Ch. Sum: Sasuke speaks his piece, and Sakura has never felt better.

CHAPTER 8

Sakura fantasized over the day she would finally unite with Sasuke and bring him home for years. A girl in love cut down in her prime is not a girl without scorn. If Sakura had to count the hours she had mulled over her failure to protect him, to please him, to mean something to him, she would not be happy to find all the weeks, perhaps even months she had wasted. That was her epiphany, the moment Naruto questioned her drive in their mission

Training with Tsunade over the years was the only part that was not a waste. Regardless of Sasuke's actions, though, Sakura would have eventually sought out a master to draw out her full potential. She was once one of the top dogs in the academy, and missed constant success dearly. Out in the actual ninja world, her teammates excelled to heights she couldn't even begin to dream of. It was intimidating, discouraging, and it didn't do her a bit of good. She kept trying to tell herself that her team was just one that attracted danger beyond their level (what their level should have been, anyway.) Naruto and Sasuke were much tougher than your average genins, and both had goals set in stone, which were the foundations of their success. In order to succeed, she needed to create her own foundation.

Since the day she watched her Sasuke walk out of her life, she no longer wished to assume the role of the weak little girl on the team. Sure, she was no master negotiator, and often acted on what her heart told her in situations that left her befuddled, but she knew how to love. Also, after five years of being under Tsunade's wing, she knew how to kick some serious ass. Those were two qualities in her that she sought to strengthen, so to give her team something to look to. For once, she wanted to be the one admired, not the one admiring.

There was a quality in Naruto that she adored, and that was that he never went back on his word. She, too, was a fan of practicing what she preached, especially now that she could make results with her fist. It was time to get serious about what she actually wanted, and how she wanted to get it.

"Naruto, I think I am feeling a bit rebellious. Let's see Sasuke… together," said Sakura, with not an ounce of hesitation in her voice. He couldn't hide his exuberance with her final decision, and exploded into whoops and cheers like he once did in the old days. It was refreshing to see Naruto let go and be the happy, cheerful boy she had always known. Heck, it was even catching her! He scooped her up by the waist and swung her around in circles, eliciting the fullest laugh Sakura had laughed in so long. Things were finally going to be OK.

It was time to see Sasuke home as a team, no matter how badly he didn't want a "rematch" as he put it. If he wanted to speak to Sakura, then there was nothing he couldn't say in front of Naruto, as well. Sakura was no longer Team 7's lap dog; she wanted things done her way, too. She wanted to keep that bright smile on Naruto's face, and she wanted Naruto to believe in her. She was tired of being weak for Sasuke, because she would rather be strong for Naruto.

"Thanks Sakura-chan. You're the best, greatest person ever," said Naruto, feeling bold enough to crush her against his chest in a bear hug. Sakura returned the gesture with a few pats.

"And don't you forget it," said Sakura, wondering if she was doing the right thing for a second, then pushing it out of her mind. It didn't matter. As long as Naruto was happy, nothing mattered.

The murky light of dusk fell upon the statues of Uchiha Madara and the First, Monday the 2nd where Sasuke had agreed to meet Sakura. Sure enough, Sakura stood on the First's head, watching the golden light of sunset flicker against the flowing water. She wished her anxiety would flow down the fall with the rushing water, but it wasn't like things came easy to her. That sort of thing just didn't exist on Team 7, which suited her just fine. A little challenge never hurt anyone. In fact, it was fun!

The chill in the air was nothing short of merciless. Her teeth were chattering, and it wasn't just the nerves doing it. Sasuke was taking too long to show up, and her patience was really wearing thin. He couldn't be fashionably late to the meeting he himself had conducted, the stupid bastard. That was the last bad habit he needed to inherit from Kakashi.

As if he'd plucked that right from her mind, Sasuke lent over behind her and whispered into her ear, "Sorry I'm late. I know this was not the time we had agreed on. That is, Sakura and I.

"Show yourself, Naruto." It was like venom seeping into his ear, and when Sasuke had the long blade pressed into "Sakura's" thin neck, the shadow clone disappeared into a fit of smoke. From there, the real Sakura and Naruto hopped from the trees as a unit, each leaving no opening for a direct attack, and each in a position to guard the other. Team 7 was stripped to a two man unit, which on the outside appeared to be doing perfectly fine without Sasuke. That alone tempted him to up and leave them, as though they were nothing more than gnats.

This was absolutely true, when Sasuke gave it some thought. Neither Sakura, nor Naruto played any pivotal role in his destiny, none whatsoever. They were only anchors that held him down, but he was the last remaining Uchiha. He was born to sail free of the shackles of bonds.

It was easier said than done, too. Even now, he bothered to come and tell them to leave him alone for the very last time. Rather, he came to tell Sakura, because she was the weak one. He had influence over her, whereas Naruto? The guy was a loose cannon, so much so that he'd fight to the death just to get his way. He very nearly died by Sasuke's hand the last time they had here, even. His tenacity and complete disregard for Sasuke's ambitions were the reasons why Sasuke did not desire an audience with him.

But Sakura brought him anyway. The one person in Konoha Sasuke thought he could rely on now grew a mind of her own. He specifically said no Naruto, but there Naruto stood, plain as day and scowling at him as though he had just killed a puppy. That guy was just asking to get pummeled.

"Why did you go against my peripherals, Sakura? I have half a mind to kill you for bringing him here," said Sasuke, giving Naruto a black stare of contempt and disassociation. The other boy went stiff with disbelief and disgust, and as his body tightened into the thousands of punches he wanted to shoot into the pretty boy's face, Sakura put a hand on his shoulder just so he was aware that someone else was there with him.

"Naruto and I are in this together, always.

"Besides, I don't trust you," said Sakura. It came out as simple as that, and she felt as if her chest had just unloaded the weight of a country. She wasn't so sure they had come out of her own mouth, or her inner's. The Sasuke that she loved died five years ago. She was silly enough to have a crush on the boy who threw away birthday sweets she put her heart into, ignored her pleas for attention, and called her "annoying" with little regard for her feelings (though she had to admit, she was asking for that one.) She was vain enough to fall in love with the boy who protected her from harm constantly, stuck with her through danger and hardships on the battlefield, but otherwise ignored and disregarded her.

However, she was not stupid enough to trust what Sasuke had become. She certainly wasn't going to comply with any of his "peripherals" over her own, and even over Naruto's. She brought Naruto with her because it was what she said they would do all along. If they did not bring Sasuke back together, then they wouldn't bring him back at all. That was just the way it was.

"You don't trust me," said Sasuke, his voice devoid of a single emotion. How predictable, said Sakura's inner. All ass and no excitement, such a waste! It took this once to face him, to finally be in the same vicinity as him to finally get the storm of feelings that raged through her. She hung on to the old memory of Sasuke like an achievable dream. Her Sasuke was long dead, unfortunately. She'd talk Tsunade into adding his name to the list of the lost and gone forever.

"That's right, I don't. I also don't like you, nor do I respect you. The only thing I love about you anymore is the memory of you. Of how things used to be.

"I don't know what it's going to take to make things as they once were. Come home, and we can try again. Leave one more time, and I'll even leave my fondest memories of you to rest."

"Sakura!" said Naruto, dumbfounded by her words. Just yesterday she wanted nothing more than to restore the order of Team 7. Right now, she was pushing him away, encouraging him to be gone. Watching Sasuke walk out of his life once again, and probably for the last time, would probably be… honestly, Naruto didn't even know what to think anymore. Sasuke meant more to him than almost anyone, perhaps even Sakura.

He used to, anyway. He had been so used to succeeding, and finding ways to get to the point he needed to. Sasuke was a stepping stone on the road to becoming Hokage, and always had been. There was only one thing left to do, if Sakura was done making her peace with him.

"Bastard, you really want to break our bonds? Over my dead body."

Before Sakura could utter a word of protest, Naruto had a Rasengan fired up in his had, and Sasuke had his sword unsheathed. There was really only one way men could settle affairs of the heart. One of them would have to die, again.

The last time Naruto and Sasuke got into a fight, Sakura ran in between them in a blind attempt to end the fight. It was a gamble that very nearly ended her life. That was back when she was weak, and physically powerless to stop them.

But that was then, and this is now. Before Naruto and Sasuke could strike their first blows against one another, Sakura pumped as much chakra into her legs as possible and shot herself from the cliff at lightning speed. Once she was directly between them, she grabbed hold of their wrists and tossed them into the river. This fight didn't work the first time, and it wasn't going to work again. She refused to be a spectator at a pointless sport.

She landed in a sloppy heap on Madara's statue, picking herself up just in time to see Naruto and Sasuke emerge from the water. They looked as though they were preparing to fight again, so Sakura shouted to them, "It would take one chakra infused finger nail of mine to castrate the both of you if you so much as attempt to attack each other again. Don't you dare tempt me!"

Neither were inclined to disagree with her, and decided to join her on Madara's statue in peace. As they headed up, Sakura was doing her best to will the blush on her face away. She couldn't believe what had just come out of her mouth. Her inner was really having a field day with these two knuckleheads. In all seriousness, though, she would have to keep them from tearing each other apart by any means necessary.

"What the hell, Sakura-chan!?" said Naruto, trying to smack the last of the water out of his ear. Sasuke said nothing, but clearly he was thinking the same thing. Boys were imbeciles! That's all there was to it. If they weren't too busy thinking with the wrong head, then they were too busy thinking with their fists. How she got along with these two throughout the years, and even managed to fall for them both at one point or another, was beyond her.

She was sorely tempted to bash their heads together as hard as she could and make them listen. "I'll tell you, no fighting! I don't want to see it. It didn't work the first eight-thousand times and it won't work now. Do I make myself clear?" said Sakura, her voice dangerous enough to scare away a bull the size of a mountain. Naruto nodded, and Sasuke grunted, both agreeing to a temporary truce now that they knew that plunging at one another was pointless. Sure, if they did it enough times Sakura would run out of the chakra she needed to stop them, but the drive to fight one another would be gone, since they'd share a victory in defeating her. Naruto would just have to get Sasuke in his sleep, or in the shower, or something.

"All right, Sakura-chan. But I'm blaming you if I catch cold," said Naruto, stripping himself of his sopping wet jacket. She took a moment to admire (or eye hump, as her inner insisted) the way his muscles clung to the wet, black mesh, but caught herself in an instant and snapped out of it. This wasn't about Naruto at all. If anything she should have admired how gorgeous Sasuke had become, though he truly did need to ditch that purple bow holding up his pants. Fashion disaster aside, he was all right. Same old Sasuke, really, except taller.

Again, she caught herself. This wasn't about comparing cute boys in the slightest. It was about trying to drag one cute boy's ass home to please the other. Wait, that sounded wrong. Wasn't Naruto trying to bring Sasuke home to please her?

The next lewd comment from Sakura's inner would earn her head a good punch.

"Sakura," said Sasuke, finally wanting to get down to business. Sakura was all for business now, having she fair share of lewd thoughts for one day.

"Right," said Sakura, all ears and ready to get this, whatever this was, over with. It was already dark, and the road home was always a more dangerous one at night. Better to brave it sooner than later, not to mention she was already exhausted. It took more out of her to stop them than she thought.

Sasuke told them of his journey for power, starting with being taught every little thing Orochimaru knew. His Sharingan recorded an innumerable amount of techniques, and his practice with mastering the cursed seal had been quite intense. He had milked Orochimaru of all his worth, then killed him. That part made Naruto happy. After all, Orochimaru was a no good waste of space, and the world could certainly do without some of those.

Then they were told in brief of his new team, Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo, and that he planned to keep them around longer to help him with some more crucial objectives to his destiny. Naruto and Sakura both wanted to ask why they couldn't be the ones to help, but neither of them knew the words to ask him. They just sat back and let him finish.

"So you finally killed off your bastard brother," said Naruto, his toothy grin being magnified in the brilliant moonlight that now dominated the sky. "Good for you, man."

Sasuke didn't smile, but Sakura knew it was there somewhere inside of him. She, too, was glad to hear the news that his heaviest burden was now alleviated. That Itachi had it coming, too. All the guys in Akatsuki did.

"I'd like to meet your team sometime, if that's OK with you," said Sakura, and Sasuke just shrugged. She was especially curious about Karin, knowing that any female who attracted Sasuke's eye must really be something. Not that Sakura was jealous or anything, just nosy.

"When are you coming back to Konoha?" said Naruto. It was known amongst the three of them that now was not the time to have him back. The old farts in the council had to lighten up, and if they had a chance to hear Sasuke's story then they would know his intentions weren't to betray, but to protect. Well, protecting Konoha was not what Sasuke wanted, nor cared about; however, as a result a major enemy of the village was lost in Orochimaru. Sandaime's death had been avenged, and that was one less (major) problem the village had to worry about. That and the Uchiha clan was a great one. It wasn't the happiest clan, nor was it crucial, but it was worth a great deal of value. The Uchiha clan had a lot of history in Konoha, both good and bad. Sasuke could bring great honor and pride to both his clan and his village, but he had to prove himself worthy of forgiveness. For that, he wasn't ready, so he didn't have an answer to Naruto's question.

"I must go. This has already taken longer than it should have," said Sasuke, brushing the weeds off his pants. "I have never forgotten that the three of us, Team 7…

"It has no pivotal role in my current destiny, I'm afraid. But it is the one external thing I hold on to. I have never been able to successfully deny that, if that makes you happy. We'll all meet again, once I'm done tying up a few loose ends."

"Of course," said Sakura, and she could feel the tears prickling in the back of her eyes already. "Thank you for coming, at least. You haven't stopped being on our minds since the day you left."

"All right, you jerk. Get out of here, but promise you'll come back before I'm too old and gray to kick your ass, got it?" said Naruto, sounding just as close to tears as she was, and something else. He was glad. They no longer had to force Sasuke to come home, but he would come of his own free will. Sure, she didn't really trust him, but something told her that this was the real deal.

"Sure, but I'll be the one kicking your ass, dobe," said Sasuke, and there was an actual smile on his face. It was a very small one, as if his face had been chiseled into a cold exterior that had been frozen that way for many years. Somehow, Naruto knew how to melt the ice in Sasuke's heart little by little. Sakura was almost envious, but then again it was Naruto who knew how to change people, not her.

In no time Sasuke disappeared into the night, and Sakura felt lighter than she ever had in a long, long time. She was a little disappointed that Sasuke didn't come back with them, but he really couldn't. Naruto and Sakura couldn't betray their village by following the traitor into the night, so the only option they did have was to wait, and to use the memory of this night to comfort them. He was all right, and he hadn't forgotten about them. Sakura's bed was going to be begging her to get a good night's sleep once she got home.

Naruto continued to stare along the horizon, wondering just how far Sasuke was this time, but was smiling. His greatest rival and best friend had gifted him with the promise of his safe and timely return. He was positive that, once he became Hokage, Sasuke would be back with them. That is what it would take, because unlike Tsunade Naruto was willing to fight tooth and nail around the clock to get Sasuke back with a clean slate.

He had never felt so inspired. In fact, first thing in the morning he'd train on the brink of death to become the most powerful ninja Konoha has ever known. Then no one would dare to argue with him when he insisted that Sasuke be his right hand man. Things were going to be all right.

"Sakura-chan, thank you for bringing me," said Naruto, and he had dared again to wrap his arms around her. Then Sakura had dared again to just let this be, even if he was still wet. After all, she was no longer tainting Naruto's love for her with thoughts of Sasuke. Sasuke was now their symbol for happiness and hope, and she now had faith in where her heart took her, rather than fear of it.

"We couldn't have done this any other way, Naruto," she said, resting her check against his warm shoulder. "I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't have wanted it any other way, either."

to be continued…

A/N: Sasuke's not ready to come back. :( Oh well, he has a more positive role now, so I hope that makes any Sasuke lover reading happy. Again, I want to thank all of my readers for reading, and all of my wonderful reviewers for reviewing. This fan fic could be approaching its end soon. I do not really see it going farther than 15 chs at most, especially cos I have so many other fan fics that I want to write. Until then, thanks for the support and I hope you all continue to like this story.