevented him from using any chakra. 'Damn it…!' Sasuke thought. 'It was a trap.' Tsunade stood up, walking in front of her desk and leaning on it from behind.
"You're going to be sent into a dungeon like room where you'll be carefully watched from ANBU Black Ops," Tsunade told him when he glared at her. He snarled at what she had told him. "This is so you won't do anything until the date of your sentence. Basically where you're going is like jail, just heavily guarded where you won't have any escape at all. You'll also have chakra strings around your hands, constricting you from performing any escape jutsu."
The ANBU placed the chakra strings around his hands and tied it securely as Tsunade spoke. Sasuke's eyes flashed of the Sharingan, the tomoes were swirling madly. No one held Uchiha Sasuke captive. "Go to hell," Sasuke spat when the elite shinobi began to drag him away.
"Watch you're mouth, or I'll shorten your year to live by a few months," Tsunade fired back. Sasuke scoffed, and soon the two ANBU and the young Uchiha disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tsunade waited until the smoke cleared, then walked back behind her desk and sat down. The female sannin then sensed another presence outside her door.
"If you're going to stand there all day, then leave," Tsunade stated. The person quietly came in, revealing himself as Sai. "What do you need, Sai?" The blonde-haired woman asked, returning back to her paperwork.
"I need to talk to the Uchiha, where is he being taken to?" Sai asked.
"That information is confidential," The Hokage responded. "Unless it's mandatory that you talk to him, you will not be told where he is."
"Does Sakura know about this?"
Tsunade stopped her paperwork, looking up and sighed. "She knows about what his sentence is, but she doesn't know that he's in the dungeon. She'll find out later from me. If that's all you came here for, then please leave, I'm busy."
"I'll tell her," Sai responded. "She's going to want to go see him after you tell her, so you should just tell me so I can tell her."
"What makes you think I trust you?"
"It's either trust me or get her upset, your call," Sai responded coolly.
Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples. "Today's been such a busy day," Tsunade mumbled under her breath. "I'm going to need a big bottle of sake after this." She looked up, clearing her voice. "He's in a small dungeon not far from the outskirts of Konoha. So now that you know, you can leave."
Sai nodded, made a few hand seals, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Shizune!" Tsunade called out for her apprentice, who came at once with Tonton in her arms.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune said.
"Get me the largest bottle of sake you can find," Tsunade said. A genuine smile formed on Shizune's face.
"Sure, right away Tsunade-sama."
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"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's high voice called out quietly. The room he was in was dark, and from what she could see, Sasuke was chained against the concrete wall with chakra on his chains. The room was like a big, empty cell.
"Sakura," Sasuke said. "What are you doing here?"
Once Sai had come to the hospital and told Sakura of what had happened to the Uchiha Prodigy, the pink-haired kunoichi took time out of the hospital, coming to where Sai said Sasuke would be. The ANBU Black Op let her pass, knowing it was the Godaime's apprentice, and now here she was.
Sakura walked towards Sasuke, bending down and sitting on the floor, hands in her lap. "I don't understand why Tsunade-shishou went through so much trouble to keep you restricted," Sakura thought aloud. "It's not like you were going to do anything…right?"
Sasuke remained silent, his dark onyx orbs focusing in the dark corner not far from him, raven bangs hanging in front of his face. "Sasuke-kun…I've been meaning to ask you…" Sakura continued talking.
"Why…why did you come back to Konoha in the first place?" Sakura bit the inside of her mouth to calm her anxiety as she waited for Sasuke to answer. She watched his pale face carefully, looking for any reaction to her question.
"It's not important," he answered, short and quick.
"Yes, it is important," she said, moving slightly closer to him. "Very important."
"I came back for many reasons," Sasuke muttered, looking straight into Sakura's sea foam green eyes. "I didn't come back to repair the damage I caused."
"Then why did you come back? You're still not answering my question, Sasuke-kun," Sakura persisted. Her face was close to his, their noses almost touching.
"What do you want me to say?" Sasuke said, a scowl forming on his face.
"…" Sakura remained silent for a while. "Why did you betray Konoha in the first place?" she asked. "You didn't have to go search for power, but you did. You didn't have to become a missing nin, but you did. You could've stayed here and not be in chains, but you didn't."
"What are you getting at?" Sasuke said, his tone slightly angry. "You're saying that everything I've done was a mistake?"
"Well I'm not calling them accomplishments," Sakura retorted. "I don't think you realized the position you put me and Naruto through when you left. You didn't realize back then, and you still don't understand all the pain we went through!"
"You think I deserve to be here," Sasuke stated, reading the angry hurt look on her apple green eyes.
"No, I think you could've prevented being here," Sakura finished. She stood up, heading towards the door, her back facing him. It was an ironic situation, since last time Sasuke walked away from Sakura, leaving her helpless. But now, it was the other way around, and Sakura was walking away from Sasuke, leaving him helpless since he was chained to the wall. Sasuke scoffed at the irony.
"Sakura," Sasuke called out, no emotion traced on his voice. The pink haired girl stopped walking. She had reached the door, and her hand was resting on the doorframe. She could feel Sasuke's intense obsidian gaze on her back, but refused to turn her head to look at him.
"Don't tell me to 'understand' what you and the dobe went through when you have no idea the hell I went through," he said harshly.
"We went through hell when you left," Sakura shot back, her back still facing him. "I don't see much of a difference." And with that, she left, leaving a glaring Sasuke watch her retreating back.
A/N: Okay, that ending came different than what I wanted it to be. Oh well. If that ending didn't make any sense, sorry. I'm really tired, and I'm too lazy and exhausted to go back and make changes. If there are grammar mistakes that you see, sorry about that too. Again, I'm tired and lazy, and I'm not paying attention to grammar, I'm just focusing on getting this chapter out and uploaded. Again, sorry for the long wait, and I'll try and get the next chapter out sooner.