Ch. Sum: Naruto and Sakura have their talk, and Tsunade and "Saki" have theirs.

CHAPTER 7

"Naruto, I think it's about time we talked," said Sakura, her voice devoid of any distinctive emotion. This meant one of two things to Naruto, someone precious to her has just walked out of her life, or he was in deep trouble. He sort of preferred the latter, reasoning that Sakura had enough on her plate as it was. Of course, he also preferred living. Maybe he would have rather crawled into bed than faced whatever it was that she needed to talk about after all.

When it came to Sakura, Naruto couldn't help but put her feelings first. He turned on his listening ears and gave her his undivided attention. If there was any way to face this, it was the Uzumaki Naruto way. The "I'll never back down, and that's a promise" way, to be precise. Did she have to be so serious, though? The more the silence bounced between them, the more nervous he got.

Sakura placed her hand on top of his and told him, "I am about to tell you something I shouldn't. Please try not to say anything until I'm done."

"Eh? Something you shouldn't tell me? Why shouldn't you tell me? What's going on?" Naruto fired off questions until Sakura pounded her free fist against the table. He chuckled with a nervous grin and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, right, you're about to tell me. Sorry."

"You'll never guess who I just received a letter from," said Sakura, deciding immediately that that was probably a stupid approach to take. Naruto really had to bite his tongue this time, knowing he did not want to get Sakura angry in a situation where she was being serious.

Naruto awaited her answer, and when it never came she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small roll of parchment. She handed him the stained roll of paper, and his response was no less than stunned silly. The handwriting was unmistakable, and Naruto had to look that the name at the end of the short message over and over again to make sure he wasn't imagining it. If it were manly to shed tears of happiness, Naruto would have cried a river.

Sakura,

I'll be at the Valley of the End waiting for you at dusk, Monday the 2nd. We'll discuss matters further from there. Come alo...

... Sasuke

"Sasuke…"

"This could be our chance… " said Sakura, having been moved to tears for him. After all that time, the bastard simply couldn't break their bond. He was stupid for even trying, and Naruto couldn't wait to laugh in his face, scream in his face, punch him in his face, then maybe in the gut for good measure, for all the hurt he caused Sakura. Gosh, Sakura sure looked happy, now. Happier than he had seen her in a long time, and that was great.

He just wished he could bring her this kind of happiness, but this was no time to be selfish. He had a rat bastard of a friend to drag home.

"It's a shame he doesn't want you to come along. I think you miss him more than anyone, myself included," said Sakura, wiping away her tears with the heel of her hand. Suddenly it went quiet, and Naruto gave her the most incredulous look. "You did read the whole thing, didn't you?"

"Err…" Before he could refer back to the letter, Sakura snatched it from his grasp and proceeded to read the entire thing out loud to him.

"...come alone, and don't tell anyone about this, especially Naruto. I'm not in the mood for a rematch. See, I don't think he's ready to face you yet… " because you're more important to him than I ever was, was the underlying message Naruto's brain did not compute. Then again, given the glimmers of joy flickering in her eyes, it was hard to know what she was thinking anymore. Naruto knew what she wasn't thinking, and that was that she just wanted to spend the night and cuddle with her man. Well, assuming she saw Naruto that way, but he was more confused on her feelings for him than she was.

The moment of truth came much sooner than Naruto had anticipated. A couple of them in fact. One was that Sasuke had reared his ugly head at long last, and two was finding out which guy Sakura now loved, if she loved either of them at this point. If Naruto's stomach caved in on itself any tighter, he'd turn inside out. His life went from boring to just plain wrong in a flash.

Speaking of wrong, he was pretty pissed that Sasuke didn't want to see him. What's worse, Sasuke wanted to see Sakura alone. If Naruto came, or risked coming, he could blow their only chance. Still, wild horses couldn't keep him away from his best friend, but Sakura could. If she asked him not to go, then he wouldn't. If she did, then to hell with what Sasuke wanted. The guy really needed to pull his head out of his ass for once in his life.

There were a few questions Naruto wanted to ask, and Sakura seemed to be at a loss for words. Whatever elaborate ramble she had planned was wiped clean the moment she opened her mouth. This was Naruto, after all. Bringing Sasuke home was a mission that they shared.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner. I wasn't going to, but I couldn't keep something this big, considering…" Naruto's eyes went wide for a moment, and once again Sakura was rendered silent. Girls could be the most confounding thing since fat free ramen (flavor free ramen was more like it, yuck!) Still, he had to cut the poor girl a break. The man she loved (loves?) all but announced that he was coming home. Sakura could be as weird as she wanted.

Deciding that it was both time to change the subject and safe to ask questions, Naruto blurted out the first random question that came to mind, "When did you get that note?"

A look of shame shadowed her eyes for a moment, and she murmured something Naruto could barely catch. Three weeks she had that note, and that was about the same amount of time the two of them had spent apart. Sakura then told him everything that happened in detail.

Sasuke had a large bounty on his head in the Fire Country thanks to the handy, dandy Bingo Book. There was nowhere safe for him to be for any extended amount of time in Fire Country, especially Konoha, so he became a master of disguise.

Sasuke had sent Tsunade the first letter barely forged in Jiraiya's handwriting. Being a gambler by heart, Tsunade decided to meet "Jiraiya" at the most run down, dusty bar in Konoha. The tender there was so old that, if Tsunade didn't know any better, she'd say his eyes must have dried into blindness. He obviously couldn't see what he was doing, having served her vodka three times when she clearly asked for sake. Finally getting her sake from the old zombie bastard, she met with the bar's only patron in what was probably years.

Tsunade took a seat across from a scrawny, pale diva with blood red lips, and a dress to match. A long-sleeved dress, a yellow scarf tied on her neck, and black boots that went up her knees. Any troublesome facial hair was conveniently hidden by this outrageous attire. Good thing the dress wasn't a curve hugger, because she had none. She was dreadfully square down there, but made up for the lack of broad hips in her shoulders. Not to mention a monkey could stuff a bra better than her.

Master of disguise my foot. Leave that to Naruto, Saki-chan.

"Konoha's security didn't improve that much since I took over, Uchiha "Jiraiya" Saki-san," said Tsunade, so tempted to laugh out loud at what the Uchiha had resorted to for the sake of staying concealed, but she couldn't risk waking the entire village, or even drawing attention from the shriveled old prune at the bar. "You didn't have to got this far."

"It obviously wasn't my idea, prune," said Sasuke, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment. Tsunade wondered whose idea this was, and when she could sign her autograph. She was a little irritated that he tossed her insult about the bar tender back at her, though. Since when could he read minds? The little jerk. He was Orochimaru's former bitch, uh… student all right.

"Wait, wait, hold on a minute Sakura-chan!" said Naruto, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked pale and horrified. "Sasuke was in drag?!"

No, I just made that part up for my own arousing amusement, her inner snapped. Of course Sakura hadn't really made it up… entirely. Sasuke really did meet with Tsunade in disguise one night, and she described his outfit as "outrageous" and nothing more. With that tidbit left to wander the tundra of Sakura's mind (where her awesome inner lived) Sakura's subconscious nibbled on that detail for awhile, and the only thing that came to mind was Sasuke in a dress. So a dress Sasuke's clever disguise was. It was simple logic that was not to be argued with.

"Yes, Naruto, he was. Now let me finish!"

"K, sorry about that," he said, but he really wasn't. He was too busy being torn over whether he wanted to throw up at the thought of Sasuke in a dress, or if he wanted to laugh his ass off. Oh well, that would have to wait.

"So your duty to your clan has been taken care of?" said Tsunade, taking a sip of her sake. Sasuke sad nothing, wincing at all the marks his cheep lipstick made on his drinking glass. Tsunade wasn't a stickler for preventing underage drinking, especially those she should technically be ordering her ANBU to kill at that very moment. She counted on the work of her most trusted members to keep quiet about this meeting, and just hoped they came through for her. A lot of the older ANBU tended to be more loyal to the council than to their Hokage, but she made a clear demonstration of what were to happen if word got out about this in the form of a broken tree. Not just any broken tree, but one she personally ripped out of the ground and smashed in half against her knee. When Godaime Hokage meant business, she meant business.

In any case, she didn't get much out of the master of failed disguises. He killed Itachi, but there was more that he had to do. He mentioned three people he recruited to aid him in his goal, and with those same three he planned to do more. If his intentions brought an ounce of harm to Konoha, or any allies with Konoha, Tsunade was prepared to kill him on the spot, even at the risk of losing the respect of her two favorite kids forever. She had done everything she could to that point was to help Naruto and Sakura accomplish their goal faster. It was taking some serious, grueling ass kissing to talk the council out of beheading Sasuke. Hey, so far she helped replace his slow and painful execution to an instant one. Talking them out of execution altogether was going to cost her a lot of pride. Good thing she liked booze.

"Listen," Sasuke said, reaching into the "breast" of his dress. From there he pulled out an old scroll and handed it over to Tsunade. "This is for Sakura. Do not let anyone else set their eyes on this, especially Naruto."

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" said Tsunade, examining the scroll with apprehension. What self-respecting Hokage would fall for the hoax of such a simple gag? He didn't argue when she opened it and read its comments thoroughly, as in forwards twice, backwards once, along the sides, and examining the way the letters were shaped together. All received Tsunade's stamp of approval, except for the blatant message.

"Killing, or bringing any harm to her would benefit me in no way," said Sasuke, in the coldest, most distant voice that he could muster. "I have nothing against the Leaf itself. I simply need to propose something to her in person."

"But you said that you killed him," said Tsunade, pouring herself another glass of sake. "Uchiha Itachi. He was confirmed dead, sliced, diced, and incinerated. There's no way you didn't do that, or that he was a fake."

"I killed Itachi, but my goal isn't complete, and may never be.

"Now I must go."

"Not so fast, ma'am. I'm not sure I trust you alone with my prized student. Where do we agree that, if I find so much as a hair out of place on her upon her return, I get to rip all of your organs and feed them to wolves, starting with your mentula?"

If that got a frightened twitch out of Sasuke, the world may never know. He was just that good at restraining himself when his pride was on the line. He swore that everything was all good, and that she could feed his mentula to a fricken Orochimaru clone if his intentions were any less than pure. He thought that they knew him better than to play dirty with those he had nothing against, but they obviously didn't know him well enough.

With that said and done, Saki was gone. Probably off to change back into man clothes and spend the night somehow doing a series of badass things to restore his wounded pride. He was probably going to kill the girl on his team for the idea of sticking him in drag. A girl had to have suggested it, and that's all there was to it.

Anyway, the next day Sakura was called into Tsunade's office, and was relayed the entire story. At first Sakura was excited to the point where she was at the door, about to rip it off its hinges and make a mad dash to Naruto's so she could tell him the good news. That was, until Tsunade sprung the "No Naruto" rule on her. Suddenly it went quiet, and Sakura gave her the most incredulous look. "You did read the whole thing, didn't you?"

Sakura looked down at the letter in her hand, having just realized that she only read it about halfway through and skipped to Sasuke's name in the end to make sure she wasn't just imagining it. The second time, though, she recited the whole thing out loud to herself. "...come alone, and don't tell anyone about this, especially Naruto..."

Naruto. How in the world could she not tell him? Keeping a secret like this was unforgivable. He was the last person in the world that deserved to be deceived. Of course, telling him risked any chance they had of getting Sasuke back. Would Naruto be able to forgive her if in such a case? Would she be able to forgive herself?

"It'd be best not to tell Naruto," said Tsunade, not liking it anymore than Sakura did; however, she hadn't decided what she was going to do about this just yet. It was just so sudden. Funny how the moment she got over her love love for Sasuke, he decided to come crawling back. She wasn't sure how meeting up with him would affect her emotionally, but she'd do her best to keep the upper hand on them. She would also be the one to decide whether or not Naruto found out about this, and no one else. She just needed time to think.

"And that's everything," said Sakura, relieved that she could finally take a breath. She figured that if she paused very infrequently during her explanation then Naruto wouldn't interrupt her. The least he could do was listen, because she came here and told him the "forbidden truth" against both Tsunade's and Sasuke's wishes. She still, above all else, couldn't shake the fact that she and Naruto had to go in and do this together. The two of them together had to reason with Sasuke, find a way to get him back into Konoha without having criminal charges brought against him for allying with enemies, and become a team again. Kakashi told her that things would go back to the way they always were, and she believed him.

Except for one, glaring detail; she refused to keep secrets from Naruto anymore. Anything Sasuke had to say to her, he could just as easily say to Naruto. She wouldn't face him as Haruno Sakura the pawn, and ever protected female. She would face him as she had become, confident, powerful, worthy, and utterly devoted to Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who didn't betray her in favor of personal desires. She would show Sasuke that, regardless of what he thought and wanted.

She would risk losing him again, and for the first time in her life she realized that it just didn't matter. Whatever Sasuke chose to do with his miserable life, it was out of her hands. She would put her best into convincing him to return, but even words from the Gods themselves wouldn't penetrate the Uchiha's skull if he didn't care to receive them. It was funny how, the longer he was gone, the longer Sakura got to know him based on his words and actions of the past. Beyond being cool and hot, he was very tortured, and very messed up. Sakura still wanted nothing more than to do what she could for him, but not before Naruto. As long as Uchiha was on his half a decade long vacation from Team Seven, he did not hold the same ground in her heart as Naruto.

"Are you going to do it, Sakura-chan?" said Naruto, acknowledging that it was her choice entirely. At the moment, she couldn't have been given a better gift. She knew exactly how she wanted to do this since the moment she read the letter, but it was already the night before Sasuke's next arrival in the Fire Country. She didn't make her decision a moment too soon, and it was the right one to make. Besides, there was no way Sasuke didn't miss Naruto.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Sakura, but of course it wasn't. For all he knew, Sakura would throw herself into Sasuke's arms and the two of them together would walk arm-in-arm out of his life. That was the scariest thought that he had, and there was no way he could bear it if Sakura left him. It was one thing if she and Sasuke came back arm-in-arm. Naruto would at least have his two most important people there.

Another questionable, yet frightening possibility would be Sasuke running his sword through her. That was, his sword sword, the one that kills. Were that to happen, Naruto would still drag Sasuke's sorry butt back to Konoha, only to kill bastard in front of every damned ninja in the village. He highly doubted that would happen, but it was on the list of impossible possibilities all the same.

He hoped it would just turn out the way he wanted it to. Sasuke agrees to come back, Sakura announces that she is over him, and she and Naruto go on another ramen date. He would have to be super lucky for that to happen.

"You're going and not bringing me with you," said Naruto, mocking the hurt he'd feel later because of it. Even if she was a girl, and the girl that he happened to love, she was also a big girl. She could look out for herself. He had a small fear that she'd walk out of his life, but a lot of faith that she'd stay because that's what she did. She was always there, that girl that Naruto was born to adore. He had a slightly bigger fear that Sasuke would try to kill her, and if he actually tried he would succeed. There was no way he could kill Sakura, though. He had continuously put his life on the line to save her back in the day. Why let those sacrifices go to waste?

"But feel free to invite me along if you're feeling rebellious."

Naruto supposed that his biggest fear was him not knowing what was going to happen. He wanted Sakura to be safe, but he wanted to see Sasuke. What kind of danger would his presence put her in? What kind of danger would his lack of presence put her in?

That gamble was on her.

to be continued…

A/N: I am proud to announce that this story has reached OVER 9,000!! hits lol. Sorry, but I had to say it. Anyway, I know I thanked you all once in PMs, but I have to say it again. Thank you so much for all of the support and nice reviews. I felt so happy and inspired that when I started this ch, I couldn't stop, and reached the end of this ch before I knew it. It was like magic! I hope the ch does not seem rushed. Also, I suppose I may (or may not) be bringing Sasuke back. I hope you don't mind, but I am not following the manga in this fan fic too close. I do not want to spoil the readers who are not caught up, so I hope you do not mind if this is AU.