Here's the next chapter. I finally got it finished. Oh by the way...i really need to know things about the peronalities of Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin. I don't know much about them so if someone doesn't give me some basic personality traits i'll have to fake it. I like keeping characters in character but i won't be able to with these three because i don't know their character. Anyways they will be in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: i don't own naruto...if i did Sasuke wouldn't have become the bad guy


Ch. 2: Some Things Never Change

Sakura decided that beens she was staying there she might as well know her way around. So she explored the Sasuke's room. It was actually more of an apartment. There was a kitchen and living room. He also had a large bathroom. His bedroom was as she expected it to be, dark and dreary. Someone really needed to teach that boy how to decorate. The living room had several shelves with books on them and weapons hung on the wall. She smiled when she saw it and thought, 'How typical of Sasuke.' What she found weird was that there weren't any hallways. All the rooms were interconnected. The kitchen led into the living room which led to his bedroom which led to the bathroom which led back into the kitchen. It wasn't normal. Then again she was use to clan compounds and large buildings. There wouldn't be room for them if they didn't have hallways. After getting use to it though she discovered that she liked the set up.

She was looking through the kitchen for some food when Sasuke walked in. She shot him a disgruntled look. He raised an eyebrow at her wondering what he had done. The boy said nothing though. He just waited for her to speak. You could always trust Sakura to tell you when she wasn't happy.

She glared, "What do you eat? There's no food."

He walked over and looked in the cabinet. Sure enough there wasn't anything worth eating in it. Sasuke moved over to the fridge and wasn't surprised to find that it too was almost bare. 'Guess I need to get food for the room,' he mentally noted. He hadn't worried about it before because he didn't cook. Now that he had company he supposed he should work at keeping the food stocked. How annoying. Why didn't he leave her in the forest? He didn't bother answering the question. It didn't matter why. He hadn't and that was what mattered. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to go get some food to stock his kitchen with. She thought he was going to let her starve.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Sasuke glanced back at her, "Food."

"That tells me a whole lot, Sasuke. Can't you speak in complete sentences? Geez, some things never change," she complained.

He smirked, "Hn."

She glared at him, "Now you're doing that to annoy me, aren't you?"

He didn't respond. Just turned and continued walking. He felt a hand grab his arm. The Uchiha looked back at the medical nin with a raised eyebrow. She looked at him with a pout.

"Can I go with you? I'm going stir crazy being stuck in here."

He would have sworn that he was going to tell her no. Instead he found himself nodding to her. She smiled at him and thanked him. She followed behind him silently. He glanced back and saw that she was examining her surrounding. Sasuke watched her carefully to make sure she wasn't trying to plan an escape. After a moment he could tell that it was just curiosity. Her head would turn this way and then the other so fast he thought she was going to get whiplash. Her eyes darted everywhere trying to see everything at once. She caught his eye and smiled again. He looked away.

Why the hell was she smiling at him? Shouldn't she hate him? He had abandoned his village and left her crying on a park bench. Now he was keeping her prisoner but she didn't blame him. Sasuke didn't understand. She had every reason to hate him but she didn't. What was he missing? The shinobi sighed. He hated questions without answers. At least, he did when he wanted the answers. Most of the time he didn't care but this confused him. It always had. He never did understand how she didn't hate him when he had given her every reason to. No matter what he did or said she always smiled at him. His dark eyes looked back at her. The pink haired girl was still smiling.

"I don't understand you," he said.

She blinked at him in confusion, "Huh? Where did that come from?"

He just shook his head and kept walking. Sakura watched him as she followed. He was the same and yet different. Sasuke had never spoken much nor had he ever let his emotions show unless it was anger. The younger Uchiha was a loner and always had been. A part of her understood. He had come home to find that his older brother had murdered their family. Another part of her couldn't even begin to understand how that felt. The girl also noticed that something was different. Sure, the Sasuke from three years ago had always been distant but he had been happy in his own way. This Sasuke was not even a little happy and even colder that the old one. She wondered if he regretted leaving Konoha.

Sasuke turned into a building and Sakura was right behind him. She was so busy with her thoughts that she didn't realize he stopped and crashed right into his back. He glanced at her over his shoulder. If she didn't know better she would have said he looked amused. She smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun. I wasn't paying attention."

He just looked away. She glared at his back and thought in exasperation, 'Would it kill him to speak occasionally? It probably would.' She looked around and saw that they were in a grocery store.

Sasuke looked back at her, "Get whatever you want."

She smiled at him, "Ok."

It didn't take her long. Sasuke was surprised. The green eyed girl use to love shopping of any kind. As far as he knew she never spent less than two hours in a store. Apparently she had become more tomboyish while he wasn't there.

"I expected you to take longer," he stated.

She smiled, "I trained with Tenten a lot. I guess she rubbed off on me a little."

He couldn't help it. He smiled for a second. She kept surprising him. When he had left she was the weaker link of their group. Even Naruto could have beaten her back then. Sure she had been smart enough to rival Shikamaru at times but she didn't have his skill as a ninja. She had apparently grown a lot since he had left.

Sakura looked at him in shock. In all the time she had known Sasuke she had never seen him smile. Smirk maybe but never smile. She blinked and then it was gone. 'I must have imagined it. It was just wishful thinking,' she thought. Her green eyes held a little sadness before she ruthlessly pushed it away. She didn't cry anymore. She hadn't cried since the day he had left and she wouldn't start now, especially in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke watched her push the pain away as if she had practiced doing just that a thousand times. That thought made him frown. Why would she need to practice blocking pain? The thought of someone hurting her made him want to kill someone slowly and painfully. The Uchiha chose not to examine why he felt that way. What difference did it make?

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Sakura asked. He had a strange look on his face. Like he was angry and confused all at the same time.

He looked at her, "Nothing."

She shrugged. Nothing could make him tell her. She had experience with that. Sakura tried a lot of things to make Sasuke open up to her. None of it ever worked. She wished it had but that was in the past now. She had moved on. At least that was what she told herself.

They arrived back to Sasuke's apartment a little while later. Someone else was there too. She could feel it. Her green eyes landed on Sasuke. His sharingan eyes were narrowed at his door. He placed the bag down onto the ground and pulled out a kunai. She followed his lead. They stood on opposite sides of the door. Their eyes met and then Sasuke opened the door. From her position by the door Sakura could see that he relaxed when he saw who it was. She didn't put her kunai away though. The kunoichi knew that she was in enemy territory and just because someone was Sasuke's ally didn't make them hers. Then she heard the voice that she hated the most. She often thought that if a snake could speak they would sound like him.

"Hello, Sasuke. I here you have a guest."

Sasuke's only reply was, "Hn."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know. I found her in the forest. She was unconscious," the boy lied through his teeth.

Sakura took a moment to wonder why but then decided to encourage the lie. She took off her weapons pouch and hid it. The pink haired girl proceeded to remove anything that would give away the fact that she was a ninja and hid them with her pouch. When she was finished she continued to listen to the conversation.

"Well bring the girl in and let me meet her," the voice ordered.

Sasuke moved further into the house so that Sakura could come in. She did. The girl saw the brief surprise on Sasuke's face when he saw that she had hidden all the signs that she was a kunoichi. He quickly hid his reaction and then smirked and she was happy with the approval she saw in his eyes. She looked away to the man that she had loathed for the last three years.

He still had the long oily looking black hair. His light brown eyes reminded her of a snake's and made her skin crawl. He was so pale that he made snow look colorful. She couldn't stand him. Because of him Sasuke had left Konoha. Because of him Naruto almost died in an attempt to stop Sasuke. This monster that called himself Orochimaru was the cause of all her problems. She had to refrain from glaring at him so he wouldn't know just how much she hated him.

He looked at her for a moment then back to Sasuke, "Why did you save her?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Why not save her?"

Orochimaru gazed at him for a moment then said, "She can't leave now."

"I know."

"Does she?"

"Yes."

Orochimaru glanced at her then back to Sasuke, "She's your responsibility now. She will travel with your group and you will have to make sure she doesn't escape. If she does escape you will be the one to hunt her down and kill her."

"I understand."

Sakura was getting a little annoyed with being talked about like she wasn't there but she didn't dare say anything. First of all, she didn't want to get Sasuke in trouble and second she didn't want to get herself in trouble. She thought about that for a moment and decided that she really needed to rethink her priorities. Sasuke could take care of himself. In fact he was the one that chose this life. His safety should not come before her own. She mentally sighed. Her priorities wouldn't change and she knew it. Sakura didn't tell anyone about it but she still loved him.

"Now that that's settled, you and the rest of your team will be leaving for a mission tomorrow. I want to know what that boy with the fox in him is doing. I haven't heard any reports of his whereabouts for the last three years except for one occasion where he fought the Akatsuki to save the Kazekage and I want to know where he's been and who he was with."

Sasuke just nodded. Sakura was shocked. She knew where Naruto was. He had been with her the day Sasuke had found her. How come Orochimaru didn't know that Naruto had returned to the the Leaf Village? It didn't make sense unless he did know that and just wanted to know where Naruto was before he returned. The blonde had only been back in Konoha for a few days after all. He had returned a few months ago and then saved Gaara but then he had left with Jiraiya for more training. He had just returned so it was possible that Orochimaru didn't know that Naruto was back or that he had been with Jiraiya.

"Fine. We'll leave tomorrow," Sasuke replied.

Orochimaru nodded and then started to walk out of the room. He paused in the doorway, "And Sasuke, don't think about returning to the leaf village. They will never accept you back so if you're planning on betraying me you might as well forget it."

Orochimaru left. Sakura was mentally calling him a liar. The leaf village wanted Sasuke back in one piece. They had no intention of killing him or imprisoning him. He would get punished but nothing serious because his only crime was joining Orochimaru. That could be forgiven with time. Sasuke hadn't killed anyone and he hadn't given away any of Konoha's secrets so he was still forgivable. Orochimaru didn't know anything.

The pink haired girl stepped outside and grabbed her stuff and the grocery bags then came back in. Sasuke was standing in the kitchen. He seemed to be thinking about something. His black eyes landed on her when she walked into the room. She put all of her gear back on and then looked at him. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop without any trouble. Both were waiting on the other to say something. Sakura gave in first.

"He lied. You won't be imprisoned or killed. Naruto and Kakashi miss you and would never let that happen. Neither would I."

"I know," he said simply.

She let out a growl of frustration, "Then why are you here, Sasuke? What have you gained?"

He didn't answer her question. Instead he said, "You will meet my team tomorrow. You can't carry any of the ninja gear because they will tell Orochimaru who you are. I can't let him find out."

She tilted her head, "Why not?"

"He'll kill you."

"Right. That's a good reason. I won't wear my gear but I want to keep one kunai and I'll need a ribbon for my hair."

"I make sure you get the ribbon and you'll take one of my kunai so they'll think I gave it to you."

Sakura nodded and then started to put the food away. She was suddenly starving. 'So I'll get to meet his new friends tomorrow…no that's not right…he called them his team. So are they not his friends?' she wondered. She continued to think about this for a while. She couldn't decide if they were his friends. Sasuke never openly declared anyone important to him unless it was a life or death situation. There was really no telling until she saw how he acted around them whether or not they were his friends. 'I guess I'll just have to see,' she decided.

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Sasuke was in his room wondering how he had gotten himself into this mess. He knew the consequences of saving Sakura and yet he had done it anyway. He lied to Orochimaru to protect her even though Orochimaru could potentially find the truth and make them both suffer for it. Now she was going to be traveling with him. He wasn't sure what to make of his actions. The Uchiha had always only wanted one thing, to kill the man who murdered his clan. He wanted Itachi's head on a platter and he wanted to be the one to put it there. For the first time Sasuke was showing a desire for something other than his brother's death. He wanted to keep Sakura safe.

Sasuke sighed and thought, 'Oh well. As long as it doesn't affect my goal I won't worry about it.' He stood up and looked out the window. Tomorrow he would see Naruto and Kakashi for the first time in three years though they wouldn't see him. He wondered how they were doing and if they really did miss him like Sakura said.


There it is. Now please either contsructive criticism, an 'i like the story' review, or info on the characters' personalities please...NO flames