"What the hell is this?"

Sakura glared at Sasuke

"Its food, you idiot."

Sasuke glared at Sakura

The two exchanged angry gazes across the make-shift table. The hatred funnelled into each glare had almost a physical presence, Sakura's emerald eyes blazed with fury and Sasuke's had a hint of red seeping into them. They both narrowed their eyes simultaneously and Sakura's upper lip twitched, as well as her hands. Sasuke on the other hand, had no emotion marring his face, just his two eyes that were narrowed into a glare.

And poor Naruto was stuck in the middle of it.

He was currently dealing with quite the conundrum: side with the hottie that saved them, or his idiotic best friend. He mused over the two options for a few moments. He wisely concluded that it would be better to keep his mouth shut.

Well, only about picking sides.

"If you guys are done making bedroom eyes at each other, I think we need to-"

He was immediately interrupted by a spluttering Sakura and a mildly blushing Sasuke.

"Naruto!"

"Shut-up Dobe"

Sasuke quickly dropped his eye-contact with Sakura's to conceal his mildly glowing cheeks and looked at the food she had proudly served to them earlier. He felt a shudder run up his spine: it reminded him of the time Naruto had accidently zapped a squirrel with a plasma pistol.

This is not food…

As if she had read his mind, Sakura's eyes hardened for a moment and she slowly bit out a few words. "You know, you should be more grateful Sasuke, this food has everything the body needs: vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals-"

"Everything except flavour", Sasuke retorted, an arrogant smirk snaking its way across his face.

At that, Sakura's fist slammed down on the rickety table and a moderate sized dent found its way onto the surface. Her eyes blazed with a new found fury and her lips formed into a twisted smile

"God, Naruto was right about you, your name should be Sasuke-hime. And tell me, does it hurt?"

Sasuke decided to ignore the jab at his masculinity and instead raised an eyebrow at the odd question.

"Does what hurt?"

"Whatever's stuck up your ass."

Sasuke eyes widened for a moment before they re-formed into a glare. He heard Naruto's obnoxious snicker from the side of the table. He focused his anger on Naruto, who had been neutral up until this point.

"Find something funny, idiot?"

Naruto plastered a cheesy smile on his face and sighed. "Ah, young love, how sweet it is when it begins to blossom." He took one look at both their flabbergasted faces and decided that it was his cue to excuse himself before:

He get slaughtered by a pissy Sasuke and an infuriated Sakura

He got a hernia from trying to contain his laughter

He quickly stood up and darted out of the room before the two sitting at the table could stop him. After he made his exit, the two remaining turned and yet again focused their glares at each other. Sakura huffed and returned to eating her food and murmured to Sasuke

"If you don't want it, fine, but it is all I have to offer you. This place was never meant to sustain people for very long, just emergency rations. I'm sorry it isn't what you're used to."

At that she took one final gulp of her food and stood. Sasuke eyed her suspiciously, expecting another acid remark to surface, but none came. She made her way towards him and scooped up his plate without sparing him a glance. She pivoted on her foot and made a bee-line towards the make-shift sink and dumped the empty dishes in it with a sigh. She planted her two hands on the side of the tin basin and let another sigh pass through her lips.

"I'm sorry if none of this is what you're used to. I've heard that Elysium is a beautiful place, quite unlike this small thing we are currently confined to. This shelter was meant to be an emergency hideout if Bunker 7 was ever breached." She took a deep breath in and let another sigh out. "Well, guess what? It was, and now I'm stuck here until I can figure out where to go from here."

Sasuke pondered of this sudden change in character and mood and realized that there must be an underlying reason for it. He could hear the little voice in the back of his head warning him that he was treading on unsteady ground. But it wasn't like he ever listened to that voice anyways.

"Speaking of Bunker 7, what exactly happened there?"

Expecting her to raise her voice in anger or to shoot him another glare, he was surprised at the sad look she gave him. Her sea green eyes held a kind of cheerless softness to them that he had never seen before, a kind of mix between sadness and pity. She let a small, sad smile slip onto her face and her pitying look annoyed Sasuke to no end. He was about to glare at her and tell her to stop looking at him like that (but with a few more choice words), when she finally spoke.

"I think we should go get Naruto before I tell you anything." She slowly pivoted on her foot and quietly walked out of the small room to go find him, leaving Sasuke with a bewildered look on his face. He quickly sobered up and let his normal, stoic mask slip back on.

What the hell was that?

In the incredibly short amount of time he had known Sakura, he had never seen her back down from a fight. His Uchiha senses were tingling, there was obvious something she was not telling Naruto and himself. It seemed that she was going to tell them anyways, so why worry about it. His mind quickly slipped into more important matters, such as locating Itachi and obliterating Kabuto and co. His mind flitted back to the day where Itachi was taken and the smug look that was plastered on Kabuto's face. Sasuke's eyes involuntarily narrowed at the memory.

That bitch is going to die

Thousands of possibilities filtered through his mind at that moment, trying to come up with reasons why Itachi was taken and for what purpose, but more importantly, how Sasuke was going to get him back. He closed his eyes and let out a small sigh and began to formulate a plan. He knew that it was going to be incredibly difficult to track Kabuto's group, since they seemed to be incredible organized and probably wouldn't leave much in the way of a trail. The only way to at least have a chance would be to start tracking them at the last place he saw Itachi, on the outskirts of Bunker 7. Sasuke pondered for a moment where exactly he was, since he hadn't been of the mindset to ask Sakura. From what it looked like, and from what Sakura had said, it seemed to be an emergency station outside of Bunker 7. The cramped rooms and the disrepair it was in definitely screamed that it hadn't been lived in for quite a while.

He suddenly heard Sakura and Naruto making their way back to the "kitchen" and Sasuke decided on a course of action. He would have to leave first thing in the morning, while the other two were asleep, to ensure he could travel fast. The other two would slow him up and waist valuable time. Plus the Oni would probably miss one human making their way through the outskirts. A smirk flitted across his face.

Damn I'm good

He glanced up as Naruto and Sakura squeezed their way through the door frame, which was more like an opening in the wall, and sat down at the table. Sakura took a deep breath in and looked at him.

"I don't really know how to explain what happened or where to begin because the story is kind of complicated", she sighed out.

Naruto put on one of his goofy grins and looked at Sakura. "How about the beginning, I think that sounds fair."

Sakura smiled. "Probably would make the most sense. I must warn you, it is a long story."

Sasuke sighed. "It not exactly like we have anything else to do…"

Sakura's smile disappeared and her eyes darkened. "Do you want to hear it or not, Sasuke-hime?"

Sasuke was about to retort to the umpteenth stab at his masculinity, but Naruto interjected before another battle could begin.

"Chill the fuck out teme, let's hear what Sakura-chan has to tell us. One more word out of you and I'll shank you. Got it?"

Sasuke's eyes widened at Naruto's words and he decided to listen to the little voice inside his head and shut his mouth.

Sakura smirked at Sasuke and turned her attention to Naruto. "Thank you Naruto, shall I begin?"

Both boys nodded.

"Our troubles all began roughly 3 weeks ago. A young man, probably in his mid-twenties, arrived at Bunker 7 seeking refuge from the war. Being a civilian bunker, and a shelter for the displaced, what could we do but let him in? Myself, being the chief medical examiner for 7, I was one of the first people to meet him, since we always screen new residents for diseases and infection. At first he seemed quite charming, but as the examination continued, there seemed to be something amiss about him. Not only did it seem that he was a recombinant, he also expressed an extreme fascination with meeting more recombinants. Knowing the stigma attached to being a one, I felt the need to try and conceal the identities of the fellow recombinants, but he insisted. I told him that he would have to find them himself, and I would never tell him. Expecting an angry outburst, I was surprised to find that he simply smiled and told me that he liked my values, but found them extremely idealistic for the time in which we are living in." At that, Sakura let out a shudder and shivered.

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other and Naruto hesitantly inquired "Did he say anything else to you Sakura-chan?"

She swallowed and nodded. "He also said that he would 'save me for last'. At the time, I didn't know what it meant, but I soon found out. We started getting reports of him asking everyone about their lives and trying to get their background information. Of course, for many people, that arouses many painful memories of lost loved ones, so we finally had to bring him in for questioning. As the questioning went on, it became evident that he was up to something sinister. It was at this time we received reports of strange things occurring just outside the bunker, and that's when I decided to send for help from Elysium."

It dawned on Sasuke that Sakura must have been the girl from the video feed. Pieces started clicking into place and he continued listening.

"While I was in the middle of transmitting, the first wave of attacks hit and the room I was in collapsed. A form entered the room and began to shoot at the people trapped in the rubble. I was so shocked by the action, I tried to stop it. I managed to land a hit and it was momentarily crippled. I knew I had to transmit the message, so I made my way back to the transmitter, but another explosion ripped through the room and it was destroyed. I knew that there was nothing I could do but grab as many survivors as I could and make my way to the emergency shelter. The only person that I could find happened to be Ino, my best friend, but she was critically injured." Tears began to glitter in the corners of Sakura's eyes and she closed her eyes to hold in a shudder.

Naruto began to feel discomfort at the sight of Sakura's tears and shifted in his seat "Sakura-chan, you don't-"

Sakura quickly interrupted him with a sad but controlled voice. "No, if I stop now, I won't be able to continue." She quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "I dragged Ino as far as I could and we had just made it to the shelter when we were attacked. I tried to hold them off, but I had only one rifle against five plus armed soldiers. Ino told me to get inside and she would fend them off. I yelled at her to not be that stupid but she had other plans. You see, she is…was a recombinant, and her gift was telepathy. Before I could disengage her control over me, she had pushed me inside and the door had slammed shut. The last thing she said was that 'my forehead made an easy target since it was so big.' I then heard a scream and I blacked out. When I woke the next day, everyone was gone. And I mean everyone, even the bodies."

Sakura then shuddered and more tears slipped out of her eyes. "You would have thought we would have gotten a break after all the bloodshed and pain this war had caused, but no, life can never be that easy. I guess he was right, I am a foolish idealist." Sakura covered her face and let silent tears slid off her face onto the table. Another silent sob wracked her small form and Sasuke's discomfort began to increase at the sight of her tears and her unspoken anguish. He felt at a loss of what to say or do. It was Naruto who made the first move.

"Sakura- chan, I know it isn't my place to say this, but it seems that Ino loved you very much, and she wouldn't want you to feel sad about her sacrifice. She would have wanted you to live, knowing that she had made a difference. Ok, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura lifted her face from her hands and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. She let a sad smile flit across her face. "You're right Naruto, but it is so hard, knowing that you could have done something more-"

Naruto quickly interrupted her and smiled at her. "You know what this situation calls for?"

Sakura shook her head and Sasuke groaned internally, knowing it had to be something incredibly stupid.

"GROUP HUG!!!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at his words and knew he had to escape.

Ah shit

Unfortunately for him, Naruto was two steps ahead. Naruto grabbed the back of his jacket and spun him around so that he was in front of Sakura and he was suddenly giving her a hug. He felt a blush creep across his face as she buried her face into his chest and held him tight.

IamgoingtokillNarutoIamgoingtokillNarutoIamgoingtoki-

He shot a glance at the blond, who was currently backing away from the 'group hug' session with a huge smile on his face. Sasuke glared even more when Naruto winked at him and mouthed to him' Thank me later'. He began to formulate different ways in which the blond could have a nasty 'accident', when he was interrupted by the pink-hair girl he was currently holding.

She began to mumble into his chest, sending vibrations through his torso and making more blood rush to his cheeks.

"I knew there was a kinder side to you, Sasuke-hime. Thank-you".

His face dropped at his new nickname but decided to leave it without a retort.

"Just don't get too used to, ok?"

He felt a smile form on her face and she lifted her head to face him.

"Same goes for you."

Sasuke smirked.

A/N: Hello, sorry for not updating for awhile, been crazy busy and to cap it all off, my computer crashed
Oops
Hope you guys enjoyed, and as always:

Review please!

Hint: If you have an idea, I might just use it