Okay! Chp. 14 is out!
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Chapter Fourteen: When Things Fall Apart

"I have you breathing down my neck. I don't know what you could possibly expect under this condition so..."

I'm going to be so late!

Sakura was on her way to the Hokage's office. Lady Tsunade had sent a messenger to tell her that she needed to see her at noon sharp. It was noon exactly. She hadn't got much sleep last night because of her run in with Kalei, so she ended up sleeping in way too late. And here she was, sprinting to the Hokage's office. She was still recovering chalkra from her mission, so she wasn't exactly in the mood to use any jutsu. Screwed. That's what she was.

I can't remember the last time I ran this fast! She knew her Master's temper. This wouldn't be pretty if she was late.

She was close...so close. There was a fence on one side of her, and the street on the other. She approached the corner, ridiculously fast...and she couldn't see to her left...perfect. Just a few more steps...

CRASH.

Ouch.

Once she reached the intersection, she ended up running right into somebody else, laying them out across the sidewalk, herself included. It happened a little too fast, leaving her head spinning...and on top of that...well, technically she was on top. Whoever she had crashed into...she somehow ended up in between their legs, with her hands on either side of their body. Her head was bent down, eyes shut tightly from the pain...but she heard the other person grunt.

Oh perfect.

It was Sasuke.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was holding himself up by his arms, staring at her...eyes wide. Complete look of shock...and a little embarrassment.

"Sa-Sakura?" His voice cracked.

She started blushing. Oh wow...this wasn't good. "Sasuke..." She said breathlessly.

He looked down, noticing how they were positioned...and unless Sakura was imagining it, a small trace of red appeared on his face as well. He looked back up and blinked a couple of times. "Uh.." He mumbled.

Sakura just stared at him...shocked by the fact that she had completely taken him out. She swallowed hard. "S-sorry..." She scrambled to her feet and brushed off her clothes, as Sasuke slowly stood up himself.

"You okay?" She asked softly.

"Hn."

Hn? That was it? No... The Sasuke she knew...wouldn't be happy about this...any minute now-

"What the hell are you in such a rush for?"

Yep, there it was. He was glaring at her, the red now completely gone from his face. But as embarrassed as she was, she took a little satisfaction in being able to make Sasuke Uchiha blush.

"I'm...sorry. I'm late to see Lady Tsunade." She said, sighing. Oh wait...shouldn't she be mad at him? After a second of regaining her composure...she snapped at him.

"What about you?" She asked harshly, causing Sasuke's brows to raise.

"Late."

Talk about being able to make a conversation. Nice.

She groaned and brushed her clothes off once more. "I'm really going to get it now. She'll be sooo-"

"Sakura, when did you get back?" Sasuke interrupted, causing Sakura to glare back up at him.

"Late last night."

He was a little surprised to see her glaring at him. Wasn't she supposed to be happy to see him?

"What?" He asked sharply, questioning her dirty look. She started to grind her teeth.

"Sorry...you just ran into me. I'm a bit irritable, and lacking sleep. On top of that..." She trailed off, thinking about what Kalei had said to him last night. Now didn't seem like a good time to bring it up.

"On top of that..." He repeated, trying to get her to go on.

"Nothing, bad mood. Leave me alone." She said quickly, trying to avoid the conversation. She started walking past him, but before she could get anywhere-

"Wait-"

Sasuke roughly caught her arm and halted her steps, causing her to look back at him. Well, glare actually.

"I told you...I'm late." She said angrily, trying to pull her arm away...but his grip was too strong.

"I didn't expect you to come back like this." He said, just as angrily. But he, unlike Sakura, was trying to control his tone. She was clearly just flat out upset.

"Well...I didn't expect to either."

"What do you mean?" He released Sakura's arm and she turned to face him.

Her gaze drifted to the floor and she clenched her fists. Sasuke put his hands into his pockets, waiting for her reply.

Silence.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" She asked nervously, looking back up at him. Her eyes were wary...and right away he knew what she was talking about. He looked away and shook his head.

"Sasuke..." She pushed, softly.

"No."

He looked back at her, clenching and unclenching his jaw. Clearly lying. She figured she'd try one last time.

"Sasuke...please...just tell-"

"Damn it, Sakura, no-"

Without thinking...unintentional, really...but forcefully, she trusted her palm at his face, leaving the sound of flesh against flesh to resound in the air. His eyes were wide, his face was turned away...and his skin was slowly turning red. Quickly, Sakura drew her hand back and held it with her other hand. All her anger was built up in that slap...that it actually hurt her, too. He slowly turned his head back to face her, his face still expressionless and his hands were still in his pockets. But his eyes were narrowing.

"S-Sasuke...I'm so..." She stuttered, remembering the night she had met up with him. He was fully capable of killing her, and there was no saying he wouldn't. And as she noticed the red hand print start to form, she started to feel a little scared.

Her eyes widened a bit, and on this older, more mature Sakura...the expression was priceless. It was all Sasuke could do to not let out a small chuckle. He bit his tongue and gritted his teeth together to contain it.

She shook her head. "I-I...I'm late...Sasuke, I have to..." This wasn't how she wanted to...run into him...after she had gotten back. Quite frankly...she wanted to die right here. They had left on such a good note...now everything seemed to be slowly falling apart. "I have to go." She said, quietly. She turned around and started running again, extremely fast. Now she was beyond late. And so was he. So he just watched her take off...re-running over what had just happened. How had Sakura known about Kalei? Naruto was right. Sakura was mad. She was pissed. And it wasn't even his fault.

"I'm so so so..."

"Late." Tsunade grumbled, standing up behind her desk. She was clearly lacking sleep too, by the look of the bags under her eyes, and as it appeared she had already had some sake this morning. She was scowling at Sakura, who had her hands folded in front of her, face in a frown.

"I was going to say sorry, but I-"

"A shinobi should never be late, Sakura."

Sakura nodded and sighed. "Yes...Lady Tsunade."

Her Master ran a hand down her face and yawned. "Sakura...I have important news for you."

Sakura's eyes widened. Important news, huh? Hopefully something good, to make her feel a little better about her encounter with Sasuke. "Yes...Lady Tsunade?"

Tsunade rustled through a stack of papers, and pulled one out, pushing the other ones to the side of her desk.

"I know you've been waiting for this...and your mission report came in good. Everything went as planned, even better." Tsunade said, looking up to her apprentice. Sakura nodded, swallowing hard.

No way? Could it be? Please. Please!

"Many recommendations have come in as well, Sakura. And after discussing it with the Jounin Council, also the ANBU staff and Chief of Elders...on this rare occasion..."

Please! Yes!

"You have been given the opportunity, and privilege...to attain rank of ANBU officer.

CCCHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!

A triumphant grin burst out on Sakura's face. She couldn't help but be happy. She had been working for this. And it certainly was rare. After all, she was just a chunin...and even though her abilities were clearly above jounin...not many shinobi are allowed to skip ranks.

"I want you to understand, Sakura. This means...no being late. Ever. And you must train twice as hard...be prepared for missions at any given time. Every type of mission. I need you fully focused, and you must understand that this is a privilege. I'm trusting you." Tsunade explained, stamping the paper and laying it on her desk. She looked back up at Sakura and smiled. "You deserve this, so don't blow it."

She understood. She really did.

"You'll be working with many other ANBU ninja now...and like any other shinobi rank...you are assigned to a squad. But, unlike other shinobi ranks, the squads aren't set much in stone...and for certain missions you usually end up working with other people. Basically, the squads are set for when you take on lower rank missions that can be handled with the basic chemistry of your team." She explained once more.

Sakura nodded, still smiling. "Yes, Lady Tsunade. But may I ask...who will my teammates be?"

Tsunade chuckled quietly and sat down. She grabbed her sake bottle and leaned back in the chair. "It's not decided yet. I'm still working on convincing the Elders...that Naruto should be an ANBU shinobi as well."

Sakura's mouth fell open. That would be perfect. She giggled a bit and nodded. "Yes, that would be perfect. Like special training to be Hokage."

Tsunade nodded. "Now, Sakura...you may go. I'll have everything situated out within a week...and your ANBU attire, cloak and mask, will be delivered to your home. If you're not home, they will just leave it there. Understood?"

Sakura nodded, gleefully. Through this whole conversation...one thing was echoing through her head...

"I work best in those kinds of situations. ANBU works with the impossible."

"You're clearly not there yet."

Kalei's words. Her attitude.

This couldn't have happened at a better time. Literally.

Perfect!

"I knew she'd be angry. It doesn't take much to upset Sakura." Naruto explained, slurping up some noodles. Sasuke had made it to Ichiraku about 20 minutes late, but Naruto was already eating, and not exactly upset. Sasuke sighed and drank the rest of his tea. He had been there for about 10 minutes now.

"Whatever." He said irritably. Damn, this was getting annoying. He had already talked to Kalei...next was Sakura. But he didn't know how to approach the conversation without royally ticking her off.

"You shouldn't have said yes to the date...or held her hand...or anything like that, especially if you're just going to tell her now that you don't have any feelings for her that way. It really makes you look like the bastard you used to be." Naruto said through a mouth full of noodles. Sasuke turned and glared at him. Even though he had a point, that wasn't what he wanted to hear. And on top of that...he didn't know how he was feeling. Maybe it was the mistake of being alone with Sakura on a date. He never had this problem when he was younger, and it was probably because he was always so focused on getting stronger to kill Itachi. But now...he was strong...and the fact was that he did have time to blow before he could start training again. And if by some miracle...he did survive the battle...he needed to go on with his life somewhere...somehow.

But the strangest thing...was that he was following rules. He could have actually left and found somebody else to train him. Or, he could of just flat out taken advantage of Kalei's feelings...and asked her to train privately so he wouldn't get in trouble. But no...for some damn reason...he was being patient...and now that he was actually thinking about it...he was wasting valuable time. As he gets stronger...Itachi does too. That could be a problem.

"I shouldn't have come back. I have no home here." He said, a scowl engraved on his face. He was clearly upset.

"This is your home. It's your only home." Naruto said, finishing the bowl and pushing it aside. "This is where the whole Uchiha clan resided...what do you think your ancestors would say if they heard you say that?"

Sasuke growled. This conversation was really upsetting him. "They wouldn't say anything. They're all dead."

And it was all his brothers fault. Damn Itachi.

Now he was really regretting his decision to stay. He stood up quickly. "I can't stay here." He said angrily.

Naruto's eyes widened and as Sasuke stepped back from the stool, Naruto turned around quickly. "Wha-what?"

"I need to leave. I have to find Itachi."

"Bastard...the difference in time won't do you any good. You've already waited this long...if you leave now it was a complete waste."

"I'm aware of that. But staying here is only causing problems."

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted angrily, standing up. Sasuke just stared at him, emotionless. "You're not leaving. You can't. I swear, if you leave now...I'll hunt you down and-"

"We already know how it will end. Save your breath."

Ouch. That was the first time...in a really long time...that Sasuke's words had had any bite to them. He clearly was getting defensive. Hostile. And from previous encounters...this could get dangerous. Naruto was sure he had gotten stronger, yes...but so had Sasuke. This wasn't the time...and definitely not the place.

Damn you Sasuke...

Sasuke turned around and started walking away. Naruto, speechless, stood there...watching him as he walked off. After a minute or two...he walked away too...angry at himself for how he let the conversation end.

One thing was for sure...his leaving now would be dangerous...and it was almost definite...that if he did...

Somebody would break.

Next Chapter: Realizing The Reason