Sakura was breathing hard. She had been running for atleast five hours. Now, it was well into the night and it had begun to drizzle rain.

Don't rain! thought Sakura. If it begins to puddle, I'm going to be making much more noise than I should be.

Sakura at this point was practically incoherent. The nonstop running had brought her to the brink of insanity. She did not want to stop for fear of being caught. Deciding that the best alternative was to return to Konoha, Sakura cut north until she reached the inner coast of the penninsula and was using it as a guide to get herself back.

The drizzling slowly dampened her hair, her arms were wet and cold. Sneezing, Sakura sucked it up and trudged on.

Continuing for about another half hour, Sakura had finally reached her breaking point. Stopping in the middle of the forest, she put her hands on her knees and gasped for air. The long distance running combined with her semi-sprint left her nauseas. Sakura placed her hand on a tree as she hunched over and nearly vomited.

Suddenly she stopped. Slowing her breath almost to complete silence, she found that there wasn't any noise coming from behind her. She could feel someone's presence.

Stepping backward, Sakura clenched her fists ready to attack. However, nothing happened.

As she stood there silently waiting, the threat of someone's presence was nevertheless, still there, and though it creeped her out, she did not lose her cool.

Slowly turning her feet to continue on, Sakura's eyes were narrowed and focused in the direction that she had come. That's when she realized that there was someone bringing up the rear, and fast.

Sakura began to sprint as fast as she could. She knew in her heart without a single doubt, it was Sasuke.

As she sprinted through the trees, she did her best to keep quiet. However, she knew that once he got any closer, he'd know exactly where she was.

Sakura was still winded from the previous run, and it only took five minutes for her to realize that she was slowing down.

Shit, she thought. My only option is to turn and fight.

As she was right about to do so, a hand reached out from behind a tree as she passed and slapped itself hard on her mouth, followed by the other hand wrapping around her stomach to pull her in.

Falling backward, Sakura was pulled down into someone's lap. As she grabbed at the hand over her face, she noticed that it had a ring.

"Don't move..." whispered a voice beside her ear. "...I can't fight him and protect you at the same time."

Stopping, she realized that Sasuke would have done much more than just silence her. As Sakura's eyes made their way down, she saw something that made her heart stop.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the coat the person was wearing was black with a bit of red on one spot. Sakura tilted her head so that she could get a better look. Moving her leg so that she could see what was on the jacket, she found that it was a red cloud.

Sakura stopped breathing. Feeling the hand that was held over her mouth, she began to recognize the contours of it. It was Itachi.

Softening her posture, Sakura shut her eyes.

Saved...she thought.

Relaxing, Sakura entrusted herself to him. Just as she did so, she heard footsteps.

Itachi turned his head slightly to peer around the tree. He could see that Sasuke had stopped a short distance away from them.

Sasuke waited there, listening to the trees around him. He had been reading the wind and could no longer tell which way Sakura had went, due to the fact that the wind was now rushing through the trees undisturbed by her movements. Sasuke closed his eyes. He could smell the remnance of her shampooed hair. Opening his eyes, he took off again, passing Itachi and Sakura by a few yards.

After a minute, Itachi released his hand from Sakura's mouth. However, Sakura did not get up.

Being too nervous, Sakura did not want to turn and face the person that she had missed for so long. She was too scared. Itachi, realizing that her breathing had changed, knew what it was that bothered her. Looking back and forth, Itachi decided it was time to move.

"Get up," he said.

Sakura's heart dropped. The coldness in his voice shocked her. Getting to her feet, Sakura still did not look at him as he stood up.

Itachi grabbed her wrist and began pulling her back towards the south side of the penninsula. Not once did he look back at her.

Suddenly Sakura felt so foolish. She could not believe how cold he was, and realized what a waste it was for her to have brooded over his absence. After all that had happened between them, this is what their relationship was reduced to.

He didn't even ask if I was okay...she thought, staring at the ground as they went.

Sakura was trying really hard not to drag, but her depression took over her stream of conciousness. Itachi began to notice.

Giving a tug, Itachi woke her back to reality. What it also did though, was bring Sakura to the realization that perhaps this is not the best time to be sulking. So, trying her best to leave those thoughts for another time, she stared at Itachi's back as they made their way to the opposite coast.