A/N: Sorry it's taken so long, forgive?

mtm123, I really appreciated your review, I thought I should mention it publicly as such, I responded to your review but if you ever need any more, opinions or thoughts, questions or concerns feel free to leave another review just as long or longer, (I love long reviews) or if so for a more private matter, within a PM.

I remember a time when his hands were so soft, so giving to those deserving. I remember a night when it had touched me as such, as though I was the one deserving. But then, it was all gone, in a blink of a second, for I was just his wife, the bearer of his children, the provider of his future clan.

Although, I still like to think, with a heavy heart. That he loved me once.

"Wake up….hey, wake up!"

Darkness enveloped the sleeping form, it was as if all the darkness that surrounded the world elicited from the intangible self it once was, becoming a personified being in front of all to see.

"Hey, wake up-please…wake up. Come find me!" Shooting his head up Naruto crashed his forehead into a fellow blonde, causing a loud scream to emerge from the victim.

"AH! Naru-to!!" Nursing her head wound she glared at the half-awake boy in front of her vindictively. "You. Are going to pay for that!" Releasing the ache from the care of her hand she made an attempt to strangle the poor sweaty boy until a hand stopped her, firm in its grasp yet lazy.

"Shika…maru?" A sigh emitted from the boy before releasing its hold on the fiery blonde. "Hmph, you should just stay out of this Shika! Weren't you watching the clouds or something else equally lame?" Standing up, hands on her hips, Ino shoved past her teammate to stand by Neji whom was currently drawing out a mini map within the dirt.

Shikamaru turned to Naruto, not really questioning or curious but leaving room for him to explain nonetheless.

"I…, I don't know if it was a dream, but, I heard her, she was telling me to wake up," Looking up at Shikamaru who held one eyebrow raised, a twitch within the eye below it he scratched the back of his head.

"We all heard Ino telling you to wake up…that girl is loud…and troublesome…" he muttered miserably.

"No, no! Not Ino…Sakura," at the slight shock upon Shikamaru's face, Naruto rose to dust off his pants in order to continue with his short tale. "It was her, I just know it, she was asking me to wake up and find her, and I'm worried she's in trouble Shikamaru and here I was…just sleeping, instead of finding her! How could I do that? How could I be standing here right now and not out there catching up to save her?!"

Shikamaru watched Naruto, seemingly disinterested, glancing at his bawled fists to his tightly shut eyes briefly before breathing out a steady reply. "Orders are orders Naruto. We are not to exceed the distance from our team and Guy's, if so, it would be a breach of the mission, and there will be serious consequences."

With no response, Shikamaru continued. "I know she's a dear friend of ours Naruto, but this is still a mission, and in fact, your actions now are justifying Lady Tsunade's actions in placing you on the back up team. So, calm down, get something to eat and we can go over the mission plan with a firm head, alright?" With a small pat to his friend's shoulder, Shikamaru walked off with his hands in his pockets slowly, leaving the boy to himself.

"I will find you Sakura and save you from that teme, I promise!"

X

She could feel a soft yet strong hand on her face, it was warm, and she mused at the gentle caress it was providing upon her tired face, the way it pulled back the strands of her cherry blossom locks and tucked it softly behind her petite ear.

She cradled her face within that hand, her eyes still closed, relishing its warm and protection, wishing that the hand that held her face so securely would wrap itself around her body and just lie with her.

When the hand jerked back her face visibly creased, frowning within its half sleeping form, only after a groggy groan did she open her eyes to wince at the sunlight. Her eyesight fully coming to view she had to stifle a gasp as she saw dark obsidian eyes boring into her own, unrelenting in its gaze.

"Wha…Sasuke-?" Stopping short, trying to catch her breath, she watched him silently as he rose from his bended position stiffly, turning his back on her without a word, just the aura reverberating off him that she should be up and prepared by now.

Rising to her feet she frantically tried to flatten her hair and unwrinkled her clothing, anxiety overcoming her at the thought that Sasuke was watching her as she slept while she was in such a mess.

As she joined the others, Karin's obnoxious snort not going unheard, she prepped herself for the layout of the plan, eagerly awaiting a chance to be done with this and to bring Sasuke back home, any way she could.

Sneaking a glance at Jugo whom was looking back at her wish indescribable eyes she found herself blushing slightly, embarrassed or caught in the moment, she knew not the true reason, before looking away, back at the leader of the group.

"Yesterday we briefed on the plan basics, today we are going to set out on the route designated, there is a fork in the road three kilometers away, once there we will have to split up, 3 and 2, to look for better access and cover, to which then we will meet back up at the fork, and proceed from there with further instructions on my part, understood?"

The three original Snake team members nodded without hesitation while Sakura blinked dumfounded. Sasuke had spoken a whole paragraph's worth of words. She knew shouldn't be surprised, seeing as this was a serious mission, nonetheless she attributed the surprise to it being so long since she had seen or heard from him last.

"Haruno." The coldness in his voice as he addressed her snapped her quickly out of her musings and with a firm nod she gave him what he wanted. With that said he flashed before her eyes, the two besides her quickly following after. Jugo left there standing, eyed her, a small incline of his head to signal that she should be acting as the others as well.

Message clear, she took off with as much speed as the chakra pumping into her legs could muster without straining herself quickly. She could see Sasuke's back from afar, some parts clouded in obscurity by the shade created from the enormous trees. She grimaced.

She found she was always just watching his back, in some way or another, walking, running, moving away from her.

X

"Guy's team seems to be right on track, although we have word from Shino's…bugs," Naruto snickered at this yet Neji chose to ignore this. "The message relayed was that Akamaru picked up a scent of more than just Sasuke and Sakura, a team consisting, in total, of five people."

"Five people huh? If that teme thinks that such a lower number can bring the Akatsuki down than he is even crazier that I thought! That's it! Let's go knock some sense into him!" The collar of his orange jumpsuit was gripped then, dragging him down to the ground carelessly. Blinking, Naruto looked up surprised as he found Kakashi, his face within his book, careless to Naruto's fall which had been caused by him.

A moment of silence passed and when Naruto made move to speak Kakashi's voice rung out. "Let Neji finish the mission prompt and then we can go after Sasuke quicker. Your interruptions are delaying us, Naruto." The way his sung out his ex-student's name send shivers through everyone, yet in the end the tension subsided when Naruto picked himself up, mumbling to continue.

"Primary Team is on the move, they want us to serve as backup on the secondary routes through the forest layout, here, here…and here." Picking up his stick, Neji looked at the group before with opal, stoic eyes. "Once we reach proclaimed destinations we are to set up traps, traps that can not be easily detected, even amongst ourselves, along the base line…here," Dropping the stick, Neji proceeded to scratch out some of the dirt with his foot casually, all remnants of the plan vanishing.

"It is our sole mission to have the sites prepared for they will be trying to draw back the group, surprising them by taking a detour route to gain speed and distance ahead of them. If we could stop their pursuit and draw them back, they can be lead away from the Akatsuki and closer to us. That will inevitably win the fight for us."

"Succeeding in our mission." Shikamaru added as an afterthought. Neji nodded and Rock Lee whom had been unusually quiet throughout the brief had pumped his fist into the air.

"And what an excellent plan it is! I can not wait to meet up with Guy Sensei! A victory to obtain for sure!" Ino shook her head in sadness and looked at Neji questioningly.

"You said Guy's team will be drawing them back, what if they don't succeed, and will there be any word on whether or not they need back up? I know the numbers are evened, us really, in prediction, having the upper hand, but who knows what Sasuke recruited for his team."

"Well, if we look at it this way…" all eyes turned to Kakashi as he began his response. "We have one less person to worry about, Sakura really isn't apart of the team, Or…at least we hope," Naruto's cringe didn't go unnoticed. "so, hopefully we will have her to aid in the fight, the fact that she will not willingly attack us will help the matter, making Guy's team only having to fight four members, not five."

"And Guy's team consists of…one…two, five people. They do have the advantage!" Ino squeaked.

"If only Ms. Kurenai could have come along, but her pregnancy…" A silence overshadowed the group and Naruto looked around frantically wondering what he had said wrong. When Ino set him a fierce glare 'way to go idiot' he eyed the floor. "Well, I-shouldn't we get going?" With a chorus of nods the group vanished within a blink of an eye.

X

"Damnit! Finally we arrive at this damn fork in the road, I swear I was about to make my own path if the traveling would have continued any longer!"

"Shut up, it wasn't even that far of a distance, you are just being bitchy." Suigetsu prepared himself from the onslaught that was about to occur.

"Why you little ass-I'll show you not to mouth off to me!" Her knuckles cracking Karin stomped over to Suigetsu before Sakura's voice interrupted them.

"Seeing as we are at the fork, shouldn't we now split up and hurry along instead of wasting time with petty fighting?" Karin turned cold eyes to Sakura before backing down; her glare was relentless as she waited for Sasuke's sigh to ease off and watch her leader, awaiting his orders.

"Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo, you three take the right and Sakura and I will take the path straight ahead. Go undetectable, if so does happen, do not make note that there are others, silently, if you can, get word to us. Do not come back to the fork with enemies trailing behind, if you do, I will kill you myself."

Karin's face was that of terror and shock blended into one before she pulled on her sleeve as a distraction, looking away from Sasuke's dead gaze before nodding her head in understanding. Suigetsu let out a humorless chuckled before snorting in agreement. Jugo nodded slowly, eyeing Sakura before opening his mouth.

"I think it best if Sakura joins with us and either Karin or Suigetsu goes along with you, their fighting may give way to sabotage this mission, however brief and easy it is."

Karin's head shot up. "I agree! I'll volunteer to go with you Sasuke-kun­, it really would be more reasonable; I might just take Suigetsu's head off in another minute or so." Walking confidently up to Sasuke's left side; she smirked at Sakura as she cocked her eyebrow up.

"Right, yeah, I see reason in that." Smiling softly Sakura made way to Jugo's side but stopped as a firm hand gripped her own, enclosing itself around her fingers. Eyes widening, Sakura looked back, first spotting a shocked and angry Karin before following the females gaze up the arm connected to the hand within her own and than to the face of the owner.

Sasuke's sight was steady on Sakura, she opened her mouth to speak but closed it, Sasuke still made no move to give answer to his actions but continued to hold on to her. "Hey Sasuke, hey, let go of her, she has to go with Jugo remember? Come on, we are holding up the mission!" With no response from anyone within the group, Karin growled viciously and trudged over to the connection between the hands.

All Sakura could think about was how his hand, the curve of it, the callousness of it was not at all what she had felt earlier within the day. She tried to make a little squeeze but within his hold on her, his tight grip prevented her from moving her crushed petite fingers even a little bit. She wanted to call out in pain, pull back and visibly show she didn't like how much force he was placing upon her but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

She knew this couldn't be all there was to his touch, earlier today, his soft hands showed her that, there was proof, there was…

"Get off!" Breaking the contact, a huffing and angry Karin glared at the two before backing away. Apparently she had been trying to pry them loose of one another, Sasuke's smirk slowly forming at Karin's ill attempts before growled angrily once she succeeded, her nails digging into him being the cause of his release.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm sorry, but I know how badly you want to get this mission done and well," She stole a glance at Sakura's unresponsive form with malice before turning her eyes bright again. "I don't know what happened but, I thought it best to break you free from it, you aren't…mad, are you?"

Giving off a small and careless 'Hn' Sasuke started to walk on the path before him, Karin in toll. He had thought, although he would not admit it, that Sakura would follow him, but when he turned his head acutely to watch behind him,

This time Sakura wasn't watching his back.

X

"Kiba, something new happened?"

Kiba nodded at his team Leader, Guy. "Akamaru says that they split up, 3 and 2, he smelt some water in the air too so there must be a stream nearby." Petting his dog, Akamaru barked happily before running towards Tenten.

"Good job you two, alright, we are already ahead of them as scheduled but we can't lose pace or they'll catch up since they are on the move again." A nod. Guy looked at the grounds before him before stretching. "Tenten, you have that string of weaponry prepared, right?" The girl gave a firm nod and looked towards Shino.

"Hey Aburame! Your bugs have secured the weapons just before us?" Shino turned his head to give acknowledgement but besides that said nothing, Tenten grimaced and secretly wished she had been with her naturally other two teammates, not understanding why she was placed in this team besides working with Guy.

Guy flashed a smile with his pearly white teeth and a 'thumbs up' before returning to Kiba. "Alright kid, this stream is where we are going to proceed with the attack, you and Hinata will take surveillance once we make base, after that you and Tenten will have to take on projectile combat once they approach, are you clear?" Kiba grinned.

"Yahoo! This is going to be great; just you watch! We will have Sakura back in no time! Naruto will have to stop crying over how he let her go and instead cry about how I saved her!" Akamaru ran back to his master at this and pounced on him, happy and agreeing with his master's words.

Guy smiled softly before turning to Shino and Hinata. "You two will do hand to hand combat, Hinata, you have surely come along way from your Genin days. I know you to be rapidly increasing within your fighting abilities if not already on your way to be on par with Neji, so give it your all okay? Shino will be there to help you out." Hinata smiled softly at this, her eyes closed while taking in the compliment.

The team gathered together and Guy became serious. "We don't know what type of members are apart of this team, but we do know Sasuke is with them. Be careful. His Sharingan can be deadly and he has made no qualms about attacking or even killing his friends previously, so, do not think for an instant he will think twice about laying a hand on us."

Pausing for breath he continued just as solemnly. "We have our set up within the trees thanks to Shino and Tenten's bugs and traps, but we will be stationed near a stream for coverage, we know how to cover ourselves with the water's pressure and we will most likely end up being forced to us it in order to succeed in our plans in drawing them back."

"What do you mean?" Tenten piped up, fiddling with a kunai within her index finger.

"The water will serve as coverage for when we make our retreat, you will leave that to me, once done, the traps, whatever left amongst the trees will serve as distraction and bait at the same time, slowing them down and hopefully irritating them so they can come after us but not tread too closely, giving us enough time to get work to Kakashi's team that the mission is in set."

"Right! Let's get to it then, we haven't the time to lose!" Jumping upon a tree branch Tenten called out to the others, Kiba gave a battle cry yelp, not too loud to give way of detection as Shino silently ran along, Hinata and Guy in toll.

X

As the three walked along the path, scouting for anything out of the ordinary, any traps or secret passage ways, Sakura grimaced at the heat and silence amongst the group. Watching Jugo before her silently, she wondered about him, wondered when this ever so lightly mentioned rage would be shown to her, and wondered how she would react.

Would she be in fear and run away from him? Would he attack her? Kill her? Would Sasuke stand in between the both of them and ultimately protect her? Pfft, yeah right.

She wondered if she could defend herself, probably not. Ephemerally, Sakura slowed her shoulders before raising her head once more and considering his form for a moment. Could she stop him, could she actually calm him to the point of a controlled state? Would he even consider her and her words, whatever action she took before smashing her to bits?

Smiling slightly, she knew she would try even with the risk. She found herself hoping, maybe; just maybe he would look at her, even for the briefest of seconds and hold remorse before killing her.

Tripping on an abnormally placed twig Sakura looked down, trying to tear the twig in half only to find it connected to something far longer and off in the distance, behind a tall bushy grass.

"Hey guys, there seems to be a path over this way, a stray away from the main, look-"

Shrieking as she lost her footing, Sakura threw her hands up to try and reach for anything solid to grab hold on to but found that something had caught her first. Her vision blurring for a second, the branches and tall heavy grass misconstruing what was before her, she attempted to claw at the dark monster holding on to her before she finally regained composure and held on tight as she watched Jugo bring her up effortlessly.

As he raised her from her fate she held fast to the hand that held her. She thought, it was unnaturally soft for someone so big, for someone whom had committed a lifetime of crime and killing. "Jugo, I-" He shook his head as if to say, 'no need to explain' and let his eyes wander all over her body. She had half a mind to cover herself and then slap him for being a pervert but she then realized he was checking her for any injuries.

She smiled.

"Thank you…" she spoke softly, Naruto's unabashed face whenever rescuing her coming to mind. Suigetsu has gone off in anger, muttering that she was a stupid girl and that there was work to be done, and even so, if he was around, even if Sasuke was around, she knew she would repeat her actions.

Gripping his hand within her palm, her left index finger tracing the lines within his own palm, she smiled as she folded her right hand around his, for it had been confirmed.

Wake up! Wake up! Come find me!

Tip toeing she kissed Jugo on the cheek briefly, way too quickly for Jugo to register it at the time before brushing past him.

Naruto's bright eyes filled with mirth and embarrassment flashed before her when she finally passed him completely, reaching Suigetsu's side.

Jugo had been the one watching her sleep.

Remember how Suigetsu was about to tell off about how something happened between Karin and Sasuke but then was interrupted by Karin, yeah, well, next chapter, he won't be stopped.

Hehe, thanks for reading, sorry for any errors, this isn't beta-ed. Please review!