-AN: I don't own Naruto…

Previously: In a small cabin near the woods, two Akatsuki members were discussing amongst each other.

"Itachi, the Konoha brats are in Sound…" Kisame said.

"No, they'll be there in about two to three days." Itachi said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Your younger brother is with the kyuubi kid, are you planning anything."

"We have to take care of some annoyances tomorrow first, use today to rest." With that Itachi went out of the cabin and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Chapter 10 - Coming Together

"You've gotten stronger." Sasuke said as Sakura healed her sprained right wrist. Sakura was just happy that she found that she could even I compete with her teammate. "But you still need to work on your stamina." Sasuke said, seeing that Sakura was panting heavily, before taking out his 'special' sword.

"Shit! That's the sword that can never freaken break!" Sakura thought. "So I guess I have to avoid weapons and go with the classic dodge-then-strike."

Sasuke charged at her with the sword in hand. He swung the sword right at her neck, but missed as Sakura ducked and swiftly swung her right leg to Sasuke's ankles. She seemed to make contact, but with his fast reflexes, he pushed himself off the ground with his left hand and he backed away from Sakura before she could slam him with her right heel. Sasuke sweat dropped when he noticed that the blow he dodged created a six foot crater.

"Damn, I missed!" She thought as she quickly got up and dodged to the right as Sasuke's sword sliced strands of hair from Sakura's bangs. She Jumped back and stood their looking at her smirking teammate. She knew she couldn't keep up with him. "What can I do? Should I summon…No, Tsunade will kill me if I screw up the landscape again." Sakura thought as she sighed. She decided to use an offensive jutsu against her teammate, but would mean she would have to rely on her tai-jutsu as well. She did a couple of quick hand sign and her hands emitted blue chakra around them.

"That jutsu." Sasuke thought as he remembered his training with Kabuto back when he was with sound. Too bad for Sakura, Kabuto used that attack all the time, so he was quite used to avoiding contact with his opponent's hands.

"Sasuke's probably familiar with this jutsu, so I have to think of something to catch him off guard." Then she thought for a second. "This might work, but I never done it before, ah hell, taking risks is what life's about." She convinced herself as she ran toward the awaiting Uchiha. Sasuke decided to sheath his sword.

"Hmph" Sasuke said as he activated his sharingan and readied himself for the upcoming attack. Right before Sakura could come into attack range she stopped immediately as she put some chakra into her left foot and slid it against the ground into a half circle. From the speed and force, a wall of dirt appeared in front of Sasuke.

"What the fuck!" He thought as he was about to use a fire jutsu behind him when he felt a strong chakra signature, but found that it was a waste of chakra when he saw that it was a clone. Right then Sakura punched through the now falling wall of dirt. Sasuke immediately avoided her hands by dodging. Sakura then decided to try and kick him. As she swung her right leg, Sasuke prepared himself to block it. She aimed right for his abdomen. Before she could make contact, he caught her foot with both hands. At that point Sakura smirked. She used her perfect chakra control to use the offensive medical jutsu on her right foot. Sasuke let go of her foot too late after he felt the muscles and tissues in his hands tear apart from the contact of the foot that emitted blue chakra. But at the same time, from reaction, Sasuke released the chidori from his body shocking Sakura and sending her ten feet back.

"Crap!" Sasuke thought. He didn't mean to use the chidori against her. "Shit! That hurt!" She thought as she tried to get up. When she did, she was absolutely exhausted. "Time to stop the match." She thought. When she walked up to Sasuke she noticed that he was flinching from pain. "Crap, I forgot about his hands!" As quick as she could she ran to Sasuke. Sasuke thought she was going to attack until he saw the concerned look on her face. He relaxed a little, but went rigid again when she held both his hands in hers. He not only flinched from the pain, but from the unexpected contact as well.

"Come on, I need to check for anything serious." She said before grabbing his hands carefully, even without his consent. She examined his hands and muttered a quick 'sorry' before putting both of his hands on her left and healing them with her right. The pain in Sasuke's hand subsided as the warm green light from Sakura's hand began to repair the damaged muscles and tissues. When she was done she left his left hand alone as she checked his right more thoroughly. She checked the reflexes and asked Sasuke if it hurt in any way.

"Um, so, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Hn?"

"Did I, improve?" She asked, while looking down, still holding his hand. "Arg, why the hell am I asking that? He probably won't even answer…" She thought.

"Why the hell is she asking me this? Of coarse she improved, she can knock down a freaken tree with her pinky!" He thought. After a short pause he said, "Yes, you did…"

She looked up to him in surprise. "You, you-" she began.

"Ummm….Are we interrupting anything?" Naruto and Sai asked. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at their two teammates with a couple of bags. Then they noticed that Sakura and Sasuke were still holding hands. Seeing what the two were staring at, they noticed that they were holding hands. Quickly Sakura let go of Sasuke's hand, as though it was on fire.

Blushing slightly, Sakura asked, "What took you two so long?"

"Heh, heh, ummm we-" Naruto began.

"Naruto got us lost." Sai said, cutting the blond off.

"Hey! We had to get the teme some new clothes too!" Naruto argued.

"What?" Sasuke said.

"Good job Naruto." Sakura complimented. Naruto just smiled as he and Sai approached the two and handed Sakura two lunches, along with Sasuke's spare clothes. "Oh, Naruto, go get Neji and Hinata."

"Sure Sakura-chan." Naruto chirped. As he ran off the hyperactive nin yelled, "Hey! Hinata-chan, Neji! Time to eat!"

"Well Sasuke, I suggest you change into these new clothes." Sai said, as Sakura gave him the spare clothes. It was a plain black shirt like the one he used to wear, along with knee-length white pants. Sai seeing Sasuke's blank expression for the clothes only said, "Hey, at least you won't look like Orochimaru's geisha."

"What!" Both Sakura and Sasuke said in unison.

"Hey, just saying it like it is." Sai said shrugging.

Sasuke was about to retort, but Sakura beat him to it with a punch. Sai flew back with his hand over his swelling cheek. Sai just muttered something under his breath, as he got up and sat down next to Sakura, while Sasuke went behind some trees to change. Soon after, Neji Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke came back. The team then finally ate their lunch.

"Kiba your back." Shino said, as he and Ino took a break from training.

Kiba and Akamaru stopped in front of the two with a couple of fish.

"Let's eat!" Kiba called out, Akamaru barking the same thing. "Seems he got over his freak out." Ino thought.

"I'm back!" Choji called out.

"Finally." Tenten said, a little tired and hungry from the 'self'-training.

"I got some lunch."

"That good." Shikamaru said getting up and yawning.

"198...199...200! Yosh! I did 200 push-ups with each arm!" Lee said tears streaming down his face. "Gai-sensei would be proud."

"Let's just eat and call it a day, huh?" Shikamaru suggested.

"But we only trained for about two hours!" Tenten said.

"Let's fight one-on-one!" Lee suggested.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. Choji just nodded as he ate his lunch packs.

The next morning, Naruto and the others woke up in Sakura's house. They quickly got ready and headed for the gates, with anxiety and a little bit of nervousness in the air.

"To sound it is!" Naruto yelled out. Sakura and the rest smiled as they set off on their mission, except Neji and Sasuke of course. "I have to gain their thrust back, I won't make the same mistake twice. Time to die snake…" Sasuke thought.

Hours later Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai were at the gates with Tsunade.

"Are you sure you can do this?" the hokage asked her jounins.

They all nodded. "Kakashi, there are other ways, and more chances later on, why now?"

"Because, Sasuke and the others will be occupied with their missions. We'll take care of Itachi, and If we're still here, then we'll assist the team closest to Orochimaru." Kakashi said.

"Just, be careful all of you." She said before they all walked off.

In a hideout deep in sound territory, two shadowed figures contemplated in the dark.

"Yup, that's exactly what our spy said." Kabuto informed the snake like sanin.

"Ku ku ku, Kabuto, our Sasuke-kun's coming and he's bringing friends." Orochimaru said. Kabuto just smirked. "So not only is Naruto-kun coming, but Sakura-chan as well?"

"Sakura-chan? Why her?" Kabuto asked, a little curious.

"We'll need her, the kyuubi child, and Sasuke-kun for my new body." Orochimaru said wickedly.

Kabuto was confused now. "How are they-"

"In time Kabuto, in time." Orochimaru said cutting him off, as he licked his lips in satisfaction.

By the time it was nearing night time all four teams were nearly half way to their destinations.

At the same moment, two Akatsuki members were heading towards sound.

"Itachi, who exactly are we taking out? And why the hell are we going to sound. Didn't you say we had to take care of something before you brother and the kyuubi?" Kiasme asked.

"We're going after the copy nin and his friends, not my brother's team." Itachi said.

"Hmph, sounds like fun." Kiasme said with a smirk.

"We'll be seeing them soon, pick up the pace."

Naruto and the rest stopped in the middle of the clearing in the forest, barely past the fire country's border. While the fire was set and diner was served. A stressful vibe loomed around the team as they finished they're meal. Sasuke was getting pretty nervous from the mission at hand.

"That bastard has to be planning something, but what?" He thought.

Naruto, who sat next to Sakura, who sat next to Sasuke, put a hand next to his mouth and whispered in Sakura's ear, "Why's the teme acting paranoid?" Sakura just shrugged. With that the three were completely silent as they ate.

"Why are Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-san so quiet?" Hinata asked the other two members of their team. Both Sai and Neji shrugged. "Naruto and Sakura are too quiet…It's Uchiha." Neji thought as he frowned. His frown deepened as he saw that Sakura was offering some of her uneaten cherry tomatoes to Sasuke. He obviously declined, which then she gave the small tomatoes to her blond teammate.

Hinata was a bit jealous of the scene in front of her, but then Sakura said something to Naruto which made him come walk over to her. As he headed to the now blushing Hinata, she could see her friend winking at her. "Sakura-chan…Why-" but was cut off from her thoughts when Naruto asked if she wanted to share his cherry tomatoes with him. It took a while, but she accepted his offer and the two ate, one smiling the other blushing mad. Sakura and maybe Sai thought the scene was rather sweet, while Neji got protective of his younger cousin, and Sasuke didn't care. Naruto tried to catch one in his mouth as he threw one in the air, but instead of landing in the mouth, it his him straight in the eye, resulting in a cursing Naruto and an almost laughing team. Then Sai brought up a past experience of the blond's ignorance, which almost everyone joined in on. Sasuke just felt like an outcast as the team reminisced in their past. He couldn't remember those fun memories…Because he wasn't there. He didn't feel hungry anymore, just left out.

When the meal was done. Sakura noticed this and became silent herself. "Sasuke-kun" she thought, as she stared at her teammate who was looking off into the distance.

Neji found it a little bit more silent. He saw the pink haired kunoichi staring at the Uchiha. For some reason, he started to get pissed off. "Why the heck am I pissed?" he thought, but found that the sight of Sakura looking at Sasuke with an unreadable look in her eye just infuriated him somewhat. After a moment or two, the others decided to sleep, while Sasuke said he would go on a walk. He picked up a light jacket from his pack and left. After he left Sakura said she was going to go for a walk too. Everyone thought it was to keep an eye on him, but Neji thought different.

After finding a sturdy tree that overlooked a pond, Sasuke sat on a high branch, as he laid against the bark. He closed his eyes to think in peace. He knew he should concentrate on the mission, but he was always distracted from the closeness of his teammates. Sur he was left out, and maybe, if you can call it, jealous, but mostly he felt lonely. In sound, the best thing that came close to having good teammates were being alone with that pedophile. Just the thoughts of the snake made him shutter in disgust. After a few minutes he heard someone coming his way.

asuke immediately recognized the chakra pattern and asked, "Why aren't you asleep?"

Sakura was surprised from the voice that came out of nowhere. Then she looked up a tree to find the Uchiha staring right down at her. "Sasuk-kun. What are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing. Go to sleep."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I want to know what's bothering you."

It grew silent for a moment. "Nothings bothering me."

"That's bullshit and he knows it!" Sakura thought. She was about to ask again, but then she let out a sneeze. "Acchhoo!"

Sasuke jumped down from his perch, and landed right next to her, which made her flinch back for a second. "Why did you-?"

"Here, put this on." he said offering her his light jacket.

"But-"

"Just do it." he said handing it to her.

"Sasuke, no it's really ok."

He just let out a small irritated grunt, before putting the over her shoulders. She was about to take it of and give it back when Sasuke suddenly was behind her. He stopped her hand from pulling off the jacket with his hand. From the contact Sakura blushed. "No stop it, your not 12 anymore…" she thought, but couldn't stop the blood from rushing into her cheeks.

Sasuke moved his hand away. "Just keep it on." he said. He the sat back on the branch below the one Sakura found him in. Sakura was bout to leave when Sasule said, "You can come up with me if you want…" "Now why the hell did I say that!" Sasuke thought as Sakura sat on the branch on the left of Sasuke's. They stayed like that, watching the ripples and the reflection on the moon in the pond, for about ten minute before Sakura began to feel drowsy. Unconsciously she leaned her head on his shoulder, which made Sasuke flinch. From the sudden movement, Sakura was brought back to reality as she bolted upright.

"Gomen Sasuke-kun." She said apologetically, as she blushed again. "Damn! What the hell's with all the freaken blushing!" A light wind blew by, which made Sakura shutter in cold until she felt Sasuke's arm around her left shoulder.

"What the-Sasuke-kun!" She said shocked.

"You should of brought something warm to wear." Sasuke said.

"Ummm, uh-yeah…" She stuttered as the two just watched the refection of the moon move from the ripples created by the light wind. "Being here with Sasuke right now is almost heaven" she thought as she leaned against his shoulder. Sasuke flinched again, but gotten used to her as she dozed off. Even though Sakura never saw it, Sasuke smiled and felt a little happier, and he didn't really know why. All he knew was that, he was just happy. Too bad a pair of silver eyes were watching them, each one filled with a hint of sorrow and anger.

Next Time: "Naruto, is there something wrong with Neji?"…"It's been a while Kakashi."…"Orochimaru-sama, they're here."

AN: YUP! It's 5:30 in the morning! YAY! Yeah, I must be nuts, and my ass hurts from typing on my labtop for a while…well anywayzzz thx for reading!