Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto.

She woke up in time to see Sasuke begin walking away.

"Are you leaving?"

He paused. "Yeah."

"I was right, you know," she said quietly. "You never do say goodbye."

"Hn."

Her smile widened. "Men are all such liars. You Uchiha in particular."

"Sakura."

She looked at him in surprise. She didn't expect him to say anything. "Yes?"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Stay away from Itachi."

"Not to worry, Sasuke. I promise, your brother's virtue will remain intact. I'm not a complete monster."

"Sakura."

"Just kidding. God, you're hopeless."

He gave her a smile--that somehow didn't look right on his face, that was always so serious. "Goodbye, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. And after Sasuke left, she was still staring at where he'd been.

Finally, she let out her breath. "Wow."

Akatsuki didn't try to find her. Chances were, they thought she was dead.

She hoped Itachi didn't tell her parents that she was dead. That would complicate things. Though Itachi in Konoha for a reason unrelated to Naruto was welcome, provided that he didn't suddenly lose his mind and join Orochimaru.

Sakura decided she was lucky when she discovered a nearby village with a medical center. She didn't recognize it, and no one there had been to Konoha before, and thus couldn't give her directions back home.

Expect for Hyuuga Neji.

"You have no idea how lucky I feel right now," she told him when she met up with him. "If Tsunade had even a tiny bit of my luck, she would never lose if she gambled every day for the rest of her life." And the world would be ruled by Orochimaru and his baby snakes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I ran into Akatsuki," she said. "But I faked my death and escaped."

"You faked your death and escaped?" Disbelief colored his tone.

Why does no one believe me? She touched her abdomin. "It almost wasn't faking. But they didn't know I was a medical ninja."

He continued to stare. It was strange to see Neji so shocked.

"In any case," she continued. "Can you give me directions home? I have no idea where I am."

Neji paused. "I'll take you," he said after a minute. And then looked away. "So stop looking at me like that."

Aha! Puppy dog eyes work every time.

Eventually, Neji learned never to look Sakura in the eyes. Every time he did, he enevitably found himself victim to the Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom, and wound up doing things for her that otherwise he might not have done. Case in point, picking flowers.

For this, he vowed revenge.

And found himself cooking dinner instead.

"What happened to your hands?" He asked her, finally noticing the bandages the doctor had wrapped around Sakura's fingers and hands.

Sakura flexed them. "Akatsuki didn't want me to form any seals." She lifted her feet as well. "They broke my feet too, so I couldn't run away."

He stared at her in horror.

"The hospital didn't have any medical ninjas," she told him conversationally, "so there's not much they can do for them. I'll show them to Tsunade when I see her."

"And you didn't tell me?" He demanded. "We've been traveling, on foot, all day today and yesterday, and you didn't tell me?"

And that was how she found herself beind carried by Hyuuga Neji all the way home to Konoha. Her stoic attitude toward walking for hours transformed into complaining whenever she had to walk more than two steps. And because Neji never looked her in the eye, he never knew that she could have kept running to Konoha without his help.

Also, Neji carried her to the hospital before he went to report to Tsunade. And after reporting, he sent her running toward her apprentice, to check over everything the other medical personel already had.

"Akatsuki, you say?" Tsunade asked, inspecting Sakura's feet. She poked them with one long nail, noticed the swelling. "You've been walking on them."

"Only until I met up with Neji," she said. "It was impossible to get away from Akatsuki if I had to crawl. If I only walked short distances, it was bearable."

"Why didn't you heal them?"

"I used most of my chakra healing another injury," she glanced away. "It was potentially fatal."

"I see," Tsunade studied her. "As soon as your hands heal up, I expect a report on my desk."

Sakura shook her head. "Impossible."

"What's that?"

"While I was with Akatsuki, I discovered that Orochimaru is plotting another strike on Konoha. We only have a few weeks to prepare, at most."

"Do you have any information on how many we're expecting?"

"All I know is that they're acting independantly of Akatsuki. Unless they allied themselves with any other Hidden Villages, we should only be expecting Sound Ninja." She smiled slightly. "And a few hundred giant snakes."

"In any case, we're outnumbered."

"And Naruto's gone," Sakura studied the Hokage closely.

"You know where he is."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Find the Suna liason and send her to me," Tsunade instructed. "Then go find Naruto."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I can't spare anyone to go with you."

Sakura simply looked at her. "I know."

"I think I lied, Itachi," Sakura told the sky seriously as she left the village. "It looks like Naruto may be there after all."

Luckily, chances were he thought no one knew about the attack on Konoha, and thus there was no one to tell Naruto. Therefore, Akatsuki's interference would be greatly diminished. And if they found out Naruto was there, well, the only result would be Itachi believing that she'd lied to him.

It was funny. If Itachi did find out, than everyone she'd seen in the past ten days would think she was lying.

She wasn't that dishonest, was she?

"My feet hurt!"

Note: Okay, and next chapter's Winter Again, but you're going to have to wait for it to come tomorrow. 'Cause I'm really tired. Luckily this fic is short, huh? Only seven chapters.

You know, originally, I intended for Naruto to come and pick her up instead of Neji. But Neji works better. Because Puppy Dog Eyes of DOOM works better on him. Sakura doesn't even have to resort to that for Naruto. And Naruto taking her home would imply he knew she was kidnapped. Neji you can just consider coming across her by chance, Jounin that he is.