&dedicated to: ToraHimeSama (for being the first reviewer of chapter six –and also a faithful reviewer! thank you very much.)

Summary- In the natural scheme of things, the dead stay dead. But in the world of ninjas, nothing's for certain anymore. Sasu/Saku.

&the [standard disclaimer] can be considered *officially* applied.

-

this is
-REFUGE-

-

chapter seven.

-

March 14

Location- Waves

Branches snapped under his feet like twigs. His speed was both sheer power and exhilaratingly effortless. Bark and heartwood tore by her face, breaking off from the trees as Sasuke flew ahead of her. Her eyes gained a thin film while she dazed at the unusual presence of wild and fierce, rushing chakra being manipulated in effective, taming strokes. It was her medical fascination kicking in- his chakra didn't merely flow; it pulsed. It beat like a heart: expanded and receded like inhales and exhales.

Sakura could faintly hear the chakra in his veins and she tried to concentrate on the point where it mostly gathered…

Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha.
-become Hokage!
………………………………-Sakura, look out!
-celebrate over ramen, Kakashi-sensei.
-He will come after me-………….. -… for power…………….
………………………………………..-Sakura, who hurt you?
-this power- …………….- flowing through me-
I wasn't- …………………………………………………..-the one who saved you-
-the power to-…………. -kill a certain man-
………………..-you're worse than Naruto.
-Thank you.
-I need- ……………………..-power.

I love you more than anything!

Sakura felt herself flinch. Stop thinking. She shook her head, pink strands falling in front of her face. The fast moving trees reflected off the glassy surface of her eyes; the picture dully registered.

Abruptly, Sakura's eyebrows drew together in thought; she glanced at Sasuke's back suspiciously. This has all happened way too conveniently. Was he already here? Did he sense someone and came regardless of who it was? And then the farmer showing up at that precise moment. A coincidence, maybe, but what about that place linked them together?

"With the cloaks."

The Akatsuki…

Taking her lip in between her teeth, she bit back a half-hearted laugh. If only Shikamaru were here to help her think. Because Akatsuki… Akatsuki was dead. The bodies had been found and all the members had officially been marked as dead in the bingo books. So who were they then?

And why were they with her?

Almost in response to her thoughts, Sasuke's body swiftly disappeared before her eyes. Startled, Sakura jerked herself down between the trees to the forest floor. She straightened herself up and placed a hand on her right hip. A few yards ahead she saw Sasuke in his very best holier-than-thou pose. Sakura held back a sigh. Had he really always been this mute?

He stood leaning on his left heel with his hands in his pockets- one of the biggest insults you can give a ninja. That she wasn't even worthy enough that he needed his hands. Even though she knew he was doing it to spite her for turning her back to him before, her hands still twitched to prove him wrong (ruefully, she wondered what his facial expression would be if she pounded a crater in front of him) but she settled for glaring at him instead.

Moments passed by and he still hadn't said anything. If anything, he seemed a little… expectant. Huffing under her breath, she snapped at him. Patience never was her virtue, after all. "What do you want, Sasuke?" Matching his intense stare, Sakura waited for a reply, a sentence, a word -anything. If he wanted something from her, she was determined to at least make him vocalize it.

Seconds kept ticking by and her black finger gloves started weighing heavier, reminding her of her other, albeit unnecessary, pleasant option of breaking something in half. Or pieces. Either worked, really.

His face was impossibly blank as he made the slightest part in his lips before finally uttering an answer. "I was there because I had reason to believe that Itachi would be there, but there's not even a trace of his chakra anywhere. So imagine my surprise at finding you instead, in the middle of a lake with dead ninjas floating around you. For the last time, why were you there, Sakura?"

So, he hasn't forgotten how to speak.Defiantly ignoring his serious tone, Sakura chose to keep in mind his earlier comment. "I already answered that when you first asked, and you still haven't told me about that building. What do you know about it?"

Sasuke evenly looked at her with impassive eyes, leaning back as he sighed. He looked over her shoulder again. It looked like he was going to humor her. "The building is rumored to have been an Akatsuki hideout, one used to torture people. It was found collapsed two weeks ago," eyeing her knowingly; his eyes made her feel as if he could see through every cell of her body, seeing what even she couldn't remember.

"Are you sure it was two weeks ago?" She had tried to hide her initial shock, but her mind was racing with dates and facts. Her eyebrows scrunched together. Two weeks ago… Regretfully, she noticed she let her guard slip because something shifted in Sasuke's face; the intensity took on a different tone as his sharp eyes took in every detail of her outline, but he didn't answer.

Who was she kidding? Of course he's positive (damn it). Sakura's mouth set into a nervous line, and she tried not to clench her fists too visibly. "Again, I meant what I said. I don't know why – I – …"

Mentally frustrated at her lack of composure, she took in a sharp breath, collected herself, and answered shortly. "The last day I remember was September 21." She let out a dry, empty laugh and looked down at the melting snow. "It doesn't look like early fall, does it, Sasuke?"

A strong emotion was biting at her stomach, something akin to shame. She felt his eyes pouring over her face, but she refused to look up. What did it matter to him, anyway? She hadn't even seen his stupid arrogant face in three years.Glaring at the snow in front of her, something clicked in the back of her mind, and her eyes fixated on Sasuke's snow covered shoes. Why did that seem-?

-

-

Does that hur- ………………………….-Sa-ku-ra?-
We ca-……………. -make it stop.
……………….-Don't worry,
………………………………………-we'll let you- …-watch it fall.
-just choos- ………………………………….-who'll you-
who will you choose to save?

"Still being stubborn, huh?" His foot slammed into her stomach, and her ripped skin swept across the slick rock in one jerky movement. She forced the groan in the back of her throat down. Glaring at him, she lifted her head and spoke. "Missed me that much, huh, Miroya? Still want to take me up on that challenge?"

His grimy hand reached out and yanked her up by the front of her shirt. "Might want to watch your mouth on that. What if I decide I do want to have a little fun with you?"

Wriggling her hands behind her back to work the chakra binds loose, she titled her head and willed herself to humor him a little longer. "You can try." A slow malicious smile crept onto his lips and he brought her face closer to his. "I do like 'em feisty. Makes it all the more fun to," she felt the sharp crack she heard pounding in her elbow, "break them."

Sakura sucked in a deep breath by reflex, regretting it once the same bind on her neck sliced through a thin layer of her skin. She watched his eyes go vacant as he stared at the winding trail of blood trickling down her collarbone. 'Where do they get these freaks? Sakura thought. His blood's been mutated by something; just at the sight of blood, he loses it.

She strained her neck backwards as his grubby fingers stretched towards the cut on her neck. Rubbing the blood on the tip of his finger, he drew his hand to his mouth, licking the blood off slowly, gently. "It's your lucky day; I think I'm in the mood for that game, now." His eyes still blank, he muttered to himself, somehow forgetting she was even there. "I'm not supposed to ever be in here when I haven't been ordered to, though. They'll be mad." She caught something flash in his face, and he rolled his head to side almost dumbly. "How about getting these clothes out of the way, huh?"

Jerking her face directly in front of his, she spit in his face, and felt him drop her as he roared aloud in rage. Sakura snapped her eyes up to his. His eyes! They were… They were red like the sharingan. Just the tomoes are slanted. What- Her thought was cut short as she rolled on her side, dodging his fist hitting the ground. Wide-eyed, she realized she'd barely dodged it at all. Her nose almost touching the side of his snow-covered shoe, she thought, snow? It was winter? His wild laugh dragged her back to reality, and she pulled herself up. With one swift movement, the binds were thrown across the room, landing in its own pool of barbed wire.

Miroya slowly turned his head in her direction, eyes blazing cadmium red, just a cheap imitation of the real thing. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards erratically, and his body literally started tearing itself apart. His muscles bulged up together and the veins in his arms became visible as they swelled underneath the changing color of his skin. "Have a liking to snow, do you? The boss didn't want anyone letting you know about time, but maybe he wouldn't mind me taking you out to see it." He stalked towards her, and she stood her ground. He had no idea who he was dealing with.

He smugly put his face in hers. "They say freezing to death is a good way to go. Maybe you should consider telling them what they want to hear. You're running out of time, you know."

"Not quite!" she smashed her head into his, hoping to throw him off balance. Even with her strength, though, he was freaking huge! Throwing a fist into his gut, Sakura side-stepped him while aiming a hand at the back of his neck. He slumped to the ground unconscious and she took a single glimpse before running out of the room. "I've been waiting for someone to come and screw up all the security for me. Now, I'm getting the hell out of here." Pulling her hands into stance, she broke the genjutsu placed on the room, opened the door, and made it two steps before slamming straight into-

"And where do you think you're going, Sakura?"

-

-

A slight gasp slid into her mouth as she fought against the remaining feeling in her veins (that crawling sensation in her abdomen, the dullness of her body), trying to shake it off, aware of where she was, who she was in front of. She groaned, oh, not this again. Not now! Sakura glanced up, hoping she wasn't showing everything on her face.

She looked up and saw his sharingan spinning, the tomoes revolving in hypnotic circles. The black and red smeared into each other in harsh lines and regret dawned on her. He had looked… into her mind…? You've got to be kidding me, she thought. Regret was quickly replaced by irritated anger. "Hell, do you have to do that? Ever heard of personal boundaries?"

"I was saving you the trouble of trying to lie," Sasuke replied quickly, using the same tone he always used when he thought something was supposed to be obvious, but she missed the flash of anger that had shot through his eyes right before she had looked up.

Sakura tried her hardest not to scrunch up her face in anger. But anger had been her easiest and safest outlet for years; it was that or loosing control.

"So, what did they want?"

She snapped her head up to his. He was observing her with cool indifference, his sharingan disengaged. "What'd you say?"

Sasuke glanced around and turned away before propping himself down next to a tree. This was going to take a while, wasn't it? "What did the Akatsuki want, Sakura?"

The way she looked lost for words caused his eyebrows to draw together; he shifted his arms and his facial expression became the epitome of boredom. "Don't tell me you've never thought about it."

Sakura frowned. Why would she have? She didn't know until two minutes ago. She covered up her muttering and said, "But you know the Akatsuki were found dead, and yes, but there's nothing they would need from me-" She froze in that thought. It couldn't possibly be-

Not bothering to fully look up, Sasuke calmly leaned his head back against the tree. He looked up at the sky. "Apparently, they're not as dead as you thought. And you've thought of something."

"I – it's not that."

"And because you said that, it is."

Looking down at the ground, Sakura frowned again and made a slight move to say something, but chose to sit down first. Was she really just going to tell him this? She stared to her right and avoided his eyes. She didn't want to look at him. "Well,… there's a jutsu I've been funded to work on. But only the Hokage and the Council know about it."

Annoyance flared up in his face and he cut in, "So it leaked, what is it already?"

Sakura paused a moment before answering, "It was in chakra development. I ...ran across a Sound ninja once, and while I was fighting him, his heart failed and beat itself out of his body, probably from stress, but the heart had solidified chakra fragments in it.

"He must've been experimented on because a mutation probably caused that; but at the same time, chakra has never been truly seen visibly. It's more felt than anything; except some of his was solid. And that means that chakra just lies dormant in the body after a person dies, instead of evaporating into the surrounding nature like we've originally thought for years."

Sakura's eyes flitted to their corners to see if he was following. "And there's been speculation that if someone were able to interfere with another's chakra network and control it, you could heal them with their own chakra, or maybe lend chakra to another person. But if chakra really did stay in the body, then there's a number of things you could be able to do with it. Like gather up amounts of chakra, regardless of whether or not the person was alive, manipulate chakra, or-"

Sasuke's focused gaze slightly unnerved her and she resisted the temptation to fidget. "What else?"

"It's possible someone experienced could use the dormant chakra in a corpse to… revive the body, if it had been preserved? If there hadn't been any damage or severe decay to the body, maybe it could be done. It's common that most people believe that chakra is the 'spark of life' that makes our hearts beat."

His eyebrows twitched in skepticism. "You think you can revive a dead person?"

Sarcasm was dripping off his words and her hands curled into fists. Sakura flushed only a moment before bristling up. "Maybe. There are forms of that jutsu already. And with controlling other's chakra, how would that come in handy?" If he was so smart, he could think of something.

Grunting in impatience, Sasuke snorted out an answer. "You're thinking of Naruto. That if the Akatsuki had that jutsu, they wouldn't even have to extract the Nine Tails; they could just manipulate both Naruto's and the Nine Tail's chakra. That way, there's no risk of the chakra doing any damage to their bodies. Any and all of it would be directed at Naruto."

Sighing shortly, she ended that part of the conversation, dreading the effects it'd have on Naruto. "Exactly. It'd come in handy anyway, but on a larger scale, that could happen."

Suddenly studying her facial expressions carefully, he asked, "What about reviving someone? Who could they want to revive?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "The dead members of the Akatsuki? But I don't think they'd go to so much trouble just to do that. And… I'm sure you noticed the man's eyes when you…"

Sasuke's stare sharpened. "Yeah?"

"We're both assuming that that was the collapsed Akatsuki hideout, so why did the man's eyes look like the Sharingan? Itachi is still in the Akatsuki; why would they mutate someone to get an imitation if they have the real thing?"

Sasuke held her questioning look, but chose not to give an answer. He knew Kabuto had specialized in copying the special traits of his victims. Could he be experimenting on Sound ninjas in an Akatsuki hideout? But why would the Akatsuki- Sasuke mentally sighed. Kabuto was the one who probably helped the Akatsuki stage their deaths. "So basically you can resurrect the dead people and control everyone's chakra?"

She leaned back on her palms and huffed. Hesitating a moment, Sakura noted, "Not really. Like all good things, it's only theoretical. Or useless, if you prefer."

His expression made her want to slap it off. "You mean you can't?"

She glared evenly and replied with a clipped tone, "Yeah, I mean I can't. It's unethical; I've never tried it. Again, theoretically, I know how. And this is all assuming anyone knew about it in the first place."

Casting a clearly doubtful look her way, Sasuke said matter-of-factly, "Someone leaked information, Sakura. What else could they possibly have wanted?" He stood up, gathering his sword and headed eastward.

Frowning, Sakura had the sinking suspicion that he just expected her to follow again. "Now what?" She had the strange feeling of déjà vu when he glanced over his shoulder at her and answered, "You have nothing else to do, and you're closer to finding out what you want to know with me."

So damn arrogant as always, Sasuke. Pulling herself up, she brushed herself off and adjusted her gloves. "That's not why; it's too generous for it to be your reason. So what do you actually want, Sasuke?"

Sakura caught a flicker of a smirk cross his face. He made a sound similar to a laugh and spoke. "You're of use to me. You're a medic, and you can guess why that's important to me."

The hell she would. Sakura felt her blood pressure rise. "I'm sure you can find someone else, Sasuke. I'm not interested. I've never been worth your time before, so you'll be fine without me now." And if he thought that all she could do was medical techniques, he was in for a surprise. One of these days, Sakura thought, she'd kick his ass all the way to Sand. As she whirled around to walk off (walk away from Sasuke of all people), self-satisfaction practically leaked out of her every pore. Right until she walked straight into his chest, anyway. His very hard chest. So hard that she wanted to rub her nose from the impact. In other circumstances, she might've laughed at that, but she was getting a little tired of his speed. And height.

Sasuke gripped her shoulders and looked straight down at her. "You're of use now. That's what matters to me, and you can't stand here and say you've been doing anything remotely important since you've become a missing ninja. You're angry I'm right, Sakura."

She let a low growl out the back of her throat. Because he was right; she would be better off with him. "Fine," she bit out, thinking that this was all too alike to last time for her taste.

Smugness was written all over his face. "Good." And he jumped back into the heavy trees with Sakura just behind.

a/n.
-the 60th reviewer gets the next chapter dedicated to them-
SHAMELESS ADVERTISER WARNING! One shot, woo! It's called "Out of the Corner of His Eye". It's cute. Go read. -wink-

revised 2.07.09 (yay.)