Author's note:

Hello there! Thanks for the great feedback, you guys are awesome! I hope you enjoy this chapter too. Please, leave me a review with your opinion, it helps me a lot.

Thanks to Yui Himura for being a fabulous beta reader :)

And hey, I'm loving Naruto Gaiden. Sarada is already my favorite character, she's so well designed and created. And the plot is so great, like so many questions and mystery...! I'm glad that the good ol' Kishi is back. I feel like in the early Naruto days, anxiously waiting for the manga!

Naruto is drinking sake with Sasuke on one side of the table. The blond young man cannot stop grinning at the young geishas he hired while the girls play with his hair and compliment his hard body.

"You know, Jiraiya-sensei warned me about this." He says solemnly but he suddenly bursts into laughter. "But he sure taught me well on how to have fun!"

Sasuke takes another sip of his sake, slowly and carefully. The alcohol has clouded his mind a little bit and so he tries to steady his thoughts. He has already talked to Naruto about the plan. Making this reunion too serious would raise suspicious looks around them. Aren't they young men having fun? He hates having girls around him and he is glad that they stopped bothering him long ago. "This is going just fine." No one has discovered the true nature of their meeting, and that relaxes him. However, everything is going too smooth.

"I leave now, Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san." The white eyed man says and lifts up from his cushion.

"But Hyuuga-kun!" One of the young geishas near Naruto pouts. "It is still early!"

Hyuuga Neji ignores the girl and nods to the blond and the dark haired men before leaving. His bodyguard, a brunette young woman follows after him. Sasuke is glad that Naruto took Neji as an ally. He comes from the Hyuuga clan, the royal family, but he is not from the main branch, so he would not make anyone suspicious. Neji is a powerful shinobi, and Sasuke acknowledges him as a crucial aid for their plan. However, he does not understand why such a powerful man would take a woman as a bodyguard. She has a cute face and her hair is braided into two buns. Put her into a yukata and she would look as innocent as any other young woman.

"Sasuke-san, would you like me to pour more sake into your cup?" A sweet voice wakes him up from his thoughts.

Sakura is looking at him like a little kitten would look at his master. Her apple green eyes are beautiful, Sasuke thinks, just like her pink hair. "I want to see her face without makeup."

"Hn." He nods, adverting his gaze. He cannot afford to have any feelings for her.

She delicatedly complies and then she sits down next to him again like she has done all night. Sakura has laughed softly at Naruto's bad jokes. Sakura has talked respectfully to Neji. Sakura has not tried to interfere into the previous secret conversation between the young men. Sakura has not tried to compete with the other two geishas. Sakura has been perfect. So perfect that she does not even look like a young girl, she does not even look human. She looks like a manufactured doll. And Sasuke cannot understand it. She was so lively before...

"Is there anything wrong, Sasuke-san?" His geisha asks him.

His geisha. He almost chokes at this thought but he manages to keep his stoic expression.

"No."

"Alright." She complies softly.

"Oi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto suddenly calls her and Sakura smiles sweetly at him.

"Yes, Naruto-san?"

"Sing something to us, c'mon!" He says. "I love listening to you!"

"Oh but Naruto-kun!" One of the geishas complains, jealousy taking over her face.

"We're having fun just the three of us!" The another geisha pouts.

"I would have to ask my danna for permission." Sakura says and the she looks over Sasuke.

He feels his ears getting red whe he hears "my danna" but he nods sternly.

"He said yes, Sakura-chan! Sing something please!" Naruto grins at her.

The moment she grabs the ivory bacchi is when he realises something is really wrong. Her shoulders stiffen, her brows show the slightest frown, her legs tremble for a second. Sasuke quickly stands up and slides the bamboo door to the cramped ryoriten's hallway.

"Sakura, sing for Naruto." He says without looking back at her but he feels that his geisha has understood his words. "I will be back in a minute."

When he reaches the back door, everything happens so fast. He pulls out his Kusanagi when a shadow tries to stab his ribs with a kunai. Sasuke activates his sharingan and smirks. He is an Uchiha after all. No one can fool an Uchiha.

The man in the shadows dodges his sword and blocks his attacks swiftly. Sasuke cannot use any jutsu since it would alert the rest of the ryoriten, so he tries to attack as silently as he can. His opponent is fast and he is a well trained shinobi.

"How much time have you been waiting for us?" Sasuke says.

The man finally comes out from the shadows, still out of his reach. He is wearing a racoon-like mask and a black ninja uniform. His hair is hidden by a hood. Sasuke cannot recognise him.

"I am just following orders from the person that paid me to do so." He says with a deep, male voice.

Sasuke gets into a combat position, pointing his Kusanagi at him. His eyebrows frown dangerously.

"What is your job here?"

"My job?" He laughs sarcastically. "I just need to lure you from her side."

Naruto tells her to stay out of danger and hurries out of the room after summoning a Kage Bunshin to fight alongside Sasuke. The two young geishas scream and escape as fast as they can. And maybe she should have done the same, but she cannot, because Sasuke is still there and she has to protect him.

Sakura gets her chakra ready and dodges the first man that lunges at her before punching him hard on his chest. He does not get up after her hit so she decides to move on. She cuts her kimono open with a kunai so she can run out of the room following Sasuke's chakra signature. "I need to find him."

Several masked men try to attack her again but she dodges every single hit. Sakura punches the wall and brings it to the ground, burying her opponents in a pile of rocks. She did not want to destroy the ryoriten but there is no other way to avoid fighting at all costs. Her chakra needs to be saved in case she has to heal someone.

"How did they find out about this meeting?" It all went out so smoothly... But she does not care anymore. She really does not care if anyone recognises her as a kunoichi, because now the geisha is long forgotten. Now she is using her fists, her chakra scalpels, everything she has. She is not only the Nightingale.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's voice screams behind her. His face is full of anger and worry and something Sakura cannot actually tell. "Get out of here!"

It startles her, watching her danna so different from his stoic self, and she does not really know what to do. She only hears women screaming, katanas clashing, people running. A group of ninjas is ambushing this old, ugly ryoriten, killing innocent people and disturbing the peace that she only wants to protect. And there is Sakura, a little, pink haired girl wearing a broken kimono. Tsunade-sama ordered her not to reveal her identity. She should run to the okiya, and let Sasuke fight for her, but is that what she wants? Does she still want to be that starved, sad girl surrounded by burning houses again?

Chidori!

Sasuke stabs a masked man that tries to attack her.

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!

Sasuke burns a masked man that tries to hit her.

And Sakura watches him. She watches his precious katana slicing every men trying to harm her. There is blood everywhere. There is dead people everywhere. There is war everywhere. "Am I going crazy?"

But she then sees what Sasuke does not see.

Move.

A masked man is behind him, a poisoned kunai in his hand.

Move!

Sakura knows it is poisoned beacuse of the almost invisible green glow. And Sasuke has not noticed him.

Goddamnit, move!

She has no choice. She has to blow up her cover.

Now!

Sakura gathers chakra into her right fist and then she moves fast, so fast that the masked man cannot dodge her. And she pummels him to the ground. She knows he is dead from the impact, his bones broken because of her strength, but the only thing that matters to her are Sasuke's widened eyes after she fights three more masked men. Sakura knows that Sasuke is watching. This petite, pink haired, innocent girl. Her kimono is dirty with dust. Her delicate hands are soaked in blood. Her perfect bun is totally messed up. Her makeup is ruined because of the sweat. She is surrounded by dead men, all of them murdered by her own hands. And somehow, that suddenly disgusts her to the maximum. Is she a geisha or a kunoichi?

Sasuke suddenly opens his mouth.

"Who are you?"

"Do not move, please." She whispers.

The green glow engulfs her small hands and the scratches on his skin start to fade away. When Sakura fainted after fighting four men, Sasuke took her to an abandoned farmhouse far away from the ryoriten. Once he knew they were safe there, he tried to wake her up and she is now healing him, even if he does not need it.

"You are fine now." She whispers again before sitting on the dusty floor.

Sasuke does not know what to think about her anymore. He just watches how she tries to clean herself with the fabric of her kimono. This beautiful girl killed four men. This perfect geisha -his geisha- fought like a true shinobi and healed his wounds. Is she the same girl he met when they were little?

"About what you saw before..." She manages to say even if he knows that she is trying not to cry.

"Do not worry." He mutters while looking through the window.

The moonlight bathes the room and Sasuke enjoys the silence for a moment. Will their plan change now that he knows Sakura is not only a geisha? Will she agree to help them overthrow his uncle Madara and build a peaceful shinobi world?

"Do you remember me?" Sakura suddenly says and Sasuke turns his head to look at her.

She is just as messy, dirty and broken as the day he met her in that burning village. The corpses of her parents were her improvised bed. Of course she accepted his food and his clothes. She was too scared to even talk. When a seven year old Sasuke offered her to sleep in the small cabin near the stable, she agreed and she ate everything he could bring her after lunch and dinner. Itachi ended up finding about their little secret and he then helped her too. Both Uchiha brothers spent five months taking care of the little, sad girl. The two kids became good friends.

"Why did you leave like that?" Sasuke says avoiding her gaze.

"Tsunade-sama made me an offer." Sakura whispers, her eyes seem to caress the moon through the window. "I wanted to find my own path, and I did." She suddenly smiles sweetly. "I became an iryo ninja to save peoples' lives. I became a kunoichi to save my own life." Then her eyes also smile at Sasuke. "I became a geisha because I knew I would find you again and I wanted you to acknowledge everything I got by myself."

"Sakura, I am an Uchiha." Sasuke tries to keep his heart frozen. "I only chose to be your danna because we were friends. Do not... misunderstand the situation."

"I know, I know." She smiles sadly, once again. "You are an Uchiha. A proud one. And I know I am a tool." She laughs and she looks so secure for a moment. "Do not forget I was trained to ignore the pain. I will not cry nor beg you to be what I want you to be." Sakura gets up and closes her eyes before letting out a tired sigh. "I should go back to the okiya."

"I will take you there." Sasuke mutters. It is taking all his might not to embrace her, and he is relieved that she does not cry. "I will not tell anyone about what I saw tonight, if that is what you are worrying about." He takes a few steps to the door, trying not to even glance at her. "And I will give you time to rest so do not expect me to contact you soon."

"Sasuke." She whispers for the last time.

He finally allows himself to look at her because he really needs to. There she is, the most lovely creature he has ever seen. Sakura. She even keeps the name he gave her. His Sakura. What a stupid man he is. "Uchiha Sasuke has a heart after all, huh." He even thinks about what his clan would say if he wanted to actually be with her. "She's a geisha, she's a nobody", they would say. It is too impossible, Sasuke knows it. No one would ever accept her. He is an Uchiha after all. He is born to fight and conquer, to take everything he wants without question. And yet such a beautiful girl makes him so vulnerable. What is happening to me?

His heart clenches so painfully again.

"Sasuke, please, do not make me fall in love with you."