I'm finished with this chapter sooner that I expected to be. That's a good thing though. Anyways I'll shut up so you can read the story

Disclaimer: I no own Naruto


Ch. 5: Sakura's Insecurity

"Sasuke, you took Sakura?" Naruto asked his ex-teammate. "Why?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He just stood there looking at them with an emotionless expression. They didn't know what to think. Ino looked at her pink haired friend. She could tell that Sakura was afraid but not of Sasuke. Ino also noted that Sasuke was standing in front of Sakura as if to protect her.

Everyone got ready for a fight. Except for Ino. Sasuke didn't move. He stayed in front of the pink haired girl and Ino began to wonder about some things. Sasuke would be safer if he used Sakura as a shield instead of shielding Sakura. He wasn't an idiot. Sasuke had to know that he could escape if he used Sakura as a shield. So why wasn't he?

"Sasuke, let Sakura go!" Naruto shouted as he ran towards the two of them.

Sasuke reacted by grabbing Sakura and dodging the attack. When he landed on the ground he gripped Sakura's hand and ran. She had no choice but to follow. The rest of the group followed them. Ino was moved as fast as she could while praying that she would beat the others to Sakura. Luck was with her. She landed in front of Sasuke and Sakura. She wasn't surprised when Sakura moved in front of Sasuke to protect him.

"I'm not here to fight," Ino reassured her friend.

Sakura relaxed but her voice was still wary, "Then why are you here?"

"I was worried. I wanted to make sure that you would be ok if I didn't fight."

"I'll be fine. Sasuke saved me and that's why I'm with him right now. If I leave he'll get in trouble with Orochimaru and I can't do that to him. I'm sorry, Ino."

"No problem. Just so long as he takes care of you." Ino looked directly at Sasuke, "If she gets hurt I will see to it that you'll never get to revive your clan because you'll be missing a very important male body part for that."

Sasuke winced at the thought.

Ino turned back to Sakura, "Now get out of here before they catch up to you."

"Thanks, Ino," Sakura said.

"Hey, I know how it feels to be you know what. Now go."

They left. Ino watched with a small smile. A pair of strong arms wrapped around the blonde girl's waist. She leaned back against her boyfriend's chest.

"I did the right thing didn't I, Shika?"

"I think so. You couldn't have done otherwise."

She sighed with relief. Shikamaru wouldn't lie to her even to make her feel better. So she knew what he told her was the truth.

"I'm glad. I was worried for a second there," she commented.

"It's obvious he cares for her. If he didn't he would have used her as a shield when we caught them. I think she'll be just fine."

"I thought so too."

---With Sasuke and Sakura---

"I can't believe she let us go," Sakura commented as they ran. "I hope she doesn't get into trouble."

"She won't. Shikamaru will make sure of it," Sasuke said.

Sakura thought about it for a moment then agreed with Sasuke. Shikamaru was Konoha's top tactician. If anyone could keep Ino out of trouble it was Shikamaru Nara. He even had a vested interest in keeping Ino out of trouble. She was his girlfriend after all.

Sakura then noticed that the rest of team snake was running beside them. Karin was glaring at her as usual but Jugo and Suigetsu looked like nothing had happened. Sasuke stopped in a clearing several miles from Konoha and looked at Karin. He didn't have to say anything.

"No one is following us anymore," the red head stated after scanning the area for chakra.

Sasuke nodded then said, "Stay here. I'm going to report to Orochimaru."

Then he left them alone. At first everything was quiet and Jugo and Suigetsu began to set up camp. Sakura started dinner. Karin just stood there. She seemed to be vibrating with anger.

She suddenly rounded on Sakura, "What did you do?"

"Me?! What makes you think I did anything?" Sakura shouted indignantly.

"Because we got caught."

"Karin, don't you think you're over reacting?" Suigetsu said.

She glared at him, "No, I don't. We got caught because of her."

"That's not true!" Sakura shouted.

"Prove it. Sasuke certainly wouldn't be the reason now would he? That leaves you," Karin responded.

"Karin..."

"Stay out of this, Jugo," Karin interrupted before he could finish. "It's all her fault."

"Why does it have to be anyone's fault?" Sakura asked.

"Because you wouldn't have been caught if you didn't make any mistakes," Karin responded as if she was speaking to an idiot.

"I'm telling you, I didn't do it."

"And why should we believe you?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. What was someone suppose to say to that? Karin was determined to hate her so nothing anyone said would change her mind. Even if Sakura could prove that it wasn't anyone's fault that they were caught Karin wouldn't believe it. The pink haired girl let out a sigh of resignation. So what was the point of arguing? There wasn't one so she decided not to bother. So instead of answering she continued making dinner.

"Are you ignoring me?" Karin demanded.

Sakura didn't respond.

"Answer me."

Sakura turned to face Karin with one last comment, "Why? You'll hate me no matter what I do so why bother arguing with you?"

This time Karin was the one with nothing to say. Sakura turned back to the food and continued cooking. The boys went back to setting up the rest of camp.

-------------------------------------

Sasuke was exhausted when he returned to camp. Orochimaru wasn't happy that they had been caught but he couldn't blame Team Snake. No one had expected Kakashi to be watching Naruto so closely. That didn't stop Orochimaru from trying to blame them however. Sasuke had decided not to tell Orochimaru what Sakura had told him about Naruto and the others. He just prayed that Orochimaru never found out. 'I really am going to have to do something about him soon,' he thought to himself.

Sakura saw him walking towards them and got his plate ready. She knew he would be hungry and he looked tired. He sat down on his makeshift bed and Sakura handed him the plate of food. Sasuke took it with a nod and ate. Sakura continued talking to Jugo about fighting tactics. Suigetsu joined the conversation out of boredom. Karin was still ignoring Sakura's presence so she didn't say a word. She did however keep glancing as Sasuke and Sakura sitting on the same makeshift bed with disgust.

She finally spoke, "I don't think that slut should share the same bed as you, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at her, "What?"

"That girl isn't good enough to even be near you let alone in the same bed," Karin clarified.

"And where would you have her sleep?"

"On the ground."

Sasuke just looked at her with those dark eyes. Nothing changed in his expression but somehow everyone knew he wasn't happy with that answer. Karin fidgeted under the stare.

"She can use my bed and I'll share with you," she said finally.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "And you think you are good enough to be in the same bed as me?"

Sakura had been listening to the conversation between the two. Karin was really starting to piss her off. The girl had just called her a slut. She also made it sound like her and Sasuke were doing more than sleeping at night, which was far from the truth. She didn't even touch Sasuke while she was asleep. (A/N: remember Sasuke had gotten up before her so she doesn't know that she had been cuddled against him.)

"I'm better than she is," Karin answered him. Sakura's temper was reaching a breaking point then deflated when Karin spoke again, "Besides she's useless. We would be better off without her."

That hit a nerve in Sakura that she kept hidden most of the time. She had once been the weak link in her team. It had made her feel useless back then and she had worked hard to change that. Now here was this girl calling her useless in front of the last person she wanted to see her as useless, Sasuke. Sakura had wanted to prove to him that she could be strong. She had hoped that would make him come home because if she was strong he would decide that she could help him get Itachi.

Karin continued to speak to Sasuke, "I mean come on. The only thing she can do even marginally well is cook and I've eaten better food. Not to mention she almost got you caught today in Konoha. She's been nothing but a burden since she joined us."

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She turned and ran as fast as she could. She heard someone shouting her name but she ignored them. The medical nin didn't care where she was going just so long as it was far away from that spot. Karin was right. Sakura hadn't done anything useful for the group. Instead Sasuke had to share his blanket because of her and Jugo was constantly having to watch her because if he didn't Karin would mess with her. Jugo was probably tired of her company too. What was worse was that what if she was the reason they were caught? If that was true then she had almost gotten Sasuke arrested. That made this worse. She would rather die than do anything to hurt Sasuke in anyway.

It began to rain. Thunder clashed overhead and lighting flashed. The pink haired girl didn't seem to notice any of it. She just kept running. That is she ran until something caught her. A pair of powerful arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against a muscled chest. Sakura let out a a surprised yelp. Whoever had grabbed her spun her around and she found her back pressed against a tree and her front pressed against a warm body. She looked up to see who had caught her. Green clashed with onyx.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered.

"You promised not to leave."

She looked away, "Why does it matter? I'm no good to you. Karin was right. You'd be better off without me."

"What makes you think that?"

"I'm not good at anything. I've always been the weakest link."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a moment. He wasn't sure what to say. This wasn't a side of Sakura he had seen before. She had always seemed so confident. It was hard to believe that she had insecurity issues. He decided to let instinct guide him.

"You're right. You use to be the weakest link but that was three years ago. I've seen you fight recently and no one can call you weak."

"You don't have to lie to me, Sasuke-kun. Just let me go. I don't want to be a burden to you."

"When have you known me to lie even if the truth would hurt?"

She looked up at him, "Never."

"Then what makes you think I am now?"

"I...I don't know. I guess Karin just seem to make so much sense at the time."

"Karin is a fool. You aren't a burden. If you were I would have left you in the sound village or let you stay in Konoha."

"I'm sorry. It's just that...I don't want to...make you unhappy."

He let out a frustrated sigh. Sasuke hated showing emotions of any kind. He had already gone a little out of his usual character while talking to her just now. It looked like he would have to let just a little more of his feelings show before she would come back with him. He didn't know why it was so important that she didn't leave him. He just knew that it was.

"You don't make me unhappy. In fact...that's the last thing you make me," he growled.

Yes, he growled it damn it. Give him a break. The poor boy didn't like showing people his feelings let alone talking about them.

Sakura didn't seem to mind. She looked at him with a spark of hope in her green eyes. She searched his dark eyes to make sure that he wasn't lying. A brilliant smile lit her face when she realized that he wasn't.

He backed away from her now that he knew she would run for it again. Sasuke turned and began to walk back in the direction they had come from. He glanced over his shoulder at the girl.

"Let's go back to camp," he ordered.

"Coming, Sasuke-kun," she chirped and ran after him.

Jugo watched the two of them return. He was glad to see that Sakura looked happy. The big man had been mildly worried when she ran off. He had also been just as surprised as the others when Sasuke took off after her like a bat out of hell.

Karin had looked like she wanted to kill something when Sasuke returned with Sakura. Suigetsu and Jugo on the other hand both grinned. They knew what was coming as long as Sasuke didn't do anything to mess it up.

Suigetsu normally didn't care about things like that but over the last few days he would admit that he, like Jugo, had grown attached to their new traveling companion. He was also, in his own way, happy to see that Sasuke was finally getting a break in life.

Suigetsu turned to face Karin, "Let it go, Karin. You can't win this battle."

"Yes I can. I will."

He didn't bother responding. She would see the truth eventually. Maybe when Karin saw that she couldn't win Sasuke's heart she would see someone else, like Suigetsu for example. Until then, he would satisfy himself by annoying her to remind her that he existed. Besides, she was amusing when she was annoyed with him.

"Let's get some sleep. We'll be returning to the sound village tomorrow," Sasuke ordered.

Everyone got into their respective beds. Sasuke found he couldn't sleep so he rolled over so he could watch Sakura sleep. Why had it been so important that she not leave him? When she had run a hundred emotions had raced through him and most of them were unidentifiable. First there was fear that she wouldn't come back. Despair had followed quickly after that for reasons he didn't understand. Suddenly he had been overcome with pure determination to catch her and bring her back. He had done just that. Sasuke shook his head at the thoughts running through his mind. They were pointless so he shoved them away while ignoring the voice that told him he was just afraid of what they meant.

Sasuke glanced down at Sakura. Deciding not to think about his motives for his actions towards her he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her against him. She snuggled closer in her sleep. He fell asleep without letting her go.


That's all for this chapter. The next one with either be focused on the people in Konoha or where Sasuke kills Orochimaru...I'm not sure which yet...

Anyways don't forget to review this chapter so I know if I should keep writing