D/C: Don't own Naruto!

Ahahah, sorry… I was wandering around the site and I was like Oo dang where's the anonymous review thing!

Village symbol is supposed to be like… rays of sun..ish… an underscore, a slash, vertical line, slash and an underscore..i guess it didn't turn out right

Chap 11! Sorry I haven't been working on the story lately, but another long one comin up

Surprises

The next two days were highly depressing for Sasuke. On the outside, he kept the hard straight face he had mastered in the earliest years of his life. However, on the inside, his mind and heart roiled with troubles and wishes. Sakura had ceased talking to him. Even worse, Naoko continued to harangue him. He found time to get away from Sakura's stony silence and wandered around Light searching for little jobs some people needed doing. He would weed someone's garden and sure enough, Naoko would be there to lean on the fence as she continued a one-sided conversation with Sasuke's silence. He would go to the training grounds to think and contemplate on Sakura's anger, his confusion, his anger at both Sakura and Naoko for their misunderstanding. He would go there for peace and quiet, or he would train, so he could take his mind off of his problems, but Naoko was always shadowing him, following him everywhere. On the third day, around mid afternoon (they were leaving the fourth morning), Sasuke's reserve broke its dam. He was in the training clearing.

"Leave me alone, Naoko-san." He said, quietly.

Naoko giggled. "Nah Sasuke-kun, didn't I say to just call me Naoko? We're friends, aren't we?"

Sasuke's teeth clenched. "I must say we aren't." he replied.

"Now, now, Sasuke-kun," Naoko crooned, "We're over that now, aren't we? Sakura-chan's gone, we have all the time in the world! Too bad you leave tomorrow morning!"

Sasuke's eyes involuntarily lapsed into Sharingan in his anger. "I feel nothing for you, Naoko-san, if you haven't noticed it. I haven't been able to measure your ignorance, it deepens everytime I try to."

The slender girl's smile froze, and faded. "What?" she whispered.

"Actually, I do feel something for you. I am angry at you, Naoko-san. I wish you would leave me alone, let me be, find someone else to torture. You will never in my hearing, insult Sakura. Never. Don't you dare call her Sakura-chan because she's greater than you will ever be. It disgusts me to see how you've manipulated me and her so that you can get rid of her. I disgust myself for letting you do it. You're a beast. Leave me be." But it was he, who stood up, straight and tall, and left without a word. He felt Naoko's burning eyes on his back. Burning with tears, embarrassment, disappointment, and something else he couldn't pin down.

Sakura felt destroyed, in her heart. Her eyes remained black and unreadable 24/7 and she maintained a silence that was broken only to respond to necessary questions, in terse and short responses. Everyone had noticed the space between Sakura and Sasuke. Tsunade, who only came back late at night from negotiations and friendly talks with the Kage, noticed it. Yuzuru-kun seemed to look at the two of them, far apart and separated, with a queer expression in his eyes. When Sakura noticed this and tried to return his glance, he would smoothly look somewhere else, or tip his head forward so his long hair cast shadows upon his handsome face. Kirari-san noticed it too, and once she took Sakura under her arm when the two of them were alone. Her ponytail swung to one side as she cocked her head and looked at Sakura's face. Black as her eyes were, hard as her face was, Kirari seemed to understand her every feeling. But she didn't say anything. She could tell that Sakura didn't want to speak to anyone about anything. She let Sakura go.

She wrestled with herself the second and third day, constantly. Part of her argued that Sasuke would never leave her for another girl they had just barely met. They were happy together. But the other half would bring up Naoko's attractive image, and her cute personality. Part of her wanted to forgive Sasuke, to hold him, kiss him, whisper her apologies in his ear, but the other half roared at her mind, screaming at her to wake up. She didn't know what she was doing. How could she punish him for Naoko's behavior? It was unreasonable. But the stubborn, recently surfaced part of her mind refused to give in.

She had been in the hotel room, sitting on the bed and immersed in her own clashing thoughts when the door flew open with a swift swooshing sound. Sasuke stomped in, his eyes narrow. Sakura swore she could hear a hissing sound coming from his head. But then he stopped short and saw Sakura. He blinked, then took a breath and opened his mouth. Sakura recognized the beginning of a rant, something Sasuke rarely did in public but poured out his every thought to Sakura. It was a Sasuke no one but her knew about. Her ears opened automatically, no matter what her mind said. But then Sasuke remembered himself suddenly and his mouth closed.

"Sorry." He said, shortly, and pulled back out of the room. He probably was going to Yuzuru-kun and Kirari-san's room. He had become to trust Yuzuru-kun greatly, and it was his refuge when Sakura was in the room he shared with her.

The fourth morning, all five packed up. The Kage and an honorary group of Light ninja gathered at the gate to see the five off. The Kage and Tsunade exchanged handshakes for one last time, and a friendly hug. Kirari-san, Yuzuru-kun, Sasuke and Sakura stood with straight backs behind Tsunade, their backs to the open Gate. Sakura's eyes flickered as she spotted Naoko in the select few ninja with the honor to represent Light and their Kage. She glanced subtly at Sasuke and saw his eyes narrow as he too, saw the girl dressed in light yellow. He must have gotten mad at her. A painful twinge tugged at her heart, but she recoiled from it and pulled her mind away.

They walked away from the village in the early morning light, traveling as usual in their box form. Sakura wasn't sure if she minded having Tsunade between her and Sasuke.

Yuzuru gave a noisy yawn. "Nyah. We won't make any stops on the way back, so it'll be faster, right, Tsunade-san?" Yuzuru had refused to call Tsunade just 'Tsunade' without anything at the end at all, so he settled with a casual one, although it was visible that he still didn't like it.

"Hai." Tsunade said, a cheerful smile on her face as she took in the sunlight and the pretty greenery they walked by. Kirari's dark green hair could be heard swishing behind them, and Sakura looked back and saw the graceful woman's unusual eye color shielded from sight by her eyelids as she closed her eyes in the lovely weather. Everyone was enjoying the morning, but Sasuke and Sakura both still remembered their troubles, which were jostling at each other in the corner of their minds.

As the day progressed and noon came, they stopped for a quick lunch, simply a few bites of a sustaining trail mix kind of food. Finishing up what little food they ate, they leapt back into the trees and continued their long way back.

A few days of their journey had passed, two to be exact and they were nearing the edge of Day. Sakura was looking forward to a real bath or shower, real food, and a real bed. To her dismay, Sasuke and Sakura were still not talking. Well, they exchanged comments when it was needed, like "Sakura, can you fetch some river water for the kettle?" or "Sasuke, your sandal's loose." She had hoped that he would try to talk to her, or apologize, but he had done neither. In fact, he seemed to have reverted to how he acted in the Academy. Or, more like, he just acted how he normally did to everyone, Sakura just wasn't used to it. It looked like Sasuke seriously didn't care anymore. That's impossible. He loves me. She thought. But then she remembered how neither of them had ever said it out loud. It didn't mean anything though, she reminded herself. She would talk to him after the trip was over. The problem was, how much longer could she last without Sasuke right next to her…?

True, Sasuke was flat and expressionless on his face, but again, again again again, he was restless underneath. He thought it'd be better for Sakura to finish up steaming over Naoko's flirting and whatnot, and then he'd explain. Four days starting when they had been in Light without talking to Sakura. It was like hell. He needed to talk to someone he trusted, and so far in his life, the only one alive was Sakura. The Sasuke everyone in Konoha knew kept to himself, was sarcastic and smart, and he did fine alone. They thought he was an individual. It was false. At night, Sasuke kept his word to remain strong, and did not cry, but he trembled constantly in bed as his mind cried out to pour out their troubles and words to someone he could trust. His thoughts and opinions needed to be expression just as much as his love for Sakura and devotion needed to be passionate to him.

The wind was blowing strong and a massive dark gray cloud moved over to cover the sky. It wouldn't rain, Sakura didn't feel it in the air. They were far from the path that most citizens and people used to travel between the countries, and were deep in the forests of Day. They stopped on a gigantic tree branch to catch a breath and a drink of water. They were standing in a circle, and Kirari-san had her hands on her hips as she looked around. Her Byakugan sensed nothing. She reached down for her water bottle and took a drink. Suddenly, Yuzuru-kun's eyes widened in a flash and he tackled Kirari, knocking her to the floor under him. A kunai flashed in the darkness under the massive trees right to the point where Kirari's chest had been a second before. A chunk of dark green hair was sliced away from Kirari's ponytail as her head went down. An ambush!

The two adults quickly got to their feet and the four ninja surrounded Tsunade. Each ninja was tensed and ready to spring. Tsunade's eyes sought movement in the undergrowth and foliage of the forest. Sakura's eyes were pink and her hand glowed with a ready Full Bloom. Sasuke's eyes had turned red with the Sharingan. Kirari's peach colored eyes had the bold outlines of veins behind them, the power of her Chakra sending her hair waving in a windless day. Yuzuru was crouched, a kunai and four shurikens in his hands.

To the intense surprise of the five Konoha ninjas, a blackness seemed to spread out from the shadows of the forest. It began to consume everything they saw.

"GENJUTSU!" Yuzuru roared, his hands going up to his face as he prepared to cancel the genjutsu. The other four followed suit.

"It isn't canceling for me!" Sakura cried out.

"Me neither." Sasuke said, panic beginning to show in his voice. It was a higher genjutsu than he was sure on how to stop.

A flash of peach light and Kirari-san thrust out a glowing hand into the darkness, and the blackness immediately disappeared. The back of Kirari's hand was against the back of a shrouded ninja's neck, and it suddenly slumped to the floor. The ninja looked to be a man, and was clothed in all black. Tsunade spotted a piece of metal, and knelt down. A black circle was engraved onto the ninja headband.

"The Hidden Dark!" she said, a note of surprise in a rushed breath.

"There's more, Tsunade. Get up." Kirari said, her voice hard.

Evidently, the unseen ninja preferred close combat, as a black-clothed ninja appeared in front of Sakura and slashed out at her head. She bent backwards, her back flexing and the ninja's attack went clear over her head. Her neck came back into place as she dodged the attack and she brought the diamond-sharp chakra petal up and through the ninja's chest. A gagging sound, but he persevered, using dragging fingers to try and form a seal. Sasuke appeared and kicked the man sideways over the edge of the branch and sent kunais thudding into the dying man.

"Sasuke!" Sakura stammered, "Don't leave Tsunade unprotected!"

"The Hokage can protect herself." He said. "Move it! They're going to kill us if we don't beat them to it." Sakura nodded and twisted around, sending out a second chakra petal. She had not managed to conjure up more than two petals at one time. Her Chakra had expanded greatly, but she tired easily if she tried to push herself overboard. Sasuke had leapt to help Yuzuru, who was fighting off three ninja. Where had all these come from! Kirari hadn't sensed them! Sakura found herself face to face with two ninja. She jerked back, but then her eyes blazed a deep pink and her two petals flattened out to a long, narrow, flat, two-sided spear.

She gripped her right wrist with her left hand, and jabbed to the left, then the right, straight into the chests of the two men. One grunted and gripped her arm painfully and cut at her arm with a kunai. She winced, but gritted her teeth and swung her body low, pulling her leg around and tripping the two of them. However, they leaped away into the branches of the trees above. She thought she heard the hum of healing, but was distracted by yet another black-clad ninja being flung right past her nose as Tsunade dealt out another blow.

Sasuke kicked at a black form at Yuzuru's back, and felt his foot connect. Immediately he had to block an incoming kunai and suddenly he found himself in one of the typical duels between ninja, simply leaping off walls, or any surface the feet could find while dodging, throwing, and/or clashing kunais with the opponent. They were getting too far from the group… Sasuke jumped away from the other man and leapt back to the battle-branch, hearing the man curse and jump after him.

Kirari didn't think they could continue much longer. Tsunade, perhaps, but the rest of them could not. She could see Sasuke and Sakura begin to flag in strength. The battle was taking much too long. But as soon as the attack had begun, it suddenly stopped. She whirled around in a full circle, vainly trying to find an opponent that had been all too easy two seconds before. The five stood in silence, though with heaving chests.

"Where'd they go?" Sakura demanded. A tree branch rustled high above and all five of them slowly raised their head. Tsunade cursed. Loud.

The branches above them were filled with black-clad ninja. Every branch that could be seen seemed to hold a ninja from the Hidden Dark.

"This isn't good." Yuzuru whispered.

"That's not all." Sasuke said, slowly. He was looking straight in front of them. The other four quickly followed suit. There was a black mass moving on the wide broad branch fifty feet from where they stood. As they cleared themselves of the shadows, figures could be seen. Sakura's stomach felt funny. There was something both familiar but wrong here. She edged closer to Sasuke, troubles forgotten.

"There's something wrong." She muttered. "Do you feel it?" Sasuke nodded silently. Suddenly, one person detached itself from the main mass, and walked out into the light. Sakura's eyes widened, and Sasuke gave a "tchk" of disbelief and shock.

A tall, slender, young lady of seventeen stood dressed almost entirely in yellow. The forehead protector that was tied around her upper leg close above her knee had changed from the rays of the sun to a black engraved circle.

Nakamura Naoko.