Chapter 20
"Do you think there are any more traps?" Naruto asked.
"No," the Sakura impersonator answered.
"No offense, but I don't really believe you," Naruto told her. "You are impersonating Sakura, after all."
"Speaking of which, how did you pull that off?" Sasuke asked.
"Our master, he can read pieces of memories from a single drop of blood," the one that looked like Raito answered. The two of them were tied up to prevent any further trouble. "And once he realized that you had the Sharingan..."
"... He moulded some clay with his jutsu to imitate the people you two were least likely to attack, and then he animated us to act like them," Sakura finished.
"So you do have a thing for Raito-chan," Naruto deduced.
"Hmph, I do not. I simply respect her, that's all," Sasuke argued.
"You should leave, before he sends someone else," Raito warned, breaking into their conversation. "He won't be pleased with our defeat."
Naruto nodded. "Come on, Sasuke-teme. You're being slow!"
To prove his point, he grinned and then sprinted off. Sasuke chased after him. "You're going to set off another trap."
"Nah, I don't think she would lie now, and besides, the sooner we get out of here, the less likely it is that we'll have to face another one of those clone things."
True to what she had said, there was nothing new that attacked them on their way out. It was about the middle of the night when they got out, though, and the moonlight cast strange shadows over the broken head stones. Orochimaru was nowhere in sight, but Sakura was lying by the mouth of the cave.
"Sakura-chan!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and checked for a pulse. It was there, and beating steadily. "She'll be fine, relax."
"S-Sasuke-kun?" she asked blearily, opening her green eyes.
Sasuke stood up. "Told you."
"Sakura-chan, I got Sasuke back so we can go home now."
"Hardly, just because we went through that sarcophagus does not mean that I'm going back to Konoha, I told you already. Can't you listen, baka?" Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's hair fondly, then left. Naruto was going to chase after him, but Sakura's coughing made him pause.
"That was... weird," Naruto said.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Another escort mission? But Grandma Tsunade..."
"No buts, you three are going. Now shoo, I have other things to deal with."
Kakashi smiled. "It won't be that bad, it's not like she gave us a D-ranked mission."
"Yeah, remember that time we babysat?" Sakura asked, trying to lighten his mood. It just seemed wrong for Naruto to be down, as opposed to happy or angry. It wasn't his fault that Sasuke got away, not really. If she had managed to beat Orochimaru, she reminded herself, he would be here. Her expression fell.
Naruto picked up on it instantly, and fake laughed. "Oh yeah, I almost gave the five year old an energy drink." His attempt to make things light hearted failed, Sakura sniffled. "Hey hey! Don't cry, Sakura-chan!"
"I'm not crying," she replied angrily, but not before Naruto saw a tear run down her cheek.
"We're going to get him back, you know. Sasuke just doesn't know what he's missing out on." Naruto tried to sound encouraging at the end.
"Yeah, we'll just have to drag him back," Sakura said morosely.
"May I remind you that we do have a mission." Kakashi would have stayed out of it, but they were approaching where they would meet their client.

"Hello, my name is Aizen, you three are the team that will be escorting me to Tea Country?"
"Believe it! Team Kakashi is the best, so you got really lucky!" Naruto sounded chipper at the drop of a hat, and as soon as Sakura realized his acting abilities she couldn't help but be a little jealous. Aizen laughed at his boisterous nature.
"Then we should probably get going. I'm meeting with another company, and I can't be late."
The journey was actually quiet. Not a single bandit or other ninja attacked them as they made their way down the road, but it didn't get boring because Naruto kept up a steady stream of banter with whoever would listen and participate. Mostly this was because he didn't want to see Sakura get so sad again. Aizen seemed to enjoy it as well, though, and even participated a few times. The white haired man who still seemed to look young had a sense of humor that Kakashi could appreciate, and as a result half of their jokes went right over Naruto's head and occasionally Sakura's.
"Well, this is it," Aizen said when they reached the village. It looked a lot like Konoha, except maybe more imposing.
"Take care, Aizen-san!" Naruto called, for once using the correct honorific.
"You too."
"Aizen-san, it's good to see you got here safely."
"Raito-chan?" Naruto asked, and turned around. She was standing next to Aizen, Haku with them, and something about them looked different.
"Naruto, it's good to see you again," Haku greeted amiably. Naruto realized what looked different about them, they both seemed infinitely tired. Haku's brown eyes that were usually soft and lively were dull, and everything about Raito seemed to say that she hadn't slept in far too long.
"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, and the two of them shook their heads in perfect synchronization.
"Nope, we're just here to be bodyguards for a little while," Raito offered, and smiled weakly. Haku shot her a look, and she shrugged.
"Hm... hm..."
"Naruto, we should let them go, they do have things they have to do," Kakashi suggested.
"One thing before you go. If you see Sasuke, beat some sense into him, ok?" Raito asked. Haku looked smug, and she grimaced at him. This only served to amuse Haku further.
"I will, believe it! Well, goodbye! Come and visit some time, ok?"
Haku nodded. "Sure."
The weeks passed for Sakura slowly. Naruto did what he could to make her feel better, but nothing seemed to truly help.
Then Ino kidnapped her. Never mind that it was one of Naruto's ideas, she was tired of seeing her friend turned rival turned friend again looking so depressed all the time. It took all of the fun out of teasing her. So, she set her up on a blind date.
Now the problem was just keeping it a secret that she had done it. Heaven forbid it become known that Ino had done something nice. It wasn't actually that hard, she just told Naruto to tell Sakura to meet him at Ichiraku's, just as friends. One of the ways Ino could tell that there was something seriously wrong with Sakura was because she had agreed.
"Are you sure about this?" the test subject, I mean, date asked. Ino fixed his clothes for the umpteenth time.
"Don't worry about it, just remember that if you do something to hurt her feelings, I'll kill you," Ino said in a chipper tone. She shoved him out the door, and once again wondered at how manipulable guys were. It certainly helped that he had a crush on Sakura, but all the same. It shouldn't have been so easy.
Yosuke ran a hand through his hair, messing it up again. He wasn't even sure why he had agreed to this. Sakura, to be honest, scared him. Yeah, she was pretty, but she was shallow, and obsessed with Sasuke. Still, Naruto had looked and sounded so worried about her...
He sighed at the stars. There was no way this could end well. All the same, approached the restaurant.
"Sakura?"
"Do I know you?" she asked, and Yosuke looked sheepish.
"Yosuke, remember? I'm on Clare's team."
"Oh yeah, what are you doing in Konoha?"
Instantly, Yosuke picked up on her disinterest. She was just making conversation with him because he was there and it would be rude not to. Still he answered. "We're on a mission, an alliance type one. We're just going to be here for a few days. Can I get a ramen, please?"
The owner smiled, like somehow he knew he had been sent there by Naruto. "Which would you like?"
"Uh..." Yosuke scratched the back of his head, having no idea what kind he should get.
"Miso," Sakura suggested, though it was more of an order. The owner nodded and started making it. "Naruto recommended this place to you, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he's crazy about this place."
The owner smiled, realizing what Naruto was up to. "Here you go."
"Thanks."
"Yeah, he comes here all the time, and he was supposed to meet me here..." Sakura took a bite of noodles. "Are Ren and Clare coming to?"
"No... Clare's been really upset about not getting to see Gaara every day, and there's no way I would go with Ren anywhere by ourselves if I can help it."
"If he's anything like Shihizuki, I don't blame you. He was scary."
"Ren's not scary, he's just..."
"I get it." Sakura saved Yosuke the trouble of finding the right words. She laughed a little. "You don't have to worry about offending me, I hang out with Naruto, remember?"
"You know, you should cut the kid some slack. He does try his best, at everything, no matter what. I have to say, I'm a little jealous. He isn't afraid of defending his idea of what's right and not holding back."
"I guess..." Sakura mused. "It's just hard to picture someone envying Naruto of all people." She made a little amused sound.
Yosuke didn't look amused at all. "A lot of people envy Naruto, or at least they should. I think sometimes even Gaara-sama wishes he could be more like him." He quickly looked abashed. "Sorry, that was probably out of line, it's just... I've heard about some of the things he's done, and it's really amazing, when you think about it."
"Like what?"
"I don't know... like when you guys went to retrieve Shihizuki. Clare said that Sasuke left, and she was mostly going for Gaara who she knows really well, and you were going because your team was going, but Naruto was going because he wanted to save friends of friends, and he was going to do it, no matter what." Yosuke shrugged. "I don't know, that just seems really... special, and not in a bad way."
"I guess..." Sakura said pensively, staring at her ramen instead of Yosuke. "He's just always been the one we picked on, so it's hard to see him as anything... special."
"But that's just part of how awesome he is. I mean, don't tell him I said this because the kid hardly needs to develop an ego, but all his life he's been picked on, and he's only stronger for that. You don't see that every day."
"You know... I think you might be right. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on him, but don't expect me to start worshipping the ground he walks on," Sakura said the last part as a joke, and Yosuke laughed.
"Yeah, that's the last thing we need, people to start worshipping Naruto." Yosuke shivered. He liked the kid well enough, but a religion devoted to him... at least Ren would be jealous.
"Thanks, Yosuke, I never realized why everyone who didn't know him before liked him so much... but I think I can see it a little now. Good night."
"Good night, Sakura-chan."
"So, Yosuke, how'd it go?" Naruto asked as soon as he caught the other boy walking down the street.
"Um... I don't think she likes me like that."
"That's ok! We'll just have to make her see, is all!"
"Naruto, I know you like her, you don't have to do this. It's not like I can be around all the time like you can anyway. Thanks for trying, but I don't think we would work out. It was really nice of you to try, though."
"Sakura-chan just seems so sad since Sasuke-teme left, so I thought that maybe if she found someone else..." Naruto sighed. "This stuff is hard, even with Ino-chan's help."
"She'll get over him eventually," Yosuke assured him. He yawned. "Well, I think I should be getting home, it's late and I have a mission tomorrow."
"See you later, then!"
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Naruto, you stood me up last night!"
"Sorry Sakura-chan, I kind of forgot..." he muttered sheepishly, as if he was afraid of her rage.
Sakura, instead of punching him, seemed to calm down. "It's ok, I guess. Just don't make a habit of it. Where's... why am I even asking?" She was going to ask where Kakashi-sensei was, but thought better of it when she realized who she was talking about.
"It's Kakashi-sensei, he's probably reading that book." Naruto put his hands behind his head. "So, you miss me last night?"
"Yeah right. Yosuke is much better company."
"Yosuke..." Naruto made his face look like he was trying to remember who that was.
"The other guy on Clare's team? The one that doesn't look like Shihizuki?"
"Oh yeah... wait, they're here?"
Sakura rolled her green eyes. "Yes, baka. They're here. Yosuke said they had some sort of mission."
"Sorry I'm late, I was..."
"Don't bother, we already know you were reading that book." Sakura's hair blew in the light wind.
Kakashi smiled. "Well then we can skip straight to training, can't we?"
As the days passed, Sakura found that she didn't need Sasuke as much as she originally thought after all. There was heartache, but she found that she could get past that and that part of her was just wishing that she was horribly depressed over the fact that he was gone. She wasn't though, not truly. Sasuke never held the team together, and he had never recognized her as anything other than just kind of useful, as far as she knew anyway.
All the same, she missed him. She wanted his dry sense of humor back, and his haughty ways, she wanted him back where she could look out for him, even though she hadn't truly done anything to warrant that being necessary. She found herself almost taking his place, though. As Naruto's competition, as the secondary strength of the team, as the peer keeping Naruto in check, all while still doing her job as a medic. Still, the team suffered. They had more close calls than they had with a full team, even if they were still holding together.
In Hidden Mist, it was another story. Gato had called them back, and was carefully controlling which missions they went on as a display of his power over them. In a week, though, their contract with him would be over and he would have to leave. Mizuki had at least been decent, as far as the people that held the position as the CEO of the company they worked for went. Gato was insatiable, and ruthless to anyone, anyone, that got in his way. Their orders as Firefly were worse, and the bruise on Raito's cheek was still healing from when he had slapped her because she had refused to harass someone about payment. She had taken it simply because she had a contract, and to violate it would be all but suicide.
When the week was over and Gato was gone, Raito left Mist Village by herself. She was planning on bringing Sasuke back, and both had already decided that because of the potential amount of time it could take to bring him back, it would be better to split up. She stopped and bent down when she saw a newspaper blow by with familiar faces on the front. Not even Haku knew it, but she had family still alive, even if they could hardly be considered family considering that her father had disowned her for her lack of jutsu ability.
After flipping through it, she clenched the paper in her hand and turned around. Evidently, there was something she had to check on before leaving. She walked through the streets the a place that she hadn't been to in what seemed forever, her family's home. The mansion was just as intimidating as she remembered it. Built in a traditional style that didn't seem to belong in the city filled with sky scrapers, the gargoyle water spouts leered at her from their perch and the high gate in the front was just as barring as she remembered it to be. She simply stood in front of it and looked for a few minutes before going around the secret entrance that she had discovered when she had still been living there.
Knowing that spying on her family would be hard, Raito decided that, for once, she would play it safe. As soon as she found the information she wanted, she was out of the house and back on the street and on her way to the morgue. It seemed that whoever had written the article was right, her little sister was dead. Now she just had to find whoever did it and kill them, Sasuke could wait.
Getting into the morgue was easy, she knew people that worked there quite well. After convincing them to leave her alone for a few moments, she pulled open the tray that contained her little sister. She knew without checking that it was really her younger sister, and that she was really dead. Face pulled into a grim expression, she checked for any signs of what could have killed her, and then read through the autopsy report they had written.
It seemed that she had died relatively painlessly, most likely in her sleep, but it wasn't a natural death. It went further on to say that there were signs that the Sharingan had been used on her right before she died, which made Raito's eyes narrow further. She finished skimming the report and slid the body back into place. Everything back where it belonged, she left. It didn't seem likely that Itachi or Sasuke would kill her little sister, but if that was the case, unless they had a damn good reason, they were dead.
Starting with Itachi. She really didn't think he would do something like that, but there was no way in hell Sasuke would. Raito firmly believed that Sasuke would never hurt her little sister in the same way his family had been hurt, though she was also of the opinion that Itachi would never do something like that ever again, but it had to be one of them. There was no other possible option.