Hi people, I am terribly, terribly sorry that I've been missing for more than a year!

I know most of you lost hope that this story would continue, but here I am, alive and kicking!

About the competition, I realised that I didn't give an email, and pm being one of the only ways to reach me besides reviews, well that explains the impossible doesn't it!

Competitions off! Actually I just guessed that nobody bothered to write haha.

It's been a busy year, I have major exams coming up but then one of you PM-ed me, and it got me thinking recently.

Actually I had the chapter all written, it just needed a few tweaks. But being away from fanfiction so long, they deleted the document (you know the whole it lasts for 60 days thing?!)

Yeah it's annoying and this chapter is different from what I originally wrote. Hope it turns out fine though!
I've had some pretty faithful reviewers this whole time, some including elemental-heiress and Kur-Kag88 and so on and so forth.
I thank you really, for being nice and reviewing every single chapter I've written. It's provided me some incentive to write, and I hope to never disappoint you with my stories despite hiatus-ing for over a year!

Do continue to review, it does make the writer feel great really.

Special thanks to shkh4ever.

I owe you much!

Enjoy the story!

Some women loved talking. They really do. But on missions like these, when silence was absolutely necessary, Sakura felt the urge to talk. However, not so much in this case, when she was stuck with him.

"..."

"..."

"-cough-" Sakura couldn't help but break the silence. It was a fake cough really, but she was doing something to alleviate the unusual tension. But she didn't think it would do the exact opposite of her intentions.

"Why?" Her insides coiled unbelievably tight at the question, the emotionless voice held a deep meaning within them, something along hurt, confusion. She bit back any words she was going to say, she felt it better to hear him talk about it. If he was going to. She feared an impending quarrel was evident before they would be able to complete the mission.

"You just, left! Shoved me out of the damn room and hysterically cried your eyes out! How about me?! Have you ever, ever thought about me!"

"What?! Of course I did! You think I was blessed with brains for nothing! I had my reasons!"

"Reasons?!" Kakashi nearly roared into the radio. However he was reminded by Sakura to keep his volume down when she shoved him rather violently with her hand. He stole a glance at her and noticed she bore an irritated look.

"Reasons is your excuse? It better not be selfish ones!"

"Shut the hell up you creepy son of a bitch!" Sakura snapped at him. At this point Kakashi fell absolutely silent.

"You continued to rant on, and for two whole months you actually believed I was so selfish to call this relationship off for my own selfish reasons?! You imbecile!"

"If you weren't being so selfish about this, then tell me! Why the heck did you do what you did!" Kakashi was at the end of his wits. He was near ready to just pin her to the wall, and shake her out of oblivion!

"I... I..."

"You what!"

"Orochimaru." Kakashi bluntly looked in front of him, only to find complete darkness. He frowned at her words, and no sooner than a moment did he finally realise what she meant. 'Have I really been so stupid?' he thought.

Sakura meanwhile had her own battle to fight. Inner battle. Biting her lips, she held back tears that were threatening to spill. It was not that she wanted to call it off then just because of it. She had given it some thought. And she knew it was best, if Orochimaru found out that she no longer held Kakashi dear to her heart. Truth was, she still did. But she let people believe she had truly dumped Kakashi for her own selfish reasons, and that she no longer cared for him. Oh, she knew he still did. He tried talking to her, trying to get her back. With cut dog soft toys, her favorite dango, all at her doorstep. But she ignored it, and he nearly lost all hope, but eventually thought it was best for himself that he let it go. Since then he tried dating the women, but no matter how vivacious they were, how beautiful they all were, no matter how much brain they possessed or how skilful they were at the ways of the ninja, none of them appealed to him. Absolutely none, and he only wanted Sakura back. When he kissed other women, Sakura filled his thoughts, not the beautiful, or smart women before him. He had only Sakura in his thoughts, and to him it seemed impossible to ever possibly let her go.

"Look. It's not the time to discuss this. Let's just get the mission over and done with. However, thank you for the plushies and dango you've been trying to give to me." Sakura said impassively.

"You didn't even eat the dango, or take the plushies."

"I know," she said guiltily.

"..." He did not digress further as to what he did with the dango or plushies. Of course food couldn't be kept. He had to throw it away. The plushies however he kept, hoping to keep it as long as he lived.

"Sakura, it's not too late to-"

"No Kakashi. It's over. You and me, we cannot be."

The silence that ensued was painful. For both. Though Sakura would never admit to him. As he would never admit to her. They were both hurt, hurt by Sakura's decision to call it off. She was hurt because as much as she wanted to be with Kakashi, to care for him all over again. But she could not, because it seemed that they were simply never meant to be. Kakashi was aching, his heart ached like never before. It clenched so tightly, as if urging to burst. He unconciously held a hand to his heart, as if that action would do any good in soothing his broken heart. He let his hand drop and focused on getting the mission done. Eyes hardened in resolve, and he silently swore, he would never get close to any girl ever again.

"I heard something!" Naruto's voiced crackled over the earphones. It suddenly dawned upon both Sakura and Kakashi that while they were busy argue-ing, they had completely forgotten to turn their radio off, and in not doing so, Shikamaru and Naruto had heard their entire conversation.

"Wh-where?" Sakura said. Her stuttering only heightened the tension between both of them.

"I'm not sure, we're checking it out, it seemed to be coming from one of the rooms. Shikamaru and I are at the dungeons, the ANBU member is most likely there."

"He is there, Naruto" Shikamaru said. Luckily Shikamaru's brains made up for Naruto's lack of one, and Naruto chuckled lightly into the radio.

"Come back to our original meeting place, go to the direction we were in, at the second stairwell descend there, we'll meet you at the bottom. Make haste, we do not know if Orochimaru or any of his men knows of us yet." Immediately, Kakashi turned around, not caring if Sakura followed or not. He was determined to get this over and done with, and he sped up, occasionally looking back to see if Sakura was still there or not.

Once they had reached the stairwell, he gestured her to descend first, and followed after her. As they ventured deeper down the staircase, distant sounds were getting louder, and louder, and it was evident the dungeons were also used for torturing as agonised screams echoed through. True enough, Naruto and Shikamaru were waiting for them, and once they reached the ground, they set off to find the missing ANBU member.

As Naruto had mastered his shado clone jutsu to the level such that he was able to multiply and alter the appearance of his clones, he multipled into a few and altered them into snakes. He set them out in different directions so as to speed up their search, and then he nodded to the rest of the team. They all set out to check different rooms and no sooner had they begun their search when one of Naruto's clones reported back to him.

"We found him!" Naruto excitedly said, thrusting his fist into the air. Naruto led the way to the ANBU member's location and lucky for them, the ANBU member was still alive, though slightly dehydrated and spotting a few wounds, possibly from a fight. Kakashi carried him over his shoulders and they all set off to get out of Orochimaru's lair.

Unfortunately for them, Orochimaru had already known they were there the moment they entered his lair. With eyes dangerously glistening in the light the flame torches on his wall provided, he smiled, a dangerous smile.

His prey had fallen right into his hands.

There. You. Go.

READ AND REVIEW, I know it's not that fantastic of a chapter, but I can still make ammends with the reviews you give!

Many thanks!