Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. There would be sufficient changes if I did.

Thanks for the reviews you guys! And I'll try to read this one a couple of times to check for any mistakes…

Chapter Nine: Decisions

When Sakura woke up it was already light outside. She realized that most of her chakra had come back, and she began to heal herself fully. When she was done she realized that her abdomen was still a bit sore, but she could walk and do everything without the pain hindering her.

She saw that everyone else was packed and ready to go, and grumbled at everyone for not waking her up sooner. She became her normal, cheery self, however, after she had some breakfast and washed herself at the stream.

She saw Hinata approach Naruto and was about to say something when Naruto noticed Sakura.

"Sakura! I have something important to tell you!"

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, Hinata was about to talk to you. You should go apologize and see what she wanted."

"Oh? Hinata! Sorry about that! It's just that you're so quiet I didn't hear you!"

Hinata gulped. "It-it's okay, Naruto."

"So what were you saying?"

"Um…well…nothing, really. I just…wanted to say good morning!"

"Oh. Well, good morning, Hinata!" Naruto beamed at her, and then turned to find Sakura and tell her the good news, but found her engaged in her own conversation.

"What are you doing, Sasuke? Konoha's this way."

Sakura had noticed that Sasuke was walking in the wrong direction as she started walking towards Konoha.

"I'm not going to Konoha," was his reply. "Didn't Naruto tell you?"

"W-what do you mean?" Sakura frowned as she ran up to Sasuke. "I thought-"

Sasuke sighed. Stupid Naruto. He didn't want to tell Sakura, so he decided to make her mad at him to avoid any confrontation. "No, you didn't think. I told you before that I would never return home until I avenged my clan." Sasuke continued walking, hands in his pockets.

Sakura's eyes filled with tears.

Sai shook his head at Sasuke. He may be new to emotions, but it didn't take an expert to figure out that Sasuke's words were harsh and hurtful. For some reason it bothered him that Sakura was hurt by it. He made no move to interfere, however. He didn't feel that it was his place.

Naruto was about to yell at Sasuke when Hinata stopped him by gently grabbing his arm. "L-let them be, Naruto. It's their fight." Naruto was shocked by Hinata's forthright attitude.

He frowned, but nodded. He kept a close eye on Sasuke, however, as they moved farther away to give Sakura and Sasuke some privacy. Sai did the same.

"Sasuke…after all this time, all that's happened…I would've thought that you would want to go home." Sakura looked pleadingly into Sasuke's obsidian eyes.

"Nothing's changed."

"That's a lie! Everything's changed!" Sakura grabbed onto the front of his shirt and slammed him up against a tree. Her voice took on a quiet, yet forceful tone. "You've changed, Sasuke."

So much for avoiding confrontation. "Hn. How so?"

Sakura looked down his face for a moment, and then back up into his eyes. "Like this."

Sakura gently pressed her lips to Sasuke's. Once again shocked by Sakura's audacity, Sasuke did nothing. When he didn't respond, Sakura broke the kiss.

"Don't you feel anything for me, Sasuke?" Sakura asked quietly. Her eyes grew misty as she stared at the only man/boy she had ever loved.

Sakura was not prepared for what happened next. Sasuke growled low in his throat and suddenly Sakura found herself against the tree, with Sasuke pinning her there.

"Sasuke, what are-" she was cut off as Sasuke crushed his lips to hers. Sakura's eyes widened, then gave in the to immense joy and pleasure she was feeling.

Sakura groaned as Sasuke deepened this kiss. She clutched the front of his shirt as one of Sasuke's hands gripped her hip and the other one held the back of her head.

Sakura was so lost in the kiss that she didn't hear someone clear their throat. Loudly. As much as Sasuke wanted to prolong the kiss, he broke apart. Sakura almost fell to the ground. Her mind was fuzzy as she registered the fact that she was cold now.

"What-"

Naruto cleared his throat again. "We should get moving."

Red tinged Sakura's cheeks as she realized that she and Sasuke had just kissed in front of their friends. Sakura became mortified, but in no way regretted what had transpired between her and Sasuke.

She stole a peek at Sasuke. It seemed like nothing had affected him, yet Sakura detected the slight rise and fall of his chest, signifying that he was out of breath.

Naruto, much to everyone's surprise, did nothing to ridicule them. Hinata had a small smile on her face, and was even blushing herself. Sai had his ever-present fake smile on, and pretended like nothing had happened. They all started walking again, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.

There was an awkward silence between the two until Sakura broke the silence.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Why did you kiss me?" Sasuke returned.

"Sasuke, you know the answer to your question. I-I love you, and I wanted to express my love-"

"Sakura, it's fine. Just forget it happened." Sasuke turned around and was about to leave when Sakura's hand on his arm stopped him.

After a few moments he turned to look at her. She was touching her lips, still swollen from Sasuke's kiss.

"Sasuke…I can't forget it. Are you telling me that it meant so little that you can easily erase it from your memory?" Sakura looked pleadingly at him.

Her hand dropped to her side, and she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

Sasuke couldn't help himself. She was like an addictive drug; once he had a taste of her he craved more. His mind told him to stop, but his heart told him to keep going. Sasuke raised his hand and tenderly touched her soft, pale cheek.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Sasuke-"

She was silenced by Sasuke thoroughly ravishing her mouth. Again.

Only this time no one interrupted them. This kiss was much slower, and gentler, but it was still passionate. Sakura expected his tongue to be rough, but it was surprisingly smooth and soft. She was hesitant to allow him entrance at first, but with a gentle prodding from Sasuke she opened her mouth, letting him in. Sakura groaned as she tasted him. Soon she was kissing him with as much passion and fervor as he was kissing her with.

Sakura was disappointed when Sasuke broke the kiss, but her lungs were screaming for air as well. Sakura could feel her lungs expanding and retracting, and her stomach had butterflies in it. She was clinging to Sasuke's shirt, for if she let go she knew that she would fall. He made her weak at the knees, and her mind was just not working properly.

She shook her head to clear her mind. Sakura cleared her throat as she let go of Sasuke.

Before she could say anything, Sasuke leaned into her again. Sakura thought that he was going to kiss her again, and her eyes drifted shut. But instead of his lips on hers, she felt them on her forehead.

She opened her eyes to see Sasuke looking down at her with his dark eyes. Only this time they weren't harsh and cold, but rather…warm.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Sasuke beat her to it. "Sakura…it means a lot to me that you still care about me after all that I've done. And…I…"

Sakura waited for him to say the words she had dreamt of for years.

"…care about you." Sasuke had a troubled look on his face, as if he was frustrated that he couldn't say what he wanted.

Sakura, instead of being disappointed that Sasuke couldn't say what she wanted him to say, was ecstatic. For him to admit that he had feelings of any sort (besides hatred and anger) for anyone was a major breakthrough. Inner Sakura was raging!

Sakura could tell how hard that was for him, so she decided to let him off the hook. She gently wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him in a comforting hug.

"Sasuke…thank you."

He said nothing, but squeezed her back in return. Tears sprang to her eyes as she was held in Sasuke's warm embrace. She tried to scoot in closer to him, but something hard was pushing against her stomach.

She looked down to find that it was the purple rope around Sasuke's waist. Her hands were touching something hard at his back, too. Kusanagi, his sword. Sakura unconsciously stiffened in his embrace.

Sasuke pulled back, a stoic look on his face.

"Sasuke…what are you planning on doing now?" Sakura whispered.

"I told you already. Nothing's changed. First I have to beat that bastard Orochimaru. I've learned all I need to from him by now. Then I will avenge and repopulate my clan."

He said all of this as if he'd said a thousand times. Sakura was silent for a moment, and looked him deep in his black eyes.

"Sasuke, will you take me with you this time?"

Instead of answering, Sasuke let go of her and walked towards the other three members of their group. Sakura waited a few seconds before catching up to him.

She didn't press for an answer from him. Just that fact that he hadn't told her, "No," right off was a good sign. She hoped, anyways.

They traveled mostly in silence, except for Naruto making the occasional comment. But it was quiet, even for Naruto. Everyone could tell there was something bothering him. No one wanted to ask what was wrong with him. Except for Hinata, of course, but she didn't feel brave enough in front of so many people.

After about an hour of traveling, Naruto stopped. So did the others.

"Let's camp here for tonight," Naruto stated. He took off his traveling pack and started setting up his tent. While she was busy setting up her and Hinata's tent, Sakura saw Sasuke go into the woods by himself. She had enough common sense not to follow him, but she still wondered what he was doing.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

The shy girl was twiddling her fingers, a sure sign of nervousness.

"Are you…are you and Sasuke…" she gulped and tried to start over. "Sasuke and you…uh…"

"You mean are we boyfriend and girlfriend?" Sakura put her out of her misery. Hinata nodded, bright spots of red on her cheeks.

Sakura stopped what she was doing and frowned. She looked towards the place where Sasuke had wandered off to, but she couldn't see him. "To tell you the truth…I don't know."

Hinata looked confused. "O-okay."

"Well…I guess I didn't want to pressure him into doing anything. He just barely opened up to me and well…I didn't want to scare him off." Sakura smiled a little. "He admitted that he cares about me, though, so that's a start."

"But, don't you want him to be your boyfriend?" Hinata was still confused.

Sakura sighed. "Of course I do. I'd like nothing better in the world." Sakura looked Hinata in her violet eyes. "But sometimes you have to let them realize they love you on their own, and let them come to you. Do you understand what I'm saying, Hinata?"

Hinata nodded, catching the double meaning. So I should let Naruto come to me? "But what if they never realize-"

"They will. Sometimes it just takes a little…prodding…on our parts." Sakura grinned.

"Prodding?"

"Well, let's say that they thought that they would lose us forever. Maybe they'll realize their true feelings when it would be too late to say them."

Hinata blanched.

"Oh, I'm not saying you should go and try to die! Not at all. More like…oh, I don't know what I was saying. Just forget about it!" Sakura waved a hand to signal the end of the conversation.

"O-okay," Hinata said. The two girls returned to pitching their tent in a comfortable silence, with Hinata mulling over Sakura's advice.

Five minutes later Sasuke emerged from the trees. Sakura frowned, and then smiled when she saw him.

Sasuke's attire was different. He had gotten rid of the purple rope around his waist, and Kusanagi was now at his side, attached by a belt loop from his black pants. His shirt, however, still remained open in the chest area, causing Sakura's gaze to linger longer at that particular area.

Sasuke realized that Sakura was staring. "Sakura, is there something you wanted to say?"

He smirked at her reddening cheeks and her stammer. "I…well…no…um…" She sighed in frustration at his smirk.

She decided to change the subject. "So does that mean that you're with Konoha again?"

Sasuke's smirk disappeared. "My allegiance is to myself."

"You mean to your revenge." Sakura didn't know why she felt like arguing, but she did. And there was no one that made her madder than Sasuke. She wanted to get him riled up for a change.

Sasuke folded his arms. "If that's the way you want to look at it."

"Gah! You're impossible!" Sakura threw her arms up in the air.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her childish antics.

"And you're immature."

"Immature? Oh, I'll give you immature." She folded her arms across her chest, mimicking Sasuke.

She spoke in a deep, monotonous voice. "I'm the cold-hearted Uchiha who's so immature that I can't admit what's really in my heart. I hide behind my quest for revenge to avoid dealing with feelings. I act like I have none but I really do."

Sasuke glared at her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Gah! It meant exactly what I said!"

Sasuke turned his nose up at her. "Hn."

Sakura, in response, rolled her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out, but quickly retracted it so he wouldn't see.

They stood there, silently glaring at each other, before Sakura finally relented.

"Whatever. But you still haven't answered my question. Are with us or not?"

"I don't really care. I'm going to kill Orochimaru. And then Itachi. And I will show them no mercy." Sasuke's expression hardened as he said this, and his voice sent a chill down her spine.

"I'm coming with you." It was a statement, not a question.

"Whatever."

Sakura's anger disappeared.

"Sasuke…there's something you should know."

"What?"

"I….I know Itachi's weakness."

Short chapter, I know. But I included some SasuSaku fluff for you guys, as requested. I'll try and update ASAP, kay?

If you haven't read the manga chapter 343 yet don't read ahead then!

So if you have read the manga you can read this!

I am so psyched that Sasuke is finally cutting off his ties with Orochimaru…what a sick man. It was a little bit of a shock to me as it happened all of a sudden. And I'm a little disappointed that Sakura and Naruto weren't there…but hopefully they'll show up soon! At least they're finally showing Sasuke again! I cannot wait until the next chapter! Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways just had to get that off my chest!

So as always read (well…since you're reading this I guess you already did…how silly of me) and review please!