Sasuke had never been more grateful for Gaara's silence. Although it was true that his partner had kept quiet over a number of other matters. There had been the brief conversations and comments that said to anyone else would have had Sasuke reassigned on a mission that was simply an effective way to sign his death warrant and claim that it was such a shame that a promising young ANBU agent died on such a mission to anyone that may think to ask. Not that it would have made much of a difference to Sasuke as he doubted if Itachi would have care much for him beyond the shame Sasuke's treason would have brought.

But now, as he walked away from the piles of ash that was all that remained of the ROOT operatives, Sasuke had always been good with fire and knew enough to be able to get it hot enough to burn through a human. Now, walking out of the woods to see Gaara waiting for him, Sasuke was suddenly glad that it was Gaara of all people that he had been assigned to, a man who was either callous enough to disregard those two as comrades or was happy enough with Sasuke as a partner to not turn him in. Sasuke wasn't too sure which one it was, part of him like to think that after everything, especially after the meeting with Kurenai, it was the latter.

Sasuke knew that the day in Kurenai's house that things were changing. When both their emotions had been running high enough to shout out things they both would regret later. At least Sasuke did moment after he had said it he wished he could take it back.

It wasn't just because it was the wrong thing to say as ANBU Sasuke wasn't bothered about that. But it was because he didn't want Gaara to see how scared he was sometimes, that he hated to kill people, because sometimes all he could see was his family in their places. He had spent months proving himself as a decent partner and now Gaara knew almost everything and could turn him in at any time. And now Sasuke was depending on Gaara's silence to keep him alive and he hated feeling powerless, unsure whether he could completely trust Gaara or not when part of him wished he could after everything that had happened between the two of them.

"Is it all done?" Gaara asked calmly and Sasuke nodded. "Good, we should leave this place." He continued brusquely.

"If you want to" Sasuke said blankly and Gaara game him a strange look.

"Whether we want to or not, we need to move. Once someone realises that those two ROOT agents are missing then they'll send another team to come looking for them. We're won't get anywhere with that necklace anymore especially after people heard that girl screaming last night-"

"Sakura" Sasuke said mildly.

"What?"

"She said her name was Sakura."

"Fine," Gaara said with an overly exaggerated air of patience. "We won't get any information, they'll close ranks and just refuse to talk to us. We won't find out anymore about that necklace or Asuma so we need to find something new to say we've been doing these past few months and whatever we say we can't admit to being anywhere near here."

"I know," Sasuke said defiantly, he didn't like that Gaara felt the need to spell all this out to him as if he was a child, or new to ANBU all together.

"Either way we need a new plan, a decent one this time with no room for whatever it was that came over you here." Sasuke bristled slightly but Gaara ignored it. "For now maybe we should just keep our heads down and pretend to work." Sasuke arched one eyebrow.

"Did you just say pretend?"

"What? Do you want to start hunting down Resistance members with me again because I didn't think you'd be open to that right now, it doesn't matter to me either way what we do."

"We can't pretend forever" Sasuke said, "sooner or later they'll realise that we're not performing to our usual standard and we'll be questioned about it." They both paused slightly. They knew it wouldn't just be questions they'd both face a full scale interrogation and might not make it out of there the same way they went in. And that was if they came out at all. "I won't ruin this for you, you used to do well before me-"

"We're still doing well" Gaara interrupted.

"No we're not." Sasuke said "I just killed our allies, I've lied to you for so long and we sat down for dinner with a Resistance member. None of that is your fault it's all on me and at this rate I'm just going to drag you down with me."

"I never like ROOT anyway." Gaara said, almost thoughtfully. "They spend far too much time sneaking around manipulating people into doing whatever they want." He gave Sasuke a sharp look "I won't turn you in."

"Then what else is there?" Sasuke said and he clenched his fists tightly by his sides before saying the one thing he really wanted to, the thing that had been lurking at the back of his mind for a long time it seemed. And besides, he might as well go all in and see what Gaara did so he continued. "Because I don't feel like I can do this anymore."

Sakura woke up in pain, but surprisingly it wasn't too bad, just a dull ache in all her wounds and stiff limbs.

"You're awake" She looked round and saw Tsunade sitting by the bed.

"What-?" Sakura started and then she sat up quickly. "Those two were-"

"Sakura you need to rest" Tsunade cut in gently. "You've been through a lot and you need to get your strength back." Sakura nodded slowly and allowed Tsunade to ease her back so she was lying down again. The man who rescued her flashed momentarily through her thoughts. He had said she must know why those ROOT operatives had targeted her, why they though she was under some protection but right now she still couldn't think of anything. Except, she realised as she drifted off again, no one hurried towards and ANBU interrogation. Surely it was common practise to look the other way, to close the shutters and pretend you never heard or saw anything. Shizune and Tsunade had come out to get her and Shizune hadn't been surprised to see the state she was in. Had they been trying to rescue her or was that wishful thinking. And if it wasn't then why?

She couldn't think, couldn't consider whether there was some darker purpose to all of this. That Tsunade and Shizune were part of something much deeper instead of just being the head of the village and her assistant and above all Sakura's teachers and friends. People she had come to depend on even more now Naruto had vanished.

Then Sakura remembered something that comforted her as she drifted off into blackness again. They had said that someone had left probably to join the Resistance. Naruto hadn't been taken away and he was stubborn enough to probably still be alive. She might not ever see him again but even if he had left her she hoped he was doing what felt right to him. That he had found a way to do good in a much grander scale than he could ever do if he stayed in Konoha.

And with that final thought Sakura welcomed the blackness.

"So what do you suggest?" Gaara asked sombrely. "It's not like you can just quit or walk away?" Sasuke shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know." He gave Gaara a tight smile. "Any suggestions?"

"Death." Gaara said without hesitation, "the only way out for you is to die." Sasuke felt himself tense up at Gaara's words but did his best to show no visible signs of his unease.

"I never thought you were the dramatic type" Sasuke said calmly.

"It makes sense," Gaara continued. "If you try to run they'll only hunt you down and they won't give up and they'll send team after team after you until you're confirmed death or imprisoned. You said you didn't think you'd be able to fake this job for long so what other option is there except to make them think we're dead."

Sasuke looked up sharply. There were two things of interest in that statement, the first was obviously that Gaara wasn't planning to try and execute a mercy killing here if the goal was to only make the ANBU commanders think they were dead. But it was the second thing that Sasuke latched onto first, it seemed the most manageable one for now.

"We're?"Sasuke said eventually.

"You think I'd leave my partner even now?" Gaara asked and Sasuke's mind reeled, was Gaara actually hurt that he'd consider doing it without him? And then he realised that after all the lines they'd crossed together. All the comments all the things they'd let slide with each other and those things they'd seen other people do in the towns and cities they'd passed through that were technically illegal. They had all bonded them together in a way that had become a pretty solid friendship without either of them knowing or actively seeking it out. That night at Kurenai's had proved that and even now Gaara was willing to destroy the good career in ANBU he had been forging for himself for Sasuke.

"But you don't mind what we do, you're not like me" Sasuke exclaimed.

"I've never known anything else so of course I'm fine with it." Gaara shrugged. "I've been used as a tool my entire life and the only time people have seemed to care about me was when I was with you of all people, the bastard that managed to beat me in a fight and end my flawless record." Sasuke grimaced slightly, apparently that was still a sore point, "and that night with that woman, Kurenai, someone who freely told us she was once part of the Resistance showed me more kindness than my own people. Even I know there's something not right there.

"Besides" Gaara continues almost happily, "If I let you walk away now I'll never be able to even the score and beat you in a fight, and next time, I promise you you'll be the one walking away with bandages on." And with that final threat suddenly everything seemed a lot more right. Tender moments with Gaara were always few and far between and Sasuke was happier with it that way, it made them both uncomfortable.

"And survival will be more likely with someone to watch my back." Sasuke said and it was the closest he would go to a 'thank you' or an 'I'll be happy to have you with me' and they both knew it. Gaara nodded solemnly. "We'll need something good, if we're going to be presented as dead. There'll have to be actual bodies."

"I know" Gaara said simply, "And we'll have to make sure they can't be recognised if we want to be considered among them." Sasuke nodded slowly.

"At least that's one good thing about ANBU" He said dryly. "We all have to carry I.D. to identify ourselves to others."
"Well then," Gaara said and he motioned to Sasuke to leave. Sasuke still hesitated.

"Are you sure?" He felt compelled to ask and Gaara gave him a quizzical look.

"Am I sure I want to leave here? Yes, it won't do us any good being found near some remains no matter how well you've cremated them."

"You know that's not what I meant." Sasuke said. "Are you sure you want to throw everything away for what? Someone you admittedly don't know that well?"

"What's the alternative? I let you beat me unconscious and then we go separately on our merry way? You think they'd let that happen?"

"You can't turn your back on everything for something you're not sure about." Sasuke said firmly.

"And you're sure about this are you?" Gaara said almost incredulously. "You want to be hunted down for the rest of your life, hated by everyone for first hunting this so-called Resistance and then walking out on ANBU neither of those two sides can help you and it's not like any civilians would be anyway helpful to you. And you're leaving on a whim?" Sasuke swallowed, he had to admit Gaara was painting a bleak picture.

"It's not a whim." He continued doggedly. "It's something I've always thought. I've never liked this, not like you, I just can't pretend that everything's okay anymore." Gaara clenched his fist.

"The only reason I can do this is because I've never known anything else. At least you know you had a family whatever it might be costing you. If you leave me behind I'll be the one assigned to hunting you because I know how you work and how you think. I might not know much else about you but I do know those things, and then what, we'll be forced to go against each other until one of us wins and I already told you I'm not planning on losing my next fight to you." Gaara said firmly. "And I don't want to have to fight you that way when you're the only person I have in my life. Whatever they say about teamwork and ANBU -" Gaara shook his head slightly "You're the only comrade I have." He added firmly.

Sasuke briefly wondered if Gaara was deliberately manipulating him so he'd have no choice to go together. But then, he reflected, there would be no point to that because there was no real benefit to Gaara leaving the only thing familiar to him to be stuck running from everyone with no one to trust of turn to for help except each other. It wasn't that Gaara was much of a social butterfly, in fact his social interactions bordered more towards hermit than anything else but this kind of isolation was something else completely.

Sasuke chuckled slightly.

"You just said you'd commit treason for me I'd say we were more than just comrades." He said dryly.

"What then?" Gaara said.

"After everything?" Sasuke said thoughtfully, "Friends I guess."

It was a strange word to the both of them but it seemed to work.

When Sakura woke up again it was dark and this time it was Shizune next to her.

"You did well." Shizune said softly when she realised Sakura was awake. And this time Sakura was allowed to sit up as well even though she still winced slightly when she did it the pain that seemed to be in all her limbs was less acute this time.

"I didn't do anything." Sakura protested weakly, she had wanted it to come out stronger than that but she just sounded bitter.

"You survived Sakura, that's all that matters." Shizune said kindly.

"But it doesn't feel that way." Sakura said despondently.

"Sakura as long as you didn't give into them then you did well, you won." Shizune said encouragingly.

"That's just it. I didn't win anything, they would have killed me if no one interfered." She clenched her fists in her lap. Shizune frowned.

"They?" She asked. "Sakura there was only one person there and they vanished once they had an audience." Sakura shook her head, tears prickling the corners of her eyes.

"That person never hurt me" Sakura said looking down at the bandages covering her arms, "he stopped two ANBU agents from hurting me." Shizune laid a hand over her arm carefully.

"Are you sure?" She asked carefully. "Maybe you wanted to believe that something happened like that so you don't-"

"It happened." Sakura interrupted. "I didn't make it up. He called them ROOT members. Could I have invented something like that?" Her chin stuck out stubbornly and Shizune gave her a small smile.

"I suppose not." She agreed. "You should get some rest." She added after a moments silence and Sakura lay down again, closing her eyes and turning away from Shizune but she didn't fall asleep.

Instead she listened as Shizune got up quietly and left the room, then she heard voices.

"How is she?" Tsunade asked.

"As well as can be expected" Shizune answered, "She'll recover from this in time and there won't be a mark on her. Not one you can see anyway."

"What was that last bit about?" Tsunade asked and Sakura realised that she had been listening in to her conversation with Shizune.

"That's what's worrying me." Shizune said. "She said someone saved her."

"You think she's imagining things?" Sakura stiffened at that, she knew it was close to impossible for a benevolent stranger to protect her from ANBU but she wasn't stupid enough to try and invent someone to make herself feel better. She thought she'd convinced Shizune of that but she supposed here she'd get her real answer as to whether Shizune had just been humouring her or not. The answer was surprising in more than one way.

"No, that's what worries me." Shizune sighed. "She mentioned ROOT and no one here's ever heard of them before. She must have got it from somewhere and I don't think ROOT agents are in the habit of announcing their division in ANBU."

"No they always were a secretive bunch." Tsunade said and Sakura was surprised at the venom in her words.

"Which means" Shizune continued, "That there was someone else here, someone no one noticed who fought on par and maybe even beat ROOT and then they what vanished?" He voice rose slightly at the end of that and Tsunade made a sharp hushing noise.

"What would someone like that want with Sakura?" Tsunade asked finally.

"I don't know it's not like she knows anything" Shizune muttered and at this Sakura started straining her ears, maybe this was what that man had been talking about was there a reason she had been targeted, why those ROOT members thought she was being protected?

"Unless it wasn't about her" Shizune continued, "Maybe it was about you, because she's your apprentice and they found out-"

"No" Tsunade cut her off. "We've been too careful for that and we're not moving again, we've been here for years and I won't leave these people."

"They must have thought she knew something." Shizune insisted.

"Then we'll ask her."

"What?"

"Not like that, we'll just ask Sakura what they said to her." Tsunade elaborate and then she made a thoughtful noise "and maybe about whoever supposedly rescued her and see if we can figure out what their agenda was too."

There were footsteps as they moved away and Sakura frowned. Her mind working furiously it looked there was more going on than she originally thought in her sleepy little village. Although they knew that not everyone was as they seemed, it was something everyone learnt young, that anyone could be ANBU or an informant, anyone could be the reason you were taken away with no moment's notice and to watch what you say.

But now it looked like everyone had a hidden agenda; Naruto had left mysteriously to join the Resistance and had maybe even met them before that, neither Tsunade or Shizune were what they had seemed to be the past ten years of Sakura's life. That team from ANBU had thought she knew something but now Sakura realised that she knew very little about anything and was she so stupid to think that maybe the man who had so ruthlessly killed that ANBU team was the only person that had been completely honest with her for a while.

Sakura's world had turned on its head and she hated it.